Moon Knight

Kandor gave her a thoughtful look. "Sometimes I can feel you, too," he said, taking one of his hands off of her waist to hover two fingers near his temple. "It's like a sort of mental impression, lighting up your signature left on my mirshe. But it was there even before the brain dive. I can only speculate as to how it got there, but I do believe that the Moon Knight powers are Force-related. Maybe in some way the Force lingers around me, or at least affects me in a different way than most people." His voice made it clear he was grasping at straws and knew it. He smiled. "Or maybe I just imagine all of it," he added with a shrug. "The important thing is that, whatever happened in there, you're on the way back to full strength again." His eyes drifted toward the front of the ship. "As for Ab'ki... like TeVerd said, a name is a start. Our enemies are starting to materialize, which means we're no longer shooting at phantoms," Kandor continued before looking back down into Mirdala's jade eyes. "But for you this has been going on for almost a decade. It must be a relief that the clues the team needs to put an end to this are finally starting to emerge, like an end to this is about to come over the horizon." Taking her hand in his, he studied her face as though trying to memorize it. "I'm glad you felt ready to say the vows, cyar'ika," he said, lowering his voice a bit and bringing his face close to hers. "A few years ago I would have said I'd be a lone wolf for life. Might have even convinced myself I never wanted anything else. But now I can't imagine taking another step without you. Manda help the man, woman, or other being that tries to come between us now... Ab'ki included."

Even though he'd known Kirlocca for some time, Kandor had trouble reading him. There seemed to be something on the jetii's mind that he wasn't saying, or maybe some uncertainty. Fett looked at his wife and felt no uncertainty at all. They had definitely been through a lot since they'd first had that probing conversation aboard the Enigma when they'd first joined the Augury. They had definitely seen each other through horrendous trials, from Mirdala's captivity with the Thalassian slavers to his RAGE-induced mental illness. The road had definitely been bumpy at times, but they'd learned important lessons as they'd traveled down it and everything had, in its own way and in its own time, brought them closer together. On Hapes they'd grown so much closer and proved to each other how relationally and operationally compatible they were in ways deeper than they had ever before. And there were definitely still hard battles to be fought against powerful enemies they'd encountered before; Judyc Viba, Fieyr, and their recently-discovered employer, Ab'ki. But whatever happened, they would definitely be ready for it. It was quite possible that every move would they made would have to be perfect or close to it in order to come out on top. But they operated well under pressure. They were some of the best in the oyu'baat at what they did, and so were those that were in this with them. Fett knew that, in the same way, Kirlocca could handle his own priorities. "Then it's settled," he said. --------------------- Over the next hour the stew finished and they ate a hearty Mandalorian meal. As they did so, the news came in about what had happened on Coruscant, the source of the disturbance Kirlocca and Mirdala had felt through the Force. It turned out that three skyscrapers had been destroyed in some sort of terrorist attack. Some part of Fett wished he was there to intervene, see if he could bring the perpetrators in, but he couldn't be everywhere and he had come to accept that. He was too far away to rush there now, even if he didn't have other things to worry about. The Justice arrived around the time they were finishing, and Kandor went out to check on the ship and 2277 for the first time since he and Mirdala had left the Enigma together on the T'ad Kebbur. "Congratulations on your marriage, Master," the beskar'ad said from his usual station aboard the ship as Fett boarded. "I thought you didn't approve, burc'ya," Kandor answered mildly, figuring that Flirt had been quite unable to keep herself from transmitting the news to the Justice as soon as she'd learned it. 2277 regarded him. "I have observed an out-of-combat efficiency increase you have gained due to the individual strengths Mistress Ad'Goran has that you lack, in such times that I am unavailable to provide assistance for you," he answered. "Not to mention the fact that she is able to escort you in battle." "Strictly practical," Fett said dryly. "However," the droid amended. "I have also noticed that you have struggled in some of your solo battles lately. Both Viba and the GenoHaradan agent on Hapes were able to elude you in individual combat. Even though you won your rematch against the latter, this trend is most distressing. I am forced to recommend that you increase your training regimen and avoid entering battle without Ad'Goran until you correct this emerging issue." Kandor raised his eyebrows. "If you insist," he said.

