Lately Ania Solo had been doing a lot of things she'd have never imagined doing previously, and frankly, all of them still felt weird. Compared to some other things, walking into the lobby of an interstellar business conglomerate's headquarters and presenting herself to the front desk wasn't that strange.
The attendant was a young man about her age. One thing she'd learned was that big businesses never skimped on service and used droids. When she gave her name his eyes widened just a little in recognition; even after all that had happened since, some people still remembered her brief bout of public history-making two years ago. After widening they narrowed, discerning, like he was wondering if she was really the scruffy scrapper woman who'd landed on the news-nets after beating Darth Wredd. She understood his confusion. Her normally-loose ponytail had been balled into a tight bun and her bangs pulled off her forehead. Her black trousers and white jacket had been exchanged for a trim business suit and a few pieces of authentic jewelry jangled around her wrists. Ania didn't look like her normal self and didn't feel like it either, but when you came in to meet an interstellar conglomerate's super-rich CEO, you had to look like you belonged.
After his initial response, the attendant checked his computer and confirmed, "Your appointment is scheduled and the chief is waiting for you. Please take lift number three to the highest level."
"Thank you," Ania said with her best polite smile. The lift was a transparisteel capsule that lifted her up a tall glassy shaft so fast it gave her vertigo. By top level he'd really meant the top, and she took a second to gather herself when the lift finally stopped. Denon's ecumenopolis wasn't quite as impressive as Coruscant's, but it was still a hell of a sight seen from peak of one of its biggest skyscrapers.
She walked out of the capsule and smoothly as she could and into a conference room walled on all sides by curving transparisteel. The sole occupant seemed to take up half the space.
"Welcome," said the Hutt lounging on his repulsorsled. "I trust you had no problems getting here?"
He spoke Basic, deep and slurred but still clear. Hutts usually refused to speak anything but their own tongue, but as she'd been informed already, Volgma was not the usual Hutt.
"No problems at all." Ania did the polite smile again. "Thanks for being ready to see me."
"It is no problem. I say, it is an honor to meet Ania Solo, slayer of Darth Wredd."
"I didn't really slay him," she said. It had been more of a cheap shot.
"Nonetheless, you rid the galaxy of a Sith, and that is always commendable." Volgma's tail wriggled. "But I understand you're here today on your mother's business."
"She said you two have a history."
"Oh, yes. Your mother, your grandfather… An illustrious family."
"She said that back when the Jedi were falling to the Empire, you helped hide their financial assets. That you helped expand them with some… wise investments."
"Wise and legal," Volgma stressed. Ania's mother had warned her that this Hutt rankled at suggestion of impropriety. "When Krayt came to power, they arrested many business leaders suspected of Alliance sympathies. My poor colleagues the Calrissians were among them. The Sith believed I'd be amenable and let me keep my assets. I used that cover to help the Jedi for many years."
He seemed insistent on that point. "She also said you've helped manage her money for the past decade."
"Indeed." Volgma's fat tongue lolled out the side of his mouth. "And now you are working with her on her endeavor, yes?"
Ania nodded, but she didn't feel she was working with her mother as much as for her. She'd spent over a decade thinking her mother had died in the last days of the Sith-Imperial War. Then, while the rest of the galaxy was staggered by Darth Maladi's virus, she'd discovered that Marin was not only alive but leading a group of rogue Mandalorians intent on overthrowing the mercenary clans' leader, Yaga Auchs. The discovery had shocked her and her first instinct had been to run, but eventually Ania had returned to see what part she could play in her mother's life.
It was less than she'd expected. She'd spent more time these past months apart from her mother than with her, crossing the galaxy on various errands on Marin's behalf. It felt like busy work, this trip included; Ania thought they could just have easily held this talk via secure comm line, but Marin had insisted she visit Volgma's headquarters in person.
"Does your mother need to redistribute her assets?" Volgma asked. "Withdraw from investment funds?"
"Nothing like that. She's very pleased with how you've been managing her money." As he'd done with the Jedi's hidden assets, Volgma had used some skillful insider trading to more than double Marin's wealth. That was good; revolutions never came cheap.
