Introduction

It is a time of great change, and a new awareness is beginning to flood the galaxy. Hyperspace travel is a reality, and even though it is still time consuming, the trade industry and the wealthy elite have discovered a taste for this new technology. Scatterings of mystics are appearing throughout the galaxy, all tied to a curious abstraction that sets them apart from the other religious figures in the galaxy, whether it is called The Force, the White Current, The Will or a thousand other terms, these groups are beginning to become aware of the similarities between their paths and gifts. Planetary governments are becoming a reality throughout the galaxy; the banner of “One World, One Government” is being waved in nearly every civilized sector of the galaxy. However, this is not always a perfect arrangement, in many sectors these planetary governments are ruled by the will of a few tyrannical elite.

The burgeoning industry of hyperspace travel and trade routes is in its infancy. Everyday, someone finds a new world to open trade with and goods to import to their people, at a profit. However, for every one merchant trader, there are three smugglers behind the scenes. Although these respectable merchants offer good money for the goods being brought to them, there is another market (a less than legal one) that offers a far greater profit. In many sectors, a smuggler chief sets up shop in order to corner a specific market or trade route. Through the use of piracy, and other less than legal means, these smuggler chiefs work to control the trade in their areas and most times work right alongside the more respectable merchants (mostly as fronts). It is a time of great capitalistic ideals. The rule of the day in most sectors is; Money makes the rules.

Many of the planets are adopting a form of planetary government; most notably the planets of the Corellian Sector and Chandrila (the powerhouses of the new interstellar trade industries). The Chandrillans have gone so far as to form an Interstellar Navy in the hopes of building a strong defense of the planet and its resources and in an effort to thwart the attempts of the many pirates that have invaded their trade routes. The Corellian Sector has had less success in this avenue, due in part to their resistance to the idea that each of the planets in that Sector should join forces to create a unified defense of the area. There has been a great reluctance to turn over power to a single entity, but there is a force on the horizon that may prove able to complete the task of uniting the Corellian Sector under a single banner.

The Corellian Ship Builder Unions have already proven themselves to be the finest engineers of hyperspace freighters in the galaxy. However, the Kuati Drive Yards Corporation is in constant competition w/ them as the lead supplier of travel craft for the elite members of society, and recently they have been dabbling in the defense class vessels (much to the dismay of the Chandrillan government). A commercial trade war is in the brewing, especially if another player is introduced into the fray.

A strange and growing population of gifted individuals has begun to appear and congregate across the galaxy. Many of them have been called seers, or magicians, or even lunatics, and they all share a common bond, a connection to each other through an unknown “Force.” They are able to sense one another, even over great distances. There are three major groups (meeting in secret and slowly developing a series of doctrines for themselves); Followers of the Force, The Path of the White Current, and Those of the Will. They all seem to be setting out on similar paths, though each is only vaguely aware of the others. A fourth group (though unable to organize as a single entity), vastly different from the previous three, has begun to emerge as an antithesis to the other three groups. Where The Force, The White Current and The Will all lead their people to work in the greater interest of beings as a whole, the new group (known only as Dark Ones) deal only in personal gain at the expense of any and all who stand in their way. Soon, these similar and divergent groups are headed for a series of confrontations, spurred on by the advent of hyperspace travel.

The galaxy has become a fast changing and ever-growing realm, where the unknown and the known are in constant competition. And this is where our story begins: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

Chapter 1

The rain pattered on the window of the speeder Elassi Mehand was riding in. Hannah City, the capital of Chandrila, was currently in the rainy season. The elderly queen let her forehead rest against the cold glass of the speeder window. Outside she watched as damp people on the wet streets went about their daily lives. These people are why I am here. But do they need a leader such as I any more? My life is nearly up; they need someone new, someone with the vigor that I no longer possess. The woman sighed and closed her brown eyes. She was tired, but life had to go on.

“My lady, we are here.” The driver opened her door and held out a helpful hand. “Be careful, the steps are wet and very slippery.”

Elassi nodded at the helpful advice and walked slowly up the stairs. Behind her, a woman who had been on Elassi’s staff since she first became the ruler of Chandrila held up a parasol to protect her from the rain. “Thank you Shani, mind the steps dear, you and I both need to be careful, we are not as spry as we used to be.”

Shani laughed and took Elassi’s arm. Together they made their way up the stairs of the University of Knowledge. In a quiet whisper she said, “El, you and I both know that you are…”

Elassi gave the woman an uncharacteristic elbow in the side. “Shhh…” Then they both burst into a fit of quiet girl-like giggles.

Once Inside the majestic University, Elassi dismissed Shani. She was giving a lecture, not addressing the state; Shani would not be needed to keep up her regal appearance. In fact most of the students dressed in clothes that only a pauper would wear (beaten up jackets, threadbare pants, all complimenting the secondhand boots that were the norm among students).

The classroom she usually gave her lectures in was the largest in the University. It seated nearly five hundred, and sometimes more would come in. Apparently Elassi’s class was one of the students’ favorites. The classroom was also the closest to the main doors of the building. “Hello class!” She said in a singsong voice as she opened the doors to the lecture hall.

The class stood until she reached the lectern. This had become a standard practice of respect for all the professors at the University. At first it had only been an honor shown to Elassi, but she insisted that here at the school she was only a professor and if the students were going to treat her that way, that all the other professors deserved the same.

“Today I think I will talk about pacifism versus aggressiveness.” She smiled and walked in front of the lectern. It obstructed the students’ views of her body language, which was important to the students’ learning process. “For the past twelve years the government of Chandrila has been developing an Interstellar Navy. This is a common fact all of you know very well. But before this was in existence, when you were all small children, Chandrila was known for its pacifism. Much like Alderaan is today.

“However it seems that to continue protecting this planet we need to take a more aggressive stance on galactic politics. The systems around us are changing, and we need to go with those times. Smuggling is the largest threat to our well-being, and that is the main problem that the Interstellar Navy deals with.” Elassi paused to make sure that the class was absorbing her information. Her eyes passed over a young woman in the front row. She was biting her lower lip as if she had something to say. “Miss Tryashoenu, do you have something to say?”

The young woman stood up and smiled. She was very pretty, with long golden hair piled in a loose bun with small tendrils that escaped the hair tie’s grasp. A pale blue off the shoulder dress exaggerated her well-defined shoulders, but it slightly exposed a dark purple burn mark on her left shoulder. “Yes milady, I do have a question. Merely one of statistics, but maybe you could answer it for me.”

Elassi nodded, prompting the young woman to go on.

“Well, I was just contemplating the possibility of an attack on Chandrila from a nearby system, not that I am saying that there is a chance of something like that happening.” Xana Tryashoenu blushed at suggesting such a thing to the planet’s leader. “But would the Navy be ready for such a threat? And would we rise to fight back like all those other systems that have succumbed to violence as a way of life?”

Elassi nodded and said to the rest of the class, “Why can’t the rest of you come up with such questions! Young Xana here could be a member of my staff with such insights as this one.

“This question is very valid. But many variables come into play here. If a planet such as Corellia would threaten us, I doubt that we would stand much of a chance. Yes we are a very powerful trade planet, but I am afraid to say that we bought most of our Navy from Corellia.” Elassi paused before continuing. “But as far as us being ready for an attack from any system, I would say we are more prepared than we have ever been before. Thanks to Silvas Orian, who has done a tremendous amount of work for this project since I asked him to spearhead it for me.”

There was a bang as the door of the classroom flew open. “Speak of the man…” said Elassi as she recognized Silvas. “What are you-“

He cut her off, “Everyone must listen to me. There are some very dangerous men in the University right now.”

Chapter 2

A sleek, black and gold freighter is slowly making its way through the Perlemian Trade Route on its journey to the Corellian Sector. The navigator, and owner of the ship, is busily calculating the next hyperspace jump at the ship’s console. On the open deck behind him, a young woman is intently running through a demanding physical routine.

“Master, why must I always find a center to start from? Shouldn’t I have a different direction or at least some kind of motive for the things I do? Not everything can be given over to a ‘search for higher knowledge.’” Meesahran Tofallin asks of the gray haired man sitting at the navigation controls of the simple freighter craft, as she continues to perform a series of intricate movements with her body.

“Are you so sure, young one? Is not the purpose of life to quest for knowledge?” The gray one continues his ministrations at the keyboard, pausing only to stroke his equally gray mustachio. “Perhaps you should spend a bit more time in meditation and less time on your physical training. The most important muscle in your arsenal is the one between those ears of yours...” Falion Mussiri chuckles a bit with his last statement and turns to his young travel companion. “Meesahran, you must be able to trust that your actions shall not be made in error, and the only way to assist you in that regard is to always be in a place of serenity within yourself. Only through peace shall the answers you arrive at, be the best ones.” Crossing over to the young woman, he takes hold of her shoulders and makes certain that she is looking into his eyes, “You shall know when you are at peace, passive, and from that center you shall always be true to yourself and to the Force.” She lowers her head and nods in obedience.

“I can see that now, Master, but it can be so hard to find that center when I am fighting for my life, or defending yours. How can I find my center when there is so much turmoil around me?” She brushes a lock of white hair from her eyes and again returns the gaze of the gray one.

“Only with time and attention shall you be able to master your own emotions, which is why meditation is so important to your training. Without it, you shall never find peace, and you shall stray from the path...” He stops for a moment and turns inward, closing his eyes for only an instant. “Meesahran, you should rest for now, I fear you shall tire yourself out with all of this physical training. Meditate for a while and then turn in. I shall man the controls for now.” The gray one returns to his station and opens a journal log. Calling over his shoulder, “Tomorrow, yes tomorrow we shall discuss philosophy some more, but tonight you must rest. Sleep well young one...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mees was shocked by Master Mussiri’s sudden dismissal, though she should not be by now. He was a terribly mysterious man, and there was still so much about him that she did not know. She knew he was from Alderaan and that his family followed The Will, and that he himself held many of their ideals as his own, but he was unable to follow their path completely and so he left his home to seek out his own path. She had heard of some of his adventures and everywhere they went, there was another being that considered him a dear friend. Smuggler’s, merchants, students, teachers, holy beings, politicians, militarists, and simple trades-people; all very different, but all knowing and liking the man she had come to accept as her “Master.”

She was not his slave, but his pupil, and a very willing one at that. Mees had virtually grown up on the streets of Coronet City after her parents had both been killed when she was very young. That thought made her clutch the chain that hung around her neck. The one that she kept safely tucked under her shirt. The one with her parents’ bonding rings on it. It was truly her only possession, other than the clothes on her back and the blaster at her side. And of course the mysterious tattoo on her left shoulder; the meaning of which, according to her last caregiver, was something known only to her mother and father. That thought brought her more sadness; Tadanna had been such a lovely woman and a friend of her mother’s before her death. But Tadanna, too, was killed during one of the uprisings in Coronet City, during the Dark Times, before the planetary government came to be and before relative peace had been bestowed upon all of Corellia.

Mees tried to meditate, but whenever she started she would think about her life and about all of the sadness that she had endured before she had found Master Mussiri. Before she had made a few loose friendships toward the end of her smuggling days. That thought brought her back to her good friend, Jae-Lee. The two had done a few jobs together when they were younger, working for two different, competing and collaborating smuggler’s groups, but their friendship had truly begun when Toman Higaeri had taken over most of the smuggling operations in the Corellian Sector. Toman had paired the two on many runs and missions in her last years under his employ. It was then she discovered that they both had been following the same life path and that they both seemed to have these unknown and strange abilities. They learned a great deal from each other and she was saddened when he told her that he was leaving to explore his own search for knowledge. It was a very long and lonely last year in Toman’s employ, until Master Mussiri came into her world.

Mees tried once again to reach down and find her center, and complete the exercise before she retired for the night. She closed her emerald eyes and let down her long, wavy hair. The cascades of golden hair surrounded her face and the streaks of white only accented her beauty. She opened her eyes and could see herself in the reflector. That white hair; how she hated it. She had tried coloring it before, but it simply would not hold the color for more than a day. Another after effect of the Tralusan Wasting Fever she had endured as a girl, the price for her first kiss (but she guessed it was worth it, the boy had been really sweet and very cute). But once again, Mees closed her eyes and looked deep within herself. Trying desperately to find that center her master had insured her was there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Falion Mussiri was a mysterious man, and so were many other beings in the galaxy like him. They called themselves the Followers of the Force, but they were so loosely held together that it would be hard to call them anything more than a collection of like-minded mystics. Still, Falion was certain that they were only missing some simple and key element that would join them together as a whole. It was just that he did not know what that something was yet. And so he continued his travels, in the hopes that he would find it, some day... He had been looking for a long time, a lot longer than many realized. His age was unknown to all, and he liked it that way. His face and his body would not betray him for some time to come. He did not know why, but of that he was certain. He could remember a time when hyperspace travel was only a distant abstraction, something discussed only in theory by the engineering elite. It used to take months even years to reach the next system in his youth, but he had been traveling the galaxy for a very long time. That thought caused him to pause and stroke his mustachio all the way down to the ends, where it gently rested on his chest. He supposed it was time to trim the unwieldy gray beast once more. When he reached for his sharps, he caught a reflection of himself and noticed that his braid was a bit disheveled: probably from training with his young companion again. She really was quite gifted in physical combat and the training seemed to help quiet her nerves on long flights between systems. He slowly began to unwrap his long, grayed hair from its braid and after combing through the mass, he meticulously re-braided his full and flowing hair. He remarked to himself that the hair seemed to be growing at a much slower pace now and it had been sometime since he last had to trim it. Perhaps age was finally starting to catch up to gray one, after all. He chuckled a bit at the thought, and then went about trimming his mustachio, once his hair was properly braided again.

Falion was a simple man by nature, but by his past, he was anything but simple. He was one of the first leaders of the Followers of the Force, and he had left the council in search of that missing link a very long time ago. Many believe that the “Original” Falion Mussiri is long dead, having become one with the Force, but there are a few who know of his quest and his existence. Elassi Mehand, leader of the Chandrillan’s being one of the most notable. He had befriended the adept when she was just a girl at the request of her father. Elder Mehand was a great man and knew of his daughter’s great gifts and sought out the leaders of the Followers of the Force to assist him in her upbringing. Falion had taught the young girl to harness her abilities and yet shield others from learning of them. Many years ago, the adepts were persecuted because of a fear of their powers and many people thought them to be witches and evil demons, often searching them out for destruction. Falion taught Elassi to respect her abilities and to use them only for the good of others, as was the way of his parents and the other Followers of the Force.

He and his young companion were currently on an expedition for the Ruler of Chandrila, though the girl was unaware of it. Falion needed to reach an old smuggler boss of Meesahran’s for Elassi and he did not want Meesahran to know the nature of the visit to Coronet City, to insure that the smuggler chief would not have a chance to become suspicious. He felt a bit of guilt at the deception, but until the girl was able to control her emotions on a higher level, it was necessary.

They had another two days aboard the SkyDancer before they arrived in the Corellian Sector and then another day to locate the smuggler chief and probably another day before they met with him and his people. Falion knew this was not going to be simple errand, not just because of the vision he received when holding onto young Meesahran, but also because of the nature of the request from his former pupil. This should prove to be a most interesting excursion, and there was not a doubt in his mind about that fact. But, perhaps this would prove to be a good test for his young pupil. Yes, a test of her will and her concentration. A perfect test for the both of them…

Chapter 3

Great prosperity has come to the planet of Chandrila. Now a trading giant in the galaxy, Chandrila has recently made a name for itself in the shipping world, and the people of the planet have begun to benefit from this prosperity. However, with prosperity comes trouble, and when the people began to become greedy, the smugglers were born. They brought down the value of goods, and began to make it hard for traders who worked for their livings, the hard and legal way. But when the smugglers started to become violent (assaulting and stealing the goods from other traders and transporters), the authorities began to crack down on them. In response to the threat, the Chandrillan Government passed sanctions that allowed for the creation of a protective force to combat the assaults in space and on trader’s ships. Thus the Chandrillan Interstellar Navy was born. Headed by Silvas Orian, a young hotshot and a brilliant strategist in the traditional navy of Chandrila, the Interstellar Navy program began to take shape. The Navy quickly became a major power in the galaxy, and Chandrila is now known as a safe haven in trading circles throughout the galaxy. But, with great power comes even greater responsibility, and even greater danger...

An Explosion rocked Silvas from his feet. This was just supposed to be a simple bust... nothing more. As two shadows bolted for the exit, Silvas fired off some stray shots, bouncing off the wall and hitting a couple of cargo boxes in the back, exploding them to smithereens. He stood up from his hiding place, and with his entire team, began to chase after the escaped smugglers. Dodging blaster bolts and weaving throughout the entire city, Silvas and his team finally caught up to the smuggler duo.

“Stop! If you continue you will be facing even more charges.”

Then he said to his team:

“Neevar, Helaan! Circle around the blocks and try to head them off! If this goes on for longer, we might endanger the locals.”

Neevar and Helaan, along with two others, took a shortcut in the winding paths and began to try to cut the smugglers off. As soon as the team neared the ambush point, the two saw the incoming trap and bolted in another direction: right towards the Université of Knowledge, where Chandrila's elected ruler was giving her weekly speech for the Université students. Silvas dashed after the criminals in a valiant effort, but the criminals entered the Université a meter ahead of him. After entering the Université, he lost track of the criminals. Fearing the safety of everyone in the classroom, including the Queen, he bolted into the room, saying:

“Everyone must listen to me, there are some very dangerous men in the University right now.”

Panic started to grip the room, encasing it in a shroud of fear. The nervous students started to break for the door, trying to escape from the unknown criminals, but Silvas piped up before a single student could exit the facilities.

”Please remain calm. Nobody exit the facilities before my team can comb the area. If you leave, we will consider you smugglers. Your Excellency, might I ask you and your aides to calmly exit the classroom; and only you and your aides. Everyone else please stay in here; we will finish this very quickly. We appreciate all your help.”

The team entered the room quickly and with the offenders in shackles. Soon after their apprehension, Silvas and his team took their leave and departed for Space. Stressing the fact that they were hoping to rejoin the rest of the Navy in a training exercise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Silvas headed towards the bridge of the Ocean’s Pride, a modern heavy transport for his team of Riptides. The sleek new Riptides offered a new tactic to the Navy of Chandrila. These fighters provided significantly more speed and a much faster response time. Although the Riptides were fragile, their speed made them more than useful in the Navy. After inspecting his own Riptide, Silvas headed towards the bridge in an effort to keep his mind focused on the simulation instead of what could happen next. But the day had something else planned for him, once again…

“This is the Corellian freighter Cloudrunner. We are under assault by a rogue smuggler group. Anyone in the immediate area, please respond. We need help at once!”

Silvas made a single glance at the captain, and without a word the captain knew his course of action. Silvas bolted for his fighter, calling up his team in the process.

“Neevar, Jalina! We have a situation that needs our attention. Get to your fighters immediately. I will fill you in on the situation as soon as you reach them!

Silvas jumped into his Riptide and began the startup sequence. He normally took care and cautiousness with his startup, but since he was going into the battle hot, he flew through the sequence. Soon, his team arrived, and in tandem the team finished their startups. As soon as they were finished, the captain announced that they were at the scene.

“Two light frigates and four starfighters are assaulting a heavy frigate and two medium frigates. The assaulting forces are extremely quick: that’s how they overwhelmed them so quickly. Be careful, Commander.”

“As always. Open the launch doors.”

The four fighters, Three Riptides and one Waverunner, a crude form of a missile boat, launched from the Ocean’s Pride. The Ocean’s Pride took after the light freighter, while the Riptides flew for the starfighters.

“Jalina, surge ahead of us and distract them. If they come for you, put them into a series of loops and turns. We will be after them shortly. Blue four?

“Yes sir?”

“As soon as you acquire a target, alert us, then fire. We will evacuate. You are our key person, so don’t mess up.”

“Yes sir.”

“Ok group, on my mark, lets go!”

Jalina surged forward, passing the two other Riptides. She fired off a couple of wild shots. They had no intention of hitting the enemy, just to get their attention. And it did just that. The four other starfighters forgot their intended target and flew for Jalina. Silvas and Neevar took after the fighters on her tail.

“Great work Jalina. Now loop around and head towards us. At the last moment, break up. We will hit them in the crossfire for a brief moment, hopefully destroying some. Execute... Now!”

In a series of loops and twists, Jalina brought her Riptide to bear in a straight line for her team. Within a couple of seconds she pulled up, exposing the formation of smugglers to her teammates. The other two Riptides fired off shots at the enemy, destroying one completely and seriously wounding another. The remaining two smugglers split; one headed for Jalina, and the other went after Silvas. Silvas and Jalina flew brilliantly, but one of the smugglers got off a lucky shot and tore through one of the Jalina's wings.

“I’ve been hit!”

“Neevar! Go help Jalina if you can! I can handle this last fighter!”

“Are you sure, sir?”

“Yes! Go help her!”

“This is Blue 4! I have a positive lock on your enemy, Commander!”

“Ok, I’ll head towards you. Fire the missile.”

“Yes sir.”

“Hang on Jalina! I’m coming to help you!

In the few tense moments of the battle, Silvas turned his ship around for Blue 4, and Jalina turned for Neevar. Neevar headed towards Jalina, pushing the capabilities of the Riptide to the limit. In a few quick seconds, Neevar lined up behind the smuggler and destroyed the fighter. As Jalina and Neevar headed back towards the Ocean’s Pride, Silvas and Blue 4 tangled with the last remaining smuggler.

“Missile fired, sir! It’s heading strait towards you.”

“Acknowledged.”

Silvas waited for the last moment until the missile came, then he pulled up. The unsuspecting smuggler never knew what had hit him, and the fighter erupted into a brilliant display of explosions and fire, until all the oxygen was burned up in the vastness of space and disappeared.

“What is the situation, Ocean’s Pride?”

“Situation is under control. The smuggler freighter left as soon as we began our attacking run. The other ships are fine, and we are to escort them to the planet. We will be ready to pick you up after you are finished.”

“Thank you. And good job, everyone. This was a good test for us. Jalina, how are you?”

“She’s inside the Ocean’s Pride, Sir. She's fine.

“Good. I’ll be there in a second.”

Silvas headed towards the Heavy freighter, and after a tiring day, retired to his quarters. He needed to sleep, and for a long time.

Chapter 4

Two men (one younger and one older, but nearly identical) stand opposite each other, Commenorian Battle Swords at the ready and poised to strike at any moment. The room is thick with the anticipation of the next man’s move.

Sweat pouring out of every inch of his well-defined body; Yorel Tryashoenu is desperately trying to keep just out of his Dear Brother’s Battle Sword range. With a deft and seemingly effortless strike, his much older brother nearly takes his left arm off at the shoulder, but Yorel uses his flexibility and youthful agility to avoid the blow by bending over nearly backwards before turning it into a back-flip, which lands him into perfect position for attacking his Dear Brother with a death blow.

Too late, Xaxan Tryashoenu realizes his predicament. In a mere millisecond, he will be the defeated for the first time in a sparring match. As the young man comes out of his back-flip and raises his blade to Xaxan’s exposed throat, Xaxan tries to admit to his defeat in as composed and dignified a fashion as he can muster, gathering up every inch of is chiseled body into a posture of acquiescence, “Well done! I am finished.” Dropping his battle sword at the feet of the younger man who appears to mirror his every feature (with far fewer years on them). “It seems that the Academy has not chosen to rest on its laurels in its training methods. So, who is your swordmaster, now, Dear Brother Yorel?” He casually asks as he reaches for a towel with which to wipe some of the perspiration from his distinctive brow.

The young man (with a slightly larger build than his brother) stands bent over, with his hands resting on his knees and panting heavily, “There is a new swordmaster at the Academy, and he says that he has studied many of the recordings of your battles at the Academy, in your youth.” The jibe does not go unnoticed.

“Ah, going for the old man edge, are we? Perhaps next time I shall not be as cautious in our sparring. It seems to me that you are much more taxed than I at the moment. Are you in need of a medic, my Dear Brother?” The older man throws the towel at his brother, hitting him squarely in his finely detailed abdomen. “Here, you appear to be all wet.” Sending the jibe back into his brother’s court.

Taking the towel and beginning to run it through his close cropped, dark blonde hair, he heaves a large sigh and sinks to the floor with an equally large thud. “I am slain by my Dear Brother’s wit,” and he begins to laugh quite raucously.

At that, the older man springs to the floor and places the younger man into a headlock, “So, who is the better man now? Huh, young one?” When the younger man begins to struggle against his brother’s wrestle, Xaxan reaches around and commences to tickle him unmercifully. “Answer me that, smart guy? Who’s the better man? What, what did you say? I can’t hear you through that girlish giggling...” Xaxan releases his hold and jumps to his feet.

“You are definitely the better man,..” A mischievous grin begins to spread across Yorel’s chiseled features, “But I am the better swordsman.”

Before Xaxan can answer the taunt a member of his staff enters the training room. “Sir, I hate to disturb your sparring match, but we’ve just received word from Commander Orian that one of our freighters has been molested during a run from Corellia to Chandrila.” The man was obviously unhappy at having to not only disrupt his employer, but also to have to bring such news to him as well. He shifted uncomfortably, awaiting Xaxan’s reaction.

He did not have to wait long. With a great fury and in one swift movement, he grasps hold of his fallen battle sword spins his body to the left and sends the blade sailing across the gym and into the climbing wall to his left, leaving it vibrating from the impact while stuck firmly into the ferrocrete structure. “Get me Higaeri on the comm immediately! I’ll have his hide nailed to the hull of my ship before the chrono has a chance to recycle once more!” Xaxan bellowed his order for all to hear, and they all could. For the entire building went suddenly silent and his plodding and insistent steps could be heard in every corner.

Chapter 5

“I believe this falls into the category of the universe falling in on top of me.” The middle aged man exclaims as he reads the datapad that has been thrust onto his desk. Stroking his beard thoughtfully, he goes over the information one more time, “Okay, first things first; business. Get me a clear channel to Xaxan the perturbed. I have to clear this little matter up with him before I do anything else. The dear Commander can hold his fancy britches a while longer. And as for Mees and her mystic companion, put them in the anteroom and get them something to eat, and not that garbage I usually serve. Those two spend all of their time on that blasted ship, eating nothing but travel rations (I’m sure of that)... And tell them I will join them as soon as my business dealings have concluded.” With a wave of his hand, Toman Higaeri has set up the events to follow this most unwelcome news. The messenger departs quickly to carry out his employer’s instructions, to the letter (nothing less will ever do for Toman Higaeri).

Tapping at the console on his immense solid fijisi desk, he brings up the channel, which has been opened for him by the communications officer sitting near him in the office. Taking a deep breath and steeling himself for the battle that is about to commence, he then presses the key.

“My dear friend, to what do I owe the pleasure of your communiqué?” What follows is a string of insults that would make a Corellian sailor blush with shame. Toman takes every one of the slurs with as much patience as he can muster before he attempts to utter a single word. “Xaxan please!” Waiting the requisite amount of time for the other man to draw a breath, “Why would I send a group out to hijack my own cargo? Check the ship’s manifest...” The other man looks away from the holo-screen. “You will notice that there is a large shipment of goods heading directly to my brother from myself. One hundred percent above board I might add. They were gifts for my brother and his family. Now why would I send someone to disrupt my family’s Children’s Day celebrations? . . Answer: I would not. Now I must send a replacement shipment, at great personal cost to me, on one of my own ships and thus render it obsolete in my own operations.” Toman puts as much offense into his words as possible.

“So, what you are telling me is that you no longer have control of Corellian space?” The man on the other side of the vid-screen leers at Toman with his question. “Then why am I paying you to keep my shipments safe?”

So, that is the tack he is going to take. Toman sits back in his chair and ponders his answer. “Well, I don’t believe that will be much of an issue. If there is someone operating, independently, in this Sector, they will not be doing so for very long.” Toman then gets a brilliant insight. “Xaxan, my dear friend, are you certain that this is not some coy plot of yours to discredit me and take over the Corellian Trade Spine?” Toman shoots an equally coy question to his adversary.

