Dependable Barriss

It was curious how a thing so small and insignificant could invoke such an inherent fear in her when it did not seem to touch the girl of fourteen at all.

The eight-legged insect had a venomous appearance and with its eight blood-red eyes staring at everything and nothing, it made Barriss’ back tense to watch Yena playing with the black insect in her hands. It was ascending her bare, yellow arm slowly until it reached the elbow at which point she turned her arm upside down, allowing it to make the climb all over again. There was something oddly innocent about her, just sitting there on her seat in the back of the shuttle. She could have been on her way to something as simple as the library for all the anxiety she showed and Barriss found herself mesmerized by the sight. It was difficult to believe that this was the same girl who had been terrorizing her fellow cadets by beating them and downright torturing some of them before Barriss had found her.

She has control, Barriss determined. It wasn’t hard to make that conclusion but it was surprising to see a girl that young grasp the force in such a way already. She couldn’t hide how impressed she was but before her lips could curl into a smile, Yena’s façade broke. The touch-down was less than gentle and it seemed to shake the girl back into reality. She shot Barriss a worried glance before hesitantly putting down the insect and getting to her feet. The ramp descended with a creaky sound and immediately, the brutal atmosphere of the world outside hit them.  A gale wind was blowing and even from inside the shuttle, Barriss felt the unbearable heat. Outside, the scent of fire and the dark side filled her lungs and she had to concentrate in order not to fall to its affections immediately.

Yena was squinting at the volcanic hills surrounding the landing platform. They stood in the middle of it and she said something but the sound of churning lava drowned out her words. Barriss placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder and found two lime-green eyes filled with uncertainty. She knew the words she wished to impart on her wouldn’t quell that uncertainty, but she had to say them anyway.

“Past is past,” she said, hoping Yena understood. “Now…  You must do everything they tell you. You must endure… You must be patient.”

Yena seemed to turn the words in her head, but eventually she nodded her understanding. Realizing that talking to a trainee would be seen as odd, Barriss placed a hand on Yena’s other shoulder and then turned her around to send her off like a mother sending her child off to her first day of school. She watched the trainee all the way to the end of the landing platform where the instructors, all uniformed Inquisitors, took her.

She’s strong and she’s smart. She’ll make it.

Sucking in a breath that nearly made her cough she turned around on her heel and froze.

It’s gone?

Her hand automatically came to rest at the hilt of her lightsaber just in case this was a ploy but she was all alone in the middle of the platform. Perhaps the shuttle pilot had misunderstood her orders?

Unbelievable, she thought and felt irritated already by the amount of extra time she had to spend on the planet. She didn’t want to stay on it for a second more than she had to so she turned around again to head for the only building nearby. The instructors had moved inside and she followed through the only door there was.  It was heavy and shut immediately behind her with a resounding clang that told her the corridor was long even before the lights came on. The scarlet lights shining down from above stretched on as far as she could see but there was something wrong. There was no one else there and there were no doors at all.

Where did they go?

She took a few steps forwards but halted when she spotted movement in the distance. Narrowing her eyes, she couldn’t make out who it was. The person didn’t wear black nor any uniform she recalled and was moving at an incredible pace towards her. She took a tighter hold of the lightsaber but she didn’t know what to expect.

Not until she noticed blue and white stripes.

She turned and tried the exit but the door wouldn’t budge. Her fingers fumbled, but she activated the lightsaber and plunged the plasma sword into the durasteel. It took four seconds to carve her way through it but it felt like twenty. On the other side was another narrow corridor but before she took a look around she made sure the heavy metal slab she had cut from the door was back in place – just in time to hear someone or something collide with it on the other side.

The sound of claws scraping against the other side of the door made her breath shallow.

I have to get out of here.

She moved on in a sprint towards the end of the corridor though she didn’t know where she was or where she was headed.  The heat was insufferable even inside the building but the sweat on her back was cold. Her footsteps echoed against the walls and she couldn’t hear anything following her yet that didn’t make her want to slow down. She ran for what seemed like minutes before catching a glimpse of a door in the distance. Half expecting that she was going to hear the whispers of her old friend or that her legs would give in, she was surprised to reach all the way to the end unscathed – or at least that’s what she thought.

She read the number ‘706-1013’ off the plaque on the door and felt the unease sweep through her like a chill wind.

This can’t be.

The door slid open but there was nothing but darkness in the room beyond. Her heart beat faster with every breath as she looked away, pooling her willpower to combat the urge to scream.

I won’t do it.

She clutched the doorframe with her fingers and forced herself to close her eyes, to forget who that number belonged to and to remember that she wasn’t Barriss.

Barriss is dead.

Memories and voices wanting to be heard came from the abyss but she ignored them. It felt like a hand had her heart in an iron grip but she refused to acknowledge the words Barriss was slipping into her ears. It was the same warnings she had shouted on the mining moon but she wasn’t going to accept them. She was weak and frail. She was a traitor and a murderer and there was nothing Barriss could say that would warrant her attention.

When the whispers died down she opened her eyes again.

“Baaaar-riiiiss.”

The corridor was gone and so was the heat. There was a taste of ash in her mouth and she couldn’t see where the voice was coming from.

“Why are you scared?”

Her lungs burned and she realized she was running and that she had to keep running.

“I’m going to catch yooou!”

The surface was rocky with endless stalagmites poking up like trees in a forest. Everything was covered in what resembled volcanic ash and the atmosphere had a scent of sulfur to it. The gravity was twice as strong as anything she had tried before and it felt like a challenge every time she took a step, but she wouldn’t allow herself to even contemplate a pause.

I’m sorry, she told no one as she leaped across what looked like a dried-out river and landed in a crouch on the other side. The feat sapped her energy massively and she had to summon her reserves to set off into a sprint again, darting through a craggy ravine until she met the somber stalagmites again. She felt the creature behind her like death itself and she tried to convince herself she could get away even though she knew how it always ended.

An animalistic howl tore through the world and Barriss fought back the urge to lie down and panic. She didn’t question the sudden appearance of a staircase before her; she simply started climbing for her life. Behind her, she heard the creepy sound of the monster’s footsteps.

I’m so sorry, Ahsoka.

Underneath her, crimson lights sprouted from the steps along the entire length of the staircase. She saw geometric shapes, solid lines and runes light up red and she realized she was climbing an onyx pyramid. There was no time to ponder it, however. She knew she had to reach the top but she didn’t know why.

“Why are you running, Barriss?”

It sounded like the creature was right behind her, but she dared not throw a glance over her shoulder. Her legs were heavy and every muscle in them screamed for her to halt, but she refused. The top of the pyramid was in sight and she threw the last of her power into pushing herself onwards until she collapsed unto a brightly illuminated plateau. She had exhausted all of her strength but it had paid off. She couldn’t hear the monster behind her any longer but instead, she heard someone else.

“Master... Please-…”

The eerily familiar voice was broken by a terrible cough and without a care for how pathetic she looked, Barriss crawled on all fours towards the source of the voice.

“… Help me… I’- I’m… Dying.”

