Later, as the militia troopers were mopping up the last pockets of resistance from Kassh's thugs, Vhetin, Jay, Massano, and Karlyn found themselves in the central room of the base, staring around at the droid decoys. Kalyn nudged one with her boot while Jay used a damp rag to clean the sand from her face and hair.

"The troopers are rounding up the last of Kassh's thugs," Massano said. "All of his goons face criminal charges and will be locked away for life. If they're lucky. We lost a few men, but most of our guys made it through in one piece."

Farnmir chuckled. "They're already fighting over spare parts from those Darktroopers. For such a ragtag militia, I have to admit that they make decent shock troops."

"And what about the corrupt militiamen?" Jay inquired, holding the cool rag to the cut over her eye. "What happens to them?"

Massano shrugged. "I guess we'll have to screen each one of them individually. Normally I would have just fired them all and locked them up for their dishonesty, but now..." He glanced at Vhetin and reluctantly finished, "...now I believe in giving people a second chance."

Jay looked over at Vhetin and fought back a smile. Her partner was not so moved. Arms folded across his chest, he simply nodded and said, "I'm glad you see it that way. Vor'e."

"No. Thank you," Massano replied with a grudging sniff. "Without you guys, I would have sat back while this Kassh guy stole my militia right under my nose. I owe you three a lot."

"Don't get too grateful," Kalyn pointed out. "Some of us are still just in this for the paycheck."

"Fair enough." Massano chuckled dryly and nodded before turning fully to face the black-armored Mandalorian. There was an uneasy silence between the two before Vhetin said, "So where do we stand?"

"Right now? I won't shoot you. But I'll only consider us even if I die without ever seeing you back in my city. No offense, but old hostilities die hard."

Still, he held out an open hand to the Mandalorian. Vhetin stared at it for a moment, long enough for Jay to think he was going to refuse the peace offering. But then he stepped forward and clasped the offered and tight with his own, giving it a terse up-and-down shake once. Massano nodded, as if that was more than he'd expected.

The militia leader shook hands with all of them before turning and striding into the darkness, heading off to help his troopers mop up the rest of Kassh's fleeing thugs. He vanished down a side hallway without further farewell and the door slid shut behind him. In only moments, Vhetin, Jay, and Farnmir stood alone in the central room.

A part of Jay was sorry to see the man go. He had been an invaluable - if stubborn - ally. They could have used his help for the next leg of the hunt. But she knew there was nothing she could say that would convince the man to accompany them; he had too many problems of his own to clean up, and the last thing he probably wanted was to accompany the very bounty hunters he had threatened to imprison and execute only yesterday.

She turned her attention back to the job at hand. Her partner had been fussing over the results of the battle since the few relieved moments in the transport lot, where the fight had been brought to a close. It didn't look like that fussing was going to stop any time soon.

"And you're sure there's no sign of Kassh?" Vhetin asked Farnmir, kicking at a deactivated droid with the tip of one boot.

Kalyn nodded. "He's like a ghost. I ran an I.D of all the dead thugs the militia rounded up and I didn't see anything from the sky either. He's not here."

"Maybe he got away?" Jay offered. "Maybe he had... I don't know a secret transport of his own?"

Farnmir shook her head. "No. The sensors on Vhetin's ship would have picked something up. I'm telling you, he's not here. We lost him."

"But if he was never here," Vhetin said, "why did Durge give you the coordinates to this base?"

Farnmir shrugged. "Maybe to throw off the trail? He knew we were working with Prince Xizor and Jabba the Hutt, so maybe he thought the best way to draw us away from his boss was to say that he was hiding right under our employer's noses. It sounds like something Kassh would do."

She laughed. "Stang, is Prince Xizor going to be mad at us. I wouldn't be surprised if..."

She broke off and frowned curiously at Vhetin, who had suddenly gone tense and was staring at the floor. Jay glanced over at her partner and frowned as well.

"What?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

He slowly looked up and Jay could almost see the look of dawning comprehension on his face, even though his face was masked behind the T-bar visor of his helmet. He clenched his fists as he murmured, "We've been played. Kriffing played."

Kalyn put her hands on her hips and fixed Vhetin with a glare. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You're right," Vhetin said to her. "He wasn't here; he never even came to Tatooine."

"Then where-"

She was interrupted again as Vhetin suddenly dashed off into the darkness, headed outside.

"We're not done yet!" he yelled over his shoulder. "We need to get to Coruscant. Now!"

