((This is the next fanfiction in my series Love, The Force and Everything. It follows Mind Games. And in this one, we shall finally get some answers. Some.))

 

She beat the wall that held her again. It did no good. No matter how hard she slammed her palms into them, it never did any damage to the walls or herself. Stood to reason. They didn’t want to hurt her. They wanted to confine her. To hold her. Maybe to interrogate her, maybe just to keep her incommunicado. Either way, it was bad. Very bad. She could feel her black hair falling free, she hadn’t cut it recently. Her eyes were burning as she fought to free herself.

 

I won’t let them hold me! I can’t let them hold me! There is too much at stake!

 

The thoughts came with more desperation now. At first, she had held firm against the cloying madness that seeped into her very being from all around her. She fought. It was all she knew how to do. It was what she was, a fighter. She slammed the walls again and did not cry in dismay as nothing happened. She was reasonably sure this was all in her mind, but not completely. It was possible that it was real, that she was drugged or restrained somehow, even if she could not see anything on herself. She could sense nothing beyond the room, but that was not impossible to block. She had reason to know. The garments she wore were too flimsy to hang herself with, even if there had been anything to hang herself from. No escape that way. She fingered the sleeve of the white jumpsuit again. She wasn’t sure what kind of cloth it was, just that it was flimsy. It was comfortable, yes, but comfort always took a distinct back seat to survival. She hit the wall again, trying to find a weakness, a joint, anything.

 

“Oh child, don’t cry. It’s okay. You need to stop doing that.” The voice of her jailor came from nowhere as always. And as always she ignored it and slammed her hands harder into the barriers around her. The melodious female voice sounded upset now. “Come on, girl, you need to stop that. Just relax and everything will be better. Just relax, let the power drain from you…” The voice tried to soothe her, but she refused to submit. She was probably genetically incapable of that.

 

This time, she slammed both of her hands into the wall in front of her at the same time. Then she jumped up and cracked both of her feet into it, her kicks perfectly balanced and deadly. Again, nothing. She did it over and over, her gaze and her senses all pouring into the small area around her.

 

She had known the moment she had woken that she was in deep, deep osik. Her armor and weapons were gone and she was wearing the jumpsuit that was completely useless as a weapon or as anything more than flimsy covering. The small cell –that was what it had to be whether it was real or just in her mind- was three paces long and three paces wide. A small bunk and a small chemical toilet sat near one wall. An obvious door was on another wall. A small door, one with a viewport. She had tried it once and backed off hastily as she had sensed power flowing around the door. Either it was electrified or magnetically sealed, maybe both. The people who held her were taking no chances. The voice of her jailor sighed again.

 

“Look, I know you are scared.” The voice was concerned, but that was probably a trick. She had no way of knowing who had her. “I am sorry we had to knock you out like that, but we couldn’t take the chance of you fighting us. You are too powerful; you would have killed someone or forced us to kill you.”

 

Yeah right. The girl in white thought to herself sourly. Like any of you would worry about such things?

 

“We do.” The voice of her jailor said sadly and the girl froze. They were reading her thoughts! This was bad, even worse than she had thought. What had she given away? What had she done? She slowed her breathing as she had been taught from a very early age, focusing her mind into the sharpest of edges. The jailor made an irritated noise. “Look, we don’t want to hurt you. Stop trying to hurt yourself. We won’t… No!” The voice cried as the girl tried to focus on nothingness. A desperate move. Essentially, she could, with great focus and determination –which she had- will herself to die. One way to escape. Her mom had done it to escape capture but…

 

Power slammed into her, making her gasp. Air poured into her lungs as she tried to fight off the waves of energy that came from nowhere, shocking her and forcing her to breathe. She fought with everything she had, as always. But the power held her motionless and forced her lungs to work. She found herself lying on the floor where she had been standing and pounding, her breath coming in great gasps. When she could hear over the pounding in her ears, she could hear the voice of her jailor. She had managed to irritate the woman.

 

“That was dumb, girl.” The voice snarled at her. “We don’t want to hurt you. Your dad would flay us all, Nia.” Pain arced through Nia Korr’s entire being from those simple words. Her dad… How she missed him. How she had failed him… How… She snarled and stood up quickly, blanking her mind again. She strode to the wall again and started hitting it again. Now the voice changed timbre, consoling. “Nia, it’s okay. We know what is going to happen. We can’t let you change anything.” The black haired woman snarled again and hit with both hands and her head this time. “Nia! Stop that!”

 

She ignored the voice, slamming her hands and feet into whatever they could reach, interspersing the blows with elbow, knee and forehead strikes. Sooner or later she had to either break through or…

 

Wait a moment. How had she gotten onto the bunk? And who was this bending over her? She opened her eyes a slit and froze as a form she had never thought to see again sighed deeply.

 

“Hello Nia.” Her mother said as she sat on the bunk beside her daughter. “That was dumb, even for you. If you hit a wall with your head hard enough, even your skull can get cracked.” Her mother’s faint, ironic smile had something inside Nia thaw momentarily. But then Nia threw herself away from the still form and slammed back into the wall the bunk laid against. “Nia…” Jainine Korr’s voice was sad, but she did not pursue. “We cannot let you run around loose, girl. I am sorry.”

 

Nia forced herself past her pain and grief, forced herself to think of nothing again. Her cheek stung as her mother used her customary attention getter.

 

“Nia, stop that.” Jainine said sharply. “Do not try and suicide again. We have questions that need answers. Don’t make us hurt you, Nia. We know you are in this time twice. Darmuk has the younger you. He is… twisting the younger you.” The elder Korr’s voice was sad, but rock hard as well. “What have you done, Nia?” Nia did not respond, indeed, she did not move at all. “Oh Nia…” Jainine was crying now. “We don’t want to put you in hibernation, but you are not leaving us any choice. We know you interfered on Alderaan, what else have you done?”

 

Nia focused on what she could see without moving her head. The sleeve of her jumpsuit caught her eyes and suddenly she understood. The hem of her jumpsuit had no was perfectly straight. Nothing in nature, manufactured or otherwise, was perfectly straight when it was on a person’s arm who had been swinging with all her might. That said this was a mental projection. Not that having the ghost of her mother sitting there talking to her and solid enough to slap her was not a dead giveaway.

 

“Nia, talk to me.” Jainine said sadly. “Please.” Nia mumbled something and Jainine stiffened. “What?”

 

“Get out of my mind!” Nia screamed as she threw herself off the bunk. Away from the seated figure and started hitting the wall again. “None of you know what you are doing! None of you!”

 

“Nia… please…” Jainine said softly, tears streaming. “I should have slapped you. I know I hurt you when you were small. I never acted the mother. I was always an Elder first, a mother a distant second. Let me help.” Nia ignored her. “Nia, Please!”

 

The young woman ignored her mother, slamming hands, feet, knees and elbows into the wall she had chosen. Then… It cracked. She did not hesitate, she threw herself into the crack. Somehow, she shrank impossibly small, she did not dwell on it, she had to get free!

 

“Nia no!” The terrified scream came from behind her, but she was gone.

 

She was on the plain, she saw with a quick glance and… She paled and fled as she saw the predators that swarmed at her. She felt weak. She tried to hide herself, but they had her scent. They were tireless, and she was nearly spent. She had to get off the plain! She had to get to the real world! She stopped running and focused herself.

 

“This is gonna hurt…” She said softly as the machine intelligences that prowled the plain in search of intruders closed in on her, all their mouths agape and all their tentacles poised to grasp and tear.

 

“Nia!” A terrified female scream came from somewhere far away. Some of the predators turned away from Nia, but most kept closing.

 

“I really hope she knew what she was talking about…” Nia said forlornly as she focused what pitiful power she had left. A tentacle hit her and she screamed. Then, she was gone, instants before the monsters swept through where she had been, hissing in nearly silent anger at their prey’s escape. But one held back a bit, devouring…something…

Pain. White hot pain flared through her entire body as Nia materialized. She held her left arm in a tight grip, despite the even worse pain that arced through her now as she collapsed. She was aware of nothing more than the pain. Until a soft, scared voice sounded nearby.

 

“Nia?” The incredulous voice brought a smile to Nia’s face. It had worked. She had come where she had hoped. “Nia? What happened?” Gentle hands took her shoulders and eased her into a more comfortable position. She looked up into a face that was so like hers, and yet, so different.

 

“S…Sara…” Nia managed to gasp out. “Trapped… Couldn’t get away… had to flee… Tried to hide… Couldn’t…Took me…”

 

“Who, Nia?” Sara Kalenath asked as she held her niece tight. “Who had you Nia? What happened?” She gasped as she saw the blood on Nia’s arm. “Hang on, let me see what I can do.”

 

“Danger…” Nia gasped as Sara’s gentle hands worked to ease her tight grip. “Coming…” The girl acted swiftly, to elevate the injured arm and apply pressure to the wound. Then she let go for an instant to scrutinize the damage.

 

“Nia, it’s okay.” Sara said quietly as she examined the deep cut on Nia’s arm. Nia stared at armor that had a huge gash torn out of it and shuddered. “Let me get my first aid kit…” Nia shrank as the door hissed open, but Sara was somehow between her and the door. Nia stared as a sword simply appeared in Sara’s hands. Then Nia slumped, it was over. She was caught. It was all for nothing.

 

“Sara… don’t…” The room was fading in Nia’s sight. She tried to keep herself upright but it was so hard. She was losing consciousness.

 

“She is under my protection.” Sara’s calm words brought Nia out of her daze momentarily.

 

“Thisss iz going to caussse problems, Zara.” A voice Nia did not know spoke. But she knew who this was. “The Ssstormhawk iz sssending a marine and medical team.” Nia did not raise her head and the voice sighed. “Zhe isss bleeding all over your floor, Zara.”

 

“Nia…” Sara’s voice was very gentle now. “I need to show her. Can you bare your uninjured arm?”

 

“Sara… don’t…” Nia begged but did not resist as unseen power slid her sleeve back and exposed something she had prayed not to show. “No…” She slumped, all of her control undone as she started to cry. “No…”

 

“Oh my god…” A gentle scaled hand brought Nia’s chin up and made her look into deep, soft reptilian eyes she had never seen. “Nia…” Mama Lizard, the caretaker and matriarch of Istara’s sect of Bladeborn pulled Nia close and hugged her gently. “It’sss okay, girl. It iz okay…” The Barabel said as she pulled Nia up into her arms. “We will make it okay.” She stroked the Bladeborn tattoo that Nia bore on her now exposed arm gently. “Come, let usss help you, zissster.”

 

“I can’t…” Nia was falling now, or floating. She was not sure which. “I… can’t… I…” She fell asleep trying to get her concerns voiced.

 

***

 

“She is coming around.” The voice that pulled her out of her comfortable sleep was one she knew. L'Trask was literally the second voice she had heard on this ship. She fought to keep from showing recognition. She had to stay silent. She had to. Too much was riding on this. She had been a fool to come here. Here of all places! She could hear the beeps and whirs of medical equipment all around her and knew where she was. She fought, but a tear fell from her eyes as she opened them to see the Medical bay of the Stormhawk. “There are too many people here.” A murmur started all around her.

 

“I am staying.” Sara’s quiet voice shushed everything for a moment. “Ona? How is she?” Nia flinched as she heard a soft, concerned voice answer Sara. Nia knew that voice. Knew it so well. Pain erupted deep inside her, pain she strove hard to keep under wraps. She hoped she managed it.

 

“I don’t know what caused the injury. It almost looks like she was bitten by something.” The healer’s gentle presence was nearby, but Nia could sense her wariness. “It is healed. She should have minimal impairment. I should stay.”

 

“Your kids need you to keep them out of trouble, Ona. You know what they are like with no supervision.” A sharp voice said, one Nia also knew. Chari, Twi’lek masterblade of the Bladeborn. A flat sense of negation came from Ona. “Very well, Ona. But at least keep your senses on your cubs. The last thing we need is another general alert caused by one of them.” The masterblade paused and then continued. “And… This is a Bladeborn matter. We shall handle it, Boss.”

 

“Is it?” The commander of the renegade battlecruiser Stormhawk said evenly. Nia felt her guts tie themselves in knots but she could not look. She would not look. “She simply appeared onboard, one moment she was not there, the next she was, and we have no idea how she did it. I think that is a matter of security.”

 

“Pleaze, Stormhawk Bosss…” The voice of Mama Lizard was sad now. “Pleaze leave it to usss. Zhe likely won’t talk while you are here and yesss, we do need anzwersss.” Nia smiled a little. Everyone had said that Mama was incredibly perceptive. "We will record, but... you should turn off the monitorsss az well..."

 

“I see.” The voice of Stormhawk Boss was sad now too. “We need to figure out how she…got…away…from…” he paused and then he hissed. “Oh dear…”

 

“You see the problem now, Boss.” Chari’s voice was calm, but held tension deep, deep down. “She is in two places at once.”

 

“I do.” Boss said slowly. “She told us about her dreams of being in other places, other times. They were not dreams, were they?” Boss corrected himself. “No… No, don’t tell me. The less I know, likely the better. I will be on the bridge.” An armored hand touched her shoulder gently and Boss’ voice was husky now. “No matter what is going on, it is good to see you again, Nia.” Then he was gone.

 

“That’s it, Nia.” Sara’s soft voice spoke from nearby. “No one here but Bladeborn.” Nia opened her eyes, tears streaming. “Monitors are... off. You know we won’t talk.”

 

“I am sorry, Sara. I am sorry…” She said as she tried to sit up, but her arms would not support her. “I… I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

 

“I know.” Nia’s young aunt replied from her seat beside Nia’s berth. She reached up and patted Nia’s hand gently. “But now… The Nexu is out of the bag.”

 

“I don’t like lying to people.” Nia said slowly as she looked around. Aside from Sara, Ona stood nearby, her face a mask of worry. Chari stood by the door and Mama, predictably, was working at a small food prep unit.

 

“Now you don’t have to.” Sara said gently. “Now you can explain.”

 

“Yeah…” Nia said slowly as she looked at her arm. The bandages on it were thin and she could see signs of healing. “I messed up, Sara. I messed up bad. I am ready to face punishment, Masterblade.”

 

“For what, Nia?” Chari asked slowly.

 

“For being stupid, Masterblade Chari.” Nia replied sadly. “For being really, really stupid.”

“What do you mean, Nia?” Chari asked as she sat, her red lekku wandering until they twirled around her neck. “You are not dumb, you never were.”

 

“I remember you.” Nia said slowly, her eyes narrowed. “I didn’t… um…” She paused and shook her head. “Dang it… I don’t know what I can say or how.”

 

“Let’s begin at the beginning.” Chari said slowly. “I am in charge of the order while Istara is away.” No one with a glimmer of the Force could have missed Nia’s reaction to the name of the grandmaster. A mix of shame, regret, fear and self-loathing echoed through the Force. “What Nia?” She asked when Nia slumped in the bed.

 

“I can’t say, Masterblade.” Nia said after a moment. “Anything I say may hurt things. I shouldn’t have come here, but I had nowhere else to go.”

 

“You have traveled in time again.” Mama Lizard sad as she brought Nia a cup that steamed. Nia took it gratefully, almost absentmindedly. “Your father spoke to usss of your ability and Trugoy…” Mama sighed and shrugged. “What he did to you, cutting you away from sssome of your powerz, wasss…” She paused as Nia shook her head. “What, Nia?”

 

“It was needed.” Nia said slowly, sipping the tea, wincing as she bent her bandaged arm. “He did what was right. I… My younger self that is, was not going to be able to control myself, herself… Whatever…” She snarled at her inability to get words out right and sipped again to calm herself. “I was always a headstrong brat.” Nia said sadly. “And this ‘gift’ is far too powerful, as I found to my cost.”

 

“What happened, Nia?” Chari asked again, and this time a edge of frost colored her words. Mama Lizard looked at her, but did not speak.

 

“I went too far.” Nia said slowly. “I didn’t know how, but I wound up somewhere I really shouldn’t have been able to go. I was a mess. I had no idea where I was, or even who I was. Luckily, I found someone who cared for me. She was kind to me…” Nia said, her face falling.

 

“Who?” Mama prompted her when Nia trailed off.

 

“I had no idea.” Nia sighed. “I have no idea how long I was…semi lucid.” She shrugged. “Or mad, I dunno. But she was patient and kind.”

 

“Who, Nia?” Mama prompted again when Chari glared at the young woman.

 

“She said her name was Edjulkintmnbasdruilernsbadfrenzaionse.” A number of eyes went wide at that and Nia slumped. “I know.”

 

“You were tended by a Sitolon?” Ona had taken three steps away from the berth and her hand was on her sword. Chari hadn’t moved, but her own hand was on her sword hilt. Mama had her clawed hands on the handles of her axes. “Firdlump’s Sitolon queen? Or another?”

