Chapter 1: Kairavi

A/N - This first part of this chapter touches on current and past abuse. If you find that subject particularly troubling or triggering, you can skip to the second half of the chapter, indicated by the second horizontal line break. The second half also has dialogue directly from Chapter 12: The Siege that I borrowed.

Edited 04/09/23

Kairavi still remembered staring up at the stars with her mother in the cool evenings of her home world. She could even still remember how the building where they lived had a metal roof, which would collect all of the sun's warmth throughout the day. Then at night, the warmth would be pleasant enough to warm her back when she would lay on it in the evenings to stargaze before going to bed. Between the warmth of the roof and the cool evening breeze that would blow across her cheeks, it was typically enough to lull her to sleep. In fact, falling asleep on the metal roof after an evening coming up with stories of various stars above her, tended to be Kairavi's nightly routine. Her mother would just pick her up and carry her back down to their tiny apartment where they shared a bedroom. They didn't have much, but to Kairavi at the time, it was everything.

On the rare times that her mother wasn't working late into the evening, she would join Kai on the roof and stargaze with her. Her mother would pull her into a protective embrace and say, "Just wait until we save up enough to leave this place Kai," and then would go on to tell Kai of her dreams of moving on to another planet to restart their life. They would talk about the stories she had heard from others that lived in the building of their travels to different planets. Some even had hushed stories of epic battles that were almost too good to believe.

Kai knew that they were not wealthy. By any extent of the imagination. She was very aware that they were the complete opposite of that. Despite that, she still looked back at her younger self fondly, back when it was just her and her mother. Their status didn't matter to her. Just the stories that her mother made up were enough to not only keep her entertained but were enough to fuel her dreams for years.

Kairavi looked at her reflection, her green eyes staring back at her in the viewport window brought her back to the present. When she had dreamed about what she would do, and all the adventures that would await her when she would finally leave her decrepit, poor homeworld… she just never pictured herself experiencing those moments as a slave.

For the Empire.

Sometimes she didn't recognize the reflection staring back at her. Kairavi pressed her lips to a thin line as she tossed her long golden hair over her shoulder. It could be worse though. She wasn't doing manual labor, and she no longer was forced to offer her body to people she would rather not even look at on a regular basis. Well, unless her current owner temporarily handed her off to someone else for an evening. That wasn't common and was typically only something that he would extend to someone of power, someone he was trying to impress. However, her owner thankfully never demanded intimacy for himself. All he asked of her was to look pretty, keep things tidy, and be at his beck and call. Graven was someone who needed to feel important and needed to be seen as someone powerful. The General had clawed his way to earn the respect he had now. Graven didn't settle for anything subpar and expected her to perform her job accordingly.

General Graven had been her owner for the past five years. He was far from her worst owner, and yet far from her best owner.

Graven was an older man. The man's hair had been silver since they met, and his eyes had been a piercing blue that she sometimes felt gave him the ability to read her thoughts. He needed to feel important. He was an elitist. After all, not every General in the Empire could afford a slave.

The familiar sound of an impatient snap from behind her broke her out of her thoughts. She turned around quickly to see General Graven glaring at her from his desk. With a small bow, she moved from the window to refill the General's drink.

"General, when I put you in charge of this operation, I had your assurances that you and Doctor Pershing would find a solution. Quickly," came the displeased voice emitting from the holo-image, standing on the General's desk said.

Kairavi picked up the General's glass, briefly glancing down at the flickering holo-image of Moff Gideon giving her current owner a dressing down. Typically, Kai would have been all for the opportunity to be privy to an event such as a reprimand. Unfortunately, that person just had to be Moff Gideon. Probably the only thing that she and General Graven could agree on was their mutual distaste for Moff Gideon.

Kai placed the glass, now filled with a dark amber liquid, back down on the table and quickly turned to head back to the dining table to finish cleaning up from the General's dinner. The less amount of time she had to be in the vicinity of Moff Gideon, the better.

Kairavi had met Gideon a handful of times in person. Unfortunately, he was one of the few exceptions the General made when it came to loaning her out. Gideon was slimy and usually preferred pain over pleasure. And by pain, she meant inflicting it on her, not him. One particularly terrible evening, was a combination of both.

"I can have Doctor Pershing contact you himself, but the message will remain the same. We didn't have enough - "

"You had exactly what you needed!" Moff Gideon yelled back at him, effectively cutting General Graven off.

