So, how do you start a chapter when the last one ended with the two main characters falling into a Force Unleashed II style near-endless abyss? I'm not entirely sure what the correct way is but, here's my attempt.

Secrets of The Outer Rim.

Act III.

The Hunters and The Hunted.

Chapter XXXVII.

The Secret Revealed.


"Phanza!" I shouted out as the floor gave way and we fell into the clouds of Cato Neimoidia. The bridge cities were anchored on two mountain peaks, but otherwise seemed to be rising from the clouds, and that meant I had no idea what was awaiting me at the bottom. Would I get impaled on an obscured mountain peak? Would I splatter on the rocky ground of some valley below? Or would I pass out long before I found out what gruesome fate awaited me once I stopped falling? I didn't know, all I knew is that the city was rapidly disappearing from sight as we passed even the lowest bottoms of the buildings of this particular city.

It all happened so fast. Exiim Abarghe revealed himself to be the lead hunter, implied that Palpatine repeatedly resurrects him with whatever that technology is that protrudes along the side of his neck and makes his eyes glow green, Phanza threatened him, knowing he was dangerous and knew too much, but then he triggered his trap, opening the floor below us and sending us falling. Presumably now he was going to make his escape, but to where, why, and with what ship? What about Schweva, Yevenna, and HK-107? What was going to happen to them? Not to mention the other two hunters: who are they and, perhaps more pressingly, where are they right now? Perhaps our allies who went up are walking into an ambush of their own. None of this was good. We thought this was the right strategy, we thought we were finally making some real progress and getting one over the Empire, but, in just a few words from Exiim Abarghe, the hunter managed to rip it all down, making it seem like we played directly into the Empire's hands. Perhaps we did, perhaps we gave the Emperor the justification he needed to introduce the new Stormtrooper Army, perhaps we will form the exact kind of useful scapegoat Palpatine needs to build his Star Destroyers, detention facilities, and every other conceivable instrument of authoritarianism. Maybe we lost before we even started and this was how it was always going to end - the two of us helplessly falling to our deaths with no idea of what's about to happen to our friends and allies fortunate or unfortunate enough to not share in this fate.

"Wurrathu! Track our current position and intercept! Quickly!" Phanza barked into the comlink, not quite sinking into hopelessness like I was, but I wasn't sure if her solution was going to work out for us. We don't know what we're free-falling into and we're just two people, Admiral Wurrathu is flying a separatist shuttle and will have to go in blind below us in an attempt to catch us, this could easily end in disaster. Disastrous possibility or not, I saw the shuttle enter my line of view as the Chiss pilot turned admiral sped up, coming even with us and then dropping beneath Phanza. I watched as the Nautolan woman tore her coat open, trying to use the fabric like a parachute, it wasn't exactly effective, but I suppose anything to soften the landing helps when you're falling onto a moving starship. Phanza hit the shuttle with a thud but managed to grab on, grabbing at a panel and holding on for dear life as Wurrathu went to catch me next. The Chiss Admiral would be able to slow down and calm things down once she caught us both, but for now, things were hardly easy.

I tried to do what Phanza did and slow myself down before impact, but I guess either I misjudged my speed or Wurrathu misjudged the angle ever so slightly, because I hit a curved part of roof at the front of the shuttle. A painful shock tore through my body but the speed of the shuttle kept me rolling forward onto the top. I managed to compose myself and turned back onto my stomach, desperately reaching out with my hands, trying to grab anything and everything as I found myself sliding down the length of the ship, especially as Wurrathu had no choice but to angle the ship upwards to avoid the mountain. My hands slid past flush sealed panel lines and nonexistent gaps as I failed to grab anything, growing more desperate by the moment as I knew that, from this angle, it would take some maneuvering for Wurrathu to line me up again, maneuvering which will be hard to do with Phanza holding onto the roof. I felt my feet in the open air again as my body began to slip away from the ship, and I started even having push myself off the ship to avoid the flames from the boosters. Just as I thought that I wouldn't have any connection left to the ship I felt a red arm reach out and grab me, pulling me in.

"Argh!" Phanza shouted out in pain and she used one arm to hold onto the ship and the other arm grasping at me, both utter death grips as she used the Force to tighten her holds, not exactly having much choice as Wurrathu went near vertical now that we were secure. At the same time, however, she did slow down to at least decrease some of the forces acting against us. For a naive little moment, I almost thought that we were safe now, that the worst was over with, but then, while looking back up towards the city, I saw that the trap door in the floor was still open. Then I saw the rockets coming: Exiim Abarghe must have been watching us and, once we survived, he unleashed a barrage of rockets to finish the job.

