(A/N) Hwow, I am so very sorry for the lateness of this chapter. As you may or may not have heard, if you've been following the Tumblr feed, it's been an interesting month or so for me, medically speaking. All of it culminating in the removal of a certain pesky gallbladder and a rather lengthy recovery period, which I'm still in the midst of. Heheh. But hey, we're getting there. My creative output's just slowed to a bit of a trickle, as opposed to the fire hydrant it has been. I've actually been spending a lot of recovery time on a Clone Wars/Rebels rewatch, not just in preparation for the new season, but also to get back into the proper headspace for Rex and Ahsoka, so's I can properly wrap up their story here. So I hope you enjoy, as we do have a long awaited reunion in this chapter. :D
The Colder the Winter, the Warmer the Spring
Chapter 21: The Nightmare Awakened
What had once been the Spectre Cell had grown considerably with Kallus' plan to rescue Arkalia from the Demon's Run. The truly interesting part of the whole escapade was that not one single quarter of the nascent Rebel Alliance had begrudged them even one iota of the resources the group had asked for. It seemed that even those who had never even met the little Lasat were anxious to help get her back from the Empire. Aid had even come from Senator Organa himself in the form of a freshly impounded smuggler's ship to lend credence to their latest bounty hunter alias.
What had once been six had multiplied to twelve by the time their somewhat newer runner, the Rishi Maiden, jumped to light speed above Yavin IV for a planned four jump route that would ultimately lead them to Kamino and the Demon's Run. Breaking into smaller groups, they all settled in to wait out the journey, either resting or keeping busy as their nerves required.
Sabine, Ezra, Jorrah, Rex, Wedge, and Jidu had gathered in the runner's cargo bay, the small group watching as the young Jedi worked on lightsaber forms.
"So Ezra said you'd been catching more flack from your mum," Jorrah started in hesitantly, obviously aware it wasn't really his place to ask.
Sabine didn't rebuff his less than subtle attempts at consolation, though. Stars knew she needed it, and aside from Ezra, the Lasat was the only other being to witness the entire business unfold from the moment the Nightbrother had touched down on Krownest. Sabine had sent her mother's task force back with Rau, but had refused to return herself while Giren Kuross was undergoing interrogation. They had clashed several times over it since then.
"The help we need is coming, Mother, but this is about more than just repaying a debt. Ari's- part of my family now. She's clan. I have to help get her back!"
"Did you acknowledge the foundling as such, then?"
I may as well have.
"That's true, but this mission'll be the end of it. Once Ari's rescued, we can get on with things."
"What was it- you were saying to your mom about...clan?" Ezra asked, finally shutting his lightsaber down and turning to look at them. When she shot him a look, Ezra had the decency to look guilty. "Sorry for listening in but, in my defense, it's a little hard not to overhear two people shouting at each other."
Sabine rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. I'll give you that one. But I'm guessing you noticed when you were on Krownest...that my people adhere pretty strictly to clan structure."
"Right, but I thought that was just a family thing...like- the family you were born into."
"For many it is, but...for others, Mandalorian is less blood and more creed. In the past, beings of many different races would be adopted into the clans, treated no different from the family of one's birth, but those ideas hadn't seen a lot of favor since before the Clone Wars. They've been- gaining more ground under the Empire's nose, though. The Way of the Mandalore, those sorts of things..."
"This is the Way," Rex said quietly when she left off, drawing her gaze in his direction. If the clone captain was familiar with that phrase, then the Protectors had trained the clones in far more than just the ways of battle. But that was a conversation for another time.
"Ari's- well...Ari's the baby sister I never had. I've done everything but formally adopt her into Clan Wren. So yes. To me, she's clan...and clan always comes first. So if that has to be a clan of just Spectres, that's fine with me."
"Heh, Clan Spectre definitely has a ring to it," Ezra chuckled. "Does that mean we all get jetpacks?"
"You get the equipment you've actually trained to use, kid," Rex told him. "After all, you wouldn't just hand a lightsaber to someone who'd never even seen one. Would you."
"That's fair. But- hey, Wedge got a helmet!"
Rex gave a laugh of his own at that. "Well, that- that's a little different."
"Do hope you actually get what that means," Sabine said as she cast her gaze in the young Corellian's direction, seeing him standing a little to the side with Zelina's helmet clutched tightly in both hands. It did fit him. Zelina had at least checked that. Mostly it seemed to her he was just anxious over the responsibility of it...over how it tied them together...and what it might mean if she didn't return to claim it.
"I...yes?" he started nervously, looking down at the helmet. "She said...that because she couldn't wear her armor in this fight...that she wanted me to wear this for her...in the hope it would protect me."
"Mm, that's sweet," Jidu said, giving the younger rebel a good-natured dig in the shoulder. "But I guess this is also the part where we tell you that if you hurt her, we'll kill you."
"Why is it always the guy who gets the shovel talk, huh?" Wedge fired back indignantly. "How do you know she won't hurt m-yeah, I can't even say that with a straight face," he conceded.
"Besides, I already had that talk with her," Sabine told him. "You and Hobbie are like my little rebel loth kittens after all. Although, frankly, a Mandalorian is perfectly capable of killing her own scuzzy ex should the need arise."
"The rest of us killing you is more for our own edification," Rex pointed out, fixing the kid with a subtly warning smile that would've had anyone with half a brain trembling in their boots. And Wedge was certainly not unaffected. But they all managed a little laughter for the exchange, their thoughts now with Zelina and the dangerous task she was even now enmeshed in. They could only hope she hadn't been discovered before they reached her.
"All right, Ezra," Sabine suddenly called out, moving to join him in the middle of the floor. "We can't just sit around worrying. Let's go," she challenged as she drew the dark saber.
Ezra grinned as he reignited his weapon, the green blade illuminating his face as it shot to life. "All right, but since Kanan's not here, I'm definitely not going easy on you," he joked.
Kanan Jarrus was, in fact, occupied with other matters just then, but they were more the 'cuddle tenderly with your significant other while you still can, as you've recently learned she's pregnant with your child' sort. He and Hera had found some space off the runner's tiny common area and, with everyone else occupied, they were just sitting together, him with his arm around her and a hand trailing absently along her belly while she rested her head against his shoulder.
"So I suppose it'll be a fool's hope asking you to take some time away."
"It will be that, love," she told him, fingers reaching up to tangle with his. Her voice was gentle but, as always, the tone brooked no argument. "We knew what we were signing ourselves up for when we started all this."
"Did we, though?" he found himself asking.
"How do you mean?"
"I don't know. I mean- when you told me, I was over the moon."
"Heh, I remember."
He'd been the sort of sap all the stories talked about – laughing, spinning Hera around in joy, getting to his knees before her and kissing her belly. He imagined it would've been almost sickening to watch, but he was happy dammit.
But...now that he'd had a little time for the news to sink in...
"I guess I'm just starting early on the whole worry thing. Like...are we selfish for trying to raise a kid in the middle of a war?"
"You say that like we have a choice in the matter," Hera reminded him. "I know I would've once been the one to say the timing isn't right, but...is it ever?"
"Heh, you're turning into me, Hera Syndulla."
"No more than you're turning into me, love," she pointed out. "But I'm not worried. Not really, anyway. With the galaxy's last Jedi knight for a father, nothing's going to harm this little one."
"That also- kind of leaves me wondering," he started, their fingers tangling easily together as they ran them over her stomach, "if the baby will be like me...like Ezra. The Jedi never learned much about how Force sensitivity passes through blood."
"Well, if the baby is like you, I'm sure one or both of you will make excellent teachers," Hera reassured him.
"Heh, Ezra with a Padawan. Now I really don't know what to think," he said with a small laugh, and as the varying thoughts drifted through his mind, a swatch of memory found its way to the surface – crystal blue eyes in a tiny face...a dream he couldn't quite place...
But then it clicked in his mind. Another of the visions from Alluvium. A baby boy in the cradle that had once belonged to Arkalia...a boy who was plainly strong with the Force...not Ezra's son...
His son.
His and Hera's son. What had Kallus called him?
Jacen.
"You're thinking pretty intently over there, Kanan," Hera's voice suddenly came through the daze of his revelation.
"Oh, just...sorting out thoughts," he said softly, thinking it probably better not to share this new piece of information just yet. After all, who was he to say how a vision from the Force was to be interpreted with any certainty? "Who would you say was a parent first? Us or Zeb?"
"I would say I was a parent before either of you. Neither of you were exactly a well-adjusted adult the first time I met you."
"Interesting to hear you say that, given the circumstances under which you first encountered Garazeb Orrelios," he said, only partly teasing as he dropped a kiss on her right lek.
"Is that jealousy I hear, Jarrus? Because as I recall, you and I weren't even sleeping together back then," she said, her voice containing the little smirk on her face. "Besides, the unfortunate fact of the matter is that adulthood isn't actually required in order to engage in sexual intercourse."
"True enough, though I wasn't aware you actually counted that as sex, given."
"And, again unfortunately, I'm forced to concede that I did enjoy it...just a little bit...in spite of the circumstances. Zeb was as much of a gentleman as the situation allowed for, and...categorically, he was very good," she admitted, remaining perfectly relaxed against him.
"Better than me?" he whined in mock hurt. Really, it was good to be able to just talk about it, to joke even, because for several years, none of them had been able to. Morverin III was not a pleasant memory for any of them.
"Physically, I think my body requires me to say yes, but there's more to the equation than just lust. Zeb's my friend, and he's a very good friend, but I love you, Kanan," she told him, pressing a kiss to his jaw. "I promise you, no orgasm changes that. Besides, I'm sure you must have had plenty of mind-blowing sex before I came along."
"Eh, you're not wrong," he conceded with a small chuckle and a shrug. "But none of them really knew who I was. That was all you. Stars, how did we hit this line of conversation again?"
"Parenting," she reminded him with an easy bump of her head against his shoulder. "Though, really, I don't suppose it matters all that much who was a parent first. We're all just muddling our way through."
"We are that. So maybe all that muddling'll have taught us a thing or two for this latest run."
"I'm sure it has, love. But...do you think maybe I ought to check in with the boys before the last jump? Alex was worried about-"
"No, don't worry about it," Kanan told her, stopping her from leaving when she began to shift nervously, both their thoughts drifting dangerously close to the situation they were heading into. "They can handle it. We'll let them have the bridge. Let's just stay like this a little longer."
