Taz spent an exhausting day in the infirmary where Gorecke watched him like a rastfalk hunting its lunch. He was obliged to explain at length how he'd healed some of the most critical patients using the Force. The overworked Imperial medtech was visibly skeptical but he was able to form no other hypothesis regarding his ex-Rebel counterpart's abilities, to say nothing of the seemingly miraculous result.

Taz also offered the bacta bed on Allegra's Heart to the worst of the patients, including a comatose stormtrooper who'd suffered blast damage from Lyra's attack. Gorecke agreed, though Sera insisted that the man's arms and legs be shackled in binders and she hovered near the freighter's medbay while the Imperials were being treated.

He left in late afternoon, thoroughly wrung out from the work. As Taz trudged toward his bungalow the overcast sky released its pent-up moisture. The first splash of rain on his face made him temporarily forget his fatigue. He sat on the steps of his cottage, head thrown back, and reveled in the feel of it. Recalling Lyra's admonition about staying too long in the rain, he went in after only twenty minutes, peeled himself out of his soaked clothes, stuffed them into the laundry unit, and promptly burrowed under the bed covers. The sound of the rain on the roof drummed him to sleep.

He woke two hours later, feeling some of his usual vigor. One hot shower and a set of dry clothes later, he was feeling almost back to normal. A grumble in his stomach made him think about dinner when a knock at the door startled him. He opened it, tucking his shirt into his waistband.

"Hello, Taz," Tess greeted him. "Did I come at a bad time?"

"No, just getting dressed." He wondered why she was there alone. "Want to come in?"

"That's okay. Mom made dinner for fifty," she said, rolling her eyes but smiling. "Hungry?"

"Starved." Tess waited on the bungalow's tiny porch while he put on his boots. He came out a minute later. "Where's Varun-grasha?"

"Off doing intel officer stuff," she said in an overly conspiratorial tone. "He and Forstner have been holed up in Tafo and Ruatha's offices for hours." They started walking toward the Daros' home. "Were you at the infirmary all day?"

"Yeah. They're stacked pretty tight in there. Blast injuries and a lot of radiation burns. They said the corvette used full ion drives when they launched. Most of the ground staff died, caught in the backblast." His grim, angry look matched Tess's. "Tafo, or more likely Ruatha, must have ordered the hard burn trying to chase after us."

Taz ground his jaw, but Tess could see the guilt in his eyes. "We did what we had to, Taz."

"I know but we brought chaos to this place. A lot of those patients won't make it. A lot of the rest are looking at a long recovery." He let out a ragged sigh. "I did what I could to get them ambulatory, and stabilized the worst of them with the Force, but..." They walked toward the Daros' house in silence.

"You have a gift, Taz. It's a miracle, really. The way you healed my shoulder, kept Varun alive, and rescued Lyra, it's incredibly, unbelievably amazing. You're amazing."

Taz looked abashed but his eyes brightened. "It takes a lot out of me, using the Force to heal people, move things, or do the other stuff. But I know so much more about it now, even compared to just a few weeks ago."

He stopped on the path and turned to her. "You helped me after Lyra's ship..." he wore a hard, inscrutable look. "You and Sera, you saved me."

"Saved you? From what?"

Taz shivered for an instant. "From losing myself. From... something terrible in the Force."

"You scared me up there," she admitted quietly. "What happened?"

"I nearly lost control." His voice was low and vivid. The ugliness he'd fallen into felt as slimy and disgusting now as it had aboard Allegra. Taz shook his head to shove the dark thoughts aside. "I just wanted you to know how much it meant to me that you were there."

"My pleasure, Taz. It was... It felt good, fighting together like we used to."

Taz wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Anyway, you—" He smiled suddenly and his eyes gleamed with excitement he hadn't felt in a while. "The way you handled Allegra, I didn't think a freighter could move like that!"

"I pushed her way past her design specs... probably did as much damage as the TIEs and that corvette," she cringed. I hope Rei won't be too mad at me. But Allegra's as good a ship as anything I've ever flown."

"It did feel a little like the old days, didn't it? Dodging incoming, dropping onto a target. The chaos and adrenaline... and all the while you're flying Arbalest so hard I think she's going to rip apart!"

A joyful smile lit Tess's face and she thumped his shoulder with her fist. "I'll bet you loved it. Tell me you don't miss it sometimes."

