Part 8

Royal Palace.
Nashira
Skye, Skye Alliance.
332ABY
February 22nd

“Colonel Sortek?”

Arden Sortek looked up from his paperwork and smiled at his visitor. Immediately standing, he offered her his hand.

“Colonel Campion” Arden grinned, “You’re early”

Grace Ferdinand y Olay de Campion returned the smile and accepted his handshake, “My ride here made better time than expected. Pilot shaved twelve hours of the journey by skimming the edge of the Dorin system and using it’s stars gravity to bend our hyperspace course” She shrugged, “Said something about it saved us having to drop into real-space and reorient for a fresh jump”

Arden nodded and looked over his fellow Colonel. Tall and slim, but with a fair amount of muscle tone. Campion’s dark skin contrasted with the light blue of the Tarn Heavy Guards uniform as did her almost coal black hair, it’s frizzy lengths held away from her face by a headband in the same blue as her uniform. Her eyes he noticed were mismatched, one startling shade of blue and the other an almost silvery grey.

Her uniform itself bore a number of medals and decorations, but she wasn’t wearing all the ones she was entitled to. Just the ones that she obviously felt counted. The Gold Sunburst over crossed swords that was the insignia of the Heavy Guards, Her campaign ribbon for the war of 322-323 which itself had additional patches to denote the battles she was a part of and of course, the Silver Talons medal she had been awarded by Prince Harrison for her actions on Neimodia during that war.

He did notice her lack of bags, “You’ve already been shown your room?”

Grace nodded, “I have” She snorted, “I could park my Manticore in there and there’d still be room to have a party”

Arden laughed, “True, the rooms are certainly big. Consider it a perk of the job”

She frowned, “What exactly is my job, Colonel?” She asked, “I understand that the Prince’s Champion is essentially an advisory role, but I’ll also represent the Prince and his interests where necessary”

He waved her towards the offices sofa, “That’s the essence of it. But there’s a lot more to it than that”

Grace seated herself, “I’d guessed as much”

“What you’ve described is the official duty of the Prince’s Champion” Arden explained, seating himself in the chair opposite, “But essentially you will act as second-in-command to the Prince, answerable only to him and no one else. If the Prince is unable to make a decision on a matter, then it falls to you. You’ll have quite a broad discretionary ability to make military and political decisions on his behalf. You’ll have unlimited authorisation to allocate whatever resources you need to deal with any situation and even the Field Marshals and March Dukes have to obey”

Grace swallowed at that explanation and he saw in her face that she was realizing the gravity of her new role.

“So, if I’m touring garrisons on the border worlds and Republic or Circinus forces attack?” She started.

Arden nodded, “You’ll have full authority to call up reserves, organise defences and summon reinforcements. If necessary you can even put the Alliance on a war footing if the Prince is incapacitated or out of contact. Any decision of that magnitude is of course, subject to review so make sure you have all your facts in order” He hesitated, “Should the Prince be killed or incapacitated and his heir unable to take over, then you will take control of the Alliance until the next viable heir is located”

“Emperor’s Black Bones” Grace whispered, “”That’s a lot of responsibility” She frowned, “Who is the next viable heir? I know Jacob’s Son as eldest would be next in line, followed by Sela, but neither is of age yet”

“Hanna would act as Regent, ruling until Troy was of age. If she cannot do so, then Duke Edward Tarn would act as Regent. If Troy or Sela can’t take the throne. Then as the next closest to the line, it would pass to either Melissa Tarn or Draco Fel Tarn as the closest Cousins. Beyond that, things get a bit messy”

Grace winced, “But it would require a major disaster to remove seven people from the chain” She frowned, “What about Jacob’s sister, Alexa is it she’s called now?”

“Remember the part where I said it gets messy?” Arden asked, when Grace nodded, he continued, “Because she was stripped of title and name, Alexa isn’t part of the line any more. But she is still of Tarn blood, so should there be no other option, she can take the throne”

“Not the best option though?”

