(L,F&E 79) Dark Medicine

[kalenath]

It was very quiet in the speeder garage. He checked the area, as always. Paranoia by definition was not rational. He had never had problems here, although some of his coworkers had. And he had worked for scary people once. Admittedly, he had done his tour of duty and then had requested a transfer as far as possible from that particular evil group. When it had been accepted, he had fled. He had cut all his ties, left his family and friends behind, all to get away from his memories and the evil he had helped perpetrate. And he had wound up here, on Tattooine, working for Cranna the Hutt of all people. Here, he could make a difference. If she ever found out who he had worked for, he would take days to die in all likelihood. Luckily, his cover ID seemed to have held up, even through her rigorous scrutiny. So a certain amount of paranoia was understandable. He unlocked his speeder and settled into the seat with a sigh. He started the speeder and then froze as a figure appeared in front of him. A small green form.

 

“Oh god no…” He breathed as he slammed the accelerator pedal to the floor, ignoring the warning beep from the automated systems that governed the traffic in the garage. He would get a reprimand from security of course, but first he had to get away.

 

The small Jedi jumped out of the way and he heard a thump as something landed on the roof. He had to get away! He had to! He wouldn’t go back! He wouldn’t! The snap hiss of a lightsaber igniting had him jerking his controls. He made the speeder dance as best it could, it was an airspeeder, not a starfighter and he was no combat pilot. The smell of scorched metal and insulation told him that he had seconds at best before the Jedi cut his way in. He took a deep breath and made his choice. He banked the speeder and applied full power again on a course that would have him impact a large landmark rock at full speed.

 

“Doctor! No!” Came a shout from behind him, but the rock was growing in his vision. His release from his past, from the pain that he had done. From the evils he had done. He had to reach the rock! He had to! It was growing larger; maybe he would make it… Something heavy slammed into the back of his head and he knew no more.

 

<Later>

 

He hadn’t expected to wake at all. For a moment, he just lay there, stunned, and then he slumped. He knew the sounds and smells that surrounded him now. He didn’t need to open his eyes to know where he was. “You should have let me die.”

 

“We need you, doctor.” It wasn’t a voice he knew. He opened his eyes to find a young woman sitting beside his bed. She was maybe fourteen and wore a white jumpsuit. His heart fell as he saw her shaved head and the tell tales of implants. She was an experimental subject. Like so many he had worked on, to his shame.

 

“Kill me… I won’t help them. Just… Just kill me…” His eyes travelled down his body and he was surprised to find his body unmarked. He was restrained of course. After all, he had tried to kill himself. But he had cause. Oh yes, he had cause.

 

“You don’t have a choice, doctor.” The girl shook her head sadly. “Just like me. They… We need you.” He turned his head away from her. “Doctor… please… If you do not agree to help willingly, they will do… something horrible to you. They inject people with something and… it changes them. They can’t disobey. They scream and cry and then… they stop. And then they do whatever they are ordered. Please…” Was the girl about to cry? “Don’t make me watch you get hurt that way. Please…”

 

“Do I know you?” he asked quietly, after checking the restraints. They were far beyond his ability to break.

 

“I am 8410-109. I was one of the test subjects. But you were always kind to me, you didn’t have to be but you were. That is why they had me be here when you woke.” The girl would not meet his eyes now.

 

“Who is in charge?” The doctor asked slowly as he looked around the room. “Arrac? Vandar?”

 

"Neither." 8410-109 shook her head. “Ton Arrac is dead. They say that Will Kalenath caught him and turned him over to his mother.” The doctor shivered bit at that, but if anyone deserved a horrible fate, the head of the Operations department of the Special Branch of Republic Intelligence did. “Master Vandar is… I don’t know. Sometimes he seems to be in charge, other times he isn’t.”

 

“Why are you helping them? You are a slave. They have done… We have done… such horrible things to you.” The doctor looked at the girl, and yes, she was the right age to have been one of his experiments.

 

“I am a clone, doctor. You created me. I don’t know any other way to be. I am…incomplete. I feel… wrong. But I exist to defend the Republic. That is my purpose. My only purpose.” The girl’s calm voice horrified the doctor even more than he had been.

 

“You are not a droid! You are a girl!” His voice was harsher than it should have been. She was a victim. Of his actions as much as anyone’s. “I… I did this to you. And I can’t make it right. I am sorry.”

 

“You can help her, doctor.” The soft voice had him freezing in his bed. The small green form of Jedi Master Vandar Tokare jumped up onto a chair nearby. “We need her and the others, now more than ever. The Seven are mobilizing.”

 

“Shut up, you lying piece of filth. You told us it was for the Republic." He snapped." I know what you serve now. I know! I have seen it! It is not…” Suddenly he couldn’t speak.

 

"No." Vandar’s face was sad as he held the doctor immobile. “Be silent doctor and listen. We don’t have much time. How long will the loop last, Loia?”

 

The doctor froze in place as the girl stared at the wall, no at a camera that whirred on the wall. Republic Intelligence had paranoia as a watchword. “We have three minutes, Master Vandar. We can hold it that long.”

 

“Don’t take any chances. Let me know at the one minute mark. Doctor… Yes, what we did was awful, and yes, what I did is unforgivable.” Vandar’s calm eyes bored deep into the man’s soul. “But we have bigger problems. Not only are the Seven mobilizing, but they are mobilizing too soon. We are not ready.”

 

“Why should I care? You will just program me, use me and throw me away. Like you have so many others. What you did to Will… To Sara and Maria and Samuel… You bastard… For the Republic my fanny!” The doctor was beyond incensed, beyond caring.

 

For along moment Vandar did not reply. When he did, it was sad. “What we did… We did for the future of the galaxy. Or… So I thought.” The doctor stared at him shocked out of his rage. “I was tricked, doctor. Jedi are not perfect. I can’t undo what I did. But I can try to make a difference now. And if the Seven come into their own unguided, unwarded, we are doomed. Every. Last. One. Of. Us.”

 

“This is a trick. You are trying to get me to help you.” The doctor shook his head. “I won’t. Never again. I have spent the last ten years lying awake at night, seeing their faces, hearing their screams. I won’t help you hurt anyone else!”

 

“We are not asking you to, doctor.” Vandar said with a sigh. “We are asking you to help us heal some people.”

 

“Kark you.” The doctor said and lay back, closing his eyes. “I won’t help you.”

 

"So be it." Vandar sighed and he heard both chairs squeak and then a door hiss. A minute later a female voice he had hoped to never hear again sounded.

 

“Ah, Doctor Varniar… So good to see you again.”

 

"You..." His voice was flat and filled with hate. “Flarg you, Menglan.”

 

“Only in your dreams boy.” She laughed, that same chilling heartless laugh and something stung him on the shoulder over the brachial artery. He screamed as pain erupted from the injection site and quickly spread all over his body. “Welcome back.

[kalenath]

When Curt Varniar woke, he was amazed to find himself unrestrained. When he tried his fingers and toes, they all moved as they should. He felt… He froze, er, he tried to as his body started moving without his commands. He could only stare out his eyes as his body rose from the bed and headed for the refresher. He was screaming inside as his body cleaned itself, then pulled clean clothes on. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get his body to respond to his commands. It was acting under someone else’s control. He felt madness bubbling up around the edges of his mind and pushed it back by sheer strength of will. He would not let these child killing scum win. They could hurt him, program him, but he would not stop fighting. Not now.

 

He had been so stupid. He had been so focused on his own work that had had barely noticed when he had been reassigned from forensic work to an operation run by Republic Intelligence. It hadn’t seemed important. He had been focused on his work, so focused that it had taken more than a year for him to realize that the bodies that came through his lab had been children. He had been so blind, so gulled by his own pride and sense of direction. It was the most insidious form of programming. The scum he had worked for had used his own weaknesses against him, making him one of them. Before he knew what had happened, he had been assisting the other doctors in experiments that even now, years later, made him want to vomit. But he couldn’t now.

 

Varniar was struggling against the control as his body walked from the room he had woken in into a larger room set up as a conference area. He was still struggling as it sat in one of the chairs. He focused on what he COULD control. He had no control over his voluntary muscles now, either the fingers and toes had been a fluke, or whoever was controlling him had wanted to check them as well. But he was aware of everything around him now as well. Hyperaware almost. It was as if his lack of control had focused his mind, or something else was. He had always been a little scatterbrained, but more than made up for it in other aspects.

 

His body did not move, but inside he was screaming as a door hissed open and three figures came in. Vandar Tokare sighed deeply as he looked at Curt. “You should have taken my offer, doctor.”

 

The black robed man behind Vandar seemed vaguely familiar to Doctor Varniar. But it wasn’t until the man spoke that Curt recognized the voice. And quailed inside his mind. He remembered this being. Ravishaw’s voice, as always, was soft and silky and held laughter bubbling back in its depths. “Ah, the sweet smell of suffering… You are such a bouquet doctor. I wonder how you will taste…” The doctor could do nothing as the insane Sith reached out a slow hand to trace his cheek. “Ooo Tasty…I remember you. I think I will have you for lunch.” Ravishaw licked his lips in anticipation.

 

The third, Varniar did not know. But there was something subtly…wrong about him. He wore the garb of a career politician. The man spoke softly, almost kindly. “Ravishaw, we need him, back off.” The Sith that Varniar had helped destroy pouted a little and stepped back.”Doctor, you may speak.”

 

Whatever was controlling Varniar let him loose for a moment and he reacted with vitriol. “You sons of barves! I will find a way to kill you all!” Years of working in fringes of society spewed from his tongue, profanity that had both Vandar and the politician staring at him. Ravishaw on the other hand, was grinning.

 

“Now there is fire that I don’t remember from you, doc.” The black garbed man sat down in another chair, his eyes on the doctor. “You were always such a whiner, maybe now you are worth a meal.” He was going to say something else, but the politician looked at him and amazingly, the Insane Sith ducked his head and shut up. The other two sat as well.

 

“We have spent a great deal of time, money and effort finding you doctor. We have need of your particular skills. You are going to help us, one way or another.” The politico’s eyes were calm as he looked at the doctor, but something… There was something starkly terrifying lurking in the man’s eyes. Something the doctor could not define.

 

“I won’t help you.” He could see Vandar wince at that, but his focus was on the politician who seemed to be in charge. “You can hurt me all you want, I won’t help you.”

 

“Oh I won’t hurt you, doctor.” Curt Varniar felt his body freeze into immobility. The man held out a slow hand to touch him on the chest. The voice was so polite, and at the same time, so evil… “I am going to kill you.”

 

Pain erupted in the doctor’s chest. Somehow, he was able to clinically examine the symptoms as a heart attack. His vision as graying as the blood flow to his brain slowed and stopped. He had perhaps two minutes before total brain failure. He kept his fading vision on the politician, defiantly staring back. It was all he could do as his life ebbed. He knew it was a trick, that he would be released in a moment. It had to be a trick. His vision went dark with that thing that looked like a man smiling at him.

 

“Do you really want him dead?” Vandar’s cold voice shook Varniar awake.

 

“He won’t get away that easily. I can bring him back as often as I need to. Ah, back with us, doctor?” the mild voice had Varniar flinching. “Good boy. Remember tour place, do your job and I won’t have to kill you again. Come Ravishaw, time for another treatment.”

 

"Right..." Cold fingers traced Varniar’s cheek and Ravishaw’s silky voice sounded nearby. “Until later. I look forward to renewing our acquaintance.” The door hissed and Varniar was left alone. But only for a moment.

 

Gentle hands helped him sit up. “You should not have defied him, Doctor.” Vandar sounded sad. Curt was shivering so hard he couldn’t speak. “Easy… Here…” Something warm spread from the hands that held him, soothing, calming.

 

“What have you done?” Curt managed to gasp out after amount. “What is that…? That thing…?” He kept his eyes closed tightly.

 

For a long moment, there was silence. When Vandar spoke it was sad, but held anger as well. “That thing, as you put it, is a collection of microscopic machines that have taken human form. It is also Senator Donal Firdlump.”

 

"What?" Curt hadn’t thought his body could get any stiffer. He knew that name. He didn’t follow politics, but he did know that name. “Firdlump? The majority leader?”

 

“Yes. And now, you have some of those machines inside you. You will scream, you will cry, eventually you will try and kill yourself. It doesn’t work. He can bring back the dead. I have seen him reassemble a soldier who used a thermal detonator on herself.” Vandar’s voice held horror the likes of which Curt Varniar could only imagine. “As bad as the things you have seen and done are… The things he has made me do…”

 

Bad choices and worse ones. That was the story of Curt Varniar’s life. “He put them in you, didn’t he?”

 

"Yes." Vandar’s reply was almost inaudible. “I was his first. He found me, reanimated me, made me his slave. I am a useful slave, but still, a slave.”

 

“Fine…” Carl sighed. “What is thy bidding, my master?” Carl was stunned when his cheek stung. He stared up into Vandar’s eyes and the Jedi was crying.

 

“I am not the master here. We need your help, doctor. And we need you to be a doctor… not a monster.”

[kalenath]

He had control of his body again, but for how long? He wasn’t sure what to do or think. So he focused on the work. It came back easily to him, far too easily. Part of him quailed at what he was asked to do. Part of him, a traitorous part, was intrigued. And the equipment… It was beyond state of the art. The scanners, droids and medical gear were so far in advance of Republic tech that he wondered at times how he would be able to use it. But it was, for the most part, idiot proof. He spent some time getting to know the scanners, they were nothing like he had used before. Even Cranna’s clinic hadn’t had this much state of the art gear.

 

Working for Cranna had been a dream come true. She hadn’t cared about appearances, or personalities. All she had wanted was results. She had been a demanding boss, but a fair one. He had made a difference in small ways and big ones while working for her. He had been forced to learn a new field of medicine to keep from betraying himself. And seeing those children again after Cranna and others had rescued them from Special Branch had hurt, a lot. He had been a cause of their suffering. His techniques were what Special Branch had used to create them. He hadn’t been involved with putting control and training implants their brains, but he had worked on growing them. He hadn’t had a clue how Special Branch was going to use his research. When he had finally discovered what they did with the embryos he had modified, he had been horrified. Horrifying him in those days had taken some doing, but his bosses had managed. Vandar had managed.

 

He sighed and lay still on the table as the scanner whirred. Dwelling on the past was pointless. He was doing a series of scans for several reasons. He needed to get used to the scanner quickly, he had been given instructions and knew better than to procrastinate. He wanted to see if there was any damage left from when his new ‘boss’ had stopped his heart. He wanted to see how detailed the scans would be. And last but certainly not least, he wanted to see if he could detect the machines that were inside him now. If he could detect them, maybe he could figure out how to do something about them.

 

The monitor beside the table came alive and he looked at it dumbfounded. He could see his entire body in perfect detail. He could literally see the platelets in his blood flowing from… Wait a moment… What was that? Luckily the machinery was set up for voice access.

