9I closed the channel after thanking him and lay back on the bed with my legs dangling off the edge. 'How am I going to explain any of this to him'? I closed my eyes and massaged my temples with my thumbs.
The door opened and Ukiora stepped back into the room, then sat beside me on the firm mattress.
"Now that we have all of that done, I'd like to know if you'll be upholding your end of the deal". His tone wasn't pressing or impatient, but curious, as if he was studying a old droid with new software.
"There are a few questions I'd like to ask you before you leave, If you wouldn't mind".
Opening my eyes and looked up into his face I couldn't help but think 'Why do you always have to look so old'? "Fine, but there is a ship coming for me, and they'll need somewhere to land... and where are my cloths"?
It took the better half of an hour, but the old man got all of the answers he wanted, the ones I knew anyway. After I was dressed back in my borrowed attire, which thankfully had been cleaned, two soldiers came and escorted us to the hanger where the escape pod waited on a crane. Seako stood with her back to us, near a fighter that I could only amuse was hers, holding a box with Zeta's head, arguing with an Astro-droid. Ukiora and I approached the three and he greeted her.
"Good morning mas.." She yelped in surprise seeing me walking about, unshackled, then immediately looked between the two of us to try to figure out what had changed so much between the time we were in the interrogation room and now.
"It's fine Seako, I believe our 'guest' has had a serious change of heart in her time in the medical ward". He appraised at me with the look of a conspiratory half smile. 'So he hasn't shown her his strange training technique yet...'
I still couldn't look at her without feeling shame for having attacked her before, so I spoke my teary apology to my shoes. Which she accepted but still held herself at a distance.
The following silence lasted what seemed like days, till the station's intercom clicked. "Freighter incoming to Hanger five, clear the deck".
The freighter ship, Betona landed on the other side of the hanger, with the cargo ramp opening before it touched down. Petra immediately bounded out and made a B line for me. Even from here I could see the intent in her eyes... I turned and ran in the other direction, force jumping up onto the top of the escape pod, which was nearly 10 meters of the ground.
"Get back down here, and give me my damn pants"!
After Ferin carried her back onto the ship, Dasi'l, Joeci and one person I didn't recognize walked out into the hanger. After the sense of imitate doom faded, my curiosity demanded that I investigate. I dropped down, from the escape pod, and walked over to the group forming at the ramp to the ship.
"So, little sith, you dont even have your own pants? Not much of a sith at all". Master Ukiora said jokingly.
"I have pants! Just not this pair..."
I glanced at Dasi'l and the members of the crew that had come out, they seemed fine, kind of dirty and if I were to bet, Joeci had had more that her fair share of some drink. Dasi'l looked normal... rugged, blue and ready to either fight or take a nap. The new guy however was my biggest concern. He was tall, not as much so as Farin, but he still made Dasi'l look short, standing next to him. He wore his course black hair, close cropped in a crew cut, with a clean shaved, angular face. He looked amazing... and clean... but that wan't what made him stand out. He wore an Imperial uniform, and held himself like a high ranking officer, which I confirmed with the two red and blue squares and single crest on his chest, meaning that he was at least a Lieutenant. I tore my eyes away from him to look back at Master Ukiora and Seako, but they seemed calm despite this.
A cough pierced the dead silence of the hanger, and everyone turned to it's maker, the Lieutenant. "On the behalf of the empire, I'm here to negotiate the deliberation of...".
"Silence Lieutenant. I can handle this".
"Yes my lord but I have my orders from Darth..."
I fixed him with a stare full of all the hate I could muster, and was more than a little supersized that there wasn't much, but it seemed to have made my point.
"Ma'am, even you master ans..."
"I don't care about who I should answer to, dog, and whoever sent you isn't here to keep you alive". I must have sounded ridiculous and void of any actual threat, pathetic, because he met my gaze, the eyes of what he thought to be a sith apprentice and held eye contact.
"I will be negotiating this prisoner exchange. This is not debatable". His eyes where cold, gray and relentless. In times like this, as a sith I'd been taught to kill soldiers that were disrespectful, but I don't want to be a sith anymore, but that doesn't mean I'll be a pacifist like the Jedi...
