As her Defender made the jump to hyperspace away from the emperor's station, Spiora exhaled in relief.

Kira touched her shoulder. "Hey. Are you alright?"

Spiora turned to face Kira. "In time, I think I will be."

Kira shook her head. "That's not what I meant. Look at your hands."

Spiora paused for a moment, then looked down at her hands. Her right hand was still, but her left was visibly shaking.

Kira leaned in and lowered her voice. "Is it your friend?"

Spiora replied in the same whisper. "I don't know. I haven't heard from her since the emperor..." she trailed off for a moment, then refocused. "I'm going to get out of this armor." She announced in a normal voice. "Kira, keep an eye on things here until I get back. I'll be in my room if you need me."

Kira nodded. "You got it boss."

"A moment, Jedi." Scourge stepped over to Spiora. "I've been wanting to ask you something. You wear the armor of a Sith eradicator. Why?"

Spiora lowered her hood, and removed her helmet. Looking up at Lord Scourge, she smiled. "Perhaps I'll tell you. Someday, when we know each-other better."

Kira chuckled as Spiora left the cockpit and headed to her quarters.

Quickly stripping out of her armor, Spiora changed into her Jedi robes, glad that they hadn't been taken during the emperor's access to her ship.

Once dressed, she knelt down on the ground beside her bed, closed her eyes, and began to meditate, focusing her thoughts inward as she searched for the corner of her mind where her thoughts overlapped with Imalra's.

"Imalra?" She whispered. "Are you there?"

For a long moment there was silence.

Then, just as Spiora began to wonder if Imalra was still there to answer, she heard a familiar voice in her head. "Spiora?"

Spiora smiled. "Yes. It's me. The emperor's gone."

Without warning Imalra's presence appeared fully in her mind, arriving in a surge of betrayal and rage. "You backstabbing, traitorous wretch! You dare try and talk to me after what you did?!"

Spiora reeled for a moment before regaining her mental footing. "I don't know what I did! I've been under the emperor's control. You can't-"

Imalra was having none of it. "Don't know what you did?! You want to pull that? You trapped me in our head, watching and listening but unable to act. Then, when I tried to take control, you cut me off even from that sensation. I've been stuck in our head, alone, with nothing, for days. And now, now you dare come to me, and expect me to aid you?!"

"I didn't do that!" Spiora screamed over Imalra. "I've been as much a prisoner as you. You're mad you were locked away? At least you were aware. I have nothing, nothing, from our time in the fortress. Look at my memories. We fell before the emperor, there are a handful of fragments, and the next coherent memory I have is from this morning when I broke free."

Imalra was silent for a moment as she examined Spiora's memories. When she spoke next, she had calmed slightly, the rage still there but in check for the moment. "You're telling the truth. You weren't awake. The emperor's the one who did this. He's the one who locked me away. He's going to pay."

Spiora nodded. "Yes. And when we find him next, you get full control."

There was a moment of stunned silence.

"You're serious." Imalra said, after a moment, shock in her voice. "You really want me to kill him. You, of all people, want someone dead. Bravo, Spiora. I didn't think you had it in you."

Spiora shook her head. "You misunderstand me. I don't want him dead, I just don't see any other way this can end. The emperor is simply to powerful to be stopped any other way, but I don't have what it takes to end him. That's why I need you. You can stop this, stop him, before anyone else gets hurt."

Imalra chuckled. "Tell yourself that, if you like. I think you're starting to think like me."

"If that is true, so is the reverse. When we first met, you would have tried to kill me for trapping you. Now you just yell at me."

There was a thoughtful pause. When Imalra spoke again, there was a note of reluctant respect in you voice. "Perhaps you are right. We do seem to be influencing each other, combining our stengths. Who knows? Perhaps some day we shall meet in the middle."

Spiora got to her feet. "Perhaps. Until then, we have work to do. Are we whole?"

Spiora found her head inclining in agreement. "We are whole, sister."

Spiora smiled as she opened the door and headed back towards the cockpit. It was good to have her friend back.