You know, for secret Resistance bases they sneak out from to attack Imperial convoys, this place had lousy security. The kid and I hadn’t been stealthy or anything and aside from the command centre, nobody had even tried to stop us. I mean yeah, maybe there was like only twenty people who lived here, but most of the people in the command centre weren’t doing anything: the could’ve rushed in to help their friends. Why hadn’t they?

We weren’t even trying to be quiet this time, wandering back along the corridor we hadn’t taken last time. Roan half humming, half singing the same tune from earlier, which would’ve been impressive if he could stay in tune, or key. Well, he was enjoying himself anyway, even if he was the only one.

As we approached the corner, I heard the clacking of a bunch of people trying to lock and load. Ah, well I guess that explains why nobody was backing each other up. They’re kids, doing what they think is right even though they’re hopeless at it. Question stands though, if they’re this bad, how are they getting away with so many convoy attacks without everyone getting killed?

“D-Don’t come any closer. We’re armed,” a guy called out nervously from around the corner. The kid glanced up at me, questioningly. Uh okay, that’s new. Normally he just blurs off and kills people but now he’s wait- oh. Yeah, so maybe telling him how I didn’t like how he got all cold and Sithy while in the middle of a resistance base wasn’t the best idea. He was waiting for me to say it was okay to go kill them.

You know, part of me should have felt pride at that. I got my own buddy Sith to listen to me, but that bit was kinda crushed under the whole ‘I have the lives of pretty much everyone in my hands’ schtick. Yeah, no pressure or anything.

“Lose the weapons, surrender, and we’ll let you live,” I called back. I heard the clatter of dropped weapons almost depressingly quickly. What happened to ‘No surrender’, huh? I guess I couldn’t blame them. I wouldn’t want to take on a Sith either.

We came around the corner, the kid in front. There were five of them, three human guys, and two women. Okay, seriously, why only human men and twi’lek women? Only time I’ve seen this many girls and human guys together was Imps night at Club Ufora. Don’t look at me like that. The only pole I dangled from was in the rafters.

Every last one of them openly gawped at us. Yeah, I know: we’re not the Sith and trooper squad you were fearing, but c’mon! Give us a little credit. One of the guys gave us so little credit he went for his rifle. Roan blurred down the ramp, lightsaber lit. He closed on the guy as he pointed his rifle towards me. The guy hauled on the trigger, firing blindly. I half ducked back behind the wall and just about saw the kid’s blade sweep up. The force of his swing yanked him up into the air in a little spin. The rifle fell apart, as did the guy. Roan killed his saber, landed and slammed the ground with his fist. The four unarmed resistance fighters smashed into the walls. Clattering, they all fell to their hands and knees.

“Anyone else?” he snarled. Everyone else kept their eyes glued to the grate underfoot.

“All right, it’s your kinda lucky day. Everyone, clear out: We’re gonna set the reactor to blow and you don’t wanna be here when it does,” I called to them as I strolled down the ramp. Pretty much as one, the disarmed resistance members scrabbled to their feet and ran past me, without even so much as a ‘thank you’. I made my way down to Roan, who frowned slightly at me when he thought I wasn’t looking.

“Yeah, I know, right. Not even a thanks from them,” I sighed, grinning at him, “Kids, huh?” the frown flickered away even faster than the remains of the resistance. Instead, he just looked sheepish. Didn’t think I saw that, huh?

“Well, let’s find the reactor and get out of here too, yeah.”

“Stop! Please, wait!” someone begged from across the room. I lunged behind a nearby stack of crates, blasters already out before I saw who it was. She was a human, a couple of years younger than me and had the gaunt skinniness that comes from living rough for a few months. She wore a grubby, frayed and ragged set of everyday clothes. Her face was dirty but kinda pretty despite it, and her sandy hair was matted, hanging limply. It was kinda weird. Her shoes looked like they’d once been a designer label but now they were tattered, with the soles held together by maybe half the thread. If anything, I’d have said she was a refugee, not a resistee.

She ran up to us, stopping maybe five metres away, hands out in front when she saw my blasters. I put them away. She wasn’t a threat to anyone, least of all us. Then again, that’s the kind of thinking that lets the kid get away with so much of what he does.

“We need this generator! If you destroy it, we’ll all die!” I flicked my gaze over her again. She didn’t have a blaster, a vibroblade or even a mean look on her. Only thing she had was desperation, and lots of it. Still, that might be enough to handle the kid.

“Who are you? Why are you here?” the kid asked, tilting his head to the side. Yeah, he does that whenever stuff doesn’t make sense. He glanced at me: Don’t look at me, I don’t get it either. The human took a breath, closed her eyes and forced herself to stop shaking. Then she spoke.

“My name is Min. My village was razed in the war. The few of us who survived came here to find shelter. Please, we’re not part of the resistance. We haven’t hurt anyone. We just needed someplace to go when our homes were destroyed,” she pleaded, her light voice quavering. Okay, refugees: yeah, I could see that. Don’t get why they’d hide with the resistance, but anywhere remotely safe is better than nothing. Besides, they have good reasons not to trust the Empire. Even if they didn’t blow up their village, which they probably did, Imperials don’t take in refugees: they enslave people for ‘vagrancy’.

“I-I’m begging you. We won’t survive without power, and we have nowhere else to go. Can’t you just leave the generator running? Oh boy! The lieutenant guy wanted the generator scrapped, and we were doing all this because the kid pretty much did whatever someone asked him to. Still, she was asking now. Would he listen to her, maybe try to think about it a little, or would he just go ‘Nope!’ and put his lightsaber through the reactor?

I glanced down at the kid and saw him frown up at her. Ah, okay he was gonna do what the lieutenant wanted, ignoring her pleas. Was I wrong earlier? Was he a jerk like all other Sith? Then his face lit up like a frag grenade.

“Ooh! Back in a minute,” he blurted, spinning on the balls of his feet. Wait, what are you-? The kid blurred away, leaving me alone with Min in the Resistance base. Yeah, this isn’t gonna go horribly wrong at all, huh.

“So, your family all live here, huh?”

“Um yeah,” she hedged, hugging herself, “d-do you know what he’s doing?” Yeah, that was the million-credit question: shame I can’t ask a friend, huh.

“Uh, I have no idea what goes on in that sithy head of his, honest, but I don’t think it was bad.” I winced, remembering that the kid had some really weird morals, “Well, at least he doesn’t thinks it’s bad.” Min gave me a faint smile but I’m pretty sure it was forced. Yeah, I don’t blame her: if my fate rested in the hands of a kid, I’d be pretty scared too. Her eyes glanced at something behind me, and her mouth dropped open in horror.

“Look out!” Min cried out, but I was already wheeling around, my blasters halfway out of their holsters. Something hit me, and from the familiar, zappy charge, I knew it was a stunner. My body went limp and I spiralled down into a heap. Blackness swam up into my eyes and the last thing I saw was that winning, white smile of Lieutenant Annalé: you Jerk!

* * *

I woke up with the familiar droning whine in my ear cones: somebody shot me with a stunner. Blearily, I opened my eyes and let them wash over the place. I was in a dark, dingy cavern that smelt of mud, Tibanna and unwashed humans. Someone was talking somewhere behind me, not that I could make out any of it. The words were familiar, it was just that my head felt like it was floating. Okay, focus. We got shot with a stunner, so I guess I’m safe for the moment but I don’t know that for sure. I looked again, this time deliberately soaking in all the details.

There was metal under and behind me, the thin gaps digging into my side telling me it was a wire mesh grate. Through it, I could see and particularly smell recently churned earth. I was on a raised platform, and it was new too.

Someone had tied my hands behind my back but it didn’t feel like rope. Nah, I flexed my shoulders, giving whatever it was a questioning tug. No give, whatsoever. That meant it was probably a cable tie. Wow, really: They had a ‘secret’ resistance base in an obviously reinforced cave only a couple minutes’ walk from the highway and they didn’t have any stun cuffs lying around. Shouldn’t they at least expect the occasional curious rambler? Well, whatever: it makes escaping easier for me if they’re not stun cuffs. All right, back to figuring a way out of this hole.

The place was pretty dark, with a couple of high-power lights spread way too far apart giving off most the light. It really wasn’t enough but lucky for me, I’m a twi’lek. We can see further in low light than most people. I saw crates, a couple of consoles, the ramp and that I wasn’t alone.

There were people in here with me, maybe a dozen human men and women, all hard-eyed and equipped with blaster rifles. Figures, now that I’m the only twi’lek in the room, I’m the only one without a blaster too. Yeah, totally doesn’t feel unfair at all. The Nautolan Jerkface, Lieutenant Annalé, was over by the console, and judging from the blue light shining off his face, he was having a holocall. From his expression, I’d bet it wasn’t going well: serves him right, Jerk. I closed my eyes and listened in on their conversation. If I manage to get out of this, I’m sure knowing who’s on the other end will be handy, or valuable.

“And you’re sure he was Sith? No, dumb question, I trust your assessment, Lieutenant. Describe him,” an older guy ordered, his voice demanding obedience, despite the folksy Republic accent.

“Yes sir, human male, pale skin, red hair and a tattoo over his eye. I’ll have to get one of the human survivors to verify, but he was young, maybe pre-pubescent.”

“A child? That won’t sit well with our boys on the ground. All right, I’ll make sure everyone gets the warning. Anything else, lieutenant?”

“Sir, if the Sith are on-world, then they might be onto us. Should I push forwards the timescale on Operation Gatecrasher? Gatecrasher, really? Let me guess, either you’re attacking Sobrik or planning to crashing someone’s party.

“No, we don’t have enough assets in position to hold Sobrik.” Called it. Seriously, why not name your secret operations something that doesn’t give it away, like Operation Prancing Bormu, which, you know, doesn’t spoil what you’re planning. Also, anyone listening in gets a really weird mental image.

“Gather whoever and whatever you can salvage and head back to Camp Victory. We’ll regroup, and make a new plan from there…” the other guy corrected, trailing off into an awkward silence.

“Annalé, Gorinth camp was a gamble: you know this. I’d have preferred it go the other way, but it didn’t pay off. I know it feels like a loss and I know how much it hurts, but we’ve got to think of the long-term here. The people of Balmorra are counting on us and trusting us with their lives. We owe it to them to do our best here.”

“It’s not that, sir. The Sith was accompanied by a rutian twi’lek woman who was able to exert some influence over him. We presently have her in custody, but I doubt we’ll be able to move her securely.” Ah, I was wondering if he was gonna bring me up. Yeah, I know, there’s no reason why he wouldn’t but I kinda hoped. I mean, I saved his Jerk life: couldn’t he return the favour?

“Lieutenant, if she can influence him, then we can too for as long as we hold her. I want her shipped up to Camp Farnum immediately, stuff her in a crate and call in an airspeeder if you have to, just get the Sith running on a wild goose chase for the next couple of days. After that it won’t matter. Do what you can with what you have, and then get back here. Cheketta out.” The blue winked out on Annalé’s face, and I bit back a sigh. Well, guess I’m spending time in a Republic cell too. Now all I need is to get caught by the Corporate Alliance and I’ll complete the set. wonder what you get for that?

“Um, what about us?” Min squeaked from the far side of the holocomm., “Your general said we could stay here so long as we didn’t cause trouble, and we haven’t.” Oh, she’s here too. Wait, guess that means we haven’t gone far at all. Half rolling onto my side, I saw the lit entrance to the reactor room. Wow, they’d moved me maybe ten metres, pretty much just out of the way. Uh, they know the kid’s coming back, right? He’s not gonna just leave me here… I hope.

“That depends on what you can tell me about the Sith’s movements.” Well, guess that answers that.

“Um, I don’t know. I asked him to not blow up the reactor and he ran off, without his friend.” Lieutenant Jerkface kept his face utterly inhumanly blank. Okay, okay, I know; inNautolanly blank: it’s a phrase okay.

“Unfortunate. Without something useful, I can’t justify the risk to my men escorting your people out.” Oh, wow: I mean, I get it, but wow. If the resistance took them in, didn’t they at least care what happened to them. If the Empire finds them, they’ll get enslaved, or worse. Yeah, guess that’s my cue to get out of here, while they were still distracted.

Shuffling to my knees, I got halfway up before a carbine whined right behind me. I went very still, only now seeing the guy looming on the far side of the railing. Uh, hi. Lieutenant Jerkface snapped his head at the sound, his black eyes focussing on me. Instantly, the cold scowl smoothed into that winning smile, but his pearly whites had kinda lost their lustre.

“Ah, good of you to finally join us. Tell me, where is your master?”

“Right behind you.” Annalé didn’t flinch, as I’d kinda hoped. Instead, he turned and looked at the trooper behind me.

“Negative, sir,” the jerk reported. The tiny slits on either side of Annalé’s nose bump flared as he sighed. Oh come on, you gave me that one.

“You know you’re only making this difficult for yourself. If you help us, we can free you from slavery, wouldn’t you like that?” Uh, I’m not gonna lie, I totally would. Okay, confession time: the kid’s great and all, but end of the day, he’s just a kid, and growing up somewhere as messed up as Korriban isn’t gonna do wonders for his sanity. Chances are, he’s not gonna be a very nice person when he grows up, and I’d kinda like to not be there for all that. They were willing to help me with all that, all it took was helping them a little in return. Oh, and betraying the kid.

“Look, I’m not saying the offer isn’t tempting and all, but you’re asking me to betray the kid. Adorable as he is, he’s still a Sith, and I don’t’ want to know what it’d do to either of us if I went through with that. So, why not do as your boss suggested, stuff me in a comfy airspeeder and ship me off to wherever. Odds are the kid will just come after me, and leave you to clear the place out. We weren’t even here for any of you, just the stolen power converters. Unless you push him, he won’t know or care about what you’re doing.”

Annalé sighed, his rubbery skin wrinkling.

“The General’s plan is sound, but I don’t have the time to call in an airspeeder and we’ve only got a landspeeder: we need it for everyone the two of you wounded. We don’t know when the Sith will be back, and even if he does go after you, that won’t do anything for the return patrol in a couple of hours. I can’t risk it.”

“You could always just leave me here, maybe get Min or one of the refugees to take me off down a side passage so you and your guys can clear out while the kid chases us into the mountainside.”

“No can do, sometimes the best option is resource denial. So, the best outcome here is to neuter his effectiveness by killing you.” What, what kind of crazy juice do you have to drink to turn ‘I kinda limit his damage’ into ‘I’m the evil mastermind behind all the carnage’?

“Whoa, that’s not how Sith work at all! They get supercharged off their emotions. You kill me and it’s personal for him. He will hunt you down and there won’t be an army to stop him.

“Right now, you’d say anything to save your life,” he scoffed as I gawped at him. Of course I’ll try to stay alive, but I’m right. You were there in the generator room, you saw the kid monster at the vibro-swordswomen. Wait, that’s it!

“Wow, so that’s how Republic Officers reward people when they save their lives. And you wonder why nobody lines up to fight your battles?” Silence reigned through the room full of Republic-aligned resistance members, the silent disapproval broken only by someone’s awkward cough. Okay, yeah, I’ll admit, not my greatest moment. The corner of Annalé’s mouth twitched, sending a shiver up from my butt.

