CHAPTER FORTY THREE
ZIOST
Kayln Nidor stood and looked about over the group that she had helped escape the city. They had managed to get down the slope without too much hassle, and once down it had been a quick run through to the bridge. She had been able to get close enough to reprogram the droid that was guarding it, which allowed them to flee without worry. They had reached their ship and now all that was left was to flee, at least for them.
"We owe you for the help." Necrolis said, nodding to the chiss woman.
"You all showing up made things interesting for a change." Kayln smiled back as she joked.
Shadelis moved forward taking the woman's hand and making to go for the ship, but pulled up when she felt Kayln not moving. The two chiss exchanged looks, Shadelis of confusion, and Kayln of a resigned decision she had reached. Arching an eyebrow Shadelis stepped back before the other woman.
"You're coming with us, right?"
Kayln swallowed hard then shook her head negatively. She had thought about what she had done, and knew if she took off there was no helping her situation. She would be deemed a traitor and hunted down throughout the galaxy. If she stayed, there was a chance she might be able to hide her involvement, or at the least mitigate her punishment. Fat chance there, she knew, but she was not about to dwell on if she would die or not.
"Kayln, you know you cannot stay." Necrolis argued but the chiss held up a hand to him.
"I made my choices, and I will continue to do so." Kayln said softly but firmly. "You need to go, I'll be alright."
Necrolis stared at the woman before finally nodding. Despite his misgivings he was not about to force the woman to get aboard the ship. Moving forward, Necrolis surprised her when he gave her a quick hug and then spun about and walked away without a word or second glance. Shadelis giggled before moving in and kissing Kayln hard on the mouth and then winking when she finally pulled away.
"Maybe one day… " Shadelis said, leaving it unsaid and hanging between them.
"One day." Kayln agreed and nodded with a smile. "You might just be biting off more than you can chew!"
The chiss looked past the other woman, seeing Bloodshade standing at the ramp into the ship with the smuggler and the large creature that followed her. Both of them waved to her and she returned the gesture. There was only one other person outside, and Kayln let her red eyes cast about seeking him. She jumped when he tapped her shoulder, looking behind her over her shoulder to see Teffa Darkstar standing and scowling at her.
Kayln looked at him and smiled, seeing he had removed the tionese helmet. Reaching up she brushed her fingertips over his furrowed brow and chuckled as he gave her that annoyed look she knew all too well. When he went to speak, she quickly placed her fingers against his lips to stop him. She knew he was going to argue with her, threaten to drag her kicking and screaming aboard the ship if she refused to just walk herself. She also knew it was pointless and would not change anything. It never had before, and never would. Kayln did not want to have a fight parting once again. Been there, done that, she reminded herself.
"You have to go, and I have to stay. I don't want to fight, Teffa."
Teffa continued to frown, but his eyes were far from the cold hard look that he had when angry or fighting. Instead, Kayln could see that same look that had always made her weak kneed and given her butterflies all those years ago. She had wanted to see that, and now she did. With a soft smile, Kayln leaned in, rising onto her tiptoes, and kissed the man gently before resting her hands against the breast plate of his armour and looking down. There it was, the ground, that comforting constant you could always just stare at. The thought made her smile slightly.
"Kayln, they're going to kill you if you stay." Teffa growled out softly.
"You don't think I'm that easy to get rid of, do you?" She remarked back, looking back up into his face. "I'll be fine. I just can't go, and you can't stay."
'Story of our lives." Teffa grumbled, shaking his head.
Kayln smiled softly and nodded, knowing the truth of the words he had spoken. She remembered all too well the arguments, the fights, leading up to him storming off in anger and leaving Ziost. It's the past she reminded herself, not wanting to dwell on the old memories of hurt and unhappiness. She could see however, Teffa was thinking about that day as well.
"Kayln…"
"Teffa, don't!" Kayln cut him off, shaking her head. "You have to go. You're married, life goes on. We're good though, you and I."
Teffa settled for grabbing the chiss woman up in his arms, hugging her tightly to him. Kayln laughed then smacked his armoured shoulder. He eased the embrace then let go as she patted his shoulder again and stepped back.
"Go on you big lug." Kayln said softly.
