The conversation had been brief. Both Dana and Jayden had raised concerns over her effectively staying around to take an act of revenge to the stage of murder, to which she had made clear was hardly undeserved for a man that was entirely prepared to ruin her life. And with the ship in for the requested weapon upgrades, they weren't going anywhere for at least two days anyway. One more death that no-one would mourn after all else she had done would hardly matter, and they had begrudgingly agreed not to intervene.

Ever since being moved from new dancer to Smirged's personal assistant, she had gotten nothing but distrustful looks from all but Nurrina herself as far as her fellow Twi'lek were concerned. The sort of look that was uncannily like what the dancer on Citadel Station had given her. As if she was somehow special for being the one to do all the busy work for Smirged himself while they got to spend most of the day lounging around and looking pretty.

Word had also gotten around by then that she spent her nights in Nurrina's quarters, which might have contributed to the looks somewhat as it turned out that Nurrina herself was surprisingly well liked amongst the girls. And being involved with her apparently meant being a target on the odd chance she altered Nurrina's priorities. At least that was about all she could discern from the looks and discussions held behind her back.

The actual jobs involved with assisting Smirged were at least far less unappealing than she thought. As she had also noticed before, he was quite quick to keep his lips clean, indeed he was particularly hygienic by the standards she had come to expect from Ketaris as a whole. Nusogah would occasionally come by with a prospective applicant for work, only men that were looking for menial jobs as had been suggested by other conversations, while his other Twi'lek assistant, a Turian man that she had yet to hear the name of, made a daily appearance to discuss business affairs and glare at her if she wasn't actively pretending to be helpful.

The most she had to do was take things between Smirged and whomever he had dealings with at the time, and relay his instructions to other department heads. On one occasion her experience with Mando'a became useful in acting as a rough translator in the absence of a protocol droid on hand, which earned further praise from him and even more huffs from the other women.

It was mid morning of the third day when the encounter they had been anticipating finally arrived.

Maarani was laid out against Smirged's side, staring at the ceiling over the top of her since retrieved veil when an alarm went out through the building, one that indicated an intruder.

Quick to her feet, she glanced over at Smirged. He too had reached the same conclusion. Their meeting was about to happen.

She remained by his side until the arrival of Rako Durrun, looking just as she had remembered him on Mirial. Shortened dark hair, a mean look, nondescript clothing. This time he had one of the servants in a tight grip, a blaster pressed to her head. An uncomfortable reminder of how she had treated Zariba.

"Guards out! I am not a patient man today!"

"Do as he says!"

Smirged gave the Hutt equivalent of a nod to all the guards that had immediately trained their weapons on Rako. They remained ready with arms right until they moved into the adjacent rooms, closing the doors after all others had fled the audience room.

Maarani did her best to play the part of a frightened Twi'lek when the blaster was turned on her, leaving the other to flee as well.

"Now that I have your attention…" His free hand tossed a small device out onto the floor, bringing up a disproportionately large holo-projection of a file cluster. "I'm here from Republic Intelligence. We need all files described here destroyed from your records, and their patience is even thinner than mine."

Smirged took one look at the files before shrugging. "You threaten the lives of my staff over a failure in your own security measures? The days of Republic Intelligence are fast past the glory years it seems."

Rako tightened the hold on his blaster, tipping it towards Maarani's head. "The situation is a lot worse than you'd imagine, Hutt. There are rogue spies throughout every level of Republic and Imperial government, including the ranks of the Jedi and the Sith. Holding onto these files makes you a target for some extremely dangerous people. In fact, they're looking to kill anyone who has any involvement with a woman known as 'Maarani'. You'll be doing yourself a big favour by doing what I fucking say!"

"Yeah about that…"

Maarani took the risk by making her move while Rako was glaring at Smirged. One hand went up to pull her veil free, again. The other went right into her cleavage and retrieved the holdout blaster that had been wedged between her breasts from the moment she left Nurrina's room to the moment she was back inside. That was aimed right back at Rako by the time he noticed.

"You really wouldn't believe how much that chafed. But at least I got to use that trick on someone who deserves a stupid death like this."

The impatient behaviour was briefly overwritten by surprise at finding Maarani there of all places, an incredible coincidence even by Intelligence standards. That impatience was very quick to resurface when he recovered, his hand tightening around the blaster harder.

"Don't even try it. No-one's going to care which of us shot first when you're dead anyway. If not today, then very, very soon."

"Rako, I'm touched. You're actually not a one hundred percent piece of shit from a bastardized concept of humanity like I thought. One down, ninety nine to go." Now that she no longer had to act scared, her demeanour was very cool indeed. The blaster was small in her hand certainly, but it remained very steadily aimed at Rako's neck.

"Tega, could you be so kind as to hand me that datapad, so that I might comply with the agent's request? I don't mean to interrupt your own feud with him."

Her gaze remained steady while she very slowly knelt down to retrieve that pad, and equally steady when she stood back up to hand it over to him without a glance. It was just a matter of time before Rako's impatience would render him too slow to outgun her.

"Fair warning, I've managed to take a shot right at the back of a Sith Lord's head. I may be a pilot, but it's your people that taught me to shoot to kill. There's some nice irony for you."

"Shut up! Shut up!"

For just a moment, Maarani's hand trembled. The flicker of hesitation in her mind. This was a man that had in no vague terms declared her to be on the verge of permanent ruination of she spoke a word of what had happened. Something that would see her condemned to the worst kinds of jobs on the worst planets. And that was at her lowest point. Now the opportunity had come to be done with him, and she was only just beginning to realize that he wasn't necessarily the ones calling the shots.

There was something very unnerving about the way he shouted, because it wasn't directed at her.

"I'll be doing you a huge favour Maarani! Consider it an apology! You can't fight what's coming for you!"

"I've tackled HK-50s, the Hidden Hand and the Sith. Well, sort of. One more group chasing me isn't a bother."

A drop of sweat fell from Rako's hand when he stepped towards Maarani, looking right down the gunsight at her. "You're a real dumb bitch for saying that. The HK-50s would be a godsend if they could actually kill Kiarna! The others are nothing compared to what's coming! And I intend to be there on the line in the sand against them, defending the Republic from all-"

His rant was cut appropriately short by a blaster shot that went right through his head.

Maarani lowered her blaster, and slowly looked over to the smoking rifle in Smirged's thick hands.

"You actually can fire a blaster?"

He shrugged with a bemused look. "I'm full of surprises, surely you have realized this by now?"

There seemed little to be said in response, so instead Maarani took that moment to walk over to Rako's body and ensure he was long dead. "Doubt there'd have been much use in finding out who else is after me, with so many on my back as is." After rifling through his pockets, finding a Republic Intelligence card, some credits and a few spikes, she retrieved his blaster for all of a few seconds before tossing it back on his body anyway.

"Not much of a signature weapon. Got nothing on boob blaster right here at least." She tapped the holdout blaster against her chest to further emphasise her point.

"I maintain a vault of black market weapons for cold storage, it can go to there. The incinerators are prone to illegal looting after all."

Smirged placed the blaster rifle back in its secret compartment next to his sitting spot before finally giving the all clear signal.

The doors opened to a flurry of concerned guards and servants alike. They saw the body of a man with a gun and a wound in his head, and a blaster in Maarani's hand. Where there used to be disdain for her now remained a hint of awe, and even understanding. As far as they now believed, she was an undercover bodyguard, and certainly not a threat to their establishment of things under Smirged himself.

When the initial worry passed over, and Rako's body was hauled away, Maarani sighed to herself and went to retrieve her cloak from the seat it had been resting on that whole time.

"Not meaning to be abrupt, but now he's gone I should be going as well. When I came here it was so I wouldn't have to run into all those people after me. Now, I just don't want them coming here, after you and the others."

Smirged nodded again at that. "Your concern is appreciated, Tega Maarani." When she put the cloak back on, he reached out the datapad he had been handed earlier to her. "I took the liberty of downloading the files to the storage on this device. Clearly Republic Intelligence believe there are still secrets that have yet to be fully realized. And if they do not provide insight, you at least have a copy of your own as insurance."

Maarani slowly took hold of the datapad, hardly able to believe she was actually smiling a little at Smirged's thoughtful act. "Seems we've both been of good use to each other, thanks."

"It is in conjunction with the actions of strong Twi'lek such as yourself that I can continue to push for a better future. My resources are at hand should you need them in future, Tega Maarani. You need only call upon myself for them."

"I'll keep that in mind. I need to see Nurrina first, then I'll be off."

"Of course."

The few items she had taken from Rako were tucked into whatever spots could hold them comfortably while she made her way back through the building to Nurrina's room. Oddly enough, she was sitting there in a rather calm position given how recent the alert was.

"I knew you'd be okay Tega. You always were real strong."

After two nights of curling up in her arms, Maarani knew immediately that something was off about her behaviour. And given what had happened with Rako, that concerned her.

"Nurri, are we about to have a moment we'll both regret?"

"What? No, I hope not…"

When she stood up, it was a clenched fist that she held on her way to the door, making sure it was closed before opening it up.

"I know you're ready to leave, since taking down that agent was what you were waiting around for. I decided to wait until now for the rest of my story, and a proposal I want to make. Not that kind of proposal either."

"I lied about being rescued by Mission. Her efforts are real though, which made them an easy cover story." She turned around at last, holding out the gold chain with the pendant of a printed fist. "They recruited me in return for being freed from the Zygerrians."

A pendant identical to the one Seradan had dangled in front of her face when she was in the interrogation chamber was the last thing she expected Nurrina to have in her possession. When the realization hit her, she stumbled back in a moment of panic. "Nurri, Nurri I don't want to hurt you-"

"You won't have to Tega." Nurrina tossed the pendant aside and strode across the distance formed between them to take Maarani in a warm embrace, without trying to force a kiss. "I knew about the situation with Zariba long before you got here. I want to help you settle things with Seradan, but you have to be ready to let her go."

While still cautious at first, the fact that Nurrina was being very deliberate about not trying to put her at a disadvantage spoke volumes. It was always possible she had been trained to lie well, but the feeling remained that she was still genuine as ever. And Maarani was willing to trust in her feelings over her deduction for the time being.

