10 Discovery
Back in the sprawling medical center, Avran had arrived at an empty locked room. He turned to the silver protocol droid. "You said the area was secured." This was said quietly, but there was no mistaking the anger in the Sith Lord's voice.
"We had it locked immediately upon receiving your message." the droid added.
Avran growled. "Well that wasn't soon enough evidently."
"They will be back." the droid objected. "Their companion is still being treated."
Avran's eyebrows rose. "Treated for what?"
"Some sort of fever sir. We believe it was brought on by shock." the droid babbled. "I can take you to him."
Avran nodded and followed the droid down the hallways to the bacta treatment facility.
"He's sedated sir, so you'll have to wait to speak with him."
Avran waved off the droid and then motioned to the soldiers. "Two of you go back to the waiting area, two of you get to the computers - hunt for any sign of them. The rest of you start searching rooms."
The soldiers saluted, then went about their duties leaving Avran to interrogate the prisoner. Avran turned and strode into the dimly lit room. Ignoring the various diagnostic screens and charts, he made his way to the tank. Halfway there, he stopped abruptly. In the tank floated a young man with a face that he knew.
"Gav-" he breathed, but then stopped. The man in the tank was taller, finer built, and had darker hair then Gavin. Still, had Gavin stood next to him, the man would have been called Gavin's dark twin.
Avran motioned to the droid. "What is his name?"
"I'm sorry sir, we received no information on this patient."
"Run some scans." Avran ordered and immediately thought "What am I doing? Just because he looks like Gavin is no reason to lose a handle on your sanity!" However, Avran did not take back his order. Instead he sat down to wait for results.
Time passed and soon the two soldiers returned to report that the two they sought were nowhere in the building. Avran waved them off and they, sensing the dark lord's preoccupation with some subject, silently left the room.
Avran had just begun to think of hunting down the protocol droid when it reentered the room. Avran stood. "What did you find?" he demanded.
"He is a human male with genes typical of the Hapans and Corellians. No DNA record exists for him, but a scan of possible parents returned one probably match."
"And -" Avran muttered impatiently.
"Well, half the DNA matches the late Hapan princess Orana Skolter."
Avran's heart gave a large thud - he knew what the next words would be.
"The other half is yours."
Avran sat back down. "I have a son..." he whispered.
The droid silently left the room, after punching a few buttons on the side of the bacta tank.
Avran sat for a few moments, then once more became the dark lord. He strode out of the room, barking orders to the soldiers. "Have him brought to the ship immediately!"
Deep in Korriban's inner city, Rhia had found that her credit stash was not enough to buy a ship of any size. "Damn it." she muttered, walking out of the last used ship lot.
"No luck?" Korran asked, moving away from the wall where he'd been waiting.
"I tried everything Korran - we just don't have enough."
Korran put an arm around Rhia and hugged her. "We'll find something - there's got to be someone else on this planet as desperate as we are."