Trylia followed Relsor and Perce onto the flagship at a reluctant pace, feeling saddened. Relsor urged her along as they marched to Relsor’s multi-purpose viewport room. It had really become his main command centre, more efficient than his bridge, well hidden from typical target areas, and thus she knew that any enemy shooting at the flagship would not easily kill its commanding Sith Lord. Even if the bridge were destroyed, Relsor could still have the ship do anything the bridge would have commanded it to do, and he could deploy his shuttle from nearby as well. Trylia took note, just in case.
It felt strange to be back on his ship. She looked around, walking slowly. She expected it would take a few hours before the others found her.
‘You’re going to have to be more pleasant company,’ said Perce.
‘And why is that?’ asked Trylia, affronted.
‘Because we have to tolerate your presence.’
‘Perhaps you must tolerate her presence,’ said Relsor, ‘whereas I relish in it.’
‘It figures you’d say that,’ said Perce, voicing Trylia’s exact thoughts. ‘Make no mistake, though,’ Perce went on, getting right in her face, ‘that if you lie, if you deceive us in any way, we will know, and I will kill you, even if he kills me for it.’ Trylia glared at him. Perce chuckled. ‘Of course, he won’t kill me, because I can’t die.’
Relsor looked at Perce. ‘You can regenerate. There is a difference.’
‘Tisk, tisk, Relsor. Don’t be such a spoilsport.’ Perce looked back at Trylia. ‘Just mark my words.’
‘Are you going to let him talk to me like this?’ she said looking at Relsor.
‘You can’t walk in here, as our prisoner,’ said Perce, ‘and expect to be treated as the perfect little Jedi you think you are. Oh, but you’re not perfect, because the Jedi don’t allow attachments. Yet, you and Shadie, and all your friends, make the exception.’ His voice took a menacing tone. ‘If I have to endure your prissy little whining voice–’
‘Then what?’ Relsor demanded. ‘There’s nothing you can do about it, Perce.’
Perce turned his head towards Relsor. ‘You are testing my endurance.’ He turned back to Trylia. ‘There’s just something about you I don’t like and can’t stand.’
‘Then it’s a good thing you won’t have to stand me for much longer,’ Trylia shot back, mimicking his tone.
Both Relsor and Perce looked at each other. Trylia suddenly realised her mistake and cursed herself for having been goaded into revealing her secrets so readily. She felt her face turn hot.
‘You know,’ said Relsor, ‘there is something quite appealing to me when I see your Togruta face blush. The thing is, I would prefer it to be for different reasons. Now, tell me what you meant by that comment, and,’ he looked at Perce, ‘do not lie, or I just might let him kill you.’
Trylia gulped. She looked at Relsor. ‘There is a tracking device on the hull of your ship.’ She looked down, closing her eyes in shame.
‘Well, well, how interesting,’ said Perce, sneering with pride. ‘This is why you were so willing to sacrifice yourself for poor old Brenum.’
‘Enough!’ Relsor looked at Trylia. He cupped his hand on her chin and lifted it. ‘Is that the only thing on my hull?’
‘As far as I know, yes.’
Relsor backed away. He tapped his comlink. ‘Awgro, command room, now!’ They waited a few moments before the Sith apprentice arrived. ‘Tell me, Awgro, how is it a tracking beacon has made its way onto the hull of my ship and I didn’t hear anything about it?’
‘I was not aware there was any such device on the hull,’ replied Awgro slickly. ‘A Republic envoy flew by the ship, it was a quick flyby and then they were back in hyperspace before I could shoot them down. You were briefed on this.’ He paused. Relsor kept staring at him. ‘Nothing showed up on the scans.’
‘Then I know exactly where it is.’ Relsor stood taller. ‘Awgro, arrange that meeting with the Dark Council. Perce, the ship is yours. Trylia, you and I are going for a walk…on the ship’s hull.’
‘Me?’
‘Yes. Your Republic, your responsibility to help me find the tracking device.’
‘But you said you knew where it was!’
‘I did. And you’re going to assist me.’ Relsor turned and began at a quick pace. ‘Come on, we’ve no time to waste.’
