Within the folds of the Peshvit Nebula of Wild Space, the ChaseMasterX frigate Shikkar's Edge floated within one of the nebula's multi-colored but planet-less star systems alongside several other frigates and capital vessels, including other ChaseMasters. This nameless system was but one of several hiding places for the pirated vessels of the Lost Tribe of the Sith and the allies that they had accrued in the three months since the Jedi and Galactic Alliance's raid on Kesh, the Lost Tribe's home world.
Aboard the Edge, Grand Lord Darish Vol spoke via holocomm with Sith Saber Gavar Khai, who was somewhere within the Outer Rim of the galaxy. Normally, that kind of communication from within the nebula would have been impossible, but thanks to an advanced AR-PLG comm package, courtesy of the Lost Tribe's pirate allies, that can pierce the interference caused by the gases around them, it was not a problem that they had to face.
"I am sorry to relay this information to you, Saber Khai," Vol stated with a compassionate tone, "but Lady Rhea has been confirmed dead and the whereabouts of your daughter, Vestara, are unknown."
Khai's stoic expression dropped into one of obvious concern for a brief moment. Then, without asking for permission, he closed his eyes and adopted a meditative expression.
Had Vol been less understanding, he would have at least chastised Khai for what he was doing. But as it was, the Grand Lord didn't want to rob the Saber of this moment to make sure that his daughter was alright... especially after what he had lost in the Jedi-GA raid on Kesh. And with all of the deaths that the Lost Tribe had suffered lately, Vol had no intention of further weakening the bonds within it through something that petty.
And, at any rate, since it was just the two of them speaking, Vol had no worry that Khai's unintended insubordination would make the Grand Lord look weak.
When Khai's eyes flashed open, he said, "I can feel that my daughter is alright and unharmed, My Lord."
"But can you feel where she is, Saber Khai?"
The younger human shook his head. "I'm afraid not, My Lord. Are you able to tell me where Vestara was last seen?"
"Commenor, where Lady Rhea's corpse was delivered from. But as you're well aware, the Galactic Alliance and the Jedi have a vast amount of territory, and we have no idea where the latter reside within the Transitory Mists."
"I beg your permission, My Lord," Khai said with a conciliatory tone mixed in with an unmistakable tinge of anxiety, "that you reassign me and my personal forces to find my daughter."
"And what makes you think that I haven't already assigned someone for that task, Saber Khai? Someone who would not be so emotionally compromised over your daughter's current MIA status?"
Khai's nostrils flared in frustration, but his expression remained otherwise stoic. "I do not have an answer for that, My Lord."
"Of course you do not." Vol let the resulting silence stew for a few seconds, wondering what Khai would say, before he relented and declared, "I hereby approve of your reassignment, Saber Khai."
The younger man's visage was both confused but slightly elated.
"Emotional compromise can be turned into the right drive to accomplish what needs to be done," Vol answered Khai's unasked question. "It is, naturally, the way of the Sith that we are not weakened by our emotions, like the Jedi, but strengthened by them. And I believe you, Saber Khai, would not only be in the right position to save your daughter, but also achieve glory for the Lost Tribe in locating the Jedi Order's hidden base." He allowed another pause before he concluded with, "And to say nothing about avenging your wife, Saber Khai."
Now Khai smiled wickedly. "I will not fail you, My Lord."
Vol mirrored that smile. "Of course you will not. Farewell, Saber Khai."
"Farewell, My Lord."
Vol then cut the transmission. Now he had to place the inevitable holocomm call with the other High Lords of the Lost Tribe to discuss who would be a viable candidate to replace Lady Rhea.
But before he could contact any of them, his intercom beeped for his attention; Vol answered it. "Yes?"
"My Lord," came the voice of Vol's immediate subordinate aboard the Edge, Captain Vyn Holpur, "the deliverer Plekos has arrived. He wishes to speak to you personally."
"Personally, Captain Holpur?" Vol asked suspiciously. "Regarding what?"
"A potential new recruit for the Lost Tribe."
Vol looked confused. "Any Sith Saber can accomplish that goal for themselves. And Plekos knows this. What makes this new recruit so special as to warrant my attention?"
"Because, according to the deliverer, My Lord, this potential new candidate personally knew Luke Skywalker."
Vol's eyebrows lifted in interest. "Intriguing. Very well, Captain, put me through to Plekos."
"Yes, My Lord."
