The shuttle was lowering its altitude toward the red and desolate planet. Stella could see iconic Geonosisan Spire as she looked down. The port was loud with the voices of scavengers and merchants. She didn't expect to see this many people on the planet. The planet of Geonosis had been already desolate even when Geonosians were still around. The planet looked more dead after Geonosians were exterminated by the Empire. Arid weather and deserts that showed little sign of life. However, there were still people flocking from all over the galaxy to excavate the technological legacy of separatists. Scavengers were busy looting what is left of ruined industrial base of CIS.

Among this crowd was Stella. Just like them, she arrived in Geonosis-3 Evacuation landing pad in a rusty shuttle from Orbital station. However, her relatively clean clothing clearly showed she is among few people on the planet who were not scavenger. Her bright blue jacket and clean black pants was quite noticeable among dusty scavengers. Terry digger wore more fitting clothing. His dusty brown jacket and dusty black pants quite fit well with the environment. Stella started to think her fashion choice might had been wrong. Then, a female Twilik grabbed her arm. The young Twilik seems to be eager to speak to her.

"Look at this. This is the operating system of BX-series droid commandos. Extremely powerful data processor." The blue Twilik with green eye tried sell a device. "Only for 999 credits. There is no better deal than this." The Twilik showed a green electronic chip.

"I'm not interested." Stella shrugged off the seller tried to go on her way. But, Terry Digger seemed to be interested in the offer.

"Interesting offer. But, where did you find it? We did a verification that it is real one."

"No, I cannot let you know my business secret." The Twilik looked quite reluctant.

"Then I will not buy your processors. I was about to buy 2000 of them." Terry pretended to leave.

Twilik rushed to stop Terry. "Yes, Yes, I will show you where I got them. Come to my workshop tonight. It's a small house near the northern gate of this settlement."

"Not tonight. I have already an appointment." Terry said as he slowly left the port.

"Then, how about tomorrow?" The Twilik seemed to desperate to sell the chip.

"Okay. Let's meet you in your workshop tomorrow morning." He replied.

"Thank you. See you tomorrow." The twilik answered

Outside of the port, a speeder taxi was waiting for them. They took the taxi.

"Are you really going to buy that chips?" Stella asked. " in my opinion, it was an outdated datapad."

"That was not BX-series droid commando OS. It looks similar but it's in fact the part of the Geonosian computer." Terry explained. "I cannot believe that we could be this lucky. The twilik will lead us to the central computer"

"I cannot understand what you are saying." Stella was confused.

"Just wait until what the Twilik shows." He seems to be excited. "Let's focus on what we came here for first. Driver. Could you take me to 'The XYZ cantina' on 123 Street please?"

Speeder Taxi sped through the dusty street of the Excavation-3 settlement.

The XYZ cantina was just another shabby cantina on another dusty rock. It was a mud building sustained by garbage steel beams brought from CIS industrial bases. Cantina music was flowing through the cantina and tough people were having a break from their tough lives. Among this dirty mess, the female journalist and the historian was waiting for a person.

Stella felt extremely uncomfortable in the cantina. The music was too repulsive for her musical taste which was used to elegant Chandrilan music and she did not like the dirty environment of the cantina. The people in their ragged clothes. She had never liked traveling outer rim sectors. She wanted to immediately return to the core worlds but her will to seek the truth stop her from leaving.

"When would the person come?"

She asked her historian friend.

"He should be arriving by now. You are so eager to leave this dust ball? Aren't you?" Terry teased Stella.

"No, no. The truth need to be reveal at any cost."

Countered Stella.

Then, an old Mon Calamari came into the cantina. His skin seemed to be quite dried out and he seemed extremely thirsty. Months of living in the arid planet seemed to have quite wear out him out. He looked around and spotted Terry.

"Terry! Long time no see." He greeted Terry.

"Hello, Hep. How is your business going?"

Terry welcomed the Mon Calamari.

"Good. I think I earned enough money in scavenging business. I'm considering leaving this dust ball and expanding to other businesses like asteroids mining." Hep boasted about his business success.

"Great news! Where are you considering to buy the mining license?" Terry said while signaling a bartender to bring some drinks. The bartender brought a bottle of Kiwis beer. Terry poured it into glass cups and handed the cup to Hep.

"I'm considering buying one in Copperline system. Low tax. Lax regulations. Almost no oversight." He answered while drinking beer. "I like beer. Good for thirsty day like today. Can you but me more?"

"I will. Anyway, this is Stella, the granddaughter of Ben Starseeker." Terry introduced Stella to Hep. "Stella. This is Hep, former SIS senior agent who worked during Clone War."

"Please to meet you. I'm Stella Starseeker from Galactic Information Report. I'm here to discuss about the fate of Ben Starseeker and Darth Sidious." Stella introduced herself.

"Ah, that naive Chandrilan girl that Terry always talked about. I heard that you are seeking truth about your grandfather." Hep said while drinking another cup of beer. "He was an idealistic man. Some might say he was naive. Had too much trust on the system of Republc. Typical Chadrilan. He was a journalist who..."

"Enough biography." Terry interjected. "We are here to investigate about the truth about the disappearance of Ben Starseeker. Did you bring what I requested?"

"Yes. When I was fired from SIS after the establishment of the Empire. I smuggled out some datapads. Among them was a surveillance report on Ben Starseeker." He took out an old data load from his bag. "This is the data pad about the journalist. According to this report, Ben Starseeker visited Geonosis when it was under the occupation of Republic for an unknown reason. An agent broke into his home to seek any evidence of 'treasonous' activities and stolen a data pad about 'Darth Sidious'. According to the data, it seems the journalist seemed to think Darth Sidious is a high-ranking official in Republic."

"Ben was under surveillance of SIS?"

Stella was shocked. SIS spied on a journalist? She thought it was outrageous.

" It was a different time. The Republic lost its way. No wonder the Empire was established just after Clone War." Hep said grimly.

"Anyway. Why did you call us to Geonosis? It is unlikely that any evidence remained here after Clone War." Terry complained. "You could have just sent the data pad through interstellar delivery."

"No, it seems there had been undiscovered Geonosian database. I found a strange database center while my people were scavenging. It's far more sophisticated then any other CIS computers. It might be central computer of Genosians. I need an expert to see it. Also, it contains a lot of data referring to Darth Sidioius. Because many of them are encrypted, I need your help." Hep explained.

"Okay. Let's go to the site. Lead the way." Terry stood up and headed to exit. The Mon Calamari and the journalist followed him. A dark hooded figure watched them leave the cantina.