When Lex awoke, he was confused and disoriented. The ache he felt all over recalled the trials on Korriban, and he panicked and thought he was back there.
Instead, an unfamiliar place swam into existence. There were harsh white lights and metal walls, and a tall woman in a white coat who turned her head and saw him.
"Kark, the tranquilizer's wearing off," she exclaimed, jumping to her feet.
"Wait, Maya, no. Let him wake up." That came from somewhere else in the room, but Lex recognized the voice as the rebel soldier's - the man he had escaped Corvus with. And then he remembered: he had escaped Darth Corvus! He was free!
The woman walked over with a syringe. "This'll be quick, Sith," she said.
"Maya, stop. I want to talk to him."
She scowled and turned. "Fine, Kelly. You chat with the Sith. Let him mind-control you and turn you evil, no big thing."
"Maya..." But the woman had turned heel and walked out. The door slid shut behind her.
By now Lex had realised that he was in energy shackles, a few feet off the floor in what appeared to be a somewhat dumpy medical bay. The Rebel had been behind him; now he came around to the front. Lex could see some stitches above the man's eyebrow, but he looked otherwise unharmed.
"Hey," said the Rebel. "Thanks for saving me from your master, Venom."
"My name's not Venom. It's Lex."
"All right, Lex then. I'm Kelly Tibbs. You're at our base, but they, uh, weren't real happy with me for bringing Supreme Leader Corvus' personal apprentice back here with me, so... uh, you won't be getting to walk around much. Sorry."
"Is there any way I can convince them I'm not a Sith?"
"Buddy, I hate to break it to you, but you are a Sith. You're Corvus' student! She called you Darth Venom! For all we know you're a spy. We can't let you out."
"All I want is to get back to my home system-"
"Yeah, but how do we know that? I really am grateful towards you, Lex. I am. But I agree with the Council on this one."
Lex sighed, his joy at being free of Alhena evaporating.
"In fact," Kelly went on, "the Council wants to keep you under sedation permanently, after I told them what you did during the fight. Even restrained they think you're too dangerous. They would have killed you if I hadn't vouched for you. Admiral Bass was about ten seconds away from blowing your head off, and I said he could kill me too if you did anything, so you'd better be on good behaviour, Sith."
"Thank you for saving me a second time," said Lex.
"The first time was for me, pal. If I hadn't shot your master, we'd both be dead."
Lex couldn't argue with that. Instead he asked, "Is there going to be a trial, then? Or do I just stay here forever?"
Kelly shrugged. "I'm just a soldier. A good one, don't get me wrong. But the Council doesn't keep me in the loop. War heroes don't get to make decisions, they just get to follow orders. Frankly," he confessed, "I'm amazed they didn't kill you anyhow. They looked horrified when I told them how you fought Corvus. You'd think I'd walked in holding a thermal detonator or something."
"General Tibbs," said a sharp voice as the door slid open, "what are you doing?" A middle-aged woman with an elaborate braided bun stalked into the room. "Did anyone give you permission to fraternize with the prisoner?"
"I wasn't aware I had to get permission to have a conversation, Moff Tarsis."
"The Council has decreed-"
"So we just keep him drugged into unconsciousness forever? Is that it?"
The woman's face purpled. "Until it can be established that this 'Darth Venom' does not pose a threat to this facility-"
"Has anyone thought of taking him to the Master? No? No, of course not." Kelly Tibbs was angry; his voice was full of frustration and annoyance. The woman, Moff Tarsis, looked even angrier.
"And how are we going to bring him to the Master, hmm? Are you volunteering to be his escort?"
"I've already vouched for him with my life, so yes, I am, if that's what it takes! What we've been doing is inhumane. We're being as bad as the Empire."
Tarsis drew herself up with an infuriated inhalation. "Were you not so effective and admired a soldier, General Tibbs, the Council would surely have you court-martialled for bringing this- this- abomination into our home base! Keeping him under sedation is the most merciful thing we can do short of having him executed. You should have just let his master kill him."
Tibbs would have snapped a reply, but Lex interrupted, his voice quiet. "Who is the Master?"
Moff Tarsis glowered at him. "How dare you speak, Sith monster?!'
"The Master is a Jedi, but older and wiser than maybe any being in the galaxy," said Tibbs. "She can read people's hearts and would tell us if you are as you say, or if you're a spy after all. She's Neti, though, and already rooted, so for her to read your heart you must go to her-"
"-and she lives deep in the center of the base," finished Moff Tarsis with narrowed ice-chip eyes, "so the risk is too great. It's not happening."
"But if I go before this Master and she vouches for me," Lex persisted, "then you'll let me free, won't you?"
Moff Tarsis' lip curled. "If, hypothetically, we could bring you to the Master, and she were to find your heart clean, then yes, you would be released from your bonds and we would not have to keep you sedated any longer. But you would not be allowed to leave the base until we could be certain you would not betray its location to your true master, Sith."
"What if I were to let you drug me so that I could be brought to the Master without risk to your base?" Lex suggested, his mouth dry. He hated the thought of willingly becoming helpless for those who meant him harm, but as far as he could tell he had no other choice.
"Yes," said Kelly, brightening. "That's the solution! If he's knocked out, he won't be able to cause any trouble. If the Master says he's evil, we can kill him right there, and if she says he's on our side, then there's no point keeping him chained up like this. Even you, Moff Tarsis, cannot doubt the Master's judgment."
The woman took a slow, annoyed breath, but as she released it she nodded. "Yes, General Tibbs, that seems satisfactory. Let's have done with it at once. I'll gather the Council. You and Maya put him under."
As Moff Tarsis left, the woman from earlier came back in, evidently having been waiting in the corridor throughout this. She regarded Lex with hate and fear, despite, at least in Kelly's eyes, he was a pitiful thing to behold, battered and unkempt, still wounded from their escape the week previous. "Well?" she said.
"Tranquilize him like you were going to before. The Council's taking him to the Master."
Maya shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere near that thing. Too dangerous."
"Maya," snapped Kelly. "He's not a 'thing'. He's a person like you and me. You'll let her drug you, won't you, Lex? You'll be good?"
Lex nodded, trying not to draw parallels between the vial of drugs that Maya held and those the Sith had injected him with on Korriban. He had to submit now or he would never stand a chance of getting home - ever. When Maya walked over, eyeing him warily, and drove the needle painfully into his shoulder, he did not allow himself to so much as flinch. His breathing slowed, he drooped and then went limp. Maya scowled.
"You're wasting your time trying to save him, you know," she said.
Kelly's expression was defiant. "I'll leave that up to the Master to decide."
Maya shrugged. "Your funeral."