Chapter 5

The Friend

Tensions were high when they were nearing the station, of the few arguments that broke out, only one actually resulted in fists being thrown. Garfield and Kori got into another bout after she tried to break the girl out of the kolto tank for the eighth time, and Kori was in mid swing when Richard dove in to break up the fight. His jaw got fractured on the initial impact and a concussion from smacking headfirst into the wall.

After that, Kori immediately placated and stood by Richard's bed until he was able to not run into the walls. His jaw was another matter entirely, though Garfield did take intense pleasure in asking him questions, enjoying the glare and eye twitch every time.

Victor was Garfield's other irritation, his curiosity and necessity to tinker with everything on board had alarms going off daily. It got to the point that Garfield shut off the alarms, and most of the computer systems as they suddenly refused to cooperate with one another. He was sure that Victor had messed with the ship's internal circuitry, but nothing he did, nor his interrogation of Victor, yielded anything.

With Titan running on purely sight based piloting, Garfield had to navigate by charting the stars from the bridge and praying that he got the right direction. He wasn't ever going to tell his friend, but after the fifth time he spent running in circles in this area, he decidedly hacked into his friend's computer system and stole the star charts from them. His friend kept a viable list of locations to move the station, they would randomly choose a location from that list, but sometimes they go off the reservation at times.

Garfield used all of his previous sensor readings stored in the computer to triangulate which of the locations on the list that the station was positioned at. The task would've taken at most a day to complete, but without the programs he had created to automatically complete this task, he spent four full days brooding over the table in the rec room with star charts and a mountain of energy drinks. Richard tried to off his help, though only to be glared away with the words 'classified'.

The station was hidden among a massive asteroid field, rocks the size of moons floated around aimlessly. They would occasionally smash into one another, scattering hundreds of thousands of ship size boulders hurtling in every direction. A field of absolute death, that was made significantly worse by the Titan's sight-based piloting.

Garfield piloted the Titan through the field effortlessly, he had flown through this hell storm once before, except that time the onboard navigation system was helping him. Now, it was him and the front window, and four extremely terrified passengers who sat strapped into the chairs with white knuckles.

Raven sat beside him on the co-pilot seat, she had been his greatest intrigue and his utmost infuriating enigma. Ever since he learned that she was a former Sith apprentice, he actively sought her out and pried into her past with torturous results. No matter what he did, or whatever question he asked, she would either ignore him or redirect the conversation back to him and his past, something he never talk to anyone about ever.

Dodging around another ship sized bullet careering towards them, Garfield focused intently on piloting the ship towards a moon sized rock. Raven wanted to help him pilot the ship, though she was frozen in terror as yet another series of spaceship killing rocks narrowly missed Titan. How Garfield was managing to fly the ship without flinching was beyond her, though she was glad that the seats had dual harnesses and were bolted to the floor.

"How are you flying through this?!" Victor sat to the seat behind Garfield, his eyes glued to the front window wide with fear. He had his hands tightly clasped onto the arm rests, his knuckles pure white and his hand's bone structure conforming to the chair itself.

"Don't worry! It'll be over in a few minutes." Garfield curtly quipped, his piloting skills and the Titan's zero second response time were on point. He had to focus intently on following the path through the minefield, an ironic conception given the chaotic mess of the asteroid field. There was a single stream of magnetic energy through the field that redirects the rocks away from it, how or why it works eluded him and his friend, but they weren't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"We'll be dead in a few minutes!" Richard hated his current choice of seating arrangement, he took the captain's chair behind the two pilot seats which put him in perfect alignment with the front window. Every near miss and sudden dive felt far more realistic when all he could see was them zipping past the window with nearly no room between them and the ship. "I'd ask if you are insane, but I don't want to hear the answer!"

"Ah, calm down!" Garfield chuckled as he barrelled the ship around another series of rocks colliding into one another, knowing his calculations were proven correct given how volatile the field was. The station's engines had a weird magnetic effect against the asteroids, that and the shields had a similar effect though they were usually offline. "And anyway, if we get hit, you won't feel a thing. Light's out in a split second!"

