Last time: Kyr found Cien and brought her back to the others, but Viran nearly killed her.

Now: Oppie has a talk with Cien and Kyr tries to cheer Viran up.

Chapter 2- Our Only Hope

Cien followed the Jedi around the core of the ship, into the lounge. He moved to the galley section and poured something into a mug. Cien just stood there in the entry, frozen in place. "You don't need to stand if you don't want to." The Jedi with Kyr's face said.

She numbly walked over and sat on the sofa that surrounded the gaming table. He walked over and placed the mug in front of her. "Tea, if you want it."

She looked up at him, incredulous and said nothing.

Oppie stepped away, leaning against a bulkhead. "We've never really talked." He started. "We've brushed past each other as enemies and as allies." He said, "but between all of us, I have the least amount of baggage with you. So tell me what this is about."

Cien looked at him. "I just want to save Sasha."

The Jedi looked at her. "That's not a very Sith thing to do, what is this really about?" He said more forcefully.

"I just want to save Sasha." She repeated, glaring at him. "And all you three want to do is bick-"

"Cut it out." Oppie said, as an order. And she immediately went silent, her gaze turning away. "Did anyone ever tell you who that old man was in the cave?" Oppie asked, more softly.

Cien looked up at him, confused by the change in the conversation. "What?" She asked, looking up at him in annoyance.

"That old man, in the cave when we went after Dracul." Oppie clarified.

"Kyr said it was somehow some older version of Viran." She responded, still annoyed and confused.

"He was." Oppie said. "He was from a different time, where Dracul won." He continued. "Do you know what the turning point was?"

"No." Cien said flatly, annoyed with this game.

"You killed me. On Vestora."

She looked at him, even more confused.

"The Sith that served Dracul, she killed that version of Oppie, and that ended up with Dracul taking over the Galaxy and taking everything from that Viran. His wife, his child, in that timeline. So he dedicated his life to come back and fix it so that we didn't have to face that." Oppie said, looking at her. "I think of that a lot." He continued, "maybe it's narcissitic of me, but it struck me as odd how such a simple change of events could lead to such a different outcome. You're not her, the same Sith that came to kill me on Vestora. Otherwise you wouldn't be here. So what is this really about?"

"Sasha is my friend, and I don't want her to be hurt." Cien whispered.

"What?" Oppie asked, she had spoken so quietly he genuinely didn't hear.

"She's my friend!" She shouted, and as she did so a wave of Force energy blew through the room, causing all the loose materials in the room to jump and clatter. "I've lived my entire life alone! Taken from some planet I don't even know the name of, from parents I never knew, forced to be a Sith and raised in that academy where every day I wondered if I would die. I grew up with everyone around me trying to kill me just to gain some meager advantage, serving monsters like Dracul to fight an enemy that threatened even that life, your Republic." She spit the word out. "I was alone until I met Sasha, and she thought she saw some spark of good in me. She wanted me as a friend, even after all the terrible things I did to her. I tortured her. I showed her things to break her. I tried to destroy her, like I was destroyed. And she still saw me as a friend at the end of it."

She looked away, continuing more quietly. "Even after I kidnapped her, and planned to take her child, she still reached out to me as a friend, to pull me back. And when I finally accepted that, when I finally had a friend in my life and I was going to take her home, she was taken from me because another Sith, Ikari saw it as a weakness she could exploit." She finished, hiding her eyes behind the palm of her hand. "I can't let her be hurt, I can't let her child be hurt, because saving them is the only thing I have left." She whispered.

Oppie stared at her, and looked away. He had thought that she was just using Sasha as a way to gain their help in reclaiming her empire, since rescuing Sasha would probably mean killing this Ikari that had usurped her throne. After her outburst he realized that she truly only wanted to see Sasha safe. He closed his eyes in the momentary silence. She was most definitely not the Sith that had come to kill him on Vestora, and not the person he expected her to be. "I was taken as a child too." He said quietly, after a time. "I never knew my family until Kyr found me and told me they were dead. And I fought in the Clone Wars since I was a child." He looked at her, "I don't pretend to know what your temple was like, I can only imagine, but I understand to some degree." He said quietly.

She looked at him and then away.

"What you did, trying to bring Sasha back, wasn't a very Sith thing to do." He said quietly. She looked up at him like she was about to snarl, and he put up his hand placatingly. "You're not a Sith any more than we're Jedi." He said quietly. And she just looked at him. "We're here, not because of some just cause, but because Kyr and I want to save our little sister. Viran wants to save his wife and child. None of that is the Jedi way. Just like wanting to save someone because they're your friend is not the way of the Sith." He observed. "All of us, we have a lot in common." He said quietly.

"Kyr said we're all just survivors, trying to keep our lives from becoming more awful." She said quietly.

Oppie smiled at such a wry observation. "He's not wrong." He looked up at her.

