"I can't believe you gave good creds for this thing," Wad'e called into the cockpit to Vau.

Vau sneered. "This is a classic. It's going to be beautiful."

"If it starts," Wad'e smirked back. His fingers tested the console for dust. "Where to?"

"I've got to pick up some warm bodies and then Trandosha."

.

The introductions had N'Dara smiling up at the newcomer. "You're the second-tallest Mandalorian I've ever met."

"How many do you know?"

"Thousands," she told him.

Vau shook his head. "You make number two."

The blue-haired chick rolled her eyes and Enacca added her own commentary.

"I met your other friends at the gun show," she reminded him.

"You should make him show you a better time," Wad'e told her. "This ship is a dump."

The older man just lifted both middle fingers over his head in a rude display before going back to programming something on the cockpit computroller.

"Aw," Dara told Wad'e. "That's not so. You should try out the mattress he picked out for the master suite."

"Give me the tour?" the younger man asked.

"After we jump," Vau declared.

"What's the plan?" she asked him.

"Just hoping to get lucky," Vau told her.

"Most guys are," was her response. "Let me get Enacca and Chakkyrr settled and I'll be right back."

When she was out of earshot Wad'e turned to Vau.

"Just hoping to get lucky, huh?" he hissed. "How old is she?"

"Old enough to make E-6 before she got out of the navy. It's the blue freckles. They look like something a kid does to themselves before their mother catches them."

Wad'e perched on the console and crossed his arms, regarded the woman moving through the big central galley.

"Are they real or tattoos?"

"Real. You should see her after she's been in the sun." He chuckled. "She's covered in them."

He had no idea how impressed the other man was.

"Does she look human to you?"

"Human enough," Wad'e told him, tilting his head to appreciate the view when N'Dara bent over to fetch something from a cabinet for Mird. "All the right parts in all the right places."

"No fekking kidding," Vau agreed.

"Ready sweet cheeks?" she asked when she hopped back up front. She leaned over his chair and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You give the word."

"Go for it. I am so tired of civilians. Even Wookies. Especially Wookie civilians. Every single one of them wants to know when I'm getting married and settling down. It's worse than having aunts."

"How would you know?" Vau asked. He reached over his shoulder to pull her hair.

"I read things. Just like you do."

Wad'e wondered if his friend knew he was in love with the woman. He'd never seen Walon look at somebody just that way. Even with the strain starting to show on his face and those permanent frown lines he seemed happier with her in his space.

"My reading list rarely contains anything with aunties or meddling matchmakers."

"Did you read the new E'E'piensha'am?"

"Could not put it down," Vau assured her. He'd skimmed the holobook enough to be able to make conversation about it. It was bad when the reviews were more interesting than the story. But his statement was true in that he'd read all he was going to read of it in a single sitting…

"I loved it. I think it was her best work yet."

"That may be true," he agreed. He looked at Wad'e. "Are you into Olivia Eiensha'am? Writes adventure quests."

"Anything worth dog-earing to try later?"

Vau snickered. "Nothing that impressed me."

"Not every love story is a romance," N'Dara lectured. "Some people like more substance than smut."

"Not me. I like publications with more pictures than prose."

"What do you think the odds are that we're going to find my guys in this hole?"

"Slim to none," Walon warned her. "We don't even have solid intel. I just wanted enough muscle to make a dent if we do find something. And we'll be bugging out fast, so the muscle needed to be muscle-muscle."

"How much did you pay for this ship?" Wad'e asked later.

The conservator had started making a clunking noise as soon as they hit hyperspace and not even Chakkyrr had been able to figure out what that whine in the portside hold might portend.

"Honestly… less than I paid for my helmet upgrades."

N'Dara looked over at him, eyes widening. "You are going to get us all killed."

"It's a really nice helmet mod," he told her.

"It's a really shitty ship," his friend noted.

She choked on the tihaar they had poured to toast the venture and he thought he really had killed her. Watched her cough and gasp with a half-laugh when her own amusement had her sucking in too hard, the spices hitting her lungs and closing them. It fell from his face when Wad'e reached out to thump her on the back, a joke dying on his own lips when she turned from him in terror, gasping still.

"No!" she cried. Tried to escape, the blue dots still swimming in front of her eyes.

Lashed out at them, her legs scissoring viciously and her hands thrown up, a crackle of blue at her palms.

"Dara! It's me, Walon!" He held his arms wide, his palms to her, in a terrified show of submission. The ship jerked and rolled and stuttered to a halt, the power she held at her fingertips rippling through the systems. "Haar'chak, Dara! You're going to kill us all!"

