Under Taren's boiling sun, the two stood, staring at each other. A thousand questions spilled into Ben's mind. How could this be possible? Was this possible? The other man released his hold on Ben's collar, and even with the Force at his side, Ben couldn't get a read on him, or see past his emotionless expression. They heard a series of footsteps, and turned to find that woman charging at Ben, sword raised. Small streams of blood trickled through the furrowed wrinkles of the concentration, or anger, in her forehead.
But once they were both turned, she stopped in her tracks, dropping her sword and doing nothing to hide her surprise. She switched her gaze back and forth between Ben and the other man, like she was waiting for the answer to the obvious unasked question.
Finally, Ben broke the silence. "Who are you?" He asked cautiously.
Another glance was exchanged. "Kane" Then nodded at the woman and said "And the girl trying to kill you is Lexi."
The woman, Lexi, moved closer. "Who are you?"
Ben swallowed hard. "Why are you trying to kill me?"
"Hey," Kane said, apparently remembering he still had a sword in his hand, bringing its tip to Ben's neck. "we answered your question. Now answer ours. Who are you?"
He would have swallowed the lump forming in the back of his throat, but didn't want to graze the steel blade. A bead of sweat fell from her his temple and traveled down his face and neck. "My name's Ben. Ben Cole. Now, it's my turn again; why are you trying to kill me?"
A faint smile touched Kane's lips. "A ship with absolutely no registration codes is brought down by Sith fighters, and we're not supposed to investigate?" He explained, cocking up an eyebrow slightly. "And since the Sith forced us to—" He stopped himself.
"To accept contracts on Jedi?"
"How did you know about that?" Kane asked, a flicker of anger darting across his face and lowering his weapon.
Ben's eyes found their way to his feet, without even tilting his head. "It's actually why we're here." He met Kane's gaze. "To try and negotiate a treaty between the two factions."
Despite having a sword, Kane crossed his arms across his chest. "Well, start talking then."
"Excuse me?"
He took a glance back at Lexi. "I lead the Bounty Hunter's Guild, here." Kane said with a hint of pride in his voice.
And that took Ben's voice. Great. . . He thought. What else could happen?
Ben glanced behind Kane and saw the ship behind him was now on the ground, and could see the large area's of rust on its hull. Then he remembered about Gallai.
"Do you have medical supplies? Or a bacta tank in your ship?" Ben asked hastily, moving closer to Kane and not even noticing his eyes widening.
As Kane backed up, Lexi spoke. "Why?"
There was no point in stalling anymore. "My . . . friend is hurt. I was heading out to find help when you attacked me." Ben's vision suddenly began to blur, as his shallow breathing consumed his hearing and head pounded harder then before.
"You don't look so good either, there." Kane pointed out. Ben collapsed the second the words left the man's mouth.
He came in and out of his state, the first time staring up at the bright sun above, the second having Kane looming over. He heard faintly, like across a great echoing distance, asked about where his friend was. "The cave," Ben whimpered, but wondered if it got out at all. He guessed it did, as the two people lifted him up, through Ben could only stare up at the sun, then metal ceiling panels, some of their edges infested with traces of grime, then finally a bright, almost blinding white light.
Ben felt something poke him, but he could barely notice. The thumping in his head felt like nothing he'd experienced, like his mind had actually shut down, or gone numb. Until moments later, the pounding abruptly ended. He would have smiled, had he had control in his muscles.
The young Jedi tried to scan his surroundings, but his mind didn't want to cooperate. He spoke out, though it came out only as squishy gurgle.
"Relax," A voice said. It took a second for it to register as Kane. "let the sedatives do their job. The more you fight it, the longer it'll take." After a moment, Ben complied, focusing on keeping his air slow, but steady.
But even with the medications taking effect, Ben could still feel his teeth rattle with the vibration under him. "We're getting your friend." Kane informed.
