Chapter 12

Taz spent most of the day in the infirmary. Gorecke watched him like a rastfalk hunting its lunch. He was obliged to explain at length how he'd healed some of the most critical patients using the Force. The Imperial medtech looked suspicious, but he was able to form no other hypothesis regarding his ex-Rebel counterpart's abilities, to say nothing of the seemingly miraculous result. Taz also offered the bacta bed on Allegra's Heart for a comatose stormtrooper who'd suffered blast damage from Lyra's attack, though Sera insisted that the man's arms and legs be shackled in binders, and she hovered near the medbay for the duration of the five-hour treatment.

He left in the middle of the afternoon, weary and drained from the work. The overcast sky released its pent-up moisture as Taz headed toward his bungalow. The first splash of rain on his face made him temporarily forget his fatigue. He sat on the steps of his cottage and reveled in the feel of it. Recalling Lyra's admonition about staying too long in the rain, he went in after only twenty minutes, peeled himself out of his soaked clothes, and burrowed under the bed covers. The sound of the rain on the roof drummed him to sleep.

He woke hours later, feeling some of his usual vigor. He took a long, hot shower and put on dry clothes. He'd just started to think about dinner when there was a knock at the door. He opened it, tucking his shirt into his waistband.

"Hello, Taz," Tess greeted him. "Did I come at a bad time?"

"No, just getting dressed." He wondered why she was there, alone. "Want to come in?"

"That's okay. Mom made dinner for fifty," she said, rolling her eyes, but smiling. "Hungry?"

"Great timing, I'm starved." Tess waited on the bungalow's tiny porch while he put on his boots. He came out a minute later, the door clicking shut behind him. "Where's Varun?"

"Off doing intel officer stuff," she said in an overly conspiratorial tone. "He and Forstner have been holed up in Tafo and Ruatha's offices for hours." They started walking toward the Daros' home. "Were you at the infirmary all day?"

"Yeah. They're stacked pretty tightly in there. I did what I could to help. Got a half dozen of them ambulatory, and I stabilized the worst of them with the Force."

"You have a gift, Taz. It's a miracle, really. The way you healed my shoulder, kept Varun alive, and rescued Lyra, it's incredibly, unbelievably amazing. You're amazing."

Taz looked abashed, but his eyes were bright. "It takes a lot out of me, using the Force to heal people, or move things... But I know so much more about it now, even compared to just a few weeks ago." He stopped on the path and turned to her. "You helped me, after Lyra's ship..." he wore a hard, inscrutable look. "You and Sera, you saved me."

"Saved you? From what?"

Taz shivered for an instant. "From losing myself. From... something terrible, in the Force."

"I'm not sure I understand," she replied, concerned at the dread she saw in his face.

"It's okay. I'm not sure I understand myself," he lied, his voice low and vivid. "I just wanted you to know how much it meant to me that you were there." After a second, he gave his head a vigorous shake. "Anyway, you—" He smiled suddenly, and his eyes gleamed with excitement he hadn't felt in a while. "The way you handled Allegra, steering her like a starfighter! I didn't think a freighter could move like that."

"She's a fantastic ship. Rei has her tuned up as well as anything I've ever flown."

"It was just like the old days, Tess, dodging incoming, dropping onto a target. The chaos and adrenaline... and all the while you're flying Arbalest so hard I think she's going to rip apart!"

A joyful smile lit Tess's face, and she thumped his shoulder with her fist. "I'll bet you loved it, didn't you? Tell me you don't miss it sometimes."

The blood-chilling frenzy of those assault runs had been like a drug back then, blending terror with a perverse ecstasy. His heart beat faster; part of him craved that feeling, even now. He grinned from ear to ear. "Yeah, I miss the work, sometimes. And the people." And you, he added to himself. Walking with her, talking like this, it felt familiar and comfortable. He could almost forget how completely their lives had changed.

"You... could come back, you know. The sector force would take you back in a millisecond. The Old Ghost needs a chief medical officer," she suggested quietly.

"Trying to recruit me, Captain Daro?" He chuckled. After a few steps, he continued. "Don't get me wrong, I loved my time on the Pride of Olminar with everyone. With you. I wouldn't trade it for anything."

"But?"

He couldn't go back, not after everything that had happened. He accepted that she'd chosen Varun over him, but he still loved her. The Old Ghost was simply a place he couldn't return to. And there was Lyra, glowing in his perception, and never far from his thoughts since he'd nearly lost her. "That was before Jakku. I have a new ship and crew, now. I can't abandon them, Tess."

"I know." Her smile held a ghost of disappointment. "I had to ask, even though I knew what you'd say." Tess stopped at the bottom of the steps up to her parents' porch. She touched his arm and fixed him with those violet eyes that had captured his heart when he met her seven years ago. They were still just as captivating.

"Thanks for asking," he said. "It means a lot to me." She looked like she might want to say something more, but before she could, Taz added, "Um, maybe we should go in."

"Yeah, I guess we should." A glimmer of regret crossed her face before she let her hand drop, and they walked up the steps together.

After dinner, Jerric grabbed bottles of beer and ushered Taz and Varun out onto the porch. Light, sprinkling rain made a pleasant sound against the tiled roof. Jerric uncapped the bottles and handed them around. "To better days."

"Better days," Taz and Varun affirmed, and they upended their drinks.

