"What a charming young woman," drawled Locus, and he sipped his glass of wine. Once again, he lamented the poor choices Alderaan had made. Unless any of their winemakers had survived, this could be one of the last of their exquisite drinks. A true shame. "If possible, be sure to capture her alive. I would love to break that Rebel's spirit, and if not, Jabba would owe me yet again for delivering another treasure to him."

He lounged back in his hoverchair in his personal shuttle, his suit tucked away in the corner to recharge, and his smaller mechanical hands back on. In front of him was a computer showing all of the various camera feeds, and of course, he heard every word the Rebels said. Not too far, Anvil sat next to the pilot in the cockpit. "I know I'm supposed to follow orders," grunted the Clone, "but I really hope that was a joke, sir. We may have worked with Jabba in the Clone Wars, but I always hated him and the rest of those slugs."

Locus shrugged. "Not much we can do about it now. He's cemented his alliance with the Empire even more ever since the Death Star was destroyed. But very well, no new slaves for the Hutts. I'll have to settle with putting that Rebel's lovely head on my wall."

The minutes passed and the Rebels completed the rest of their mission. They collected their dead, bustled the slaves away, and got out of range of the site. Locus chuckled; they thought they were in the clear, but they were blissfully unaware that they were actually dancing to his tune, and that his eyes were still on them…

"Well, Kashvi," said Nailah with a grim smile, as they stopped on a ridge with a good view of the site, "would you like to do the honors of getting rid of that site?"

Her equally attractive companion shook her head. "No thanks, I'm a pilot, not a demolitions expert. The honor is all yours, Nailah."

The Twi'lek nodded, and pressed a control on her gauntlet. The camera feed showed the site immediately go up in a massive fireball. The Rebels and slaves all cheered, even the Talons looked satisfied, but Locus gave an unimpressed grunt. He had seen far more spectacular explosions in his day. He was more eager to see their reactions for when the smoke cleared.

They did not disappoint. As the smoke began to thin out, the cheers slowly died out, and their triumphant looks quickly faded. In fairness, the Imperial wall had been reduced to rubble, as well as the tower, but the temples…the temples remained standing, and Locus knew there would barely be a scratch on them. Locus didn't grin, not yet. While amusing, this could still be the part where his gamble could fall to pieces…he had to play this very carefully.

The Twi'lek took out a pair of binoculars and got out to get a better look at the temples. "The explosion barely even scratched them!" snapped Nailah and she threw the binoculars to the ground in frustration. "How is this possible?!"

The Talons all shared a quick glance at each other, but said nothing. This didn't escape the Twi'lek's notice, and she spat at them, "Do you know something about this? If so, talk, or I'll launch you all back into orbit in the same pod you shot me out of!"

Locus couldn't help it, he burst out laughing. Even though he had not forgotten the incident at the Lazy Rancor, he was still impressed by the Talons' skills, and now this. If they kept it up, he might actually try and convince the Talons to join the Empire instead. Anvil glanced back, surprised and confused, but Locus waved him off. He'd tell the Commander later.

The Besalisk, Dendro, sighed and said, "Remember that dead end Zar told you about? We were looking for some easy money and came across a statue made out of that same black stone. Not sure if you noticed when you first met him, but Zar hates snakes, and he opened fire on the statue when he first saw it. It did no damage whatsoever, just like with the temples."

Nailah's hand lowered to her holstered blaster. "Really? So what made that statue a dead end?"

Locus decided to lend a hand to the Talons. He needed them on the planet, and he'd need the next stage of this plan to work. He flicked on his comm. "Lieutenant Dromus? This is Moff Locus. It's time to put our plan into motion."

Barely a few seconds later, the Rebels heard a branch snap, and saw it fall to the ground. Every weapon raised up at the canopy. "Ceras!" hissed Nailah. "Can you detect anything?"

The orange Niktos raised a device and began to scan the trees. Over a certain spot, the device beeped, and he glanced up. A blaster bolt hit him in the chest before he could say anything. The Twi'lek and the others screamed his name, while the Drabatan, Ru, leapt acrobatically into the trees. The camera started to move quickly away from the location, but not fast enough, as Ru managed to fire his blaster pistol and land a successful hit. The camera plummeted to the ground and attempted to scramble away, but Ru shot down from the canopy, and drove his yellow lightsaber down. The camera feed went out and was replaced with a new one. Locus now had an excellent view of Ru standing over a wrecked probe droid. He steepled the fingers of his smaller robotic arms. This would decide it.

