The Turning Tide

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Sitting at a metal bistro table on Cloud City, Lilaena De'Ville causally used her commlink to call a number she hadn't used in over a year. Byl Laprovik (Captain), of Phoenix Cell, of the Rebel Alliance.

Her apprentice, Akasha Kahn, sat across from her, still studying the menu. They had traded Mando'a clothing and armor in favor of nondescript jumpsuits in neutral tones. De'Ville had tied her lengthening hair back in a jaunty ponytail, stray strands gathering around her face as the breeze picked up.

The number connected, a buzz tone telling her it was still valid. But then it went to voicemail. An automated female voice repeated the number she'd called and then instructed her to leave a message.

"Laprovik - this is De'Ville. The Imperialist rally, about a year ago? I was wondering if we could get together and talk about something more... permanent. You have my number."

She disconnected the transmission, and placed her commlink on the table.

[Akasha Khan]

Akasha watched Master De'Ville furtively as she recorded a message for their mysterious contact, then splayed her ears at a noisy outburst from a pair of Grans at the next table. Everything about this mission was new territory for the black-furred Orryxian. Until now, she'd set foot on a grand total of three different planets - Onderon, Klatooine, her native Orryxia, each one its own kind of prison. She was confronting the galaxy at large for the first time, and it was daunting.

She turned the menu page and found herself reading the salads, even though there wasn't a thing there she could digest. "How long do you think it'll be before he answers?" she asked.

Akasha hoped her anxiety didn't show, but she doubted she could hide anything from her master. She felt exposed in the open-air cafe, and she felt ridiculous in the faded red jumpsuit which had been cut for a human. Her ears scanned the crowd warily, especially the line of plasteel-armored troopers marching down the pedwalk a stone's throw away. It was so... crowded!

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"I don't know," she said, unsealing the top of her cherry fizzyglug and setting off a small chain reaction of twirling holographic ads that circled her bottle. Irritated, she waved them away, fingers scattering the motes of light like so many gnats. "He could be busy on a mission. But I would guess we'll hear within a few days. If I don't get a call back by then, we'll pursue another avenue."

Cloud City was a welcome change after months in the humidity of Onderon, and she lifted her head a bit as the wind caressed the open air square. "And you will tell the Jedi how we met?" Akasha was no doubt tired of repeating the story, but the more she said it the more convincing she would be.

Plus, it was almost entirely true. Lilaena was the one who would have to fudge on the details - such as who her armored compatriots had been in the weapons heist, and what the weapons had been for. Still, she'd managed to keep a secret from Master Eldhil for years, and there was no Force user more paranoid or suspicious than the late A'na Eldhil.

[Akasha Khan]

Akasha gave her master a strained smile and said, "You and your band of Brommstaad mercenaries rescued me from Jaarhu the Hutt on Klatooine." She sipped from her glass containing some kind of spiced milk and delicately licked the flecks of white from her lips. "And during the escape, I saved your life from a rampaging Barabel by choking it with the Force. You really should watch where you step, Master."

[Eluna Thals]

The comm line beeped alive. Lilaena's message was being replied to. Upon opening the link, she could hear Byl's familiar voice.

"I have five minutes to speak on this line. No details on here, and no more names. I'm afraid work's got me tangled up. My sister can meet you. Where did you have in mind?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"Bespin," she said without hesitation, recognizing the voice of Captain Byl Laprovik. "At the bistro on Cloud City where we first met, tomorrow?"

Lilaena waved an insect away from her drink as she waited for Byl to reply.

[Eluna Thals]

Eluna glanced to Jane, who was no doubt already on top of the coordinates. With a smirk, she continued in Byl's falsetto.

"I'll make sure she sees you, then. Out."

Curtly ending the comm, Eluna returned her attention forward.

"That's fortunate. Bespin happens to be the next likely lilly pad for us to jump to. Perhaps we'll run into both of them."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"Well, it looks like we only have a day to wait." Lilaena pocketed her commlink and looked over at her apprentice. "We'll have to lay low until then."

***

The next day found them at the same place, but with different drinks. The day had turned out a bit cloudier than usual, cool, and damp. Lilaena nursed a chai tea, keeping her hands folded around the cup to keep them warm. They were seated inside by a large picture window where she had a good view of the passersby.

[Akasha Khan]

Akasha was more settled now, and her tail waved lazily beneath her chair as she waited alongside her master. While Lilaena watched the pedwalk, the Orryxian girl watched the rest of the bistro, though there was little there to see. She'd managed to make light conversation with her master, asking her about the repulsorlifts and mining platforms like any dazzled off-worlder might, just so other patrons didn't see a pair of strange females brooding in silence.

