INTRODUCTION

They were all going to die.

Imperial cargo vessel Deliverance had barely emerged from hyperspace when the pirate ship appeared, and it was instant panic. They had no weapons, no fighter escort, and no time to react before the pirates had them in a tractor beam.

The captain tried to call for reinforcements, but the pirates had jammed their comms. So the crew, six strong, nervously made their way to the airlock armed with two service pistols and combat instruction from basic training. They were an unarmed transport hauling bacta across the galaxy, not a warship, and as such they were manned by a captain cruising his last months until retirement and a painfully green junior crew. They knew they were no match for pirates, but they were here all the same.

So when the airlock opened and the pirates zapped the pistols with EMP, they knew they were going to die.

"Greetings, friends!" The helmeted leader announced as the crew's useless weapons clattered to the ground. "Thanks for letting us aboard your fine vessel. Don't worry, we're just going to help ourselves to your cargo and we'll be on our way. No one needs to get hurt."

"We're carrying bacta," the captain protested.

"Yeah, we know you are and we know where you got it from," the second pirate said. At first pass it was hard to tell whether he was flesh or droid, with a mech arm and plastics covering every inch of his skin. "We're — what do you call it, cap?"

"Liberators of rare treasures," the leader said. "Now if everyone would stand against the wall with their hands up…"

With a wave of her pistol, the crew complied. They could only watch as the pirates' droids zoomed into the hold and started rolling out the barrels of bacta.

"People need this bacta," the captain tried to open a dialogue again. "We're on our way to a medical facility full of patients waiting for it. Please, let us at least keep a little."

"You're right. People do need this bacta, but they can't get any because the Empire took it all. You know, like the community hospital you took this from."

"But the patients —."

"Where are you taking this again?"

The Captain clammed up and the pirate looked to the supply officer. "You would know. Where was the bacta going?"

The supply officer swallowed hard. "A cosmetic surgery clinic on Coruscant."

"And there it is." She clapped him on the back and he stumbled. "Thanks for the honesty, my friend. What's your name?"

"Damask. Daz Damask." He said after a long pause.

"Daz." The pirate repeated slowly, like she was tasting his name.

"Everything's loaded up," the one with the mech arm reported.

"See? All done, and no one got hurt. Wasn't that easy?"

The crew didn't dare reply.

"Like I said, we'll be on our way now. And one more thing –." She grabbed Daz. "We'll be taking this one with us."

"No!" The captain shouted, though it was drowned out by Daz's cries. "If you need a hostage, take me instead."

"Nah, the skinny ones make better target practice." The mech-armed pirate grabbed Daz's other arm and helped his partner drag him away.. "Thanks for the bacta!"

"Daz!" The navigator shrieked right before the airlock closed, leaving Daz with the pirates.

Immediately they released him.

"What did I tell you?" The pirate asked and removed her helmet with a hiss, releasing a pouf of dark, curly hair.

Daz's jaw slacked. "Phee?!"

"Why the surprise? I said I'd pick you up while you were working."

"I thought you'd tell me to get in the escape pod, not take my ship hostage."

"Hate to break up the reunion," Phee's partner interrupted, taking off his own helmet. He was a clone, but Daz had never seen a clone with cybernetic implants in his head. "But we'd better get out of here before your old crew tries to mount a rescue."

"Right as always, Echo. Come on, let's get outta here."

Daz followed them into the cockpit. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming? I could have been more prepared."

"Your reaction had to be genuine," Phee plugged the coordinates into the navicomputer and seamlessly made the jump to hyperspace. "I'm your handler. My job is to arrange your defection and get you out safely, and I think I pulled it off."

"Not a scratch on any of us," Echo pointed out.

"Besides, the cell that's taking you in wanted to get things moving."

Daz gestured to the cargo hold. "What about the bacta?"

"I know someone who can get it to those in need." Phee relaxed in her seat. "How does it feel, Daz? Ready to be a rebel?"

"It doesn't feel real. We've been talking for weeks and then all of a sudden, it's over." He glanced from Echo, to Phee, to the blue streaks of hyperspace outside the viewport. "Did I really do it? Did I defect?"

Phee laid a hand on his shoulder. "Welcome to the rebellion. First stop, haircut."

…

"We got our new setup pretty recently," Phee explained while she led Daz through the streets of a small, tropical island. "Here you'll get a new look so the Empire won't recognize you, and a set of chain codes. Then off you go with your accepting cell, and we close your file. Defection complete."