"Hold on! I have to maneuver!" Wurrathu cried out through the coms, having no choice but to speed up and pursue fast, unexpected maneuvers - these rockets seemed to have some sort of homing ability, as if that wasn't bad enough - exactly the kind of thing that made this situation hellish for Phanza and I. For a moment, Phanza pulled my up close enough that I could grip the panel myself, but then I was caught off guard by a hard swerve to the left as a rocket narrowly missed us, flying mere feet away from Phanza and I, that left me holding onto Phanza waist with both hands, lacking a better grip on this. I nearly pulled Phanza off the shuttle as well in the process, especially as Wurrathu dodged another missile, so, in a calm moment, we switched to me holding onto Phanza's hand again, not exactly a secure or comfortable grip, but it seemed like the best option right now, especially as further evasive maneuvers seriously made me question if I would've been able to hold onto that panel as tightly as Phanza is to begin with. The last rocket sailed past us, passing underneath the shuttle thanks to some good timing and a little bit of luck from the Chiss Admiral. A moment of calm once again hit us, but then, when I looked down, I saw the rockets circling back up. A few ran out of room and hit the mountains on either side, one even disappeared below the clouds and looked to explode, but three or four rockets out of perhaps ten from the original barrage managed to curve around and were now coming back to us. Wurrathu would have to dodge them again, and she would have to dodge them without having a full cockpit window for a full visual - she'd have nothing but cameras and maybe some help from us to know where to dodge. Things were about to get a whole lot worse.

Phanza flew into the city, dodging as fast as the separatist shuttle could, flying back and forth between the towers, hoping to lose the homing missiles. Perhaps if I wasn't, you know, holding on for dear life and screaming during all of it, I would've stopped to consider the moral implications of using civilian buildings as cover in an attempt to escape homing missiles, but even I wasn't moralizing enough to do that during this situation. So, when one of the missiles hit a low-hanging tower and exploded, I wasn't thinking about who or what may have been inside, rather, I was simply grateful that there was one less missile following us. Now there were only three deadly explosives coming after us rather than four. We could have turned that to zero relatively easily with the Force, but relatively easily with the Force assumes solid footing and the ability to concentrate on a very specific thing, something which isn't easy for me when I'm hanging onto Phanza's hand like a lifeline, and something which isn't easy for Phanza when she's holding onto the ship with one hand and me with the other. Nevertheless, I tried anyway, using the Force to throw one of the missiles off course. I threw it down and to the right, which was apparently enough to make it lose its lock and fly off in a straight line on the angle I sent it. Okay, I found somewhat of a solution, now to just apply it to the final two missiles. That was the idea anyway, I never got the chance to actually try it out because, the next thing I knew, we made a very sharp, very sudden turn.

"Zaliza!" Phanza shouted out as the entire shuttle protested through the turn. Three things then happened in rapid succession. The panel Phanza was holding onto groaned and some rivets came loose, leaving it dangling precariously, still stuck to the shuttle but now much less secure. That led to the second thing, because, between the shock of the turn and Phanza getting thrown back by the panel coming loose on one end, my grip gave way. Finally, I felt myself rip away from the shuttle entire as Phanza lost hold of me and I went flying once again. There would be no free fall for me this time, instead, I was flung onto a circular platform surrounding a building. My body made contact with the surface with a gruesome thud, but then I kept rolling. I tried grabbing, even clawing at the metal to slow myself down as tumbled over and over again down the surface, feeling pain shoot through my arms, my legs, my ribs, and my back, but, honestly, it seemed my body crashing against the platform was going more to slow me down than I could ever hope to do willing. I finally rolled onto my back and slid a little bit more before coming to a stop. I laid there, for a moment, pain throughout my whole body, and simply breathed. I was alive, I hit solid ground, and, for the first time since the trap door was opened in the tower, I stopped moving.

