"Oh, the next chapter will be easy," I said. "I'll have it out before Chapter X goes live," I said.

I apparently am filled with lies, and Theron was being a most uncooperative muse. I'm still not happy with this chapter, but at least it's up now. Sorry about that!

Chapter Three: In which, the Agent and Inquisitor and Smuggler appear; Theron has potential in-laws to deal with; and the Taerich clan is proven to be almost as dysfunctional as the Skywalkers.

If I owned any part of the Star Wars franchise besides the merchandise, do you really think I'd be writing fanfiction?


Some days in the Alliance headquarters were better than others. This day was not one of them.

The day had started on a very rough note around four in the morning. The nightmare that Xaja had been trapped in that evening had been worse than normal, and it had taken far longer than usual for Theron to be able to wake her up- and then, of course, her reaction to abruptly being awoken was to bolt upright and smack the top of her head against Theron's face. He didn't begrudge her the discomfort, especially when she'd become aware enough to realize just what had happened and apologised profusely. But after such a rough awakening as that (for both of them), the odds of going back to sleep were next to nil… and that was before Theron remembered that Xaja, being a natural telepath, had probably projected the nightmare through the Force so others could sense it.

Indeed, when Xaja and Theron had made their slow and sleep-deprived way into the war room in the base a couple hours later (there'd been no way in hell Theron would have gone back to sleep until he knew Xaja was all right, and she'd been too scared to rest again, even if she'd denied it), Lana had given them both a concerned look, and Sana-Re had paused to say something quiet and cryptically comforting to the Jedi, in the way that only a Voss could manage. Koth had been oblivious until Senya had kicked him under the table after the Zakuulan made one too many off-hand stupid remarks. Even a couple of the Sith Lords present at the base gave Xaja questioning looks- and one probably would have jeered if Xaja hadn't sensed something and given him a glare dark enough to send him scurrying off on a suddenly-remembered errand. And the day hadn't gotten much better from there.

Another report of Zakuulan presences increasing in the Core Worlds. Another Star Fortress appearing over Voss. Arcann setting another high bounty for the live capture of everyone he knew was associated with the rebellion- currently, that seemed to be limited to Xaja, Senya, Koth, and Lana, with Xaja's head apparently being worth the most credits. One loud shouting match between a Republic corporal and an Imperial private that Xaja had wound up breaking up herself. Scorpio otherwise being more difficult to deal with than normal (and that was saying something). Admiral Aygo having to admit that one of his scouting runs had met with a disaster and five coalition soldiers had been lost near Arkania. M1-4X, the fanatically loyal Republic wardroid Theron had managed to borrow-without-permission from Coruscant (and he suspected his father had had a hand in ensuring the droid's absence wasn't questioned) attempting to kill Major Pierce, a grizzled Imperial veteran who'd once served the Emperor's Wrath, Lord Maglion (and hell if anyone knew where that Sith was. It was probably a good thing he wasn't here though, considering some unfinished business between himself and Xaja of a pain-filled nature.).

Xaja had trudged back into the command centre after telling off Forex and Pierce both for their behaviour (and Theron didn't think he'd ever heard her yell that loudly before. Whatever she'd said, Forex and Pierce were now on their very best behaviour, and so were most of the other soldiers in the base.), raking her hands through her long red hair. "I swear to the Force…" she muttered under her breath, clearly frustrated despite her Jedi training. "Who had the bright idea to program Forex that way?!"

"This Gand does not know, Master Jedi. Forex has been like that since Major Kota brought him into Havoc Squad." Yuun shrugged apologetically as he walked by- although Theron personally thought 'walked' was a misnomer. The huntsman alien glided more than he just walked. "This Gand can try to reason with Forex, as we were squadmates in the last war."

