"Suspicion Raises"
by Quistis Knox
Colt Slane - NPC

Location: Colt Slane's Ship & Drogen Shipyards
Date: Lythe 17, 4 ABY

***

Quistis fell asleep after talking to the High Cleric. Her body was extremely tired and the last few days took an enormous amount of energy. Also she was now targeted to be eliminated by Ammut and Aeolus. That put her in an odd situation.

She glanced to the small compartment where she was in only one space to a single person to sleep in. The bed was comfy and the wall were painted in white with pieces of wood decorating the lowest part of the room. In compensation the room was tallest enough for the person to get up.

She open the door and a tiny noise of a not oiled door, cracked that called attention to Colt that was seated in the pilot seat. He smiled when she looked at him and continued with what he was doing, which was nothing.

Quistis' body felt better than the day before. She had more energies and her body didn't hurt like the day before. With a gentle wave of her hand she put her hair that was in front of her eyes trapped by her right ear. Revealing her clan tattoo. At first Colt didn't notice what she had near her ear, but only as she turned to seat did he notice.

"Strange marking that you have?" Colt said without taking his eyes of Quistis' face.

"Yeah. It's my clan tattoo. I'm not one hundred percent human. I'm Kiffar, and as such I must have the clan tattoo marked on my face." She smiled and touched it gently with her right hand.

"Bloody marvelous...!" Colt said. Quistis' noticed that he was excited by her being Kiffar. "I heard about the Kiffar, but I didn't really meet one."

"Now you have!" She gave a tiny smile and saw that he wasn't as excited as he sounded.

Colt saw that he touched a touchy subject and decided not to explore it, but he was tempted to ask something, but his words died in his lungs. He then looked to the controls of his ship, looking every second to Quistis.

"How long for the Drogen Shipyards?"

Colt looked to Quistis and nodded. "Just a few minutes."

She gave a smile and exited to look to his eyes. Stop Quistis! Just stop it! You know very well that what takes a relationship for cleric? To death and also even if Nawera finds out that you have a crush she will find out and she will explore that weak point of yours.

"You seemed troubled! Is everything alright?" Colt smiled and nodded.

"No it's only the work, nothing much. Keep your eyes on the space we are near our exit," Quistis said and pointed to the window.

"Don't worry! This is a well oiled machine..." The console beeped, giving the sign that the exit of Hyperspeed was near, meaning they were near the Drogen Shipyards.

After a few minutes the Corellian Transport landed Colt exited from the ramp followed by Quistis that was now wearing a long white cape.

"Well aren't we pretty. So you're borrowing my cape aren't you?" Colt gave a warm smile. His hands were now on his back. He had different distinct, like he had the posture of an Admiral or Moff.

Quistis thought strange the position he took. Now something didn't feel right in this picture, and Quistis knew something wasn't right. The posture that he made was now creating somewhat uneasy in her. An amount of different things rushed to her head. Probably he is retired, trying to make a new way of life... There is definitely something fishy about him.

"Yeah I guess... Do you come here a lot from the planet we came from?" Quistis sighed and gave a smile to disguise the thoughts that were taking over her.

"Yeah, always, to refuel. This is a big ship and still takes a lot of fuel," Colt said calmly, but Quistis saw him looking down.

Yeah right! A ship like this from production can make a trip here to Coruscant, extremely easily. She paused and gave another smile. "Yeah I understand. I hope to see you soon!" Quistis gave a smile and she walked down the corridor to enter the main complex.

Colt saw her disappear and thought to himself. You still continue the same. I almost fell for that one... His mind was distracted by one of the shipyards droids.

As she stepped to one of the main decks, she quickly walked through the crowd and to the entrance to Dirg's Descent. As she stepped through the entrance, she saw that the place was filled with every kind of species, most of them workers. There was every kind of mood here, laughter, sadness and one that most people called as mood was drunkenness, but the thing was Quistis felt safe here, at least she was hard to spot in this crowd.

She walked, looking at every person that was there. She noticed that, at the way back end of Dirg's Descent was the Holonet Station. Something in her dragged herself to the holonet station, but she was now a little distracted where she was walking and a person hit hard on her right side. She felt a sharp pain on her arm, probably one of her wounds has opened again. She didn't care; she had to check something out.

She seated, pushing the sleeves of the long white cape up her arms. She typed the name of Colt Slane in it. She waited for few seconds and the computer replied that there were no matches. Well Quistis you have met a Force Spirit! she thought with sarcasm.

After a long hour typing on the Holonet she seemed to find nothing about the person who she met. Despair was almost controlling her and was changing to frustration and she hit with her head on the small screen. I know you stupid machine, the man I met lied about his name. I saw in his pose, you stupid machine. If he is a smuggler, then I'm the Emperor.

---

"Playing Dead"
By: Maeren Shivral
Keeve Shivral [NPC+]
Zale Tregat
Moril Astren [NPC+]

Location: Esri-Casren Towers, New Plouton
Date: Lythe 17, 4 ABY

***

"It won't be so bad," Maeren told Keeve for what had to be the fifth time since they'd set out from the house. "It's still Zale, and he's probably very lonely. And, besides, we'll probably get to see Saris there. Did you hear? It's almost an official thing between her and Moril. They went out on another date last night, and stayed out until it was well past last night. She's very happy, and it sounds like he's smiling more than he ever has. Isn't it great?"

Keeve's frown was firmly set, so much so that he could only manage to mutter, "Yeah...it's grand." He'd adamantly refused when Maeren broached the subject of dropping by Antorial Industries to visit his estranged almost father, but she had her methods of changing his mind. Effective methods, considering they were directly below the tall building now. "You know that if Kaysa finds out, she'll resent you, Maeren," he warned.

"She'll understand," Shiv said. "I'm doing this for myself as much as I am for her. I have to look in his eyes, Keeve. I have to see for myself. And, I just want to see him to see how he's doing. It'll be fine, and we'll be quick." She leaned close to him and pressed her lips against his ear. "And, if you're good, you'll get a surprise in the elevator on the way down."

"No," Keeve told her sternly. "No elevator rides. I want to get clear of this place as quickly as possible. I can already detect his stench...."

"And, I'm sure he can feel the foul wind that follows you every where you go." She peered closely at his face and frowned. "See? Wrinkles."

Keeve leaned his head away, staring at her queerly. "Wrinkles? Don't be silly, I don't have wrinkles." Just in case, he smoothed out his frown lines and neutralized his expression. "See? No wrinkles."

"Sure you don't," Maeren said with a grin, and slipped her arm into his. "Stairs are on the left," she added as they entered the building. "It's a long walk up though."

"I'm genetically engineered," he reminded her with a crooked smile. "Which means I can handle it. You on the other hand..." A wicked gleam twinkled in his brown eyes, and in a single motion, Shiv was scooped into his arms and he was climbing the stairs.

"Oh my," Shiv said with a giggle. "Just be careful or we're going to have to stop for a quick break in a supply closet." She gave him a kiss. "Or maybe a candlelit dinner tonight."

"Okay," he agreed. "Dinner. Only because I've been neglecting you lately."

"It's all that time you've been spending with Kimara," Maeren said. "That necklace she's wearing, that's one you gave her, isn't it? It's very pretty." She brushed her lips against his. "And, very thoughtful of you."

"She was eyeing it in the window," he muttered against her cheek. "She hasn't had a lot in her life...and I wanted to do something nice for her."

"Well, that was very nice of you and it made her very happy," Maeren said. "And, I think it was good for you to do that too."

"Yeah..." He sighed. "Though...I think she's falling for me, Maeren, and I...I sort of like her, too...but I'm trying not to. I married you, Maeren, and you're the only one I choose to be with."

"I've seen how you look at her," Maeren said softly. "And, it's alright. It's no use fighting against your heart. If it happens, it does. I don't think you'd fall out of love with me, so I think we'll be okay even if you do fall in love. I understand what it's like."

"But you don't," he insisted. "It's just that she looks like you, Maeren, that's all. There's nothing more there." Keeve's charming grin returned, and he playfully pouted at her. "You believe me, right?"

"I know you, Keeve," Shiv said with a grin. "And, I know it's never about just looks for you. But, I believe you." She kissed him. "And, I love you as much as I always have and ever will."

"Then that makes the two of us," he replied, and embracing her against his chest, Keeve reached the first landing. With a heavy sigh, and a look up at the daunting next flight, he continued the arduous trek to the top floor.

***

"You didn't have to carry me the whole way, you silly thing," Maeren said as Keeve finally allowed her to stand on her own feet again. She kissed him and tried to help him work some feeling back into his arms. "I don't know what I'm going to do with you, except love you to pieces maybe."

Keeve nodded - the only response he could manage among the wheezing breaths seizing him. Shiv started to giggle, but it reverted to a choked gasp as a bellow launched from Zale's office. He quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Oh," she murmured as she took Keeve's hand. "He doesn't sound happy at all. Should we go? Or should we still talk to him? Maybe we should find Moril. He might know what's happening."

Keeve held up his hand, staying her. "He's...he's talking," he rasped breathlessly. There was a clatter of objects trembling on his desktop as a fist came down upon it. "I think...we should wait."

"That sounds more like violently rearranging than talking," Maeren said. "You need a drink? We could go get something. It'd help you catch your breath."

He waved away the offer. "S'fine," he wheezed.

"Well, would you at least like to sit down while we listen to Zale yell behind his door?"

Keeve shook his head, surreptitiously clutching his chest. With a groan, he abandoned the charade and trudged towards the nearest chair. "Water," he agreed.

"Good," Shiv said with a laugh, "because I'm thirsty too. Be right back with your refreshment, my moosh bear."

Keeve's head stopped in mid-nod, and he mouthed, "Moosh bear?"

A moment later, there was a laugh as Moril appeared in the doorway. "Keeve? Now this is a surprise. What are you doing here?"

He sighed and relaxed against the chairback. "Maeren dragged me over here. She insisted on seeing--" There was a growl from within Zale's office, and Keeve smirked. "The rancor," he finished.

"He's not that bad," Moril said. "A deal he'd been working on went bad, and now he's dealing with the reason for it going bad. He's been in a...mood lately."

Keeve snorted. "Wonder why that is..."

"I believe the short answer is because he doesn't know when to keep his dick in his pants," Moril said. "The long answer is more complex."

"Well, that's not why we're here," he explained, then paused to calm his breathing. "Maeren wanted to check up on him. I guess she figures he's on the brink of suicide."

"Not yet," Moril said, growing more serious. "When he runs out of things to do to keep his mind off it though, that's when I'll worry." Keeve shrugged and slid further down in his seat to sprawl his legs. "I hate to say it...but Kaysa will come around. He just needs to behave until that time."

"He's doing that for the most part," Moril said. "But, he's in a very black mood, and I fear for the type of business arrangements he's making."

"Business arrangements?" Curiousity piqued, Keeve leaned forward, watching Moril through inquisitively narrowed eyes. "What'd you have in mind?"

"He used to be into some fairly shady dealings, nothing too brutal, but enough. He's starting to lean back in that direction now, talking to smugglers and other such folk. I think he may be thinking of getting back into running weapons and spice."

"Does he know Kaysa would never go near him if he gets involved in that?" Keeve asked. "With a baby in the picture, she'd never want to be near such danger." He smirked. "Zale's really certain she's gone for good, isn't he?"

"She's making a fairly strong impression," Moril said.

"Thank you," Shiv said with a laugh. "I try, you know. It's not easy being me, but I like to make a strong impression." She kissed the top of Keeve's head as she handed him the water. "You're talking about Kaysa, aren't you?"

"Who else?" he retorted, then greedily tossed back the refreshing liquid.

"If you want another, Mr. Fish, you're going to have to get it yourself. I'm going to have to have a talk with Mr. Zale Tregat. You need water right over there, not way down at the end of the hall."

"I'll make a note," Moril said with a laugh. "You're looking good, Maeren. Are you sure you want to...see him now?"

"Very sure," Shiv said. "He needs someone to knock some sense into him."

Keeve rose and slipped a quelling arm around her shoulders. "Figuratively," he assured Moril, though he wasn't so sure himself. "Tell him we're here, will you?"

"Sure," Moril said. "It doesn't sound like he's yelling now anyway." With that, he gave them a wink and moved toward Zale's office. He stood at the door for a moment before slipping inside.

"I hope Zale doesn't kill him or something," Shiv said once they were alone.

"If he does," Keeve muttered, "we're making a hasty retreat." He smiled briefly at Shiv, but not at all comforting.

Zale's office door opened and Moril appeared in the doorway. "He'll see you now," he said with a grin.

"Finally," Shiv said, and snatched Keeve's hand and proceeded to try to pull him toward the door.

"Slow down," Keeve whispered, trying unsuccessfully to free his hand. By the time he did, they were in Zale's office, staring across the way at him, with the doors closing behind. Keeve sighed. Here we go...

Zale looked up from across the desk. An anger still seemed to simmer in his eyes, but he smiled when he saw them. "Maeren, Keeve. You are Maeren, right? It's so hard to tell."