Kandor glanced up at his towering jetii friend. "If you need to go back, I understand," he said. They had rounded the block by now and were coming back around to the safehouse. "Mirdala's training is important, but whatever I think of the Jedi Order, if your leadership can help it survive then it has to be a priority." He did rather hope Kirlocca would stay for a little while, of course, but if the Order was in serious trouble then the droten of the galaxy would have lost one one of the few serious forces for good that acted in their defense. Starlisk and Trevelian had saved the whole galaxy but died in the process; Fett understood that they had been members of the Council and it would make sense that the loss of their leadership could have shaken things up. He climbed the steps back to the safehouse and together they entered and were greeted by the scent of whatever Mirdala was prepping. His active lifestyle kept his appetite healthy, and though he had managed to get by on ration bars and whatever else he could scrounge up for years, he had recently found that he had a great appreciation for Mandalorian food when it was available. He hoped Kirlocca could tolerate heturam, but also knew that Mirdala could improvise to suit just about any taste. Kandor honestly had no idea what Wookiees ate, but he imagined they ate a lot of it.

Fett regarded the Wookiee carefully. "That same will places the welfare of her family over her own safety. While that is noble, she may even slip into darkness to bring an end to their persecution if she believes she must," he said. "She is very strong, and I hope you are right that she will never walk that path, but if there's any chance that making the right move now will save her from that fate, I have to see it done." He didn't want to get into all the Moon Knight memories that dealt with it. Maybe he was being a bit paranoid, and he'd been accused of that before. But the way Isolder had struggled to untangle himself every time he drew on that power, sometimes toiling for days to purge the darkness from himself... if he was going to lose her, it couldn't be because he failed her on this. Being prepared could win that fight before it ever happened. The Mando'ad continued to walk, leaving the subject there for now. There was a ton of work to be done. "Where are you off to after this?" he asked. "Assuming I live through all this, I may end up founding a new organization based out of the Enigma. Something to stand against the Sith and other threats without the limited jurisdiction or rules of CoreSec. One word and you could have a place in it." Many jetiise were practically vigilantes already, hence the few that had been Moon Knights. Fett hadn't done much planning in earnest for the theoretical organization, but having Kirlocca be a part of it would be a substantial mark in its favor. It did remind him that during the conversation he and Mirdala had had about it on Hapes, she'd pointed out that Soresh Delavvo -- whose steading they'd been using on Concord Dawn -- was a member of the CorSec anti-piracy force and thus a potential point of contact. While they were here on Corellia, it might be worth meeting up with him and talking things over, assuming he was still stationed nearby. He made a mental note to ask about it later.

Kandor nodded. It was a big stretch for Mirdala to actively embrace her Force abilities like she'd been challenged to do in her session with Kirlocca, and he knew well by now that it would help her process everything to spend some time cooking, an activity which was almost meditative to her. He also knew he could help her process everything by talking through it with her, but there would be plenty of time for that later. "We'll be close by," he said in Mando'a, then gave her a smile. "You're doing the right thing." "He says that you'll be close--" Flirt began, but Kandor rolled his eyes and shut her off before returning her to his belt pouch. Fett parted with Mirdala and gestured for Kirlocca to follow him, grabbing his buy'ce and putting it back on, then establishing its wireless link to the safehouse computer so it would transmit him whatever it found in the news. As far as 2277, the beskar'ad had dropped him an update in the last few minutes, seemed he was about an hour out. When he and the jetii got outside the safehouse, he picked a simple walking route around the block that would give Mirdala enough time to cook. "Thank you for being willing to give Mirdala some instruction," he said as they started to walk. "Ab'ki and her agents have proven themselves very capable, and there are dangerous times ahead of us. Winning would mean nothing if I lost Mirdala to the dark side in the process."

When Kirlocca and Mirdala staggered, Kandor quickly rose to help his riduur, but Vi'ika beat him to it so he paused halfway and looked at the Wookiee. He suspected he knew what they were feeling -- the sharp, sickly, gut-wrenching sensation of a disturbance in the Force was something that Isolder had experienced on several occasions during the war, and the harsh memories of those events still resonated within his successor as Moon Knight. He also knew that those disturbances happened instantly with respect to the event that triggered them, the first thing to deliver the news to jetiise and other Force sensitives. He headed over to the terminal in the room and initiated a search for news about a large-scale disaster or terrorist attack, but he knew that it would be at least a few minutes before the news teams picked up on whatever had happened, and it could have been anywhere in the galaxy. It was a lot of news to search. "When the news gets out we'll know what happened," he said. "Unless you have an idea already, Kirlocca?"

