Pre-Class Story

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During Class Story

Oblivious - In which Doc attempts to exercise his "charms" (is creepy and unprofessional)

After Class Story

Jedi Don't Do That (Featuring the Smuggler Nosc and her crew).

• Trading Places
  
• A Ship Full of Jedi
  
• Blackmail
  
• Sulking
  

After Remi the Grey

Parenthood - Remi gets her butt kicked.

Ye of Little Faith - Lord Scourge jumps to conclusions.

Couple's Counseling - A series of shorts where I establish that a Jedi marrying a Sith is a really bad idea.

• Mr. and Mrs. Scourge
  
• Work
  
• Sex
  
• Family
  
• Jealousy
  

The Lord Grey series was removed because I don't know if I will finish it, so I didn't want an unfinished story hanging out here.

Doc stared into the Jedi’s eyes, his face inches away from hers. He held her face still, running his thumb gently down her cheek. He thought her looks were exotic, red hair and yellow eyes that changed with her mood, right now they were amber. He tried to pour on the charm.

“So tell me gorgeous,” he said holding her gaze, “What are you doing later?”

Remi shrugged, “Meditating, then training probably.” She waited while he held her that way for another moment, “So do I have a concussion or not?”

“Your pupils are the same size and they dilate fine,” he said letting go of her face with exasperation, “The equipment at this stupid camp is terrible. You shouldn’t be training though; I thought you hit your head training this morning, why do you need to train again?”

They were waiting for contact from the Jedi Council to give them their targets on Voss. In the meantime, she had been helping the Republic Ambassador and keeping busy with her new sparring partner. She shrugged again, “I train three times a day every day when we’re not fighting. Can I put my shirt back on?”

Doc frowned and walked to the supply cabinet for a kolto injector. He would give her a shot just to be safe. Hitting her head again with even a mild concussion would be bad. He turned and saw her bare back. “What the heck is this, Remi?”

“What?” She said looking over her shoulder. “Oh, those are bruises.”

“Thank you, a decade of medicine, and I didn’t know those were bruises, why didn’t you say you were hurt?” He gave her a shot then pulled out a container of kolto-gel. He began rubbing the restorative into her bruises gently. They were dark purple on the outside and white red on the inside, severe bruises larger than his hand.

“They don’t hurt.” She replied.

“How did you get these?” he asked, unable to imagine how a training saber or anything else could inflict the large almost geometric bruises.

“Practicing hand-to-hand with Lord Scourge.”

Now Doc could see that the bruises were the same shape as some of the wall tiles at the practice grounds. Apparently, she had been shoved or thrown against that wall repeatedly. “He’s three times your size. You would never win hand-to-hand against him.”

“He’s only twice my size and winning isn’t the point.” Remi said patiently.

When he was satisfied that the bruises were tended, Doc ran a medical scan to be sure she had not concealed any other injuries, when he found none he tried to pour on the charm again. “All that training makes you tense, gorgeous.” He said softly into her ear from behind her, “Ole Doc can fix that with a massage, if you’d like.”

She took that as an indication that he was finished. She grabbed her shirt and pulled it over her head. “Nah,” she said with another shrug and a grin, “I’ll just meditate.” She clapped him on the shoulder and he staggered a little, her strength was all out of proportion with her size, “Thanks Doc.”

She walked out of the medical tent into the Voss sunlight and smiled. She liked this planet, it was pretty, and she really hoped they could stop the Emperor from destroying it.

The plan was set, Remi would take Captain Nosc’s place at a dangerous underworld meeting on Nar Shaddaa and the Captain would pretend to be Remi at a meeting on Tatooine. Remi had her reservations about the plan but they needed the information and the Council was certain this was the only way to get it. She wondered if Nosc’s crew would be trustworthy, she would be relying on them to back her up or at the very least not sell her out.

She rarely used her rooms at the Temple. She and the Captain brought their spare gear to the little suite to begin their identity swap. Lord Scourge and Corso waited in the hall while the women did arcane women things inside.

“So,” Corso said trying to break the silence. “You’re still a Sith.”

The Sith Lord eyed him before speaking, “Correct.”

“And so’s the guy we’re supposed to be meeting.”

“Correct.” Scourge hoped keeping his answers short would discourage more questions.

“Is there some kind of handbook I can read, to learn more about Sith?” Corso persisted.

“Do you require conversation to stand outside a doorway?”

“Hey,” Corso said putting his hands up, “I’m the one who’s going to be watching your friend’s back. I’m just wondering if there’s anything I should know about what we’re getting into.”

Scourge examined the man, taking in the scars on his face, the well-worn armor, the blaster rifle slung over his shoulder, and the pistol at his hip. The man had seen his share of fights, but he could never comprehend the Force, the Jedi, or the Sith. Lord Scourge considered his words, opting to keep them simple “If you fail her, you die.”

Corso stared at the Sith Lord, but it was obvious that was all he had to say. “Yep, still a Sith.” He concluded and leaned against the wall to wait in silence.

An hour later the unmistakable sound of blaster fire and a lightsaber igniting emerged from the room. Scourge threw open the door and hurried in with Corso at his heels. They both stopped and stared at the scene playing out before them.

Captain Nosc stood next to a dresser wearing Jedi robes, plated boots, and durasteel leggings. Unused to wearing such heavy armor her feet may as well have been bolted to the floor. She leaned against the dresser with one hand, in the other she held her blaster and fired at the Jedi who deflected each bolt into the ceiling.

“I am NOT wearing armor so heavy that I can’t walk,” Nosc said through gritted teeth. “And I am NOT going to be humiliated with you looking like THAT pretending to be ME!”

“I did exactly what you said!” the Jedi exclaimed. She was wearing a simple sleeveless shirt, leather pants, and mid-calf boots. As far as Corso could tell, there was nothing wrong with the way she was dressed. In fact, she pulled off the Captain’s skintight clothes rather impressively.

“That is NOT what I said, you yellow eyed freak!” Nosc yelled. “You look like a five credit cantina dancer after a weekend bender.”

The Jedi paused cocking her head to the side, “That’s not the look you were going for?” Nosc fired another barrage of shots that were again deflected into the ceiling.

Corso could see that Lord Scourge was about to end the confrontation fatally for his Captain. “Umm.” He said interjecting. The two women turned to face him, and now Corso could see that the Jedi had painted her lips and face in an approximation of the Captain’s trademark makeup but the lines were very messy and lopsided. Corso snickered, “Well, she has a point boss.” The angry Captain brought her blaster to bear on Corso and pulled the trigger. Scourge deflected the bolt into the ceiling with a flick of his lightsaber.

“Get Risha, RIGHT NOW.”

Corso backed up toward the door with his hands raised. “Ok boss be back in a minute.” The Captain lowered her blaster, and the Jedi put away her saber nodding at Scourge. He followed Corso into the hall closing the door. Corso glanced at the Sith Lord who resumed his post. “Thanks for the assist but she was only shooting to wound, my shield would have caught it… probably.” Lord Scourge folded his arms saying nothing.

Corso returned with Risha. The woman raised an eyebrow at the Sith Lord but said nothing as she disappeared into the room leaving the two men outside. This time the room erupted in giggling much to Corso’s relief. Two hours later the three women emerged.

“My eyes are going to sting for a month,” Nosc complained. “Retina dye is the worst.” Her hair had been bleached and dyed red though it was completely hidden by her hooded robes. She looked up at Corso with the Jedi’s strange yellow eyes. He had never seen the Captain without makeup. She looked almost wholesome. The Jedi in contrast had taken on the captain’s green eyes, jet-black hair, and red makeup. The effect would have been more sinister except for her cheerful expression. Nosc injected a cybernetic voice synthesizer into her neck then did the same for Remi.

The Jedi coughed a few times as the implant reshaped her vocal cords. “Testing?” she said in Nosc’s voice. “Ok, I think we’re ready. Anything else I need to know about this meeting?” she asked practicing the facial expressions the captain had taught her.

“Not that I know of.” Nosc shrugged. “Then again I hadn’t planned on going. The whole thing being an obvious trap and all.” She raised an eyebrow at the Jedi.

Remi bowed her head and said with only a touch of irony, “I go where the council wills.”

Lord Scourge frowned. Nosc snorted, muttering, “Crazy Jedi.” She turned to her friends. “You guys have your instructions. See you in a few weeks.” She hugged Risha and patted Corso’s arm.

The Jedi exchanged a long wordless look with the Sith Lord and departed. Risha and Corso followed her closely. “I was planning to go alone.” Remi said. “If there’s trouble with Lord Ebon it’ll be dangerous.” The Jedi said glancing at Corso, who opened his mouth to object.

“Won’t work.” Risha said shaking her head. “You always take Corso to this kind of thing. If he’s not there they’ll know something’s wrong.”

“Yeah besides, I don’t think a woman should go into this kind of thing alone.” Corso added, unable to restrain himself. Remi stopped walking and stared at him.

“Did,” Remi hesitated, “Did he really just say that?”

“Yeah, ignore him,” Risha said. “He has issues.”

“And you’re ok with that?”

“You’ll get used to it.”

The Jedi turned to Corso. “You back me up, it’s your job, but you know you’re surrounded by competent women and you would treat a man the same way.” She pushed the thoughts into his head.

Corso looked stunned for a moment then said, “Hey, it’s my job to back you up. You’re all strong competent women and I would treat a man the same way.” They resumed walking.

“Are Jedi allowed to do that?” Risha said grinning.

“I’m not a Jedi right now, remember?” she said returning the grin.

“How long will it last?”

“It depends on how stubborn he is.”

“Oh,” Risha said with disappointment. “I give it ten minutes then.”

Lord Scourge regarded the criminal before him. “Can’t tell the difference can you?” She said looking up at him. She was trying to mask her fear with bravado. He suppressed the urge to curl his lip with distaste. He had a job to do, to protect this criminal and the Jedi’s reputation. He would do both.

“You will pass, as long as there are no force users at these meetings.”

“Bet you couldn’t tell if you didn’t have the force.” She challenged in the Jedi’s voice. It was a little disconcerting.

“I could.”

“So,” Nosc said looking around. “Why are we just standing around in this hallway?”