* * *
Brenum waited impatiently for the signal to come in through the channel, for the system to translate its location in coordinates, so that he could punch in the codes and go after Trylia. Everyone was standing by, as the freighter sat on the Crypt’s surface, and the tension could be felt in the Force.
Talyc looked like he was trying to find something to say, but every time he took a breath and opened his mouth, he closed it again. Fane put a hand on Brenum’s shoulder. Knarf and Shadie looked sombre. They’d been whispering earlier but had since stopped.
‘I don’t think that’s what it was,’ said Knarf, breaking the silence, perhaps continuing the earlier conversation.
‘Do you not feel it?’ said Shadie. ‘She wanted to have it. I didn’t sense it at the time, but… The way she looked at me before departing with Relsor… She took it for him. Now Relsor’s going to know what’s on there, not us.’
‘What we sensed earlier in the Force,’ said Fane, ‘felt like Relsor pulsing and reaching out, spreading, but it is possible he was also trying to somehow influence Trylia. I had my mind preoccupied with worry for Talyc and I did not detect it.’
‘And I was worried about you and Knarf,’ replied Shadie.
‘And I worried for you, my love,’ said Knarf.
‘Yeah, well, I was worrying only about Trylia and I still didn’t sense anything, so that doesn’t help us now,’ said Brenum.
‘Do you trust Trylia?’ asked Usharr, looking at Shadie. Brenum stared at the old man. Shadie nodded. ‘Then do you not trust that she will find a way to also find out what is on the datapad and relay the information to us? Do you not trust that she will await our arrival to attempt a rescue?’ Shadie nodded again. Usharr looked at Brenum. ‘Do you not trust her love for you?’
Brenum shook his head. ‘I do not trust that her compassion for Relsor will not betray her.’ Usharr smiled sympathetically, nodding.
Finally, the signal came through. Brenum lifted the ship off the rock, sending a quick message via comlink to Lian. According to the data, Relsor’s ship had made several jumps already, but the tracker showed his current location. He punched in the coordinates and the ship was off.
* * *
Relsor and Trylia returned from their walk out on the hull. Relsor held the tracking device in his hand. It was definitely of Republic-make. A small amber light flickered, indicating the signal was being tracked. Relsor knew he could not trust anyone but himself to complete the job, so he marched to the escape pods, Trylia always following behind him, and threw the tracker in one of them and let it escape its hatch. Then he and Trylia walked back to the command room.
Perce looked up looking curious. ‘And so?’
‘We found the tracker and I’ve sent it out in an escape pod. Someone was already tracking its signal, if they haven’t already left to find us.’ Relsor sat down in his command chair and punched in some coordinates. He felt the ship jump into hyperspace. He sighed. ‘There, now they can’t track us anymore.’
‘And how was the walk on the hull?’ inquired Perce.
‘Boring,’ Relsor replied dryly.
‘Boring?’ a shocked Trylia exclaimed.
‘You kept complaining and you were very poor company!’ said Relsor. ‘The repetition was boring. Shadie’s been rubbing off on you.’
‘Oh!’ Trylia looked affronted.
‘Good thing Shadie isn’t here to hear you say that,’ said Perce, chuckling.
‘Now, I hope you’ll be at your best behaviour once we touch down on Dromund Kaas,’ said Relsor. ‘I expect you to be at my side.’
‘Wait, you want me to enter the Dark Council chamber with you?’
‘Yes. Now, let’s find you some more fitting clothes to wear.’ Relsor sized her up and down. ‘We can’t have you looking like a Jedi when you’re with me passing as my acolyte.’
Trylia rolled her eyes. ‘No, I suppose not.’ Perce chuckled, and Relsor sensed his amusement. Trylia rolled her eyes again.
‘Awgro,’ said Relsor. The Sith stepped forward from the corner where he stood. ‘You’ll be accompanying me as well, as my Ambassador for the Dark Council.’