"Was that supposed to be reassuring?" Richard decidedly found that there was a limit one could shrink in a chair, especially given it was the captain's chair in the middle of the room. If they ever made it out of the field alive, he was going to start believing in a deity, and get off of Titan the moment they made landfall.

"Hey, we're here!" The large moon sized rock before them was spinning slowly, it seemed perfectly in place with ever other colossal asteroid in the field. So much so, when Garfield aimed Titan directly at it without altering the path to indicate he was going to avoid it, the other four started hysterically screaming at him, climbing up their chairs in a pointless attempt to avoid the impending impact.

The split second before Titan crashed into the side of the asteroid, the rock wall before them opened automatically, revealing a weird dark room with no lights. Drifting into the hanger, Garfield slowed Titan to an almost standstill until a massive thud shocked through the ship. With the ship docked, Garfield activated the window's armoured bulkhead before leaving his seat, leaving his four passengers climbing fearfully to their chairs.

"GARFIELD!" Garfield heard Raven scream from the catwalk in the cargo bay, he couldn't rid himself of the smirk as he set about fixing the door to lower without needing to use the manual lever. The station's own gravity field overlapped his own, preventing him from using zero gravity to activate the lever above the door.

By the time the ship stopped moving, the other four joined Garfield in the cargo bay. They were still trying to fix their rigidly solid bones and regain the colour in their faces, their white-knuckle ride left them shaking violently. Raven was the only one glaring holes into the side of Garfield's head, for some reason she knew he was having fun at their expense.

Activating the door, the ramp slowly descended, revealing the shocking pure silver room the Titan had been deposited in. Several individuals dressed in purple and black official suits, they had silver belts and puldrons adorning them. The only one different among them was the lead man in an inverted coloured suit, he wore a black over coat with a high collar and in his black gloved hands was a data pad. He had short cropped brown hair and piercing deep blue eyes.

"Garfield. Report." The lead man barked harshly, he strode up the ramp and stood before Garfield with the data pad held at his side. Garfield saluted the man by clasping his fist over his heart before holding both of his hands behind his back.

"Greetings Commander Dayton. Report is as follows. Freighter was located one lightyear from Protocol Theta's route, obvious signs of cannon fire and intense barrage from possibly multiple assailants." Garfield spoke curtly and with a similar tone to the commander, staring directly at the stout man before him without flinching. "Cargo secured, Data core secured. Freighter was later discovered to be mined with a proximity charge, Titan's current status prevented any physical interaction with the freighter, though ship's engines upon departure triggered the explosive."

"Secure the cargo." Commander Dayton ordered the soldiers behind him, tapping a few things into the data pad as he did so. The soldiers leapt to action, storming into the Titan's cargo bay and secured all the crates without identification, carting them off towards the door at the far end of the hanger. "Anything else to declare?"

"Unidentified Twi'lek child, critical status and kolto tank cannot identify species." Garfield curtly barked, still standing rigidly. The four behind him stood quietly, watching the display with similar wide eyes as the asteroid field.

"Medics!" Commander Dayton barked, several soldiers in lighter purple clothes stormed through the ship and into the infirmary. "The five of you come with me. I'll send the engineers out to commence repairs."

Without missing a beat, the commander instantly turned around and marched off of the ship. Garfield motioned for them to follow him as he chased after the commander, dropping the military decorum and returning to his half-hearted self. They walked through a series of corridors until they arrived at a colossal computer room filled with rows of terminals and similarly dressed soldiers working away at them, multiple floors could be seen above with a massive screen on the roof far above that displaying a radar of the station's location.

At the far end was a huge computer screen display various information that changed occasionally, was a woman in similar garb to the commander. She was holding a conversation with two soldiers with lesser styled gear, issuing orders on reports that had been just handed to her. She wore a long black cloak that stopped short of her knees with a collar partially covered by her long light brown hair, a pair of purple gloves adorned her hands with a tiny glint of silver twinkling from her right glove around her wrist.