 

“Scanner, focus on left brachial artery, shoulder junction four, micro level two twelve.” The machine obliged, focusing on his left arm and the level of detail was unreal. He could see individual cells, and… He froze in place. “Oh my god…”

 

The small silver machines were working to repair what looked like cellular damage. The damage was probably from when the blood flow stopped. Cell death in extremities was immediate in cases like that, although the body could and would repair most of it quickly. The machines were odd looking. They had eight appendages, four for movement, two large and two small for manipulation. The machines looked as if they had been modeled after something. Why build a machine with a body in three sections? Head thorax and abdomen all looked like… He froze in place and his voice was soft, scared almost. “No way in hell…”

 

He had seen a being from a race that called itself Sitolon once. Istara Sharlina Andal had brought a group of children to the clinic and a friend of hers had come along. It had been really weird, seeing a six foot tall insect, but it had only been for a moment. These… These machines were the same proportions as the Sitolon body. These machines were patterned after Sitolon. He lay there for a moment, stunned by that revelation. Why would anyone pattern microscopic machines after a race whose homeworld didn’t exist anymore? Then his chrono chirped and he jerked into motion. He didn’t have a lot of time. He turned off the scanner and set up his equipment. Just as he finished the door opened and 8410-109 entered the room. She wore a patent gown and nothing else.

 

“I am ready, doctor.” The young girl’s voice was calm as she moved towards the equipment.

 

“This is wrong.” Carl Varniar said quietly as he helped her onto another table, this one set with restraints. He froze as she put her hands and feet in place for the restraints. “I won’t restrain you.”

 

“Doctor, please. You must. My body is trained to kill, and if I am unconscious, it will revert to its programming. We need you alive.” Her green eyes held his and bored deep into his soul. “You are the only chance we have.”

 

“I…” He lowered his head, defeated. He was as gentle as he could be when he latched the restraints. “This is wrong.” He repeated. “But… I have no choice. I will be as gentle as I can.”

 

“Physical pain does not bother me doctor. Not after the training they have given me.” Her voice was calm and matter of fact.

 

"I..." Carl winced in memory of what Sara Kalenath had gone through. He had only seen one ‘session’ of that, and it had been more than enough. He swung a scanner over the table and started the sequence. What he found shocked him. “Oh my god… How old are you?”

 

“I will be fourteen standard years old next month.” The girl replied, her eyes on the scanner.

 

“How… many… times…?” He managed to get the words out through his pain, fear and shock. The scans were distinctive. This girl had given birth and not once, several times.

 

“Five.” Her calm word shocked him even further.

 

"No!" He backed away from the table, hands up in a warding gesture. “No! I won’t do this again! I won’t!”

 

“Doctor, please. Can you heal the damage?” Her eyes pinned him in place and her voice held something odd. Not entreaty. Not fear. Something he couldn’t define. He called upon his training and shook his head.

 

“Young lady, your uterus is torn. I am amazed the last time didn’t kill you. It should have.” He hated himself for being so blunt, but he was angry and scared out of his mind. They had used his techniques on her. She was a child! Even at the worst of when he had worked for them before, they had never done this to children! Implanted them, yes, programmed them to obey, yes. But not used them as brood cows! He forced his emotions back. “What happened?”

 

“Memory of that event is faulty. They tell me I hemorrhaged on delivery. I was bleeding too much, I remember them saying that.” Her voice was clinical. Then it softened. “Then she spoke to me. She told me I would be all right.” A soft and sad smile was on her face now.

 

“Who?” The doctor asked as he started another scanning sequence.

 

“I don’t know. She sounded old, wise and sad.” The girl bit her lip and for just a moment, she looked like a normal fourteen year old. Albeit, she was a fourteen year old with a shaved head and metal implants showing on it. When she spoke again her tone held wonder. “She never said her name. I was falling, or floating. Not sure which. Then she was there. She was kind, so different from everyone else in this place. She was like I remember you being.”

 

Curt winced at that. It had been a technique for him to gain the trust of the experimental subjects. They were easier to handle when they did not fight. He had used that trust to do things to the subjects that haunted his nightmares to this day. How he hated himself for that. “I lied to you…” His voice was soft.

 

“I know.” The quiet word brought him up short and when he stared at her, her face was pensive. “We knew, even then, that you were using that to do what you did to us. At least the genetic modifications you did in vitro didn’t hurt. The ones after… You had no choice.”

 

Doctor Varniar sat heavily in a chair near the sole desk in the room. “I can’t do this. Not again.” Tears were falling. “I can’t do this…”

 

“If you don’t they will put me down.” The girl’s quiet words had the doctor jumping to his feet.

 

“What?”

 

“If I can’t… perform… I am useless. Euthanasia will be the only option. I can’t fit in the droid anymore, I have grown too much.” Her voice was clinical again. “If they can’t use me as an incubator…” She slumped in the restraints. “Can you fix the damage?”

 

“They would…’put you down’? Like a rabid nerf?” Curt Varniar shook his head slowly. He had thought himself beyond shocked at what happened in this place. “You are not a nerf! You are a person!”

 

“Doctor, if I have no use, I have no purpose. At least they would not give me to Ravishaw.” She shivered a bit. “At least it will be quick and painless. Vandar won’t let them do it any other way. Anymore anyway…” She shivered again.

 

"No." The doctor shook himself and focused on his scans. “No, I can’t.” He said finally with a sigh. “Maybe the master can undo what happened to you…” He paused as the girl shook her head. “What?”

 

“He doesn’t touch us." The girl said soberly. "They never put those machines in us. We don’t know why.”

 

“That is...odd.” Doctor Varniar felt something then, something incredible. He focused it. He had something now that he had tried so hard to find working for Cranna. He had a purpose. He was going to help these children and he was going to stop the scum who had hurt them, who had used him to hurt them. “They are not going to euthanize you, girl. You do have a purpose.” He moved to release her restraints.

 

“What?” She asked, dumbfounded.

 

Curt Varniar felt his face move in an odd way. It took him a moment to realize that he was smiling. “I need an assistant. I know how fast you can learn. But…” He raised finger as she would have spoken. “I am the boss here, clear? You do what I say, when I say, clear?”

 

“The master is not going to be pleased.”

 

“Well, girl…" The doc said snidely. "The 'Master’ can kiss my butt.”

Edited August 11, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

The pain was indescribable. But it had been worth it just to see the look of complete disbelief on the face of the man who Vandar called Firdlump. He guessed it wasn’t every day that someone told him to flarg off. The girl was free from the threat of euthanasia however. But it really hurt. From his education in medicine, he knew exactly how many nerve clusters a human body had. He didn’t need a scanner to tell where they were however. It felt like they were all on fire. He had called upon his old arrogance and pompousness, dredged up from the dim haze of memory and it had worked. Sort of. The master had not killed him, and had actually given him the girl. A ‘pet’ the master called her. Which was both a dismissal and a threat. If he failed, she would likely pay the price for his failure. But then the thing that looked like a human male had sneered and raised his hand.

 

“Know your place, doctor.” The pain that had erupted in him was even worse than when he had felt when he had been injected with the machines. It had been so severe that he had convulsed, unable even to scream. He had been unable to do anything but writhe on the floor as Ravishaw had giggled in glee. He wasn’t sure how long he had been wracked by the pain but eventually it had stopped. When he had looked up, he had been alone in the room where he had confronted the being who called himself Curt’s master. Curt of course totally denied that. He had no master, despite the machines that inhabited him, despite the pain, the fear, he would not yield. They needed him and they needed him working at full capacity.

 

Apparently, now he was the only true doctor left working for them. Menglan was no doctor, despite what she claimed. He wasn’t sure what had happened, or why. But all of the others had apparently had things happen to them. Hints that he had heard said that the ‘Dark Woman’ had been involved again. He could only hope she found him and killed him, wherever he was. But since he was on a ship, and not a small one at that, it was highly unlikely she would be able to…

 

“Holy hell… Doctor… What can I do?” The scared voice of 8410-109 came to his ears as he entered the medical area. Strong small arms helped him to a chair and sat him down. He looked up to see her bustle away towards the small food prep area that the med ward boasted. She cast a worried glance over her shoulder. “Tea?” He couldn’t speak, not yet so he nodded jerkily.

 

She came back quickly, a steaming mug in hand. She helped him raise it to his lips and drink. Her voice held tears that were not falling. “Doctor… Why did you do that? I am dead either way. Either they kill me quickly and efficiently or I die when my immune system fails. You shouldn’t have done that.”

 

It took several sips of tea before he felt strong enough to speak. When he did, his voice was hoarse from trying to scream. “Yes, I did need to do that. What happened to you is a direct result of what I did to you so long ago. He may control my body, but he cannot control my mind. He wants you and the others for something horrible. I have no idea what. I…” He took another slow sip before speaking again. “I want to help you.”

 

"No." Now the girl’s voice and face held fear. “Doctor, he will kill you. He can bring people back from the dead, but every time… It changes them. They lose some of who and what they are. Doctor please… You are the only good thing that has ever happened to us. You…You were kind.” She moved as if to touch him, but stopped.

 

“I told you it was a control technique.” Curt said quietly as he finished his mug and set it down beside him.

 

“Was it?” Her eyes bored into him. “You could have made it hurt so much more. After you left… What they did to us hurt so much more. You were gentle, and you tried to keep us calm. The others? They didn’t care. All they wanted was results.”

 

“I don’t understand what that thing is trying to do. This makes no sense at all.” Curt tried to rise and found his muscles had turned to jelly. The girl smiled and walked behind his chair. She started a massage and Curt stiffened a little and then sighed as he relaxed. “You should not have been a guinea pig for me or these other scum. You should have had a normal life.” Tears were falling.

 

“Doctor, I was created to serve the Republic. Do I enjoy my life? No. But it is all I know. This is all I am, all I will ever be.” She finished her massage and smiled. “Better?”

 

Doctor Varniar stretched his shoulder muscles and smiled back. “Yes, thank you. We will find a better way for you to be. Look… I can’t call you by that designation. Is there anything you would prefer to be called?”

 

“My designation is what I am…” She said uncertainly. “That is all I have ever been. Vandar calls me by a name, but he calls all of us by names. I think he made them up to feel less monstrous.”

 

“Designating a sentient by a number is dehumanizing. It is easier to rationalize what they did if the subjects…” He gulped a little. “…were not seen as living sentient beings. Otherwise… the things that they… we… did would have driven us mad. The things we did to you and your kin.”

 

The girl took his hands in her strong ones and gave a squeeze. “You are not an evil man, doctor. I know evil. I have seen evil every day of my life. You are not.”

 

“You don’t know me, girl.” Curt Varniar said quietly and tears were still falling. “I have done evil, to you and others. I killed some of you, and I felt…nothing beyond annoyance at the inconvenience of having to get another subject prepped. I spent a great deal of time trying to make up for my evil. And now they, and you, are telling me to do it again. I am not going to do what I did. I will find a better way.”

 

“Doctor…” The girl’s voice and face were wary.

 

“I have been ordered to find a way to repair your immune systems. I have also been ordered to prepare you for a breeding program. How many of you are aboard?” He asked quietly as he rose and walked towards the scanner tables.

 

“Two hundred and sixteen as of the last count. Fifty seven of us are sick and in stasis. Doctor, you have to obey…”She walked two steps behind him, subservient.

 

“I know. I will.” He said flatly as he started the scanners again. “I will need…hmmm… twenty four of you for scanning. That will be three groups of eight each. We will label those groups experiment A, Experiment B and Control. Experiment A will be the group I will work on the immune systems of. Experiment B will be for breeding. Control, we will simply scan and observe.” His demeanor changed as he started working controls, his pain and fear vanished and his face became hard. “Can you set that up?”

 

The girl stared at him for a moment and then sighed and nodded. “Yes doctor.” She walked to a terminal and started punching keys.

 

“I need to start as soon as possible." The doctor said with a sigh. "The thing in charge has no patience. I just wish I knew why he wanted you healed after all this time of hurting you.”

 

He was so focused on his machinery that he didn’t hear the girl whisper behind him under her breath. “No you don’t…”

[kalenath]

He came back to consciousness slowly. His head was pounding and his body was on fire, but that wasn’t what held his attention. What chilled his blood and curdled the shriveled remnants of his soul were the whimpers that came from nearby and the cackling female laughter that overlaid them.

 

“There, dearie… Isn’t that better? You were so stressed earlier. The doctor prescribes a good medicinal…” A shriek came from Loia and the doctor snarled at her. “Now, don’t be like that. It won’t hurt. You will enjoy it. That’s it… that’s it.” The soft, almost sweet words took a moment to percolate through Curt’s semiconscious brain. Then he jerked as he realized what was happening.

 

Loia -he refused to call her by her designation- had come in for her morning scans. He had restrained her as always and then… His memory got fuzzy. He had started the scan cycles, the door had opened and Menglan had been there. It all went black after that. What had happened? He tried to speak and couldn’t. He tried to get up, to see what was going on, and his body did not respond to his commands. Someone, probably the female doc, had taken control of his body from him. All he could do was lie there and listen. He couldn’t even see, he was facing the wall. But from the sounds, he didn’t want to see what was happening.

 

“There, there, girl. That’s a girl.” Menglan was almost cooing in delight. The sick sounds that came from the table had Curt’s heart racing in fear and anger. But he couldn’t do anything but quail inside as he heard the girl’s strangled cries. She must have been gagged. He knew those sounds would haunt him forever as the other doctor laughed delightedly. “Yes, there we go.”

 

Curt heard the door hiss open and quailed as he heard Ravishaw’s giggling voice. “Doctor, you are needed in …” But then the insane Sith broke off and something odd happened. His voice changed and it was clear and free of laughter. “You… witch!” A scream sounded from behind Curt and he quailed again, but it wasn’t Loia who screamed. It was Menglan! “You… You…” Ravishaw’s voice was strained. Then it was cold and angry. “I warned you doctor.”

 

Curt managed to move his head and turned to see a wonder. Menglan was held off the floor, suspended by something invisible. It seemed to be holding her up by the front of her chest. Then she flew to the wall and landed in a boneless heap. Curt could see the slow rise and fall of her chest so she was alive, but she would not be bothering anyone for a while. His gaze went to the figure in black who was leaning over the exam table where Loia lay now. Curt quailed again, Ravishaw was capable of anything. But then the man’s words seeped past Curt’s fear.

 

Ravishaw’s voice was calm and gentle now. “Easy, girl. Easy… let me get you loose.” Curt’s eyes went wide as saucers as the insane Sith undid the restraints and helped the girl sit up and sat beside her. “What did she touch? Does it hurt? Where?” He asked softly, calmly and carefully.

 

Loia was shaking hard and Ravishaw held her gently. The girl’s words were as stunned as Curt’s feelings. She couldn’t seem to stay upright. “She… She…” The girl gasped in pain and fear, clutching at the man. She obviously did not see him, just heard the soft, kind words and felt the gentle touch.

 

“I know.” The black garbed man’s voice was soft and filled with remembered pain. “I will let the doc look at you, girl. I am no healer.” Ravishaw turned to look at Curt and Curt was stunned by the stricken look on the insane man’s face. What could make him react like that? “Doctor?” Ravishaw asked softly.

 

“I… I don’t know what she did. I couldn’t move. I… I can’t move…” Curt managed to get words out.

