Freeing myself from the rubble had taken longer than I would have liked, but by the time I had, it had fallen silent on the other side of the hole that Gendry had blasted me through. "Mister Starsnow?" I call, waiting for an answer. When none is forthcoming, I head out the doorway to my left and follow the hallway back around to the shrine. Inside it's empty but one of it's stained glass windows is broken. Using a grappling hook to get up to the balcony, I look out the window and gasp in terror. Blood streaked the courtyard below, but only a single person lay there, Iwan, a shard of glass sticking out from his throat. Attaching the hook to the windows edge, I lower myself down and detach it once I'm on the ground with a firm yank of my arm. Retracting it as I run, I kneel next to him as I hear the sound of Jerus Je'and's jetpack.

"Hold on, Mister Starsnow, I'll save you. Just, don't move too much."



I arrive as one of the members of the Star Barrier Battalion starts cas evac work to save Iwan, but I can see it's already too late. "We're too late kid, he's gone." I pull up my comlink, connecting to Becca while remotely calling for my ship. "Becca, it's Jerus. Iwan's dead."

I run outside just in time to catch the last glint of a ship leaving the atmosphere. I can sense Jude aboard, and my squeeze my commlink so hard that it nearly breaks. I am snapped back to reality when I hear Jerus ping me, and my mood quickly changes from anger to sadness when he relays the news. “Not another death, and so young...” I lower my head for a moment, silently reciting the final verse of the Jedi Code to myself. I then head off in the direction Jerus’s signal is coming from. “Jude’s gone. He escaped with Korre, but he isn’t headed back to base. He’s just... leaving.”

"He's got a destination. Where are you at?"

"Right near the east courtyard, just outside the Jedi Sanctuary. Not far from you." I can see Jerus already, and I start to jog through the grass towards him. As I get near, I step on something and nearly trip. I look down, and lying on her back is Xanthippe Naberrie, just staring up at the sky. "Oh sh..." I raise my comm, but then decide I am close enough to him to just shout. "Jerus! I found Xan! Jude left her behind!" I kneel down and check her pulse. She is alive, but catatonic as ever. "Damn it..."

I run over to where Becca is kneeling and look down. Sure enough, Xan is as useless as ever. "Can't even rouse yourself for the one person you were fighting to protect all this time. Pathetic for a Sith." I turn to Becca. "She's the least of our concerns, look at this." I pull up the message I'd intercepted. "He's been in communication with Hayden, which means he's heading to her. And she wants Sucal dead."

I stand up, and my heart sinks. “No... Hayden promised she’d stay out of trouble. The only reason Jakito and I didn’t drag her back to Dantooine last time was because she asked for some time to reflect on her decisions.” I pace away, looking towards mountains. “Caalin was supposed to keep her out of trouble! Why would she join back up with Jude, and what does she want with Korre?” Even as I say it, I know the likely answer. I just don’t want to think about it.

"I knew I should have put the kid on lockdown in the base, but dad insisted we let him help." I shake my head and than prod Xan with my foot. "Hell, the poor girl wouldn't be in this mess if not for her." Letting my frustration out, I kneel down towards the catatonic former Witch. "You hear that Xan? Korre's been kidnapped again, because of your choice to work with Jorg Sucal. She's headed right to him too, his son flying the ship that's gonna deliver her to her damned death!"

"Jerus," I say, but I don't go further. I can't discourage him from saying these things because he is right. As harsh as his word are, they are true. And honestly, I was beginning to doubt Xan's state was entirely Zar'kun's fault. In fact... I could sense that most of it was psychosomatic.



My eyes shift from the sky to Jerus. I don't say anything or more. I just stare at him.



I sigh. "Get up, Xan. Yeah... you've made a lot of mistakes, and you are the cause of a lot of our problems... but shutting down isn't going to solve any of them. You used to fight so hard to protect Korre, and now you've just let her get taken away and didn't do anything about it. Honestly, I liked you better when you were scheming every step of the way. Now... you're just useless."



Continues to stare at Jerus and Becca for a long time before finally, my dry lips part and I say in a hoarse voice. "Failed... I failed her."

"By sitting around on your rear and moping. Dad whooping your ass was a result of your game-playing and lying. And because you felt sorry for yourself after the fact, you've sat in a stupor acting dumb as hell. You had a chance to stop her and didn't, instead, you probably laid there and watched it happen."

"I did." I whisper. "I wanted to stop it... I could have stopped it... but I didn't." Exhales a ragged breath and close my eyes, a tear leaking from the corner of my eye.