“Who said I was Republic?” his voice was completely devoid of warmth or anything

Really? You’re gonna try the whole plausible deniability thing on me? you’re wearing a Republic uniform, got a Republic operating number, fighting the Empire and taking orders from a Republic officer. You’re Republic, don’t even try it.”

“You’ve got maybe a couple of minutes before the kid gets back and yeah, he’s coming back. You don’t have time to waste killing me, not when you should be running.” I watched his huge eyes as I tried to bluff him. Yeah, I have no idea where Roan is, but that doesn’t mean he knows that. For someone with huge eyes, he was a killer Sabaac player. I couldn’t get anything from him.

“You’ve made your point, and you did save my life. That at least deserves something,” he finally admitted, his words heavy, like he decided something that went against every bone in his body, “Get on your knees: I’ll make it quick.” Wait, what? He drew his pistol. Uh, okay: prodding the guy with a blaster, not my best idea.

I took a step back, and every trooper trained their rifles at me. Yeah, I get it: they’d shoot at me if I ran, but the platform’s edge was just a metre away. If I got over that, I could take cover under the grating, maybe buying enough time until the kid got back. Half a dozen rifles whined warily at me. I was half a hair trigger away from a blasting. I went very still, bound hands out where they could see them: Okay, maybe not.

I glanced at the squad. If they were untrained kids with guns, then maybe I could get over the railing before they hit me. They weren’t: every last one of them was easily over twenty, and they all had the same hard look in their eyes. They were professionals. If anything, they looked like a Republic soldiers but without plasteel armour. Gah, I should’ve grabbed one of the shield generators from the swordswomen earlier. Would’ve made this so much easier. Beep, shield comes up, hop the ledge and beat it before they burn their way through to me. Maybe even clear enough of a gap to use my last grenade. Instead, I considered my options.

My blasters are way out of reach over there. The troopers are way too close for the one grenade I had left, not that I could get it out of my pocket in time. I had a knife in my boot, but going for it was obvious and would get me shot. I – I had nothing. Thoughts of Tivva and Mom, of Taunt and the rest of the gang, of Rish and that mischievous twinkle in her eyes flashed before me. I was never going to see them again. I was going to die here, in some cave complex on some alien world half a galaxy away. The Republic officer stepped behind me, and rammed his boot into the back of my knees. I went down, feeling its tread hook the back of my belt, smacking my butt against my ankles. I was going to die on my knees. The whine of a charging pistol filled the room. One shot, back of the head: an execution.

“Wait,” Min interjected, darting herself between Annalé and me, “She’s a prisoner of war. You’re Republic: you can’t just murder her, not in front of everyone.” My heart bruised my tonsils waiting for Annalé to speak. He didn’t for quite a while. I craned my neck and saw him loom over Min, blaster pointed at her head. She trembled, hard: way more than when pleading with the kid. Guess that’s from the drawn pistol. No I get it. Sure, Roan’s terrifying when he’s trying to be the scariest thing in the room but when he’s not, he’s just a kid. Annalé on the other hand was pointing a blaster at her head.

Doubt and uncertainty played across his face, making his pleasant, rubbery features hard. He closed his black eyes and took a deep breath, the lines on his face smoothing out.

“Get out of the way, please. I can’t let her share what she knows with the Empire. I don’t have a choice” I heard Min’s sharp ragged breaths slow, become calm, “No.” His pistol blurred across, and I heard the sound of bone crunching. Min staggered to the side, her face in profile. I saw blood well from her split lip. Slowly, she straightened up, fixing him a level stare.

“This is wrong.”

“Okay,” the Republic officer decided, no emotion in his voice, “you’ve left me no choice.” He pulled the trigger. A wet crack snapped through the air and the hiss of a single blaster shot followed right after. A body clattered against the deck. I glanced around Min, but I couldn’t see Annalé’s head: the steam pouring off it was too thick. I could see his arm up in the air, bent back unnaturally on itself, splinter shreds of blue-bloodstained bone jutting out where his elbow should have been. My heart punched me in the throat. He’s back.

“Everyone, drop your weapons and hit the floor!” I snapped, hopping to my feet and only wobbling a little. What, still bound, remember? The guy with the carbine wasn’t a fan of not-dying. He shot at me. You know how everything slows down when you’re about to die? Yeah, that happened.

I saw the blaster bolt rocket out of the barrel, headed right for me. Even slowed down, it was still incredibly fast. I threw myself into a side roll, but I knew I wouldn’t get out of the way in time. Red flicked before my eyes. Then everything sped up. I hit the ground and rolled, coming up to see one of the soldiers collapse bonelessly, his beard the only thing not hidden in a cloud of steam and the Zabrak furthest to my left toppled backwards, a neat round hole seared through her chest.

As for the guy who’d shot at me. Well, he uh… he knelt at my feet, head craned all the way back. Someone, no guesses who, had lodged the jerk’s rifle down his throat, all the way to the stock. A smoking hole oozed red-white goo from the small of his back. I gagged, partly in instinctive sympathy, partly from the acrid smell. That didn’t stop me from sliding between Min and the men and ramming her against the railing. Yeah, I know, not the nicest thing I could’ve done, but she was gonna catch a bolt just standing there, gawping. So was I.

The rail wasn’t thick or particularly stiff, but we still bounced off it. I hadn’t expected it to give really. Instead, I kicked off as hard as I could, hitting her chest with my shoulder. She went back, the rail acting as a pivot and toppled over the far side. Tangled in her legs, I was dragged down too. Her knee got me in the gut as I landed. I coughed out my lungs and rolled off her, trying to suck in the biggest gasps I could. Okay, seriously, between the kid’s wookie hugs and all the whacks to the chest, I’m gonna crack a rib: I need a breastplate or something. As soon as I got my breath back, I set to work on freeing my hands.

Sliding them under my butt, I tucked my legs under me and wriggled through the hole between my arms. Now that I could see the tie, I almost laughed. They hadn’t even cut the ends off: I hope they overlooked that because they were in a hurry, because otherwise it’s kinda sad. Leaning down, I bit the end of the tie and pulled as hard as I could. The plastic strap bit into my wrists before I let go. Good: the tighter it was, the easier it would snap. Now came the part I hate.

I balled my fists, brought my arms up over my head, and slammed them down into my stomach. As they dropped, I tried to crunch my shoulder blades apart. Pain punched me in the gut as my wrists slammed my taut stomach full force. My arms came apart, the plastic cord snapping with a satisfying click. I was free: now I just needed my breath, and my blasters. Peering through the mesh holes in the railing, I didn’t see them but I saw the kid, kinda.

A red blur flickered across the room. A woman screamed and I caught a glimpse of one of the hard-eyed humans gunned down by her buddies spraying and praying after the lightsaber. Uh, maybe they weren’t as elite as I’d guessed. They were trying the right thing, overloading him from odd angles, but they’d obviously only read about how to take out a Sith. That only works if the kid’s stays still: Good luck with that. The whirring chatter of their automatic rifles ticked away, their owners stunned at their murder of their squadmate. Then two wet cracks echoed through the cave and the railing overhead shook with their collapses. The room fell silent but for the clattering of rifles hitting the floor. The fight was over: shame no-one told the kid that.

He stood in the middle of the room, his hand raised like he was holding a ball, and he was visibly shaking. The survivors floated around him, pawing at their throats and drifting around him like a gallows carousel.

“She gave you your freedom, and you repaid her with betrayal!” he thundered, his voice empty of hope, joy, compassion and everything even remotely resembling humanity. It brimmed with rage, pain and all the hate a kid could muster. Uh, guess that’s my cue.

“Hey, don’t suppose you’ve seen my blasters anywhere?” I called, coming up the ramp. Roan whirled around and stared at me, his huge Sithy eyes welling with tears. Gone was rage and hate, he was just a hurting little kid again. The captives dropped to their knees, coughing and sputtering. Two boxy pistols poked my shoulder: my blasters! Taking them, I tensed up as I called out,

“Hey, thanks!” Then he hit me. Roan leapt into my ribs with the tenderness of a speeder. He would have smacked us both over the railing, or maybe through it, if I hadn’t totally expected it. As it was, he only sent me staggering back a metre or two.

“It‘s okay. Really,” I cooed as he sniffled into my stomach. His wiry little arms snaked around me, latching on even tighter. Wow, you must’ve really been worried for me, huh. Either that or you’re hoping I didn’t’ notice the group choke back there. I know I should be consistent with earlier and tell him off for it, but he did all this to save me. Maybe it’s the Stockholm talking, but I guess I could live with that. I leant down and patted his hair. You did good, kid.

“My Lord, it’s gone quiet. Is everything under control?” Lieutenant Larbec called down from the far side of the ramp. Huh, guess they’d saved this room for last: clever guys. Nobody wants to get near a Sith fighting, even if he is on your side.

“Their wills are broken,” Roan murmured, almost muffled by my tunic.

“Uh, yeah. Come down and do your thing,” I relayed because the kid wouldn’t. The tramping of plasteel plate boots on filled the air as a squad of Imperial troopers trotted down the ramp. Rifles swept over dead rebels, broken prisoners, Min and me. As they entered the cave itself, they each stopped and gawped at the carnage. Well, I think they gawped: full face helmets kinda make it hard to see their faces, go figure.

“Wh-what happened? Are we dead?” Min asked, carefully walking around the bodies to get to us. Wow, before she looked like a refugee, but given how green she’s gone, she could pass as a Rakghoul plague-bearer. As she approached, I patted the kid’s head. Normally, he’d try to pretend he was all stuffy and Sithy, not that he really knows what that is. This time though, he stayed latched on, pretty much ignoring her. Oh okay, you let all this happen because of her and now you don’t even want to talk to her. Guess I can handle this, just this once.

“Uh, you know the kid’s a Sith, right? This is what happens when you upset one.” Min just stared at me, her face whiter than a Hoth landscape. Yeah, I guess you just get used to it.

“Ah, Ms Min was it? Are you ready to represent your group?” the lieutenant asked, bowing as he approached. Min looked like he’d asked her to eat the dead.

“I told the Lieutenant that the army should put an outpost there, watching the river south of us. He asked the governor, who said he is going to let him offer you an abandoned building in Sobrik in exchange for this base, but you have to make the demand.” The kid explained to my gut, in his own weird Sithy way.

“Me, but I can’t: I’m not qualified. I should ask my-,” Min pleaded.

“No,” Roan croaked, his voice as stiff as the imperials swarming around us, even if it was stifled a little by my shirt, “you’re terrified of me but you came out and asked us to not blow up your home. No-one else from your group had the strength to stand up for themselves: they don’t deserve anything.” He loosened his grip on me, leant back and his voice took on an almost singsong tone, like he was reciting it from memory, “The weak don’t deserve anything but suffering. Prove your strength and earn your way back into society.” Seriously, it was half crazy rant, half inspiring speech. He’d have to work on it before anyone signed up to the Empire’s tyranny.

“Go and demand the building, make your people Imperial subjects.” He advised, his voice softer, almost gentle. Min just stared at him, mouth tight with worry. Then she nodded. Her eyes shone with tears as she stole over to the lieutenant and with a quivering voice, she made her demands.

“Are you okay? He mumbled into my chest. Whoa, what happened to the whole ‘Stand up and fight’ thing? It was only then I felt him shaking. Whoa, were you really scared for me? That’s… actually kinda nice, you know: that someone actually cares about me.

“I am now,” I admitted, folding down into his hug, “next time, warn me before you run off, okay.” He didn’t say anything, but his chin poked my stomach a couple of times.

Imperial soldiers rushed around, checking and securing stuff. More refugees came creeping out from a hidden door I hadn’t seen earlier, encouraged by Min. She and the lieutenant were talking, and even though I got maybe every other word, it was kinda obvious he was lowballing the base. Yeah, I’d usually leave the negotiation stuff to Taunt or Rish, but Min had totally put her neck on the line for me. I could give her a hand with him. It’s not like he can screw us with the ride to Markaran Outpost: The kid just made sure of that. Gotta love unapproachable Sith authority when you’re on this side of the jackboot.

“Hey, Lieutenant. Stop jerking her around: we’ve got Sith business to get on with,” I called over to Larbec, who twitched into the railing, whirling around to face us. Pointedly ignoring me, he bowed deeply to the kid. I didn’t really care, so long as he got on with it.

“Of course, my Lord: I shall, of course, leave my second with some men to secure the base and catalogue everything. I shall retrieve then and deliver Ms Min’s people to Sobrik on our return journey.” Cool: I pretty much left him to it after that. The kid was kinda my main concern, and I couldn’t put it off any longer. I think I really upset him with that bit in the control room, and he’s just gonna get worse and worse until I fix it.

“All right, back to Sith business,” I purred as Roan glanced up at me, “Grrrr.” I made claws with my hands and raised them up. The kid watched, his tattooed eyebrow arched and then it happened. Slowly, the other side of his mouth curled up into a slight smirk. He huffed, shaking his head lightly. There we go, no more grouchypants for you. C’mon, let’s get out of here.

As the warm midday sun bathed my face, I frowned. Annalé wasn’t acting alone, and from what the other guy, uh Cheketta, had said, it was going down soon. Why do I have a bad feeling that we’ve stumbled onto something a lot bigger than we could handle. Well, maybe we’d be finished with Rylon and out of here before then, right? Yeah, I doubt it too. Guess that’s just something I’ll have to watch out for: yay me. C’mon, lets get out of here, yeah.

It was nice seeing more from Vette and Roan. I honestly thought I was stuck with a cliffhanger. I did. I was rather happy that the AN actually contained more story!

The ship was quiet, suspiciously quiet. Sure, I could hear the thrumming of the engines and the whub-humm of life support but something was missing. Grumbling to myself, I reached down and rooted around for my holocomm. Tapping the base, I blearily read the numbers displayed over it. Nine Thirty, it was mid-morning. Ugh, why does it feel like I’ve only had three hours sleep: probably because I have.

We’d landed late last night and Captain Jerkface had immediately called Darth Baras. Baras’ holocall took ages to connect and then had gone on forever, all the while we had to stand there and wait through it. I honestly had no idea why, or even what they’ll be doing beyond vague stuff, and I was awake for all of it. The kid was pretty much asleep by the end. Still, Quinn got his marching orders: find the girl, doom the world. Why does that sound like the plot to a bad holo? Doesn’t matter: it’s not my problem.

Quinn was going to have to manage without me for the next two days: I was on vacation. Mako and I were off to see Aderaan, you know before the nobles blow it all up in their dumb civil war. Really, does it matter who’s sitting on the throne: they’re all cousins anyway? Anyway, she was coming to pick me up at Ten so we could see House Alde and their Royal museum before riding Thrantas at lunch… wait. I looked down at my holo again. The numbers Nine and Thirty-two stood proud above it. I gasped, realisation and the cold breath of air working together to kick me awake.

Twisting in bed, I got the blanket caught around my legs and tumbled off the edge of my bunk. My blanket cushioned the worst of the bump on landing, but it still took me a moment to unscramble my way out my blanket and get up. Listing up to my feet, I lurched towards the refresher. The floor was cold but I barely noticed it. Three springing steps took me to the doorway. Grabbing the doorframe, I used it to swing around, slapping the release to open the door just in time. Hopping over the floor grating, I landed on one of the artfully placed shower mat. With way too practiced ease, I set the shower intensity down a quarter turn, punched the start button and hopped in.

