"We just spent six hours trapped in a crawlspace, Seia," Lorash said as they stepped out into the open cargo bay, sucking in a full breath of air. "I think we can afford a little breeze."

Eso rubbed the back of his neck apologetically. "Sorry about that. The, uh, negotiations took longer than I anticipated."

Seia crossed her arms, leaning against a crate. "Do not indulge her whining. I spent a considerably longer time in confined spaces without complaining."

"You were in stasis," Lorash muttered. "You couldn't even feel the bits of you falling asleep."

Yyrfhojarrr chuckled as only a wookie could, or at least Lorash assumed that was what the short series of growls meant. She hadn't spent too much time with their reclusive mechanic, given Yyrfh always seemed busy with something or another, but they did eat together and Eso's running translation was always entertaining. The mechanic had known their pilot since he was a young boy, racing speeders around the worst parts of Nar Shaddaa. Eso swore up and down that Yyrfh was a good soul, if a bit mercenary.

Seia's eyes narrowed, but her attention was more focused over Lorash's shoulder than at the padawan herself. "Bothan on the approach," the sith said, shifting her weight slightly so her weight was spread evenly. As relaxed as she looked, she could go in virtually any direction with an equal amount of ease.

"Bothan?" Lorash said, perking up. She turned and grinned at the sight of a very familiar face. "Merga!" Her smile faltered slightly when she saw how worried he was. "What's wrong?"

The furry humanoid glanced over his shoulder before stepping through the open cargo bay door, looking all around as surreptitiously as he could. He kept his tone as hushed as he could, but volume built naturally as he vented his thoughts. "I've been worried out of my fur about you, Lorash! People have been looking for you!"

"Probably, uh, better to have this reunion with the door closed," Eso said mildly, holding up his hands defensively when Merga glared at him. "We haven't hurt her this far and if people have been looking…"

"Fine!" Merga snapped. His eyes swept across the rest of them. "Though most smugglers don't take on strays for free."

Eso hit the button to close the cargo bay doors. "Lorash is, uh, crew, not cargo. Besides, she paid me for passage initially, so everything's square."

"Merga's not normally this grouchy," Lorash said as she headed up towards the kitchen, the bothan following quickly on her heels.

Yyrfh shrugged and followed the pair without comment. Behind them, Eso sighed and rubbed the back of his neck again. "This seems like trouble."

Lorash didn't hear what Seia's reply was, if the sith had one, but she knew the dark presence would be following in a moment as well. "Merga, I'm fine. I know people are looking for me, but I'm safe enough here."

"I disagree! Emphatically!" Merga pulled in a deep breath and crossed his arms. "Your master sent me here to find you and bring you back to him. I'm glad you made it off that world, really glad, but trusting some scruffy nerf-herders is how nice girls like you get themselves killed or worse."

The jedi padawan frowned. "Trust me, Merga, I know who they are."

"I've been around the galaxy a long time, kid. Seen a lot of things go sideways. This is going to be one of those things," Merga said. The bothan sighed, tugging at the fur on his chin. "We need to get you back into hiding, and I don't know how to square that circle. There's a lot of money looking for you right now."

Lorash looked over when Eso entered, Seia on his heels. "Where is Master Vori?" she asked. "How did he know where to find me?"

"He's hidden," Merga said, glaring back at the rest of the crew. "Something you did made a...ripple, something big enough to find."

"The creature is likely referring to when you healed me," Seia said, a veil of indifference failing to hide her scorn. "If someone knew you and was powerful enough to look, they likely could have noticed you reaching out into the Force." Something about Merga's dislike was apparently mutual, though that didn't surprise Lorash. The sith could be condescending on her best behavior and now that they were back aboard the ship, best behavior wasn't required.

Merga's hackles rose. "And what do you know about the Force, princess?"

Lorash stepped between them before Seia's temper could flare at that nickname. "Seia, Merga is a friend. He's being rude, but he's a friend."

"Your friend," Seia said flatly. Her beskar gaze was still fixed on Merga's, with enough intensity that even in full protective mode, the bothan had to look away. "Not mine."

Merga scowled. "You need to come with me, Lorash. This isn't safe. They aren't safe."

"They aren't going to hurt me, Merga."

A whistle of alarm from the vicinity of the pilot's chair sent Eso sprinting for the bridge. "Bounty hunters on the approach, or at least that's what it looks like!" he called over his shoulder. "I don't know who they're here for, us or the bothan, but there's about eight of them."

"Probably us, then," Lorash said. She frowned. "How did they know we were here?"

Seia scowled as she brushed past Merga to join Eso so she could look at the monitors and see their pursuit. "They may just be after whoever made that arms sale."

Merga rounded on Lorash. "Arms dealers?" He looked about ready to smack her. "Your master would be ashamed of you, Lorash."

"We were helping rebels, Merga."

"Lorash, as riveting as your little domestic spat with the bothan is, it can wait." Seia's voice dripped with condescension. "Either he can quietly wait in some far-flung part of the cargo bay until the fight is over or make himself useful. I don't care which, but if I hear so much as a peep of shrillness, I will crush him into furry paste." The sith approached, grabbing Lorash's staff from beside the weapons locker and tossing it to the padawan. She passed Yyrfhojarrr a heavy repeating blaster rifle from the inside of the locker. The wookie seemed to prefer keeping his weapon there when it wasn't under repair.

As much as Lorash wanted to pretend she was confident that Seia wouldn't carry through on that threat, she could imagine the sith acting out of anger very, very easily. It was clear that Merga hadn't endeared himself and the arrival of bounty hunters had clearly soured their quiet afternoon. "Where do you want me?" she asked before Merga could react.

