"The essence of lying is in deception, not in words."

-John Ruskin

A group of Jawas walked through to the terminal to board the next hovercraft off the planet. Expectedly, there were droids that checked each passenger going through, the group of cloaked figures kept moving forward, talking to themselves in their own little chatter. They were eventually stopped by a droid with red stripes on his armor.

"Halt, what is the purpose of entering though here?" it asked with assertion in its mechanical voice. The leader of the Jawas chattered that they were here to help pick up a friend who had been returned to them after working many years on a mining barge. The guards looked at each of the little cloaked creatures and looked at their hidden faces but they managed to see their yellow eyes, after a few more minutes, they were cleared to enter and they made their way over to Transport 4, they all looked around to make sure no droids were watching as they opened a hidden door and one of the group members, who had hovered so close down to the ground as to appear shorter, slipped inside. The figure removed its hood to expose a round egg-white robot head with visor; she pulled off the yellow-glowing goggles that hid her bright blue eyes.

"Thank you all again; words alone cannot describe my heart-felt thanks." She spoke in their alien language. The small little Jawas simply chattered that she should hurry and get inside before the guards noticed them there. She pulled the hood back over her head and slipped inside as the small creatures closed the hatch and locked it shut so the guards wouldn't notice anything. With that, they walked out and left the transport station as they watched the transport ship fly off with hope their contact would reach its destination.

Within minutes, the shady figure worked her way from the baggage area and came to the seating area where all the other travelers were sitting, waiting for the next stop, others simply just sitting waiting for more in their miserable wretched lives. The figure found an open seat and sat down, she stared out into space and hope that they wouldn't find her on the barge, but she mostly worried about her alien friend, Collie Melon. She knew she wasn't going to let the Confederacy just storm through her village and interrogate the villagers for information. She hoped Collie would keep quiet and not go off and angrily argue with the droids.

"Scuse' me, mum." spoke out a voice, she turned and saw a rather bizarre thing. She saw a well-dressed person in a dusty yet elegant overcoat; the coat came all the way down to this person's ankles so she could only see his feet and the dusty boots he wore. She couldn't see his face due to his top hat that had burnt marks among the brim, the collars of his coat stood up high until it touched the brim of his hat and it stayed in place that hid a large majority of his head. He definitely differed from all the others onboard, it was rather peculiar but he must have had a reason he was onboard.

"Uhm, yes?" she muffled through her cloak.

"Pardon me if I'm disturbin' choo', mum. But is this ere' seat taken?" he indicated to the empty seat next to the small figure.

"Oh, no, go ahead mister." She replied through the cloak that covered her speaking component so that it made her speech sound muffled but she tried to hide her face from the stranger nonetheless.

"Why thank'ye, mum." The gentleman said as he sat himself down, she heard what sounded like a clinking of metal and moving of metallic parts under his coat. He turned his head slightly to face her. "All other seats in this ere' transport be full, mum. I ope' I'm not disturbin' choo', mum."

"Oh no, it's quite all right." She replied. His hands were kept inside the pockets of his coat; they never once left their pockets. She realized something as she turned to look up at him.

"Er- excuse me, but how did you know I was a female?" she muffled; he looked at her and just shrugged.

"Dunno, mum. I've a'ways been'able to tell boys'n girlies apart. It's been'a gift'a mine ah'suppose."

"Could you stop calling me 'mum' please?" she replied/muffled to the stranger. "I'm not that old."

"Beggin' yer pardon, miss. I's didn't know." He apologized quickly. His accent was quite bizarre to her, nobody in this part of the galaxy ever spoke like that but it didn't give off any signs that his voice was roboticized, but then again, anyone could fake that kind of accent. Still, he didn't seem to have any malicious intention, but she still kept her guard up nonetheless in case he tried anything.

She then saw his ticket fall out of his pocket, his hand finally left his pocket, to her shock, she saw a mechanical hand exit his pocket and grip the ticket, his hand was metallic yet somewhat stubby-like with his fingertips being somewhat sharpened at the end, they weren't like The General's hands, long and thin like the bones of humans, these were more stubby. When the stranger saw that she was looking at his hand, his hand quickly retreated back into his pocket with his ticket.

