At a glance, it was certainly inconspicuous, being moderately weathered, and showing signs that it had been repaired on numerous occasions. What really mattered was whether those repairs had been to standard, given it was no cheap purchase.

"Eighty thousand is the lowest denominator my programming will accept."

"Eighty thousand credits for a vessel this old would include documents of a full overhaul which you seem reluctant to show us." Maarani continued her steady glare at the droid, who glared back with equal stubbornness. The art of negotiation was something they clearly didn't know how to program into machines.

Dana soon intervened with a tap on the ship's hatch. "Can we take a look inside at least?"

The droid turned its head in her direction, contemplating it for a while. Eventually a nod came. "Very well. Just try not to touch anything until payment has been made." The droid approached the hatch and unlocked the small console next to it. While the ramp lowered down, it turned its head to Maarani again. "I will check our records again. There are not many to sort through." It soon returned to the tiny office, where the other droid had been ordered to wait.

Maarani rolled her eyes as she followed Dana up into the vessel. Immediately they were greeted by a very dark interior. "Don't touch anything when you can't see where you're going. Great advice." She pulled a small torch out from one of her pockets and did a quick scan of the room with it. For an access hatch, there was an excessive amount of junk to be found already.

Further in wasn't a whole lot better. All manner of random components and spare parts were scattered through the rectangular room in front of them. At a glance, none seemed to be actual ship parts. Maarani was soon crouched down amongst one of the piles, idly searching through the pieces. "Droids, speeders, heavy weapons, medical bays. The previous owner must've been a hoarder. Maybe this is why the droid is charging so much."

"Probably didn't find the idea of cleaning it out to be worthwhile. A lot of this stuff looks far too niche to sell down here." Dana spent just a few seconds picking through another pile before stepping away. "You think he's lumping five thousand on for all this? It wouldn't take too long to clean out."

"Honestly, I almost want to keep it around to sort later. Something to pass the time between systems. Either way." She stood up from the pile and returned to exploring through the ship. Beyond the left wall was what appeared to be the bunk rooms and cargo hold. The latter was surprisingly bare given the mess strewn about everywhere else.

She wandered around towards the cockpit, all four seats filled with even more junk. The blast shutters had been closed down, blocking out what minimal light there was outside from entering. A mental note was made to test that it actually opened up before she made her way over to the other side of the ship.

By then, Dana had looked into each of the rooms on that side. "There's a food prep area, very basic medlab and a sonic shower. Nothing great, but we weren't expecting much anyway, were we Teegs?"

There was a pause.

"Don't like Teegs? It just feels odd calling you Maarani, not really a Twi'lek name is it?" She looked up at her, quickly growing concerned as she saw shock on her face. "Oh, I just assumed-"

"It's…" Maarani finally swallowed down the grief that had begun to well up upon hearing the name. "Haven't been called that in a very long while. But, no reason why no-one else is allowed to. Teegs is fine with me." The smile on her face was blatantly fake. Another way to defuse the situation was beyond her.

Dana didn't pursue it further. It was all too obvious what Maarani had been referring to, and it now felt uncomfortable to continue using the nickname. After a further silence, she did her best to relax again. "Eighty thousand for a ship loaded with junk. Should we ask the droid to power it up and do a maintenance check, or find another seller?"

Maarani took one last look around. The ship was more spacious inside than she had expected, and if they came back later, it was likely that the droid would increase the price for lack of choice. "Walkthrough to be sure it works. I think this is the one."


"A Twi'lek accompanied by a Jedi, you say?"

"Missus gives Koogora many credits for droid, says go home!"

The hooded figure hummed in contemplation for a few moments, before placing a hand on Koogora's shoulder. "Thank you, friend Koogora. You have been looked upon favourably by the One. My companions will ensure safe travel to your home."

Koogora looked at the other figures in confusion. There wasn't any way for him to tell between their dark grey cloaks, and none of the others had spoken. And yet, he felt safe in their presence. "Koogora really go home?"

"Yes my friend. If the time comes, we may have need of your services, if you are willing and able of course. For now, rest well in the knowledge that the Force is with you."


There was an alarming number of people in the hospital as they entered. It was quickly becoming hard to keep herself from audibly laughing at the suffering around her. So many were missing legs, arms or other appendages. A few had suffered burns and other serious ailments, while barely a handful were completely unconscious. So much pain inflicted on others, and she hadn't been around to see it happen. It didn't stop her from grinning beneath the mask.

A nearby medical droid muttered something about Sith before approaching Kiarna and Carudan. "We are over capacity right now, and will not hesitate to throw you out if there is any kind of disturbance. Payment will be required upon initial diagnosis."

