By Tanya Teunissen

I had been on Courscant for a month now, and as I had predicted, the road had been very rocky. It was taking a lot of effort for Kyp to let me into his life and he seemed to spend the better part of his time trying to protect me from the real world. It was obvious to me that he still didn’t think I was ready to handle him, all of him. I once again found myself debating to his turned back.

"Come on Kyp, you’re being so over-protective. You seem to forget what I’ve spent most of my life doing," I sighed, "and I wish you wouldn’t turn your back on me, I really don’t like it."

He glanced at me over his shoulder, "It’s the only way I can hide from you" he muttered with a small smile, "You seem to know what I’m thinking before I do, that confuses me."

Finally, an admission of weakness! "So, I can get to you if I have too." His gaze had returned to the window, but I could sense the smile I had brought to his face. "Don’t get to cocky, I can still keep two steps ahead of you."

I laughed out loud which seemed to diffuse the situation a little. "Let me come with you. I’ll rot if you leave me here, you know I’m not used to sitting on my hands when theres work to be done."

He turned to face me, "It’s too dangerous Cass, I can’t take the risk of you being hurt,…..or worse." I could see that he was remembering the past and his losses.

"I’m not your brother, or your parents Kyp. It’ll take a lot more than you can imagine to get rid of me," I said gently. "You say you love me. Me being what I am, not what you want me to be. I can’t sit by quietly while you’re making a difference; it’s not my way. I think you know that."

Just at that moment the door chimed. Kyp turned to it and his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. I had gotten used to him using his abilities to do simple things like checking who was at the door. He raised his eyebrows and sighed, "Come in"

Not having his insight, I had to face the door to know who was there. When it opened I studied the woman standing in front of me, I had not met her before.

"Hello Mara. I didn’t expect you until tomorrow." Kyp said as she entered the room.

"I left a day early, therefore, got here a day early." She responded. I watched her as she crossed the room, her golden red hair hanging just below her shoulders, and a lightsabre attached to her belt. Another Jedi Knight? "You set to go? Sooner we get there, sooner we can sort this mess out."

Kyp glanced at me, "Not quite, I have a couple of things too sort out before I go." Mara turned to me.

"You must be the Cassiopia I’ve heard so much about. I’m Mara Jayde Skywalker." She closed the gap between us and thrust out her hand out to me. Taking it in mine I was a little stunned, I knew Kyp had famous friends and acquaintances, but sometimes he still surprised me.

"Pleased to meet you, I have to be honest, Kyps’ told me nothing about you." I gave him a quick look of disapproval, it was obvious he had been expecting her, nice of him to mention it to me. Mara laughed.

"That doesn’t surprise me, especially since it’s obvious he didn’t want you to be involved in his next assignment. BUT, before anyone says anything I have to put my two credits worth in." She held her hand up to Kyp as if to silence any protest from him, "and you know whose opinion as well." Kyp was about to protest until she added that last bit; he then shut his mouth.

"I’ve done a bit of checking into your past Cassiopia." I widened my eyes wide in surprise. "Don’t give me that look, you’ll get used to not having any privacy around this lot. Han worries about Kyp, kind of a father thing I guess and he talks to Luke and well, I get everything then." It made sense to me, but un-nerved me a little at the same time. I still had to get used to being around Jedi Knights and them knowing my thoughts and feelings, not just the one I was involved with.

"Anyway, we talked about the fact we need a cover to go in, and as this place is a resort in the surface we figured couples were less likely to be noticed. She turned to face Kyp squarely, almost challenging him to disagree with her, "from what I have read, it seems the lady behind me can more than handle herself and if she intends to hang around with you, you should get used to her being included in things." At last, someone that respected my abilities, minor as they were against the other two people in the room.

"It’s out of the question." Kyp said evenly. I was getting very annoyed with him now, turning away and letting out a groan of frustration. "You know, if I thought it’d knock some sense into that head of yours, I’d pump a stun bolt into you right now" I snapped as I turned back to face him resting my hand on the blaster I had begun to wear again since the attack. "But somehow I think there isn’t any sense in there to be knocked!" Kyps face dropped, he didn’t expect that from me.

Mara chuckled, "I like this girl." I remained glaring in his direction daring him to argue with me. He studied me for a moment, I could tell he wasn’t just looking at me, I knew by the look on his face. With that in mind I tried to project determination and strength to him, I had the support of Mara and her husband, so I wasn’t going to let him say no.

"I don’t like this, but I guess I don’t have a say in it anymore." He sighed shaking his head. "I suppose you should go home and get some gear packed."

Mara frowned, "You don’t live here?" she asked me. I shifted my weight a little uncomfortably.

"No, um, I…." Our relationship had not progressed that far, I wasn’t sure I was ready to admit that it was because of me. "I guess you could call me a very old fashioned kind of girl." I could feel the slight blush spread up my neck and over my cheeks. I glanced at Kyp then back to Mara, "I guess I must be the galaxy’s oldest living virgin." Should I be proud of that one?

Kyp could see and feel my embarrassment, we had discussed the subject weeks ago and he’d been very supportive and understanding. He crossed the room and put his arms around me, "It’s a joint decision, there’s no hurry for anything." He said gently as he gazed into my eyes lovingly. Mara shrugged,

"What ever, it’s your business not mine. Anyway, you’re going to need to a couple of gowns and some holiday wear. This place is pretty up market. You’ll be heading out on the ‘Nova Star’ in the morning, Luke and I will follow a day or so later. You two won’t need a disguise, no one knows you Cassiopia, and Kyps’ not that well recognised. You will have to change your names though. Us on the other hand, we’ll let you know when we get there who we are. Kyp will fill you in on what we are up too. I guess that’s all there is for now. I trust the two of you can handle the rest." She began to walk to the door, "Oh, do you have any names you’d prefer I use to make the reservations?" she asked. Kyp frowned, clearly he’d not thought about it at all. I remembered the happiest couple I’d known on Akrian.

"Jace and Christia Orian" I said. Mara nodded, turned and left. I watched her go and remained silent in his arms for a while, finally pulling away. I felt I was letting him down on a personal level.

"Stop thinking like that Cass, I told you, I’m Ok with your decision. I don’t want anything from you that you aren’t ready to give." I couldn’t look him in the face, was there something wrong with me? I wandered into the kitchen area and got myself a glass of water, keeping my eyes downcast. Kyp watched me and remained silent. I finished the water took a deep breath.

"Maybe when we get back from this trip I should see someone about this. Maybe I have a problem." I spoke evenly trying to hide the fact that I felt I was failing him in our relationship.

"You haven’t got a problem. Don’t talk crazy." He closed the gap between us, "You’re just a very rare woman, someone who didn’t waste their youth and is waiting for the right guy and the right time. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that."

"What about you?" I looked at him; "it must be difficult for you." He shifted his weight from one foot to the other shrugging his shoulders.

"I’ll cope. There are more important things you know."

"I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I know I found the right guy as you say, ……"my voice trailed off as I wasn’t sure what else to say.

"That means a lot to me." He leaned on the bench that was between us, "I guess we’ll just have to work on the timing thing when we get back." He smiled warmly.

I reached up and caressed his face gently; he leaned his cheek into my palm. "Have I told you lately?"

"Yeah, but hey, my male ego can always use a boost."

"You’re so special, do you have any idea how much I love you?"

"I’ve got a rough idea, but tell me again and refresh my memory."

I moved around the bench and put my arms around his neck, "I hope I’ll be able to show you very soon."

"When you’re ready" he whispered, finally kissing me soundly, reminding me how much he loved me.

……ooooo…..

Just over an hour later I had gathered some clothes into a suitable case and was back at Kyps quarters. He wasn’t home, having allowed me access so I could wait for him. I had a rough idea of what the assignment was, but I didn’t know the details so I had to let him fill me in. I wandered around the main room not really looking at things, just moving while I did some thinking. I had the feeling that what we were about to embark on was going to be dangerous, otherwise Kyp wouldn’t have been to adamant about me not being involved. It had been a while since I had seen any action, the Imperials on Akrian were really a push over in the end, very little fire had been exchanged and it was mainly political manoeuvring. Something I had to admit I knew little about so I had kept out of it mostly. I knew that Mara Jade Skywalker was involved in the ‘transport industry’, another description for ‘smugglers’ I figured. So the very fact that she was involved told me that this was something to do with the seedy underbelly of the New Republic. In a way it kind of excited my senses to think I was going in with these ‘seasoned veterans’, I hoped I could live up to expectations.

I was startled back to reality by the door opening. "Glad you’re back. We need to talk." He strode over to the table and placed a data pad and several cards on it. "I’ve got the outlines of the assignment here and the backgrounds you need to know". He turned to face me, "I don’t have to tell you again how much I am against this do I?"

"No, I think I got that about 4 hours ago." I walked to the table and picked up the data pad, "I think I also made it clear that I can handle myself." Turning to face him I added, "and I don’t like you thinking I’m not up to the challenge. I survived a long time before you came along Kyp."

"I know that." He sighed, "But I didn’t know you then, let alone love you." That made me smile, it was nice that someone felt so protective of me, I couldn’t remember the last time I had ever felt ‘protected’.

"Kyp, you have to trust me on this, I can handle it. I want to handle it. It’s real sweet they way you want to protect me, and believe it or not there’s a part of me that wants simply to do the same for you" I leaned against him, placing my palms flat on his chest. "You have to learn to do what you do best and I’ll try to do the same. You never know, we might turn out to be a pretty neat team."

He chuckled softly, "You never know"

"Right. Now, you go and pack while I study these discs, OK?" He hesitated, looking at me with concern on his face. I pulled away and moved behind him, "GO!" I said as I shoved him firmly in the back.

"I’m going, I’m going"

I waited until he disappeared into his room then turned my attention to the discs and data pad. I began with the one that was already inserted, sitting myself on the lounge I began to read. It seems I had correct about Mara’s involvement. She had a major problem with ships and their entire cargoes’ going missing, and when the ships did turn up, only the male crew was aboard. Worse still, they seem to have lost part of their memories, not to mention their minds. They had no recollection of what had happened to them, their cargo or their female counterparts. There seemed to be no particular pattern as the ships had disappeared from different parts of the galaxy, on the other hand, all of them were carrying unusual cargo. Cargo that wasn’t of the norm and could be considered luxury. Leaning back into the soft lounge, I considered this for a moment before reading on. The ships had turned up again in very different places, usually somewhere near a populated area so they would be discovered quickly. A good thing as mostly the men had lost their ability to contact help or simply fly the freighters they were on to get help. I had to admit I had little or no knowledge of piloting a star ship of any kind, I could handle most land based vehicles and considered myself a pretty hot in a speeder, but that was no comparison. I briefly scanned the list of ships, their cargoes and crews, 20 in all, but decided not to take in much of the details, as I couldn’t see the relevance of knowing them all by name. Anyway, I was sure Mara would know every name, ship size and crewmember.

Removing the disc and inserting the next I was interested to see the connection between the resort and the disappearing ships. The Quasar Mud Resort was situated on a planet called Saurius, a world not generally known for its habitability. The surface was hot and steamy, but not a pleasant kind of humidity. The were thermals doted all over its surface that gurgled out rather smelly gases that causes eye and skin irritations. It had been discovered that even though the gases were bad, the actual mud produced were highly therapeutic and had healing properties, and therefore much desired. The owners of the resort had managed to find a way to rid the mud of the gases and harness it to their purpose. They had constructed huge plasteel domes and created an entire ecosystem more to the image they were trying to project, rich and tropical. It had become a favourite ‘honeymoon’ location over the past few years as it relaxed young couples and helped them start off their marriages well. Honeymoon? I shifted uncomfortably, I guess that means we’ll be sharing a room, I mused. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it I decided. Reading on I discovered the connection. One of Mara’s operatives was spending some of his holiday time in the resort when he stumbled into an area normally not used by most patrons. It seemed to be some kind of ‘pleasure house’ for males. Upon entering he was stunned to find one of the members of Mara’s organisation serving there. She had no memory of him and seemed almost programmed to serve food, drinks and herself if so desired. He also noticed that she was serving Nmarna Juice from Bakura, a drink known for its ability to totally relax the drinker as well as it extreme expense. He reported all he had seen to his employer as soon as he had returned to base and was informed that one of the cargoes missing was from Bakura. It was the only evidence found so far and even though it was a very weak link, it was one none the less. It was decided that this would be the best place to start the investigation but the direct approached was not going to work. If this was a tenuous link, the last thing wanted was for the culprits to be scared off before anyone could make a stronger connection. It all made sense.

