A/N I do not own Star Wars. Obviously

XXXXX

Five years.

Tahiri stared at the bulkhead opposite her as she reclined bonelessly in her seat, trying not to think about it. About Him. Five years since it happened. Five years since he left her. Five years since he was taken from her. Taken from everyone. Five years since Anakin Solo had died.

Tahiri could feel a tear running down her cheek, and she angrily wiped it away. She closed her eyes and began to meditate. She didn't have time to feel sorry for herself; not at the moment. She had important work to do, and if this mission happened to fall on a day Tahiri felt the loss of Anakin especially keenly; that was just her bad luck.

Tahiri closed her eyes and reached out with the Force to settle her swirling emotions. She allowed the great cosmic energy to fill her, the familiar presence replacing her building sorrow with a sense of calm and fulfillment. She reached out to touch each member of the ships crew, taking comfort and delight in the mix of familiar and un familiar presences.

The captain, Tahiri's old friend Uldir Lochett, sat at the ship's controls. The No Luck Required was his; and Uldir's insistence that he and his crew be the ones to accompany Tahiri on this mission had touched her. Uldir's first mate, a no nonsense woman named Vega Sepen, was in the ship's kitchenette, idly munching on some sort of food bar. Tahiri could tell that the Correllian was psyching herself up for the mission. The Dug, Leaft, and Vook Gehu, a Duro, were in the ship's armory checking blasters and packing assault webbing with whatever the pair thought might be needed.

Tahiri felt a gentle prod in the Force, and felt her lips quirk into a smile. She focused her attention on the final member of Uldir's crew, Klin-Fa Gi. Returning her fellow Jedi knight's Force delivered concern, Tahiri sent an answering pulse, assuring Klin-Fa that she was fine. The concern was appreciated, and having another Jedi along for the ride filled Tahiri with a sense of relief. She was accustomed to pursuing these types of missions with only her usual team, or in a worst case scenario, with Wraith Squadron, so not having to be the only Jedi had lifted a weight from Tahiri's shoulders that she had never noticed until was gone. It felt good to be working with the Order again, even if only barely.

Tahiri decided that after the mission was over, she would slow down and spend more time with her fellow Jedi. She knew that a lot of her friends were worried about her. Master Luke had said as much when she stopped by Ossus to discuss the mission, and she had felt the concern radiating from several of the Jedi as she walked the temple grounds. Many of the older Jedi were a little afraid of her, Tahiri knew. The Jedi-Who-Was-Shaped.

Tahiri thought about what she was. Captured early in the Yuuzhan Vong war, Tahiri had been given to a shaper, the Yuuzhan Vong version of a scientist, that she might reveal the mysteries of the Jedi to the invaders. She had endured weeks of torture, and finally, an attempt to erase her personality and replace it with a Yuuzhan Vong one. Anakin had saved her, but the damage had been done, and Riina Kwaad, the implanted personality, had lurked in the depths of Tahiri's mind, biding her time and waiting for an opportunity. Anakin's death had provided it. Tahiri had been broken, and Riina jumped at the chance to take over. Tahiri had fought, and fought hard, but Riina had been too strong. Neither could gain control, and finally a deal had been made. The warring personalities merged, creating a being that was mostly Tahiri Veila, but with enough of Riina in her that others could see the changes.

Tahiri was harder than before. She smiled less, slept less, and worked harder. Riina had given her the experience of a Yuuzhan Vong life she had never actually led, and her mastery of the Yuuzhan Vong language and her absolute understanding of their culture had made her the New Republic's foremost expert on the species. She had spent almost the entirety of her life post war on Yuuzhan Vong related missions for the Republic, and, she realized, had been neglecting her responsibilities to the Order. Yes, she thought, this would be her last mission for a while. But then, she had told herself that before her last mission. And the one before that.

Tahiri withdrew herself from the Force and focused on the part of herself that was Yuuzhan Vong. This cut her off from the Force, but allowed her access to her Vongsense. This ability to access the 'Vong side' of the Force was the final skill that made her so good at hunting the rebel Yuuzhan Vong. She could sense them, just as she could sense all other life forms with the Force. She was one of only two Jedi who could do it, and Jacen Solo was currently galavanting across the galaxy on a journey of personal discovery.

