| abstract | - (Nissa) The Mon Calamari and Taanab fleets, in addition to a few other oddended vessels, float quietly in formation. They are, perhaps, on the very, very outskirts of the Fayron system, but there is nothing to be seen. The darkness of space is all that can be viewed, all around them the silver, blue, and red pinpricks of millions of stars. Curled in one of the chairs on the bridge, Nissa looks out over consoles and the crew, resting her head against a hand. (Anneke) It's been hectic. And there's still some symbolic stuff going on. Hence why she's not over on one of the Taanabian ships yet. Even if as of now, she's officially just another exile. Insofar as a force user like her who is friends with the expedition leaders can be 'just' another girl. And sometime in the chaos she fell asleep, or cried herself asleep, down in the medical deck. But now? She's awoken and drifted her way up here. (Nissa) Quiet conversation and the clicking of instruments, perhaps soft laughter from some of the crew further away, are all that might be heard. That, and the familiarhumming of the ship that carries them. Nissa blinks a few times, looking rather tired after everything that's happened - and everything that still is not over yet. She moves to sit up, shifting her feet to the floor and stretching on the chair. The movement causes her head to tilt back slightly. She halts as she sees Anneke, and give a bit of a upside down smile. She sits up, turning and motioning for the girl to join her. "Can't sleep?" she asks. (Graham) Graham sits in about the same place he had before the many others had come to see them off. He pulls himself up to his feet after a long moment. The young man grabs his cup taking a drink of the warming liquid setting it down beside him. He moves towards the other the laughter seems odd. He grabs two more mugs of the same. "Hot chocolate.. does wonders." he offers a half smile though at best. (Anneke) "Was just.. sorta walking." Anneke says honestly. "Seeing if this was all a dream. It has that quality right now." She covers her mouth in a yawn. But when the drink is offered, you're darn right Anneke takes it! "Thank you." She says to Graham, wrapping her hands around it. Letting the warmth move through her. (Nissa) Nissa smiles a little at the words of Anneke, settling herself back further into her chair again. She shifts, resting her back against one arm of the chair, and balancing her knees over the other, ankles crossed. "I feel the same, but...it also feels real. Too many stars for it not to be," she says quietly. She gives a heavy, slow sigh, as if letting out everything in that one moment. The Calamari then blinks up at Graham, and her smile suddenly grows. "You are a god, Graham. We need to clone you...thank you." She takes the offered mug. (Graham) The white robed young man stretches after the mugs are taken. Graham looks to each. "Hardly, but thank you Miss Nissa." he looks back around the bridge as if seeing the people still here. "Hard to believe we're actually doing this, but it's almost like a whole new life starting over but with most excellent company." (Anneke) "I'll miss Kalira... Marbo. Raxan.. a lotta others too. The people I never really even got to know too. But... yeah." She just shakes her head softly, her bangs slipping down to cover her eyes. The steam wafts up to her face. "It's going to be a strange year... so little happening. So static yet always moving." A pause. "But I always felt safest on ships too. They're like the small, cramped places I used to sleep, to be sure I'd be safe." (Nissa) A long sip is taken of the hot chocolate, and Nissa seems to relax greatly at the taste. She sits there for a moment eyes closed, as she takes a second one. When golden eyes open again, they drift between Anneke and Graham. "It is hard, but...we're doing it. We can't stop now, and...I don't think we would want too. We have made it this far, through everything; we can make it through the long journey, the long story, that's to come," she says. She then smiles, nodding her head to Anneke. "Ships have a certain...hominess about them. Especialy when one spends most of their time on them. I'm sure we'll all be going mad before the year is up, though." She winks. (Graham) Graham looks up to the two a moment the sound of one name seems to hit him hardest and he slumps sitting on the ground the smile fading as quick as anything. He remains silent a long moment. "I know that time can heal, but right now." the young man stops and doesn't go on. (Anneke) "I barely know the Monstaba... and I hardly got to know the Xichparul." Anneke says after taking a sip. "And I don't know any of these other ships. And the city ships are tremendous." She concludes. "And... I lived twelve years