Chapter 2

Nanvarr was true to his word. He and Taz spent nearly all of their time in Allegra's cargo bays. Taz had set up holorecorders so that he could study the fereax's lessons later. He insisted on learning as many Force techniques as Nanvarr knew, but most especially he wanted to understand more about the lightsaber he'd found on Narendri Prime nearly six years ago.

Nanvarr, though, insisted on first teaching him how to probe the feelings and thoughts of others. This, he said, would allow them to exchange information much easier. The fereax also claimed that the skill was foundational for mastering many other aspects of the Life Wind.

Taz sat cross-legged on the hard cargo bay floor, a towel draped over his neck. He shook out his hands, arms and shoulders, then began the Dahannist meditations that his parents had insisted he learn. His mind began to clear, and after a minute he nodded, feeling the connection to the Force as he had when he'd last delved deeply, on Jakku. Nanvarr lifted his hand and reached out with the Force. Almost immediately Taz could feel the fereax's presence. He mumbled, "I see."

"That's good, my boy, very good indeed." Nanvarr spent the next three hours guiding and prodding Taz until he was able to sense the thoughts and feelings Nanvarr offered him, and also to transmit his own thoughts. By the end of the session Taz wobbled to his feet, exhausted, but feeling like he'd seen a little further into the hazy, confounding Force. Moreover, Nanvarr's mind probes didn't induce the nausea and pain as they had before.

"Excellent, my boy!" He tapped his thumbs against his last fingers with excitement.

Taz was breathing hard and perspiring with the effort he'd expended, but he smiled. He felt like, for the first time, he was making real progress toward mastery. "Are there other skills like this that I can learn?"

Nanvarr rocked his head from side to side, making his temporal tendrils swing wildly. "Have you tried suggestion?"

"Suggestion?"

"Yes, dear Taz Oktos. Using the Force and your will, you can suggest a course of action to others. Think of it as placing persuasive thoughts in their heads."

"Oh," he suddenly realized, "I did that once, when I was younger. In fact, I think that was the first time I'd ever used the Force, although at the time I didn't know it."

"Excellent," he repeated the word and his finger tapping. "Describe it to me."

"Well, there were two upperclassmen at the technical academy I attended. They were Imperials, children of the Protectorate forces on Filve. They liked to bully us locals. Anyway, they'd been bothering me for a few weeks, you know, knocking my datapad out of my hands, tripping me in the corridors, that kind of thing." A dark look flickered across Taz's face. "One day one of them bumped into me on purpose, then demanded I apologize. I refused, so he threw me against a wall. Usually I just let it go; my parents were pacifists and they taught us to avoid conflicts, but for whatever reason, that day it made me mad. I wasn't a match for either of them, physically, I mean, but I shouted at them and told them to stop.

"You can imagine how surprised I was when they did. Then I told them they should go to security and tell them what they'd done, and they did! They actually turned themselves in! Got four demerits each and had to serve two days' suspension. Later I read about something similar in Master Jorun's journal, so I knew it was possible, but since then I've never tried it again."

"The Life Wind is indeed a powerful ally, my benefactor," Nanvarr agreed. "You should practice, to gain mastery... perhaps on your crewmates."

Taz's eyes got wide. "I'd never do that!"

"Why not? As with any skill, you need to practice if you wish to master it."

"Because they're my friends. It wouldn't be right."

"Oh?" The fereax splayed his fingers in disbelief but continued on. "Know that it is most effective when used on those of weak will. Other Force users and strong-willed beings may resist, and there are many races on which it is ineffective."

"I'll… keep that in mind."

In a more optimistic tone Nanvarr said, "Next, let us try some physical skills."

Taz held up his hand. "I'm spent, Nanvarr. I need to clean up, get some supper, then take my watch. Let's pick this up tomorrow."

The fereax's excitement turned to disappointment, but he acquiesced. "Very well, benefactor Taz Oktos. We will continue after you've had time to refresh yourself."