Arden snorted, “Never mind that half the nobles would never accept her, she’s not exactly got the temperament for rule and diplomatic niceties. Prefers action over discussion”

“Sounds like she’d be perfect” Grace grinned, “She’d be direct and to the point?”

“She’s due to return here in just over a weeks time” Arden laughed, “Natasha Loren is still healing from her injuries and is still on planet with several other members of Alexa’s crew. I’ll introduce you to Alexa when she’s here and trust me, you will rethink what you just said”

She grinned, “So, best option, keep the Prince and his family alive?”

“Yes” He sobered, “And that brings us to your final duty. The protection of the Prince and the first family are of utmost importance. If at anytime, you feel that they are threatened, even by other members of the family or close associates, then you must and will take all necessary actions, including shooting down that person or persons”

Grace stared at him, “This is because of the Brendan Tarn thing?”

Arden nodded, “And Angus Tarn eight years ago. I’m not saying burn down someone just because they look at the Prince in the wrong way, but events of the last decade have shown that even Tarn’s pose a threat to the ruling line”

“Even Alexa?”

Arden hesitated, then shook his head, “Honestly? Despite her reputation, I do think Alexa Wolf would sooner chew off her own arm than raise a hand in anger to the Prince”

“I see” Grace said, a little unconvinced.

“Trust me, Alexa loves Jacob too much to wrong him” Arden smiled reassuringly, “Speaking of which, have you reported to Jacob yet?”

“Not yet” She shook her head, “His aide, Naaz Basa?, said he was spending a little time with his family, so I decided not to disturb him yet. So I came to see you”

“That’s fair” Arden nodded, “Then stood, “Come I’ll give you the tour, then we’ll go see the Prince”

——————————————————————————

Royal Museum.

Despite being rendered as a statue, Alessendro Tarn still seemed to give off an aura of menace and cruelty. Depicted as the far younger man who had seized the throne of the Skye Alliance following Dale Tarn’s death in 254ABY rather than the wizened hate filled old man who had still made himself known at formal functions as late as 310ABY, it did nothing to rob him of his malevolence.

With his long black hair slicked back, classic Tarn pointed chin and slim, yet muscular build, he could have been described as handsome. But Natasha Loren was fully aware of Alessendro’s history.

At the age of 24, he had seized the throne from the rightful heir, his 14 year old cousin Katrina Tarn and would implement a rule guided as much by his paranoia and mad flights of fancy more than anything. A botched attempt to keep his cousin from meeting Arthur Luvon, a political opponent of Alessendro’s, pushed the two close together instead and led them to believe he’d tried to have them killed.

As outrage over the apparent assassination attempt had grown into civil unrest, Alessendro had clamped down of civil liberties and instituted a number of oppressive policies that only served to heighten unrest and opposition to his rule.

Eventually, using a power base built up whilst on the run and with the support of much of the Alliance, Katrina forced Alessendro to resign in a near bloodless coup and took the throne that was rightfully hers.

Of course, Alessendro hadn’t gone quietly. He would spend the next 50 years hatching plan after plan to retake the throne, many of which would be deftly foiled by Katrina and later Harrison with the background assistance of Subhash Indrahar.

Apparently, he’d still been plotting right up the day he died one day short of his 90^th birthday in 221.

“Did you ever meet him?”

Natasha glanced up at Melissa Tarn, noticing that the much taller woman gave a shudder as she stared at her Great Uncle’s statue.

“No” Ash shook her head, “Never had the displeasure. You?”

Melissa grimaced, “More than a few times. He was a perennial figure at a lot of family formal events. Most of us kids kept away from him for the most part, he was this wrinkly old man, stooped back, hands like claws, mean face, cruel tongue. He hated most of us because we were Katrina’s grandchildren”

“He didn’t have children of his own, did he?” Ash asked.

“Nope” Melissa shrugged, “None legitimate. Couple of illegitimate sons and a daughter, all fathered before he married. One son died as a child, tragic accident. The other actually fought for the Alliance, wanted nothing to do with his ‘sperm donor’ and died in a skirmish with the Circincus Federation”

“What of the girl?” Ash frowned.