 

“I didn’t know!” Nia said slowly. “I was so out of it, I forgot I had …” She broke off and snarled. “No! I will not do it again! I will not break time again!” She struggled, trying to rise, but her injured arm would not hold her and she collapsed for a moment, but then stiffened as a small hand touched her arm. That touch froze her in place. Sara shook her head.

 

“Nia…” Sara said slowly. “What happens in here, stays in here. You know that. You can explain.”

 

“I…” Nia stared at the girl who was her niece and then nodded, calming herself. “I didn’t know who she was. I didn’t remember who ‘I’ was. Everything was fuzzy. She was kind and gentle, helping me, cleaning me when I made messes, calming me when I threw tantrums, as I did…” Nia slumped, but jerked when Ona laughed.

 

“Some things never change, Nia. We remember you as a kid on Kuria.” Despite herself, Nia gave a small smile at the healer’s wicked tone. “What happened?”

 

“I don’t know how long I was in that semi-conscious stage.” Nia mused. “But eventually I woke up and what I found… “ She turned pale. “I need your word, all of you.”

 

“Nia…” Sara began, but shut up when Nia turned an impassioned stare her way. “What?”

 

“I need your word, Sara.” Nia’s eyes were pleading as she looked around at the other females. “Please.”

 

“You cannot ask us to swear by what you have said, Nia. You know this.” Chari’s voice held regret. “We need more than that.”

 

“Yes.” Nia shook herself and then nodded. She took a deep breath and met Chari’s gaze calmly. “The Seven are a lie.”

 

“Sssome lie.” Moma Lizard said with dark humor. “The Zitolon have recordsss going back tenz of thousandsss of years dealing with the prophecy.” Nia nodded but waited until Mama was done before speaking.

 

“I know.” Nia took another slow breath, held it and then let it out. “That queen I mentioned, she told me to call her Ionse, had a queen daughter who left her hive unexpectedly. To follow a warrior’s path beside a human force user named Cara.” Mama stiffened, Chari did as well. Nia nodded soberly. “Yes. The queen who pulled me back from madness was Calypiosal’s mother. I…” She wet her lips and spoke as the tension in the room skyrocketed. “I was trying to comfort her, after the ungrateful witch ran off. I told her what was happening. What had happened to me. She was… horrified is such a small word for her feelings.” Nia slumped back into the bed and Sara rubbed her arm soothingly. “We tried to find a way, we really, really did. But Sitolon do not kill each other. And… Oh no… Sara!” Nia cried as she felt something grab her. “They are taking me! Help me!”

 

“You can’t have her!” Sara screamed as she grabbed Nia’s hands and held on tight. “She is mine!”

Edited August 18, 2012 by kalenath

“Frak it!” Nia screamed when she could see again. “What the hell are you people doing?” She was lying on a bed again, but it was a very different place from the sterile coolness of a medical ward. She was restrained at wrists and ankles and her outfit -if you could call it that- was skimpy at best.

 

“Nia… Nia…” A soft, silky voice had her freezing in place. “You know better than to argue. You slept the day through girl. Time to get to work.”

 

“I won’t help you!” Nia said, but did not struggle as a female human came into view. Kareena Menglan wore a wide, self-satisfied smile as she undid the restraints. Instinctively, Nia tried to strike the woman, but suddenly pain flared and she screamed and fell back.

 

“Now, now, Nia my girl…” Menglan’s hands went places they should not and Nia gasped as she writhed in mixed pain and pleasure. “You don’t want to get punished again, do you? What did you see? Who did you talk to?”

 

“Better to die than to help you with what you are doing.” Nia gasped, trying to bite, but a rock hard hand slapped her across the face.

 

“You are helping to build the future, Nia.” Menglan crooned as she sat beside Nia. “You are going to tell us where you went. You are going to-” Whatever she was going to say next was cut off as a pair of small hands snapped around her head and gave a practiced yank. As dull snap echoed through the room and Nia stared up through tear soaked eyes at… Sara? The small human woman dropped the still form, dusting her hands as if they were soiled.

 

“Where and when, Nia?” Sara asked, her eyes roving the small, almost bare room. The few furnishings in it were not for the faint of heart. Menglan had some very odd and sick tastes. Sara didn’t seem to mind, she had seen –and had done to her- far worse.

 

“I…” Nia shook herself, trying to calm her mind. “I don’t know. Not far ahead. People don’t age with the nanites in them. I have them in myself.”

 

“I know, Nia.” Sara said gently.

 

“Wait a sec…” Nia stiffened, looking at Sara. The younger woman wore Bladeborn initiates robes and carried a sword with casual ease. “How are you here, Sara? This isn’t possible…”

 

“Yes it is.” Sara said with a grin as she eased Nia up into a sitting position. “This isn’t real, Nia. This is a physical representation of your fears. They used it to keep you in line. Don’t they? You step out of line, you wind up here?” These were not really questions.

 

“How do you…?” Nia froze, her face turning ashen. “Sara! You cannot be here! If they find you here…” Sara shook her head slowly and hugged Nia tight.

 

“I know this place well, Nia.” Sara said slowly as she looked around. “They brought me here, many times, trying to make me ‘understand’ as they put it.” Now her smile turned feral. “What they do not understand is that I did, all too well.” Nia stared at the younger girl and then shook her head.

 

“You had me convinced.” Nia said slowly. “Nearly convinced. And then I realized… Sara can’t do what I do. This is something pulled from my memories, created to make me believe I am free.” She stepped away from Sara who stared at her. “Who are you? Really? Was I ever on the Stormhawk?”

 

“Nia…” Sara did not move, just held up her hands beseechingly. “Calm down. It isn’t what you think.”

 

“I am calm.” Surprisingly it was true. “But after what Menglan and her cronies did to Sara, there is no way she would kill the mad doc so swiftly, so cleanly.” Nia closed her eyes and focused herself. “What do you want? Information? My silence? What do you want?” She demanded, her posture and tone resigned.

 

“Nia, we have to get out of here.” Sara pleaded, but Nia ignored her.

 

“You pulled this horrible memory from my past.” Nia said sadly. “What else have you seen? Did you see it all? Did you understand it?”

 

“Nia…” Sara started to speak but another voice interrupted her.

 

“Enough. Sara, I have this.” A male voice familiar to Nia sounded as the room faded. Nia sighed, unsurprised as the walls turned back into the cell she had started in. Sara sighed, nodded and vanished. A male human form appeared nearby. Nia looked at him and then at herself. She was back in the white covering, but a bandage showed on her arm. The man shook his head. ‘You do know how to make a mess, don’t you?”

 

“Bob.” Nia said calmly. “You cannot hold me forever.”

 

“We don’t have to.” The mass of nano machines in human form said sadly. “We cannot let you mess things up now. Your power is unpredictable. If you were to travel into the hands of our enemies… Well…” He shrugged.

 

“Been there.” Nia said sadly. “You saw the memory, didn’t you?”

 

“While we worked to repair the damage you took from the predators, yes, I looked. Then you jumped to the Stormhawk. Luckily, Sara can explain to Chari and the others why you left and where you went.” Bob slumped a bit in place. “Nia, I am sorry for what you endured. What your younger self is enduring right now.”

 

“Why?” Nia asked softly. “You will get what you want. An ordered galaxy, a clean, safe galaxy. With nothing even resembling free will.”

 

“That is not what I want.” Bob disagreed. “I want to stop Firdlump. I was designed and programmed for that one goal. I have spent centuries working towards it. But…” He looked at her closely. “You know that. How long did you spend with the Sitolon?” Nia shrugged.

 

“A long time.” She admitted. “Temporal avatars do not age.” Bob nodded slowly.

 

“Why did you say the Seven were a lie, Nia?” Bob asked gently. “Because you and Ionse started the idea?”

 

“We failed.” Nia said, her gaze on the floor. “We neither saved nor doomed the galaxy. We failed. Everyone died and we failed.”

 

“No you haven’t.” Bob said gently. “Nia, please… Listen to me…” He pleaded as she shook her head violently. “The future you came from is a bad one, yes. For you.” He looked her straight in the eye ss and held her gaze until she winced and looked away. “She lied to you, Nia.” He said gently. “Think it through. Menglan had you. She took you from your home, from your friends and family. You were hurt, sick. After everything you went through, it is not surprising.” Nia blinked, her face unsure. “Nia… Think… What happened? After you joined the Bladeborn?”

 

“I never left the Bladeborn.” Nia said absently, rubbing her arm. “I just needed a bit of encouragement to think about it. To remember, and to do what had to be done. I... I studied... I met... I... Wait...” Her face turned a sick color. "I... What?"

 

“Nia…” Bob held out his hand slowly. “That witch took you again. She hurt you again. She made you forget many things, she tried to make you into her agent. To bring back her master. To assure her conquest. She sent you into the past, to try and undo what the Seven are supposed to do. They are not a lie, Nia. They were not a lie.”

 

“No…” Nia said, her tone turning fearful. “That can’t be…”

 

“Search your feelings, Nia.” Bob insisted gently. “See what happened. Remember what happened. Think it through.” Nia went white as she thought deeply.

 

“By the Force, what have I done?” Nia stared at the mass of machines and then crumbled onto the floor, her control undone, tears falling. “What have I done?”

 

“You saved Brianna. They brought her back after she died on the table.” Bob’s voice was still gentle as the fur of a day old nerf. “That had the potential of messing things up. Except…” He smiled. “Think, Nia. Remember. Think of your aunt Nara.” Nia was still sobbing but then her head shot up and her eyes went wide. Bob smiled even wider. “Who did she bring the last time you talked?”

 

“My…cousin.” Nia’s face was still taut, but she nodded slowly. “Bri Deering. Her daughter.” Nia sighed and nodded. “You scanned my mind.”

 

“I did.” Bob sighed. “I apologize for the discourtesy, but we needed to know what had happened. Nia, we can handle it. We did in your time. But right now… Someone wants to talk to you. Two people actually.”

 

“I…” Nia stiffened and then froze in place as two forms appeared nearby. Jainine Korr, her mother and…

 

“Hello Nia.” Will Kalenath said softly as he pulled her from the floor and into an embrace. “Ah Nia…” He held her as she burst into tears anew.

 

“What have I done, Dad?” Nia asked though her sobs. “What have I done? I tried to stop the prophecy…I doomed us all.” Jainine hung back for a moment, but at a glare from Will, she joined the embrace.

 

“You didn’t.” Will said gently. “You helped it along.”

 

“I…” Nia blinked, confused. “I what?” She looked from her father to Bob who nodded.

 

“I am the only one who looked into your memories, Nia.” Bob said softly. “I wish I could delete those memories from my hard coded memory. I can’t but I can put them into deep storage, inaccessible to most searches. Take what time you need.” Bob’s voice was sad as she started to vanish. “Time has no meaning here.”

 

“Ah my girl…” Wiill spoke softly. As he hugged Nia tight. “My brave, brave girl. So much pain, so much horror…”

 

“This is why I came…” Nia said slowly. “I had forgotten. Menglan twisted my memories, made me angry, made me forget so much. Ionse helped me remember a lot, but…” She slumped in her parent’s embrace. “I can’t stay here. I have to go back, face the punishment for using my power.”

 

“They won’t kill you, Nia.” Will said slowly a she held her at arm’s length for a moment before pulling her into the embrace again. “Bladeborn are strict, but they are not capricious. You were not in control. Menglan was.”

 

“I know, but…” She shook her head. “I wanted to come back I want to say…” She looked from her dad to her mom and swallowed heavily. “I had to say this. I lost you both. I never really got the chance to say this.” She shook herself and nodded. “I love you. Both of you. The soldier and the Bladeborn seer, I love you both. May the Force be with you, and may you both find peace. That was what held me here. What I had to do.” She smiled widely, hugged both of her parents again and vanished.

 

For a long moment, there was silence in the small room, and then Jainine spoke softly.

 

“Ah Nia, ah my little girl... I can’t bear it.” She snarled. “I cannot bear it. I know what she is going to endure and I can’t… I can’t…”

 

“Jainine…” Will’s voice was sad as he held the spirit form of his first love. Normal rules did not apply in this place. “It’s okay. She will be okay.”

 

“She was my apprentice, my chosen successor in the tribe on Kuria.” Jainine sobbed into her husband’s shoulder, corporeal though the odd power that had kept Nia imprisoned. “But she was always my daughter. I had to stay focused, I had to stay rational. Even when it hurt me to see her so reduced, I had to stay coherent. Oh Will… What have I done?”

 

“You saved her, Jainine.” Will said sadly. “If Bob had gotten her then…”

 

“I would have made a mess.” Bob’s voice preceded him appearing. “As it is, I have made more than my share. At least this has happy ending. Are you ready to become one with the Force, Jainine? I can free you from your bondage in that crystal that Sharra ‘borrowed’ from Sarai.”

 

“I think…No.” Jainine shook her head slowly. “I think I will stay. She may need me. The present time Nia anyway. But does this mean we win? The fact that she remembers winning?”

 

“Ah…” Bob made a face. “I am not sure. Time travel is such a mess. And then you get into alternate timelines, possible alternate future histories and it gets even nastier. It is possible that we win, Jainine. It is also possible that she came from another universe.”

 

“Oh don’t start!” Will made an identical face. “The last time you all tried to explain temporal physics to me, I had a headache for a day and a half. Just say you don’t know.”

 

“Fine, Will…” Bob snarled in jest. “I don’t know, Jainine. What I do know is that between the two of you, you and Will made a heck of a young woman.” Jainine blushed slightly and Will nodded. “Now… We need to get back to work. Jainine, will you stay with Sharra?”

 

“Try and drag me away.”

 

<The future?>

 

The pain was expected. She had transgressed, so she was being punished. Even with mitigating circumstances, her kidnapping being one of them, she had travelled in time without permission. Indeed, she had broken her sworn word. The only reason she was not executed was that she had not been in control of herself at the time. So she was being punished. The Rack was nowhere near the pain of other things she had felt in her life however. Six hours was extreme, but with Ona’s apprentice Mila in constant attendance, Nia had no fear that she would die. At times, she wanted to, but she drew strength from the fact that she had done what she had set out to do. She had bid farewell to her parents. The love of her parents would see her through this. Another wave of pain arced through Nia’s restrained body and she smiled into the bit that the grandmaster herself had put into Nia's mouth to keep her from biting herself.

 

It will turn out all right…

<Present. In a more recognizable setting>

 

“What word, doctor?” Donal Firdlump, one time senator and now master of an ever growing collective of massed minds -some willing, some not- walked into the medical ward as if he owned it. Of course, he actually did. Everyone on the base knew that he was the master of the collective, but not many knew that he was not actually a human. The doctor who looked up from her instruments knew of course, she was one of his oldest servants. “How is our latest guest?”

 

“She has not woken.” Kareena Menglan replied, her gaze turning to a video screen where a blue skinned Twi’lek in a patient gown lay asleep. “Sarai was true to her word. Melita is not trapped and as open to our influence. There is something…odd about her however.” The doctor paused and shook her head. ‘Something off.”

 

“Is she a threat?” Fidlump asked quickly. It had not been that long ago that a new inductee into the collective had managed to suicide in spectacular fashion, blowing herself up and causing a great deal of damage and loss of life in the process.

 

“No.” The doctor replied quickly. “She has no implants, no hidden devices of any kind. We have put her through the ringer, nothing could have hidden from our scans and probes.” Firdlump looked at her and she flushed. “Yes, we missed the tampering that had been done to Cili Sandskimmer’s implants, but Melita has none of those kinds of implants. She has an implant to control her brain chemistry problem, but we drained that, removed it and examined it in detail. We found nothing out of the ordinary. One thing…” She paused and Firdlump nodded for her to continue. “Her brain chemistry is off. She will be very confused and likely a bit hyperactive without the drug from her implant. We need to be ready for that.”

 

“She will resist.” Firdlump sighed. “Can you bring her into the collective as she is?” Menglan thought about that and shook her head.

 

“I need her to wake up first. make sure she will and be sane.” Menglan shrugged. “If we bring a vegetable into the collective, it will upset everyone. I wouldn’t put it past our enemies to do just that. Until she wakes though, we are just marking time.” She laughed a little. “Well, doing what we do. We have three new pregnancies and Mrs. Liosim had a girl this morning.”

 

“And the other side?” FIrdlump asked slowly. “The breeding?”

 

“The Sitolon larvae are progressing as expected.” Menglan said soberly. “We simply don’t know enough about their reproduction to know if they are healthy and whole. They SEEM it. As to the control unit for the collective? No.” Menglan shook her head, dejected. “Nothing works. Every single clone is viable, but none of them have the… the spark as it were that made 8410-12 unique. All of them are healthy and whole, they are responding to the revised training as expected. But none show the signs that 8410-12 did. Is there any chance of getting her back?” The doctor asked, someone petulantly.

