It was late, but Theron Shan was still wide awake. The past couple of days had been a complete disaster. Kaylio was MIA. Jorgan and Havoc Squad ignored orders to stand down and went off after the Relay. All of that he could handle, but what had really shaken him was the Commander's vanishing act.

Their relationship had always felt complex; two spies from opposite sides of a war long before the Eternal Empire had shown up wasn't exactly the place he would have expected to find someone he'd end up caring so much for, let alone it being a Cipher. While it had originally started out as a game between the two agents, Theron felt it had developed into something deeper by the end of Revan's defeat, but could never be anything more than those brief moments. He had figured that the feeling would eventually pass and threw himself into his work as he always did, gathering jedi and other like minded operatives for a secret task force to find a way to stop Vitiate. Then Ziost happened. One look into the scarlet eyes of his Imperial counterpart and he just knew, but with a disembodied Emperor possessing an entire city to kill anything and everything it had hardly been the time or place to discuss the matter. When he heard of the fate of Darth Marr's flagship and that she had been on board the news cut him deeper than he thought possible, only to have Lana spark a small sense of hope with the news that the Cipher wasn't dead, but locked in carbonite, and the Sith Lord had a plan in motion to get her back.

The Force had one warped sense of humour...

While she had come back in one piece after disappearing to stars knew where into the Odessen wilds, the Commander had yet to enlighten them on what had actually happened and continued with the mission as if she had never left, until it too decided to go pear shaped. There was something to be said about ingrained Chiss discipline; she didn't rattle easily, and simply ordered those in charge of communications to contact her as soon as they got either group back on the line. After a good few hours after losing contact with both Kaliyo and Havoc Squad with no success, Theron had finally decided that he had waited long enough and needed answers. He looked in all the usual places -the war room, cantina, shooting range, Doctor Oggurobb's lab, even her quarters- but couldn't find the former Cipher anywhere. Standing outside he looked up at the clear night sky, then watching as two fighters flew past, ready to make their landings over at the hanger when one last place came to mind and headed for military wing. Stepping off the elevator he took in the sleek lines of the Phantom, Nightshrike. Before it imploded, Imperial Intelligence certainly knew how to outfit their agents if nothing else.

Light from within illuminated small ramp that led up to the airlock, so he knew someone was in there. If it wasn't the Commander or that Imperial protocol droid, then someone was going to be in a huge amount of trouble. As soon as he poked his head through the door Theron found himself at the business end of HK-55's blaster rifle. It took less than a second for the bodyguard's databanks to recognise him, the droid standing down from its aggressive stance.

"The master is in the cock pit," HK informed him as it allowed him to pass, then went back to watching the airlock.

If she noticed his presence she hadn't given any indication, instead wholly absorbed by the open star map with a datapad in her hand while sitting comfortably in the captain's chair. He didn't interrupt, choosing to take a seat and wait until she was done. It had become a project of hers, going through the logs of where the ship had been in her five year absence, hoping it might reveal some clue as to where her remaining companions might have gone. After a while she carelessly cast the datapad aside and sighed while pinching the bridge of her nose. The Nightshrike had travelled extensively before it had been abandoned, and the harsh reality was that Vector and Raina could be anywhere in the galaxy. She hoped for Temple's sake that the Sith hadn't managed to catch up with her. Even with all her espionage talents there was no way she would have survived Korriban on her own.

"Still no luck?" Theron asked to break the silence.

"I'm starting to think I'm simply wasting my time."

"They'll turn up sooner or later," he replied, only to get a somewhat unconvinced, non-committal noise in return.

Standing up she left the cockpit and Theron followed, the pair of them ending up in the ship's small galley. Opening a small cupboard she pulled out a slim bottle along with two glasses and set them on the surface of the counter top. Pouring them both a drink she passed one to him, then stared into the rich liquor of her own. He didn't say anything, tasting the alcohol as she contemplated on just where to start her explanation for this latest misadventure. It had a smooth taste with a pleasantly warm burn as it snaked its way down his throat, and had all the markers that this was some high quality booze, something to be savoured and not simply gulped down like shots of some cheap whiskey. Sophistication, class and taste. It didn't surprise him in the least that it was her drink of choice.