"Then what other service can I provide?"
"It's kind of complicated." Ania reached into her breast pocket and drew a datacard. "This contains a list of date-ranges going back thirteen years. Those are the approximate times we know for certain that Yaga Auchs performed services for the Sith. My mom came into a bit of information recently that said Auchs keeps his secret, personal, private credit account with the First Demilla Bank on Raltiir."
"An interesting bit of information. I'm curious as to how she came to it."
"She didn't tell me," Ania admitted. Her mother didn't tell her a lot of things. "The point is, if we can look into accounts registered at First Demilla, we can probably pinpoint Auchs by matching deposits with the dates on this datacard. If we pinpoint the account, we can maybe even trace where and who the deposits came from."
Volgma's voice deepened. "My dear, you know that information is classified. First Demilla prides itself on confidentiality for its clients. I don't believe they even require clients' names to register."
"Which makes it popular for people who don't want their finances snooped into. I understand that." She took a breath. He was the tricky part. "We were wondering if you might have connections inside First Demilla you can point us to. More specifically, your uncle."
Volgma's fat mouth closed tight. From what Ania understood, this Hutt had been on the straight-and-narrow for almost two centuries. His uncle Vedo, however, as kajidic of the Anjiliac, one of the biggest criminal clans in Hutt space.
She also knew that Vedo had no love for the Sith after they'd bombed one of his moons and killed one of his other nephews. They said he'd helped the fight against Krayt in some way. She hoped he was still up for a little retribution.
"This is about exposing connections between the Mandalorians and the Sith," Ania said. "For all we know, they may still be connected. Even without the Force the Sith are still a threat. If we can prove the links between them, we can get back at them both."
"You presume many things," Volgma rumbled. "You presume I can simply ask Vedo for this. You presume he has the capacity to deliver."
"I'm not assuming anything. That's why I came here to make this request in person and talk it over."
"My uncle and I have kept our businesses separate. I have nothing to do with the Anjiliac's operations."
"But you're family," Ania said gravely. "Doesn't that mean he has some obligation?"
The Hutt made a deep growling sound. "What do you know of the bonds of kajidic?"
"Not much," she admitted, "If I didn't think family was important, I wouldn't be doing this for my mother right now."
"Indeed," Volgma huffed. His breath was hot and foul. "I have no idea if Vedo has connections inside First Demilla. He may have the capacity to gain them. He may request remuneration."
"You have access to our accounts. You can give him whatever he wants."
"I have your mother's permission?"
"You do. This is important to her. If we can follow the money and expose what Auchs has done, well, my mom can finally get what she'd after."
Volgma's tail-end twitched. "And what are you after, Ania Solo?"
She'd been asking herself that a lot lately. "I'm just trying to help her any way I can."
"Very well." He smacked his tail against the repulsor-bed. "I will speak with Vedo Anjiliac on your behalf. I promise nothing."
"We understand. Thank you, Volgma. My mother knew she could count on you."
The Hutt made another huffing noise. She guessed that meant he was satisfied."
Ania didn't stay much longer. She was glad to get out of the sleek glassy skyscraper and hurried back to the spaceport where her shipped was docked. Free Agent hardly looked like a ship for the moneyed class, which was just the way she preferred. When she climbed up the landing ramp and into its narrow, utilitarian corridors it felt like a reprieve.
"You guys ready to get off this rock?" she called, "Cause I sure am."
"Free Agent is ready to launch at any time," replied a mechanical voice from the aft end of the main hall. "However, it would be best to wait until we are fully manned."
Ania followed it back to the main hold in the rear of the ship. She found a tall, thin assassin droid standing before one of the ship's computer access terminals a jack extended from his arm. Instead of turning to face Ania, AG-37 rotated the upper half of his conical head to fix a single red photoreceptor on her.
"Sure there's nothing wrong with the ship?" she asked.
"Quite sure. I was merely running routine diagnostics." AG-37 withdrew from the computer. "However, as I implied, we are still missing a crew member."
"Sauk's not back yet?"