The boys in question were up on the bridge just then, easily having taken the Rishi Maiden through her fourth jump. Zeb and Kallus had spent most of the journey largely in silence, either sitting side by side in the pilot and co-pilot's chairs, or one standing while the other sat, hands resting on shoulders or hands joined by turns.
Once Kallus had executed the final jump, sending them properly on their way to Kamino, Zeb beckoned to him, pulling him over to sit with him in the co-pilot's seat. Or rather to sit on him in the co-pilot's seat. The ex-Imperial managed a soft smile as he rested his head in the crook of his husband's neck. Zeb sighed easily as he nuzzled the top of his head, breathing in the scent of his hair. The rest of him, Kallus imagined, probably reeked of unfamiliar scents, as he was decked head to toe as a bounty hunter, every bit of him covered except his head, waiting for the end of the journey before he placed a helmet on as the last piece of the disguise. He knew he was at the top of ISB's Most Wanted list right now, and he would be well known to the security forces aboard the Demon's Run, as Archrem and his fellows would no doubt be expecting Kallus to come for Arkalia. So he wasn't going to disappoint them. But that didn't mean he needed to be foolish about it. He, Jidu, and Wedge would all be going into this helmeted, each of them too well-known to Zaniva's forces by this point.
"Y'know, you wouldn't do so bad as a bounty hunter," Zeb's voice threaded its way through the tangle of his thoughts. "But then, I guess you cut a kriffin' fine figure in anything you wear."
"Like it, do you?" he asked, offering up a little smirk as he looked up at his mate. "Perhaps I ought to hang onto it...once this is over?"
"Wouldn't say no to that," Zeb said with an easy purr, drawing him up into a light kiss. But they didn't really separate when the kiss ended. They kept their foreheads pressed together, just enjoying the closeness, the openness. In this moment, Kallus found he truly didn't care that they were heading into unimaginable danger. Whatever happened, he had had this. He and Zeb had known this.
"This is real," he whispered reverently against his husband's lips.
"Realest thing I've ever known," Zeb returned, pecking his lips one more time before continuing with, "Think he's bored yet?"
"Oh, I'll grant the boy this. He doesn't tire easily."
"Think it'd change anything if we gave him a show?" Zeb suggested, subtly rolling his hips against him, which elicited a laugh from the ex-Imperial.
"Tempted as I am to accept the offer, no, I don't believe it would. While I am still his assignment, nothing we do will drive him off," he returned quietly, gaze darting to the corridor outside the runner's little bridge. He couldn't actually see him, but he knew Cassian was there sure enough. Ultimately, he called over Zeb's shoulder, "I do hope you don't think you're being subtle, Captain Andor."
"We don't bite, y'know," Zeb joined in before growling low in Alex's ear. "Well...don't bite other people anyway."
Alex returned the playful growl with a small nip to his mate's ear just as Cassian stepped onto the bridge, eying them both dubiously. Like Kallus, he was garbed as a bounty hunter. "At no point did I imagine either of those things was true. Spying on a spy is, after all, a little different than your garden variety spying."
Raising an eyebrow at the younger man in interest, Kallus nodded at the pilot's seat, inviting him to sit. Cassian moved into the space, coming to stand beside the chair, but he did not sit.
"We are about to step into a very fraught situation, Captain. A situation in which we will both find it needful to trust in and rely upon one another. For my part, there are not many I am inclined to trust. I imagine the same is true for you. I have no intention of hanging my daughter's life on that kind of game, and I find the thought of having to puzzle you out in the next hour quite wearying. So I will simply ask. If it is permissible for you to say, what do you observe of me thus far?"
It had not been what Cassian was expecting of him. He could tell that much from the very slight twitch of his jaw. Likely he had expected the ex-Imperial to ask what he could do to gain his trust, and that would've been the exact wrong course of action. It was what a plant would say. What someone who was trying too hard to achieve a single goal would ask. But Kallus had more than one goal here. More than two, even. Because he saw something in the young captain. Possibly the same something Ahsoka Tano had once seen in Agent ISB-021.
The captain stared at him a long moment before answering, taking the time he needed to phrase properly.
"You expect a blow."
Kallus offered no reaction to his words, though he did feel Zeb tense beneath him. He simply inclined his head, inviting the younger man to continue.
"You don't display it as much around your Spectre companions, suggesting that you either feel safe among them or that you just don't wish for them to see it. It could be both. But in the presence of other rebels, you move as if you expect to be attacked. That, to me, would suggest guilt. Whether that is guilt over actually being the spy Draven accuses you of being or guilt for your past deeds remains to be seen. He is the only one you lower your guard for completely," Cassian said, nodding at Zeb. "If your caring for him is a lie, you are a better liar than I will ever be. Whatever your ultimate goal is, Agent Kallus, I believe you truly do care about this one."
At the implication that there was anything false about him, about what they were to each other, about what they had suffered and sacrificed, Kallus felt Zeb's muscles begin to tremble beneath him in anger. And while he would've liked to express a little of that anger himself, he knew he couldn't fault Cassian for his assignment. So he soothed his mate with a firm kiss to his forehead.
"Ze ze, ni ashkerra, ze ze. Ul or'sultir rokir," he whispered against the Lasat's heated skin.
"Ul na hargiri. Ul hargiri an."
"Ul san tefsa sultad ka ul sana kalla sultat...nel La lina sana," he told him, gently taking his face between his hands.
That point calmed the Lasat almost better than he had hoped. Settling beneath him, Zeb drew him into one more kiss, breathing against his lips, "Sail La reisvir s'an tefsa li ke velkir lorinsir loa rakaln kerra'ul."
"La sylf zeryln sultir ni ashynym," he said, holding there for just a moment longer before turning his focus back up to Cassian. "Some striking observations, Captain. Shall I tell you what I observe of you?"
Cassian gave no answer one way or the other. He simply stood there, waiting.
"I see a man who seeks an enemy. I don't believe you questioned General Draven on whether or not I was to be trusted and that is unfortunate. Not asking questions is what allows entities like the Empire to seize control, and to keep it. If you fight blindly for a cause, it will not be long before you become the very thing that you hate. How old were you?" he asked.
"What?" the younger man asked, the only response he betrayed a somewhat sharper inhalation before speaking.
"The first time they put a weapon in your hand. How old were you?"
Finally understanding what it was he was asking him, Cassian's expressionless face seemed to almost stiffen.
"I was six years old."
Alex nodded. "About what I would've guessed. You've never known anything else. You wouldn't find it difficult to turn toward an enemy because it's all you know."
"So what?" Cassian asked with the tiniest of sneers. "Are you going to tell me not to view you as an enemy?"
"No. I would never presume to tell you what is and is not so, for mine is only one perspective in a galaxy of trillions. You have a keen mind when you take the time to use it, so the only thing I would tell you is this," he began, finally rising from the chair. "Take the time to consider who your enemy truly is. If you don't fully understand who you are fighting for and against, the consequences will prove...disastrous," he said at the last, voice falling off into a whisper as he turned to look out at the blur of hyperspace. For a moment, he thought he could see faces in the lights...hear voices in the hum of the hyperdrive...
"Dan-dan! Dan-dan!"
Lia's terrified eyes as they carried her away...
"Protect her...keep- keep my child safe...my treasure..."
The light fading from Arekaya's eyes as she stroked Arkalia's head for the last time...
"Just go to hell...monster..."
The child screaming...eyes filled with terror...
"Did you believe you could be forgiven?"
The harrowing emptiness in the Lasat girl's eyes as she moved in for the kill...
"Can you do it? Can you give them what they need? Even though it will break you?"
Zeb screaming as Kuross sent punishing currents of electricity through his body...
"You like it."
Archrem kneeling over Zeb's naked, defenseless form...
"Your daughter? You aided in the destruction of her people. You bore witness to the execution of her entire family. What daughter is she to you?"
...that child...I can still hear her screaming...
"Alex," Zeb's voice suddenly broke through his haze of guilt and terror. Then his mate's hand was slipping into his and he was gripping that clawed, four-fingered hand for his life.
When Zeb felt the intensity of that grip, he moved in behind him, drawing his back to rest against his chest and enfolding him properly in his other arm. The ex-Imperial shuddered in relief when he let his head fall back into the crook of the Lasat's neck once again.
"S'in klinas. S'in sultira kol. S'an torril kol na mal," Zeb soothed him, holding him as close as he could. "An or'san sav ulri mayka."
And he knew that, but...at the same time...he didn't know if there would ever be a day he didn't feel guilty for who he had been. Likely that was as it should be. The only thing for it was to keep going...to keep moving forward in spite of it all.
"An san zai'ym ashyn na sir, ni ashkerra," he said softly, languishing in the embrace just a moment longer before pulling away from his husband. When he looked back to Cassian, it was to find that the younger man seemed not to have stirred from his spot during his episode. But it also seemed to Kallus that he looked at him differently than he had the past month.
"Well, shouldn't be long before we need to be gettin' into position," Zeb said, reaching to give his hand one last squeeze before turning to head off the bridge. "Hera'll be roundin' us up. I'll leave you to it."
"I'll see you...when we have her back," Alex said, sharing one more small smile with his mate. Then Zeb was gone and he was alone on the bridge with Cassian, left to get into the headspace of a merciless hunter once again.
Shouldn't be too difficult for you, should it.
Zeb would've scolded him for the self-deprecating thought, he knew, but it was going to be different this time.
This time the old Kallus was going to help them get Arkalia back.
XxX
Zelina didn't know if she would ever get used to the sterility of her surroundings.
The scent of antiseptic was familiar to her, of course. Her father had done his best to keep his runner clean, but there was only so much one could do to keep the blood stains at bay in an increasingly violent galaxy. Chopper Base had had the same flavor of organized chaos, though it had been slightly less bloody.
But the ISD Demon's Run...it sometimes felt to her as if the Destroyer had been sterilized of life itself. Every surface that ever came into contact with organic matter was swiftly cleaned. But given some of the things she'd seen aboard this ship, she also didn't know if all the refreshers in the galaxy would be enough to make her clean of it.
It had taken a fair few resources in order to create an airtight alias for her – an accredited researcher with specialties in xenobiology. The record and appearance that had been fabricated for her were both spotless, but she could hardly recognize herself in the little mirror when she had to look at herself each morning in her tiny living space. Even now, as she splashed water in her face, her mind couldn't accept the short bob cut that now framed her face. She looked...smaller...without her braids. So much less. And to cut them off...