The blood-frenzy of those assault runs had been like a drug back then, blending terror with perverse ecstasy. His heart beat faster at the memory. Part of him craved that feeling even now. He grinned from ear to ear. "Yeah, I miss the work sometimes. And the people." And you, he added to himself. Walking with her, talking like this, it felt familiar and comfortable. He could almost forget how completely their lives had changed.

"You... could come back, you know. The sector force would take you back in a millisecond. The Old Ghost needs a deputy chief medical officer," she suggested quietly.

"Trying to recruit me, Captain Daro?" Taz chuckled. After a few steps, he continued. "Don't get me wrong, I loved my time on the Pride of Olminar with everyone. With you. I wouldn't trade it for anything."

"But?"

He couldn't go back, not after everything that had happened. He accepted that she'd chosen Varun over him but he still loved her. The Old Ghost was simply a place he couldn't return to. And there was Lyra, glowing in his perception, and never far from his thoughts since he'd nearly lost her.

"That was before Jakku. I have a new ship and crew now. I can't abandon them, Tess."

"I know." Her smile held a ghost of disappointment. "I had to ask, even though I knew what you'd say." Tess stopped at the bottom of the steps up to her parents' porch. She touched his arm and fixed him with those eyes that had captured his heart when he met her seven years ago. They were still just as captivating.

"Thanks for asking," he said. "It means a lot to me." She looked like she might want to say something more but before she could, Taz added, "Um, maybe we should go in."

"Yeah, I guess we should." A glimmer of regret crossed her face before she let her hand drop, and they walked up the steps together.

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After dinner, Jerric grabbed bottles of beer and ushered Taz and Varun out onto the porch. Light, sprinkling rain made a pleasant sound against the tiled roof. Jerric uncapped the bottles and handed them around. "To better days."

"Better days," Taz and Varun affirmed, and they upended their drinks.

"I know good men when I meet them, despite the deception," he said with a wink and a scowl. "And I know you had to do it. I spent fifteen years in the Republic Navy before the Empire came along." He looked thoughtful. "How incredible that you'd find us across all the years and parsecs."

Taz looked serious. "I've read that the Force sometimes makes those connections and leads us to them. Or maybe it's just cosmic coincidence." He took a long drink. "The first day I met Tess she talked about wanting to find you." He smiled at the recollection. "She used to tell me stories about growing up as a space rat on your salvage rig." Taz glanced at Varun, who was smiling. "You too?"

"So many times, I know them better than my own family's stories." Both men shared a laugh.

Jerric smiled. "She was, too. Got into every passageway, hold, and crawlspace on the Dream. I swear by the time she was ten she knew more about that ship than any of my crew." After a drink he said, "I don't mean to pry Taz, and you can tell me to mind my own damn business, but were you and Tess...?"

Taz put on a troubled expression. "We were, once."

"Thought so. You seem comfortable together. Can I ask what happened?"

"I... lost her, when I was on Jakku. Almost lost myself, too."

Jerric had a knowing look. He took a long pull from his bottle. "Looks like you might have found someone though."

Taz shrugged but his eyes glittered in the porch lights.

"What about you and Tess, Varun?"

The corner of the other man's mouth twitched. "I guess you could say Tessa and I found each other when we most needed to."

Jerric nodded thoughtfully, then pointed the neck of his bottle at them. "You two get along pretty well, all things considered."

"We... understand each other. And Tessa." Varun smiled behind his beer.

"She'd kill us both if we didn't," Taz added, grinning back.

"Sounds like she takes after her mother," Jerric chortled. He reached into his pocket and took out a little bundle wrapped in dark fabric. "I have something for you, Taz. Reiko told me what happened to your kyber crystal. That was some quick thinking and some fine engineering she did. Wouldn't mind having her on my team."

"I doubt you could pry her away from Sera. Rei's a real-deal genius but she'd never admit it. Ask her about the time she stopped an Arquitens cruiser from self-destructing, someday."

"Sounds like an interesting story," Jerric nodded, looking intrigued. Anyway, I found another crystal for you. Put some wire in there too. Maybe you can make a necklace to replace the other one."

Taz opened the bundle. Inside was a blue kyber crystal, perhaps a shade darker than the one that came out of his lightsaber. "Thanks, Jerric, I'll do that."

