One- POV: Agent, chiss, Ral'zah'nuruodo. Cipher Nine come to a realization that will change his character forever...

Setting: End of Act Two. Spoilers up until that point, so do not read if you don't want to be spoiled.

Right- Ral'zah'nuruodo

The serum burned through his veins, and in the distance, Watcher X's voice echoed...

"Your mind is now your own..."

Ral'zah'nuruodo had never been religious. He was a man of pragmatism and logic, and even had difficulty listening to some of the inane prattle Jedi and Sith went on about. Yet when he opened his eyes and found that he could see again, and felt no claw in his mind, no ghost of a presence with a hand clamped over his throat, he almost felt like weeping because he felt something approaching rapture.

His body chilled as the serum worked, his mind icing over nearly painfully and he bent to his knees, holding his head in his hands. "Force," he breathed, because it seemed the only thing large enough to quantify his relief. He looked at his hands, deep blue and calloused from punches and rifle stocks and knife handgrips. He looked at the ground of the small laboratory, dusty and rusted over for many years. He looked at his boots, dirtied and worn.

No voice in his head. No Ardun Kothe in his brain, twisting his thoughts and will. He was free. Zahn was free.

He looked up and saw her...

Somehow, at this desperate hour, it seemed right, that the first person he recognize be Kaliyo. She peered down at him with her signature scowl, gray skin wrinkling around her eyes as they became slits in wariness. She didn't trust him, yet. Maybe she never would, because she was smart. She was always smart, smarter than him, it seemed.

In fact, he reflected privately, Kaliyo had been right along all, about everything.

About Keeper. About the Sith. About Intelligence.

A word, slipping from his lips like the water of his thoughts. "Kaliyo," he murmured.

Her response was harsh and strong. It always was. "What are you doing?" the Rattataki demanded.

Zahn opened his mouth, trying to say what he needed to say. How wrong he was. How right she was. How he should have listened to her. At once, everything he had yearned to state while brainwashed came to the forefront of his mind, then died when it touched his tongue.

He didn't say, "Kaliyo, I was brainwashed this whole time. Keeper did it."

He didn't say, "I've been forced to do dirty work for Kothe."

He didn't say, "My mind has been enslaved for the past two months. How's yours?"

Instead, Zahn said quietly, "You were always right, Kaliyo." It seemed to sum everything up, put into words an encyclopedia of everything he had learned and experienced.

Because it was her, he knew she would understand. And she did; she didn't place a hand on his shoulder, or nod gently, or give him a reassuring smile. She replied snidely, "Of course I was, Agent. Now get up. We're killing daylight."

But something flashed in her eyes, something sacred and absolute and intuitive, and Zahn knew without a doubt that Kaliyo understood and did not want to discuss it further. The implications were immense; perhaps she had always suspected his brainwashing but not said anything, for doing so would compromise herself. Maybe she had always known Zahn better than he gave her credit, and detected his slighter abnormalities.

Maybe she had just resolved to watch over him, quietly, like she always did.

She turned away, looking out the door to the lab, checking for patrols of Hutt personnel, and Zahn stared.

It was odd, the feeling in his chest. New. Wild, but pure. He knew, then, that he loved her. Inescapably. Utterly. Completely.

He didn't say that. It was not their way. Instead he did stand, and he did grip his blaster with renewed determination. He locked eyes with her when she turned, and grinned. "Just needed a moment to catch my breath," he excused.

She inclined her head, gave him a dark wink. "Great. I say we go find Kothe and shove his lightsaber where it doesn't shine."

Oh, Kaliyo... "I concur," he nodded. "One thing, though." She stopped in her exit. "I get to do the shoving."

And Kaliyo smiled.

(O)(O)(O)