Welcome to Chapter Four: in which, the Alliance grows by leaps and bounds, Reanden disapproves of shenanigans, things explode, and Theron nearly resorts to gratuitous violence.
Also the shameless filler chapter so I can get to the next KOTFE chapter because FEELS. *cackle*
Also also, thanks to everyone who's reviewed and critiqued this little brainspawn of mine! I've tried to take all your suggestions regarding getting Theron in on the action (innuendo probably not intended...), and I hope you approve of the results!
If I owned any part of the Star Wars universe besides merchandise and a Jawa costume, do you really think I'd be writing fanfiction?
The reactions around Odessen Base were mixed when it was commonly realized that the three newest recruits to the upper tier of alliance leadership were all closely related to the Commander. Theron heard mutterings about 'favouritism' and 'family enterprise, huh?' and the like everywhere he went. Sorand had (for now) managed to keep his old identity hidden, and only introduced himself as an exiled Sith Lord with a better sense of self-preservation than reckless heroism, and Reanden had never been identifiable as an agent for either the Empire or the Republic- he merely said that he had plenty of connections that would be of benefit to the Alliance. Korin, of course, bragged about his exploits to anyone who'd listen, and it wasn't uncommon to find him in the cantina with Nico and Hylo Visz discussing smuggling routes, bounties, and the current record for 'least amount of parsecs for the Kessel Run' (eighteen, currently held by a Twi'lek smuggler elsewhere in the galaxy, and everyone in the base with both believed it would never be beaten, and was determined to break that record themselves).
Of course, then Xaja and Theron had led a team to the Star Fortress looming menacingly over Voss. When the stories came back to the base of how Reanden had been able to sneak aboard the station and slice into the mainframe to reinforce Theron's work on the shuttle, and how Nico and Korin had efficiently torn apart the Skytrooper production line while Xaja and Sorand had neatly carved their way through countless Knights and Paladins, and a very angry Exarch, well… Nobody doubted the usefulness of Master Taerich's family now.
This was further established when Reanden Taerich became the only person Scorpio would obey with minimal complaining and snide comments.
Theron was also quietly delighted to realize that Sorand had very quickly established himself as 'the person to talk to when Master Taerich wasn't available and Theron and Lana were busy'. It gave Xaja a much-needed break, which she could have used sleeping or meditating… instead, it meant she just had more time to go over the potential recruitment files and aid with solving new crises that came up.
And so, Theron only felt minorly guilty for pulling her into the briefing room to discuss a potential recruit for the Alliance on Zakuul. "We only know her as Firebrand. She's an anarchist, responsible for countless bombings and arson attacks in the Spire. With her established hatred for Arcann, she could be a useful-"
"Firebrand?! She's a terrorist, not an ally!" Koth immediately protested.
"She's potentially both. Any enemy of Arcann could be useful for us," Xaja interrupted, which apparently didn't do a thing to placate Koth's indignation. "What else do you know about her, Theron?"
"Not much. She's fond of explosives and targets major buildings- spaceports, Knight outposts, you name it."
"She also has a legion of followers," Lana added from where she'd been analyzing Theron's findings on Firebrand. "Scorpio, you were connected to the Zakuulian underworld, do you know who she might be?"
"Negative, Sith. But her followers are surprisingly loyal. They create murals in her honour, and even trade holos of her handiwork."
Koth looked sufficiently horrified at that notion.
Xaja frowned in thought, her forehead creasing in that furrow that Theron normally found to be adorable. "If Firebrand can be swayed to our cause, she could be a great asset… is there any way to get in contact with her if we don't have her real identity?"
"The Lady of Sorrows could offer explosives to draw her out," Scorpio volunteered (a surprisingly helpful offer).
"It's worth checking out, in any case," Xaja finally nodded. "Thank you, Scorpio. Please set up the rendezvous with Firebrand, and I'll head for Zakuul immediately."
"And I'm backup for you if you need it," Theron added, giving her a warm smile. She beamed back at him and gently squeezed his hand under the table, a gesture that he returned while pointedly ignoring Lana's annoyed look.