"It's Maeren," she said. "We came by to check on you, and to see how things were going. Keeve didn't want to, but I brought him along anyway."

"Well, I'm glad you're both here. It's good to see you."

"And it's good to hear your temper is still as volatile as ever," Keeve quipped.

"You'd lose your temper dealing with some of the people I have to deal with," Zale said. "Idiotic doesn't begin to cover it."

"Well, depends on who you're dealing with," Keeve answered. "Those nefarious types..." He shook his head. "They're always so hard to negotiate with."

"Some of the non-nefarious types can be hard to deal with too," Zale said with a grin. "So, Moril's been grousing to you too?"

"Only because he cares," Shiv said.

"That you've given up hope and turned sour," Keeve finished for her.

"It keeps the pain away," Zale said softly. "It keeps me from thinking too hard on where my life is heading now. Hope is...is so far away. I have to do something to keep my mind off the fact that I may never see her again, may never see my child, and may wake up alone for the rest of my life."

Keeve couldn't help his reaction, but when he snickered, he made no attempts to stifle it. "You actually believe Kaysa could stay away from you for long?" He rolled his eyes. "You really are a fool, then."

"She's doing a good job so far," Zale said. "I know I was horrible, but...but I just want her back. I don't know what to do to do that though."

"Well, good luck." Keeve sighed heavily and offered himself a seat on one of Zale's chairs. "You see, she's got a replacement already, even though it's one I don't approve of. If it's worth anything, I prefer you as a father."

"Thanks, I think," Zale said. "She's moving fast. So, is she as upset with me as she seems? Should I...should I just wait?"

Keeve shrugged absently while pulling Shiv down onto his lap. "It's up to you," he answered and grinned at his wife. "You'll probably have to go through both Cadwin and Merrick...."

"Cadwin? Her ex-husband? Wow. It really takes a lot to be dropped below the ex-husband in importance."

"Exactly," Keeve concurred. "And that's why you've got some wooing to do." He lightly patted Shiv's rump. "And you'll help, won't you?"

"Oh, definitely," Shiv said with a giggle. "Though, you have to woo her, and not me."

"Don't worry," Zale said. "So, how do I win back her heart? How do I get her to even see me?"

Keeve raised a finger and corrected with a smirk, "But you already have her heart. She wouldn't be crying herself to sleep most nights if you didn't. You just have to figure out a way to mend it."

"But, what will get to her, what will begin the mending? Everything I've seen indicates she doesn't want to be near me. Do you think she'd hate me if I were to send her something nice?"

Shrugging, he smiled enigmatically and leaned in to nuzzle Shiv's neck with his lips. His eyes, however, remained on Zale's and exhibited approval of his idea.

Zale nodded slowly, a hint of a smile playing at his lips. "So, can I get the two of you anything? A drink? Something to eat?"

"Something to drink," Shiv whispered as she tilted her head to the side slightly.

"Nothing for me," Keeve declined, then resumed nipping delicately at Shiv's throat.

"Very well," Zale said with a laugh. "I'll get your drink, Maeren. Just don't do anything that'll make Moril blush if he walks in."

"Moril's probably done far worse with Saris already," Keeve scoffed.

Zale laughed out loud. "Oh, we'll see about that," he said. "They're very cute together. Kind of like the two of you."

"We're not cute," Keeve amended. "We're...just perfectly compatible." He smiled at Shiv's giggle, and deftly removed the hand she'd snaked into his pants.

"Perfectly," Shiv said as she moved her hand to his waist. "Are they lovey-lovey? Oh, that'd be so cute. We have to spy on them, Keeve! We have to!"

"Spy on who?" he asked. He juggled with her hands - one taking the place of the other he'd just grabbed, until he'd finally seized both. "We're not spying on anyone, Maeren," he told her slowly, speaking at a pace even a child could follow. "We're helping Zale get Kaysa back, remember?"

"Oh," Shiv said with a pout. "But can't we spy on Moril and Saris too? I mean, they're so cute and happy."

"No," Keeve answered sternly. "People respect their privacy, Maeren, even if you don't. Now, stop wriggling!"

She giggled. "Oh alright," she said. "So we help Zale get Kaysa back. I think they should happen to run into each other somewhere. Preferably somewhere she won't try to kill him, so a public place."

"And you think that will stop her?" Keeve snorted and kissed his wife's cheek despite her short-sightedness.

"Well, in a public place, someone would be able to stop her," Shiv said. "And...and I don't think she'd be able to last long without flinging herself into his arms and kissing him."

Keeve sighed, and watched Zale across the room, quietly filling glasses with liquor and appearing solemn as he did. "Yeah...I hope you're right," Keeve muttered.

"We'll have to be nearby, just in case."

"I don't think having you too close will be a good idea," Zale said. "She sees you, she'll know something's up."

"She'll know something's up anyway," Keeve pointed out. "I mean...allowing her to wander the city alone? When have we ever let her do that while she's been expecting?"

"Well, what if we take her somewhere, and Zale just happens to be there," Shiv suggested. "If we don't know where he'll be, it can be a surprise to all of us. We'll just know he'll be there somewhere, and he can find us once we give him an idea where we'll be. But he can surprise us."

Keeve snorted. "And Kaysa's going to fall for that? She'll see through it in a second!"

"Then, how do we do it, Mr. Smarty Boots?"

He grinned facetiously at Shiv and tauntingly said, "We make her come running, that's what."

She leaned against him, a big grin appearing. "Oh...I like it already," she cooed. "We make her fall in love with him all over again."

"Exactly." Keeve tapped his wife's nose affectionately, then regarded Zale over her shoulder. "So...how good are you at playing dead?"

"I've had enough practice at almost being dead that I think I can do fairly well," Zale answered with a grin. "I'm liking it so far."

"Well, then." Keeve clapped his hands together and rubbed them vigourously. "Shall we get started?"

"Yes," Shiv said with excitement. "Oh this is going to be great!"

As they all settled down to plan, Zale looked at both Keeve and Shiv. "Thank you very much, both of you."

And, with that, they planned.

---

"Investigating Cargo"
by Quistis Knox
Tasia Harough - NPC+
Ty Kat'Ritara - NPC+

Location: Drogen Shipyards
Date: Lythe 17, 4 ABY

***

The mood at Dirg's Descent, was enjoyment and laughter. Most that frequented this place were workers of the Drogen Shipyards meeting after work. This created a good ambiance between workers and somehow raised the morale of the workers.

An enterprise this huge had to have a working staff with high morale, because one worker with high morale could do more than two or three workers with low morale.

Quistis felt great in that environment not only for its mood, but that some male workers and a few women looked at her, maybe for her beauty or probably for her desperation in front of the Holonet. There was a possibility of the blood coming from one of her wounds of her arm, but the blood wasn't that much to call anybody's attention. Meanwhile she had a huge discussion with the holonet, she asked a waiter for Lomin-ale and a Corellian Whiskey.

When it arrived she ripped apart a piece of her white cloak and dipped a the piece in the Corellian Whiskey and she tied it around her wound of her arm. She then quickly drank the rest of the Corellian Whiskey. Her wound started to burn, but the fact she drunk the rest of the drink made her hold the pain from her wound.

Frustrated at not finding anything about Colt Slane, made her dip a little of her Lomin-ale, when she heard a voice from behind.

"You know...it's really not that bad." The woman speaking slipped into the empty chair across from Quistis' and gestured to the liquor. "Sure, they say it can make you go blind, but I wouldn't trust it on wounds, not the brew from this place...if you believe the tales that they add a touch of urine for that extra kick." The lovely brunette smiled serenely. "Tasia Harough," she said. "What happened to your arm?"

Quistis nodded and inclined her head to her left. "It seems that I made a powerful enemy or at least she acts like it!" Quistis sighed at Tasia. "Hi, pleased to meet you. I'm Quistis Knox."

"A pleasure," she answered. "And if you've got enemies," Tasia added, "let me impart a little advice on you: don't go to one of the most violent sections of the station. Sure, things are better now, but we haven't been able to stamp out crime completely. If you know who shot you, I've got a few friends in the security department I can talk to."

Quistis smiled. "I take your advice gladly, but the people responsible for this are from another planet. I got this wound while I fled a prison facility from a world that I don't know its name and I got a lift from a smuggler..." Quistis looked apprehensive when she spoke 'smuggler', maybe more frustrated than apprehensive. Well maybe it is a mix of both things, Quistis thought.

"Well, then I guess all I can do is give you some more tips." Tasia called back a request to the bartender, then faced Quistis once again. "You planning on staying on the station? If so, you'll need to apply for quarters and papers. I can help you with that."

Quistis smiled. "Well thanks, it seems I have to be here for the time being, while things cool down in Tae'Karada. Meanwhile I will keep fidgeting here with the holonet."

"Whatcha looking for?" Tasia inquired innocently enough. "I have a friend who's a tech. He could help."

Quistis looked to Tasia and gave a smile of frustration. "It seems that my new friend Colt Slane does not exist! I'm trying to find anything about him, but I'm no computer slicer... I wish that I had Fly now. With him, by now I would have discovered a lot of things, one of them who really Colt is," Quistis said and sighed at the screen of the holonet and then to Tasia.

"Well, other than a name," Tasia asked, "do you have any information on this guy? I know a slicer who's very good at what he does." She grinned, a flash of white teeth. "He can find anyone...for a fee."

"Well maybe it isn't that necessary to pay for it. I may only know his name, but I also know where his ship docked when he stopped for refueling to continue his trip to Proxima IV. What made me suspicious is that a Corellian Transport can make a trip here to Coruscant without refueling. I made the trip in six hours more or less." Quistis looked to Tasia waiting for her reaction.

Tasia narrowed her eyes skeptically and dropped her arms onto the table as she leaned forward. "He was stalling? Why?"

"That is the big mystery that I intend to find out." She paused, then looked to Tasia. "Can you enter the Drogen shipyards' computer and see the log of the ship that is or was docked on bay 2189? It's a Corellian Transport and if he had to give a name for the log, just maybe he was stupid enough to use it?" Quistis asked in a rhetorical way and then she smiled the way she thought and that felt always good to her.

"I can..." Tasia answered slowly. "But I wouldn't usually do that sort of thing. Can you give me a good enough reason to?"

Quistis smiled and grinned, showing her white teeth. "Lady Ammut is a crime lord of the worst kind. Also she is so very sure about what she is doing. Now she has this smuggler carrying stuff for her to Proxima IV. He said that sometimes she delivers some crates here and as innocent as it appears, that makes me very uneasy! Joining that uneasiness is his posture that he made while we arrived here at Drogen. Doesn't something in you want to know what is inside those crates? While I am and when I got this feeling of something is definitely wrong, it is always right."

"So you think he's transporting something illegal?" Tasia asked. "Anoran's not going to like that." Sliding out of her seat, Tasia nodded to Quistis. "Follow me. There's someone you should meet." She walked past the woman and started for the exit.

Quistis nodded and decided to follow, leaving some credits to pay for two drinks of her and followed Tasia. Who is this someone that Tasia wants me to meet? Maybe it is that Anoran character that she mentioned... or not, Quistis thought.

But as she led Quistis through the winding corridors, and dank tunnels of the lower level, it was clear Shrezade Anoran's office was not their intended destination. The next corridor opened onto a habitation sector, lined by doors spaced only a foot apart on each side, alluding to the cramped quarters they enclosed. They stopped before one of them, just as nondescript as the rest, and Tasia knocked.

There was a delay of several moments, and then the door finally opened. Ty Kat'Ritara stood on the other side, his hair disheveled, but his eyes were alert. "Tasia," he said. "And, Tasia's friend. To what do I owe this honour?"

"Sweet talker," Tasia snorted, then winked at her friend. "This here is Quistis. Seems she's looking for someone of a...suspicious nature. I figured you were the best one for the job of uncovering his identity."

"I see," Ty answered with a raised eyebrow. "Well, why don't the two of you come in, and we can see what we can see." He stepped aside to allow them to enter.

Tasia smiled at Quistis, encouraging her to give Ty the details.

Quistis smiled, she was somewhat nervous. Fighting against enemies and stuff is one thing but this is another completely different one. Just breathe, Quistis, breathe in and breathe out. "Well... Where should I begin... I got involved with this crime lord called Lady Ammut. Well I don't know exactly how it happened but I was caught by Lady Ammut's men, I was able to escape and I was able to hide in this Colt Slane's ship."

Quistis sighed and sat in one of the chairs. "During the trip he mentioned he worked for Lady Ammut and sometimes delivers some crates here at Drogen, but I was so tired that I even didn't notice that." She paused. "Then when we arrived here his way of standing up with his hands behind his back... Well that is definitely the stature of an Admiral or Moff. Well either way, he lied about his ship - it doesn't take enough fuel to make a trip of approximately six hours here and another two to Proxima IV. A Corellian transport brand new can make a trip here to Coruscant without making any stops."

