Author's Note: Well… after that last action filled chapter this one is going to be pretty boring. I'm sorry. I'm setting up for more action; give me a little longer, please. –Em.

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Chapter 13: Friends

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Sayn awoke slowly and unwillingly, clinging to his vivid dream of caf. He could smell the aroma, strong and bitter, like ambrosia from a previous life. It was mixed with the nostalgic smell of engine grease and the unfamiliar smell of exotic spices. In his dream he was lying on a soft bed and he was wonderfully warm and dry.

He didn't want to wake up, to be back in the darkness of the gangster's dungeon. The leaking pipe in the wall left a dribble rolling constantly into the corner and the smell of mildew was only slightly less revolting than the smell of excrement and piss coming from the bucket across the small room. For being in the desert, the cell was always cold without the sun to keep it warm. It was worse at night when he sat huddled in the corner, damp and shivering in complete darkness.

But even as he surfaced into consciousness the ground underneath him was still soft, the smells remained pleasantly spicy, and there was no trace of cold in his fingers. Sayn blinked and saw light. He squinted at the brightness until his eyes adjusted.

The cell and the basement dungeon were gone. He was lying on a bunk in a cramped cabin with a curved ceiling and a porthole window that looked out on a black field of stars. The walls were lined with cabinets and a medical droid was sitting deactivated by the doorway.

How did I get here? He wondered. At the same moment a woman moved into the doorway carrying a steaming mug. She was petite and graceful, with reddish umber skin and pale facial markings. Tall creamy white and navy blue horns curved up from her head and fleshy lekku rested on her shoulders hanging down to the gentle curve of her chest. She smiled at him and met his gaze with bright blue eyes. It stirred hazy memories out of his mind.

"Oh," he said aloud, "It was you."

"Good evening," she said in a Corucanti accent. She came into the small cabin bringing a fresh breeze of the wonderful smells coming from her cup. "How are you feeling?"

"Good," he said and tried to sit up. As soon as he lifted his head the room spun madly.

"Easy," she whispered in his ear and her small hands gently guided him back onto the soft bed.

"You're very weak. I gave you a painkiller a few hours ago," she said. "It hasn't completely worn off yet. You won't feel so good after that. Your ankle's badly broken."

"I don't remember that," Sayne said while he waited for the room to stop spinning. His words came out slightly slurred and mumbled.

"It was right before you passed out."

"I don't remember that either," he muttered. "I'd ask for some of that caf but I don't think I could sit up enough to drink it. Well… at least I'm warm," he said staring up at the strangely familiar woman. "Do I know you?" He asked her, genuinely confused.

"I'm not sure. You seemed to recognize me in Bedjiim's cell. I'm Ahsoka Tano."

"Tano…" The name was familiar, like he'd heard someone else say it. Then it dawned on him. He hadn't known her name when he first saw her, and she had looked much younger then. He only heard her name later when the younglings told him the story of their adventure with her. The two years since had aged her quickly into the woman who stood before him. How could they not? He thought.

"You're a Jedi," he stated, a world of understanding wrapped in those scant words.

"Yes, I am," she said gravely.

"I do remember you. We were never introduced." Sayn explained as his memories cleared. "You brought a group of young padwans to Riash to help the reconstruction."

"You worked with the GAR?"

"No, not exactly. I was a policeman before I retired. During the war I was part of the Rashan Volunteer Militia. We were helping to coordinate the relief efforts."

"Oh." Ahsoka looked slightly deflated and looked away, toward the star filled window.

"You rescued me," Sayn said as the full scope of his situation started to break through his drug-hazed mind. The effects were wearing off, and like she'd warned, he could feel a dim ache growing in his legs and particularly his right ankle.

"Yes. You sent a message to Senator Organa three weeks ago. When he couldn't make contact with you, he asked me to track you down."

"Organa? I—I didn't know if he would respond. I heard he was… sympathetic to rebels."

"You could say that," Ahsoka said with a smirk. Her amusement disappeared a moment later and she became serious again. The expression added years that should have been there to her face in seconds. "You said you had information on the Empire's search for the remaining Jedi. I'm sorry to push you, but time is running out for them. They might need my help."