"If you need me…" Teffa went to say, leaving it hanging between them even as he pressed the small holo device into her hand.
Teffa did not give her the chance to say anything more, there was no need. She'd only try and hand the device back to him, he knew. He doubted she would use it, but if things got that dire he was not about to turn his back on her either. At the very least, every one of them owed their lives to her. She had stuck her neck out for them. No, she stuck her neck out for me, Teffa reminded himself. He did not look back until he had walked up the ramp to the ship and hit the button to cycle it up and closed.
Necrolis was standing there waiting and watching him, then followed the glance as Teffa looked out at the chiss. She waved just before the ramp closed, Teffa returning the gesture. The bounty hunter lowered his hand and then glanced at his brother, frowning at him.
"What?" Teffa demanded of the sith.
"Nothing at all, Teffa." Necrolis said back calmly. "There's nothing to say at all about any of it."
"Yeah." Teffa agreed before heading for the stairs leading up towards the cockpit. "Nothing at all."
SPACE – THE STARWOLF
Teffa Darkstar sat at the controls of his ship, every so often glancing at the read outs and sensors, watching for any sign of pursuit as the Starwolf broke orbit and fled Ziost. Traffic remained the quiet trickle into the system, and there were no ships altering course to intercept. It appeared they would be leaving as they had come, quietly and unnoticed. Teffa knew they could not have asked for anything more than that.
Looking over, the bounty hunter studied his co-pilot. The pale greyish white skinned ratattaki, Kaliyo, had joined him. She seemed competent enough, though something about her bothered Teffa. Perhaps it was her demeanour, or maybe just because he could not really get a read on her. Whatever it was, he was unsure he really trusted her. Since she seemed close with Shadelis, and given his sister's prior line of work, Teffa decided to just leave well enough alone and be mindful of the woman.
"So seems like there was some excitement back there." Kaliyo finally said, turning in her chair to look at the zabrak. Teffa cast her a quick glance before shrugging.
"Nothing we couldn't handle. How's everyone else?"
"Settled in for the ride." Kaliyo said, knowing Necrolis and Shadelis were working on going over the data they had obtained. Most of the others were resting and keeping to themselves. She believed the jawa was off tinkering as he seemed always to do in the ship's engine room.
"Good." Teffa remarked, leaning back in his chair and allowing himself to relax a bit.
Looking out the viewport as silence once again descended in the cockpit, Teffa let his thoughts wander to Kayln Nidor. She had given up a lot in helping them. He was still not happy at all with the fact she had stayed behind. I should have just stunned her and dragged her aboard, Teffa thought. He knew she was clever though, and she had to have some sort of plan. He could not help but worry about the woman. Shaking his head and sighing lightly, Teffa knew he needed to leave the thoughts well enough alone. What had been was a different life, and they had been very different people. Those days were long gone.
"We're clear across the boards." Kaliyo's voice brought his focus back to the present.
"Engaging hyperdrive." Teffa remarked back, watching as the stars streamed and outside turned into the white-blue swirling miasma that marked hyperspace travel. "Let's get out of here."
Necrolis sat and stared at the computer terminal, eyes dancing over the screen as the information scrolled through. He watched intently, every so often opening and glancing over a particular file. As intent as he was, he still was all too aware of Shadelis Darkstar standing at the adjacent terminal going through files as well. The information they had managed to save from Darth Mekhis' system was large, almost too large to go through. Without a medic, and having little knowledge on the medical side, it made looking through the information all the tougher.
"I don't even know what half of this means." Shadelis finally complained, slapping her hands against the console in frustration.
"I can't make out a lot of it either, but what I can, I am not liking." Necrolis said back, casting a side glance to the chiss, knowing that if she was getting that frustrated it was not good.
They had already discovered that what had been done to them was beyond cloning. It was full genetic manipulation at the basest level, well beyond anything either of them had heard of or seen. Added into that was the programming of their minds. Shadelis was still chewing over that, Necrolis knew. If there was one thing that set her off these days, it was brainwashing or trying to control someone in that manner. Finding out they were who they were through something they could only comprehend as akin to such, it had not been a pleasant discovery. Necrolis had to wonder just how deep they had gone with such?