“No one knows” Melissa closed her eyes in thought, “She tried to connect with him, but was rejected, so she cut all ties and disappeared”

“I bet the ISF will have kept tabs on her” Ash thought silently, then asked aloud, “So he never had any legit children?”

“Not for lack of trying. His wife and his heir both died in child birth. Despite marrying two more times, he never fathered another child. Rumour was one of his Mistresses took a knife to him after he passed her over for marriage. Cut the whole package off and threw it in the incinerator”

“Yikes” Ash winced, “I’d not heard that one”

Melissa chuckled, “ISF and MIIO hushed it all up. But it’s a bit of a family tale”

Ash looked back up at Alessendro, “Alex always said she reminded him of a Baragwin. Only 100% less pleasant to look at”

This time Melissa laughed out loud, “Maria came up with that description when we were kids. Alex was only three at the time and she loved it, we ended up having a full time job stopping her from repeating it out loud in front of him” She sobered and looked up at the statue, “For his faults, Alessendro took the throne at a time of instability and did what he needed to do, make the Alliance strong and stable. The later years were his downfall”

“Like Operation Concentrated Weakness?” Ash nodded.

Melissa snorted, “From what I’ve read, the logic was good. Reinforce the border worlds, make them a risky proposition for any attacking force. But the downsides outweighed the upsides. Inner worlds were stripped of defences, reserves were locked in position, insufficient facilities on the worlds for all the units to be rested and maintained and nowhere near enough storage capacity for supplies” She shrugged, “Plus the whole concept fails to take into account an attacker could just circumvent the border worlds and strike deeper into the Alliance”

At this point, Samson spoke up having returned from answering a comlink call, “Didn’t the Republic’s Forth Donegal Guards hit Garqi?”

“They did” Ash grinned, “Even fifty years later it was still something of a point of pride for the Republic military. A unit that had no experienced officers and hadn’t even seen a single real battle penetrated deep into the Alliance and devastated Garqi’s main planetary base and swept aside the single Militia unit left to defend the world. They didn’t lose a single man and returned to the Republic unscathed”

“What was the call anyway?” Melissa asked, giving Samson a quick kiss.

“Just a little update from the others” Samson smiled, “The Jedi finally got their new holocomm online and linked to the network. They should be launching from Jouques later today and be back sometime next week”

“Good to hear” Ash grinned, “Be nice to see everyone again”

“One person in particular?” Melissa grinned.

Ash blushed as she manipulated the controls of her wheel chair and turned it away from the Alessendro Tarn exhibit, “Okay, I’m looking forward to seeing her too”

Ash had to admit, she had needed today. At first when Melissa and Samson had proposed taking her out of the hospital for a while, she’d resisted. More from a lack of motivation than any fear of ‘the outside. The recent surgery on her left leg to reseat her kneecap hadn’t helped her mood as it had put her back into the wheelchair for a few days. Fortunately, it was just minor surgery, but she still needed to keep the weight off for a day or two. But Doctor Ross had okayed it, and Shepard Sims had practically pushed her out of the door.

Fortunately, they hadn’t been outdoors long, her immune system was still a little erratic and the weather had turned cold and snowy again. Just a quick trip to a restaurant for dinner and then to the Royal Museum annex of the Royal Palace. Ash had always wanted to see the Royal Museum, but she’d never had the opportunity on previous visits to Skye.

The current area of the Museum that they moved through was dedicated to previous First Princes and Princesses with the size of their exhibit determined by how much of an impact they had. So some were little more than alcoves, others were fairly large with ones like Aleesendro’s falling in the middle.

The next chamber was dedicated to fashions of the Alliance since it’s founding, a complete contrast to the previous one. Though, strictly speaking it wasn’t just fashion as it also covered uniforms worn by members of the AFSA over the last three centuries.

Many of the central exhibits were the elaborate gowns worn by the First Princesses of the Alliance and the consorts of the First Princes. One particular gown caught her eye.

“Oh, that’s beautiful” Ash whispered as she rolled her chair over towards it.