The dull whirr reverberated around the shower and my skin tingled all over. Stripping out of my tank top and panties, I rubbed my body down, letting the sound ripples brush the dirt off. I took a step away from the centre of the sonic shower, where the ripples were less scrubby. Squidging a globule of body wash into my hands, I hurriedly rubbed it against my face, scalp, shoulders, arms, chest and stomach before spending time carefully massaging the ice-blue gunk into my lekku. Once done, I stepped back into the vortex. The ripples shivered the soapy gel down, over my crotch, butt, and the tops of my legs. Rubbing them all down, I quickly brushed the last bits off my body before thumping the power button.

The shower cut out and I almost collapsed. Yeah, rushing a sonic shower makes my knees go all weak. Supporting myself with the door handle, I wobbled out of the shower. Scooping up my panties and tank top, I slipped back into the crew quarters. Lucky for me, Quinn was nowhere in sight. I didn’t want him creeping on me, and there weren’t any locks on the crew quarters. I’d left out a set of clothes yesterday, when I’d finished packing, all rumpled at the foot of my bunk.

I pounced on the pile, pulling on my underwear and socks right away. Next up were the off-white leggings, rolling onto my back to get them over my butt. Then the top, a folded off-white robe that you slid into more like a shirt than pulled over the head like a tunic. Snatching my belt from its loop on the railing beside the overhead bunk, I strapped it around my waist, the synthleather of the empty holsters rubbing my thighs through the leggings. Thing with these shirts was that they needed a fastener or they flapped about in the breeze. Don’t get me wrong, some people love that, but I’m not one of them. I like knowing my shirt isn’t going to come flying apart as soon as I got on a speeder bike.

Okay, last check I’ve got the things I’ll need before I’m off. I fished my bag out from under the tossed cover and dumped it on the bed. Inside, I had pretty much everything I’d need for a two-day stint on-world.

A spare and a nice set of clothes, Toothbrush, lekku wax, cred-pouch, deodorant, holocomm, extra set of undies: I think I had everything. Oh yeah, almost everything: my headdress rested at eye level on the overhead bunk. I reached up and slotted it into place, its padded bridges resting on the tops of my ear cones. I liked it and it was mine and all, but like so many things, I wore it for others.

People, especially humans, get weirded out by bald women. Guess that’s one bit of our biology they can’t bear, so we have to hide behind headdresses. See, I’m a ‘normal’ girl too: homocentric jerks. No, I can’t get mad at humans for that. You can’t blame people for being unconsciously weirded out by aliens. I mean, it’s not like I don’t get weirded out by all that body hair. It covers their whole body and it grows, like from their faces! I shuddered as imagined phantom bristles puckered my skin. At least the kid only had hair where his lekku should’ve been. He was almost a twi’lek that way… or so I think. It’s not like I’ve ever seen him without his top or trousers, so he could be a Wookie under there for all I know. Gah, there’s a creepy thought.

Fastening my satchel shut, I slung it over my shoulder. Crossing the room, I padded up the three stairs and down along the corridor to the main hall. I’d say goodbye to the kid, maybe get a hug before I left and then grab my gear. Sure, I probably wouldn’t need my blasters or shield generator, but you never-.

“Hey Vette!” The words came from nowhere. A bajillion volts through up my spine and I got a hand halfway towards my empty holsters before I recognised his voice.

“Up” Roan called from almost directly overhead. I took a step back and looked up. Roan was sitting cross-legged on the ceiling with his eyes closed and hair flopping down above him. His tunic-style top flopped upwards, bunching around his chest to show off his hairless belly. A faint shine of sweat beaded his forehead, occasionally dribbling up along his fringe.

“What are you doing?”

“Defying the will of gravity,” he chirped. Opening his eyes, he shifted his hands and dropped, turning a half flip in the air, “If I can hold myself with the force, then maybe I can fly like Supernova.” I smiled as I remembered his excitement at watching that old holo. I’d shown it to him a few days ago and he’s watched it a dozen times over since then.

“Nice, how long did you hold it?”

“Hours,” he exclaimed, but I had a feeling the real number was closer to twenty minutes. It’s not that the kid lies about stuff, half the time I’m sure he doesn’t even know how to, but he does exaggerate. Either it’s a human thing or a force thing relating to time, or maybe he counts quickly and tries to impose his pace on reality. Whatever it is, his estimates are usually way off.

“Uh huh, you had breakfast yet?”

“Nuh uh, I was waiting for you.” I eyed him. He’s been up for the better part of half an hour and he hadn’t eaten, not even cereal? Yeah, I know you don’t eat before physical training, but this was just force stuff. I checked my holo.

I had maybe fifteen minutes before Mako gets here. I was going to grab a slice of Munch Fungus bread on my way out, but I guess I could spare a few minutes.

“You want some?” he nodded vigorously, sending his ginger locks thrashing around his head. All right, time for breakfast. Turning around, I headed back into the living quarters. Instead of turning left though, I went right. The kid hopped in front of the door as I reached for the control panel, like he was hiding something.

“Um, Toovee made us something for today, because you’re going and everything,” he admitted awkwardly, his gaze jumping all over the place trying to avoid mine. Uh huh, Toovee made something?

“Did he really?”

“Yes, but it’s not bad! It’s spongy and soft and sticky.” I know he didn’t mean it like that but uh, wow. Could you make it sound any worse than whatever it was? Smirking at the kid, I tapped the door release.

The conference-room slash dining-room looked the same it always did: long metal table flanked by chairs, imperial banners fluttering between the metal props lining each wall bracket, holo-console in the centre of the table. There was something different this time, sitting on the near end of the table.

It was a two-layered cake with a chocolate-smelling spread in the middle. It smelled wonderful: sugary, thick and creamy, and chocolatey at the same time. Sticky white icing was drizzled over the top, in a vague looking shape.

“It smells delicious!” I felt an honest, wondrous smile play over my features. It was wonderful: no one has ever baked me a cake before, not even Mom. Glancing down at the kid, I saw him bunch up, almost like he expected to be yelled at.

“It didn’t come out right. Toovee meant it to be a Khareth Jhai.”

“It’s wonderful either way,” I approved as a niggling little thought squirmed in the back of my head, “but what does that translate to?” He almost forgot to bunch up as he realised I don’t speak Sith.

“Uh, ‘May your rivals submit completely before you’, but it could mean ‘good luck’,” he insisted, slightly too fast on the recovery. He probably figured that I’d object to wishing slavery on people, and I normally would, but it isn’t what he meant. It was a going-away cake.

I knelt down and drew him into a hug. There was no hesitation, no stiffening as he consciously stopped himself from snapping me, he just melted into my arms.

“Thanks, this is a great way to start off my vacation.”

He involuntarily stiffened at my words. Then I got it. The whole ambush outside the crew quarters, the cake, the waiting for breakfast: he was trying to make me happy, so he could convince me not to go, in his own peculiar way. He did get that this was just a two-day holiday, right? I’ll be back before he’s even finished on-world. Craning back out of the hug, I looked down at his pointy, tattooed face.

“You do know I’m coming back, right?” His big eyes grew impossibly wide and moist for a brief second, before he clamped down on the emotion.

“Um, yeah. Of course,” he insisted, as believable as a Hutt philanthropist.

“I’m serious. Mako and I are just seeing Alderaan for two days, and then I’ll be back. There’s nothing to worry about, okay?”

He didn’t say anything, just blinked a lot and eventually nodded. Curling back into him, I let him rest his head on my collarbone. I stayed there for a bit, just holding him as his reassured warmth seeped into me. I’m not sure what else to call it, but it was like a discordant note on the edge of your hearing had stopped, and just the silence was enough to make you feel better. The distant chime of the airlock tinkled through the ship, shattering the calm.

“That’s her, isn’t it?” he moped, the ‘discordant note’ buzzing back into being. Oh relax, would ya? I’m not going away forever. It’s just two days: you’ll hardly notice I’m gone.

“Why don’t you go check? I’ve got a few things to finish off first, okay?” His hopeful expression collapsed, and he nodded. Turning, he disappeared up the stairs, off to meet Mako. Maybe she’ll cheer him up a bit, or reassure him that I’m not abandoning him forever: as if I would leave him with Quinn.

A moment of childish curiosity flickered into my head, and it took me over to the far side of the dining room. Peeking into the little one-person kitchen, I smiled. ‘Toovee’ had sure left a mess: with flour dust spattering the surfaces and upper cupboards. Let me guess, the recipe said to ‘mix vigorously’, didn’t it? Leaning around the corner, I opened up the cupboard over the microwave and pilfered a couple of Quinn’s many clear plastic boxes. He had so many he’d hardly notice if a few went missing, right? Popping back out, I tapped the door panel and walked back to the table. I’ll let the real Toovee deal with the mess.

Picking up the knife beside the cake, I started cutting it up into slices. Taking just over half of them, I placed a dozen of them into three of the boxes. I’ll take one for now and a few for later. We’re riding Thrantas around lunchtime, so we mightn’t have time for to find a little café before they shut. Besides, Mako might want some ‘don’t go’ cake too. Shuffling the cake boxes into my bag, I shifted three more slices onto the plate and left the dining room.

Mako leant against the couch in the main room, seemingly at ease in an earth tone sun-dress and black leggings combo. The kid had his back to me, squared against her as if ready to take a charge, or give one. Spying me, she offered a little wave.

“Hey, I know I’m a bit early, but Zul and Gault had to leave before dawn to meet the client,” Mako apologised as way of greeting. Smiling understandingly at her, I approached, coming up behind Roan and resting a hand on his shoulder. He squirmed, dropping the tension in his stance almost immediately

“Don’t worry, I was about ready to go anyway,” I beamed, setting the plate down on the dejarik table, “Cake?” her hazel eyes lit up as soon as she saw the contents. Yeah, she couldn’t resist the chocolate double sponge with Sithy icing either.

Roan twitched in the almost characteristic arm flex that dropped the lightsaber hidden up his robe sleeve. Lucky for Mako, he wasn’t wearing his robe. Okay seriously, what gives? You like Mako. What’s with all the threatening body language?

“That smells delicious,” Mako exclaimed, her eyes shining with naked want.

“Sure, Toovee made it for us, right Roan.” His mouth twitched open, but he caught himself before he outed the real ‘Toovee’. Instead, he nodded, and I could only guess at his expression. If Mako noticed, she didn’t show it as she took a slice. Cupping a hand underneath, she brought the cake up and sank her teeth into its crumbly side. She moaned quietly as she took a bite of the cake, crumbs sticking to her lips. Encouraged, I plucked a piece of cake from the plate and tried it.

The cake tasted as good as it smelled, soft and spongy with chocolate, cream and icing warring for best taste. Closing my eyes, I savoured the texture, rubbing it against the top of my mouth with my tongue. It was grainy but not in a bad way, though the cake just came apart in your mouth.

“Uhmm, it is pretty good! Roan, do you want a piece?” I offered, and was rewarded with his pouty glower. Oh, was I not supposed to offer Mako some? That’s not very nice. C’mon, you like Mako, remember. He didn’t relent, kinda spoiling the mood. All right, if you don’t want to play nice, I don’t have to hang around.

“Okay Roan, you be good for Quinn, yeah?” he made a face. I watched him for a moment, eyebrow quirked. He held his own for a long moment, and then gave in with a pout and a nod.

“All right, we’re heading off now, I’ll see you tomorrow evening, okay?” I watched the kid’s eyes grow maybe three sizes and he shuffled half a step towards me. I could tell he really wanted to wrap me in another hug and maybe that’d keep me from vanishing off, but something held him back. Quinn loomed impassively behind the kid, his hand resting on his shoulder. He kept his ice blue eyes fixed on me, and I got his message, loud and clear, ‘he’s mine now, Twi’lek’. A small part of me wanted to slap his hand off the kid and show him by sticking around, but I ignored it. Let Quinn have this small victory, and the drudgework too: I’m on vacation.

Nodding at them both, I turned and walked out of the main room. Quiet bootsteps clanked on the grating as Mako followed me down the corridor that led to the airlock. Like I said, I was almost ready: I just had to grab my gear.

Slipping open the armoury locker, I drew out my twin blasters, the shield generator and my boots. Quickly sliding them into their holsters, belt clip and onto my feet, I thumped the airlock release. The door slid out and to the side, breaching the inner of the two powerful seals. Grabbing my off-white woollen coat, I followed Mako into the airlock. The door hissed shut behind us as I shrugged the soft fabric on over my shirt. As soon as the airlock door shut, the ramp yawned open, water vapour billowing forth ominously. Got to say it about the Sith, what they lacked in morals, they made up for in theatrics.

“So what was with the kid and the cake? Mako asked as we walked down the ramp.

“Roan made it as a ‘please don’t go’ present.” The slicer smiled, crow’s feet wrinkling her almost closed eyes. For some reason, it gave her an almost catlike look, but I guess it could’ve been my imagination.

“You know, that’s kind of adorable.”

“Yeah, that’s him. all right: adorable...” I trailed off, considering the idea. I guess he could seem adorable, right up to the point when he rips people apart with his brain. Mako shot an uncertain questioning glance over at me. The meaning was clear, was everything okay and did I want to talk about it?

“C’mon, this is my first day off in almost three months, can we spend it not talking about the kid.” Mako’s uncertainty faded, replaced by a neutral mask.

“All right, so what do you want to do first?” Mako asked, and I saw the excited fires shimmering in her eyes in the corner of my own. I flashed a grin at her and headed off, towards the spaceport exit and the wondrous world beyond. For the first time in forever, I was officially on vacation.

It was adorable; making the don't go cake, hanging from the ceiling. The mess left in the galley... I do feel bad for the kid for having to be left with Quinn.

Do you know what’s the best part of museums? It’s not the exhibits, the guided tours or even the little café and gift shop. No, they show you what culture the locals really value. Take this place for example. The Royal Museum of Alderaan was full of statues, busts and bones. They were good and all, bits of heraldry from house whatever or statues of Lord so and so, but it was the décor that really got my attention.

Everything was lined with fancy rock crystal surfaces, intricately carved and with gold trim. Underneath each exhibit, large golden plaques explained what each podium showed in very small block letters. Overall, this place looked more like someone’s private vault than a museum. Granted, that vault had seen someone try to blow the place up at some point: cracks showed where bits of fancy rock had come off the walls.

Mako flitted from bust to tapestry, her eyes huge with awe. She’d obviously never been to one before. As museums go, it was all right, but the whole thing was kinda sad. All their exhibits pretty much screamed ‘We were mighty and powerful a couple centuries ago, don’t forget about us!’ I get enough neediness from the kid, I don’t need it from my museums. I just tagged along and tried not to wonder where the real prizes were. This was supposed to be the Royal Museum of Alderaan, the biggest and the best funded one on the planet, and all we got were statues and plaques. Where were the jewels, the relics and the artefacts?

Don’t give us a chamberpot possibly used once by the second cousin of the Queen Alde’s Jester: I want to see the armour she wore when she crushed Antilles and Ulgo on the Elysium Plains, unifying the planet. But don’t just show the armour, show a holo-representation of the battle, complete with the pennant speeches and tactical play-by-play. Or if you don’t want to venerate war, how about her burial mask. Supposedly it had over a thousand Corusca gems and weighed almost as much as her coffin. Show us that with artist’s impression of the funeral. C’mon, give me something to care about here: this is your history we’re talking about!

