Kenari is a fairly obscure planet that few had ever heard of. The planet was long abandoned after being labeled as toxic due to an Imperial Mining Incident, which is why the Covenant was able to remain hidden as long as it has. The Planet's only inhabitants are the native tribes that live simple, nomadic lifestyles compared to the rest of the known galaxy. Kenari is most notably the homeworld of Cassian Andor.

The Covenant remains hidden amongst the planet's abandoned mines, within a canyon that had fortunately kept it from sight from would-be thieves and looters.Tunnels from the nearby mines act as shortcuts to the fallen ship. The upper hull of the Covenant* has been breached, granting easy access for those with the means, or willpower, to do so. Rainfall has dulled and rusted the surface of the ship, making certain walkways flimsy and dangerous to travel.

With few venturing out due to the danger. Members of Clan Plagueis and Clan Taldryan have been tasked with infiltrating the abandoned Venator to retrieve a most vital artefact that was codenamed: The Ark.

However, what stands in the way are members of the opposing Clan. The ship and the area around it have been designated as a free-fire zone by both the Taldryan Supreme Chancellor and Plagueis Dread Lord, with those entering it doing so at their own risk, as a work around to the non-aggression pact signed by both leaders in the Canto Bight Accords. This makes The Covenant a hostile battleground, both inside and out. Although it has certainly seen better days, The Covenant is a true testament to the might of a Republic from over half a century ago.

“Why does it matter how old I am, anyway? I can take care of myself just fine”. Aay'han was trying to keep her voice down while she and her assigned partner explored the abandoned corridors of the Covenant, but the weird old guy just wouldn’t drop the subject and she really wished he’d just drop it. Loose deck plates, broken cables dangling from the ceiling, and piles of rubble made exploration difficult enough as it was, but the ever present danger of ambush from hostile Plagueian exploration teams meant progress moved at what felt like a glacial pace to the young Iridonian. Anything worth grabbing would be gone by the time they got anywhere interesting, and all he could talk about was—

“It’s for the case file,” Ben was fiddling with his datapad while he walked; the path ahead of him dimly illuminated by the BD droid perched on his shoulder. “Am I chaperoning the unruly teenager out to prove a point, or escorting the wiz kid through hostile territory?” Ben trailed off, he looked as though he had more to say, but at that exact moment he had stepped on something slimy and banter suddenly took a backseat to getting smelly mystery goo off his boot.

Aay’han hopped over a small gap in the deck plating, and had almost lost her balance in offense when utter nonsense had come out of Ben’s mouth. “You’re guarding me?! I’m sorry, one of us has battle-tested beskar'gam and the other is dressed up like we’re going out to the club!” She lowered her voice to a seething whisper as she approached a blind corner further down the corridor. “That vest of yours wouldn’t hold up to an angry glare, let alone a blaster shot”.

Ben crossed the same gap Aay’han had just navigated with an extra large step – wisely deciding not to voice a comment about relative heights and small gaps – and stacked up behind Aay'han as she peeked around the corner. He whispered, “Armour is for people expecting to be shot at. Speaking of, see anyone like that ahead?”

“Four scavengers. Two on guard, two working on getting a blast door open”. Aay'han unstrapped the Amban rifle on her back and brought it to a ready position. She lined up on the near guard and didn’t see any Taldryan markings through her scope. Just like training then. Line them up. Breathe out. Squeeze the trigger. At the very last moment, Ben got her attention with a quick tap on the shoulder. She glanced back to see him hold up all his fingers, make two fists, then hold up all the fingers again before utterly vanishing from sight and leaving the BD droid behind. Twenty? He wanted her to wait a whole twenty seconds? She brought her rifle back to ready. Her target was in sight. She waited. The guarding scavenger started to shift in her direction. Had he seen her? Has it been twenty seconds yet? Breathe out. Close enough. Squeeze the trigger.

