Extreme Ways

[Byl Laprovik]

It seemed he slept for weeks. Maybe he did. The first thing he heard was the hiss of the air recycler.

*Gaaaaasp!*

The sudden intake of air at the emergence into conciousness, followed by the crippling sense of disorientation nearly sent him into a panic. Where was he? What was he doing in a ship so small it could barely size up against an escape pod?

His fingers moved over the keypad with muscle memory that was clearer than the rest of him. Within a moment, he triangulated his position to the Berac system. Two life-sustaining worlds, one populated. He'd never heard of the place.

What was he doing out here? This was a particularly sparse section of the Outer Rim. He blinked the last vestiges of sleep from his eyes, tapping on a diagnostic screen that showed his ship on minimal power reserves. Whatever the reason, he was nearly out of power. If he slept any longer, he could have lost engines, and then life support.

He made a break for the populated planet, biding his time by going over the ship's log before touching down.

Except, the log was empty.

He checked again, and again. No entries. No flight plan. No data at all regarding where he'd been and what he'd been doing. And it wasn't the computer either. He tried to think back. There was simply nothing there.

He couldn't even remember his own name.

[James Prent]

His commlink buzzed. After a few minutes it buzzed again.

[Byl Laprovik]

The din of the comm buzzer sounded like a bomb going off in the dead silence preceeding it. A natural paranoia caused him to actively ping the nearby coordinates for any sign of a ship or anyone who might be watching him. The empty Rim responded with a great deafening nothing.

The second time the comm chimed, he was ready, and switched it on.

"Hello?"

[James Prent]

"Hi... Byl?" She was nervous calling him up, but he'd left her his private comm number in case of an emergency.

At this point, she just wanted to hear a familiar voice. "It's James. I know you said emergencies only, but this is sort of an emergency, and anyway, I figured it would be okay. How... How are you?"

[Byl Laprovik]

Paranoia causes everything to exist in a duality of opposing forces. Constantly weighing pro and con, zero and one, good and evil. Always hoping for one and preparing for the other.

He wet his lips, which were painfully chapped from the low humidity air on the ship.

Don't respond to the name. Is that even his name? It could be a trap. Keep her talking.

"Where are you?"

He focused an intensified scan on the planet's surface as he entered the atmosphere. Communications were sparse, and he couldn't source the feed to the planet. So, the answer was somewhere else.

[James Prent]

"Cloud City. I haven't gone anywhere since you dropped me off here." James smiled at her reflection in the tiny mirror in her apartment. "Got my own place, finally."

She sighed, not noticing the silence on the other side of the conversation. "I'm just... I dunno. So alone."

[Byl Laprovik]

He knew Bespin. A quick crunch of coordinates put him less than a dozen light years from the system. A short stroll.

"I'm just... I dunno. So alone."

The voice on the line hit him with a heavy weight of sincerity. He wanted to believe her. No, he had to. He was desperate enough to take the risk.

"Me too, James. Me too."

[James Prent]

She blinked at the bleakness in his voice, immediately concerned. "If you're not too busy, y'know, with th' Alliance," she whispered the word, "Maybe you can come visit?"

She'd waited around for weeks alone after sending the Layla away without her. Again. But she couldn't stay with them. Not with what she'd seen. "I could use a friend right now."

[Byl Laprovik]

His own ship was touching down in a place he wasn't sure about. The landscape below him was obviously settled, but run down and a little filthy. It looked uninviting.

"I'd love to. Fortunately I'm in the neighborhood as well."

[James Prent]

"Great!" Her face brightened and James smiled. "I'll meet you at the... or you could come to my apartment when you get here..."

She fumbled with the commlink, setting it down on the counter in front of her. "Here, you can call me when you arrive." She rattled off her comm number, in case he didn't already have it (duh, she'd just called him, frell she was such a nit) and awkwardly ended the conversation.

James sat back, flushed and feeling a little sweaty. Dammit. She was such a kid when it came to talking to boys.

[Byl Laprovik]

The commline went dead. He exhaled raggedly. She'd said something that had stuck with him.