Most of the graphs and formulas made utterly no sense, and he tabbed through more as he returned his attention to his screen. Necrolis almost missed the underlined linked words amongst the large write up on some sort of serum used for something or other. Cycling the screen back up, Necrolis stared at the underlined bolded words.
Genetic Pool.
Reaching out he grabbed Shadelis' arm getting her attention. The chiss gave up her own searching to move against his side and peer down, arching an eyebrow as red eyes took in the words. Necrolis glanced at his sister who shrugged. Necrolis reached to tap the interface and open the link but hesitated, finger poised over the screen hovering there.
"Curiosity killed the manka cat." Necrolis muttered, glancing at Shadelis again.
"To know, or not to know…" Shadelis said in agreement, wondering herself which would be worse.
The former Cypher-Nine took and placed her hand atop her brother's, guiding it down to press the screen and activate the link. She gave the pure blooded sith a small smile and Necrolis nodded back in return. They had begun going through this together, it was only right they learned what they could the same way, no matter how grave or life changing the news might be that they found.
Necrolis looked over the information as it came up, scrolling through the file completely, then returning to the top of the file to again go back through it. A frown furrowed his brow and never left. His eyes locked onto one part of the file, reading it over and over before looking to Shadelis. The chiss was reading the same information, again and again going over it, trying to wrap her mind about what she was seeing. Chewing on her lower lip, Shadelis turned red eyes to her brother.
"This can't be… it just can't."
Necrolis growled and pounded a fist on the terminal before placing both hands on it and leaning into it, head falling and eyes closing. He choked back his anger and shook his head in disbelief. Everything was a lie. Finally he rose back up and then looked at Shadelis.
"This cannot be shown or let out. It is too volatile." Necrolis stated matter-of-factly.
"You can't mean to hide this?" Shadelis said in surprise. "We have to tell the others. They have to know."
"No."
"Necrolis, we can't hide this!" Shadelis argued.
"Shaddy, we can never speak of this. We can't let everyone know." Necrolis shook his head as he spoke, his gaze locking with his sister's. "This would shatter everything that is, the Empire, the Republic, the Sith, and Jedi. All of it. This has to be handled carefully."
Shadelis looked back at the screen, reading it once again and then taking a deep breath. Necrolis was right, she knew. Everything would change, there was no helping it. If someone wanted to destroy all that was in the galaxy, this could well be the fuse that got lit to accomplish such. For so long she had no answers as to her past and who she was, her parents, all of it. Now to find answers only to have to keep it a secret, knowing everyone else felt and had the same issues it was almost too much for her to bear. She wanted to punch something just out of frustration, or scream, or both. Shaking her head again, Shadelis looked to her brother once more, a thought coming to her.
"Do you think… Will this affect and change… her?"
Necrolis arched an eyebrow but knew exactly what his sister was asking. It was a fair question, one he could not answer at all. What they were uncovering, what had been done to them, was beyond his comprehension. He suspected it would be beyond most medical experts in either the Empire or Republic for that matter.
"I don't know if anything would be passed on." Necrolis finally said softly with a shrug. "Have you seen her? How is she?"
"I haven't seen her." Shadelis sighed, head dropping to avoid looking at Necrolis. "What would I say? I know she is well enough."
"How old is she now?" Necrolis asked.
"Old enough, she's not a kid anymore." Shadelis answered, shrugging herself and knowing it had been too long now to even try and address such.
Sighing, Shadelis glanced back at the screen one final time before looking at Necrolis. He looked back before collecting two datapads. Quickly he plugged both into the terminal and downloaded the file itself onto each, then cleared the information from the terminal. Pulling the original information storage unit, he held it out to her to take.
"Hang onto all of this. See to it that it is kept safe. This cannot get out." Necrolis stated firmly.
"I know." Shadelis said, taking it from him. "Rest assured it won't see the light of day."
Necrolis nodded at her words then held up the two datapads. Shadelis looked at them then to her brother. She could tell he had already decided on things, worked out some sort of plan. She felt comforted knowing he was taking care of things with this. She had learned to trust him long ago, and had no doubts about doing so now.
"What are you going to do?" Shadelis asked.
"I'm going to take care of things very, very carefully."