I looked over to my left and immediately recoiled as I realized I was at the very edge of the platform - if I rolled any further I'd be in free fall yet again - so I did my best to scoot away from the edge before trying to stand. I felt my legs protesting almost immediately, but I kept making my way up regardless, knowing I wasn't doing anyone any good by staying here on the ground. It felt like my ribs collapsed against my legs when I got my chest off the ground, but I pushed through that too, and I pushed through the dizziness in my head after rolling down the platform to finally stand. So stand I did, at least until I immediately stumbled and crashed against the wall of the building inside the platform. Realizing that standing on my own was going to be difficult considering what just happened, I instead supported myself on the side of the tower and tried to focus my thoughts. As hard as I could, I tried to send through the message that I was alive and well through the bond, making sure that Phanza new this so she could save herself. "I'm alright, I'm alright, I'm alright! I'm on the side of a tower. I'll find a way to get back to Schweva, HK, and Yevenna. I'm going to make sure they're alright. Just focus on losing those missiles and please, for the sake of the Force, keep a good grip to the shuttle."

"Okay! Be careful. May the Force serve you well." Phanza replied, keeping it rather terse, which was understandable given her predicament, but I had to focus on my own situation right now. I held onto the side of the round tower hanging from the bridge city, going around the circular structure until I found my way to an entrance. I walked up to it but, if there was a motion detector, it wasn't responding to me. I tried to barge my way into the door, but I immediately winced in pain as hitting the unyielding door sent an absolute shock from my entire body. No, brute force wasn't going to work, especially not in my current state. This was the time for precision, therefore, I tapped into the Force and focused in on the locking mechanism inside. I reached out with the Force and felt out for something different in the metal, any of the tell tale signs of a lock, and, once I found that. I quickly located the mechanism proper, raising it and pulling it apart. I finally heard the lock pop open and the door slid up, allowing me to walk inside. I stumbled inside until I crashed into another wall on the right side, holding onto the wall as I approached a staircase going up. If I had been in a better state, paying more attention, perhaps I would have noticed that this building was some sort of maintenance or utility structure, containing a fenced off generator, some computers, and various wires, but that didn't really matter to me, all that mattered was that the building was empty and that the stairs led further up, taking me marginally closer to the tower where all this started.

I climbed up the curved staircase - which, thankfully, was built against the wall, giving me the chance to hold onto it as I made my way up. The curve actually continued for a number of stories, taking me up from this relatively low-hanging tower all the way up to one of the street levels, where circular platforms and bridges connected various towers hanging down from the main bridge superstructure. Some cities on this planet were like this, other cities here on Cato Neimoidia were more conventional, built on top of the bridge rather than below, and a handful of these inverted cities were actually built on natural arches in the mountains of this planet. Cato Neimoidia was a wealthy planet, the problem is the wealth comes from the Trade Federation and the crimes they committed in the Naboo Crisis and then later on when they were playing both sides in the Clone Wars. Nute Gunray and most of the Trade Federation leaders at the time of the Naboo Crisis openly defected to the separatists, knowing that their reputation in the Republic was ruined, but then the current "leadership' of the organization who formally denounced the Viceroy remained in the Galactic Senate, ensuring they profited off the Republic side of the war as well.

Of course, most of that is gone now. Palpatine produced a crisis relatively late into the Clone Wars, seizing control of the galactic banks - maybe Phanza has a point about politicians producing crises for their advancement - and it seems that Viceroy Nute Gunray and the rest of the Separatist leadership was purged at one point or another, but the point remains, massive corruption happened and the result of that corruption of Cato Neimoidia. The bridge arcs across the planet are elegant, and I'm sure some of the views from the penthouses looking out into the clouds are beautiful, but all of that was paid for with war profiteering and blood money, and I find that morally reprehensible. That being said, I can't say the separatist leadership deserved whatever Palpatine did to them. Nute Gunray and all his allies were war criminals, murderers, and monsters who abused the separatist cause for profit and vengeance, but they should have served justice and gone through the firm but fair processes of the Coruscant courts, instead, Palpatine killed them off as a loose end as soon as they were no longer useful. I'm not sure how much I accomplished by thinking of all this, but at least it helped distract me from the pain and the exhaustion as I made my way up four or five stories, coming out onto a larger circular platform and finding my way down a bridge. It wasn't exactly close, but I could see an elevator structure in the distance, one which would hopefully take me all the way up where I could meet up with Schweva, Yevenna Aphlen, and HK-107.

