As the freighter climbed towards the stars, a few blasts from a planet-side turbolaser attempted to stop them, but even the ponderous bulk of the freighter wasn't enough to stop Hera from evading the half-hearted attempt. For a few minutes, they flew in silence, speeding ever further away from the planet, the palace and the misery that lay in its depths. Fen could only stare at the stars ahead, trying to convince her still pounding heart that she was free at last.

"So?" Hera asked, "Where do you want me to take you?"

Home, called her heart with desperation, take me home, take me somewhere safe, somewhere where I don't have to be afraid again. But where was home? The only home Fen could remember was the Jedi temple, and she knew in her bones that Hera's statement about the Jedi being gone was true. There was no safety there for her anymore, if there had ever been. "I don't know." She whispered eventually, thinking how large and cold the universe suddenly seemed.

"Don't you have family somewhere?"

"I don't remember." There was the vaguest notion in the back of her mind of a bright smile and laughter, but nothing more remained of the people who had borne and raised her for the first three years of her life, before the Jedi. The gleaming white spires glowed in her mind's eye, she wondered what it had looked like when they burned.

"Where…" Fen took a deep breath, drawing herself back to the present with an effort. "Where are you going to go?"

"Home." There was a smile on Hera's face that cut like a knife. "Back to Ryloth."

"Can I come with you?" The words slipped out in her desperation to banish the creeping loneliness that surrounded her. She had nothing and no one apart from Hera, no way to start a new life and no desire to do so on her own.

"Of course," Hera turned to her and smiled. "I never would have made it out of there if it wasn't for you." Fen scoffed slightly.

"Maybe, but it would have taken a lot longer without you and the Force." She gave Fen a smile as she started to program the navicomputer.

The Force. Again, it had come to her when it was life or death. Again, it had left, leaving a gaping wound in her chest, the memory of power even more tantalizing than her first grasp. Without it she was blind, deaf, mute, cut off from the galaxy and numb to the people that inhabited it. It was an ache deep her bones, stronger than her joy at freedom, stronger than her fear of recapture, stronger even than her desire for home. She was cut off from herself, floating adrift. She had to get it back. With a lurch, the ship leapt into hyperspace, points of light streaking away in front of them.

Fen turned to look at Hera, a smile still large across the twi'lek's face. A face still crusted with blood. This wound seemed to remined Fen of her own, and her arm immediately began to throb where she had been shot. "Do you think there's a medkit somewhere on this bucket?" Fen asked, pulling her arm close to inspect it. It didn't seem to bad, more of a graze than a hole.

"Hmmm?" Hera looked over. "Oh, I don't know. Let's go find out." Together the girls left the cockpit to explore their new domain. Rusting metal creaked under their feet as they walked down a short corridor into a small open space filled with what smelled like rotting ration packs. "Gross." Hera wrinkled her nose at the smell as she fumbled for the lights. Mess was strewn across the deck, most of it old and of dubious origin. All of it smelled. Stepping carefully around the old cloths and empty boxes, Fen searched for a medkit. At the back, she found a little box, half covered in food wrappers.

"I found it!" She called to Hera as she removed the worst of the debris and fumbled inside for the bacta patches.

"What in the name of the Force did those slavers do?" Fen found Hera in the engine bay, hands on her hips as she surveyed a mess of wire and cables that hung from the ceiling like vines.

"I don't know much about ships, but I'm pretty sure this is wrong." Fen noted as she stumbled over a loose grate in the floor.

"It's a miracle this ship didn't explode when we went into hyperspace." The twi'lek grumbled as she got to work on the nearest knot of wires.

"Wait," Fen grabbed another bacta patch. "Let me get a look at your face first. "With impatience, Hera turned and allowed Fen to look. It looked worse than it was, Fen quickly removed the worst of the old blood and tried to pick out the few specks of glass. Hera stood, still as a statue, eyes fixed on Fen as she worked, trying to be as delicate as possible while her fingers grazed Hera's skin. In a few minutes her work was done and Hera returned to work. Fen watched her for a few seconds before returning to the common area. Surveying the mess, she began to clean.