"Garfield!" The woman instantly dropped her conversation the moment she caught sight of the smuggler, smiling warmly at him as she nearly barrelled into him. The two embraced with a quick hug, startling the four behind him by how affectionately the older woman embraced the often-cold smuggler. Reframing from speaking, they watched the interaction with curiosity and mild apprehension, the station's personnel conducted themselves with such rigid military decorum that they feared becoming prisoners in a place that doesn't exist. "I hope you have been taking care of yourself!"

"It's good to see you too, Rita." Garfield smiled warmly ignoring her quip, he enjoyed his time with Rita, though she acted as motherly as Honey, she did it with a genuine affection of a parent over a child. Their quick embrace shifted her cloak enough to reveal a simple lightsaber attached to her waist, a pendant of a small bird hung from the base of the lightsaber.

"Wait… Rita, as in Rita Farr!" Kori nearly lost her mind when she heard that name, recalling her days back in the temple when she would spend hours every day just learning about past Jedi, digging into their past heroics and deeds of valour against the Empire. "Rita Farr, the legendary Jedi Knight… but you're supposed to be dead?"

"Minor technicality." Rita smiled sheepishly, ignoring the surprised looks from the other three staring wildly at the lightsaber attached at her hip. A slight nervousness settled into Raven's heart, she had heard of Rita's exploits from second-hand accounts at the temple, apprentices would talk profusely about being the one to finally take her down. "Steve here saved me after a mission went sideways… I don't really like talking about it… but I refused to return to the order for personal reasons and…"

Rita's voice trailed off as she and Raven finally locked gazes, somewhat worried purple eyes cautiously stared into tense brown eyes with growing wildfire of emotions swirling through them. Without missing a beat, Rita launched forward, drawing her lightsaber in mid-air, killer intent exuding from her eyes. The reactions of everyone around was of pure shock, even Steve stepped back in shock by Rita's actions.

The second Rita's lightsaber was about to hit Raven's neck, she was sent flying backwards as Raven reluctantly exerted her force power. The revelation of her being a force user startled everyone but Garfield, who quickly drew his dark vibrosword from the sheath on his back and blocked Rita's blue lightsaber, sparks scattering everywhere on impact. The two stared harshly at one another, both baffled by the others' reaction, though Raven was more surprised by Garfield's defense of her. No one had ever leapt to her aid without thought of the consequences, neither had they fought with their own allies for her sake.

Garfield and Rita exchanged several blows, but neither went for any killing strikes, it almost appeared like a dance of complex moves and twirling strikes. Sparks lit the room as the soldiers evacuated from the control centre, none wishing to get involved with the angry bout between the two sword wielding warriors attacking one another. The four passengers of the Titan watched in awe of Garfield's skill, their curiosity of his past growing rapidly though a tinge of fear laced that interest as the battle raged on before them.

Rita got the upper hand after knocking Garfield back several paces by forcing the vibrosword out of Garfield's hand with her power, sending it flying off and out of his reach except before Rita could press the advantage, Garfield tapped a button on a computer device attached to his wrist and his black boots suddenly thrusted him up and out of Rita's reach with blue flame rockets igniting from the heel.

Escaping the close quarter battle, Garfield drew his blasters, and with three precise shots, knocked Rita's lightsaber from her hands. He landed just short of her lightsaber and held it with his foot, pointing both blasters at her. Both breathed hard from the short bout, but they refused to back down, staring harshly at one another.

"Enough!" Steve roared, stepping in between them before either had a chance to spark the fight again. He glared at both of them, more surprised by Rita than Garfield. He knew the boy to be reckless, stubborn, and foolish, but Rita is his right hand, he had to trust her completely. She worked side by side with him, even taking over command of the station in his absence, but this demonstration of recklessness and unruly behaviour may give him cause to worry about her state of mind. Though, he was doubtful that he would ever consider removing her as his second in command, he trusted exceptionally few people, and she was the one he trusted the most. "Now is someone going to tell me what's going on?! Or do I have to have both of you locked up for the night to reflect on your actions?"

