*** Part Two

Helaine had just about fallen asleep when a bright light in the room assaulted her eyes. She slowly screwed one open, tensing as she realized their captors had returned. One held a glowrod while the other hovered over Taren, examining his wrapped arm.

"If he's permanently damaged, we won't get a good price for him," The man examining Taren said.

"Probably nothing a bacta tank won't fix," The one with the glowrod said.

She frowned, upset with the way they were itemizing him. Suddenly, kneeling man's glowrod tugged off of his belt and flew behind Taren's back. Helaine blinked, rubbing her eyes. Valin wasn't supposed to be very adept at telekinesis - perhaps there was another Jedi in the room? She slowly opened her eyes, finding the glowrod back on the man's belt. Helaine shook her head, trying to clear it. The glowrod flew off the men's belt again, flying behind Taren. Confused, she glanced at Valin, who rolled over in his sleep, snoring softly as he cocked his head toward Taren. It was then that Helaine understood - Valin had sent her an image through the Force.

Helaine hesitated, wondering what he would want with a glowrod. And wouldn't the guards see? Valin let out a sigh in his "sleep". He was getting impatient. Helaine waited for the man to turn his head to speak to the other guard again before gently tugging the glowrod from his belt using telekinesis. She then moved it quickly behind Taren, trying not to wince when his guard turned back to him. But the man must not have seen or felt anything, because he slowly rose to his feet, grumbling about the rising cost of bacta.

The other guard suggested they make Taren's buyer pay for it, then laughing harshly they exited the cell. Helaine wasted no time physically grabbing the glow rod from behind Taren, and walking over to Valin. She sat beside him as he slowly got up, rubbing his eyes. "Afraid of the dark?" Helaine asked, showing him the glowrod.

Valin laughed, shaking his head as he took the glowrod from her. "No," he said, rolling it between his hands. He moved his head close to hers. "Don't you think this would make a good lightsaber husk?"

Helaine's eyes widened. "What?"

"We'll need a few more parts, of course. But we've got a husk, switch, and power source here," Valin said, hefting the glowrod.

"Wouldn't it be easier to steal a blaster?" Helaine asked uncertainly.

Valin shrugged. "Sure, if you wish to lose the element of surprise when you're outnumbered. And if you prefer clumsy weapons..."

Helaine spread her hands. "Alright, and where are we going to find a focusing crystal?"

He cocked his head toward the Twi'leck. "They let her keep a bracelet."

"It must be fake," Helaine said, frowning.

"Or manufactured," Valin pointed out. "It doesn't matter anyway, as long as it is cut well." He nudged her. "It won't be the best lightsaber ever made, but it'll serve our purposes."

Helaine nodded, seeing his point, and not wanting to admit she wasn't very quick at building them. "I guess that's all that matters."

Silence followed, and Helaine considered going back to sleep, when Valin spoke again. "You need to be more careful, Lainey."

"What?" Helaine asked, stiffening.

"Very few fourteen year old girls would take being caught by slavers calmly. I'd say most would probably be hysterical," Valin said, steadily meeting her eyes.

Helaine shook her head. "I could never act like that. These people are hopeless enough..."

"And not looking to you for guidance, Lainey." Valin broke in gently. "Unless they find out you are Jedi, which would probably lead to your death, mine, and their only hope of escape." He touched her arm. "Think of this as an undercover mission and a role you are playing."

"Such as hysterical?" Helaine asked with a sigh, knowing he was right.

"Too late for that, I think," Valin said, winking at her. His tone then grew serious. "You probably better do something with your hair."

Helaine touched her hair subconsciously, wondering what he was talking about, until her fingers brushed her padawan braid. "Oh...blast!" She hopped to her feet. "I'll be right back," She said, heading toward the fresher.

Valin called out, "You could try stumbling in the dark, too."

"I'll work on it," Helaine promised before stepping into the refresher and calling for lights. Lacking a brush, she ran her fingers through her long hair, trying not to wince when she pulled out a snarl. She knew of very few ways to hide her padawan braid, since it was something she rarely wanted to do. Fortunately a few years back she'd been taught a hairstyle by Senator Verana while they were on an undercover mission. Carefully she started braiding tiny braids symmetrically throughout her hair, and then pulled a few halfway up, including her padawan braid.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror for a moment, seeing not a Jedi, but just a regular, somewhat short, teenaged girl. Helaine shook her head, turning the lights off as she exited the refresher. Valin had pretended to doze off from the time it took her to do her hair, so she nudged him almost gently with her foot. "Well?" She asked after he'd slowly opened his hazel eyes.

Valin made a show of rubbing his eyes before switching the glowrod on and gesturing for her to turn around. "Pretty," he said after she'd done so. Turning off the glowrod he asked, "will it hold?"

Helaine nodded. "Until I take it out," she said, sitting down next to him again. A small smile played across her lips. "Nice cover name, by the way. Think I should change mine to Tri?"

"Quiet," Valin said, elbowing her. "I had to think quick... and I kind of like it. Hal."

"Don't you think it's a little too exotic?" Helaine teased, raising an eyebrow.

Valin shrugged. "It's no Bail, but I think a popular name would be more suspicious anyway."

"Probably," Helaine agreed, then scooted against the wall. "Our captors aren't very careful, are they?" She asked, examining her unbound hands.

"They probably don't usually need to be," Valin said, resting against the wall as well.