Reaching out with her Vongsense, Tahiri found the only other living being on board the ship. Mar Rin was a young shaper, almost as young as Tahiri, and had been Tahiri's teammate and friend since the first mission Tahiri had accepted after the war. Mar Rin was on of the few Yuuzhan Vong who had shunned settling on Zonama Sekot, explaining that she felt that the Yuuzhan Vong had a duty to clean up the mess they had made, and had thrown herself into the task with such enthusiasm and cheer that Tahiri knew that many people who had met Mar Rin thought she was slightly mad. Tahiri liked her; she was genuine, and perhaps the friendliest Yuuzhan Vong in the galaxy. She reminded Tahiri of herself before she had been shaped, and she let Tahiri know that being part Yuuzhan Vong did not make her a pain worshiping sadist.

"Hey Tahiri, you ok?" A voice pierced Tahiri's trance, startling her and causing her to jump.

Opening her eyes, Tahiri gazed upon the concerned faces of Uldir and Klin-Fa looking down on her. She exhaled and smiled at the pair. "Yes. I'm fine you guys. Why did you think I wasn't?"

"You vanished from the Force." Klin-Fa said, her eyes boring into Tahiri's. "I was worried you had knocked yourself unconscious, or..." She trailed off, obviously unsure if her suspicion would offend Tahiri.

"If I was gonna kill myself, I'd have done it by now," Tahiri said, a wry smile on her lips. "I was using my Vongsense. It cuts me off from the Force."

"Of course. I'd forgotten you could do that." Klin-Fa nodded, clearly embarrassed by her assumption.

"Well, anyway." Uldir started, breaking through the awkward silence that was forming. "Real-space in thirty minutes. I'm calling a conference to finalize the mission plan." He spun on his heels and headed towards the door, pausing briefly to gesture that the pair of Jedi should follow him.

After Uldir had left, Klin-Fa rounded on Tahiri. "Tahiri, I..."

"Klin-Fa, it's fine." Tahiri cut her off with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I know what most of the Jedi say about me. That I'm dangerous. That I'm on the edge. That I could snap and succumb to my barbaric Yuuzhan Vong instincts and start killing Jedi at any time." She punctuated her statements with spooky fingers gestures, causing Klin-Fa to giggle.

"It's nonsense of course. I'm as in control as any other Jedi." Tahiri said.

"Probably more." Klin-Fa replied. "I've pulled myself back from the brink as well. It has a way of getting you focused on what matters."

Tahiri nodded. She stood and walked to Klin-Fa, slapping her on the back as she passed. "It does indeed." she said, smiling at the older woman. "Let's us dangerous ladies on the edge stick together. I can always use more friends. Force knows I have few enough these days."

"I'd like that Tahiri." Klin-Fa said, returning the smile. "Although I'm not sure I'd consider a tiny little girl like you edgy or dangerous."

Laughing at the indignant expression on Tahiri's face, Klin-Fa bolted out of the room. Tahiri huffed to herself, but soon smiled again. Teasing was what friends did. It was a step in the right direction. A step towards finally getting her life back to normal, or at least as normal as she imagined it had been before the war.

XXXXX

The assault squad, such as it was, were crowded around the holo-display in the No Luck Required's lounge.

"Alright ladies and gentle-beings, here's what we're up against." Uldir said, pulling up a holo of a bizarre looking ship. "This is the... I can't pronounce this." He gestured at the Aurebesh rendering of the Yuuzhan Vong ship's name.

"Zhharebalksh." Tahiri supplied dryly, raising an eyebrow in Uldir's direction as his crew snickered.

"Yeah, that." He said, dismissing his embarrassment with a wave of his hand. "That mean anything? Something that won't cause my throat to defect to the Imperial Remnant?"

"Final Hope will do in a pinch." Tahiri said, shaking her head.

"Right. Anyway," Uldir said, dragging the meeting back on track, "The Final Hope here launched from Coruscant shortly after the Yuuzhan Vong captured it, so It's been out here about five years. Our intel suggests it is some kind of secret Shaper project ship, explaining the unusual shape. Even for a Yuuzhan Vong ship."

Though far more familiar with Yuuzhan Vong ship styles than anyone else present, Tahiri had to agree with the assessment. The Final Hope looked less a starship than a shaper damutek expanded to a truly ridiculous size and lined with dovin bassals to provide thrust. It did not look like it could possibly be well armed. Thus, Tahiri supposed, the hiding.

"As far as we know, there are no external weapons on this thing, so docking and getting on board shouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately, that's where the intel ends. We have no idea what's on board this thing, so we need to be prepared for anything." Uldir jerked his in Tahiri's direction. "You and Mar Rin are the experts here. Any ideas about what might be in there.?"

