Last time: Sasha heard Cien's call and they all returned to Haven.
Now: Cien arrives and tensions stir.
Chapter 12- The Alliance
The hyperspace alert woke Cien from a fitful sleep. She came awake, feeling the ache and pain from her various injuries, large and small, from the battle. She pulled the levers down, and the mottled view of hyperspace reverted from stretched star lines to pinpricks of light, and the planet Artemis resolved itself in her view. From when she had followed them here a few months ago, just before following them onto Arbortarum, she vaguely remembered they had gone to a small settlement that was a few hundred kilometers east and north of the main outpost. She found it on the scanners, and set the course.
The ship, even after a year separated from them, still had an odd, associative feeling with the Jedi. The drawers and cabinets were filled with small items and other things that had apparently been important to them, the bunks still had their clothes in the drawers. There was a small holoviewer that was filled with pictures of the three Jedi, especially of Sasha and Viran as they had grown up from small children. And, strangely, she noticed that there was a datacard still in the terminal in the middle section workstation that had coordinates to Chikara, of all places. The ship felt uncomfortably filled with their memories. She would be glad to be off it.
As she came in low towards the small settlement, she received curt coordinates that directed her to a hangar that was built into the side of the mountain behind a huge lodge compound that overlooked a mountain valley. The hangar doors were open for her as she brought the little ship in. The three Jedi and the Mandalorian were there waiting for her as she landed in the first open space she saw.
As the four of them watched the ship come in, a smile grew on Viran's face. Even though a Sith was flying it, he was still happy to see their old ship.
"Is that the…" Oppie started to say as he stared at it,
"It's the Forerunner," Viran beamed as he rushed forward to inspect his ship after so long. "I missed you," he whispered softly to the ship as if it were alive.
The hatch opened, and Cien stepped out, her robes singed and burned here and there, belying a fierce lightsaber duel that she must have fought recently. Her left jaw and cheek were covered in a nasty, dark bruise. She stepped out of the ship and looked at the party waiting for her. Her usual air of grace and arrogance was evident, but somehow her injuries and bedraggled clothing framed her in a far more fragile light than she usually displayed, and than she would have preferred.
Sasha stood there shocked as she took in Cien's appearance. Even Viran, who stepped away from the ship's undercarriage and away from the hatch, was caught off guard by her appearance. Slowly, and without thinking, Sasha's body moved forward towards the open hatch, her face slowly becoming etched with concern. Viran realized what she was doing and was about to stop her, but he remembered to trust her in this. So he remained where he stood.
"Cien… are you alright?" Sasha asked, her voice laced with worry. "What happened?"
Cien stepped down onto the landing deck and regarded the Jedi. "I became disposable." She said with an arched eyebrow. She looked over the others, "How wonderful to see you all again." She said tartly.
Viran folded his arms. "Sure," he grumbled at her.
Kyr stayed off to the side, saying nothing.
Oppie stepped forward to stand beside Sasha. "I don't think we've actually met, I'm Oppie." He said with an arched eyebrow of his own.
"Ah, yes." Cien said, looking at Oppie. "You're the one they had to bring back, the one who we had to open the door for so that he could come through." She said, with venom in her voice.
Viran glared at her as he released a low growl. Sasha felt her face tighten.
"Stop!" Sasha said, sternly. "If you are to blame anyone, blame me. I'm the one who opened the portal. Not Oppie." She hissed at Cien.
Cien shot a glare at Sasha. "I never said I didn't." She said with an exasperated growl.
Sasha clenched her hands into fists as she stared the Sith down.
Oppie brushed it aside, refusing to let either him or Sasha take the blame for Dracul being back. "Enough." He said, "if we're to work together we can't have this. Dracul is a threat to us all. Save the bile until after we beat him."
Cien broke her staring contest with Sasha and looked at her master and nodded. "Fine." She said.
Sasha sighed and looked away from Cien. "You're right. Sorry, Op." She then took a deep breath. She then looked back to Cien. "So what exactly happened to you? One moment, you're asking about where our old ship was. The next you say you're on your way. What did Dracul do?"
"He knew we were scheming against him." Cien admitted. "Kopesh and I were supposed to work together, but Dracul manipulated it so that it looked to Kopesh like I betrayed him. He attacked me, and we fought. Dracul killed him." She paused, and grimaced, "And brought him back as something… different." She said, looking away from the Jedi.
