Liliana stood outside a massive home a mansion actually she stood there and rocked back and forth on her heels. She raised her hand to the door twice only to let her arm drop back to her side she wanted to see her again before she left because this time she didn't know when she would be able to return. Finally she inhaled and held her breath counting to five before exhaling and knocking on the door waiting.
The door opened a maid answered the door or at least Liliana assumed she was a maid from the feather duster in her hand.
"May I help you?"
Liliana nodded to her, "I'm Liliana I'm here to see Alex and her parents".
The maid or whoever she was looked Liliana up and down clearly worried about the blasters she was carrying even though they were holstered.
"I'll wait here if you'd like to go speak to them first".
The maid slowly nodded, "I'll return with them shortly" and she slowly closed the door.
Again she waited, for what felt to be far too long she had been on Corellia for half a cycle now and was just now coming to see Alex, but only because she was getting ready to leave again.
She had brought a friend of hers and his family to Corellia, Gregor and engineer and a repairman and a damn good one. His shop on Nar Shaddaa was destroyed when bounty hunters tracked Liliana there and she didn't want to leave him there with angry bounty hunters and a destroyed workplace. She brought him, his wife and daughter to Corellia where they would be safe and hopefully find a better life than a septic pit like Nar Shaddaa. She contacted him in the hopes that he would be able to make sense of the separatist blueprints she discovered which he was able to do, but his datapad was damaged in the blast that destroyed his shop what little they were able to recover she had already sent to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.
Which brought her to the home of Alexandra's family a wealthy and prestigious family on Corellia, her father currently ran the family business a massive crystal shop that carried thousands upon thousands of crystals from across the galaxy ranging from diamonds to emeralds and even a few rare crystals that were used in lightsabers, of course those would be really expensive.
"Like my necklace" she thought to herself gently cradling the crystal necklace Alexandra gave her.
A necklace made from a shard of a kaiburr crystal an extremely rare lightsaber crystal from an older era from what she had managed to find out about them these crystals had not been seen in hundreds of years. She could only guess at the price it would fetch and then she grinned as all the money in the galaxy wouldn't be enough to make her part with it.
The door finally opened again and before Liliana or the maid who had opened the door could say anything Alexandra charged out and almost tackled her wrapping her arms around her.
"You missed me that much huh?" Liliana laughed immediately hugging her back.
"Maybe" she replied blushing a bit before she remembered their bet, "Wait doesn't this mean I win?"
Liliana wasn't sure what she meant at first, but it quickly returned to her and she wanted to laugh at herself for forgetting.
"Yes" she nodded, "You win".
Liliana reached into one of the pouches on her belt and handed her a credit chit worth a hundred credits.
"You don't actually have to pay me" Alexandra told her, "I'll take winning as my payment".
"A deal's a deal" Liliana told her.
"How long are you going to stay?"
Liliana's smiled faded a bit, "Not long I'm afraid I have a lot to do I just wanted to come by to see you again because…it might be the last time I come around for a while".
"What do you mean?" she asked her voice lowering.
"I'm tracking down leads for the Jedi and well I found something big. I don't know what it is yet, but it's dangerous and as much as I don't want to get involved with this war I don't want to see Corellia attacked again".
Alex knew what she really meant, she could tell by the she was looking at her she was doing it to protect her.
"Promise me you'll be ok?"
Liliana nodded, "Of course I will and not just for my sake. If something happened to me that would make you sad and I don't want to see tears stain such beautiful eyes".
Alex already felt like tearing up a bit, but she held them back, "Can you at least stay for a little bit?"
"I do have a favor to ask from your father, but if you really want me to I'll stay for a while".
"Mr. Wolf will be on his way down shortly" the maid told her, "He is in a meeting with investors".
Liliana nodded to her again, "Thank you".
Alexandra invited Liliana inside and obviously she accepted following her into a beautiful grand hall of a foyer. Liliana turned around a few times making sure to take in everything around her; she wasn't surprised considering the family that lived here of course that didn't make it any less elegant.
She followed Alexandra to what must have been the living room another large room with multiple sofas and large chairs all of them just as elegant as their surroundings. Their designs the way they were shaped and carved and then there was the massive bookshelf that pretty much made up the entire wall at the back of the room. If the entire house looked like this Liliana wouldn't mind living here if she ever decided to give up being a smuggler.
Alex sat down on one of the sofas and ran her hands over her knee length skirt tucking the sides under her legs and Liliana sat next to her and Alex leaned her head against her shoulder.