Darkness crept into the corners of his vision, yet he did not feel tired. But the Padawan would go blind if he stared at this light for much longer, so slowly shut his eyes together, and tried to ignore the bright spot on the center of his depleted sight. He slipped in and out of his awareness as the cool, welcoming numbness surrounded his mind. Then before Ben knew it, the rumbling was gone.
"What do you mean there's no one there?" A soft voice, not too far away asked.
"Hey, you wanna check the cave? Be my guest." Another voice mocked, not attempting to hide it. "I'm just telling you there's nothing in there."
Master Gallai. Somehow setting his teeth, Ben went against the advice and the drugs, forcing his mind to focus through the comfortable nothingness. First, he went for the restraints. The Force wouldn't help him; the clarity needed was far beyond him right now. So brute force was his next option. But when he tried, he could barely rattle the leather straps.
"I walked until I could barely see the ship, and nothing." The woman, Lexi, concluded.
You didn't go far enough! He wanted to scream out, but couldn't. His muscles burned with new energy, and as Ben thrashed about, Kane and Lexi came in.
"What are you doing?" Kane demanded, reaching out and stopping Ben by grabbing his shoulder. "Relax, or the medicine—"
Enough. He turned his head, and realized he was lying on see-through glass material with lights underneath. "Get me out of this," Ben said, unable to use his jaw. And added, "please."
Once again, darkness crept into his vision. But this time he felt the tug of unconscious, beaconing him to surrender to it. And there was nothing he could do to stop it. I'm sorry, he thought as his heavy eye lids closed.
Nothingness was an odd thing. He wasn't asleep, but not awake either, he was just there. Wherever, or whatever, there was.
Then, a cold surge of energy passed through his back, like he was jabbed with a Bothan Stunner, and Ben was back to the land of the living, raising up and gasping for breath. When air came to his lungs, Ben's mind was analyzing his surroundings. His restraints were gone, and Kane and Lexi stood next to him, one holding an empty syringe in their hand with a greenish vile dripping from its pointed tip. He tried to swing his legs around, but found his whole body turning and falling over the edge of the bed, crashing hard at their feet.
In a new feat of unique single-mindedness, Ben ignored the new pain in his shoulder and staggered to his feet, gripping the doorway for a moment before making his way across to the hold to the extended ramp. Behind him, Kane and Lexi watched with an eyebrow raised each.
"Doesn't the label tell you not to move for at least an hour?" Lexi whispered.
Kane looked down at the syringe. "Yep." Then turned and threw a look at her. She tossed him the glow-lamp in her hand and he raced off.
Ben was just within range of the ship's lights, using the walls of the cave to brace himself. They had landed just inches from the entrance, leaving only small rays of sunlight to break through the crack. He focused only on the darkness in front of him, willing his body to continue despite pleas from his hurt limbs. Get over it, he bitterly told his weary legs.
Yellow light caught Ben's eye, bouncing off the walls followed by rhythmic thumping of footsteps, but it didn't stop him.
She didn't go far enough, he kept telling himself while stumbling his way. Something broke under his heel, and Ben looked down to find a broken syringe at his feet with crushed fragments. As Kane drew closer with the light, more used medical supplies were revealed, and where his master should have been, was just rock.
He fell against the wall next to him, slumping to the floor and not noticing the scrapes he was getting. Ben was too late. He'd truly failed. Kane came running up to him, dropping to one knee with worry and confusion in his expression. "What the hell are you doing?" There was no answer. Ben pressed his palm against his forehead, knowing tears would not be far behind.
Ben. . . His head jerked up. It was Gallai, but after hastily looking to his sides, wondered if it was his imagination. Come Back. . .
There was a source, Ben knew that much, and it's all he needed. The Padawan stood at a frightening speed, causing Kane to have to catch up as he staggeringly ran back toward the ship.
But when he got there, there was nothing, until he saw part of a sleeve and half a hand in the crack between the edges of the cave and beginning of the ship. He quickly reached out and touched the hand, if anything to just know he wasn't going mad.
