Part Five

***

Taren woke up in a haze, his muscles protesting every movement. Groaning, he attempted to roll over, but was stopped when something grabbed his good arm. "Up," A voice said gruffly, pulling him up into a sitting position.

Blinking, Taren asked, "What?"

"Wanna look at your arm," One of the captors said, grabbing his right arm. Taren bit his lip at the less than gentle touch. His arm was feeling a lot better than it had a few days ago, which meant it was healing...which was unusual since it wasn't properly set. He'd expected sleepless nights because of it, but instead he seemed to sleep better than ever.

The slaver started unwrapping the makeshift bandage, and Taren stiffened, suddenly filled with anxiety. He fought the urge to tear his arm away, squirming slightly. Something was wrong. The slaver tensed as he finished. "Hey, Lee!"

"What?" Lee asked, walking over, then froze and scratched his head. "Did we give them bacta?"

"No," The slaver said, backing up from Taren, his eyes growing wide. "No one heals that fast."

His arm wasn't healed! Taren struggled to look at it, while Lee's mouth dropped open.

"Jedi!" Lee exclaimed, grabbing his blaster and pointing it at Taren. "Want me to shoot him?"

"Jedi?" Taren asked incredulously. "I'm not a Jedi!"

"Right," Matrim said, training his blaster on him as well. He studied Taren for a moment. "Hmm, he's too young to be a Knight."

Lee pursed his lips. "Maybe he's one of those...paddlehorns?" *

Matrim shook his head. "No, they have a braid."

Taren let out a long breath, at once grateful for looking his age. Matrim searched the group, obviously looking for someone who did look old enough to be a Jedi Knight. Craning his neck, Taren looked as well, wondering if there actually was a Jedi in their group. Matrim paused in front of Lainey, then pulled her roughly to her feet, taking her hair down at the same time. One long slim braid hung over her left shoulder. Lee frowned. "You think she is a Jedi?"

Holding his blaster to her, Matrim tugged on the braid. "That is a paddlehorn braid."

Lee trained his blaster on her as well. "What do you want to do with her?"

Matrim waved his arm. "Aim that thing at him, Jedi have no sense of self preservation."

So they would kill him right away, but spare her? Guess he looked more threatening. Taren cocked his head. She didn't strike him as a Jedi right, except for the fact that she had remained fearless the entire trip. Even now, she calmly regarded the slavers. On Matrim's order, Lee hauled Taren to his feet as well.

"We'll discuss this outside," Matrim said, grabbing Lainey's arm and shoving the blaster against her neck. Lee followed suit with Taren, and led him out into the hall after Matrim, and into the cockpit of the ship. They were shoved down into chairs, and two more guards took over holding blasters on them. Matrim and Lee walked over to the far right of the cockpit, talking softly so that Taren could barely hear them.

"We have no resources to hold a Jedi," Matrim was saying. "But the market for them is in the hundreds of thousands."

"She looks harmless enough."

Matrim coughed. "Have you ever seen their Yoda? He wouldn't reach my knee, and they made him their leader."

"You think the smaller they are the more dangerous?"

"Maybe." Matrim shrugged. " I have an idea." He left the cockpit.

Taren looked over to Lainey, trying to catch her eyes. She met his gaze slowly, straightening her shoulders. Her life was being discussed, but she gave him an encouraging look. For a brief moment, Taren saw his mother in her. He would have leaned forward if it weren't for the blaster aimed at him. She was a Jedi, and around his sister's age. Lainey suddenly looked away, and Matrim re-entered the cockpit, handing Lee a pair of stun cuffs.

He walked over to Taren, and put a collar around his neck, while Lee placed stun cuffs on Lainey's wrists. "This is a choke collar, if you remove those cuffs, Jedi, he will die. Or if my vital signs should drop." He showed her a remote on his wrist. "And for added security, I think we shall make you have to work on healing yourself," Matrim said, pointing the blaster at her. Lainey braced herself as Matrim lined the blaster with her shoulder in perfect point blank range. He then moved the blaster a couple centimeters upwards and to the left and shot, the blast barely grazing her shoulder. She slumped in the chair though, groaning slightly looking severely exhausted. Taren frowned, wondering why he had changed his mind about how badly to wound her as Lee pulled to her feet, having to support her.

