Scourge had prowled the ship for nearly three days before acquiescing to Sayonar's demands that he rest. His sleep, shallow and fitful at first, had calmed into this peaceful repose. He lay on his back, one arm tucked under his head the other stretched by his side.
Sayonar lay propped on her elbow quietly watching his face, now a placid surface, relaxed and untroubled by responsibility or care. His chest expanded and contracted with the steady cadence of his breathing. He shifted his weight and straightened the leg he'd kept bent at the knee, pulling the sheet lower on his hips. The three V-shaped ridges on his abdomen pointed like arrows to the crumpled material barely covering his pelvis.
"You are magnificent," Sayonar whispered as she reached out to lightly brush her fingertips along the ridges that lay centered on the mound of his chest. Desire rippled off her like a force wave.
His eyes fluttered open. "And you are beautiful."
"How long have you been awake?"
"Your passion rolled over me like a boulder. The darkness answered and nudged me awake. I would be a poor Sith indeed if I did not sense the danger at hand."
"What are you talking about? What danger?"
"You are the most dangerous woman I know. I would burn half the galaxy to keep you safe and the other half just to spend one meaningful night with you." He raised his fingers to her lips to forestall her rebuke. "Don't bother to spout your Jedi dogma. We're both too far gone for that, and you know it."
His teeth gleamed white behind lips stretched into a half grin. "Shall I pull the sheet lower?"
"Don't tease, Lord Scourge. We've tried, and it brings nothing but frustration and pain. It's an unkindness neither of us deserves." Sayonar rolled from the bed and slipped into her robe, feeling his gaze on her back.
"My apologies, Master Jedi. It was not my intent, but you should temper your expectations for our future."
"Never." She rounded the foot of the bed and sat on the edge beside him. "You didn't sleep well. Care to share?"
Scourge sat up and eased himself backward to lean against the headboard, pulling the sheet up to his waist. "I lost contact with Ky the day we left Untuar IV. She was there one second and then gone, and I haven't been able to sense her no matter how hard I try."
"Perhaps they have her in some force dampening enclosure you can't penetrate, or so heavily sedated even her life signature can't register. It could mean anything."
"The others should be told."
"Why would you do that? Do you intend to stop searching? To turn back?"
He toyed with the ends of her hair that cascaded over her shoulder like an obsidian waterfall. "Of course not, but they have the right to know."
"No, they don't." She caught his hand in hers. "You may not feel it, but you can read how much they love her. As a leader, a friend, and a lover. Their hope is fragile at best. I can't believe I'm saying this, but that level of truth will do more harm than good. Please, beloved, let them hold onto what little they have."
Scourge nodded. "For now. I will continue my attempts at contact, but, in my experience, it is best to be prepared for all eventualities."
"Could you prepare for my death?" Her ice blue eyes stared into the smoldering crimson of his.
"I have considered the eventuality of outliving you should we not find the cure."
"Consideration is not the same."
"No, it is not. I am not prepared to lose you and feel nothing. I am not prepared for the lack of grief when you are gone, Nulis." He pushed her hair back and slid the robe from her shoulders. "Come lie with me for a while longer. Such knowledge is a terrible thing and should not be faced alone."
#
Torchy lay in pieces like she had for the umpteenth time in the past six days. Corso sat, cross-legged on the floor of the cargo bay meticulously cleaning each part before laying it back on the tarpaulin stretched before him. He missed his own cleaning kit but made due with what he'd found on Untuar IV before they'd left to find Ky.
Bowdaar hunkered by the door fiddling with the firing mechanism on his bowcaster for the umpteenth time also. He often raised his eyes to glance at Corso then grunted and shook his head, before concentrating on his weapon again. The boy had never been this quiet for so long, and it worried him. The Wookie grunted again.
Corso eyed Bowdaar over the sight on the blaster barrel before laying it back on the tarp. "I know what you're trying to do but I'm fine and what is there to say?"
"You must stay strong," Bowdaar said in that half grumbling half warbling language of the Wookie.
"I'm holding it together as best I can." Corso swiveled his upper torso and tilted his head from side to side eliciting a series of popping sounds from his back and neck. "Besides, with you or Akaavi shadowing me every place but the 'fresher, I'm not likely to lose it any time soon."
"I'm not speaking of your fight with Skavak. You are retreating into that hollow place I've seen you go before. It's not good to spend so much time inside your own head."
"Afraid I'll give myself ideas?"
"Afraid you will disappear. She will need you when we find her, not that empty face you wear when we go into battle."
"Not so sure it's me she needs anymore." Corso clicked another part of the blaster into place.
