Ask Coruscant The Road Less Traveled

[Talak Rand]

Talak didn't know how long he'd been waiting out here at the entrance to this small alley, but it had been hours at the least. Standing had turned to sitting, and sitting had turned to a brief, fitful sleep that jolted him awake as the nightmares returned. Time had become a blur to him, and prudence was replaced by desperation.

Talak was far from stupid, and although finding out where Trys lived had been difficult, he had finally done it after several days of searching. What little decency he had left kept him from simply walking up and knocking on the door - remembering that she did have a son - but he was sure that her opinion of him waiting just across the street wouldn't go over much better either. But he was at his wits end. He needed someone and as unfair as it might be to show up near her doorstep after months, he felt like he had no other choice. He couldn't very well walk into the precinct and ask to set up a meeting with her... could he? He had saved the lives of several officers, but he couldn't risk that one of them might recognize him as the killer from the holorecordings. The stakes now were simply too high.

If she saw him first, she would immediately notice that he looked unwell. His skin was pale and his face looked thin. His eyes were a sickly yellow, and something was quite wrong with him. She may actually think he'd contracted some deadly illness since last they'd spoken, and he wondered if that wouldn't have been for the better. He noted the borderline suicidal streak hadn't improved since last he'd seen her, and her words still echoed in his mind.

"I hope I never see you again." Even thinking about them now felt like a knife to the heart, but he wasn't sure any longer that he could blame her. He was becoming exactly what she hated, and he wondered if she would even hear a word he had to say. What choice do you have? The end of this... path is coming. There's no more putting off the fork in the road.

 

[Trys Aran]

Trys had been at the station all day, working between Flower Killer clues and also leads on the saber users. The strange ideas about Jedi or ‘dark siders’ made her want to tear her hair out. On top of that, her recent case had left her injured. She wasn’t in any condition to go offworld to chase anything for a bit, and she was confined to her on world work. She ignored all suggestions to stay home and get better, getting back on the job as soon as she could.

If he looked then, he would see her with a partial limp, carrying a giant stack of binders and files she was taking home with her. Trys worked around the clock, and the stuff she carried were things she earmarked for ‘light reading’. She hadn't noticed anyone, grumbling to herself as she made her way to a nearby coffee shop.

Trys wore a heavy boot on one of her legs, and she was dragging and half limping as she walked. It was clear that this was a complete nuisance, and she was perpetually irritated at having slowed down. Regardless, she took a seat at a table outside and plopped the heavy stash of files down.

The area was mostly deserted, and the coffee shop would close in an hour. However, she knew the owners, and they lived directly upstairs. They wouldn’t mind her relaxing at the table all night if she wanted. Trys had her injured leg extended off to the side as she began digging into the files, having ordered her fifth caf for the day.

 

[Talak Rand]

Talak could sense her before had actually spotted her. While she was unlikely to be happy to see him - a fact that he was dreading more than anything - her presence was familiar and almost soothing. She didn't see him at first, and he looked over to see her lugging way too much work around with her. She looked to be limping, which immediately alarmed him, and he wondered for a moment if he shouldn't go over to her. She already had so many thing she was carrying, and not just physically.

He was about ready to talk himself out of this when something deep inside seemed to kick him in the gut. There wasn't any turning back, and as much as parts of him wanted to run from this, he knew that if he ran now that would seal his fate forever.

She diverted to a caf shop next door, and there didn't appear to be many people inside. Except her, of course. She was always working because he'd quickly realized that was just who she was.

Just rip the bacta patch off, idiot, he told himself as the door slid open in front of him. What was he supposed to say? Perhaps he'd just have to "appear" and see what she said. What scathing remarks would she have or perhaps ignore him outright?

He approached her table almost cautiously like he was about to wake up a sleeping predator. Rip. It. Off.

Trys... he said quietly as he came to a stop. His fingers were resting against the corner of the booth, and she might get the impression that he was some sort of animal ready to bolt at a moment's notice.