“Now that is an idea!” His pause is somewhat disturbing to Toman. “Please, my dear Higaeri, the sole reason that I use your people in this manner is that it is far more cost efficient to do so. I would have nothing to gain by pushing you out. Besides, you are far more trustworthy and effective than the various security forces in that sector. I could go broke trying to keep them paid off.” And that, Toman knew was more truthful than any other statement that could be made. Their positions were now quite clear.

“Then I will ask you for your leave, so that I may begin an investigation of this latest turn of events.” Nodding to the vid-screen, his mirror returns the gesture in kind and the transmission ends.

Very clear indeed. There is someone operating in this sector and Toman will have to uncover their identity and their motives; quickly and quietly. Perhaps this visit of Mees’ and her mystic friend would prove to be beneficial after all.

“Sir?” The communications officer disrupts his train of thought as he rises from his chair. “What about the Commander, Chief?”

“Let him stew for a while longer. I will be having dinner with some old friends... And find me the Togorian; I have a mission for him. There is someone I want him to track for me.” The communications officer nods and returns to his station, and with that Toman departs the office in a flourish.

Chapter 6

Tap, taptatap, tappa, tatatap...

Alone at a data-recorder terminal, a young woman intently sits typing out her journal of the day’s events.

Day 167 of the Standard Chandrillan Year 8790
Morning Meal: Nerf Nausage and Aviata Eggs (Thank you Xaxan)
Afternoon Meal: Chandrillan Fruit Plate (Cafeterium)
Evening Meal: Fried Esgonna Leaves & Erryl Figs (Elomin Breeze Restaurant)

Lecture Schedule: Trade in an Insterstellar Universe
Hyperspace Astro-Navigation Systems
Philosophy of Galactic Governments
Laboratory: Xenobiology II
Financial Accounting: Pan-Galactic Exchange Rates

Notes: We had a disturbance today during my Philosophy lecture. Two suspected criminals attempted to hide among the students of the Université today. I got my first real glimpse at Commander Orian since his new assignment. He hasn’t changed much since he last visited us on Commenor (maybe grayer and a little thicker). His team quickly dispatched the miscreants, but not before Her Highness was forced to cancel the rest of today’s lecture.

I took evening meal with a few friends from the Xenobiology department and we had a wonderful time. There was a wonderful trio of minstrels at the restaurant and they played a Commenorian Folk Song for me. It made me think of Father, and how he would sing during evening meal.

The young woman stops her typing at the console, reads through what she has written and exclaims, “There, that should be enough for Xaxan for today.”

She sends the journal entry through the comm-station and stands up from her desk. Crossing the room to her pallet, her lithe form reaches into the bed table and withdraws a small datapad. Gracefully lowering herself onto the pallet, she switches the datapad on and brushes a stray wisp of flaxen hair from her face. She scoots across the pallet until she is centered, enabling her to rest upon the mountain of pillows at the head of the bed. Straightening her pale yellow sleeping gown across her legs, she reaches behind her, taking one of the firmer pillows and placing it on her lap to provide her with an impromptu desk for her personal datapad.

“Now, for the things that I cannot tell, Dear Brother Xaxan...” A mischievous smile crosses her delicate face, causing a very subtle blush to hit her otherwise creamy complexion. Bringing a finger to her chin as she slightly bites down on her lower lip, and struggles for the proper opening for tonight’s personal journal entry.

Day 167 of the Standard Chandrillan Year 8790.

The day seemed to be like any other this week. That was until the Chandrillan Interstellar Navy Commander came into the Grand Lecture Hall, the galaxy came crashing down around me once again. There were some suspected criminals hiding in the Université today. It seems that smuggling is becoming a terribly brazen practice in these times. I had so hoped to be able to hide from its ugliness for a while longer.

Dear Brother Xaxan has always tried to keep Yorel and myself from the horrible realities of his business, but it is becoming a greater reality for us everyday. Yorel is away preparing for his military career and hopes to be selected to join the Chandrillan Interstellar Navy (under Dear Uncle Silvas – though he would never use him as a reference, or even tell him he was applying to be assigned under his command). And I am studying under the hopes that I might be of some assistance to Xaxan and his business interests; though Dear Brother Xaxan tells me I should choose my own path and steer clear of the world of commerce. He worries about me so much that I dare not tell him all that happens to me here at the Université of Knowledge.

Dear Uncle Silvas was quite dashing when he arrived on the scene this morning. It almost reminded me of his visits when we were children in Mother and Father’s family estate. I have so few memories of Father, that I always adored Dear Uncle Silvas’ visits, for the stories he would tell of Mother and how Father had stolen her away from him and what kind of man Father was to him. Dear Uncle Silvas could always tell such wonderful stories, but I have wondered how much of them were true and how much was embellishment.

Her Excellency recognized me in lecture today, and I became quite embarrassed by her praise of my questions. She always seems to recognize me during lecture now. I have begun to receive ill comments from some of the other students because of it. I do hope that she will not call on me at next lecture period. There are many other students with insightful questions and intriguing ideas on the nature of government in these ever-changing times. However, it does give me a wonderful feeling of elation when she remarks favorably to my questions and insights.

I took evening meal with a few of the Xenobiology students tonight, but I think they were attempting to match-make tonight. Though very attractive and intelligent, he would never hold up to the scrutiny of Xaxan and Yorel, so I let him off early.

We ate at an Elomin restaurant, since most of them are vegetarians. They had the most wonderful minstrel trio playing there tonight. I asked them if they knew any Commenorian Folk Songs and they did. I almost cried when they began to play “Gray Sky Tears.” It was the one song that I can remember Father singing to us during evening meal. I can remember him saying that “good music was good for the digestion,” and Mother would always counter with, “then what is that good for, indigestion.” It was their little ritual, and one of the few memories I have of them together.

It is strange that I should remember anything about Father, since I was not even two standard years old when he passed from the Tralusan Wasting Fever epidemic that spread through the Core Worlds. We were safely visiting with Mother and her friends on Chandrila when the epidemic hit Commenor, and Father. Mother always said that my mind and my memories were my special gifts from Father, who she always claimed was the most intelligent man she had ever known. I find it hard to believe that anyone could be more intelligent than Xaxan, but he is after all the eldest son of the same man. Perhaps the erryl fig really does not fall far from the tree.

The delicately framed young woman begins to list her head to the side, as she is about to fall asleep right in the middle of her task. With a jerk, she sits straight up and closes down her datapad. Returning it to the bed table as she tries to fight a deepening yawn and begins to stretch from the tips of her fingers to the ends of her toes, somewhat resembling a felinoid house pet. Shutting off the glow-lamp on the bed table, she releases her flowing, golden hair from its tie and snuggles down into the fluffy quilt, burying her head deeply into the mountain of pillows. Letting out a very contented sigh, Xana Tryashoenu drifts off into a pleasant slumber.

Chapter 7

Corevi pushed back a thick lock of black hair from his piercing green eyes. It didn’t help much, the view before him still swam in a drunken haze. In one smooth fluid movement he threw back the last of his Lomin Ale before carelessly pushing back in his chair and awkwardly rising. Swaying a bit as he found his footing, he glared at the other Sabacc players at the table. “Yous all are cheetin’,” he slurred drunkenly pointing a wavering finger at the lot of them.

A heavyset woman with thick layers of makeup on her face glared at him. “Well Corevi, how else do you expect us to win.” She frowned as she put her nickstick between her lips once more, “I mean you always seem to know when we’re bluffing, when we’re not, and if you can beat us!” Her eyes, plastered with the artificial eyelashes narrowed, “If you didn’t have that sister of yours-“

Corevi lunged at her, “I’ll make you pay for that remark!” He managed to slap her across the face before the rest of the Sabacc players grabbed a hold of his arms. “Let me go! Now,” he bellowed, his face was flushed with rage. A brief struggle ensued, but Corevi managed to pull his arms out of his attackers’ grasp. Standing back he drew the trisaber that he always wore. It was a traditional weapon of the old Chandrillan aristocracy with three deadly edges complete with a current of energy running through the durasteel; in the hands of an accomplished fighter it was death to any opponent.

The group drew back; they had seen what the man could do with this weapon. “Now wait a second, Lord Corevi,” the woman used his proper title, hoping to mollify his anger. She laughed nervously as he advanced on her; “It-it was just a joke sir. Really, nothin’ more than that.” She backed into a wall and stared down the blade of the trisaber that was now pointed at her neck. The electricity made her skin tingle and she looked fearfully to the crowd that was just watching the scene unfold.

“Lord Corevi.” A voice from the door made the enraged man divert his attention from his prey. There were several officers of the local police force standing with their hands on their blasters. “Sir, could we have a word with you?”

Hesitating for a moment, Corevi looked at the woman and then back at the men. He drew in a breath, trying to resolve his anger before turning to the men. Scowling at them he sheathed his blade, “What do you want?”

The leader of the group motioned for him to step outside, “Please sir, we need to talk privately.”

Corevi frowned, but he was curious as to what they had to say. Once outside he stood with his hands planted on his hips. He only swayed a bit from the lingering effects of alcohol.

“Sir, we’ve been instructed to disarm you.” The man looked terrified at such a suggestion, but he held out his hands dutifully.

“And who has instructed you to do so?” He glared at the men.

“Th-the Lady Lusankya sir.”

Corevi held his breath at the mention of his sister. What did she want with him now? Reluctantly he handed over his trisaber, and the blaster he had strapped to his hip.

“Fine, what did she want?”

“Your presence at your home sir.”

“That’s all? She sent all of you here to get me, when she could have simply called me on the comm?” Corevi was shouting at the terrified men. “This had better be good.”

They motioned for Corevi to step into their speeder. He did so and they sped off, toward the Lusankya estate.

Chapter 8

Tapestries hanging from every wall allow for only minute amounts of light to transmit across the open and cavernous room. With his back to all who enter his palatial office, Vanquar Shesh rules in the manner with which he was raised, in ruthless accordance to the primary directive of all Kuati Elite; “What is in it for me?” Sitting in solemn contemplation, he runs his index finger along the embroidered patterning of his luxurious velvet robe, as he seems to unravel the problems of the universe with the furrowing of his well-defined and angular brow.

Deep in thought regarding the newest developments in his world’s interstellar turmoil, Supreme Ruler Shesh nearly misses the delicate sound of footsteps entering his office chamber. Listening for a moment more reveals to him the owner of those footfalls, “What brings you here, First Daughter?” He speaks without turning around and it stops the young woman dead in her tracks.

“Honored Father, how is it that you knew it was me?” The woman stands perfectly still, the only thing betraying her unease is the unconscious twirling of a low-slung loop of coal black hair on her shoulder.

“How many times have I instructed you to not fuss with your hair, my First Daughter?” He turns in his chair to face his equally regal child. “Valyr, my devoted First Daughter, you must learn to hide your feelings from others if you ever wish to succeed in our society. Emotions are a liability in our realm, they do you harm and show weakness to your adversaries.” Vanquar berates his child, but there is a hint of caring in his harsh words of reprimand.

“Yes, Honored Father,” bowing her head in acquiescence to her father’s reprimand. “I will honor your judgment, and ask your forgiveness for my betrayal of your trust in my abilities.” Kneeling, ever so slightly in an attempt to show subservience to her father, Valyr brushes her heavily embroidered cloak away from her slender form in the grand gesture.

A brief chortle escapes the man’s throat, “Totally unnecessary, my beloved First Child. I could never truly be angry with you, Valyr.” He stands and rounds the corner of his grand desk and gently embraces his First Child. Pulling her back from him with his slender, but powerful, arms, “So, what news do you bring me from the Board? Have they collapsed into another panic over the new Hyperdrive modifications that are being implemented? Or are they simply concerned that our competitors have continued to outbid us for the new military contracts? Sit please, and tell me of their latest crises, my beautiful First Daughter.” Motioning for her to take the chaise to his left, Vanquar makes a grand motion to seat himself in the throne-like chair on his right. Pulling his long, straight, coal black hair to his right shoulder as he sits back in the ornate, blood red chair.

Carefully placing herself upon the chaise, keeping her stately form in an upright posture and gathering her many layers garments about her in an orderly manner; one befitting her station. Bringing her legs into position beneath her, she reaches up to stroke her hair and stops suddenly and instead brushes her delicate fingers across the clasp of her cloak, releasing it to fall gracefully behind her. “Honored father, it is much as you have spoken. The board is convinced that this plan of yours to continue to build up our own defense force will only continue to cause difficulties in our bid to overtake the Corellian Shipbuilders Union. They have requested of me to impress upon you, once again, to reconsider this decision.” She betrays only the slightest hint of her novelty in this notion, and with the careful and deliberate raise of just one of her thin and angular brows, she makes known her own feelings on the issue.

“Yes, as we believed they would, my beloved First Daughter. Your insights have proven most discriminative in this odd play of ours. I believe that our backers will be most pleased with this recent turn of events... Have you any word from our associates in the Corellian Sector on their accomplishments as yet?” Vanquar allows only the faintest of smiles to cross his thin lips.

“As yet, no, but the reports from Chandrillan space have been most encouraging.” Valyr’s voice is tinged with the poison that she and her father have made their trademark.

“Well, then that will have to do for the time being.” Breaking her gaze, Vanquar reaches for the comm-station on the table at his left. “Please have my First Son brought into the Chamber as soon as he has arrived, Administrator.” Removing his finger from the activation switch, he awaits the response.

The careful voice through the speaker makes a request, “As you wish, Supreme Ruler Shesh, and as he is present now, shall I admit him?”

“Of course, and please remove yourself to the Antechamber until you are called for, Administrator.”

“As you wish, Supreme Ruler Shesh.” The crackling voice disappears and the doors to the chamber open, revealing a younger version of the man seated in his “throne.”

With a flourish of movement the dashing young man strides into the office. His straight black hair pulled ever so tightly against his scalp, however the back of his hair and his robe billows about him as he advances towards the two, seated figures. As he approaches them, his royal blue, silken shirt can be seen more clearly, as well as his bared chest. He is a rakish man, and his very aura fulfills this definition to the hilt.

“Dear Honored Father! How good it is to see you after such a long absence.” He outstretches his open palm towards the seated man. “Please, do not rise. It is I who should bow to you.” Kneeling at his father’s feet, the young man takes his father’s hand in his and holds it to his chest (a symbol of submission among the Kuati Elite). “You are well, it would appear. I understand you have the Board standing on their ear once more and the hearts of the Kuati people sing your name in praise of your efforts to protect them from our ancient enemies.” Turning his attention next to his sister, who has also remained seated. “And my dear First Sister, you are as beautiful as you have ever been and a credit to our lineage, as always.” Taking her hand in his, the young man places a gentle kiss upon the top of her hand. “I have also heard that you have been creating quite the stir in our beloved Honored Father’s business. It seems that the Erryl Fig does not fall far from the tree, my treasured First Sister. There have even been hints at death threats...” A look of feigned admiration crosses his extenuated face before he continues. “Congratulations, Valyr. Only our Honored Father has ever accomplished such a feat at so young an age.” Vanquar, the lesser, plays upon his beguiling manners to his First Sister as a taunt more than anything else, as most elder siblings are inclined to do.

As his brandish display concludes, his father motions for him to take a seat on his right. “My dear First Son, why should we need a sun to warm our planet, for you are the very light of our lives... And now that the pleasantries have concluded, may we continue with our business here today, Young Vanquar?” His father glowers him with a disapproving eye.

“Really, my dear First Brother, your charms are much more suited to the business in which our Honored Father has engaged you, than they are for gathering favor from myself, as they have no effect on those aware of your games.” Valyr could not resist a final jab at her First Brother’s pride. “What news of you from the dreaded Chandrillans?”

Feigning hurt, Vanquar the Lesser begins, “I am deeply injured by your jibes, but I will forgive it to your erasable disposition and bring you your news anyway...” Turning back to his father, “Honored Father, the Chandrillans are ill prepared for all out war, should it come to that.” He allows a simple crease of his elegant brow to punctuate his last statement. “And they are led by a fairly young man, who seems to favor chasing after smugglers instead of the protection of his people. I believe him to be beyond reproach, but perhaps some of his lesser officers might prove more pliable to our interests. I also believe that there is a chance that we will be able to make use of some looming turmoil in their government as well.” His father shows only the slightest hint of interest in this statement. “Yes, you heard me correctly, Honored Father. There are rumors abound regarding the health of their current elected ruler, and there are also reports of possible assassination attempts. None of this is confirmed, mind you, but I have it on very reliable sources that these attempts have occurred.” Vanquar the Lesser concludes his report and waits on baited breath for the response of his family.

Ruler Shesh, exhales sharply, and it appears as though a great weight has been lifted from his chest. “Well done my beloved First Son, as always. Your charms do suit the purpose for which you have been assigned and will continue to be assigned.” The man allows a look of reproach to meet his First Daughter’s eyes before continuing. “You are an immeasurable asset to your people and most assuredly to your family. You will find a reward for your service upon returning to your chambers.” Ruler Shesh gives his First Son a knowing look, “And yes, I knew you would not fail me, so I have already arranged your reward, with my own careful consideration. I believe you will find it to be most suitable to your tastes, my treasured First Son.” The elder man rises and moves toward his desk. Calling back to his children, “You are both dismissed. Please attend to your individual matters and do not fail to share the evening meal with your First Mother this day. She is expecting you both, and it would disappoint me greatly were you to fail in this duty to her.” And with a wave of his hand, the two children rise and exit the office chamber in silence and obedience.

Chapter 9

High above the Twin Brothers, Talus & Tralus, a ship explodes in space. With lasers flashing, and missiles detonating everywhere in sight, the remaining five ships continue to do battle. One ship, the smallest of the bunch, is a small angular fighter. It is being attacked by the rest of the ships; a group of marauders. They are all painted in the same fashion and marked with the traditional Corellian symbol of power, the Eye of the Corel. As two of the attacking ships appear to converge on their shared target from opposite sides, the endangered ship slips below one attacker, thereby shielding him from the other and almost causing the two marauders to collide. As the two pirate ships veer away from each other, the lower ship suddenly explodes from the laser fire of the little fighter. The ship passing above is hit by the blast and thrown back into a violent spiral. Before the pilot can right his ship, the smaller fighter (the original target) emerges and destroys it with a few well-placed shots. The two remaining attackers, who have circled around to approach their slippery prey from the rear, fire simultaneously and the smaller ship takes its first damaging hit.

UUNNHHH

The blast rocks the small fighter, throwing the pilot against his harness with a ferocious impact. Damage alarms begin to screech throughout the cockpit, but the ship continues on its wild course with blazing speed. His vision blurred, Jae-Lee catches a glimpse of a blinking red light coming from his instrument panel. Another missile, locked on and coming in fast, right behind him.

That makes 5 ships. Blast. 2 more. FOCUS

The first pirate fighter screams in from high on his starboard side, laser cannons blazing, but his vision has returned, and he switches off the redundant alarm. With his head clear, he knows what to do, and has already begun the turning maneuver, right into the oncoming ship.

The other ship banks right, obviously trying to avoid a game of chicken. "Sorry, pirate. It's worse than you think." Jae-Lee whispers to himself as he begins pumping laser blasts at the oncoming ship. As they draw closer, the attacking fighter's shields are beginning to falter, allowing a few shots to get through. The other pilot has stopped firing.

Yeah, you guys never see this one coming, do you? Probably working on your shields.

With a shake of his head, Jae-Lee stays with the other ship bank for bank, juke for juke, anticipating every move, lasers constantly firing.

The Heartburn is perfect for maneuvers like this one. A small 2 person, triangular scout ship, modified with additional weaponry and a few extra surprises, it is his pride and joy. He knows his attachment with the ship could prove to be his downfall someday, but he has owned The Burn for years and it responds almost as if it were his own hand being woven playfully through space.

You're not getting away, I need you now.

As the other ship approaches, Jae-Lee’s lasers blast mercilessly through the shields. They finally give out, and Jae flips a switch on his control panel.

With his shields gone, and realizing his fate, the oncoming ship's pilot finally manages to muster a single laser shot. It passes harmlessly into space.

Too little, too late.

As one light goes blue, Jae-Lee notices the red blinking warning light is growing to a steady glow. He releases his missile, and puts all power to forward shields. A nanosecond later, his missile collides with the oncoming ship, blowing it to bits. Big metal bits.

As The Burn passes through the debris, the ship is bounced about, but the shields hold and the damage is minimal.

Yes!

The trailing missile impacts a piece of the wreckage, exploding and sending a shockwave blast towards Jae-Lee. The blast hits just as he's reaching for the instrument panel.

UNNNNNNHHHHHHHH

Hit from behind, the ship begins to spin. The engines are faltering. Jae's hand has smashed the panel during the blast, and the power now goes offline. As he spins helplessly, he can see the glow of a ship's engines pass above him.

Probably that last ship. Guerfel! If I hadn't been so busy congratulating myself, I might have remembered to switch my shields back over to cover my exit.

The Burn continues to spin, and Jae tries frantically to re-start the engines, bring power to the weapons, anything. No good. The controls were shorted out when he smashed into the panel and the transfer circuits are not working. He has what he needs to fix it.

But I don't think this guy is going to wait for me, is he. Well.... I'm not dead yet.

Pulling a small toolkit from beneath his seat, Jae-Lee quickly begins trying to patch together enough circuits to start his engines and hopefully, get him on planet.

Assuming this guy doesn't kill me first.

Wondering why he is still alive at all, he says absently, "Jeez, Maybe he is waiting for me."

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he thought he caught a glimpse of a ship, much closer this time. Strangely though, given the one glance he had, it did not look like the same ship. "Oh, great. Just what I need, more company."

He slips the last of the replacement circuits into position and several sections of his instrument panel spring to life. The comm light is blinking rapidly, but starting the engines seems more important than another series of demands from a bunch of pirates. Reviewing the damage he sees that he only has about thirty percent left on the main engine. The other two engines are offline and will probably need replacement parts that he does not have in the toolkit from under the seat. It was enough to get him on planet, but just barely.

That last blast must have really got me. One more slip like that, and I'm done for.

That thought, disturbingly casual, stops him cold and brings him back to his current reality. He is in a badly damaged ship, high above the Twin Brothers with no allies, no defense, and no idea who was attacking him.

What happened to that last ship anyway? I should be dead by now....

The comm light was still blinking rapidly, so he turns it on.

Static fills the cockpit and he attempts to adjust the squelch and tune in the signal, hoping that his comm unit is not one of the other things wrong with the ship. Slowly, he begins to make out some of the transmission.

"Crassssssssssssss, Toma- accccccchhhhhhh, Trayg-Cresssshhhhh. Pilot Reklaw, this is the Toman's Emissary. Is Pilot Reklaw receiving transmission? Traygar wishes to speak with Pilot Reklaw." He finally brings the signal in and is astonished to find the somewhat friendly felinoid voice on the other end of the hailing.

"Toman's Emissary, this is Reklaw, and am I glad to hear from you!" Jae cannot resist the smile that falls upon his face. Maybe this day is not as bad as he thought after all.

"Would Pilot Reklaw allow Traygar to offer assistance and safe passage? Traygar’s master has business to speak with Pilot Reklaw about, and has asked Traygar to seek Pilot Reklaw out." Traygar's rumbled purr of a voice tells Jae that his appearance is no accident. However, the mention of Higaeri reminds him that his funds have gotten dangerously low, and perhaps this was another one of those happy coincidences.

"Pilot Reklaw would be very happy to accept Traygar's offer of assistance and the transport as well. Pilot Reklaw is transmitting The Burn's docking sequence now, and awaits the Toman's Emissary’s arrival. Many thanks from Pilot Reklaw to Traygar." Speaking in the dialect of the Togorian was cumbersome, but Jae always tried very hard to honor his old associate. It was hard for him not to, seeing as Traygar had saved his skin on occasions far too numerous to name, this being just one more.

Jae busies himself with what few repairs he can make as he waits for the docking sequence to be completed. He also is careful to gather up all of his data-chips and stow them in his satchel before the Emissary’s crew starts in on his fighter. Traygar and Toman might be friends, but they are also smugglers and information is a very valuable commodity in both of their businesses.

I wonder what Toman has in store for me this time...

Chapter 10

Ten days of conferences and ten nights of arguments are the result of a seemingly impassable stalemate. The young woman standing between the two middle-aged men seems to have reached her limit in civility. Two men, who have both had great impacts on her life: one, her former employer and mentor (the man who rescued her from a life of want on the hard streets of Coronet City); the other, the mysterious man who mentors her today (the man who has taken her under his wing and who has been teaching her the ways of his people so that she might someday solve the mystery of her origin).

But her position today is as negotiator between these two powerful and stubborn men: a job that she has not been having much success with, so far.

“Toman, please? I worked faithfully for you for many years. So, why would I now attempt to betray you in such a ridiculous manner?”

The heavier man strokes his beard thoughtfully before responding to the young woman’s question. “Mees, I hold nothing against you, but I know very little about this man with whom you are currently acquainted. For all I know he could be trying to put me out of business to set himself up in this Sector.” Pointing an accusatory finger in the gray haired man’s direction.

Meesahran lets out an exasperated sigh, “Oh, for all the money in The Core, what would ever bring you to that conclusion?” Throwing up her arms in gesture of incredulity, Meesahran falls back into the chair at the head of the table.

Toman rises uneasily from his chair, with a small groan from heaving his girth up from the seat. “There is nothing to show me why I should have any part of this plan you’ve cooked up, Wizard! And I will not sit here any longer and listen to your wild schemes until you can prove to me that this is above board and on the up and up.” Toman turns to walk away.

Leaning over to his pupil, Falion Mussiri whispers, “And now we will learn our price.” Straightening himself in his seat, Falion clears his throat, stopping Toman in his tracks. “Perhaps we should discuss this proof, Master Higaeri.”

Toman turns back around and motions to the man at the door. “Perhaps we should, Master Mussiri...” A sly grin crosses his bearded face, and as he sits back down, he begins to stroke his beard. “I have an idea of how you might prove to me your sincerity.”

Falion nods his head in affirmation, “I thought you might.”

Meesahran sits back up in her chair and listens as Toman Higaeri explains his plans.

“You see, I have this little disruption, that may well become something bigger, if left unchecked. However, my regular people are ill equipped for this kind of work. I have a contractor that I use, from time to time, but I feel this task may require the expertise of your student and maybe even a little wizardry.” Toman’s eyes betray his disgust at the gray one’s abilities. “Anyway, there appears to be a rogue group of pirates that have decided to impersonate my people and hijack ships en-route from the Corellian Sector and Chandrila in the hopes of discrediting my operation. However, they made a serious mistake by hijacking my own legal cargo. I need to find out who these people are and where their base of operations is located. And I need you to work with my contractor in order to secure this information for me.” Toman sits back in chair, relishing in his apparently successful tactics.

Meesahran begins to speak with words dripping in disdain, “Toman, I will not be a bounty hunter for you. My convictions on that have never changed. And for you to ask that of me and Master Mussiri is uncon-.”

“Please child! I am insulted that you would ever believe such a thing from me.” Toman sits up in his chair and leans in towards Meesahran. “I ask this of you because I know that only you can accomplish what I need without bloodshed. You and this mystic, along with my contractor can find these scoundrels and allow me to set up a trace on their activities... Think Mees... Do you really think a simple rogue group of pirates has the gall to not only go up against ME, but to also try to discredit me? . . No, there is far more to this than what is apparent right now. I need information from you and nothing more. Are we clear on this point?”

Meesahran nods her head, “My apologies, Toman. It has been some time since we last worked together. Maybe I’ve gotten too much from the Holo-Net reports lately.” She looks into her master’s eyes for confirmation of what she is about to say, and seeing it there, she continues, “We will agree to this mission, on some conditions.” Her master looks somewhat puzzled.

