CC: The Crimson Covenant

[Syren]

Corporate Sector

D'ian System

After school, Dahlia returns to the Gellar Estate. Dane is at practice and Gemma at rehearsal. The day had gone better than expected. Not only had Trichelle fallen victim to her manipulations through the Force but her entire clique as well. They took a bit of convincing but in the end, they crowded Dahlia their queen. Popular is putting it lightly. The social end-all, be-all is now Dahlia Gellar.

Muriel Monroe is her right hand. Kier Kincaid, the enforcer. Tobias Harkan serves as jester. Trichelle Corinthos, the humbled servant. Her clique, a virtual cadre of ladies and gentlemen in waiting, eager to appease the new queen, now belongs to her. Dahlia rather likes this new social order she has created for herself. After all, what good is power if you never use it? As she witnessed those around her bicker and conspire over the years, she shrugged it off as idiotic nonsense. She was happy with her lone friend and their imaginative life. Through her recent experiences, however, Dahlia has come to realize that inaction does not best serve her, her family or her friends. If the ultimate endgame of Valor Prep, the Concordia Township and, by a much larger extension, the Corporate Sector itself, is to rule then it was high time she got off the sidelines and into the game. Her mother had made many striking and valid points. Those who capitalize on opportunity are the ones who succeed. To do so, reputation and standing must be acquired and strictly controlled. Once she squared away the social obstacles, designated roles and aligned the troops, there needed to be a plan of action.

The first order of business was to issue a cease and desist to all references to father's dealings, both home and abroad, and extend protection from the upperclassmen to Dane and Gemma. Mention of the Gellar-Masterton affairs would be declared social suicide. Satisfied with herself, Dahlia finished off the day on a terrifying high note.

On her way through the house, she waves to Kylie who is busy organizing dinner, before heading up to her room. The silence is magnificent. She sets her purse on the vanity and smiles at herself in the giant mirror. Smugness looks good on her. She is quite stunned that her powers had such range. It conjures up questions as to what else she can do. Now she knows why her mother had been so cautious about it when teaching her the ways of the Force. More of an instructional overview really. The fundamentals. The telekinetic progress had been made entirely on her own through excruciating practice. She could barely nudge a piece of paper when she was little. Now she can levitate her entire bedroom set without even blinking. While that proved amusing and possibly advantageous in certain situations, feeling out and connecting to others through the Force was so much more thrilling. The things people thought seldom matched what they said and she could live with that as long as she had a way of skewing the odds in her favor. Thoughts could be overruled or erased. The prospects and temptation are not lost on her but she remembers what she was taught. There are two sides to everything. The dark and the light. Going too far in one direction or the other had consequences.

The flash is sudden, filling her vision with a blinding light as she gasps.

She stands before a hideous monster in an empty corridor. It taunts her, speaking of abominations and The Four. It knows her. Knows them. Gemma, Dane and Riley. It called him the forth. And she fights the monster in ways she did not know she was capable of, moving with the skill of a trained assassin, possessed by something much darker than fear.

Dahlia reels back, crashing into the closet doors. She coughs, trying to restore a breath she cannot seem to catch.

The monster turns to ash and she smiles faintly with eyes pooled in pure blackness.

She stumbles forward, crawling up onto her bed. Her heart is pounding beneath her chest. She pulls off her cardigan, brow lined with sweat. Her face is flushed a color that almost matches her hair.

Chandaar.

The arcade.

Dane and Riley playing games.

The monster that almost abducted Gemma.

A monster she stayed behind to destroy.

It all comes flooding back.

Dahlia turns, seeing her reflection has changed. The girl in the mirror has much shorter crimson hair, cut unevenly and hanging sharply across her left eye. She wears no cosmetics and a black jumpsuit with the Imperial wheel stamped in white above her breast. She is still beautiful despite obvious efforts to conceal it and wears a menacing sneer as she whispers harshly.

"It's what you don't know that matters the most."

With a light head, the room begins to spin and Dahlia collapses.


-TBC

[Syren]

Corporate Sector

D'ian System

Down the hall, as Gemma places a frantic call to their father on Chandaar, Dane Gellar slumbers in his bed with an arm draped over the side. The day had been long and practice was grueling. He had fallen asleep almost immediately after dinner, a dinner that Dahlia declined to join them for. She had claimed illness but Dane had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with the sudden shift in social politics at Valor Prep.

In his dreams, Dane is standing in the Gellar Estate, moving toward the beam of light emanating from beneath the door of his father's study. He hesitates at the door before slipping inside. Across the room, standing in front of the portrait of Valerie Gellar, is a dark haired woman.

"I was so beautiful, wasn't I?"

Dane takes a defensive stance, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

The woman turns, revealing the face in the portrait. Dane's fists drop to his side.

"You...you can't be."

"What?" Valerie says. "Alive? Relax, kiddo. I'm not."

"Then how can you...?"

"Be here? In mind your mind? Tricky thing, the subconscious. Besides, my tragic and selfless death bought me a favor or two on the other side. I am bound to you as they are bound to the others. Think of me as sort of a sexy spiritual guide."

Dane cringes, "But we're related."

"True, your father is my grandfather. My mother was your half sister making me your half niece. Confused yet? Allow me to simply things for you, D. Our families, rather the families of The Four, will always be connected. And even though you don't want to believe it, deep down you know it's true."

"Connected how?"

Valerie pushes her dark hair over her shoulder and adjusts the ascot tied around her neck before focusing those intense olive colored eyes on him.

"You are still young but you will not be afforded the pleasure of the perpetual guessing game we all played for so much of our adolescence. It wasn't that fun anyway so you aren't really missing out. We didn't know how deep the ties between our families actually were until it was much too late. All that conspiring and cajoling only to be abandoned and left to our own dazzling devices. I never knew my mother or my grandfather even existed, never knew I had a real family waiting for me in the Corporate Sector the whole time."

She moves closer to him.

"You see, we were manipulated in ways I cannot even begin to explain."

"By who?"
 
"If I didn't know better, I would say Rutherford Gellar. He is, after all, the one who let me go. But as much as it pains me to admit it, he wasn't at fault. Not entirely anyway. It was Alexander Winton who blackmailed him. My father, my real father, was a Corellian Major named Kyri Patten."

Dane frowns, recalling the articles he and Gemma had read.

"Kimber's father."

"Yes," she says slyly. "My half sister. In order to fulfill some cockamamie prophecy, I had to be taken from the Gellar's and raised beside the Patten's. The Major got to have his cake and eat it too. The affair with my mother never touched his relationship with his wife, thanks to Winton's scheming. However, that came back to bite him in the ass much later. The moral of the story? When it comes to the Winton's, no one is safe."

"I thought the Winton's were dead."

"That's what your parents told you."
 
Dane nods, "It's true isn't it?"

"I suppose that depends on how you look at it."

"And how should I be looking at it?"

Valerie smirks, "You are clever, Dane. You are a Gellar. By now you realize you and your sister are very special. We were special too, you know. All four of us. Some were given more praises than others but, as it turned out, we all had critical roles to play. The sinner, the savior, the sacrifice and the leverage. Always four. Only four. The agony and the ecstasy of being part of the main cast. Don't fret, the series regular's and supporting cast didn't fare much better."

"Four..." Dane says, shaking his head. "Gemma has nightmares. Nightmares about monsters and a boy named Riley Tacofer who is called the forth."

"Tacofer, huh? I once knew a do-gooder by that name."
 
"His aunt, Mara, is the Federation Ambassador."

Valerie arches a brow.

"I'll bet she is."

"You sound like you don't believe me."

"You don't believe yourself. Come on, Dane. Your sisters pesky powers have pointed you in a much different direction."
 
He crosses his arms.

"Gemma thinks Riley could actually be Kimber Patten's son but that's impossible. They exploded on the Centerpoint Station."

"So did a lot of people, honey."

"There is no way they could have made it out."

"Who says they did?"

"So, just the baby? Someone would had to have taken him."

"Maker knows he couldn't fly himself out of there. Kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it? Who was the baby saving hero?"
 
"I don't know," Dane says. "You seem to be so smart, you tell me."

"You know much more than you think you do, Dane. If you are a Gellar, Gemma is a Masterton and Riley is a Patten, what's missing from that equation?"

Dane considers it, piecing together the information they had gathered.

"Winton. Winton is missing."

"Except it's not. We all have those that have taken our places. The legacy that lives on in others. If you want to prevent the past from repeating itself, you must arm yourselves with the knowledge that can keep you all safe. I tried to be the hero once, to save my sister by sacrificing myself."

Valerie steps back, pulling off the ascot to reveal a thick, dark bruise running like a band across her throat.

"But I didn't know the whole story and she perished anyway. We all did. You have the advantage here, to use what came before to spare everyone the horrors we faced. The things your sister sees are real. Heed those warnings. Trust in her intuition. Melanie knew as Gemma does. Not every monster appears as such on the surface."

"What do you mean?"