"An anarchist…" Reanden spoke up for the first time, frowning at the planning console in thought. He appeared to be rifling through old memories, as though the term had triggered something in his mind. Eventually the older man shrugged. "I'll come with you. There's something that I'd like to investigate on Zakuul anyway, and it might be connected to Firebrand."
Dammit. Theron couldn't protest his lover's father coming along for the trip though, and judging by the pointed look he got from the older agent, Reanden knew it too… and knew exactly why Theron wasn't thrilled about having his private time on the shuttle with Xaja interrupted. Maybe he won't be too upset about the fact I'm with his daughter?...
And maybe Theron would spontaneously develop Force-sensitivity and become the next Jedi Grand Master after his mother.
Reanden had only waited until Xaja was sufficiently distracted with detailed mission notes (all of which Theron already knew and had compiled for her) before dragging him into the engine room of the shuttle and turning a vibrodagger on him. Theron had never quite figured out just how many blades Reanden kept on his person… "Listen, Shan. I don't really care that you've made a Jedi Master break their vows of non-attachment. That's none of my concern."
I should think not. Didn't you do the same with her mother? Theron had learned that tidbit of information from Korin years ago, as explanation for how he and his siblings were all strong enough with the Force to use it instinctively, but wisely kept quiet in the moment.
"I'm not even concerned about my daughter's so-called purity. Unlike some systems in the galaxy, my people don't tie a woman's worth to that status." The dagger flicked out faster than Theron's cybernetically-enhanced eyes could track, and the agent felt cold metal against his throat. "Xaja might be a Jedi, strong enough with the Force to go up against Vitiate multiple times and live to tell the tale, brave enough to take on Revan himself, and respected enough to still have fans in what's left of the Republic and grudging admirers in the Empire… but before any of that, she was my baby girl." Hazel eyes, the same as Reanden's sons' and glinting with the same stubborn, cold anger that his daughter showed during any tales of Zakuul's crimes, glared into Theron's with enough intensity that the younger man wondered if he might spontaneously combust. "I also don't really care that I officially have to report to you. If you ever do anything to make her cry, Shan…" Reanden's voice dropped to a low, cold growl that would have made a Sith proud and made Theron's blood chill. "I can make you wish you'd never been born, before handing you over to her brothers. My younger son didn't become Darth Imperius by charming the rest of the Dark Council, and my older one won't care that you're supposedly his friend and his boss if you hurt his sister. And between the three of us, we can ensure you're never found."
It was with no small amount of effort that Theron matched Reanden's flat, menacing glare- it took every bit of SIS training and his early lessons in Jedi emotional control to do it without quaking from the fear coursing through his veins. "Your daughter means more to me than anyone else in this galaxy," he hissed at the other man. "I'd sooner die than hurt her. I lost her once before, I swear I'm not ever going to let that happen again." The thought that with her dangerous role as the Alliance Commander, she might one day not return from a mission, or come home in a kolto tank or on a funeral pyre- no. He couldn't think that. He didn't dare let himself go down that mental path. The patchy memories he had of his year or so of mourning and trying to drink himself into oblivion after her reported execution still hurt. Having her back with him was a miracle, and one he didn't intend to waste or make light of.
Reanden's eyes stayed fixed on Theron's for a long moment, the edge of the dagger still pressed against the younger man's throat, before he slowly withdrew the weapon and resheathed it up his sleeve. "We'll see, Agent. Just remember- you're not the only one who sees and hears everything that goes on in the base. You're not the only one who lost her five years ago."
"Understood, sir," Theron muttered. "As long as she wants me here, I'm hers and staying. She has my word." He didn't think he could ever love someone in this way again after opening himself up to Xaja in a way that he never had with anyone else. Not even his mother or Master Zho had seen Theron as vulnerable as he let himself be with her. And he hadn't even so much as looked at another person (male or female) during the five years he'd been separated from her…
Reanden had barely opened his mouth to respond before "Dad? Theron?" came from the main seating area of the shuttle. Edging around the older man, Theron poked his head out of the engine room as Xaja came around, a confused look on her face. "... Is everything okay?" she asked, looking between her father and her lover and probably sensing the tension through the Force.