Taren shook his head as he was pulled up as well. Maybe it was a lot worse than it looked, the slavers certainly seemed to think so. He watched her carefully out of the corner of his eye, anger stirring in his chest as Lee dragged her down the hall. Suddenly it dawned on him, Lainey could be his sister.

He looked up at Matrim, wondering if he could take him, before his shoulders slumped. Any action on his part would result in his death, and certainly wouldn't help Lainey at all. They reached the cell and were pushed in. Hal rushed over to help Lainey, almost seeming to have known that they were coming. Taren decided that he must have heard their footsteps, and knelt next to Lainey when Hal helped her lay down.

Hal tugged on her torn sleeve, exposing the wound. He let out a long breath. "It's just superficial." Lainey nodded tiredly, and he frowned at her. "Are you alright?"

Lainey smiled faintly. "They think it's a lot worse."

Grinning, Hal nodded. "Nice work."

Taren blinked. Lainey had changed the path of the blaster, and Matrim hadn't noticed at all? Taren shuddered slightly, and Lainey looked up at him, biting her lip. "Taren, I...," she took a deep breath. "You...were brave." She finished uncertainly.

He shrugged, giving her a funny look. "Thanks."

"Come on, Lainey, let's go to the 'fresher," Hal said, taking her arm and wrapping it around his shoulders. Placing his arm around her waist, he stood up easily, causing her feet to dangle a couple centimeters off the ground. Lainey kicked her feet and he hunched over slightly to accommodate her height.

Taren smiled, and she caught his gaze as Hal guided her toward the refresher. The look in her eyes was curious, but shadowed with fear. Of him? Taren subconsciously moved toward the refresher for a better look, just as the door slid shut behind her.

***

Helaine sat gratefully down on the refresher's floor as Valin soaked a flimsytowel with cold water. He soon stooped down and pressed it against her burn, and she let out a soft sigh as it eased the pain. Closing her eyes, Helaine listened as Valin started to soak another. "Was that the first time you've managed to alter someone's perception, Lainey?"

"Yes," Helaine said, opening her eyes as he knelt by her again. "I didn't think it would be so hard, you make it seem easy."

Valin grinned. "We can't all be Halcyons." He stood up and started running water over another flimsy towel.

Helaine smiled. "Guess not." She watched him as he soaked the flimsy towel, noting the well-defined muscles on his arms. He was taller than average, and used it to his complete advantage in battle, but with her he managed to make it not so obvious. Except when he had helped her up. He certainly was strong. Helaine's cheeks suddenly flushed as she realized she found him attractive. She'd never noticed until the night before, her cheeks burned deeper as she remembered how he'd had to kiss her. Valin suddenly pressed a third towel against her shoulder and she jumped. He looked at her with concern. "Did I hurt you?"

"No." Helaine shook her head firmly, trying to force her thoughts onto another track. "No, you didn't."

Valin studied her for a moment. "Alright, tell me when the towels get too warm."

Helaine shifted uncomfortably. "I can do it," she began, stopping at the stern look he gave her. Still slightly embarrassed, Helaine chose to change the subject. "Do you ever follow rules without knowing the reason why, Valin?"

"All the time," Valin replied, pulling out their lightsaber. "Why?"

"I finally understand the one about attachments," Helaine said, wincing slightly. "I nearly jeopardized our entire cover because I...felt for Taren."

Valin was silent for a moment as he started to work on the saber. "You would have done it for anyone."

Helaine shook her head. "I'm not much of a healer, Valin. I should have let you do it."

"The end result would have been the same," Valin said, his voice slightly distant as he directed the Force.

"Maybe." Helaine bit her lip. "But I almost tried to remove his choke collar the instant they put it on him. That would have been disastrous."

Valin looked up. "But you didn't."

Helaine shook her head. "That's not the point. I don't know what to do, I can't just ignore him, I think he knows." She looked down at her hands. "And this is probably our only chance to ever see each other."

"So take advantage of it, Lainey," Valin said, stopping his work for a moment.

"I can't," Helaine said, shocked before reminding herself that he was Corellian. "It goes against the code, this should never have happened."

Valin placed the saber on his lap. "I don't know what you want me to say. You know I don't believe the way you do."

Helaine straightened her shoulders. "I don't understand how you cannot. Our ways have worked for thousands of years."

"The Corellian ways have worked for centuries," Valin said calmly. "You distance yourselves from the ways of the Galaxy, and still expect to be able to guide it correctly."