Jay sprinted after him, following him outside, where Tatooine's twin suns were just painting the sky with the first traces of dawn. She caught up just as he ran up the ramp into his ship, disappearing inside without even pausing to wait for her. He ran straight for the cockpit, almost punching at the button to get it open. As soon as it was parted, he squeezed through and threw himself into the pilot's seat. He frantically entered commands into the main console and warmed up the sublight drives for immediate departure. He didn't even bother with the pre-flight system check.

"What in the hell has gotten into you?" Jay cried as the deck jumped beneath her feet, threatening to toss her to the ground. "What's wrong?"

"I know where Kassh is," Vhetin hissed. "Or at least where he's going to be."

"Where?"

"We were never his main concern. He was just trying to get us out of the way so he could continue his plans."

"If you don't start making sense soon, Vhetin," she said as she was thrown into the gunner's seat by the shaking, "I'm going to have to shoot you myself."

"Think!" he said. "Remember what Kexio said back at the cantina on Coruscant? Kassh busted in on an important meeting between all the biggest crime lords in the galaxy. And seeing as how he left before the meeting was over, that means whatever he went in there to say, they didn't listen to him."

"Yeah… Is there a point to all of this?"

"Kassh is volatile and dangerous," Vhetin said. "And if they disagreed with him, especially if it was over something important, he's going to be out for blood."

She frowned as she buckled herself in. "And all he's already done doesn't count already?"

He shook his head. "Like I said: a distraction, to lure his hunters away and allow him to operate unimpeded. Stupid, stupid, stupid!" He entered a hailing comm into the ship's keyboard and said, "Tarron. Damn it, Tarron come in now!"

"I'm here," the Journeyman Protector's voice said. "What's got your shebs in a tangle?"

"Get hold of Black Sun's business agenda right now. We're working for them, so we should have access. What's Prince Xizor's next scheduled meeting?"

"Give me a sec," Tarron said. "That's a pretty tall order. I don't-"

"Just do it," Vhetin snapped as he headed for high orbit.

"Fine, fine" It was some time before the man's voice returned. "Er... okay, it looks like he's got dinner scheduled tomorrow night with the Duke of Serreno and his wife... um, after that he's leaving for Malastare..."

"Check earlier," Vhetin said as the stars came into view through the front viewport. "Today."

"Right now he's in the middle of a meeting with some business associates, most of which I don't recognize but... oh, this is interesting. Sekha and Jabba the Hutt are going to be there."

"Where?"

"It doesn't say. Sorry Vhetin."

Jay's eyes widened as it suddenly clicked. Everything they'd done since Rhen Var: the fight with Durge, meeting up with Massano, the attack on his base... it had all been a scam to lure them away while he focused on his own plans. To give him time to plan an all-out assault on that meeting, and give him a chance to kill everyone there. With all the galaxy's crime lords eliminated, he could easily snap up all the power and influence he wanted.

And they had taken the bait like a nexu in a blood frenzy.

"Like I said," Vhetin growled. "We need to get to Coruscant right now. If not, Kassh is going to kill everyone in that meeting... including our employers."


Underworld, Imperial Center (formerly Coruscant)

Durge stared at his hand as he clenched a massive fist. The metal plating of his glove groaned as the fist squeezed. Since his defeat at the Mandalorian's hands, his muscles had been acting a little twitchy. Lightsaber burns were always a bitch to heal, and the tendons never seemed to stitch together properly after being cauterized. He slowly opened the fist, watching as his hand trembled from the effort.

He had just finished reuniting the severed halves of his body again. Even now, waving tendrils of muscle and nerve slithered over his torso as if they had minds of their own, rebuilding muscle structure and reconstructing his former build. He let out a deep rumbling growl as two sinews twisted around each other, sending a lance of pain up the Gen'dai's spine.

There was still a gaping rent in his armor from the path of the Mandalorian's lightsaber as it had slashed through him. He could repair that easily enough, and with a great deal less pain than the repairs his body was currently undergoing. He shook his helmeted head and clenched a fist, feeling his massive biceps slither around for a moment before solidifying once more into rock-hard muscle.

The real pain came from the simply humiliation. He was the greatest warrior the galaxy had ever seen, a soldier with over a thousand years of combat experience. And yet he'd still been thrashed to within an inch of his life and burnt to a crisp by a haughty Mandalorian and his pipsqueak of a partner. He clapped his clenched fist into an open palm, the motion greeted by a satisfying THWAM of colliding metal on metal.