"I think I'm going to miss you a hell of a lot more than I normally do" Liliana said leaning her head against hers.
"I don't want you to go" she told her, "I know you have to, but…I'm worried".
"I am to" Liliana admitted, "But I promise you I'll come back it just might be a while. I'll probably miss your birthday and believe me that part makes me want to shoot something".
Alex smiled a little, "Don't forget you did promise to take me somewhere else".
Liliana nodded her head still resting against Alexandra's, "I know" she wrapped her arm around her, "I'll even let you pick where".
She heard footsteps echoing across the marble floors and Liliana straightened as Alex's father entered the room.
"Hello Liliana" he smiled, "It's good to see you again".
"You as well Ryan" she answered standing up, "I have a favor to ask of you".
"After everything you've done just name it" he continued smiling.
"I brought a friend of mine here from Nar Shaddaa and his family. He's a great engineer and repairman, but his shop was destroyed I'm hoping you might be able to help them find a life here".
Ryan raised a hand to his chin and thought for a second, "I do know of a mechanic shop that is hiring right now. A business partner's son runs it I'm sure I could get him some work there".
A quick wave of relief rushed through her, "Thank you. He's a good man and a hard worker".
"I'm curious as to why you would want to move them here though" he said dropping his smile just a bit.
"His daughter is only seven years old" she answered, "She's been really sick recently and also Nar Shaddaa isn't the safest place to be".
Ryan nodded, "That's definitely true and there are better hospitals here in the core worlds. You said your friend's shop was destroyed, what happened?"
Liliana shrugged, "Just what happens on that moon I'm afraid".
A lie of course, but it was for the best if she said it was attacked by bounty hunters that were looking for her that would just worrying him and Alex.
Ryan nodded again, "Alright I'll make some calls and see what I can do in the meantime tell your friend that I will pay any medical bills for him until he manages to settle in".
Liliana smiled at him and nodded back, "I'm sure he'll be really grateful to you for that".
Her comlink beeped at that moment and she reached for it, "Excuse me for a moment" she said walking back into the main hall, "Yes Violet?"
"Pardon the interruption, but the pirate Hondo is attempting to contact you he seems frantic shall I put him through?"
"Not yet" Liliana said, "Tell him I'm fine, but it will be a while before I can get back to him. If he says it's important take a message".
"Understood".
Liliana turned back around and returned to Alexandra and her father, "Sorry about that a friend was trying to contact my ship".
"That quite alright" Ryan said, "Would you like to join us for dinner tonight?"
Liliana shook her head, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline as much as I would like to. It seems my attention is required elsewhere" she rubbed the back of her neck, "I've recently discovered some information the Jedi Order would find useful and I need to make sure I get it to them".
She hated lying to him, Ryan had been nothing, but kind to her despite knowing that she was a smuggler, but she didn't want to risk telling him that she knew a known pirate and was friends with him. Then there was Alex, she wanted to tell her just so she would know, but the truth would only worry her more than not knowing anything. No, between the bounty on her head and whatever the hell the goliath project is she had to keep this one to herself for now.
She smiled at Alex, "I really wish I could stay longer".
Alexandra lowered her eyes, "Its ok…just be careful".
Liliana walked over to her and sat next to her again, "Here" she said handing her a comlink, "That's a direct line to me I'll call you sometime and let you know I'm alright".
She could feel how weakly Alex's hand wrapped around the comlink a sure sign of how worried she was about her. She hugged her again before she stood up saying her goodbyes and heading for the door without looking back.
As she left Ryan met her at the door, "Liliana hold on a second".
"Yes?"
"I don't know what it is you're doing to help the Jedi and the Republic and I can only speculate at how dangerous your other job is, but you make my daughter happy she really likes you. So you make sure to take care of yourself alright? You're a great friend to her".
Liliana nodded, "Understood sir. I hope you don't mind if I call her every so often".
He shook his head, "Not at all".
She nodded again, "I know I don't have to say this, but take care of her while I'm gone ok".
He nodded this time, "Roger that".
She turned around and left returning to Gregor and his family at a temporary home they found telling him the good news before bidding farewell to him as well and returning to her ship. Iron met her at the door and a fake angry beep screeched from him as he rammed into her leg once before rolling into the cockpit.
"I missed you to you giant piece of scrap metal" she retaliated, kicking him in the back.
She followed him into the cockpit falling into the pilot's seat as Violet walked over to her, "Hondo did claim his message for you was urgent and wishes to see you in person again".