I heard the rockets explode in the distance and it seemed that Phanza and Admiral Wurrathu finally survived the onslaught and flew under the tower from earlier - Lady Attam was apparently trying to go after Exiim Abarghe, but I wasn't sure how much she was going to be able to accomplish here. I wouldn't be surprised if the hunters left this planet as soon as Exiim launched the missiles, seeking to disappear before any consequences could come his way, similar to the stunt they pulled on Raxus Prime with the trap our bounty hunters triggered. Even if they were still here, now that their rocket stunt didn't work out, I doubted they were going to stick around for long enough for this situation to turn against them. That is, unless, the hunters already pulled a second sort of trap with whatever was going on in the tower itself with our three allies. That was all the more reason for me to hurry up and see what was going on up there, but, the problem is, I can't exactly go all the quick in my current condition. Force users do tend to heal quicker, yes, but rolling on a mental surface after getting thrown off a flying starship wasn't exactly a small injury, so, even with enhanced healing, i doubted I was going to be in combat-ready shape any time soon. That being said, as I scrambled down the length of the bridge, I was going as fast as I could in my current condition.

Nevertheless, I made my way to the elevators, having no idea what would await me in the old separatist tower, rising up above the rest of the city, and now being the cover for the new base of the Hunters. Well, I say cover, the tower seems like more of an entrance than anything, the base seemed to take up a large portion of the bridge structure - I'd imagine the trophy room we saw was just one of a number of rooms - but, then again, I haven't been up the tower yet, so I can't say for certain what is up there. Still though, there is only so much that could fit into a relatively small control tower, even if the equipment to actually control battle droids in the field was removed. That being said, perhaps I should spend less energy thinking about the tower, and more energy getting to it.


I reached the top of the bridge structure and tried not to focus on the fact that the pathway I was standing on only had about a foot of a curb on either side and no railing, even as the mountain winds of Cato Neimoidia hit my body hard. That, of course, meant that I had nothing to support myself against, which made walking harder, but maybe I was beginning to heal myself, because, as I walked holding an arm against my pained chest, I seemed to have better balance than I did earlier - or maybe that's just what I told myself to distract myself from the winds as I walked towards the tower. This was a lot more convenient when I had Admiral Wurrathu in a separatist shuttle dropping me off at the tower. I reached up to my ear, trying to use the comlink to contact Schweva or Yevenna, hoping that they could offer me some advanced warning as to what was happening, but, as I reached to my ear, I felt nothing. Then I remembered looking over to the side as I laid on the platform and seeing that infinite drop, that infinite drop right where my ear was...yeah, I'm not contacting anyone right now. I half-considered contacting Phanza through the Force Bond and asking her to contact the trio in the tower, but I stopped myself, not wanting to distract Phanza in the event that she was fighting Exiim Abarghe or chasing him or otherwise had an actual chance of catching him, contrary to my expectations. I would just have to do this without prior warning.

The comlink wasn't the only thing I was missing though, I didn't have my lightsaber either. Again, we didn't know this was the actual base of the hunters, we were merely looking for possibilities based on Imperial behavioral patterns, and we planned on attacking this place with separatist gear. That meant my armament consisted of a blaster rifle, which I had lost during all the chaos following the floor opening up beneath us, and a bog standard separatist blaster pistol, now my only weapon as I neared the lone tower rising up from the bridge with no idea of what to expect. Oh, and all of that is on top of an injury that is going to make it harder for me to focus enough to do anything significant with the Force. Wonderful. Nevertheless, as I neared the entrance, I took a deep breath, composed myself a little bit, stood up straight even as my ribs protested, and held my blaster pistol at the ready as I used my other hand to open the lock mechanism with the Force, doing the same thing I did earlier, though with slightly more practice this time. Time seemed to stand still as the door slid open to reveal Schweva cuffed, collared, and leg-tied on the ground, HK-107 crouched down like a deactivated battle droid with a heavy duty restraining bolt jutting out from his chest, and one of the hunters standing guard, holding a holoprojector of a robed figure - presumably Palpatine - and a blaster pistol in the other hand.

"Now HK!" Schweva called out and then everything moved quickly again. HK-107 leapt off the ground and tackled the hunter, wrestling him to the ground as the holoprojector slid across the floor, Palpatine apparently still watching as I ran across the room to help Schweva. I holstered the blaster pistol as HK seemed to use his mechanical strength to beat the hunter down, smashing his metal fist against the helmet repeatedly, not caring in the slightest as the hunter tried to struggle against him, trying to push him off to little avail. I focused on Schweva though. The collar seemed to have some sort of power-dampening effect, preventing her from simply using the Force to escape, but doing nothing to stop me, hence, I once again used the Force to force the locking mechanism opened. I did the same thing to her cuffs and was about to do the same thing to her legs when she lightly pushed me away and ripped them apart with the Force herself, using raw power to physically shatter the bonds - likely her own anger at getting captured played into this - setting herself free. Meanwhile, the body of the hunter went limp after HK delivered one final bone-crunching punch. The assassin droid rose up, walked over to his blaster rifle, and unloaded the contents into the dead body, which may just be him being thorough, or perhaps it's an example of HK having the capacity for anger.

