A YT-2400 freighter by the name of Lightfinger cruised through the swirling maelstrom of hyperspace. Vykk Draygo slouched in its pilot's chair, scowling at the controls. Brianna Tharsen sat adjacent to him in the copilot's seat wearing an expression of utter boredom.
"This sucks," Vykk said dejectedly, "the Vong are practically shutting down interstellar travel and the Peace Brigade is breathing down our necks. I tell ya, it's getting hard to –"
"…earn a dishonest living. Shut up," Brianna said, exasperated.
"You alright?" Vykk asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm just a little tired of hearing you say that. I know times are hard for us, but you don't have to keep bringing it up just to break the silence," Brianna replied.
"Fair enough," Vykk consented, "Just thinkin' about our destination."
"Liar. You're thinking about what we plan to do once we get there," Brianna corrected.
"So what if I am?" Vykk asked heatedly.
"We both know it's the right choice," Brianna stated, "Once the war's over, we can go back to what we do best. Quiet your restless mind."
"I can't. I just don't like taking sides. So what if Antilles gave the Vong a bloody nose at Borleias? The New Republic is still losing the war."
"So they need our help, don't they?" Brianna asked helpfully.
"We can't make that much of a difference. All they'll let us do is ferry refugees from one beleaguered planet to another until we get sucked up by a grutchnya and turned into slaves for the rest of our lives," Vykk said dismissively.
"It's noble work," Brianna insisted.
"It's useless work. Sure, we're being good people and giving refugees more time to live, but it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme. We give them maybe a month that they wouldn't otherwise have had. Yeah, we'd be real heroes," Vykk said sardonically.
"Damnit, Vykk! Will you get your head out of your ass for one second?" Brianna asked, incensed.
Vykk flinched in surprise at the venom in her words. He snapped his head around and stared directly into her eyes. "I'm just being realistic. I want to help just as much as you do. I just think the New Republic is doomed and that we'd be better off disappearing to some remote planet for the rest of our lives."
"They're not doomed. I'll admit that losing Coruscant was a huge blow, but there's still fight left in them," Brianna argued.
"I haven't given up all hope," Vykk retorted, "Why do you think we're headed to Mon Cal? The New Republic is trying to pull itself together and I want to be there."
Brianna scoffed. "You just want to join the Talon Karrde organization."
"So what if I do? They'll be around long after the Vong grind the New Republic to dust. It may not be a good living, but it beats slaving for the Vong," Vykk opined.
"You say that like it's a foregone conclusion," Brianna said worriedly.
"Yeah, so?" Vykk said rudely.
"Why do you have to be so defeatist?" Brianna asked.
"Survival," Vykk replied simply.
"Survival?" Brianna echoed.
"Being prepared for the worst helps you roll with the punches," Vykk explained, "Given the New Republic's track record, it's setting itself up for a beatdown and I don't want to fall into their hole.
"We can help the New Republic roll with the punches. Besides, we're both hardened survivors. Nothing, and I mean nothing, can take us down," Brianna said defiantly.
"How many times have you been an inch from death?" Vykk demanded.
"Come on, you silly nerfherder. What's the worst that could happen?" Brianna chided.
Rising to the bait, Vykk assumed a haughty expression. Before he could utter a sound, however, the Lightfinger violently decanted from hyperspace. Immediately in front of them was a massive dovin basal mine. Grateful that he had upgraded the Lightfinger's sensors over a year ago, Vykk scanned the surrounding area. One squadron of coralskippers was currently on an intercept vector with no other enemy ships in sight.
"Bri, get in the dorsal turret and strap in tight," Vykk barked.
Brianna leapt out of the copilot's seat and dashed to the dorsal turret. After confirming that she had strapped in, she aligned her sights and searched for targets. Targeting the vanguard coralskipper, she loosed a barrage of splinter shots. The dovin basal swallowed most of them while the rest peppered the skip's port side. Switching to full power, Brianna hit the skip dead center, blowing it into wayward chunks of yorik coral.
Destroying that coralskipper had taken nearly twenty seconds. The remaining eleven coralskippers used that time to fire endless streams of plasma at the Lightfinger from maximum range. The freighter's shields fell to fifty percent. Once they passed each other, both the freighter and the coralskippers looped around for another run. Instead of driving for the coralskippers, Vykk dove at the dovin basal mine. Easily coping for the change in trajectory, Brianna burned down another skip. Passing shots brought the Lightfinger's shields down a further ten percent.
"Get ready for the Solo Slingshot," Vykk advised.
Reaching the mine, Vykk used its gravity to slingshot the Lightfinger around it and place the freighter on a radically different vector. The coralskippers hesitated for a brief moment. Brianna used it to her advantage by knocking out two more. Realizing the coralskippers would intercept him before he could jump to hyperspace, Vykk turned the ship around and sped for the mine once again. Anticipating him, half the coralskippers placed themselves between the Lightfinger and the dovin basal mine while the rest vectored in on the freighter's aft. Plasma pounded the freighter from both sides, reducing its shields to twenty percent. Brianna blasted another coralskipper as the freighter blew past them.
With the seven remaining coralskippers behind them, Vykk vectored slightly away from the dovin basal mine. He drained all available power from the shields and lasers and diverted it to sublight. The Lightfinger darted forward, quickly outdistancing the regrouping coralskippers. Once free of the dovin basal mine's interdiction, the navicomputer took only thirty seconds to cough up a safe route. Allowing himself a brief smile of victory, Vykk pulled the hyperdrive levers and left the battle light years behind.
