The instant Koril's shuttle landed in the lead Destroyer's hangar and lowered its ramp, several armed Huxnel swarmed the cabin and pulled him out of his seat, binding his hands behind him. They gripped him roughly without saying a word, leading him away quickly. Koril furtively glanced at his captors, half expecting to see Horatio Sheridan among them. He didn't recognize any of them, though, from either of his previous encounters he'd had with them. How expansive was this group of pirates? If they had enough to fully crew four Star Destroyers, they had to number in the thousands at least.

Business must be good, Koril thought darkly. As they led him through the large ship, they passed by a handful of crew quarters corridors that had been modified into shielded cells. As far as he could tell, each cell had at least one occupant. He didn't see any Paneau, so who were all these captives?

Finally coming up on the main bridge, the Huxnel guards gripping his arms forcefully shoved him forward, meeting even more guards. He stumbled slightly but they righted him, pulling him along further. They brought him to the bridge's main viewport where the woman he had spoken with earlier stood with her back to him. The guards kept tight grips on his arms as the woman addressed him without looking back.

"You certainly are brave," she began with a light sigh. Turning her head to glance at him, she smiled mockingly. "Didn't your girl tell you what we do with our prisoners?"

Though difficult, Koril withheld his anger, instead focusing on what he had handed himself over for. "I came to negotiate the release of one of my friends."

The woman turned to fully face him, her expression falling. "Negotiate? And why would I do that? You're already our captive. Why should I bargain with you?"

"As a sign of good faith. Release one of them, and I can tell you the most profitable locations to mine, saving you from having to find them yourself."

Seemingly amused, the woman's smile returned as she gazed at him calculatingly. "Again, why would I do that, when I can torture it out of you right now?"

Koril narrowed his eyes. "You can do whatever you want to me, but you'll only get information out of me if you cooperate."

The woman laughed lightly. "If I cooperate? Hm." With sweeping steps, she walked over to a control console, lightly tracing her fingers across its smooth surface as if in thought. After a few moments, she turned back to him, leveling another cold smile at him.

"And who am I to release to you?"

Koril held the woman's gaze intensely for a long silence, readying himself.

"Kihara, the blind Jedi."

Though the woman's eyes narrowed, her smile remained. "Hm," she said lightly with a laugh. She began to turn away, but stopped suddenly, cocking her head slightly as she looked back at him. "No," she said thoughtfully, "you don't want her."

Koril maintained his defiant glare as she continued. Her smile faded, though, her expression becoming more serious as she turned back to him.

"You knew better than to ask for Mand, though I know you're good friends. She knows too much about us; there's no way we'd give her up. But...you also had to know that we wouldn't release the other Jedi to you, either. She may be blind, but she is far from helpless." She bit her lower lip, eying him shrewdly. "No... You asked for her, expecting me to refuse and offer the third woman instead. She's the one you really want."

Koril felt his stomach turning to ice, but their gazes remained locked as he sustained his hard glare. The woman smiled again, looking over his face.

"I see it now," she said curiously. "You two look far too much alike to be distant relatives. You must be closer. Siblings, maybe? But I thought you were the last Rys'tihn. Have you been lying to your faithful people all this time?"

Koril took a step forward but the guards at his side tugged him back, tightening their grips, cutting off the circulation to his arms, but he didn't care. He glared at her, his voice intense and dark as he emphasized every word.

"Let her go."

The woman's expression became grim as she shook her head slowly. "You're ours now." She turned her head slightly and nodded to one of her guards behind Koril, and they began to lead him away. Furious, Koril angrily struggled against his captors, shouting back to the woman.

"You'll get nothing out of me until she's safe!!"

Before Koril could react, one of the guards beside him forcefully elbowed him in the stomach, doubling him over in pain and knocking his breath out of him. He coughed and gasped, trying to recover as they continued to drag him away, but they were stopped by the woman's abrupt order.

"Wait."

The guards turned Koril back to face her, grabbing his hair to make him look up. He was still breathing heavily, but he tried to control it to hear what the woman was saying to a Huxnel officer who was standing beside her.

"Search the hangar, and destroy his shuttle. I want her found, now."

The officer nodded and left quickly, leaving the woman nearly shaking in her fury. She stepped up to Koril, in his face as she spoke quietly but irately.

"No one escapes my ship. She will be found, and you'll be the last Rys'tihn, if you even survive us in the first place."

Confused, Koril swallowed. "What are you talking about?"

The woman's face intensified, incensed at his response. "Your sister somehow managed to escape. But not for long." Again, she glanced behind him at one of the guards and nodded curtly, returning her intense gaze to Koril.

"Take him to the Chamber."

As he approached the Chamber's heavy, air lock-style doors, Horatio's heart was pounding in his ears. He was fairly certain this wasn't going to work, but he had to try. He wasn't going to have any other chance.

With his security code, the large door swept open, its gears grinding noisily. After glancing down the hallway both directions to ensure he hadn't been followed, he stepped inside quickly, knowing he didn't have much time. As the door sealed behind him, he began his work.

In the middle of the room, shackled to a tortuous metal chair was a drugged Mand Natiyr, the last person he wanted to see. Though her wrists were secured to the chair's arms, she was slumped over and motionless, save for her shallow breathing. Having heard him step over to her, though, Mand slowly raised her head and looked up at him, her eyes barely half open. He was already drawing up the clear liquid from a bottle he had pulled out of his jacket pocket into a hypodermic injector when she recognized him and began to speak weakly.

"Jespir," she said with a mockingly surprised edge. "I thought you'd have been promoted by now."

"Shut up," he countered instantly, stuffing the vial back into his pocket. Pulling her arm straight under the restraints, he jabbed the injector just under her skin, emptying its contents into her bloodstream. She belatedly tried to tug her arm away, but still weak from her sedation earlier, she moved little. He put the injector away, too, stepping closer to her so he could speak quickly and quietly.

"You're being transferred to another cell. I was supposed to give you more sedative, but I gave you a stimulant to reverse its effects. The stimulant should take effect soon, but you'll have to act like I put you under again if you want to escape while you're being moved. The ysalimir has been poisoned, so it'll be dead soon and you'll be able to use your powers again. You remember how to get to the hangar bay from here?"

As the stimulant freed Mand from the sedative they had given her earlier, she sat up straighter, her eyes narrowing in distrust. Instead of answering his question, she posed one of her own. "Why are you helping me?"

Horatio gave her an annoyed look. "Because I'm a nice guy," he answered with a sarcastic bite. He asked again, more insistently. "Do you remember?"

Again, she didn't answer. "What of the other two?"

"Kihara will meet you in the hangar. The other's already made it off the ship. If you can't get there by yourself--"

"I'll make it."

Horatio nodded after a moment, glancing back at the door nervously. He didn't have much time left. Returning to her, he stepped back, preparing to leave. "You have to make them believe you've been drugged again, otherwise this won't work. You're a good actress, if I remember correctly."

Mand leveled a piercing glare at him. "And you're a terrible one. You always were."

He gave her a cynical smile. "Thanks. I'll remember that the next time I have to save you and your friends."

Without allowing her the chance to retort, Horatio quickly turned and left, again checking the hallway before closing the door behind him. Though nervous about what he had just done, it was his next mission that was probably going to get him killed. Taking in a deep breath to calm himself, he glanced down the corridors again before making his way to the Vandal's main comm room.