After a couple of rings, Rarity's face appears on the screen. "Anonymous! Thank goodness it's you! I heard about the whole thing with the Rakghouls and I've been worried sick about you ever since! Sunset said you were injured! Are you alright?!"
You chuckle. "Woah, woah, Rarity, I'm fine! I'm alright!"
She persists. "Are you sure?! I've heard about those dreadful creatures! Nothing bad happened to you, did it?!"
You pause a little bit at that. "Well..."
Don't lie, Anon. She'll never forgive you if you lie.
You reluctantly hold up your robotic arm for her to see and she gasps and covers her mouth in response. "Oh my goodness..."
You sigh. "Look, it's not that bad. I'm fine, alright?"
She shakes her head in disbelief. "How did it happen?"
"I was bitten." You say. "Sunset had to amputate my arm to save my life."
It takes a few minutes, but you recount your entire story of getting captured by the Republic after turning in Trixie, then how you got wind of the Rakghoul-infested cruiser that was threatening Mandalore, then how you destroyed the ship, rescued Twilight, and only lost your arm in the process. She listens intently as you do.
When you finish, she speaks. "Well, your mission was a success. I heard that Mandalore picked up the explosion on their scopes, but they couldn't identify anything about who the ship belonged to. It was completely vaporized when they got there."
"That's good." You nod. "I heard that we destroyed it."
"Have you spoken to Sunset at all since you've been up?" She asks.
You shake your head. "Not really. I haven't had the chance. She seems a bit down though."
"Well, I'm not surprised, darling. With everything she had to go through, I'm sure she's very distraught." She says.
With everything she's been through?
"Excuse me, but who lost an arm here?" You say as you hold up your limb again.
She folds her arms and gets defensive. "You did, Anonymous. But who had to cut off an actual appendage of someone close to them in order to save their life?" You say nothing in response. "Who had to remove something that someone close to them has had since they were born? Who is going to have to live with themselves for the rest of their life with that knowledge? Who is probably racked with so much guilt about it right now?"
Wow... You never really thought of how Sunset is taking this.
"Sunset..." You reply softly.
You know she cares deeply for you, as you do for her. She probably does feel horrible for what she had to do. You've just been so selfish that you didn't see it before. Shame on you.
Rarity continues. "Girls are more sensitive by nature, darling. Regardless of whether or not she is a Mandalorian, she probably feels extremely guilty that she had to do what she had to do. I'm sure she's absolutely overjoyed that you're alive, but I'm willing to bet she's never had to do anything like this before in her life."
"She hasn't..." You shake your head.
Rarity takes another deep breath as she looks at you. "You need to talk to her about this. She won't. She probably feels like she can't."
You look back at her. "Why would she think that? We've been together forever."
"Because you're always about business, no matter where you go. It's not good. You never stop and talk about anything except for work lately. 'Who's the next target? What's the next job? Where do we go from here?'" She does a poor impression of you as she speaks. "You need to slow down and understand her feelings and thoughts about things every now and then. This was a hard thing for her to do and you need to make sure she's okay. Prove to her that you're not just a machine, Anonymous."
You shrug a little as you hold up your arm again. "Well, not completely."
She doesn't smile at your joke. Not even a little bit. "I'm being serious."
You take a deep breath and rub your neck a little. "Maybe you're right."
"No, there's no 'maybe' here." She snaps. "I am right. If you want to make sure she's really happy and that she really knows that you're there for her the way she is for you, then do as I say and talk to her. Have an honest heart-to-heart with her about this."
You nod a little. She's right and you know it. You haven't been fair to Sunset outside of work. You take her for granted, and you really shouldn't. Part of you has always known that you do, but you feel like a total ass now that it has been brought to your attention.
"Alright... I'll talk to her right now, Rarity." You say.
Now she smiles and nods at you. "Good. Talk to her, let her know how much she means to you, then let me know how it goes. I like to stay in the loop with these things."
You chuckle a bit. "A gossip to the very end." She giggles a little at that and you shut down communications after saying goodbye.
You just sit there and ponder to yourself for a moment. How should you start?
You press the intercom button on the wall after a few moments. "Sunset, I'm here. Get us into orbit around Kashyyyk."
"Alright." She replies.
You stay where you are and think a bit longer. After a few moments, the ship hums and whirs to life before you feel it move around as it exits the cruiser's hangar.