Kairavi rolled her eyes. General Graven was not going to take that well. She tried to busy herself with the nearest thing to her, a pile of dirty dishes, so she could do her best to continue listening in. For Kai, knowledge was the only power she had. Especially when Moff Gideon was concerned. Even though she had no one to tell the information to. Sometimes, if she could just know what was happening around her, it would provide her with an albeit small amount of comfort. There was always the small possibility that she could be captured by the enemy and having something in her pocket would come in handy. Not that she foresaw anything happening. But she could dream.

"If we had been provided with enough of the sample initially, then maybe we would be able to perform more adequate tests. Pershing said that we only have enough for one more volunteer. Maybe. At this point, all nine of our test subjects are dead, and we don't have enough of the sample to continue getting you the results you were looking for. Doctor Pershing has suggested holding onto the remaining sample for analysis."

Dead? Kai stumbled slightly at that statement. She managed to right herself quickly, grabbing a wayward plate before it fell to the floor, in an attempt not to appear startled by the news as she continued tidying around the living quarters. All of those excited young men that had come through here before they went to whatever trial Graven and Doctor Pershing were doing were dead?

"I don't care for your excuses!" Gideon admonished. An eerie silence fell over the room after that outburst. "General Graven," he continued, his voice dropping to a dangerous level. "I gave you a promotion. I gave you a base. I have allowed you to have your toy," Gideon finished the last word with a bite.

Kai stilled at that statement, looking back to see Graven's piercing blue eyes glaring back at her.

Gideon continued, oblivious to the tension that had fallen over their cabin, "I expect results. If I don't get results, you and Doctor Pershing will need to inform me of your failure. In person," there had been an uncomfortable pause hanging in the air. Just when Kai had thought that Gideon was done, he surprised her by continuing with one last statement. "And if you fail, I expect you to turn over everything that I have given you. And I mean everything," with that the communication ended on a rather ominous note.

And by everything, Kai deduced that she was included in Gideon's definition of everything. The sour look on Graven's face had only confirmed her suspicions.

An unsettling air had fallen over the General's cabin after that rather abrupt end to Gideon's call. Kai had quickly jolted back to work, not wanting to get in the way of any potential outbursts after that. She grabbed a few more dishes before taking them back to the kitchenette area that was out of sight from her owner that was stewing in his anger, letting out a small breath of relief when she was out of view of the General.

Once alone, Kai went about her nightly routine of preparing Graven's evening tea. Now that she was alone, Kairavi set the dirty dishes aside to deal with later. She let her mind wander, watching bubbles rise from the bottom of the kettle as the water began to boil.

Graven was so used to being the one in charge. The one that dolled out the reprimands and punishments. So when he had to communicate with Moff Gideon, things either went very well or very, very wrong. Kai had seemed to be at the receiving end either way. Hopefully, she would escape tonight without another bruise, she thought, letting out a little sigh. That would be the ideal scenario. Maybe if she could just take a little longer here, it would give the General time to calm down.

The kettle clicked off and she had made short work of getting the General's nightly drink ready. When she had turned to leave the small room, she had run smack into General Graven's chest, spilling the hot beverage down his uniform.

"I'm so sorry, sir," she spat out, eyes wide at the accident. Quickly, she grabbed a rag to soak up the excess liquid from the floor. "I-I didn't hear you come in. You know how I get in my head sometimes."

It was when Kai moved to stand and had almost been thrown off balance by the General who had reached out to grab her arm, flinging her aggressively into the door. Her back had dug painfully into the corner of the door, but she had done her best to not outwardly show any signs of pain.

"Sir," she tried to say, but she was abruptly cut off by a spike in the General's fury.

The surprise came when Graven grabbed her throat, squeezing it so tightly that it cut off her airflow. Just when she had seen stars and thought she was going to pass out, Kairavi was thrown to the floor. Too disoriented and out of breath to stand up, she was left with having to quickly scoot back until her back had run into the General's desk. Kai saw the shadow of her owner looming over her when she was finally able to gasp for air. Graven had been crouched menacing, still able to tower over her, with such fury in his eyes that Kairavi had never seen before.

"He should have never sent us to this hellhole in the first place!" Graven seethed.

Kairavi had been cut off guard by the admission but had realized that he was talking about their current station. He hadn't been actually upset at her, just their circumstances. She had dealt with this before. Typically, this type of anger died down rather quickly. Unfortunately, with this type of anger, it also tended to be more aggressive than usual, which was unfortunate for her. She just needed to do her best to try and calm him down. And try to brace herself for more physical harm in the process.

"I'm not meant to be babysitting mad scientists! I'm supposed to be leading the Empire to victory in battle!"