"Garfield here, is defending Rachel Roth!" Rita roared, glaring harshly at Rachel, debating whether she could get around Garfield and strike at the girl while avoiding the blasters pointed at her. She knew the chances of reaching Rachel without taking at least three shots to her limbs unavoidable, yet the risk of dealing a fatal blow to the Darkling Star. "The daughter of Darth Trigon the Terrible. The Darkling Star. I may not have had a run in with her myself, but one to many of my friends have died to her blade."

A dead silence chilled the air as eyes turned towards Raven, Kori and Victor stared confusedly at everyone until Richard regained his composure and dragged them away from Raven, a hint of fear coating his eyes. He knew her reputation all too well, many platoons died viciously at her hand and he lost way too many friends to her savagery.

Garfield knew the Darkling Star by reputation alone, he passed a curious glance towards her as he mulled over the information, though what he saw reaffirmed his decision. Raven stood with her head lowered slightly, shame broke through her stoic demeanour and she couldn't even lock gazes with anyone in the room. He doubted anyone else could see the shame in her eyes, it was an emotion that only another who had felt it before could see, yet there was something off about her. He couldn't quite place it, but he was sure she wasn't ashamed of her own actions.

"Commander, I'll happily leave with her if she isn't welcome." Garfield barked coldly, restraining himself from glaring at Rita as he stared down the stalwart Commander Dayton. Garfield's words stunning Rita out of her scheming to wildly gape at him, unsure if he was serious or not, she gingerly approached him out of affection and motherly care for him. "Titan may be on her last legs, but she'll make it to Nar Shaddaa."

Raven didn't know how to react to Garfield, if his words were genuine, or if he was stringing her along until they could surround her and capture her. However, a doubt lingered in her mind, Rita's skill alone would most likely be on par with her own and escaping the station would be next to impossible without help, but Garfield gave her pause. He didn't seem the type to trick her into an ambush when his skill rivelled that of Rita's, though she wasn't about to fully trust him either.

"No need." Steve shook his head slightly, he knew of the Darkling Star from the various reports crossing his desk, and the endless times that Rita would rant about avenging her fallen friends, yet his personal feelings on the matter were neutral. He found her actions to be appalling, but something about the reports never added up, they would grossly exaggerate the brutal nature in which the Republic forces, and Jedi were slain while leaving out the exceptionally few bodies with precise and clean cuts. He sighed deeply, his next words would definitely put a wedge in his relationship with Rita, but he couldn't cast Garfield out into the cold. "She can stay..."

"WAIT WHAT!" Rita lost her composure, whirling round on Steve with the intention of challenging his decision, yet she was stopped short when he shook his head at her. Steve turned to Raven, holding her gaze for several tense minutes before speaking.

"Rachel, I know not why you are here, or your reasons for faking your own death, but for the time being you will have to stay by Garfield's side." Steve marched over to her, holding his hand out just as a soldier appeared and handed him two metal bracelets. Taking the last step to her, he held out one of the bracelets to her, staring coldly into her amethyst eyes. "Your choices are either to put this on or spend the rest of your life in the brig… and just to be clear, I do not trust you nor am I going to let you leave with knowledge of this station without assurances."

"Commander you can't!" Garfield exclaimed after recovering from the shock of seeing the bracelets, he knew those infernal contraptions all too well from his time with his old crew. "Those are Restraining Binds! Torture devices used to keep slaves and prisoners in line… I won't let you do this!"

"Garfield, Enough!" Steve passed a glare over his shoulder, silencing the smuggler effectively in a single action. He was focusing on applying the second bracelet to his own wrist as he spoke but stopped to shun Garfield for his interruption. "The Darkling Star is a brutal force of destruction that cannot be allowed freedom, either she accepts the binds, or she stays permanently in the brig, either way she isn't leaving this station."