Ty nodded. "And, you need help tracking down this Colt Slane?" he asked.

She smiled and giggled. "Yeah, that too! I want to know who really is Colt Slane and especially what he was carrying on his Corellian transport."

"Well, if the content is actually logged anywhere," Ty said, "I'll be able to find it. If the only place that information is stored is in his holds, I won't have much luck. If it's digital, I'll sniff it out, but I'm not so much of a hardbody investigator though. I think for that, you'd want either of Tasia's girlfriends."

"There's only one," Tasia stated indignantly, though with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "Besides, Ril's busy. Lerrah might be up for it, though."

Quistis nodded. As promising as it seems to meet Tasia's friends, the more time I waste. Every minute counts in an investigation, because the more time I let pass by the more chances Colt gets to elude me or something. I have to act quickly. She nodded, by this time Colt had departed to Proxima IV, along with him the cargo that she wanted to know what was inside, but if she was correct he would pass again by the Drogen shipyards. Or he was only fooling me and he is putting me here in a wild goose chase. She had to find if any crate was here on the Drogen Shipyards; she had to find what was inside of them. Something in my guts tells me that this is very big. Bigger than the Triumvirate or Jadda's organizations. I must find out if there is still any of them here or I have to go to Proxima IV and find out.

Quistis turned to Ty and grinned and nodded at the same time. "Does the Drogen Shipyards have a log system of the ships coming in and going from here? Because I know the bay where his ship docked."

"We're required to log them," Tasia affirmed. "But...they're confidential. I can tell you what was logged, but not the content...unless there's anything suspicious." Tasia nodded to Ty. "Call up the ship manifests, Ty." She looked to Quistis for the name of the ship and location.

"I don't know the name of the ship, but I know where it's docked. It was bay 2189. He probably didn't leave no cargo whatsoever, but he inserted fuel to his ship or so he said." She paused. "But if he delivered in fact cargo it can be attached to his history file? Tasia said that you can find anyone. If it is money say your price and I will gladly deliver it to you."

"If they've left a trail I can track, I can," Ty answered. "The problem is in the information. If he entered false information into the system, I can only track that false information. If he marked up a bunch of payment chits with information, I'm helpless unless those chits were scanned in. If he left a trail for me to follow, I can find him. Registered name of his ship will be easy to find. Cargo manifests will be a little more difficult, but shouldn't pose any problems. I can get what information is available provided there isn't someone actively trying to keep me from finding it."

"Well anything is better than nothing. If you are able to find only the name of the ship, it's a start, but if you are able to find more it can really speed up things." Quistis gave a smile... Gods let's get on with the search already. More minutes we spend, the more Colt can slip through my fingers.

"So, is this gratis work?" Ty asked after a moment, then glanced at Tasia, "or should I be expecting a payment?"

Tasia chuckled and patted Ty's shoulder. "Just do it. We'll work something out, alright?"

"Sounds great," Ty said with a grin. And, with that, he plugged in and got to work.

Thirty minutes later, Ty unplugged his connections and sat back. He took several moments to sip some water and work the kinks out of muscles that had been sitting useless for so long. Finally he turned to Quistis. "His ship's name is the Star Weaver," he said. "It appears that he did offload some cargo in the bay, and it's still sitting in holding bay seven."

Quistis frowned and thought for a second. "Is there any chance to get inside bay seven and have a look inside that cargo?"

"There is if I'm escorting you," Tasia replied. "But...and forgive me for being blunt...I don't exactly trust you, Ms. Knox. I barely you know you, and that area does require security clearance. I could check it out for you...but I don't know if I can let you in that hold."

"Without checking out your own background, we really have nothing to go on but your word," Ty continued. "This station tends to attract all sorts of shady types, so hopefully you'll forgive any caution on our part."

This is usually the part I take my blaster to finish my mission...but first this is not a mission ordered by the High Cleric Nawera or a job for Akesha so there is no really point to become more unpleasant, also I don't have a blaster on my hands.

Quistis thought and nodded in affirmation. "I understand your concern and I do understand not trusting someone that you met a few hours earlier. I would react the same way, but the thing is my background is not on one log away on the Holonet! My background is private and privileged and only the high standers of the enterprise I work for can log to my background. Only to enter in my company computer will take the entire day, if it doesn't fry your own computer first. I know that you are a very capable hacker, Ty, but I think we don't have the luxury to take that long." She paused. "But if I'm to be trusted by you if you see any kind of background or either talk to my boss, Akesha, or I show you what exactly I'm doing in the Tae'Remok system." She smiled, crossing her arms in her chest.

Ty raised an eyebrow and glanced at Tasia. "I still don't think we can let you in at that cargo," he said. "That's not the kind of thing you do on Shrezade Anoran's station and expect to remain here. Besides, I really don't like the idea of crossing Captain Kir."

Quistis raised her right eyebrow and inclined her head. "Look I don't want to press any further on this if you don't have the authority, but what about getting me that permission? Talk to this Shrezade character or Captain Kir or do you prefer for Colt Slane to continue putting crates that can be illegal or even weapons... Or probably bombs?" She paused for while. "I don't know what it is inside of them, but I can assure you that they wouldn't bother at all if they had someone inside here that ships those crates quickly so they might spend less time in here to avoid any surprise inspections or that someone assures that those crates are never inspected. Well I think we will never find out."

"We will," Tasia assured her defensively. "We'll talk to Kir. I'm sure she'll want to meet you." Ty and Tasia shared a smile. "Wait for us outside cargo bay seven and we'll bring her to you."

"Ok, no problem," Quistis said, smiling.

---

"Compensation, Part 1"
By: Cirran Tyris

Location: Saluya, Saluya system, Outer Rim
Date: Lythe 17, 4 ABY

***

Cirran strode down the ramp of the 'Fool's Hope' and flipped a few credits at the docking bay attendant, who was staring goggle-eyed at the pock-marked front of the ship, and her generally beat-to-hell condition. "Keep everyone away from her, and don't log this landing in," he said to the grease monkey. "I won't be here long, I'm paying a visit to an old friend, and would like to surprise him."

"That's highly irregular," said the attendant. "A ship in this condition, obviously fresh from some firefight..."

"Meteors," interrupted Cirran firmly, pulling another credit chip from his pocket. "Micro-meteors. Right?"

"Yeah, OK, meteors," acknowledged the attendant, deftly pocketing the proffered cash. "I'll look after her for you, Captain...?"

"Antilles," offered Cirran, knowing that if someone else - very probably Durga - was offering credits to reveal information about the comings and goings on this rock, as Cirran was offering credits to conceal it, the attendant would sell him down the Sarlaac in a second. "And you had better look after her, because I've counted those holes, and I'll know if there's more of them when I get back."

"You're the boss, Captain Antilles," smirked the attendant. Cirran threw him a look and walked out into the muggy, humid atmosphere of the town, heading for the Green Gana cantina.

I've only got a small window here, thought Cirran, as he made his way through the open air market, the smells of the jungle that encroached upon the town from all sides giving way to various cooking smells, and making him wish the attendant had been a cheaper bribe, so he had money left to buy a proper dinner and a couple of drinks. I could use a couple of drinks before this, Cirran thought. But I can't just go strolling into Durga's stronghold, I'll get shot to pieces. I just have to hope that Niva is on tonight. The dancer at the cantina was a favourite of Durga's, and apparently despite many offers, and even recently a few threats, he had been unable to buy her services for himself. This was partly because of the bar owner's financial concerns - Niva made him a lot of money - and partly out of his respect for Niva's obvious distaste for with the Hutt. Durga was completely taken by Niva though, and loathed the thought of upsetting her - and so far that had kept her in her current place of employment, and her boss alive. This meant that the pirate boss was forced to come down to the cantina himself to watch her, just like all the other punters - and typically, he only took 3 or 4 of his men with him. Cirran could only hope that since he had left Saluya for the pirate's asteroid staging base to prepare for the mission to attack the 'Imperial convoy' 4 days ago that Durga had not finally lost his patience, ordered the bar owner (and maybe everyone else in the bar for good measure) killed, and taken Niva for himself. He also knew that Gwila must have beaten him back to Saluya, and told the Hutt what had happened; he also had to hope that Durga did not consider him enough of a threat to change his routine because of that.

He passed under the arch of an enormous dual tower of sonic emitters, their ultra-high frequencies unhearable to him, but nonetheless accomplishing two things: the important job of keeping many of Saluya's bigger predators away from the town, and the less desirable (depending on who you talked to) effect of making sure Saluya was a world where many alien races could not comfortably settle. Of course the emitters didn't stop the bigger packs of Krellhounds from coming through and tearing the place up on a pretty regular basis, but the governing planetary authority reasoned that the odd Krellhound-related fatality and a lack of multiculturalism among the colonists was a better price to pay than the whole of civilisation on the planet becoming snack food for 100 tonne Luya Lizards. Hearing a couple of those monsters roar as they crashed through the canopy in the far distance, Cirran tended to agree. He did not envy the harvesters at all, despite their astronomical rate of pay. He reckoned the chances for survival had been higher flying for the Alliance.

Cirran passed by the town gate where a heavily armed harvesting party was just heading out, hoping to take the advantage offered by the rapidly failing light, and turned left into the street of the Green Gana. Looking ahead, he ducked quickly behind some duracrete crates as he spotted Rigg, one of Durga's inner circle, standing guard outside the cantina up the street, blaster rifle in hand. Looks like Durga is here all right, thought Cirran, listening to the raucous music pumping out from inside the cantina. Unfortunately, Cirran knew Rigg was an excellent shot. An excellent shot, but like a lot of Durga's lackeys, pretty thick. Cirran looked around, and beckoned two nearby street urchins over to his position behind the crates.

"You guys wanna earn 10 creds?" said Cirran to the boy and a girl who must be his sister, producing as he did the last of his cash. The high rates of pay for harvesters on Saluya attracted many desperate people who were woefully unsuited for the dangers of the life (as if anyone could be suited to the dangers of the life), and all too often these people left even more desperate orphans behind them. The streets of the town crawled with them.

"What we gotta do, mister?" asked the boy eagerly, the 10 credits representing meagre food for him and the girl for maybe 3 days.

"Well, it's real easy," said Cirran. "See that guy down there?" Cirran pointed at Rigg. "I just need you guys to keep him looking up the street, and not back this way. And don't tell him I'm here. Can you do that?"

"No problem, mister," said the boy, looking like he knew what Cirran had in mind.

Cirran handed him the cred chit. The 2 children ran up the street and past Rigg, and Cirran watched as they started on some basic acrobatic routine that must have been their regular way of earning some money. Rigg turned to look, laughing mockingly at their efforts.

Cirran moved cautiously out from behind the crates, drawing his pistol as he did so. He worked himself slowly up behind Rigg as the children's routine drew to a close. Now they were pestering him for money, but exacting little sympathy from him. He was telling them to get lost. Cirran knew he did not have much time; Rigg's patience was wearing thin, and soon he would no longer be distracted. Standing up, Cirran walked briskly but as quietly as possible up behind Rigg, flicking a switch on his weapon and bringing up the blaster to point at Rigg's head just as he aimed a backhand at the little girl.

"Charming as ever, Rigg," said Cirran. Rigg stopped mid-blow and whirled around, and Cirran shot him point-blank in the face with a stun pulse. He gave a brief cry and went down like a stunned bantha, without further comment on the situation.

"I hope it hurt!" said the little girl, stepping forward to plant a surprisingly solid kick on Rigg's immobile thigh.

"Oh don't worry, it did," said Cirran, stepping over Rigg and picking up his blaster rifle, and holstering his own pistol. "And what's more, he's gonna have trouble talking for a couple of days, and more importantly, at that range, he's not going to remember much of anything. But you guys stay away from this fella for a couple of days, OK? No need to go jogging his memory."

The children nodded their agreement as Cirran went through Rigg's pockets, pulling out some spare energy cells and a few credits. He handed the credits to the girl. "Nice job guys, thanks," he added. "Now you'd better clear out." The two children pocketed their earnings and took off. Cirran stood up and headed for the door of the cantina.

He stepped into the dimly lit room, nodding at the bored looking, pretty attendant at the weapons check counter next to the entrance. The attendant was bored as usual as nobody ever checked any weapons. She was there to pay lip service to government regulations. The fact was that in the small, isolated settlements in the southern hemisphere of Saluya, the government didn't bother with a lot of governing. The local rep was so far into Durga's pocket that - well, Cirran didn't actually want to think too hard about what the experience of being deep in a Hutt's pocket might actually be like. Cirran suspected that the owner of the Gana employing a 'Weapons Manager' also made the paperwork go more smoothly than if he had entered the girl's real job description, a theory that the attendant was confirming by winking at him so often that if he didn't know better, he'd think she had something in her eye.

He looked across the noisy dance floor, where Niva was producing her usual spirited performance, to Durga's private booth. Sure enough, there was his employer, drooling as only a Hutt could. He was flanked on the left by an irate looking Gwila. Probably still annoyed at finding out he's not the best pilot in this system, Cirran thought.