Kiarna removed a box from inside her cloak, positioning it on her hand for Carudan to open up. Now was the time to test the full extent of her voice distortion. "Five hundred. I do not want to spend a second here longer than I must. Do not touch the mask."

The droid took one look at the box of credits before motioning to one of the other attendants. "Very well. This way."

They were led to a bed much further down the room, handing off the box in the process. Sith and Jedi were both present in that area, scowling at each other from their beds while droids and organic doctors treated them. All of them slowly looked to the pair as they approached.

Carudan was quick to summarize what both of them were thinking. "I don't like the lack of separation here." At the bedside, he lifted Kiarna up off her feet and placed her down with barely a grunt of effort. While she worked to lift the cloak off her shoulder, he flagged over the nearest available doctor. "It's my wife's shoulder. Blasted droids shot her while she was trying to drive them away from a group of children. Jedi wouldn't want anyone to know that though."

It earned disparaging looks from the nearby Jedi, exactly what they needed. His expression softened as he moved out of the way. "Just take good care of her. She's not been injured like this at all before." The stares followed him as he headed towards a clear area where he could stand without issue. Any attention from Sith or Jedi was now on him, not Kiarna.

She wasn't happy with the cover story at all, but it was the easiest to stick to. To her relief, the droid in attendance didn't waste time in checking her shoulder. "Very close range shot. Lucky it did not take your face off."

"I ducked out of the way, tried to at least." Kiarna faked a cough, keeping with just how raspy her distorted voice sounded. The gasp of pain as her wound was prodded with some sort of device wasn't fake. "My husband filled it with kolto before, however much that did to fix it." As work began on restoring her shoulder, she made fleeting turns of her head, enough to make it look like she was glancing at other patients. "They all from Dalchon?"

The droid was silent for a while as it began to repair the damage on the bone itself. Once the delicate part was over, it began speaking again. "Far more than one planet. A lot of civilians got caught in the crossfire between your people and the Jedi when the HK droids showed up. They've been searching for the White Terror apparently."

"White Terror?" She coughed again, humming briefly to feign contemplation. "So the Dark Lord's apprentice has gotten in over her head. How amusing."

"I have heard as much from your fellow Sith. The Jedi are also far from sorry to hear it." The droid turned its head to the other nearby patients while it waited for the first muscle layer to restore. "My programming is satisfied that you organics can keep the fighting off Arkanis. We have more than enough to deal with already."

While he returned to the shoulder, Kiarna made some more observations. The Jedi across the walkway from her was clutching his leg as they worked on sterilizing the stump that remained. On her left was another Jedi, the right side of her face covered in a regenerative mask. To the right was a Sith, also disconcerted with her surroundings.

She didn't recognize the face at a glance, and any amount of distraction would be enough to keep herself in check. "This sector always like this? Much quieter around Mandalore, if you'll believe it."

There was no response.

Kiarna tightened her lip as she looked closely. The woman was definitely conscious and breathing. "I can put in a good word, get us moved to somewhere that doesn't have droids going crazy on everyone."

Still no response.

"Fine, guess I'm transferring to the Mandalorian front alone." She turned her head to the Jedi on her left again. "Maybe we'll run into each other there, chat about the fun time we had in an overcrowded neutral hospital."

"Shot while saving children…"

That made Kiarna hesitate. After the total silence, actually getting a response surprised her. By that point she barely even noticed the droid continuing to mend her shoulder. "There are Sith who have family to consider. Didn't you Jedi give it a go years back?" For added effect, she hissed and attempted her best tone of regret. "Nevermind. I wasn't involved with them when that happened, if it makes a difference."

The woman finally turned to her, making an effort to keep the regenerative mask from touching the rough pillow beneath her head. "Should it? The only reason we're not locking lightsabers right now is that we both know others need assistance a lot more than we do. No-one cares about stories of heroism here, especially not those about Sith."

"Oh, I see. So because my predecessors butchered a bunch of adolescents, it's now impossible to believe I didn't want to see assassin droids gun down a group of children. I'm just making it up to try and get sympathy from droids who are deliberately programmed to not experience emotion."

"Actually, many of us here have been programmed with improved bedside manners, which does include offering artificial sympathy. What we are not programmed with is an organic tendency to judge others by superficial factors."

Kiarna's grin grew again as the Jedi turned back, now ignoring her altogether. It was surprisingly easy to play the 'innocent' card, and criticize herself from the perspective of a different person. Hollow words that carried just enough truth for others to believe. Another wince came as a layer of synthflesh was applied.

"This will fall off once the muscle and skin underneath has set and healed fully. Don't be alarmed." Once that was finished, the medical droid quickly moved out of the way and signalled to Carudan across the room. "The operation is finished, if you'd like to lift her off the bed now."