"Not yet. He said there is a Mon Calamari refugee cluster on Denon that he wanted to contact, and ideally donate some funds."
"Never imagined they'd settle here," muttered Ania. City planets like Denon always made her feel edgy and claustrophobic. Still, she didn't hold Sauk's efforts against him. He was making better use of his share of Rav's stolen treasure than she was.
"In their situation, I can't imagine the refugees are too particular," AG-37 said dryly. "Was your visit to Volgma Industrial Limited a success?"
"As much as it could be." Ania peeled off the suit jacket, tossed it over the nearest bench, and flexed her shoulders. "He'll look into it. Final results pending. If Vedo can help us it'll be a little while before we find out."
"Then our business on Denon is concluded?"
"Mine is. Hopefully Sauk'll be back soon and we can get going."
"And we're returning to Concord Dawn?"
"Yeah. I think we should."
Most likely her mother would send her away on some other ancillary mission. Ania had told AG-37 and Sauk repeatedly that if they wanted to strike out on their own they were welcome to; she wouldn't even hold it against them taking Free Agent. For better or worse, she'd committed herself to not running away from her mother, even if Marin seemed intent on keeping her at arm's length. The fact that most of Ania's instincts compelled her to run made it all the more important to stay.
But, unsurprisingly, her friends were staying with her. She'd known and trusted Sauk for a long time, and AG-37 longer. He had bound himself to Ania for reasons she still didn't entirely grasp, and probably never could; the droid's connection with the Solo family went back farther than any human lifespan, and because of it he'd vowed to protect her.
She didn't much need protection at this point. Her mother was playing a dangerous game going after Auchs but as yet that danger hadn't reached their hiding place at Concord Dawn, and it had been an impressively long time since anybody had fired a blaster at Ania in anger. Sauk had suggested her mother kept sending her offworld to keep her safe; that might have been part of it, but Ania knew when she was being shoved aside.
Stepped away from the computer console, AG-37 said, "I will go to the cockpit and begin running pre-flight checks. Sauk estimated they he would get back to the ship the same time as you, and he is generally punctual."
Ania hadn't dawdled any at Volgma's place either. "Thanks, A-gee," she called to his metal back as he clanked out of the hold and down the hallway.
Ania sighed and picked up the fancy suit jacket with two fingers pinched at the collar. Sauk was spending his share of their bounty on noble causes; she was using scraps to buy uncomfortable clothes while the rest got inflated by some Hutt's barely-legal investment game. She didn't know what she'd been expecting when she'd gone back to her mother; after ten years apart she'd barely remembered the woman at all. She'd been hoping for something more than this.
Ania was eager to get out of the rest of that suit, and by the time she'd changed into her usual black trousers and white jacket Sauk had returned. The Mon Cal mechanic insisted on doing his own set of preflight checks, which didn't take long, and soon Free Agent was pushing into the sky, leaving Denon's sprawling cityscape behind. As it shrunk beneath them and disappeared beneath a veil of silver clouds, Ania released a satisfied sigh.
As they pointed their nose toward starlight she asked Sauk, "How did it go with the refugees?"
"They were grateful for the contribution," he said. "I wish I could have given more, but there's a lot of groups out there who still need help."
"Well, even our money's not limited. And you can't just put a price sticker on what they've lost."
"No." Sauk blinked large eyes. "Coruscant's promised to select a world for refugees to use permanently. They say they'll start moving settlers by the end of the year."
He didn't sound overjoyed. "That's good, isn't it?"
"We've gotten big promises before. They don't always pan out."
As he patched in their first hyperspace jump, AG-37 said, "It's my understanding that the guarantee was made by Marasiah Fel herself."
"That sounds like a good sign," Ania said. Her dealings with the empress- also her distant cousin- hadn't always been ideal, but fundamentally she seemed like an honorable woman.
"I think so," Sauk nodded, "But she has a lot on her hands now. The new senate, obviously, and the stuff going on in the Outer Rim-"
"What stuff?" Ania asked.
"The Nagai have launched several attacks in the Saijo and Seia sectors," AG-37 supplied. "They seem to be retracing their conquests from before the Sith-Imperial War."
