Five men in the normal dress of miners approached a more elaborately dressed priest. The five appeared to be just like any of the other downtrodden miners, but the priest suspected that they were in fact anything but the usual miners. He also suspected that they wanted something more from him than just the usual ritual. As the five men drew close the priest addressed the lead miner, "Hello, Wedge. What is it that I can do for you?"
"We need a little information."
"Some very important and secretive information I presume."
"Yes. With your sources of information, Karrde, you've certainly heard about the recent......events at the coronation of the new Queen Mother of the Hapes Cluster."
"It's not exactly a secret. During the coronation of the new Queen Mother, Teneniel Djo, there was a large explosion, which killed eight of the most prestigious senators and injured many more. The target was the Queen Mother herself, but she was unhurt due to a change in the seating arrangement. The suspects are the Queen Mother's husband's cousins."
"That is all true, but what you might not know is that we have good reason to believe that Isolder's cousins had some outside help."
"Interesting. You don't by any chance know who provided this outside help?"
Before answering Wedge glanced around furtively, "Have you ever heard of the planet Dathomir?"
"Isn't that the planet with the force strong witches that Luke dropped in on about seven years ago? And isn't it also the home planet of the new Queen Mother of Hapes?"
"Yes, to both questions, but..."
"Hey, boss," spoke up one of the other miners, "you think we could hurry it up? We're all dirty and tired, and hungry. Sithspit, are we hungry."
"Shutup, Wes." Lowering his so that once again only Karrde could hear him, "That would be Janson. He's been forced to think with his stomach ever since suffering some brain damage two years ago. I tried to explain to him that holding his breath so long could be detrimental to his health, but anyway: After Luke left the Dathomiri began to rectify the wrongs in their culture based on their new found information. They split into two groups that live on different parts of the planet. The group that the New Republic kept in touch with is the group that started changing their culture. The other group, however, still lives as they did before Luke showed up with females on the top of society and the New Republic kinda lost contact with this group."
"Any day now Wedge. I think Hobbie's going to pass out."
Wedge looked over his shoulder, "Tycho keep him quiet."
"Yes, sir," He turned to Janson, "You heard him. No more bothering the General. He's trying to tell a story. Ok, go ahead Wedge."
"So anyway, we now suspect that some Nightsisters survived, are staying with the group that we lost track of and were involved in the attack on the Queen Mother."
"They could cause...quite some trouble."
"Yep, which is why we're asking you to keep your ears open in case any information wanders by. We'll be on Dathomir if you urgently need to find us."
"I'll put you to the top of the priority list for any relevant information... provided my credit line is still open."
"Of course," Wedge managed. He had been hoping that Karrde wouldn't ask for payment, but no, Karrde always did.
"So, if I may ask, why is the government sending five X-Wing jocks out after this? It's not exactly your area of expertise."
"Well, intelligence sure isn't equipped to handle it," Wedge pointed out, "and you know of Corran's... abilities?"
"Of course, but I was under the impression that he wasn't trained."
"He is, a little, but we're hoping it's enough to deal with the rudimentary understanding that they possess."
"Right. I wish Mara was here to help you, but unfortunately she's going to be out of touch for a while. Well, good luck to you Wedge."
Wedge turned to leave, "May the force be with you Karrde. And don't forget to keep your ears open." Karrde smiled as the five anything but ordinary miners turned and headed back for the town.
"So, how'd it go, Wedge"
Not any better than expected Tych. He didn't know anything, but said he'd start looking."
"But can we trust him?" Corran spoke up from the back.
"Yeah, we can trust him as long as we pay him. He's really more of a friend then he admits."
"What is it with you and trusting people?" Hobbie asked.
"Not in my job description, Bugbite."
"I wish you wouldn't call me that," Hobbie mumbled.
"Ah, but it's such a cute nickname," joked Janson. "It really has your whole essence pegged."
"All right everybody, shutup," commanded Wedge, "We're almost back to out fighters and I want this to go smoothly. No mistakes. We'll meet in orbit of the Dathomir system. Remember, no mistakes."
"Right, boss, Janson echoed, "No mistakes."
"Did you get that, Dankin," asked Karrde as a man stepped out of the shadows.
"Yes, chief."
"Good. Get our people on it right away. If somebody doesn't do something about this fast it could be big trouble for the galaxy."
Dankin seemed more solemn than usual, "Right away, chief."
