"Sir, we've just received word that an Eagle Enterprises shipyard has been attacked, and that there is a rather large bounty on both Aaron Barnes and Terrin Danner's heads. They are wanted...dead."

Admiral Pallaeon turned to the deck officer. "Send word to the Tigress that I will be contacting them in five standard minutes."

The deck officer nodded once. "Yes sir."

In moments Pallaeon had entered the main communications station aboard his SSD. He made his call out on an untraceable frequency. Before him flashed the holo-image of Aaron Barnes.

"I trust you have heard the news."

"Which news sir? That we are hot commodities, or that some fool has attacked on of our ship yards?" Aaron asked, his attempt at humor a cover for his true irritation with the situation.

"I trust Mr. Danner and his wife are safe at the moment?" Pallaeon inquired.

Aaron frowned. He didn't honestly know if Galen had made it back to Terrin, or what condition she was in. But he did know that the two Sith had taken her back to Khar Delba. "By my last reports, Mr. Danner was perfectly safe and his wife was on her way to him."

"I hope he intends on laying low for a bit. Not only is Actar after his wife, he's apparently after him and his entire company at the moment."

Aaron nodded. "I'm sure Terrin is well aware of the possibilities. I wouldn't be surprised if he and his wife take an...extended vacation. He knows he can trust me here."

Pallaeon nodded. "That would be a wise decision on his part. We scored a win on Coruscant, but now we've made Admiral Actar more suspicious. He's increased security even more."

"But our operatives?" Aaron asked.

"Still in place," Pallaeon confirmed. "We need to consider our next move while Actar is still down. And we need to decide what to do about this guy who attacked your shipyard. He's just a kid, as far as we have been able to discern. My men got a good reading on his ship and found the details on the owner rather easily."

"So, we have a kid out to get some money," Aaron surmised, thinking. "Maybe there's something we can use there."

"Maybe so. We have a vector on the kid's departure. Should be no trouble to find him."

"Still, I don't see that finding one money-hungry kid is gonna help matters. Your participation in this whole resistance is apparently still unknown, and I'd hate to risk uncovering that before it is necessary."

Pallaeon furrowed his brows thoughtfully. "You're right. Actar sought revenge against Eagle Enterprises alone. He must not suspect who your allies are, or else he's still considering what to do about it."

Aaron frowned in irritation. This had to stop, now. Action had to be taken immediately.

He turned to another deck officer. "It's time for the eagle to fly the coop," he said cryptically. Half of the other deck officers just looked puzzled, the other ones merely acted as though they knew what he meant. In actuality, only that one deck officer had a clue.

What it meant, in fact, was that in moments all Eagle Enterprises property would be scattered, identities hidden, all evidence that anything was Eagle Enterprises property clearly and safely hidden away under the names of other companies who worked with EE, respected buyers of the company, and so forth.

And in minutes, the order had been properly carried out.

Aaron then turned to another officer on deck. "Contact Admiral Pallaeon aboard the Champion, he ordered. "We have some plans to finalize..."

The Drac'ter'nact emerged from hyperspace and saw... nothing. He keyed in a wide area scan, there had to be something there. The scan came back null.

Creshnar's head droped onto his controls.

He suddenly remembered hearing that there was a fleet opposing this "new" Empire, and that Aaron Barnes was with it.

"Reversion will occur in ten standard minutes, Admiral," Aaron Barnes said simply.

"And the Eagle has safely flown the coop?" Pallaeon asked.

"Yes, indeedy. Now we find out if our security measures are in fact as reliable as we think they are. That's the one thing I think I'm gonna come to hate about declaring war. Every action you take has to be strategized, even if its not an attack."

"Especially when there's a nice bounty on your heads."

"Better our heads than yours, sir," Aaron replied, grinning a bit darkly.

The Admiral returned the grin. "I can't say that I can argue that, my friend."

Aaron's grin turned serious again. "This could be an expensive test of security, you know."

"Better to find out now though, than later, Mr. Barnes."

"Agreed. I should be getting back to my post now, if you don't have anything further. I'll contact you as soon as something develops."

"Reversion completed successfully," a deck officer reported by comm to Aaron Barnes, who was in his personal office.

"And the identification and transmissions overlay is emitting the correct information regarding the ship's identity?"

"Yes sir. We shall soon see what happens."

Aaron nodded to himself, then replied, "Let me know if status changes."

Now, this was certainly a strange state of affairs, I found a part of myself calmly observing as it nodded its Yaoksi-head and took a bite of the nerf-jerk it was holding.

Nerf-jerk? What the--??