Next time, he thought with a menacing, animalistic growl. Next time I'll rip his bucket head from his shoulders and mount it on a spike. No less than his kind deserves, to die alone and unforgotten in the dirt.

Caught up in his examination of his wounds, he didn't hear the quiet footsteps behind him, didn't see the dark figure creeping up on his blind side. There was a loud snap-hiss behind him, and before he could turn to face his attacker, fire ripped through his torso. He roared in pain as dark blood spattered the floor beneath his feet and he hit the ground with all the noise and force of a speeder crash.

For a shocked moment he simply lay there, face-down on the duracrete, bewildered by what had just happened. He tried to rise to his hands and knees but found that he could not; his knees could not support his weight. He collapsed again, letting out a howl of pain as another rippling spear of agony plunged through his torso.

Gritting his sharp teeth against the pain, he pushed himself up onto his hands and rolled himself over. Then he saw that his knees couldn't support his weight because they were once again separated from his body. His lower half lay a few feet away, legs twitching erratically as purple-pink blood oozed out onto the duracrete beneath.

He was about to crawl toward the lower half of his body when something grabbed him under the shoulder and flipped him onto his back with a thud. An armored boot landed on his chest plate, pinning him to the ground. The hated visage of a jet black Mandalorian helmet descended out of the shadows.

"You're going to tell me everything I want to know," Cin Vhetin said, holding his lit saber pike only inches from Durge's helmeted face. "And you're going to tell me right now."


Far too soon for her taste, Jay stepped back through the door of the Brimstone Tapcaf. The business was much as she remembered it from her last visit: there were still tables and chairs overturned, the Dug performer was still screaming into his amplicoder, and Kexio was still at the bar. She waved to get the Basilisk bartender's attention and made her way to the back of the cantina where he waited.

She saw the same mercenaries that had challenged her and Vhetin the other day, sitting together in a booth along one wall. One of them saw her and tapped the other mercs on the shoulder, gesturing to her and whispering to the others. He started to get up, but she made sure her pistol was well within view on her hip. The others clearly seemed to think better of challenging her, grabbing their unruly companion and forcing him back into his seat.

"I wish I could say it was good t' see you again," Kexio rumbled as she stepped up to the bar, "but you trashed my place pretty good las' time you passed through, so-"

"Spare me the complaints, Kex," she said. "I need to know what that big meeting between the crime lords was all about."

He grunted. "How should I know?"

"You have security cams installed, don't you?" Jay asked, playing her trump card. "Imperial law dictates that all cantinas have to have them as a precaution against criminal activity. And another Imperial law dictates that a licensed bounty hunter has the right to request any cam footage so long as it pertains to their current contract."

She reached into her jacket and produced her standard Imperial hunter's license, clapping it down onto the bartop. She tapped it with one finger expectantly.

"There's a hundred-credit reward for turning in any violators of that law," she said.

Kexio's leathery reptilian face scrunched up in a grimace. "Fine, fine. Follow me and I'll show you th' footage from th' meeting. Just... keep it quiet, all right? Don' need this getting out. I make a lot o' money off Xizor and his like."

"I promise I will," Jay said as she followed him.


Kalyn Farnmir slid down the ladder into her ship's cargo hold and sauntered toward the single occupied cage. She pulled a stun prod from her belt and activated it with a menacing flourish. The weapon sprang to life in a crackle of purple-white lightning.

"Computer," she commanded as she approached Kassh's brother, still cowering in the cage and awaiting delivery to whichever crime lord would pay best. "Deactivate cage two's shields."

"Affirmative," replied the smooth voice of the computer. The shimmering shields that stretched between the cage bars disappeared with a sputter of light. As she approached, Killik shrank against the back wall.

Kalyn didn't let him cower long; she yanked open the door and dragged the Twi'lek out of the cage by his lekku. With a mighty wrench, she threw him to the deck and planted an armored knee in his back, pinning him to the ground as she pressed the stun prod against the back of the his head. The Twi'lek writhed and screamed as electricity coursed through his nervous system.

"Please!" he cried. "Please! Please don't kill me! Please!"

Kalyn didn't listen; she just dug the stun prod deeper into Killik's neck. His scream increased by several octaves. After a time, she deactivated the prod and climbed off the Twi'lek's back. She took two carefully measured steps away and cocked her head to one side.

"Now, Killik," she said quietly, "tell me about your brother."


All three met up within the hour outside the starport, joined by the life-sized holographic image of Tarron Matele.

"Jay," Vhetin said, gesturing to her. "You go first. What did you find out about the meeting between all those crime lords?"