"I know good men when I meet them, despite the deception," he said with a wink. "And I know you had to do it. I spent fifteen years in the Republic Navy before the Empire came along." He looked thoughtful. "How incredible that you'd find us across all the years and parsecs."

Taz looked serious. "I've read that the Force sometimes makes those connections; leads us to them, I mean. Or maybe it was just cosmic coincidence." He took a long drink. "The first day I met her, Tess talked about wanting to find you." He smiled at the recollection. "She used to tell me stories about growing up as a 'space rat' on your salvage rig." Taz glanced at Varun, who was smiling. "You too?"

"So many times, I know them better than my own family's stories." Both men shared a laugh.

Jerric smiled. "She was, too. Got into every passageway, hold, and access space on our ship. I swear by the time she was ten, she knew more about the Scrapper's Dream than any of my crew." After a drink, he said, "I don't mean to pry, Taz, and you can tell me to mind my own damn business, but were you and Tess..."

Taz looked uncomfortable. "We were, once."

"Thought so. You seem comfortable together. Can I ask what happened?"

"I... lost her, on Jakku. Almost lost myself, too."

Jerric had a knowing look. He took a long pull from his bottle. "Looks like you might have found someone though."

Taz shrugged, but his eyes glittered in the porch lights.

"What about you and Tess, Varun?"

The corner of the other man's mouth twitched. "I guess you could say Tessa and I found each other when we most needed to."

Jerric nodded thoughtfully, then pointed the neck of his bottle at them. "You two get along pretty well, all things considered."

"We... understand each other. And Tessa." Varun smiled behind his beer.

"She'd kill us both if we didn't," Taz added, smiling back.

"Sounds like she takes after her mother," Jerric said with a huge grin. He reached into his pocket and took out a little bundle wrapped in dark fabric. "I have something for you, Taz. Reiko told me what happened to your kyber crystal. That was some quick thinking and some fine engineering she did. Wouldn't mind having her on my team."

"I doubt Sera would let you have her. Rei's a real genius, but she'd never admit it. Ask her about the time she stopped an Arquitens cruiser from self-destructing, someday."

"Sounds like an interesting story," Jerric said, looking intrigued. Anyway, I found another crystal for you. Put some wire in there too. Maybe you can make Lyra another necklace."

Taz opened the bundle, Inside was a blue kyber crystal, perhaps a shade darker than the one that came out of his lightsaber. "Thanks, Jerric. I'll do that."

The older man turned to Varun. "No pressure now, but Tess always liked jewelry when she was a girl." He gave Varun a suggestive wink.

"She still does," Varun concurred, wearing something like a bashful grin. "I, ah, was thinking of something a little smaller, and... sized for her finger." Jerric took a second, then guffawed and clapped Varun on the back so hard his eyes watered. When he could talk again he looked at Taz. "You okay with that?"

"I don't think I get a say," he answered slowly, "But yeah. I'm okay with that."

Varun held out his bottle. The other two joined him. "Thanks, Jerric, Taz." He looked relieved and pleased.

"Come on. Amanda made eberricot pie and they're going to wonder what we're talking about out here."

At Jerric's invitation, Lissora Forstner came by after desert. She pushed a repulsor chair with her. In it sat the old man Varun had seen in the video feed.

"How's Alexei doing today?" Amanda asked, stroking the man's silvery hair. His rheumy eyes stared ahead; he made no indication he'd noticed her.

"He had a good day, I think," Forstner answered, letting her hand settle on his shoulder. "Isn't that right, Father?" The man continued to stare ahead. She looked a little out of sorts, but she sat at their table. Bixy brought sarna and blue rose brandy. They sat around the table and Varun took out his datapad. He inserted the code cylinder and flipped through the files until he came to the one he wanted. He opened it, then turned the pad around and pushed it over to Amanda and Jerric. "I already showed this to Lieutenant Forstner. I thought you should see it too."

They read through the executive summary of the monograph. Amanda looked up. Jerric continued swiping through the document until he got to a section regarding engineering. "This is intriguing," Amanda said. "Using kyber crystals to enhance the output of power generators." They reviewed more pages. "Who is Galen Erso?"

"He was a researcher, a specialist in kyber crystals. Erso worked for an Imperial think tank that developed advanced weapons, including the superlasers on the Death Star battle station that destroyed Alderaan," Numarkos answered. "But I believe his real passion was to find peaceful applications for his work."

"What we could do with this..." Jerric tailed off, lost in thought.

"This is your facility now," Varun said, addressing Jerric, Amanda, and Forstner. "I can't tell you what to do with it, but I can tell you this: We intend to report what we found to the New Republic. I'm particularly concerned about Admiral Jellick's fleet at Eadu. If he's aligned with the official Imperial Remnant then his ships are well outside the defined treaty borders. If he's not, then he's a fugitive. Either way, he's a threat, both to the New Republic and this planet. I'm going to recommend that they send a task force to Eadu, and open negotiations with you, the inhabitants of Beta Fonidian Two, in the interest of joining the New Republic."

"And if we don't want to join the New Republic? What if we'd rather join what remains of the Empire?" Forstner stated.

"You could choose non-aligned status, I suppose. Aligning with the recognized Imperial Remnant would be difficult if you stay here, since by treaty their territory is limited to specific Core and Inner Rim sectors."

