"We're almost there," the pilot said with an indifferent tone.

Those were the first words that the woman said to Ben since he boarded her cargo ship back on Hapes about two days before. But the young Jedi Knight barely took notice of that, as what her words conveyed meant more to him than anything else in the galaxy.

He was going to see Vestara again; and in his mind, the seconds separating him from where she was seemed to stretch out forever. He felt like he could practically break out of his harness from the copilot seat, jump out through the forward viewport, and allow himself to ride the rest of the way through hyperspace for Vestara; he almost forgot that his body would have been de-atomized in the process..

When the Hapan cargo shuttle finally dropped out of hyperspace, it arrived several thousand kilometers away from a beautiful, lush world.

For an all-too brief moment, Ben allowed both his excitement at seeing Vestara again and the pleasantness of the view to override his Force-senses.

But when his Force-senses kicked in, they were far too late at warning him of the dangers posed by this planet... and of the woman beside him.

Just as Ben felt an immeasurable wave of dark side energy overwhelm him, the woman promptly injected him in the side of the neck with some kind of needle. He lost consciousness almost instantly; he didn't even have time to struggle out of his safety harness before the world became completely black.

. . .

"What the hell did you think you were doing?!" Tahiri nearly screamed at Jag after she barged into his office.

He looked up at her from his datapad with an annoyed, tired look. "Please don't tell me you believe that I actually had Boba Fett killed and started a war with the Mandalorians."

Tahiri stopped in her tracks and looked at him in askance. "What?"

Now it was Jag's turn to look confused. "You didn't see that rabble that I'm allowing outside? I thought you knew."

Jag was referring to the protest by dozens of Imperial citizens going on right outside the Imperial Capital Building of Bastion, all of whom were cordoned off from entering by several armed stormtroopers. Tahiri had spotted the crowd below before her transport shuttle had docked in the Capital Building's hangar bay, but she didn't think much of them because of her preoccupation with the Mandalorian "protector" that Jag assigned to her behind her back.

"Okay, you first," Tahiri said. "What's this about Boba Fett being dead and you going to war with the Mandalorians? I've kinda been outta the loop since my trip back from Kashyyyk."

Jag pressed a few buttons on his datapad and slid it across the surface to Tahiri. "See for yourself; it's been all over the news in the GA, the Remnant, and even the Hapes Consortium."

Tahiri picked up the 'pad, and after a few minutes, she was pretty much caught up.

"Someone set you up," Tahiri concluded as she returned the 'pad to Jag.

"I know that, Tahiri," Jag said with an impatient tone. "The question is, who did it?"

Tahiri shrugged. "Might be Belok Rhal. It's well-known he has even less love for the Jedi than even Boba Fett. Perhaps he tricked Gev into thinking that your people really did assassinate her grandfather."

"Possible, even likely. But we have no concrete proof of that, Tahiri; and even if we did, Mirta Gev isn't willing to talk to me. I tried contacting her, but I received no response. I tried other channels; no luck. The Mandalorian nation is silent on this, Tahiri; they really mean war. Jaina went out to see if she could talk some sense to her, show her the evidence of the destruction of the nanovirus research facility on Hagamoor 3. But my wife even admits it'll be difficult to convince Mirta when she won't even respond to the broadcasts I put out on the Remnant's official news channels about the facility."

"Gev might think it's a lie, a trick, by your propaganda machine to lull her into a sense of false security," Tahiri suggested, "so you could do to her what you did to her grandfather."

"Which, of course, I didn't, but Mirta won't believe that," Jag pointed out. "But, hopefully, if we can tie Rhal to the destruction of the nanovirus facility, maybe we can convince Mirta that my government had nothing to do with her grandpa's death."

"Then maybe I can help you get some evidence on Rhal," Tahiri replied. "Perhaps that Mando you hired to tail me will still be on your payroll after this; maybe he's still willing to listen. Hell, he might even be the last Mando to work for the Imperial Remnant after Gev's declaration of war."

Jag froze. "Oh, I see you met him. I was hoping you'd never have to; that's what you wanted to talk to me about?."

"How long did you think you could keep that a secret from me?" Tahiri asked. "Did you really think I'd never find out?"

"Do we have to talk about this now?" Jag asked. "I have to coordinate efforts with about four different Admirals on fleet strategies and deployments for any impending Mandalorian invasions. So could you please spare me-"

"Contact him," Tahiri interrupted.

"What?"

"Tell him to come up and in here," Tahiri elaborated. "Maybe he can help us."

Jag raised an eyebrow. "Do you have short-term memory loss now, Tahiri? The new leader of the Mandalorians just declared war on my government. You really think any of my stormtroopers or officers are gonna let a 'buckethead' in here even if I told them to let him pass? They'd think I was stupidly risking an assassination attempt; they may even be right! After all, I haven't contacted him since I came back from Hagamoor 3 yesterday, so maybe he'll try to take the chance to kill me."

"I'll be standing right here," Tahiri pointed out. "If he tries anything stupid, I can handle him; a jetpack can't save him from falling out that window if my lightsaber destroys it." She indicated the view of Bastion's capital city behind Jag with a nod. "And even if his beskar allowed him to survive the fall, he's not gonna be getting back up soon anyway."

Jag let a moment pass between him and Tahiri before he brought up his personal commlink and input a series of numbers. When he received an answer from a familiar voice asking, "Yeah?" Jag said, "Come to my office now."

It took at least a few more minutes of Jag using that commlink some more to convince quite a number of officers to let a yellow-striped Mandalorian enter the Capital Building unimpeded. But finally, the calls ended, and two minutes after that, Tahiri's "protector" entered the office.

Jag said, "You heard about-"

"I did," the merc interrupted. "And as long as you're still willing to pay me, I don't care."

"Good," Jag replied evenly. "Then I have a new assignment for you. This time, that woman is going to be your superior. Your assignment is to go out into the galaxy; I don't care where you go, I don't care how long it takes. What I want you to do is find me some evidence—nothing fabricated, I want legitimate evidence—that Belok Rhal is behind Boba Fett's death and is using Mirta Gev as a puppet to declare war on the Imperial Remnant."

A few seconds passed before the Mando finally said, "Okay."

Tahiri raised an eyebrow in the merc's direction; he certainly didn't ask many, or any, questions.

"Tahiri, what are you standing around here for?" Jag asked. "Go!"