The emergency backup shot to life, a red glow of reserve lights coming from the walkways and cabin space. Mird had jumped clear and clung to the bulkhead. Vau couldn't wait to see what those claws did to the wallcovering.

He crouched, his eyes intent on her where she'd huddled into a ball against the cabinetry of the galley. "I'm not going to hurt you. But I need you to calm down."

"Fekking osik," Wad'e hissed. He'd been thrown wide and picked himself up gingerly. "What the kriff."

"Shut the hell up," Vau threw over his shoulder. His face went mean, protective. His eyes were wide, though, when he turned back to the woman. "Laandur talyc meshurok, come here… Come out here so I can help you."

She was nearly hiccupping, gulping in air. The fear on her was palpable and it broke his heart. He wondered what had happened to her that losing her breath had triggered the response. He knew. He knew what had happened to her and it clenched in his gut.

"Shut. Up," he growled at the Wookies who had gotten bounced out of racks. He could hear one of them lowing mournfully. He'd deal with it in a minute. He needed to get N'Dara evened back out so she didn't kill them all.

"Come here. You're safe here. There's no one going to hurt you without getting through me first," he coaxed. "And you know how hardheaded I am, cinyc daryc cyar'ika. I'll protect you, Dara. But I need to fix the ship and I need to get past you to do it."

"I can go," Wad'e muttered. He started to rise.

Walon's hand shot up and N'Dara sucked in a gasp.

"Stay where you are. She doesn't know you."

"What in haran is this, Walon?"

"This is what happens when you take the most precious thing in the galaxy and try to break it. But they didn't," Vau said softly. He looked at the trembling woman, her hair an odd colour in the lights of the backup system, and shook his head. "They couldn't break you and they're not going to now. Not as strong as you are. No one's ever going to hurt you again. Do you hear me?"

She nodded carefully.

"Wad'e and I need to get to the cockpit, talyc kar'ta. Do you understand me?"

She swallowed. Nodded. Took a deep breath.

"Come here," he begged. "Come here to me."

She complied, hurtling into his arms.

"Go," he hissed at Wad'e, ducking his head to her hair and trembling. "Fekking goddesses, N'Dara. You scared the osik out of me. I've never seen anything like that before."

"I'm so sorry," she whimpered in a tiny voice.

He shook his head. "Are you all right?"

She nodded. He couldn't let her go, though, to see what damage she'd done to the ship with her little power display. While she trembled in his arms he just held her and rocked her and cried into her hair.

Enacca crawled forward making gentle sounds in her chest. Sorrowful crooning noises. He wondered if she knew what had happened to N'Dara. Wondered how she knew—if the younger woman had confided her nightmares or if she'd found out some other way.

"I've got her, Enn. She's okay. Are you?"

The wookie's response was affirmative, but her partner in crime had suffered a little and he growled. It made N'Dara whimper.

"You are strong and you are safe, do you understand me?"

She nodded. Her throat felt raw and scraped and her head pounded.

"Fek, daryc'ika. You nearly took down the whole ship."

"Oh my gods."

He wiped a hand over his face. "I've never seen that before. Usually a force push is just a push. I've never seen a jedi pull power from tech before."

"What?"

"Your little light show. I've never seen one of you use the power from something to shoot at people with your bare hands."

Her brows lowered, her confusion evident.

"When you tossed Wad'e? You don't remember?"

"I… I couldn't get my breath…"

"Yeah. We were laughing. Stopped being funny, though."

"What did I break?"

"I think just Wad'e."

"Not funny," the man called from the cockpit.

"I'm so sorry!"

"You were afraid. I believe the good doctor would say choking triggered a flashback."

"I blew the lights?"

"You might have blown everything." Even as he said it there was a whining sound and the fluorescent glow came back up.

"Oh. Oh, Vau."

She reached up, touched the side of his head. He hadn't even realized she'd gotten him until he felt the sting of her fingertips against his scalp. He winced and ducked to the side to look at her hands, wet with his blood.

"It'll heal. It'll wash clean and it'll heal and we'll go on. Do you hear me?"

She nodded, but it seemed a defeated sort of nod.

Wad'e came back to hover in the entryway. "Holy. Krif."

Walon glanced around. The conservator was smoking. The remains of their glasses and the bottle were shards of dust. Everything not attached had been thrown out and away, some of it now embedded in the bulkheads. Both Wookies hunkered on the lowest rack and Enacca petted Chakkyrr's shoulder, which he was twisting and turning painfully. The woman's hand came over her lips and she let out a little sob.

"I hurt you. I hurt you, too. All of you."