Valerie runs a hand slowly along her neck and up over her cheek.

"Beware the enemy with my face."

The study caves in on itself and Valerie disappears and he struggles against it, sitting upright to find Gemma tugging on his arm.

"Dane! Dane!"

"Wha? Gemma? What happened?"

"You were mumbling in your sleep," she says, worried. "Are you okay?"

Dane clutches the sheet, staring at his sister's frightened face.

"No," he says. "We are not okay."


-TBC

[Syren]

Corporate Sector

D'ian System

At Gemma's gentle urging, Dane confesses the interaction and warning from the late Valerie Gellar in his dream. It had felt so real and he is surprisingly able to retain and recall the verbal exchange to the letter. Most dreams fade once the person is awake but this clings to him like a heavy fog. He is understandably upset and it takes several minutes for him to get it all out. Gemma listens carefully before telling him about Melanie's nocturnal visit. Dane stares at her in disbelief, unable to make sense of what has happened.

"The warning," Gemma says.

"What about it?"

"A fallen friend. An enemy with a familiar face. Don't you see?"

"No, Gem. I don't.

"The the enemy will look like Valerie Gellar. She is the fallen friend. Those articles we read stated that she died almost two years before the others. She was the first of The Four to fall. I have to tell dad that's what he must look for."

Dane shakes his head, "But she's dead. They're all dead. How can you, Riley and I be in danger from someone who isn't even alive?"

"I don't know..."

"Valerie told me we were bound to each other. She to me as Melanie is to you. If what you believe about Riley is true then that means Kimber is bound to him."

Gemma swallows hard, "And Karen to Dahlia."

"No," he hisses. "She is not a Winton. There is no way."

"Are you sure?"

Always four. Only four.
She is not who you think she is.

Dane does not want to believe it because it would mean something he cannot yet understand. It would mean their parents had lied, that they were raising a daughter from one of the most dangerous families in galactic history. But he cannot deny certain things. Her face, the image of Karen on the screen, Valerie's playful evasion in his dream, Dahlia's natural ability to deceive.

"Not anymore. Not of anything."

Gemma is about to speak when Dahlia appears in the doorway. They both nearly jump out of their skins.

"What are you two doing awake?"

"Gemma had a nightmare," Dane says quickly.

Gemma nods.

Dahlia looks around suspiciously, "More monsters?"

"No," Gemma says. "Why?"

There is an excruciatingly long pause as Dahlia contemplates the best way to phrase what she needs to ask. The long and short of it is probably best.

"What happened on Chandaar?"

Dane and Gemma exchange glances.

"You don't remember?"

"No, not at first but now I'm starting to remember...things."

"What kinds of things?"

Dahlia moves closer to the bed hesitantly, trying to keep herself from freaking out.

"Something tried to take you and there was that creature...that monster in the corridor. The same monster you described from your nightmares. The charred flesh, those fangs. It called Riley the forth, the term you used for him before you knew his name. I told the three of you to leave and it spoke to me. It told me things...that we weren't safe...that it would never let us be the balance."

Dane and Gemma grip the covers up to their chins, as if they were listening to a ghost story. ? 

"Then what did you do?"

On the verge of tears, Dahlia inhales sharply.

"Then I..."

She trails off, voice cracking.
 
"I think I killed it."


-TBC

[Syren]

Corporate Sector

D'ian System: Surface: Concordia Township

The morning does not bring the kind of peace the children had hoped for. After their discussion, they had gone their separate ways uncertain of the next move. Kylie is bustling around early, getting them up and ready for school. In the kitchen, Celeste casually sips a glass of juice as she watches each of them carefully. There is an anxious vibe in the Gellar Estate today and she may know why.

Dahlia and Dane collect their supplies and head out to the transport but Celeste asks Gemma to stay behind.

"I received a message from your father on Chandaar. Care to fill me in?"

She blinks those wide blue eyes, feeling somewhat trapped.

"I had a dream and called daddy about it."

"So I hear," Celeste says, kneeling down in front of her. "You think Riley is in danger?"

She nods, "Yes. He is."

"How do you know?"

"Dad didn't tell you?"

"No," Celeste says. "He thought it would be better if you told me yourself."

She hesitates, face tightening.

"You know you can tell me anything, Gemma. I'm always here to listen and support you."

"I know but..."

"But what?"

"I don't want you to be sad."

Celeste touches the side of her face gently, a reassuring gesture.

"Why would I be sad? I'm worried about you."

"Because...Melanie is the one who warned me Riley is in danger. She came to me in my dream, in a meadow with pretty white flowers, and she told me she wished she could have met me. She told me people were coming for Riley and that I had to warn him and then warn Dane because they may come for us too. She said these people will have the face of a fallen friend and I think that friend is Valerie Gellar."

Celeste finds herself clutching Gemma's arm to support herself, blown away by this unexpected revelation.

"How do you know they will look like Valerie?"

Gemma grows very serious, voice dropping to a whisper.

"Because Valerie told him. Dane had a dream too."

Celeste's mouth drops open. It is shock not doubt that courses through her body. She knows how powerful the Force can be and it would not be completely implausible for Melanie to reach out to Gemma in one way or another but for Valerie to appear to Dane is something she can barely wrap her mind around. She pulls Gemma close, holding her tightly.

"Oh, darling. Is that all she told you?"

"No, she wanted me to tell you something too."

Celeste pulls back, staring intently into her daughters face.

"Melanie said she understands and forgives you. She said you would know what that means."

Celeste's eyes blur with tears she cannot contain.

"I'm so sorry, I knew it would make you sad."

"Not at all. You've made me very happy."

"I have?"

"Yes," Celeste says, taking Gemma's hands in her own. "I've lived a long time wondering about certain things Melanie knew. Things I was not able to tell her myself. Now those questions have been answered, thanks to you. Now, you have a good day at school. We can talk more about this later if you would like."

She kisses Gemma softly and sends her out through the door. Celeste watches her climb into the hoverlimo and smiles as it pulls away from the Estate and heads down the road. She moves through the house quickly and shuts the door to her office, falling into the chair as she stares at the picture of Melanie on her desk. In it, her firstborn is laughing at a lame joke Henrick had told. That was the last time they saw Melanie in person. It would be the last time they saw her alive. Celeste breaks down into tears, sobbing loudly into her hands. So many times she had asked herself if Melanie knew they were being kept away from them against their will. She had ached with the knowledge that Melanie had most likely felt abandoned much like her friends. And that was the point. Strip away everything until all they had left were each other. If they stayed together, they would survive. That's what Alexander Winton kept telling them even after they pleaded to return to the Core. They had believed him because after Alexia tore through North Coruscant High, they had survived but they had suffered greatly.
For years, Celeste twisted herself over the apologies she never made. The inaction and misplaced belief that cost them everything. But the forgiveness she thought she had no right to ask for had been given freely through Melanie's ghost and for that, Lady Celeste Masterton is eternally grateful.

*

Surface: Valor Prep

From the moment they step out of the limo, it is like an entirely new world. People wave and greet them as if their arrival has made their day complete. Some shout Dahlia's name at a fevered pitch as others clamor around her. Kier Kincaid steps in to usher the crowds away as Muriel Monroe and Tobias Harkan fall into step beside her followed by a handful of the most popular kids at school including Trichelle Corinthos and her cohorts. Dahlia gives Dane and Gemma a light squeeze before disappearing into her entourage.

They stand there completely mystified.

Alka Dawning, Preston Dyre and Roman Nash approach them, throwing glances back at the fading spectacle.

"What the heck was that about?"

"Beats me," Dane says.

Preston shakes his head, "People are acting very strange today."

"No kidding," Roman says. "That was insane. I thought Trichelle Corinthos hated your sister."

"Apparently not anymore."

Two upperclassmen appear seemingly out of nowhere.

"We're here to escort you to class."

Dane laughs, "We know where to go."

"But Dahlia has commanded it."

"She...what?"

"Dahlia commanded it so it will be done."

Alka arches a brow, "Since when do seniors take orders from someone in junior high?"

"Since she said we do. This way, please."

Speechless, Dane and Gemma follow while their friends watch on in confusion.


-TBC

[Syren]

Corporate Sector

D'ian System

On a day in between meetings and business deals, Vex Sienna makes a stop in the Concordia Township to have lunch with Kylie Miranda. Despite the ominous warnings from his colleague on Byss, Vex cannot deny the happiness Kylie brings him. Their relationship had deepened as the weeks passed and he cared less and less about infiltrating Gellar's world than he did about getting to know more about the amazing person Kylie is. It had been some time since he had any kind of meaningful relationship that did not involve Imperial affairs and although he did not want to place her in any danger, he could not resist seeing her.