"I can't do it," Wedge was finally forced to concede, taking a step back from the sonic sheers she held out to him. "It's like cutting your head off."
"You then," she said, turning to Rex, thrusting the sheers in his direction.
The look in the old clone's eyes was near to Wedge's...heartsick for her, for the need to cut away the mass of braids she loved so much...sick with fear that she might not get the chance to grow them out again.
But despite his own clear misgivings, Rex understood. Steeling himself, he nodded, reaching out to take the sheers from her.
Unlike all the other mornings since her arrival a week and a half ago, she didn't stop for breakfast before heading to Archrem's lab. With her stomach tying itself in knots over the operation, she didn't think it could even handle the nutritive milk that passed for food shipboard. How Wedge or Sabine or even Kallus had withstood the stuff for any length of time, she couldn't begin to guess.
She always tried to get to the lab before Archrem every morning because it was the only time she was able to interact with Arkalia unobserved. Whenever Archrem wasn't working with her, she was kept under strict lockdown in a cage in the lab. In her brief coded relay to the others, she had told them only that Arkalia was alive. She couldn't bring herself to tell them what sorts of conditions she was living under.
The little Lasat hadn't at first recognized her when Archrem had initially allowed her in with the kit. Zel knew she looked quite different, but Ari had eventually begun to recognize her, probably from her scent, plus the few surreptitious tickles and pats she'd managed to give the baby's tummy. She had to be very careful, because interaction with "the subject" outside of scientific inquiry was strictly prohibited.
When she arrived in the lab, she went directly to Ari's cage, calling out softly, "Are we awake yet?"
A lethargic coo was the response to her question. It still broke her heart to look into the cage and see the baby girl stripped of her colorful romper and placed in the grey, almost sack-like piece of clothing the Project Ash Warrior infants had been made to wear. It hurt her to see Ari shorn of the growing hair she and Ezra had so proudly braided little more than a month ago, and to see how dull and tired her bright green eyes had become.
Zel cooed in answer as she opened the cage, reaching a hand inside, waiting for Ari to crawl to her instead of reaching in to pluck her out. The little kit rubbed against her palm with a plaintive cry.
"I know. I know, kyra," she soothed as best she could, leaning into the cage to bump her forehead lightly against the little girl's before lifting her into her arms and carrying her over to the diagnostics table for all her usual morning tests and measures. Plus a little something of her own.
One of the chief reasons Zeb and Kallus had wanted a medic to be the infiltrator in the first place was less to do with credibility and more to do with Ari herself. Because they had no way of knowing exactly when the scientists of Ash Warrior had introduced the biochips to the developing fetuses or exactly how far along Arekaya had been when she'd escaped from Manaan, they had no way of knowing if Arkalia actually had a chip in her head. If she did and they attempted to rescue her, Archrem could easily use the chip to make certain that that didn't happen. So the first part of Zel's mission had been to confirm whether or not a chip was present, and she'd been disheartened to discover that the baby girl did indeed have a biochip in her brain.
That made the operation more complicated. While the extraction team was infiltrating the ship, Zelina would have to surgically remove the chip herself. She couldn't do it before, because it would be noticed. So now she was slipping Ari a slow-acting sedative, a concoction of her father's making that wouldn't show up in testing, just in case Archrem decided to do any unexpected tests today. By the time the Spectres arrived, Ari would be out and Zel could remove the control chip from her head.
"My, Amara, you really are in early this cycle," Archrem's voice very nearly startled her. As she turned to face the scientist, she offered him a cool smile.
"I've found the subject to be a little more responsive in the morning hours, so I thought I might try starting the cycle a little earlier, see how our readings compare for a week or so."
"Excellent initiative, dear girl. I will be most eager to see the data you gather."
"Apologies for not clearing it first, Doctor. It was a middle of the night sort of inspiration and I wanted to get started right away. It shouldn't affect any of your other work, should it?"
Thus far, Archrem had only involved Zelina with the work directly related to Ari herself, but there were other projects underway involving the genetic material he collected from her – projects Zel didn't have clearance for yet. She'd subtly been trying to gain more information, but she'd had no luck thus far.
"Not at all, my dear. But if your new observations prove of consequence, we may see about getting you that clearance. Your work so far has been exemplary, after all," he said, patting her shoulder, and even through her lab coat she could feel the clamminess of his skin. It took everything she had not to shudder beneath that touch.
"Thank you, Doctor," she returned politely, trying to pump a bit of excitement into her voice. As if she were like him...as if she actually viewed these twisted perversions as science.
"Now, Your Royal Highness, let's see what you have for us today," Archrem said as he lifted Ari from her arms. It was a struggle not to hold onto her, not to just take her and run as far from the mad scientist as humanly possible. And it was a fresh barb in her heart not to respond to the single tiny hand the little kit reached back for her, pleading, begging for her help.
She could do nothing.
Nothing but wait.
Don't worry, Ari. Your papas are coming. We'll get you out of here if it's the last thing we do!
XxX
"This is FX-4000 light runner Rishi Maiden hailing ISD Demon's Run," Cassian signaled the Star Destroyer when they emerged from hyperspace. They didn't have long to wait for a response.
"Rishi Maiden, this is a restricted area. We do not show your vessel on the day's arrival schedule. Either produce confirmation of your clearance or prepare to be fired on," a crisp, Coruscanti-accented voice came over the line.
"Ach! Ease up on that trigger finger, Demon's Run," Cassian snapped back in put upon worry and annoyance. "We have a commission fob."
"Do you now? How would that be? As we have only one fob active at the moment," the officer pointed out.
"Yes. I know. I took it from Giren Kuross when I slit his throat," Cassian informed the Imperial. "So you'll be dealing with my crew from now on. Transmitting now," he finished, inserting the fob they'd taken from Kuross into the console.
"Rishi Maiden, you are clear to proceed," the controller told them several moments later. "We will, of course, need to complete some registration. I can't imagine you understand just what sort of "gig" it is you've gotten yourselves into."
"Oh, we've got an idea," Kallus said once Cassian had shut comms down, his voice coming through metallic and harsh from the filter setting on his helmet. "You have this handled?"
"No problem," the younger spy said without looking at him, focusing on guiding the ship in to dock with the Destroyer.
"Then I'll see you below," Kallus said before heading off the bridge, down to the bay where they would be meeting the inspection team.
Wedge and Jidu were there already, getting Jorrah and Rex rigged up as prisoners. Kallus knew Zeb had been ready to volunteer for this role, but Jorrah had jumped in before he could, claiming he was better equipped to deal with the treatment they were likely to receive than was Zeb, and much though Kallus didn't doubt his husband had wanted to argue, they all knew it was true. So Zeb was now hiding with the other Spectres in the Maiden's smugglers' hold, waiting for their signal.
"We all good up top?" Jidu asked as she locked binders in place around Rex's wrists.
"Andor's bringing us in now."
"We'll finally be able to get this over with," Wedge said, voice anxious as he finished up with Jorrah's binders.
"Just keep a cool head there, hot shot," Jidu made an effort to tease him. "We'll bust these nerfherders wide open."
Further talk was silenced by the sound of the runner landing inside the Destroyer's hangar bay. Once the ship was powered down, they all waited in silence for Cassian to join them. As he was the only one of this gang of bounty hunters that was un-helmeted, he was acting as the captain of the outfit. When he finally did arrive, he asked, "Everyone in position?", waiting only for a nod from Kallus before proceeding to lower the Maiden's boarding ramp.
As anticipated, a cadre of stormtroopers quickly marched up the ramp, surrounding the group, even though Jidu, Wedge, and Kallus already had blasters trained on Rex and Jorrah, now on their knees in the center of the bay.
"Warm welcome, this," Cassian said as he looked around at the small sea of white surrounding them, keeping a cool, collected attitude throughout it all. When a uniformed officer entered the bay behind the troopers, the younger man immediately began speaking to him, as if none of the others were present. "Expecting trouble from us, are you?"
"No trouble we couldn't handle, Captain...?"
"Korin. Captain Lio Korin, at your service."
"And why did you find it necessary to murder Giren Kuross?"
"Murder's a strong word," Cassian replied with a shrug. "Giren and I had an old score to settle. Thought I might add insult to injury and collect on his current assignment. Judging by all this, I'd say it's going to be well worth my efforts."
"It may do, yes. Are you aware of any of the details of the commission you've...inherited?" the officer asked with a cool smile.
"Not a damn thing. Only data the fob had was that the sleemo was contracted to hunt Lasat. Don't know why the old fossil was in Giren's hold, but we figured we'd bring him along for the ride."
"Well...Kuross did know of the doctor's interest in procuring more clones. Central's been working through the current batch so quickly."
Rex didn't react to the Imperial's words. Not really. He'd already been glaring surreptitiously up at the man. The only response he betrayed was a very slight widening of the eyes.
"Think we can do business then?" Cassian asked, nonchalantly crossing his arms over his chest.
"We may be able to yet," the Imperial officer said with a sneer that was entirely too pleased. To one of the troopers, he gave the order, "Search the ship. Call in a scanning crew if you deem it necessary. If you find anyone onboard who isn't supposed to be, bring them straight to me."
"Yessir."
"Follow me," the officer said to Cassian. 'Forcing' their prisoners to their feet, his would-be crew quickly fell into step behind the two men. And waiting for them at the base of the ramp was their first obstacle.
Two stormtroopers with sensory deprivation helmets.
Both Rex and Jorrah had been prepared for the possibility, especially if the devices were still standard operating procedure for Zaniva. Even so, it didn't mean any of them was pleased with the notion. Jorrah gave a snarl and a brief struggle against Wedge for show as the helmet was placed over his head.
Trained soldier as he was, Rex didn't visibly react to having the device placed on him, but Kallus could feel how he tensed once it was in place. Immediately, his thoughts were taken back to what Zeb had said of the experience. How he had been deprived of contact with the world around him and the only thing he'd wished for in that void was something to tether him to reality...something to prove he wasn't losing his mind...
Tightening his grip on the clone's arm as if he were steering him, he carefully maintained the contact as they walked.
