Lair

[Kyle Raiden]

Kyle smiled. It proved why he didn't usually smile...if this smile was anything to go by, then Kyle must have been really scary when he was happy.

He reclined in his high-backed leather chair, inspecting the C-shaped device in his hands. Someone had been inspecting the items seized from Team Dantarno, and had found this device...some sort of visor. It was an intreguing device. Perhaps, with a little bit of Federacy technology, it could be an extremely useful piece of equipment.

With a chuckle, he set the visor down on the wooden table in his office. Despite the seemingly mediocre duties he performed, his rank of Captain afforded him some privilages. This office was one of them.

He shuffled forward, and began reading through the document opened on his datapad. It was a fairly standard report...a simple aknowledgement that the mental reconditioning of Jacen and Kieran Dantarno, and those with them, had been successful. Not that he needed to know that...the Federacy staff would do their job, because the dangers of not doing so were too severe to risk.

His smile faded a little, and he looked up at the other new decoration to his office - a two-legged, dome-topped barrel in black and red, standing dark and dormant in the corner. He rose from his seat, and stepped over to the droid, crouching down before it. He detached the restraining bolt and, plugging a datapad into a port on the front of the droid, let it start up.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked the droid, as its "eye" focused on him, a panicked whistle escaping from it, as it discovered that it had lost all motor control.

The word No flashed up on Kyle's screen.

The Imperial smiled a little. "I am Kyle Raiden. I am a member of the Imperial Federacy. I am your new master. Do you understand?"

Yes.

"Good." Kyle stood up, and patted the droid on it's dome. "What do you remember, prior to being activated just now?"

I remember nothing.

Kyle held back a smile. The memory purge had been successful. That was good news. Due to the Federacy's technological advances, Kyle didn't need a robotic assistant. However, he had always been fascinated by droids. The upgrades to this particular droid were extensive. He'd searched through almost half a century of memories recorded by the droid, on the hard-copy he'd made, 'just in case'. He didn't know why he'd ever need the droid's memories again, but one could never know what one would need tomorrow. The enhancements had proven themselves more than useful in the past. Kyle was sure they would be again.

"Your name is Kay," Kyle explained. "You are my personal droid. You were damaged recently, when a terminal you were accessing overloaded. Unfortunately, your memory banks were damaged. I'm afraid you'll have to get to know me again."

Why can't I move?

Kyle sighed. "When you were damaged, you stopped being yourself. The engineers had to disactivate your motor control before you ran away, or damaged yourself even more."

I understand.

Kyle's lips formed into a friendly smile. "Here," he said, crouching down, and reaching into the open pannel on the side of the droid. He flicked a switch, and more lights glowed on the droid.

Kay twitched. Thank you.

Kyle smiled a little more. "You're welcome, old friend."

Kyle's comlink beeped. His smile faded. Duty called. He sighed again. "Wait here, Kay...I have some work to do. Will you be ok?"

The droid whistled an affirmative. Yes, Master Kyle.

Kyle smiled genuinely, and patted the droid on the head. "I won't be long."

[Kyle Raiden]

Kyle slumped against the door mere seconds after it had hissed closed behind him. "A week..." he said, words beginning to fail him. "I have a week, or I'll die."

He slid slowly to the ground, thoughts running through his mind. Khendon had ordered him to arrange the rescue of his wife. "Use anything you need," he'd said, "But you'd better find them, or you'll suffer the consequences." So now, Kyle, personal assistant to the Federacy's Imperator, had been tasked with a complex military operation.

He crawled across the room to his desk, and pulled himself into his chair. "How the blazes am I supposed to do this?" he muttered, accessing the holopad on his desk. He glanced at the crono beside him, and sighed. "Its going to be a long night."

[Kyle Raiden]

"Any luck, Kay?" Kyle asked what was now his Astromech droid, as he struggled to hold back a yawn. His bleary eyes had given up a long time ago. The datapad only showed him a green blur.

Kay whistled back mournfully.

"Didn't think so," Kyle said with a sigh. This wasn't his job. He was a personal assistant, not an intelligence operative. There should be someone to do this job. But there wasn't. He sighed again, and staggered to his feet. "I need caf," he muttered.

* * *

Kyle didn't like to kid himself. He knew he had absolutely no Force sensitivity whatsoever. But, standing, with a starfield floating before him, he hoped that a flash of inspiration would help him narrow down his search. Alas, it didn't.

"Show me quadrant two," he instructed.

The starfields changed. His eyes narrowed. Something in his mind sparked. What was it about that place that piqued his interest?

"What star is that?" he asked Kay, frowning.

There was a sarcastic whistle in response. Kyle sighed again. Alderaan.

Kyle let his eyes turn back to the starfield, and carried on searching. "Bring up quadrant three."

[Kyle Raiden]

"I'll never manage this..." Kyle muttered, creeping down the Federacy corridors. "I'll never find his family...and if I don't I won't stay alive."

Kay trundled along behind him, oblivious.

There was only one ship left in the hangar bay: an old, beaten-up shuttle, left behind by some smuggler or other who stumbled onto the wrong side of the Federacy. Kyle sighed. It would do for now, but he'd have to pick up something more suitable when he got away from here.

Climbing up the ramp, he silently thanked his status as Khendon's Personal Assistant. Former Personal Assistant, he corrected himself. He'd been able to plan his escape. It was a shame that he had to use it, though.

With a sigh, he fired up the repulsorlifts on the ship, and drifted out into space. If all went achording to plan, he'd make it to Hyperspace. If all went to plan.

* * *

"Frell!" He yelled, feeling the ship shake as the first flight of TIEs caught up with him. "Double Frell!!"

Kay whistled in alarm, as the little droid struggled to divert every scrap of power into the shields. They were close to making a hyperspace jump...very close.

Then, Kyle had an idea. I might not be able to outfly those fighters, but I can out-jump them... Swinging the shuttle quickly around, Kyle brought it to head sharply away from the oncoming fighters. They'd keep up, but it wouldn't do them much good.

Another few laser shots pounded into his shields. But the countdown was finished. The jump counter hit .5 klicks. He pulled on the Hyperspace lever, and prayed.

[Kyle Raiden]

She ship shuddered as it dropped from hyperspace, after only a few minutes. Kyle stared out of the window, and smiled. His vector had taken him to a near-by uninhabited system. The Fighters had no doubt followed. But Kyle had made sure it wouldn't be an issue. His course had taken him ever so slightly too close to a star. It had ripped him out of space prematurely. His smile broadened, as he spotted the TIEs reverting to realspace in the distance.

Masking his vector behind the star, Kyle headed for his previous destination. The Hyperspace jump would take some time. Now he needed to decide what to do with his life.

Sitting cross-legged on the cold floor plating of the cockpit, Kyle began to think. One of the principal recruiting techniques of the Federacy had been brainwashing. They'd take a criminal, or a smuggler, or some other person of ill repute, and they would turn them into a loyal warrior. Though Kyle had always accepted the possibility that the same was possibly true of him, he'd never let it bother him. Until now. If I'm not Kyle Raiden, he thought, frowning deeply, Then who the frell am I?

Sitting cross-legged on the cold floor-plating of the cockpit, Kyle began to think...and remember.