Lyra speared a bite of pie and leaned in. "Non-aligned status just means you're prey for whatever warlord or crime boss decides they want to take this planet and its resources. And the Empire—" she broke off, looking bitter. "They'll betray you when your usefulness runs out, just like they did to me." She looked at the others around the table. "I'm not saying the New Republic will be much better; I think every government is corrupt, and maybe nobody will care about this place. But they're the best of a bunch of bad choices out there right now."

Forstner looked at her, then Varun, then Amanda and Jerric. "I'll... we'll think about it."

"We'll be here—" Varun looked at Sera and Reiko.

"It'll be another three, four days for us to finish repairs on Allegra's Heart," Rei said.

"Let's say four days, Lieutenant. You can give us your answer when we depart, and I'll take it back to the New Republic. Fair enough?"

Forstner tapped her lip. "Alright, Captain Numarkos."

"One thing I can promise now," Jerric said. "We'll never construct another superlaser. That machinery will be scrapped." Forstner shot a sharp glance at him, but the older man held his ground. "We're out of the war business, Lieutenant."

Forstner crossed her arms, but after a while, she acquiesced. "Alright."

Taz wandered over and knelt beside Alexei's chair. He closed his eyes and reached toward the man with the Force. After a moment he said, "Pentrophon's Aterogenic Neurosclerosis?"

Sitting at the table, Lissora looked surprised. "He's been like that for fifteen years."

Taz smiled. "He says he's had enough of being idle."

"What?"

He took the man's hands and held them for the better part of ten minutes. Taz opened his eyes, letting out a shuddering breath. The man in the chair blinked his eyes and his thin lips curled into a smile. "Lissora," he said in a weak, unused voice, and looked up at her, kneeling next to Taz.

She gave a little cry and took his hand. "Papa?"

Taz stood, a little stiffly, and stepped back. Lissora looked up at him, tears falling on her cheeks. "What did you do?"

He smiled. "Just gave him a little kickstart."

"I can't—" she said, overcome. She kissed her father's hand, then his cheek, before turning back to Taz. "Thank you," she whispered.

"My pleasure, Lieutenant. I'll come by tomorrow. Your father would benefit from some bacta treatment, to help with muscle regeneration. For now, some rest is in order."

She nodded and squeezed his hand. "Director Tafo told me the treatments Papa needed were delayed. He—" her face grew dark.

"Maybe they were," Varun addressed her softly. "But even if they weren't, don't let it eat at you." He looked around the room. "The war took things from all of us, but it brought us together, too. Be happy for that."

She nodded and pushed Alexei's chair toward the door. "Thank you, all of you. I won't forget this." She bade them goodnight with more fervor than any of them had before witnessed from the cool officer, and left with her father.

"Well, that was something," Amanda said. "We really ought to keep calling you 'doctor', shouldn't we?"

Taz shook his head and looked embarrassed. "I'm just doing what I can."

Jeric's laughter bellowed in the room. "This has certainly been some night! Come, sit and have some brandy, miracle-worker!" Bixy wheeled around and poured more drinks. The gathering lasted long into the night.

Reiko hated being right, but her prediction of three days to restore Allegra's Heart had been spot on. As hard as it was, she'd had to leave Yuzu with his plasma burns and blast damage while she conducted more robust repairs to the emergency patches they'd made following their battle with the Kantorius. And when she wasn't busy with her ship, she'd felt obligated to help the technicians and engineers rebuild Rho-277's shattered shield generator. The little base full of families was wide open to attack by any marauder that might pass by. Getting their shield back into operation was the least she could do.

She finally found time for herself after four days of non-stop work. Other than a few minutes in the mornings and evenings, she'd hardly been spent time with Sera, either. She decided she'd be glad to leave Beta Fonidian II, if only so they could get back to their regular lives.

Alone in the base's big hangar, Rei levered the jumbled Yuzu off the cart and up onto a big machinist's bench in the back where the workers of Rho-277 performed droid maintenance. There were bins on the wall holding all kinds of parts, and in a dark corner she could make out a fair number of disused droids lying in a disordered mess.

She swung a light overhead to get a better look at the damage Yuzu had suffered. She whimpered at the sight of his blasted torso and leg. "Oh, Yuzu," she said with trembling lips. She wiped at her eyes, drew a stiff breath, and shook the sadness out of her head. "C'mon, Hudson. Crying won't do Yuzu any good, will it?"

Her bolt driver whirred as she removed his backplate. She wriggled her fingers through wires and optical conduits where the insulation had been fused together from the blaster's heat. Finally, she reached the cylindrical power module. She pressed the release catch, gave the module a twist, and pulled it out.

There wasn't much left of the mechanism. "Damn, I was hoping I could salvage that," she mumbled. Archeson had put another one in with the parts she'd collected. Reiko picked up the replacement. "It's for an astromech, but I can make it work. Hear that, Yuzu? You'll have the heart of an R-Four unit."

"Still treating 'em like people, I see." Archeson stood just inside the circle of light cast by the overhead work lamp.

Reiko jumped at her sudden appearance. When she recovered her wits she said, "I told you, he's my friend. He deserves to know what's happening."

"It can't hear you, girly. It's a machine, and an unpowered one at that."

"AA-One verbobrains can hold a residual charge for up to a hundred days, to prevent their personality matrix and other volatile configurations from being corrupted by extended power disruptions," Rei said, groaning as she fished the power plug from Yuzu's torso. The socket on the R4 power core wasn't a match, as she'd guessed. She grabbed a driver and began unscrewing the connectors from both cores so she could exchange them. "Maybe he can't hear me, but it makes me feel better to think he can."