Finally I inserted the last disc, our covers and details we should know. The first few sentences told me straight away that they had intended Kyp to go in by himself as a single man. That was going to be his angle of attack and Luke and Mara were coming in from the other side as it were. Then the tone changed and I was mentioned as his partner. I had the distinct feeling there had been intervention to prevent a sticky situation developing for him. With a girlfriend at home, it would make it a little difficult for him to do what was necessary to infiltrate the ‘pleasure house’. I had to smile and wonder who had changed the plans. I remembered Mara saying that retired General Solo looked upon Kyp as a son, maybe it came from that high up? Reading on I saw that Luke and Mara were a couple trying to re-establish their marriage, add some spark. Their names were listed as Dack and Mikki Dilalis, Dack was a Data Gatherer for the New Republic and his wife Mikki worked in the Charity sector. I then read that the names I had suggested had been slotted in appropriately for us and that they had matched our ages identically. We were described as ‘newlyweds’ on our honeymoon. Oh boy this was going to be difficult, I had to get over this really quickly if I wasn’t going to blow the whole operation. Kyp was listed as a pilot for a small transport company and I was crew on another ship for the same company. I could pull that off I was sure. It said we were both from Courscant now, but I had come from Akrian many years before. That helped me, I wouldn’t have to make much of that up or cover my accent. There was also an account listed that contained 1500 credits as our spending money, that sounded nice. I had wondered how things were being paid for. I sighed out loud and flopped back into the lounge. It was all pretty straight forward really; I just had to make sure I knew my role backward so as not to mess up.

"Having second thoughts?" Closing my eyes I slowly shook my head. If he thought I would be put off that easily he was sadly mistaken.

"You wish" I answered. There was a pause before he spoke again; he was ‘feeling’ me out, another thing I had gotten used to him doing.

"Yeah, I guess I did".

"Give it up" I sighed as he came around the lounge and flopped down next to me. He turned to face me.

"The Nova Star leaves at 8 am in the morning, it’d be best you stay here so we can get away early. Before you say anything, this is a really comfortable lounge, so don’t worry." I smiled at him.

"Yeah, I know, just give me a pillow and blanket, I’ll be fine."

"Not you, me silly."

"Why? If it’s because you are the man, that’s a weak excuse. This is your place; therefore I’m on the lounge, got it? Anyway, I’m shorter than you, less of me will hang over the edge." I explained. He opened his mouth to argue and I firmly placed my hand over it. "Not another word, hear me?" He rolled his eyes and nodded, "OK. Now, I guess some dinner would be the go about now Mr Orian, you up to going out?" He nodded again. I had to laugh then; he looked so silly with my hand over his mouth so I removed it. He was laughing as well by this stage.

"You OK with the cover?" he asked as we stood up.

"Yeah. Most girls would consider it a dream come true and be packing every exotic piece of underwear they had. Unfortunately I don’t own any, so I had best get used to the lounge."

"You don’t have too" he muttered. I turned to face him and saw something in his eyes that I hadn’t seen before; it took my breath away and scared me a little. I turned away, knowing exactly what he was thinking. No pressure, sure.

"Yes I do, for the time being anyway. Lets go" I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

…..ooooo…..

Dinner was pretty quiet, he knew I was upset a little by what he’d said so he kept to himself. We didn’t talk about the coming days at all for fear of someone overhearing us, that and the fact that I didn’t want to talk about it. Once we returned to his quarters I made it clear I was very tired and all I wanted to do was get some sleep, he didn’t argue at all going to his room to retrieve a blanket and pillow. I took them from him and silenced his protest with a glare, sighing he returned to his room silently.

I lay there staring at the ceiling for what seemed like hours fighting the tears that threatened to fall. I was wrong I knew it, he was only acting like any normal man would and I had made him feel so bad about that. I had no right; in fact I was holding him back. He could be out there finding the right woman, one who would do the right thing at the right time, not like me. Groaning I rolled onto my side, a mistake I realised too late. Gravity took over and the tears fell from my eyes uncontrollably. I felt so lost, what was stopping me from being everything to him? I had searched my mind for something, anything that made me like I am. Maybe there was something in my past I had blocked out, I’d heard of that happening before. I had never had to question myself until now so somewhere in my past there may be the answer. I wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight, that was clear so I decided to get up and go over the discs again to be sure. I was glad to find the data pad was internally lit so I didn’t need any other lights. After reading them again I was still restless, I’d stopped crying long ago and had tried desperately to put that particular problem from my mind. I got up and began to pace the room; I needed to exert some energy to tire myself out. I heard a soft moan from the bedroom that stopped me in my tracks. I stood staring at the open doorway for what seemed like an eternity, something inside of me was pulling me toward him, another part of me was fighting it. Eventually the pulling won out and I found myself making my way over to his room. I stood in the doorway and peered in trying not to make a sound.

In the pale light that shone through the small window I could see his sleeping form. He was lying on his stomach with one arm under his pillow the other stretched out above his head. The blankets were only covering him from the waist down and he was naked from there up. My heart began to pound painfully in my chest as a mixture of feelings coursed through me. I was scared, excited, aroused, and nervous and a whole lot of other emotions I couldn’t put my finger on. Leaning on the doorframe for support, I wasn’t sure what I should do next. Part of me was saying, ‘get back to the lounge and go to sleep’, then there was the other part saying ‘go to him’. I knew what path was the right thing for any other woman in the same situation, and the path I would normally have taken. Maybe the time had come to change paths, or at least make an attempt to. Biting my lip I pushed myself away from the door and crept over to the side of his bed, sitting down as gently as I could. He stirred slightly but didn’t wake up. Tentatively I extended my hand and gently brushed some of his hair out of his eyes, running my fingers through to the back of his head. Suddenly his midnight blue eyes shot open, I jumped slightly as he startled me. He looked up at me.

"Is everything all right?" he asked attempting to sit up. I watched him carefully and nodded slowly.

"Everything’s fine, I just…" I lowered my eyes as I was now a little embarrassed at my actions.

"Just what? Oh…Look Cass I’m really sorry about earlier, I was way out of line. I made a promise and, well I shouldn’t have said what I said. I really am sorry." He said softly.

I kept my eyes down, "you know how you ‘read’ my feelings sometimes?"

"Yes, I’m not now though"

"I know. Would you please?" I didn’t have to look at him to know he was confused.

"Are you sure?" I gave a quick nod. I listened as he drew a shallow breath and went silent. Waiting for as long as I knew it would take him, then lifting my head to meet his gaze.

His look told me how stunned he was; he swallowed and bit his bottom lip. "It’s a little confusing in there. Want to help me out here?" I could see he didn’t really want to believe what he had felt, I wasn’t sure I wanted to believe it myself. There was a chance I was rushing this, so I decided to take it one step at a time.

"The lounge is very uncomfortable," I prodded his pillow with my finger "and I haven’t gotten any sleep yet."

"Oh, Well we’ll swap, no problem" he said starting to get up and grabbing his pillow, I could hear a little disappointment in his voice. I reached out and grabbed his arm.

"No. It’s also cold out there." He frowned at me not understanding my meaning so I pushed on. "I’ve heard that it’s a lot warmer when you sleep close to another person."

"Oh, is that so." I nodded, he looked down at the bed and then cautiously moved back a little, "Well I guess there’s room here if you think it might keep you warmer." I decided not to say another word and simply moved myself over and lay down with my back to him. He remained half sitting until I was settled down and then lowered himself behind me. He wasn’t touching me so I decided to be a little assertive. Reaching back I took his hand and gently pulled it over my body to encircle my waist. I waited as he carefully rested his body against mine relaxing himself. I smiled and closed my eyes, this was enough to start with and I promptly fell asleep.

…..ooooo……

When I woke the next morning I was alone. I rolled over and scanned the room realising he’d been gone for a while when I felt the coolness of the bed. Getting up I wondered where he was and why he’d left. I found him in the kitchen finishing up the preparations for breakfast. He seemed really happy so I simply enjoyed the attention.

After breakfast we made our way to the spaceport and I felt like we had moved to a new phase in our relationship, not as far as it could go, but it was a step in the right direction. I began to enjoy this part of the assignment, boarding a luxury space liner with everyone believing I was a newly wed, it was rather exciting.

Once aboard we found our quarters and settled in for the lighter part of the journey. Kyp could sense how pleased I was with everything around me and seemed to enjoy my pleasure. The journey was only going to take two standard days and one night, so we took the opportunity to explore the ship and enjoy some of the activities. The meals were exotic and there were activities organised all over the ship at all hours. By the end of the first day we were both exhausted and couldn’t wait to get some sleep. We spent the night the same way we had the night before, only he wrapped both his arms around me and held me close with out any hesitation. It felt right.

When I woke on the second day I was alone again, there was a note left for me. He’d gone to the ships gymnasium, said he had some excess energy to work out. I knew what that meant and felt guilty, I was making things difficult for him. I took the opportunity to explore the boutiques on board hoping maybe the retail therapy would help to relax me and was astounded at the array of gowns to be found, not to mention the incredible prices being asked. I knew I didn’t have anything quite this exotic and began to wonder if my meagre garments were up to scratch. A little further along the Promenade I found a place that had and large range of garments that weren’t quite as expensive but still had a classy look about them. Only there was one of every size on the rack so I knew they weren’t originals, but they were much nicer than then the old dress I had bought along with me. I tentatively entered the store and surveyed the store. There it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. The gown was a rich burgundy velvet fabric with fine straps made with tiny Chrystals. It hugged the figure of the model wearing it and as I approached it I noticed the lower part of the gown glittered slightly. Upon closer inspection I was able to pick out the same Chrystals only smaller woven into the fabric. The assistant, a Twi’lek female was very helpful and before I knew it I was standing in front of a reflector glass and was stunned at my appearance. The assistant had scooped my long auburn hair up and coiled it onto the top of my head and shown me a fine necklet that matched the gown. It didn’t take me long to delve into the expense account given us and I was pleased to discover it wasn’t going to cost as much as I had thought. The assistant then showed me some of the exotic night garments the store stocked as I had mentioned my cover as a newlywed. At first I refused, but curiosity got the best of me. I was overwhelmed with the rich fabrics of the revealing yet very beautiful nightgowns. I looked at them all and eventually chose one, knowing I would use it when the time was right. Once I had finalised my purchases I glanced at my chrono and was stunned at the time. I quickly made my way back to our quarters and was relieved to find them empty. Hiding the gowns I went to find Kyp and was surprised to find him still in the gymnasium. When he saw me he finished up the work out and after a quick trip to the refresher unit we resumed out guise of newly weds.

…..oooooo…..

The planet of Saurius filled the view screen in front of us, it had orange coloured clouds slowly and gracefully swirling over the planets’ surface. I was in awe of it as I had only ever seen Akrian and Courscant from space and all three worlds were so very different.

"Beautiful isn’t it," I said softly leaning against the man posing as my husband. He glanced at me and smiled briefly, his expression turning serious just as fast.

"I hope you know what you are getting into here." He muttered under his breath. Turning my attention back to the viewport I simply nodded, I didn’t want to get into this now, as far as I was concerned it had been sorted out. Thankfully he understood me and didn’t say any more on the subject.

Only one standard hour later we had departed the liner and had found our room. Along the way we were given information about where the mud pools were and how wonderful if would make us feel. I felt it was a little overkill, but guessed it was the only attraction here so they had to make it sound very appealing. I was surprised at the size of the accommodation. The main room had a sweeping view of the resort below and a huge bedroom with a large bed covered with exotic looking quilts and pillows. We waited until the valet droid had departed leaving our luggage just inside the bedroom doorway before we actually spoke to each other.