"What do you mean by… different?" Viran asked as he didn't break his glare.
Cien looked at him, exasperated. "You've seen what it is when he brings people back from death. He didn't come back as a shambling corpse; he came back, but… different. Completely overwritten as a person, so he was in Dracul's thrall. Able to talk, able to move, almost as if he was brought fully back." Kyr coughed uncomfortably, but the others did not notice or ignored him. "But there was still a part of him there." She said, looking away, off into the distance, not able to meet their gaze. "Some part that knew he should not be." She paused, and the silence was oppressive. "I think that's what he has planned for us, for all the Force users he can find. He wants to usurp control of the Empire, and bring the Galaxy under his full and absolute control."
"Not a Sith Lord, a Sith God." Oppie echoed his master numbly.
Cien looked over at the Jedi and nodded. "Yes." She surveyed the others. "I think he wants to get back into the void. Perhaps that is what is on Talokore. Another portal to enter it through."
Oppie spoke up, "and if he can get into the void, he could use it to get anywhere." He said, grimacing, and remembered his missing months. "Possibly any when."
Cien looked at him strangely, "yes. He may be able to use it to jump to the Imperial Palace and take Palpatine out without the Emperor even knowing he's coming."
Viran's jaw slacked as he heard that. He didn't know if he should believe her. He knew he shouldn't as she was not to be fully trusted, but then that vision played through his mind. What if that was what Dracul will do to the future? He felt an uneasy pit form in his stomach. Whether she was lying or not, this was not good. Sasha turned white as a sheet as Cien said all of this. She then looked at Cien, directly.
"What do we do then?" She spoke up, her voice audibly shaking. "Because according to Tac, Talokore is a gas giant with a habitable forest moon, but nothing more. No space ports or… or cities, no registered settlements of any kind. What does Dracul hope to find there?"
"I guess we have to go there and find out." Kyr suggested, speaking up finally. "If there's something on that moon that gives him this edge, we need to do what we can to deny it to him."
Sasha glanced back at Kyr and nodded before looking to the others. Her eyes then met Viran's. "Vir? What do you think?"
Viran looked away, scratching absentmindedly at the back of his head. "I don't know. I mean we all know how terrifying Dracul is and all, but how can we know what she says is the truth?" He asked with legitimate concern.
"I can dig into your mind and let you experience the 'truth' if you want, Jedi." Cien said with a low growl.
Viran glared back at her as he took a step forward. "Bring it on!" He taunted.
Sasha stepped between them before he could lay a hand on Cien. She shot daggers at the both of them. "Knock it off now!" She demanded. "Viran, Cien is trying to help us."
"Sasha, I know I said to trust you on this, and I do, but…" Viran looked past her to Cien. "How can I trust anything she says? She could still be Dracul's pawn. This could all be a trap. Don't you see that?" He reached out to grab her hand, but Sasha backed away. Hurt etched across Viran's face.
"I know what Cien is capable of," Sasha stated flatly in a monotone voice. "And I won't turn away someone in need or someone who is trying to help us. Whether they are my enemy or not. And if today is the day that it bites me in the ass… so be it."
Sasha turned and stormed out of the hangar. Viran watched her go, jaw slacked and eyes wide. Viran then turned to Cien and glared her down.
Cien laughed with gallows humor, "I thought you Jedi were a team, you can't help but squabble like children." She said, with mirthful disgust.
"This is your fault," Viran hissed as he took a step towards her.
Oppie stuck out a hand and caught Viran on the shoulder, softly holding him back. "Viran, cool off." He admonished quietly.
Not risking a glance up at Oppie's face, Viran shrugged off his hand and headed towards the door, leaving the twins and Cien behind, standing there very awkwardly.
"We'll need to work together on this. That means you need to stop antagonizing us. We need to know we can trust you." Oppie admonished the Sith.
"You can trust me to do my best to kill that monster." She growled at the Jedi, "and we wouldn't be in this situation if they hadn't had to bring you back. Don't treat me like one of your acolytes, if you had done what you should have Dracul would have been sealed away forever." She spit back.
Oppie rolled his eyes in disgust and walked away, back into the house.
