Another Life
Warning: Major end game spoilers.
Ran awakened to pain. His chest burned with each breath, to the point where he thought his ribs might be broken and his breath caught in rasps that ached all the way to his core.
When he finally managed to force open his eyes, what he awakened to had only the faintest hint of familiarity. Due to the low curve of the ceiling, he assumed he was in a private star ship. But the furnishings, the bed, and the decorations were quite different from those on the Phantom.
He dragged himself out of bed, wincing at every movement he forced his muscles to make. His clothing, stripped of their mods, were folded on a neat pile on a chair along with a few kolto packs. He applied the packs, feeling relief pulse through him as they did their work. Once he felt mostly better, he shook out his pants, before stepping into them, one leg at a time. He thought he'd be happiest being prepared - as best he could be - to face whatever lay beyond that closed door.
Once he was dressed, he pushed open the door and found himself in a circular room, completely devoid of decoration other than a few low benches. On one sat a woman, her short golden hair slicked back against her head and her attention focused on a datapad she held in a slender hand. Despite that Ran couldn't place her face, she seemed familiar somehow.
When he entered she looked up and said, "You're awake. Good. I'd been afraid that the blast might have done some damage." Her hand lifted to brush back an imaginary strand of hair.
There were so many questions Ran needed to ask. But every thing he said was that much more information she had about him. "You saved me."
Something about the woman's expression shifted. She was on her feet, standing beside him, a hand nearly touching his. "I have such plans for you," her voice went low in her throat. "I couldn't let you die –not with those plans left unfinished." She withdrew and her gaze swept over his body, a smile playing at the corner of her lips. "But just to make sure you don't interfere with my plans – Onomonophobia."
Ran felt his body stiffen and go outside his control. His mind burned, as though acid flowed through his neural channels. He only just managed to retain enough awareness to realize that the woman was speaking.
"Legate, you will never try to hurt me, or in any way reveal my identity to anyone – ever."
"Order processed: I will not try to hurt you or reveal your identity."
The woman stepped back, her eyes sparkling. "No, I suspect you won't. We'll have such fun together, you and I."
Feeling returned to Ran's limbs. "How did you get my code word?"
"I have my sources. Sources that provided it for Ardun Kothe." The woman's slender shoulders shifted in a shrug. "But he's dead now. Killed in an air strike on the Shadow Arsenal. You died there too – officially. But I saved you." She took a step closer, placed a slender finger delicately on the pulse in his wrist. "You belong to me, now."
Ran tried to process the information, trying to pull a name or face from his mind that matched the peculiarly familiar woman who stood before him. But he couldn't find one. Keeper, he thought. If he could just get to Keeper, she might be able to pull the bits of information together and somehow form a pattern clear enough to recognize.
But if he could get to a secured relay, he already knew that Keeper would demand that he provide her with as much information as possible to analyze. And considering how close the woman was standing to him, he thought he knew one way to get her to reveal more of her plans. He moved a hand around her waist, and when she raised her face to his, pressed his lips to hers.
She made a sound, almost like a sigh, before she broke the kiss and stepped back. "Not like this."
Had he misinterpreted her. "What did you want?"
"Onomonophobia," she said, causing his body to freeze again. "We're doing this my way, Cipher Nine."
This time, Ran's mind completely buckled. The woman said something, but the words went past his conscious mind, despite that he tried to focus on them, so that he'd have some idea as to what she commanded. Eventually the world stopped shaking, and he raised his head to examine his captor.
"If you keep using my codeword," he said, searching the woman's pretty face for some sign of emotion. "You may break me permanently."
She took a step closer, her fingers cool along the lower curve of his jaw. "Who said that isn't exactly what I intend to do?"
Ran forced himself to his feet, dragging her along with him. "If you wanted me dead, you had your chance."
Her gaze flickered to the side. "You won't die, no matter how many times I use the code." She shifted to look at him, blue green eyes meeting glowing red. "But perhaps I'll spare it. Use it only on special occasions that are shared between you and me." There was that hint of a smile again. "You will make them special, won't you Cipher Nine?"