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

The older man turned to Varun. "No pressure now, but Tess always liked jewelry when she was a girl." He gave Varun a suggestive wink.

"She still does," Varun concurred, wearing something like a bashful grin. "I, ah, was thinking of something a little smaller, and... sized for her finger." Jerric took a second, then guffawed and clapped Varun on the back so hard his eyes watered.

When he could talk again he looked at Taz. "You okay with that?"

"I don't think I get a say," he answered slowly, "but yeah. I'm okay with that."

Varun held out his bottle. The other two joined him. "Thanks, Jerric, Taz." He looked relieved and pleased.

Jerric had a huge smile on his face. "Come on, you two. Amanda's going to wonder what's so important that I'm keeping you from her eberricot pie."

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At Jerric's invitation, Lissora Forstner came by for dessert. She pushed a repulsor chair with her. In it sat the old man Varun had seen in the video feed.

"How's Alexei doing today?" Amanda inquired, stroking his thin white hair. His rheumy eyes stared blankly; he made no indication he'd noticed her.

"He had a good day, I think," Forstner answered, letting her hand settle on his shoulder. "Isn't that right, Father?" The man continued to stare ahead. She looked a little out of sorts but she sat at their table. Bixy brought sarna and blue rose brandy while Amanda and Jerric served up the pastry.

Varun took out his datapad, inserted the code cylinder, and flipped through the files until he came to the one he wanted. He opened it, then turned the pad around and pushed it over to Amanda and Jerric. "I already showed this to Lieutenant Forstner. I thought you should see it too."

They read through the executive summary of the monograph. Amanda looked up. Jerric continued swiping through the document, stopping at the engineering section.

"This is intriguing," Amanda said. "Using kyber crystals to enhance the output of power generators." She pointed to a name. "Who is Galen Erso?"

"He was a researcher, a specialist in kyber crystals. Erso worked for an Imperial think tank that developed advanced weapons, including the superlasers on the Death Star battle station that destroyed Alderaan. But I believe his real passion was to find peaceful applications for his work."

"What we could do with this..." Jerric tailed off, lost in thought.

"This is your facility now," Varun said, addressing Jerric, Amanda, and Forstner. "I can't tell you what to do with it, but I can tell you this: We intend to report what we found to the New Republic. I'm particularly concerned about Admiral Jellick's fleet at Eadu. If he's aligned with the official Imperial Remnant then his ships are well outside the defined treaty borders. If he hasn't then he's a fugitive. Either way, he's a threat, both to the New Republic and this planet. I'm going to recommend that they send a task force to Eadu and open negotiations with you, the inhabitants of Beta Fonidian Two, in the interest of joining the New Republic."

"And if we don't want to join the New Republic? What if we'd rather join what remains of the Empire?" Forstner challenged.

"You could choose non-aligned status, I suppose. Aligning with the recognized Imperial Remnant would be difficult if you stay here, since by treaty their territory is limited to specific Coreward systems and Inner Rim sectors."

Lyra speared a bite of pie and leaned in. "Non-aligned status just means you're prey for whatever warlord or crime boss decides they want to take this planet and its resources. And the Empire—" she broke off, looking bitter. "They'll betray you when your usefulness runs out, just like they did to me." She looked at the others around the table. "I'm not saying the New Republic will be much better; I think every government is corrupt and most likely nobody will care about this place. But they're probably the best of a bunch of bad choices out there right now."

Forstner looked at her, then Varun, then Amanda and Jerric. "I'll... we'll think about it."

"We'll be here—" Varun looked at Sera and Reiko.

"It'll be another three, four days for us to finish repairs on Allegra's Heart," Rei said.

"Let's say four days, Lieutenant. You can give us your answer when we depart and I'll take it back to the New Republic. Fair enough?"

Forstner tapped her lip. "Alright, Captain Numarkos."

"One thing I can promise now," Jerric said. "We'll never construct another superlaser. That machinery will be scrapped." Forstner shot a sharp glance at him but the older man held his ground. "We're out of the war business, Lieutenant."

Forstner crossed her arms but after a while she acquiesced. "Alright."

Taz had wandered toward Alexei while the others discussed the pros and cons of the New Republic. He knelt, closed his eyes, and reached toward the man with the Force. After a moment he said, "Pentrophon's Aterogenic Neurosclerosis?"