“Because you lead.” He answered gesturing in the general direction of the shuttle port.

“Always?” she asked curiously taking a few steps down the hall then stopping. The Sith Lord followed then stopped as well. She repeated the stop and start a few times.

He scowled recognizing what she was doing. “Yes.”

“Really?” Nosc asked a smile beginning to form on her lips. If he was forced to tolerate her, this might be fun after all.

“Within reason.” He glowered.

“You just like watching her robes from behind.” Nosc teased, walking a few more steps then stopping. “Are you watching my robes?” A disgusted snort was her only answer. “Does she walk slowly, swaying just right?” She began an exaggerated sashay that accentuated her outline in the otherwise shapeless robes.

“Jedi don’t do that.” He answered.

“Hey you two,” Kira called catching up to them. She did a double take examining Nosc from head to toe. “Wow, not bad. Couldn’t wear the armor huh?” She asked, noticing the Captain wore leather boots and leggings.

The Captain shook her head, “I could barely stand.”

“Don’t know how she does it.” Kira agreed, “I swear she uses the force just to put on her boots, those things weigh a ton.” They resumed walking and did not stop every few steps. “We’re ready to go, when was the last time you’ve been to Tatooine?”

“Not long ago, I almost got kicked out after I beat a couple Gamorreans in a drinking contest. They got angry and tried to burn down the cantina. Hey, I was thinking,” Nosc said trying to get Kira on her side, “this Master Remi wants to be a good negotiator, loosen up the involved parties, right? She should throw a reception party, a little alcohol to lubricate the negotiations.”

“Jedi don’t do that.” Scourge said from behind them before Kira could agree.

“He's right and Remi doesn’t drink.”

“Come on, I see Jedi drink all the time.” Nosc said eyeing the friendly Jedi. “I know you guys aren’t all as self-sacrificing, sober and boring in private as you want us force-blinds to think.” Nosc had first-hand knowledge that some Jedi were not boring at all.

“Yeah, but Remi is. She doesn’t socialize, she never drinks, she hardly eats, all I’ve seen her do is train and meditate. Oh, and as far as I’ve seen, she’s not interested in men or women.” Kira shrugged almost apologetically.

The Captain stopped walking, “I’m impersonating the most boring person in the galaxy.” She said to herself, staring at the back of Kira’s head as the Jedi continued to the shuttle port. She heard a small sound and turned to see the Sith Lord behind her grinding his teeth. Startled, she hurried to catch up.

Risha and Corso escorted their new Captain to the XS Freighter. Risha showed the Jedi around calling out the names of the rest of the crew as they passed by. Remi had read the file on Captain Nosc’s crew but she had a feeling most of the important information was either missing or outright lies.

“Captains quarters.” Risha pointed at the room with the largest bed. The Jedi put down her travel pack. There was a long thick ribbon of silk that hung off the bed on either side. Its purpose was obvious. Remi raised an eyebrow at Risha. “Don’t worry I got C2 to change the sheets.” Risha whispered conspiratorially. The Jedi shook her head smiling. “I’ll do your makeup after I get up in the morning.”

“Thank you Risha, I couldn’t pull this off without you.” Remi said honestly.

“Hey, if the Jedi Council wants to pay me double to play makeup artist I’m not going to argue.” The woman answered with a smile. We’ll be on Nar Shadaa in three days; so just do whatever it is you do until we get there.” She concluded and left the Jedi to her thoughts. Despite her outward good cheer, the Jedi could not shake a feeling of unease.

She had objected to this mission. A Sith would recognize a Jedi instantly, there would be no way to avoid a fight. To them, the only collateral damage would be criminals, a ‘terrible loss’ but an acceptable risk.

She had objected to the decoy. They should never put a civilian at risk like this. The attempts on her life were real. To them, Captain Nosc was just another criminal, a bit more altruistic than most but still expendable.

She had objected to being separated from Scourge. He wanted to scout at a distance to find out more about Lord Ebon but remain close enough to help if the meeting turned out to be a trap. And we know it’s a trap. That objection had been a mistake.

Once she expressed reluctance at leaving Scourge behind the council stopped listening. She felt their minds close and resolve for their plan intensified. They acknowledged her reservations, they took her suggestions under advisement, but in the end, they would not be budged. They believed Lord Scourge was the real reason she objected to this mission. She was too dependent on him, he wanted her to defy the council, perhaps he was using Sith sorcery to corrupt her. Ridiculous. It hardly mattered; in the end, the council said this would be ‘good for her.’ Everyone knew why.

Remi stared at herself in the mirror. The unfamiliar weight of a blaster pistol hung at her side. The leather pants were skintight but built for fighting. She carefully stretched in them testing her range of motion. She hoped the increased mobility would compensate for fighting without armor, and fighting without Lord Scourge. The thought rose unbidden, they had fought side by side since her escape from the Emperor. Only in that final battle in the dark temple had he not been there. She had felt his absence then too.

Is the council right? She wondered. Am I too dependent on him? She tried to analyze her feelings but had little basis for comparison. I could be in love with Scourge, Doc, Rusk and Kira but how could I tell? Perhaps that is the Order’s greatest weakness, we can see darkness and dangerous emotions in others but we can’t recognize it in ourselves.

She sighed at yet another one of her shortcomings, she often criticized the way the Jedi handled emotions. She believed that learning to cope with strong emotions was much more difficult than simply denying or suppressing them. She was still too young to be taken seriously by the council and her pragmatic interpretation of the Jedi Code and sense of humor never helped. Neither did her partnership with Lord Scourge. She sighed again with increasing frustration, she got up to meditate on the bridge, the stars always helped her focus.

Corso could not sleep. He was worried about the Captain. He dressed quickly and quietly trying not to wake his bunkmates. He walked onto the bridge to find the unusual site of the Captain awake early. Not the Captain, the Jedi. Corso thought. He walked around the Captain’s seat to stand in his usual spot. The Jedi greeted him with a smile.

“You’re up early.” Corso said yawning. Remi was not wearing the Captain’s trademark makeup yet. He wondered if Nosc would ever give up wearing it.

The Jedi shrugged, “Couldn’t sleep. You?”

“Nah, I guess I’m worried about the Captain. What’ll happen if the Empire comes after her?”

Since Remi had worried about the same thing, she could not just dismiss his concerns. “The Council does not believe the Empire will spend the resources to attack me. We would be able to see a large number of troops mobilizing to Tatooine, the Council promised reinforcements if that happened. From what I understand Captain Nosc isn’t exactly helpless.” Remi hesitated, “And Lord Scourge promised me he’d keep her safe.”

Corso frowned crossing his arms. “And you believe a Sith? You’re a Jedi! Aren’t you supposed to be sworn enemies or something? Everyone says Sith are only out for themselves. You believe a Sith would keep his word?”

“I believe Lord Scourge would keep his word to me.” She replied honestly.

Corso considered what the Sith had said to him. If you fail her, you die. He nodded.

“So what’s the Captain like to outsiders?”

“Well, she’s tough. Never backs down from a fight. Doesn’t like bullies. She’s a bit of a flirt too. You might run into a guy or two on Nar Shadaa that know her.” He said trying to sound neutral.

“I sense great anger in you.” Remi said seriously. “You are in love with the Captain.”

“Really? You can sense that?”

Remi giggled. “No, you just looked really sour when you mentioned that last part.”

“Oh,” he said blushing. “It’s that obvious huh.”

“You guys aren’t together?”

“Nah, I never said anything…” He thought about ending it there but it would feel good to get it off his chest, “There was this one time way back when I first joined the Captain, I had a little, liquid courage, if you know what I mean.” The Jedi raised an eyebrow but nodded. “I tried to tell her how I felt. I don’t think it came out right, she just told me to sleep it off. After that, I don’t know if it was embarrassment or what but I just never brought it up again.”

“So,” the Jedi summarized, her eyes closed, her face a serene mask. “You’ve been in love with a woman for almost a decade, but you don’t tell her because she wouldn’t take advantage of you when you were drunk.”

“Um.”

“You’re an idiot.” She concluded.

“Hey! Are Jedi allowed to say that?” He frowned rubbing the back of his neck. “I guess you’re right, but maybe it’s for the best. I know I have no right, but I can get so jealous when she flirts with other guys. I don’t think she would stop even if we were together. Sometimes it’s hard to let her out of my sight. Makes me glad she’s on a ship full of Jedi right now. I don’t have to worry.”

Remi’s eyes popped open. “A ship full of Jedi?”

“Yeah, isn’t your ship just a bunch of Jedi that go around the galaxy saving people? That Kira’s a Jedi too right?”

“Yes,” the Jedi said slowly as if a thought had just dawned on her. Her face screwed up with an attempt not to laugh.

“Ugh, I should have known you’d be a morning person.” Risha said entering the bridge. “Let’s go get your Captain face on.” She noticed the Jedi’s expression. “What’s so funny?”

“Corso thinks I run a ship full of Jedi.”

“Well except that Sith guy…” Corso’s eyes widened. “He wouldn’t… you know…”

“Unlikely.” The Jedi answered finally regaining her composure.

“Who is on your ship anyway?” Risha asked.

Remi stood up and whispered into Risha’s ear. “The one from Balmorra?” Risha said shocked. She eyed Corso.

“That’s the one.” Remi bit her lip. Risha grabbed her arm and pulled Remi off the bridge. Corso could still hear them laughing through the wall. He heard Akaavi’s voice questioning the two women, then her low chuckle.

A moment later, she appeared on the bridge, “K’atini!”* She said laughing, and walked away.

“Wow, I was expecting something more austere, this ship sure is posh.” The Captain said looking around at the luxuriously appointed ship.

“Sometimes we tote ambassadors around,” Kira said. “They don’t appreciate sleeping in converted cargo holds.”

“I guess not.” Her eyes took in the state of the art terminals and trimmed leather seats. Even the crew quarters were nice. Kira introduced Rusk and T7-01. The smuggler’s droidese was a little rusty but she believed the astromech said, “Be good.” They returned to their duties and the final member of the crew introduced himself.