"I still can't believe it." But the shock had given way to uncontrollable joy, and Daz couldn't stop grinning. "Thank you, Phee. You saved me."

"You saved yourself when you decided to leave. I was just your event planner." She knocked on the front door of a perfectly normal-looking salon with a sign reading "The Hair Affair."

"Hey Genna, I've got that add-on appointment for you," she said and swung the door open.

To a salon empty but for a blond woman crying over the shampoo bowl.

"Kark, I'm sorry. Give me a minute," she blubbered and swiped at the mascara running down her cheeks.

"Genna?" Phee left the young man at the door and hurried toward her friend. "Is it the girls?"

"No, I finally got them down for a nap. I can hold it together while I'm busy with them. They're pulling up on everything now." She looked at herself in the mirror and dabbed at her makeup. "It's just when I'm alone. And those goggles. I shoved them in a drawer. I felt like they were watching me."

She turned to Phee, defeatedly. "How can it be that I didn't see him for nine months, didn't know if he was dead or alive and now I'm crying?"

Phee hugged her. "Sometimes it can be harder knowing for sure."

Genna saw Daz over Phee's shoulder and tried to pull herself together. "Is this my client?"

"Yes ma'am." Phee turned around and beckoned to Daz. "Daz, Genna's going to be doing your makeover."

"I'm sorry if I interrupted something," Daz hedged.

"You're not interrupting anything. I like to be busy." Genna spun her chair for him to sit. "Come here, let's take a look."

"It's not much," Daz shook out his dark, barely-regulation length hair. "I've got the same genes on both sides of the family."

Genna met his eyes in the mirror. "When I'm done, you'll hardly recognize yourself."

"I'll leave you to it," Phee said and made her way to the door. "I've got somewhere to be and I've already lost my partner, so the meeting's started."

"Say hello to everyone for me," Genna said and began collecting bottles of dye.

…

A few blocks down the street, with a direct sightline to the Hair Affair, was a second floor apartment zoned as a vacation rental. But no tourist would ever darken its door.

A rebel cell had bought the unit as a place to house defectors until they could be transported to their final destination. It still needed some finishing touches, but it served its purpose. And today it would serve another purpose as a meeting place for a cell who rarely managed a moment to meet in person.

"I'm here!" Phee announced as she walked in, and nearly collided with a couple standing in the foyer.

Echo and fellow handler Riyo Chuchi startled apart and Riyo giggled nervously when she saw the newcomer was Phee.

"Food, dish soap, and laundry detergent, got it." Echo grinned and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. "I'll be right back."

Phee waited until he was gone and then gave Riyo a playful nudge. "What was that?"

"Is that Phee coming in?" Someone called from deeper in the apartment and a human woman rounded the corner. She was young, with dark eyes and hair dyed partially pink, and barely came up to Phee's chin. But only a fool would measure her by her age or size. Dalla Blackwell, head of Defections, was one of the most cunning fences in the galaxy and had a network to prove it.

"Mollymauk," Phee gave Dalla a nod alongside her title. "Just giving Riyo guff about her and Echo."

Riyo blushed. "I guess he's loosened up a bit about public displays of affection. Or not public exactly, but in front of family."

So they were family now? Dalla and Phee shared a look.

"Since we lost Tech, he's just realized none of us really knows how much time we have."

"Isn't that the truth?" Dalla turned in profile and the others' jaws dropped.

"You're pregnant!" Phee blurted.

Dalla laughed and caressed her swollen belly. "Well, you and Echo weren't the only ones who loosened up about affection."

Riyo squealed. "Congratulations!"

"Thank you." Dalla cleared her throat. "How's Genna?"

"She was sniffling when we arrived but she settled down to get the job done," Phee reported.

"Good. We can't have her falling apart when there's so few of us as it is."

"Don't have to worry about that. I think the work is good for her. Keeps her busy and she feels like she's a part of the solution."

"We need more handlers as another part of the solution. I don't suppose you two know anyone we can ask?"

The two main handlers shared a look.

"It's not like asking someone to watch your tooka," Phee said. "What about the clones in the clone network?"

"We can't count on Echo's brothers. They're completely focused on getting Omega back."

"I'm talking to some other cells," Dalla said. "We're thinking about training some of their members to be handlers."

"How is that going to work?" Riyo asked. "It's not possible to be a part-time handler; that's why you don't do it. They would have to leave their cells."