"If you're not too busy, y'know, with th' Alliance,"

Did she mean the Rebellion? Or something else entirely? She didn't give any more hints. The more he tried to think back, and to remember something, the more it began to dismay him. No name, no memory of past events, no friends, family, anything.

He opened the hatch of his craft and stepped out, weak-kneed. Gathering himself, he pitched the seat forward and began to rummage in the ship's small utility locker. A few flares, some rations, and a blaster.

He looked about to see who might be milling around the landing site. Nobody seen. With a motion that seemed to imply he had done it a million times, he discarded the blaster power supply and disassembled the weapon, stuffing the parts into a sickness bag, which was promply thrown in the rubbish bin as he strolled away as casually as he could feign. The notion that he was intimately familiar with how to use a weapon and fly a ship weren't lost on him, but likewise weren't helping him figure anything out.

For now, he knew what he needed, a power charge for his ship. From there, it was Bespin. To find James, and hopefully, answers.

[Jane Starborn]

"Don't tell me you can't find him, tell me something I don't know already!" Jane massaged her left temple with her fingertips, trying to ward off another migraine. She forced a smile. "Agent Laprovik has been off the grid for over six standard days and missed his rendezvous with Admiral Reshmar's fleet thirty-six hours ago."

The squints under her 'command' nodded. One shuffled his pile of thin datapads, searching for something. Jane continued, "His last known mission was a snatch and grab on Coruscant, in which he recovered one Colonel Karrnage," someone snorted at the name and she frowned sternly. "In which he recovered the Colonel along with the Jedi Loklorien s'Ilancy and Captain Thals."

"After which, the Colonel was remanded into the custody of General Dan, who proceeded to retire from the Alliance." The tech raised her eyebrow. "And then he, that is, the General, returned to the Dauntless a day ago with Jedi s'Ilancy."

"Which," added the third squint, Trian, "Was in Wild Space along with the Jedi Vymes, who left the ship, and did not return."

"And," Jane crossed to the room controls and lowered the brightness of the overhead lights, "The Colonel is nowhere to be heard from either. But the General reports that the Jedi got what they wanted from the Imperial and he is in custody still." She waved her hand, as though she could clear away the useless facts and lay bare the important ones.

"Perhaps Laprovik is with the Colonel...?" Trian frowned, looking down at his datapads. "He did leave the fleet with General Dan and the prisoner..."

"Unfortunately Agent Laprovik has a history of going off the grid for weeks at a time. And he is certainly not with the Dauntless, which is headed back to the Outer Rim as we speak." Jane frowned, her fingertips returning to her temples. Of everything that was in her head, nothing seemed relevant to Byl Laprovik.

Gia spoke up, "What is it, exactly, that makes Command think this isn't just his usual behavior? You nailed it when you said Laprovik has a history of disappearing."

Jane tied her shoulder length brown hair back in a pony tail. "He left a cryptic message at an Intel drop point. He was going after a traitor among us. He did not report back, and the message stated that he would." She sat down at the table with Gia, Trian, and Carm. "And when we find him, we will find this traitor."

If we find him. Jane Starborn didn't say what the three squints were surely thinking. And if they found him at this point it would probably just be a body that they recovered. Still, there may be clues left behind as to the identity of the person Agent Laprovik had been suspicious of.

Closing her eyes lightly, she ran through her memories, going over everything she'd read and everything she'd been told of Laprovik and his last days on record. Starting with the last people he'd been in touch with, namely General Dan and the Jedi Loklorien s'Ilancy. While her squints went over the datacards and crunched the probabilities, she would meet up with the Dauntless and interview the General.

[Byl Laprovik]

"Landing pad rent is fifty credits a day."

It was the first major hurdle for him. He had no money. Not a credit to his name.

"Don't suppose you can do me a solid. I got robbed y'see."

The rental agent glowered at him, and expectorated at his feet.

"Twelve hours to get rent. If you don't, I'm impounding your ship. Get out of my face."

It was enough for once. Now, he just had to find a way to make money. Tugging his jacket around his midsection to protect against a chilly bluster, he headed into town.

He blew on his hands as he walked past a row of shops. Each inquiry for work was met with the same answer. No work to be had.