"It's definitely a research vessel." Mar Rin said, nodding as she studied the holo. Her Yuuzhan Vong accent had faded to almost nothing over the time Tahiri had known her, and usually guttural, harsh pronounciation of a Yuuzhan Vong speaking basic had given way to a throaty, flowing speech. Hearing it pleased Tahiri. She could tell that simply hearing that new accent was setting Uldir's crew more at ease.

"I do not imagine that there are a great many warriors aboard. No more than a cadre." Mar Rin continued, "Shapers and warriors do not get along so well, you see."

"I agree." Tahiri said. "Most of that ship has probably been given over to shaper labs, or perhaps a single large lab and an extensive slave quarters."

"Why would they need so many slaves if their aren't that many Vong aboard?" Vega asked.

"Yuuzhan Vong." Tahiri corrected absently.

Vega rolled her eyes at Tahiri's almost unconscious correction, and Leaft and Vook chuckled.

"Test subjects." Mar Rin said, addressing Vega's question. "The shapers need something to experiment on."

The atmosphere of the briefing room sobered quickly.

"Great." Uldir said. "I was hoping we could assume that the prisoners would be able to leave under their own power. Guess that's blown."

He frowned, and his eyebrows furrowed in thought. The room was silent for several moments while the team tried to come up with the potential solution for their new potential problem. Klin-Fa broke the silence.

"Why not use our hover pallets? We have several, and we could probably load ten or fifteen people on each one." She said.

"Good idea." Vega nodded. "If we've got more than one hundred immobile prisoners to deal with, we're not getting out of there anyway."

Tahiri frowned at Vega's statement. She was correct of course; the seven of them would never be able to move hundreds of invalids themselves, especially if they had to dodge thud bugs the whole way. Not to mention that a key part of the mission was to dismantle the shaper labs, which they would not have time to do correctly if they were playing ambulance. Still, Tahiri's Jedi instincts balked at the thought of leaving innocents behind.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." she said.

"Tahiri's right. No need to get down on ourselves over something that is improbable at best." Uldir said, nodding in agreement with the Jedi. "Better to concentrate on the things we can control. Like our insertion point."

"That is the easy part." Mar Rin said. "Most Yuuzhan Vong buildings are the same on the inside, and since this ship looks to just be an oversized damutek, we can predict the hallway layout."

"Should be straightforward enough." Tahiri agreed. "We go in in the center, and split into two teams, sweep fore and aft, and rejoin after we're done."

"The slaves will be kept opposite the shaper labs." Mar Rin added. "One team will sweep the lab, the other will head for the slaves."

Uldir and his crew stared at the pair. "Sounds like you guys have this all worked out." Uldir said, slightly agape at how quickly the two women had formed the plan.

"We've... done this a few times." Tahiri admitted. "Not on a spaceship, but We've spent the last three years storming Yuuzhan Vong bases. We're used to it." She looked at Uldir's crew helplessly, the crinkling of her brows making the triple line scar on her forehead stick out prominently. "We ARE the experts the New Republic sent out here you know."

Uldir waved his hand in defeat. "I know, I know. Guess I'm not used to little Tahiri forming battle plans at the drop of a hat." he said.

"Well, 'little Tahiri' spent some of the war with Wraith Squadron, so she picked up a few things." Tahiri said with a smile that did not quite meet her eyes. "Anyone object to the plan?"

Silence met her question. "Great!" She said, clapping her hands together. "Looks like ten minutes to real space reversion. Make your final preparations and meet me in the airlock."

Tahiri spun on her heels and sauntered out of the meeting room. She could feel that the crew were wondering what they had done to irritate her. She laughed softly to herself. She really had spent too much time with the Wraiths. Messing with people beneath the dignity of a Yuuzhan Vong warrior, and not encouraged by the Jedi code, but Tahiri enjoyed it too much to stop. It never seemed to bother the Solos or master Jade-Skywalker either. She would apologize before the mission launched. Bursting that bubble of artificially created tension would make the crew nice and relaxed for the mission. Thanks Face, Tahiri thought as she returned to her quarters to grab her battle belt. Guess learning all that psychology wasn't a waste of time.

XXXXX

Uldir's crew, plus Tahiri and Mar Rin, were flanking the airlock exit, waiting for the connection to finalize so they could storm the Yuuzhan Vong ship. Docking had been as easy as Tahiri and Mar Rin had predicted, so Uldir was feeling confident with the mission plan so far. He looked at his old friend.

