“Are they behaving?” a soft and calming voice asked. Michael stealthy adjusted himself as Yuthura and Juhani came into view.

“As much as you’d expect for being thrown into the brig aboard a ship they don’t remember boarding.”

A muffled curse and a metallic thud reverberated from beyond the sealed bulkhead that separated the prisoners and their captors.

“Any other inquires?”

The ever wary Juhani asked her own question. “Why did you influence the farmers? With what you demonstrated back there, you could have influenced the soldiers to simply leave; having them forget our very existence. Instead you brought aboard everyone.”

“I cast a wide net to ensure the effectiveness of my ploy. I couldn’t risk influencing only the soldiers only to have the farmer’s revolt. We were taking the only known transport to them that held valuable supplies and tools needed for their day to day lives.”

“So you have no other need for these farmers? No secret motive?”

“Juhani I don’t know why you see me in such a wicked light, I have done nothing to either yourself or your precious Order.”

“What about Yuthura?”

Michael couldn’t stop himself from flinching. Had Yuthura told Juhani? How much did she divulge? How could he spin this so it didn’t make him look like a molester or wood be ****?

The answer was he couldn’t. He couldn’t blame Yuthura; she was the victim and with transport off world secure. Michael wasn’t really necessary. The godling had enough time to set his jaw just before the first blow came raining down. He didn’t fight back or attempt to resist. Michael simply took the beating Juhani handed him.

Yuthura; the beautiful statue in the background did and said nothing, her violet eyes catching every detail; her body feeling every vibration when Juhani’s fist made contact as her heart thundered in her ears. Juhani didn’t focus on a specific part of Michael’s body preferring to spread the damage out thoroughly. A kick to his ribs, an elbow to his jaw and several jabs to his gut brought the Human down.

“You will be given a trial on the first Republic world we are able to land on. Until then, you can sit quietly in there with them.” Juhani slid the brig door open, its occupants darting from the entrance having been eavesdropping on the beating going on just outside their cell. “You have more in common with them than any of us.” She threw the beaten man inside and sealed him in without a second thought to his safety and gave Yuthura a heartwarming hug proclaiming. “You did the right thing. He’ll never bother us –you– again; now let’s get to the bridge.”

Yuthura nodded and followed her friend, her eyes still peering over her shoulder at the sealed door behind her.

Michael didn’t move, even as he felt the floor vibrate with movement. Even when that movement turned into hushed whispers of **** he didn’t move. He let the cold steel sooth his sore face, wishing the blissful chill would drag him into a dreamless sleep that he would never awake from. A boot to his ribs **** him to roll over.

Guess I’ll sleep when I’m dead…wait I’m immortal.

“Don’t go passing out on us yet; we still have to pay you back for dragging us aboard with that Jedi magic.” One of the soldiers chuckled cracking his knuckles as he did so.

Michael sighed and crawled to his feet brushing another kick aimed for his face to the side. “Alright, let’s have a little chat.”

The beating of the man named Michael had somehow lightened Juhani’s mood. The sleepless nights with the haunting faces of her friends were gone; they had melted away with each blow she had dealt Michael. Yuthura had never seen such a violent side in a Jedi, not one that followed the Light Side anyway. The pair had accompanied one another up the turbolift; idly chatting with one another about things that didn’t involve Michael and Yuthura on a speeder bike. They found the bridge easily enough with the Captain hard at work at the helm with an alarm; its klaxon shrill filling the empty space between them.

A squadron of Sith fighters streaked across the ship’s bow, a dagger shaped cruiser broke from the blockade on an intercept course.

Both Juhani and Yuthura took up positions on vacant control stations.

“Did you send them your codes?” Juhani shouted as she noted the course the Interdictor was taking.

“Of course I sent them! But this is an unscheduled launch from an occupied planet what else did you expect them to do?!” Drehar grimaced as he frantically tried to keep out of range of the Interdictor’s tractor beam while simultaneously not doing it suspiciously.

“Can we outrun them?” Yuthura blurted out as the Sith fighters came about again, ordering Drehar’s ship to kill its engines.

“Not likely, those fighters could tear through the hull before we manage to make it into hyperspace. But I do have an idea that may work. But it’ll require the help of one of those Sith troopers that came aboard and your Twi’lek friend.”

Juhani was silent as she rode down the turbolift, her arms across her chest eyes staring at the floor as the cabin propelled her to her destination. She loathed returning to the brig; letting out a soft groan of annoyance at the thought of seeing Michael Hazelton. The man had been useful in extracting her and the survivors. But he was an anomaly; treating the lives of others as some game, he was slim; violating Yuthura proved such.