Xaja offered the alien a tight smile in thanks as she turned to walk to Hylo's centre of operations, but didn't get far before being intercepted by Nico and finding a mug of caff in her hand. The older spacer himself made no mention of the uncharacteristically thoughtful action, instead just turning the Jedi around by her shoulders and walking her back to the control room. "I got Hylo's reports already here for ya, Red. Two of her pilots are supposed to be returnin' in today from a run to Hutt Space and…"

Theron absently tuned out Nico's reporting, already knowing the details of the base's status today (it paid to be SIS trained and a naturally snoopy person anyway). Instead, he just focused on Xaja as the Jedi let herself be guided back to a hard chair, sipping at her caff as she took in the data. The bags under her eyes were impressively dark and told anyone halfway observant that she hadn't had a full night of sleep since she'd woken up from carbonite, and most of the time it was nightmare-related. The grey to her hair was hidden by the locks being held back in a nerftail, but Theron still knew the silver strands were there. Her laughter had been almost completely silenced, and there was a stoop to her shoulders that had never been there, even after Ziost. But her eyes, so dark and saddened in their appearance that-

Crash. Thud. Incoherent humanoid shouting.

Xaja's face twisted for a moment in immense reluctance before she started to stand up. Theron quickly intercepted, lightly pushing down on her shoulders. "Lana and I will go deal with that," he said, glancing over his shoulder to make sure the Sith had heard that (she had, and would probably have rolled her eyes if Xaja hadn't been right there). "You sit tight and try to relax."

It said something when Xaja didn't protest, but just sighed and settled back into her seat. "You were saying, Nico?" she tiredly asked as Theron and Lana hurried off to the secure lift, set on resolving whatever crisis was going on outside the base.

The conflict ended with some of the newer recruits (two Padawans, a Mandalorian, and one Imperial soldier) being reassigned to go pick up the tall pile of crates that had been knocked over by someone's ineptness with a speeder. Theron wasn't quite sure what exactly had happened, but he and Lana just agreed while walking back to the lift that Xaja was only going to hear of an accident and a couple of minor injuries in the form of bruises. The Sith and the agent didn't agree on a lot of things, but Xaja's wellbeing was one of the few things they were in agreement on.

"Right, she should have all the reports in by this point," Lana was saying as she hit the button to summon the lift back up. "I want to talk with her about some of the training concerns some of the Force Sensitive newcomers have and-" She paused and tilted her head, sensing something in the Force that Theron was blind to… something that made what little colour was already in her pale face drain away. "It can't be… he's dead!"

Theron frowned in confusion, then heard the distinctive whine of a ship's engines- more accurately, the engines of an XS Freighter as it swooped down to the base from the atmosphere. A rare grin tugged at the agent's mouth as he recognized the ship's markings- it had been a couple of years since he'd seen the captain, but knew the man would be incredibly helpful to the alliance. And apparently Lana could sense the passenger Theron had hoped the captain would pick up.

Theron absently hoped Lana would forgive him eventually for neglecting to tell her just who he'd managed to find for the Alliance, and for Xaja's own benefit.

Two men walked out of the ship once it'd docked and started up the ramp to the main portion of the base, both tall and slender of build, probably standing a full foot taller than Xaja had she been beside them to compare. The one in spacer's garb was a little bit more muscular, dark blond hair looking permanently mussed up (Theron knew the spacer did that look on purpose) and hazel eyes that normally had a flirtatious wink to them, when their owner wasn't quite so concerned. The other was a little thinner, even under the light Mandalorian-styled armour he wore, and had his long dark hair in a nerftail. Mandalorians weren't uncommon in the Alliance, but one carrying a lightsaber on his hip was. His eyes were dark brown, and had little about them to hint that once they might have glowed sulphuric yellow. The facial characteristics of both men hinted that they were closely related- brothers, if one knew either of them well.

The spacer was the first one to speak once he'd caught sight of Theron's red jacket and recognized the woman next to him. "Nice hideout," he said with a grin, lightly bumping Theron's shoulder in greeting and giving Lana a deep and exaggerated bow that would have made Nico proud. "Lana, lookin' fabulous as always…"

"Quit it," the other man said, giving the spacer a playful shove before the blond could kiss Lana's hand. His voice, while not quite the spacer's drawl that the first had, was a far cry from the accent one would have expected of a one-time Sith Lord. "It's good to see you again, Theron. Have you been well, Lana?"