She was lying on her back with one hand on her stomach and the other reaching towards Barriss. The uniform was a copy of what Barriss wore and as she took the trembling hands of her Apprentice, she tried to hide the grief she felt by seeing the massive gash in her stomach.

“I’m here,” she comforted Yena and clutched her hand while she went through another fit of coughing. Her eyes were filled with fear and the color of her cheeks faded. There wasn’t much time left.

“What happened? Who did this to you?”

“T-The sith,” she replied mysteriously in a voice shaking with agony. “You told me to be patient. You told me-… You told me t-.. su-survive.”

“Yena…” she whispered and put a hand to her cheek. The gesture made the young mirialan Inquisitor breathe out shakily and Barriss could feel the deathly throes culminating.

“W-were you ever proud of me?”

Barriss stared into Yena’s eyes and wanted to give her consolidation. She wanted burningly to say yes, but her lips wouldn’t move.

“Thought you could get away?”

Yena saw it too and as her eyes widened, Barriss turned to face death itself.

The monster approached one step at the time. It knew it had already won and so did Barriss, but she still stood up. Her body functioned mostly on the adrenaline still in her blood and the rest was willpower alone. The creature before her looked at her with hungry, hellish eyes but where Barriss felt a crippling fear, Yena, apparently, did not.

“Master…” she breathed out weakly. Something touched Barriss left hand and she opened her hand to receive Yena’s double-bladed ligthsaber. She hadn’t even noticed she had it, but with it in her hands, she felt her fear dwindle and be replaced by a ponderous wonder. Was there a way to fight back?

“Barriss?” the monster said in a voice filled with hurt. Barriss activated the lightsabers and in the blue light from the blades, the monster looked just as gluttonous and malevolent as always.

“Had a change of heart?”

Have I?

Or is this just another one of your tricks, Barriss?

It couldn’t be. Yena was there, her limbs worked and she was armed. How could it be a trick? The monster announced its intentions with a deafening howl, but Barriss held her ground. It was the first time she noticed that the creature had no semblance of tactics. It came straight for her like a mindless predator and when she thrust for the heart, she found herself baffled that it actually worked.

She remained in awe as the beast fell forwards and dissipated into her.

“Barriss?... Is that true?”

It felt like she had taken a breath of toxic fumes and the last of her strength left her. Jolts of pain went through her legs as her knees met the ground. The lightsaber landed not a second later with a heavy clang before deactivating and then she understood where the voice was coming from.

“I did it…”

The air grew thinner by the second and desperation made her dig her nails into her head like she could tear out the traitor. The single voice was joined by hundreds more until she was caught in a tornado of voices all demanding her attention. She couldn’t tell what was real and what was not but the images flying past her mental eye didn’t belong to her memory, she was sure of that. She had to act to stop Barriss but trying to think in the cacophony of noise made her headache worse. Attempting to do something, her limbs started moving on their own. She crawled towards Yena’s body without thinking, focusing only on not slipping into madness. Yena’s expression went frantic and her lips moved but Barriss heard only the voices inside her of her head.

“You have taught me well…”

“Master Luminara.”

The weather was freezing but there was no wind inside the cave on Ilum. Barriss’ voice echoed off the walls and had she closed her eyes she was certain she would have experienced it all over, but that wasn’t going to happen. It wasn’t her.

“It pays for one to be prepared, right Barriss?”

Rough Geonosian sand was back in her face and she had to close her eyes. She saw her Master’s expectant gaze and she remembered the moment well enough that it was sheer will alone that she managed to stop herself from speaking her reply.

Barriss’ reply.

Before Ahsoka’s curious voice could come back up in her mind, she forced her eyes open again and saw Yena reaching out for her. Even with her deathly wounds, she was more concerned about Barriss than her own life and that brought a pause to Barriss’ struggle. She exploited the moment to pull Yena as close as she could, resting her head against her chest. There was barely any strength left in her to keep Yena in her embrace but with her, the noise started to wear off and she was able to hear again.

“Please,” Yena pleaded lowly. “Please-… Tell … Me…”

Like some cruel form of torture, she was still bereft her voice and listening to Yena’s distorted pleas was all she was allowed. It was worse than anything the monster could have done to her and suddenly a deep regret filled her soul. Yena was utterly dedicated and it struck her that she didn’t fully understand why. She hadn’t spent time with her, she didn’t know her and she had never spent more than a moment being worried about her, yet she was dedicated to the point where she would give her life in exchange for hers. She didn’t deserve to die horribly like this and as Yena’s pleas died down and her breath grew ever more strangled, Barriss prepared herself for the inevitable.

The imprint death gave in the force was something that had left her in awe the first time she experienced it. To sense a living being transform into the force was a macabre thing and though it was not something she feared, it was something that had always unsettled her.  That was until Barriss had died. Until the darkness had manifested within her and shown her what death truly was: a thrill for the powerful. The weak feared it and she wasn’t weak.

So why was she afraid now?

Why did her hands shake?

Why did it feel like someone had sliced her heart in two?

There were no answers to her questions and when Yena ceased breathing, the pain finally came.

“You must have been fourteen or fifteen when the Empire took over.”

The words went straight through her. She had expected things to get personal at some point, but not that suddenly. Her fingers were already trembling from the hallowed breathing she heard from behind her and this wasn’t helping. It required precise effort and concentration to patch up the montrals without causing a lot of pain.

“You were old enough to be a padawan,” ‘Fulcrum’ explained. “Who was your Master?”

Her hands froze. The question bit her like a bug in the neck and warmth surged across her cheeks. She could feel ice blue eyes analyzing her face and she felt compelled to come up with an answer, but she had none. She had not had a Master or the rank of padawan even though she was old enough at the time and she didn’t know why. She had her premonitions, of course, but she didn’t want to dig that up again. It was in the past.

“It’s only going to get easier if you talk to me,” she said and Yena had to steel herself not to take a wrong step. Through their short time together, the togruta had done nothing more hostile than demanding she hand over her lightsaber – or rather, she had asked for it and Yena had complied. A smart rebel would have locked her up or incapacitated her in some way, but not this one. Not Fulcrum. Her presence shone strong with the rays of empathy and she had allowed Yena to roam free so that she could tend to her Master. She wondered where all that trust came from but she hadn’t asked because it wasn’t necessary. As soon as her Master was on her feet again then she would know what to do. Whether it was going to be bloody, Yena really didn’t care. She’d risk anything for her Master. She was risking everything for her.

“Hey?”

It was just a light touch to her elbow but it sent a shock through her. She looked over her shoulder at the bed in which her Master was placed. The room was large enough that here could have been five more patients with beds and equipment but it was just them. Everything else was wrecked to say the least and whoever had occupied the space station before they got there had left in a hurry. All the overhead lights were out, but the light from the broad viewport behind her laid everything in the room in a blood-red shade. She didn’t know why she bothered to take a look; she felt her Master as clearly as she felt the togruta sitting beside her and there was still nothing she could do.

“She’s going to be fine,” Fulcrum said. Her eyes reflected the murderous color and the stripes of her montrals appeared darker. Had this been her usual look, she would have been terrifying.