Kylie is waiting for him at the Tables bistro, chatting with the hostess. She smiles when he appears, exchanging a knowing glance with the hostess before moving toward him. He kisses her softly, lingering slightly since it had been almost two weeks since they had been together. She is more traditional and prefers to take things slow, something he used to loathe in women but now seems rather endearing. She is a woman of principle and substance which, at times, made him wonder what she saw in him. He was, after all, the Imperial liaison to the Corporate Sector. These fact do not seem to bother her much and she strays from lines of questioning that would put him in an uncomfortable position. She knows enough to satisfy her curiosity and ease her apprehension. The Sector and Empire had always done business together. They had done business with almost everyone. Profit, not faction loyalty, is what matters most.

At their table, she orders a mineral water. He laughs.

"No cocktail this afternoon?"

She shakes her head, "Not today. I have to return to the Gellar Estate when the children come home from school. Then, it's homework, dinner and bed times."

He signals for an ale.

"Aren't they a bit old for a nanny?"

"Perhaps but I like to think of myself as more of a parental assistant. My duties are not strictly limited to the children but they do take up a fair amount of my time."

"I see. And I take it the Gellar-Masterton's aren't hands-on parents?"

"Quite the contrary," Kylie says. "They are the most involved parents of those I've seen in Concordia but they both have full time careers. Lord Gellar must travel and Lady Masterton has clients to see. That's where I come in. I've always been a part of their lives so the children regard me as more of a big sister than a person their parents employ."

"You are amazing," Vex says. "Have I told you that lately?"
 
"Yes but I never tire of hearing it. What have you been up to?"

"Oh, you know, business as usual. The Direx Board meetings are like an endless screaming match about bottom lines and Sector integrity. It puts a strain on the ears but I would be lying if I said it wasn't amusing to watch."
 
"And any luck on finding a residence to your liking?"

"Unfortunately not. My apartment in Mondder will have to do for now."

"It is a lovely place. You have impeccable taste..."

"For a guy?"

"For an Imperial," she says, grinning. "Although I must admit I'm not surprised. The Empire has always held a fondness for clean lines."

"I like things neat."

"I like you."

Vex holds eye contact, feeling flushed.

"I like you too."

They make small talk over lunch, catching up on the events of the past few weeks. Too soon, it is time to leave. He pays for the meal and she allows him to give her a ride on his speeder back to the Gellar Estate. The weather has become brisk and he would feel terrible if she had to walk. In front of the massive house, he kisses her again as they stand on the front steps. A black hoverlimo roars toward them and stops in front of the house. The driver exits and opens the door as a dark haired boy and a blond girl step out and wave demurely at Kylie. She smiles, returning the gesture.

"Your wards?"

She nods, "Two of them, anyway. Dane and Gemma."

The redhead steps out of the limo in almost a practiced manner, removing the large oval sunglasses while hefting a designer book bag over her shoulder. She throws a glance Kylie's way before checking out Vex.

"He's cute, miss Miranda. I'm impressed."

"Thank you, Dahlia. I'll be inside in a moment."

The girl nods and disappears into the house.

Suddenly, Vex is feeling very woozy. The face, framed in a way he remembers. Those emerald eyes glinting in the fading afternoon sunlight. Even the voice, so nuanced but without the Coruscanti accent. Memories flood back from the past.

Kylie turns, frowning.

"What's wrong? You're as white as a sheet."

He clears his throat, "Nothing, I'm fine. Maybe I should have skipped the ale this afternoon."

"Do you need some water? I could..."

"No, it's alright. I'll be okay. I really must be getting back now. As always, it was lovely to see you."

He kisses her again quickly before hopping back on his speeder and riding away. Kylie is worried but there are duties she must perform. She turns on her heels and strides up the steps and into the house.

In a window above the main patio, Lady Celeste Masterton watches the speeder vanish into the distance with grave concern.

*

Etti IV

Hours later, Vex returns to his apartment and moves steadily through the living room and into his bedroom. He opens a dresser drawer and pushes aside the undergarments to find the picture. He had taken it off his dresser when he began seeing Kylie. He did not want her to think he was carrying a torch for anyone. It had been extinguished by Kylie's charm.

Now, he had good reason to retrieve it.

The picture of Vex and Karen Winton on Imperial Beach seals something for him he was hoping could never be possible. He was hoping it was merely a coincidence or even a slight resemblance that triggered the reaction. Staring at the picture he knows that is not true. Karen and that girl, Dahlia, are nearly identical. He struggles to understand how that could even be possible.

Karen Winton only had one sibling, her sister Alexia. He had had the displeasure of being in her company for a year at the Carida Academy before she was pulled out of the program by the Emperor himself. That is not a year he cared to relive in any way, shape or form. Alexia Winton was an extremely dangerous sociopath who's Force rampages often critically injured or killed other students. A good friend of his from North Coruscant, Blake Tyderian, had been murdered in a training exercise involving Alexia. Commander Graves had reported it as an accident but Vex suspected something more. After Burke Pallus was injured in another training "accident," his informal investigation lead him to the conclusion that over ninety-eight percent of incidents that occurred that year involved Alexia Winton. With the safety of the cadets in his troop in mind, Vex reassigned Mod Navris, Elam Kennick, Yon Reverand, and Kel Morrison to another squadron until Alexia was removed from the Academy. He may have saved them in the short term but they would all meet their ends in one way or another attached to The Four.

A part of him wonders why he made it out alive when everyone else who crossed their paths perished in some horrific way. In fact, he not only survived but went on to have a successful career with the Imperial navy until he was offered this position without ever actually applying for it. The new Emperor had ordered him to oversee Imperial interests in the Corporate Sector and until now, he assumed that's all it was. Rutherford Gellar was just one of many names on a list who controlled companies that were of interest to the Empire. Granted, he shared a private school past with Valerie which could be used as an in to Gellar's favor and falling for Kylie Miranda was certainly unexpected but something more sinister casts a shadow over his current position. A shadow caused by a girl named Dahlia. The girl with Karen's face. Aside from Alexia, there were no other Winton's. Both Alexia and Karen are dead and have been for years.

Who is this girl and what the hell is she doing in the Corporate Sector?


-TBC

[Syren]

Corporate Sector

D'ian System

Once dinner has been cleared and the children upstairs in bed, Kylie Miranda pours herself a half glass of wine. The kitchen has been spotlessly cleaned by the service droids and she admires the attention to detail. She turns around to find Celeste standing on the other side of the kitchen island.

"Lady Masterton," she says. "You startled me."

"I do apologize, Kylie. Are the children asleep?"

"Dane and Gemma should be drifting off about now. Dahlia needs to finish up some work on a project so I allowed a half hour longer to do so."

"That's good to hear."

"Is there anything else you need before I retire for the evening?"

Celeste nods, "There is something I would like to speak with you about."

"Of course, what can I help you with?"

"The man you brought here this afternoon. Who is he?"

"Someone I have been seeing. I promise it will not interfere with my duties, if that is what concerns you."

"What concerns me," Celeste says. "Is the fact that you would bring a representative of the Galactic Empire to our doorstep. You know what is at stake, what we have to hide, especially from them. The Empire used Alexia for their own sinister purposes and Karen died at the threshold of the throne. I promised Monica I would never let that happen to Dahlia."

Kylie sets down her glass, "I understand that and I would never do anything to put this family at risk. He is a businessman, someone who secures contracts and supplies."

"That is what he may want you to believe."

"I'm not following..."

Celeste narrows her gaze. She does not intend to be cruel as Kylie has long been considered part of their family but on this, there can be no tolerance.

"Follow me into the past for a moment. His name is Vex Sienna, former captain of the North Coruscant Crusader's Chin-Bret team. He was a class above my daughter and her friends and dated a young girl named Tenley Price who disappeared at their sixteenth birthday party. He was briefly linked to Karen Winton which explains his reaction this afternoon after seeing Dahlia."

Kylie's mouth falls open.

Celeste continues.

"I may be getting older but my memory has always been clear. I would recognize him anywhere, even after all these years, since his face appeared in almost every circulatory newsletter that was released from North Coruscant. I've been told he's made inquiries about potential contracts with ChemiX, most notably, the Force vaccine. Now, he may just be following orders but over the years I've become less of a believer in coincidence and more prone to accept things that are right in front of me."

Kylie is on the verge of tears, completely crushed.

"You think he was sent here, that he's using me to get to Dahlia?"

"No," Celeste says. "By the look of shock on his face I don't think he was at all prepared for that. And while he may not have known his true purpose, it would not be implausible that others may have positioned him to discover it."

"What will you have me do?"

"You will end it. Immediately. Tell him you know who he is, about his link to our family and that you feel it is a betrayal that he would use you and exploit his connection to Valerie in order to secure Imperial contracts with ChemiX. That's mixing business with pleasure and highly unprofessional. There will be no mention of Karen or her connection to Dahlia and any reference he makes will be thwarted. Is that clear, miss Miranda?"

Kylie swallows hard.

"As you wish, Lady Masterton."