Returning to the safehouse, Kandor grabbed the first load of supplies and headed inside. He was somewhat surprised to find Mirdala and Kirlocca comatose in the living area, Mirdala laid out on the floor with Vi'ika laying next to her. The sandhound perked her head up when she saw him, but didn't appear agitated. Hopefully some kind of Force trance, he thought, setting the groceries down on the counter and popping off his buy'ce to place next to them. He considered for a moment checking their vitals, but the safehouse systems had not reported any environmental or security irregularities, so he had to assume that this was intentional. Indeed, he was a bit gratified to confirm that Mirdala had indeed spoken to Kirlocca about receiving some training related to her Force gifts -- although she had tentatively come around to the idea on Hoth, they'd had the discussion while she'd been recovering from hypothermia and a concussion. Actually following through with it without further debate meant that she was ready to stop running and start taking control of her abilities. To Fett, it was one of the most important things she could do. For now the Mando'ad decided he would rather not disturb them and continued to make a few more trips out to the speeder to unload the rest of his purchases. They would emerge from their trance when the lesson was over.

ShadowFett's approach to shopping was like his approach to combat. The first step was preparedness. Over the last few months he'd gotten a heavy dose of Mandalorian cooking, more than he'd ever had, even growing up. A good portion of those meals had been cooked by Mirdala, but during her training on Tatooine, he and the Omicrons had often taken shifts putting some skraan together. All this meant that he had a good idea what sort of ingredients she usually worked with and basic knowledge of the common recipes. In addition to that, he'd had a chance to live out of this safehouse for a few weeks shortly after he'd bought and renovated it, so he already knew the area and had been to the local grocery store before, giving him knowledge of its layout, which he supplemented by calling up the public map in his buy'ce. The Mando'ad left his weapons in the speeder, not wanting to cause more of a public disturbance than showing up in his beskar'gam already would. Thankfully, there was little worry of the police getting called on him in any case, since he was still a CoreSec officer. Still, when he headed inside he drew a few stares and one of the employees quickly approached him. The kid was just a teenager wearing a quaint uniform and clearly didn't know what to do. "Uh, sir. Can I help you with anything?" "Just here to shop," Fett answered nonchalantly, moving past him and grabbing a hovercart. Using the floor plan, he quickly isolated the aisles where he would find the products he sought and moved directly to each one. The trick was that one couldn't expect a grocery store on Corellia to stock the same foods -- especially fresh meats and produce -- that could be found on Concord Dawn. However, certain ingredients, spices, and vegetable analogues were nearly universal, and Fett quickly filled his cart with the closest approximations to his intended items that he could find, aiming for enough stores for about a week before one of them would need to come back, if they found themselves needing to stay longer. At this point there was no certainty as to the duration of their stay, but rather it depended entirely on what the team was able to turn up in the meantime. About fifteen minutes after arrival, Fett had filled the cart with a sufficient variety of goods that he was certain several meals could be created or improvised out of it. He also grabbed a box of ration bars. For the reserves, he thought. Standing in line for checkout was a little awkward as the elderly woman in front of him seemed incapable of moving faster than an Umgullian blob and apparently didn't speak Basic, and the young mother behind him tried in vain to shush her two young sons who thought that Fett's armor was about the most "wizard" thing they'd ever seen. But it wasn't long before Fett had been rung out and he paid with cash, as he usually did. His old paranoid beroya habits had led to his credits being spread out across several bank accounts, none of which bore anything resembling his real name, and he owned very few means of paying other than with credit chips, which he used for all but the most expensive transactions. Fett quickly loaded up his speeder and began to head back to the safehouse, his wife, and his Wookiee friend.

