Chapter 3

Alanna sat facing the main board of her ship, the Levana. She was trying to plan out her next course of action. After what happened in the spaceport, she didn't know what to think. There seemed to be more to this kid than she had originally assumed. He seemed like an accident waiting to happen. And here she was, locked to his side as a bodyguard. Well, she had figured this job wouldn't be a piece of cake. With her, nothing ever was.

She turned to Shiro, who sat in a chair opposite her, staring out the window at the night sky. "Well, is there somewhere safe we can go, or would you rather stay aboard the ship?

Shiro didn't answer. He continued to stare out the window next to him at the cold night sky.

Alanna sighed and turned away, "Fair enough."

Then Shiro spoke. "The more you have of it, the less you see."

"What?"

"Darkness."

"What's up, kid? Why did you blow our cover?"

"No end to attack, they will come back."

Alanna sighed again in frustration. "What does that mean?"

Shiro didn't look at her. He spoke as if to the open air. "True beginning. More will follow... They killed them. They killed them all! And nobody... NOBODY CARED!" He shuddered and started crying softly.

Alanna watched and listened, aghast. She didn't know what to make of this kid. When Marik hired her as a protector, he hadn't said anything about protecting the mentally unstable. Something had obviously happened to this kid to make him like this. Somebody had done something to him. He had experienced something terrible. Was it just the Jedi Purge or something more? She immediately felt sorry for him. This kid had lost all his friends and was now hunted by a merciless Empire. She respected the Jedi way and she felt that she now gazed upon a broken remnant of a once noble people, cruelly cut down.

After a while, she went up to Shiro and rubbed his shoulder, hoping to calm him.

"Hey," she said. "Hey, it's okay. Calm down." She fought the urge to hug him. She realized she was being unprofessional. I can't let feelings get in the way of my job. Not yet anyway.

The boy stopped crying and became aware of her. He steadied himself and took a deep breath. "Perhaps I should explain myself."

Alanna nodded seriously but patiently. "Yes, please do."

Shiro turned to face her directly. "I already know your secret, Alanna. You killed some people who didn't really deserve it. That's why you feel guilt."

Alanna gasped in surprise. She hung her head in shame at this bold retelling of her crime.

"Now I will tell you my secret," he said. "You protected me. For now, I will trust you. I was one of the Younglings at the Jedi Temple. I had just turned thirteen at the time of Order 66. I have trouble remembering my life before four years ago because of what happened the night of the Temple Massacre. I was in the Temple that night like all the Younglings who did not yet have Masters. I survived the massacre and watched my fellow peers killed in front of me."

Alanna cringed. Shiro continued, "But that wasn't the worst of it. Something stopped the Clones from killing me. And then a hooded figure came out of the dark and moved his hand and I went unconscious, but not before I had seen some of my friends murdered. I was taken and experimented upon by the Empire's agents. They wanted to make me into a weapon. A sleeper cell to be activated to perform duties for them, including murder. But my programming went awry. Something went wrong during the experimentation and it left me with a problem inside." He tapped on his head, inferring. "I was able to escape and join a smuggling crew onboard the Starry Ice. It was there I met Mulann Fennix who became my new teacher and who would help me try to fight the madness and the programming."

Alanna looked at Shiro with sympathy in her eyes.

"Fighting the programming was difficult because it gave me greater power and knowledge. They had infused me with greater power so they could use me. But Mulann did her best. For 3 years, I studied under her. Then, a month ago, I decided to leave her and to root out the programming at its source. I found out that my programming could be shut off by disabling computer systems on certain key worlds. So I raided the Imperial Base on Ord Mantell, mercilessly. I killed every Imperial I could find there. You see, I wanted them to feel pain for what happened to me and my friends. It's not the Jedi way, I know. But still...part of me wanted it. Anyways, ever since that I've been hiding out on Ord Mantell. And then I met you at the Mud Puddle."

Alanna thought for a moment. "So that is why you were compelled to attack the Imperial Guard."

Shiro nodded. "More or less. I have moments where I lose judgment and go overboard. I do irrational things. Act out of anger. It's been hard trying to control myself but Mulann helped me for a while. But now that I've left her...my mind has been acting up again. I left her because I had a mission I wanted to take care of. I didn't want her getting hurt. Whoever stays around me gets hurt. You may have already noticed that everybody is after me."