Ania shrugged. "I was, what, eight years old then? I didn't really follow the news." She didn't follow it much now, either. Her concerns had always been on things closer to home. As Free Agent jumped into hyperspace she asked, "Anything new from Jao and Kyra?"
Sauk shook his head. "The last message we got from them said they were going into the Unknown Regions. That was a few weeks ago."
Ania hadn't expected much, but she was still disappointed. Now and then, but never as often as she liked, they got a hail from Cade Skywalker's Mynock and an update on the long-shot search for Khat Lah, Yuuzhan Vong Jedi. She enjoyed seeing her friends when she could, but there was always an underlying awkwardness on those calls. She could only discuss what they'd been doing for Marin in the vaguest terms, and when Jao and Kyra asked about how she was getting on with her mother, she always changed the subject.
"Maybe we'll get something before we reach Concord Dawn," Sauk added. "It's a few days' trip."
A few days there, a few days at the encampment Marin and her Mando comrades had set up, then probably they'd be sent somewhere else. Ania had long gotten tired of it but she'd repeat the pattern as long as she had to. She wasn't ready to run from her mother's legacy; not yet, anyway.
-{}-
Planets within Mandalorian space were rarely glamorous, and Concord Dawn was no exception. It was most agricultural and dotted by settlements where no building rose higher than a hundred meters. There was little government to speak of and nothing to attract visitors and investors from outside the sector. Most outbound ships carried foodstuffs to nearby worlds. Some claimed it was where Mandos went to retire.
Importantly, it was a planet without any orbital flight control satellites to monitoring incoming and outgoing craft. Therefore, a ship could kick off from one side of the planet, peak in lower orbit, then dive down to the opposite hemisphere and credibly claim to have arrived from another planet entirely. That was an especially useful trick, one Marin had just used on Parc Bralor. His clan had a generally good history with hers, and she knew the man had a list of grievances against Yaga Auchs, but she couldn't afford to trust him, and therefore used a little subterfuge to hide her base of operations.
Marin had brought two compatriots with her, Hondo Karr and his wife Tes Vevec. To underscore the informal nature of the talks, neither they nor Bralor wore any beskar. It was just drab brown tunics when they sat down in the kitchen of Bralor's farmhouse to parley over mugs of heated ale.
As he sipped from his drink, Bralor eyed Hondo. "It's brave of you showing up here, Karr. For years now, Auchs has been putting it out there that you were the one who killed Ordo and set your vode up to die at Botajef."
"That was a lie," Tes said sternly. The auburn-haired woman had spent the better part of a decade hunting down her husband for his supposed treason, but now that they'd reunited her faith seemed unassailable.
"Maybe so." Bralor shrugged. "You didn't do yourself any favors running. I heard you joined the Imps, then the Alliance. You get around, son."
"And what was I supposed to do?" Hondo raised a blond brow.
"Why, strut into the center of Keldabe and challenge Auchs to honorable combat," Bralor said seriously, then snorted. "Everyone knows you had your back to the wall. But the way you've been skulking all this time doesn't look too good. Auchs still had some bounties out on you." His dark eyes shifted to Tes. "And you, since you joined him."
"Notice how all those bounties are for 'dead' only," said Tes. "It's almost like Auchs doesn't want us talking."
Bralor took another sip, the put down his mug. "Believe it or not, your fellow Mando'ade aren't stupid. A lot of people thought what happened at Botajef didn't smell right. If you'd tried and done something right after he took over you might have gotten support, Karr, but the fact is, people have gotten used to Auchs in charge. Shab, I hate to say it, but he's done a halfway decent job as Mand'alor. He hasn't gotten our gett'se in a grinder by meddling in the last war. We're not pulling in contracts like we used to, but life is still comfortable in the Mandalorian sector. So even if your unsubstantiated claim about Auchs being a murderous treasonous chakaar was true… What then?"
As he talked he let his gaze drift over to Marin. She said, "He killed Chernan Ordo. He's a traitor, dar'manda, and we're going to prove that."
