Ri Banarecc had been in a scary place before, but this time, she wasn't scared.

She had been four years old when she and her big brother Jec had almost gotten hurt in the Palace, her home, when it fell. She had been scared then because she was littler. But now five, she was a big girl. Jec told her so.

She sat in a corner in a small, empty room, listening to the noises around her. Sometimes she could hear people talking outside the door, but she couldn't understand them. They were speaking a funny language, and they sounded angry. She could still see their faces in her mind, the ones who had put her in the room, and they weren't nice. They hadn't hurt her, but she could tell they were bad people. She had to be brave, though, she thought to herself, because she was a Jedi, like her mom, Tascit.

She missed her mom. She missed Li, her older half-sister, too. Both of them had died when the Palace fell. And though her Uncle Veron said her dad Veon was still alive, she wondered. Why didn't he come back home and see them, then? Didn't he love her and Jec?

Ri sighed. She couldn't get sad now. She had to listen to what was going on. After she had been taken from her dead caretakers by a quiet, evil man who had killed them, she had been shuffled around from shuttle to ship to the room she was in now. They gave her a few pieces of fruit and a glass of blue milk, but other than that, they hadn't done much to her. She wondered what they wanted with her. She was the Princess of Paneau; maybe that was why. Were these men trying to hurt her to make Jec do what they wanted him to?

She wasn't going to give them that chance. She needed to escape somehow, but the only door to her little room was locked from the outside. There weren't any windows or vents she could crawl out of. Would she be able to escape the next time she got moved to another place?

A loud scuffle suddenly erupted outside her door as a bunch of men fought each other. A few blaster shots rang out, startling her, but just as quickly as it started, it got quiet. She heard the keypad to her door being punched, and something within her told her to hide. But without anywhere to go, Ri pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them tightly, making herself as small as she could as she concentrated hard and repeatedly thought to herself, You can't see me. I'm not here. You see no one. I'm not here...

The door swept aside and two strange alien men Ri had never seen before stepped inside, their faces suddenly looking confused as they glanced around the little room.

"I thought you said the intel was certain!!" one said to the other quietly but angrily.

"I did, because it was! One of the Tarthos grunts is a double agent, feeds us the information he can. He said she'd be here!"

Ri kept concentrating. You can't see me. I'm not here...

"Great, so we walked into a trap?" The angry one pulled a second blaster from his jacket and carefully looked out the door down either hallway. "Dr. Tzymo is not going to be happy at all. We either go back with the girl, or we don't go back at all."

"She's got to be here somewhere within this complex. Morden Tarthos wouldn't want one of his most prized prisoners too far from his reach."

"We don't have time to search the whole complex! This was the only guarded door in this entire sector!"

"Then maybe we're in the wrong sector. Let's go before another wave of guards gets here."

The two swiftly left, continuing to argue down the hall before Ri couldn't hear them anymore. She waited until she heard nothing else for a few moments before she got up and carefully looked out into the hall herself. The hallway seemed to go on forever in both directions, doors every few feet, and other hallways in between every couple of doors. Though in her room the walls were black, in the hallway everything was white, making her squint in the brightness. Two guards lay dead on the floor beside her door, and as Ri felt herself begin to tremble from the sight, she carefully began her own journey down the hallways, constantly watching and listening as she searched for her escape.


Elena reclined, crossing her boot over the other on top of the table in the rear of the Jedi Academy transport. Mand was sitting beside her, inspecting her newly acquired lightsaber. Just weeks ago, a few days after Elena's sixteenth birthday, she and Mand had helped to rid Paneau of its "Imperial" oppressors and the Dark Jedi Cyrix, Mand's former master. Mand's lightsaber had been destroyed in one of the confrontations, so she simply took Cyrix's as her own. Two weeks at the Academy, and Mand was still using it.