Ran felt his stomach lurch. Despite her flirtatious tone, he well understood the threat. But he pretended not to understand and took her hand. "I'd do anything for you. You know that. Although before I do, I'd love for you to tell me your name."
The woman gave a startled giggle. "Even I barely remember it myself. You know me by another; I suppose it's just as well that you continue to call me that."
The sense of deja vu returned, and he combed his mind for similarities. The short golden hair, the blue green eyes, even the mannerisms. "Hunter," he said at last. The two looked as alike as twins.
"I knew you couldn't forget me."
Despite being trained to listen and watch more than question and speak, Ran couldn't help himself from asking, "How can you be a woman?"
"The usual way." Another twitch of the lips. "The better question is how could I be a man?"
Ran took her hand, brought it to his lips. "If I asked, would you answer?"
When he dropped her hand, she moved in closer, and he reached an arm around her slender waist. She leaned her head on his shoulder and whispered, closer to his ear. "I studied with the Old Man on Tatooine. It's nice, at last, to be able to show someone my real face." Her lips moved to his ear, her breath warm and moist. "You won't tell anyone will you?"
"I suspect I am entirely in your control."
That startled another laugh from her. "Oh, yes, that's very clever of you. You are, of course. Entirely."
Ran pushed back the twinge of nausea, focusing only on the task at hand. "What did you want your humble servant to do?" He slid a hand around her waist, stroking the curve of her spine.
Her hands moved around his neck, strong and remarkably nimble. "Exactly what you're doing now. I've been alone for far too long."
Ran pressed his lips to hers, which were surprisingly soft beneath his. A second later, she was pressing back, her hands sliding under his shirt. He broke the kiss to let her push it over his head before he moved his hands to slide her coat from her slim shoulders.
Her hands were fast, strong, capable, the hands of a slicer. Before he'd gotten more than her coat off, she had him completely undressed, and pushed Ran onto his bed with a wiry strength that seemed disproportionate to her slim form.
He lay there, feeling strangely exposed. "Are you going to join me?"
"In a minute." Her hands worked at the clasps on her garment, her attention so focused on the task that for a minute Ran wondered if he could use her distraction to his advantage. But even as he considered the possibility, his mind crackled with the commands Ardun Kothe had imprinted on him. He wondered whether the SIS officer would have added Hunter to the list of those protected, if he'd known how things would work out in the end.
Before Ran could give it much more thought, Hunter had divested herself of the rest of her clothing and was on him, her body straddling his, the wet warmth of her sex brushing up against his stomach. He felt his body react, and involuntarily reached for her. She pushed him back, gripping his hands above his head.
She leaned over, close enough to whisper. "I told you we do this my way." She drew back, enough that he could see her eyes were crinkled with amusement. "Unless you'd prefer I use your code word."
The thought brought a fresh wave of nausea. "Whatever you want," Ran said.
"I knew you'd see it my way." Hunter leaned down to nip at his neck, and the brush of her breasts against his chest caused Ran to temporarily forget about escape. Then she bit him, hard enough to make him gasp, the pain quickly over ridden by the feel of her body pressed against his sex, making him wonder whether he could press up into her, without risking her wrath.
She stayed that way, moving over him, her body close against his yet unreachable, until Ran squirmed with desire.
"I could leave you like this," she said, stopping to survey him, her short nails digging into his wrists.
Ran's body twitched. "Or you could let me go and see what an imperial agent is capable of."
Hunter's blue-green gaze flickered over his prone form, before her hands relaxed, then moved to press into his chest. "I like to know the limits of my enemies."
He ran his hands over the subtle curves of her breasts, down to the harder jut of her hips. "We're not enemies any more."
She gave a short laugh. "Not as long as I have your code word, no." Before Ran could reply, she shifted, and pushed down on him, causing him to lose his train of thought.