"This is huge!" I commented as I slowly turned around the room. Kyp was looking into the bedroom.

"Yeah, pretty luxurious, not sure I can get used to this." He muttered. I laughed.

"I’m sure you’ll learn to suffer through."

He leaned in the doorway and smiled at me. He then began to scan the room with deep concentration on his face. I knew he was looking for surveillance cameras or sound detection devices. He wanted to be sure that no one knew who we were and why we were there before we sat down and discussed our first move here. He slowly moved around the room scanning it for anything unusual and once he was satisfied it was clear he sat on the lounge.

"So, where do we start?" I asked as I flopped down beside him.

"Not sure, I guess we could scout the place out, take a look around. I think we should have something to share with the others when they get here."

I thought for a moment. "Maybe you should go a check out that place mentioned in the report, you know, the one where the crew member was found." He turned to me with a stunned look on his face.

"I beg your pardon?"

I have to admit, his reaction did amuse me and somewhere deep inside I got what I was aiming for. Trying to keep a straight face, I went on.

"You heard me. I can’t go there, I think that’d be a little strange, but you on the other hand…" I shrugged.

He studied me for a hand full of seconds and then broke into a grin. "Oh, I get it, a test. I’m not falling into that one, sorry." I laughed as I hugged him.

"Too clever for me. Come on, lets check this place out" Together we left the room laughing.

……oooo…..

I was fascinated by the growth of the luscious plants growing everywhere knowing that their upkeep would not only be expensive but very intensive. I guessed the soil would be very fertile but full of chemicals that would not be beneficial to most fauna. There were beings everywhere scantily clad in towels and small robes either heading toward one of the many mud pools or leaving them. They all seemed to have pleasant smiles on their faces and an almost dreamlike look in their eyes. The atmosphere was very relaxed and as we strolled holding hands I would have found it very easy to forget the real reason for our presence there. Kyps voice broke into my thoughts.

"Don’t, keep your mind on the job" he was leaning close to my ear and his breath sent a shiver down my spine. I turned to him and promptly kissed him.

"Try and relax and fit in, if you don’t you’re gonna be the one blowing it" I whispered back. He rolled his eyes and began walking again. I was enjoying this.

"Welcome Sir and Madam, I am C9T8 and would be pleased to assist you in anyway to make your stay enjoyable." The emerald green protocol droid offered as it approached us. There were several clean towels draped over his forearm, which swung precariously as he walked.

"Thank you, but we’re happy just to look around for the time being if you don’t mind" Kyp answered smoothly. I nodded in agreeance, playing the part of new wife who had not learned to argue as yet.

"Of course gentile sir, you and your lovely lady are welcome to explore our complex as much as you require. I would like to suggest that you make good use of our mud baths while you are here as I believe you will find them quite rewarding." With that he turned and went back the way he had come.

"They really push the mud here, but I guess that’s what we are supposed to be here for" I sighed adding, "I’m not sure I like the idea of being submerged up to my neck in muck". Kyp laughed.

"You’ll never know unless you try it, I’m game"

"Maybe later, right now I want to make sure I know my way around this place with my eyes closed." He nodded and we proceeded to move around the resort.

The layout was pretty straightforward, the accommodations and space port were placed around the circumference of the huge dome and the mud baths, restaurants and entertainment were dotted around the centre divided by lush green parks and fountains. I began to wonder where this ‘pleasure house’ could be, it had to be hidden behind or even in one of the accommodation facilities. I guessed that it would not be pointed out to us due to the fact that we were a couple. Damn, Kyp was right, I should have stayed away; he would have a lot more chance of getting in without me. I began to feel annoyed with my stubbornness, and myself. If I had only listened in the first place, but there was no point in ‘what ifs’ now, as it wouldn’t help. I had to admit though; there was a part of me that was grateful that he wasn’t here alone. I was not sure how I would handle the idea of him in such a place keeping our current situation in mind, after all he was only human and the temptation could be huge. Once again, I was brought back to reality by his voice.

"I don’t know what you’re tossing around in that head of yours, but will you either give it up or share it with me. You’re confusing me." I forced smiled at him.

"If my thoughts are that confusing, stay out of them." That was a little harsh, as I was annoyed at myself and not him. The look on his face told me I had gone too far and I was immediately sorry. "I didn’t mean that, really I didn’t. It’s just that I think I know now why you didn’t want me here, you could be achieving so much more." He studied my face for a moment then in one smooth movement he enfolded me in his arms pulling me close to him.

"Look, I didn’t want you here, but not for the reason you’re thinking. I couldn’t pull off going to a place like that, it’s not me, not to mention the guilt I’d have to live with."

"And the punishment you’d suffer from me" I added as I nuzzled close into his neck.

"Yeah, and I think that scares me more." He chuckled as I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him close.

"How about that mud bath now, I think I need to relax a little." I muttered as I pulled back. He simply nodded and gently kissed my forehead.

"Sounds good to me"

…..ooooo…..

Standing in front of the reflective glass I eyed myself in the one-piece bathing suit supplied by the resort. I couldn’t recall the last time I had need for such a garment, there hadn’t been much call for such during all my years with the underground. The colour, a flat brown, left a lot to be desired and the cut was very basic. I guessed it was designed to cover a large array of female forms of all shapes and sizes. Sighing I reached for the robe provided to cover myself, which wasn’t much bigger.

"You ready yet?" Kyp called out from the lounge area. I’d chosen to use the fresher area to change as I was concerned about my appearance and wanted to see what I looked like before anyone else did.

"Coming" I called as I left the room. Upon entering the room, I had to surpress a soft gasp. The robe he wore was slightly larger than mine, but left little to the imagination. I found my eyes straying down his bare legs, taking close note of his muscles as he moved to collect our towels. I was entranced and hadn’t realised I was staring.

"Uh, hum. You right there?" Startled, I snapped my head up to gaze into his eyes. He was standing with his arms folded across his chest and an extremely amused look on his face. I felt my cheeks flush but found it impossible to drag my eyes away, unlike his which had begun to travel down my own body.

"Ok, we’re even" I croaked as I tried to pull the hem of my robe down. Where had my voice gone? He laughed and picked the towels up again.

"Come on, hopefully the mud will do a better job than these robes." He said with a twinkle in his eyes. Lowering my head I made a dash for the door and decided to keep my eyes down for my own sake.

Choosing to go to the closest of the baths we entered the compound in silence. I was un-nerved by my reaction to him, but at the same time encouraged, as I had felt definite desire building from within myself. I had to wonder if he had noticed it and was ignoring it or if he’d missed it totally. I looked around the baths and noted several humans, two groups of Twi’leks and a pair of Devorians. All seemed not to notice our arrival, lost in a haze of pleasure. For the first time I noticed that everyone here was the same, oblivious to the world around them, almost trance like. Puzzled, I turned to Kyp with the appropriate expression and was surprised by the look on his face. He turned to me with a questioning look as he leaned closed to me.

"Have you noticed too?" he whispered

"What, the fact that everyone seems to be in some kind of trance? Yes I have." I responded in a hushed voice, adding, "do you think it could be the mud?"

"Makes sense, maybe we shouldn’t go in, I can even sense these people."

"Stars, I was really looking forward to immersing my entire body in brown, slimy sludge." Kyp gave me a disapproving look.

"Gentile Sir, Gracious Lady, welcome. Please let me assist you in taking your robes before you enter the pools." I spun to face the protocol droid that had approached us from behind. It was almost exactly the same as the one we’d seen earlier, but this one had gold markings on its torso. We were trapped with no avenue for escape, there was no choice now, we had to go in or cause a scene.

"Stay close" Kyp whispered in my ear as he removed his robe, removing my own I nodded. I didn’t like this, was the mud going to turn my mind to mush, I hated the thought of not being in control. Turning back to the mud, I made my way to the edge and feeling Kyp’s presence behind me. Slowly I began the decent down the steps provided, allowing the mud the ooze around my legs. It felt warm and I was right, it was slimy, but my skin began to tingle in a sensation that sent shivers up and down my body. Suddenly I felt like I was being drawn in, like I no longer had a choice in this and I felt a small amount of fear rise in my stomach.

"I’m right behind you, I think I can over-ride this if you keep contact with me. Hold on." He took my hand in his, gripping it firmly in his. Blindly I moved forward allowing the mud to cover my whole body up to my neck. I felt like I was loosing my grip on reality, everything around me took on a hazy glow and I felt light-headed and dizzy. Then a cool wash that began in my hand moved up my arm and slowly engulfed my mind, gently clearing the haze. As I was brought back to reality I silently thanked Kyp and his Force abilities. I turned to face him gratefully and was pleased to see his eyes clear and a look of reassurance on his face and I felt the need to hold on tighter with both hands so as not to loose the connection he’d formed. We sat quietly for a very long time; at least that was how it felt. I desperately wanted to get out but I knew we had to stay long enough to give the impression we were being fully affected by the goo around us, a time that was beginning to feel like an eternity for me. I felt like I couldn’t take much more and squeezed Kyps hand with mine giving him a pleading look. He gave me a slow nod and slowly began to leave the pool pulling me behind him, the only bright spot there was the view I was given. Even though his body was covered in the red/brown mud, it was clearly visible to me, and I found myself staring once again. The droid guided us over to a spa like pool, which was meant to cleanse the mud from our bodies. I followed blindly, partly to keep up the pretence of being affected, partly because of the view I was being offered. The soothing water washed our bodies clean, which relieved the fear I had been harbouring in my belly; I felt if the mud was off our bodies; we would be free to think clearly. With this in mind I let Kyps hand go, an action I immediately regretted. The haze quickly clouded my mind and blindly I fumbled to grasp his hand again, finding it quickly as he was reaching for me. He frowned slightly at me, warning me not to let go until he did, I gave a slow nod. Emerging from the spa the droid placed our robes around us and thanked us for coming, guiding us to the entrance as if we had no idea where or who we were. I suspected we weren’t supposed to. We remained silent as he guided us back to our room, and I waited until he closed the door behind me and let go of my hand.

"The mud, I was loosing control, almost like a drug I guess." I babbled, "not that I have ever taken any kind of drugs, but I suspect it’s a similar sensation." He nodded.

"I was shielding us with the Force, but I was very aware of the mud’s effect. I think we might be onto something already. The effect of the mud wears off after a time, so I guess that’s why everyone who comes here doesn’t really remember much except being very relaxed. But, if the mud was say enhanced…."

"It may cause memory loss or worse, like what the pilots and crew of the freighters had experienced. It may even lead the missing women to do what ever they are told." I finished his theory for him. He pursed his lips in thought for a moment.

"I think we should stay indoors for the rest of the day to avoid the pressure to use the pools. With our cover, it shouldn’t raise any eyebrows." He moved over to the bedroom undoing his robe as he went, "I’ll just get changed, then I’ll leave the facilities to you. You might want to have a shower make sure there isn’t any mud left on you." He then disappeared into the room. Wrapping my arms around me I suddenly felt a little insecure. Wandering over to the lounge I lowered myself and curled my body into a ball wrapping my arms around my knees tightly. How could all these beings allow themselves to be brainwashed as it were by this natural phenomenon? I had always been proud of the fact that I never required any sort of external relief from my own life, actually I never really understood why anyone would want to escape from reality having found it best to deal with it in the past. The use of alcohol and drugs confused me if nothing more, and as far as I could ascertain, this mud was another sort of drug.

"Hey, you’re ok now" His voice was soft as he leaned over the back of the lounge. I tilted my face up to his and smiled.

"I know, I just don’t understand that’s all. I have never indulged in any of the mind altering substances I’ve heard of and find it hard to comprehend why anyone would want to loose their grip on reality like that." Kyp laid his forearms and palms flat on the back of the seat, resting his chin on them and smiled warmly.

"You project this image of a warrior who fought for freedom but I think I might be the only one who has really seen you." He spoke softly in a manner that was meant to compliment me I think.

