Vader's POV

Vader was barely fazed by the sight before him. Gruesome as it may be, he had seen much more death, and spilled much more blood. He had decided, over time, that the fates of individual strangers were of little importance to him. And until recently – and for the most of twenty years – this included every soul in the galaxy. It was easy to shut them out, hate them even, when all they saw in him was a ruthless killing machine, a weapon to cringe from when it was turned their way. They avoided his gaze, trembled at the sound of his breathing, fled the rooms he entered – but discreetly, in a way the believed he wouldn't notice – for how could such a creature do anything but harm them? Yes, he had deserved it. Yes, it had angered him. Yes, he had harnessed it, had fed on their fear, delving further into the dark side, like his master had told him to. But no, he couldn't stand it. And so he had become numb to their distress, for he had enough of his own, and for caring only threatened his last sliver of sanity.

All of this made Jeeto's death nothing more than a mild inconvenience. His main concern was, in fact, of practical nature. For if the toydarian was dead, who was to help them locate Cylo's facility? Vader glanced back at the body, wondering whether there was something left to work with, when he caught sight of a small metal object, lying inches away from the corpse's right hand. The device was in remarkably good condition, especially compared to the rest of Jeeto's equipment, which led him to believe that it might not have belonged to the unfortunate engineer. Maybe the killer had dropped it, or left it as some kind of signature? Whatever the item was, Vader's curiosity was piqued, and he used the Force to pick it up, not bothering to crouch on the gore-covered floor. He took a closer look at the gimmick: a holoprojector. He pressed the on-switch to see if there were any records. But it was Cylo's face that appeared above the disk.

"I thought it would be rude of me not to leave a note," the hologram said. "So, trying to locate my central memory bank, aren't we? I will save you the trouble. It's on Lehon. I would wish you good luck, but that would be complete hypocrisy on my part. Until next time, Lord Vader."

"Well, at least this gentleman has some manners," Triple-Zero remarked.

"Thank you for your input, Triple-Zero."

Aphra's POV

Aphra couldn't believe what she had just seen. What kind of twisted mind would kill the one who would lead them to him, only to reveal his location himself? This didn't add up. Unless…

"It's a trap," she concluded out loud.

"Of course, it is," Vader calmly answered, switching the record off. Aphra was stunned by his apparent lack of concern. Clearly, he was missing the point: whether he had followed them or simply had informants on Jakku, Cylo had figured out what they were up to, and was now merely waiting for them to jump into the rancor's pit.

"And? That's it?" she exclaimed with exasperation as she followed him out of the building.

"No, that's not 'it'," he replied curtly, hastening the pace towards the ship.

"Then what's our next move?"

"Spring the trap."

Excuse me? Vader had never really struck her as the happy-go-lucky type. Although now that she thought about it…

"You're crazy," she said, though she knew she was not much saner herself. "You know that? Cylo will be expecting us."

"Yes, he will be. As he has been since we left Coruscant. Revealing his location was only a way to speed things up. Which he would not have done if he were not confident in his ability to defeat me. "

"Which is why we must not go there. This is the kind of situation that screams 'let's just go into hiding and lay low for awhile'. I'd be cool with that."

"I'm afraid I'm a bit conspicuous for that, and the longer we wait, the better prepared he will be. We cannot afford to linger."

"So you just want to barge into this madman's place, smash everything around and leave like nothing happened?"

"Yes."

"Okay, cool."

"Wasn't that your previous occupation?" Vader said with a hint of raillery.

Sort of. Only sort of. There was much more than that to archaeology. But as far as she was concerned, that was the gist of what she usually did.

They finally reached the ship and Aphra gave the hyperdrive a quick check, making sure everything was ready for takeoff.

"All good," she announced, breezing in the cockpit as Vader entered their destination's coordinates. Vader started the engines and heavy clouds of dust appeared around the ship, dimming the sunlight and quickly dissipating as the ship soared over the dune sea. Aphra gazed out of the viewport and down at the sandy waves undulating beneath them, becoming smaller and smaller until they were nothing but a golden blur. They speedily got out of the atmosphere and made the jump into hyperspace. It would be a long trip. Not only because Lehon was far, far away at the edge of charted space, but also because Aphra, behind that confident and boastful exterior, was currently a bucket of worry. Granted, she did love danger, but running into Cylo's trap was bordering on suicide. Come on, it'll be fun, she mentally told herself. Aphra was always up for a good adrenaline rush, and had taken this kind of risk many, many times before. But this time, there was something more, something she couldn't quite pinpoint. It wasn't simply fear, at least nor for herself, but she had this illogical, gnawing dread that something bad was about happen. She started pacing wildly across the ship in an attempt to calm her nerves. Which was something she had never done before – ever – and which, naturally, didn't fail to catch Vader's attention.

"Something is troubling you," he stated as he rose from his seat and started heading her way. Yes, something was troubling her, and only now that she'd heard his voice did she realize what it was: she feared for him. Irrationally. Vader was a one-man army, and yet for some reason, her gut was telling her that he was in danger. But her mind was trying to distract her from it, and the fear was fading with every step he took, leaving room to that odd and familiar feeling, that overpowering urge that drew her steps towards him. She wanted him to know what she felt, here and now, without the filter of words to attenuate her meaning. And she knew what to do. She lowered her barriers, just enough to let him feel the nature of her thoughts. Although she wasn't Force-sensitive, she was beginning to master this. She closed her eyes and focused on him, welcoming the feeling of his mind brushing against hers. And she reveled in it. Like she had every time before, whether it was a fleeting, almost timid caress or a scorching, smoke-loaded gale that left her parched. She let her hands wander across his chest, waiting for him to draw her closer.

Vader's POV

He responded without words, letting his arms enclose her as he breathed in her essence, tasting the emotions that came wafting his way.

She shivered against him, sending and odd tingle through his glove-covered sensors as his fingers started tracing patterns on her flanks, moving up the curves of her back until he stopped on the hollow scar Karbin had left her with, so broad he could feel it through her flimsy clothing. Anger began to surface at the thought. Karbin. In a way, it was Cylo's doing. And he would pay for it, just as he would answer for conspiring against him. But not now. Now was simply the time to cherish the moment, to bathe in Aphra's warmth and let their souls mingle in blissful disregard of what was yet to come. Now was the calm before the storm.