THE CAVE

Agent Kallus shielded his eyes against the sun's glare as the shuttle came into view. The salt flats on Seelos made everything brighter and harder to see, but he recognized every dip and turn the pilot made from the moment they breached the clouds to the whisper-light landing.

Textbook perfect. Of course it was perfect, he accepted nothing less and he had been the one to smooth out this pilot's rough edges.

One of the stormtroopers spoke up. "Is that from Relentless?"

"It's not Konstantine," Kallus said.

The pilot proved it a moment later when a teenage girl opened the boarding ramp. She was a redhead, with tanned skin and a smile that went all the way to her amber eyes, and she wore an officer's uniform with an ISB badge.

"Need a lift?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am!" The first trooper hurried aboard, the second following with the speeder bike. "Hallelujah for the ISB."

Kallus cleared his throat and followed the both of them. "Thank you for the pickup, Swain."

"Happy to help." Swain looked past him and furrowed her brow. "What happened to your tanks?"

He grit his teeth. "Don't ask."

"Okay then. Ready to get out of here?"

They made their way to the cockpit and slid naturally into their regular roles, piloting in tandem and setting a course back to Lothal.

Once the coordinates were in, Swain broke the silence. "I know you don't want to talk about the tanks, but there's something behind you that might make you feel better."

"Behind me?" Kallus saw the Starchucks cup before he'd fully turned around. "Hannah Rowan Swain. Is that my order?"

"Iced latte, four pumps, no whip?"

"Child." He pounced on the drink like it, not Swain, would get him off Seelos. "What would I do without you?"

"Well, you'd probably be stranded and thirsty."

He smiled over the cup lid. He'd really hit the trainee jackpot; Swain had never failed to impress him over the two years of her assignment, and she somehow managed to be kind and thoughtful as well. She would be a fantastic agent, just like her dad.

"Thank you," he said. "I hope I didn't interrupt your day."

"It's not a big deal. Before I got your call I was doing some research and had lunch with Cogon." Kallus groaned and she rolled her eyes. "It's just lunch."

"He's a distraction."

"I don't understand why you hate him so much. He's a good guy, he treats me well, and we like spending time together. I could do way worse."

"You could also do far better. You're months away from being a fully fledged agent and you'll meet a different caliber of men. Accomplished men who will make you a far better match than a munitions officer!"

"I don't want them; I want Cogon. And why do you hate his job? You liked him until you found out what he did."

"I liked him until I found out he had designs on you." Kallus took another sip of caf to calm himself. "Let's not talk about this. Do you know where Konstantine is?"

"He jumped without notifying the Complex, so I reached out to headquarters. I just got a response back –."

"Please tell me it's not from Agent Divo." She would tease him for getting stranded and then lecture him for leaving Swain behind.

"No, from Colonel Yularen."

Even worse. Kallus cringed. "Let's hear it."

Swain pulled out her comlink and began to read. "'Officer Swain, I hope you are well and your assignment is progressing smoothly. Which departments do you intend to apply to upon its completion? Thank you for the holos of you and Officer Cogon; you both look so happy. As for Agent Kallus –.'"

"Glad to know where I rank in Yularen's priorities," Kallus quipped.

"'As for Agent Kallus, Admiral Konstantine reports that he received a transmission requesting he rendezvous with an Inquisitorial shuttle without regard to Kallus' mission, a fact I find most regrettable. I have relayed Kallus' statement to the fleet, and since you are picking up Kallus and his men, they will continue their mission.'" She lowered the unit. "Then he says he hopes we come to Coruscant soon because Estelle has a new recipe she wants to test on us, and he wants to hear all about my 'nice young man.'"

"I shouldn't be surprised, considering he stopped badgering me for grandchildren the moment you arrived." Kallus kicked back in his seat. "Could be worse, he could have forgotten me entirely."

"As if he could!"

"You have such faith." He set the drink aside. "Enough talk. Show me what your research turned up."

Swain turned to retrieve her datapad and, with her body blocking the screen, deleted the search history. It might be nothing, she told herself. But on the off chance it wasn't, it might be her only shot.

