Approximately five years earlier, aboard the cruiser Black Knight, deep space

They had moved back to the couch, Daru lay atop Garin as he leaned against the couch back, still only in his underhorts. She was silent now, just holding onto him as if he might vanish if she didn't keep a hold of him. For his part, he stroked her lekku which certainly seemed to go a long way towards calming her.

"Gar," she murmured finally, "I'm scared."

He frowned, looking down at her. "Did one of the Shrikes hurt you?"

She shook her head, looking up at him, and he could see the fear on her features as she looked at him. "I've seen and heard them around the ship; they don't always realize that I listen to them."

"I think everyone keeps an eye on them Daru," again she shook her head.

"I was in the hangar, working on one of their Avengers, I was on the top of the hull, so they didn't see me, they were talking about you; they think that Stele should have you executed, and even went so far to say that they might do it themselves if he wouldn't."

Garin didn't know how to react to that, he was a pilot in the Imperial Navy, someone always wanted to kill him, but to have fellow pilots thinking of killing him was a little unnerving to say the least.

"I don't think they'll act on it Daru."

"You didn't hear them Gar, they meant it, and they were talking about cold blooded murder. They want to get rid of all of the original officers from Hades, according to them though, Stele has ordered them not to touch any one."

Stele was protecting Hades from his own people? Just who was he dealing with here?

"There's more, I've noticed tattoos on their left arms, and at first I wasn't sure why I recognized them but I kept thinking about it and I remembered this morning finally, while you were out…" she hesitated there, and Garin could understand why, he wasn't proud of what Hades had been doing on these past few missions. "…on your mission, they're from when I was still a slave on Coruscant. They're given to members of the Emperor's so called Inner Circle."

Garin frowned, he'd never heard of an 'Inner Circle' before, he eyed Daru skeptically but she persisted.

"I wasn't stupid Garin, I listened to everything that was said around me so that I might have something to make my master happy and gain the precious free times he allowed me. I remember hearing some of the aristocrats describing the Circle and their tattoos, and at another party I saw the tattoos themselves. They're selected by Palpatine because of their force acuity and they act as his agents within the Empire."

Well that explained the force prowess that the Shrikes had certainly, so he was dealing with a squadron of Inner Circle fanatics that thought he and his officers needed to be disposed of; this was getting worse by the minute, and he got the feeling that she wasn't done telling him everything.

"They haven't threatened you have they?"

She smiled bitterly, "they make Sajuuk look kind, and in fact she's been almost nice to me since I pulled this past stunt with the Diamond Blue project. I think she's finally accepting me, just my luck that we get an influx of xenophobes right as that happens, but they haven't done anything to me."

"You didn't have the Major escort you down here for no reason Daru." He said reproachfully, if someone was threatening her personally, he wanted to know.

"I saw a lot of things as a slave Gar…one of them were people's eyes and I learned how to read them, Most of the Shrikes, when they look at me, do so with that disdain that Imperials generally have for non-humans…a few though." She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself, he put his arms around her as well; worried that she might burst into tears again. "Gar…they look at me hungrily, like I'm a slab of choice meat at market. It's frightening; I didn't want to come here alone because of that."

He nodded; he could fully understand the Shrike's glances, Daru, human or not was beautiful. He could also understand Daru's reaction to those looks, given her past experiences.

"I won't let them hurt you Daru, the Shrikes might be a problem, but we outnumber them. They can't fight all of Hades."

"They don't need to Garin, and you know it, they just need to get you, and a few others that give this unit its core and its all over."

"We won't let that happen," she looked up at him as he spoke, he'd never seen, or even imagined, that she could look so helpless and terrified. Someone who had walked up to a superior human officer and slapped her without so much as a blink wasn't someone he expected to panic like this.

"Garin…I…I don't want to lose this, Hades is my home. I've felt safe here until now, it's been like the family that I lost; and now that's being taken from me. I'm so afraid."

He put his arms around her, holding her closely as she leaned against him, closing her eyes and resting against the rise and fall of his chest. After a moment she looked up at him, sliding across his body, her strapless top hanging down around her shoulders as she did so, he tensed cautiously as she put a hand behind his head and lifted her face up to his.