"You would be excellent in battle, sir," Kairavi said, wincing in pain as she spoke. The subsequent gravel sound of her voice sounded foreign to her ears.

General Graven hadn't immediately responded. Instead, he had his gaze locked on hers, giving her a concerning look that Kai had never seen before.

"Sir?" Kai asked nervously, shrinking slightly away from the imposing General. Being rough was something that she was used to from the man over their time together. However, this manic, feral look was one she had not experienced before and had hoped that she never would encounter again.

"He won't take anything from me," Graven murmured calmly. The kind of eerie calm that she remembered from back when she was a child and her town had been encased in the eye of an epic storm. "I'll burn everything down before I let him strip me of anything."

Kai's pulse quickened at that statement. She did not like where this was going.

The General's hand roughly shot out to grab a fist full of her hair, using the long locks to drag her across the floor of his quarters to the door leading to the rest of the base.

Kai tried repeatedly to get her feet under her to lessen the pressure of her hair pulling painfully on her head from Graven yanking her behind him towards some unknown destination. The General countered any attempt she made with a sharp yank, effectively knocking her back to the ground. Unable to make any progress to get off the ground, Kai was left with being towed across the stone floors of the base. Her dress snagged and ripped, unable to withstand the combination of Graven's furious pace, and the uneven, jagged floors.

Kai's panic came to a head when Graven turned one final corner, and she remembered just what was at the end of this particular hall.

The large, looming, black door where she had known the soldier testing was going on had been was suddenly in view and getting incrementally closer. There were a couple of stormtroopers guarding the entrance. When General Graven finally came to a halt in front of the bolted doors, Kai was able to look up to see the troopers who staring at the pair of them with tilted heads. General Graven pulled painfully at her hair to make her stand, only to shove her into the door.

Kai wasn't exactly a stranger to the base. She had been seen around from time to time with General Graven. Most of the officers and a few of the troopers had minor interactions with her. So, she was thankful that one of the troopers guarding the door had knelt down to help her after witnessing the violent display from their superior.

"Did I say you could touch her!" Graven screamed at the unsuspecting stormtrooper.

The trooper paused, "No, sir," he had replied but remained knelt as if waiting for the order to help Kai.

Kai had looked from the trooper to Graven and her head had sunk when his fuming eyes were still narrowed on her.

"Then step aside," Graven ordered, walking up to the door, and yanking Kai up painfully by her arm.

The trooper looked briefly at Kai as if to say he was sorry, or more than likely, just confused over the situation but had done as ordered.

"Sir," Kai started, trying to tamp down the dread that was boiling in her stomach, "General Graven, what was going on?" Somehow, she had managed to make her voice sound calmer than she felt. Inside, she was fairly certain her heart was about to pound out of her chest.

The only answer she had got was a shove into the rail of the entrance to the lab.

She had to grab the rail to keep from falling over but Kai pulled herself up and looked around the new room with wide eyes. She had never been allowed in the research laboratory before. Even when she would accompany Graven around the base, he would always make sure she returned to their quarters, or send her off on some random task before he would continue to the lab on his own.

There was a central station facing away from them, equipped with computers and monitoring equipment. The rest of the room had been like a majority of the base with stone and metal flooring and metal siding intermingled with rock from the cliff they were encased in. An ominous small rolling bed was parked just between the station and the platform she was standing at, adorned with menacing black straps. However, the one striking difference that separated this room from the rest of the base were the giant human-sized tanks lining the opposite wall. All of them were filled with a hazy green liquid with very distinct outlines of people suspended inside them. Kai supposed that those were the now-deceased volunteers for whatever experiment General Graven and Doctor Pershing had been stationed here for.

"General Graven," Pershing spun from his spot at the consoles in the middle of the room, clearly surprised to have visitors at this hour. "Am I to assume that your meeting with Moff Gideon did not go well?" he asked. She watched his face become even more confused when he turned and realized she was there as well. "Kairavi?"

General Graven grabbed her roughly by the arm and pulled her behind him down the stairs towards the station where Doctor Pershing had stepped out of to meet them. Kai winced at the pressure from the man's fingers that had dug into her upper arm.

"As usual, your assumption is correct," Graven growled, flinging Kai into Pershing as soon as he had stepped around to meet them.

Pershing reached out and grabbed Kai, holding onto her with a much more delicate, concerning hand.

"He was extremely displeased with your progress," Graven added.

Pershing frowned at the General's statement. Out of everyone on the base, Doctor Pershing had been the one she had the most interactions with, other than General Graven. She was very aware that the doctor took his work seriously. So seriously that his whole life had been about his studies and his work, making him just slightly more socially awkward than what she had considered normal. But he had never treated her with anything but respect.