“I know,” Yena said meekly and continued her work. She hadn’t gotten any better at hiding her distress and Fulcrum hadn’t gotten any better at hiding the pity she felt for it. At least that’s what she revealed in the force. Her presence was compassion unlike anything Yena had ever sensed before and it was difficult not to embrace it. It felt like the togruta really cared, however impossible that was. The only reason she noticed was because she had always wanted to talk to someone, preferably her Master. It was a weakness she had successfully repressed and she had to keep doing that. There was power in bottling up all the raw emotions associated with all the wrongs that had been done to her instead of letting them out. She had been taught to stir the concoction and use the uncontrollable anger she felt from it to her advantage and she couldn’t lose that. Not until her Master had taught her how to do without it.

“She’s been through worse than this,” Fulcrum said. Yena was cutting a piece of bacta-patch down to size and didn’t look up nor did she reply. It didn’t seem like Fulcrum was expecting a reply either.

“Of the two of us, Barriss was always the strongest.”

The name again, she contemplated, unable to decide if it was a good thing that the togruta used it or not. Her Master had never told her who she really was. She seemed content to be using her given rank.

“But even with her strength, she was always the patient one. She knew control much sooner than me or anyone else I knew… “

Fulcrum’s voice grew somber as if there was something painful in the words.

“She put a lot of emphasis on control.”

Yena got the down-sized bacta-patch in place and immediately reached for the next, but her wrist was grabbed. The hold was nowhere near strong enough to hold her, but she still made the mistake of looking the togruta in the eye.

“She’s in pain,” she said, her ice-blue eyes portraying just how affected she was by the situation. There was no way she was lying and Yena couldn’t bring herself to pull herself free even though she could.

“I just want to help her. I don’t know who you are but I know you want to help her too.”

Yena nodded faintly, aware that she was holding her breath.

“Please, tell me what you know.”

The breakdowns, she reminded herself. She had spent very little time with her Master but she knew from the imprint in the force that the Second Sister kept herself reigned down tightly. The impulses every Inquisitor had been taught to let themselves be ruled by were constrained and Yena had never seen an Inquisitor who did that – other than herself of course. She had a purpose greater than letting herself be consumed by a lust for power and her Master did too. Her breakdowns were strange upsets to that idea; what could be so traumatizing that it made her lose control? And why was she not using every tool in her vast arsenal to capture the togruta?

Fulcrum let go eventually and Yena breathed out. She didn’t have to say a word. She didn’t have to make anymore decisions until her Master was back on her feet.

“T-The bandages should l-last until the cuts are healed,” Yena stuttered as the last was in place. She stood back to observe her work and counted no less than twelve spots she had bandaged.

 “Thanks,” Fulcrum said offering yet another mysterious smile as if she hadn’t just been denied assistance.

“Don’t thank me,” she replied stiffly and started packing away the contents of the med pack. “We’re still enemies.”

“Are we?” she questioned back. It was annoying to have to deal with her perceptiveness and Yena knew what she referred to. What she had done made her a traitor to the Empire and she hadn’t tried to hide that her Master came before the Empire, but for all intents and purposes they were still on opposite sides of the conflict. Her duty was to kill or capture Fulcrum and she was certain Fulcrum had similar orders from her superiors.

“Even if you’re not a jedi, you’re still part of the rebellion. That makes us enemies.”

Yena tried to sound resolute, but Fulcrum saw straight through it.

“So why did you help me? I didn’t ask for it.”

“I’m with her,” she said with the same unconvincing tone. She shut the med pack and clicked its lock in place before turning her eyes on Fulcrum. “She’ll decide if we’re enemies.”

Her smile deteriorated slowly while her eyes found their patient. There was no denying that they both cared for the Second Sister, but whether she felt the same about Fulcrum was a good question. If she didn’t, the togruta was headed into a fight she couldn’t win.

My Master will destroy her, she knew. Her strength had been sapped by the wound and her powers would suffer for it, but the connection to her ‘friend’ gave her an edge. For all the compassion and strength the togruta exhibited, she was bound by mercy. It was a situation ripe for exploitation and her Master would see it immediately. Surely.

She will know what to do, she reassured herself as she approached her Master’s bed. Her Master’s head rolled to the side and her dry lips spilled a series of incomprehensible mutterings. Yena touched her Master’s cheek and then her forehead with a shaking hand. She wasn’t sweating any longer but she was still cold. Her cheeks were sunk-in and awfully pale and there was erratic activity under her eyelids. Whether it was nightmares or agony, Yena did not know, but there was nothing she could do about it. She could only watch as her Master lived or died.

“She will be fine,” Fulcrum said yet again. There was nothing convincing about it but for what it was worth, it did help a tad. She didn’t like that the togruta could have such an effect on her just by talking. Was it normal? She didn’t think so.

“I know, she-“

Something was off.

“What’s happening?” Fulcrum asked quickly and rose from her seat. She was by Yena’s side in a matter of seconds – just in time to watch the Second Sister chest go through a series of convulsions. She emitted choked, guttural sounds that were anything but healthy.

She’s going to die.

Yena couldn’t hear what Fulcrum was saying. She observed as the spasms worsened and the togruta attempted to hold down their patient but she couldn’t think.  Her blood froze as the Second Sister proceeded to shake her head from side to side, her limbs trashing about uncontrollably as if she was fighting back death itself.

I have to do something, she heard someone say in her mind.

Check the wound.

She couldn’t reach it but she could see that it hadn’t ripped, not even with all the crazed movement.

Can she breathe?

Judging by all the sounds she was making and the ferocity with which she was still fighting the togruta, she had ample air to her lungs.

Pain. Dull the pain.

She ripped open the medkit, but she didn’t know which medicaments would work and which wouldn’t. Her fingers hovered over each of them as she tried to find anything that looked like painkillers but they came only as pills. There was no way she was going to get her to swallow them. Beside her, the struggle grew louder and the initial soundless shock she had suffered started to wear off. Fulcrum was successful in keeping the patient down and she was whispering in her ear. Her expression was on the verge of desperation and that told Yena that it wasn’t going to work. She had to do something.

But what?

The medkit was useless so she threw it away. There was only one thing left she could try and she had never done it before. She had only read about it in the archives but she understood the basic principle behind it and that was good enough. She took a deep breath, trying to bring her breathing under control and trying to recall what she had read.

Please let this work.

Her hands stopped shaking when she put them unto her Master’s chest. She closed her eyes and concentrated her mind on listening to the echoes in the force. It was a whirlwind of emotions and impressions but she didn’t have any trouble stitching together an image of her Master. When she recalled the benevolence and comfort her Master had shown her so long ago, she felt her Master’s arms around her. They made her feel safe and secure like nothing in the Galaxy could touch her and she was refreshed with newfound fortitude. She focused on those feelings and then began her work.

Ignore the pain… Reach deeper…

Stitch the sinew...

She thought she heard her name spoken by her Master. She became filled with angst by how grieved the voice sounded. She didn’t know how long she had, but she kept on focusing. There was no way back from this now.

Bind the flesh.

Connect the tissue.