“That was Jenna Tarn’s wedding gown” Melissa explained before Ash was close enough to read the description holo.

“Jenna Tarn? Wasn’t the she the eldest daughter of Trinity Oslo-Tarn, founder of the Alliance?” Ash asked, “Didn’t Jenna disappear after her son fell to the Dark Side?”

“Yes, and yes” Melissa nodded, “Jenna unfortunately went through a rough time in the war of 36 and never fully recovered, plagued by severe mental issues and a body so racked with old injuries that she could only bear the one child. Duncan, her only son, fell to the Dark Side and despite her fragile mental state, she went after him and neither were seen again”

Ash frowned, “As I recall Alex spent some time at Jenna Tarn Memorial as a child when she was recovering from, well we know what?”

Melissa nodded and seated herself on a bench next to Ash. Meanwhile, Samson, being more interested in the military uniforms and sensing this was a conversation he wasn’t needed for, wandered away.

“Yeah” Melissa said after a few moments of thought, “Back then, I thought it was just a hospital, though none of us kids were allowed to visit Alex there. When I got older I learned that it’s more of an asylum, a place for those with severe mental issues to go. Which considering who it’s named after, makes sense. It’s somewhat isolated and secure, the best place for a little girl to recover and the secret of what really happened to her to be maintained.

“You don’t sound entirely convinced” Ash looked at the heavily built woman.

“Yeah, well” Melissa shrugged, “Have you never heard the stories of that place?” When Ash shook her head, she continued, “It was built in 176ABY and was pretty much used as it is now. But in 239ABY there was a huge scandal when a random investigation discovered that staff there had been using patients for medical experimentation, drug trials, invasive treatments and the like. Very unethical and very illegal. There were also stories of patients being sold, though nothing could be proven. A lot of patients couldn’t be accounted for, but some staff did admit that a lot of bodies had been incinerated to hide evidence of the experiments”

“Lovely place” Ash muttered, “Bet it made Galactic Holiday Guides top five places to avoid six years running”

Melissa nodded, “It was reopened in 270ABY with pretty much the same remit it originally had, but with a tremendous amount of scrutiny to ensure what happened didn’t happen again”

“Alexa only told me a little about her time there” Ash sighed, “She has little memory of her first years there and her memories of the rest of her time are still difficult for her to talk about. Waking up in that place, learning her mother had died, few visits from her family. It’s not what a little girl should go through”

Melissa was silent for a few moments, “She went through a lot, didn’t she? It’s a wonder she didn’t just end up back there with everything that’s happened” She looked at Ash and smiled, “She’s lucky to have you”

Ash grinned, “I’m lucky to have her too. She showed me love and respect, when for a long time I’d had none. And she kept me going through some dark periods. When I was infiltrating the NRI, memories of her kept me going and helped me stay focused” She laughed, “Don’t get me wrong though, she drives me insane sometimes. She’s brash, egotistical, most of the time she acts without thinking things through and it’s only sheer dumb assed luck that she wins through” She pointed at her mouth, “When she got her teeth done, I didn’t speak to her for a week. She was in pain and discomfort, was stuck on liquid foods and her face was swollen like a Kitonak’s and I still made her sleep in the guest quarters for a week. I was just so furious” She shook her head, “Some days I don’t know whether to kiss her or strangle the life out of her” She smiled, “In the end though, I know I need her as much as she needs me”

“Best kind of love, or so I’ve heard” Melissa grinned, gazing the general direction of Samson who could be seen leaning in to read the description of some uniform.

