Chapter Text
A galaxy. It was spinning its endless spiral in the eternal skies. Then, blackness.
The blackness spread from the center to eat away at the endless light.
A moon, falling apart from the heat of its sun.
The star beginning to fade, its fire snuffed with the ease of breath on a candle.
A city, its building tall, but its streets are empty.
Not empty. The streets are full of the dead.
The vision focuses.
Malavai!
His body is thrown on the ground. There is no rise and fall to his chest. His features are frozen with the stillness of death.
Her own body lying beside him.
There is no life, only death.
Eshosria surfaced from her meditation to find her heart racing and her limbs trembling. It took her a few moments to ground herself.
Finally, she looked up to see her bed, their bed, tidy and neat in the middle of their room on the Fury. She was safe. No suns, no moons, no cities.
Malavai!
She scrambled to her feet, hurriedly adjusted her outer robe and almost ran out of the room.
She found him in the first place she looked – in the cockpit, going over a report or some calculations.
It was of no consequences. She pulled his chair roughly back and threw herself into his arms.
She felt Malavai startle at being so abruptly pulled away from his work, but when he realized it was her, he put his arms around her and squeezed her to him.
A moment passed and he asked softly into her hair, “What’s wrong?”
Eshosria lifted her head from his chest, having managed to regain a semblance of control after breathing in his scent. But once she looked on his face, in his eyes, so concerned, so alive, she found she couldn’t speak. Her vision returned to her momentarily, his dead eyes open, looking at her unseeing.
She surged forward and kissed him.
The feel of his breath on her face, his taste in her mouth, his arms tightening even further around her, it was all she could do not to sob her relief.
When they eventually broke apart, Malavai caressed the side of her face. “I have never seen you so distressed.”
Eshosria took his face in both her hands and forced herself to look him in the eye. “I need you to promise me something.”
“What is it, my love?”
“I want you to promise me that you will sacrifice every single man under your command before you ever let anything harm you. Promise me!” Her yellow eyes burned into his blue, as he registered her demand.
Malavai pulled her face towards his and kissed her lightly on her lips.
“What happened?” he whispered when they broke apart.
Eshosria buried her face in his chest. “I had a dream, a vision. You were dead.”
Malavai exhaled slowly and after a moment pushed at her until she slid from his lap. He immediately stood after her. He took her hand and started to lead her away from the cockpit.
“Where are we going?” Eshosria asked, fallowing him.
“This is a serious matter,” he answered. “It should be discussed seriously.”
Malavai led her to the conference room, only to find that it was not empty.
Vette and Broonmark were in the middle of a heated discussion regarding the value of some sample Broonmark had found and where it could be possibly sold. Both of them looked up when Eshosria and Malavai entered.
“Whoa,” Vette was the first to speak. “You look like Jaesa that time she tried exoboar soup.”
Malavai helped Eshosria into a chair. He himself stayed standing.
“I had a vision,” Eshosria answered, her voice sounding drained to her own ears. “There was a galaxy neighboring our own, and then… nothing.
“Every star went dim, both in that galaxy and our own. The end of everything.”
“See? Probably just something you ate. Maybe? I hope?” It was no surprise Vette tried to make light of the matter.
“Another galaxy?” Malavai spoke up, his voice full of wonder. “Would you say it was a dwarf galaxy?”
Eshsoria smiled weakly at him. “A dwarf galaxy sounds right. What do you know?”
“There is such a galaxy off the Outer Rim, known as the Rishi Maze.”
“Rishi? I’ve heard of Rishi,” Vette injected, her voice dreamy. “It’s a planet. Some kind of pirate resort? Sounds like a real dive. I’ve kinda always wanted to go.”
“We get strange datamails from Rishi. We do not ask for them. Offers of free travel,” Broonmark added as well.
Eshosria’s head started to ache. The combined impact of the vision, her stress and these new developments was beginning to affect her. She rubbed the sides of her temple. “You’ve started receiving these recently?”
“Yes. Sith understands. And there is no sender.”
“Quinn,” she lifted her head to look at him. “Set a course. We’re going to Rishi.”
He allowed himself to touch lightly on her shoulder, as reassurance. She nodded, he bowed and left.
Vette reached out for her hand across the table. “Esh, are you OK?”
Eshosria shook her head and smiled. Her headache was starting to ease, now that she was following as the Force directed. “I’ll be fine.”
She never once forgot he had not made her that promise.