"Well," Sayne flinched at the stab of guilt. "That's… not exactly what…. It's not the kind of information you think." He hated to give her false hope and then tear it away.

"What do you mean? Do you know something about the remaining Jedi or not?" Ahsoka glared at him and gripped her crossed arms tightly. He looked aup at the ceiling and his face slackened into the expression he'd worn when she first saw him. Apparently it had nothing to do with his captivity.

"I do. I have information on one, but I'm not sure either of us can help her now," he said in a tight voice. "She was traveling with me. I contacted Organa because I hoped he could help me get her to safety."

"Who?" Ahsoka asked. "One of the younglings that was on Riash?"

Sayne just nodded. His eyes became bright with tears before he screwed them shut.

"Katooni," he said her name softly and Ahsoka could feel his grief like it was a physical presence in the small cabin. It was a dark hole in the Force that swallowed up the core of tender care at his center. Woven through it all was greasy shame and caustic self-recrimination. Ahsoka's grip on her forearms loosened and her frown eased from anger to pity. Sayne reminded her vividly of Anakin. The last time she had been at Varikino Minor on Alderan Anakin had asked her about Luke, the son he had lost at the end of the war. The same emotions engulfed her Master then as those that were drowning Sayne now.

Ahsoka looked down at the decking, remembering Katooni. The young Tollothian padewan had been one of the few she had taken to Ilum to build their first lightsabers. Ahsoka had seen a lot of her friend Barriss in the young padewan back when Barriss had still been someone Ahsoka could call a friend. The memory of that betrayal bit deeply next to the blaster-burn scar on her shoulder. Like Barriss, Katooni was smart and shy, kind above all. Katooni had been able to see good in even the most self-serving, two-faced weeque pirate, Hondo Onaka. But when she needed to be, Katooni was brave. Ahsoka had felt the familiar tremors of fear in Katooni's aura when they fought the pirates. She felt the same fear in her clone soldiers every time they faced down the droid army and imminent death. But like them, Katooni's bravery won over her fear and despair. It was hard to think of those same soldiers turning on her.

Their betrayal must have hurt her too. What good does she see in them now? Ahsoka wondered. She couldn't imagine Katooni hating anyone, even the soldiers that betrayed her. Ahsoka was struck with the depth of her jealousy. She wished she could forgive them, forgive him. Then she wouldn't have to feel the anger and bitterness every time she saw her scared shoulder in the mirror.

Ahsoka folded down a seat from the wall and sat beside Sayne.

"Tell me what happened," she said softly. She saw his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed and he nodded once, a single dip of his chin. Bright tracks ran from the corners of his eyes over his temples and his smooth scalp.

"It started before the war ended," Sayne started in a horse whisper. "Katooni was one of the Jedi younglings that worked with us in the slums. That area was hit hard. Those people didn't have much before the war came to Riash and afterward… Things got bad there. It was dangerous work. There were a lot of hard feelings against the government and the Republic. The government had declared Riash neutral and tried to stay out of the fighting. Those people didn't care. They had lost their homes, everything they owned, loved ones….They were just angry." Sayne shook his head and for a moment a bittersweet smile pulled his cheeks up. "Katooni wasn't bothered by it. She was never put off by their insults. The glares and the sneers didn't seem to touch her. She worked harder than anyone, even harder than the clone soldiers. Those boys… they got up every day to deliver relief supplies to people that threw rotten food, rubble, and worse at them, and they never complained. I knew them…

"Or I thought I knew them. When the war ended it was early morning the in the capital. We were just getting ready to leave the barracks. The clones were packing the speeder-trucks. Some of them were grabbing a last cup of caf and finishing their breakfast and the younglings were with them. The men tried to keep them included. Commander Jaks told me they thought the Padewans were too young to see the horrors the war left behind. But most of the Jedi younglings were older than he was. Twelve year olds, that's who the Republic sent to fight their war, an army of twelve year olds. And they were trying to protect those Jedi younglings from the worst of it. It broke my heart almost as much as the destruction to my own people.