"Well," Jay said, running a hand through her hair, "we were right; Kassh was trying to convince the other crime lords not to ally their businesses with the Empire. He looked like he was almost convincing them when this tall green guy - Xizor I'm guessing - strutted through the door and made him look like a complete fool. Next thing he knows, he's on the floor being beaten up by some skinny blonde woman."

Farnmir chuckled. "Humiliating. It's no wonder he wants Xizor dead."

Jay looked to her partner. "What did Durge tell you?"

"I found out that the next meeting between all these organizations is in an abandoned warehouse near the border of the Industrial Sector. It was going to be held in one of Black Sun's plush business towers near the Senate, but apparently some of the crime lords wanted a more neutral meeting place."

"And what does Kassh plan to do with them all once they're all there?"

Vhetin frowned beneath his helmet. "Durge wasn't very specific. He wasn't given much information to start with, and he was kind of lightheaded from blood loss - but he hinted that Kassh himself is going to oversee the operation. Probably wants to see the look on the crime lords' faces in person."

"What do you think he's going to do to them?" Jay asked.

"Maybe he'll trap them in the warehouse and... I don't know, release some poison gas or something. Maybe plant a bomb and be done with it. That's what I would do in his situation; quick, dramatic, and anonymous."

"Kassh has already proved himself to be unpredictable," Tarron murmured, speaking for the first time as he rubbed his bearded chin thoughtfully. "I think if you can find and capture him, the rest of his plan will fall apart. His lackeys lack motivation; without their boss breathing down their necks, they'll just break and run."

"No offense," Jay said, "but that's easier said than done. We've been a step behind him this entire hunt, and he always seems to have some trick up his sleeve."

"Then there's only one way to go about this," Vhetin said.

"What?"

"We have to get a step ahead of him. Lay a trap for him that he won't be able slither out of."

"Again," Jay pointed out, "easier said than done."

"We'll see. Farnmir, what did you find out?" Vhetin asked the bounty huntress. She had interrogated Kassh's brother, trying to find out what the gangster would be planning.

"Next to nothing," Kalyn replied with a scowl. "Apparently Kassh and his brother aren't exactly the closest of siblings. After spending a half-hour with that armless schutta, I can't blame him; that guy's annoying enough to make a Mon Calamari pacifist want to cut his head off."

"Did you manage to get anything from him?"

"Something, yes. He kept thinking all this was about his brother stealing some kind of Black Market shipment. He kept saying that his brother had taken a 'glowrod' without paying for it."

"A glowrod?" Jay said, confused. "What the hell is he talking about?"

"At first I didn't know. But then he mentioned the fact that his brother had hurled this green 'glowrod' at his head and that hit had melted through a meter of durasteel in the blink of an eye. What other glowing weapon causes damage like that?"

"A lightsaber," Vhetin sighed. "Just great."

Jay shook her head. "Where do you people even get these things? Lightsabers are supposed to be an Empire-monitored technology!"

"Anything can be stolen or smuggled," Kalyn said. "Just because the Emperor waves his wrinkled hands and says something doesn't make it universal law."

"It kind of does. That's the whole point of being Emperor!"

"That's not important," Vhetin said. "All that's important is that now Kassh is deadlier than ever. We need to get to that warehouse, tell the crime lords what's going on, and make sure Kassh's plan fails."

Kalyn nodded and turned back to her ship. "I'll talk to you guys again when we get to the warehouse."

"I'll send you the coordinates," Vhetin called after her.

After she had disappeared from view, Vhetin and Jay turned to the shimmering blue hologram of Tarron, who raised an eyebrow.

"Wow," he said. "She's even worse than her file said."

"Reality sucks; we all sympathize, Tarron."

"In the meantime," the holographic Journeyman Protector said, his voice intermittently cut through with static, "I have some new info for you. When Kassh does attack in force, I know who's going to be with him."

"Who? Hopefully not Durge again."

"Not likely," Vhetin said. "The way I left him, he'll be stitching himself together for the next month at least."

Jay let out a relieved breath. "Thank the Force for that, at least."

"Kassh doesn't want to openly attack the rest of the crime lords with his own troops. He wants to kill them anonymously, so that their territories are wide open for him to take without fear of reprisal."

"Ambitious. But who is he using? Any big names?"

"No. But a contact of mine in Midnight Ultraviolet told me that he's assembled a task force of four snipers, twenty-five mercenaries hired out of Nar Shadda, and no less than five hacked Mark-Three Darktroopers."