Eventually, Mako wandered through into the gift shop, which was almost as bad as the exhibits. Dusty wares, stale packaged sweets and no-one on the till: I’m not gonna even bother describing anything else, they obviously didn’t care either. It wasn’t even a full room, just a shelf and table squashed into a corner of the last room. I happily followed her out into the crisp Alderaanian morning.

“So, what’d you think?” Mako asked, blinking in the sunlight.

“It was all right,” I hedged. I mean, yeah I guess some of their exhibits were okay, despite their best efforts.

“Oh,” she drooped from the shoulders up, sagging gloomily. She’d wanted to see this place the most, before the war ravaged it too. Seeing it though, I kinda felt a little let down too.

“Hey, you wanna go get something to eat before we head back for the Thrantas?” Mako perked back up, and then wavered. Yeah, I know: they don’t want us to eat half an hour before riding the Thrantas, but c’mon. How many days are we gonna get to try real Alderaanian food? Besides, we’re booked for an hour from now and it’ll take us half an hour to get down to the nests. That gives us plenty of time to try that little café over there. Mako frowned and then nodded. Yeah, that’s the spirit. We’re on holiday: we don’t have to worry about anything.

“Excuse me miss, are you the Twi’lek known as Vette?” someone, a guy asked, his voice way too polite to be anything but an antiquarian. You know the type, always stuffy: sometimes endearingly, usually not. If he knew my name, it meant he wanted something. While I’m not exactly unknown as a tomb raider in the right kind of circles, I’m more into Twi’lek artefacts than Human ones. Besides, I’m on holiday! Still, it could be fun sneaking into some stuffy lord’s house and stealing the Antilles Grail or whatever.

“No, I’m Vette the Whiphid, Twi’lek Vette’s in the ‘fresher. Who’s asking?” I smirked at Mako as I glanced back at the guy, and then totally ate my words.

This guy looked more like the models you see on the front of trashy romance holos than the usual antiquarian: except, instead of the customary bowtie, abs and pants that barely hid his relic, he wore an Alde guard uniform. He also had a very dangerous looking blaster rifle in hand. So did his two buddies.

“Captain Celchu, House Alde Security. We would like to ask you a few questions.”

“Uh, what for,” I said lamely, glancing around, looking for a way out that didn’t involve getting blasted. Their rifles were in hand. Sure, they were pointed at the ground but that could change in a second. I’m fast, but nowhere near quick enough to go for my guns and blast all three before they got me. Even if I could, we were in the middle of House Alde. They had a hundred buddies they could call on: even if they somehow didn’t gun me down, I didn’t have enough ammo to take all of them. No, I was going with them. The only question was if I went in cuffed.

“Hey, is this any way to treat paying visitors?” Mako snapped, her voice steely but I could hear the tightness underneath. She wasn’t used to facing trouble without eighty kilos of armoured Chiss between her and them. The captain switched attention over to the little

“Excuse us Ma’am, but this is official Alde business. We just need to ask your friend some questions. Please carry on with your day.”

“It’s okay, Mako. I’ll chat with these guys real quick and meet you at the café.” You know, where you can slice in and clear the way for me to break out, or if that’s not possible, call Quinn and the kid. The two guards behind the captain looked at each other sceptically. So, it was gonna be like that, huh? Mako picked up on it too, and panicked. Seriously, that’s the only way I can explain why she went for her blaster. Left guard snapped his rifle up and shot her, the blue stun ring hitting her like a bajillion volts. She dropped, her chrono clacking on the flagstones.

The guard captain breathed out through his nose, then glanced at lefty and gestured at Mako. With a grunt, the guard slung his rifle and hauled her up over his shoulder. At least he pressed the hem of her skirt down against her knees with his arm, so she wouldn’t ride up in the breeze.

“We’re not going to have a problem, are we?” the guard captain warned, rifle not aimed at me, but almost there. Yeah, now I had no chance to squeeze out of this: thanks Mako. I nodded and righty slapped cuffs on my wrists. The three of them frog-marched me down the long stairs, across the busy courtyard –yeah, really appreciated all the dirty looks I got from everyone, jerks.

The inside of the security building was as high vaulted and pointlessly ornate as the museum, with the same cracks in hard to reach parts of the plaster. Yeah, I get you want people to be impressed when they come here, but maybe focus on the bits you want people to see. Anyone who comes in here either works here or doesn’t want to be here. They had the same problem as the gift shop, with the receptionist’s desk squeezed between the statues and stuff.

A bored middle-aged human woman scowled behind it, so engrossed in her datapad that she barely looked up when they hauled Mako and me in. The three of them ‘escorted’ us down the thin corridor at the back of the room and into the third door on the right.

It was a prison, no big surprises there, but it didn’t have the usual separate containment cells. Instead, they dumped Mako on the large bench that ran along the far wall. They left her there while they took me to the next room and worked me over. Pistols, bag, holocomm, boots: they all went into the ugly orange box. At least I got to keep my clothes. Imperial prisons suck, a lot.

Finally, they took me further down the hall and dumped me in a more traditional interrogation room. Prodded into the middle of the room, I felt the force-field take my weight, lifting me and holding me upright in mid-air.

“So you finally gonna tell me why you shot Mako?” I demanded, glaring at the hunky jerk. He gestured at his flunkies and they cleared the room, closing the door on their way out. Now it was just us, he felt like talking.

“Before we get started, I feel compelled to remind you that despite our alliance with House Organa, House Alde endeavours to remain neutral in the civil war. As Count Alde decrees, we will endeavour to bring a swift and peaceable conclusion to the hostilities at the negotiating table. So, you and your friend have not been detained due to any affiliation you have with House Thul.”

“Uh huh, but that doesn’t tell me anything about why you shot Mako.” None of this ‘friend’ drek, you know her name captain: Use it. She’s not some faceless girl you can bundle off, she’s a person and her name is Mako. He scowled, giving me the ‘you’re not making this easy’ look. He was dead right.

“Last night there was a burglary, the culprit stole into the records room and illegally accessed our records.”

“Really, that’s it? You shot Mako and dragged me in here to tell me some guy snuck in and looked something up? Guess you jerks are really into closing times.” He didn’t rise to the comment, figures.

“The culprit was a darksider.” Now I got it: tomb raider plus kid Sith equals suspect. It would’ve been a fair guess… if you didn’t know anything about us and went off who’s nearby instead of, I don’t know, investigating.

“It wasn’t us. We landed late last night and Roan was in bed before then. None of us left the ship until late this morning.” Yeah, I didn’t bother pretending I didn’t know any Sith. If he knew me by name, he knew about the kid.

“Can you verify that?”

“I don’t have to: you guys are all about ‘Innocent until proven guilty’. Guess you can ask House Thul for their spaceport has hanger cams though.” Yeah, that was one of the great things about the Republic, they believed people weren’t guilty of whatever they’re accused until someone proved it. Doesn’t sound like much but let me tell you, it’s way better than the other way around.

“True, but we can hold you for three days before we have to charge you.” Yeah, and there was the downside. Their system needed time, and you got to sit in a cell while they worked. That was gonna be a problem, and not just because I’d miss out on the sights. If they gave me a holocall, I’d bet they wouldn’t let me call the kid. If I didn’t call him later, Roan would freak out, and he’d come looking for me. Captain Jerkchu aside, I’d like this place to not get trashed by the kid’s raging abandonment issues.

“I wouldn’t do that if you don’t want an upset Sith ram-.“ I didn’t get to finish.

The door hissed open and Whoa! A Jedi with a chin you could break rocks on walked into the room. Tall, built and forbidding, he would’ve been hot in the completely-off-limits best-friend’s Dad kind of way. He totally ignored me, figures. Instead, he regarded the captain with that Jedi calm stare thing they did. Yeah, I take it back: he was kinda creepy now that I got a look at him.

“Captain, I have returned and I bring the beneficiary of this burglary.” A woman with a Noble Alderaanian accent protested from the far side of the door, but I couldn’t hear anything specific from this side of the force-field. The captain very deliberately tucked his datapad under his arm, closed his eyes and breathed through his nose.

“Master Alde, thank you for your interest in this case,” he said with gritted-teeth indulgence, “may I offer your acquaintance a place in the cells?

“You may not. I refuse to be manhandled like some peasant. My grandfather will hear of this and our champion will obliterate yours!” an Alderaanian noblewoman snapped from around the corner, and I got Risha vibes. I pressed my face as close to the forcefield as I dared and tried to get a good look at her: no luck.

“Lady Thul, I shall send for a female investigator immediately. Please wait in the cells until she arrives.” Oh, well: good it wasn’t Risha, I guess.

“Unhand me this instant you-,” she trailed away, becoming more indistinct against the force-field’s hum. The captain closed the door behind them before remembering I was even here.

“My apologies, Miss Vette: now, where was I?” Yeah, let’s get this on so I can make sure your guy didn’t burn Mako’s brain when he blasted her implants with that stunner.

“You were saying how you thought Roan and I were behind the break-in, but you guys didn’t notice it until afterwards, or you’d have said a time. That means no one died, nothing got demolished and there’s no holocam records showing your burglar. Don’t know if you’ve been watching him or anything, but stealth’s really not his style. Also, Master Chin back there kinda proves it wasn’t us.”

“Master- You mean Master Alde. How does-,” he started. I didn’t let him finish.

“Yeah, whatever he’s called. There’s no way Roan would miss out on fighting a Jedi if they’re around. So, pick another Sith on the planet and try them.”

“You’re not being very helpful.”

“You kidnapped a paying visitor at gunpoint, paraded me around like a common criminal and shot Mako because you had a bad hunch.” Did I miss anything? His eyes bulged and he puffed his chest up, his armour glinting in off the forcefield. You think you scare me: I’ve been threatened by Darths.

“She attempted to draw on us.”

“You were trying to kidnap me,” I repeated, saying each syllable slowly and clearly, in case he didn’t get the message, “Now, are you gonna let us both go with a big apology or what.” He stiffened, the same way Quinn does. Thought so, he had no authority himself, except to harass paying customers apparently.

“We were performing our lawful duties.”

“Yeah, I get that, but the way you did it just picked a fight with not one but two of the Empire’s top agents. You heard about Cademimmu V right? Roan and Mako’s boss were half of the Imperial strike team that conquered the planet. Don’t suppose your House defences are on the same level as the War chest of the Outer Rim, huh? If you keep this up, you’ll die for it. Either Roan will come bust us out, or Mako’s boss will. It’s fifty-fifty who gets here first, but if I were you, I’d hope for him: he’s crazy overprotective, but she’s just mean.”

“I see. Then I’ll see you in seventy two hours,” he smiled unpleasantly, banging on the wall by the door. It hissed open and a guard poked his head in. I’d screwed up. He was gonna dig in and stand on this hill. Maybe threatening his charges with a full blown Imperial assault wasn’t such a good idea.

“Please escort the prisoner back to the holding cell.” Then the jerk walked out. After a minute the guard did as asked, dropping the force-field and hauling me back to the big cell.

Mako lay on the bench, still out cold. In the far corner, a Thul noblewoman slumped in the corner, her hands curled around her knees. She wasn’t that old, maybe a bit older than Mako and shared the slicer’s colouring. She wore the usual purply-grey overcoat with the pink sash and a shirt and trousers combo below. She had a pair of closed-toe high heels, that made my toes instinctively curl up. I get the whole looking taller and more elegant thing, I really do, but they stop you from running. In my experience, running beats looking good any day.

She scrabbled to her feet when she saw me, head held high and haughty, as if she could cow me with her very presence. Yeah, keep believing that. I’ve got more important things to do than worry about whatever social strata you think is in here. First thing, I had to get these manacles off.

Manacles weren’t all that hard to get out of, especially if you had a key. None of the guards had been so kind as to leave their set dangling out of their pockets, but I had the next best thing. You see, I’ve been in cuffs way too often: from slaving it up to getting in way over my head as a freelancer. So, rather than hoping the guards were crazy, I keep a piece of wire nestled in the weave of my sleeve ends. Sure, it pokes me in the wrist every now and again, but a bit of blood’s a fair trade for my freedom.

Getting out of one cuffs was easy enough -it’s not like it’s my first time or anything- but I left the other dangling off my wrist, just in case. Guards get kinda upset when they see their manacles on the floor, especially when they went to all that trouble putting them on you. This way, I could fake it unless they got close enough to touch them. At that point, I could try something and get free.

Dropping to a knee by Mako, I put a hand on her implant. Okay, so I’m not a doctor, but I’m pretty sure that the electric charge in the stun would burn them. They were cool to the touch, and I didn’t see any blackening around the metal, not that it meant much. Mako groaned at the touch and her eyes fluttered open.

“Wha- what happened,” she slurred, blinking those huge brown eyes up at me.

“They shot you with a stunner. You’ve been out for maybe ten minutes, I think. Those huge eyes doubled in size as her hand flicked up to her implant. Her eyes unfocussed for a moment, and the colour started returning to her face.

“I’m okay, they didn’t get anything but my museum holos.” she finally remembered how to breathe and carefully shuffled up to sit on the bench. I took the seat beside her, “Ugh, this is so going in the online review.” I flashed her a lopsided smile.

“Yeah, naught out of ten, they kidnapped us and held us hostage for no good reason. Hit them where it hurts. Remind me never to get on your bad side.” Her lips slowly stretched into a lazy grin, to match mine.

“So why were they after you?”

“Some Sith broke in. They assumed it was me and the kid.”

“but you only got in yesterday?” Mako explained, obviously regarding the guards with with the same level of respect I felt for them.

“Yeah, but that’s not even the best part. They had a Jedi with them. He grabbed her,” I waved vaguely at the noblewoman, “and dragged her back here from Thul’s base. Said some the force told him she did it.”

“A Jedi?” Mako looked at me expectantly, “So, how long before Roan smashes this place?”

“Don’t count on it, Seraph Thul is a Jedi master and an excellent swordsman. He bested my bodyguard, and he’s Sith,” the Thul woman insisted, her voice barely avoiding bragging.

“Uh huh, Mako, who’s she?” Ooh, that got her attention. Her brown eyes locked on me and shot me with a withering look. Oh, I might die from all her judging! No, my one true weakness: mean looks.

“She’s Elana Thul, second in line as head of the main family after her father,” Mako offered, dropping her hand from her implant, “Uh, should I curtsey or something?”

“Good to see someone knows who I am, and no. Merely knowing your place is enough,” she postured, almost as bad as one of those princess wannabes you see over the holonet.

“Are you for real?” both of them snapped their eyes on me. Guess I said that out loud. Mako blanched while the noblewoman washed her eyes all over me before deciding I wasn’t even worth her time: Jerk.

“So, why’d tall, dark and Jedi drag you in here?” She didn’t even acknowledge me. Yeah, I get you think being noble makes you better than us, but in here that doesn’t mean anything.

“Hey, I get you’re a bigshot with Thul, but we’re gonna be here for a couple of hours before anyone comes along, so you might as well talk.

“Actually Miss Vette, the female interviewer will be here shortly,” Captain Jerkface announced from immediately outside the cell. Oh, that got a reaction out of little miss nobility over there: she practically squeaked in terror. What, never been interrogated before? Mako frowned at me. What, was I having too much fun watching her squirm?