“I’m Doc.” He said with his most winsome smile. “So you’re going to be our Jedi for a while.” He stepped closer his eyes traveling slowly up and down her body. “I have to warn you, the Remi and I are a bit of an item.” He said stepping closer so that he was only inches away from the Captain. “Not exclusive of course.” He amended quickly. “But if you want to be convincing, we should get acquainted. You know, so no one gets suspicious.”

Nosc batted her lashes and smiled. “Doc is it?” She asked stroking the lapel of his coat. He nodded leaning closer. “First of all, if the Jedi has a type I know you’re not it.” She looked straight into his eyes. “Second, I have friends on Balmorra, I know all about you Archiban.” She poked his chest. “So don’t even think of trying to con me.”

Doc raised his hands in surrender and backed away grinning, “Can’t blame a guy for trying.” He said heading back to his medical bay.

“Hey.” Nosc called after him. The doctor paused turning to look at the captain. The smuggler put a hand on her hip and smiled coyly. “That wasn’t a ‘No’.”

Scourge and Kira were in the galley getting lunch when Rusk walked in and handed Kira a packet of dessert rations. The sound of falling boxes and breaking glass emerged from the medical bay on the far side of the ship.

“He bet it would take six minutes once Doc met the Captain. I bet three. I won.” Kira explained waiving the packet in the air.

Scourge glanced at the amused pair. “Was that to begin or to finish?” He asked. He grabbed the ration bars he had come for and left without waiting for an answer. He could still hear their laughter when he arrived at his quarters.

“So, do you always do your Jedi’s laundry?” Nosc asked perching on a storage container. She was watching the Sith Lord fix a piece of plated armor. Judging by the size it was not his. He tested the joins for strength and set the piece aside. He ignored her question.

“Tell me about her. What’s she like?”

“She takes her task seriously.” He answered, switching to a pair of boots. He disassembled each boot and began replacing the parts.

“Really? She didn’t look so serious. She looked kind of cheerful.” Nosc thought back to the Council meeting. “Kind of a prankster. She sure irked the Council.”

“She is those things as well.”

“What do you call her?”

“Jedi.”

“You never use her name?”

“No.”

“So what’s it like when you two go on a mission?”

“She is efficient and does not chatter incessantly.”

“What about when she playing negotiator?”

“She lets others speak while she listens.”

“So, all these years and you two never talk?” Nosc wondered why the Jedi would bring the Sith Lord anywhere. Maybe there was some hidden tension.

“I speak to her when I wish to impart information but she does not pester me with questions.”

“Ahh, so she lets you give it to her whenever you want but she never asks for it?” Nosc asked. She enjoyed trying to get under the Sith Lord’s skin. She had a feeling the people around him were a little too respectful.

The Sith Lord turned to face Nosc. “Your attempt to illicit a response is crude but with the right training you would make a decent interrogator. I could arrange it.”

“Training where?”

“Dromund Kaas.”

Nosc changed the subject, “So you know that your Jedi is walking into a trap, probably set specifically to kill me right?” Going to the meeting would have been fatal for her, but not attending would have been a sign of weakness. Overall, she stood to profit greatly from the Jedi taking her place but she felt a little guilty, but not guilty enough to stop them or turn down the credits.

“Yes.” Even without the force, she could sense his rage though his expression did not change.

“Couldn’t your Jedi explain that to the Council?”

“She did. Then she accepted their plan anyway.”

“Why?”

“She said it needed to be done.”

“I’d never have done that for someone I didn’t know.”

“Clearly.”

“So what’s so special about your Jedi? Why’s the Empire after her?”

“She defeated the Emperor.”

Nosc stared at the Sith Lord in shock. “She’s that Jedi? Really?”

“Yes.”

“I only heard rumors about that. How come no one knows about her? Man, if I did that I wouldn’t be playing negotiator to nobodies on Tatooine. I certainly wouldn’t be under cover on Nar Shadaa.”

“Shocking.”

“I would travel the galaxy first class. Have every capital city in the Republic renamed after me. Let people have parades and throw gifts at my feet.” Nosc shook her head at the missed opportunities for fame and wealth.

He frowned at her, “Jedi don’t do that.”

K'atini - "Suck it up!"

Captain Nosc regarded the envoys with what she thought was a serene gaze. Her eyes partially closed and her nose in the air. Scourge thought she looked like she was about to sneeze. Aside from her expression she looked like Remi, he had refitted some of Remi’s armor with lighter metals, they offered little protection but they looked exactly like the real thing.

“Mayor Klerren,” Nosc said in an overly slow monotone voice. Scourge clenched his jaw, she knew very well that Remi never spoke that way. “It’s a pleasure to be here in Anchorhead.”

“It’s an honor to have you Master Jedi,” the mayor beamed not noticing the smugglers odd cadence. “We are glad you are here to oversee this meeting,” he seemed a bit nervous, “May I introduce envoys Rockbone of the Exchange and Skully of the Twin Suns.” The two gangsters were accompanied by three large bruisers that tried to look menacing until Lord Scourge squinted at them. Then they all studied their shoes.

Captain Nosc inclined her head at the two with a small smile.

“I’m not sure what a Jedi can do for us.” Rockbone said, “Seems you’re just here to meddle.”

“Not exactly,” Nosc replied, she recited from memory the terms the Republic was willing to offer both Anchorhead and the surrounding criminal gangs if they could come up with an agreement to defend each other. The Republic could not afford to station many troops permanently in such an out-of-the-way sector but it was willing to provide supplies to the town and the gangsters if they could defend themselves against the Imperials or cast them out altogether. “That is what the Republic can offer you,” Nosc concluded, “What can you do for Anchorhead?”

The Twin suns envoy nodded taking up the thread, “All we want is a mutual assistance pact, the Empire is spreading out on Tatooine and that’s not good for any of us. If they hit Anchorhead, we’ll do what we can to help, if they hit us, you let us hide out here with you. That’s all we want.”

“That’s all?” Nosc asked slowly.

“Well,” Skully said reluctantly, “in order for us to help defend the town, we’d have to be able to come and go without the local lawmen getting in our way which includes unlimited use of the spaceport. We also want to set up defenses in the wastes. Mutual defenses of course.”

“Of course.” She agreed, “What do you think of this Mayor Klerren.” Scourge was heartily tired of her fake monotone but since the words she had spoken were not out of character, he said nothing and saved his glare for the other criminals.

“We’re not exactly comfortable with unlimited use of the spaceport, and what kind of defenses will you build in the wastes? We have speeders that go through there, I wouldn’t want your defenses to harm friendlies.”

“You don’t trust us Mayor? How can we work with you without trust?” Rockbone said with obviously feigned disappointment, “I’m afraid this agreement can’t go forward.” He stood and so did Skully.

The Mayor looked desperately at ‘Remi’ for help. Nosc looked serenely down her nose at Rockbone and Skully, “Please sit, gentlemen.” She smiled, Scourge glared, they sat, “Trust must go both ways, we must all trust each other to work together effectively, for instance the leader of the Exchange on Tatooine must trust that part of his shipments of spice are not being diverted to a safehouse in the Dune Sea.” Rockbone froze and stared at the Nosc. “And the Twin Suns leader must trust that the profits from his slave trade are being accurately reported.” Nosc was the Boss of Bosses, she kept track of everyone's dealings but she rarely used the information.

“Are you,” Rockbone began with disbelief, “Are you trying to black mail us?”

“Of course not.” Nosc answer with a sidelong glance at Scourge, “Jedi don’t do that. Those are just small examples of the trust we all require to survive.” Nosc raised an eyebrow. “Now, since we do not have as much trust as we would like, why don’t we start out small? How about mutual defense and shelter if the Imperials come, but only limited spaceport access, monitored of course, and the Anchorhead security forces will install defenses in the wastes?”

Both gangsters stared at the Jedi, this was not what they had expected. “Sure, Jedi. We’ll start out small, I’m sure once we all start working together the trust will be there.”

Mayor Klerren smiled with relief. “I’m so glad, we’ll draw up a contract on those terms and send it to your leaders for approval.”

Nosc inclined her head very slightly and smiled.

The gangsters got up to leave, they exchanged a glance and Lord Scourge sensed something passing between them. He put his hand on his lightsaber, he noticed Nosc had placed her left hand on the blaster she hid in her boot. Her right hand remained on the table.

“Just one thing,” Skully said. “You don’t talk much like any kind of Jedi I heard of. I’m kind of worried you aren’t who you say you are.”

Mayor Klerren’s eyes bulged, “Master Remi is one of the most famed Jedi in the galaxy. She’s here on the direct order of the Council.”

“Come on,” Rockbone said grinning, “we don’t get to see force tricks where we come from, pull out your lightsaber or wave your hand and make us agree with you.”

Scourge stood and drew his lightsaber.

“Not him, we know he’s Sith,” Skully said doing his best not to look terrified. “We’re kind of worried that you’re really a spy from the Empire. After all, the only one we see using the force is him.”

For the first time, Mayor Klerren inspected Nosc more closely, Scourge cursed inwardly, if the Mayor started to question, this whole thing would fall apart. He personally did not care if this farce of a defense pact failed, but he did not want to fail his mission.

Nosc was staring at Skully, he was obviously the braver of the two. She had dropped all pretense of serenity, and remained silent, her eyes burned a hole in the gangsters head.

“Master Remi,” Mayor Klerren said diffidently, “I don’t think it would be too much to ask for a small display of your powers.” Skully smiled.

Scourge felt an odd collecting of rage, he looked at Nosc curiously, she clenched her fist, Skully rose off his feet, trapped in her force choke. “Jedi don’t use their powers unless it’s necessary, the Force is not a parlor trick.” She said through clenched teeth. She dropped Skully to the floor, the man gasped for his breath and his guards helped him to his feet.

Mayor Klerren’s smile was strained but he looked a little relieved. “Well I hope that settles things?” He looked at the gangsters. They nodded grudgingly. “We’ll begin drawing up contracts, tomorrow we’ll meet again to work out details.”

The Mayor and the gangsters left the room, Nosc resumed her mask of serenity and they bid her farewell. Once they were gone and the door closed, she collapsed grabbing her head.