[Jane Starborn]

If she had been an agent of ImpIntel, no doubt she would have a Lambda-class shuttle and a pilot to take her from point-A to point-B. As an agent of Alliance Intelligence, however, Jane had been lucky to get a refurbished X-Wing fighter to take on her errand to the Dauntless. The heavy cruiser was due to refuel at Ryloth, at a station that the Empire had kindly installed over eight years ago. Using slave labor, of course, drawn from the local population.

Twi'lek Prime was unofficially friendly to the Alliance to Restore the Republic. The Empire's blatant xenophobia and racism had only worsened the slavery problem that was running rampant in the galaxy, and it seemed that the Twi'lek's and their leggy and limber females bore the worst of it. Jane shifted in the cockpit, leaning back as much as possible and watching the swirling colors of hyperspace through the clear transparisteel canopy. She closed her eyes, lines of text and facts running through her mind.

It had been Mon Mothma who had written the final draft of the Declaration of Rebellion during the Corellian System Meetings. Jane couldn't stop remembering the list of grievances the infant Alliance had protested.

The history of the present Galactic Empire is of repeated injuries upon its members, with the direct objective of establishing you, Emperor Palpatine, as absolute tyrant over the Galaxy:
<dl><dd>You have disbanded the Senate, the voice of the people; </dd><dd>You have instituted a policy of blatant racism and genocide against the nonhuman peoples of the Galaxy; </dd><dd>You have overthrown the chosen leaders of planets, replacing them with Moffs and Governors of your choice...</dd></dl>...We, the Rebel Alliance, do therefore in the name—and by the authority—of the free beings of the Galaxy, solemnly publish and declare our intentions:
<dl><dd>To fight and oppose you and your forces, by any and all means at our disposal; </dd><dd>To refuse any Imperial law contrary to the rights of free beings; </dd><dd>To bring about your destruction and the destruction of the Galactic Empire; </dd><dd>To make forever free all beings in the galaxy. </dd><dd>To these ends, we pledge our property, our honor, and our lives.</dd></dl>Now nearly all those early Rebels were dead. Claimed by the war they had started, or by old age. Bail Organa and his adopted daughter, the Princess Leia Organa. Mon Mothma herself. Admiral Ackbar, though the Mon Calamari were still staunch supporters of the Alliance, their planet the only one in the whole galaxy that the Rebels could actually call 'theirs.'

Mon Razien was a solid leader, keeping the Alliance on track while the Empire's attention lessened as it licked its wounds from the Battle of Endor. Unfortunately the Rebels had to regroup as well, with most of their leaders taken out at the same time. Two years was a long time, however, and the new leaders of the Alliance were optimistic and sure they were headed in the right direction.

But the Empire had just appointed a Tarkin as Emperor... Empress... Jane frowned. The tide that had been slowly flowing towards the Alliance was beginning to turn. The possibility of a traitor in their midst was untenable. If such a person existed, they would be rooted out and thrown on the fire.

Byl Laprovik knew something, and Jane was going to find out what it was. And her first stop was the Dauntless and General Dan.

The X-wing cockpit was small, but she managed to squirm into a semi-comfortable position and took a nap as the fighter continued through hyperspace. With any luck she would arrive in the Ryloth system shortly after the Dauntless.

----

Rubbing sleep from her eyes, Jane hailed the heavy cruiser, transmitting her clearance codes and requesting permission to dock. The voice at the other end sounded bored, but she got her clearance. Pulling on the steering yoke, she entered a landing bay, the shimmering blue of the force field washing over the X-wing. The Dauntless. Length, 1,440 meters; crew, 33,290. It held four thousand Alliance troopers when it was fully stocked, and fifty-eight thousand tons of cargo - as well as enough consumables to last for up to three standard years.

Unbuckling her helmet, Jane popped the canopy and crawled out of the cockpit, the bright orange of her flightsuit blending in among the pilots and techs on the flight deck. To most of the crew she was just another pilot. To a few, with clearance, she was Recall. The intelligence agent with the eidetic memory.

