Orphic Verboten

Amber Penglass

Chapter III

Bai Ran - I myself don't normally care for AU...which is odd, considering my two best stories are AU, heh...

Mellyna - I'm gonna have fun with the dark Atton. He's just so sexy! More importantly, he makes an excellent plot enricher.

Sinjinn - I love the cloak bit, too. Glad you didn't think it was too emo/dramatic!

snackfiend101 - I officially love you. Forget mircosoft, can I just install a button on you, click and have you screen my stuff? And thanks for the beta offer, but I have a tendancy to not utilize their help- I'm just too impatient. A flaw, but one I can live with.

Amme Moto - I'm actually still debating if Kreia will make an appearence at all... I'll have to decide by next chapter...bleh...

Bald as Malak - What's there to say? You're reviews are as appreciated and as taken to heart as ever.

LauraCeleste - Your movie comment was especialy appreciated, seeing as I'm a film student. Thankies beyond words!

Luren - I know, I sometimes feel so bad for denying my(self, in a way) the escape she wants so badly. But then again, we want her to have Atton, now don't we?

And of course, thanks to; Glass Mermaid, Trillian2410, Sagebeth, Jedi-Falen, Adrianna, JDRVJones, pheonixasending, NightSky 18

All at once, he thought of everything and he thought of nothing. The 'nothing' part resulted in the serious of blinks and blurbling attempts at speech. The 'everything' consisted of 'what the hell?' and 'we need to get out of here,' as well as, 'hey, the exile is getting free…'

The last thought of 'everything' managed to filter through where the others hadn't, and with a shout of, "Hey, hey, hold it!" He ran, dodged a blur of blonde that he now recognized as Adana, and tackled Aelyn from behind. With a dual 'oof' of expelled air from both of them they landed hard, with Atton twisting instinctively to take the brunt of the blow. Later, when puzzling over such an automatic motion, he'd simply rationalize it away as knowing Goto wouldn't want his 'guest'-to-be damaged. Unfortunately, however, he would also remember what a painfully susceptive position his gentlemanly act had put him in…

As soon as the exiled Jedi realized the position she was in was one of pure advantage, she took that advantage, elbowing her captive-to-be in the gut and rolling off him and jumping back to her feet. He was up just as quick, catching his breath as he leaped to his feet, only to loose that same breath yet again as a small fist buried itself in his gut, and with yet another woosh he stumbled back, staring incredulously at the tiny blonde who'd punched him so solidly.

"Adana?" He said, yet again. Her stormy blue eyes glowered at him, but in a brief moment of childishness she stuck her tongue out at him.

"That," she told him icily, "was for trying to kidnap Aelyn."

At his waist, the communicator vibrated with an almost tangible air of impatience. The mercenaries outside wouldn't wait much longer, he knew. With an internal wince of near-regret, Atton recovered from the blow –which had been more surprising than truly incapacitating- and swung out with one arm…

With a squeal Adana came around and against him, one arm around her throat, his other arm pulling one of her wrists behind her. Out in front, Aelyn paused at the door that she'd finally managed to reach. She whirled, hair-extensions swirling around her shoulders along with the strips of sheer black fabric anchored to her arms by twin silver armbands. The effect was a thoroughly dramatic one, an effect that wasn't lost on Atton even has he shove his appreciation of the sight to the back of his mind and tightened his hold on a squirming Adana.

"Lemme go!" the girl screeched.

"Take your hands off her," Aelyn moved away from the door, her voice darker than Atton remembered hearing it to date- not that they'd ever talked much… But still, the menace with which she stared at him unnerved him. The fact that he wanted to obey without her using any Persuassion…that unnerved him, too. "Let her go," she added a moment later. Atton's lips twitched with forced amusement.

"Let me think about that for a minute…" He paused in mock consideration. "No," he added, and Adana wiggled again. The communicator in his sash vibrated an impatient 'move it or loose it' message, and he glanced out at the window, the window that he'd barely had time to unlock. He looked back to the glowering Aelyn and jerked his head back to said window.

"Open it," he commanded. He saw Aelyn's fists clench, rings on her fingers glittering with the movement. His grip on Adana tightened visibly, and the girl whimpered. Deep in the pit of his stomach, past the adrenaline and the no-nonsense attitude he'd assumed, Atton winced at the sound. He vowed he'd find a way to make it up to his one-time honorary little sister. Someday.

Aelyn moved. Slowly, but she moved, gliding in an almost stalker-ish fashion in a wide arch around him and to the window. He turned with her, keeping her in front of him at all times. Her gaze never left his as she reached the window, and slowly raised her arms and hands to grip the latch of the window and haul the huge sheet of transparasteel glass aside.

"Move away," he told her, and –still glaring a chillingly harsh glare- she moved, her gaze flitting from him to Adana. Moving slowly to the window to take Aelyn's place, he glanced out, briefly, long enough to view the scene below but not enough time for the Exile to try anything. Seeing that the mercenaries were still down below, hovering on a set of illegally tricked-out speeders, he reached out one arm and began displaying a series of hand signals he'd picked up a long time ago… Then, in his mind, he ran over what he hoped would happen… And calculated the risks if it didn't go right…

Then, trusting that the message had been received, he hoisted the blonde Adana up into his arms. Squealing, she fought him, but she was overall too startled by his sudden movements to fight enough to prevent the end result; his tossing her out the window. The loud, girlish scream of absolute terror and betrayal ended abruptly, about the same time a cry of outrage exploded from the mouth of the ex-Jedi across the room. Aelyn charged, Atton dodged, bringing himself back around and behind Aelyn as she stumbled, regained her balance, and she herself whirled around, two fists ready and willing to meet his face.

