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After receiving word of its compromise, Quinlan quickly boarded his ship and made his way to the safehouse on Mapuzo. He’d been there just a few months before, once again helping to guide other force-sensitives, mostly younglings, into hiding. With every passing day, it became harder and harder to keep people safe from the Empire and its Inquisitors. And now with the fall of Mapuzo’s safehouse, things will only get more complicated. He and his current young companion, Fir, got there in the early evening. As they both expected, there was a big Imperial presence on Mapuzo. Stormtroopers were on every street, Imperial flags flew everywhere. The sight left a bad taste in Quinlan’s mouth. Not only that, but he could feel the darkness clouding the planet. It no longer had that sense of hope it once did.
“C’mon, Quin, we gotta keep movin’,” Fir snapped him back into reality.
“Right. Sorry,” he muttered, shaking his thoughts away.
Shrouded in dark cloaks, Quinlan and Fir moved through the quiet, sleeping town. The streets were quiet at night, but the absolute emptiness of it now… Eerie. Finally, they arrived at what was a safehouse just hours ago. Two stormtroopers stood guard in front of the entrance. One of them, likely a new recruit, raised his blaster as he spotted the two, the other gestured for him to lower it.
“It’s past curfew, citizens. Return to your home,” she called out, standing tall.
“Just lost our way, sir. We were visiting family,” Quinlan replied with a cool, even tone.
“Bantha-dung, you lost your way. The curfew was set hours ago,” the younger blurted.
“We lost track of time and left a little later than we wanted to,” Fir replied this time with a soft, fake nervous chuckle.
The older trooper huffed, “Get off the streets. Or we will have to detain you.”
Instead of responding this time, Quinlan continued his way closer to the safehouse, Fir remaining behind while they clutched the blaster hidden in their cloak. Both stormtroopers raised their blasters at him.
“Not another step!”
Keeping his hand hidden, Quinlan pointed his fingers at their blasters and jammed them when they attempted to fire . Once he was close enough, he waved his hand in front of their faces, “You will let us inside.”
They froze and went slack, lowering their weapons and speaking in monotone voices, “We will let you inside.”
“And you will forget you ever saw us.”
“And we will forget we ever saw you.”
Quinlan thought for a moment, then grinned. “You deserve a nice, long break.”
“We deserve a nice, long break.”
With that, the stormtroopers simultaneously turned and walked away. Fir finally joined Quinlan as he stepped inside the building.
“Y’know, that mind trick thing really freaks me out,” they muttered.
He barely had time to find amusement in that once the two were inside. It felt worse than the rest of the planet. It was ransacked and trashed. The door to the hidden room was ripped out. It wasn’t much better inside of it. There were lightsaber-shaped burn marks slashed into one of the walls. Upon further exploration, they found that the entrance to the hidden pathway was ripped out too. Quinlan didn’t want to imagine what possibly could have led to this. No doubt, this place would eventually be destroyed and wiped from existence completely, never to be used to defy the Empire again. His eyes ventured the walls again. All the carvings people left. Some were messages, others were little animals like frogs and tookas. Then he found that a piece was ripped out. He instantly recognized it was where someone had carved the Order’s sigil. He searched the floor for it, but found nothing.
“I’m gonna go stand watch by the door. Maybe do some of your object telepathy and find out what exactly happened here,” Fir sighed. He could feel their sadness and discomfort, and their slight paranoia. Fir was a good kid. They were sometimes too serious and a little mistrusting, but had a kind, compassionate heart. They didn’t quite understand Jedi or the Force or any of that since they weren’t force sensitive and grew up rather secluded in Wild Space, but they were still sympathetic to the cause. Either that, or hated the Empire enough to side with anything it opposed.
Quinlan hummed in response as he looked back up at the wall. He watched them leave through the corner of his eye before returning his full attention to it. Then he came across his own carving. He stood and stared at it, reading it over and over a million times. He ran his finger across the words and closed his eyes. There was a bright white light, then it cleared to show slightly blurred images. A woman dressed in black stormed in. An Inquisitor, one he’s seen before. Reva. He watched her look around the room, then felt her rage as she shoved something over (which he more of heard than saw) and ripped the sigil carving out of the wall with the Force. Then the vision ended. But he pushed further. How did she find this place? Maybe he was looking through the wrong thing?
The room is empty. He could hear muffled talking. Tala, and a little girl. Three figures entered the room, and the vision became more blurry. He tried to focus on what they were saying. He could at least feel what they felt. One of them, a man, was bewildered.. Sad too. Deeply sad. And tired. The little girl, however, was full of curiosity and awe. She had a sadness to her too, a yearning, but it was in the back of her mind at that moment. From the few words he could make out, he confirmed Tala was explaining what this place was. Usually, people who passed through already knew, so why didn’t they? Was this some last minute thing Tala ran into? Then the man looked at the carvings on the wall. He came closer to Quinlan’s and touched it. The moment his fingers made contact with the wood, the vision got clearer, and finally he could make out his features and hear his voice more clearly.
Quin felt his throat tighten and his heart pick up at the sight. Is that..? No, it can’t be… He thought… It can’t really be him…
“Quinlan was here…”
“ Yeah. He helps now and again, smuggling younglings.”
“What does it say?”
“‘Only when the eyes are closed… can you truly see.”
“See what?”
“... The Way..”
Quinlan pulled his hand away, backing up from the wall and staring wide-eyed at the carving. Suddenly, his mind ran wild as it tried to wrap itself around what he just saw. He could hardly believe it. After all this time… He was okay. His old friend, his closest friend, was really okay. But he’s… He’s changed. So much. So painfully much…
Feeling suffocated, the Kiffar turned and left the building. His throat still felt tight as he deeply inhaled the night air.
“What is it? What happened?” Fir asked beside him, circling to stand in front of him.
Quinlan looked at them, unsure if he was relieved, sad, or something else. “... Obi-Wan was here.”
“Obi-Wan? Ya mean that friend of yours you told me about?"
He nodded. “I saw him, Fir. He saw what I left on the wall.. He was here .”
Fir remained silent for a moment, thinking. “Who else was here..?”
“Tala, and some little girl. I couldn’t make out who she was. Reva was here too, but I think she came here after them.”
“Huh… D’you think she was after Kenobi?”
“Wouldn’t doubt it..” Quin sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “I still don’t have all the details yet. Whatever I can’t find here, we’ll have to ask Tala or Roken about. See if they have answers.”
“Good thinkin’. I’ll stick around out here still. Try not to cut yourself on anythin’ in there,” Fir smiled, nudging the older man’s side.
“That was one time and it was broken glass,” Quin snorted.
“One time that I saw .”
He shook his head, then turned to go back inside. There were plenty more visions to have in there. He could only hope he still had the chance to see his dearest friend again, in person.