Opening one of his belt pouches, Kandor winced slightly. "She might not be the most cooperative translator," he said, producing his positronic processor, Flirt, "but she did belong to a Wookiee once. She'll have to do at least until the Justice and 2277 get here." Fett switched on the palm-sized droid, not normally willing to endure her tendency to prattle on and offer her unwanted input on his usual situations and so keeping her powered down when not in use. The beskar'ad's eyes lit up and her cheery voice immediately issued forth. "Oh! Master Kirlocca! So nice to see you again. Remember when I got the chance to cozy up to the droid brain running the Imperial--" Kandor cut her off. "Flirt, catching up can wait," he said. "Mirdala doesn't know Shyriiwook. I just need you to translate for Kirlocca and keep your commentary to a minimum." "Master! I'm a slicer, not a protocol droid," Flirt objected. "You're whatever I say you are, unless you'd rather be deactivated," he said menacingly, although he was clearly in good spirits. It was against the droid's programming to actually deny his request. The droid made a mechanical sighing sound. "Very well," she said. "Good," Fett replied, handing the droid to Mirdala. "Now, we don't have a lick of skraan in this place and we might have to live out of it for a while, so I'll go for that supply run." He winked at Mirdala as he turned to leave. "And don't worry, it won't just be ration packs." Besides, he had a feeling he knew what Mirdala was going to talk to Kirlocca about, and it was a conversation he very much needed to happen. If she didn't want him around for it, the best thing he could do for either of them was to give her that space. He put his buy'ce back on as he left. Shopping, like nearly everything else for him, was a full-armor activity.

Kandor was glad to see Mirdala back on her feet, if a bit hobbled. It meant she was psychologically herself again, and the bacta would take care of the rest as only bacta could. He nodded gravely at Kirlocca when the jetii spoke even as he wrapped Mirdala up in his arms again supportively, for the moment content that she was on the mend, no matter what dangers still awaited them. But when he recognized the words she whispered to him, his heart skipped a beat and felt the kind of rush that even life-or-death combat didn't give him. He gave her a moment to finish the vow, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath, for a few seconds forgetting about Kirlocca and focusing entirely on the woman he was holding. "Mirdala, cyar'ika," he said. "Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde." Embracing her tightly but trying not to hurt her injured shoulder, Kandor turned her so his back was to Kirlocca and kissed her fiercely. He was no more certain now than he had been a moment ago that everything was going to work out fine, that they would both live to see the end of Ab'ki and the threat she posed to her -- their -- aliit. He could not know the future, and knew that many hard battles were to come, victories and defeats both. But the oath they had just made to each other, even in the most unceremonious of circumstances, dedicated themselves to facing whatever future was in store together. We are one whether we are together or apart, we will share everything and we will raise our children as warriors -- it was the Mandalorian marriage contract. Kandor pulled back from the kiss and smiled down at his riduur, then looked back at Kirlocca, trying to find words to make sense of what had just happened to an aruetii. He grinned. "I guess that makes you the best man."

What Kirlocca described surrounding his exile was both what Fett didn't particularly like about the jetiise and perhaps one of the things he did like about the Wookiee. He considered it the responsibility of those with the ability to do so to fight, and too many of them shied from that course of action to instead sit and philosophize. He hadn't realized it had gotten bad enough that they would exile warriors from their ranks -- the Augury had been full of Jedi who had embraced their calling to fight in the war, to make a real difference in the galaxy using the talents that chance had granted them and hard work had tempered. "If war is coming, then the Mandalorians will fight as we always have," he said, crossing his arms. Then he clarified. "As individual mercenaries, for whatever side is paying, so we can look to the welfare of the clans. Only a large-scale direct threat to our home sector could get us to unite under one banner, and no Jedi - Sith war has come close in a long time." As far as he knew, Kirlocca didn't know he was Mand'alor and thus was the one who could do that uniting. But it was strange that Kirlocca had brought the topic up as he had unless he was trying to warn Fett personally about whatever days were ahead. "As for me, you know where I stand. Call for help against the Sith and I will come if I can," he said. It was his oath as Moon Knight, even if at this time he was preoccupied with a particular evil that hit a little closer to home. The door to the medical center swished open and Nekkir emerged, explaining that he was satisfied with Mirdala's mental condition and the rest of her recovery would be a few hours in a bacta tank for her ankle and shoulder injuries. The doctor promised to be nearby on Corellia for a few days in case something happened, but made his exit for now after Kandor thanked him. The Mando'ad then turned back to Kirlocca. "How are you holding up?" he asked. "I'm sure you have places to be, so I won't ask you to stay, but you're welcome to do so as long as you wish."