This could prove to be a problem if the two had to remain in the helmets for any extended length of time. Zeb had been locked in a helmet for nearly two hours and Kallus had seen the effect that had had on him. He had been reduced to a state of near helplessness, the very air and light enemies to hyper-sensitized senses. Jorrah, at least, was not unfamiliar with these effects, but Rex...what might happen to him if they couldn't get him out quickly?
Just keep it together in there, he urged silently as they followed the officer through the Destroyer. We'll get you out of that horrid thing. We will get out of here. All of us.
On and on they moved through the maze of the huge ship, with Kallus keeping track of their location from moment to moment. All Star Destroyers had fundamentally the same layout anyway, so this was the easy part for him. Where they ultimately ended up was some sort of conference room near the Destroyer's brig. The officer indicated that Cassian ought to have a seat at the little table in the room, while the rest of them kept guard of their two prisoners. They were kept waiting for what seemed like an exorbitant amount of time, but that was no particular surprise to the ex-Imperial. Bounty hunting scum was not top priority in the eyes of the Empire, after all.
When someone finally did arrive, it was a scientist Kallus didn't recognize, so he was at least grateful not to have to deal with Archrem right away.
"So these are the new ones?" the woman asked, looking over them with a disdainful eye. "Not that I'm surprised a man like Kuross had enemies, mind, but at least we knew him."
"Oh, it will be straight to registration with this lot just as soon as we've concluded our business. What do you think?" the officer asked, nodding toward Jorrah.
The scientist approached the young Lasat, removing the sens-dep helmet quickly. Jorrah came into the dim light of the room gasping and snarling, eyes screwed tightly shut. Kallus didn't doubt he would've been covering his ears had he been able to. Involuntarily, he began to pull back, but Wedge shoved him forward again.
"Keep in line there, you!" the young pilot snapped, subtly letting Jorrah know he wasn't alone.
Thankfully, this scientist managed to go through her line up of checks in relative silence compared with Garst Archrem, having a look in his mouth, ears, and eyes when she managed to force them all open, deftly avoiding being bitten when he couldn't help but go after her. All too painfully, Kallus was reminded of when Zeb had gone through all this, and was selfishly glad he was not here now.
"Yes. I think he will serve. Nice and young, only just entering his prime. And this one?" she asked, nodding at Rex. "Definitely a clone?"
"Most definitely."
"Then we won't bother with the helmet yet. Perhaps best to leave him in suspension until we have a clearer idea of destination. I'll report the acquisitions to Dr. Archrem. Perhaps our new friends might be up for a little transport duty if all goes well," she said, looking to Cassian with a raised eyebrow.
Cassian returned the look with a shrug and a cavalier smile. "Madam, if the price is right, I'll do anything you like."
Smirking wryly, the scientist shook her head, laughing as she exited the room. The officer then nodded to two of the troopers who'd accompanied them. "Take our new acquisitions to the detention block."
Immediately, the two troopers took over aiming blasters at Jorrah and Rex. Kallus pointedly removed both hand and blaster away from the clone's body, hoping the shift in sensation would indicate to Rex that custody was switching. Shoving them along, the two troopers quickly escorted their new prisoners from the room. The team was now left with the officer and two remaining stormtroopers.
"And now for the lot of you," the officer said, looking back from Cassian and down the line of helmeted bounty hunters. "I assume we have identification scans in proper order?"
"Of course," Cassian said, leaning to the side as if to reach into a pocket in his jacket, but when the man wasn't expecting, he swiftly jerked across the space between them and delivered a hard blow to the side of his head, laying him out flat.
Before either trooper could react, Kallus and Jidu had turned on them, taking them both out with precision. At the same moment, Wedge had flung a laser dart at the room's one security cam, quickly taking it offline. While Cassian, Ji, and Wedge worked on getting into disguise, Kallus pulled out his comlink.
"MedStar One, this is Spectre Seven. Do you copy?"
For several long moments, there was nothing on the line but silence.
"MedStar One, please respond," he repeated, desperation creeping in.
"This is MedStar One," Zelina's voice finally came through, shaken, but still holding together. "I copy."
There was a weight to the young woman's voice that hadn't been there the last time they'd spoken with her, and Kallus wouldn't doubt she would need to have a talk with someone when it was all over but, for now, they had a mission to carry out.
"What is your position?"
"R&D, Medical wing. Objective is under. Archrem was called away only just now, so I'm a little late to begin the procedure. I'll begin just as soon as we disconnect."
"And the sector is still under guard?"
"Always. I'll contact you again when I'm finished. MedStar One out."
Just as soon as Zel had disconnected, Kallus moved to a different frequency.
"Spectre One, what is your position?"
"Just got clear of our other friends," Kanan's voice came through much faster. "Spectre Six and I are escorting our prisoners to the detention block."
"Then you will have to keep an eye out for our other two parcels. They were also sent to the detention block. And they did place them in sens-dep."
"How's MedStar coming?"
"Operating now. We'll be heading up to her momentarily. You will need to free any other prisoners you find. More may have arrived since MedStar's last communication."
"On it. Spectre One out."
"So far, so good," Kallus said as he looked up at his compatriots. Jidu, being the shortest of them, had changed into the officer's uniform. Upon close inspection, it was a hair too big for her, but there was no help for that. Cassian and Wedge had donned the sets of stormtrooper armor, Wedge holding a blaster in one hand and Zelina's helmet in the other. "Kanan and Ezra are on their way to the detention block with Sabine and Zeb. The next move is ours," he said, taking the Mandalorian helmet from Wedge's hands.
"Ugh," Wedge shuddered as he and Cassian formed up on either side of Kallus. "Not that the TIE suits were much better, but I'm suddenly happy I was never on the stormtrooper track. You- you've got that?" he asked, nodding down at the helmet in Kallus' hands.
"Won't let it go," he reassured the young rebel, figuring the Mandalorian armor stood in his psyche about where Zeb's bo-rifle would stand in his own. "Let's get going."
Wearing a lens again to conceal her distinct part-Allurian heritage, Jidu took the lead out of the conference room, following the directions from the schematic Zel had previously sent them to the lift that would take them up to the Research and Development level. Star Destroyers, of course, did not typically possess an R&D sector, but for something with the specializations of the Demon's Run, the Medical sector was simply equipped as a laboratory wing. And it was in that place their sweet Arkalia had been imprisoned the last month and a half. As the lift rose through the many decks of the Destroyer, Kallus allowed himself only one brief thought of the small Lasat, knowing that anything else risked overwhelming him.
I'm coming, Lia. I swear it. Hold on just a little longer, dear heart.
XxX
Kallus had dictated no blasters for as long as they could manage it, and thus far the Spectres had stuck to the tenet. One round of blaster fire would be all it would take to alert their enemies that something was wrong. And they weren't exactly equipped to go up against the full crew compliment of a Destroyer like the Demon's Run. So Ezra and Kanan had quietly taken out two members of the inspection team, donned their armor, and escorted Sabine and Zeb out of the Rishi Maiden, supposedly disarmed. Though Zeb was not particularly pleased to be without his bo-rifle, he knew it was necessary.
They were not stopped on the way down to the detention block, and taking out the troopers and officers on duty was no particular challenge for the two Jedi. It wasn't until they'd pulled the block thoroughly off the Destroyer's grid that they began to encounter problems.
"Where's Rex?" Zeb asked when he caught sight of Jorrah making his way out of a deactivated cell.
"Th- they took him away," the young Lasat said as he struggled toward them, shivering, still suffering the effects of the sens-dep helmet. "We got split up. The guy said something about- taking him up to R&D..."
"Karabast," Zeb snarled in worry. "Just had to go and get himself dragged off." It wasn't his fault. Of course it wasn't, but it was still a frustrating situation.
"Looks like our head count's about sixty," Sabine reported once the prisoners had all emerged from their cells, mostly Lasat, but a handful of other species as well. "Little bit more than Zel's initial report, but it's nothing we can't handle."
"All right, change of plan," Kanan declared. "Zeb, Ezra, you're taking the maintenance shaft up to the R&D deck. Find Rex and get him out. Then you meet up with us back at the Ghost," he said before passing Zeb's confiscated bo-rifle back to him.
"On it," Ezra said, hurrying back to join Zeb. Then they were off.
Another thing Kallus had been able to inform them of from Zelina's schematic was the maintenance shaft that ran from the top to the bottom of the Star Destroyer, reaching nearly every single one of its decks. It allowed for swift, unobserved travel throughout the ship. While the shaft didn't connect directly to the detention block, there wasn't a massive amount of distance between them, and they'd be able to slip any prisoners they found up through the shaft unnoticed, as the maintenance tunnel had no security cams installed.
Now, though, Zeb and Ezra were mounting the simple lift platform inside the shaft, sending it rocketing up through the Destroyer's many decks, readying for a fight, but also hoping they didn't hate what they found at the end of the ride too much.
XxX
Having served with Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano, Rex had often found it necessary to serve as the cool head among the three of them. As such, he had often found himself trying to take up some of the meditation lessons Anakin had attempted to pass on to Ahsoka (attempted being the absolute key word in the statement). And while his feelings regarding Anakin Skywalker were somewhat...complicated...of late, that didn't make the ability to calm his mind any less useful when the sens-dep helmet had descended over his head.
He'd appreciated Kallus' efforts to help keep him grounded throughout, but the monumental task of keeping himself centered while locked in silent darkness was largely with him.
It wasn't like being frozen in carbonite. That had been like...being trapped between moments. Perfectly frozen between one breath and the next, body struggling for existence in that single harrowing moment before finally achieving the next.
This...this was like being plunged into a void. And he was fast losing his ability to climb out of that void. He didn't want to imagine what it must have been like for Zeb, trapped in a full sensory deprivation unit.
Keep it together, Rex. You're getting out of here. They'll come. Just have to keep it together.
How long had it been? How long since he'd 'switched hands'? Been shoved even further into the Star Destroyer. Bound to some surface, the cold of the metal bands against his arms the only thing keeping him from slipping off into permanent nothingness.
Could he actually die like this? Or would it just be a descent into madness? Somehow he thought he would prefer death, rather than to lose himself. It was a kind of death, wasn't it? To lose what he had been...to lose everything he'd ever cared for...all of his pain and sorrow, everything he believed in...everything he loved.
But what of that remained?
Ahsoka...I'm afraid.
And at the point when he was truly frightened there would be no pulling his mind from the endlessness...he thought he could hear her voice...just at the back of his mind...just beyond his reach...