"Oh, well then," Jay said with a roll of her eyes. "What's to worry about? We barely survived the last time he threw those damn droids at us. But hey, what's life without a few challenges?"

"Stow the sarcasm, Jay," Vhetin said. "This is serious now. Either we find and capture Kassh, or he wins and he kills our employers. That means no paycheck and most likely no chance of survival for any of us."

She nodded, sighing in exasperation. "Yes, Vhetin. I'm very aware of the situation. I'm just... never mind."

Vhetin turned back to Tarron. "We may need to alert the local authorities if the situation gets out of hand. Is there anything you can do about that?"

Tarron chuckled. "Yeah, stormtroopers foiling an assassination attempt on the galaxy's biggest criminal masterminds. I'd love to see how Imperial propaganda would spin that."

"Can you do it?"

Tarron thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. If you can send me an emergency message, I have friends in the CSF who'll be more than happy to help out in bringing Kassh down. Who knows? They may even cut you guys some slack when they capture you all and only commit you to a life sentence in the Coruscant High-Security Prison."

Jay winced, reminded once more of her last bout in prison. "Please don't joke like that."

"Oh... I'm sorry," Tarron quickly said. "I forgot."

"It's fine. Just… let's move on.'

The holographic man turned back to Vhetin and said, "I'll keep an eye on you two, just in case. Tarron, out."

"Thanks," the Mandalorian said as Tarron's hologram sputtered out. Wasting time, he scooped up the holotransmitter and headed for his ship.

"Come on," he said. "We have to get moving."


"Halt!" the Nikto guard at the door to the 'deserted' warehouse said, holding up a hand. "You are trespassing on private-"

Kalyn pulled her pistol and aimed it squarely at the guard's face. "Step aside," she said, "unless you want to die right here and now."

Within moments, no less than ten guards had surrounded them, blasters pointed at their heads. Farnmir glanced around, but her arm didn't move. Vhetin, never thinking he would be the voice of reason in such a situation, stepped up and pushed her arm away. "Remember, we're on their side," he murmured.

Kalyn scowled. "Then they should stay out of our way."

He turned to the guard with an apologetic nod in greeting. "My name is Cin Vhetin. This is Kalyn Farnmir and Jay Moquena. We're bounty hunters, hired by your boss. We need to talk to him now."

"I don't know what you're-"

"Don't play dumb with us," he interrupted. "We know about the meeting here."

"How-"

"All you need to know," Farnmir growled, "is that unless you let us through right now, this entire place is going to go up in flames."

"I don't know what you're-"

"Trust us," Jay said, hoping to be the single non-threatening voice in the bunch. "We need to talk to your bosses. It's very important."

The Nikto finally narrowed his eyes and said, "Okay, but I'll need to check with command."

"You do that," Vhetin said as he turned away. "Just make it fast. We don't know how much time is left."

Jay stood, her hand resting on the butt of her pistol as she glanced nervously at the guards that kept their guns pointed at their heads. Of all the situations she'd been in since this job started, this was one of the most uncomfortable. Every one of the guards was ready to shoot and kill at a moment's notice. She hoped Vhetin knew what he was doing.

Farnmir, meanwhile, didn't seem to be anywhere near as nervous as Jay. In fact, she was glaring at each of the guards in turn. "Just how much are they paying you for this?" she asked one of them. Her remark was met with a grunt, nothing more.

The Nikto guard took a single step away, murmuring into his comlink. "Yes. Yessir. Yessir. I'll let them know. Yessir."

He gestured at the guards. "Stand down. The Prince has cleared them for access."

Much to Jay's relief, the guards lowered their rifles and grudgingly headed back to their security posts. The Nikto now gestured to the hunters and growled, "Prince Xizor will see you now."

Jay was about to step forward with Vhetin, but the Mandalorian held out a hand to stop her. "No," he said. "I need you to go with Kalyn and brief the guards. They need to know what's going on as soon as possible."

Farnmir folded her arms and said, "We'll set up snipers on the roof as a precaution. I'll comm you when we're finished solidifying the defenses out here."

Vhetin nodded. "I'll keep the crime lords safe."

Jay smiled. "Do you know how much that made you sound like a criminal yourself?"

"I am a criminal," he pointed out as he turned and jogged after the Nikto guard. "You are, too."

"See, I've always considered myself more of a puckish rogue."

"No time for jokes now, Rookie," Farnmir said as Vhetin and his guide disappeared into the warehouse. "We need to get set up fast."

