Vreem could hear the two whispering as he walked out of the landing bay. He couldn't make out what they were saying though. Then a female voice hissed a single word, now, followed by the scuffle of soft soled boots on the walkway above him. As they were coming down on either side of Vreem, the former Jedi was already spinning about. Catching each across the back of their legs, he flipped them about, so that instead of landing on their feet, they fell onto their backs. Grabbing the handles of the blaster rifles they held, Vreem kicked their arms, breaking them. The man and woman scurried away from him as Maro ran in and took his arm in his hand. "Shit!" The older man shouted excitedly. "Back down! They're friends!" "Could've fooled me!" Vreem growled as he threw the weapons to the ground. "They were checking you out, that's all," A bald man said as he stepped from the shadows, staring at Papa. "We were not told that the Wench had a new crewmember. Especially one this dangerous." "He's a passenger. We're taking him to Corellia. Our way of thanking him for helping Lizbeth." "Ah!" The newcomer cut in. "So he's the one Cronda told me about. The boy who killed that Vernou assassin. Killing one of those bastards is not easy, kid." "No. Actually, this one was very easy." "Are you saying you killed another?" Maro Rael asked in disbelief. "Yes," Vreem nodded to the two. "It was about a year and a half ago. We ran into one on Ord Mantell while hunting for several members of the Aliit Forn. Evidently someone wanted to kill Master Colo in a bad way." "What?" The man said angrily as he spun on the older man. "Master Colo? You brought a Jedi here, Maro?" "Former Jedi," Vreem said calmly. "And he doesn't know where here is," Papa Rael said as he put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Zandya flew here. Our secret is still safe." "Wait a second, this is the Smuggler's Haven," Vreem said with a smile. "Yes. And you Jedi have been searching for it for a decade. But you'll never find it. Only the most trusted people get to learn where we are. And even if we are found, we can easily move. Now introduce us, Maro." "Boy," Papa Rael slapped Vreem on the back lightly. "Meet Douglas Frey, Lizbeth's big brother." "And as her big brother, let me thank you for helping my baby sister," The young man nodded. "Doug, get ready for this," Rael grinned at the bald man. "Meet Vreem Zarell. He's the son of none other than Mk3 and Sapphire." "You're their son?" Douglas asked in an excited voice. "That explains what you just did. Mk3 was a hell of a fighter." "I guess," Vreem said with a shrug. "Well I tell you what," Frey told Vreem, laughing. "You are proof that your father also had a great sense of humor!" "Why do you say that?" He asked, confused. "The name Vreem Zarell. That was the CorSec officer that arrested your father. Put him away for two years." "Why would he name me after him?" "Because of Lt Vreem Zarell, he met Sapphire Zarell, his sister," Douglas smiled as he thrust a finger into the boy's chest. "Your mother." "So you knew my parents?" Vreem asked the man. "Yes, they worked for Resha Torvul," Frey said, tapping himself on his chest. "Just like I do. Same for the Raels, and Zakaria Cronda. I know Zak will be looking forward to meeting you. He was once your parent's gunner. "Here we go," Frey said as he dug a box out of the spacer's trunk he kept in his office, handing it to his wife. "Your parents left this on their ship when they disappeared. Which I guess is now your ship. I've kept it parked here in one of my private bays. I owe everything I am to them." "What kind of people were they?" "Just your typical fearless Corellians," Maro said with a grin. "Your father especially. He fought in the Stark Hyperspace War. The Corellian government gave him his Bloodstripe 1st class for the crazy shit he did. Same for your grandfather." "What did they do?" Vreem asked, very happy to be learning about his family. "Your grandfather was a fighter pilot for one of the mercenary companies that fought for Ranulph Tarkin," Frey said as he stared longingly at his young wife. "But your father commanded some of the best troops to fight in the war. Was about your age, too," Frey told him. "But your father fought for Stark, not the Republic." "Your mother, on the other hand," Maro said as he removed his coat and tossed it on the back of one of the chairs. "Came from one of the wealthiest families on Corellia. Studied anthropology at the University of Corell, then Coruscant." "And old man Zarell hated your father with a bloody passion for taking his little girl away," Lizbeth said as she stood in the doorway. "Why didn't you tell me you knew my parents so well?" Zarell asked her. "We figured that we'd wait till we got here so there could be others who could tell you stories," Mama said as Zandya and Rella pushed their way past her. Zandya crossed the floor and pushed the boy onto the couch. She then smiled as she sat in Vreem's lap, while Rella put her arms around her uncle's neck and kissed him on the cheek. "And Zak landed about twenty minutes ago, so he should be here any second." "Hah!" Bethany, Douglas' much younger, and very pregnant wife shouted as she rummaged through the box. Pulling her hand out, she held several memory cards for a holoprojector. "Found them! Now let's get this show started, shall we?" After inserting a card, a scene popped up before them of a tall handsome man talking excitedly to a short, beautiful woman. Behind them was a Poriin in a jump suit, trying hard to get a word in. "They're my parents?" Vreem asked after pausing the player. "You got it," A black skinned near Human said as he peered over Lizbeth's shoulder at Vreem. "And that's Rosow, their mechanic." "Boy, I would introduce you to Zakariah Cronda," Douglas said as Cronda crossed the room. "But I guess you two have already met. He's the best gunner to be found, and one hell of a pilot, as well." "Not as good as you, though," Cronda said as he sat next to Vreem. "I checked out your record with the Jedi. Very impressive flying. You are clearly following in the footsteps of your grandfather." "Are you a good pilot?" Bethany asked Vreem from where she sat on a desk. The young man just shrugged. "Such modesty," Cronda said with a smile. "Don't be fooled. He's one kill away from being a triple ace. He also has more than two hundred droid fighter kills to his name." "Droid fighters are easy to kill," Vreem said, pointing at the newcomer. "They are very predictable. It's