Don't be afraid. You're strong, Rex. The strongest being I've ever known. You will make it through. Just hold on.
Oh, now he really was losing it. Mind so far gone as to resort to pulling her voice from the depths of his fragmenting memory...
Still...if her voice was to be the last sliver of sanity he was left clinging to before he dissipated altogether...then that wouldn't be such a bad thing.
"Ahsoka...Ahsoka..."
He couldn't hear himself speak...couldn't feel her name on his tongue. All he had to know he'd given voice to it was the breath he'd gathered to speak it.
Then the helmet was being ripped off and he was lost in a violent deluge of blinding light and harsh noise.
Unprepared for the shift, the light to his eyes was like a blaster bolt straight to them before he could jam them shut. The sound of his own cry had much the same effect on his ears, unaided by the sudden roar of the ship's recycled air against them. The scent of disinfectant assaulted his nose, driving him near to nausea.
Breathe. Just breathe.
"Ahsoka?" a deep, grating voice joined the din clanging in his ears. "Who is Ahsoka?"
"Someone- someone whose name you'll never be worthy enough to speak, sleemo!" he snarled as best he could.
"Oh? Now how do you know that, soldier? We've only just met, after all. Look at me."
Rex growled, spitting in the direction he heard the voice coming from.
"Really now. Is that any way to behave?"
"Get karked!"
"Look at me, clone!"
This demand was accompanied by a painful electric jolt throughout his body, forcing an agonized cry from his lips. Breathing heavily, he willed his eyes open, merely to slits, just barely making out the image of the scientist through the hideous glare of the lights. The man offered him an ugly leer, features occasionally thrown into sharp relief from the sparks jumping from his probe tool.
"There we are. That wasn't so hard, was it. These things really do go so much better with cooperation."
"Cooperation for what?" he bit out, forcing his eyes to remain open. "Stripping me down to parts like some outdated clanker?"
Archrem thought about it a moment before shrugging and smirking. "Well, yes, but that is what you are for, isn't it? Serving the greater purposes of the government that commissioned you?"
"Last I checked, I was commissioned by the Republic. Not the Empire."
"Whatever term you choose, it matters little. You were bought and paid for. A piece of property."
"Oh, you don't wanna go down this road with me, doc," he said, glaring at the man, who shrugged indifferently as he pulled back from him, going to check the data feeds from a nearby terminal.
"As you will. I can't imagine we have much to say to each other after all. You are nothing but a body to me," he said without even looking at him, "a mildly complex meat puzzle which houses the secrets of the Kaminoans."
"Well, sorry for the inconvenience," he ground out, eyes still barely adjusted to the harsh white light of the lab space. Looking beyond the surgical table he was bound to, he began to catch glimpses of other experiments through the white. Organs suspended in containers, de-fleshed limbs displaying the muscle and bone beneath, a spine, skulls, myriad other bones. One container even seemed to house a complete nervous system. And these were just the things he saw that his mind could make sense of.
Spare parts.
It really did take the very last inch of his considerable self control not to be sick.
"What have you done?" he whispered in horror.
"No more than I must to carry out my mandate. I promise you, your 'brothers' serve a much greater purpose in this form than they ever could as individual units. Though I will, of course, understand if that comes as little consolation," the scientist said as he prepped some sort of injection.
"And just what is your mandate?" Rex spat out, unable to help struggling against his bonds. It was starting to look like they'd stumbled across more than just the dregs of Project Ash Warrior.
"Perfect genetic manipulation," Archrem said, an almost exultant look on his face as he drew nearer to Rex once again. "So much more than what your makers accomplished with the clone army. After all, they were simply duplicating life. What I seek is something a great deal more...profound," he finished, sneering down at Rex with the needle in hand.
Rex struggled, even though he knew it would do no good. Struggled until he felt the prick of the needle in his neck, quickly delivering whatever compound it was the mad scientist had prepared.
He cried out as a jagged bolt of pain lashed through his body, the substance dealing harshly with his veins. As his blood was ravaged, both boiling and freezing by turns, he writhed in agony on the table, unable to keep back the screams.
This time he really did throw up.
"So sorry about that," Archrem's voice was suddenly at his ear, right there next to him. "I suppose I should've warned you...CT-7567."
Somewhere in the throes of his agony, the sound of his designation on Archrem's lips registered...and what that meant...
They knew. They knew who he was. It was a matter of Imperial record that CT-7567 was with the Rebellion. And if they knew who he was-
"I hope your friends enjoyed their journey here," the doctor's mocking voice slithered into his ear yet again. "It really will be the last one they ever take."
XxX
"Spectre Seven, what's your position?"
"Good to hear from you, MedStar One. We are two corridors away from the entrance to R&D. Ready for extraction?"
"Operation is complete. I think we're both more than ready to get out of here."
"All right. Time to have a little fun," Jidu said as Kallus cut the connection. As the group headed into the next corridor, the ex-Imperial turned toward Wedge.
"Ready?"
"As I'll ever be," the young pilot said, spreading his arms wide as if to welcome a blow.
And Kallus didn't disappoint. He leveled one of his less devastating punches at the indistinct white face plate, laying Wedge out flat in the middle of the corridor. Then he drew his blaster and began firing wildly down the hallway, purposely missing hitting Jidu and Cassian.
"Trooper down! Trooper down!" Ji shouted, as if desperately attempting to comm a superior officer. "Blaster fire outside R&D. I have a trooper down. I need backup!"
They were never going to be able to trick the guards away from their posts. Not in a situation like this. The only thing to do was stage a fight. And they were not disappointed when one of the guards appeared at the far end of the corridor, hurrying toward them. Kallus didn't bother firing at him. When Cassian made a show of being hit and going down, the guard rushed to Jidu's side, allowing her to deliver a stun blast to his head with him none the wiser. Backing away from Kallus while still firing, the young woman moved into the last corridor.
Kallus moved up quickly, firing wildly around the corner. Taking a quick glimpse into the space, he saw Ji moving toward the last guard, who was gearing up to return fire, but he never made it that far. The moment Ji had reached his side, he met the same fate as his compatriot, slumping soundlessly to the floor.
"And we are officially on borrowed time," Kallus said, signaling Cassian and Wedge that it was all right to get up, which they did quickly. Then the small team was racing silently into the sector, heading toward the location Zelina had informed them of. There was no telling when it might prove useful for the scientists to believe the young Mandalorian was one of them, so they'd planned to run this as a sort of hostage situation.
But when the doors all around them began to slam shut, all locking and jamming, Kallus got the distinct impression the plan would be changing.
"Uh-oh," Jidu started as the group came to an abrupt halt, her eyes darting furtively about the space like a wild thing in a cage.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Wedge muttered nervously as they formed up around each other, no point of attack left unmonitored. Then a voice sounded overhead.
"Welcome to the Demon's Run, my little monkey-lizards. I know you're out there, Alexsandr."
Kriff. Ah, well.
"I don't suppose there's any chance we might be civil about this?" he asked, looking up as he removed his helmet.
"I hope you weren't so foolish as to think I would simply allow you to walk in here and take what is mine," the scientist chided over the comm. "You are in my hands now, Agent, and I will greatly enjoy watching you die."
With that, a sickening hissing sound began to fill the corridor. The sound of some sort of gas being vented into the air.
"What is that?" Kallus demanded, still looking overhead.
"A little parting gift for you, Kallus. Tell me, what are your thoughts on the Empire's use of ziridox 9 in the Andive purge?"
He caught the scent then. The sickly sweet, cloying scent of the deadly gas. They had only seconds.
"Wedge, put this on!" he snapped, throwing Zelina's helmet at the young Corellian. "The trooper helmet won't help. You two, hold your breath as long as you can. We'll just- have to buddy breathe," he said to Cassian and Ji before jamming his own helmet back on, taking several breaths of the now filtered air. Already, he'd been feeling a slight wave of nausea from even that tiny bit of the ziridox 9 he'd breathed. He could see the other two spies' faces going green with it as they held their breaths. Wedge, at least, was all right, protected by the red and violet helmet that stood out almost comically from the rest of the white armor.
"Alex, talk to me!" Zeb's voice suddenly snapped over his comlink, dispensing with codes. "What's goin' on in there?"
"Archrem's flooded the corridors with ziridox 9. Where are you?"
"Rex was moved to R&D. Ezra and me were comin' after him, but they shut down the sector before we could get through. I'm gonna try and force the doors."
"Don't you dare! Even if it isn't concentrated, this stuff will be no less deadly to you and Ezra. We'll have to find a way to shut it down," he said, breathing deeply before removing the helmet and passing it to Cassian, who took it gratefully. Wedge did the same before passing the Mando helmet to Jidu.
"So how the kriffing kriff are you four staying alive in there?" Zeb demanded. "We have to get you out now!"
"We have two helmets between the four of us," Cassian took up the explanation. "We won't die right away, at least."
"Right. Now tell me why I find that less than comforting," Zeb growled back.
"Well, if you come up with something better, we'd love to hear about it," Jidu joined in. "We're not exactly swimming in options here."
"Gah! Karabast! We'll come up with somethin'," the Lasat snarled with an edge of desperation in his voice.
"We'll just have to keep going," Cassian said.
Kallus nodded his agreement, retaking his position at the head of the group and forging ahead at a much more measured pace. He would be able to hold his breath a few more minutes before needing to ask Cassian for the helmet again, but he knew they couldn't keep this up forever. And what exactly was the extent of the gas flooding? At the very least, it seemed limited to R&D, but what more than that? Was it simply the corridors? Or was it the entirety of the sector? Were Arkalia and Zelina in danger right now as well?
There were just too many unknowns to formulate further than the corridor ahead of them. There was little choice but to keep going and hope they could force another opportunity from the multitude of dead ends Archrem had left them with. So the ex-Imperial continued on through the now-poisoned air, covering his mouth and nose with a gloved hand to prevent even the possibility of breathing it in. He was not going to surrender. He was not going to give in.
He was going to get Lia out or die trying.
XxX
Zelina had begun to erase data almost the moment she'd disconnected with Kallus. After all, their goal here today was not only to rescue Ari, but to destroy Ash Warrior completely, so that no part of it could ever be recreated from its own ruins. She was just making a final sweep of the systems to make certain everything that was connected to at least this system was gone when she heard Archrem's voice overhead, pronouncing the intended fate of her friends as her only way out of the lab automatically locked and sealed.
