A few hours later, Dace is walking up on to the bridge, adjusting his black jacket. He comes up behind Micah, where she is watching the swirling blue and white tunnel of hyperspace with an absent-minded smile on her face. "We's comin' up on Persephone, Cap'n," Micah reports. She asks, voice full of hope, "Think we might be able to stay awhile this time?"

"Doubt it," Dace cynically responds. "Don't feel too comfortable staying in one place for too long. Too many opportunities to get into trouble. Especially for Jaylen."

"True dat, boss," Micah responds with a smile.

"Just finish this job, find a new, keep flying. You know how it is," Dace says.

Micah continues smiling, but it's the smile of someone trying to hide her disappointment. "Think Bajer's got another job for us?"

"I hope not. I'm tired of working for him. Maybe someone has a better job, Manty and Fingo perhaps. They got more money," Dace replies. "Maybe even Prilence."

"Didn't she shoot you once," Micah asks.

"Yeah, she did a bit, but we're past that by now," Dace responds. "Maybe."

Micah smirks again and rolls her eyes as she mocks, "Whatever you say, boss. Hope you got some better armor." She turns back to the flight console and says, "Droppin' out of hyperspace." She pulls down on a lever, where a look of shock and dread flashes across both of their faces as they look out the front window. Greeting them is a massive Republic cruiser, right in their path. "Well, shit," Dace calmly says despite the situation.

"Easy, boss," Micah tries to calmly say. "Maybe they's just sittin' here waitin' fo' another ship."

Dace shoots her a disbelieving look just before a crackle of static comes from the comm. "Defiance transport Serenity, this is the Republic cruiser Allegiance. Please stand down, cut your engines, and prepare to be boarded. Let's make this as easy as possible. Don't make us shoot you down. Awaiting your reply." "SHIT," Dace exclaims.

Behind them, Jaylen comes onto the bridge with a confused look on his gray face. "What's all the ruckus about…what the frell is that? Is that the gorram Navy? We ain't getting' caught again, are we?"

"Looks like," Micah quips.

"Turn us around, get us outta here," Dace tells Micah.

"Can't Cap'n, they gots us in a tractor beam," she replies with a helpless look on her face.

"Do we dump the cargo," Jaylen nervously asks.

"Right in front of them," Micah incredulously replies.

"Well…" Jaylen responds, trying to come up with a solution but not being able to find one as Dace looks down in thought.

Coming to a decision, he looks back up and tells them, "No, we can't run, and it's no use fighting. They won't find the goods. Let's just be cool, all our fines are paid up, they've got no reason to stop us," Dace orders, showing a grim determination not to let this get him down. "Mic, take us into their hanger bay, if that's where they want us to go. Jaylen, let's go greet our guests. Mic, join us when we're parked." Dace goes to the intercom and says, "Vima, meet us in the cargo bay. We've got some Navy guests."

Meanwhile, Micah gets on the com as well and tells the Allegiance, "No prob, Allegiance. Tell me where to go, and I'll take us there."

Leaving the bridge, Jaylen asks Dace, "Gorramit Dace, why are we just givin' in? You know they're gonna find the goods once they get done searching Serenity. We gotta run!"

Dace angrily stops and spins around, looking Jaylen in the eye. "And what good is that going to do, huh Jaylen? We run, we give them a reason to chase us. They catch us, and then they really take their time searching Serenity. Then they will find the goods. We play it cool, and we just might get off easy."

"Yeah, but if Bajer's sold us out…"

"If Bajer's sold us out, which I find very unlikely, then maybe we can cut a deal for a better sentence. We know things about him that he doesn't particularly want to be known. It would be stupid for him to sell us out. Hell, they probably just want information about him, I know he's been cutting it too closely lately anyways." Dace turns back around and continues walking to the cargo bay docking hatch. "We're better off cooperating right now. Deal with what's in front of us, it's all we can do."

"And what happens when the thing creepin' up on us from behind stabs us in the back," Jaylen cynically asks.

Dace pauses at door and stares ahead, not looking at Jaylen when he quietly replies, "Then we won't have to worry about dealing anymore."

Vima walks up beside them and reports, "Docking port's sealed up tight, Capt'n. You ready for this?"

"Not really," Dace replies without looking at her.

"You want me to dance for them," she says as she zips her flight suit down to her naval with a playful grin on her face, trying to make Dace smile.