Archeson walked over to the bench. "See, it's not about them, it's about you. They don't care."

Reiko looked over at the older woman. "I don't want to have this argument with you again. I just want to fix him."

"Fair enough," Archeson shrugged. She leaned over the bench and took a tube of epoxy from one of the bins. "Bridge the connector mount on the R-Four power core with this." She grabbed wire cutters from her belt and started snipping away the melted cables and conduits. "I'll splice in new ones."

"You're going to help me?"

"I said I would, didn't I?"

"Sure, but I figured that was just—"

"See that?" Archeson picked up Yuzu's backplate and poked two of her fingers through the hole where Yuzu had taken the second shot. "It stepped in front of me when that happened." She dropped the metal on the workbench, picked an optical cable from the bin, and twisted on a splicing collar before slipping it inside Yuzu's thoracic chassis. She snapped it into place. "If it hadn't, I'd have taken a blaster bolt in the chest."

Rei nodded but didn't look up from her work. She was pretty sure the prideful woman wouldn't want her to. "I see. Well, thanks, Archeson."

"It's Turis," she said, reaching for more cabling.

Reiko smiled a little. "I'm Reiko Hudson, but you can call me Rei. All of my friends do."

An hour later they'd finished the torso work. Archeson began repairing the artificial tendons, musculature, and the fractured skeletal strut in Yuzu's damaged leg while Reiko considered how to close the gaping holes in his backplate. Turis cocked her head toward the pile of defunct droids in the corner. "Should be some metal plating over there you can cut some patches from." Little showers of sparks flew as she started welding a splint to the skeletal member.

Rei went over to the pile. It was nearly pitch black. She took out a torch and turned it on, picking through the bits and pieces until she found the appropriate gauge of sheet steel she needed. Then, deeper in the debris heap, something caught her eye. Partly buried under the lower half of an RA-7 was a short droid with a blocky head, four sensors, and two arms. One of its repulsor disks dangled by a few wires when she pulled it out of the pile. Rei set it down on the floor. "Well, what d'ya know, an IM-Eight."

Archeson glanced over. "Yep. Scrapped it when we got an MD-Five for the infirmary a few years back."

"Our doc's been wanting an IM for our medbay. Don't suppose I could buy her from you, or trade for her?"

Archeson looked over her shoulder at Reiko. "Tell you what. There's a few other droids around here need some work done on 'em. Help me with them, and that one's yours."

"Really? Thanks Turis, that's kind of you." She dragged the medic droid over to the bench, then went to work cutting pieces of sheet metal to repair Yuzu's blasted backplate.

After another twenty minutes they'd finished rebuilding Yuzu. Reiko powered him on. There was a low hum from the new power regulator, and his photoreceptors glowed their familiar yellow-green. Rei helped him to sit while he booted up and ran through his self-diagnostic. "Good evening, M-mistress Reiko-nagrasha."

"Hello Yuzu. How do you feel?"

"Rather invigorated, I t-think, apart from a fourteen point one three percent degradation in my vocabulator's outp-put processor." He suddenly tilted his head as though remembering something important. "Oh my! I do hope Mistress Lyra will be alright. Did she m-manage to use the anti-theft override code?"

"Yes, Yuzu, she did."

"That's most fortunate. I'd have wanted to scrap my ow-wn circuits if anything had happened to her on my account. And were you and Captain Rendix-nag-grasha successful in your escape attempt?"

"Yes, thanks to you, but it's a long story. I'll tell you later, okay?"

"Of course, Mistress. I love a good st-story."

"Yuzu, do you remember Turis Archeson? She helped me to rebuild you."

"Of course. Madam Archeson-nagrasha, I'm most grateful for your able assistance. P-please do let me know if I can be of service to you." He slid off the bench and bowed.

She grumbled, "I'll do that... Yuzu." Then to Reiko: "It's late, and I've got kids to feed and put to bed." She slipped her tools onto her belt. "Ten hundred tomorrow for droid maintenance." She headed toward the door.

Reiko waved after her. "Sounds great. I'll bring sarna!"

Taz stepped out of the shower, chased by a gust of moist vapor from the hot, invigorating steam. He let out a long sigh. I'm going to miss real showers. He rubbed a big soft towel vigorously into his scalp, then wiped his face, breathing the nutty, roasted aroma of fresh sarna deep into his nostrils.

He started suddenly. He'd gone straight from bed to the shower; he hadn't prepped any sarna. Taz opened his eyes. Lyra sat at the cottage's small table with a steaming carafe of the sweet fermented beverage. Her striking eyes nearly glowed in the sunlight streaming through the door as she took in his nakedness with an impish grin.

Commendably, Taz didn't jump at the unexpected intrusion. He hid his surprise behind what he hoped was a bland facade and wrapped the damp towel around his waist. She'd seen him without clothes before. It was night then, but it still counted, right? In a voice that didn't quite hide his surprise, he asked, "Um, how long have you been sitting there?"

Lyra smiled innocently. "Thought you might like some sarna." She poured a cup and brought it to him.

"Thanks, but you didn't answer my question."

"No, I didn't." She leaned in so close that her lips brushed his ear. In a coquettish whisper, she said, "You look really good like that."

