"Vengeance taken will often tear the heart and torment the conscience."

-Arthur Schopenhauer

"We need to find a place to land and resupply. Hopefully we can find some helpful information as well." Thea drummed her fingers on the control panel, her face illuminated by a soft green glow of the navigation screen. Cody scooted to the edge of his seat and hovered over her shoulder so that he could get a glimpse of the surrounding systems.

"As much as I hate saying this, I think our best bet is to head toward the Core. If we really want to hear murmurs and talks of where the Imps are heading, the closer we get to Triple Zero the better." Cody hated the idea of returning anywhere near Coruscant. Having to hear, see and be in contact with all the familiar faces and voices for his former command would not bring fond memories.

Thea's head slightly bobbed in tentative agreement. She was just as reluctant to head near her terrors, but it was her idea and if they were to get any information she knew she would have to toughen up. There weren't any bounties on her head and no one recognized her anyway so she had nothing to really fear…right?

"Abregado-Rae would be a good start then," Thea punched a few keys on the consul bringing up the information for Cody. She leaned back in her seat with a thoughtful look plastered on her face. "It's a rough and tumble world, only hard core traders go there and it's the starting point for the bacta-run. There will be lots of traders and smuggler types if the Empire hasn't crushed it with its paw yet.

"Compared to most core worlds, it'll seem almost back-worldly. The space ports are always busy but poorly constructed and run. It shouldn't be hard to get in and get around and we can blend in easily with the scum there. I have a very good friend/client who is from there; at least she used to be." Turning off the panel, Cody propped himself against his arm and stared straight ahead at nothing. "Cody?" Thea asked, "What do you think?"

Lightly shaking his head, he turned to her with a grim expression. What do I think? I think this whole plan is insane and we should stay far away from any Imperial entanglement and live life quietly. Maybe on a farm like Rex and Levet or near a very small city. That would be fine as long I'm not recognized. Kids maybe one day and a pet nexu to curl at our feet at night, is that too much to ask for?

Thea's soft voice again shook Cody out of his thoughts and this time he completely focused on her. "There's no way I can convince you to not go through this is there?" He muttered.

Thea furrowed her golden-red brows together. "I thought you'd understand better than anyone why I need to do this," she said defensively.

Sighing, he kept his voice patient, "I do understand Thea; I was just hoping we could just well…" Cody trailed off. He felt stupid, foolish and weak for wanting such un-soldier like dream. But I'm not a soldier anymore.

Sitting forward in her chair, Thea ran her hand along Cody's broad shoulder and down his arm. I'm being so selfish, I know. Asking him to go back and face his kin, asking him to kill one of his own when he fought so hard for freedom, "Cody, don't come with me."Cody pierced Thea with a volatile stare.

"What?"

"I can't ask you to give up what you fought so hard to gain. You have too much to lose," Thea gripped his arm tighter.

"You are mad," he growled. She clearly hadn't expected that reaction and gave him a very perplexed look. His hand suddenly shot out, startling Thea a bit and tangled his fingers in her silky hair, pulling her even more forwards until their foreheads touched. "You're right, I have fought hard and I do have a lot to lose so I'm sticking by your side. I won't, I can't lose you to this hair brained scheme. I want a future with you so don't even try to come up with an excuse as to why I should stay behind because you know I won't. I won't Thea." He cupped her jaw with his other hand and crushed his lips to hers sealing any protest uttered from her mouth.

Slowly they parted; Thea's eyes still closed reeling in the taste of Cody. When had she become so dependent on his strength? Maybe even in her bleakest of moments alone she had always relied on the strength that Echo had left her and now physically craved for it. I am strong, that is how I survived this long by myself…but is there any shame in a little reliance? Opening her eyes, Thea only saw determination and love in Cody's own. No, there is nothing wrong with it. I am not alone in this mad world.

With their course now set to Abregado-Rae, Thea had the new challenge of getting in contact with her friend.

Eshka Koskit'krel, a female bothan and to those who did and didn't know her, knew Eshka as an extravagant gem collector, only wanting the most rarest and expensive. With these gems to the outside eye she would make fine jewelry or leave them in pure form and sell them to those whose pockets ran deep. Unbeknownst to even Thea, Eshka stored vital data chips about Imperial locations, up and coming weapons and any important information deemed necessary within these gems and "sold" them to the underground resistance.