The tall man nodded. Touched his own forehead. Something had gashed open his brow, filleted his ear, and blood trickled down his neck.

"Helluva show, Princess Jetiise."

"I… I can… um… if you let me…" her fingers came up as though she would stroke the air. Her face was miserable. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Shh," Vau cooed. "He's going to be fine."

"Hyperdrive's busted," Wad'e told the other man, slamming through the hold.

"So we'll fix it. Or set down somewhere."

"Wait until you see where she landed us."

Curiosity got the best of him and he rose, pulled N'Dara to her feet and into his side. Went to consult the nav computer. Which now boasted a cracked screen.

"Oh. Vau. I'm so sorry. I'll pay you back… I'll give you every dime-"

"I'm not worried about the money, N'Dara," he told her. He was worried, though. It showed in the lines on his face. The air stunk of it.

"What are you worried about?"

He let out a long sigh. Pursed his lips and considered the view filling the transparisteel viewport.

He supposed he could consider it a miracle that she hadn't managed to crack it, or apparently damage the integrity of the hull. They'd never lost Gs, either, come to think of it. He sank into the chair before the console on another long inhale and even longer exhalation.

"Vau…"

He reached up to touch the place she'd laid open in his scalp. He might have to part his hair differently from now on. He could hear Wad'e's voice and that of both Wookies. Couldn't make out words over the sudden pounding in his ears.

"Vau?"

"Well, you've managed to put us right in the Empire's back yard, cyar'ika. And if there's a force-user on deck, somebody knows you're here. Which means no healing, no matter how badly you want to put him to rights."

"Who?" she asked, her brow furrowing.

Vau jerked his head backward, then wished he hadn't. "Wad'e."

"Oh."

Her mouth form a little circle and she left her lips pursed as she glanced down the hall.

"Don't beat yourself up. It's not the first time either of us got bloodied."

"I didn't mean to, though. It's different."

"So go patch him up. You can hide what you are? Keep it from slipping through?"

She nodded.

"Fine. I'm going to request a landing site with a repair mech. And Dara?" He waited while she turned, then brought her hand over his shoulder. Kissed the scarred flesh that marred every bit of the dorsum of it so that it appeared to be the texture of her skin. "You owe me a bottle when we find a bar tonight. You understand me?"

She let out a snort of laugh. "A bottle?"

Her gesture encompassed the ship surrounding them.

"It wasn't in that great of shape anyway," he told her. "We're just re-prioritizing what we fix first."

"Walon?" she asked timidly. When he looked at her his heart broke anew at the pain in her expression. "Thank you."

He nodded. "I've never been a big fan of the Taay'hai tihaar recipe anyway, laandur darcy talyc'ika."

"Does Wad'e speak your language?"

"Wad'e knows every tongue I do. Maybe more besides."

She narrowed her eyes at him and he drew her nearer. Rose and pulled her to his chest.

"It means'd you're more important." Delicate brown bloodstains, that's what he didn't say he told her. "Mirshko is courage. Cinyc is the way you overcame it. When I call you Meshurok'ika it means you're a treasure. Kar'ta is heart and skira is revenge and Vutyc'ika is my little special one. Laar is song, marev is a fist and mav is free."

He picked up her ruined hand. Made a fist with it. Kissed each knuckle.

Tears were in his eyes when he met hers again.

"Gedeteyar is the prayer I say every night that you came to me to teach me to be humble and to show me what it means to truly be fearless."

"I am not fearless."

"No. But if you can overcome what they did to you and step back into the role of hunter and protector, it gives me the strength to do even more, to keep hoping when you and I and everyone else knows that I'm wasting my time on a pipe dream." He tugged her head to his chest when her eyes filled. "We're going to fix the engine. We're going to rescue that man. And then we're going to find the next clue to chase down and then the next one and the next. And eventually it's going to lead me to Sev."

She nodded.

"I'm not going to give up on him."

When Wad'e glanced through it looked almost as though they were dancing, the way Vau held N'Dara's fist with his own fingers wrapped around it.

"Hate to interrupt…"

Vau looked up. Chucked N'Dara under the chin and narrowed his eyes at her.

"Do not sleep with Wad'e to make up for nearly slotting him."

The woman laughed and the other man cocked his head to the side, making his eyes wide.

"Is that an option? Suddenly I'm not pissed anymore…"

"Get out of my way," N'Dara told him with a laugh. "Come sit down and let me stitch you up."

"I'll stitch, thank you," Wad'e told her. He handed her a broom. "You sweep. There's fekking glass fekkign everywhere."