"I wasn't strong enough to save her." Cien said quietly, swallowing. "We were almost away, but Ikari pulled her from my grasp. After I should have killed her and Mendax easily and stopped their coup from the beginning, but I wasn't strong enough to do that. Or save Sasha." She finished in almost a whisper. "My power is fading." She admitted. During all the time she had spent in mindspace with Sasha, they had shared impressions between each other, and in her mind she 'remembered' Oppie vaguely like he was a master that had trained her. In the back of her mind she'd never realized she had that impression of him until they were talking here. "I hated her and Kyr so much for leaving me, until Sasha told me what had happened. Now I have no anger to draw upon for my strength." She said.

"'Through passion I gain strength, through strength I gain power.'" Oppie recited quietly.

Cien looked up at him, as the Jedi recited the Sith code.

"Nothing in your code says you need to draw upon hate or anger." He said gently. "I see plenty of passion in you, to try to save Sasha, to save your friend. Let that be the passion that empowers you. It is for me. Let's work together now to save our friends and family."

Cien looked at the person before her and nodded. She remembered giving Ikari the same thought, that cruelty was not a part of the code, but neither was anger. Only passion, and the Jedi was right, that she had.

"Your empire is gone?" Op asked after a long silence. "You don't think you can reclaim it?"

Cien looked away in disgust. "I am actually glad it's gone. I started it like a good little Sith, because that's what you're supposed to do. I hated it, the chains it put me in." She said quietly. She looked down at her hands, clasped in her lap. "I just want to not be alone anymore. And I want to save the only person left who wants to be my friend, who doesn't hate me." She said in almost a whisper.

"And after?" Oppie asked, quietly.

Cien turned away, there was no after in her mind.

"You're not alone, Cien." Oppie said, "and there are more people than Sasha who don't hate you." He thought back to how Kyr had just protected her. "I would be glad to call you friend, if I may."

She looked up at him, incredulous. And then she looked back down at her hands. "I would like that to." She whispered.

Kyr and Viran walked into a likely looking cantina and sat at the bar. Kyr had actually stopped here a few days ago because he thought his contact might be here. But no luck. But it was near the landing field and it had spirituous beverages, so it worked. The bartender looked up at them as Kyr took off his buy'ce and they settled into stools. Kyr held up two fingers, hoping it would get the point across. It didn't, the bartender came over and spoke in some language he didn't understand.

"Meese Caulf?" He asked hopefully. The bartender shook his head. Kyr looked around, and made the universal gesture of slamming back a small shot glass and the bartender nodded and tapped his open palm. Kyr produced a handful of various kinds of credits, New Republic, Imperial, even some Hutt credits and a few bits of Mandalorian currency and slapped it on the counter. The bartender looked in confusion for a second, glanced up at them, and his eyes widened a bit. He reached under the bar, produced two glasses of sub-par cleanliness, and slammed a bottle of something clear and… orange on the counter, then walked away. Kyr undid the stopper and took a sniff. It seemed strong enough. Then his sinuses exploded in pain. Definitely strong enough. He poured a few fingers into the glasses and put one in front of Viran.

"It's…" Kyr thought for a second. "It's orange." He finally stated.

Viran grabbed the shot glass and didn't even flinch at the color. He just brought it to his lips and shot it back. However, the strength of the beverage hit him instantly and he grimaced as it burned down his throat before putting the glass down with a cough.

Kyr took that as a good sign and topped off his glass again before taking his own shot. As it burned through his throat he couldn't help but cough a little either. It was pretty good.

"I'm sorry about before." Kyr said finally, looking into his glass.

"You mean with Cien?" Viran asked, his voice low.

"Yeah." Kyr replied quietly.

Viran groaned and put his head in his hands. "You shouldn't apologize. I'm the one that nearly attacked her. I should be apologizing," he said.

"She's done a lot of terrible things to you guys. I get it." Kyr said, refilling his glass.

Viran didn't respond. But he sniffed as if he was crying and with his hands in the way of his face, no one could hear him or see him do it if he was."Damn it..." he mumbled.

Kyr put an arm over his friend's shoulders. "We'll get her back. We'll get both of them back." Kyr said quietly.

Viran sniffed again. "I know we will. It was just when I saw her face..." he groaned again. "I wanted to make her pay for taking them. I was so damn angry. I am angry..."

"I know, Sport." Kyr said quietly. "I felt the same way, I nearly shot her when I saw her sneak up behind me." He responded. He felt so ashamed and mad at himself for that.

Viran dropped his hands and took his next shot before folding his arms on the bar top. He looked sideways at Kyr, the tears still stained on his cheeks. "Why didn't you?" He asked.

Kyr looked away, back at his glass and swallowed nervously. That was an answer he couldn't give to Viran. He had been so angry with her, but he couldn't have brought himself to pull the trigger if all their lives had depended on it. "She seemed genuine about wanting to help us find Sasha, and she's our only lead." He didn't quite lie, it was the truth.

Picking up the empty shot glass and staring at it, Viran frowned. "Is she really our only chance? I hate saying it, but is there another way?" He asked.

"I don't think so." Kyr said. "She knows exactly where Sasha is. Otherwise we have an entire half of the galaxy to search. We certainly haven't found anything yet." He didn't mention the ticking clock that Cien had alluded to of what would happen after the child was born.

Viran sighed and set the glass down before laying his head down on his arms. "I can't forgive her for what she has done, Kyr. Whether she helps us out or not. She still kidnapped my family. And now Sasha may be in real danger." He tensed. "Hell, who knows if she is even okay. If something happens to her, I..." He trailed off as tears fell again.