Helaine glanced at him sharply. "What do you mean?"

Valin spread his hands. "Think about where they picked us up at, the lower levels of Corsucant. They probably aim for the homeless and connectionless. If they offer the starving food, why would they want to escape?"

"Because they're giving up their freedom!" Helaine exclaimed, slightly louder than she intended. Taren and Ammon both turned over in their sleep.

He brought a finger to his lips before responding. "Not everyone can live off of stubbornness alone like you, Lainey. For some people, slavery is the brighter option." He pursed his lips. "Which is probably why our captors had such an easy time of it."

Helaine frowned. "I don't understand."

"How do you think a group of slavers were able to take people from a completely anti-slavery world?" Valin asked after a moment. "Because they take people who won't be missed. And they also must have at least a little Governmental support."

"That's impossible," Helaine said, forcing her tone to remain soft. "This is a Republic."

Valin shrugged. "Slavery has gone up twenty percent in the last ten years, Lainey, and grows higher every year. And think about it, the slavers succeed where our Government does not in sheltering the homeless and feeding the hungry."

Helaine shook her head. "It's [i]wrong[/i] Valin, no matter the benefits."

"You don't have to convince [i]me[/i], Lainey. But how about the people of the Republic when the streets are cleaned up? Maybe the Government will openly support it then, with pretty words like 'symbiotic servitude'."

"They wouldn't," Helaine objected, shaking her head again. "If they did, it would make slavery seem more acceptable, and even if it benefited the slaves it would make people less sensitive to it."

Valin nodded, turning his head to meet her gaze. "Exactly."

Helaine shuddered as a chill ran up her spine. "I don't like the sound of that."

A tense silence followed, in which Helaine tried not to think about the failings of the Government, hoping that they could be fixed. Chancellor Palpatine professed that he would do everything in his power to keep the Republic together, but Helaine didn't trust him to not go to too great of lengths.

Taren rolled over in his sleep again, moaning softly. Helaine glanced at Valin. "How badly did he break his arm?"

"It's an open fracture," Valin answered. "And it is already infected. The lower levels of Corusacnt are the last places in the galaxy you want to get an open wound in."

"Could the infection kill him?" Helaine asked softly, turning her eyes back to Taren.

Valin took a moment in answering. "I think regular cleaning is the best we can do for it."

Helaine frowned. "You didn't answer my question."

"That's because I don't know. But I don't think it is that bad yet, as long as we don't see any red lines going up his arm it should be fine."

"But he's in a lot of pain," Helaine said, watching Taren turn over again.

"Open fractures are often painful."

She got to her feet and walked over to Taren. "I'm going to help him with it."

Valin cocked his head. "I didn't know you were a healer, Lainey."

"I know a few things," Helaine said, kneeling next to Taren and placing her hand on his forehead. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she touched the Force. For a moment she reveled in it's familiar warmth, but soon grew disheartened by the distance of her Master. Helaine quickly turned her thoughts away from that and focused on Taren's presence in the Force, which was a lot brighter than she expected. He was probably either close to or borderline Force sensitive. Which meant helping him should be a lot easier than she thought.

Concentrating hard, she started accelerating healing in his arm, but unfortunately she couldn't get it to go much quicker than what was natural. She worked on blocking his pain, and was able to tweak it just enough that he stopped tossing and turning, but it wasn't enough to get him to fall into a deep sleep. Sighing, Helaine opened her eyes and faced Valin. "You'd be better at this than me, Valin."

Valin started slightly. "Why would you say that?"

"If you can make me think that a glowrod is flying off of a guard's belt, you can convince a sleeping man he isn't in any pain," Helaine said, gesturing him over. "Please, I can't block it well enough to get him to fall into a deeper sleep."

He got up and walked over, and knelt beside her. Valin concentrated and almost instantly Taren relaxed completely, his pain gone. Knowing he probably couldn't keep it up for too long, Helaine instantly sent Taren into a deep sleep where he wouldn't be able to feel the pain from his arm. Finally releasing him, she regarded Valin. "That was amazing." She cocked her head. "How do you do it?"

"Halcyon family trait," Valin replied easily. "Never thought about using it in that way before though."

Helaine smiled, leaning toward him. "Can you teach me?" She asked, then blushed and chose to hide her eagerness. "I could help you with telekinesis or something."

Valin laughed slightly. "Sure, but you'd have to shoot me first."

"What?" Helaine asked, shocked.

"So I could absorb the energy to do so," Valin explained. "I'm afraid we Halcyons have to give telekinesis up in favor of strong mind manipulation."

"Oh," Helaine said, flushing slightly. "Anakin Skywalker can do that. Absorb energy, that is."

Valin nodded, getting to his feet. "Is there anything he cannot do?"

Helaine shook her head, also getting up. "Of course not. He's the Chosen One."

"True," Valin said, before nudging her with his elbow. "Better get some sleep, I'll show you a few tricks tomorrow."

"Thanks," Helaine said, bidding him goodnight before going back to lay down next to the twi'leck woman. Sleep didn't come quickly, her brief touch with the Force had made it more active in her again, as well as making her more aware of Taren. She was connected to him in some way, on a level much deeper than she wanted to think about.

Helaine snuggled her head against her arm, but soon had to move her position as when her arm fell asleep. Sighing, Helaine tossed over onto her stomach, pressing her forehead against the cool floor. It was going to be a long night.