 

[Trys Aran]

If Trys weren’t half a cripple, she very well would have bolted. Or, she probably would have whipped out her blaster at the very least. Instead, she simply stared in stunned silence, a cup of caf halfway raised towards her lips. She couldn’t even hide the shock in her eyes, and she found herself rooted in place.

Memories from months ago came flooding right back, and many details she would have cared to forget emerged all over again. What was he doing here? How did he know to be here? She was suddenly extremely uncomfortable with his proximity to her living area. However, she had to remember that she had originally met him on Coruscant, so him spotting her months later wasn’t a stretch...right?

“This isn’t a good idea,” She said quietly, not lowering her gaze from his. He looked different - sick and almost a hollowed out version of who she met back then. After the footage went live, she assumed he had been on the run. Trys looked around uncomfortably, as if expecting another Ranger to spot her even speaking to such a high profile criminal.

“I may be forced to arrest you,” She sighed, looking away as she sipped from the caf. The comment only had half heart in it, and he would be able to tell she was a mixture of emotions upon seeing him. First and foremost, she was angry and alarmed. Second...she was afraid. It radiated off her like a stench he would smell, and it was very distinct and one he had smelled quite a bit recently.

 

[Talak Rand]

Talak could see the shock in her eyes, and the truth of what she thought was laid out in the Force. Had he become better at reading her or had she become worse at hiding things from him? He could feel those red streaks of fear that stood out to him above the rest, and somehow it felt like a twisting of the knife. He knew she thought he was a monster - or at least it was evident now - and he realized it was because it was probably true.

But he could also tell that her threats of arrest lacked the oomph that was so characteristic of her when she was truly invested in something.

You might, he said quietly. There was anger there, too. She... resented him? Was that it? It brought back that final moment between the two of them, and he thought about how much he had changed since then. It had been only a few months, but none of those changes were for the better. It was why he was here now.

He took a seat in the booth across from her, and he didn't ask if he could sit. He already knew what her answer would have been.

Trys... I know you don't owe me anything, he said quietly. In fact, I owe you a lot, but... I need your help, and I don't know... I don't... have anyone else, he said. It was obvious there was pain and even desperation, but it likely wouldn't spare him from her wrath.

If, during her days as a criminal, she had had friends who were addicts or if she, herself, had been one, his appearance and the look in his eye would bring back memories of those times. A desperation and pain that underlay everything about them.

 

[Trys Aran]

Trys stared blankly at him as he sat down across from her. As he did so, she took her time in slowly closing the files she was looking at - He was perceptive enough to recognize a still capture of his own blurry face. It was a reminder that he was a suspect in an active case, and she made no move to hide that she was working on it.

“Technically you don’t have me either,” She pointed out bluntly in a way that was very much in line with her personality. Trys didn’t like this one bit, and she felt even more uncomfortable because of how close they were to her home and her son. For all she knew, the teen could waltz in right now and find her in discussion with a saber wielding killer.

“There’s nothing I can help you with,” She had a sick feeling that he had done many worse things since they last parted ways, “I’m not exactly a therapist, nor am I a religious figure that you come confess all your sins to,” She drank from her caf again.

Trys knew she was being harsh, but she could never agree with his method of doing things. She recalled how he so easily took lives without a second thought, and she had a suspicion he was the same person in some of the other Hutt footages. There was no stopping or controlling him, and now he wanted to come here and express needing help?

“You don’t operate alone,” Trys remarked after a moment, “I know you don’t. You have others like you. If you’ve come here hoping I’ll stay off your trail and close the books on you, you’ll have to kill me,” She scowled at him, “Should be easy enough, I already got a broken leg.”

 

[Talak Rand]

Talak felt numb, and her words only seemed to make it worse. It was almost like he was watching someone else in his body trying to make sense of what was going on.