"But you can still make it right. After everything that's happened, Korre never gave up on you. She insisted we help you escape the castle even though she knew it would slow us down and put her at risk. But when the time came to repay her loyalty, you let her go. There is still a chance to save her though. You OWE it to her to get up and go after her."



"I... can't."



Something snaps in me, and I grab Naberrie, hauling her up by the collar. "Listen to me right now! I've chased my delinquent of a daughter from one end of this fucking galaxy to the other! I've watched her make stupid decision after stupid decision, falling farther and farther from the path of right, and all the while, I have endured humiliation, pain, suffering, near death of multiple occasions, and worst of all, YOUR meddling! But in spite of all of that, I never gave up on her! I never sat back and decided enough was enough, and that it was no longer worth the effort to save her! Yet here you are, a little bruised and cut up, and you've completely fallen apart?! Korre is your surrogate daughter! She trusted you to keep her safe and you willingly failed her! You have a responsibility and you FAILED, all because why? You're sad your constant schemes finally landed you at the wrong end of an ass kicking? I'm sorry, but GROW UP, Senator! People lose sometimes! It happens! I've lost more than you can imagine! I lost my fucking leg to a zombie Wampa when I was a third of your age!!!" I poke her in the stomach. "And DON'T try to blame this on your shitty father! He poisoned you and made you barren? I had my uterus ripped open by a Sith Witch! You aren't the only one who whose been through trauma! So stop acting like a victim, stop inflicting yourself upon everyone around you, and BE A FUCKING WOMAN!!!" I release her and throw her back down. "Because I'm going after Korre with or without you! I will NOT let this girl suffer as I suffered at the hands of Sith! She will NOT be torn apart and put back together like I was! Korre deserves better then that!" Sneers dismissively. "She deserves better then you."

I look at Jerus, breathing heavily. It wasn't often I showed this much emotions. Usually I was the rock and Jakito was the emotional wreck. With nothing further to say, I stalk off towards where Iwan's body is. I'd rather deal with that bloody mess than Xan right now.

I was somewhat surprised by Becca's outburst, but I understood where it came from. "She makes a point, Senator. While you're moping around, the galaxy is going to fall apart and the one person who's continued to give a damn about you is about to DIE because of you. Let that shit sink in awhile, Senator, because we don't have time to babysit you anymore."

Looks off in the direction Becca went. “Not should you have to...” I murmur. I take a moment to steel myself, then with a determined look in my eye, I begin to sit up. There are a series of cracks and pops as the muscles and joints I haven’t used in days are suddenly forced back into motion. It hurts, but I keep going. With effort, I manage to slowly push myself to my feet, swaying unsteadily. “I’m ready to leave this place.”

I watch Xan stand up and simply shake my head. "Not so fast, Naberrie. We need to check in with the party that went after the Tempest Eye and...we have one more to bury before we leave. Gotta wait for the little snake to drop out of hyperspace anyways before I know where he went."

“If the Tempest Eye is hidden in The Maw, how do you expect to make contact? Signals that far out of range are impossible.”

"Direct signals maybe. We can set something on repeat that'll go out to the communications buoy nearest them and just repeat. Encryption will ensure no unfriendly ears can hear it without breaking the code."

I nod. “That might work. I’ll leave the message up to you. I have some... preparations I need to make if we are going to hunt down Jude and get Korre to safety.” I give Jerus a look. “Feel free to observe me, if you don’t trust me. I... don’t have the strength to play games anymore. I just want to make things right.”

"Like I said, we don't have time to baby sit anymore. Just no more tricks." And with that, I head back into the castle to find Lord Organa and let him know of the change in plans and wish him luck in rescuing Coruscant.

I fly the Rancor’s Den down towards Castle Organa, expecting a warm welcome from Iwan and Jude. I had a story or two for them to hear about my adventures at the Foundry.

As I draw closer, I pick up on the emergency signals coming from the castle, and the planetary security ships all headed to that same location. I frown as I look at Hank seated next to me. “Did we miss something?”

END OF SCENE

Aboard the Redshifter, I am dozing at the controls. I’ve been staring at the starless void of the Maw for days with no sign of anything interesting. Blinking away the urge to sleep, I sip at a thermos of coffee. Luci is asleep at the co-pilot seat next to me. I envied her rest, but didn’t wake her. I didn’t need her right now anyways. In the crew hold, I wondered what the boys were up to. Probably passing the time with pazaak or watching holo movies. Smugglers were mostly used to long trips, but this was ridiculous!

After a few minutes, I come in to the sound of loud cussing and angry yelling. I chuckle as the door slides shut behind me, taking the seat behind Koraline. "Someday smugglers will learn that they can't cheat a former Jedi and Sith..."