"I was very transparent about the research process," Pershing stood up for himself. "Moff Gideon knew that we did not have enough of our sample to do the most thorough initial trial. I've made some modifications that I hope will result in a more positive outcome, but I've decided to make that our next phase."

"But we have enough for one more, correct?" Graven asked. He had spoken with such confidence that Kairavi had known that the man had already known the answer.

Pershing had looked back and forth at Kai and Graven with a confused look. "Yes?"

"Then you have your last test subject," Graven said flatly, going to grab the rolling medical gurney closer to them.

Kai felt her heart drop out of her chest and onto the floor when she realized what Graven had been implying.

"No," she whispered, looking frantically at Pershing. "Please," she pleaded.

Pershing looked at her with an equal look of concern. He held her arms for a moment before turning to General Graven, "You aren't honestly suggesting, Kairavi?"

"Are you second-guessing my orders?"

"Yes," Pershing had stated matter-of-factly with no evidence of emotion. Ever the scientist, Kai thought to herself with a roll of her eyes.

"To begin, she doesn't meet any of Moff Gideon's qualifications for the procedure. Then there are the medical ramifications, she's had no prior workup done, and she's not been prepared in any way for this!" Pershing argued, moving Kai just slightly out of Graven's reach. "Even with my calculated adjustments, we don't even know if she would survive!"

"We didn't know if the others would survive," Graven had countered with a shrug of his shoulders.

"And they didn't!" Kai screamed, earning her a strong slap across the face from General Graven. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because if Moff Gideon is going to treat us like idiots, then we were just going to tank his trial. I'll show him who is really in charge," Graven gave the other two occupants of the room a maniacal-looking smile. "With no sample left, he'll just have to accept defeat. Or at the very least, send us back out on the hunt for that blasted creature he got the sample from initially. That would be more productive than just sitting here twiddling our thumbs."

"That isn't an acceptable answer," Pershing argued. "These trials are an opportunity of a lifetime! If we were able to succeed, imagine the future that would lay in front of the Empire. Of the universe! I won't waste what is, potentially, our last sample on your revenge agenda. If we go your route, there is no telling if we would be able to track the donor again. If we are unable to locate the donor or even a subject with similar qualities, then this trial will be dead in its tracks. Why not save the remaining sample we have left in hopes of analyzing it to continue to perfect it? If we go through with what you are suggesting, Kairavi will not survive. We will be failures. Your name would be on that list of failures!"

"Then I guess we'll just have to track that beast down." Graven leveled a blaster at Pershing's face and Kai could feel tears tracking down her face. "We would have to anyway if you wanted to continue your trials. Would we not?"

Normally, Kai was someone who was able to keep her emotions in check. With her life, she had no choice. Unfortunately, at the moment, she couldn't find it in herself to care that she was crying in front of someone she normally tried her best to refrain from showing any sign of emotion.

"You can and you will do this," Graven threatened, his voice dropping to a deep level that left no room for argument.

"Kairavi, I- I," Pershing stuttered, unable to come up with any words of comfort for her.

Graven had taken the moment of silence to come around and grab Kai from Doctor Pershing's grasp, pulling her with him to the bed he had brought around.

"No, please!" Kai cried, doing her best to scratch and pry herself from Graven's hands.

The General ignored her pleas and quickly hit her in the neck with the butt of his blaster, effectively knocking her off of her feet. That had made it easy enough for Graven to pick her up and get her on the black-padded rolling bed. Kai had done her best to struggle, but the older man had easily overpowered her hands and feet into the straps.

Once she was fully strapped in, Doctor Pershing came into view over her with a mournful expression.

"Please!" she begged the scientist. "Please don't do this," Kai cried to him as he placed the tourniquet on her upper arm.

Graven dug his blaster back into Pershing's neck, not giving him an alternative option.

"I'm so sorry, Kairavi," Pershing apologized. "May your next life treat you better than this one."

Kai felt tears fall rapidly down her cheeks. She didn't necessarily believe in the next life. This life had been full of disappointments. If there was a next life, she would just ask for a quiet life, a good family, and to never be owned by someone ever again.

With that last thought, she felt Pershing inject the needle into her arm. Kai closed her eyes in anticipation of what was to come. She could feel warm tears stream down her face, leaving her face feeling oddly cool when they fell.

She could feel the instant the liquid entered her veins. Initially, it had been warm, almost pleasant. Unfortunately, that pleasant feeling rapidly changed into a burning sensation that continued to transform into a pain that bordered on unbearable. Her whole body felt like fire was ripping through her, burning her from the inside out.