Ash grinned, “I hope it works out for you two. You’ll have ups and downs I’m sure, but trust me, it’s worth it”

———————————————————————-

Jouques
Alliance Frontier.
February 25th

Alexa Wolf turned and offered her hand to Master Elias Vaughn, “Thank you for your hospitality here, such as it is”

Accepting the handshake, Vaughn laughed, “I won’t exactly say it’s been a pleasure, but it has certainly been an experience” He frowned, “It’s always interesting to get the perspective of a non-Jedi on matters. I’d be lying if you didn’t give me a few things to think about”

Alexa shrugged, “There’s little value in judging the actions of someone who can’t defend themselves, especially after three centuries. It’s better to learn from what they did so that the same actions can be avoided in the future”

“True” Vaughn nodded, “I also have to thank you for your crews help. We were able to get our new equipment set up a lot quicker than we would have, thanks to their assistance. Especially the Holocomm transmitter” He smiled, “Your engineers assistance was especially invaluable in getting the drainage systems working”

“It was no problem” Alexa grinned, “And if I’m honest, better they were kept busy helping out. My crew getting bored is a recipe for chaos”

“Having heard of the reputation of your crew, I can understand that” Vaughn chuckled.

Alexa laughed, “Sadly, it’s a well earned reputation” She glanced at the imposing shape of the wrecked Star Destroyer rising above the treeline, “I’ll admit it’s been interesting here, but it’s time we returned to the wider galaxy and civilization”

“It’ll be a few more months for me” Vaughn nodded, “Likely by the end of the year, we’ll have learnt everything we can here and we’ll pack up and leave the dead to their rest”

“Fairs” Alexa smiled, Well, all being well, it’ll be a nice quiet trip back to Skye with our passengers and Masters Senn and Horn will be back on Ossus by next month”

“Safe travels then Captain” Vaughn nodded, then stepped back as Alexa pressed the control to start raising the boarding ramp.

Tossing a quick salute to the Jedi Master as the ramp hissed and clunked into place, Alexa turned and made her way across the cargo bay, now somewhat emptier without all the cargo for the Jedi. Halfway towards the stairwell to the upper levels, she was intercepted by Kitten.

“Newest passengers are all settled in” The pink haired pilot grinned, “I put Horn in the quarters opposite Master Senn and the kid in the ones at the end of that deck”

“Thanks Kitten, I appreciate you stepping in to help considering Helene and Kai are still staring daggers at each other” Alexa nodded.

“Someone had to” Kitten snorted, “Hopefully, the close proximity on this ship might encourage them to learn to get along”

Alexa sighed as they paused at the base of the stairway, “We can only hope”

“And anyway” Kitten grinned, “There’s always the option of stunning them both and locking them in their quarters till we get to Skye”

“Don’t tempt me” Alexa muttered as she headed up the stairs. At the top, she ran into Kitten’s husband Dan Halcyon, “Dan, we all set for lift off?”

“Yup” Dan said, glancing at a datapad he held, “Sacul, got us an update from Alliance Navy sources. Looks like our route back to Skye is pretty clear”

“Good, I’d prefer us to avoid too many delays in getting back” Alexa nodded, “Get us launched and on our way. I’m going go see if there’s any lunch left”

“Enjoy” Dan chuckled as he headed up towards the command bridge whilst Alexa headed towards the Wolfs mess hall.

Even if she’d only been a visitor to the Polaris freighter, the smells that lingered in this area of the would have guided her to the ships mess hall and it’s attached kitchen. Likewise, the sounds of something sizzling in a pan clued her in and also reassured her that there was still a chance of some lunch.

“Ah Captain” Helene Marshall looked up from where she was working in the kitchen, “I’m just doing myself a little lunch. Can throw something on for you, if that’s what you’re after?”

“Please” Alexa smiled, “Nothing to special though, don’t put yourself out. What are you having?”

“Just a sausage and bacon sandwich” Helene shrugged.

“Sounds good to me” Alexa grinned, “I’m gonna make myself some caf, want some?”

“That’d be great” Helene returned the grin and threw some more sausages and bacon onto the pans.

Meanwhile, Alexa set about making a pot of of caf up. By the time, she’d made a mug up for herself and Helene, the other woman was approaching one of the mess halls tables with two plates bearing their sandwiches.

As they both seated themselves, they felt a trembled run through the ship and heard the build up of power in the engines as the Wolf lifted off from Jouques and made for space.

Biting into her sandwich, Alexa savoured the taste of what had always been a snack she always enjoyed. Washing it down with some caf, she glanced at Helene who was also happily enjoying her sandwich.