"Ye' wasn't supposed t' see tha…" the stranger said with a sound of regret in his voice.

"I'm sorry. Was I not supposed to see your hand?" she muffled apologetically.

"Yeah. Tha' you weren't, miss…" he replied with regret.

"Was there some kind of accident? What happened to your hand?" He looked at her; she could see what seemed like two reflective circles for where his eyes would be. Were they goggles reflecting the light from the cabin or were they his eyes? There was no way to tell unless he took of his coat.

"Well…I was'n more of'n accident, miss…" slowly, he pulled out his other hand, it too was mechanical, he used that hand to pull up the sleeve on his other arm up to his elbow, it showed that his entire arm was mechanical. He then moved his free hand down near his boots as he revealed that both his legs were robotic but they still retained the same appearance like a human's leg. As the muffled figure took all this in, the stranger covered his legs again as a passenger walked by.

"Dear gods…what happened?" she muffled quietly.

"Well…me 'ouse was blown t' smithereens. Me' family inside n' all, I survived but now I'ma freak'o nature itself…" he replied with some sadness in his tone.

She wondered if perhaps his entire body had been destroyed like The General and he was another cyborg. If that were the case, it would explain why he was hiding himself from the world in shame of his appearance. There wasn't much dignity in this society for anyone to become a cyborg, true, there were people who had lost limbs and they were replaced by mechanical limbs but they were treated with respect; cyborgs barely received any respect at all. Unless you count The General, but he was the most feared being in the entire galaxy, respect was forcefully demanded by him. Suspicion melted away and was replaced with pity, without thinking, she revealed her smooth mechanical hand and patted his shoulder comfortingly. He looked back and saw her arm in surprise.

"Wh- did'ye lose yer'arm too?" he asked, she saw what he referred too but she didn't want to reveal herself yet he didn't seem like a bad person. Still, she kept herself hidden.

"Not exactly…" she muffled.

Before she could come up with a lie to explain her arm, an announcement came out over the intercom that the transport ship had reached its first stop and anyone who wanted to get off, now was the time, she thought it would be smart to get off now before the transport would get deeper into Republic territory. Sure, it was probably safer there and she could hide from The General but she preferred to hide it out in Confederate territory. She got up and wished her new-found friend the best of luck as she exited off the transporter and made her way to the station. Suddenly, she heard that familiar voice again.

"Scuse me miss!" she turned and out ran her new shy cyborg friend. "It's too danger'us ou' thar' miss. I think choo'd best stay 'ere."

"That's flattering but I can handle myself." She turned to leave but she felt a firm grip grab her arm and hold on tightly.

"I'm afraid I can' let choo' do that, Eve…" suddenly, several of the exiting passengers threw off their clothing and revealed battle droids as they pulled their guns out on her. Other passengers were pushed aside as Droidekas rolled in and assembled themselves with their laser guns pointed towards her. The stranger used his other hand as he threw back her hood to reveal her smooth, white egg-like head.

"Heh, looks like I caught the real one this time." The stranger said but he wasn't speaking in his strange accent anymore. His free hand removed the large hat and unbuttoned the overcoat to reveal an all-too familiar face.

"You!" she yelled out angrily, for it was the Cheyman whom had tried to sell her out to the Confederacy almost a week ago. She, however, smart fully set up a trap that blew him up; however, it appeared that he survived. He continued to unbutton his over coat until she saw that from down to his abdomen; the rest of his body was mechanical. There was barely anything left except for what remained of his face, his left arm and a few of his vital organs. Most of the right side of his face up to where his eyebrow used to be was constructed with mechanical casing; there was just a glowing red eye where his right eye used to be and most of the right side of his jaw was encased in grey casing material that stretched down his neck and his shirt hid how far down it went.

"Yes, me." He replied with a smug look on his face. "I really had you fooled with the whole "explosion blew up'm family" bit. But I guess you were the stupid moron this time. You destroyed half my body; I lost my right eye, my right cheek and practically the entire right side of my body. You'd be surprised how good health care is for the Confederacy. Isn't that right general?" she looked back and to her anger, in walked her most hated and despised adversary in this crazy galaxy; the skeletal and feared, General Grievous.