“I’m listening, Mees.” Toman finally relaxes back into his chair.

“First, you front for supplies and any essentials we might need. That includes a new data-pad console. If we are going to be able to relay info to you directly, I’ll need one of your encrypted systems.” She waits for his objections and when she receives none, she continues. “Next, you will begin putting the plans into motion. You know me, once I promise something, it will be done.” On this point she waits for actual confirmation.

Toman makes a few entries into his data-pad, “Well, I suppose those are fair demands. I can agree to that and-.” Meesahran interrupts him this time.

“There’s one more, Toman. This whole deal depends on this ‘contractor’ of yours. I will not work with just anybody, and you damn well know it. I’m not getting dragged into some hairy situation with some skifter card character. I may be used to your antics, but I refuse to expose Master Mussiri to your scum-bag ‘contractors.’” Meesahran looks to her mentor and searches for approval of her stance. Once again she finds that acceptance in his eyes.

Toman continues to tap on his data-pad, seemingly ignoring Meesahran’s final condition. “Toman, I’m serious about this, so don’t even try one of your little jokes.”

Toman begins to chortle, “Oh, my dear little vrelt. I learned that lesson with you a very long time ago. I believe I can allay all of your fears in just a moment. Our friend the ‘contractor’ has-.” The gigantic doors to the conference room swing wide open to reveal the silhouette of a man striding towards the table.

Falion Mussiri turns in his chair to gain a better look at the man entering the conference room. He appears to be a man of average build, wearing a dark colored flight suit and utility vest, carrying a satchel slung across his shoulder. Upon closer inspection, Falion notices that the man has brown hair, not short but not long, falling down across the man’s brow. On his face he sees something Falion was not expecting, recognition. He turns to ask Meesahran if she recognizes the man when he realizes that she has left his side and is running straight for the unknown man.

Dropping his satchel as Meesahran jumps into his arms. “Jae!” The two embrace fiercely. As they separate and the man reaches down to retrieve his satchel, “Master Mussiri, this is my old friend. Jae-Lee Reklaw, I would like to introduce you to Master Falion Mussiri.”

Jae extends his hand in greeting, but Master Mussiri only stands and bows to him. “Oh, don’t worry about him, Jae. It’s an Alderaani thing.”

“Well, in that case...” Jae clasps his hands together and bows deeply to Falion. “Good morrow to you sir.” When he rights himself once again, Jae carries an intoxicating smile upon his face.

“Ever the gentleman, huh Jae?” Meesahran says as she puts an arm around her dear friend.

Toman, a knowing smirk on his own face, strokes his beard and says, “So, I am guessing that this ‘contractor’ suits your standards, young lady?”

Chapter 11

Hunched over a data-pad console, fidgeting under the stress that is apparent on her angular face, Valyr Shesh absentmindedly twirls a loose strand of her coal black hair. As she cycles through the screens one more time, a man of similar features strides into her office unnoticed. Upon reaching the back of her chair he reaches over the back and begins to massage her shoulders. Startled at first she tenses up even more, but upon seeing her brother’s mischievous grin she relents.

“What vexes you so, my dear First Sister?” He increases his ministrations as he questions her. “And why do you allow yourself to become this tied up in knots? Do you not have a masseuse among your ‘staff?’” He raises a knowing eyebrow at his last comment.

“I am afraid that I do not revel in the pleasures of the flesh as you do, my dear First Brother.” Lowering her head, as he moves to her neck, “As for the former question, I am having a bit of trouble with the maintenance of the newest pleasure yacht model. And to make matters worse, there is someone out there who has figured out the flaw and is making money, not only repairing it, but exploiting it by improving the vessel’s performance.” Her head hung low as he continues to manipulate her neck and shoulders with a certain finesse.

Stopping a moment, and waiting for her to look up at him, “So, what is the problem? You just hire the person doing the work, exploit their knowledge and release them when they are no longer useful. Problem solved.” He then returns to his task at hand.

“If only it were that simple, my dear First Brother... First, I have to find this person, again. And then I have to convince her to work for us before she disappears yet again. She appears to be one of those smuggler mechanics, and an elusive one at that.” She places a hand on her brother’s to signal her gratitude and for him to cease his ministrations. “Thank you, dear First Brother Vanquar. I am deeply in your debt.”

Throwing his hands in the air, “No charge. It is the least I can do for the woman who keeps me from having to actually work for a living.” With that he flounces into the chair in front of her desk. “So, what has the old man been scheming in my absence?”

“Oh, the usual, but he seems to be in quite deeply with these mysterious backers he keeps mentioning.” Valyr continues about her work on the data-pad console without lifting her gaze to her brother.

“Are you not the least bit curious about the identity of these backers? I know I would be concerned about the old man’s safety in that kind of dealing. Seems to me he is playing with fire again. Do you not remember that fiasco with the Commenorian trader? He lost quite a few dataries on that debacle.” Vanquar the Lesser throws a leg over the arm of the chair and begins to pick at his fingernails.

“Are you bored with your new toy already? Or do you simply enjoy taking up my time with such nonsense?” Her gaze meets his and he finds the look a chilling reminder of just how ruthless his sister can be. “Our dear Father may have lost money on that deal, but the Commenorian lost twice as much fighting him and it weakened his abilities to transport goods, causing him to jump into bed with that smuggler chief in the Corellian Sector. This was all part of Father’s plan in the first place. And if you spent a little more time dealing with our family’s business and less time furthering your lineage, you might be aware of those facts.”

The jibe, though meant as a slight, is taken in kind and Vanquar the Lesser merely smiles at his sister, “Someone must further the bloodline, my dear First Sister. It certainly will not be you... Speaking of which, how is the arrangement proceeding?” Returning to his fingernails, attempting to make his interest seem waning.

“The ‘Arrangement’ is moving slowly at best. Father is convinced that they are using these stalling tactics as a maneuver to gain more favor from Father’s mining endeavors... I believe they have hit a snag with the delicate ‘Prince.’” Her tone has taken on a matter of fact tone.

However, Vanquar’s interest has been piqued, “The ‘Prince,’ are you insinuating that he is,.. less than a suitable mate?” Dropping his leg to the floor in anticipation of his sister’s response.

“Perhaps we shall leave it at the fact that he seems to have more interest in my ‘playthings’ than the business prospects this merger would create.” Valyr speaks with a facetious tone in her voice. “Not that any of that matters to me. This is only a business transaction and not a terribly beneficial one at that. Father is only continuing with the negotiations out of obligation to their family line. Once this falls through, he has a much better arrangement ready to be validated the moment it is an option.”

“And do you approve of this arrangement? Does he at least appeal to you?” Vanquar is on the edge of his seat at this point.

Valyr looks up from her data-pad console with a thoughtful expression, “I suppose he is attractive, he is a full-blooded member of the Kuati Elite class, and his family owns one of the largest ore processing companies in the Core. This would be of tremendous benefit to our fleet operations. It is a suitable match, as far as they go. I am just not terribly thrilled about any match. To be truthful, I am far more concerned about this impending strife with the Chandrillans to be worrying over a marriage that may or may not take place some time in the future. My focus is on the here and now, and that requires a great deal of my time and energy.” She returns to her work once more.

Vanquar leans back in the chair and shakes his head, “My dear Valyr, you are certainly a credit to the Kuati Elite. Business before all else! You shall waste away into nothingness, but behind you there will be a mountain of wealth to show for your existence. Tssk, tssk.” As in everything Vanquar does, he stands in a flourish, “Well, I must be off. I am to entertain one of Father’s clients this evening and I must prepare. Good evening to you, my dear First Sister.” Bowing at the waist with his right arm out and his left resting on his abdomen, “Great success to you in all you strive to attain. I will be departing on a sabbatical in the morning, so I will not likely see you for many days. Please be sure to take your liberties, and stay well, my most treasured First Sister.”

Valyr looks up just in time to see her brother exit her office in the grand style she has become accustomed to associating with him; cloak and flowing hair billowing out behind him and long, rhythmic strides with an air of superiority that would only befit the son of the most powerful man on all of Kuat.

Chapter 12

A large felinoid male sits at a tracking station console, making small adjustments to an incoming signal. He is watched by a middle-aged, bearded man and occasionally glances over his shoulder at the man.

“Well, is the transmitter working or not?” Toman Higaeri impatiently questions the statuesque cat-man.

“Hmmmmmmmm, the transmitter appears to be operational, Chief Higaeri... For the moment.” Traygar’s soft, purring voice betrays the ferocity of his words.

Toman runs his fingers through his beard for the umpteenth time, “What do you mean, ‘for the moment?’”

Traygar turns in his seat to face the man, and with bared teeth he explains, “The device is located on Master Mussiri’s vessel as well as Pilot’s Reklaw’s fighter craft. However, was not the device created by Pilot Reklaw and Mistress Tofallin?” Traygar waits for the man to react to his words. Before the full impact has a chance to take effect, a signal comes from the console. Traygar turns back to the console just in time to see the second transmitter signal cease operation. “And now the devices are no longer transmitting.”

Toman throws up his hands in defeat and storms out of the communications center.

Chapter 13

“So, what do you think of her? I had her painted recently...”

Mees takes a good look after crawling out from underneath the control panel. "Not bad, but don't you think that color is a little- ... I don't know,.. girlish?"

“So are you saying you like it?” Getting her attention, Jae-Lee whispers, “<Clear?>”

She motions no, "It's not bad, and I'll just leave it at that." Mees takes her comlink and speaks into it, "Master Mussiri?"

"Yes, Meesahran."

Jae looks around with a sideways glance.

"Signal terminated. You can put the comm interrupter back online." She turns back to Jae-Lee, "You were saying."

"Jeez, and with your own toys. They can’t really be that foolish, can they? How'd you get into all this again, anyway?" Jae-Lee flashes her a concerned and disapproving look.

Mees climbs up onto The Burn, peering into the cockpit, "Just doing a favor for one of Master Mussiri's old friends... You kept the second chair?"

"Sure," Jae walks around towards the front of the fighter, "it works great as a baggage compartment." A smile grows on his face as he looks down & finishes, "It always did."

Mees pops the canopy, "Watch it, fly-boy. I've picked up a few tricks since the last time we met..." She jumps into the cockpit and starts playing with the controls. "Still keeping the stick light, I see. And where did you pick up this console? It's gonna blow the minute you hit even one G!"

She immediately starts pulling it apart, looking for a specific wiring harness. "Yep, total crap. Hand me that hydro-spanner will ya?"

With a shake of his head and a small chuckle, Jae replies. "The console’s modified. C'mon kid, what do you think I am, an amateur? Hey! What are you doing?!" Jae starts to jump up, but before doing so, he stops rolls his eyes, and grabs the toolbox. As he appears beside the cockpit, "Look... be gentle, ok? I don’t want it out of commission. Small adjustments." It is said as a statement, but considering the person he's talking to, he knows it is more of a question.

"Well, if I had something decent to work with, it would only take small adjustments." She grabs the hydro-spanner from the box. She returns to her task, but looks back at him, "Trust me, I know what I'm doing." With a devilish wink, she puts the tool to good use. “So, what WERE you doing when Traygar tracked you down? This thing looks like it took a few hits."

Jae winces at the memory. "It did." Jumping down to examine more of the damage he explains, "those guys got some good ones in, too." Running his hand along a scorched piece of hull, he finally answers the question. "I was chasing empty leads." Disappointment can be heard in his voice now. "Same thing I'm always doing, really...”

Mees pulls her head up from the console panel. That just did not sound like the same guy I used to know. "What are you talking about? Toman said you had been making a name for yourself tracking down a bunch of pirate groups."

She continues with her task as he stops looking at damage, and looks up at her. "Ever heard of Black Moon?" Mees head jerks up and their eyes meet. "Yeah, that’s what I thought... Anyway, they were selling gems, Mees. Blue ones."

"So, what? There’s a lot of people-...” He gives her an annoyed look. “Oh-Ooooh!"

"Well, I found out all kinds of stuff, but as usual, nothing I can use." He pounds a light fist on the ship and shakes his head. "I followed them all the way to The Brothers and what do I have to show for it? Nothing. Yet another dead end. Pointless." He looks up checking for any reaction, but doesn’t see one. He catches a glimpse of some more damage on the bottom of the hull and slides under to get a closer look.

Frustrated, he continues probing for some sort of emotional response. "Ya know,.. I almost lost it out there. You better be careful if you get into a tangle with that group. They may be pirates, but they were rather organized.

"Lucky for me, the first guy got anxious and the last guy..." Stopping his examination he appears from under the ship to listen.

Mees continues her work on the wiring harness, plugging it back into the console, and then firing it up to check for any more problems. "What are you talking about? What last guy?" She is trying not to let on that she knows anything about his recent brush with death.

Jae extends his right hand, flat and turned upward, as he recounts the experience, "Well, the first guy" he folds in his thumb and smiles, "tried for about a millisecond to 'ground my vessel' before he came at me like a nerf stampede. Shields down, lasers blasting. So," he continues smugly "I relieved him of his command...” Jae-Lee’s face is filled rancor, "The next four were much smarter than their leader, though... The first two came at me in a lateral shift maneuver. Made me wonder where they learned it." No response, or even a hint of interest. "I almost got them both with a inverted thrust pattern, but the top ship actually managed to survive, for a few seconds anyway." He folds in his pinky & his ring finger; still no response. "The fourth guy I had to take out with a rotating mynock maneuver,” and with that Jae thought he saw something on Mees’ face. But I can’t SEE her face. As he folds in his middle finger he says, "but I didn’t finish it right and the fifth guy was coming around for me. At least, I thought he was. Next thing I know Traygar wants to pick me up."

"Sounds like one hell of a dog-fight. Are you sure you aren't embellishing a bit?" When Jae looks up at the cockpit he can see her hanging over the edge, with a great big grin on her face.

He holds for a second, but then he returns the grin and what was beginning as tension has now turned into a familiar feeling, one that brings Jae-Lee some much needed relief. "Jeez, Mees! I was beginning to wonder if anyone I knew was in here!" He tries to say it playfully, but it comes out a little more angry than he had intended.

"Sorry, but you were telling such a wonderful story..." She outstretches her arm to give him a hand up. "C'mon up here and check this out." After he jumps up, she lets go of his hand and climbs over the front seat and into the back. “I think this will hold until you can get a real control console."

"By the way, that last ship?" She shoots him a coy look, "Traygar took care of it." Jae-Lee turns with a shocked expression, "I heard him tell Toman about it. I believe he was apologizing to Toman for using one of his costly proton-torps to ‘enable proper communication’ with his assignment." He is still completely shocked, "I thought you might like to know."

Jae’s response turns into a surprised, but amused grin. "Well wha’da ya know. Good ol’ Traygar. I should have figured on that one." His expression then becomes sullen once again, and his eyes down-turned. "Then again, I’m not much good at figuring anything out, lately."

He tries to shake off the sudden drop in his mood by changing the conversation back to something a little more light-hearted, but this is something he has been giving a lot of thought to lately. He turns to Mees and with a small, sly, but honest smile. He asks, "You ever feel like you're past your prime, Kid?"

"Nah, that's just for old-timers like yourself." Mees thinks he's being sarcastic, until she looks in his eyes. "C'mon, what're you talking about? This does not sound like the cock-sure space jockey I remember." She starts to put a hand on his shoulder, trying to sense what the real problem is, but not having the control she needs to complete the action, she withdraws her hand.

"Seriously, what's eating at you?" Her concern has grown with his silence.

He notices her attempt at comfort and tries a smile of his own in return, but it simply will not come. He turns quickly & jumps down from the ship. As his feet hit the floor he lets out a curse that makes Mees’ eyes go wide. "Fraggin’ Slow and Sloppy! That was stupid! I should have left when I had the chance," his eyes grow slightly distant and his voice lowers, "but that first guy... 'Ground my ship', huh? I don’t think so. You know what he sai-..." He looks up to continue and stops suddenly. "I couldn’t get focused. I was just flying, and not in a good way either. I just couldn’t get there, and when that first ship attacked, I took him out without even thinking. But the other ships, they seemed to come out of nowhere."

He looks at the face of his oldest friend, as she looks back at him from the cockpit of the ship where they had risked their lives together; too many times to count, and says "That isn’t supposed to happen. Ya know?.. Not to me, anyway." Trying to change the mood back once again, and beginning to feel rather like a wet blanket Jae continues. "I don’t know, maybe I just need to train more. I've been flying a LOT." He chuckles a bit, but it is apparent that it is forced.

Mees does a flip from the cockpit onto the docking bay deck. "Training won't do that much to help you focus." She starts walking towards a stack of crates in the corner where she has left a pile of rags. Absently picking one up and tossing it to Jae-Lee, she then reaches back down and retrieves one for herself. "I train constantly, and yet I still can't seem to find the 'center' that Master Mussiri is always telling me about."

"Yeah, what’s that like? Training with him?" He says wiping his hands on the rag

She takes a deep breath in and then exhales, "Sometimes it's great. I can feel us click, like we're one being, working for a common goal..." She takes another breath, but holds onto this one, "But most of the time, I feel like I'm flying blind through a solar-magnetic storm." She proceeds to plop down on one of the crates, motioning for Jae to join her. "I don't know, maybe I just don't have what it takes to live his kind of life." She throws the rag into a barrel in the corner, "If only I could feel connected to him all the time, but lately, it just seems like he's cut off from me."

"Do you think that’s all him? You can be kinda closed off." As soon as the words are out of his mouth, he knows it was a mistake.

She turns to Jae, "Cuttin' it kinda close to the mark, aren't we?…" She lets out another deep sigh, "But I suppose you're right.” She pauses for a moment before continuing, mostly out of guilt, “Don't get me wrong, the experience has been invaluable. We've had some great adventures. And Master Mussiri seems to know everyone in the galaxy!" She is trying to turn the conversation to a more comfortable topic.

Jae-Lee sighs with relief that she is not upset with the personal question. Tempting him to ask another, "So, do you plan to stay with him for a while, then?"

She looks directly into his eyes, "Where else can I go?" She did not mean to say that, and immediately wishes that she could take it back. "What I mean is, there isn't anything else I could do with myself. I don't fit in anywhere else."

She hopes that the conversation turns very soon. Things are beginning to get out of her control. What is it about Jae, he always manages to pull this garbage out of me? Must focus, regain control of my emotions, passive, at peace.

"Well, some people don’t fit in anywhere, that’s why we keep moving around. Right?"

Jae-Lee smiles at his friend and gives her a gentle push with his elbow. She responds with a half-smile, but seems distracted suddenly. Uncomfortable. He continues, "C'mon Mees, relax. I didn’t mean to push. It's been a while since we talked. I just wanted to catch up.”

"Don't sweat it. Sometimes I just get like this, must be a girl thing." She brushes the hair out her eyes and grins up at him. “It has been a long time, huh? Man, how long have we known each other, anyway?" Her demeanor seems to have improved.

"Well... Let’s see, I guess about,.. thirteen years now." Jae lets out a chuckle, he turns his face away, as it turns to a laugh and he stands up. He stops laughing slowly & finally mutters, "Oh man, what a great time we had, huh? Talk about a 'girl thing'! You almost got us both killed on that first job!"

"What're you talking about?! I never did anything like that! I think you must have me confused with someone else." Jae suddenly realizes that she is completely serious. Maybe she doesn't remember?

"Hello?! Little sister!?!?! Don't you remember your big brother? Ya know, the guy who you had THROWN OUT of a job that I setup. Then I had to come save your little-..." A very small smile grows on Mees’ face. "Wait. Are you serious?!"

"Sorry, couldn't resist. I remember the job, and I remember what a pain you were when we first met. Guess I just got used to it."

Jae-Lee once again feels that familiar relief he so enjoys. "I was beginning to wonder, but then again, I always wonder about you." It did not come out quite the way he wanted, but it was true just the same.

"Well, I know one thing hasn't changed in all these years... You are just as gullible as ever." She gives him a little friendly shove. "I remember, and I am still grateful. Not sure what would have happened if you hadn't been snoopin' around still." She suddenly gets a very distant look in her eyes, but it is immediately washed away by something that Jae does not ever remember seeing in them before. Emptiness.

"I'm pretty thankful to you, too, ya know. You needed that money as much as I did. And don’t mention the rescue. It’s not like I had much choice.” That came out wrong. “Besides, I couldn’t just walk away and leave you feeling like that.” That came out wrong too.

"What money?" She gives him a very puzzled look.

He turns to her, looking quite puzzled himself, and very disturbed. Then he smiles, "Fooled me once, Kid. Don’t play dumb with me." His expression turns to one of sincerity & concern, "You didn’t need to do that." She continues her blank stare. "Mees, come on! Our last job! The Saccorrian Security leak we tracked, anyway, I know you remember. Can't you let me say thank you? I know you won’t accept repayment, but at least accept my thanks."

"That was the job we worked up the transmitters for, right?" Jae nods in affirmation, "Yeah, well, I had Toman trade my share for the rights to the transmitters. I've made some good money on those little bad boys. I guess he just figured that meant you got my share, and I got the transmitters. Uh, never figured on that. I guess Toman really is a decent guy at heart." Mees' revelation is a complete surprise to Jae, who has carried this feeling of indebtedness to Mees all these years.

Feeling a bit awkward, Jae sits quietly for a moment before speaking. "Well. Silly me. Maybe I'm beginning to see our relationship in a whole new light. I always wondered why you would be so generous with a ‘going away present’ when you didn’t even care that I was leaving."

"Who told you that?" Mees actually looks wounded, an expression Jae-Lee has almost never seen on her face.

He looks her in the eye and says, "You did. When you walked away from me at Toman’s place. That hurt Mees. You didn’t even pretend to care. You have to understand… I didn’t want to leave. I HAD to." He opens his mouth again, but stops and steadies himself before he goes on. "I couldn’t take you with me, I knew that. You probably did too... But it would have been nice if you had wanted to come."

"I never asked you to take me anywhere." Her jibe cuts deep. Gathering up her breath to continue, "But I never expected you to take off with only a moment's notice. 'I have to go now.' What did you expect me to do or say?" She gets up and begins to walk away. She stops for just a moment, "You cut me out of your life, Jae. THAT hurt, more than you may ever know." Jae takes the opportunity the pause offers and takes her arm to stop her from leaving, but she violently rips it from his grasp.

"Hey, hold on... Stop doing that, will ya? Maybe if you stand here for a second we can have this conversation all out at once, instead of in little bits and pieces, every so many years or so." It comes out a little more pleading than he would have liked, but it has the desired effect and Mees stands still. She turns to face him and crosses her arms.

He takes a deep breath, at least he has her attention now, sort of, "I never wanted to cut you out of anything. I really didn’t, but my time came. I had to go. Look at you, you've moved on. Your time came too, and I'm glad. I just had to go. I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you. You're like my-... You're the only family I have." Suddenly embarrassed by his admission he attempts to finish this discussion and move on, "Can’t we just put all this behind us somehow? How else are we going to get this job done?"

Mees uncrosses her arms, in a gesture of resignation. "You're right, and I didn't mean for all of that to come out... At least not the way it did... I'm sorry." She sits back down on the crate, "And you're right about the mission. If we don't work through this together, I don't think either of us could do it on our own... And there's a lot to do."

Jae-Lee tries to bring the discussion to a good end, "You’re right, but look, the bottom line is this; I've known you longer than I've known-... Well, anybody. I know we've had some bad moments, but I'm glad we're sitting here together right now. This job could work out great for both of us and if we don’t do it right, it could be very, very bad." He smiles and says, "So, how ‘bout that, Kid? We're partners again!" He extends his hand, and Mees looks down at it.

Slowly, the old smile returns to her face, the one that could always lift Jae-Lee's spirits. "Sounds like a plan to me... So, where do you wanna start?" Taking his hand and giving it a good shake before she gets up from the crate and walks over to the computer terminal. "I've got vid-logs, manifests, traffic logs, comm station reports, interrogation vids, military reports-..."

"Slow down a sec, let me figure out what we're talkin' about first and then I'll figure out where to go from here." Jae interrupts before Mees has a chance to get anymore hyped up.

"Well, someone is out to stir up a mess of trouble in the Corellian Sector and the Core in general. We have to track down these Mercs and then the money trail back to the real villain in this mess. That pretty much sums it up." She gives him a wry little smile, "Oh, and would you please quit calling me 'Kid,’ Old Man?"

"Sure Kid, no problem." he replies with a wink. Mees does not appear amused. "And as for motives and other details, let’s save those for just a second. First thing *I* need to think about is my ship. Without it, I'm no good to this mission. So, we have to get to Commenor, right?" Mees begins to interrupt, but Jae holds up his hand and continues. "Then I need to know everything you know about everyone we’re meeting there, that I don’t know already.”

"What's to know about it? I need to drop off a package for Toman, meet with a guy who can get us some of the other records we need and then find you someplace to get that rattle-trap piece of junk fixed up." Her words are filled with hidden meaning and dripping with sarcasm.

"First of all, we won’t ‘find someplace,’ I only let certain people work on The Burn and two of them are in this room... Second -Rattle-trap?. Rattle trap?! I can’t wait ‘til Nija hears you say that. She’s person Number Three. And last, but certainly NOT least; thanks for that ‘lets just waltz right in and get ourselves killed’ explanation. You make it all sound so simple. 'Drop off a package?!' What are you, new? C'mon now ki-...” He catches himself, and she notices. "... I'm not asking why, I'm just asking who, what, when, and where. Let’s not be foolish here." He considers his words for a moment and then continues. "Wait, ya know there is one ‘why’ I'm a little curious about.” This could go badly. “You told me you were doing a favor for some old friends of Master Mussiri’s and then you tell me he knows people everywhere. So,.. What’s his angle on this?"

"First of all, who is this Nija?" She places her arms across her chest and taps her foot. Jae-Lee nearly comes out of his skin and begins to stutter something, before Mees cuts him off with a huge laugh. "I'm just messin' with ya..." She catches her breath, "Okay, when: soon as we get in to Chasin City, which is the where. Who... That is a little more sticky..." Mees stalls as long as she can, before Jae-Lee gives her an admonishing look, "Okay, okay, he's a big-time client of Toman's, and it was his shipment that got jacked which prompted the job." She pauses a second and gets a far away look in her eyes, "Anyway, he should be able to get us the other records we need to get started... Sooo, where is this Nija at, anyway? . . Oh, yeah, and I didn't mean to insult the ship, just the caretaker." She winks at him for effect. "As for Master Mussiri, he has no other motives than the search for truth and to act in good conscience and in a just manner. He comes from a long tradition of selfless service to others. His parents were missionaries for The Way." She pauses to make sure Jae-Lee understands, "And he has no ulterior motives."

He nods. Confident in her answer and happy with the renewed feeling that he can trust someone again, finally. "Ok. Glad to hear it. He seems like a good guy. I'm just trying to be careful." Mees, nods in understanding. "And Nija, my young friend, is a master of her craft. Not a jack-of-all-trades. A master. At one thing: Spacecraft... She could teach you a thing or two, I'm sure. No offense junior,” he winks at her, “gods know, she’s taught me a heck of a lot already."

"All right, but was it all about Spacecraft?" She elbows him in the ribs in a manner so familiar to him, it gives Jae-Lee an amazing feeling.

Laughing, he replies, "Yes, yes. . C'mon now, we're talking about a mechanic!" Suddenly realizing that he has just insulted Mees, he begins laughing even harder as she pelts him in the ribs with several more blows.

After some more roughhousing the laughter subsides. I miss this!

"Me too." She replies.

"Huh?"

"Comes with the training. Sorry, didn't mean to listen in. Sometimes stuff just comes out so loud, I can't help it." She shuts down the computer terminal, "You know, if you weren't so soft in your own training, you might even be able to defend yourself from that." She shoots him a challenging look. "Or other things..."

