>>5658010“…you want me to cure her? Farren, I’m not even a proper field medic…I’m no Jedi Healer!”
“You’re the best thing we have. Nobody in the Triumvirate was ever trained in the healing arts.”
“I…I can’t promise anything. At the very least, without seeing her-”
“I’m not asking you to bring her back. I’m just asking for you to give one hundred percent of your efforts to try…”
“I owe you that much for saving me. But again…I can’t promise anything.”
“…if you can’t do it, that’s okay. I’ll just…keep on looking for a way to bring her back.”
>>Two weeks later…>>Amagi, Mylar System, Unknown Regions (H-3)Nobody is more surprised than Master Lard when you make your return to Amagi. The instant the <span class="mu-i">Albatross</span> drops out of hyperspace, you dial in the frequency reserved specifically for the Shadows. He picks up almost in an instant.
“What happened?” he demands, going straight to business. “Are you alright?”
You can’t help but smile. His brusqueness and the hiss of the comm doesn’t completely filter or hide his worry. “We’re alright. I’m just back sooner than I expected.”
“What’s the situation?”
“…well, we found the Iron Knights when we got this signal from Kessel…”
>>You give a truncated report of what happened.“…and now I’ve got eight Jedi in the cargo hold…one of whom is drugged to the gills and stewing in a bacta tank.”
To his credit, your master recovers quickly. You can almost see the gears turning his head as he barks: “Get down here ASAP. I’ll call for an emergency meeting of the Triumvirate. Kosa’s almost finished recovering and Aure’s back from the Chiller…”
“Understood.”
“Farren.” Before you cut the connection, Larid interrupts. “…what you’ve done…that took no small amount of courage. Not since the age of the Barsen’thor has such a deed been accomplished by a Shadow.”
The praise leaves you flustered. “I’m only what you’ve made me, master.”
But he shakes his head. “Your mother would have been proud. That’s the kind of thing that Alleana would’ve been all for gate-crashing.”
One landing later finds the Triumvirate and the Conclave gathered and assembled in the bowels of the <span class="mu-i">Boss Bantha</span>. Only this time, Master Aure is present and in attendance. Sporting bandages and a sling from her time on the Chiller, the zabrak appears no less diminished in her hawkish demeanor. Similarly, Master Kosa has made great strides in her recover after her torture at the hands of the Herald. Her cheeks are fuller, and she’s ditched the wheelchair.
The Conclave’s first impression of the Triumvirate is surprise. If they were expecting members of the Grand Council to be in attendance, they are sorely disappointed. But Farr looks on approvingly to Master Larid; Darté bows respectfully to Kosa in solidarity from one general to another; Tsui Choi exchanges a smile with Aure.
(cont.)
