atton x exile brainrot is the main reason I'm even still writing this fic so here is another excerpt from Out of the Abyss that likely needs more editing 🙃
Atton never expected there to be a day he’d be excited to see the sorry sight of Telos. It’s patchwork landscape greeted him through the viewscreen of the pilot’s computer before he caught a glimpse of it through the front of the cockpit and it was already feeling more like a haven compared to the pathetic excuse of a vacation it was to him merely a week ago.
Upon the first sight of green after a day’s view of the white-blue of hyperspace, Atton almost considered rushing out of the cockpit to tell Eden. But he stopped himself. Part of him felt he owed it to her – the woman had not only thought to feed him back on Peragus but had waltzed into the cockpit, unannounced, to give him a dinner rasher and a half, plus a brimming glass of water from the refresher once she found the ship was fully stocked with at least a month’s worth of food. She hadn’t asked for an update or anything in return. In fact, the woman had barely looked at him as she shoved the food in his direction, already helping herself to a heaping serving of veg-loaf as she both entered and exited the room without so much as a half-uttered word.
Like a civilized person, now properly fed and rested, Atton waited until they were about ready to land until he made any ceremonious announcements. He came upon Kreia first, awkwardly, after having hoped he’d run into Eden and let the woman tell the witch the news in typical grapevine fashion. Instead, he’d run into the old woman just as she was entering the common area.
“I was just about to check on Eden,” Kreia muttered, just as displeased to see Atton as he was her. “I believe she is in the garage tinkering with that droid.”
Atton only shot his eyebrows up in response, noting the apprehension in Kreia’s voice as she made her exit. Kreia gleaned everything she needed to know from Atton’s expectant expression followed by his visible disappointment at seeing her, knowing his head was full of numbers otherwise. She mumbled a half-hearted something about seeing where Telos would lead them and disappeared into her dormitory, abandoning her similar quest to find Eden. Atton sighed.
As soon as he exited the main hold, he heard it.
“…Still examining the survivors of the damaged freighter – looks like it goes by the name of the Ebon Hawk…” a recorded female voice echoed throughout the lofty space, “Only one survivor, placed in the kolto tank for recovery. The carbon scoring on the vessel suggests it was in a battle, but no indication of who fired on it…”
Eden sat on the floor of the garage, her eyes glazed over as she watched a holofeed emitting from T3’s projector. A jolt of grey-blue set the shadows in the immediate area on edge as static flickered through the image, like lightning striking outside a window in a dark room.
“What’s this?” Atton asked.
“Logs from Peragus,” Eden answered, her voice monotone, eyes unblinking.
“…couldn’t get much from the navicomputer. I’m surprised that ship was able to make it inside the Peragus asteroid field without the drift charts.”
T3 bleeped at this, his head nodding up and down proudly to which Atton grumbled, “What is this garbage? I think this droid is just getting off on itself.”
An inane anger ate at him from the inside, momentarily pausing his internal coupling count just as Eden tsked and leaned forward, typing in a command so that T3 played a different log instead.
”…finished my examination of the droids from the Ebon Hawk freighter. The T3 unit looked like it had shut itself down. The protocol droid, however, made up for it. It talked my ear off for most of the hour, asking questions about the facility, the personnel, and so on.”
Atton’s annoyance dissipated as he recognized the man who’d fed him back in security, his goggles propped on his head in the holofeed just as they had been back in the detention center before Atton had blacked out and awoken to a half-naked Eden.
“Finding any patterns?” Eden hissed, brows furrowed. Before Atton could answer she played another clip.
“Something’s wrong. Ever since we picked up that Sith firefight in the region, crewmen haven’t been reporting for their shifts, and I can’t reach people on the comm.” The woman who spoke this time was clearly a Republic officer, her badge glinting white in the static of the feed.
“This is from the Harbinger?” he asked unsurely, crossing his arms now.
“The strange thing is, I keep feeling like someone’s watching us, here in the ship, but I can’t see anyone. I don’t like this.”
A shiver ran through Atton. He couldn’t help but eye Eden, her eyes fixed on the feed from her vantage point on the floor.