As Kylie flees the kitchen, leaving Celeste to reflect in silence, Dahlia presses her back against the wall just around the corner. She had crept down for a glass of water but paused when she heard them talking. She had heard enough to know her suspicions were true. Enough to finally confront her mother about who she actually is. Could it really be true? Could she be the last Winton? Were these people, Rutherford and Celeste, not actually her parents at all but adoptive guardians to shield her from the fate of her sisters? The words of the monster on Chandaar now come into a frighteningly clarity.

"What abominations?"
"Those which your sisters created, of course. Such chaos and destruction. So many lives lost to their whims. Lives tied to the four names written upon the forehead of the beast and tied to a destiny from which there is no escape."

Dahlia clamps her hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming and, pushing off from the wall, disappears back upstairs to her room.


-TBC

[Syren]

Corporate Sector

D'ian System: Surface: Concordia Township

The school day drags on into the crisp late fall afternoon. They were on the cusp of winter and jackets were now required over their uniforms. Dahlia waves goodbye to Muriel, Kier and Tobias before sliding into the hoverlimo idling at the curb. With Dane at practice and Gemma at rehearsal, she would have plenty of time alone with the woman pretending to be her mother.
 
At the Gellar Estate, Kylie Miranda bundles up to meet Vex Sienna after placing an urgent call for him to return to D'ian. She passes the limo as she heads away from the property, focusing on the task at hand with a heavy heart.

Dahlia stalks up the front steps and enters the house, Celeste calling out to her from the sitting room. She changes direction and drops her book bag on the floor. Celeste stares at her curiously as Dahlia attempts to keep herself from unloading.

"We have to talk."

"Of course, darling. What is it?"

"I need you to be completely honest with me."

"Always."

"Always? Really? Somehow I don't think that's true."

Celeste rises from the couch, her face creased with concern.

"Dahlia, what's going on here? Why does it feel like you are accusing me of something?"

"I'm not yours, am I?"

"What are you talking about?"

Dahlia narrows those emerald eyes.

"You know exactly what I mean. I'm not yours, not biologically. I'm not a Masterton or a Gellar. I'm not even really a Greyson. Not entirely, anyway. You know as well as I do that I'm a Winton."

A cold rush of fear passes through Celeste as she is now confronted with the very conversation she had been dreading since she first arrived in the Sector with an infant that belonged to her best friend, Maker rest her soul. Her voice becomes shaky, uneven.

"Who told you that?"

"You did. Last night when you were talking to Kylie about her Imperial boyfriend."

"You were eavesdropping? I didn't feel you."

"Oh," Dahlia says. "Through the Force, you mean? That's because of that stupid vaccine we started taking again. It may shield us from others but you forget it does the same for you too. It works both ways!"

"I'm aware of what it does."

"I don't hear a denial anywhere in there."

Celeste's lip trembles, "And you won't. I can't."

"So...it's true?"

"Yes, it's true."

There is a tense moment of silence before Dahlia explodes.

"I cannot believe you! You always going on and on about the importance of honesty and family and this whole time you've been keeping this from me?! How could you?"

"Dahlia, please," Celeste pleads. "Let me explain!"

"Explain?! Explain what? The depths of your hypocrisy? Or maybe how I'm supposed to reconcile the fact that I'm part of a family that practically rampaged through the Core and left thousands dead in their wake? Did my real parents even know about me, did they even care that I was stolen from them?"

Celeste finds her resolve, drawing strength and calm from the Force.

"You weren't stolen. You were entrusted to me by your mother, Queen Monica Greyson. She was my dearest friend for many years and I made a promise to her that I would care for you and keep you safe."

"Why?" Dahlia says. "Why would she give me to you?"

Celeste swallows hard.

"Because your father was an evil man who used your biological sisters for terrible things. She hid her pregnancy from him and reached out to Rutherford and begged him to provide a secure environment for you after everything your father took from him."

"What did he take?"

"You know what he took. He took Valerie and as a result, Rutherford's first wife, Abra fell ill and died then his daughter, Blair, took her own life."

Dahlia's mouth falls open.

"I know this will not be easy for you to hear but you must understand that we had every intention of confiding this information to you when I felt you were old enough to understand. We wanted nothing more than to give you the kind of childhood that was denied to the others."

"Denied by my real father, Alexander Winton?"

"Yes."

"The same man you warned me never to speak of again. How many people knew about this? Does everybody know? Everyone but me?"

"No," Celeste says. "Your brother and sister do not know. Aside from Rutherford and I, only Kylie, Garron and the Jedi Master Corrin know the truth. You remember him, don't you? He brought me to the Sector safely and it was the vaccine that prevented us from being found. It's a very long, complicated story but I am more than willing to sit down with you and talk about it."

Her anger flares, "Only because I called you out. You would have been perfectly content keeping me in the dark if I didn't ask."

"Dahlia..."

"No, don't. Just don't. I need to be alone."

Dahlia pulls her coat tight and storms through the foyer and out of the front door, colliding with a woman coming up the steps. She reels back, looking up into the woman's face, one that is strikingly familiar. It takes her a moment to realize the face is that of Valerie Gellar, her adoptive father's dead granddaughter. Dahlia blinks, confused.

"What the...?"

The woman's arm sweeps through the air, expression blank, as she spins Dahlia around and clamps her arm up against her throat before hauling her off the steps and toward the hoverlimo. Dahlia gasps, struggling, thrashing out but Valerie is extremely powerful and lifts her as if she nothing more than a rag doll. Fear pulses through her now as Celeste steps out onto the landing, eyes focusing on the situation. Dahlia struggling, the face of the woman dragging her away, Gemma's words booming through her mind.

An enemy with Valerie's face.

"No...NO!! Dahlia!!!"

"Mom!!! MOOOOMMMMM!!!" Dahlia screams as she is hurled roughly against the side of the limo, head slamming into the door. She is dazed, vision bursting into colorful spots as she is shoved into the back of the limo. Dane and Gemma lay unconscious across the seats and a horrifying reality now presents itself. The door slams closed behind her.

Two security officers rush toward the woman who looks like Valerie. Without hesitation, she dispatches both who fall to the ground with heads twisted completely around. Celeste breaks into a sprint, shouting Dahlia's name. As she reaches the limo, the woman's hand clamps around her throat, lifting her off the ground. She brings Celeste close until their faces are inches apart.

"Did you really think they would be safe here with you?"

Celeste gasps, eyes wide with terror as she is thrown backward, tumbling across the driveway. The woman turns away and slides into the driver's seat. Tears blur the image of the limo speeding away as the com-link bleeps from her pocket. She fishes it out and manages to activate the device.

"Lady Masterton?"

"Yes...yes, I'm here..."

"This is the Headmaster at Valor Prep. I'm afraid we have a situation. The body of your driver was discovered just outside the school grounds and we have not been able to locate Dane or Gemma. We've already contacted the Espos who should be on their way to the Gellar Estate now."

Celeste is sobbing.

"Lady Masterton? Lady Masterton are you there?"

She cannot answer as memories of the past and the separation from the children overwhelm her every sense. She manages to click off and, with shaking hands, places a call.

"This is Kylie."

"Kylie," Celeste croaks. "Kylie, help me. The children...the children have been taken..."


-TBC

[Syren]

Corporate Sector

D'ian System: Surface: Concordia Township

After dropping Dahlia at the Gellar Estate, the driver returns to Valor Prep to wait for Dane and Gemma. As he sits in the limo with his thoughts, a woman approaches the transport, leaning down into the window. She is strikingly beautiful and he smiles in anticipation of her asking something of him. She says nothing and with a movement faster than he can even register, she slams a blade into the side of his neck. He jerks in place, gagging on the blood gushing out of his open mouth. She withdraws the weapon and shoves him into the passenger seat before sliding into the limo.

Dane and Gemma appear within minutes, talking amongst their friends. They say their goodbyes and head over, climbing into the back without so much as a word. The safety of their routine made this easier than anyone thought possible. The clone eases the limo away and drives carefully through the school grounds but stops briefly once they have left. She dumps the driver's body out of the passenger door and pulls a blaster from her belt before tapping down the partition.

The children are alarmed at not seeing the person they thought would always be on the other side but it is Gemma who makes the connection first and begins to scream. It clicks for Dane seconds later as he lunges forward angrily.

The clone fires on him, the stun ray dropping him in his tracks. Gemma is struggling with trying to get the side door unlocked, completely freaking out. A second shot sends her reeling back before slumping over onto the seat. The forth is already in their possession. The second and third have been acquired. It is now time to returned to the Gellar Estate and retrieve the first.

*

Kylie Miranda raps on the door of Vex Sienna's hotel room. Once inside, she breezes past him, turns around and slaps him hard across the face. He is stunned, hand automatically touching his cheek.

"What was that for?"

"Did you actually think I wouldn't find out who were are? That you went to school with Valerie Gellar and her friends? What kind of fool do you think I am? It's obvious that you are just using me and those connections to get close to Rutherford and an Imperial contract  with ChemiX!"

"Wait, what? How did you even know that?"

