Chapter 11

Lyra's eyes opened slowly. She felt disoriented for a moment until she realized she was aboard Allegra, and alive. She took off the oxymask and drew a slow, deep breath. Her memory of what had happened was hazy and incomplete. She could remember the moment she'd ejected from the disintegrating Striker, but everything after that was a fractured jumble of half-remembered sensations— pain and panic, solitude and sadness. But then warmth, and a feeling like arms wrapping around her. And his voice, whispering to her.

Taz slept beside her. She carefully eased up on her elbow. She had a vague recollection of what he'd done, and how much of his life he'd poured into her to keep her from the abyss of death. His chest rose and fell in a slow, steady cycle. She slipped her fingers into his short hair, relishing the feel of it, and the warmth of his scalp against her hand.

The door opened and Tess stepped into the small medbay. She looked tired but happy. She smiled at Lyra and whispered, "Good morning, partner."

"How long's he been here?" Lyra asked quietly.

"Since bringing you onboard. Fourteen, fifteen hours?"

"He used all of his strength to revive me. I could feel it pouring out of him." She trembled and looked at Tess with something like desperation. "How do I pay that back?"

"You won't have to, Lyra. He has this thing about helping people, sometimes even when they don't want it." She laughed. "It can be annoying, but endearing, too. It's why he became a medic."

"Oh, I know all about the annoying part," she quipped, but she smiled at him when she said it.

"It's why I fell in love with him," Tess admitted in a soft voice. "That and his smile. And his pretty blue eyes." She looked wistful, like she was remembering something fondly.

Lyra's heart faltered. "You still love him, don't you?"

"No, I—" Tess stopped, a conflicted look on her face. "It's not that simple. Even if I did, he's... not mine anymore." She put her hand on the bacta capsule and watched Varun sleeping. "The man I love is right here."

Lyra wasn't quite sure what to make of that. Instead of dwelling on it, she said, "Thanks, Tess, for taking care of everyone, and Allegra."

Tess's expression brightened. "They're all so precious to me. On Filve they have a word for it— kaashuub. They're as dear to me as my own family." She smiled at Lyra's familiar look. "The way you flew that Striker, alone... That took real courage, Lyra. That kind of courage comes from right here." She took Lyra's hand and put it over her heart. "You only do that for the people you love."

She remembered what Rendix had said to her not too long ago. "They're my crew, the closest thing I have to a family. And Allegra's Heart... feels like home." The realization brought an unexpected wash of warmth. "You and Varun, too," she admitted quietly, then chuckled. "I'd never have believed I'd be..."

"Putting your life on the line for a bunch of Rebels?" Tess gave her a lopsided grin.

"Something like that, yeah."

"We'll never forget what you did, Lyra." Tess squeezed her hand. She regarded Taz, asleep on the stool. "He needs someone like you, now that I'm not…" she trailed off, then looked back at Varun.

Is she saying he's mine now? Lyra shivered again. "I don't know, Tess. I don't know if I'm ready to be needed like that."

"Just be there for him," Tess replied. "You don't have to love him."

It might be too late for that, Lyra thought, stroking his hair. He looked peaceful, and terribly handsome.

Taz shifted on the bed. Lyra took her hand away and hoped he hadn't heard any of what they'd just said. He opened his eyes; a relieved smile spread slowly over his face when he saw her.

"Good morning Ensign Nimor," he said. Despite the hours of sleep, he sounded fatigued.

Lyra smiled back. "Morning, Officer Oktos."

Taz stretched and rubbed the kink from his neck. "Hi Tess. Been here long?"

"Not long," she answered, "I just came to check on your patients for you." She gave him a sly grin.

He smirked at her and got to his feet. His body was stiff and unsteady, and he felt like he hadn't eaten in weeks.

In the bacta tank, Varun's eyes slowly opened amidst the commotion in the cramped infirmary. Taz consulted the capsule's vital signs monitor and nodded his satisfaction at the readings. Varun looked rested, and restless.

"You're ready to get out of there, aren't you, sweetheart?" Tess said brightly, taking his hand through the glove on the capsule. She remembered keenly how anxious he'd been during his bacta treatments back at Letsago Drift and Arclight. She glanced over at Taz expectantly.