Jane stretched, relishing the space around her. "I have orders to report to General Dan for debriefing," she said to a tech, and was pointed in the direction of the General's wherabouts. He was on the bridge.

[General Dan]

"Agent Starborn from Intel to see you, General."

Dan looked up from a report at the ensign who had spoken. Nodding, he initialed a few items on the datapad and passed it off, rising from his seat.

"I'll meet her in my office. See that she's escorted here."

He knew enough about Intel to know that it was a good idea to go ahead and deal with their needs sooner rather than later.

[Jane Starborn]

It felt so good to stretch out her legs and walk after a cramped half-day in the X-wing. Jane had left the helmet in the cockpit, but she still wore the flightsuit as an ensign showed her into the general's office.

"General," she said, snapping off a sharp salute. "Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice."

[General Dan]

"A salute?"

Dan gave a warm smile, rising from his desk to shake her hand.

"I'm impressed. Don't get those too often from Intel. Maybe I'm just colored by my own past experiences. How can I help you Miss Starborn?"

[Jane Starborn]

After shaking his hand, she stood easy, hands behind her back. "If it isn't too much trouble, I'd like to talk to you about Captain Laprovik. Its my understanding that you worked with him during the Lacrimosa (http://www.sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=17155) mission."

The general nodded slowly, waiting for her to get to her point. "Laprovik's disappeared, sir, and I was hoping you could shed some light on his whereabouts."

[General Dan]

A frown crossed Dan's face.

"Disappeared. We've got a problem then."

He appeared hesitant on how much to explain outright to Starborn.

"During mine and Master s'Ilancy's recent personal leave, he tracked me down and confronted me. I think that he was trying to approach me away from prying eyes back at fleet. The entire encounter was suspicious, but you have to understand that I'm reluctant to speak on it."

[Jane Starborn]

"I understand that you might be reluctant, but it is of utmost importance that I locate the captain." Jane hesitated, then added, "He's facing some disciplinary actions at the home office, and I'd like to see that the charges don't get any worse."

Byl confronted the general? Curious. By all accounts Dan was one of the most loyal commanders the fleet had. So what had their conversation been about? "Anything you could tell me might help. I'd consider it a personal favor."

[General Dan]

"I think that he thought he could buy me out. Maybe because I was leaving the service that I had an axe to grind with Alliance command, or whatever. He approached me with a credit payoff in exchange for my command-level codes."

Dan shook his head.

"I guess once he found out that I returned immediately to service he assumed that I'd turned the deal down, and he went off the grid."

[Jane Starborn]

Jane frowned. "And you made no mention of his bribery attempt in any official logs or reports upon returning to the fleet? Seems a little dangerous to keep such knowledge to yourself, General, with all due respect."

[General Dan]

"I'm trying to be discrete with this information. If Byl Laprovik is bent, I don't think he's in it alone. If that's the case, it's conspiracy, and I expose myself by putting it out in the open."

Dan paced, and returned to his desk.

"s'Ilancy and I also have concerns that this may go as far as a fifth column within the Jedi."

[Jane Starborn]

Jane was still standing as the general sat, but she did not mind. The memory of her trip was still fresh. Not that it would fade. If Byl Laprovik was bent then the galaxy didn't make sense anymore. She had no reason to doubt the captain's patriotism, despite his maverick tendencies. From Byl's point of view everything he did was against the Empire and therefore on the side of the Alliance.

Of course, he could have snapped. Intel agents and SpecOps sometimes went a little crazy. Either the missions or the loneliness of the job could get to a person. She herself was sometimes thought to be a bit off, but those that knew her understood how it was. Or tried to be understanding, at least.

Anyway, if Byl was loyal then he had a reason to ask for the command codes and thought that any cost, even being labeled a traitor himself, was worth it. Or, he had left a message about going after a traitor to cast doubt on his own actions against the Alliance. Jane filed that under unlikely.

Or, the general was lying. Which was highly unlikely. Dan's record was unblemished, and no one had begrudged him his retirement when he'd asked for it. If Byl was a traitor and wasn't in it alone, as the general suspected, then it was even more important to locate him.