in an Orphanage not much bigger than a couple YT1300s." She says, "And... all the ships cover more ground than I tended to wander in Corsica." Is she trying to say she doesn't think she'll be driven mad? Anneke looks over towards Graham... that name is the hardest for her too. And the sympathy, and understanding, is obvious in her gaze. (Nissa) A tilt of her head is given as Nissa listens, and hides a smile behind another sip from her mug. "I think, if you wanted, the engineers here would be happy to teach you the ins and outs of the MC90s, Neke, and those of the Monstaba and Xichparul as well," she says. Her own expression saddens finally at the mention of their friends. Concern is quick to follow as Graham sinks to the floor. The mug is immediately set on the ground, and she shifts forward to rest a hand on his shoulder. "We know, my friend..." she offers, though it's certainly not enough. (Graham) The young man pats his friends hand on his shoulder a moment "I'm sorry I wont let myself be drawn into that once again least not yet." Graham moves back grabbing his mug and refilling it and taking another drink it seems to re-hearten him. (Anneke) "I.. I think I am going to miss the Crysblade too. And... I feel bad not being able to keep it with the Monstaba. They were together for so long." Anneke says, somberly. "But the Crysblade's destiny, and duty... it was needed to defend Taanab. And the Monstaba to defend Taanab's children." Another pause, and at least this time seems a bit more positive. "But the Xichparul. She's happy. She gets her chance to shine. She didn't get to be Taanab's flagship for more than a day or two. But.. But she does get to take part on an expedition that will ensure her name lives forever. And the only one of her class on the trip too." She sips her hot chocolate. (Nissa) A reassuring squeeze is given before Graham stands, and Nissa nods carefully. "You'll know what will help you heal, Graham. It'll take time, for everything, but..." she halts, given a small, if slightly wavering smile that may mean tears are working their way up again. She shakes her head to clear the feeling, having some more of the hot chocolate. Eye peer up to Anneke, and she nods. "The Xichparul is truly unique among those here. She'll be a name known throughout the cityships by the time this expedition reaches...wherever it is we are destined to come too. I imagine she and the Ryloth will be exchanging stories from their pasts all the way there." (Graham) Graham nods "Dont let me bring you down Nissa or you Anneke, we are together and safe as we can be something must be gained from that right?" the young man takes another drink, he seems to have gathered himself for the moment. "In this year i'l have to learn more about flying them." he chuckles softly. (Anneke) "Monstaba is unique too. There's a few others. I brought all my personal ships. My Consular - I renamed it the Larassa." A pause, "The Dream Weaver, Eagle's Epoch, the Wind Jammer, even Pearl Three. I brough them all. They'll get to see the new places too. I'm just trying to decide if I'm going to live on one for the trip. It'll... be docked. But it would free up a room for someone else on the cityship." (Nissa) Large eyes move towards Graham, and Nissa gives him a bit of a look. "Bring us down? Graham, my friend, we are all in this together. All of us. You won't bring us down; we are here to bring you back up again," she explains, a bit of a no-arguments smile that one rarely sees from her alighting. She takes another simple, before speaking again. "I...gave the Sweetwine over to Chas, thought it would be better in his hands. The only ship I brought was the Mantan Ray." She smiles slightly at the name change of Anneke's shuttle. "The Larassa? Beautiful name," she comments, winking. Her expression in then thoughtful. "There should be plenty of room, but...Anneke, if you would like, there is room on any of the capital ships we have with us. I...moved most of my things from the Felissa over to here..." She blushes slightly. "So her main statesroom is free. And the Ryloth has a few free as well. I don't think we'll be lacking for space." (Anneke) "I... I don't know." Anneke says, after a very long silence. "I guess... I guess I just want somewhere to have something to.. to sleep and rest. For a while." She closes her eyes and sobs once or twice. "So much rest needed. I don't know that it matters where." She just sort of shrugs to it. "I like the city ship... want to be just another girl on the trip." (Nissa) Nissa takes another small sip of hot chocolate, before shifting to sit up a bit straighter. "You can do anything you want, Anneke," she says, offering a small smile. "Resting on one of your ships would give you quiet and privacy. You can always