"Love breeds partiality and clouds judgment," Helaine said stiffly.

"And nonchalance clouds compassion, which Jedi should be known for," Valin countered. "You shy away from attachments for fear of being unable to perform your duties to the Republic. That you may be unwilling to do what is necessary for the good of the galaxy." He paused, his tone softening. "It is for the people that I love and will love who I do it for."

Helaine squirmed slightly as her shoulder started to burn again. She let out a long breath, flinching. "Let's not argue this now, we need to finish that lightsaber."

Valin nodded, dropping it on her lap and then started to run cold water on another flimsy towel. "Are you up to aiding me?"

"Yes," Helaine said, as he removed the warm flimsy towels and replaced them with a cool one. "We're charging the power cell, right?"

"Yeah, and it'll go much quicker if we both do it." Valin placed two more towels on her shoulder then picked up the lightsaber. "Are you going to be able to fight?"

Helaine nodded, placing her bounds hands on the saber next to his. "I think so, though perhaps we should ask Lumpa for help."

Valin smiled. "A Wookiee. I like the way you think."

"Thanks," Helaine said, slowly tapping into the Force and sending a tendril of it into the power cell. Valin's energy soon joined hers, doubling the strength of the flow. Lightsabers were meant to take weeks, for some Jedi even months, of proper preparation and meditating. Charging the power cells and connecting them to the crystals was one of the hardest parts, not meant to be done quickly, because a Jedi put a part of themselves into it, that was what made the lightsaber come so easily when called.

Helaine was somewhat surprised as her connection to the Force melded with Valin's, giving her a clearer sense of him than ever before. She had expected his light to be slightly shadowed, or his ability to be stunted from not following the right code. Instead, he felt like many other apprentices in their nineteenth year, bright in the Force and perfectly normal. The lack of wrongness disturbed her, because the fault could lie in the order she chose to follow. Or perhaps it lay in neither, but that did not coincide with the prophecy of the Chosen One. Anakin Skywalker was prophesied to unite the separate orders of the Jedi, restoring balance to Force by combining them into one. Darker, more shaded prophecies hinted toward that if the Chosen One failed, the Jedi would fall with him.

Valin nudged her to focus, gently guiding the flow of the Force as the elemental bonds in the powercell shifted, allowing it to soak up more energy. Helaine had never understood how it worked, but knew that the changes within the lightsaber echoed in the Jedi who built it. Despite her lack of preparation for it, building it [i]was[/i] changing her, in ways far too deep for her to grasp in a moments time.

Helaine slowly blinked her eyes open when she sensed that the lightsaber was finished. "What now?"

"We're going to take that choke collar off of Taren," Valin said, getting to his feet and helping her up. "How's your shoulder?"

"I'll survive," Lainey responded.

Valin nodded. "I'll handle the saber." He guided her out of the 'fresher.

Taren perked up the moment they entered the cell. "Is she alright?"

Helaine answered, "She's fine." Hesitating, she glanced over at Valin, who strode purposefully over to Taren.

Valin rested his hand on Taren's shoulder, studying the collar for a moment. "We need to get this thing off of you."

"How?" Taren asked curiously, backing up slightly.

"You may want to close your eyes," Valin said, lifting up the lightsaber. Turning it away from him, he switched it on. Taren jumped, while the others in the room gasped.

"A lightsaber?" Taren asked, backing up further. "How did you get that past the guards?"

"We built it in here," Valin said, cocking his head toward Helaine. "We need to remove your collar first so I can free Lainey." He lifted the blade up. "Ready?"

Taren nodded, closing his eyes and holding stiffly still while Valin touched the lightsaber to collar, instantly breaking it. As soon as it clanked to the floor, Taren opened his eyes, letting out a relieved sigh. "You're a Jedi, too?" Valin nodded. "A Knight?"

Valin shook his head. "No, I'm an apprentice," He answered, gesturing for Helaine to hold up her hands.

"But I thought...paddlewhatsits had braids?" Taren asked as Valin cut through the binder on Helaine's right hand.

"Corellian apprentices aren't paddlehorns," Valin said, winking at Helaine as he cut through her other binder.

"Pada[i]wans[/i]," Helaine corrected finally.

Valin just laughed and walked over to the Wookiee, asking him if he wanted to help. Lumpa growled an enthusiastic affirmative, and Valin quickly released him from the binders. Before anyone could question what exactly they were going to do, Valin advised the startled prisoners to stay while he cut through the lock on the door.