Lyra's breath on his skin was hot, and unbearably sensuous. He reached for her, but she put the sarna cup in his hand, made a little twirling turn, and walked back to her seat.

Taz stared after her, confused and aroused all at the same time. What's she doing to me? Lyra poured herself a cup and sipped from it, looking completely guileless. She patted the chair beside her. After a few seconds, Taz took the invitation and sat. To cover his shock he upended his cup. The hot beverage burned his tongue and throat. "How'd you get in?" he asked finally.

"Your door was open. You should probably be more careful. You don't want just anybody walking in on you."

"I'll... keep that in mind."

"You were in there a while," the pilot observed.

"Last time I'll be able to shower with hot water for a while. I wanted to enjoy it while I could. Sonics get you clean, but they can't hold a glimmerwick to this."

Lyra seemed lost in thought for a moment. "If you want a real treat, try a hot spring bath."

"What's a hot spring?"

"At home we have geothermal mineral springs in the mountains. They're glorious." She smiled and hugged her arms, reliving a pleasant memory. "There are inns in the mountains, built around the springs. Some are thousands of years old." Lyra let out a relaxing sigh. "There's nothing better in the world, Taz." She gave him a soft but intense look. "I'll take you to visit sometime."

"That... sounds really nice. Visiting them with you, I mean." He smiled at her.

Lyra finished her cup. "Gotta go. Some of us on the flight crew have work to do," She mocked.

Taz feigned a hurt expression. "Hey, just because I'm still learning to pilot—"

She put her hand over his. "Get over it, rookie," she interrupted. Then in a softer tone, "Sorry I barged in on you."

"No you're not."

"No, I'm not," she agreed, leaning in close again. "You do look good, Taz. Really good." Lyra kissed him, letting her lips move against his. "See you onboard." Before he could say anything she let herself out.

Outside, Lyra grabbed her duffel at the bottom of the steps and walked rapidly away from Taz's bungalow. Her heart bounded in her chest. She felt a thrill shoot through her like lightning, and a warm powerful tingle deep in her belly. God Lyra, what did you just do!? She'd never acted so playfully, so seductively. She hadn't intended to surprise Taz, but seeing him there, beautifully naked, glistening from the shower and unaware, set something inside her on fire. The effort it took to keep her from dragging him to his bed had been... overwhelming. Lyra shivered, covered her mouth with her hand, and uttered a little squeal. He was doing things to her, making her feel things she'd never imagined. And all of them felt amazing. What's happening to me?

"Hey, Lyra."

She yelped and spun around. Reiko waved at her.

"Everything okay?"

Lyra breathed a relieved sigh. "Hi Rei. Yeah, fine." She drew in some deep breaths and forced herself to stop thinking about him. "Ready to go?"

Rei fell in beside her. "Me? Sure, I guess. I think this world could be pretty nice if it weren't so far away."

Lyra twitched a little smile. She was so approachable and open. Allegra had been like that, too. "There are probably millions of habitable systems out beyond the Rim. Maybe someday Beta Fonidian will be as busy as any in the galaxy."

"We'll be long gone by then."

"I expect so," Lyra agreed. "Where's Sera?"

"She and Captain Numarkos are off scaring up some sarna. They think it's gonna be a hit on the Core Worlds. They're always looking for something new. You know how they see the Fringe; like a fantasy land, full of wonders."

"Sure, a backward fantasy land, full of wonders that they can exploit." Lyra quipped.

"You take a dim view of the Core?"

"Don't you? Filve's a Mid-Rim world, just like my planet."

"Yep, but it's as sophisticated as anything in the Core. Filvians are great technicians and engineers. Some of the best in the galaxy."

Lyra smiled. She sounded a bit boastful. "You don't resent the way the Core treats everybody else? The Republic ignored Inusagi. The Empire subjugated it after some... turbulent years. I was too young to understand much of what was going on, but..." She looked glum and regretful before shaking the dark thoughts away. "Benign neglect, my mother called it. I'd just drop the 'benign' part."

Reiko shrugged. "I'm too busy to be resentful. If they want to think small, it doesn't bother me."

For a former rebel, Lyra found her surprisingly naïve, though in a refreshing kind of way. They walked along the footpath in silence for a while, passing workers and a smattering of technicians. Lyra observed that none were wearing Imperial uniforms, insignia, or rank. After a few minutes, she said, "Mind if I ask a personal question?"

"Sure."

"Did you ever have someone who makes you feel—" she struggled to find the right words. Finally, she uttered, "completely untethered and... happier than you've ever been?"

Reiko smiled at Lyra's joyful, exasperated face. "Yep. I get to wake up beside her every morning."

"I almost seduced him today, Reiko," Lyra admitted, looking desperate. "I'm scared how good this feels."

Rei laughed. "I didn't take you for the seducing type."

"I'm not! That's what's so scary. He makes me feel things I've never felt before."

"That's what falling in love feels like, Lyra— scary and crazy good." Reiko patted her hand. "Don't worry, the scariness goes away, mostly."

Lyra blushed. "Is that how it went with you and Rendix?"

"Mmm, I suppose so at first. Sera and I have been together six years now. I'm still scared sometimes at how much I love her. I feel untethered but anchored at the same time. That probably sounds weird."

"Yeah, a little."

Rei leaned against Lyra's arm to reassure her. "You can take it slow, you know. Sera and I were in the middle of a war. We didn't know if we'd see the next day or not, so we loved each other like every minute together might be our last. You don't need to rush." She gave Lyra a knowing, slightly naughty look, "It's okay to make him chase you, too."