"What do you see?" I asked.

"A gentle person who in some aspects has lived a reasonably sheltered life, but I would be the first to warn anyone not to cross you." I laughed lightly.

"Mmmm, I hope you have the sense to take your own advice?"

"Go and get cleaned up". With that I did as I was told, for a change.

…..ooooo…..

As it was already late in the afternoon when we returned to the room and dinner wasn’t far off we only had to stay indoors for a couple of hours. After cleaning myself up I felt very good almost strangely so, and had a spring in my step when I re-emerged. Kyp was on the lounge watching the screen that was showing promotional information about the resort; he looked so serious and engulfed in what he was doing. I, on the otherhand felt that we had some time alone and we shouldn’t be wasting it, keeping that in mind I lept over the back of the lounge landing in his lap.

"Hey! What are you doing?" he cried in surprise. Giggling I cupped his face and planted a deep kiss on his lips.

"Are you complaining? If you are, I can go away I you want. I mean if you find that screen more interesting…" I tried to look as hurt as I could, but felt way too light and happy to pull it off and began to giggle. Frowning he took my hands in his.

"Are you feeling ok?"

"I have never felt better. So alive, so, Oh, I don’t know." I giggled squirming close to him. "Sexy maybe?" Why was he looking at me like that? So concerned, so serious. Didn’t he want me? I thought that’s what he wanted and here I was feeling like the time was right and all he could do was question me!

"Settle down Cass, I think this is a side effect of the mud." He said evenly, "maybe you should go and lay down for a while." Lay down? Side effect of the mud? I felt a wild anger rising up and wanted to lash out at him just as suddenly as my previous emotions had risen. Struggling I pulled my hands free and began to hit him.

"What’s wrong with you? I come in here offering myself and you act like I’m suddenly not good enough for you" I cried. I had taken him by surprise and it took him a few seconds to respond. I had little hope when he did. Grabbing my hands and pulling them together and holding them with one of his he literally threw me back first onto the lounge, placing himself on top of me to hold me down. I fought him and somewhere in the back of my mind I could hear myself asking what was I doing, this wasn’t like me and in my mind I knew I was acting out of character but I simply couldn’t help myself. I felt his hand cover my mouth to silence the abuse that was pouring from my lips.

"CASS, STOP IT!" He yelled. I continued to fight him and felt tears streaming down the sides of my face, what was happening to me? "CASS, Listen to me, I know this is not you. Please STOP!" He was pleading with me now, but even that didn’t get through and I continued to fight him. "I’m sorry Cass, this is for your own good" He then removed his hand from my mouth and touched my temple with his fingertips. Blackness crept into my mind subduing me slowly, part of my mind cried out for him to stop, but the irrational part was still fighting. The blackness moved further and finally I closed my eyes and surrendered to it.

…..ooooo…..

Before I had even opened my eyes I knew I had been in this situation before. The room was darkened and quiet and my head ached. The memory of what had happened flooded back to me and I suddenly felt very ill at the thought of how I had acted. Rolling onto my side as I opened my eyes and brought my hands up to clutch my head as if holding it would ease the aching. I was surprised to see Kyp sitting cross-legged on the floor, shoulders hunched forward and his head dropped. I wanted to say how sorry I was but found I couldn’t speak, he must have heard me trying to speak and lifted his face to look at me. My heart ached painfully when I saw the tears on his cheeks and the pain in his eyes.

"I’m so sorry, but…." He seemed to be struggling with his words, "I didn’t know what else to do, how else to stop you." His voice was quiet and hoarse. It was clear he was blaming himself for what had happened. I knew better and had to let him know that. Pushing myself up I rolled off the bed and on all fours crawled over to him.

"Don’t do this. None of this is your fault you only stopped me. I don’t know what happened to me but I knew I wasn’t acting right but couldn’t stop myself." I spoke softly as I realised how sore my throat was from yelling earlier. I sat down in front of him not game enough to touch him yet, how he must detest me.

"It was the mud. I figure that most couples are both effected by it so neither question it." He swallowed hard, "It didn’t effect me so I knew you weren’t right. I should have handled it better, should never have done what I did." His voice was so weak, he sounded like a man defeated and I couldn’t stand it.

"No. You did the right thing; I could have hurt you or myself. You had no choice and I am so grateful to you for stopping me from making a mistake. Not that making love with you would be a mistake, it wouldn’t, the situation would have been wrong though". I looked deep into his eyes, "please forgive me" I whispered. He stared at me for a moment and suddenly pushed himself forward to wrap his arms around me.

"How you can see it this way is beyond me. I should be begging for forgiveness, not you" He pulled me close and I enfolded him around the waist. I needed to hold him right now and began to sob with relief. He caressed my hair gently and when I had finally stopped crying he lifted my face to his and gently kissed me. It was soft peck at first, then another and the next was longer. The one after that was much deeper, and the next deeper than any we’d shared so far and I didn’t resist, infact I pushed for more as I was feeling I needed him at that moment. I felt a strange excitement building in my stomach and my response to him became more urgent, I was in my right mind this time. With his arms around me I could feel the gentle caress of his hands moving over my back and hips. Suddenly the excitement in my stomach changed, turned around, and as quickly as it built the claws of fear gripped me. I began to pull away, something about what was happening caused me to frantically push him from me, and to experience a new kind of terror I never thought I had before. I couldn’t control my reaction even though I knew I was acting totally irrationally. Clawing at his chest, panic washed over me as I scrambling to the other side of the room when I broke free, curling myself into a ball. What was happening to me? I realised I was trembling from head to foot and I had no idea why. I turned to look at Kyp, he was on his hands and knees and an entirely confused look on his face, what was I doing?

"Cass? What’s going on?" he asked softly, "you’re scared of me, I can ‘feel’ it" He was right, and wrong at the same time. I was so afraid, but not of him, at least I didn’t think it was him.

"I don’t know, I couldn’t help myself, something…" My voice quivered, "I’m sorry, I don’t know." I began to cry again making the trembling worse. I watched as he crawled toward me and tried hard not to react. Unfortunately I began to cringe and knew I was failing miserably.

"I won’t touch you, I promise. I just want to know what’s wrong, please…talk to me." He pleaded.

I knew I could trust him, I knew he’d never hurt me, but I didn’t know what to say, what to tell him. What had come over me had never happened before, then again I had never put myself in that position before. Trying desperately to control my sobbing I tried to speak.

"I….I don’t know. Something is wrong…. with me…..I don’t know" I repeated as a new wave of despair washed over me. I couldn’t look at him anymore and hid my face behind my hands.

"Cass? Let me help. Let me in?" His voice was so gentle and in my heart I wanted him to help me more than anything but something that I simply couldn’t describe was screaming from deep within making me want to run away as fast as I could. I realised he couldn’t help, and I couldn’t be with him until I knew what was wrong. How could I? How could I possibly keep doing this to him?

"Leave me alone…please" I whispered, "I…Please?" I listened as he got to his feet and went to the door.

"I’ll be out here if you need me. Don’t shut me out Cass, what ever is going on here we can work it out together." He paused, "doesn’t matter what it is, you dealt with my past, if you have something you need get out, I’m here." I waited until the door closed until I totally let go, allowing the misery I felt overwhelm me as I collapsed into uncontrollable sobs. My mind desperately tried to find an answer, but there was none. I had to get away from him, had to stop this. He had been right all along, I never should have followed him to Coruscant, never should have pushed him into a relationship, and never should have told him I loved him. Never. I would be gone by morning and allow him to get over me, I had made his life hell for long enough and now it was time to stop. He would be better off without all this, and me.

…..ooooo…..

The dark was slowly being pushed away by the dawn as I made my way along the street toward the spaceport. After making my decision to go I knew I had to wait for the right moment. After bathing as for some un-explainable reason I felt I had too, I gathered enough clothes to get me by and stuffed them into the smallest bag I had brought. I waited sometime before tentatively opening the door to see if I could get past Kyp. It had been a long night and to my advantage he’d fallen asleep on the lounge, I made my move. As I left I stopped and took one last look at him, he looked so peaceful and my heart ached as I drank in his features for the last time.

I felt a little guilty about using the credits to get passage off Saurius, but I knew he’d not be stranded and it was my only option. As I approached the spaceport I was a little surprised at all the activity there so very early in the morning. A large freighter had just landed from what I could tell and was being unloaded immediately, almost in a hurry. As I got closer I could see that it didn’t look like a typical freighter, there were no markings, anything to identify it at all. Instinct told me that I shouldn’t be seen so I silently slipped into the shadows of the buildings, keeping a close eye on what was going on. Getting closer I could just make out the conversations going on.

"Come on you lot, move it. We gotta get this stuff stashed before this place wakes up, and get those broads out of there, don’t want anyone seeing them."

I watched as a group of 6 or 7 women, some human, were herded out of the cargo hold by three men carrying blasters. They seemed dirty and exhausted in the dim light and hung their heads accordingly as they shuffled toward me. Dropping my bag behind me I blended in behind an ornate plant display and let the group get close to me. I had a choice to make; did I go and alert Kyp to what was going on, meaning I’d have to face him? Or did I try to blend in with this group and get inside and do what I could myself? My split second decision made I slipped in behind the women and was glad that the guards attention was directed elsewhere.

"Alright, bring ‘em through" a man standing by a doorway called to the guards. Lowering my eyes, I shuffled along with the group not looking at any of them for fear of them noticing the new member. We were guided through the door and down a set of stairs that was dimly lit and seemed to go on forever. When we eventually reached the bottom I guessed we were at least three stories underground if not further. The room at the very end was darkened and had two cell like rooms opposite each other and a large table similar to the ones I had seen in Medcentres on Akrian. Each cell had a fresher unit that wasn’t hidden and it reminded me of an Imperial prison I had helped liberate on Akrian. We were pushed roughly into one of the cells, leaving the other empty.

"You, Twi’lek, get out here" the leader snapped. The woman he was pointing too cringed as she cautiously moved to the entrance of the cell. Two men grabbed her either side dragging her to the table she then began to fight. I stood at the bars with the others and watched feeling a tight fear for her rising in my gut. She was lifted by the larger of the men and dumped un-ceremoniously on to the table causing her to cry out in pain. The women around me were silent, fearing if that they spoke they’d be next, little did they know that it didn’t matter if they said anything or not. We all watched as the poor Twi’lek woman was bound hand and foot to the table. Her head was in a brace that had two large silver rods either side. The leading man went to a panel on the wall near the door and began to press buttons, a mask dropped from the ceiling and it was placed over the struggling woman’s’ face. I watched as a visible gas began to feed down into the mask subduing the woman. He eyes glazed over, not unlike the people in the mud baths, but somehow much worse.

"She’s ok now boss" one of the guards spoke, I felt ill as I realised they were taking this woman’s life away from before my eyes.

"You can’t do this, stop it" I yelled. All the men turned to me, the leader wearing a very nasty smile.

"You just volunteered to be next. Anyone else got something to say?" The room was silent. "That’s better, now if you don’t mind, we have work to do" Turning back to the panel he continued to push buttons. The silver rods either side of the woman’s head extended until they were pressed firmly into her temples, her braintails twitched uncontrollably as the rods began to glow a soft yellow colour. Around me I heard the others turning away, some were sobbing, I couldn’t move. The rods glowed brighter and brighter and finally the woman lets out a blood-curdling scream her body convulsing. I wasn’t breathing, horror gripping my entire body, I was next!

As they undid her binders I realised she was un-conscious now, ‘probably better off’ I thought bitterly. Just then a comlink beeped. The leader took it from his belt and spoke quietly into it, I strained to hear but because of the noise of the two men removing the Twi’lek I couldn’t hear. I watched him nod and say something as he began to push buttons again. The panel in front of him went dark and the facemask hanging down retracted as he turned it off.

"Ok, bring her and leave ‘em here, can’t do nothing more now the first transport has arrived early, gotta get the rest of them done and back on their ship. Make sure that door is locked" The man who seemed to be in charge stood in the open doorway as he gave the orders. The others moved and obeyed him, dragging the un-conscious woman behind them. Only a few seconds later all four men left slamming the door behind them, I listened as the locking facility was activated.