Lana's mouth had fallen open in shock, something that the Sith rarely displayed, if ever. "You… you're dead! Imperial records say you died years ago!"

The dark-haired man smirked. "Oh, good. If you were convinced of my demise, that means Zakuul is too… and Darth Acina as well." The man once known as Darth Imperius glanced around, looking for anyone who looked to be still loyal to the old Dark Council or who might have had a grudge against him for one reason or another. "I discovered during the war that someone had uncovered my familial connections and was plotting to use them against me. Whether that would have meant aiding Zakuul or acting independently, I'm not sure, and I thought it prudent to not stay long enough to find out. I faked my death, had my wife and my brother help me get to Mandalorian space, and have been there ever since while trying to find a way to bring Zakuul down. Few people knew what my name was before my ascension, and nobody was looking for a dead man…" He shrugged.

"And considering what the bastards did to our fearless leader, we didn't have any plans on dyin' until we'd gotten even." The spacer cracked his knuckles, a grim and angry light coming to his hazel eyes. Theron felt the barest flicker of something across his senses, enough to remind him that while the blond hadn't ever pursued the path of the Jedi or the Sith, the Force was still with him. Considering who his family was, it wasn't surprising. "She is here though, right?"

"Yeah, she's been here for a while now. All things considered, she's doing okay." Theron smiled, and then felt the grin broaden when he saw the wide-eyed, shocked stare Lana was giving him.

"You… you knew about this?! You were in contact with both of them?!"

"Only Captain Korin. Darth Im- er, Sorand came along for the ride, and I didn't find out about that until recently." Theron raised his hands defensively when Lana took a step toward him. "Hey, I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone he was alive!"

"It's true, Lana. I'm sorry I didn't try to establish contact with you sooner, but with things being as they were…" Sorand shrugged again. "It was better all 'round that the less people who knew I was alive, the better. You're the… sixth person to know of my current status, if that makes you feel better."

"All this time…" Lana shook her head, then gave Theron a glare that warned him she was going to demand answers in detail later. "I'll… I'll go bring her here, then. She'll be pleased to see you both."

Theron nodded in agreement. He'd told Xaja within an hour of meeting her on Odessen the first time that he knew the status of the one-time Darth Imperius and the spacer known as Rogun's Bane, and he'd set himself to finding both of them since. Honestly, he hadn't been expecting either of them to show up quite so quickly, but considering all the (questionably legal) upgrades Korin made to his ship, it was reasonable to assume the brothers could have dropped everything and run to Odessen with Theron's first transmission, and made remarkably good time. The moment Lana disappeared with the lift, Theron felt a datachip being surreptitiously passed to his hand from Korin, and accepted it. "Any problems with the assignment?" he quietly asked both brothers. Korin had been the only one he'd recruited and trained to SIS covert ops standards, but he'd found out upon meeting the supposed-dead Sith Lord with him that he'd gotten both brothers in that deal…

"Nothin' that couldn't be solved with a mugging, a drugging, or any other incident to get blamed on the Zildrog lunatics." Korin's grin had an air of mischief to it that not even Zakuul had been able to drive out of him. "What kinda professional do you take me-" Sorand coughed loudly. "... us for?" Korin quickly amended with a wink.

Theron just raised an eyebrow at both brothers. "Rishi comes to mind…"

"That was all his fault, I'll have you know," Sorand muttered, frowning at his older brother's unrepentant grin.

"Awww, what's life without some adventure?" Korin laughed and leaned one elbow on Theron's shoulder, ignoring his boss's protesting noise. Being two inches taller apparently did make all the difference… "So, did'ja miss us?" he asked with a shameless wink.

Theron rolled his eyes and gave Korin a jab to his ribcage. "Yes, immensely, and most certainly not in the way you're hoping, Captain. There was plenty of… distraction to keep me busy," he added with a grin.

