See disclaimer in part one.

THE NEXT STEP

Doctor Modarr glanced at the display screen, not sure what to do next.
Senator Rees had been exposed as the corrupt politician he was, but there
was so much more. Doctor Fedarish and Doctor Modarr had hidden the young
Jedi girl years ago, neither one knowing how hard the road ahead would be.
"This should be a day of triumph," she told herself. "We finally won."
She tried to smile, but an instant later tears began to run down her face.
It was hard to know what to do, where to go from here. There were more
twists and turns to the plots they had uncovered than the shipping lanes
around Coruscant. One devious plan they had unearthed had left Modarr
working by herself for about a year while Fedarish recovered in a hospital
room. He still hadn’t completely recovered, and now things looked worse.
Could his weakened body handle the strain of hunting their next adversary?
Modarr didn’t think so, but Fedarish wouldn’t agree. They had a patient to
look after who was in a life or death situation, and they were trying to
save her even if the methods were unorthodox. He thought of Rees as a
disease that needed eliminated before their patient could be safe. Modarr
was afraid to give him the bad news.
"Doctor Modarr, I just heard the good news." It was Doctor Fedarish, as if
thinking about him had conjured his voice over the comlink. "Before we
leave we should celebrate, right?"
"I think you should come down here, there’s something you should see."
"What? We’ve won, what more is there to see?"
"The virus has mutated, Doctor. How fast can you come here?"
There were a few minutes of silence. "How bad is it?"
"Her life is still in danger."
His response was loud and violent and went on for longer than Modarr wanted
to hear. It was followed by a few more minutes of silence and then the door
opened behind her. "I have a bad feeling about this, like we’ll be at this
for the rest of our lives. Very well, show me what you have and we’ll go
from there."

Tam faded in and out of her recollections, unable to judge the passage of
time the way she thought she should be able to. What seemed like a few
hours later she let stronger, more intense memories flood her awareness.
The Rees family went about their business as if nothing had changed, and the
Jedi protected them. Tam learned a lot about politics from a new
perspective, and Master Janak made sure Tam practiced her defensive
techniques. The Force was her guide every moment of every day while they
waited for the next shoe to drop.
Voron grew friendlier by the day, and Tam was charmed by his gracious
manner. One night the Senator and his wife were invited to attend a social
gathering and Voron wanted to go out with some friends, so Master Janak sent
Tam with the young man while Janak watched his parents. It was Tam’s first
chance to spend time with Voron without someone nearby to make sure they
behaved themselves. It was also Tam’s first chance to be friends with
people her own age among the planet’s elite. They treated her with respect,
awed at first, and then they loosened up and treated her like one of the
group after a while. They went to a live play, a luxury Tam had never been
able to attend in the past, and she was enchanted. The music was
captivating, the people on the stage were perfect for the roles they played,
and there was an energy to the entire performance that anything recorded
couldn’t capture. Tam felt herself pulled in to the strange world of the
play, relaxing and enjoying the moment along with the rest of the audience.
The group left their booth laughing, and Tam almost missed the menacing
figure of an assassin droid across the hallway. At the last moment she
pulled out her deep blue lightsaber and deflected the blaster bolt headed
for Voron’s head. Before anyone else could move the droid was in two pieces
and Tam was across the hall extinguishing her blade. Tam knew the rest of
the night was ruined, the mood shattered the same instant the blaster bolt
had been fired. When the officials took over the investigation and Tam
could return her attention to the rest of the world Voron was the only one
left. The others had gone home or somewhere else, shaken by the brush with
disaster. In silence Tam and Voron went back to his home, hours before his
parents would return home.
When they walked in Voron stopped her. "You saved my life."
"Of course, that’s why I’m here." She smiled. "That’s why I’ll be here
until we can find out who is behind this."
"I guess I never really thought my life could be in danger. Dad’s I could
believe, but not mine. Why would they come after me?"
"I don’t know. I’m a diplomat, not a politician." They laughed, knowing
what a difference that could make. It wasn’t much of a laugh, and in a
moment the heavy mood settled around them again. "I really don’t know. The
only reason I could even think of for killing another is in defense, and
even then if there is no other option."
"That’s not the same, is it?"
"No, murder takes something I don’t think I could ever have. I’ve been
trained to follow the light side of the force since the day I was born, and
even the thought of something so dark is too much for me."
He hesitated for a moment, looking at her in a new light. "Have you ever
had to kill someone; a person, another sentient, in defense?"
"Only once, when I was sent on a mission on another planet. I didn’t
hesitate once I knew I had no choice, but I still—I wouldn’t be here on this
mission unless they knew I could handle all of the duties it might entail.
Jedi don’t like killing, but we must be prepared for the chance we might
have to."
"Oh." He was thoughtful for a few more minutes. "Are we safe here, now?"
She stretched out her awareness, thought about it before answering. "Yes,
neither one of us are in danger for the time being. I’ll keep a vigil until
the others return, but we should be fine."
"I don’t think I could sleep after that, but thank you. Could you keep me
company until then?" She could hear him thinking at her, don’t go to bed,
stay where I know we’ll both be safe, stay with me.
"I’m not going anywhere," she assured him as she strengthened her shields
against his thoughts. What would he think, how paranoid would he be if he
knew how easy it was to read those kinds of surface impressions? "Why don’t
we sit here and talk about ourselves? It will offer a distraction at
least."
Talk didn’t last long between them, before very long she was looking around
at his bedroom and thinking of how beautiful a room could be. Soon after
that she was incapable of coherent thought as rapture filled her world. By
the time the sun rose through the window that was the east wall of his room
neither one could doubt the love that consumed each for the other.

--tbc--

**************************************************************