Last time: Sasha revealed Kyr's feelings for Cien to her. And Cien realized something she hadn't before.

Now: Viran is struggling with all of this.

Chapter 6- Dilemma

The Empress strode out of the command center after another meeting. Ikari was finishing up on one last task for her at the holotable as the other officers followed Cien's lead and left the room. All except for one. Mendax. The man approached her.

"What? No rude remarks?" He asked her as he approached.

"I promised the Empress that I wouldn't bicker with you in front of her. And I'm not in the mood to talk to you right now," Ikari explained. She then smirked at him. "But I will say this. I was imagining a million different ways to kill you during the meeting."

He raised a brow at her and moved closer. They were within arms length of each other when he stopped. In melee range to be exact. She could easily activate her saber and cleave him through right here and now. But she couldn't do that or Cien would have her neck. However, they were alone in the room at the moment, so the temptation did cross her mind of what she could do to him now. Instead, Ikari glared up at him.

"Were any of them actually a feat that could be done by you?" Mendax asked almost accusingly.

"What do you mean?" She hissed at him. "Of course I can do them all."

He leaned down closer to her ear. His face so near hers that if someone walked in now it would look like something else was going on between them.

"There are some feats that not even you can do alone," he whispered to her. His breath brushing past her ear. It was warm. And what he said, it sounded like a threat. "Remember that. And they are always watching."

That caused her eyes to dart to the security cameras in the room. Ikari snarled and shoved the man away from her. Mendax didn't stumble away from her, but he did move off and turned towards the door.

Ikari growled at him. "Care to elaborate on that?" She seethed when he didn't continue to talk.

Mendax stopped walking and turned to her with only his head. A smirk was evident on his face. "If you would like to continue this discussion or bickering, you know where to find me."

With that he stalked out of the room, leaving her alone to seeth.

Viran sat alone in the lounge of the Shadow, staring at the small moving picture frame from his shared room with Sasha back at Haven. He watched as the wedding photos scrowled by slowly before him. Usually when he looked at these photos, he would have a stupid grin on his face as he remembered that wonderful day over and over again until Sasha would suddenly appear next to him. But after Kyr had woken up and told him Sasha was missing AND was pregnant, he had found himself staring at this frame again, missing his wife. He brought it with him on this search for her as it brought him comfort and hope that they would find her.

So far they had only gotten the information of planets from that Rebel pilot guy, Cade, and visited the first planet they could on the list. They were enroute to the next system now in the hopes of gathering a little more intel that might actually be of some use to them then just some vague directions. Oppie was meditating in the bunk room at the moment, trying to see if he could reach Sasha in the Force . He had been trying almost every day on this trip. Viran had tried as well at several points with Oppie to see if they could "boost the signal" and be able to find her. But they had no luck. Oppie explained that they might have used Force suppressants of some kind on her in order to keep her connection to the Force at bay. That information worried Viran to no end as he knew how strong Sasha's connection was and he had to guess she was probably pretty lost without it right now.

And Kyr, well, aside from flying the ship with Tac for the most part, he was going through all of his old data from the last time he tried tracking down Cien. Viran felt sorry for the Mando. He was constantly beating himself up over the fact that he had failed in protecting Sasha and the baby. But Viran told him constantly that he wasn't angry with him. Yes, he was angry that Sasha was taken by Cien. In fact he was down right furious about that as he still didn't exactly trust Cien. And yes, he was angry at himself for not being there for her when she needed him most. But if the damages to the safe room and the security footage meant anything was that Sasha didn't go down easily. She put up a fight against her captors. Especially that new Sith with the double ended saber. But in the end, he could never be angry at Kyr for doing what he thought was right in protecting her at that moment.

Now there was Cien. Years ago, before they disappeared, he had listened to Sasha and started giving Cien a chance. He still didn't trust her fully, but he trusted her enough to survive the battle. When they had returned and Kyr had told them about what happened to Cien after the battle, at least a very small and vague summary, Viran was a little too thrilled to hear that. But he also did want to apologize to her as he had apparently misjudged her back then. That maybe what Sasha was saying was true and he could trust her. But then all of this happened. Just thinking about Cien made his blood boil. A part of him wanted to wring her neck and make her pay for taking his family. The other part just wanted Sasha back and didn't care what happened to Cien in the process. Oppie was right, though. His recent behavior was not what they were taught. It was not becoming of a newly appointed Jedi Knight to act this way. And thinking back to his exam, kept reminding him of that almost Sith like version of himself. The version that wanted him to give into his anger and become one with the dark side. The one that if he did that, Sasha wouldn't recognize him, and that scared him more than anything.

He loved his wife so much that if Sasha wasn't able to recognize the man she married and loved, it would break his very soul. He couldn't let that happen. So thanks to Oppie, he worked with him to calm himself and focus on the future. The positive. Hope. And so Viran stared at that frame for hours on end as it was the one of the anchors he had to give him all the hope he needed to find her.

REVIEW!