You're still alone, he heard a voice say, and he cursed it immediately, screaming inside for it to shut up. He was finished listening to what it had to say. Vicious creature that it was, he was here to exorcise it for good. He had a thousand yard stare as she spoke, but he heard every word, and each word cut deeply. He should have felt agonizing pain, but it wasn't any worse than what he expected. If anything, a cold resolution crept over him.

No... he said quietly with a shake of his head. She was wrong about all of it. He didn't care about any of the others, and he couldn't have cared less about the trail she was following.

She was right, he didn't have her... whatever chance he had for them to be... close, seemed to have evaporated. His mind raced through his options, but he already knew the only option. This meeting only ended so many ways, and one of them was... very unpleasant.

His eyes flicked over to hers and she would feel a chill down her spine. They were deadly intense and seemed to burn with an unnatural flame, but below it was the spark of the person she had kissed on Gamorr.

Then I want you to shoot me, he said, and she would immediately know that he wasn't joking.

We both know what I'm going to become, and I won't do it. I'm not strong enough to stop it on my own, he said. It probably wasn't fair to put her in this position, and she would immediately question if it was some sort of trap, but if he were here simply to kill her he would have done it and been finished. Whatever she thought about him, there would almost inevitably be a part of her that would consider how she'd be lauded as a hero for bringing in the murderer that the galaxy was hunting. And then she would wonder how many lives she would save by putting down even a single person like him.

 

[Trys Aran]

Trys could only stare at him after he finished speaking. He always had a penchant for being melodramatic, and that began with his theatrical move to crash through people with a speeder. She ran her fingers through her hair and shook her head, glancing up as a waitress came by to ask if they wanted anything. Trys hoped he had the sense to slightly avert his gaze, and she glanced up at the woman.

“Yeah, get him a caf and pour two shots of liquor in it,” Trys said, now rubbing her temples. When she stepped away, she glanced at Talak again, not even remotely amused by his words. He was exceptionally difficult, and it reminded her just how many times she had gotten frustrated when she last worked with him.

“I have no idea what else you can become,” Trys quirked an eyebrow. She had no concept of how the Force or darkness and corruption worked, “You’re already a murderer. What else can you be?” The question was genuine - she had a simpler perspective of the world. You were either a ruthless killer or you weren’t. There was no concept of a downward spiral like what existed with the Force.

“Why would you want to stop it?” Trys had to ask, “You have powers, you can skirt past law as you please, no one can really do much to stop you. I can work to unearth what the hell you are and how many of you there are, but I don’t think any of us are equipped to actually do anything about it,” She hated admitting that. It was not in her nature to accept defeat, but after seeing the footage, she knew there was nothing in her limited funded arsenal that could ever touch him or his kind, “Galaxy’s at your feet to do as you please,” Trys shook her head, “You wouldn’t have stuck with it so long if you didn’t have a place where you belonged.”

 

[Talak Rand]

Talak didn't know how she'd react, but a reserved acceptance was about the best he could hope for. He didn't look at the waitress as she came over and Trys ordered him a drink. He could probably use some liquor if he were being honest, but he wasn't going to be honest about that.

He didn't say anything at first when she asked her questions, and he could tell that they were genuine. He rubbed one of his hands with the other nervously. How much could he tell her? What could he tell her? If he told her what he'd done she would surely think him beyond saving, wouldn't she?

Something much worse, trust me... he said quietly, before reaching up and rubbing his face. These cryptic answers weren't going to work. If he was here to get her help, he needed to actually tell her something.

It's... it's like something's eating you up inside. You're a puppet on a string with no control, he said. He wasn't making a lot of sense, but at least she would be able to see that he was trying.

It's slow... insidious and nefarious. And it's intoxicating, he said. The words were spilling out in a jumbled mess, but it was likely the first time she would have ever gotten anything akin to answers to her questions. It also showed how much of a mess his mind had become in their time apart.

I was raised into this life, Trys. Things... his voice trailed off, and he thought about the horrors he'd been through and the horrors he had in turn subjected others to. He almost wished she would have picked the option to just shoot him and end this.

