ONE: Whispers

𝘞𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱… 𝘞𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱… 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦… 𝘞𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱…

Near Nymeve Lake on the planet Takodana, the starship Windfall faced the rising sun in the horizon. As light began to peer through the ship's hull, ZO-E3 waited for her captain to wake up. She roamed the ship looking for ways to occupy herself.

The droid checked the ship's condition while the captain slept in. Apart from some mild carbon scoring, the Windfall was in one piece. "Just two old beat up pieces of hardware, huh girl?" she said as she gently ran her hand along the ship's walls. As she went out to clean the scoring, whispers in the captain's head continued to bring him out of his slumber.

#

𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦… 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵… 𝘎𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳… 𝘞𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱…

𝘈𝘭𝘦𝘹…

𝘞𝘈𝘒𝘌 𝘜𝘗!

ALEX LOVAL shouted as he was startled awake. He was in a cold sweat, frantically looking at his surroundings in his quarters. Almost immediately, though, Alex began to catch his breath. He sat up in his bed and sighed.

"Okay, I'm awake. No need to shout," he thought. This was not the first time he was woken by the ominous voice in his head. He had been hearing it since he was a child. Though he had questions about the voice's purpose, he had grown used to its presence. He knew the Force, and that some can hear its whispers. Perhaps it simply whispered louder to him.

Alex got out of bed and went to make himself some food. As he prepared a ration pack and poured himself a glass of bantha milk, he heard ZO-E3 hover back into the Windfall.

"Rise and shine, Captain," she said, "Ship's all cleaned up. Those cultists really did a number on us."

The young human looked up from his meal and smiled at the droid. "Thanks, Zoe," he said, "Anything pop up on the scanners last night?"

"Not a thing. Apart from some freighters leaving the planet, no one's even bothered to look our way."

Alex took one last bite and made his way to the cockpit of the Windfall. He looked across the lake to the Takodana Castle and sighed.

"Then I guess that means she knows I'm here."

#

Dressed in his black flight suit and brown scarf, Alex made his way to Takodana Castle. It had been years since he had been there, but everything appeared to be the same to him. The last he had seen of it was just before the First Order attack. "Always slipping away just before the chaos," he thought.

Alex reached into his pocket and lightly clutched a data-stick to reassure himself that it was there. The data-stick meant more than any smuggling job he had ever done. Coming into possession of it was no accident. If this next encounter went well, it meant answers to difficult questions raging in the young smuggler's head.

The tall, black-clad smuggler blended right in as he stepped into the chaotic main hall of Takodana Castle. "Good," he thought, "The less eyes on me, the better." Alex could feel the presence of each lifeform in the colossal cantina, but he could never be sure of the true intent of any of them.

Alex made his way to the bar. As he sat down, he saw the back of a large Twi'lek male just behind the bar. The Twi'lek hummed an unknown tune and swayed back and forth to his internal rhythm while he washed used mugs. Alex grinned as he recognized an old friend.

"So, you're telling me after seven years, you still don't know any new songs, Boc?" he joked.

Recognizing the voice, Boc turned to the young man, his eyes widened as if he was seeing a ghost. As he took Alex's presence in, his expression softened and he began to laugh heartily. "After seven years, kid, you're still wearing that blasted scarf," he said with a grin.

Boc made his way around the bar to greet his friend, and the two hugged. Alex had done his best to keep contact with Boc, as well as other friends on Takodana, but they rarely saw much of him.

"So, I take it you're into something big—eh kid?" Boc said. "You didn't come all this way just to pick on an old friend."

"I'm here to see her, Boc," Alex said. "I need some information, but this one's a little closer than any old smuggling job. Is she here?"

"Funny enough, Little Loval, ya just missed her. Scurried back to her quarters just before ya got in…"

Alex looked down, and chuckled softly.

"Maz definitely knows I'm here…"