Keeping eye contact, I grabbed my lightsaber hilt and ignited its violet, pulsing blade. "Would you care to repeat that". This time I managed to put an edge to my voice, and stepped towards him. Then I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. I flinched, but looking back, I saw its owner, Ukiora, and new what he meant by it. The lightsaber went out and the wave of fatigue wash over me from using the blade. The look of concern on Dasi'l's face wasn't missed.
Grimacing from the loss of energy, I looked back at the imperial officer.
"I don't believe I've got your name".
"No my lord, I am Lieutenant Hearth".
Ukiora took this time to interrupt. "With all due respect to you and the empire, Lt. Hearth but there's no prisoner to exchange here. Your welcome to say aboard the freighter till its crew leave. You may not however leave this hanger by any other means".
His jaw tightened and he ground his teeth together, then said "Surly this is unnecessary, master Jedi. The prisoner is standing right in front of me".
Ukiora looked to me for an answer.
'I know what you want old man... and I agree. The empire isn't my home and it never will be, never should have been at least'.
"Lieutenant, I denounce the sith, as well as the empire and all of it's activities. I'll not be subject to the them any longer, so go and tell".
The shock of this statement seemed to completely confound him, no soldier or politician just walks away from the empire, much less a sith. To do so was simply unheard of. His reaction however wasn't the most extreme, both Jedi did double takes and Dasi'l's eyes were wide as proton emitters, with his mouth hanging slightly open. Joeci, however, was unfazed and stoic as ever.
'Time to uphold my end of the bargain...'. "Master Ukiora? I do believe there are a great many things we need to talk about before I leave. Goodbye Lieutenant".
In his stammering, I realized something, my own speech impediment that I'd become so use to, had been absent since I woke up. I was surprised that to a small degree, I missed it, but to a much greater degree, was glad that I could talk unhindered. This new revelation filled me with determination, and I walked on, back to my captors turned liberators, and waved at Dasi'l to follow, knowing Joeci would likely follow.
Ukoira guided us to a conference room and politely sent a soldier for refreshments. The awkward atmosphere in the room was almost tangible as the five of us sat in stiff chairs, sipping recycled water from metal cups in the small, somewhat cramped, room. 'Lovely... this is going to be that kind of...'
My thought were interrupted when I realized something that I had never expected. Seako was glaring at me. 'Think fast Thals, we don't want to make her angrier, but we need to atone for attacking her. No matter what you do, don't insult her, make any unfriendly statements or make yourself easier to hate...'
I looked up at her, and said exactly what I was trying to avoid. "So... how's your neck"? The look on her face was something that at first looked like I had failed miserably, but my own expression must have had the opposite effect as she just nodded.
"It healed quickly, it hasn't bothered me in a few days".
"I.."
Ukiora spoke up, loud enough to cut me off, but hardly above his normal volume. "As you said, we have some matters to discuss"? Damn geezer.
"The Academy, It's on Korriban. About two kilomiters from the valley of the sith".
"We know. We've known for years and sent agents there, we have active spies inside of its walls".
I stared at him with a mix of fury, confusion and then remembrance. My final trial had been interrupted by Lord.. by Tytho's order to capture an SIS agent. 'How could I have forgotten something so crucial! How couldn't they know? It's the only planet in the empire with as many capital ships as Dromund Kaas'. "Why would you..." Iooked over to Dasi'l, remembering that I was no longer alone. "Why would you ask me where it was if you already knew". I did my best to restrain it, but the malice in my voice slipped through like water in a cracked dam.
"I tried to start with the easy questions, then more on to important details. I just thought you were putting up a weak wall to show that you would be as difficult to interrogate as possible, that's why I held back so much.".
I know he hadn't meant it as an insult, but it stung to have my lack of strength with the force pointed out, reminding me of my masters cruelty will I was only a slave.
Before I was deemed powerful enough to go to the academy and die, or the less likely outcome, had told me that I was weak, having me do strenuous tasks, like scrubbing the floors of grand ball rooms, or commanding me to move boulders that not even the strongest of her slaves could budge. When I had failed to do these monuments tasks, the door would open to where ever it was I was toiling uselessly and she would always smile sweetly with her cold eyes sitting above, as a reminder that the was no kindness to that grin. There was always the same set up in her personal torture chamber. The bed with its dura-steel shackles, a dresser, and a table covered in sharp, shining tools...