Thea recalled meeting Eshka days after escaping Coruscant on Abregado-Rae. While still weak, severely bruised and needing medical attention but not having money and afraid of running into Imperial officers, Thea kept her head down and hoped to find some sort of work as a pilot since that's what she had done for so long. The smell of food even from some of the seedy and unappealing restaurants became attractive as her stomach begged for much needed sustenance; it almost made her dizzy. In fact, her body finally gave up protesting as she continued to turn a blind eye and deaf ear. Her legs gave out and stumbled to the ground. Uncaring pedestrians continued to walk past her as if she weren't even there.

Shallow tears dripped from Thea's eyes as the realization of what she had become and that she may die despite her escape from hell. The only thing that she had left was the body suite she stole from the clone officer and the marks left from Appo and Bow. Why would I want to go on?

A gentle paw pressed on the center of her back caused Thea to freeze. If this is the end, please make it quick, she silently begged. When nothing happened, Thea weakly turned her head to the side and glanced through her matted hair to see a long camel-like snout pointed at her.

"We have to get you off these disgusting walkways," the surprising soft voice said to her.

Thea was baffled and couldn't get her abused mind to wrap around this creature that was helping her. Why was it helping her? What did it want? Finding her voice, Thea scathingly asked the question, "Why?"

"Questions and answers later, Little Girl. Come on, get up," The creature's strong claw like fingers tenderly wrapped around Thea's battered arm as if she had known Thea had been through such atrocities and got her to her feet. "Do you have a home?"

Thea shook her head, the dizziness returning. Her knees again gave out and she slumped against her savior. "Sorry," Thea managed to mumble before passing out.

When she awoken it wasn't on the streets as she expected, but on a soft mattress and surrounded by walls. She slowly sat up from the bed and looked around. The room was dimly lit which made it easy on the eyes and a chair with some clothes sat next to the bed. Shuddering, Thea realized that someone had taken the liberty of removing the top half of the body suit from her, peeling it down to her waist and leaving her in her bra. Bandages and bacta salve had been applied to her arms, face, neck, chest and where ever there seemed to be a cut or bruise. She was somewhat appalled that no one had asked her permission to do this, but at least they hadn't gone any further than her chest. The fact that her cuts and bruises already felt a bit better also helped settle any fire brewing within. The bed felt so comfortable to Thea, it had been a long time since she had laid in one and with soft, cotton; real cotton too, not the imitation kind of blankets.

She remembered someone helping her off the walkways of the busy city and then everything went blank. Thea knew that she should find out who had done this for her, but the temptation of a soft bed won and she snuggled deeper into her warm cocoon.

It wasn't long until she found out. "You're awake," a very strong accented voice echoed into her ears and entered the room. Thea curled the blankets up to her chin. The lights in the room suddenly got brighter and Thea had to squint for a moment to adjust to the difference. She turned to look at her rescuer and was surprised to see a bothan. Thea had never been around a bothan before.

This one was white as the snow on Hoth with very faint chestnut colored patches on her arms and neck. The little tresses at the end of her muzzle were in a braid with blue and green silk ribbon woven into it. Dressed in a jaded Nehru-type tunic and oddly followed by cargo style pants that Thea would have never thought to go with such an elegant shirt, she eyed the bothan with caution. Her jaded eyes contrasted drastically with her white fur, but they held a kindness which Thea had not seen in a long time.

"I have some soup and fresh bread out on the stove along with water containing electrolytes. The medical readout said your body was severely depleted of that as well as some internal bruising and fractures. With those cuts and marks I can believe it." The bothan pinched her long snout together which would have caused Thea to laugh if she wasn't so confused.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Thea's voice was hoarse and the thought of water only a hundred or so feet away made her want to drool, but her body lacked in producing any moisture to her mouth. She also aired on the side of caution dispite the nice bed and medical treatment; Thea already broke free from one prison; she didn't want to end up in another.

Removing the clothes that were piled on the chair, the bothan grabbed it and set it closer to the bed. Thea could feel the soft puffs of air coming from her long snout, causing wisps of her hair to flutter. Her white fuzzy ears perked straight up at attention and her eyes brightly sparkled.

"You obviously needed my help," the bothan stated.

"That doesn't mean you couldn't have left me to die like everyone else who passed by," Thea pointed out.

"Would you have preferred that, Little Girl?" Her ears flattened in obvious anger and insult.

Would have I? "No, but if you had any clue what I had just been through, you'd understand why I don't trust you're intentions," Thea knew she sounded ungrateful, but all this seemed too good to be true.

Again to her surprise, the bothan gave a light chuckle which showed she sharp teeth. "I promise you my dear you have nothing to fear from me. I'm just a gem dealer who has a soft spot for hard luck cases."

"Then I'm the biggest hard luck case you'll probably ever meet."