ZIOST
Kayln Nidor walked into the security office, eyes alert and watchful. She had not had any issue entering the city, nor making her way past the security measures that were still in place. That had surprised her a little. Fear was such a potent thing, she knew. It worked into one's thoughts, sowed doubt where none should be. At best she knew she might be questioned, but without evidence it was going to be nothing more than speculation and baseless accusations. That she knew she could easily deflect and handle.
Entering her workplace, the chiss noticed immediately the presence of the other overseers. Sevrina Thane and her brother, Varel, were standing off to one side, Kasche and Rian Cen Nur hovering over the terminal with the monitors. At her entrance it was Rian that confronted her. Kayln smiled knowing it would be her that would be the voice against her.
"So there you are, traitor!" Rian snarled, hand igniting her lightsaber.
Kayln arched an eyebrow and looked at the woman, unslinging her rifle and holding it at her hip making sure to keep the barrel pointed downwards, but easily brought to bear if need be. Rian was a hothead and foolish, the chiss thought. She did not miss the bruising to her cheek and the cut on her lip. Someone got a little too careless with her words, Kayln mused.
"Nice to see you, and everyone else, as well." Kayln answered the woman, nodding to the others before looking back at Rian. "I see you have something to say?"
Rian growled and made to charge the chiss, but Kasche grabbed her arm holding her tightly and keeping her from attacking the woman. Rian glared hard at the sith warrior, turning her saber off even as she yanked her arm free forcibly. The togruta glared at Kayln, eyes burning hard at the other woman. Sevrina moved over to Kayln, waving a hand dismissively at the other inquisitor.
"Where did you go?" Sevrina asked of the chiss. "You disappeared and well, everyone is jumping at shadows now."
"What has happened?" Kayln feigned ignorance and asked.
"Abraxas Miransi betrayed us." Varel tossed out before the others cast hard glances and he shut up once more.
"It is true." Sevrina said, studying the chiss to note her reaction. "Abraxas was a traitor. He aided the intruders and he has now paid for such."
Kayln arched an eyebrow at the inquisitor and then nodded at her words. "I am assuming by such, you mean he is dead?"
"Very." Kasche tossed out, arms crossing over his chest.
Kayln nodded and smiled at such. As forced as it was, there was a bit of genuine relief as well. By his comments and demeanour, Kayln could tell Kasche and Rian were likely the ones that had tortured and killed Abraxas. She made note of that in order to pass it along when she could to Teffa. She knew he and Necrolis would indeed avenge the groundskeeper.
"Well then it is well settled." Kayln remarked. "At least I hope he answered how they circumvented my security."
"Indeed." Sevrina said, then looked pointedly at Kayln. "So where have you been?"
"I was trying to see if I could find where the intruders had gone, or might come out after they buried themselves in the ruins. I thought I had found an access, but it was just the old sewer lines."
Rian muttered something under her breath, likely a curse or accusation she was lying. Kayln shook her head and rolled her eyes for effect. Sevrina rolled her eyes as well, back to Rian so she could not see the gesture. Kayln shouldered her weapon and stood arms crossed watching the others.
"Enough, Rian!" Sevrina said without looking at the togruta. "She smells like the sewer, and quite frankly you are jumping at shadows."
"Really? You aren't buying her lies, are you?" Rian growled back, only to have Kasche put a hand on her shoulder and give her a knowing look. Rian cast the zabrak an annoyed glance before falling silent.
"The headmaster is going to want to hear from you." Sevrina said finally, not answering Rian and letting her outburst end then and there.
"I will of course speak with him at his leisure." Kayln smiled lightly and nodded to the woman. "Now if you all will excuse me, I need a shower and to find some clothing that don't reek of a rancors ass."
Sevrina Thane watched the chiss woman leave. Despite the nod and smile she gave her at her departing, the woman was just not sure if she truly trusted Kayln. Her explanation was fine, and the smell of her confirmed such. There was just something in her eyes, something behind that smile that made Sevrina wonder if there was not more that the chiss had not said. Had she known Abraxas had sided with the intruders? Had she? Rian swore the chiss was to blame for many things, labelling the woman a traitor, but Sevrina knew there was no proof, and Rian had a temper and her own agenda too. Something to watch, she finally decided, knowing it was all she could do.