"Of all the clones that I knew, I didn't think that Jaks could do something like that." Sayne's voice trailed off. Ahsoka looked back toward the black window and tried not to see so clearly the scene that Sayne was painting for her. "Katooni was limping that morning. She'd cut her leg on a piece of rubble the day before. When I saw her, I insisted she get it treated. If I hadn't…" Sayne paused to take a deep breath. "The Order came down while we were in the medical center. I saw the clones draw their weapons and I pulled Katooni behind me. I fired back without even thinking. There were three of them in the medbay: shinnies was what Jaks called them."

"New troopers?"

"From Centax," Sayne nodded. "If it had been three of the old guard I don't think we would have made it out alive. I didn't know what was going on but I knew I had to get Katooni away from there. I was taking her to the back exit when Jaks caught up to us. I—I protected her and Jaks told me to stand aside. He explained what the Order was and why… why she had to die… She's just a child. How can she be held accountable for what the Jedi do? I couldn't accept that. Jaks shot at us—at me, because I was protecting her—and she saved my life, batted away the blaster fire with her lightsaber. I don't know if I shot Jaks or it was one of the ricochet blasts that killed him. I don't understand how he could do that… to me… to her…

I put Katooni in a supply box and I smuggled her out of the base. We passed through the main yard where the convoy had been preparing. I saw their bodies… children… all across the yard. And the troopers were standing around like it was all business as usual, finishing their morning caf. Those children had been their allies, their friends! A few minutes ago they'd been sharing a meal. They had cared for those kids for months. How could they turn around so easily and execute them?"

"They're not like normal humans," Ahsoka said softly. "They're manufactured and programmed from birth."

"How could we create beings like that? What monsters could do that?" He whispered, his voice breaking. "Children massacring children, it's like a nightmare."

Par vode kyr'amur vode, cuyi nu'staabi! Rex's words echoed into Ahsoka's head with a stab of pain. She didn't know much mando'a but she could work out that phrase. For brother's to kill brothers, it isn't right! Isn't it all the same, child soldiers killing child soldiers, weather they are Jedi or Clones? But the Clones aren't children like Katooni, they're not like real humans. They're something else. They have to be something else.

"Where were you when the Order went out? How did you survive?" Sayne's question jerked Ahsoka out of thought and she took a sharp breath.

"I was on Shili, the togruta homeworld. Someone … a trooper I thought I could trust warned me. He tried to… to trick me." She said vaguely. She didn't realize she was reaching for her shoulder until she felt the rough skin under her shirt. It took effort to keep her voice steady as she went on. "He lead them right to me. He couldn't even tell me why he did it. I managed to get away, but not unscathed." Her eyes glazed over as her memories consumed her. They dragged her mind back to the Shili planes, standing alone over the body of a man she once called a friend.

"I'm sorry," Sayne apologized softly and lifted a shaking hand to her arm consolingly. "I shouldn't have asked." Ahsoka shook her head, as much to dispel his worries as to throw off the memories.

"W—I wouldn't have lasted long without Organa's help. The Empire must have been chasing you. How did you escape them for so long?" Ahsoka asked, forcing her mind back into the present moment. The Jedi taught that there was no value in obsessing over the past; Ahsoka was trying harder than ever to embrace that philosophy.

"I took Katooni to my wife's family. She passed away some years ago, but her parents retired to a farm on Beltose; it's a little backwater in the outer rim. The Empire came there a month ago, and we fled. I reached out to anyone I thought could help. I was trying to get her back to Riash. I thought I could forge documents for her there, and we could hide … But I had to get her through customs. I hired Djela Kur to freeze her in carbonite so she wouldn't be found.

"He must have realized what she was and kidnapped her. The Empire is offering a bounty for any Jedi or force sensitive. He drugged me, and when I woke up in a back alley he and Katooni were gone. Before I could find them that gangster grabbed me. I don't even know how long I was in that place. It feels longer than a few days."

"Who is this Djela Kur?"

"Some lowlife carbonite technician who owes that gangster lots of money apparently. He put out a bounty on the scum. I saw the bounty hunter; she interrogated me."

"I can deal with bounty hunters," Ahsoka said assuredly. Sayne turned to look at her pointedly.

"This one is like you. She used the Force to make me talk."

Ahsoka frowned. That complicates things slightly, she thought.

"We'll just have to find Djela before the bounty hunter does," Ahsoka said standing.