Theron forced a smile onto his face and lightly kissed Xaja's red hair, doing his best to ignore the dagger-like stare Reanden was drilling into the back of his head. "We're okay. Just… clearing some things up. Any new theories you might have on the mission?"
Xaja glanced back and forth again between both men, clearly not quite believing Theron, but let herself be distracted by the work discussion. But there was that look in her eyes that said she was going to figure out what exactly had transpired in that little conversation back there, and the grudging sense of suspicion and mistrust from the man accompanying them. Theron bit back a groan of frustration. How did he land himself in this situation?...
Although, to be entirely fair, Firebrand's shocked "No way. There's no blasted way," and her pulling a blaster on Reanden when she caught sight of the older agent's face after the trio made short work of the Skytroopers pinning the woman down behind a barricade made the uncomfortable shuttle ride all worth it.
Reanden had apparently looked down the business end of a blaster too many times to be unduly alarmed by the sight, because he just chuckled. "Nice to see you too, Kaliyo. It's been a few years, hasn't it?"
"You're supposed to be dead after that one bad run!" Firebrand (or Kaliyo, as Theron supposed her real name was) snapped, immediately before swinging the blaster around to Xaja at her father's side, lightsaber still in hand. "New girlfriend on Republic-side? Does she know you're probably old enough to be her dad?"
Theron had to hide a grin as Xaja deadpanned, "That's because he is."
Kaliyo's eyes widened even further as the blaster swung back around to Reanden. "How old are you?!" she yelped.
From Theron's angle, he couldn't see Reanden's face clearly, but he could hear the flat tone to the agent's voice. "Thank you so much for that, Kaliyo. Alliance Commander and Jedi Master Xaja Taerich… and Agent Theron Shan… meet Kaliyo Djannis, formerly part of my old team in Imperial Intelligence."
"Freelancer and explosives expert," Kaliyo interjected by way of introduction. "And why do I get the feeling you don't have my explosives?"
"Your senses tell you well," Xaja smoothly interjected. "But what we do have is an opportunity. You're as opposed to Arcann as we are…"
Theron let Xaja's recruitment speel pass through his mind as the comm link in his jacket pocket suddenly buzzed, a preset signal from a contact of his in the Spire. Of all the times to have that data I need… he inwardly sighed. He stayed quiet until Kaliyo seemed to grudgingly accept that she now would be working with her old boss and his daughter, then gently nudged Xaja's arm as the group started walking to a turbolift further in the abandoned tram station. "Hey, I've got a contact I need to meet with," he murmured, giving her an apologetic look. "Are you…?"
Xaja smiled and lightly touched her forehead to Theron's (never minding she had to strain her petite body upwards and he had to lower his own head toward her to do that). "We'll be fine. Take care of yourself out there."
"You too. Stay safe; I'll meet you at the rendezvous before we leave the planet." Theron gave her a final, lingering smile, nodded once at Reanden (observing with a raised eyebrow) and Kaliyo (who had a broad smirk on her face), and slunk away to meet up with his newest link to a soldier from his father's old unit.
Naturally, between Kaliyo trying to blow up the Spire and a pack of very angry Knights, and a highly unfortunate run-in with some Skytroopers, Theron didn't find Xaja again until they met up on Odessen, coming into the command centre just in time to hear Kaliyo flip out over Scorpio's presence and alter-ego as the Lady of Sorrows, Reanden's laughter at his old crewmates resuming a years-old squabble, and Dr. Lokin observing everything with a growing look of horror in his eyes at the anarchist's return. Xaja, seemingly determined to not get involved in this growing argument, just sighed as she greeted Theron and muttered "She's a great shot and knows her way around explosives… just don't trust her with anything not requiring mass destruction."