"He's out for my blood. They already tried to kill me once. I just can't be certain he won't try and kill me once I let Zariba go anyway."

"That's what I'm here for. Tega, I'll have to tell them that I've seen you before you leave, otherwise there's going to be trouble for me. I'll use that report to tell Seradan you're willing to negotiate, and once you're at that stage I'll try and talk him down. You just have to be gone within an hour after you leave this place, that's the most time I can give you."

Maarani nodded at that, relaxing more at last. "Fair enough. I understand why you waited until now then." Her arms finally moved up to return the embrace from within the cover of her cloak. "I really wouldn't want you being put in harm's way on my account. Thank you for being honest."

With a smile, Nurrina leaned in to plant that kiss at last, giving her a gentle squeeze. "I'll always love you Tega. This Azera Vass of yours is a lucky woman to have you for a soulmate. She just needs time to realize it. Just give her my regards, alright?"

"I will, promise."

They remained in the hold for a while longer, until Maarani finally sighed at last and pulled herself free. "That isn't the last time we hold each other, also a promise. Just please don't go over to the murdering side of the Hidden Hand."

"Seradan knows I'd never agree to that, don't worry. Anyway, you'd better get going."

With a small nod, Maarani grabbed up her things and made her way over to the door.

Nurrina was about to wave goodbye when she caught up on her own thoughts. "Oh, Tega. The Hidden Hand are only part of the Goto cult. Try and avoid anyone related to the Watchful Eye, Whispering Ear and Bleeding Heart. They go up the hierarchy in that order, that's all I know."

"They sure do love their adjectives. Good thing I haven't run into any of them yet then." She took that last moment to gaze back at Nurrina. Ketaris had given her so many new angles on her perspectives of everything, and even more had been opened up then. "I'll say hello to Kip for you when I return home. Eventually. I'm not sure when that's gonna happen."

"So long as you will. They miss you as well."

Maarani forced herself to leave at that before she got any more distracted by the lingering moment. Soon after, she was heading out the gates of the estate and reaching for her earpiece.

"I'm coming back to the ship. Rako's dead, Smirged took the shot after all. We need to be off Ketaris within an hour; I'll explain when I get there."

It was Jayden who answered shortly after. "Alright, we should be ready by then. Dana and I will be waiting by that cantina to escort you the rest of the way. Just in case."

"Much appreciated. Watch your backs until I get there."

She was constantly checking her surroundings on the walk back, and for once without a hint of thought for the fact she was still half-naked without the cloak. With time to think, she had begun to wonder if the 'unknown' threat to her had something to do with the 'man in red' that The Watcher had mentioned, seeing as he didn't match the description of any of her other pursuers thus far. The 'woman in white' had given her the ugly impression that Kiarna was soon to arrive, and that was one reunion she didn't want to stick around for at all.

The sight of Dana and Jayden waiting outside the cantina as described was incredibly relieving to see.

"Izan back at the ship I assume?"

"They're making final calibrations now, he stayed to oversee with Cecile."

The two Jedi moved to either side of Maarani as they began the return walk, both keeping their awareness of their surroundings up high at all times.

Maarani wasted little time in catching them up. "Nurrina's with the Hidden Hand, but not the radicalized side. She's going to help me negotiate with Seradan once we're safely off Ketaris. We release Zariba once things are squared with him, and that's one threat gone altogether. I'm sure you're glad to hear that Jayden."

"I still think we could've released her sooner without consequence, but an actual negotiation does sound better."

"And I still think he would've gone ahead with straight up murder, but whatever. Anyway, Smirged believes that Yuthura went off to visit ancient Jedi ruins or some crap like that, because Jedi do that as well apparently. He doesn't have a clue where to begin though, so I guess that's what I'm figuring out next."

Dana nodded with a slight hum, only half focused on the conversation itself. "It'll be difficult to pick through them. With twenty thousand years of history to sift through, ranging from the first voyages from Tython down to what's left of Ossus. I doubt anyone would want to go there anytime soon though."

"Tython?"

"Original Jedi homeworld, name came up during some of my studies. It's long gone to wild space now, and I don't think the Distant Star is built for tackling that. It'd take months of navigation just to find anything at all that far into the Deep Core."

"Well it is a deep space explorer. I'd have to ration up first, and probably drop Izan off, but if that's what it takes."

"Wrong kind of deep. You're the pilot, you should know that."

Before Maarani could come up with a retort, the trio were abruptly stopped by a young man stumbling out in front of them. For someone of his age, he looked rather unhealthy, and his clothes weren't in any kind of decent condition.

She was about to pin him down as another typical resident of Ketaris when she noticed the blindfold over both his eyes. It brought up a familiar feeling in her.

"Well I'll be damned…" She stepped forward to help steady the man while he tried to right himself. There were clear signs of malnourishment.

"What, what do you want Twi'lek? I've got nothing I swear."

That all but confirmed it for Maarani, who glanced back at Dana and Jayden and gave a bit of a shrug. "Can't a girl help someone in need? You're Miraluka, aren't you?"

He slowly turned his head to her, looking rather confused while he slowly took hold of her arm in turn. "You're not just saying that because of the blindfold, I can tell. He can tell, he speaks to me you see."

"I figured, you're what some call a 'corrupted', right? Not a nice name really, but that's doom-and-gloom people for you."

He nodded again, now looking surprised. "I'm waiting for help. She said she'd come, to take me to a better place where I can be with my friends again. We can't hide alone anymore, she says."

Maarani didn't need long to connect some of the dots in her mind. "Look, your friend isn't a nice person. You're clearly in bad shape being made to stay here." She reached into the strap on her hip and removed what credits she had taken from Rako to give to the Miraluka instead. "That should cover you for a trip back to Coruscant, and food along the way as well. Just tell them when you get there that Sereti Pala has been looking for you. She'll help you out."

After a few shaking breaths, he nodded and released her arm again. "Alright, thank you. You are a truly kind soul. He doesn't like kind souls, but I do. I thought I'd never meet one."

"These things happen. Take care of yourself, alright?"

She waited and watched a while as he began to move back into the alley he had come from, presumably to collect what little he had for the journey. To her relief, Dana had the decency to wait until they had moved on before finally speaking up.

"Teegs, sometimes I really do wonder what goes on in your head. You went from being ready to murder someone out of petty revenge to offering comfort and aid to a mentally ill man you literally bumped into on the street."

"Hey, I'm just doing what Jedi are supposed to do. Which includes dealing with bad people, and helping out the incapable. Besides, this is something Sereti asked me to do personally. And even better is that this'll stick it to Kiarna when she finds out I actually helped one of her friends that she left to die of starvation in this place."

"Because she didn't have enough reason to want you dead."

Maarani again shrugged the matter off. "We'll be gone before she arrives. And besides, she's got a confrontation with the 'man in red' to deal with when she does. I'm glad to have a chance to hold one over her for a change."

"She has a point Dana. The Sith are going to resume their attack at some point. Anything we do to destabilize them now has to be of benefit towards stalling them longer. Who knows what she intends to do with the other corrupted Miraluka if she really is gathering them all together."

Dana rolled her eyes at that, now very grateful for the sight of the building that currently housed the Distant Star as it meant an easy break from the conversation. "Kiarna may be powerful and somewhat important, but she's still just one of many Sith sorcerers as far as we know. They certainly aren't waiting on her to plan their next move. Which means she has more freedom to deal with personal problems, like charitable Twi'lek women that mess with her mentally ill friends."

"Maybe she'll have a change of heart and decide not to be a super bitch when she sees him living a better life, all thanks to that 'wonderfully charitable Twi'lek woman'."

"I didn't say 'wonderful' once, thank you very much."

By the time they had gotten to the landing bay itself, it seemed that the maintenance team were indeed wrapping up their check log. Izan was visible up in the cockpit, while the various small turrets mounted around the Distant Star's three hulls swivelled around in unified motions.

After a gesture of approval from Izan, and clearance from the ground team, they continued past into the ship itself. Izan himself was there to meet them not long after

"I think we're about ready to go. Might have to do some odd jobs for people in a few weeks to recoup, shouldn't be hard to pick out some names between what the four of us know."

Maarani gave a small nod in agreement. "Might happen sooner than you think. Yuthura might be exploring Jedi ruins, which means we'll probably run into archaeologists while we search for her. They always need protecting from something. Doing bigger jobs between spots would be a good supplement."

"I'm not sure that becoming hired mercenaries is such a good idea."

"Says the Mandalorian."

"Half Mandalorian, Dana. And even that half thinks we need to be wary of getting even more involved in sector issues than we have already. We're tangled in enough galactic issues as is."

Maarani broke the meeting with a signature shrug on her way to the cockpit. "This is why we should discuss it when we're off Ketaris. I settle things with Seradan, then we work out the next step. And somewhere in that I get back into actual clothes."

She was preparing for launch when they eventually followed her in. This time when Izan slid into the co-pilot's chair, he was noticeably more comfortable with the controls.

"I made it through the basic flight course by the way. I should be able to take off, land and move the ship now without crashing into anything. Don't think I'll be suicide skimming anytime soon though."

"That makes two of us. Just so long as I don't have to come up here every time we need to move to a new spot that's good enough. Hyperspace calculations and all that crap I'm fine with doing myself."

"Well I did learn the basics of that too. Might need practise at entering and exiting atmosphere, but there's gonna be plenty of opportunities for that now right?"

Maarani glanced over at him with a bit of a smile while she waited for take-off approval. "Fast learner for a two and a half day course. Though I guess they have to fast-track stuff here to get pilots going at all."

"Think of it this way; you get to skip over the boring basics when teaching me more."

At that, she smiled more, leaning back into her chair while taking her hands off the controls.
"Alright, why don't you give this a go? I'll be ready to take over if something happens." She half twisted in the seat to look back at the two Jedi behind. "Any problem with that?"

They shared a small concerned look, but both eventually shook their heads.

"Good. The pre-flight checks are done, you're good to lift when we get the final approval through."