move to another place when you've...started to feel better." A glance is given to Graham, and she smirks. "What about you, Mr. Lane? Would you and Rena like to take over the Ryloth and learn to fly her?" (MT) Meena Tills comes onto the bridge then, talking on a comlink. "That's right. All ships triple-checked for tracers. Yes, including the civilian luggage. Yes, we'll be sitting here till that's done." (Anneke) "I don't know." Anneke says, softly. "Rena even said something about living with her. Just.. think she just meant in the fleet. Don't much matter. We're all here now. All close." She has a strange sort of giggle and sniffle combined come over her. "You should see the nomads. they're all so happy. It's such an adventure for them." (Nissa) "I have no objection to anything the three of you wish to do, just...be sure to tell me where you're staying?" Nissa asks, smirking a bit. "I don't think you want me comsysing the entire fleet asking where you ran off too." The mug finds its way to the floor for now. She tilts her head at the sound of Meena's voice, smiling slightly and motioning him towards the group. (Graham) Graham finishes off the mug. He looks back up. "I know Rena would like that being there, and of course i'd like to learn to fly cant hurt much in deepspace right especially with coordinates set and all." (Anneke) "I don't know." Anneke says softly. "I thought I was away from decisions for a while." She sips her drink, and then just plops down on the floor and lays back, resting her mug of hot chocolate on her stomach. (Kaldu) Kaldu walks off the turbolift and onto the bridge, wiping his hands on his clothes. "Well," he announces, "engines are ready on all the ships, pilots are briefed. We're ready to leave when the word is given." He states to no one in particular, heading over to the piloting console of the ship, taking his station to lead the other ships. (Nissa) A little laughter escapes the Mon Cal where she sits, and Nissa grins. "Oh, my friend...you'll have plenty of great teachers here," she says, nodding to Graham. "We'll have you flying the big ships and piloting fighters like a professional before the year circles back on us." Golden eyes fall to Anneke, and the smile softens a touch. "There's plenty of time to decide, Anneke. We don't have to rush anything." A glance at the entrance of Kaldu, and she gives a firm nod. "Good to see you, Kaldu." (Rena) Rena stands off from everyone else, far removed by the viewport of the ship. Standing by the crystaline window, the redheaded girl looks rather as though she has placed herself on the very brink of the universe with stars just beyond her and strewn around her feet. Thoughtfully, and a little sadly she stares out at the fleet hanging in space around them, scanning everything once more with those large, dark eyes. This is it - and she can scarcely believe it's come to this ending... this begining. (Anneke) "Maybe I'll just sleep wherever I am. Be like a nomad." Anneke says, biting her lip as she lays there on the ground. Hopefully she isn't planning to just fall asleep there! But her eyes are closed right now... "Want to find a really nice bed first." She says. (Graham) Graham nods grabbing another mug. The figure moves over towards the figure standing a bit off. "Hot chocolate Rena? It helps a little." he sighs taking a drink of his own. He turns back. "We will see what happens, i'm sure all our skills will be needed during the trip." (MT) Finally, Meena Tills stirs from where he has been standing by the controls, and nods decisively. "Start the clearance call, ship by ship. Inform me when it is done." He turns back, walking toward where the others are sitting, and makes a small gesture which brings up the vast overhead screens, usually reserved for combat displays. But now they show the sky as seen from where they have hyperjumped to: just far enough outside the galaxy that the spiral swirls of its shape as seen from afar is just beginning to emerge from the sea of stars that it becomes when a ship is enfurled within its folds. It is a bright and brilliant sight: and on the other side, a black sky dark as night, with only the occasional faint, tiny glimmer of a galaxy so far away to be a tiny swirl of color in the blackness, like a single solitary star. (Rena) Turning her gaze toward Graham, Rena breaks out of her musing dreams and smiles gently at her husband as he offers her hot chocolate. Taking the warm mug from him, she moves, slipping his arm around her waist so that her free hand can rest atop his over the ever growing swell in her belly where their two children lie sleeping and growing minute by minute. Sipping the chocolate a little, she closes her eyes, leaning back against him with a sigh: "We're not running away...we're