"At least we get rest from all that extra training," Elena said, breaking the silence. Two of their classmates, Rech Natiyr and Gith Mellio, sat across from them on the other couch, nodding to Elena's statement. Mand, on the other hand, didn't take her eyes off her saber. Elena sighed, raising an eyebrow at her. "I still don't understand why you didn't just make a new one for yourself. They say an evil man's weapon holds some of his evilness, also." Both Rech and Gith gave her a strange look across the way. "Okay, maybe that's not the direct quote," she corrected herself.

Mand simply shrugged as she continued to twirl it in her hand. "Why waste a perfectly good saber?"

Rech sat forward, including himself in the conversation. "They have more than enough supplies at the Academy..."

Mand gave Rech a half amused, half annoyed look. "Well, if I wanted to make one I would, but...I'm waiting. I'm looking for something to make mine...different." As if daring him to ask another question, she leveled the silver hilt at him and arched her eyebrows. Rech met her gaze and refused to back down, but he said nothing, and Elena rolled her eyes and laughed at their exchange. Over the past few days, Rech and Mand had been playfully parrying challenges back and forth when the four spent time together at meals. Mand insisted she was just testing Rech's tolerance, but Elena figured something else was going on. Intent on changing the subject, she lightly kicked Mand's boots that were propped up on the table beside hers.

"So, what are you going to do on Nam Chorios?"

After clipping her saber back to her belt, Mand grinned. "Nothing."

"You could do that in your own room," Rech said with a laugh, reclining, as well. Gith sat back, too, but he was less than interested in the conversation, focused on the other 45 students in the transport. Rech continued on, ignoring his distracted friend. "I plan to check out their star views. The system's central star is dim enough that at the height of the day, it's just like twilight."

"I've heard the marine life is really exciting, so I plan to swim a lot," Elena offered. Rech nodded, as did Mand, but Elena continued on with something else that was on her mind. "I never thought he'd let us off from our training. Do you know why he did it?"

Mand shrugged. "I think we deserved it." Grinning, she glanced at the three. "Well, I don't know about you guys..."

Elena feigned exasperation. "And WHO was it who earned us extra chores for talking during a lesson?" Mand laughed.

"It wasn't me, it was someone behind me, honest."

"Right. You're sure it wasn't that new guy you seem so attached to?"

Mand gave her a bemused look. "I don't know where you're getting your news from... No, I'm not attached to anyone...except you. But I think I'm stuck with you for life."

Elena grinned back. "I don't know if that's good or bad."

"I guess we'll have to wait and find out."

"Elena?"

Koril's quiet voice beside her startled Elena out of her five-year-old recollection, reminding her where she was and where she was going. The three medics from the Laboratory Sector morgue stood at the end of the shuttle's ramp, waiting on her and Koril. Numbly, she stood and followed them as they led her into the cold, uninviting building. She could hear Koril behind her, though his footsteps sounded distant, as if he were several meters behind. Though she knew she wasn't, she felt like she was making the walk down the impersonal hallway to the morgue alone, having to identify the body of a close friend by herself.

It may have been that all her senses were refusing to work, but to her surprise, the building hardly smelled as she expected it would; it was more sterile than anything, devoid of any kind of indication that beyond the doors they were rapidly approaching lay hundreds of deceased. Just before the three medics opened the morgue's main doors with their security passes, Koril caught up to Elena and took her hand tightly. Drawing her strength from the comfort of his touch, she took in a shaky breath, following the three further into the room.

A single female form with a white sheet draped over her lay on one table in the center of the main autopsy room. Elena felt what little energy she had left drain as she stepped closer. Her throat went dry, forcing her to cough as she finally stopped at the table, doing her best to control her shaking. The head medic, Hal Helcer, patiently walked to the other side of the table.

"Whenever you're ready," he said quietly.

Elena was motionless, fixated on the person who lay before her. She struggled to suppress a sickening sinking feeling, suddenly realizing what she was about to discover: if she had failed her best friend because of the sacrifice made by the only person who could have saved her. Elena still hadn't absolved herself of the fault she had in Noor's death, and she felt hopeless as she numbly nodded to the medic to remove the sheet. She felt Koril's hands on her shoulders, but she heard nothing but the deafening thud of her own heartbeat in her ears as time seemed to nearly halt. Her breath froze in her chest as the sheet was slowly retracted...

