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Getting the shuttle in and out of Zakuul had been easier than expected, Legate had been able to pass herself off as a smuggler without much issue. It would take days for the Gravestone to return to Asylum, though. The ancient starship required constant maintenance, but even then she had more time than she needed. Soon she would have to start hiding in the ship's labyrinthine corridors to avoid Koth and his crew. After spending her whole life in service to Imperial Intelligence, she wasn't prepared to trust these strangers so readily.
She had spent most of this journey thinking about what she was going to do next. Judging by what Lana said, the Empire as she knew it was completely gone. Her friends in the Republic were most likely gone as well, bravely but foolishly dashing themselves against the durasteel wall that was Zakuul's forces. Even her crew was gone - well, not SCORPIO. Of course the droid had found some way to benefit from the chaos of the past five years. But she was as untrustworthy as she always was. As much as she hated to admit it, Koth Vortena and his gaggle of misfits might be the only allies she could find. Let it never be said that the agent formerly known as Cipher Nine couldn't make the best of any situation.
Legate tried to lose herself in old routines. No matter what happened to the galaxy, she still needed to take inventory. Her blasters (1 E-212 carbine, 2 standard issue X-310 pistols) were still in good condition, despite all of her supplies having gone into carbonite with her. The knife she kept (1 Cathar traditional r'irpena) needed work. The freezing had made the metal brittle, but she didn't trust anyone at Asylum to be able to repair it. She suspected there wouldn't be an opportunity for quite some time. Her grenades (7 thermal, 2 corrosive, 8 shrapnel) had all survived, but the chemical compounds (various) she needed to make any more were ruined. It wasn't clear if she needed to worry about food. The rations (20 Imperial high-protein) she kept in case of emergency, which this probably was, were still sealed, but Force knew what the freezing process had done to them.
Just thinking about eating made her stomach growl. Technically, she hadn't had any food in five years, not that her body would be aware of the time difference. On the upper levels of the ship were some food supplies they had managed to get on Zakuul, but Legate wasn't feeling particularly sociable. And her stealth field generator was still charging.
Perhaps she should just see for herself what condition her rations were in. She'd always been one to go with her gut, hopefully she wasn't about to repay it with something long since spoiled. The high-protein rations were only produced in one variety, to her long-standing disappointment - hers, and likely that of any other Cathar who worked for the Empire. They tasted like dust, but they were filling, and they gave her energy.
Legate set about rehydrating something that she had always thought of as porridge. Some kind of mixture of grains and protein paste. It definitely had a metallic flavor in it this time, but at this point eating small amounts of carbonite was not the foremost of her worries.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she almost missed the door opening farther down the hall. Her heart sank when she heard the familiar heavy steps. "You again?" she asked.
"Wow," Koth said. "I feel so welcome." He didn't sound angry, just a bit annoyed, which seemed like a fairly typical state for him.
Legate looked him up and down, with a practiced neutral expression on her spotted face. Her tail twitched, but she doubted he would notice. "You can go wherever you like, I suppose," she said. "Just don't expect me to come find you when you get lost down here."
"You seem to be doing just fine." Koth stepped inside the room and sat down across from her. His gaze lingered over her gear before finally landing on the glass bowl containing the hydrated rations. There was no mistaking the look of disgust on his face. "What even is that?"
"The Sith Empire's attempt at making food for nonhumans," Legate answered. "It's like eating nutrient-enhanced dirt." She held out the bowl for him to inspect.
He stared at it for a moment longer, then waved it away. "Thanks, but... no thanks. Even I couldn't eat that."
"You're welcome to try, if you want to make yourself suffer." She tried to keep her tone light. In all honesty she didn't care one way or the other what he did. If he left now, she would continue to keep to herself until they arrived at Asylum.
"I'll keep that in mind. So..." He paused, clearly unsure how to proceed. "You and SCORPIO already know each other."
Legate sighed inwardly. This was another reason she preferred being alone. "You could say that."
Koth raised an eyebrow. "Come on, that doesn't tell me anything."
She shrugged. "She worked with me, I worked with the Empire."
"So you two are... friends?"
"We were colleagues, nothing more. She's not exactly the most trustworthy, I'll tell you that much."
"Should I pretend to be surprised?" Koth asked.
"Would you really bother?"