As he followed Kirlocca out, Kandor gave a bit of a smirk. He trusted the Wookiee and he knew the feeling was requited, but their alliance had sprung from practicality and had solidified in the heat of battle, not through any lengthy exchange of words or philosophical discourse. He rather liked that they'd never tried to fool each other into thinking or behaving otherwise, even while staunchly supporting each other in the final battles of the war. Still, even Fett had to gather his thoughts for a moment to find a concise way to put all that had led them here, especially since many of the pieces had only just fallen into place. "Mirdala joined the Journeyman Protectors on Concord Dawn when she was a teenager after her parents were killed," he explained. "Early on she fought and killed the Sith to whom that lightsaber belonged, then Ab'ki took it upon herself to make Mirdala's life a living hell ever since by targeting anyone connected to her that she could find. We followed a lead to get to the bottom of this to Hoth, but we only found the lightsaber, apparently placed by Ab'ki as some sort of Force trap specifically for Mirdala." He shrugged. "There's a lot more to it, but thanks to you everyone lives to fight another day," he said. Kandor glanced Kirlocca over, noting that the Wookiee was as strong and lean as ever but had a few more gray hairs. "What have you been up to? This bounty can't be good for the Order." Other than Eris, he hadn't run into any jetiise bal dar'jetiise since his encounter Faust and Darkfire a few months ago, and since that demagolka had been brought down by Starlisk and Trevelian -- two jetiise he'd had the chance to meet -- he hadn't heard anything about them either. Were things actually bad enough that they'd been driven underground? Most beroyase would think twice about hunting Force users no matter what sums were involved.

All the pieces fit together to form a pretty good picture. Mirdala's hunch that this was connected to the dar'jetii she'd killed had proven correct, explaining the timeline. And now they could call him Darth Hask. Then her aliit and the Seekers had been systematically hunted, but it went even beyond that. Anyone who could be found that could be connected to Mirdala had been put in danger by the homicidal obsession that characterized this enemy. And they now had a name for her as well -- Ab'ki. This Ab'ki figure was certainly behind the Hoth jetii'kad and was the employer of Judyc Viba and Fieyr, the origin of the mysterious bounty. He still wasn't sure how BakToid figured into all of this, but it was almost certain that Ab'ki had fingers in that pie as well in order for Mirdala to have found Jorbe's beskad'ika there during her raid on one of their locations. It helped them know what to expect going forward, but TeVerd was right that it didn't put anything to rest or enable them to find her. Kandor spoke to the ancient Seeker. "Not a problem, a little down time might do us some good," he answered, glancing at Mirdala's ankle, which was still in a cast from her fall. Truthfully he didn't like being ordered to lay low any more than Mirdala did, not liking the idea of hiding from a threat he thought they could overcome. But she did need time to recover from her injuries and it would do little good to get either of them killed by being reckless; a better strategy would be to wait patiently until an actionable lead emerged, then move decisively and choose the terms of engagement. "I suspect we can't trust the rest of the Abraxos data since this one was a trap, which means it might take time to get another lead. As long as someone keeps us informed, we can stay under the radar until something surfaces." Kandor looked at Mirdala's brothers. "The facility here is more than enough to handle Mirdala's injuries from Hoth," he said. "You're welcome to stay, but as long as Nek is happy, you don't need to."

Nodding, Kandor answered, "Yes. We're back in my Corellia safehouse." He was a little surprised she didn't recognize her surroundings immediately, given that they'd come here directly after the Abraxos mission. He frowned briefly. Mirdala had certainly been through a lot over the last few months that they would need to keep coming back here to get her back on her feet. He was at once glad that he had maintained this retreat over the years and finding himself wishing that he didn't have quite so much use for it as of late. Of course, he'd sustained quite an injury on Hapes himself, they'd just had access to medical facilities there. The Mando'ad looked over at Kirlocca. "Whatever you did in there, it helped bring her out of it," he said appreciatively. "I hope you'll stick around so we can talk a bit after we tie up these loose ends." The priority right now though was checking in with TeVerd and sorting through what Mirdala remembered.

Kandor wrapped Mirdala in his arms as she emerged from her Force coma, taking several deep breaths as he took a moment to appreciate that the trial was past. Time was a double-edged bes'kad -- sometimes terrible things happened and could never be undone or forgotten, but so too did such triumphs as this occur and they were just as indelible. Kandor saw the road behind which had led to this moment, how they had come to know and trust in each of the individuals present in the room who had contributed to this victory, and knew that whatever dark forces were conspiring against them had met their match. "Welcome back," he told her, then glanced to the side as Kirlocca stirred. "I take it he was able to help? What did you see? There was... another person in there?" He kept his voice gentle, so it didn't sound like he was barraging her with questions but rather trying to make sense of things. Best case scenario, what she experienced was enough to explain why the jetii'kad was trapped, maybe how it got there. It would make a big difference in how things went from here, especially if it meant the Abraxos data was no longer trustworthy. Of course, there was no pushing forward right now no matter what she learned. Mirdala needed time to heal.