"Nothing's going to happen to her Sport." He said quietly. "We'll get her back, and nothing is going to stop us. You guys took out Dracul, right? Whoever this cupcake is that's got her now will be a walk in the park."

Viran nodded, but didn't move. He remained like that at the bar for a long couple of moments, silently sobbing. When he finally calmed down, he straightened up and wiped his face on the sleeve of his jacket. "Kyr... do you forgive Cien?" He asked, quietly.

"She…" Kyr started, and thought back. "The reason I didn't shoot her was because when she apologized to me when she encountered me in the alley, she seemed broken." He said quietly. "She looked like she was about to burst into tears because she felt so bad for what she did, and wanted to make it right." Kyr continued quietly. "If I said I forgave her, would you forgive me?" Kyr asked quietly.

"What do you mean? Forgive you for what?" Viran asked, confused as he looked at Kyr.

"For forgiving her." He answered.

"I... I don't know..." Viran admitted as he turned his gaze away. "Most likely, but...I don't know if I can do the same to her. Not until we get Sasha back. Not until I see with my own eyes that she deserves my forgiveness."

"That's fair. Especially because of all she's done to you guys." Kyr said. "I don't know if I forgive her." Kyr said, telling the truth. "When we get Sasha back then maybe we can think on it together."

Viran nodded before grabbing the bottle and pouring himself another shot. "Then I guess we just trust her until we get them back." He said before downing that shot. He grimaced again at the strong liquor.

"Here here." Kyr said, lifting the glass and downing his own shot.

An hour or two later, Viran and Kyr returned to the Shadow Runner, the bottle of orange drink in Kyr's hands. They weren't drunk, but they weren't entirely sober either as they approached the ship. The ramp was still down, as they had left it, and they walked up it. They came around the corner to the lounge, and Oppie and Cien were quietly talking. But that stopped when they entered the room.

"Is it okay if we join in?" Kyr asked.

Oppie looked between the two of them, and then at the half empty bottle in Kyr's grasp. "What is that?" He asked.

"Orange." Kyr stated.

"Are you two drunk?" Oppie asked, looking between them. He glanced over at Cien and she had a confused expression that seemed to be hiding bemusement. Which he was actually glad to see since she had seemed so distraught still. He looked back at the Mandalorian and the Jedi.

"Maybe a little buzzed, but still somewhat coherent," Viran said as he rubbed at his neck, his cheeks a little red from the alcohol. Kyr stayed silent under his buy'ce.

Oppie looked between them one more time. "Okay." He said.

Viran then dropped his hand and frowned at Oppie. "Also I'm sorry about the way I acted earlier," he said genuinely. "I was just... mad. But that should have been no excuse for my behavior or reaction."

Oppie nodded. "I'm sorry for my reaction as well." He apologized. "You don't need to apologize to me." Oppie finished.

Turning his gaze to Cien, Viran held his frown. "Can I talk with you for a moment? I promise I won't hurt you. And I'm sorry I almost did," he apologized and asked very gently.

"Yes." Cien said, as both Oppie and Kyr turned to look at her. Oppie walked to go around the corner to give them some privacy. Kyr stayed for a moment, and Cien glanced at him, then away. As Oppie passed he gently pulled on Kyr's arm, and he turned and followed his brother out the room.

Once they were alone, Viran folded his arms across his chest, taking a deep breath. "Look, I am sorry about earlier. I was just so mad when I saw you that I wasn't thinking clearly. You have just done so much to hurt my family that it makes it hard for me to be... thrilled to see you." He then turned his gaze to the floor. "But you are our only chance in getting them back now. So I trust you... for now." He then met her gaze again. "Sasha would have done the same if things were switched."

"I understand." She said. "And I am sorry for everything I have done to her and to you." Cien said, looking uncomfortable. "She and I became very close, especially over this last week, and I…" She looked away. "I don't expect you to ever forgive me. But I swear on my life that she will return to you." She said with deep conviction.

"I will hold you to that," Viran said with a nod. "And you can earn my forgiveness if you can hold to your word and help me... Help us bring them both back." Then his face hardened as he said the next statement. "But if I discover this is all a ruse and something horrible happens to my family, then I will not hold back in taking you down myself."

"I understand." She said. And looked away, feeling the weight of her failures settling about her once more as those words cut deeper than she ever would have expected. She remembered what Oppie said, about that other version of Viran and what he had gone through because he had lost his family. And what Sasha had told her about him being the one to kill Dracul. "And I believe you. This isn't a ruse, Viran. I want to save my friend." She said quietly.

Viran let his face drop and his body language relaxed. He saw what Kyr had mentioned in the bar about her looking broken and ready to cry. It was really strange to see that from her. But he really couldn't take any chances with her. Not yet at least. "I do hope though that it doesn't come to that. Sasha would never forgive me if it did." He mumbled under his breath to help save the situation a little. "And I just want to save my wife and child. So let's work together, okay?"

"Agreed." She said quietly.

"Then let's figure out how we are going to do that?" He suggested.

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