"That is correct, Cheyman. We were lucky that you were still alive and that most of your vitals were still intact." He turned his haunting gaze from the Cheyman to the Eve probe who only stared back with blue-eyed fury. "Greetings Eve, we meet again." He chuckled to himself.

"Go to hell Grievous…" she said. She spent a month hiding from Grievous and she made herself the fool to his cruel being. If she could spit, she would have gladly done so directly at him.

"Heh, still as stubborn as ever, you may turn her over Cheyman." Grievous said, but the Cheyman did not move, instead he pulled out a gun on the Eve probe's head while his metallic arm held tightly onto her gun arm.

"I think not, General. I've heard of her weapon and what it can do. Can you possibly imagine how much the Republic or even gangsters like the Hutts would be willing to pay for her weapon to obliterate life? They'd pay double, no, triple, no, tri-quadruple what you've paid me for the little wench." Grievous stared cold dagger eyes into the Cheyman's reflective glasses as they circled around each other while the Cheyman held the gun up to the Eve probe.

"Our agreement was for half a million credits. Take the money and be gone." Grievous said in a dyspeptic tone, a baleful smirk appeared on the Cheyman.

"Now why pay that much for a simple gun? Or is it perhaps you're looking for more than the gun?"

"Enough! She knows more about her own weapon than any of us does. Give her to me and take your money or-"the Cheyman held the gun closer to Eve's head.

"Or what?" he smirked even wider. Eve was getting irritated by this, with her free hand; she quickly and agilely spun and landed a solid blow to his organic side, the Cheyman's focus changed to the Eve probe. "why you little bi-" he then cried out in pain as before he knew it, Grievous had ran over, slapped away the gun in his hand and he took the Cheyman's organic arm and held it up against his back while the Cheyman cried out in excruciating pain as he was on his knees. Eve tried to run off but the Super Battle Droids got to her quicker as their guns pointed to her head and they held onto her arms but they let her see the General as he let go of the Cheyman's arm only to walk in front of him and hold him up by his neck. He held the Cheyman up close to intimidate him with his harsh yellow eyes, they were talking but she could not hear what they were saying.

"You should have taken the money and gone on your way, you disgraceful Cheyman…" Grievous spoke quietly so only the Cheyman could hear while they stared each other off as the Cheyman was using his hands to try and keep Grievous from strangling him to death.

"There's something more about that robot you want…isn't there?" the Cheyman whispered even though he was struggling to get oxygen in his lungs while his legs swung for the ground.

"There is no such 'something more' you are speaking about. The Confederacy needs that weapon to win this war."

"Bantha droppings!" he gasped for air before he stared back into grievous with a sinister look. "Tell me, what is it you see when you stare into her blue eyes? You've barely looked away from them since I caught her…" Grievous didn't respond, he instead turned his head slightly as he stared into Eve's blue eyes while she stared back with a look of concerned worry. He stared at her from the corner of his yellow eyes, this moment was ruined as the Cheyman chuckled and he whispered, "I knew it. I guess you're not as heartless as you say you are…"

Grievous broke eye contact with Eve as he kneed the Cheyman hard in his half-organic, half-mechanical abdomen area. He released the Cheyman as the Cheyman gasped for air as well as he tried to recover from the pain in his torso area. Grievous walked behind the Cheyman, his cape waved dramatically, it seemed that Grievous must have come from a battle recently for it was dirty and there were numerous holes where lasers must have gone through. For the first time since Eve had escaped Grievous, she actually felt concerned for him and his being. She couldn't explain why even though she hated him but she did.

Grievous grabbed the Cheyman by his long hair and held him up while the Cheyman was on his knees. Grievous then pulled out one of his laser swords and activated it as a green glowing beam erupted from it and Grievous held it up to the Cheyman's neck menacingly.

"Oh please! By the gods, please no!" the Cheyman screamed out in fear, his words seemed to go on deaf ears. Grievous held the sword up in the air, preparing to execute the Cheyman himself. Only Eve spoke out.

"Grievous don't!" she yelled out, he hesitated for a moment ash his gaze turned towards her, but he then looked back to the Cheyman and the laser sword swung down; Grievous body blocked the Cheyman's body from Eve but images of blood spilling everywhere filled her mind. He stood there for a moment, his hands drooped to their sides one side had his laser sword and he deactivated it, the other had something else, she expected it to be the Cheyman's head still hung by his hair. Eve looked at him with a shocked expression.