"Cass, is that you?" I turned to face the female voice whispering from behind me. I was face to face with my best friend, Christia Orian.

"Christia, what are you doing here?" I really was a silly question because I knew she would be thinking the exact same question. We moved toward each other and hugged, pulling back I studied what I could see of her face in the dim light, she’d been crying.

"Are you alright?" I asked softly, she nodded as she began to tremble. I glanced around and saw bench at the back of the cell. Guiding her there I helped her to sit down beside me. The women around us didn’t speak if they had noticed that I was a new member of their group. I guessed they were all in shock.

"What just happened?" she asked, I knew but I simply couldn’t tell her, now when she may be facing the same fate.

" I don’t know. How’d you get here?"

"Our ship, ‘Akrian Freedom’ was attacked by pirates. We were on a diplomatic mission of thanks to Coruscant. We were taking gifts etc. to offer to the New Republic as our first moves to join them." She paused gathering her thoughts; "they took all the men and separated us. I don’t know where Jace is." She began to cry again. She’d always been a little emotional in distressing situations, something until recently I always prided myself in not being. Not now. She went on in a more hushed voice when she’d settled again. "Not everyone here is from our ship, I think they may have been attacked like we were" Frowning she then asked "how’d you get here, I didn’t see you on the ship".

"I wasn’t on the ship. I was already here, this is a resort and it’s a long story." She could see I was hiding something and took my hands in hers.

"It looks like we have time, are you here with him?" Her face and manner seemed to brighten a little as if hearing I was would cheer her up. If only she knew. Maybe she should, maybe she’d be able to help me, maybe changing the subject would help as it looked like we were going to be here for some time and I couldn’t see a way out immediately.

"Yes, but it’s a little more complicated than you think" I said as I lowered my head to stare at my feet. Where did I start? Do I tell her about the mission? Or do I just mention my problems? I looked around at the women around me, most had settled down on to benches or the floor and were talking quietly amongst themselves, obviously terrified of what they’d just witnessed. I guessed it would be better if she knew roughly what was going on here, it would make it easier to plan some sort of escape when the time was right. Drawing a deep breath I began at the top.

"We came on a kind of mission, and I think I have fallen right into it. You see…Kyp’s got friends in high places and he was asked to help them break open a piracy ring that was affecting freight transport. The only lead they had led here and so we came here undercover to see what we could find out. Funny, we used yours and Jaces’ names posing as newlyweds. That’s a joke." I spoke in a hushed voice, as I didn’t want anyone else to hear just yet. She studied my face for a time, as if trying to figure something out.

"What’s a joke Cass, tell me." It was almost like she knew what I was going to tell her, but she needed me to say it anyway. I closed my eyes, where did I start, this was so personal and I was sure she’d not understand at all.

"I think…there might be something wrong with me. I mean, Oh…" I paused and averted my eyes from hers. "I’m in love, I know that, I have never felt like this before in my life, but" I stopped again, this was hard. "I can’t get close to him, I want too but something is stopping me. I tried and one minute everything was fine, the next I wanted to run away as fast as I could and was scared of something, I don’t know what. I wanted to bathe as well, it was strange." Her hands squeezed mine and that brought my attention back to her. The look on her face wasn’t what I had expected; it was almost like one of sympathy, like she knew what was going on.

"You’re talking about being intimate aren’t you?" she asked evenly. I nodded with a frown; she did know something. "Jace and I had hoped that this would never happen, hoped that the time had healed all the wounds, I guess we were wrong. Maybe this isn’t the right time and place for this." I stared at her confusion all over my face, what was she talking about.

"No, I don’t think we are going anywhere in a hurry, now is a good time, what’s on your mind?" She chewed her lower lip as she watched me.

"Ok, this is going to be hard for you to hear Cass, but I should have forced you to listen 10 years ago, for that I am sorry…" She looked at me with such a serious gaze. "Do you remember the night we joined the Underground when we were 15 years old?" I nodded.

"It was the same night we were delivering our first message for them and were stopped by that gang. We took quite a beating." A rueful smile on my face as I remembered. Christia swallowed hard.

"You took more than that Cass…you were raped." I felt my mouth drop open, shivers run up my spine. Me? How could something like that have happened to me without me remembering? She was wrong, she had to be. I shook my head,

"No, Christia, you must be thinking of someone else, I’d remember something like that" I hissed desperately. She had to be wrong.

"I wish I was. I was there Cass, I saw it. Jace and his friends came along just in time to stop it going any further than the gang leader…….He saved us." She was struggling with her words now; I still couldn’t believe what she was saying. "You lost consciousness, you put up one hell of a fight and paid for it. We took you to the Medcentre the Underground had set up, they took care of your physical injuries…. But" there was a long pause. "They couldn’t help you like you needed. We couldn’t go to the major Medcentre in the city as it was Imperial run and you had classified information in your head. We couldn’t risk you telling them anything without realising it." She waited for me to say something, but I was dumbstruck, nothing would come out, my throat was so tight and closed over, breathing was all I could concentrate on. She went on, "You were in shock for so long, weeks, I visited everyday and you wouldn’t talk to anyone, and if a man approached you, well you went hysterical. Jace would come with me, I guess that was when we fell in love, he’d sit outside while I sat inside. You just sat for days and days and I was sure I’d lost you forever. It broke my heart. I wanted to talk to you, tell you to remember what happened to deal with it, but the doctors told me it would be too dangerous. So we waited and hoped…" She watched me for a time, trying to gauge my reactions.

"How did I…what happened?" I croaked out. Why couldn’t I remember?

"I came as usual to visit about 4 weeks after the attack. When I walked into your room I was stunned, there you were, fully dressed, doing your hair and singing to yourself. I was confused. You grinned at me and told me that you were glad that you hadn’t been beaten too badly and now you were well, you wanted to get back to work as soon as you could. You said that Akrian needed freedom fighters and you were ready for the challenge. I asked you how you felt and you said you’d never felt better in your life, you were acting like nothing had happened." She lowered her eyes, "the doctors told me it was best to leave you to deal with it in your way. We had no one to help you and they said that as soon as Akrian was free, they’d make sure you got treatment. Well, it was over 10 years before that was possible and by that time it was too late. Jace and I hoped that it was gone forever and that you could live normally, we noticed you shunned any sort of personal relationship saying work was more important, and we hoped that really was the case. I guess it wasn’t afterall." She squeezed my hands again, "I am so sorry Cass, this is my fault, I should have done what I wanted too 10 years ago and this wouldn’t be happening to you now." She was almost begging for my forgiveness.

I sat stunned staring at her. What should I say, what could I say? It felt like my mind was being sucked into a blackhole, spinning out of control. I desperately tried to keep a hold on reality, as my brain seemed to be searching for something that would confirm or deny what I’d just been told.

"Cass, please, don’t go again, Cass" Christia had a hold of my shoulders and was shaking me vigorously, panic in her voice. I shook my own head, attempting to clear the confusion.

"I’m here, barely" I muttered. I struggled to refocus my eyes to meet hers, there is where I saw she was telling the truth, that and somewhere in my heart I knew it anyway. I felt numb inside and out.

"Please, I’m telling the truth Cassiopia, don’t hate me" she whispered as she pulled me to her, holding me in her arms.

"I’m know, somehow, I know." I responded weakly. I wanted to lay down, go to sleep, escape, but I knew I had to deal with my life now. It was 10 years late, but I had to face the truth. Gently I pushed Christia away, taking her hands again.

"I’m Ok, I think. I need time to digest this," I swallowed hard, "Maybe if we concentrate on getting out of here, I can get some help then" I finished quietly. I seemed logical that if we didn’t escape our current predicament, it wouldn’t matter what happened. I knew what the women had been gathered for, Christia didn’t. Somehow I knew that the fate that waited for us would only make my situation a lot worse. I looked around the cell, most of the other females around me were quiet having finished their conversations and seemingly resigned to their fate. I recognised 4 of the humans as members of the newly formed Akrian government. Funny, they didn’t seem to recognise me, I guessed that now our home world was free, they probably didn’t want to associate themselves with a former Underground Leader. They probably considered me part of the violent wing of the organisation who were no longer required, it may have been different if I had stayed home and continued my governmental work. The others looked like crew off freighters; they were dressed casual clothes and were a little rough looking around the edges. These women seemed to be my best bet for help in escaping, I had to keep my mind occupied or I knew I’d go crazy. I stood up and leaned myself up against the bars gripping them in my hands, the cool steel was exactly what I needed to hold onto, something solid. I scanned the room; it was very hard to see everything due to the lack of light. The opposite cell was identical to the one we were in, nothing there to help. Turning slightly I studied the lock, a standard code lock, old Imperial issue, must have been picked up surplus somewhere along the line. I could break it if I had my vibroblade, but I didn’t, infact I hadn’t carried that since before….before Kyp. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and rested my forehead against the bars. I had to calm my raw nerves if I was going to get out of this, and for the time being I had to push what I now knew into the back of my mind.

"Hey, you weren’t on the ship, how’d you get here?" I heard a voice behind me ask. I began to turn to answer but the sudden opening of the rooms’ door caught everyone’s attention.

"OK, which one of you lot is Christia Orian? Seems you ain’t s’posed to be here" The man I’d seen leading spoke sarcastically. Slowly I turned to face my friend trying desperately to let her know it was me they were looking for, not her. She was staring directly at me, she knew thank the stars.

"That’s me," I said evenly as I turned back to face him. "And just where am I supposed to be?"

He gave me a smile that made my skin crawl, "Doesn’t matter now, seems your husband found your gear at the spaceport. Now you’ve dropped him and his friends in it." He turned toward the door and indicated to the guards in the door with his hand. I watched as two people were roughly pushed into the room, an older couple I didn’t recognise, followed closely by Kyp. The woman fell against the table and her partner helped her up immediately.

"Jace" I breathed, hoping he was on the ball.

"Are you Ok Christia?" He was. My heart was pounding for a whole lot of reasons, the main one being facing him again.

"I’m fine" I answered simply. Moving my eyes to the couple beside him.

"Just who do you all think you are. I will not be pushed around by the likes of you. I demand to see the manager of this resort." The woman snapped as she stood up and faced the gang leader. The voice sounded familiar to me but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

"Mikki, don’t" the man said. The credit dropped, the two people I was looking at were Luke and Mara Skywalker! I couldn’t believe how impressive their disguises were; I never would have recognised them at all. I turned back to Kyp and raised my eyebrows letting him know I was aware of who they were.

"Don’t tell me to ‘don’t’ Dack, just who do these people think they are?" Was Mara sparing for a fight? Maybe she was hoping to cause a distraction of some kind.

"Shut her up or I will permanently" the man growled. Luke pulled her back to him and frowned at her. I guessed their transport must have arrived not long after the freighter and they met Kyp at the spaceport. How he found my bag was a mystery to me, it wasn’t out in the open, probably a Jedi thing.

"Put them in the other cell, can’t do nothing until dusk now" The guards directed them into the opposite cell and locked the doors. Without another word the men were gone again, slamming the door behind them. I waited for a few moments before speaking.

"How’d you get here?" Kyp spoke before me. Turning to face him, I was lost for words. I couldn’t blurt out ‘oh, I was leaving you when I stumbled onto this’; I looked blankly choosing to turn it around on him.

"I could ask the same question. I think we found what we were looking for though" He nodded and turned to Luke. I think he understood I wasn’t comfortable talking to him at the moment.

"I suggest we get out of here," Luke said turning his attention to the cell lock. I felt Christia come up beside me.

"Who are the other two people?" she whispered. Should I tell her? It would certainly ease the fear that everyone around me was feeling.

"They’re Jedi Knights" I whispered simply deciding to keep their real names to myself. She gripped my arm, hope on her face.

"All three of them? They’re going to get us out of here" she said excitedly. I hoped so, although part of me was even more afraid of facing Kyp and the truth about my past. I watched silently as Luke approached the lock and hold his hand slightly above it and behind; it clicked and fell open. That got the attention of the women around me as they gathered whispering around me.