Karrde watched Dankin walk back toward where their ship had been landed. This could indeed be very bad for the galaxy. The damage that a few Nightsisters could cause. Karrde shuddered. It was time to get to work. Those Nightsisters could not be allowed to roam the galaxy and besides the New Republic would pay top credit.
Sitting at his desk, Jerran Llomm, pored over the reports of the recent operation at Hapes. Somebody, somewhere had screwed up and if Jerran Llomm ever found out whom, he promised himself that the responsible person would die an excruciatingly painful death. There was a knock at the door and in walked Teresa Ki, the elder Nightsister, though elder was hardly the word to use for someone barely 28 standard years old. She was slender, about 1.75 meters (*5'9 for all fellow Americans who don't want to convert), with jet-black hair and cold brown eyes that illustrated her hate. She had a small bruise, barely detectable, on her forehead where a blood vessel had popped.
"Ah, Teresa Ki," Jerran Llomm started the conversation, "I have a report of your recent mission right here. A failed mission if I am not mistaking. Am I?"
"But you see my Lord, it wasn't...."
"Quiet! Answer the question: Am I mistaking?"
Teresa Ki opened her mouth to protest, closed it, and opened again, " No, my Lord. You are correct as always"
"Then explain to me why exactly your mission failed."
"We coerced the help of the Queen Mother's husband's cousins as planned, used our spellcasting to get around the guards undetected. The bomb was planted successfully, but the seating arrangement that Isolder's cousins provided to us was false and so the bomb was not in the correct position to kill the Queen Mother. Instead several prestigious senators were killed."
"Yes. The seating arrangement though was not false, merely changed. An unanticipated security procedure. The failure is not yours."
"Yes, my lord."
"Now, go. Continue your planning. And this time let there be no failure."
"Yes, my Lord."
Teresa Ki exited the room and began the trek through the underground tunnels up to the surface of the planet, Dathomir. She would take her ship, leaving behind one of her subordinates for guard duty. She reached her ship, a ragged shuttle with a much upgraded engine and light weaponry, without incident. As they were entering hyperspace enroute for Nar Shaada, Teresa Ki reflected that Jerran Llomm must indeed be a powerful male spellcaster. She had stood directly across from him and still could not sense him. He had somehow masked his presence from her. For now she would obey him, but there would come a day when he would become careless and the path would be clear for a coup. She would begin to plan on the voyage.
For once there were no mistakes Wedge idly thought as he pulled the lever to leave hyperspace and reenter real space above the Dathomir system, "red Flight, listen up. We're going to go to terrain flying to get in undetected. We'll land a few kilometers from the village, camouflage our fighters and hike in."
"Leader, 3. If I may, what exactly is our intrusion plan?" asked Janson.
"3, it's rather straight forward. We'll be meeting up with Terani Cha, at the village the New Republic kept up contact with. We'll designate it village one. At this point myself, 2, and 4 will disguise ourselves as her slaves and will travel to the village we have not had contact with. We'll designate it village 2. Once there we will do as much snooping as possible and see what we can discover. Meanwhile 5 and 3 will hike over to village 2 and hide in the woods. They will gather as mush info as possible, but will primarily be our backup."
"Leader, 4. You mean like a safety net," asked Hobbie.
"Yeah, sorta."
"Oh, good. I always hated tight rope walking without a fool proof safety net."
"Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say fool proof."
"What'd u mean you....."
"5, here," Corran interrupted, "Leader, I don't think this is a great plan. You're an extremely recognizable figure and..."
"Don't worry, 5. I won't be recognized here. They're too isolated. You are right, though. It's not a great plan, but it's the best we could do with our resources. I was hoping Mara would be available, but...," Wedge paused, "2 what's our distance to our targeted landing ground and what is that blip that appears to be headed for out of system"
"It appears to be a shuttle, pretty raggedy looking, worse than the Falcon. Don't worry, it's too far away to have picked us up. And we are now approximately 2.3 klicks away from landing ground," Tycho answered immediately.
"Ok. Red Flight maintain com silence for the duration of the flight. I'll see you on the ground."
"But......But," stammered Hobbie
"Com silence, 4."