She watched with guarded disgust as a scandalously clad stripe-skinned humanoid with long ears and a tail slunk by to a corner table. "Still can't believe the serving droid mistook me for a Cizerack," she grumbled.

[Eluna Thals]

Eluna made her way to the bistro, only after casually strolling the periphery to note the vantages, exits, and other points of interest she may need to commit to memory. That done, she separated herself from the throng and approached De'Ville's table. She was dressed fairly casually, wearing a pale yellow baby tee and casual shorts. The orange and pink sky was, for a change, allowing a bit of sun through, and it was a pleasantly warm day.

"You spoke earlier with my brother."

Offering a small smile, she extended her hand to Lilaena as she stood by the table.

"A pleasure to meet you both. He sends his regards."

Deep within the HRD, a HoloNet transmitter was making sure that wherever Starborn was, she was kept in the loop, in real time.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena nodded slightly, taking the woman's hand and shaking it. "Its funny, you look nothing like him." She gestured to the third seat at their table.

"I'm going to assume you know how I know your... brother. I've worked with him before. And I want in."

She sipped her tea. "All in."

[Akasha Khan]

Akasha's yellow-green eyes were on the stranger as soon as she walked in. Master De'Ville had trained her always to keep her senses open in the Force, but that didn't mean shutting down her natural senses. Something about the woman smelled just slightly off. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she thought for a moment it was like the woman was wearing sweat-and-blood perfume.

A stupid idea. Akasha put it out of her mind and focused on the conversation.

[Jane Starborn]

Jane twisted around, hips almost stuck for a moment in the cramped space as she angled for an adjoining shaft in the bowels of Cloud City's extensive ventilation system. Eluna had sliced into the mainframe when they'd landed and she'd been able to get a good look at the blueprints to some of the city's main systems.

In one ear she could hear the HRD and De'Ville's conversation carrying on, adding a level of surrealism to the situation as she squirmed through a tight connection and began climbing up another level. It had been a while since she'd done some honest to goodness boots-on-the-ground Intel work, but it wasn't like she'd forgotten what it was like.

Bespin and Cloud City were under Imperial control. While she could have tried bribing her way in, it was better just to slip under the garrison's radar entirely. Why be a mouse when you could be a ghost?

Except that it seemed that no one ever worried about cleaning the ducts this close to the computer server she was angling for. Starborn stifled a sneeze and carefully used a multitool to remove a vent cover. She held it for a moment, made sure the room opposite was clear, and then carefully slid out of the vent head first. Handstand on the desk below into a back walkover to the floor.

[Eluna Thals]

Eluna gave the barest of nods, empathetic without agreeing to anything.

"I can make a case for you, based on your history. Ultimately, it isn't mine or my brother's decision."

Pressing a little, she eased her elbows onto the table casually.

"Might I ask your reasons? I can only imagine it would help to make your case."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She wrapped her hands around her tea again, shoulders squaring against hard memories. "The Empire took the closest thing I had to a mother.

"And I've been working freelance too long." Lilaena rubbed her forehead a bit, smoothing her hair back behind one of her ears. "It wears on you. The war. I finally realized its bigger than just me... and the best chance we have is only good if we're all working together."

She put a hand on Akasha's shoulder. "I was hoping that you might be able to help my friend, as well."

[Akasha Khan]

The Orryxian looked uncertainly from Lilaena to the stranger. She was an exile and a fugitive. It wasn't so difficult to play a role that was so close to the truth.

"Akasha," she said, hesitantly. "I..." She looked to Lilaena again, ostensibly for encouragement. "Lilaena tells me I have... special gifts."

[Eluna Thals]

The HRD considered Lilaena's story. Revenge was a common denominator for many Rebels, and that was more or less a generic reason, and one she wasn't inclined to scrutinize much.

Turning her attention to the Orryxian, Eluna read between the lines of her comment. There was no sense in talking about that in the open.

"Gifts."

She gave a small nod.

"I may be able to arrange something supervised."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena's shoulders relaxed a bit. "I'm glad to hear it." She squeezed Akasha's arm lightly, and then returned her hands to her chai tea. "She saved my life, it was the least I could do to help her find a place."

She sipped her tea, and tilted her head to one side. "What do we do now? I can't stay here long, my face isn't exactly unknown in Imperial space."

[Jane Starborn]

Slicing into the server was easier than she'd expected. Accessing the local holonet node and piggybacking into the port's public transport logs was the work of just a few minutes.

