"You proud of yourself Lieutenant," Col. Tavus demanded. "You cut them all down like they were nothing! They were good men, all of them. How could you?"

"They gave me no choice," she said calmly as she kept her weapon pointed at him. Jorgan and Dorne flanked her, weapons also trained on the former Havoc Squad Commander.

"There's always a choice. How do you live with yourself?"

"How do you," Aneira snapped, emotions finally getting the better of her. "You're the one who abandoned your honor."

"The Republic turned on me," he snarled in response, "I've never abandoned any I swore to protect."

"What about me," she challenged, lowering her weapon. "You promised no one would hurt me, that you'd keep me safe."

"What are you talking about," he asked, thrown enough by her question to lower his weapon a fraction.

"Don't you remember? Ziost, ten years ago, you saved me from Imperial soldiers." She watched the confusion melt away and change to disbelief. "You showed up just after they had just gotten done beating me. I'm sure there would have been at least one rape before they finally showed me mercy and shot me in the back of the head." She could feel the surprise from Dorne and Jorgan even with her back turned to them.

"You… impossible…"

"I tried to say something on Ord Mantell, but we were kind of busy looking for that bomb. I almost got you alone for a minute to talk to you, but that's when Jorgan decided to ream me about the dead contact," she explained as she cast Jorgan a quick glance. His expression was unreadable, but was clearly trying not to pity her. It was something Aneira respected.

"No," Tavus insisted, unable to look at any of the soldiers in front of him. "No, this isn't right… This isn't what was supposed to happen…"

"What did you think was going to be the outcome when you turned your back on the people who looked up to you?"

"What have I done… Everything I set out to prove, and for what? They're dead, and you… everything went to shit, all dead because of me."

"Karden and Fuse aren't," she reassured him. Aneira didn't like the wild look in his eyes. She needed to calm him down before he did something rash. "They both surrendered and are in Republic custody."

"Good, good," he replied, visibly calming. "Please, don't shoot, you have my unconditional surrender," he said as put his weapon on the deck and slowly raised his arms.

As soon as he was disarmed, Aneira punched him in the face, sending him to the ground. Tavus spat the blood out of his mouth and looked up to see Aneira pointing her rifle in his face. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't pull this trigger."

Calmly, Dorne walked up, placed her hand on the barrel and gently pushed down so the weapon was aiming away from him. "Because you're better than that," she said softly.

Aneira glared at her friend before securing her weapon. "Get this piece of shit ready for transport," she snarled as she turned her back and headed towards the exit.

"I remember your father," Elara said as they passed around a bottle. They had just docked at Carrick Station, getting ready to start a week of promised leave.

"No kidding?"

"He had business with my father," she explained. "This was before he became attaché to the Minister of Intelligence, but after he'd been transferred to Intelligence from the military. Not sure what they were meeting about, I was too young to be involved in anything like that, but I remember he stayed for dinner. Looking back, I can see why my father met with him. I didn't know at the time just how corrupt the military was, and he always surrounded himself with good men he could count on. He was a good man, Aneira, it's why the Sith had to silence him," Elara said, leaning forward to put her hand on the lieutenant's arm. Outside of a mission, Rory made sure to keep the atmosphere relaxed to temper the high stress of they dealt with on a daily basis. However, Elara had always kept it somewhat professional, never going more informal than last names. Between using her first name and the physical contact it was clear she meant what she said and wanted to make sure to drive the point home.

"Yes he was," Rory sighed before giving her a small smile. Elara leaned back in her chair and took the bottle from Jorgan. Intentionally changing the subject, Rory commented, "You know that's the first time I've heard someone say my name correctly since I came to Republic space."

"Hardly surprising," she replied with a small laugh.

"What's that supposed to mean," Jorgan grunted defensively.

"The standard Republic dialects lack the proper enunciations to correctly pronounce some of our words," Elara answered diplomatically.

Clearing her throat, Rory adopted the best Imperial accent she could despite it being over a decade since she'd forced herself to get rid of it, and said, "What she means is you dirty commoners lack the proper sophistication do our names any sort of justice and sound like uneducated heathens even attempting."

Caught off guard, Elara had started to take another swallow and almost choked on it when she started laughing. Jorgan just glared at his CO before grumbling, "You're an ass."

"I know, I know, this is why I have no friends," she answered with a smile as she reclined in the chair. After passing the bottle around again, Rory turned to Elara and asked, "Did you know our paths almost crossed one time on Dromund Kaas?"

"Really," she asked, genuinely surprised.

Rory nodded before explaining, "It was during the celebration on the anniversary of the Sith's return to Korriban. Father had succumbed to pressure to bring us to the capital for the ceremonies. It must have been just after he had met with your father, because he pointed your family out as we walked passed your family on the platform next to the Sith delegation."

"Her family got to stand next to Sith," Jorgan asked.

"Are you kidding, they got their own private booth," Rory answered, smirking at her friend's discomfort.

"It really wasn't half as grand as you're describing…"

"Don't you lie," the lieutenant shot back with a smile. "Anyway, as we passed he said he was going to introduce us. Said it was his goal that when I left for boot camp I would be placed in your division. Clearly your father had also made a good impression on my father. Like you, in my family military service was never a question but a foregone conclusion, and he believed you would be a good influence on me."

"He said that," Elara asked, eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

"Oh yes. Funny how things turn out. He got his wish, just probably not how he imagined it. I was actually dreading meeting you, all the other officers' children I had met were stuck up little assholes."

"Why didn't we meet?" She was studiously ignoring Jorgan's laugh, but a smile twitched at the corners of her mouth.

"Mother's health took a turn. We lived on Ziost because she couldn't handle the damp climate and it eventually got the best of her."

"That's too bad, I would have very much liked to have known what you were like then."

"Nothing special," Rory deflected with a sigh. "Now if off with both of you. We're on shore leave for the next week and I don't want to see either one of you until it's up."

"Don't tell me you plan to spend all of it alone," Jorgan demanded.

"I never said that," Rory replied with a smirk. "Don't you worry about me, now you two go off and enjoy some time alone. Don't make me order you away," she threatened good naturedly.

"How long have you known," Elara asked.

"Long enough," she replied. "I appreciate the plausible deniability, please keep that up so I don't have to report any fraternization."

"You're free to join us," Elara offered, not wanting to leave her friend by herself.

"Sorry, that's not really my thing. But I'm sure if you head to Nar Shaddaa you'll find someone who is."

"That's not what I meant," Elara huffed, face exploding in an embarrassed blush at her inadvertent offer.

"I know, and I appreciate the offer, but I'll be fine. Now get moving before some galaxy ending crisis erupts and we get our leave cut short."

"You got it boss," Jorgan said as he grabbed Elara's hand. They left the ship hand in hand, leaving Rory alone with her thoughts.

Once she was sure they were gone, she pulled out her communicator and dialed a familiar frequency.

"How's my favorite Spec-Force squad," Jonas asked, his image filling her communicator.

"Enjoying leave. Speaking off… I'm off for the next week. You're offer for a drink still open?"

"For you? Always. I'll save you a seat at the bar."

"See you soon," Rory promised before signing off. After ensuring station security would monitor her ship, packed her bag, changed into civilian clothes, and caught the first transport to Nar Shaddaa.