In disbelief, Elena had to grip the table, feeling her legs give out from underneath her as she looked down on Mand's pale, lifeless face. She hardly felt Koril's grip tighten on her shoulders as she shook with grief, having failed her friends again. After a few moments, breathing shakily, she was finally able to nod to the medic, affirming her identification as that of Mand. It took her a second to realize that he was speaking.

"...found her in an abandoned alley nearby. Preliminarily, we couldn't find any external signs of trauma, but Master Skywalker has had us postpone any autopsy exam if the victim is suspected to be a Jedi. We were awaiting identification to proceed and determine the cause of death."

His words hardly registered, but Elena nodded anyway, still looking down on Mand's face. Had she not known any better, it looked as if her friend was simply sleeping. But her life force was gone, as were all other signs of life. She didn't want to believe it; they had gone through and survived so much together over the past six years, only to suddenly lose to a pair of Dark Jedi? What had they wanted with Rech and Mand? The Dark Jedi Elena had dueled on the platform had taunted her, asking her if she knew why they were fighting. She answered with a powerful swing with her saber, but now she feared she would never know the answer. Was Rech dead, too? Was he abandoned in some deserted alley for scavengers to find, as well?

Though she barely had the strength to, Elena stepped closer to Mand, leaning over her to look at her face more closely. So many times over the years had Mand saved her life, and she in turn had saved Mand's. It wasn't fair that the score finished uneven, Elena owing Mand another chance. For the second time in less than a week, she was having to say goodbye to a friend.

It had never been so hard for her to speak before.

"I'm so sorry, Mand..."

As soon as Elena had finished her name, Mand's motionless body suddenly reanimated, taking in a strong, deep gasp as everyone else jumped back in alarm. Color immediately returned to Mand's face as she continued to cough and gasp, her eyes wildly looking around as she struggled to free her arms under the sheet. Finally breaking through her shock, Elena freed and grasped one of Mand's hands, briefly glancing up at the medic who sported an equally shocked expression.

"Mand, it's Elena, I'm right here. You're okay!" The relief and astonishment was apparent in her voice. "By the Force, you're okay!"

Mand's eyes continued to dart around, unfocused and scared, though her breathing finally calmed and she gripped Elena's hand tightly.

"How..." came the medic's amazed voice from across the table. Elena glanced up at him again, unsure herself until--

"Hibernation trance," Elena blurted. "That's why Master Skywalker didn't want an autopsy done -- she wasn't dead! She only looked it. The trance suspends all vital signs: heartbeat, breathing, almost all cellular functions. Jedi can train themselves to be awakened with a trigger phrase, like their name."

"I've never done one before," Mand confirmed as she finally spoke, her voice rough and broken. "Guess it worked."

Elena hardly suppressed a laugh in her happiness as she looked back down at Mand. "I'd say it did."

Koril stepped more closely behind Elena, putting a hand on her shoulder as he leaned over to address Mand. "Are you feeling alright?"

Obvious surprise registered on Mand's face. "Koril? You're okay? I didn't...I thought..." she stammered. Elena's expression fell as she recognized the unfocused look in Mand's eyes: she couldn't see.

"I'm fine, Mand," Koril answered softly as he and Elena exchanged similarly concerned glances.

"Let's get you to a medical center," Elena said. "Do you think you can sit up and walk? Koril and I can help you." Elena shed her darker, heavier formal robe and draped it around Mand as she began to shiver in the cold autopsy room. Recovered from his shock, the medic also brought back Mand's clothes, silently handing them to Koril as he watched Mand sit up and finally stand with Elena's help.

"I think I'll be fine, actually," Mand said quietly. Elena helped her wrap the heavy robe around herself tightly, and to Elena's surprise, Mand seemed to stand on her own well, showing little weakness. Still, Koril walked directly behind Mand and Elena kept a firm grip on Mand's elbow, watching her every move as they slowly reentered the night and made their way to a skybridge and to the medical center in the building across the way.