Taz wasn't exactly sure what Nanvarr meant by 'physical skills', but his next day's exertions proved the phrase to be painfully accurate. The cargo bay's ceiling was barely a meter over Taz's head, so jumping was out, but Nanvarr showed him how to propel himself with explosive bursts of speed. His first attempt ended with a bloody nose and a cut over his eyebrow as he smashed into the cargo bay wall before he could stop himself. Ten minutes of healing trance later he was back at it, this time wearing a combat vest and helmet. Eventually, he'd gained sufficient control to traverse the bay's ten-meter length in only a fraction of a second, and to make quick turns by kicking off the walls.

Reiko and Yuzu came up from the engineering bay to watch. Rei, who'd grown up thinking the Force was nothing more than fanciful tales to entertain or frighten children, took in the spectacle with wide-eyed wonder. Sera peeked in the following day as Taz was learning to run along the walls. He fell as often as not, eliciting laughter from the former Ballista commando, but his Force-enhanced agility kept him from anything more serious than some scrapes and bruises.

That evening, fresh from his sonic shower, he sat at the bench in the engineering bay where Reiko had set up a compact machine shop. The old lightsaber he'd found lay before him, partly disassembled. He'd stumbled on the trick to detaching the pommel cap, and he was carefully documenting the components as he removed each one from the metal casing. Yuzu looked over his shoulder with what passed for curiosity in a droid and recorded everything he saw.

Taz identified the power cell, which looked positively ancient, but well crafted. The metal casing on the ten-centimeter cell was worn and dull, but he could see the traces of fine scrollwork that seemed to have been acid-etched. He rigged a charging bracket and began transferring power from Allegra's storage batteries. The other parts were largely a mystery, although he was able to make a guess as to the functions of a few. He called Nanvarr, who provided some helpful advice, but it was clear that Jedi weapons weren't something with which the fereax had much experience.

Nanvarr's hand hovered over the saber for half a minute while he closed his eyes in concentration. When he opened them, he touched his thumb against his middle finger. "Alas, this lightsaber's crystal is fractured."

"What does that mean?"

"You see, kyber crystals amplify and concentrate energy in very potent ways. But more than that, they are alive, in a sense. Some sages even believed that they possessed a kind of consciousness. Certainly the Jedi believed so."

"The crystal is alive?" Taz exclaimed.

"Not as you or I understand life, but yes. They are alive within the Life Wind. They resonate with it. It is said that the crystal may choose to attune itself to another being. It is in this way that the Jedi forge their weapons and create deep, intimate bonds with them."

"So a fractured crystal—"

"A fractured crystal won't resonate. Its song will be distorted and disharmonious. Its ability to focus and amplify energy will be compromised, unpredictable. I am far from the master of such matters, but I believe the mechanism will not work with a fractured crystal, or if it does, it is likely to be as much a threat to its wielder as his opponent."

"So you're saying I shouldn't try to use it."

"It would seem a prudent course unless you can find a replacement crystal."

"Assuming I can do that, how do I learn to fight with it?"

"Ah, there were many masters of such arts among the Jedi and Sith, but both of those sects are all but gone now." Nanvarr tapped his fingers together thoughtfully. "I might have a treatise. Yes, at my home, one of my early investigations led me to interview a Jedi combat master. I recall he gifted me with a tome of Jedi fighting techniques. Shall I give it to you, benefactor Tazbarada Oktos?"

"I could never ask for such a thing, Nanvarr."

The fereax waggled his thumb and showed his small teeth in what passed for a smile "Oh, I have no use for such works. If it is still at my home, it shall be yours."

"That's very kind of you, Nanvarr. Thanks."

Nanvarr patted Taz's shoulder. "It is I who need to thank you, my boy. If not for answering my plea across the vast space that separated us, I would have prematurely succumbed to the tender mercies of my captors. I owe much to you, Tazbarada Oktos."

Taz waved the suggestion away, but he could tell even without understanding all of Nanvarr's strange hand gestures how sincere he was. Taz carefully assembled the lightsaber, inserted the charged power cell into its receptacle, and screwed the pommel cap back on. He hefted the weapon, rubbing his thumb over the faded pattern that had once been deeply impressed in the maroon leather grips. "Maybe I'll give it a good cleaning, get rid of some of this grime. Just in case I do find a kyber crystal one day."