It was real, and the Bothan woman slid into his view as Kane came up behind Ben, panting slightly. Her wounds had gotten worse. The bump on her head had grown, changing to a deep, almost black kind of purple. Some of her cuts had re-opened, her face now covered in streaks of dried blood. Gallai's breathing was shallow, and her eyes were barely open.
By the Force, Ben wanted to gasp, if only he had the air. Before he knew it, Kane was moving him aside, getting closer to Gallai. With his help, she made it through the crack and leaned on him for balance. Her head swayed, and she was moving her arms in front of herself like a blind person. And all Ben could do was watch from the sidelines. He swore every curse he knew under his breath, and by the time they had gotten back to the medical room, he reached the last on the list.
Kane got her onto the table alone since Lexi oddly disappeared on them. Moments later, she came striding through the door, almost bumping into Ben.
"Get us back to base," Kane ordered as he put an air mask connected to a cord that lead to the ceiling to her elongated mouth. Then added, "She needs more then what we got. Just go over the mountains." Both of them turned and found Lexi still in the doorway, staring at Gallai.
"Lexi," He strongly said, enough to snap her out of it. After a moment, she left, and they were in the air in minutes.
Finally complying with his screaming legs, Ben staggered across the small room and slumped into a chair. Then found himself watching quietly as Kane cleaned up her cuts and did what he could with what he had. He wouldn't have to, if Ben only knew more about medicine, the Padawan chided himself. First instant they got back to Dantooine; he would be in line for the healer's daily class.
With a sigh, Kane finished, discarding a swab he had in his hand. She looked better, the cuts cleaned and patched, though there was probably little they could do about that bump. But there was something Ben found odd.
"Why haven't you knocked her out like you tried with me?"
Kane turned. "We don't know how bad that," He pointed at the bump. "is, so if I 'knocked her out' as you suggest, she might fall into a coma that not even your Jedi senses could get her out of."
"Where did you learn all this?"
He smiled a little. "Some of it from my dad, but most I learned from Lexi."
Ben couldn't tell if his eyebrow was raised or not. Her? He looked up toward the cockpit through the doorway and across the hull.
The other shrugged. "What can I say? She's got a special talent with a med kit. Besides, we teach each other what we know. Always have."
Under them, the ship buckled for a moment, then leveled out. Silence hung in the air as the life support machine ticked and hissed repeatedly; pumping what Ben was fresh air into Gallai.
"Ben," A muffled, barely audible voice said. Ben sprang to his weary feet, staggering over the bed.
"I'm here." He soothed, pulling the air mask free so she could speak.
Her eyes scanned to the edges of her vision, but her head did not move. "Where are we?" Gallai asked in a shallow breath.
"We're—" Ben stopped himself, glancing up at Kane standing against the wall where the bed was imbedded in. "We're safe." He was hoping for some kind of acknowledgment; a nod, anything, but got nothing. It was then something in the back of his mind bubbled up to the surface.
"Why did you leave the cave, master?" He asked, knowing that now probably wasn't the best time, but they did need to keep her awake. Perhaps making her think would help. "And where did you go?"
She took in another weak breath before answering. "Something awoke me from my sleep, a predator. I decided it would be best to leave before it caught sent of my blood." Ben flinched upon the reminder of his inadequate work.
"I'm not suprised," Kane said, stepping forward. "That cave you were in was only one of a network, scattering all across Taren. Nasty creatures stay in them, due to the cool air and the advantage they have over any unsuspecting person who would aimlessly walk into them. We've lost a couple of good men because of them." He turned to her. "You're lucky you got one of the less inhabited ones."
Gallai glanced at him, her green eyes giving nothing away. Her neck twitched slightly, then she returned her attention to Ben. "Where are we going?"
Kane stepped in front of Ben before the Padawan could give a reply. "Hold it," He interjected, then gestured at his face. "Haven't you noticed something?" Ben stood slowly, stepping next to Kane's side.
Gallai just stared up at the man, her expression hardening. "I'm sorry, but my vision is failing right now. I cannot see anything specific about your face." Her neck twitched again as she swallowed.
