Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“There’s nothing. Absolutely nothing. It’s like he’s just vanished...”

Juno’s voice trailed off as she turned round in her seat to face Starkiller, who was sitting some way behind her, making adjustments to his lightsaber. He didn’t appear to have heard her. As usual. Juno sighed, and slumped back in the pilot’s seat. She stared out of the Rogue Shadow’s viewport onto the dusty city of Pixelito, on Malastare. General Kota had been here, once, but he was long gone. Nar Shadaa had been a dead end. Juno had just spent the last few hours slicing into ship registers for this port, and she was feeling bored, grumpy and irritated. Not to mention starving. Her stomach gave a very loud, unhealthy rumble, as if to prove her point.

Starkiller looked up, a look of alarm on his face.

“What was that?” He sounded almost concerned in his own, guarded manner.

“My stomach,” she replied, trying not to roll her eyes. “I’m kind of hungry. It’s been a while since I’ve eaten...” her voice trailed off as she remembered what she’d sent Starkiller’s droid off to do. “PROXY? How are the supplies doing?”

PROXY wondered into the cockpit, clunking metallically.

“I have been analysing the contents of the supply store for the Rogue Shadow,” he announced, somewhat over-dramatically. “In conclusion, 98.4% of total nourishment is unfit for human consumption. I suggest we re-stock before we depart this port.” Juno groaned.

“What do you mean, ‘unfit for human consumption’?” she demanded, as her stomach gave another rumble. She needed to eat very soon, or someone would pay.

“Well,” PROXY hesitated, “Informally, I think the term is ‘off’. Or ‘mouldy’.”

“But...” Juno fought the urge to go and punch the droid, “How long will it take to restock?”

PROXY appeared to be doing mental calculations.

“Approximately 3.2 standard hours, Captain Eclipse. My joints are not what they used to be.”

Juno slapped a hand to her forehead. The time had come for drastic measures, and she could not stand any more dehydrated ration packs. But she did have an idea. She couldn’t believe she was going to say this. She turned to face Starkiller again. What on Coruscant was she thinking? He’ll turn you down. You’ll be humiliated. It’s a stupid idea...

“Do you...want to go out – with me, that is - and get a bite to eat? At a cantina, I mean. With, ah, proper food. You know, because I’m hungry, and humans need to eat...” Juno realised she was babbling, and willed her mouth to stop talking. Sadly, it was on autopilot. She spent way too much time in her own company nowadays.

“I mean...aren’t you hungry? Ever?” No. Stupid. Stop talking now, Juno!

Thankfully, Starkiller appeared not to notice. Not that he ever did, Juno reminded herself. But she was so hungry.

“Well, I’m going out then. On my own, if that’s how you want it. I’ll be back soon. Don’t worry about me!” Juno moved out of the pilot’s seat and made to get her jacket, only to find her way out blocked by Starkiller standing up suddenly. He looked suddenly unsure as to what he was doing, or why he had stood up. Juno raised one eyebrow, folding her arms defiantly. She had had enough of his strange silences, his brusque manner, and she was not going to take any more of this–

“Um. I’ll come with you.” He had folded his arms, mimicking Juno. She blinked, attempting to hide her surprise. Starkiller? Wow. If she had been feeling a little more confident, she might have played ‘aloof’ and brushed him off, but at that precise moment she felt just a tiny bit intimidated by his imposing stature. He really is all muscle, she marvelled, before composing herself and nodding to his statement.

“All right. But...just let me do the talking, okay? No offence, but you’re not exactly familiar with this sort of thing.” She said it with a half-smile, but really she was deadly serious. From what she had learned over the past few months, Starkiller’s idea of good conversation involved a lightsaber.

“Okay.” He nodded, punching the ramp release, and left the cockpit without another word, leaving Juno mildly confused. She looked over at PROXY, perhaps hoping he could offer some advice on their brooding companion, but he just looked at her, in that funny droid-way of his. Shaking her head, she followed Starkiller down the ramp, shrugging on her coat and hoping fervently that they wouldn’t attract too much attention. Having the Imperials turn up just as Juno was going to enjoy her first proper meal in what felt like weeks would put a dampener on things.

