Corso's hand was steady as he held the squealing blaster. "Devin, is she telling the truth?" he asked his son, who was calmly watching.

"She is, Dad. She knows exactly where Mom is," Devin replied. He felt the rage building inside, but had complete control. "You can let her go, and I'll keep an eye on her."

Corso slowly lowered the blaster and pushed Lana away from him. "Let's go," he said, motioning to Lana, Torchy still in his hand.

"Cor, we need to hold up a minute here," Aric said. "We need to get provisions and let the others know what's going on." He stood slowly, waiting for Corso to look at him.

"Go, do whatever you have to do, but I'm leaving right now, we've already wasted five years!" Corso turned pleading eyes to his friend finally, and Aric saw the slight madness there. Aric sighed to himself, he knew Corso had been driven to a breaking point but was still, somewhere in there, a family man.

"At least call your daughter," Aric said, and that seemed to reach Corso. He pulled out his personal holo and talked to Sarai and Calypso, telling them only that they needed to make a trip. Sarai, of course, felt the message that Corso was really sending, but kept up the ruse with her granddaughter. While he was talking, Aric pulled Maura close enough to whisper to her. "Are we good to go here? Do you want to go back home?"

"There's no way I'm letting you two go get my sister without me," Maura told him. He kissed her and turned a grinning face to Corso, who was just putting his holo back into his pocket.

"Okay, then, we can go," Aric said, and he could see the relief flow over Corso's face. "But first, we need to get some more details." He sat again and motioned for Lana to as well. "So, why? Why is it that you would risk coming here? Telling Corso what you did five years ago?"

Lana had the grace to look embarrassed. "I should have come back and told you when it happened, but my duties to the Empire prevented me from doing so." She sighed and looked at her hands, clasped in her lap. "It was not one of my better decisions. I just knew of no other way to get the captain to a safe location, one that would never be disclosed because no one knew it existed. At least, that was the case five years ago." She poured more tea and sipped before resuming. "I took Miriah to a deserted Hutt storage center. I thought it was an excellent spot, until I learned a couple of years ago that it was now a droid controlled detention center." She looked at Aric then. "She is well guarded, but the guards have no idea who she is."

"It's time," Devin said. "Mom is needed. That's why she's here now, because we need to get Mom out safely, so that they can work against Valkorian." Lana nodded at the Jedi's words. Aric mulled the story around in his head, then sent a brilliant smile across the table.

"Okay, I'm up to speed. We can go now." Lana followed Corso up to the bridge. The controls were much more sophisticated that those of the freighter, and Corso felt helpless. He turned to Lana.

"I am going to have to trust that you aren't taking us to be killed or imprisoned. But know that I am watching, and more importantly, that my son is watching every move you make." He saw Lana hesitate, and when she reached for the comms to request launch clearance, her hand shook. Corso settled into the left seat, Torchy across his lap.

Maura took Devin aside. "Sweetie, I need to let you know some things. When we realized what had happened to your mom, I did some research on hibernation sickness." Devin gave his aunt his full attention. "There is a risk that she won't survive reanimation, if indeed she is still in the carbonite. She's always been so small, it's hard to know how she might react. And there are some side effects. Your father," and here she hesitated, "doesn't need to know all this right now. In his mind, all he wants is her back. He hasn't considered that she might not be the same Miriah that was taken five years ago." Devin nodded, he'd figured there would be some drawbacks to the extended freezing, but knew it was better to have his mother back even if she might not survive.

"Whatever we face, we'll get through it, Aunt Maura. Thank you for coming with us, I know that Colin just got back and you want to spend time with him."

Maura hugged her nephew. "Nothing, Devin, nothing is more important than possibly seeing my sister again." She quickly brushed away the tear that escaped from her cheek, hoping no one saw it.

By the time they'd reached orbit, Lana seemed to have settled. "We'll be in hyperspace for a couple of days," she told Corso, her voice soft. "I have sleeping areas for everyone." When Corso didn't respond, she looked over at him. His haggard face, now going on two days with little sleep, was expressionless, but she could see the torment in his eyes. There were so many emotions in such a small space, Lana was having trouble sorting them to their owners, but Corso's rang true, loud and clear. Longing was his overriding feeling, and she could tell it wasn't a new feeling for him. His soul longed for his wife, and it intensified the guilt Lana felt. "I'm sorry," she said, glancing at the man beside her. He seemed to have not heard her, and gave no reaction. Lana sighed, she knew it would take more than words to ease her debt.

Devin thought on Maura's words about hibernation sickness. Maybe we should have brought Aunt Mags, he worried. I can try but force healing isn't something I know a great deal about. He could feel Lana's force aura but it wasn't totally dark. He thought she might have some redeeming qualities even if she was Sith. But, he reminded himself, we wouldn't have lost Mom if she hadn't taken her. That thought hardened his resolve to treat Lana as an enemy until she'd proven otherwise. He settled in a spot that allowed him to see both Lana and his dad and the rest of the ship.