"You're lying." Kane plainly stated, pointing at her neck. Ben switched between Kane and his master, waiting for an explanation of some sort. Kane leaned in closer to her, squinting his eyes a little as he did. "But it's not fear," He paused. "It's guilt."
He stood, putting the weight of his body on his arm against the area between the top and bottom beds. Ben glanced up and noticed Kane's hand was next to the life support controls. Then leaned in close to Gallai.
"Tell me," Kane asked softly, yet with an edge of coldness in his voice. "why are you guilty?"
Ben swallow hard, and he judged by how Gallai glanced up at the roof of her bed, she knew where is hand was too. "Fine," She submitted at last.
Kane stood, pulling his hand away and crossing his arms around his chest. She slowly turned her head toward Ben.
"I'm sorry, you deserved to know, I—"
"Don't stall." Kane cut her off. Gallai threw him a look, then inhaled slowly.
"We were devastated after the Sith War. After Exar Kun turned so many of our own against us so easily, the order became weary, even paranoid, about any Jedi who showed the slightest sign's of anger or the hint of the Dark Side." As she spoke, the air around Ben became thick, making it hard to see, let alone breathe. At first he thought it was a side-effect of the combination of medications he'd taken over the past few hours, but soon realized it couldn't be it. He tried blinking it away, but with time it only grew worse, until with a flash, Ben was no longer on the ship.
He stood on the end of a large stairway, looking down at the main garden area of the Jedi Temple, paying no heed to the fast-moving traffic above. Two beings stood silently in the center of the garden, surrounded by a dozen different kind of exotic plants from all across the galaxy, lightsabers glittering in their hands. Both wore customary tan robes, with a large age difference between the two men.
The younger of them, standing on Ben's right, was a human barely in his twenties, with his brow furrowed in frustration with teeth set firmly together, bathed slightly in the light bouncing off his deep sapphire blade. The other was also human, wrinkles covering his worn face with long streaks of grey in his pulled back jet-black hair. His hard expression was squared in on the younger man.
Watching as the two began to circle each other, Gallai's voice returned to him. "Due to our desperation, the order allowed for some Force-Sensitive beings over our normal age limit to be accepted. For the most part, it worked out well, but there was one man who thought otherwise.
Abruptly, they stopped and struck. The younger man slashed his blade high, followed by dropping down and swiping his leg around. The older, however, merely blocked the blow and leapt up, avoiding the sideways kick and slamming his boot into the other man's face, landing a few feet back. The younger man crashed to the ground, loosing grip of his weapon as he reached up to his nose, now covered in dark blood.
"His name was Ganner Cole, a man we found soon after the devastation of Ossus. He had lost everything there, and we hoped we could help rid himself of his anger," Growling, the man, Ganner, threw himself to his feet, reaching out toward the plants to his right, and his lightsaber jumped into his grip, the sapphire blade flaring back to life. "We were wrong." Ganner charged, saber raised up high.
Another flash, and Ben was now in the hull of a starship, watching behind Ganner as the man stared out a large viewport at hyperspace. His deep black hair was now cropped very short, and his robes had been replaced with casual dark civilian clothing. A blaster was holstered at his waist next to his lightsaber. Ben could see Ganner's reflection in the glass, and instead of the bitter anger he saw moments ago, he saw only sadness.
"Days before the council meeting from where he was to be told to leave the order, Ganner fled Corusant., disappearing to the Outer Rim. And with the few resources we had, the order did not bother to search. That was a mistake."
After another flash, Ben was standing in the center of an old-time bank building. The wide space only had a few small island tables, spread across, with over a dozen different people cluttered against all them and the far wall, cowering as they kept their hands on top of their heads. Bright sunlight shined through the large oval viewport ceiling.
"For years, he ran the Outer Rim, going from one backwater planet to another, stealing with a gang he had formed." Ben turned and saw Ganner walking with three other men, all the others having masks on their face. "We know nothing beside that, except that they killed multiple innocent people."