One of the few advantages of neutral worlds was that she was generally not recognized by the common folk. And those that did know what the White Terror looked like also knew it was best to keep quiet and stay out of the way when she was not on a murdering rampage.

She made use of that fact to move through the city quickly. It was ripe for a joyful spree of purging the inferior for the galaxy, but her concern was set on one friend, and that alone was worth ignoring such an opportunity.

Her composure changed when she saw Mozin wandering the streets, a small knapsack slung over his shoulder. He was headed in the direction of the public spaceport.

With just a hint of extra speed, she closed the distance between them to grab his shoulder. "Mozin! Where are you going? The Vastes is back the other way."

It took him a few seconds to properly comprehend how she had apparently materialized behind him well before he became aware of her presence. "Kiarna? Don't you know? I need to go to Coruscant, I can get help there."

"Mozin, what are you talking about? The only 'help' you'll find there is guidance to a hospital bed so they can cut your brain open and destroy what makes you special! You know this!"

"But the nice lady told me that was best."

"What nice lady?"

Mozin slowly turned around, and pointed a painfully thin finger towards a ship that had just appeared over some of the buildings. "She's there. The nice Twi'lek."

"Twi'lek…"

Kiarna whipped around and took a few steps towards the Distant Star, pulling the left glove clean from her hand. "That dumb bitch isn't getting away. Just you wait!"

She jutted two fingers at the ship's engines, sending a thundering bolt of lighting right at it. The shot was true, striking right in an area not protected by the armor plating, causing the engine array to stall out altogether. The ship itself began to drift down on emergency boosters.

Kiarna whipped her head back to Mozin. "Stay here, I mean it! I'm going to deal with that bitch myself, don't let her lies get in your head!"

By then, people around her had fled in terror at the unexpected show of power on her part. Fear that was already starting to ramp up her power, and made the handprint on her mask glow ever so slightly. In mere minutes, Maarani would be dead by her hand.


"Ease up on the forward ascent thrusters. We're not looking for an escape trajectory here. Not like the one back at Telos anyway."

"I've still got a scar from where my head hit the bulkhead during that."

"Sorry."

The view over the surrounding buildings brought a sigh of relief from all of them. So far, nothing had gone wrong.

"I don't think I ever got to hear the whole story about your time on Telos. Sounds like you three had quite the adventurous escape."

Maarani waited until they were at a good height before motioning for Izan to begin the forward thrust. "Not much to tell. I pulled some dangerous stunts to escape the HK-50s, we survived. War stories are much better for that kind of-"

A sudden jolt of energy swept through the ship, frying out several screens. Maarain immediately took back the controls and began plotting out a descent course.

"If that was my fault I'm sorry!"

She was too panicked to quell Izan's worries. The only possible landing spot was in a seedy zone she had dismissed earlier as not being worth the risk. Without main engines, or any control beyond thrusters at that point, there just wasn't a way to turn around again.

Dana grasped both their seats in a moment of concern herself. "We've been attacked. That was Force lightning, I can feel it now. I just can't believe I didn't sense this coming."

"You're not the only one. Even I should've felt some kind of impending danger."

"Speculate later! Everyone strap yourselves in, this is going to be a rough landing! And Dana!"

She glanced back over her shoulder again just for an instant to be sure she was listening.

"If that came from Kiarna, I do not want to hear you say 'I told you so!'"


"Message from Ketaris incoming."

For once, Seradan was in the communications room personally, allowing him to give a gesture of approval immediately.

The holotable brought up Nurrina's image to his surprise, as her next report was not due so soon.

"I assume something has occurred amongst Smirged's business associates? We have heard rumours the Republic have been sending their agents out in numbers to retrieve those leaked files."

"The one that came here is dead. Tegama'Arani killed him, and I'm speaking on her behalf."

Seradan's cold composure broke for a few moments. It had been a while since he had heard anything about the whereabouts of his daughter.

"Nurrina, I am only interested in getting my daughter back and ensuring justice is done for her kidnapping. Whatever she has to say-"

"She's willing to negotiate, Seradan. She's terrified of you, of the Hidden Hand. You've both made a point to the other, and you'll get Zariba back much sooner if you just leave her alone. Forget revenge, surely your daughter's safety is more important."

"So you've spoken with her at length, enough to find all that out and despite already knowing the situation. I wonder why…"

All he needed was her glance away to conclude that for himself. "You're courting a dangerous woman, Nurrina. She can snap on the right kind of impulse."

"I'm not courting her, Seradan. We are childhood friends, and I wholly believe she wants this mess to end as much as we all do."

"Sir! Ground agents reporting, Distant Star attacked by Kiarna, forced to land. Seeking guidance on how to proceed."

Nurrina's expression turned to grave concern.

Seradan's was that of a widening grin. "It seems I won't have to negotiate for my daughter after all, at least not with the kidnapping bitch herself." He closed off the holotable and quickly made his way over to Aruga's station. "Mobilize all forces and contacts on Ketaris. Avoid confrontation with the White Terror, if she seeks Tegama's death as well she might just be convinced to let us extract Zariba first. If for whatever reason she does not actually approach the area, proceed with rescue. And remember, the Zeltron, the Jedi and the Mandalorian are not to be killed. This must be a precise execution to minimize backlash."


"Bad! Very bad!"

All four of Cecile's arms were reaching deep into the now open engine compartment. There was a scorch mark on the panel, and the hull above their heads where the bolt had arced right through the bulkhead into the dissipation armor. A lot of the circuitry was damaged, and while they had plenty of components that she was already working towards replacing, there was a growing concern from her own deduction that they were lacking in some crucial parts.

Maarani, Dana and Izan had gone outside by then to look at the external damage, while Jayden had gone to ensure that Zariba hadn't been caught by a stray arc.

"Holy shit, since when can Sith fire off this kind of attack?"

Maarani herself was running her hand over the impact zone, clearly marked by a circle in the metal where it had been momentarily turned molten, and then snap cooled by the sudden loss of energy to the dissipation armor. No living being could possibly withstand such a blast if directed at them.

"If this isn't Kiarna, then we've drawn Darth Lasidia's attention. And that is a whole other level of bad for us."

"I suppose I should be grateful that this isn't something my sister would do. We'd be dead already."

Faced with those cheery thoughts, Izan lightly slapped the side of his face in a depressed sigh."That might still happen if we can't get going soon. Whoever this was will be coming for us this very moment. Not that we're short on doom-and-gloom as you put it Maarani."

"There's no time to grab a new ship. Dana, get Jayden and guard however you can. Izan and I will try and help Cecile with repairs. We've still got time before the Hidden Hand might begin to show up."

"I'm not sure what good that'll do. I find it hard to argue with The Watcher's warning that Jayden and I can't fight Kiarna when she may very well have single handedly downed our ship."

Maarani looked to her in a long silent moment, then over to Izan. "Fine. If it comes down to it, I'll give myself up. Hopefully a big if. I'm still counting on us getting off Ketaris intact."

"Maarani, if you're trying to be brave-"

"Izan, let me have my heroic moment just this once! Okay?"

"Alright alright. Just getting a little corny there. And we should probably be on the ship helping Cecile by now."

"Yes, fair point. On both counts." Maarani lightly whapped his arm as all three of them returned into the ship itself. The next half hour at least was going to be one of their most tense experiences yet.


The alleys were cleared out well before she got to them. She had a strong idea of exactly where Maarani's ship had landed, and with the local law enforcement too terrified to stop her, she had free reign to make her way there however she pleased.

It also gave her ample opportunity to sense the approach of another. More worryingly, it seemed as if he was deliberately waiting for her in a particularly enclosed area. There were very few who would try to confront her without any word ahead.

She sighed in annoyance when she finally recognized his presence, and he recognized hers as well.

"Zimorr. What are you doing here?"

Zimorr adjusted his maroon coat before slowly striding over, that constant smile and false wide eyed glare directed at her. "I've come to help Azera. I know about this Maarani, what she's done to you."

Kiarna's hand moved for her lightsaber. "Don't call me that. It's Kiarna. And quite frankly I don't want your help in taking her down. We are long past done with each other."

To her surprise, Zimorr lifted his arms and stepped aside in an uncharacteristic display of concession. "Hey, if the mighty Sith Lord thinks she can handle a Twi'lek girl with a dark secret, who am I to argue." His smile grew wider as she moved past, giving him a view of the cute way she tied her hair back behind her head. "I mean, of course it's none of my business in the end, seeing as you're supposedly her intended mate."

He stifled down a chuckle at the way she froze up, her head twisting around to bring that mask back to bear against him.

"Where the hell did you hear that? Who are you working for now?"

"I'm only looking out for my own interests, Kiarna. And seeing as you are my primary interest, that means looking out for you."

Were she not wearing a mask, Kiarna would have spat at him in disgust. "Still a rotting pig. I made it clear that there will be nothing between us, and that stands right to this day, and well into the future. Now, leave while I still have patience left."

"Oh, sure, but first, Tulara."

Kiarna twitched for a moment, then began reaching for her lightsaber again. "Why did you just use my mother's name? Did you think remembering that would make me like you a little more? Are you that thick?"

A bad feeling was beginning to stir within her. She had felt it once before, after she had spoken with Jayden the first time.

Right before the Fallen had begun their attack in the hospital.

She took a step back and clasped her fingers around the weapon. "You're with them!? How the hell did they know to recruit you?"

"They know who you are, Azera. They've known a long time I believe. We don't want you harmed, you just have to forget yourself."

"Fuck you!"

In that moment where she would have drawn the lightsaber in a way intended to hurl it right at Zimorr, she instead realized her hand was not actually capable of holding onto the hilt. Her intent was there, but the impulse was not.

Her left hand whipped out, intending to blast a hole through Zimorr with lightning instead. That too failed.

"What did you do? What is this!?"

With his grin wide as ever, Zimorr hurled Kiarna into the nearby wall with a gesture. The trick planted by the Fallen was an undeniable success.

"I told you, I make powerful friends. And I've grown tired of you avoiding me, so I've finally decided to force the issue. Now, for the mask."


"Uh oh."

"Uh oh is not something anyone wants to hear from a droid."

