Skyva stood quiet, awestruck. Her attention drawn to the lightsaber hanging from her belt. “You carry our weight with you”, she replayed the words through her head. She hadn’t realised it was so literal. Was it so? She mulled on her visitor’s words. Nothing she said was unknown to her, not really. Those painful revelations and comforting words were all things she knew deep down. Perhaps that conversation was a delusion. Something invented by the building stress breaking yet another important piece of her head. But perhaps it didn’t matter, their words had the same result regardless. Skyva had purpose, she knew what she had to do. She stepped into the cockpit of the Horizon Chaser and settled down in the pilot’s seat. The ship idled above Viscara’s atmosphere, drifting amongst the space debris in the planet’s orbit, illuminated by the system’s sun.
She laid back and pet her little furry companion, watching the stars. Each a distant system, each a mote of potential, millions of potential lives that could affect millions more.
On one far off star a cruel ruler oppresses his people, crushing spirits and stoking their rage, all in the name of future glory.
On another, a discarded son takes hold of his destiny, illuminated by shining blue light, anticipating his reunion with his first friend.
On a planet soon to be embroiled by war, a child looks up to the stars, attempting to predict her uncertain future.
In a hidden factory, deep underground and away from the light, a man stands before a bubbling tank, preparing to right a wrong of the past.
And in the darkness between the stars an unending fleet converges, preparing to create an Echo that will repeat through the Republic.
Skyva leaned forward and took ahold of the ship’s controls. The turbo engines flared to life and pulled the Horizon Chaser out of the planet’s orbit. Soon, with a brief hum, the ship turned into a streak of light across the blackness of space, mingling with these motes of potential. She did not know where this new path would lead, but she knew that she would travel it all the same.
Someone had to.