As Terasi Ki exited the room Jerran Llomm reached into a drawer and pulled out what resembled a small ball. He wished to hear his instructions again, but first... He reached up and pressed against the outer edge of his nose and in effect it appeared that his skin was peeling away from his body. What was actually happening, however, was that his disguise, a living creature in its own right known as an ooglith maasquer, was separating itself from his body. The process was excruciating, but Jerran Llomm embraced the pain and as the maasquer separated itself more of his glorious scars and implants became viewable. Ah, it felt good to no longer have to look like one of those infidels. The glory of the Yuuzzhan Vong is eternal. Finally when the maasquer had completely separated itself from Llomm's body he began to play the message, which had been recorded so long ago:
"Operative Jerran Llomm. You are to cause trouble for the existing government I any way you deem fit. You are to prevent your discovery at any and all costs. Do not attempt to contact us until we have begun the glorious takeover of the galaxy of infidels." He had decided that the biggest threat would be in the Hapes Cluster and the New Republic having too casual a relationship. The goal was not really to kill the Queen Mother, but rather to scare the Hapans back into isolation. Jerran Llomm smiled to himself as he realized that the plan was working. Hapes was already drawing more in upon themselves. Once the Queen Mother was killed they would pull back into the very isolation that they had been in years before.
Wedge decided that now he was definitely having doubts. Back in the relative safety of his X-Wing cockpit this plan had appeared to be so reasonable and necessary and safe. However, now that he was walking into village 2 his hands bound behind his back, Tycho and Hobbie walking beside, their hands similarly bound, with Terani Cha - currently their only protection from whatever dangers were lurking - in the lead. If everything had gone according to plan Corran and Janson should now be somewhere in the woods watching out for them, although that fact did not make Wedge feel any better. He resisted the temptation to glance into the woods to make sure they were in position. He would just have to hope that everything went according to plan and act as if it had. He silently wished Corran and Wes luck.
"Where are they," Wes asked frantically, "They should be here by now."
"Calm down. We don't know... Wait, there they are."
"Where?... Corran? Oh, never mind. I see them."
"What are they doing?"
"I think they're either buying or renting that hut over there."
"Right, of course."
"Either that or playing Smashball."
"Wes!" Corran exclaimed accusingly.
"What? Hey, wait just a second. You can't talk to me like that. I outrank you. My rank is higher than yours. You are below me. You..."
Corran yawned, "Are you done?"
"Yes, Wait, no. Yes, Yeah."
"Ok, let's get to work then."
"Captain, report coming in."
"Patch it through to my terminal, Chin"
"Yes, sir."
On board the Wild Karrde, his flagship so to speak, Talon Karrde viewed the report that had just flashed onto his screen and suppressed a whistle, "Navigation, set us on course for the planet Dathomir" Karrde just hoped that he could get there in time. "Engage the hyperdrive.... Now."
"We need a little information."
"Some very important and secretive information I presume."
"Yes. With your sources of information, Karrde, you've certainly heard about the recent......events at the coronation of the new Queen Mother of the Hapes Cluster."
"It's not exactly a secret. During the coronation of the new Queen Mother, Teneniel Djo, there was a large explosion, which killed eight of the most prestigious senators and injured many more. The target was the Queen Mother herself, but she was unhurt due to a change in the seating arrangement. The suspects are the Queen Mother's husband's cousins."
"That is all true, but what you might not know is that we have good reason to believe that Isolder's cousins had some outside help."
"Interesting. You don't by any chance know who provided this outside help?"
Before answering Wedge glanced around furtively, "Have you ever heard of the planet Dathomir?"
"Isn't that the planet with the force strong witches that Luke dropped in on about seven years ago? And isn't it also the home planet of the new Queen Mother of Hapes?"
"Yes, to both questions, but..."
"Hey, boss," spoke up one of the other miners, "you think we could hurry it up? We're all dirty and tired, and hungry. Sithspit, are we hungry."
"Shutup, Wes." Lowering his so that once again only Karrde could hear him, "That would be Janson. He's been forced to think with his stomach ever since suffering some brain damage two years ago. I tried to explain to him that holding his breath so long could be detrimental to his health, but anyway: After Luke left the Dathomiri began to rectify the wrongs in their culture based on their new found information. They split into two groups that live on different parts of the planet. The group that the New Republic kept in touch with is the group that started changing their culture. The other group, however, still lives as they did before Luke showed up with females on the top of society and the New Republic kinda lost contact with this group."
"Any day now Wedge. I think Hobbie's going to pass out."
Wedge looked over his shoulder, "Tycho keep him quiet."
"Yes, sir," He turned to Janson, "You heard him. No more bothering the General. He's trying to tell a story. Ok, go ahead Wedge."
"So anyway, we now suspect that some Nightsisters survived, are staying with the group that we lost track of and were involved in the attack on the Queen Mother."
"They could cause...quite some trouble."