Taz regarded his two patients. "You're both getting complete physical exams, and no complaints," he added, forestalling an objection from Lyra. "Then I think Sera and Rei are going to need some help getting Allegra patched up." He wiped at his tired eyes and shivered suddenly. It occurred to him that he'd come close to dying himself, recalling how much of his strength and vitality he'd transferred into the Force to keep Lyra and Varun alive.

Lyra caught his hand and held it fast. "I know what you did. I know what it cost you." Her eyes were fierce and full of barely restrained passion, verging on tears. A flood of words crowded her thoughts, things she felt she needed to tell him, but couldn't just yet. She mastered her unsteady feelings with a loud sniff. "Promise me you won't overdo it."

"I won't, I promise," he said with as much of a reassuring smile as he could muster. He operated the controls on the bacta bed and purged the capsule. After the liquid finished draining the front of the capsule rotated open, accompanied by a hiss of air. Taz unhooked the breathing mask from Varun's face. Numarkos drew breath deep into his lungs, looking like a man reborn. Tess held both of his hands and wouldn't let go. There were tears in her eyes. "How do you feel?" the medtech said to Varun.

"Like a drowned biskr," he rasped, "but a live one. I owe you my life."

The corner of Taz's mouth twitched. He grabbed some towels from the supply cabinet and handed one to Tess. "You don't owe me anything, Varun-grasha. Try standing up."

Varun gingerly swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Tess and Taz each took an arm as he stood. He shifted cautiously from side to side.

"Dizzy or lightheaded?"

"Nope."

"How's your balance?"

"Feels okay."

"Good." They began wiping off the remaining bacta. "You might feel some muscle weakness for a few hours. If it lasts longer than that, let me know. Eat, if you can tolerate it. Something easy to digest— bread, and vegetable soup, maybe. And take it easy; no strenuous activity. Just relax in the salon or your cabin today. Doctor's orders." To Tess he said, "Make sure."

"I will," she said, clinging to Varun's arm, "even if I have to sit on him."

Taz ran full medscans on Lyra and Varun, and a quick one on Tess's shoulder. Satisfied that they were all in good condition, he released them to the ship's lounge for breakfast and some recovery outside the confining medbay. Then Taz grabbed a shower and went to the galley. He ate like a half-starved rathtar, and Sera insisted that he rest until the afternoon. He argued, but Sera gently reminded him whose ship he was on, and Taz went back to his cabin for a few hours of sleep.

Feeling more refreshed upon waking, Taz picked up some tools and got to work with Reiko to repair the power converters and busses. During his years aboard the Pride of Olminar, he'd held secondary ratings in sensor operations and starship gunnery. Those skills had included basic maintenance, and his natural inclination for fixing things made him a competent assistant to an excellent engineer like Reiko, or a passable tech on his own. He was hardly unique in that sense. In a Rebel cell, everyone was a multi-tasker.

After he, Reiko, and Sera had finished repairing Allegra's major systems, they ate a quick dinner. Varun looked healthier than he had that morning, with normal color returning to his tanned Filvian skin. Nevertheless, Taz suggested that he should get plenty of sleep, and Numarkos didn't make a fuss about it. Reiko looked exhausted and depressed over Yuzu's destruction; she went to her cabin as soon as she finished eating. Lyra headed up to the cockpit to be sure their orbit wasn't in danger of prematurely decaying, leaving Taz and Sera sitting at the big table in the salon.

Taz poured khaff for them and handed her a cup.

Sera smiled kindly at him and took a drink. "You look tired, Doc. You should follow the advice you gave Varun."

"Probably should," he agreed but seemed content to sip his khaff and watch the image of Beta Fonidian II out of the thick viewport at the front of the salon.

The thing that had nagged at Sera for the better part of a day was uppermost in her mind. As Taz's friend, she wasn't sure she wanted to broach what was likely an uncomfortable subject, but the squad leader in her overrode their friendship. "After Lyra's Striker got hit, something happened to you."

"Yeah." It came out more like a breath than a word.

"You said you did something you shouldn't have. Mind telling me what it was?"

Taz shuffled his shoulders and looked away. "I... used the Force, to kill Vaniel Ruatha. I—" He looked at her from beneath his furrowed brows. Sera stared back with the unflappable demeanor he so admired in her. It did little to assuage the gloom he was feeling, though. "I was enraged, angrier than I've ever been in my life, Sera. There was only one thing I wanted: vengeance for Lyra." His breathing grew heavier as the feelings returned, and he spoke haltingly. "There's a dark side to the Force, Sera. It's... powerful, and seductive. I used it to kill Ruatha from hundreds of meters away." He barely whispered the words.