When the Twi’lek had recounted her experience with Michael on their drive to the Sith outpost left Juhani livid but she sensed Yuthura was holding something back. But the Cathar was hesitant to pry out of fear that Yuthura would isolate herself emotionally if she pushed so soon after the ordeal. Juhani had been the subject and target of numerous xenophobic comments and remarks throughout her life, even coming to physical blows between assailants. But nothing ever sexual, never ****. Juhani admired the strength and courage Yuthura had shown when she told the tale. Personally, had it been her she would have simply killed…she stopped the thought the moment it began.

That was the easy route, the quick path with the only end to such a road being the dark side. Patience is what was needed here. She was not above the law, Juhani would uphold her duty to the Republic and turn over Michael and the Sith troopers as soon as they arrived at a Republic world, presuming they make it past the blockade.

The door chirped, signaling her stop was next. Closing her eyes, Juhani chastised herself for not centering herself until now, she would be good to no one if the troopers managed to get the drop on her. Juhani’s eyes were still closed when the door opened and instead of a metal walkway and narrow corridor greeting her, Juhani found herself inside an all too familiar sleeping quarters.

The room was scarce with a designated sleeping and eating area in a single room and a small refresher off to the side that doubled as a closet. The floor was filthy covered in day old food wrappers, an empty drink dispensary and two entirely different wardrobes. A singular massive shape pulled Juhani’s attention as it shifted beneath the sheets of the only bed in the room. Juhani remembered this day; it had been the last time she had spent with Belaya before Quatra had summoned her for her Trial for Knighthood, and the first time she had…slept with Belaya.

She had been nervous, inexperienced as she was. It was like she was a raw apprentice again; stammering and fidgeting laying before her friend who eased her into what was expected of her. Juhani had never kissed a boy; though one had tried after a confession of love and a heartfelt attempt at getting her to abandon the Order. Now she was letting a woman –her best friend– go down on her. Her body refused to obey her as her back arched itself as Belaya’s tongue made contact. It was a pleasure she was unfamiliar with and that unfamiliarity threatened to become an addiction.

Belaya used her tongue to spell out the entire galactic basic alphabet, making her lover cum twice, back to back leaving Juhani in such a state of pleasure she was unable to go further.

The memory was cherished and the pleasure even more so. Already, Juhani could feel her body respond to the echoes of that night, of the invasive tongue that made her womanhood squirm with delight. But such euphoria was wiped clean by a cold, metallic hand taking hold of her shoulder, an unfeeling voice following it. “Query: Do you require assistance? Are you functioning properly?”

Juhani’s eyes adjusted noting the bed had been replaced by a walkway and the two thrashing bodies with six **** droids. Juhani shook off the metallic hand and summoned her lightsaber to her waiting hand. “Yes, let us retrieve one of the captives and get them up to the bridge.”

“Statement: Understood, caution advised.”

The door slide aside and the procession of droids filed into the ten by fifteen storage room that now served as the brig. Six humanoids were present but only five were standing. Juhani followed in, a blue flame in hand; which served as the only source of light.

One of the soldiers; a humanoid man with a metal plate over the top half of his skull appeared to be a real twitchier as he stared Juhani down with eyes to big for his head.

Dubbing the man as Twitch Juhani did her best to keep the man within her peripheral view as she focused on the motionless man on the floor. It was Michael. Whatever injuries she had delivered onto him had been minor when the soldiers had gotten their licks in. His skin was still warm, discolored with purple and red blemishes and bruises along his neck, jaw line and torso. One of his eyes was swollen shut while the other was a deep crimson; a possible detached retina. A quick touch of his wrist told Juhani what she already felt within the ****. No pulse. He was gone.

His hands were unbound and lacked any defensive marks which puzzled Juhani. Another man this one with a mullet spoke. "Well what do you want?"

"What happened to this man?"

Mullet snorted. "What else? We finished what you started."

As Juhani was in the process of taking a step forward; **** her only intent two figures; both female imposed themselves between the pair. One had hair the color of freshly spilled oil while the other could only be described as a female Carrot Top. The droids; their blasters leveled at the prisoners deactivated their safeties.

"Enough!"

A rough looking gentleman; whose face had the privilege of being introduced to a mound of shrapnel and gravel at one point in his life maneuvered his way to the front. From what Juhani recalled when the troopers were stripped of their arms and armor, he had been one of the soldiers in the maroon armor.