Kylie glares at him, "More importantly, why didn't you just tell me? Why go through the motions of wining and dining me?"

"Kylie, that's not what I'm doing..."

"Oh really? So you don't need a contract from ChemiX and you weren't going to schmooze your way into Rutherford's good graces by dazzling him with stories of how you and Valerie go way back?"

Vex would be offended if she was being off-base. He refuses to believe he had been that transparent. What may have started as a way into the Gellar-Masterton family became something else when he met Kylie.

"Part of my job is to secure contracts and any good buyer knows what talking points will make the client feel most at ease. You make it sound like I am conspiring against your employers or something which is most certainly not the case. Rutherford Gellar has been on Chandaar for months and I would never dare think of approaching Celeste Masterton about her husband's business so I made inquiries with the company directly."

She frowns deeply.

"And your connection to Valerie and Melanie had nothing to do with it?"

"Kylie, we went to high school together. We were friendly but we were not friends. Their group was more exclusive than any club  on any planet. They had a social agreement between themselves and my then-girlfriend which I was not involved in. In fact, I took great care to avoid them since drama and violence seemed to follow them everywhere. So, yes, I knew them but not in the way you are thinking."

"Oh..."

"Yeah, oh," Vex says, grabbing his duffel bag and pulling out a framed picture. "But since we are on the topic, why don't you explain how the girl I met yesterday can look so much like her?"

Kylie finds herself staring at an image of Vex and Karen on a beach. She swallows but does her best not to react.

"They have red hair. Many people do."

"No, that's not it. They look identical. Do you know who that is?"

"No."

"It's Karen Winton, one of Valerie and Melanie's best friends. Some would even say the ringleader of that little group. I may not know the whole story but I know what I read. Karen's parents and Melanie's parents were friends. So tell me how everyone's parents except Melanie's mother wind up dead with a child who happens to be the spitting image of a Winton? If anyone is keeping secrets here, Kylie, it's your employers."

"You say that like you even know them!" she shouts.

"You are right, I don't! But I know enough to know something is very wrong here and what's worse is I think the Empire may have something to do with it."

"What do you mean?"

He takes her hands in his own, something she allows.

"I never came here to hurt you or your employer. I never thought I would fall for you and I have, Kylie but I have this feeling like I was sent here for something more than just contracts. When they offered me this position, I took it because things were growing tense on Byss. I needed a change but after I arrived and I discovered that I indeed had history with the Gellar-Masterton's, I started to wonder if that's why I had been asked in the first place."

"Have you reported it?"

He shakes his head, "No, my reports only include progress with the Direx Board and contractual obligations. I think they may have put me in this position so that I would come to these conclusions myself and feed them information....which is something I simply cannot do. Not to you, not the them."

Kylie squeezes his hands, "I must admit I am pleased to hear it."

"When I think about all the terrible things done to those families, to people I knew, people I grew up with, I could not live with myself if I continued to inflict pain on them after they have had time to heal."

"What are you saying?"

He is trembling in spite of himself.

"The Empire is moving in a dark direction, one I am not sure I can be a part of."

"Haven't they always moved in dark directions?"

"Moral ambiguity has long been a staple of the faction and I have participated in much of that to achieve certain goals but things have been different in the wake of the Centerpoint battle. It's been a long, strange road in the last ten years. Infighting and obscure objectives have made little headway in stopping the Republic expansion. Years ago, I would have cared but Schrag is no Dementat, that much is certain."

"Then why don't you leave?" Kylie says, brightening. "You could do well here on your own."

"You make it sound like I can escape them so easily, like I can just walk away."

"You can."

"No, I can't. It's more complicated than that."

"How so?"

"A contact on Byss warned me that deviations from my assignment would not be looked upon favorably. My safety and, by extension, yours depends on my performance. I have all the contracts I was sent here to get save for ChemiX."

"That is troubling..." she says, com bleeping from her purse. She fishes it out and clicks on.

"This is Kylie."

"Kylie.." Celeste croaks. "Kylie, help me. The children...the children have been taken..."

Her blood turns to ice, gripping Vex's arm tightly.

"What? Lady Masterton are you sure?"

"Yes...please...please find them...they are in our transport, the limo..."

"I'm on it."

Kylie clicks off and stares into Vex's face.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"The children have been taken."

Vex's expression tightens, "How....?"

She is already running toward the door, "I don't know! They are in the limo and we can track them."

He rushes after her, "We can?"

"Yes! All our transports are outfitted with tracking devices."

She pulls a datapad from her purse and taps the screen, accessing the application that identifies their transports. The green dot represents the hoverlimo and it is currently moving, quickly, deeper into the countryside away from Concordia.

Vex grabs his blaster in one hand and Kylie's hand in the other.

"You don't have to do this..."

"Like I would let you go alone."

She nods and they sprint out of the hotel together.


-TBC

[Medivh]

Corporate Sector

D'ian System: Surface: Concordia Township

Dahlia is shoved into the limo, next to her unconscious siblings.  A struggle ensues outside, and Dahlia tries to focus.  Her head is still swimming, but she knows she can get out of this, all she has to do is repeat what she did on Chandaar - whatever that was - and the enemy coming after her would be gone.

Before she can respond though, her body freezes up as a pulse of electricity shoots through her nerves.  She barely noticed the bluish light of the stun gun before everything goes dark.

***********

The hover limo zooms away from the residence, three prisoners, unconscious in tow.  It manages to bypass traffic, heading out of the city toward some of the more remote areas of the region.  The driver pulls out a comm unit, activating it.

"We are enroute"

The limo never stopped.  it turned off the roadway, hovering over a field of grass as it continued.  A rumbling overhead could be heard, a cargo ship lining up above the limo, and then inching ahead.  The rear gangway opened, extending out and down, brushing the grass in front of the limo.  The limo sped up, bumping only slightly as it left the grass, driving into the hold.  Even as the cargo bay doors were closing, the ship was already gaining altitude.  The driver of the limo stepped out, making her way to the rear door and opening it.  Three children, unconscious, lay crumpled together in the back seat.  The driver pulled out of her belt a syringe, unplugging it and lifting it before her eyes, pushing out air bubbles.  pulling up the sleeve of the red-haired child, she brought down the syringe, pierced the flesh of her arm, and injected her with the contents.

Again, she lifted the comm

"The Winton child has been disabled.  She will not be able to use her abilities"

"Excellent.  Proceed to the coordinates"

The children were left in the limo, the doors locked and disabled, the ship holding the limo - and the children within - reaching the planet's orbit, escaping the gravity well, and disappearing into hyperspace.

TBC

[Syren]

Somewhere

Dahlia's mind is filled with a haze of colors and shapes, blurred and out of focus. She can hear the song Gemma sang in the distance, haunting now without music accompanying the words.

"We drift deeper. Drift deeper."

The shapes spiral and fade, becoming something else entirely. She finds herself lying on a polished tiled floor in what appears to be the living room of a posh apartment. The decor is minimalistic chic, lots of clean lines and abstract artwork. Dahlia pushes herself up, believing herself to be awake but when she stands up, staring through the wraparound windows at a cityscape seen now only in history class, she knows that is the furthest thing from the truth.

"Stunning, isn't it?"

Dahlia gasps, whirling around to find Karen Winton draped precariously on one of the grey couches. Her legs are crossed and a tight smirk pulling at the corners of her perfectly polished lips. Dahlia remains frozen, trying desperately to make sense of what is happening.

"What? No hug? Not very sisterly, if you ask me."

"What the hell is this?"

"It's the Winton residence in 500 Republica. Or at least it was until some crazy bitch blew it sky high along with the entire northern hemisphere of Coruscant. The Hapans are so theatrical sometimes but it did make quite the statement."

Dahlia rounds the other couch, stopping in front of the black coffee table.

"You're...Karen."

Karen mimics a gun with her fingers pointed at Dahlia.

"Good call. Maker knows I'm not Alexia given that I actually look presentable. I mean, really, would it have killed her to put on a decent outfit? A dab of lipstick or even mascara? Apparently, she didn't inherit our sense of style. Love the look, by the way. It's like, naughty school girl with a twist."

"It's my uniform. You know, for school."

"School, right. I remember that. Vaguely. I was pretty popular, debatably the most popular depending on who you asked. I see you are following suit although through impressively nefarious methods."

Dahlia shrugs, "I saw an opportunity and I took it."

"Looks like it worked. You are adored by the mindless masses. Congrats but check yourself, it's a long fall off that pedestal."

"How...are you even here?"

"Oh, don't give me that look like I'm the crazy one. It's your mind. I'm just popping by for a visit. We share a connection through the Force, a connection that is not severed by death. I'm as much a part of you as Alexia is. Has she reared her ugly head yet?"

Dahlia thinks back to the night she started to remember the attack on Chandaar, the face in the mirror, the jumpsuit with the Imperial insignia.

"Yes," she says. "I saw her in the mirror."

"A mirror? I'm not sure she knows what that is."

Dahlia smiles.

