"Three weeks!?!?" Barryk was incensed "She's been missing three weeks and you didn't tell me?"
"We only confirmed it four days ago, Major." General Craken said, emphasizing Barryk's lower rank "Our deep plant couldn't get us the news any sooner." Craken watched in silence as the large black and white Thalcein warrior paced in front of him. "We all knew this might happen."
Barryk slammed his fist on the General's desk. "You don't understand...Give me a team, I'll get her out."
"Gade, you're a gun runner now. You haven't had operational status for over a year, you can't just expect to charge in, kill the bad guys and break her out."
Barryk's eyes narrowed angrily "You don't' understand." he spoke slowly and leaned forward, his face only inches from the General's.
Craken was not intimidated "I know she's your sister. I'm worried about her too. I got her assigned to Spec Ops because she was good, a natural warrior, but I also had her assigned to me so I could keep an eye on her. She knew the risks Barryk."
"She was assigned here completely against my wishes." Barryk replied angrily, pointing at the much smaller human. "I begged you to assign her to a desk job! I hold you responsible for this!" Craken bristled and he got slowly out of his seat and skewered Barryk with a hard, green-grey stare.
"Shut up and sit down, Gade. I'm not done yet." Craken barked loudly. Barryk looked down at the man. The former Jedi looked away first and bowed his head slightly. Gade had known him a long time and had great respect for the General. Barryk sat, his head in his hands.
"I'm sorry. Please continue."
Craken leaned forward and punched the buttons on his desktop. A two foot holo-image sprang to life between them. "I'm assuming you know who this is." Craken asked dryly. The image wore black Jedi fighting clothes, his head held at an arrogant angle, and the only emotion betrayed by his eyes was pure contempt. Barryk remembered the look well. At first, his ears flattened to the sides of his head and his lips curled in a hate filled snarl, but then his heart fell into his feet and he suddenly thought he'd be sick.
"No. Please tell me Drakahn doesn't have her." the young stallion asked, his voice almost pleading. Craken's lips pursed and he took a deep, resigned breath.
"I'm sorry, I wish I could. Believe me." Craken replied. "She was captured on Tatooine by Fett and that's when we first lost track of her. There was enough evidence left in the warehouse to suggest that her partner Gellan Quetad is dead, though we did not find his body. It appears she didn't go own without a fight though. We found blood at the scene that didn't match her, her partner or the gunrunners. We're assuming it was Fett's." Craken explained "We were contacted four days ago by a deep plant operative, saying that a young female Thalcein was in Imperial custody.."
"Where?" Barryk demanded, shooting from his chair and posting his big white furred hands on the General's desk.
"Cey'lon." Craken replied, running a hand through his greying read hair. "Intel thinks he's using her as bait to draw you out." Barryk closed his eyes and hung his head. There was no use keeping it a secret any longer.
"It's not me he wants. It's her. She's force sensitive." he sounded completely spent. Craken sat back in his chair, looking like Barryk had just dropped a bomb in his lap.
"What? How sensitive?"
"As powerful as Seph, at the very least.." Barryk answered as though he was confessing something awful.
"Why didn't she shown any signs then?"
"Because…" Barryk looked like he would be ill. "Because I suppressed her ability." Craken just looked at him blankly, clearly not really understanding "She isn't normal, Airen." Barryk started to pace the room. "Every few hundred generations, a child is born among the Thalcein that is special. The foal is always female, and the same colour- gold, white and black with mismatched eyes. They are child prodigies, they learn and mature quickly and show strong force ability at an early age." He looked down at Craken, his eyes bleak. "I started my force training at 21, when most young of my species begin to show signs of sensitivity. Rehn began her training at 3. She is the Cefoltek. The Chosen one."
"I thought that was just a legend. Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't she ever say something" Craken looked slightly irritated, though the graveness of the situation was starting to become apparent.
"Because she doesn't know." Barryk sat again and put his head in his hands. "She was forced to watch as Drakahn and Vader killed our parents. She'd been sheltered as a child because of the plague and the Lakeeta, so she'd never had to deal with certain emotions. She had started her training, but my father had to proceed slowly because of her natural aggression, and before that day, she had never had to deal with hate." Craken could see the shame on Barryk's face. "She wasn't prepared to deal with such a negative emotions and it threatened to consume her, even at such a young age. I was confused, desperate. I couldn't lose her to her hate. "He continued, growing more miserable "I did the only thing I could think of."
