Camp 27. It was part of Shadow Town, one of the Empire's blackout prisons. Stars only know why they put it on Nar Shaddaa; probably some arrangement with the Hutts that it's best not to dwell on.

The mission was a rescue for Ako Domi, a Jedi hero of the Great War. Any facility that can keep a Jedi in place worries me, but it was an excuse to shred Imperials and that was enough for me. Plus, there were other POWs we might free while we were in there.

We met up with a couple of local Republic squads for the raid. Sergeant Dorne came with me. Of course. She was part of the squad. Now, when you're out there in combat, you trust the people around you or else someone gets hurt; it always took everything I had to keep my focus with her around, but I leaned into the fact that she did good work and everybody else in the army seemed to think she belonged there. It wasn't ideal, but I managed.

Shadow Town had two rings of gates and automated defenses that could only be opened on timed codes. We carved through the outer guards, recovered the first set of codes, entered. It was when we were sandwiched between defense rings that it got hairy.

Two Imp patrols hit us at the bottom of a ramp in our descent into the camp. We were doing okay until the third Imp squad reinforced. They drove us back, step by step; there were more than we expected in one place and I knew even more must be on the way. It was turning bad fast.

"Fall back," I yelled. "Fall back!" I ran over to three of our people who had fallen at the base of the ramp. It was an open field of fire apart from a couple of random crates; I bent over a big guy with a worrisomely torn-up torso and started wrapping on the minimum bandaging necessary to move him safely. Dorne ran out of nowhere to work on getting a second guy back on his feet. A wounded woman was just finishing bandaging herself enough to move. I jerked my thumb back to direct her and kept working on the big guy.

We had to be out of there as of ten minutes ago. The Imps weren't taking prisoners. Dorne looked up at me. "Go on," we yelled at each other, "I'll catch up." I would've argued, but I had somebody to evacuate. I finished what I could, enough to make sure my guy would live through the move, then hauled him up over my shoulder and looked back to make sure Dorne could move with her man. She nodded sharply and we got going.

The main thoroughfare was too hot, but there were alleyways in this twisting town. I freed up a hand to holo in to Jorgan and get him our position. He met with us not far from the outer gate; he had a few people with him, enough to take charge of the wounded.

"Objective's still in there," I told him. "Go on. Make sure our people get out clean. Dorne and I are going in to finish this."

"Alone, sir?"

I considered switching sergeants, but Dorne's medical expertise might be necessary. Or, for that matter, her knowledge of all things Imperial. "I'm kinda counting on them staying focused out here for a while. I've got guard access codes and I can sneak. Move it."

"Yes, sir." Jorgan gestured to the others and they continued their retreat.

I led Dorne further into Shadow Town, staying to side passages and darkness where I could. The inner gate had way too many guards; I called up the map and we worked our way around to a different door. Two guards and a couple of droids. Nothing we couldn't handle. I leaned back in a deep doorway and looked at Dorne. "How long 'til our access code cycles in?"

"Four minutes fifteen seconds, sir."

"All right. Good." For once that bizarre precision of hers seemed fitting. "Now while you're waiting, let's get one thing straight. You-"

You're an idiot. I told you to fall back. You're no good to me or anyone dead. You put a hair out of line and I'll forget I ever tried to trust you, so don't even try it, no matter what heroics you think you see the chance for. That stunt was stupid, plain stupid.

Dorne frowned. "Sir?"

"Just a minute. I'm working through all the yelling I should be doing at you for being stupid enough to go out there in that heat."

She looked…confused. "You were right there with me, sir."

"Yes, that's why I'm running through it in my head instead of yelling it. I'm not a complete jerk. I…that…was solid work. Stupid, but solid work. But next time I tell you to move, you move."

"Yes, sir."

Access code cycled in. We pushed on, knocking out cameras and droids and guards as we went. Liberated an armory, freed up a few Republic prisoners so they'd have the chance to blast their way free. Kept going into the deep block marked Camp 27, home of the Jedi war hero, Ako Domi.

We reached a big room that housed all the tools for Imperial-style interrogation. There was a little man reading in the corner.

"I'll ask once," I called out, "where's Ako Domi?" Prisoners here didn't have cells, as such; the Jedi might be wandering.

"Ako Domi?" He quailed. "Are you really asking…"

"Yes. I am. You're short on time."

"I can summon him," squeaked the interrogator. "Here." He entered something on the console. "Now I'm just going to…wait…elsewhere." He started running. Didn't seem to be me he was afraid of.