Cien looked over at the all but silent Mandalorian and glared at him. "What about you, any scathing recriminations?" She asked sarcastically.
"Nah." Kyr responded. He reached down into one of his pouches and pulled out a small patch. He cracked it with his hands and handed it over. "That looks like it hurts, here's a cold press for it." He said, handing her the small swatch of material. She took it from his hand with a bit of surprise, and then glared up at him. "Come on, I'll take you to the medical suite so we can get you feeling a bit better."
The copper plated Mando turned to walk in the general direction the others had disappeared to, Cien looked at him in confusion for a second, before following after him. She absently placed the cold patch against her cheek, and she admitted that it did ease the throbbing pain. Stepping through the door from the hangar they entered a corridor that felt like a strange mix between a ship's corridor and rich wood panelling and timbers that matched the rest of the estate she had seen from the outside. The Mandalorian strode down the hallway, past a few doors until he reached one that was marked as 'Medbay'. The door slipped aside, revealing something that looked like the sickbay of a small cruiser. She looked around in slight confusion, and dismissed it.
"Take a seat." The Mandalorian said as he gestured at the nearest bed. He grabbed a scanner and started gathering some medications from the cabinet while she stared at the bed for a moment before having to hop onto it. Her ribs protested the movement, and she grimaced as she settled on the cushion, sitting with an air of grace and dignity despite her legs dangling off the floor.
"So how'd you get that?" He said as he came back to the bed with a small tray, gesturing towards the horrible bruise and lacerations on her cheek.
She paused for a second, regarding the copper T-visor that was looking at her. "A lightsaber pommel to the face, and then a follow up punch empowered with the Force." She growled.
"Oh, yeah that'll do it." He said, looking at her critically. "Anything else? Anything internal?"
She hesitated for a second glaring at him, and then grimaced. This was a medical suite, she needed some care. "Damage to my ribs." She growled, as if he was a medic and nothing more, and then stared straight ahead. She felt more comfortable with that.
He picked up the scanner and stepped forward. She quelled a reflex to back away, to keep some distance. He activated the device, and ran the scanning head up and down her abdomen and chest. "Nothing broken," he said quietly, showing her the images. She glanced down at them. "Nasty bruising though, this one looks like it's cracked." He continued, then looked up at her, his face still hidden. "My name's Kyr, by the way." He added.
She ignored him, for the most part. A small part of her found dark humor in being treated by someone whose name translated to Death though, one of the few words of Mando'a she knew.
"This should help with the cheek." He said, opening a jar. He used a pad of gauze to scoop some of the bluish salve out, and closed the lid. Stepping back over to her, he reached up to apply it and her head jerked back, and she glared at him. "I can apply it myself." She hissed in a menacing tone.
"You sure? Little easier for me to see it." Kyr asked indifferently.
"Yes." She stated.
"Okay." He handed her the gauze pad, and stepped back and sat on a handy stool, giving her some space and height. "So how'd you find us?" He asked as she started applying the cream.
She looked at him for a second. "I followed you here after you attacked that research garrison around that temple, then from here to Abortarum." Already the pain in her cheek was easing as she rubbed the salve into her skin.
"Tracking device?" The Mandalorian asked, "I run a constant sweep for those."
"No." She stated. "I can follow Sasha through the Force." She didn't add that it required a great deal of difficulty.
"Ah." Kyr said, making a mental note to follow up on that. He stood up, and started preparing a hypo with the medications to help with the ribs.
"Why are you helping the Jedi?" Cien asked, continuing to work the ointment into her cheek, her curiosity finally getting the better of her. Jedi and Mandalorians rarely, if ever, worked together, there was a deep antithetical hatred between the two factions.
"Op's my brother. And Sasha, Viran and I have kind of adopted each other, too." Kyr said simply, as he loaded some intravenous bacta cocktail into the hypo. He looked over at her, in the back of his mind trying to guess her weight for the right dosage, he dialed the number down. "You like zherries?" He asked.
"What?" She said, her face turning into a confused glare.
"Zherries. You know, little red berries." He asked.
She just glared at him.
"This stuff tastes like zherries after it's injected, just wanted to ask." He said, with a smirk.
She rolled her eyes in disgust and said nothing either way.
He added an anti-inflammatory to the mix, as well as something to ease the pain, since she grimaced every time she moved, then walked over. "May I help you with this one, or do you want to do it?" He asked.