"I don't want to lose you Garin…I think I love you." She whispered into his mouth as their lips touched, it was gentle, almost a hesitant kiss at first, but then his hand slid under her lekku and he pulled her close, wrapping his other arm around her waist and pulling her cool body against him as they kissed. He never kissed another species before, ever, which was strange as he considered her texture and taste considering where he'd grown up, there had been no shortage of attractive females of every species where he'd lived. He'd just never considered kissing them. Daru tasted spiced, and she left a warm crackling feeling in his mouth as they parted. She was looking up at him searchingly, as if she expected to find something there, he ran his hand along the underside of her lekku, her eyes closed and she let out a shudder as her body tensed involuntarily.

She placed a hand on his chest, and pushed him off the back of the couch and onto the seat, leaning against him and running her fingers across his chest as her silvery-blue eyes gazed into his golden eyes. "You're the first one I've ever wanted like this," she seemed to shrink slightly, "it isn't like any of the others Gar…they were all forced I—"

She stopped as he put a finger on her lips, "you were a slave Daru, whatever you did it wasn't what you wanted. I'll never hold any of that against you." He smiled at her playfully, "besides if you hadn't been a slave would you have been able to realize what we were dealing with right now?"

She managed a smile, taking his finger and working her mouth over it before leaning back down and kissing him tenderly, as the night wore on, he didn't feel nearly as silly for only having his underwear on.

Present, interrogation room aboard the Mon Cal cruiser Home One, Bilbringi Shipyards

Deanna was still taking notes after I finished, she finally looked up from her datapad with a thoughtful expression.

"She really did love you then?"

I shrugged my smile fond as I recalled all the places that evening had gone, "she thought she did, and I felt the same."

"Where did she get the dress anyways? It isn't like she had it stored away waiting to slip it on to come see you."

I chuckled, leaning back a little as I shifted. "Thrawn gave it to her as a goodbye gift, she told me his exact words were: 'you shouldn't have to tell someone you care dressed like a mechanic.'" I snorted at the thought those words evoked, he really had planned for everything.

Deanna just blinked and shook her head, "the more you tell me about Thrawn, the scarier he becomes, and the happier I am that he's dead."

I nodded, not really in agreement but in understanding, I could fully understand how Thrawn would terrify his opponents, given how he always seemed to be two steps ahead. Thinking of being steps ahead, my smile faltered at memories that rose to the surface of my mind.

She frowned then, "something happened?"

"Nothing special we kept fighting as Vader commanded, and kept an eye on the Shrikes while we were at it."

"That wasn't what I meant; I mean something happened to Daru."

"Our relationship stayed a secret from everyone; we never told anyone beyond Major Yvonne and through her Captain Luixana learned about it. Both of them kept it a secret, especially after I told them what Daru had told me that night. Whenever Daru visited me, the Major always came with her in full gear. Nothing ever happened so we eventually trusted that nothing ever would."

"But some of the Shrikes made a move didn't they?" She said, her mind connecting the dots without any further prompting.

My smile turned pained as I nodded, "life is never as simple as we might wish, I suppose you're learning that right now aren't you…."

Approximately five years earlier, aboard the cruiser Black Knight, deep space

The Lieutenant slammed into the wall violently, his companions triggered a force blast that sent the mechanic reeling and knocked him into another of the Shrikes, who jeered and tossed the poor man back at his opponent who slammed his fist into the disoriented man's gut. Any further violence was interrupted a moment later by a rifle shot that whizzed above the group's heads, the seven Shrikes turned cautiously to find Major Yvonne and eight of her commandos in full combat gear standing behind them, their blasters leveled at the pilot's chests. One of them was stupid enough to go for his sidearm, his hand disintegrated in a flash of blasterfire and blood. The Major moved towards the group, kicking the now moaning pilot out of her way heartlessly as she knelt down and helped the injured mechanic to his feet.

"Are you alright?" She asked, he nodded clutching his ribs and pointed towards the corner of the corridor.

The Major looked; whatever compassion had been in her eyes vanished as she stood and turned to the pilot who had been fighting the mechanic, drawing her pistol in one smooth motion and firing into his forehead without so much as batting an eyelash, he dropped like a stone. His companions made as if to attack her, but another warning shot from the commandos kept them glued to the deck. The Major holstered her weapon and went to the limp form lying in the corner, Daru didn't even move as Sissir put her arms around her, lifting her up from the deck, her clothes were tattered and her slender form was covered in blood and bruises, when Sissir had her firmly in her grip, Daru finally moved, clutching the front of the Major's uniform like a terrified infant, her eyes were unseeing. As soon as Sissir and the mechanic had moved past the hateful faces of the Shrikes, she nodded and her commandos opened fire, blue stun bolts raked the hallway and the five standing pilots fell to the deck, one of the commandos stepped up to the groaning man on the deck and fired a stun shot point blank into his torso, the pilot twitched once before going limp.