Seia spoke calmly, a certain relish developing in her tone the more she thought about the coming carnage. "Eso will guard the bridge. I need you to make certain no enterprising bounty hunter decides to run down the hall and throw a bomb into the engines. Yyrfhojarrr and I will deal with them in the cargo bay. I suggest you take your little friend with you."

Merga drew his blaster pistol and grabbed Lorash by the arm so she couldn't escape him. Probably to his surprise, the jedi padawan obeyed Seia's command. She had no desire to catch the wrong end of the sith's temper by participating and that was guaranteed if Lorash went into battle without armor on. Unfortunately, they didn't have time for her to hurry through getting it.

Seia wasn't wearing any either, just because of the confines of the spaces they'd been relegated to during the negotiations on the ship over the weapons. It left a tight knot of worry in Lorash's stomach, but she had faith in Seia's ability, particularly with Yyrfhojarrr backing her up.

"Who the hell is she?" Merga demanded once he and Lorash had retreated down the hall, sealing all side doors except the last so they could take cover, ironically in Seia's room.

"That's Seia, in one of her moods," Lorash explained. She was grateful that the sith's room was barren, because a neon flashing sign that the owner was a dark side Force user probably would not have helped her argument for safety. "I know you're probably not a fan, Merga, but trust me on this: just get out of her way until the fight is over."

The hiss of the airlock doors opening was followed by an eerie silence through the cargo bay. Lorash was certain there would be any number of places for Seia to hide while Yyrfhojarrr was overwatch on the balcony walkway. They'd stacked the empty shipping containers all over the place to create uneven terrain for training, complete with dozens of hiding spaces.

It was strange, but the easiest way Lorash could conceive of the fundamentals of misdirection was hide-and-seek, just like she'd played with the twins for years. This time, of course, the difficulty had been staying hidden from Seia's roaming sense. They were only a few days into the practice, but it seemed to be working.

The first scream was horrible, accompanied by a symphony of sickening cracks. Lorash closed her eyes and thanked her lucky stars that she wasn't reaching out with sense. She didn't know if the scream was from the victim or the witness, but it was the sound that could only be inspired by Seia's torturous crushing bind.

The sound of a discharging blaster echoed through the hold, nowhere near as loud as Yyrfhojarrr's monster of a rifle. Someone had likely taken a shot at Seia and, to their misfortune, missed. There was another crunch.

Before Merga could demand to know what was going on out there, Yyrfhojarrr's rifle roared to life, spraying the door to the airlock with fire in a series of three-blast bursts. The wookie was very methodical, always aware of where his shots would land. Lorash heard a stray few returning salvos, but Seia hunted them out when they tried to hide behind cover and snuffed them out like candle flames.

It seemed like only the blink of an eye before the ship's engines, which had been quietly coming online, roared to full life.

"Sorry, Mr. Merga," Eso said over the internal comm. "We, uh, need to lift. We can buy you a ticket back to Alderaan."

Merga bit back his growl of annoyance. Now he would be forced to endure the crew. "Fine by me! Someone has to keep her safe." He looked over at Lorash. "Vori's on Esseles and worried sick about you. We need to get to him."

"I'll talk to Seia about it. We agreed to handle her business on Naboo before anything else." Granted, she'd capitulated to Seia in at least part because she hadn't had a clue where Vori had gone.

Some tiny part of Lorash hoped that her master would see what she saw in Seia, the potential for the light. Things were going to be much more strained with Merga on board, particularly if her mentor's friend figured out exactly what Seia was.

Lorash and Merga emerged to see Yyrfh already searching the bodies down in the cargo bay while Seia hunted for a bucket and brush to get the blood up. It surprised Lorash sometimes how willing the sith was to clean, but Seia always said that she found her meditations—seething, really—easier in motion.

Merga tugged on that tuft of fur at his chin thoughtfully before approaching Seia. "I apologize that we got off on the wrong foot, smuggler."

Seia didn't halt or even glance over at the bothan. "Your insincerity does you no credit."

Lorash almost groaned when she saw Merga bristle again. "Can't we all just get along?"

"I am not here to be anyone's friend, least of all friend of anyone who keeps Eso and Yyrfhojarrr in such low regard. He may despise me all he wishes."

"Seia," Lorash said meaningfully. "It wouldn't kill you to play nice."

The sith's lip curled. "I have better uses for my time than wasting it so. As do you. This complicates everything."

Seia wasn't wrong. Lorash knew their training would have to change, becoming at least less obvious. If she was being honest with herself, the jedi padawan found the notion distinctly disappointing. She'd grown to appreciate Seia's harsh discipline and the rare flickers of playfulness to their sparring. It felt often when they trained together that the outside world ceased to exist.

Lorash sighed. "My master is on Esseles. I want to see him."

Seia's beskar gaze dared Lorash to challenge her. "My business on Naboo is non-negotiable. What was taken from that shrine must be returned. Besides, you are not prepared for what could happen if the Inquisitor or his apprentices find you."

She wanted to see Vori and the twins again, but Lorash found herself reluctant to push against Seia's quest. She didn't know the significance of returning the holocron. "It can't wait?"

"It has already waited an intolerable amount of time."

Merga seemed ready to cut in, but Eso appeared and threw a friendly arm around the bothan's shoulders. "I think the, uh, ladies can take it from here, Mr. Merga. They'll let us know what they decide." Eso threw Seia and Lorash a wink before dragging off the bothan despite Merga's protests.

Seia looked back at Lorash, weighing her words carefully. The sith seemed to soften ever so slightly. "If you absolutely must speak with your master—"

Lorash shook her head. "This is important to you, Seia. I have no problem doing it. Besides, until we deal with Inquisitor Zul's apprentices, we'd just probably lead trouble right to him."

The sith nodded, a hint of relief in her visage for a split second, so swiftly there and gone that Lorash might have imagined it. "Very well. Naboo will be our next stop."