I was torn from my memories by Ukiora looking directly at me saying something, but I couldn't hear him over the keen ringing in my ears. I closed my eyes and cleared the fading daydream from my mind. 'Since when do my dreams come around in the day'? The idea of it was disturbing, but the ringing vanished with them.
"... re you ok there Thals"? I opened my eyes again, turning to my friend and shook slightly.
"Just a headache, its nothing". I straightened myself up, pushing my bangs out of my eyes, 'need to cut my hair again', and looked back to the Jedi across the table. "What else do you want to know"?
It turns out, I didn't even know anything of any real importance that they didn't, besides a short list of republic agents that where compromised, mostly because of me. The meeting didn't take long after that, and once it was completed, Dasi'l and Ukiora where on better terms and I had had the chance to amend things with Seako.
As our conversation came to a less related topic, droids, Ukiora stood and clapped his hands. "There's still one matter to resolve. Your home. If I remember correctly, Sicemon is an agricultural planet, though the empires attempts to industrialize it have been countered by its natural atmospheric conditions that make droids and navigation instruments useless".
He hit a number of keys on the access panel on the table and a projection of the planet and Republic information sheets confirmed his account, adding that the current production from the planet was stunted due to a planet wide slave revolt, naturally sponsored by republic agents. Besides the red and blue dots, random lines and the massive scorched western continent, it was all brown plains, with souring blue, stony mountains and small seas. Home.
"I've notified a small party of senators, and our resistance leader on Sicemon, of our deal to trade a few key prisoners with the empire in exchange for Sicemon, it took some time, but I think they all agree. What he does not know however is that you were here. The negotiations should be going on" he looked down the the display on the table's access panel, then turned back to us. "In a quarter of an hour. I'll open the channel to them and see if we can't introduce you". He sat back down and pressed a single key. Instantly the room was filled by the holograms of several richly dressed men and women, and one enormous fur covered figure with a droid, all sitting in chairs around the table. 'Time for my training to pay off...'.
Ukiora spoke first, introducing himself, his padawan, myself as a Representative of the planet in question, Dasi'l as a third party mercenary then joeci, after which, he motioned to me to speak.
I stood and addressed them, covering my imperial accent with the local dialect of my home, which I only remember from my time dreamwalking. "It is a pleasure to meet you all, and I'd like to personally thank you for moving to negotiate with the Empire to avoid further loss of life. As you all know, Sicemon is an agricultural world in the Sice system. The planet, currently produces less than it takes in, as the revolt by the enslaved population is in full swing. Having knowledge of how the sith deal with revolts, I can say with confidence that in a matter of weeks, a new governor will be appointed to end the rebellion. A sith governor. The reports from Balmorra, Taris and Ilum are proof enough of this. Moving while the current governor is still alive is the best chance there is for saving the lives of millions". I looked around the room and knew that all of the humans in the room agreed, but reading the strange alien was nearly impossible.
I sat down, singling the end of my speech. As soon as I had done so, the furry giant stood and roared, hitting its chest slowly with one hand. Then the droid clicked to life. "SENator Spetkabukk, states; Your love of your home clouds your vision young rebel, the revolt will drive the sith out. Even if the do not, the planet is not of any strategic value to the Republic, outside of depriving the empire of a chance to loose more resources". Once the droid had stopped talking, the senator sat, some senators nodded reluctantly, some looked at the woolly senator in disbelief, though nearly half did nothing at all. Good, Most of them are still persuadable.
The next to stand was a male senator arguing about the growing need for food on Coruscant. To be honest, I dozed off several times during his speech, but no one seemed to notice. Speech after speech, a consensus started to form, that Sicemon and a number of republic prisoners of war would be worth the captured battalion of imperial troops. The strange woolen senator never budged, but one out of the fifteen was more than an acceptable amount.
The hologram projected a warning that a third party would be joining the discussion. 'Now comes the real test'.