29. February 2016: chapter updated

Rei stared back at the comm array, not bothering to stand after the explosion had knocked her ungracefully to the ground. She sat a few meters away, hands fisted in the loose grass as she tried to steady her whirling mind. Whatever it was Veijel had sent her trailing after, she was going to kill him for not warning her about… this. Her whole body tingled, like she'd had too much caf in too short a time, yet this was not quite as unpleasant.

It was, however, completely unasked for.

"Increased by one solar cycle," Rei muttered as soon as she was steady enough to trust her voice wouldn't waver. "Are you… Talos, does that mean the same thing to you as it does to me?"

He hesitated, glancing warily at the comm array before answering. "Yes, my lord, I believe it does."

Rei let out a few short curses. She had to be the one Sith with absolutely no interest in immortality, and evidently the universe had seen fit to custom tailor her for it anyway. "Xalek, return to Veijel," she ordered, twisting to look at her apprentice, "and inform him that Talos and I will investigate the rest of these arrays. If he does not have an adequate explanation prepared by the time I return, then he is of no use to me and will suffer accordingly."

Xalek bobbed his head in a quick nod of understanding. "Yes, master."

"And tell him that if he knew — or even suspected — that these machines could provide a measure of immortality, that his project is going to come to a very violent end."

"Yes, master."

"Apologies, my lord," Talos interjected as Xalek left, "but I don't believe Veijel truly believed the devices would respond to you this way. He seemed… skeptical. Not of the project or it's value, but that it would produce whatever results Thanaton expected."

Shoulders drooping, Rei glanced up to where Talos stood worriedly over her. It was no doubt taking him an extraordinary amount of effort to keep from whipping out a med scanner to ensure the comm array hadn't done any damage; Rei rarely indulged Talos' concerns, though she did always appreciate them. "You think Thanaton had these studied because he thought he could attain immortality through them?"

"Perhaps. It's impossible to say for certain, but he very obviously valued this project highly, considering he kept Veijel isolated out here for so long."

Rei nodded slowly, still trying to grasp the full extent of what had happened with the array. She'd simply approached it, and — how much time had passed? A second? A minute? More? Before she could ask Talos for details, her holocomm chimed. Given the circumstances, she very nearly ignored it.

She cleared her throat before answering, hoping to somehow hide how overwhelmed she felt at the moment. "Agent," Rei greeted, eyeing Zaara's image warily.

"If you aren't busy," Zaara began, raising an eyebrow at Rei's disheveled appearance, "I could use your help."

Rei gave a long sigh. "How urgent is it? I have a disobedient Sith to knock some sense into."

"Not urgent, but we found the location of the Nova Blades' slave camps. We're about to head up there and put an end to their operations. Ashara thought you'd want in."

"Very well, I suppose Veijel can wait. Send me the location and Talos and I will be there in a moment."

"Good." Zaara glanced off in the distance for a moment, eyes narrowing and lips pursing. "Don't take too long. We cleared the place out pretty well, but I'd rather not have to wait here any longer than necessary."

Pulling herself to her feet, Rei gave a long sigh and motioned for Talos to follow. The coordinates she met Zaara at weren't far, and with transportation from Jakarro it didn't take them long to reach the slavers' island. Rei and Zaara went ahead, while Temple and Talos remained behind to prepare an escape for any slaves they liberated. Cori, Andronikos, and Kira waited back on the main island, keeping the landing area cleared of any Nova Blades that might have come to retaliate.

Rei hadn't expected the Nova Blades' slavers to be any sort of challenge for her, but she hadn't expected them to be quite so frail, either. She tore through the slaver's island easily, leaving dozens of bodies in her wake. While Rei cleared out each section of the island, Zaara trailed behind, releasing the slaves that the Nova Blades had locked up.

With as wound up as she was after discovering Veijel was sending her blindly stumbling after the secret to immortality, Rei would've been perfectly content with fighting her way through any sort of camp. Slavers were almost too good to be true.

As the last group of slavers fell, Rei checked in with Zaara before making one last sweep across the island. "They're done for," she announced, voice filled with satisfaction.

"Good." Zaara was kneeling in front of one of the large transportation crates, messing with the locking mechanism until the crate creaked open. "I've got a few more of these to get," she groaned, propping the door open on her shoulder as a handful of human men and women rushed free. "Head up to the docks," she instructed, "we've got transportation for you there."

Rei propped her hands on her hips, scanning the area for the crates Zaara was opening. There were only three more she could see, and it didn't seem to take Zaara long to open them. "I'll check in with Temple and Talos," she decided, knowing Zaara would likely make the same suggestion anyway, "and let them know we're almost finished here."

Wiping the sweat from her face with the loose neckline of her shirt, Zaara gave a little grunt of agreement. "Tell Jakarro we've only got one more load. There's a holoterminal up there — if you can get it working, let Lana and Theron know we'll be on our way back soon." She shot Rei a tired grin. "I think we've earned a long night at the cantina, hmm?"

