Though frozen in place, Mand could hardly contain her anger, her eyes furious as she glared at Horatio and kept a wary eye on the enormous beast behind him.

"How dare you show your face here, after what you did to me and to Koril. With all the people you've crossed, it's a miracle you made it here alive, a fact I would love to remedy..."

Undaunted, Horatio held his hands up in warning. "You probably shouldn't attack me again," he said with a sarcastic air. "Prophet here wouldn't take too kindly to it."

"Yeah, hide behind your beast like the coward you are," Mand bit back. "You come to watch it finish me off?"

Even though he tried to maintain his expression, Mand could easily see regret saturating his features, most notably in his eyes, and it confused her. He was standing before her with an atrocious monster at his command and no witnesses for kilometers...but he still harbored feelings for her and struggled to conceal them?

His voice was quiet, but not quiet enough to hide the care in his tone. "She wasn't supposed to hurt you."

Whether she was more baffled by Horatio's concern or by the fact that he had identified the vicious beast as female, she wasn't sure. Still angry at him, though, she continued to fight.

"So, what, she was just playing when she stabbed me with that tail twice?"

Horatio crossed his arms over his chest and leveled an irritated look at her. "Sometimes she gets a little overeager." Behind him, Prophet snorted forcefully at his statement, rocking him forward noticeably. With one eyebrow arched, he gave the beast a warning glance before returning to Mand. "I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen again, unless you do something to merit it."

A terrible sickening feeling gripped Mand as she realized what his words meant. Just as he had held sway over her in the hallway back on Agamar, where he had so easily lowered her defenses and could have ended her life with an injection of poison instead of a simple sedative, she was once again at his mercy. One word from him, and Prophet would tear her to pieces within the span of two seconds, before she could even try to fight back. Losing the confidence she had entered the alley with earlier, she looked at Horatio, unable to mask her apprehension.

"What do you want with me?"

Horatio quickly shook his head. "I'm not the one who wants you. Someone else is very interested in the memories locked up in your head."

Mand blinked. Memories of what? Why would anyone want to know her memories? She didn't even want to know them...

"You're coming with Prophet and me," Horatio continued in a low voice. "You have no choice. If you pull any kind of stunt, if you try to escape, I can only restrain Prophet so much. You know how quick and how strong she is. Using the Force on her only makes her angrier, if you hadn't noticed, so...I suggest you don't try anything."

Staring in disbelief, Mand felt her entire body going numb. Not since her abduction more than five years ago had she felt so helpless, only this time, she had willingly walked into the trap. And unlike the last time she had faced such an inescapable situation, she would have no one coming after her; no one knew she had left. Casting a sad gaze back at the busy, towering med center behind her, she sighed, but Horatio was quick to add another warning.

"And don't even think about calling your Jedi friends for help. Prophet'll hear it, and that'll make her angry, too."

Already mentally exhausted, she had finally resigned to his demands. Keeping up the appearance that she was still fighting, though, she turned a dark gaze on him. His face was surprisingly troubled, as though he regretted what he was having to do, but he corrected it quickly as she looked to him. Their gazes locked for several long, silent moments, and she was only able to hold her expression until he spoke once more.

"He only wants information, Kil," Horatio said with a foreign softness in his voice. "That's all. This doesn't have to be an ordeal."

Exasperation flooded her tone. "What information?"

Again, Horatio shook his head. "That I don't know. I'm just the mercenary."

"Right," Mand answered darkly, "you just get paid. Doesn't matter what you do, who you lie to, or who you kill."

Horatio's eyes suddenly intensified, as if she had struck an old wound. "If I recall, you were right there alongside me for four years, showing me how it was done."

"And I left that life," she spat back, "but it's you who keeps coming back to me. You've crossed my path way too many times recently for them to be coincidences."

Though extremely subtly, she could tell that her words had taken him by surprise, but he worked to maintain his shadowy expression and intense gaze. Once more, their eyes met in the tense silence, and again, he broke it, drawing a blaster from a holster at his side and leveling it at her head.

"Get moving," he demanded harshly. "Dr. Tzymo's expecting us."