"They are Jedi" Christia said excitedly, "we’re saved!" I closed my eyes and rested my head against the bars, so much for discretion. I heard them leaving their cell and then heard our cell lock click open.

"All of you, stay quiet. She’s right but we need to get you all out safe and for that you need to do exactly what you are told." Mara was giving orders as the women around me pushed hurriedly out of the cell, I didn’t move. So much had happened in the last few hours and I was so drained physically and mentally, so much I had to deal with.

"Cass, you coming?" His whisper brought me back to reality, lifting my head I found myself only centimetres from him, a desperate need to understand me in his eyes. I nodded slowly.

"When we get free of all this, there’s something I have to tell you" I muttered painfully, I knew my happiness was over for as soon as he knew there’d be no way he’d want me and accordingly I felt myself sinking into despair. He moved his hands up and covered mine from the outside of the cell.

"What ever it is it’ll be ok, trust me. Now come out of there before I come in and get you" he smiled encouragingly. "Come on". Pushing myself back gently I pulled my hands free from his and made my way out the door, there was work to be done and I knew I should deal with my own problems later.

"Ok, got any suggestions?" Mara asked her husband, he was staring at the table.

"Can’t you feel it? It’s…dark," he looked at her and the pain he was clear on his face, almost like he knew what we had seen earlier.

"It is, if you can destroy it you’d be doing the galaxy a favour" I spoke clearly as I approached him bypassing Kyp totally, causing him to frown. He looked at me hesitating slightly then extending his hand.

"Cassiopia I presume? You know what this thing does? I took his hand and gave it a quick shake.

"Yes. It wipes the memory, destroys the mind" I answered coolly, as the memory of the Twi’lek females scream echoed through my head. He gave a quick nod and reached his hand behind the cape he was wearing pulling out his lightsabre.

"Kyp, care to give me a hand here?" I turned to see Kyp pulling his out from inside the jacket he was wearing.

"With pleasure" he said as he ignited his weapon. Mara indicated for the group to stand back a little and we all watched as the two men dissected the table with complete precision, cutting and slicing it until there was little left to be recognised. Luke then turned toward the control panel and deftly inserted his blade into its centre moving it in a circle proceeding to destroy it. Sparks shot out from it and everyone in the room instinctively shielded their faces. Once the panels final display had died down I felt relief as I knew no one else would have to suffer as the previous victims had. Luke moved over to the rooms locked entrance and stood as if he was listening extinguishing his lightsabre as he went.

"Three guards, two levels up" he turned to face us, "Kyp you’re with me, Mara be ready to move when I give the signal"

"Before you go, can we drop these disguises?" she asked. He smiled and nodded. Then, before our eyes the people were saw simply vanished in what reminded me of a heat haze and the real faces and bodies appeared. I heard a few gasps around me as the others realised who they were, not to mention the incredible covers they’d created for themselves through the Force. Even though I now had experience with the Force through Kyp, I had to say I was still very impressed every time I saw something new.

"Be careful, for me?" He was beside me again, his sabre hilt only in his hand. I swallowed hard and nodded, not able to bring myself to look at him. Infact I didn’t think I could ever look into his eyes again, it would hurt too much. He must have sensed my emotions and moved away passing me and joining his Master at the door as it also clicked open. Luke motioned for everyone to be quiet and headed through the entrance, Kyp on his heels.

"So what were you up to?" Mara turned to me and asked quietly. "We found him at the spaceport, he said something about you leaving? You didn’t strike me as the kind who’d run when things got bad".

"It’s more complicated than that, more personal." I answered solemnly. She pursed her lips and approached me.

"Look, I don’t know what’s going on, and hey I’m sure it’s none of my business, but that kid’s crazy about you and if you think you can just simply walk away because it’s gotten a little complicated, you’re wrong. I don’t claim to be his best friend, infact we simply did not get on at all for a real long time, but I know he’s hurting now and I can’t stand here and let you do this to him." I opened my mouth to argue with her, "Don’t! I don’t want to know, I just want you to be damn sure you’re doing the right thing, make sure you have given it your best shot." She finished. No sure what to say, I chose to remain silent. She stood glowering at me for a moment and then returned to her post at the door. I felt like a chastised kid and was a little miffed, but somewhere in my heart I knew she probably was right. There was a chance I may be underestimating his ability to cope with my situation, only time would tell.

Just then a sporadic burst of blaster fire could be heard from further up the stairwell, it was over almost as quickly as it began. Mara turned around and motioned for us to follow. I took up the rear out of habit more than anything, even without a blaster I felt like I had been transported back to the days when the fledgling Underground had been formed, back when liberating Imperial prisoners was our main aim. The stairwell was dark as we made our way up, arriving at the second level we came across the bodies of three men. All three had blaster burns in their chests and I wondered how they’d managed to shoot themselves as I knew Luke and Kyp didn’t have blasters. A couple of the women around me gasped at the sight of the men obviously not used to the situation. Mara bent down over one of the men and removed the blaster from his hand and passing it to me.

"Watch our back" she quipped. I knelt down and undid the dead mans holster and pulled it off him, making sure the power cells around the sides were charged, seeing that they were I stood up and wrapped it around my waist fastening it firmly. Christia smiled at me.

"Kind of like old times, me leading the escapees out and you bringing up the rear" I had to smile as I’d been thinking the same thing.

"Come on, let’s get out of here," I said noting that Mara had begun to climb the stairs again with the rest of the group following. It was only one more level up when we caught up with the men.

"There’s five guards out there, I want you to get them out and into the main resort. Kyp and I are going upstairs to have a look around" Luke said to Mara, she groaned out loud. I hadn’t noticed the stairs going up until now.

"That’s right, you guys get the action I get to blast cover for this lot" she moaned. "No insult intended" she added glancing at the group, I did understand how she felt, although the look on her husbands face showed he did not approve of her complaint.

"Hey, if we both throw out some cover fire might be enough distraction for Christia to lead them around to safety." I suggested as I moved though the group toward them. "That’ll give the two of you time to get upstairs without too much attention".

Mara narrowed her eyes, "She up to the task?"

"I’ve been doing it for 10 odd years, I should be" Christia responded with the bravado I expected would surface when the time was right. Christia had never picked up a weapon before, it was against everything she believed in, but what she lacked in firepower she’d always made up for in common sense and quick thinking. I showed my confidence in her by giving the appropriate directions out of the spaceport.

"Ok, it’s a plan. You two go, leave this to us." Mara said sharply, as she faced the two Jedi, both nodded.

"Be careful," Luke said simply as he headed toward the stairs. I faced Kyp expecting him to say something; he glanced at me his face totally expressionless and then turned to start up the stairs. My heart twisted painfully, I was loosing him already and he didn’t even know the truth yet. I couldn’t move for a few seconds as I watched him disappear.

"You need to concentrate Cass, deal with him later" Mara muttered as she moved up beside me. "He’s hurting, but he knows he’s got a job to do, you’d be best off doing the same." I didn’t answer her but turned to the door letting her know I was ready. Slowly she opened it a small way, just so she could see out.

"Three off to the left, two at the right. I’ll take the left, ready on three" I nodded and turned to Christia.

"We’re out on three, give us an extra two and then run, all off you" I ordered, yes it was like old times.

One last check of my blaster reassured me that it was fully charged, the adrenalin had started to pump again and that was a feeling I hadn’t felt for some time now. I heard Mara say ‘three’ and she was out, me hot on her heels. I had decided to go low, throwing myself onto the ground into a shoulder roll and coming up firing. It worked; the guards didn’t even know what had happened until three of them were down. Mara took out one of her three and I was able to hit my two straight off. The remaining two guards took cover firing randomly as they went, it was time for us to do the same. Glancing over my shoulder I caught sight of Christia and the others disappearing around the corner towards the resort, they were clear of danger for the time being at least, now to do the same for me. A quick scan of the area showed me that Mara was thinking the same thing having made her way towards one of the supports on the grounded freighter, picking myself up I sprinted to join her.

"Nice shooting" I breathed.

"Seems you’re the crack shot, I’ll lay cover, you take the last two."

I nodded as I allowed her to brush past me to take up position. "Now" she called.

I allowed a split second for her to start shooting I then leaned around the corner and took aim. She was right, I was a crack shot, and it was the main thing I was known back home for. It took me three bolts to finish the job. Mara turned to me and smiled.

"I really gotta get some practice in, you’re making me look bad." She quipped in an amused voice. I started to laugh but was stopped in my tracks by more laser fire. Mara seemed to anticipate it and ducked back under cover dragging me with her.

"Damn, Auto Turbo Blasters, must be homing in on our heat signatures" she cursed. I’d heard of them, never seen one before. "Do you think you can take them out as well?" she continued. I stared at her.

"I don’t even know what I should be hitting, never seen one before." She glanced at me then back out the cleared area, I could see she was studying where the fire was coming from.

"Can’t miss them, great big guns, about 45 degrees up. I’ll head toward the door again, draw fire, you hit them and hit them hard will you?"

"Gotcha, give me a second" I ejected the cartridge out of the blaster quickly replacing it with a full charge. The other wasn’t spent; I just wanted to be sure I had enough power to do the job. "Right, ready now." I watched her carefully as she took off, taking note of where the bolts were coming from. Leaning around the corner and holding the blaster in both hands I steadied and took aim and fired. One, two, three, four, damn this was taking too long, five, six, seven, finally the turbo blaster began to misfire, swivelling around and shooting into the sky. Without hesitation I moved to the second one. The same thing, it was going to take seven shots as well. I had just fired my fifth shot when I heard Mara cry out. I turned to see her collapsing to the ground; she’d been hit. Taking aim again, I quickly let off the two remaining shots to take out the second blaster then sprinting over to where she lay clutching her right leg.

"Sithspawn, help me up" she hissed through gritted teeth. "Luke’s gonna kill me." Placing my arm around her waist and lifting her on to her good leg I added.

"You seem to be doing a good enough job of that yourself" I grunted as I took as much of her weight as I could. We began to head back toward the resort, when two more men appeared around the corner. Quickly backing up I could see the best thing we could do was to re-enter the building we’d left earlier. At least we could lock the door and hold out until help came, what help I expected was still a mystery. Slipping back though the door, I let go of Mara to let her lean up against the wall and slammed the door shut firmly locking it. Slumping my back against door as I desperately tried to catch my breath I realised I was really out of shape!

"What now?" I asked turning to face Mara’s pained face.

"Can’t go down or out, I guess it’s up" she ground out, "Gimme a hand here. Let’s hope those two have cleared the way for us now"

Taking her weight again I started up the stairs moving slowly enough for her to keep up. We had covered three flights before we can across another doorway. It was open and all was quiet inside.

"Stay here, I’ll check it out" I whispered.

"It’s clear, I can feel it through the Force. Let’s get in, they’re gonna break through down there any time now and lock it behind you."

I waited for her to get inside and did as she said. The room was lit well but I could see no one but the smell of something burning was really strong. Helping Mara to the nearest desk for support I discovered where the smell was coming from. Two men lay behind the desk, large blaster holes in each, like the guards in the stairwell. I had to admit I was puzzled, I didn’t think that Jedi were allowed to kill like this. Mara must have picked up on my thoughts.

"Self defence, our guys didn’t have blasters. You’ve never seen a lightsabre in action have you?"

Shaking my head I answered "No, seen one but not being used in a fight, am I missing something?" She snorted as she moved her injured leg into a more comfortable position.

"Yeah, you could say that, you never know, might get a chance if we can catch up. Let’s move."

Wrapping my arm around her waist again we moved through the room to the opposite end where there was another open door.

"Wait" Mara gasped, "I need to do something about this leg. She moved away from me and leaned herself up against the doorway. "Keep watch, I’ll be out for a second" She then closed her eyes and took a deep breath relaxing into the doorframe. I guessed she was doing some kind of ‘Jedi’ thing and settled to wait.

Suddenly there was a distant blast; damn they’d broken through the lower door. I started toward the inner door only to be stopped by Mara’s voice.