It was encouraging when Kandor felt her fingers stir in his hand for a moment, lending credibility to Rhys' claim that he could make a difference by speaking to Mirdala. Still, he let go of her and quickly stood when Kirlocca collapsed, maneuvering around the bed to assist the Wookiee. It wasn't the easiest thing, propping the 135-kilogram alien up against the wall, but he managed to get him in some semblance of a sitting position and checked for a pulse. He was pretty sure this was part of whatever the jetii was doing to help Mirdala, but it was difficult to say for certain. He grabbed a hand scanner to pick up Kirlocca's vitals, and they seemed lower than standard for a Wookiee, but they were stable. Kandor postulated from his own knowledge of the Force that this was some sort of hibernation trance, likely being used so that Kirlocca could focus all of his attention on the metaphysical realm. That theory was reinforced when he saw Mirdala's own vitals take a positive shift, her heart rate steadying as though she'd gained a moment of respite against whatever chaos was taking place in her subconscious. Fett returned to her side, again putting his hand on hers and speaking. "You're almost through, Mird'ika. K'oyacyi!" For his part, Kandor would entertain no doubt that she and Kirlocca would overcome this. She'd proven over and again how tough she was, sometimes down but never out, and he trusted everyone present -- her vode and Kirlocca -- to help see her through. If they couldn't do it, no one in the oyu'baat could, and to him that level of preparation was what won battles.

Kandor had been hovering nearby, bringing things to Nekkir and the others as they needed them, but now he sat next to Mirdala, taking her hand in one of his and placing the other on her shoulder. He spoke to her in Mando'a with a sense of urgency, but not anxiously, keeping his voice level. He had no idea if the words would actually get through -- he didn't understand enough the nature of her affliction and why she was unconscious. "Mirdala. Cyar'ika," he said. "Remember the Augury. Our allies there, the jetiise. There was Darkfire, and Fitt, and Warren, and Kirlocca, the wookiee. Beyond the Augury, you fought with Kirlocca to bring down Geki within the halls of CoreSec headquarters. He was among one of my staunchest allies at the end of the war and since. Now he is here to help you. Together you can win this. Mirdala, you need to let him in." He squeezed her hand, still not sure how much of this was getting through. "It's okay to let him in to help you, Mird'ika. He can watch your back like he watched mine. Meh gar kyrayc, shuk bah ni, cyar'ika."

As Nekkir was entering, Torne and Valkieth were making their departure. They knew they wouldn't be of particular use in speeding along Mirdala's recovery, and the Hoth mission was complete, so they were off to the next thing. They would take the G9 Rigger back wherever they were going, so Fett put in a call to 2277 to bring the Justice to the safehouse from the Enigma where he'd left it what now felt like ages ago. They'd have to work out how to get back to the other ships on Iridonia later -- he would be glad to have his own ship back in the mix and be physically close to 2277 again for more constant secure communication. Presently as Nek headed back to the med center to start looking at Mirdala, there was another knock at the door and the safehouse security systems showed Fett through his buy'ce a video feed of the entrance where he saw Kirlocca. He pulled the helmet off to answer the door. Kirlocca had been one of the few to see his face even before he'd changed his policy, and right now he wanted a face-to-face conversation with his old ally. He shook the Wookiee's hand and gave him an appreciative nod. "Thank you for being so prompt, Kirlocca," he said. "Please follow me." The Mando'ad led the Jedi Master directly back to the medical center, where the Wookiee would find Mirdala on a medical bed and three men with her. Two of them were in full beskar'gam with their helmets on, obviously Mandalorian, but the other was not armored and had features that resembled a Bothan if not quite the same. Fett introduced them, starting with the helmeted ones. "These are Mirdala's brothers Rhys, Verdeyuii, and Nekkir. Nekkir is a doctor, and all three of them should be able to help you considerably," he explained. Some secrets could be kept, hence the buy'cese, but he wasn't going to hold back the things that Kirlocca would need to know to help him help Mirdala. He was going to mention that they were all empaths, but knew it was a closely guarded secret, so he glanced at Rhys, who gave him a slight nod. "They and Mirdala are closely-bonded empaths, so they should be able to help keep her grounded while you approach the Force side of things." He looked at the others and gestured at the Jedi Master. "Team, this is Kirlocca." He could tell that they hadn't been expecting a Wookiee. "How's your Shyriiwook?" he asked them. He would help translate if necessary, but these three had been around for a while, so he wouldn't be surprised if at least one of them had picked the language up.