"An excellent idea, my boy," Nanvarr said, patting Taz's shoulder again.

"Sera-sha?"

"Yes, Rei?" Sera said, planting a kiss on the top of Reiko's head. The ship's chrono read just a few minutes after 0600. Another day of the endless blue and white 'tunnel' of hyperspace. Staring at it too long was said to bring on madness, but Sera enjoyed the swirling colors and the odd sensations it brought.

Reiko shifted her slight weight against Sera in the bed they shared in the commander's cabin on Allegra's Heart. She turned her sweet brown eyes to look at her lover. "You should apologize to Lyra when you get a chance. You know, for that comment about the Empire reneging on their bargain with Nanvarr. It upset her."

Sera looked into those soft innocent, eager eyes that had ensnared her heart almost since the day they'd met at Arclight Academy basic training. "Did she say so?"

"No." Rei snuggled back against Sera's shoulder, relishing the feel and warmth of her strong body. "I can tell though. She hasn't been acting the same."

Rei's gentle breath against Sera's skin felt so comforting. If they didn't have a charter aboard, and a troublesome one at that, she'd have been hard-pressed not to spend another hour showing the young engineer all the ways in which she appreciated her. Instead, she sat up, slipped away from those warm arms and oh-so-tempting lips, and stripped out of the few clothes she was wearing. "She made that crack about the Alliance, you know. She can give as good as she gets." She stepped into the sonic for a quick shower.

"I know, Sera-sha, but she's the only one of us who wasn't a Rebel. I think sometimes she feels... outnumbered."

"Well, that wasn't my intention. I didn't mean anything by it."

"I know that, and you know that. Just tell her that. It'll make her feel better, especially after what happened with that shuttle."

Sera stepped out of the sonic shower after a few minutes and Reiko took her place. Sera zipped up her close-fitting shipsuit and belted on her blaster. Then she brushed her short, fiery hair and gave it a quick tease with her fingers.

Finished with her shower, Reiko took Sera's brush to her black locks, pulled them back with a hair clip, then got dressed in her engineer's coveralls. She wrapped her arms around Sera's waist, stretched up and kissed her. "Promise you'll talk to her."

"I will," Sera assured. "I swear, is there anything you can't make me do, Rei-sha?"

She cocked her head in thought. "Um, no, I don't think there is, Sera-sha, and that's why I love you!" She gave Sera another kiss. "Let's go. I have to recompile the repulsor array master control software."

After breakfast, Reiko went to the circuit bay to begin her reprogramming work while Sera headed for the bridge. Lyra nodded a greeting as she sidled into the copilot's seat. "How are we looking?"

"We'll be dropping out of hyperspace in an hour for course correction, but assuming no big changes, we're about thirty-one hours out."

Sera swiveled the seat. "Listen, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Lyra reached overhead and threw a couple of switches. "It's not like I'm going anywhere."

"I suppose not." She flashed a grin that dissolved into a serious look. "I fought the Empire for eight years. They were awful years, every one of them. Before that, I was… involved with some dangerous people; the kind who'd put a vibroblade in your ribs as soon as look at you. The kind who paid local Imperial officials to look the other way by offering young girls for them to... use as they saw fit." Sera paused a beat, and her placid, assured demeanor fractured for just a second. "So when Nanvarr talked about being betrayed…

"What I'm saying is that sometimes I let my prejudices get the best of me. But you aren't the Empire, you're my pilot, and you're my crewmate. That means more to me than what side you were on." She gave a sharp nod of her head. "I shouldn't have said what I did. I'm sorry, and it won't happen again."

Lyra was quiet for a while, unable to believe Rendix was actually apologizing to her. "In Customs we had to take every kind of crap from the Navy rocket jocks that's ever been invented. Nobody liked it, but they were at the top of the food chain and we were—" She lowered her hand close to the deck. "—somewhere down here. So we took it. Then after Endor, we all got dragged into whatever mad plan the brass came up with. Customs pilots faced the same risks as everyone else, but we still got our ration of insults. Bottom line is, I'm pretty used to it."