"You can get a better read off of them than I can," she murmured to Eluna under her breath. "But what records there are of Lilaena De'Ville's work with Byl are good. She'd be a solid addition from what I can tell, obviously well suited for undercover work and maybe special forces."

She adjusted her ear piece and bent over the console, scanning the data that was flying up the screen. "I don't see any records of Laprovik coming or going." Jane resisted the urge to punch the glass, and instead clenched her hands into white knuckled fists for a moment.

[Eluna Thals]

"Bespin isn't ideal."

She gave a cursory glance beyond her guests as an invitation to take a look around. Even when discrete, the Imperial presence here was profound.

"I can take you as far as another off-world safe house. From there, I can put you in touch with some like-minded friends. I would think, dependent on that, we could explore your future."

A furtive smile, and Eluna blinked.

"Regardless, our current working relationship has been fruitful, from what my brother says. I don't think it will take much convincing anyone that you have some place with us, wherever that may be."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"Great." Lilaena finished off her tea, and set her mug down. "We have a place to stay the night, if need be."

Although that wasn't ideal, because it was cheap and the proprietors were discrete. Which meant there were bedbugs. Akasha had retreated to the tub to try to sleep and Lilaena had dozed in a chair. They were both tired.

[Jane Starborn]

"We aren't staying the night," Jane said absently, while she scanned manifests from the week previous. "Wait - Prent, James. Two tickets to Copperline..."

Her voice trailed off. James Prent was an adept who had been placed in Cloud City with Dr. Barton Henning (now of the Knightfall, et cetera) after being attended to medically by the Alliance. During her time with the fleet she had been an acquaintance of Byl's, a fact noted in her slim Intel file. Her story was an interesting one, but tragic. She'd been burnt at the stake on some backwater planet for being Force sensitive. The details were vague because the reporting party, James' half-brother Sanis (of the Layla, now with Rogue Squadron and the Wheel convoy), had been vague when reporting.

Jane's mind worked furiously, details being recalled and lines being drawn between facts where assumptions were safe to make. She inserted a datacard and began the download of the transport information that Prent had bought tickets for while she sliced into the security holofeed from the spaceport hub on the day in question.

[Eluna Thals]

"That won't be necessary." Eluna politely shook her head.

"I think I can have an answer for you in the next few hours. I'd rather not lend our chances to a timeline longer than it needs to be."

"Copperline? That's near. Supposing we take care of these two, we could go there within the day." she transmitted silently to Jane as she waited for DeVille's response.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"Great," she said, picking up her cup and draining what was left. They'd already paid, and she gave Akasha a look that told her to finish up. "You have my number."

Lilaena pushed back from the table and stood up, smiling at Eluna as if they were old friends well met. "Thank you for your time." She waited courteously for the Orryxian to get up as well, and herded the girl out of the bistro.

"Now what?" Akasha flinched as the clouds above opened up and drops of rain started to fall.

"She'll contact her superiors, and we'll have an official decision soon." Lilaena pulled her cloak around her a little better, and hurried for an interior space, if only to spare her felinoid apprentice further spasms. "For now we will go back to our room and kill bed bugs."

[Akasha Khan]

"I hope Destruction works on bed bugs," Akasha grumbled, and she pulled up the too-small hood of her jumpsuit as far over her ears as she could manage.

"I realize I'm playing the part of a hapless refugee," she said, "but is it possible I could change into something that actually fits?"

Her eyes were drawn to a display of rich clothing in a luminous store window.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville followed her gaze, and laughed a bit. "We'll probably need to incinerate our clothes anyway. Bedbugs are invasive little critters. Yes, we can go shopping.

"But not there." She kept walking past the expensive store. "I'm not made of credits. Not credits that actually exist anyway."

Master and apprentice made it inside and out of the drizzle. "I think there's a flea market down in a lower level." De'Ville chuckled again, "I'm beginning to think Cloud City is obsessed with tiny pests."

She was in an unusually good mood as they found a bank of turbolifts that would take them to the lower levels of the City.

[Jane Starborn]

Jane worked quickly, slicing the server thinly and slipping into the secure holofeeds. Images flipped by on the screens, and she went back and forth a few times. Nothing.

Not even a trace of James Prent. Even though she'd bought the tickets, she wasn't a confirmed passenger, and there were no holos of her buying the tickets or getting onto the transport. And there was more... "The camera was sliced."

She realized that Eluna couldn't read her mind and said, "When she bought the tickets. The footage simply isn't here. Someone with skill sliced the holocam that was surveying the kiosk. And there are no images of her at all."