‘I am honoured.’ Awgro smiled and bowed, then left to get ready. What the young Sith didn’t know, was that Relsor planned to drop him off on Dromund Kaas and leave him there. He had failed him; he did not need him anymore. He wouldn’t kill him though; given what he knew about Awgro, he wanted to keep him alive perchance he might need him again. So for now he would give him back to the Dark Council.
* * *
The Krayt Dragon came out of hyperspace to empty realspace.
‘Where’s the ship?’ demanded Brenum.
Shadie looked at the data coming in from the tracker. ‘According to this, we’re right on top of it.’
‘Have they jumped to hyperspace and the tracker hasn’t translated the data yet?’ asked Fane.
‘No,’ said Talyc. He pointed at a small blip he saw out the viewport. ‘It’s in that escape pod out there. Typical tactic, but efficient.’ Brenum seemed to glare at Talyc. ‘What? Mandos do get tracked sometimes too.’
Shadie sighed. ‘I might have known.’
‘Why would she tell him?’ said Brenum. ‘Why would she do this? She knows we can’t find her now.’
‘Maybe it was to garner some trust?’ suggested Shadie. Talyc nodded and voiced his agreement. He knew as well as Shadie that their friend would not give away such information without reason.
‘Maybe he detected a lie and prodded it out of her,’ said Talyc. Brenum glared at him again, this time with significantly more anger. ‘Sorry. I just know what tactics he can use to get information out of someone.’
Brenum’s glare turned into worry. ‘You don’t think Perce used his technique to reach into her mind, do you?’
Talyc felt dread. He remembered what it felt like while Perce was in his mind, the pain, the torment; he remembered what it felt like afterwards. ‘It was a pain I had never known before and one I cannot find words to describe. But I am not a Force-user, nor Force-sensitive, and I do not possess the power from the Crypt or a connection to Lian and his healing abilities. If Perce has done this to Trylia, she will have the resources to shield herself from whatever I could not shield myself from.’
Brenum nodded. ‘You’re right. Besides, I would have felt it.’
There was a long pause and everyone remained silent.
‘Well,’ said Knarf, ‘shall we collect the tracker?’
‘What’s the point?’ said Brenum. ‘She’s gone.’
‘Maybe,’ said Talyc, ‘but you never collected hidden data with Bes’laar the slicer before, have you?’ Everyone turned to Talyc. ‘Back when Knarf was pretending to be dead and being trained by the best Mandalorian in Clan Kandera, well aside from Kelbourn,’ Talyc felt a humble sort of pride as he chuckled to himself, ‘Knarf here and I collected a tracking device and sliced into it, gathering signature information from it.’
‘That’s right,’ said Knarf. ‘It might not tell us where she is now, but it will alert us to Relsor’s jump patterns and perhaps clue us in as to where he hides his armada.’
Talyc thought he saw hope in Brenum’s eyes.
‘Then let’s get on with it,’ the Jedi said. Everyone turnedand started towards the hatch. Brenum took hold of Talyc’s arm. ‘Thank you,’ he said softly. Talyc smiled. ‘I appreciate you following us and helping us and facing Relsor again and again. Anyone else would run light-years away after what you went through.’
‘I’m the Clan Leader, Brenum,’ said Talyc. ‘They’ll have to kill me in order to stop me from being there for my clan and jumping into the fray with them.’
Brenum smiled a genuine smile this time. Talyc motioned his head towards the accessway and the two men joined the others.
“Secrets from the Past” is written by Celinka Serre (2022).
Disclaimer: The Characters in this Fan-Fiction are new and have original names. The story is an original written work. The story is derivative and consistent of Fan-Fiction since it borrows the franchise world of Star Wars. Certain jargon and places, or concepts mentioned, along with the SW Old Republic universe belong to Lucasfilm Ltd. and Disney. No characters or story lines from the films are used. No story lines or characters from the games or books are used. A handful of characters from the games may be referenced, but are not the main focus in this fanfic story. This fan-fiction story falls under Fair Use.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
You might also enjoy other SWTOR fanfics, Dragon Age Fan-Fiction short stories, Mass Effect Fan-Fiction, or Stardust Destinies the High Fantasy Fiction series.
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