Sera tilted her head. "Is that why you looked like you were choking someone?"

"Did I do that? I don't really remember anything, just the murderous thoughts pounding in my head, and feeling the life being squeezed out of her." Taz shuddered and leaned back, his head against the wall. A sheen of sweat broke on his forehead. "I couldn't—" He looked at her, scared and desperate. "It wouldn't let me go, Sera. After I killed her, I couldn't stop it. It wanted me to keep killing. I—" He shook harder, his eyes moistening and verging on terror.

Sera put her hand over his. "It's okay, Doc. Take it slow."

He nodded nervously and forced himself toward calm with slow, long breaths. After some time he spoke, a ghost of a tremor in his low voice. "Breaking out of it was the hardest thing I've ever done. It terrified me. It terrifies me even more now, because... I'd do it again if anything happened to Lyra or Tess, or to you, or Rei."

Sera looked at him like she was considering the pros and cons of a military op. "Mmm. And you're afraid if it happens again you really won't be able to come back from it?"

"As I am now, untrained? It'll consume me. " He stared at her, wild-eyed and pale. "There won't be any Taz Oktos left."

"That sounds a little dire, Doc."

"I wish I was exaggerating, Sera, but I don't think I am." His fist clenched reflexively. "There's so much power in the dark Force. The Emperor's lieutenant, Vader? The one Nanvarr mentioned? He was a Sith Lord."

"What's a Sith?"

He waved vaguely. "The opposite of the Jedi, I think. Sith tap into the dark side of the Force for their power. It gives them unbelievable strength, but it corrupts them. Every one of them." He still looked aghast, but he was calmer. "I don't want that to happen to me, Sera. I don't want to hurt the people I care about." He fidgeted, then grasped his cup of khaff with both hands to keep them from shaking. "I need to ask a favor of you."

"Sure, Doc, you name it."

"If you ever see me like that again, kill me."

"Wait a minute, Doc, I—"

"Promise me, Sera, please. If you truly are my friend, you'll stop me before I hurt anyone. Because if I fall like that again—" He broke off, unable to continue for a moment. "I'll be gone already, and you'll be killing a monster." He gripped her hand hard and stared at her, tight-lipped, while a tear slid down his cheek.

"Okay, Doc," she assented. Her voice shook more than she'd expected it would.

"Thank you," he whispered. He relinquished her hand, sniffed, and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"You should really get some sleep."

"I know," he said, smiling just a little. "I will, just gonna finish my khaff." Sera drained her cup and slid off the bench seat. "Thanks, Sera... I'm sorry to ask you to bear that burden."

Sera shook her head. "You're a good man, Doc. Never doubt that." She squeezed his shoulder, then went to her quarters, looking troubled.

Taz sat for a minute, then swallowed the rest of his drink. He got up, but instead of going to his cabin, he took the lift up to the cockpit.

Lyra turned when he entered. "You don't need to take watch. There's not much to do up here."

"I know," he said, sliding into the copilot's seat and turning it toward her "I, um, wanted to talk to you, if it's okay."

The hard set of his jaw and his beseeching eyes took her by surprise. She swiveled her chair to face him. "Sure, what is it?"

He took a deep breath to steady himself. "During the fight... When I saw your ship get hit and break up—" Taz hung his head. His heart pounded and his throat tightened up. He barely managed a ragged whisper. "I was so scared I'd lost you."

In the dark cockpit, he might not have seen her eyes soften and dilate. "Hey," she soothed and took his shaking hand. "Relax, Oktos. I'm right here, okay?" She'd never seen him so frightened.

The corner of his mouth twitched as Taz worked to calm himself. After a stretch of seconds, he looked up. The concern in her eyes brought comfort of a sort. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize," she said with a little grin. "You didn't lose me, you brought me back."

He sniffed deeply, feeling a degree better. "I shouldn't have bothered you. I'm acting like a child." He stood and started to go.

"You aren't bothering me." Lyra stood with him, and wouldn't let go of his hand. "You don't always have to be strong, you know. It's okay if you need to lean on someone."