A grin breaks out on Jae's face and his hand falls onto the saber hanging on the front of his belt. The one hanging on the back would go unused, as usual. That is, IF she meant what he hoped she meant.

It had been some time since Jae-Lee sparred with anyone. He hasn’t had the chance. All of his fights were real. But to match up against Mees again... I wonder how good she's gotten with her saber...

"I guess you'll just have to find out for yourself, Old Timer." A sinister grin passes across her face as it is suddenly illuminated but the reddish glow of her energy blade.

Jae-Lee's blue lightsaber flashes to life and he weaves his head back and forth playfully opposite the swinging of his blade. "You think you can take me, eh, Kid?", He says sarcastically. "Well," Jae stops his playful swinging and steadies his weapon. He flicks it towards him quickly, very slightly. "Come on then."

Without warning, the two blades clash with a furious thundering, shaking the entire deck. They close in on each other before they break into a blinding flurry of strikes and parries. Jae-Lee takes the high tack and goes straight in for the kill, but Mees flips out of range and comes back with a whipping low strike, trying to take Jae off at the knees.

Jumping up, Jae is able to miss the sweeping motion and land on top of the nearest crate. Turning around he leaps from the crate into a front flip and comes out of the tuck swinging long and wide, but Mees anticipates it and is not where he plans on her being when he reaches what should be a point of contact. Instead, he finds her about to plant the hilt of her saber in his skull. Ducking to the left he spins off his left foot to make a sweeping right strike and finds her blade. He suddenly realizes that perhaps she has something to teach him now.

Deciding that he needs to change tacks, he breaks the blades and takes a step back and goes in for a forward strike, which she again parries with seeming ease. One last move left in his arsenal, this better work. Backing up once again he goes for a swinging kick to knock her off balance, but he never makes contact and they end up in another blade popping standoff.

Facing off against his friend, Jae-Lee now understands that she has indeed matured in his absence. The determined smile on her face lets him know that this is a stalemate. But, before he can call it a draw, he and Mees are both suddenly thrown back, as if by a sudden rush of wind.

In a ship, it can mean only one thing, he thinks: Hull Breach! Taking in a deep breath, in the hopes that he can reach the seal before all of the oxygen has escaped, he looks around. And he finds Mees lying on the ground laughing, her blade extinguished in her hand. When he looks to his left, at the entry to the rest of the ship, he finds Master Mussiri with his hands on his hips. “I believe that the two of you need to put those away, until you can handle the responsibility with a little more respect.” That is when Jae-Lee Reklaw breaks into the heartiest laughter he has felt in many years.

Chapter 14

The pristine silver and crystalline structure in the heart of the industrial district of Chasin City only emphasizes the dingy and decaying nature of the district. The center for most trade in and out of Commenor, the Tryashoenu Interstellar Transport, Distribution & Interception Center was an oasis in a landscape of drudgery. Traders, merchants and consumers of all kinds entered the facility in the hopes of finding the items they may have ordered, send a shipment to a vendor in another sector or to find out what deals were to be had on the Open Trade Floor. It was a place made from the dreams of one man, but containing the hopes and aspirations of the thousands more that come through its doors every day.

A local taxi veers away from the receiving door traffic and ascends into the office complex parking area. It carries three passengers, an older man, a young man and a young woman. All bound for an audience with the man responsible for all of this splendor and commerce.

“You want for me to wait for you? Only cost you 75 dataries.” The driver inquires as they come to a stop in front of the reception console.

The older man reaches into his robe and pulls out a wallet. Handing the driver the money, “I do not believe that will be necessary, but thank you for your kindness, sir.” Obviously disappointed the driver takes the money and turns back to his controls.

The two men debark from the taxi, as the young woman has already gotten out and is busy working at the reception console.

“State your name, nature of your business and the party to whom you wish to speak,” came the metallic sounding voice from the console.

“Meesahran Tofallin, delivery from T. Higaeri & a message from E Mehand, for Master Xaxan Tryashoenu.” She also makes a few keystrokes following her statement into the console controls.

“Please await confirmation of your command code entry... Command Code accepted. Notice of your arrival has been delivered to your party and they will meet you in the reception lobby. Please proceed.” The computer speaker cuts out and she motions for her two companions to follow her inside.

The older man walks forward, leaving the younger man standing at the curb with a puzzled look on his face, “Hey, are you going to explain any of this to me in the near future?”

The young woman pauses and turns back to him, “Eventually...” A beguiling grin passes over her face. “C’mon, Reklaw, I’ll explain inside.” The man throws up his arms in surrender and picks up his step to catch up to his companions.

The splendor of the outside of the complex only pales in comparison to the interior reception area. Along the walls, upon crystal pedestals, sits the most regal collection of Commenorian metalwork sculptures. Not a speck of grime or dust can be found anywhere and all of the inhabitants of this area are dressed in placid hues, so as not to disturb the overall effect of the room.

The three travelers take the seats that offer them the most privacy, yet afford them a perfect view of the entryway. “So, are you going to tell me who we’re here to meet, or are you keeping up this mysterioso routine a little while longer?” Jae-Lee questions Mees, who only brings her legs up to her chest in a decidedly felinoid fashion.

Just then, a young woman in a silken, aqua shift dress walks up to the trio. “Most likely, she will continue her current tack. Being somewhat of enigma, the majority of the time.” The girl smiles a delicate but captivating smile, stretching a hand out to Mees at the same time.

All three stand to greet the new arrival, while the two women embrace, “I wasn’t expecting to find you here! When did you arrive?”

The young woman ends the friendly embrace, “Yestereve, actually. I had a break in sessions and Yorel is on leave, awaiting his confirmation, so I hopped on the next transport and came home. When the message came through on Xaxan’s comm I rushed right down. What brings you here?” The girl looks around. “Master Mussiri, so good to see you again. I hope you are well.” She curtseys ever so slightly in the older man’s direction.

“And you as well, young Mistress Xana.” Falion returns the gesture, when all eyes fall on Jae.

“Well, we’re here on business, and this is an old friend, he’s assisting us on an investigative mission.” Mees nudges Jae to get him to close his gaping mouth and to allow him time to prepare for a greeting. “Jae-Lee Reklaw, this is Mistress Xana Tryashoenu, another old friend.”

Jae-Lee finally catches his breath when he realizes that he is now on the spot. Bowing slightly at the waist, he takes the hand that the incredibly beautiful woman has offered him. And in a saving grace, he remembers his manners, and places a light kiss upon her down-turned and delicate hand.

“A pleasure to meet a friend of Meesahran’s, Master Reklaw.” The young woman blushes ever so slightly, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, but Mees catches it and puts on a sly grin.

“No, the pleasure is all mine, Mistress.” Jae also looks a bit flushed from the experience. Mees now has something else to hold over her old friend’s head. And perhaps, she might have finally returned that favor he has been taunting her with for years.

A normal man would have thought that the opulence of the reception area could never be outdone, but upon entering the office of the great Xaxan Tryashoenu, Falion Mussiri had to admit that it was even more spectacular. Such indulgence was beyond his own comprehension, but many aspired to the rewards of the plenary world and it was obvious that this man was one of them.

As they entered through the grand fijisi doors, the great man rose and made his way to Meesahran. “My Dear Friend Meesahran, it is so good to see you!” Upon reaching her, he wraps his arms around her in a tender embrace. “I turned around to say something to my Dear Sister and she was gone,________D$OÁ”ñLÁ xEÁl___t_’Âf th_________6NÁ xEÁl___t__ÂüÏyÂÀ5NÁ”ñL_ xEÁl___t_’ÂcÉ_ÿqÉ_ÿº_ÿ _______”ñLÁ xEÁl___lare in Xana’s direction. “I have taken the liberty of having afternoon meal brought to us here in my office. I hope that I was not too presumptuous, in that respect. You do have time to share a meal with us, my Dear Friend?” He takes her arm and leads her to the seating area.

“Actually, my Dear Friend, my companions and I wish to impose upon your hospitality a while. May we expect such a gracious request to be fulfilled?” Mees gives him a coy look and a wry smile.

Xaxan begins to shed an enormous smile, complete with his perfect, white teeth. “I would be most honored to enjoy your company for however long you wish to remain with us, my Dear Friend... Come, sit and rest yourselves while you tell me what business you have with Toman Higaeri AND my old Friend Ruler Mehand.” Xaxan shoots her a devilish grin of his own, while he motions for her companions to sit as well.

“You know me, Xaxan, I like to keep things interesting. After all, I have remained your Dear Friend for quite some time.” Mees then winks at Jae, who is torn between the mystery of their arrival and this apparent friendship, and the astounding beauty that is sitting just mere centimeters from him on the large, overstuffed sofa. “But if you insist on taking all of the mystery out of my presence, then I shall tell you, in great detail of my reasons for this visit.”

Xaxan settles in to hear this tale, and he is certain that it shall be a wonderful one at that. They always are when it comes to his little meandering crèche flower. Though he has known her since she was just a girl, he has always been impressed with her skill, her wit, her determination, her fortitude and her ever-growing beauty. The moment she walked into the room he came to the realization that she had indeed come into full bloom. In his heart, he wished that he were only ten years younger, but alas he could always remain her Dear Friend.

Mees is about to begin when she suddenly remembers the little package in her jacket pocket, “Oh, blast! I almost forgot!” Taking the little box from her pocket and gently placing it onto Xaxan’s lap. “This is from Toman, with his most sincere apologies for any inconvenience this latest incident may have caused you.”

Xaxan eyes the box for moment, raising an eyebrow before he speaks, “Should I be worried?”

Mees lets out a girlish giggle (a very uncharacteristic giggle, at that), “Silly Xaxan. Would I really carry something harmful around for that last several days, in my jacket, and then hand-deliver it to you? Of course, you should not worry. I think you will be most pleased with its contents. I helped choose the gift myself. Toman is well aware of our friendship and thought it best to consult me on the manner in which he should extend his apologies.”

Xaxan takes the box in his hands and opens the lid, slowly, giving Mees a wink of his own. Once the lid is placed on the sofa beside him, Xaxan chances a look inside. What he finds is more than he thought possible from the uncouth smuggler chief, and knows for certain that only Meesahran would have selected such an amazing gift. The brightest Corusca Gem he has ever seen, nearly as bright as the Metalloid Crystal Gem in the ring on his right hand. “Well, I am impressed.” He motions for his sister to take the box from his hand.

“By the gods, that is simply exquisite. It is a Corusca Gem is it not?” Xana carefully removes it from the box. “Oh my! It feels warm to the touch. Are they all like this?” Her eyes have grown as large as saucers at the sight of the precious stone. Jae-Lee notices her excitement at the discovery and also becomes aware of her knowledge of precious stones. Thinking to himself, he believes this may prove a very successful trip for him, in more than one way.

“Master Mussiri and I know a wonderful jeweler who has the ability to carve the stones without losing any of the warmth from the sun. Usually, the warmth is released when the stone is cut. These are very unique, in that no two stones may be cut the same way.” She turns her attention back to Xaxan, “And Toman thought that only a gift of such magnitude would demonstrate his sincerity on the matter in question, which brings us around to the reason for our arrival... The other half of the gift; our services in locating the culprits in this plot to discredit Toman and yourself.”

Even Xaxan could not hide his shock over the girl’s statement. “Discredit me!! How does Higaeri come by this conclusion?”

“Very simple, by showing the Kuati people that Corellia, Commenor and Chandrila can be attacked by even the most amateurish pirates.” Mees waits for the comprehension to come to everyone’s minds. “There is validity in this claim, you must see it. Toman and I went over the navigation logs for the Sector, Master Mussiri went over the vid-logs from the attack (provided by Commander Orian of course) and my associate, Master Reklaw, has been chasing pirate bands across the Sector for years and he knows nothing of this new band. All of these things lead me to the conclusion that they were not pirates, but mercenaries, very well paid mercenaries.” Mees turns to Xana, “And I wish to apologize to you, my Dear Friend, as I did not wish to disturb your visit with such devastating news. I hope you can accept my apologies.” Mees bows her head to the young woman.

“Of course, my Dear Friend, I would never have asked you to delay in relaying such news. My Dear Brother’s interests are that of my own as well. Dear Xaxan, do you think this has anything to do with the attacks in the Université?”

Master Mussiri, who has remained silent as Meesahran unfolded their news, now speaks up, “My child, of what attacks do you speak?”

“Oh, I am so sorry, Master Mussiri. Shortly before the session was concluded, we experienced two separate attacks by criminals of some sort, attempting to either hide among the students or to gain access to the main lecture hall. Both times, our beloved Ruler Mehand was giving her lectures. Perhaps the chancellery has kept the news from the holo-grid to prevent a scare.” Xana takes the man’s hand in hers as she speaks, knowing that he is a dear friend of the ruler of Chandrila. “I am certain that Ruler Mehand and Commander Orian are taking the proper steps to insure her safety.”

“Thank you, dear child. Your concern is much appreciated.” The master puts on an air of being relieved, but Meesahran is able to see through that feint as a result of their Force bond.

Just then, a bell sounds and several servants enter with their meal. Xaxan rises from the sofa, “Perhaps we should adjourn this discussion until after our meal.” He then motions for everyone to join him at the table as the servants begin to serve the food.

As everyone moves towards the table, Xaxan stops Jae-Lee. “I apologize, in all the excitement it seems I have failed to introduce myself to you. I am Xaxan Tryashoenu, and you are Master Reklaw. Do you follow the same path as Master Mussiri, my friend?” Xaxan takes Jae’s hand in a very firm grip. A grip that shows just how strong the older man is, and one that tells Jae that he better be on his best behavior in this man’s domain.

“Please, I do not follow Master Mussiri’s path, nor do I truly deserve the title. Mees and I have know each other since we were young and she delights in making me nervous. My name is Jae-Lee Reklaw. People usually call me Reklaw or JL or Jae-Lee. I would be honored if you could do the same.” Jae does not even try to return the strength of the other man’s grip, but simply acquiesces to his dominance (thinking it might make things easier on him during their stay).

“Of course, Reklaw. A friend of Meesahran is indeed welcome in my home. She has long been a Dear Friend to this family. Speaking of which, Xana, did you not tell your Dear Brother of Meesahran’s arrival?” Xaxan casts a disapproving glance upon his sister.

“No! I completely forgot about Yorel. I will-“ She is interrupted by the entrance of a striking young man in a military uniform.

“No need. I have arrived.” Yorel Tryashoenu walks straight for Meesahran, bowing deeply and taking her hand in his before rising, and placing a strategic kiss upon her hand. When she looks down, he is looking right into her eyes with a roguish grin and then winks at her. “Even without notice, I felt your very presence and made my way to its emanation.” Rising to his full height, Yorel is every bit the picture of the perfect officer. Gently taking the back of her chair, pulling it to a comfortable distance away from the table, “Will you honor me with your presence at this meal, my Dear Friend?”

Meesahran simply nods her head and sits gracefully in the offered chair, “Careful, Yorel, people here might forget what a gentleman you are if you keep up with such obvious flirtations.”

Yorel brings a hand to his heart in mock distress, “I am slain once again, by your inimitable wit, Meesahran. How then should an officer treat a lady? With disdain and discord? I think not. With pleasantries and flirtations and nothing more, for I am indeed a gentleman.” Yorel takes the seat in between Xaxan and Meesahran, leaving Jae-Lee the seat on her left and feeling a bit ignored.

“On this side of the door perhaps, Yorel.” Meesahran could not resist one more jibe.

“Be careful, my Dear Brother Yorel, I believe Meesahran has you pegged for a scoundrel. Not that I do not share your opinion, my Dear Friend, but Yorel thinks no woman can resist his charms, and outside of yourself, he has, unfortunately, not been proven wrong.” Xaxan sits down and motions for everyone to begin the meal.

“Master Mussiri, is Meesahran always in such high spirits in your company?” Xana poses to the elder man to draw him into the conversation.

“I fear the answer must be, yes. She has been known to stir up many a nest of gundarks with her own flirtations. However, on occasion, this is a necessary device for our work.” The Master partakes of his beverage before he continues. “You are studying at the Université, as I understand. May I inquire as to your course of study?”

She swallows the morsel she has just taken, “Of course, I am studying interstellar commerce, but I have also developed an interest in universal philosophy. I find that it opens up a world of possibilities for negotiations, should I understand the nature of a culture’s belief systems.” Xana lights up with her admission

“That is a wonderful way to understand many cultures. However, do you not believe that their political systems and socio-economic history are not equally important to that understanding? Too many times the education systems have become dependent upon specialized fields of interest. The key to true understanding is in not disallowing any knowledge and not to favor a single knowledge as well.” Mees looks on in astonishment at her master, as he is usually not one to converse so freely with just anyone.

“That is the point that I have been trying to impress upon my Dear Sister, Master Mussiri. However, a brother’s words are sometimes silent.” Xaxan looks over at Xana and gives her a wink.

“I have not discounted any path to knowledge, my Dear Brother Xaxan. I have simply chosen a field of study in which to specialize, in the hope that I may someday relieve you of some of your burden.” Xana returns the wink.

“We shall leave that to another conversation.” Xaxan turns to engage the very quiet and sullen Reklaw, “So, Friend Reklaw, what business are you in that you spend your time chasing pirates?” He takes a bite from his plate and awaits Jae’s response.

Shifting uncomfortably in his seat under the scrutiny of the table, Jae is almost embarrassed to admit that he has no path, as yet. When he gets ready to croak out a halfhearted answer, Mees cuts in, “Jae is an independent contractor. One of the best information brokers and investigators in the entire Sector. You should feel very honored to have him on the case, Xaxan.” Mees gives him a nudge from under the table in the direction of Xana and then smiles.

“So, you are a mercenary of sorts, then?” Xaxan casts an accusatory glance in his direction.

“No, I just work only when I have to. And Mees exaggerates just a bit. I take jobs from a few people that I have worked with in the past. Nothing illegal and nothing that I have to feel ashamed about. I am only trying to uncover a personal mystery, and the jobs help to finance that search.” Jae-Lee looks down into his plate.

“Pay no attention to my Dear Brother, Master Reklaw. It is his way to dress down strangers, trying to impress upon them his dominance. It makes him a wonderful business man, but something of a chore in social situations.” Xana shoots him a disapproving glare. “Please, may I inquire as to the nature of your mystery?”

Jae looks at Mees for reassurance before continuing. When he finds it her shining emerald eyes, he begins, “I was orphaned as a young boy and I am trying to find out something of the people I came from. I don’t like living without a history or any semblance of a heritage. Unfortunately, it seems that my people were nomadic, and I have already spent many years on this search.” Jae actually felt a bit of relief from his admission. He had not expected that at all, nor did he expect to find Mees’ hand on his knee for reassurance. He looked up at her face and found the strength to regain his composure. Taking a deep breath and sitting a bit straighter in his chair, he concluded, “So, I have found a need for tracing various nomadic groups, including many pirate organizations,” looking Xaxan straight in the eyes as he speaks now, “in the hopes of determining patterns and maybe a list of possible locations to search. As a result, I am something of an expert on pirates in the Sector, as well as their tactics.” There is a hint of secret knowledge in those last words and the look on his face, as he returns the looks afforded him by both of the Tryashoenu men with his renewed confidence.

“I see, well that does provide you with some additional insight in your line of work. Have you had many run ins with the Storm Riders of Brental? I hear they are quite ruthless with their captives.” Xaxan is still trying to gain the upper hand, but appears to be grasping at loose nerf hides.

“I have, and they are. The last time I came upon them I was looking for the runaway daughter of Brentalon businessman. Name was Marxain. Turns out she wasn’t really a runaway, just a holo-vid reporter long over due on her assignment. I think I lost a few years off of my life during that job.” Jae-Lee takes a big bite from his plate and relishes in his victory. Mees gives him a little smirk and does the same.

Now it is Yorel’s turn at the ready, “So, do you work primarily on the ground?”

He swallows his food and then takes a quick drink from his glass, “No, as a matter of fact I have a two-man fighter that I built up from scrap. With the help of my compatriot here,” he says nudging Mees with his elbow. “She was just a whelp when I got The Burn, but she’s a fair mechanic and a great programmer.” He looks straight into the eyes of Xana, seeing her surprise at his teasing of Mees, and awaits Mees’ response. He does not have long to wait.

“Fair mechanic, huh? Well, just for that you can finish that blasted sensor panel yourself, fly-boy. I’d like to see you re-program all of the coordinates and triangulations and permutations yourself and see how fast you get blown out into vacuum.” Mees playfully elbows him in the ribs during her tirade.

“Okay, okay, you’re more than fair, you’re all right.” He tries his luck one more time and winks at Xana, showing her that this is all just a game.

“Well, before Meesahran takes an opportunity to dismember you right before our very eyes, perhaps I should change the topic of discussion.” Xana nods to her brothers, a sign that she is unhappy with their recent attempts to discredit their guest. “Master Reklaw, have your travels ever brought you to Commenor before this trip?” Xana takes a careful sip from her glass.

“Actually, yes they have, but it has been a few years since I’ve returned. I usually hit Kuat and turn back. I spent about a standard month here in Chasin City, chasing after some missing cargo for my old boss, Jaquillen Naysan. He had me set up with a fence to track the stolen shipment.” Jae-Lee looks across the table as he speaks and notices a pinched expression upon Xaxan’s face. “Of course Jaquillen has been gone for a very long time. Did you know him Master Tryashoenu?” Jae-Lee puts down his utensils and gazes deeply into the man’s eyes. Trying to get behind whatever it was that he appears to be hiding.

“Yes, I did know the man. He was an associate of my late father and a good man, until-... Pardon me, I sometimes forget my manners. You all must be exhausted from your long journey.” Xaxan stands and everyone else follows his lead, “Yorel, if you would be so kind as to escort our guests to their quarters.” Turning to his guests, “I hope you find my arrangements suitable to your needs. However, I must attend to some business if I am to join you for evening meal. Thank you my Dear Friends for your visit and your assistance. Please partake of our hospitality as long as you wish it. Good day to you all, and I will see you again in the evening.” And with that he departs in a hurried flourish, leaving even his siblings looking a bit puzzled.

Taking his arm in hers, Meesahran says the first words, “Well, are you going to walk me to my room, or will I have to go it alone?”

Shocked back into the present, Yorel, in turn, places his other hand on her forearm, “I would be honored to escort you to your room, Mistress Meesahran and any other service you may require of me.” His charms have also returned and they lead the way to the door.

Master Mussiri offers his arm to Xana, “I would be most honored if you would accompany us to our rooms, young Mistress Xana?”

Xana, looking somewhat disappointed at her escort, politely takes the arm offered her and follows Meesahran and her brother out the door.

The remaining member of the party takes one last drink from his glass and slowly walks out of the room to join the others. Bringing up the rear, he realizes that he is satisfied with his recovery of the nearly botched confession.

Jae-Lee Reklaw is once again in control of his emotions and his guards are now firmly in place for the first time today. And they will remain in place, until this little mission is over. Now is not the time to find doubt in his quest. Now is not the time to doubt himself, either.

Chapter 15

Alone in the darkened room; Meesahran works without pause at the data-console. The sounds of her fingers tapping away at the keys and switches are the only things that can be heard, except the occasional breath escaping her lips in a near sigh. Mees diligently continues her search through the data-banks of the Tryashoenu Interstellar Transport, Distribution & Interception Corporation.

With blinding speed, she pours over manifest and flight log, invoice and bill of sale alike, looking for that one thing that would jump out at her and reveal to her the source of this latest disturbance. Meesahran knew that someone or something was behind these strikes, but she had not gotten very far in her quest to uncover their identity. There was something strange in the fact that she could not find anything tying the incidents together, but that alone was not enough to formulate her next course of action. Until she found something, there was no point in moving on, and she just knew there was something to be found here. It was only a matter of time before she discovered it, but time was a precious commodity in her current assignment.

Time was something that Ruler Mehand did not possess, and she knew that Master Mussiri was concerned for his old friend. When Mees had met the distinguished lady of Chandrila, she seemed to be hiding something. Something that Mehand had only shared with a careful few, and Mees knew that her master was one of them. She also knew that she was not, and that her master had not deigned to share that information with her either. That fact worried her greatly, but now was not the time to dwell on doubts. If there was one thing Mees could sense, it was that their mission was of the utmost importance. Her questions must wait for another time, now she needed to complete her task.

Also from that meeting Meesahran Tofallin felt a connection to the woman. A connection that she had learned, over the years and through the teachings of her master, was only possible through the Force. Elassi Mehand was at the very least an Adept. Mees pauses to ponder on that thought a moment. And she was once Master Mussiri’s pupil... Was she also a Follower? Heaving a deep sigh and stretching her neck from side to side, Mees jars herself from her reverie and returns to her task. The keys come alive once more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sitting with crossed legs in the center of the floor in their shared suite, Master Falion Mussiri inhales deeply as he closes his eyes; falling further into his meditations. His breathing becomes slow and infrequent, his posture perfect, his face in complete serenity. ”Passive, at peace that is the way to true enlightenment, my Son.” The voice of his mother enters his mind and he knows that he has reached his center. ”Breathe, my Son, but do not allow your appearance to betray this action. You must not only feel at peace, you must appear at peace. True serenity is more than an emotional state, it is a physical one as well.” In his mind he can now see the scene that played out so many years ago.

Among the grassy plains of Alderaan, a young boy sits in the same position as the Master sits now, but a young woman sits facing him. Her dark hair, carefully bound about her head in a spiraling fashion and a dress of un-dyed white laying about her, her eyes closed, but she is speaking to the young boy. The boy fidgets in his position, causing him to have to push back a wisp of his equally dark hair from his eyes; his oversized and tattered, beige tunic bunched about his small frame. “Focus Falion, you must find your center. It is imperative to The Way that the faithful always proceed from a center of peace.”

“But Mother, it is so difficult to keep hold of that center. Especially when the other children taunt me.” The boy uncrosses his legs and begins to pick at the tall grasses upon which they sit in frustration.

“I know my Son, but for you to be able to help those children, you must maintain your passivity. You must always work from that center, and your actions will always be true.” The beautiful but worn woman places a tender hand on her son’s cheek in reassurance. “Your ability to endure their aggression will show them the error of their ways and lead them to the right path, to The Way.”

Looking up into his mother’s eyes, the boy sees that his questions will never be answered by his mother, and he returns to his meditations as a dutiful child.

Falion remembers those questions and he remembers his parents’ sadness when he left in search of those answers soon after. Exhaling a single, and prolonged breath, Falion remembers all too well the last day he saw his family. It was the day that peace was once again destroyed on Alderaan.

His homeworld has endured many cycles of peace and aggression, and he fears it will ever be thus. Alderaan, with all of its education and artistic reverence, has never been able to completely divorce itself from its turbulent past. Every so often a new ruler will take over, disband the Senate and institute a regime of totalitarianism in the name of a return to the basic values of the Alderaani people. It has always been this way, and Falion Mussiri can only dream of a time when Alderaan can finally achieve its dreams of a society free from warfare.

Carefully rising from the floor, he looks to the chronometer on the table. Realizing the neither Meesahran nor Jae-Lee have returned from their tasks, he decides to go out in search of his wayward companions. In a single grand and graceful motion, he grabs his cloak and wraps it about his shoulders, fastening the clasp as he makes a motion at the door controls. The door opens in a swoosh and Falion Mussiri departs the suite, the door closing of its own volition behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sitting at the security cam-holovid console, Xaxan Tryashoenu watches the fair young woman as she meticulously goes through his company records. Her search for answers has been nothing, if not thorough. He would not have expected anything less from this young woman.

Although he has known this girl, for to him she is still but a girl (no matter how much he wished otherwise) most of her life, and trusts her more than most any other being in the world, he cannot trust his own interests to anyone but himself. Perhaps it was his Commenorian upbringing, or his years in the military intelligence service, but no matter the cause, Xaxan must know the source of these attacks and he must put an end to them. His entire company depends upon his reputation as a ruthless businessman. If that reputation is sullied in any way, it could bring his entire empire down around him.