"I tried get any more information I could about the Relay," she began. "Instead Valkorian dragged me off into the wilderness and almost killed me, then left to go… somewhere else."

"He can do that?" Theron asked, surprised and curious. "Did he mention where?"

"He wouldn't say," she replied, obviously annoyed at the one way relationship she shared with the former Sith emperor. She took a slow sip of her drink, one of the few things she still had from when she left Csilla all those years a go. It felt like a different time back then, a different life. In many ways it was. "Satele and the ghost of Darth Marr found me. They've been on Odessen the entire time."

"My mother is here? With Darth Marr?" His voice barely above a whisper, Theron was understandably shocked at the revelation. With Arcann's forces all but wiping out the Jedi Order he had tried more than once to track down the grand master without success.

"Not any more," she replied. "They left on some other mission, but not before showing me what it's going to take to stop Arcann."

"Which is?"

"Complicated. It's always complicated." She huffed derisively with a small shake of her head, then drained what was left in the glass. "I tried to convince them to stay and help the Alliance, but they refused. Something about the Force guiding them somewhere else. The usual force user rhetoric."

Theron's hands came to rest on his hips, frustration evident on his face. Somehow he wasn't surprised that Satele had opted to go off somewhere and be as vague as possible about it, he was convinced it was an unwritten rule among the Jedi. While they were never going to have anything close to a normal mother/son relationship, they had started connecting after the Revan debacle and he had hoped for something a little more conventional than whatever it was they had. But no, she was gone and hadn't even bothered to let him know she was alive, much less offer him any help. Why should that change just because everything either of them had ever fought for was crumbling?

He was broken out of his musing when the soft skin of her fingers cupped the side of his face, the pad of her thumb gently brushing along his cheek. At the contact something in him uncoiled and allowed him to relax. Despite how everything had gone today, it could have been much worse. They were both well used to danger, it was part of the job description. But the thought of what if kept running through his mind.

"I used to think nothing could faze me," he said quietly. "But when you vanished without a trace… I couldn't stop pacing. I didn't know where you were, and I couldn't take it. I thought Lana was going to strap me to a chair just to keep me still."

"Theron..."

"Please, let me say this. You know I'm not great at this as it is." His hand covered hers, their fingers intertwining as he stepped closer. "You're the Commander of the Alliance; I know what that means. You have a long fight ahead of you, and maybe someday you'll have to disappear again. Somewhere I can't follow. But if that day comes, I'll be waiting for you. Always."

Whatever little space that was between them disappeared, Theron reaching up to push back the hood that usually shadowed the Cipher's sapphire skin and bright red eyes. Chiss weren't exactly a common sight in the galaxy, even less so out here in Wild Space, so the Agent had learned long a go to draw as little attention to herself as possible.

"For a pair of elite spies, you two can be woefully unobservant at times."

Both turned to find Lana standing several feet away. Theron looked resigned to the fact that he couldn't catch a break today while the Cipher merely chuckled.

"Something I can help you with, Lana?" the Agent asked.

"I was hoping that you were ready to fill me in on what exactly happened out there," she replied, the Sith Lord giving them a small, sly smile. "But it appears that Theron seems to have it all well in hand."

Theron covered his face with with his palm with an exasperated sigh.

"I promise you'll have a full report first thing in the morning," the Agent said with an amused expression, trying hard not to laugh.

"Very well," Lana conceded. "Try not to get into any more trouble, will you? There's only so much chaos we can handle at a time."

With that she left, along with the moment and Theron rubbed the back of his neck. "It's late, so I guess I better be going too."

He turned to leave, only to have the Cipher catch the edges of his jacket. "Or you could stay to make sure your Commander doesn't end up vanishing again."

"An excellent point."

The Agent took him by the hand, and led him towards the captain's quarters...