On Durga's right was his regular bodyguard, a giant and rather nasty (was there another kind?) Gamorrean by the name of Garkash, and talking to him was a man Cirran didn't know, probably a new recruit, given that yesterday Cirran had been responsible for wiping out about a quarter of the names on Durga's payroll. No-one seemed to have noticed him yet. He considered the tricky problem of how to attract their attention without immediately getting cut down in a hail of blaster bolts. Ah, to hell with it, he thought, and fired Rigg's blaster rifle into the ceiling...

---

"Compensation, Part 2"
By: Cirran Tyris

Location: Saluya, Saluya system, Outer Rim
Date: Lythe 17, 4ABY

***

Although the band (being consummate professionals, and Green Gana regulars) played on, there were a few screams and many patrons went ducking for cover, although the old hands knew this wasn't the start of a shootout - yet.

"Hey Dur--" Cirran started, and then a large enough to be painful lump of ceiling fell on his head. Oh good start, Cirran, he told himself, cursing under his breath and looking up to see Durga's men reacting, Gwila having already angrily whipped out a blaster, keen for revenge. But a yell in Huttese, 'Tak nor, Gwila!' stopped his trigger finger.

Cirran raised his head to see 3 guns levelled at him from across the bar as Durga instructed his men, switching to his imperfect Basic for Cirran's benefit: "We see what Cirran Tyris wants, yes?"

Cirran had an answer lined up. "I want compensation, Durga!" he yelled over the music.

At this, the band stopped, as interested as anyone to see just how crazy this spacer was, and placing whispered bets amongst themselves as to just how many new holes he would end up with. Durga's booming laugh filled the sudden silence in the cantina, intimidating most of the nervous customers in the cantina into finally taking action, and several, including the voluptuous Niva, slunk out the door past Cirran while the going was good, leaving the dance floor empty.

"Compensation?" the Hutt bellowed, with what Cirran assumed was an incredulous expression. Cirran figured he was probably nearly as angry at the fact that Niva had left as he was at him. "You come to Durga for compensation? You vape Rhakar, you let goods escape, you blow my poor boys into space, you destroy 4 of Durga's best ships, and you want compensation? You are torub naash, Cirran Tyris."

"You told me that we were hitting Imperials, Durga!" Cirran retorted. "I told you at the outset that I'd fly against Imps and other pirates, hell, maybe even steal a few supplies here and there, but I never signed up to slaughter unarmed aid convoys. And besides if you want to start counting it all up properly, Rhakar vaped himself, and I think you'll find technically your man Gwila there was responsible for the end of that boat load of thugs and murderers you had lined up for the purposes of gunning down a couple of hundred transport crewman." Cirran saw Durga look askance at Gwila, who looked suddenly nervous; obviously the Twi'lek had not revealed those particular details. "Now, the 'Hope' got shot to hell, Durga, and the mission was not what we had agreed on - I went in looking to fight TIEs, not the 6 gunboats I was flying with. You give me enough for repairs, and we'll forget about the time I spent outfitting those gunboats properly for you, and maybe, just maybe, we'll call it even."

Durga's laugh filled the cantina again. "Good deal, Cirran Tyris," he said. "Now Durga tell you of new deal. Durga take your ship, he make you fix whatever he wants until you bores him, and then, if Cirran Tyris lucky, Durga let Gwila shoot Cirran Tyris, instead of him flown out into jungle and him being left for the Luyas. You like new deal?" The Hutt laughed at his own joke, and his men with him. "What you thinking, Cirran Tyris?" he asked. "You no gunslinger, you fighter jockey. You learn better shooting than Garkash in week past? You think you a Jedi?" He continued to laugh, gesturing at the Gamorrean who growled menacingly, his pistols trained on Cirran.

He makes a good point, thought Cirran. He rebuked himself: What are you doing here, Tyris? They are gonna scorch you good. Of course, without some money soon, you're probably dead or in prison anyway, his brain added...he laughed. "You know, Durga, you're absolutely right," he said. "I came second to last in my class in weapons training when I started with the Alliance. I'd struggle to hit even your worm-ridden lazy bulk from here, let alone that sharp and skinny looking little new gun you've hired yourself there. Ha!" Cirran cracked up. Durga and his men looked at him. Too much time out in space, they were all thinking. Cirran doubled over, laughing, and Durga and his men began to join in. "Why even bother!" laughed Cirran, dropping the blaster to the ground. This provoked new howls of amusement from 3 of the pirates.

Gwila however, did not share in the mirth of his companions. "So exactly what've you got to laugh about, Tyris?" he sneered, pointing to his blaster with his free hand to remind Cirran of what was to come.

Cirran straightened up, smiling. "Only the fact, Gwila, that while I can't shoot to save myself, I certainly know my way round a tool kit." His hands, that had slipped to the right places while the pirates were distracted, came rapidly round from behind his back, flinging as they did two smallish metallic globes into the air.

"Sithspit! Detonators! He's insane!" said Durga's new hire, and while the theory that Cirran was crazy might have arguably been well grounded in fact, the theory that what he had thrown were two thermal detonators was very quickly disproved when the globe from Cirran's right hand refused to hit the floor, darted quickly out towards Durga's booth over the dance floor, and put a blaster bolt neatly through the pirate's chest.

"Remotes!" snarled Gwila, and blasted away at the other one, nearest him, causing it to retreat up to the ceiling behind some lighting. "Garkash, get Tyris!" said Gwila, overturning a table in front of him for cover as the remote continued to pop in and out of beams and light fittings in the ceiling and take pot shots at him. But Cirran had rolled clumsily behind the weapon check counter as soon as he had released the remotes, picking up Rigg's blaster rifle along the way.

Reaching back to his belt and ignoring the screams of the 'weapon check' girl sheltering a couple of metres away from him, Cirran lobbed his third and final remote over the counter, as the first remote, that had ended the new man's short career in Durga's service, now began to fire at the Gamorrean. Unphased by the withering fire landing around him, and perhaps spurred on by the alarmed cries of Durga in Huttese, Garkash demonstrated what an unusually good marksman he really was for a Gamorrean by raising his pair of pistols, calmly lining up the quickly darting globe, and blasting it into scrap. Damn, thought Cirran. That's not good. Well, here goes.

With Gwila occupied by the second remote, and Garkash lining up the third as it headed towards his side of the cantina, Cirran stuck his head and hands over the counter and opened up wildly in Garkash's direction with Rigg's rifle, coming not very close to hitting him. As Cirran continued to fire, Garkash turned casually and hit the counter top near Cirran's head with a series of bolts, causing the girl sharing Cirran's cover to renew her screaming, and causing Cirran to grimace as some small fragments and one not so small splinter flew into his arm. He ducked back. Deciding the rapidly nearing remote was a much more prescient threat than the human behind the counter with the blaster, who had clearly not been bluffing as far as being a poor shot had been concerned, Garkash turned back to the remote as it neared a firing position, firing a couple of snap shots towards it and forcing it to back off hurriedly.

As it did, Cirran popped up again and resumed shooting. While his first two shots again missed fairly wide, his third squarely hit the large vessel of whatever it was Garkash had been drinking on the table in front of him. A surprisingly sizeable fireball went up, and when the flare had dissipated, Cirran saw that Garkash's outstretched left hand was ablaze, leaving him understandably distracted. Though probably astonished at the turn of events as anyone, the remote was not one to look a gift bantha in the mouth, and it zipped forward, closing the gap on the big Gamorrean as he flailed around, and shot him in the head. Garkash pitched forward, crashing through the table in front of him. Cirran turned his attention towards Gwila as the fire protection system automatically cut in, beginning to fill the cantina with fire-retarding foam.

Gwila was still holed up behind his table, keeping Cirran's second remote at bay as the foam poured into the bar, saturating Cirran in his crouched position and the bar customers cowering under tables, and fogging up the air. Cirran looked to just catch sight of his third remote approaching Gwila from the right through the murk, as the second remote tried one too many feints. Gwila fired a burst at it and clipped it with a shot which sent it spinning to the floor.

"Well, here's where we find out how good my tinkering was," Cirran said to the weapon-check girl, as she was the only person available to offer his thoughts to. She looked at him, miserable and trembling, her outfit not designed for use in icy cold fire-foam. He stood up from behind the counter. "Hey, Gwila!" he said, pointing his rifle in the Twi'lek's vague direction with his undamaged arm, and firing a few random shots. "You and me!"

Having seen Cirran shoot, the Twi'lek sneered as he partially stood up and took steady aim at Cirran, totally unaware of the arrival through the mist to his immediate left of the third remote, until it shot him in the shoulder. He swore and fell back, dropping his blaster.

Clutching his own injured arm, Cirran walked 'round behind the overturned table as the few patrons, (and the band) that had remained to witness the firefight scurried out of the bar, not wanting to answer any questions when the authorities got around to showing up. Gwila lay on the floor groaning.

"So, hey, Gwila, that was pretty stupid," Cirran said. "You saw me pull the same sort of a decoy move in space yesterday, after all."

Gwila snarled, outstretching his left hand for his gun.

"I wouldn't do that, Gwila," said Cirran, pointing the blaster down to pull Gwila's movement up short. "Since apart from me, pointing this rifle at you, you may have noticed this remote that shot you still hovering here" --Cirran indicated the lethal globe floating gently at waist height above the prone Twi'lek-- "and they're only programmed to shoot at those with weapons that aren't me, or those that try and retrieve the remote that aren't me. So I'd lie still for the moment, if I were you."

"Where'd the hell did you get military class remotes anyway, Tyris? They're impossibly hard to get for a bottom feeder like you," said the pirate, through gritted teeth.

"Oh, I didn't," replied Cirran. "But it isn't too hard to tweak your average training remote up a couple of notches if you know how, which I do. Alliance commandos used to do it all the time. I wasn't going to bother enhancing the environmental sensors, but it's lucky I did, isn't it?" he added, gesturing at the surroundings, where it was now impossible to see the door or the stage through the mist. "Now you wait there while I talk to your boss."

Leaving the stricken Twi'lek, Cirran walked over to where Durga the Hutt, feared pirate boss, was staring in disbelief at the slightly charred corpse of his bodyguard, which had written off a fairly expensive piece of furniture. "Damn, that was pretty lucky for me, wasn't it Durga? I told Garkash that stuff he drank would kill him." Cirran grinned. "Now, I dunno if you were paying attention to all that, Durga, but I really am a pretty lousy shot. But even I am going to be hard-pressed to miss you from here."

He levelled the rifle between the Hutt's large eyes, which were wide open in - Cirran was guessing at Hutt facial expressions again - astonishment. "I called help, Cirran Tyris," Durga snarled. "You will pay - more men coming." Cirran knew that Durga always carried a panic button, but unchallenged locally, had been getting careless about keeping help on hand. "Oh, so they're coming in from all the way out at the base, Durga?" Cirran asked. "Do you think they'll get here in less time than, say, it takes me to pull this trigger?" He pressed the barrel of the rifle against the Hutt's slimy head.

"Compensation!" blurted the Hutt. "You will have compensation, Cirran Tyris!"

"Too late, Durga," Cirran said, lifting the gun again.

"Jax!" Durga bellowed. "You want Gorta Jax!"

Cirran stopped. "What do you know about Gorta Jax?" he demanded. "Where is he? Start talking fast, Durga."

"I do not know, Cirran Tyris," Durga admitted. Cirran once again fell back on the persuasiveness of his 'now I'm really going to shoot you' gesture. "No, stop!" yelled the Hutt. "You talk to Lorvo! Dana Lorvo! She deals with Jax!"

Cirran knew Lorvo was a dubious ship merchant operating out of Luyasia, the largest city and capital of Saluya, in the planet's northern hemisphere, who often supplied Durga. "You better not be lying, Durga!" Cirran said.

"It is truth, Cirran Tyris, it is truth! Lorvo have Jax arrange for Durga's gunboats. She deals with Jax, she knows!"

Cirran thought for a second, lowering the rifle. He had followed a tip saying Jax was headed for Saluya, and gotten mixed up with Durga and his second rate organisation as a way of keeping an eye on the local underground, looking out for Jax. Trouble was, as he discovered, most of Saluya was underground. He had heard nothing until now. But Jax could be marketing black market or surplus Imp ships, especially if he still had contacts in the Imperial Navy.

"Why didn't you tell me this before, Durga?" he said. "I told you when I started working for you I was looking for Jax!" Durga tried to avoid Cirran's gaze, making Cirran understand. "You were going to kill me anyway, Durga, just as soon as I got back here, weren't you? After the 'Hope' for your pissant little fleet?"

"No, no!" protested the Hutt, but the fact he would not look at Cirran told him everything he needed to know.

"Sure, Durga, sure." Cirran pointed the gun with intent again.

"No!" implored Durga again.