***

Valin stepped out into the empty corridor, making sure Lumpa and Lainey followed closely behind him. He could sense most of the slavers where he assumed the cockpit to be, but one wasn't too far down the corridor from them. He touched Lainey's shoulder. "See if you can get a couple of blasters."

"Okay," Lainey said softly, attempting to move away from behind him, but he stopped her.

"And stay behind me." Valin ordered, and she frowned at him. Even though she was an excellent fighter, she was handicapped by her injured shoulder. And if she strained it [i]too[/i] much, it could break open. She knew it, too, and backed off reluctantly. Just then, the guard came around the corridor, and instantly brought up his blaster at seeing the three of them in the hall.

Lainey yanked it out of his hands with telekinesis and caught it in her hands, then handed it over to Lumpa. The guard started running, but didn't get far before Lumpa shot him down with a stun bolt. "Nice shooting," Valin complimented, gesturing with his arm for them to follow him down the corridor. Lainey stayed behind him, keeping alert for any more danger. He'd been slightly surprised when she'd passed the blaster off to the Wookiee first, making him wonder how good her aim was. Or she was protecting him. Valin smirked at the thought of Lainey protecting the big Wookiee, figuring Lumpa would have choicer words to say about it.

Valin followed the slavers' presences in the Force to the cockpit, formulating a plan as he walked. There were six other slavers, outnumbering his group, but they could hardly compete with two Jedi and a Wookiee. Valin wasn't about to get overconfident, however, that was the quickest way to fall off a very high cliff. Their slavers had shown intelligence in dealing with Lainey, and had she not been able to redirect the blasters path, she'd be stuck in a healing trance.

Leaving the lightsaber unlit at his side, Valin slowly approached the cockpit, trying to convince himself he wasn't enjoying the chase. He and his father worked with Corsec every once in awhile, when the cases got too dangerous and too many lives were lost. It frustrated Valin to no end that it took near disaster before the Jedi would be called, and even then, Rostek preferred for them to work undercover if at all possible. Valin understood the caution, as a Jedi police force was likely to cause unrest in the population, but surely one or two couldn't hurt.

At least, the situation on Corellia wasn't nearly as bad as the rest of the Galaxy. The Jedi on Coruscant had allowed the people's fear of them to push them too hard, to the point where they ignored natural instinct. Beyond fighting against anger and fear, they suppressed love as well. It was truly no wonder why the number of Jedi potentials decreased every year. Their aversion to love led to celibacy, which led to extinction. And it wasn't very fun.

Reaching the cockpit doors, Valin flipped the lightsaber on, deciding to go with the direct approach. He ran the saber straight down through the doors, automatically sensing the panic within the room. Soon as the doors opened, Valin jumped to the side, dropping to his knees with Lainey behind him. A volley of blaster bolts almost immediately shot at them, which Valin redirected with the lightsaber. Any shots he missed, Lainey redirected with telekinesis, also managing to catch a couple loosely held blasters as well.

The slavers backed up, and Valin slowly crept into the cockpit, keeping low. Lainey set her blaster on stun and started shooting, taking them down faster than they could regroup. Valin rushed forward as soon as they went down, searching for the cockpit for stuncuffs.

Lainey glanced at him curiously. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for stuncuffs or binders," Valin replied, pulling open drawers.

"Matrim had to leave the room for those, I think I know where to get them." Lainey said, then exited the cockpit.

Valin crouched down next to the closest slaver, then looked up at Lumpa. "How many can you carry at a time?"

Lumpa growled, *two*.

"I can take one," Valin said, looking around to the six slavers. "We'll have to make a couple of trips."

*And Lainey?* Lumpa growled questioningly.

Valin shook his head. "She could pull it off with TK, but I don't think she would unless there was no other way." Not that she wouldn't try without it...

Lainey came back into the cockpit, arms full of stuncuffs. "I wasn't sure how many to grab."

"This is good," Valin said, getting up and taking some of them from her. He handed some to Lumpa, and they all set about binding the slavers hands together. As soon as they were finished, he turned to Lainey. "Can you get the others out of the holding cell, Lainey?"

She hesitated, before finally nodding. "Of course."

Valin smiled, then pretended to have an afterthought. "After that, you better get yourself and Taren to the medbay, I noticed a small one on our way here."