"I figured" Liliana sighed, "Guess we're going back to Florrum then" she looked over her shoulder, "Iron could you set the coordinates please?"
This time Iron didn't argue with her, he remained silent as he stared at her and finally rolled over to the navicomputer and locked in the hyper drive coordinates for Florrum. Liliana thanked him as the Forgotten Star's engines came to life and the ship took off.
"You are sad about something" Violet stated watching her.
Liliana sighed, "Yeah I am…We might not be returning to Corellia for a while".
"You are sad because you will miss Alexandra?" Violet concluded.
Liliana nodded with a small, sad smile, "Yeah I really like her".
"May I remind you that we are under no obligation to continue helping the Jedi or the Republic we do not have to keep running around for them".
"I'm not doing it for them" Liliana immediately snapped before calming down, "At least not anymore…At this point I'm doing it to keep Alex safe".
"I see" Violet answered and then Iron beeped chiming in with his two cents.
"Thank you Iron" Liliana said looking over her shoulder again, "I'm well aware of your position on this".
Iron beeped again, clearly arguing with her.
"Its not like I'm giving up being a smuggler I just owed the Jedi Order and now…I want to help them so I can keep Alex safe, that's it".
Iron argued even further.
"Fine assuming whatever Hondo wants isn't that important we'll do a quick job".
Iron beeped again before rolling away and Liliana sighed, "I swear that droid…all that back talk because he likes money" she looked over to Violet, "You think if I glue a pole to his head and dangle a credit stick from it he'll go in circles trying to chase it?"
Violet looked back to her, "I do not think such a tactic will work on him although I must confess it may be humorous to see he does have a fascination with shiny objects".
Liliana nodded, "Yeah he does".
The hyperspace jump came and went in silence as Liliana sat there thinking to herself. Hondo probably head about her run in with Aurra Sing that would explain why he was so frantic about trying to contact her. Violet informed the pirate that Liliana was fine, but she decided to contact him anyway to try and get an early read on the situation.
"Liliana" he gasped, "I'm so glad you're ok".
"So you heard about what happened with Sing then?"
"Sing?" Hondo asked and he practically jumped forward, "You mean Aurra was there?"
"So you didn't know?"
Hondo looked down and took a few seconds to relax, "No I didn't. All I heard was a group of high profile bounty hunters were after you. Six in total I didn't know Aurra was one of them".
"Well she managed to get away" Liliana told him, "So chances are she may take another run at me".
He sighed in acknowledgement, "I'm just glad you're ok. We need to talk you can use my personal landing pad when you arrive".
"We're going to have a drink this time right?" she asked him.
He looked away, "Maybe considering everything that's happening I'm not sure there's enough alcohol in the galaxy".
Liliana shook her head, "Alright I'll be there in a couple of minutes".
The ship landed and she left telling Violet and Iron the usual to watch over the ship as she went to meet with Hondo. He was already waiting for her with open arms this time, they had their differences and not so friendly run-ins in the past, but they were still friends.
"Come" he said standing to one side and holding his arm out, "We need to talk".
He led her to his private office again the door closing and locking behind them. Hondo sat at his desk and Liliana took her seat across from him after grabbing the bottle of blossom wine she had given him from the shelf and two glasses.
"We're not getting started until you have a drink with me" she said and then she looked him in the eyes, "You had me worried last time".
He leaned forward, "I apologize for that I've just been thinking a lot lately".
She grinned, "No offense, but that's really not one of your strong suits".
He cracked a grin himself, "I should take offense to that" he shook his head, "You bounty is two hundred thousand".
"So I heard" Liliana said pouring them both a glass and sitting back down.
She took a sip and realized Hondo hadn't even looked at his, "Drink dammit" she snapped at him playfully.
He grabbed his glass and raised it in a pathetic toast attempt and brought it to his lips before stopping, "You know if Dooku or whoever in the Separatists placed this bounty finds our your working for the Republic they're going to come after you".
"Let them" she said, "Now drink blast it".
He shook his head and set the glass down, "I can't" he sighed, "I'm just not in the mood".
"Hondo" she snapped, "I'll be fine".
"How did you get that dent in the shoulder of your jacket?" he asked, "I know your jacket is armored and I felt the dent when I greeted you" his expression changed he seemed, angry.
"Sing had a sniper rifle" she admitted, "She hit me with a concussive shot through a window".
"You see" he yelled slamming his hands on the desk and standing up, "I'm concerned for you if your jacket wasn't armored a shot like that would have destroyed your shoulder".