Chapter Text

The main street of Pixelito was still busy, even though Juno’s chrono told her it was close to midnight. One of the drawbacks of travelling in a starship for long periods of time, she supposed, was that all sense of time seemed to be lost. She looked up at Starkiller, striding along beside her. He didn’t appear to be enjoying the crowds, not least when Juno was shoved accidentally into him by a hurried-looking street vendor.

“Ooft!” Juno was taken by surprise as she was knocked off balance, colliding with Starkiller’s shoulder. Starkiller immediately reacted, whipping round to face Juno’s ‘attacker’ with a protective and very angry glare in his eyes.  Juno groaned inwardly. This really wasn’t the place to be starting a fight.

“Come on,” she muttered, grabbing him by the crook of his elbow and steering him back towards the flashing neon signs of nearby clubs and shops. “We’re going this way.”

He flinched at her touch, and Juno immediately took her hands off him. She threw him a funny look, but otherwise didn’t say anything. She knew better than to press him when he got moody, otherwise their evening would turn out to be even more of a disaster than it was promising to be.  Juno was starting to regret her decision to take him with her on her quest for food – did he even eat, anyway? She wasn’t sure if she had ever seen him eat the ship’s ration packs, let alone real food from a cantina. He mostly kept to himself, anyway.

It wasn’t long until they reached the first tavern, an undistinguishable grey building except for the  brightly coloured signs outside, advertising various foodstuffs; Juno caught her eye on one that read ‘FRESH PASHI NOODLES – READY TO ORDER HERE’.  A memory jerked to the front of her mind – she was six years old again, back home in Corulag, and her mother had taken her in to Curamelle, the capital city, for the day. They’d run into a garrison of stormtroopers blocking the main shopping district, so her mother had decided to distract her by stopping at a fairly run-down food vendor on a small back street. Run by an old and kindly-looking Ithorian, Juno had been unsure at first – she had never seen a non-human before, except in the Empire’s propaganda-holos seen in school, but the Ithorian’s friendly manner and good food soon brought her round. She remembered her mother’s proud smile as the vendor had served her a bowl of pashi noodles, and Juno had taken it without any hesitation or prejudice.

 It was a fairly unimportant memory, and a vague one at that, but for whatever reason Juno still clung on to it, as one of the very few memories she had left of her mother. She shook her head, clearing her sentimental thoughts, and pointed to the doorway.

“In here. Oh, come on.” Juno was sorely tempted to pull Starkiller into the cantina by force, as he seemed to indicate that he would be happier outside. However, after a few minutes of hushed bickering, he relented and followed her through the doorway, looking very much like he did not want to be there at all.

“For the record, I’d like to note that this was your idea,” he muttered, hands in his pockets. Juno rolled her eyes, and looked around the dimly-lit cantina for a free table.

“It’ll be great, I promise. Besides, you need to start living a normal life. You were holed up in that Star Destroyer for way too long. This-” she gestured to the cantina around her as they moved into a free table, “-will be good for you.”

“Humph. If you say so.”

Juno gave a small smile and shook her head. He was ridiculous, and stubborn, and foolishly reckless at times, but she’d grown fond of him over the past few months. She often wondered if he felt the same about her, but her logical side would usually dismiss it – she wasn’t here for anything other than to fly the ship, not really. Although, she thought, her mind drifting, this goes above and beyond the call of duty. She looked at Starkiller sitting across from her, arms folded, and his sour expression. He was staring resolutely ahead, as if he was determined not to enjoy himself. Juno shook her head again, and rested her chin on her hands. After a few moments of tense silence, a hassled-looking serving droid trundled over with an irritable expression – if droids could look irritable – on its mechanical face.

“Well? Whaddya want?”