"Okay, so we're nailing down everything that could possibly be stolen. Got it." Theron grinned as Xaja rolled her eyes, unable despite her Jedi training to hide the smile his words produced.
Compared to the entire misadventure that was finding and recruiting the reformed Havoc Squad (much to Yuun and Forex's delight), gaining Kaliyo's allegiance was easy. First, there was the hassle of making sure Theron's name and connections weren't implicated in any way in assisting the squad with their treason to the Republic- he wasn't sure his father would forgive him for this fiasco, no matter what the endgame was. While Aric Jorgan respected Theron, he made no secret of the fact that he wasn't on friendly terms with anyone left in Republic space and didn't seem willing to trust Xaja right off.
And then a Zakuulian satellite and Skytroopers had found their rendezvous in the swamps and all hell broke loose. Theron had wound up being escorted at a run by Jorgan's second-in-command to the base camp, and there he'd remained tense and on edge until a handful of Zakuulian refugees trickled into the camp, leaning on each other and telling everyone around the tale of how two Core Worlds trespassers were shooting Skytroopers and aiding in evacuation efforts away from Arcann's enforcers. Eventually, through the sounds of blaster fire and animal growls, and after the rest of the pack of refugees made it to safety, the Cathar soldier and the human Jedi made their way into the camp as dusk settled in the swamp, Jorgan with an old man leaning on his shoulder and Xaja carrying a terrified-looking child, the boy's not-much-older sister virtually glued to her side. Of course she would have let herself be delayed by civilians… if she had any weakness, it was a child and the mere thought of that child being in harm's way.
For a brief moment, an image flashed through Theron's mind of Xaja holding their child, before the vision was swiftly quashed. He wasn't sure what scared him more: the idea that he was committed enough to anyone to start a family, or the prospect of a child with his smart-assed personality and Xaja's stubbornness and temper. Besides, bringing a child into a galaxy at war didn't promise to end well for any party involved.
He tuned back into the conversation at hand as Jorgan sat on a camp stool, Xaja leaning against a munitions canister to talk with him. "You've saved a lot of lives today, Jedi," the Cathar was saying. "We'll discuss our new objective tomorrow. 0700 hours."
Xaja nodded and inclined her head to the soldier. "Rest well, Major," she said, then pushed herself off the canister to find herself a place to rest for the night. One smile from her was all it took for Theron to join her, a hand resting on her lower back as they walked to an out-of-the-way nook. "I'm glad you made it back all right," she said softly, leaning a bit into his side. She fit so perfectly under his arm, like one part of an old-styled puzzle with another. "Any major difficulties?"
"Nah. Just a few packs of Skytroopers that are with us no longer." Theron gently nuzzled her hair as he settled down on a bedroll, letting Xaja sit beside him and lean into his chest. "Are you hurt?"
"Couple of bruises and one lurker trying to take a bite out of my leg, and I smell like I fell into a swamp." Which meant she probably had slipped at one point. And Theron had thought the dampness of her outer robe was from the swamp's humidity…
He grinned and kissed her temple. "If it makes you feel any better, you're the prettiest swamp monster I've ever seen."
She laughed and lightly shoved him back onto the bedroll. "You're such a jerk some days, you know that?"
"You like it," Theron chuckled as he dragged her back down to lie beside him. "What would you do without me?"
"Be a good little Code-adhering Jedi with a lot fewer allies is what." Xaja wriggled out of her outer robe, setting it to the side with her belt and boots. Theron's own outer garments joined hers a minute later, before the Jedi turned and snuggled her back against his chest. He knew her body mannerisms well enough to be able to tell when she was just tired and needed rest- and some instinct told him the next day was going to be exhausting for all parties involved. "Sleep well, Theron…"
"You too, angel." Theron stayed awake for some time after Xaja's breathing evened out though, brushing his fingers through her mussed red hair and wishing he knew why he could feel dread building in the pit of his stomach at the thought of what tomorrow might bring.