Cecile's upper arms flailed about while the lower pair reached deep into the damaged engine section to haul out one of the components. "The bolt destroyed the ignition tube! I have not catalogued anything remotely compatible on board the ship!"

Maarani's hands went to her face in a moment of panic, interrupted by Cecile nearly catapulting herself across the room with how much force she had been applying to removing the charred remains of the original ignition tube.

"From the sound of it, we need that to take off."

"Yeah Izan, great deduction skills there."

Izan did his best to ignore Maarani's sarcasm on the basis that she was just in a panic. "Well, where do we get a new one? Name the sort of place and I'll go out there and get it."

"Any ship maintenance yard or parts shop should have it. But there are yet more parts that may need purchasing."

Maarani motioned for Izan to be on his way. "We'll alternate buying them as you go. It'll take a lot longer if you're standing around waiting for us to run back with stuff over naming off what you need as you go."

"I have doubts about that kind of logic, but I am only a droid so what do I know?"

"How to fix the ship is what you know. I handle the logistics of that."

"Well, it appears we also need a new rotational gyrocomplex motivatior."

"Rotational gyro… What?"

Cecile yanked herself out of the compartment again with another burned out piece of machinery. "Something like this. The ship will not be able to turn properly at all without it."

After getting a quick look at it, Maarani nodded and repeated it to herself. "Fine. I'll go get that myself. Keep working on that list for when Izan gets back!"

On her way out of the ship, she nodded to Dana and Jayden, both of which had taken up opposing entryways to keep an eye out on each other's approach.

"Izan should be back soon with parts. And no, I don't want either of you as escort, I'd much rather take my chances out there alone and come back to a stronger defence if I need to."

She was gone from the building itself before either of them could protest, still hugging that cloak around herself closely.


"Zimorr, don't try it."

Zimorr cackled to himself while he crouched down in front of Kiarna, having let her fall to her knees and slump further down the wall once her body had been conveniently rendered immobile with a small jolt to her neck.

"How could I resist getting to see your pretty face again? Obviously I never got to appreciate nearly as much as your Togruta master did. My sources did tell me a lot about how she used to stroke it with small, tender sighs, only when you were a young girl though."

"This isn't a demand, Zimorr. This is a fucking warning! Do not touch the mask!"

His grin devolved into something of a bemused smile. Only now was he realizing just how unsatisfying it was to have left her with no kind of ability to struggle beyond hurling empty threats. He had often dreamt about truly conquering her, proving he was the better master of the Force.

"I suppose it's sweet that you're considering my safety. But I'm not putting my lips on a surface of metal."

He brought his hand up to the mask, beginning to pull on it through the Force. There was a strong rumble between the surface and his fingertips, but it didn't budge. A second, and a third attempt didn't yield in the slightest.

"Impressive. It's pushing back an equal amount to however much force I apply to it through the Force. Oh, was that pun too painful for you dearest love?"

"I am not going to die in this alley! Not when I am this close to destroying Maarani! Do not touch the mask!"

"Looks like I'm doing this the mundane way."

His fingers touched down on the surface of the mask, lining up with the handprint itself rather comfortably. And to his further joy, the electromagnetic plates inside his palm were able to form a strong connection to the metal itself.

"Pucker up."

He tugged away. In that instant, his hand froze up, blood red ice beginning to grow from the mask right into his fingers. With a cry of pain he tore his shredded hand off the now brightly glowing surface, leaving a mess of blood over Kiarna's front.

"What the actual fuck!? This is your idea of a defence mechanism?"

"It's not my defence, Zimorr. The mask draws its power from the dark side. And now you can deal with the fucking consequences for trying to mess with the depths of the Force itself."

Her body arched forward as she cried out in pain. For a few seconds, the bloodied handprint on her mask shone a bright light up, before turning pitch black.

The shape of a hand began to emerge from it, bathed in shadows that poured out and swirled around Kiarna's motionless form.

They soon took a new form in front of her as they gathered in mass. Growing taller, a second hand forming, shoulders between them. A head above them. From the head, a deathly white mask, painted with two red lines, in the shape of a jawless skull.

An incomprehensible loud whisper came from the apparition of Darth Nihilus himself.

For having a literal manifestation from his worst nightmares caused by the tumor in his brain coming into being right in front of him, Zimorr was surprisingly amused.

"Summoned to stand there and look intimidating? This is what the appearance of Darth Nihilus has become? This is a joke Kiarna. I won't fall for your elaborate deceptions."

The apparition grasped at his throat. A cold began to spread into it immediately, though this time without the ice shredding his flesh. Again, it spoke in a form of language he couldn't make sense of.

Zimorr let out a mad laugh. "I don't believe it for a moment! You are a long dead spectre at best! Kiarna is mine, and she will be mine until we die side by side! Ghosts do not scare me!"

The apparition released his throat and stepped back, though it was not because of what he had said at all.

"I thought as much. Convince the lie that it is not real, and it holds no power! I am not afraid of the Lord of Hunger!"

"Good. What you should be afraid of is me."

He whipped around on the spot. Where there had been a solid wall was now the gateway to a desolate realm. And in that gateway stood the appearance of a Twi'lek woman. Somehow even without the ability to see colours of any type, he could perceive three markings on her face.

Black, grey and white.

His throat was grabbed by the woman. And this time it was physical, pulling him through the gateway into the realm beyond.

Kiarna was left alone, lying helpless at the feet of the one thing she truly feared.

"I won't join with you, demon. When I go to Katarr, I will destroy you myself."

The apparition said nothing more, merely vanishing into the ether of his own accord.


In all the panic that ensued from Kiarna's initial attack, Mozin had wandered back to his hovel inside one of the long abandoned buildings and stayed there, quietly whispering to himself while he waited for her return. He wanted to go to Coruscant like the nice Twi'lek had told him to, but he also didn't want to make Kiarna upset by doing so. And after all that Kiarna had done to keep him safe, how could he turn on her so quickly?

"Friend? Are you alright?"

He lifted his head up in surprise. Again, people had come upon him without him even noticing. They were vastly different from Kiarna or the Twi'lek however. Their presence was calm, and projected neither a feeling of warmth or of cold. Unlike just about anything he had experienced.

"I am well. Who are you people?"

"Me Koogora. Koogora help people, help the Missis. Missis good Lady, she buy droid from Koogora. Missis help you, Koogora and Following come."

"Following?" Mozin slowly rose to his feet at last. There were three beings in front of him, one of them noticeably shorter than the others.

"We seek to protect the One, and guide those she has touched to a better way of life. Our friend Koogora here was once trapped in the wastes of Coruscant's underbelly. Now, he helps to bring good health and wellbeing to those the One has smiled upon."

Mozin scratched his head, beginning to shake it. "I can't go with you. I'm waiting for Kiarna. He tells me she is coming soon. His voice is loud now."

The tallest of the three waved his hand in front of Mozin's face. In that moment, the whisperings of Darth Nihilus were purged from his mind.

"He will trouble you no longer, good friend. And you need not worry, we also seek to protect the chosen mate of the One. You will see her in due time. Your life is your own now, follow whatever path you wish."


Izan was barely through the entryway when the attack began. Quick action from Dana pushed him just out of the way of an incoming blaster shot that would have crippled his leg.

There was very little time to ready themselves, especially with Maarani still outside.

"Go! Get it to Cecile, then come help!"

The first attacker she had to deal with personally came through at that moment. He had a long pike in hand, made from lightsaber resistant material as she quickly discovered when attempting a quick blow to disarm him.

She could barely see Jayden punching a Rodian woman into a nearby wall with enough power to leave a dent in the old material before she had to parry the next blow rained on her.

How easy it would be to simply conjure a plume of fire and burn off her attacker's face. But that was a tactic from a time she never wished to revisit again.

The third blow came, which she used to deflect the forward momentum of her attacker off to the side, giving her ample opportunity to twist her lightsaber around and graze over his fingers. They fell to the ground in a steaming mess while he cried out in pain.

That success was short lived, as a stun blast from above struck her right in form. While resistant to the effects, it did leave her very disorientated as the energy tried to close down her active body functions.

A second blast came, which she managed to partially deflect with her blade, but the rest caught her leg enough to cause the nerves to freeze up and render it immobile. She fell back against one of the walls and brought her lightsaber up defensively.

To her relief, a flurry of blaster shots from the Distant Star's boarding ramp brought down the attacker above after bringing down his energy shield, Izan having dived to the dirt to make the shots as quickly as possible.

"Just like on Citadel Station. Shame you weren't there."

He rolled out of the way as stun blasts were fired at him as well. A second shot scored a Weequay armed with a vicious looking bowcaster in the shoulder, causing him to stumble out of sight for the moment.

With precious moments to spare, Dana reached up for her earpiece at last. "Teegs! Don't come back to the ship! You hear me? Stay away, get help from The Watcher! Don't try and rescue us!"

A desperate swipe across the path of a arms of another human rounding the corner made it a lot harder to hear Maarani in turn.

"Is Kiarna there already?"

"No, it's a lot of people! It has to be the Hidden Hand, I don't know who else!"

Her hand fell away when she heard a yelp from Jayden right before she hit the ground. Yet another stun blast was fired at her, and in the moment of shock she was unable to deflect it.

By the time the others swarmed in, Izan was on his knees with two guns pointed at his head.

"Maarani isn't here! She's probably getting transport off Ketaris as we speak!"

He got a hard kick to the gut before a new face stepped forward, motioning for the others to back off.

"Others will take her down in due time, if you are in fact telling the truth. Quite frankly I don't believe that." After some further words to the others, the leader turned his attention back to Izan. "Working with a violent kidnapper is a dangerous business. We know not to threaten the wrong people, you will be returned to your mother's custody when this is over, and the same will be done for your Jedi and Mandalorian friends. Do all of them a favour by not resisting too much."

"Just take Zariba and go. Maarani was ready to let her go anyway, you don't have to kill her."

The leader gestured at small group that hurried over to the boarding ramp to do just that. "Our orders clearly stated she was to die. Consider making better friends in future."

While Izan was hauled up to his feet, the group that had gone inside returned down the ramp, with Zariba nearly bawling her eyes out at the fact she had finally been rescued.