Lyra laughed at that, and some of her tension eased away.

"Make me one promise, though?"

"What is it?"

"If anything changes, be honest with him, okay? Losing Tess, it broke his heart. Not just because she left him for Varun, but because she didn't tell him. Just promise you'll be kind to him."

"I can do that." Lyra smiled at the engineer. "He's lucky to have friends like you and Sera."

"Yes he is!" Reiko agreed with a laugh.

"Thanks, Rei," Lyra said after a while. "You're easy to talk to."

The engineer chuckled. "I get that a lot. So, ready to get out of here?"

"Mm hmm, I think so."

"When Sera suggested getting into the charter business I didn't think we'd be busting up secret bases and taking on Imperial corvettes! I'm definitely looking forward to some boring cargo and passenger runs for a while."

"Me too. How's Allegra?"

"After the repairs, she's good to go, except for the portside guns we wrecked during the fight with the Kantorius. I'll order new ones when we get back to Republic space. We can put in at a DFS depot and get them installed." She stopped on the path and turned to Lyra, looking serious. "You know, I never thanked you for what you did, getting in that TIE fighter, protecting all of us, and destroying that ship. You had to know that was going to be a one-way trip, didn't you?"

Lyra looked uncomfortable. "I tried not to think about it, but... I knew chances weren't good for me."

"Next to Sera, you're the bravest person I've ever met." Reiko suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace. "Thank you, Lyra-kaashuub!"

"You're welcome," she said, chagrinned. "That's a Filvian honorific, right?"

Reiko nodded as she stepped back, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. "For friends you're close to, like family. If it's okay with you, that is."

"I'd like that very much." Her tiny circle of friends just grew. Unexpectedly moved by Reiko's gesture, Lyra blinked away a tear of her own. Covering her embarrassment, she picked up the duffel she'd dropped when Rei hugged her, and they resumed walking. "Well you... That was genius, what you did with the turbolaser. If not for that, my proton bombs would have just bounced off the Kantorius's shields. You're the one who saved us."

"We saved each other. It's what we do for the people we love."

Lyra didn't say anything, but she felt the emotion welling in her chest. Reiko wasn't Allegra, but Lyra felt some of the same warmth and affection she'd shared with her sister. When the engineer took her hand, she didn't mind at all.

Allegra's Heart sat on the permacrete, perched on her four landing struts. Her green and gray paint job, barely a month old, was marred by carbon scoring and the unpainted durasteel plates they'd used to patch the damage to her hull. Nevertheless, Reiko felt a huge swell of pride. Their pocket-sized freighter had proved her toughness. Others might look at the YV-929 and see an ugly box of a ship. Rei couldn't think of Allegra's Heart as anything but incomparably beautiful.

The passenger boarding ramp beneath the ship and the long cargo ramp at the rear were both extended. A wide freight mover floated nearby. Yuzu was busy arranging faded orange crates on the repulsorlift and securing them with heavy straps. The Daros stood a little way off, talking with Varun, Tess, and Sera. "Thanks for keeping me company, Lyra. I enjoyed our talk."

"Me too, Rei."

Rei gave her a little wave and went to help Yuzu with the cargo, while Lyra continued toward the others.

Taz took a last tour around the little bungalow to be sure he hadn't missed anything, then zipped his big pack closed and slung it over his shoulder. He walked out of the cottage and down the steps.

He still felt restless and unsettled. Lyra was turning out to be playful and unpredictable. Aggressive, too. He liked it, but her mercurial affection confounded him. What was it she really wanted? Just to tease him? That didn't seem right; they'd spent two passionate nights together. Or maybe her whole intent was to keep him off balance?

He felt the temptation, deep down, to find out for himself. After using the Force to choke the life out of Vaniel Ruatha from hundreds of meters away, he knew at an instinctive level that it would be child's play to delve into Lyra's mind and see just how she felt, what she thought about him down to the tiniest detail, and what she intended with her seductive mischief. The Force rumbled even now, in shadowy recesses of his consciousness that he was only dimly aware of. It called to him always, and more strongly in the days since they'd fought Ruatha and Tafo on their murderous starship.

Anger, pain, and fear made the rumbles grow louder and stronger. Those he could understand. What alarmed him was how feelings of passion and even affection made the dark energy swell. In those instances when he chose to notice them, he found the lure of that strength and power so enticing that he had to push it down by deliberate force of will. And every time he pushed, it took a little more effort. They'd already overwhelmed him once. Sera and Tess's entreaties were the lifeline that had pulled him back to sanity. He knew he probably couldn't come back from another descent into those dangerous currents and the mastery they promised.

So, he could take her thoughts if he wanted. But he told her he wouldn't. His word meant a lot to him. Her trust and her affection, however changeable, mattered just as much, maybe more. When he was with Lyra, he felt a connection and a closeness he'd never experienced, even with Tess.

I told her I love her. Well, as good as, anyway. He'd promised he wouldn't make any demands; Lyra had such a strong sense of obligation. He was pretty sure she liked him, but if he pushed too much, might she reject him just so she didn't have to feel tied down? And what if she found someone else, like Tess had? Taz wasn't sure he would survive another wound like that.