"I've got it!" Ru shouted. "It's a probe droid, I took it out! But get that scanner up again; where there's one probe droid, there's usually even more nearby!"

The Rebels spread out and scanned for the droid. The new one sending Locus the live feed darted between canopies, barely keeping out of sight, and hopefully this one would be invisible to the scanner…if not, Locus would have some strong words with Dromus. But after a few more minutes, the Rebels stopped, and went back to the speeders. The Niktos was placed with the other fallen in the back of one of the bigger speeders. Nailah looked somber, but hadn't lost her curiosity. "I appreciate you taking out the droid, Ru," she began. "But I still want to know about why you didn't continue with your original job."

"We ran into a pack of Yucabras in the same grove," Dendro continued. "One of them lured Ru away, while the rest nearly ambushed and ate us. Add that up with Zar's snake phobia, and that the statue didn't have a fat pile of treasure, you can see why we'd consider it a dead end."

The Twi'lek stared at Dendro a little longer, then thankfully, dropped it there. "Fine. We'll decide what to do next back at base. Churu, keep scanning for any droids. Kashvi, call base and have them send a team to meet us, and set up a temporary watch. I don't want anyone following us back to base."

Locus clenched his fists. This Twi'lek was good…very good. But he could still make this work. "Moff Locus," said Anvil, "we're approaching the Revenant."

"Thank you, Commander," he replied. "Get Dromus to send more droids. The Twi'lek has made the plan more difficult, but not impossible. In the meantime, let's bring down this new squad of starfighters."

Bariq collapsed onto his bed in the small cave tucked away in one of the corners of the refugees' cave. "We did it," he sighed. "We nearly got eaten by Yuca wildlife, broken by Rebel busywork, but we finally know where to go. Can't wait to ditch this place."

SN sat on a crate and was using a power generator to recharge. "All we have to do now is wait for the others to return," he remarked. "How should we escape? Slip away when they're not looking? Or blow up their speeders and stay long enough to laugh at them?"

Bariq cackled. "Let's defer to Zar on that one. Well, Zar, what do you…?"

He stopped. Even SN kept quiet. Zar had taken out an item, and held it carefully in one hand, his head tilted down to look at it. Bariq shrugged at SN; they'd have to wait until Zar was ready.

Not long later, the sound of chatter echoed through the caves. Bariq looked up and saw new faces join the other refugees. Thankfully, their crew was among them, and heading their way. Sadly, Bariq noticed that the tailhead was also with them, but at least she had her much more attractive companion with her. "Alright slackers," began Nailah, "the General wants you—"

She broke off, noticing Zar pocket the item. "What was that?" she asked.

"It's a prototype thermal detonator," replied Zar. "Capable of vaporizing everything within a hundred kilometers." He sighed when her hand went for her blaster and brought the item out. "Do me a favor, Captain? Get a sense of humor."

It was a simple tooth. Admittedly a formerly razor sharp and deadly tooth, but now a harmless bit of decoration, with lines and symbols carved into it. Nailah looked at it blankly, but Kashvi gasped. "That's an akul's tooth!"

Zar quickly closed his hand over it, and then pocketed it again, as if afraid she'd snatch it. Nailah stared at Kashvi in curiosity and the Togruta said, "The akul is the most dangerous animal on Shili, it's capable of wiping out entire villages. It's a tradition among my people that those who manage to slay one can wear its teeth."

"I see," said Nailah slowly and turned around. "So, Zaram, who did you steal it off—?"

Zar drew his blaster so fast Bariq didn't even see it. Nailah stopped and took a step back in shock. "Nailah," Zar warned softly, "I've put up with your empty words until now. But say that I stole this again, and I don't care if even this Skywalker shows up to stop me, I'll put you down in the ground with all of the other bounty hunters, crime lords, and Imperials who tried their luck with me."

For a few long moments, nobody made a move. The other Talons eyes darted from Zar to Nailah, unsure of what to do, and Kashvi looked like she was about to run and get help. Then Bariq crept over and whispered pleadingly to Zar in Sy Bisti, hoping neither Rebel spoke it. "Zar, please! Not now! There's millions of credits within our grasp! Put up with this tailhead's abuse for a little longer and we'll never see her again after this job!"

Zar kept his opaque visor's gaze fixed on Nailah's blue eyes for a few more moments, and then slowly holstered the blaster. Nailah started to breathe again, but waited a second before saying, "You have a few minutes. Then the General wants to see you."

She walked out, but Kashvi stayed behind, a hesitant look on her face. "Zaram…I mean no disrespect asking, but how did you get that tooth? Only the one who kills an akul can wear it."