…

"I see them!" The defector panted over the comm. "Hey! It, uh, it's a long way to Alderaan?"

"I don't think it's far at all," another voice replied, and in her office on Coruscant Senator Tural did a victory dance. "Handler, we've got him. Welcome to the rebellion, kid."

"Thank you, Mygeeto," she replied. "And good luck, my friend."

"Thank you! I couldn't have done it without you!"

"You're welcome," Tural said and closed the comm.

Oof, that had been a tough one. The defector needed off Corulag fast, and Tural had barely enough time to finesse him a way offworld and to his accepting cell.

"You've earned a cocktail tonight, Nadea." She victory-danced to her liquor cabinet and took out the ingredients for her favorite celebratory drink. Defection complete, Corulag security in the bag, and she didn't even have to stay up late? This was a great day!

She dropped the last ice cube into her drink when her holocomm rang.

Maybe later. She put the drink aside with a sigh and examined the unit. She didn't recognize the ID, but that meant nothing when you were a handler. Tural engaged her security protocols and accepted the call.

The second she saw the person on the other end, she knew this was going to be a late night.

"Senator Tural?" asked the teenage Imperial officer twisting her cap in her hands like there was no tomorrow.

"Yes officer, how may I help you?"

"I understand you've worked with other officers in the past." The girl swallowed hard. "I commed to ask if you might do the same for me."

"I see." Tural gave her a once-over. Her new contact was shaking like a leaf and looked like she might pass out at any moment, but she couldn't let her guard down. Not until she knew this was really happening. "May I ask the nature of this request?"

"Some of my colleagues … died, and I'm at a loss. I believe I'm in danger myself and I need an outside influence to help me with my next course of action." The girl pulled her cap even closer to her chest and looked furtively around wherever she was. " I, um, I…"

Yep, this was happening. Tural fell back on her favorite method to get scared defectors to spit it out: "Officer, you seem very stressed. Do you need some time off?"

The girl's face did a dance – shock, relief that she'd found help, and then a shot of teary anxiety to top it all off. "Yes," she choked. "Yes, I do."

"Don't worry. I'm an expert at arranging extended leave. Is this line secured and are you in a safe place?" The girl nodded. "What's your name?"

"Swain."

"Hello, Swain." Senator Tural gave her the handler smile in an attempt to calm her nerves. "My name is Nadea. You can call me that or Senator Tural, whichever is more comfortable for you. Now, will you elaborate a bit more on how your coworkers died and why you need this time off?"

Swain's anxiety doubled down. "It was, uh, a workplace incident involving a lightsaber and an exploding shuttle."

Typical Empire; if they'd quit whacking their own people then Tural might not have a job. "I see. And you think you might be next?"

"My mentor is a prominent man and we're both worried someone might target me to get to him. Even if I'm not, I don't want to be somewhere employees drop like flies."

Tural was already analyzing the information and dishing up a safety plan. "Does your mentor have any resources or protections you can take advantage of in the short term? It's not a permanent solution, but it may help keep you safe."

Swain hedged when she mentioned the mentor and Tural threw up a mental red flag.

"He's prominent, but not powerful enough to hold back an attack from the upper ranks," she admitted. "His name is Agent Kallus, ISB-021."

Tural's life flashed before her eyes.

"Your mentor is an ISB agent?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Which makes you…?"

"An ISB trainee. Yes, ma'am."

Dank kriffing ferrik, little gods of the galaxy, why did she always get the hard ones?! Tural resisted the strong urge to scream. She needed information, Riyo, and a cigarette in that order.

"Okay." She let out a long breath. "We have some talking to do."

…

"What do you think? What should I do?"

Riyo hadn't even touched the interview notes. She was still staring at Swain's personnel holo.

"Well," she put the datapad down and rubbed her temples. "We've never had this type of defector before."

"I know, that's why I'm asking you for advice."

"No, Nadea, I mean that Defections has never had a defector from ISB. At least not one that's made contact with a handler. How did she say she found you?"

"She was looking for associates of her local cell. It was just my luck that the cell in question happened to be Captain Syndulla's crew." Tural facepalmed. It couldn't have been a pilot, or a stormtrooper, or even Swain's munitions officer boyfriend who tracked her from Lothal. She had to get the ISB agent.