I shook my head; or was it the Yaoksi-head that shook itself? Truly I didn't know... and at the moment I really didn't care. For the moment that head moved, the movement triggered a wave of absolute agony that washed over me like a black and fetid tide. It crashed over the still-munching Yaoksi-form, overwhelming him in one fell swoop and blinking him out of existence...

...just as it brought me back into existence of my own.

I groaned at the pain this involved, now trying to blink back the gradually lightening shadows which were beginning to swim blurrily around me. Even the light hurt; I moaned again.

Then I realized I had a brain, and it was still functioning, however muzzily. What in all the Fates had happened to me? it screamed defensively, demanding answers right and left. I moaned again, and let it muck about in my head-- my own and quite tangible head --to find its own answers.

Me, all I wanted to do was slip back into the blessed blackness from which I had sprung into being. That, however, was an adamant no-no, apparently, for images and words began to flash with strobe-like intensity across the ever-lessening darkness.

I remembered. In bits and pieces I remembered: K'kihl, my new engineer... wonder if he ever got his hydrospanner? ...Captain Danner and his wife, the gutsy redhead, what was her name??? Oh yes, Galen, the one with the baby... the baby... tiny little thing... and it was taken from her, wasn't it, oh horrors, we were going to help her, there was something... an imp from hell, an attack from nowhere... Nassy....

"NASSY!" I found myself yelling, coming to a bolt-upright position in the med-bed upon which I had been lying for gods knew how long, my eyes wide and open and lucid. I looked about myself quickly: nothing.

Dear gods, where was Nassy? What had happened? Was she safe? Was anyone safe?

Where was everyone...??

I moaned again, and flopped back upon the bed, my head spinning, every muscle I possessed trembling and shaking. It was clear I was in no position to get up and seek my own answers; all I could do was wait for someone to come and tell me what the hell was going on.

Not to mention where in the universe I was....

"Captain Aaron Barnes," he said after punching the accept button.

"Sir, this is the head medic. One of our patients has just returned to consciousness...the man named Yaoksi Joao."

Aaron couldn't help but groan inwardly. The poor guy had been significantly injured, and was about to find out that everyone aside from his Verpine friend was either severely injured or MIA.

Yeah. This was going to be fun to be the bearer of bad news.

Sighing, Aaron stood and headed for the main medbay.

Yaoksi deserved to know exactly what was going on...or at least, most of it...

**********

Aaron made his way into the personal med-room that Yaoksi had been given to find the man resting--albeit it probably uncomfortably--on a medbed.

Aaron winced, glancing at Yaoksi's now-healing wound. Although it was wrapped in a bacta-patch, the damned thing had been spreading and had proven next to impossible to heal. But finally, the injury had begun to stop spreading. And Aaron surmised that's why Yaoksi had been out for so long and how he'd come back to consciousness now.

Aaron didn't say anything, but leaned against the bulkhead of the med-room, waiting for the other man to stir. From the looks of things, that wouldn't be too long, and Aaron hated the idea of hindering any rest the man might get, whether the rest was uncomfortable or not.

Guess every cloud has a bright side to it, I thought to myself as I let my lids creak open. The facility swam into existence, clean and sterile and very professional in its appearance. And centered within was an extremely familiar-looking figure, who stood with patiently crossed arms.

My jaw creaked open. "Hello, Aaron," I managed to thrust the words through my sere throat and parched lips. I paused a minute, trying to muster up enough spit to relieve the abominable dryness, then managed a shaky smile.

"Guess I've been out of the loop for a bit, haven't I. Ya wanna let me in on all the fun I've missed while I've been gone?"

"Well," Aaron said, glad that this was a private room, "It's a long story, but I'll give you the most abbreviated version of it I can. "I'm supposing you were injured before Galen took off on her own. Terrin and the guys went to look for the baby and left you all in orbit. You'd likely still have been there if someone hadn't come along and inexplicably fired upon the ZZ'Shzq. We tractored the damaged ship in, so you and your other injured crewmate, along with Jedi Cella Poliani, have been here ever since. I've recieved word that Terrin is safe..."

...nevermind exactly how you recieved word...

"...and we rescued Galen from an Admiral Actar, who consequently has taken over the galaxy while you've been out of it. He's a nasty sort of fellow, and we now are helping lead a rebellion of sorts against him. Terrin and Galen, as far as I know..."

...and sincerely hope...

"...are together."

He paused, pushing his concerns aside with a grin of slight amusement. "Have any questions, or does your head hurt too much after all that?"