carrying a piece of the light out of this galaxy into the next before the storm surge breaks and destroys it." Pausing, she looks out to the stars again, eyes glistening with emotion. "And someday... someday when this old galaxy is ready for a new and better life - we will come home, won't we?" Her voice lowers as she turns her head a little, inclining her ear to Graham. (Nissa) "The nomads have the right idea, I think," Nissa says, smiling as she watches Anneke. She is quiet for a long moment as the image on the screens appears. Her eyes flicker, moving slowly between all those present, all family and close friends. Finally, she carefully stands, gaze moving towards one of the larger viewing ports - out to the other ships. "I...have a suggestion," she says, raising her voice so the others can hear her. "Before we...go, I think perhaps we might spend a few more moment on the Ryloth?" Her gaze moves back to the others, perhaps a little unsure. "For many of us, it was a place of beginning, and of memories. It wouldn't take long." She looks to Rena then, a small smile on her face. (Anneke) Anneke takes a deep breath and sits up, taking another sip of her drink as she looks over at everyone. Though this time, she doesn't have much of a comment about things. Just looks between her friends and mentors here. Taking them in. Sure she'll see a lot of them in the months to come. But this seems to be what she's doing. (Graham) The young man looks to his wife meeting her half way as he wraps her up his hand rested where he can feel the growing children. Graham cannot help but smile a true smile. He listens intently though leaning in and nuzzling slightly. "Yes we will come back home, no running away would mean we never fought all of us here have for longer than perhaps we should have" he squeezes her lightly not letting go (Kaldu) Kaldu smiles a little at Nissa, nodding slightly. He looks up at Meena. "Want me to do that?" He asks, already starting to send out messages to the various ships for clearance. "You know...I really am going to miss this galaxy, as bad as some things are about it. There are some good people here. Some honest and kind people." He sighs softly. "My father once told me, though, that 'when you are lost, far away from the familiar, look back into the stars of your memory, find that which comforts you, and it shall guide you back home to where you belong.' I've realized something...he wasn't talking about going 'home to where we belong' by means of a physical, one location. This is my home. This is where I belong. Here. With all of you, leaving this galaxy for another. It doesn't really matter where we go, as along as we are together. We are family. As long as we are with each other, we are home." (MT) Taking a breath, Meena Tills walks toward Kaldu. "After an excursion to the Ryloth, I suppose you'll be taking the helm," he comments, glancing around at the screen. "We're changing angles here. With luck we've left a false trail -- so that if any enemies do try to follow us, they'll think we were going to a different Galaxy entirely." A glance at Rena and Graham. "Coming back? Our children, perhaps. I think it will be fortunate indeed, if we have a strong enough foundation in place, to return any time in the next twenty five years." (Rena) Smiling wistfully, and a little tearfully at Nissa, Rena sniffs and nods: "The Ryloth...it's partly where my life really began with you and Graham...and Ryka." Her voice catches a little with emotion, remembering back... just remembering. Glancing at Meena, she gives a little chuckle: "Our children will grow up strong and straight with a firm foundation. We will come back one day - I have seen it." She sighs, looking out at the stars again. A gentle smile tugs at her lips when Kaldu speaks. Moving to face him, she smiles brightly: "We're a thrown-together family - but I wouldn't have it any other way. This is where we belong...this is why we came together and fate crossed our paths. All for this..." (MT) Meena Tills walks over toward Nissa, reaching for her hand. "The Ryloth it is," he says softly. (Anneke) "Part... of me doesn't think I'll ever be back." Anneke says in a soft tone. "The new worlds, the new colony. It might be nice. Might become a true home. Might become what I thought Taanab was becoming. It might be a new home. A true home." She just sighs softly, wistfully. She stands then too. (Nissa) "We'll return, one day. All of us," Nissa says, stepping closer to the others. She takes a deep breath at Rena's words, closing her eyes a moment. As she opens them again, she gives a small, perhaps reminiscing smile. "So many memories...that ships holds more than any I know. That's why we had to bring her. Bring a big of the old Galaxy with us, a bit of