"I have a bad feeling about this."

Deilia Rys'tihn threw Jorro Ot'rio an angry glance, nearly whipping him in the face with her golden brown hair that was tied behind her. He had spoken softly, but it wasn't necessary to break the tense silence with such unnecessary chatter. They were about to break into the office of one of the most powerful men in the galaxy, and all that stood between their success and their detection and failure was one small mistake, one unintentional noise that alerted the Tarthos Industries' nearby security. The two Tyro Ghost Heirs had taken a huge risk in tackling the business giant so early, but Deilia felt they were running short on time. The two-month old Cordira Natiyr could only survive so long in the care of a captor.

In the dark of the unlit corridor, Deilia continued to work on the office's locked door, carefully slicing her way through its security codes. Beside her, Jorro monitored the hallway in both directions, armed with both a blaster and a stun gun, though they both were fairly confident they would be undisturbed. They had gotten through the maze inside Tarthos Industries headquarters completely undetected with the help of insider intel, but Morden Tarthos' office had one of the most sophisticated security locks Deilia had seen. Just a few more rerouting codes...

A green light blinked on the control pad, and Deilia took in a slow breath as the door silently slid aside. She quickly swept a passing glance around the dark, vacant office before she looked back down the hallway, making sure no guards had been alerted. Jorro stepped into the office with her and set a small sentry droid on the floor which caught the door as it closed, leaving a fractional space open so they could hear anything in the hallway and so the droid could alert them to any movement. With it transmitting its status to their headset comlinks, they both turned to the interior of the dark office -- and met two blasters.

"I should kill you both right now for blowing my cover."

Pure white eyes met theirs over the blaster barrels, narrowed and menacing. Even though it was almost pitch black, Deilia could see the matching white hair belonging to the old Arkanian Myndon Korr, their most valuable Tarthos Industries informant. She narrowed her eyes in return.

"We didn't blow your cover."

"Near enough. Lucky for you I was already on my way here anyway and was able to counter all the silent alarms you two set off."

Deilia felt her expression falter, though she instantly regretted it: the Arkanian could see perfectly in the dark. But the more she thought about it...no, she had disabled every trigger, even the second and third trips...

"You're lying."

After a tense moment, Myndon grinned darkly. "So I am." His grin disappeared almost immediately as he lowered his blasters. "Still, you're both idiots for coming here. I already got enough extra trouble for getting that Natiyr woman out of here for you."

"Oh, yeah," Jorro said angrily. "That was a nice touch, leaving her in an alley."

"I thought I had a shadow, I did what I could," Myndon replied defensively. "It was your agent who bailed, anyway. I never could confirm contact with her for the rendezvous."

Deilia and Jorro exchanged concerned glances. It was unlike Rauda Xedrn, the Ordeel's head covert agent on Coruscant, to miss such an important job. Something must've happened.

No longer interested, Myndon turned and walked further into the office, carelessly wandering about his employer's office. Deilia cautiously followed him, staying alert in the large, open office.

"What do you know about the Natiyr infant?" she asked quietly. Myndon hardly reacted, inspecting a console on the main desk.

"Unfortunately, nothing. Mr. Tarthos is keeping an exceptionally tight grip on her, which is more than I can say for your Princess."

"So it was the same hunter," Jorro concluded. "We were right, Deilia."

Deilia ignored Jorro. "Ri's here, too?"

Myndon simply shrugged, still reading the console. "Not my intel. I've just heard that the infant is the main focus of Mr. Tarthos' attention." He grinned sardonically again. "No offense."

Tired of his attitude, Deilia stepped over to Myndon and forcefully turned him around by his shoulders. "Listen, old man, we don't have time for these games. There are lives at stake, and the three of us all have the opportunity to make things right. You are already in too deep to back out now, so let's try this again. Where are Cordira and Ri?"