"Then why are you here and not speaking with Captain Syndulla? If the local cell knows her, they could do the pickup and contain the situation."

Tural didn't move her hand. "The Ghost crew's not on the table. Apparently the crew's Lasat and Swain's father have a blood feud, and she thinks he'll snap her neck on sight."

"Wonderful." Riyo reached for her handy dandy bottle of headache medication. "And you're sure this is legitimate?"

"I threw everything I had at her, and there were no signs of deception. Do those meds work on amphibians?"

Riyo shook her head. Drat. "I know we normally work independently, but since this is uncharted territory I think you should notify Mollymauk. She is the expert at getting things where they need to be."

Tural had considered it already, but came to Riyo in a final attempt to not involve their boss. "What if she tells me to leave Swain and Cogon? I can't do that; they're just kids."

"I've worried about that before. One of the other handlers actually went around her because she thought Mollymauk would order her to leave someone behind. But if we go off script … well, that's when defectors die." She tapped Swain's and Cogon's holos. "If they're for real, they're going to need all the help they can get. I bet they'd rather have Mollymauk on their side."

Riyo was right. Brusque or not, Mollymauk had been in the business far longer than Tural, and it took skill to tap dance on the edge of the volcano and not fall in. Swain – Cogon too, but especially Swain – needed the very best working her case. And Mollymauk, gods help them, was the best.

"Alright, let's comm her." Tural prayed she could make it sound like less of a clusterkriff.

…

Tural couldn't see Mollymauk's face, but from the look on Riyo's it was obvious she hadn't succeeded.

"You were right to call me," Mollymauk said. "This is a dumpster fire."

"That's an insult to dumpsters and fires," Riyo quipped. "How do we even begin to handle this?"

"The first thing you're going to do is stay out of it in case it's a trap. Tural, you're the only person who speaks to these defectors. Am I clear?"

"As crystal, ma'am. But we are speaking to them?"

"I need to make a few more calls, but according to my preliminary intel there's no undercover operation in progress. I think this is a legitimate defection."

Oh, thank you universe, at least Mollymauk was sort of on board. "I'll continue the vetting process and start the defection plan."

"You'd better start racking up favors for accepting cells. Placing an ISB trainee is going to be almost impossible."

Tural cringed. She wasn't looking forward to that hellacious task. "I'm aware."

"Then get cracking. Keep me updated, and have your guard up at all times. I want to believe the kids too, but we can never be too careful."

"I will. Thank you ma'am, I'll get started right away." She closed out the transmission and sighed. "Seems like I have work to do."

Riyo gave her a sideways look. "I don't envy you the job."

"I'm not looking forward to it."

…

"Ibaar cell, this is Defections. I have two defectors who need placement and I think they can help you out."

"An ISB agent? Are you insane?"

…

"Klonoid cell, I heard you were short on bodies. Care to remedy that?"

"Nice try Defections, but word travels fast. Call us back when you have a real defector."

…

"Massassi group, I've always appreciated your open door policy. I'd like to tell you about two exceptional young defectors."

The officer who answered her call, a man with a thick Festian accent, laughed in her face.

…

"Handler, this is the Underground Hyperlane. I heard you were attempting to place an ISB defector?"

"Yes!" Tural pulled herself out of her head-desk and gave her full attention to the comlink. If this went well, the Underground Hyperlane might usurp the Ghost crew as her new favorite cell. "Yes, I am. Are you accepting?"

The woman on the comm spoke quietly and her accent was obviously Twi'lek. Not surprising for a cell that rescued slaves. "Not openly. I know it's a long shot, but if your defector is Meredith Herman, then consider her placed."

If asked later, Tural wouldn't admit that she did a quick records search to see if she could pass Swain off as Meredith Herman. "Thank you for the offer, but I won't be able to fulfill it."

"That's unfortunate," the woman said and Tural had to agree. "If you hear from her … tell her Eleni hasn't forgotten, and that she has a place with us always."

"I will." Not likely. If she ever saw the end of this defection, Tural wasn't going near the ISB ever again.