No, he must watch this girl with a careful eye. And that boy she has brought into his home, he should be watched very carefully.

Reklaw had left the Center in the pre-dawn hours. He knew because he had a tail put on him, but his security man had failed by mid-day and now Reklaw was roaming the streets of Commenor without Xaxan knowing exactly what he was doing. That bothered Xaxan more than anything else at this moment, and mostly because his Dear Sister had also managed to slip past her shadow this morning. He would have to make a serious audit of his security team after this day.

Out of the corner of his eye, he catches the entrance of the gray one on the monitor, and brings the volume back up on the console.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a solid week of pouring through manifests and ship’s logs and anything else she could get her hands on, Meesahran Tofallin had nearly come to her wits end with empty leads. That was when she realized that the fact that she could not find a single linking factor in any of the incidents was what should have told her where to look.

She quickly begins to bypass all of the normal protocols, starts slicing through the security parameters, and then into the access records of the manifests and ship’s logs. That is where the information she needs is to be found and find it she does. She commences the download, into her own data-pad, all of the information she has gathered from her, less than legal, search through Tryashoenu’s computer data-banks. She was sure that Xaxan would have approved her security clearance, had she given him the option. Besides, sometimes what Xaxan did not know, could not hurt her. She knew that this was not exactly what Master Mussiri had meant by keeping Xaxan out of the direct investigation, but it was close enough to the line without going over it, that she was certain he would only give her one of those disapproving looks he seemed to have perfected over the years.

“And what look would that be my young pupil?” Mees nearly jumps out of her skin at the sound of her master’s voice.

Grasping at her chest, “I really wish I could prevent you from sneaking up on me like that.”

The master smirks with a hint of mischievousness, “And then how would I keep you on your toes. Besides, with the way you were projecting, even your friend Jae-Lee could have heard that one loud and clear.” Looking over her shoulder at the console, “You appear to have discovered something quite intriguing I take it?”

Holding a finger to her lips, motioning him to be silent, “No, not really, just the same old manifests and logs. There doesn’t seem to be anything connecting the events to one another.” Mees then closes her eyes, unless of course you slice into the access records. Every single one of those shipments’ records have been tampered with using an outside slicer and an inside access code. There is a mynock on the power source here. I’ve set up a tracer rat to broadcast the identity of the access code as soon as that same user jumps back into the system.

The master places a hand on the young woman’s shoulder, “Well, I suppose we will have to move our investigation to another source.” Closing his own eyes, And you are certain that this person or persons will break into the system once more?

“Yep, that would be the way to do it.” And I don’t even have to be on Commenor to receive the hit. I have it set to broadcast through this little device I’ve implanted into the system’s brain-well. We can move on as soon Jae shows back up. Mees turns to her master, “I will inform our Dear Friend Xaxan of our coming departure, Master.”

She stands up from the console, carefully slipping the data-pad back into her jacket and begins to walk to the door of the tiny office. Upon reaching the door, she nearly falls over. “My child, are you all right?” Her master says as he holds her in his grasp. The only thing he can sense from her is danger and a name: Jae!

Chapter 16

All these places smell the same.

As Jae-Lee glances up from his drink, his eyes quickly, yet casually scan every table.
It is a familiar sight. Looking through the smoke, he can see a variety of species dressed in the fashions of a hundred different worlds.

Approaching the bar is a small gray furred creature of no more than one and a half meters. He is dressed in the sort of local attire commonly associated with the lower working class. With a violent shove to the lower back, he gets the attention of another patron, an enormous Gran. The much larger, three eyed creature seems to want no part of this, but the little gray one is quite determined. As the ruckus grows louder and the bartender looks around nervously, other customers begin to notice and with so many eyes turning to watch, Jae-Lee takes the opportunity to search again.

There you are.

From across the room, He locks eyes with another human man. Wearing a well-worn flight-suit, he is older, and his face is hidden behind a thick, dark, gangly beard. In a place built to intoxicate, his eyes are clear and alert, and with a slight nod he has surely caught Jae's attention.

"Break it up!!!!!!" The bouncers yell as they close in on the altercation, trying to break it up with as little fuss as possible

Several customers pass between Jae and the bearded man, blocking their view of one another. When the crowd clears, the man is gone. With a slight smile to himself, Jae-Lee leaves his half full glass on the table and heads for the bar. "Corellian Whiskey and an Antakarian Fire Dancer.”   

The bartender serves the drinks, looking much more relaxed than he did a few minutes ago, and Jae pays in coin. Walking back to the table, he takes one more look around. A small group of Trandoshans is coming through the front door.

Getting back to his table, Jae puts down his drink next to his now empty glass, and gives the Antakarian Fire Dancer to the man who is now waiting in the seat across from him. "I almost didn’t recognize you Reig. You got something against shaving?"

"You should talk Reklaw. Except yours only looks about two weeks old. I've been growing this mane for years." Both men nod and laugh quietly.

Finishing a sip of his whiskey Jae-Lee puts the glass down, wincing slightly, and asks. "Well, the whiskey’s no good. How’s the food?"

Looking up from his drink, Reig looks towards the bar. "Its bad." He turns back with a new, more serious expression. "But the food at the Whistling Mynock is horrible. I wouldn’t take my neek there. I'd steer clear of that place. You want a good upscale meal, go to the Wayward Wookie. They're right across the way from each other, at the end of this street."

Jae-Lee leans forward and his speech drops to a very low level. "Upscale? In this area? Who could pull that off?" He asks with a frown.

"Well..." Leaning in just slightly, Reig replies, "Some people have it made. There’s a lot of high-class money around."

"High-class, huh?" A sick feeling begins to swirl in Jae-Lee’s gut, but he is not sure why. "Tryashoenu?"

Looking confused, then slightly surprised, Reig replies, "Yeah. How did-... How long have you been here?" He then chuckles slightly, shaking his head.

Jae replies sternly. "Long enough. So, what can you tell me?"

Shrugging, and looking almost disappointed, Reig responds, "Well, not much, but I know their operation isn’t as tight as they would have you believe. Between the Mynock and the Wookie there’s a lot of talk. Some claim to have worked in the organization, but they won’t do much, but brag about what they managed to skim for themselves."

Loudly, Jae-Lee asks, "So the Wayward Wookie is the place for some good Nerf steak, eh?"

"Best in town! But it’ll cost you at least a thousand dataries.” Reig says happily. With a wink, and a bit quietly again, "I know this much; top to bottom, those two places have it cornered. Y'know?" Jae nods and Reig leans back in his chair, finishing the Antakarian Fire Dancer in a single chug.

Returning to a normal tone, the conversation continues. "So, what do ya think JL, you buying dinner too?"

"Sorry, no. If it’s between the richest place in town and somewhere worse than this, I better pass on dinner."

"ROOOAAAARRRRRR!!!!!!!" Jae looks over to the bar to see trouble brewing once again. The Trandoshans are not only arguing with the other patrons, but amongst themselves as well. The bouncers arrive on the scene once more and the situation only escalates.

"Well, I think that’s my cue." Turning back to the older man, Jae-Lee realizes that he never looked over to the bar. His eyes were scanning the room in the opposite direction. Always thinking. "Thanks, pal."

Returning to the conversation Reig replies, "Hey! Thanks for what? You bought the drinks."

As Jae-Lee rises from his chair he sets his half full glass down on top of a few hundred dataries. The two men exchange a smile and a nod, and the younger man makes his way around the brewing brawl and out in to the street.

Recounting his conversation with his old contact as he walks, Jae reviews the facts, as he now understands them. Let’s see, we have Tryashoenu acting like a possessive Nerf mother, money being spread around by underlings, independent pirates, crooked merchants and traders, and a Chandrillan militarist looking for help from some rag-tag mystics. Sounds like a whole lot of nothing, that’s about to amount to be a great big mess. How do you end up in these things, Jae? . . Oh yeah, must be the women. Jae-Lee chuckles to himself as he continues walking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As he approaches the Whistling Mynock, Jae is struck by a strange sensation. It seems oddly familiar, but he cannot seem to place it. It was not danger... But it could be...As he nears the entrance to the cantina, the feeling grows stronger and yet, more confusing.

Well, I guess my answer lies in here.

Attempting to regain his focus, Jae pushes open the doors and enters a scene eerily similar to the one at the place he has just left. Sitting down at a table, Jae attempts to scan his new surroundings. The customers did seem to have sunk down to another level from the crowd he had seen earlier, but his mind is not on the other customers. There was a feeling he did not understand and could not shake.

"Hey!"

Looking up and realizing his waitress must have been talking to him, Jae mutters, “Lomin Ale.”

Apparently annoyed, the waitress turns and storms away.

NO!

Jumping slightly in his seat Jae-Lee is struck by feelings that are not his own. Anger. Frustration. Betrayal.

Surreptitiously rising from his seat he bumps into his waitress, who was just now returning with his ale. As the Lomin Ale soaks the both of them, Jae is already tossing a hundred dataries on the table and heading for the door.

"Hey!" The waitress yells after him. Noticing her tip on the table, she picks up her money and looks towards the exit. The doors are swinging closed.

Jae-Lee is already half way across the street, heading for the Wayward Wookie. Two armed and uniformed men stand on opposite sides of the entrance, and they exchange looks as the unknown man with the ale soaked shirt approaches rapidly. Both guards’ hands fall to their blasters, and the one on Jae-Lee’s right moves forward to meet him. A crash comes from inside the building & Jae frowns at the guard. “This is official business, degenerate. You’ve no cause to enter here. Go sober up, off-worlder.” The guard puts a strong shoulder behind the hand that holds Jae-Lee back. The other sentry brings his blaster up to show he means business.

Jae-Lee is about to yield, when a voice appears in his ears, or is it his mind. It is decidedly feminine and it is in terrible distress. Spinning around in a single dashing move, Jae-Lee lands a devastating blow to the jaw of the loud mouth guard and rips the blaster from the second one. He smashes him in the face with it and the guard crumples to the ground.

Bursting forth into the tiny shop, Jae-Lee catches sight of the source of the distress and is stopped cold by the sight... Xana!

She is struggling, being held from behind at her elbows. The man holding her is about a head taller than Jae, and about twice as thick. Saliva runs off his chin onto his already stained shirt, and he holds a sick smile. He spits out, "Who are you?!" As he speaks to Jae-Lee, he releases Xana, and she crawls quickly into a corner to the left, hiding her face. Relief floods Jae-Lee’s insides and he draws his front lightsaber, preparing to respond to the big oaf in the dirty shirt.

"He's dead." Comes a voice from behind Jae.

Jae-Lee ignites his saber and rolls quickly to the floor and to the right, away from Xana. As he begins to flip, he catches sight of:

one-two-three

uniformed men, and two of them have their blasters drawn.

As he completes his roll, Jae rises and turns to his right. Swinging his saber in a backhand motion he deflects two laser blasts. One finds its way back to the man who fired it, the other bounces off a wall, causing the second armed man to duck. He quickly regains his composure and fires twice at Jae-Lee. Now set and ready, he deflects the shots smoothly. The first one bounces off of the floor at the attackers feet, and the second strikes him full in the chest. Jae immediately spins to the right while dropping to his left knee as he lunges his blade out and upward, into the big drooling man who had been left standing behind him. A blue blade of light is now buried in the big man’s dirty, stained shirt. Dropping to the floor, the man smiles slightly, and his eyes briefly focus on something behind Jae, just before he felt it.

Blackness.

Only for second, but when he opens his eyes, he is a little closer to the ground and his head hurts like it never has before. A large stone hits the ground next to him.

"Oh, so now you’re not so tough, huh? I'll show you who's in charge here." The guard says.

Using his hand to steady himself and already on one knee, Jae turns slowly and looks up, to see Xana in a full fighting stance. The last guard finishes rubbing the back of his head and approaches her with his hands outstretched, apparently attempting to grab her. In one fluid motion, displaying tremendous grace and swift, smooth power, she grabs the outstretched hands and uses them to pull the attacker right into her foot, which she plants firmly in the center of his chest. As Xana rolls onto her back, flipping the man over her, Jae-Lee hears several loud cracks, which were surely the mans ribs breaking. Xana launches him into the wall with more sounds of breaking bones. Then, with a loud thud, he falls to the ground clutching his chest, gasping for air that simply would not come. In seconds, he was dead.

Jae tries to crawl towards Xana while attempting in vain to bring the world back into focus.

"Do not move, Master Reklaw." Xana says with great concern. "You are hurt. You are bleeding." She starts to get up, reaching for Jae-Lee. Then, looking up, she froze.

"Yeah. Don’t move." Came another voice. "Or you wont just be hurt. You'll be dead. You too Mistress."

Jae managed to lift his head to see two more guards entering the room. Only one had a blaster, and it was pointed at Xana. Jae's lightsaber lay on the floor, just out of reach.

Good thing I carry two.

The newest armed guard looks horrified at the body of the third guard, now obviously dead on the floor. "No!" He yells, looking back and forth between Xana and the body of the guard. "You didn’t! You couldn’t have! This wasn’t supposed to happen like this!"

As Jae's left hand slips behind his back to unhook his second lightsaber, he notices the distinct resemblance between the screaming man and the dead man.

He always drew this saber *blade down*. The on-off switch is located at the base of the hilt, so it only made sense to operate it upside down with his thumb, rather than right side up with his smallest finger. Besides, this saber was not for everyday use. It was special. Besides, there were differences that could make this particular lightsaber dangerous compared to others. For example: this saber had no "dead-man’s switch" to turn it off when it left the wielders hand. That could be very dangerous. Even deadly...

"Just kill her then!!!" yelled the unarmed guard.

As he levels his gun, Jae swings his left arm around revealing the lightsaber. With the blade extended out, he releases the hilt, throwing it and sending it spinning towards the two uniformed men. The blade slices through them cleanly. As they fall, in pieces, the weight of the hilt brings the lightsaber clattering to the floor. It leaves several scorch marks and ends up stuck cleanly into the wall. It stands there humming until Jae-Lee picks it up and turns it off.

Reaching to collect his other saber, he notices blood. His own blood. Quite a lot of it. It runs down from the right side of his collar, covering his shoulder and most of his chest. The back of his head throbbed terribly and when he reached back to touch it, he found the area sticky and wet. Looking towards Xana, while still crouched on the floor, he spoke, "Are you all right?" As he did, his head screamed in such pain that it left him swaying.

Slightly dazed and staring at the mangled guards on the floor, Xana returns his inquiry. "I'm... I'm... Fine. Are you? . ." Finally looking up, and seeing him about to collapse, she cries "Oh no!" Jumping to her feet, she rushes to his side. "Here, sit down." After leading him to a bench against the nearest wall, they both sit.

"Thanks." Jae-Lee says, slightly embarrassed. He tries to focus his mind. To return to a state of awareness. He had been sloppy (once again) and rushed into a situation he knew very little about. What he needed now was to get them away safely. He was hurt, but after a few deep breaths, and several moments concentrating on what Mees might call "finding his center", he was ready to move. He turns to look at Xana and finds she is already looking at him. Mesmerized by her beauty, Jae is speechless. He thinks he sees a hint of a smile on her face and suddenly realizes that he may be wearing one of his own. They sit like that for a very long moment before she finally speaks, "Thank you.”

Her eyes were nothing if not captivating and they made Jae-Lee forget for a moment that they were both still very much in danger. He even forgot about his head, until he goes to cock it in one of his patented “Aw shucks, ma’am” poses. He tries to recover before she can notice his wincing, but it is useless.

“We must get you back to the Center where you can receive proper medical attention.” She stands up, reaches down to take his arm and helps him to his feet.

“Not the Center, just get me to the spaceport. I can patch myself up once I get to the ship.” Jae cringes with each movement, but he knows that he could never enter Tryashoenu’s place looking like this, and with his sister to boot.

“But Master Reklaw, you are in dire need of attention as a direct result of trying to assist me. I could not forgive myself if any harm were to come to you now.” Her words are more intoxicating than a well aged Whyrren’s Reserve, and softer than the most expensive silks Jae-Lee has ever come across. But, he knows that he has to get to the SkyDancer and comm Mees. She could help him, and then he could tell her what he had found, before the pain sucked it all away.

“Please, just get me to the SkyDancer. There are medical supplies onboard.” As they step towards the door, he peers out to see if anyone has taken notice of the recent melee. Seeing no one, he stands as straight as he can, takes Xana’s hand in his and says, “We’ll have to make this look good, just in case I start to falter... A wife taking her drunken husband home from the cantina...” Eyeing her as closely as he can for a negative reaction, “Is that all right with you?” He had not meant to sound so needy with his request, but in many ways, he is that needy.

She returns his grasp and places her arm around his shoulder, “Come, my Dear Husband, we must get you home.” She gives him a tiny wink. At least he thinks that is what she does, but in his current state she could have given him the Corellian kiss-off and he probably would not have noticed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trying not to look behind them too much, Xana attempts to keep her cool. However, the bleeding seems to have started again and she is worried that Master Reklaw will be unable to continue. "Would you like to rest a moment? You look quite weak." She bites her lip in anticipation of his response.

"We should keep moving. I'm fine, really." He can feel the wound again. A sickening feeling is creeping into his stomach, but as horrible as his head feels, holding Xana’s hand feels great.

"If you are certain, then we should go this way." She points a delicate finger towards a street that leads to the right. "It will bring us to the spaceport without stopping by the shipping office." Her apprehension sparks some interest in Jae-Lee's mind (battered though it might be).

"You know this area well. I must admit I'm surprised." This draws a quick look from Xana.

"Surprised at what, Master Reklaw?" She cannot hide her shock at his statement, so she tries to steer the conversation. "That I would know the streets of my own city?" Her words are sharp, and they cut.

"Well, this is not a very nice area, my Dear Wife." He says with a wink, trying to keep the mood light, but pressing on with his question, nonetheless. "I would only wonder why such a well cared for woman would need to come to a place like this. Business, perhaps? Or merely shopping?"

Her guard lowers, his charm is undeniable, "There are many reasons for a wife to travel these streets, my Dear Husband." He just smiles weakly at Xana’s response. "Perhaps, if my Dear Husband did not smell of a distillery, so often, a wife might have no cause to know these streets?" Her jibe causes Jae to blush a bit. He had forgotten about the spilled ale.

"Yes, dear." He replies with another smile. With his head throbbing like the bass of a cantina band and his wound still bleeding slightly, he decides to drop this particular line of questioning until a more appropriate time. A feeling of danger is entering his mind and with a glance down the street he can just make out a small crowd in the distance.

"What is it? Trouble?" Xana's concerned words pull him out of his thoughts and he looks around for an escape.

"Yes... C'mon. Over there." Still holding her hand, Jae-Lee leads her between the closest two buildings. Hoping for a way out to the other side, the pair is disappointed. What appeared to be two buildings is actually one. A small recessed courtyard is where Jae-Lee and Xana now find themselves. The only place to go is back into the street.

"I don't believe they saw us." She notices that his breathing has become a bit laboured. "We can hide behind this partition until they have passed. We should be safe for the moment... Please, sit for a while and let me get a look at that wound. Perhaps I can stop the bleeding, in the very least." Jae-Lee nods his head ever so slightly in agreement and moves to sit upon the retaining wall just behind the partition.

"Yeah, I think we're ok. They were still pretty far off." Xana’s hands feel very tender as she tends to his cut. "It doesn’t feel so bad anymore. Ouch!"

"I am so sorry, I was trying to be gentle." She bites her lip as she leans over his head once more to try and tend to the wound.

Embarrassed, Jae replies. "You're doing great."

When she returns to face him, she is struck by his deep blue eyes. However, they seem to be a bit hazier than she remembers. "Are you all right?" The deep concern in her voice shakes Jae from his momentary loss of focus.

"Much better." Without realizing what he was doing Jae-Lee reaches out and takes Xana by her left hand. "Thank you."

"Are you certain, Master Rek-..." Jae puts the finger of his other hand up to her mouth to stop her from speaking.

Leaning in, Jae-Lee brings his face that much closer to Xana's. With only a hair's breadth between them, Jae inhales her scent and gathers up the last bit of nerve he can muster before surrendering to the emotions that have been building since their very first meeting. Slowly tracing his finger from her lips to her jaw, and then to her throat, Jae takes that final step and presses his lips to hers in a careful caress.

Just as he is about to give himself over to the experience, the doors behind them swing open and four more armed guards come forth with blasters drawn. "You'll pay for that, scum." The leader of the group spits at Jae.

Drop

Jae releases Xana’s hand and attempts to raise his arms in a sign of surrender. Xana, looking deathly afraid, does likewise. Jae's head begins to droop forward.
Just as the second guard approaches and prepares to cuff Jae, he slips down from the retaining wall, apparently unconscious, and Xana cries out in terror.

Dropping to her knees, Xana pulls Jae-Lee up to cradle him in her arms, fearing the worst. Burying her face in his chest, she is in complete shock when she raises her head once more to find all four guards lying lifelessly on the ground and Master Mussiri and Meesahran standing at her sides.

"We must make haste, young one. Please take my hand?" Master Mussiri extends his arm to Xana as Mees lifts Jae-Lee onto her shoulders.

"I'll go the back way, you get her back to the Center and I'll meet you at the landing pad." Meesahran then disappears from the courtyard.

Xana looks into the gray one's eyes, pleading for answers. "In time young one, but now we must get you to safety. Worry not, all will be well this day.”

Chapter 17

With her feet propped up on the med-supply box next to the room’s only bunk, Meesahran Tofallin begins to nod off in the semblance of sleep. Her long golden hair hangs down, uncharacteristically, about her shoulders; the white streaks showing much more prominently in this fashion. She brings her arms up and wraps them about her chest. Her coveralls tied down around her waist, with one of the arms coming loose and dangling down at her side.

Now and then the figure lying prone in the bunk stirs and Mees’ head bolts up, only to relax upon seeing no change in the unconscious figure’s condition. He moans a bit, and Mees sits up, rubbing her eyes and stretching out her back. She takes a look at the bandage swathing his head and then stands up and crosses the room to the water basin. Taking a wet cloth from the basin, she walks back to the pale figure.

She carefully begins to remove the bandage while applying the wet cloth to loosen the gauze. As she is about to take the last piece of gauze from the man’s head, his eyes begin to flutter and work to open.

Finally he is able to force the lids to remain open, and he then tries to find something to focus on. Seeing only a great gray blur, he furrows his brow and tries even harder, but all that comes from it is a clearer gray. He then tries to draw in a deep breath, hoping that more oxygen will clear his eyes. As he inhales, a sharp pain in the back of his head provides him with an instant reminder of his current predicament. “Guerfel!” is all he is able to utter, but the swearing brings a smile to the face of the unseen woman behind him.

“I was thinking more along the lines of ‘love sick nerf’ myself, but fool works, too.” Jae-Lee Reklaw slowly rolls over in the direction of the voice.

“Is that you, Mees?” He squints his eyes on the blurry figure. “I can’t seem to focus, and I must be hallucinating, ‘cause you look like you have a huge head...”

Mees looks puzzled for only a moment, and then remembers that her hair is down. “Nah, just huge hair. Why else do you think I keep it tied up all the time?” She turns and pours some water into a small cup. Turning back to Jae, “Here, let’s get some more fluid in you.” Placing the cup to his lips and raising it ever so slightly. He takes a few sips and then moves his mouth away from the cup.

He turns inward, wondering how long he has been out and what happened to get him here. Mees, sensing his questions, “Don’t worry, everyone is still in one piece. Well, that needs to be anyway. You’ve only been out for just over a day.” She returns the cup to his lips and as he takes more of the water into his mouth, she continues, “Master Mussiri has provided me with some instruction in the healing arts, so you should be good as new, well maybe not new, but good enough in a couple of days... You did lose quite a lot of blood, but Master was a perfect match, so we just did a quick transfusion.” Removing the empty cup from his lips, Mees reaches for some of the food she has brought into the room. Breaking off a small bit of the bread, she places it against his lips and he opens his mouth, “However, you may want to grow your hair a little longer in the back. I stitched it up as best I could, but you were missing a bit of skin back there... What in the name of Corel did they hit you with, anyway?”

Jae-Lee reaches up, finds her timid hands and takes the bread from her grasp, “A rather sizable and jagged rock, I think.” Rubbing his eyes with his free hand, he continues, “I just wish I could see straight right now.”

Mees smiles, “It should wear off sometime in the next twelve hours.”

“TWELVE HOURS! Owwww...” His shout brings much more pain than he realized it would.

“Calm down fly-boy. We just had to give you some meds that can affect your vision, to prevent any infection and to get you out of the system with no questions.” Mees puts her hands on his shoulders and moves to position him so that she can continue to re-dress his wound.

With a grunt and another moan, Jae-Lee abides by her gentle manipulation. “What did you give me?”

“Let’s just leave it at meds, and call it even, okay?” Her avoidance has Jae more than a little worried.

“Mees, please don’t make me reach back there and throttle you. It’s gonna hurt me worse than you and I just don’t have the energy. What did you give me?”

She sits up straight and contemplates her answer a moment longer, but as soon as Jae-Lee begins to roll back over, she stops him, “Okay, okay, we gave you some of that stuff that fights rot infection in neeks...” She cringes as she says the last words.

Jae’s reaction is one of dread, “Aww, please tell me you did not feed me any mynock slime?”

Meesahran smiles for the first time since feeling the strike to Jae-Lee’s head, “Sorry, buddy, but it was the only way to keep the port authority guys off our backs and still get you some treatment... Oh, and don’t expect to be allowed back on Commenor again without a complete and thorough physical.” Mees chuckles a little with the last statement.

“Oh great, just what I always wanted. You really are a great friend, Mees. Who wouldn’t want some big burly man checking all of your orifices for rot infection?!” Mees out and out laughs at his response. “Thanks.”

“I’m sorry, but it was all we had to work with at the time... Besides, at least that way Xaxan will know you’re clean the next time you go to call on Xana.”

Jae rolls over with great speed, and pain, but his shock dampens much of its affects, “What are you talking about?”

“C’mon, Jae, I’m not blin-... I mean, I’m not stupid. Besides, that lip-lock you guys were engaged in when we arrived was more than enough for anyone to know what was going on.” Mees shrugs off his reaction, knowing how private a person he is when it comes to any kind of relationship.

“What kiss?” His eyes, though cloudy from the medication, betray his confusion to Mees.

“You really don’t know what I’m talking about do you?.. Well, I guess you must have been a little delirious from the blood loss, but you kissed her, buddy.”

Jae-Lee leans back in the bunk and contemplates her revelation. He kissed her... I kissed Xana, and I can’t even remember it!

“Look, if it’s any consolation, it looked to me like she was returning the favor. If those guards had been even a little later, I think it might have gotten a little steamy in that courtyard.” Mees gives him a little nudge in the arm.

“Stop it, Mees. You know that’s not cool...” He reflects a moment on this turn of events. Is this something that could make sense? I mean she’s an educated, high-class lady and I’m not much more than a street vrelt...

Yeah, but you’re the one she kissed back, nerf herder. Mees smiles as she projects back at him.

“I forgot I can’t do that around you, huh? Must be the knot on my head.” Jae grins sheepishly at his mistake.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it right now. It will likely be sometime before any of us can make it back to Commenor.” And with that, Meesahran returns to tending his wound.

But Jae-Lee Reklaw has something new to consider in his path. Could he ever reach a point in his life when settling down might be an option? And could Xana be a part of that life?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Walking, somewhat unsteadily, Jae-Lee Reklaw enters the cargo bay and takes a look at his beloved ship. It is then that he notices a pair of legs dangling from the rear of the cockpit.

“What are you doing, now?!” He calls up to Meesahran.

“Oh, I was just hooking up the power-couplings, so that you can get this wounded bird into whatever repair facility you’ve got waiting on Kuat.” Mees’ voice is muffled by the depths in which she is crammed into the back of the cockpit.