"You wiped her mind?" the General asked, shocked and accusing. Barryk look up suddenly to meet the man's hard gaze.
"No! No.. I didn't wipe her mind." he replied and then looked away guiltily "I blocked the memory deep in her subconscious. It suppressed her force ability to the point that it acted only as a sort of early warning device, but it also protects the block. She remembers nothing of the incident." he exhaled and shook his head sadly. "I was going to unlock it when I thought she was ready to deal with her anger, but because she was trained as a warrior before her Jedi training was complete, she's learned to rely on her negative emotions. I didn't foresee that happening."
"Even I know mind tampering is strictly forbidden by the Jedi Code! Surely there had to be a better way, Barryk." Airen shook his head in disgust. He could think of nothing more invasive, more violating, than having a person's mind altered against their will.
"Why do you think I gave up my Knighthood?" Barryk snapped, suddenly angry. "You think I wanted to do that to her? You weren't there Airen, you didn't see the look in her eyes. You didn't feel the hate radiating off of her like heat from a sun. If I hadn't done something, she'd have been lost, and with her the only hope for uniting our people. You don't think I regret the decision every second of my life? I only wanted to protect her… and I failed." his grey eyes locked with Craken's and the General could see the pain in them. "I can't lose her.. She's all I have left."
"Yet you've hardly spoke in a year and a half.." the General observed, a brow raised. "Last I remember she called you a coward and you stormed off." Barryk's jaw set. "I believe it was the day you resigned your combat commission to fly weapons and supplies while she was bumped from advanced combat training to Spec Ops." Craken rubbed a hand down his tired face. "And had I know then what I know now I'd never have moved her up." He was silent for a long moment, not wanting to ask what he knew he must. "What will happen if she is turned to the dark side?"
Barryk stared blankly at the floor for a long moment before answering. "She could become the Emperor's next weapon, though I'm hoping only Drakahn realizes her potential." Craken put his face in his hands, but looked up when Barryk continued. "But it gets worse.."
"How could this possibly get any worse?" the General asked pragmatically.
"The first born of the Cefoltek is also highly attuned to the Force and becomes a great warrior. That's why Drakahn wants her, he's been obsessed with her since she was a child." Barryk replied.
"But she's far to young to be.." Craken didn't finish, watching Gade shake his head and getting to his feet.
"If she were normal? Yes, she would be far to young for Drakahn to use" Barryk stopped, his back to the man "But the Cefoltek is capable of conceiving at seventeen." There was a heavy pause that filled the General's office with oppressive silence. "Please Airen, give me a team and let me get her out before it's too late, if it isn't already."
Craken sat silent for a long moment, his face in his hands, elbows braced on his desk. He wanted so badly to do something. Rehn was one of 'Craken's Brats', a group of promising young operatives that he had taken under his wing.. but how do you justify pulling resources from a major upcoming battle to save one operative, no matter what her potential was. Command decisions were never easy, and some where harder than others. He liked Rehn, even if she did seem to have a propensity to drive him to the frail edge of sanity at times with her sometime insubordinate nature. She was tough, determined, defiant and sometimes incredibly irritating - and he hoped it would either bring about her escape, or a quick death. I'm sorry, Rehn. Forgive me... The silence had stretched long enough that Barryk knew what he was going to say before Craken spoke. "I'm sorry Barryk. I don't have the troops or supplies for even a run and gun operation right now. Cey'lon's defences have been recently fortified, and our resources are tie up eight ways from the Rim right now. We're stretched thin in this sector as it is. I'm sorry." Craken's face looked older somehow, his eyes sad and apologetic. The muscles in Barryk's jaws clenched. He gave a great snort of frustration and stormed out the door, the air around him alive with energy.