It had taken them less than ten minutes to get back to their transport hidden in the lower levels of the sector, but Horatio dreaded the five-hour trip they faced, traveling close to the surface to the opposite side of the city-planet to Dr. Tzymo's lab. He had gotten Mand to surrender quickly, more quickly than he had anticipated, but he remained wary of her. She seemed especially volatile, and he honestly couldn't blame her. He would've been unsettled, too, if he had met Prophet the way she had: a sudden hand-to-claw deathmatch. He had only just met the beast himself, but under controlled conditions with Dr. Tzymo, the creature's creator. Prophet seemed to understand her assignment to him, and so far she had proven her advanced sentience. He wasn't ready to pass judgment on her just yet, though. They still had a considerable amount of their mission left.

Though Prophet had been restrained in the rear cabin, Horatio stood in the main hold beside Mand, watching her closely. She hadn't moved much since they had left, sitting on a cargo container with her arms crossed over her chest and a blank look on her face. The ship's cockpit was closed, preventing her from seeing its pilot, though he wondered if she would have cared. It had been a long time since he had seen her so defeated...

No, not that long, he corrected himself. He had just bested her a few weeks ago on Agamar, and though he regretted it, he had to. She wouldn't have understood.

Still, her silence as they traveled bothered him; she had given up too easily. He kept his voice low, watching her carefully.

"Don't act like you didn't know you had this coming."

The look on her face as she turned to him was hard to read. It was confused, surprised, betrayed... "I have no idea what you're talking about," she answered sadly, her eyes tired. Though sure he was overstepping his authority to tell her, he continued.

"Last time your friend, the exiled king, was on Coruscant, he accepted help from Dr. Tzymo. In exchange for stopping a bounty hunter that was after him, he was supposed to hand you over."

In an instant, Mand was standing just in front of him, her expression hard as she searched his eyes. Even though he knew it would be useless against her, his hand automatically floated over his blaster at his side as she held his gaze for a long silent moment. Her eyes narrowed suddenly as she spoke.

"I don't believe you. You're lying. He wouldn't do that to me."

Horatio arched his eyebrows. "Do you think I would be anywhere near you right now if I didn't have to be? I'm not exactly enjoying this."

"Really," Mand challenged. "I figured you'd jump at the chance to humiliate me again."

"Your friend is to blame, not me. Pretend I'm not even here."

Though her expression softened, her tone was hard as she turned from him, crossing her arms again. "Too late for that."

As he watched her step further away from him, a strange feeling took hold of him, as though he were angry that she wouldn't release him of the fault for her situation. He didn't understand it himself, even as the words left his mouth.

"It wasn't personal, Kil. Get over it."

She turned back to him, her eyes furious. "You made it personal when you took off with Koril's antidote! And why? Why go through all that trouble, just to let him die?"

Horatio's expression darkened. "You don't know what I did."

Mand scoffed. "It was pretty obvious. Why sedate me if you weren't intent on doing harm?"

He hesitated, deciding the best way to word his answer. "I had to make sure you wouldn't follow me."

"Because you knew I'd stop you."

As their gazes locked again, Horatio was only barely able to stop himself from correcting her. Instead, he gave in, nodding though he had a completely different motivation for subduing her. "Yeah...that's why."

Though Mand looked as though she still didn't believe him and was about to counter, she cried out in pain, doubling over as she wrapped her arms across her stomach. She quickly fell to her knees and eventually the floor, and as Horatio wrenched himself out of his stupor, he knelt beside her, surprised to see blood saturating her clothes at her waist. She was rapidly losing color in her face, and even as she continued to moan in pain, her body stilled.

"What, I...they...they healed me...they said..."

Realization neutralized Horatio's expression, and unfolding her limp arms from her stomach, he spotted the culprits: two round, penetrating wounds were quickly draining her body. As she finally fell unconscious, Horatio pressed his palm against the wounds, hoping to at least keep her alive until they reached Tzymo Labs.

"Prophet!!" he yelled toward the rear cabin. "Knock it off, you're going to kill her!"

From behind the sealed blast door, Prophet roared angrily, then silenced with two rough grunts. Mand still continued to bleed, though, making Horatio panic. He pressed harder, and was only briefly distracted by his comlink beeping in his pocket. Fumbling for it, he depressed the activator before he had even pulled it out.