home. A bit of the story Ryka started we got tossed on that blasted ship with him." She smiles. She then takes Meena's hand without hesitance, nodding gently toward the repulsorlift. She pauses a long moment, before beginning to lead the way. (Rena) The small group of intrepid voyagers moves off of the Ryloth's repulsorlift almost as one, and Rena slowly breaks away from the group. Her dark eyes are alight with memory and emotion as she moves toward the vacant captain's chair on the bridge. In Rena and Nissa's hearts, that chair will forever be empty - no one can ever fill it as Ryka Starn did - the man who twined their lives together forever. Pausing, she lays one hand gently on the headrest from behind and looks back at the others poigniantly: "Do you know, the people I have lost that meant so much to me... My mother... Ryka ... I never felt so close to them as I do now." (MT) Softly, Meena Tills says, "I am afraid I will always hold myself to blame for Ryka's death. I didn't know what to do, when they rebelled, and the CCIA agents ... didn't do as I hoped." He grimaces, an old, familiar haunted look crossing his scarred face. Then he stills, and says even more softly, "And sometimes I fear that I set them up to decide to rebel, by trying to prepare to resist, when Palpatine took the next step. I never imagined it would work out the way it did." (Kaldu) Kaldu looks around the bridge, but remains silent. This isn't for the stars of his memory, but those of his friends. He doesn't know what to say. There's nothing really that he can say. (Graham) Graham steps off the lift along with the others, it has been quite some time since he's been here, but he remembers it well. The white robed figure smiles softly and all hard feelings are forgotten. "They are never gone Rena until they are forgotten so never in this case." he looks about moving keeping up with the group. (Anneke) The mention of Mothers, that hits Anneke too, and she reaches up to pull her jacket tightly around herself. "I sorta.. know what you mean." She says in response to that. "Though, I only knew Ryka in passing." She looks around a bit, this place not having quite the emotional impact to her as for some of the others. But such things aren't completely lost on her. (Nissa) Slow, careful steps. Though she as walked the bridge of the RNS Ryloth - now honorably named the Ryloth Renrykat, in honor of the original Reconaissance Command - it seems as if these steps are the first again, and perhaps the hardest. Nissa closes her eyes for a moment, lowing her head. As she opens them again, she looks to Meena, before moving to step forward and wrap her arms around him from behind. "It was not your fault; Ryka made his own decision, Meena," she says. "Just as we are making ours now. He saw the cracks that were forming, what was coming...though not as clearly as perhaps what we have seen. But he made his choice. No one, neither you, nor Rena or I, are the blame. All we can do is remember those we've lost, those we've gained, and what we have ahead." (MT) Meena Tills nods, swallows, and takes a deep breath. "Kaldu," he says, "you might as well take the bridge, if Nissa will allow it, and lead us from here. I just got the all-clear. Every ship is ready." (Kaldu) Rena looks to Kaldu with grateful tears glistening in her eyes, giving him a gentle smile as if to say thank you before moving to Graham and clinging tightly to him for a moment. "Life is before us...the future is ours," she says a little muffled against her husband, echoing Nissa's sentiments. Turning her head a little, she can see out into the unknown distance...to the millions of stars that beckon them onward to the bright new dawn. "Nissa..." she says breathlessly all of a sudden, eyes widening: "Do... you see it?" The young redheaded woman stares pointedly at the blazing bright blue star straight ahead of them. (Anneke) Anneke looks down to the ground for some strange, unknown reason. But then, back up and out. Towards the distance, as though trying to see what Rena is seeing. As she so often is, she's just quiet, a mournful ghost of sorts. And very, very tired. FORCE: You experience a loving feeling and receive a vision: A flaming bright, blue star beckons to you from the far reaches of space... almost akin to a great spirit calling you onward You think of Rena ... (Graham) Graham wraps his arms around his wife once more. The self-exiled knight nods "Yes it is we live for today and tomorrow." his voice is rough and on the edge of breaking. He glances the way she pointed though as if trying to remember something that happened long ago though in truth it wasn't all that long ago. (Nissa) Nissa is quiet for a long moment, before she hugs Meena tightly. "Rena is right," she says, moving to stand