Sitting at the table, Lissora looked surprised. "He's been like that for almost fourteen years."

Taz smiled. "He says he's had enough of being idle."

"What?"

He took the man's hands and held them for the better part of ten minutes. Finally, Taz opened his eyes, expelling a shuddering breath.

The man in the chair blinked and his thin lips curled into a smile. "Lissy," he rasped in a weak, unused voice, and looked at her kneeling next to Taz.

She gave a little shocked cry and took his hand. "Papa?"

Taz stood, stretching out his stiff legs. Lissora had tears on her cheeks. "What did you do?"

He grinned. "I just gave him a little kickstart, that's all."

"I can't—" she blurted, overcome. She kissed her father's hand, then his cheek, before turning back to Taz. "Thank you," she whispered.

"My pleasure, Lieutenant. I'll come by tomorrow. Alexei would benefit from some bacta treatment. To help with muscle regeneration, I mean. For now some rest is in order."

She nodded and squeezed her father's hand. "Director Tafo told me the treatments Papa needed were delayed. He—" her face grew dark.

"Maybe they were," Varun addressed her. "But even if they weren't, don't let it eat at you." He looked around the room. "The war took things from all of us but it brought us together, too. Be happy for that."

She nodded and pushed Alexei's chair toward the door. "Thank you, all of you. I won't forget this." She bade them goodnight with more fervor than any of them had before witnessed from the cool officer, and left with her father.

"I'd heard of some of our Jedi commanders healing battlefield injuries during the Clone Wars," Jerric began, "but I figured it was just the crew making up stories until I saw it for myself during the Mygeeto campaign. Never thought I'd see it again, though."

"We really ought to keep calling you 'doctor', shouldn't we?" Amanda gushed.

Taz shook his head and looked embarrassed. "I'm just doing what I can."

Jeric's laughter bellowed in the room. "This has certainly been some night! Come, sit and have some brandy, miracle-worker!"

Bixy wheeled around and poured more drinks. The gathering lasted long into the night.

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Reiko hated being right but her prediction of three days to restore Allegra's Heart had been spot on. As hard as it was, she'd had to leave Yuzu with his plasma burns and blast damage while she conducted more robust repairs to the systems they'd taped together following their battle with the Kantorius. And when she wasn't busy with her ship she'd felt obligated to help rebuild Rho-277's shattered shield generator. The little base full of families was wide open to attack by any marauder that might pass by. Getting their shield back into operation was the least she could do.

She finally found time for herself after four days of non-stop work. Other than a few minutes in the mornings and evenings she'd hardly spent any time with Sera, either. She decided she'd be glad to leave Beta Fonidian II, if only so they could get back to their regular lives.

Alone in the base's big hangar, Rei levered the jumbled Yuzu off the cart and up onto a big machinist's bench in the back where the workers of Rho-277 performed droid maintenance. There were bins on the wall holding all kinds of parts and in a dark corner she could make out a fair number of disused droids lying in a disordered mess.

She swung a light overhead to get a better look at the damage Yuzu had suffered, then whimpered at the sight of his blasted torso and leg. "Oh, Yuzu," she said with trembling lips. She wiped at her eyes, drew a stiff breath, and shook the sadness out of her head. "C'mon, Hudson. Crying won't do Yuzu any good, will it?"

Her bolt driver whirred as she removed his backplate. She wriggled her fingers through wires and optical conduits where the insulation had been fused together from the blaster's heat. Finally, she reached the cylindrical power module. She pressed the release catch, gave the module a twist, and pulled it out.

There wasn't much left of the mechanism. "Damn, I was hoping I could salvage that," she mumbled. Archeson had put another one in with the parts she'd collected. Reiko picked up the replacement. "It's for an astromech but I can make it work. Hear that, Yuzu? You'll have the heart of an R-Four unit."

"Still treating 'em like people, I see." Archeson stood just inside the circle of light cast by the overhead work lamp.

Reiko jumped at her sudden appearance. When she recovered her wits she said, "I told you, he's my friend. He deserves to know what's happening."

"It can't hear you, girly. It's a machine, and an unpowered one at that."

"AA-One verbobrains can hold a residual charge for up to a hundred days to prevent their personality matrix and other volatile configurations from being corrupted by extended power disruptions," Rei countered, groaning as she fished the power plug from Yuzu's torso.