“C’mon out of there, it’ll be fine. I can get it towed if I have to. Nija can figure it out once I reach her.”

Mees pops up out of the cockpit, “You mean she doesn’t know you’re coming?”

“Well, that depends on whether or not she’s gotten my transmission yet or not... She has this system, that you can put the word out that you need her, but she only responds when she wants to and only on her terms.” Jae walks stiffly over to The Burn as he explains.

“Sounds like an,.. Interesting arrangement. She’s not very trusting, from the sounds of it, huh?” Mees hops down from the ship.

“Nah, but she grew up kinda like us, but without the benefactors that we lucked into. So, she’s a little on the skittish side. Plus she grew up on Kuat, and if anyplace is worse than Corellia to be a street vrelt, it’s Kuat.” They both nod their heads in agreement.

Mees picks up her tools and walks around to the workbench on the other side of the ship. She begins tinkering with something, but from his current vantage point, Jae cannot make it out.

He speaks up as he slowly progresses in her direction, “Wha’cha working on, Mees?”

She calls over her shoulder, “Just something I’ve been messing around with.”

Jae gets right up to her, “I hope it’s not something you took out of my ship.” He takes a seat next to her, “You know, there’s something that I still don’t get... Why was Xana out in that part of the city?”

Mees turns around with a hand on her hip, “I’m not totally sure, but the impression I got was that she’s been digging around for information on her brother’s business dealings since she hit Commenor... Saw a bunch of security reports that mentioned her activities and the fact that she has become quite good at slipping past her shadows.” Mees brings a hand up to her opposite shoulder, “I don’t think things are going terribly well for Dear Xaxan and Xana is probably trying to cover his tracks.” Looking Jae straight in the eyes, “She is a lot more than some eye candy and a social secretary, ya’know?” The knowing glance she gives him says more than he realized it could, and she turns back to her task.

Jae-Lee stands with great effort and walks up to Mees’ side, “Good to know... Well, is there anything I can help with?” He reaches over and places a friendly hand on her shoulder, but the reaction he gets is anything but friendly.

Mees wheels around in a reflexive reaction and has Jae’s arm in her hand before he can comprehend what has just happened. The look on her face is one of pure ferocity, but it fades the moment she sees Jae’s shocked expression, and she releases his arm, quickly turning back to the bench with her hands planted firmly on the top. “Hey! . . Sorry, kid. Didn’t mean to wake the sand-panther.” Jae holds up his hands in mock surrender. Noticing her silence, he tries to bring her out, “What’s got you so keyed up, Mees? I’ve never seen you react like that before.”

Still facing the wall and looking down onto the work surface, Mees softly speaks, “It’s nothing, just a reflex.”

“Well, remind me to tell that to your next boyfriend. Otherwise he might end up like some orange goo.” Jae tries to get her to laugh, but her silence continues to weigh on him.

“Yeah,.. No need to worry about that one... Look, I need to get cleaned up before my shift at the helm, are you going to be all right in here? Or should I get Master Mussiri to help you back to bed?” She turns away from him and quickly proceeds to the door, never looking him in the face.

“Mees?” Jae calls out to her as she hurriedly departs the bay. What was that about?

“A great many things have changed since your last meeting, my friend.” Master Mussiri steps out of the shadows and walks to Jae-Lee’s side. Extending a hand, to assist him in returning to a standing position, Master Mussiri smiles at Jae.

“Apparently, but it seems that not all of it was good...” Jae continues to look at the door Mees walked through. “That’s the second time she’s pulled away from me like that.” He shakes his head while struggling to get up. “It just doesn’t make sense. She was always so demonstrative; I was the skittish one.”

Master Mussiri makes certain that Jae is standing solidly and then takes a step away from him. “Change is constant, young one. And many times these changes are not what is expected nor desired.”

“You know why she is behaving this way, don’t you?” Jae-Lee’s stare bores straight into the gray one.

“I know that you are in need of far more rest, if you are to recover by the time we reach Kuat. Please, rest and content yourself with the knowledge that she is well and within our protection.”

Jae is about to challenge the man to an answer, but realizes that he may not be strong enough for such a confrontation right now. Maybe later, but not now.

Chapter 18

The door to the office reads: Corellian Police Authority – Coronet City Commissioner. Very unassuming to the casual observer, but the impact of those six simple words means much, much more.

Inside the office sits a man who, having already entered his fifties, is quite fit, with a trim build on an adequately tall frame. His back is to the door, but his posture lets anyone who enters know that he is well aware of all that occurs in that office, and out of it as well.

Just then, a little red flashing light goes off on one of the private comm channels on his transmitter station. He turns around in his chair and puts an exasperated expression on his face. Taking a deep breath, “What does that infernal woman want this time?!”

Chapter 19

“Nija?”

Nija Miyaan spared a quick peek at her visitors as they approached. Inwardly cringing, she returned to her work, her nimble fingers flying over the panel. She didn’t mind Jae-Lee’s company so much; he never tried to engage in idle chat like some of her previous employers. He was a quick study, and he even had a few good ideas of his own…once or twice. However the woman walking next to him made Nija want to crawl as deep into the ship’s inner workings as she could.

“Nija, there you are. How are things going?” Jae-Lee questioned.

Nija gave a grunt in reply, connected a stray wire, and turned toward the pair. She managed to paste the beginnings of a smile on her face, and stood wiping her hands on a grease-infested rag.

Jae-Lee grinned, and turned to his companion. “Mees, this is Nija Miyaan. Nija, this is my good friend, Meesahran.”

Mees gave a smile as a way of greeting, and to Nija’s surprise, climbed up into the ship with her.

“May I?” she questioned Nija. Nija’s right eyebrow moved up in suspicion as she eyed Meesahran, but she scooted to the side to allow Mees room to work beside her. Nija turned to Jae-Lee, who looked on with amusement.

“She’s much better than your choice of companion last month. Anjeliqua, wasn’t it?” Nija asked him.

Jae-Lee colored slightly, but quickly recovered. “Well, I’ll just leave The Burn in the hands of you capable ladies,” he announced as he turned and walked away.

Nija returned to her work with a hint of satisfaction on her face. Mees turned to her and whispered conspiratorially. “We should talk, you and I.”

Chapter 20

Vic Orion was a tall dark man with hidden intentions. If he was in a good mood, he surely didn't show it. He sat at the table, ignoring everyone. Vic stared at the glass of ice water in front of him--his usual. Vic only drank water. Flavored drinks and alcohol were shunned by him. He believed in keeping his body in top physical shape. Vic enjoyed ice-cold water. It gave him a clean feeling, refreshing in every way. It was the only thing that made him feel clean. A sharp contrast to his profession.

So many lives taken, so much death caused by the hands of Victor Orion. Each one but a memory, if even that. Vic never dwelled on the past. What was done was done, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Families were shattered, lives were ruined, and Vic did not care.

It had dawned on him when he was twenty-three that he had no cares for anyone else. He had opened up the gut of a target in front of the man's seven-year-old son. Vic had looked down and saw the boy's eyes. Filled with horror and fear, the boy gazed up at Vic through the haze of his tears. Vic took a last look at the boy and without any words, turned his back and continued on his way. Such a harsh reality learned so young in life, those were his only thoughts as he continued to walk away from his fallen opponent's son.

Vic reached under his jacket to his waist and felt the cold metal of his guns. They were of the old age; ballistic weapons, not the energy weapons that were commonplace now these days. If Vic had any friends, these were it. The only things that Vic could depend on, the only things he could trust with his life. Many times Vic had been in trouble and had it not been for his trusty pistols, he would have surely been but a memory by now.

Many of his targets were individuals who could anticipate his movements and wielded energy-bladed swords that could easily deflect an energy weapon's projectile. Vic had witnessed many "co-workers" being cut down by these individuals. Energy weapons were slow, predictable, easily avoided if you were fast enough. Not his guns. The weapons of old fired high velocity metal slugs the size of a child’s finger, and they traveled at blazing speeds, at thousands of feet per second. The trigger was pulled and almost instantly the ammunition would find its target. Not even the fastest being could dodge his bullets. The people with the energy-bladed swords never anticipate such a weapon. They have forgotten the ways of old and adapted to the newer weapons. Vic would use this to his advantage.

When he wanted to, Vic was just as fast as the blade wielders, even more deadly, and well skilled in hand to hand combat. Without their swords, the blade wielders were normally powerless against him.

Vic looked fondly at his guns as he sat in the corner of this particular bar. So many of these new "magicians" had been brought down with these twin instruments of death.

The waitress came back around and filled Vic's glass with more sparkling clear water as he waited for his client to meet with him to talk about a very high cost target. Naturally, the man was intimidated by Vic and had requested they meet in a very public place to discuss details of the current hit. Vic waited patiently. Time was a luxury that he had too much of. He could afford to wait. The amount of money being offered was more than any of his previous hits. Vic didn't even scan the room for his client. He just had a seat in the corner. The man would know where to find him.

Vic was beginning to think the whole thing was a sham until Mr. Drek Lostar walked in and spotted Vic sitting in the corner and then walked over as calmly as he could. The man was easily shaken, and Vic could see his fear.

Mr. Lostar sat down and began to lay out the plans of execution; the hit was Lostar's boss, a man by the name of Pierce. Pierce was a high level executive at his company and things had recently been shaky between Lostar and Pierce. Drek decided it was time for Pierce to be disposed of. With Pierce out of the way, Drek Lostar would move up in the ranks and pull in some serious credits. Of course, Vic would have heard every detail, had he been listening. Lostar happily laid out his plans on deaf ears.

Vic focused on his water... So pure, so clean. Lostar's rapid speech started to dwindle and trail off when he noticed Vic was not paying any attention. "Mr. Orion...did you catch what I said?" Vic slowly looked up from his water and into the eyes of Drek Lostar.

"Not a damn word." A look of shock swept across Lostar's face. In one swift motion, Vic's right hand popped up from under the table with one of his pistols in hand, extended across the table, mere inches away from Lostar's forehead.

Drek started to stammer "B-B-But I Hi--". Vic's finger quickly squeezed his trigger and with a flash and loud snap, Lostar's head parted.

Pierce had known all along that Vic was coming for him and contacted the assassin just minutes before his meeting, and offering him double what Lostar was paying to have the roles reversed. Vic spoke four words "It will be done" and that was the end of the conversation.

Vic did not even stop to observe the mess his pistol had caused. He calmly placed his money on the table to pay for his water and nodded to the waitress. The entire room sat silently in shock as they watched the man in black walk out of the door and into the night.

Chapter 21

Silvas straightened the crisp lines in his dress uniform. The sharp red lines, signifying the colors of his province, contrasted sharply with the pale blue of his uniform tunic, and the light brown slacks added to the overall effect. He quickly recited the main points of his speech to a translator droid, then exited the hotel room and into the hover limo that would take him to his meeting with Ruler Mehand. Even before the increased pirate activities, Silvas had been pushing for a fighter-training program, but now he was in desperate need of pilots. He needed brave people to pilot the crafts, but if they could draft citizens to into the fighter service, then the increase in numbers would counteract the increase in pirates, and save his men. He needed this to pass, and Elassi Mehand would be a great person to help advocate his cause. If he could get her to side with him; then he could get his program started.

The limo pulled up at the Provincial Ruler’s estate and the guards admitted him. As he climbed up the grandiose stairways to the Ruler’s meeting room, Silvas finally saw the difference between political and military actions. Both depended on brains, but in military actions, brawn was also needed to pack an extra punch to your actions. In politics, Silvas noted quietly to himself, you must rely completely on your mind, and the more cunning you have become, the better off you are. However, just like one starbuster missile, a single line could destroy your entire argument, and cause you to lose the battle. Silvas paused as he stood before doors.

“It’s now or never.” He quietly said to himself.

He opened the door and saw that the Ruler was being attended to, and he was immediately put on guard. “I am terribly sorry, my lady. Am I interrupting anything? I can always come again later?”

“No, Commander Orian. Please do come in.” The elder stateswoman waved him inside.

As Elassi Mehand dismissed her servants, Silvas strode up to an empty chair. After receiving a polite nod from the ruler, he sat down.

“How may I be of assistance to you, Commander?”

Silvas drew in a long breath and let it out slowly, trying to expel his nervousness with the breath. It did not work.

“I have come to speak with you regarding the sanctioning of a program for the military. I have attempted to bring this up with the Provincial Ruling Council, but they have refused my requests. I believe that if I obtain your support it will greatly aid the military in creating this new, and terribly vital, program. This program will be critical to the safety of every Chandrillan citizen.”

“Silvas, please tell me what it is you are trying to do, and then I will tell you if I feel it is worth all of this build up.” Ruler Mehand diffuses much of the formality of the situation with this simple phrase. “I believe that I have known you long enough to know when something is important. And I also believe that you know enough about me to know that if your request is reasonable, I will give it proper consideration.”

Silvas relaxes, just a bit, across the shoulders and continues, “Ruler Mehand, I believe that the times have made it imperative that we strengthen our defenses. It is my belief that a mandatory draft into the starfighter service will be just the boost we need. Our defense platforms help to protect the cities, however, our spaceways have become even more dangerous in the process. I fear that something along the lines of a trade blockade is inevitable if we do not make a good show of protecting those willing to trade with our world.” There, it’s all out, now I just have to wait.

And wait he would, as Elassi Mehand lowered her head and placed her folded hands under her chin in a pose of contemplation. Several moments passed, in what appeared to be an eternity to Silvas.

"Commander, I must tell you that I worry deeply for our people. Defense of the planet and its people are of the utmost importance, and the state of that defense, of late, has caused me great pain... But one of the things I pride myself on is the fact that our people have been given the right to choose their own path. Creating a program that will involuntarily indoctrinate our citizens into the military will destroy all that I have worked so hard to provide them."

Silvas, flustered, responded. "Ruler Mehand, I am well aware that you wish to protect our people's ability to choose, but you must realize, if you wish to protect those same people, sometimes sacrifices must be made, and I believe this to be one of those times. If Chandrila falls to the tyranny of these pirates, there will be no freedom to protect. We need this program."

Elassi considered Silvas’ final remarks and knew that this was not something she could ignore any longer. Then, after expelling a long breath, she said: "Your points have been well said, Commander... I will look into this matter further, and then I will make my final determination known to the Council."

Later that day:

Silvas sat down in the quarters of his ship. The meeting had gone much better than he had expected, and the queen had promised that she would talk to the Provincial Ruling Council.

He surveyed the room, and then remembered a passing thought from many weeks passed. Remembering the situation with the smugglers in the Grand Lecture Hall, he opened up the recorder:

My dearest Xana;

Please forgive your Dear Uncle Silvas, as I am very sorry that I have not spoken with you in such a long time. And the fact that I have not even so much as sent you a message in that time is unforgivable in my eyes. It is my fault, but I sincerely hope that this message will help to make up for our lost time.

When I retired to my cabin this evening, I remembered seeing you in the Universite when I came through (under stressful circumstances…) and saw you for the first time in so long. My Dear Young Girl, you have grown so much in that time! You are every bit as beautiful as your dear, departed Mother. I am certain that you are astounding everyone with not only your beauty, but also your intelligence at the Universite. The Universite should be appreciating your every day in their midst. It is my sincere belief that your parents would be most proud of you my Dear Xana.

As for myself, military life is hard, but it is worth all of the sacrifices for the strides I have been able to achieve. Defending the planet and defending our people gives me great pride, and is keeping me quite busy.

I understand that your dear sweet brother is about complete his tenure at the Corellian Academy of Militaria. It has been brought to my attention that he has petitioned for acceptance into our starfighter program, anonymously mind you. Please know that his petition is being met with the same scrutiny as do all of our petitioners. Though I love the boy dearly, I will show him no favoritism. That being said, he has shown great promise at the academy and the selection committee has placed him in high standing. However, I am certain that you would not ruin the surprise for your Dear Brother, knowing how much you do enjoy torturing the poor boy.

My time has grown short, so I fear I must wrap this up. It is my hope that we should find the opportunity to meet when we will have the proper time to sit down to meal and catch up on all that I have missed in your treasured life.

Love, as always,

Uncle Silvas

Chapter 22

In a flash of light, a data-pad careens across the room and slams into the wall, smashing into a million smoking pieces and only narrowly missing the dark man attempting to enter the office. Taking a step back and looking at the smoldering mess, Vanquar the Lesser then looks to the direction of the throw; his sister’s desk.

Proceeding silently towards the desk, “Is there something I should know about data-pad tossing, First Sister?” Vanquar the Lesser deftly takes the seat facing his sister and meets her gaze with a raised eyebrow.

Valyr violently swings around in her chair, “Simply stay out of their way, First Brother!” The venom in her words is only bested by the malevolence in her face.

“I see... Then may I ask the cause for this outburst?”

Valyr abruptly stands, straightening her many layered robes, puts on an air of regality and takes a deep breath, “The ruse is up, my dear First Brother.” Waiting for the proper amount of time to let her words sink in to Vanquar the Lesser. “Someone has been tampering with our hyperdrive modifications. I have had inquiries from one of our dealers as to the ‘flaw’ in our new models. It seems that some of their clients have been seeing an outside source for service.” Her voice is simply dripping with disdain at this point. “If I ever get my hands on that girl, I am going to personally tear her limbs from her body and beat her with them!”

Vanquar the Lesser knows all too well that his sister’s words are no idle threat. If there is one thing Valyr inherited from her father, it is his merciless anger when provoked. The virtual carnage that he can see in his sister’s eyes sends a chill down his spine, but he gathers enough of his own mettle to finally speak, “And you are certain it is the same girl that has been eluding our operatives?”

Ferociously slamming her fist into the desk, “Absolutely! And she will pay!” Taking a step back, Valyr attempts to regain her composure, “I have dispatched one of those detestable bounty hunters to search her out. I have tired of playing this game of cat and vrelt. I will soon have this whelp at my disposal.” A shuddering look of absolute evil passes over her face as she speaks. Vanquar the Lesser can only imagine the torments that await this poor girl, and for nothing more than inadvertently discovering their ingenious ploy to hide their latest technological advancement. An advancement that they had planned to use to their benefit in their Honored Father’s latest attempt at revenge against the Chandrillan people.

Sitting perfectly still, not wishing to anger the snarling beast that his sister had degraded into, Vanquar the Lesser awaits the proper moment to give her the latest news from their mercenary cohorts. If only everything paid off as well as those mercenaries and their slicers.

Chapter 23

The sounds of calibrated tools against cold durasteel and the girlish giggles of two decidedly feminine voices can be heard coming from the makeshift repair bay. The bay itself is not much more than a duracrete box, with a smattering of tools and portable equipment strewn about in what appears to be a hapless fashion. Crates of spare parts line one of the walls, and a set of hauling sleds resting against them; as though the parts would have to be moved at any moment. Along another wall is what has the appearance of someone’s living quarters; a pallet hung from the wall, a cabinet filled w/ dingy coveralls and a very small refresher station. The majority of the bay is filled with vehicles in various states of disrepair; a sleek speeder, a personal space-yacht, four swoop bikes and a two-man fighter with two pairs of legs hanging off the port side wing.

“Well, I think that should more than hold her... As long as Jae doesn’t do something stupid.” Nija looks at Mees, who is smirking, and they both burst out laughing. “Yeah like that’ll ever happen!” The dark-haired woman closes the final access panel and adjusts her wiry frame on the wing to prepare for a dismount from the ship.

Mees slides down from the ship and holds up a hand to assist the smaller woman. She shrugs off the offer and proceeds to do a perfect flip onto the bay deck; her long hair whipping behind her as she straightens up. “Nice work!” Mees claps her hands in congratulations.

“Well, on Kuat, it pays to stay on your toes.” Nija casually walks over to a pile of rags, grabbing one to wipe her hands off with, while lobbing another over to Mees for the same thing.

Meesahran glances around the bay, surmising that this is a fairly mobile operation. “So, it looks like you’re able to move pretty quickly around here. Do you have much trouble?” She says as she plops down on one of the many empty crates strewn about.

“Sometimes... Mostly I just don’t like to stick around in one place too long. The people who should find me, always can.” Nija turns her back on the taller woman, hoping that she does not see the suspicion on her face.

“No sweat, I was just curious. There are so few people that Jae or I would ever trust either. Must come with growing up on the streets.” Mees makes her statement with a matter of fact tone.

Spinning around, with a defiant look on her face, Nija spits out an accusation, “And where did you get that from?!”

Surprised and on guard, Mees responds, “Jae mentioned something about it, and besides we tend to know our own. Street vrelts can spot another at a parsec... Look I’m sorry if you felt insulted, it was just an honest observation.” Picking up her jacket, “If you’d like, I could wait for Jae back on our ship.”

Nija realizes that she has inadvertently insulted Reklaw’s new companion. Her face immediately reverts to one of sincere apology, “No, it’s me who’s sorry.” Taking a deep breath, “Fact is, I have been under a great deal of pressure lately. The Kuati Drive Yards Corp. is trying to bury me and I’ve had to move around a lot in the last few months.”

Returning her jacket to the crate, Mees moves toward Nija, “What do they want with you?” Her tone, very calm and soothing; a technique learned from her training.

Nija sinks down into the chair next to the makeshift desk, “I’ve found a flaw in their hyperdrive components. It causes the ship to perform at well below specs, but if the ‘Flaw’ is replaced, the ship will perform at well over published specs.”

Meesahran contemplates the young woman’s statement, “So, you think it’s deliberate?” Nija nods, “Then they are trying to modify the hyperdrive components without anyone knowing they have made an advance, yet still be able to produce the higher performance craft. And perhaps ‘assisting’ certain high-ticket customers with the option of the advanced product.”

“That’s the way it seems to me anyway.” Nija picks up some paperwork from her desk and shuffles it around.

“Nija, have you told anyone of your suspicions? This is very important, have you mentioned it to anyone at all?” Mees takes the woman’s shoulders in her grasp as she desperately asks her the question.

With a look of horror on her face, “Well,.. Yeah, I did say something to this one trader I deal with a lot. But he’s not in any position to pass-“

“Blast! Okay, I’ve got to think...” Mees begins to pace back and forth, then she stops mid-stride, inhales very deeply, closing her eyes, “Must find the center... Must relax... Peace, Passive, Serenity...” Mees’ face suddenly goes completely blank, causing Nija to become very uneasy. Shifting in her chair, she waits for the strange woman to open her eyes or to at least speak again.

Several minutes go by, and Nija is starting to think that Reklaw has found another doozy and that she may need to make a break for it before the woman comes back to reality. Without notice, Mees’ eyes pop back open.

“Okay, first, you need to pack up, get rid of these ships... Back to their owners or whatever, I don’t want you to give away this location just yet. And we’ll have to get you off planet. Do you have an interstellar vehicle of your own?” Mees, chewing on her own thumb, looks directly into the almond shaped, hazel eyes of the smallish young woman.

“Have you gone space happy?! I’m not doing anything you want!” Nija holds up a blaster, pointed straight at Mees’ heart.

Meesahran Tofallin attempts the one thing that she has had very little experience in doing, “You do not want to shoot me. I am only trying to help you.” Her voice very calm, very serene, very suggestive.

Nija looks into the tall woman’s eyes, blinking, and scrunching up her face. Trying to figure out why she is hearing those same words coming from her own mind. Struggling for every word, “I don’t-... Hey, what is-... Shoot you. You are onl-... Get out of my head!” Nija prepares to fire the blaster when it is violently ripped from her grasp. She spins around looking for a grapple hook or something to indicate why the blaster was torn from her grip. Seeing nothing, she returns her gaze to Mees. A frightening realization creeps over her, “Are you one of those dark witches?” Nija’s voice quivering from sheer terror.

“No, but I do not want to be laser fried either. I am not trying to harm you Nija. I am only trying to protect you from something much bigger than I have time to explain right now-...” A sound from behind her takes Mees’ attention, she stretches her senses out and closes her eyes, briefly, “Jae, you’re back!” Mees relaxes her grip from the hilt still resting on her belt.

“Of course I am, and what in the name Corel is going on in here?!” Jae-Lee looks back and forth between the two women in astonishment of the scene he has happened onto.

“There’s no time. Work with Nija, make her disappear and fast. We need to get all of us off of Kuat without a moment to spare.” Mees places a hand on Jae’s forearm to emphasize her point.

Jae-Lee looks into her eyes and can see the urgency there, and something more. He lingers there a moment longer, before he speaks, “C’mon Nija, I’ll explain while we pack...” Looking over his shoulder at the quickly departing Mees, “Don’t take any risks, get the old man and the ship and we’ll meet you at the rendezvous point. Got it?” The concern in his voice is apparent, even to Nija.

Mees turns to give him a quick glance and the smirk on her face only confirms his fear, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. “Not to worry, it’s me... Oh yeah, and leave some of these somewhere special, will ya?” She pulls a tiny pouch from her pocket and lobs it to Jae. Staring at the items in surprise, he just nods his head and then waves her off. “Sure thing, Kid.”

Turning back to Nija, “Now, let’s get you packed up and you can tell me what you think of Mees’ work.” Jae-Lee Reklaw gives the small dark-haired woman one of his patented winks.

Chapter 24

Seated at his desk, focusing all of his energy on his pending presentation and looking over the half dozen data pads at the same time, Meklin Suul is somewhat startled when his comm unit sounds with a screech.

“Yes?”

“Sir. The representatives from each of the governmental agencies have arrived, and I have given them the documents you requested.”

“Good, please see to it that the refreshments are brought in right away, and send them into my office.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Oh, one more thing.”

“Yes?”

“Remind me to change the alert for my comm.”

“Will do.”

With a sly grin, he stands up and slowly speaks the words, “Show time.”

Mek stands at the projector, watching as each of the representatives from the various agencies within the Corellian government all come strolling in, completely unaware of the true nature of the meeting. Putting on his most political face, he clears his throat to gain their attention and says for all to hear; “Welcome everyone and thank you for coming. However, I wish such a conference could be held under more peaceful and prosperous times.” As he begins to activate the projector, one of the members of the assemblage speaks up.

“And I wish we could be told what is of such importance, that we should travel in secrecy, and then given encrypted files,” said the Minister of Trade, who was, in Mek’s opinion, a rather snooty man of little magnitude.

“I apologize for this level secrecy, but these are dangerous times, when very few can be trusted. The password for you files is the word Gundark, Minister.” He said abruptly. “The way we fight each other is horrible, town fights town, province fights province, planet fights planet, and each government prepares for war.” All eyes briefly glanced at one another, knowing his words to be true. “It almost appears as though someone or something is trying stir up a tempest in our very midst.” He held up his hand to cut off a protest from the conceited Trade Minister. “And what could this threat have to gain from our pounding each other into inconsequential atoms? . Think about it, gentlemen. If we are all fighting each other, then we are all weakened and they can then pick off the weak, and make even greater profit from our misery by playing one against the other. And the further we allow ourselves to be weakened, the more they can loot and pillage our people. Or they could even attempt to gain control of our limited governments. It would be utter Chaos.”

All mouths had fallen silent, and all eyes were glued to him. “That is why I have called you here under this veil of secrecy; to propose to you a Corellian Sector alliance of free governments. A common central governmental agency would be at the heart of this alliance, where each planetary government sends their representatives, so that each government has a voice in rule of the Sector. Out of this body, one member will be selected to lead the body. This will be used to set policy in the Sector for all to follow, as well as help to set up trade, settle arguments between member governments, as well as provide a common strong military force to protect and serve the every planet in the Corellian Sector.”

The trade minister can sit still no longer, “You expect us to bow to some central government and give up our control over our planet?”

“Never,” replied Mek with a strong sense of determination. “This body is for the people and made by the people. The body would serve to protect shipping and help member worlds find a common ground to solve problems they have with one another. It would also help to protect those than cannot protect themselves. We would also make certain that member worlds would have free access to trade with all others, without having their shipping lanes fall prey to pirates.