He'd known the milisecond Xaja realized just what the objective was for Major Jorgan's op that she'd go for it. And he also had known he'd probably be the one leading the diversion attack. He just hadn't realized how many Zakuulians would come out in full vengeful force to defend the outpost, though.
Theron dodged behind a tree as blaster bolts peppered the air where he'd been a minute before and raised his left wrist to his mouth. "We can't keep this up for too much longer!" he shouted. "Havoc, Commander, how far are you with your side of things?"
His earpiece implant crackled, then Xaja's voice came back to him, sounding harried and strained. "I don't know what happened with that diversion, but we're in deep here. We need backup!"
"Working on it," Theron answered, "but we're not having an easy run either. You'll have to hold out as long as you can there." Frack, that hurt him to say to her...
Two metres away, Korin loudly groaned at his sister's assessment of the situation. "We need clones of ourselves," the other agent complained before whirling around and shooting another Skytrooper with both blaster pistols, frying the chassis.
"Another one of you to deal with? No thanks." Theron gave the smuggler a tight grin as his gaze trailed to the side and- "Frack, DUCK!" His own blasters fired, and Sorand dropped a few feet away as the Knight of Zakuul staggered backward. It wasn't enough to kill the enemy, but it did buy the younger ex-Sith just enough time to whirl around, slash out with his green-bladed lightsaber, and then bring the Force to bear against his attacker. Sorand might have changed his allegiance to the Light Side of the Force, but his training was still Sith, and primarily focused on keeping himself alive and killing with lightning.
"Thanks for the warning!" he shouted back at Theron as the Knight fell and did not stir again. Then the Sith was racing off, having seen members of the Alliance strike team fall and hurrying to keep them alive.
Theron nodded sharply back to Sorand, then hustled to another cover point, the sounds of battle ringing in his ears as Lana stopped beside him, breathing hard. "What's your take?"
"We're in a bad way, but there's Skytrooper reinforcements heading for the outpost. Xaja's right, we need to start retreating. If she and Havoc don't make it out of here, this entire operation will be lost."
And at least four members of this alliance will probably go catatonic again. Theron scowled and tapped one of his implants. "Agent Taerich, you get that?"
"Copy that, Agent Shan. Coordinating your retreat to the outpost." Reanden's voice was cool in the earpiece, and Theron was glad the older man had remained in the shuttle to monitor things remotely. The channel changed with a tiny click, and Theron heard "All units, pull back to reinforce Havoc Squad's position. All units, pull back."
Theron watched the wave of Alliance forces start moving back through the trees, doing their best to stay in the covered areas where the droids and walkers had problems getting to them, and joined the mass of sentience fighting their way out of this part of the battle. We're coming, Xaja. Hang on a little bit longer!
The fighting didn't get any easier at the outpost. Havoc Squad, for all of their elite skills, had their hands full trying to keep the Zakuulian forces at bay, and had gathered themselves at the end of the bridge leading into the compound itself. At least one soldier looked to be injured, but Theron didn't see any non-Zakuulian dead around them.
And presumably, the sounds of blaster fire, flames, and lightsaber humming in the middle of the compound was Xaja's location with Major Jorgan. At least she and Jorgan had gotten the data they needed, according to their comm chatter, and were trying to beat their own retreat, but it looked hampered by the enemy forces. And the swarm of Skytroopers and Knights just arriving from a dropship to pin Havoc between the bridge and escape wasn't going to help matters.
Not, of course, that Theron's rapidly-dwindling team could do a lot of good. "We're stuck in the south quarter," he shouted over the comm channel as he shoved one of his soldiers out of the line of fire. He hadn't been able to save the soldier's partner, and winced as the man died under Skytrooper blaster bolts. "They just keep coming!"
"We're pinned down! Can anyone reinforce us?" came Lana's shout from elsewhere. In the cacophony of noise (both from the battle surrounding him and from the yells of Havoc's members over the comms) he couldn't quite tell where the Sith was, but thought she was somewhere off to his left. And then Senya's barked order to not engage the Knights she leaped into battle with made him cringe. Had Arcann sent the entire blasted Spire after them?