“I’m going to have a headache for the rest of my life.” She said with her eyes squeezed shut. Scourge stared at her, he opened his senses, he had not bothered to do so with her before. He could sense her connection to the Force was thin and brittle. She would not be able to repeat what she had done for a long time if ever. Finally, she peered up at him grinning through her headache. “Not a bad Jedi-trick huh?”

He shook his head at her, “Jedi don’t do that.”

The gangsters walked out to their waiting speeders, Skully opened his comm, a holograph of a cloaked figure appeared. “Tell Ebon we got confirmation, it’s her.”

“Are you certain?” The cloaked figured asked.

“Yeah,” Skully said rubbing his neck, “we’re certain, we’ll start sending our people in, you be ready once we got them pinned.” He disconnected the call, glad that the Jedi was going to die today.

Remi and Corso waited at a cantina on the Promenade. They waited to receive the final coordinates for the meeting place. Corso ordered drinks for them.

“I don’t drink,” Remi whispered.

“The Captain does, just hold onto it or it’ll look weird.” Corso assured her.

“Hey Captain,” a smiling seedy looking Twilek called out to her. He held up a large coin.

“What does that mean?” Remi said eyeing the Twilek.

“He wants you to shoot the coin out of the air. Everyone loves that trick.” Corso said in an undertone.

“The Captain can do that?” She asked impressed.

“Hey Marty,” Corso called out, “Captain’s not in the mood for games right now.”

“Come on,” the Twilek said still smiling only now it looked forced, “Just one.” Every head in the cantina watched them.

“Great,” Remi muttered under her breath. She made the Captain face she had been practicing and nodded at the Twilek. He grinned and tossed the coin in the air. Remi drew her blaster, she had practiced that much, and fired several shots. She focused on the bolts and the coin, each bolt hit the coin in succession flipping it through the air, her hand twitched just slightly as the coin bounced off the jukebox and went in. The room erupted into cheers. Remi bowed to the Cantina with a cocky smile.

“Hope they don’t ask the Captain to do that again.” Corso said knocking back the rest of his drink.

Marty walked toward them, he handed Remi a datachip and walked away. She pursed her lips, they were testing her identity in a way that could not ordinarily be forged. This meeting had been carefully constructed. She loaded the chip into her datapad, the meeting was to be held in a large warehouse.

Remi reached out with the force as far as her senses could detect. She felt no dark presence. If Lord Ebon was to be at this meeting, he had not yet arrived. She knew this was a trap, from experience and intuition. The only thing she did not know was how it would be sprung. She glanced at Corso, she wished she could have convinced him to stay behind. He was a good fighter, but he really was better off beside his Captain, only fighting battles where they stood a chance.

Corso scanned the room from behind his helmet, he knew this was a trap, they knew that when they received the invitation. The Captain was not stupid, she would rather lose her status as Boss of Bosses than die trying to maintain it. Now here he was, with a Jedi, in an obvious trap. He knew the Jedi was a good fighter, but he had to wonder if he would have been better off at his Captain’s side, the Captain only picked fights where they stood a chance.

They heard a comm beeping. It was not theirs, they moved forward cautiously and found a large holo projector. Remi’s lips twisted, this was the trap. She looked at Corso to see if he was ready, he nodded, she answered the call.

A large Sith appeared ringed by the gang leaders that were supposed to be at the meeting.

“Captain Nosc,” he greeted, “I am Darth Ebon.” Remi’s heart sank, if the Sith they were pursuing was a Darth and not a Lord as they had thought, then their information on him was very poor. “I apologize that we cannot be there to greet you in person, but we have sent representatives to give you a warm welcome.”

Remi felt darkness at the edge of her senses, a pair of Sith entered the warehouse. They were followed by a dozen or more mercenaries.

“You see, you are tremendously hard to kill Captain,” Darth Ebon continued, “the other crime bosses wanted some help. I agreed to arrange a meeting with you and provide two of my own soldiers that you cannot hope to withstand.”

“Yeah?” she said trying to feign the Captain’s moxie, “What do you get out of this?”

“Your esteemed colleagues are going to help me overwhelm and take out a little problem of my own, on Tatooine.” Remi felt a chill run down her spine. “But that is none of your concern, goodbye Captain, and thank you for coming.” The transmission ended, Remi did not give the two Sith time to draw their sabers.

Corso watched as the Jedi went from standing next to him to leaping halfway across the warehouse. She cut down one of the Sith when she landed and battled the other without missing a beat. He had never seen anyone move that fast. He found a barricade and laid down cover fire so the mercenaries could not get a shot on the Jedi while she fought the Sith. In the next breath the second Sith went down, but more and more mercenaries poured in.

He tried his best to maintain focus but he was distracted. He had heard the conversation with the Sith, Darth Ebon was going to Tatooine, the Captain pretending to be the Jedi was on Tatooine. It could not be a coincidence. A shot made it through his shield generator, his shoulder went numb, he looked up and saw the sniper. He fired a few shots one handed and managed to take the man down. The wave of mercenaries poured in, Remi fought tirelessly, leaping between groups taking down two or three men at a time, still they came. Another shot pierced his shield.

“Remi!” he called out to warn her that he was going down, he could no longer cover her. If you fail her, you die. The Sith Lord’s voice echoed in his head. It was the last thing he thought of before the blackness took him.

Remi reached for the Force. She sensed it waiting, the power of the light; it flowed around her wanting to help her, she opened herself to it. Her eyes glowed white. She fought tirelessly, fear and pain could not touch her. A familiar voice yelled her name, concentration broken she turned in time to see Corso go down. She rushed to stand over him, blocking the blaster fire with her lightsaber; he did not get up. Mercenaries poured in at the end of the warehouse. She looked at the man at her feet; she could not leave him, she was trapped and alone.

Alone, it seemed familiar, a distant memory she could not reach, as if it belonged to someone else. The memory flashed too quickly to be caught, leaving behind a burst of emotions.

Fear, her connection to the light faltered, she grasped for it but her turmoil only pushed it further away.

Pain, a shot slipped through her guard glancing off her thigh. She clenched her teeth trying to focus on her defense, the blaster bolts were not letting up.

Anger, I knew this was a trap, I warned the council. The pain in her leg slowed her movement; once again, she reached for the Force. She sensed it waiting, but it was not the light. It swirled around her, dark and chaotic; it tasted of smoke and death. It rushed to her eagerly asking to be used, asking to use her, as the mercenaries saw their opening and charged.

Hate, senseless mindless violence, these men driven only by greed and lust for power. You want power? Remi inhaled the darkness, feeling it scorch her throat and lungs. Have some. She channeled a blast of rage catching the first wave of mercenaries. Some of them were flung backward, most of them simply fell, all of them died. Her eyes glowed red and she leaped into the next wave.

Darkness.

She is somewhere else. A young Jedi adding her strength to attack the Emperor, she fails. Death is too good for her; she is not allowed to return to the Force. The Emperor twists her mind as he had done to countless before. The image swirls away.

She is someone else. A young Sith acolyte waits in the middle of an empty arena, alone. Several other acolytes watch from the stands above the pit. The overseer calls out something to them, they laugh. She turns slowly studying them. She feels their hatred, but it is petty and thin, it would not make them stronger. She completes her turn, these Sith all young, weak, and stupid, except one. He is not an acolyte, there was no telling his age; from him she feels nothing, but he watches her constantly, measuring, calculating. The other acolytes avoid him she meets his gaze fearlessly.

The far gate opens a company of captured mercenaries file out. They wear mismatched armor provided by their captors, they wield standard Imperial blaster rifles. She turns to asses her challengers. Their task is simple, kill the Sith and they can go free; gullible. They stand apart but not in formation; they were captured individually. Their attention is focused forward, they make no effort to communicate; there is no leader among them. From the front line, she feels arrogance, from the back, she feels fear; the fools die first, the cowards last. They charge hoping to take her in a rush. She snorts derisively flourishing her lightsaber as she waits for them to get within shooting range.

She leaps high, clearing their first wave of fire. They adjust their shooting angle but she moves too quickly. An errant bolt hits an acolyte standing above the arena instead. She lands on top of a man wearing a battered trooper helm. It does not save him; the Force of her fall breaks his neck. She crouches low, letting the fools shoot their comrades in panic. She feeds on their pain converting it to raw power as she lashes out with a wave of Force. Another line falls. She rushes forward, there are still many. She leaps again, they expect her to avoid being surrounded but she welcomes it taking their blasters and numbers out of the equation using their bodies as shields. Spinning, slashing, and leaping, the only dance she has ever known. The mercenaries fall, and now there are few.

The last two mercenaries attempt to flee. There would be no escaping the arena but their panic overwhelms them. She throws her lightsaber at the closest. It spins through the air cutting through his helmet and his hastily thrown up arm before returning to her hand. She strides toward the last man. He reaches the end of arena and pounds on the door. He jumps desperately; his hands scrape at the smooth walls as he tries to climb out. He slips, the fall knocks his helmet off, and it spins away from him. He slithers toward it on his belly, crying and begging for his life. She walks up to his pitiful form, her odd yellow eyes study him, she gestures with her hand snapping his neck. The door opens.

She walks out of the arena; forty-five mercenaries and one acolyte do not.

Remi blinked looking around; the warehouse was dark and silent. She rushed to Corso heedless of the bodies that lay strewn around her, he groaned, still unconscious. He’s not dead. Relief swept over her. She knelt beside him and gave him the last of the kolto; the smell of blood and death was oppressive. She closed her eyes to center herself reaching for the Force. It flowed around and through her. The whirling darkness retreated satisfied for now.

They limped out of the warehouse; fifty mercenaries did not.

Remi’s holocommunicator beeped as they reached the relative safety of the speeder terminal. “Remi,” Risha said without preamble. “I hope your meeting is over we need you back on the ship, the Captain’s in trouble.”

“I know.” Remi said and disconnected the call. She helped Corso into the back of the speeder. “Spaceport, hurry.” She said shortly. The Evocii driver nodded subserviently and guided the vehicle into traffic. They headed to the Nar Shadaa spaceport, Remi wondered if they were already too late.