beside Meena and take his hand again. "The past, is just that...the past. What we have before us is what draws us forward. The heart will hold all that we have, all that we leave behind." Golden eyes alight on Kaldu, and Nissa takes a deep breath. Slowly in, slowly out...before she nods. "The ship is yours, Kaldu Railm; I know you'll fly her well." She then falls quiet, looking over to Rena. Her gaze flickers to the widest viewport, and to the darkness, and what seems to be shining brightly before them. She then smiles, giving Meena's hand a squeeze. "That's the star," she says, "That's the one." (Kaldu) Kaldu looks at Rena for a moment, wishing he could say something, anything, but just feeling over-whelming emotions, not able to put words to them. All he's able to do is hopefully emit some sense of his love and care for her and that she'd be able to sense it. He gives her a small, soft smile. He looks up at Meena, though, and blinks. "You...wish me to take the bridge? Well, I only hope that I won't disappoint." He moves to the pilots console. "Preparing engines...other ships ready." He opens up a comsys to the whole fleet, patching, he hopes, to allow that every deck can hear him. Lots of work, but someone has to do it. "Fleet, this is Kaldu Railm aboard the Ryloth. We are about to enter hyperspace and leave our galaxy. As we pass through the threshold of out galaxy into the void beyond, you will feel a jolt. Do not worry, this is to be expected. Once we're through that, it should be smooth sailing. See you on the other side." And with that, engines start flaring and they blast off. Lines streak past the windows. The jolt, while strong, is not the worst a person could experience. And then...quiet. Nothing but the quiet hum of the engines. He stares blankly at the window ahead. "We...we did it. We're in the void." He laughs. "We did it!" He sounds like he can't believe it. Like he half-expected it not to work. (MT) Indeed, the tuning of the drives to use the level of hyperspace they are using is one that requires careful technical work ... but worth it, making the jumps across the Void longer in space, shorter in time. But even so, they must wait some hours before coming out of hyperspace. A time to sit, thoughtful and pensive, thinking on old times, wondering about new. But then at last they come out of hyperspace for this jump: then it's necessary to sit and wait, while a specially equipped scout is overloaded and overpowered, to find the next hyperjump, partly by trial and error, partly by calculation. Thus they will feel their way across the void, a small candle in a black night. Around them now the darkness is absolute, except for a small spiral shape showing on the viewscreens: the Galaxy they have just left, now like a small perfect inscription on a black, blank wall. Everywhere else, nothing but the faintest, smallest specks and glimmers that indicate distant galaxies, most too far away to reach. It will take at least a year for the one they have selected to grow on their sensors and become large enough to resolve into a spiral shape with the naked eye. Around them the fleet breaks out of hyperspace, a massive array of ships: Massive MC90s, Hulking City-Ships, the Deep Space Ship yard and Scrap yard, and lesser ships by the dozen. For a time, all is silent, as if the enormity of this ... distancing, from all that is known and familiar, is too heavy to be carried by any word. (Anneke) Anneke starts to cry, and looks back towards everything. "And so our journey begins. Somewhere... we'll find new worlds. New homes. New things no one from our galaxy has probably ever seen." She somehow, despite the sadness, manages to maintain an optimistic tone. "And until then? Time to rest. Time to heal." (MT) Meena Tills turns to Nissa then, and his tone suddenly becomes cheerful. "Time to forget politics and war. Time to be husband and wife, Nissa. I never understood how you had the patience for me." (Graham) Graham remains entwined with his wife his hand finds the place where their twins grow as if showing them the new worlds they will be born into he rubs softly in comfort and leans in and kisses Rena. "A place to find happiness without worry and to have our children learn from us all they will need before returning." the young man looks back up into the vast blankness a strange thing to his eyes. (Kaldu) Kaldu shakes his head. "It's amazing, isn't it?" He sighs. He mumbles off a small prayer in Arconan. "We are truly blessed to be here. It may be difficult to leave our homes, but think of what we are doing? Nothing anyone else in our galaxies recorded history has ever done before. We are going to a galaxy far, far away." (Nissa) At the warning from Kaldu, Nissa braces herself for the jump. She keeps her