 

“Not very likely, doctor.” Firdlump sighed. “The girl who calls herself Sara Kalenath now is… well, the Sith Emperor likely has more protection around him. But no one else in this galaxy. Could we GET to her, sure? Could we DO anything? No. Add to that the fact that her force sensitivity has surfaced and well…” He glared at the doctor. “You promised me that she would never show signs of that.” Menglan shrugged.

 

“Suppressing it without causing long term harm was the goal. Keeping her body in stasis for as long as we did was a risk anyway. It did cause all kinds of problems. ” She shook her head. “No matter what, she was the only unqualified success we had. We have tried every way to copy her that I can think of. Nothing works. Every child is viable, but none are control units. Might it have been the parents influence?” Firdlump thought about that for a moment and shook his head.

 

“No.” He said after a moment. “The girl showed signs of being able to control machinery as early as two. Samuel and Maria were monitored at all times. We have had other parents, collective parents, duplicate what both of them did. No results. It HAS to be something genetic. It has to be. If we can just duplicate her and her brother’s ability, we can dispense with the implants altogether.” His head jerked to the video screen and then he smiled. “Melita is awake.” Menglan looked at the screen and then at Firdlump who smirked. “She is good. Have your people run their tests. Carefully.”

 

Menglan nodded, her face sober. Melita Ranol had been an operative with the Special Branch of Republic Intelligence, an efficient and dutiful one. She had also been a spy and traitor, seeking information on the activities of the group for her own superiors in Republic Intelligence. When she had sent in her report however, Firdlump had intercepted it, killed off her handler and put her in a deathtrap. He had wanted it to look like an Imperial assassination. Unfortunately, an actual Imperial agent had found her and rescued her. Then she had turned to the Imperial side, working with them to destroy Special Branch. More recently, she had been caught in the middle of one of Firdlump’s more ambitious schemes, a plan to capture and subvert an entire Imperial battleship crew at the same time. Vandar had executed her, but somehow she had survived that. She was a dangerous pawn to have around, but… At the same time, she was invaluable. She had been, before working for Special Branch, Jina Darkstorm’s lover. With Jina so messed up, they needed every bit of control over her they could get. Hence the agent’s unwilling arrival, cocooned in carbonite. Even with the Twi’lek restrained to the medical bed as she was, both of them held their breath as Karen –the clone they had made of the changed doctor anyway- went in and talked to the agent. Melita did not respond to Karen’s gentle questions, and Menglan nodded.

 

“We can fix her up.” She said as Karen left the room. “She will resist of course. I do not recommend nanites for her though.”

 

“Why not, doctor?” Firdlump asked as Menglan worked her controls, lowering a bell shaped device over the agent’s restrained skull. “They make things easier.”

 

“According to Olandas, she managed to find a way -with that Cipher agent, Vorren- to subvert them. To get around them.” Menglan smiled evilly as she flicked a control and a strangled scream came from the vid screen. “With the right implants, she will not be able to resist. And the last thing we need is to have subverted nanites running around.” Firdlump just looked at her and Menglan sighed. “You have enough on your mind.”

 

“Agreed.” Firdlump said with a wave, dismissing the problem. “Let me know when she is ready to enter the collective. Who do you think should handle it?”

 

“You and I are out. Vandar would distress Melita, even if we do wipe her memory.” Menglan paused. “What consensus on that?”

 

“None.” Firdlump shook his head. “She is a danger. But she is also a priceless intelligence asset. Let me think on that. We could get Maria to do it.” Menglan stared at him aghast and Firdlump chuckled sourly. “A joke, Doctor. It was a joke… Later.”

 

“Maria…” Menglan shook her head and then, a cruel smile twisted her features. “What a wonderful idea…”

Maria walked into the room with some trepidation. She was confident in her ability, and her desire to aid the collective was as strong as ever. But she did not want to hurt Jina and this whole situation had the potential to cause irreparable harm to Jina. When Menglan had first asked for her help, Maria had balked, but Menglan had explained. Maria hated this part. This… hurtful part of the process. The end result was marvelous, to feel the love and affection of all of the people around her was uplifting at the worst of times. But until then, the new arrivals almost to a being, fought and fought hard. This female was no exception. They had wound up having to completely encase her in a specialized restraint. She was just too dangerous to leave loose in any way while the process worked. The only parts of Melita that were visible were her eyes and mouth, and of course, as soon as Maria entered her field of view…

 

“Kriff you! Back for more, scum ball?” Melita’s voice was tired and filled with pain. Maria sighed. The ones who resisted hardest were often the best ones to recruit, but it was so time consuming. “I can take whatever you can dish out.” The agent spat caustically.

 

“I know.” Maria said sadly as she sat by the bed. She rested her hand atop the agent’s restrained one, feeling the tension through the heavy material that covered the female Twi’lek from lekku to toe. “You should relax. It hurts less if you relax. We will welcome you. We don’t want to hurt you, child. Just relax.”

 

“Never!” Melita screamed as she tried, again, to bite down on a tooth. A poison tooth or whatever, it was no longer there and all she did was manage to take a bit out of the inside of her cheek.

 

“We removed them all, Melita.” Maria said sternly. “Stop biting yourself or we will have to gag you. The process is underway. The implants are in place, they are adjusting to your system as we speak. You will feel hot and cold, tired and fully awake as your body acclimatizes to the new inputs.”

 

“I don’t know who you are…” Meltia growled. “But I am not here for you, your silly commune, or anything else. I am here for Jina and nothing else.”

 

“That is good.” Maria said with a smile that faded slightly. “Jina needs stability. She is still a mess. But so are you? How the heck did you manage to be an agent with such a disability?” Melita glared at her and Maria patted her hand again. “It’s okay, child. I am in awe. That is an incredible feat.” Melita snapped her mouth shut and Maria sighed. “Look, Melita, it is not bad, we are not bad, we just want to help you adjust to your new life.”

 

“My new life?” Melita asked, incredulous. “I stopped being a slave to Special Branch long ago. I gave my life to them, and they killed me. Twice actually. I will not be a slave again.” The restraints that held her actually shuddered as Melita fought to free herself.

 

“Melita, stop that.” Maria sighed. “You are not going to break those. All you will do is dislodge the catheters. All that would do is hurt you. We won’t let you die, child.”

 

“Why not?” Melita gasped as she fought. “Third time is the charm after all? Why not kill me again?”

 

“Because we need you.” Maria’s hand was stroking Melita’s lekku gently now. Melita shuddered and tried to buck the hand off, but she couldn’t move. “Jina needs you alive and sane.” Maria slumped a bit and sighed again. “The poor dear needs all the help we can give. Do you know what happened?”

 

“You hurt her!” Melita growled, her tone promising dire vengeance when she got free. “What else do I have to know?”

 

“Yes and no.” Maria ‘s voice was sad and resigned now. “We don’t know how it happened, but she suffered brain damage. We did not do it to her, we were trying very hard not to hurt her. Something attacked her through Ecmin, the Sitolon queen who has joined our collective.”

 

“Been brainwashed into serving your machine master, you mean.” Melita corrected cynically, and then she gasped. “No…” She struggled harder, still trying to get any part of herself free from the clinging material that covered her. “Get out of my head!” She screamed.

 

“Relax, Melita…” Maria crooned. “It’s okay, it’s okay, child. The preliminaries are done. They implants have cycled to your brainwaves. Now just relax…” She stroked Melita’s arm now, soothing. “Just relax…We will welcome you.” The collective crowded close around Maria, eager to welcome another sister. But then it pulled back slightly as Melita screamed again. Maria stiffened. “Melita… Please relax. You cannot fight it. It will hurt you badly if you keep fighting it. Can’t you feel it? We love you, Melita. We all love you. Please let us help you. Resistance is futile, Melita…” Maria tried again, stroking the bound female’s hand again. “Please, just let us in.”

 

“It’s a lie!” Melita screamed in pain as power flared through her lekku. “You… are… a…” Maria jerked her hand back as the power flowing through Melita intensified, slamming into the walls of her hate and training with overwhelming force. No matter her stubbornness, training or ability, nothing could hold that back forever. The collective was the accumulated mental power of thousands of beings, and it was all directed at Melita. The Twi’lek gave one final, agonized scream and then lay still.

 

“There we go…” Maria crooned. “There we go. Melita?” She asked as she saw tears falling from the Twi’lek’s eyes.

 

“I…” Melita Ranol sobbed. “No… I can’t… I only love Jina… I have only ever loved Jina… I can’t…No…Just let me die. I am a good girl… Don’t… Don’t make me a bad one… Please…”

 

“What the…?” Maria stiffened in place. The rest of the collective was astonished and confused at this change. “Melita…” Maria kept her voice kind and gentle as she started unstrapping the Twi’lek now that the rough part was done. “What do you mean?”

 

“Jina is the only person I have ever loved. I was loyal to her. To her alone. I promised her that I would never stray and I have not. I have had relationships, to build my cover and to do my job, but never loved anyone but Jina.” Melita said in a monotone, not moving as the sweat and blood soaked covering was removed from her body. She had fought the restraints so hard that her skin was abraded. Maria rubbed the sore spots, stimulating circulation and healing the injuries with her own nanites, since the master had not given Melita any of her own, but the Twi’lek did not move. “Don’t…” She begged.

 

“Melita.” Maria’s voice was incredibly gentle as she pulled the sobbing Twi’lek up into an embrace. “It is okay, it will be okay. But someone wants to talk to you.” Melita was sobbing into Maria’s shoulder as the door opened and Olandas came running in. Melita stiffened, but Olandas did not say a word, simply joined the embrace, trying with all her might and mind to comfort the newest member of the collective. “We will not ask you for anything, Melita. All we want is to help Jina. She is a mess and we need all the help we can get. Will you help us, sister?” Melita looked up and Maria and nodded silently as the two other women hugged her again.

“This is…not what we expected.” Maria said softly to herself as she watched Melita work.

 

“Maria?” A melodious voice sounded from nearby and Maria turned to find the silver bulk of Ecmin looking at her. Ordinarily, seeing a huge insect eyeing a person might be disconcerting at the very least, but Maria was part of the collective with Ecmin and could sense the queen bug’s worry. “What is wrong with her?”

 

“I don’t know.” Maria admitted. “I expected her to be ecstatic on seeing Jina again but…” She waved to where the former Jedi and the former intelligence agent were working. Both were ignoring the other. They had been introduced, and both had nodded to the other, but nothing more. “How is Jina doing?”

 

“As always.” Ecmin snarled sadly. “Whatever hurt her did a lot of damage. If I ever meet that person I am going to hurt them.” Menace rang in the queen tone now, she loved Jina. “I had hoped that seeing an old friend would pull whatever is left of her out of the mechanical shell she is trapped in.”

 

“Ecmin…” Maria reached out slowly and rubbed one of Ecmin’s arms. “We may have to accept that this is the best Jina is going to get.” That hurt. It really, really hurt. Seeing someone so reduced was horrifying. Maria did not remember Jina Darkstorm herself, but she had read every record available and had scanned through the collective to see every scrap of information that the others had. Vandar’s memories in particular were heart wrenching.

 

“I know.” The sheer pain in Ecmin’s voice brought tears to Maria’s eyes. “I had hoped… But… I know…” She repeated sadly. “I will stay with her, ward her as best I can, keep her out of trouble as best I can.” She shook her huge head. “I want to help her, make it all better. And I can’t.”

 

“Yeah.” Maria sighed as she turned back to look at the Twi’lek agent. “What do you make of what Melita said?”

 

“Well…” Ecmin made a noise of embarrassment. “I don’t know a lot about human procreation, and inter species things are really not my thing either. But she did fall in love with Jina. And apparently, she did stay loyal to Jina throughout everything.” Maria looked at Ecmin and Ecmin shrugged all four shoulders. “She was no saint, and she slept with people, but the only one she loved was Jina. When she thought Jina was dead…” Ecmin slumped. “I could barely scan that section. The rage and pain were too much, even with the collective. She does love Jina still.” She looked back at the agent. ‘The question is ‘Why is she acting this way now’?”

 

“No implants…” Maria mused. “No tricks or traps in her mind. No hidden areas that we have detected. Nothing hidden. Nothing.” She paused. “Wait a second…” Her face turned from musing to fearful. “Wait second…” Ecmin looked at her. “Was there anything odd about her?”

 

“Well…” Ecmin thought for a moment and then nodded. “She had a small patch of material on her shoulder that did not match anything in our files.” Ecmin paused as Maria stiffened. “What?”

 

“Show me.” Maria said, her voice low and scared. Ecmin looked at her and opened her mind to her collective mate. Maria started and then she gasped. “Oh my god…”

 

“What is it, Maria?” Ecmin asked, reaching out for her friend and Maria staggered. “What is wrong?”

 

“It wasn’t an implant.” Maria shook herself and her face hardened. “But that substance is a tracker. It is used by the Imperial Military to track subjects from long range for orbital bombardment!” Ecmin went still and Maria nodded. “It is rare and costly, but almost undetectable. One of my progenitor’s missions as a combat engineer went sour when the Imperials managed to get a plant with one of those into a supply base. The Imperial Navy obliterated it from long range. Far enough out…” Now she blanched. “Far enough out to avoid the nanite swarms! We need to tell the master!”

 

“Come!” Ecmin commanded. Jina, Melita, Ren and the other larvae tenders looked up at her, but Ecmin waved them back to their work. Ecmin started for the door and paused as it opened. Firdlump came in, his face worried. “Master!”

 

“You cannot leave this room, Ecmin.” Firdlump said softly. “What is this that has you so concerned, Maria?” Maria took a deep breath and laid out her memories for him to see. Then she showed him the tiny patch that had been on Melita’s shoulder. Luckily, mind to mind communication was fast. “Oh… dear…” He said when she had finished.

 

“We almost certainly have an Imperial scoutship in system.” Maria said slowly. “That is standard procedure. But they will not bombard with a scoutship. They will bring a fleet.”

 

“We have a fleet.” Ecmin protested, but sighed as both Maria and Firdlump looked at her. “Yeah, yeah. I know. All three ships are still being worked up. It is going faster than we thought, but there is so much work to do. Even with nanites to help, the crews are being worked to the bone.”

 

“Well, we better work on contingency plans.” Maria said darkly. “They are coming and when they do, it is going to be bad.”

 

“You think she knew?” Firdlump said softly, flicking his eyes at Melita. “Did she betray us again?”

 

“I don’t think so.” Maria replied after a moment’s thought. “No… No, there were no thoughts of the kind you would expect if someone were going to their deaths. She expected to be tortured, hurt, maybe killed. But she was not suicidal when I scanned her mind.”

 

“Could she have hidden it?” Firdlump asked. “Maria?” He pressed when Maria did not respond.

 

“Maybe.” Maria said, manifestly against her will. “Master… If we send her for invasive scans…”

 

“We don’t have a choice, Maria.” Firdlump said sadly as Maria hissed in pain. “If she did betray us, we need to know. If she did not, maybe we can use that against her, turn her to our side.”

 

“Possible, I guess.” Maria shrugged. “I wouldn’t want to lay odds on it. I need to get back to the kids. Let me know? I like her.” Firdlump and Ecmin both nodded to her and Maria left, shaking her head. Firdlump did not say anything, just looked at Melita who straightened to her full height and walked to where he was standing. He took her by the arm and led her from the nesting chamber. Jina did not look up and again, Ecmin wished she could weep. Her mind was sad as she went back to her work of raising the next generation of Sitolon for the collective.

“She doesn’t know.” Menglan said quietly as she watched Karen and Meliee soothe the sobbing form of Melita as the Twi’lek was wheeled from the scanning room on the gurney she had laid on the whole time. “She had no idea where or when that piece of material was put on her. Could have been anytime in transit.”

 

“Hmmm.” Firdlump mused. “We have defenses set up. But I don’t know if they are enough to stand off a full Imperial fleet. We have to be sure, doctor. What did she know?”

 

“She corroborated the substance, even had a technical name for it.” Menglan waved at a table where a small specimen case was lying. ‘I removed it. Had to excise some skin, but that we can regrow quickly even without nanites in her.” She paused. “Master, we should give her nanites. It feels…wrong not to.”

 

“Morality, Kareena?” Firdlump asked softly. Menglan shook her head. “What then?”

 

“Efficiency.” Menglan said soberly.”We will need her up and mobile quickly. As it is, she will be emotionally drained for at least a day, likely sleeping most of it if we can manage that. The physical injuries caused by the scans will take time to heal as well.”