Another sigh followed as Kiarna sat up and got off the bed of her own accord. There was definite soreness in the shoulder, but she could actually feel her arm again. "Don't know what I would've done if we didn't get here sooner. Never thought I'd say this to a droid, but…"

Her attention was drawn across to the room, where a group of hooded figures had arrived. There was a definite darkness about them, but they weren't Sith, somehow.

One of the larger attendant droids approached the group, speaking with a rather menacing voice. "This is no time for visitors. Present any injured or leave now."

A lightsaber emerged from the cloak of the leader.

Kiarna had barely a second to react, hurling the droid forward with as much force as she could muster. It was cut in two before even reaching the hooded figures.

"Everyone get out!"

The two beds nearest the group were sliced into pieces, as were their former occupants. At the same time, the apparent leader began gliding across the floor in her direction.

Like many of the others near her, she wasted no time in turning and running right away from them, given none of them were in any condition to fight. Immediately she noticed that Carudan had vanished, probably off to bring her ship over yet again.


"Maneuvering thrusters, check."

Maarani glanced over her shoulder as Dana returned from the cargo hold. "How's our droid settling in?"

"CC-13, according to a mark I found on the neck. She's still hasn't said a word, as far as I can tell anyway." She sat down in the co-pilot seat, watching Maarani's gestures to the controls she needed to observe. "Come up with a name yet? I know a few knights who do a great job with hull marking, could ask one of them to give this a go."

"I'll let you know." The Twi'lek went through final checks before powering the main engines up. With the shutters now up, she could see the main doors ahead of them grinding open. Not an ideal clearance, but it wasn't beyond her capability to get through. "Don't suppose you've got someone good at reprogramming droids as well?"

Dana half nodded, taking another glance back into the ship. "You're really set on reprogramming her without even taking the clamp off. Don't you want to know why she was hysterical before it kicked in?"

"It's a droid, not a person. There's thousands just like it across the galaxy. Besides I don't want it going mad, hurting people and getting chopped up by lightsabers." Maarani slowly sighed as she prepared for take-off. "If it needed an actual clamp, and not just some inhibitor bolts tucked away inside, it's probably dangerous as is."

"If you say so…" Dana took hold as the ship lifted off the deck, gradually hovering towards the opening ahead. Rather than getting larger, the way out seemed to get smaller in comparison to the ship itself. "How'd a droid get it in here in the first place anyway?"

"Maybe it used the Force?"

Dana was about to frown at that when Maarani throttled the ship up to full power. She could see walls rush past through the green smog as they hurtled back towards the main shaft. "Teegs! This is not safe!"

By some small miracle they reached the open air of the surface without incident, where the autopilot systems took over, immediately beginning to decelerate the ship.

Now free to move, Maarani left her seat and wandered over to the navigation panel further back in the cockpit. "That was nothing compared to the warp space corridor, believe me. I just wanted to be sure no-one would follow us out." With the Jedi temple set as their destination, she returned to her seat and watched the cityscape pass by around them.

It seemed like only seconds had passed before they began the descent to the docking area at the temple. A few Jedi onlookers who were confused by the grungy ship coming in to land quickly moved out of the way as they noticed the pilot and passenger.

"They're gonna leave it as is, right?"

Dana gave a half nod, her attention on Utan as he approached the landing zone. "That's the idea, really. Too clean or too battered and it'll draw pirates out either way. You'll have to switch the weapons out on the next planet though." This time she was first up from her seat, already making her way over to the hatch as they touched down on the open deck.

By the time they both descended the ramp, Utan was waiting there, looking up to both. "An unconventional choice. Not a particularly mobile vessel, something I would not have expected from a fighter pilot."

Maarani shrugged at that as she removed her jacket, no longer needing protection from the harsh lower levels. "Fast ships aren't designed around being lived on." A brief glance around told her that Utan had come alone this time, something that surprised her. "I figured Koor would come to check up on our arrival. Still discussing what to do?"

Utan gave a small nod, motioning for the pair to follow. "You provided us with a lot of information, more than you might suspect. A talent for observation is already a useful asset to someone in your position, set to roam the galaxy. Perhaps the way of the Sentinel is your path."

"Isn't it a bit early to start guessing what I'll end up doing? Just hours ago you said I was emotionally charged." This time there was less frustration in her voice. In its place was doubt. "I'm happy to send back information about anything noteworthy or potentially of importance. But right now, I'm not sure I like the idea of being defined by that."

Dana quickly stepped in at that. "It was just a suggestion, Teegs. Master Iksor handles the Sentinels and other groups. Master Utan's speciality is lightsaber construction and techniques."

"Teegs? I see the two of you have not had difficulties working together, then." Utan gruffed at that, in what was almost a sound of approval. "Grand Master Pala was apt in her selection as always." As they passed by more vessels, he hummed again in thought. "I have been contemplating the situation with your lightsaber, Maarani. While the parts used to construct it are old, I see no reason why you cannot resume building on it if you choose. You will always have the choice of constructing a new one from scratch when the time comes."