The old Arkanian's white eyes narrowed as he looked between Jorro and Deilia. "You Heirs... Think you're the only people in this galaxy who matter."

"This isn't just about us, Myndon," Deilia pleaded, softening her voice and easing her grip. "This goes far beyond us, possibly impacting the wellbeing of this entire city-planet." She saw Jorro give her a confused look, but for the time being, she ignored it, focusing on Myndon. Thankfully, the old man eventually relaxed, as well, sighing as he handed Deilia a datapad.

"They probably already know about me, anyway," he said resignedly. His face noticeably became more solemn as he continued. "You really think you can take him down?"

Deilia nodded after a moment. "I think we will."

Myndon nodded, too. "Good." He pointed to the datapad in Deilia's hand. "My access codes. They'll expire tomorrow evening. They should get you to the main security center where you can modify what you need to."

"Thank you," she said quietly. After a moment, she added, "We could protect you."

If the Arkanian had irises, Deilia thought, he would have been rolling his eyes as he laughed lightly and started to walk off to an unseen exit at the back of the office.

"No, you couldn't."


Ri was getting frustrated. She had been running along a hallway with windows for what seemed like forever. She could see out the windows, and she saw the same sparkling buildings and lighted spaceships flying by in the night, but she couldn't find a door or any way out. It was like she was running in one giant circle. Each window view looked no different from the next.

Luckily she had only needed to hide from people a few times. They were surprisingly easy to hide from, though. They weren't looking for her. They just walked by her in pairs, talking to each other about strange things. She thought they were speaking Basic, but the words they sometimes used were weird. Maybe they were scientists of some kind, she thought. They did look smart.

Out of ideas on where to go next, Ri decided to try another direction that didn't seem to be leading outside. What if where she wanted to go was the opposite of where she thought she needed to go? Confusing herself, she shook her head and carefully peeked down a new hallway, making sure there was no one around. After listening hard, she couldn't hear any footsteps or talking, so she continued on quietly, constantly watching up ahead and behind.

Even though it was night, the hallways were hardly lit, but her eyes had adjusted to the dark a long time ago. She had left the white hallways not too long after she left her room, so it had been dark most of her journey. That had helped her hide, too. She was doing so well! If only she could find a way out...

A sudden series of strange noises made her stop immediately. Oddly, the sounds repeated in threes: click thud thud, click thud thud... And they were getting closer. Ri started to panic. There was nowhere to go but back down the long hallway, but whoever was coming would see her running. She froze, trying her hardest to concentrate. You...you can't see me...I'm not...here...

A thin, well-dressed man rounded the nearby corner, leading with a cane in one hand, though he didn't limp. He stopped as soon as he saw Ri, though his face didn't change. It didn't work? Maybe she wasn't trying hard enough. You see no one. I'm not here.

The man took a few more steps forward, allowing her to see his face more clearly, and it made her gasp. It was the same evil man who had killed her nannies and kidnapped her from home. She couldn't move.

The evil man only looked her up and down with a curious look on his bony, angular face. "Well, aren't you the little escape artist," he said, sounding as if he could laugh. His eyes narrowed at her but a small grin grew on his face that scared her even more.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you," he said kindly, though Ri knew better. He seemed to understand her thoughts. "I didn't before, did I?"

"You kill people," she finally was able to say. The man nodded honestly as he made his expression more serious.

"Sometimes. But not you. No, you," he said quietly, "are far too valuable." Ri didn't like the way he was looking at her, as if he was thinking of doing something to her.

"You're a smart young lady," the man finally said pleasantly, resting both of his hands on top of his cane in front of him. "You got this far from your room without anyone seeing or catching you." The man who had killed to kidnap her almost sounded proud of her accomplishment? Ri was so confused.

"Come with me to my ship," he continued calmly, "and I will take you to someone who, as I understand it, is working with your father."

Ri stared at the man, not sure if he was being serious. "You took me from my family, and now you want to take me back?"