Truthfully, she still didn't know how she could do that. She didn't even know whether proof of Auchs' initial deal with Darth Maladi existed anymore. The errand she'd sent Ania on was a long shot, but it was still the best they had.
Bralor shook his head. "Listen, Skirata, everyone knows your clan's got bad blood with the Auchs. That won't do your cause favor either. If the day comes when you try to claim the Mythosaur crown-"
"I won't," Marin said firmly. "I have no intention or desire to become Mand'alor."
Bralor stared at her. He took a big drink, stared some more, and finally asked, "What's your endgame, then?"
"We remove Auchs," she said, "But only once we've ensured a successful transition of power."
"I'm no aruetti politician. Speak plain." His eyes darted to Hondo. "You want the crown, Karr?"
"I want justice."
"Justice? Only time I trust 'justice' is when I've got a knife at the throat of the judge." Bralor snorted; then his eyes widened in realization. "Is that what you're here for? You canvassing on who should be the next Mand'alor?"
"Are you interested?" asked Tes.
He shook his head. "I like farming just fine."
He meant it; Marin could feel that when she reached out with the Force. For a long part of her life she'd purposely denied its power. Now, apparently, she was one of only a handful of beings left in the whole galaxy who could use it. Given what she was doing here, she could hardly afford to turn down that kind of tool.
"We just want your opinion," Marin told him. "Start with the people close to Auchs already."
He frowned. "You want Auchs replaced by one of his lieutenants?"
"If you think this is a revolution we're aiming for, you're wrong. This is personal."
Hondo added, "You say most Mandos are happy laying low and staying out of the galaxy's osik. That's fine. Who do you think would keep that going?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe Vaun Zerimar."
Unlike most of Auchs' lieutenants, Marin had met the woman briefly. Zerimar was one of the ones who'd attached themselves to the man after he'd claimed the Mand'alor title. She'd struck Marin as overly ambitious but still pragmatic.
"What about Thorum Rhal?" she asked. She knew for a fact that Rhal had worked with Darth Maladi to distribute the Force-killing virus. Tes' brother had nearly captured the man at Ord Mantell.
"Rhal's been laying low since his run-in with the authorities."
"We've heard that." Marin leaned forward. "We've also heard he's the one closest to Auchs."
"Doesn't mean he'd continue his policies. Auchs was close to Ordo and you say he stuck a knife in his back."
"So Rhal's more interventionist," said Tes.
"Maybe. It's all hard to say." He looked at them with skepticism. "None of you barves want to run the show? Really?"
"I already said we're not revolutionaries," Marin said.
"Right. You say this is personal. Fine. You know Yaga Auchs has a daughter, right?"
Marin nodded, chest tight. Of course she knew. The woman was only a little younger than Ania. Older, too, than Yaga Auchs had been when Marin had killed his father Kaynar. Bralor knew some of the bad history between the Auchs and Skirata clans, but not all. Neither did Hondo or Tes. Only a handful of people knew that Marin, at just fourteen years old, half killed Mand'alor Gevern Auchs while defending her mother. Years later his brother Kaynar and nephew Yaga had killed two of Marin's cousins in retribution, erroneously thinking them responsible. And then Marin Fel- Jedi ranger, part-time Mando- had gotten retribution of her own. With black rage in her heart and Force-lighting in her hand she'd killed Kaynar in front of his son. She still remembered the teenage boy's terrified face and the sickened self-loathing that came with it. She'd left behind the Jedi, the Force, and the Mandos soon after.
Marin had made Yaga Auchs, which meant she was responsible for all he'd done since, including helping the Sith at the critical point in a war that had claimed her own family. Her act of mercy had done immeasurable harm to the galaxy and her own family. She wouldn't make that mistake again, and she wouldn't leave any loose ends that would one day come around to strangle her.
This time she would end the long bloody feud between Auchs and Skirata. This time she'd do it right.
"The Auchs have to be removed," she said. "Both of them."
Her cold words and hard stare left no doubt how far she was ready to go. Bralor simply nodded; he was Mandalorian to the bone and unmoved by the implication of brutality.
