Two months Later

"Excuse me for bothering you, Commander, but it looks like we have an incoming vessel."

Lana Beniko's familiar voice cut through the fog of sleep that had overtaken Toryal's mind and he inadvertently let a yawn escape as he looked out the window of his quarters and noticed that the sun was just beginning to rise on Odessan and the view was magnificent. Not quite as magnificent as the sleeping form of Vette next to him but it was close.

Vette let a soft sigh escape her lips as she felt the comforting warmth of Toryal move away from her and she muttered something under her breath about disabling the comn system. Toryal simply smiled. "My apologies, Vette, I'm sure if you want to sleep in I could come up with some sort of excuse for Hylo."

"No..." Vette muttered as she rose to her feet and began grabbing the items of clothing that were on the ground. "Pretty sure that she'd know. She always seems to know." Vette added with a smirk as she remembered the last time her husband had tried to give her the day off by talking to Hylo. It hadn't ended well for either party.

"Commander?"

"I'm on my way, Lana." Toryal answered on his communicator as he pulled his armor on. He softly kissed Vette on the top of her head before smiling down at her. "I'll have to see if Hylo can smuggle in some Dantooine fire-wine. It's been too long since you and I have been able to enjoy a glass. This time we'll keep it away from HK-55"

Vette smiled sheepishly. She had won a bottle of fire-wine a month back in a card game against Gault only to lose it in another card game with HK-55. "How was I supposed to know he could see in the infrared spectrum? I still can't figure out what he wanted it for, or where he learned how to play cards." Toryal simply smirked. "Some questions are better left unanswered." He answered with a smile.

Vette was about to answer when Lana's voice came from the communicator once again. "Commander, we have a visitor." Lana's voice sounded ..off, it was filled with uncertainty Toryal looked at Vette and shrugged slightly. "What's going on?" He asked carefully.

"Are you familiar with a Darth Tormen?" Lana asked in a worried tone. Toryal knew the name from the days before the Eternal Empire. A Sith that was considered brutal even by other members of the Sith Empire. Supposedly he had died in a space battle above Corellia. "Not very. I do know he died in a space battle above Corellia. Wasn't exactly popular with the Dark Council."

"A Bounty Hunter just landed. He wishes to speak to you. He claims that during the war he went by the code-name "Scree".

Toryal straightened and his eyes narrowed.

"Commander?"

"Tell him I'll be right up. Keep an eye on him."

"What do you mean he wasn't popular with the Dark Council?" Vette asked as she grabbed one of her twin blasters and placed it in her holster. Toryal turned to look at his wife and sighed heavily. "He was vicious and brutal. Even by the standards of the Sith. His troops were often ordered to massacre civilians and military forces alike. He came up with a plan to kill the Chancellor of the Republic but he ended up being killed by a bounty hunter he had hired. The bounty hunter who just landed here actually."

"And the Dark Council let the guy live? They didn't try to hunt him down?" Vette couldn't keep the astonishment out of her voice. Toryal smiled slightly. "Like I said: he wasn't popular with the Dark Council."

Vette shook her head as she tried to clear her head. "And a Bounty Hunter managed to take Tormen down? I would have thought that the Jedi would have made it a priority to take him out." Toryal raised an eyebrow. "They tried, believe me. He fought against a room of Knights and Masters back on Corellia and still came out on top. A lot of people think he died in a space battle but Scree took him on in personal combat about his flagship and managed to kill him."

"Why?"

Toryal gathered the last of his armor and grabbed his lightsaber and hooked it to his belt. "I've never met Scree personally but I met others who knew of him back during the war between the Republic and the Empire. He's not your typical bounty hunter. He has a sense of honor and morals. He prefers to take his bounties alive. In fact, a good portion of his crew is working with us. Gault, Skadge, Blizz and Torian were all members of his crew at one point. I was talking to Torian a while back and he had nothing but respect for Scree.

"So what's Scree doing here now? Do you think he might want to take his crew back?"

Toryal shook his head as he clipped his second lightsaber to his belt. "I don't think so. He may be a Bounty Hunter but like I said, I heard he's a man of honor. I don't think he's going to force his crew to leave with him. Maybe he's planning on joining up."

"Let's just hope he isn't here to start trouble." Vette sighed heavily."For all we know, the Eternal Empire could have put a price on your head and I'm pretty sure they have the funds and muscle to back it up."

War Room

Toryal took note that many of his allies in the War room seemed to be on edge. He didn't blame them. Scree cut an imposing figure. Both of his blasters were in their holsters but even without them in his hands, he still stood at an intimidating 6'4 and was wearing heavily modified Mandalorian armor with a flamethrower built into the left arm. Toryal looked towards his allies and did his best to smile a reassuring smile. "Relax, everyone. If he wanted us dead he would have tried to soften us up from orbit."

Scree nodded in agreement. The helmet he was wearing did distort his voice as he finally spoke up. "I have no hostile intentions towards any of you. In fact, I've been a fan of your commander's work as he's fought against Arcann. I was in the same business until recently."

Toryal leaned against the operation's table and stared at Scree for a moment. "You said 'until recently', what's changed?"

Scree paused for a moment and sighed heavily. Both of his hands slowly grasped his helmet and with a soft hiss of escaping air, Scree pulled his helmet off to reveal a battle-scarred blue face. Toryal wasn't surprised that Scree was apparently a chiss, but he was slightly surprised by how young he seemed to be. "I became too big a target to ignore. I was hired to take down a factory producing Skytroopers in the Outer Rim by what I thought was a high ranking republic general." Scree turned his face to reveal the left side of his face was badly burned. "Turned out it was a trap set by Arcann. I was ambushed the second I landed."

"What happened?"

Scree's red eyes closed for a moment. "Apparently my reputation preceded me. I was met by almost half a dozen knights of Zakuul and nearly twenty sky-troopers." Scree shook his head. "They told me to surrender for crimes against Zakuul and Emperor Arcann." The Chiss smiled a savage smile. "Zakuul is now down four Knights and twenty Sky-troopers...but they managed to get away with something I can't live without."

"What did they take?"

Scree sighed heavily.

"They took my wife."