"I said a second, give me a hand here. I’ve just dulled the pain, no time to heal it. Lock this one after us and let’s see if we can catch up." Spinning on my heels and followed her into the next room and locked the door after us. This door wasn’t as sturdy as the others and I knew they’d simply knock this one open, we had to move quickly. I noted the turbo lift at the opposite end of the room and began to run to it but remembered Mara needed help and went back for her. Grabbing her I noticed she was far more mobile and not in as much pain, another clever trick, there was so much I simply didn’t know about. Punching the button I was please to see the doors open immediately.

"Which floor?" I asked puzzled, there were three to choose from. Mara narrowed her eyes slightly,

"Top one" she answered. As I chose the floor I heard another blast, the inner door was gone we had to disable this lift when we got to the top if we wanted to stop them. The door shut quickly and it began to move just as fast. Seconds later the doors slid open to reveal a corridor with several doors along it. Two Gamorian guards were standing outside one of the doors and they turned sharply toward us raising their blasters as they went.

"You sure they went this way?" I gasped as I slammed my back up against the side wall out of the line of fire. Mara did the same on the opposite side of the lift.

"Yeah, down the end somewhere. I can’t do it, too much else to think about. Set for Stun only, we’ll do it the easy way." I looked at her, ‘this was the easy way?’. I changed the setting on my blaster and waited for her to do the same, when she was ready we both leaned out slightly and took aim. One shot each, Gamorians aren’t the best aim in the galaxy. Helping her again as we started down the corridor I had to ask.

"What’d you mean, what can’t you do?"

"Can’t manipulate their minds, dealing with my leg at the moment. Luke’s pretty good at it and I have little doubt Kyp’s pretty accomplished as well. " I gave her a puzzled look, not quite understanding what she meant. She went on,

"It’s complicated, get him to explain it to you later."

Judging by the way that we’d parted earlier, I doubt he’d be explaining anything to me in the near future. "Yeah, sure." I muttered as I took up her weight, what little she offered. We reached the door in no time and she stopped stared at it.

"Listen, they’re in there" Leaning myself a little closer I was able to hear a conversation going on.

"Give it up, I have 20 guards with blasters trained on you both, not to mention the two I have, and as you can see, mine are really big." Followed by sarcastic laughter. I turned to Mara,

"They’ll be killed!" I hissed, panic gripping my stomach. I couldn’t loose him, not this way. A smile spread over Mara’s face.

"They won’t, but we could help even out the odds. Go down there and see if there is another entrance, a window outside or something." Doing as she said, I ran to the next door and discovered the room empty except for three computer terminals situated along one of the walls. The window was closed but I soon fixed that. There was a ledge which led to the next room, yes we could get closer and cause a distraction if we could get the window open. I scanned the room, nothing but computer terminals with chairs in front. I ran to the door and indicated for Mara to join me trying to think of a plan as I backed up. I had it. Pulling one of the terminals out I yanked the cables out from the wall and began to join several of them with knots. By the time Mara reached me I had almost finished one length of about 5 metres.

"You have a plan" Mara stated as she entered the room. I nodded and indicated the window.

"Theres a ledge out there and a flag pole above the next window. The window is closed so I figure I’ll swing in a break it, you come in shooting, but I want to be able to warn the guys somehow." She grinned at me.

"Leave that to me. It’s a plan, reckless and dangerous, but a plan. Sure that’ll hold you?" Holding the newly formed ‘rope’ up I studied it.

"Who knows, only one way to find out" with that I turned and crawled out of the window on to the ledge. Edging along I took the end of the length that had a socket on it and let it swing slightly, building it up until I tossed it up and over the pole. The end dangled and there my plan went astray, how was I going to get the end back. I heard Mara struggle up beside me and I turned to her, she must have read my expression. Turning her attention to the cable I watched amazed as it slowly edged it’s way toward me, eventually reaching my outstretched hand.

"Thanks" I whispered as I joined the ends with a couple of sturdy knots. Giving it one hard tug I quickly checked my holstered blaster. "They know we’re coming?"

"Yep, waiting for our move right now" Mara answered as she slid up close to me dragging her wounded leg checking her blasters’ charge when she stopped. Drawing a deep breath I nodded to her and then took a leap of faith, pushing myself outward so as to swing my body back into the window. Throwing my feet out in front of me I closed my eyes and clenched my teeth bracing myself as I passed though the plastiglass causing it smash inward. Falling into a roll as shards and pieces fell around me I struggled to retrieve my blaster and give the room a quick once over. I was able to see both Kyp and Luke near the door lightsabres held aloft in a defensive position. There was a man standing almost beside the window I’d just come through and the guards we’d heard about were spread evenly around the room, and there was I in the centre of it all. What happened next was a blur of blaster fire and swinging lightsabres. I began firing as I continued to roll knowing that if I stopped I’d make an easy target. My arrival had startled the guards and none really had time to react, continuing my roll I was able to impact with the legs of two of them and knock them over. The men, both human, tumbled over me and crashed down beside me, turning my blaster toward them I gave it a quick glance, I hadn’t changed the setting back so it was easy enough to stun both of them. Dragging myself out from under their legs I crawled on my belly for cover behind their unconscious bodies. Mara had her back to the wall beside the window and was firing with clear precision. Off to my left I caught sight of two lightsabres flashing and was truly stunned. Mara had been right, I had been missing something. Each sabre swung with grace and connected precisely with the blaster bolts hurtling in their direction. I was staring, eyes wide in awe.

"Cassie, wake up!" Mara’s voice snapped me out of it. Turning my attention back I noticed that most of the guards were down if not out of the game entirely. The headman had taken cover behind what looked like desk and was firing wildly. I had too move as the bolts were getting closer and I was a sitting target. Getting on to my hands and knees I scrambled to the nearest wall, at least I only had to watch from three directions instead of four! Ducking instinctively, I avoided a shot that bored into the wall beside me, it was close. Lifting my sight I aimed in the direction the blast had come from and was lucky enough to take down the user of the weapon in two shots. The numbers were getting closer to even now and I knew we had taken the upper hand. I decided to help Mara as I could see she was struggling with her wounded leg. Scrambling across the floor I moved just fast enough to avoid several bolts.

"Glad you could join me," Mara gritted out, I could see her wound was bleeding freshly again and that she was weakening. I returned my attention to the fight and realised it was almost over, there was only two guards holding out and the lead man hiding behind his cover. I only had to protect Mara and myself and I knew I could leave the remaining men up to Luke and Kyp. That only took seconds, leaving the lead man hiding and very much alone.

"Now I think we should talk" Luke spoke evenly, lowering his sabre at the same time. I felt Mara slump against me and realised she was worse off than I had originally thought. Using my free arm I propped her up as I suspected from where he was sitting the lead man would consider her still dangerous.

"Stay with me Mara, this will be over very soon" I whispered.

"’m not goin’ anywhere’ she slurred, her strength clearly waning. I looked back at the two Jedi, hoping that one of them would see how serious the situation was, finding myself staring directly into Kyps cold eyes, my heart tightened as I could see the distance between us widening. He gave a quick nod letting me know that they were aware of Mara’s condition and that I should stay where I was. Turning my attention to the man hidden I noticed that he was waving not one, but two blasters as I could see him from a different angle. He hadn’t noticed us until then and I found him staring coolly back at me as he turned one of the blasters in my direction. I raised my own only to see the ‘charge fail’ light flashing. I was in trouble. He aimed at Mara and I had a split second to respond, doing the only thing I could think of. I had little left to loose now and she had everything. I threw myself in front of her and instantly felt a burning pain impact my left shoulder blade and it continued down my arm and my side, reaching my brain and blinding me. The room spun and I felt bile rise up from my stomach, and then nothing.

…….ooo000ooo…….

Around me I could hear the muffled sounds of instruments beeping and whirring, without opening my eyes I knew I was in a med centre somewhere. It felt like a soft fuzz had grown all over my brain and there was the most abhorant taste that seemed to permiate down my throat. My eyes felt gritty and almost glued shut, but with a little effort I was able to open them a small way. The room was dimly lit and very unfamiliar. Dejavue, I’d been in this situation at least once before that I could remember, and not so long ago. Slowly I turned my head to scan the room, finding the door way to my right, but as I suspected no-one was leaning there this time. This time I was alone and appropriately my heart sank. Just then the door opened and a medical droid entered.

"It is good that you have regained consciousness Ms Tahanis, welcome back." It’s polite voice seemed to bounce around in my fuzzy head, if I wasn’t sure before I was now, I had a painful headache. I tried to swallow, what was that awful taste?

"Where am I?" I rasped out, my throat dry.

"Why, you are at the Saurian Central Medical Facility. Once you were removed from the bacta solution where you spent three days, you were brought here to…."

"Three days? Have I been here three days?" I tried to cry out, surely I hadn’t been here that long!

"Oh no, Madam…"

"That’s a relief,…"

"…you’ve been here 8 days"

"WHAT?!" That hurt my throat a great deal, and the motion of trying to sit up did me little good either. I lay back down raising my right hand to my head, it was thumping along with my heartbeat quite well now.

"Please remain laying down Madam, you are not sufficiently recovered enough to leave your bed as yet." The droid exclaimed as it rushed to my side. "You are still quite weak" By this time my head had begun to spin,

"Thank you for that information, I’ll keep it in mind" I muttered covering my eyes. I lay quietly whilst it hovered about me checking instrument readings and such, eventually departing and leaving me along once again. Eight days, I’d been here eight days. I had no idea what was going on the out side world and if anyone had bothered to hang around and wait for my recovery, or even knew I would recover. I couldn’t remember ever feeling quite so alone and miserable. Closing my eyes I decided the best thing to do would be go back to sleep right now.

…….ooo0000ooo…..

In the hazy distance I could hear someone calling my name, the voice was familiar. Mentally I brushed the fog away and slowly pulled myself back to reality.

"Cass? It’s Christa, the droid said you’d woken earlier. It’s been so long, we had almost given up hope. I don’t know if you can hear me, but I hope you can. I’ve been here everyday hoping you’d open your eyes. Oh, Cass, please wake up." She was pleading with me now and I could hear that she’d dropped into a seat, her head hung as muffled sniffles escaped her.

"Hey Chrissie, quit that will you." I muttered, "my head hurts enough without listening to that" She lifted her head gasping.

"Cass, oh Stars, you’re alright." She cried softly, I felt her grasp my right hand and squeeze. I let my head roll toward her attempting a smile as I opened my eyes.

"Am I?" I asked, the truth was I had no idea how I was.

"Yes. We were only waiting for you to wake up. The bacta did a lot of the healing…"

"That explains the foul taste in my mouth."

"You’re so lucky that he was there to stop the bleeding so quickly, used one of those Jedi tricks I think…" she trailed off.

"Who" I asked flatly

"Master Skywalker" Somehow I knew it hadn’t been Kyp, closing my eyes I turned away. Christa was silent as if she knew what I was thinking. I heard her breath in deeply,

"He’s gone" she stated simply. Somehow I knew that as well. "He left with them 5 days ago" It was then I remember Mara.

"How is Mara?" I asked suddenly turning back to her.

"She’s fine. Once again a Jedi thing, she healed herself within a day or so. Pretty amazing." I nodded, knowing of that ability. Christa went on. "They all left to find the headquarters of the organisation that is at the heart of everything. I had no idea what was going on, Mara explained to me why you were there. You can’t stay out of trouble can you?" A warm smile touched her lips, "Pretty dangerous stuff Cass, did you have any idea what you were getting into?" Once again I nodded slowly, I wasn’t really listening to her. He was gone, the words echoed through my head and penetrated my heart like a vibroblade. I could hear Christa talking but not a word was getting though any more. My throat was tight and I knew the hard lump in my chest had once been my heart, now it felt like a lump of stone pulling me down into the depths of despair.

"Cass, where are you?" She gently shook my leg which returned me to the present.

"Just thinking" I muttered softly. She lowered her head.