Fine, maybe I’m being too hard on her. Yeah, she’s stuck up but she’s the heir to some, noble bigwig: Who wouldn’t be? She didn’t demand Mako grovel or kiss her feet or something gross like that. No, she’s a rich kid stuck in jail for the first time and Daddy’s not coming to save her. Guess I could fill in for a bit. Besides, Captain Jerkchu needed a shiv to the ego.

“Hey, weren’t you going on about how you’re not involved in all the fighting and wanna stay as neural in all of this?” the guard captain looked at me uncomfortably, like he really wasn’t okay with his new prisoner. No idea why that is, “Isn’t kidnapping Thul’s heir kinda the complete opposite in all that.” He didn’t respond, just turned and marched off.

“So, Mako: how’s the plan coming?” I chirped as soon as he was out of earshot.

“Plan?” She sounded surprised, like she didn’t expect to have to break out of here. Yeah, they might let me out in three days, assuming the kid doesn’t trash the place, but you pulled a blaster on them. They’ll charge you for that.

“You know, to get us out of here.”

“Aren’t we waiting for Zul or Roan?” I snorted a breath. C’mon, we don’t need them to rescue us: we can do it ourselves.

“Nah, I want to get out myself, instead of letting him rip the place apart. Besides, we’re riding Thrantas in forty-five minutes.” She huffed a smile, her eyes twinkling.

“What, you can’t seriously be thinking of escaping, and who is this Roan?”

“You’re not the only girl with a Sith in tow,” I snarked, flashing her a mad grin. She stared at me, open mouthed, then giggled and sat beside us. Guess she was in too.

“Well, they’ve got the comms locked down on a separate network, but everything else is on the main one. Guess they’re so worried about someone breaking in they didn’t consider attacks from inside.

“Can you get us out of this cell and create a distraction so the guards all go investigate?” Mako quirked an eyebrow at me. Yeah yeah, I know, don’t tell you how to do your thing: I get it.

“How are you able to do any of this, they took my holocomm when they brought me here,” Elana asked, confusion crossing her dark eyes.

“Ours too, but my implants let me slice into anywhere with a network and the designers of this place didn’t worry about implanted holocomms, so there’s no electric cage keeping the network out.” Mako answered distractedly. Elana opened her mouth to ask another question. I took it for Mako, giving her time to do her thing.

“The plaster up there is about eighty years old. The seam’s good but you can tell it’s a restoration,” I noted, pointing at it “and the tech for implant holocomms has only been around twenty, twenty-five years tops.” I heard the faint click as the electric lock opened.

“Well, it’s open but I count three guys between us and our gear, and uh about fifty three patrolling the grounds or watching the exits. Even you couldn’t sneak past all that,” she said, gesturing at me.

“They had a holoviewer and speakers in the main courtyard on the way in. You know, with the blue lights and the orchestral music: think you can mess with it?” She flashed me a wicked little grin and nodded. Okay, let’s do this.

I padded over to the door, Mako following close behind. As she said, there were three guards. I didn’t expect Mako could match up to guys twice her weight and Elana looked more at home in a spa than a gym. That left only me, against all Three on them. It wasn’t a fight I was going to win, but I didn’t have to win. I just had to run past and duck into the armoury. There I could grab my blasters and it’d be a whole different story.

“I got this,” Mako announced and rushed out into the corridor before I could stop her. Mako! You reveal you can unlock their cell doors and they’ll shove you in the forcefield cell. Then we’re really stuck here.

“Hey, what are you doing out of your cell? On your knees, hands on your heads, now!” one of the guys demanded. Two more guards rushed past, towards Mako, rifles pointed at her. Mako’s put her hands up as she knelt down, and I noticed her fingertips were level with her ears. All three guards advanced on her, the two covering the first guy as he moved to slap cuffs on her. That’s not gonna help.

Mako’s hand flicked up to her implant and all three dropped to their knees, hands scrabbling at their helmets as their cries were drowned out by the weird electric chirping and synth-Xantha thundered through the air. Yowch, if it was this loud for us, I almost didn’t want to imagine how bad it was for them. Still, better them than me. I rushed past, into the vault. Scooping up Elana’s holocomm from a box, I plopped it into the box that had all my stuff in. I was back out just as fast.

“Fighting Evil By Moonlight!” their helmet comms screamed as I walked back out. Yeah, we needed that quiet, or everyone’ll be crashing down on us. Taking one of my pistols, I flicked it over onto the stun setting.

“Winning Love by Daylight!” I shot all three of them, the charge from the stunner shorting out their comms.

“Was that-,” Elana started, eyeing Mako. The little slicer blushed.

“Not now,” I hissed, pushing the holocomm into her hands. That had been loud: someone was gonna check on these guys. Let’s not be here when they arrive, yeah. I padded down the hallway and jerked back. A guard was by the desk, chatting with the duty officer. It was kinda amazing he hadn’t seen me. I held up my hand, stopping Mako and Elana before they did the same thing.

“Okay, I’ll deal with them, you two stay near the sides and make for the door,” I whispered, and snuck in. Ducking behind a plinth with a bust on it, I watched them chat for what felt like forever, until someone called him from the other side. As soon as his head was turned, I crept up behind her.

“Hey, Captain Oblivious,” I purred into her ear. She started to turn her head as I pulled the trigger, “Boo.” Blue light played across her armour as the stunner worked its way in. Yeah, stunners aren’t that great against armour but I didn’t really want any of them dead. They were stuffy jerks sure, but that’s not a reason to murder them.

Her buddy chose then of all times to turn back. No surprise, he saw me and snatched at his rifle. I dived over the table and rolled, coming right up next to him, past the tip of his blaster. Yeah, you see the problem with a rifle is its length. Sure, it gives each shot better accuracy and power by focussing the plasma pulse, but if someone like me can get up close, it turns into a long metal rod. My pistols on the other hand work just fine, even when jabbed into a joint in his breastplate. I squeezed the trigger and the crackle yowl of a stunner hissed through the air. Guard number two dropped like a Hutt in freefall. Now, who’d he been talking to?

A loud crunch shocked around the room and Guard number three staggered forwards. Behind him, Elana held the remnant of a bust, the rest of it crumbling into a dust pile between her dainty high heels. Nice work! Shame they all wore helmets. He rounded on her, rifle pointed at her head. I shot him in the back of the neck. What, he was gonna blast her.

“Nice work, both of you,” I offered, checking the side corridor before trying the front door. Lucky for us, it was clear. Guess both the captain and the Jedi had gone off back to the main part of the compound: like I said, lucky us.

I peered out of the front door, squinting in the harsh sunlight. Seriously, would it kill these guys to put windows in, use some natural light for a change. I saw two, three, four guards huddled together on the wall, with a pair and a war droid patrolling the courtyard.

“C’mon,” I said, and ducked out of the building. I walked briskly but didn’t run. I really didn’t want to draw anyone’s attention: I stand out enough being the only twi’lek on-world. Mako and Elara trailed close behind me, almost huddling as if I was a stealth field or something.

We made it around the corner and were halfway down the street, still close to the wall, when Mako tugged on my sleeve.

“Whoa, their internal security just lit up,” she told us, her voice barely louder than a whisper, “Guess they found the guards.” Great: I’d hoped we could get out through the gates before they found them, but I guess that’s too much to wish for. Now we had to improvise.

I finally was able to read your last and previous postings. Poor girls, I had hoped they would have had an harassment free vacation. I am looking forward to the next installment. I really do hope they manage to make their thranta ride on time too.

I ducked into the alley between two buildings, hauling Mako and Elana behind me. Pressing them against the wall, I huddled behind a power junction. Elana opened her mouth to protest, but didn’t say anything. She might be spoiled, but she wasn’t dumb. I’d done this on purpose, and there had to be a reason for it. Two guards wandered into sight of where we’d been maybe a second later. If we could’ve seen them, they could’ve seen us. Luckily, we were now half hidden in the alley shadows. All we had to do was wait and they’d go past without ever knowing we were here. Lucky for us, they did.

“So, was that the Cynshi theme tune you used on the guards earlier?” Elana purred, a delighted gleam sparkling in her dark, chocolatey eyes. They’d be watching the gates by now, so we weren’t getting out through there. We could try for the wall and climb down. They weren’t that high and there’s snow banks to pad the landing.

“I-um…” Mako went the cutest shade of red, “I just grabbed the first song in my library.” Huh, I perked up and listened to them.

“The what?” I asked, glancing at Elana. The most devious little smirk I’ve ever seen on anyone but Rish played across her face.

“Oh, you know: teenage heroines with legs twice as long as their bodies and very short miniskirts fighting to protect the Republic from evil older women.” Whatever they were talking about, it made Mako’s face go even redder.

“I used to watch it when I was a little kid, okay. You’re telling me you never liked anything dumb when you were too young to know better?” I pressed my lips together and didn’t say anything. Yeah, when I was her age, I’d only been free for a couple of years. Before that, I was slaving it up for a succession of Dirtbags and Jerks. Her eyes bugged as she remembered and she opened her mouth. I held up a hand, stopping her before she drowned us in ‘Sorry’s. C’mon, you weren’t even born when I was slaving it up, so you shouldn’t feel bad about it. I don’t.

“and you just happened to have it ready enough to select on the fly?” Elana continued, ignoring our little exchange as she bore down on Mako. The little slicer squirmed under the noble’s scrutiny as I noted the guards were now out of sight. Peering around the corner, I saw them head into the security centre.

“It’s clear,” I waved my hand between them, breaking up their little torture session, “let’s move.”

I led the way, scuttle running across the courtyard and up the stairs to the wall. There was a guy on the walkway, but he looked the other way, watching out over the mountainside. Taking aim, I planted a stun shot on his unarmoured butt. He twitched and jerked as he hit the deck, but that was it. No alarms shrieked as Mako and Elara followed across. I felt a grin play over my face as I saw Elara awkwardly skip-run, high heels in hand. They made it up the stairs and Elana slumped against the wall, breathing hard. What, there were only fifty of them: shouldn’t you be used to the architecture here?

“Now we just have to find a tree to climb down.” Mako offered, scanning the far side of the wall. Yeah, there’s no chance they’d let a tree grow so big next to the wall. It kinda makes it pointless if people can just climb a tree to get around it. No sooner had I thought it did I spot one. Seriously, whatever they paid Captain Jerkchu was too much.

The wall beside us exploded, with wide cracks stretching from a small black smudge. All three of us dropped: me into a shooter’s weave, Mako into a crouch and Elana onto her butt. Blasterfire whizzed through the air, and it wasn’t the blue stunners either. Despite all that trouble stunning their guys, they wanted to kill us: why do I even bother? Rushing back to the stairs, I knelt behind the thick separating wall. Drawing both pistols, I flicked them back up to full power. If they weren’t gonna play nice, neither was I.

“Elana, Mako: Jump! Head for the treeline and start up the hill. I’ll be right behind you.” Elana stared at me with abject horror, as if I couldn’t be serious. Mako just grabbed her and threw them both over the wall. Yeah, go Mako. Now’s no time to argue: just run! I spied one of Elana’s high heels on the ground beside me, and I couldn’t help it. I broke out into a fit of giggles. I mean, come on: who wears high heels to an escape attempt? Reaching out, I snatched it and put it in my satchel.

I popped up from my cover and sprayed the area with blaster bolts, not really caring if I hit anyone. So long as they dove for cover, I was happy. It’d give us all more time to run. There were a lot of them, twenty or thirty maybe, but I had cover and a good position. Ducking back behind the wall, I leant out and sent more shots out from the top of the stairs, hitting a couple of the closer guards. I wasn’t gonna get all of them, but I’d fight for every metre they took. Mako and Elana needed all the time I could give them. That said, I’m not planning on dying here today.

The Jedi came hurtling from all the way across the compound, lightsaber whipping around him. I didn’t waste time shooting at him: I’ve been around the kid long enough to see what that gets people. Still, I didn’t avoid the area around him, and he slapped plenty of stray bolts aside: one of them even hit a trooper in the leg. Elara, Mako I hope you’ve got far enough away: he’s pissed. I turned and ran, diving over the defensive wall as I heard someone take the stairs eight at a time. I hit the ground in a roll, slowed only a little by the snowdrift rushing cold down my everything. Staggering a step, I caught my second wind and dropped into a dead sprint.

Mako and Elana were a couple dozen metres ahead of me, and I closed that distance fast. Pick it up! If I can outdo you, so will Chinny back there, and he’s not playing nice this time. Blasterfire pocked the snows around us, making Mako wobble as one shot blew apart a tree maybe a metre from her. At this rate, it was even odds as to who got us: Chinny or the guards. Either way, we weren’t gonna reach the treeline before then.

A red open-top luxury speeder pulled up, swerving before us.

“Get in! I do not want to have to fight Master Alde again,” called the driver, a pale, dark-skinned human with red eyes. Yeah, I’d bet he was Elana’s mystery Sith. Sprinting the last twenty metres, I leapt, vaulting over the side of the speeder and spun in the air. My butt hit the padded backseat couch and my shoulder slammed the far door. I ignored them, and looked back to see Mako and Elana get in on the near side. As soon as the door was shut, the Sith floored it.

His speeder kicked dust and pine needles up behind us as we zoomed off, blasterfire yowling all around. Mako and I half turned, peppering them with shots from our pistols. Yeah, we didn’t hit anything, but that wasn’t the point. Their shots became more erratic, as they ducked into cover. While in cover, they couldn’t jump on bikes and chase us. The speeder sped away, up through a clearing and out over the trees. After a moment, even the wildest shots stopped. Mako and I both gave it a ten count before breathed a collective sigh and put our blasters away. Now we weren't gonna get blasted, i got a moment to marvel at the view.

Pointy woodlands stretched across the hill, broken only by the huge egg-shaped mound thingies. Even House Alde’s compound was nestled in the trees, half hidden to preserve the landscape. Over to the east, waterfalls cascaded down the mountains, shimmering rainbows glinting between them. Yeah, I could see why people wanted to retire to a place like this. It only needed the politics to settle down and it’d be perfect. I watched the landscape all the way back to Thul lands. As we crossed the border, I saw Elana relax, and frustration overruled her terror

“Urtel, What took you so long?” Elana fumed at her Sith rescuer, remembering that she was upset now that the danger was past.

“House Alde may be less prominent than other houses, but their security force is more than a match for one man, even a Sith.” Mako glanced at me with the faintest hint of a smirk. Yeah, bet the kid could solo it in twenty minutes. The Sith shifted his head, looking in the rear-view mirror and then he twitched. Yeah, I’m not exaggerating. The sith flinched, jerking the speeder a couple metres to the right.

“Urtel! What are you doing!” Elana screeched, clutching onto the speeder side as a tree branch clipped the side mirror. Mako and I didn't ask, we both turned in our seats, aiming at whatever was behind us. We didn't see anything.

“I take it you’re Vette, then.” Urtel stated, his voice absolutely calm over the popping from on the steering wheel. Uh, okay: getting a major stalker vibe here. Like I said, I’m known in some small archaeological circles, but nothing a Sith would be interested in. No, I got the sinking feeling this was less because I’m a tomb raider, and more because I’m a Twi’lek.

“and you know my name because…”

“I make it my business to know every dangerous Sith coming here and your master has certainly fits the description.” Oh, that’s good, I think: not the kid being a dangerous Sith bit, but the whole not interested in me for my body thing.