"I do," Jaylen responds, hopefully. Before anyone can reply, the docking port door opens, admitting a squad of fully armed Republic soldiers followed by a Commander in a snazzy Naval uniform with a weathered face, short blond hair, and icy-blue eyes. The soldiers fan out around the three smugglers, pointing their rifles at them as Jaylen and Vima look nervously around.

Dace just stares straight at the Commander with a perfect poker expression and his arms crossed before putting on a fake casual smile and asks, "What can I do for you, Commander? We haven't entered restricted space, have we? I thought Persephone was still a secure system." The Commander just coldly stares the three of them down before holding out his hand, indicating that he wants their registration. Vima hands it over to him, trying to smile seductively for the Commander, but she just gets a withering stare in response. The Commander scowls at the padd, before looking up at Dace.

"Captain Saecen?"

"Yes," Dace warily responds.

"Is this your entire crew?"

"I have one more in the cockpit. She doesn't move to well, her legs don't work. That's why she's not down here yet. She's my pilot," Dace responds.

"We're going to need to talk to her, too," the Commander orders. "Let's go."

"'scuse me, what's this all about," Vima asks as Jaylen's hand goes straight to his gun. The soldiers raise their blaster rifles, and Dace holds his hands out, trying to steady everyone.

"Jaylen, calm down. Just relax."

"But Capt'n…"

"Calm down," Dace insists sternly. "May I ask what in the hell is going on here, Commander," Dace asks, trying to sound calm but not succeeding in keeping his anger out of his voice.

"We just need to talk to you and your crew, Captain. Nothing too serious, if you have nothing to hide," the Commander responds. "And please don't mistake it for a request." The Commander turns around and walks out the airlock towards his ship as Dace stares lasers into his back.

"Yes, sir," he responds sarcastically, and moves to follow him.

"Well this is turning out to be a great gorram day," Dace thinks aloud to himself, sitting at an empty table in an interrogation chamber looking up at the ceiling. Sighing loudly, Dace looks at the door for about the thousandth time in the last twelve hours. Kicking his feet up onto the table, he tries again to get comfortable, but there is no comfort to be found in the solid metal chairs. Dozing off, he is startled awake by the sound of the door finally opening and the Republic Naval Commander marching briskly in the room. "'Bout gorram time someone showed up. Where's my crew? And isn't it a law or somethin' that you have to feed your prisoners, or at least give them something to drink?"

The Commander raises an eyebrow and cynically asks, "Would you have even trusted me enough to eat or drink anything that I gave you?"

Considering for a moment, Dace replies, "Well, no. But it's still the principle. So, am I going to be let in on the big secret as to why you're holding me here? I don't even know your name. This is no way to begin a relationship."

The Commander warily considers Dace for a moment before finally sitting down across from him. He adjusts his tunic before finally introducing himself, "Commander Relck Ulgo, Republic Naval Cruiser Relkin Spire. Your crew is fine, they've been looked after. Quite the eclectic bunch you've assembled, but with your background that doesn't surprise me at all. You're a very hard man to find, Captain Saecen."

"Comes in handy with a job like mine. Some of our, um, clients wish to keep a low profile," Dace honestly responds.

"So do you, it seems. Especially after what happened ten years ago," Ulgo says, revealing that he knows more than Dace wants him to know.

Dace looks down, collecting his thoughts. This isn't the way he thought this would go. "It seems that you know more about me than I am comfortable with, Commander. You have me at a disadvantage."

Ulgo smiles grimly and replies, "I'd better know a lot about you, I've only been searching for you for the last eight years."

"Why?"

Pausing for a moment, Ulgo continues, "Because of who you were, what you did, and frankly, because of what you can do for the Republic. We need you."

"Ha," Dace barks out a laugh, finding all of this to be extremely funny and ironic. "I think you've got the wrong guy, Commander. There is nothing that I can do for a dying corpse."

"As long as people think that way, then yes, there is nothing that you can do. But maybe there's something that we can do for you."

Dace grins cynically and asks, "Like what?"

Ulgo leans forward and sternly says, "Like, keep you out of jail. I think you've racked up at least 542 counts of smuggling against your record. That's pretty impressive, even for a former Jedi Knight."

Dace instantly loses his grin and says in a low voice, "I don't know what you're talking about, Commander."

Ulgo gives Dace an "Oh really?" look with his piercing icy-blue eyes, "Are you telling me that your name is not Dace Saecen, former Jedi Knight, whose mother, Laryn Saecen, was murdered fifteen years ago by an unknown assailant, who was also the only survivor of the attack at Serenity Valley on Tython, the mythical Jedi homeworld? An attack by a group of mercenaries who were well trained in killing Jedi Knights and who we don't know who hired them. And whose ship is named Serenity in honor of that defeat? A ship that he routinely performs illegal activities aboard?"