Thea later learned the bothan's name over the soup; bread and water, Eshka Koskit'krel and she told the young pilot about her business, excluding the storing of data chips and her connection to the underground resistance. Thea could sense that there was something Eshka wasn't telling her she couldn't quite place it, but giving a mental shrug Thea decided not question it. She was just grateful for a kind word and a warm bed.

Thea didn't talk about her bruises at first or her night terrors, but Eshka had been ever so wonderful and patient to let her stay at least until she got back on her feet. Wanting to repay the kindness that Eshka bestowed on her, Thea had practically begged the older bothan to let her do something. Thea told the bothan that she had been a pilot and could be a runner for her. Eventually conceding, Eshka let Thea do a couple of test runs for her before letting her become a regular. Ultimately Eshka found that she could completely trust Thea be it with her precious gems, bacta etc… and let Thea become her pilot and shipper.

It was then during that time Thea told Eshka about Appo and Bow, her time working with the GAR and even her brief time with Echo.

They had become close friends, even like a small family and Thea owed so much to the bothan. If it wasn't for her, Thea knew she would have been dead by now. Eshka was the one friend she really could trust about anything, at least she thought so.

"So this friend of yours, do you think she's still there?" A dark feeling began to settle in Cody's stomach and he knew exactly why. Being a soldier in the clone army they had rarely just gone into any situation blind; unplanned of what sort danger laid ahead of them. There was always a strategy, always some sort of intelligence to be stored in his HUD and he was always armed to the tee.

Even on the smuggling missions Cody had gone on with Thea there at least was an agenda and depending on the cargo, they knew what they were getting into. Sometimes there would be surprises, but even in the military that came with the territory.

No, this…mission they were going in with complete blinders. Even if they got a hold of Thea's friend it was the unknown, lack of Intel and resources that was bothering Cody. It was like walking into an already darkened room blindfolded and not given any sort of directions or commands on where to go or what to do. It just seemed wrong. It was wrong and there was nothing Cody could do about it except try and help guide Thea as best as he could in the dark.

"Well this trip will be for nothing if she isn't. I'll send her an encrypted message and tell her…"

"Don't." Cody quickly cut Thea off.

"What?" She asked confused.

"Don't send it encrypted. If there are Imps and there will be, they'll work furiously to crack it and it'll be useless. Just send her a message saying that you're going to be in town for a couple days for refueling and supplies and you'd like to meet because you haven't see each other in a while. Nothing too suspicious but don't make too casual either. They'll be looking for that," Cody breathed out, slowly letting the fire out of his throat.

Thea quickly typed up a message and Cody watched as her finger hovered over the send button and then curled into her palm. Cody twisted his lips in bemusement. Was she having second thoughts?

"Thea?" He asked. Her finger quickly unfolded and pressed hard onto the screen. She held it there until the tip began to turn white and started to shake from the pressure. Cody hesitantly took a hold of her wrist and with a bit of resistance from Thea, he removed her hand from the consul and held it in his own hands. "It'll be okay," Cody tried to sound positive for her.

Thea continued to look at the consul as if she didn't hear him. "Am I a bad person Cody?" She asked a few minutes later, her voice barely above a whisper.

Cody shook his head. "No, why would you think that way?"

Turning to look at him, her eyes didn't betray the disturbance that brewed within. "Why would my nightmares return if I wasn't?" Her eyes seemed to cloud over as the storm swelled. "I want them dead for selfish reasons; for my own vendetta. I want them to suffer as much as they made me suffer, if not more." Cody didn't know what to say after that and he didn't have to. Thea stood up and stretched. Lightly running her hand through Cody's groomed mane, she said tiredly, "I'm going to take a nap. Please wake me if we receive a transmission back."

He should have stopped her. He should have made her come back and talk to him. He should have done so many things at that moment, but instead Cody watched her retreat to their cabin and let the cold steel wall build. Turning back around in his seat and letting his back and shoulders slump exhaustedly against the cool leather, Cody pushed his palms into his eyes. Black spots popped before him and sharp prickles ran up his spine.

The familiar feeling of bitter animosity began to return (not that it ever really left) for Appo and Bow and when watched Thea retreat, black vile ooze started to spread over his insides. It was anger, hatred, severe hostility and the want to cause brutal agony to his kin for every ounce of ache Thea had suffered. It would be done too, he was sure of it. Vengeance's almighty hand would find Appo and Bow.

Was this what Thea felt? If it was, not that he would admit it openly, Cody was afraid.

I haven't believed in a higher power not in a long time, but if someone or something is out there, please watch over us as we walk in the shadow of darkness.

Thank you all who have reviewed so far, keeps the brain storming and the fingers typing =)

Please let me know what you think and continue to enjoy! More to come soon