The Garrote
Commander Nash Windrider's Office

"Come in, Lieutenant Kyrell."

"Hello sir. I received word you were looking for me?"

"Sit down, Dalven. I want to talk to you about something… personal."

Dalven's mind started whirling. What's he up to now? Dalven sat and put on his best clueless expression.

"Dalven, did you know that I was a roommate of your brother's in the Academy."

"Yes, sir. I did, sir."

"When I requested you join me here, I have to admit it was partly personal. I was very close to your brother. In fact, I'd go so far as to say he and I were the closest of friends with the exception of his girlfriend, Ciena." Dalven sat listening and thought it better to force Nash into revealing a little more of what he was aiming for in this exchange.

"Did you know that your brother defected? Before you answer, please know I have no intentions of discussing this outside of this office. I've known; therefore, I surely thought you knew. But, Ciena didn't know which has led me to second guess my initial assumptions."

"No, sir. This is the first I am hearing about it, sir. My brother died years ago, so there are probably many things that died with him I will never know."

"Dalven, do you trust me?"

"Yes, sir, I do."

"Then why do you pretend your brother is dead? I've known he is alive for quite some time. I find it impossible to believe that I could know this and you do not."

"No, sir, this is the first I am hearing of this. In fact, my parents believe he is dead. If he is not, I want to see proof so I can bring it to my parents. How can he still be alive, sir? I don't understand?"

"Evidently he wanted to defect, and he created a scenario that left little to the imagination when he parked his speeder at a cliff's edge, still running."

"That still doesn't make sense, sir. If he was going to defect and join the rebellion, wouldn't he be fighting us and revealing himself in the course of battle?"

"That's a possibility. Of course, anonymity of your pilots and key crew is paramount in protecting vital assets. He could go up against any of us in battle and never reveal himself. But, he did."

"How?"

"Captain Ree first identified by his flying style on Hoth. Later, just before Endor, we investigated some recon activity and came up against five X-Wings. One of them stated something like, 'There's just not enough room in the Galaxy for the both of us.' There was no doubt it was Thane. Then he said to me, 'Hello, old friend.' Needless to say, I was furious. I felt betrayed, and poor Ciena. He broke her will to live. I'm fairly certain of this."

Dalven had affected the expression of a person too shocked to make much sense of what he said or did. "My parents. They don't know. If they knew they would tell me. I mean, that's something parents would do, right? Is there a reason they wouldn't?" Dalven actually realized his voice cracked. Could he possibly shed a tear? It was worth a try. He hung his head down and wished for a stray speck of dust to smash into his eyeball. He squinted really hard. Nothing really worked.

"I've waited quite a long time to speak with you. It wasn't that I didn't trust you. I wasn't sure how to handle a situation like this. I brought you on board with me thinking we could benefit from our relationship with Thane, but you never spoke of him. I was pretty sure you probably knew I was his roommate in the Academy since you were there at the same time we were for a while. He was a great friend and a good soldier - until he wasn't. Maybe I thought you could help me understand more about his life? Something that would explain why he did what he did. I don't want to…hate him. It doesn't feel right."

"My parents. I need to talk to my parents." Dalven said.

"That is true, and it's not something you share over a HoloCam. You have tremendous leave saved up. I'm thinking you might need to spend a little time at home. What do you think?"

Dalven considered it. There are a zillion places he would rather visit that Jelucan, but if the Commander is offering. It also seemed like the commander had gone through some sort of enlightenment after his crash. Maybe he really is trying to reach out and do something helpful. What could he possibly benefit from thinking he is helping Dalven.

"Maybe a week would be good."

"Try three. I imagine it will take you a week to get up the courage, a week to explain it over and over again, then a week to help them get their feet back underneath themselves. I'll write up the paperwork and approve it. Be ready to ship out tomorrow morning."

"Um…Commander? Thanks a lot for this. I'm sorry I haven't been more open about Thane. It's been…hard. I look forward to being able to share more openly with you in the future. I'll get packed. Thank you, sir!"

"Good. Dismissed, Lieutenant." As Dalven left his office, Nash wanted to stab himself with an injection of spice. The pain that wracked his body with the buildup of lies and false sentiment just about left Nash on the floor writhing in pain. Thank the stars it goes away as quickly as the agitation disappears.

Kyrell Garage

Artoo was busy rooting around for various parts and components he needed to help his new friend wake up. He was in pretty good shape. Artoo wanted to first get a power supply hooked up and see what he could do. He found some cables that would be helpful.

"Artoo" Kendy said. "Whatchoo doing in here?"

Artoo kept his back to her and whistled responses that to Kendy sounded like, "Nothing."

"Are you going to the cave? If you are, I'd like to go, too. There's a droid in there that I think has been lonely and needs a chance to wake up and be repaired."

Artoo whirled around and bombarded Kendy with a long string of happy sounding whirs and bleeps and whistles. "I can help you. Do you need a power source?" Artoo's reply was clearly affirmative. He rocked back and forth on his legs, which, as she had learned in the little exposure she had of him on Rebel bases, meant he was very excited. "Come on! Let's check out the shuttle and see what we have there." Artoo waited for Kendy to catch up and continued to whistle and bloop and bleep. She had no idea what he was saying. Master Skywalker had a data pad he hung from Artoo that translated his noises into actual basic. Maybe she could get her hands on that handy device.