“Hel, about you and Horn’s Padawan, Kai is it?” Alexa started to say.

“I know I know” Helene waved a hand, “We got started on the wrong foot, we should probably try to start over. But where do I start? For starters, she’s a jedi”

“She’s 17 years old” Alexa pointed out, “Not quite an adult, but no longer a child. I suggest you start by not treating her like a kid. Treat her like an adult”

Helene snorted, “Wish people had followed that advice when I was her age and had just taken the Oberon Throne, I might not have been hoodwinked by Galatea’s father”

“True” Alexa shrugged, “But you’d not have the life you have now. Would you have been happier had that happened?”

Helene smiled and reached for a her sandwich, “No, I definitely would not be happier”

———————————————

Grindcore Prison.
Southern Polar Region.
Skye, Skye Alliance.

Brendan Tarn shivered as the security door hissed shut behind him. He knew it wasn’t just the cold air that had followed him through the doorway from the airlock on the other side, but also in part due to the sudden feeling of despair and oppression that filled the air here.

After all his arrogance and bluster, all the refusal to accept his failure. It was now, this moment, that he fully acknowledged that there was no coming back from this point. For at least the next thirty years, this was his home.

“I probably wouldn’t last that long” He thought as his guards prodded him forwards and directed him down the corridor and deeper into the facilities, “Had I been in general population”

But he would not be put with other prisoners, he would be a target just because he was a Tarn. Even a disgraced Tarn was fair game to many of the prisoners. Instead, he’d be in the so called ‘Private Wing’. Solitary confinement.

“At least I’ll have more than enough time to consider my mistakes”

The first one had clearly been relying on Franz. The idiot had been useful for many of the other tasks Brendan had employed, the ones requiring violence and sending a message. But anything requiring subtlety, Brendan would have been better off doing it himself.

He should have kept Franz well away from his sister Maria and the attack on Natasha Loran and instead employed someone less clumsy. Same with eliminating Franz, he shouldn’t have handled it himself. Maybe even have him dealt with in an ‘accident’

Still, it was too late now. He was facing the next thirty years in a private suite with a bedroom, lounge, fresher and exercise area. Regular meal deliveries and medical check-ups would be his only contact with someone else.

Any other prison, he could have figured out a way to escape. People might have dismissed his smarts, but he’d have come up with a foolproof escape method. But here at Grindcore, with it’s Ultra level security, remote location and trigger happy guards, he’d be lucky to survive long enough to freeze to death on the icy wastelands.

Given time, he could probably find a way to escape. But he wouldn’t bet on achieving that before his release date came.

By now his guards had brought him to an elevator and after directing him into one corner set it descending into the depths of the prison. Ignoring the cold eyed stares of the guards, Brendan focused on the elevators descent. From a slight shift of the elevators descent and a momentary change in pitch of noise from outside the car, he was able to estimate a drop of about seven levels.

That wasn’t really a surprise. The prison would be arranged in a manner that the most dangerous prisoners would be at the very bottom. The low risk, short term prisoners nearer the top and everyone else in between.

He sighed. He’d screwed up big time. He knew that and now he had to pay the price.

As the elevator doors opened again and the guards directed Brendan into the corridor beyond, he took note that it was clean, fairly wide and very reminiscent of the corridors nearer the surface. That told him that this level was part of the main part of the facility that had been built when the old mine had been repurposed for the prison.

From what he knew , the lower levels still used the old mine facilities with some of the very worst prisoners being housed in areas that were little more than capped off mine tunnels.

Still lost in thought, he allowed himself to be directed to and shoved through a hatchway into what he discovered was going to be his new home for the next three decades.

The lounge room was decently furnished at least one door leading to a bedroom that had a connected fresher and bathroom. A second door off the lounge led to a small exercise area with a treadmill and some other basic equipment.

As the door hissed shut behind him, he explored his new home. Finding that they were smart enough to not give him anything he could use to harm a guard or himself. No cutlery. Fittings were inset into walls. Even the treadmill in the exercise area was sunk into the floor so he couldn’t get to the mechanism.