 

“I am going to let you go for a moment, girl. I need to help the doc. Okay?” Ravishaw’s voice was so soft, so gentle, that for a moment, Curt could not reconcile the being he knew as utterly merciless with the figure that rose from where he had been sitting beside the girl. An inarticulate cry came from the girl, but she subsided as Ravishaw patted her arm. “I won’t go far. I will be right here. She won’t hurt you again. I swear it.”

 

Curt watched in awe as Loia relaxed slightly. He could not control his dread as Ravishaw came close. The man’s eyes were a pair of laser cannon tracking on him. “I owe you a lot of pain, doctor. You were one of the ones who ‘adjusted’ me when Special Branch captured me. But this poor girl needs your help now.” Curt shrank from the man’s touch, but no pain came. Instead, his limbs started responding. “Do not think that I will forgive or forget what you did to me. No matter what, you owe me.”

 

"Yes." Curt swallowed at that. “I know. And I will pay. But let me help… 8410-109.” He managed to get the designation out with only a slight hesitation.

 

“Oh, use her name, it’s cute.” Ravishaw laughed, an echo of his usual insane hilarity. He stood back as Curt rose to his feet and staggered towards the table. His eyes went hard as he saw Loia’s state of undress and the marks on her. Menglan had been busy while Curt had been unconscious.

 

“Loia?” Curt asked quietly. He cursed himself and touched her arm. She shrank away but then nearly jumped into his arms as he came closer. “Easy, easy, girl. It’s okay. It will be okay.” He turned to look at Ravishaw. “Will it?” He asked quietly as the girl buried her face in his shoulder and cried.

 

"Yes." Ravishaw nodded slowly and turned to where the doctor lay. Curt was glad he could not see the Sith’s face. Just from his tone of voice, bad things were going to happen. “She won’t bother you or any of the other children again.”

 

Curt busied himself treating Loia’s wounds and checking her for other injuries. His mind was racing but his voice was steady when he spoke. “Why?”

 

Ravishaw snickered and when he turned the same ironic smile lurked on his face. “Why not?” he cackled now. “I think Menglan and I need to… talk. See you around doctor.” The slumped body of the female doctor hovered silently, buoyed up by the Force and then it followed the insane Sith out the door like a trained canine.

 

"I... I don't..." Loia stared after him, calming slightly as Curt treated her and the pain she felt dissipated. He couldn’t do anything for her non-physical wounds or her embarrassment but be there for her and help however he could. “Why did he do that? He is evil.”

 

"I don't know, Loia." Curt shook his head and he pulled a new patient gown out of a drawer to replace the one Menglan had ripped to shreds. “I don’t know.” He helped Loia into the new gown and then held her as she broke down and cried. “Easy there, Loia. It will be okay.”

 

“No it won’t. It won’t ever be okay again…”

[kalenath]

“How is she?” The quiet voice from behind him had him flinching, but he was too tired to jump. Doctor Varniar had finally resorted to a mild sedative to allow Loia to sleep. He patted her hand one last time before turning to face the newcomer. He would not let her out of his sight now. He shivered a little. Not that he had been much help at all when Menglan had… Jedi Master Vandar’s voice came again. “It wasn’t your fault.”

 

Even the dispassionate Jedi winced a little from the icy glare that Varniar leveled at him. “No, I think it is yours. I may have helped create these children. But you are the one who allowed it, ordered it, condoned…what we did to them. You are the one who has kept them in this hell.” The doctor kept his voice low, trying to keep from disturbing Loia’s troubled sleep, but the scorn in his voice could have cut through starship plating.

 

“You are right, doctor.” The shame and regret in Vandar’s voice bit deep, but Curt Varniar knew this being. He knew that to Vandar, the end always justified the means. He let out a derisive snort and turned back to his scanners. It was downright odd that the place that Loia felt safest was the scanner table where she had been violated. But he was not going to argue. “This… obscenity is my faulty and my responsibility. But I need to know. How is she?”

 

“Physically she is fine. Mentally? Emotionally? How the hell should I know?” Varniar shook his head as he stared at the tear streaked face of the sleeping girl. “She was just violated by someone who claims to be a medical person. I am amazed she trusts me at all. I am no psyche tech. What she went through before was horrific…” He turned back as Vandar flinched. “Yes, I can see evidence of the torture you administered to her, before this shameful episode. And the births. You bastard. How could you possibly do that to a child?” Just the thought of someone making a child pregnant had his anger rising.

 

Vandar’s voice was soft and filled with pain now. “She is hardly the youngest human to ever give birth. We couldn’t get any of the other hosts to bear to term. Just her.”

 

“So you nearly killed her. Well done, Jedi.” Now the doctor’s voice was just sad. “I believed, you know. When you told me it was ‘For the Republic’. I believed. And you lied to me. This horror is not for the Republic. What are you doing?”

 

“You don’t want to know, doctor.” Vandar’s voice was careful now and Curt looked sidelong at him. “Doctor, I know you have no reason to trust me. But you do… Not. Want. To. Know.” The horror in the Jedi’s voice shook the doctor, although he fought to disregard it. Vandar lied as often as he breathed after all. “How are the scans coming? The master is growing impatient.”

 

“You of all people know that I cannot just wave my hands like you can, and make things magically happen, mister wizard.” It felt good to insult Vandar. The small green being was the focal point of his stay in his own private hell. He rarely saw the master, and a good thing. Every time he did, he wound up hurt.

 

“Insult me as you wish, doctor. But please refrain from insulting the master again. You are the only doctor we have now that we can trust.” Vandar’s tone was polite, calm, cool and considered.

 

“Trust?” Varniar bit out a sour laugh that was loud enough to have Loia whimper a little. He soothed her back into sleep with a careful caress of her hand. “That is a joke.” He said finally, after the girl had subsided back into sleep. “I am a slave. I am no more trusted than these children are. Menglan proved that.”

 

“What Menglan did…” Vandar said carefully. “…was not condoned. The master is annoyed with her. But it will be a while before she can face his wrath. On that note, doctor. You will have a new patient.”

 

Curt Varniar went stiff. Who could…? He shook his head savagely. “No.” He spoke softly but there was no give in it.

 

“Doctor, Ravishaw tore her genitalia off. She is no threat now, nor will she be. We will keep her under closer scrutiny now. But we need her healed. You can heal her while Loia recovers.” Vandar’s voice was soft and persuasive.

 

“You can kiss my choobies.” The mild obscenity flew from the doctor’s mouth as he turned away from his patient and the ancient Jedi master actually flinched back from what shone in the doctor’s eyes. “For the first time in a long, long time, I will not heal someone. You bring her in here, and I will find a way to kill her.” There was no bravado, no idleness in that threat, he meant every word. “You want me to help that witch? Someone who took control of my body from me and violated a girl, not even a woman a girl in front of me while I could do nothing? No.” His cold final word was final. “The only help I would give her is a helpful shove out an airlock. And you can quote me on that.”

 

Vandar suddenly seemed to grow in size, his appearance did not change, but the doctor shrank from the power that the small green being was projecting. Even the non Force using doc could sense the power. . “Doctor, don’t even joke about that. We need her, we need you and we need Loia.”

 

“Why?” The doctor asked relentlessly. “It doesn’t make sense. Why did you destroy these children’s immune systems? To keep them under control? There are better ways… Easier…” He broke off, things in his mind combining in new ways, new patterns as pieces filled in. “Oh my god… You didn’t do it, did you?”

 

"No." The sigh that came from Vandar now was deep and wide, conveying pain, fear, regret and self loathing all in one soft sound. “We don’t know why or how it happened. It just did, with every clone we made. From the very first batch that you helped with. Every single child has developed the exact same symptoms, no matter how far apart they are. It cannot be natural. Even children raised completely sterile in bubbles, or sent out with foster families under observation, every single one develops the exact same symptoms. A Jedi healer named Nolikas found a cure, but we can’t use it. We need you to find the cause so we can stop it.”

 

“Why can’t you use the cure?” Doctor Varniar shook his head. Every time he thought things were starting to make sense, things took a hard leap sideways. If they had a cure, why couldn’t they use it?

 

“We need a specialized source for the serum and it is out of our reach. We cannot find the girls who are the sources of the serum.” Vandar stared as the doctor groaned. “What?”

 

“More slavery. Great, just what we need here. Get out. I have another scan subject coming in three minutes.”

 

“Doctor…”

 

“Get. Out.” Varniar bent over his scanners, ignoring the Jedi. A moment later he heard the door open and then close. He slumped but continued to work until the door opened again and a very young voice spoke.

 

“Doctor?” He turned to see a little boy. One who couldn’t have been over eight. The green eyes and implants were distinctive. “Reporting for scans.”

 

Varniar buried his feelings as deep as he could and smiled at the boy. “Table two, Minho.”

 

The boy nodded and with a grace and skill that was downright unnatural, jumped onto the table and slotted his hands and feet into place for the restraints. “How is 8410-109?”

 

“Sleeping. I can make you sleep if you wish.” He had a hypo ready but paused as the boy flinched. “What is wrong?”

 

“I prefer to remain awake, doctor. When I sleep they do things to me.” The boy sat back as Varniar fastened the restraints.

 

“What kind of things?” The doctor asked cautiously as he finished and stepped to start the scans.

 

“I don’t know.” The boy probably would have shrugged, but he was held immobile. I always feel weird afterwards, so I know when they do it.”

 

“How often do they do it?” The doctor asked in a professional tone as he started the scan cycle. This bothered him on so many levels, what the scum here were having him do, but he had no choice and it wasn’t as if he were hurting them now, was he? “And how does it make you feel?”

 

The boy didn’t answer for some time, and when he did it was quiet. “They do it about once a week, and it makes me feel like she did… when the evil doc touched her.”

 

"What?" The doctor froze in place. This had never been part of the experiment, had it? “You can communicate… mind to mind…?”

 

Again, the sort of shrug came from the scan subject. “It’s the implants, doctor. We have built in comlinks.”

 

The doctor shook his head, but suddenly, this started making more sense. Horrific sense. He had to think on this.

He had to figure this out. And for the sake of the Force, he had to keep his mouth shut while he did. When he finally spoke, his voice was clinical.

 

“Interesting. A useful tool for battlefield communication. Scan cycle one, starting…now…” He clicked the button and watched the scanner, aware now of scrutiny from the boy. And suddenly, he felt as if he were a small fish facing a shark, not a nice feeling. Not at all.

[kalenath]

He made sure he would be there when she woke. A side effect of his blatant manipulation of her and the other subjects’ chromosomes was that she healed far faster than a normal human. So none of the physical scars were visible anymore. The emotional ones would take far longer to heal and, he wasn’t sure he had the time. If what he believed was true… He wasn’t sure he would leave this room alive. Something alerted him, she had woken. Her breathing hadn’t changed, she hadn’t moved. But somehow he knew he was under observation. He spoke softly; he was not sure how sensitive the microphones that bugged the med ward were. “Good morning Loia. Can you give us some privacy? We need to talk.”

 

The green eyes that opened looked at him dispassionately and then Loia nodded. “I can loop the camera and microphones for a while. About ten minutes I think. You have been sitting like that all night, haven’t you?” The concern in her voice had him flushing in embarrassment.

 

“Not all night.” He protested half heartedly. He held out a full cup of water for her and she took it, sipping slowly. “I need an answer. Can you manipulate the machines inside me?” Loia froze in mid sip and he hurried to speak again. “I know what you did.” His voice was quiet. Even without seeing the emotions that played behind her well trained sabbaac face, he knew his death was moments away. “What I don’t know is why. What is worse, I don’t think I want to know. But…” He paused, unsure.

 

“But?” Loia prompted as she took another sip.

 

“The scans that I have done show what was done to you and the other girls. I…” He looked at the floor. “I know you could kill me, but the master would just bring me back. Again.” He shook his head. “You can’t manipulate the machines, can you?” He felt his eyes burn as he looked up and saw the girl staring at him.

 

“No.” Loia said quietly. “We can’t. We have tried, on occasion. All it has earned us is pain. We can’t reprogram them, we can’t wipe them, we can’t alter them in any way. It’s like they were designed expressly to defeat such attempts.”

 

“They probably were. This is the hard piece. You can speak to each other over long distances. Can you contact Sara?” He was ready for her to move, to fight, to kill him. She didn’t.

 

“What do you know, doctor?” Loia asked in a quiet tone, not having moved from her sitting position. The cup was still where it had been, she hadn’t moved as much as a muscle.

 

“I know that the immune system problems that you all show were engineered by someone who knew more than a little about how your particular bodies work. I know that the genetic information that would have been needed to create something to do that would have had to come from one of you. And I know you can all talk mind to mind.” He shrugged. “That is all I know, the rest is guesswork.”

 

“What have you guessed?” Loia’s voice was soft now, not scared, not worried. Something else, something similar.

 

“I remembered you. You were always so curious. You were always listening in when the doctors discussed things. You knew what we were talking about, didn’t you? You had accessed…” He paused and shook his head. “No… No don’t answer that. I don’t want to know. I was… I was an evil man then. Now I am still evil, pragmatic at the very least.”

 

“An evil man would have gone to the master with this information. He would have cured us no matter what we wished. He would not be reacting as you are.” Loia’s voice was quiet, calm and matter of fact. “You are not evil, doctor.”

 

“Loia, I created you for these scum. I… I am directly…” He broke off his almost rant as she reached out slowly and took his hand in hers that was not holing the cup. Her eyes met his and her face was sad.

 

“It was not your fault.” Loia’s voice was sad, but strong. She took another sip of her water. “What do you want to know?” She asked quietly as she finished the water and put the empty cup down on the edge of the bed.

 

“How can I help you?”

 

“You can’t.” Loia’s voice was still calm, cool and matter of fact. “What is going to happen, will happen. No matter how we fight, sneak, or trick, we are… what we are. We are slaves. All of the remainder of special Branch’s clone slaves are aboard this ship and… They guard us zealously. I did not think they would let me stay under your influence.”

 

"I..." Doctor Curt Varniar had done many horrible things in his life, but what he was contemplating now had to be the single worst. He kept his thoughts off his face and out of his voice when he spoke. “The damage to your body has healed. I…I didn’t think about it. I just did it. I am sorry.”

 

“It’s not your fault, doctor. If I can…bear again… they will come for me again. I am the oldest and strongest of the clone slaves. But… they have to keep me in line…without killing me…”

 

“That is why Menglan did what she did.” It wasn’t a question. Loia nodded slowly. “I will not let this happen. I will not let you be… a brood cow for these scum.”

 

“You cannot stop them, doctor. All it will do is get you hurt…again. Please doctor. Don’t resist them.”

 

"I know I can't resist the commands.." Doctor Varniar felt his face move into a feral smile. Loia stared at him but he spoke first. “I am not going to. I need your permission to do something to you. Something that will not hurt, and might throw a hydrospanner into their plans.”

 

The girl looked at him and then her eyes went wide. “Doctor… if you do that… They will not just hurt you…”

 

“I know.” He took the hand that still touched his and gave it a squeeze. “And I don’t care. Enough is enough. Will you let me treat you?”