"We will notify your father immediately. There is a transport that can have you returned to Twa'janii Station within a day once you have recovered at the safehouse. Anything you need, you may ask of us."

For so long, Zariba had been afraid to even try using her powers with the Jedi witch sensing her every move. Seeing her being dragged off through the dirt alongside the Mandalorian reignited the anger that had been so thoroughly doused by her.

"Make that witch suffer when it's over. The dark skinned one." The rumble in her ears softened as her temper did as well. "Tegama can die quickly. I don't care anymore. Make the witch feel pain."


Zimorr was at a complete loss trying to comprehend what had just happened. There was no possible way for him to have gone from a Ketaris alley to the desolate wasteland he perceived around himself without a moment's unconsciousness. And yet that was exactly how it had happened. Even the chronometer in his cranial implant registered an instant change of surroundings.

More puzzling was the Twi'lek woman that seemed to be the only other being in the vicinity. Now he could more clearly see that the black mark on her face had a strong glow to it.

"How dare you touch Azera in that way."

Zimorr snickered at that. "Oh let me guess, I'm about to get a stern talking to for my behaviour? Like I said, I don't fear ghosts, and from what I've heard you might as well be one."

The black glow increased in intensity while the Twi'lek moved closer to him again.

"The similarities between myself and the Lord of Hunger begin and end with confinement to this realm. I have been protecting Azera and Tegama from the moment they were born. I will not let some sorry excuse for a wayward Miraluka disrespect them in the ways you do. Last warning; stay away from her."

At that, he folded his arms with a smug scoff. "I've yet to see actual signs of intelligence from the Force itself. This is just a delusion in my mind, cleverly crafted to appear real from beginning to end. You can't stop me."

The Lady of Balance raised her hand towards him. All three markings on her face began to glow.

"I will make your life a living nightmare. For the rest of your days, I will make sure you see those two enjoying a life together. Away from you. Beyond your ability to intervene. Maybe that will teach you some manners."

She curled her fingers in, and twisted her hand around abruptly.

Zimorr cried out in pain as every cybernetic implant in his body went into overload, heating up the flesh around every incision and delivering jolt after jolt into his spine.

"Warn the Fallen that they should not push my patience further! If harm comes to either of them, I will rain death on they and their families! All that they hold value in will be ruined!"

That was the last Zimorr saw of her before stumbling back into an entirely different alley on Ketaris. There were scorch marks from the overload, and the sensor report from his eye did indeed confirm that for the span of a few minutes, he had left the surface of Ketaris.

Once he had recovered enough, he immediately hauled himself back up.

"Fuck you. I'm not done with Azera."

Another surge of pain came in direct response to that. Accompanying it was what felt like a memory of seeing Azera and a Twi'lek woman identical to the one he had just encountered spending time together, in the embrace of each other. Doing things to each other.

Just as he had been warned.

"I will not accept this!"

The pain surged again, forcing every one of his senses deeper into the memory. Very deliberately tormenting him. There was no perverse joy to be found, it was an utter mockery of all he believed to be true about his fate.

After the third surge, he smashed his forehead against one of the walls, trying so desperately to make it stop.

When it finally receded, he began to stumble out of the alley, blood running down his face from the wound. He needed to return to the HK-50s, at least for a while, until he could devise a way to free himself of the torment forced on him by the Lady of Balance.


In that time, Kiarna had desperately tried to restore function to her body. Zimorr's specialized attack was far more potent than she would have otherwise expected of him.

She had barely managed to make her fingers move when she sensed the approach of another familiar being. This time, she was completely unsure of what to expect.

"If you came here to kill me, you couldn't have possibly picked a better time."

For a moment, there was silence, at least until Bellara found her and knelt down beside.

You have taught me much master, but there is still a lot to learn. I do not intend to usurp my way through the Sith ranks.

That made Kiarna laugh, her head still stuck in the position it had been left in just before Zimorr vanished away.

"It's not my blood, before you ask. I have no clue where Zimorr went, nor do I care. If you know of a way to undo this kind of paralysis…"

She grew a little cautious when the Umbaran reached to her neck near to where the paralyzing jolt had been delivered. A second jolt to a different spot restored function to her limbs at last, and brought with it a needling pain from her inactivity.

"I knew keeping you on was a good move. You can send my compliments along in your next report to Rak'Sakar."

Bellara glanced away, still silent as ever while she helped Kiarna back onto her feet.

"I've known for a while. Quite frankly I don't care if he thinks I need to be spied on. You've shown good potential, one day you'll make a worthwhile sorcerer. Perhaps even the Shadow Hand to the Red Empress when that day comes."

With the concern passed, Bellara nodded with a small smile.

I will make efforts towards that goal then master.

"Good. Not everyone can be at the very top, but some will try anyway. I will need people I can truly count on in order to ensure the stability of the Sith after all. This is a strong step in the right direction for you Bellara."

With drying blood stains down her vest and coat, Kiarna slowly began to walk at last, gradually overcoming the pain racking her body while Bellara moved by her side in silence. There was no good way to tell if the mental block had worn off yet, so she would have to avoid a physical conflict with Maarani for the time being.

Carudan flying the ship on the other hand would have no such issue in taking her, Jayden and any others with her down.


Maarani had only just obtained the gyro when the warning from Dana came through. And from there, she had just mere minutes to reach the alleyway leading to The Watcher's place before she noticed heavily armed people beginning to roam the streets. Her rush to get the gyro by undoing her cloak and making her breasts bounce for show felt far less sickening now that she knew it had saved her from certain death.

It also meant lugging a heavy piece of machinery through treacherous alleyways with only a thin layer of cloth between the beads dancing around her body and all those she passed. Worse, she also had no protection from the perpetually drugged air in the outer room, and was barely able to make her intent known to the Gamorrean before nearly fainting from inhalation.

The gyro she lugged into a corner almost immediately on arriving at The Watcher's room again. With her hands free, she took hold of the table to brace herself against the incoming coughing fit to clear her lungs out.

She did her best to get over it as soon as The Watcher herself came out from behind the curtain.

"My friends are in trouble. Dana said to come to you for help. Now I'd better not get some bullshit reason why you can't, because there is no way I'm fighting off the Hidden Hand's people that took down two Jedi alone."

The Watcher stifled back a sigh. "That isn't how I'd describe the reason, but there is definitely a reason. And telling you the whole reason would open you up to even more dangers than you already face."

"So still a bullshit reason then."

After raising her hands in defeat, The Watcher once again took her seat, and carefully removed her goggles. "You've heard of Darth Nihilus I assume? My former master while I was still Sith."

It took a while for Maarani to actually catch up to what had been revealed to her, at which point she took took a seat. "You're Visas? Hiding here this whole time?"

"Dana thought my pseudonym was blatantly obvious. Perhaps she was overstating it. But yes, I am the Visas Marr from those stories. And seeing as I've sensed Nihilus' presence on this very planet, going in and saving your friends with the powers at my disposal would completely ruin six years of preparation to prevent his return when there is virtually no chance he would not take notice and prepare himself in turn against anything I throw at him. Does that qualify as a good enough reason to not directly help?"

Maarani tightened her lips, and gave a small nod. "Yeah, I guess planet eating Sith ghost is a lot worse than some nasty guys with guns. I can't leave without them though, and I just don't know how else I'm supposed to fight them at all. I'm still in a bead bikini for crying out loud!"

Visas smirked at that, leaning forward and clasping her fingers under her chin. "I guess this means I'm no longer a 'stupid fucking racist bitch', mm? That is how you put it."

After a sigh of her own, Maarani leaned forward a little as well. "I'm sorry for swearing at you, and calling you that. You were right about Smirged not being like the other Hutts." She sighed again while falling back against her chair. "I really do need help though. The Hidden Hand won't kill them, not Izan anyway, but I have no-one else to ask. There's not even a local security force that'll help out."

"There is one other option that might just be opened to you, with a little help. I can't do much without making my presence known as I stated, but a nudge in the right direction might be all that you need."

"Oh boy, what's involved this time?"

Visas leaned back at last, this time taking her goggles off altogether and running her fingers through her mess of hair. "I've kept track of you since the massacre. I know about your memory blackouts thanks to the powers of perception, and I am almost certain they are the result of contact with a being known as the Lady of Balance."

Maarani nodded ever so slightly. "This wouldn't happen to be the 'Lady' from that riddle, right?"

"Three markings on the face, black, grey and white. That should sound familiar."

"Right, Bastila told me she saw a vision with those markings involved as well. So, is it meant to be balance between dark and light or something? I guess if she's got it painted on her face it's gotta be an obvious meaning or else that's just stupid."

Visas nodded in turn, reaching an arm back to draw a nearby stone to her grasp. "That would be my assumption, yes. I have not been able to make direct contact with her, but I have sensed when she has spoken to others, such as yourself and Azera Vass. In fact, I believe she is speaking with the man in red at this very moment."

She held out the stone to Maarani, who immediately noticed a similarity to the one Bastila had used for their shared meditation.

"Another one of these, huh?"

"The mind stones have proven useful. They have formed in the remains of lightsabers destroyed on the battlefield from time to time, if you were curious about their origin and power." Once it had been passed to Maarani's hand, she rested her own back. "This one is more refined to specifically call on the Lady herself. It hasn't worked for me so far, perhaps she cannot make contact because of my unique attunement with the Force after Katarr. However, I believe for you the effect will be potent enough to contact her without memory loss. She will be able to assist you far more than I can at this time."

"Right, sure. Another ghost to deal with. Maybe my parents can appear and that's the trio of alignments complete."

Maarani clamped her hand around the stone. It had a different feeling to the one she had previously held. As if it were more naturally comfortable there in her hand.

"Anything is possible, Tegama. Your parents were good friends, and while devoted to the light they did have struggles of their own. And the very nature of the light side makes it difficult for the individual to shine through. But put that aside for now. Concentrate, and reach out into the Force as best you can."

With another small nod, Maarani closed her eyes and took a breath. "Wait, you said she was talking with the 'man in red' before. Do I have to wait in line to get that chat or what?"

