She just gave a little shrug. " It felt like time to move on. You weren't accepting any of your transfer offers, and some of those offers even I would have killed for. Would you have taken any of them had I stuck around?"

Dak leant back, stretching in thought.

"No, probably not. But look at where i ended up! Far from the battleline with nothing to do..."

Her hand reached over once again to the weapons on the wall, and palming a small object from behind the scalp-hunter she slid from the crate. As she moved the few steps to the bed she slipped the object beneath her belt.

" So come with me," she said quietly, crawling over the prone Dak to kneel on the bed, strattling him around the waist. " No woman, no family, a career you hate... what's keeping you here Blackblade?

Dakkon shook his head.

"Maybe...

Still, I've got leave due nearly over a years worth. I've been fighting almost non-stop since Paris Island and i just don't wanna bother anymore."

His hands rose to touch her lower back.

"And you always knew i was a lover, not a fighter!"

A smile turned up her lips, though a hint of sadness could be seen within her eyes. " That's why I'm here..."

The knees on either side of Dak pressed in to his side, painfully driving the air out of his lungs as she shifted her legs beneath him and started to squeeze him around the waist. His hands grabbed at her thighs in an attempt to pry them off him, all the while desperately gasping for air. The bones of his lower spine cracked as the pressure on them continued, forcing them out of alignment.

Kami's hand moved to her belt where she retrieved the object she had taken from behind the blaster. She pressed the hypospray against his neck before he could register what she held, and injected the sedative into his veins.

It moved quickly to his brain, relaxing his body a few seconds later. Kami released her hold on him with her legs, avoiding the betrayed look in his dimming eyes.

" I'm sorry, Blackblade," she whispered as the sedative overtook him and he slipped into unconsciousness. " But a girl's gotta get paid."

Heaving the sleeping Dak over her shoulder, she carried him out of the room and paused only long enough to open the hatch next to the one she exitted. The door hissed open and she stepped inside the converted cargo hold.

Three cages made of mandalorian iron stood in the space against the outter bulkhead, and it was in the smallest of the three that she placed Dak. She sat him against the wall, held one hand up against it above his head and actived an energy restraint that held it in place. She repeated the procedure with his other hand.

Kami looked at his sleeping face, brushing a strand of hair that had fallen over his eyes aside, and kissed him gently on the forehead. She stepped back out of the cage, taking a remote-like looking device from a consol on the wall. Pressing one of the control buttons, the door to the cage slammed into place.

Content that he would not get out of his entrapment before she would be able to stop him, she left the cargo hold and went into the @#%$ pit and began the process of starting up the ship's engines. At the same time she activated the com system.

" Ground Control this is the God Killer requesting clearance for departure."

The minutes passed, and by the time she got an answer the ship was ready for flight.

" God Killer, you are cleared for departure. Keep to your assigned vector for atmospheric flight."

" Roger that, Ground Control. God Killer out."

He felt disembodied, his mind hanging just inches from the surface of his conciousness. He could sense his body, but not where and what it was doing or more importantly what was being done to it. Focusing, the Shadow Jedi Master began to meditate, his concentration falling to realligning his lower back.

Unbeknowst to him his body could be seen contorting and twisting, little pops hidden beneath a heavy breath here and there as he began to reallign his lower back. It took time, but slowly his limbs were fully mobile again, despite the restraints he could not see. With his back sorted, Dakkons mediation brought the surroundings of the ship to him. He could sense Kami was in the cockpit preparing for a hyperspace jump. A thin smile crossed his astral lips as he sent his conciousness into her mind.

This can't hold me Korosu. I've changed a little since Paris Island.

He looked deep into her mind, unlocking her most cherised desires and feared nightmares. With malice he sent images of her capture and torture to her, feeding her fears. But along with this he unlocked memories of their time together, juxtaposing the pain he had created.

Months of intense, military training and years of experience never prepared her for the rush of images that flooded her mind. However, Kami was well trained and able to call on that training to steady her nerves, to calm herself long enough to complete the sequence of coordinates that would take the God Killer through Hyperspace and to the planet Dega.

Her fingers hovered just above the keys of the nav computer, shaking as forgotten nightmares and memories mingled to create a vision of pain. A bead of sweat formed along her hair line and her breathing quickened as she forced herself to concentrate, attempting to ignore what she was seeing in her mind.

It was nearly impossible to understand what was happening. Never before had she experienced anything like what she was now. Terrible images she had thought long burried boiled to the surface with a vengeance, along with blissful memories of her past with the man she now had betrayed.

She did not understand until she heard his voice in her mind. Somehow, he was the one doing this.

With swear now trickling down the side of her face, Kami finished the sequence and - hoping it was entered correctly - slammed her hand against the control which pushed the God Killer into Hyperspace. With autopilot inganged, she stumbled out of the cockpit and through the small corridor back to the cargo hold.

He was still as she had left him unconscious, restrained, trapped. Yet she found herself wondering if she had ever really known the man as the memories of their times together replayed in her mind. Those memories faded though, quickly to be replaced by her nightmares.

Her brown eyes squeezed shut, her hands pressed against her temples, and she slumped against the wall next to the hatch, sliding to the floor. " Stop it," she moaned as the assault on her mind continued. " Stop it!"

A harsh laugh now echoed in the backdrop of her mental avalance.

Why should i? You betrayed my trust. Betrayed my memory of you Korosu.

Where does that mean i let you off the hook?

The laughter continued, not frivolity evident in its harsh barking sound. More and more images flew before her mind, showing her another elaborate death sequince after another when suddenly they stopped. Her mind felt a flash of white, stark nothingness, then the voice again. Dakkons voice.

I can stop it Korosu, and causing you pain is much too easy, and pointless. Why are you doing this to yourself?

Her breath came in short, shuddering gasps as the visions intesified and yet she managed a chuckle. Kami pushed herself up the wall into a standing position, her clouded eyes falling onto Dak's body.

" You always were a cheat, Blackblade," Kami managed to say between gasps. " Never could beat me in a fair fight."

A hand reached into her pocket and retrieved the remote control from within. " But I don't have a choice this time, old friend. It's you, or my head. And to be honest, I like my head right where it is."

Her thumb depressed one of the buttons on the control and the energy restraints that held Dak's arms against the bulkead retracted. The door to the cage unlocked, but did not swing open.

" Looks like you were right back in the bar. Guess I got myself into some trouble even I can't handle..."

His body slumped, falling to the floor with a metalic thud as his head clashed with the steel floor. His lungs heaved as they drew in breath and it was then that the Shadows eyes opened. He started to pull himself up and then leant against the wall when he had been held. He outstretched his hand and the door opened through a light force push.

"This isn't cheating Korosu, this is me. This is what i am now, among other things."