Alanna sighed heavily. "I know how you feel. My parents were killed by Mandalorians. If the Mandalorians were not already dead, my feelings for revenge would be overwhelming. And I have noticed that many are chasing you. That is why Marik hired me."

Shiro stopped and thought about Marik, the brother he had lost so long ago. "How did Marik find out about me? A holo-news report? A rumor?"

Alanna ran her hand through her hair. "Rumors, mostly. Rumors have been floating about you for a while. He actually contacted me just prior to your attack on Ord Mantell. I arrived at our rendezvous as the holo-news reports broke out."

"Why are you helping Marik and me?"

"I could tell you it is for the money. And partly it is that. The other part is more personal. It was the Jedi that killed the Mandalorians. I feel like I owe you guys for that. By the way, I am considered to be one of the best short-term bodyguards for hire." She stopped for a moment and swept her hands grandly to showcase her ship. "And be you welcomed to theLevana."

Shiro looked around at the ship interior. "Not bad." He chuckled a little. "And you are also subversive, Alanna. You have subversive, treasonous intentions. Helping two undercover Jedi hide from the Empire. That's not exactly politically sound, is it?"

A look of disgust crossed Alanna's face. "Pah! I do not help the Empire. Never again."

"So you are okay with being a traitor. Join the club. There are many in the galaxy who are finding out the Empire is a very fracked up government...to say the least."

Alanna shook her head. "The worst that they can do is kill me. I have no partner, and no family. My parents were killed long ago, and I found that recently my brother was killed when a mine shaft collapsed. There is no one else for me to fear for. Traitorous actions scare me not, if the pay is good." She winked.

"Is money all you think about?"

Alanna laughed. She realized that the naïve Shiro was drawing from his Jedi training of abandoning desire for wealth. "No, I was only joking. I may have taken this job for no fee, but let's not tell that to Marik."

"How is Marik sustaining himself? How has he survived?"

Alanna stopped him. Wait...I have something that might answer your questions." She held up a disc. "Marik recorded this for you but before I can show it to you, you need to look at that coin I gave you. Marik requested that."

Shiro took out the coin and looked at it. He raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, this is pretty important. Only a Jedi like Marik would carry this. And that he sent it to me, that means something as well."

Alanna nodded. "Yes, he said that you would appreciate the significance. What the frell is it?"

"A Jedi Credit. They are reserved for family or close friends. Only a Corellian Jedi would carry something like this. Gives me a pretty good idea that you work for Marik and that I'm important to him. Either that or you killed him and stole it off him…which is unlikely."

"Why would I steal it when I don't even know what it is?"

"I said it was unlikely. Okay, go ahead and show me the tape."

Alanna slipped the disc into her holocomp. The recording began. The hologram of Marik appeared. He was wearing the green Jedi robes from his days before the Empire.

Alanna quirked her eyebrow. "He didn't look like that when I met him."

Marik began speaking. "Greetings, Shiro. I hope that Miss Sitara has found you no worse for the wear." He sighed. "I cannot help but feel that I failed you in a monumental fashion, young one. For that I am sincerely sorry. If I knew that you had lived, I would have fought against all of the men that the Empire could muster, despite the warnings of Master Muln...But enough about that for now."

"As you undoubtedly remember, I was sent on a mission with Master Muln to Acherin after I had announced my intention to take you as a Padawan. That is, of course, where we were when Order 66 took place. We escaped, barely, and hid in the Crystal Caves of Ilum for about a year. After that harrowing experience, we met up with Master Kenobi, who took us to recover. I spent a year on an asteroid, recovering. Master Muln and I split up at that point. I went to Wayland, where I still hide. Miss Sitara will tell you the details. I do hope to see you soon, until then let the Force be with you, my brother." The hologram ended.

Shiro paused. "Someone must be helping Marik if he's able to summon a bounty hunter. How is he being sustained, Alanna? Who is protecting him?"

"He is being protected by Senator Osma of Wayland." Alanna chuckled, "Senator Osma has a "Mr. Morn" on the payroll as security detail, an outrageous sum. That sum, of course, is my fee. From what I have heard Osma is an unusually kind senator. He's employed other Jedi in his police force of which Marik is the head. Something tells me that this won't look good to the Empire if they find out."