 

Loia stared at him for a moment and then her gaze went far away. When it snapped back to him, her eyes were brimming. “What about the other girls? You know that if I am…oh…” Her voice broke off as the doc smiled sadly.

“The scans…? You didn’t need so many scans did you?”

 

"No." Doctor Varniar shook his head slowly and now he felt old, tired and sad. “I have enough information to make it quick and painless. For all of you. But if I am still here… They can find out what I did and potentially stop it. Or reverse it.”

 

"No!" Loia’s eyes went wide, and her face was horrified. “Doctor… No! There has to be another way.”

 

“There isn’t." Curt Varniar said sadly. "I need your help. To die.”

[kalenath]

He wanted to puke, but couldn’t. He wanted to scream, but likewise, couldn’t. He was held immobile by the machines that swam through his bloodstream. All he could do was stand there and watch while the automated systems did what they were designed to. He had to admit, whoever had created the system he was watching had been thorough. Loia was not harmed in any way. Well, besides being impregnated against her will with something that was not human.

 

He had been in the medical ward when the master had come in. The thing that looked human had been all smiles. “Well done, doctor.” The creature had said. “Well done indeed. I knew we could count on you to fix the problems.”

 

He had frozen in place as the miniature machines in his bloodstream had taken control of his body again. He had been unable to talk, to move or to protest as the master had lifted Loia from the bed where she had been sleeping after her treatments were finished. He had wanted to rip the head off the being, but his body had followed silently when the master had carried the slumbering girl from the room. The master had led him to this…this chamber of horrors. All around the room were tanks like the one the master placed Loia in.

 

“She will not be harmed.” The master had said. “She is far too important to us to be harmed again by ignorant fools.”

 

And indeed, the master had been gentle. He had used the machines in Curt’s body to get him to assist in preparing Loia for her very short journey to the rest of her life. Between the two of them, the girl had been connected to machinery that would breathe for her, feed her, remove her excrements, keep her body at a stable temperature and keep her unconscious. Then the girl had been lowered into the tank. Now Curt could only watch in silence as a mechanical arm holding a syringe touched her on the abdomen.

 

“Welcome to the future, doctor.” The master gloated as he watched. “I know this is not what you expected from us, but it is for the best. She is dangerous. Here, she can be cared for, and remain useful. She will be the first of our brood mothers, producing our master race. Menglan is not involved in this, she will be…busy with other things once she has healed. She will be in your care when you get back to the medical ward.” His tone brooked no argument. “And do not think to try and kill her, I will be watching.” With that, the master left the room.

 

Curt felt the machines release the control over him and fell to his knees sobbing. “No…” He cried. “Of all the things you could have done to me… Why this…? I did what he asked. I did what they required. And it was another lie.” He started towards the tank, his intent obvious. He would smash whatever he could. Then he convulsed as pain flew through his body.

 

An indeterminate time later, he lay on the floor, in a pool of filth, as he cried. A soft voice came to his ears. “Doctor?” A small hand touched his shoulder. “We are clear.”

 

Curt rolled into a sitting position and look into scared green eyes. The boy was Minho, one of the first ones he had scanned. “Microphones? Cameras?”

 

“Looped, we have ten minutes. Doctor… Are you sure…?” The boy looked scared, but at the same time, resolute.

 

“It is the only way.” Curt tried to stand, but his muscles were like jelly. How long had he been punished? Had they arrived at their latest destination? “Have we dropped out of hyperspace yet?”

 

“No.” The boy helped the doc to his feet. Minho may have looked like a nine year old, but he was strong. “This way. We are ready. Is…? Is Loia…?”

 

"Yes." Curt slumped but stepped off, they did not have a lot of time. “It’s done. She will… She will fade away shortly. When that happens, they will know something is wrong. I wiped all the records I could get to, but they have backups.”

 

The boy’s strong arm helped him walk. When he spoke, his voice was fierce. “Not anymore they don’t. We did as you instructed. All of us that are aware took the pills. Those of us who were sick or in stasis have been given the injections. All of us have it now.”

 

It had been harder than the doctor had thought to make the virus. It had been far easier to fix the children’s immune systems than it had been to make something that would cause the children’s immune systems to start attacking their own bodies. But he was a genius at some things, like biomedicine. He shook his head. At other things he was a hopeless dunce and arrant coward. He knew this was the only choice, but he was scared, so scared.

 

“I didn’t want this. I just… I just wanted to help people. I became a doctor to help people. Not kill them.” His voice cracked as he walked, his emotions were strong about this, but it was the only choice. From the records he had seen, it was the only choice.

 

“You are no killing us doctor. You are freeing us. We would be harming the Republic. The only way to defend the Republic…” Their destination came into view ahead and two more of the small white jumpsuited forms stood beside the airlock. “…is to prevent us from attacking it.”

 

“Did Sara get the message?” Curt asked in a clinical tone as he walked towards the fate he had chosen. Despite his knees starting to quiver, he managed to keep walking.

 

“We don’t know.” Minho matched the doctor’s shaky stride. “The link is usually one way. We get feelings, thoughts, from her. She is a long ways away, I have no idea how far.”

 

“All we can do is what we have done.” Curt Varniar stopped at the airlock door and nodded to the two small guards there. They nodded back gravely. “I wish… I wish I had been stronger, smarter, better…”

 

Minho shook his head and then, in a swift move embraced the doctor. “We love you, Father. You are the best father we could have possibly had.” The other two embraced him as well.

 

“I…” Curt Varniar was crying hard now, but did not try and break the embrace. “I am sorry, my children. I tried so hard to make it better. And all I did was make things worse.”

 

“No.” Minho’s voice was soft as he rubbed the sobbing physician’s back. “You have made things better for us. The only way you could. Our lives are pain and fear. You have given us freedom. You have always been kind and gentle with us. What was done to us, what was done to you, is the ultimate horror. But now, we are free.”

 

Curt shook himself and gave the three forms that embraced him a squeeze. “Only if I am gone when they find out what I did. I am ready.”

 

“We love you father. Sleep.” Minho gave him a hug and then something heavy slammed into the back of his head.

 

When he came to, he found himself lying on the floor of the airlock. The machines in his bloodstream, realizing the danger, started hitting controls, but the kids had scrambled them. His body opened the manual override, only to find it gunked up with something. Something that smelled familiar.

 

Superglue, oh you sneaky kids… I love you all. He thought as his body started pounding on the door, trying to break it, get someone’s attention.

 

But Curt and his children had planned this carefully. The machines in his body were dumb, they had to have outside control to act most of the time, unless his body was in danger, as it was now. Red lights started flashing and he could see silvery lines start to cross into the machinery of the door. He could only watch and hope, but then, despite all safety protocols, the outer door hissed open and he could see the blue tunnel of hyperspace beyond. He was blown out into the tunnel, free from the horrors that he had seen, endured and taken part in. There was literally no way at all that his body would ever be found. Even if the machines in his blood could keep him alive without oxygen, doubtful but possible, he was now a true ‘space Dutchman’ doomed to float forever. His last clear thought was of his kids.

 

Sleep, my children. Dream of peace and light… And then the void embraced him.

[kalenath]

“What do you mean he is gone?” The master’s shout could have woken the dead. But even that impressive volume did nothing for the small still body in his hands. He focused on unmoving male form in his hands, scowling. “He can’t be gone! He won’t get away. He is hiding somewhere. I will have it out of these brats. He had to go somewhere. I will find him and when I do…” Vandar watched impassively as the angry form of his master focused on the dead child in his hands.

 

“Master! No!” Came a strained shout from the side as Doctor Menglan staggered into the room. The good doctor was a mess. A broken cheekbone was the least of her problems. Her hair was matted with dried blood and she bore rough bandages over much of her visible body. Ravishaw had been thorough. “Remember how their ability reacts to your nanites’ touch!” The master stared at her and then at the corpse in his hands and blanched.

 

But it was too late. The room was rocked by a deafening explosion. Menglan whimpered as she lay, stunned on the floor. The master rose from where the detonation had thrown him and snarled as he strode towards where Vandar stood, unmarked and unperturbed. The sad little body the master had been studying was gone, atomized by the explosion. Vandar’s voice was soft. “I checked two bays. It looks like they all were in their bunks asleep. And they will never wake now. And the tissue samples have been contaminated, no more clones can be made from them.”

 

“You mean to tell me, that all of them are dead? All of them?” The master’s voice was almost shocked, but mostly angry. “Even the ones in stasis? The girl in the womb?”

 

“All gone.” In contrast to the angry being, Vandar could have been a block of ice. “Screaming about it will not change the facts. All of the clone children are dead. It looks in the Force as if their bodies simply stopped functioning.”

 

“That is impossible.” Menglan snarled as she rose, her arm hung at an impossible angle. The explosion had rebroken it. Of course she hadn’t nearly had enough time to heal from what Ravishaw had done to her. “The girl in the womb was on full support. She couldn’t die!”

 

"well..." Vandar shrugged and scorn echoed through the room when he spoke. “I guess you could try telling her that. I don’t think she will hear you though.”

 

“Vandar.” The voice of the master was cold and angry now. “You go beyond yourself.”

 

Vandar met his angry glare with a calm one. “Go ahead. Hurt me, kill me and bring me back again. It won’t bring your slaves back. It won’t bring your plans to fruition. Your ‘Master Race’ just got stopped it’s tracks. Curt Varniar stopped you.”

 

“Is that so, Vandar?” The master started chuckling then. “Always the planner, always the plotter. Did you plan this?” He raised a hand and Vandar was suspended in midair by tiny things that glinted silver. “Is this your design? Don’t think I don’t know about your misdirections or your coddling of the brats.”

 

“If I had, I wouldn’t tell you.” Vandar grunted out the words. “The carrot often works better than the stick. But you wouldn’t know anything about that.” He grimaced as the machines closed in. “You… Have… Lost…” Finally he screamed as the machines swarmed over him.

 

“Have I?” The master said in a malicious tone. “Well, no matter what. Your disobedience will be punished, slave.” His hand fell and Vandar fell to the deck, still screaming as the machines hurt him inside his body. “You will not die today. I am not going to be that nice. Menglan. Come here. Take what you need to repair from our recalcitrant servant.”

 

Menglan stepped forward slowly, and her body seemed to writhe as she entered the area of machines around Vandar. She smiled widely as her body quickly repaired itself. Welts appeared on Vandar’s body as the machines used part of his mass to heal her. She reached out to touch the shivering form of the Jedi master and the effect accelerated. “Tasty…” She said in a smug tone.

 

A throat cleared behind her and she jumped. Ravishaw stood in the door, his eyes never leaving the doctor. “All of the clones are dead. According to the medical droids that did the autopsy on 8410-109, it was an acute allergic reaction. I am willing to bet it was the same for all of them. The doctor is not aboard the ship.” He grinned and a smidgeon of his old insane laughter sounded. “Sneaky doc.”

 

“How could he not be aboard the ship?” The master demanded angrily. “We are in hyperspace. Where could he go?”

 

“You cannot detect the colony inside him. Internal scans show nothing. He is not on the ship.“ Ravishaw shrugged and then smiled evilly. “Unless of course you are simply too incapable of…” He broke off gagging as the master raised hand.

 

“Remember your place, Ravishaw.” The master raised his other hand and then made a throwing gesture. Ravishaw’s body flew across the room to land in a heap near one wall. “We will find him.” He paused as an intercom chimed. A swift move slapped it on. “I told you I was not to be disturbed.”

 

The voice of the starship’s captain came over the com. “Sir, we were told to report anything odd immediately. A maintenance team has found evidence that airlock 7-B has been tampered with.”

 

Menglan’s eyes went wide and she stood up and moved away from the slumped form of the Jedi Master. If not for the slow rise and fall of his chest, the small bloody form looked dead. She stared at her master. “That is the airlock closest to the womb chamber, isn’t it?” The master nodded curtly.

 

“Tampered with how?” The being who called himself Firdlump demanded.

 

The captain’s voice was scared, and who could blame him? This whole ship was one great big travelling horror show. “The camera inside has been disabled, the manual override has been fused with what the maintenance people tell me is ‘superglue’, and the physical log says it opened. The automated log says otherwise, but…”

 

“Do you mean to tell me someone is on the outside of the ship, captain?” Firdlump’s voice was soft, incredulous.

 

“No, sir.” Came a quick response. “All spacesuits are accounted for physically, sir.” A pause and then the captain spoke again. “Sir, if someone went out that airlock, it was without a suit, and…well, sir… We are still in hyperspace…”

 

“Thank you captain. Continue your duties.” The being who had taken the name of Firdlump had an unaccustomed expression on his face. Dumbfounded surprise. “Doctor Menglan, come with me. We need to see what we can salvage of this… this mess…”

 

It was several moment after the two left before anything moved in the small room. Vandar crawled to where Ravishaw lay. The small green form’s voice was pained. “Well… That was… unpleasant.”

 

“I never want to see anything you might call 'horrifying' then.” Ravishaw snickered as he rolled into a sitting position to look at the Jedi. “I destroyed the tissue samples. The doctor can’t be cloned now.” Vandar nodded and Ravishaw sighed. “No evidence will show that I did it. They will likely think that the kids or the doc did it.”

 

“You shouldn’t keep baiting him.” Vandar slumped, head bowed as he breathed deeply. The injuries on his body vanished as he focused the Force. He reached out a slow hand to Ravishaw who eyed it like a poisonous serpent. “Now is not the time to be stubborn, boy.”

 

“I don’t trust you. I did once, and look where we wound up.” But Ravishaw did not resist as the hand touched him and power flowed through him, cleansing, healing. Instead, he sighed softly. “I never thought the doc had it in him.”

 

“I am surprised as well. He was always a bit of a whiner. But when the stakes were high, no one was better.” Vandar ‘s voice was sad now. “I wish we could have saved the kids, but…”

 

“They are free. All of them. It’s fair enough.” Ravishaw looked at the floor and then spoke softly. “Your debt to me is paid, doctor. Rest in the Force, doctor Curt Varniar.” He was silent for a moment and then spoke without opening his eyes. “You know what they are going to do next.”

 

“Yes, but not soon. Everything needs to be in place before they will act. All of their insurance policies just died. Are you ready?” Vandar asked softly as he retracted his hand.

 

"Ready?" Ravishaw laughed, a merry sound that was somehow both mocking and wary. “To face Sharlina of the Bladeborn? Is that a joke, Jedi?”

 

***

 

<A very long ways away>

 

Sara Kalenath woke up screaming.

 

“Sara?” Sharra was there, her face worried. Will’s wife had taken over the mothering duties for the clan when Maria had been diagnosed with cancer. “What is wrong?” She asked as she sat down on Sara’s bedside and held the shuddering teen.

 

“They are dead… All of them…” Sara looked at her sister in law and didn’t see her through the tears that were falling in sheets. “Rouse the clan, beat the drums, something wicked this way comes…” Then she collapsed into Sharra’s arms, crying.

[kalenath]

“Come off it, Kina! I am not crazy. Well, no more than I was yesterday.” If Sara Kalenath’s voice was a bit on the angry side, then she had reason. Not only had she woken from a nightmare, which was nothing new for her, but she had immediately wanted to talk to Will and the others in her odd little clan. And when pressed as to why… Well, she didn’t doubt they thought she had finally gone off her rocker.