You get up and head to the cockpit. Sunset is sitting in her usual spot, the pilot's seat, and you sigh as you enter. Kashyyyk is right outside the window in front of her.
"So, where to?" She asks.
"Uh, let's decide that in a second." She looks over to you as you sit down in the co-pilot's seat beside her and take a deep breath. "Can we talk for a bit?"
Sunset turns to face you completely after a moment. She looks a bit uneasy. "Sure. Is everything okay?"
You shake your head. "Not really. There's just something I want to get off my chest." Okay, Anon. Own up to your mistakes. "I just want to say that I'm sorry. I haven't been fair to you lately. I've taken you for granted, and I haven't taken your thoughts or feelings into account when bad things happen. I just keep going without stopping and making sure you're okay as well. That's not fair to you. I care a lot about you, but I haven't shown it as much as I should've, and I sincerely apologize."
She stays silent, but she looks like she's softening up a little.
You clear your throat and smack your metal arm a couple times, emphasizing your next point. "You saved my life before, over Mandalore. Once it was over, I didn't see that it was affecting you this much until now. If it will make you feel better, I'm... I'd like to talk about it, or anything else you're thinking. Anything to help you feel better."
She pauses and looks away after a moment. "Well, in your defense, you did have a lot on your mind..."
That is true, but it's no excuse for your behavior.
You stay silent as she takes a deep breath. "I just... I can't get it out of my head. Seeing you there, on the ground, and completely delirious. Then I went in and cut off your arm, knowing it would save you, but it felt like I was adding insult to injury. It didn't feel like I was helping you, even though I knew I was." She pauses for a moment as she tries to search for the words that can express her thoughts. "I don't know... I guess I was just so shaken up about it, I wasn't ready to calm down after it was over. So many things were going through my head, especially when I first saw you after you woke up." She takes another long breath and looks at you. "I was freaked out. That's the closest I ever came to losing you. I didn't want to lose you, but I didn't want you to lose your arm, and I just... I-..."
She stutters a bit as she searches for the right words again, but eventually she just falls silent. She leans back in her chair and stares out into space. She looks so tired. So stressed. With everything that's happened lately, you're not surprised.
Now that you're thinking about it, you're tired too...
"I think if it wasn't time for that vacation before, it sure as hell is now." She looks over at you and you reach forward to take her hand. "We've been busy lately. We fought some Sith, messed with some drug dealers, got captured by the Republic, survived against a bunch of Rakghouls, and we saved our home. I'd say we deserve a break." Sunset smiles a bit as you rub her hand with your thumb. "We've got nothing else going on right now, and we've got a good amount of money saved up. If we want to go, which I do, now would be the perfect time."
Her smile slowly grows at that. " I wouldn't mind that either... We decided on Alderaan before, right?"
"Yeah." You nod. "Does that still sound nice to you?"
She gives a little giggle and squeezes your hand. "It sounds perfect. I can hardly wait."
You move over and wrap your arm around her in a hug. You stay there for a moment, silent as you both look out into the emptiness of space above Kashyyyk.
"I don't want to lose you either, you know..." You tell her. "I care about you a lot."
She reaches up and holds onto your arm as you continue hugging her. "You won't lose me... I care about you too."
You give her a little kiss on the head and sigh again. After a long moment of silence, you release her and stand up straight. "How about you go and lay down? Unwind for a bit, and I'll get us to Alderaan."
She gives you a little sideways smile. "You sure?"
"Yeah." You nod. "You can go ahead, start the vacation early and rest. Besides, it feels like forever since I actually got to pilot. I want a turn now."
She giggles again as she stands up. "...Thanks, Anon. Thanks for checking in and listening. I really appreciate it."
"You're welcome, Sunset." You reply. "I promise I'll be better about that."
You smile at each other as she slowly walks back into the ship. You tap your robot fingers on the back of the pilot's seat as you think to yourself.
You feel bad for not doing much to help Sunset feel better before. Rarity's right. You do think about work too much. That needs to change a bit. Hopefully, this vacation does just that.
You sigh and sit down in the chair before you set your course. The ship adjusts its direction and you make sure the coordinates are correct before activating the hyperdrive.
You give a long sigh as you look out into the endless void of space and hit the throttle. The hyperdrive whirs and you finally make the jump to lightspeed toward Alderaan.