Talking to Swain softened her a bit, mainly because it had to. The poor kid had bitten her nails to the quick and altogether looked like she'd crawled out of the ninth Corellian hell.

"There's nowhere for us to go?" She asked.

"I'm still looking for an accepting cell." Swain didn't need to know how many cells she'd tried. "Is your situation stable? Are you still safe?"

What she was going to do if the situation became unsafe, she didn't know. Pull a Riyo and hollow out her floor? She didn't even want to think about it.

"We're okay for now," Swain reported. "Governor Tarkin hasn't come back, and I don't think Kallus suspects anything."

"Good. I know it's difficult, but stick to your routine. We can't risk your safety before we have a plan in place."

"How long do you think that will take? I'm not sure how much longer we can hold on."

"I'm still calling cells but we'll find one shortly; I can feel it. But if you would allow me to bring in Captain Syndulla –."

"No." Swain shook her head. "They'll kill me."

"Swain, Captain Syndulla will keep anything I tell her in the strictest confidence. Orrelios doesn't even need to know."

"He'll know the second I show my face and then … I deserve it, I know, but Cogon doesn't. He shouldn't have to go like that."

"You do not deserve it. Don't even say that to yourself." If she lost faith in herself, if she panicked, then the defection would collapse from the inside out and Tural wouldn't be able to dig her out of the rubble. "I hear you. I won't contact the captain."

"Thank you, Senator. For everything."

"Have faith, my friend. We're going to do this."

Swain smiled shakily. "See you later."

They were running out of time. If they didn't move quickly then Swain was going to snap, and she'd take Cogon down with her. Tural had sworn her life to those kids. She wasn't going to let them die because the rebellion was afraid of them.

And so she busted out the big guns: Mollymauk. Tural punched in the frequency with one-finger jabs.

The faceless figure she'd come to associate with Mollymauk appeared after the usual pause. "Any luck with the defection?"

Tural put on her Senate face, the one that said kriff with me and I'll cut you. "I need a cell and I need it now."

"Have you tried everyone? What about Taanab?"

"They denied me."

"Massassi?"

"Laughed in my face."

"Don't suppose you can pull strings with the Thradian underground."

"Not without outing myself as a handler."

"Maybe we need to think a little further outside the box. What about the Coruscant resistance? They're pretty flexible."

"I tried already. They cited a massive conflict of interest, though they didn't tell me what it was."

"Conflict of interest is usually family…" Mollymauk mused.

"Of which Swain has none besides her training officer, and Cogon's hasn't left their family farm. They're probably balking at her career like everyone else." She grimaced. "The defection isn't unstable yet, but it's about to be."

"Well, why don't you run the profile by me? I might be able to find someone."

That was the hope. Tural spouted Swain and Cogon's attributes, making sure to focus more on the "budding rebels" aspects and less on the "massive security risk" aspects. "We don't need to consider the local language either. Cogon's a quick study and Swain already speaks four languages."

"Which ones?"

"Basic of course, and then Huttese, Ryl, and Onderonian."

"Onderonian?"

"I know, that's an unusual course of study. She said it was a pet project."

"Anything unusual can give a defector an advantage, and this is an impressive file. Most impressive." Mollymauk swallowed hard. "Tell them they have a place in the Klonoid cell."

"Klonoid already turned me down. Their exact words were 'call us when you have a real defector.'"

"Fortunately for us, I pay Klonoid's bills. If I say they're taking the defectors, then they're taking them."

Alarm bells rang in Tural's head. She knew that credits made the galaxy go 'round, but the cardinal rule of placement was that you couldn't force it. Mollymauk was up to something, and she didn't want to know what. Additionally, she didn't care.

"I'll let them know," she said. "Thank you, Mollymauk. You've saved their lives."

"We haven't done it yet. Keep me updated."

"You don't need to tell me twice. I'm putting the plan in motion as we speak." The Senate face was gone. Tural was full-on grinning as she closed out the comm.

…

The next few days were long, but the comm at the end made them worth it.

"Swain, Cogon." Both of the defectors were on the call today, and Tural was glad. "How are you doing?"

"Okay," Swain, ever the spokesperson, replied. "Do you have any updates?"