“Appearing from nowhere about two months ago, a young human Sith has since played an integral role in the conquest of Cademimmu, single-handedly stopped the Republic's ground invasion on Balmorra after subjugating the pre-existing grassroots rebellion, and crushed Lords Grathan, Rathari, Shalath and Tytonus, and Darth Incerys. At each event, a blue-skinned Twi’lek companion, whom multiple witnesses claim guide his actions, accompanied him. So yes, Miss Vette, I know about you.” Well, when you put it like that, it kinda sounds like he’s the next dark lord or something. I glanced at Mako, who made a face and nodded a bit.

“How do you know all that?” Mako asked, obviously worried. Didn’t you know all that already?

“I have my methods,” he said to the rear view mirror, clearly trying for mysterious. I just got that he had an in with Intelligence, and that I was going to have a chat with Cipher Nine about his snitching problem.

“Urtel, am I in any danger?” Elana Thul asked, her aristocratic bearing almost hiding the nervousness beneath.

“From Roan?” I asked, incredulously. You’re not a Jedi, with the Republic or trying to hurt me or Mako. He wouldn’t attack unless you shot at him or something and even then, if the kid saw her with me, he’d probably want to say hi and maybe try to cadge a hug, “No chance.” She visibly relaxed, almost sinking down into the passenger seat.

“Ugh, Urtel: I need a spa day. See to it, if you please.”

“Of course, Lady Elana, but it will take some time to prepare.” Idly, she cupped her hand in the Jetstream surrounding the speeder, letting the winds buffet her up and down.

“I don’t know how much it’ll help, but Vette and I were going to ride Thrantas after the museum. You’re welcome to join us.” Elana rolled her head back, looking obliquely at Mako. She fluttered her eyes in a ‘totally not judging you for the country bumpkin you are’ way.

“Why not,” she mused with a shrug, “Urtel, take us to the Thul Thranta pens, and then arrange for the spa to treat the three of us.” Uh wow! I’d guessed she’d want to do something for us regarding the whole rescue thing, but I’d thought it’d be more fiscal than facial. She beamed at us: we must’ve looked fairly obvious, huh.

“It’s the least I can do to repay you,” she purred before languidly rolling her head forwards "Besides, in all of the excitement, I chipped a nail." Well, i guess that settled it. Even if this was some backwards-world where we wanted to say no to a luxury spa, she wasn’t hearing it. For the sake of her manicure, we'd endure hours of pampered luxury.

I left my rain shield on as I strode into the office, leaving a trail of water droplets in my wake. A receptionist looked up from her desk, and I saw the flicker of jealous hate before her customer-service mask obscured it. It wasn’t fast enough, I saw her glare at my abs, breasts and ridges before she even noticed the extending saberstaff at my side. She wasn’t the first, and she wouldn’t be the last. I am a Pureblood noble of the highest pedigree and a Sith: I command attention from the highest Imperial to the lowest slave.

She wore a faux-military uniform, slightly too close to an Imperial uniform to be unintentional. If my father wasn’t off investigating the Chorlian sector, he would have them strip and work in their underclothes as penance for their hubris. A uniform is earnt, not affected. He used to drill that into me and my brother on the few occasions he was around. I’ll admit, the thought of making her do so did cross my mind, but I decided against it. It wasn’t worth my time wasting it on her. It would be in character, but I don’t want to be that petty.

I sashayed past without a word and felt her resentful gaze on my chest, waist and hips the entire way. That jealousy was just stupid. I train daily and I eat right: I have the body that brings. If she bothered, she could have it too. I gave her the respect she deserved, none, and reached the doors that led further into the office. I knew where I was going and I needed no appointment: the Dark Side saw to that.

Through the plexiglass doors beside her desk, I could see the rest of the office. Everyone inside wore a similarly offensive military-esque uniform. Given the myriad colours and variety of trims, it wasn’t a work uniform, but a stylistic choice from each of them. You know what, I’ve changed my mind. I was too lenient before but now I must instil proper respect for the warrior caste. A working of Will threw open the door, dragging everyone’s attention from

“Unless you are actually a veteran, strip,” I commanded, using my Will to pierce through their bubbles of indifference. Every single one of them, receptionist included, looked at me with a sense of horror as I strutted through the large, open-plan office. I affixed a well-practiced haughty glower to my mask and washed it over them liberally. No, I was not joking, and you will all obey. Falteringly, they did, shimmying and stripping from their garments as I reached the closed door to the Curator’s office.

The door hissed open to a dark room, revealing the three men within, one real, two on the holo, each wearing a similar not-uniform. As far as I could tell, only one had the musculature to go with active service. I flicked my tendril fashioned from my Will across and hit the disconnect button. Two of the three winked out, leaving only the portly, pasty faced curator.

“Excuse me, I was in the middle of a meeting! What is the meaning of this?” he protested, reaching for the light switch built into his desk terminal. I ignored the puffed up fool, instead taking the data-spike my master had me hand deliver and plugged it into his terminal. The spike ticked and my master’s letter loaded itself onto his holographic viewscreen.

He had the temerity to glower at me, and then put his half-moon spectacles back on, reading the message. I had already seen it before my master copied the letter to the spike, but I read it again through his holographic viewscreen. It was backwards, but that was hardly a problem.

Dear Aldus Pavan, Curator of the Encyclopaedia Imperator

It has recently come to my attention that your article on Twi’leks is not only demonstrably false, but has become damaging to my standing, stature and those of my allies. I have attached a new netpage expounding on the species with the errors corrected, already formatted for your systems.

If you would be so kind as to fix this oversight immediately, my apprentice will not have to perform the second part of my instructions. See her for details.

The Emperor Protects

Lord Braca, L.MotS(Korriban) S.BS M.ISB CBIOLISCB F.ACB

As he read the letter, I watched his face with more than a little amusement. He went from outraged to sneering arrogance, to scornful dismissal. Then he read the final line. Sweat beaded his forehead as he went through her letters, recognising each one, but the best was the first. She was a Korriban-trained Sith Lord. He finished reading the letter and looked up at me

“Y-your master made mention of a second part of your instructions. If I may, what are they?” You know, for an old man, he was perceptive. She hadn’t given me any, an intentional oversight supposed to test my creativity. I would have said it was plausible deniability, but my master doesn’t have a treacherous bone in her body. She would stand by whatever I did, and I know it sounds trite, but I appreciated that. It’s odd to get a Master who’s genuinely loyal to their apprentice. I think I’ll actually miss her after I surpass her.

“It doesn’t work like that, either you perform as instructed and never find out,” I allowed a cruel little smirk to curl my lips as I leant over his desk, “or don’t and you will.” The effect was immediate, he nervously averted his eyes and they ran straight down my cleavage. He noticed what he was doing a moment later, but it was too late. I maintained eye contact the whole time. He knew I knew what he’d done. I allowed the smirk to fall and put a disgusted sneer on my mask.

Terror radiated from him as he visibly shrank from my withering glare. The pride of us Purebloods was renowned throughout the galaxy, and I am Sith. I could take the heads of his entire family for this affront, and he knew it. No-one would save him, no empty platitudes on his part could either. His only hope of survival lay in a slighted Pureblood’s mercy, and the only way he could gain that was through absolute obedience. Without hesitation, he accessed my master’s data-spike, opened the editing tool and imported the dataset straight into the species section. From what I could see, it looked like he had overwritten the previous text entirely, leaving in her corrective-red text and all.

“It is done, my Lady,” he crooned, practically whimpering as I straightened back up. The sneer did not leave my mask. For once, my own feelings matched those the mask portrayed. Honestly, this was just pathetic: show some backbone, man! I was half tempted to just take his head, but it wasn’t even worth the effort to draw my saberstaff. I was done here. I strode towards the door, sending an effort of Will to tap the release button.

“Uh, My lady,” he quailed beneath my glare, but managed to scrape together enough of a spine to ask his question, “Why does your master even care about twi’leks. They’re only good for slaves.”

“Simple,” I purred, leaning on the doorframe, “My master is a Twi’lek.” I left him gawping, now painstakingly aware that the option to open up the Sith academies to aliens might mean that some of those aliens would reach positions of power.

“You might want to consider reviewing your section on aliens because I assure you: the next lord you insult will not be as forgiving as my master.” With that, I sashayed out of the building, smirking at the annalists and editors, none of whom wore anything beyond their underwear. I passed through and saw the receptionist, desperately sucking in her gut to hide her paunch. See, perhaps next time you won’t presume to judge your betters.

Gathering their garments with my Will, I strutted out into the Kaas rainstorm, the faux-uniforms floating behind me. Dumping the lot into a nearby rain-filled rubbish bin, I fixed a smirk on my mask and sashayed into the empty streets. The rainshield kept the worst off me, but enough water got through for me to consider dropping the act and running to the dry warmth of the speeder. I resisted the urge: as Aunt V decreed, image had to be maintained. Galena, one of the my Aunt’s slaves, walked around the speeder and opened my door. It hurt every time I saw her.

I’d known Galena for my entire life: we’d played together as children, back before her family had been eradicated by the then Lord Arho. Aunt V had managed to buy her and her sisters at the estate sale afterwards, but they were now her slaves. Galena carried my robe, and that alone was more cloth than she had on.

She wore an open sleeveless vest and a loincloth, both spun from the finest lashaa silk, and jangling gold anklets. Even the few seconds she had been exposed to the rain was enough to turn her top translucent but I did my best not to notice. Aunt V’s dress code was durasteel tight for her slaves.

Instead, I took my robe from her and slid into the offered backseat, sliding my robe back on. It was wonderful: dry, warm and hid my bare bits from sight. Gesturing to Galena as she got in, we sped away, back home, to my books, my bed and to a nice warm bath.

While most Sith probably wouldn't care about the letters following their name (just the title preceding it), Braca certainly would. Their elongated names are:

Lord of Mysteries of the Sith, accredited by the Korriban Academy

Sphere of Biotic Science

Mistress of the Imperial Science Bureau

Chartered Biologist, accredited by the Imperial Society of Biologists

Fellow of the Association of Cellular Biologists

Nar Shaddaa, a moon pulled at by both light and darkness. The Republic and Empire courted the Hutts for her allegiance, while Ashla and Bogan warred for her soul. Neither would win: the residents were too doggedly independent to align with either. In keeping with this, we were not here to serve the dual conflicts. We were here to welcome our newest sister.

The elevator whirred as we descended down into the darker areas of the planet. The family didn’t live down here, among the less fortunate members of society. They had insisted on it though, as neutral ground.

“Cierra, cloak yourself. I sense we would not be welcome if we were to announce ourselves,” Master Vega advised resting her chalky hand on my shoulder. Despite myself, I had to physically keep myself from recoiling.

When I was very little, I had found a padawan who had hanged herself. She had been a few years older so I hadn’t known her but I’d seen her around, laughing and joking with her friends. She had the brilliant emerald skin of a pure Mirialan. Her lustrous skin had turned ash-white. I knew my master wasn’t dead, that she was an Umbaran: it didn’t matter. The memory of her hanging there flashes before my eyes whenever she touches me. I know she sees what I see: it’s in her eyes. It’s not fair that she has to suffer like that whenever she wants to touch her padawan.

Master Bakarn had placed us. Were it not obviously a lesson, I would ask for a different master. We match each other perfectly: the only problem is my memory, but that was something I would have to face before I became a Jedi. A Jedi cannot shy away from aiding others, even if they were Rattataki, Umbarans or pale-skinned humans.

I slipped into Ashla’s warm embrace, subsuming myself in her depths. The world around me seemed more vivid: every colour vibrant, every smell sharp. On Chandrilla, everything was beautiful, as if it someone intended it to only be sensed through the force. Here, everything smelled like it wasn’t.

The elevator slowed to a stop. We were several hundred floors down, in the mass of the moon. The door warbled and the street appeared through the yawning doors. Like shadows in the midday sun, we flitted through the level, indistinct but detectable. Someone who knew how to spot us would, but everyone else just passed us by.

Refuse covered the streets, people abandoned and ignored by those above. Their rubbish was strewn across the deck. Someone had once tried to sweep it to the side, but no one came to take it away, so it had gathered at the corners. After a few minutes of invisible searching, Master Vega spotted something. I couldn’t see her, but I knew her presence and could feel it even when submerged in light. Raising her hand, I came to a stop a few steps behind her. Moments later, I saw why.

A human with dark skin with greying black hair leant against a wall by the alley, one hand leaning on the blaster in its belt holster. Something about the way he stood, the way he moved, set my teeth on edge. It was as if he was too stiff for where we were. He wore greys, grey hoodie, grey slacks and polished black boots. I understood. He’s imperial! Out contact had lured us into a trap! He hadn’t seen us. We could still slip away, but we had to be wary. My hand went for my lightsaber. I could cover her while Master Vega ensured our escape.

Fingers gripped my shoulder. Room was dark: only light, traffic from outside. Glassy eyes stared, mouth lolled open. Sharp sticky-sweet smell over sandalwood. Something wet under my bare feet. Blood? Urine? I wouldn’t know until much later.

Suppressing the shudder that ran though me, I looked again. His blaster was in its holster, though he’d seen us. The imperial’s straight back was curved slightly, conspiratorially. Staring straight at us, he made no sign of recognition. Instead, he ducked back, into the alley he watched… guarded?

Another imperial waited for us in the ally. This one was female, dressed the same, and growing thick with child. In her arms, a two-year old slept, clinging onto her mother’s neck. Our new sister, I take it. We drew back from our union with the force, letting Ashla’s cloak slide off us like sunlight from a parasol. The vibrancy of the world faded back to muted reality.

Master Vega approached the mother and child. I waited back with the first Imperial. This was important, to reassure the parents that they had made the right decision. For those who have sworn off attachment, it can be sometimes hard to understand those who have not. It is harder for them to know they are choosing a life of service for their children, one they can have little part in. Here is the crux, the decision that will affect parents, child and any siblings left behind. Fortunately, the latter wasn’t born yet. Children do not understand or perhaps they understand it better than us all.

“It must have taken a lot of courage to reach out to us like this,” I offered him, smiling what I hoped looked like an honest smile. First impressions were important, and if I was to be a good Jedi Investigator, I would have to make many, often to people who wouldn’t give you time to make a second.

“Spare me the platitudes Jedi, this is just business,” he growled, still watching the street behind me.

“Business?” I asked, not quite understanding, or at least hoping that I did not understand. The Empire was known to be enslave and sell people, but the Jedi would never be party to anything like that.

“We sell you our daughter in exchange for passage into the Republic.” That was a very bleak way of looking at things, and entirely untrue. We are not slavers, we are not babysnatchers and we are not extortionists. We are Jedi and we help people in need. That their daughter was force-sensitive may have caught our attention but that was beside the point. We would help anyone escaping the yoke of tyranny, although any crimes committed of your own free will, like enslaving people, would be prosecuted fully by the courts.

“Uh, from what I understand, you want to claim asylum. After you learnt that your daughter was sensitive, you arranged to meet us here and we’ll take you to get settled somewhere in the Core.” I rephrased, testing to see if his admission of selling his daughter was rhetorical, or actual.

“And afterwards, you’ll take our daughter,” he finished, passing the test while also being wrong.