This time, Maarani finally took the advice given and stopped herself from getting worked up over his continued expectation for the future. He seemed to be fairly confident that she would be eventually be allowed into the Order, something that by all rights she should be very happy about. "I suppose there's something to be said for sentiment after all. Throwing it away never felt right."

"Then all is not lost. You may not hear the Force, but it is still calling to you, in the few ways it can." To his surprise, Sereti was approaching them, also alone. Her pace was not hasty, but still implied she had something of importance to discuss. "If you two will excuse me momentarily." He began to approach the Grand Master, who gestured for him to remain there.

Once close enough, her attention was on Maarani of all people instead. "I would like a word, Tegama." She nodded to Dana, who waited behind with Utan. The Twi'lek soon moved to her side as she began slowly walking away in a different direction. "There is something else that we did not tell you earlier, and in retrospect I feel you have a right to know."

Maarani nodded sagely. She didn't like where this was going at all.

It took a shuddering breath for Sereti to work up the nerve to say it out loud. "The White Terror has been Darth Lasidia's apprentice for nearly twelve years now. Yuthura identified her as the one who executed your mother, and the leader of the subsequent massacre."

She had been preparing herself for the inevitable fountain of anger that would flow from the Twi'lek. Coming face to face with the murderer of her family was a truly horrific thing to experience, something she knew all too well.

There was only a dull realization to be felt. It confounded her completely.

"Is that why she was upset? Because I'm the surviving daughter of a woman she apparently hated?" Maarani was confused at the notion. Her brief encounter had been with a psychopath, not an executioner. And even more confusing was why Sereti had even brought it up to begin with. "Why tell me this now? Did you think earlier that I'd want to go seek revenge on Kiarna for it?"

Sereti's lip tightened yet again as she gave a slight nod. "Partially. The main reason is a personal matter however." By then they were near one of the great pillars, a good distance from the other Jedi. She could talk freely for a few minutes at most. "If she is Miraluka, then she is almost certainly one of the corrupted generation. Children who bear mental scars from the destruction of Katarr, passed on from their parents. I say this because your recognition of her species might help in case you run into other corrupted who were never detected."

"Great, Utan thinks I'd make a great spy, and now you want me to be a sniffer dog for psychopathic-" This time she physically stopped herself from continuing by biting down on her tongue, rather painfully. She didn't release until the sarcasm had drained away altogether. "I just worked out things from what she told me. I'm no magical clue-finder who can seek out people that need counselling or whatever."

"Nevertheless…" Sereti's voice trailed off at that. Eventually she took hold of Maarani's shoulders, her face tilted down to give the impression she was looking at her directly. "One of the duties of any Jedi is to provide help where it is needed. All I ask is that should you encounter someone, or Kiarna herself, that you try to persuade them to seek help." Her hands slid from the Twi'lek's shoulders at last. "Not all of the corrupted sought alignment with the Sith, in fact a few actually asked for help when they realized what was wrong. Just try, please."

Maarani shrugged at that, glancing over at her ship to avoid staring at the veil any longer. "If I run into any of them, and by some miraculous chance I do figure it out, I'll try." By then she noticed a few civilian workers entering the ship, probably sent to do their own maintenance check. Concern for her piles of junk suddenly skyrocketed. "Hey! Hold up a second!"

It was a release that Sereti had been waiting for, giving her the chance to return to Utan and Dana. "The first real test is now in motion. You remember what to look for, right?"

"Find people that are emotionally charged, and observe how Maarani interacts with them. A radical shift in personality or attitude means she's developed a lot faster than we anticipated." Dana's eyes followed the Twi'lek as she hurried back into the ship. "If people show up here a few weeks after meeting her, then she's in line with expectations."

"And you, Master Lauran? Has her presence caused any issues yet?"

Dana shook her head, though did fold her arms as she thought it over. "I can feel it just outside my thoughts, trying to break through. Master Likta's training appears to be effective so far though." She faltered for a moment as she faced the reality of their plan again. "I don't like lying to her. After all she's been through…"

"Telling her the full truth now would be disastrous. None of us like the idea of deceiving her, but we really don't have any other choice. She could very easily destroy the Order if she falls to the dark side." Sereti was about to return into the temple when she recalled her earlier statement. "Has she told you where she wants to stay for the next few days?"

There was another head shake.

"I suppose she'll have to work that out for herself then. Perhaps she needs to feel independance for a while longer." She departed at last, continuing to observe Maarani inside the ship as she tried to defend her junk-filled ship from being cleaned out. Comical innocence, and yet she couldn't help wondering if it was all feigned.