"Rhetorical Question: Did you really think one restraining bolt would stop me? Condescending Gloat: Pitiful meatbag." HK commented on his kill before reaching up himself and tearing the restraining bolt off as if it were nothing. That restraining bolt was the kind used to shut down whole industrial units, and here HK was shrugging it off as if it were nothing, it probably was nothing given that it didn't stop him, so, why is that? Well, I would imagine Phanza would want her bespoke assassin droid to not be weak to such simple neutralizing tools as a restraining bolt, and, given that she probably programmed HK-107 to be loyal to her above all else, there was no reason she would ever need one. That's enough musing about HK though, because we turned our attention to the little blue hologram of Palpatine, still observing as one of his hunters was killed. I wondered what he was going to say, confronted with three of us surviving. Would he gloat? Would he tell us of our impending demise? Or does he have something else entirely up his sleeve.

"Most disappointing." was all Palpatine send before turning off the transmission, leaving us with an inert holoprojector. Based on the example of Exiim Abarghe, these were high-tech agents that Palpatine has been using for some time, so, how does he react to one of them dying in front of him? With just too hollow words and an end of the call. I already knew that Palpatine was heartless after he openly lied to the entire galaxy and then launched a genocide against the Jedi while introducing galactic tyranny with a smile, but this just confirms that. Palpatine doesn't care about anyone, he only cares about how useful they can be to him at this particular moment. The fact that Exiim implied these agents could be repaired maybe influenced that, but it still struck me how cold and uncaring Palpatine seemed, almost more disappointed in the performance of the hunter than in the hunter's death.

"What about to you two?" I asked once I got over the first words I heard from Emperor Palpatine since properly finding out just who and what he is, wanting to know how Schweva and HK got into that situation. On top of that, the presence of two hunters here suggests that a third is somewhere here on Cato Neimoidia as well, and that is even more disturbing given that there is no trace of Yevenna here. I was worried about the Mirialan Mandalorian, if these hunters were strong enough to take Schweva and HK hostage - even if it seemed like they were just binding their time until the hunter was sufficiently distracted - what did they do to Yevenna? The fact that there wasn't a dead body here almost made it worse, because seeing a corpse would at least give a definitive answer, instead, I have no idea what's going on with her and there's a third hunter unaccounted for. Not to mention the fact that no one really knows where Exiim Abarghe himself is right now. Phanza is going after him, but there is no guarantee that she found him. Still, with this hunter here and with the two of them being held hostage, I was now at least confident that Exiim was still on this planet, so it was simply a question of where exactly.

"As soon as we got upstairs the two hunters ambushed us. Yevenna and I were collared immediately while HK was stabbed with an electrospike and then had a restraining bolt strapped to him. The other hunter found out that Yevenna wasn't a Force sensitive and took her somewhere, saying that she made the safest choice for a hostage. I don't know where they went or why they're taking hostages, but the other one took him while this one contacted Palpatine to figure out what to do with us...it seemed like Palpatine wanted me alive." Schweva revealed before stepping in close and whispering the last part, clearly not comfortable with whatever Palpatine wanted out of her. I would imagine that Palpatine would try and turn her into an Inquisitor, but what kind of conditioning or Dark Side corruption would he seek for someone who is already a Sith apprentice but opposes him regardless? I don't know and I don't want to think about it either. I'm glad that HK-107 and Schweva especially are safe, now we just need to find Yevenna and regroup with Phanza. Then I think the best course of action is to leave this planet as quickly as possible. We're not in our element here, this is clearly home turf for the hunters and they have the upper hand everywhere, we've already effectively plead guilty to all our crimes here and each of us have brushed death, some perhaps worse. There is nothing to be gained by staying here.