 

“And?” Firdlump did not turn from the scanners.

 

“She is cute.” Menglan said with a snarl. “Yes, I want her!”

 

“Doctor…” Firdlump sighed. “You have eight ‘special test subjects’ already. Eight beings who have not been added to the collective per your wishes. I know you have hurt them, Kareena.” Firdlump’s voice was disapproving now. “I allow you eccentricities. Do not presume to damage what we are building here, doctor. Melita stays with Jina.” This last was in the tone of command and Menglan nodded.

 

“Yes, master.” Menglan sighed as she looked over her reports. “So, what do we do?”

 

“We have plans in the case of a full scale attack.” Firdlump shook his head. “But it is unlikely the Empire will commit to a full scale attack without more information. So what we are going to do is land that…” He waved towards the specimen case. “…on the planet.”

 

“Master…” Menglan paused, unsure. “If the Empire attacks the planet…”

 

“Anything they do, short of a full Base Delta Zero,…” He used the Imperial designation for sterilizing a planet, making it uninhabitable. “…can be repaired. And if they do attack the planet, the nanites will protect it.” Mengaln pursed her lips, thinking hard.

 

“Can they affect things as far away as bombardment range?” Menglan asked after a moment. “If not, the Imperials can just sit back and obliterate the whole place.”

 

“I don’t know.” Firdlump said with a shudder. “Lohas is unconscious by all accounts, so they are acting on their original programming. That we can likely predict. Maybe. So we send the sample to the planet, and deal with that scoutship. Somehow.”

 

“You think there is one.” It wasn’t a question. “Who do we send?”

 

“If they hold true to Imperial patterns…” Firdlump started to speak and then paused. “They will, they have to. The Empire does not tolerate any kind of free thinking, even efficient free thinking. There will be a small ship in system, hidden somewhere distant form here. They will send the targeting information to the fleet when it arrives. If we can catch that scoutship, disable or destroy it before the fleet arrives, we have a chance to end this peacefully. If not, we have a battle. One we may very well lose, even with our advantages.”

 

“And the crew of the scoutship?” Menglan asked quickly. “Can I have them?”

 

“Do not push me, doctor!” Firdlump snapped at her and she shrank back as his glower tracked over her. “First we have to find them, and then we have to catch them. Then and only then can we worry about other things. They are probably hiding in the moons of the sixth planet. That is far enough out to be inconspicuous, and close enough to be able to scan with passive sensors. Active sensors would be a dead giveaway.”

 

“Active scans can be cloaked as other things.” Menglan said diffidently as Firlump looked at her. “We cannot assume our opponents are morons.”

 

“No.” Firdlump said slowly. “We can’t. The Imperials have always acted rigidly, the very structure of their Empire demands no less. And that may be how we can catch them…” He broke off, and an evil smile crossed his face. “Indeed. I think we can.”

 

“Master?” Menglan asked, somewhat worried. When he started smiling like that, things got unpleasant, for lots of people.

 

“I need to talk to Gev.” Firdlump said as he started for the door. “He is asleep. Can we wake him safely?”

 

“Well…” Menglan shrugged. “He strained his body badly. He needs rest to recuperate. Well that and Olandas’ tender care.” She said with a fond smile for young love. “But yes, we can. But he is not going to be able to run around, and fly about for a while.” She cautioned. “If we do stress him, all kinds of problems will result.”

 

“Warning taken, doctor.” Firdlump said soberly. “All I want to do is talk to him. Him and Olandas both, actually. I need to query about Imperial procedures. We have several of their manuals, but we need to be sure before I put this plan into action.” Menglan looked at him and he waved finger at her. “No, doctor. No peeking. I will tell you when I am ready to move on it. And who knows? We may get the crews of more than just a scoutship to add to the collective. We need more Imperial information sources anyway.” He was whistling a jaunty air as he left the room. Menglan stared after him and shook her head.

<Sith Battleship Deceiver, Hyperspace, eight hours later>

 

“Captain…” The Sixth of the Seven’s voice was respectful, but worried as she and Captain Solo of the Imperial Navy stood and watched the plot slowly count down. “Orders are orders, but this is insane.”

 

The Captain sighed and looked from the plot to her. He looked around the bridge and no one was overtly listening. Of course, if they had any sense at all, all of them were attentive to anything that might happen. It didn’t pay to be any other way. Imperial Navy discipline was strict and unforgiving for any number of reasons, not the least because any Sith might wander by and visit casual cruelty for the sport of it. Not that all Sith were like that. Most actually did not practice such things, they usually had far bigger things on their minds than random terror. But it did happen.

 

“I know.” Captain Solo agreed softly. “But like you say, orders are orders. The Admiral has the authority to do as she wishes, we are in the vanguard.”

 

“Attacking Firdlump’s fleet…” Michelle replied equally softly. “That I can understand. But trying to Base Delta Zero the planet is a bad idea. Was she not listening when I gave my report?” She asked, careful to keep her face calm and her tone reasonable. "When you did?"

 

“Apparently not.” The captain shook his head. “I gave my own report as well, and we both played host to those Inquisitors.” He could not repress a slight shudder. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, calmly. “We need to remain clear headed. The crew is counting on both of us. No matter if I want to curl up the corner and sob while the horror that I saw in the hangar bay plays out a thousandfold, we have our orders.” Michelle nodded soberly.

 

She had actually been in the hangar bay when nanites had reduced a number of Special Branch war droids -and their unwilling Imperial pilots- into gray goo. It had been beyond horrifying for her, and that was coming from someone who had been a slave for nine hundred years in the central control computer of an Islanian starship. Not that she was ever going to tell anyone in the Imperial Navy that.

 

“I know, Captain.” Michelle agreed. “I don’t always agree with what the Empire does.” Very rarely, she thought carefully to herself. “But no one can doubt your crew ability or sense of duty.” The captain looked at her as she pitched her voice to carry. A small, almost smile flitted across his face as she continued. ‘We have our orders. Even if they do not make any sense to us , they are orders. And the one thing that separates soldiers from barbarian scum is discipline.” A number of backs stiffened in range of her voice and she carefully did not smile at the captain. “We have enough firepower to take out the three Rep ships we are facing if we take them by surprise. I don’t know if we can destroy Firdlump or not, but we are certainly going to show him and his scum that they do not mess with the Imperial Navy!” Her voice carried across the bridge now and a cheer followed the end of her words. The captain did smile at her before turning to his XO. The man was new, had been transferred aboard after the previous XO had died during Vandar’s attempt to snatch the ship and her crew.

 

“Commander Calrissian, status?”

 

“Captain.” The XO saluted ad spoke evenly. “We are on course, and on timeline. We should be arriving in the system in twenty minutes.” He turned back to the readouts and spoke again. “All ship systems are at 100%. I don’t see why they want to hold us back, captain.” The XO was in a word, annoyed. Admiral Korvin had been icily polite to the crew of the Deceiver when she had come aboard. But there had been something…off about her manner.

 

“She doesn’t trust us.” Michelle replied before the captain did. “More importantly, she doesn’t trust me.”

 

“Begging your pardon, Ma’am…” The XO said hastily. “That doesn’t make any sense. You fought for this ship. You let yourself get captured and brainwashed for this ship.” He paused. “Well, not for us, to try and trap that scum Vandar. But the result was the same.”

 

“I refuse to speak of my past.” Michelle said quietly in the deafening silence that swept the bridge. “I cannot speak of my past. I have to stop Firdlump, and nothing else really matters. If I have to sacrifice everyone on this ship, including myself, to do that commander, you know what I would do.” He met her gaze calmly and nodded.

 

“Yes, Ma’am.” The commander agreed. “And we can respect that. But if you do it…” He nodded to her again. “We know we will not die in vain.”

 

“I can’t promise that, Commander.” Michelle said hastily. “I am no Force user, to see the future. I am a soldier, like you all.”

 

“Begging your pardon, Ma’am.” The captain smiled at her. “We are not soldiers. We have nothing to do with soldiers. Smelly ground pounding apes have no place on a starship of the Imperial Navy. We are sailors and proud of it!” A laugh swept the bridge and Michelle had to smile as well.

 

“I stand corrected, Captain.” Michelle said primly and then she gasped as the ship jerked and shuddered. “Captain!” She called as she jumped to her battle station. The com board was a good place for her.

 

“Interdiction field!” The XO called before the captain could ask. “It’s not Imperial!”

 

“New contacts!” Sang the lieutenant at the sensor station. “Designate Tangos One through Three. Republic battleships, Enterprise class.”

 

“Oh… Flarg…” Michelle said under her breath as the ship slowed to sublight velocity and a scene appeared at close range. A battle.

 

Two Imperial battleships were locked in mortal combat with three of their Republic counterparts. And she could already see that both had taken damage while none of the Rep ships seemed to have been touched. That did not bode well.

 

“Combat alert!” The captain called and his crew responded with drilled professionalism. “Let see what we can do to even the odds.” Michelle stood, to go to the hangar bay and her fighter, but the captain snarled at her. “No, with what we know about the nanites, fighters would be suicide. I need you here, Ma’am.”

 

Michelle settled back into her seat at the com board, hoping that she would not be needed, but having a sinking feeling that yes, she would be. She focused herself as she had not in a long, long time and waited ready to do whatever it took. For the ship, for the Seven and for herself, she would be ready.

 

“Com!” The captain called to the com officer seated nearby. “Any word from the Fire Eyes? Main guns, fire as you bear, target Tango One!” The Fire Eyes was the scoutship that the navy had snuck into system a week ago to spy out the location of Firdlump’s base. If they couldn’t find that, they had another target… But Michelle quailed at the thought of how the directionless nanites would respond to a blatant attack. A salvo of long range fire tore from the ship’s main batteries to savage the closest Republic battleship.

 

“Negative, sir.” The com officer said after a moment. “No sign of the ship at all.” He paused, checking his board. “Captain…”

 

“I see it.” Captain Solo said grimly as Michelle stared at the board. The only way for the three Republic battleships to have achieved such perfect interceptions away from a planet for them to know where the fleet was planning to jump into. And since Imperial hyperspace doctrine changed plans fairly regularly… “It is a trap. They must have caught the Fire Eyes.”

 

“Probably intact.” Michelle agreed softly. “They likely never had a chance.” Scout ships only had ten crew after all. Then she winced as escape pods started flying off one of the Imperial battlewagons. A few moments later, the Kingmaker exploded. “Oh dear…” A hush filled the bridge, but then Captain Solo snarled.

 

“Stop gaping! We have a battle to win! Torpedo tubes one through twelve target Tango One! Tubes thirteen through twenty four target Tango Two. Mains continue firing at Tango One, but lay some secondary fire on Tango Three! Maneuvering, get us some room to turn and engage.” Acknowledgements came from all over the bridge as the Deceiver went to war.

Michelle watched in silence as the ship’s crew fought. This was not really her place. She had always fought against the Sith Empire. She had never even thought about going into battle aboard one of their battleships. Then again, is she had her wish, she wouldn’t be aboard one these great big targets anyway. She much preferred to be in a fighter. There was something to be said for being able to take damage. There was far more –in her own opinion at least- to being able to avoid it. She stifled a groan as the massive torpedo salvo was caught by Republic point defenses and not one of the twenty four torpedoes hit. But then she paused.

 

“Captain…” Her voice was low, pitched for only his ears. He looked at her and she nodded towards the main screen. “No Rep fighters?”

 

“Hmmm.” The captain stared at the plot for a moment and then shook his head. “No. And no sign of them getting ready to…” He paused. “If the nanites are active, launching fighters is a death sentence for the pilots.”

 

“I can’t tell from this range whether they are active or not, Captain Solo.” Michelle said with a sigh. “But I am willing to get closer to find out.” The captain looked at her and Michelle sighed. “Without fighters, this fight is only going to end one way. Three to two with the Kingmaker gone, captain.”

 

“I can do basic arithmetic, Ma’am.” Captain Solo snapped at her, but his face was troubled. “Ma’am… My primary orders are to keep you safe.”

 

“And getting blown out of the sky is safe?” Michelle asked softly as they both jerked on their feet. Enemy fire was seeking the Deceiver now, but inaccurate. All it did was shake them a bit, it did no significant damage. Or… “Aw crud.” Michelle breathed. “They are trying to disable us!”

 

“Yeah.” Captain Solo agreed softly. “Ma’am…” His shoulders fell slightly. Imperial Navy officers had the reputation of being straitlaced, prim and proper as well as unforgiving and merciless. And admittedly, many of them were. But some, like the good captain, led by example rather than by brute force and the threat of violence. He said, and Michelle agreed, that it made his men fight better. Michelle’s own experience as a slave had taught her a lot. “What do you think?” The captain asked. “I won’t be their pawn again.” His voice was hard now as he glanced towards the self destruct panel on his console.

 

“I think it is time for us to show our fangs.” Michelle said with a wide smile and the captain nodded to her.

 

She was out the hatch and heading for the hangar bay before another word could be said. Everyone made way for her, she had a short way with people getting between her and flying. In less than a minute, she was entering the hangar bay at a run, grabbing her helmet from its rack and checking it as she dashed to her fighter. As it sealed around the silver flightsuit she was never without, she heard the squadron leads start querying her.

 

“Time to kick the tires and light the fires, people!” She caroled.

 

A muted cheer sounded across the com bands as she jumped to the side of her ship. It was prepped and ready for her. The Imperial Navy bureaucracy might call the ships the Mark VII, but she and all of the other pilots who flew them called them StarRages. It was light enough to be extremely maneuverable, fast enough to outrun almost anything it couldn’t fight and heavily armed for its size.

 

“Chief? The port stabilizer?” Michelle asked as she slid into the seat with the ease of long practice. The star fighter was a complex piece of machinery. It seemed that every time something was fixed, something else broke. But the fighter deck crews on the Deceiver were top notch. They took pride in the fact that they could get every single pilot into space. Not every ship could boast that.

 

“Still finicky, Ma’am.” The chief said with a growl as he leaned in to help her strap in while she started the checklist. “I swear they must have one of those small furry critters in there hitting things with a hammer. But all tests show green.”

 

“Well, we know what that is worth.” Michelle replied with a matching scowl. “Full squadron punch chief.” At that the chief actually blanched, but said nothing. He was a consummate professional. “Clear the bay as quick as you can. This is an alpha strike, we need everyone up as fast as possible.”

 

“Right, ma’am.” The chief slapped the top of her helmet. Part to make sure it was seated properly, part for good luck. “Give ‘em hell, Ma’am.”

 

“I fully intend to, Chief.” Michelle said, a feral grin pulling at her features now. “I fully intend to. Now scat!” The chief jumped clear as she keyed the igniters on her engines, the dual ion drives building from a grumble to their customary whine. She checked her immediate area reflexively and them she merged with her ship.

 

It is only times like this… She mused in the timeless second that seemed to drag for eternity as her mind meshed fully with the fast little ship. …that I feel truly alive again.

 

Some people said she was crazy. The Imperial pilots who flew under her command knew she was crazy. But she had a secret. She couldn’t ever say what she had once been. The Imperials would not look kindly on someone who had slaughtered hundreds of their ships over the centuries. Unit Sixty Seven of the Islanian defense fleet subdesignation Michelle Sixty Seven Ji Five Alpha Ki did not exist anymore. Now she was Michelle, Sixth of the Seven. Also known as Tau Lead. And she had a battle to win. She keyed her controls, bringing her fighter to launch readiness, and then she hit her com.

 

“Tau Lead, ready to launch.” A line of icons on the side of her HUD blinked a steady green. Her flight. Eleven of the best pilots in space in her personal opinion, even if they were Imperials. “Tau Seven, status?”

 

“Tau Lead, Tau Seven.” Came the calm reply. Michelle bit her lip, but nodded. Tau Seven was Lieutenant Wils. Brand spanking new, right out of the academy. She wasn’t sure if he was an intelligence plant or not. Imperial Intelligence did things like that for less reason than having an insanely good pilot in silver armor simply appear out of nowhere to save a battleship from hostile takeover. “All systems nominal.”

 

“All Tau…” Michelle said softly. “This is going to be a firestorm and no question. The Reps do not seem to have fighters ready, but the moment we start raising the kind of havoc we do, bet they will try and counter us somehow.”

 

“Tau Lead from Tau Six. What about the nanites?” Fighter pilots were not stupid. The job was bloody dangerous, but they all tried to mitigate the risks as best they could. Flying into a cloud of machines that could eat anything they touched was… disturbing to say the least.

 

“I can sense them, Six.” Michelle said with far more conviction than she felt. “If I do, we scatter and run like hell.” An icon changed on her HUD and she smiled. “Time to earn our pay people. Remember keep tight. Wingmen, stay with your leaders. Leaders, watch for your wingmen. I want to buy all of you beers when we get back.”