eyes forward on the star they are follow, even as it melts away in the bright running lines of white hypertravel. As the ship comes to a calmer pause, she lets out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. She looks to Meena them, smiling warmly...and a little mischeviously. "Finally," she says, smiling a bit more, "I'll never understand how you put up with all the trouble I've dragged you through, but...perhaps such patience and trouble are things only the Force truly understands." (Rena) Clinging close to Graham, safe and happy in the comfort of his arms, Rena watches the countless miles of space fly by them in flashes of light. And then they come to a stop. This is a new life... there will be new worlds for them to explore - and no need to fear. The galaxy is far more than they will ever know - and while they are all together, this thrown together family of Rena and Graham, Kirain and Kaldu, Anneke, Nissa and Meena ... there will never be cause to fear. It was for this very reason that the Force brought them all together, this fate and new begining. They bear a living light out of the old galaxy and into the new that will never dim, but grow. And one day when the time is right, they will return. They will return. (Anneke) Anneke sniffles, and smiles to everyone. "I love you all. Thank you for bringing me. For all you've done." A pause and a look towards Rena, Nissa, and Graham in particular. But then the others too. "Thank you for being my friends." She smiles widely, brightly, even with tears welling in her eyes. "I think I need to go sleep. Just for a while. I've been so tired. And now I think I finally can." She takes one last look out the viewport, and then waves happily, as she heads down towards her ship to sleep, no doubt. Or perhaps the medbay. She'll be seeing them again a lot in the years to come. So this is just a cheerful, see you in a bit wave. (MT) And here the story ends, or rather begins: the end of a series of strange alliances, Mon Calamari and Jedi, Arcona and human, Corellian waif and Republic war hero -- or whatever they were. For do heroes flee to fight another day? Or withdraw, knowing that the fight is too much to win? Yet something there is here that never would have been, if it were not for the horrors of the Clone War, and the desperate maneuvers of a paranoid Calamari prime minster. Something that would never have been if a Calamari pilot had never joined Reconnaissance command, and somehow fallen in love with her ultimate boss. Something that would never have been had a red-haired girl not been a spy, a Jedi, and a wife, despite all scandal. Something that is more than schemes and politics and war and desperation: a friendship forged in terrible times, now the core of a new story, a story that would unfold far, far away from everything they knew as home. But that is another story, for another time. For now, we leave a fleet, massive, bearing with it the technology of the Republic's Inner Core, the cream of a rich world's resources thrown into the Void as a sacrifice to hope, and above all a band of friends, whose future would be like nothing they had ever imagined in the dark days of war and slow corruption, as the Republic's own defenders began to lose hope, and to realize that it must soon fall, and if it fell, might remain under the heel of a conqueror for a hundred generations. Clinging close to Graham, safe and happy in the comfort of his arms, Rena watches the countless miles of space fly by them in flashes of light. And then they come to a stop. This is a new life... there will be new worlds for them to explore - and no need to fear. The galaxy is far more than they will ever know - and while they are all together, this thrown together family of Rena and Graham, Kirain and Kaldu, Anneke, Nissa and Meena ... there will never be cause to fear. It was for this very reason that the Force brought them all together, this fate and new begining. They bear a living light out of the old galaxy and into the new that will never dim, but grow. And one day when the time is right, they will return. They will return. Anneke is heartbroken on the trip, knowing it is necessary, but still heartbroken at those left behind. She'll end up sleeping and crying most of the time for a month or more. She needs it too, there are some health issues discovered too, exhaustion and such brought on by all the stress and time in bacta. But she'll eventually recover, and amongst the humans she'll discover someone she once saw in a vision long ago, someone who likes her, but has never been able to tell her and she doesn't know he exists. She'll meet him, he'll be goaded by Nissa and Rena to start courting Neke or something. Neke'll be completely taken off guard by that, in a good way. Then