Atton ducked and came up under her swing, hooking his shoulder, arm, and neck around her torso, just under her bust, like a vice. He put more speed into his movements as he came into contact with her, ignoring the heavy, well-placed blows her small but quite capable fists were landing to his back, ribs, and backside. Keeping his momentum going, he lifted her up as he ran, planting one foot on the window ceil and shoving with his other foot….

The pounding fists at his back were suddenly clutching fingernail-fulls of flesh and cloth-gold sash as they tumbled in a controlled fall out the window. Atton curled, flipped in mid-air, pulling his Jedi quarry back over his shoulder and into his arms, all in the sparse three-second fall before…

Before, in mid-air, they came to a tooth-jarring halt.

Not quite realizing he'd closed them, Atton opened his eyes to spy with combined amazement and amusement the scrunched-up, very red face of his captive Jedi below his own, her left arm shoved down below her –she was cradled in his arms over the threshold style- with waves of ripples eminating from her palm downwards.

'Of all the unexpected things…' he thought with amazement. She was holding them aloft with sheer Force alone. Both of them. And, he realized suddenly, she was slowly lowering them to the batch of mercenaries not ten feet below them. Her breathing was becoming more labored with every foot they descended, and Atton could hear Adana's worried gasps and whines from below. Three feet from the ground, with a raggedly harsh gasp, Aelyn's grip on them both faltered, and they fell a foot… Then her grasp on her powers collapsed altogether, and they fell the last two feet unhindered. Atton's knees bent to absorb the brunt of the impact, and the moment he was under his own power, again, he bolted to the spare speeder waiting by the leader of the mercenaries, who gave him a curt nod through his visor. Onto his speeder he climbed, settling a trembling-with-exhaustion Aelyn in front of him, her legs to the right of the narrow vehicle. She collapsed against his chest, seemingly unaware of who it was she was practically snuggling with. With an amused grin downwards, Atton gunned the speeder, and they left Vobba's compound with no pursuit and no more complications.

"I need to talk to you," Luren's voice, so serious, so beyond her years, chilled the year-older Aelyn when she crossed the room to meet her.

"What's wrong?" Aelyn asked instantly. Luren's only response was to glance nervously to where Master Kavar was correcting a Padawan's stance.

"Come with me," Luren whispered, and turned to leave, her gait quick and urgent.

"Wait!" Aelyn called. Despite the advantage she had on Luren in age, it was the younger girl who had the height advantage. She caught up, gripping her friend's elbow. "What's wrong? C'mon, tell me…"

"Not yet," Luren whispered the kind of whisper a child thinks no one else in the world can hear. "C'mon…"

"Luren," Aelyn whined, still following the raven-haired girl. "Luren…tell me…tell me, Luren…"

"Just wait," Luren countered, her voice tense as she licked small pink lips in a nervous gesture. Aelyn, not the most observant person, didn't see the tell-tale motion and continued to press until Luren fixated her with a stare that was thoroughly, undeniably annoyed.

"All right, all right," Aelyn muttered, hooking her thumbs sullenly on her belt in a manner she'd seen many of the older Padawans do.

"You look like a boy when you do that," Luren murmured blatantly. Aelyn's only response was to stick her tongue out at her best friend. Then, glancing around self consciously, she removed her hands from her belt.

"So, c'mon, Luren, what's going on?"

"Hush," Luren chastised, sounding more like a parent than a friend only a year older. She led Aelyn to a narrow corridor, peeking around the corner for a brief moment before going around it, one hand out behind her motioning for Aelyn to follow closely. At the end of the corridor, which dead-ended beneath a high, sealed window, Luren crouched in a deeply shadowed corner. Butterflies of curious excitement fluttered in Aelyn's stomach as she settled in beside her friend, pulling her robe down over her knees and wrapping her arms around her legs. Eyes bright with an inquisitive light, she bit her lip while forcing herself to wait…

"I had a dream," Luren whispered softly, so softly that Aelyn had a hard time hearing her.

"What kind of dream?" She asked, rather loudly in comparison to Luren's soft tones. Luren gave her friend an incredulous look. Blushing, Aelyn gave an apologetic expression and repeated, much quieter, "What dream?"

Luren met her friend's gaze solemnly and said, "A dream about you, and a man…"

Unlike last time, Aelyn awoke with a start. When the dream and the faint pang of missing a dear old friend faded, she was surprised and a little confused to find that she wasn't at all restrained. She glanced around, her expectation of being back in the Ebon Hawk's dormitory fulfilled. The footlocker had been removed, as had everything else that wasn't bolted or wielded in place, including all pillows, blankets, knobs and switches, even the lighting that had previously been installed above each bunk. Her lips twitching in amusement, Aelyn rose from the bed to pad across the cold floor to the hatch.

"He learns quick," she murmured upon discovering that the hatchway was sealed thoroughly shut. "He must have overridden the structural damage security routine…made the computer think there was a gaping hole in this side of the ship…" She shivered, wrapping her arms around her bare shoulders. She went back to the stripped-down bunk and sat on the thin pallet that had replaced the usual thick mattress. Folds of translucent black fabric swirled around her hips as she turned and sat, and she arranged the material to cover as much goose-bumped skin as possible.

But despite the thoroughly bare condition of her surroundings, Aelyn wasn't completely bereft of an arsenal. No, she still had herself… And considering some of her newly re-acquired abilities, that was saying something, for once. Aelyn folded her legs in a way that had become increasingly familiar to her over the recent weeks, closed her eyes, concentrating on centering herself and building on that little flicker of a blue flame deep inside herself.

All the while, as Aelyn nurtured and nudged her Force connection, she tried not to think of what had happened to Adana…

"Good, good." Goto's voice showed the most emotion Atton could remember hearing in the old man's tones since 'meeting' him, that emotion being one of satisfaction. "I trust you'll keep a better eye on my guest in the near future? Of course you will.