Juno bit her lip, trying not to laugh. Until she had first met PROXY, she’d had no idea that droids could have such colourful identities – this droid in particular seemed to rival PROXY on the personality spectrum. She looked over at Starkiller, and was surprised to see that the corners of his mouth were upturned, very slightly. Maybe he was having the same thoughts.

“I’ll have a regular serving of the fried pashi noodles, please. And he’ll have the, um...” she glanced at Starkiller, knowing that she had absolutely no clue about what he liked to eat.  He looked blankly back at her, shrugging slightly. She’ll have to guess, then. “He’ll have the nerf steak. A regular portion, please.”

“Whatever. Do you want drinks with that?” After Juno’s reply, the droid tapped something into its datapad. “Your orders will be with you soon. Have a nice day.”

The droid left them and mooched away, pausing for a moment as if it had forgotten something. After a moment’s contemplation, it shook its metallic head and creaked away.

“I wonder how long that droid’s been working here? It looks ancient,” grinned Juno, starting on the first light-hearted topic of conversation she could think of.

“He reminds me of PROXY,” It might have been Juno’s imagination, but Starkiller now sounded faintly amused, rather than morose.

“Definitely! PROXY certainly is unique.” Juno paused, wanting to see how far the question led. “How long have you known him?”

Starkiller gave a non-committal shrug. “About ten years, maybe more. Can’t really remember. He’s sort of always been there.”

The poignancy of this struck Juno for a moment. PROXY, a droid, has been his only friend for as long as he can remember. Juno’s childhood hadn’t exactly been brilliant, but she’d had friends, parents, company. He’d had nothing but solitude. Starkiller frowned at her for a moment, but said nothing. Juno decided to keep quiet. He didn’t need, and certainly didn’t want, her sympathy.

“So...”  Starkiller seemed lost for conversation, and resorted back to his default sullen glare at nothing in particular. Juno sighed. Just a few minutes ago, she’d thought that she was getting somewhere with his mysterious demeanour. Now they were back to square one.

Thankfully, they were interrupted by the same droid as earlier, bringing their food. It slid the plates and the drinks along the table, somehow managing to not spill a single drop of anything. Juno thanked the droid, and it turned, ready to trundle away again when it was stopped by a very large and very fearsome alien with a canine face, yellow eyes and an odd mixture of fur and scales. It bent down to the droid and muttered something unintelligible to the droid. After a few moments, when the droid appeared to refuse whatever offer the alien was making, it gave an angry growl and swiped one of its huge paws at the droid, making it clatter to the floor, metal droid parts rolling everywhere. Juno watched in dismay as what appeared to be the droid’s head rolled forlornly past their table, sparks feebly emitting from where it was connected to the rest of its body. There was an indignant uproar from several nearby tables, presumably those still waiting for food, and one angry Trandoshan expressed his fury by overthrowing his table. The table smashed into the central bar-section of the cantina, shattering glasses and bottles and sending those propping up the bar running for cover. Juno instinctively ducked under the table, feeling for the blaster stowed at her hip, and noticed Starkiller doing the same, unclipping his lightsaber. Their eyes met, and Juno felt a funny sense of déjà vu. There has to be a bar brawl the one night we decide to go out to eat, Juno thought, mentally shaking her head. Starkiller seemed to sense what she was feeling, and raised his eyebrows at her. Your idea, he seemed to be suggesting. Juno glared at him

“Perhaps it would be best if we got out of here?” Juno had seen her fair share of low-life, grungy cantinas to know when to take her exit. Trouble was brewing, and she was definitely not staying to see the outcome. Bringing out a lightsaber would certainly not help matters in this instance.

“I think that’s probably a good ide-” Starkiller grunted, his words suddenly drowned out by the yellow-skinned alien retaliating by pulling out a large blaster and attempting to shoot at the Trandoshan who threw the table at him.