"--at Dr. Tzymo said," Zanti's voice sounded from the small communicator, "he didn't want her able to identify his secondary compound. Don't get mad at Prophet for following orders."

"I don't think Prophet was supposed to make her bleed to death," he answered shortly, still compressing Mand's wounds as he glanced up at the cockpit door, behind which Zanti sat at the controls. "I'm pretty sure that wasn't part of the mission objectives."

"But she needed to be sedated, and you already made your move a few weeks ago. Prophet had the element of surprise."

Yeah, he thought to himself, especially when the beast could continue to weaken its previously injured prey without even being in the same room. That was a special trick Dr. Tzymo had specifically altered Prophet for. Sighing angrily, he finished with her.

"Just get us to the base quickly, or there'll be a bigger mess to clean up."

Pocketing the comlink, he returned his attention to Mand, looking to make sure she was still breathing. Her chest rose and fell shallowly, but content for the time being, he gently pulled her into his lap to keep her warm, maintaining firm pressure on her stomach to control her bleeding.

Having caught a decent nap herself, Elena woke up at Koril's side, surprised to see him awake and looking across the room. Tugging her hair behind her as she sat up more fully and made herself more alert, she saw all but two of the nine Edgepoints lined up along the far wall, looking at them intently. She smiled at them, garnering returned smiles and a few waves from them as Commander Cal Jax approached and bowed.

"Good morning, High Commander, m'lady," he greeted them. "We're about to resume our regular shifts. Is there anything we can do for you?"

Elena glanced at Koril, and as he shook his head, she looked back at Commander Jax. "Not right now, Commander. Are your men well-rested?"

Jax smiled. "Yes, m'lady. Thank you again for your hospitality. We brought your son and your other guests back with us, too. They're waiting just outside."

Though Elena smiled as she returned to Koril, his expression hadn't changed. A little saddened, she reached up a hand to his cheek, stroking it lightly before turning to Jax once more. "You Edgepoints are more than welcome to continue using the apartment as needed while we're here, Commander. And please, for goodness' sake, there are beds. No more sleeping on the floor."

Jax laughed, glancing back at the others who also chuckled amongst each other. He nodded and bowed to her and Koril again, stepping back to assign three of the Edgepoints to stay and leaving with the rest for another post. As she watched them leave, she was able to catch Captain Aurin Jax's gaze outside the door and wave him in with Derek and his two nannies. After giving Koril a quick kiss on the cheek, she stood and walked over to the two women, anxious to see her son.

"He'll be hungry soon, m'lady," Kollie said as she gently passed the infant into Elena's arms, settling his blanket around him. "He ate before we came, but that was almost an hour ago."

Rocking Derek in her arms, Elena nodded kindly to her, dismissing them. "We can fix that easily," she said sweetly to him, smiling down at her son as he looked up at her, his brilliant green eyes glowing even in the room's dim light. She returned to her seat beside Koril, watching his eyes as he followed her with Derek. He looked on the infant with interest, but he still said nothing, concerning her. Securing Derek in one arm, she grasped Koril's hand tightly, searching his eyes to get a response from him.

Finally finding his voice, Koril coughed weakly before speaking, clearing his rough throat. "How old is he now?"

Briefly stumped, Elena had to think. "Not quite three weeks." She could instantly tell that her answer had only distressed him more, making her frown. She squeezed his hand, softening her expression. "Koril, I promise you... You haven't missed much." She smiled faintly as she continued. "...unless you really want to be sad about missing the constant crying, feedings, changings..."

"He's quiet now."

She laughed quietly. "Just you wait." She again watched him looking over his son, and finally she saw the longing in his eyes she had been waiting to see since Derek's birth. Hardly able to keep the excitement out of her voice, she asked him softly. "Do you want to hold him?"

Koril immediately met her gaze, seemingly surprised by her question as if he hadn't considered it at all. He hesitated a long moment, his expression worried. "I'm...I'm not strong enough." But Elena quickly shook her head, smiling again.

"It's okay, I can help you. Here," she said as she stood from her seat, reaching across him to pull his far arm over his stomach. "Can you hold your arm there?" Getting a small nod from him, she resituated Derek in her hands and gently lowered him into Koril's arm, keeping both steady. With her free hand, she brought Koril's other arm up, lightly placing his hand just beside Derek's small head.