It took longer than expected. As soon as she could stand the smell and there was a relatively clean spot on the floor, she sat. As she crossed her legs, Fen closed her eyes and tried to still her mind. It was harder than she remembered, to push away her thoughts. Every time she managed to get rid of one, another simply bubbled up to take its place. An endless cycle of worry and faint happiness. Ignoring the growing frustration that soon dominated the thought process, she reached out, trying to feel the shape of the galaxy, the pull of the universe like an inexorable current.

She felt nothing.

What could have been hours or minutes later, Fen opened her eyes to the mundane ship around her. Despite achieving nothing, she felt drained, the happiness at her escape muted by the emptiness inside. It had been so much easier before, the suffering that happened around her, to her had been so much stronger than the hollow absence of the Force. Now, in the silence, it was the only real thing. Slowly, she stood up and walked back to the cockpit.

Hera came running in as Fen slumped into the co-pilot's seat. "We have a problem."

"What?"

The twi'lek didn't respond immediately, flipping switches instead. Fen could hear a wheeze of building pressure and a rattle from something. The ship dropped out of hyperspace and something else gave a loud band protest. Hera swore. "That'll be the power couplings."

"What does that mean?" Fen asked, eyes unable to comprehend that vast emptiness that surrounded them on all sides.

"It means we're going to be stuck here until I realign them. It shouldn't take more than a couple hours." Hera sighed, flipping her lekku behind her head.

"Anything I can do?" Fen asked, knowing the answer.

Hera shook her head and left, wrench in hand. The ship had fallen silent as it drifted, a stifling silence that pressed down on her. She shook her head to clear away thoughts of running out of air and curled up, the exhaustion of the past day calling out of release. Her last thought was that, even if she died here, she would die free.

Immediately, she knew something was wrong. She was not safe any longer. The ship had gone dark and strange noises groaned in the rear of the ship. Wishing desperately for a weapon of some kind, Fen slipped from her seat, fingers trailing against the walls. "Hera?" She called out quietly, desperate for an explanation of the sudden darkness and the cold that inspired goosebumps to prickle her bare arms. There was no response as she moved through the back, hands child by icy metal, rusty floorplates catching her feet.

As she turned the corner, she let out a sigh as the permeating darkness was broken by a pale blue light from inside the engine bay. Relief was short lived as she rounded the corner, fear twisting around her throat. It was not Hera's light as she had assumed, but a bacta tank, the swirling blue liquid emitted a pale glow that drew her in. She wondered how she hadn't noticed it before. Fen moved closer still until her hand was pressed against the glass. The murky liquid seemed clear, with no one inside. She peaked around the smooth curves of the tank, Hera was no where to be seen. "Hera?" She called, regardless, shattering the silence. Somehow, she knew it was the wrong thing to do, even as the syllable left her lips. A hand suddenly slammed against the wall of the bacta tank.

Fen screamed. She stumbled backwards, nearly falling. There was something inside the tank. A dark silhouette was now banging frantically against the glass. Slowly, trembling, Fen moved closer. She was barely breathing. Perhaps Hera was trapped inside. But no. The figure had long hair, tendrils floating in the murky liquid. They fanned behind the figure like a crown. Peering closer, Fen glimpsed a face. Her face.

Pressure suddenly squeezed her lungs as Fen struggled to pound against the glass, her eyes squeezed shut against the gelatinous liquid that was trying to force its way inside. Furious, she kicked the wall of the tank. To no avail, the bacta surrounding her was too thick. She couldn't get any momentum. She could barely move. Her brain screamed red for air, to open re mouth to breath. She couldn't resist and she tried to suck in air. But there was no air, only more thick, viscous liquid, sliding into her mouth and down her windpipe, chest heaving. She tried to cough, only swallowing more. Bright lights popped against the blackness. She tried to open her eyes, but the bacta burned as darkness crept across her vision. Slowly, she drifted to the bottom of the tank, choking and gagging, heaving desperately for air enough to scream.