"She said something to me, something about the things I don't know are what matter the most."

Karen sits up, uncrossing her legs before standing.

"Yeah, she used to say cryptic shit to me all the time too. Figured out what it means yet? No worries if you haven't. It took me years."

"I think it means you are my sisters, that I'm a Winton."

Karen claps softly, rounding the table to face her. She is in heels which makes her four inches taller and moderately intimidating.

"The last Winton royal, in fact. Princess Dahlia Winton, heir apparent to all the insane bullshit that comes with our family like a gift with purchase. No returns or exchanges. So tell me, did you always know or was this recent development a bombshell?"

She shakes her head.

"I always knew I was different but I didn't know how. After I saw your picture, I knew it was too much to be a coincidence but I had no proof. Just a feeling. After the conversation I overheard, I knew those feelings were true. I cannot even begin to tell you how angry I am at my "parents.""

"The air quotes are a nice touch. Fitting. But before you get all huffy and self-indignant let me give you a rundown of your real family so you have some perspective. Our mother, the former Queen turned activist and host to prophecy vision, drowned herself in alcohol to numb the stifling duplicity of our father. This decision may have dulled the roar but it also slowed her ability to catch on to his scheme's much sooner than she did. Alexia, our frighteningly unstable elder sibling, was totes cray practically from birth. This instability was amplified by our father's manipulations which turned her into a Force possessed Imperial weapon of unspeakable power which she used to murder countless people including most of my clique as well as my first love. Then there's me, the spoiled but naive socialite who parlayed popularity into a galactic-wide modeling career and a proposal from a young Emperor. I became a Lady of the Sith known as Darth Kyja who was almost an Empress of all the Empire but sadly, it was not meant to be. Lastly, there's daddy dearest, the selfish and soulless bastard who used our mother's vision for his own personal gain. There are no words for how deep and dark that hole was or how much everyone involved suffered for it. Once the other parents began to realize what was happening, it was too late but he moved to strike anyway. He faked his own death, unleashed Alexia on us in the former capital and even managed to be resurrected after I let Kimber Patten and Rydan Stratford turn him over to the Consortium for execution."

Dahlia's lips part in horror, not wanting to hear more but unable to tell Karen to stop.

"Scared yet? You should be. Thankfully, our mother snapped out of it when she realized she was pregnant with you and hid it from our father while exiled on Naboo. That's right, he got sick of her threats to expose him and banished her as a prisoner under lock and key in her own estate. Somehow she managed to contact both the Jedi and Rutherford Gellar in the Corporate Sector. Our father had nearly destroyed Gellar after blackmailing his granddaughter away from him which made him only too happy to help our desperate mother. With his own family gone or dead, Rutherford agreed to conceal you from our father's malevolence with the Jedi on board to arrange your escape. However, Celeste Masterton realized the truth and fled to Naboo. Her husband, Henrick, stumbled upon information that painted our father as the true villain our mother always claimed him to be and he followed his wife. On Naboo, Henrick delivered you with Celeste and the Jedi standing by. It was a happy moment that would not last. Our father knew now that all three were liabilities and set out to destroy them before they could expose him. Our mother made a critical decision and Henrick injected you and Celeste with a prototype of the Force vaccine and sent you both away with the Jedi. That's when our father arrived to exact his revenge."

"Revenge...?"

Karen nods.

"He murdered our mother and doctor Masterton in cold blood. He would have done the same to Celeste and used you for Maker only knows what but even the most knowledge Sith could not find either of you. The vaccine kept you hidden from their prying eyes and you arrived safely in the Corporate Sector with Rutherford Gellar who, by the way, went to considerable lengths to protect you both. He and Celeste were able to give you the innocent and carefree childhoods my friends and I were denied by our father. So before you set out to condemn them for their lies, imagine the alternative. What could have been had Celeste not escaped with you. Imagine all they lost and what joy was restored to them by raising you, Dane and Gemma. They were both victims of our father's plot. We all were. The only difference is Rutherford and Celeste got to make things right by the three of you."

"I...I didn't know..."

"Now you do and it is those things that matter most. Information was the only luxury my friends and I were denied. We spent most of our very short yet fabulous lives in constant speculation and uncertainty. Questions, comments?"

Dahlia is leveled by the truth, unable to stand. She falls back onto the couch. Karen sits next to her, watching her closely.

"Why...didn't they tell me?"

"You're what? Thirteen?"

"Almost fourteen!"

"Whatever," Karen groans. "The point is, you are young and that's a lot of information to take in."

"You told me."

"That's because the situation has changed or have you forgotten the fact that you were just abducted? Hello! Let's try to keep up, shall we?"

"I remember," Dahlia says. "By someone who looks like...Valerie Gellar."

"I know, right? She's a bitch like that."

"But Valerie's dead."

"So am I."

"That was actually her?"

"Not entirely, no. She's a clone. A copy of a copy. And much the like the real Valerie, she always has an agenda."

Dahlia frowns, "What agenda?"

"How familiar are you with the Persephonea Prophecy?"

"Only what I heard about in the media. Well, and the movie."

"What a disaster."

"It made almost a billion in ticket sales."

"That's because it was based on us," Karen says. "Not because of the stellar performances. The prophecy, while a complex and interesting read, was complete garbage. The many translations our father gave to all the right people at all the right times was a part of the elaborate plot to cause certain...reactions. And we fell for it. We thought we were soooo damn special, parading around like it even mattered. The version most people are familiar with includes the ominous warning that of The Four, only one could survive - the one bearing some kind of child savior."

"Kimber Patten."

"Right. Everyone thought it was her. I prayed it was. She, of all of us, is the one who truly deserved to live. The loophole was that it was never her, it was her child. We were all fated to die in one way or another. And die we did."

"Didn't her baby die on Centerpoint with the rest of you?"

"That's what the worlds were meant to believe but that is simply not true. You should know, you met him."

"I have?"

"One, two, three....?"

"Four?" Dahlia says, suddenly livening. "The forth? Riley! Riley is the forth!"

"You know, you are much brighter than I expected. I'm very impressed. The real test will be see how you use this knowledge to your advantage. The clone already has Riley and now she has you, Dane and Gemma. Winton, Masterton, Gellar and Patten. The new Four to take our places. They believe you represent something, a galactic shift in a direction they do not want things to go. We took, you will give. They want to convince ? you to reconsider."

Karen turns to her fully, gripping both arms tightly.

"Now listen to me carefully, Dahlia. You have more power than you realize. While most Force sensitive's can only go so far, the potential for your abilities is practically limitless. Such is the blessing and the curse of our family. Alexia was consumed by her rage and subsequently, the dark side itself. It destroyed her. I came very close but it was the connections to the others, one in particular, that brought me back from the brink. She saved me from myself, freed us all from our father's evil and spared Kimber's child from death whom she has cared for ever since."

"The Ambassador?"

"Yes and she, like Rutherford and Celeste are beside themselves with worry. You are all connected to each other and it is these connections they wish to sever for their own purposes. They will lie in an attempt to divide and divided you will fall. You must be stronger than that."

Karen stands and moves toward the door.

"Wait!" Dahlia says, rising to follow her.

She pauses in the doorway, flashing the trademark Winton smirk.

"We're out of time but I have faith in you, sister. Be all that we could not."


-TBC

[Syren]

Corporate Sector

D'ian System

Vex and Kylie race through town on his speeder, whipped by the crisp air as they hurl into the surrounding woodlands outside of Concordia. Kylie is tracking the signal from the limo on her datapad but as they near a clearing, the signal disappears entirely.

"Stop," she says. "Vex, stop!"

He decelerates, coming to an idle. She leaps off the back and walks further into the clearing.

"Are we close?"

"We lost them. We lost the signal."

"Could they have disabled it?"

"Only if they knew where to look."

"Or if they were loaded onto a transport with proper jamming equipment."

Kylie's face shatters.

"No...we can't lose them. Vex, I just can't. They are like family to me and I..."

He goes to her, placing both hands on the sides of her face.

"We will find them."

She is touched but confused.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Maybe I have something to prove. A long time ago, there were people I could not save."

"And if it is the Empire that took them? What then?"

"It wasn't the Empire," Vex says.

"How do you know? You said yourself they warned you to stay on point."

"The Emperor needs supplies and, with the exception of ChemiX, he has gotten them. He understands how the Sector works, the finesse involved in wooing clients. He's not particularly fond of it but he understands it. Abducting the Gellar children would be counterproductive and risk losing items the Empire requires. All he wants is to take down the Republic, not mess with the steady stream of beneficial business relationships."

"Then who?"

"Rutherford Gellar has many enemies within the Direx Board. That much I do know. From what I have been hearing, patience with his negotiations with the Federation is wearing thin. They loathe that Gellar is even bothering with them and have become frustrated by the lack of results in the Republic Senate. They wanted those contracts secured months ago."

Kylie shutters, "You think someone would go after the children in order to speed things up?"