Phee snorted. "We can barely get them to take the defectors. Imagine what they would do if we asked for one of their people."

"I know, which is why it's just a thought. I hope this gets sorted out before I'm trying to manage it with an infant strapped to my chest." Dalla grimaced. "Anyway, we have more to talk about. We need a signal, some way for us to discreetly identify ourselves to defectors and other operatives."

"We could get matching tattoos," Phee suggested.

…

It was a long meeting while they hashed out assignments and protocols, and shockingly took Phee's tattoo idea into consideration. Apparently, Dalla was sticking to her playbook of "go big or go home."

"I'm back!" She waltzed into the Hair Affair with her usual flair, but found she didn't have an audience. The only person on the salon floor was a young man with curly red hair and vibrant green eyes sitting in Genna's client chair.

"Hey kid, you seen Genna?"

The kid pointed upstairs.

Phee was just about to take a seat and wait when Genna appeared at the top of the stairs with a child in each arm.

"Sorry, they woke up from their nap and I didn't want to leave them alone." She handed one of the girls to Phee and set the other on the floor to toddle around. "Doesn't Daz look great?"

"Daz?" She did a double take at the man in the salon chair, who was now grinning from ear to ear.

"Of course I can't take any credit for those curls." Genna made her way to Daz's side and ruffled his newly red hair. "Can you believe all that natural wave was hidden under that Imperial osik? I bet you've been fighting against it since the moment you were recruited."

"Right once again, ma'am," Daz replied.

"Now you'll need your roots touched up in a couple of weeks, but other than that you should find this style much easier to maintain. And the eye color will last much longer. That shouldn't begin to darken to your original shade until long after you're settled into your new situation."

"I still can't believe it's me. I'm so colorful!"

"Like a friend of mine says, go big or go home."

"Speaking of our friend." Phee bounced the baby girl on her hip making her giggle. "Guess what her next big plan is."

"I couldn't even begin to fathom." Genna said dryly, keeping a lookout for her other daughter.

"She thinks we should all get matching tattoos."

"Seriously?" The stylist had been steadily adding to her own collection of ink since she got her first on Mandalore before she knew she was pregnant with the twins, but she couldn't imagine someone like Riyo going for the look.

"Discreet ones, obviously. And she can't get one right now. Did you know about her special delivery?"

"It was a surprise to me too. I can't say I ever pictured her as the parental type."

"I don't think it was exactly planned." Phee couldn't put her finger on it, but something had changed in Dalla a few weeks ago. She seemed a little more assured in herself and a little less like a lone loth-wolf snarling at anything that moved. Whatever it was, she had the distinct feeling it was the only thing keeping Dalla from fracturing into a million pieces.

"Is there going to be a new baby?" Daz interrupted. "I love babies. I have three little sisters."

"Daz, you're going to make some woman very happy someday." Phee said and raised an eyebrow at Genna. "What about you? Ever thought of getting back in the game?"

"Maybe that's one positive of knowing for sure." She thought for a moment. "I might be ready for a little recreation. But nothing long term and I absolutely won't date defectors. No offense, Daz."

"I think I'm a bit too young for you, ma'am," said the fresh faced nineteen-year-old.

"Ha!" Genna burst out. "I'm not that much older than you. Don't let the motherhood thing fool you."

"Hmmm…" Phee grinned and the toddler in her arms giggled. "Perhaps we'll need to make that our next mission, Keb. Finding your momma a priceless treasure of her own."

"Don't you dare get them involved in this." Genna looked around for her other daughter just in time to catch Saviin pulling herself up on the handle of a drawer where she kept supplies and where she had stashed something altogether more precious.

The broken goggles were in the little girl's hand and almost in her mouth before Genna made a grab for them. And then something extraordinary happened. There was a blinking light and a bit of static audio and then a holographic image projected from the device attached to the temple of the frames.

It was impossible to tell what they were seeing or hearing before the vid faded once again.

"No, no, no, no!" Genna shook the goggles trying to get it back. She knew very well that this could be witness to her husband's last moments and the thought horrified her. "He recorded everything!"

"Okay, okay." Phee rushed to her side, knowing how delicate an artifact like this could be. She set Kebiin down and covered Genna's hands on the goggles with her own. "Echo's still planetside. We'll let him look into it."

"What if… what if what's on here could help them find Omega? That kriffer who gave them these, he's the one who took her."

"Get on the comm and call the Batch," Phee ordered. "I'll comm everyone else. We'll get this figured out."