“Oh no,” Juno muttered, disengaging the safety setting on her blaster, just in case. She knew the table currently shielding her and Starkiller from the majority of the debris wouldn’t hold out much longer - multiple objects were now being pelted from all directions.  Clearly, they had walked in on two rival gangs fighting over territory, or something of the sort, as the yellow-skinned alien and the Trandoshan were now no longer the only ones throwing things and shooting.

“Okay, on my count, we should just make a run for it – we’re not going to last if we stay here much longer,” Starkiller had unhooked his lightsaber from his belt, and was staring resolutely at the exit, which was currently their only way out. Juno nodded, and braced herself to run.

“Go!” After Starkiller’s count, Juno bolted, scrambling up from the dusty floor as fast as she could. She knew she was fast – the Imperial Academy would drum that into you – but she hadn’t, as of yet, been trained to deal with the smoky, dust-filled haze that met her when she stood up. Coughing, she staggered to the exit, having dropped her blaster and lost sight of Starkiller, when she found her way to the door obscured by the large, yellow-skinned alien from earlier. He bent down and grabbed her by the lapel, leering ominously.

“No, you’re not going anywhere, missy. You’re here as an eyewitness, as proof to show what happens when anyone interferes with our, ah, business.” The alien shoved Juno back towards the centre of the cantina, holding her arms tightly behind her back, and she noticed for the first time the black, star-like logo tattooed onto his forearm. The Black Sun - the most powerful crime syndicate in the galaxy. What in the name of the Coruscant have I gotten myself into?

Chapter Text

The fire fight, at least, appeared to be over, the unfortunate Trandoshan lying motionless, along with others, on the floor. A group of men, tattooed similarly to the alien were standing in a group, cracking their knuckles threateningly. 

“So,” the alien continued, his tone business-like, “I don’t suppose you’d care to disclose who you are and what you’re doing here?”

Juno, taken aback by the question, shook her head defiantly. The alien frowned, his lips rolled back in a snarl.

“Is that true, huh? Well, don’t try to hide your secrets from us. We know who you are.”

He held up a datapad for her to see, and Juno paled, suddenly looking back at her own face. The holo was taken shortly after Juno graduated from the Imperial Academy, her new Imperial uniform smart and crisp and her blonde hair scraped neatly back in a bun. She studied the text that accompanied the holo, and wasn’t at all surprised to see that it read along the lines of ‘traitor’ and ‘executed for crimes against the Empire’. She swallowed nervously, knowing that in the wrong hands this information could be very dangerous, considering that the ‘deceased’ woman in question was, in the eyes of this particular crime syndicate, clearly alive and well.  The yellow-skinned alien gave a cold laugh at her clearly visible reaction, pressing a blaster into the small of her back.

“You definitely don’t look dead to me,” he growled quietly, “So why don’t you tell me why you’re running around the galaxy, still breathing, when you should be dead and cold in an unmarked Imperial grave?”

Juno closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on her breathing, so as not to panic. It was still very stuffy in the now-devastated cantina, but the majority of the smoke had cleared and she knew it wouldn’t be long before some form of security arrived on the scene to investigate. The gang clearly knew it too, and she could tell they were getting impatient. The thugs in the background were shifting agitatedly from one foot to the other, and fingering their blasters longingly. They probably just wanted to shoot her and get on with it, Juno thought.

“You know, we can’t wait around here for much longer, girly,” The blaster was pressed harder into her back; “I suggest you start talking, pronto.”

“And I suggest you don’t.” The voice came from behind Juno, startling her and the yellow-skinned alien. She twisted around, using the distraction to break free of the alien’s grip and roll onto the floor, noticing the unmistakeable glow of a red lightsaber. Starkiller pointed his lightsaber at the alien, his face like thunder.

“You don’t hurt her,” he threatened, straight to the point. Juno shuffled to pick up her blaster, where it had fallen on the floor in the chaos of the fight as she was grabbed by the alien. She stood up, positioning herself just behind Starkiller at an upturned table, and pointed her blaster at the group of aliens. She knew it was only a futile attempt at looking brave, but she didn’t want to appear like some damsel in distress that kept getting captured. Juno could certainly hold her own in a fight if she needed to.