Shiro stood up. "I know now where I have to go and what I have to do. I have to go with you to Marik. It's time to join my brother as a student, the way it was meant to be."

"I would be happy to take you to him. That is my mission after all." Alanna leaned back in her chair. "So, what's our next move?"

"You're asking me?"

Alanna nodded. "Yeah. You're in charge as long as we eventually make our way to Marik and as long as you don't make any more rash choices like in the spaceport."

Shiro smiled. "I can't promise that. But I'll do my best. Anyways, I'm going after Senator Mox Hero of Ord Mantell. Mox has become a threat to the Empire and is going to be assassinated. I want to find the assassin because I suspect this assassin is Alexia. Alexia is just like me, a Youngling who was kidnapped and made into a sleeper cell. She hasn't escaped or been able to fight off the programming though."

Alanna leaned forward and tilted her head to the side. "Are you aiming to capture or kill her?"

"Good question. If I can help her, I let her live. If not, then... See, the programming is caused by a chip in our brains. If the chip is deactivated, then the programming will wear off...hopefully with no damage like with me. From the raid on the base, I obtained the right code to shut off her programming. All I need to do is capture her and have her close by when I type in the code on the holocomp. Unfortunately I haven't yet found the cure for my programming. If there is a cure. Now that I've seen you're pretty good in a scrap, I will need your help preventing the assassination and capturing Alexia."

"Of course. And, if we need to detain her, I have a containment area on the ship specially suited for Jedi and the like. But why are you so concerned about saving this one youngling?"

"She was my friend. I owe it to her. But be warned. They've probably notified the highest authorities of the Empire about me by now. I wouldn't be surprised if they've already notified Tremayne."

Alanna sucked in her breath through her teeth. "Of all of the vile creatures of the Empire...Damn! That is one force I know I cannot fight against."

"I see you've heard of him. He and I go back a bit. He was among the people who took charge of the brainwashed younglings. He once tried to use me to help start up a super-weapon called the Sith Reaver. My friends helped me snap out of it and I destroyed the Reaver. We escaped him. He's had a grudge against me ever since then."

Alanna hung her head. "Yes, I know him. He was my contact for the job which took my honor, and a good part of my soul, from me. He was the reason that I could not back out of the contract."

They both went silent, unsure of what to say. Alanna suddenly felt a little exposed. She worried that she was sharing too much with this strange soul. It had been a long time since she had been so open with someone so young. He reminded her of her brother and this scared her. Shiro turned away toward a computer screen; he placed a red disk inside the computer and began to look at the readouts that came up on the screen.

After a while Alanna looked over at Shiro. "What are you looking at?"

Shiro sighed. "A read-out of information I pirated from that Imperial base. It tells me who's involved with the Youngling Project. This way I know who to take my revenge upon."

Alanna winced slightly. "You should be careful with that. You don't want to just go around hurting a bunch of people right and left, do you? I mean, how involved are they?"

Shiro turned around. "Oh no! You can't stop me! Nothing in the 'verse can stop me! If they're in, they're in. Have to cut the edges. All will be dealt with."

Alanna looked at him seriously. "I have no intention of stopping you."

"But you don't agree..."

"Not completely. I know too well what it's like..."

He shouted at her, "Don't you think I'm trying? Dropped my paint in the water. Chalk ran. Sure to be caned. To the dark tower came. Two by two, blade of blue. Blade of red, all are dead!"

Alanna bolted upright in shock. She was speechless. Suddenly she felt the end of a blaster pressed against the back of her head. A woman stood behind her wearing a brown coat, a head-band, and pants containing many pockets, probably for carrying weapons such as the one she now had pointed at Alanna.

A voice said, "Don't move."

Shiro knew who it was but was still having one of his attacks. His fits had become more frequent since he had left Dantooine, a bad sign.

"Shiro's a good boy," he said. "Carries a sin. Supposed to help to help but it doesn't. Still so heavy." He looked up and said, "Amelie..."

When she realized it was the infamous Amelie Starkiller, Alanna sat down stark still, raised her arms to show she was unarmed and thought about how she needed to update the security systems on her ship.

Amelie spoke again. "You're not taking Shiro anywhere, bounty hunter."