Wedge, at least, would be safe from the ziridox gas in her helmet, but what about the others? She had to hope they would find a way to stay alive. She couldn't risk further contact now. The sector was on lockdown and any transmissions would be stringently monitored. So far she couldn't detect the telling scent of ziridox 9, so the gas seemed to be confined to the corridors.
"Doctor Archrem?" she commed him privately once he'd fallen silent on the overhead. "What's happening?"
"Nothing you need worry yourself over, my dear. Just some insurgents trying to make trouble for us. You will be safe if you remain exactly where you are. Maintenance will clean up the mess afterwards."
"Doctor, I'm not-" she said before cutting herself off, timing the move with shutting down the lab's overhead security, making it appear that something had glitched. "Yeah, kark that, hut'uun."
She had to get out. She had to get Ari out. There were breath masks on hand right here with her. She just had to get them to the others. But she hadn't finished destroying the lab. That would've been the task of Kallus and the others when they arrived. The only weapons she had on hand were the chemicals here in the lab. Well, those and...one other she could hardly lift.
Archrem had mounted Kallus' bo-rifle in the lab as a reminder of what their tiny subject was one day meant to be...what it was they were striving to create. Being Mandalorian and having more than her fair share of experience with weapons, she didn't doubt she could work the thing, but the bo-rifle was meant for a warrior much larger than she would ever be.
Well, nothing for it. The lab had to be destroyed, and if this was the only way, she had to do it. But how was she getting out?
Glancing upward toward the grates in the ceiling, she recalled some of Ezra's tales of sneaking through ventilation shafts. If he could still manage it, then she could certainly fit into those ducts. Though she didn't think there would be quite enough space to carry both Ari and the bo-rifle. That, she would just have to drag behind her.
So, gathering up the room's stash of emergency breath masks, she fixed one first to her own face, then the smaller one that had been specifically sized for Ari to the little Lasat's face. She supposed she could be grateful that Ari was still passed out after the surgery she'd undergone and wouldn't be making a fuss throughout this whole ordeal. On impulse she gathered up some of the chemicals in syringes and strapped them to her belt. If they really were the only weapons she was capable of using, it would be better to have them than to not have them.
Then she went to the mounted bo-rifle, pulling the heavy weapon down off the wall with a great deal of difficulty, nearly pinning herself beneath it when it finally came free. Once she'd gotten the staff-like weapon down to the floor, she figured out how to collapse it. It wasn't any lighter, but she could at least manage to lift it in this configuration. Taking aim with the weighty thing, she began to fire on the lab, turning every last piece of very expensive equipment into mounds of scrap and melted slag. Once it was done, she would've very much liked to just collapse with the rifle and just breathe for a moment. It was so heavy...
...but she couldn't stop now. This was only step one of the journey. There was a great deal further still to go. So, struggling to place the heavy weapon at her back, she began to climb it up to the ceiling. up to the vent nearest one of the walls.
It took all of her strength to make that climb, to drag that impossibly heavy weapon up away from the pull of the artificial gravity along with her own weight, to push aside that grate and heave the bo-rifle through the opening. If she hadn't been aware that simply letting herself fall once it was done was a whole list of problems she couldn't afford right now, she might not have found the strength to pull herself up through the opening after it.
She took no more time to rest than was absolutely necessary, climbing back down into the lab the moment she felt steady enough. Moving quickly back to Ari, she removed her lab coat and fashioned a sling from it to carry the baby Lasat in, securing her carefully but firmly against her chest. Then she gathered up the remaining emergency masks (only three in number, so she really hoped she was right about Wedge) and scrambled back up the wall and through the grate, being careful to replace it on her way out.
In order to be able to pull off a trap like this, the sector would either have to be on two different atmospheric delivery systems or one system that could easily be divided. She would have to figure out which it was. So, with Ari cradled securely against her breast and Kallus' bo-rifle dragging awkwardly behind her, she began to crawl in the direction of the sector entry point, listening intently for the sounds of a fight.
If they had managed to survive the initial release of the gas, it wouldn't take Archrem long to send in troops to flush them out.
XxX
They had mostly managed to master their buddy breathing system, but of course this mastery came only in time for death troopers wearing specialized breathing helmets to be sent in after them. The two pairs barely had time to duck for cover when the cadre appeared at the end of the corridor.
You really were prepared for this, weren't you, Garst, Kallus thought bitterly as he passed the helmet to Cassian.
"Some rescue, this!" Jidu called across the hallway after sniping one of the troopers, barely managing to regain her cover before being hit herself. Wedge kept up a steady stream of potshots while keeping his nose and mouth. He and Ji had to switch more often than he did with Cassian, but that was to be expected.
"Can't keep it up forever," Cassian agreed, laying down a few shots of his own, although it was becoming harder to spot their enemies through the growing haze of the gas. "Hope this kid is worth the trouble."
"You'll understand when you meet her," Jidu called back, speaking where Kallus could not. "Everybody always does."
Kallus kept up his own stream of fire, mostly hoping to get lucky, but also tracking the source whenever a bolt of light burst out of the haze. He didn't realize just how long it had been until black dots began to spot his vision.
Oh. Right. Breathing.
"Stay sharp there, Fulcrum."
Vaguely, he became aware of Cassian bumping against him, attempting to pass off the helmet. He struggled to grab for it, but he couldn't quite make his fingers close around the material. Cassian ultimately had to shove the thing down over his head.
Awareness returned quickly with the snap of clean air in his lungs. Even though Cassian couldn't speak anymore, he made his meaning perfectly plain with his eyes.
It's going to take all of us to get out of here in one piece.
Now able to use the helmet to pick out heat signatures within the gas, he could fire more accurately, but he didn't suppose they would make much headway potshotting at death troopers of all things.
There's got to be a way through. There has to be.
And indeed there was. It was just far from what he was expecting.
"Kallus!"
The voice came from above him of all places. Wondering if he hadn't maybe accidentally inhaled some of the gas, he took cover and glanced up.
And there, lifting away from the other ceiling panels, was one of the grates that led up into the ventilation grid. And peering out of the new opening was none other than Zelina Arsane herself.
"I- Zelina?" he called out in amazement.
"Are you guys all right? What's going on down there?"
"We're- all right," he managed to choke out, beginning to master himself. "We've been buddy breathing."
"Here," she said, pulling something from somewhere in the vent with her. Then a breath mask was dropping into his hands, which he quickly passed to Cassian, who secured it to his face with a breath of relief.
"One more!" he called to her, and she quickly supplied it. Wedge was back in Zelina's helmet, so Kallus slid the second mask across the floor to Jidu, who scrabbled for it a few moments before managing to secure it.
"Zel!" he started to plead, turning his attention back up to the young Mandalorian. "Where is Lia? Is she safe?"
Zelina nodded, shifting a little within the confined space, and there, nestled against her breast, he could just make out the top of the baby Lasat's head. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. She was safe. She was alive. His little girl...his Lia...
"I've got her. She'll be safe with me. Can you fall back?"
Kallus shook his head. "Not yet. Archrem still has Rex. We need to get him out. Any idea where he might be held?"
"A few. I'll have to get a move on."
"All right. I'll comm Zeb and Ezra, see if we can't get you some help."
"Oh, hey! You might need this," she started all of a sudden. Then, with a few more pronounced moments of wriggling around inside the shaft, the young medic began to shove something more through the little opening and, almost before Kallus knew it, his bo-rifle was dropping down into the corridor.
Kallus felt something in him ease as his hands closed around the familiar weapon. He was half-tempted to ask how she'd gotten it, but it wasn't important just then. He could do some real damage with this.
"Thank you. Now take Lia, go and help Rex. We'll make our way to you."
Zelina nodded once before sliding the grate back into place, concealing both her and Lia from sight. Blaster fire continued to ping ineffectually by as Kallus pulled out his comlink once again.
"Spectre Four, do you read?" he pressed, slipping back into code, knowing he didn't want the risk of their enemies knowing where Zel and Lia were.
"Yeah, Seven, you got me. What's happenin'?"
"MedStar One is in the wind. I repeat, MedStar One is in the wind and heavily laden," he reported, using the code Ezra had come up with for his jaunts through ventilation shafts.
"Good to hear."
"Spectre Six would do best to see if he can't follow suit. We are still pinned down in here."
"Haha, right. I'm on it," Ezra's voice joined in on the conversation. "Just gotta find a means of, y'know, breathing."
"Pfft, always complaining," he said with a faint smile. "Spectre Seven out."
That done, he tucked the comlink away, beginning to check his rifle over to see that it was combat ready. Thankfully, Archrem didn't seem to have toyed with it in any way. Now things could really get interesting. Taking his position and making his mark, he quickly took out two unwary troopers.
You think you can harm my family and get away with it? I'll show you.
XxX
Through a drugged haze of confusion and pain, Rex heard all of it...heard what his friends were going through in the suddenly impassable corridors. Eventually he heard Archrem lose visual contact with what was happening due to his own lack of foresight in flooding the sector with gas. All he seemed to be getting from the troopers he'd sent in was that they had not yet taken out their targets, to which Rex gave a tiny, stilted laugh.
"Think it's amusing, do you?" the scientist asked him, and Rex could picture the half-mocking, half-annoyed glare on his face, even though he could no longer properly turn his head to look at him. "The fact that your friends are in mortal peril."
"Heh, we've had- mortal peril before," he returned, eyes fixed blearily ahead, his body hanging limply within his restraints. "Hasn't...hasn't- stopped us yet."
"Well, we'll just see about that," Archrem snipped. Rex was quite certain he'd rather not know the name of the tool he heard starting up. "Unfortunately, we don't really have time to wait for the compound to set in, so I'm afraid this will be quite painful. But you will be no good to them as a corpse, so I suppose we'll just start with the head."
Rex would've very much liked to struggle, but he just couldn't make his body move, no matter how desperate his thoughts, and even those were quickly beginning to slip away from him. He was even losing the ability to care that his last sight would be Archrem, standing over him with an ugly-looking sonic saw.
Ahsoka...I'm sorry. I guess we'll be together sooner than you would've liked.
NO!
"...'soka?" he mumbled distantly.
Only...it wasn't her voice he heard.
"STOP!"
Zelina?
"Stop! Stop!" the young Mandalorian pleaded as she dropped down into the space from above, half-falling, until she was standing between him and Archrem.