Zar started to walk out of the cave, but stopped when he was about to pass her. He took the tooth out again and turned it over in his hand, as if weighing whether or not to tell her. Then he said, "I didn't steal it, it was given to me a long time ago…" He hesitated, but then sighed heavily. "…after we had managed to defeat the akul. Together."

"We?"

Bariq walked over to his friend and placed a comforting hand on his elbow. He shook his head at Kashvi, and said, "Please, Kashvi. It's not a story he likes telling. Let it stay in the past, no need to open up old wounds."

The Togruta still looked curious, but then her expression softened and she nodded. "I understand. Please, forgive me Zar. If it helps, it hasn't been an easy journey for either Nailah or myself." She sighed. "Not for anyone here, really, not even Commander Skywalker."

Zar gave a slight nod, and the group made their way to the cave where the General waited. Haldan, Nailah, Natron, and several other officers were studying several holograms on the holotable. "While we can't exactly call the mission a success," the Tognath said slowly, "we certainly can't call it a failure. We managed to liberate innocents from the site, so good work there, Nailah and Kashvi. As for the information you recovered?"

Nailah nodded and inserted the file into the table. Various holograms of the skeletons and ancient artworks replaced the previous holograms. "According to the Imps," Nailah began, "these skeletons somehow have Yucabra DNA, or are related to the Yucabras. These could be the ancient invaders the Yucari told us about. Can we get any more information from them?"

Natron shook his head. "Already tried. The Yucari are clinging onto that info like a Jawa merchant in a Nar Shaddaa bazaar. No offense," he added at Bariq.

Bariq shrugged. "None taken, it's true."

"What about whatever the Imps are after?" asked Kashvi. "Can they tell us about that?"

"No good there either," said Natron sourly. "But it doesn't matter. We just have to keep disrupting Imperial excavation sites and they'll pack up and leave soon. I may have our next target—"

A button beeped urgently and Haldan pressed it at once. A map of a sector of Yuca materialized, with several shapes symbolizing Rebel starfighters, and a massive shape for something else right behind them. "Yucari Base," said a tense voice, "this is Rogue Leader. We're being pursued by an old Venator Star Destroyer."

"The Revenant," spat Haldan. "Locus's flagship. He must not have taken you slipping through his defenses well. Rogue Squadron, there's a series of mountains and canyons not far from your position, try and lose them in—"

An explosion shook the comms and several Rebels listening in gasped and cried out. One of the starfighters was heading for the surface. "I've been hit!" shouted Rogue Leader. "Wedge, take charge, I'll try and land as best as I—!"

The sound of screeching metal shook the comm and it cut out. The symbol completely disappeared. Kashvi actually let out a furious cry and struck the holotable in rage. Nailah held her back and did her best to comfort her. Anger, alarm, and concern fought for control of Natron's face as he stared intently at the hologram, as if trying to will Rogue Leader's survival. Haldan kept urgently speaking into the comm, trying to regain contact with the pilot. Bariq glanced at his companions; Zar shrugged, and SN shook his head. Neither knew the pilot. But Dendro, Tor, and Ru looked troubled. "Hope this Rogue Leader survives," Tor muttered to Bariq. "He saved our lives at the site. I would hate to leave the debt unpaid."

Bariq sighed. "Of course, you would. You'd take on the Black Sun if someone so much as held the door open for you at Kalia's place."

"Yuc—" said the voice over the comm, and everyone shut up to listen. "—this—Rogue Leader—survived."

The Rebels all sighed or whooped in relief. Kashvi had tears of relief in her eyes, and if Bariq wasn't mistaken, Nailah might have had some too. "Rogue Leader," said Haldan slowly. "If you can hear me, avoid the Imps at all costs. We'll send you a rendezvous point soon."

Another pause, and then the voice said, "Ack—edged."

Haldan turned the comms off and turned to Natron. "Get Dynas here now. Tell him to bring every Yucari he can find. We are not going to be the ones who lose Luke Skywalker to the Empire."

"Congratulations," growled Locus. "I was going to inspect the pilots later this week, but now that task no longer seems necessary."

The pilot's face slackened. "Moff Locus, please, forgive me, but the Rebels have the Yucari helping them! It's thanks to them that the Rebels are able to pull maneuvers like that—!"

"Oh, spare me your excuses! What little patience Lord Vader has is already gone, we can not afford any more distractions from the Rebels! Now rejoin your squadron, and if you don't take out the rest of those fighters, you might as well stick your head into an Ahmuzen hive, it'll be less painful than what Vader, or worse, the Emperor have in mind for you."