The man shrugged and nodded, casually looking around the hallway. "I'll make you a deal. You come with me now, and I swear on my life that I will not harm you in any way. I can understand that you do not want to trust me, but I don't think the guards who are on their way here right now will be so kind to you."

The man's eyes focused intensely on her as she looked down the hallway behind him. She heard distant footsteps echoing down the hall like he had said, forcing her decision. Scared as she was, she finally nodded to him and followed him as they ventured through the maze of hallways, the man's cane clicking all the way.


If Mand had learned anything over the past year of her life, it was how much she despised being weak and reduced to being cared for by others. So much of what had happened to her since her rescue from her captor involved treating her poor health, and every issue stemmed from the four years she spent as a genetic experimentation subject, even her brush with the strength of the Dark Side of the Force. All her hard work, all the effort her friends had put in to help her, and she was almost right back where she started: weakened by fear, torture, and loss.

Both Koril and Elena continued to help her without hesitation, helping her onto a bed in the busy medical center. She would've preferred to have gone on to the Jedi Temple to be treated, but Elena had insisted they first stop here. Mand didn't have the strength to argue at the time.

"Really," she pleaded quietly, "I think I'm okay. My vision's getting better."

Sitting beside her, Elena shook her head. "I don't want to risk it. We have no idea how long you were under the trance, so we should make sure before we do anything else."

In the short time it had taken them to get from the morgue to the medical center, Mand's vision had gone from solid black to a hazy gray fog, but at least she was able to detect some motion. The improvement wasn't much, but thankful to still be alive, Mand was glad that was all that had suffered observably. As she tried to make herself comfortable in the bed, she felt a heavy blanket being draped over her and a delicate hand took up one of hers in a soft grip. A dark blur moved beside her.

"Mand," Elena said carefully, "...what happened?"

Mand drew in a shaky breath as she tried to sift through her memories herself. Things had happened so fast, and some things she remembered weren't really memories, but visions. She started slowly, describing the events from the confrontation on the platform to her torture opposite Rech where she fumbled for words to explain what had happened. Both Elena and Koril waited patiently.

"It was like they had...flipped a switch. I'd never seen him like that before. I'd seen him frustrated, angry before, but it had been justified; this was a different kind of rage..." She trailed off, almost afraid to state her realization aloud, since doing so would make it more real.

She could no longer counter the shakiness in her voice as she continued. "I think they used me...to break him."

Though the brightness and contrast wasn't improving, some of the objects in her vision seemed to be more focused than others. She kept her eyes moving in an effort to hopefully accelerate their recovery, but also to keep tears from accumulating in them.

"Do you know where he is now?" came Elena's soft voice from beside her. Mand shook her head, her voice even more shaky.

"He severed our connection before I blacked out. I can't feel him...sense him..." Elena's hand tightened around hers. Mand decided to change the subject.

"I woke up sometime later, strapped to a table, and my father, Morden Tarthos, was leaning over me. He asked...

"Why do you think I've brought you back here?"

Mand looked at the room around her. Pure white walls that had little detailing except for the curved way they met the ceiling. No windows, only one door. She remembered a room that looked exactly like it from one brief memory of the four years she spent under experimentation. She had doubted for a long time if it actually was a memory, more readily believing it was just some kind of fabricated recollection her mind had put together after the trauma. But lying in a similar room once again, a flood of memories began returning to her.

"Because you couldn't stand the thought of someone escaping your clutches," Mand answered as strongly as she could, but despite her attempted maliciousness, Morden's expression changed little.

"Of my four children," he continued coolly, "you were the strongest, and I had to know why. Why was it that my last child, not my first, was the one empowered enough to surpass me?"

"...I'm a threat to you?"

Expectedly, Morden ignored her question. "Your mother was right to hide you from me. Had I known about you before you were born, you would've been terminated. But I decided to instead monitor your development from a distance. You were given a false identity and memories, were placed under the tutelage of Cyrix, and you...exceeded expectations. Your siblings were trained, as well, by another, but they never came close. So, you were brought to me by a former apprentice of mine. I'm sure you remember him."

