Outer Rim
Sariffa System
Adelhoffe
Tor Alinde, capital of Adelhoffe

A pale blue sun looked down upon the paved road which climbed the hill in a steep grade. A single set of stairs paralleled the road on the right and on either side beyond were ancient buildings of only a story or two in height.

Three figures were climbing the seemingly endless stairs.

Agent Sluka was on the inside, street-side. Gone was his Imperial uniform and instead he wore dark pants and a tunic with a heavy overcoat. The outfit was similar to the one he wore in the underworld of Tarpau City. On the outside, climbed Sergeant Conor. He was dressed similarly to Agent Sluka, his bulk magnified by his clothing. In the middle, much shorter than the men who flanked her, Doctor Asimka climbed step after step. Her long hair was down, a blonde wake that flowed down almost to the small of her back. She was similarly dressed to the men she walked with, sporting a black overcoat and pants with black boots.

A small figure on four legs stepped out in front of them on the steps above. It was feline, with thick fur which was a light blue.

Agent Sluka and Sergeant Conor immediately turned to their sides and scanned, then glanced down the hill behind them. No people. No droids.

"You guys are paranoid," laughed the Doctor as she stopped to keep from leaving them behind. "It's just one of the Alinde cats. That guy at the festival said they were brought here with the first settlers." Doctor Asimka took a step toward the feline and it ran off between two buildings.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Agent Sluka asked Sergeant Conor as they began climbing the steps again.

"I don't know," Conor replied. "Am I?"

"Never mind then," Agent Sluka answered.

"Well?" Doctor Asimka asked Sluka. "Are you just going to leave us hanging like that?"

"Yes, Kass," Sergeant Conor answered for Sluka. "That's what he does."

"This must be the curio shop you mentioned, Doctor," Agent Sluka said as he stopped and looked to the building on the right, past Asimka and Conor.

"You got a feeling again?" Conor laughed.

"No, I just saw the banner with an Alinde Cat hanging beside the door," Sluka said. "It looks like something a historian would put up. I bet he feeds those cats too."

Asimka laughed. "Are you saying he's a crazy cat man?"

Agent Sluka shrugged then walked past them to the building and began climbing the steps to the door where the banner hung. Asimka and Conor followed him up the steps.

Sluka reached up to knock on the door but it opened before he made contact. Behind the open door stood a short and pudgy man who had lost most of his white hair. "Come in," he said in a low voice. "I've been expecting you."

"Expecting me?" Conor said with a raised voice from behind Sluka.

"Well, not you in particular," answered the old man with a laugh. "I always have guests after the festival. It makes people curious," the man said and finished with a small smile. "Come in," he repeated and stepped to his side to give them room.

Agent Sluka led the way in, followed by Kass and Conor.

They were in a small and well-lit room. There was a single chair with thick cushions to his left and a couch to his right. Both had seen better days. But they did not hold Sluka's attention. There was an array of stands and pedestals covered with an assortment of items spread throughout the room, and a cabinet directly ahead from the doorway. Kass dragged Conor past Agent Sluka and then off to the left.

Sluka remained fixed on the cabinet before him.

The cabinet was filled with row after row of physical pictures rather than holo-images and Sluka was scanning through them. "Some people complain that these are primitive," the old man said. "I think it suits the subject though." The old man watched Sluka for a moment. "The Kings of Adelhoffe," he said.

Sluka nodded his head and continued scanning. His eyes caught on a picture that did not look as aged as the others. A picture that was smaller than Sluka's palm and partly faded. In it, a slender woman with auburn hair and wearing a blue dress was standing beside a thick man with a dark blue heavy coat and cap with long light hair underneath it. Between them stood a little girl with bright red hair. The girl's face was slightly faded, obscuring her eyes.

"Who are these?" Sluka asked.

"That is Mavon Gisald, the last King of Adelhoffe," answered the old man. "He was a good man. His wife, Lisala, owned Adelhoffe Interstellar Commodities. It was such a pity the uprising led to their deaths." The man looked thoughtfully at the pic for a moment. "I heard that the little girl was swept away to safety by some family friends but I do not know for sure. I remember that she had the most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen," he added with a distant look in his eyes. "I'll never forget looking into them." He laughed. "Flowers. The little girl wore perfume that smelled like flowers. I'll never forget that smell either."

"Wow," Agent Sluka said. "Maybe I'll be so lucky." Confidence began to grow in Agent Sluka. I'm going to do it. I'm going to find this girl, he thought. Then what?

"There are a lot more than five kings there," Asimka said from the background, catching Sluka's attention. Conor stood close behind her, almost leaning over her shoulder.

"Well they're the Kings of Adelhoffe, but Adelhoffe is only one of the Five Kings," the old man answered. "The other Kings ruled over Taris Palinus, Coralbin, Danelys, and Chariva." He glanced about the room at each of the three before continuing. "Of course, except for Adelhoffe, those names don't mean much anymore to anyone who is not a historian like me." He chuckled. "You might know them as Tarpau, Albin, Corvus, and Rivelen."

Conor and Agent Sluka quickly glanced at each other and then back to the old man.

"So much history was lost in the Clone Wars," the old man continued, knowing he had an audience. "The populations of the five planets, and many others, swelled with refugees. With the influx, many of the old customs disappeared. Museums became shelters and their goods were looted."

"How about you feed us some of that lost history that you keep mentioning," Kass asked the old.

"Anything for a beautiful woman," the old man said and smiled. "The history goes something like this…"