I shot the scum. Then I waited. Not too long after, a big guy walked in. Sith, by the looks of him, corrupt, gross, dressed in ill-fitting dark clothes.

"Who comes before me?" he demanded.

It was hard to meet those furious yellow eyes. This couldn't possibly be the Jedi. No way.

"I am Ako Domi, the lord of Camp 27. No one seeks me out."

"I'm here to return you to Republic space, Master Jedi." I figured the respectful address was safe-ish. As safe as anything was around a guy who looked this wild.

"How tiresome," he sneered. "Will you offer me pardon? Sanctuary? A chance to turn back to the light?"

"Uh, something like that. I think the Jedi back home will handle the light if you'll just come with me."

"I've been here six years. I've seen your Republic heroes turn on each other like dogs for a scrap of meat. I've seen human nature at its core, and there is no light there."

In Shadow Town? Of course not. "You've seen the Empire at its core, Master Jedi, and what the Empire twists people into. Nothing more."

"There has never been a captive here so noble he did not eventually succumb." Stars, the guy was practically getting off on his own aura of dark misery. "How long do you think you'll last?

And then, just like that, Ako Domi raised his hand. I only had a fraction of a second to fire before he seized my throat in a Force grip. Bad.

Dorne blasted his arm down for a moment, but still. Just about the only thing we had on him was numbers, and two grunts to one Jedi-Sith-thing was poor. At least he was unarmed. But it wasn't close to even 'til I managed to get a concussion grenade into play. That interrupted his choke hold on Dorne while my blaster rifle worked on his torso. Finally, he cried out and fell to his knees, hissing in pain.

Moments later he forced himself to look up at me. "Do it," he snarled. "It's in you, too, so go ahead and kill me. You want to."

I put my rifle to his head, keeping my finger just tight enough that any movement from him might fire the gun before I had to consciously do it. I tried to imagine taking this guy out to freedom as ordered. The thought didn't lead anywhere pleasant. "A mad dog like you? Maybe I do."

"Or would you rather hear me scream?" suggested Ako Domi. "Draw it out for days while I beg you to end it?"

"The thought hadn't occurred to me," I said. Sicko.

"Leftenant," said Dorne. "We need to get him out of here."

"I don't think that's going to happen," I said.

Ako Domi abruptly seemed to forget about us. He lapsed into unintelligible mumbling.

"It may be best that he die in prison," I added.

"Sir, I must object," said Dorne.

"You heard him talking. It's better that he be remembered as a hero than...this."

"It's not too late for him," she said. "If we return him to the Jedi, I'm sure they would be willing to help him."

"No. If we let him loose anything he does will be on our heads. There's some depths you don't climb out of."

"People change."

"No, they don't, Dorne. Someone like this, it's way too late."

"You don't know that, sir!"

And that's about when I figured out what else she was lecturing me about.

She took off her helmet to fix me with brilliant green eyes. "Give him a chance," she said.

"It's completely different. He doesn't want to set things right." I couldn't exactly see Ako Domi running into the line of fire for anybody any time soon.

"In a place like this it's hard to remember what the point would be. Help him get away from here and he can try again."

I wanted more time to think, or possibly just a magic Dorne-disappearing button so I could put Ako Domi down and move on. But I didn't have either.

"It's a risk," I said. "I think it's a stupid risk." I stepped away from the mumbling once-Jedi and let my rifle fall to my side. "But I owe you one, so we'll do it your way."

"You…owe me…?"

"Back there. Going in to patch up our reinforcements. You haven't forgotten already, have you?"

"No. I just didn't think it incurred a personal debt."

"They work with me, they're my people, Dorne. I don't forget. Now come on."

Dorne knelt to tend to the wound in Ako Domi's chest. He grimaced at her, glassy-eyed. "Fool, you don't know what you're doing. You do know you want to hurt me, even you, stupid creature…"

I nudged him with one boot. "Respect the sergeant," I said, "or I will change my mind."

He chuckled nastily, but after that he shut up.

We got Ako Domi out of there. Me, I figure he's crazy past fixing, but maybe he got a fresh start after all. For what it's worth, he got the chance to turn it around.

Maybe I got a chance to turn something around, too, but that's a stretch. It's just that she did a good turn for me and mine, and I did one for her, and that makes us even. In hindsight I think it would've snapped what shaky working relationship we had if I just gave him that shot in the head. Doing it this way opened something up. It meant something to her. Of course the defector would want me to believe people can climb out of a pit like that and start getting it right.

I don't know yet.