Taz turned back to face her. Should I say what hasn't been said? He pulled her closer and she didn't resist. "On the planet when Varun and I were pinned down by those stormtroopers at the data vault, I thought I was going to die without telling you how I feel." The dim panel lights caught in her bright, beautiful eyes. "Lyra, I—"

She covered his lips with her fingers. "Please Taz, don't say it," she interrupted, almost a whisper.

"Why not?"

"Because I… want us to stay like this." She slipped her arms around his waist and held onto him.

"Like this?"

"Like what we have right now. I don't want us to get… weighed down." She looked up at him for a moment. "We're crewmates on a tiny ship. I know how you feel right now, but maybe, someday, you won't feel the same. Or maybe I won't. If that happens, I want us to… part as friends."

Taz stiffened. "So, you want us to be friends?"

She shook her head against his chest. "Don't be dense, Oktos," she gently chided. "I want... more than that." She surprised herself, hearing the words. "It's just, I don't want to lose you." She looked up at him. "I'm sorry if that sounds selfish."

"I don't want to lose you either, ever again." She was so warm, pressing against him, and it seemed like she'd abandoned her normal reticence. He wrapped her in his arms and his dour mood bled away. Speaking softly, he said, "How do you know how I feel?"

"You're not very good at hiding it, for one thing," she teased, sensing his discomfort fading. "The truth is, I heard you, when you pulled me aboard Allegra. I was suffocating, scared and hurting, but then I heard you, calling to me." Her voice fell. "I heard you tell me how you feel." Now it was her turn to shake as those memories overtook her. She embraced him harder, and he responded, caressing her silky hair. "It made me want to fight, to hold on just a little longer, to get back to you." She hesitated as she spoke, and her voice quavered. "I heard you say you didn't want to live without me. Do you know how happy that made me?" She looked at him with sudden tears in her eyes. "It scares me, Taz."

"Why?"

"Because it's been so long..." she broke off, afraid to finish the thought.

"Since someone's loved you?"

"Dammit, I told you not to say it, Oktos," came her whispered protest.

"I didn't, exactly," he chuckled and pressed her even closer, "but I won't say it again until you tell me it's what you want to hear, I swear."

After a while, she nodded and raised her eyes to his. "In the Striker right before I ejected, there were two things I thought of; Allegra, and... how nice it would be to spend another night with you in those ruins."

"Lyra," he breathed. Taz lifted her chin and kissed her soft lips for a long time. "It's not a tumbled-down Dai Bendu temple, but there are warm bunks down below." He took her hands and backpedaled toward the lift. His blue eyes were delighted and mischievous.

Lyra let herself be led along. He loves me, and I love him. We don't need to say anything. She still felt scared, but maybe not quite as much as she had before.

It took most of the next morning, but they succeeded in cross-wiring enough systems to make reentry. Lyra felt well enough to take the controls, but Tess sat in the copilot's seat just in case. As soon as they had restored communications she contacted her parents to let them know they'd survived. She also told them what had happened to Tafo and Ruatha aboard the Kantorius.

Jerric Daro's voice sounded strained through the comm speaker. "Things are tense down here, honeygirl. There was a lot of destruction, and loved ones got hurt. Some died. I'm afraid you're going to get a pretty cold reception."

"I know, Dad. We've got Allegra patched together, but I doubt she'd survive a hyperspace jump. Just give us time to get her fixed up then we'll go." Tess looked pretty miserable saying the words.

"Okay, honeygirl. I'll meet you at the hangar."

"Thanks, Dad, see you in an hour. Allegra out."

Lyra plotted a reentry vector and nudged the debilitated freighter into Beta Fonidian II's gravity well. The deflectors weren't operating at anywhere near their normal capacity, but they kept Allegra's Heart from becoming a cinder as it plunged through the atmosphere toward Rho-277. They passed through a thick cloud layer at 8,000 meters and rain began pelting the viewscreen as Lyra dialed up the thrusters to slow their descent.

Taz let out a whistle as the clouds dissipated. He could see the destructive toll their escape had taken on the Imperial base. During their getaway, he'd been busy keeping Varun alive and hadn't seen the extent of the damage. The deflector shield generator still smoldered, and he could see where the laser blasts from Lyra's Striker had wrecked the point defense lasers and missile battery. He wasn't surprised to see crews of humans and droids working to repair all of them.