Fifteen Star Destroyers. Sixteen Star Destroyers. Seventee–oh no. Ben was nearly to the group when the hairs on the back of his neck all stood at attention and he knew he needed to dive forward right now. A bright bolt tore through the empty space where Ben had been just a moment ago, only to rip through its intended target. The first guard’s body fell to the ground with a dull thud. The far guard spun around and was about to return fire before there was another flash as Aay’han took out her second tango. At the first sign of danger the door team had dove for cover next to the bulkheads, and had started to return fire with their E-11s. Another shot from Aay’han and her Amban, this time missing and leaving a glowing scorch mark on the wall. Amidst the chaos, the still-invisible Adept rolled onto his back. Three more seconds and he would’ve been in a better position. Just three more kriffing seconds.

The two remaining scavengers started to move. One was laying down covering fire towards Aay'han’s position, while the other started to move forward to try for a better firing arc. Ben had gotten very good at using the Force to hide from sight over the years, but the bubble of lensed light wrapped around him was fragile and would certainly shatter if this big jerk tripped over him. His only chance…well, he’d certainly taken bigger risks before. Ben reached down, unclipped his lightsaber, and did the only thing that could save him now: tossed it over his head towards the other scavenger laying down suppressing fire. As it spun, it silently activated in mid-air, and time seemed to stand still for just a moment. The red glow lit up the dark hallway as it flew and bisected the scavenger top to bottom. The final target – the aforementioned jerk – was shocked to see an older male human suddenly appear in the middle of the corridor and shouted in surprise. Aay’han, no longer pinned behind cover, was able to peek out and take another shot. This one didn’t miss, dropping the final target’s body right on top of the prone Ben.

“What was that about not getting shot at?”

“...you owe me three seconds. Then we’ll talk about you going in first next time”

Like everything else in this section, the door was unpowered and had to be manually opened, which could be done with two cranks on either side of it. With a nod, Aay'han and Ben took one crank each and started to slowly open the door. As rust ground against rust and the blast door screeched its objections, they caught a glimpse of what lay beyond: a cavernous room filled with power cables running in all directions towards countless maintenance conduits. At the center of the room was…something. Something shiny. A small hole in the ceiling had apparently gone all the way to the outer hull, as a small cone of daylight illuminated the doohickey like it was the centerpiece of an ancient temple. As the gap in the door got bigger and bigger, Aay'han suddenly let go of her crank and dove through the hole. Without thinking, Ben reached out to grab the spinning crank with the Force, just able to hold the door in place.

“What are you—?!”

“You said I should go in first next time, and besides that I saved your butt back there. This one’s mine, I earned it. Go find your own, Mr. Babysitter”. Aay'han spun around and ran towards her well-earned reward, leaving Ben behind to either hold the door or find somewhere useful to be.

—

<chuckling whistle>

“Shut up BT. You know that’s not what I meant”.

To her surprise, Ben kept a hold of the lever, ensuring she had a viable way back out. A quick assessment of the chamber made her silently grateful, she wouldn't need to crawl her way out.

She neglected to vocalise her thanks, however.

Gradually her eyes became accustomed to the gloom, the only workable light coming from the sassy droid that followed her companion like a lost puppy.

Creeping further into the room only added to the confusion, technology wasn't her area of expertise if she was being brutally honest with herself.

Though, artefacts were a different matter. Nestled into a compartment seeming to interface with the power systems was something even better than what initially caught her eye.

"... Pretty..." An admiring eye took in the fine filigree etched into the metal. She pocketed the item into her bag before a smooth wave of power beckoned her across the room.

Itchy fingers plucked the next item out of the perfectly shaped dip in the console bracket.

With the force of what felt like a physical blow her mind felt assaulted. It loosened her control, memories flooded back.

Pain danced along neurons as her skin was exposed for the first time out of the vat. The irritation of skin feeling cloth for the first time.

It burrowed further into her memory, seeking out more of her suffering with glee.

It found her father, with those wicked red eyes; her eyes. It found the blows they exchanged as she fought for her very breath. The first of many she had killed, the dimness as life left their eyes.