The pilot scurried off. Locus sighed. Even though they had taken out one of the pilots, the rest managed to escape the Venator and TIEs thanks to the massive canyons and caverns that were on this part of the planet. But with any luck, the droids would pull through, and the Talons would lead them straight to the real prize.

Locus glanced at the subordinates on the bridge. Some were new here, and they still looked curious or disgruntled at having to work on an old Venator Star Destroyer. He felt his lip curl. These young fools couldn't appreciate the past, they always had to have the newest and most advanced ships. Despite being an older model, Locus made sure that it had the latest technology anyway, so he couldn't understand why these new underlings viewed his ship with such disdain. He sighed and took another swig from his wine glass.

"Moff Locus! You need to come hear this!"

Anvil had called him over from one of the work stations, with Brogan working on the console. Locus floated over in his hoverchair, and asked, "Is it the Talons? Have they made their move yet?"

Anvil shook his head. He had a curious look in his eyes. "We intercepted some Rebel transmissions," Brogan spoke up. It looked like he had no idea what was going on either. "Commander Anvil believes that it's important. That pilot we shot down earlier? It sounds like he survived and now the whole cell is going to scour this mudball for him."

Locus snorted as he gulped down more wine. "What could possibly be so important about this particular Rebel?"

Anvil nodded and Brogan played the transmissions. "No—Rogue Leader—Luke!"

"Yucari Base—deploy search—"

"Understood—we'll find—Skywalker!"

Locus was only vaguely aware of his glass dropping from his hand and shattering to pieces on the floor. He wasn't even concerned that he lost a few more precious drops of his favorite Alderaanian wine. He felt like he was having an out of body experience. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. A name he had not heard in years.

Skywalker.

Anakin Skywalker was long dead of course, he had confirmation of that from the Emperor himself. But he had been one of the best people to fight alongside with during the Clone Wars, and once again, Palpatine personally confided in him that Anakin was the only Jedi to have been loyal to the Empire from the beginning. It was a tragic loss that he had died so early…but now with this bit of knowledge, that a relative of Anakin's (how many other people had a last name like that?) was still alive, perhaps that could be remedied.

Locus hesitated. Even at his bravest, he didn't think he could approach the Emperor with this sort of request…but then a thought came to him. Vader formerly headed the Inquisitorious Program. Provided the boy was not yet the Jedi his father was, perhaps Vader may be interested in reviving the group…but was it worth risking Vader's wrath? Then a memory came to Locus, the day he swore that he would never forget…

Pain. That was his world at the moment. Every inch of him felt sharp, dull, and burning pain all at once. He wasn't at the Grand Republic Medical Facility yet, for now they were keeping him in another medical facility, and they kept giving him bacta and other medicine to try and reduce the pain, but it still persisted. But what was even worse was when he tried lifting his limbs, only to feel and remember that they were ruined stumps now. His vision wasn't any better, they gave him goggles to try and help him see, but even then, he barely made out or recognized anyone. There were only two small comforts; the first was that occasionally his wife Tena would visit. Despite his ruined appearance, she hadn't abandoned him, which meant more to him than he could ever say. And the second was that the Clone who saved him, Sergeant Anvil, constantly stood guard outside his door, and only left when he really needed the rest or food.

The door opened, interrupting his train of thought. From what he could see, the visitor wasn't in a medical uniform, and Anvil was with them. "General Locus," said the voice softly. "I…I don't know what to say. Is there anything I can do for you?"

Locus realized who it was now; Anakin Skywalker, Jedi General of the 501st. "No," he wheezed. "Not unless you Jedi can regrow missing limbs now."

Anakin took a seat next to him, his features becoming clearer, while Anvil remained standing. "Sergeant Anvil told me about how you helped my troops at the end," Anakin went on. "We can never repay you for that."

Locus hacked and coughed as a spasm of pain shot through him. "I only wish I had seen through that fool earlier," he spat. "I should have realized what his tactics were truly about. If I had, we wouldn't have had to suffer all of those casualties…" He broke off in another coughing spree.

Anvil muttered something unintelligible to Anakin and then left the room. "Easy," said Anakin. "Don't want to make your condition worse. You're lucky to have a Clone like Anvil," he added, "he told me all about how he pulled you out of the rubble. If he keeps this up, he'll be an ARC Trooper in no—"

The Jedi leapt from his chair, lightsaber in hand, just as the window shattered as a bolt tore through it. Anakin batted it away, along with several others. Alarms blared throughout the facility, and Locus thought he heard the sound of guards rushing by. For a long time, Anakin stood by him, his blue blade in front of him. Locus longed to try and get up and show he could still defend himself, but he realized once again how damaged his body really was. And then the alarm finally stopped. Anakin turned off the lightsaber and spoke into a comm. "They caught the sniper," Anakin told him. "An Umbaran assassin. Guess they aren't happy about choosing the wrong side—"

More footsteps, and Anvil's voice said, "General Skywalker! Is he alright?!"