Hera stepped back into the cockpit to find Fen asleep in the co-pilot seat, her eyes shut, whimpering under her breath. Cautiously, Hera approached, reaching out to gently shake the young woman awake. As her hand touched Fen's bare arm, she felt suddenly breathless and deeply afraid. She jerked and stumbled backwards, holding her hand as though she had been burned. A moment later, Fen awoke, gasping for air, tears running down her cheeks. For a moment, they both recovered in silence.

"Are you alright?" Hera asked when she felt herself able to speak again, Her pounding heart steadying. Fen nodded even as she wiped tears from her face, visibly attempting to pull herself together again. The human turned her eyes quickly to the space outside, rather than face Hera's semi-accusatory glare. "What was that?" Hera persisted when it was clear no other comments or explanation was forthcoming.

"What was what?" Fen looked over at Hera, eyes red and confused.

"When I touched your arm, I felt… I felt like I was dying." The twi'lek shuddered involuntarily.

"Just a nightmare." Fen said quickly, looking away again. "I'm sorry, that happens sometimes."

"Just a nightmare?" Hera repeat dubiously, but Fen only nodded. Deciding not to push her luck further, she changed the subject. "I've got the power couplings mostly repaired. We should be okay until we get to Ryloth and I can do some more serious work on this ship. Honestly, how anyone made it anywhere in this rust bucket is a minor miracle. She gave the ship an almost admiring look before sitting down and calling up the coordinates from the navi-computer. In a minute, they were underway.

"How long do you think before we're at Ryloth?" Fen asked, pale as a ghost.

"About an hour. Did you see any food while you were cleaning? I'm starving." That earned a small smile.

"I found lots of food, you can have it all if you want to risk food poisoning."

"I'll just wait, thanks." Hera smiled back, determined to ignore her aching stomach. Her hunger was made even more acute by the thought of food from home, her mother's cooking had always cheered her up. This thought was accompanied with a gut punch that had nothing to do with hunger. In her rush to go back home, the reason she had accepted such a long and potentially dangerous assignment had not been foremost in her mind. There would be none of her mother's food waiting for her, or her mother's equally famous hugs. Just her father and his cold determination. Hera swallowed hard, trying to convince herself that even without her mother, Ryloth was still home. But the overwhelming joy in her heart was gone, leaving something sour behind.

"What's wrong?" Fen asked, head half cocked as she looked over at Hera.

"Nothing." Hera lied, '"ust thinking about home." To her relief Fen didn't pry.

Something in the ship gave a groan and Hera turned her thoughts back to the vessel. Whoever had been working on it clearly had some kind of death wish. She would need to re-wire most of it and she wouldn't trust the backup hyperdrive to turn on, let alone take her anywhere. But this ship was hers now. It wouldn't be her first, and based on her current record, it wasn't likely to be her last, but her earlier thoughts of mining it for parts were gone. If she was going to free Ryloth of slavery, she might need a ship like this; large but agile with enough room to help people escape and the guns to keep them free. It would be almost poetic for a former slave ship to help slaves escape, to turn a symbol of terror into one of hope.

Even now she was itching to get back into the engine bay and deal with some of the faulty circuity in the life-support systems, but common sense overrode that desire, convincing her to wait until she wasn't depending on it for air if it decided to give up on her like the power couplings had. It would also be nice to add a couple of extra guns, just in case, slavers did tend to fight back. Perhaps her father would have some.

With that her thoughts reverted. What was she going to say to her father? What would he think of her latest crusade. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to tell him where she had been for the past couple of weeks, what she had just escaped from. She didn't want his pity, or even his anger on her behalf.