When he spoke again, his voice seemed shaky. It was all I ever knew, he said.

 

[Trys Aran]

He made no sense, and she still wasn’t sure why he came here of all places. Weren’t there others of his kind that had the same struggles? What about the people that called themselves the ‘Jedi’? Trys tapped her finger against her cup of caf for a moment, truly at a loss on what to say. The fact that he genuinely reached out like this was telling.

“Well, recognizing that you have this….problem is a start,” Trys said quietly, feeling silly for sounding like some sort of therapist, “But you just have to learn to realize that you can exist without it. That you can be a person and who you are without it,” Was she making sense? Was this even true? What if all his personality was tied to being...whatever he was. What if that even included bits of him she liked? The bits that seemed actually good. The bits that contradicted everything and frustrated her to no ends. The bits that were the only reason she was still even entertaining this dialogue.

“I’m still not sure why you’re coming to me with this,” Trys said at last, visibly confused, “Aren’t there uh….the people that call themselves the Jedi or something? I met one. He appeared to have some strange abilities, but...minus the psychotic streak,” Trys shrugged, still not entirely sure about the categorizations of these strange beings.

“Why do you think I can help you more than others of your kind?”

 

[Talak Rand]

Talak was just glad to be having some sort of help from someone and able to open up about things that had been haunting him for years. He didn't care if she was trying to sound like a therapist.

Maybe she was right about the Jedi... he had a great deal of trouble trusting the Jedi, and he wasn't convinced going to them was a good idea, but perhaps it was a stop he needed to make.

I came to you because... I trust you, he finally said. She may not have trusted him, and he didn't know where they stood, but they had had something akin to at least a budding friendship.

And because you're not filled with hatred and violence, he added. She genuinely wanted to help people and make the galaxy a better place, and she wasn't doing it through the darkness. He wanted to make the galaxy better, but he wasn't even sure that held true for the rest of the Sith Eternal.

I don't know about the Jedi, he finally admitted. And I don't know that they wouldn't just kill me on sight, he added. He didn't think they would, and had met a Jedi who that wasn't the case for, but it was difficult to say. Maybe I should go to one of them... he said, more to himself than to her.

How did you get out of... your old life? he asked. It was another reason he'd come to her that he didn't even realize. She hadn't been in the dark side of the Force, but she'd had her own darkness she'd had to escape from. He knew she had transitioned into the Rangers, but surely it wasn't so easy as to simply drop it all, was it?

 

[Trys Aran]

Trys had to chuckle and shake her head, “Trust me, I can be filled with hatred and violence,” She thought back to how they ended up working the slave operation case to begin with. They had been following up on something entirely different, and an encounter led to her killing two thugs in cold blood. She still carried that weight with her, but it didn’t bother her nearly as much as it should have.

His admission of trusting her was truly jarring, and she wasn’t sure how to take that. Trys hadn’t expected that from him, and she wondered if it was simply because he was truly alone. But she stopped herself there - did that make the trust any less genuine? Did that make his attempts at seeking help any less worthy?

“I don’t think I would have been able to get out if not for my son,”Trys admitted quietly. By then, his liquor filled caf had arrived, and she half pondered on ordering one for herself. She normally wanted to skirt around the topic of her boy, but there was no other answer to her being able to shed her old life behind.

“I got out of it by chasing something else. I had my gaze set on a prize - that prize was a better life for my son and I,” Trys thought for a long moment, “You’ll never get out if you try to run from something, because it’ll always pull you back. You can get out once you have something better to go to, because then you have something to work towards and then dig yourself out. Right now you’re only surrounded by what’s bad...and that’s all you know.”

She wanted nothing more than to simply question him on his kind and help her own case, but she once again struggled with her values. Trys met his gaze for a moment, noting the new lines on his face and the dark circles beneath his eyes, “Something made you want to get out of it. What is it?”

 

[Talak Rand]

Talak saw that same look in her eyes again as she talked about her son. He was the most important thing in the galaxy to her and he envied that. He didn't have anything like that, and as she talked about how important it was, he wondered if he would ever be able to get out.