"Well, that doesn't make it right." After a minute Sera said, "Are you happy here with us, a bunch of ex-Rebels?"

Lyra shrugged. "Want an honest answer?"

"I'd appreciate that."

"A lot of the time, I'm not sure if I made the right decision, signing on."

Sera wore a hint of a smile. "You didn't actually sign anything, you know. Just a handshake. Besides, if we only made the right decisions, the universe would be a boring place. What I'm saying is that we want you here. I want you here. But if you don't feel like this is the place for you, we'll understand."

Lyra looked away and pretended to work the controls at her station. "This isn't like any ship I've served on before. I'm used to orders and a strict regimen. That's how I lived since leaving home."

"Do you miss it? Being home?"

Lyra nodded once and sniffled. She hated the way her heart ached for home, and how desperately she missed Allegra and her parents.

"It's okay." A corner of Sera's mouth lifted in an empathetic grimace. "If I'd had a family like yours, I'd be missing them, a lot." She leaned back and tapped the armrest on the copilot's seat. "This right here is my family, this ship, Rei, the doc… and you.

"Doc saved my life, the same day as he fixed your arm. Rei—" Her face lit up, as warmly as Lyra had ever seen. "She saved me in a different way. She showed me what love is. And you, well, you're like the sister I used to imagine getting into fights with."

Lyra looked over at the former special forces soldier in astonishment. "I'm not sure what to say to that."

"You don't have to say anything. Sometimes we get to choose our family. We might not always get along, and we might drift apart, someday." Sera let out a little laugh. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that you're welcome here, Nimor, for as long as you want to stay. And if I say something that rubs you the wrong way, just tell me straight out. You don't have to bottle it up."

"The rest of the military were supposed to be my family. That's what they drilled into us at the academy." Lyra's voice was low. "It never felt like one, though." She glanced over at Sera. "This does, a little. Can't guarantee we won't have our disagreements, though."

Sera waved the idea aside. "That's what families do."

"Yeah, I guess they do," Lyra echoed. "Thanks, Captain."

"It's Sera."

"I know, Captain." The pilot's eyes were cool, but she had a smirk on her face as she turned back to her controls.

Sera got up. "Gonna go harass Doc and our guest. Let me know if our schedule changes." She patted Lyra's shoulder and headed aft.

When she left, Lyra sniffled again and blinked away the moisture in her eyes. She turned back to her controls after a moment and queued up "Modern Rotogravure Masterworks of Tou-Shu-Laak'' from a back issue of her Ars Galactica subscription. She started reading with a little smile on her face.

The approach to Konlac was remarkably unremarkable. After the trouble they'd had in the Tozen system everyone was on high alert the moment they emerged from hyperspace. Taz ran a full array of scans, looking for signs of ships in orbit or energy signatures on the surface that might indicate an Imperial presence. Finding none, he repeated the scans, then scanned again, until Lyra threatened to throw him out the airlock.

Surprisingly, Nanvarr didn't seem in any hurry. Having come this far, he waited placidly, sitting in the gunner's chair beside Taz as he ran his scans. Finally satisfied, he relented and Lyra plotted a landing approach. Nanvarr had warned them in advance about the planet's unpredictable storms that could wreak havoc on electrical systems, so as they spiraled down through layer upon cloud layer, Lyra and Taz both kept a sharp eye on the short-range scanners.

When they finally broke through the clouds at four thousand meters, Lyra picked out a complex with the unmistakable hallmark of an Imperial communications station. She threw a glance at Taz but he was already heads-down over his sensor controls. It took only a few seconds to confirm that there were no energy signatures of note, and only a few indicators of motion; likely some of the local fauna that Nanvarr had warned them about.

A few kilometers away stood the ruins of Nanvarr's village. Two dozen round plaster-walled houses clustered near a central plaza; none were intact. Weather had taken its toll, but most of the damage looked artificial.