"Then you'll help—" Sayne gasped and tried to sit up. His head spun, and he trailed off into a pained groan as he fell back onto the bunk.

"Rest," Ahsoka said sternly, putting one gentle but firm hand on his shoulder. "I knew Katooni and I liked her. I will do everything I can to save her. The best thing you can do for her right now is to rest and heal. I'll save some caf for you."

He looked up at the young woman who was only slightly more than a child herself. Her eyes were old and tired, but they still had a fire of determination in them. He remembered seeing that determination and resolve in her face when she rescued him. She would do everything in her power to save Katooni.

"Thank you," he managed to whisper softly.

"My caf's not that good," she replied with a smile that hinted at a lively sense of humor. Sayne smiled back as his eyes drifted slowly shut. He succumbed again to his exhaustion more at ease than before just knowing someone was looking for his little girl.

Ahsoka smiled down at her new companion. It's good to find there are still honorable, decent people in this galaxy, she thought. That's reason enough to hope.

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For all that it paid well, working for A'den was shab'la boring. I would have expected Tay'haai to have more interesting friends, Vorpa thought to herself, leaning back in her pilot's chair and admiring the cerulean blue sky over Hanath. It was the fourth planet they had visited in the seemingly haphazard search for 'her'. I don't know why A'den paid for my silence if he wasn't going to tell me anything, she thought. In every port A'den and his father had left her with the ship, just telling her to be on standby. So she fueled up, did small maintenance jobs, cleaned her weapons, sharpened her beskad (saber made of Mandalorian steel) and then ran out of things to do short of scrubbing the decks. Vorpa looked down at the dusty and dirt-smeared panels under her feet. Maybe that's not such a bad idea, she thought. She pondered the grime for a moment longer then gave up the idea. I'll do it when I get back to Pariya, she lied to herself.

Heavy boots on the ramp jerked her out of thought. She glanced at the external cameras to confirm it was Kal and A'den without really needing to. The taller boy in lighter honey-gold armor was trailing after his stalking father in his sand gold, and heavily battered attire. They made quite a pair. A'den had never broken his easy going mood since they left Manda'yaim, even as his father's dower disposition worsened with every passing hour. Vorpa thought of the tense little man as a primed detonator just waiting for something to set him off. She had the distinct feeling she didn't want to be that something. It was the kind of feeling that made turning her back on Kal difficult.

"Where to now?" She asked as the men squeezed into the small cockpit. A'den took the seat next to her, and Kal lounged on the bench at the back.

"No where," the old mando growled.

"We're waiting for one of our contacts to get back to us," A'den explained. "Could be a while."

"How long is a while?" Vorpa asked.

"I thought we were paying her not to ask questions," Kal griped.

"She's just trying to make plans, buir," A'den insisted. Kal frowned and looked away. Vorpa watched his curled right hand twitching as he fingered the tip of the hidden knife. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and spun it around to face him more squarely. It put her in a better position to defend herself if need be. Kal didn't stay sitting for very long though. He jumped up with restless energy and stalked back out of the cockpit in silence. Vorpa and A'den both watched through the security cameras as she started pacing at the bottom of the ramp.

"He's more of a soldier than a hunter," A'den said, turning his gaze back to his datapad.

"I can tell," Vorpa agreed.

"He makes you uncomfortable."

She just shrugged in reply.

"It's not you he's angry at," A'den tried to assure her. "He's mostly angry at himself."

"Doesn't make him less dangerous," she answered defensively before deliberately changing the topic. "Not much of a family resemblance between the two of you."

"Kal'buir adopted me and my brothers a few years ago, but he's raised us since we were two. We would have been killed without him."

That explains a little, Vorpa thought. It at least clarified why A'den was so devoted to the old man. She'd noticed A'den watched his father like a gage that told him how to react to the given situation. The other two men she'd seen with A'den had been about his size, large and solidly built. She assumed those were his brothers, Kal's other sons.

"What does Kal get out of it?" She asked A'den.

"What do you mean?" He asked, looking up with a furrowed brow and a frown. His mood could shift from serious to joking and back in the time it too to draw and fire his verpine.

"I mean what does he get out of having you as his sons? You look like you could make a lot of money as bounty hunters. A group of hard Mando's is very valuable in certain parts of the galaxy."

