Chapter 7

Lexoc looked around Erida as Nerca turned down "Joyful Street". Joyful Street looked anything but joyful. At the far end of the street some wreckage that was once homes was being cleared, but this end was horribly destroyed.

Many houses were just empty hulls with gaping holes in the walls and roofs. At the back of many homes were piles of durasteel and permacrete that families had moved from the inside. Inside, some had sprawled out blankets on the ground or what was left of a floor. Most had just given up and moved into shelters provided by the government.

The speeder that the government had lent the Jedi looked gaudily bright compared to the ruins around them. Every now and then, Lexoc would spot a home patched with bright plastoids, giving those homes an absolutely hideous contrast.

Nerca turned down another side street that was heavily spotted with patched homes. She pulled the speeder up to one small home that from the front appeared lightly damaged. Eagerly, she leapt from the speeder first and Lexoc followed. She rang the primitive doorbell and stood back.

A beautiful Verdinian woman answered.

"Nerca?" the woman asked, dazed. "Nerca, is it you?"

"Yes, Bluet," Nerca answered the woman. "It's me."

The woman threw her arms around Nerca's tall shoulders and Nerca returned the embrace, though less intensely.

"Come on in," she welcomed. The Verdinian led the way into a small family room with several, simple, hard-backed chairs. She gestured for the Jedi to sit and Lexoc did so. Bluet—as Nerca called her—disappeared into another room calling, "Trylo!"

From inside Lexoc could see that the whole back wall had collapsed and had been replaced with green plastoid. The home was fairly intact though plastoid in the floor suggested holes. The room was bare save for the chairs and an open fire place.

"Nerca!" said a jovial voice from the other side of the room. Lexoc turned to see a Verdinian man standing there.

Nerca stood and embraced him warmly. Turning to the other Jedi she began introductions.

"Lexoc, Oliso, Keldu, Jesbra, this is Trylo and Bluet Cardei," Nerca said smiling. "Trylo, Bluet, meet Lexoc Jogri, Oliso Dofer, Keldu Lujac and Jesbra Pupal."

"Ah, yes," Trylo said shaking hands with each of them. "The famed Kindred Knights in our home. I have heard so much about you and every one on Verdin knows of your mission to protect Senator Tonuu. And Nerca, now a Jedi Knight… Are you considering an apprentice for yourself, as the rumors say?"

"Yes," Nerca replied with a slight grin. "Kendona Zeke."

"Where is she?" Bluet asked.

"He actually," Lexoc answered for Nerca. "Kendona and the rest of our possible apprentices had to be sent back to the Jedi Temple once we found out who we're dealing with on this mission."

"Who?" Trylo asked.

Everyone hesitated for a moment. Was it wise to reveal this information to just anyone?

"Bi'tridu Lanef," Jesbra finally answered. "Nerca chased him on Niam. She pulled a good bit of info from his ship, the Hunter's Prize." Jesbra laid a hand on Nerca's shoulder and Nerca sat.

Trylo and Bluet pulled up chairs opposite hers.

As the Cardeis sat, Lexoc finally got a good look at them. Trylo Cardei was slender, medium-heighted man with long nut brown hair, loosely tied back from his face. His skin appeared dark in what little light reached in. Lexoc could just see a scar running down his left jaw. He looked rigid and his silver eyes watched her like durasteel.

His wife was almost as tall as he was, but a little wider around the waist. Bluet lived up to her name with hair so dark it appeared blue and eyes of pure ice. Her hair was pulled simply back into a knot at the base of her neck. Her simple purple robes reached to her ankles and swirled when she walked.

"So does Tonuu know you have a suspect?" Trylo asked.

"No need to worry her more," Oliso said.

"Do you think you've got him?" Bluet asked.

"No," Keldu answered. "We've still got to find him and I've got no doubts that he'll change his false IDs. He might even get a new ship."

"You're sure he's that scared?" Bluet asked. "After all he did crack through security more than once."

"He'd better be that afraid," Nerca said with a slight frown. "Once we get a mission and a scent, there's no stopping us. We'll track him to the edge of the galaxy and beyond. He is criminal, and our job is to stop him."

"He may be a bounty hunter and a fierce one, but he's no match for the Kindred Knights," Lexoc continued. "Run, he may, but hide, he cannot."