Tahiri's trick on his crew had surprised him. The girl Uldir had know had been so guileless he would have put credits on her being the worst lier in the galaxy, so her casual manipulation of his crew's emotions had taken him back. She seemed so different now. He supposed that it really was not big things; people who did not know her well would probably just see the friendly, bubbly girl she had always been. Uldir knew better. He was no Jedi, but he could see the reserve she now had when dealing with people, the hardness in her eyes when she spoke of certain things, the sadness she seemed to radiate when she thought no one was looking.

It had been ten years since Uldir had med Tahiri, and before this mission, it had been about six years since he had seen her. Those years had not been kind. Tahiri has spent her most formative years in a war, and the personal cost of that war for her had been, in Uldir's opinion, excessively high. Her mind had been broken, her best friend had been killed right in front of her, and her torture had resulted in the vast majority of her peers treating her with suspicion and fear. Uldir had been glad that Klin-Fa and Tahiri had taken to one another. He wanted Tahiri to make more friends. She just seemed so lonely when they met again. She had comrades, the Wraiths, the Jedi who trusted her, but her only friend besides himself seemed to be Mar Rin. She was still, on the whole, kind, happy, and a bit silly, but she had an edge now. Uldir supposed that was inevitable; you can not shatter and be rebuilt without cracks.

"Hey! Boss man. Final orders?"

Uldir shook himself from his thoughts and looked at the speaker, Vega. "Right. Mar Rin, you're going for the shaper labs. How much back up will you need?"

"Two only. No Jeedai." Mar Rin bit out, clearly in the process of psyching herself up for the operation.

"Why no Jedi?" Uldir asked, confused.

"These Yuuzhan Vong are fanatics." Mar Rin said. "They are going to be aggressive no matter who goes, but I would like to avoid dealing with shapers and their guards in a frothing, suicidal rage."

Uldir nodded in agreement. He pointed to Vook and Vega. "You two with Mar Rin. Leaft, stay here and guard the extraction point."

"Leave it to the captain to assign the two beautiful women to his own team." Leaft grumbled. Uldir could tell he was not actually upset though, his smile gave him away.

"Hey, are not Vega and I beautiful women?" Mar Rin teased, shifting her shoulders to emphasize her bust. Vega laughed at the gesture. Combat suits were not flattering garments in the best of times, and the effect of Mar Rin's gesture was a far cry from the alluring pin up she was trying to imitate; she just looked inflated.

"Mar Rin, the only being you're going to attract like that is a hutt." Tahiri laughed, lightly punching the pushed out combat plates, lightly rocking Mar Rin back on her heels and causing the armor to pop back into place.

Mar Rin grunted and rubbed her chest. She shot Tahiri an irritated look, but Tahiri just rolled her eyes. A chime sounded from the door.

"Alright people, let's move out! We have slaves to free." Uldir said, and hit the switch open the airlock. The door swung open, and the team filed out, ready for anything. They thought.

XXXXX

"I can't imagine there are too many warriors aboard. It shouldn't be a problem." Uldir snarled in a mocking approximation of Mar Rin's accent. He began to speak again, but was cut off by another round of thud bugs impacting against the doorframe he was crouched behind.

Kin-Fa, unable to sense the Yuuzhan Vong or their biotech in the Force, was taking cover on the other side of the doorframe, taking shots with her blaster in between thud bug salvos. Tahiri, who could sense the bugs, was deflecting as many as she could with her lightsaber, trying desperately to give her comrades an opening.

"Now now, you had the same intel we did. It's not Mar Rin's fault it was bad." Tahiri said, her voice almost impossibly calm for the wild motions she was making to keep ahead of the thud bugs.

A fierce smile was plastered across Tahiri's face, and she could feel her adrenalin pumping as her pleasure with finally finding a battle grew. This, she knew, was why so many other Jedi were afraid of her. She did not lust for battle, but once engaged in one, she could not stop herself from enjoying it. She fought with the calm calculation of a Jedi, but with the ferociousness of a Yuuzhan Vong warrior. To many Jedi, she appeared wild and uncontrolled. She knew she was in control, and she had found over the years that she did not care if other Jedi were comfortable with her fighting style. If they did not like it, they could leave her alone. She fought to win. Every time.

"There certainly are a lot of them." Klin-Fa said, leaning around the doorframe and dropping a warrior with force enhanced accuracy.

"Hopefully this means the others have a clear shot to the shapers." Tahiri said. She released her two handed grip on her lightsaber and drew her blaster. As much as she enjoyed the blocking practice, her patience did have limits.