"'lina...no...what're- you doing?" he tried to plead with her, barely able to make his mouth work.
"You, too, Amara?" the scientist snarled. "You're one of these scum, too? And here I had such high hopes for you."
"Don't kill him!" she begged, throwing her arms wide to present more of a target for the man. "Please don't kill him."
"And just what do you think you can do to stop me?"
Haran, not only was he going to die, but he was going to have to watch Zelina go before him, her own life wasted in a futile effort to save his.
"Go...go...please go," he tried to argue with her as the years crashed together in his addled brain, bringing him back to a time when he'd pleaded with another young woman to save herself...
Go...just go...I'm not worth this. Save yourself...save yourself!
"I'm not going anywhere," he heard her voice through his confusion and agony. "I'm not going to let even one more clone die!"
"Then you will die as well."
XxX
Some distant, fearful part of Alexsandr Kallus remained awake at the back of his mind as he cut through death troopers, moving like a ghost in the mist. That part remained awake and aware...aware of just how much he'd missed the simplicity of combat. The uncomplicated notion that you had to end your enemy because his continued existence was a threat to yours.
The part of his mind would become larger when this was all over...would feel guilt again...but he knew he couldn't let that stand in his way right now. Right now, it was either them...or Arkalia.
He could get back to his own complexes later.
He moved easily in the direction Zelina indicated to them when she got back in touch, but it became harder to keep steady as he listened to her report what was happening.
"Kallus, I- where are you guys? I think he's going to kill Rex."
"We're aren't far off now. Just hold your position a little longer," he tried to talk her down as he moved as swiftly as he could through the hazy corridors.
"I...Kallus, I can't- he's going to...I'm going in."
"Zel! Don't!" he shouted over the link, but it had already gone dead.
Kriffing Mandalorian!
"Kallus, what's going on?" he heard Wedge's voice demand from somewhere behind him.
"Your girlfriend is proving just how much of a Mandalorian she is," he snarled, not even stopping to explain. They had to get to them and they had to get to them now.
As he'd said, it didn't take them long to reach the lab in question. The time for him to slice through Archrem's particular brand of jamming was even less. But for all his speed, the situation beyond the doors was just as dire as he'd feared.
Zelina was standing between Archrem and Rex, Rex strapped to a surgical table and Archrem standing there with some kind of saw in hand. All the while, Arkalia slept against the young medic's chest, innocent and unknowing.
The Mandalorian attempted to make a grab for the saw when the scientist's eyes flicked back toward him, but Archrem had spent a little too much time avoiding being bitten by angry Lasat. His reflexes were just a touch quicker than hers and he had her pinned against his side in less than a heartbeat, the buzzing saw held just above her throat.
"Drop your weapons!" he ordered even as Jidu forced the doors closed once more to prevent more gas coming through. "Drop them or I'll kill them both!"
"You won't," Kallus said calmly as he dropped to one knee, setting the bo-rifle on the floor, though he didn't immediately lift his hand from it. "You aren't going to kill the prize you struggled so long for," he pointed out, though the words on his tongue made him feel almost as nauseous as the gas had.
"Normally, you would be right, Alexsandr. But in this case, I no longer need the child. I don't particularly want to dispose of her, but I can continue my work with the material I already have. Are you going to take that chance? Blasters on the floor. Now!"
"You heard the man," Kallus said softly to the other members of his team, slowly lifting his hand from his weapon. But as he listened to the other three slowly set down their blasters, his attention also focused itself on Zelina.
He didn't allow his eyes to move as he tracked her motions, lest he give her away, but just at the corner of his vision, he could see her reaching with the hand that wasn't pinned to Archrem's side. Reaching...reaching...toward her belt...to a line of syringes she had strapped there.
Good girl. If he could just keep Archrem talking a moment longer...
"You know, it's a good look for you, traitor. On your knees before me. A good way for you to die, I think."
"There are worse ways to die...than fighting to save what you love," he said quietly, sincerely, keeping his gaze fixed on the mad scientist's all the while. "It's certainly better than dying trapped inside an Imperial husk."
"Well, I suppose you have your convictions. I hope that's a comfort to you when-AAGH!"
Archrem's taunting was cut off by an agonized scream when Zelina jabbed one of her syringes into his leg, emptying its contents into his system. Unfortunately, the sudden move didn't allow her to pull back from him in time, and the saw sliced a shallow but jagged line down the right side of her face, just shy of her ear.
Kallus felt more than heard her scream as she collapsed into his arms, the sound echoing down to the marrow of his bones. He could see the flow of fresh blood down her side, could see several droplets of it spattered atop Arkalia's head. As Jidu and Cassian rushed by him, both their regained weapons now trained on the scientist, Kallus tried to hold Zelina steady, keeping her from moving too much.
"Zelina!" Wedge cried out, falling to his knees beside them, reaching to remove the Mandalorian helmet from his head.
"Don't," Zelina warned him, reaching across to lay her hand over his. Though she trembled with obvious pain and shock, she still tried to insist, "It's not bad. But you can't take that off yet. We don't know how much of the ziridox got in."
"Just don't move," Kallus tried to scold her. "You spend all your time taking care of us. Let us take care of you for once."
The young medic surely might've had more to say, except that she was interrupted by yet another arrival. The door opened to reveal Ezra, Zeb, and Kanan, all three with breath masks and all three combat ready.
When Zeb saw him cradling Zelina and Arkalia in his arms, he immediately moved in on the downed scientist, who lay writhing on the floor in agony beneath the trained sights of Cassian and Jidu's blasters. While the two Jedi moved in to help Rex, to unbind him and get a breath mask secured over his nose and mouth, Zeb held the Imperial scientist aloft, his delicate human head gripped tightly in a single massive paw.
"D'you know how easy I could crush your head, Archrem?" the Lasat asked him. "Be real simple. Like crushin' a ripe miru fruit between my fingers."
"Please...please..." Archrem begged, fingers scrabbling ineffectually against Zeb's arm, his body trembling with the effects of whatever chemical Zelina had injected him with. "Oh, stars...oh, please..."
"You're gonna beg for mercy from a Lasat?" he snarled, slamming the human against the recently vacated surgical table. "That's rich. How many of my people have you shown mercy to since Lasan fell?"
"Please...please..." was all the man could seem to whimper.
Zeb shook his head, features twisting in disgust and anger. "If I could have my way, I'd leave you here to breathe deep for the rest a' your miserable life. Y'know, the ten minutes of it you have left. That's what you deserve for what you've done to my people, to me, to my little girl. But if I don't finish this now, there's always the chance you'll live to bring harm to more Lasat. I'm not gonna let that happen. This ends now."
With that, the former guardsman began to squeeze, bringing all of the strength that was in him to bear on Garst Archrem's head. The human struggled, beginning to scream, but he was helpless in his former victim's grip. And even though Kallus wanted Archrem to suffer just as much as Zeb did, to be punished for violating his mate and taking their daughter away from them, he still had to look away just before it happened – the final, fatal crunch of the scientist's skull in Zeb's fist.
The sound echoed hauntingly in the black of his mind, reverberant within his memory. Even though he knew it had to be done, had wanted it to be done, the very thought of dying in such a way carried him back to memories he wanted no part of.
Not today.
"Ril san orra vasharyl," Zeb said in a cutting, quiet voice as he allowed Archrem's body to drop unceremoniously to the floor. "Tefsa elysh."
"What is this place?" Wedge was the one to finally ask, looking around.
"Don't know," Zelina answered from where she still lay in the ex-Imperial's arms, aware that she might've been the only one who could've hoped to give a proper answer. "I never- got clearance for this area."
"Vod'e," Rex supplied mournfully, his voice tinged with the faintest of cries. "They're clones...my brothers...ner vod'e."
Even with both Kanan and Ezra helping him, the old captain couldn't stand on his own. Both Jedi were holding him up, keeping him from collapsing outright.
"But...why would Zaniva be so keen to study cloning?" Jidu wondered out loud as she approached one of the computer terminals, slicing into it without much difficulty. "They didn't have much when I was infiltrating the central compound on Salear."
"Archrem said...that he'd got what he needed from Lia," Kallus said slowly, suspicion beginning to form in his gut, fear making his tongue heavy in his mouth. If he gave voice to it...if they had really done such a thing...
"Well, if it's anything we...it...I...oh...oh, no."
The young spy's fingers falling still was more telling than her voice gradually going silent. As her hands fell away from the terminal, she stared at the display in quiet horror for several long, painful moments.
"What?" Ezra finally demanded. "What is it?"
At first, Jidu didn't speak. She just drifted away from the terminal and over toward a bank of canisters that was situated amongst the many containers filled with...clone matter. Kallus imagined they had all at first assumed these particular containers were no different, but when he saw the look of heartbreak on Jidu Ailytè's face as she reached out to touch the plexiglass surface of one, he knew only too well that wasn't the case.
"It's her," the Jedhan finally answered. "They...this is...Archrem cloned her. That's what these are. Cloned embryos."
No one spoke for several moments following the horrific revelation, and that silence was so thick as to be suffocating. The one to finally speak into it was Wedge, glancing between the small bank and the little Lasat curled up against Zelina's chest.
"What was he going to do? Make an army of just her?"
"Not like- it hasn't been done before," Rex said bitterly, and the look on his face was so torn, so twisted with misery and despair and anguish, Kallus knew none of them would ever be able to truly comprehend it.
"So what do we do?" Cassian finally asked, looking around at all of them. "Keep to the plan? Destroy this lab, too?"
Kallus felt something harrowing flickering in his heart at that. He knew what the plan was, but...this was different. Even in such a base form as this...could he bring himself to destroy something that was even the vaguest image of Arkalia? Could they even be called living? In that moment, the ex-Imperial had little doubt that every single one of them wrestled with the question. He didn't know whether to be surprised by it or not, but Zeb was the one to ultimately speak.
"When I wasn't much more'n a kid...I swore an oath. An oath to the Blood, to protect the royal family and everything they stood for. Whether or not this counts as royal blood, it can't be what my ancestors had in mind. So while my oath stands, Project Ash Warrior will not stand. Not in any form," he said, and as he spoke, he reconfigured his bo-rifle to staff mode, igniting it once he'd finished. And as he watched him, Alexsandr Kallus knew with perfect certainty that this was the Lasat the people kept in bondage on Manaan had spoken of in reverent tones, the brave guardian who had stood against impossible odds as the world was coming to an end around him. Zeb didn't often allow the colors of his command to show through, keeping them hidden beneath the shame of his perceived failure. But they were here now, on full display in the fire of his eyes, in the strength of his bearing and the lightning of his weapon. In this moment, Garazeb Orrelios was the source that legends sprang from, and Alex was in awe of this near divine being who had chosen to love him of all people.