They crowded around a metallic door, watching as one of the masked men connected a datapad to its controls. The other two broke away from the small group, pulling their masks off and bearing their blaster rifles. One was a mountain of a man, standing at least a head and a half over everyone, his clean shaven scalp bouncing sunlight from above as his repeatedly patched up clothes rustled together. The other was almost as short as the third man, his hair a mess like he'd just got out of bed with thick patches of stubble under his chin. His jaw and whole body shook, with his blood-shot eyes open as wide as they could be.
Ben noted the odd absence of an alarm with a cocked eyebrow. Then watched as they strode along the captives, looking down at them with fingers around the trigger of their blasters. The bigger man came to a sudden stop in front of a young couple, and after staring for a moment, smiled and grabbed the blond-haired girl from the floor.
"No!" The blonde's brown-haired mate screamed, throwing himself up at her, only to have a red bolt of energy shot into his head. He crumbled to the floor without a word.
The girl cried out in horror as the shaky man, the nozzle of his blaster still hot from the shot, lowered his weapon and smiled, revealing two rows of crooked teeth. The large man leaned in closer to the girl he held. "You're pretty," He said in his deep voice. "Would you like to make me happy? I think you do. Let's go—"
"Hey!" Ben turned and found Ganner coming toward the man, hands clenched in. "What the hell do you think you are you doing?"
"Having some fun," The other replied, widening his smile to a full-blown grin. "Try it someday, cap."
Surprisingly, when Ganner reach the man, despite the height difference he did not back down. "We're not here for fun. So put her down and get back to work."
"You know, you talk big, but you don't actually help out," The big man stepped toward him, looming over Ganner like a mesa. "Maybe you should start taking orders from us from now on."
"I tell you what, when you are able to say the words 'undercover operation' without stopping to think about it, I'll gladly come work for you. But 'till then—" He stopped after catching the big man glace behind him.
Ganner dropped down a second before the large man shot off a single bolt, but instead of him, it hit the wide-eyed man behind just as he got his blaster up. And before he could register it, Ganner put a shot into his thick neck.
And just as he reached out and snatched the girl, her cheeks now soaked in tears, the alarms went off.
He cupped his hands around his ears, trying to block out the screeching, electronic sirens. Ganner turned and saw the last man standing over the hacked open control box, frantically pounding away at his datapad. Watching this, Ben didn't think it was possible, but Ganner found a way to scream over the sirens. "Leave it!" He shouted. Then ran to the nearest wall not occupied by people.
Pulling the metal cylinder from his belt, Ganner ignited the sapphire blade, though the distinctive Snap-Hiss was almost completely drowned out. He plunged the blade in, slowly carving a man-sized oval just as the final man made it to him, his arms filled with his technology and a few small bags of credits. They made it through the hole just as officials busted down the barricaded door.
And for a moment, Ben was in darkness, listening to Gallai's voice. "This man was your father. And after the Mandalorian Wars, when Revan was recruiting and turning Jedi to his side, they found Ganner, and it wasn't long before he joined them."
He blinked, and was suddenly at a small enclave on some strange world he'd never seen. The building sat on a platform in the middle of an ocean, its main structure a large dome. Star cruisers filled the sky, with fighter's zipping past, spraying the structure with green bolt as big as he was. A transport landed on a landing platform not far from him, and a door behind him shot up into the ceiling, revealing a group of armor-clad Jedi, lightsabers active and in hand.
Across the way, the exit ramp of the transport lowered, and a crowd came charging out of the hole, a variety of crimson, purple, and yellow lightsabers igniting at once. Except for one. At the front of them, Ganner sprinted, his deep sapphire saber in hand and being the first to meet the Jedi.
"Unbeknownst to us, Ganner had uncovered the locations of some of our most secret training enclaves, even some which I didn't know about. Some were able to defend themselves, but most were reduced to ash by Revan and his army. There's no telling how many of our most entrusted secrets fell into the Sith Lord's hands."