When first she read about the technique she thought it impossible. Even though there were examples of successful practice, she found it difficult to understand how a healer could affect veins, flesh and tissue at such a level. How could one even distinguish between what was damaged and what was not? Now, she understood it. She had drawn in the force all around her just like when she was using it to power a strike. The only difference was the purpose she had in mind. She sensed the force guiding her mental focus and she let it, trusting it completely. It was through her emotions that the force told her what to heal and what not to touch and it was unlike anything she had ever gone through. Her feeble angst disappeared and she felt absolutely at peace while the force did its work.

Heal the damage… Ease the pain…

She felt her Master easing up and it made it possible for the force to take her even deeper. She touched upon the outer layers of her Master’s mind, unraveling the web of stress, doubt and distrust. With every knot undone it felt like she sank deeper, sensing more and more of her Master’s thoughts and worries. She knew she shouldn’t intrude, but the force was pulling at her. She had the opportunity to mend more than just flesh. Why not take it? This was her Master – was she not willing to do anything in her power to help her?

Just a little further, she told herself, dismissing the voice in the back of her mind that told her that this wasn’t about saving her Master any longer. Her Master’s thoughts were whispers on the wind and she was nearly able to hear them. If she could understand what she was going through then maybe there was more she could do. Perhaps she could be a better Apprentice… Perhaps she could even make her Master proud.

It was as if she was forgetting something, but she shoved away her pointless premonitions. She was breaking through to the core. She was starting to see something. A picture unfolded before her mental eye, becoming ever clearer until she was there.

The first thing she spotted was light from below.

Red light.

“It’s time to go.”

Hoss glanced over her shoulder at the Sergeant. She had been rounding the medbay for a while, chatting up troopers and Hoss had nearly forgotten she was there.

“Both of us?” Dreem asked to which Kaeden shook her head.

“No, you need to stay here and recover.”

Hoss looked to Dreem, expecting to hear his opinion but he didn’t say anything. She sighed and accepted that there was no way out of this.

“I’ll be along in a moment,” she said without facing her.

“Make it quick,” Kaeden said and then she was out of the medbay.

“You’re just going to fly,” Dreem reassured her. “No need to be worried, after all, you’re pretty good.”

“Thanks but I’m not worried about flying,” she said and got up from the stool. Dreem was far from the only patient in the medbay and there were talks going on around them. Most of them were discussing the previous mission but there had been no news so far. Nothing save for the new mission.

“Worried about combat then?” Dreem asked.

“I guess… It’s just - … Things are different here.”

“I know,” he replied and sat upright in the bed. He winced a bit but his wounds didn’t seem to hinder him in pulling closer to Hoss. “We’ll figure out what to do later, right now, you need to help where you can. I’ll find Tapham and hopefully he can tell us something about what happened to the others.”

“Okay,” she told him, kind of wishing they had more time. There were a lot of things she wanted to get off her chest. “Get well soon, alright big boy?”

“Don’t do anything stupid,” he replied, his stare telling her that he hadn’t learned to cope with the nickname yet. She smiled at him as a reply though she probably shouldn’t have, but he didn’t have time to berate her before she was out of the medbay.

Everything will work out.

That she had been requested to join another mission was both a good and a bad thing. On the plus side, they had found out that the jedi had made it out of the starship, but on the negative side, she was the only pilot they had who knew how to fly a lambda-shuttle. She wasn’t sure exactly where they were going or what the plan was, but as long as she was only going to fly, it didn’t matter much.

“There you are,” Kaeden said as Hoss came up to the starboard docking lock. She approached at a walking pace and that was the first time Hoss noticed that the Sergeant had a slight limp. “He’s good?”

“He’ll be fine,” Hoss said and glanced over Kaeden’s shoulder at the open lock. The shuttle had already docked. “So, where we going?”

“I’ll tell you in a moment, but I have to warn you first.”

Her voice was as serious as always but she was looking at Hoss in a strange way.

“Yeah? What’s going on?”

“All’s clear, Sergeant!”

Four troopers came up to where Hoss and Kaeden stood and interrupted them. They were all part of the squad who had assaulted the star destroyer earlier. There had only been time for a few hours of rest before their next mission had been handed to them and it showed.

“The codes are still loaded into the navi-computer,” one of them informed them, wiping the sleep from his eye. “Just like you said they would be.”

Kaeden didn’t smile at the good news.

“And…?” she said expectantly to which the same trooper took a glance all around before sending her a nod.

“Come with me,” Kaeden sighed and looked to Hoss.

This can’t be good, she predicted and followed through the airlock. Almost immediately, she was struck by a horrible, rotten smell in the air.

“She hasn’t been dead for long,” Kaeden said.

Oh no.

She covered her mouth with one hand and pinched her nose with two fingers. They approached a figure slumped down in the corner of the cargo hold and the sight made her blood run cold. Combined with the smell she nearly threw up her lunch.

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t want to worry the others. I need you to tell me if it’s-“

“It’s Captain Tikira,” Hoss confirmed, managing to stay composed for now. “What happened? I thought you said they got away.”

“I don’t know,” the rebel Sergeant replied. She crouched before the corpse and started checking the Captain’s belongings. She appeared more or less unharmed save for a massive gash in her stomach. “I spoke with Fulcrum an hour ago but she didn’t mention how this happened.”

Hoss came down next to Kaeden. Tikira’s orange flight-suit was drenched in blood and her skin pale and void of color. Her eyes were closed but her expression was one of terror. Clearly, she had died painfully.

“Damnit,” Kaeden said and held up the square suit control box. It was sliced in half.

“She was … Cut down?” Hoss guessed but she didn’t know what could produce such a clean cut.

“She was,” Kaeden said. “By a lightsaber.”

Hoss frowned ponderously.

“Why would a jedi kill her?”

“I don’t think a jedi did,” Kaeden said mysteriously and dropped the box. She motioned for the troopers outside to pick up the corpse and then headed for the cockpit without explanation.

“Hold on,” Hoss said, moving to the cockpit before the door hissed shut behind her. “What are you saying?”

Kaeden didn’t answer her at first; she was busy getting a hold of her holo transmitter.

“Fulcrum,” she called into the transmitter and then she addressed Hoss. “The Empire have some sort of assassins who specialize in hunting down jedi.”

“And they use lightsabers too?” she asked, but it made sense that they would do that. How else would they beat a jedi using one?

There was only static on the other end, but Kaeden was listening intently and gave Hoss a nod as a reply.

“Fulcrum do you hear me?” Kaeden said more firmly. “Come on… Reply!”

She didn’t know what to think of that. Everyone knew that there were bounties on jedi but that the Empire had trained soldiers to take care of them was news to her. They had to be really dangerous.

 “Why is she not responding!?” Kaeden asked no one. She blew out her breath and walked past the two seats and started up the computers, probably in order to use the shuttle’s communication systems, but that was a bad idea.

“We shouldn’t use the coms before we’ve activated the codes,” Hoss said. It didn’t make Kaeden stop so she revised her wording. “They’ll know we’re not Imperials if we do that.”

“I’m not using the coms,” Kaeden replied as her fingers typed in commands. Hoss stood closer and put her hands on the backrest of a seat. She leaned in, staring at the holographic display and understood what Kaeden was doing.