"You? Have fun?" Rei cocked an eyebrow, tilting her head a bit as if to ask are you okay? "You're going to make everyone think you're good company."

"Don't worry," Zaara laughed, shaking her head, "I'll drag you down with me."

"I'm wonderful company, and you know it."

"Then prove it, and quit wasting all your charm on Theron." With that last remark, Zaara offered a challenging smirk before sauntering off to take care of the rest of the slaves.

By the time Rei came up with a witty enough retort, Zaara was far out of earshot, and Rei had just enough dignity to hold herself back from yelling after the agent anyway. "Wasting my charm?" she grumbled to herself, marching back up to where the others were waiting. "It's not a waste. I'm incredibly charming." In truth, Rei was far more concerned with Zaara's suggestion that her flirtations were ineffective than she was with the comment on Theron. As amusing as it was to wonder when he'd no longer simply ignore her, Rei had no desire to actually see anything through.

Of course, she wouldn't argue if something did happen, either. As far as she was concerned, it was a win-win situation.

"My lord." Talos' voice drew Rei from her thoughts as she approached.

"We're nearly finished," she declared. "Zaara believes we'll only need one more trip after this one. Ensign, get Theron and Lana on the holoterminal there." Rei was about to have Talos check in with Cori when the most recent group of freed slaves approached her.

"Thank you," one of the men offered. "You — and the rest of the Howling Tempest — you're fighting against the Nova Blades. They locked me up for three years, some of us longer." He glanced back at the rest of the group.

Despite being a good deal shorter than him, Rei did her best to glare down at the man. "Save your thanks for the others," she ordered. It wasn't that she didn't sympathize with the relief of finally being free, she just wasn't equipped to express it. Temple and Talos, at least, would be appreciative.

"We want in," he insisted. "We want to work for you — if the Howling Tempest is taking down the Nova Blades, we want to help."

Struck with a sudden sense of inspiration, Rei crossed her arms, pacing a bit as she pondered their request. "You may operate under the name of the Howling Tempest," she decided, eyes narrowing in concentration. "But you will not report to — or work for — their captain. Your allegiance now lies with me. You owe your lives to Darth Nox, dark lord of the Sith. Understood?"

"We don't care who's taking down the Nova Blades," one of the women in the back piped up. "We just want a piece of the action."

The man who'd originally addressed Rei nodded. "Anything you need."

She dismissed him with a wave. "I expect that you'll be ready when I require you."

As the last of the group clambered into the crate for Jakarro to pick up, Talos remarked, "First a cult, now a pirate gang." He chuckled. "You do have quite the unique power base, my lord."

"The Imperial military only has so many corrupt moffs and generals to utilize," Rei shrugged. "Besides, it's more fun this way."

"What's more fun?" Zaara asked, breathless, making her way up the wooden docks towards the rest of the group. Not waiting for Rei to answer, she turned to Temple. "Have you got it working?"

The ensign gave a curt yes, sir and stepped out of the way as Lana and Theron's images flickered to life on the holoterminal. "We're finished here," Zaara reported, clasping her hands behind her back.

"Yeah, we're picking up some comm chatter. You've done a good job disrupting their operations, but," Theron paused, frowning, his attention on something out of view. "We might have a problem."

"What kind of problem?"

Lana shook her head. "Nothing that can't wait until tomorrow," she interjected. "You've all earned a bit of rest for today."

"Ah — Darth Nox, your apprentice—"

With a rough wave of her hand, Rei carelessly dismissed Veijel as she entered the room. "You've informed him of the situation, Xalek?" she asked, keeping her eyes locked on the Sith lord.

Despite the rest of their team calling it a day, Rei had one last order of business to attend to.

"Yes, master." Xalek crossed the room to join her, glaring down at Veijel. "We relayed the message and waited, as you commanded. The pirate you mentioned showed up a half hour ago."

"Good." Rei marched to where Veijel sat, confusion plain on his face. "Those pirates are your new masters," she crooned, offering a look that was almost pitying. "They report directly to me. They're going to help you discover the secret to those arrays you sent me after."

"But, my lord, they're—"

"Slaves?" she questioned, tone saccharine. Rei had no doubt that Veijel's indigence had more to do with the fact that the ragged group of pirates was, well, a ragged group of pirates, and less to do with their recent status as slaves. Still, she wasn't going to begrudge herself a bit of fun. Not here, on Rishi, far away from council politics and with more than enough scapegoats on which to blame her reckless behavior. "Regardless of whatever they were before, they are now my servants. As are you."

"Understood, my lord."

She turned to address her apprentice. "You've done well, Xalek. I want you to remain here, to ensure Veijel and the rest of our new friends stay in line. I need Talos for now, but I'll send him to assist you tomorrow." She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts, eyes sweeping across the room and finally settling on Veijel. "Don't make me come back."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me," Kira challenged, more focused on the conversation than the group's card game.