"You will meet with my servant Visquis upon your return to Nar Shaddaa. I trust you can put off visiting the Red Sector with your new earnings until after business with me is complete…" Was Goto teasing him? The old guy must really be pleased to know that Aelyn Drae was safely back in Atton's grasp…

"Yeah, yeah, no problem," Atton groused. The flickering blue hologram before him gave a twitch of a smile.

"Very good. You will also receive the remainder of your payment from Visquis, after he is satisfied that the Exile is the genuine article and unharmed in any way, in case you need a little extra incentive to go straight to my Quarren."

"I got it, already, no sight-seeing."

"Very good," Goto repeated. And without so much as a goodbye, his voice and visage vanished from the Ebony Hawk security room.

"You summoned, excellancy?" The sarcasm dripping from those three words was palpable, as was the easy disrespect surrounding the redhead that had uttered them.

"Ah, Mira, how good of you to heed my call," Goto's voice echoed mechanically from the small, spherical droid hovering in front of the lithe bounty hunter. In her drab, but comfortable apartment, the lights were dim, glancing off the robot's slick surface. Mira sank back into one of her salvaged couches, grinning mirthlessly at the photoreceptors turned towards her.

"Not like I had a choice," Mira drawled, glancing towards the small hole that had been burned through her door, through which the little sphere had forced its entry.

"Oh, you had plenty of choices," Goto's voice intoned casually. "Like that holdout blaster holstered to your right thigh, or the Ishani pistol hidden at your back, or the canon rifle stashed beneath the pillow to your left."

"You know, I'm beginning to think that people who replace their real eyes with mechanical ones have the right idea…" Mira slid the aforementioned canon rifle out from beneath the big, floppy pillow next to her, pulling it partially into her lap and casually slipping her hand around the grip, one finger hooking easily over the trigger.

"Subtle as ever, I see," Goto said dryly.

"Of course," she responded glibly.

"I will be frank with you, huntress. You are no doubt aware that you, as you say in your kind's terms, 'owe me one.'"

"All right, so I do," she sat up straighter, setting her free hand on her knee. "So, you're calling in a favor. What is it?"

"I have a very…special deliver due to arrive within the next few days. My servant Visquis –you know, the one in charge of the Refugee Sector?- is in charge of receiving it. I don't trust him. I want you there to make sure he…behaves himself, and doesn't try to keep my delivery for himself."

"Why me?" Mira leaned back again, slinging one arm over the back of the couch in a deceptively lazy posture. Beneath the calm exterior, every muscle was tense and taught. If she didn't like this job, if she refused… 'Gizka out of Hades' would have a new meaning for her.

"Quite frankly, all my trustworthy operatives are currently otherwise engaged."

"You consider me trustworthy." It wasn't a question, it was a stalwart, dry statement of disbelief.

"No, not at all my dear. What is trustworthy is your greed, and your unfailing fear of failure. You will be paid most handsomely for your services, I assure you."

"Name some numbers, hot shot," Mira demanded loftily, releasing her hold on the canon rifle, but keeping it well in her lap while she clasped both hands behind her head, smirking at the little hovering robot's 'eyes.' Goto complied, and Mira rolled the named numbers over in her head. She'd been offered big numbers before, all right, but nothing quite so considerable for seemingly so simple a job.

"What's the delivery, Goto? I'm not stupid, and you know it. No one, not even you, can afford to throw away that kind of money without due cause."

"This delivery isn't important to just me, Mira," Goto said in almost paternal tone that had her gritting her teeth. "It's important to the entire galaxy."

"Too bad for you that I really don't give a gizka's ass about the galaxy. Now, you gonna give me a real reason?"

"No, and I don't need to. Just be on the lookout for a smuggler's ship with the transponder code T3X-HOQ4-459M, going by the name 'Ebon Hawk.' When you know of it's landing, head to the Exchange headquarters in the Refugee Sector. Visquis will be expecting you. There will be other 'extra hands' present; Visquis will be told that I took it upon myself to send him some extra muscle, should the delivery go wrong. Your mission, Mira, will be to protect that delivery at all costs, even from Visquis. Especially from Visquis."

Mira sighed. "All right, I'll keep an eye out for this ship. If I go, you'll know I went, and I'll expect the money to be in my account by the next day. If I decide I want to repay my debt to you some other time, that'll be fine too."

"Of course, Mira, of course," there it was again, that paternal patronizing….

Before she could decide to blast the annoying little hover droid to shrapnel, the robot turned and left under its own power, Goto's annoyingly patient tones still echoing in Mira's memory.

"Damn him," she muttered, leaning heavily back into her couch. She'd be there, she knew she would, and he knew she would. Even she couldn't afford to turn down those kinds of numbers… With a sigh, she pushed herself up from the couch. She needed a nice long soak in the fresher, then she'd set to getting ahold of some of her contacts at the docks to watch out for that ship…

Some brains were intended for science. Some were destined for quick reflexes; fighting and the like. Still others were made for art and beauty, while others still were dedicated to finding short-cuts and cleverness.

Whatever Atton's brain was made for it, it wasn't meant for the kind of deep thought he currently found himself in. With the Exile locked safely away in one dormitory, and Adana thoroughly asleep in the other, Atton was left to battle the silence of the ship and the noisy clammering of his own thoughts. In the end, the noise won out, and Atton turned and faced the multitude of questions and memories that had been plaguing him all during his impatient wait on Nad Haddu.

