A/N: Lucas owns the world Scarlett and I just tweak it to fit our version of reality.

Chapter 9

The armored figure froze at the press of my blaster.

"What?" He asked mostly I think because usually when one finds a blaster to one's back unexpectedly one usually finds oneself losing money- not gaining it.

"You have a name?" I asked instead of answering.

My target was quick, I noticed. Good, it was a good beginning.

"Kehm," He answered. "Razden Kehm."

I took this in and noted it.

"And," I pressed. "You are a bounty hunter," I stated more then asked seeking confirmation of my suspicions.

"On occasion," Was his only reply.

"Good," I nodded to myself. "Very good," I declared further. "Any imperial contacts?"

He paused at this.

"You have me intrigued whoever you are," He commented. "Tell me you're as beautiful as your voice and you're looking for some company tonight because, I have to admit, this is a pretty interesting pick up," He confessed his voice, though made tiny as it passed through the helmet's speaker was filled with a smile.

"No pleasure," I shook my head. "Just business," I informed him.

Then, solely because it might help in the future I added a smile to my own.

"For now," I hinted meaningfully. "Just tell me you have imperial contacts."

"A few," He answered finally.

"Good," I declared again with another nod. "Turn around," I told him stepping back into the shadows my blaster still pointed at him.

He did.

For the longest moment nothing happened as he looked me up and down but I wasn't surprised by his lack of recognition. It is, after all, a rare person that does recognize me by sight at all- much less the first time they see me.

The truth was that, due to the fact that the Old Empire had been as it had been- my appearance during my youth had been augmented by more than medics.

Blue-eyed blondes with those carefully styled waves and perfectly applied makeup were all the rage when I was younger- so, needless to say that my dark eyes and unruly copper-curls had been hidden since I was ten and there never was a day during my adolescence that I left even my room before I was prepared.

All of this meant that even though a holo of my 15-year-old self had been disseminated throughout the Empire back in the day along with the story that I had been kidnapped and brain-washed by the Rebel Alliance as the Imperial Holo-Child- I didn't look like the Imperial Holo-Child very much at all anymore.

There were some things that time and makeup can't change for those who make a living on looking for such things however- the curve of a jaw- the shape of a mouth and these I relied on now as I regarded the bounty hunter and he regarded me.

Slowly, eventually, the time worked its magic and a small gasp escaped the speakers of his helmet as he recognized me.

"You," He breathed. "You're-"

"-Yes," I nodded. "I am," I confirmed further. "And I have a proposition."

"And it started out as such a bad day," He observed.

"So? How would you like to be the one to capture the Imperial Holo-Child?" I asked ignoring the comment.

He paused for a moment no doubt looking at me from the anonymity of his helmet.

"I thought you might say something like that my lady," He remarked. "What's the catch?"

"No catch," I shook my head. "What's the bounty at right now?"

A dry chuckle answered me for a moment before he did.

"The highest ever recorded," He admitted. "Five million," He told me. "Not even the Butcher got that much," Kehm observed. "I take you in, I break Fett's record."

"Perfect," I commented nodding. "How would you like to double that?"

That brought him up short as he looked at me his tremor filled with shock. Eventually, he whistled long and low in his appreciation.

"You don't play small time, do you, lady?"

"Not when it comes to my hide no," I shrugged. "What do you say, Mister Kehm?" I asked. "Double the highest bounty ever recorded and the fame that goes with it. You could even say you managed to pull off what the great Bobba Fett never could."

Slowly, eventually he nodded.

"What's the deal?"

His question was music to my ears and I found myself smiling.

"The deal Mister Kehm," I told him. "Is that you use your contacts to locate my father, the Raphlanx and," I added meaningfully. "You take me directly to him," I declared. "No one else is to know of my capture, no one else is to be alerted until one month has passed."

He considered this for a moment.

"What about the guild?"

"No one," I reiterated.

Silence as he pondered this.

"Five million is a lot of credits," He observed. "Both of you could try to stiff me," He commented further. "Something this high would almost have to go through the guild," He continued. "It's way too much to be playing around with."