Drawing deeper of the force, Tahiri let her reflexes take over her defense and joined the others in picking the warriors off. The enemy were numerous, but they were hardly elites, and Tahiri had fought the best the old Yuuzhan Vong regime had to offer and won. This mediocre remnant never had a chance.

After what felt like an eternity to Uldir and Klin-Fa, the last of the wall of resistance finally fell.

"Ugh. Finally!" Tahiri said, holstering her blaster and deactivating her lightsaber. "I like a fight as much as the next girl, but if they aren't going to offer a decent one, I wish the wouldn't even bother!"

Uldir grinned at Tahiri's huffy reaction to, what had been to him, a life or death struggle. He looked over to Klin-Fa and caught her eye. He could see that Tahiri's fellow Jedi did not share her blasé attitude towards mortal peril. He nodded in Tahiri's direction, smiled, and shook his head. Klin-Fa laughed and stood from her crouch, holstering her blaster but keeping her lightsaber to hand; Klin-Fa may have felt that the danger was past for the moment, but she was not so certain that she was willing to go completely unarmed.

"Well, I hope that was the bulk of them. If we have to have a fight like that at every junction, It's gonna take us a month to clear this ship, and I don't have enough blaster packs for that." Said Uldir.

Tahiri pulled out her comlink. "Mar Rin, we just ran into a blockade of about fifty warriors. You guys hitting anything like that?"

Uldir and Klin-Fa waited while Tahiri conferred with the other team. The conversation shifted to Yuuzhan Vong as Tahiri grew more intense and began speaking faster. The pair watched the emotions play across Tahiri's face: First confusion, then excitement, then shock and anger. Tahiri barked out a final order in Yuuzhan Vong, then terminated the comm call. She spun to her companions.

"Did you hear that?" She almost shouted, her expression finally settling into one of excitement.

Klin-Fa and Uldir shared an amused look. "Yeah." Uldir said, "But we didn't understand a bit of it. Care to fill us in?"

A blush crawled across Tahiri's cheeks. "Of... of course." She stuttered out, embarrassment coloring her speech. "Mar Rin and the others encountered light resistance, but the cleared it without much trouble. Her real news is that the warriors they fought were guarding a shaper."

Uldir let out a low whistle. "Damn. That oughta make clearing out this ship way easier. What have they gotten out of him?"

The trio proceeded down the corridor as they spoke. Tahiri sighed before she answered. "Not much, unfortunately. Mar Rin found out that the warriors we fought were the last of them, and that the prisoners were still alive, but the shaper caught on that she wasn't a 'true believer' and committed suicide."

"At least we've a clear shot at the prisoners." Klin-Fa said. She was met with nods of agreement from Uldir and Tahiri. All three were tired of fighting Yuuzhan Vong.

"There was one other thing. " Tahiri said. "Before the shaper killed himself, he let slip that there was a single prisoner being held in the lab, and they had been experimenting on them for years."

Uldir and Klin-Fa winced in sympathy for the unfortunate sentient. Being subjected to Yuuzhan Vong experimentation was a fate worse than death. Enduring it for years would break anyone. Tahiri feared that all they would find in that prisoner was a madman.

"Well, let's go bust open the main slave quarters, and we'll meet up with the others back at the ship." Uldir said, jerking his head down the hall. Both women nodded, and the trio set off at a jog, eager to help the soon to be free sentients get back to their lives.

XXXXX

Uldir tapped the wall pad, and the door to the slave quarters slid open. He took a deep breath, exhaled, and stepped into the room, fearing what he might find. His eyebrows raised and his face twisted into an expression of disbelief in the sight that greeted him.

"Huh."

Tahiri and Klin-Fa both hurried to the door, curious about what could have surprised Uldir without provoking a reaction of disgust or horror. The pair pushed past him, hands dropping to their lightsabers. Neither woman felt any danger in the force, but they had learned that a mild amount of paranoia usually kept them alive.

What met the sight of the two young Jedi was a scene not out of place on a New Republic military base. A large recreation area, complete with smashball court, swimming pools, and extensive gym equipment, took up most of the room, with a leisure area, with couches and a holo-projector accounting for the rest of the visible space. Two doors, denoting male and female barracks lay across the large room from the entrance.

Most surprising to the three liberators, however, were the three dozen people utilizing said equipment. All had stopped what they were doing to stare at the three in the door.

Tahiri broke the silence.

"Uhh... You're the prisoners, right?" She asked, allowing her confusion to play across her face.