One of the guards raised a hand and called, "Everyone, get over here. These schuttas have something to tell us."

The guards gathered around the two bounty huntresses in a rough circle, much like before. Jay was at least glad that their guns weren't pointed at her head now. Kalyn looked around at all of the assembled guards with a scowl.

"Do any of you know about a Twi'lek gangster named Kassh Goran?" she inquired.

Most of the guards nodded; Midnight Ultraviolet was obviously bigger news on Coruscant than on Tatooine. Jay was glad, because that made her job that much easier.

"Good," Farnmir said, nodding to herself, "because he's on his way here right now with his own personal army. And he's dead-set on killing the guys who sign your paychecks."

There were scattered murmurs of concern throughout the assembled guards, and Jay had to admire Farnmir's tactics. The older woman had obviously been in this business a long time, and knew just which buttons to push to get her allies to perform to the best of their abilities. With these guards, a moving speech about freedom and courage in the face of death would be pointless; a threat to their pocketbooks was a much more serious motivator.

The veteran huntress let that sink in for a moment before continuing, "We're going to stop this kriffer, but we need your help."

"How do we know you aren't just trying to trick us and kill our bosses by getting us on your side?" asked a pensive dark-skinned Zabrak.

"If we wanted your bosses dead," Farnmir replied, "we would have just strafed the place from our ships and not bothered with all this. The fact that we're offering to help should be proof enough that we're not trying to trick you."

"Fair enough."

Kalyn stared at the guard long enough to ensure he wasn't about to challenge her authority again. Then she gestured to the duracrete warehouse behind her. "Your organizations picked this warehouse for a reason," she said. "Why?"

After a short silence, a young human man spoke up. "It has a depression in the ceiling that's a good position for snipers. We've set up security posts around three-quarters of the warehouse, and the last side faces the G-sector River."

River? Jay thought. Coruscant was a planet-wide city; there hadn't been any rivers on the planet since thousands of years before... well, thousands of years before the Mandalorian Wars at least.

"Good. I'll oversee your men up in the sniper post. Jay here will go with whoever is left to secure a perimeter defense." Kalyn fixed Jay with an unreadable stare and asked, "Think you can handle that?"

"I think so," Jay said with confidence, drawing her pistol and double-checking the ammo counter. "One of the first things Vhetin taught me was how to secure a perimeter."

"Glad to hear," Farnmir said as she turned away. "Then get to it."

Farnmir took half of the guards and disappeared around the corner. Jay turned to her half and said, "Show me everything about this area. I want to know it like I know the back of my hand."

The Zabrak guard, who had stayed with her group, nodded and motioned for her to follow. "What do you need to see first?" the alien asked, rubbing a dull cranial horn like a human would at his chin.

"Let's take a look at this river first," she replied. "I need to know if it's a viable approach to the warehouse. You said you weren't guarding that side."

"Oh, we're not. But you'll see why in a moment."

As they headed around the building, the rest of the guards following them, the Zabrak offered his hand. "My name's Jao-Dun."

"Jay Kolta," she replied, shaking the offered hand. She didn't sense any outward animosity from the being, but she remained wary all the same. These men worked for beings like Sekha, and the infamous Jabba the Hutt. Her instinct told her to treat them with caution.

"You strike me," he said slowly, "as a proficient warrior. Yet the other human called you Rookie."

"Long story," she said. "I'm more than able to hold my own."

"You travel in the company of a Mandalorian," he said. "I would expect nothing less."

"He's my partner. The man who trained me."

He shot her a smile full of yellow-black teeth. "In that case, I will raise my expectations."

"You do that," she said. "In the meantime, we have a base to secure."

She quickly found that the G-sector River was not a river after all, rather a huge broken durasteel pipe - at least twenty-five meters tall - with highly reflective blue coolant fluid slogging past them. Jay had to cover her mouth to block out the stink and was only partially successful.

"Lovely," she said, her voice muffled through her hands. "I've flown barge runs over Raxus that smelled better."

Jao-Dun inhaled deeply, as if he enjoyed the stink. He broke into coughs soon after, however, and said, "Yeah. It's not great, but it serves our purposes."

"How so? Scaring away local mutant wildlife and the occasional drifter?"

The Zabrak gestured toward a stack of containment barrels near the "river's" edge. "With the broken pipe so close by, we can spend our off time siphoning off the reactor coolant and selling it on the black market."