Alanna said, "Starkiller, I have no intention of it."

"Then what's the deal with stealing Shiro?"

Alanna decided to speak calmly, even though she was a little scared. "More like saving him. He was ambushed."

"By whom?"

Cowering in the corner, Shiro answered, "By the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet."

Alanna looked over at Shiro and wondered what exactly he saw when he had his attacks. "I'm not sure, but I think it may have been Drakk Menace," she said

Amelie sounded shocked. "Menace? Can't be. He's dead. Got thrown off a cliff."

Shiro continued, "Mirroring events. Everything's familiar. They always come back."

Alanna asked, "When?"

Amelie answered, "A long time ago."

Shiro said, "In a galaxy far, far away..."

Alanna spoke skeptically, "Well, that's funny because he sure looked alive to me a few hours ago."

Shiro crossed his arms. "I feel cold," he said. "Supposed to help to help. Protect the boy."

Alanna spoke, "I swear to you that Shiro is not here against his will. And I have no intentions of collecting a bounty on him. I'm not that type of hunter."

Amelie said, "But you're Alanna Sitara, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"And you are a member of the Guild, aren't you?"

"Yes, but I am... selective."

"I heard you've killed Jedi before."

"No, that's false. I've never killed a Jedi…"

Shiro turned around fast. "What?"

"…I have been forced to kill those that supported Jedi, but I've never killed a Jedi."

Shiro began advancing. "Can't be seen. Truth must be weeded out. Dig fast." He pulled out his lightsaber. "Those who can't be trusted must be cut down!"

Amelie asked Alanna, "Why should I trust you?"

Alanna looked nervously over at Shiro. "At this point, what do I have to lose?"

Amelie considered a moment and then twirled her blaster and put it down. "Alright, I trust you... only cause you don't seem like an Emperor's Hand."

Shiro ignited his saber. "We must find the culprit and throw them in the pit!"

A figure came up behind Shiro. It was Frell. "Shiro…Calm down, dude."

Shiro pointed his lightsaber at Alanna. "You killed Jedi?"

"No!" Alanna shouted. "I killed a family protecting Jedi and I deeply regret it."

Shiro clenched his teeth with mad ferocity. "Treachery nonetheless!"

Alanna forced herself to stay calm. "Shiro, you know that I am not here to hurt you. Remember who sent me."

Shiro looked deep at Alanna, studying her as if for the first time. He paused. Then he looked around the room at the others. They were all silent with shock, staring at him, wondering what he'd do.

"Voices of truth," he said. "That's wormwood." He withdrew his saber, stepped back and shook his head a little.

Alanna visibly relaxed, as best she could. She had not expected Shiro to turn on her so suddenly. She had hoped her bad past wouldn't come up but now it was too late. She prayed she and Shiro would have the strength to trust each other now that they had inadvertently been at odds. She stood up and turned around to see the newcomers on her ship.

Frell extended a hand in friendship. "I'm Frell."

Alanna nodded and shook his hand. "Alanna Sitara."

Shiro murmured, "Introductions should be made. That's manners." He still was not out of his mad fit. In truth, it seemed as if Shiro would never really come out of it. He started to say "I'm Shiro", but then realized that everybody knew who he was.

Alanna turned to Amelie. "You are Amelie Starkiller, no? Your reputation precedes you."

Amelie chuckled. "The same for you, Alanna. Oh, by the way, it's Amelie Stryker now."

Shiro spoke up. "Oh, Alanna, Frell and Amelie here are friends of mine. They took care of me years ago."

Amelie laughed and hugged Shiro. "You, my friend, are crazy!"

"Rub it in, felon."

Alanna spoke to Amelie. "Thank you for not blowing my head off before I could explain myself. But how in the worlds did you get on my ship undetected?"

"Frell here is a master at breaking security."

Frell cut in, "And a master at another thing…" He put an arm around Amelie's waist.

Amelie batted his arm away. "Frell! Now's not the time!" She rolled her eyes. "Sheesh. Mando's!"

Shiro said, "Hand in hand, across the land. Heh."

Alanna said to Amelie, "I have wanted to meet you for quite some time. I just hoped that it would be under better circumstances."

"That's great, but could you please tell me why you took Shiro?"

Shiro turned to Amelie and said, "Amelie, Alanna was sent to protect me. She was sent by my prospective master, Marik."