There was an answer to that thorny problem that didn't involve ripping thoughts from the woman he loved. He could let go, close himself off. Master Jorun wrote of walling off his passions, and of the need to hold everyone at a distance, to avoid the strong emotions that affection and antipathy alike could engender. The Jedi feared the corrupting influence of the dark aspects of the Force, and those seemed inextricably bound up with strong emotions. Taz was beginning to appreciate their apprehension.

But to do that, he'd have to lead a hermetic life, leave Allegra's Heart and travel alone, or settle in some remote place and eke out a solitary existence. His Filvian heart recoiled at that thought. He might as well take Aurora Ascendant from his belt and lop off his arm, as to live without friends, companions, or a lover. Loneliness would drive him mad and end him.

Every second, every step, even as he weighed those thoughts, Lyra was there. She seemed to be printed on his mind in a way that made it impossible for him to not think about her. He longed to touch her, to hold her, and to be held. He wanted to see Inusagi with her, and to take her home to Filve. And he wanted to travel the galaxy with her. His stomach twisted in anxious knots at the very thought. The knots redoubled themselves when he considered that Lyra might not want the same thing.

"Aaaargh!" he uttered a frustrated, strangled cry, startling a mother and father who shuffled their children from the walkway and gave him a wide berth. Taz held his hands up, looking embarrassed, and hurried past. Lyra didn't know it, but she held his vulnerable Filvian heart in her hands. He was powerless to do anything about it, unless he wanted to rip it out himself. But not knowing her intentions was killing him.

In desperation, he reached for the Dahannist meditations and intoned the wordless syllables while he walked. They blunted the edge of his anxiety after a time, and he kept at it. Taz wondered if maybe there was something in the pacifist philosophy his parents had espoused that was worth exploring more deeply. He was no pacifist— far from it, but there was no denying that the meditations cleared his mind and calmed him when he felt troubled.

Taz looked up. He'd arrived at Rho-277's little spaceport. If the research into kyber-enhanced power generation produced the kind of results that Jerric Daro thought they could, the secret Imperial base might grow to form the nucleus of a thriving economy. If that happened, the port facilities would sprawl across the landscape. Taz hoped someone wise would lead that work, and keep Beta Fonidian II from suffering the fate of so many other industrialized worlds.

He saw the Daros and Lissora Forstner conversing with Varun, Tess and Sera. Lyra stood there too, and the tangle in his stomach twisted anew. The former commando nodded a greeting. Taz returned the gesture at the same moment he caught sight of Yuzu and Reiko securing a load of cargo. He fought a little battle in his head over whether he should join Lyra and the others. What he really wanted was a few minutes alone with her. A few hours alone with her would be even better. Maybe later tonight, when he'd take the night shift from her, they'd have time to talk. He'd grown quickly fond of their small transport ship, but privacy wasn't exactly one of its strong points.

He angled toward Rei and Yuzu, hailing them with a smile and a raised hand. He dropped his pack on top of one of the crates. "What is all of this?" Taz asked.

"Sarna grain," Reiko said brightly. "Sera and Varun talked the quartermaster into parting with nearly a ton of the stuff. Varun's convinced there's a market for it Coreward."

Taz pursed his lips and nodded thoughtfully. "Could make a good export crop. Nice way to diversify the economic base. They'll need to do that if they want this place to thrive." He got to work drawing a heavy cargo net over the crates.

Ten minutes of work later, they finished securing the load of grain. Taz grabbed the cargo lifter's control handle and started up Allegra's tall ramp between the two high-mounted ion drives, Yuzu and Reiko right behind. "Yuzu and I can secure this in the bay. Why don't you say goodbye?"

"Okay, thanks," she answered. The other two scaled the long ramp and disappeared with their haul of sarna toward the cargo hold. Reiko wiped her sleeve across her forehead and started toward Sera and the others.

"Hudson." The call came from behind Reiko. She turned to see Archeson approaching from the hangar. Hovering beside her on a pair of repulsor pods was the IM-8 medical droid she'd fixed up. It looked nearly brand new; the little droid's chassis had been stripped of its old white surface treatment. Instead of paint it wore a satiny brushed metal finish. "Cleaned it up a little for you."

"Aw, that was really nice. Thanks, Turis," Rei said, then addressed the droid, "What should we call you?"

The IM-8 turned its flat face. In the soothing feminine voice the series was known for, it said, "Good day, Mistress Reiko. My designation is seven R-E-L five dash I-M dash eight dash four zed six."

"Well that's a mouthful," she smiled at the droid and thought. "Ar ee ell... that's not bad. How about Ariel?"

"If that's your wish, Mistress, I believe Ariel will be an acceptable form of address."

Reiko laughed. "I'm glad you like it, Ariel. Please get aboard Allegra's Heart and find Taz Oktos. He'll show you to the medbay."

"At once, Mistress Reiko."

Rei smiled after the hovering droid. "Taz'll be really happy." She held out her hand to Archeson. "Thanks again for your help, Turis."

The older woman looked uncomfortable but shook her hand. "It's fine, Huds— Rei. If you, um, ever get back this way, maybe you could, you know, stop by."

"Sure," Rei said, wearing a big smile. "If the sarna trade takes off like Sera thinks it will, we'll be back."

Archeson sniffed. "Well, gotta get going. Take care of yourself out there."

"I will," Rei called after Turis as she headed back to the hangar. She watched the mechanic until she disappeared inside the big facility, then joined Sera.