"I'm aware" Liliana said remaining calm, "But I'm still alive".
"This time" he growled, "I know Aurra a lot better than you and she will never give up on a mark".
"I just hope you don't have any feelings for her" Liliana said setting her glass down, "Because next time she won't survive".
Hondo fell back into his seat, "Dammit Liliana I wish you would listen to me for once".
"I am" she cut him off leaning forward against her knees, "Hondo I know you're worried about me, but you of all people should know what I'm capable of especially when someone pisses me off".
He nodded, "I know" he then shook his head again faster this time as if he was trying to get rid of a bad thought, "That doesn't change the situation".
"Hondo…drink" she said calmly and sternly no longer a request.
He grabbed his glass and downed it all at once slamming it back down on the desk hard enough to crack it.
"Better" she smiled, "Now as far as this bounty goes trust me once I find out who posted it I'm going to have words with that person".
Hondo sighed again, "What did you find on Mustafar?"
"Blueprints to a weapon" she answered, "A big one".
"And?"
"I took it to Gregor, but his datapad was damaged when Sing's group attacked. I sent what I could to the Jedi hopefully they'll be able to piece it together if not I'll find out myself and then go tell them in person".
"Why help the Republic?" he asked, "I understand wanting to repay the Jedi it's the honorable thing to do, but you've more than paid off that debt so why continue helping them?"
"Because of Ahsoka and Alex" she answered.
"Ahsoka…" Hondo hummed, "That is Skywalker's little padawan right?"
Liliana nodded, "Yes like you Skywalker and Kenobi I've become friends with Ahsoka just minus the occasional going against each other. I heard about Florrum by the way".
Hondo grinned a bit recalling when he and his gang tried extorting a farm on Florrum for their harvests before Skywalker, his padawan and Kenobi stopped them along with a rag tag group of bounty hunters.
"And Alex is your friend from Corellia right?" he asked to which Liliana nodded.
"I want to help Ahsoka because she's my friend and at the same time I want to protect Alex because…I really like her".
"I see. Well then if you're doing it for a friend then there's nothing nobler" he leaned back in his chair, "That also means there's no talking you out of this".
Liliana nodded her head to the side.
Hondo sat up quickly, "Alright then just promise me you'll take care of yourself out there. If something happened to you your father's ghost would come back and haunt me for the rest of my days".
Liliana finished the rest of her wine and stood up, "Is there anything else?"
The pirate leader shook his head, "No" he then stood up, "I know I can't stop you" he walked around to her and patted her shoulder and finally grinned again, "Now go do one of the six or eight things you do best".
Liliana smiled back and hugged him again before she said goodbye to him and took her leave. They were both silent on the walk back to her ship a walk that seemed to end too quickly because just like with Alex she knew it would be a long time before she got to see Hondo again.
"It will be a while before I have a chance to come back" she told him standing on the ramp to her ship, "I'll check in every now and again to let you know I'm alright".
Hondo nodded to her, "You're father was a good friend of mine and so are you. I consider you one of my own Liliana so please be careful with whatever you do out there".
Liliana gave him a quick thumbs up and entered her ship and raising the ramp and leaving Florrum once again. She set the ship to auto pilot once they were away from the planet and called Iron and Violet to the cockpit.
"This is it" she told them, "From now on we're not stopping. We won't be returning to Corellia or Florrum for a long time. From now on it's going to be all work and we're going to be getting in a lot of dangerous situations".
She didn't know why she was telling them this it's not like they would say no or argue the matter, well Iron would, but he would still listen in the end. Maybe she just needed to hear herself say it out loud.
"We are behind you as always Liliana" Violet said.
Iron began beeping angrily as predicted, but he agreed as well.
Liliana's lips broke into a small smile, "No matter how bad it gets though we'll survive just like we have been. Now let's get to work our first stop is going to be Onderon, we're going to check every major world aligned with the Separatists until we found out more about this Goliath Project".
She took her seat and Iron rolled over to the navicomputer still complaining as he set the coordinates before leaving the cockpit with Violet to check on the ships systems. Liliana's hands tightened around the controls it would be a long time before she could see Alexandra or Hondo again, but she would see them again no matter what it took she was going to survive and see her friends again.
The Forgotten Star leaped into hyperspace marking the beginning to Liliana's own mission to find out what the Goliath Project is and ensure the Jedi know about it, that's when her thoughts drifted to Ahsoka even though she was now working behind the scenes she knew she would be seeing that pretty little Jedi again, somewhere.