The occupants of the cell all continued to silently stare at Tahiri until an older human male, presumably the one chosen by the group to deal with their Yuuzhan Vong captors stepped forward.

"We are prisoners, yes." he said, his thick Corellian accent undermining the responsibility of his duty. A ghost of a smile flashed briefly across his face. "But we knew that. The real question is, who are you? You are pretty short for a Vong."

"Yuuzhan Vong." Tahiri corrected absently, causing Klin-Fa and Uldir to smile and enter the room fully as well.

"My name is Uldir Lochett." Said Uldir, stepping up to the older man and offering his hand, "These are my associates Tahiri Veila and Klin-Fa Gi. We're here to rescue you guys. Although..." He looked around the 'cell,' " It looks like you might not want to go."

This last statement sent a ripple of laughter through the prisoners who were able to hear it.

"No, no." Said the older man, "We're quite ready to leave. A gilded cage is still a cage after all." He turned to his fellow prisoners. "Well ladies and gentle-beings, it looks like we're going home!" he bellowed, rousing a great cheer from the inmates. "That's what I thought. Grab your gear, we're moving out!"

Tahiri watched with a smile as the prisoners scampered for the sleeping quarters, eager to get their possessions and leave their prison behind. She turned to the older man, who, seeming alone amongst the prisoners, had not moved.

"Guess you're the leader then?" She said to him. He smiled at her and nodded.

"I suppose I am. The name's Kaffis Kosigan. Pleasure to meet such a lovely lady." He winked, drawing a snort from Tahiri.

"Careful old man. What would your wife say?" She said, half watching Uldir and Klin-Fa wander off to see if they could 'rescue' some of the gym equipment for their ship. Kaffis let out a deep laugh.

"How did you know I was married?" he asked. Tahiri raised an eyebrow and pointed to his hand. Kaffis held it up to look at the ring he was wearing. "Ah. Yes. Well... how do you know Sunny wouldn't be up for lending me a hand?"

Tahiri shot Kaffis a withering look. "Oooooookay, this went from fun to creepy in a nanosecond..." she said. She gestured towards the room. "How did you guys get all this stuff? I've been a Yuuzhan Vong prisoner. Comfort is not high on their list for POWs."

Kaffis' face immediately grew a bit somber. "No, it isn't. We were treated as you're thinking for a long time. This," He gestured to the comforts of the holding cell, "Only came in the last year or so. Not really sure how long we've been here, to be honest."

"What could have possibly caused the Yuuzhan Vong to give you all of this though?" Tahiri pressed.

Kaffis, seemingly despite himself, grinned a bit. "Blackmail." he said matter of factly.

"Who could possibly blackmail a Yuuzhan Vong?" Klin-Fa said as she walked back towards the pair.

"I don't know his name," Kaffis admitted, "He was a prisoner like us, except for the first couple years he was here, he was in a coma. We don't know why, but their scientists were studying the guy. They would haul him in and out of the prison, running tests. We got the usual torture and slavery routine, but about two years ago, the guy woke up. He was incoherent for a couple of months, but once he got his feet under him, he started running. He did everything. Fought the guards, made escape attempts, incited the other prisoners to join him. And we did."

"All that and he never told you his name?" Tahiri said, doubt lacing her words.

"He said it wasn't important. That he was nobody. We mostly just called him Boss. That guy lit a fire in us, you see?" Kaffis said, gesturing to the room around him. "We had totally given up. We figured we would rot here until the Vong,"

"Yuuzhan Vong." Tahiri cut him off again.

Kaffis gave Tahiri an odd look. "Ok, fine. Until the Yuuzhan Vong got tired of us and killed us for their own amusement or whatever." he finished.

"Well, what happened to this 'boss'"? Klin-Fa interjected.

Kaffis grimaced. "About six months ago, the scientist guys came in and hauled him off like usual, but they never brought him back. A week or so later, the guards started bringing us this stuff. We tried to ask why, but they don't speak basic and none of us learned to speak much... Yuuzhan Vong. Eventually, we figured that the Boss was protecting us. He was cooperating, and our well being is the guarantee of his good behavior. I can't think of any other reason the... Yuuzhan Vong would give us stuff. Or stop torturing us."

"Sounds like a cool guy." Uldir said, approaching the trio with the prisoner's smashball in his hands. "Hope he's still alive."

Tahiri and Klin-Fa both felt the distress that Uldir's comment caused to shoot through Kaffis. Klin-Fa glared at Uldir. "Uldir. Behave." She said, her tone carrying a threat that Uldir definitely did not want carried out.