Instinct told Theron to suddenly duck as blue lightning shot over his head to kill an armoured foe behind him. He nodded once at Sorand as the ex-Sith threw the dying Knight away from him, then rose high enough to send a hail of bolts at the approaching Skytroopers. Four went down under his, Korin, and Koth's combined fire. He could just hear Kaliyo's gleeful yells as she started taking out foes at a distance with precise sniper shots, watched Lana finally appear to jump into the fray to reinforce Senya's attacks as Sorand reverted to healing those around him, saw a group of Skytroopers suddenly disappear in flames from somebody's well-thrown grenades, and for a moment had the thought that just maybe they would all get out of here alive-
A dropship landed in the compound as Skytroopers gained the exit to the bridge, despite the best efforts of the Alliance team. Havoc Squad was trapped, and Xaja with them. Theron's heart thudded into his stomach as he felt the colour drain from his face. Leaving Korin to shoot at the bulk of the now-reduced enemy with all of the sharpshooter skills that a gunslinger mastered, he darted into cover closer to the bridge and managed to take down one droid soldier. But the distance wasn't optimal, even for his impressive firing skills, and there were too many enemies- he ducked out of the way of more fire, and glanced back to the rest of his team. "Sorand!" he yelled, gesturing with one blaster to the bridge when the ex-Sith looked his way.
Sorand's eyes widened as he recognized the situation and started charging forward, lightning already dancing around his left hand. "Cover me!" he shouted back at Theron, stepping into the open clearing, the Force being used to create a shield around him to deflect enemy fire-
The dropship at the far end of the bridge exploded in a ball of fire. Theron's heart stopped. Xaja...
Sorand had also frozen in confusion and horror at the explosion, but now he was tearing forward again, faster than any human should have had the right to move. The lightning that tore through the Skytroopers was brighter and hotter than anything he'd cast previously, and Theron had a suspicion that the younger man's eyes would have been glowing bright yellow with rage at his sister's dreaded fate. It was a vengeance that he was happy to aid with, and he exited his cover, shooting with pinpoint accuracy that would have impressed even Korin. If he lost her all over again, except this time without the hope of a miracle…
Wait. Another explosion, this time from within the bridge, and the sound of the detonation reminded him of… grenades? Maybe some of Havoc had survived the first explosion.
Theron made it to the battlefield behind Sorand, both men running to the rear entrance ramp of the compound (considering the bridge was virtually unusable at this point), and gaining the deck just in time to hear Aric Jorgan's yell of "About damned- time?" Theron raced around the corner and blinked in shock at the dozen Zakuulian refugees gathering in front of Jorgan and his squad and the flame-haired Jedi emerging from around the far side of the burned-out dropship. The spy thought he hadn't felt relief like that since he'd first had confirmation that Xaja hadn't been executed by Arcann five years ago.
"We heard your call and knew what had to be done," the leader of the refugees (Theron knew his name, but with the heat of a desperate battle and his recent fear for Xaja clouding his mind, little details like identity escaped his memory) explained, looking a little bit sheepish for his unsanctioned participation in the battle. More of his people were emerging from the trees, and Theron had a feeling they'd just ensured the survivals of what remained of the Odessen strike team. "We've spent our entire lives being defended by those same droids, but no more. We want to fight back."
"I, for one, am entirely in favour of that notion," came a dry, if weary, feminine voice. Xaja limped over to the group, her posture indicating that she'd suffered some new injuries during the fierce battle- potentially broken ribs, what looked like a blaster wound to her left arm, lightsaber scoring across the shoulder portion of her armour, and a new bleeding gash over her temple, but she was alive. "You and your people just took your first steps in regaining your own independence- be proud of yourselves." Her eyes darted to Theron and Sorand, lighting a bit when she realized they were both alive and relatively unharmed (discounting the bruises Theron could feel on the right side of his jaw and across his abdomen, and the nasty slice from flying shrapnel Sorand had taken to his arm). "What's our status like?" she asked, managing to keep a businesslike tone in place.