On board the XS Freighter, Remi contacted the Jedi Council. “Master Kavil, the meeting was a setup. Lord Ebon is planning an attack on Tattooine. There’s an army of Exchange and Black Sun heading to Anchorhead, the Captain and my crew are in trouble.”

“Calm yourself Master Remi. We received a distress signal from the Captain. The Republic is dispatching additional troops to Anchorhead as we speak.” Relief flooded through Remi, she sagged against the console.

“How long until they touch down?” she asked, knowing every minute would count.

“Two days.” She heard gasps behind her as the crew listened in. That would never be in time.

“Two days?” She repeated in disbelief. “Are they walking? Anchorhead will be overrun in two days. You said you’d have back up ready for them if it was needed!”

“The criminals have set up anti-air defenses in the wastes. We can’t just land forces at the spaceport.” He replied. That means the Scourge and the others can’t escape either. Remi thought.

“The citizens have been instructed to evacuate to their dwellings, we believe they can hold out until reinforcements arrive. We need you to return to Tython to give your full report.” Master Kavil continued blithely. “I know you are worried about your friends, but the Republic army can handle their rescue.” That’s a lie. Remi seethed. My friends are just expendable to you.

“As you wish Master.” Remi bowed to the holograph and cut the transmission.

“We’re not really going to Tython are we?” Corso asked, he looked tired and battered, but he hefted his rifle in challenge. The rest of the crew moved to surround her.

“We are,” she said through clenched teeth. “After we save our friends.” The crew relaxed, they had not wanted to mutiny against the Jedi, but they would rather die on the ship than abandon their Captain. “How long till we arrive.”

“Two days,” Risha replied without having to calculate. “Even in this ship we’ll never get there in time.”

Remi stalked to the navi-console and tapped in a new route, a fast Hyperspace route between Nar Shadaa and Tattooine. The Order had discovered it and kept it on an astrogation computer; it sat in the ruins of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, until Remi helped recover it. Giving the route to a band of smugglers was not exactly treason, but she was sure she would be reprimanded. They can just add it to the list. She thought grimly.

Risha studied the new coordinates. “Four hours, she announced.” The rest of the crew ran off to prepare.

“Do you have a way for me to get to the surface through the anti-air?” Remi asked.

Risha smiled with none of her usual cheer, “Yeah, we call it the XS Freighter Flyby.”

***

The doctor worked furiously running back and forth between his patients. They had fallen back to the spaceport in Anchorhead. He set up a triage center behind the Defender in the open-air hangar. His patients were made up of the civilians that could not make it to their homes or those who chose to stand and fight instead. The group was pinned down by anti-air guns and an army of hardened criminals.

“What the stars are they after?” Captain Nosc asked. She was dressed as the Jedi Master Remi. She was supposed to be a decoy but she was not supposed to be bait.

“My guess is Remi, you better get out of those clothes.” Doc said. Kira shook her head with disgust, the doctor and smuggler had been flirting heavily for the entire mission. “For once, that’s NOT what I meant.” He snapped. His temper was always a little short when there were wounded to attend.

“I better help Scourge.” Kira said apologetically. She turned to Nosc, “He’s right, if they’re after Remi, you don’t want to look like her right now. Go change, then stay here and protect Doc and the wounded.” Kira ran off toward the Sith Lord who despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered was keeping the thugs in a bottleneck at the hangar door. Rusk lay down cover fire.

Lord Scourge fought the seemingly endless wave of thugs and criminals. His Soresu form had improved since he met the Jedi. He had watched her both as a Jedi and as a Sith. She was a gifted duelist, sparring with her gave him insights into martial skills that he had not learned in the more than three centuries before she was born. He saw an opening and switched to Shien form taking down a wave of assailants using their own blasters against them.

Kira arrived, fighting beside him, she could not compare to the Jedi but her abilities were sufficient. The criminal’s numbers began to thin. They soon discovered it was not due to their success; the criminals were allowing someone through.

A powerful Sith and his three apprentices appeared; the wave of thugs parted to let them through then closed behind them. “The Emperor’s Wrath and the Emperor’s Daughter defending the Emperor’s assassin.” Darth Ebon laughed. His mouth formed a rictus in a gruesome parody of mirth. He gestured sending lightning at Kira. She caught the energy with the tip of her lightsaber but the pain sent her staggering backwards. His apprentices rushed forward forcing Scourge and Kira to retreat.

Doc had just finished tending to a moisture farmer with blaster wounds when three Exchange mercenaries unstealthed in behind him. Without hesitation, Doc spun around drawing his blaster and shot the first two thugs before they were fully visible. The third, a giant Nautilan wearing heavy armor slapped his pistol aside. “Where’s the Jedi?” The mercenary demanded knocking Doc off his feet with the butt of his rifle. Doc scuttled backward under the rows of tables set up for patients. The Nautilan followed him laughing. Doc reached the end of the row; his hands scrabbled under a table pulling it over him to use as a shield. The Nautilan laughed again, “I can shoot you through the table little man.”

“Great idea,” Doc said, blasting the Nautilan with a scattergun he had hidden there. The powerful shot sent shrapnel through the table into the alien’s face.* The mercenary went down and did not rise. The doctor stood up grabbing his blaster from where it fell.

Nosc did not like fighting large groups, especially not alone, she used every dirty trick she had to keep the thugs from overwhelming her. Finally, two of the men fell from their wounds; the last, she shot in the face with her scattergun while he was distracted by the loss of his comrades. Doc ran to her side surveying the fight. One of the apprentices was down but now they had changed their tactics trying to separate Scourge and Kira. The Darth had been focusing on Scourge when suddenly he whirled and hit Kira with lightning. Unprepared the lightning picked her up and threw her like a ragdoll, her lightsaber fell from her grasp. The apprentices saw their opportunity and closed in.

Cursing, Lord Scourge leaped over the Darth Ebon and threw his lightsaber at the nearest apprentice. Too intent on the disarmed and wounded Jedi, the apprentice did not see the spinning saber until it was too late. His saber cut down the apprentice and returned to his hand just in time for Scourge to block the Darth’s next attack. The second apprentice still loomed over Kira, Scourge would not be able to save her.

Doc had already started running when he saw Kira go down. He had no idea what he was doing charging a Sith. He tackled the hooded man simultaneously stabbing him in the chest with a syringe. They fell to the ground, Doc backed up quickly, stumbling on the dusty ground, his heart pounding. The apprentice lay frozen by the fast acting paralytic. Doc grabbed Kira under the arms and dragged her toward the triage area. Once there he frantically checked her wounds administering kolto and adrenals. He alternated between checking her pulse and hugging her trying to get her to regain consciousness. Finally, her eyes fluttered open.

“Doc?” Kira asked trying to sit up. Nosc and Doc both held her down. “What happened?”

“I saved your life beautiful,” Doc said trying to keep his voice from shaking. “That means you owe me a date.”

***

The Sith apprentice recovered from the paralytic Doc had administered. He joined his master against Scourge. The thugs had wised up and used heavy plated shields so they could push through the hangar doors. The Darth cast a surge of lightning at Scourge, he caught it with his saber but was driven to one knee. “They keep coming,” Nosc said, panic thick in her throat. “Why the stars do they want your Jedi so badly?”

Doc opened his mouth to answer but it was drowned out by the scream of engines. Nosc’s eyes widened with horror as the XS Freighter made a suicidal dive over the spaceport; if they were fast they would beat the anti-air guns, if not they were dead. They were lower than their usual run and coming in hotter than she expected.

Remi waited at the cargo door; the wind lashed at her robes and stung her eyes. She watched the spaceport and the ground rush toward them. The fighters within resolved from a blur, to specs, to dots, to tiny fighting men. She leaped.

Nosc saw something fall; the ship roared away firing at the anti-air guns. The figure fell unnaturally. She would not call it flying but it seemed to aim itself at Darth Ebon. It landed like a meteor, cracking the ground, sending up a cloud of dust and rock. The men in the immediate vicinity were thrown off their feet including Lord Scourge. The dust cloud spread outward, Nosc could not see through it. All she could see was a whirling blue light; and where it traveled, men died.

No longer able to see their targets and finding death in a dust storm instead, the hardened mercenary army began to panic. They no longer poured into the hangar. They reversed direction, clawing and pushing as they tried to escape the spaceport.

The dust settled, the hangar entrance was empty, and Darth Ebon’s apprentice lay dead. Remi stood in a small crater poking at a tattered robe and a splatter of blood, all that remained of Darth Ebon. She trudged to the triage area, glad to see all of her friends, including the Captain and Lord Scourge, had survived the attack.

Doc stared at the dust covered Jedi, “You,” he said, “are the craziest woman I’ve ever met.”

Remi was happy her people were safe. The XS-Freighter had taken out the anti-air guns, and the Republic military was able to land to secure Anchorhead. For a terrible plan, it seemed that everything had worked out and Remi felt nothing but relief. It was short lived. Soon after the dust had settled she began getting messages from the Council asking why she had not arrived at Tython, why she was on Tatooine, and how had she gotten there so quickly. She tried to explain her actions and suggested that she stay on Tatooine to help with the cleanup, they did not react well to her suggestions, and ordered her to report directly to Tython.

She assigned T7 and Rusk to help the locals as best they could. Kira was loaded onto a medical ship, she needed better facilities for transport than Remi’s ship could provide, and Doc refused to leave her, not that Remi would ask him to. She returned to her ship and plotted a course back to Tython, in a fit of childish resentment, she plotted a long course, and it would take a week to get there.

She planned to lock herself in her quarters until she arrived but when she stepped into her room, she had to blink several times and check her position on the ship to make sure she was in the right place. The room was a mess, datapads were knocked off the shelves, the shelves themselves were broken, and the bed looked like it had been through a war. Remi remembered Nosc’s bed on her own ship, she shuddered and left the room.

After asking C2 to clean up, Remi grabbed a few bedrolls out of storage and made a comfortable hiding place out of crates in the cargo bay. She passed the time with a portable holo-projector that streamed old footage of sparring matches and masters demonstrating different fighting styles. She heard the comm beeping in the distance but she did not want to answer it.