Smart, Jay had to admit. But it was dangerous, keeping coolant so close to a meeting place for crime lords. Everyone knew that coolant fluid was highly flammable; one of the reasons starships exploded with such gusto. And with so many coolant vats piled in such close proximity to a karking river of the stuff, even a stray blaster bolt could blow the entire area to Force-knew-where.

Then an idea came to her. She frowned thoughtfully and turned to Jao-Dun. "Do you have any loadlifter droids to move these coolant vats?"

The Zabrak nodded. "But of course. It would take hours to get these things out of here without them. Why? What are you thinking?"

She gestured to the vats and said, "Get those loadlifters working on moving those vats. We may just have an advantage here."


The Nikto guard led Vhetin into the warehouse, past several heavily armed security checkpoints. Obviously, the meeting room was situated deep in the facility. And, Vhetin noticed as they trudged down a long stairway, it appeared to be buried deep underground. Smart; even if the warehouse did come under attack, the crime lords would be well removed from any action.

"Jay," he said, activating his comlink as he walked down a second flight of stairs. "Sit-rep."

"I've got a plan to keep Kassh's thugs away from the warehouse. I don't know if it'll work for Kassh himself, because he's probably not going to tag along with the first assault, but it'll definitely keep them back for a while."

He noted that she was purposefully not telling him about her plan. He didn't know if that was because she wanted maximum surprise when she jumped into action, or she thought their comm line wasn't secure. Either way, he didn't inquire any further.

"Okay," he nodded. "Just remember that we want Kassh alive. And if you scare him off, we won't be able to spring our trap."

"Come on, Vhetin," she said. All trace of self-doubt or hesitation in her voice was gone. "When have I ever let you down?"

It was a rhetorical question; they both knew she would meet whatever challenge set in front of her with all her ability. It was one of her greatest qualities when it came to bounty hunting. "What about Farnmir?"

"Set up with the other snipers on the roof. They're dug in pretty well up there; it won't take them long to take out Kassh's snipers when they show themselves. They're pretty much invisible up there."

"Good," he breathed. He glanced up as the guard ahead of him knocked on a heavyset vault door. Obviously, they had arrived. So he wrapped his conversation up, saying, "I'll check back in a few minutes."

"I'll be waiting," Jay replied. She paused, then added, "Be careful."

He nodded, more to himself than to anyone in particular. "Yeah. You too."

Then he signed off the comm and stepped past the guard, into the room. The barrier slammed shut behind him and he heard a hiss of pressurized air as the room was sealed against gas, explosions, or other threats to the crime lords within. Black Sun had obviously put a lot of effort into securing this place. He only hoped it would be enough.

The room beyond wasn't exactly plush, but the gangsters' servants and majordomos had done their best to spruce the place up enough to house their masters' refined tastes. The dirty, cracked duracrete walls had been draped with expensive tapestries and the floor had been covered by a thick green carpet. Vhetin himself thought it just made the floor look like it was covered in mold, but he knew better than to say anything. Interior decorating, after all, was not his chosen profession.

There was a rough stone table rising from the floor in the center of the room and it was around this table that more than seven major criminal masterminds were sitting. Vhetin recognized several of them immediately: the regal-looking Prince Xizor, the quivering mass of blubber and slime that was Jabba the Hutt, and the beautiful and delicate-looking Sekha. The rest he didn't immediately notice and so were not important for now.

All eyes were on him, and more than one stare was decidedly hostile. Several Twi'lek gangsters were muttering between themselves and glaring at him. Sekha's eyes lighted on his black armor and her face lit up in a beautiful smile. Jabba looked him up and down and belched nonchalantly.

He bowed his head and placed a flat palm against his chest in a clear gesture of respect. Jabba and Xizor were his employers, after all, and there was every chance he'd wind up working for one of these other crime lords in the future. Still, his adherence to protocol didn't seem to net him any points. As he straightened, Xizor stared him down with a gaze that could freeze fire.

"I hope you have good reasons," the Falleen Prince said quietly, "for intruding on this private meeting, bounty hunter."

Vhetin nodded and replied, "I do. I've tracked Kassh to Coruscant, and discovered that he is planning to attack this base."

A noticeable ripple of surprise spread around the table. Even Xizor looked taken aback, but only for the briefest of moments. The crime lords began whispering among themselves, and several cast more baleful glares in his direction; after all, he had been charged to bring Kassh in, not lead him right to their meeting place. Vhetin had long since grown used to such stares, however, and ignored them.