"Tzan," Mand breathed, the Dark Jedi who had kidnapped her from Rech's side on Coruscant when she was fifteen.

"Only it seemed that we had gotten to you too late. You were no longer willing to use the Force to your full potential. Something had changed. So we began using you as a clone template and tried to...enhance your power, as well as alter a few other things on the side. Unfortunately, our progress was so rudely interrupted, but another opportunity presented itself." Morden's eyes narrowed but a small grin spread across his face, as if he were proud of himself.

"Your man Rech was powerful, too, and like you, he withheld himself. But the past couple of months had unlocked some of his strength, and I could no longer ignore the obvious edge I could have over him: you."

Mand struggled to shake her head. "He'd kill you before he did anything for you. He knows you were behind my disappearance five years ago; he wouldn't serve you, no matter what you did to me."

"He would, if he thought you were dead, and if he thought I had nothing to do with it. Grief and loss are powerful motivators, you'd be surprised. He's already accomplished his first task: slay the two who kidnapped you. Now all I have to do is convince him that your friends who survived my other students were working against you, too."

"He left after that," Mand concluded softly, her voice still shaking, "and I decided to try the hibernation trance. I thought that if he didn't need me anymore, he wouldn't keep my body." Finally starting to see color, Mand blinked continuously as she vainly tried to force her eyes to focus. Koril, standing behind Elena who sat at Mand's side, seemed to be wearing a dark purple uniform, one she had only seen on him for formal occasions. Elena, too, was in her formal Jedi attire, but that wasn't out of the ordinary.

Elena finally spoke. "We don't know how you got out, but we're going to find Rech, okay?" Mand nodded, though she was a little distracted by her vision that was improving by the second.

"Noor might know. He knew a lot about my father's organization, and he knew how to find me."

Though things were still quite blurry, Mand could tell that Koril had lowered his head and looked away. She looked over to Elena who had also lowered her gaze. Her breath froze in her chest as Elena began quietly, confirming her fear.

"Mand...Master Noor was killed by one of the six. He was protecting me..." Her friend looked up, and just as her vision was nearly restored, it was blurred again by tears as she met Elena's gaze. "I'm sorry," Elena added with a whisper.

Mand looked away, stubbornly allowing only a few tears to fall. There would be time for grief later, but now she needed to be strong and stay focused. Morden was right: grief was a powerful force, and the last thing she needed was to be distracted from the task at hand. After releasing a few shaky breaths, she dried her eyes and looked up at Koril pointedly.

"Was my lightsaber still with my clothes?"

Beside her, Elena gave Mand a baffled look before she turned to Koril. Just as surprised, Koril finally moved and searched the pile of Mand's clothes behind him. Mand heard a metal click as Koril returned, handing her the Jedi weapon.

"Mand," Elena began warningly, but Mand only shook her head.

"My father fears me, and he's destroying the lives of everyone around me to destroy mine. I'm not hiding anymore. I'm not running away, and I don't need anyone else to die for me."

"But you're not well," Elena continued, concerned. "We just pulled you out of a morgue, you couldn't see ten minutes ago!"

"Everything that's happened comes back to me. My father's men even kidnapped Ri."

Elena's eyes widened in disbelief. "What!" Koril was just as shocked.

"Why? Why Ri?"

"I don't know, I just overheard some men talking about keeping her in a room near mine."

"That doesn't make any sense," Elena argued. "If the Tarthos were looking to make trouble for the Paneau Royalty, they had ample opportunity to get to Veon on that platform. Master Lithess was fighting two of them at once."

"Then maybe there are other motives. I know he has Cordira, too."

Elena seemed even more distraught as she looked back at Koril. "Why didn't we know that? They were both on Paneau, the..." She trailed off as she turned back to Mand, perplexed.

"You see, he needs to be stopped."

"You're not facing him alone," Elena responded defiantly. After a long moment, Mand finally nodded, ceding though she had completely different plans in mind.