"Shut up, Durga. You've done me a favour today, so I'm going to do you one by not spreading your brains all over that wall. But if I find you were making this up, I'm going to make it my mission to get in touch with my friends in the New Republic, and get them to make it their mission to come out here and finish off what is left of your fleet. And if they are too busy, I'll have a crack at it myself. And while you know I sure as hell can't shoot, you also know I can fly. Understood? Now before I go, I believe you said something about compensation?"

Durga reluctantly gestured with a stubby arm to a sort of a large wallet Garkash had been guarding. Cirran grabbed it and stuffed it into his jacket. "Thanks, Durga. That concludes our employment agreement. I'll be off now."

He turned his back on the relieved Hutt, walking back through the fog to where the third remote was on sentry mode over Gwila. He stooped to pick up the second remote that Gwila had shot down and appraised it - it was shot literally but not figuratively, he decided - and given the cost and time spent building these things, he would use it for parts if he couldn't fix it. He clipped it to his belt attachment, and glanced down to Gwila, who had still his eyes trained on the remote. Cirran kicked the Twi'lek's pistol away somewhere into the foam.

"I was kind of hoping you'd go for it actually, Gwila," he said. "So, shall I count on seeing you again, uh, again?" he asked. Gwila chose not to respond but looked daggers at him. "I'd make the standard disclaimer about you not trying to follow me, but you don't look like you're in much state to do so anyway."

Cirran stepped over to the remote and held out his extended palm, which the remote hovered over and then dropped into, inert. "And now, if you'll excuse me, I really have to go." Cirran turned and walked out of the bar, only breaking into a run as he stepped outside and past the still unconscious form of Rigg. It was time to get moving again.

---

"Following Shadows, Part 1"
by Daemor'rah
and Quinlan Vos

Location: New Plouton
Date: Lythe 17, 4 ABY

***

He had tracked her all the way to the large hub, but it had taken him a while to be able to learn her steps since she had left Aurra at the Jedi Temple and made her way off. But with time, he had learned that she had re-taken her previous life, the life of a bounty huntress. And this much he feared, for such a life is but one that leads to darker emotions. And she who had been bad and turned good, could very well go all the way back to what she used to be, only this time a lot more dangerous due to her training and learning...

Quinlan Vos was able to discover that Daemor'rah had a ship of her own, and that it had been stationed at the Spaceport. Gladly, a tall white skinned woman with red hair was someone who was easy enough to remember if seen. Alas, she had been gone already, and so had her ship... Vos had Kal'Aran's vessel, but the problem was finding where Daemor'rah had gone to. Register books said nothing, but the personnel had overheard the girl talk to a certain individual over a holocall and told Vos all about it.

So, to the Endor system it was...

***

The second moon of the planet Endor, also called the forest moon. Sometimes even called Endor... Just an insignificant green rock, orbiting a lifeless vaporous giant. Lost...small... A child circling a dead parent. Why had she had to meet her employer here?

"I know you're here, bounty hunter," the woman called out. She was wearing long dark robes and a cloak. She had a long stick with which to feel her way, since she was blind.

From atop a tree, concealed amongst the branches and leaves, she watched. Silent, almost invisible.

"Please... Show yourself," the woman insisted.

Daemor'rah moved from atop the tree and jumped off to a lower branch, holding a long sharp twin bladed knife in her hand. She was once more dressed in her red clad jumpsuit, with her blasters and her lightsabers, plus a few more gear, just the way she used to look before her stay at the Temple back in Tae'Karada.

"You're good...for a priestess. And a blind priestess at that!" the huntress commented.

"I am a daughter of a FFIB. The order has taught me that there are many ways for one to obtain vision. I see and feel things that others can't," the blind woman explained.

"Truly?" Daemor'rah asked sarcastically. She then jumped down from the tree in a somersault, and twisted in mid-air to fall facing the woman's back. She took her blade and placed it near the priestess' throat while holding her steady at the same time. "Can you see your future? Or do you feel my blade against your throat?" she asked sarcastically.

"Please, Daemor'rah, don't kill me!" the woman pleaded.

Daemor'rah withdrew her blade and pushed the woman to the ground. "Ha! You're not much of a fighter! Maybe this isn't a guild trap!"

"Believe me! You have nothing to fear from the FFIB," the blind woman reassured her. "We asked the Bounty Hunter's Guild to contact you! Even though you've refused to join them, we knew that the Guildmaster would know how to find you!"

"That old timer? Only when I allow him to. I've done some jobs for him..." Daemor'rah answered. "Sometimes a hunter breaks guild law. Somebody has to go after him. It has to be an independent tracker, someone not tied to guild factions. Me. I bring back the mark...usually."

"Then, sometimes you fail?" the woman asked.

"No. Sometimes I kill them. Why are we here? Worthless little moon. It's barely even on the charts!"

"This meeting must be kept secret, Daemor'rah. Because Endor is the FFIB's most remote mission, I was chosen to deliver the high elders' request..." the woman said as she pointed out in the direction where a small wooden cottage stood. "I've only been here for a short time and I don't expect to stay much longer. Ewoks do not pester this side of the forest, so we are alone."

The blind woman walked towards the cottage with the huntress right behind her. It was a simple structure and seemed more a passage point than a place to live for long. "Still, time is valuable. I've had time to reflect on my past errors and what I must do to erase my transgressions... Every creature deserves a second chance at redemption, don't you think?" the blind one asked.

Daemor'rah remained silent for a few seconds, thinking about the woman's words. She had had a second chance and could possibly get a third one as well. But this was what she was. A Bounty Hunter, a killer. Finally, she decided to answer. "Some maybe... Not all," she said. "Why did you have me summoned?"

"Your specialties aren't limited to tracking guildcode breakers. You wear a lightsaber! I felt it on my back when you attacked me," the woman spoke. "I thought only Jedi possessed such weapons!"

Daemor'rah looked at her lightsaber and finally took it in hand and ignited its scarlet blade. "Sometimes they lose them. The circumstances are often quite...tragic."

"The stories are true, then? You've killed Jedi?"

"When it needs to be done... And sometimes when it doesn't..." Daemor'rah answered simply, although in her heart she doubted if she would ever kill another one again. At least one of those she had grown to know.

"Would you like to kill another?" the woman asked with a rather excited tone.

"As you said, priestess, I have my specialties!" the huntress answered. "Who is this Jedi, and why has the FFIB marked him?"

"Have you heard of Kain Corsa?" the priestess asked.

"A Twi'lek pirate who runs his plundering mainly in the Gamorr run. What about him?"

"Not long ago, Corsa raided our homeworld and looted a temple, stealing many priceless artifacts and destroying irreplaceable texts!" the blind woman told Daemor'rah. "But these were not the worst of Corsa's misdeeds against the FFIB! On the very steps of our temple, he murdered four priests in cold blood!"

"Your sect has its own security force! Send them!" Daemor'rah stated with her arms crossed.

"But they don't have the skill! Corsa was not always a pirate, you see... He was once a Jedi Knight!" she revealed. "Once, a long time ago, the Jedi named Corsa returned to Ryloth to find the female who was his mate in the arms of another! Consumed by jealousy and anger he killed them both. Fearing the Jedi justice which was sure to come, he stole a cruiser and fled to the outer rim. Corsa's life was shattered beyond repair. His passions had opened the door to the dark side! Feeding his rage on potent ryll spice, he gathered a crew and became a pirate. His last known attack was on our temple... Perhaps he knew that the FFIB would not forget or forgive his violations, so, to confuse his trail, he bribed two of his crewmen into assuming his own identity. These men are Shi'ido twins. Brothers whose rare species is gifted with the ability to simulate the appearance of others. Corsa promised to feed their families forever. However, if they betrayed his secret, he promised he would feed their loved ones to wild rancors. The deal was sealed! The pirates fled, each to a different world! To kill Corsa you will have to kill two other beings... You realize this?"

"Pity for them... Do you have any clues where they went?" Daemor'rah asked.

"Unknown to Corsa, his cabin servant stole that info from his charts, knowing that someone would pay well for such knowledge."

"And this informant was rewarded?" Daemor'rah asked, rather surprised.

"He was... As any pirate can be. At the hands of our inquisitors. Poor creature," the woman sighed. She handed Daemor'rah a datapad. "Within this datapad are the locations of three planets. Each one represents one of the states of matter... Liquid, flame and sky. Corsa is on one of these worlds. Will you apprehend him for us?"

"I never promise to apprehend anyone, priestess. I only guarantee one thing. That I can kill him! Live capture is much harder. More overhead. It'll cost you," the huntress replied as she walked away.

"I'll mention it to the finance committee," the blind woman nodded. "Remember, bounty hunter, the Shi'ido are master mimics! However, there is at least one thing they cannot duplicate. Corsa's eyes! The red eyes of a Twi'lek spice addict can never be hidden."

***

Location: Hoth

Hoth was the liquid planet. Or at least it had been once. Sixth world of the Hoth system, sometimes called the ice planet. Another really nice place to visit...

Two wampa ice creatures could be seen in the snow near a dead tauntaun. They had some sort of a biocomputer in their heads and didn't seem to act on free will. A third wampa ice creature approached them. He was the third one of the pack, and had a few blood stains on his back. He followed the other two as they returned to their cave.

The cavernous entrance was humid and dark, but there was some sort of a red light more up ahead. All of the ice creatures moved forward, only to see a fourth one with a drilling machine standing next to Corsa.

"So, finally returned with our dinner, have you? It's about time!" Corsa rasped. "While you were outside in the snow, I've been stuck in this ice pit extracting spice!" he complained. "No matter. It won't be long now! When the spice tanks are finally full, I'm off to the smuggling dens of Nar Shadaa to claim my fortune!"

Corsa then turned, now with a grin on his face, to the three ice creatures who had arrived. "Quickly! Take the meat to the kitchen! I need you to scrape while I empty the bins! You, the little one, go and skin that tauntaun the way I showed you! And remember to tidy up when you're done!" he ordered to the third and last of the wampa ice creatures that had come in.

But the tall white furred creature stood in silence as if he had heard nothing at all. Corsa was mad. "You brainless little brute! You need your bio-stim implant adjusted?" he asked defiantly. "Get to the kitchen! Now!"

But the creature opened up and from within its empty fur, Daemor'rah jumped forward. "Sorry, I don't do dishes... And no one likes my cooking!" she snorted as she opened fire in the ceiling, which in turn made a rumble of rocks fall upon the other two wampa's.

"You won't take me alive, bounty hunter!" Corsa said as he grabbed hold of his blaster and opened fire at Daemor'rah.

She hit the ground, dodging his fire and shot back at him, hitting him in the chest and killing him almost instantly. "Fair enough! Saves the FFIB a whole lot of money!" she said. She then shot the fourth ice wampa to slow them down and grabbed the corpse. Before the ice monstrous creature could grab Daemor'rah, she took off with the corpse in her hands with the aid of a boost pack, much like the ones used by mandalorians ages ago.

She got well away from the creature and the cave, and once in safety she landed. Corsa had goggles on to protect his eyes from being seen. She removed the goggles and saw the eyes. Regular ones. "One of the Shi'ido..." she whispered as the corpse was now going back to its original greyish Shi'ido form.

One down, two to go...

***

Location: Tatooine

Tatoo system, the outer rim. Township of Mos Espa. She had been there before. She had hated it then and loathed it now. This was the flame from the list. A land speeder was coming in from the desert. Driving it was a male Twi'lek. Corsa. She watched him arrive from the scope of her rifle, as she stood at the top of a second story building, and couldn't care less for him as she pressed the trigger.

There was a large blast noise and Corsa was thrown out of his speeder when hit right in the side of his head. There weren't many people around, but those who were standing near were startled and fled. Mostly they were mere jawas.

Daemor'rah got up and grabbed her canteen. She took a sip and went down to the corpse. It was changing as the first one had. Besides, its eyes were also normal ones. It was the last of the Shi'ido. "Good enough. Now only Corsa is left..." she told herself as she made her way out of the scene.

***

Location: Bespin

Her last stop. The sky from the list... Some thrantas could be seen amidst the clouds in the skies, near one of Bespin's many cloud floating cities. On most of the air flying, giant animals, acrobats could be seen doing handstands and hanging onto one of their wings as they performed amazing stunts. But one thranta carried Corsa who was cheering for the others.

"Yeah! That's it! More of that kind of stuff!" he told them. "The crowds throughout the Galaxy will love you guys! We'll put a big tour together! Give the investors a really nice package, you know?"

But Corsa's speech was interrupted as something broke from the clouds. It was an airhook, and piloting it was Daemor'rah, her blaster in hand. She opened fire upon Corsa, but with little effect, as she merely scratched his arm.

"No! Air brothers, hear me... That woman on the airhook wants to kill me! Help me!" Corsa cried out.

But Daemor'rah had anticipated and had killed the acrobats. What she had not counted upon, however, was the other thranta riders, armed to the teeth and painted for war, who had come out of the clouds. They had been waiting for her. Someone had told Corsa that she was coming for him. She opened fire and killed two of the thranta riders, but one got too close and hit her on her back with a club. Daemor'rah leaped out of her airhook and onto a thranta, kicking the rider out of his place and sending him flying down into oblivion.

