When they entered the hanger, Aeris could feel uncertainty and fear An-Lok felt even before they landed. It was a little unnerving and she fought not to close herself off, her hands clenching into fists that trembled slightly as they walked to the other hanger and she put in the code to let them in. As they entered, she could feel that even Jek’s calm was frayed, which spoke volumes to how tense it felt at first. It had almost seemed as though a fight was about to break out between the two when An launched at him, but Aeris knew better, as she could feel both of their desires to reconnect with one another.<br/><br/>She walked past the two of them as An’s launch for him ended in a hug, both of their hoods falling down at the impact. She continued, coming to stand in front of Jax. They were both usually a little more reserved than the others, so there would be no launching, leaping, jumping, or any other dramatic movements from the two of them. “I’m sorry I couldn’t greet you properly last night,” Jax apologized, watching as Aeris shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal, “It’s fine. We both had other engagements, right?” she replied, her gaze averted slightly, which had always meant that she was hiding something or holding back. “Besides, it’s not like I missed you that much or anything,” she insisted, still not looking up at him.<br/><br/>Jax smiled lightly, “Yeah, I know,” he said, placing a hand on her head like he’d done when they were kids, the slight pressure causing her to lean forward into his chest. Aeris struggled to hold back her emotions, to cling to the calm Jek projected as Jax wrapped his arms around her a tight hug, which she returned. “I missed you, too,” he told her, smiling lightly, knowing full well that she hadn’t meant it. She was the same as she’d ever been.<br/><br/>Aeris didn’t linger in the hug for long, just long enough to calm herself before she moved to stand next to him, watching the other two finish up. Their own bond was different from the one Jek and An-Lok shared. The other two had been with the Jedi since they were babies, they had known one another all their lives. She and Jax, on the other hand, had come in as young children, both with a few invisible scars to carry, which had been one of the reasons they had bonded so easily. He was only a few months older than she was, but he had always felt like an older brother. It didn’t hurt that he was several inches taller than she was, which kind of completed the whole image.<br/><br/>“Yes, we do,” Aeris replied to An-Lok’s words, glancing at Jek before turning to lead the way to the ship. Jax looked at Jek, who arched a brow at him in a silent question. He smiled a little before shrugging, then quirked a brow himself, as if to ask the same question as they followed the two women. Aeris led the other three up the ramp, opening the door and leading them through the ship’s main bridge to the conference room that usually went unused. The table in the center of the room resembled an elongated hexagon, with three chairs on each side. She took a seat in the farthest chair on the left side of the table and waited for the others to all pick their seats.<br/><br/>When Jax entered, he took a seat next to An and the looked between everyone. He felt like there was a little tension in the silence, which was weird coming from the man who had gone days, or even weeks without saying a single word. “I’m glad we’re all together again,” he voiced what he thought everyone was thinking, although it felt really weird that he was the one saying it. Aeris gave a small smile and a nod, “Yeah,” she agreed, looking at them all again. It had been a decade at least since they’d all been together like this. It felt like a lifetime ago. In some ways, it kind of was.<br/><br/>“I wanted us to all meet here so that we can talk about everything and figure out what we are going to do,” Aeris explained, placing her elbows on the table, interlacing her fingers, and resting her chin atop them. “We all have our missions, and I don’t think any of us are just itching to fail them. The obvious issue is that they don’t exactly align,” she continued, summarizing what they all already knew. “So what is the plan?” she asked, giving everyone else a chance to voice their opinions before she would give her own.<br/><br/>“What exactly is your mission? I know you’re collecting Force Sensitives, but how many, and to what end?” Jax asked, looking between Aeris and An-Lok. Since it had been her mission to start with, Aeris chose to answer, “The mission is to collect a minimum of five Force Sensitives and deliver them,” she answered, “Of course, they encourage more and there’s a bonus for every additional person you bring in,” she added before shrugging to the latter part of his question, “As for the why, who knows?” she didn’t know the reason anymore than they did, “They didn’t include that in the mission info, since it isn’t exactly need to know. I could speculate, but that’s all it would be—speculation.”<br/><br/>Jax frowned a little at the fact that they didn’t even know the reason for the mission. Then again, he didn’t usually ask why when he took a mission, either. They Council told him what he needed to do, and he did it, at least in most cases. At any rate, he thought that five wasn’t so bad, but he could guess that it wouldn’t end there, knowing the two of them. They certainly weren’t going to give up their mission, even if he or Jek were crazy enough to ask, and he knew he wasn’t. He also knew that even though it wasn’t their mission, both he and Jek felt the same about not wanting all of these Force Sensitives to be taken. This was not going to be an easy fix, was it?