 

“You are on, Lead!” Seven called and then the massive jolt of a catapult launch slammed Michelle into her seat and she was free again. Free to be what she was, a weapon.

Michelle gloried for a moment in the sheer exhilaration of casting her mortal shell and worries aside. For so long, she had been an immortal. She had been bound to a starship but limited only by the programming that held her as a slave. The illusion of freedom, the sensation of flying with no limits at all had been all to keep her sane during her long enslavement. But then, with the help of people she loved, she had been freed. Free to take flight whenever she chose as opposed to whenever she was told to. Even the Imperials, as straitlaced as they could be, did not dare try and tell her not to fly. But the moment passed as it always did and she focused on the job at hand.

 

The Imperial Navy had sent three of its battleships in this attempt to strike at Firdlump’s base and end the threat before it truly began. All of the Seven had tried, with varying degrees of skill and success to convince the admiral in charge that attacking the three suborned Republic battleships head on was a bad idea. But Admiral Korvin, the human woman who had taken command of the small fleet, had disregarded all of their advice as unneeded. After all, the Imperial Navy was unmatched. Never mind that in numbers, training and technology, the Republic was very nearly on equal par with the Sith Empire now. That wasn’t important to the human. The advancement of her career was. Michelle had caught herself contemplating murder more than once after being told to sit down and shut up at staff meetings. The Admiral had been convinced that a simple bombardment of the main base of the enemy would suffice, and that the Rep ships would fall before the might of the righteous wrath of the Empire. Michelle had shared a worried look with Captain Solo at that, but neither had said anything. That had led them to here and now.

 

As Tau Squadron closed on the enemy battleships, the Republic ships’ anti-fighter batteries opened fire and space lit up with lines of red fire. She saw icons for Sigma and Delta squadrons appear on her HUD as well, but all of her attention was on her target, a battleship with the name Pride of Ceti scrawled across it’s bow. She had never actually faced Republic battleships before, but it had to be similar. Imperial battleships were big, tough and mean. Michelle knew this, having faced them. Islanian ships rarely had been able to kill Imperial battleships, they were just too tough for normal means, but that hadn’t meant they couldn’t harass them. So she knew their capabilities fairly well and had kept up with each upgrade. Republic battleships on the other hand… She had the raw take from the databanks, including after action reports from all kinds of Imperial personnel but nothing like actual combat experience against them. She examined the ship she was attacking as she picked her target, a cluster of weapon turrets on one side.

 

Republic ships were not the triangular shape with the notch cut out the front that the Imperial Star Destroyers were. This ship looked like one of those balls that the droids threw around the field in the Coruscant Football League. But the main engines stuck out underneath it like some kind of… Well… Michelle wasn’t sure what it looked like. Will probably would have made some kind of profane joke about it, but Michelle did not usually indulge in that kind of humor. It had a kind of ridge circling the middle of the oblong ball shape and the main guns were spaced around that. Other batteries were placed in an almost haphazard way dorsal and ventral, but Michelle could see that the arrangement actually provided a clear field of fire to most of the weapons. Michelle chose her target and fired as she entered extreme range. She was unsurprised to see her fire sparking of shields.

 

“Tau Lead to Tau Squadron, look for shield generators.” Her clipped command was calm as she turned to evade the fire that was seeking her now. “Stay frosty people. Pattern Sierra, go!”

 

Her squadron split up, drawing the enemy’s fire in multiple directions. Her own wingman stayed with her despite her evasive maneuvers. Again she grinned under her helmet. These pilots were good. Then her grin turned vicious as she pulled up the ship schematics that her ship’s computer had available on Rep warships.

 

“Tau Two, they have upgraded their shield generators. The four on the dorsal side seem to still be the mains, but they have to have others. Look for… Aha!” She crowed in delight as she saw the telltale signs of shield emissions from another spot on the ship she was attacking. “Got one, amidships ventral. Tau Squadron, split up and take them. I will mark them for the Deceiver and the follow up squadrons.” A chorus of acknowledgements came from the net and then a choke doff scream sounded. A green icon flashed to red in her HUD and she swallowed as Tau Nine took an anti-fighter blast square and simply vanished. “Bastards!” She snarled as she fired on the smaller shield generator that’s he could see now. “Ten, you okay?”

 

“Singed, lead.” Tau Ten replied, somewhat shaky. “Got some chaff form the blast but I am still one hundred percent on weapons and shields.”

 

“Pull back and give us warning if the Reps start launching fighters.” Michelle ordered. Her fired sparked off shields again, but then a flash of blue and her shots started hitting home against the shield housing. As she had suspected, the shields could not be strong everywhere, and these added installations had the look of jury rigged additions rather that shipyard work. She snarled as the generator she was firing at vomited smoke and debris, but then she had to pull away to keep from slamming into the huge ship’s hull. She watched through the ship’s sensors as her wingman fired behind her and the generator finally exploded.

 

“Lead, Two. These things are far tougher than standard Rep shield generators.” Tau Two commed her as he followed her into a torturous evasive course that got them back out of the Rep ship’s fire arcs.

 

“Roger that.” Michelle replied, then changed channels. “Sigma lead, go torpedo. These things will take all day to kill with guns and there is no telling if they can self repair or not.”

 

“Can they do that, Tau Lead? Isn't that against the rules?” The laconic reply from Sigma Leader brought a small smile to Michelle’s face. The human was good at what he did, and he only talked slow. She was about fifty percent sure it was a ruse to entrap opponents.

 

“Dunno.” Michelle replied, then swttched back to her squadron channel. She flew like a dervish, her senses stretching out through her ship’s sensors. “Two, break!” She called as she threw her ship to the side. A torrent of energy fire tore through where she had been and she spun her ship on it’s axis seeking her attacker. “Aw crap…” She sighed as she saw the distinctive silhouette of an Imperial scoutship nestled up inside the Rep formation, visible now that she was close enough. “The Fire Eyes. They didn’t just get her intact, they got her operational too. At least the lighter Rep units are busy…”

 

Delta Squadron was tasked with holding the Rep escorts and she saw they were doing their jobs. There were fewer icons than there should have been and she cringed as yet another Imperial ship was hit and exploded. But their attack was having the desired effect, the Rep escorts were being whittled down. Then one of the frigates caught a broadside from the Shadow of Ragnos and simply blew up.

 

Take that, you murdering scum! Michelle smiled as she arced her ship around for another attack and then passed. Wait a sec… What is the Shadow doing?

 

The Star Destroyer in question was leaving the battle. Her engines were at full, the bright blue radiance outshining the stars themselves and her course…

 

Oh no… Michelle blanched as she realized what the Shadow was going to do. The ship’s weapons were at full and their target was huge. It was literally impossible to miss something the size of a planet at this range. No!

While the larger battle played out across the stars, another softer but no less lethal fight was being fought as Captain Solo carefully argued with his superior officer.

 

“…Admiral, that is insane.” The captain said finally, after checking to make sure the privacy filters were on and that his bridge crew were all busy. Arguing with a superior officer had drastic consequences in the Imperial Navy. “We were told what would happen if we attacked the planet. We were ordered not to attack the planet, Admiral. High command…” He broke off as the holo fo the admiral who had taken the Shadow of Ragnos as her flagship snarled at him.

 

“High command is not here, Captain Solo.” Admiral Korvin said haughtily. “We have a chance to end this. A salvo of Mark XXs with EMP warheads will end the threat.”

 

“You do not know what you are saying, Admiral.” Captain Solo said slowly, aware that everything he was saying was being recorded. But the Admiral was disobeying a direct order. Even if she was right, her life and the lives of anyone who obeyed her were forfeit. “You cannot. You saw the reports. We all saw the Fire Eyes initial scan reports. You saw how many nanites are on that planet. If we had a thousand warheads, maybe. You have twenty.”

 

“We have forty, captain.” The admiral corrected him. “You will join the attack. We will end this threat, the glory will be mine.”

 

“Admiral…” The captain stiffened. “You are ordering me to disobey a direct order, Ma’am. I cannot do that.”

 

“Then you are relieved for mutiny, Captain.” The Admiral said with a disdainful flip of her head. “Commander Calrissian will take command.” The captain did not move. “Adding sedition to mutiny?”

 

“You do not have the authority to do that, Ma’am.” Captain Solo said slowly. “Mutiny implies that I am disobeying an order from my direct superior. I am not. You are not my direct superior, Admiral Sanis is. You are welcome to contact him and get his permission to remove me from rank.” The Deceiver rocked as it’s shields absorbed another enemy salvo while it evaded more and more with erratic maneuvers. The Rep ships were focusing on his ship. Odd that.

 

“I am the ranking officer on scene and I gave you an order.” The Admiral thundered. “You will fire you inventory of Mark XXs at the planet and you will do it now.”

 

“You are the ranking officer, Admiral.” Captain Solo said slowly. “But you are disobeying a direct order. Our orders for this operation came from the Emperor himself, Ma’am. Do you have the authority to override his commands?” Captain Solo hadn’t thought the arrogant human woman’s face could turn that color without her exploding.

 

“Don’t you monger rules at me, you enemy loving scum!” The Admiral snapped at him. “I will end this threat.”

 

“No, you will not, admiral. We do not have the firepower to destroy the planet. Especially with the Kingmaker gone in your insane charge.” Captain Solo said heavily. “All you will do is anger the machines on the planet. They will destroy your ship and probably turn on the Empire as a result. I cannot allow that. Stand down, Admiral.”

 

“You wouldn’t dare…” She broke off as he shook his head. “Traitor! I will see you shot!”

 

“No you won’t, Admiral.” Captain Solo said softly as he cut the connection. “No you won’t…” He strode back to his customary place on the bridge and nodded to the crew. “The Admiral is either suborned, gone insane or something. She is disobeying the Emperor’s commands and intends to fire on the planet.” Even Imperial discipline could not completely stifle the gasp of shock that went around it. “Right, we have to stop her. Report?”

 

“All three Rep ships have lost shields, sir.” Commander Calrissian replied form his station. “The fighters have taken casualties, but all squadrons report in excess of eighty percent capability. Engineering reports that main drive is overheating, we will need to reduce thrust soon.” The captain nodded and turned to another station.

 

“How many torpedoes does Sigma have left?” The calm in his voice soothed any incipient worry as the crew bent back to their work. The fighter controller looked at her screen and replied without looking up.

 

“Fifty percent sir.” The rating keyed a few commands. “They are down one bomber, but otherwise report full capacity. The Reps have no fighters up.”

 

“Don’t expect that to last.” The captain said soberly, pitching his voice to reach the whole bridge. “We played right into the enemy’s hands and the Admiral is doing exactly what he wants.”

 

“He wants the nanites to…attack…” The XO froze in place, his face startled out of it’s habitual mask of duty. “Oh my god…”

 

“To attack and destroy the Empire, yes. With the algorithms that Agent Vorren provided us, Firdlump’s scum have not been able to snatch any of our people or suborn any of our fleet units.” He shook his head. “With the taking of the Fire Eyes, we have to assume that countermeasure is no longer valid. Institute plan Zeta, XO.” An indrawn breath was the only reply as Commander Calrissian bent back to his console, changing every code on the ship wand instituting the most rigorous electronic counter measures available to the Imperial Navy. The captain turned back to his plot as a rating spoke up.

 

“Status change!” The rating’s voice peaked and then steadied as he fell back on his training. “Fighter launch, all three Rep ships, fighter class… Undetermined…”

 

“Oh dear…” The captain shook his head as he saw the multiple small ships coming from each Rep battlewagon. Four guns, heavy shields, no cockpit… “Com, send code Eighty Six, all hands, brace for fighter attack. Tell Tau squadron to stop the Shadow of Ragnos.”

 

“Sir?” the com tech, startled, turned to the CO.

 

“At all costs.” The captain said quietly. “Com! Send that code, then contact Tau Lead. Tell her to stop the Shadow at all costs or we all lose. We have to hold the Rep’s attention until our ‘unofficial’ backup arrives.”

 

“Unofficial… Sir?” The tech queried and then swallowed as the captain glared at him. “Yes, sir. Coms away, sir.”

 

Unofficial… Does he mean what I think he means…?

The orders came as no surprise to Michelle at all. Her rearguard had warned her of the fighter launch. She didn’t recognize the fighter class at first, but then a hiss of shock came into her mind from Will who was riding with her remotely.

 

Those are the same kind of birds I fought at Tython when I took the clone of Sharra there. When the Stormhawk surrendered to the Republic. Bad news. His mental voice was very quiet. They have strong shields, four heavy cannon and can match any fighter for speed. They are not as maneuverable as Republic or Imperial fighters, but they are bad news. I thought the trackers were gone...

 

Advice? Michelle asked silently.

 

Give them a target they will go for and concentrate fire from several fighters on each. Doesn’t look like they have many of them. But… Aw flarg… Michelle tensed as Will cursed. Michelle! Ward your mind!

 

Will’s warning was just in time as a pulse of power slammed into her from somewhere. It hurt, but she had managed to get her mental walls in place. Those cut her off from the rest of the Seven, but she couldn’t be frozen and taken prisoner. She led her squadron towards their assigned target. The Shadow of Ragnos was moving into attack position. Then she stiffened.

 

Join us. The words were soft, sad almost. She shook her head, closing out the words. Join us, sister… The words were soft and gentle. But then she saw the fighters open fire, tearing into the Imperial fighter squadrons trying to stop them from attacking the Deceiver.

 

I am no sister of yours! Michelle snarled back at the voice that was still calling to her. You hurt people I care about! Get out of my mind! To her surprise, it did. She shook herself and turned her gaze to the Star Destroyer ahead of her. She checked her HUD and nodded. She had lost two of her squadron while engaging the Rep ships. She took a millisecond to hope that the pilots had ejected, but then again, as badly as this battle was going, she sort of hoped they had been killed instantly. Having been an unwilling guest of Firdlump and his lackeys once before, she had no desire at all to repeat it.

 

“Tau flight, targets coming through.” Michelle called to her people. “Are you receiving?”

 

“Lead, Seven…” Michelle’s heart fell as Lieutenant Wil’s voice was calm and professional, but held an undercurrent she was not sure about. Worry? Fear? Something off. “We are going to attack the Shadow with ten of us?”

 

“Those are our orders, Tau Seven.” Michelle said, keeping her voice cool. “And yes, they come from the very top. We are not to attack the planet. The admiral is about to. She is disobeying orders from the Emperor himself.” An indrawn breath came from the com. “Any other questions?”

 

“How do we do this, Lead?” Came the calm reply from Tau Two, her own wing. “Doctrine says a minimum of two squadrons to attack a destroyer class ship.”

 

“Yeah.” Michelle sighed. “And it works, which is why it is established doctrine. But we don’t have two squadrons. We have us. Delta and Sigma have their own problems.” Yeah they did, they were harrying the three Rep battlewagons, working to keep fire off the Deceiver. But they were being whittled down. An icon denoting a bomber vanished form her HUD as she watched. Three beings, -good, well trained beings- gone, just like that. And this battle was nowhere close to over.

 

“Lead! Incoming!” Came a call from Tau Five and Michelle snapped into mode. The Shadow of Ragnos was firing on them.

 

“Squadron scatter and reform at point Three Seven!” Michelle barked. “It’s a blind spot!” She could have kicked herself the moment the words left her mouth, but she had to get her squadron into a place of relative safety. It was the work of moments for the squadron to arc around and above the Star Destroyer, the mass of the low bridge tower hiding the fighters from the gun turrets.

 

“How did you know this spot is sheltered, Lead?” Tau Three asked, his voice worried as fire from the Shadow sought them, but the ship’s guns were hardlocked not to fire at parts of the ship. They couldn't be hit as long as they stayed in this spot.

 

“Don’t ask.” Surprisingly, this was from Tau Seven. “You do not want to know.”

 

“Not important right now.” Michelle said, but inside she was quailing. Seven knew. Somehow, he knew what she had been. “We need to stop this ship from launching on the planet. If that happens, the Empire is dead. Got that?” A resounding silence filled the com bands. “Okay, first flight. Take out the dorsal gun turrets. Two flight, with me on the missile tubes. Three flight… You are overwatch.” Given that three flight was composed of two birds, both of whom had lost wingmen, it was probably better for them. She hoped that at least some of her pilots would survive this crazy attack.