The last thing Kairavi heard was her own screams as she faded to unconsciousness.

Din Djarin looked at the row of tanks encased in a neat row in front of him. The Mandalorian had found himself standing in the middle of the Empire's last base on Nevarro with Greef Karga, Cara Dune, and a very begrudging Mythrol. They had just finished draining the cooling lines, meaning that in minutes, the reactor would lose its battle to the intense desert heat of the planet. Which meant they had ten minutes before the base would be blown to pieces. There was no time for distractions.

Naturally, the group seemed to stumble upon a distraction.

"I thought you said this was a forward operating base?"

"I thought it was!"

The Mandalorian tapped a couple of commands on his wrist, setting a timer so they would not get too distracted. They only had ten minutes. Their remaining minutes also appeared to equal the number of bodies that they had just discovered on their way out.

The room they had stumbled upon was apparently important enough to be guarded by several Storm Troopers. After taking out the guards, it was then the group made their disturbing discovery.

Ten tanks that each held someone, or something rather, that were suspended inside each vestibule. The bodies were completely submerged and attached to various tubes. He walked down the row, taking it all in. This wasn't typical of the Empire. This was something else.

"This isn't a military operation," Cara Dune stated skeptically, "this is a lab."

Her comment echoed Din's thoughts. Although, after learning that the Empire was willing to perform tests on innocent children, or rather one innocent child, in particular, Din wasn't all that surprised. However, the realization that if this lab did in fact involve the Kid, the speed with which the Empire acted was not only concerning but left him with a level of anger that made his blood pressure rise.

With that information in mind, he walked down the line of test tube victims with an eagle-eyed focus in an attempt to glean any information he could. If it involved the Child, it now involved him. The subjects didn't appear to be any particular species he recognized. He tapped his helmet, switching it to thermal sensors, and found that the first few tanks in front of him registered cold. He looked above the strange tanks and saw a display that showed the vitals over the tank, confirming they were deceased. However, the further he walked, the more human the test subjects became. The thought came to him that they were possibly all human, just the unfortunate victims of the Empire's tests that caused them to turn into something… else. It left the veteran Mandalorian with a sinking feeling starting to settle in his gut.

"We need to get in the system and figure out what is going on."

"But what about the reactor!" Mythrol stressed, making no move to go to the console.

"Just do it!" Greef Karga ordered, clearly annoyed by the blue alien's continued anxiety.

"I don't like this," Din voiced quietly, continuing his slow walk, scanning each of the tanks looking for any potential clues.

After a couple of minutes, and even more grumbling, Mythrol was eventually able to find something on the console. The scratching sound that was associated with the white noise of a recording filled the room, and Din turned back to see the face of a translucent familiar figure of Doctor Pershing standing on the control panel. The sight of the Doctor instantly made his blood boil. He paused his investigation of the bodies and took a step toward the recording. If Pershing was the one in charge of the testing that was going on in here, then there was a good chance that the Kid was involved. This operation needed to be terminated. Immediately.

The recording of Pershing glitched and appeared to begin in the middle of a statement "-the results of the trials have resulted in catastrophic failure," the doctor said defeated. "There had been promising effects for an entire fortnight, but then, sadly, that subject rejected the blood. Unfortunately, I highly doubt that we would find a donor with a higher M-count than the original donor." Din bristled at that. "It was General Graven's decision," Pershing carried on, "to continue with a final test subject. We began tests on the last volunteer ," Pershing hesitated slightly at the last word but regained his composure quickly. "However, it is my recommendation that we suspend all experimentation. I fear that this volunteer will eventually meet the same regrettable outcome. Unfortunately, we have exhausted our initial supply of blood. The Child was small, and I had only been able to harvest a limited amount without killing him."

Din had swiveled back towards the tanks. This had been what they had wanted the Kid's blood? To create, what? Some kind of super-soldier for the Empire?

"If these experiments are to continue as requested, we would again require access to the donor," Din listened to the recording of Doctor Pershing continue as he went back to looking at the test subjects. They were going to keep going after the Kid until they had a successful subject.

Red suddenly came into view on the thermal scope when he arrived at the last tank, and he had had to pause to do a double-take. He walked closer to the tank to confirm the faint heat signature and looked up to see weak vital signs registering on the last tank, confirming his finding.

"This one is still alive," he pointed to the tank when the end of Doctor Pershing's message had made him pause.

"I will not disappoint you again, Moff Gideon," Pershing had concluded, with a bow of his head, and the message cut off.