A moment later, the visage of the male Zabrak known as Plekos appeared over Vol's desk via holographic representation.
"Agent Plekos," Vol said, "I understand you have brought someone who might have a better understanding of our enemy?"
The Zabrak nodded obediently. "I do, My Lord. Would it please you to meet with us aboard your ship?"
"I would prefer to speak to you over this medium if possible," Vol intoned.
"As you wish, My Lord," Plekos replied with another nod. "Then may I present to you a former officer of the Empire of the Hand, Eelos Elbas."
The Zabrak stepped out of the way to allow an angry-looking male Zeltron to appear in the holographic field's line of sight.
"What have you to say to me, Mr. Elbas?" Vol asked.
"I wish to serve under you personally, Grand Lord Vol," Elbas said, "and inform you of everything that I know about Luke Skywalker."
"Tell me what you know about him," Vol commanded simply.
. . .
After cycling the Solo Quest II down in the hangar bay of Shedu Maad's Jedi Temple, Jacen unbuckled his crash-webbing and stood up. He then produced a simple key from one of his back pockets and reached down to insert it into a slot within Judicar's own specialized crash-webbing.
It was specialized because it was meant to keep her in place whenever Jacen was too focused on piloting the Quest to keep an eye on her.
Judicar said and did nothing as the two-second process went by before she promptly stood up; she didn't even look at her brother, who replaced the key in his pocket, before they left the cockpit. She walked ahead of him, as that, like the unlocking of her crash-webbing, had also been part of the procedure between them for the last three months.
They were partway through the ship before Jacen curtly said, "Stop." Without hesitation, Judicar halted in place and remained motionless, except for her breathing, as Jacen turned to his right. There, he input a quick code into the keypad that slid open the door next to it.
"Turn around," Jacen said monotonously.
Judicar did as instructed and, by her brother's casual wave to the open threshold, proceeded inside. He followed her in and said, "Stop," again. Once more, Judicar set herself in place well within Jacen's field of view as he went over to the bed in the room and undid the straps that held down the angry nine-year-old girl who glared daggers at them.
As soon as she was freed from her bonds, however, Vestara Khai screamed as she launched herself at Jacen. But before she could latch onto him, he Force-flung her to the bulkhead behind her.
Then, as he maintained his Force-hold on the wailing and struggling girl, Jacen whipped his head around to regain his view of Judicar.
She remained in place, her back still to him; had it not been for Vestara's screaming and ranting at Jacen for his killing of Lady Rhea, all would have been silent between the siblings.
After erecting a bubble of silence between them and Vestara, Jacen said, "Judicar, turn around."
She obeyed stiffly.
He then set Vestara so that she stood on the floor but still within his invisible grasp.
"Take charge of the child here," Jacen commanded. "Make sure she remains in front of you at all times until we place her into the care of the Masters Solusar."
"Yes, Jedi Solo," Judicar replied.
Jacen allowed the bubble of silence to disappear, once more bringing Vestara's loud and angry ranting about. And in the split second after he released his hold on the girl, Judicar instantly brought her own invisible grasp around her. Then, as the adult Sith levitated the child Sith towards the open door out of the Quest's spare bedroom, Vestara's ranting shifted from Jacen to Judicar and her betrayal to the Lost Tribe.
Neither of the siblings said anything either to Vestara or to each other as Jacen herded his sister and their charge out of the ship.
By the time the three of them stepped out onto the hangar bay, Vestara's voice was starting to sound hoarse as she still screamed. For the sake of the peace of mind of the dozen or so other people in the bay, Jacen brought up another bubble of silence around himself and the two Sith as they all walked toward the expectant Jedi Masters Kam and Tionne Solusar.
When they reached the Masters, the latter two were enveloped into the bubble so that they could very well hear Vestara as her screams became incoherent and her voice much weaker. It only took a few seconds, however, once the girl stopped screaming altogether as her eyes settled upon both the stoic Kam and the patient Tionne.
The latter Master warily reached a hand for Vestara's forehead; the girl, in turn, actually tried to bite her hand, as if she were a nek dog.
Naturally, Tionne reeled her hand back in time before she tilted her head down at Vestara, as if she were a mild curiosity. Kam, for his part, remained still as a statue, as if his wife hadn't just been threatened.
"We can take it from here, Jacen," the male Solusar said as Vestara went completely still.
Jacen nodded before he turned to his sister. "Judicar, release her."