For the first time since entering the Konlac system, Nanvarr looked excited. His hands were all over the place, flashing excitement, uncertainty, joy, anxiety, then, as they neared the ground, thoughtfulness.

Lyra set the freighter down in a clearing roughly three hundred meters from the village. Taz ran an environmental scan. "Atmosphere and pressure look fine. It's a little chilly out there, though. He unstrapped and turned to Nanvarr. "Let's get you home." Then to the others, "Anyone else coming along?"

"I'll go," Reiko said

"Me too," Sera echoed. "Lyra?"

"I'll keep an eye on Allegra, get started plotting our next route."

"Okay. We'll try not to be too long."

Nanvarr and the three spacers walked down Allegra's boarding ramp. Sera had a G9 blaster rifle slung over her shoulder. She hung back a few paces, looking alert. Like Taz, she'd taken the time to fit caronite soft armor plates into her jacket, just in case the Imperial installation was still operational.

They walked the few hundred meters to the village. Nanvarr led them across the plaza they'd seen on the way down. Twenty ashen stone monuments with polished, inclined faces stood in shallow arcs on either side of the pathway. Most were incised with runes, but a few of the stone faces were blank. He looked at the stones and swept his hand across one of them. Then he trod on, turning down a side street. He stopped at a plaster home composed of two round sections, each perhaps five meters in diameter. A round-headed door of dark wood stood ajar, falling off its hinges. The dark brick walls had collapsed in a few places, although the roof was largely intact. Nanvarr pushed open the door and ushered them inside. He wandered the abode, touching everything, brushing his hands against furniture, cracked plaster walls painted in fading blue and yellow, replacing items that had fallen from shelves or off tables. Dust, dirt, old leaves and rubble covered every surface. He shuffled to what looked like a kitchen and flipped a switch. Flickering lights illuminated a few of the sconces set into the walls. They cast a greenish light that Taz found unpleasant. In the kitchen the fereax puttered, looking in a cupboard, but finding only empty, dusty shelves.

Reiko looked around. "How are you going to survive here on your own, Nanvarr? Your village is deserted. There are no supplies, no—"

He waved at her, his temporal tendrils swaying gently. "No worries on my account, my dear girl Reiko Hudson. Though it looks rude, I have all that I require. He touched his thumb against his middle finger. "I regret that I have nothing with which to welcome you. Normally we would sit and enjoy some prula bark tea, but my supply seems to have… evaporated. No matter," he said, brightening up. "A moment please." He disappeared into the other part of the house. They heard sounds of rummaging, and when he emerged a few minutes later, he held a small object in his hand. It had a short cylindrical grip with controls on it, and a flat paddle at one end. He walked back to the home's entrance and stood staring out at the windy village, deep in thought. After a few minutes, Nanvarr turned back to them. He handed the object to Taz. "The book I told you of."

"Are you sure you want me to have this, Nanvarr?"

"I assure you, my boy, it will be of much more use to you than to me." He took a step back and addressed them. "Thank you all for returning me to Konlac. It has been my fondest wish to return here and spend—"

Taz felt a heavy shock behind his eyes. "Look out!" he shouted, diving for Nanvarr. There was a bright flash and a screeching sound from outside. The fereax fell, smoke and the stench of charred flesh curling in the air. A few meters outside stood a bipedal droid. Red optical sensors projected from either side of its narrow head, and its arms ended in dangerous-looking blasters. The Imperial crest in scratched and faded black stencil on the upper right side of its thorax made its origin plain.

Sera had rolled aside and lay prone, lining up her rifle shot. Taz and Reiko scuttled away from the door, Taz reaching for his blaster. The droid took a step forward and raised both of its arms, tracking Taz and Rei with one, and aiming at Sera with the other.

"HK droid!" called the commando and opened up with her rifle. The assassin droid began firing at nearly the same instant. Taz returned fire while he crouched in front of Reiko. The air in the house filled with smoke and the sharp reverberation of blaster fire. Little explosions from the light sconces added to the chaos.

