Symmetry and Imperfection

Part 6

~

For Darth Vader, meditation had long ago replaced sleep. Of course, the mind required a break from reality in order to process its experiences, but he had not actually slept in many years. Instead, he watched the Dark for a telltale ripple from his quarry.

The first contact with her had been intriguing. Despair and bereavement roiled through this woman as much as fear and rage. Something or someone had been taken from her and she was hell bent on revenge, that much he understood from her actions. The amount of power she was drawing from the Dark side was nothing short of amazing. The panic she felt at his contact reached him, as did the experience of having her drop out of his Force-sense like a rock into water.

Very little impressed him, but that trick did and very much so. She had made herself essentially invisible. With this shielding technique, he could be standing right next to her and never know it.

Unlike Palpatine and Obi-Wan, Vader understood that in some cases the apprentice had much to teach the master. He would like very much to learn this skill.

A minor ripple of fear and unease reached him, something that he might not have felt unless he was actively looking for it.

She locked it down, and dropped back into nothingness.

No matter. He'd track her down in time.

There were two more casualties of their own stupidity on All Points station. A corvette had been dispatched from the battle group to intercept Vader's shuttle and bring him there. On seeing the condition of the corpses, it was easy to see why such effort was being expended to bring her back or kill her. A rogue Healer was unheard of, and one so powerful and so dangerous could not be allowed to roam free. It was fortunate that there would be no lack of voids in her training for him to exploit. So many of the would-be Jedi had gaps in basic knowledge that one might easily toss a gas giant through.

Vader was also certain that there were more than two parties in on the chase, though it was difficult to say since she was so fast on the kill.

He opened his eyes and turned his attention to an intriguing bit of evidence he had acquired at All Points. Removing the glove from his flesh-and-bone hand, he turned it between his fingers. While his cybernetics were some of the finest available examples of prosthetic art, he preferred to do fine work with this one. Locked-frequency comlinks were not unusual, but the shielding around the core of this particular model was. Back in the days of the Clone Wars, models like this had been used by higher-level Separatist operatives.

Anakin Skywalker had known how to make the little units give up their secrets. It involved patience and total concentration, but the yield was well worth the investment.

This one had been stomped on and left half-hidden under an impounded ship on All Points. One of the deceased had sliced into the communications mainframe and boosted the long-range capabilities of the 'link. This left "tracks" on comsats all the way across the galaxy as the signal bounced from node to node, seeking its terminal.

Now, back aboard the Triumphant, he had the equipment that would allow him to unlock part of his quarry's past. He discarded the casing and the shattered remains of the communications circuitry and opened the core, revealing a flawless manufactured diamond encased in gold wire one-thousandth the thickness of a human hair.

All he needed was the frequency, and a unit like this was made specifically for one frequency. Levitating the wire-wrapped crystal, he attached two leads, allowing them to fall into place as softly as snowflakes. Any superfluous energy or rough handling of the bare core might destroy access to the evidence he wanted. Once the circuit was complete, he sent a low-level electromagnetic charge into the wire jacketing - the diamond began to vibrate and then to sing.

A grin stretched the scar tissue on his face. If only every question was so easy to answer.

A presence behind him caused him to turn in annoyance and then stretched his grin even wider. Ensign Garza stood there as wide-eyed as any boy who had just seen a magic trick. From the look of it, he had been so fascinated...

"You may breathe, Ensign Garza."

The man sucked a breath and exhaled, "Yes, my Lord. Thank you, my Lord."

"Conduct a general query of all comsats for traffic on this frequency."

Ensign Garza looked at Vader is if the Sith Lord had just ordered him to flap his arms and fly around the room. Did the Academy teach these youngsters nothing other than how to polish their boots?

"My Lord, my instructors at the Academy did not cover that procedure, my Lord." Garza's cadence was gloomy and the entire crew in communications looked as if they might soon be attending a funeral.

Killing the young officer for ignorance would serve no purpose. Having a short talk with the head of curriculum at the Academy prior to his abrupt retirement and departure for Kessel to take up spice mining would, however, be quite satisfying.

Vader decided that he would remedy the lack himself, and pointed to a vacant com station. "Sit."

Some forty-five minutes later, the coordinates and serial numbers for every comsat relay were lighting up in the holoprojector. Each flare of light represented a relay satellite or communications node somewhere in the galaxy. From All Points to Vuka'an to Belkind, to the Morani Prime Communications Node to Anoat; the communication had gone through nearly thirty thousand relays before it terminated in...

Vader grinned again.

Garza stared even more wide-eyed at the cluster of navigational hazards that ringed the Illoni star cluster.