"Yep, which is why we're asking you to keep your ears open in case any information wanders by. We'll be on Dathomir if you urgently need to find us."
"I'll put you to the top of the priority list for any relevant information... provided my credit line is still open."
"Of course," Wedge managed. He had been hoping that Karrde wouldn't ask for payment, but no, Karrde always did.
"So, if I may ask, why is the government sending five X-Wing jocks out after this? It's not exactly your area of expertise."
"Well, intelligence sure isn't equipped to handle it," Wedge pointed out, "and you know of Corran's... abilities?"
"Of course, but I was under the impression that he wasn't trained."
"He is, a little, but we're hoping it's enough to deal with the rudimentary understanding that they possess."
"Right. I wish Mara was here to help you, but unfortunately she's going to be out of touch for a while. Well, good luck to you Wedge."
Wedge turned to leave, "May the force be with you Karrde. And don't forget to keep your ears open." Karrde smiled as the five anything but ordinary miners turned and headed back for the town.
"So, how'd it go, Wedge"
Not any better than expected Tych. He didn't know anything, but said he'd start looking."
"But can we trust him?" Corran spoke up from the back.
"Yeah, we can trust him as long as we pay him. He's really more of a friend then he admits."
"What is it with you and trusting people?" Hobbie asked.
"Not in my job description, Bugbite."
"I wish you wouldn't call me that," Hobbie mumbled.
"Ah, but it's such a cute nickname," joked Janson. "It really has your whole essence pegged."
"All right everybody, shutup," commanded Wedge, "We're almost back to out fighters and I want this to go smoothly. No mistakes. We'll meet in orbit of the Dathomir system. Remember, no mistakes."
"Right, boss, Janson echoed, "No mistakes."
"Did you get that, Dankin," asked Karrde as a man stepped out of the shadows.
"Yes, chief."
"Good. Get our people on it right away. If somebody doesn't do something about this fast it could be big trouble for the galaxy."
Dankin seemed more solemn than usual, "Right away, chief."
Karrde watched Dankin walk back toward where their ship had been landed. This could indeed be very bad for the galaxy. The damage that a few Nightsisters could cause. Karrde shuddered. It was time to get to work. Those Nightsisters could not be allowed to roam the galaxy and besides the New Republic would pay top credit.
Sitting at his desk, Jerran Llomm, pored over the reports of the recent operation at Hapes. Somebody, somewhere had screwed up and if Jerran Llomm ever found out whom, he promised himself that the responsible person would die an excruciatingly painful death. There was a knock at the door and in walked Teresa Ki, the elder Nightsister, though elder was hardly the word to use for someone barely 28 standard years old. She was slender, about 1.75 meters (*5'9 for all fellow Americans who don't want to convert), with jet-black hair and cold brown eyes that illustrated her hate. She had a small bruise, barely detectable, on her forehead where a blood vessel had popped.
"Ah, Teresa Ki," Jerran Llomm started the conversation, "I have a report of your recent mission right here. A failed mission if I am not mistaking. Am I?"
"But you see my Lord, it wasn't...."
"Quiet! Answer the question: Am I mistaking?"
Teresa Ki opened her mouth to protest, closed it, and opened again, " No, my Lord. You are correct as always"
"Then explain to me why exactly your mission failed."
"We coerced the help of the Queen Mother's husband's cousins as planned, used our spellcasting to get around the guards undetected. The bomb was planted successfully, but the seating arrangement that Isolder's cousins provided to us was false and so the bomb was not in the correct position to kill the Queen Mother. Instead several prestigious senators were killed."
"Yes. The seating arrangement though was not false, merely changed. An unanticipated security procedure. The failure is not yours."
"Yes, my lord."
"Now, go. Continue your planning. And this time let there be no failure."
"Yes, my Lord."
Teresa Ki exited the room and began the trek through the underground tunnels up to the surface of the planet, Dathomir. She would take her ship, leaving behind one of her subordinates for guard duty. She reached her ship, a ragged shuttle with a much upgraded engine and light weaponry, without incident. As they were entering hyperspace enroute for Nar Shaada, Teresa Ki reflected that Jerran Llomm must indeed be a powerful male spellcaster. She had stood directly across from him and still could not sense him. He had somehow masked his presence from her. For now she would obey him, but there would come a day when he would become careless and the path would be clear for a coup. She would begin to plan on the voyage.
For once there were no mistakes Wedge idly thought as he pulled the lever to leave hyperspace and reenter real space above the Dathomir system, "red Flight, listen up. We're going to go to terrain flying to get in undetected. We'll land a few kilometers from the village, camouflage our fighters and hike in."