"Actually, I do." She beamed. "We have a cell that would love for you to join their ranks."

"Seriously?" Cogon sputtered and Swain clapped her hands to her mouth.

"I'm very serious. It's been a long time coming, but we're here. Swain, are you crying?"

"I can't believe it's actually happening." She blinked away her tears. "What do we do?"

"In four weeks, one of the complex's shuttles is scheduled for maintenance. You two are going to steal it, knock out the tracking beacon, and set a course for Thrad. From there you'll meet with an operative and be transported to your accepting cell." She waited for the couple to nod before continuing. "Until then, you two need to maintain your normal schedules. I cannot begin to tell you how important it is that you don't change anything."

This part was always a dance, getting the defectors to heed her warning without scaring them into a panic. "Most defection failures occur in the time between placement and departure, because you let your guard down and get sloppy. You cannot. Stick to your routine. Don't shirk your work, don't spend recklessly, don't reach out to old friends or family. And whatever you do, don't pack in advance. In fact don't pack at all. There are no loose ends which need to be tied up, do you understand me?"

"Yes, senator."

"Swain, that means you can't say goodbye to Agent Kallus."

"I know." Swain took Cogon's hand for comfort and he gave hers a gentle squeeze. "We'll do it."

"See that you do."

…

Dalla enjoyed the time Lux was on Onderon, she wouldn't lie about that. It was nice to speak frankly to someone who wasn't Bernard or Sloan, and Lux Bonteri was perhaps the one person in the universe who could throw her for a loop. Unfortunately, he also couldn't help but throw her for a loop.

"Time for a chat?" He swept into her office without preamble and almost gave Dalla a heart attack.

"Lux!" Dalla dropped her stylus and the ink struck a line through her whole ledger. "I thought you were in the Outer Rim."

"I'm a fugitive; I keep moving." He pulled out a chair and sat down. "So, the handler gossip says that the ISB defector and the munitions officer were finally placed."

"Handlers gossip?"

"It's a high stress job that requires total secrecy. Of course we gossip." Lux fished through her candy dish, picking out all the nut butter cups. "Trust me, the second that defector hit the pool, we all knew about it. You were the one who finally secured the placement, right?"

"Ugh, yes. I had to resort to blackmail, but I got it done."

"Oh cut the crap, Dalla. I know you're taking them."

"I wish I was. Then Klonoid wouldn't be trying to shake me down since they 'took this massive risk.' As if I don't already pay their bills."

Lux looked unimpressed. "You might have gotten away with it if you picked a different cell. As soon as I heard that an ISB trainee was supposedly heading to Klonoid, all I could think was what little sense it made. A rural cell would be fine for the munitions officer, but an ISB trainee would be wasted out there and we can't afford to waste an opportunity like that.

"I would have chalked it up to a desperate or inexperienced handler, but you did it. We both know you've made some bad decisions, but never bad business decisions. You wouldn't do that, so why did you lie to the handler? The only reason I can fathom is to protect the defectors."

"Fine," Dalla relented. "The accepting cell is classified. Happy now?"

"Maybe if I hadn't read the defection notes." With a few quick strokes, the entire dossier was up on Lux's datapad.

She grabbed it. "How did you get this?"

"Handler grapevine." He snatched the 'pad back and scrolled to the section he wanted. "Our ISB trainee is fluent in Onderonian."

He saw it. He was the only person who might have noticed, but she didn't think he would ever get his hands on the notes.

"All your network documentation is in Onderonian."

Dalla sighed and pushed her work away.

"Ellie died ten years ago and we still haven't been able to fill her position, and then this defector comes by and couldn't be more perfect if she applied for it."

"So you accepted her."

"Nobody else was. Lux, I need this defection to succeed. If we don't get help …" She didn't need to finish. She did her best, but she couldn't run Defections, the Mollymauk network, and be her own intelligence agent. Work was piling up, clients were getting angry, and it was only a matter of time before it all collapsed.

"That's why I came. I figured you could use another set of hands, and the kids could use a handler who knows the whole story."

"You're offering your services?"

"Someone's got to." He cracked his knuckles. "Let's get these kids out of there."