"You think you can stop me?" Rachel coldly stated, she too knew of the binds from her time at the temple, the slaves would often where a baser version around their neck rather than the new, sleeker design that cannot be destroyed or removed. Rachel had been seeking to create a new name for herself than the Darkling Star, showing the galaxy who she really is rather than what Darth Trigon wants her to be, and this unknown military commander wasn't going to chain her like a bird in a cage. "Rita is the only one that would be a challenge for me, and it wouldn't take long for me to make my way to the docking area and take the Titan after defeating her."

"Raven… Rachel… whatever. You knew coming here that this is a military installation, at any point you could have tried to attack us and take over the ship after Garfield registered you on its systems, but you didn't." Richard finally stepped in, he wasn't sure how to react after learning Raven's true identity, yet something bugged him. Garfield is a high-class smuggler, there was no way that he didn't know about the Darkling Star, and he stood there in defense of her after only meeting less than a month ago. "I don't know why, but I doubt you're going to start now."

"I won't be caged!" Rachel yelled fearfully, her boiling emotions caused screens to crack and loose objects to float off of the ground or whatever surface they were on. Rachel had been bound by the Sith order and Darth Trigon, they held her to expectations of being a remorseless killer, and if she didn't comply then she was sure they would have disposed of her. The weak die and the strong live, that is the Sith code.

A hand appeared on her shoulder, startling her out of her staring match with Commander Dayton to find Garfield standing there beside her, sorrow in his eyes for her plight. Containing herself, Rachel recalled the events on the Titan when she stayed Garfield's hand from doing something foolish or something he would regret doing, and here he was doing the same for her.

"Commander, I strongly protest the usage of the binds…" Garfield knew he couldn't dissuade Steve of his decision, nor could he or Rachel fight their way out of the station or escape the dense gravity field outside without Steve using the station's engines to disrupt the field and crush Titan in seconds. The only favourable option left lied in complying… with a few conditions. "But, If she has to wear the binds, then I'll wear the controller node."

"Garfield, don't take me for a fool." Steve glared at Garfield, a slight twitch to his eyebrow as he realised the ploy the smuggler was trying to pull. "I know you can deactivate the binds…"

"Fine! But know that I will never forgive you." Garfield interrupted Steve in outrage, those binds had been an accursed part of his prior life and he wasn't ever going to subject it to anyone, not even someone with the reputation as the Darkling Star deserved the cruelty that they entail. Steve and Garfield stared at one another, neither relenting on their opposed sides, both adamant in their goals. Yet, Steve couldn't disagree with Garfield's reasons, his own lied solely on preventative methods, and with a heaving sigh, he conceded the fight.

"From this point onwards, she is in your care." Steve grumbled reluctantly but loud enough for Garfield and the others to hear. He hated losing a battle, but he refused to lose Garfield over a rogue Sith, even if it was the Darkling Star. "You'll take responsibility of her actions and the subsequent blame. If she reveals information about this base to anyone then don't ever come back. And finally, if she goes rogue, then you will take her down."

Silence filled the room as Steve took a pause for Garfield to wrap his mind around his words. Rachel had been somewhat fearful of never escaping the station, though the thought of Garfield being her caretaker had her wondering about the condition of the jail cells. Yet, if it got her off of the station alive, then she would play along. The commander's last statement had a smirk curling on her lips as she sized Garfield up, she knew his skill to be on par with Rita's after the display earlier, but she doubted he would be much of a threat to her.

"Rachel, understand this well." Steve coldly stated without turning around to her, startling her out of her musing. "Don't think for a second that this station doesn't have the resources to hunt you down… however, if news got back to the Sith order that you're still alive, then I wouldn't have to lift a finger."

A cold dread chilled over Rachel, she knew Steve wasn't bluffing, especially since the hate filled revenge killings of deserted Sith are well documented. She once knew of an apprentice that was tracked across fifteen planets and eventually caught deep in Republic space after almost a lifetime, the apprentice's death had been so brutal that not even the fated Darkling Star could match it.