An innocuous-looking G9 Rigger-class freighter exited hyperspace over Corellia, checked in with the port authority, and descended toward ShadowFett's safehouse. Fett, sitting in the copilot seat, scanned the space above and around Coronet City to make sure there wasn't anything suspicious going on, but time was of the essence so they wasted none of it. The ship did receive a ping almost immediately from another vessel which he knew to be Nekkir's -- apparently the Omicron doctor had beaten them to Corellia and had been awaiting their arrival. He returned the ping as they descended towards the safehouse and the small private hangar attached to it. Clad again in his customary black beskar'gam, he put his buy'ce on so its computer could interface with the automated security and maintenance systems running the safehouse and ensure it didn't trap or fry any of his invited guests. He headed back into the main hold where Mirdala still lay passed out, though they had moved her onto a hoversled rigged up with a cot to make her comfortable and able to be moved. Her condition hadn't shifted much during the trip from Hoth, but the way her vitals occasionally spiked and how she'd reacted to the ysalamir suggested there was a raging battle going on beneath her placid appearance. The Mando'ad quickly disembarked as soon as the ship let down and started disengaging the building's lockdown, its internal systems coming to life to regulate the temperature to be more suitable for occupation and powering up the medical center. Not only would having a full suite of scanners and medicine give them a better chance of helping Mirdala, but he also had the bacta and other tools that would help heal her through the physical injuries she'd sustained on Hoth. Finally, as the others maneuvered Mirdala and the hoversled into the house, he sent out a ping to Kirlocca in case the Wookiee was already nearby, and he saw Nek's ship making its approach. Help was close at hand.

Kandor finished his call, pulled his buy'ce back off, and replied to Nek. "Remember my safehouse on Corellia where you met us after Abraxos?" he asked. "There's a Jedi Master on his way there now." He had to admit, he was somewhat relieved that Kirlocca was even still alive. The galaxy was very hostile towards jetiise bal dar'jetiise with the million-credit bounty on their heads, and he hadn't been in frequent contact with the Wookiee lately. He would have to catch up with him at some point, try to get a feel for just how bad things had gotten, but for now offering his safehouse was a good way to keep both of their locations private from the various people that were looking for them. Hoth was not especially close to Corellia on a galactic scale, but the Hoth system sat right on the Corellian Trade Spine which connected it all the way to that world with a single hyperspace jump, so the trip would be fairly quick. And it was a good thing, too, given how little they understood about Mirdala's condition. Kandor headed to the cockpit to make sure Rhys had the location, and a minute later they were making the jump into hyperspace bound for the core.

<< Incoming comm for Kirlocca >> "Your help is greatly appreciated," Fett's voice continued. "I'm sending you the coordinates to a safehouse I have maintained on Corellia. We should be there soon. "Fett out." An address was wired across as promised, encrypted with Augury protocols for privacy. << End comm >>

<< Incoming comm for Kirlocca >> "Kirlocca, this is Fett. While investigating a situation on Hoth we recovered a lightsaber that belonged to a Sith. When Mirdala made contact with the weapon, she triggered a trap of some kind and has suffered some kind of Force-based attack which rendered her catatonic beyond our ability to help her. "We urgently need your help. I have a place where we can meet if you are able to come." << The line remains open, waiting for a response. >>