So much had happened. So much. And that little reference to "my injured crewmate" had to do with Nassy.

Dear Gods, I'm almost afraid to ask....

I had to know.

I opened my eyes and my mouth, beginning to direct my concerns about Nassy--

Gods, I had just found her. What if I lost her? I couldn't bear it....

--when a motion caught my eye. There. Coming into the medbay, none other than the aforementioned Cella Poliani. She came up to me, took my hand in hers, smiled into my eyes.

"How are you doing, you old nerfherder you?" she said with that saucy way she had.

I smiled back, mustering the strength to squeeze her hand, and began to give one of my usual blithe replies--when something else caught my eye. Something dark, and hideous, just on the edge of my vision... and somehow very familiar. I frowned, my eyes darting every where for that elusive motion. Where was it? What was it? Was I still hallucinating? Maybe...

Then it caught my eye again. Cold chills rippled up my spine, and I burst out into a ball of sweat.

"Captain!" I yelled, struggling in my damnably weakened condition to get to my elbows, to leap out of this damned bed. "Cella! Get down!"

Even as Yaoksi struggled with himself to try to grasp the imp rather than recoil from it, the gibbering demon chortled and leapt from his chest altogether. He landed on Aaron Barnes' head, paused there long enough to spit scalding drool into the man's eyes, then flung himself upon the shoulders of Cella Poliani.

"Hello, my dear," he whispered in an awful parody of love, sticking his slobbering lips into her ear and thrusting his tongue therein. Cella screamed at his touch, reaching up to try to grasp him and fling him from her.

To no avail.

Now Maladius pulled back his head, his blood-red eyes scanning the others in the room. His tail immediately whipped about, the pointed end of it poised at the tender flesh of Cella's throat.

"Don't even think about it," he growled, exposing his fangs in a drooling smile of delight. "Or else--"

Yaoksi, half-way up on his elbows in preparation of leaping out of bed, froze in place. Aaron, one hand reaching for the intership comm, did likewise. Both men glared balefully at Maladius, who only glared back at them.

Then the imp removed his claws from where they were imbedded in Cella's throat, placing them now upon the sides of her face. Still teetering on her shoulders, his stinger pressing against her flesh, he pulled her face back to meet his own and planted a slobbery kiss on her lips.

"He could have taken you any time he wanted to, you know," he cackled insanely. "But he didn't. He wanted her and he still does. He told me to tell you you just weren't enough for him."

His lips pulled back into a leering grin, Maladius now raised his head and stared directly into the eyes of the men once more. Then he dropped them directly into Cella's.

"I lied," he gibbered.

Then he thrust his poisoned tail directly into her throat, curving it inward and down, slicing through trachea and jugular and carotid and esophagus. For a moment he held it there, wiggling it about for good measure. It was then pulled out with a sickeningly wet slurp.

"Just remember!" The imp's grin grew impossibly broader as he began to fade back into the All. "He's always watching you... ALWAYS."

With a final cackle and spitting of drool, he was gone, leaving Cella's body to fall limply to the floor.

"Identify yourself." They had been noticed, good.

"That one," one of the pilots pointed towards a SSD, "that's where the signal is coming from. It's registered as Pandora....

"Repeat, unidentified ship state your identification and business."

"We're on official business for the Empire. We wish for no hostility. We have a messenger droid on board with a message from Admiral Actar himself. The droid is to be recieved by a Mr. Terrin Danner, or Mr. Aaron Barnes, and only either of them. The Admiral has a very generous offer to make."

"Sir, we have a contact who claims that they have a message droid only you or Captain Danner can recieve. The contact identified themselves as the Empire."

Aaron gulped, then firmed. "Just a message droid?"

"Yes sir. They say they intend no harm."

"Allright," Aaron said. "Patch them through to my office comm. I'll contact them from there in just a minute."

"Yes sir."

As the comm frequency snapped closed, Aaron dialed up another frequency, hesitant to make this call to the medics. "We have an emergency in med-room 10."

A familiar--and rather trusted voice replied. "What is it Captain?"

"Evan, I need you to get a med-droid team down here. We've experienced a sudden and inexplainable attack down here...our Jedi friend is...dead. I'd explain it to you further, but I've got a matter to address that I can't wait on. I'll be happy to fill you in later, cause after you see this...you'll wanna know. Can you keep this professional and quiet for me, buddy? I don't want to scare our entire staff."

"Gotcha, Captain. I'll be on that right away."

**********

That hideous thing from hell, back again. The feel of it's hot and somehow decayed claws against my chest... the sight of it spitting into Captain Barnes face... the complete terror crossing Cella's face, taking away her composure when she realized the Force couldn't do diddly against that thing...