when Rena has the babies Neke'll be like a doting aunt. Until she gets married to the mysterious stranger a year or so down the road, after arriving and starting the colony. She'll have two kids, two daughters - Kitaran and Renika. (One of whom had better marry one of Rena and Graham's kids! :p ) they will also be strong with the force, and learn well. In other words? After all the hell she suffers, Anneke will live happily ever after. and in the Journey she heals, and thrives. She won't study the Force actively for a while - but as she grows as a person, she'll become more attuned naturally. And eventually grow very good with Sensing it. And speaking. A goal to be able to speak and sense their old home galaxy, to guide friends here, and to know when it will be safe in turn. And Anneke also helps explore the new galaxy with a new vigor. Graham is finally free of the Jedi... time and energy vampires… Even though he is young, or because of it, Kirian never ceases to bring joy around him. Every day, he trains with enthusiasm and energy, not forgetting to play and steer troubles through pranks in the memory of his friend Liam - which got him banned over and again from the bridge. Meena and Kaldu did not seem to like to have all the seats equiped with whoopee cusions, nor the coffee machine distribute liquide candy (and jam and burn). The young noble, freed from a fate he did not choose now blooms into achieving the one the Force showed him in his dreams - and keep showing him. He will be that strong warrior, ready to protect his friends from betrayal, sadness, pain and fear. What does an Arcona do when he has few prospects in any regard but flying? Flying and engineering? Kaldu Railm will, despite his work with flying, and no doubt teaching Graham how to fly, become the godfather to Rena and Graham's children. He will take care of them, watching them, and will more often than not be the one that the holy rain of terrors that are the two lovely twin boys will be off loaded to when they need time to themselves. He won't mind. He will continue to practice in the Force, becoming stronger more and more as he is trained by Graham and Rena, which ever has the free time. On the flight between galaxies, Kaldu will fall in love with one of the Arcona scientists that have come along. Though many a date were ruined, in his opinion, by whoopee cushions sneakily placed by a certain young noble, they did hit it off and get married. They would have three children. Two of said children will take female personalities and one a male personality. Only one will be truly strong in the force, the middle daughter, of whom Rena will be made the fairy godmother. Though later in his life he will become a drunkard. It will split his family up, and it won't be until a few incidents, one including almost killing his first daughter in a flying accident, that he realized the full extent to his problem. Though he will go through lapses of drinking, he will do well in forsaking it...for the most part. Though he will give up piloting in favour of focusing on the Force and on engineering. So, since epilogues are the order of the day, we shall reveal some things, while leaving the curtain delicately drawn to leave other matters unrevealed to the pitiless eye of the world. Meena Tills will actually spend whole days and weeks doing nothing more than enjoying the love of a loving wife, and in time, the children that come sooner rather than later. There will be many sons, and more daughters, as many as Nissa can bear to bear. For theirs is a small expedition, and there will be a large Galaxy to fill. But not without some hint of caution and paranoia in Meena Tills' approach to a new Galaxy. Who can say that there may not be powers in a new realm as horrible as the Sith, as ambitious as the Imperium, as mercenary as the Hutts? So he will guide them carefully in, avoiding contact with any civilizations in that far-off Galaxy until they have found a home they can fortify, and fill its oceans with a new generation who know new beasts to hunt, and for whom the Krakana and the Keelkana, the Sarlacc and the Rancor, the Rachnois and the Xichparul and the Merseval are only the names of ships. A new world, a new industrial base constructed from city-ships and a deep-space shipyard ... that will take much time, time that must be kept isolated until the new sprout can grow and take root. And there will be a time, yes there will be a time, when one of Nissa's daughters marries a son of the Ackbar clan. We do not know whether that son decides to lead an expedition back into the Galaxy left behind so long ago, or if he decides to remain in the world he calls home: for that too is a tale for another day.
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