A bolt of sizzling red plasma pulverized the floor tile centimeters from Sera's head. Her return shot caught the droid low on its torso, just above the pelvic joint. It staggered and she fired a rising burst, the final round impacting between its photoreceptors. The droid dropped to its knees, creaking, then toppled on its side with a whine of servos. In a fragmented voice it said "[krzzt] ...passing ..mperial property [fzzzt] ex... kill order." The red sensors went dark and the droid stopped moving.

"Rei-sha!" Sera yelled, getting to her feet. Taz scrambled toward Nanvarr, who wasn't moving.

"I'm fine, Sera-sha," Reiko assured, slapping the dust from her coveralls. Sera gave her a frenzied, relieved embrace, then turned back to the door, sweeping it with the barrel of her rifle. Taz pulled Nanvarr away from the doorway. Sera crouched across from them, peering out. She tapped her headset. "Nimor, we're taking fire!"

"What?" came Lyra's voice in Sera's ear.

"Assassin droid, left over from the Imperial facility by the looks of it. Nanvarr's been shot. Get on the scanners. I want to know if anything else is moving around out there."

Lyra swore. "Got it, Captain. Need me to come to you?"

"No, but prep Allegra for dust-off. I want to be in the air as soon as we get back."

"Will do. Nimor out."

Reiko crouched beside Sera. She had her blaster out. She'd never liked fighting, but she smiled reassuringly at Sera. Her hands only shook a little.

Taz turned Nanvarr over. The fereax was conscious, just barely.

"Doc?" Sera asked, not taking her eyes off the crowd of other houses and narrow streets. The assassin droid smoked and sparked.

"I don't know," he answered, going for his medscanner.

Nanvarr took his hand in a weak grip. "No need, dear boy, I foresaw this."

"I can help you," Taz said, an edge of urgency in his voice.

The fereax shook his head. "You have already helped me, Tazbarada Oktos of Filve." He coughed, and dark violet blood trickled from the corners of his mouth. His head tendrils had grown pale and stopped moving, and his eyes were clouded. "Before I go I ask one thing more of you, my benefactor." Lifting his arm, he pointed to a painting hanging askew on the wall. "That will show you the way. May the Life Wind ever carry you, dear boy." Then Nanvarr fell still, his eyes staring lifelessly. A last breath sighed from his thin mouth.

Taz swore quietly and laid the fereax down. He closed his eyes and fell into the Force without beginning the Dahannist meditation as he usually did. He let his hand hover over Nanvarr's face for a moment before opening his eyes. He glanced at Sera and shook his head.

"Nimor, anything?" Sera said.

"Nothing moving on the scopes, Captain. Allegra's ready to fly."

"Good. We're coming to you. Rendix out."

Taz grabbed the painting from the wall. It was small and hard to see in the shadows, but the scene looked like some kind of funeral rite. A group of fereax stood around an inclined stone that had been hollowed out. A body was inside, wrapped in bandages. One fereax in ceremonial robes had outstretched arms. A capstone with a smooth, polished face hovered in the air. Taz understood. He tucked the picture in his bag then lifted Nanvarr's body. "Come on," he said solemnly.

"Doc, there might be other droids out there," Sera warned, but Taz strode on. Cursing under her breath, Sera followed, Reiko right behind.

The wind gusted in the plaza, filling the air with dry leaves, twigs, and dust. Taz blinked the grit from his eyes. He found the stone that Nanvarr had touched on his way in. He understood now. Nanvarr never meant to live on Konlac; he meant to die here.

He examined the stone slab. Looking closely he could just see the thin outline where the capstone fit into the sarcophagus. There were no handles or any way to grip it. If he was going to open it, he'd have to use the Force to do it.

He glanced around, then at Reiko. "If I open this, can you put him inside?"

"Me? I suppose so, but how are you going to—"

"Doc, we don't have time to stand around. If there are more of those things out there—"

"I'll be quick, Sera, but I owe it to him, to give him his final wish."

Sera screwed up her mouth. "A minute. Then we go. Got it?" She took cover behind another of the stone tombs.