"Seems you are giving yourself ideas after all. Bad ones. She sent Skavak for you."
"She sent Skavak for Scourge, I just happened to know how to find him."
Bowdaar pulled the string back over the latch and listened to the reverberation as he plucked the string with his finger. He adjusted one of the screws, plucked the string again, and dry shot the crossbow. "Better," he said before addressing Corso again. "She could have sent him to Akaavi or me, or even Gus, but she sent him for you. It is important that you remember this."
"It hurts to remember."
"I know, my friend. Your empty face may rescue her or keep her alive, but your true face may save her."
"Or maybe a face half covered by a tattoo will save her."
"Humph. Bad ideas. Let's get her back first. The rest will unfold as it is meant to."
Corso finished tightening the screw that held the grips in place and locked the scope into its channel, wiped the reassembled weapon down again and set it on the tarp. He leaned against the wall, his forearms resting on his bent knees and worrying the cleaning rag with his fingers. "I'm such an idiot. Going on and on about settling down on Dantooine, raising rontos and a bunch of kids. Hoping to make my childhood dream her dream. That life would have smothered her, and she'd have hated me for it in the end. I never realized until she was gone that she's my dream, always was. I can't lose her again."
"Then don't." The Wookie pushed himself to his feet. "Time for my rounds. Akaavi will be waiting. Get some sleep."
#
Seven fucking days and Skavak was going stir-crazy. He'd smoked his last spice laced cigarette two days ago, and Scourge's supply of alcohol was dwindling fast, not that the Sith had much to begin with. And no rum. Ah well, beggars, choosers, house rules, whatever.
He lay on his back, twirling one of the data crystals between his fingers. He'd already counted the ceiling tiles, more times than he cared to admit and there was only so much time he could spend in the shower jerking off. What a bunch of tight asses he was stuck with. He'd give anything for another go at Corso, at least that would be some kind of interaction.
The ginger-haired Jedi crossed his mind more than once. A nice piece, that one, and he'd never had a Jedi before. He wondered if she was a true redhead all the way down to her short and curlies. He'd never know, but it was a nice mental image.
Of course, Scourge's woman was the real beauty. A man could drown in those eyes or get lost in the inky strands of her hair. Yeah, if a man wanted to get his eyes gouged out and every bone broken. No thanks. She was best admired from afar, like other end of the galaxy far.
Huh. Kira, that was the ginger's name. Rolled off the tongue, sweet and juicy, much as he'd expect her to taste. Yummy.
Thing is, he hadn't made so much as a pass at her during their brief encounters in the galley or corridors. No innuendo, no snarky remarks, not even a wink in her direction. Nothing that would have triggered the sweet young thing to throw him against a wall. Nothing that would have earned him a cuff on the back of the head by the Mando or the Wookie who were two steps behind him every time he left the room.
What really flipped his skullcap was that he had no desire to engage in any sort of flirtation with the pretty young Jedi. He had zero interest beyond looking and a fantasy or two.
What the hell was wrong with him? As if he didn't know. Damn Ky and this impossible shit she'd gotten him into. She blurred everything, twisted his nice chaotic life into something he no longer recognized. Even gave him good intentions for crying out loud.
He missed her. Stars, he missed everything about her.
There was a word for this affliction, but he'd be damned if he'd admit or use it. Sweet fucking Maker on a crutch! He'd probably lose her to the farm boy anyway, right? That was one question he couldn't walk away from even if he'd wanted to.
#
Day eight into their trip to the Tangrene system, Scourge had convened a meeting, requiring everyone be present in the ship's small galley. The smell of caf suffocated the air in the tight quarters, and Corso's already tightened stomach clenched even tighter when he spotted Skavak leaning against the back wall, cup in hand. The bastard had the nerve to raise the cup in a half-assed toast when Corso stopped in the doorway. Bowdaar growled softly at his back and bumped him into the room.
Akaavi stood not far from Skavak, Kira and Sayonar perched on the stools and Scourge stood in front of the workspace and sink, arms crossed and scowl on his face.
"I'll get to it then," the Sith Lord said, his voice low and even as freshly troweled duracrete. "I've not sensed Ky's presence for some time now. I have reached deep and far, and the darkness has returned nothing of her essence."
Corso's thudding heart leaped into his throat. "She's not dead. We have to go on."
Skavak's face blanched, starkly white in contrast to the dark tattoo that adorned much of the right side of his face. He halted the ascent of his cup halfway to his lips. "Why are you telling us this now?"