"He's not after money," A'den said flatly.

"But you do make him money don't you?"

"We have. But it…" A'den didn't get to finish. His comm link went off loudly and he scrambled to answer it. He took one look at the ID on the little device and jumped to his feet to chase after his father. Vorpa turned to the display screen to watch. A'den passed the comm to his father immediately. Kal stopped his pacing. The old man balled his fist and bent his head as he spoke tensely into the device. She couldn't hear them, but she didn't need to know what they were saying to understand it was bad news. It hit Kal hard, his shoulders slumping under some invisible weight, while A'den shifted closer to his father, unconsciously leaning in over the shorter man like he was trying to protect Kal. The angle of the camera didn't show Vorpa their faces until they turned around to board the ship again. She caught Kal's expression of exhausted despair before he schooled it into blank seriousness. Their boots were heavy and dragging as they came back into Gra'tua's cockpit.

"Change of plans, ad'ika," Kal said to Vorpa, and she flinched. She hated being called that. "Take us back to Mandalore."

"I still want my pay when we land even if the job's not over," she said sternly, making no move to turn around.

"Get us home and you'll get your pay," Kal snapped back. "Ner koor cuyi ner mircin!" I'm a man of my word.

Vorpa's hand slid unconsciously to the blade at her knee and the blaster she kept in a concealed holster in her armrest.

"Udesii," A'den said, putting a large hand on his father's shoulder. Vorpa wasn't sure who he was talking to exactly. "We'll be back on Mandalore before anything happens, buir."

Kal huffed and strapped into his seat mutely. Vorpa turned away slowly and forced herself to let go of her weapons. She unfortunately couldn't pilot and hold a blaster on her guests at the same time. She needed to fix that one-day. A'den strapped in beside her.

"We're in a bit of a hurry," he said to her softly. "I'll tell you where to drop us when we get into orbit." Vorpa glanced at him while the drives were warming up. He had a far off expression and a worried furrow in his brow. The grinning, easy-going man she had been getting to know was nowhere to be found.

"I won't dawdle," she promised, "and I won't even charge you extra for it." Vorpa forced a small quirk of a smile when he looked over at her. The laugh lines around his eyes crinkled when he answered, even though the worried crease in his brow remained.

"Thank you," he said in a deep voice.

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The smell took Rex back to Teth immediately. The unique mixture of sulfur, mildew, and sour vinegar was unmistakable and it permeated Qibbu's restaurant; Hutt. How does anyone eat in here? Rex wondered. Just stepping in the door made his stomach roll and the hairs on his arms raise. He fought back the memories it dredged up. He could manage not to see the bodies and hear his brothers' dying screams, but the grief that had haunted him after that day wouldn't go away. It clawed a hole in his chest.

"I don't like this, bargaining with criminals," Fox muttered, following close behind Rex into the stinking hallway.

"You are a criminal by most definitions," Rex reminded him harshly, and got a glare in response.

Qibbu's man, a tall lanky human with close cropped dark hair, led them into the main room where the Hutt himself was laid out on his dais. His heavy lidded eyes rolled slowly over to the two stormtroopers and quickly picked out Rex as the one in charge.

"Dul said you would be stormtroopers, he didn't say you would be clones," Qibbu drawled, eyes shifting between Rex and Fox's identical faces. Rex readjusted his helmet under one arm and swallowed bile.

"Is that going to be a problem?" He asked.

"Last time I let Skirata and his clone rabble into my place a lot of people showed up dead."

Skirata, Rex thought, that's a Mandalorian name. It's better Qibbu doesn't know we speak Mando'a or that Dul himself is a clone. He decided to cut right to the chase, avoid any other touchy subjects if he could. He was anxious to get away from the stench and have the meeting over with.

"I don't know this Skirata person, but I'm not aiming to kill anyone. We just want a friendly chat with one of the Emperor's doctors. I'd be willing to trade the algorithms the Empire uses to generate security codes for a few more blasters and arms to carry them. But if you're not interested I can take my business elsewhere."

Qibbu laughed, a deep throaty sound that rumbled in his voluminous flesh.

"Where else would you take it? You don't have much to trade with."

"Maybe I'll look up this Skirata," Rex bluffed, his heart hammering against his ribs. "He sounds like a competent man."

