parjai
New member
The stars don’t change.
You can vanish for years, crawl through hell, bleed across a dozen systems, and when you finally look up… the constellations are still there. Cold. Bright. Unimpressed.
I don’t even know how long it took to get free, three weeks? Four? Time doesn’t move the same when you’re locked in a crate on a ship you don’t recognize, listening to ghosts whisper through the walls.
I thought he was dead. I knew he was dead.
Guess I was wrong.
When the lights finally went out on that ship, I didn’t wait to see who else made it. I ran.
Taanab was the first place I could reach. Half luck, half a busted nav computer.
But what I found there wasn’t home.
It was ash.
My ship, gone.
My accounts, emptied.
My name, just another ghost in the registry.
Someone scrubbed me out of my own life.
But not everything burns.
I made for Rori. Far from the main traffic routes, where no one looks too closely.
The lab was still there under the ridge, moss creeping over the walls, power weak but humming. Dust everywhere, but my bench stood. My notes survived.
And waiting for me were three reasons to keep going:
Talis, pacing at the door like she’d been counting the days.
Rusk, growling at my shadow before realizing it was me.
And Kesh, calm as frozen water, eyes already on the trail.
They say the galaxy doesn’t hand out second chances. Maybe it doesn’t.
Maybe I just stole one.
Word is there’s a pazaak league running again.
Seems right.
I’ve been gambling my whole life. Only now, I know the stakes.
Here’s to new cards, fresh odds, and whatever poor fool thinks I’m finished.
-Shaden
Back from the dead. Looking for a seat at the table.
You can vanish for years, crawl through hell, bleed across a dozen systems, and when you finally look up… the constellations are still there. Cold. Bright. Unimpressed.
I don’t even know how long it took to get free, three weeks? Four? Time doesn’t move the same when you’re locked in a crate on a ship you don’t recognize, listening to ghosts whisper through the walls.
I thought he was dead. I knew he was dead.
Guess I was wrong.
When the lights finally went out on that ship, I didn’t wait to see who else made it. I ran.
Taanab was the first place I could reach. Half luck, half a busted nav computer.
But what I found there wasn’t home.
It was ash.
My ship, gone.
My accounts, emptied.
My name, just another ghost in the registry.
Someone scrubbed me out of my own life.
But not everything burns.
I made for Rori. Far from the main traffic routes, where no one looks too closely.
The lab was still there under the ridge, moss creeping over the walls, power weak but humming. Dust everywhere, but my bench stood. My notes survived.
And waiting for me were three reasons to keep going:
Talis, pacing at the door like she’d been counting the days.
Rusk, growling at my shadow before realizing it was me.
And Kesh, calm as frozen water, eyes already on the trail.
They say the galaxy doesn’t hand out second chances. Maybe it doesn’t.
Maybe I just stole one.
Word is there’s a pazaak league running again.
Seems right.
I’ve been gambling my whole life. Only now, I know the stakes.
Here’s to new cards, fresh odds, and whatever poor fool thinks I’m finished.
-Shaden
Back from the dead. Looking for a seat at the table.