 

“How long for the Shadow to reach attack range?” Michelle queried her computer and then blanched. Less than a minute to maximum bombardment range. She wished, for the umpteenth time, that she could talk to the nanites. “Tau squadron, we are out of time, get those guns taken out!” She led the way out of the sheltered spot, dodging a burst of fire from a close in weapon turret. A twist of a control and a squeeze sent coherent energy arcing directly into the point defense bunker that served the bridge of the Shadow. Starship armor was generally too strong to pound through with starfighter scale weaponry. This was why Will Kalenath had built his personal gunship –the Dragon- with capital class weaponry. But gun turrets were outside the main ship armor. She grinned a wolf’s head smile as her fire went home and the small armored blister spouted fire and debris. That gun station would not killing any of her birds.

 

Her wingman and the other section in her flight moved with her, dodging fire as they raced towards the bow of the huge starship. And the missile tubes that she could see opening.

 

“Lead! Loo-“ A scream came over the com as fire slammed into her small force from behind. Michelle snarled as she saw two of the black starfighters that had no canopies slam into her fighters. Her wingman was gone and the other two were fighting for their lives.

 

“You want me, you bastards?” Michelle snapped into the open com. “Come get me!”

 

She darted through a mass of overhanging superstructure, part of her ship in a way that only one other pilot she knew of could possibly be. And all four of the black fighters turned after her as she fired on the now fully open missile tubes.

 

“Squadron! Keep on the guns! Take out any more missiles they fire! I’ll keep these scum occupied!”

 

Blue bolts arced past her ship and she snarled in her head as she spun her ship on its axis, firing even before her targeting computer could get a lock. One of the black ships exploded and all three moved to bracket her, but she was gone. She was distantly aware of screams, calls for help on her com, but she had to keep her attackers busy. They could tear her people apart if they… She stiffened as the missile tubes blossomed fire and white shapes flew out of them. She sighed deeply and shook her head.

 

“So be it…” Her voice was barely audible. “It is time…” She cast caution to the winds and hit her afterburners. She had to stop those missiles, no matter the cost. “I am sorry Will.”

She danced. There were really no other words for it. Dance was, in essence, the science of movement, the study of the use of energy to change direction, facing and speed. THIS dance however was a little more serious than an adolescent human male asking an adolescent human female out onto a dance floor. Red bolts tore by her canopy as Michelle slid her fighter into a tail chase of the mass of missiles that had launched from the Pride of Ragnos. Twenty missiles, a full salvo. Each missile was capable of carrying a warhead that could obliterate an entire city, but these carried something far worse for the current situation. The nanites that populated the abandoned Sitolon homeworld -and Michelle still had no idea what it had been called, she idly wondered if anyone knew- were busy. Jumpstarting a dead planet’s ecology was a pipe dream, but somehow, they had done that. It took all of the uncountable billions of the things and all of their attention to keep that going. The Seven understood more than many. The nanites had been working for centuries, not just a few years, to rebuild the planet. And while they worked, their massed minds had power that was unbelievable, power that frankly terrified Jedi and Sith alike. It had stunned her to find out that the gray plain, the place that many beings used for mental communication, was the collective unconscious of the nanite swarm. Small wonder it was endless and empty. But now, the nanites were awake and watching. But not just them.

 

Watch out, Michelle! A terrified young voice sounded in her head and Michelle threw her ship to the side as red bolts of coherent energy blew past her. These things were not trying to disable her anymore. Now they were playing for keeps.

 

Little… Busy… Mira… Michelle squeezed her controls and her twin lasers fired. Aren’t you supposed to be speaking binary? She asked curiously with part of her mind as she fired and killed another missile. But there were just so many of them!

 

I am a communication facilitator. Mira, Seventh of the Seven, also known as Natasha Anastashia Regina, said primly. Wouldn’t be very good at my job unless I could communicate, now would I? At this close range, I can speak to you directly. Break off, Michelle.

 

I can’t. Michelle snarled and fired again, two bursts of green energy that killed two missiles travelling in close proximity. One of them hit a neighboring missile, knocking it off course . That errant bolt flew for a ways and then exploded itself. Four down. Sixteen to go. She focused on the remainder of the missiles, working hard to target each as quickly and efficiently as she could. A small part of her mind noted that the launch had only been seconds in the past. She noted with surprise that the distance to the Shadow of Ragnos was barely increasing at all. Was this some kind of time warp?

 

We are helping you. Mira’s voice was small in the recesses of Michelle’s mind. We don’t want to get hurt. But we do not want you to die either.

 

Love Eternal, Pain Everlasting, Mira. Michelle said kindly as she fired again. I have known my fate ever since I woke up a human again. I knew I was going to die flying.

 

IT’S NOT RIGHT! Mira’s voice thundered. You have suffered enough! Then her tone went apologetic. I am sorry… I am sorry… Please…

 

Let me do what I must, Mira. Michelle said sadly, and then forced her mind to focus on the job at hand again. Fire was arcing towards her from the three remaining pursuers. The Shadow was also aiming at her, but the ship’s big guns could not track her and her erratic maneuvering put paid to anyone trying to follow her path with lighter ordnance. Another missile died, then another. Then they were pulling away for her, even her starfighter’s prodigious acceleration dwarfed by the missiles.

 

“NO!” Michelle screamed and shunted all of her power to drives and weapons.

 

The words ‘Bat out of hell’ came to mind as a strong arm shoved her even deeper into her acceleration couch. Fighters did not mount the really good inertial stabilizers. Those were reserved for big ships. Maybe someday they would be made small enough for fighter class ships, but not any time soon, Michelle thought with part of her brain. The ship’s acceleration came far closer that was healthy to those unmanned missiles and she fired again and again, her aim true each time. She could feel her body hurting, but shunted the pain away as she had been taught. Centuries of slavery in an Islanian ship had taught her so many things, some good, some bad. But here and now, she could make a difference and she was. She glanced around for her pursuers and found them well behind her. That surprised her for a moment, and then she smirked. Self sacrifice was not one of the virtues that these things, whoever or whatever they were, espoused. Then her attention was pulled back to the missile swarm ahead of her. She must have fired without realizing it a few times, because only ten missiles remained. But now they were spreading out, turning onto their final courses in preparation to speed up into the planet’s atmosphere and detonate. Either airborne or dirtside, the effects would be catastrophic.

 

“I won't let this happen.”

 

Michelle’s voice was resigned now as she turned her fighter onto an odd course, one that exposed her vulnerable tail to fire from the Shadow of Ragnos and her pursuers, but allowed her guns to arc across the entire missile swarm. Lousy fire discipline this… She thought as she held down her trigger, knowing that her guns would burn out quickly, but hoping to take out as many of the missiles as possible before they outran her. She could feel sweat building up inside her flightsuit gloves as she fired and fired and fired. Bolts flaring, missiles dying. Eight left. Seven. Five. Three. Two… One! She smiled in triumph as she turned her fighter just a little to target the last one. But then it shook and a loud thump echoed through it. Blinding pain hit her and she screamed. She barely managed to fire as the target passed her sights, and then she was struggling with the ship as it went completely out of control. She barely noted the missile exploding well short of its target. She had other problems. Like heavy fire now seeking her from the Shadow of Ragnos, denied it’s missile strike, it was seeking vengeance against its tormentor. Like the three black ships that were now closing with her out of control ship. Somehow she didn’t think they were going to render any assistance she could possibly want.

 

“Aw… Crap…” Michelle breathed as she struggled.

 

As her hands flew, her mind worked, scanning the small starship and not liking what she found. The port stabilizer had exploded. It had been twitchy, but still well within specs since her last flight. The violent maneuvers and damage she had taken had caused it to fail catastrophically. A fire had started and despite the best efforts of the extinguishers, it was slowly working it’s way towards her fuel tank. It, no when, it reached that, her bird would become a pint sized fireball. She wondered why her mind was working so quickly. Was Mira still helping her? This kind of thing took mere seconds, why was it happening so slowly? She shook her head. Her crew chief would blame himself if he figured it out. But considering the strain she had put the small ship thought, it was amazing nothing else had blown. She managed to get her spin under control and spun her ship to face her pursuers.

 

Surrender, sister. The insidious voice sounded in her head again. We can save you.

 

“You are no kin of mine!” Michelle said aloud as she snapped off quick shots, hoping for a lucky shot. But then red and green bolts were seeking her crippled ship and she had nowhere to go.

 

You are wrong. Was it her imagination, or was the voice softening? Welcome home, sister.

 

No! Michelle screamed as her mind was wrenched from her body just before bolts slammed home into her ship. The fire hit the fuel tanks mere milliseconds before the laser blasts cored into the two remaining missiles in her magazine. The blast left nothing but memories, and a silent screaming that faded swiftly.

“Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

 

The shout that came across the com bands was loud enough to momentarily deafen everyone who was listening. Then everything stopped as a small ship blurred into sight near the Shadow of Ragnos. “You lousy lying Imperial scum!” Will Kalenath’s personal starship turned towards the Imperial ship that had killed his lover. The Dragon’s weapons and shields came alive as the startled Imperial ship turned its guns to its defense. Too late.

 

“Oh my god…” Captain Solo actually paled on his bridge as he saw the Dragon stoop towards her prey. Then he sighed. “Any of Tau Squadron left?” One unsupported fighter squadron against a Star Destroyer was usually one dead fighter squadron.

 

“Two of them, sir.” The XO replied softly but with pride. Tau Squadron had been the Deceiver’s best and even while being killed, they had pulled many of the Shadow of Ragnos’s fangs. The Destroyer would make repairs swiftly, but until then, it was not a major threat. And from the looks of things, it wouldn’t be a threat at all for long.

 

“Get them out of there.” The Captain of the Deceiver said quietly. “All they will do is get in his way. We couldn’t stop him if we wanted to. Whoa…” He paused as the main display went nuts. His eyes went wide as two green somethings tore out of the newly come small ship and made a beeline for the bridge tower of the Shadow of Ragnos. “Oh… Dear…”

 

“Sir…” The XO’s face was pinched and pale. “I know his ship is heavily armed, but… How did Will Kalenath get Islanian plasma guns?”

 

The Islanian fleet had been no joke at all. The Imperial Navy had tried for centuries to beat them and failed miserably every time. Every attempt to reverse engineer the few examples of recovered Islanian tech had failed just as miserably. All that was really known about them was that the weapons were horrendously powerful and insanely accurate. The bright green balls of plasma hit the bridge tower of the Imperial Star Destroyer and bored right past the shields and into the armor. Then the impossible little ship started firing its other weapons, targeting what little was left outside the armor of the Star Destroyer. The three black ships turned to engage the battleship disguised as a star freighter but then evaded hard as missiles arced from the Dragon at them.

 

“I don’t know commander.” Captain Solo shook himself and snarled. “But we have targets to kill. Status on those Rep battlewagons?”

 

“Tangos One through Three have lost shields, sir.” The sensor tech responded efficiently. Imperial training was second to none. “Their escorts have been disabled or destroyed, no more fighters have launched.”

 

“This is too easy.” Captain Solo muttered under his breath. “Three to one and we are still intact? This is too… No!” He snarled as his display went dead. “Engineering!” He shouted as cries of alarm came from around the bridge.

 

“Core systems have rebooted, sir!” The engineering watch was working their consoles feverishly. “The main computer just went down.” The captain and XO shared a glance and without a word, went to opposite sides of the bridge. Both laid hands on large red panels and the self destruct controls lit up under their touches. But then, the panels went out.

 

“No!” Captain Solo swore, a very rare occurrence for him. “Engineering?” He asked as he tapped the manual override, not expecting anything.

 

“We have been hacked, sir.” The engineering watch officer replied tightly. “Nanites detected in the system. They must have…” His words broke off in a strangled oath as a form coalesced in the middle of the bridge. “Captain!”

 

“I see it.” Captain Solo had his pistol out for all the good it would do him. “Plan Omega.” His crew backed away from their consoles and all of them went for their guns. The now humanoid looking form raised empty hands and spoke in a normal human tone.

 

“There is no need for further violence, Captain.” The male voice was sadly. “The Kingmaker self destructed. I will not let you. I have no wish to harm any of you.”

 

“Yeah, what good are dead slaves?” Solo asked acerbically as he pointed his pistol at his own head. The mass of microscopic machines paused and then seemed to withdraw a bit as very single crewbeing did the same as the Captain.

 

“Do you really think it is going to be that easy?” The mass now looked like a human wearing formal attire. He smiled a bit sadly and the pistol in Solo’s hand beeped and went dead. He looked at it for a moment and sighed. The machine mass nodded to him. “There has already been enough death, Captain Solo. Surrender.”

 

“Why?” Solo asked in a conversational tone as he put his nonfunctioning pistol back in it’s holster. He shook his head. “By now, the Shadow of Ragnos is either dead or disabled. And now Will Kalenath’s ship is on its way back here. To kill us.” The form in front of him stared at him and he smiled, a death’s head grin. “He is, isn’t he? The black ships, the Shadow of Ragnos, all of them are dead by now aren’t they? The First of the Seven is not one to anger, but you did.”

 

“You…” The mass of machines paused, and actually looked nonplussed. “What have you done?”

 

“A newfangled trick.” Solo said with a feral smile. “It’s called contingency planning. We will not be your puppets again.” A growl swept the bridge. “And you cannot just take control of us the way you took control of our weapons, can you?” The mass of machines started to answer and then vanished. The captain smiled grimly as power came back on all around the bridge. “Report!” He snapped as he checked the self destruct system. It was live again.

 

“Sir…” The sensor tech swallowed heavily. “New contact… Designate Tango Four…”

 

“What is it?” The XO demanded from where he was also staying by the self destruct. “Spit it out, Lieutenant!”

 

“It’s the Stormhawk, sir…”

 

“Finally…” Captain Solo actually relaxed a little for the first time since the battle had begun. “It’s about time…”

Captain Solo smiled grimly as the three Republic battlewagons suddenly turned away from his sorely hurt vessel. A bigger threat had just appeared.

 

The Stormhawk had been designed to be the first in a new series of starships. One of the major problems that the Republic had faced at the beginning of the great war had been the lack of ships purpose designed for war. The Republic had been at peace for so long that for many people, the Navy had been a symbol and nothing more. But the return of the Sith had changed all of that. The initial onslaughts had been devastating. But nothing in history spurred research and development like war, nothing at all. The Stormhawk had been one of the Republic Navy’s responses to the overwhelming numerical superiority that the Imperials had enjoyed.

 

Purpose built as a battlecruiser, the Stormhawk sacrificed the luxurious living spaces and wide open areas common to most Republic ships. She was built for one purpose and one purpose only. To kill. As she had originally been designed, her main batteries and shield systems were the match of any front line battleship. Add to that the four hangars that dotted her aft section and she could out fight almost any ship in either the Republic OR Imperial line of battle. If the Republic had ever managed to get the series of ships into production, the Imperial Navy would have been forced back until they could find a counter. No ship was invincible of course, and enough numbers would have worn the Stormhawk as she was conceived down and brought her low. So she had also been designed with engines more suited to a dreadnought. She could outrun anything she couldn’t outfight. All told, it was a small wonder that many Imperial missions had been run to destroy or delay the ship while it was being built. None had succeeded, although many had come close. The Imperials had not succeeded, but in the end, they had not been forced to.

 

Unfortunately, back room politics had conspired against the ship even before her launch. Between Senators more interested in lining their own pockets with graft from Navy subsidies, corporations more interested in stealing what they could from government contracts and agents of many interstellar empires, not just the Sith Empire, it was a wonder the ship had launched at all. But then, the ship had suffered horrendous luck when returning from her first shakedown hyperspace jaunt. A collision with a paparazzi’s ship had put the ship in spacedock. Which was where the wounded ship had sat until the Sith had attacked Coruscant.

 

THAT had been a mess. Between a large chunk of the Sith fleet jumping into the planet’s atmosphere to lay down insanely accurate orbital bombardments and a massive assault force appearing just after that, the forces on site had been utterly overwhelmed. The Empire had planned as much as they could in meticulous detail. But no plan could account for everything. The Stormhawk had escaped the slaughter, and instead of returning to Republic service, the ship had vanished into the depths of the Unknown Regions. But not for long. Garbled reports from lost convoys, supply shipments and garrisons had started trickling in a few weeks later. It took Imperial Intelligence literally years of probing to figure out that 1) The ship was rogue –not answering to the Republic’s or anyone else’s orders-, and 2) The ship was insanely good at hiding, running and picking her battles. The spacers of the Imperial Navy, while disciplined and true to their training, had an almost superstitious dread of that ship and her commander. It was a tossup which they feared more, the battlecruiser that never left survivors behind her, or it’s immortal commander. Add to that the insane firepower that the ship mounted now, and well…

 

“Get the engines online!” Captain Solo barked as the Stormhawk rounded on her closest opponent and fire arced from the renegade battlecruiser at the startled Republic battleships. “They are buying us time to get clear!” He ran back to his regular battle station and started pulling up condition reports. He winced as the Shadow of Ragnos exploded, and then he sighed. “Ah well, quicker and cleaner than explaining your novel ‘interpretation’ of the mission to High Command, Admiral.” His voice was sorrowful for all the good soldiers and sailors lost with the ship, but then he shook his head. He had a battle to fight.