He tried to hold back, desperate not to give her an excuse to mind control him again. He had his tricks, honed over years of practice. A brush of fingers over a nipple, a flicker between her thighs. Her breaths grew irregular, her movements more urgent. And when he felt her body squeeze about his, and her voice gasp, he pulled her to him, code word be damned, and pressed into her hard, climaxing so hard he practically blacked out.
He forced himself to recover before she did, running his hand over her sweat slicked spine. Eventually she moved, causing him to slip out of her, and crawled over his body to whisper in his ear. "See how much better things go, when we work together?"
Ran nodded, moving to kiss her, long and deep, tasting flavors of a world he'd never heard of upon her lips.
Eventually she broke the kiss, moving off him to lie beside him on the bed. Her hand moved over his chest, following the lines of his body.
"I want you to tell me your name," she said at last, her hand continuing to move.
"Don't you know it already?" He expected her intelligence was that good. But if she did not, he might maintain some hold on her.
"I do. I want to hear it from your lips."
An obvious lie, or was it? Ran hesitated, and Hunter shifted beside him.
Her lips pressed to his ear. "I could use your code word," she said, her voice lilting as though the words were a tease rather than a threat.
Ran pulled her to him. "I never could deny a beautiful woman." He pushed away the part of his personality that worried about his safety, assumed a new identity as quickly as the wind pushed snow. "Most humans call me Ran. It's short for Thattar'an'dromos, recently adopted into House Miurani." He drew her close to him. "Was that what you wanted to hear?"
Her hand trailed over his chest. "You have no idea how fortunate you are, to have a name and a family." She sighed, shifting and rising from the bed.
"You don't intend to spend the night?" Her distraction might give him an opportunity, or at the very least, more information.
"I don't trust you that much. Yet." She pulled on her clothing, and left without another glance at him. And when the door clicked behind her, locking him in, Ran knew he'd be alone for the rest of the night.
The bed smelled like her, and Ran found the scent distracting. At some level, there was the temptation to curl up, and dissipate into the darkness of sleep. But then, just as he'd let himself do that, Ran found himself remembering his situation and the precise nature of his enemy, and would find himself feeling ill.
Undoubtedly Hunter was monitoring his room. But as minute after minute ticked by, and Ran found himself no better able to fall asleep, he decided that Hunter would appreciate his need for hygiene. He rose and went to the small adjoining bathroom and turned on the shower. As he did so, he surveyed the room. There was the shower, a small toilet. Enough water to drown he though, just before the grating rasp of the mind control thrummed through him. Enough water to drown, yes, but not the ability to do himself harm – that must be either one of Ardun or Hunter's commands.
Ran dried himself off and walked back to the small bedroom. The bed dominated the center, rumpled, and likely still reeking of sex and his enemy. Quick decision. Let Hunter think what she wanted. Ran would sleep on the floor.
It was warm in the ship, warmer than Csilia or Hoth, anyway, and he could sleep without a blanket. He'd made do with worse. Ran curled up on the floor, and finally managed to make his mind go blank, wondering all the while what tomorrow would hold.
#
The next morning, Ran found his door unlocked. He pushed it open and began to explore the ship. The place was tiny, smaller even than his own. The walls in the rooms he visited were sparse, completely bare of decoration. There was a locked down cargo bay, sleek and spare room with a holocom, and a central room with a table and food preparation facilities. Ran ignore them for the time being, and tried the two closed doors; both were locked. He continued along the last hall to the cockpit, where he found Hunter, reading a tablet that she quickly closed. Before it winked off, Ran caught the name of an Aldaranian family, but had no idea what to make of it. If he ever got the chance, he'd need to feed the information to Keeper. She'd know. Keeper always had an answer.
"You're awake," Hunter said, turning to him with a smile. "Good. I have something for you to do for me today."
Ran forced himself to smile. "You know your wish is my command."
"I'm glad you feel that way." She rose and gestured at the view. "Do you recognize it?"
The planet sprawled beneath them looked like any number, with blue oceans and soft white clouds. "No."
"It's Corellia." Hunter gazed down at it, arms crossed over her chest. "It's the beginning of the end. You're going to help with that."
