Chapter Text
“Sasha Terrince?” asked a pleasant woman’s voice.
Terrince looked up from his drink and saw the speaker. She wore a robe, and her head was covered by a hood, but that wasn’t uncommon in this part of the galaxy. In fact, it wasn’t uncommon here in the Pit.
The cantina changed names as often as it changed owners, but the residents of Breaktown simply called it The Pit. It was a place for cheap ale and dirty deals, and Sasha was here for both, though the deal he trying to make today wasn’t as dirty as most.
“Yeah, that’s me,” he replied, looking over at the woman’s companion for a moment then returned his gaze to her. “I said I wanted to talk to someone high up.”
The woman looked at her companion and he shook his head. “You’re asking us to take a big risk on scanty intel,” the man told him, brown eyes hard.
“I have what you’re looking for right here,” Terrince snapped back, touching the small data tape laying next to his drink. “But I want to be sure who I’m dealing with.”
The woman placed a hand on the man’s shoulder for a moment, then lowered her hood. She was an attractive young woman with dark red hair and amber brown eyes, and her face had been plastered all over the Eternal Empire for the past year.
“I’m Commander Aryelle Thrace,” she said quietly as she settled herself in a seat across from him, and she gestured to her companion who came to stand at her right shoulder, “This is Theron Shan.”
Terrince pursed his lips in a silent whistle. This wasn’t what he expected, but they’d given him what he’d asked for. Now to see if they were willing to give him the rest of it.
“You’ve been asking around about Zavala Prison,” he said, “I got what you need, but the question is can you meet my price?”
“Half a million credits and a new identity is damned steep,” Shan said. “Pick one or the other.”
“Both, or I walk,” Terrince said flatly, “Vaylin wasn’t especially forgiving before she became Empress, and I ain’t taking any chances.”
“Quarter million now, the rest once we’ve secured the objective, and we get you somewhere far away from Vaylin,” Shan countered as he finally sat.
“Is there anywhere far away from the Eternal Empire right now?” Sasha said then looked at Thrace, “he speak for you?”
“He’s been doing a good job so far,” she said with a slight smile, “the money really isn’t the problem. We have the quarter million waiting at a safe house for you, but it’s not as if we have an identity slicer on staff. I do know of one who might be willing to take the job. Might being the operative word.”
Sasha watched the Commander for a moment trying to decide if she was telling the truth. Even odds she was, considering she’d taken the risk to come out here herself. A part of him wanted to push her, see if she’d go farther than half a million, especially since she seemed personally interested in the data. But the shame he’d been feeling lately stopped him. All he wanted now was a new start.
“You’re not doing this just for the money,” she said suddenly and he jerked upright.
“You reading my mind?” he hissed.
She shook her head, “No, but your emotions are another matter entirely. I can sense the shame in you, the sickness. Something happened.”
Sasha found that he wanted to talk, and he wondered if Thrace was playing with him.
No, she’s not playing you. She just reminds you of the Major.
“There was a woman, a prisoner…” he saw the look on their faces and shook his head, “no, nothing like that. The guards are very careful about the staff fraternization with the prisoners. Didn’t want some garbage collector helping somebody escape.” He grimaced and continued, “They brought her in a few years ago, I don’t know. But she’d do things like take punishment meant for other prisoners, share her rations with the sick. She inspired everybody around her to be better, even though they were stuck in a hole, and the guards hated her for it. After the last beating… I just couldn’t take it anymore.”
“What took you so long?” Shan asked, voice hard.
“She was the enemy, so at the start I figured she had it coming,” he told the other man, “especially when she stepped in between the guards and some poor slob.”
“She stepped in for you, didn’t she?” Thrace asked.
“Yeah,” he said, “she did, and what happened to her I wouldn’t wish on anyone, especially since the beating I would have gotten wouldn’t have been as bad.”
Theron glanced at Aryelle, not really surprised that the guards were beating their own people. Casual brutality wasn’t unexpected from a prison with Zavala’s reputation. A reputation that had been rumor until Terrince confirmed the prison’s existence.
Zavala was the place where Arcann had put political dissidents and prisoners of war who were too important to kill. He’d also kept any number of hostages against some of his own people’s good behavior, which had made the prison a high priority target for the Alliance. That fact hadn’t changed with Vaylin’s ascension to the throne.
“How’d you get the data and get out?”
“There was a lot of confusion when Vaylin took control, and I knew it was going to get worse,” Terrince admitted, “I had access to the structural plans because of my job in sanitation, so I made a copy and stowed away aboard one of the transports back here.”
“You stowed away aboard an Eternal Fleet ship?” Theron asked incredulously.
“The Fleet isn’t used to move large numbers of prisoners,” Terrince replied, “the transports are crewed by humans. I don’t know why. But when the news of the Battle of Odessen hit there was enough confusion I was able to get aboard one.”
“And the name of the woman who inspired all of this?” Aryelle asked.
“Traynor. Major Alyce Traynor.”
Years of training kept the surprise off Theron’s face, but inside he was exultant. They’d been looking for Traynor for most of the past half year with little luck. Theron had almost resigned himself to the fact they’d been chasing a ghost, but now…
“We’ll get you that new identity, Master Terrince,” Aryelle said, her voice calm, but Theron didn’t need their Force bond to know she shared his excitement. She tapped a quick command into the com unit in her gauntlet and another woman appeared out of the crowd. “This is Lyr, she’ll take you to the safe house. You’ll stay there for a day or two and then we’ll bring you to Odessen. You’ll be safe there until we can get that identity doctor, fair?”
Terrince looked at her for a long moment then nodded. “Deal,” he said as he passed the data tape to Aryelle, who immediately slipped it into a pocket of her inner robe. She folded the hood over her head once more then stood. “It’s been a pleasure, Master Terrince. We’ll see you on Odessen.” She nodded to both Terrince and Lyr, then turned and headed for the cantina exit with Theron in lock step.
“Damn.” He said to Aryelle, “I hate to say it, but…”
“…. The Force was with us?” she replied as she gave him a whimsical smile.
“Something like that,” he grinned then sobered. “If she’s still alive.”
“She is.” Aryelle’s voice was filled with certainty. “We didn’t get this far to lose her now.”
“I should have expected something like this,” he said to her, “you were even more stubborn than usual.”
“Truthfully? I didn’t expect this deal to connect to Colonel Traynor, but I just knew Terrince wouldn’t be willing to negotiate with anyone else, no matter what their position in the Alliance was,” she told him as they headed toward the tram and the rendezvous point.
“I just don’t want you to get used to going on ops like this,” he replied, “I know you feel responsible, and you need to be involved, but we need to save you for the big things.”
She sighed and Theron could tell he’d won the point, but he couldn’t blame her for wanting to be out in the field when he felt the itch himself. And it wasn’t if Aryelle was unable to delegate responsibility; she just felt the need to lead from the front, rather than stay at base, where it was safe…
She’s going to give me a heart attack one of these days, Theron told himself wryly even as he felt her take his hand.
“I’ll try to behave, I promise,” she said to him, her eyes warm, “unless you don’t want me too.”
“We’ll discuss that when we get home,” he whispered in her ear as she sighed softly. It always amazed him what he could do to this woman with a few words or a touch.
“I’m looking forward to the conversation,” she replied.