The ending had made Din relax. That recording had to have been at least a month old. "That must have been an old recording," Din informed them, turning back to the group. "Moff Gideon is dead."

Mythrol had looked down at the station, and after a couple of taps to the console, looked up at the group with a nervous face. "That recording is only three days old," he said.

Din had steeled himself at those words. Only three days old? How the man survived the crash in the first place was unbelievable. But if that were true, and Moff Gideon was, in fact, alive, then he had a far worse problem on his hands. He needed to get the Kid and get him to the safety of the Jedi. The Child needed to be as far away from the Empire as possible. Din's chest clenched at the thought, but there was no other option. It would be what was best for his Foundling. This was the way, he reminded himself silently.

"Wait," Karga's voice interrupted him from his thoughts, "did you say one of them is alive?" he asked Din with an astonished look on his face. Apparently, he had not been as surprised as the Mandalorian had been by the fact that Gideon was still alive.

Cara had joined them now, and the three stood in front of the last tank, inspecting it with apprehension.

The last tank held a woman who appeared to be the most humanoid of all of the other subjects. She was suspended weightlessly in the tank, with her long hair drifting around her, reflecting the green hue of the viscous fluid she had been placed in. It didn't take any specialized vision to see the angry marks where the tubes had been attached for an unknown period of time, but otherwise, she didn't appear to be harmed. At least from what was immediately visible on the outside at least. There was no telling what the experiments had done to her on the inside.

"What do we do?" Greef asked, looking between Din and Cara.

The two gave each other a look. This survivor could be a chance, an opportunity, to finally get the jump on Gideon. Clearly, the woman had been left for dead. If Pershing had thought she had or would survive, there was no way that Gideon would have allowed Pershing to leave her on an abandoned base.

"I can only imagine Gideon's face when he finds out Pershing abandoned a viable test subject," Karga didn't say to anyone in particular.

He would be livid, Din thought to himself. But that didn't mean that they necessarily needed to save her. This woman could bring untold danger to them. Then again… if they saved her, and she wasn't totally on the Empire's or Gideon's side, they could potentially use her for information or more to help bring Gideon down. There was a possibility, albeit a small one, that the test subjects, like the Kid, were not willing participants. Knowing that this was quite possibly a very stupid decision, he turned to look at Dune.

Cara didn't need to see Din's face to know what he was thinking.

"Let's grab her," she ordered, and the trio went to work, deactivating the tank.

"You can't be serious!" Mythrol exclaimed, running over to them. His panicked arm-waving made the group pause. "You don't know who she is, or what has even been done to her! If she survived this, there is no telling how powerful she could be or what kind of destruction she was programmed to inflict."

That argument seemed to bring Karga to a halt. "He makes a point," Greef took his hands off the buttons of the tank, seemingly rethinking their plan. "She obviously isn't weak to have survived this."

Din turned back to look at the woman, but it only strengthened his resolve. "If Gideon is alive, there is a chance she knows where he is. We could use her to save the Kid."

"Mando, think this through," Karga held his hands up, trying to slow him down. "If Moff Gideon knows she is alive, do you really not think that he'll come looking for her? Besides, you heard the doctor. This girl volunteered for this. Do you really think we can trust her?"

That did make him hesitate momentarily. He couldn't put the Kid at any more of an added risk than he already was on a day-to-day basis. But if there was a chance, even a small one, that this could finally give him the one-up on Gideon, then it was a risk he was willing to take.

The Kid would be safe. He would have fulfilled his mission.

"How much time was left till this place blew?" Cara asked, looking back at Mythrol.

"Six minutes!" the alien answered, becoming increasingly distressed as time went on.

"Then in six minutes, all Moff Gideon is going to know is that all of his experiments have been terminated," she told Karga with a shrug and went back to the tank. "But we don't have time to debate this. It's up to you," she nodded to Din, "and whatever happens is on you," she added with an air of seriousness.

He looked back at the woman. She had the potential to be his biggest asset if she was willing to help him bring Moff Gideon down. Or, she could be his biggest regret if this blew up in his face. The what-ifs swarmed his mind, but when it came down to it, he found himself hating the possibility that he let something that could be such a huge asset to him slip through his fingers.

Mind decided, Din reached over and hit the emergency eject button, causing the tank to open, and flooding the surrounding area with the green liquid that had been suspending the woman.