"How?"
Hunter turned to him. "You're trained to kill Jedi. There's one I need eliminated, a Master Ysan."
Ran searched his memories for the name, and pulled it out easily from his mental file. Ysan was a top priority for the empire, a symbol of the Republic. Interesting that someone who hated the Empire so much would want to eliminate one of her top enemies. He'd pass that, too, along to Keeper if he ever had the chance. "I'll do it."
"I know you will." Hunter reached to run a hand over his cheek. "But just to make sure that you do – onomonophobia."
Ran's mind convulsed. When it recovered, enough that he could be aware of more than the slow plod of his limbs towards the shuttle, he was halfway to the planet.
#
Ran focused his scope on Ysan, getting his head squarely in the cross hairs. He waited for several seconds for the crowd to settle and for Ysan to stop moving, before he pulled the trigger. The bullet connected, tearing through the side of the Jedi's skull. Ran watched him sway and fall, saw some of the crowd gather, as others drew back, and figured he'd check on his work later, once he'd had time to check on the sensors he'd positioned about the room.
He locked his rifle, then rolled it into a large bag, slung it over his shoulder, and briefly considered fleeing. A sharp twitch ran through his mind, reminding him of the impossibility of that action. Perhaps he could look for a secure holostation, first? Keeper might know a way out of this, even if he didn't. Another twinge, this time sharper, tore though his skull, much like the bullet that had just cleaved Ysan's in half. Ran abandoned that thought and considered that he'd instead have to look for terminals on the way back, hoping that nothing Hunter had said would preclude him using them.
He was preoccupied enough with that thought that he nearly ran straight into one of the Jedi guarding the place. Ran reached for his pistol, before noticing that there were several more behind him. The odds were not in his favor. He made a snap decision and bolted towards the crowd, hoping that the chaos would slow them down.
It must have, because after he'd run long enough to fee his lungs burn, Ran glanced behind himself and realized that the Jedi had stopped following him. He jogged back towards his shuttle, climbed in, and hit the button that would return him to Hunter.
#
Ran reached the ship – invisible to whatever sensors he had access to – to find that Hunter was waiting for him, a smile on her sharp features.
A second later, her arms were around him, her body pressed close against his. "You did perfectly," she said, her breath hot against his ear.
He drew back. "I didn't." He dropped his bag on the floor, knowing he wouldn't be allowed to keep it. "I was seen."
"That's why you did perfectly." Hunter reached for a glass container that held an amber liquid and poured two glasses full. She sipped both, then handed one to him. He sniffed it. Brandy. He took a drink. "We should celebrate." She clinked her glass against his, and took a sip.
"I don't understand." Then again, Ran suspected he'd never understand Hunter.
Hunter waved at the wall, and an image appeared. It looked like the news. An announcer said, "An imperial assassin was seen leaving the scene. A deliberate attack on one of the most prominent members of the Jedi Council demands action. There will be war-" Hunter waved again, cutting off the video feed.
"Don't you see? It will be destruction on a massive scale." Hunter took another drink, her eyes luminous. "It will be glorious."
Ran felt his stomach heave. "You wanted me to be seen."
"Of course. You're perfect, from your skills to your bearing to the color of your skin." She reached to put down her glass and Ran caught her wrist.
Already his mind control programming began to burn against his brain. He decided to ignore it. If he pushed it too far and it killed him, it would be one way to deprive Hunter of one of her tools. He squeezed harder, causing her to drop the glass, which shattered against the floor. "You sadistic bitch."
Hunter gave him a tight lipped smile. "This coming from an agent of the empire means absolutely nothing."
"You're not with the Republic." He couldn't imagine one of their own killing the Empire. "Who or what are you?"
Hunter moved closer, her lips brushing against his cheek. "That's a secret you have to earn the right to learn."