"I’m so sorry Cass. I overheard Mara talking to him, he said he felt he’d lost you again and he had no idea why, said he had work to do anyway. She tried to tell him he was wrong but he said he couldn’t think about it right then. Now it’s up to you to fight back…"

"I don’t think so. You only confirmed that there was something wrong with me. " I said cooly even though it was tearing me apart inside. "It’s better for both of us this way"

"NO," she was standing over me now, glaring down at me. "No, you’re so wrong! You’re both so wrong! He’s got no idea why, you owe him that. You’ve got no right to go about breaking hearts without explanation! I don’t know him well, geezz hardly at all, but I am so sure he’s a good man, and so positive that you are judging him unfairly. You need to give him a chance Cass, just tell him the truth,.. please?" Once again Christa was being the voice of reason in my life, she was pulling me up by the boot straps and telling me what I didn’t want to hear. She was right, I had to admit that, but I couldn’t tell him the truth, I could bearly tell me the truth. I turned away from her.

"Please Christa, I need to rest now,…" I really needed to be alone. I heard her give an exasperated sigh.

"If that’s the way you want it Cass, but I am telling you now, you are wrong." She then turned on her heel and left. She was really annoyed at me this time. Maybe she was right, right now I didn’t want to think about that, I felt drained and wanted to sleep, and so I did.

……oooo000oooo……

Two days ago Christa had given me a serve, she’d pretty well stayed away from me since then. I’d managed to make a pretty well full recovery and now found myself staring out of the small window in my room. In the two short visits I’d had from her I’d been able to glean a little more information about what happened after I had been hit. I was brought to the Medical Centre with Mara by Luke and Kyp. The gang leader having been captured taken to the authorities. It seemed the resort had no idea what was going on right under their noses. As far as they were concerned the building was being used to store freight in and out. They had given permission for the gasses to be exported as they did have medicinal properties valuable to methane breathers, and far as they were concerned that was all that was going on there. Unfortunately this group was only a very small wing and the leaders where some where else. The same somewhere else the three Jedi had gone to find without me. What now? I wondered, I had no idea where I was going with my life and my broken heart had no desire to find out. Behind me the door opened.

"Good Morning Cass, nice to see you up and about." Jace almost bounced into the room.

"Do you have to be so cheerful?" I asked as I faced him. He grinned,

"No reason not to be. Christa’s safe, you’re fully recovered, I missed out on getting my memory wiped and it looks like your friends are going to fix it so that no-one else gets hurt. Sounds good all round to me." I had to smile at him in spite of myself, I always knew that his child-like innocence was one of his dearest qualities.

"I wish things were that clear cut for me Jace" I sighed. "Going back to Akrian wasn’t where I thought I’d be heading two weeks ago." Jace’s smile faded,

"Sorry Cass, I can be so insensitive at times. Chrissie’s always telling me that." He moved closer to me and put his arms out for a hug. For the first time in as far back as I could ever recall I felt comfortable enough to accepted it, surprising him in the process. He held me close.

"This is a step forward Cass, you know that don’t you?"

"I guess so," I pulled back to look at him "thank you for being there all those years ago" He smiled gently,

"Not a problem. Ready to go?" I nodded, this part of my life was over, going home made sense. Now I knew the truth about myself I could move forward with my life. At least my head told me that, my heart and soul cried out so painfully it took everything I had to stay in control. I watched silently as he collected my bags, the same ones I’d brought with me to the resort, the ones that contained the life I had wanted.

"Come on, the shuttle leaves in less than an hour. Christa’s gonna meet us there." She was still angry with me but I hoped she’d get over it soon.

"Right behind you Jace" I said a lot more cheerfully than I felt.

…..oooo000oooo…..

I had hoped that the ache in my heart would have eased after a month, no such luck. Upon returning home I was able to get a job in a small restaurant as a waitress. Not the ideal job, but one I could do without much thought and remain in the background. Christa had implored me to return to the freedom movement and therefore the government, but I simply didn’t have the energy or inclination any longer. On the bright side I could balance a tray full of drinks in one hand and two dinner plates in the other. I hadn’t found my own place to live as yet and was using the spare room Christa and Jace had offered, but I knew I had to find somewhere to live soon as I didn’t think I could handle watching them be so much in love anymore. For this and other reasons I spent a lot of time outside in the rear yard sitting under the large tree furthest from the house, and that was where I was tonight. Gazing upward toward the clear night sky I vaguely wondered which star system he was in now and did he wonder what happened. Sighing deeply I pulled my legs up to my chest and leaned against the tree. Behind me I heard the door open and I groaned inwardly. I had hoped to avoid Christa’s lecture tonight as she’d made a point of reminding me of her view of my mistakes nearly every night in some way.

"Chrissie, I know you mean well, but I am not in the mood tonight" I said knowing I sounded annoyed.

"You have a visitor Cass" she said firmly and simply. Since my return there had been a string of visitors, many offering me jobs, some welcoming me back and there were a few who’d just come to find out if the rumours were true. Did I win the heart of a Jedi and then dump him?

"Not tonight. Tell them I’ve gone to bed or what ever you like, I don’t feel much like smiling and pretending I’m fine right now". It wasn’t a lie as I’d been doing it enough lately. I waited for her response but heard none, only the sound of her returning to the house and I silently thanked the stars she didn’t argue with me. Closing my eyes I tried to find a place somewhere inside that didn’t hurt, somewhere that didn’t ache constantly knowing it was a lost cause.

"You know, you shouldn’t be out here in the cold and alone, it’s not good for you". The soft male voice spoke from behind me. My eyes snapped open as my spine when rigid, swallowing hard I tried to put my heart back down where it belonged. Gathering my wits together I slowly turned around to face him. He was bent down on his haunches one hand on the ground, a lock of stray black hair hung over his eyes as he looked through it at me. Finding my voice I asked,

"What are you doing here?" I watched as he bit his bottom lip and turned his eyes to the ground, eventually returning them to mine.

"Christa sent me a message." He said simply, "she told me…..everything"

That final word echoed through my head, ‘everything’. I stared at him utterly speechless as I felt myself spiralling downward. Then just as suddenly I felt something surge up from deep within me and a violent flash of anger took over.

"She had no right" I snarled vehemently with more aggression than I could recall ever feeling in my life, yet on some level knowing it was so badly misplaced. I watched as he straightened his head and his gaze hardened in way I’d never seen before. Suddenly standing and running his fingers through his hair, he turned away from me, drew a deep breath and then turned back.

"OK Cassiopia, I’m only going to say this once" he spoke evenly and with determination, "Anger is a wasteful and decidedly dark emotion, believe me I know. What Christa did, she did for you simply because she cares so much. You are so very lucky to have her, think about it" I stared at him dumbfounded, he’d never used my full name before. I felt like a child who’d been chastised and appropriately hung my head. He was right, Christa would never hurt me intentionally and I knew deep down that she believed she was doing me a great justice. The anger that had all but consumed me moments before slid away almost as quickly as it had arrived leaving me feeling lost and confused. He knew everything, how could I possibly look him in the eye ever again? It was a sub-conscious move, but I felt myself curl into a small ball, tightly wrapping my arms about my legs and pulling them as close as I could drawing myself away from him as he approached.

"Cass, I’m sorry I sounded so hard, but…" he paused as he bent down in front of me, "I can’t be around anger like that, not now not ever. It was my downfall once before…" his voice trailed off.

"So go" I said quietly. I heard him sigh.

"It’s not that simple."

"Yes it is. You stand up and walk away, what could be easier?" I muttered bitterly. I waited for his departing footsteps.

"Why would I do that?" A feeling I’d been hiding for a while was now lurking near the surface and I could no longer hold it in.

"How many reasons do you want?" I spat with the self loathing I now felt, I needed to move away from him and did so by standing and striding a few metres. "Let’s see, where shall I start?"

"I don’t understand?"

"What’s to understand? Hey, I’m letting you off the hook. I dumped you, I ran away, remember? You don’t have to come here feeling sorry for poor me. You don’t have to pretend you still have feelings for me, you don’t have to accept damaged goods. Get it?"

"WHAT?" He sounded stunned by what I’d said but he had to be putting on a show. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, don’t give me that, you know exactly what I mean" I snapped as I spun to face him, "You can go, no guilt, no recriminations, nothing, I won’t say or do anything to make you look bad, believe me" He was staring at me open mouthed, clearly shocked by what I’d said. It was then like a stand off, I had made it clear what I meant but he seemed to be lost. Finally he began to slowly shake his head as a knowing look crossed his face.

"So that’s what you think? It all makes sense now." His voice was softer now, "Ok, lets start at the top hey?" I gave him a confused look,

"The top of what?"

"This mess" he said as he spread his hands out, "this misconception you have about everything, about my feelings and about me." I didn’t know what to say, I had no misconceptions, I knew exactly what he was thinking, or at least I was pretty sure I did.

"Number one, I had every intention of coming back to sort this out. Christa found me on Coruscant, we were finishing up after shutting down the organisation we encountered, called themselves The Minders. Yes, I should have left word, and kept contact. We were in so deep, I know that’s no excuse, and for that I am sorry. Number two, You said you had something to tell me, I’m no fool, I knew it was serious and I figured what ever it was, it’d be ok. Number three, I thought you knew me better than this, do you honestly believe what you are saying? Believe that I could think so little of what we have?" Taking a step back I felt more confused than before, had I been wrong? I responded in a very weak voice,

"I…I…I just figured that……..here on Akrian the laws say,….. I’m not..……you’re such a high profile person, you couldn’t…..I’d be an embarrassment…"my voice trailed off as I realised that I wasn’t making much sense. He gave his head a quick shake as he took two steps toward me.

"I’m not interested in Akrian law, archaic as it seems to me. What happened to you wasn’t your fault and I won’t let you spend the rest of your life blaming yourself and punishing yourself over it." I watched as he tool another step toward me. "As I said before, I figured we’d sort it out and be ok, and quite simply, I’m not going until we do." I could feel the tears streaming down my face now, I couldn’t remember when they had started, he still wanted me, how was this possible?

"I don’t understand, how could you….?" I couldn’t finish the question. He took another step.

"How couldn’t I?" Another step. I was trembling now and had wrapped my arms about myself.

"No,…you can’t …….I can’t ask you to stay" I whispered. Another step brought him close to me.

"You don’t have to. Look we can do this two ways. You can let me help and we’ll get through this together or,…. I can drag you kicking and screaming though it, either way, we do it together. " He reached his hand out to gently wipe away some of my tears, "I love you Cass, nothing can change that, especially not this. Surely you know I’m not that shallow" I gazed into his eyes and saw everything I had seen in the past and more. He did still love me, how or why I don’t know, but he did.

"Akrian customary laws say that I am…..soiled….dirty …used….beneath any mans standards. I allowed myself to be ….violated ….against my will, that alone….condemns me. Not only that…"I paused again to gather my strength, this was hard, "but…it has affected my mind. I’m not right, willing". His hand cupped my face, as he gently slid his free arm around my waist.

"You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known, that’s all I know. Everything else doesn’t matter to me. As for not being right, all you need is time, and I’ve got plenty of that". In my chest I could feel my heart swell, I’d never known love could be so forgiving, so believing and so completely honest in every way. At that moment I knew he was right, about everything. He needed me as much as I needed him and in time I knew in time I’d want him too. Sobs rose deep from within me, this was the first time I’d been able to cry about my past, the first time I’d felt comfortable enough for anyone to see the pain and humiliation I felt. Without further hesitation I buried my face into his shoulder and cried harder than I could ever remember doing, clinging to him for support. He slid his other arm around me and pulled me close.

"That’s it, let it all out now." He whispered as he kissed the top of my head gently. I held him tight and eventually my sobs eased. Standing in the cool night air so close I then knew that we did have a future, knew that he would be there every step of the way through my nightmare and there at the end when I finally could be whole again. "Anyway," he added "I recall someone telling me once that they weren’t going anywhere until they had a good reason too." I smiled slightly remembering how I had fought to gain his love and trust.

"I never found a good reason" I muttered.

"I haven’t found one yet either"

THE END