First among them was, of course, the one that he wanted to avoid thinking about the most. And, given his nature, it was the one that he should be least concerned with. Least. But something about that completely platonic, thoroughly necessary, and completely unwanted kiss in the alley made his insides shiver every time he thought about it, every time he unwittingly recalled the feel of her lips beneath his, every time he could almost feel that soft hair slipping through his fingers, every time his ears played him for a fool and he could nearly hear the way she'd draw a breath that was almost a gasp…

He leaned his head back against the pilot's seat headrest, shutting his eyes tight against the image of his wayward captive Jedi pressed up against that wall. Deep within him, something laughed and laughed and laughed- him, fantasizing –however unwillingly- about a Jedi in a way that didn't involve maiming and death? How…quaint.

But at least that single act had had a purpose- saving their skins from the Dockmaster's thugs. But other things…? The leap in not just his libido when spying the Exile (he really needed to start using her name…) in the dance costume…the leap in his interest. Since when could a Jedi dance? This tidbit about her intrigued him, he had to admit. Part of him wanted to know what else about her wasn't quite standard… His sense told him 'quite a bit.' And Atton's sense was rarely wrong…

Then there was when she'd fallen on him in their tussle in the room in the Hutt's palace, when he'd twisted to take the brunt of the fall, to protect her. Just didn't want to damage Goto's property, he told himself. Knowing his luck, the chit would have hit her head just right and addled a few mental functions, or slipped into a coma…

He sighed, folding his hands behind his head and staring up at the boring, bland grey metal bulkhead above him. Damn, but this ship was ugly… But she was a good ship, even he had to admit. She'd been patched and double patched more times than he could count, and visibly so, but she still ran smooth as butter.

More thoughts were starting to nag him. Like his fascination with her burgundy hair, and his incessant curiosity about whether or not it was natural…

Scowling, Atton abruptly slapped on the autopilot and shoved himself out of the pilot's seat, and headed for the dormitory. He needed to check on Adana…

"Atton…" Aelyn rolled the name around in her mouth, pondering the sound of it and the feel of it on her tongue. She hadn't realized until going over her memories of her 'rescue/recapture' at the Hutt palace that until Adana had whispered the name, so forlornly, that she'd never before known her captor's name. Atton.

She liked it, and that surprised her. Not that it mattered. Just because she liked the bastard's name didn't mean she'd hesitate to do anything necessary to escape, not now, not with Adana on the line, too… She'd sensed the little girl's unconscious presence on the ship, and now that she knew for certain that the blonde was alive and near, Aelyn's resilience to escape had increased tenfold, now with the additional determination to get Adana free, too. If she was even a prisoner…there was always a chance that whatever line of work Atton was in, it was limited to herself, and that he'd let Adana go just fine. But just in case not…

That was another thing. The young girl seemed to have known Atton… the utter surprise in her face when Atton had used her as a shield and as a bargaining chip had concreted that assumption. And the utter shock and betrayal in the girl's voice and attitude when Atton had turned from the window to catch her untying Aelyn… Only once before in her life had Aelyn been privy to such deep a display of betrayal, and it was still a memory that haunted her.

But it was also the betrayal itself that confused her- Atton, for all his obvious flaws, struck her as an insanely loyal person, someone who would stick by someone forever, once he'd cast his lot with that person. If such a person had ever existed to date… he also seemed the 'slow to trust' type. Not that Aelyn blamed him. Once upon a time, she'd trusted so, so easily…

She averted her thoughts from that path of contemplation with a swift, 'No longer.'

She began pacing, puzzling over the confusing anomaly that was Atton. Why in the name of all that was connected to the Force did he fascinate her so? And it far less to do with the fact that he was her first kiss –as pathetic as that sounded at her age- than one might think. Yes, far less… She paused. Could she possible be that silly? Was it possible for her to still be that shallow?

Yes, yes it was, and she knew it. With a groan, Aelyn buried her face in her hands and halted her pacing with a heavy, halting step. A step that echoed oddly, she thought with a prolonged blink.

She withdrew her hands from her face, lifting one foot and stomping solidly. Yes, there it was, a faint echo, an echo that normal ears might not pick up, but Jedi ears? Another matter entirely. Hadn't she concluded once upon a time that this was probably a smuggling ship? Smiling slowly, Aelyn got down on her knees, wincing at the contact of cold metal through the thin fabric of her loose garments. Sensitive fingertips probed floor until she identified a square section that wasn't quite so perfectly aligned with the rest of the floor sheets. Unfortunately, finding the trap door did her no good if she had nothing with which to pry it open… Thanks to Atton removing everything not microscopically held in place, there wasn't anything to use as an even remotely ideal make-shift crow bar…

She crossed her arms with a scowl, rubbing her shoulders to create friction against the cold air. While doing so, the insides of her forearms brushed against the coolness that was the curved silver disks cupping her breasts. She slowly uncrossed her arms, and blinked down at her décolletage. Oh, Force, no…

She sighed. It would work. The metal was plenty strong enough, if she was gauging the strength with which the trap door was nestled in place… Glancing self consciously up to the corners of the room and spying the security camera, Aelyn maneuvered herself so that her back was to it. While she was at it, might as well mask what she was doing entirely… She settled herself down into a position that she hoped would resemble an innocent meditation pose, while discreetly raising her hands to work one of the disks off her right breast, and praying that Atton didn't choose the next hour to waltz in and take a peek of Jedi tit…

Running a weary hand through his hair, Atton pulled the hatch shut behind him just in time for the metal door to block something heavy from smashing in his skull. The hatch also granted him the favor of blocking the sound of Adana's indignant, surprisingly broad spectrum of insults from reaching his ears once it clicked blissfully shut.

"Oiy, why is it that all the women in my life have to be born with such hellishly large lungs?" He complained to himself, grumbling under his breath as he made his way to 'fresher. He'd trust autopilot for another twenty minutes, plenty of time to take a decent soak. Nothing luxurious, but then again the 'fresher on this ship wasn't something one wanted to stay in even if one had the time to try to grant oneself some luxury.