Stele killed the holofeed and turned to face Garin, his eyes cold. "What did we just see?"

Garin's lips were a thin line, he didn't care what Stele thought, he could burn in whatever hell or hells he believed in. "I would say we just witnessed a case of military justice sir."

"Don't talk back to me Durives, this is serious. One of my men is dead, another in the infirmary without a hand and five more are in the brig."

"And two of mine are in the infirmary, one of them badly beaten with three broken ribs among other things, the other assaulted, and nearly beaten into a coma. She'll be lucky if she can perform her job again after this, she's still unconscious and the medics aren't sure if she'll wake up in one hour or one month."

Stele's eyes narrowed dangerously as he examined Garin, "you care for her." It wasn't a question, just a statement of fact. "I thought I forbade such things when I took command of this unit."

"With all due respect you Sith-spawn," Garin said acidly, "even if I despised the Chief instead of loved her, I would still side with Major Yvonne and say her actions were just."

"I'm sure you would, your service until now has been unorthodox at best as far as I can tell, and I told you I wouldn't tolerate your antics or those of your people when I took command."

Garin had been standing at attention, now he leaned over Stele's desk and looked him in the eye. "If your men are not held responsible for this, I promise you you'll have six more dead pilots before our next mission."

Stele took a deep breath, Garin wondered if he was about to find himself flying across the room courtesy of Stele's force powers, but that didn't happen. Stele's features collapsed into an unreadable mask and he leaned back in his chair.

"Do you know what my orders are in regards to this unit Lieutenant-Commander?"

"To kill us if we get out of line."

Stele winced, looking up at him bitterly. "I suppose that's about right, I wish you'd put it another way, but I can't sugarcoat it given what we just watched."

He turned in his chair and leaned forwards, staring at the wall, Garin didn't move. "I've never felt so lost in my entire career, I joined thinking the Empire was everything, now I'm being ordered to watch and even kill if necessary a unit that by all accounts is one of the Fleet's best, even if it isn't official."

"If you're looking for sympathy sir, you're looking in the wrong place."

The remark seemed to actually pain Stele, he recoiled as if struck. "You cared for her that deeply then, to the point that your loyalty to the Empire no longer matters."

"Yes sir, and my loyalty to my people supersedes any oath I swore to this Empire or its Emperor, these past few atrocities we've committed have proven that I'm not serving a force that I can respect."

Stele sighed heavily, "it's so easy for you to throw all this away; the Empire gave me a sense of order, of stability."

"I did a background check sir; you want to know what I found?"

Stele turned to face Garin watching him expectantly as he continued, "we have nearly identical backgrounds, you were raised by your mother, I was raised by my sister and two cousins, we both started racing as a way to escape the worlds we grew up in, we joined about the same time and our first tours were equally disastrous. After that though, we deviate to the extreme, you've found yourself increasingly alienated and unsure of who you can trust, whereas I've formed a unit that I trust with my life, some members of it I would even call family. Your Shrikes aren't even men you've trained with; they're just more of Palpatine's puppets assigned to your command so you can keep an eye on us."

Stele stared at Garin for a long time before he finally spoke, when he did, his voice was back to the stone cold timber that he normally addressed his subordinates with. "Your people aren't going to be punished; my pilots will remain in the brig until we reach our next deployment area."

Garin's voice resumed the formal tone more appropriate to their respective ranks, "where are we being deployed to?"

"We are joining with Lord Vader's fleet around a planet called Endor, more specifically around a small terrestrial moon of the planet…."

Present, interrogation room aboard the Mon Cal Cruiser Home One, Bilbringi Shipyards

"Oh god, those bastards," whispered Deanna.

She looked at my expression and nodded understandingly, "you still hate them don't you."

I didn't move, my mind flashing to Endor as a grim smile played across my face. "There was plenty of time to make sure they got what they deserved."

"I can't believe this, Imperial personnel attacking and shooting one another like that, and Stele let you get away with it."

"By that point I think we'll both agree that the only thing keeping us tied to the Empire was the knowledge that Vader and probably the Emperor were watching us very closely and would have killed us as soon as they thought we'd outlived our usefulness."

"Can you tell me more?" She sounded almost apologetic, even sympathetic.

"I'll tell you about Endor, I don't want to talk about Daru for the time being."