He grabbed her, tight around the waist, hard enough for his mind control to throb through his skull. He ignored it, wondering how far he could push it. He doubted to where he could kill her, but perhaps he could at least hurt her, or scare her into damaging him. He dropped his own glass, letting its fragments scatter and intermingle with those of her discarded drink, before he wrapped both arms around her and threw her, ungently, over his shoulder.
"If you wanted me, all you had to do was ask," Hunter said, her voice lilting in an amused way.
Ran ignored her, hauling her towards the room she'd left him in. He kicked the door open, and flung her on the bed.
"I always knew you wanted me but never like this." Hunter shifted to sit up. "Aren't you supposed to be a master of seduction?"
That she could continue to joke, even now, made him want to kill her. He pushed her back onto the frame, his hands gripping hers. She struggled, her nails biting into his skin, despite that her strength wasn't enough to force him to let go.
Her hips moved beneath his, causing an alarming flare of desire. "Don't tell me you brought me all the way here, just to leave me hot and bothered." Her grip relaxed and she shifted again, a slender thigh moving against his groin. "I wouldn't say no, you know that. Not to you. Never to you."
Ran leaned down and kissed her, mostly so that she couldn't speak. And as the kiss deepened, his grip on hers relaxed.
She whimpered, her hands moving between them to tug at fastenings and wriggle out of the confines of cloth, even as her hips shifted to meet his, causing him to give an involuntary groan.
"You know you want me," Hunter said, when his lips left hers to travel down the line of her neck, biting hard enough to draw blood. "Pretend what you'd like. You know this is always what you've wanted, deep inside."
Ran moved away, peeling off her last layers, before lifting his own shirt over his head. She reached for his groin, her hands moving over the zipper, before he knocked them away, hard enough to cause his mind control to throb.
For a moment, he considered leaving her all together.
And then what?
Her hands reached for him again, and this time when he knocked them aside, he undid the buttons himself, before pinning her down again, her hands free to slide his pants down his legs.
Nails dug into his back, hard enough that Ran suspected they'd leave marks, and her body bucked beneath his, close enough that he knew it would only take one thrust to enter her completely.
When had he completely lost control?
"Say my code word," he said at last, propping himself above her, teasing, wondering how long he could retain any kind of control.
She thrashed, her legs slipping out from beneath his. "And damage my favorite weapon?"
His hands pressed into hers, even as her body rubbed against him. "Say it."
Blue eyes opened, flickering unsteadily. "You're as sick as I am." He moved against her, and she whimpered. "Onomono-"
He entered her in a long thrust, disrupting what she was saying. And he continued to press as she begged for more, until he collapsed on her, completely depleted.
Hunter's hands ran over his back, gentle now, the pads of her fingers tracing the lines of his musculature, before a hand reached up to stroke his cheek. The intimacy of the gesture was too much; Ran rolled off her body, and stared at the stark ceiling of the cabin.
The bed shifted. He continued to stare, hoping she'd take the hint and leave. She remained, her soft breathing unnerving him.
At last she spoke. "You might hate me less if you understood."
Ran didn't know that he wanted to. Alternately, if he found a way to escape, he knew that Keeper would demand every scrap of information. "I'm your captive audience."
"I always knew you cared." The bed shifted, tempting him to glance at her. He did not. "Imagine how this could go. The war on Corellia spirals out of control. The force sensitive orders obliterate each other. Everything spirals into dust. In a matter of years – generations at most – we could be free."
"You're absolutely insane," Ran said, half wishing he could take back the words as soon as they were out of his mouth.
"It's already happening." The bed shifted again, and he heard her feet touch the hard lacquer of the floor. "It's not so hard to manipulate things. The Jedi and Sith are inherently unstable. All they need is a little nudge."
He saw her move towards the foot of the bed, gathering her clothing. "How many people do you intend to kill?"
She stopped. "How many would Jadus have killed, if you'd let him succeed? Hundreds of millions? Billions? And he was one lord of the Sith. Multiply him by all those thousands on Korriban, and consider my offer."
And then she was gone, before he had a chance to answer her.