"Also, you'll work for Garfield on the Titan until you can prove yourself trustworthy." Steve continued after his words sunk in, his back still facing Rachel as he spoke. "Attempt to flee, take over the Titan, or kill Garfield, then I will personally dedicate the Doom Patrol's resources to guiding the Sith directly to you."

Rachel vainly glared at Commander Dayton, the threat of being exposed to the Sith order wasn't one she could risk challenging, yet she would gladly opt for that over permanent imprisonment in a station that doesn't exist. Glancing at Garfield, she found him with his jaw on the floor and a look of astonishment emblazoned on his face, she didn't know if he was more shocked at Steve changing his mind or at losing his peaceful solitary life.

Regardless, Rachel let a small smirk grace her lips as she resolved herself to make the most of a bad situation, allowing her mind to ponder about the ways she could torture Garfield for her imprisonment. A small smirk played at her lips, she was going to enjoy disrupting his happy secluded life.

"Doom Patrol…" Victor uttered aloud after a few moments, the deafening silence in the colossal room amplified his voice greatly, drawing the attention of those that didn't know who the Commander works for. "The Doom Patrol?! The expert military force under House Doom of Alderaan?!"

"You know of House Doom?" Steve raised an eyebrow at Victor, his curiosity piqued as few knew the origins of the Doom Patrol. Most consider it just a name and think nothing of it, not realising the connection to the secretive House Doom.

"Of course! House Doom leads in technological advancements and experimentation in all fields of science and engineering!" Victor trailed off into a daze as he realised that he was actually speaking to members of House Doom, his jaw slowly falling to the floor as he gaped in awe at the commander. "Err… it's an honour to meet see you… meet you… umm…"

Victor floundered for the right sentence as he held his hand out in offer of a handshake, his words startled Richard who knew off House Doom, but not the Doom Patrol. He was sure he scanned all military documents on Alderaanian forces in Bruce's files, but the Doom Patrol didn't exist anywhere nor was it linked in anyway to House Doom itself. How Victor made the connection baffled Richard at first, but revaluating the evidence revealed the connection, especially the covert nature of the operation and the technology installed on Titan itself.

"Save your words, for now you will all be escorted to the quest quarters for the night, we will meet tomorrow and discuss your situation." Commander Dayton had patiently waited a few minutes for Victor to find the right words, but his ceaseless mutterings of attempting to introduce himself eroded his patience. Steve was a busy man that had at least nine reports landing on his desk since meeting Garfield on his ship not long ago, he decided to give them all time to wind down from the tense first meeting. "Rachel, since you're under Garfield's care, you will stay in his room."

Before Rachel could protest, Steve left the room with Rita on his heels, and moments latter several soldiers escorted them away through another set of pristine white corridors in different directions. Richard, Kori and Victor were taken to the guest quarters far from the main construction, it was an area that was segregated from the station as a security precaution.

Garfield ditched the soldiers after entering the main residential area, leading Rachel through into a larger corridor with multiple silver doors lining the walls at an equal distance. To the sides of the larger corridor were elevators leading to different levels, the interior of the elevator was the same pristine white colour with a simple silver panel. Pressing a button for the highest floor, Garfield leaned against the elevator wall with a sigh escaping him.

"Sorry about this… I knew Steve wouldn't take kindly to a Sith, but not to this extent." Garfield apologised, though he knew the reputation of the Darkling Star well, he still felt responsible for the leash around her neck.

"You do know who I am?" Rachel asked bluntly, she was baffled at how he could sympathise with her unless he didn't know her reputation. Garfield shifted his solemn gaze from the ground to stare at her for a moment, debating if her question was rhetorical.

"The Darkling Star, the ace of the Sith order and a supposed mass murderer." Garfield curtly stated, summing up her reputation in a single sentence, though one word stood out which caught Rachel's attention. Raising an eyebrow at him, she wondered if he knew the truth about her or if he didn't believe her reputation at all. "Richard was right, if you were still a Sith then you would've acted long before now, something I think Steve saw as well. As for me, I've seen than look of shame before, though I think yours is directed at someone other than yourself."