The broad parkway in front of the admin buildings was cratered with divots from laser cannons. Most of the stormtroopers' bodies had been removed, but a few remained. The proton bomb had done its work with terrible efficiency. Taz felt a pang— not for the stormtroopers— as far as he could tell they'd never been part of the community here. But he could feel the grief of the Rho-277 residents whose families had felt the impact of their breakout and escape. He could feel their anger, too.

Lyra cut in the repulsors for the last few hundred meters, then let Allegra's Heart come to rest on the permacrete landing pad near the hangar. The freighter settled on its landing struts with a hiss of gasses. Lyra started shutting down systems.

"Let's keep her powered up," Sera advised. "Just in case."

"Right, Captain," Lyra acknowledged, stopping what she'd been doing.

Through the transparisteel, they could see Amanda and Jerric standing at the gaping mouth of the hangar, a crowd of workers and Imperial technicians behind them. A fair number had heavy tools in their hands. All of the techs and some of the workers had blasters, probably picked up from the fallen troops.

"They don't look happy to see us." Lyra observed.

"I don't blame them, Reiko said. "We made a mess of their home, and probably hurt or even killed some of them."

"Looks like Mom and Dad have them under control for now."

"We'll go out and talk to them," Numarkos said. Tess answered him with a resolute nod.

They filed toward the broad cargo ramp at the back of the ship. Sera went to the door controls, her big G9 rifle resting on her shoulder. "Rei and I'll stay here, just in case things get ugly."

"I hope you won't need to use that." He tapped his comlink. "I'll keep the channel open."

"Good idea," Sera agreed. "The codeword is mynock. Any of you say that, and we start shooting." She palmed the ramp switch.

As soon as it finished extending, Tess flew down the ramp at a dead run, ignoring a shout from Varun. She sobbed and leaped into Jerric's waiting arms. Amanda held her husband and daughter as the others descended warily.

Varun put his arm around Tessa and shook Jerric's hand. "Thanks for letting us land to make repairs. We won't stay any longer than necessary."

"Take as long as you need," Amanda said. "We reviewed the information you sent, Captain Numarkos. I'm ashamed to say that we were all duped." Looking back at the assembled crowd, she raised her voice. "These are not your enemies, they're friends who had to make a terrible choice. They've been making terrible choices for years, fighting a war that none of us knew about because Director Tafo and Adjutant Ruatha kept it from us! They deceived us into believing we were helping to bring order to the galaxy. That was a lie," she said, looking betrayed and as dejected as she sounded.

Varun stepped toward the crowd. He picked out Lieutenant Forstner standing in the front rank. She was wearing an SE-14 pistol, standard issue for Imperial officers. Her arm was in a sling, and the side of her face was red and raw. Some of her light brown hair had been singed away, too. She moved to stand before him.

"Lieutenant Forstner, I'm Captain Varun Numarkos of the New Republic Fleet Intelligence Service. Are you the ranking Imperial officer here?"

Forstner stared hard at him but said nothing. She lifted her blaster by the back of the receiver and handed it to him.

Varun took the pistol from her. "I asked you a question, Lieutenant," he said with an officer's commanding tone.

"Yes I am, Captain Numarkos."

He turned the black, weighty gun in his hand, then gave it back to her. Forstner looked surprised. "I'm not here to accept your surrender, Lieutenant Forstner, although I expect you to stand down and to cease any military operations at this facility. It's my duty to warn you that if you don't, I can assure you that our ship, battered as she is, still possesses enough punch to make life very uncomfortable for you and everyone here."

"I don't understand," she said, adding confusion to her surprise as she holstered her blaster. "But for now, no action will be taken against you, your crew, or ship, provided you tell me what the hell is going on."

"I'll tell you, and everyone." He raised his voice to address the others. "I have hard news that many of you will find disturbing, but I ask you to hear me out." He turned to Jerric. "Were you able to bring what I asked for?"

Jerric nodded and looked over his shoulder at a teen-aged girl and boy, both dressed in worn green coveralls. "Mariska and Kel, can you bring that sled over here?"

The adolescents pulled the sled over; Varun recognized it from when they'd had their last meal with the Daros before they'd been captured. On the cart sat a big holoprojector. Numarkos took a code cylinder from his sleeve pocket and plugged it in. He tapped the projector's controls. Images appeared in the space above the projector— a moon-sized battle station, firing its devastating compound laser at a planet below. The scene shifted to a tsunami, backed by an enormous mushroom cloud that washed in from far out at sea, towering over the person making the recording, engulfing the seaside Imperial base before the recording went dark.