"Fine," I nodded. "Six."

"Ten or the deal's off," He shook his head.

"Alright," I nodded again. "We could be here all night arguing, Mister Kehm," I told him. "I have nothing better to do and I'm offering you a chance of a lifetime," I stated. "Even at four, it would be worth the trip and the possible hassle of having to escape an amateur trap set by a feeble old man," I observed. "Anyone else would be jumping at the chance."

He considered.

"Alright, six," He finally agreed.

"Actually Mister Kehm," I commented. "I believe that the deal was for four. That was the number I mentioned last."

"Why you-"

I just held up my blaster before he could continue.

We stood frozen for a moment. Then, suddenly, he sighed.

"I'm beginning to see why no one's caught you yet, lady," He observed weariness filling his voice.

Unable to resist, I smiled.

"Why, thank you for the compliment, Mister Kehm," I told him graciously.

"Alright, for four," He remarked. "Up front."

"Half now, half when we get there," I shook my head. "And don't argue," I warned before he could protest. "Giving you two million would mean that even if we both stiffed you at the end of the trip, you're still coming out way ahead in the game and, that other two looming on the horizon will ensure my safety."

He thought about this for a moment but in the end, he had to agree.

"Alright," He nodded. "The closest banking terminal's this way."

We went to the closest banking terminal and I transferred the credits to his account while he watched on carefully.

Then it seemed like only a moment before we were aboard his ship and we were leaving Coruscant.

Razden Kehm asked absolutely no questions and did nothing until we entered hyperspace.

Until then, he just concentrated on flying and then, when he had reached over to deactivate his astromech, he turned from his control panel and rising to his feet sighed wearily.

"Well," He announced. "We're out," He told us both. "Pretty much safe for now," He continued before reaching up, he removed his battle helmet.

If I had bothered to wonder what he looked like beneath the safety of his helmet, I had to realize as I looked over at him that it was not what I was confronted with. Long, curling blonde locks tumbled out to fall over his shoulders and his piercing gray eyes looked out from a lean, nearly Elvin face that was so youthful that it was almost boyish.

He was young, about my physical age, and though highly attractive, his face wasn't precisely one that could inspire fear.

At my expression, he just smiled a bit and shrugged.

"Guess you can see why I wear the armor now," He commented as he passed by me on the way to the main cabin. "The only other bunk I've got on this ship's located in the holding cell," He admitted. "Don't worry lady, I won't lock it. There's really no point," He observed.

"Doesn't matter," I remarked trailing after him. "I won't be using it much anyway."

He cast a glance at me to this but said nothing.

The holding cell was small but clean and considering that all I had on me was my account stick, the vibroblade in my boot, my blaster, and the clothes I was wearing, it was all I needed. A small, private lavatory was attached to it and the bunk wasn't uncomfortable.

True to his word, the bounty hunter didn't so much as even close the barred door.

Over the weeks that followed, I barely slept taking to the meditations whenever I could and distracting myself when I couldn't.

The hallucinations were thankfully still minor allowing me to hide my illness from my guide.

The irony that I found myself trying to seek my sanity among the shattered remnants of an insane empire was made apparent within only a few weeks.

Kehm attempted to locate my father through his contacts in the Imperium, but no one seemed to know where he was.

"So," I stated finally, after he ended a transmission with the fourth person to give us the bad news. "You can't find him."

"Oh," He winced. "I can find him," He admitted. "It's just not going to be pretty."

"Really? How so?" I asked arching a brow.

Razden Kehm sighed.

"We have to deal with my mother," He declared as if announcing our doom.

I couldn't help but smile a bit at that.

"I think everyone's parents are insane these days."

"Not like this."

As I unfortunately discovered, Razden Kehm was right.

No sooner than we had docked with the small station then the figure of an elderly female was coming up the ramp and entering through the airlock calling at the top of her voice merrily.

"Simon!" She declared holding out her arms for an embrace making the poor bounty hunter wince. "Why I can't believe my eyes!" She declared. "You're back!"