"If it means getting something less cagey out of you."
"Oh, so you're not cagey either?"
He gave her a dry look. "I have got to be the least cagey person on this entire ship."
"Counterpoint -" she smiled, baring her fangs. "Teeseven."
He laughed, but she noticed a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes. She wondered what he would think if he knew how many people she'd had to betray. What would he think if he knew about Hunter? Or Ardun Kothe? How about Darth Jadus, who might very well still be hiding in some dark corner of the galaxy?
"Okay, fine. I'm... fairly cagey," she conceded.
"But we're still working together. I can't do that if I don't even know who you are. And I really can't keep calling you 'the Cathar' forever, it makes me sound like a jackass."
She shrugged. "I'm Legate. Officially, I was Cipher Nine. Former agent of Imperial Intelligence."
"Legate," he said, like he was trying the word on for size. "That's not your real name, is it?"
She snorted. "Of course not."
"So you just have…" he gestured vaguely. "...code names on top of code names."
"I suppose." She wasn't sure whether she should tell him why, but decided against it. She didn't know what he knew or what he was willing to tell her. Besides, she might need the leverage someday.
"Did you always work for them?" Koth asked.
"Stars, no," she said. "I was just another alien trying to get by on Dromund Kaas." She leaned back in her seat and folded her arms across her chest. "But I was a bit too clever for my own good. I think I was about... 8 years old when I started wondering why we were all starving while the Imperials had all those warehouses right there in Kaas City."
"Don't tell me -" Koth started.
Legate laughed, interrupting him. "I did. I snuck right in."
"And..." he hesitated. "You stole a bunch of supplies from the warehouse?"
"Well, that's just part of it. I did bring back supplies that we could sell, but it never occurred to me that they had security cameras. Like I said, I was a child."
"So you got caught?" Koth asked with a look of concern on his face.
"Precisely. They told me I could either go to prison or start training to work for them." She shook her head. "I figured there was no chance of getting off easy."
He nodded slowly. "They must've liked you, if you ended up staying so long."
"Liking me has nothing to do with it. I was useful to them." She looked down at her hands, which were clasped together in her lap. "I did all sorts of horrible things, and the whole time I thought it was an honor. The Empire's favorite assassin." She snorted quietly at that last comment.
"I'm... sorry," Koth said, suddenly serious. "For what they did to you." He reached across and gently placed a hand on hers - an odd gesture for someone who had been so harsh earlier.
"Thank you, but I don't think we're exactly on the same page here," Legate said, withdrawing her hand. "It's not like Zakuul treated you any better."
"Not you too," he muttered under his breath.
"Hey!" she snapped. "What's that supposed to mean?"
He sighed. "Look, you and Lana both. You keep acting like your Empire and mine are exactly the same."
"Because they are," she said. "It was Vi- er, Valkorion at the top of the chain for the Sith Empire and the Eternal Empire. They have the same goals and the same mindset - take control of the galaxy, because it's your right. The only difference is that the Sith don't have the Eternal Fleet."
"Zakuul isn't like your Empire! We would never -"
"Never what, Koth?" Legate sat up straighter, trying to put some force behind her words. "Put their own people at risk? Start killing their own servants?" Her eyes narrowed into slits. "Order an officer to open fire on civilians?"
"Don't - " he gritted his teeth, anger flaring up. "That was all Arcann. There's a reason I'm here trying to fight him. Under Valkorion none of that ever would have happened!"
"No, it did happen. You just weren't there to see it." Legate stood abruptly, knocking the chair backwards onto its rear legs. "I was on Yavin Four when he tricked people into setting him free. I was on Ziost when he started possessing people just to make them slaughter each other. I watched it from the orbital station when he killed every living thing on the planet. You can't pretend he's a hero, Koth. Even Zakuul was just an experiment to feed his ego." She took a deep breath, visibly calming herself. "Please. You can't make the same mistakes I did."
Koth glared at her for a long moment, then turned and stalked out the door.
Legate let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding and slumped back into her chair with a sigh as well as an annoyed twitch of her tail. That went worse than she expected. She hoped Koth would eventually understand her side of it. Maybe he wouldn't, but she felt like it was important for him to at least hear the truth.
She glanced over at her rations bowl, which she had left sitting on the floor. She didn't feel like eating anymore.