There was something else, too. Jane cross-referenced to the Imperial barracks reports, and there was nothing. Like the day hadn't even happened. The only thing that could do that were Inquisitors. "There was some sort of heavy Imperial action going down, from what I can imply from the lack of any mention of anything happening. And there are other huge blanks in the holofeeds for the spacedocks and one of the promenades."

[Akasha Khan]

The flea market was much larger than Akasha had envisioned - bins and racks of garments defying description, ranging from the horribly plane to the outrageously garish with precious little room in between. Still, shopping for pleasure was a luxury the Orryxian hadn't enjoyed in a long while.

She pawed at a red vest with some pleasing ornamental scrollwork on the seams. "Master," she said quietly, "did you sense anything at all... odd... about that woman we spoke with?"

[Eluna Thals]

Eluna was already returning to their arranged meet-up point. Silent on the outside, she was still communicating with Jane in real time.

"I've noticed the camera layout in the promenade and other public layouts here. Half the intention is visible deterrence. I wouldn't have any trouble evading that if I needed to, and neither would Byl. With all we've seen, I think it's a safe bet that we'll find a fresh trail for both Byl and James Prent on Copperline."

[Jane Starborn]

"Right." Jane forced herself to look away from the screens, already absorbing enough data to choke a wampa, and backtracked out of the system. Locking everything down as she'd found it, the operative hauled herself back into the vent and closed it up behind her.

"Ms. De'Ville will probably fit in with SpecForce, or SpecOps, with the skill sets that we know of. Contact Colonel Starborn," she grimaced to herself at having the HRD call her uncle, "He can give you a yea or nay."

Jane squirmed through the duct work, following another way out that would drop her close to the rendezvous point without consciously thinking about it. "I'll be out in ten."

[Eluna Thals]

"Understood."

Eluna paused, canted her head slightly, terminating the communication to Jane, and opening a new line through HoloNet to Colonel Starborn's office. The link was established in a matter of seconds.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena considered her apprentice's question as she rummaged through a bin of irregular clothing. "Nothing alarmingly so, no." She looked up, studying the felinoid. "Did you sense something?"

She was holding out another jumpsuit, one cut a little slimmer and with a hole in the behind for a tail. The Dark Jedi raised an eyebrow at Akasha, curious as to what she had picked up about their contact.

[Akasha Khan]

"Yes," Akasha said, and even as she said it, she replayed their meeting in her mind, praying it was not her memory playing tricks on her.

"She looked human," she said. "But she wasn't. I'm not even certain she was alive."

It sounded like utter foolishness now that she'd said it aloud, and her ears folded back uncertainly, but she held her master's gaze.

[Regulus Starborn]

Only a matter of moments passed before a gruff voice acknowledged the communication channel Eluna Thals had opened, speaking to the agent from a CR90 Corvette in nearby space.

“Starborn. Report.”

[Eluna Thals]

"Colonel, this is Captain Thals. I have made contact with two potentially useful elements for SpecOps integration. We're on Bespin, and want to arrange a nearby safehouse and meet-up."

Even as she transmitted silently, she continued walking towards Jane's position to link back up.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena looked at her apprentice, nodding. "There is a Human Replica Droid that has rank in Phoenix Cell, the group I was loosely working with before. I believe we just met her."

She pulled the vest Akasha had been fingering off the rack, checking the price. "Try it on." Lilaena handed it to the felinoid, and added, "Your senses are expanding as you are growing with your ability. The way the Force interacts with a droid is different than with a living, breathing sentient, and with an HRD it is a much more subtle difference."

She quirked an eyebrow, "Not that I've met one before today."

[Regulus Starborn]

“We're sending you co-ordinates for the nearest pick-up point now, Captain.”

The Alliance had a small outpost in the Velsor's Ring chain of asteroids. It was a covert waypoint used by agents in the Greater Javin system, lacking anything but the most basic resources, but it would provide a secure location from which to make an extraction or to transmit further instructions.

[Akasha Khan]

Akasha made a face. Bad enough to build a droid to look and act and smell like a living being, a walking contradiction to her animal senses - but to give it rank and authority as well?

"I can sense when a living being is watching me," she said. "I can sense when it's following me and when it wishes me harm. But I don't sense anything from her."

She began undoing the catches on her jumpsuit, stopped and stiffened all of the sudden, aimed a murderous glare several stalls away, and disappeared behind a screen to change.