"I've need of your assistance in bypassing the blockade."

Gravel eyed the Jedi. "This got anything to do with the Interdictor bearing down on us?"

"And you know of this how?"

Oils motioned towards Michael’s body. "Kept saying we need to help you, otherwise we'd all die."

Juhani studied each of their faces, probing them for any sense of deceit but there was none. "So will you help?"

"I'm sure we can come to an arrangement."

"You aren't being released."

"Then basic utilities will suffice; food, water and blankets. You have us in a closet after all. No lights, no pluming..."

"We shall deal with that as soon as we are safe from the fleet."

Gravel shared a look between Twitch, Oil, Carrot and Mullet. "Fine."

After a brief scan by one of the droids Gravel was escorted to the lift by three of the six droids. Juhani motioned to the corpse that laid before them. "Take him to the ship's morgue."

One of the droids wobbled its boxed head and dragged Michael from the room and out of sight. As Juhani and the droids exited the brig, the remaining droids took up positions on either side of the door their sentry protocols activated. Believing the remaining prisoners to be in capable hands she followed the path back the way she had came to a waiting turbolift.

With droids at his sides, a Jedi at his back and binders around his wrists, Gravel made no sudden movements as the lift ascended upwards towards. It was Juhani who spoke first. "Is that one in the brig going to be alright?"

Rather than turning to face the Jedi, Gravel merely craned his head which stretched his facial scars into resembling a grinning skull. "I assume you mean Phex, otherwise I hate to be the one to tell you the difference between the living and the dead."

She didn't take the bait. "I assume this Phex is the twitching one?" Gravel turned his head forward and despite this, Juhani could feel the man roll his eyes. "Yes he's the twitching one."

"Does he require medical attention?"

"Doubt the ship's doctors will tell us anything we don't already know."

Juhani wasn't sure why, but the thought toiled around in the back of her mind like a hungry beast that would not rest until its belly was full. "What happened to him?"

Gravel gave a weary sigh his shoulders rising and falling. "The **** happened to him. About half a year back we were tracking a ship; Intel said the crew of this vessel was bypassing one of our blockades around some Outer Rim world, delivering supplies to the local resistant groups. We eventually found it; shoot out its engines within the first opening salvos. We boarded; our orders were to take the Captain and their command staff alive for questioning. Sadly no one told their Captain that. As soon as we breached the bridge and he saw our armor the man vented the atmosphere from the bridge. So we returned empty handed, our commander some new sith fresh from the Academy on Korriban didn't like that and decided to show how they tolerated failure. Phex was just standing to close to the sith when they picked. Instead of outright killing him; as I had expected, he did something to his mind."

Gravel coughed unused to talking for so long outside his unit. "After that, whenever Phex tried to sleep he would wake up screaming at things that weren’t there. A doctor I trusted prescribed him various meds but they never kept the nightmares away for long and only effectively impaired his abilities as a soldier so he stopped taking them. A few of the others tried meditation and other spiritual crap but it did nothing. Hard tonics were my next approached, which seemed to help; can’t dream if you’re black out drunk. But there is only so many hours of leave and R&R one can get during war time.”

“Didn’t you ever try and discharge him from the military and send him to a proper medical facility to get the treatment he needed?” Juhani accused, as if the man had not done anything up till now.

“Don’t you think I tried that? He only lasted a week before he was thrown out. Nurses caught him fortifying his room with homemade explosives and sand bags. Don’t ask me where he got them. After that no other facility would take him. Can’t say I blame them, not much you can do to stop an explosive expert besides putting him in a medically induced coma. And I couldn’t do that to him. So when word reached me we had captured a Jedi during a raid on a Republic warship I went to visit them. The Jedi offered to heal Phex in exchange for their freedom, I took it. But this Jedi was only a Padawan and whatever the Sith had done, the Learner made it a hundred times worse. As soon as Phex woke up he went ballistic and opened up my face with a broken bottle screaming I was in the wrong skin. He sees nightmares while he’s awake now. Eventually I was able to _requisition _a piece of tech from Czerka Corporation and had one of our surgeons implant it in Phex. A prototype neural corrector; in truth I don’t know how it works. What I do know is it induces a small electric shock in short, timed intervals which while painful allows him to focus and remain aware of the here and now.”

Juhani was speechless when the door opened. The cyclops –Drehar– had been waiting for them at the top of the lift having just set the ship’s engines to standby in hopes of preventing the fighters or worse the Interdictor from firing. The cyborg had a skeptical look about him; though it was hard to discern any misgivings he may or may not have had about the trooper he had just worked alongside with mere hours ago from facial expressions alone.