Another scene, a chaotic battle in space; dozens of Alliance vessels interspersed with huge Star Destroyers and one impossibly large ship in black, the size of a city, that dwarfed all of them. In the distance, another Death Star, larger than the first and unfinished, but fully operational, pulverizing every ship its green superlaser touched. The recording played for some minutes as the gigantic Super Star Destroyer was fatally damaged and fell into the station's gravity well until it punctured the second Death Star's surface and was consumed in a monstrous explosion. A few moments later the station itself disintegrated into an expanding cloud of plasma and debris as its reactor detonated.

The picture changed again. Images of the battle over a sand-blasted planet, of Imperial ships dragged to their doom or falling onto the planet, mortally wounded from the exchange of fire. Then a final scene, the blue-skinned, horned Imperial Grand Vizier Mas Amedda signing the Galactic Concordance with Chancellor Mon Mothma. The image froze, then dissolved. A few in the crowd shuffled, but they were silent.

Varun drew a long breath. "Emperor Sheev Palpatine died two years ago when Alliance naval forces destroyed his Death Star battle station, in orbit over the forest moon of Endor. The empire he ruled surrendered to the New Republic a few months ago." A rush of noise went through the crowd. There were angry shouts and a vibrant rumble of disbelief. Forstner looked as stunned as the rest of them, but also suspicious. Apparently, she'd been kept in the dark as well.

Varun waited for the noise to subside. He looked back and held out his hand to Lyra with an inviting tilt of his head.

Lyra started. What does he want from me? She felt exposed and anxious. The crowd looked ugly and unconvinced. She approached him hesitantly.

"You're an Imperial officer," he said in her ear above the noise. "They might listen to you."

She slid her hand behind her back and Taz took it. Gathering courage, she raised her voice. "My name is Ensign Lyra Nimor. I was a pilot for the Customs Office and the Imperial Navy. We— the Empire— surrendered after a decisive battle on Jakku. The images of ships falling from the sky onto a desert world? That was Jakku. I was there. I fought there, and we lost. The war is over." She squeezed Taz's hand and leaned against him.

The crowd murmured, still sounding skeptical. Lieutenant Forstner gave Numarkos a hard look through narrowed eyes, then turned around. "Alright," she called in a commanding tone over the crowd. "I'm not sure what to make of this either, but for now, let's hear them out." The assembled workers and techs gradually fell silent. Forstner turned back to Varun. "Continue, Captain."

"Thank you, Lieutenant." He addressed the crowd again. "For most of the Empire, the war is indeed over, but there are some who don't accept the concordance that both sides signed on Chandrila to end hostilities. There's a fleet near Eadu right now, commanded by an Imperial holdout, Admiral Geston Jellick. He and his confederates want to use the kyber crystals you've been mining to arm a fleet of warships with superlaser weapons that can wipe a city off the face of a planet from high orbit. They want to start that war up again." He looked into the eyes of the people watching him.

Lyra looked sober. "Those of us who fought, on both sides—" She glanced over her shoulder at Taz— "are tired of the destruction and death. We know you're hurting, and you don't owe us anything. But we're asking for your help to make sure war doesn't come again." The crowd began murmuring again but instead of hostility, there was confusion and uncertainty.

"Seems like you were kept out of the loop as well, Lieutenant," Varun said. Forstner looked uncomfortable. "I have evidence, taken from your own data vault." He pulled the code cylinder from the projector. "I think you and I should have a conversation about it."

"Yes, we should," she said, sounding weary and pained.

Taz gave Lyra's hand a gentle squeeze, then walked over to Forstner. "I'm a medtech and a... healer. I can help you if you'll let me."

She gave him a suspicious look, but Varun nodded. "You can trust him, Lieutenant. My word as an officer."

"You lied to me before about who you were and why you came here."

"A necessary deception. I'm sure you'd do the same in my place. Taz can help you."

Forstner still looked suspicious, but after a moment she nodded.

Taz took her arm, closed his eyes, and slipped into the Force. She'd fractured it; not badly, but he could sense the hurt and swelling. The burns on her face were worse. Drugs had dulled the pain, but couldn't relieve it entirely. He concentrated on her injuries and let some of his vitality flow out through his hand, augmented by the power of the Force, realigning and knitting her bones, regenerating skin, soothing and rebuilding nerves and tissue. She sighed, visibly relieved, and shivered as a warm, renewing energy permeated her body. She smiled in spite of herself as Taz opened his eyes, took a long breath, and stepped back. "There, that should do it, Lieutenant."