 

The chief medical officer aboard the starship Dia’s Gift sat back a bit in her chair and grimaced. The last thing she wanted to do was anger Sara. The girl was easily the most dangerous being aboard the ship. She was saved by another voice.

 

“Sara. She didn’t mean it like that.” Sharra Kalenath’s calm voice sounded from nearby and Sara turned to see her sister in law coming bearing a tray filled with glasses filled with fruit juice. “Here.” The older woman said as she set the tray down and held a glass out to Sara. “You could use some fluids.” Sara took the glass, and then, with a suspicious look, pulled a portable scanner out of her pocket and ran it over the glass. It beeped and a green light shone. Sharra looked sad. “Sara, I wouldn’t drug you without a lot better reason. You know that.”

 

The teenager who was anything but normal winced at the hurt in Sharra’s tone. “I know, just… Oh Sharra, I am sorry. It has not been a fun morning.” The scanner vanished back into her pocket and she sipped the juice gratefully. It was sweet, but not too sweet. Just what she needed to perk up a bit. She smiled as she drank. Sharra took a glass and started drinking herself.

 

“Now, we can talk. Sara, you have to admit, what you told us was…unlikely.” The older woman’s voice was kind, but rock hard at the same time. “Special Branch needed those clones, even if we could never discover why. They would have guarded them zealously.” She raised a hand as Sara’s face turned red. “I am not questioning what you saw, well, I am…” She corrected herself. “But I am not questioning your interpretation of it.” The older woman’s voice was kind and worried and Sara relaxed a bit.

 

“I…I don’t know, Sharra. It felt so real. There was a lot of information packed into that message. And then they just… were not there anymore.” She felt her eyes burn and dashed the tears off on her sleeve. “I could always tell that they existed. It was always a background buzz in my head. Kina, I know you felt it too. Is it still there?”

 

The medic froze in place, her own glass halfway to her lips. Then her lips started to quiver. “Oh my god…” She was shaking her head. “Is that what it was? I thought it was interference from the ship’s systems.” She started to shudder and froze as Sara put her glass down and walked around the table. “How… How many…?” Tears were falling now.

 

Sara embraced the Twi’lek who had been forced into service aboard the ship and implanted against her will to become the medical professional for this madhouse before being rescued. She had remained aboard for two reasons. One, they couldn’t take the implants out without doing permanent damage to her mind, she was far older than any of the other subjects. And two, her husband had also been implanted and he wanted to stay and help. They loved each other and the other kids loved them. Sara loved them both.

 

“Two hundred and sixteen. They didn’t suffer. I know that. The doc was going to make it so they died in their sleep.” Now Sara’s voice was harsh. She hated doctors, with good reason. Most of her life, from the time she had been born, until she had been thirteen, she had been a prisoner, a guinea pig and a lab rat. She was dealing with it, but it hurt so much, the things she had endured. She often considered making an end, ending her pitiful existence. But she always had help. “We will likely get a call from the enclave. I know Marta and the others could still merge even after the implants were taken out. I know they could feel their brothers and sisters. This will have hurt them as badly as it hurt me.”

 

“Should we go to the Enclave, Sara?” Sara didn’t even flinch at the disembodied voice that came from a wall speaker. Dia Ulahadotter was not quite alive, but not quite dead either. The Jedi padawan had been killed by the former owners of this ship when she had infiltrated it to try and rescue the beings aboard it. But she had not joined the Force. Instead, somehow, her mind had been transferred into the main computer banks of the ship. When asked about it, she was remarkably silent. She always said it had been ‘traumatic’.

 

“No.” Sara said quietly after a moment of soul searching. “We need to pick up Nolikas. The kids that Istara found need Nolikas. And mom…Maybe Nolikas can help her.” Kina hugged Sara as the girl fought to keep from crying again. Sara returned the embrace. “I need to start dictating, recording what they sent me. I don’t want to lose any… of...” Her words trailed off as she froze in place.

 

Both of the woman in the room looked at her. But it was the one who hadn’t spoken already who did when Sara did not speak. “Sara?” Roane Dijore was definitely the odd man out here. He was a soldier of the Republic and an agent of Republic Intelligence. That should have made him an enemy of the people on this ship, seeing as how Republic Intelligence had run this ship of horrors. It didn’t. He had been a prisoner at the same time Dia came aboard. He had been tortured and was going to be executed for doing his job. His job had included investigating the misuse of Republic materials and the evil that Special Branch perpetrated. He prompted her when she didn’t speak, simply stared off into the distance a stunned look on her face. “Sara…?”

 

Sara shook her head slowly, utterly dumbfounded. Sharra came around the table and laid gentle hands on the girl’s shoulders. “Sara, what is it honey?”

 

When Sara spoke, it was almost a monotone. Everyone in the room flinched. Sara only talked like that when she was under the tightest possible control. When she lost control people died. “I need to talk to Will and Istara. Soon.”

 

“Will is bringing Nolikas, and Istara will be at the rendezvous. You know this, Sara. What is wrong?” Sharra massaged Sara’s shoulders feeling the rock solid muscle underneath the young girl’s skin.

 

“We have been lied to. All of us.” Sara’s voice was flat. “I just saw an image of what those tiny machines look like. They sent that with the rest of the message.”

 

“What do they look like, Sara?” Dia’s voice was cautious now. And who could blame her? Sara in a rage was incredible to behold. The girl had literally beaten a Jedi almost to death while in a rage once while the guy had his lightsaber out and ignited. He hadn’t had a chance against her. Of course, he also hadn’t been trying to kill her, but she had been under no such compunction.

 

"The nanites..." When Sara replied, it was more an animal snarl than a human girl speaking. “They look like Sitolon. Why would anyone build miniature machines that look like a race that has been in hiding for thousands of years?”

 

Sharra’s hands stilled on Sara’s shoulders and she spoke for everyone else in the room. “Flarg me…”

 

“Makes you wonder what else they have not told us.” Sara’s voice could have frozen a nuclear explosion in its tracks.

[kalenath]

Sara had seen her brother angry. She had seen him hurt, shocked, sad, and scared, sometimes all at once. But she had never seen him so completely flabbergasted.

 

The black armored soldier sipped the fruit juice his wife had brought and sat up straighter in his chair. They were in the room that Sara used for briefings. It was a moment before he could find his tongue. When he did speak, it was slow and careful. “Sara, you know we could never get a good look at the machines. They were too small and apparently have some kind of electronic counter measures or stealth built in. I only go the edge of what you did, Sara and I did not get that.”

 

Sara stared at the man who was her brother. He was more than twice her age, but it didn’t matter. She felt something unaccustomed when his gaze settled on her and it was sympathetic. Her eyes burned and suddenly, she was crying. Somehow, his glass was on the table and he was holding her as she wept. She choked out words. “I… I thought you would think me crazy. I hoped it was just a nightmare. Part of me… I hoped…”

 

“It is a nightmare Sara. A waking one. One we are stuck in the middle of.” Will’s voice was gentle as were his hands as he held her. “Let it out. You can’t hurt me, Sara.” He snorted a laugh as she glared at him through her tears. “Well, you can, but you won’t… Easy girl. Easy…”

 

He was rubbing her back and against her will, Sara relaxed. Her voice was soft and sad when she spoke. “You make me sound like a trained canine… Oh…” She moaned in pleasure as his strong hands found knots of hard muscles and started massaging them.

 

“Trained feline, maybe. Not a trained canine. Hey…!” Will recoiled in mock fear as Sara raised a fist, but his smile was too much. “Sara, relax. We will handle this. We need more information, and there is only one source.”

 

“Do you trust Bob?” Sara asked through half lidded eyes as her brother massaged her sore shoulders. "I mean..."

 

“No.” Will’s voice was cold and flat. “He may not actually be a Sith and his goals may coincide with ours. Or they may not. We just don’t know. Mom and… Dad…both say he is on the level. But we both know how easy it would be for him to manipulate Dad. And mom is…” He broke off as Sara strangled a cry or emotional pain. “Hey…” Will crooned at his sister. “It’s okay. We will deal. It’s what we do.”

 

“But… But Mom…” Sara was blubbering. She hated it when she blubbered. But she had cause. “I don’t want to lose mom…” Will gave her a squeeze.

 

“I know.” For once there was no humor or anger in Will Kalenath’s voice. “I hate to say it Sara, but I do know how it feels.” Sara looked up at her brother and he was crying quietly. “I lost them both, and… I stopped looking… I should have…” He slumped, lost in the horrific past his family shared. Sara stared at him for along moment and then embraced him tightly. He had lost his mind when he had thought Maria and Samuel had died. If not for Sharra, he would have remained insane. On that thought…

 

“Will…” Sara’s voice was scared now. “If they lied to us, the Sitolon… Everyone on their ship is in danger. Including James.” Her nephew, Will’s son, was less than year old, an easy pawn for anyone. Will smiled, but there was little mirth in it.

 

“They know what happens when someone threatens or hurts member of my family.” For just a moment, the hard bitten child warrior was scared out of her mind by her older brother’s calm and matter of fact tone. Yes, they did. He had nuked a space station full of Sith, military and civilian alike, to avenge the death of his wife and fake his own death. No one walked easily around Will. No one liked what he was capable of. He even scared Sara and that took some doing. But then Will smiled and the scary feeling vanished. “But James has a bodyguard detail at the moment. At least for as long as the lieutenant Svina takes to get back on his feet. The rest of the team is waiting on the LT, training and working to get back in shape. When they do, we will move James somewhere safer. Probably the Enclave under an assumed name.”

 

“I don’t understand.” Sara shook her head slowly, trying to work things out. “Why wouldn’t they tell us? And… Can we trust Istara?” She hated herself for saying that, she liked Istara Sharlina Andal, but it was facts. Will sighed deeply.

 

“I don’t know. She is one of them, True Bladeborn. I want to say yes, but…” He shrugged helplessly and Sara gave him another squeeze. “We better take precautions. I know they are bringing that medic along, Kicota.” He snorted in sour amusement. “Apparently she won’t let Mom out of her sight.” Sara’s control evaporated on hearing that. She started to cry again. Will hugged his sister again. “Hey, sis. I am here for you. I know it won’t be easy. But we never get the easy jobs, do we?”

 

“Just once, I wouldn’t mind an easy job…” Sara sobbed out into Will’s armored shoulder. “It is just not fair. To have my mom back and lose her again… It is just not fair!” She screamed out into his shoulder at the uncaring universe. After a moment of rubbing her back and hair, her brother spoke softly.

 

“Do... Do you think you might convince her to get treatment…?” Will broke off as Sara turned a fulminating glare at him. “Yeah. Me neither.” He said quietly. Then his gaze went hard again. “The Sitolon had to know. They had to have detected the cancer before it got bad. Why didn’t they tell us?”

 

“One more question for them. They are due in an hour. We will be ready.” Sara promised with tone that could have bent durasteel.

 

“Yes, we will.” Will’s tone matched his sister’s.

[kalenath]

Strictly speaking, it was usually pretty hard to ambush a Force user. Depending on their level of training or ability, they would get ‘nudges’ or ‘feelings’ about situations. These nudges or feelings would have them on guard. IF of course they were not already upset. When said Force user is having an argument with someone, it is often downright simple to ambush them.

 

Istara was speaking in quiet but forceful tones as she exited the small transport that had brought her and her companions to the Dia’s Gift. “…and I know how you feel about docs, Maria but this is ridiculous. You are sick. You should be in a hospital, or at least in a bed.”

 

Maria Kalenath walked down the ramp with her, her focus on the younger woman. Even if Istara WAS a grandmaster of a sect of Bladeborn, Maria was a survivor. She had learned to pay attention to her surroundings rather than some ancient religion, so she was off balance. Something was wrong. She was obviously only paying half attention to Istara. When she spoke, it was careful. “Istara… No. You know my feelings. Wait a sec… where is everyone?” She asked softly. “The deck has been cleared.”

 

“Wha…?” Istara paused as she was about to retort and looked around the hangar bay. She blanched as she realized that Maria was right. None of the red droids that contained the prisoners that Sara had taken were visible. A horrid fate, to be strapped into a droid, unable to move, to speak, to do anything except breathe, but the prisoners that Sara had taken deserved that and much, much more. Her hand flew to her sword hilt. “Something is… Something is wrong Maria. I sense anger… Fear… And betrayal?”

 

Both women froze in their tracks as the huge form of Sara’s pet moved from where it lay quiescent near the bay doors. The Basilisk War Droid whirred as its weapons turned to track both women. Maria blanched dead white. “Istara, don’t move. I know you are good, but if it fires, it will take out half the bay.” Not to mention what it would do to the two women and the ship behind them which had six hurt kids in it.

 

“Sara, Will… What is wrong…?” Istara’s voice was calm, but underneath it lay worry. Those kids were her primary focus. There was literally no way at all she was not under observation. She relaxed a little as Will’s form shimmered into bearing near the droid. Then she froze again as she saw his rifle in hand and his face… It wasn’t often that a Bladeborn felt terror, but the cold, mechanical look on Will’s face almost made Istara soil her armor. She slowly lowered her hand from her sword hilt and tried to defuse the situation. “Will… What is wrong?”

 

"Will!" Maria was not so polite. “Put that weapon down right now, soldier!” Will’s mother barked out on command voice. Will ignored her, his focus was on Istara.

 

“Who made the miniature machines, Istara?” Sara’s voice came from nearby. Istara didn’t take her eyes off of Will, but out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Sara come out from concealment, a blaster rifle held in a professional grip.

 

"What?" Istara blinked and then turned a dumbfounded glance at Sara, only to shake herself and focus back on Will. He was the greater threat, even if he hadn’t moved. “We don’t know, Sara. We have been trying to find out.”

 

Sara’s voice was almost kind. Almost. Kind in the same way a dog might be ‘kind’ to a cat it had caught. “Ask Kicota. Ask the hivemind.”

 

Istara froze in place, unsure, for once, of what to do. These were her friends, allies at the very least. Why were they acting like she was a threat? Maria had moved slightly and neither of the two rifle toting forms or the droid, had taken their weapons off of Istara. That made no sense at all. Maria was just as dangerous as Istara, if not more so. Maria routinely carried explosives. Something was very, very wrong here. She couldn’t sense Will, but what she got from Sara… Hurt betrayal? Istara blanched. Then the Bladeborn did something utterly unprecedented. She knelt on the floor at the bottom of the ramp, unbelted her sword and laid it on the deck.

 

“If I fight, no one wins." IStara said slowly. "It hurts to let go of my sword, but I will not fight you, Sara. Or you Will. Maria, stand down.” Her voice was soft but adamant. “How have I betrayed you? Tell me, so I may make amends.”

 

"Hey!" Another female voice interrupted the tableau that was forming. “C-9 is starting to show signs of anaphylaxis. How long until we can get these larvae to…” A large silver skinned bug came to the head of the ramp and froze on seeing the sight that greeted her. “What the hell?” Suddenly the top of the ramp was crowded with black scaled forms, forms that blocked the view to their queen. “Grun’Das! Move! What is going on?” Kicota asked plaintively as she was shouldered unceremoniously back into the ship.