"Given the reputation of some of the board members, I wouldn't put it past them."

"Still, that's quite a gamble with potential to backfire."

"Not if the one behind it stood to lose everything in a deal with the Trade Federation. This place is filled with one hostile takeover after another, everyone clawing their way through each other to maintain position and profit. Desperation can drive a person to do unspeakable things."

She takes his hand.

"I should get back to the Estate. Lady Masterton is going to need support through this."

They board the speeder and roar back into Concordia. The Gellar Estate is surrounded by Espos transports. Kylie is a staple in the community and waves past the sentries at the door. She and Vex move through the foyer to find a deflated Celeste on the couch. Tears streak her face, blond curls slightly disheveled. The Espos are just finishing up and Kylie sadly relays their finding in tracking the hoverlimo. She agrees with Vex's speculation that whoever took the children may have made it to another transport, one that could take them off world. The Espos leave them alone to confer over the new information.

Kylie goes to Celeste, kneeling beside the couch.

"Lady Masterton, I am so sorry. We tried to stop them."

Celeste's eyes flicker up over Kylie's face then focus sternly on Vex. He is thrown back, lifted and slammed forcefully against the far wall. Kylie gasps, hand over her mouth in shock. Vex struggles but is held firmly in place.

"What the..?"

Celeste moves more quickly than either of them would have expected in her state, stalking slowly toward Vex.

"You think I did not learn a thing or two over the years, Imperial? That my once comforting life in Concordia had dulled my abilities?"

"Clearly not."

"Then tell me why you are here."

He fixes his gaze down, voice even in an attempt not to anger her further.

"I came to help you find your children."

"Lies," Celeste snarls, increasing the pressure around his throat until he begins to choke. "The Empire always had it out for us! They have interfered with our lives for the last time!"

Kylie cries out.

"Lady Masterton! Please, don't!"

Vex is gasping for air, clawing at the invisible hands that strangle him.

Celeste holds her ground.

"Your feelings for him blind you, miss Miranda and that is a pity. I did not expect you, of all people, to fall for their lines."

"It's not a line! He's telling the truth! The Empire has nothing to gain from taking them but we think someone on the Direx Board might!"

Celeste turns, releasing Vex who crumples to the ground coughing explosively. Kylie rushes to him, staring up at Celeste like she is a stranger and not someone who has employed and befriended her over the course of a decade. She had never seen her act out this way before nor did she know Lady Masterton was even capable of such displays of power. Grief and anger are powerful motivators and she is careful not to place blame. Celeste is going through hell right now and Kylie aims to be both sensitive and diplomatic but it is the Lady of the house that speaks first.

"The Direx Board doesn't have the technology to produce what I saw today - a thief made in the image of my husband's fallen family."

"What? What are you talking about?"

Celeste's blue eyes darken.

"The woman who took my children had the face of Valerie Gellar."



-TBC

[Medivh]

Somewhere

"Good morning, Dahlia"

Dahlia's eyes would open, vision blury for a few moments as she tried to recall where she was and what had happened to her.  Had she been talking to her dead sister?

She blinked away the blurs, only to realize that her head was pounding.  When people were stunned, they seemed to collapse so easily - no one ever told her that it left you with a splitting headache, as if half your nerves were all fried.  She turned her head around, trying to determine where she was, but there was little if any light.  She reached up to rub her head, sitting up and taking assessment of her surroundings.

She was in a cell, small, with a small cot for bed.  Outside of her cell, separated from her by the soft shimmer of a force field, was what appeared to be a very dark cave.   Far across the cave, there was another cell, similar to her own, but with bright florescent lighting.  Eyes widened as she saw three children there - Gemma, Dane - and the fourth, Riley, the ambassador's nephew.

"Gemma!  Dane!"

"They cannot hear you, Dahlia"

It was then she remembered that she was not alone.  Turning abruptly toward the voice, she spotted, sitting in the corner a woman, stunningly beautiful, exuding confidence and energy - and something darker.  She had jet-black hair, save for a streak, bright red.  Her eyes seemed to match her hair in this darkness - pools of blackness.  Pouty red lips curved in a mocking smile contrasted with pale skin.  She was dressed in a black leather bodice that tranformed into a flowing black skirt, and high black boots.  At her waist, her belt had clasped to it the familiar metallic cylinder of a lightsaber.

"Who are you?  Where am I!"

"Patience, Dahlia - all will be revealed to you in time"

Dahlia was not about to be patient.  She rose from her bed, still achy from the abduction.

"You will release me and my siblings - NOW"

The woman merely smirked. "Oh will I?  I think not"

Dahlia's muscles tensed.  She knew how to deal with people who disagreed with her - but she suddenly found that her gift betrayed her.  The woman rose from where she sat.

"Finding that things aren't working the way you want?  It's because you are weak, Dahlia.  Now sit DOWN"

As she said the word down, her hand came out - polished red nails pointing toward her, a streak of blue lightning emanating from their tips, hitting the teenager square on.

Dahlia had never felt such excruciating pain before. It radiated through her entire body, and she found herself collapsed on the ground.  And just as quickly as it started, it had stopped, Dahlia still cringing, but glaring up at the woman.

"Do you hate me already, Dahlia?  Good - hate will make you powerful.  And if you want to leave here, you will need to be powerful.  Powerful enough to kill me.  That will win you your freedom"

The woman stepped over Dahlia's prone body, deactivating the force field and stepping through, before she turned back.

"As for the others.  You needn't worry about them.  THEY will be rescued by their family.  But you have no family left.  You are the last Winton, afterall. All you have is me"

The force field was reactivated, and the woman was gone.

TBC

[Syren]

Somewhere

Dahlia is furious - at her parents, herself and, most importantly, this strange and powerful woman who had taken her hostage. The one glaring detail that sends shivers through her aching body is the woman's eyes. The pools of darkness, the same pools she had seen in her own eyes when confronted with the monster on Chandaar. Clearly this woman had talents and training, things Dahlia lacked. She had her abilities but aside from the telekinetic aspects she had taught herself, she realized she had no idea how to control them. She had tried to unleash the hurt to get them all out of here but nothing worked. She was practically useless. The presence of the lightsaber worried her. It was a weapon she had only heard about in class, one used by the Jedi and the Sith. From the current situation and menacing threats, the woman was probably not a Jedi. She recalled what her sister had said about becoming a lady of the Sith, Darth Kyja and the warnings issued about the levels of power within their family.

Dahlia can barely move, muscles tightening as she shuffles to what can barely be called a cot. She crumples onto the slab, wincing. Is this is captivity, it sucks. What did she ever do to anyone? Well, other than manipulate an entire campus into believing she was the most popular person in the Sector. There's no harm in that...as far as she knows. And what the hell does that woman even know about the Gellar-Masterton's? Like they would just come save Dane and Gemma and leave her behind. She seriously underestimates how important she is. People will miss her.

She manages  to drift off in an attempt to lessen the headache when another voice calls to her from the darkness.

"She's right you know."

Dahlia lifts her head, "I'm not in the mood."

A woman steps from the shadows, dressed in a black jumpsuit with the standard Imperial logo on the breast. Her face is one she recognizes.

"Alexia?"

"That's right, dear sister."

"Go away."

Alexia laughs.

"You don't think you can get rid of me that easily, do you? Even you aren't that stupid. Look at yourself, you're a mess. A disaster. Powerless and completely alone. It's pathetic."

"I'm not alone," Dahlia fires back. "My siblings are right over there."

Alexia turns, looking across the cave at the others talking amongst themselves.

"They aren't your family. I am."

"You are just as dead as the rest of them so you can save the speech. Karen already told me how much of a sociopathic nightmare you were."

"Keep in mind Karen thought all her problems could be solved with a short skirt and a pair of ankle boots. So, try taking things she says with a grain of salt. Besides, Karen can't help you."

"And you can? Give me a break."

Alexia moves across the cell.

"I can if you let me and if you consider taking what your captor said to heart. There is no escaping this place unless you triumph over her."

"She wants me to kill her. That's, like, crazy!"

"Is it beyond reason to utilize your strengths to obtain your freedom? Everything has a price, Dalia. You know what you can do, what you are capable of. You destroyed the monster and swayed an entire student body. All that anger you feel can be your savior, if you let. Hatred can help you survive. Sometimes it is the only thing that can. You can do anything you want if you give in to who you are."

"The last Winton."

"The only Winton," Alexia says slyly. "Never forget that."

Dahlia turns onto the side and curls up, the image of her eldest sister fading into the darkness of the cell. The next time the Sith woman returned to her, she would make a play for her freedom.


-TBC

[Syren]

Corporate Sector

D'ian System

After Kylie helps Celeste upstairs to clean up, they return to the sitting room where Vex is waiting. Celeste pauses in the doorway, glaring at him.

"Look, I know how you must feel..."

"You know nothing," Celeste says tightly. "I may not be able to bring myself to kill you, Imperial, but do not mistake my mercy for trust."