"Marik, eh?"

Alanna nodded. "Here is a hologram disc from him, proving that he sent me."

"But I'm not sure if he knows about Crow," Shiro said.

Amelie said. "He will know soon enough, if he hasn't guessed anyway."

Alanna queried, "Who is Crow? Another of the Empire's ilk?"

"Try the Emperor himself."

Alanna started, "What?"

Shiro cut in, "Voice from beyond. The dark king sat on the throne. Crow is a drone in the mind that is evil."

Amelie explained, "You see, Shiro's been experimented upon by the Empire. The Crow manipulation program was included in the experimentation."

Alanna was unsure but nodded. "Got it… I think."

"Shiro's being hunted by the Empire. One person in particular. Some di'kut named Tremayne. You can't reason with him. You can't talk him out of this."

"I know about Tremayne, and I know what he is capable of." Alanna unconsciously rubbed her neck.

Shiro said, "So, Amelie, what have you found out about the Imperial spies sent after me? Are they trying to capture me, kill me or persuade me to join?"

"I figure they're trying to get you to rejoin the Empire. Apparently, you're too valuable a prize for them to just discard or destroy."

"They come in the night, ready to ignite. Child to hone, to reclaim their own."

"Uh, yeah, exactly." Amelie slowly shook her head as she looked at Shiro. "This is why I worry about you.

"What about Alexia? She's sent here to assassinate Senator Hero, right?"

"Senator Hero? He's a dead man. He just doesn't know it yet."

"But we could stop her."

"We can try."

Shiro felt a hand touch his shoulder. He was startled. He turned around and met a very familiar face. "Mulann!"

Mulann nodded. "Hello Shiro. I missed you. I wish you had told me you were leaving."

"But, Mulann, why? Why did you come?"

"I had to, Shiro. You need my help."

"Mulann, no! You'll get hurt!"

"I don't care, Shiro. I won't desert you." Mulann hugged Shiro close.

Alanna spoke to Amelie. "I assume she is a friend of yours."

Amelie looked at the two and nodded. "When I learned Shiro had left, I picked Mulann up and brought her with me. She had insisted on seeing him."

"So you're gonna help me find out how to stop the programming?" Shiro said to Mulann.

Mulann nodded again. "Of course, Shiro. I will support your choice but you need me to help you control your anger."

Shiro smiled a little. "Heh. I guess you've got a point there. Mulann, do you remember, Marik? Alanna here was sent by him to find me. I'm thinking I should go learn from him now. He was going to be my master before the Empire began. I just want to know if that's okay with you."

"Yes, Shiro. I've taught you all I can. You and Marik are dear friends. You need to fulfill your destiny as his Padawan. I'll go with you though. We'll all go with you. We're still a team."

Suddenly there was the sound of a lightsaber igniting. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound. Out of the ship hallway stepped the Sith agent, Melkior.

"Good evening," the Dark Jedi said.

Amelie turned around fast and pointed a blaster at Melkior. "Dar'jetii!" She tossed a gun to Alanna. Frell pulled his own blaster. Mulann ignited her lightsaber.

Melkior chuckled and lightly scraped the blade of his lightsaber along the ship wall.

Alanna leveled the blaster at Melkior and said, "You're gonna have to pay for that!"

Shiro turned around. "Go in to the gloom. Should I face my doom?"

Melkior spoke to Shiro, "Shiro, we can do this the easy way or the hard way."

Shiro slowly took a step toward Melkior, transfixed. "Can't fight back, way off track."

"Amelie, who is this?" Alanna asked, watching Melkior and Shiro with surprise.

"His name is Melkior. He's a Sith. He's come to take Shiro back to the Empire," Amelie answered.

Melkior looked over at Amelie. "Ah, Amelie! You of all people should appreciate what I am trying to accomplish. You and I are brethren! Do not forget that you were once a Mandalorian as I was. Do not forget how the Jedi massacred our people."

Alanna looked back and forth from Melkior to Amelie. "Mandalorian? You two are Mandalorians? The Mandalorians killed my parents on Galidraan!"