#
Ran considered what Hunter had said, slept, and found no clarity. He tried the door after waking, found it locked, and returned to staring at the ceiling, wondering whether Hunter intended to keep him locked up until she had another task for him. He stared at the walls, trying to fall asleep, until the lock on the door clicked and he put his hand on it, wondering what he should say.
In the end, he decided to agree with her. Ran didn't know that he did, but the part of his mind that was still rational thought that it might be better to play along – if that was what he was doing – and see if obedience granted him some semblance of freedom.
She was in the common room, reading, when he found her, this time a letter with a Czerka corporation address, signed by an Ilya, whoever that was. He put his hands on her shoulders, and bent to kiss her neck, hoping to get a better look.
The screen winked off. "It's good to see you again, agent."
He let his lips linger, sliding his hands down her side when she gave a quiet moan. "I've been thinking about what you said."
"Have you?" She shifted, arms blocking sides and chest.
"It sounds tempting."
Hunter made a sound at the back of her throat. "I'm glad you agree. Really I am. It's just..."
Ran took the opportunity to lean in close, sliding a hand over her thin waist. "It's just what?"
"You know I can't trust you."
"I wouldn't expect you to." Ran slid a hand over her flat stomach. "But perhaps you could forgo the code word next time." She stiffened so he continued. "I know you're watching me and could communicate with me if you chose. This way you can see what I'm able to do on my own."
Her head tilted down, considering.
"You know what the mind control does to me," he added, hoping that desire to keep her tool around would counteract her concerns.
She moved, rising from the chair. "We'll see." The sharp features grew taut. "But that's enough for now. I have work to do."
He wondered if she'd use the control word again, whether he'd even prefer that she did it, whether he'd prefer a slow death by mental disintegration to whatever else she planned, whatever else he succumbed to after long hours alone with Hunter. But he waited for a command she never gave. Instead, she ordered him back to his room without using the code, this time leaving him with a doctored holopad with a limited assortment of bland entertainment, ranging from books to vids to music, but offering no way to communicate with anyone other than her.
Eventually Ran drifted off to sleep, more as a way of passing the time than much else. When he woke up this time, unsure of the date or time, he found the door to his chamber locked. After tugging on the handle, he settled in to watch a trashy vid, until he heard the lock on the door click open. He forced himself to sit through another vid, as he came up with a plan, half to give himself time to think, half so that Hunter did not know exactly how desperate he was for any reprieve from his solitary prison.
He found her, reading as before on her holopad. When she heard him enter, the screen winked off, but he walked behind her, anyway, moving his hands over her shoulders and massaging away the knots he found there.
He said, "I've been thinking about what you've said."
"Have you?" Her hand remained on the holopad, almost as though she was afraid he'd try to steal it.
His hands moved over the slender shoulders, moving towards the line of her neck. For a moment he considered how easy it would be to tense his hands, to break her windpipe, before his conditioning flared so badly he nearly passed out from the pain. "It's ambitious." He took a breath, trying to will away the pain. "But your plan has potential."
"It's not as hard as you think." Her fingers thrummed on the arm of her chair. "A data leak here, an assassination there – people see what they want to believe."
"I know." He leaned down, softened his touch so that it was scarcely more than a caress. "And after Jadus, your method has a certain appeal." He bent down, his head close to hers. "I would prefer that we be friends."
She stiffened for a moment, before she relaxed into his touch. "I think I'd like that very much."
He decided to press further. "The more I thought about it, the more I realized what the Empire has done to myself – and to my people. Without them..." He let his words trail off.
Hunter remained silent, although she leaned forward, resting her arms against her thighs. Ran moved to kneel before her and took one of her hands in his.
"I joined the Empire to protect my people," Ran said, hoping that the basic truth of those words would lessen her suspicion. "If there was a different way – a better way..."
Hunter's eyes squeezed shut, but didn't pull her hand from his. "If I'd known you'd agree this quickly, I might have reasoned with you first."
"I'm not entirely opposed to reason," Ran said, lifting her hand to his lips and pressing a kiss to her knuckles. "Especially not when it comes in the form of a beautiful woman."