"All I'm asking is that you give me a chance. I'm not here to hurt you or your family."

"That's what they always say."

Vex squares his shoulders, glancing quickly at Kylie's pained but sympathetic expression before focusing on Celeste.

"I read that story, you know. The one Kent Carlson wrote. I am in it, after all. You have to understand that most of what I read came as a complete surprise to me. I had no idea Alexander Winton was still alive. Like most people, I was under the impression he was killed on Bakura along with his wife. I was not aware he was somehow posing as Imperial Director and I sure as hell didn't report to him. If I had known, I would have gone to the Emperor Dementat."

"You think your ignorance will sway me? You really don't get it, do you? Just because you didn't know doesn't mean Dementat didn't."

"He didn't."

"How can you be so certain?"

Vex locks eyes with her.

"He never would have done that to Karen."

Celeste's face falls.

"He loved her and a long time ago, that killed me inside because I loved her too. But I respected their relationship, her choice, even though I believed it was the wrong one. Even though that choice resulted in her death and in his. Dementat knew the damage her family had caused her, what she had lost because of them. There is no way he would have allowed Alexander Winton to walk free and continue to threaten Karen's happiness or her life."

"Poor you," she says. "The jilted lover."

Kylie pleads softly.

"Lady Masterton, please. Hear him out."

"Why should I? He's an agent of evil and his lies have become his life."

"Lies? Kind of like the one you tell every single day?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Dahlia. You know damn well she is a Winton. That face is not one you can disguise with clever stories of adoption and deep down, you knew one day you would have to explain it."

"You shut your mouth, Imperial."

"I'm not here to judge. In fact, you should be commended. You spared that girls life. Clearly, she was hidden well considering there is no mention of her in the reports or the stories that followed. No mention of what become of you either. Everyone thought you were dead and, from what I read, that included Melanie. What would she have thought if she knew you were alive the whole time and stayed away to conceal a Winton?"

Celeste's eyes bulge.

"Vex," Kylie warns. "That's not fair."

"I apologize."

"Spare me the jibes. I've heard enough."

"I don't expect you to trust me but believe me when I tell you I want those children returned safely."

"Why?"

"Because I know what happened to the others. None of them had a fair chance at a life of their own. It was dictated and manipulated by others. I don't want that for them."

"How noble," Celeste says wearily. "But I do not buy it. You may have fooled Kylie but you will not fool me. The Empire wants nothing more than to capitalize where they can. They would use my children the same way they did the others."

"I don't blame you for believing that. It crossed my mind as well."

"You admit it?"

"No," Vex says. "I thought perhaps I was sent here for more than just contracts, that the Emperor somehow knew and wanted me to discover it myself. Then I realized he would gain nothing from it. The Corporate Sector is too valuable a resource to jeopardize by kidnapping the children of a Direx Board chair. This regime is more militant than it is theatrical. Schrag sees no value in melodramatics, especially when it puts supply at risk."

"Fair point but hardly convincing as a cover story. Risk has never stopped them in the past. But say I entertain your theory, who else would do this to us?"

"Someone who may not share your husband's lenience with the Trade Federation, someone who would stand to lose considerable profits from a deal that would cut them into the Republic trading pool."

Celeste shifts her weight, considering this.

"Like I said, I do not know anyone on the Direx Board with the technological resources to produce something that looks like Valerie Gellar. Such a product, whatever it is, would not be something widely distributed let alone highly profitable. No one creates anything unless they are sure there is a market for it."

"An assassin with a little plastic surgery might pose as Gellar to scare you and your husband into submitting to any demands."

"No one has made any demands! No ransom, nothing."

"It's only been a few hours. There is still time. If this is isolated to your children then there is a decent bet that whoever did this will ask for something in exchange for their return."

Celeste frowns, "And if it is not isolated?"

"What do you mean?"

"The Federation Ambassador my husband is negotiating with on Chandaar has a nephew that was also abducted."

Kylie gasps, "What? How do you know that?"

"I called Garron after I called you. Rutherford needed to know."

"What did he say?"

"That they would bring them back."

Vex raises a hand, "Wait, who's Garron?"

"Lord Gellar's valet and counsel."

"So, it is related to the Sector-Federation negotiations?"

"If the targets are the family of those involved then I'll admit it may be possible but I do not have time to worry about politics right now. My children are missing and you can do nothing to help us with that."

"I can try."

"I don't want you to try!" Celeste shouts. "I want you to leave. Now."

Vex sighs, nodding. He moves past Celeste and into the foyer before leaving the residence. Kylie stays by Celeste, reaching out but she stops her.

"Don't. I need to be alone."

Celeste escapes to the master suite upstairs, throwing the doors closed behind her. She does not believe for one microsecond an Imperial operative, regardless of position, would be willing to help them without an ulterior motive. The Empire always has an agenda, that much she knows for sure. Garron said he would relay the news to Rutherford, a relief since she did not feel like speaking to him. Empire, Sector, Federation, Republic - it doesn't matter. If any of them knew what she and Rutherford had been protecting all these years, they may all have reason to come after the children. The legacy of The Four may not be something the galaxy at large would tolerate for numerous reasons. She would not let them be exploited nor could she allow them to be exterminated.

Her head is light and she becomes dizzy. Celeste moves into the bathroom and opens the medicine cabinet, withdrawing a bottle of the ChemiX painkiller, Capra. She needs peace in the wake of the emotional fallout and so she swallows two with water from the faucet and falls sobbing onto the bed.


-TBC

[Medivh]

Somewhere

Dahlia was not awoken by a voice. Instead, it was by pain.  Even as her eyes opened in shock, she could see the bluish tentacles still dancing over her body.  She tried to scream, but the sound caught in her throat.

"Caught off guard it seems.  funny, I thought that was your plan for me"

The lightning ceased, but Dahlia's body still ached.  She was fuming before she realized what the woman had said, turning her head - agony - and again seeing the dark haired beauty with the red streak.  The woman was standing with a cruel smirk, eyes cold and dark.

"How ... how did you know what I was planning?"

"Oh come now, Dahlia - how pathetic are you?  you are so easy to read.  Of course you're going to try to get your freedom, catch me off guard and get out of here"

By now, Dahlia managed to sit up, staring at the woman with mixed fascination and anger.  She was the enemy, keeping her prisoner.  But at the same time, she clearly had power, and there was something about that which Dahlia appreciated, maybe even wanted.

She thought back to her dream, what Alexia had told her - anger could be a tool, a weapon.  She had the blood of Winton in her veins.

Dahlia stood, focusing her anger, thinking about how she hated this woman that imprisoned her.  She could feel something, a tingling, that sensation she got when she focused her power - and then a moment later she found herself flat on her back.

"Was that really the best you can do, Dahlia?  It almost seems unnecessary that the Gellars lied to you all these years - you are so pathetic, there's nothing you could have done.  You shame the Winton name"

Dahlia had thought she was doing good - succeeding in focusing her abilities.  But she was too slow, too

"Too weak ... yes, my dear.  You are too weak"

Dahlia blinked up at the woman.  It wasn't reading her expressions.  The woman was reading her thoughts.

"How did you do that?"

"Because I know how to focus the anger, the hatred. I know how to turn it into true power.  Alexia knew how to do that.  Even Karen.  Your father most of all.  But you?  i don't know if you have it in you.  Alexander would find you such a disappointment of a daughter."

Dahlia was seething, standing again

"My father-"

But the woman flitted her hand, sending Dahlia back against the wall pinning her there.

"Not Rutherford.  Not that coward.  Alexander Winton is your real father.  That's why Celeste and Rutherford fear you.  They think that if you knew the truth, you could hurt them.  THat you would be unstoppable.  Alexander certainly thought you had the potential.  But maybe just this one time, he was wrong.  Because maybe growing up with those cowards has made you weak.  Now, you'll be nothing"

"NO!"

Dahlia felt a surge of energy rippling through her, and suddenly, she was no longer pinned against the wall, wind spiraling about her and then surging forward toward the dark haired woman.

She watched the display, smile growing on her lips as a hand went out, blocking the burst and pushing it toward the wall, which rumbled at the impact.

The woman watched the remnants of the power as she turned back toward Dahlia, who looked dizzy as eyes began to drain their black color.  She stepped up to Dahlia, lifting her hands - and Dahlia floated into the air until they were eye to eye.

"Good - maybe your hate CAN make you powerful.  But you do not have the heart to sustain that hate.  That is why you only have bursts.  If you want real power, you need to train yourself to hate, constantly, thoroughly.  You must let it fill your entire being.  You must let your hatred become your tool.  Then, you'll be strong enough to kill me.  Until then, I get to have my fun with you"

The woman pushed Dahlia back onto her slab of a bed, reaching out with her fingers and firing her with another series of lightning bursts.

"Until next time, sweet dreams, Dahlia Winton"

Weak from her burst of energy, and wracked in new pain from the lightning and the abuse, Dahlia slipped back into unconsciousness

TBC