Jane didn't even know what to think about the comment Dan made about the Jedi. There were only a handful of them left, almost half of them were untrained padawans, and even if there were Imperial loyalists among them... Well, the Jedi leaders knew how to contact the fleet. That was about it. Once they contacted the Director of Intelligence they were given a rendezvous point.

It was something to look into, see if they could make the fleet safer. But, it was almost ludicrous to think about. The Jedi, hounded and murdered by the Empire, turning against the Alliance? They would not be working for the Imperials. The thought of a totally different threat emerging that Intelligence had not picked up on yet was... remote. But still a possibility.

Jane shifted slightly, relaxing her stance a bit more and brushing some flyaways from her face. Her ponytail bobbed a bit as she looked at the general. If Byl was loyal and had a reason to ask for the command codes, it was because he hoped to use them to flush out the traitor on his own.

If.

The possibilities that were opening up were becoming more complicated by the moment as she continued to think about them. The silence in the office extended only a few moments, and Jane raised an eyebrow. "You trust me, however. Or you have made arrangements in case I cannot be trusted." Or think you have.

"I would like to talk to Jedi s'Ilancy as well, if she has the time." Jane continued on without letting Dan confirm or deny her previous statement. "These allegations about the Jedi are quite disturbing, and I would like to hear more. The fleet would be quite vulnerable if the Jedi proved to be treacherous, as you suspect. And, of course, to talk to her about Captain Laprovik."

[General Dan]

Dan nodded in agreement.

"She's not exactly under my purview, but I don't know why she wouldn't."

Rising from his seat again, he walked to a wall comm and keyed a frequency.

"Lok, this is Dan. I have an Alliance Intel agent in my office, and she was wanting to speak with you."

He looked back to Starborn as he waited for the voice on the other end.

"Want a drink?"

[Jane Starborn]

She nodded, "Yes, please. Water?" Jane smiled. The casual way that the general had addressed the Jedi was not lost on her. Rumors had been flying about the nature of the relationship between the two (flying was not the exact word... perhaps meandering was better) since their joint retirement from public service. Together. On a deserted planet in Wild Space.

Speaking of, Jane planned to read up on everything she could find about that as well. But it wasn't relevant at the moment. But it was apparent that what people suspected was most likely true. The Jedi and the General were together. And they had known each other in the early days of the Alliance as well, something not many others knew. But Jane could go through a lot of data and retain much more than anyone but a droid.

She blinked, forcibly returning her full attention to the present. She would need all her wits about her if she was to get anything from these interviews. But she wondered where the Jedi's young daughter was at. There was no child listed on the crew or passenger lists for the Dauntless.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Alone in hers and Dan's quarters, s'Il had opted to occupy her solitude by writing. Seated at his desk, the Lupine was studiously scrawling in a leatherbound book. She frowned upon the use of datapads, instead opting for the much more comfortable - to her at least - traditional forms.

The silence of the room was disturbed however, by the small comm unit mounted into the desktop. Dan's voice cut through her concentration, and she stopped her motions to stare momentarily at the comm. A second later, and she reached forward to depress the callback button.

"Five minutes, please."

Her voice, almost airy, held a tinge of disappointment at having to be pulled from her writings. Ah well. She would be able to return to them at least.

Closing the book, the Lupine slowly stood while setting her stylus down. Skirting the desk, she headed for the door.

[General Dan]

Dan gestured to a seat for the agent as he walked to an alcove to retrieve a chilled carafe of water and a glass to pour. He served his guest, setting the glass and carafe on her side of the desk.

"Do you want to speak with her alone, or both of us together?"

[Jane Starborn]

Jane took the seat offered, and poured herself a glass of water. "I would like to speak to Jedi s'Ilancy alone. It is possible that I may have some more questions for you afterwards."

She sipped the water, enjoying the sensation of the cold liquid as it slid down her throat.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Her trip to Dan's office was a quiet affair, as those she passed chose to simply nod silently at her, and she in return. Her robes, unlike the normal brown that most knew the Jedi to wear, were instead a soft white.