"He's fine," replied Anakin in an amused tone. "No assassin is getting to him while I'm around…Locus, what's wrong?"

Locus had ripped his goggles off, big, fat, ugly tears streaming from what was left of his eyes. "Why didn't you let me die?" he demanded weakly. "I couldn't even get up, that's how pathetic I am now. I'm no use to Republic now, I'm no use to Tena or our approaching child…I'm no use to anyone now."

"Sir!" exclaimed Anvil. "Don't talk like that! My brothers and I need you! You didn't just help save the 501st, you helped us get through one of the worst campaigns in the war!"

"Calm down, Anvil," Anakin interrupted. "But he's right, Locus. Don't lose hope; we're not the Separatists, we won't abandon you like they would. We'll find a way to help you. Chancellor Palpatine has already called in the best medical experts, they'll be here soon, and with some luck, you'll be back in the fight in no time."

Locus sank back into his bed, mulling over what Anakin had said. "Will you at least look after my troops when you can?" he asked.

Somehow he knew the Jedi was smiling. "Of course, General Locus. That's what I'm here for, right?"

Brogan stared at the Moff with shock and suspicion. He had never seen the old worrt behave like this before; it was as if Locus had seen someone he knew had come back from the dead. Did he recognize the name Skywalker? If that was the case, who was this Rebel? "Moff Locus?" asked Anvil tentatively. "Are you alright?"

Locus shook himself back to reality. "Yes…yes, I'm sorry, Commander. I need to call Lord Vader. Brogan!" he snapped. "I'll need you with me to give our report."

Brogan mentally grit his teeth. He despised working with this zealot; Locus was completely devoted to serving the Empire instead of his political interests, even the reason he fought Septimus for control of Yuca was because he didn't believe Septimus was qualified. But Brogan had no choice but to go along with it.

They went to the holotable on the bridge and Locus hailed Vader. A few moments passed, but all too soon, Darth Vader appeared, this time as a life sized hologram. "I have heard no news about the site finally being found," he growled. "There had better be a good reason for this call, Commodus Locus, or you will soon find your time in charge of this project, as Governor of Yuca, and as a servant of the Empire, come to a swift and painful end."

The Moff nodded, and said, "We've managed to get one of our new droids to follow the Talons and we've sent out several more to search for the Rebel base. It shouldn't be long now—"

"What's the status of Project Uraeus?"

Locus hesitated, but then motioned at Brogan. Brogan scowled inwardly, but said out loud, "No news of the site yet, my Lord. But we have found many more artifacts and kyber crystals—"

Vader crossed his arms. "So you bring me news of more of the same, in other words…nothing."

The Moff subtly gulped. "Perhaps…but that's not the reason for this call, Lord Vader. I have different news…and a potential request."

Vader pointed at him and thundered, "You admit you still have no results, yet have the nerve to make requests of me?!"

Locus paled, but looked determined. "My Lord, a squad of Rebel starfighters were smuggled past the blockade. We managed to shoot one of them down, but he has apparently survived, and has the entire Rebel force on Yuca searching for him."

The only sound right now was Vader's ceaseless breathing. He was longer pointing at Locus, both hands were at his sides, and he said, "Continue."

"We intercepted a transmission," Locus continued. "The name of this pilot is Skywalker. I doubt you're aware…but I fought alongside Anakin Skywalker in the Clone Wars. He was one of the finest warriors the Jedi had. If…I know the Inquisitorious Program was shut down, but if this pilot is related to him, and if we could bring him to you, I'm sure you could make him into a powerful asset for the Empire."

"The Force is with you today," Vader noted. "The Empire has been aware of this Skywalker for some time now; he was the one who destroyed the Death Star, and we now seek to turn the Rebels' greatest hero against them. Continue your search for the site and Skywalker. And Commodus Locus…be aware that the Emperor already planned for you to be well rewarded should the site be found. But bring me Skywalker, and I will ensure you remain in the Emperor's favor for the rest of your career."

Locus's jaw dropped, as did Brogan's. "Of course, Lord Vader," said the Moff. "It will be done."

Vader nodded, and the hologram vanished, leaving the two Imperials to their new mission.