The awful look in her face before she died, when she realized that she was dead....

A fit of trembling suddenly racked me, and I raised a shaking hand to wipe the sweat from my face. The motion didn't do much good; more just dripped down from my forehead, which was suddenly hot as hades. I removed my hand, holding it up before my eyes, pretending to find something to scrutinize but in fact trying anything I could to block those soul-destroying images from searing my eyes. My hand was as pale as my face probably was, in direct contradiction to the raging heat now flooding my body.

Maybe I'm still delirious. Maybe it was all an hallucination. Maybe everything is ok....

I shuddered again, knowing "it" was as far from ok as we were from Kessel... and the mere thought of that planet only brought back the toil Matt and I had undergone to rescue Cella when she had been sent there by the mysteriously disappeared Lord Rean.

The tremors grew in magnitude until I was simply shaking nonstop. My vision blurred with unwanted tears of regret and pain and yes, not a little bit of terror.

Dear gods, Cella, after all you had been through... no one deserved to die that way, and I couldn't do a thing to help you!

With a groan that issued from my very toes I managed to heave myself to my feet. Stumbling a bit, I approached the still form, still laying where she had dropped, waiting for the coming of the meds to remove her for cleanup and final rites. I dropped too, landing on my knees beside her body, now extending a shaking hand out to take up a lock of her limp hair and wrap it around my fingers.

Oh Cella, if you only had not gotten yourself involved in all this. You should never have come back.

Then I bowed my head, uncaring as to how it might look, and let tears of despair act as final benediction to one of the few jedi I had ever known in my life, and one of the most life-loving people I had ever known.

That informant is going to die, Creshnar thought.

The full figure of Admiral Actar was seen, he nodded, and spoke, “Mr. Barnes, I wish to make you an offer you cannot refuse. As you know Galen Jhin’Dar suffers from a very dangerous state of mind. Here, I’ll show you….” With a wave of his hand, Aaron Barnes slipped into the same trance he had put Galen in, but this lasted only seconds, and he was able to catch himself without falling to the floor. “Only I can save her from that, Mr. Barnes,” he continued, “and I will.” He paused, and then continued, “I will save your partner’s wife in exchange for two things: one, an abeyance of hostilities between the Empire and Eagle Enterprises; and two, the identities of your allies.”

He stared at Mr. Barnes’s figure, which said nothing and looked suspicious, and said, “I mean you no harm, and this deal will benefit both of us. As a sign of good will, I have removed all bounties associated with Eagle Enterprises, and will reimburse you for the property that was lost because of them. If you refuse this offer, Galen's mind will die, there is no doubt about it.”

He stood, and waited for a reply.

And what would Terrin think of this? A chance to save Galen at such a considerable risk...

...but Aaron suddenly got the sneaky suspicion that, given the recent changes in his partner's mentality, Terrin would be willing to take that risk.

But what about revealing his allies? Would the Empire then go after them? They might, but this was something that Aaron had to at least question...

"I admit, the offer is tempting," Aaron started.

Beyond tempting, really...

"But I must know two things before I agree or disagree. What will your intentions be for my allies should I reveal them, and what would your requirement for the arrangements of Galen's healing?"

Then he waited, seeing just how the Imperial Admiral would respond.

But, he reminded himself, You're a businessman. NOT a politician. What's good for the company is good for you...

Aaron sighed unconsciously. No, that wasn't it. Rather, this decision relied upon weighing the importance of lives. And Aaron knew a thing or two about THAT...

His mind suddenly off the concerns for his allies, he flashed to the brief picture he'd been given of what Galen was experiencing. The feelings of being there only a moment...let alone for the length of time she had been.

And who were his allies?

In short, they were people who could fend for themselves. And hopefully, Admiral Actar would approach whatever he did with the information Eagle Enterprises provided wisely.

Hopefully.

And truthfully, would Galen be in any worse of a condition if this guy was lying?

Probably not. And Terrin would fight for her at whatever cost...

"Allright Admiral. I must say that I sincerely hope you act wisely as to what you do with my allies once their names are provided to you. But...

...I'm willing to accept your offer. Name the place and the approach on Coruscant, and I'll get about my business to make this happen...."

He'd have to get in contact with Terrin...

...Hold the ship! Where WAS Terrin?

Maybe still on Khar Delba. But then again, maybe not...

Only admiring the finish on the yacht for a little longer, Aaron boarded, warmed her up, and was on his way.

And he waited...