Mar Fusty was a man who was facing death, he knew it, and the representative from the Yuuzhan Vong knew it, as did the man whom he betrayed. How was I supposed to know he really was a Vong warrior! He thought to himself many times since that incident on the Hollow Nebula. He had though he was just setting up a smoke screen, getting rid of some annoying young punk and his girlfriend and get those damn intelligent types off his case. By setting up that kid he made sure they would have to spent weeks either proving or disproving that he was indeed a Peace Brigade wanna-be or certainly, since he was such a low-life character, guilty of some other offense. It had seemed like such an easy out, they get a new playmate and his name get an extra note next to it for being a loyal citizen and he could continue playing both ends against each other. War was good for business and he has been making money hand over fist, especially since much of his competition was wiped out during the Yuuzhan Vong War, sometimes literally, every major and minor shipyard wanted his navigational systems installed in their ships.

That was one reason he was a two-time spy, when he could get away with it, he would pass on secrets to Vong as well as pass on secrets to the GA. It was a delicate balance of give and take keeping both sides at odds with each other. Moreover, it took a smart businessman such as himself to know what information to pass on and what to keep to himself. Having the Rogue Vong lose to soon would be as disastrous as the GA losing at all. In addition, if the GA won out right, then all his contracts would wither and die like a rose after it has been cut from the bush. If the Vong won out right, well no sense of thinking about that, he knew what would happen to him and his company. He still had another 5 to 10 years worth of money to make on this war and so far nothing bad has happened to him.

However, that all changed, when the man came to see him last week and explained to him what the most likely response for that betrayal would entail. The fact that the man showed up on Denon was the first clue to just how badly things were going to get. Ever since the finial battle at Coruscant, the man and his master had risen to the top of the Vong spy food chain and they no longer left what was left of the Hutt planet. The only meetings between Mar and him had been either by villip or Mar would have to travel to Nal Hutta to meet with him in person. Moreover, unlike many of the other Peace Brigade members he has met over the years, the man was competent and deadly. His eye held no warmth, no mercy, barely held any acknowledgement of his human origins. He might as well have been Yuuzhan Vong himself. Mar tired a few years back to find out more about this man but no luck, the computer files came up a blank as well as his connections on both sides of the law. Although there was some rumors that he was connected to the Empire at one time.

Mar went over to his desk in his home office and picked up the qahsa that the man had given him. He was supposed to give this to the warrior he betrayed when he came to kill him. That was exactly how the man put it, no ifs ands or buts, the man had said the warrior code demanded that Mar be killed for the betrayal, not by them but by the warrior. He had a smile on his face when he said that and it sent chills down Mar's spine. When Mar asked him how he was supposed to stay alive long enough to pass it on, the man just shrugged. It was not his problem and he knew it. The only other instruction was that he was not to attempt to view the information himself under any circumstances. If he did and they found out about it, well Mar was not sure how but the man's eyes got colder and he had a predatory grin that made him mess himself. The man insured him that he would suffer at the hands of the infidels before they got a hold of him.

This was all getting to far out of control, Mar thought for the millionth time but all of his experiences and knowledge failed him when he tried to find away to get out of this devils bargain and keep his money and skin intact. If he submitted to the Vong, they would just kill him and toss him away like a piece of trash. If he went to the GA intelligence with the qahsa, they would be happy to have it and him, and he would spend the rest of his life on a planet pulling weeds. All that would do is leave him vulnerable to any lunatic with a grudge against a Vong supporter. Plus the Vong would be able to kill him at a penal colony as easily as anywhere else. In both cases, he would lose his money and, more importantly, his life. If he tried to run away to some other part of the galaxy, both sides would just hunt him down. His only hope was to get the offended warrior to hear him out before he tried to kill Mar and give him the qahsa.

Small hope that would be, Mar thought as he put the qahsa back in the safe. As far as he was able to tell, no one knew just who this unknown was or where he came from. It was possible that he was attached to a project that involved Nom Anor but then why would he be working with smugglers and trying to join the Peace Brigade? Too many unknown factors about this warrior but he was willing to let it go if it meant he could get through this without losing anything.

He did his now trice daily routine of inspecting his apartment for any signs of intruders. Although he did live on the top floor of a very secured building, it had several paroling security robot that kept the rabble out of his floor, with very limited access lifts and stairwells. He also had the state of the art security system in his apartment that would take many top slicer hours to by pass. The only thing he wished he could get were bodyguards, robotic bodyguards were out of the question since the Vong would view him with suspicion if he were to get one or two and most models that were available to general public could not stand against a warrior. He had tried through various legal and not so legal contacts to get an YVH1 from Lando Carlrissian without luck. Lando was close friends with the double cursed Solo's and must have heard about him from that Colonel Jaina Solo and some of her suspicions about him. Lando was polite but firm in his refusal in selling him anything.

Mar had tried to get a living bodyguard with about as much luck as he did with the droid. They had heard what was gunning for him and none of them really wanted to help him out. Any Vong that was after him because of honor was more trouble then it would be worth to protect him. A couple said they would do it for a million, up front and non-refundable.