The smuggler laid out the plan for Gravel as the soldier adorned himself in his armor once more. Sadly his weapons weren’t among the kit they had provided him.

Gravel was less than thrilled about the plan. "You've got to be kidding me," It was a foolish plan that had Yuthura; shrouded in dark bed sheets playing the part of the azure Sith the group had killed just hours before and himself being the official escort and “face” of the conversations.

An incoming transmission **** the three actors from altering the plan. Juhani hung back and out of sight as Yuthura stood before the holo transmitter, Gravel and Drehar at her sides respectfully.

A small blue blur of a Human materialized standing in the center of the room. “This is Captain Kazic Valance of the Vigilance. I have your ship flagged as friendly but your launch is not scheduled. Identify yourselves immediately or you will be fired upon. You have ten seconds to comply.”

Adorned in the maroon armor of the Sith Empire once more; his helmet in the hook of his right arm the man who Juhani only knew as Gravel stood at attention before the hologram. A crisp salute later Gravel widened his stance and relaxed. “This is the Lament’s Claw, my apologizes Captain Valance I was unable to forward the request for our departure before we launched. I am Sergeant Sarkin Thes of the 203rd Mobile Incursion Brigade. I am serving as Lord Zag’dosiz’s attaché for his trip to Ziost. ”

Captain Valance stared at the Sergeant incredulously before moving onto the other people he was aware of. He was brief in his once over with Zag’dosiz and lingered on Captain Drehar who refused to meet the man’s gaze.

“Shall I accompany you Lord Zag’dosiz? My vessel is far more impressive to your current mode of transportation. I’d be able to get you there within a few days.”

Gravel deftly rolled his eyes as Valance played politics to curry favor with a fake superior. Yuthura playing the part of a self important superior ignored the question with no comment and walked away from the holo projector to take in the emptiness of space. Amused Gravel stifled a snicker. “I believe that is his answer sir and if there isn’t anything else we must be getting underway.”

Valance held his retort at the brazen soldier. “Yes actually there is. I scanned your ship and detected multiple life forms aboard. Excluding yourself and the bridge crew who else is aboard?”

The man did not miss a beat. “Some are a part of my squad who joined me aboard the ship and the others are Lord Zag’dosiz “entertainment” for the lengthy trip to and from Zoist.”

Valance cocked his head to the side “Entertainment?”

Gravel swung his arm around Drehar and slowly peeled away the bacta patch that covered the empty eye socket. “You see Lord Zag’dosiz likes to keep himself busy and had started to amuse himself with our friend here. But I managed to convince him to take on a few of the locals instead of wasting the ship’s pilot.”

The wound had not begun to heal and still bleed as the patch was removed and reapplied. Valance visibly groaned at the captain’s mutilation. “I see, very well. You are cleared and I wish you a safe journey.”

Gravel saluted his naval superior; Drehar comically joining in were Yuthura continued to ignore the exchange just a few meters away. Even before the line was terminated the cyclops dove for his chair and threw the Lament’s engines to full; burning passed the Interdictor and then the blockade beyond it before escaping into hyperspace.

“Was that too easy for anyone else?” Yuthura asked pulling the robbed sheets from her person.

“Yeah, that seemed rushed.” Gravel noted.

Once more stripped of his armor Juhani and Yuthura escorted Gravel or Sarkin Thes as he called himself back to his cell. “I’ll get you all some blankets and food once I’ve made sure our course is plotted.” Juhani remarked as she opened the door to his cell. Sarkin entered without complaint or comment, reunited with his comrades and the broken Phex.

Yuthura stole a look inside and noted only the five combatants. “Where’s Michael?”

One of the droids on either side of the door responded before Juhani had a chance to. “Response: That prisoner was transferred to the medical bay for cold storage.” Yuthura looked to the droid, then to Juhani and finally the prisoners who seemed indifferent to the question.

Once secured and under guard, Juhani accompanied Yuthura to the medical bay where a droid; possessing the hunched frame of an elderly humanoid, a mask resembling a rebreather welded to its face plate and several different assortment of limbs produced Michael’s body riding atop a crude gurney covered by a thin sheet of cloth.

It was Yuthura who unveiled the beaten remains with one swift motion. “Did he suffer?” the Twi’lek inquired, the flower her molester had gifted her back on Dantooine clutched in her hand. The droid blinked, its photo receptors flickering in thought as it analyzed the question and the remains simultaneously. “The data I have collected suggests the attack was quick and brutal focusing around striking vital points. No defensive wounds are present which suggests the deceased couldn’t or wouldn’t defend themselves. I am sorry for your loss.”