A short while later, they had returned to their room with several thrifty and functional purchases that, at least by Lilaena's reckoning, would not look out of place among Jedi refugees. Akasha set them high on top of the wardrobe to keep them away from the vermin infesting the place.

"I know I am to learn from the Jedi," she said, conscious to lower her voice when she spoke the incriminating word. "Do you mean I am to seek one of them as my Master? Or is that too risky?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena thought about that for a moment. "If you do or not, one will probably seek you out. But go with it, and be accepted as one of them. Callidus wishes to know everything about the gathering Jedi, and you are being trusted with finding it out."

She paused. "They may be able to sense the ...dark side in you." It was still odd to consider the way she used the Force to be of the Dark. "Be careful not to expose yourself. This is risky, but they are far more likely to attempt to turn you to their ways, rather than kill you.

"Unlike Callidus, should we fail in our mission," she added, darkly.

[Eluna Thals]

"Thank you Colonel. We will make contact within 24 hours. Thals out."

She closed the comm in time to arrive at the pre-arranged meeting point with Starborn. Turns out, she was a few minutes early.

[Jane Starborn]

She'd been slightly off with her estimate, taking only nine point five minutes to work her way out of the ventilation shafts. Jane slid out feet first, neatly covered by a garbage receptacle that was positioned in front of the intake vent.

She pulled her hair out of its ponytail and gave it a shake to release the brown waves, and nearly ran into the HRD. "You're here early," she said. "Heard the conversation with the Colonel. If De'Ville and her adept friend are ready we could be struts up and away in the next two hours."

[Eluna Thals]

Eluna nodded.

"I agree. The more conservative we are with our time, the better chance we can make ground on Prent and Byl."

She wondered what the relationship was between the two. Obviously they knew each other beforehand, but for Byl to vanish off the grid and reappear with a woman that had questionable intelligence value? What was she missing.

[Jane Starborn]

Jane nodded, brushing dust off her grey cargo pants as the two women started walking. It was a grey day, the clouds dark and becoming more foreboding. "I hope we don't get grounded by a storm."

She looked sideways at Thals, but the HRD was contacting De'Ville and making arrangements to meet at their landing pad in an hour. Jane looked away, feeling hungry as she smelled something delicious. A food cart was selling flatbread wrapped rotisserie meats, and she stopped and ordered one to go.

The two agents went directly to their ship, and Jane ate her food while Eluna cleared their upcoming departure with Cloud City Port Authority. Soon enough it was time, and Starborn found herself waiting outside for the two Rebellion-hopefuls to show up as rain drops began to fall from the sky again.

[Akasha Khan]

"Fantastic," Akasha muttered as the first few drops fell on her splayed ears. "This place smells four times worse when it's wet."

Her new vest rode much more comfortably, but it didn't have a hood, which meant her fur would be all in spikes when they rendezvoused with their contact again. What good was a City in the Clouds if it still got rained on?

Master De'Ville didn't respond, and Akasha didn't rightly expect her to. The Orryxian's complaints were more or less superfluous, as she'd already come to expect that the universe rejoiced in these petty little indignities whether she commented on them or not. For all the vaunted beauty of Cloud City, Akasha had been unimpressed with their stay, and she was eager to see the back of the place.

But then she felt a very particular tickle on the back of her neck, something that set fur on end all the way down her arms and legs. She slowed down a step and put a paw on her master's arm.

"We're being watched," she said. She focused in on the feeling and felt her heart race. "Through a rifle scope."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville thought about saying something about the Orryxian's smell when she got wet, but decided not to. She looked down at the black furred paw on her arm. "Locate the sniper."

The Dark Jedi expanded her senses drawing in the emotions of the sentients around them until she reached a pair of flint hard minds behind them. "There are two on our level, following. Not Imperials." It was a guess, but an educated one. Lilaena was no mind reader, but could feel the difference between a mercenary's emotions and a military presence.

[Akasha Khan]

Akasha cursed herself for giving such an obvious tell - she sensed that the sniper's attention had just intensified. Doubtless he was radioing his confederates on the ground that their marks had been spooked.

"He's behind us," she said. "About seven o'clock. I don't think I can tell how far. He hasn't decided to shoot yet."

She spotted a hovering droid hauling a floating billboard advertising Original Fizzyglug!® as it emerged from an alleyway. "I can make that sign block his line of sight," she said.

As they passed underneath the sign, she concentrated on the miniature tractor emitters connecting the droid to the sign and introduced them to a spot of Destruction. The droid squealed as its grip gave out, and the sign dropped like a rock, shielding the two Darksiders from view for a critical second.