"Contact was lost the first day. I delayed mentioning it because I had lost contact before for short periods of time, but never for this long." Scourge's carmine gaze surveyed each face, reading despair and disbelief and glimmers of hope. Resignation clouded Sayonar's eyes and sadness tugged at the corners of Kira's.
Scourge leaned back against the counter and continued. "I have no intention of turning back, and we will bring her home no matter what we find. None of us know what has been done to her and you need to prepare for all possibilities. Fair warning had to be given."
"How Scourge?" Corso spread his hands, grasping for an answer. "With all your years of wisdom, tell us how we prepare for the worst. I can't imagine a life without her. I won't! She's not dead, and I refuse to let you kill what hope I have based on some jiggery-pokery I'll never understand."
Sayonar tilted her head and gave Scourge that 'I told you so' look while everyone trudged from the room on leaden feet.
#
Day ten, they entered the Tangrene system. Day eleven, they passed the Imperial planet. Day twelve, they exited hyperspace far enough from the unknown planet to avoid long range scanners.
Scourge was in the cockpit with the others crowded around and patched in Seph on the Soledad. "There are four moons around the world that I've finally identified as Letas Zalias. The ancient writings are full of lost things. It means Long Green in the ancient tongue and the second moon was a listening post during the time of the Dark Wars. The signal indicates that's where we'll find Ky."
"So, what now, boss?" asked Seph.
"Sublight to the far side of the fourth moon. That should keep you hidden. Put a single triangulation probe in orbit then wait for my signal. It should bounce off the probe directly to you. Do not delay when the call comes."
"We'll be waiting. Seph out."
"What about us?" asked Skavak.
"The stealth generator won't last long enough to keep us hidden the full distance. The most we can hope for is to remain undetected until we reach high orbit, then stealth the ship and land on the surface as close as we can to the origination point of Ky's signal. Be prepared for a fight no matter which way this goes."
Scourge engaged the sublights, and all eyes stared out the windshield as the green tinted gas giant came into view, growing from a tiny dot to a behemoth that filled the screen. The moon they sought hovered in the distance, just above the curvature of the slowly rotating planet.
"What the hell is that?" said Corso pointing at a dark speck orbiting the moon.
"A ship," said Akaavi. "They had to get here somehow."
"Damn!" said Scourge, disengaging the sublights and letting inertia carry them forward. "T7, engage stealth."
Braking thrusters jolted the ship, rocking everyone whether standing or seated. Scourge tucked the ship into low orbit and started the descent toward the thick foliage of the forest moon. All remained transfixed and holding their breath when they passed under the shadow of the Imperial frigate. Below they spotted a clearing around the entrance to an underground bunker. Ky's signal screamed at them as they flew over.
Scourge went twenty klicks beyond and engaged the repulsors. The ship lurched and tilted when the hull settled into the canopy. Treetops snapped, and branches scraped and screeched along the metal plating with a hideous sound that set everyone's teeth on edge. Tree trunks, leaves, and verdant undergrowth replaced the pale blue of the sky in the windshield as the ship sank lower finally coming to rest on the forest floor.
Scourge stood and turned to face them. "Don't clump together. Fan out and watch for surveillance drones or cameras on the perimeter. Expect resistance at the entrance. T7 will attempt to disrupt communications and find where Ky is being held then turn off internal surveillance as well as gain control over doorways and hatches. Teams will cover more ground. Bowdaar with Corso, Akaavi with Skavak, Sayonar, and Kira with me. You all have kolto, rebreathers for gas and antidotes for poison in your packs. TooVee has personal body shields for everyone, use them sparingly."
The heat and humidity struck them like a sweaty palm as soon as they left the cool confines of the ship. The sodden air closed over their nostrils and mouths, the moisture clinging to their lungs made each breath a labor of its own.
Scourge removed the respirator mask hanging from his belt and affixed it over his lower face while adjusting the temperature control inside his armor to provide welcome relief. Heat exhaustion in tropical climates was one downside of being a pureblood and not something he could afford to suffer.
Moss and broad-leafed, thick-stemmed flora, thorny vines that pricked their skin and buzzing, biting insects made their trek even more miserable in the cloying, infernal heat. No drones, no patrols impeded them until they came to a stop at the tree line marking the perimeter of the clearing around the bunker.
Cameras swiveled back and forth above the closed blast door, and two turrets stood sentinel on either side.
"Ion grenade will take care of that," said Akaavi. "But they'll know we're here. Maybe we should just knock."
"They already know we're here," said Scourge. "Do you feel it, Nulis?"
"I do," Sayonar answered. "A trap?"
Scourge placed a gloved hand on her shoulder. "Most assuredly."