“Perhaps, but what happens with your daughter is entirely your choice. If you wish, we will leave you wherever you choose to settle in the Republic and await your summons, should they ever come.” It was very important to ensure the parents knew that. They always had the choice to stop everything at any point of the collection, up until the child was formally taught to open themselves to the force at age four. After that, well, they could call or visit but the youngling had to be supervised, to ensure the drama of family life didn’t start them down a dark path.

“No mind tricks, no threatening the family: you Jedi really aren’t like the Sith. Back home, the penalty for hiding sensitives from the Sith is the execution of your family.” I had heard as much from recruitment efforts on formerly occupied planets. Hearing it again didn’t make it any easier. How many would die so his daughter could have a better life? I looked into those strong sad eyes and knew he was thinking the same.

“What about your families?” I whispered, trying to keep the rising sorrow from my voice. He glanced at my eyes and a smile flashed across his sharp features. I’m not much of an actor. The smile slammed shut a moment later, fierce anger flashing in his eyes as he considered my question. Normally, I wouldn’t ask this to the parents of prospective Jedi, but this was important. How many were we condemning to die? Jedi understand and accept the responsibility for our actions and for those around us. It’s one of the many reasons why us peacekeepers willingly throw ourselves into battle. Inaction has just as much consequence as action. We strive to ensure that our choices help more than hinder.

“My parents are Sith. My brother is Sith. My sister will be Sith when she’s old enough. Sith are above Imperial edicts.” He paused, the harsh glare draining from his eyes as he watched the other Imperial chat with my master, absent-mindedly bouncing the toddler on her hip.

“Keira’s a ward of the Emperor. No-one there to kill,” he turned back to face me, the wistfulness closing behind walls of discipline.

“What about you? Any more Miralukans running around back home?” For once, I was at a loss for words: where to even begin? Firstly, my sallow skin and grey-brown eyes mark me as a Mirialan, not a Miraluka and secondly, I don’t have a home. we don’t use the temple any more, not since we recused ourselves from the capitol after your attack. I bit down on my retort. Anger is an emotion, nothing more. Just let it pass by. He hadn’t meant it as an insult: he was just ignorant. Snapping at him wouldn’t help and might make him back out. Pride makes people do strange, stupid things.

“No, the order is our family: its members my brothers and sisters.”

“So you never go looking for your birth family?” he asked, still watching the street, glowering at a gaggle of Gen’dai as they sauntered past. The hulking monsters looked like armoured sharks, all teeth and wide menacing smiles. That could just have been because they were laughing. The central one jogged before the crowd and spun, walking backwards so he could address his friends. He said something in a harsh guttural tongue, and the rest laughed some more. They passed by without even glancing up at us.

“Why would we need to? We have plenty of brothers and sisters our age who share our understanding, and older siblings who teach and provide for us,” I answered, giving him the official line. Everything I said was true, but sometimes I had questions.

“That’s not an answer, Jedi.” He wasn’t going to drop this, so I told him what he wanted to hear, the truth.

“My father’s a baker on Coruscant, my mother’s a healer at the Alderaan enclave, my older half-sister lives with her father on Chandrilla and is training to be an accountant while my twin sister lives with our father and is in high school.” Straightening, I slipped further back into the shadows. He watched me, always keeping me in at least his peripherals. Yes, I understand: I made a big deal that the order is our family while giving detailed information about my birth family. There was a perfectly innocuous reason for it, of course.

“We have a rite called the Time of Paths where initiates leave the order for a few months, so they can experience the galaxy before making the choice to be Jedi. Many, including me, meet with their birth families,” I added. A wall of silence grew between us. Those piercing yellow eyes watched me, as a hawk-bat does a mouse.

“and if they don’t want to return? Your kind don’t hunt them down?”

“Someone makes sure that they don’t befall any tragedy but no one is brought back against their will. Being a Jedi isn’t a duty, it is a calling. It isn’t our way to force anyone to take our vows and we’re free to set them aside at any time.

“And does anyone do that?”

“Not many, but some do so they can raise their force blind children. In most of these cases, the council grants the Jedi permission to remain on reserve duty.” He stared at me, mouth agape. What, did he think Jedi parents guaranteed sensitive children? There were often force-blinds running around with sensitives up until age six, it helped keep the sensitive children grounded before any powers manifest.

Something cold slithered down my spine, snapping me from our conversation. I rubbernecked up and down the street before he yanked me into the alleyway.

“What do you think you’re doing! Do you want to get spotted?” I staggered, barely keeping my balance and twisted to see someone swoop behind him. Something yanked me from behind, throwing me into him. We collided and he went back, as red light illuminated the alleyway entrance. My height saved me, as the decapitating slice brushed the tip of my hair. He wasn’t so lucky. I landed on top of his headless body but I got a good look at the Sith as she approached.

She was tall, with deep red skin with brow ridges in lieu of eyebrows over her almond, brown-yellow eyes framing her angular face. She wore her hair tied back in a long braid, showing off her bare shoulders and the ridges running between her ungainly ample cleavage. Below that she wore a black bustier and a pair of tight leggings that emphasised her hourglass waist and bulbous hips over combat boots. If I hadn’t seen her murder the husband, I might have mistaken her for a woman who trades favours of an intimate nature for credits, she looked so trashy.

“Oh don’t worry, we spotted you long before that nervous little glance,” she purred, tossing me a little wave as she sauntered by, headed straight for Keira and Master Vega. I tried to get up, to defend myself and my master, but the Imperial’s lifeless legs got caught in my skirts.

The pregnant mother, Keira, screamed at the sight of her dead husband and at the oncoming apprentice. Master Vega reached out a hand and I felt the whispering of Ashla. My master was a superb investigator but I feel as if she missed her true calling as a storyteller. She could whip up a tale from the top of her head so enthralling you could forget where you were and what you were doing. When empowered by Ashla’s grace, she could even slip it into the minds of other force users. She did so now, and the Sith lurched into the wall.

“Cierra, get Keira and her children back to the Enclave immediately,” Master Vega called out. Desperately, I struggled to get up as Keira hustled past the Entranced Sith.

Another Sith, this one leathery faced and thick with the cloying stench of the dark side advanced down the alley from behind Master Vega, the red plume of his lightsaber held low.

“Master, behind you!” I called out, just in time to see her glance behind.

In one fluid motion, Master Vega deflected his initial strike and ran the Sith through. He buckled, lunging down her saber to latch onto her. His dark-side-decayed skull slammed into her alabaster forehead and both crashed to the alley floor. Master Vega’s concentration broken, the apprentice dropped to the floor and bounded over to finish off my now-rising Master. Keira reached me, and grabbed at my arm, trying and failing to not cry at the sight of her husband below me. There would be time for tears later, when we were safely away from here. The Sith spprentice approached my Master, lowering her guard and offering out her hand.

“Master, are you in there?”

“Don’t waste time on me girl, get the baby!” Master Vega snapped, swatting the Sith apprentice’s hand away. She sounded wrong, with an alien cruelty dripping from every syllable like acid spittle. The Apprentice turned, spied Keira and reached out.

A tendril of darkness snaked out, drawn by her anguish and fury, grabbing the Imperial. Steam hissed and crackled as the corruption poured over her legs. Our eyes met, and we both knew this was it. She couldn’t get free from it alone and I couldn’t break her out of it: I was not strong enough. Even if I did, she couldn’t hope to elude both Sith and escape to the Jedi. She did the only thing left in her power that could keep her daughter from them. She threw her at me.

I lunged, catching the thankfully dozing child, who picked then of all times to wake up. I was not Mom. I was a stranger. Everything was wrong. Engage tears. Clutching her close, I completed my spin, landing lightly at the far end of the alley. Something strange struck me: I knew nothing about my new sister.

“Her name?” I called, still moving away from the not-yet dying mother.

“Lara,” Keira called after me, now scrabbling for purchase to anything on the floor, “Tell her she is my Lara.” Then she was gone, pulled away by the monster in my Master’s skin. His apprentice was after me, golden-brown eyes glinting from her crimson blade. My weapon was two handed: I can’t defend and carry the child. Her keening cry drew everyone’s eye: I couldn’t hide either.

I ran, letting Ashla guide my steps. Every time, it felt like stepping into a warm stream, one that I could just bask in its eternal glow forever. This time, I didn’t. I raced through filthy streets faster than anyone could ever have dreamed. Graceful as a summer breeze, I glided around or over all in my way until the elevator was in sight.

Reaching out, I beseeched Ashla to mash the elevator pad. The elevator lazily yawned open, its stark, yellowing interior more welcome than any temple or enclave right now. I darted inside, spun and put my first two fingers through the button panel. I would feel that later. A few moments from now and we would be safe. The warmth around me faltered, a chill passing through the stream.

Turning, I saw the apprentice sprint towards us. Her hellish blade growled louder with every step. Another four and she would be inside. Reaching down, I drew my lightsaber. I couldn’t wield it, not with the child and not inside the elevator, but I didn’t have to. She stopped, slipping into the Ataru ready stance with practiced ease. That was all the delay I needed. The elevator closed, trundling us away, to safety.

Only then did the weight of everything slam onto my slight shoulders. We had lost much: her old family and my new. They were gone. It was too sudden, here now and then not. The way she smiled, the quiet surety in her voice, the sandalwood smell of her robes: I’d never know them again. Slumping down the elevator side, My tears joined my new sister’s on my collar. The elevator trundled away, taking us up, towards the light of Nar Shaddaa’s skyline... or so I thought.

Alarms started blaring and the elevator hissed open. The Apprentice grinned at me from the outside, the panel beside sparking where she’d hit it.

“This your stop?” she purred, more a statement than a question. Already pushing up towards the doors, I managed to get my legs under me enough to stagger back, away from her smug, gleaming grin. The Sith lashed out with her Will, twisting the force into an attack that swatted me towards her.

Stumbling, I kicked at the last moment and pounced through the gap between her arm and the door. Arcing, I turned my sprawl into a forward roll, curling in the air so that I didn’t press on Lara. Landing beside the surprised Sith, I turned, my free hand already drawing my lightsaber. The brilliant green blade whispered to life, lighting the alleyway between us, clashing with the red snarl of hers. Of course, that was enough to disquiet Lara. She took a deep breath and started to wail. Okay, yes, I know: I’m not Mom but please just settle down for a moment, long enough to get us both to safety. I half turned to bounce her on my hip, keeping my saber pointed at the Sith. I needed more hands, I really couldn’t soothe Lara and fight the Sith at once. I don’t like lightsaber fighting, and I’m dreadful with all the styles.

“Aww, you’re adorable: you do know that, don’t you?” The Sith fawned, twirling her saber lazily as she swatted mine from my hand. Green died, leaving only the harsh red light dominating the alleyway. I started to stoop to grab at my weapon, but the tip of her blade tickled my chin. I stopped, gasped in a breath and went very still. She had me and there was nothing I could do about it.

“Terrified, alone and hopelessly outmatched, yet you still think you can get away. Tell you what, I’ll make this simple. Give me the girl and come with me. I’m sure my master will let me keep you. It’ll be fun, I’ve never had a little slave-sister before. Of course, we’ll have to get you out of those awful robes and into something more fashionable.” She was mad, there had to be no other reason. No-one would ever accept such a deal willingly, but it’s not as if I had a great amount of choice for my options. I couldn’t run, I couldn’t hide and I couldn’t fight: I could only negotiate or capitulate.

“Hmm, what do you say? It’d be a shame to die in this dingy little alley, that cute little body dumped with the trash. You’ve got no hope of getting out otherwise.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” a man drawled in a thick dantooinian accent, “there’s always hope, even if it’s just a fool’s hope.” Both of us stared behind her, at the old man. He was built like a shaved wookie, even if it looked like he hadn’t seen a razor this side of the Treaty of Coruscant.

His chest was bare but for an open fabric longcoat and I could see the rippling muscles of his stomach while his loose pants looked like he could move easily in them. He looked like a grizzled fighter, though I couldn’t see any bulges beneath his coat that would indicate a weapon. Whatever he did, he stole most of our attention. Even Lara quietened down.

“And you’re the fool, I take it,” the Sith sneered, the old man barked a laugh.

“That’s a first, a bantering Sith. Now, what are you doing to that poor girl, she’s half your size.”

“So, you’re twice mine. Now why don’t you go bother someone your own size? I’m pretty sure the wookies have a district around here somewhere.”

“Naw, you see I don’t much like bullies and you’re bullying this girl and her little sister.”

“I don’t know what Republic drivel you’ve been listening to, but I’m no bully? I’m here on official Sith business, rescuing the toddler she kidnapped. I’m bringing her to justice!” The Sith protested hotly, looking actually . What she said was sort of true, from a twisted insane point of view. With her parents dead, Lara was a ward of the Emperor. Of course, the Sith caused that when she and her master murdered said parents. The old guy didn’t have all the details, and the blade at my throat stopped me from passing them on. It didn’t look like he needed them though. He just deepened his glower at her.

“Look. I’ve being reasonable here, but you’re interfering. Leave or I’ll have to cut you down here and now,” the Apprentice sneered, suddenly sounding a lot less sure of herself than she had a moment ago. It was almost like the implication that she was less than moral actually bothered her.

“Reasonable, is that what you call this? How’s this for reasonable: let the girls go and we don’t have to have a problem here.”

“I can’t do that. You’re really going to challenge me on this, old man?”

“Old? I’m thirty six!” he harrumphed. I know he’s helping me, but to be fair I would have placed him in his mid-forties. I think it’s the white hair.

“Still twice my age,” she purred back, the confidence flickering back on and then she changed. The cocky smile dropped from her face and the sickly cold washed out from her. It was all over in a second.

She blurred towards him, her decapitating slice almost too fast to see. Instinct drove his left hand moved to grab the blade. They met and that was it. The blade crackled and hissed. He grunted and then tore the saber from her hands, holding it by the blade. The Sith and I gawped: it just wasn’t possible, yet it was happening right in front of us. She didn’t have time to gasp before he brought it back down, clubbing her just over her brow ridge with the hilt. She dropped, her limp body rolling from the blow as the sickly chill faded away. Flipping the saber to catch it by the hilt, he sheathed the weapon and clipped it to an empty hook on his belt. I went for my own, putting it away. If he had wanted to hurt me, he wouldn’t have intervened.

“Is she dead?” I asked, breaking the not quite silence as I tentatively approached.

“Naw, purebloods are tough: she’ll just be out for a little while, long enough for us to get back to the enclave.

“Then shouldn’t we get out of here before she wakes up?”

“Padawan!” he rebuked, turning to look at me with surprise etched on his hard features, “we can’t leave her here. Nasty people will do awful things to a defenceless girl out cold on these streets and I ain’t letting that happen to anyone, even a Sith. Now come along, the taxi rank ain’t that far from here.” With that, he loped off, the Sith festooned around his broad shoulders like a Kybuck he’d hunted. Lara burbled on my hip as I followed him back to the Jedi Enclave.

I slowly came to and regretted every moment of it. My head pounded like an all-Rancor rendition of River dance as I came to. The rest of me didn’t feel any better. My neck throbbed along with the thudding beat, my arm ached one of those dull pains you just can’t ignore, and my legs felt like a billion needles were stabbing them all over. Idly I wondered if I’d been out long enough that the painkillers had worn off? I sure could use some right now, but Zul was being stringy with them, insisting that even a few more would harm my liver.