Mar even went to the GA military and Denon security forces. That damn brat Solo told him sweetly that if they had spare moment they would be willing to swing by his place to see if he was still breathing. She had said that if he were willing to 'confess' all his crimes they would put him in witness protection program. That was a no-brainer decision he knew how leaky their security was and how quickly the Vong would find out where they stashed him. They would come and kill him for betraying them like that. There was nowhere he could hide and nothing he could do to save himself. His only hope was that he could out talk his adversary long enough to convince him to spear his life. A very small hope but that was all he had to work with.

After checking everything in his apartment he head to the refresher to prepare for his sleep period. He has talk to politicians and other high rollers in the business world surely he could convince one warrior that it would be in his best interest not to kill him outright. Maybe the warrior wouldn't even come, maybe he decided to run away, hide, and forget about his pride. Yea and Ewoks can fly fighters too, he thought bitterly as he left the refresher and made one last circuit through the apartment to make sure nothing was different. Can't be too careful, besides the first couple of seconds were critical to my survival, if I make past that, I could convince him I should be spared. If I am not taken by, surprise and prove to the warrior that he could be dealt with while stand tall and proud. That was the only way to survive the Vong and that is to stand up to them in pride and strength.

"Lights out," he said as he lies down on his back, one more day done. In a way, he wish that Vong warrior would hurry up and get here all this waiting was killing him. After a few minutes he sat up, "lights on." He looked around the room; he had an uneasy feeling as if something bad was going to happen. Nevertheless, he didn't see anything that looked suspicious just an empty room. "Don't fall apart Mar, if you want to die peacefully in your sleep in the future. You have to keep your head together now, lights off."

"LIGHTS ON!" he screamed out a few minutes later, the feeling of pending doom was getting worst. He leaned on his right arm as he did a slow scan of the room. Starting at his door, he turned slowly, taking in everything as he did, to right to left. Again, the room was clear, once again his imagination was getting the best of him, turning on his right side as soon as the lights were off he heard a voice in his left ear.

"Infidel the gods have heard your pleas and you'll be granted wish to die in your sleep," a voice, a very familiar voice that he last heard on Hollow Nebula, whispered to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jaina Solo, 22-year-old Jedi Knight, a Colonel and War hero, was working late, again. She was in her office going over the latest expenditures on the brush wars still raging in different parts of Hutt Space for Admiral's briefing with the Chief of State in the morning. Being on the Supreme Commander's staff was both exciting and boring as watching mold grows. It was exciting being at the center of the political and military heart of the galaxy, helping mold the military of the future and deal with all the issues of the military today. When should they step in, should they do this or leave it in the hands of the diplomats. Of course, that was also the boring part, dealing with the endless meetings, politicians and the likes. Arguing over procedural matters that she could have, at one time, ignored if they got in the way of her and her squadron getting their job done.

She couldn't mishear or overlook or outright ignore orders anymore, she was a leading figure in the Military and would set a bad example for the officers and enlisted men and women below her. It was one thing to act in that manner when she was in the Twin Suns squadron and had only her squad mates to worry about; it was another to do it when she was an Admiral's aid. She had to argue, debate, and win by being smarter then her opponents in getting the changes needed to free up the military from unrealistically expectations that many in the Senate, and sadly upper ranks of military, have about their roles. It was like fighting that jelly that the Vong used to hold prisoners but she felt it was worth the effort if the events of the past 5 years never occurred again. She owned it to Anakin, Chewie, Anni, her first wingman in the Rogue Squadron back when the war was new, and the other thousands of soldiers and billions of civilians out there that died mostly to the inept leadership early in the war.

Why she was alive and so many were not was something that kept her awake at night along with the workload. Sometimes it was skill but most of the time, it was just plain dumb luck. Sometimes just, going right instead of left, waking up few minutes early or going to the refresher or something stupid and trivial could put a person in the right place at the wrong time. Sometimes your number was just up, like Anakin's number while on their mission to kill the voxyn.

When she dwells on it too much, she would be sad, or she goes practices in the gym or flight simulator. If Jag were around, which she felt that he wasn't around enough sometimes, she would just let him hold her while she talked. Sometimes nothing cures the pain quicker then a good shoot of Corellian whisky. She often wondered how her parents, uncle and aunt ever learn to live with, well with the guilt of surviving when so many others didn't.

"Solo here," she said kind of sharply when the comm in her desk seemed to jerk her out of her thought, getting jumpy Jaina not good.

"Rar here colonel, our bugs report that our target has his visitor tonight." The voice of Alema Rar said over the comm. She sounded very excited at this news.

"Roger Rar, send up a team and have a sniper team station at point Alpha. They are not to interfere until I join you, unless it is clear that our target is about to be eliminated. I want some answers before we crash the party." Jaina stopped for a moment then added, "I mean it Alema, you'll get your light saber back but only after we have them both and alive."