Taz gave her a nod. He took a few steps back, closed his eyes, and let the swirling wind and the skittering leaves push away all of his thoughts. He reached out, opening himself to the Force, and felt it almost immediately. Learning the telekinetic skills on Allegra had proved frustrating. The items he'd tried to move were small. After hours of trying, he'd managed only to shift them a few centimeters. Nanvarr had told him, over and over again, that it was a matter of will and belief, not size.

Now he saw the tomb within the haze of the Force. It shimmered in his consciousness. He reached out, felt the mass of the capstone, but it was different from the little cargo boxes he'd practiced with earlier— lighter, somehow. He sent his will toward it and the capstone moved, slipping toward him. He flicked his hand and it floated aside, bobbing unevenly in the air next to the tomb. He sweated from the mental effort he was expending. The wind blew cold against his scalp and face.

Reiko let out an astonished gasp. Even Sera was wide-eyed. She nodded to Rei with an urgent look. Rei wore a look of distaste, but she picked up the body and laid it in the carefully carved tomb. She stepped back quickly. "Okay," she said, fidgeting with her hands and wiping them reflexively against her coveralls.

Taz mumbled a response, sweat standing on his forehead. He worked harder, extending his will into the space between him and the stone slab. It moved, slipping back into place, sealing inside the dim shadow that the dead fereax cast within the Force. He breathed out a long sigh and opened his eyes. His knees felt like jelly, his legs and arms like lead.

"Okay, Doc, you did what you needed to. Let's get out of here."

He lurched to the sarcophagus and braced against it with his outstretched hand. The stone felt warm, although he recognized it might be nothing more than his tired brain playing tricks. He took a marker pen from his vest pocket and scrawled in Galactic Basic:

Nanvarr
Last of his people

"Let's go," he uttered, drawing his pistol.

Heads swiveling, they trotted back to Allegra as fast as Taz's tired legs would go. He stumbled at the foot of the ramp and fell to his knees. Sera grabbed him by his vest's haul loop and dragged him the rest of the way. Reiko swiped the ramp control while Sera keyed the intercom. "All aboard. Get us out of here, Lyra."

Allegra's Heart rumbled and shot into the air.

Taz sat in the medbay, depressed and tired. They'd risked their lives and their ship to rescue Nanvarr, traveled nearly across the galaxy to take him home, only to have him die within minutes of arriving? He understood Nanvarr's motive, or some of it at least. There was plenty about the fereax that was a mystery, but he couldn't get past the feeling that there was something more Nanvarr could have contributed. After years of abetting the Empire in their oppressive, murderous schemes, Taz felt cheated that they hadn't had the opportunity to put his knowledge and skills to work fixing the damage.

He poked at the two items he'd taken when they fled. The paddle-like object seemed to be a data player of some kind. Nanvarr had said it was a recording from a Jedi combat master. Taz thought about viewing it but decided he wasn't in the mood.

He picked up the little framed painting and looked at it. He could pick out the tomb they'd interred Nanvarr in. He ran his finger over the rendering of the sarcophagus. The paint felt different, smoother than the prominent brush strokes on the rest of the board. Intrigued, he pressed a little harder. He thought he might be able to feel something small beneath the paint. Taz rolled his stool over to the exam bed and pulled down the medscanner on its armature. He peered through the transparent display and dialed in adjustments. Sure enough, he found something denser than the media and the paint. It was square, about the size of his fingernail. He reached for a scalpel, then hesitated. He'd be damaging an artifact from a race whose last member he'd just buried. It seemed like a sacrilege. Still, something nagged at the back of his head. Drawing a long breath, he sunk the thin edge of the surgical blade into the paint, lifting a corner of the tiny object. He exposed a dull golden wafer with a fine pattern of darker lines that looked suspiciously like circuitry. He pried it out and peeled off the paint. Maybe some kind of memory chip? If so, he'd need something to read it.