 

Now two huge bugs stood at the top of the ramp and both held blasters as well as swords. Sitolon had four hands, and could wield four weapons at once.

 

Sara’s voice was even more tautly controlled now, as if she was fighting emotions. “Ask Kicota, Istara. Or ask the hivemind. Who created the microscopic machines?”

 

The Bladeborn blinked, surprised. “What?”

 

Maria shook her head and took charge. “We don’t know what you are talking about, but… if this is what you want… Istara can you…” Her voice broke off as a short cry came from the top of the ramp.

 

“No…” Kicota’s voice held horror, rage, pain, hate, and sadness. All of these and more were in her tone now. She shoved her way past the two warriors who did not move to bar her. It was as if they were petrified by something. Sitolon could not cry, but Kicota sure sounded as if she was weeping. “Oh no… No nononononononono. How could they…? How could they not tell us…? We trusted them…” Then everything stopped as Kicota screamed. “What else haven’t you told us, you witch!?” She wasn’t talking to anyone in the hangar bay.

 

The youngest queen of the Sitolon snarled as she stepped onto the hangar bay deck and then, in a graceful move, knelt beside Istara. She still sounded in tears. “They just told me. They… they never lied… We never asked them directly. Sara… Will… For the dishonor my people have done to you… My life is yours…” A blade flashed and Istara screamed as Kicota drove the blade deeply into her own body.

 

“No!” Istara grabbed the blade to pull it out. “Kicota… What…?” She laid her hands on the terrible wound and focused her power to heal.

 

“They will tell you, Istara. May death erase the dishonor we have…done…” The queen shuddered and went limp in Istara’s arms.

 

Sara and Will watched as Istara seemed to wilt for a moment and then both had to look away as pure white light seemed to pour from the Bladeborn. Istara’s voice was soft, but adamant. It reverberated with many voices. “Now is not your time, sister.”

 

“Let me go, Istara… They need to see we are serious…” Kicota’s voice was soft, scared almost. She was very young still.

 

“No.” Istara’s voice was still that odd mix of one and many. “There is enough meaningless death in the galaxy as it is. Live, Kicota, live for your larvae.” The light faded and Kicota was slumped on the floor, the only sign of the terrible wound she had given herself a slightly paler piece of derma. Istara looked from Will to Sara and that same many voices in one voice was sad beyond belief now. “We never intended deception. It is into something we are proud of.”

 

“You could have told us.” Will’s rifle muzzle hadn’t moved although Sara’s was at high port now.

 

“We could have, but we did not." The voice of what had to be the Sitolon hivemind was sad. "Blame us, if you must, do not blame sister Istara or sister Kicota for what we did. We made a mistake, so long ago. We have tried to fix that mistake, and have been unable.”

 

“Is someone going to tell me what the hell is going on?” Threat lay under Maria’s calm tone.

 

"Maria..." Istara sighed and then slumped. When she spoke, her voice was back to normal, but held sadness. “The Sitolon made the nanites. The things that Bob and Firdlump are composed of.”

 

Maria stared at Istara and then, for the first time in a long, long time, she fainted.

[kalenath]

Sara had waited in vigil before. For most of her life, she had been waiting. Waiting for the cell door to open, for the doctors and their tame Jedi to come in and make her hurt again, make her bite her tongue to keep from screaming at what they did to her. Waiting for news of her mother or father, tidbits gleaned from casual conversations that the docs had in her hearing. They had often discussed things as if she had been deaf, and truth be told, much of what the docs had done to her had hurt her ears in particular. But she hadn’t relied on her ears for everything, and she had found that a quiet person could overhear a lot of things that might have passed unnoticed. However, she had never enjoyed waiting in vigil. She hated the feeling of helplessness. She was a fully trained commando for flargs sake! She should be over knee knocking anxiety by now! She had gone through far worse. She had lost her mother and father, and then, by all that was holy got them back. Sort of anyway.

 

To distract herself, Sara looked around the stateroom that she had set up for her mom on what was sort of Sara’s ship. The Dia’s Gift had a lot of ‘sort-ofs’ about it. This room had been set up for Maria. It had a full medical monitoring station in the corner, unobtrusive, but clearly visible. It had a state of the art medical droid in the corner which was powered down at the moment. It had the standard food prep area and refresher. It had a nice large closet for clothes and guns. Maria had equal amounts of both. The only piece of medical gear attached to Maria was an IV run to keep her hydrated. She would likely break anything else when she woke. Sara smiled sadly again as she focused on the sleeping woman and bit back a sigh. She touched her mother’s hand again, trying with all her heart to get past the pain that she felt, but it was futile.

 

Maria was slipping away. It would take someone who had grown up around her to see it, but Sara had. And in an experimental holding cell where everything was monitored and controlled, one learned early to read not just between the lines, but around them, under them and through them for any kind of hidden messages. Sara bit back a sob as she smoothed her mother’s hair again, for the umpteenth time. Then she froze. Her mom’s eyes were open and looking at her.

 

“Sara?” Maria’s voice was soft, weak and almost timid. For Maria, that spoke volumes of what she felt and why than any number of grisly threats or screams of rage.

 

Sara jumped and then grabbed both of Maria’s hands in quick grips and held on tight. “Mom!” Sara was crying as she nuzzled the hands that she held. “I was… I was…” She shook her head, still nuzzling the hands she held. “Don’t go, Mom…Don’t give up…Promise me you won’t give up…”

 

“I can’t promise you that, Sara.” Maria’s voice might have been weak, but it held a touch of the steel that the woman was and always had been. “I am so…so tired…” She smiled at her daughter and extracted a hand to trace Sara’s jaw with a finger. “You are such a good kid, Sara.” Maria jerked as she remembered. “Oh! The kids!” She would have tried to sit up, but Sara held her in place gently.

 

“Mom, it’s okay. Nolikas has them in hand.” Sara was of two distinct minds about the Rakata healer. First and foremost, the Jedi was a doctor and all doctors in Sara’s estimation were not to be trusted. Then, she was a Jedi, supposedly not an evil being, right? But Jedi had been involved in many of the things that had happened to Sara as a child. Right up until she had been ‘rescued’, if you could call it that, by the Sith. Sara didn’t. She hadn’t been rescued for real until her Niece Nia had come to Kuat, the Sith held system, with the renegade battlecruiser Stormhawk, to attack the Sith fortress there. They hadn’t expected to find a Kalenath relative there, and that not so small event had started a cascade of other events that had led to Sara being the commander of the ship that she was sitting on. A fifteen year old starship captain, she snorted to herself. Sara took a deep breath and jumped in feet first. “Nolikas wants to talk to you.”

 

“That Jedi can kiss my butt.” Maria felt even more strongly about Jedi than Sara did, because a Jedi had taken Sara away from Maria when Sara had been six. It had taken the Force using warrior to do it, and even then, the man had been hurt. Maria had killed orderlies and doctors when she could get at them before then. After that, she started keeping score. Her vehemence left her breathless and she panted for a moment, trying to catch her breath as Sara eased her pains with a gentle massage of Maria’s shoulders. When Maria could speak again, it was cold, hard and matter of fact. “No one else messes with my head.”

 

Sara bit her lip to hold back her instant cry of dismay. She understood. Oh, how she ever understood. But it hurt so much. She had lost her dad to her tormenters, and then her mom. Then, by some miracle, or the Force, she got them both back. And now… She knew, just by looking at her mom’s face, that Maria had made up her mind. If anyone thought they could change it, they were welcome to try. Cutting down the tallest tree in a forest on Correllia with a small dead fish would be easier. Sara felt her eyes burn and then the floodgates opened and she was crying. She buried her face in her mother’s chest, trying to hold her pain away with proximity while it lasted.

 

“Oh, Sara… Oh my baby Sara…” Maria’s voice was gentle and her hands were as well as they stroked the girl’s head and arms, calming. “You are so strong. It’s a family trait. But every strength has limits.”

 

Sara shook her head, still with her face buried. Her voice was muffled by Maria’s nightgown when the girl spoke. “I lost Boss, I couldn’t do a Force be damned thing. And now… I am going to lose you too. I… I can’t…”

 

“Ah, Sara… It’s not your fault. I know you believe it is.” Sara shook her head, but Maria was having none of it. She gently forced Sara to look up until the girl’s reddened eyes were level with Maria’s calm ones. “That is another family trait. Will blames himself. Samuel blames himself, I blame myself and you blame yourself. It is the fault of the scum who tortured me for so long. Not you, me, Samuel or Will.”

 

“It’s not fair.” Sara cried as she hugged her mom tight enough to hurt, but Maria did not even wince. She returned the embrace. “I know life isn’t fair. But it just isn’t. Six years! Six years I was taken away from you. You came back and… I allowed myself to hope. To hope for a happily ever after.” She shook her head. “Silly and stupid, I know. But it didn’t stop my wishes.”

 

“Not silly or stupid, Sara.” Maria disagreed quietly, still stroking the girl’s shuddering body. “Dreams can be hard to achieve. They can be nearly impossible, or totally impossible. But that doesn’t mean we have to stop trying to achieve them. You need to follow your dreams, find your own way. I wish I could be here to help you, but I won’t.” There, she had said it. “The others will help you, and I tell you this: Istara, you can trust.” Sara shook her head mutely. She detested anything to do with the Sith, both from her programming by the insane docs who had raised her, and from her experiences as a member of the Kalenath family. Maria sighed and gave her daughter a shake. “Sara, you need to listen to me. Bad things are coming. Worse than we have seen yet. You are very important to what is going to happen. I have been… talking to various people, and they are all agreed. Your days of gallivanting around the galaxy on your own are over.”

 

“Mom... I…” Sara recoiled slightly. This was not how she had expected to be handling this. Not that had expected anything. She had hoped to persuade her mom to allow treatment of the cancer, but that was totally out of the question.

 

“Please, Sara. Just talk to her, listen to what she has to say. And no matter what, know that I love you. I always have and I always will.” Tears were falling down Maria’s weather beaten and scarred face now. They mingled with Sara’s own tears as Sara buried her face in her mother’s chest again and cried.

 

The door chimed and both of the Kalenath women looked at each other. Then it chimed again. Maria sighed and spoke sourly. “No rest for the wicked. Enter!” She called. But when the door opened, Maria froze in place. The woman who was wheeled into the room in a wheelchair was not one of the crew or any of Maria’s brood. Maria hadn’t seen the woman for more than half a century. When Maria got her voice back, her tone was awed, almost scared.

 

“Julia…?”

 

“You were expecting someone else?” The old, but unbowed woman asked as her minder, a tough looking female Twi’lek in a vaguely Imperial looking uniform, moved her next to the bed and nodded to her. “I will let you know when I am ready to go, Mi’ta.”

 

“You better.” The Twi’lek smiled to take the bite from her words, gave the old woman’s arm a pat and left the room silently.

 

Sara looked from her mom to the newly come woman. Sara stared as she saw something in the ancient woman’s face. Something vaguely familiar. “Who are you?” Sara asked quietly, discretely checking her gun.

 

“There is no need for that Sara.” Maria’s voice held something warm and kind and deep. She had a sad smile on her face as she reached from her bed to take the old woman’s hands. “Oh my god, Julia. I heard you were alive, but… How…?”

 

“Let’s just say you have friends in low and odd places. I was caught, but then… not.” Julia grinned as she gave Maria’s hands squeeze. Julia’s face fell. “They told me. They wanted me to convince you to get treatment. I told them it wouldn’t work. They pressed and I told them to flarg off.” Maria actually laughed at that.

 

“You would.” Maria pulled the old woman close and gave her a hug. “Sara, come here. Meet your grandmother.” Sara stared from her mother to the older woman and her face lit up as she made the connection. Then she was in motion, moving to embrace both older women.

 

Julia Kalenath smiled as she embraced Sara and Maria. “I wish it was under better circumstances, but dang it is good to see you, Maria. And I am glad to finally meet you, Sara. Will told me lot about you.” Sara couldn’t speak, she was too overcome. Julia took pity on her and embraced her tighter. “Life is pain, child. You know that better than many. But for here, and for now… We can be a family. Again…”

[kalenath]

The three Kalenath women had settled a bit, still within reach. Every so often one of them would reach out to touch the others, sometimes to hug, sometimes just to touch. All were crying silently. Eventualy, they all stopped that as well. The silence that finally descended was awkward and Julia finally broke it.

 

“I understand you’all’s feelings, Maria. Will was…brutally honest…when he told me about what happened to you and…” She broke off her face working. She sighed and finished. “To you and Sam.”

 

“They cloned Sam. I am pretty sure he is on his way.” Maria was definitely of two minds on this. On one hand, she loved the man who was a copy of her husband. On the other hand, the man who she loved, the copy of the man she loved she had to remind herself, served a Sith or someone who acted like a Sith now. It was so confusing.

 

“He is.” Julia’s voice was flat now, with a lifetimes hatred of the Sith buried deep in it. “Maria… is you sure…?” She broke off and a laughed little. “No. Of course you ain’t sure if you can trust ‘im, but I bet it don’t matter do it?” She gave Maria a knowing look that had the younger woman squirming in the bed. “You was both so young and so much in love with each other. I weren’t surprised at all when Sam left to go after you. I had hoped…” Now her voice was sad. “I had hoped to see you all…again… But… life gets in the way.”

 

“That it does.” Sara gave her grandma a hug to break the mood she could hear forming. “But we can’t give up.”

 

“Ah girl…” Julia returned the hug with interest and sat back in her wheelchair. “Everyone in our family is genetically incapable of givin’ up. You ought to know that by now. This is gonna to hurt you like nothing else you have ever encountered, Sara me girl.” She reached out and took both of Sara’s smaller hands in her own. “I wish I could be here to help. But…” Both of the others stared at Julia who flushed. “It were supposed to be fast, to be painless. It were fast, and it don’t hurt... But…” She broke off as both of the other blanched.

 

“Julia…? What happened?” Maria finally asked when Julia did not continue. Her voice held worry now.

 

Sara moved closer to Julia on Maria’s bed and embraced her grandma as the woman started to cry. “I just don’t know Maria. I don’t know what happened. The base was compromised. I ordered everyone who could run to get out. I purged the computers, so the Imperials got nothing but bodies. But I don’t run so fast anymore…” She patted her legs and grimaced at them. “Blasted arthritis… The Imperials used gas, we was ready for that. They… They wouldn’t leave me… I told ‘em to run, I told ‘em to continue the fight and they wouldn’t leave me. I don’t know what happened when the door blew in. I woke up in a cell. They’d searched me, but they’d missed one of my hold outs. I took the poison before they could stop me. I weren’t expectin’ to wake up and certainly not in the care of a woman named Emily…and she ain’t no Sith, no matter what she and her hubby look like, they ain’t Sith.”

 

“Emily…?” Maria asked, feeling a little faint. “Emily Darkstom?” Jina’s mother?

 

“Yeah, that t’was the name.” Julia had a goofy smile on her face now. “I didn’t trust her at first, no siree. But… She has all the give of a rock, you know? She have to be related.” Julia sighed and then smiled again. “Not that any of us is stubborn, now is we?” Sara bit back a laugh at the old woman’s tone.

