Anya Dariss sighed as she sat down on the small cot in the Hutt's palace. She had been here for two days . . . . and there was no sign of Garjlah. The girl looked up as someone entered. It was a Rodian.

"What do you want?" she asked with a frown.

"You," he paused, looked around, and came closer. "Are looking for Garjlah?"

"Possible," she said with a shrug.

"How much will you pay for this information?"

"What makes you think I want this information?" Anya said, suddenly on the defensive.

"You look for him. I have information. You will get it, or, I can report you . . . either way, I win."

"Fine. I'll give you two hundred." She needed to find out how serious he was.

Which was pretty serious. He put his hand to his blaster. "Not going to get very far with that price. Now, you're of use to me, alive, or dead, so it doesn't matter. More than two hundred from you, I'll get more than that from the Hutt."

"Five hundred."

"You mock me, bounty hunter. I don't work for so little."

"This is a good cause, my life!" she snapped. "Fine. One thousand."

"Ah, I knew we could reach an agreement. Now, he keeps to the third level, around the northern side. Remember, we never saw each other."

Then, the Rodian disappeared as quietly as he came. Anya sighed. At least she had some idea as to where he was. Though she was now short one thousand credits. It was either that or her life, and she'd get more than that from Garjlah.

The Rodian walked down a hallway, and bumped into a hooded figure. A hand reached out and pulled the Rodian out of the way. Several credits were pushed into the alien's hand, and a blaster was pointed at its chest.

"Who?"

The Rodian shrugged. "She didn't say. Human female."

"What did you tell her?"

"Garjlah was on the third level, Northern side."

"Anything else?"

"No."

"Good." Then, he squeezed the trigger. The Rodian fell limp at his feet. Turning away, his cloak swirled about him as he headed down the hallway. This would be interesting. Very interesting. Kiernan Thanet walked away, his mind pondering what he had just learned.

Garjlah slipped down the hall. Haha. He would outsmart those darn fool bounty hunters. They couldn't catch him. As he turned the corner, he found himself face to face with a blaster. Before he could react, the creature facing him collapsed, and a woman appeared. He looked at her carefully, something was familiar about her. But he couldn't tell, especially with her jaw dropped.

"Garjlah?" she asked quietly.

"Well," he said, raising his eyebrows. "I guess I've been outsmarted. If only it was for my foolishness."

"Were you a Grey Hound?" she asked slowly.

His eyes narrowed and he looked at her dangerously. How did this girl know that? And who was she anyways? He had never seen her before . . . or had he? Who was she? Then, suddenly, it came to him. Six years ago, on Corellia, at a dinner for the anniversary of the Corellian Shipping Industry. He looked at the woman in front of him again. Yes, that would be about right. Her hair could have been cut since then . . . but as he looked at her face, he realized that it was indeed the same girl who had bothered the Grey Hound smuggling operations so many times for Cramer and Lewis' group. Heck, he was willing to bet that she was the same girl who he was supposed to kill. But a bounty hunter? Besides, Cramer and Lewis were killed, or at least Cramer was, he personally blew up Cramer's ship. Where Lewis was he didn't know, or care. So, what did she do once that was over? Turn bounty hunter?

"Well, you certainly know who you're up against" he said. "I'll grant you that."

"I'm not the most patient person in the world Garjlah," she responded, a warning tone to her voice.

"Yes, I am. And you must be that impertinent little brat I tried to silence six years ago at the Corellian Shipping Industry dinner."

"Didn't do a very good job, apparently. Come on. I'm not staying here until the universe ends." She motioned with her blaster, and he moved. At least he'd have time to get a plan together.

"Apparently," he said, with a brief, gentlemanly nod, with just a hint of sarcasm.

"I don't have time for this Garjlah. You either move now, or I'll shoot you and just deliver you dead. Either way, the reward's rather substantial. Move it."

He didn't protest. Maybe, he thought, if I can play up to her, do everything she wants, she'll lower her guard. Yes. That will work quite nicely. But, what to do after that? Oh yes, I half-forgot about that technique . . . that will be perfect.

Kiernan Thanet slipped outside the palace. Darula's security was rather lax, and the guards easily bribed . . . it wasn't difficult to get outside without being noticed. With a quick glance in both directions, he headed down the roadway to one of the old docking bays. Docking was cheap there as a result of poor security, anyone could walk in, and do anything, and the docking officials, if you could call them officials, just ignored them. And information about the vessels being stored there was rather easy to come by, you just had to ask.

He found the ship rather quickly, an old Corellian Heavy/Light Attack Fighter that looked like it was ready for the junk heap. He smiled to himself. This wouldn't take long, and from what he knew, the owner was coming to pick up the ship rather soon. Another quick glance told him the deck officers had left for the day. This happened to be one of the most lax docking bays there was. He reached his hand into a pocket under his hooded robe, and pulled out a small orb. A few flicks later, it was nicely imbedded in the HLAF, silently ticking the seconds off. Thanet moved away from the ship, in as unhurried a manner that he could while still hurrying. Not too long later he heard the satisfying sound of a boom, as the thermal detonator, so nicely placed, blew up that HLAF. Now, all he had to do was wait. And wait he could. He was still waiting for the chance to kill Zorkos, patience was something he had in abundance, at least right now. So, Thanet sat down, and began to wait.

The small droid, nestled between some cargo boxes nearby, had been keeping an eye on the ship. Upon seeing his charge obliterated, he rolled away, taking care not to be noticed. All that he was concerned with at the moment was finding his owner, and informing them of the rather unfortunate mishap