“Don’t you think the memory is wiped?”

“It is,” Kaeden concluded and stood back from the display. “Is there another way to figure out where they went?”

“Not that I know of,” Hoss replied honestly. “Maybe you could get one of the astromechs to take a look?”

“Good idea,” Kaeden replied and reached for the transmitter, but it activated before she could touch it.

“Tresher One, Commander Talz here.”

The holo transmitter showed no image of the Commander but the voice was not distorted. It was the voice of a woman and she sounded careful, like she was expecting the worst.

“Tresher One here, I read you.”

“Is everything in order? I was expecting your report five minutes ago.”

“We have a problem,” Kaeden responded and moved back from the fore of the cockpit. She leaned against the co-pilot’s seat right next to Hoss. “We recovered the body of the Captain but it looks like she was killed by a lightsaber and Fulcrum isn’t responding to me.”

“And the shuttle? Is it intact? What about the codes?”

“Nevermind the shuttle!” Kaeden said briskly. “We need to find out what happened! She could be in danger.”

“She’s more than capable of defending herself. You need to focus on the mission.”

“You don’t understand. If the Captain really was killed by a lightsaber, then that means the Empire has sent one of their assassins after them!”

“One of their assassins?”

“I don’t know what to call them,” Kaeden said in frustration. “But someone with a lightsaber killed the Captain and if it’s one of them, then Fulcrum is in trouble.”

“…Hm… I’ve never seen anything like that before, but I’ve heard reports. We’ll do what we can…”

“But…?” Kaeden said, the atmosphere growing tense.

“But… We cannot afford to pass up this chance.”

Hoss knew what it was like to talk to someone who didn’t have the same priorities and she would have reacted much in the same way as Kaeden did, throwing up her hands powerlessly.

“The Tessarius is busy investigating the mining moon and has left Forba undefended. We will never get a chance like this again, we have to take it.”

“Then send someone else! Let me go after Fulcrum.”

“There’s no time. Move on with the mission and try to re-establish contact with Fulcrum. Report back if anything happens, understand?”

She looked like she was going to strangle the transmitter but she replied in a sober tone.

“I understand, Commander.”

“May the force be with you.”

The transmission cut out and Kaeden sucked in a deep breath. Hoss expected a violent outburst, but the Sergeant deflated.

“It’s probably not as bad as you think,” Hoss said. Two hickory eyes met hers and she realized that she wasn’t the only one who was tired of everything.

“Maybe it isn’t,” Kaeden exhaled. “Maybe it is. Only way we’re going to find out is if we can get a hold of her again. Until then, we carry on with the mission… If you’re still up for it?”

She was surprised she was being asked. She had assumed she had no real choice but when she asked her like this, there was only one answer.

“Of course I will. We’ll go to Forba and hopefully, we’ll make contact somewhere along the way.”

She didn’t feel as confident as she appeared but Kaeden offered her a brief smile and that was good enough.

“You should get acquainted with the controls,” she suggested and pushed herself from the seat. “Did you have anything to eat yet?”

“I’m fine,” she said but all she had had was some sort of blister pack rations which somehow managed to taste worse than dirt.

“Good, I’m going to brief my men and then we’ll be on our way.”

Before she stepped through the cockpit door she stopped and turned around.

“Oh and… I’m sorry, by the way. For your loss.”

She didn’t know what to say but thankfully, Kaeden didn’t wait for a reply. It finally dawned on her that Captain Tikira was dead. Really dead. She was gone. She had never really spoken with the Captain nor had she been enduring one of her tempers. Dreem had told her at length about her cynicism and thinking of that it was morbidly fitting that she had died like this, but she had been an important figure in their cell and she might have been one of the only ones left from it. The thought that they were the last ones left was sad, but there had been more death around her in the past day than there had been in her entire life and she couldn’t figure out how to deal with it. Was she sad? Was she angry? Perhaps she was in shock? She didn’t know. The only thing she knew was that she felt appalled. Even though most of the death had been Imperials, it made no real difference. Trying to justify anything in her head just gave rise to more questions.

Take a breather, she told herself. That’s enough contemplation for a day.

Relaxing her muscles, she took in the cockpit and recognized a lot of the layout. It had taken a lot of time to improve the Anguilli and during that process, much of the insides had been exchanged or otherwise modified. She missed her ship and she felt her fingers tingle for a chance to fly something similar and she would. There were no doubts that the steering would be a bit different but just the feel of having the ship in her hands; soaring through the skies like a jai’galaar… It was more important to her than she remembered.

Maybe it was because it helped her forget how gruesome the Galaxy was.

Her body ached.

It felt like she had been sparring non-stop for an entire day and Yena did not appear to fare any better. Her gaze was downcast where it should have been straight ahead when she stood at ease. Perhaps she was trying not to lock eyes with the Inquisitor, which would explain the unease the girl was beaming through the force. Her stance grew tenser under the Inquisitor’s gaze and she guessed there were a lot of questions she was fighting hard to hold back.

What did she do to her?

Ahsoka stood opposite Yena, but whereas Yena was shy and uncertain, her counterpart was direct and imposing. She looked quite the veteran with all those bandages scattered about her crossed arms and montrals and it was hard to look at what she had wrought. It was even harder to meet her eyes because it was in those she could see the full extent of her doings and she had no wish to be reminded.

She still won’t give in, she stated, tearing her gaze away. She finished the head cover, tying down her hair like Barriss would have done long ago. There was still red sand stuck in the fibres which annoyed her, but it was nothing. She had hoped never to wear the clothes again but it was either that or a uniform that had been cut to pieces.

She must’ve talked, the Inquisitor thought to herself, resting her eyes on Yena again. If they had worked together to escape then Yena had disobeyed her orders. She knew well how convincing Ahsoka could be, especially to someone untrained and insecure so if she had managed to coerce Yena into doing that, then who knows what else she might have done?

“It suits you,” Ahsoka said, breaking the silence. Her voice betrayed that she was spent as too but it seemed she was the better of the three at hiding it. “I gotta say I’m surprised you kept it.”

She blinked twice and thought about it but couldn’t think of an answer before Ahsoka went on.

“You were right about the force.”

The Inquisitor frowned and thought back to what she had seen in her own visions. She couldn’t help but send a glance at Yena, just to make sure she was still… there.

”Our bond is strong – even after years apart, it hasn’t diminished.”

The Inquisitor felt resentment build within. She knew that their connection was powerful in the sense that they had more insight into each other than should be possible, but that connection had been established between Barriss and Ahsoka. Not her.

“You should have beaten me,” Ahsoka said, her arms uncrossing as she made gestures with her hands. “You always were stronger than me, but you couldn’t. You know why, don’t you?”

Barriss, she hissed internally but she knew what Ahsoka was referring to. She had lost control just like the last time and attempted to do something she had not planned. She looked down, biting into her lip and noticed that her fingers were trying to dig their way through her hands.

“I saw what happened to you on the ship,” she said and at that point the Inquisitor had to look into the icy glaciers to know if what she said was the truth. “I felt it, I even heard it. Why did you come after me when you knew you couldn’t control it?”