Amelie kept her gaze on Melkior. "I was merely a child at that time. I had nothing to do with that. Melkior, on the other hand, was full grown and might have had something to do with that. Furthermore, he's done plenty other terrible things since becoming a Sith. He manipulated Shiro and caused the merciless death of one of my shipmates. And I'm sure he's done other heartless things since. Melkior, I side with the Jedi now! They have become my friends. Believe it or not, I have learned something you have not: compassion."

Melkior sighed and looked at Mulann. "Mulann, it's been a long time. I've missed you."

For a moment Mulann seemed to waver in her resolve, but she said, "Come any closer to him and I will kill you."

"I don't want to hurt you," Melkior said. "I'm just here for the boy. But I might take you in exchange, Mulann." He turned back to Shiro. "Shiro, come home. Don't you realize that, by staying away, you are causing your friends more potential pain from your pursuers?"

Shiro nodded heavily, caught in Melkior's gaze. "The thought had crossed my mind."

"Shiro," Amelie called out, "Don't let him draw you again!"

But it was too late. Shiro had ignited his saber and was moving slowly, step by step toward Melkior. "Blade of light. Dead by night."

Melkior spoke to Mulann again, "Mulann, I'm abandoning the Empire. This is my last job. Just give me the boy. Then we can go away together. I'll protect you from them."

Shiro shook violently. "Help...Can't stop!"

"Shiro's place is with the Empire. You know that. Hell, I may be a Sith, but the Empire takes care of their own. Shiro, you are still one of us."

"People tear so easily. Like pink paper. The wind talks when you're alone." Shiro stopped, unsure of what to do. Then suddenly he launched himself towards Melkior violently, yelling, "No!"

Alanna fired a stun blast at Shiro. Shiro fell to the ground unconscious. Alanna pointed the blaster back at Melkior "The next one is for you. I've set it on kill. I won't miss!"

"If I were you," Mulann said to Melkior, "I'd be leaving."

Melkior spoke to them, "We don't have to go through this. We can do this without violence."

Alanna growled at Melkior, "Get out!"

Melkior assessed that he was outnumbered. He had not expected to find Shiro so well protected. He decided to wait for an opportunity to catch Shiro when he wasn't surrounded by his allies, when he was defenseless and easy to break. Till then, he would bide his time.

"As you wish," he said. "But this isn't over. Mulann, you had better turn either yourself or him over to me and save yourself pain. You know Tremayne won't bargain."

Mulann looked at him with determination. "Neither of us will go with you."

Melkior gave one final look of longing and quickly exited the ship before the group had time to respond.

Alanna breathed a sigh of relief. She holstered her blaster and talked to the ship's computer. "Check the extent of the damage. Check for anomalies. He found us way too easily."

"Well we haven't seen the last of him," Amelie said. "Frack! We shouldn't have let him get away!" She sighed. "And I swear he's fallin' head over heels for Mulann!"

"I gathered that," Alanna said. She went over to check Shiro.

Alanna touched Shiro's shoulder. Shiro flipped over suddenly to face Alanna. Alanna jumped in surprise. No one in the galaxy could have recovered so quickly from a stun blast.

Shiro stared up at her with angry eyes. He breathed heavily. "Force from behind, hm? How dare you!" Shiro raised up his deactivated lightsaber hilt and pointed it towards Alanna. "You have no idea what I am."

Alanna breathed just as heavily and faced Shiro down. "You dare threaten me? I'll take my information about your friend Marik and leave you here to rot."

Mulann stared at them. "Shiro! Alanna! Stop this!"

Shiro shook himself and looked away. He seemed to come back to himself.

Mulann helped Shiro up. "Shiro, calm yourself, please. Remember your training. This is not you."

Shiro touched his head. "Mulann... I... I'm sorry. What was I thinking?"

"Shh, Shiro," Mulann said. "It's alright."

Shiro turned to Alanna. "I'm sorry, Alanna. I need help. I'm not well."

Alanna took a deep breath. "I know, Shiro. I should watch my tongue as well."

Shiro turned around to face the group. "It's getting serious now," he said to all of them. "Those who want out can leave. Nothing in the 'verse can stop me."

Amelie folded her arms and said, "We're all with you, Shiro. You know that."

Shiro rubbed his eyes and turned to Alanna. "I'm getting tired. I need to rest."

Alanna nodded. "You can stay here tonight if you like. I…would prefer it if everyone stayed nearby… for protection." She pointed back past the bridge. "Follow the corridor, the second door on the left is guest quarters."