"Leader, 3. If I may, what exactly is our intrusion plan?" asked Janson.
"3, it's rather straight forward. We'll be meeting up with Terani Cha, at the village the New Republic kept up contact with. We'll designate it village one. At this point myself, 2, and 4 will disguise ourselves as her slaves and will travel to the village we have not had contact with. We'll designate it village 2. Once there we will do as much snooping as possible and see what we can discover. Meanwhile 5 and 3 will hike over to village 2 and hide in the woods. They will gather as mush info as possible, but will primarily be our backup."
"Leader, 4. You mean like a safety net," asked Hobbie.
"Yeah, sorta."
"Oh, good. I always hated tight rope walking without a fool proof safety net."
"Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say fool proof."
"What'd u mean you....."
"5, here," Corran interrupted, "Leader, I don't think this is a great plan. You're an extremely recognizable figure and..."
"Don't worry, 5. I won't be recognized here. They're too isolated. You are right, though. It's not a great plan, but it's the best we could do with our resources. I was hoping Mara would be available, but...," Wedge paused, "2 what's our distance to our targeted landing ground and what is that blip that appears to be headed for out of system"
"It appears to be a shuttle, pretty raggedy looking, worse than the Falcon. Don't worry, it's too far away to have picked us up. And we are now approximately 2.3 klicks away from landing ground," Tycho answered immediately.
"Ok. Red Flight maintain com silence for the duration of the flight. I'll see you on the ground."
"But......But," stammered Hobbie
"Com silence, 4."
As Terasi Ki exited the room Jerran Llomm reached into a drawer and pulled out what resembled a small ball. He wished to hear his instructions again, but first... He reached up and pressed against the outer edge of his nose and in effect it appeared that his skin was peeling away from his body. What was actually happening, however, was that his disguise, a living creature in its own right known as an ooglith maasquer, was separating itself from his body. The process was excruciating, but Jerran Llomm embraced the pain and as the maasquer separated itself more of his glorious scars and implants became viewable. Ah, it felt good to no longer have to look like one of those infidels. The glory of the Yuuzzhan Vong is eternal. Finally when the maasquer had completely separated itself from Llomm's body he began to play the message, which had been recorded so long ago:
"Operative Jerran Llomm. You are to cause trouble for the existing government I any way you deem fit. You are to prevent your discovery at any and all costs. Do not attempt to contact us until we have begun the glorious takeover of the galaxy of infidels." He had decided that the biggest threat would be in the Hapes Cluster and the New Republic having too casual a relationship. The goal was not really to kill the Queen Mother, but rather to scare the Hapans back into isolation. Jerran Llomm smiled to himself as he realized that the plan was working. Hapes was already drawing more in upon themselves. Once the Queen Mother was killed they would pull back into the very isolation that they had been in years before.
Wedge decided that now he was definitely having doubts. Back in the relative safety of his X-Wing cockpit this plan had appeared to be so reasonable and necessary and safe. However, now that he was walking into village 2 his hands bound behind his back, Tycho and Hobbie walking beside, their hands similarly bound, with Terani Cha - currently their only protection from whatever dangers were lurking - in the lead. If everything had gone according to plan Corran and Janson should now be somewhere in the woods watching out for them, although that fact did not make Wedge feel any better. He resisted the temptation to glance into the woods to make sure they were in position. He would just have to hope that everything went according to plan and act as if it had. He silently wished Corran and Wes luck.
"Where are they," Wes asked frantically, "They should be here by now."
"Calm down. We don't know... Wait, there they are."
"Where?... Corran? Oh, never mind. I see them."
"What are they doing?"
"I think they're either buying or renting that hut over there."
"Right, of course."
"Either that or playing Smashball."
"Wes!" Corran exclaimed accusingly.
"What? Hey, wait just a second. You can't talk to me like that. I outrank you. My rank is higher than yours. You are below me. You..."
Corran yawned, "Are you done?"
"Yes, Wait, no. Yes, Yeah."
"Ok, let's get to work then."
"Captain, report coming in."
"Patch it through to my terminal, Chin"
"Yes, sir."
On board the Wild Karrde, his flagship so to speak, Talon Karrde viewed the report that had just flashed onto his screen and suppressed a whistle, "Navigation, set us on course for the planet Dathomir" Karrde just hoped that he could get there in time. "Engage the hyperdrive.... Now."