The woman rushed out of the tank with the viscous fluid, crumpling to the floor now that she was no longer supported by the water in the tank. The tubing that was attached to her face and body didn't allow her to go further than the base of the tank. Each individual tube pulled at her skin uncomfortably when it was unable to give any more slack. Din crouched down to begin to disconnect her. He got the mask off and quickly moved to the other tubes, letting Dune untangle the mask's wraps from her long hair. The mystery woman was covered in a green slime that made it difficult to detach her from the tubes, but finally, after another precious minute, she was detached completely. Cara checked her pulse and made sure she was breathing. Her sores from the tubules at the base of her neck and spine were inflamed and angry-looking, the bright red welts giving a sharp contrast to the pale green she was currently encased in. She was petite but her ribs were too visible for a normal, healthy human.

"Take the girl with your pack," Karga instructed Din, nodding to the jet pack that was strapped to his back. His voice brought Din back to the present, breaking him from his initial inspection. "She'll just slow us down." Din nodded, he couldn't argue with the man. There was no more time left to waste here.

Without hesitation, he whipped his cloak off to wrap the small woman up and took off without a look back. The woman was light in his arms. So light that the extra weight didn't slow them down in the slightest as they flew over the barren terrain of Nevarro. The woman didn't so much as stir as they flew across the trenches hurtling towards his ship, the Razor Crest. Din wondered how much time the woman had left if they hadn't rescued her.

Only time would tell if they had done the right thing. If the woman was indeed on the Empire's side, he may have doomed them all, rather than saved them. But it was too late now. He just hoped that he didn't make a fatal error and with any luck, this woman would be just what he needed to pinpoint Moff Gideon and end whatever he had planned before it started. With the Razor Crest in view, he tried to push his doubts from his mind. For now, he needed to save the others.

He landed next to his recently repaired Razor Crest and didn't stop to admire the fact that Karga's workers had been able to perform a miracle in such a short amount of time. The others were depending on him to go back and save them. He placed the girl on the floor inside of the cargo hold, leaving her wrapped in his cape, before heading to the top deck to start the ship.

Without waiting for any kind of clearance, he took off, toward the Empire outpost he had just left. Plumes of smoke extended toward the atmosphere in the distance indicating that they had been successful in destroying the base. He darted down a ravine, looking for any signs of the rest of his party when some nearby blaster fire grabbed his attention. He spun the ship to aim, shooting down the Tie Fighters that were chasing down the others.

Greef Karga's voice came over the communications of his ship with a shout of excitement. Din escorted the group's transport for the remainder of the trek back to the town, slowing the Razor Crest down to match the speed of the shuttle the group below had. One hurdle was over. Now it was time for the next one, he thought, thinking to his unconscious passenger below him.

Once back at the town's entrance, and safely on the ground, he jumped down into the cargo area and glanced at the still unconscious woman that was wrapped in his cloak unmoved from where he left her on his cot. He was ready to get her up and talking, anxious to see what new demons he had potentially released. With one last calming breath, he hit the button to open the cargo door, letting the desert sun slowly illuminate the inside of his cargo hold.

"Now that is what I call some fancy flying!" Greef Karga exclaimed excitedly, jumping in the cargo hold before the door even properly landed on the dirt. He slapped Din's armor happily.

He was about to reply when movement from the cot distracted him from answering. Din looked down to see the woman starting to stir. He turned from Karga to head towards the woman, kneeling slowly in front of the small sleeping alcove. It took her another moment, and her eyes fluttered open, trying to look around at her surroundings. Finally, she focused on Din. Even through the digitized view of his helmet visor, he was surprised by the bright emerald-green color that was staring back at him. She did a couple of slow blinks, still processing her new surroundings. Her eyes focused back on him, and they were bright and scared.

"It's okay," Din whispered slowly, holding his hands up submissively. He wanted to do his best to not frighten her. If he was going to get any information on Gideon, he was going to need her on his side. "You're okay," he said softly, keeping his hands up where the woman could see them.

His words didn't seem to help calm her. The woman was clutching his cloak that was still wrapped around her desperately to her chest while trying to back up. It was an unsuccessful, clumsy attempt. She was still covered in the slime from the tank, and it prevented her from gaining any traction on the metal floor without slipping. Every slip and struggle only seemed to increase her anxiety.

"Calm down," Din reached towards her in an attempt to help her but was stopped suddenly. It took Din by surprise because it wasn't him that had stopped moving forward. He looked at the woman and found that her previously bright, emerald, eyes had darkened to the point of almost being black. It only lasted a second before the woman's eyes fluttered closed, and she slipped back into unconsciousness.

Din wiggled his fingers and was relieved to find that he was able to move them again. He looked over his gloved hands and gave the now unconscious woman a skeptical glance. Not completely sure what just happened, he looked back to the others and saw them hovering nearby with equal looks of concern.