With a constant stride, the Lupine continued on, hands folded in her wide sleeves. An Intel agent meant many things, and s'Il had to wonder why Dan would want her present. She'd kept a somewhat low profile since returning to the fleet with him. Did he wish then, for an arbiter of sorts? So far removed from the goings-on of the Alliance, it was a bit of an adjustment to reacquaint herself with her surroundings.

It was beginning to feel like the old days once more.

Stepping onto the bridge of the Dauntless, the Lupine took in those around her for only a moment before turning to the side and starting in the direction of the door to Dan's office. She could feel eyes on her back, following her, but dismissed them all the same.

s'Il stopped only a moment to run her palm over the panel that opened the door, and when it did, she quietly stepped inside, pausing as it closed behind her.

Her eye traveled to the woman for a brief moment, then turned questioningly on Dan.

[General Dan]

Dan rose, walking over to s'Il with a casual gait.

"Lok, I want you to meet Jane Starborn. She's an agent with Alliance intelligence who's looking into Byl Laprovik's disappearance."

He glanced back to Jane.

"If you need anything here, I'll be on the bridge."

[Jane Starborn]

Jane stood as the Jedi entered the room, not able to stop feeling a little awe as she viewed the blonde woman. Loklorien s'Ilancy had not scraped through the Purge and since without fighting for her life, and had the scars to prove it. The scar that bisected her right eye had left her pupil and iris a milky white, but it didn't seem to affect the Jedi at all.

She had never seen a Jedi before. The re-emergence of surviving Jedi, beginning with Obi-Wan Kenobi and the youthful Luke Skywalker, who had given his life at Endor, had been like a shot in the arm to the Alliance. Despite their devastating losses at the Battle of Endor, the Jedi gave hope to a struggling cause, whether they knew it or not.

Dan left the two women alone, and Jane motioned for the Jedi to have a seat. She did not sit as long as Loklorien was standing. "Please, make yourself comfortable Master Jedi. This shouldn't take long."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il gave pause at Starborn's address, but nodded regardless and slowly lowered herself into one of the chairs across from Dan's desk. Master Jedi was not a title that she was expecting. Ever calm, the Lupine leaned back in her seat, her hands going to rest in her lap.

She watched as Starborn as well took a seat, her blue eye going over the woman with a bit more scrutiny. It wasn't a hard look, but more one of curiosity. This woman who sat across from her was indeed intriguing. She had a look to her that seemed to indicate she was nothing if not professional, and that she looked at the galaxy and those around her with ordered precision. s'Il blinked.

"Formalities are not necessary. You may call me Loklorien."

Her voice was even, a steady tone with gentle inflections.

[Jane Starborn]

"Loklorien, then." Jane smiled, noticing the other woman's slight hesitations and careful examination of her. "I just have a few questions about Captain Byl Laprovik - I understand that you were one of the last people to see him."

The Jedi looked at her steadily, waiting for her to continue. Jane said, "I need to know what happened. He hasn't reported in since he left the fleet with you and General Dan a week and a half ago. I understand that he took part in the Lacrimosa mission with you, as well... so anything that you can think of that might be relevant to his disappearance...?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Her brow furrowed as she thought back.

"Mr. Laprovik seems dedicated enough to the cause, and he helped greatly during the endeavor on Coruscant, but his methods are not entirely... " The Lupine paused as she seemed to consider how to further proceed. How best to describe Byl?

"Please understand that his confronting the General was unexpected and undesired. He destroyed any chance at a quiet life, and because of that, the General and I are back here."

[Jane Starborn]

Jane nodded, but had to stop the Jedi before she went any further. "I understand, but I would appreciate it if you would tell me what happened, as though I had no knowledge of the general's account. It is important you do not assume someone else has told me something."

She smiled, "I am well aware of the captain's record and his unconventional... methods... but we have reasons to believe this is not just more of the same."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Do you now."

There was no venom in her tone, but her inflections were enough to tell Starborn that the Lupine was not surprised that Byl had begun to raise suspicions among his own peers.

"Mr. Laprovik was looking to buy out the General; he gave no reason, simply offered a price. He came to me first perhaps in the hope that I would help him sway Dan."

She gave a mildly disgusted face at the very thought.