But just to be on the safe side, Atton stopped by the cockpit on his way. Turned out to be a good thing he had, else who knew when he would have found that little beeping red light that indicated someone was trying to communicate?

Slipping into the pilot's chair and pulling up scan readouts, Atton's eyes widened abruptly. Cursing at the sight of the sizable Republic command cruiser that had only just now slipped out of hyperspace to the Ebon Hawk's port side, Atton set to tampering with the sensors on the Hawk, jigsawing the whole thing into fooling the system into thinking he was the only one on board. The Hawk's mere design should keep any other shi, even a Republic ship, from getting a good reading, so thir next step would be to try to hack his systems to find out how many were aboard. Right now, he'd rather reduce their chances of finding out he had a Jedi –former or no- on board, especially one who was there against her will…

Then he opened a channel and, leaning casually back in his seat, he controlled his annoyance when a smug-looking Republic officer popped up on screen.

"This is Captain Tise Dorl, Republic Fleet. Your vessel as been IDed as a smuggler's vessel; its crew is wanted for questioning over the Peragus II destruction. Our sensors are only picking up one lifesigns. Are you alone?"

"What do you think?" Atton drawled, rolling his eyes for effect. "'Course I'm alone. I know, I know, hard to imagine, good looking guy like me-"

"Power down any weapons and prepare to be boarded," the Captain cut him off, and the communication was severed. Tense and scowling, Atton locked and triple locked then thoroughly sealed all exterior hatches and entryways before he pushed out from his seat. There was a smuggler's compartment in one of the storage garages. If he could get Adana there before the Republics boarded…

Damnit, why this now? And why hadn't he thought of this, why hadn't he had the Ebon Hawk's transponder codes changed? Stupid, stupid! And now it might cost him everything…

Before he was even halfway do the dormitory housing his honorary sibling, he felt the slight shudder running through the ship that signified a docking. Well, at least they'd extended a docking tube instead of a tractor beam…then he'd really have been in deep bantha poodo.

Adana put up no fight. Apparently, she'd heard and felt the docking, and was smart enough to know that at this point in time, it probably wasn't a good thing. Of course, she had no way of knowing that odds of all odds, it was the Republic… and Atton had no intention of enlightening them. He'd get Adana back to her mother just fine, and didn't trust the budding young woman into the hands of roughened military men who probably hadn't seen soft young skin in months. Atton himself was a guy, after all, and had possessed, at one point, probably one of the sickest minds of all time. While he wasn't proud of that mind, he wouldn't trade the insight and foreknowledge having that kind of mind at one point had given him for anything.

Once Adana was stowed safely and silently in the cargo compartment, Atton raced to the other dormitory to check on his Jedi captive, praying that his locking job on the hatches would hold the Republic forces at bay a little longer.

Triumph lanced through Aelyn as she felt the ship suddenly give a small, but unmistakable little shudder. Barely an hour had passed since she'd managed to pry the trap door into a state that she could open it when she needed to with just her hands, and already here was her chance to use the secret compartment she'd found…

Ignoring the camera, Aelyn went to the trap door, slipping it out of its grooves and wiggling down into the cramped, dark compartment below. Lowering the trap door into place above her using the loops on the underside, she settled in and took a deep, shuddering breath as she ignored the closeness of the darkness around her… She wasn't claustrophobic, but her situation wasn't helping her to continue to prevent herself from developing such a phobia.

Time flowed slowly by. Aelyn settled herself into a trance that put her entire range of senses into an ultra sensitive state. She could hear every whisper of the ship, feel every vibration, smell every layer of old fuel… Picking through her mental palace of commands and disciplines, she edited out the smell sensory. Sometimes, it was nice being a Jedi…

From above, murmurs and words filtered down to her muffled even with her advanced senses. Frowning faintly, she enhanced those senses just a bit more… And amid the distinct clipclop of several pairs of military boots, she managed to catch most of what sounded like a whispered transmission, "Lieutenant…find noth…if this is a…ler's vessel, he's not…orting anything….moment. Awaiti…further ord…sir."

For a split moment, Aelyn felt nothing, realized nothing, simply blinking into the solid darkness of her hiding place. Then, intuition kicked in, and a wide grin split her face. Right above her were Republic soldiers! A republic that, at the moment, was quite friendly towards any remaining Jedi (even ex, she supposed). For a moment, she contemplated the chance that the ship had been hijacked by impersonators, ones whom had managed to obtain several sets of Republic military issue footwear, and knew the proper protocol for transmissions to a superior. But if those men above her were genuine…?

"A life lived without risks, is a life not lived at all," Aelyn murmured to herself, then with a deep breath she hoisted the trap door panel above her up and to the side, emerging into fresh(er) air. Instantly, the sound of drawn weapons met her ears, and when Aelyn stopped blinking at the brighter lights, she flashed the trio of Republic uniformed men a wry grin.

"Didn't know you boys were going to get to play rescue when you rolled out of your bunk, hm?" She quipped, feeling more lighthearted than she'd been in a while.

"State your name and your business aboard this ship!" The officer in the foreground demanded in a clipped voice.

"Aelyn Drae, prisoner," she responded promptly and dryly. Startled, the three soldiers exchanged glances, and then the one who'd demanded her name offered a wry smile.

"Then, Aelyn Drae, prisoner, glad to meet you. Rest assured the pilot of this vessel will be brought to justice."