A rainbow of plasma blades clashed all at once. Around the courtyard, Jedi fought Dark Jedi, with each passing second, a limb was cut off or a life was ended. And in the thick of it all, was Ganner. He hacked and slashed his blade around his body in a crazy feat to keep himself alive.
Suddenly, someone bumped into his back. He turned, and the beautiful woman, her long blond hair waving in the wind, blocked a strike with her ruby blade that would have taken Ganner's head. "Where were you!?"
"Busy," She simply replied, standing back-to-back as a group of Padawan's surrounded them.
"And in the years of battle, he fell for a fallen Jedi Knight named Ellaina Dral, who'd been one of the few Jedi who'd survived the Mandalorian Wars with Revan, and subsequently joined him without question. We later learned through ship logs that they had traveled to Ithor before they conquered it," He blinked, and he was again surrounded by ocean, but this time on an island, at sunset watching as both Ganner and Ellaina held hands with a Mon Calamari priest at their side, reading from a holobook. Though Ganner hadn't changed, Ellaina was in a long, flowing tan dress. The Mon Cal shut the book and said one last thing before they leaned forward and kissed. "and married."
"We're sure you were conceived in the same year. And after intercepting messages between them and fleet commander's, we discovered that they wanted out. But once you're in the Sith army, you don't leave. So they ran. It was just over a year, and we found them on Corusant."
Everything swelled around him, until Ben was sitting the backseat of a speeder, looking up at Ellaina in the passenger's seat. Her blond hair flapped wildly.
"I was apart of the strike team sent to bring them in. Our goal was capture, though I doubt the Sith would say the same. But they ran, so we pursued."
Ellaina swung around in her seat, pulling out a blaster and firing off a few rounds before swinging back. Green bolts flew past the speeder, and Ben felt the vehicle buckle under him, and knew one of those had connected. After a moment, He saw Ganner, his hair starting to grow again and with a thin beard, spin around in his seat in front of Ben and extended his arm. Blue lightning shot out from his fingertips.
"Back!" He shouted. "Leave us alone!!"
The speeder buckled again, stopping the lightning as Ganner was almost thrown, but managed to hang on and get himself back into his seat and out of Ben's view.
"Pull up!!" Ellaina screamed, pointing forward.
"I can't!" In response, she unbuckled her safety belt in a flash and threw herself back at Ben, arms spread wide--
And everything went dark.
"The speeder crashed into a wall, killing Ganner and Ellaina instantly. And while investigating the crash sight," Ben's eyes opened slowly, and found himself looking up at the face of a young female Bothan while in her arms. A black braid hung down to her shoulders. "I found you, Ben." A small, fat arm came up and touched the end of her nose. She smiled. "I'm not sure what it was, weather it was the Force, or just intuition, but I knew you were special, and after what had happened, I swore to be your teacher."
His vision flashed again, and Ben was back on the ship. He inhaled sharply, almost jumping in his chair. Gallai was still in her bed, but Kane was leaning against the wall, his eyes telling Ben he was completely lost in thought.
Gallai took in another slow breath. "And that's the story."
She looked up back at Kane as best she could. "Your turn." Gallai breathed.
It took a moment, but Kane finally snapped back. "My father, Gonab Lors, was a Mandalorian warrior who found me as a baby. I was alone, with nothing but a blanket to protect me. He brought me here, raising me like the biological son he never had."
Before Ben could ask one of the millions of questions, the ship shook and with the light-headed feeling passing through his cranium, he knew they were landing.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **
The base, appropriately title Blood Bones Grove, yielded surprising results. For such a crude name, one would inspect a half-used med-kit and an old blood stained bed, not a fully operation medical wing. Perhaps what shocked Ben truly was how clean it was.