[Jane Starborn]

"He hoped to sway you to his side without giving you any reason as to why he wanted the codes?" Jane met the Jedi's eyes without flinching, noting her posture and facial expressions.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"None at all."

The even tone she held was unflinching.

"Whatever he wished to do with them only he knows, and even though I am a Jedi, diving into people's minds and pulling out information is not something we... do."

[Jane Starborn]

"It isn't?" Jane's right eyebrow tried to raise, but she managed to keep it to a slight tick. She really didn't know what Jedi did, but she'd heard all the stories about mind reading and Jedi Mind Tricks. Luke Skywalker was the closest she'd come to a Jedi in her thirty plus years, and from what she knew he had been half-trained. Lok was a full Jedi, trained before the Purge had even started.

Loklorien's tone was so even and calm it was almost icy. Almost. Not quite. With the White Queen for a mother, Jane was very familiar with shades of ice.

"Anyway," she went on, "Do you have any idea where Byl might have gone to? Any clues, feelings, or... visions?" She hesitated, "I am not trying to be rude, but I am not all that familiar with what Jedi actually can do."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Leaning back in her seat, s'Il gave the vaguest of chuckles while at the same time folding her hands in her lap. She pursed her lips, mulling over her next words.

"When I say that reading minds isn't something that we do, my intentions are that it is not done deliberately. If the Force wishes us to know of something, it will show the way; there isn't any need for provocation."

The Lupine frowned slightly then.

"But, that being said, I felt nothing behind what he wanted. Some men are apt at building their mental barriers, and given Byl Laprovik's line of work, it isn't surprising that I could not divine anything beyond what he wished for.

"As well, not all Jedi are adept at mind-reading. I'm afraid that I never excelled highly in that regard while at the Academy so many years previous."

A thin yet genial smile was given to Starborn.

[Jane Starborn]

Jane nodded, "I understand. Thank you for your time, Master Jedi." She stood, sketching out a small bow in her orange flightsuit. "I will not take up any more of it, I have a long journey ahead."

The agent couldn't help feeling that the Jedi's intense calmness was cold - almost as though she were intentionally keeping the world at arms length. Of course, one could not fault a Jedi for wanting to remain detached from the galaxy that had brought about Order 66 and the murder of so many of her colleagues.

Still, it struck Jane as odd.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il rose as well, giving a polite half-bow in return.

"If there is anything else that I can do to help speed along your search for Mr. Laprovik, please don't hesitate to ask."

They were honest words spoken with a gentle rolling lilt barely audible in her voice, and the Lupine smiled.

"I'm not a hard individual to get a hold of, and neither is Dan."

[Jane Starborn]

Back to the beginning. Short of returning to the planet where Byl had last been seen, Jane wasn't sure where to go from here. She accepted the Dauntless' offer of a rack, and made her way to the barracks where she could get some shut-eye.

[Bartleby Orem]

She'd left him. Milivikal k'Vik had left him onboard the Dauntless like some flotsam to be discarded whenever and wherever she wished. In some ways it was frustrating, to be away from the one you needed, and Bartleby Orem - once a faithful servant of Imperial Intelligence - felt that frustration cutting through him like one of his mistress' daggers. But he would not complain; would not show any outward discomfort at his current situation. No, it would displease her, and he would not do such a thing.

She'd said to behave, and he would.

From the idle chatter that he'd been able to overhear, it seemed that Mili had opted to stay on Coruscant after her time with the Jedi, Loklorien s'Ilancy. s'Ilancy had returned... he'd watched her and the red-head arrive with the Colonel, Erasmus Karrnage. What happened after that was none of his business, though Mili's absense was perplexing.

From that point on, Orem had made himself as inconspicuous as possible while finding tasks that would allow him to move as freely as possibble throughout the Rebel cruiser.

A month had passed, then two. And still no word from Mili. The general, Dan, had left with Loklorien and subsequently returned, and life it seemed went on for both him and those around him.

By now he'd become a regular sight; he'd stated his defection and had been given menial tasks for the time being. Milivikal would come back at some point. She needed her ship, and in his deepest desires she needed him.

She still haunted his dreams.