"G-Grievous…how could you?..." he turned his body as her eyes widened to the sight. In his left hand was not a head, but hair. The Cheyman was sitting there on his knees with a look of horror on his face. It all came together now.

Grievous didn't cut off the Cheyman's head. He had cut off all of his long hair.

Grievous dropped the long strands of hair as he walked towards the Eve probe, leaving the horrified Cheyman to scrape together his hair as though his life depended on it. A battle droid walked up to him as he neared the Eve probe.

"General, what do we do with the Cheyman?" Grievous stared back at the Eve probe; he didn't even turn to look at who was speaking to him.

"Leave him. He doesn't matter anymore; he has done his job, leave him to his shame. Take the prisoner, put her in my ship." He commanded. The Super Battle droids weren't taking chances with her as the forcefully dragged her to Grievous ship. As they were forcefully tying her down, Grievous came up and threw one of the Super Battle Droids and he said something she never thought he'd ever say in her life. "Don't harm her!" he rasped angrily, the Droids obeyed but Eve could tell there was a sense of confusion for Grievous' actions; but they knew questioning him would be even more life-threatening. They left the section of the ship while Grievous kept his watchful gaze on them until they left. He then turned to the Eve probe and as soon as they took off he finally spoke to her.

"I was worried about you, believe it or not."

"Yeah, you were worried about your 'precious weapon' falling into Jedi hand." She said to him, she took her cloak off and angrily threw it on the ground. "Gods damn it all! Why was I so careless?" Grievous approached her; he bent down and picked up the cloak. He stared at it and then at her.

"Don't think of your recapture so harshly. I have had to time to re-think of your imprisonment if we caught you again." As he said this, he began tearing her cloak, she didn't think much of it; she refused to even look at him.

"Let me guess; longer hours of interrogation and I spend every waking minute in the darkest prison cell?" she said almost sarcastically.

"No. I have different ideas in mind." Without warning, he wrapped her torn cloak around her and tied it. His hands moved away before she had time to bat them away, she was about to tear it off when she turned and looked in the reflection of the window and saw herself wearing the cloak. Only, it was different than how she usually wore it, it was like a cape, almost like how Grievous wore it but it was almost like a scarf. She was surprised at herself; she never would've approved of herself looking like this, she usually would always try to wear clothing to hide her robotic features but here; she liked the look.

"What do you think?" Grievous eventually said. Her eyes widened when he said that. Did he actually ask for her OPINION? Grievous was really surprising her today, she suspected if this was one of his sith tricks; if it was, he was definitely doing a really good job at it. She turned her body around while staring into the window's reflection, admiring the new look.

"I- I actually like it…" she really did. She was just as surprised that he did this for her. But then something came into her head that had been bugging her, she turned around and stared back at the General. "Grievous…that Cheyman…why didn't you kill him? I thought-"

"For Cheyman culture, having long hair is their most sacred and honored tradition. The longer a Cheyman's hair is, the most sacred they are. If they should ever cut that hair shorter than a centimeter; the Cheyman would be dishonored and cast away like peasants. Unlike the hair of humans, Cheyman hair does not grow back."

"Then why-"

"I was going to kill him for his treachery but I quickly decided that it would be far crueler for him to live a life of misery or being shamed for life than to have a quick death and be proclaimed a martyr for his people." He finished talking as he walked over to the window and stared out in space. She simply stared at him with shock. But at the same time, she was actually glad. He was right; the Cheyman deserved a life of shame for his deception, not a quick death by Grievous' hand. She relaxed herself as she stood next to him and stared out the window staring out into the vast galaxy of stars.

"Grievous…you said you had some…different ideas for me…" she eventually said putting her hand to the window. She had thought about this for a long, long time and she thought it was now or never that she asked since she was going back. He turned his attention to her.

"Indeed I did, female. What of them?" he responded with his usual rasp.

"Well…" she turned and looked up to meet his yellow eyes with an innocent look on hers. "Would I be able to visit the engine room more often? On my own free will? Battle droid escorts can go with me to make sure I don't destroy them or anything-"he already spoke before she was done.

His answer truly surprised her