 

“No, Grandma, we ain’t… are not stubborn at all…” Sara paused, trying to get her words straight. “Is that an Averumian accent?”

 

“Sort of.” Julia laughed as she patted Sara’s head. “Hang around people long enough and their speech wears off on ya. I was stuck in a hole for forty years with people who talked like that. I held out a while, but it just got old, being the only one talking like I did. So eventually, I caved. A tactical retreat, not a surrender.” She snorted in sour amusement. “I became a sort of grandma for the whole group. I hope they got clear. Being a grandma was not all fun, responsibility bites, don’t it?” Maria had to laugh sourly at that.

 

“I know all about that. Did Will tell you what his new kin called me?” Maria’s voice held self hate now and Sara looked at her mom worried. When Julia spoke, it was sharp.

 

“Stop that, Maria.” Julia sighed and patted Maria’s hand. “The past is the past. Let it go. Holdin’ onto a grudge or a slight makes for all kinds of problems, and right now… You need peace. You need quiet and calm now, not anger. Not hate. Not self loathing. You need to relax, girl. Don’t…” Tears were falling again as Julia hugged Maria’s hands to her own. “Don’t go from this life angry. Don’t let your rage take you places you don’t want to go. You a good woman, Maria Kalenath, one I always thought of as my own kid. I don’t care who your birth family was. You was mine and that was all that mattered.” The old woman’s voice was fierce, but it was broken when she started to cough.

 

Maria jerked upright in the bad and moved with Sara to hold Julia tight as the old woman spasmed in her chair. Sara looked at Maria and then moved towards the com console. Before she could reach it however, the door to the room opened and the Twi’lek that had pushed Julia in came in with a medkit in hand. Sara’s blaster was in hand, but she paused as the blue skinned alien woman completely ignored her and moved to where Julia was coughing hard.

 

“Easy, Julia… Easy…” The Twi’lek crooned as she laid a hypo against Julia’s shoulder. “This will make it better. Slow deep breaths. Okay…?” After a few more scary moments, Julia’s coughing eased. She shuddered and relaxed slumped in her chair.

 

“Mi’ta…” Julia’s voice was scratchy and filled with pain when she managed to get words out. “I’m okay…”

 

“No you are not. No one who took what you did is okay.” The Twi’lek laid a restraining hand on Julia’s shoulder. “I shouldn’t have left you. I am sorry.” She squatted down beside the chair. “It was your private business. But Emily gave me strict instructions. I am your caregiver. You are not going to kick me out, clear?” She glared at Maria and Sara who both stared at her. “She is my responsibility, clear?” There was no give at all in the Twi’lek’s voice. “She hasn’t got long, but she refused to just sit there and die. Anyone with half a brain could see she was going to come and anyone who got in her way was going to get hurt.”

 

Maria froze in place, her face falling. “Julia…?” She asked in a disbelieving voice, pain and fear all vying with her sadness.

 

“The poison I took killed me, Maria.” Julia’s voice was scratchy. “I just… I have a little time before it finishes. I wanted to spend it with you. And I want to meet this clone of my son.”

 

Maria felt her eyes start to burn and then she was weeping as she embraced Julia. “He is on his way… I… Julia… I…” She choked off, unable to continue.

 

“He is here.” Sara’s voice was soft and gentle as the door behind them hissed open. A loud vocie sounded as Samuel walked into the room, his white robes askew from running.

 

“What is…?” He froze in place as he saw the old woman in the wheelchair and suddenly, his whole demeanor changed, from confident doctor and healer to scared son. “Mom…?”

 

“Hello, Sam. We need to talk.” Julia fixed him with her gaze and he nodded slowly.

[kalenath]

It was very awkward. Sarai and Sara were in the corner, watching. Will was in another corner, also watching, Sharra beside him. Maria was still in her bed, she hadn’t been able to muster the strength to get up. When she sat up one time, dizziness overwhelmed her and she had been forced to lie back under the glare of both Julia and Samuel. Sarai was unsure what to make of all this, but she was crying softly. She knew what was coming. Maria never lied to her kids. She, and they, had been lied to so many times, by so many people, that it was next to impossible for her to be dishonest to her family. Anyone else, sure. Family, no. And Maria basically defined stubborn. Case in point…

 

“Get out, Jedi.” Maria finally managed to dredge up the strength to snarl at Nolikas who had been slowly approaching the bed, hand outstretched. The Rakata Jedi surgeon was almost in tears from the sheer emotional overload in the room. The old woman’s voice was flat and clear. “Now.”

 

“Maria… At least let me dull the pain…?” Nolikas begged as she took another half step. She froze as a blaster simply appeared in Maria’s hand. Its target was the Rakata’s bulbous head. The Jedi didn’t move, her large eyes swiveling as blasters also appeared in other hands around the room. Samuel didn’t move at all, and no weapon appeared in his hands, but everyone else -including Julia!- had a blaster pointed at the Jedi healer now. Nolikas tried again. “Maria… Please…”

 

“Get. Out.” Maria’s voice was flat and her blaster hummed as power started transferring from the power pack to the emitter. A slight squeeze and the Jedi would die.

 

“I…” Nolikas made no move to defend herself. “By my oath, Maria, you are in pain. I want to help. But… I am sorry. I offer apology for my Order, and for myself. I want to help. I know I can’t save you, but I want to help.” She repeated.

 

“You can help by leaving.” Maria’s tone might have frozen a charging Rancor in its tracks. “You touch me and I will kill you. You try and manipulate my mind and I will kill you. You try and disarm me and I bet one of my kin will kill you. Get out.”

 

The Jedi slumped and without a further word left the room, her stance dejected. Maria sighed as she put her blaster away. “Stupid Jedi. Stupid … I…” She winced as the room spun and then she froze as Samuel touched her. He didn’t do anything, but his touch was gently reassuring. She felt a little better, just from that touch. “I am sorry, I… I just want this to end.” She slumped in the bed

.

“It will soon enough, mi’girl…” Julia sat where she had since Nolikas had come in, a bit away from the bed. “For now, we have business.”

 

“Indeed we do. Will, front and center.” Maria spoke sharper than she intended, but no one minded. Her son came to the bedside and knelt down so his head was level with hers. “You know what to do.” It wasn’t a question, but Will nodded anyway. “I… I am trusting you, Will. Amarath needs help, she is in trouble because of my mistake. I want to fix this and I can’t. I need you to handle it.”

 

"I will, Mom." Will said quietly. “I will find Amarath Shades, I will rescue her from this scum, apparently the same scum who has Nia. I will reunite her with Cyare. Then I will protect her from any possible retribution from the Mandos. You have my word, Mom.” Will nodded soberly. “I will see this…obscenity…finished. And if Trava or the other Elders have a problem with my handling of it, they can go to hell.” He laid his hand on his mother’s limp one and she patted it fondly. Then he stepped back.

 

“Sharra.” Maria called softly and Will’s wife stepped forward. “You will continue?”

 

“You need to ask?” Sharra Kalenath said in a caustic tone that nearly hid her grief as she took both of Maria’s hands in her own. “I will tend our family. You would not tear me away with a tractor beam.” Maria smiled sadly.

 

“Sara, Sarai. Come here, girls.” The two girls that looked like carbon copies of each other stepped forward unwillingly. There was a very good reason they looked so alike. Sarai had been genetically altered to look like Sara and now shared many of the same traits and ‘gifts’. Each girl took one of Maria’s hands in both of theirs and Maria gave them both a squeeze. “This will hurt, girls. I want to be here for you. I want to help you grow up. But I can’t. Listen to Sharra, girls. Listen to Istara.” Both of the girls looked dubious, but neither spoke. “They will never be me, they will never be your mom. But they will be there for you. Istara has given me her word that she will protect you. She swore by blood and steel. You know what that means.”

 

Sara and Sarai shared a glance. When a Bladeborn made an oath like that, nothing short of death would make them break it. Istara had basically said that any member of her Bladeborn could and would die for Sara and Sarai, probably gladly. Maria smiled and nodded to them. “Now… Please… Don’t stay.”

 

“But Mom…” Both of the girls protested in unison and in the exact same tone. They stared at each other and then at Maria who smiled.

 

“No Buts, girls. You have lessons. And a new teacher has arrived for you, one imported specifically for you.” Maria’s grin could only be described as vicious as both Sara and Saria recoiled a bit in matching shock and worry. “You have both been delinquent far too much. I will not have such behavior. Clear?” Both girls stared at her and then nodded jerkily. Maria held their gazes for a moment and then relented. “You will like her. Will?” She asked and Will smiled as he keyed his comlink.

 

A moment later the door opened and a large green form entered the room. The huge Barabel effortlessly dominated everything in the room. Her face was sad, but proud as she strode to the bedside and knelt. When she spoke it was soft, but adamant. “By blood and by zteel, Maria Kalenath, you have my oath that no harm will come to your daughtersss.” She smiled gently at the totally cowed girls. “Unlezz they dessserve it.”

 

"Right." Maria smiled and waved for Sara and Sarai to come closer. “Girls, this is Bra Thana of Clan Nor. Better known to the Bladeborn as Mama Lizard. She will be taking over your educations. Be studious. Or be lunch.” She grinned at their expressions.

 

Mama Lizard smiled at Maria and then extended slow clawed hands to the girls. “I would not eat them, Maria. They would tassste terrible. “It was not clear if she was joking or not. She turned a solemn face to the girls. “I mean neither of you any harm, children. For children you are, dezpite your upbringingsss. I can be hard tazkmistresss, I brook no inzubordination. But it doesss not have to be hard. I underztand you both train in Terasss Kazi?” The girls’ small hands, when they slowly proffered them, were taken in gentle grips. The huge claws dwarfed the small hands in them, but were gentle. “I will see you zafe and trained asss only we can.”

 

Sara froze in place and her face turned to her mom who nodded slowly. “Nowhere safer, Sara.”

 

Sara looked as if she wanted to cry. Sarai was crying softly again. The huge Barabel slowy, so slowly, embraced both of them “It isss okay, girlz. Thisss is a bad time for all of uz.” Mama bowed to Maria. “Come, younglingz. You do not wisssh to ztay. If you believe nothing elssse I zay, pleassse believe that.”

 

Maria nodded slowly from her bed. “Please, Sara… Sarai… remember me as I am… I… I can’t be strong…if I am worried about you.”

 

“I don’t want to lose you!” Sarai blurted out as she tore herself from the Barabekl’s grip and ran to the bed, crying. She threw herself into Maria’s arms and sobbed.

 

“You must be strong, Sarai. You too Sara. Please… Go with Bra Thana. Please…” She ruffled Sarai’s hair and then locked her eyes on Sara. Sara nodded slowly and came to take her sister in gentle hands. “Remember me.” Maria asked in a quiet voice.

 

Surprisingly, it was the Barabel who answered. “No one who knew you will ever forget you, Matriarch Kalenath. Come younglingsss, you both need nourizhment.” Between Sara’s gentle grip and the Barabel’s soft murmurings of comfort, they eased Sarai from the room.

 

As the Barabel left, a black furred Bothan entered. She was crying. “I don’t want to do this. I don’t.”

 

Maria shook her head weakly. “Ona… please… Let me die with dignity.” She had only met the Bothan the day before, but she understood immediately why both Istara and Will loved the female healer. “I wish I didn’t have to ask this, but none of the others would help me. You understand.” To live a while longer in agony or die in peace? No choice.

 

“I do. But that doesn’t mean I like it.” Ona’s face fur was matted by the tracks of tears. “You, I would help even if you were not Will’s mother. And you…” Her gaze fell on Julia who, wonder of wonders, flinched a bit. “I wish I could convince you. I think we would have been friends.”

 

“Or killed each other.” Julia said quietly as Ona came close. The old woman did not flinch as Ona connected an IV drip.

 

The Bothan busied herself in hanging the bag and came towards the bed with another bag in hand. But then Ona stopped as Samuel bared his arm. “What…?” She asked quietly, although she could likely sense his resolve.

 

“Bob freed me from his service before we came.” Samuel said quietly. “He knew what I wanted, even though I did not. I will not let you go alone, Maria. Never again. Where you go, I go.”

 

At the man’s quiet declaration, every eye in the room misted over. Ona stared at him for a moment and then at Maria helplessly. Maria shrugged and nodded slowly. Ona stayed where she was as Samuel lay down beside his wife and embraced her. Then Ona, crying even harder, inserted the IV into Samuel’s arm. Maria, she connected a new line to the IV that was already run. “I… I can’t do this…” Ona said as she backed up, her face a study of pain.

 

“Give me the control.” Maria said quietly.

 

Ona stared at her and then at Will who sighed and nodded. “Mom can do that hard things that no one else can. We would keep her here until she was screaming in pain, for fear of hurting her, as illogical as that is. Give her the control. I can’t do it either.” Sharra shook her head as well.

 

Ona laid a small remote on the bed and then fled the room, tears falling in sheets. Maria took the control in hand and then with a sigh, pushed the button on it. “I never expected to die in bed.” She said as she laid back. “Blasted, burned, cut by a lightsaber… Never in bed.” Her eyes slowly closed. Samuel’s and Julia’s did as well. “I love you Will.” Her voice was so soft it was almost inaudible.

 

After a moment, her breathing eased and then, slowly stopped. Will didn’t move from his spot, and Sharra clung to him as the three others in the room slowly and quietly passed from the existence that they had all shared. After a long, long time, Will finally spoke. “I know.”

[kalenath]

“I can’t believe she just… Just…” For the first time in memory, Jirina Ordo was at a complete loss for words. She was feeding her baby and trying to stay calm after hearing the horrible news. Mandalorians were no strangers to death. But not like this.

 

“Died? What kind of choice did she have? Linger in pain for weeks or months until finally succumbing? Or dying in peace surrounded by people who loved her?” Cyare Ordo’s voice might have been angry, if it hadn’t been so sick and tired. “I just wish…” He broke off and shook his head.

 

The small crew of Mandalorians who followed Cyare stood a bit apart from the rest of the group. When Will had spoken Maria’s wishes, no one gainsaid them. No one was stupid enough. She had wanted to go home, so here they stood, a large group of armed and armored individuals, standing on a plain that was once a river valley. Before the Sith had come to Averum, this plain had been home to a small farming village. When people had resisted, the Sith had responding with their usual understated methods. Orbital bombardment was not precise, but the Sith couldn’t have cared less. In the forty years since the bombardment, some plants had managed to grow up in the area, but most of it was a wasteland and would be for centuries. Cyare was not sure how the Sith on planet did not know what was going on here, but with so much firepower in the immediate area, no one sane was going to approach without permission. Not to mention the firepower in orbit. When an entire fleet of Mandalorian ships shows up, even Sith get polite, very quickly.

 

Will, Sara, Sharra and Sarai were working slowly and carefully, building a pyre worthy of any hero from any old tale. Mandalorians from Cyare’s old clan stood guard around the area, weapons out and ready. Cyare ignored them and they ignored him. These were people he had known, laughed with, gotten drunk with, people he had fought with and beside. And now, he was outside them. It hurt, but he did not let it distract him. It wasn’t as if this was the first time he had been outcast from the clan after all. He was following his heart, not just his orders. They understood.