"Ma," He told her instead. "I told you not to call me that, Simon isn't my name anymore."

"Oh please, if it was good enough for your father, it's good enough for you," She waved the comment away before turning to me and smiling. "And what have we here?" The woman asked before elbowing her son. "Simon, don't be so rude, introduce me to your little friend."

"Ma," He tried again.

"Hi," I stated stepping forward and holding out my hand praying the old woman wouldn't recognize me. "Josephi," I introduced myself using the first name that came to mind. "Josephi Eldrict."

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Eldrict, I'm Frela, Simon's mother, but, you already knew that, I'm sure," She greeted me before elbowing her son knowingly. "She's a charmer Simon, take it from me, don't let this one get away like you did the last one," She advised before leading me over to the couch and sitting down. "So, why don't we get to know one another dear?" She asked conversationally. "Can I get you anything while you're on the station? Glitterstem maybe? Or how about some nice stimtabs?"

"Ah," I remarked. "No, no thank you Frela," I told her even as Kehm stepped forward admonishingly.

"Ma," He called her attention reproachfully. "Will you please stop pushing that stuff?"

"Oh well, why not?" She waved it away irritated. "It was good enough to get you through the Academy with a commission, and got you into Intelligence didn't it?" She asked before turning to me. "Well, you're clean at least, that much is good. What's your background, dear?" She asked further. "Hopefully, it's not Republican."

"Ah," I stammered searching my brain for some semblance of an idea of when precisely it was that sanity had stepped out of the airlock. "No, no ma'am," I answered. "My parents were factory workers on Coruscant under the Empire in fact."

"Coruscant," She beamed. "Well, that's a nice system to be from, even if you are only commoners. But then again, we are too so, that seems to be pretty much be that, doesn't it?" She asked.

"Mom?" Razden aka Simon remarked finally stepping into the conversation. "I need your help," He told her.

"Oh?" Frela's attention finally caught, she looked over at her son.

"I got a big bounty on the way but," He added. "I need to find out where Lord Vokan is in hiding."

At this, the old woman frowned.

"But he isn't in hiding," She remarked. "In fact, I sent off a shipment for one of his celebrations just last week," She told him.

"Well then, how come no one knows where he is?" I asked.

"Probably because he's just moved to our last large system," Frela answered. "In fact, that's what the celebration was about.

"I heard it was a marvelous success by the way," She informed me conspiratorially. "In any case, he's on Blodgett," She remarked. "Of course, officially it's supposed to be a part of that Rebel Alliance but everyone knows it's really an Imperium world."

"Great," He declared straightening. "Well, thanks for the information ma," He told her as he pulled her to her feet cutting through her protests as he bustled her off the ship. "I'll be sure to send you a nice hunk of the profits as usual but, we gotta go now. Things to do in the name of the glory of the Imperium," He continued. "Nice seeing you again, bye."

And with that, he was leaning against the closed door of the airlock with her on the other side breathing an obvious sigh of relief.

"Sorry," He apologized sheepishly. "She's um- she's a little unbalanced," He explained "Tries her products a little too often," He shrugged.

"I noticed," I nodded in agreement as I considered what she had said. "Imperium Intelligence, huh?"

Razden Kehm aka "Simon" smiled slightly and shrugged.

"I thought it would be exciting," He admitted. "The recruiter told me I'd be a shoe in for a diplomatic posting in one of the more prestigious systems."

I nodded again.

"And," I commented. "You believed him."

Razden looked over at me and splayed his hands.

"I gave the man twenty-five thousand credits to put the plastipulp through," He told me trying to defend himself.

"You're right, that should have worked for you," I agreed as I bit my lip in thought. "Why didn't it?"

"Some Moff's nephew gave him fifty," He sighed before straightening he left the room for the cockpit.

And that was when I knew beyond all doubts that I was once more within the Empire.

We made our way to Blodgett and landing at the small spaceport, he loaned me a cloak.