Taz looked over at the paddle sitting on his desk. He picked it up and slid the little wafer into a slot at the back of the handle. He worked the controls, and files appeared in a holo projection above the paddle. There was a planet's name, Beta Fonidian II, with notes written by Nanvarr indicating ancient ruins and a strong presence of the 'Life Wind'. There were other files, too. Imperial records of an operation called Rho-277. He opened those files and began reading.

Lyra finished checking Allegra's course through hyperspace. She'd plotted a route to the Mid-Rim world of Anobis. Though the planet was in the throes of a vicious civil war between factions supporting the New Republic and the Empire, she'd found an open contract to haul a load of minerals and some mining guild representatives from there to Ord Mantell. They'd placed a hold on the contract pending their arrival. Now she wondered if they'd be able to make that pickup.

Taz stood in the cockpit, holding the player given to him by Nanvarr. The holo display projected a memo from someone named Tillisk Tafo, identified as the director of Rho-277. The memo appeared to be a normal status report from Tafo to his superiors, who were not identified. The information that had caught Taz's attention when he'd seen it in the medbay was a reference to the Tarkin Initiative.

"What's a Tarkin?" Reiko asked.

"Not what, who," Sera said. "He was a major player in the Empire, one of the Emperor's direct lieutenants. Ballista leadership had briefings from Alliance Intelligence about the man and his Initiative. Some kind of think tank involved with developing advanced weapons. There was talk a few years back about launching a snatch and grab from one of their bases. We even did some training in a mock facility before Command decided there were more important missions. If the intel was accurate, the Tarkin Initiative did the primary research for the Death Stars' superlasers."

"Then there's this," Taz said, swiping his thumb over the player's controls. The memo disappeared, replaced by a long table of entries from what looked like some kind of excavation or mining operation. Taz stopped and enlarged a block of text with a single word in bold: kyberite. To the questioning looks, Taz responded, "It's a mineral. It concentrates and amplifies energy. The Jedi used kyber crystals in their weapons."

Sera put her hand to her chin and tapped her cheek with a finger. "The Tarkin Initiative was involved with kyber crystal research, I think."

An advanced weapons research team, and an Imperial facility that's mining kyberite?" Reiko said. "That can't be a coincidence." She turned to Yuzu, who stood just outside the cockpit. She'd only recently installed a tactical analysis package in the droid "Yuzu, what do you think?"

"There are few data points from which I could draw any conclusion, Mistress, but it's reasonable to conclude that a program to develop additional superlaser weapons is active on behalf of the Galactic Empire, or one of its factions."

To the glum looks from Sera and Reiko, Taz said, "There's one more thing." He scrolled to another log entry nearby, then enlarged one of the columns. There was a name: Jerric Daro.

"Who's Jerric Daro?" Lyra asked.

"Tess— Captain Tess Daro is the second officer of the Pride of Olminar, the ship we served on during the war. Her parents were arrested by the Empire and disappeared, about ten years ago. Jerric Daro is her father's name." Taz looked uncomfortable.

"You think her parents could still be alive, Doc?"

Taz shrugged stiffly. "The log entry's old. Nanvarr said he hadn't been to Konlac for years. But he thought this information was important enough to hide the memory chip. As to Jerric Daro," he trailed off, waging a little internal conflict. After a few seconds he said, "I think Tess deserves to know what we found, at least."

Sera looked serious. "At a minimum, we should get the intel about the kyberite operation to the New Republic. They'd probably want to know about something like this."

"Great. We'll transmit it when we get to Anobis," Lyra suggested.

"Put this info on an open channel? Probably not a good idea."

"We do have encrypted comms, remember?"

"I'll ask Kallista to contact General Numarkos, see what she thinks."

"So, Anobis…?" Lyra asked. "Cargo? Passengers? We're holding a pending contract."

"Yeah," Sera drawled. "That might need to wait."

"Good money," Nimor suggested. She looked at the other, determined faces, then turned in her seat, uttered a sharp epithet, and activated the nav computer. "Somebody owes me twenty-five shares of whatever that run to Ord Mantell was going to net us." She pulled up the course correction screen. "So where are we going?"

Sera looked at Taz. "Where are we going, Doc?"

He looked decidedly downcast. "Filve."