"Right, right...I don't suppose he has any answers." I responded, now knowing all I needed to know about the situation, and turning my attention to the hunter HK dispatched. I walked over to him and removed the shattered helmet, expecting to see something like what I saw on Exiim Abarghe but, to my surprise, I saw a relatively ordinary human male face. There is some evidence of light cybernetics, body enhancements, and considerable use of stims and other combat multipliers, but he wasn't an advanced human-machine hybrid like Exiim was. Perhaps that is why Exiim Abarghe was the leader of the hunters, he was the unique one, he was the one that Palpatine could revive, and the one with the most experience. All the hunters were dangerous, but Exiim was uniquely dangerous. That's good to know in general, but it's kind of a setback now, because that means he's really dead and there's no way we're going to find out where his fellow hunter is, nor why they were taking Yevenna hostage. Our only hope was to follow his footsteps "Which way did he go?"

"Answer: the meatbag took the Mandalorian down that corridor." HK gestured at one the doorways, pointing us in the right direction, or, at least, a direction. I walked over to the table and grabbed Yevenna's separatist blaster rifle and her comlink, handing Schweva and HK their weapons as well - these were confiscated when the trio got taken hostage - getting us as ready as we can be. I took a deep breath, still feeling pain in my chest and arms, but pushing through it as I held the rifle at the ready and led us down the corridor, with HK in the middle, and Schweva bringing up the rear. Objectively speaking, it probably wasn't the best idea to take the lead in my current condition, but I also understood I had the biggest personal stake in rescuing Yevenna - that's not to say that Schweva didn't want to, and HK would go along with it because he knew Phanza wanted it, simply that I'm the one closest to the Mirialan Mandalorian - so I led the way anyway. The corridor had a slight downward slope to it and took it us down to a set of maintenance catwalks on the bottom of the bridge structure. A quick right-right chicane took the catwalk out, navigating around the base of one of the towers, now the long catwalk continued down the length of the bridge structure. I saw this as a positive and a negative: a positive because it seemed like there was no way off this catwalk other than continuing all the way down to the end, and a negative because, despite being able to see all the way down the length of the city, I couldn't see Yevenna anywhere. I hoped that this meant the hunter took her to the base of the city along the mountain, but I couldn't be sure. I was starting to get nervous for my friend, so I picked up the pace, still being cautious and keeping my guard up, but covering ground quickly.

We crossed the catwalk and headed down a staircase, going down into the mountain itself, continuing down the staircase until it opened up to reveal a hangar built into the mountain itself. HK-107 and Schweva fanned out behind me as we walked down a short corridor somewhat wider than the staircase before opening up to the hangar proper, where the hunter's ship sat. One of the hunters stood next to the ship, holding a heavy blaster rifle, but it was hanging down towards the ground, as if the hunter wasn't the slightest bit concerned. I couldn't say the same thing about us, especially not once the boarding ramp of the ship lowered and Exiim Abarghe walked down it, helmet off, holding a blaster pistol in his hand. Yevenna still wasn't making an appearance, and I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but, considering how relaxed the last two hunters seemed to be, I didn't see this as a good sign.

"I take it this means our comrade is dead?" Exiim asked as he reached the hangar floor, his right arm still bent at a ninety degree angle and his blaster pistol still held generally towards us, but I think if he wanted to shoot us, he would have done so already. I glanced at Schweva for a second and saw that she seemed to be glancing back at me - hard to tell for certain considering her eyes, but that's the intent I felt - so I knew that she wanted me to take the lead on this one, meanwhile, I hardly trusted HK to handle such a matter without starting a fire fight, so I took half a step forward. The other hunter raised his rifle, causing me to stop, and then lowered it once he realized I wasn't going to move again. I got the message: stay here. Nevertheless, I decided to talk regardless. I wished that Phanza was here, and I could feel her presence relatively nearby through the Force, but I couldn't exactly wait for her given the present circumstances.

"Where is our friend?" I asked, trying to dodge the question and focusing on the matter of Yevenna Aphlen. I don't know how much good it does at this point, but I didn't use Yevenna's name, not wanting to give the Imperials any information about us that they don't have already - damage limitation at this point, I know, but I'm not exactly possessing better options - and also prioritizing my friend's safety. There was also the fact that I didn't see how admitting that the third hunter was dead was going to help this situation whatsoever.