Blodgett was one of the many small core worlds sitting near the galactic center. As a result, it provided a beautiful- if inherently unstable nighttime view which I was afforded as we arrived in the evening.

Of course, one day, probably way into the future, it would most likely wind up colliding with another planet, or perhaps its small twin suns would collide with one another or just cool away but, sooner or later, it was ultimately doomed to a far shorter lifespan than planets in the normal areas of the galaxy.

The native life, like on many of the core worlds the Empire had taken over hadn't managed to get much higher than a rather dull looking yellowish lichen which was all around us on the landing pad when we emerged.

But, with typical human adaptation, when the Empire had retreated to such worlds, a massive effort had gone into making them as pleasant as possible. This fact had been common knowledge in the Republic.

What hadn't been common knowledge, I discovered as we crested the hill and I found myself stopping for a moment in surprise, was how well they had succeeded.

"By the Force," I heard myself breathe with a low whistle of appreciation making my guide stop and look back at me.

"You haven't been to an Imperium world before, have you, lady?" He asked a smile filling his voice from beneath his battle helmet.

The Imperium had been going for all of the outward majesty of the old Empire and they had succeeded, I had to admit as I looked down upon the city that filled the large valley before us.

Wide boulevards had been formed from polishing the hard rock, which looked silver in the light of the multitude of stars. Green grass and carefully sculpted trees lined them and the buildings rose up in regular patterns each gated and walled off from the rest of the world.

In the center of the small city, a large park awaited with its crowning glory, a huge shimmering fountain that could be seen even from a distance.

What hadn't been settled for living had been carefully cultivated to provide a "forested" area and seeing it, despite my reasons for being there, I couldn't help but smile.

Of course, I thought to myself.

"He'll be living at the edge of town," I told my guide.

"Whatever," Kehm merely shrugged. "We still have to look him up in the directory," He stated. "Let's go."

We made our way down into the valley and from there through the town and to the information center. Just as I thought it would be- it was closed.

Kehm never faltered for a single step however as he marched up to the door and opened it.

It was unlocked, but that little surprise was not the most shocking to come as I discovered the moment we stepped in.

"We're closed," A stormtrooper told us stepping forward.

"Yes, I know," Kehm remarked his voice though the speaker of his helmet just as lifeless as he held up a small bag. "Five hundred," He told the trooper.

And then, I watched on my jaw dropping in shock as the stormtrooper took it!

In fact, I was so shocked that Kehm had to turn back and literally drag me away from my stunned immobility.

"Will you get a move on?" He hissed as he hurried me across the floor. "We've only got five minutes to get the information," He told me.

"He-He took a bribe," I found myself hissing back in near horror my imperialitic upbringing rearing its ugly head. "That trooper just took a bribe."

"Cool your jets, lady," Kehm told me as he stepped up to the counter. "He's under orders."

"We're closed," The clerk told us.

In response, Kehm merely tossed a second bag onto the counter.

"That's for the five minutes," He told him before tossing another beside it. "That's the thousand for an address."

"Name?" The clerk sighed straightening.

"Anyon Domelle Vokan."

"Hmph," The clerk didn't look impressed. "Governors cost extra."

Kehm merely tossed yet another bag onto the desk.

"Double."

"Very well," The clerk stated. "I don't even have to look it up," He remarked. "It's at the end of Main. The big palace at the edge of town? You can't miss it," He assured us with a smile that spoke silent volumes as to the fact that we had been had.

Kehm however seemed unaffected as he just turned on his heel and quickly walked back across the room and out of the building.

In fact, so fast was his pace that I was forced to almost run to keep up with him.

Once out into the street however he breathed a visible sigh of relief as the doors closed behind him.

"That," He announced. "Was close."

I stood for a moment perplexed before I had to sigh.

"Ah," I commented for a moment clearing my throat. "Care to explain what that was all about?" I asked.

"Imperium world," He shrugged. "After the Imperium pulled back to the core worlds, the Raphlanx had everything standardized- even certain kinds of bribes," Kehm explained. "Like names and addresses for example," He told me. "If you have the credits, you can get and keep some places open for a hundred a minute both for the trooper guarding the door of the place and for whoever it is your dealing with."