It had been a mistake and she had fixed it, with a little help. Fen. How was she going to explain the presence of a human? Could she work Fen into the story, without mentioning where they had met? Unlikely. Fen was also an ex-Jedi of some kind or another; Hera couldn't recall if that had any aversion to lying or not. What if Fen revealed herself as a Jedi? Would her father want to use her in his fight against the Empire? Probably. She was unwilling to subject this girl to his cause, or his disappointment if she refused to fight or live up to his expectations. Hera had been on the receiving end of that enough, she didn't want to wish it on the fragile girl sitting beside her.

The ship rattled alarmingly as it dropped out of hyperspace, metal groaning under the stress. Hera's attention however, was focused on the grey-green planet below. Fen unfolded slightly in the other seat, hope on her face. With practiced ease, Hera began to lower the ship towards the surface and home when static buzzed and a voice crackled to life over the comm link.

"Unknown YT-1000 model freighter, this is imperial command, you are entering a restricted airspace. Please submit clearance codes and prepare for inspection." The small smile slipped off of Hera's face.

"Transmitting clearance codes now." Hera answered, reaching for the terminal, frantically looking for something that might pass for codes. Several seconds of scrambling slater, she gave up, sharing a nervous glance with Fen.

"What are we going to do now?"

Hera sent a silent prayer to the ship. "I'm going to outfly them."

"In this?" Fen looked around in dismay.

"They're not scaring me away from my home." Her gritted her teeth and turned on the shields.

"Unknown freighter, submit your codes or prepare to be fired upon."

Taking a deep breath, Hera put the ship into a nosedive towards the planet. "Do you know how to use the turret?" Wordlessly, Fen ran down the corridor, ladder clanging a few seconds later.

"Two fighters incoming." She called up.

Hera twisted the ship into a barrel role as the plains of her home grew larger, filling her field of view. Bright green blaster bolts flew by on either side, a few hitting the ship which rumbled and groaned under the impact. Heart pounding, Hera angled the shields backwards and gritted her teeth. As they fell through the atmosphere, Hera called out, "How's it going down there?"

"These ships are really fast." Fen sounded panicked.

"Yeah, the latest model." Hera sighed, resigning herself to out-flying them. She laid a hand on the trembling consol, begging the ship to stay together as the shields died with a final shriek. "Hang on!" She called, barrel rolling the ship and taking a 90 degree angle. There would be cover soon, the towering peaks rising form the plains, one of them was home, but they couldn't go there until they had lost their tail.

Behind her, there was an explosion as Fen hit one of the TIEs. Maybe they would make it after all. The ship was hit again and Hera nearly banged her had on the navi-computer. Several systems went critical all at once. The nearest of the peaks was only a couple dozen meters away, eyes fixed on it, she dropped the ship, twisting it around he jagged rocks as tightly as she dared, the ship wobbling wildly. The second ship blew up and Hera tucked the freighter under the shadow of the monolith.

"We made it!" Fen beamed as she climbed awkwardly out of the gunner position.

"For now, but we're not quiet home yet." Hera amended. "Was it you who shot down that last fighter?" Fen shook her head.

"Rebel freighter come in." Some one buzzed in over the comm, "Come in rebel freighter this is insurgent HQ."

"This is rebel freighter." Hera answered, recognizing the accent as one of her own. "Was that you on the second TIE."

"Affirmative rebel freighter. We should be all clear for now. Move your ship to mark 11.257, she'll be safe there."

"I read out insurgent command. We'll head to mark 11.257 now."

"You trust them?" Fen asked, looking at the other ship, hovering just behind the rock spire, gleaming in the late afternoon sun.

"I do. These are my people." Hera smiled as she pulled the ship towards her father's house.

Several minutes later, they landed under a crevice in a cloud of dust. Coughing slightly, the duo emerged from the ship. Something heavy lifted from her shoulders as she looked up at the familiar rust covered rock. A door in the cliff face opened, a large orange twi'lek stepping outside, blinking in the dust and the sunlight. "Welcome home my child."