She knew that any non-resident on Bespin would say the same thing when asked the question: airhook or thranta? Most would pick the machine... But even airhooks had their drawbacks, such as highly unstable fuel cells, for example. But this much she knew, and when her empty airhook approached Corsa's thranta, she fired upon it. The explosion not only killed the thranta, but sent Corsa flying out as well.

"Game over!" she told herself as she caught the falling corpse. But to her surprise, the corpse also changed into the original shi'ido form. "What? A third Shi'ido?" she asked herself. Then she remembered. Liquid... Flame... Sky... The FFIC left one out.

***

Location: Endor

Land. The blind woman was inside the cottage, and she opened a trunk. She knew that Daemor'rah would already have caught and killed all three of the Shi'ido. Had she been so wrong to dupe the Shi'ido triplets? To sentence them to death so that she might be free to seek redemption? She told herself that they would eventually have died anyway, caught and executed by the FFIB tribunal. The arms of the inquisitors were long and their judgement knew no mercy. What better place to hide from them than amongst them, as somebody they could never possibly suspect?

She was no longer a pirate named Corsa. No longer a twi'lek. No longer male. She only wanted to make restitution for what she had done in the past, so on distant laboratories she had paid outlaw surgeons to change her appearance. And to honor the priests she had murdered she took the vows of their order. She would now return to their temples and disappear within their numbers, so even if the mercenaries she had paid in Bespin hadn't killed Daemor'rah, the huntress could never find her.

Finally, the blind woman took the blindfold from her eyes, revealing the red eyes that belonged to a spice addict. She reached out and grabbed her old lightsaber. Soon the ship would be there and she would be gone. She ignited the lightsaber and grinned to herself. But she hadn't counted upon justice. After all she had paid Daemor'rah to kill Corsa, and no matter his or her appearance, Corsa would be killed.

Daemor'rah had been standing right outside the cottage as it rained outside, blaster in hand. She fired and thus killed her contractor for what she had been paid to do.

***

Date: Lythe 18
Location: Endor

He got there and could sense that this was the right place. He eventually found the cottage and the fallen corpse. But no sign of Daemor'rah. He had arrived too late. And from the look of things, this was not good, for if Daemor'rah had been killing then she was closer to the dark side... He picked up whatever images he could from the objects, and made his way. He had no time to lose if he was to find his former Padawan.

---

"Quarry and Hunter"
By: Cirran Tyris

Location: Saluya, Saluya system, Outer Rim
Date: Lythe 17 and 18, 4ABY

***

Cirran skidded round the corner in a sprint, overshooting the turn he was trying to make and banging into the outer wall of the spaceport administration area, which reminded him nicely of the fragments and splinter that were residing in his arm. He winced and headed up the ramp, heading for the 5th public docking pay in the ring shaped complex, where he had left the 'Fool's Hope'. So far, no-one was shooting at him, which was a situation he was personally in favour of. Once Durga's reinforcements arrived in town though - and that would be very soon - that would change quickly. He also hoped that his earlier guess that the flights and manifest officer was in the pay of Durga was wrong, or he might find a security team waiting at his ship, waiting to uphold the 'law'.

Should have taken that bastard's commlink, he thought. Think, Cirran, you idiot, think - you're not used to all this bounty hunter carry-on. Mind you, if you'd stopped to think, you almost certainly wouldn't have this, he added to himself, feeling the reassuring weight of the Hutt's wallet in his jacket as he ran.

He rounded the last section of corridor and there she was, the 'Hope', looking just as good as when he left her - that was to say not good at all, shot up and generally resembling the punchline of some joke about Corellian ship design, of which there had been a few when he'd been a kid on Lianna. Still, in the long years since those days, he'd seen such jokes proved wrong time and again, and he knew the 'Hope' was still in good enough shape to get him out of here. He wouldn't fancy his chances in another hairball like yesterday's though. For the third time in a short period, he was relying on a little bit of judgement and a lot of luck; he knew Durga's techs were pretty hopeless (part of the reason Durga had hired him) and that they didn't generally keep the small flight of Durga's ships that he based on Saluya itself ready to scramble. But no doubt they were running around like mad about now, trying very hard to follow the orders that Durga had no doubt given to catch Cirran in orbit and introduce him personally to the upper atmosphere. Cirran had to beat them to the punch.

He glanced furtively around the docking bay. No sign of the morally flexible flight officer. That was good, as outside the large docking complex he could hear several swoops pulling up, and it was good odds that they were Durga's reinforcements. Somehow Cirran did not back his one remaining operational remote to shoot all of them, and he didn't need a delay. He ran forward to the 'Hope', punching in the code for the entry ramp, which in an idiosyncratically random fashion, dropped straight to the ground without pausing, as it did every so often. This proved handy for Cirran, as it dumped the astonished flight officer unceremoniously down the ramp, the floor having fallen out from under him as he searched for the best place inside the ship's entrance to ambush the returning pilot. The officer sprawled to a heap at Cirran's feet, and looked up from the position, he unexpectedly found himself in, finding Cirran standing over him. His hand started to reach for his own gun. Cirran jerked Rigg's rifle up, suddenly aware that it was entirely possible that it was empty.

"Don't," he warned the man. The officer considered his chances and held up his hands.

"You're the boss, Tyris," he snarled.

"Ah, so Durga clued you in, then," said Cirran. "Can't say I'm surprised, although I guess not everyone 'round here is corrupt as you, or dock security would have already filled me full of holes. I should really get a refund on my bribe, but as I'm in a bit of a hurry, perhaps later. Now don't move. Feel free to come up with your own threat as to what will happen if you do."

Keeping his rifle pointed at the officer, Cirran backed up the ramp and sealed the ship to the outside world, immediately lowering his outstretched injured arm with some relief. Not sure I would have hit him with my aim about to give like that, he thought. He hoped it wouldn't affect his flying too badly.

He disabled the outer lock, which Durga's man had evidently had no difficulty at all with, and tossed the rifle to the floor. Running to the front section of the ship, he bounded into the pilot's chair, where through the canopy, he saw the officer running over to the entrance of the bay and gesturing frantically to some well-armed humans who were arriving.

Hmmm, these guys probably aren't collecting for charity, he thought. He fired the engines - First go, nice one 'Hope' - as the obligatory blaster shots began to hit the ship, and pulled up and out of the bay in a classic and well-practiced emergency take off, knocking a couple of Durga's thugs that had approached close to the ship to the ground with the backwash of the repulsorlifts.

Rising up and above the town, Cirran scanned the horizon to the north, until he spotted what he was looking for. Leading away from the north gate of the town was a line of smaller sonic emitters, the tops of the masts just poking through the tall jungle canopy. These were paid for, at some expense, by Durga, and while not as powerful as the 4 double towers protecting the main town, they offered a reasonable area of protection in a radius of 50-100 metres around each tower, forming a sort of road of safety along which Durga and his men could travel to and from his base. Durga could also turn the emitters off when he liked, meaning he could hole up in his underground establishment some 150 kilometers to the north of the town, and anyone that wanted to come and visit him would have to risk the Luyas, or pack enough aerial firepower to punch his base shielding from above.

When travelling, he would activate only the two emitters he was travelling between, moving along the line in a 'bubble' of protection and making him a hard target. The extremely effective natural protection offered by this isolation amongst the jungle predators had served him well when he had been starting up with very few ships, and had been dealing with rival, largely ground based, gangs. Cirran had no doubt that installing it had cost many lives. Now that Durga essentially had the run of this side of the planet, and felt unthreatened, he often flew between the base and town in a small yacht, although he still liked to take the jungle route every so often to remind others, and perhaps himself, of his invincibility.

Cirran turned his ship and headed out towards the emitter tower 'road', flying visually in the darkening twilight as fast as the 'Hope' would manage in an atmosphere, following the trail of blinking lights in the tower points which jutted out from underneath the foliage.

Cirran knew that the 'Hope' had no chance of pulling off a direct assault on Durga's complex, with many metres of solid rock supplemented by shielding that might well have resisted orbital bombardment from a Star Destroyer for a good while. But he had spent a bit of time at the base, and had noticed one or two tactical oversights in its construction, little details that he might have pointed out to an employer that he liked, respected or trusted...now he was glad he had not clued Durga in. He hoped the weaknesses he had noted could be exploited, and that he was in time, or he could expect to find some opposition headed straight for him in the next 30 seconds or so...and the 'Hope' wasn't really in a state for that.

Neither are you, Cirran, if it comes to that, he thought, the pain in his arm a constant hindrance as he worked the controls.

Ahead he saw where the trail of emitters let to a glow in the twilight in a clearing in the canopy. He cut speed, hovering just beyond the clearing at tree-top height, aware that the sonic emitters and dense jungle would be interfering with the base sensors, and assessing the situation in the clearing. The visible section of the base itself consisted of a Nebulon B Frigate that had made a crash landing during an early exploration of the planet, but survived mostly intact. Underneath this extended an underground complex some 5 stories deep. Durga had boosted the shield generators of the ship significantly, to a degree where they could sustain a reasonably large aerial assault, and converted the rear cargo area of the frigate into a small docking bay. As well, several of the ship's turbolasers were operational, and complemented by the addition of 3 quad-barrelled rapid fire cannon emplacements on the ground around in the clearing surrounding the base. It was an impressive set up for an operator as relatively small-time as Durga, and only served to illustrate his lack of competition in the Saluya-Alphar-Tratos tri-system area.

It seemed that Durga's ground crews had been as sloppy as he had observed when he had spent time at the base. No ships had yet emerged from the launch bay. Cirran knew that Gwila's gunboat at least would be inside, (although Gwila was in no condition to fly it) and probably a couple of Y-Wings and maybe 4 or 5 of the Z-95s that Durga regularly kept on Saluya itself. The larger and more capable part of the Hutt's fleet was stationed on his asteroid base, where it had better access to the shipping lanes of the tri-system, and was some 2 hours flight time away. As he watched, the doors of the hangar began to open and warning lights flashed outside the docking bay, telling Durga's men to keep clear.

Just in time, thought Cirran. While the thought of dropping below tree height to ground level into the clearing and firing all his remaining torpedoes through the gap into the shielding and into the bay to see what damage he could do was tempting, Cirran knew that as a stationary target, the 'Hope', would be picked up and nastily popped by the crossfire from the defensive turrets. No, there was only one way to do this, and it was the good ol' Sector Fleet way: hit and fade.

Cirran looked closely at the jungle as the distinctive nose of a Headhunter began to emerge from the hangar. About there looks right, he told himself. During his post on Yavin 4 in his first days with the Alliance, Cirran had regularly been assigned to patrols in which the primary task was keeping the rapidly growing forest undergrowth well clear from a wide area around the main launch bay. This served to give pilots more room for error in an emergency take off, or one under fire, and to cut back on fire danger, but also prevented the kind of thing that Cirran was about to attempt. He made sure his last two torpedoes were ready to fire and nudged the 'Hope' forward. As he did so, Durga's sensor operator realised that the flicking sensor ghost he had been looking at on his screens a tad curiously was in fact someone crazy enough to be assaulting his impregnable position. He alerted the gun crews who leapt into action as Cirran flew low towards the hangar bay.

As red and green lasers lit up the night sky around him, Cirran dipped the nose briefly and fired his torpedoes on the move into the dense jungle near the hangar bay. One more piece of luck, that's all I ask, he thought, as the 'Hope' shot over the ensuing fireball.

As the weapons fire from the ground intensified, Cirran threw the 'Hope' into a sharp turn out over the jungle and back the way he had come, striving for altitude and taking a glance down to see if he had been successful. Sure enough, the explosion of the torpedoes had felled several of the jungle's huge trees, which had come crashing down on the side of the base, and on the ground outside the hangar doors. The shields, designed to absorb the fire of energy weapons, had been unable to sustain their sheer mass and kinetic energy, and the trees had crashed through, damaging the base structure somewhat and blocking any launch from within. Cirran noted with satisfaction that both the nose of the emerging Z-95 and, as an unexpected bonus, the nearby sonic emitter cluster that protected that side of the base, had been crushed by the massive trees, some of which were also fiercely ablaze.

"Too close to the jungle, Durga, you dumb slug!" he yelled aloud in triumph. "Let's see you clean that up in a hurry!" The green flash of a turbo laser shot past him from behind, reminding him the base defenses had been unaffected, and he gave full power to the repulsorlifts and headed up to orbit, taking grim satisfaction in the fact that even though it was now night, with one of the base's major emitters down, the gun crews would probably soon have other things to shoot at.