Now she looked ready to object, but wasn't about to admit any fear toward being alone with her brother. "I will," Lainey said after a moment. "See you there."

He nodded to her as she left, then pulled Matrim onto his shoulders. Despite a very strong urge to follow her and make sure she did go, Valin headed off to dispose of their former captor.

***

Helaine prepared herself for a barrage of questions as she approached the holding cell, sensing strong curiosity inside it. She supposed it was justified, and she hadn't missed Valin's way of getting out of having to answer their questions. Taking a deep breath, Helaine stepped inside. "We've got to move to the cabin, Hal's bringing the slavers here."

The group jumped to their feet, and Ammon looked like he really wanted to ask her something. She gestured for them to follow her, turning her back before he could open his mouth. He walked right up beside her. "Did you allow yourself to be captured?"

"No." Helaine shook her head. "It actually was an accident."

"How did you guys make that lightsaber? Or did you sneak it in? Are all lightsabers made with glowrods?"

"We used the jewels from Aeshari's bracelet." Helaine replied, searching out the cabin as she walked. Aeshari and Ammon had more questions for her, mainly regarding the Force and the Jedi Order. Taren was quiet, studying the floor or her, seeming to contemplate her answers more deeply than those who asked the questions. As they reached the cabin finally, Ammon asked the question she'd been dreading.

"Is Lainey short for something?" asked Ammon, following Helaine into the cabin.

Helaine took a deep breath, pretending to observe the bunkbeds. "Helaine."

Taren stiffened in shock beside her. "Trillium?" He asked, almost hesitantly.

"Yes," Helaine said, turning slowly to face him. She held out her hand to him. "It is nice to meet you, Taren." Gesturing down the corridor she added, "Hal and I feel you should be in the medbay." She nodded to Ammon and Aeshari. "Lumpa should be in here with you soon."

Ammon looked like he wanted to go, but Helaine turned around anyway, taking Taren's arm and guiding him out of the cabin. After a few moments, she realized what she was doing and quickly released him. Taren cleared his throat. "What are Hal and Lumpa doing?"

"Placing the slavers in the holding cell," Helaine replied, scouting out the med bay. "Hal will probably want to interrogate them later."

"Does he really work for Corsec then?" Taren asked curiously.

Helaine shook her head. "He helps them, but he can't be a detective."

Taren followed her around a corner. "Why not? Don't you work for the senate?"

"[i]No[/i]," Helaine said, looking at him in disbelief. "The Jedi cannot be under any branch of the Government, it would place their will above the Force. Not to mention that if it grew corrupt, we would go down with it."

"Don't the Corellian Jedi work under theirs?" Taren asked as they reached the medbay and Helaine palmed the door open.

Many Jedi thought so, and disliked them for it. Helaine had once believed that, but now she knew it wasn't true from speaking with Valin, staying out from under Government control had kept him and Master Halcyon from joining Corsec. They still chose to serve their homeworld, showing explicit favoritism. The hundred or so living there were able to keep the planet relatively more safe than the ten thousand Republic Jedi guarding the Galaxy. Helaine found it wrong for the Jedi to keep their services so limited as to serving one world, but was it so much more wrong than spreading themselves too thin?

Helaine cleared her throat. "They serve it, but I do not know of them joining any of the branches."

Taren nodded, taking a chair as he studied her for a moment. "You look like our mother."

She stiffened in the doorway, having to jump forward before the doors closed on her. "Oh."

"Sorry," Taren apologized, looking away from her.

"No, it's okay," Helaine said, attempting to smile. His comment had opened the way for her to ask questions she'd managed to suppress for years. As an initiate, she'd spent many nights wondering about her family, wondering which parent she took after, if she had any brothers or sisters. The questions had left her shortly after she was apprenticed, because her Master had filled the role of a parent. She had thought such curiosity had left her, but now she realized just how close to the surface it still laid. "How is your arm doing?" She asked, seeking to change the subject.

Taren rubbed it absentmindedly. "Well," he replied, then took a deep breath. "Helaine, I know this is probably a lot to ask from you, but...," he hesitated. "Well, you know how parents are, they worry." Helaine nodded, and he continued. "I could tell them you were okay, but I think it might be better coming from you, in maybe a letter. That isn't forbidden, is it?"

Helaine shrugged, uncertain. As long as she didn't expect one in return, she supposed it wouldn't be. "I'll see what I can do," Helaine promised, before she knew what she was getting into.