Before she even knew what happened, her knees buckled beneath her as she fought back and wrestled her tightly wrung control back.

Ben had not been left unhindered by Aay'han's reaction. She had projected every one of those intimate moments into his mind in a jumble of emotion and mental images he'd never be able to unsee or feel. The violence of it sent a spike of nausea through his stomach.

He now knew she was not as innocent as she appeared. That there was something fundamentally broken about her. It took all of his concentration to just hold the doorway as they forced their way into his mind.

Awareness of what happened around him left, lost in a flurry. By the time he was able to push back, Aay'han had already slipped out of the room, her pack slightly heavier with the duo she had pilfered.

The gobsmacked look on Ben's face made Aay'han pause.

"What now?" She rubbed at her forehead and face, a headache starting to brew. A smear of grime swiped across the porcelain flesh.

"What was that!?" As he shouted his voice reverberated off the cavernous junkyard. His arms jumped up, gesticulating dramatically.

The filtered light felt as though it was dimmer now, the ground giving a familiar squelch as her boots moved to face him fully. A copperish tang hit her nose sending a pang of guilt through her stomach.

"What, was what?" She attempted to keep a level tone, gradually becoming more and more disconcerted by how her surroundings were morphing before her eyes.

Ben's hand had already started waving his pistol around trying to express himself non-verbally as he had no words to describe what had happened.

This was the first and last advantage she would give him. Her hands moved without her mind engaging. Before she could stop herself, her Westar was there.

The shot was taken.

An eerie silence descended after the sound of the discharged weapon dispersed.

Ben gave a few slow blinks, the action catching him off for a fraction of a second.

"You tried to shoot Margo!" He looked more wounded by the thought of his gun being damaged than himself being shot.

"I think you fried your brain instead of an egg!" Shouting back made her at least feel slightly better even if it did make her head throb in time with her pulse.

Opting to not give him a chance to manage to shoot. She fired again, the blaster bolt barely skimmed his face, as though he knew it was coming.

She dove behind the cover as she fired. The pile of scrap metal wouldn't do much for her if she decided to stay for too long, but it was enough protection for now.

The need to straighten her mind and focus on what was happening was the only reason she decided to do that instead of outright charging him.

Taking a moment she held a breath, exhaling slowly. Her hands had been shaking and it was only now she noticed.

Ben shook his head as he tried to clear out the after-images of what he had just experienced. One moment he was considering just letting the blast door slam shut – the brat could either find her own way out or someone else could retrieve her later – and the next, his head was filled with sensations of pain and visions of torture. He had reacted instinctively at first out of fear and confusion, but as the Zabrak took a shaky breath behind that pile of rubble, she was also giving Ben a brief reprieve and space to just think. Out of nowhere, she had attacked him. First mentally, then with a gun. She nearly shot his trusty Bryar pistol! Ben realized that today’s story wasn’t a tale of two dissimilar and reluctant allies overcoming hardships and trials together. No, it seemed that the script had betrayal and glory seeking in store; Aay'han must want to bring back the prize on her own and reap the rewards herself. He started to feel less shaken as he thought it through, and made up his mind that he’d just have to out-plot her.

Aay’han waited as long as she dared for her hands to stop shaking. She wasn’t sure what had caused those painful memories of her childhood and father to surface. Maybe something about that room seemed familiar, or maybe someone was forcibly digging through her mind. Then again, maybe it was a good thing. After all, she was trapped in this long-forgotten Venator with an unknown number of enemies and a possibly crazed man waving a blaster around. Despite the phantom echoes of pain washing over her like an angry boiling ocean, it had put her on edge and ready to react to a clear threat. She glanced at her bag; she had The Shiny and just needed to get to safety, wherever that might be. Taking one last steadying breath and gripping her Westar tightly, she peered over the rubble.