The socket on the R4 power core wasn't a match, as she'd guessed. She grabbed a driver and started unscrewing the connectors from both cores so she could exchange them. "Maybe he can't hear me but it makes me feel better to think he can."

Archeson walked over to the bench. "See, it's not about them, it's about you. They don't care."

Reiko looked over at the older woman. "I don't want to have this argument with you again. I just want to fix him."

"Fair enough," Archeson shrugged. She leaned over the bench and took a tube of epoxy from one of the bins. "Bridge the connector mount on the R-Four power core with this." She grabbed wire cutters from her belt and started snipping away the melted cables and conduits. "I'll splice in new ones."

"You're going to help me?"

"I said I would, didn't I?"

"Sure, but I figured that was just—"

"See that?" Archeson picked up Yuzu's backplate and poked two of her fingers through the hole where Yuzu had taken the second shot. "It stepped in front of me when that happened." She dropped the metal on the workbench, picked an optical cable from the bin, and twisted on a splicing collar before slipping it inside Yuzu's thoracic chassis and snapping it into place. "If it hadn't I'd have taken a blaster bolt in the chest."

Rei nodded, but didn't look up from her work. She was pretty sure the prideful woman wouldn't want her to. "I see. Well, thanks, Archeson."

"Name's Turis," she answered, reaching for more cabling.

Reiko smiled a little. "I'm Reiko Hudson but you can call me Rei. All of my friends do."

An hour later they'd finished the torso work. Archeson began repairing the artificial tendons, musculature, and the fractured skeletal strut in Yuzu's damaged leg while Reiko considered how to close the gaping holes in his backplate.

Turis cocked her head toward the pile of defunct droids in the corner. "Should be some metal plating over there you can cut some patches from." An orange glow lit the area as she started welding a splint to the skeletal member.

Rei went over to the pile. It was nearly pitch black. She took out a torch and turned it on, picking through the bits and pieces until she found the appropriate gauge of sheet steel she needed. Then, deeper in the debris heap, something caught her eye. Partly buried under the lower half of an RA-7 was a short droid with two arms and four sensors on a flat face. One of its repulsor disks dangled by a few wires when she pulled it out of the pile. Rei dug it out and set it on the floor. "Well, what d'ya know? An IM-Eight."

Archeson glanced over. "Yep. Scrapped it when we got an MD-Five for the infirmary two years back."

"Our doc's been wanting an IM for our medbay. Don't suppose I could buy her from you, or trade for her?"

Archeson looked over her shoulder at Reiko. "Tell you what. There's a few other droids around here need some work done on 'em. Help me with them and that one's yours."

"Really? Thanks Turis, that's kind of you." She dragged the medic droid over to the bench, then got to work cutting pieces of sheet metal to repair Yuzu's blasted backplate.

After another twenty minutes they'd finished rebuilding Yuzu. Reiko powered him on. There was a low hum from the new power module and his photoreceptors glowed their familiar yellow-green. Rei helped him to sit while he booted up and ran through his self-diagnostic.

"Good evening, M-mistress Reiko-nagrasha."

"Hello Yuzu. How do you feel?"

"Rather invigorated, I t-think, apart from a fourteen point one three percent degradation in my vocabulator's outp-put processor." He suddenly tilted his head as though remembering something important. "Oh my! I do hope Mistress Lyra will be alright. Did she m-manage to use the anti-theft override code?"

"Yes, Yuzu, she did."

"That's most fortunate. I'd have wanted to scrap my ow-wn circuits if anything had happened to her on my account. And were you and Captain Rendix-nagrasha s-successful in your escape attempt?"

"Yes, thanks to you but it's a long story. I'll tell you later, okay?"

"Of course, Mistress. I quite enjoy a good sto-ory."

"Yuzu, do you remember Turis Archeson? She helped me to rebuild you."

"Of course. Madam Archeson-nagrasha, I'm most grateful for your able assistance. P-please do let me know if I can be of service to you." He slid off the bench and bowed.

She grumbled, "I'll do that... Yuzu." Then to Reiko: "It's late and I've got kids to feed and put to bed." She slipped her tools onto her belt. "Ten hundred tomorrow for droid maintenance." She headed toward the door.

Reiko waved after her. "Sounds great. I'll bring sarna!"