Korin flushed and coughed while Sorand burst into laughter. "And of all the folks in the galaxy…" Theron hadn't originally intended to tell the flirtatious smuggler that the blond captain was hitting on the man who'd slept with said smuggler's older sister, but after that had come to light after the Ziost incident, Korin hadn't been able to look him in the eye for two days… and then had immediately started asking about Lana, to nobody's surprise, Sorand and Theron's amusement, and Lana's frustration.

If Xaja hadn't been in the picture, Theron probably could have been persuaded to go for the handsome spacer. But that was something he was never, ever telling the pretty redhead who'd just appeared on the lift with Lana… dropping the datapad she'd been carrying, and running at both the smuggler and the ex-Sith with a wordless cry of relieved joy… being caught in a tight hug by her youngest brother and swung around before the middle sibling could steal her away. Theron smiled and backed away from the three, giving Xaja some time to get reacquainted with her younger brothers. He would have recruited Korin Taerich and Sorand Taerich (or Rand Verhayc as he was now being called in Mandalorian space) to the alliance even if they hadn't been Xaja's brothers, since good healers with Sith training and unmatched pilots weren't easy to find and were a valuable boost to the alliance forces.

The open smile on Xaja's face and the laughter he could hear from the trio reassured him that he'd made the right call in bringing the brothers in sooner. If only he could get a solid location on where the last surviving member of her family was…


The nightmares hadn't gone away with her brothers' arrival to Odessen (and with them, two members of Sorand's crew whom he'd found after his flight from the Empire, Dr. Talos Drellik and the quiet assassin Xalek. Nobody from Korin's old crew was present, although he was pretty sure he had a lead as to where one member was hiding out.). But Theron thought they might have gotten better- at least, Xaja hadn't woken him up quite as many times in the two evenings since they'd arrived. Her eyes seemed brighter now, the sorrow in her gaze lessened, and her shoulders stooped less- it was remarkable what the presence of Darth Imperius and one of the most notorious Outer Rim spacers did for both her and the alliance as a whole.

Of course, nobody on the base besides the siblings themselves was entirely clear of how the three had been split apart as children and wound up a Jedi Master, a professional smuggler, and a Sith Lord. Xaja was in the middle of trying to explain the story to Theron as the pair walked back to her quarters in the late evening. "... so Korin managed to escape the raiders, stowed away on one of their ships, and smuggled himself to Coruscant. Sorand was captured after Mum was killed, made a slave, and was found out to be Force-sensitive almost ten years later on Korriban. With how bad the damage was to the city, our father couldn't find either of them for years after the fact…"

"Meanwhile you were in the Jedi Enclave that your parents had sent you to when you were little and had no idea any of that was going on?" Theron gently squeezed Xaja's hand in his own, intertwining his fingers with her own. She'd removed her leatheris gloves already, and he now got the pleasure of feeling her skin directly on his own. Her hands weren't nearly as soft as a normal woman's, so covered in calluses and scars were they, but they were her hands and he loved every marr on her skin. They told an incredibly interesting story about their owner.

"Yeah. The last time I saw my mother, I was six months old. I didn't even know I had brothers until Master Din apprenticed me, or that my mother was a former Jedi and my father was an Imperial agent." Xaja paused and looked at Theron, squeezing his hand back and lightly leaning against his arm, a sign of affection she kept quiet from most of everyone else. "With your's and Lana's contacts, do you know if my father…?"

"He's alive, from what Lana's been able to pull up. I haven't been able to find any solid details on his location yet." The pair turned the corner into Xaja's private chamber, and Theron frowned at the unusual darkness of the room. Not even the large holomap of the galaxy was activated. "What the…"

"Maybe it's another short in the circuits," Xaja muttered. Theron just saw the outline of her head at his shoulder as she looked up to the wires running along the walls. "I'll call Nico and see if he-"

The blast door behind them slid shut with a bang. Theron went rigid as he drew one of his blasters, instinctively pushing Xaja behind him. "It's not the circuit," he whispered, ears straining for any sound in the room that might hint as to the impending peril the two of them were stuck in.