"Understood ma'am but you better hurry the visitor is already in the same room as the target."

"What do you mean he is already in there, someone fall sleep on their watch?" Jaina said getting up and grabbing her saber from her desk drawer and clipping it on her belt. Jaina was not happy they had that apartment and the building wired six ways to Borleais and back. That warrior shouldn't have been able to get in the building let alone the room without them knowing about it. Heck, even the Wraiths would have been slowed down by the set up.

"Unknown, there should have been no way to get in there without us knowing but we just heard his voice on the bug." Alema sounded slightly confused too, "We are moving as quickly as we can but I can't guarantee we will be in position to stop the scar head from doing anything."

"Understood, get moving I met you there," Jaina said switching off the comm and heading towards her office door. As she reached the door, it opened up and her twin brother, Jacen Solo, stepped in and blocked her path. "Jacen …"

"I need to come along," Jacen said simply.

"Jacen …" Jaina started to say but stopped by the cool reception she was getting from him in the Force, nice to see you too brother!

"It is the will of the Force, Jaina, that warrior is the key."

"Jacen …" Jaina asked sounding and feeling confused at her strange brother. Ever since he 'returned' from the dead, he was just strange. Moreover, right now he just didn't feel right but that could be just from the long absents. "The key to what?"

"Everything Jaina."

"Jacen …" she started then let out a huff. She was wasting time with this and besides he was a Jedi and would be an asset if the operation went bad. "Oh, all right, come on we got to get moving. You can explain on the way."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mar crawled as fast as he could, whimpering like a little baby, towards his office. He never looked back to see how close that warrior was to him, really there was no need, he knew that the warrior was just playing with him right now. He could have killed Mar while he was still in his bed without Mar even knowing what happened. The small part of his brain not frozen with fear briefly wondered exactly the warrior got in without his knowledge or seeing him, let alone lay down next to him. Nor did he know how long the warrior was willing to play out this game. All he knew was the gods have allowed him a few extra seconds in which to save his own life.

"You cost me a lot Fusty and I'm going to take my payments out of your hide, very slowly."

With a will that he didn't know he possessed he climb to his feet and lurched himself at the safe. With fumbling fingers and mind racing, he found it extremely difficult to get the combination in right.

"Going for a weapon? Good, try to make this some what interesting for me please!"

"No, I have to give you this," he said turning after opening the safe and pulling out the qahsa. Holding out in front or him, arms extended, he walked slowly forward. This was the decisive moment.

"What are you going to do with that? Recorded your own death?" The warrior said with a snare on his lips and crossed his arms over his chest. The warrior was standing inside the doorway to his office not moving any further.

"My master, the Warmaster, has commanded me to give you this," he said stopping at arms reached, still holding the qahsa out.

"You lie infidel, no Yuuzhan Vong would soil themselves by being a master of a worm like you! You turned me in to the Jeedai are you going to tell me that was the Warmaster's idea also?"

"No, that was all my fault, warrior, I thought you were a worthless infidel. I had no idea that you were one of the Chosen Ones. I sent the infidels after you to insure that any suspicion against me was removed and placed on you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You are making no sense Infidel!"

Face, sitting in maintenance closet four floors below Tahiri position, listens to the special hidden microphone at the events taking place above him. He glanced over at Shalla who was listening in with a pair of headphones on and a hungry expression on her face.

"I am a member of the Peace Brigade, warrior, and pretending to be a agent for the GA. Only a few high ranking members of the GA Intelligent and military know that I am working for them. There was a high annoying and persistent GA intelligent officer on board the liner." Face nudged Shalla and gave her a smirk and she actually blushed. "Since she didn't know who I was, I need to get her off my back. I sacrificed you since you were available and so suspicious acting anyways …"

"And you think that will make everything better."

"No of course not …"

"You got him Tahiri," Shalla whispered, as if she was afraid they could hear her, "get us some names now."

"So you rig up some fake …"

"No, it is from the Warmaster!"

"Why should I believe you Infidel, you already sold me out once!"

"I had too, don't you understand! My contacts and I must protect ourselves from the intelligent people! They are breathing down our necks, trying to shut down our flow of information to the Yuuzhan Vong. Your people are benefiting from our pipeline of information, valuable information, that is vital to your survival!"

"Like who?"

"What?"

"Who also is helping the Chosen Ones, you expect me to believe YOU on your word!"

"I can't …"

"Come on, come on spill it," Face whisper.

"You think she could reach in and …"

"No, she wouldn't do that. It violates everything she believes in. We will have to hope she can sweet talk her way in to his confidence."

"It would make it a lot easier."

"You ever dealt with a Dark Jedi," Face asked, already knowing the answer. She shook her head and he pinned her with his stare. "Trust me it is not something you want to do. She knows what she can and can't get away with and reaching in there like that is absolutely a no-no."

"Very well if it will help you trust me …"

Face then heard a noise of a strangled scream and breaking glass. Then next thing he heard was Tahiri cursing while the door was blasted open.

"Freeze scum, you are under arrest for murder!"