"You're ashamed of yourself?" Rachel immediately tried to divert the conversation away from herself, she feared bringing up that topic and refused to speak about it since she herself hadn't come to terms with the truth. It wasn't that she was afraid of being labelled a monster, rather it was the notion that her actions may have led to the unnecessary and brutal deaths of all those innocent people.

"Nice deflection." Garfield challenged her, he knew all too well how difficult a subject it was to bring up one's own shame with a stranger, but he knew if he could find cause for Steve to lessen the noose around Rachel's neck then he would her hating him for pressing.

"I don't want to talk about it." Rachel huffed, shifting her gaze away from Garfield as the doors opened on the top floor. Exiting the elevator, they walked quietly through the large corridor past several rows of doors, the silver doors had a dark strip high up on them without any indication as to what they were until they reached Garfield's room. The dark strip had his full name emblazoned on it with pure white letters, revealing that the plaques name the owner of the room. "Why are you on a floor by yourself?"

"Asked for it, Doom Patrol station is manned by a small crew compared to its size, nearly a quarter of the rooms have been left unused since its creation." Garfield stated as he pressed his hand to a hidden scanner beside the door, the device beeped several times before the door slide open sideways. "When I first stayed here, I couldn't stand the thought of the endless people walking past my door of my first room. So, I asked to move into one of the desolate wings, it's quite peaceful here."

Garfield's room on the station wasn't as messy as the one he had on the Titan, he rarely stays longer than a week or two on the station, not long enough for him to accumulate items he hoarded from his missions. He would never admit it, but his time with the Scarlet Reapers left him with a greed complex, if he saw something that took his eye then there was little he could do to stop himself from taking it.

Garfield hoarded his trophies religiously, he never could keep anything other than the necklace he made, and escaping the Scarlet Reapers' controlling claws granted him with far more freedom than he could cope with. If anyone tried to take any of the items he collected, then it wouldn't end well, a fact that Rita once learned the hard way when she tried to clean his room on the Titan.

The room was bare of anything other the necessities, a grey wardrobe built into the wall to the left of the door, a dark grey desk with a high-tech computer screen in the table to the right of the door, and a large light grey bunk bed pressed sideways against the back of the room. The room wasn't as large as Rachel thought it would be considering the size of the station, it was barely three meters wide by five meters in length, a suitable size for a single inhabitant.

"The bunk bed is standard by the way, the station was designed to accommodate double the capacity per room in an emergency or if the station is overpopulated." Garfield sat down on the plain grey chair by the desk, pulling up the systems own internal directory and began looking through intel reports gathered by the station. He generally did this whenever he visited, the reports contained a great deal of information about underworld activity that come in handy when he needed to find clients or lucrative opportunities. "There are station issued clothes in the wardrobe, the bathroom is the door just past the wardrobe, there is no shower except for the communal one at the centre of the floor."

"Is this an intel station or a military barracks?" Rachel sarcastically quipped, the grey theme of the rooms backing her claim despite the pristine white walls and dark grey floor. She strolled over to the bed and sat down on the bottom bunk, the coarse bedding and brick like mattress furthered her point.

"Both, Commander Dayton comes from a military family, they all served for more than three quarters of their life before retiring into consultation work for the military." Garfield chuckled at her quip, it was a running joke among the staff that Steve's family did nothing but serve the military, there was even rumours floating around that several of the Dayton's had their remains buried under prominent military buildings. "When this station was commissioned, it was designed by Commander Dayton himself, everything is built to military standards."

"How am I not surprised." Rachel shook her head, she knew of several officers within the Empire that eerily matched Commander Dayton in both professionalism and militaristic manner, they too ensured everything was kept to a high standard.