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat for a moment, and was infinitely thankful for the appearance of his caf. If it hadn't been so scaldingly hot he would have guzzled it down and started in on another one.

And then she asked that question. What made him want to get out, and he was filled with an indescribably, unimaginable shame. His eyes bored into his cup of caf and he couldn't bring them up to look at her. He shifted in his seat again and said nothing for a moment.

I... don't want to tell you... he said at first. He knew that if he did, she wouldn't ever look at him the same again. As bad as she thought he was now, it paled in comparison to what she didn't know.

He steeled himself and after a moment he spoke up again. I'm becoming just like the man I hated more than anyone else in the galaxy. The person who started me down this path. And now I've started others down the same path. I've caused... horrible pain and suffering, he said.

I'm done with that. I want to fix the galaxy, not break people, he said. Breaking people was exactly what it had become. First Ana and then Lilith. The light had been snuffed out of their eyes and only wicked murder remained.

 

[Trys Aran]

Trys listened to what he had to say and took mental notes. Started others down the path? It confirmed more and more that this was a creed or group of some sort, and it passed down teachings. All the research she had done on ‘Jedi’ suggested a similar process, but she guessed whatever Talak came from was something more sinister. She would add these notes to her case, and she knew Talak wouldn’t exactly be surprised.

“Unless you are dealing with small children, I doubt you’ve led anyone down paths they wouldn’t have gone regardless,” Trys shrugged, “Don’t kid yourself. The promise of power like that is lucrative and many people would jump at that opportunity. You just happened to give them a way how instead of them causing damage and wreaking havoc on their own. You’re probably doing them a service if you really think about it,” She couldn’t help but crack half a grin. She knew this was serious, but she also couldn’t picture Talak as someone that would force anyone to do something they didn’t want to. However, perhaps there was an entire side to him she had never seen.

Back to how he closed himself off and said he didn’t want to tell her what made him want to get out, Trys shook her head, “You’re not answering what I asked. You’re still focusing on the bad things that made you want to get out. You need to focus on the good and only that,” It was a mental shift that was difficult for her to do, and she knew it would possibly be even moreso for him having known no other life.

“How do you want to fix the galaxy? What do you want to do to actually help?” Trys guessed he had no clue what it actually meant to walk a different path. It had taken her years to become straight edge and who she was today. He had a starry eyed perception that he could suddenly use all his powers for good and undo everything he had done.

“I don’t think you’ll be able to ever completely wash your hands of the past,” Trys said as she finished up her caf, “I may have been able to, but I wasn’t so entrenched into a creed and state of being with...powers that could control me.”

 

[Talak Rand]

Talak felt some small sense of relief listening to her. Even if it was probably only partially true, it was encouraging to hear that perhaps he wasn't solely responsible for what had happened. At least one of the students had come to seek him out, and he now silently thanked the Force that his near-corruption of the young girl here on Coruscant hadn't ever been seen to fruition.

He even managed sad smile of his own, one of the first glimpses she would have seen of the old him that she had gotten to know. He nodded and focused on what she said about why he wanted to get out. He reached up and scratched his chin in thought. It wasn't something he'd ever really given a great deal of thought to.

He knew that he could use his power to stop other bad people and he wanted to keep freeing slaves and other innocents caught in the crossfire, but he wasn't sure if Trys would approve of his vigilanteism. He didn't know if Trys would approve... that in and of itself was another telling issue. He still keenly remembered the pain he felt when she had been so disappointed with him and walked away. He couldn't, of course, even hint that she might be a goal to work toward. That was just... so not okay.

I want to keep stopping slavers and criminals, he said before looking up at her. I know that's not exactly law abiding, though... he said. Did that mean he wasn't actually wanting to change? He wasn't fit for true law enforcement, but surely there had to be something that he could do.