"I'll take that as an admission." Exiim - or whatever his real name is, if he even has one, after all, I can't be sure that Exiim Abarghe was ever a real person, perhaps he was built by Palpatine to be like this, it would explain why he seems to be more advanced that Vader is, technologically speaking - wasn't buying into my deflection, in fact, it's quite possible that Palpatine already informed him of his comrade's death, making this simply for the theatrics. In any case, my silence evidently confirmed Exiim's suspicions "Shame. He was a valiant servant of the Galactic Empire and the new order of Emperor Palpatine, one who deserves to be avenged. Fortunately, it seems we have one of yours as well."

Exiim gestured behind him and the blaster rifle holding hunter followed his lead, walking up the ramp and entering the ship for a few moments. A tense few moments of uncertainty descended over us as we waited for the third hunter to return, but, just as I had feared, he returned holding a handcuffed Yevenna Aphlen as his hostage, walking her in front of Exiim before releasing her. The lead hunter grabbed hold of Yevenna by her handcuffs and pressed his blaster pistol against her back, making it clear as day that he was taking her hostage, more than that, he was quite willing to kill her. The twisted mix of a man and machine seemed to smirk as much as the cybernetics surrounding his face would allow, taking a sick pleasure out of this situation.

"On your knees." Exiim demanded of Yevenna. He could throw her to the ground himself, she was cuffed and he clearly had the raw strength advantage, but he still wanted her to do it herself. This wasn't just about threatening to kill her, he wanted to humiliate her, forcing her to prepare for her own execution while we helplessly watched, knowing we wouldn't do anything while our friend was in danger. Maybe this was the whole point of the hunters: to prove that regular people could beat Force users. There were the Inquisitors, taking down the remaining Jedi which Palpatine seemed to consider the primary threat to his new order, and there was his apprentice, Vader, obviously, but I don't think Palpatine wanted to depend on Force users going forward. I think Palpatine's ideal galaxy would have him as the only Force sensitive being in existence, maybe Vader or some other apprentice for the sake of Sith tradition, but certainly no one Palpatine saw as a threat. Thus, the hunters were meant to defeat us, giving Palpatine an option for eradicating Force sensitives without having to empower any in the process. Now here was Exiim Abarghe, the masterpiece of the hunter experiment, on the verge of executing someone in front of two Force users and a deadly assassin droid.

"Go to tell." Yevenna responded, defiantly, not making herself a cooperative hostage. Her display of disobedience didn't get her very far because, just like I had predicted, Exiim simply yanked down on her handcuffs and brought her to the ground, Exiim smirked as he brought his blaster pistol up to the back of her head, pressing the barrel against her skull and then looking up, making eye contact with me - glowing green lifeless eyes showing not an ounce of remorse or hesitation, only mocking me, daring me to try and stop him from killing my friend. I knew I had to try and stop this, but what could I do. I could try grabbing him with the Force and pushing him away, but if he saw me raising my hand, surely he would fire immediately, and I was never very good at using the Force without directing it with actual movements. Even if I could throw him away from Yevenna, could I really do so faster than he could pull a trigger? I couldn't be sure, not sure enough to potentially endanger my friend anyway. There was also the fact that he had the last remaining hunter with him, so I would have to deal with him before he could kill Yevenna. I couldn't exactly waste time trying to coordinate a plan with Schweva, because Exiim could shoot the Mirialan dead at any moment. I needed a plan and I needed one fast, and I couldn't find a violent solution that would stop him fast enough to prevent him from shooting a blaster at point blank range. That meant that I was left with non-violent alternatives.

Now, Yevenna doesn't make a very useful hostage for the Empire, Exiim is threatening to kill her to hurt us, killing her and leaving us in mourning as he and the other hunter boarded their ship and escaped Cato Neimoidia, we, however, could make better hostages. The only reason the Empire didn't choose Schweva or HK as their hostage is because they don't see the value in HK because he's a droid, while Schweva, as a Force use, presents too great a security risk, even with a collar that's supposed to dampen her connection to the Force. A willing hostage though, that would be worth more to Palpatine than killing one of us could eve accomplish. That being said, becoming a hostage of Palpatine as a Force user was a terrible fate - Thonna Ai'sunn was proof of that - and I didn't want to put myself through that, nor was I willing to ask that of Schweva. So, becoming a hostage doesn't present that good of an option either.

