Returning with the news that their accommodations were ready, Mio gasped out in surprised when she caught Treg and Revan in an embrace, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize." Her face flushed, "I have you set up in separate quarters. We can change –"

Revan interrupted, "No, that's fine. We're just …"

Treg finished for her, "really good friends." He gave Revan a final squeeze, "We've become really good friends. Now, about our rooms Mio?"

"Right" she waved her hand, still stunned from finding them so close, "Sorry."

As she led them to their apartments she explained she had some work to finish but insisted they meet up with her again in a few hours. "After all, I hope I didn't open my prize bottle for just one drink."

"No, of course not, thank you Mio. It's been a pleasure." He gave her hand another kiss before she moved off down the hall.

"And you," he turned to Revan, grabbing her hand, "enjoy your shower. I'll be right next door if you need anything," he brushed it with a kiss then entered his room.

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Noticing the opportunity hours before it was expected, Carth quickly exited the ship with X-14 in tow. There was a flurry of activity surrounding the hangar as workers assembled towards a large shuttle that had appeared only moments before. Shift change, end of the workday, perfect!

They moved towards the closest door, hidden well from the exiting employees. Carth was busy trying to think of an excuse if someone would happen to stumble across his path while X-14 tried to access the door. After a few minutes X-14 acknowledged that the door was highly encrypted and would require more time then they could afford at the moment.

Abandoning that one, they moved to another door. Carth gave a smile and nod to a group of people that passed by before slipping inside. He stared around at a group of lockers and storage containers for a few seconds before he began to rummage through them. Most of the lockers contained cleaning supplies, some clothing and a few items that were unrecognizable to him. The containers seemed to hold spare ship parts and lubricants but one held an outdated voice box unit. Carth quickly slipped that into his pocket before X-14 alerted him that the shuttle was ready to depart. They quickly returned to the Rubicon where Carth had X-14 analyze the modulator he found, hoping to find some remaining voice recordings.

"What earlier message?" Carth asked X-14 when he was informed one of the voice patterns held similar tones to an earlier message dispatched from the Rubicon.

"But I never got to contact the Republic!" Carth said in confusion. "X-14, did you happen to record that message?"

X-14 replayed the message: "Assassination attempt 6 standard hours ago, target survived. Assassins down, dumping bodies out of airlock at the following location, forward report to ALM after examination. Over."

Treg! Carth sat back in his seat, thoroughly convinced that they had been set up.

--------------------------

When the knock on the door arrived Revan chided herself on her decision to shower first instead of trying to tune into the force. I really need to find out what compelled me to stay.

"Yes, who is it?" she replied into the door com.

"Would you believe a naked mad scientist intent on satisfying his perverted desires?" came Treg's playful reply.

Opening the door she flashed a scornful look at him, "Liar!" She turned and moved back into her room. "You aren't naked at all."

Treg grabbed her back, "Oh no you don't. You cannot make a comment like that and just walk away."

She smiled, "And why is that? I am Darth Tease after all."

Treg kissed her cheek, "Because," he slowly moved towards her mouth, "I have been a bad boy, placing you in every possible erotic fantasy I can manage."

She quickly returned his kiss before pulling away, "Then I suggest you find something else to occupy your thoughts."

"Any ideas?" he shot back.

"Actually yes, how long have you known Mio?" she moved to sit down.

"Jealous?" he inquired, raising his brows. "Amuse me, since I'm getting feelings of 'we can't do this anymore' from you." A long silence filled the room, making his statement carry an even greater weight than he had wanted. He had hoped she would deny his claim, instead, nothing.

When she just stared at him through lowered eyes he decided to answer her question, before the tables were turned. "I've known Mio since she arrived here, a few years after I did actually. We worked closely together, she actually helped me out considerably with my project. She was my right hand man. Er, woman."

Revan raised her eyebrow at that last comment.

"We became good friends" he splayed out his hand, telling her to make her own judgement.

"Funny, I recall you saying the same to her about us just a short time ago."

"True … " he responded, intentionally leaving his comment unfinished.

"Are you teasing me?"

"Never! Although I certainly cannot say the same about you." he grinned back at her.

Deciding not to encourage that current line of discussion she pressed, "What else can you tell me about this place?"

"Actually, I'm glad you brought that up, I have a gift for you." He brought out a datapad. "This is a map of the facility. Originally the entire lab was under the surface of the planet, so the apartments follow that pattern. Each corridor angles slightly downward, for approximately 6 floors. The lower the number, the further down you travel. Each hall is marked with a certain color and number pattern, so one can always tell exactly where they are with respect to the main floor."

"Ah, so that explains how everything seemed the same to me but everyone else seemed to know their way around."

"Exactly, it's almost like a huge spiral."

"So all these people work for Anthrecite Labs?"

"Not exactly, that's where it gets more complex. Anthrecite is just an umbrella, they provide the building, security, some of the equipment but all the lab space is rented. Most of the people you see here don't exactly work for Anthrecite, they work for whoever is employing them, who is renting the space. They only have access to the lab in which they are assigned."

"Ah, so that's where the funding comes in? And the reason why there is no specific dress code."

"Exactly."

"And Sargac? You said he worked for Anthrecite labs."

"Well, he does, more or less. He's very renowned – his name brings high paying scientists to rent out facilities here. He has also managed the place for as long as I can remember. The heads of Anthrecite are happy to have a small percentage of rights to all experiments and even more satisfied when they don't have to play a daily role in any of the process. Sargac runs it well and they have no objections. Not to mention he provides them with exceptional profit. They trust and provide almost anything he demands."

"So he owns the place without paying any of the overhead?"

"If you choose to simplify it that way, then yes." He reached down for her hand, pulling her upright, "Come, we can finish this discussion as we walk, Mio has invited us for a tour of my old lab."

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A/N – To Everyone who has commented, THANK YOU! You really keep me going, striving, to make this a great story! You really don't know how much your comments mean, they are my life-blood. I really feel like I owe you all something great for following this garrulous story, otherwise, I could have wrapped this up rather quickly – but due to all the comments, I have to … well … push myself to write something fantastic! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the encouragement and persistence! Any comment, good or bad, is ENOURMOUSLY appreciated!

Since I don't want to seem like I'm ignoring any of them I have chosen a few to comment on:

l0ngshotOR – Treg's role has been already written and I SO enjoy your point of view but, sorry, I can't change it now… you'll just have to keep reading and see….

RevansLostSoul – Carth kill Treg? Well … I guess there would have to be some pretty incriminating circumstances to justify that huh?