While she didn't see it, Visas turned her head around just slightly, reaching out with her senses to the flow of the city. "It would seem she has concluded her business with him after all. Kiarna is also on the retreat, you will not have to face her yet."

"Great, reminding me that she's here is exactly what I needed to focus."

"Maybe it is, Tegama. Sooner or later you will have to stop her, and that means preparing yourself for the many battles ahead. Regardless of what Sereti told you. Now try focus again."

Maarani grumbled something to herself, but soon took another breath to do just that. Soon, the only thing in her mind was the image of the markings. Light, dark and grey. Parallel to each other, and yet still connected.

She nearly jumped out of her chair when a hand grasped her shoulder from behind. The irony was that when she opened her eyes, the chair itself had vanished, along with the room she had just been in, and Visas herself.

Back on the desolate world that she had seen in all those blocked memories. Face to face with a copy of herself bearing those markings, dressed in grey robes.

"I'm glad to see the Seer has guided you as I hoped. We do not have much time to talk."

For Visas, she had been watching Maarani intently, right up until the moment a rift in the space surrounding her formed and drew her away into a realm beyond. It felt identical to the one she had sensed in Kiarna's presence, thus she was only mildly surprised by the display.

"And another question is answered at last."


When Dana came to, she found herself in the middle of a dusty building that seemed to be welded walls built around a plot of dirt and left at that. Around the upper levels were signs of what had once been machinery, as well as some long gone droid husks. A long scuttled factory that had been picked clean by the local populace since.

"Boy, as if the Hidden Hand weren't run-of-the-mill enough, they've even got a run down place to hold people hostage in."

"Probably lots of places like this on Ketaris.

Izan was directly to her left, straining against the cuffs holding him to the support post of the roof above a few times before giving up. Jayden was to his left in nearly identical bindings that kept her upright.

With little choice, Dana gradually contorted her arms around to get a better look at the cuffs themselves, making use of her unique cartilage skeletal system. There was a great sigh of disappointment when she twisted them into view.

"Resin. Well, great. They weren't sloppy in that regard."

After craning her neck more, she could see Jayden was also in resin coated cuffs. There were several more binding her ankles and neck to the post, enough to fully isolate her from any use of the Force. She could feel the same pattern on her own body.

"So, I guess Zariba told them about Jayden, how else would they know?"

Izan did his best to shrug, almost a little disappointed that he was treated as far less of a threat based on how minimal his restraints were. "I could hear her ranting about you. Either she was calling you a witch, or a bitch I'm not sure."

Dana kept tight lipped about that. There was no possible way Zariba of all people could recognize what she really was. Not when the Jedi had been meticulous with erasing records outside those they controlled explicitly.

"Doesn't matter at this point. They've got our lightsabers, your weapons, and all the earpieces and communicators. I can't even try to contact Teegs telepathically with this on my head. The best we can do is hold tight against whatever they plan to do with us. And pray that The Watcher can do something to help."

"Right, pray for help. Very reassuring."

"Oh shut up. Better than doing literally nothing. And don't say that's the same thing or I will break your nose when we get out of this."

"Hey, I believed in the Force when Maarani jackknife turned a freaking explorer ship into the engines of a Hammerhead cruiser! She's the one with theist issues if anything!"


"Yeah, this is pretty much what I remember. Sort of." After Maarani was done looking around, she turned her attention back to the Lady of Balance. "Am I just going to forget all this? I assume I'm just slumped on the table in front of Visas right now."

The Lady smiled at that, her white marking taking on a faint glow. "Ketaris is one of many sites in the galaxy where the barriers between the material and the Force are thin. Felucia and Dathomir are light and dark thin places respectively. This is something of a more neutral region, rather fitting to the political climate of the material might I say."

"Uh, right… That's really convenient, and a little heavy on the explaining. Actually come to think of it you didn't really answer the question."

"You're thinking that's typical of 'wise' people right now then. That they disperse information by making people work things out for themselves." The glow from her white mark faded down again, her smile softening back as well. "I simply forgot that you are actually here in physical form, the time dilation of your perception is no longer in effect."

Maarani reached up to her head, as it was beginning to throb. "And now I'm completely lost again. Sort of. All I got was 'this dream place is actually real somehow'."

The Lady nodded in a slow, almost graceful way that looked too nice to be done by a version of herself.

"Oh great. Great, this isn't really what I had in mind for asking for your help in getting my friends back. I really don't make social calls, if that's what you think this is."

"I was hoping you would finally remember everything I have shown you, but since that isn't the case I'll get right to it."

The Lady gestured her hand, and within moments the environment around them began to change, taking them to other places on the same desolate world without any cohesive sense of movement. This time they were on top of a cliff, at the point of which a rift began to open on the Lady's prompting.

"You will arrive in your ship, Maarani. Blasters will not serve you much longer, it is time for you to truly begin your training as a Jedi. And that starts with finishing what was started when we first spoke."

Maarani looked at the rift with a note of suspicion, as it was inconveniently placed right at the cliff edge. And she was still probably stupid enough to step through it anyway.

"I walk through that, and I move across physical space? I know Masaka can move at incredible speeds, but… teleportation? How does the Force even do that?"

The Lady motioned her towards the rift again, her smile remaining.

"This realm is not the Force itself. It lies somewhere between. When it appears in the physical realm, most refer to it as warped space. It is a rather inaccurate term, in that it fails to truly encapsulate the magnitude of potential offered by the result of incredible energies interacting in catastrophic ways to create unpredictably destructive and yet wonderful results."

"Now my head really hurts! None of that makes sense!"

At that, the Lady rolled her eyes.

"This realm expands when the Force has been damaged by the actions of the material. Malachor V is the most recent example. Your sister has knowledge of passing through it using the rifts, as did the Rakata, and the Kwa before them."

She motioned again for Maarani to step into the rift at last.

Maarani was about to do just that when one lingering question occurred to her again. This was the one chance to ask it.

"Azera Vass. How do I find her? How do I save her?"

"It is not the time for that, Maarani. Both of you have your own trials to face in the coming weeks. Only then will you be united with her. Trust in the Force. Construct your lightsaber, save your friends, and do not give in to darkness!"

Those things Maarani could make sense of at least. With one small nod, she turned back and stepped through the rift at last.


Cecile had barely escaped being shot to pieces by the intruders on board the ship by wholeheartedly insisting she was only a harmless childcare droid turned mechanic that only wished to ensure the ship was repaired and ready to depart on return of the others, followed up by a solemn assurance she never wished to see her blue skinned mistress again.

All said while four blaster pistols were primed right inside the convenient compartments of her arms, and a combat protocol package stood ready to shoot every one of those intruders if it proved necessary.

She very nearly put them to use when the blue mistress herself materialized out of the very air beside her and caused her to scream in terror. The perplexing question of how she was capable of experiencing terror was what saved Maarani from becoming Twi'lek roast.

"Fucking hell it actually worked!"

Maarani grabbed onto Cecile's shoulders in a moment of joy, shaking the droid about while she wailed in agony about being molested by the Twi'lek as she had long expected.

"Cecile! I just went from several blocks away to here through a magic realm of bullshit physics! Isn't that amazing!?"

"Angry blue woman who is my owner, could you please restrain your urge to use me for those degrading acts that you are clearly about to engage in?"

"Sorry…" She released her hold at last, looking Cecile over for a few seconds before diving in again for a proper hug. "You can call me Mistress, or whatever you want, okay? I'm sorry I keep giving you shit when you're just trying to help. I'm still trying to get better, and I forget some droids have feelings too."

"I still do not know why that is the case with me. Especially when that Mirialan girl was pulling out my insides. Truly unnerving." Her eyes flickered when Maarani released her again. Only then did she notice exactly what she was wearing. "You still insist you are not like the Twi'lek I am supposedly racist for making assumptions about."

"It's a disguise, Cecile. But you know what? If anyone's offended by what you say, they can fuck off or get over it."

"Mistress Maarani, your continued use of vulgar language is quite disturbing. Mistress Dana was very insistent that I not use it."

After another small smile, Maarani gave a belated shrug. "I'll stop swearing when I become a Jedi, until then I'm uninhibited anyway."

"I see. Well, in any case, I am sure you would like to know that the ship is almost fully repaired. All I require is that rotational gyrocomplex motivatior you said you would get."

Maarani's whole face dropped at that moment.

"Oh, shit."

To the surprise of both, a smaller rift opened at their feet. From it rolled out the gyro in question.

"Huh. So it moves objects as well as people? Maybe there's a reason to not kill my sister after all. Think of the potential to be had if we extract this knowledge from her brain!"

"I am trying not to think of that, Mistress Maarani."

"Okay, fine. Fix the ship, I gotta build a lightsaber and come up with a plan to save the others. I'm sure I'll think of something."

She turned back into the corridor outside the engine room, and made it all of five steps before nearly running straight into a guard leaning in one of the hallways. Fortunately for her, she was a much faster draw, grabbing the holdout blaster wedged in against her hip and firing off five blasts in succession. For once, military training in identifying energy shields had just saved her life in ensuring he had no time to respond.

"Was that shooting inside? What's going on?"

Again, Maarani was left in a feeling of horror at things taking a bad turn.

She bolted for the workshop as soon as she heard footsteps coming up the ramp. A few blaster shots hit the bulkhead on the trailing end of her cloak right before she clambered inside the cluttered room and shoved the door closed, quickly locking it.

"Right, build a lightsaber, don't get shot."

"In here! She's in the work room!"

Panic was starting to rise by the time she reached the table itself, her incomplete lightsaber having rolled up into the corner from the rough descent. More worryingly, the parts she had laid out beside it had been thrown off the surface altogether into the mess surrounding the table itself.

Those outside began to pound at the door. At any moment, they would resort to cutting it open.

"Shit! Shit!"

Her cloak was nearly ripped at the cords around her neck before she knelt down to begin scrambling through the mess of junk parts that had still gone unsorted, something she was regretting more than ever.

"Blast the door!"

The first thud of a blaster shot echoed into the room when she found the focusing lens and smacked on the table.

"Go away! I'm not worth it!"

A second blast, then a third. The energy cell was lobbed up to land with a painful smack of metal on metal.