"Good to hear it," Aelyn responded, and pulled herself the rest of the way out of the hidden compartment. She'd wonder later why the thought of Atton in trouble made her belly twinge like that…

"You simply must be joking!" Aelyn exclaimed as a pair of utterly immovable cuffs were magnetically sealed around her wrists, behind her back. Beside her, Atton scowled through the same treatment. A ways away, Adana in the arms of a female officer gave a cry of concern for the woman that had shielded her during their stay in a Hutt's palace. The officer held her back. Aelyn sparred a moment of her indignation to give the girl a reassuring nod, and give the officer carrying her away a thoroughly unmistakable look of warning to treat the girl well, or else. Had she looked to her right, she would have seen Atton giving a look that was similar, but far more practiced at conveying the levels of pain he would deliver if his silent demand was not obeyed.

"Sorry, ma'am," the officer holding her, guiding her forward now that the cuffs were secure, said with only a mild hint of true apology in his voice. "But we can't simply feed and free everyone caught on a smuggler's ship just because they know the General's real name. Our Commander served with the General. He'll be able to verify if you truly are Aevyn Drow."

"Aevyn Drow?" Atton echoed, giving Aelyn a confused, accusing look. A nagging, alien sense of fear clawed at his belly- had he captured the wrong woman, all this time? Aelyn kept looking resolutely forward, lips pressed into a tight white line, refusing to say anything. The other officer, though, blonde hair tousled and unkept, the one walking just behind Atton, was plenty talkative.

"Don't know much, do you, smuggler? Thought you people are supposed to be well informed!"

"And you, being so definitely not a smuggler, would of course know this quite well," Atton responded snidely. The offended blonde jabbed him in the back, then proceeded to parade his superior knowledge.

"Everyone worth anything nowadays know that the 'legendary,'" he threw a glance in Aelyn's direction. "Aelyn Drae went under an assumed name, Aevyn Drow. Not many knew she was Jedi, and that was the way she wanted it, that's why she took the name. Supposedly, she didn't like the image-beating the Jedi were taking. Whether she took an altered name to defend herself or them, no one's sure."

"To defend myself," Aelyn answered in a grumble. "There, mystery solved."

The blonde officer glowered at her, as if she'd deliberately ruined the end to a good ghost story.

The pair of them, guarded on all sides, were lead to and thrown in a pair of freshly ignited force cages in a small room, somewhere on the portside of the ship, Atton guessed. Sighing, he grimaced at the familiarity of his surroundings.

"Visit these kinds of places a lot?" Aelyn drawled from beside him. Glancing over at her, he saw that her eyes were closed, and she was sitting with her back to the narrow strip of metal adhered to the wall, her knees bent, forearms resting on those knees, hands hanging loosely. Her head was leaned back against the wall, the long, pale expanse of her throat exposed. Briefly wondering why he felt his gaze drawn to that creamy space of flesh, Atton blinked at raised an eyebrow at her, even though she wasn't looking at him.

"What, Republic ships? No, thanks, had my fill early on." He gave a snort –he'd known she'd been jokingly referring to the force cages- and he watched as she lowered here head and opened her eyes to look at him, surveying him anew.

"That's where I recognized some of your moves," she said, half to herself, as if she'd located the missing piece to a hobby puzzle. "They were Echani. Barely, since they were military-learned, but Echani still. You were a Republic soldier, weren't you?"

"Unfortunately," Atton said, tensely, wondering why he wasn't contesting the accusation. Until this moment, he'd argued fervently with anyone else who'd come close to that same conclusion. Before he could contemplate his oddly quick surrender, though, the doors to the holding room slid with open with appropriate silence, and in stepped a mountain of a man, stone-like face and all. He was as statuesque as a chiseled marble statue, and just as flawless. Space-black hair curled just so against a high, square forehead that sat above a set of penetrating coal black eyes. The nose that stretched between and below those eyes was as sculpted as the rest of him, stopping a perfect amount of space above a pair of lips that, on their own, would have seemed more appropriate on a mostly augmented whore than a Republic Commander. A thoroughly masculine chest was encased in a Commander's red vest and silver brocade, obviously his less formal uniform, as he was lacking the full-sized medallions that, currently, a number of buttons sat in place of. He was tall, to top off the insult to Atton's own taller-than-average-but-not-overwhelmingly-so height.

And to add salt to the mixture, Aelyn lit up like a nebula at the sight of him, jumping to her feet so quickly one might of thought she'd never been sitting at all. Similarly, a look of utter surprise stole over the Commander's face when his gaze moved from scrutinizing Atton to behold Aelyn beaming at him.

"General?" The Adonis of a man said in thoroughly shocked tones. Instantly, he snapped his fingers to one of the officers flanking him, and a moment later the golden glow around Aelyn vanished. She took three strides, he took only one, and they met halfway in an embrace that was inexplicably entirely too comfy for Atton's comfort.

Aelyn embraced the Commander with all the strength her still newly recovered body could muster. Oh, to see a friendly –adult!- face! "Karas!" She crowed, pulling back with her hands still quite a ways above her resting on Commander Karas's shoulders. He beamed down at her, and for all intents and purposes his godly handsomeness was purely hers. Far older than he looked, Aelyn's former second in command had never married, never had a serious relationship as far as she knew- though he had once confessed during a bout of comrade-esque drinking, in a tender moment kept among Aelyn's most treasured memories, that if he'd ever could care about someone enough to remain loyal for any length of time, he would have thought and would have liked it to be her.

He kissed her now, a kiss of pure old friendships being taken out and dusted off, a chaste but happy kiss, smiling his blatantly pleasure at seeing her. "Aev, you're a sight for sore eyes," he told her. "If you'll pardon the cliché."

"You're pardoned, of course," she told him, stepping back at long last. "So long as you inform a certain blonde officer that next time he tries to make the event of my adopting a somewhat altered alias into a tool to show others how smart he is, to please try and keep the dramatics to a minimum."

Karas threw his head back, laughing. "Ensign Dagg is enthusiastic, but harmless. I think you'd like him, given half a chance. He reminds me of you, the few times you stopped being the General for a few moments."