"Huh…" Garfield swept through multiple reports, but there was one that he needed to find, the incident on Tatooine. He was sure Steve would have a detailed report on the situation, right down to the rumour mill from surrounding sources, yet what he wasn't expecting was the report being a complete fabrication. "I'll need to thank the commander the next time I see him…"

"What are you taking about?" Rachel found herself somewhat bored sitting on the bed with nothing to do, she had hoped that Garfield would have at least one book somewhere that she could read, but the spartan room held nothing of interest.

"Doom Patrol altered all reports and pinned it on Jagar, the Republic are lightyears off course and going after the wrong target." Garfield chuckled happily as he read the report, he wished he could see Jagar's face when the Republic come knocking, but he'll settle for knowing that that scumbag will be running for months before either his ship breaks, or he gets captured. "They even tricked the smugglers' rumour mill into believe Jagar tried to set me up to take the fall, only it backfired when he called me to gloat about it. Nice!"

"Err… Wouldn't the Republic realise that they had been fooled when they don't find Richard on Jagar's ship?" Rachel thought the obviousness of her question should have been evident to Garfield, what little she knew of him, short-sightedness wasn't one of his characteristics.

"Richard's a drifter, the Republic will be expecting him to ditch Jagar as quickly as possible, but that doesn't mean they won't try to apprehend him and question him." Garfield grinned from ear to ear, the thought of Jagar in an interrogation room with some officer glaring him down pleased him to no end. "The best part is that Jagar has a reputation in not only being a notorious liar, but also smuggling high profile criminals into and out of Republic space. The more he tries to deny it, the less the Republic will believe him."

"And you walk away as the innocent bystander." Rachel marvelled at the Doom Patrol's skill, they distorted the truth effortlessly it made her wonder about every report she read at the Sith temple regarding the underworld.

"Yep! And since they aren't look at me, then no one will find out about you… other than the obvious…" Garfield was already halfway through his sentence when he realised that the subject might still sting since it only happened minutes ago, a part of him still fears the chance that she may still be the Darkling Star, that she may turn on him now that they were alone, but he had to give her the benefit of the doubt. He himself had a horrible reputation, one that many shuddered in fear of when they heard his name, yet that was never his true self. "Look, I don't know what happened to make you leave the Sith order, but I promise that if you've truly changed from… what you were before… then you'll always have a home on the Titan… I know it's a lot to ask… and… you know that I still have my moments… but… just think about it."

Garfield shook his head, he couldn't believe he stuttered utter nonsense, yet his point still stood. If Rachel wasn't anything like the Darkling Star, then he would happily allow her to stay on the Titan whenever she wanted. It was true that he greatly valued his privacy and solitude, but he couldn't leave Rachel on her own, not when a part of him felt that he could trust her, that she wasn't the monster her reputation led everyone to believe.

Rachel watched silently as Garfield took the top bunk, laying down and quietly going to sleep, leaving her in a still silence. She didn't know how to react to his words, she couldn't blame him for characterising her as the Darkling Star, but the fact that Garfield was willing to relate to her despite believing her to be the Darkling Star, then maybe she could believe him.

Lying down on the bottom bunk, she stared up at the grey panel above her holding Garfield's bunk bed. She wanted to escape the chains of the Darkling Star, to make a name of her own, and maybe Garfield might give her the first steppingstone towards that goal. Though, if Commander Dayton got his way then she would be cut down long before she could even have the chance to be truly free, but for now, all she could do was reluctantly comply with his orders and hope that she makes it away from this station alive.


Author's Notes: Sorry about long upload time, working on a piece that I hope to publish.

This chapter was a bit difficult to write, at first I wanted it to be light-hearted and a bit of fun with Rita and Garfield pretend fighting to see if Rachel was truly changed, then I thought about making it darker and give her a reason to stay with Garfield on the Titan other than personal feelings or happenstance.

I downplayed Kori and Richard in this as Kori was in awe of Rita while Richard wasn't sure how to act around the Doom Patrol since they are a powerful military force, and he was in enough trouble already.