One of the hinges began to groan. With a panicked hiss, she grabbed the tube that she had previously cut to size to make up the rest of the casing and finally stood back up. Everything was there, the original construct, her shoddy attempt at metalwork, and the 'special' parts from Dantooine that she hoped very desperately weren't about to turn out as duds on her.

The next blaster shot broke the upper hinge altogether, causing the door to groan more as they began pushing it inward.

"Last chance! Leave now or you get it!"

Her hands were shaking as she hurriedly shoved the pieces into place, fingers desperately trying to complete all the necessary wiring and circuitry.

The middle hinge blew off. At any moment, the door would crash down and she would be dead.

The lens slid into place above her red crystal. Lower cover clicking back up, the new upper cover slotting down over the top.

She whipped around with the lightsaber itself in both hands, finger on the button, praying so desperately that it would work in the moment she needed it to.

The door came down.

With the best battle cry she could muster, she squeezed down and charged forward with a sweeping attack.

Blaster shots went all around. Two humans and a Quarren fell to the ground in several pieces each, cut very haphazardly by the blazing red lightsaber in Maarani's hands that tore right through their energy shields.

When the moment of panic passed, she began to laugh hysterically.

"Hah… I'm a Jedi now. With a red fucking lightsaber. That kills people so easily. This is so wrong."

After retrieving her cloak yet again, she carefully stepped over the bodies of those she had just butchered to make her way back to the engine room. By then, Cecile had gotten well under way with finalizing repairs.

"There might be more that come to the ship. Do what you can to keep it clear, we're gonna need to make a very fast escape at this rate."

"I will keep that in my memory banks, Mistress Maarani!"

Maarani nodded at that. With a moment to think, she looked at the cloak again, then twisted it around to instead tie around her waist as an open cut skirt. While it left her chest and back exposed, that was no longer as significant as keeping the rest of her at least somewhat covered up.

"Did they take those portable shield generators? The shoulder strap ones?"

Cecile pulled her head back out of the compartment to make a shrug with her upper arms. "I do not believe so."

With a wide grin, Maarani dashed back to the weapon locker itself.

"Great, I think I know how I'm gonna get them all back." She threw open the locker, finding the shield generators all neatly lined up as she had expected. Surprisingly, both Dana's and Jayden's lightsabers were waiting there as well, as well as Izan's blasters and her own sidearm.

"Guess they didn't want them coming back for these after I got offed. Dumbasses."

She clipped the lightsabers to her respective hips after wrapping two generators around each arm, keeping her own lightsaber in hand while she made her way over to the ramp. Izan's blaster tucked in underneath the tie of her cloak-turned-skirt.

"Just follow the bodies as they come, they'll lead right to them. Not too hard."

With the back of her left hand, she slapped one of the generators on her right, shivering slightly at the hum of energy encompassing her body.

"Time to work on that battle cry."


"Jayden stop. You're going to cut your hands off if you do that for much longer."

Jayden gave one last yell before finally relenting, her wrists bruised from how much pressure she had put towards breaking the cuffs holding her back. Without the strength she could project with the Force, she was only really as strong as any other human Jedi woman could be of their own merit.

"I hate being useless like this."

"Yeah, I hate being useless too. And just because I hang out at bars and do nothing doesn't mean I'm useless while I do that."

"Yes very comforting Izan. Leave the consolation and reassurances to someone who actually knows what they're doing."

"Oh, I'm sorry that not everyone gets to be a Jedi and have free access to academic training on things such as how to win any argument automatically."

"Are you really still bothered by that? All I pointed out was that you had unfair expectations of a cousin you barely even know!"

In the midst of the argument between Dana and Izan, Jayden had turned her attention to the walkway above where the two guards were watching them, clearly just as bothered by the pettiness of it as she was.

"Oh for crying out loud would you both shut up?"

Dana muttered something under her breath, but eventually did just that after Izan made a fuss about being quiet.

In the moments of silence that followed, they all began to hear a distant sound. The guards also became aware of it.

A woman yelling, and as she drew closer, the sound of blaster shots and a lightsaber discharge.

"Oh no, what the hell is she doing…"

Right as the two guards moved to the nearby door to investigate, Maarani burst through and cut them down with a flurry of fierce strikes, sending sparks everywhere as she also cut through most of the railing in her attack. She slapped her shoulder again to deploy another shield charge before realizing there were no other guards in the immediate area.

"Uh, right. I finished my lightsaber? And I just wasted another charge, man these things run out quick."

"Great to hear. Mind cutting us free when you're done complaining?"

Maarani finally sheathed her lightsaber on her way to the nearest ladder, and did her best to climb down while keeping it in hand. "Izan, if you're closing your eyes now then you're missing out. Right now I really don't care what anyone sees of me anymore."

Dana glanced over to her left, sighing a little to see that Izan had indeed averted his eyes. "I don't understand you two sometimes, and that should say a lot."

Not long after, Maarani reactivated her lightsaber to carefully cut open the cuffs holding Dana to the support beam, handing her weapon over when she was ready. "They left them on the ship for whatever reason. I don't think they're the brightest and best that Seradan has to throw at us after all."

"They took down two Jedi. Maybe they got overconfident."

A volley of blaster shots from above interrupted their exchange. This time Dana was ready with her lightsaber, deflecting them away while Maarani worked to free Izan and Jayden in turn.

At the former, she leaned in closer to whisper to him over the sounds of battle. "Izan, take your blaster, get to the ship and fly it over here. Cecile should be done by now, and I'll be much better off here to keep them distracted."

He bolted for cover as soon as he was free, allowing Dana to move across and protect Jayden until she too was able to join the fray with her own lightsaber in hand.

For the first time, Maarani felt truly confident when she moved up beside them both, her own red blade raised high. "Come and take us you stupid idiots! I'll kill all of you!"

"Teegs, dial back the 'murder everyone' tone."

"I'll cripple all of you! Maybe Seradan can go bankrupt paying for medical fees!"


Izan had barely needed to fire his blaster at all on the way back to the Distant Star. As predicted by Maarani, the ground forces were rather more intent on seeing her dead than trying to apprehend him, and those few that did take notice were a lot easier to take down from more secure locations.

"Cecile! That engine had better be ready to go!"

In his hurry to the cockpit, he nearly collided with the droid herself, bustling past and launching himself into the seat with enough weight to make it shake violently.

"Where are the Mistresses?"

"We fly over to them, much safer than making them run across the city. We good to go?"

"The ship itself is fully functional, however, might I express concerns about your piloting skills?"

"This is how Maarani wanted it. Here we go."

After a very hasty take-off sequence, he brought the boarding ramp up temporarily, causing an alert to flash while the ship began to rise up. He had to clench his teeth down when the sound grew louder, the light more intrusive as they began to orientate towards the building itself.

"Here's hoping they know what to do, she forgot to hand back the other earpieces."

With the building in view ahead of them, he began to accelerate the Distant Star forward.

"How do you plan on landing the ship outside a spaceport?"

"I'm not going to land."

"Then how will they get in?"

Izan pushed the acceleration more. "They can jump. Hold on tight!"

He tried not to turn his head away, or even close his eyes as the outer walkways of the building came into view. Right before impact, he switched the engines to deceleration, adding extra stopping power to the ship as it smashed right through all the welded metal panels and beams with devastating force, as well as some Hidden Hand agents that matted the hull with their innards.

Outside, Maarani was on the verge of exploding in more expletives at the sight of her ship being flown right through so much heavy metal, stopped only by a very disapproving glare from Dana.

"Not the time Teegs!"

As soon as the ramp came back down, Jayden sheathed her lightsaber and physically grabbed Maarani by the waist to hurl her up onto the thin platform extending from it.

The impact had taken out the rest of the attackers, giving the two Jedi time enough to ready themselves for the physics defying jump up to the ramp itself.

Maarani had immediately stormed around to the cockpit and grabbed Izan by the shoulders of his jacket to pull him out of the pilot's seat.

"I don't even want to think about how many scratches you put on the hull!"

"Scratches? You nearly burned the hull off with that stunt on Telos for crying out loud!"

Dana and Jayden soon moved into the rear seats as they had often done, leaving Cecile to occupy the walkway out while she held on for dear life.

"This is the last time you get to smash my ship through a building! Now hold onto something while I get us back out!"

Several loud sounds of groaning, twisting and scraping metal rang through the ship as the Distant Star forced itself to turn inside the confined space, bringing more of the building down before it finally flew free of the wreckage.

"Right, finally. Now we get out of here before Kiarna finally catches up."

"Or the Hidden Hand scramble fighters."

The proximity alert flared up right before a volley of heavy blaster shots struck the hull. In the fast spin around, all five of them caught sight of a much larger white ship bearing down on them.

Jayden was the only one to properly recognize it. "Hey, that's Azera's ship! What the hell is she doing here?"

"Probably has her husband flying Kiarna around. I guess this is what the Lady of Balance meant about not trying to tangle with either of them just yet."

Maarani pushed down on the acceleration again to create some distance between the Distant Star and the Vastes, only for a group of fighters to make their appearance on the scanner.

"Great, they were quick on that for once."

"Maarani, get Azera on the holocom. We can try talk her out of attacking."

"I'm trying to fly us out of a death trap here!"

Having been left completely lost as to who was who in the conversation, all Izan could do was switch on the holocom for Jayden and hope that anything they said would explain more.

"Azera, Azera it's Jayden. Get Kiarna to back off, Maarani and I would both very much appreciate that!"

At first, there was no visual response, only an audio one from Azera.

"For what it's worth Jayden, I'm sorry it came to this. I have my orders."

While Maarani swerved to avoid a trio of fighters moving to cut them off from a hyperspace jump, the hologram finally flickered up with Kiarna's appearance.

"Maarani! I know what you did to my friend! Everyone on that ship is dead when I get there!"

"Hey fuck you too Kiarna! I'm leaving you alive long enough to rub these in your face when I put you down like the schutta you are!"

Another volley of blaster shots struck the rear hulls of the Distant Star, the engine itself thankfully better protected by the ship's shields. It was enough of an impact to free Dana's hand from her face after having had to picture exactly what Maarani meant with her insult.