*********
"Barryk! I haven't seen you since the assault at Brandathu. How the hell are ya? How is Rehn? You never call, you never write... mom would slap you silly." The Thalcein's youthful face in the holo image was a garish study in mahogany and white, his pale blue eyes warm and friendly, his thick black forelock pushed to one side. Kren Draven and Barryk had been good friends since their childhood on Cey'lon before the plague had been unleashed. Kren had been orphaned and adopted into the Tay'axia clan, and the Gade family, by Barryk's father Seph. They had endured boot camp together, been stationed in the same unit, fought side by side in their Clan's armed forces. Though not Force sensitive, Kren had an uncanny knack for anticipating what Barryk was thinking. His happy look dissolved when he saw his brother's face. "What's wrong?" he asked, and then his face fell "Something's happened to Rehn..."
"I need your help, Kren." Barryk's face was a study in worry and despair, confirming Kren's fears.
"This link might not be secure. Meet me at the CrossRoads on Casaba. I'll borrow some stuff from the unit, and be there in a 36 hours." Kren was already pulling on a dark, unmarked tunic.
"I just need intel, Kren. This isn't going to be easy. I have a better chance alone." Barryk interjected "Besides, you take an unsanctioned vacation from your outfit and they might shoot you." It wasn't a joke. Kren was part of an elite unit who's fierceness was discussed with equal measures of fear, respect and hate among the Empire's armed services. The Rebellion's elite infiltrators of Team Six were the best in the business, but gave no quarter to those of their members who went astray.
"The boys won't mind." Kren replied with a cocky smile. "I haven't had a vacation in three years. I'm just gonna borrow some of the boss's toys. Besides Gade, I've seen you operate. You're going to need all the help you can get." Barryk knew there was no use arguing now.
"I'll see you at the CrossRoads, brother." Barryk said, his face grave. "Craken is going to skin us alive for this, you know that don't you." Kren's smile broadened and his blue eye narrowed playfully.
"He's gotta catch us first. See you in 36."
********
Barryk sat in a booth in the back corner of the CrossRoads tavern. It was by far the nastiest dive he had ever been in, and he'd been around. The bar's clientele consisted entirely of beings that did not want to be found. The table was grimy to the point he didn't want to touch it and the floor was in about the same condition, the tile pattern no longer recognizable under the film of dirt, alcohol, broken glass, blood and the occasional stray tooth. A tall figure in a hooded cloak slipped through the darkened doorway and moved deliberately to Barryk's table. The blue eye were so bright they almost glowed beneath the heavy hood.
"Give me the details." was all Draven said. Barryk wiped a tired hand over his even more tired face, his eyes looking old from lack of sleep.
"Drakahn has her on Cey'lon in the old Lakeeta Clan fortress." Barryk could feel the hate roll off his adopted younger brother at the mention of the dark Jedi's name. "I'm sure you know there is a garrison near the fortress. I couldn't beat Drakahn before, there is no guaranty I can now, and the garrison is lax, but it's still a garrison. The odds of even being able to land on the planet aren't good, but I have to try." Gade looked as though someone had ripped his heart out.
"I knew we couldn't get there in your bucket of mynock chow, so I uh.. lets just say 'borrowed'.. a ship that will get us there and bring us back alive." Kren replied, a hint of a smile touching his lips.
"You stole a ship?" Barryk leaned forward, his voice a bit louder than he intended and sounding horrified. Kren looked around quickly, though no one seemed to be paying attention, though in a place like this, starship theft would have been on the petty end of the criminal activity scale.
"Not stole, 'bo-rrowed'. Geez, you'd think there wasn't a difference." Kren rolled his eyes.
"There isn't a difference." Barryk hissed "We'll save her and get back in time for the Rebellion to shoot us."
"I'll use my natural charm and smooth things over when we get back. Trust me." Kren leaned back in the seat, the cloak falling back to reveal his big sidearm blaster and vibroblade. "You can't do this alone Barryk, and I'm not letting you go without me."
"You know why Drakahn wants her..." Barryk replied quietly, his eyes taking on a far off look. "We may already be too late. He may have already managed to unlock her ability and have turned her to the dark side. If that's happened, and she's beyond redemption, I may have to destroy her." his jaw clenched in emotional pain. Kren had not seen Rehn since she was a child, but he remembered her fondly. He kicked his friend in the shin, bringing Barryk's focus back.
"Have faith in her Barryk, she's strong." He got up and slid from the booth, looking down at Gade. "Common. We aren't getting anyone rescued while we sit in this dive. Lets move out, soldier."