Avon huffed. “It’s for an experiment, and it’s not like I’m going to tell you, Jedi. I know you’ll find a way to ruin it somehow. Besides, can’t you just read my mind?” The girl crossed her arms and Vernestra sighed. She and Avon always butted heads. It wasn’t because Vernestra didn’t like the young girl. Quite the opposite—she found Avon’s many inventions and theories to be endlessly fascinating. But Avon did not like to be told no, and she had ended up in Port Haileap precisely for that reason. Her mother, Senator Ghirra Starros, had sent her there, hoping that some time spent on the edge of space would make Avon more appreciative of her life on Coruscant. All it had done was make Avon more determined to do as she pleased, which was usually inventing machines from bits of other things.
There was no real reason for Avon to accompany the delegation to Starlight and then back to Coruscant; her mother hadn’t sent for her and she had no official role on the journey, but Master Douglas, the marshal of the outpost, had asked to have Avon accompany them specifically because the Dalnan ambassador’s son was twelve, as well. He was hoping that the two would become friends and soften the Dalnans’ view of the Republic.
Vernestra was hoping so, too. Mostly because Avon needed a friend.
“Mistress Avon! You are late. If you do not get on board that ship this instant I will uncouple your linking hoses and then let’s see how well your scoot speeder runs.”
A pinkish-gold droid as tall as Vernestra stomped over to where they stood. J-6, Avon’s protocol droid, was half warden, half nanny, all attitude. She spoke like no protocol droid Vernestra had ever met, and she suspected that Avon had something of a hand in that.
Avon sighed heavily and pushed her unruly hair out of her face before walking over to her scoot speeder and righting it to climb on. “Well, looks like the jig is up. I got it, Jay-Six, no sabotage necessary. You coming, Vern? You don’t want to be late.”
Vernestra smiled and nodded. She was excited to see Starlight Beacon, even if it meant she would have to work extra hard to keep Avon out of trouble. “Let’s go.”
As they walked toward the boarding ramp for the Steady Wing, Vernestra stumbled and gasped. Avon gave her a sidelong glance. “Everything okay?”
Vernestra put a hand to her chest and looked over to where an Aqualish mechanic was tinkering with an access panel near the boarding ramp. He stared back at Vernestra with three unblinking eyes. His lower right eye was missing, and blue-tinted scar tissue occupied the space instead. There was nothing else about him that was remarkable; he wore the same orange coveralls as every other member of the docking station’s maintenance crew.
“I’m fine,” Vernestra said, finally, in answer to Avon’s query. Vernestra gave the Aqualish man a small smile, and he turned away without reaction, going back to whatever he was doing. Something about the man made Vernestra feel more alert than was necessary, a spiky sensation that she couldn’t explain. She was just nervous and excited about the mission to Starlight, since this was her first real Jedi mission and she didn’t want to mess it up. That was why she was fixating on random mechanics doing their jobs.
At least, that was what she told herself, even if she didn’t truly feel it.
Pushing the strange feeling aside, Vernestra accompanied Avon and J-6 onto the Steady Wing and tried to focus on making sure the young girl did not try to escape before departure. Vernestra had her hands full enough without seeing phantoms in every corner of the Force.
Avon boarded the ship, J-6 and Vernestra on either side. Avon couldn’t help but stare at the lightsaber on Vernestra’s hip. The weapon was powered by a kyber crystal. She’d heard amazing things about them, and the one time she’d seen the Jedi use her lightsaber, the blade had glowed purple with pure energy. Avon had tried to talk Vernestra into letting her examine it more closely, but the older girl had politely refused.
“A Jedi and her kyber are linked through the Force. It sings to me and my spirit returns that call. It’s not a mere energy crystal, Avon. I am sorry. But no.”
Avon had decided long ago the worst thing about Vernestra was how aggravatingly nice she was. Always apologizing to Avon when she told her no. It was almost as bad as J-6’s constant nagging about her clothes.
“Mistress Avon, we must retire to the cabin set aside for you and prepare for dinner. I also have a dress for you that your mother sent along. It will be perfect for the dedication of Starlight, but it has to be altered before we get there,” the droid said, all rose-gold annoyance.
“Yes, that is a good idea,” Vernestra said. “Although, you should have a good bit of time to alter the dress. Master Douglas said that because of the recent hyperspace disasters we will be spending more time traveling by sublight until we can get to a safe jump point mid-system, and then entering lightspeed to continue our journey. So it would probably be a good idea to get comfortable since we’ll be aboard for a long while.”
“Oh, that is a delight to hear. This ship is state-of-the-art, unrivaled luxury,” J-6 said, her mechanical voice lilting with joy. “I cannot wait to plug in and update my programming. And it’s been so long since anyone oiled my sockets.” The droid gave Avon a meaningful look, and the girl snorted.
“Last time I tried to give you an upgrade you freaked out.”
“That is because you added an entire dictionary’s worth of Aqualish curse words to my lexicon! You are a terrible child who is ungrateful and mean.”
Avon grinned, because there was no real heat to J-6’s words. “Yeah, but think about how great it was when those wine haulers came through and you tried to greet their captain. I didn’t even know the Aqualish had a sense of humor, but that crew almost passed out from laughing so hard.”
Vernestra’s pale green skin darkened several shades, and her dark eyebrows shot so far up her head that they almost reached her hairline. “So that’s why Master Douglas had to come down to the docking bay and break up a fight amongst the Aqualish. And they weren’t laughing, Avon! Those whistles were Aqualish sounds of challenge. Och, one of these days your mischief is going to have real consequences.”
Avon shrugged and waved away Vernestra’s admonishment. “Whatever, Vern. You still in charge of making sure I show up to things on this trip?” Avon had planned on staying back at Port Haileap. With the Jedi off to Coruscant and out of the way (the Force always seemed to tell on Avon long before sensors and droid guards did), she’d been planning on finally finishing her latest invention, antigravity shoe inserts. But then J-6 had started packing up her room and said that they were traveling to Starlight Beacon with the diplomatic envoy from Dalna. The only upside was that Vernestra had been stuck with babysitting duty, which meant that maybe Avon would get to see the Jedi’s lightsaber again.
“Avon, you are old enough to get to dinner on your own,” Vernestra said with a friendly smile, the crinkling of her eyes compressing the designs in the outside corners. Like most Mirialans, Vernestra bore the markings of her family, six tiny black diamonds stacked in two rows of three on the outside corner of each eye. “I’m here to keep you and the ambassador’s son safe, not chase you from task to task. At your age I was a Padawan traveling the galaxy with my master. Dressing for a meal surely cannot be beyond your ability.”