𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐋𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐘

𝟎𝟎𝟗. 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞

009. ENEMY SPACE

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"RAXUS?"

Jacen lifted his head from his holobook at the mention of the word. Matias Pellian deflected another blow from Arimiya's saber. Although he didn't try to eavesdrop on their conversation, it was usually inevitable.

"Are you sure you heard them right?" Matias added on to his last question in confirmation. "You do realize that Raxus is located deep in Separatist space, right?"

Arimiya shot him a look that warned him to be careful of his next choice of words or the consequences may be far worse than the bruise that overshadowed his right eye. A small smile pulled at Jacen's mouth, but he did his best to hide it.

"I'm just telling you what the council told me," she retorted and swung her saber again. Matias barely deflected it, but he did only have one good eye, so it was difficult to entirely blame his form.

"I also find it a bit questionable that the council would be willing to send so many of us to the capital planet," Jacen interjected with his own opinion.

"No one asked you, Plutarch," she snapped and glared over in his direction. He frowned, she stuck out her tongue. Matias was quick to take advantage as she was distracted and regained his ground on the offensive. She released an indignant shout and her face scrunched up in frustration.

"They did say they were breaking us up into groups," Caleb pointed out and then added with a sly grin, "You're not scared of the fight, are you, Pellian?"

"No!" Matias protested adamantly as he shook his head, now distracted as his masculinity was thrown into question.

Jacen scoffed and picked his holobook back up. "You should be."

"Is that a confession, Plutarch?" Arimiya asked, clearly amused. The sparring had ceased at this point as all focus was now on their conversation.

Jacen sighed, knowing that he would regret admitting to it, but he nodded his head. "Frankly, I'm concerned if you aren't scared. This is a war. There's a chance that some of us don't come back... or any of us."

Zeraphina whimpered and Arimiya shot him a look that he knew meant 'shut up'. "Thank you for that, Plutarch, maybe next time you'll remember that some haven't experienced the field yet."

"I'm not going to sugar-coat it." Jacen rolled his eyes. "War is ugly and it's better to prepare her beforehand."

"You could be a little less blunt about it."

"I'm fine," Zeraphina timidly insisted, "I'll admit that I'm a bit nervous since this is my first off-world mission that I'll be joining Master Plo on... I'm sure we'll all be fine though."