Izan had again tried not to think about it much, instead focusing on maintaining control of the blaster turrets in an effort to help clear a way out of the planet's atmosphere.

"I'm getting a really bad feeling about this."

"Izan, don't say it. Don't fucking say it. The next thing you know-"

At that moment, a Hammerhead cruiser descended from the upper atmosphere in front of them. It was heavily armed, and on a direct course for them.

Maarani and Dana recognized that as the HK-50's cruiser. The former immediately began to frantically slap Izan about with her right hand.

"You said it! You fucking said it and now this happens! You just had to go and challenge the universe to make things even worse for us!"

This time, Izan was alone in defending himself from the physical assault while barely getting out hurried apologies and simultaneously spraying blaster fire at the air around them on the off chance it managed to hit one of the Hidden Hand fighters.


"Bit of a risk doing both voices back to back like that, dear wife."

Kiarna was too frustrated to flip Carudan off for that, instead focusing her attention on establishing the tracer lock on the Distant Star itself. "At this point it doesn't matter. If they are in fact smart enough to figure it out, I'll be killing them all soon anyway. Just make the attack look convincing, I'm almost done."

He grinned in response, doing his best to keep the much larger ship at a good distance from their target. "Better hope Jayden didn't find out your mother's name. It'd be rather disappointing if you have the lightsaber to her neck only for that handy trick to come out again. Maybe if you had told me about your secret boyfriend beforehand-"

"Oh will you shut up! Zimorr is a psychopath, Maarani is not my soulmate, and we are in absolutely no kind of relationship! Enough!"

Further ahead, beyond the Distant Star itself emerged a Hammerhead cruiser. They too recognized it from the attack on Dalchon.

"Oh good, they've shown up to the party as well. Maybe they'll destroy the Distant Star for us."

"I doubt that. But it's time for us to go anyway, tracker is set."

"Fine. I'm looking forward to the personal encounter anyway."


Between running dangerously low to the building height of the city, and dodging the long range shells of the HK-50 cruiser that was subsequently destroying the city itself, the sight of the Vastes backing off and eventually leaving sensor range altogether was too welcome an event to question with suspicion.

"Okay, anytime now spring a brilliant plan involving the Force on me Jayden. If you wanna climb up on the hull and punch that cruiser to pieces I think I can handle that."

"I really doubt I could muster that much concentrated Force energy to punch the cruiser itself without being completely swept off the ship thank you very much. Also how did that even occur to you as an idea?"

"I have stupid ideas!"

Maarani swerved the ship again to avoid another near miss with the fighters that were still very much flying around intact. After her brief assault on Izan for daring to make things worse, her arm was too sore to berate him for not actually hitting anything.

In the midst of it, Dana was still running through thoughts and plans of her own. "Alright, so same problem as Telos I assume? The HK-50s will project where we exit hyperspace, and even with improved shields we'll just end up with the exact same problem of how to escape them when the hyperdrive recharges."

"Can't suicide skim again if that's what you're thinking. The HKs will have prepared for that for one, and the other is that this really nauseating flying is the only thing keeping those fighters from tearing us to shreds. I think these guys are actually expert pilots and just happen to suck in ground situations. Or I killed all the non-pilots. I don't know how to deal with them either yet."

The next plasma shell struck the hull on a low angle, causing the ship to violently shake for a few seconds until she recovered from the impact and changed course again.

"Alright, how else do we get out of this? "

"Why are you asking me that? This is what I meant by Jayden coming up with some special plan involving the Force that magically gets us out of this increasingly bad situation."

"Maybe if Izan has another bad feeling we can get Darth Lasidia to show up and change the whole playfield."

"That is not helping!"

"Then I can have yet another bad feeling and summon Darth Malak back from the dead with a new Star Forge and fleet pouring out of it. Then Dana can have a bad feeling to turn 'Miko the Space Dragon' from that kid's story into a star-eating reality."

"I hate you all!"

"Mistress? Might I propose something?"

"You don't get to have a bad feeling too Cecile!"

Another hard impact on the ship got everyone to quiet down enough for the droid to make herself heard properly.

"Republic cruisers, they use a standardized scanning system, correct?"

Maarani swore to herself. "Yeah sure. The HKs would've upgraded theirs though to something high powered, hence the whole issue to begin with."

"Then perhaps it is in fact possible to create a blind spot from which to enter hyperspace if their sensors are not properly buffered."

The other four were silent for several seconds, leaving the ominous sound of continued weapon fire striking the hull to echo about, until Maarani broke out in laughter again.

"Cecile, clean yourself up, I'm gonna kiss you when we get out of this."

"Oh great Maker show me mercy!"

After banking the ship yet again, Maarani began putting the new plan into action. "Izan lock turrets to forward firing, maximum refraction. Jayden, reach around and adjust the shield intensity to fore and aft sections. The armor can handle the rest."

"I'm not sure I like where this is going."

"Trust me, it'll work. I've never done anything like this before so it's bound to turn out fine."

Once it was all set, she deepened the banking angle to bring the Distant Star around on a direct course to the Hammerhead, then locked in a direct path. As expected, the fighters began to form up an attack from behind now that they had a constant angle to fire on.

"Alright, hold on, this is going to get very hairy before you know it!"

Blaster fire was striking them from behind. Plasma blasts dispersed across the shielding directly in front. When the turrets blared into life, there was a haze of energy forming between them and the cruiser.

"Five hundred metres. Four hundred. Three hundred."

"Keep firing."

"Two fifty. Two hundred. One fifty. One hundred."

"Brace yourselves."

"Fifty metres to impact!"

At that moment, Maarani once again pushed the Distant Star into pulling off a jackknife turn, the forward momentum carrying them within less than ten metres of the cruiser hull before flying off on a completely different vector, a haze of energized air obscuring the sensors as expected, and leaving every one of the Hidden Hand fighters to escape the barrage of autocannons now locking onto them from the cruiser itself.

As soon as the calculations were set, the Distant Star shot off into hyperspace, with no sign of pursuit from either the HK-50s or the Vastes waiting in orbit above.


It was hours before anyone felt like speaking to each other again. Not because they were upset, but rather that the whole ordeal had been thoroughly exhausting as a whole.

Izan had actually fallen asleep at the controls after they left hyperspace. Maarani had gone back to her quarters to actually try meditation despite her previous problems with doing so on spacecraft. After Jayden had made her nightly call to Qoso, currently stationed back on Mandalore itself for once, she had begun the necessary process of cleaning up what was formerly Zariba's room. Dana spent that entire time lying on her bunk in deep contemplation, questioning how a droid out of all of them had just come up with such a successful escape plan.

Cecile herself had decided to use the opportunity to make a post-combat examination of the ship as a whole, grateful above all else that she had in fact been spared the kiss she dreaded so much.

Occasionally, her pottering about the ship earned a bothered groan from whichever of the three female crew members she happened to be passing by at the time, while the most she got from Izan was a snore that offended her aural sensors more than Zaalbar's speech patterns.

Several more hours passed before the others all seemed to congregate in the common room of their own accord. Surprisingly, Dana was actually the last one there for a change, finding a bulkhead to lean against.

When no-one else spoke up, Maarani took the opportunity fully. "Well, normally I'd say we're damn lucky the HK-50s didn't deploy on the ground, and that for whatever reason Kiarna didn't come after us when you were all captured. But, having walked through an entirely different realm and spoken with a Force entity that seems to be looking out for me, I'd say this has gone well beyond luck, and beyond coincidences."

She looked to each of the four others in turn, none of which seemed to have much else to say at that point.

"I guess I'm saying that this isn't about my own stupid ideas anymore. We're getting pushed towards something a lot bigger. I don't know if the Lady of Balance is the one doing the pushing, if she's the 'something bigger', or she's just as much a small piece of this mess as we are." Still no word from the others. She used that pause to take a much needed breath. "I don't like the idea that everything is starting to revolve around me. If there's something big and heroic that has to be done, I'm just not sure the Force picked the right person. Revan didn't kidnap people on his turnaround, Surik didn't beat innocent civilians to death. And I'm sure there's a long line of much better people than I could ever possibly be that also got to do the big heroic crap and be the centre of attention."

At last, Dana felt confident enough to make herself heard. "Keeping in mind that both of them were responsible for millions of deaths among the Mandalorians and their own Republic soldiers before Revan even fell to the dark side to begin with. Teegs, if you think you're not actually worthy of doing heroic deeds because of what happened on Mirial, and with Zariba and Aiyek, I think you're missing the entire point of what making things right means."

Jayden followed soon after. "I wasn't sure of what to make of you when we first met. Now that I've had proper time to get to know you, see you in action and what choices you make, I'll be damned myself if you don't end up becoming the talk of legends. I don't mean for living through an encounter with the White Terror, or for whistleblowing about Mirial. You're not afraid of being who you are, and you're not afraid of doing the absurd to save others. I guess soon we're going to find out what takes you from a strong person to a strong legend."

The attention drifted over to Izan, who once again felt woefully inadequate. "Well, what am I supposed to say after that? Apart from this feeling a little repetitive?" His weak smile died as quickly as it formed. "If I get a footnote in history as a drunk who tagged along at some point, that's good enough for me. I don't know of many nobodies with no powers and no real ability who get involved with big galactic heroics and don't end up making babies along the way. Guess I get to be unique at last."

After they all looked at Cecile, who folded all four of her arms in silence, Maarani cracked a smile of her own and glanced down.

"Maybe we're all getting ahead of ourselves with writing our own statue plaques. There's no way I'm gonna convince Seradan to back off now that the only chip on the table is gone. Kiarna hates me even more, and since she probably knows about the conversation with Azera by now she's got one to hold over me. We still don't know what the HK-50s want with me, I don't know how to contact the Lady of Balance again without losing memory of it all anyway, and Visas is busy preparing for her own big fight. All in all, without actually knowing where to directly go from here, it's actually a rather grim road ahead."

"At least we now know you've got a guardian being watching out for you Teegs. That's something good, right?"

Maarani sighed at last, letting herself recline back into the seat. "I suppose I do. I suppose I really do."