harder to go up against the living." "It's that way in everything, boy," Douglas Frey said as he started the player back up. "Now let's get back to your parents," The group sat and watched the holos for the next two hours. "Aaaaah, can anyone tell me why my father appears to be trying to explain something to my mother in all these holos?" Vreem asked the others when the last holo finished. "It's seems like he was always in trouble with her." "Your father had a very bad habit of getting involved in the affairs of others," Maro said with a chuckle. "Him, Zak, and Rosow always found themselves helping people in need. And sometimes it made them late for a run." "And your mother was always getting on our case about it," Zakariah told him. "What happened to my parents?" Vreem asked nervously. "Ask Frey," Maro said as he stared at his brother-in-law. "He's the only one your father said anything to before disappearing with your mother and Rosow," Douglas fidgited for a few seconds before answering. "It had to do with you, Maro," The smuggler placed his hand to the side of his head and glanced at his wife, "Yes. Mk3 said he'd found out who did that to you." "Did what?" Zarell asked, wondering once again what it was that Maro hid under the bandanas he always wore. "Just a little brain surgery," Maro said as he pulled off the bandana. To Vreem's shock, the man had what appeared to be some kind of interface socket above his left temple. "Show them Vreem," Zandya said quietly. "Show us what?" Maro asked. "This," Vreem said as he slowly turned about. Then taking his fingers, he parted the hair on the back of his head. "You have one as well?" Maro asked as he gazed at a similar interface. "Who did this to you?" Rella asked as she stared at the back of the young man's head. "My parents." "There's no way your parents would do that to you!" Mama said angrily. "You don't understand," Vreem said quickly. "According to the Jedi doctors, I was born with this." "How could you be born with it?" Maro asked "That speaks of a level of genetic engineering unheard of in the Republic." "I don't think my father's family is from the Republic," Zarell told him. "I've done a bit of research on my father as well as his father. My father, as you know, was born on Corellia. But his father was adopted by a Corellian. His birthworld is listed as Mars. The thing is, when I searched the Jedi archives, the only world with that name is a gas giant with no moons." "They might be from the Unknown Regions," Cronda cut in, staring off into nothing. "And genetic engineering would explain why the three of you are such good pilots. Because Mk 3 was incredibly fast. His reflexes where inhuman." "And he was very strong, too," Douglas muttered. "Yeah," Zarell said with a smile. "At the Temple, Masters Windu and Yoda wanted to see how strong I was. At the age of ten, I was able to easily lift one hundred forty kilos." "Are you kidding?" Bethany demanded. "No, I'm not," He replied. "My senses are far more powerful than your's. I also have an eidetic memory." "Yeah, well so did your father," Bethany said as she laughed. "That memory helped these guys out when it came to dealing with customers who had a hazy memory of their agreements." "Do you know who did that to you?" Vreem asked Maro as the man placed the bandana back on his head. "The guy who did the actual work?" The older man asked. "Yeah. He said his name was Van Matthews. But I don't know who it was that he was doing the work for. All I know was it was a Munn and a Human, that's it. I saw the Munn's face, though his Human subordinate kept his hidden. I do know that I want nothing more than to kill the fat bastard Matthews. But I would run from the other two. They were Sith." "How do you know that?" Zarell asked as he took a step in Maro's direction. "I saw the Human's lightsaber strapped to his right forearm as he pointed at one of my fellow experiments." "How many of you were there?" Lizbeth asked her husband. In the sixteen years she'd lived with him, he'd never talked about what had been done to him. "There were twenty of us," He said with a sigh. "But only two of us still had our sanity intact. The rest became violently insane. Matthews ended up having to kill them." "Who was the other surviver, Daddy?" Rella asked. "A girl by the name of Sharon Cass," He said. "We actually knew each other before we were kidnapped. We studied computer science at the University of Coruscant." "I bet that's why you were chosen," Vreem told Maro. "Were you good with computers?" "The two of us were the best students the school had," He said. "You'd figured they would have picked a less prominent target than myself, though." "What do you mean?" Lizbeth asked curiously. She was excited to finally be learning about Maro's past. "My father was the Senator representing the Ardoli system." "My daddy is the son of a Senator?" Rella cut in with a laugh. "Wait!" Zarell said quickly. "I remember reading about that case. The two of you were kidnapped on your way to class. Your father caused a huge uproar when he hired mercenaries to find you. It seems some of them were less than discrete when questioning the school's staff. Then, after two years you returned home." "And then I disappeared again after three attempts to retake me. I did not want to endanger my family." "That's when you went to work for Resha," Cronda said from the couch. "Yes, I figured it was safer in this line of work," Maro said with a shrug. "And it seems I was pretty damned good at it, too." "Well, I tell you what," Douglas said as he steered Rella towards the door. "This talk of the Sith and illegal medical experiments makes me uncomfortable. How about we take Vreem to his ship." "What kind of ship is it?" Zarell asked quickly. "It's a YT-1300," Rella said over her shoulder as she went out the door. "I love those!" Vreem said as he followed the others. "The Jedi have one they use for missions. I actually got to fly it a few times. They're very maneuverable for something the size of a light freighter." "Well wait until you fly her," Mama said. "You father, Rosow, and Zac made some very nice modifications to her. Her hyperdrive is rated at .7. It'll get you anywhere in the galaxy very quickly." "Well, I'm planning on testing it," Vreem said, confidently. "What's her name?" "What do you think?" Lizbeth said as she followed Vreem out the door. "He named it after the most important thing in his life, your mother. She's called the Sapphire Lady." Thanks for reading everybody.