If Aay’han had taken even a second longer to steady herself, she might’ve thought Ben had pulled the vanishing trick again. As it was, she caught a fleeting glimpse of what she thought was the strange man sprinting away, skidding on his heel at the bend and taking off down the bend where the two of them had first come in. She didn’t understand; first he asks questions that don’t make sense at all, then waves a blaster around, then runs off in fear? Where was he even going? Carefully stepping out from behind the rubble, Westar at the ready in case Ben just as suddenly ran back towards her, Aay’han stepped over the fallen Plagueian scavengers. Something in the back of her mind started to tell her that there might be one too many bodies…

KABOOM!

… but all of a sudden it was as if someone was attacking the old husk of a Venator. To Aay’han, it seemed like the section they were in was on the verge of breaking apart and falling. She felt the terrible shaking in the deck plates and could hear the creaks and groans of the superstructure bending and breaking. There was no time to escape back the way they had come in. She braced herself against a bulkhead, closed her eyes and held on tightly as her world started to tumble end over end.

Ben slowly got up off the ground, holding his left hand out as his fingers twitched to and fro like a puppeteer. It was hard enough to layer a convincing illusion over multiple senses at once, especially when you start throwing in the funny sounding ones like vestibular to the mix, that he hadn’t dared to move until Aay’han had closed her eyes. BD-BT clamored up to his usual perch on Ben's shoulder, and Ben whispered to his droid companion "Alright BT, just like those hoodlums do it".

Ben dropped the illusion and ran towards Aay’han. To her credit, she realized pretty quickly that what she had just experienced wasn’t real at all, but had certainly not expected to be immediately tackled by the man she thought had already run off. Both Taldryanites tumbled to the ground, but as they fell Ben grabbed Aay’han’s bag and rolled into the fall, letting the momentum carry him forward and back onto his feed. In a blink he scooped up BD-BT in his free hand, held the bag above his head and yelled out “Got your stuff!” as he sprinted back down the dark corridors towards the awaiting shuttle.

“You…what…my…augh!” sputtered Aay’han. She unclipped and ignited her saber-staff, lighting the corridor in a hue as red as her rage before giving chase.

With the most unladylike curse she could muster she deactivated the blade and switched out to her Westar.

Taking aim she fired the shot, aiming high at a reflective portion of the hull. The bolt glanced off the shiny surface, it flew across Ben's path before his feet.

He stumbled. His feet dug into the refuse-strewn floor to gain traction.

With a wobble he managed to just about keep upright, startled by the shot that almost cremated his toes.

During this time, Aay'han had not been idle, with a quick flick of fingers she had held the bag in place. As Ben began his next round of sprinting it declined to budge, yanking him back with comical effect, sending him sprawling backwards.

Unfortunately, he kept his grip on the bag, fingers clamping down brutally against the fabric as he fell.

This wasn't necessarily a problem, it was enough time to clear the distance between the two. Her feet carried her swiftly, managing to negate the worst of the refuse until she was upon him.

Ben's instincts screamed, and with no hesitation, he rolled out of the way of the lightsaber's slash. The metal and fabric sizzled beneath the heat but he had no time to contemplate it, rolling to his feet to not be caught off guard again.

He coughed from the noxious fumes that emanated from Aay'han's lightsaber.

When he lifted his hand to pick up the bag he realised she had not been aiming for him at all. The girl was smart, she had purposefully broken the strap, forcing him to fight if he wanted the prize.

Ben was also clever, he knew she wouldn't win an outright conflict with him. For all of her aggressive tenacity, she was still weaker.

Deciding to take his chances he lunged forward, instead of charging her he went for the bag itself.

The strap was like a red Cape for an angry bull Rancor to Aay'han. Her body immediately responded to clear the distance, blindly she freed her hands but the time it took cost her dearly.

Ben had a full grasp of the pack before her, she lept, using her full body weight to smash into him sending the pair sprawling into yet another pile of scrap and refuse.

Jagged edges dug into clothing, and exposed skin and screamed against armour as they tussled to gain dominance over each other. Blood wept from cut skin but the pain went ignored by both parties as they lashed out at each other.

Finally, Aay'han's pale fingers grasped at the fabric as they then began a tug of war for the shiny-shiny.