She lay on her nest of blankets thinking about everything that had happened. They did not learn anything except that their intelligence on Darth Ebon was bad, she had to kill him rather than capture him, another loss of information. She had to kill many people, and she had to admit, she could not remember how she had killed them. She shuddered.

She stayed that way for a day or two, losing track of time. C2 informed her that her quarters were clean but she ignored him, she was comfortable where she was. She heard someone enter the cargo bay and the crates she had stacked around her began to shift. There was only one other person on the ship, but she had assumed Lord Scourge would leave her alone. She frowned as her crate fortress was invaded by the Sith.

Lord Scourge looked down at the Jedi, he had left her alone for three days. He assumed she would recover from whatever malaise had affected her and go back to being herself. It seemed she intended to sulk behind cargo boxes until they arrived on Tython.

He was curious about something he had sensed, when she jumped from the ship he felt a raw surge of the dark side energy. It was probably the energy released when the Darth was killed, but the Sith called Ebon had not seemed that powerful when he fought. He opened his senses, Remi’ power was nothing but light. It was not as sickening as light usually felt, but no darkness shadowed her. He did sense something strange but he could not identify it.

“What are you doing?” he asked when she continued to ignore him.

“Watching fight demonstrations.” She answered dully not looking up.

“You are sulking.” He accused crossing his arms.

“That too.” She agreed. The current fight playing ended and she leaned forward to start the next video, he caught sight of her foot. She was wearing a Jedi robe but she was not wearing boots or leggings, her foot was covered in purple bruises. The strange feeling he had sensed in her was pain.

He knelt beside her and grabbed her ankle before she could react, he pushed her robe aside revealing that her legs were covered with red and purple bruises up to her knees. She tried to move her leg away but he felt the pain spike again.

“What is this?” he demanded.

“They’re bruises,” she stated the obvious, when he continued to stare at her she continued, “You can’t jump from that high and not expect to take some damage, nothing’s broken now let go,” she said angrily.

“Why did you not seek medical attention?” He did not relinquish her ankle.

“It’s not that bad, it just looks bad, other people were hurt worse.” She clenched her teeth.

He tightened his grip causing a surge of pain. “What if you had to fight? You would be at a disadvantage.”

Tears ran down her cheeks, she began calling on the force to block the pain, she did it so quickly Scourge only noticed when the pain he sensed in her ebbed. “We’re going directly to Tython,” she said, “The only person to fight here is you.”

“Yes, me.” He agreed, “Or did you think that was impossible?”

She looked shocked then her eyes flashed with anger and she did the unexpected, he had no time to move. She reached out and grabbed the ring he wore around one of his face tendrils. With enough pressure and the right twist, she could rip the fleshy skin off his face.

“Mutilated for the rest of your immortal life,” she said staring into his eyes, “What do you think?”

He smiled at her threat and let go of her ankle but not before saying, “You should put kolto on this, unless you enjoy feeding off the pain.” Only the dark side could feed off pain, the idea amused him.

She let go of his face and turned back to her holovid. “I gave most of our medical supplies to the Mayor.” Her voice held no emotion, as if they had not been threatening each other a moment before. “A lot of innocent people were hurt when the mercenaries retreated.”

Scourge snorted with disgust and left her alone.

Remi held up her foot and looked at her leg. She had been rather perversely enjoying the pain. She felt sorry for herself and angry with the Council and she wanted a good reason to feel bad so there it was. She wondered if Scourge would really attack her, the Emperor was probably dead, she was a Jedi, he was a Sith. She had gotten to a comfortable point trusting him, perhaps too comfortable. She put her foot back down and switched to another demonstration, it was one of her favorites, an almost comical style of fighting.

Scourge returned, this time she looked at him to make sure he was not going to attack her. He held a few rolls of soft bandages. He knelt, picked up her foot, and began wrapping her leg slowly from the ankle up.

“This will keep the swelling down, it’s what barbarians without proper medical facilities do.” His hands were surprisingly gentle, Remi found herself flushing and she was not sure if it was from his touch or the gesture. She never reacted this way when Doc patched her up.

“Fitting,” she said looking away, realizing what she was feeling, panic started to build, if he sensed it he would humiliate her, she focused on the pain hiding her feelings behind it.

He picked up her other foot and repeated the procedure. The bruises on her landing leg went halfway up her thigh. She bit her lip, willing herself not to pull away, he would know why, his mockery would hurt worse than anything she had endured recently. She stared at a spot on the wall. He finished securing the bandage and released her.

“Your plan is to stay here and watch holovids until we arrive at Tython?” She was relieved to see he had not noticed her reaction to his touch.

Thinking about Tython and facing the Council drove out any other thoughts. She rubbed her eyes tiredly. “My plan is to stay here until the Jedi Council hauls me out and demotes me to Least Senior Temple Archive Trash Receptacle Cleaner.”

Scourge sat beside her, “You would do that?”

She sighed, thinking it over wondering when Scourge had become her conscience. Finally, she gave up on the idea that she could lay there and peacefully feel sorry for herself, “No, I’m a Jedi, and Jedi don’t do that.” She leaned over to turn off the holovid but he stopped her.

“What’s this one?” He asked settling next to her with his back against the wall.

Her brows knit but she answered, “It’s Form of the Guid, developed by one of Master Silvarte’s students. He studied the Guids of Tython and developed the technique based on their movements.”

“It is clumsy and slow,” he said with a scowl, “I see no point in this Form.”

Remi raised an eyebrow, “It’s really funny to watch.”

He shook his head, “What else do you have? Do not watch this, you will pick up bad habits, look at him how he lumbers. Pathetic.”

She put her head back and laughed, the look he gave her seemed pleased that she was no longer sulking. She switched to another, a recording older than he was, “Master Kavar and Zez-Kai Ell, Juyo form.”

“Yes, much better.” He agreed watching with his arms crossed.

She smiled and sat back watching the fighting masters of past and present with the Sith Lord. She would never understand why he chose to be kind but she was glad he did, and she wondered what she would do without him.

Remi's pretty boring as Nosc mentioned. Her life consists of Meditating, Training, Studying Tactics, and Fighting.

I wondered what she would do for comfort, first step, build a nest and a fort, second step, watch the Jedi/Starwars equivalent to Kung Fu movies.

This is also the last part of the original story that I was writing about Remi, then Remi the Grey kind of fell out of it.

Remi steeled herself for battle. T7 was recovering, his systems would take a few minutes to restart, but one of his wheels were missing and he would have trouble moving. She centered her mind so that she would only feel the calm of the light side. She stepped forward cautiously, knowing the faintest sound could signal her approach. Her quarry faced away dismantling a metal box. The floor creaked, she cursed silently, the Sith turned his head, his eyes widened when he saw her. The metal box rose in the air and hurled itself at Remi. She dodged and used the force to ground the object so it could not rise again, she sped forward grasping hold of his arm. An eardrum-shattering scream wrenched itself from his lips.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.” Remi ducked shielding herself and the Sith as a rain of objects rose in the air and were flung at her.

Koa hated bath time.

Now that she had him, he wriggled in her arms, kicking and punching. His Sith pureblood skeleton was of a much higher density than a human. He head butted her, she already had a split lip, and now he gave her a black eye to match.

They were living in Scourge’s suite on Nar Shaddaa, it had been six months since they defeated the Emperor and Remi was almost fully recovered from the ordeal, physically at least. The first few months had been blissful, Koa had been sweet and quiet, mother and son bonded immediately. Even better, he bonded with Scourge. He almost never cried and holding him close was enough to chase the nightmares that still haunted Remi away.

Then Lord Ninka called with a request. She had reorganized the Imperial Guard to serve the Empire’s needs. She had recruited a few candidates that she thought would make for new members of the Hand. Unfortunately, they needed reassurance that Lord Ninka was not acting on her own. Lord Scourge agreed to go reluctantly. Neither he nor Remi wanted to expose their son to danger and Remi was still a Republic leaning Jedi. There was also the unspoken knowledge that the Imperial Guards were all terrified of her, having watched her sprint through their ranks cutting them down without effort simply because she was in a hurry.

After Scourge left, Remi turned around and her son seemed to have been taken by the dark side. T7 had decided to stay with her, to take care of Remi and his “nephew,” she was glad to have him. Unfortunately, he was not equipped as a nanny-droid and Remi had refused to get one, despite Scourge’s urging. Now she wanted to refuse to get one out of sheer stubbornness.

Koa screamed again and launched himself from her arms. The two year old force-leaped halfway across the palatial suite, a number of now dangerously sharp broken objects were strewn about from his previous outburst. In a panic Remi closed her eyes reaching out and caught him.

She cracked an eye open, the little Sith pureblood spun slowly floating a few feet above the floor. He looked at her almost innocently and struggled to get free. She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him. He gave her a beatific smile and burst into laughter.

Remi shook her head smiling and levitated her son to the refresher. No Emperor could defeat her.

Sometimes I wonder though if you're writing Koa too fast in perspective of the force developing....

Granted, there are so many virtual unknowns with this. How strong is Lord Scourge in the use of the force for example, and what precisely would happen were two strong force users to interact and procreate. You give us a very good idea here of at least one side of the coin concerning Force using offspring.

I'm saying that this is really good reading that gets the read thinking and asking questions.

I can see your point about his age. I thought it might be ok because at some point the Jedi made their rules where no child would be accepted for training older than four years of age. Koa is two and a half (give or take a few months), I think it stands to reason the Force starts showing up fairly early. Plus he's Sith pureblood, they're all supposed to be connected to the Force (or killed).

The other aspect of Koa is

1. His mother used the force uncontrollably during her pregnancy because she was insane.

2. The ritual that was performed on him.

Those are the two points from the Remi the Grey story, (not sure you read it)

So my plans are that Koa's early evidence of the force makes him look gifted, but the circumstances of his birth combined with his early abilities and strength will give him..... *cue ominous music dum dum dum* difficulties.

Thanks for reading!