“You’re missing the point here,” The yellow-skinned alien sneered at Starkiller, his attention diverted. “We already know your little girlfriend’s secrets. It doesn’t matter now if she’s alive or dead.”

Juno saw Starkiller start at the mention of ‘girlfriend’, and she felt her own face redden considerably.

“She’s not...ugh.” Starkiller made a noise of disgust, then turned to her, his voice lowering, “This time, if I hold them off, can you actually manage to run when I say so?”

Juno rolled her eyes, her face slowly turning a deeper shade of crimson at the thinly-veiled criticism.

“Yes,” she muttered through gritted teeth, “I can do that. Just get us out of here, okay?”

Starkiller nodded once, and then turned his attention back to the alien, who was looking at them with the expression of someone faintly amused.

“Do what you will,” he shrugged, “But remember, we know who you are now. You can’t run forever.”

At this, Starkiller looked at Juno and jerked his head towards the door. Juno didn’t need telling twice, scrambling from their vantage point behind the table. The gang fired a few shots at them, which were easily deflected by Starkiller’s lightsaber, and then they were running, dust swirling around them, ducking to avoid falling debris and dodging the array of broken bottles that lay on the floor. Juno tripped on a loose floor panel, and was surprised to feel Starkiller’s strong grip on her hand, pulling her upright again and leading her towards freedom as they ran.

After what seemed like hours, but was in reality only a few seconds, they burst through the doorway of the cantina into the crowded street. There was a large crowd gathering, having heard the commotion. Some had comlinks out and were clearly calling the planet’s security force, which told Juno that it was perhaps time to leave. She looked back at the sign outside the cantina as they ran on, the one that read ‘FRESH PASHI NOODLES – READY TO ORDER HERE’, and tried not to feel too disappointed.

After several minutes of running, they ducked into a small side street, pausing to catch their breath. Slowing to a walk, they made their way through the narrow, winding streets, finally reaching the spaceport after about an hour. PROXY was waiting outside the Rogue Shadow, presumably ready to deter any unwanted attention from the numerous ship thieves that operated in the area.

“Master!” he cried, waving his metal arms creakily, “I didn’t expect you and Captain Eclipse back so soon – I have not finished re-stocking the ship yet. I hope you do not mind.”

Starkiller shrugged.

“It’s fine, PROXY. Captain Eclipse and I, ah, ate already.” He shot Juno an apologetic look, and she shrugged back. PROXY disappeared back into the ship, leaving the two standing outside. The sun was starting to rise over the tall buildings in the city, casting long shadows around her and Starkiller. Juno hadn’t realised how much time had passed since they first left the ship all those hours ago.

“Well,” Juno paused, wanting to break the silence and return to normality, “I should probably be getting back to some repairs.” She turned to head back in to the ship, but Starkiller grabbed her arm suddenly, pulling her back.

“Juno,” he said, looking at her earnestly, “I’m...I’m sorry it didn’t work out today. The trip, I mean. I guess it can’t be much fun stuck inside the Shadow with me and PROXY all the time.” He opened and closed his mouth a few times, but seemed to have run out of words to say. “I’ll be...I’ll be in the meditation room if you need me.”

With that, he turned and strode with a few easy steps up the Rogue Shadow’s landing ramp, vanishing inside. Juno blinked, unsure as to what had just happened.

“It’s okay,” she called back, knowing that he probably couldn’t hear her, “It was kind of...” She trailed off, shaking her head. She wasn’t sure what bothered her so much about Starkiller’s abrupt statement; perhaps it was the fact that he actually acknowledged for the first time that being with him was perhaps not the best company in the world.

Perhaps it was the fact that, for the first time in a long while, Juno had found someone who she considered a friend. Sure, she didn’t know if he considered her in the same light. But he respected her, she could tell that much, which meant a great deal. Smiling slightly, she turned her back on the hazy sunrise and followed him inside. Back to business, it seemed.