Stirred by the movement, Derek's eyes followed their hands, but he eventually fixed his gaze on Koril, looking up at his father curiously. He was still much too young to be making complex expressions, Elena knew, but she could sense his feelings. The longer he studied Koril's face, the more comfortable he became, almost as though he recognized Koril's presence and felt safe enough with him to fall back to sleep.

Koril's expression wasn't what she had hoped to see, though. He still looked worried and sad, and unsure of how else to help him, she leaned over him and kissed him lightly at his temple. Still with one hand supporting his arm holding Derek, she brushed her fingers through his hair, watching him patiently. Though it was several minutes, he spoke once more.

"Doesn't seem real."

Gently resting her head against his, she whispered back. "What doesn't?"

His voice sounded pained. "That I'm a father...that I...we...have a son. I was excited before I..." he trailed off, but she knew what he was thinking. "Now," he continued even more quietly, "...I'm scared."

Moved with sympathy, she again kissed the side of his face, caressing his cheek. Just like before, he closed his eyes with her touch, looking back up at her as she responded softly. "Don't be. You'll get better." With a smile, she repeated the same words he had once said to her months ago. "And we're going to do this together. I'm not going anywhere."

Though Koril seemed to weakly laugh at her reference, his expression changed little, prompting Elena to continue working to improve his mood. With her free hand, she gently ran a finger down the side of Derek's face, waking him up from his nap to briefly look at her. She smiled at him, but his eyes quickly returned to Koril, seemingly mesmerized by him. The two simply gazed at each other for several quiet moments, and not until Derek freed his little arm from his blankets did Koril move. The boy extended his arm toward Koril, as if asking for his hand, and only barely able to lift it, Koril tucked a finger into Derek's palm, releasing a shaky breath as his tiny fingers tightly wrapped around his.

All the pain, all the waiting, all the anxiety of the past four months disappeared as Elena watched a smile slowly form on Koril's face. She felt chilled tears rolling down her cheeks, and for a brief moment, she felt happier than she could recently remember...

"Elena," Koril's weak voice interrupted her thoughts, and she immediately realized the reason. She felt Koril's arms beginning to sag with fatigue, and glancing up at him as she scooped Derek back up into her arms, she saw Koril close his eyes. Settling their son against her, she smiled wanly and brushed her fingers over Koril's cheek.

"It's okay, I know you're tired. Sleep, get your strength back. You'll be walking out of this med center in no time."

Though she wasn't sure how much of her assurances he had heard before he fell asleep, she at least took comfort in his elevated spirits. He had finally connected with his son, and as much trauma that he had to recover from, she was amazed at how quickly he was turning around. His talk with Mand and with Tascit's Force Ghost had been instrumental in his change, and she was going to be forever grateful to both.

Content with his slumber and the monitors behind him, she gently rocked Derek in her arms, stepping out of the room only when she knew he was deeply asleep once more. Just outside, a dozen people stepped toward her, including Veon Banarecc and his daughter Ri. Elena smiled at them all, but it fell quickly as she realized she didn't see her friend Mand among them. Veon immediately picked up on her concern and approached her more closely, holding Ri's hand at his side.

"Is everything alright?"

Elena made one last sweep over the crowd before she returned to him, her expression light but still troubled. "Did Mand go with you to the apartment?"

Veon shook his head. "No, she was still here when I left. She wouldn't come with me." He, too, looked through the crowd of people, even checking the bench she had been laying on while recovering from her brief exhaustion. Getting curious looks from the Paneau, she turned to them and spoke to them all.

"Have any of you seen my friend Mand Natiyr? Does anyone know where she's gone?"

The Paneau looked between each other blankly, and Elena got all negative responses back from them. She tried to contain her anxiety, and though she wasn't very successful, Veon's hand on her shoulder calmed her somewhat.

"Maybe she returned to the Jedi Temple? I wished she hadn't left in the first place."

Nodding, Elena tucked Derek's blankets securely around him, desperate to quell her apprehension for his sake. Thankfully, he remained asleep, but looking to Kollie and Raen, she decided it best to leave him with his nannies while she set out to begin a number of transmissions to hopefully find her friend.