"Come on, we had a medical droid, I'll take you to it," Cara offered. Her hand was relaxed, yet hovering over her blaster just in case the strange woman shot up to go after them.

Din looked back down at the woman in question and found himself hoping again that he'd made the right decision. He readjusted the cloak to keep her covered and picked her up, ready to follow Cara.

"How about I go get the Kid and meet you there," Karga offered, giving the sleeping woman in Din's arms a look of distrust. He nodded at Karga in agreement and stepped out of the Razor Crest to follow Cara to the medical droid.

It was a short walk from the outskirts of town. Two lefts, and a right, and then continued towards the end of the alley and they were there. He didn't allow himself to overthink matters. It wouldn't do him any good right then. They needed to get the girl up long enough to have her talk without passing out to determine what kind of threat she could potentially be. Then he could overthink his decisions.

The town's medical bay was small. It had three beds, and a smaller, private room in the back that appeared to be used for minor procedures. Din set the girl on the closest bed to the door and watched as the medical droid walked over. It wasn't the first time he was glad for the helmet, especially when it was useful to hide his sour expression at the droid. The droid went to work, oblivious to Din's feelings towards it. It stripped the woman of his cape, letting it fall unceremoniously to the floor. He turned to give the mystery woman some privacy while the droid did its initial scans. Cara turned with him, keeping her hands looped around her holster. She appeared relaxed, but Din knew she was wound tight, ready to defend if the girl ended up popping up to try and kill them all. Given her frightened reaction earlier, he doubted it, but he'd learned long ago not to underestimate anyone. The second you did, you became injured, or worse.

Karga walked in and Din felt his shoulders relax slightly at the sight of the smiling green alien in his arms. Karga passed the Kid off to Din with a smile.

"Hey, buddy," Din greeted and positioned the kid in the safety of his arms.

The Child was more wiggly than normal and was adamant about getting a glimpse of the girl behind them. He kept having to reposition the Kid so that he could try and respect the girl's privacy. The Child was naturally curious, but not normally this excited over something or someone. Unless that something involved food.

The medical droid began to give its report, stopping Din from exploring the reasons for the Kid's excitement.

"Other than being dehydrated and suffering from malnutrition, the patient is fine," the droid reported, breaking the stifled silence of the small med bay. When the group turned back around, the droid was covering the mystery woman up with a blanket.

"She's fine?" Dune asked skeptically, staring at the woman in question with a raised brow.

The three of them looked down at the green slime-covered woman, all with doubts about that statement.

"The malnutrition and dehydration can be corrected with a balanced diet and fluids. The skin where the bio-connectors had been attached was infected. I've applied a bacta spray to them, which should treat them," the droid informed them.

The Kid made some exciting chirping noises and reached his hands toward the unconscious woman.

"Calm down, Kid," Din instructed. The responding noises the Kid returned sounded suspiciously like he was being talked back to. Din was about to comment on it when the woman began to stir.

Everyone stood on edge, preparing themselves for the worst. The woman groaned, and moved her hands to her head, pressing down on her temples. She struggled to open her eyes under the harsh lights of the medical bay and covered them with her hands. Another minute passed and she was finally able to focus. She let her hands fall and took in her new surroundings. Obviously startled, she sat up abruptly, holding the flimsy blanket across her chest. She was staring at them wide-eyed and terrified.

"Hey, it's okay," Greef Karga tried to reassure her, "we rescued you! You can trust us."

The man's naturally booming voice made the woman flinch. Judging by the terrified expression that was plastered on her face, Din could see that she didn't quite believe him.

"He's right," Din said. "These are good people." He tried to keep his voice quiet, and even, hoping that it would help her relax, and with any luck, trust him.

The girl swiveled her head to look at him. The Kid reached toward the girl and spouted a series of soft cooing noises. The girl changed her focus from himself to the Kid. Din watched in apprehension as her formerly green eyes turned so black that they completely engulfed the white of her eyes. He took a cautious step back, bringing the Kid slightly closer to him. Dune's hands went to her blaster, and the room held a collective breath.

She stood up, letting the feeble blanket fall completely to the floor, seeming completely oblivious that she was now exposed in the small medical bay. The woman appeared to be in a trance of some kind. She was calm, composed, and apparently unconcerned about modesty. She walked towards Din, keeping her eyes locked on the Kid. Din's other hand slowly inched towards his blaster, when her voice stopped him.

The woman's gaze went from the Kid to him, and the look she gave him, made him feel as if she could see straight through his helmet.

"He says I can trust you."