Okay, okay, I’m up. Something nibbled at the back of my mind. Implant: run diagnostic. There’s no way my head hurt this much normally. Something must be screwy somewhere. Nothing came back, no flash of info, no inaudible beep, nothing. Uh, that’s not possible. My implants are always-, no. Look around, get your bearings and figure it out. C’mon, you’re smarter than this.

I slowly opened my eyes, my left a lot heavier than the other, and regretted it. White light burned at my eyes, searing spots into my vision. Gasping, I smushed them shut, trying to crush the rainbows dancing across the blackness. That’s wrong too. My ocular implants should’ve filtered to the optimum brightness long before I even opened my eyes.

“Hey, Mako?” The voice filtered in from a long way away. Groaning, I peeped my right eye the tiniest bit open. The light burned, but not as badly as before. Slowly, blurs became shapes and the blinding light shrank down to shadows.

The world around me was dark, dark and blurry. Squinting, I made out blue-grey shape somewhere to my right. My left eye was still not working. Huh, that’s odd. Usually my natural eye was the one that took a while to readjust. Something cold settled at the base of my stomach. Uh, Optics: run diagnostic. Normally, my left eye would start shifting in and out of focus, the tiny servomotors working overtime to test every combination possible. Nothing happened. Audio enhancer: amplify all sounds by 200%. There was no response. Receiver: ping the nearest tower… nothing. My breaths started coming short and fast as panic set in. My cybernetics weren’t responding. We’re hanging in a basket fifty metres up with ghosts all around us and I’m crippled without my cybernetics!

“Hey, back with me yet?” someone growled, stealing attention from my growing sense of terror. I glanced over and saw Zul. She looked… off. Not bad or ghosty or anything just, I don’t know, prettier? Figures, everything goes awful and she looks better.

“What happened?” I asked. It came out more like ‘Wha’mmend’.

“You fired up the gizmo, then you collapsed, and my suit froze up. Good thing I was holding onto the ropes or we’d have fallen.” She explained, and I noticed the absolute calm in her voice. She was pissed. Wobbly, I used the railing to half clamber, half stagger back to my feet.

“Mako, look at me,” she insisted, those empty eyes burning like red hot coals from Hell, searing into my very soul. Uh, I think she’s pissed. Okay, here it comes: the scolding. I screwed up; I get that: there’s no need to lay into me for it. I shuffled around to look at her and my excuse died on my lips. I got a clear read on her. She wasn’t angry: she was worried.

“Okay, now smile,” she commanded with a weird almost-patient sweetness in her voice. I felt my eyebrows rise, and for a moment, a frown furrowed her blue face. Why was she being nice all of a sudden? Has she decided to fire me? No, that didn’t sound right. She wouldn’t care if I smiled for that. Something was up. While I tried to figure her out, I humoured her: my mouth inched into a grimace.

“Okay, good. Now raise both arms, together.” Wait: Face, Arms, Speech – she was running through the signs of a stroke!

“What’s going on?” I tried to ask. I heard ‘Wutz g’win on?” Zul watched me with her normal absolutely blank face that specifically told me nothing: great bedside manner, Doc. Okay, that was a bit harsh. It’s a Chiss thing, they’re inscrutable to everyone outside the Ascendency. Believe it or not, but my boss was sort of a Chiss chatterbox. Yeah, I know, right.

“You just fried a lot of implanted neural cybernetics. You could have a transient ischaemic attack or a stroke. If I spot it now, then maybe I can get you to a medical facility before you suffer irreparable brain damage.” Uh okay, wow: cheery thought. Except for one thing, the longer I was awake, the more I felt like myself.

“I hurt all over, but I think I’m okay to go.”

“You’re in neurological shock right now. I can see where the EMP sparked off your cybernetics and burned you. If that’s the same all the way inside.” I reached up and touched the skin around my eye. I felt the welts of a burn against my finger, but only a vague sense of pressure on my face. Uh okay, neurological shock. Yeah, I could see that… except why can I feel my arm? Shouldn’t

“Uh, could it be possible that the charge didn’t go in and I don’t feel the burns because of all the painkillers I’m on.” She looked at me for a long moment, her expression back to being totally unreadable.

“It’s possible, what do you feel when you touch the area?”

“the welts, but on my face it’s just the pressure of my fingers.

“That does sound like painkillers, but it doesn’t rule out the risk of a stroke. I’d like to check that out as soon as we get out of here. Uh, maybe I can help with that. I pulled out my medical scanner and waved it over me like a wand. The device beeped and I showed the results to Zul. She didn’t look happy. Actually, she was holding herself really stiffly. In fact, I don’t think she’s moved since I woke up, not a muscle. Wow, that’s actually really impressive: I know she uses the exercise rack on the upper level, but that’s some serious… her armour locked out, didn’t it?

“Oh, hang on,” I offered as I dropped down to my hands and knees. I went a bit too far and the cold metal floor smushed against my cheek. Carefully, I crawled behind her and reached for the foldout datapad she kept tucked into the small of her backplate. Chances were it would’ve been fried along with everything else, but if it was off, the surge might’ve not blown the circuits. I plucked it free, unfurled it and watched the viewer spark to life. I stared at the pretty lights on the start-up screens until they stabilised. Okay, so it works, good. I set up her suit computer to run a diagnostic on everything and then reset all systems. It took way longer than usual having to stab the haptic interface one key at a time. I miss thinking things and them happening.

“Mako, tie off the cables, now!” Zul hissed, urgency in her voice somehow buzzing through my haze. I stopped what I was doing, put the datapad down and went to stand up. I felt all floppy and it took a bit, but I got up.

There were cables spooled all over the floor, floppy from below Zul’s gauntlets. Already I could see her hands shake, she would lose her grip soon. When that happened, we’d drop until all the loose cable snapped taut, at the bottom of the statue with the ghosts. Yeah, better avoid that…

I followed the cables with my eyes and eventually saw the winch. It was actually kinda amazing we hadn’t tripped on it when we boarded. No, gawp later, wind now! My left arm was a hot mess of stabbing pains, so I heaved on the winch with just my right. It took a minute, but I tightened off the cables, then locked the winch back down. A couple of heartbeats later we dropped a metre and what was left of the loose cable snapped taut. Zul breathed a sigh of relief, slowly opening and balling her fists, trying to coax feeling back into them. I guess they felt much like my legs do, stiff with pins and needles.

Getting back on the datapad, I saw it finish its diagnostic and recommend a system reset. I hit okay and Zul went limp, clattering to the cradle like a sack of steel. Huh, so in the last few minutes I’ve wound up my boss and dropped her She lay there for a moment before slowly hauling herself up to her hands and knees. Reaching into one of her pouches, she pulled the little cylindrical bottle of pills she’d been steadily taking for the last few days

“Take two, that’s about one fifty milligrams of aspirin. It should reduce your chances of a second stroke until we get out of here,” she commanded, passing the bottle to me. I fiddled with the childproofing wondering how well it would hold up against Roan and finally opened the bottle. Taking two, I popped them into my mouth and absently chewed the bitter pills before pooling spit on my tongue and swallowing it all down. Sealing the bottle, I gave it back to Zul. Staggering up, I stared out across the cavern as the pills poured water on the candyfloss in my head. Far below, I saw the ghosts milling around a hundred metres down. If they had even been affected by the pulse, they weren’t any more. That meant our plan had failed.

“The EMP didn’t work, and just shooting them didn’t work. There must be something we’re missing,” I thought aloud, not slurring my word nearly so much. Zul was silent, checking her suit and stripping out her microfacturing plant. I didn’t even want to think about how much that would cost to fix if we’d fried it. It’s entirely possible that I’ve just bankrupted the business, even if we get out of here alive and bag Lokai without any trouble.

“Okay, so we’ve tried damaging them in two different ways, directly to the host and with an EMP attack but they shrugged both off, how did they do that?” I refocussed, guiltily keeping my eyes of Zul.

“I don’t know about EMPs on machines, but physically, the ghosts likely either override the signal from the pain receptors or trick the body into producing enough adrenaline to drown out the signals.” Okay, that didn’t give me anything. Damnit Zul: I’m a slicer, not a doctor! Wait, maybe that’s it! We’ve been thinking like this as a biological infection, but it’s not biological. It’s technological.

“Maybe we’re looking at this all the wrong way. What do we know about the ghosts?”

They’re slow, deadly with a touch and largely impervious to pain.” Uh well, yeah: thanks for the real talk, Zul, but I kinda meant that for the biologist, not the mercenary. I shot her a piercing glower, “okay, but I mean more mechanically?” She actually stopped her field maintenance of the microfacturing plant to glance back at me. I didn’t get a read on her often but when I do, wow! She was actually surprised and pleased at me, coming at the problem like a scientist, just like she always did.

“Oh, it’s most likely a nanite swarm cloud that infects the host through the lungs and remains inert until an electrical charge is applied. Then, it either co-opts the central nervous system or colonises several glands responsible for chemicals necessary to maintain or influence brain neurochemistry.” That gave me nothing. We were both quiet for some time, the silence dragging out between us.

“The grey goo feed nozzle is all gummed up. This is a wash until I can get it to a workbench. All right, I still have the baradium charges. We can still seal them in.” Zul finally admitted, her voice a lot quieter than usual.

“Do we even know that will work?” I asked with a very small voice. Her plan was monstrous, but I couldn’t see another way. If we did nothing or died here, then the ghosts would break free through the barricade and spread across all of Tatooine.

“Mako, what other choice do we have? All my useful weapons systems are all down, you’re injured, possibly crippled or brain-damaged and your implants are fried. We have to regroup and recover, especially since this isn’t our main job here. We’re bounty hunters, not xeno-archaeologists.

“Zul, you’re more than a microfacturing plant and I’m more than my holonet connection. We’re both clever, capable and we’ve come back from worse,” I insisted, trying to sound positive. I only slurred my words a little, honest. I guess it must’ve sounded worse than I felt, because I actually saw her wince.

“We don’t know how the ghosts control their bodies, but it likely involves hijacking the central nervous system. Starving them kills the organism underneath the ghosts. It won’t disable them, but it will work. That’s the best I can really do here,” Zul admitted and I couldn’t hear her usual self-assured smug confidence. She caught me looking at her and grimaced. There has to be something we’ve missed somewhere… it can’t just end like this.

“Look, we tried but at the end of the day, we’re not Palawans and I’m not willing for either of us to die for them.” I -, I looked away, staring blankly across the cavern. I know we were doing way more than I bargained for, and that we were already running at a loss on this job but... she was right. I know it and I don’t want to die here either but to actually say it, to consign their whole civilisation to death. It was just, well… so big. I just wanted to go to my nice quiet bunk and hide away for a week.

Zul started hauling on the cables, raising us towards the top of the pillar. Dejectedly, I pointed the generator at one of the ghosts below us. Pushing the activation switch, I almost dropped the heavy device, but it was worth it. The ghost below locked up, then slumped to the ground, much the same way as when a protocol droid is hit with an ion blast. It worked! I glanced over my shoulder and tapped Zul on the arm to get her attention. As I did, I let my arm rest against the side of the platform, pointing the device at a different ghost. Once I got Zul’s attention, I saw that the ghost was getting back up. I washed the EMP pulse over it again and it dropped again. Why had it… Oh! The ghost was only incapacitated while the EMP was directed at it. We had to keep the device washing the whole cavern with EMPs.

“EMPs don’t cause lasting damage to people, right?” Zul glanced over my shoulder to the ghosts spasming on the ground.

“Not to my knowledge, but the nanites might when hit with it. That looks like a generalised atonic seizure though…” Zul trailed off, and I looked up to see her lost in thought.

“Is that bad?” Yeah, I know. I’m worrying about people who would kill us given the chance, but it wasn’t their fault. Zul shook her head.

“So long as they’re not pregnant, diabetic, heat exhausted or hurt themselves falling, it shouldn’t be a problem.” That was great. Okay, so if we could keep them all under the effects of the EMP generator, then we could keep them all in here while we… found a cure? We’re bounty hunters, not medical professionals. We could tell the Empire, who would complain that we didn’t blow them up, or the Republic, who might be interested, but might want to weaponize it

“More than that, It does tell us that the nanites directly control the central nervous system, meaning the discolouration and scarification must arise from a different source,” she paused, her gaze washing over the area before she raised her hand, “Mako, hit that one over there by itself.” I did as she asked, lined up the generator and pushed the ‘on’ button. The ghost, formerly a young woman in a sleeveless nightgown that made it most of the way to her knees, dropped.

“Now turn it off,” Zul instructed. I did. The ghost girl stayed down for a long few seconds, before slowly, jerkily getting back up. Huh, so the recovery rate could be tied to the number of ghosts surrounding it. Zul nodded and then drew her macrobinoculars. Peering through them, she focussed on the downed ghost.

“Do it again.” I did and it dropped again.

“Aha, there it is,” she purred, the assured self-confidence back in her voice, “the markings darken when dropped, then glow when re-establishing control. They’re receptors, meaning there’s a signal element to it as well. If we can measure it, we could impede the signal, see if that works to knock them out.” She paused, putting her macrobinoculars down and then looked right at me.

“Can you measure it?” Maybe a month ago, I’d have bristled under the insinuation that I didn’t know what I was doing, but now I let it go. Zul didn’t mean to question me, she was just being as clear as possible to avoid misunderstanding in what I think is her third or fourth language.

I put the EMP generator down in the cradle and drew out my medical scanner. It was a handy diagnostic tool that I could retool to serve as a broadband EM scanner. Fiddling with its settings, I pointed it down at the ghosts. There was no way it could identify a single ghost, it had to be within four metres for that to work, so it did the next best thing: it scanned the EM frequencies in the area.

“Uh, well, there’s definitely something there, a huge gamma spike every few seconds,” I responded as the scanner showed me its results, “the wavelength is four hundred and twenty-three femtometres and the frequency is eighty-six zettacycles per second.” Zul stared at me as if I was speaking shyriiwook -no, she speaks shyriiwook- as if I spoke Mandalorian.

“Mako, the smallest cell in the Chiss body is ten micrometers. The smallest virus that can affect a Chiss is thirty nanometers. I am a biologist, not a physicist: I don’t know what goes beyond that.”

“Oh,” I quickly converted it in my head, “four point two three times ten to the minus thirteen metres and eight point six times ten to the twenty-two.” she nodded at that. Good thing everyone uses base ten for math.

“All right, what do we have that can generate gamma radiation in that region?” I know it’s called a waveform, but I didn’t correct her. I could tell we were already pushing far from her comfort zone.

“What about a ship’s engine?” I offered pointing at the fusial ring around halfway up the central pillar, “We can probably make something with that, especially with all the reflectors pointing out from the centre.”

“Will a reflector work on gamma rays?”

“Well, no. Gamma rays go through pretty much everything. The reflectors are mainly there for the EMP to reverberate around the cavern and knock out the ghosts. I don’t think the signal impedance will knock them down on their own, so why not try both at once.”

“All right, sounds like we have a new plan. What’s the catch?” I looked at her: you just have to see the raincloud in every silver lining, don’t you? Okay, maybe I’m being a bit too harsh.

“We’ve got to get there first. Then, I have to jury rig a gamma ray generator from the engine, sync it up to cover 90° from the right wavelength and frequency, all while not getting ghosted.

“Oh, I’ve got a way over but you’re not going to like it.” Uh, okay. What’s the worst that it could be?