She tried to mold her hate into a furious retort, but no words exited her lips. Instead, she glanced aside like Barriss would have done. Like a coward.

“You could dispel it in a moment if you wanted to and you know that. Why do you let the Empire do this to you?”

The crimson light came from the planet outside but just for a second it seemed to originate from the tiles in the floor. Cold sweat ran down her back and a chill made her flinch awkwardly.

“Why are you afraid?”

“She betrayed you!” the Inquisitor blurted out and forced herself to meet Ahsoka’s eyes. Her throat tightened with emotions she shouldn’t be able to feel and it made her voice croaky.

“She framed you!” the Inquisitor continued as Ahsoka made no reply. All she did was stand there and listen while the glaciers in her eyes melted. “Why- … How? She was a monster! How could you possibly want her back?”

She wouldn’t look away nor would she say anything. Out of the corner of her eye, the Inquisitor saw that Yena had mustered up the courage to look at her.

“Answer me Ahsoka!” she demanded, rising before her taller friend. She took her arm by the wrist as to force her to do something and she did. She placed a hand on the Inquisitor’s shoulder and it felt heavy.

“What you did was wrong,” she said, matching the level of emotion in her voice to the Inquisitor’s. It wasn’t unexpected, but it still electrified the Inquisitor’s heart. “I- … I never felt more forsaken in my life and I made the same mistake everyone else made. I looked at you and saw the culprit. I blamed you when in truth, I should have blamed the darkness you were trying to warn everyone about.”

She wasn’t sure what exactly Ahsoka was trying to do, but it was true. If only someone had listened, if only–

If only Barriss hadn’t been so weak. If only you had talked to someone, you despicable fool.

“I know you’ve done terrible things and I can never forget what you did to me, but I moved on. You have to move on as well and face who you are. If you keep living in fear then the Empire will win. The darkness you sacrificed everything to stop will win.”

“Everything has always been so clear to you,” she said with toxic scorn, rolling her shoulder free of Ahsoka’s hand. “The dark side is bad, the light side is good... Just like your Master, you think you know it all without a care for what you don’t know – and you don’t know the dark side.”

“No… But she does,” Ahsoka said and gestured towards Yena. The Inquisitor let go of Ahsoka’s arm and turned. She was curious as to what the two of them had planned, but she frowned with contempt at the knowledge that they had teamed up against her.

“Go on,” Ahsoka said, urging Yena to talk.

“I’m sorry,” she started off, evidently trying to appear as if she hadn’t had a choice but the Inquisitor didn’t believe that. “But I have to know.”

“Know what?” the Inquisitor inquired, watching as Yena’s disciplined stance crumbled.

“I didn’t know what I was doing,” she rambled on, her eyes flickering between everything in the room and the Inquisitor’s eyes. “I just -… I meditated and it worked.”

“What worked?” she asked, moving closer to Yena in order to better hear her lowering voice. “What are you trying to say, Yena?”

“She saved your life,” Ahsoka said. Faintly, she remembered that she had been struck down. “She’s a healer like you, Barriss.”

“That’s not possible,” she said whilst the memory of her defeat flashed past her eyes. The blow had been fatal and she should have died yet she had not. She hadn’t even begun to wonder how that could be, but she couldn’t believe that Yena had been the solution. It was just not feasible. “You’ve never had any training. Don’t lie to me.”

“The force was with me,” she replied vaguely yet the Inquisitor knew what she meant. Yena wasn’t certain of it herself but she appeared confident enough in her reply that the Inquisitor gave her the benefit of the doubt.

“Healing is a jedi ability,” she said, trying to bring some argument on the table but her voice carried more wonder than anger now. “You’re an Inquisitor.”

“I think that perhaps in the moment, while I was mending you, I wasn’t an Inquisitor.”

She had stopped riveting her eyes around nervously and instead, her gaze was placed firmly on the Inquisitor but it didn’t stay there. It swept across the Inquisitor’s face.

“I think that maybe, when you saved my life… Maybe you weren’t an Inquisitor either.”

“Wh- … What?” the Inquisitor sputtered, taken by surprise. Her head became heavy all of the sudden and she felt isolated as both Ahsoka and Yena looked her over. Ahsoka knew the tattoos Barriss had earned, but there was no way Yena could know of them, yet somehow she was looking at them. When her gaze went downwards, she knew that Yena was looking at her hands too.

No. I’m seeing things, she declared, her hands clenching harder and causing the dark leather to creak under the pressure.

“An Inquisitor would have reported the sighting of a jedi,” she went on. “But you didn’t.”

She shot a glance at Ahsoka and judging by her expression, this was something Yena had already told her.

“Yet at the same time, you went on a suicidal charge just like an Inquisitor would have done.”

“Stop!” she said but her voice wavered. There was a clacking sound like beetles crawling from the corners of the room and her eyes darted around to find them, but there were none to be found.

“I’m so sorry,” Yena said with a choked voice. “But I have to know. Please tell me the truth.”

The Inquisitor sucked in a breath, realizing what Yena was going to ask.

“Was it all lies?”

She would have preferred a dagger in her guts than to have Yena throw such a question at her. She didn’t want to think about it, she wanted to give her the answer that was right at the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t. She was an Inquisitor, she was the Second Sister, yet if she was, then what had caused her to save the girl? Why had she wished her to survive? Why had she stopped recruiting after sending Yena to Mustafar?

The skittering of insects grew louder and she knew what was going to happen if she did nothing. She looked into Yena’s eyes and for an instant she saw herself. She knew what it felt like to doubt ones whole existence; to doubt whether any of the horrible crimes she had committed actually mattered. She had been through that more times than just at the bombing of the temple. She had lived in guilt every single day of the Clone Wars and she would have given everything to have had Master Luminara tell her that it all mattered. That whatever crimes she committed, she had done them for the greater good but she had refused to do so right up until the end. She could only guess at what Master Luminara had used to justify her own actions and why she had never shared it with her.

No… No that was Barriss, she broke in. That wasn’t me. It’s not me.

“Master?” Yena asked in the smallest of voices and edged closer. Her arms were hanging by her sides and her fingers twitching with uneasiness. She looked young and scared and the Inquisitor felt an urge to open her arms and rectify that. She wanted to expand her heart and safeguard the girl but she knew that she couldn’t do that if she was the Inquisitor she had always told herself she was. Instead, she was going to have to watch the spark of hope in Yena’s green eyes die. She was going to listen to her desperate cries and feel the innocent soul she had tried to save be destroyed. The mirialan girl who reminded her of herself; the girl who had followed her, believed in her and risked her life for her would be devastated and consumed by hatred. She would die and the Inquisitor knew she couldn’t deal with that again.

She took a deep breath and then she did the only thing that felt right.

She opened her arms.

“Shuttle S-157, please transmit clearance codes.”

Their flight had been without complications and she had enjoyed being able to lean back and just fly. The voice of the Imperial flight controller, however, sent her right back into the real world.

“Transmitting now,” she replied and surveyed the world outside.

The planet of Forba was small enough that most people would have referred to it as a moon. It looked hospitable from outer space with a cloudy white atmosphere and the bits of land that were visible through the cloud cover were green. It also had two suns which were situated so that the moon never really was in darkness. That was probably why the Empire had chosen it as a farming planet.