She flexed her hand and removed it from the sling. Then she touched her face, incredulous that the pain had gone. Her skin felt smooth and new. "How did you—" Behind her, the crowd hummed.

Taz grinned. "I can help with your casualties if you'll take me to your infirmary."

She paused only a second. "Alright. This way," she said and led Taz out of the hangar.

Varun turned to the others. "I'm going with them. Jerric, Amanda, I'd like to show you something we found in the director's data. Can I come by later?"

"Of course, Captain," Amanda said.

"Varun's fine, Amanda," he said with a smile. He kissed Tess, then ran off to catch up with Taz and Forstner.

Sera and Rei came down the ramp and stood next to Tess. Jerric said, "We'll help as much as we can with the repairs, but as you probably saw on your way in, we've got a fair bit of cleanup to do."

"We should be able to handle most of the work ourselves, and we'll stay out of your way," Sera assured him.

"Oh, you left something behind." Over his shoulder, he called, "Archeson, bring that cart."

Archeson appeared from the side of the crowd and approached them, pushing a repulsor cart in front of her. As she got nearer, Reiko's eyes went wide.

"Yuzu!" she cried. The droid lay face down on the cart, his limbs askew.

Archeson wiped her hands on a stained rag and tucked it in her pocket. "I think I got all of the components. It took shots to the power controller, secondary motion processor, and right leg, but the verbobrain's intact."

Reiko looked over the parts with tears in her eyes, then up at the older mechanic. "Thank you!" she said and grasped Archeson's hand.

"Come find me if you want help fixing him up." It wasn't quite an apology for the way she'd treated them earlier, but it was probably as much as she'd get from the taciturn woman.

Tess took her parent's hands. "Thank you, Dad, Mom, truly."

Jerric squeezed his daughter's hand. "Let's talk later. Come to the house for dinner, all of you." He turned back to the crowd. "Alright everyone, this place won't fix itself. Let's get to work!"

The base's small infirmary wasn't intended to treat more than a few people at once. Beds and cots had been squeezed into the too-small space for the wounded, who numbered over a dozen. A pair of dilapidated MD-5 medical droids and a middle-aged man with graying hair wearing the light blue uniform of an Imperial medic tended the patients. Taz walked over to the man, who glanced up, looking harried.

"What?" he snapped.

"I'm Taz Oktos. I'm a medic."

"Sure you are, Rebel," the other man responded.

"War's been over for over a year. I'm not a rebel, and I'm not your enemy."

The man looked back at Forstner, incredulous. "Lieutenant?"

"It's true, apparently," she affirmed. "He's here to help, Gorecke." She waved her healed arm for emphasis. "Let him."

Gorecke sized up Taz, still looking suspicious. After a few seconds, he tilted his head toward one of the droids. "That one'll fill you in on the casualties."

Taz nodded and went to consult with the medical droid.

Varun watched the little drama. "I understand your people are going to take some convincing, Forstner."

"Yes they will, Captain." She looked around the medbay. "Let's talk elsewhere."

Varun cast a look at Taz. "Oktos-grasha, are you going to be okay?"

Taz looked up from the datapad the droid had given him. "I'm fine, Varun. Go do whatever it is intelligence officers do."

Varun made a snarky smile. Forstner led the way out.

"I'd like to take a look at Tafo and Ruatha's offices."

"Why should I let you?"

Varun scratched his eyebrow. "I'd really rather have your cooperation, Forstner, but just so we're clear, I'm not asking." He let out a breath. "They deceived you, probably for years, Lieutenant. Don't you want to find out why?"

She looked skeptical and suspicious, but after a few steps, she nodded. "Very well." They turned toward the tall administration building, picking their way around rubble and blast craters. Work gangs of miners and maintenance droids busied themselves loading the debris into mining cars.

"Where'd the boys in white come from?"

Forstner looked distinctly uncomfortable. "There's another installation, seventy kilometers from here, hidden in the mountains." She frowned. "I didn't know anything about it until the stormtroopers showed up."

"Where are the rest of them?"

"The few that were left have been ordered back to their barracks. They'll stay put until I say otherwise."

