At first, I was sure the freighters had delivered their extra cargo to the wrong place. The room was brightly lit and unnaturally warm from Malastare's sweltering environment outside, both completely opposite from the dark and frigid feel it'd had before. But the more I looked around, the more I realized that it was the same compound, the exact same room I had last seen Recero in, and there was nothing left but the bare walls. No bed, no tables, no equipment, no Bex, no Recero. If Tzymo had moved her, why had he wasted so many resources to keep up appearances?
It was the perfect trap, however, and I should have seen it coming. Resigned to my fate, I awaited Tzymo's mercenaries, expecting them to storm the compound at any moment...but they never came.
Maybe they were waiting for my guard to come down. I had gotten into the compound unarmed, but surely they knew that I was still able to defend myself well without a weapon. So if they weren't going to attack me immediately, that meant I had precious little time to search the other rooms for clues as to where Tzymo had taken my sister.
I moved swiftly and cautiously from room to room, but each one was the same: empty, hot, and barren. Where were all those shipments I had watched coming in for weeks? Where were the guards and lab personnel I had seen milling about the compound? They had been in and out at regular intervals, taking shifts outside in the searing heat. I hadn't registered any indication that Tzymo was shutting down his operations there, so I found myself...lost.
But I wasn't nearly as lost then as when I dumbly stumbled into the last vacant room on the ground floor...and met Recero's holoimage, standing full figure in front of me.
Like she had been waiting for me.
Sensing another trap, I looked around for sentry turrets or disguised explosives, but I saw nothing that set off more alarms in my head. Without meaning to, I stepped closer to her, transfixed by her hard gaze that was so familiar, almost endearing, though it had been years since I had last seen her.
"Hello, Horatio," she began quietly. She seemed hesitant, so much so I wasn't entirely sure if I was seeing a recording or a live transmission. Her next sentence, though, sealed my chest into solid permacrete.
"If you're listening to this message...then my disease has run its course, and I am gone."
I could have collapsed on the spot. Somehow I retained the strength of stand, listening to the rest of her message through a strange, muddled filter.
"Four years is a long time to fight, and my body's giving up before I can stop it. I know you'll blame yourself, but I don't. This was not your fault. Seeing you again gave me hope I thought I no longer had, and though I only got worse after you left to find Max, I felt more...at peace. You risked a lot getting to me. I know you only got tangled up with Tzymo to find me, but at least this way...Tzymo can't hold me over your head anymore.
"I know you found Max. And I know you intended to bring him to me, but Soran had stopped you and your friend. If it hadn't been for Max, you would have died on that asteroid at Soran's command." She smiled, somewhat sadly but with a hint of pride. "Max created a diversion that took Soran's group away from the Paneau Sector. He sent a message to his father that he had been kidnapped for ransom, and Soran wasted little time in chasing after him." Pausing a moment, she gave me a stern look. "I sure hope that wasn't your idea."
Though in my head, I knew it was only a recording, I had to answer her. I shook my head faintly, even more amazed at Max's ingenuity and survival skills. The kid had effectively saved my life twice, and then he had outsmarted one of the most ruthless spice dealers in the Outer Rim? He was definitely Recero's son.
"I hope you won't be upset with me," she continued somberly, "but I had to make a difficult decision before I was able to speak to you again. I sent my son Aalon to live with another family, a close business partner of my late husband's. I...I couldn't ask you to take him...I just couldn't, not without knowing for sure that Tzymo would leave you alone once I died. He will be well taken care of, I've been assured, so please...don't try to follow him.
"I have a feeling Max will find you again, but not until his father relinquishes his hold on him. I know Tzymo had put a bounty out on Max, so don't go looking for him, either, or Tzymo will punish you."
The look in her sullen eyes wasn't hard to interpret; she genuinely regretted her mandate, knowing how much it would pain me to accept it. She was right, though, as much as I didn't want to admit it. I would have to disappear, even more so than I had before. I would have to become completely invisible.
"I'm sorry things have ended up this way. I'm sorry I've left the score unsettled. I owe you another favor for what you've brought me in my final months, and I'm afraid all I can offer you is monetary. Find Bex; he will have the location of my remaining assets. Part of it will be saved for Aalon when he is old enough to use it, and some will be Max's when he is able to return here, looking for me. What's left is yours, and I hope you can use it well.
"If you hadn't stopped me all those years ago on Coruscant...I know that both our lives would be very different right now. Maybe I wouldn't have caught this disease. Or maybe neither of us would have survived past our teens, as much trouble as we got ourselves into. I'm sure I never would have gotten as far as I did without your help, and though telling you my appreciation now as a final goodbye may mean very little, it's all I can do. You still might not believe it, but you are a good person, Horatio. No one, not even Tzymo can take that away from you. Be careful and take care of yourself... Someone will need you when you least expect it."