Maybe I could help with your investigations, he said, trying to suppress a smile at what he anticipated would be horror from her at the thought of having him "help" her more. He kept drinking his caf and could feel that it was already loosening him up. It was a welcome relief.

He settled back into his seat and his mind turned to the life of a bounty hunter again. Perhaps that was a role he could actually fit into. And then his mind turned to another more serious path.

Or maybe I have to go back and stop the people like me, he said quietly. He knew that was probably the truth, but it was something he wasn't sure he was ready to face.

I don't even know, did I answer your question? he seemed to catch himself. This was the most he had talked to anyone about himself in years. It was odd how she seemed to bring that out of him. Or perhaps he should say that it was odd how he had sought her out to do that.

 

[Trys Aran]

Trys watched him curiously, hearing his ideas vomiting all over the place. He was entirely lost and confused, and she took it all in. By the time he was done, she had a caf of her own with a few shots in it. If she was going to entertain this, she needed something stronger than simple caf. Trys offered him a grin at first.

“Well, you can definitely help with my investigations,” Trys reached into her bag and tossed out some cuffs that she slid over to him, “Put those on and come with me to the station. Then they can all applaud my efforts and give me a nice bonus….maybe even a promotion,” She pointed down at the fat stack of files in front of her, “This is all crap to track you.”

Trys couldn’t help but almost laugh at the image of her hobbling over to the station with a mass murdered in cuffs slowly walking behind her. She closed the files again and sighed, “Going back to stop others like you is exactly what I’m working on. But honestly I don’t want to deal with your melodrama of what happens if you turn on your own people,” For some reason, dealing with his self loathing from that sounded much more miserable than missing out on solving probably the biggest case to ever come to the Rangers. Trys would need to solve this one by herself or with other Rangers.

“You can’t be a peachy good guy in one day,” Trys said finally, “It might not even be what you want. You like killing bad guys, but you don’t like waiting around for a justice system to process them,” She paused for a long moment, face scrunched up in confusion, “What...what exactly is the damn point of the group you’re in? What were you supposed to be trained for? What ‘path’ are you leading people on? Just walk around and lob off heads as they please?”

 

[Talak Rand]

Talak's eyebrows rose when she said that he could help with her investigation. He hadn't expected her to take him up on his offer, and then she tossed the cuffs across the table. He gave her an "unamused" glare despite the fact that he actually thought it was quite humorous.

I guess I'm quite the elusive man, aren't I? he said with a smirk. He noted how she now had a little liquor of her own, and it was probably for the best. It was doing wonders for him, and the constant state of tension had begun to relax, hopefully calming his thoughts a bit more.

Melodrama?! he objected with a scowl. I'm not melodramatic, he grumbled to himself, not entirely convinced even by himself. How rude of her to call him melodramatic.

There was certainly truth in what she said about him liking killing bad guys. He did. He thought they deserved it, and it was something he could do. He just didn't want to lose himself in the process or be party to the "goals" of the Sith Eternal any longer.

When she asked what it was that they wanted to do, he raised his eyebrows. That's not too far off, he said as she asked about lobbing off heads as they pleased. Explaining the goals of the Sith Eternal was much more difficult without access to the Force and the ability to feel the galaxy's cycle, but he would do his best.

It's a radical terrorist organization, he said. In its simplest form, that was probably the truth. The goal is supposed to be to attack corrupt societies. Ones bogged down by social stratification, crime, corruption, etc... but it kills indiscriminately. Everyone in that society is a target. A societal reset, he said. He looked at her to gauge her reaction. He'd admitted to a horrible reality and it was likely to make more sense to her why he was so interested in getting out. He wasn't interested in planting a bomb on Coruscant and wiping out millions of innocent people. He would fight to destroy crime, but not at the expense of even more innocents.

 

[Trys Aran]

Trys stared at him in confusion after his explanation. She had gathered that it was a terrorist organization, but the goals sounded strange. She paused for a moment after he finished, sipping from her alcoholic caf now, “To what end? What’s the end goal? Societal reset where the terrorist organization rules everything?” That sounded like some theatrical Holomovie plot. However, after everything she had seen so far, she knew this wasn’t a joke.

