Star Wars: Tears of Fire (Book II)

Chapter 7 - The Blade's Edge

Vess huffed through his nose.

"Don't tempt me."

* * *

Shayla ran to catch up with Zekiel and the others, sprinting through the various halls of the now familiar ship. While doing so, she caught a few glimpses from various species she wasn't familiar with who'd all reluctantly come back on board the ship to make the journey to the second vessel.

After the trauma they suffered upon being freed from the control of the Xirus devices only to be targeted by the Trandoshan overlords, their hesitation to step back onto the very ship they'd been enslaved on was understandable.

As Zekiel said to all who were gathered at the time, it was completely their choice whether they came back aboard or not. They were now free to live their lives as they saw fit.

Still, many of the hundreds of survivors were convinced that staying together was to their benefit. Not all shared that mindset, however. A few remained behind hoping to setup new lives for themselves amongst the vast wilderness of Atophis.

Now that the vessel was on the ground again, there were more than a few individuals who were eager to disembark from the ship once again.

As Shayla worked her way through the hordes of people, she finally caught up with Zekiel and the others just as they were exiting through the rear of the ship via a large loading ramp.

"Making a new four-armed friend, I see?" asked Zekiel.

"Actually yes," she replied. "A little bit of manners and politeness can go a long way. Not that you'd know anything about that."

"In that, you are correct," Zekiel chuckled as he flashed a impudent grin.

As the group exited the ship, they noticed a vast number of people gathering outside both of the ships. From their vantage point, they noticed many of the individuals hugging as several were able to find others of their own species. Even so, the level of joy they witnessed was enough to make them feel good about their decision to bring the ship to this location.

"All we need is some music and we can have ourselves a party!" smiled Zekiel.

Shayla could only roll her eyes.

"Do you take anything seriously?" she asked.

"Yeah but not much," uttered Zekiel as he proceeded down the ramp. "Life's too short to take everything so seriously."

"I just don't think this is a good idea. Having both of the ships in the open, I mean," Shayla pondered, following Zekiel and the others off the ship.

"It's not permanent," replied Zekiel. "We just need to get a plan together. Then we can figure what the next steps are."

"I guess that's good enough for...hey," paused Shayla as she noticed something just beyond the nearby tree line. "What's going on over there?"

As both Shayla and Zekiel looked a ways into the distance, they spotted what looked like two individuals in the woods.

"I mean it's been a while for some," Zekiel joked. "Maybe they met that special someone and just couldn't wait."

Rolling her eyes once again, Shayla noticed that one of the individuals was pacing back and forth as if in distress.

"It's probably nothing but I'm gonna go check it out just to make sure no one needs help or anything."

"I'll go with you."