What could he do but fall deeper still in love?
"Wait," Zelina started to protest weakly. "Before you destroy it- copy the data. We might need to know what they've done."
"All right," Zeb conceded. "But be quick about it."
Jidu wasted no time. But while she worked, Alex began to notice a tiny whimper from between him and Zelina. Looking down, he saw Lia's ears beginning to twitch as she stirred from her drugged sleep. Reaching down tentatively, he attempted to stroke the top of her head.
The kit cried out when contact was made, shrinking impossibly small against Zelina's breast – the only positive contact she'd had in over a month.
"Oh...my dear- dear heart," he whispered in quiet heartbreak, not wanting to cause her any further distress.
"They hurt her," he heard Zeb's voice at his side as he came to kneel beside them, his bo-rifle still crackling in one hand as he reached the other down to the kit.
He didn't actually touch her; simply held his hand next to her tiny head, allowing her to pick up on what was hopefully a familiar scent.
And slowly, oh, so slowly, Arkalia began to shift her head toward those large fingers.
"Here now, Kali," his husband said softly. "It's us. It's your dan-dans."
"You know us...don't you?" he whispered, moving his own hand in tentatively beside Zeb's, wanting to help, but fearful of overwhelming her.
For several moments, Arkalia rubbed her little head against Zeb's hand, breathing in his scent, mingling hers with it. Then she moved her head over to his hand, repeating the process, retrieving what must've seemed to her to be an ancient memory. Then, slowly unfurling from her crouched, clinging position, she lifted her head up from Zelina's chest to look up at them.
"Dan-Dan?" she cooed quietly, her precious features twisted by a sad, but hopeful smile. The small laugh Alex gave in return was pained, but also relieved.
"That's right, amsala'ka," he said, feeling several tears slip down his face as he gently lifted her into his arms, allowing Wedge to move in to help Zelina sit up. Despite the danger they were all still in, something in his chest eased as he held their darling girl tightly in his arms once more. The tears just flowed faster as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Then Zeb was there, leaning down to nuzzle his forehead against hers.
"An sylf sanat lira zera," he told her, and Alex hoped that it was true.
"All right," Jidu called back to them. "We're all copied up and the system's been erased. You can do your thing."
Lifting his head from Lia's, Zeb leaned over to give him a kiss before standing, picking up Alex's own bo-rifle in the process and reconfiguring it to staff mode. Then, rather than shifting his own back to rifle mode, he began an almost systematic process of moving through the room, destroying every piece of equipment he could get at with the righteous fury of both weapons. Before long, Ezra was joining in, calling on his powers to help destroy things Zeb couldn't immediately reach. Then Jidu and Cassian were assisting, firing at whatever they could. Even Rex joined in, slipping the blaster from Kanan's belt to take clumsy aim at the bank of ill-gotten embryos while the Jedi continued to hold him up.
Before long, the space was nothing but a molten ruin.
"All right," Kanan finally said, clearly relieved when Ezra moved back to help him with Rex again. "That's taken care of. We should probably be getting out of here."
"Should we be expecting any back up for the troopers we fought before?" Cassian asked.
The knight shook his head, offering up a somewhat glib smile in response. "Sabine, Chopper, and Jorrah had things pretty well in hand when I left."
"All right. Then let's go home," Alex said quietly, his attention all for the little girl in his arms. It was such an unfamiliar notion...the idea of home. Even before he'd become a cog in the Imperial war machine, home had been a strange and foreign idea in his life, the closest he'd ever had the love from his mother.
But now, with Zeb and Lia, with the other Spectres, he couldn't help but think he just might've found it.
XxX
It was night when they touched down on Yavin IV. As the others were scattering to make reports and get food and medical attention and sex and other such sundries, Kallus managed to catch Cassian's attention on his way out of the Ghost.
"So," he called to the younger man, still mindful of the sleeping kit in his arms, "now we've reached the end of our apparent association, might I be so bold as to ask what your opinion of me is?"
The young intelligence officer eyed him and Zeb neutrally for a moment before the smallest of smiles lifted the corner of his mouth.
"From my personal observations, I would say you are a very dangerous, very capable man, and were you still on the side of the Empire, that would prove detrimental to our cause. However," he continued, pausing for just a moment to look down at the baby in Kallus' arms, "I have also seen that you are a family man, and that you fight with all you are for the cause that you believe in. That cannot be faked. So my report to General Draven will state that you are, for better or worse, an enemy of the Empire."
He couldn't help noticing Cassian's specific phrasing. An enemy of the Empire. Not a member of the Rebellion. And if Cassian's insight truly ran that deep, there was no way he could just let Draven have him. He would have to insist this one receive training as a Fulcrum agent. So few were truly suited to the task and Cassian Andor could be just as truly great. Better than he himself had been, even.
"Don't suppose that'd have anythin' to do with him savin' your neck, would it?" Zeb asked with a light chuckle as they all reached the bottom of the Ghost's landing ramp.
"Not actually, no," Cassian said, moving a few steps further before turning to look back at them. "Though it would have been simple enough for him to let me die without a helmet, that revelation came before...when you told me to think. To question who my enemy was and was not. The New Order doesn't exactly encourage free thinking. I don't know that any tool of theirs even has such a capacity. That was how I knew you were no longer one of theirs."
"Then perhaps I've done you some good," the ex-Imperial said with a tired smile. "Go and get some rest, Captain. I have little doubt there will be plenty to do come morning."
Cassian nodded once before turning and heading back to the temple.
"Well, guess he's not such a bad kid after all," Zeb said as he draped an arm around his shoulders, leaning his head against the top of his.
"No."
"So whatcha think? Food or sleep?"
Even Kallus wasn't certain what his answer was going to be when he opened his mouth to speak, but whatever it might have been was interrupted by the distant strains of a song – a song that he knew quite well.
Toki no mukou
Kaze no machi he
Nee tsureteitte
Shiroi hana no yume kanaete
It was Jidu. Looking in the direction of the song, he could see the young Jedhan cuddling close with Tsirhara on the nose of the Syren's newly acquired X-wing. As they clung tightly together, he could just make out that old tune he'd heard so many years ago on Malastare.
Floating beyond time
There's a city made of wind
Please, dear, take me there
Where dreams draped in white flowers
Come true
"Huh," Zeb started in quiet amusement when he also picked up on the music. "Guess you're not the only one who knows the song."
"I suppose not," he returned with an easy, quiet laugh, the image of Alita and Klaidi dancing together moving across the surface of his thoughts, melancholy, but lovely, too.
"Guess there's a third option then," his mate continued, grinning with that same understated ease as he held a hand out to him.
"I- what?" Kallus asked, still laughing in quiet amazement as he looked up at him.
"I asked you once if you thought you could dance to it."
"And I gave you fair warning I'm not much of a dancer," he pointed out.
"But that you'd be willin' to try...with me," Zeb finished.
Holding anxious hands
Calm me with a kiss and then
Please, dear, guide me there
Where love that was forgotten
Can bloom
"Well, you have me there," he conceded as he took the offered hand, allowing Zeb to pull him in close. Then, with Jidu singing softly in the background and Arkalia cradled between them, the pair began to sway together in the gentle darkness beneath the Ghost.
And, darling, in the afternoon
We'll sleep in the sun
And wake to a time when
The hunting is done
And then when I see you
I'll know in my heart what I've won
It wasn't anything particularly dignified or news worthy. Neither of them was much of a dancer, after all. But there was just something about simply...being together like this. Something about holding each other, holding their little girl...something about not having to hide...and it all came out in a tender rush as they danced together like a pair of fools beneath the starlight.
How did I get here? Kallus asked himself, not for the first, nor did he imagine it would be the last time.
"I don't deserve you," he said softly as he laid his head against his husband's chest, breathing in the subtle differences in scent between the two Lasat.
"And I don't deserve you," Zeb fired back in a gentle rebuke. "How could I ever deserve to have a family with the man I love and the daughter of the girl I failed to protect? Don't deserve...doesn't mean I'm not gonna try to be worthy...every day...for the rest of our lives. La rokir rrazehan."
"An san ni Tinsana," he returned without having to even think about it. The promise of their Bond...what they were and would always be to each other. "L'ashkerrir an."
"And I love you. I love you both...so much," Zeb said in a gruff voice, holding them both all the tighter. And while the night wore on and Jidu continued to sing, even long after she'd stopped, they continued on like that, just swaying together, tracing easy circles in the dust.
And, darling, in the afternoon
We'll sleep in the sun
And wake to a time when
The hunting is done
And then when I see you
I'll know in my heart what I've won
Please, dear, take me there
XxX
(A/N) Phew, all righty. Finally got our darling girl back. :D I actually do have a few notes for you this time around aside from the usual translations. Chief is that before I launch into my final bit of story arc, I plan to use the next chapter as something of a time skip and a breather before I break some hearts one last time. So at that, I plan to make the next chapter pretty gosh darn fluffy. So I put the question to all of you. Anything in particular you'd like to see regarding the shenanigans of our dear space family on Yavin IV? I'll see what I can work in.
And then, of course, we have the typical round of translations.
Ze ze, ni ashkerra, ze ze. Ul or'sultir rokir - Hush, my love, hush. He doesn't know
Ul na hargiri. Ul hargiri an - He insults me. He insults you
Ul san tefsa sultad ka ul sana kalla sultat...nel La lina sana - He is only doing what he was ordered to do...as I once was
Sail La reisvir s'an tefsa li ke velkir lorinsir loa rakaln kerra'ul - Then I guess you're the only one who can talk some sense into him
La sylf zeryln sultir ni ashynym - I will certainly do my best
S'in klinas. S'in sultira kol. S'an torril kol na mal. An or'san sav ulri mayka - It's over. It's done with. You're here with me now. You aren't that man anymore
An san zai'ym ashyn na sir, ni ashkerra - You are too good to me, my love
Ril san orra vasharyl. Tefsa elysh - There is no forgiveness. Only death
Amsala'ka - Dear princess
An sylf sanat lira zera - You'll be all right