Such drudgery seemed to follow him day in and day out, but as Orem slowly headed for the mess, he couldn't help but let his mind wander once more - like the hundreds of times that it had before - to thoughts of Milivikal.

Rounding a corner, he looked up in time to see another body in his path. A woman.

Stopping, Orem stared at her for a brief moment, the hard lines around his eye creasing deeper as she proved to not be his mistress. A frown, and he stepped to the side to let her pass.

[Jane Starborn]

Jane looked up at the man blocking her path, and recognized him immediately. A former Imperial Intelligence agent, Bartleby Orem had defected with Milivikal k'Vik and had remained on the Dauntless while the woman had run off with Rebel agents. Including Byl Laprovik.

He moved out of her way and she almost moved on, but stopped, turning to face him again. "Excuse me, but do you have a moment to talk?"

[Bartleby Orem]

This was unexpected. He'd thought that she would go on about her way and he his.

Orem was quiet, staring at her in a probing way; why would she wish to talk with him? She was a pretty thing, with delicate features... like Milivikal.

He frowned at the thought, mentally chastising himself for entertaining it.

Finally, he offered her a stiff nod.

"I do."

[Jane Starborn]

She nodded, good. "I am Agent Starborn. And you are Bartleby Orem."

She looked around, moving out of the way as a pair of techs walked through the passageway. "Is there somewhere we can go to talk? A place, more... private?" Jane looked into his eyes, "It is about the circumstances that brought you here."

[Bartleby Orem]

Well. She was certainly direct. Then again, Orem figured that his face was fairly recognizable to everyone aboard. After all, he was their resident defector.

For a moment he stood unsure of how to answer, head turning in both directions before fixing once more upon her.

"My quarters?"

[Jane Starborn]

She nodded, and waited for him to lead the way. Although she had the blueprints for the Dauntless committed to memory, she did not know the designations of all of the crew quarters.

After a few hesitations, Orem took her to his room. Once the door was closed, Jane looked at him closely. He seemed uncomfortable, although any defector might feel that way with a member of Alliance Intelligence in the room. Revealing herself to him may have been a mistake.

Defectors sometimes defected back. But she'd read his file and did not think that would be the case with Orem.

"You are familiar with Captain Byl Laprovik, are you not?"

[Bartleby Orem]

Searching his memory, Orem recalled the many briefings he'd had about the man; when he was still a part of Imperial Intelligence. Old habits kicked in, and he crossed his arms over his chest while looking over her shoulder at the wall beyond.

"Byl Laprovyk. Terribly efficient; responsible for the murders of more than a dozen Imperial officers and civilians alike. Suspected to be somewhere on Coruscant, but thus far nothing substantiated. Medium to lean build, blue eyes, blonde hair."

His brow furrowed then, and he finally looked to Starborn. It too was a familiar name, and he licked his lower lip while studying her features. No doubt everything that he'd told her she already knew.

"I... apologise. I've never met the man, if that's what you're asking. As my duties were mostly away from Imperial Center, he was never anything but a dossier to me."

[Jane Starborn]

"Ah, I thought maybe you had. I know that he spent some time with k'Vik, the woman who defected with you."

Jane raised an eyebrow, "Are you comfortable here, on the Dauntless?" He was lucky that Intel hadn't packed him off to an uncomfortable room to be debriefed. That head was full of information that the Alliance could use.

[Bartleby Orem]

Just her mention of Milivikal was enough to make him shudder his eyes, and his lips parted ever so slightly. Milivikal. Why could she simply not return to him?

But, the moment passed, and he once more fixed his gaze to Agent Starborn. He turned to make his way into the small kitchen area; it was almost a joke, but enough for his own small needs.

"Comfortable? I am, thank you."

Reaching up into a cabinet, he pulled down two empty tumblers and a decanter of some unnamed liqueur. Filling one glass, Orem hesitated for a moment, and looked to his guest.

"Drink?"

[Jane Starborn]

She shook her head. "No, thank you."

Jane looked down at her orange pilot's jumpsuit, and added, "I should find my berth, it was a long flight. But," she added, "I would very much like to talk to you again, some other time, Mr. Orem."