“We can also use this authority to form a strong central military, to be used in protection of our people from those that wish it harm. If a member world is threatened or attacked, then all member systems would go to the aid of the planet.”

“So would how much would each member world have to spend to keep this protection ring going?” Asked the skeptical Trade Minister.

“Minister, this is not some protection ring. This is for the good of all. It will keep us safe.” Then Mek switched to a language the minister would be fluent in, “It would keep trade and commerce going as well as keeping us safe. The amount of money that this union would provide and put into the economy would be well worth any cost. And we would not have to spend much, if any, to start it and keeping it going. Most worlds already have fleets, and are spending more to make them and maintain them. It would be just uniting our forces, to help insure more money would keep continuing to flow through the Sector.”

The old and graying Security Minister finally spoke up, “Money is good and all, but what happens if we commit our fleet to protect some other system, and we end up being attacked while it is away? Or worse yet the battle goes badly and we lose our entire fleet. Then how would we protect ourselves from the attacker?”

Mek took a deep breath to calm himself, “We would not need to send our whole fleet off, just a small amount. Look at the numbers. If we have 10 member worlds, and we each send a tenth of our fleet to help, we are still well protected. We also can build more ships, if we think that we need more protection. It would stand to make all members safe and prosperous. Just by having the combined fleet many or our current potential threats will never surface, because they will know that we have the might and power to stop them. That is why I have brought this to you. For the good of all people I hope you will consider it. Are there any other questions?”

When no other hands came up, or voices raised. He stepped out from around the podium.

“I will be available if you have any questions or comments later on. You will find my comm frequency at the end of the information I have given you. Please read it and take it to heart. The Strength of our planet, and the economy of the entire Sector lay in your hands, gentlemen. Think well, before making your final decisions...” Making his way for the door, “I shall leave you to your thoughts and to discuss this amongst yourselves. Good day, gentlemen.”

Stepping through the door to the side room of the conference chamber, Meklin Suul reaches for the earpiece handed him by his communications officer. “They aren’t wasting any time, sir. They started in on each other the moment the door closed behind you.

“Well, they have a great deal to decide, in a very short time, lieutenant. A great deal to consider, indeed.”

Chapter 25

After beginning the start up sequence on his ship, preparing to head off-world before anyone was the wiser to his identity, Vic Orion notices a waiting comm transmission by the flashing light on the console.  Pausing a moment, to decide if time was on his side, Vic makes the choice to wait it out long enough to retrieve the transmission.  After all, work is good.

Clicking the transceiver button, Vic awaits the incoming message:

”Vic, this is the kind of job that makes all the others seem worthless.  If you're interested, you know the meeting place.  I expect a simple reply as answer that you will be at the meeting point.  In sincere anticipation, Your Associate, T. Higaeri”

Vic sits back in his flight chair, rubbing his chin with his left hand as he reaches to hit the transmitter button.  "Hmmmm...  Sounds intriguing." Sitting forward, Vic hits the reply key and finishes powering up the Death's Grip.  "Sounds like I'm headed to the Corellian Sector."

Just as the Grip takes off from the port, the local authorities have begun to inquire about the presence of a dark man.

Chapter 26

Peering cautiously around the corner of the entryway is the black leather clad figure of a man. He looks over his shoulder and signals to his female partner (also clad in black, but in a much more form fitting material). She closes the distance between them; blaster at the ready. They are both prepared for whatever may be waiting for them.

With great unease, they enter the suspected location of their quarry. He proceeds first, motioning for his partner to stay hidden until he has surveyed the scene. She holds back, but still holds her blaster where it will do the most good, should a firefight break out. The amount of money being offered for this job makes her certain that it will not be an easy one.

When she receives the all clear from her companion, she enters the repair bay. Her eyes cannot believe what they are seeing. It is completely empty!

“What in the name of Saylenor’s goin’ on here?!” The woman exclaims.

“I’m not sure, Serryl, but it looks ta me like someone ‘as tipped off.” The man states as he looks around for anything that might provide them with a clue as to their quarry’s new location.

The woman begins to do the same, when she spies some rags and papers in a barrel off to the side of the bay. “What’s ‘is stuff?” She says as she walks over to the items.

“Don’t know, check it out, I’m goin’ ta look ‘round outside fer any clues.” He starts to walk off when his keen hearing picks up the sound of a whirring noise. “Shhhhhhh.” The woman stops dead in her tracks while the man zeros in on the location of the noise.

“What is it, Streylan?” She asks nervously.

Holding a finger up to his lips, signaling his desire for her to remain quiet, he moves toward a small broken crate at the back of the bay. Pulling out a small scanner, he advances further. “I think it’s a spycam... How stupid do they think people are?” He says as he chuckles at the amateurish move. Just then he realizes his mistake too late. Suddenly all air is vaped from the room in a single swoosh. Streylan and Serryl are thrown back into the walls with a ferocious thud, knocking the wind out of them both. Streylan fights to hold onto consciousness, knowing that they could be in great danger if discovered.

With an effort born of self-preservation Streylan gathers up his partner in his arms and struggles to remove them both from the bay before anyone can find them there. Never noticing the bits of shrapnel entrenched in both of their bodies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Madame Shesh, there are visitors requesting an audience with your grace.” The voice on the comm is filled with apprehension and there is a great deal of turmoil going on in the room with her assistant.

“What is going on out there, Tylir?” Irritated by the disruption, Valyr questions the man.

“Most Honored Employer, the persons in question are most insistent at seeing you at once. A Master and Mistress Frenolo. They claim to have business with your grace.” The voice has become much more harried.

Valyr looks up from her computer console for a moment. Those names should be familiar. Why should they be familiar? Then it hit her; the bounty hunters! But they could not be here, not in her office, not where they could be connected to her directly. “Are they alone?” She asks in desperation.

“Yes, my lady, they are alone, and most insistent.”

She must think. How can this be resolved with the least amount of bloodshed? “Send for my First Brother immediately and send them in.”

The doors swing wide and the two tattered bounty hunters stumble into the office chamber. “You got some explainin’ ta do, lady!” The man shouts out at her.

“As do you, you foul creatures. This is most irregular and maddening. Why have you disgraced my chamber thusly?!”

“Because you never said anythin’ ‘bout this girl bein’ deadly! She nearly killed us both!” The man assists his female companion into a chair.

“Did you see her? Did you capture her? Where is she?” Valyr could not control her enthusiasm, her bloodlust.

“No, but she knew we were comin’ and set a trap fer us. Blasted us with a barrage of shrapnel. We barely made it out alive, let alone without the authorities finding us.” He unceremoniously plops into the adjacent chair from his female companion.

“And you came here?! Do you know what kind of position you have placed me in?!” Valyr is now enraged and terrified.

“Hold yer fancy britches, lady. No one saw us come in, but yer own people and there’s no one anywhere near ‘at rat-hole the lousy lil’ vrelt was tunneled inta. Yer precious reputation is untarnished... But that could change, if we don’t get our bounty.” The man gives Valyr such a sinister look with his last remark that she is well aware of to what he is eluding. And she does not like it, not one bit.

“How is it that you are expecting full payment for a job that you have not completed?” She asks with the raise of her eyebrow as much as with the words.

“Because you never said anythin’ ‘bout no explosives. Pickin’ up some mechanic from a garage is not the same as goin’ after a demo expert. Besides, I’m tinkin’ you don’t want anyone knowin’ you sent us out dere after ‘at broad, so ta me, ‘at sounds like reason enough ta pay us off in a hurry. And, ya wouldn’t want to ruin yer relationship wit our boss neither.” Unfortunately, the disgusting man had a point, and he knew that Valyr understood that fact.

Valyr pulls a slender velvet box out from her desk drawer. Carefully raising the lid, she reaches in and pulls out a credit voucher. “If I give this to you, and I ever hear from you again, I can assure you that you will not live to see another nightfall. Do I make myself perfectly clear?” The dangling credit voucher is all the man can see and he heartily nods his head in agreement. “Very well, here is your payment.” She hands him the voucher, “And I will be sending a holo of this conversation to your employer as record of our agreement.” The man looks up from the voucher and scans the room, realizing that this woman is much more than he thought she was at first meeting.

“I gotcha, and you’ll never hear from either of us again.” The man stands up, helping his barely conscious partner up from her chair and the two slip quietly out the door.

An hour later they are soaring through the atmosphere of Kuat, on their way to the next destination and the next job.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Look Nija, I’m telling you, we had no choice. They were coming for you and this time you may not have had a chance to get out in time.” Jae-Lee, exasperated by the amount of time he has spent trying to explain the situation to Nija, notices a flashing light on the console in the back of the bay. “Hold on a sec, will ya?” Pulling out his comlink, “Hey Mees, is this console back here for your little toys?”

“Oh, yeah, is it flashing?” Comes back the reply.

“Yep, what’s that mean?” Jae moves closer to the panel as he speaks, hoping that his proximity will reveal something, if nothing else.

“Means they’ve been activated by something moving in the bay. As soon as they are stirred one will go off and set the others off simultaneously. Creates a shrapnel storm for anyone standing close by.”

Jae starts to remember setting up the devices and comes to a sudden realization just about the time Mees calls back on the comlink, “How many of those did you rig up anyway, Jae?”

He tries to remember, “How many were in that bag?”

There is silence for a moment, “... Please tell me you didn’t use the whole bag?”

“Um, would that be a bad thing?” Nija has now moved to his side, in order to hear the conversation better.

“Onna fulle goth! You’re gonna shred anything that walks in there! . . At least tell me you spread them out really well?”

Jae looks at Nija, “Well, did we?”

She looks up at him with complete incredulity, “We, I was packing up the last of the stuff. You’re the one who said, ‘Oh yeah we need to leave these here.’ Where’d you put ‘em.”

Jae stops and tries to remember where he put the devices. Mees, however has grown impatient and comms back, “If you have to think that hard, Reklaw, you screwed up! Halle metes chun, petchuk!”

“Hey, that was not necessary! It’s not like I meant it, and how was I supposed to know what you did with those stupid tracers. And another thing-...”

A loud pinging noise begins to sound from the console, “Koccic Sulng... Is that coming from the console?”

“Ahh, yeah it is. What does that mean?” Jae looks to Nija who has her eyes pinned to the console screen. Two faint images have just appeared on the vid-screen. Two figures are slowly approaching two different locations. The closer they are to the devices, the faster the pings sound.

“Did the vid-screen come up?”

“Yeah...”

“What is it? Who is it?” Mees’ words are coming quickly.

“Two humanoids, with blasters and some kind of armor.” Jae speaks in an almost hypnotic tone.

“Maybe we’ll luck out then. Get ready, when they hit the ‘kill zone’ the charges will flash and it may a bit blinding, even on the vid-screen... Especially with that many charges, nerf herder.”

Jae looks at Nija, “At least her insults are in basic again. It worries me when she speaks Corellian, ‘cause I know she only knows the bad words that well.” They both chuckle a bit at his remark, but their attention is quickly returned to the console vid-screen.

Then suddenly the screen flashes with a blinding light and the vids terminate, “Hey where’d the image go, Mees?” He calls into the comlink.

From directly behind him, “Vid terminates on detonation.” Jae-Lee and Nija both nearly jump out of their skins, “Destroys the non-organic transmitter.” Mees only smiles.

“Don’t do that...” Catching his breath again, “So, now what?”

“We wait to see if the tracers start to move...” Pointing to the new image on the vid-screen of a city map w/ several glowing blips in two clusters, “Those are the tracers that are active, the ones imbedded into flesh. If they start to move, we’ll know the targets weren’t vaped by your incredib-...”

“Koccic Sulng! I’ve had enough, all right? I’m sorry, I guess I should have put a little more thought into it, okay?” Jae-Lee has become tired of her ranting.

“Sorry, but you know how I am about my toys, and that was all I had. I have no idea of when I can get or make some more... And I hate being without a backup plan...” Mees’ words hit him harder than he realized they would, now that he knows why she was so upset (and not just trying to torment him).

“Hey, look at that!” Nija exclaims, “They’re moving!”

“Gods bless their armor wearing, black-hearted selves!” Jae puts a reassuring hand in the middle of Mees’ back, but she pulls away sharply (not even acknowledging the action). Jae-Lee looks at her in shock, but she only moves to sit down at the console, as though nothing happened.

“All right, now we just need to hope that they go somewhere good and give us plenty of ammo to spread around when the time is right.” Nija looks back at Jae-Lee, his face full of questions, but when he sees her stares, he snaps back to his normal expression.

“Well, if you two got this covered, I’m gonna go check on the Burn and then see if Master Mussiri would like to be relieved of cockpit duty.” He turns to leave, but neither of the women looks up from their task. And Nija only waves him off.

Chapter 27

The veranda overlooked a more pristine section of Coronet City. The Lusankya dwelling was built on a slight rise, giving it dominance over all the other estates built around it. Originally the mansion had been the property of the ancient Corellian royalty. But insurrection had left the bloodline without a means to keep up their numerous properties and the estate had been sold to the Lusankya family ages ago.

Lady Barevi Lusankya stood on the veranda surveying the land around her. The brisk morning air had given her cause enough to drape a delicate robe around her shoulders. Her cold green eyes searched over the road that lead up to the great black durasteel gates of the home that she had lived in most of her life. A dangerous smile crept over her lips when she saw what she had been looking for.

“My dear brother has returned,” she murmured quietly. Then turning toward the doors that lead out onto the veranda she called, “Merlot, come let Lord Corevi in. He has decided to grace us with his presence at this early hour.”

The nervous looking servant appeared at the door and bowed. “Yes my Lady. And shall I give the order to have breakfast prepared for my Masters?”

“A light one. We will be preparing for a trip today and I do not wish to over indulge myself.” She turned back to watch her brother stumble down the street. “Oh, and prepare a pot of caf for Lord Corevi, it looks as if he may have much use of it.” The dangerous smile returned and Merlot backed away in a hurry to carry out his orders.

Barevi turned and went inside, depositing her robe on a nearby divan, and closing the doors that lead out to the veranda. As she passed by a mirror she paused to make sure her thick black hair was still in place. She patted a few stray hairs back into place among the complicated series of braids that were held up by a single comb. Her gaze lingered on her face and she began to notice the tiny wrinkles that were forming around her mouth. Frowning more than usual she leaned in closer to the mirror to examine them. There were indeed several wrinkles.

“This is the second time in three months,” she said to herself. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and found her center. Reaching out with her feelings she could feel the slightly muddled mind of her brother as Merlot let him in. She could sense a strange mixture of fear, anger and disgust radiating off of Merlot. The man was a source of unlimited emotions that helped fuel Barevi’s powers. She tapped into his feelings and let the energy flow into her, she willed her skin to tighten and become younger. Opening her eyes she patted her skin with her hand and examined her reflection, “Barevi, you are beautiful.” She smiled and silently thanked her deceased mother for teaching her such a valuable skill.

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Corevi stuck his arms through the black metal of the gate and hung there limply. Someone would be sent to let him in eventually. He closed his eyes against the rising sun, trying to will his pounding headache away. His legs began to give way and he sunk down onto the chilly pavement. Gods he was tired. A loud clang made him wince and open his eyes. Merlot stood there looking down at his Master.

“Eventful evening in town, Sir?”

The young man nodded and held up a hand as an indication that he expected to be helped up. With a glance toward the veranda, Merlot saw that Barevi no longer stood there. Instead of helping up Corevi he took a step back. When his Master was suffering this much from a hangover, it was the only time Merlot could express his disgust at his employer without any expectation of punishment. It was one of the few pleasures the man received in his otherwise pathetic life.

Scowling, Corevi used the gate to help himself up and he staggered over to his servant’s side. “Help me up to the house.”

Reluctantly Merlot slung Corevi’s arm over his shoulders and led him up the long drive. “Lord Corevi, you might consider making a trip to the ‘fresher. You know how your sister feels about seeing you in such a state of disrepair.”

“I know how she feels about a great many things, but that doesn’t mean I respect those opinions. As far as I am concerned she can take ‘em and—“

Barevi opened the great front doors of the house. “I can do what with them, brother?”

Corevi blanched and tried to stand straight without any aid from Merlot. “Just a story from the cantina, sister. Very harmless.”

Her eyes narrowed at him for a moment before she backed away from the door allowing the two to enter the front hall. “It is quite obvious that you enjoyed a bit of frivolity on Treasure Ship Row last night.” She spoke slightly louder than needed.

Flinching from the noise and the added aggravation to his head, Corevi sank into a chair that was up against the richly decorated wall of the front hall. “At the moment all I wish to do is have a bit of sleep. Even you cannot deny that of me, sister.”

She started to walk down the hall toward the dinning room. “I most certainly can, Corevi, and am doing so. You will clean yourself up and be down in the dining room in twenty minutes. There we will discuss the upcoming trip.”

Corevi looked pained. “Trip?”

Chapter 28

Elassi paced back and forth across her study; her assistant Shani seated in a plush nerf-hide lounge watching the ruler. “This smuggling situation is getting worse. These pirates are becoming more aggressive than we can afford. And I feel that something else, something far worse is being planned.”

“My Lady, I am sure the situation will be sorted out in time.” Shani spoke in a calming tone, hoping to alleviate some of the anxiety her leader was feeling.

“I know, but my time is running short and I feel I should be here to make sure that the planet is strong when the time comes.”

Shani got up and placed a hand on Elassi’s shoulder. “You will be in their hearts for the rest of the existence of Chandrila. You are the unifier of this planet, it would be sacrilegious for them to forget you at any time of need. Many of the youth on the planet see you as their inspiration to make the galaxy a better place.” She smiled softly, “I think it will be impossible for them to forget you.”

Elassi smiled gratefully. “You always seem to know the right things to say, my friend.” She sank down into the seat where Shani had previously been seated. The elderly ruler tried to block those worries from her mind and concentrate on other matters. “However, at the moment we have other work to do. As you know the Parade of Children is fast coming upon us and preparations need to be made.”

Shani nodded. “Yes I know. And since the subject is upon us I think it is time to choose the Youth Speaker for this year.” She handed Elassi a datapad that had been sitting on the large fijisi wood desk that occupied a corner of the room. “Here are the profiles of five students at the Universite. All have outstanding credentials and excel in the classroom.” The woman’s eyes sparkled, “There is one girl though that I think you are going to choose.”

“Oh really? Am I that predictable?” Elassi skimmed through the first profile. It contained a large image of a pale-faced young man wearing a lopsided grin. “Ah, Elwin. He was in my class last year. Very intelligent boy, however a bit clueless when it comes to galactic affairs. He lives in his own dream world.”

Shani nodded and motioned for Elassi to continue. “This next one may be more to your liking.”

Elassi pressed the command to open the next profile and smiled as she skimmed over it. “You know me very well, Shani.” She stood and strode over to her desk and she rifled through several notes she had on piled on it. “Yes, this is the one, however, it seems that our orator is currently on Commenor; away on family business. If you would be so kind as to inform her of our selection, my dear Shani? I would contact her myself, but that would imply favoritism. I have seen just how nervous she gets when I call on her in class. She worries about how she looks in front of the other students.”

“I would too, if I were trying to get along with an unfamiliar collection of young people. They can be quite cruel at times.” Shani smiled and added, “I shall contact her immediately.”

“Thank you Shani.” Elassi waited until the woman had left before she put down the datapad and turned to look at a collection of holos on the mantle. Wedged between two massive shelves of ancient books, the fireplace, with its enormous mantle was her favorite place to keep her holos. She picked up one and a distant smile came across her face. The holo had been taken years ago, it contained the image of Elassi, some twenty years younger and holding a lovely baby girl, surrounded by about ten other children, all of different ages. The eldest was a young woman in her mid twenties, and in her arms was a beautiful baby boy.

Elassi touched the young woman’s face and sighed, When you came to me, you were a frightened ten-year-old. Then you blossomed into a beautiful woman, and a good friend. She choked back the tears as she recalled the rest of the story...

Chapter 29

Sitting at the controls of the SkyDancer, Jae-Lee Reklaw absentmindedly plays with the stitches in the back of his head; his face a mix of relaxation and contemplation. Preoccupied with his current task, he fails to notice the arrival of a certain fair-haired woman.

“How are those things doing? . . Do they itch yet?” She gently pushes his head forward to get a better view. “I say they look about ready to come out.” Turning his seat around to face her, “So, are you ready for it, tough guy?” Her face betraying the delight she is taking in the prospect of removing those stitches.

With a little trepidation, “Sure, why not? But I should wait for someone to sit at the hel-“

“I got it, fly-boy.” Nija comes in from behind Mees with an even bigger smile on her face.

“Well, I’m glad to see my friends taking so much joy from my pain.” Jae gets up form the seat and storms past both of the women.

“Gee, what’s got into him?” Mees gives Nija a wink.

“Must be what’s comin’ out of him,” and the two women laugh out loud.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ouwwwwwch! Watch what you’re doin’ with those sharps, Mees! This isn’t the least bit funny,” Jae skulks down into the chair: his face in a full on pout.

“Oh, quit your bell-aching, that’s just the first stitch, you big crèche baby.” Mees grins a bit and prepares to remove the next stitch, when Master Mussiri comes into the room.

“Perhaps you should allow me to perform this task, Meesahran?” With his words she moves away from Jae-Lee. “I am afraid my young pupil is allowing her relationship with you to interfere with your medical treatment.” Master Mussiri takes the sharps from Mees’ grasp and deftly begins to remove the stitches.

“Thanks, Master Mussiri. I guess our horsing around can be a little disconcerting to others, but we really don’t mean any harm by it.” Jae-Lee blushes at the treatment that Mees has received because of his yowling.

“No apologies are necessary, young one. I may be an old man, but I do know what youthful spirit is about, and the two of your certainly filled with it.” Falion nods to Meesahran and she leaves the room. “There you are, stitches gone.”

“Wow, that was quick, and I never felt a thing. How’d you do that?” Jae stands up carefully rubbing the back of his head.

“It is a simple technique, and one that you could learn, if you so choose.” Falion places the sharps into the washbasin and begins to clean them, not acknowledging the ominous statement he has presented to Jae.

“What do you mean? . . Train with you?” Jae’s puzzled expression grows.

Falion continues to keep his back to Jae-Lee, “Of course, it would be your own decision, but I would like to present you with the opportunity.”

Jae stands in utter shock for a few more moments, before he attempts to speak again, “Master Mussiri, I really do appreciate the offer, but I have some unfinished business to take care of before I can enter into something new.”

Falion only stands taller, and turns around, eyes closed, but with a look of contemplation on his weathered face. Taking a deep breath, “Ah yes, your ‘personal mystery.’” He takes a few more breaths before opening his eyes. “I cannot offer you answers to the mysteries of anything, young one, fore those answers are answered only by oneself... But I can offer you the tools with which to uncover such things for yourself... However, it is your choice to make. I shall not pressure you to a decision in either direction, but I shall simply say this: your path is not so different from that of myself of Meesahran, for we all seek answers to unanswerable questions in the pursuit of truth.”

Jae lowers his head, knowing that the old man is speaking the truth, as usual, but there is something in him that is calling out to him to deny the man. And another that is begging him to throw his arms around the man and beg him to take him into his circle of knowledge and wisdom.

As Jae-Lee struggles within himself, Master Mussiri moves to leave the room, “I shall leave you to your thoughts and I shall not ask you again until we should have cause to separate our company. Think well on this, young one, there is a great dawning coming to the galaxy and it is the beings who seek this higher knowledge that will benefit from its coming.” And with that he is gone and Jae is left with his own thoughts swirling around inside his mind and tugging at his heart.

A place to call home, with a family... But is it the right family?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Coming out of hyperspace in ten, nine, eight...” Nija calls out the countdown from the last jump over the ship’s comm system.

Throwing down her cards, Mees gets up and stretches, “I guess I better get up there and double check to next jump coordinates. You win by default, fly-boy, but I expect a re-match.” Mees turns to walk toward the cockpit.

“You say that every time we play Sabacc, but I’m still waiting for you to win.” Jae smiles broadly with his remark.

“Mees, there’s a high priority comm transmission waiting for you on the net.”

Before Nija can even finish her comm, Mees is rushing up to the cockpit with Jae-Lee and Master Mussiri not far behind her.

Punching the receive codes into the comm console, Mees brings up a recorded holo-vid of Xaxan.

My Dear Friend Meesahran, I am contacting you in the hopes of asking you a great favor of dire importance. Please contact me immediately upon receiving this transmission.

Your most devoted servant, Xaxan Tryashoenu

“Well, that sounds intriguing...” Mees strokes her chin a moment. “Nija, can you grab me the reflector and a groomer.” Nija immediately turns to leave, “Oh, and a clean shirt, thanks.” Turning to the two men standing in the cockpit and staring at her with questioning looks, “A girl has to look her best.” Mees bats her eyes at the two, but seeing their disapproval of the tactic, she changes course, “Look, Xaxan has a soft spot for me, nothing bad, but soft none the less, and I need some info from him, and if I play up his weakness; what harm can come from that?” The two men exchange knowing glances and return their focus on Mees, as Nija returns with the requested items.

“So, you’re gonna flirt with him, get your info and find out what’s so urgent with him, then what?” Jae is the first to question her plan.

“Then we give Toman the bad news, continue to Chandrila, drop off the ‘package,’” Mees winks at Nija, “and then head out like lightning through a solar sail to Master Mussiri’s people. Simple.”

Jae’s face turns sour, “Whose people?”

Mees looks to Master Mussiri and something unseen passes between them, “I thought you were going to tell him?”

“Tell me what?!” Jae is now becoming upset.

Master Mussiri places a hand on Mee’s forearm, He is not yet ready, my child. Perhaps later.

“Sorry, Jae, I thought maybe you had signed on for the full assignment... Nija, his ship will be up to snuff by the time we reach Chandrila, won’t it?”

Nija hands the retrieved items to Mees and nods her head, “Yeah, I just have a couple more things to finish up and she’ll be ready to fly, better than ever.”

“Okay, then I guess we can swing by Corellia on the way to Chandrila to let you off. And that way I can give Toman a more personal message. Can’t say much on Hyperspace transmitters, since everyone can pick them up nowadays.” Mees turns around to put the things in the co-pilot’s chair when Jae grabs her shoulder and spins her back around to face him, finding instead a blade at his neck.

Daring not to move a muscle, he speaks, “Mees what are you doing?!” His words shake her from her reflexive action, and hers eyes and facial expression change as quickly as she had moved.

Dropping the knife, “Look, just don’t grab me like that, okay... I’m sorry.” She turns away from them and places her hands on the back of the pilot’s chair, trying to regain her composure.

Master Mussiri motions for Nija to follow him out the door, and leave the two to attempt to resolve their impasse.

Not noticing the departure of the other two, Jae starts in, “What is going on with you Mees?! That’s the third time you’ve come close to lashing out at me, and it’s becoming a little unnerving. One minute you’re elbowing me in the ribs and horsing around the way we always did before, and the next you’re about to cut my throat with a vibroblade... What’s that all about?”

Her breath coming in a heavy rhythm, Mees tries to maintain what little hold on her sanity she can, with images of pain and torments swirling through her mind, her grip is loosening. So much that she fears a complete collapse, and this is not the time for it. This is not the time to let loose the nightmares that threaten her in every waking moment, and it is certainly not the time to reveal them to Jae-Lee Reklaw.

“Just back off, Jae... This is not the time nor the place... I have a job to do right now, I just do not have the time to get into this with you.” Her words were quick and precise and deceptive.

“What have I done to deserve this, Mees? You don’t freak out every time Mussiri comes near you, or puts his hands on you. Why me?!” Jae-Lee will not be deterred; he feels he must know this dark, secret hatred that Mees appears to bear towards him.

“It’s not you, okay? . . Just drop it, okay? . . Not now, Jae, I just can’t get into it right now, please?” Her pleading tone causes Jae-Lee to feel pangs of guilt for the pain that his words seem to be causing.