 

Jirina cast a glance at her brother but then focused on the feeding child. “How are you holding up, Weasel? I know she meant a lot to you, just like she did to me.” Jirina was not wearing armor, the better to feed her young one. Not that she was in any danger here. Any hint of violence in this place would have all kinds of bad things happen. Not to mention what the Bladeborn would do.

 

Cyare shook his head. It was downright weird. He knew Bladeborn as vicious opponents, honorable in their own way, but utterly devastating in hand combat. And they went all gooey over an infant? Every one of them had come up to admire the baby. He was not sure exactly what was going on with the Bladeborn. There were two groups, Istara’s group and the other group. It had taken careful watching, but eventually, Cyare had realized that one sect of these Force using weirdoes all looked to Istara for orders. They all wore dark brown armor. The others… If he hadn’t been introduced to them as Bladeborn, he likely would have pulled a blaster. They looked and acted like darjetii. He paused as one of them walked towards his sister and himself. The young woman could not have been over twenty and her face was sad. The blade at her side looked new, and almost unused.

 

“Greetings, Mandalorians.” The woman spoke softly. “I am Jen.” Cyare glanced to her, Jirina just looked through her. Neither really had any use for darjetii. “I would…” Jen seemed to pause and then she sighed. “I would admire your child if you allow.”

 

Cyare froze. What kind of a Sith asked to do something like that? Sure there were all kinds of power and firepower watching, but still…? He looked at Jirina who shrugged. “Make a wrong move and you die.” Cyare’s voice was utterly expressionless.

 

Jen nodded and then knelt slowly to look at the little feeding infant. If she was squeamish at all about watching an infant feed in the way nature had intended, she hid it well. “A beautiful little girl.” She smiled sadly and softly. “A strong girl…”

 

Another voice broke into the scene. “Jen…” Cyare looked up to find what had to be the leader of the other group of Bladeborn standing there. Cyare’s hands flew to his blasters, the guy hadn’t been there a moment before. The darjetii raised empty hands. “Peace, Mandalorian. I am just trying to keep the peace. There are too many people here with too many grudges. A wrong word, a wrong move and blood will spill. And not a little of it.”

 

Jen turned glistening eyes at the man in black. “You cannot stop me from admiring a baby, master. I just… I…” Cyare froze even more solid as the man in black laid a gentle arm over Jen’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze.

 

“I know, Jen. I know. But they are almost done.” Indeed the pyre was almost two stories tall now and huge. Burlap wrapped bundles were being laid around the base of it now. Was it Cyare’s imagination that some of them moved a little? Probably not. He was not going to ask.

 

The woman shuddered a bit in that seemingly gentle embrace. “You could bring them back.” Her voice held accusation and Cyare glanced at the man appraisingly.

 

The man in black sighed. “I might be able to, but they would never be the same. And do you have any idea what Will would do? Let alone the others? No, this was Maria and Samuel’s choice. He told me what he intended.” The woman shook her head savagely, but her master was unmoved. “Jen, you know how much he loved her. Come on, it’s time.” He strode off towards the pyre.

 

Jen reached out a slow hand to caress the feeding infant’s head for an instant and her gaze held wistfulness. When she spoke it was soft and for Jirina and Cyare’s ears alone. “Guard your future, Mandalorians, lest you fall into a fate like mine. She is gorgeous. You have reason to be proud.” Then she was following her master.

 

Cyare and Jirina shared a glance and then Cyare stood and waited while Jirian packed up her baby kit and slung the now slumbering infant in a specially made sling that hung the baby named Amarath down Jirina’s front. “That was weird.” Cyare commented as Jirina started off.

 

“Welcome to our world.” A familiar voice spoke from nearby and Cyare stopped as Sara came out of the gathering shadows. “S…Sarge…I…”

 

Cyare shook his head and sighed. “Come here, Sara.” The girl almost flew into his arms, sobbing out her rage and pain at an uncaring universe. He stroked her hair gently with his armor clad gloves. It had worked to help her calm down when he had first met her. “I am not going to say ‘It will be okay’ or any other such drek, because it won’t. But you are not alone.”

 

“No ssshe is not.” Cyare did not flinch, this time, as a huge shadow came up and paused nearby. The Barabel would have been intimidating at the best of times, which these were not. “Come, Zara. You mussst come. All of uz mussst pay our rezpectsss.”

 

“I can’t do this…” Sara cried into Cyare’s shoulder. “I can’t.” He stared at Jirina helplessly. He had no idea what to say, to do.

 

Jirian sighed and stepped close to Sara. “Here.” She handed the sleeping infant in her sack to Sara who froze in place. “Keep her quiet. You know how.”

 

“Jirina…I…” Sara took the slumbering infant in careful hands, unsure what to do or why.

 

"Focus, Sara." Jirina embraced Sara gently but firmly. When the older Mando woman spoke it was soft, but commanding. “Focus on Amarath, Sara. Not on the pyre, not on the bodies. Not on the scum who will follow Maria to her afterlife as a guard of honor. Focus on the future, Sara. Not on the past. If your mother taught you nothing else, she taught you that. Was that your idea?”

 

“Istara’s.” Sara said quietly. “She said that Maria might make the trip better of she had some enemy bodies to walk over. I think she is a bit wrong in the head, but it does get all of the scum off my ship. Even if we did have to disarm all the explosives we put in the droids.”

 

Cyare shook his head, bemused as always by Sara’s bloodthirst. Understandable, true, but off putting in a fifteen year old. “How many of them are alive?” He asked against his will. Sara’s answering grin was vicious and he had his answer.

 

“None will even be able to scream. But if anyone deserves to burn alive those Special Branch scum do.” Sara froze as huge clawed hand took her arm in a gentle but irresistible grip.

 

“Beware vengeanze, Sssara. It can and will deztroy you if you let it. Come, it is time.” Mama Lizard led Sara and the Mandos towards the waiting pyre, and the three white wrapped bodies that had just been placed on it.

[kalenath]

It was a very strange and eclectic group that formed around the huge pile of wood that had been airlifted in by unmarked airspeeders from an unmarked shuttle. The Stormhawk was very well known around Imperial space, so it was simply good tactics to deny enemy forces information for as long as possible. Will and his wife stood by one side of the pyre with the weeping form of Sarai at their side. The girl hadn’t stopped crying since Will had come out of the room and told everyone that his mom had died. His adopted kin stood arrayed behind him.

 

Istara stood near the pyre, her face a solemn mask. Behind her, the Bladeborn delegation that had demanded the right to be there stood at attention, Idjit stood a little apart from them, as always. Opposite them stood Bob and his people, their numbers exactly matching Istara’s Bladeborn. Around and between them stood members of the Stormhawk crew, ones who were not on duty on the stealthed ship or flying air cover. This was a Sith held planet after all. Around the whole shebang were guards in Mandalorian armor. Standing a bit apart from the group were three forms in Jedi robes. Nolikas, Jina Darkstorm and Michael Jonal stood a bit apart. Not by design, but because they were definitely not completely trusted, not after what rogue Jedi had done to Maria and Sara. Speaking of… Sara stood beside the hulking form of Mama Lizard and had finally managed to stem the flow of tears. Will met the eyes of everyone and slumped a bit.

 

“I guess… I should say something.” Will shook his head slowly and spoke in a soft tone that somehow managed to carry everywhere. “I don’t… I have never been one for long speeches, or long conversations. I learned that early on, from my mom. Get the information out, get the job done and go home. Simple.” His voice cracked for a moment and showed that underneath the hard bitten armor, a hurting little boy was crying, even though no tears were falling. “Maria Kalenath was always special. And not just because she was my mother. I didn’t know for a long time that she had been in Special Forces.” More than one person in the crowd inhaled sharply. “She had been in one of the first groups selected from the rank and file. She chose to have a family rather than continue serving in that regard. But she kept serving. Despite everything the Empire and the Republic threw at her, her patriotism could never be dimmed. Even to the last, she believed in the Republic. Even if it did not believe in her. Goodbye mom. May you find the peace in death that evaded your best efforts in life.” He looked as if he were going to say something more but clamped his mouth shut and stepped away from the pyre.

 

For several minutes, there was silence. Then Sara’s soft and pain filled voice sounded in the oppressive silence. “My first clear memories of my mother were in the cell we called home for so long. I was sick, hurting from what had been done to me. I think I had displeased the docs and they used a shockstick on me for the first time. It was ‘to motivate’ me, they said. I think I was three or four. She sang to me. It was… It was heavenly. I didn’t understand the term then. Everything else I had encountered was hellish, but she was the single point of sanity in my life. She taught me to hate, but she also taught me to control it. I wanted a normal life, more than anything else. She tried to give me one, and well…Life did not agree with my wishes. Mom… I will miss you…” She smiled a bit self-consciously. She slumped and tears were falling freely. Mama Lizard placed a gentle claw on Sara’s shoulder and Sara leaned into the embrace gratefully. She hugged the Barabel tight and was obviously not going to be able to speak again. Sharra spoke next.

 

“I met Maria in a cantina where she was busy drinking herself to death.” A startled gasp went around the large circle as Will’s wife laughed a bit sourly. “But the one thing that always impressed me about Maria was that when she focused on something she did it, come hell or high water. She cleaned herself up, bar a few issues here and there. She was my motivation, my hero, my form to follow. She was not nice, but she was fair. I am of the firm impression that no hell will be able to hold that woman. Or she will take it over.” A soft chuckle ran around the circle at that. Even Sara cracked a small smile. Yes, that was Maria in a nutshell. “Goodbye Maria. And don’t you dare start drinking again.” This last was in a distinct tome of threat.

 

“I met Maria on a frozen hell called Hoth.” Istara Sharlina Andal’s voice was soft and sad, but proud at the same time. “I had sworn to save her from Special Branch, and I did. But… She was not what I expected. I never expected her to idolize me. Me of all people… I was not a nice person…” She snorted in sour amusement. “Still am not. But… She saw something in me, something no one else did.” Istara shook her head ruefully. “She cooked for me, on my old ship, the Rancor’s Bite. She wouldn’t let me -and us- eat ‘recyclo-spam’, as she called it. She was…” For the first time in a long, long time, Istara Sharlina Andal started to cry in public. “She was the greatest being I think I have ever met. She didn’t have the Force, but by Ashla, she didn’t need it!” Idjit stepped forward and laid an arm on her shoulder for a moment before stepping back into the ranks of Bladeborn. “Good journey Maria Kalenath, may your road be easy and your enemies few.”

 

Other beings stepped forward. Some to offer tidbits from Marias life, others simply to say goodbye. Finally, a Mandalorian woman in gray armor that matched her short hair stepped forward, her face uncovered by a helmet and her eyes sad. Trava Kalan’s voice was steady but held pain when she spoke. “Maria Kalenath Ordo… We adopted her, or she adopted us. It is hard to say which. Mandalorians know very well about losing family. It is a hard universe we are born into. It never gets any easier. I called Maria ‘friend’ from the moment I met her, sick and dying after she had been rescued. It was later that we called her ‘Ba’buir’, grandmother in Mando’a. Because she became a grandmother to all of us. We did not always see eye to eye. But she was always willing to listen. Then apply the boot to a head if she still disagreed. And I will say this: No warrior of my clan will ever be able to hear the word ‘spoon’ without shuddering.” More than one curious face turned to Trava and the hard bitten Mando woman actually gulped a bit. “Don’t. Ask.” She said in a quiet a tone. “Maria is the only person I have ever met who could make me lose my lunch. What she did to a couple of the Special Branch scum we caught… well… They deserved it, but…” She shook herself and her face smoothed back into a solemn mask. “I don’t know what the future holds, but we will remember Maria Kalenath. Mando’ad draar digu.” ‘A Mandalorian never forgets’. A soft chorus of ‘Mando’ad draar digu’ came from around the circle from the ring of silent Mandos.

 

Will waited for a moment, but no one else spoke. He sighed and reached for the pile of torches at his feet. He picked them up and started passing them around the circle. Every one of Will’s family took one. Istara took one, Bob took one. Trava took one and paused as Cyare Ordo stepped forward in silence and took one as well before stepping back to stand away from her. She looked like she was going to say something but a sharp glare from Will had her slumping and remaining silent. In short order, everyone in the group had a torch ready. Will ignited his torch and passed the flame to each of his kin in turn. Then he spoke in a loud and ringing tone. What he spoke was odd, it had been popularized by a bad holo-vid, but was true nonetheless.

 

“"]Lo, there do I see my father…”

 

“Lo, there do I see my mother…” Sara’s voice cracked, but was strong as she held her burning torch high.

 

“Lo, there do I see my sisters and my brothers…” Istara took up the ancient words, her strong voice calling memories of long forgotten battles and sacrifices to the fore.

 

“Lo, there do I see the line of my people, back to the beginning…” All the voices were speaking in hushed tones now. “Lo, they do call to me, they bid me take my place among them…” Suddenly there was silence and then Sarai’s soft voice filled it. As the youngest Kalenath –sort of anyway-, it was her duty.

 

“…in the Halls of Valhalla, where the brave may await the final battle of Ragnarok.” She gulped and then tossed her torch onto the pyre. Dozens of torches followed. The flames quickly spread into the dried wood almost as if…

 

“We will want to leave. Now.” Will spoke softly but everyone could hear him easily.

 

“Will…?” Istara’s voice held caution. This man lived large explosions. Will just looked at her and then she blanched. “You didn’t…” He didn’t move and she jerked her head at the Bladeborn behind her. “Move!” She shouted.

 

It was organized. None of the group were amateurs after all, and even if they were a bit panicked from what Will had said, -Could you blame them?- they moved with a clarity and skill. In less than five minutes, all of the group were on shuttles heading for the fleet and none were mixed or lost. Then Istara blanched. “Where is Will?”

 

“There.” Sara pointed out a viewport and indeed, a garishly painted light freighter with lots of guns was pacing the shuttle Istara was on. “And… Now…” Sara murmured. The shuttle shook as a bright flash was seen and something rumbled in the distance. Istara turned scared eyes to Sara who shrugged. “Non nuclear. Just lots of baradium. No DNA to clone. She wanted it that way.”

 

“Every time I think I have you people figured out…” Istara complained but then relented as Sara crumpled. “Hey… Come here…” She held Sara as the girl sobbed. “Easy, Sara… Easy…It will be okay. I will make it okay.”

 

Sara stared at Istara through tear filled eyes. “Do you really mean that?” She asked incredulously. Istara nodded and Sara buried her face in the Bladeborn’s chest.

 

“You just lost your mother and gained whole lot of kin, Sara. Welcome home.” Istara smiled as she embraced her new daughter and sister.

[kalenath]

((This one... hurts me. Death is a fact of life, we all know this. But... I had forgotten how hard it was to write this BEFORE my own mother passed away. She was no warrior, but she was brave, strong and kind. I will remember her, now and always.))

 

(Comments or suggestions always appreciated. Flames... Please don't. Please?))