Sternly, Dace replies, "You know your stuff, I'll give you that Commander. I think the legality of my actions is up to a bit of interpretation, but I'm sure I'm in the minority in that opinion. But you're still skirting around the issue here. You didn't bring me here on some smuggle charge, or you would have processed me by now. So, why am I here?"

Ulgo leans back in his chair and takes a deep breath, bracing himself for this. He knew that he had everything riding on this conversation, and it showed in his demeanor. "I've got a proposition for you, Captain."

Dace smirks and replies, "Well, I'm flattered Commander, and don't think that I'm not interested, but I just don't think you're my type."

Ulgo sighs heavily and testily says, "That's not what I had in mind, Saecen. It's not that kind of proposition."

"Oh, that's a little disappointing."

"Captain, could you please be serious for a moment. This is important, lives are at stake here," Ulgo angrily says as he leans forward, almost standing. The pressure is getting to me, he thinks to himself. Dace continues to sit there with his arms crossed and that dumb smirk on his face, knowing that he's getting to the Commander. However, a trace of doubt and confusion is still there. This isn't exactly going as he thought it would. Ulgo takes another deep breath and leans back and pushes a button on the padd in front of him. "Nihllus, could you come in here, please?" Dace looks over at the door as is opens, revealing a large reptilian Barabel with dark greenish-brown scales all over his body, blood-red eyes, and a long muscular tail wearing silver and gold armor. Looking at the Barabel, Dace gets shivers running up and down his spine. The feeling of maliciousness radiating off of Nihllus was more than enough to put a cold feeling in the pit of Dace's stomach. This is not someone to piss off, Dace thinks to himself. Nihllus strides up behind Ulgo and just stands at attention.

"Captain Saecen, this is Nihllus Kryik, a Shadow," Ulgo explains.

Looking impressed, Dace replies, "A Shadow? Well now, I thought they only existed in scary stories and fairy tales."

"Are you sure that this is the right person," Nihllus asks Ulgo with plenty of disdain in his husky, gravelly voice.

Continuing his briefing with a strained voice, Ulgo says, "Nihllus is going with you on a mission…"

"Ha! This is too good to be true," Dace cynically interrupts. "You're hiring me? The Republic must be more desperate than I thought if they're going to hire me at my rates."

"Hmph," Nihllus cynically comments. "This is the great Saecen that I've been hearing about? I'm not impressed."

Dace looks at the intimidating Barabel with a challenging look on his face. "You got somethin' to say to me, sunshine?"

Nihllus takes a threatening step towards Dace, but Ulgo stands up and orders in a stern voice, "Stand down, Kryik! You're here on my request, but I will send you back if I need to. Now, I need the both of you. The Republic needs the both of you, right now. I suggest you two leave your differences behind." Ulgo slowly sits back down as Nihllus backs down a bit, taking a step backwards.

"I don't have any differences with our Shadow friend here," Dace innocently says. There is plenty of truth in his words, and he is struggling to figure out how this Barabel monstrosity knows him.

"Of course you don't," Nihllus says with disgust in his voice. "How could you care about people that get in the way of your profit margin?"

Dace looks at Ulgo and begins to say, "I really don't know what this lizard-brain is talking about, but…"

"Five years ago," Nihllus interrupts, leaning forward and with malice in his voice. "You were smuggling a shipment of medical supplies out of Whellin. Me and my partner, my hatch-mate, were pursuing you and had you cornered in an alley-way. You had led us into a trap and murdered my hatch-mate to get away, like a coward. And for that, I will kill you one day."

Dace leans back in his chair, and looks at Ulgo with concern on his face and in his voice, "You want me to go on a mission with this lunatic? Are you out of your ever-lovin' mind too?"

Ulgo disgustedly shakes his head and looks the both of them deeply in the eyes before telling them, "I really don't care about what has happened in the past between you two. I need the both of you, now, together, if this mission is to succeed. If I really have to find someone else to do it, then I will, but I really don't want to have to do that. I have spent too damn much time and energy finding you, Mr. Saecen, to find another way. And I will be very upset if I have to find that other way. And you can't afford to make me find another way. Do I make myself clear," Ulgo asks, his voice full of veiled threats.

Dace thinly smiles and sarcastically asks, "And what is this mission you have for me, Commander?"