Back in the house, Ganaire was busy making cookies and more sandwiches for her two events tonight. The first was at the community center for battered and abused women and children. That would run until after dark. The second was the Jelucani Women's Issues forum on Saturday, which began first thing and ended late afternoon. Of course, the easiest thing to do was stay over with her friends. While Ganaire contemplated her plans, Thane kept eating her cookies. Twelve would be cooling on the rack, and eight might be making it into the container.

"Hew mawm," Thane said, catching a large crumble that fell out of the corner of his overstuffed mouth.

Ganaire looked over at Thane and noticed him for the first time in minutes. "Thane! Stop that!" She snapped the kitchen towel she had in her hand at him, hitting him in the stomach, and Thane laughed so hard about three cookies came flying out of his mouth in barely chewed pieces.

"Sorry," he said with a pitiful, but completely phony, look on his face. "Hey! They're not even chewed up – you can just-"

"Don't even say it. What are you, five?" she exclaimed. "Aren't you supposed to be old enough to get married and have babies?"

Thane's eyes grew as large as Ganaire's cookies. "Excuse me? Did I hear you say 'babies'?"

"Oh, well, you know what I meant."

"Yes, I do. Have you and Virene been conspiring already? Could we give Ciena a little time to recover before we start talking about babies, please?" Thane paused to see his mom's reaction. She just smiled and continued plopping dough balls on a tray. "Say, like, 5 years."

That did it. "Five years!? Five whole years?! Thane Kyrell, get out of my kitchen and stop aggravating me with that silly nonsense. Five years. Pffff. As if Virene and I would ever allow that to happen." As Thane retreated with a wickedly large grin on his face, he somehow managed to swipe another half tray of her cookies on his way out. He could hear her yelling after him as he jogged through the garage and headed for his zip line.

He made the trek up to the "not so secret" hideout. He heard interesting noises coming from inside. As he entered, he said, "Interesting, indeed!"

Kendy and Artoo were hard at work on Thane's old teaching droid. A datapad hung from Artoo that translated for Kendy. After a few bleeps and bloops Kendy replied, "Yes, Artoo, he was Thane's droid." Artoo rotated his head toward Thane and let out a very clear raspberry.

"No missing the meaning there," Thane said. "Artoo, I loved my teacher, he was awesome. If it weren't for him, Ciena and I would have never made it into the Academy. We didn't know how to fix him, but this is the special place where we keep everything that mattered the most to us. If you can fix him, I know Ciena will be just as thrilled as I will be. I'd really like to help if I can." Artoo rotated his dome to give Thane a once over, small sighs as the telltale giveaway that he was going to fall for whatever was said to him, true or not. In this case, Thane realized he actually meant it.

"We need some basic things now. We've replaced the faulty wiring and cleaned up and replaced the degraded connections. Now we need a charging cable and power source," Kendy explained.

"Consider it done!" Thane knew exactly where both were. He walked over to the opposite corner of the hideout from the blankets and pillows. It was pretty dark, but he and Ciena knew every inch of this space and what was in it. Thane pulled away a slab of rock to reveal an opening large enough to hold a small person. "This was our safe. I believe the cable and a power cell are in here somewhere." He rooted around then exclaimed, "A-ha!" After returning the slab, he carried the items back to Artoo and Kendy. "They are old, but the power cell should have a 50 year shelf life. It's worth a try, right!"

More bleeping, blooping, trilling and whistling. Kendy plugged everything in and pressed the switch on the power cell and immediately it began to emit warm light. A few seconds later the lights on the droids eyes began to flicker and then a cry, "Master Thane! You're home from the Academy!"

"Oh, boy. Yes, I am. These nice people are here to give you a check up. I'm going to leave this to you two geniuses since this was your bright idea!" Thane floated out of the cave. Kendy noticed the lightness to him – a weightless quality as if he had no cares in the world. It made her smile.

The Rees had returned to their home and Ciena accompanied them – much to the dismay of Thane. Ganaire was also sad to see them leave. She had grown to enjoy Virene very much, and Paron had warmed up a lot to Thane and the family. He and Virene had a reverence for Grhan and Luke Skywalker. The Jedi were a great part of their history. In fact, Grhan and Luke accompanied them as well. Paron Ree asked Master Skywalker if he would meet with the Valley Elders and help them understand what happened to the Jedi of old. Luke was more than willing to do so. He also said he had some important things to discuss with Ciena.

Everything seemed in place. There was a peace that had fallen over the house that had never been there before. The one thing nagging Ganaire was not knowing what to tell Thane about Oris. If Thane remembered, he usually checked in at least once a week on trips. Oris would not be calling this week, next week, or any week. While it once hurt, it was a relief at this point. She'd have to face the need to tell Thane soon.

And them there was Geth and his search for Ciena. Somehow she had to bring the two lives together. After only one night with Geth and she knew this was something more than a passing season. If Geth could only see how in love Thane and Ciena are - how much she needed to stay. If she could somehow help him understand.

Ganaire bagged up the last of her cookies, put a label on the box, "DO NOT EAT…THANE!" Then headed to her room to prepare for her evening away.