“Shuttle S-157, you’re cleared to land. We’ll take it from here.”

Diodes flashed warnings on the instrumentation and Hoss let go of the stick to allow the Imperial flight controller to assume remote control of the shuttle. It took a second or two before the ship started veering to the side and the stick moved entirely on its own.

“How did you know they were going to do that?” Kaeden asked from the side.

“The Republic did the same,” Hoss replied and leaned back in the seat. Her new clothes were a bit too tight and she hadn’t been able to have Shilka holstered by her side, but it was within reach should it be necessary. It just felt wrong not to have it by her fingers all the time.

“So you were a Republic pilot then?” Kaeden asked. She was adjusting the blouse of her Imperial uniform which seemed to be ill-fitting but she hadn’t had any problems with her hair. Hoss had no idea how she had managed to tie all those curls up into a ponytail, but she had.

“Well, not exactly,” she admitted. “What did you do before this?” she asked in order not to draw too much attention to her criminal past.

“Farming. As did most of the people with us actually.”

“Oh…” Hoss said. She wasn’t that surprised; it was a good explanation for their more aggressive behavior. She understood why liberated farmers would have it in for the Empire. The miners probably felt the same way.

“You ready back there?” Kaeden called over her shoulder. There were four troopers dressed up as stormtroopers in the hold and one of them replied with a positive. When they entered the cloud cover and lost all visibility, Hoss heard their blaster rifles cocking.

“Don’t worry,” Kaeden said in comforting tone of voice. “You’ll be fine. Nobody’s going to notice anything.”

“I know, I know,” she said quickly. She didn’t think she looked nervous but staring into a completely cloud-gray world outside probably gave it away.

“It’s just that it’s my second mission without Dreem.”

“He’ll be fine,” Kaeden reassured her. She was fiddling with her own blaster and checking the ammunition.

That’s not the issue, she sighed internally, but to Kaeden she smiled as convincingly as she could. Her worries weren’t welcome now. She had to focus and if the Sergeant thought Hoss couldn’t keep up then that might jeopardize the mission. Even though she didn’t want the mission, she didn’t want to ruin it either.

They broke through the cloud cover and were met by the sight of a landing pad hovering in mid air. It was approaching at landing speed and below it, fields filled with workers and some sort of vegetation stretched out as far the eye could see. There were massive moving machinery spread out along permanent lanes either harvesting, flinging moisture or something third and amongst them were workers.

Slaves, she corrected herself. They’re slaves. She wasn’t going to forget the reason why they were there in the first place. Freeing slaves was a good thing, but it was going to include a lot of fighting. She shivered by the thought and even though they had done a good job at cleaning up the shuttle, she hadn’t gotten the smell of Tikira out of her nostrils yet.

“Remember, if things start going south we’re going to need you to get out of here.”

“They’re going to know that something is wrong if I keep the engines running,” Hoss replied. “But I’ll do what I can.”

“That’s all I ask,” Kaeden said and adjusted her cap. “How do I look?”

Hoss took scanned her up and down. The Sergeant had been disguised in an Imperial uniform with two red and two blue squares on her jet-black blouse. She had two cylinders, one on each side of her chest too, whatever they were for.

“You look like an Imperial specialist,” she said neutrally and Kaeden took it with a nod. The shuttle touched down gently and then Kaeden signaled for Hoss to lower the ramp.

“Alright this is it! Stick to the plan and nobody fires a shot until I say so, got it?”

“Yes ma’am,” one of them said. There was a disproportionate amount of beard on his chin compared to the rest of the troopers but his youth was well-disguised when they pulled on their helmets.

“If there’s any reply,” Kaeden said to Hoss, “try and figure out what happened.”

Hoss nodded and Kaeden gave her shoulder a reassuring pat before moving outside in the centre of a formation of disguised troopers. And then everything was out of Hoss’ hands.

She started the normal shutdown procedure, though she kept as many systems online as she could get away with. As she flipped switches high and low, she saw the party being met by an Imperial officer and his escort outside on the landing pad. She held her breath as they talked, but exhaled when everything seemed to be in order. They entered a turbo lift and disappeared down a long tube reaching all the way to the surface. The only people left on the landing pad were some ground crew and what Hoss guessed was an inventory keeper. She was dressed like the others with the black uniforms though she didn’t have the bulky utility pack strapped to her chest like the rest. She had a data pad in her hands and seemed to be running through its contents.

They’re just ordinary people, Hoss caught herself thinking and before she could stop herself, she was watching them go about their business. A pair was having a break and stood with their visors pulled up. She could see the smile of a woman and she was clearly laughing at what the other had said. On the other side of the shuttle, two crewmen were applying some sort of coating to a collection of antennas. They had no idea that this day wasn’t going to be like every other. They probably just wanted to get their work done so they could go home to their families. It was hard to think of them as the evil Imperial soldiers who had wronged her. It was even harder to believe that they wanted to harm her.

“Hey you!”

Hoss nearly jumped out of her seat.

“Ye- Yes?” she said and started getting up. Her hand had gone to her side automatically and it was a good thing Shilka wasn’t there.

“No, no stay in your seat,” the inventory keeper said. She was a blond-haired, brown-eyed woman and pretty tall. Elegant in some way and her voice matched it. She sounded a bit like Adder, but she spoke much more clearly. Hoss did as she was told but she was powerless to stop the woman as she moved up and took the seat next to her.

“Didn’t mean to scare you,” she said and it took a moment for Hoss to register that it was meant as an apology.

“Oh … No problem, I was just drifting away.”

“Did you have a long flight?” she asked and started hooking up her data pad to the shuttle systems. Their travel information had been spoofed so she wouldn’t be able to tell where they had come from, but it was unlikely that was what she was looking for. She was probably just checking the stock or some other standard procedure.

“Not that long,” she said casually and strapped herself in again. She kept an eye on the outside just in case, but everything seemed to be fine. Shilka was still within reach if the woman suspected anything.

“Well this place is far from anywhere, there’s hardly any flight here that isn’t long.”

“Well I’m a fast pilot,” she said with wry smirk. The woman finished connecting the data pad and eyed Hoss over. She let out a fairly unimpressed pout but smiled nonetheless. Her eyes went back to the data pad but apparently there was nothing of interest and she packed it away again.

“That’s good because you’ll be taking me to the Tessarius.”

Uh oh.

“But - … I have orders to wait here. I can’t just leave.”

“You are scheduled for departure in six hours. Travelling to the Tessarius and back will be a few hours at best; you have nothing to worry about.”

Whatever protests she could think of stifled when she heard the sound of heavy boots on the ramp behind her. She leaned out of the seat and glanced into the hold, watching as a team of technicians took up the entire cargo hold with themselves and their equipment. She couldn’t fight her way out of there, but she could perhaps stall the flight for a time.

They’ll just use another pilot.

And they would probably execute her. She didn’t really have a choice but to do as she was told.

“Alright,” she said, trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice. She felt sweat run down her arms into her armpits as she lifted her hands to reach the switches in the instrumentation above. She started the take-off sequence slowly and thought of a question. “Can I tell my superior where I’m going before we leave?”