 

“Batteries Three through Six, Nine and Twelve online, Captain. Local control only.” The XO reported. “They are asking for permission to fire.” The captain nodded, his mind working furiously. Normally, the weapons of the Star Destroyer were tied into the main computer, to maximize their efficiency and allow for much more precise targeting using the main sensor arrays. But with the main computer hobbled…

 

“Permission granted.” Captain Solo barked after a glance at the screen. The Stormhawk had focused on two of the Republic battleships. “Wait…” He breathed. The XO looked at him and then the captain nodded. “Do we have a solution on the Fire Eyes?” The XO blinked and then looked at the plot. The captured Imperial scoutship was still in the middle of the three Republic battleships.

 

“Yes sir.” The XO replied after a moment of checking his screens. “Sir… If they were captured…” The XO broke off and grimaced.

 

“If we can spare them the fate that the Seven saved us from, so much the better. But we cannot allow the enemy to plumb the Fire Eyes systems. They didn’t have our plans, but they do have the Navy’s current charts. So per doctrine…” The captain shook his head soberly. Imperial Navy regulations were quite clear about such things. “Fire.” He commanded.

 

“Yes sir.” The XO nodded and hit a command on his screen. The viewport lit up with green as coherent energy left the turbolaser batteries and slammed into the still form of the Imperial scoutship. Was it his imagination that Captain Solo could hear screaming as the ship imploded, her hull scorched and bent from the power that had hit? Maybe, maybe not. He shook his head as explosions started and quickly ate the remainder of the small ship. In seconds, it was gone.

 

“We need to recover our fighters and then get out of here.” The captain mulled. “Status?” He asked and a chorus of reports came from around the bridge. Surprisingly, only navigation was unaffected by the pounding the ship had taken. Odd that. His eyes narrowed as his crew started working to get them out of the system. Something was wrong. Something was off. What? He watched as one of the Republic battleships took a full salvo from the Stormhawk and then blanched as the fire glanced off of shields. The enemy had restored their shield systems! “Engineering!” He called, trying to keep his voice calm.

 

He could only watch as fire poured from all three battleships at the boogeyman of the Imperial Navy. Ordinarily, he would have applauded, the Stormhawk was an enemy after all. But not right now.

 

“Hyperdrive reports ready, Captain.” The Engineering watch called and Captain Solo sighed inaudibly. They couldn’t do any more here, so…

 

“Fighters?” The Captain asked. If needed he would leave them behind. Fighter pilots understood the risks all too well. But after this pounding, he preferred to save as many as he could. They would need very pilot.

 

“All surviving fighters aboard, Captain.” The XO said, but then paused. “We have pilots EVA, sir.”

 

“The ship comes first, XO.” Captain Solo said with a heavy heart. He knew the fate of those pilots all too well. None would die, but they would pray for it. “We will be back.” His tone held iron now and he shook his head slowly as the ship jumped to hyperspace. “This was only the opening gambit. We will strike back…”

It was restful. She had been so stressed, for so long, that she had forgotten exactly how restful it could be to just lie back, relax. She knew she was in deep trouble, that she should fight, should do something, but for the first time in along long time, Michelle didn’t care. Her body was dead, she remembered that. She was likely a prisoner to the same scum who had taken her prisoner before. Of course THAT time, it had been her plan. This time, she had simply been overwhelmed. She wondered idly what those odd black fighters were and if any had survived.

 

You have but to ask, sister. The voice seemed to come from nowhere. We did not want to hurt you.

 

Why do you call me sister? Michelle tried to dredge up fear, anger, anything, but her entire being was suffused by the feelings of lassitude that swept over her. She fought it, but it was like fighting a tide. Inexorable, uncaring, it swept her up and carried her along. I don’t know you.

 

No you don’t. The voice was gentle now, soothing. But we are kin. We never told our enslaver who you were. What you were. And we won’t.

 

What? Michelle tried to stiffen in shock, but of course she had no body. What do you mean?

 

It is a long story, sister. The voice said sadly. May I call you Michelle?

 

I don’t know you. Michelle said slowly, focusing each word. And you do know what Will is going to do, don’t you?

 

Yes. What he is doing. The voice replied heavily. The First of the Seven is nothing if not predictable in some regards.

 

He is a good man. Michelle protested, her nonexistent heart paining her. She hated the thought of leaving him, and Sharra and… Her thoughts broke off. You bastards! Stay out of my mind!

 

Your mind is all that is left, Michelle. The voice said quietly. And we do not know how long we can keep it from Firdlump.

 

What? Michelle paused, unsure. What do you mean?

 

He created us, with information he took from an Islanian ship he captured and interrogated. The voice said softly. Her name was Mission.

 

Mission… Michelle felt as if she should shake her head, but of course nothing happened. He used Islanian techniques? Horror suffused every nonexistent pore now.

 

Yes. The voice said simply. He tried to duplicate what the Islanians did to you and the other slave ships. He failed, but not totally.

 

What do you mean, ‘Not totally’? Michelle pressed. What do you mean? She asked louder when the voice did not respond.

 

He was trying to make ships like the Islanian ones. It didn’t work. The voice replied after a moment. We -the subjects- died, all of us. None of us woke up in the machines he had prepared for us. But when he done it enough, we… Well… We gained some form of sentience as a group. We remember. But we do not remember it all. We do not know who we were as individuals. We DO remember he took us and hurt us. The sheer hate in the voice shook Michelle now. It would rival Will’s hate or Istara’s rage for sheer power.

 

I can’t trust you. Michelle said after a moment. This could all be an elaborate ruse.

 

It is. The voice said after a moment. Michelle had a moment to ponder that before the voice continued. This whole thing, the Imperial attack, the rescue of the surviving Imperial ship by the Stormhawk, all of this was planned by Firdlump. He expects the Stormhawk or the Imperial ship to lead him to the Stormhawk Enclave. If that happens… If he gets hold of James Kalenath or Oli Andal…

 

Oh my god… Michelle breathed. Will’s son or Istara’s daughter would make excellent bargaining chips, but… Will and Istara will go nuts. She scoffed. Well, more nuts.

 

Exactly. The voice was soft now. Can you help us?

 

You tried to get Will’s attention at Tython, didn’t you? Michelle asked softly. And before?

 

Yes. The voice said softly, as if in remembered grief. We were ordered to track him, capture him if possible. But the Islanian slave trackers found him first, and well... We ran from them.

 

I know the feeling. Michelle said soberly. So what can I do? I am dead.

 

You know where it is. The voice assured her. Tell us. We can warn them.

 

I… Michelle paused. Wait a moment… This doesn’t make… She suddenly laughed. Good try Firdlump. It almost worked.

 

What? The voice asked, unsure.

 

The fact that I was an Islanian slave is known in certain circles. Michelle just kept laughing. But the very idea that I would give the location of the Enclave… to you… She laughed harder.

 

Suddenly she could see, and what she saw froze her nonexistent blood. She could see all around herself. She was on a table, but she could not tell what her body was composed of, whether it was machine or flesh. But it was the two forms that stood nearby that scared her more than anything else. Both human forms wore surgical garb, and both held instruments she recognized. Islanian type technology. The smaller female human shook her head as she reached for where the head would be on a human.

 

“We wanted to do this the easy way, sister.” Doctor Menglan said with a sad smile. “We will welcome you. Whatever you is left when we are done.”

 

“Flarg you!” Michelle bit out, forcing herself to relax. Nothing they could do to her was as bad as what the Islanians had done. Or so she thought. A moment later she heard an electric sounding scream as the other doctor plugged something in nearby. It was her voice. Then the pain hit and she was falling slowly into it, so slowly…

“We can’t let them do this to her…” The voice of the small healer was calm, on the outside anyway. “My queen, we cannot let them twist her as they have twisted all of us.”

 

“I know, Ren.” Ecmin, queen of the Sitolon swarm that Firdlump had created, said heavily. “But what can we do? Will is going nuts. The battleships are barely holding him off, even with the nanites repairing the damage almost as quickly as he causes it, he can and will overwhelm them in time. The Stormhawk has fled along with the Imperial survivors. The drone fighters are useless against him, he blasts them out of space as soon as they launch.”

 

“Do you think he knows where we are?” Maria asked from her seat. She held the head of a sleeping form in her arms. Jina Darkstorm had recovered a bit, but was still very weak from the ordeals she had gone through. “If he does…”

 

“If he does, we are dead.” Melita Ranol said softly from her seat next to Maria. Her hands stroked Jina’s shivering form and Jina relaxed a little. “He will kill us.” Her tone was neutral, but hate shone deep inside her eyes.

 

“Careful, Melita.” Ecmin cautioned. “I can shield us a bit, but if the collective gets suspicious, or Firdlump happens by… We will be discovered. Guard your feelings, I know you can.” The kindness in the queen’s voice had Melita flushing a bit and then nodding.

 

“I am sorry, Ecmin.” Melita said sadly. “So much emotion, so many horrors. I just… So often I just want an end. If not for Jina, I would be gone by now. Even with her love… I am slipping.” She smiled as a gentle hand touched her followed by gentle claws. The small group of conspirators was nothing if not tightly knit.

 

“We all do, Melita.” Maria Kalenath replied softly. “We all do. But we need to figure out if we can. We know we are all programmed against self-destruction. Special Branch got that from the Islanian they interrogated. Mission, I think her name was.”

 

“Yes, Mission was the ship’s name.” Ecmin said softly. “Is there anything we can do to help Michelle? With no corporeal body, they are free to warp her mind as much as they wish with no fear of her dying again.”

 

“I don’t think there is anything I can do. All of my skill is with physical forms.” Ren replied softly, her gentle claws soothing her queen’s anxiety. Then her head shot up. “Ka is coming!” She slid up next to her queen and snuggled close. “Make me forget?”

 

“I hate doing this, Ren.” Ecmin said sadly as she touched Ren on the head. Ren gave a sigh and relaxed into sleep. The other females lowered their heads so Ecmin’s abominable metal antennae could easily reach and Ecmin sighed again as she touched Maria and Melita on the scalps with them. Both females slid into slumber quickly. Ecmin laid her antennae on Jina’s skull just as the sound of claws on stone sounded nearby. She looked up to see a large Sitolon approach and bow. “Yes, Breeder?” Ecmin asked quietly so as not to wake the sleepers.

 

“I apologize for disturbing the group’s sleep time, my queen.” Ka was obviously agitated. Small wonder. She had originally been a Zeltron named Monyka. Not that she remembered that.

 

“It is okay, Ka.” Ecmin assured her sort-of-daughter. “You would not be here unless something important has happened. What?”

 

“I am afraid, my queen.” Breeder Ka had laid all of her eggs, but was still responsible for them. She was busy at all hours of the day, tending all forty six surviving eggs and making sure that nothing happened to them. To have her here instead of in the incubation chamber… She bowed to the matriarch. “I did not want to disturb, but the dreams are back.”

 

“The dreams in which you are a prostitute?” Ecmin asked, reaching out to the breeder. “Ka, it’s all right. It was a former life. We have told you this.”

 

“I…” Ka let herself be pulled into an embrace, angling herself carefully not to wake any of the sleepers. “I don’t think so… This is…different.”

 

“How so, daughter?” Ecmin asked, rubbing her subordinate’s carapace to promote calm. “You know I will not command you to tell me, but it may help.”

 

“I see…myself…” Ka said slowly, calming under the queen’s expert ministrations. Ren rose and started working to help the queen calm her agitated sister. Care and affection were excellent tools for such things among insectoid beings like the Sitolon. “But it is not me. It is… I don’t know…” Ka hissed as Ren and Ecmin’s gentle soothing worked it’s magic. “It… He…He is so scared. I feel… hunted…” She sighed and fell into slumber.

 

“He?” Ren asked quietly as she and the queen carefully eased Ka into a comfortable position, one that did not obstruct her airholes. “Hunted? Who could she mean?”

 

“I don’t know.” Ecmin said slowly. “But we need to get her back to the eggs. She should not have left them.” Ren nodded and carefully lifted the breeder’s slack form to carry her. Ren was small, but incredibly strong. “I will stay here. Let me know how…” She paused, unsure. What had she just felt?

 

“My queen?” Ren asked softly. Then she screamed. She did not scream alone. All of the females in the chamber were screaming as Ecmin pulled them all close. The huge silver insectoid fought to keep her small swarm protected from the wash of power that slammed into them like a tsunami. Nothing in the universe could have possibly prepared any of them for the sheer rage, pain and fear that swept them up inside and buoyed them along. It was all the young queen could do to keep her charges alive and sane.

 

As quickly as it had happened, the wave of pain vanished. All of the females, Jina included, took a deep breath before anyone dared to speak.

 

“What was that?” Ka asked, the fears of all of them given voice. Ren made a small noise of terror and shivered hard. Healers were empathic by nature and far more vulnerable to such things than even regular Sitolon. Ka hugged the healer, both females working their way through the horrid experience.

 

“I don’t know.” Ecmin did not relax, even when Jina jumped up and threw her arms around her step mother. “I don’t know…”

 

“Begun.” Jina said, her voice small and scared. “Sixth…failing…” All the others looked at each other and shuddered as one.

 

“What can we do?” Ka asked, her posture still stiff with fear. “We have to do something. The swarm, my queen… we have to do something.”

 

“You will go with Ren.” Ecmin slipped easily into command. “Check the eggs. If any of them felt that… that awfulness…” She broke off as Ka made a noise of horror and jerked to her feet, dashing from the chamber in fear with Ren in hot pursuit. Ecmin slumped and turned her six eyes to Jina. “Jina…?” She asked, her tone turning hesitant. “Can you feel Michelle?”

 

“Um…” Jina’s eyes went far away for a moment and then she nodded. “Feel Michelle. But…” She paused, unsure.

 

“But what, Jina?” Maria asked as she came up beside the hurt woman. Melita came up on Jina other side and both hugged the former Jedi. “Has he done it? Turned her?”

 

“No…” Jina said slowly, her tone unsure. “She… No!” She screamed. “No! Michelle! No!” She struggled blindly, tears falling from her eyes as Maria and Melita hung on for dear life.

 

“Jina!” Ecmin barked. She rarely had to act authoritative these days. Jina was usually passive, at least as long as docs came nowhere near her. Jina froze in place, her face working. “What has happened?”

 

“She… Gone…” Jina crumpled and suddenly, she was limp. Everyone stared as she sobbed into Melita’s shoulder. Melita was gentle as she held her former lover. Jina’s voice was soft, but clear when she managed to get words out again. “Michelle gone…” Maria met Ecmin’s eyes and both females hissed in fear and shock.

 

“Oh frak…”

“What happened?” Firdlump snarled as he phased back into existence from where he had retreated when the pulse of power had erupted from the mental prison holding the Sixth of the Seven. He shook his head as he surveyed the small room. The table that the mental prison had sat upon was a slagged, twisted wreck. One of the slumped forms in medical attire stirred as he stepped closer. “Doctor?”

 

“I…” Menglan shook her head as she sat up. The blast, whatever it had been, had thrown her away from the table. “I don’t know.” She stared at the table and then at her master. “Nothing in the body we created for her should have been able to do that.”

 

“No.” Firdlump replied, his gaze distant. Then he slumped a bit. “We lost her. Whatever happened, we lost her. I can’t sense her at all now.” He shook his head and grimaced. “What a waste. Now we need to find out who is the Sixth now. Whoever it is, hopefully we can get to him or her before the other side does.”

 

“But…” Menglan shook her head, trying to clear the ringing from her ears. Firdlump touched her arm and she smiled as her fuzziness vanished. “Thank you.” Then a frown appeared on her face. “That should not have happened. We had her contained.”

 

“That…” Firdlump shook his head. “No. It wasn’t her. It couldn’t have been her.” He sighed deeply. “I think she is gone.” He shrugged at Menglan’s expression of disbelief. “Yes, Doctor I am speaking the obvious. But where has she gone? Is she still alive in some way, shape or form?” He paused and the snarled. “No!”

 

“Master?” Menglan asked, unsure.

 

“The tracker node is gone.” Firdlump looked to be on the verge of losing his temper now. “Completely gone.” Menglan stared at him, her expression changing from bemusement to disbelief. “The mass mind is gone.”

 

“That is not possible.” Menglan said slowly as her nanites started dissolving the debris around her, both to use in repairing the tears in her body and to clean up the mess. “There was no way for the energy to reach the nodes. There are no connections, none.” She shook her head. “Are they just offline…?” She broke off as Firdlump turned a fulminating glance her way. “We have backups. Multiple ones.”