Once safely beyond the range of the emplacements, Cirran relaxed a little, knowing that he had some time. Durga knew where he was headed, but planetary transport was virtually non-existent - certainly from one hemisphere to another. The difficulty and expense of installing emitters to allow swoops, speeders or any land transport to move around the surface had so far meant that settlements on Saluya relied almost exclusively on shipping for supply and transport. This meant that without any ships - and the 'Hope' had been the only ship docked at the town's public complex - Durga and his goons were effectively stuck where they were. They could call the asteroid base, wait for a ship to arrive and commandeer it, or try and get hold of a ship somehow from somewhere else on the planet, but this would all take some time, and they certainly wouldn't risk coming after him with some transport that couldn't take him and the heavily-armed 'Hope' on, especially since they didn't know he was out of torpedoes. Still, he had to hurry.

He set the (still functioning, thankfully) auto-pilot for Luyasia on the dayside of the planet, left the cockpit, and headed back to his living space, patching up his arm as best he could with his limited medical supplies. Might treat myself to some bacta with Durga's money, he thought, grimacing as he applied a dressing, and put on a clean jacket.

Once in orbit, the trip around Saluya over the terminator to Luyasia was a short one. Cirran went for a regular approach into the capital, not wanting to attract any more attention than was necessary. He figured the chances of Captain Daris having gone out of his way to report his ship to the Saluyan authorities was low, and he was not in trouble with those authorities personally for any other reason, as far as he knew. Although Durga bribed a lot of lower level officials to keep his activities off the books on Saluya, he could still not afford to be too blatant, and so his criminal activities on the planet itself were confined to low key operations. Cirran had not been involved with any of these, and so as far as the Saluyan government knew he was just another spacer. He registered the 'Hope' with the spaceport crew under 'Captain Antilles' again and headed out into the city, following the directions to Lorvo's business he had looked up at a spaceport information terminal.

The sun beat down on the capital, which was a much larger and slightly less seedy version of the harvesting outpost town that Durga ran down south. It was constructed on a mesa at a fairly high altitude that was relatively clear of the dense jungle found on most of the planet, and served as a natural protection against Luya lizards and other jungle predators. Nonetheless Cirran noticed the giant emitter towers dotted liberally around the city skyline. The city served as the planet's main spaceport, refinery and trading post. Despite this, it was, as far as Cirran could discern, simply a larger version of the hole where Durga hung out, albeit one under considerably more control by the authorities.

Cirran was able to locate 'Lorvo's Pre-Loved Ship Emporium' in down a back street in a light industrial area. It looked to be a low key operation - the kind of place where stolen or otherwise misappropriated ships might be quietly passed on to new appreciative owners, if the price was right. Only a few ships seemed to be in stock, mostly small transports. Cirran walked into the office of the lot through the open front door, and found he was the only customer. Behind the counter a thin but hard looking middle-aged human woman was studying some records.

"Are you Lorvo?" Cirran asked.

The woman glanced quickly up, looking incredibly nervous, her hands going down behind the counter. "Who wants to know?" she inquired in a shrill voice.

"Well," Cirran started, keeping his hands steadily by his side. "My name's Tyris, and--" At the sound of his name, Cirran saw the woman's eyes go wide, and she started to reach out from behind the counter. Cirran knew what was coming. He ducked back out the door and to the side as blaster bolts smashed into the door frame behind him. A couple of bystanders cried in alarm at the sound of the shots and hurried towards the end of the quiet street.

From inside, Lorvo's shrill voice said, "Get away! Durga just warned me about you! Said you might be past, and would be after revenge on the person that set him up with his gunboats! Well I won't go quietly, do you hear me?" She fired some more shots into the door frame to make her point.

Cirran sighed. Not again. "Look, lady," he yelled, staying clear of the doorway. "I don't know what lies Durga's been selling you, but I'm just here to talk! I just want to know about Gorta Jax is all! I've been in one gunfight already today and that was bad enough, OK? I just want to ask questions!"

"Sure you do! Do they teach you that line in bounty hunter school?" Lorvo screamed.

"Look, I'm not a bounty hunter!" replied Cirran. "I'm a pilot, I was flying for Durga, I refused to kill a bunch of innocent people and so he's trying to kill me, and probably hoped you'd do his dirty work for him. I've got nothing against you! I just want information, and then I'll leave you alone! There might even be some credits in it for you!"

There was silence from inside the office. The lure of credits had been the most convincing argument Cirran had offered. "Throw in your blaster!" said Lorvo cautiously.

"Fine, fine!" said Cirran. "I can't use the damn thing too well, anyway. Here!" He reached around the door frame and tossed his blaster inside.

"What about the remotes? Durga said you had remotes," said Lorvo, her blaster still trained firmly on the doorway.

Damn, Cirran thought, so much for Plan B. Wait, the blaster is Plan B, so much for Plan A. He reached down to his last working remote, unclipping it from his belt.

"OK, I've just got the one, because Durga's boys scrapped the other two. I'm rolling it in, OK? It's not active." He adjusted a small dial on the remote and rolled it into the office along the floor where it stopped, inert. "I'm coming in now, OK? Don't shoot me." He raised his hands and stepped into the doorway.

Lorvo was training her blaster on him. "No funny business," she said. "Now, you mentioned credits?"

"Yeah, OK," said Cirran. "I'm going to take out my wallet, very slowly, OK?" Lorvo nodded. Cirran reached steadily into his jacket and took out Durga's purse-like bag. He opened it and examined the contents. Sithspit, he thought. There was not as much as he had thought there would be. A payment for Lorvo decent enough to stop her from shooting him out of spite would be around half, leaving maybe enough for only the most essential of repairs for the 'Fool's Hope'. He took the credit chits out of the bag, and placed it back in his jacket.

"Toss 'em over," said Lorvo. Cirran did so. As he did, there was a metallic sound at the doorway and an assault droid appeared through it, weapons arm at the ready. Law enforcement had arrived.

"Shots were reported fired. Is there a problem here, citizens?" the droid inquired in an emotionless tone. Cirran lowered his hands and looked towards Lorvo, noticing she had quickly lowered her gun behind the counter.

"No problem, officer," she said. "Had a weapons check on the lot go slightly wrong, is all." Cirran nodded his agreement.

"Very well," said the droid. "Please ensure you take care to properly follow safety protocols. There may be a random inspection of your safety and maintenance status in the near future."

"I will, officer," agreed Lorvo. "Just a basic malfunction." The droid seemed satisfied, and left the way it had came, clanking. Lorvo's hands came up again from behind the counter, but minus the blaster. Cirran relaxed a bit.

"I can still reach it pretty fast," Lorvo warned him, sensing this. "Think I'll keep the blaster and the remote as added payment, too. Now what do you want to know, Tyris?" she asked.

"Gorta Jax," Cirran said. "What do you know about him?"

Lorvo frowned at the mention of Jax's name. "He sold those gunboats to me. Ripped me off too, as they were in average shape on delivery. I offloaded 'em onto Durga." That would explain all those repairs I had to make, thought Cirran. "Dunno where he got them," continued Lorvo, "...but then I don't tend to ask that kind of thing, and Jax as much as told me that in this case that was definitely a good idea. He spent a couple of weeks in town, making deals and asking a few questions. Left about a month ago."

"A couple of weeks?!" Cirran exploded, realising he would have been on the same planet as Jax for some of that time. "I should have shot that Hutt in the face!"

"What, and deprive me of my best customer?" Lorvo said sarcastically. "I take it you're looking for Jax, then?"

"Yes, you could say that," said Cirran. "Did he have anyone with him? Do you know where he's going?" Cirran did not know what he would do if the trail had gone cold, and his desperation sounded in his voice.

"Look, Tyris, you've gotta understand that I didn't get too chummy with the guy. He was providing some ships and I took them of his hands without asking questions, that's how I do business. I dunno if he's travelling with anyone, although he spoke to someone on a commlink a couple of times, giving orders to an orbiting ship I think it was. But I don't know who was flying it. I don't know where he's gone to now."

"You must have heard something!" Cirran pleaded.

"Well, now that you mention it, he did mention that he needed a quick sale to follow up a business opportunity. He was keeping it pretty close to his chest, but apparently he had some kind of big pay-off waiting for him somewhere...the Turmok or Tayarmock system or something... the Tae'Remok system! I think that was what he said...yeah, the Tae'Remok system. There's something he thinks will make him plenty of creds there...he asked where he might find some information on it 'round here, but Luyasia isn't exactly your library type of city. I told him the Coruscant archives. Ha! He wasn't too happy with that!"

"Tae'Remok? Where in the seven hells is that?" said Cirran. Lorvo gave him a sarcastic look. "OK, never mind, I'll look it up on the charts. Thanks for your help, Lorvo. Easier for you I imagine if you tell Durga I never showed up. I won't if you won't." He glanced at a wrist unit he had on, noticing a tiny green indicator light blinking, and then put his hands in his pockets, inspecting the ceiling.

Lorvo stared at him for a few seconds. "So what are you waiting for?" she demanded, curious. "Durga's probably got someone on the way here now. If he catches you here, we'll both be dead. In fact..." she said, straightening up, and looking Cirran up and down, and thinking things over, "...I should probably just blast you, take the rest of your credits and get on Durga's good side when he shows up."

Cirran could see her at least half-seriously considering the idea in her mind. He looked straight at the ship dealer. "What, and hope that that enforcer droid doesn't get another 'shots fired' report to check out?" he said. "You'd have a tough time explaining from over my corpse after that last scene. Besides..." Cirran inconspicuously glanced at his wrist indicator again, where the light had gone from blinking green to blinking red, "... from about...now..." he said, as the red light stopped blinking, remaining lit, and his lifeless remote suddenly sprang up from the floor to hover at chest level, "...it's going to be a very, very bad idea for you to have a blaster in your hand."

The ship dealer's jaw dropped, and she raised her empty hands above the counter, staring hard at the gently humming remote. Cirran picked up his blaster from where he it had landed on the floor.

"Now," he said, levelling it, "I should probably just blast you, and take my credits back, shouldn't I?" The ship dealer stammered something that Cirran couldn't make out.

"Yeah, OK, whatever," he said. "It's just lucky for you I'm new to this whole underworld thug thing, and lucky for me that so many stupid people on this rock have no idea what you can do with a remote."

Cirran stepped over to the remote in question and plucked it out of the air, keeping his pistol pointed at Lorvo. "And now if you'll excuse me, Miss Lorvo, having educated a few people here on that very subject, I will be leaving this planet, without the slightest intention to return." He backed out the door, leaving the nervous woman inside, and started the jog back to the 'Hope'.

Tae'Remok, here I come, he thought. Wherever the hell you are.

---

"Suspicious Containers"
by Quistis Knox
Tasia Harough - NPC+
Rilanna Kir

Location: Drogen Shipyards
Date: Lythe 17, 4 ABY

***

Quistis knew that she had little time before meeting Tasia and the supposed Captain Kir whatever this guy was. She was able to pass by the infirmary of the Drogen Shipyards to have her wounds looked at by the medical droid.

After a careful examination and treatment of her wounds by bacta treatment wrapped in some bandages, she was good to go, but after she left she received those long speeches by a medical droid.

"Miss Knox you have to be careful, my vital signs say that your body will not endure this way of treatment that you constantly make on your body. My recommendations are no fighting whatsoever for the next few days and get some rest."

Quistis smiled and frowned. "Don't worry, I will!"

She exited from the infirmary and made her way to the cargo bay seven, where she was to supposed to meet Tasia and the man that Tasia was supposed to introduce to her.

As she arrived there she noticed that nobody had arrived yet, so she seated herself in position of frog with her hands over her knees and she waited for some time.

"Ms. Knox?" Tasia, accompanied by a taller female, approached her.

"Miss Harough and Miss Harough's friend?" Quistis got up from her position and extended her arm to greet Tasia's friend.

Tasia's friend accepted the hand. "I am Rilanna Kir, head of security for the station," she said. "Tasia tells me that you have a little dilemma involving one of the freighter captains who offloads here."

Quistis nodded in admiration. This is a surprise for a few moments. I thought that Captain Kir was a man, but he is a woman.

"Well it's not exactly a dilemma! It's more intuition that this man that says he's Colt Slane offloads here isn't exactly legal. He works for the most dangerous person of this system. It is not Jadda The Hutt because a Hutt only wants to make profit from their deals and more or less I know how he makes his moves, because it is not that different from the rest of the Hutts, but Ammut is unpredictable, if she wished instead to capture me she could pick up a blaster and fir against my head. It's this unpredictability that makes her one of the most dangerous people of this system and the cargo can give me a hint what exactly she is smuggling to Proxima IV." Quistis waited for any reply, but for a few seconds nobody talked. Quistis knew that Rilanna was thinking, so she decided to wait.

Rilanna crossed her arms over her chest and studied Quistis. "We're not in the habit of opening up offloaded cargo to anyone who happens to express interest in it," she said. "What is your professional interest in this Colt Slane? What legal credentials do you carry?"