“Do you...lose your magical powers if you suddenly decide not to be a twat?” Trys asked in all seriousness, completely clueless about how any of his abilities worked. This was all new information to her, and she had to make a mental note to jot it all down. She knew the Rangers would have a field way with this, and it would be a nice break after they had been struggling with cases.

“Is there some bigger and badder guy you’re all supposed to obey and listen to?” She was fascinated, her eyes wide and betraying her sense of curiosity. This sounded like some strange and radical religious order, and he was trying to come out of it after being indoctrinated all his life, “And won’t they come for you if you try to get out?”

Trys had dealt with small time fanatical cults before, and they were always tough cases. There had to be a lot of coaching and counseling done to ease people out of them. She had a feeling that it would take a lot more than that to help Talak adapt to something outside of the life he had known.

 

[Talak Rand]

He could tell that she was excited by this. After months of working, she was probably getting more straightforward answers now than she had been able to get out of anyone. Even the Jedi - if she'd talked to them - didn't really know who the Sith Eternal were.

No, well, maybe... but no, he said, spouting off what had to be the least helpful sentence in the history of the galaxy. He sighed, realizing he wasn't being very helpful.

Okay, so, in the "ideal" state of the philosophy, none of us care about conquest or ruling... we're... what was the world he was looking for ...uh... guides? Guides to help the galaxy move forward, he said, realizing how stupid it sounded to say it out loud.

We help the galaxy regrow. Kind of like a forest after a wildfire. We're the fire that lets it all regrow, he said. He hoped that made any sense at all. Unfortunately, even among the members of the order there isn't agreement on that, he said, shaking his head. It was clear that there was internal politics and drama within the organization itself.

No, I won't lose my abilities. They're a part of me. I was born with them, but I probably would lose a portion of my power, he said. Was the topic of the Force, the Light, and the Dark something he could tackle now? It was complex enough on its own even if he weren't being sidetracked by explaining the Sith Eternal as a whole.

Yes. There are actually two sects, but both of them listen to our leader, he said before pausing. Would they come after him? Most likely. And even more so now that he was here telling a Sector Ranger about all of this.

Yes, they will. And if I keep telling you this, they'll come after you, too, he said. The sudden realization hit him like a freighter. She likely had already considered this danger, but the idea that he was going to be placing an even larger target on her back didn't sit well with him. He knew she wouldn't want him babying her, but that didn't make it much easier.

 

[Trys Aran]

There was a long moment of silence after he finished. Half of what he said made no sense - destroy things to rebuild them? Trys thought of what he said at the very end, and that was when she couldn’t help but grin. She knew she was getting into danger with this. It worried her only because she fretted over her son.

“I do worry about them coming after me,” Trys admitted aloud, “I worry because you found me easily. It means any of them could and potentially hurt my son,” The thought made her sick to her stomach, and she took a big gulp of the caf. She set it down and stared down at the table, shaking her head, “But I can’t stop the work I’ve started,” Trys gazed up to meet his eyes, “I’m going to keep poking around and asking questions. I’m going to keep tracking people from this organization till I blow it all wide open. We’re not equipped to handle what happens after that, but as Rangers, we owe it to the public to ensure they’re safe.”

She sighed as she thought about what she was saying. This was so much bigger than the serial killer she was chasing. How could she place value on the worth of some lives over others? For every moment she spent following the terrorist organization, she let another young woman become a victim.

“I’ve told you what I plan to do,” Trys pulled the cuffs back to herself and stashed them away, “It’s up to you on where you want to go from here. But you need to decide if you want to be responsible for others you pulled into this or if you will cut your ties entirely and leave them to their own devices. You need to think about the repercussions of everything you have started already,” Trys couldn’t help but recall how his violent actions in killing Durr’s son initially had the retaliatory effect of the girls being hunted down and killed.