Aric was in the armory, examining the available armaments, when Maura found him. "We're going to need something heavier than blasters, if this facility is the normal Imp detention camp," he said, handing Maura a small assault cannon. "This should fit you pretty well." Maura grinned, and hefted the weapon to her shoulder.

"I should have thought to at least put armor in a bag before we left," she said, checking the plasma bolt feeder.

"There are a few pieces here that look brand new," Aric told her. "Nothing that will fit either me or Corso. Here, try this." He handed her a piece of molded durasteel, made for a female, and nodded when she made it work. They went through the rest of the available gear, but found nothing else usable. When they're reorganized it and left out the weapons they'd chosen, they returned to where Devin sat. "Dev, you have your saber?" Aric asked.

"Always," his nephew replied. "I had a feeling we would be going somewhere else today than just town, but the feeling wasn't strong enough to be sure." He stood and stretched. "We need to set up watches, so we'll be rested when we get there, wherever 'there' is." He looked at the bridge, and saw that his dad had slumped in the left chair. "Dad is sleeping, As long as we're in hyperspace, there's not much to do but ride. I'll go talk to Beniko."

Lana turned at Devin's approach. "We'll be all set in the hyperlane in a just a few minutes," she told the young Jedi. "I assume you want to set up a watch rotation?"

Devin just stood there, silently observing. Finally, he nodded. "I can feel that you are not deceiving us, but I also think there might be more resistance to our presence than you've let on." He leaned against the bulkhead. "Just what kind of hell are we going into?"

Lana paused and turned to look at him. "The facility holds a number of carbonite encased subjects," she said, her accent softened as well as her voice. "I know where the captain is, but there is no identification other than a vault number. There are droids there, but as far as I know, no sentient beings." She stood after engaging the hyperdrive and looked over at Corso. "This poor man needs to rest, but I fear he won't be able to move if we leave him here to sleep."

"I'll take care of it, just tell me where to let him bunk," Devin said, gently putting a hand on his dad's shoulder. Corso jumped and blinked several times, rubbing his tired eyes, before he realized where he was. "Come, Dad, and get some rest. You'll have watch in six hours." Corso nodded mutely, his brain had been on overload and was screaming for slumber. He handed Torchy over to his son, and followed Devin out to the crew area, falling into a bunk.

"Watch her," Corso whispered to his son, getting an affirmative head shake as his answer, before closing his eyes. Miriah, my love, I'm on the way, he thought. Corso felt a warmth envelope him, but he wasn't sure if it was force or hope that wrapped him. He decided that he was fine with either, and drifted back into sleep.

Aric had made assignments for watch, one person at a time except for Lana, and they wandered off into the bunks. Devin checked out the galley and found it fully stocked, before joining Lana again on the bridge. They sat in silence for a long while, and Devin realized that Lana was used to being alone. He wasn't sure how to take this Sith, with her conscience weighing her down and her strong sense of right and wrong. Finally, he asked her about her vision.

She considered him for a moment. "I knew that neither the Empire nor the Republic had the vast resources to deal with another threat. I was in a meditation room in the Citadel, trying to look for an answer, when I first saw the one who would be instrumental against Valkorian. I knew I'd seen her on Ziost, and when I looked further, I knew she had to be kept safe, until the time was right. If he'd seen, and he would have, then all would be lost." She looked down at her entwined fingers, nervously clenching and unclenching. "If there had been another option, another way to keep her presence hidden, I would have welcomed it." Devin was shocked by the tears that stung his eyes. He'd long ago willed away emotion, but here, with the prospect of seeing his mother again, it seemed his feelings were close to the surface these days. He turned his head to gain control and when he looked back, Lana had gone into the galley and he was left alone to think.

Maura had just finished checking the supplies in the med bay when Lana appeared in the doorway. "She's been frozen longer than I have experience with," the Sith admitted. "Still, I was assured that she would survive. Her recovery might take longer than usual, but I'm sure we can deal with the immediate issues long enough to get her back to Dantooine." Maura's hands stilled from the reorganization of kolto packs.

"What I read was temporary blindness, nausea, chills and extreme fatigue. That was in a study of carbonite subjects frozen for less than six months. We're talking years here. I think we have to be prepared for anything." She resumed putting the drawer in order, and didn't look up when Lana sighed heavily.

"I wish there had been another way. I only recently learned that she had adopted a daughter. There was nothing in our records about that." Lana sat down near the door. "I am a healer as well, together we can help her." Maura could feel Lana's sincerity even without being force sensitive, and agreed.

Aric found Devin on the bridge. "We're all set, Dev. Weapons, some armor. It's going to be dicey with the heavy droid presence, but we'll get her back." He sat in the pilot's char. "It feels good to finally be doing something, you know?" Devin grinned at his uncle, knowing Aric was never truly idle. They stared into the stars streaming past, and waited. Devin could feel every heartbeat, and knew they were bringing him closer to having his mother back than he'd been in five years.