“Checking the survivor from the Sith vessel – I’m not sure whether he’s alive or dead, or what’s even keeping him together. His flesh is cracked and scarred, and I’m registering several thousand fractures in his skeleton, as if each bone was splintered repeatedly over time… and then put back together. Judging from the scar tissue, I believe these wounds took place before his death. If so, he must have been in constant pain, since many of them show signs of having healed over before reinjury. I have no idea what’s keeping him together. “
“Sleeps-With-Vibroblades,” Atton muttered, to which Eden nodded. Atton’s senses about the Sith had been correct, no surprise, but part of him was bothered by the fact that he’d never heard of someone like this before. Atton wondered if he’d crossed paths with someone like the undead man they’d glimpsed during his time on Korriban or if he’d blocked it from his memory for reasons Atton believed must have been good if he forgot so easily. It didn’t seem likely, especially considering Sleeps-With-Vibroblades was the thing of nightmares.
The text EMERGENCY BROADCAST flashed within the garage space before the feed continued, as if Atton weren’t already on edge.
“This is the medical officer,” the same woman began again, though this time she was doubled over, hand aching over what was clearly an open wound. Atton tensed despite knowing everything he saw was in the past tense, “The soldiers sent to medical bay have just… died. I don’t know where the subject went – I think he’s gone to find more of the crew. With him are Sith… they just appeared right out of thin air, like they were wearing stealth generators, but… I think they were always on board. When we stopped to pick up that freighter, they must have come aboard the Harbinger. I have no idea how many are on the ship, there could be only a few, or as many as a hundred. And with communications cut off, we can’t call for help. I think that… thing… in the tank… was a Sith Lord… alive this whole time, waiting for something to wake him up.”
Eden stopped the recording and Atton did not know what to say to fill the silence that followed. He swallowed, the awkward sound of it filling the garage, but Eden barely blinked at him before she eventually spoke.
“It all comes down to me,” Eden said, her voice a husk of itself. “The Sith on the Harbinger, the HK on Peragus, and then the Sith following us again out of Peragus… They’re after me. For the price on my head or whatever the case may be, but everyone on that Republic Cruiser? And Peragus? They’re all dead because of me.”
Atton could only stare, a vague memory of what he imagined was Eden suspended in kolto back on Peragus rushing into his mind, unaware to the world around her and how Atton unfortunately factored into it. A kaleidoscope of his half-memory folded over his image of Eden now, harrowed and angry on the floor of the Hawk’s garage.
“I don’t expect you to stay,” she said as she rose to her feet, her eyes steely and her expression stone. “But I intend to see this through. I’ll take you as far as I can before you’re clear of this.”
“Clear of what?” Atton said, not expecting his voice to come out in a whisper. But it did. Eden only squared with him, nearing until their faces were mere inches apart. She did not blink and Atton was afraid to.
“Whatever comes down on us once we reach Telos,” she said huskily. “I have a… feeling.”
She almost laughed, a maddened look overcoming her face before she quelled it with a purposeful cough and a shake of the head. “Just… just trust me on this.”
“Sure,” Atton agreed though he was unsure of what exactly he was agreeing to, yet he knew without a doubt that he would believe almost anything that exited Eden’s mouth. “Sure, yeah.”
Eden nodded, finally blinking until her olive eyes were nearly watering. Atton felt hot, remembering how she’d called him out for noting her eye color earlier, yet it didn’t stop him from admiring the orange corona lining her pupils just before her irises burst in a half-molten bloom of a comforting mossy green, nonetheless.
“Good,” she said. “Good.”
Eden moved passed him, her hand briefly touching his arm as she went. Atton shuddered.
“We’re almost there, by the way,” Atton finally said just as Eden’s silhouette disappeared from the garage. “To Telos. But… you already knew that didn’t you?” he muttered, the second part to himself, feeling the fool all the while knowing Eden could no longer hear him. Or could she?
Despite how used to the view he was getting, at least of Eden, Atton knew he needed to be rid of these Jedi.
Sooner rather than later.
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