Kaevee had expected the cantina brawl to cause a stir in Telthek Nest—if nothing else, to put the rest of the Gran mercenaries on the alert—but it wasn't long before it became clear that something much worse was going on.

Lannik Mai and his partner, Rittu, had apparently spent enough time in this place to know the layout well; they quickly led the party off the avenue connected to Dono's Cantina, through some kind of labyrinthine apartment complex, and finally to a run-down turbolift. As the lift lurched to a stop at the ground level, a sting of warning in the Force brought Kaevee's and Atton's hands to their weapons. Shouts of fury in several languages—Basic and Huttese, maybe—carried through the door as it began to open with a clunk. Beside Kaevee, Cole swore as he belatedly stabbed at the lift control panel with his finger.

Just meters ahead, a party of what looked to be five spacers—four reptilian Niktos and a Human—stood with their backs to the turbolift. Having apparently come from a passage to the left, they were facing off with a squad of six of the Gran mercenaries, who were blocking an exit at the end of a short hall.

The incomprehensible shouting match continued for perhaps two seconds before the Human spacer drew a pair of pistols. Quick as a voritor lizard, one of the Gran drew faster and blasted him in the chest, but even as the man fell, he snapped off several wild shots; he hadn't yet hit the floor when everyone else in the hall opened fire, turning the narrow space into a hailstorm of scarlet light.

Lannik Mai, Rittu, Atton Rand, and Cole Terrick did not need the Force to tell them to throw themselves to the floor. Neither did Kaevee.

A few heartbeats later, the firefight gave way to a silence that roared in her ears. Picking her head up to peer into the hall, she saw no movement except tangles of smoke and flecks of molten metal dripping from fresh holes in the walls and ceiling. Reaching out with her feelings, she controlled a shudder as she sensed the auras of the gunmen and guards slipping away into the deeper Force—wherever that was. Strangely enough, even these loathsome beings had a certain light about them that death took away from the world.

Atton was the first one back on his feet. In an absent-minded tone he asked, "Anyone get hit?"

None of them had, but a cluster of stray bolts had punched through the back wall of the turbolift, and Kaevee found herself brushing flakes of shattered carbo-plas out of her hair. Together they emerged into the hall, wrinkling their noses against the stink of ozone and burnt cloth and flesh.

"Just what the frack did we walk in—" Cole broke off, tripping over the leg of one of the Niktos and nearly falling over. Without thinking, Kaevee reached out a hand to steady him, but he slapped it away. "Get off me, Jedi. You're not my type."

The two scowled at each other until Kaevee cracked and turned away. She didn't trust herself to look at him without saying or doing something she would regret.

The Republic base on Ord Vaxal had been large enough for the two to avoid each other almost as much as they liked. After a month of that comfortable distance, Kaevee had almost forgotten how much she detested the man. When this mission had forced them back together, she'd known it would be only a matter of time before he gave her an adequate reminder.

Though they had barely held a conversation since Malachor V, Kaevee often recalled her early spats with Cole. Fine, I'll stop pitying you, she'd said to him once—and more than him, she was angry with herself for not keeping that promise.

Mercifully, she was snapped out of her thoughts when Lannik opened the door that the Gran had been guarding, revealing a T-junction. "Hear that? More fighting."

Everyone gathered near the doorway to listen. It sounded almost like a riot, a sea of shouts flavored by occasional bursts of weapon fire, distorted by distance.

Atton's comlink beeped, and he answered it. "Yeah?"

It was Atris who had called. Her tone was almost eerily serene. "I happened to glance outside the ship. The docking bay seems to be under guard now, and the bay doors have been closed. And I believe I can sense a great deal of commotion out in the main corridor."

"I get it now. They're locking the place down." Atton gestured at the aftermath of the firefight. "That's what this was, and that's what we're hearing. It's everyone trying to get back to their ships like we are."

Cole stared at him, incredulous. "There's gotta be thirty- or forty-something freighters docked here—all of them crewed by bounty hunters, mercs, or gunrunners. Why in the hell would the people running this place piss all of them off?"

Something tugged on Kaevee's mind, and she glanced back in the direction of the turbolift as the spacer continued. "I mean, it can't be just to get to us, right? All we did was grease a couple of seccers..."

He trailed off, sounding doubtful. Trading grim looks with the Republic agents, Atton spoke into the comlink again. "Thanks for the warning. We'll have to think of something... In the meantime, can you see about getting those bay doors open?"

There was an uncomfortable pause. "Certainly."

The group stepped into the T-junction, and Kaevee's nascent worry for Atris's safety was cut short when the two Republic agents separated themselves.

Lannik indicated the left passage. "Bay 4 is that way. 21's this way. This is where we part company."

Beside him, Rittu smirked in a decidedly unfriendly manner. "Good luck, JOPs."

"We shouldn't split up," Kaevee blurted. "Come with us. We'll have a better chance together."

Lannik squared his shoulders. "That's not part of our mission. Our orders were to find you a target and disappear."

"You won't make it on your own—"

"Don't worry about us, Agent. You have your job and we have ours." Again he pointed past them. "Before you hit the docking bays, there'll be a storage room on the wall to your right. In the back there should be a door to the service tunnels. Look for an elevator and take it up to hangar maintenance, then make your way to Bay 4. That way, you won't have to fight the whole way back to your ship. Understood?"

Despite herself, Kaevee was touched by Lannik's frank, confident unconcern. She looked at Atton, expecting a reprimand from him or perhaps from Cole—Jedi do-gooder, they'd say—but the pilot only nodded. "Doesn't sound too hard. Thanks for the help."

Lannik saluted, and Rittu didn't, before they marched away and disappeared around a corner, not looking back once.

"Hey," said Cole suddenly, pointing back the way they'd come. Kaevee and Atton looked in time to see a floating probe droid just before the turbolift. Gray-plated and vaguely spherical, it darted nimbly out of sight.

Atton said, "Let's get moving. Kaevee, watch our back."

She did so with blaster in hand, but the probe didn't show itself again. In short order they found the storage room with the service access door in the back, behind a stack of plastoid crates. The light wasn't working, so Kaevee held up a glowrod while Atton and Cole removed the obstruction.

As they shoved the last few crates aside, she let out a sudden, shuddering breath as though the air around her had abruptly frozen. Elsewhere in Telthek Nest, she felt the Force turn fiercer—and darker.

There was a muffled beep, and Atton dug out his comlink as he shouldered the service door open. "Yeah, yeah, let's hear the good news."

"Atton, please hurry," Atris told him. "The Sith are here."