Suddenly despair crashed into him and staggering to one wall, he sank against it and slumped to the floor and tried to hold his tears back.

“This isn’t fair” He whimpered.

“Isn’t Fair?” A voice snapped at him, “You think this is unfair?”

“What?” He leapt to his feet looking in confusion around the room, “Who? Where?”

“Down here. The vent” The voice sounded amused, “And don’t make it obvious”

Brendan dropped back and leaned in close to the vent, trying not to be too obvious. He wasn’t sure if the guards were watching him on holocam.

“Who are you?” He quietly asked.

“A friend” The voice answered, “You’re Brendan Tarn?”

“Yeah” He replied carefully. The voice sounded female, yet also muffled by the vent, but he didn’t recognise it. Though it was familiar in some way, “And you are?”

“Like I said, a friend” The voice replied, “Who I am isn’t important right now. But I’m your way out of this place”

Brendan snorted, “Yeah, sure”

“I’m serious” The voice didn’t sound even remotely insulted, “I can help you escape”

“If it’s that easy, why are you still here?” Brendan asked.

“Because I can’t do it alone” The voice laughed, “I need a second pair of hands. Someone I can trust” There was a pause, “Can I trust you Brendan?”

He didn’t even hesitate.

——————————————

Skellon V
Skye Alliance.
Febuary 28^th

The spaceport of Boret city was typical of far Outer Rim. Little more than a series of large pits suck in the ground with basic facilities for maintenance and cargo handling along with a small collection of buildings to handle customs and security, the starport still handled a lot of traffic.

Fortunately, unlike a lot of Outer Rim starports which tended towards one pit per ship, the Boret starport possessed landing pits large enough for multiple ships with some of the largest able to handle cruiser sized vessels.

The Wolf currently sat in one of those pits, the Polaris IV freighter dwarfed by the Heavy Haulers and Cruisers sharing the landing pit. The largest ship, almost as a counterpoint to the Wolf was a battered, ageing but still functional Vestrix Light Cruiser.

One that one member of the Wolf’s crew had found very familiar.

“I’m telling you, it’s the same one” Leeza Tay was stood on the gantry that ran around the landing pit. Below was the Wolf and straight across from the that position was the Vestrix.

Kitten frowned, “Are you sure?” The pink haired, heavily tattooed pilot looked at her friend, “Vestrix Cruisers might be fairly old now, but they aren’t rare either. Most Outer Rim planets still have them as part of their defensive fleets”

“True” The shorter, slightly heavier pilot nodded, “But I recognise the pattern of carbon scoring on the bow and port side. It’s the same one we watched hit that Bulk freighter on the way out to Jouques. It’s those pirates”

Kitten though was still unconvinced, so looked to the other person stood on the gantry with them, “Sacul, What do you think?”

The young girl scowled, “That ship is registered with Skellon V as the Nuada, a freelancer out of Telti. They filed a journey report that states they’ve been travelling up along the Hydian Way the last two weeks”

Both pilots looked at her as if they didn’t believe that was the end of the story.

The Human Replica Droid that looked like a 17 year old girl rolled her eyes and continued, “I’ve been in the Skellon V Traffic Control systems since before we landed. I’ve already compared the STCs spectral analysis of the ships sublight ion exhaust with the data you guys pulled at the pirate attack on that freighter. It’s a match or at least close enough to matter”

“Were you able to get any other info?” Kitten asked.

“A long list of likely fake IFF IDs” Sacul shrugged, “None of them particularly useful, but most are connected with known pirate and raider activity”

“So, chances are it’s the same ship” Kitten nodded.

“It IS the same ship” Leeza cut in.

Kitten ignored her friend and continued, “And it’s connected with the raiders that are currently causing problems in this region. So the question is, what do we do with this info?”