White medical instruments covered the room, reflecting the light from above and almost blinding Ben. The Padawan watched as his master was lowered slowly into a bacta tank by both a Gammorian and Weequay assistants. Her robes were being cleaned and repaired on the farthest side of the room. The doctor who was working on his leg, an attractive blond, finished packing her things into her bag and strode off. Ben felt horrible, as he could not bring himself to look at her often, even glance, simply due to how much she looked like his mother.
After allowing the medications to numb his leg, Ben got up to his feet and started walking, only to find Kane and Lexi in the corner sitting on a bench.
Lexi was pulling the last of the roll of bacta-wrap she had around her exposed stomach, as Kane held her shirt up, though paid no attention to her, instead staring out into space. Ben was a little surprised that her suite was two parts. He limped over, stopping in front of them.
"Thank you." Ben said. Lexi looked straight up to meet his gaze, though Kane remained lost in his own world.
"For what?" Kane asked.
Even though he wasn't looking, Ben still gestured at the medical room. "For this. For taking us in and tending to our wounds."
A faint smile touched his brother's lips. "After we tried to kill you."
"Well," Ben said, reaching up and stroking his chin. "since you bring it up. . ." He stopped as the door beside them slid open.
A man, couldn't have been more then twenty years standard age to Ben's estimation, came charging through the doorway, passing Ben in a fury and almost knocking the Padawan down. He stopped in the middle of the room. "Kane! Kane!" He screamed twisting his head frantically.
Kane wasn't paying much attention, through did lazily raise his arm and look up at the man. "I'm over here, Faleur."
He, Faleur, turned and ran to him. The man extended something to Kane, and only after he took it was Ben able to see it was a comnlink. "It's him," Faleur informed. "And he's not happy." Kane activated the device and stood straight up, brining it to his mouth and walking aimlessly around.
Now that he was standing still, Ben could get a good look at this Faleur fellow. His height was average, and wore simple shirt, trousers, and boots. His blond hair hung a mess across his face, with strands of brown scattered about. He had strong cheekbones, but that was it, everything else looked normal. In fact, the only thing that stuck out was the orange vest with an odd emblem on its front. Ben watched while he inhaled and exhaled slowly, returning his face to normal colors.
"What's he want?" Lexi asked, lowering her skin-tight shirt over her bandaged waist.
Faleur shrugged. "Didn't tell me anything, besides to get Kane or he would 'crush my throat under his boot'." His eyes found their way to Ben, and Faleur's eyes went wide. He backed up against the wall, and his hand inched toward the blaster holstered at his side. But stopped when Lexi's hand touched his.
The man struggled to speak, spitting out half questions and sometimes only single letters. He stopped when Ben showed his own hands. "It's a long story," Ben simply said with a slight grin.
An unexpected curse echoed through the room, and virtually everyone turned to Kane as he talked into the device. Ben limped over to Faleur. "Who is that?"
Faleur turned. His shock had reseeded for the most part, though his were still pretty wide. "He's a Sith Lord. The one who was sent here to supposedly 'fortify our defenses against the Jedi', but everyone here knows we're being watched."
Ben glanced at Kane, then back to Faleur. "Where is he?"
"They set up a base in a clearing just a few clicks from here." Faleur informed, his attention now entirely on Kane. Ben joined him. His brother was almost stamping at this point, and his near-screaming into the comnlink made it simple to eavesdrop.
"I did not break our agreement." Kane retorted firmly.
"Oh, but you did, child." A deep, yet cold voice replied through the device. "I know you took survivors from that crash. And I know at least one of them is a Jedi. So by harboring these people, you violate our contract."
Kane gripped the comnlink tighter. "But. . ." The voice continued. "if you surrender them to us, then perhaps I'll overlook this defiance."
"No." Kane said before a breath could be drawn.
"Don't pretend you have a choice, child. And you know exactly what we can do to you and your people with the press of a button." There was a pause. "So, what will it be?"
Kane let the comnlink lower as he looked around him at all the eager faces staring, though caught a hint of fear in some. And after seeing his brother, Lexi, and best friend, the answer was simple. He raised the device back to his lips.
"You want them? Come get 'em." And cut the connection.