Yuthura nodded and waved the droid off. Juhani waited the span of ten seconds before coming to her friend’s side. “I am sorry I didn’t tell you Yuthura. I found him like this when I went to retrieve Gra…Sarkin.”

The Twi’lek didn’t appear angry or sad. She was simply a calm stoic woman standing there, twirling a flower in her hand. “Its fine, I don’t blame you for throwing him in that cell, nor do I blame the soldiers responsible for doing this. In truth I don’t know what to feel. He was responsible for helping us off that world…but he also…” she paused at the memory of his violation of her.

Juhani embraced Yuthura from behind, wrapping her arms around the conflicted woman. “Its okay, this is natural after every attack. You are confused and maybe think that somehow it was your fault. But this happened because of the choices he made, not you.” The Cathar gently spun the tear stricken girl around. In hopes of changing the subject and getting Yuthura’s mind off her attack and her dead attacker she prodded about the flower.

“Did you find that on Dantooine? I’ve never seen its kind before.”

Yuthura wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand that still held the flower. “No, he gave it to me…”

Blast it…

Yuthura continued staring into Juhani’s cat-like eyes. “What I don’t understand is why he stayed Juhani.”A confused look was the reply she got. “When he gave me this,” spinning the flower through its pedicel “he vanished Juhani.”

“Vanished, like what I do?”

Her violet face swiveled left to right. “No he didn’t just conceal himself within the **** to camouflage his physical form. He literally vanished into thin air! When he reappeared he had this and the way he explained it was he was moving around within the **** itself.”

“Yuthura, no technique among the Orders of the Sith or Jedi exists he must have used a more mundane trick like sleight of hand or something.”

“Don’t think less of me Juhani but I feel you’re wrong. He never lied to us directly, yes he may have been vague in his meanings but he never lied about anything.”

“Not lying to us does not absolve him of his crimes and cruel machinations…besides he’s gone now along with the knowledge of the technique.” Juhani’s hand crested the top of Yuthura’s shoulder. “Go rest, you’ve been through enough today. Meditate for a while and see if clarity comes to you.”

“I’m not wrong!” the Twi’lek shouted defensively.

“I’m not saying you are. I am just suggesting you go and rest, let the **** answer these questions.” Yuthura nodded laying the flower across Michael’s chest before leaving to find a quiet place to meditate. Juhani gave a smile of reassurances as her friend departed before she cast her eyes back to Michael. “Even gone, you trouble her…”

After such an ordeal everyone aboard the ship sought the solitude of sleep. Drehar had remained on the bridge, the lights dimmed with his feet propped up on a nearby console. While Yuthura was resting in the smuggler’s own chambers at the behest of the man himself she at first believed the man had an ulterior motive but he was genuine only returning once to get a change of clothes. Juhani had remained in the medical bay, meditating in front of the pods that held her fellows Tanzaar and Belaya.

Drehar was overjoyed. They had escaped with their lives and he had just overheard wonderful news. Michael was dead, beaten to **** by the very soldiers he tricked aboard. The cyborg laughed a thick wet chuckle. He just might thank those troopers if he got the chance, saved him the trouble of spacing the fool himself. A misshapen grin peaked at the corners of his lip at the realization of something. With him gone, that lushes Twi’lek was up for grabs.

She seemed innocent enough and if he could charm his way into getting her to trust him. All he needed was a strong enough drink to get her tipsy and loose and he could do the rest. “A good day indeed,” he mumbled.

His cybernetic eye picked up movement to his left; his feet were grounded blaster in hand in the span of five seconds panning left to right. The eye’s software scanned the room, an invisible reticile painting every surface looking for the movement it had detected. Nothing… Just as he was about to holster his weapon movement again this time behind him. Spinning around he leveled the barrel mid level a clear body shot. Again nothing, “Lights,” he croaked, the dimmed lighting returning to the standard setting and illuminating every dark corner of the bridge. No one was here.

Placing his back to the wall he brought up live camera feeds aboard his ship. The farmers were still isolated in the hanger and the Twi’lek was still wrapped up in his sheets. “Where’s that cat bitch?” a flicking of channels showed her still meditating in front of those blasted pods.

“Damn eye must be on the fritz.” His paranoia defused he holstered his pistol and returned the lights to a dimmed level and resumed his relaxed demeanor in his chair.