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Emerging from hyperspace at Mon Calamari, the Lightfinger was immediately queried by perimeter forces.
"Attention freighter, hold at your current position while we process your identification," the picket ordered. Five minutes of comm silence broke with a crackle of static. "Attention freighter Lightfinger, shut down all major systems and prepare to be boarded," the picket instructed.
Vykk obediently brought down all systems but life support and the portside docking hatch. Awash in the glow of emergency lighting, he propped his feet up on the board and waited calmly for boarders. Brianna merely nodded and aped his relaxed posture. Another five minutes passed until they heard faint sounds emerging from the Lightfinger's port side. Heaving themselves from their seats, Vykk and Brianna casually strode to the hatch. They arrived just as the hatch irised open, admitting a Duro, two humans and a Bith, all armed and wearing New Republic uniforms. Upon seeing Vykk, the Duro approached him.
"Are you Captain Vykk Draygo?" the Duro asked plainly.
"Yes, Traveler" Vykk confirmed, "and you are?"
"Lieutenant Jyver Bhert. Shortly, you and your companion may accompany us on our inspection of your vessel," Bhert said flatly.
Two of Bhert's men stepped forward to frisk Vykk and Brianna. Coming up clean on both of them, Bhert instructed them to fall into step behind him with two of his men bringing up the rear. The Bith next to Bhert held a peculiar scanner, staring at it intently. He noticed in his peripheral vision that Vykk was staring at the device.
"Scans for Vong biotech," the Bith said simply.
"Couldn't you just program a mouse droid to do that?" Vykk asked.
"I guess you could. It'd be even better to have a YVH-series droid along. It can find Vong and kill them," the Bith said significantly.
"No kidding," Vykk agreed, "I guess you just have to hope you get dealt a better sabacc hand next time you're out on patrol."
"I guess," the Bith said, resuming his scrutiny of the bioscanner.
They continued on through the lounge and every other nook and cranny of the ship. After an uneventful twenty minutes, they found themselves back at the docking hatch. The two men behind Vykk and Brianna brushed past them as Bhert about-faced to address Vykk.
"Everything seems to be in working order with no apparent contraband," Bhert concluded, "Soon after we leave, a pair of X-wings will escort you down to Coral City."
Minutes later, the Lightfinger settled into its assigned berth in the Coral City spaceport. After locking the ship down, Vykk and Brianna made their way to customs. Passing through without incident, they proceeded down the path to the city proper.
Vykk's roving gaze alighted upon a familiar figure leaning casually against the wall. Nudging Brianna, he nodded towards the figure. Brianna's eyebrows lifted slightly as Vykk led her towards the mysterious individual. Once they closed to within a meter, they could make out his bulbous head more clearly. It was the same Bith that had just been aboard the Lightfinger with the inspection team. He was the first to speak.
"Interested in a game of pazaak?" the Bith asked furtively.
"Don't you mean sabacc? Pazaak went out of style a thousand years ago," Vykk said, shaking his head ruefully.
"Right you are Mr. Draygo. Name's Graym Vaffer. Follow me," the Bith said crisply.
The three wound their way through pedestrian traffic, making numerous turns until they finally reached a street that admitted speeders. Graym led them to a parked speeder and motioned for them to get in. Taking the controls, he joined the general flow of traffic.
Twenty kilometers later, Graym brought the speeder to a halt outside a nondescript two-story building. Vykk and Brianna exited the speeder and calmly entered the building. Once the door shut behind them, a woman approached them with a weapons scanner. Rolling their eyes, Vykk and Brianna waited patiently for the search to come up dry. Apparently satisfied, the woman gestured to a staircase and resumed her seat at what appeared to be a reception desk.
Vykk and Brianna quickly ascended the plain staircase and approached a door on the second floor flanked by two fierce-looking guards. One guard jerked the door open and the pair entered without breaking stride. The room was austerely decorated; a single holo adorned the opposite wall. Graym stood silently in the far corner of the room, propped up against the wall. A Greel wood desk dominated the room. Seated behind it was a thick, black-haired human with generous stubble adorning his chin. Vykk and Brianna took seats opposite him.
"If Graym hasn't already told you," the man began, "I'm Aves. What can Talon Karrde do for you?"
"It's not what he can do for us; it's what we can do for him," Vykk said, automatically launching into a sales pitch.
"Just looking for work, eh?" Aves asked, stroking his chin. "You have a name, sonny?"
"I'm Vykk Draygo and this is my partner, Brianna Tharsen," Vykk said plainly.
"You expect Talon Karrde to be interested in a Nar Shaddaa street urchin and a Mistryl outcast?" Aves asked stonily.
"Well, yeah," Vykk answered lamely.
Aves chuckled to himself. Turning to Graym, he said, "They'll do."
Plainly confused, Vykk couldn't help uttering, "Huh?"
Turning back to Vykk, Aves explained, "We ran background checks on the both of you before you even set foot on Mon Calamari. A former Mistryl Shadow Guard is an invaluable resource and a man that can deal with one has to be tough. And according to our information, you two are extremely trustworthy. That's rare in the fringe. Anyway, Graym here will fill you in on the details of your assignment. I have more important things to do."
With that, he got up and left, leaving Graym to assume his seat.
"Since Karrde has things pretty well covered here, Aves would like to send us three to Naboo to help our intelligence gathering operations there. I'll have a Skipray blastboat for transport and whatever else I deem necessary. You'll travel in your own ship. For safety reasons, we'll be taking the long way around to Naboo. Any questions?" Graym paused, and then continued, "I suggest we get moving. Our respective ships should be ready for launch."