"You wouldn't want to get involved with that man. I can get you what you need. You're lucky I want what you have… if you can make good on your end of the deal. Double cross me and I'm not going to —"

"Don't insult us," Fox spoke up sharply. "We're clones. We're not bred to lie or cheat. You'll get the codes when we get the doctor."

Qibbu's eyes rolled over to Fox. The huge beast shifted around, sitting up taller or perhaps standing, it was hard to tell.

"You have a deal, clones," he said in his slippery hissing voice, drawing out the last word.

"Nasis will make the arrangements. Tell him where and when," Qibbu instructed them and motioned with one of his small arms to the man who had led them in. The two clones nodded to the Hutt and went over to join the mercenary at one of the side tables. Nasis was lounging in his chair with an obfuscating casual demeanor. Rex could see he had his blaster across his lap pointed their direction.

"Conall," Nasis introduced himself and held out his free hand amiably without putting away his blaster.

"Rex," the blond clone shook the offered hand, "and Fox," then motioned over his shoulder at his dark haired brother.

"Well at least you have different hair cuts otherwise I wouldn't be able to tell you shinny boys apart."

Rex slid onto the bench across from Nasis. He saw smears of grease and unidentified liquids on the table before he made the mistake of touching it.

"'Shinny'?" Fox asked. "Where did you pick up trooper slang?"

"I was Coruscant Security Force before the Republic went belly up. My old Captain—may he rest easy—was close with some of those clone boys Qibbu was cursing a moment ago. They were good men, poor sods."

"How did you end up here?" Rex asked. What turned a cop into a criminal? Or a Soldier into a traitor? He wondered to himself.

"My old Captain and his family went missing after he 'moved' to Andara. People who disagree with the Empire tend to disappear like that now a days, so I decided to disappear myself before someone else did it for me."

"Smart plan," Rex said. Self-preservation apparently, he answered his own internal question. Nasis was just trying to survive and maybe kick back at the Empire if he could Rex concluded from the anger he heard in in the former cop's voice.

"Who is it you want to kidnap?"

"A doctor," Fox answered.

"Which one?"

"That's…" Fox trailed off when he realized he couldn't say 'classified'.

"It's a bit of a personal matter," Rex picked up. "What we need is a distraction, someone to occupy her guards while we grab her. You just have to shoot at them and then disappear back into the undercity. Stormtroopers won't pursue you far down; it's against regs. They loose too many men otherwise."

"Oh, I know," Nasis said with a humorless grin. Rex heard Fox's gloves making stretching elastic noises as his hands tightened into angry fists.

Udesii, vod, Rex thought to his brother. Don't loose your cool now that it's inconvenient.

"So where do you need us?" Nasis asked.

"We won't know until the day," Rex explained. "They keep her moving. When we get a location we'll call you."

"How long do we have to get into position?"

"Half a day, probably. It depends on how lazy my COs get with packing up the lab," Rex said with a roll of his eyes.

"Sounds like child's play," Nasis chuckled. "Qibbu's coming out on the better end of this deal and he knows it. Puts him in a good mood, which is good for me. I'll put my team together and we'll be ready when you call."

"Make sure you are," Fox told him as the clones got to their feet, "we only have one shot at this."

"Must be important to you," Nasis said. "I know you boys are loyal to a fault."

Fox paused as he lifted his helmet.

"We are loyal to our family." He said gravely. Rex noted that Fox had said family, not brothers. Nasis glanced at Rex and the blond clone just shrugged, making light of the issue. From his thoughtful expression Nasis didn't buy it.

"I look forward to working with you," the mercenary said to Rex, holding out his hand again.

"Just be careful which stormtrooper you're shooting at," Rex replied. He took Conall Nasis's forearm in a Mandalorian handshake as they parted. Rex saw Nasis grin, before he put on his helmet and followed Fox out of the Hutt's lair.

One step closer, he told himself, one step closer to answers.

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Author's Note: Sorry about the short chapter. I may have a bonus-y chapter with the Kyrimorut Aliit tomorrow... we'll see. It depends on my somewhat inconsistent proofreader/human sounding board. Leave me a review if you have a moment. I love feedback. -Em.