Lord Scourge sifted through the mountain of orders and plans that had accumulated while he and Remi were on Nar Shaddaa. They only required approval, it seemed they wanted him to sign off on everything. He would have to address that, but in the meantime, he needed to ensure his son would have something to rule when he became Emperor, for the first time he was glad of the Dark Council. At the very least they kept the Empire alive, and so far, they had not thought it necessary to attack the child that all Sith knew as a their Emperor. Perhaps he served a purpose, as long as he was alive and too young to rule it would be more difficult for their rivals to step into that place. Whatever the reason, for now, Scourge was grateful.

He had hoped this visit would be short, he promised himself he would never leave Remi’s side again then as soon as they had settled he was forced to break that promise. He sighed as he finished reading another mundane order and approved it. He recognized what this was, a power struggle between Captain Isen and Lord Ninka. The Imperial Guard no longer trusted the Hand after their ranks were swiftly reduced in the last debacle, equally the Guard were used to answering directly to the Emperor not a mere Sith, even the previous Hand were supposed to be extensions of his will.

This would be trouble for Lord Ninka, he would need to find a way for her to be elevated to Darth or even more of their enemies would try to sow problems for them. One thing was certain, someone would die for forcing him to sign off on ordering cookies for the dessert rations rather than pudding.

Frustrated, he brought up his holocomm and entered a frequency. After a few seconds a somewhat familiar face appeared, familiar because it was Remi, somewhat because she had been beaten.

“What happened?” he demanded before she could speak, he started putting things away so he could rush back to her.

“Huh?” she replied then she realized what she must look like, “Oh, everything’s fine, don’t panic.”

“Who hurt you?” his anger shook the items on the top of his desk, several civilian workers outside his office experienced difficulty breathing.

“A Sith pureblood with a strong connection to the force attacked me.” She replied innocently then her lips twisted wryly, “He’s exactly like his father.”

He stared at Remi’s black eye, split lip, and face full of scratches. “Our son did that?”

She laughed, it was happy and without pain or fear, “He started to act out as soon as you left, I think he misses you.”

His heart unclenched filling with pride instead, he allowed himself to say, “I miss him too, both of you.”

She smiled wider even though he knew it must hurt to do so, “How’s it going over there?”

“Tedious and ridiculous, I’m signing off on things like dessert orders and new shades of red for uniforms.”

She tilted her head to the side her mouth twitched, “Ridiculous to us, but those things are probably life altering to the average Imperial.”

He sighed, “Cookies versus pudding?”

Her eyes grew wide, “Please tell me you chose cookies, the fate of the Empire hangs in the balance.”

He mock scowled at her but he could not pretend for very long, he chuckled and wished she were with him. He felt better than he had since he arrived.

“When do you think you’ll be back?”

He scowled again, “At least a few more weeks. There are some things of actual importance to accomplish.”

She sighed, “Well work quickly ok? I miss you, and your son keeps beating me up when you’re not around.”

“Would you please get a nanny droid,” he growled, “or several of them, and put some kolto on your face. Do I have to be there to take care of you?”

“Yes,” She answered smiling. She blew him a kiss and ended the connection before their goodbye could get awkward, she knew him so well.

He went back to his unending pile of orders, Request approval to increase the size of the Imperial crest on new banners by ten percent. Shaking his head with disgust, he scheduled a meeting between the Hand and the head of the Imperial Guard on the station.

“My lord,” Captain Isen bowed.

“Scourge,” Lord Ninka nodded.

They sat at an absurdly long conference table, three people at one end of a table built to seat at least fifty. Scourge wondered if there were that many members of the Hand at some point.

He got straight to the point, “I may be immortal, but that does not mean I have centuries to approve every order for every detail of this operation.”

“My lord,” Captain Isen scowled at Lord Ninka, “I assure you that we only requested your approval on the most important matters.”

“And I assure you,” Lord Ninka smiled back sweetly, “that the orders he deemed most important were so random and illogical that it became necessary to send everything to you for approval.”

If he and Remi ever had another child, he imagined their bickering would look like this. “Enough.” He said before they could really get into their verbal sparring match. “I will not be called away from my son for these lengths of time, his training is paramount.” He stared at them equally, meeting both in the eyes. He saw humor in Lord Ninka, he saw deference but determination in Captain Isen. Aside from the squabbling, he was pleased at the will of his top two commanders.

“My lord, if I may.” Captain Isen began, Scourge nodded for him to continue, “Perhaps it would be best if the young Emperor were with you. He may be young but accustomed to his presence the Imperial Guard should be, and learning to run his Empire could not begin soon enough.”

“He’s two you idiot.” Lord Ninka scoffed, Captain Isen looked mildly offended but said nothing.

“He is right,” Scourge said to Lord Ninka’s surprise, “the next time I am called here, he will be with me.” Captain Isen looked smug until Scourge continued, “As will his mother.” At that Captain Isen successfully suppressed his desire to disparage Remi, which would be fatal, and less successfully suppressed his expression of terror. Lord Ninka hid a smile behind her hand.

“I miss Remi,” Lord Ninka said trying not to laugh. Scourge knew it was a lie, Ninka respected Remi’s strength but they were far too different to be friends.

“I would appreciate it if my approval could be reserved for matters of the highest priority, I do not think Remi would enjoy living here for long.” Captain Isen nodded reluctantly, Lord Ninka smiled at him maliciously, then nodded appreciation at Scourge.

“Now,” Scourge said, ready to discuss matters of importance, “training, recruitment, of new Guard and Hand. Captain Isen, you first.” They had a legacy to build.

Remi answered the door cautiously, lightsaber in hand, it should have been nearly impossible to reach the suite without calling from the reception desk. The man at the door was familiar but more surprising than a stranger would be, for one thing he wore civilian clothing.

“Captain?” she asked.

“No longer, I have left the military,” he stood at parade rest and his plain clothing somehow projected the feel of a uniform, perhaps because they were starched, pressed, and perfectly aligned.

“Come in,” Remi said opening the door and gesturing into the suite.

“Thank you,” he replied walking past her. She guided him into the living area and gestured for him to sit on a large couch while she took a seat across him. He perched stiffly at the edge of the comfortable cushions. He noted she had her lightsaber in her hand and she had not put it away.

“I have to ask,” she said without waiting for him to speak, “How did you get in here without having to call?”

His lip twitched, the building security was very good but it was staffed by living breathing people, and all people were susceptible to lies.

“Social slicing.” He replied handing her a datapad containing the exact steps he took to getting to her suite without warning, this was part of his payment for what he was about to ask.

She read the data and nodded pursing her lips, “Thank you for pointing this out.” She looked at him expectantly; she thought his latest twitch might have been a smile of satisfaction. He remembered she had been a mercenary, he knew she would expect him to ask for something.

“I have a favor to ask.”

“My lord,” Captain Pierce saluted.

“Captain,” Scourge acknowledged, “how goes the training?”

“Not bad, Imperial Guard are a bit set in their ways, strong and skilled but not terribly imaginative.” He grinned. “We’ll get em whipped into shape.” Pierce avoided asking about Remi and Koa, he knew it would just pain the Sith lord that they were far away. It was one of the things Lord Scourge appreciated about the man.

“Where are the rest of your former crewmates?”

“Well you know about Jaesa, since she’s still here. Vette’s getting ready to take some time off, I think she fancies that Jedi-pilot,” he snickered, “Broonmark just asks for missions to go kill things, we try to keep him happy, Quinn quit the military and went off to find himself or some rubbish like that.” He snorted derisively.

“Are you keeping tabs on him?” He knew Pierce did not trust Quinn, it was another thing Lord Scourge appreciated about the man.

Another grin, this time almost gleeful, “Turned out I didn’t have to, Lord Ninka assigned the Imperial Guard to have a man watch him at all times.”

“Good,” Scourge was pleased Lord Ninka had not been fooled by the former Captain’s change of heart mid-battle. “Let us see your trainees, shall we?”

“Right this way, my lord.”

The Imperial Guardsman hovered in mid-air. His face was red to match his armor, but now it swiftly turned blue as he clutched his throat.

“Where did you get these? What was the context? What is going on?” Lord Ninka demanded angrily, she held her hand out for a moment longer than dropped her operative on the floor.

“Our operative recorded these, my lord.” He said kneeling before her not looking up. She had to give credit to his training; he did not grovel or cry, and aside from his voice, he behaved as if she had not come close to ending his life.

Lord Ninka stared down at the recordings of Remi leaving an apartment, she looked tired but happy, she said goodbye to someone, a different angle showed the person she spoke to, Malavai Quinn. She felt a surge of absurd jealousy; she did not want Quinn anymore but the thought of him attaching himself to that Jedi. She shuddered.

“Shall I deliver this to Lord Scourge?” he asked. She considered letting the man be the fatal bearer of bad news.

“No,” she replied to the guard’s surprise. “I don’t want to jump to conclusions. I need more information. Get it for me.” He bowed and took himself away.

Lord Ninka bent her concentration on deployments and strategic objectives. Damn you, Quinn. She thought to herself, it was not the first time, nor would it be the last.

Lord Ninka arrived in time to see an Imperial Guardsman fly out of Lord Scourge’s office. She hurried in to see Lord Scourge, Pierce, and Vette standing around a holoprojector. An image of Remi smiling at Quinn as she entered his apartment was frozen in place.

“Has to be more to it than that.” Pierce said frowning at the images.

“You’re defending Quinn?” Lord Ninka asked with surprise.

“No, my lord,” Pierce looked offended, “Just Remi wouldn’t be that, uh,” he looked at her and bit back what he was going to say, “She has a son and someone better.” He finished lamely.

“Did you know about this?” Scourge asked.

“Yes, but I thought it was rather circumstantial and I wanted more detail before causing any alarm.”

“Well she did kiss him that time,” Vette tried to joke.

“She what?” Scourge asked pounding his fist on the desk leaving a dent.

“Oh you weren’t there for that,” Vette realized for the first time in her life that keeping her mouth shut was something she would have to learn. “We were all there it wasn’t personal, she was just excited that Quinn had the data so she could get to her son. It was nothing.”

Scourge looked at Lord Ninka, “How did she kiss him?”

Lord Ninka stared daggers at Vette, “On the mouth, then the cheek, but Vette’s right she was just exuberant the way she is. You know that.”