There was an unmistakable edge to TeVerd's voice. He was charging Kandor with his daughter's life. Kandor's battle calm held. Of course he was going to do everything he could to save Mirdala's life. In this case, he needed to come up with a Force user with the best chance of getting in there and pulling her out of whatever had happened. He knew firsthand that Emily would be up to the task, but pragmatically he knew that if he brought in someone who had even a hint of darkness about her, the Seekers in the group would either blow a gasket or simply kill her. No, the better choice was one of the jetiise, and there was none he trusted more than Kirlocca. In the late days of the war, he and Kirlocca had fought together even as the rest of the Augury faded away. They'd trained each other aboard the Enigma and then carried out an attack on Ilum, then ventured to Coruscant for the long, hard battle in and above the Imperial Spire during which Fett had been named Mand'alor. They'd fought together again aboard the Death Star in the days before the formation of the Galactic Alliance, and he knew that there were few stronger or more experienced in the ways of the Force. Fett nodded at TeVerd, stood and retrieved his buy'ce to call up the wookiee's contact information, then placed his call. ((Comm in the Tython thread, here.))

Kandor shook his head once at Rhys' question about the backdoor into the implant. It was his experience that backdoors were always found by the enemy, and that rendered anything that had one intrinsically insecure. He immediately felt a jolt of frustration when he realized there was very little he could do to help Mirdala directly due to lacking any sort of empathic abilities. He quickly forced the emotion down, turning himself off and entering a mental state much like he used in battle -- he couldn't let his emotions or his relationship with Mirdala interfere with the mental clarity he needed to make good decisions. The Mando'ad got to his feet and retrieved the medkit in case they needed to administer drugs to make sure she didn't hurt herself further. Inside was a datapad that he wirelessly linked to her implant, which dutifully spit out vitals readings. He then grabbed the ysalamir on its frame and moved it to fully envelop Mirdala, suspecting that the attack was Force-based. Immediately the vitals readout dropped sharply. He blinked at it, then moved the ysalamir back and they stabilized again. I guess not, he thought. TeVerd popped onto the comm. Kandor looked at the veteran Seeker, Mirdala's adopted buir. "There were no cultists on Hoth," he reported. "But we found an old ruin and a jetii'kad that belonged to the dar'jetii Mirdala killed on Concord Dawn several years ago. We brought it back in an ysalamir bubble, but while she was examining the weapon she was jarred outside the bubble and collapsed." "Is this like what happened on Coruscant?" TeVerd asked. Kandor had been related that story briefly during his time on Concord Dawn while Mirdala was doing her Clade training on Tatooine. The short version was that Mirdala had sustained self-inflicted empathic trauma starting with an incident where she had come into contact with a seemingly-innocuous object from her early childhood -- when she had been experimented upon by her biological parents, the Sivaaras, and used as a test subject in a BakToid lab. The object, an ik'aad's doll, had somehow mentally linked her back to those horrifying experiences. Later, she'd been at a party at the Sivaara estate and suffered a much worse empathic episode that had led her to become trapped in a nightmare world where it had taken the whole team to pull her out through a series of drastic measures. Nekkir popped up on the other screen. The somewhat Bothan-looking Omicron was a critical part of the solution to any problem like this, and knew Mirdala's psyche better than any of them. He looked like he'd just woken up. "Have you administered anti-shock yet?" "Now's not the time," Vy'ika answered, his voice strained. "This... is different from before."

Whatever jolted the ship woke Kandor up just before he heard Mirdala's scream and hauled himself to his feet, shaking the cobwebs out of his kovid and rubbing his eyes as he reached the door and the light from the main living space flooded into his dark cabin. It took him a second to adjust, but he quickly realized that Mirdala was collapsed on the deck plates, jetii'kad rolling out of her hand. "Haar'chak," he swore, grabbing the weapon and thrusting it back into the open case safely within the ysalamiri bubble. He quickly dropped to his knees and laid Mirdala out flat so she wasn't crumpled on top of her broken ankle, and was aware of the rest of the team arriving on the scene. Vi'ika was right beside him, whining and barking, nearly in a panic. "Mirdala! Me'bana?" Kandor said, trying to figure out what was happening to her. Surely not a nightmare this time. Some kind of attack triggered by the lightsaber? Vy'ika, figuring out what had happened, shouted towards the cockpit. "Nice flying, Rhys," he snapped sarcastically. "Sorry, meteor shower popped up," Rhys called back. "Wasn't on the scopes." Kandor looked at the others with a sense of urgency. "She's unconscious. Can you tell what's happening?" Vy'ika gave him a grim look. "It's not good." "Here we go again," Torne muttered. He'd been there the last time something like this happened to Mirdala and wasn't at all thrilled about dealing with it once more.