"I will." She stated, and he handed her the hypo from arms length as she took it.
"Works best going into a vein." He suggested and backed off, returning to his stool.
She just glared at him, and he interpreted it as that she knew very well how hyposprays worked, even if she had never encountered this particular mix of medications and how they were supposed to be administered.
As she twisted around slightly to place the injection she grimaced when a shudder of sharp pain from her ribs shot through her and she froze.
"Cien, can you just let me help you?" Kyr asked quietly.
She glared at him for a second, still trying to recover from the wash of pain her motion had incurred. She finally nodded.
He got up and took the hypo from her hand, and gently rolled up a sleeve on her tunic so he could find a vein on her arm, and she just glared at him. He was surprised to see her arm pockmarked with small, healed over burns and scars, little injuries that bacta healed but not fully. He frowned but said nothing.
"Can you take the helmet off?" It was annoyingly big next to her, and it reminded her too much of Dracul.
"Well that depends." Kyr said as he performed the injection.
Cien grimaced slightly as the pain from the injection shot up her arm. "On what?" She growled.
"On you, I suppose." He said, as he gently pulled her sleeve back down and backed away, his voice made it sound like he was looking at her with an amused smirk. "I can't take it off around enemies." The smirking tone in his voice continued. "So can I take it off, or not?" He asked.
The sudden taste of zherries hit her, which she oddly enjoyed since they were a favorite, and the medication started easing the pain a little. She was able to breathe a little easier. "We're supposed to be working together." She growled.
"Yeah, but that has no bearing on the question." He replied, his voice amused. "Enemies can still be enemies even if they team up. So, can I take my buy'ce off or not?"
She considered him for a moment with a glare, "Would it suffice to say that I have no wish to hurt you?" She growled. "Much." She added with a malicious smirk.
"That's a good start." Kyr replied, nodding in an amused tone as he dropped the hypo back on the tray. "Come on, I'll show you to your room. You've had a rough day."
She slipped from the bed, thankful that her ribs protested far less, and the Mandalorian led the way. She followed him back out into the corridor, and he turned to enter the main center of the house. As she crossed the threshold, she was somewhat taken aback by the space as she looked around, the great timbers overhead that supported the roof, the rich, muted colors of the comfortable leather, wood and cloth furniture and the warm tones from the lamps. It was as though she had slammed into a wall made of the lightside, it made her disquieted walking into the space.
"Family estate." Kyr stated as he glanced back at her and saw her hesitation. He was not sure what had brought her up short.
She continued, not letting her unease show as she continued to follow him.
"Your room is down this hallway, everyone else is in the other wing down that way, I figured you might want some privacy and distance." He added as he turned down a long corridor that was decorated with family portraits, paintings and other wall hangings. She followed him, and he stopped at a door. "All yours as long as you need or want it." He gestured at the door and stepped aside, giving her plenty of space to get past him.
Cien looked at him and nodded. And then hesitated, looking up at him with a grimace. "Thank you." She said uncomfortably, as though the words were unfamiliar, which they were.
"You're welcome." He said.
She hesitated still. "Did you make a decision?" She asked, with a raised eyebrow.
"About?" He said, in genuine puzzlement.
"About if you can take your helmet off." She said.
"It's not my decision to make." He reiterated, with an amused smirk in his voice.
She looked at him from under a raised eyebrow. She finally realized that meant that he did not consider her an enemy, and it was only her own view that might keep it so. "You may." She stated.
He nodded. "I'm glad." He said as he started to walk away.
She followed him with her gaze. "Well?" She asked.
"I need to go outside, and it's cold. And this thing has heat." He said, knocking the side of his helmet with his knuckles.
She rolled her eyes in annoyance and turned back to the room she had just been given.
Kyr stopped, and looked at her for a second, and she stopped in place to look at him again, waiting for what he had to say. "Sasha kept repeating a saying after you suggested we work together." He said, "'the enemy of my enemy is my friend.' I suspect you said it to her?"
She grimaced, remembering those words from Kopesh. "Yes." She said.
"It doesn't say 'team mate' or 'ally' or anything else." He said softly, "it says 'friend.'" He finished. Then he turned and continued down the hallway. And she stared after him.
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