There was a twitch of her lips, a slight crinkling about her eyes, before her lips narrowed. "If you turn your back on your allies so quickly-"
"They were never my allies." Ran combed through his memories. "I'm Chiss, not Imperial. And the Empire has abused my people enough. Jadus electrocuted me, nearly killed me, when I refused to bow to him. They were the ones who installed my mind control technology. I suspect none of them would care if I died – why should I care about them?"
A moment as silent as the space that surrounded them. "Suppose I choose to believe your dramatic change of heart?"
Ran remained still through several heart beats. "And if you don't? What changes?"
One of Hunter's hands lifted to her forehead. "I'd like to believe you. Really I would. We'd be good together, Agent." Her hand squeezed his. "Partners."
He hadn't expected it to be this simple. "I'd like that."
Her face held the curve of a smile. "So would I." She tilted her head in a way, girlishly appealing. He moved to his feet, bent over her, pressed his lips to hers. And when she gave a little gasp, he pressed harder, pulling her with him out of the chair.
"You have no idea how long I've wanted this," she said, so softly the words were barely audible, despite how close she pressed.
He picked her up, gently this time, her body remarkably light in his arms, and tried to open the door to the rooms that had so far remained locked, hoping to get a glimpse that would hint at Hunter's true nature. It remained locked.
"Your room," she said, her lips warm against his ear. "There are fewer memories there."
Whatever she meant by that. "Anything for you," he said. He managed to open the door, place her softly on the bed. He bent over her, running a hand along a delicate collar, before leaning to kiss at smooth flesh. His hand moved to the claps on the front of her tunic, peeling off the garment as she lay passive beneath him. "Let me know if there's anything you want."
Her eyes remained closed, her breast fluttering beneath his hand. "I want to hear you call my name. It's been years."
Ran slid a hand over her ribs. One more bit of information for Keeper, if he ever managed to escape, if Hunter didn't entirely destroy his reputation. He bent low over her body. "Of course. All I need is to know what to call you."
A hand moved over his back, the pads of her fingers running along his spine. "Diane. That's the name my mother gave me, years ago."
"Diane." He leaned to kiss her, and her hands moved behind his head, holding him there. When he broke, he traced the sharp lines of her cheeks with a finger, before bending to kiss her again, teasing out what seemed to please her most until she lay trembling in his arms, her head pressed against his shoulder.
Once Ran was certain she was asleep, he slipped away, watching to see if she stirred. Hunter remained where he'd left her, a hand tucked under the side of her face. He walked towards the door, watching her as he pushed it open, making up excuses if she happened to wake.
It was in the cockpit that he found her holopad. When he touched it, it lit up, unprotected by even a token password. Strange for someone as paranoid as Hunter, he thought, but decided to worry about it later. The pad connected fast enough to the holonet, and he connected to intel, keying in his own code as well as the one he used to contact Keeper.
No one answered, so he left a message, filling in the information as fast as he could.
"Keeper:
"Captured by supposed SIS agent, code name Hunter. Believe working for other organization, attempting to increase hostilities between Empire and Republic, supposedly for purpose of destroying all Jedi and Sith. Ordered assassination of Jedi Ysan at my hand – used imperial technology known to both of us with certain impact on me. Working with – or contacting – members of Czerka and Alderaanian nobility.
"Unsure of current location, and abilities limited due to aforementioned imperial tech. Also, Hunter is not as he seems. Believe using technology similar to that of Old Man on Tatooine to hide actual identity. Believe true identity is that of a female with short blonde hair, blue-green eyes, of medium height and small frame, possibly using the name of Diane."
He glanced back at the room, weighing the need to speed with that for completion. At last he finished with:
"Will get you more information as I can. Request backup. Cipher Nine."
He hit send, then returned to his room. Hunter was still sleeping, so he curled up beside her, trying to slow his racing mind enough that he, too, could rest.