Uldir raised his hands in surrender, dropping the smashball. The group all looked at the ball and then back at Uldir, who sheepishly bent and retrieved it. "Reflex." He muttered, refusing to look at anyone. Kaffis and Klin-Fa laughed, and Tahiri smiled, feeling the surge in Kaffis' emotions fade.

"If this 'Boss' is still on the ship, I'm sure Mar Rin and the others will find him. That's the rest of our team." She directed the last bit at Kaffis. "They are sweeping the Damutek, so if the Shaper's were keeping anyone over there, They shouldn't have any trouble getting them out."

A rumble rolled through the ship, causing Uldir and the prisoners to fall. Tahiri, Klin-Fa, and surprisingly Kaffis kept their feet. Tahiri gave the man a questioning look, but quickly pulled out her comlink to contact the second team.

"Mar Rin. Are you there? What was that?" She listened to the comm for a moment, then turned to her audience. "Booby trap. It sounds like they found your boss, but the Embrace of Pain he was attached to had a dead man switch. When they pulled him off, the lab started to self destruct."

"Sounds like we better hurry then." Kaffis said.

"Probably wise." Uldir agreed.

Kaffis turned to the mass of prisoners milling around the cell bloc. "Ok people! Timetable's been moved up! The ship is coming apart! Move it!" He shouted, and Tahiri's eyes went wide as she felt the force suggestion lacing the command.

Klin-Fa and Uldir exited the room, leading the orderly stampede back towards the No Luck Required. Kaffis brought up the rear, and Tahiri hang back with him. "You're a Jedi." She stated bluntly. Kaffis grinned at her.

"No. Not every force sensitive being in the galaxy rushed to Skywalker's academy, you know." He said.

"I figured I would do more good where I was. Plus, the money was way better."

Tahiri laughed despite herself. "Suppose I can't argue with that. Master Skywalker will want to talk to you when we get to Denon though."

"Damn. I've been dodging that kid for twenty years. Figures the Vong would catch me both ways."

Kaffis said, sighing in resignation.

"Yuuzhan Vong." Tahiri corrected absently.

"Are you even aware you're doing that?" Kaffis asked her.

"Doing what?" Tahiri asked with exaggerated innocence. Kaffis rolled his eyes and shook his head, causing Tahiri's facade to collapse into a fit of giggles.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Kaffis said.

"Why have you avoided Master Skywalker?" Tahiri asked after she had finished calming herself.

"Wasn't on purpose at first. I had dealings with the Rebellion, but my crew and I were mercs, we never joined up. I spent most of my time on the opposite side of the galaxy from the kid. Once he started recruiting for his Jedi academy, I had a family and stiff to take care of. I couldn't just drop everything to go be a Jedi. I started dodging the Jedi so nobody would try to recruit me." He said with a shrug.

"Well, the Jedi aren't what they were during the Old Republic. You're family is welcome to come with you to Ossus." Takiri said.

Kaffis smiled sadly. "I don't even know where they are. I've spent most of my adult life ducking the Force. Inquisitors, Jedi, whatever. But I've been around long enough to know my bantha's been cooked here. I'll talk to Skywalker. It's not like I'll ever get back what I had before the war anyway."

Tahiri's heart went out to the man. He had lost almost everything to the Yuuzhan Vong. Most of the prisoner they were rescuing probably had. Tahiri hated knowing that most of these prisoner thought they were returning to a life that no longer existed for them.

"We have resources, you know." Tahiri said. "We can help you find you family."

Kaffis smiled at her. "You can try. My Sunny, if she don't want to be found, She won't be found."

"Pfft. Corellians." Tahiri huffed. "Always think that just because YOU can't do something, it's impossible."

"Well, you know, statistically, that's true." Kaffis said, smirking.

"Oh, Corran's gonna love you." Tahiri shot back.

"I am not aware of this 'Corran' you speak of. I assume he's Corellian?"

"Very." Tahiri confirmed. She looked ahead and her eyes widened briefly. "Oh! Banter is fun, but we need to catch up with the others. We're almost at the ship."

Kaffis nodded and the two increased their pace to a brisk trot so as to close the gap that had formed between them and the rest of the rescue-es. The pair caught the group, and Tahiri moved to Klin-Fa and Uldir so the trio could begin the arduous task of loading the prisoners onto their ship. Occasionally, they heard a bang or felt a tremor, reminding them that the Yuuzhan Vong ship was, in fact, coming apart, and if they wanted to live, everybody involved had best get a move on.