She should have been. As the Jedi Marin Fel she had been. So had Marin Solo, civilian freighter captain, wife and mother. Losing her family had turned her into Marin Skirata and burned away her qualms. Ania's return hadn't changed that.
Bralor lifted his mug of ale and took a gulp. "So. You want a replacement for Auchs. Maybe someone you can go to once you get absolute proof he killed Ordo."
"That's right," she said.
"Well, honestly, you could take it to karking any of 'em, take your pick. No need to ask me on it."
"Even Rhal?" asked Tes.
"If that's your poison."
Hondo said, "We were wondering if Rhal- or any of the others- might already know."
Bralor's face screwed in surprise, then went thoughtful. "Rhal was close to Auchs before he became Mand'alor. So was Joroc Karg. Neither of them were at Botajef, though."
"So none of them know Auchs murdered his Mand'alor?"
"Can't say a damn thing for sure, but I doubt it."
Tes looked relieved, Hondo thoughtful. That was information to remember, but they'd come here for something more.
"Another question," Marin said. "When Botajaef went down, you were based in Keldabe."
"I wasn't involved in politics."
"No, but you were around, and you must have heard about how Auchs' potential enemies were disappeared. Sometimes they'd come back all amenable to their new boss. Other times they'd stay disappeared."
Bralor stiffed. "I heard rumors."
"They were more than rumors," Marin said.
Back then her cousin Roan Fel had strong-armed her into helping investigate Auchs. They'd set up a man named Govum Haugh and one of Fel's Imperial Knights had tracked the poor barve after Auchs' thugs kidnapped him. The Imperial Knight- an Iktotchi named Eshkar Niin- claimed some Falleen had used their pheromones to work Haugh over. At the time Marin had just been relieved to go back to her family. Looking back she wondered if Niin had been fooled, or if he'd been telling the truth at all.
Leaning close to Bralor she said, "I know some of the ones who got reeducated. Govum Haugh. Bovar Shal. Vosh Woxu. They were all pretty big clan-leaders at the time, so it's no wonder Auchs wanted them loyal. I've been looking into them and it turns out Haugh died in a shuttle crash five years ago. About a year after that, Shal got gunned down over a bounty nobody'd heard of. I think Woxu might still be alive."
She could feel his reluctance, his suspicion. "What's your point?"
"I did a little peeking into the financial records of this farm," she said. "Seems you did some commerce with Woxu just last year. Bought some binary grain harvesters off him for cheap."
"I'm really interested where you got that scrap of info."
It was the same place she'd gotten the fact that Yaga Auchs had a secret credit account with Raltiir's most private bank. It had taken her years to relearn her old Force skills, but she'd gotten pretty good at prying information out of reluctant minds.
"What happened to Vosh Woxu?" she asked. "All I want is to talk to him."
Bralor shifted uncomfortably. "Woxu's still around. He left Mandalore about five years back, settled on a place at Breshig. Tried farming. Didn't really take, but I think he's still there. He's just trying to live a quiet life. That's all."
Maybe that was why he hadn't met sudden ends like Haugh and Shal. "I'm not going to mess up his quiet life. I just want to talk to him." As she said it she gave Bralor a nudge with the Force. He was hardly weak-minded, and she'd never coerce him to do something alien to his character, but she could feel him teetering on the edge, deciding whether he wanted to alienate her over a man who wasn't even his friend.
Her nudge was all it took. "I can give you the info. I'll call ahead, tell him you're coming."
"No need." Marin smiled. "We'll introduce ourselves."
Bralor grunted, downed the last of his ale, and got up. A minute later he came back to the kitchen with a piece of flimsy containing written surface coordinates for Breshig, plus his home calling code as an alpha-numeric strain.
"Thank you," Marin said as she took the paper. "We won't forget this."
"Well, when you set up whatever new Mandalore you're aiming for, remember I just want to be left alone."
"Don't worry," Marin said, "That's what we want too."
Bralor looked incredulous, but it was true. Maybe not for Hondo and Tes, who wanted blood for blood, but Marin had firmly meant it.
She wanted to end the long and ugly history between Skiratas and Auchs. And this time, there'd be no loose ends.