#
When he did wake, Ran found himself alone and trapped in his room again, the door locked. He tugged at the handle, heart speeding. He tried to slow it, reminding himself that even if Hunter had somehow managed to determine what he'd done, that Keeper had still received his message and would be working on deciphering it. Within a few days, she'd likely have the signal traced back to this ship, and it wouldn't matter how angry Hunter was.
But when the lock on his door finally clicked open, Hunter seemed completely disinterested in him. She seemed to be reading something on a screen – when he came close enough to it, he realized it was a novel – and barely looked up at him when he walked by her.
If she didn't know what he'd done, Ran decided it was best to feign a similar nonchalance. He put his hands on her shoulders, but she kept reading, apparently engrossed. "I missed you this morning," he said.
Her fingers moved over the pad, jumping from page to page. "I have another mission for you."
"Anything for you."
The curve of her lip twisted upward. "I knew you'd say that."
"Care to tell me about it?"
Her hand paused on the screen. "You'll get what you need when we arrive."
Ran leaned over to kiss the curve where her neck met her shoulder. "I thought we were partners."
She made a slight chuckle, in the back of her throat. "You really do think I'm that stupid, don't you?" And then she began to giggle, the sound breaking high and hysterical. "Do you really think anyone is that stupid?"
Ran took a step away from her. "I don't understand."
Hunter rose, her hands clasped in front of her waist. "I control everything that goes on this ship. You understand? Everything." She took a step closer, her words coming fast. "Every message in, every message out. I see it, approve it. Basic security protocol. What do you take me for? Some kind of girl you can manipulate with a few kind words?" And then she stepped forward again, close enough to touch. "I wanted to trust you, you know. Wanted to believe you meant what you said. Do you know how long I've been alone? But I'm not a fool."
He felt his stomach heave, might even have vomited if he'd eaten yet. "I don't think you're stupid."
"You treat me that way." Her hand rose to his throat, tightened, just enough that for a moment he wondered if she'd kill him there. "But you're more useful alive to me than dead." Her hand released and she stepped back a moment before she said, "Ononmonophobia," and the world went black.
#
By the time Ran recovered, he was on the surface of a foreign world. Something throbbed in his ear, and when he reached to touch it, he found an earpiece.
"I know you're here," he said, wondering who he was talking to.
"You know that I always have time for you," came back the voice, masculine now, and familiar. "This is what I need you to do..."
And Ran obeyed, murdering his own allies to get a few disks that had whatever information on them that Hunter craved.
#
Ran found Hunter as soon as he'd cleared the airlock, wearing the form she'd worn when they'd first met. Hunter sat with one leg cocked over the other, staring at a blank monitor and sipping an amber liquid. He sat across from Hunter, and poured himself a drink as well, wincing at the acrid taste. "We need to talk."
Hunter swallowed another gulp of the liquid and in an unsteady voice said, "What about?"
"About your plans for me." Ran took another sip, letting this one roll over his tongue.
"What does it matter?" Hunter refilled his glass, emptying the bottle. "We both know how this will end. We'll continue to wander the galaxy, me as master, you as my servant, until it's over." He placed the cup on a table, giving a shrug of his now broad shoulders. "One way or another."
Ran took another sip, already feelings its effects. "I suspect it won't be long." He could already feel the control eating at the edges of his sanity, the brainwashing shredding his neural synapses.
"I suspect not, either." Hunter finished his drink. "A pity. I'd had such hopes for you."
"I know." Ran poured the rest of the drink down his throat, feeling the liquor burn its way to his stomach. "For what it's worth, I do care for you, in my own way. And support your ends, if not your means."
For a minute, the holograph flickered, before it solidified again in the form of a handsome young man. "That only makes it harder, doesn't it?" Hunter's form leaned back against the chair, the eyes of the avatar closing.
"It does," Ran said, wondering for a moment what things would be like in another life. But he could throw off the shackles of imperial rule, he suspected, only as easily as Hunter could learn to trust him. He rose, unsteadily, to his feet and walked back to his room, wondering how things would be between them, during the little time they had left.