Neither Tahiri nor Captain Muro received any life-threatening injuries during the fight with the fero xyn, but they'd still received plenty of cuts, scrapes, and bruises. Mandala's medbay was more than equipped to handle them, and once Vjarna piloted the ship up into Euceron's atmosphere, both women went to patching up their hurt.

As she lay on one of the two medical couches and applied a bacta patch to the wound on her forehead, Tahiri asked, "How did you know I needed help? I never commed you."

"We could see your light from the cockpit," Vjarna supplied as he handed Muro a suture for a long cut on her elbow. "When it went rolling around, flashing on and off, we figured that meant trouble."

"I'm glad I had you watching out for me. I can't thank you enough."

"Don't mention it." The captain winced as she stuck the suture on. "Now, more importantly, did you find what you wanted in there or are we going to have to scope out more lovely worlds?"

Tahiri sighed and settled back in her couch. The other two stared a question at her and she held up a hand, asking for time to gather her thoughts.

She hadn't found what she'd wanted, but she'd found what she'd been expecting to find, and that was much, much worse. The elation of having survived the scrape on the planet was waning fast, and she felt the weight of what was to come settling over her.

Finally she said, "I know where we have to go. It should just be one more stop."

"Another Vongformed world?" asked Vjarna.

"Kind of. We won't actually be landing on that world." She looked at the tall human and the tiny Bimm. "What kind of vac suits do you have here?"

Muro blinked. "One for each of us. Plus a spare."

"Well," Tahiri smiled weakly. "That works out pretty nicely."

"And that means what?"

"It means you should set course for the planet Myrkr. It's in the Inner Rim, a little off the Vaakthree Circuit."

"I've heard of it," Muro nodded. "What's there?"

Tahiri swallowed. "Can I have a drink of water?"

Vjarna provided one promptly. Tahiri took a sip to wet her throat. When she still didn't answer, Muro asked, "Have you been to Myrkr before?"

"Do you remember Anakin Solo?"

"The Chief of State's son?" Vjarna nodded. "I remember he died during the Vong War, around the same time Coruscant fell."

"He died at Myrkr. I was with him."

They both stared at her. It seemed surreal, having to explain to these near-strangers the basic facts that had become the fulcrum point of her entire life.

Still, she forced herself to go on. "We were part of a Jedi strike team. We went behind the lines to destroy a… weapon the Yuuzhan Vong had created, an anti-Jedi weapon designed by their Master Shaper, Yal Phaath. They were using the old worldship over Myrkr as a research lab and testing ground. We succeeded, but not everyone made it out. Anakin didn't."

She didn't think she could go any more without her voice breaking. Thankfully, neither Muro nor Vjarna looked like they needed further explanation. Maybe they'd already figured she'd been in love with Anakin; if not, she didn't have to tell them.

"Did you know we'd have to go back to Myrkr?" Muro asked, voice level and bereft of either criticism or sympathy.

Tahiri shook her head. "I didn't. I thought it might be possible, but I had to be sure. According to what I found on Euceron, Myrkr is our best bet." She paused, then added, "Technically, it's a worldship, an old broken-down worldship that's still orbiting the planet. That's why I'll need a vac suit."

"We," Muro said.

Tahiri shook her head. "This is my mission. I'm not paying you to do anything more than transport me."

The captain crossed her bandaged arms over her chest. "In that case, I'll add your rescue down on the planet to my bill."

Tahiri frowned. "You really don't have to come with me into that worldship. There's nothing there, it's all breached to the vacuum and dead. I'll be safe."

"I'd never trust the vacuum to kill Vonglife. They built whole ships to survive the void."

Tahiri glanced at Vjarna. "Are you okay with this?"

The Bimm looked a little hesitant, and Muro said, "It's all right, Revli. You don't have to go. We need somebody to stay with Mandala and keep her safe anyway."

Vjarna nodded, clearly relieved. The captain said, "Revli, can you excuse yourself? I'd like to have a word in private."

With another relieved nod, the Bimm stepped out of the medbay, leaving Tahiri and Muro to stare at each other from opposite couched.

"Is my helping you going to be a problem?" asked Muro.

"No. It's not. It would be safer to go in there with two people. I'm just wondering what's in it for you."

Muro stared at her blankly; the woman was damnably hard to read in the Force. She said, "I bet you have a guess.

"If you want revenge on the Yuuzhan Vong, you're not going to find much opportunity in a cracked-open old worldship. Everything there's already dead."

"You seem pretty sure about that."

"Are you asking if I've been there since the War?" Muro nodded. Tahiri wanted to flinch from her gave but held it. "I went there a few times. With… Jacen Solo."

"Why?"

"It's a very long story and I don't want to talk about it. But no, I had no idea he might have been using those trips to search for long-lost Yuuzhan Vong bioweapons. At the time I had no idea he'd fallen that far."

"And that's why you didn't want to go."

"I've had two sets of awful experiences on that worldship. I really didn't want a third, but I guess I have no choice."

"Apparently the universe has it out for you."

It felt weird to have someone else say it out loud. Tahiri gave a dry, bitter sight. "Someone's got to find out if the bioweapon's still there, and short of a real breathing Yuuzhan Vong, I'm the best bet."

Muro raised an eyebrow. "I've heard things about you. They said you were captured by the Vong. Some say you were brainwashed, or they tried to shape you."

"Yeah. That's close enough. It also means I under-stand the Yuuzhan Vong better than almost anybody."

"So that's why nobody else in the whole galaxy can go to Myrkr and take care of this?"

"Pretty much."

Muro's stern expression softened into a wistful smile. "You're braver than I thought. Some people have been saying you were a coward for doing what Jacen Solo made you do."

Tahiri still wasn't certain they were wrong. "It's what I told you before. I'm trying to atone. If you really want to help me with that, you're more than welcome, but that's what this is about. Cleaning up some of the mess I've made. Revenge isn't part of it."

"All right. I understand." Muro pushed herself off the couch with a groan and looked over her bandages. "I'll help you clean up your mess."

"Thank you."

"It will effect my rates though."

Tahiri smiled a little. "Understood. Thank you, Captain."

Muro nodded and walked out of the medbay. Tahiri leaned back in her couch, closed her eyes, and waited for the shudder of the hyperdrives to whisk them away.