What happened next was more ear-splitting than the scrape of metal against metal. The sound of shredding fabric echoed out between them.

The duo settled.

It was absolutely horrific for the pair.

Ben grasped at one half of the bag on his side. Aay'han had attempted to wrestle dominance but had only mortification to greet her.

In her charge to her prey, she had lept and used her legs to gain purchase upon him. This had meant she had tried to use her legs to squeeze the air out of his lungs.

It looked more like a lover's embrace than a fight.

A simultaneous blush crept across their cheeks as embarrassment took hold.

"Let go." There was a tone of command behind Ben's voice. Aay'han immediately rankled against it, visibly bristling like an angry feline.

"No." Petulance was audible in her tone, she tightened her grip on her half of the bag.

He huffed a sigh, he really didn't want to hurt a teenager, it just felt off to him, even if she was a Sith. Taldryan accepted all, and in turn, he knew he had to do the same.

"I could really hurt you, you know that." He was trying to be reasonable. She gave an acknowledgement through a single nod.

"So how are we going to work this out?" He quizzed more to himself than to her, apparently his internal monologue had become an external one as he mused to himself.

"One each." She gritted out. "And you owe me a new bag." Ben mulled it over for a few seconds before extending his hand to shake on the deal. He was wary though, she was tricky.

Aay'han huffed a sigh and shook on it, gradually letting Ben escape from the death hold she had.

Once he was upright he helped her to her feet. She eyed him with suspension, expecting him to bolt again.

He disappointed her in that regard, he remained and packed her things into his bag for safekeeping.

"... You do know I didn't mean to share those memories with you right?" Her tone was laced with an anxiety he felt keenly. It made him stop packing.

"... No, I thought you did it on purpose."

A sigh of frustration huffed out but she didn't bring it up again. She didn't want to think about it. The pair decided now was a good time to pick their way back home.

---

Twenty-four hours later.

Aboard the Bulwark Aay'han had made herself as comfortable as she could. The ship was cramped compared to an actual planet but she guessed she'd get used to it.

Her musing was cut short as a chime alerted her that someone was at the door. She scrambled to cover her pyjamas with a robe before letting the guest in.

Ben had patience, he knew she was in there and just waited for her. He was eventually rewarded as the door slid open.

"... Wow..." Was all he could manage. Her hair was a thick mass of damp curls that by all rights should have a gravitational pull of their own. It was so thick you could probably use it to smother someone.

"Sorry, it uh, does its own thing." Ben noticed her gnawing at her lip with such ferocity it had started to bleed.

"It's nice." He tried his best to put her at ease but it sounded awkward even to him.

She gestured for him to sit and make himself comfortable. Aay'han left him alone for a moment.

He couldn't help noticing the one bit of her she had brought from home. It was in his nature to be inquisitive, the picture was a very candid one, he recognised the man, he'd been in Taldryan a while before vanishing. Appius had asked him to look for traces of him but he was like a ghost.

The woman he didn't recognise, he made a mental note to do a bit of digging on her. His little investigation was cut short when Aay'han came back, her hair pulled back and a bottle and two glasses in her hand.

She poured him a glass and then herself one and sat opposite him. Ben gave his drink a suspicious sniff but all he got were alcohol fumes.

Politely he drank and tried not to cough. It burned its way down the back of his throat eliciting a sinus clearing he hadn't noticed he needed.

"What is that?"

"Tihaar. It's a decent bottle." As she spoke he carefully placed a box on the table.

Aay'han eyed it for a moment with suspicion but after Ben nudged it towards her she relented and opened the box.

Inside was as promised a new pack, this was a thing of art though, the leather was immaculate and sewn by hand. A work of art in its own right.

"... Thank you for keeping your word... It means a lot to me."

She poured another glass for him and the pair spoke until late into the night.

When Ben eventually woke the next morning, he made a mental note to never take drinks from her again.

He nursed his headache all day and wondered how Aay'han had managed to still function.