Andronikos set his cards face down, holding up his hands in surrender. "I get the feeling Nox doesn't want me sharing all her secrets."

From where she was seated, Cori could just see Nox, sprawled ungracefully on one of the couches at the far end of the room and scrolling through a datapad. "Mm. Fear me, and all that," she droned, waving a hand towards the table.

"Well, I've got a good story," Kira decided, nudging Cori with an elbow. "Remember—"

"No," Cori cut her off, laughing despite herself. She had no idea what Kira had come up with to match the increasingly questionable stories Andronikos had been sharing all evening, but it would likely be largely exaggerated and at least a little embarrassing. "You don't get to share any stories."

"Hey," Kaliyo piped up, pulling her feet off the table to lean forward conspiratorially, "I've got one. Back when we were still with Intelligence, me and Zaara shut down half of Kaas City. We were down at the Intelligence Headquarters, messed with the security, stole some files that shouldn't even exist, stuff like that." She shrugged. "Doesn't even touch some of the stuff I've done,though. Zaara's too concerned with playing by the rules most of the time."

Cori perked up at the mention of her sister, curious but not sure that was a story she really wanted specifics on.

Kira snorted. "Yeah, we've done worse to Kaas City."

"Kira."

"Calm down, boss," she grinned. "I know when to stop talking. Besides," Kira added, shooting a smirk in Andronikos' direction, "they wouldn't believe me if we told them."

Andronikos, Kaliyo, and Kira continued trading continuously more wild stories, their card game all but forgotten. Cori had joined only out of a desire to socialize, feeling considerably less outnumbered by the Imperials and Sith when they were all relaxed like this. Even Lana had eventually joined, taking a seat beside Cori and watching the others with thinly veiled amusement. Nox's apprentice — Ashara? — had refused to join and instead watched Andronikos, occasionally asking him or even Kaliyo for pointers.

Of everyone gathered in the safehouse, only Darth Nox and Theron remained away from the now-crowded table, both buried deep in work. Nox, at least, looked ready to toss the datapad aside the moment she was finished.

"No stories of your own to add?" Lana asked quietly, sitting closer than Cori had realized.

The Jedi shifted in her seat, biting at her lip as she debated how to answer. "Plenty of stories," she admitted, "just none I want to share."

She offered an understanding smile. "Just as well," Lana shrugged, "I find it hard to believe that anyone could top breaching an ancient vault to recruit SCORPIO."

"See?" Kaliyo smirked, propping her feet back on the table. "The Sith agrees. I win."

That was enough to bring Nox over to the table. "No, no, no." She sat next to Andronikos, folding her hands delicately atop the table. "You don't get to win until I'm finished."

Andronikos rolled his eyes. "Here we go."

Nox was halfway through a description of some ancient tomb when Zaara walked in, eyes wide, looking more shaken than Cori had ever seen. She stood, not sure what to do but wanting to offer some comfort to her sister. "What happened?" She knew Zaara had gone to investigate a message she'd been given — either from an old Intelligence contact or someone looking to start trouble, she'd said.

Cori assumed she'd found trouble.

Despite the collective concern, Zaara shook her head and motioned for Kaliyo to follow her. "We don't…" she began, then paused to clear her throat. "We have to leave. Not— I mean, we aren't leaving, there's just something I have to see to and I need your help. Vector's coming, too."

The safehouse remained silent until Kaliyo spoke. "What's going on, Agent?"

"We don't have time," she argued coldly, frowning. "We have a two day window and we can't miss it."

"Right. Okay. Coming." Kaliyo tossed her cards onto the table before following.

"Zaara, wait," Cori called after them, making it to the stairs before Zaara stopped her.

"Intelligence business, Cori," Zaara sighed, offering what Cori assumed was supposed to be an encouraging smile. "Someone I care very deeply for needs my help, and I'm not going to let her down again." She glanced down towards the door, then sighed again. "Two days. I need Lokin, but I'll send Raina to meet you tomorrow. Tell Theron and Lana I'll let them know as soon as I'm on my way back."

With that, she was gone, and Cori trudged back into the main room. "Intelligence business," she explained, not certain whether the rest of the expectant group was concerned or just nosy. "She'll be back in two days."

"Two days?" Kira echoed. "That should be plenty of time for us to look into—" She paused, glancing up at Cori. "—that thing you wanted to look into."

Cori gave a thoughtful nod, taking her seat next to Lana again. She was glad Kira had caught herself; whatever presence Cori had been sensing on Rishi, it was almost painfully familiar. She'd been trying to ignore the fact that she had a good idea of what it was, for the simple fact that she wasn't sure she could face the disappointment if she was wrong.

Nox slumped forward, resting her head on her hands. "This means I'll have to finally deal with Pyron and all his reports," she mumbled, voice muffled.

From behind them, Theron sighed. "Let's just hope nothing important comes up in the next two days, then."