He heard the soft clink of metal, and Xaja moved back to his side, undoubtedly holding one of her lightsabers in a tight grip. He felt more than heard her movements as she leaned forward, probably casting out with the Force senses he would never have. "... There's someone here, but they know how to hide," she murmured. "I can't tell who or where they are."

A Zakuul assassin? An Imperial with a grudge against the Jedi Master who'd caused so much harm to the Empire- or perhaps with a grudge against Darth Imperius or Captain Taerich, and who'd somehow found their connection? Theron frowned and cautiously crept forward, as stealthily as he could manage… which still wasn't careful enough to avoid the cleverly-disguised tripwire that sent him falling over in an undignified heap. He heard Xaja yelp in alarm as she sensed his fall, heard a sudden beep from her direction that sounded like she'd pressed on her wrist-mounted communicator, and froze when the sounds of a soft chuckle drifted in their direction.

A portable camp light was suddenly turned on, revealing the dark shape of a male human leaning against the far wall. Theron could just see the glint of teeth, indicating a broad grin on the intruder's face. "I must say, I'm rather disappointed, Agent Shan. I give the base's security an eight out of ten- honestly, I'd expected better, considering how many Force-users you have here."

Theron scowled as he recognized the voice. If the newcomer hadn't picked such an entrance as to humiliate him, he would have been quite pleased to see the other man… but this was just annoying. At least he knew where Korin got it from.. "Thank you so much for that," he growled as he started clambering back up to his feet, restraining from saying what else was on his mind when he heard Xaja's gasp as the other man moved fully into the light- and then the small Jedi was flying at the man who'd once been known as Cipher Nine to the now-defunct Imperial Intelligence, and still operated as Legault for SIS, all previous intentions of killing to defend gone. There was the sound of breath being knocked from another person, and Agent Reanden Taerich had to adjust his stance so as to not be bowled over by his daughter's relieved hug. The amused smirk on the older man's face melted away into a real smile at the realization that his daughter was actually all right and relieved to see him.

Feeling uncharacteristically awkward, Theron decided to just leave the room and give Xaja time to reunite with her father in private (and see if he could fix whatever Reanden had done to the circuits in her quarters). But just as he reached a hand to the still-closed door, he heard the rush of pounding footsteps outside, and the pressure on his mind that reminded him of an approaching (and furious) Sith and- uh-oh. He dived out of the way just as the door opened and two other men charged into the room, one dual-wielding blasters and the other activating a bright green lightsaber. "What the hell's going on here?!" Sorand shouted, his left hand rapidly obscuring under a building of white sparks of lightning in his fingers. Of course, he would have sensed his sister's sudden alarm and come running, and Korin would have been right behind him. Those two were close enough that they could have been twins.

Reanden had initially reached for the blaster on his hip when he'd heard the door thud open, but had seemingly relaxed when he recognized the would-be avengers. "Nice to see you too, boys," he said with a smirk. "You need to work on the reaction times, though, and Agent Shan can tell you what exactly needs to be fixed with your base's security."

"... Dad?"

"Dad?!"

Theron quietly slipped out of the room as weapons were lowered and a surprise family reunion took place, catching Xaja's gaze and giving her a smile, which she returned. He couldn't quite take the credit for Agent Taerich's arrival on Odessen (and wasn't quite sure what the older man knew of Theron's involvement with his daughter, but really was entirely okay with putting that conversation off as long as possible), but knowing she was happy to see her kin again was enough.

And now that he could quit justifying searching for the remainder of Clan Taerich as "researching valuable recruits for the Alliance" to Lana, it was back to focusing singlemindedly on taking down Arcann. But with a former Sith Lord, a professional double-agent, and the best smuggler from the Outer Rim now part of the crew, it should be easier now.

Right?


I have a muse kicking around for some Odessen outtakes that aren't quite worthy of a chapter in this story. Haven't quite decided yet if I'm going to write and publish anything like that, but we'll see. All pending the job situation.

Thanks for all the reviews and favourites, humans! You lot are lovely people, and I love finding all the fellow Theron-fangirls (and fanboys) out there. Next chapter, featuring all the recruitment stories, coming... soon. Ish. Maybe.