"Interesting," I commented. "It does sound like him," I admitted thoughtful now. "But, why get so uptight about it?"

A sound, which was a nice cross between a near laugh and a snort of disgust emanated from his helmet for a moment before he answered me.

"Because the stormtroopers hate it, that's why," He declared. "So, you got the once and only the once to pass them the credits," He informed me holding up a gloved finger. "Then, they like to stand there with their timers running and the second the timer runs down? You're shot as a trespasser."

I stood for a moment as I digested this fact.

"I see," I stated nodding my understanding.

"Good," Kehm nodded. "Let's go then."

We walked through the small city at an almost leisure pace made necessary by the fact that the streets weren't empty in the early evening hours.

And, I had to admit that the weather was pleasant.

The air was neither too hot nor too cold and there was a nice, gentle breeze that cooled us as we made our way. The whole of the settlement had been made for comfort of course. It was the new seat of a lost empire after all. And, like everything else, the palace we found ourselves coming to a stop before was beautiful.

Beyond the scrolling gate was a wide path to the building itself and my father's love of classical architecture had found outlet yet again in the wide marbled stairs to the main doors and the columns resplendent. Soft, glowing light strings and ivy from the large clay pots grew up along them in glittering spirals only to meet together at the top to create blossoming arches.

The large redwood doors were open in the evening air and light and music softly flowed from them and the large floor-length windows. There was a celebration going on and, as we stood at the gate, I couldn't help but wonder idly what it was he was celebrating.

I didn't have long to wonder about it however as Kehm was already stepping up to the troopers who were guarding the gate.

"We need to see Lord Vokan," He told him.

"Lord Vokan is busy," Came the reply. "Unless you are on the guest-list then, you need to move along."

Well, I thought to myself. Now or never, Dale.

"I think that if you check," I responded before Kehm could say anything more. "That it was an honest oversight on his part as he wasn't expecting me to be in the system," I observed honestly enough.

After all, my father probably hadn't been expecting me for over twenty years.

The stormtrooper considered this for a moment as he regarded me.

"Why don't you tell him that his little trooper is here," I stated with a vague wave of my hand as I brought my mind to bear upon his.

A pause.

Then, "Why don't I tell him that his little trooper is here?" He asked before without turning, he proceeded to do so.

Naturally of course, because it was a conversation through the comlink in his helmet we didn't hear it but, it must have gotten my father's attention because a moment later the stormtrooper started and then both of them stepped out with proper discipline to flank me on either side.

A third trooper, a captain, was stepping through the large doors and marching in double time down the walkway towards us not a moment later.

"Fast, aren't they?" Kehm observed with not a small amount of admiration.

The gate was opening and the captain was stepping forward respectfully saluting me.

"My lady," He greeted me. "If you would follow me, I shall take you to your father."

"Thank you trooper," I nodded and pulling myself up to the heights of my short stature, we followed after him.

Not surprisingly, the moment we were led through the doors, our guide led us to the large staircase immediately. We never even caught more than a glimpse of the celebration in the ballroom.

A good thing, I had to note to myself silently since it meant that the guests didn't get anything more than a glimpse of us.

The corridor beyond that we found ourselves in was dim and empty save for us. Only the clicking of boot heels broke the silence as we made our way.

At the end of it, the stormtrooper opened one half of a pair of double doors and stepped aside.

Kehm entered first and I was only a few steps behind.

Two steps into the room, an object flew through the air and before Kehm could finish pulling up his blaster rifle he was relaxing as he recognized a small bag.

"Your credits," My father's voice declared. "Leave."

Kehm picked up the bag and checked the credit level on the stick. Stepping forward I held up mine still not even registering the room as I looked over at the bounty hunter.

"Here's mine," I told him.

He looked over at me and after a moment nodded his tremor filled with understanding.

Straightening, he respectfully left, the door closing behind him.

Then and only then did I throw back the cowl of my cloak and turn to face the room.