"Let her go and I promise we'll let you live." Schweva called out, the Chiss woman eventually deciding that I was too indecisive and that she needed to step in, despite the fact that I got the impression that she didn't want to earlier. Perhaps this represents Schweva finally stepping up to the role expected of her, or perhaps she's just trying to buy me time while I think of something better. Either way, it didn't actually seem like that bad of an idea, maybe the threat of death will actually be enough to scare Exiim Abarghe and his companion off of this, deciding that it was better to live to fight another day - though I expected Exiim would gladly die if Palpatine demanded it, especially since he can be fixed - because there's no guarantee they'd actually get away if they killed Yevenna. While I think I would be compelled to run over to my friend, Schweva or HK might be more tempted to pursue immediate vengeance.

"One of us is already dead and I don't much fear death. Should all three of us die to defeat just one enemy of Emperor Palpatine's, that will already be glorious." Exiim Abarghe replied, showing an almost idolistic worship of Palpatine, making him seem like a zealot. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, given this man has apparently died over and over and over again on Palpatine's wishes only to be rebuilt, but I was disappointed, especially because I was running out of options with which to save my friend. Then it occurred to me, one final desperate plea to save her, regardless of what the repercussions for this might be later on. I gave Palpatine some information he might find useful in exchange for letting Yevenna live.

"Stop! Let her go...I have some information for Emperor Palpatine!" I cried out, making the decision to save my friend. Schweva grabbed at my arm, not even knowing what I wanted to share, but trying to stop me regardless, but I brushed her off, my decision was made. We had to save Yevenna now, if there was going to be fallout from my decision, we will deal with it later. Exiim Abarghe changed his stance ever so slightly and raised his blaster pistol, but kept Yevenna down on the ground where he could shoot her. Seeing an opening, I began "There is an ancient Sith spy device, it's called the Swarm. The device can send out millions of spy devices in orbit and coat an enemy in listening devices."

"Where is it?" Exiim Abarghe asked, assuming either that we had it or that we knew where it was, which we didn't. This was where the hard part of my plan came in: I hard to turn this single piece of information into something good enough to get them to actually let Yevenna go.

"We don't know where it is, we've only just become looking for it, but, I promise you, if you let Yevenna go, we won't look for it any longer and we won't stand in the Empire's way." I gambled, knowing I only had one potentially very dangerous piece of information to work with and even that may not be enough, but not having a better option right now. This was a rather desperate and pathetic display, I have to admit, but I don't have much of a choice right now. I can't take another Ullara, I can't take another Thonna, I can't take the Grand Duchy of Taaszon losing someone else after the disaster that is Taaszon. I don't care what terrible things Palpatine may do with the Swarm, we'll deal with that when we get the chance, for now, I'm just concerned about saving my friend.

"You're not giving me anything! Why should I - " Exiim began before being cut off. We didn't hear anything on our end, so it must have been his comlink, likely a message from Palpatine himself. Exiim stopped and listened for a few moments before whispering out "Yes, of course my Lord. She is free." Exiim then abruptly pushed her forward with a kick, releasing his hostage and gesturing for his companion to board the ship. Exiim Abarghe followed, with new orders, but, as he reached the top of his ship's boarding ramp, he decided to make sure we weren't going to follow him. I watched as Exiim turned around and shot Yevenna with his blaster pistol.

"No!" I cried out and ran to grab her, but, thank the Force, it was just a stun bolt. I managed to catch Yevenna before she fell and held her as the two remaining hunters flew off from Cato Neimoidia. The revelation settled in that Palpatine now knew about the Swarm and would use the limitless resources of the Galactic Empire to try and find it, the hunters being part of that effort, and that it was all my part. Perhaps it was selfish of me to potentially allow Palpatine to spy on billions of his own people or his enemies just to save one person, one of my friends, but, as the Mirialan recovered in my arms, I knew I made the right decision. I didn't have time and I didn't have options, so I saved my friend regardless of the consequences, and I don't think that's a bad thing. Time will only tell if my decision was the right one.

"What happened? Where are the hunters? Zaliza?" Phanza asked as she reached this place just in time to see the hunters gone and Yevenna getting to her feet, recovering from the stun blast. Schweva looked away immediately, wanting no part in explaining this, and I couldn't blame her. HK-107 remained silent, the assassin droid deciding this wasn't a matter for him either. Yevenna, meanwhile, concentrated on getting herself out of these cuffs. That left me facing my master, having to look her in the eyes and tell her what I just did. I think I did the right thing, but what would she think? I wish I knew, all I knew is that i had to tell her, and that the effects of my decision will have galaxy-spanning consequences.


Well then, ciao!