"Thank you, Alanna."

Frell, a man of few words, surprisingly added, "I'd say you've been quite accommodating under the circumstances, Miss Sitara."

Alanna chuckled and looked around at the group. "You're not kidding. After all, I believe I was threatened by y'all three times at least. And my ship was broken into several times, despite my quality security system. Not to mention that my ship is now damaged, thanks to our friend, Melkior. So you could say I'm being a good sport. I guess my mother would have liked that."

"May I also stay?" Mulann asked. She smiled. "Ami kicked me out of her guest room for being too noisy."

Amelie humorously feigned frustration. "I did not! Frell did!"

Alanna nodded again. "Try the second door on the right, same corridor." Mulann bowed in response.

Shiro walked off, escorted by Mulann. He spoke tiredly to the group. "We'll talk more in the morning. In a few days will be Senator Hero's parade. That's where we must go to stop Alexia."

Amelie watched Mulann walk off, snickered and spoke to Alanna. "She is the noisiest Jedi I know. Snores like a saw."

Mulann turned and frowned. "For your information, I do not… anymore!" She headed off with Shiro.

Alanna chuckled, "At least the walls of the Levana are thick…Or maybe not so thick." She went over and looked at the burn mark on the ship wall. Damn it! She thought. This is going to be expensive to fix.

Amelie watched her and read her mind. "Get used to it, Alanna. I've been around Shiro longer than you, and I can tell you that you're in for a lot more trouble. Though, I rather enjoy the ride. I think you will end up enjoying it too, now that you're one of us."

Alanna reflected on this. Amelie had said that she was now "one of them." Alanna was used to being on her own. She had lived most of her life this way since she lost her family. She was wary of groups. Wary of becoming attached to yet another family. In this hard universe, families tended to be all too easily broken. She realized Shiro probably knew that all too well.

"And so that is how the situation stands as of now. Shiro refuses to leave Ord Mantell until we deal with this newest crisis. I will, of course, stay with him to protect him, as per our contract."

Alanna's hologram paused for a moment, having finished her report. Marik nodded, things were progressing much faster than he could have hoped for. Ms. Sitara's reputation was certainly not without merit.

Marik took a deep breath before responding to her. Did she look a bit nervous? It was so hard to read people on holocalls. "Somehow I get the feeling there is something else I should know…"

Alanna's image fidgeted slightly. "Well, I am unsure what Shiro's mental state was last time you saw him, but I can guarantee you that it has since deteriorated. There is something wrong with him. The Empire brainwashed him and fracked with his mind, trying to make him a programmed assassin. He's been able to fight off the programming with Mulann's help but it's not easy. Lately the programming has been acting up again. There was a malfunction in the programming and it scarred his mind. He's kind of insane now. It's… hard to explain. You'll see for yourself once we reach Wayland."

Marik gasped at this news and waited for more. "Yes, and…?"

Amelie shrugged her shoulders. "That's it."

Marik sighed deeply. I guess I won't be getting anything else out of her tonight. "Very well, Ms. Sitara, I shall be prepared. I will await your communication after the crisis has passed."

"Yes, I will contact you when we are approaching the rendezvous point, hopefully in a few days. Until then."

Marik took one last look at the woman in the hologram. She really was a lovely woman. He cleared his throat before responding, "Until then, may the Force be with you both…"

The hologram dissipated, leaving Marik alone in the cool night air. A gentle wind caressed his brow, blowing his hair into his eyes. Irritated, Marik brushed it away idly. Slowly he walked through the calm darkness, thinking about all that had passed.

Soon Marik came upon a clearing, one in which he had meditated in many times before. This place spoke of peace. Marik sat down on a nearby rock and tilted his head up towards the stars. Soon, very soon, Shiro will be traversing through those stars, through those galaxies, towards me. I wonder what kind of man the boy I once knew has become. And what kind of problems he has… But no matter what the Empire has done to him, I swear I will keep my brother safe and protect him from them. I will do my best to heal him from the damage they have done to his mind. I will guide him to faithfully follow the way of the Light. I will save him. I swear it. Marik continued gazing at the stars, as the sky grew grey, and he finally walked home as the sunrise kissed the horizon.