Tahiri glanced at her chronometer and frowned. She pulled out her com link and thumbed that activation switch. "Mar Rin. Where are you guys? It feels like the self-destruct is accelerating." She waited for a reply, but the only sound that emerged from her comm was an intermittent static.

"Sithspit! Something's blocking the comms!" Tahiri shouted the her compatriots. "Can either of you get the shaper quarters team?"

Uldir and Klin-Fa both tried their comms, but they were also met with nothing but static. Tahiri was about to suggest she go looking for their wayward crew members, but as she was taking her first steps down the corridor Leaft came careening around the corner. She watched as the Dug bolted past her and into the airlock, dodging the last few prisoners waiting to get on board. Tahiri laughed despite herself. Nothing about the situation was funny, but watching a Dug run certainly was; it was not a species adapted for ground speed. Mar Rin came around the corner next.

"Tahiri Veila! Come quickly and help! The prisoner is surprisingly heavy!" She called, slowing to a stop as she panted, trying to catch her breath. Tahiri surged forward as Vook and Vega finally came around the corner, a man draped over their shoulders, the way his feet were dragging confirmed he was unconscious. As she approached, she assessed the man's condition: He was shirtless, his exposed torso revealing a ludicrous amount of Yuuzhan Vong warrior tattooing and scarring. He was surprisingly well muscled and was intermittently twitching; Tahiri supposed that both of these were side effects of being in an Embrace of Pain for six continuous months. The man's long hair hung limply over his drooping head, concealing his face, but Tahiri could see tell-tale signs of more scarring creeping up his neck. As he was unconscious, she could not sense him in the Force, but the way he was being carried showed her that he could not be too badly hurt.

Tahiri reached the trio of beings and hauled the unconscious man into a fireman's carry, relieving the obviously exhausted Vega and Vook of the surprisingly heavy burden. Refreshed, the two nodded their thanks and took off for the air lock, now clear of the last of the prisoners. Uldir and Klin-Fa had bolted inside to start the ship.

Using the Force to reenforce her not inconsiderable strength, Tahiri hoisted the man further and ran for the air lock herself. The tremors of the dying ship had become a non stop rumble, and it felt as if the deck beneath her feet was coming away as she sprinted the final few meters to safety.

Inside the air lock, Tahiri used the Force to slam the hatch shut behind her, and bounded across the docking tube clearing the weightless corridor in one Force assisted leap. She hit hard in the artificial gravity of the No Luck Required, her knees nearly buckling from the impact. She staggered, but managed to keep her balance and continue her forward progression, again using the Force to close the hatch behind her.

Vega, seeing Tahiri's grand entrance, activated her com link and told Uldir to separate. Tahiri felt the subtle wobble of the ship as Uldir retracted the docking tube. Breathing out a sigh of relief, she headed towards the crew lounge, eager to set the unconscious prisoner down.

XXXXX

The door slid open, giving Tahiri access to the lounge. She made a bee line for the large crash couch, giving a silent nod to Klin-Fa, the only other occupant of the room; Uldir and Vega were piloting the ship, Leaft was securing the team's equipment, and Vook and Mar Rin were seeing to the prisoners.

Tahiri thought that Mar Rin should have stayed away, but the girl had insisted. Sometimes Tahiri forgot how young Mar Rin was; a certain amount of stubbornness was to be expected. But then, Tahiri forgot how young she was too. Even if she only lived her average lifespan, she could expect ninety to one hundred more years of life. She wondered when she began to feel so old.

One thing that would make her feel younger was getting the fairly heavy man off her back. Reaching the couch, she carefully deposited the man on it, laying him on his back, and sweeping the tangled mass of hair out of his face.

She froze. Tahiri's mouth dropped open and her eyes bulged. She could feel the blood drain from her face. She took a step back, but she was trembling so badly that the movement caused her to collapse.

Klin-Fa ran to her, kneeling beside her friend. "Force Tahiri! Are you alright? What's wrong?"

Tahiri, tears now slowly trailing down her cheeks, raised a shaky hand and pointed to the crash couch. Klin-Fa turned to look at the man lying there. Recognition flooded her eyes. Every Jedi in the galaxy would have recognized the man on the couch. She engulfed Tahiri in a hug, whispering to her, trying desperately to calm her down.

Laid out on the crash couch, resting fitfully, face unmarred by the scarring and tattoos that had otherwise engulfed every visible centimeter of skin above his wrists, was a man the galaxy thought long dead. A man praised as a hero.

Anakin Solo.