Leeza snorted, “Locals won’t be interested I bet. Probably a lot of bribes splashed around for them to not run the S.I.E readings with the records. Which is a big breach of rules I add”

“Captain might not want to take action either” Kitten nodded, “She did kinda promise the Alliance’s anti-pirate task force commander that we wouldn’t try to take them on ourselves”

Sacul thought for a moment, “Let’s tell her anyway. I might have an idea”

——————————————————

Nashira General Hospital.
Nashira, Skye.
Skye Alliance.

Natsaha Loran grimaced as a spark of pain shot up her leg with each step. It wasn’t the same old agonising pain, just a sharp ache that was centred on her left knee. A brace now surrounded much of her left leg, something she was used to having worn one for a few days following the events of the Second Amaris attack when she took a blaster bolt through her knee.

Still, the recent surgery on the knee did at least mean she could get back to walking again.

“Or at least trying” She muttered, shifting her weight to her right leg which only gave a little ache at the hip. She then swung her crutches and once she was sure they were ready to take her weight, shifted her left leg forwards and then braced herself as she relieved the weight on her right and transferred it to the crutches and her left leg.

This time as her left leg took her weight, even though it was mitigated by the crutches taking most of the strain, the spear of pain that shot up her leg drew a barely audible whimper from her.

As she resettled her right leg and settled her weight back onto it, she cast an embarrassed look around the physio room to see if anyone had heard that childish noise. Other than her physiotherapist Helmut Borner, no one else in the physio room was paying much attention to her.

A glance at Borner and specifically the steel and plasteel legs that emerged from his shorts reminded her that even if he had heard her -and he gave no sign that he had- he would not judge her for it.

“He had it worse than me” She thought, “He lost both his legs. I’ve still got mine. Come on, Ash, you can do this”

Gritting her teeth, she repeated the process again. Full weight on her right leg, crutches forward, then left leg and finally shift her weight and move her right leg. This time the pain was enough to turn the earlier whimper into a very audible grunt of pain that coincided with a very noticeable tremble in her body.

As she stood there, trembling and trying to keep herself balanced on her crutches and her good leg, Borner appeared at her side, though he didn’t make a move to support her, which she appreciated knowing that he’d do so only if it looked like she’d fall.

“Natasha” Borner said quietly, “I know it hurts, but it’ll get better, trust me. You just have to fight through it”

Ash gritted her teeth as the pain settled back into an ache, “It just hurts so much. It’s taking all my effort to avoid fainting”

“If it helps” Borner gave a slight smile, “Even now, five years later, my ankle still gives me a lot of pain”

Ash frowned at him, then looked at his ankles which were just as artificial as the rest of his legs, then back at his face. She knew her expression reflected her belief that he was pulling her leg.

“I’m serious” Borner nodded, “Phantom limb pain. Some mornings, it’s agonising. All I can do is take a few deep breaths and fight through it”

Ash glanced at his legs again and felt a burst of shame. She’d had surgery on her knee. He’d lost both legs in combat, then once he’d recovered he’d chosen to retrain as a physiotherapist in order to help others like himself.

“Look, I’m not going to say the pain is going to go away” Borner said quietly, “I’m not a surgeon, and my own experience with knee replacements is non-existent. You just need to keep fighting”

Ash sighed, “I’m just starting to worry that I’m pushing myself too hard, too fast”

“Maybe a little” Borner shrugged, “But I think you’re determined enough to make it work. Look at the progress you’ve made so far. Just a few weeks ago, you were still trapped in your bed”

“I suppose” Ash nodded, “It’s just I wanted to be walking unaided by the time Alexa returned”

“I know” Borner said sympathetically, “But as determined as you are and despite your overall progress, it was always going to be difficult when you can’t be treated with Bacta. But even so, you’re recovery has been impressive. I’ve seen hardened soldiers suffer lesser injuries and take longer to get to this point”

Ash managed a small smile, “I’ve never been one to sit around feeling sorry for myself”

For a few heartbeats, Borner looked at her as if he didn’t believe her, but then smiled and nodded, “Good to hear, far better to start fighting to get fit again” He frowned, “Speaking of which, why you still standing around? Back to it”

Giving a small smile and an exaggerated sigh, Ash focused her attention on her crutches and feet and started again.