Jerric greeted her warmly. "Sure you won't stay, Reiko? I could use a talented engineer like you."

"You're awfully kind, Mr. Daro, but I've already got a job that I love." She clung to Sera's arm affectionately.

"I couldn't possibly part with her, Jerric," Sera seconded with a grin.

"Of course you couldn't, dear," said Amanda, cuffing her husband lightly on his shoulder. "You two are meant for each other." She took each of their hands. "I'm sorry you can't stay longer." Amanda smiled but looked plaintive.

"You could still come back with us," Tess said, tears standing in her eyes.

"Oh, sweetheart," Amanda cried suddenly, unable to restrain herself any longer. She swept her daughter into a powerful embrace and held her for a long time. Then she regarded her at arm's length, her hands on Tess's shoulders. "What a beautiful, strong, brave, wonderful daughter we have!" She looked around and took Jerric's big hand. "But your father and I helped build this place and this community."

"It's home for us, honeygirl," Jerric seconded. An errant tear fell down his cheek. "We need to stay. We owe it to everyone here. But now that you have the hyperspace beacons, you can visit any time."

"And we'll come see you as soon as we can, we promise!" Amanda added.

Tess hugged Varun and nodded, smiling as her tears flowed.

"Thank you both, for everything," Varun said, shaking Jerric's hand. Amanda gave him a big hug and kissed his cheek. "You too, Lieutenant," he said to Forstner.

She tapped her tunic where her rank plaque would have been. "It's just Lissora Forstner, now. We've decided to form a civilian advisory council. We're thinking of drawing up articles of incorporation, too."

"That's a good start, Ms. Forstner."

"Tell the New Republic we'll listen to what they have to say."

"I will. We'll be in touch soon."

First Amanda, then Jerric hugged Sera and Reiko, then Lyra. "You're all welcome. Any time."

"You're very kind," Sera answered. "I'm pretty sure we can find a reason to swing back this way every once in a while."

Taz emerged from the boarding ramp beneath Allegra's Heart and walked over. He shook Jerric's hand and embraced Amanda. "You've been such great hosts. Tess didn't exaggerate one bit about either of you." He gave her a brief smile. "It was a real pleasure to meet you both."

"You too, Taz," said Jerric. "Thank you for your assistance with the injured. It meant a lot to our people that you were willing to help. That goes for all of you."

"Least we could do, Jerric," Sera noted. She looked at the rest of her crew. "Status?"

"Cargo's secured," Taz answered.

"Fuel and consumables are topped up," said Rei. "Thanks for that," she said to Forstner.

"Don't mention it," Lissora responded. She grasped Taz's hand. "Thank you again, Mr. Oktos. I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you for what you did for Papa."

Taz smiled. "Alexei did most of the work. I just gave his body a little push in the right direction."

"Well, you'll always be welcome here." She looked around. "All of you."

"We appreciate that, Miss Forstner," Sera said before turning to her crew. "Alright, let's get Allegra's Heart ready to fly." She put her hand on Tess's shoulder. "Take as long as you like. See you both onboard." Then she put her arm around a sniffling Reiko and the crew walked toward their freighter.

"Great work with the medical droid, Rei-grasha," Taz said, grinning from ear to ear. "What do I owe you for her?"

The engineer held up her hands. "Not a thing. She was wasting away in their maintenance bay."

"Nearly as many droids as people on this ship," Lyra commented as they ascended the ramp.

"Resentful, Nimor?"

"Nope," Lyra assured her, "just thinking out loud, Rendix."

"Maybe think about getting us back home faster than the two weeks it took to get here," Sera said with a wink.

Lyra scowled, but without any malice. "Already working on it, Captain."

"I knew you would be," Sera said, cracking a smile. "Rei-sha, let's get our girl powered up."

Rei kissed Sera's cheek by way of acknowledgment. "Come on, Yuzu. Let's see how that recompiled reactor boot sequence works." She headed aft with the droid at her side.

There was another round of embracing and farewells on the landing pad that lasted a few minutes. Then Varun and Tess walked up the ramp and closed it behind them. They came into the cockpit, watching out the front viewport as Lyra lifted the YV-929 from the pad. She swiveled the little transport around, and everyone waved to the group watching them ascend. Lyra smiled at the rest of her crew and took Allegra's Heart high into the morning sky. Tess cried softly and leaned her head against Varun's shoulder, but she looked content.

When the ship cleared the atmosphere, Sera unhooked her safety harness and slid out of the copilot's chair. Lyra looked over her shoulder. "Get up here Oktos. Time to learn how to plot hyperspace routes."

"Okay," Taz said, looking surprised as he and Sera switched places. "Where are we going?"

"From here to the first nav beacon." Lyra inserted a data cylinder into the nav computer's scomp port and transferred the coordinates they'd retrieved from Rho-277's data vault.

"But you've got the route calculations already."

She glanced at Tess with a playful grin. Tess smiled back and squeezed Varun's hand, looking pensive as the green and white orb of Beta Fonidian II grew smaller in the rearview projection on the viewport. "It'll be good practice, Officer Oktos."

"Right, Ensign Nimor," Taz replied, feigning a frown. She unbuckled and stood behind him, leaning over his shoulder. She hadn't tied her hair back like she usually did when she was on the flight deck, and it brushed against his cheek. That won't be distracting at all, he thought, but he didn't really mind.

"Now, first unlock the terminal and clear the temporary memory..."