The adult Sith dropped her hand to her side, signifying that she had complied, just as Kam raised his own hand to ensnare Vestara into his own invisible grip.
The child looked over her shoulder at the Solo siblings. "You will both die by my hand," she growled.
Once again, neither of them replied. And the Solusars said nothing themselves as they headed toward the bay's egress that led into the Temple proper.
The door to that egress opened up before the married Masters got there and Luke Skywalker passed them by; he nodded wordlessly at them, as they did to him. He didn't acknowledge the look of awe mixed with hatred on Vestara's face before he passed by her line of sight.
But just after the Solusars and their Sith charge left, Luke locked gazes with Judicar. His guarded neutral expression from when he entered the bay didn't change, though Jacen could feel the simmering rage beneath the surface of his uncle's facade.
From Judicar, Jacen could only feel the same cold dispassion that he felt from her for the last three months.
Thankfully, Luke had only looked at Judicar for about a few seconds before he turned his head and acknowledged Jacen with the same nod that he gave to the Solusars. Then he turned away and headed in the direction of the Jade Shadow, where a trio of techs—one a human, another a Zeltron, and the other a Barabel—were working on it.
"Let's go," Jacen said to Judicar.
They then walked toward the same egress that the Solusars and Vestara took.
Minutes later, they entered acting Grand Master Hamner's office and stood next to each other behind the guest chairs. He continued to read through his datapad silently for a full minute before he set it down onto his desktop and looked up to acknowledge Jacen.
"You're just in time, Jedi Solo," Hamner said amicably to the Knight; he avoided eye contact with Judicar. "And might I say, congratulations on finally on neutralizing Lady Rhea of the Lost Tribe. That would make her the first within its Circle of Lords to have been eliminated."
"Thank you, Master Hamner," Jacen replied monotonously.
The acting Grand Master nodded approvingly. "Now onto your next assignment." He produced another datapad from beneath his desk and slid it across its surface for Jacen to pick up and read through silently.
When he was done, Jacen passed the 'pad back to the older man and nodded. "Good day to you, Master Hamner," the Knight said evenly.
"And to you, Jedi Solo," the acting Grand Master replied.
The siblings turned around and left the office.
As they proceeded silently down the corridor that led back to the hangar bay, they reached a threshold from which both their danger-senses spiked.
They froze in place before they promptly turned to their right and each lifted up a hand toward the bottle of Corellian brandy that was aimed specifically for Judicar. The bottle was halted midair so that its contents spilled out onto the floor a split second before it suddenly shattered into dozens of pieces under Judicar's invisible grip.
"You kriffin' bitch!" the slurred speech of the disheveled Valin Horn called out across from the Solo siblings. "How... how dare you... you sh-sh-show your ugly face-hole around here?! And you... you ruined my drink, too!"
"Maybe you shoulda thought o' that before you threw it, dumbass," Judicar growled.
"Judicar, settle down," Jacen commanded curtly.
She turned and looked at him in askance. "Oh, yeah, 'cause I'm the one who's outta control here."
As Valin stumbled toward them, Jacen stepped up to his sister and said, "You have no right mouthing off even to a drunk Jedi Knight, you got that?"
Judicar sneered.
"I said do you got that?" Jacen intoned.
Judicar stifled a frustrated sigh. "Yeah, I got that."
"Good," Jacen said before he looked past her and towards the approaching Jedi Knight. "Now, Valin, why don't you go back to your room and cool off, alright?"
"Hey, shaddup, you-you kriffin' Sith apo-apologist," Valin said once he finally reached them. "Y-you think that just 'cause she's yo sister, that she can just come around here and-"
"Valin!" came a voice from behind him.
The inebriated Knight turned and saw his sister, Jysella, approach him.
"I'm terribly sorry for my brother's behavior, Jedi Solo," she said as she reached Valin's side and placed an arm around his shoulders to steer him away from Jacen and Judicar. "C'mon, Valin, let's go."
"B-but I didn't f-f-f-finish, Sella!" Valin exclaimed.
"No, no, you're finished," Jysella said a mere second before she looked over her shoulder and levelled a hateful glare at Judicar. From there, though, she turned her attention back to where she had been walking and continued to guide the slurring Valin away.
"Keep moving," Jacen said to Judicar even as Valin's drunken ramblings could still be heard by them.
The Sith complied and they resumed their course for their next mission.