"I'm not sure to take that as a disguised compliment," Aelyn said dryly. "Or smack you soundly."

"You can do both, but I'd prefer you do the other in private, and repeatedly," Karas waggled her eyebrows at her in a fashion that Atton, watching peevishly, found thoroughly unbefitting of the no-fuss face those eyebrows sat on. Flirting, Atton decided was at least one thing he thought himself better at.

Then again, Aelyn hadn't given him that grin or that burst of laughter at any of his-

Waitaminute. Atton had never flirted with Aelyn, so of course she'd never smiled that teasingly alluring smile, that friendly sparkle, that contagious laughter…

Growling to himself, Atton leaned further back against the wall, sulking. The sulk vanished, though, when a moment later both Karas and Aelyn turned to leave. "Hey!" He shouted, appalled. "What about me?" Aelyn turned at the doorway, eyebrow raised.

"What about you?" She sniffed, and left.

"It was a while ago, now," Karas sighed, pouring them both small shots of correllian whiskey. Sitting at the long conference table, Aelyn gave him a look.

"Tell me anyways. And no feigning bad memory- I worked with you, remember? I know how good your memory is. I relied on it often enough," she snorted, taking her glass from her old friend as the said friend slid into a seat across from her, smiling that devilishly white smile at her. Her heart flipflopped. She used to be able to keep such a nice, tight reign on her attraction to the man- she'd had to, they'd been in the middle of war. And now…? Now she was a loose ex-Jedi, without much of a purpose, without much of anything resembling resources…or friends.

With an internal wince, she downed the shot, shoving the glass away from her and settling deeper into the chair, the most comfortable thing she'd been able to enjoy for quite awhile. That bed she'd been trussed up and tied to on Nal Hudda didn't count, she thought, quickly averting her eyes to the brown-haired rascal still encased in golden energy, half a ship away.

"The Republic intelligence centers received a request from Peragus over a month ago, requesting information on a smuggler's vessel called the Ebon Hawk, the ship we found you, the girl, and your ruffian companion on. A week after that, the weekly security update from the station's security officer alerted us to the presence of what some on the station believed to be a Jedi, identity unknown. We didn't put too much stock in it- they were going on the word of a shifty protocol droid, apparently."

Aelyn frowned. "A droid?"

Karas nodded. "Odd, isn't it? You kept your identity for years, just as you said you would. I never heard whisper nor shout of you these past ten years, and believe me, I listened. How in the universe did a droid find out who and what you were, Aev?"

"I have no clue," Aelyn murmured, ears warming at the old nickname, derived from her alias 'Aevyn,' meaning 'silencer,' a darker name for a darker time. "But I intend to make it a priority to find out."

"So will I, thought I doubt I'll be able to spend as much time investigating as you," Karas confessed.

"I heard the Republic isn't doing well," Aelyn broached the subject, but Karas waved it away with a wave of his hand.

"Later," he said. "Right now, we're still on Peragus."

"Of course, Commander," she responded with dry affection. He grinned at her, and her heart thudded again. Shushing it with annoyance, her lips quirked when his reply was a glib one.

"My apologies, General," he teased. She snorted.

"Haven't been a General in a decade, Karas, and you know it." She sat up, reaching for her glass and shoving it across the table towards him. Heeding the silent command, the big man stood to refill both their shotglasses. "All right then, back to Peragus. What happened after you figured out I was the one they meant?"

"First off, I didn't know it was you, I only suspected. You were the only Jedi I knew who wandered so close to the Outer Rim. That was part of my reasoning."

"And the rest of the reasoning?"

"Sheer hope," he admitted as he grinned at her again, passing her the glass a second time. She swirled it while smirking at him. He continued, "The next week, the next update told us that the security officer suspected some miners of making plans to smuggle you off the station and collect the bounty off you. A few days later, a supplementary report told us you'd been kidnapped during a false air ventilation alert. Five miners were arrested and are awaiting trial on Citadel Station right now. The man who actually got you off the station is still at large."

'No, he's not,' the words leapt to Aelyn's throat. Why wouldn't her tongue and lips let the words out?

"Pity," was all she said.

"Anyways, the station is rubble, now," Karas sighed, and Aelyn got a glimpse of the age a decade of commanding a bite of a crumbling confection of alliances and old governments had added to his features. "And the Republic is in sore need of another fuel supply."

Aelyn's fist clenched around her shotglass, and she made herself down the burning contents, so if she crushed the glass at least she wouldn't get the alcohol everywhere. As it was she managed to force herself to put the glass down calmly, looking to Karas with sympathetic eyes. "I wish I could help," she told him. "But I'm on my own quest at the moment. The man still sitting in one of your force cages was hired by someone, I don't yet know who, to bring me to him, I'm guessing, not kill me. He's had plenty of chances to kill me outright, but instead he's gone to great lengths to keep me alive and in relative good health."

"And you don't think it's for the simple pleasure of having you to himself?" Karas drawled, only half teasing. It was the half that wasn't teasing that surprised Aelyn, and she showed it with her raised eyebrow.

"Aev, you're as naïve as a virgin when it comes to certain kinds of men," Kara sighed. Aelyn flushed rather prettily. "The looks he gave me when we were reunited in front of him could have skewered me."

"I am a virgin," she told him hotly, ignoring his other comment in favor of this subject that was rather an old argument between them. "And I quite like it that way."

"I still don't believe it," he snorted. "I didn't believe it when I'd met you fresh from your defiance of the council, and I certainly don't believe it now that you've spent ten years on or beyond the Rim."

"Think what you like, Karas," she retorted primly. With a devilish grin she provoked him, "You're still just sore that I denied you all those years and-"

Annoying, loud, obnoxious klaxons interrupted her building tease, and Karas's mouth –open and ready to deliver a retort- snapped shut, a scowl spreading over his face.