Sekha was grinning to herself, obviously pleased that her old friend Kassh was causing so much trouble. She'd always had a mischievous streak that was lacking in the other crime lords. It was what had led her to try and literally stab him in the back when he'd worked for her and subsequently what had made him leave her service as a privately employed hunter.

Jabba belched and rumbled in Huttese, "Let him come. We are safe here. We have taken appropriate precautions and my guards are the most highly-trained forces in all the underworld. Should Kassh appear, we will grind him into dust and feed it to the kath hounds."

"Silence," Xizor snapped, flicking a taloned hand at the Hutt. "Save your egotism for those with more patience."

Jabba narrowed his reptilian eyes dangerously, but fell silent. The Falleen turned his razor focus back to Vhetin and inquired, "When is he planning to do this?"

"He may be here as we speak. And he plans to kill every single one of you"

There was silence throughout the room. Sekha's grin slowly faded, replaced by a genuine look of concern. Jabba's eyes stretched wide again, and the rest of the crime lords glanced nervously at each other. More worried whispers ensued.

Xizor rubbed his leathery chin with a thoughtful frown. "Kassh has obviously grown bolder in recent months than I anticipated," he murmured, sounding as if he was mostly speaking to himself. After a moment, he turned to the attractive blond woman standing at his shoulder.

"Guri," he said, "I want you to move to the upper levels. Ensure that no one passes checkpoint three. Lethal force is authorized and highly recommended."

The woman nodded without a word and pulled two long-barreled blaster pistols from the back of her belt before disappearing through the door. Xizor watched her swagger away before saying, "I trust you have taken precautions of your own, bounty hunter?"

Vhetin nodded. "My... team is up top, securing the defenses. When he shows up, we'll be ready for him."

Xizor folded his arms into his sleeves. "Very well. I wish for you to stay here in the lower levels and ensure our safety. Let no one past. Fail, and it will cost you dearly."

"Success will cost you, too," Vhetin said. He'd had so many troubles on this mission already, he was beginning to think that even the ample reward of a hundred thousand credits wasn't going to be enough. It was a risky gamble, speaking to the Prince in such a manner. But fortune, as they said, favored the bold.

Jabba chuckled, a deep, wet sound that made Vhetin's lip curl in disgust. "You were supposed to track this schutta down before he caused more trouble. And not only have you not accomplished that goal, but he is now planning to kill us all! You will be lucky if you will be paid a fraction of the original posted bounty!"

Vhetin tightened his grip on the lightsaber hilts on his belt, his face furrowing in a scowl. "You'll want to reconsider that," he growled. "Because right now, my team is the only thing standing between you and a messy death."

Jabba let out a quick ho ho ho of laughter and gurgled, "You've already given us all the information we need to repel this attack. You are nothing now but expendable meat."

"Would you boys like to take this dispute outside?" Sekha inquired innocently, steepling her fingers with a smirk. "My money's on the Mandalorian."

"Enough," Xizor hissed, his voice suddenly tinged with reptilian coldness. He glanced between them all with a malevolent glare. "Now is not the time for division. If Kassh is already en route as you have implied, bounty hunter, then we must all prepare."

"If the guards arm you all," Vhetin said, looking between the crime lords as well, "can I trust you not to shoot each other?"

One of the gangsters, a blue-skinned Twi'lek male, narrowed his eyes and began to rise from his seat, hissing, "Of all the impudent-"

He was silenced by a single glare from the Prince. He slowly returned to his seat under that whithering stare. The Falleen then returned his gaze to Vhetin and said, "I will deal with our protection. Leave us with a single squad of guards, then keep watch over the hall outside. Again, allow no one to pass, be it Kassh's thugs or our own guards."

"As you wish." Vhetin bowed his head again as he turned back to the door. "I will contact you again when we have him in custody."

"I'm sure," Xizor said, narrowing his eyes.

"Good luck," Sekha called after him, her voice still tinged with that hint of wicked mischief.

As the door swung shut behind him again, he opened his line to Jay again.

"Hey," she replied at his hail, "I just finished up securing the perimeter and the guards are spread out around the compound. What's the news with the crime lords?"

"They're safe for now," Vhetin said. "But I've been ordered to stand guard down here until they deem it safe. Any sign of Kassh?"

"Nope. When Farnmir or the sniper team finds something, you'll be the first to know. After me, of course."

He cracked a hint of a smile. "Okay. Keep on your toes. We'll only have one shot at this, and if Kassh thinks he's not going to make it, he'll bug out fast."

"Copy that," his partner said before signing off.

Vhetin sighed and settled himself in to wait.