“No need, I’ve already asked ground control to inform them. Set your course for the Mieru’kar sector. ”

She typed the name into the navi-computer and watched as it calculated a route. It was faster than the navi-computer she had owned on the Anguili and it was done within seconds. She’d have time to think of a plan when they hit hyperspace, for now, she fired up the sublight engines, pulled up the ramp and took the shuttle off the landing pad.

The inventory keeper locked the door to the cockpit in open position and started a headcount. It was probably some dumb protocol and Hoss paid it no mind.

“Is it really as bad as they say it is?” one of the technicians asked. Hoss was focusing on getting the shuttle unto the correct depart vector, but she picked up the wonder in his voice. It wasn’t a youthful budding; he sounded middle-aged and experienced like Dreem, but there was a measure of disbelief in his words.

“Yeah, it is,” a coarse female voice replied. “The timing was almost too good. Someone must have tipped off the raiders.”

They must be the clean-up crew, Hoss concluded. She got the shuttle out of the atmosphere and then aligned it with the first hyperspace jump. From there, she let the navi-computer take over and started putting up her feet but stopped when she remembered that she was an Imperial pilot.

“The 27th say it’s a mess,” a third joined in. Upon hearing his words, the woman next to Hoss turned in her seat to pay attention to their conversation but Hoss kept her eyes forwards. “They haven’t found anyone alive yet.”

They all died?

No one had told her the extent of the destruction on the moon, but it was hard to believe the rebels would kill everyone. Not a chance.

“I don’t understand… “ the first said. “What could they possibly gain from that place? They’re going to build star destroyers?”

Hoss quirked a brow.

Star destroyers?

“Don’t know,” the female responded. “They just killed everyone who fought back and dragged the rest back home as slaves I guess. I just don’t understand why they shot down the prisoner transports.”

That had to be rumors. They would never have done something like that but if they thought it had been simple raiders then all the better for her.

“Maybe they were Separatist droids,” the woman next to Hoss said. “There’s been a few unusual assaults by Separatist pockets. They gunned down everyone and everything for seemingly no reason.”

The team of technicians looked her way and let out a collective mumble. It wasn’t entirely unreasonable. Hoss had heard of droids with their capital ships annihilating people unfortunate enough to get in their way though it was rare.

“It’s not going to be pretty if that’s the case,” one of them said and that left a dreary silence. It was broken by Hoss’ transmitter going off.

“Cayleen Hoss. Respond.”

Her cheeks went cold as ice and she spurred into action, clawing at the transmitter to mute it on her belt but it was too late. Everyone was looking at her.

“What is that?” the inventory keeper asked and turned in her chair staring at her.

“It-… It’s-“ she stuttered but what was she going to say? The technicians in the back crept closer and the inventory keeper’s brown eyes narrowed more and more.

“Hoss? Respond!”

“Go on,” she said dangerously. “Respond to them.”

Swallowing, she took a glance all around at the skeptical faces in the cockpit and tried not to imagine what could happen if this went wrong.

“This is- … This is Hoss. I read you.”

“What took you so long?”

“I -… I had to depart,” she said, staring back at the inventory keeper. She forced her voice to sound composed. “I’m transporting a team of technicians to ORT45M”

“You’re supposed to be on Forba! Who authorized this?”

“I did,” the inventory keeper said, stepping closer to the transmitter.

“Who’s that? Turn on the holo display.”

Hoss did as she was told and leaned closer to the Imperial so they could both fit in the transmitted picture.

“An Imperial Administer?”

“Yes,” the Administer said and took away the transmitter from Hoss. “And who are you? This is highly irregular!”

The technicians filled up the cockpit and stared from the transmitter to Hoss with curiosity. There was static on the other end for a few seconds before an image came up.

What in the -

“You are testing my patience, Administer.”

“I-Inquisitor!” the Administer said in bafflement but she wasn’t the only one who was surprised.

Who the hell is that?

The person in the holo image was wearing an Imperial uniform she had never seen before. A dark body glove with shoulder pads carrying the white cog of the Empire. She had a helmet on but the visor was up, allowing her malice to be fully expressed in her face. And her eyes… It felt like they were staring at them all and right through them. Just like when Adder had looked her over, she felt a chill run down her spine.

“I- .. I didn’t know. I apologize, Inquisitor.”

“Apology accepted,” the Inquisitor said quickly. “Leave me alone with the pilot.”

“As you wish,” the Administer said and rose from the seat. The technicians took the hint and started exiting the cockpit, all of them sending Hoss curious – no, fearful glances. She sat there in trepidation as the Administer shut the door behind her and the Inquisitor’s transmitted face turned to her.

“Wait.”

“A-alright,” she said carefully and watched the image change and instead of the Inquisitor, Adder’s face appeared.

“I’m sending you new coordinates. Standby.”

“A-adder? What’s going on? Who was that?”

“Did you hear what I said?”

She shook her head to get past the confusion and set up a link to the navi-computer so that the coordinates could be inserted directly.

“I heard you but who’s that? What is happening?”

“It’ll be easier to explain in person. Establish contact as soon as you make it out of hyperspace.”

“Wait! What about-“

The link terminated and she was left in utter silence and bewilderment. It sounded as if Adder was in a hurry so perhaps there was something to what Kaeden had said. But what was an Inquisitor?

It was clearly an Imperial of some rank to make the Administer act like she did, but that didn’t explain why everyone had gotten so fearful. Perhaps they had felt the same way as Hoss did, but instead of guessing, she decided she might as well ask.

“Administer?” she called and waited. The door opened and the Administer entered, making sure the door was closed behind her. Her stare was completely different this time.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were working for the Imperial Inquisitorius?”

“They don’t tell me anything,” she said honestly and she didn’t have to fake the frustration. “Why was everyone scared?”

“Are you not?” the Administer asked, taking up the seat next to Hoss.

“I’m just a pilot,” she said and looked to her controls. Their destination was coming up soon. “And I’m good at what I do.”

“You’ve met this Inquisitor, haven’t you?”

Hoss blinked and looked at the reflection of the Administer in the cockpit glass.

“Well… Well no, not really.”

“You’ll be scared too when you do.”

They burst into real space close enough to the Tessarius that the stardestroyer took up the entire view. The Administer said no more to Hoss and instead turned to get her crew ready but Hoss didn’t hear what was said. She steered the shuttle unto a proper course like a droid, her thoughts all converging on Adder. Why was she working with someone like an Inquisitor? The obvious answer was that they were both undercover but it didn’t seem like that was the whole truth. She had always felt like Adder wasn’t telling them everything, but perhaps it was because she was trying to cover for another jedi? It would make sense if the Inquisitor was a jedi too; she certainly felt the same way about them but none of what Dreem had told her about the jedi fit on the Inquisitor. She was practically the opposite.

She touched down gently in the landing bay, lowered the ramp for the crew to get off and then brought up the new coordinates. Kaeden could call her any moment, asking for emergency pick-up but she wanted to know what had happened too. She would have told her to follow Adder’s instructions.

So she did.