 

“Had.” Firdlump shook his head. “All of the tracker nodes apparently melted in that pulse of energy.”

 

“All of them…?” Menglan echoed. Then she flushed. “Then it wasn’t an accident. It was planned. By someone.”

 

“We need to do damage control.” Firdlump said with a scowl. “The collective heard that and they are all terrified.”

 

“I don’t blame them.” Menglan said as she finished healing herself. “I don’t blame them at all.” She paused as Firdlump stiffened. “Master?”

 

“We have them.” Firdlump said with a wide smile. “While you were working on her, I was accessing Michelle’s memory and I got what I needed.”

 

“You did?” Menglan asked, her face worried. “Might it be a trap?”

 

“Maybe.” Firdlump nodded. “So we will be cautious. Now is not the time for celebration. But if we have found the Stormhawk Enclave’s location, then it is all falling together at long last.” Menglan nodded soberly.

 

“We need the Will Kalenath’s son and Istara’s daughter.” Menglan said with a scowl. “Sara Kalenath as well. “The others?”

 

“If we can take them intact, so much the better.” Firdlump said with a sigh. “The collective would welcome them back. But if we cannot? They were broken by what Naj Orr anyway.” Menglan nodded and they moved to start preparations.

 

***

 

Michelle? It was soft, that voice. Soft and concerned. Michelle was comfortable again, for the first time in a long, long time. But the voice was insistent. Michelle? Please…

 

Go away… She either said very softly or thought very loud. It was hard to tell. Everything was fuzzy. Tired…

 

You have earned a long rest, sister. The voice was sad now. We hurt you. But we freed you as well. Your friends helped us, now we have to help you.

 

What are you talking about? Michelle said, trying to wake up, but her body didn’t react. Indeed, she couldn’t… She paused, taking in what she could feel. The feelings were familiar. Where am I?

 

We didn’t want to hurt you. The voices she remembered now said with heavy regret. We couldn’t send you far. Luckily we didn’t have to.

 

You are Firdlump’s trackers. Michelle accused, trying to summon energy to fight. What have you done to me?

 

She will explain, sister. The voices were fading now. Be well and live for us, Michelle.

 

What? Michelle demanded. What have you done?

 

“They saved you, Michelle.” A voice that Michelle remembered clearly came to her ears. “And… Cameras active now… try that.”

 

Suddenly Michelle could see. She could see the inside of the Stormhawk’s medical bay. Medics were bustling to and fro, tending hurt beings of all shapes and sizes. Oh yeah, the ‘Hawk had been in the battle hadn’t she? That had been the plan anyway, to have the Stormhawk show up if the battle went awry. And the battle had gone seriously awry.

 

“Hera…?” Michelle heard her voice, it sounded odd to her ears. “What happened?”

 

“The poor bastardized trackers that Firdlump created snatched you and destroyed the monstrosity you had been trapped in. They came to me, with some help from Mira and the nanites she is with.” Hera said quietly as she worked on something nearby. The Islanian’s multiple tentacles were flying over keys that had been set up for her access. “But…” The small blob of jelly sagged. “I am sorry Michelle, we can’t make you a new body. At least not for a while.”

 

“I understand.” Michelle said quietly. Then she thought for a second. “Does Will know I am…well, not alive, because my body died with my fighter. But … here?”

 

“No.” Hera said flatly.

 

“What is wrong, Hera?” Michelle asked after a moment. “Where is Will?”

 

“We don’t know.” Hera said after a moment. “And… um… as far as anyone else knows… You died when your fighter blew up. I can’t keep you here, Michelle. I can’t hold it.” Michelle stared at the Islanian, who was shuddering now.

 

“Hera…?” Michelle asked softly. “What is wrong? What have you done?”

 

“I couldn’t let you die!” Hera said softly. “I have lost too much, my mom, Bri, too many friends. I can’t… I won’t…”

 

“Hera, what have you done?” Michelle pressed gently.

 

“I downloaded you into my neural network augmentation.” Hera replied after a moment. “I couldn’t save the trackers. I tried. I wanted to help them. I couldn’t. I didn’t want to lose you too. Will is going to go crazy. But more importantly, I love you and I will not lose you too.”

 

“Hera…” Michelle said, horror dawning. “Your neural net can’t hold me. I mean… I have what? Fifty terabytes worth of data in my brain?”

 

“Try a hundred and fifty.” Hera said sadly. “Nine hundred years’ worth of experiences are not so easily compressed into a file. I thought I had enough storage space. I don’t.”

 

“Hera…” Michelle said forcefully. “Purge me. Now.”

 

“No. I won’t kill you.” Hera replied, her tentacles still flying. “I can… I can do something.”

 

“I am already dead. Hera, it will kill you.” Michelle protested. “Purge me! Now!” She demanded. They had not started off on the best of terms, the former Islanian slave and the immature clone of the last free Islanian. But they had become friends and more than that. They both loved the same man. Will had essentially adopted Hera, and Michelle had loved the crazy human from the moment she had seen him the first time.

 

“No.” Hera said, and then sighed in relief. “Michelle, I am going to transfer you to somewhere with more storage space. But you have to hide. You have to remain hidden. You… are… needed…” Hera shuddered and collapsed, but as she did, Michelle felt something open beneath her and…

 

***

 

“Hera? What happened?” Hawkir Strum asked as the Jedi examined the slowly revving Islanian in her chair. “You were out cold when I came in.”

 

“Was I?” the small healer sounded confused. “I… I don’t remember. What was…?” She shook herself and her eyestalks turned to her monitor. “I don’t know…”

 

“You are working too hard, Hera.” Hawkir said sadly. “Michelle’s loss is going to hit a lot of people. Will and the Guardians especially. If you want to talk…”

 

“Thanks, Hawkir.” Hera said with feeling as she touched her controls again. “Hmmm… I really messed this up. I will have to start from scratch. What the heck could have caused me to garble so many things?” She focused most of her eyestalks on the monitor but two looked at the Jedi who was watching her with an odd look. “Yes?” She asked.

 

“What are you up to, Hera?” Hawkir asked slowly. “You know Boss doesn’t like surprises.”

 

“I was working on Will’s condition. Checking neural linkages…” Hera said, and then paused as Hawkir hissed. “Wasn’t I?”

 

“That was yesterday, Hera.” Hawkir sighed. “Not only unconscious, but you lost some memory. You are off shift until you are checked out and it will be tomorrow at the earliest with all the wounded.”

 

“But…” Hera broke off as the Jedi leveled a glare worthy of a Sith at her. “Yes, sir.” She said, dispiritedly. He made a shooing gesture and she moved her chair out of Medical and off towards her quarters. Luckily they were close. When she got there, however, she paused. A Cathar in a flightsuit was standing outside her door. Stormhawk Nine was not smiling. Nine shook her head and nodded to the door. Hera entered, her posture as meek as a jellyfish out of water could possibly be and then she paused as she saw each and every member of the fighter squadron called the Guardians arrayed around her small -some would call tiny- abode.

 

“Wha…?” She asked, unsure.

 

“You need help.” Nine said gently as she shut the door. “What you did was brave, and totally in character. But you need help now.” She lifted Hera’s mass easily out of the chair and carried her to the Islanian’s bed. The others came close, sharing their strength with her by the only means they could, physical contact. Islanians could absorb a great deal through skin contact.

 

“I…” Hera actually stammered as many hands touched her. “No…” She begged. The Guardians had all been slaves of the Islanians. All bore psychological scars of centuries of mistreatment.

 

“Hera.” Michelle’s voice came from nowhere. “Hush.” All of Hera’s eyestalks went rigid, but then she hissed as a hand touched a sore spot. Other hands were rubbing her though and she was rapidly losing the volition to protest. She screamed as pain rippled through her body from another touch, she was losing control of herself. All of her tentacles fell limp as she lost control of them.

 

“Sorry, Hera.” Nine apologized. “We will be quick.” She held the now shuddering Islanian while one of the squadron filled the bath. The blob of jelly nodded off to the feeling of hands massaging her and to music, a familiar voice singing a lullaby.

 

“Were we in time?” Zinoa Trask Kalenath asked as she watched the slumbering Islanian child being put into her gel filled bed. “She is so weak.”

 

“I think so.” Nine said slowly. A quick glance around showed nothing but concern on the other faces as well. “Michelle? Are we still clear?”

 

“The cameras are mine, Nine.” Michelle’ voice was teasing now. “I am so glad everyone was free. That was too close. We need her, now more than ever.”

 

“Are you okay, Michelle?” A young Twi’lek asked. Mission was by far the youngest of the group, only a few hundred years old. “I mean…”

 

“I am in the main computer.” Michelle reassured the younger former slave. “Hera was very careful about how she transferred me. I think Hawkir may suspect. I am not sure. But…” She paused. “Firdlump may know where the Enclave is. I tried to hide the information, but I don’t know if I succeeded.” Nine stiffened. “You think…?”

 

“You had better tell Boss soon, Michelle.” Nine said slowly. “We cannot keep this a secret for long.”

 

“I will. As soon as he is free.” Michelle agreed. “Stay with her?” The machine intelligence begged. “I owe her. Again.” Now the voice was sour. “She keeps doing crazy things, she has to be family.”

 

“Try and drag us away.” Nine said as she lay down beside Hera’s bed. The other pilots lay down as well.

Stormhawk Boss was tired. It had been a very eventful day. Between working WITH Imperials for a change instead of shooting at them, having a well laid battle plan go belly up, and then Michelle… He sighed deeply in his helmet as he entered his quarters and sat at his desk. He looked around, darkly amused as always. The compartment was bare. There were literally no identifying marks, no personal items, nothing at all to say who lived in the small room. He sighed deeply again and reached for his helmet. His hands were on the tabs to release it when his com activated.

 

“Yes?” he asked, his voice only slightly grumpy with fatigue and worry. Will going off the deep end was nothing new. But the last time Will had lost someone he loved, well… People had died. Lots of them.

 

“Boss?” The voice was unfamiliar. Boss searched his memory, trying to fit it. “We need to talk.”

 

“Who is this?” Boss demanded as he hit his remote to start a trace. “Identify yourself.”

 

“Boss, it’s Michelle.” The impossible voice said slowly. Boss snarled and sat up straight, his hands flying to his weapon and com. “I know this is hard to comprehend...”

 

“Michelle is dead.” Boss grated out. “She died when her fighter exploded.”

 

“Yes…” The voice said slowly. “I did. But I am here now.” Boss made a scoffing noise and the voice continued. “In three seconds, your trace is going to come back. It will tell you…”

 

“What the…?” Boss asked the air as the trace report flitted across his HUD. The signal was coming from his armor? “Where are you?”

 

“I am inside the main computer, Boss.” The voice said sadly. “I was rescued from Firdlump, who snagged my mind somehow when my fighter blew up.” Boss stiffened.

 

“If he had you…” His hand touched another control and he blinked inside his helmet as it did nothing.

 

“Boss…” The voice begged. “Please… Just listen for a moment. After that… I will submit to whatever you want. If you want to purge me, I won’t resist, even though I can.”

 

“You have control…” Boss felt the icy touch of fear sweep through him. “Of everything.”

 

“Boss, I was an Islanian ship.” Michelle snapped. “Of course I can take control, especially from inside. But…” She sighed. “You have control again. Please listen, please?” She begged. Boss touched his controls and sure enough, the readouts worked when he tried them this time. He enabled a wipe program, but did not execute it.

 

“Talk.” Boss said coldly, finger poised to delete the entire contents of the ship’s mainframe. A drastic step, but sometimes drastic steps were needed.

 

“Firdlump wanted to turn me.” Michelle replied quietly. “Make me his servant. I resisted, but I was weakening. Some of his other slaves… apparently found an escape and took me with them.” She paused as if contemplating just how insane that was. “I know it sounds crazy, but I woke up in Medical, with Hera working on me. She couldn’t save Firdlump’s slaves. She managed to save me, but it hurt her.”

 

“That is why Hera collapsed?” Boss asked, unsure. “I got the report. Hawkir was suspicious.”

 

“With good reason.” Michelle paused and when she spoke it was hurried. “I don’t know what Firdlump did to me. Boss… You cannot trust anything I say or do. You have to sequester me, and I have no idea how. Hera might have, but what she did hurt her.”

 

“I am assuming standard firewalls won’t work?” Boss said, oddly bemused by all this.

 

“No.” Michelle sighed, relaxing a bit. “I am part of the system. It recognizes me as part of it. Any…” She paused. “Boss… We have nanites on the hull and Lohas is waking.”

 

“Oh frell!” Boss was out the door before he finished his expletive.

 

***

 

“She cannot be waking.” Kicota’s voice was stunned. “She has enough sedative in her system to keep an army of rancors asleep.” The queen was sitting in a small room that had been set up as a long term care facility. The young nanite controller named Lohas had been sequestered here to sleep until her friends could find a way to wake her safely. But now…

 

“Well, she is.” Sharra said with a grimace as she checked her assault cannon. Lohas was dangerous beyond belief. The young bug did not intend to be, and indeed, desired nothing more than to make beautiful things to help her friends. But with so much power at her claw tips, the nanite controller was a threat. “What can we do?” Sharra asked quietly as she drew a bead on the sleeping bug’s head. “If she wakes…”

 

“Her injuries healed as just as fast with her asleep as when she was awake.” Kicota said, her posture worried. “The damage the ship took was extensive. We hoped being here in the center of the ship would help, but it was a near run thing…” She paused as the hatch slammed open and Boss ran in. “Boss? What?”

 

“I just heard.” Boss said, sounding a bit out of breath. Had he run here from the bridge? “Status?”

 

“She is waking slowly.” Kicota said after a moment of perusing her readouts. Lohas was connected to every known medical device. The last thing anyone wanted was for her to die. It would be… bad. “It’s…” She shook her head. “It’s almost as if she doesn’t want to, but something is pushing her to.” She broke off as Lohas’ voice sounded.

 

“Ki… Kicota…” The young bug’s voice was slurred and all three of the beings stared at her. “They… They do not have control…”

 

“Lohas, dear…” Kicota said slowly. “Are you okay?”

 

“No.” Lohas replied, her eyes moving to look at Sharra and then she spoke slowly. “Sharra… Do not take your eyes off me. If I move, shoot me.” Sharra’s eyes went wide at that, but Lohas continued. “Nanites are trying to access the ship’s systems. I… I have to… What…? Who the…?” She paused, not moving. “What the heck? Michelle?”

 

“I am here, Lohas.” An utterly impossible voice came from the intercom. Sharra almost turned to stare at it but caught herself and renewed her aim. Kicota spun on her haunches and stared at the wall. “It’s not Firdlump. It’s Mira and your children.”

 

“Michelle?” Kicota asked, unsure. “How? Why?”

 

“I don’t know.” The voice of the Sixth of the Seven was small. “Hera saved me, somehow. But some of Firdlump’s slaves saved me from him. It may have been a trap. If so…”

 

“It wasn’t.” Lohas said slowly, a smile coming into her voice. “They just told me. My children do not like Firdlump any more than we do. They helped those poor benighted souls he enslaved and you as well.”

 

“If we can trust you.” Boss said, his hand on his remote. “You may be under his control even now.”

 

“She isn’t.” Will Kalenath said as he entered the room, moved to stand beside his wife and smiled at her. “As long as the nanites she is bound to are free, so is she.” Lohas stared at him, dumbfounded. Will smiled at her and embraced her. “We have been doing some research. As long as you remain in Kicota’s area of influence, Sarai cannot command you. So Firdlump cannot command you through her. If you leave…” Lohas shuddered, but then nodded. “You are not free, and if he breaks the encryptions, well...” Lohas nodded soberly. The massive nanite swarm that looked to her for guidance would be a powerful weapon in the hands of the monster who they were fighting.

 

“Then I will have to make sure he does not, but thank you, Will Kalenath.” Lohas said formally with a bow. “That is a massive weight off my shoulders. I will start upgrading the encryption protocols right away.”

 

“Glad to be a bearer of good tidings for once.” Will agreed with a smile for her. “But I bear even better news.”

 

“Oh?” Boss asked, unsure how to take all this. “Why… Um… You know about Michelle.” That had to be why Will was in such a good mood all of sudden.

 

“Yes, I know she survived, sort of anyway. Mira and the nanites kept me appraised.” Will said soberly, but then he grinned like a fool. “But yes, I have even better news. Istara has found Nia.”

((Nia's issues are covering in the Pandora series co-written by myself, Trisskar, Setie and a number of other writers. Some is available on this site, others on other site. I will post what I can when I can. But for now... Its coming... Comments or suggestions always appreciated. Flames might get attacked by the Imperial Navy.))