“I have never seen her kiss anyone else,” Lord Scourge pulled out his holocomm. The comm beeped for a few seconds and was answered by T7.

“Where is Remi?” He demanded.

Remi = Running errands

“What errands?”

Remi = Not tell T7

“Who is minding Koa?”

Nanny droids = Playing with Koa //

T7 = Appreciates Nanny droid superior childcare programming //

Captain Pasty Imperial = Excellent Nanny Droid programmer

“He has been to our suite?” Scourge hissed.

Captain Pasty Imperial = Visits often //

T7 = Sent away when he visits //

T7 = Annoys Captain Pasty Imperial

“You have no way to contact Remi? What if there was an emergency with Koa?”

Remi = Gave T7 emergency transponder for emergencies with Koa

“Use it, I must speak with her.”

T7 = Cannot comply

The edges of the comm device bent, Lord Ninka pried the device from Scourge’s hand so she could hold it.

“Why not?” he asked. The floor vibrated dangerously.

False emergency with Koa = Scare Remi unnecessarily //

Scared Remi = Dangerous to all life on Nar Shaddaa

The droid had a point but Lord Scourge did not have to accept it, he could get home in a few hours, he would speak with her directly. He walked away swiftly.

“Where are you going?” Lord Ninka asked, shutting down the call without saying anything to the droid.

“Home,” Scourge growled, and some of the clerks nearby fainted.

Lord Ninka looked at Pierce and Vette, when he was gone. “Try to get Quinn on the comm, we need to find out what’s going on. If he has a good explanation we can warn him to run.”

“Bloody, Quinn,” Pierce muttered.

Remi entered the suite, she was tired but she had not wanted to stop so she was home late. She drew her lightsaber sensing darkness and anger. She walked cautiously into the living area. She put away her lightsaber and beamed running forward, “You’re back early.”

Lord Scourge did not smile, his anger was terrible, and it was directed at her. For a moment, terror seized her, “Where’s Koa? Why didn’t T7 call me?”

“Koa,” Lord Scourge said evenly as his rage wrapped around her, “is with his new nanny droids,” he felt a surge of guilt from her once the terror went away. His teeth clenched. He looked her over, she looked tired but satisfied and happy. The surge of jealousy he felt almost choked him.

She looked questioningly at Scourge. “Where’s T7? What’s going on?”

“T7,” Scourge said in the same even voice, “is away on an errand and I am here to find out what is going on.”

She frowned and continued to their son’s room. She checked the reports from the droids.

At first, the droids were no match for her force-gifted son in a tantrum, but Quinn had programmed them to counter his likely attacks, now they were excellent keepers. She had wondered if he was joking when he said the nanny droids were almost as powerful as the ones he used to attack Lord Ninka. She had laughed but asked T7 check over the programming for assassination protocols, just in case.

Koa was asleep, she kissed him on the cheek still wondering what was going on and went back outside. She shut the door so they would not disturb him. She crossed her arms facing the obviously hostile audience, “Ok, what?”

Scourge loaded a datachip into the holo-projector and pressed a button. Remi saw the footage they had gathered of her and Quinn. He sensed surprise, embarrassment, guilt, and anger from her. She looked back at him, “Your conclusions, my lord?” she said sarcastically.

“I would like to hear what you have to say first.” He replied calmly.

“No you wouldn’t,” she rolled her eyes, “You’ve already jumped to your conclusions so I have nothing to say.”

“You deny it then?” he asked locking his eyes with hers, the ornaments in the suite began to shake.

“Accuse me of something,” she demanded.

He refused to say the words. He could not bear to be lied to, not by her. “Perhaps I will just kill him. I would have no need for accusations.”

“If you did, I would take Koa and leave and you would never see me again.” She stared into his eyes so that he would know she spoke the truth.

“You would do that for him?” He asked barely able to contain his anger, the tables and shelves shook.

She walked up to him, “I’d do that because you’re crazy. I have done nothing wrong.”

“Then why,” he said staring into her eyes, his face almost touching hers, “Do I feel such guilt coming from you?”

“Because I’m a mother,” she yelled in his face, “you big red jerk, I feel guilty for leaving Koa to use the refresher much less leaving him to nannies for a few hours a day.”

“And what were you doing,” he yelled back. “In his apartment and in this very suite?” He gestured at the projector.

“Healing him,” she said with exasperation.

He froze staring at her. He examined her minutely, looking at her without anger. She was exhausted and the force could not replenish her energy, there were no physical activities, even the adulterous kind, which could do that, only healing.

“Whatever the Hand did, it’s still there.” She said dully, “There are things he can’t say and if he tries it would kill him, odd ticks and memory lapses; he’s useless with those compulsions. It’s why he quit the military, I’m the only Jedi he knows, and he came to me for help.”

“Why did you not tell me what you were doing?” He asked looking bewildered.

“He asked me not to,” she said making a face. “He wouldn’t accept my help unless I promised to keep it a secret.” She sighed rubbing her eyes. She collapsed on the couch, too tired to stand and awash with emotions.

The comm beeped, Scourge answered automatically still in shock.

“Scourge,” Lord Ninka began, “I have information about that surveillance footage, I hope you haven’t spoken to Remi yet.”

“Too late,” Remi called sadly from the couch.

“Oh,” Ninka frowned, “I guess you know she’s been healing Quinn these past weeks? We have the footage from the surveillance in his apartment.”

“Why wasn’t the inside surveillance included with the original?” He asked.

“I don’t know, I’ll find out and keep you updated. I suppose for now the crisis is averted?” She asked raising an eyebrow.

“We’ll see.” Scourge said and ended the connection. He had a lot of apologizing to do, and begging, and probably a large amount of ridicule to put up with later, if she forgave him. Scourge looked down at Remi uncertain of how to begin. It occurred to him again that they had not been together long. He waited for her to say something.

A small pained smile crossed her lips, she reached for him, “Stupid Sith, get over here and greet me properly.” He took her hand and let her pull him down to the couch. He decided to worry about groveling later and kissed her the way she demanded.

She snuggled against him, “I don’t blame you for thinking I would sleep with him, he’s very handsome.”

“He’s a small pale human.” Scourge said darkly.

“Nothing wrong with that, it suits him, and he looks good in the uniform.” She continued, “I mean the one thing the Empire has over the Republic is all those Imperial Officers in their uniforms.”

“All of them?”

“Oh yes, so distinguished, but Malavai wears them better than most.”

“Malavai?” he said in a strangled voice.

“Did I tell you he has very soft lips, you wouldn’t think so, but they really are and he smells nice.”

“I do not need to know these things.” Scourge growled.

“He has the cutest expression when he wakes up, it’s almost innocent.”

“What?”

“After a healing,” she grinned impishly.

“Are you trying to get me to shut you up?”

“You wouldn’t want to do that right now.”

“Why not?” He shifted over so that he could look at her.

“Because then I’d be thinking of him.” She widened her eyes at him.

He snarled picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Remi giggled all the way to their bedroom, happy that he was home, she could always be mad at him later, maybe.

“How long have you been together?” The little man in a neat tweed suit asked.

“Six years,” the woman with red hair said from her seat next to the Sith Lord.

“Ten years,” the Sith scowled.

Remi took a breath and plastered on a smile, “I don’t count the years where we were apart, or when I was insane, but we’ve worked together for a long time.”

“I see,” the man said making a note in his datapad, trying to rephrase the question so that they could have the same basis. “Well, how long have you worked together?”

“Eleven years,” Remi answered.

“Sixteen years,” Lord Scourge replied frowning at her.

“Again,” Remi said with strained patience. “I don’t count years where we were apart, when I was insane, or mind controlled by the Emperor.”

“Very well,” the man said while at the same time inclining his head nervously at Lord Scourge. He tapped his fingers and smiled triumphantly, “How long have you known each other?”

“Sixteen years,” Remi conceeded.

“Three hundred twenty-seven years.” Scourge crossed his arms.

Remi covered her face with her hands.

Remi stared at the counselor’s desk. Dr. Folken as small plaque proclaimed, she peered at the little man wondering if he was a real doctor. He was supposed to be the top marriage counselor in the galaxy he certainly charged enough. He worked mostly with “power couples,” operating out of a posh office penthouse on Nar Shaddaa. He seemed oddly familiar but he did not look like anyone she knew.

“Do you still work together?” the doctor asked.

“No.” The Sith scowled, the Jedi shook her head.

“Why not?” he asked watching the Remi’s expression.

“I am building an Empire of our son.” He stared at her emphasizing the word ‘our’ when he said it. “She is helping the sniveling Republic dogs cling to their childish dreams of freedom and equality.” He snorted with disgust.

“I see.” Dr. Folken made a note in his datapad, “Why have you decided not to help build this Empire?” he asked.

“Our son is supposed to have a choice,” Remi looked at her hands but her expression was resolved, “He could still choose to be a Jedi, I have to preserve that way of life for him to have that choice.” She looked up at the doctor hopefully but his expression told her it was unlikely that her son would choose the title Jedi over Emperor. She looked down at the floor with disappointment Scourge looked smug.

“And how are things going?” he changed the subject before the Sith could gloat. “When your work life is unhappy you can bring that unhappiness home.”

“Fine,” Remi smiled genuinely.

“Fine,” Lord Scourge echoed though he clenched his teeth.

“That doesn’t sound like fine,” the doctor leaned toward Lord Scourge to get him to elaborate. The Sith merely crossed his arms and glowered at the doctor.

“Alright,” he said bravely forging on, “tell me about your most recent work day.” He leveled a stare at Lord Scourge who scowled again but answered.

“I am attempting to negotiate a deal with the Dark Council. I want use of a planet to train my son to rule without their meddling, they need a series of mines for a resupply route. It should have been simple to take them, and we did, but the Republic keeps taking them back as soon as regular Imperial troops are garrisoned there. It doesn’t matter how many men we station, the Dark Council can’t hold the mines and they blame me.” His fist clenched and the plaque on the doctor’s desk shook.

The doctor placed his hand on top of the plaque to keep it from breaking. “And you, Remi. What have you been doing?” The Jedi had been carefully looking away while her husband spoke.

“Securing mines for the Republic.”