"We took a beating, but the mission looks to be a success," he answered, somehow keeping his voice level and not betraying his worry. "Did you get everything that you needed from the outpost?"
"Affirmative," Jorgan growled, shifting his grip on his sniper rifle. The charge on the weapon looked to be almost completely depleted at this point. "Let's get the hell out of here. I want to get these rebels set up in our base camp."
Sorand nodded to the formerly-Republic soldier (who hesitated only minutely before returning the gesture to the ex-Sith), then looked at Xaja and Theron. "I'll start mobilizing our forces back to the base." Or what's left of them, went unspoken. "We'll rendezvous with you there."
"Understood. We'll be there with Major Jorgan once his unit's settled back in."
Major Jorgan now had his own personal militia unit training under Arcann's nose, and looked as pleased with the prospect as Theron had ever seen him. Part of that might have also been his new-found friendship with Admiral Aygo (much to the dismay of most of the Alliance soldiers in the base), or perhaps because Xaja had told Scorpio where the droid- sorry, highly advanced intelligence unit- where she could put her opinions about the giving of Alliance equipment to Jorgan's rebels. Theron had never seen a dro- non-sentient lifeform sulk quite like that before, but now Scorpio appeared to be making up for being told off by the Jedi commander by picking fights with everyone around.
Reanden, of course, was exempt, probably because he was the only person Scorpio sometimes listened to. Apparently Theron was an acceptable substitute, and if Scorpio hadn't called Xaja back to the command centre an hour after she'd left to discuss Havoc Squad's findings, Theron probably would have called her himself to ask if he could please get away with shooting the glorified egocentric chassis. Lana and Reanden probably would have killed him for that, but it would have been worth the satisfaction, and he was reasonably sure Kaliyo would have helped him with an alibi.
It was with no small amount of relief that he turned to see Xaja enter the bunker, Korin limping behind her. "Oh good, you're here."
That was apparently the wrong thing to say. "What an astute observation, Agent Shan," came the cool, sarcastic observation. "It's a wonder that the SIS could get by without your deductive skills."
Theron felt a muscle in his jaw clench as he turned back to Scorpio. "You," he growled out, "are a droid who's gotten too big for her own bolts."
"Five minutes," came the snapping voice of Lana, loud enough to distract both Theron and Scorpio from the building fight. "Can you two not get along for five blasted minutes?!"
"Ooooh, I'll start timing!" Korin eagerly piped up, checking the watch on his wrist as Xaja facepalmed. "Starting in three, two, one… go!"
Lana gave the smuggler a withering glare. "Why do I get the feeling you're encouraging this more than helping?"
Xaja sighed. "Enough, all of you." She swatted Korin upside the back of his head, earning a small, indignant yelp, before looking at Theron and Scorpio. "What's going on?"
Right, Xaja had been called down here for a purpose besides peacekeeping. Trying to rely on his early childhood Jedi training to keep his fury in check, Theron turned back to Scorpio and spoke with the sweetest tone he could muster around clenched teeth. "Scorpio, show the commander what you found from the data we recovered… please."
Thankfully, Scorpio seemed to think better of making another dig at Theron with a Jedi Master and a highly-irritated Sith Lord standing right there. "We've detected a sub-code hidden inside the Zakuulian transmissions. Upon further analysis of Havoc Squad's data, we've determined that this is the Gemini frequency. Schematics of the Spire that Kaliyo stole confirm this."
"This," Theron interjected, feeling Scorpio's glare at his back (if the droid could glare, which Theron wouldn't put past her), "is the break we've been waiting for. This is how Arcann transmits orders to the entire Eternal Fleet!"
Xaja's eyes lit up with that mischievous light that Theron knew meant she was scheming for how to best use that to their advantage. If the precious data against Arcann wasn't enough of a reward for the dangers the Alliance had just endured, knowing that Xaja was highly pleased with this certainly was.
And now there was a tangible shot at success for their endgame. Arcann would hopefully soon be hurting for what he'd done to them all.