Knowing that something is wrong, but also feeling the pain his questions are causing makes Jae-Lee relent, “Okay, but you have to talk about this sometime, and soon. I want to help and I don’t want to cause you anymore pain, but I just can’t understand your behavior, and I need to understand it, Mees. I can’t just leave you in pain and not try to do something about it. I don’t have it in me, ya’know?” Mees relaxes a fraction and nods her head in affirmation.

“Thank you... Now, I need to get ready...” Taking a steadying breath and setting her mind back to the task at hand, “I’ll set the comm to broadcast, so you guys can hear it down in the cargo hold, but I don’t want anyone else in the cockpit... I want Xaxan to feel he can confide in me, and that won’t happen if he thinks anyone can hear him.” She turns around to him, “Got it?”

Jae nods and retreats from the cockpit: leaving her to prepare and to get a grip on herself once more.

On his way to the hold he passes Nija, “She doesn’t want anyone else in the cockpit for the transmission, but she’s gonna set the comm to broadcast in the hold.”

Nija pauses for a moment and then returns in the direction of the cockpit, “Okay, I just have to grab my data-pad real quick... See you there.”

Upon reaching the cockpit, she finds Mees doubled over with her knees drawn up to her chest in the pilot’s chair. Walking slowly up to the young woman’s side and crouching down at her side, “Are you all right?” Mees looks up and into her eyes and Nija can see the terror in them; a terror that mirrors her own. “Don’t worry, I won’t let on.” Her knowing words meet Mees’ ears and she looks back with a puzzled expression. “We can smell our own.” Hearing her own words echoed back, Mees realizes what Nija is saying.

“How-. I mean, when was it for you?” The frailty in her words is all Nija needed to hear.

“Long time now, but not long enough. I don’t think it is ever long enough... One of the many reasons why I don’t work well with others.” Nija gives her a wink, trying to relieve some of the attention.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that, too.” Picking up the reflector and staring into it, “Aw, man, how am I supposed to work with that!”

Nija picks up on her switch in subjects and chooses to play along. “Well, I’m not really good with hair myself, but I can help with the dirty face. I’m well experienced with those.” Taking a cloth from the pile in the co-pilot’s chair, Nija begins to wipe the smudges from Mees’ face, bringing a smile to both of their faces.

Within minutes, the two women have turned Mees from a disheveled mess into the radiant beauty that men seem to find so pleasing. “Some of my best work, maybe this partner thing isn’t so bad after all.” Nija takes the soiled clothes and gets up to leave, “I’ll get out of here so you can put on some of that charm and get us the hell out of here,” smiling as she departs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Yes, what is it?” Xaxan Tryashoenu answers the comm station connected to his receptionist.

“Master Tryashoenu, you have an incoming Hyperspace transmission, from the secure channel, Sir.” This is the call he has been waiting for all day.

“Put it through immediately and return to the outer office, please. I wish to not be disturbed, until further notice. Is that clear?” He knew it would be, but he felt that saying it would impress upon the girl that he was quite serious.

“As you wish, Sir.” As her comm clicks off, his vid-screen crackles to life in anticipation of the transmission.

Positioning himself before the transmitter cam, Xaxan prepares for his coming conversation. He need not to wait for long. Soon an image of a luminous, golden-haired, young woman is filling his vid-screen. She appears to have been sleeping, as she seems to be wearing only a simple, sleep shirt. However, even in this state, she is an absolute beauty. If only age were not my enemy, this lovely vision could be within my reach.

”Xaxan, my Dear Friend. What has you sending me such urgent transmissions?”

“My apologies for waking you, my Dear Friend. It was not my intention.”

“I actually woke when the Hyperspace inversion bell sounded, and when I noticed your transmission I thought it best to respond right away. Of what service can I be to you, my Dear Friend?” She brushes away some of the golden hair from her shoulders. Xaxan cannot remember a time when her hair was down in such a manner before, and it strikes him that she is even more beautiful in this natural state.

“I fear, my Dear Friend, that the spaceways are becoming evermore unstable. I have had two more transports assaulted, and I am in a precarious position.” Xaxan pauses in an attempt to gauge Meesahran’s reactions to his admission. “My Dear Sister is quite insistent on returning to Chandrila... Fetè Week is fast approaching and she is adamant that she be present for the celebration. Apparently she is to give an oration at the closing, and she will not be deterred-.”

”And you would like it if I escorted her to Chandrila? . . Of course, my Dear Xaxan. I would consider it my privilege.” Looking about the cockpit, Meesahran appears to be searching for something. She picks up an astro-navigation chart and then continues, “And as luck would have it, I am only a few hours out from Commenor. I’ll have to make a few more jumps to re-direct my course, but I could be there by-,.. evening by the looks of it. There will not be any time for pleasantries, simply to board and exit. I have obligations on Corellia and Chandrila that I must keep, but I can certainly get Xana to her celebration in plenty of time.” Meesahran puts the chart down and returns her gaze toward the vid-cam as she reaches around the back of her head and pulls all of her hair together and lays it down across her right shoulder. “Was that all you needed, my Dear Xaxan?”

Her words shock him out of his daydreams and he wonders whether or not he should make his other feelings known, “I would not wish to impose upon you any further, my Dear Friend, but I have concern for you.”

”I have always valued your council, Dear Xaxan, and I would think that nothing has changed that fact. What are your worries, my Dear Friend?” With an inner smile going from ear to ear, Mees knows that she has Xaxan Tryashoenu right where she wants him.

“From your dress, it appears that you have a great deal of familiarity with your traveling companions.” Xaxan waits for her response with baited breath.

“You mean, Master Mussiri? Of course, he is-.”

Xaxan stops her, “No, Dear Friend, I am speaking of your other companion, Reklaw.”

“Oh, him? . . I haven’t seen him since we dropped him off on Kuat. It was only a short partnership, only while it was useful.” Mees stops a moment, thinking she has just found another weakness, “Besides, Jae-Lee is a good friend, but far too much of a rogue to suit my tastes...” Deciding to go all the way, “And it’s not like he doesn’t already have a girl in every spaceport.”

“WHAT?!” Jae-Lee Reklaw jumps to his feet at the slight to his character, as Nija, hearing the remark, looks up from her task and starts to laugh.

“Calm yourself, young one. She is merely attempting to draw the space-slug out with a bit of salt-bait.” Falion puts a reassuring hand on Jae-Lee’s shoulder. “I am certain you are secure enough in your friendship to know that.” Falion cannot help but chuckle at Jae’s offense, knowing that his affection for young Xana is the reason for his pains.

“Yeah, it’s just-... Oh, nothing.” Jae-Lee turns away from Falion, trying to hide his frustration and his embarrassment.

“Fear not, young one, Meesahran will let nothing disturb your reputation once we have concluded this task. All will be made right in the end, of that I am certain.” Falion pats the younger man on the back in an attempt to bring him some comfort, but is still terribly amused by his discord.

“I am pleased that you are still quite careful in your dealings, my Dear Meesahran. I must admit I was a bit concerned, but hearing your words has given me great comfort,.. Especially if you are to transport my Dear Sister. I do not wish to expose her to the underbelly of this torrid business that we seem to be involved in, my Dear Friend.” Xaxan has now hit upon the topic that Mees was hoping would come around.

“I understand your caution, but my Dear Xaxan, how have you been coping with these attacks? I know that so much of this business is dependent upon reputation, and these slights cannot be coming at an opportune time.” Mees decides to take the risk and draw him into a discussion about his troubles, “I was pained to hear of your recent strife with the Kuati Shipping League.” Now if he will just open up, I can find my answers.

Closing his eyes, Falion’s face takes on a serene look, “I believe we shall have completed our task in a moment. Meesahran is about to tie together our loose ends.”

Jae-Lee and Nija just look at each other, questions filling their eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seated inside The Burn, Jae-Lee Reklaw and Nija prepare to launch from the bay of the SkyDancer. “So, all you need to do is sit out here and wait for us to jump back to these coordinates in just under two hours. I just can’t chance Xaxan seeing you guys, or even suspecting that you are on-board, okay?” Meesahran calls up to the pair.

“For the last time, Mees, I get it... I just don’t like it!” Jae-Lee hollers down at the young woman. “I think you give this guy way too much credit, and have a lot more trust in him than I ever could. There’s just something about him that I don’t like...” Jae scratches his chin, “I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s just something not right about him.”

Mees puts a defensive hand upon her hip, “Look, I know how to handle Xaxan Tryashoenu. And who says I have ever trusted him? I just know what to expect from him, and that’s what I use him for... Got it?” Her tone warns Jae that he has crossed over the line once again.

“All right, Mees. I trust you, and I guess I’ll have to just live with that.” Just as the canopy begins to close, Master Falion Mussiri strides into the bay. Offering a simple nodding of his head in salutation, Jae responds with a wave of his hand.

The gray one calls up to the craft’s inhabitants, “Safe journey to you both,” and the canopy snaps shut while The Burn powers up. Master Mussiri puts a reassuring hand around Meesahran’s shoulders and they turn to walk out of the bay.

Soon, the two-person fighter is maneuvering out of the bay and into realspace, to await the return of its partnered freighter. Still uneasy, Jae-Lee looks back at the SkyDancer, “Man, I hope they’re gonna be all right.”

Speaking to himself more than anything, Jae is surprised to get a response from his travel companion, “Mees seems like a girl who can handle herself pretty well... I wouldn’t worry too much about her, just about us if they don’t come back. This thing still isn’t ready to make it very far.”

“Then why don’t you make use of the time and work on her, Nij?” Jae pulls out the tool kit from under his seat and throws it into the backseat. Chuckling for a moment, but his worry returns, “At least she used to be able to take care of herself, but now...”

“What’s that?” Again, Jae has forgotten he is not alone.

“Ahh, nothing...” I hope.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gliding into the private port, the SkyDancer makes a graceful entrance into the Tryashoenu Landing Field. At the helm, as usual, Meesahran throws up the throttle on the repulsor jets and makes a smooth and perfect landing onto the marked pad. Glancing over her should for approval, Master Mussiri is happy to provide it to her. Landing not being one of his more favorite activities.

“Okay, time to put on my Sabacc face.” She smiles broadly as she leaves her master to tend to the cockpit duties before their quick departure.

“Give my regards, to young Master Xaxan.” His quick and uncharacteristic jibe at Tryashoenu catches Mees off-guard, but she recovers quickly.

“I will be sure to do that for you. Anything else, Master?”

Mussiri only shakes his head and Mees departs the cockpit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The boarding ramp lowers with cautious slowness, but the man standing on the side of the pad can see that there is someone waiting at the top for it to finish.

Taking a deep breath, and offering his arm to his young sister, Xaxan Tryashoenu begins to make his way to the craft.

“My Dear Friends! So good of you to be ready for my arrival. My Master asks that you pardon his absence, but he is preparing the ship for our departure.” Mees gives a small dip to the advancing people as she reaches the end of the ramp.

“No need for apologies, my Dear Friend. It is I who should be asking for your grace. I fear I have overstepped the bounds of our friendship in making such a request of you. I know that your time is valuable and that you have already given so much of it on our behalf-...”

Mees holds up her hand, stopping him, “Please, I would consider myself less of a friend if I were to refuse such a gracious and worthy request.” She turns to see to servants carrying Xana’s bags into the ship. “Please just leave them in the bay. I will figure out where they go after we take off.” Smiling, Mees takes Xana’s hand in hers, “I hear you are to speak following the Children’s Day Parade? Most impressive.” Xana blushes a bit with Mees’ comment. “Well, please forgive my brevity, but I have pressing business to attend to, and I do not wish to make Xana any later than she will already be.” Mees gives Xaxan a firm hand and then turns to ascend the ramp.

“My apologies once again, my Dear Friend.” Turning to his sister and taking her into his arms, “Please Xana, be very careful. I fear for anyone traveling the Chandrillan spacelanes right now, but most especially for my Dear Sister.”

“Thank you Xaxan, but I will be just fine. Meesahran would never allow anything untoward to happen to me. Besides, I am perfectly able to handle myself as well, my Dear Brother.” Her dismissal of his concerns worries Xaxan, but he knows that this is not an argument that he can win, and it he allows it to pass.

Placing a final kiss upon her delicate forehead, Xaxan Tryashoenu bids farewell to his dearest sister. Hoping that it will not be their last meeting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xana timidly pokes her head through the door of the cockpit, “Is this okay?”

Mees turns around and greets the young woman with a smile, “Yeah, did you get all of your stuff stowed away in my cabin?” She just nods, standing uncomfortably in the doorway. “Good. Here, have a seat...” Mees turns back to the console, “Master, have we got the right coordinates? I’m not picking it up on the sensors-... No, wait. There it is, must have a been a bit more drift out here than I anticipated.”

Mees gets up from her chair in a flash, “Can you handle the controls while I prepare the docking bay?”

“I believe that I have been piloting this ship for a great many years longer than yourself, young one. I am certain that I will be fine.” Master Mussiri gently moves into the pilot’s chair in Mees’ absence.

As Mees is about to exit the cockpit, she turns back to Xana, “Can you give me a hand? The docking bay door has been giving me the fits.” Xana, though surprised at her request, rises and departs with her friend.

“Thanks, I hate playing with that door. Probably why we rarely use it.” Xana continues to follow her friend down the corridor, wanting to ask her so many questions, but remaining silent, instead.

”Docking sequence has begun.” Comes out from the comm system.

“Great, now I’ll have to hear about being slow... C’mon, let’s step it up.” Mees breaks into a trot and Xana mirrors her.

Reaching the doors, Xana is surprised to see a ship going past the transparisteel window of the largish air-lock door. “Are we meeting with someone?” Xana finally asks.

“Oh yeah, we had to make a pick-up before we could jump out of system. Some pretty important equipment, if I’m going to finish this job.” Mees’ tone is somewhat suspect to Xana, but she continues helping her friend, knowing that she has always trusted her.

As they struggle with the large door, knocking can be heard coming from the other side of the door. “Bhesh! Keep your shirt on!” Mees’ curse catches Xana off-guard, but she keeps working to open the door.

Suddenly, the door seal begins to separate and air is finally exchanged between the two sections of the ship, and Xana and Mees fall back into the opposite wall from exertion.

“Jeez, Mees, ofax ets burrin tehn.” Jae-Lee Reklaw strides through the still opening door; not seeing the second person to her right. “Don’t you ever air that thing-.” His words catch in his throat, as he scans from Mees to the now apparent figure to her right.

Xana, her eyes are as big as the moons of Drall, is torn between absolute shock and complete relief at the site before her eyes. For what might have seemed like an eternity, silence hung in the air. A silence broken by Nija’s words, “Hey, you big oaf, get out of my way.” Pushing his unmoving body out of her way, “Mees, don’t you ever stick me in a confined place with that space-jockey again. Now I know why I only work on ships. Space flight sucks!” Nija storms down the corridor as she shouts, not even noticing the scene that is taking place.

“Well, I guess I better go see what’s eating her...” Looking back, Mees calls to Jae, “Can you handle entertaining our guest for a while, Jae?” Not receiving so much as a blink in recognition, Mees walks down the corridor after Nija, shaking her head and chuckling to herself.

“Are y-.”

“How’re-.”

They both blush at their awkward demeanor. Trying to look away, Jae finds he cannot take his eyes off of the amazing beauty standing before him. As he contemplates what to say to her, he comes to the realization that Xana is in complete shock at seeing him. Then anger begins to flood his eyes.

“Mees didn’t tell you I was out here waiting, did she?” Xana shakes her head, confirming his suspicions. “Why that little- . . Fraggin’ Eharl!” Jae shouts down the corridor, hoping his curse will find Mees’ ears.

Seeing that his behavior has caught Xana unawares, he quickly regrets his outburst. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that in front of you...”

“There is no need to be concerned for my ears... And I agree, she is a dirty trickster for doing that to the both of us.” Jae is shocked at her knowledge of Old Corellian, and now it is his turn to blush.

“Um yeah, well, I guess I should work on my vocabulary on this trip.” Jae scuffs his boots into the decking.

Xana cranes her neck to look around Jae, just a bit, trying to catch a glimpse of the vessel that entered the docking bay through the air-lock door. “Was that your ship?”

Jae, sensing her trying to steer the conversation, allows her to lead it, “Yeah, that’s The Burn, but she’s still undergoing repairs at the moment... That is if Nija hasn’t decided to have me blown out the airlock.” A question fills her face, and Jae looks deeper into her eyes, trying to find out what it is, when it dawns on him, “Oh, Nija, she a mechanic that I know. We’re helping her to relocate after an unfortunate incident.” He sees relief in Xana’s eyes. Or is it her eyes? Why does this feel so weird?

Xana quickly steps through the air-lock door and walks through the bay, towards the ship, feeling uncomfortable at the unspoken conversation she appears to be having with Jae-Lee. “You fly in this?” She says as she begins to take a closer look.

“Yep.” Jae, having followed her closely through the bay, lays a loving hand across the bow.

Xana, walking around to the other side of the ship, calls over to him, “You are much braver than I thought.”

Jae is about to take offense at her comment when he catches the look on her face. “Ha, ha. But this ship has gotten me through some real tough scrapes.” Jae says as he pats the hull of his precious ship.

Xana makes her full circuit of the craft and ends up standing right in front of Jae once again. She gingerly places a hand over the one he has on the ship.

The warmth from her hand is intoxicating to Jae-Lee. Closing his eyes momentarily, trying to imagine the kiss that has been taken from his conscious memory, and luxuriating in her touch.

“You have recovered from your wounds?” Her question breaks his reverie and he opens his eyes once more.

“Yeah, um, yes, with a little help from Mees and Master Mussiri. Not much left to show but the scar on the back of my head.” He unconsciously reaches a hand up to the back of his head to touch the scar, but this time he finds another hand following his gesture. Xana’s hand finds the healed wound and traces her fingers down the length of the scar; her eyes and his locked in a death grip through the whole episode.

Jae flinches a bit when she reaches the base of the scar, “I am so sorry. Did I hurt you?” Xana quickly pulls her hand away from Jae, but he takes it in his, planting a gentle kiss upon it.

“No, actually, it kinda tickled,” he leans in and whispers in a conspiratorial tone, “but don’t tell Mees. She’s merciless when she finds a weakness?” His smile is all that Xana needs to feel reassured, but his words provide her more comfort than they should.

Jae holds her there a moment longer, before releasing her hand from his grasp. “Are you all right? You weren’t injured that day, were you?” Jae’s concern for her nearly melts her heart.

“Thanks to your grace, I came away with only a few bruises...” Xana takes her turn at leaning in and whispering, “All easily hidden from my Dear Brothers.” And with that she winks. Jae is taken completely off-guard by her candor.

Suddenly concerned for the tack this conversation is taking, Jae decides perhaps he should find some protection in larger numbers. “We should go and find the others? I’m sure we’re getting ready to make a hyperspace jump, and it’s better if you’re strapped in for the initial jump.”

“I am certain that Meesahran would not make such a move without warning us first.” Her smile nearly persuades him to keep following her lead.

“Well, anyway, I better go clear the air with Nija. Otherwise I’ll never get my ship back together again.” Jae walks for the doorway and gestures for Xana to follow him.

“As you wish, Master Reklaw.” And they leave the docking bay behind.

However, Jae senses something in her last words, something strong, something...

Something that could get me into a lot of trouble.

Chapter 30

Sitting behind the desk in his office near the private landing pad, Toman Higaeri girds himself for his latest duel with the dark and brooding man for whom he waits. Hearing the special whine of repulsor engines, Toman knows that the time has come.

Standing up from his chair, Toman straightens his tunic, takes in a deep breath and moves toward the door. As he reaches his hand to the handle he sees it slowly turning. Fast little bugger isn’t he? Stepping back to allow his arrival entrance, Toman puts on his most charming smile, and as the door begins to swing open, “Nice to see you haven’t lost your touch, Orion.”

Sliding in through the partially opened door, Vic Orion steps into the office. “Yeah… Sure.” With little pomp and no invitation, Vic simply sits down in the available chair and waits for Toman to round his own desk and take his position. “What’s all this talk about making other jobs worthless? I’ve had a lot of good ones lately, what makes yours so special?”

Quick and to the point, Toman would expect nothing less from this consummate professional. Carefully taking his seat, making sure to never lose eye contact with the hired gun, Toman prepares to make his pitch. “Glad to have your interest, Orion. And that was no boast... This job will offer you money, of course, but also a few more opportunities than you’ve had in recent assignments.” Toman is hoping that his vague description will gain the dark man’s interest.

Vic shifts his taut frame in the chair and leans forward, ever so slightly, “Spit it out, Higaeri. I don’t have the time or the patience for your theatrics. If this is some lame bounty hunter job, contact Darius Fett and quit wasting my time.” The steely gaze that Vic throws across the desk and the unexpected outburst causes Higaeri to move on.

“No, no it’s a hit, but it’s a hit where precision is more important than any other job you’ve ever done. And it has to be perfect, no mistakes, therefore Mr. Fett is not a consideration.” Toman knows that the skill involved in such an action will be great and Orion is the only man for the job. If the job is to go off right, that is.

“Sounds a little too subversive for your tastes, Higaeri. Who’d you tick off to get stuck with this one, old man?” Vic sits back in his chair once again, never betraying his interest in the nature of this job. Toman could not tell what Vic was thinking by looking at him. The man was a rock. Vic knew it would certainly be a challenge to his skills and he never liked to be challenged by someone else. That thought alone made Vic angry.

“That is irrelevant to the task at hand. . .” Toman throws him an envelope. “Here’s your entrance fee. And inside that envelope is the price for the job, if you take it. There will be no further details until you’ve agreed to the deal.” Toman’s resolve was solid and Vic knew that he would get nothing else from the cunning smuggler chief without accepting the job.

Opening the envelope he quickly counts off his initial pay and then separates the note from the credits and peers at the price. Careful not to betray any of his thoughts to the man before him, Vic realizes that the price alone would be worth the job, but it also meant the job was much more than anything he had ever done before, and a great deal more involved than he was currently being told. Had Toman recruited anyone else for the job, the lackey would definitely be in it for the reputation. Reputation was something Vic cared nothing for. It was for the love of money. This job was going to pay, and it was going to pay handsomely.

Sitting patiently behind his desk, Toman understands Orion’s reluctance to say anything right away. Knowing the amount would be enough to get anyone to try the job, and also knowing that Vic would realize just how involved the job would be because of the money willing to be spent on it. He suspected that Vic would try to get some time to consider it. So, it came as a complete surprise when a slight smile tugged at the corner of Vic’s mouth, and that smile was one that sent cold chills running up and down his spine.

“You are persuasive, Toman. I can’t argue that the price is well worth it.” Vic sat back with a sense of self-satisfaction that he had not felt since he eliminated his double-crossing employer so long ago. “So, what are these ‘opportunities’ you’ve mentioned?”

Knowing that the zoneball was now in his court, Toman showed his own smile and carefully handed Vic the data-card, “Well, do you remember a kid from Jaquillen’s organization by the name of Reklaw?”

That name caught Vic completely off-guard, though he never showed it. Inside his mind was a whirl of possibilities, but his face remained stone hard as he listened to Higaeri reveal all of his careful plans. The strategy was sound, even if the motives were not really known to Vic. And he had to admit that working for the right people made this a very interesting job. But how was he going to handle the Reklaw problem. The kid will figure this all out, one way or another; he always does. And I’m not sure I want that kind of skifter card in the mix. Mulling over his choices in his head, Vic knows that he could never cut the kid out of the equation, but he had to have some control to make it work. “I have only one condition, beyond the norm that is. . .” Waiting for Higaeri’s response, Vic tries to appear even calmer.

“If it’s within reason.”

“Reklaw needs to be on a need to know basis. If he’s involved with this little scheme of yours, I want him let in on it after the fact, not before.” Vic was very stern and could not be moved from his position.

“That seems to be the case anyway. I haven’t had confirmation that he has gone beyond the task I hired him for, but should he continue on to the conclusion, I will personally inform him of your involvement... Will that suffice?”

Vic thinks about it a minute, “No, I’ll tell him... He and I have some business to discuss after this job anyway. Saves me the time of tracking him down.”

Toman goes into his desk searching for some paperwork. “So we have a deal, wonderful,” He continues to shuffle around in his desk. Finally finding what he was looking for, Toman begins to look up, “It was a pleasure doing…” The door was left wide open and Vic was long gone.

Chapter 31

With her feet propped up on the co-pilot’s chair, and her battered blue jacket draped across her torso, Meesahran dozes in the cockpit of the SkyDancer. Her hair lying loosely about her shoulders and her chin resting against her chest, she appears to be sleeping comfortably, but as soon as the first footfall reaches the decking of the cockpit, she looks up at the visitor.

“Oh, I am so sorry, Meesahran, I did not wish to wake you.” Xana begins to exit the cockpit.

“Please my friend, I have always been a light sleeper. One of the side effects of the job.” Meesahran takes her feet off of the co-pilot’s chair and swings the aged jacket onto the back of her own chair. “Please sit...” Waiting for her to take the seat next to her, Meesahran stretches her arms up above her head, and to Xana it is as if Mees has become a felinoid pet. “So, what can I help you with, my Dear Friend?” Mees says as she gives Xana the most warming smile.

“Please, Meesahran, there is no need to continue the formalities. I realize that you do so to honor our traditions, but you and I are quite familiar, and it is not necessary.” Touching the, barely hidden, purplish scar upon her left shoulder, “If not for you, I might not have survived that horrible kidnapping.”

Mees takes Xana’s hand in hers, “You have much more strength than you give yourself credit for, Xana. Much of the success from that mission is due to your own determination and abilities. I was only helpful to your recognizing them.” Looking into Xana’s eyes, Mees can see that she understands and accepts her words.

A small alarm sounds from the console and Meesahran quickly turns to shut it off. “Well, you better be quick, ‘cause Jae’s going to be getting up to take over in here in about fifteen minutes.”

Xana looks out the viewport into the nothingness of hyperspace, “That is actually what I wished to speak with you about...” Xana pauses for what seems like an eternity, hoping for something from Meesahran, but when the woman beside her remains silent, she continues, “My Dear Brother is quite un-fond of him. Could you tell me why?”

“What makes you think that, Xana?” Meesahran is fishing now, trying to find out just why Xaxan is so suspicious of Jae-Lee.

“His words and actions concerning Master Reklaw. He gave me some very stern warnings regarding my dealings with Master Reklaw when you first arrived on Commenor, and I also know that he assigned a security detail to him while you were on the planet. What does he fear from Master Reklaw?” Xana is now facing Meesahran, who is staring back at her with a look of pure amusement on her face.

Exhaling in a deep sigh, Meesahran begins, “Well, how do I put this? . .” Taking in a deep breath Meesahran tries to conjure up the proper explanation. “I guess the easiest answer is that he’s afraid of you.”

“Of, me?! Meesahran, that makes no sense at all.” Xana is quite confused by her friend’s answer.

“That’s easy, kid, he’s not blind. For that matter, none of us are.” Meesahran gives her a knowing wink: one that causes the blood to rush to Xana’s cheeks. “Look, you could be interested in the son of a Chandrillan noble family, and he would find some reason to not like him. I’m told that’s the way older brothers are everywhere in the galaxy. And for Xaxan Tryashoenu, ruler over his own domain, galactic big-shot, and tough guy, that probably goes about fives times as bad.”

Xana nods, “I suppose you are right, but it is almost as though he knows something about Master Reklaw that frightens him.” Meesahran begins to chuckle, “What is it, Meesahran? Do you know something?” Xana is quite upset by her friend’s amusement.

“Oh, it’s nothing really.”

“Meesahran, if you know something about this, I wish you would tell me what it is, please.” Xana has grown very angry.

“All right, all right already... I may have said something that may or may not have given Xaxan the impression that Jae is... Well, maybe a little bit of a...” Meesahran struggles with the right words.

</