Quistis waved her hair behind her ear. "Like I said I was in captivity, so there is no point about my legal credentials that I carry because no one is stupid enough to allow his or her prisoners to carry their legal credentials around," she said. "The professional interest is not with Colt Slane himself; my professional and personal interest is with Lady Ammut and Aeolus." She narrowed her eyes towards the two girls. "I can't say more about Aeolus, I shouldn't even mention his name to you two, but I can say this Lady Ammut is powerful and if she wants this place or any place in the galaxy, she will get it soon or later whatever means necessary."

Rilanna rolled her eyes. "Of course she will," she said. "Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We'll take the matter from here."

Quistis laughed. "Sorry I don't mean disrespect." She continued to laugh. "Look I know it is your responsibility in taking the matter from here." She let her hair that was behind her ear to come forward and she looked with more serious eyes. "You didn't have a clue that this was going on and you still don't have a clue. This isn't a petty criminal that you are involved with...

"Fine have it your way then, but probably you won't find nothing against her. You can catch a few crates, nothing else. She, by now knows of my escape and that I'm here... Let me tell you this, if you didn't know that this was happening here and Ty did say that Colt only offloads his cargo when he is passing by, so someone in here is working for her..." Quistis looked to both women.

If anybody doesn't know about this, probably a big shot in here works for her. Lady Ammut, I must applaud you for your genuine brain. You got this planned and the more I try to discover of your little operation I see that it becomes bigger and bigger by the moment. If those here wish not to accept my warnings, there is someone on Tae'Karada that will take this new discovery very seriously. Extremely serious.

"I will investigate this matter fully," Rilanna Kir said, her voice turning cold. "I don't know what you expect of me, but I will tell you what you will not be getting. I know nothing about you, and that includes your name. I do not know who you work for...for all I know, you could be working for this Lady Ammut, trying to get at the shipments of a competitor. You are unable and unwilling to provide me with any information that will prove your legitimacy in this matter. I will take the information you have provided, and use it in my investigation. If you expect any more than that from me, I strongly suggest you find it within yourself to be a hell of a lot more cooperative than you have been, because thus far all you've given me is shadows to chase."

"And shadows is what you will chase, Captain Kir. If I had anymore information on me I would gladly deliver that information, but then again how can I be sure that you are not involved?" Quistis crossed her arms and decided to start to walk away since this Rilana would not help her at all. It seems I have to find where exactly this cargo will go or go to Proxima IV, but that has to wait.

"I don't have time to play games of paranoia with you," Rilanna said. "Security is my primary concern on this station, and I will do what I can to ensure the safety of every being aboard. However, there is nothing I can do to help you if you insist on doing nothing more than coming forward with unsubstantiated rumours based on your dealings with someone you claim was holding you prisoner. You have done absolutely nothing to verify the veracity of your claims. As to my own involvement, you obviously have no idea who Shrezade Anoran is; if you did, you would understand completely that someone such as Ammut could never gain a foothold here, at least not for long." She narrowed her eyes, and continued: "And, I will allow your insult to my own character to pass. Though I do caution you to stow your air of superiority if you want any help whatsoever. No one likes a bitch."

Quistis blinked one of her eyes towards Tasia and giggled. "I like her, Tasia. She has fire in her and she uses it correctly, but she got angry very quickly and that is not good, because not only you give away your calm when you got angry you gave away information without noticing." She paused. "But you passed my little test, but keep in mind I could be working for someone interested in taking this place, now I knew exactly who to kill to make possible the take over."

Quistis smiled and took from one of her pockets a small card. "My credentials. After Tasia left the room I called my boss and explained the situation to her. >From Ty's terminal I received new credentials and a letter from my boss about business, which he delivered to me later when I was being seen by your medical droid."

"How very convenient," Rilanna said with a sigh.

"Well convenient or not, we have a situation in our hands and like you said we only have unsubstantiated rumours and the fact Colt Slane's name isn't his real name, but we or you have a chance to know what they are smuggling through here. Now we lost a precious amount of time and the more time we spend the more they slip through our fingers."

Tasia sighed and looked to Kir. "We just need to see what's in the hold," she told her.

"I just want you both to know that this is highly irregular," Rilanna said with a glare. "Magical authorization for a suddenly dangerous threat. I don't like it when the dots connect too easily, usually it's a sign of being set up." She started toward the door. "Come on, I don't have time to sit around all day while you tell me how I'm supposed to be doing my job."

Quistis saw the door open and the three girls entered the dark room, but suddenly the lights turned on and Quistis saw how big it was. Millions of crates were inside, millions upon millions, upon millions. And to think that some of these crates get forgotten here. Due to someone that forgets about them or probably the smuggler that was supposed to take the crate to its final destination but was arrested or killed. Anyway each shipyards have their forgotten crates and this shipyard was no exception.

Quistis realized something. This is the perfect place to put a bomb or something that can destroy at least this part of the station. Of course Ammut was sufficiently crazy to do so if she thinks there is no way in conquering this Shipyard, she would choose the option of the bomb. Quistis paused her thoughts. Well on the other hand this shipyard scans for that kind of potential threats...but if Colt has delivered here more than just one crate and the authorities didn't know about Colt Slane smuggling something through here without them noticing.... How can they identify a crate that has a potential bomb? Quistis approached the other two girls. "Tasia how are we going to find the correct crates in this metropolis of crates?"

Tasia smiled cleverly as she pulled a datapad from the pocket at her thigh. "Cargo manifest," she said, holding up the device. "We know which bay he was docked at, and we know the time" --she scrolled through the database as they walked along the rows of crates-- "it's easy enough to find the cargo. Everything's accounted for...at least it's supposed to be."

"Cool," Quistis replied. I have to keep this system in mind, that could be useful in the future, Quistis thought.

"Ah." Tasia halted, facing one of the crates, then looked up. "That's it."

Quistis simply glanced towards both woman.

"Well...shall we open it?" Tasia deferred to Rilanna in this instance.

Rilanna reached over and grabbed one of the cargo controls. She indicated the container they sought, and a droid whirred up, and fled down the expanse to retrieve it. It was only a moment later that the droid settled the container to the ground beside them, and fluttered back to its position with the other cargo retrievers. "Well, here's your container," she said. "Let's see what Mr. Slane's been dropping off here." With that, she popped the seal, and let the heavy lid of the container bang to the floor.

Quistis waited for Rilanna to open the box. She saw her open it and she stepped forward to look inside. "Ice crystals?" Quistis spoke out loud. She was confused for moment, then it hit her. "Rilanna, your scans function through heat right?"

"They do," Rilanna answered. "Only extremes of temperature would cause problems for the scans."

"Well for what my figures tell me it's pretty cold! Look this is ice smoke that came out." She turned to the both girls that approached the crate. "With this much ice you could pass a lightsaber or high concentrate energy bomb through your scans and it doesn't detect absolutely nothing." Quistis narrowed her eyes to the ice crystals.

"Okay," Tasia said slowly, "so you think something's in there.... Do we even dare try and find out?"

"Well I came this far to see what is inside, for now to not open it. I vote to open." She looked to both girls. "Rilanna? Tasia?"

"If there's something dangerous in there," Tasia offered, "I say we have no choice but to open it."

Quistis look to the other girl. "Rilanna? You're the official here at Drogen, so you're the authority of Drogen here. That is your choice?" Quistis looked to Rilanna.

Rilanna studied the contents of the crate, those that were visible. Finally, she nodded. "Very well, we open it." And, with that, she summoned a team to inspect the contents of the container.

Quistis saw the team of droids arrive and take the ice crystals out of the crate until it revealed that the ice crystal concealed another small crate. The droids took it out of the big crate with carefulness since nobody knew exactly what was inside, then another droid made another scan of the crate, showed that the thing inside was no bomb, so it was safe to open.

Quistis saw Rilanna nodding affirmatively to the droids that opened the small crate. The small crate itself was divided in two. The top one had what looked like Imperial Blasters, total of ten. But its design was different. The other had a strange mineral, a brilliant grey and blue color. Quistis looked to the blaster first and examined carefully. "Definitely an upgrade! More shots per round, laser sight, and of course an effective change while in battle - a launcher of thermal detonators. By the looks we stumbled on some kind of prototypes."

"I don't understand," Tasia said, studying the discovery intently. "Why would Mr. Slane just leave this here, unattended?"

"Well, probably someone was due to collect. I don't know, but here is what intrigues me." She set the weapon down and approached the mineral. She looked over it, picked up the biggest piece she could find, elevated and squeezed a little and the mineral broke instantly on the point of pressure. "This mineral is more fragile than a sand castle. Why would someone want to hide such worthless mineral as this?"

"Two things I can think of," Rilanna replied."There's more to it than meets the eye, and it is valuable regardless of its apparent uselessness. There could be a process that renders it into a much more usable state. Or, it is useless and you're jumping at shadows."

"Why would someone use a smuggler or whatever he is to smuggle this common mineral if she can take it out from Tae'Karada, Gallor or Tatooine?" She paused, she didn't expected Rilanna to answer. "Can I take a piece of this mineral and one weapon or a video recording of these weapons?"

Rilanna raised an eyebrow in a manner that might have suggested that Quistis might be suffering from some sort of psychological malady. "I can allow holographic recordings to be made of the contents of the container, but I can't allow you to take any material."

Quistis gave an ironic smile. She knew that Rilanna was kind enough to see what was inside the container, but Rilanna was suffering from a different and severe paranoia, the one that nothing happens when there is not a common enemy and thanks to this paranoia many smugglers deliver and load on their ship illegal stuff and what Rilanma finds out thanks to Quistis was probably the tip of the Iceberg. If anyone wishes to destroy these shipyards they could have done it so easily. She then looked to Tasia and saw that both girls didn't like one another.

"Very well, Miss Kir. You are the one in 'charge of security' of all this I accept." Quistis was not intimidated by what Rilanna said or thought of her, because she didn't give a shit of what Rilanna thought, especially to an 'I know all that goes here and I need no one to tell me where to investigate' kind of girl.

"Well," Tasia interjected to break the mounting aggressive tension, "you'd better begin. I have to get back soon, and I need to close up."

"I have other things to do as well. I have to make some arrangements with a friend of mine, so Miss Kir the faster it's done, the faster you will never see me again," Quistis said simply with crossing her arms around her chest.

"Then go make your arrangements," Rilanna said. "I'll contact you once I have a chip with the holoimages." She signaled to several of her security officers and they got to work on cataloging the contents of the container.

"Ok fine. Send the file to Brath'Nam Inter-Galactic Guild. They will send it to me via proper channels." She approached Tasia. "Tasia, can you tell me where I can buy a ticket for transport to New Plouton?"

"There's a kiosk on Level 205, Deck 12," she answered. "They have transports leaving every half hour."

"Thanks, Tasia for your help. Hope to see you soon." She then looked with a very angry look towards Rilanna "With all respect I have for Tasia I will not insult one of her friends. I do hope next time you're on my side or it won't be a third." Quistis turned towards Tasia and gave a smile and exited through where she had entered.

Tasia and Rilanna watched Quistis as she stalked from the bay. After a moment, Tasia smiled and teased, "I think she likes you."

"Yeah, she likes me," Ril said as she rolled her eyes. "Likes me enough to unload that blaster into me. Though, I have a feeling she'd really love to get inside your pants."

Tasia feigned indignation and swatted Ril's shoulder, then slid her hand down towards her friend's bosom. "I'd rather be inside yours," she purred, then unleashed a salacious grin and kissed Ril's cheek as she withdrew her hand. "Have to get back. What are you going to do with that cargo, though?"

"I'm going to have it impounded and checked out," she said as she slipped a hand into Tasia's. "I have a few people I can ask a few questions of. See what this stuff is and where it could be going. I'm also going to have my people taking a more active role in inspections. We've been doing good about the biological element in the station, but our new security measures haven't taken into account the cargo yet."

"I should upgrade our scanning equipment," Tasia agreed with an air of slight disappointment. "Anything that arrives in those docking bays is my responsibility.... This won't happen again."

"This was a limitation of the equipment," Rilanna said. "We know about it now, and we can fix it. It was a learning experience. This won't happen again, because we won't let it."

"Alright, that's settled," Tasia said slowly, "but what about that Quistis woman?"

Rilanna raised Tasia's hand to her lips and kissed it. "Hopefully she'll be gone soon. I'm going to have my people watching her, and she'll be under observation until she's off the station."

She sighed, though a lazy smile belied her uneasiness. "Well, at least it's people like that who keep you busy, Captain."

"I like staying busy," Ril said. "But there are certain kinds of busy I don't enjoy. I've never liked dealing with people who come in and start throwing their credentials and importance around."

"Let's just hope she finds who she's looking for and deals with him" --she flashed Ril a grin-- "off the station. I know how you hate cleaning up messes." With a chuckle, Tasia brushed behind Ril on her way to the exit, swatting her on the rear as she went and offering a charming little wave when Rilanna spun around to glare playfully.

The glare only lasted for a moment, then turned into a grin. "I'll see you tonight," she said meaningfully. She turned away and started over toward her team as they studied the results of their scans.

---