"But that's not possible, Lord Vader! No pilot could..." The Ensign remembered who he was speaking to and shut up so quickly that he nearly chopped off his tongue along with the sentence.

No, a regular pilot could not make the series of jumps into the heart of Illoni. Only a Force-strong pilot would be able to find and keep to the safe path. Vader downloaded the information into a memory stick, encrypted and pocketed it. He had a bargaining chip, to use when and if he chose.

~

Abhaia sat in the darkened cockpit of the Maze Dancer and reminded herself not to chew her nails. The sensor arrays had been monitoring traffic patterns in the Algeda and Kalini systems. Exiting at a little-used jump point, she had made her way to where she was now; a point equidistant between Algeda and Kal Madedo.

So far, neither seemed to hold any special hazard for her, nothing to help her decide for one or against the other.

An idea occurred to her, but she pushed it away.

"You're acting like a child afraid of the dark, Abi."

Well, she was afraid of the Dark. She was even afraid of herself.

"Stop it. Just stop it. Vader is not a boggle lurking under your bed, and Grandfather is not a ghastly hiding in the closet. You have a jump on them and can run if you have to. Now, just do it." The stern voice she often used on a recalcitrant patient did little to quell the shaky feeling in her own stomach and legs.

Shutting down the sensor array, she leaned back in the pilot's chair and closed her eyes. Abhaia felt the seat against her, the press of clothing on skin, skin on fat, muscle and nerve. Slowly she fell within herself, feeling the function of the body that was the vessel for her spirit. She felt the void that ached for the loss of Arien, the empty places where she could once feel Keille and Isabail's love. Deeper within she went until the calm center of the storm was all around her.

Then...

Without.

She spread her self wide and soared.

A part of her wobbled in awe and fear at what lay before her, her empathic sense groaned as billions of entities seemed to babble in her head. She shut them all out and began to look for certain signatures.

Faintly, she could feel her baby. Arien was playing and happy, and for a moment, Abhaia thought she could feel the child respond to her presence. Abhaia withdrew with a last caress and searched on.

Some were so distant that they were little more than vague feelings of somewhere-over-that-way-and-up, others were close enough to make her distinctly nervous. It felt like Grandfather had scrambled anyone who could swing a saber out of their bolthole and left everyone else behind. For a moment, Abhaia mulled going back for the women and children and then discarded the idea. Getting out of the Cluster the first time had been a close thing, she would not put helpless people on the line with her.

She pushed her perception as far as it would go, searching for an indication of...

... of someone watching her!

She flashed to a defensive posture even as the presence became aware of her and reached out.

::: Peace. I will not harm you. :::

The mental touch was firm with control, layered with complexities she could not even begin to name, and belonged to no one she knew.

::: Come to me, child. Come, young one. There is nothing to fear other than the fear inside you. :::

Withdrawing in haste, Abhaia was puzzled when the presence seemed to follow her. Maybe it was tracking her?

::: No! Leave me alone! ::: She flashed a warning tinged with the red of blood.

::: Sorry, child. I cannot do that. ::: Regret and finality colored the response as the presence seized her and began to peel way her defenses.

~

Naum Koghan broke a sweat as he tried to keep a grip on the wayward one. Force! She was stronger than he thought!

::: There is too much at risk. ::: He told the writhing thing in his grip. ::: Vader hunts you, for what, I do not know. :::

::: For a purpose of my own, Jedi. :::

A blast of fury nearly took Naum to the deck of his ship and he felt the Sith take hold of the woman he now knew as Abi.

FearfearfearANGERFearHATE...let...me...go! FURY!

Raw emotion exploded from the woman and she snapped Naum's hold on her as if it was a thread. When his head cleared of the dazzle, he could still sense Vader, but Abi had vanished as if she never existed.

Naum broke contact and slammed up his shields. His orders regarding Vader were not to engage under any circumstances. Getting to his feet, he moved for the cockpit. He had a general location for Abi, he just had to be faster on the search than Vader.

~

Aboard the Triumphant, in his meditation chamber, Darth Vader opened his eyes.

Abhaia. Her name was Abhaia. Such a gentle-sounding name to attach to a brawling little spitfire; her parting buffet had given him a headache.

Vader shook his head and rubbed his bare scalp with his fingers.

Still, her fear was a way to reach her, and to ferret out secrets that she would rather keep; such as her name and her probable destination.

How convenient that his interests and the interests of the Empire were about to coincide.

As for the lone Jedi...

Vader removed the memory stick from his belt pouch and walked it across his fingers.

I think that this will be enough to divert his interest.

~