"If that fool new recruit fell asleep on the alarm buttons again-" But as he and Aelyn rose from their seats, a suddenly overwhelming sense of someone important nearby clogging all of Aelyn's other senses, while at the same time the comlink on Karas's wrist beeped urgently. Whatever was said while Aelyn was distracted with the sensation plaguing her, it was enough to tell Karas that this was no mistake, no unauthorized drill.

"I'm sorry, Aev, but I'll have to send you back to the brigg until this is over," his gaze was truly apologetic, but the steel behind his voice and eyes reminded her of how much she'd once admired him. Why, she wondered, did her heart not flipflop this time?

"It's all right, Karas." She flashed him a grin when he summoned in officers to escort her back. "Just make sure no invaders come murder me in my cage, hm? You know I'd come back to haunt you."

"Just so long as it's a corporeal ghost and not one of those ones that can't touch anything, you can come haunt me all you like," he told her, his voice joking, but somewhat distracted as he set to examining the miniscule readouts on his wristcomm. He flashed her a final grin, and left, barking orders left and right. A swell of pride welled up in Aelyn as she watched him go. She'd made him that good, she knew. He'd been but a new, inexperienced –even if highly talented- young Captain when he'd been given to her to command. Now look at him…

But he was part of a world she could never again touch, she knew, and it panged her. It panged her not that she couldn't rejoin it, but that she'd loved it so much in the first place.

If ever anyone needed proof she was no Jedi, one only had to examine the love she now recalled once holding for the thrill of battle, for the pride of command, and for the lust she'd felt for victory…no matter the cost…

Back in her cell, the klaxons continued to annoy the hell out of her. Beside her, Atton slept soundly. How could he possible sleep? In an unexpected motion of compassion, she let him sleep. She suspected he'd had very little of it lately, safeguarding her…imprisoning her…whatever it was he'd done. Frustrated with her own thoughts, Aelyn turned away, both physically and mentally, from the tantalizingly curious specimen beside her. Instead, her thoughts caught on the niggling sensation that had been cloying at her since she'd left Karas's company.

Familiar, yet completely alien. It was a person, of that she was sure. Whoever it was…they smelled of vile betrayal, of old wounds and older loyalties. They reeked of having touched the darker side of the universe, and yet they sang with a level of understanding Aelyn couldn't quite see or understand, and quite frankly wasn't sure she wanted to. The longer Aelyn examined this other presence, the stronger a foreign sort of connection grew. Eventually, Aelyn decided, with reluctance, that it was a bond she did not want to nurse, and she turned her thoughts away from that other person who, at the last moment, turned mental eyes towards her, noticing her…evaluating her, sizing her up, as if measuring her worth, her use…

Aelyn shivered, wrapping her arms around herself in the dim light of the red klaxons, eyes shut tight against some invisible ghost of pain that suddenly caressed her flesh with sandpaper. What was this she felt? Calling upon every ounce of her newly rekindled connection to the Force, Aelyn slammed down on the budding connection with this strange other person, severing it as completely as she could. It was a good cut, clean and nearly thorough, and it was enough to stop the pain from leaking through. Rather shaken, Aelyn opened damp eyes to see, out of her perephreal vision, that she was being watched.

"What's happening?" Atton asked, as serious as she'd ever seen him, deep brown eyes fixated on her face- specifically, on a single tear that had managed to slip past her defenses. She wiped it away, shaking herself out of her dazed reverie to answer him.

"Don't know," she told him. "Something serious, for Karas to have tossed me back in here." She fiddled with the hem of her tunic, an old habit.

He opened his mouth to comment on Karas –she knew that's what he was going to do, she just knew- but instead of the sound of his voice filling the room, the sound of forced door gears sliced through the air and with a protesting screech, and all at once that infant connection Aelyn had tried to sever came back full force, fully healed… The other half of that bond was behind that door, Aelyn knew as she bent double, gasping. The halves of the holding room doors slid open, and in poured the last creatures in the universe Aelyn expected to see.

Not a smidgeon of her shock, though, was comparable to the utterly freezing emotions that lanced through Atton at the sight of the familiar silver and black-robed figures that spilled into the room like darkness, taking up positions all around the room, one of the assassins going instantly to the control panel on the wall. The golden hum of the force cages vanished, and Aelyn and Atton both were on their feet the instant the shields began to go down. Both of them instinctively in battle stances, Aelyn vowed to question Atton later on why his face was so suspicious pale… He was a man to react to threats with violence and wit, not that blank-sheeted horror…

Then again, many a man's normal reactions to danger were altered when confronted with half a dozen Sith Assassins, she admitted, her lips twisted in a sour insult to a smirk.

Then the source of her own fears stepped in, and at once Aelyn knew that the connection that bound her was one that linked her to a demon. A grey-skinned monster of a man who looked like he'd been hacked apart then pieced back together stepped in through the tortured doorway, the hilt of a double-ended red lightsaber in his right hand, a second double-bladed 'saber in his other. One milky eye moved independently, as if it could still see. The other eye, dark and red as the blade he held, no doubt, pierced straight through Aelyn and no other.

Without warning, both lightsabers snap-hissed to life, one red, the other the deepest shade of burgundy-purple. Aelyn suppressed a gasp of uttermost shock at the sight of it, a moment before the inhuman jigsaw puzzle of a man tossed it to her. She caught it, by habit only, and stared at the carrier of the red saber.

"I have come for you, Exile. Prepare yourself."

To Be Continued…

Geh, so sorry this took me so long! Hope the plot-chewey content goodness of this chapter helps make up for it.

And I bet you thought it was Kreia coming, didn't ya, didn't ya? Bwahaha. I love my plot bunnies. They're so good to me…

-Amber