Varun pursed his lips and gave her a slow nod. "What about that corvette that Tafo and Ruatha had?"

"The same place. There's a big hangar and garrison quarters, plus maintenance facilities."

"Exactly how much did you know about what was going on here?"

They walked through the admin center's doors and down the corridor to the lift. The door closed and the little car ascended. "I knew the crystals were intended for weapons. That's what we do in the factory; cut the crystals into standard sizes and fit them into alignment frames."

"Nothing else?" Varun asked as the lift opened at the floor beneath Tafo's office.

"I saw references to a new class of Star Destroyer called Onager. It's specialized for planetary sieges and orbital bombardment. I assumed our crystals were being used for that, but everything was need-to-know. The director and adjutant kept the specifics to themselves."

"I've never seen an Imperial installation without a communications tower. Any idea why you don't have one here?"

"We were told it was due to operational secrecy. The director said he was receiving regular updates from Imperial High Command. I knew asking how would be useless, so I didn't bother."

"What about families? Friends? You've been out here for, what, five years?"

"A few of us were permitted to bring family members, but most of the Imperial staff were selected for their lack of familial ties."

"You included?"

Forstner made no response. They stopped before a solid-looking, windowless black door. It seemed almost garishly out of place at the end of the stark white corridor. She took a code key from her pocket and gave it to Numarkos.

Varun inserted the key and tried the door. It snapped open with a quick hiss. The room was as severe and austere as Ruatha herself. Except for the back wall, every vertical surface was covered with displays that showed live images from dozens, maybe even hundreds of security cameras. Sections of the video panels had feeds from the mines and assembly complex. Others showed the public spaces, paths, and work areas. Half of the right-hand wall was dominated by feeds from the concealed hangar facility.

Forstner took it in with an officer's calm, evaluative eye. "ISB."

"Almost certainly," Varun seconded. "Nobody else is this paranoid." He noted the heavy safe behind the desk with its biometric lock. There was little hope of him opening it, but he made a note to inquire about getting a plasma cutter. He sat behind her desk and cocked a corner of his mouth. "Glad I got out before they infected me."

Forstner started at him from across the desk. "You were ISB?"

"Surprised? I graduated from Corulag and got accepted to the ISB academy at Imperial Center. Never made it to Agent status, though I was headed that way."

"What happened?"

"My aunt," he said. "I didn't know it at the time, but she'd been running a Rebel cell for nearly a decade. She convinced me to turn my loyalties back to my home planet instead of serving the Empire."

"So you're a traitor."

Varun shrugged. "From a certain point of view; in the eyes of the Empire, I suppose so." He glanced at her blaster. "Want to shoot me for treason? I'd appreciate it if you didn't, by the way."

Forstner glared at him hard, but she didn't move. After a while, she let out a breath. "I should, but what good would it do, if what you said is true?"

"It is," he assured her, and took the code cylinder from his pocket. He inclined his head. "I'll show you."

She came around the desk to stand at his shoulder. An array of displays at the desk were dark. Varun tapped a key on the desk's terminal and they flickered to life. Forstner made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat.

"What's wrong?" Numarkos asked.

Red-faced, she pointed to one of the monitors displaying feeds from four cameras. "That's my place." There were views of the bedroom and bathroom, as well as the living spaces. An elderly man sat in an overstuffed chair, swathed in blankets and watching an old holodrama. What looked like a nursing droid was close by. Forstner seethed. "She was watching. Everything." She worked the controls. Tafo's residence and his office appeared on other monitors. The Daros' house was there, and many others. Forstner's disgust turned to fury.

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant, but I'm not surprised. An isolated outpost like this would surely drive an ISB agent to these extremes. They're trained to assume that everyone is disloyal." Varun tapped at the controls. "Looks like all of the feeds were being recorded in the data vault. Since we destroyed it, the records have been purged." He entered a command on the surveillance system to disable all of the cameras and recording devices. The Execute button blinked on the console. "Would you like to?"

The words had barely left his mouth when her finger jabbed the button.

"Feels ugly to know she was watching you, doesn't it, Lieutenant?"

The Imperial officer didn't respond, but she looked relieved as she pulled a chair over. "It's Lissora."

"What is?"

"My name. Lissora Forstner." She stuck out her hand.

Varun took it. "It's good to make your acquaintance, Lissora Forstner."

"Likewise," she said, sitting in her chair. "Now show me what you found."