"When do we get the cargo?" Dolan asked Kell as he leaped up the last few stairs and entered the cockpit.

Kell swiveled his chair around and fixed Dolan with a hostile stare, spinning a datapad in his hands. "The main cargo's already in the hold."

Dolan didn't quite know what to make of that. "There's only three crates in the cargo hold. What is it we're transporting?"The datapad hit him square in the chest, and he fumbled to catch it before it hit the ground. He thumbed it on and looked over the manifest it displayed. "Three cubic meters archaeological supplies. That's it? We're being forced to go to the Core to deliver a package that the Republic could have shipped with a shuttle?"

"Dolan, calm down!" Kell snatched the datapad back and set it down on his console. "They've given us a flight plan as well. We're making six stops on the way into the Core: Naboo, Tatooine, Telos, Ossus, Onderon, Korriban, and finally ending at Empress Teta."

"Impossible." The word fell quietly from Dolan's mouth.

Obviously not having heard him, Kell continued on. "They wouldn't say so, but it looks to me like we're picking up cargo at each step. Although why we're going to those worlds, I don't know." With a heavy sigh, he shrugged and lifted a hand to Dolan. "You're ex-military, what do you think?"

It took a long moment for Dolan to clear his throat and recollect his thoughts. Most of those worlds weren't anything important, but a few were setting off some very serious warnings in his mind. "I... I'm not entirely sure. It would make sense for them to move sensitive cargo by civilian means to avoid suspicion. Although, if we transfer the crates on and off at each stop, we could be cover for the actual moving of supplies."

Turning to the astrogation computer's display panel to his left, he pulled up the flight plan and studied it for several minutes, mulling over in his mind what he knew of those worlds. "Hiring a number of transports would arouse more suspicion than a single transport moving supplies. It wouldn't arouse as much local suspicion either, not like a Republic cruiser showing up to ferry archaeological finds. My only concerns would be what it is we're transporting."

Pulling himself to his feet, Kell picked the datapad back up and headed towards the stairs out of the cockpit. His walk was lighter than it had been before, but not by much. "I'm going to go check the engines. We're lifting off in half an hour, so make sure the cargo's secure."

As Kell left the cockpit, Dolan sighed heavily and sank into his copilot's chair. Something was bothering Kell a lot, and it wasn't the extended absence this trip would cause. His family was on Naboo; they could easily bring them along for the trip. It was something else, something he wasn't sharing. Dolan thumped himself on the forehead and looked at the computer interface in the top middle of his control panel. There would be time to contemplate this on the way to Naboo. Right now there were more important things to take care of.

Calling up the port computer, he punched in their departure time and started to settle their landing fees, only to discover that Kell had already done both. Odd. Usually Kell left that to him. This cargo run was already shaping up to be far more interesting than Dolan liked. It was the reason he had decided to sign on with the Outer Rim Trading Cooperative: there wasn't much excitement to be had ferrying goods on the Enarc Run to and from Naboo.

With one last check to make sure that the departure time was set, Dolan lifted himself out of his chair. It was time to make sure that the cargo was secured properly. The way the Republic was acting about it, any damage would probably end with criminal, civil, and every other type of charges being pressed. Anger started to smolder just above the surface of his mind and Dolan muttered a few choice phrases in Huttese as he left the cockpit.

There was something familiar about the crates, even beyond them being the same as so many other crates he had shipped between worlds. Something... resonated with Dolan, within his spirit, something dark. Something hungry.

Shaking his head vigorously to drive the feeling out, Dolan checked the locks and straps that held the crates to the deck. Satisfied with the security of the cargo, he wasted no time returning to the cockpit.

Kell was just arriving as well, wiping his hands on a rag that was then stuffed into a back pocket. "Cargo secure?"

"Yes." Dolan answered flatly. "Let's get out of here. The sooner we get rid of these the better, although I wouldn't be opposed to them having an 'accident' on the way."

"Something wrong with them?" Kell asked as he thumped down in the pilot's chair and began prelaunch sequences.

Dolan crossed his arms and leaned forward against the back of the co-pilot's chair, bracing himself against the upcoming launch. "Whatever we're transporting is heavily tainted by the dark side of the force."

Kell's eyes narrowed, but her didn't say anything as he guided the Far Star up and out of Kodai's atmosphere. Once stars burned brightly through the canopy, he turned to face Dolan. "I thought you said you weren't force-sensitive."

"I said that for all intents and purposes I'm not force-sensitive. According to the Jedi I barely even fit their definition of sensitive. That's what worries me. If I was able to clearly sense the taint, it's like a man who's blind suddenly noticing there's light because his sun went nova. Plus, it reacted to my presence. Didn't feel a thing until I started checking the lock and then it was like whatever it is was trying to reach me."

"Why would it want to try and reach you?"

Dolan shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it thinks I'm prime Dark Lord material." He let out a short bark of laughter at the absurdity of the thought.

Kell snorted. "They've really lowered their standards, haven't they? Hold on, jumping." He made several deft adjustments to the control board, checked the navicomputer, nodded, then lifted the cover over the hyperdrive's engage switch, and threw it.

A few silent minutes later, he confirmed that they'd made the jump without a problem. Then with a sigh, Kell stood and turned to Dolan. "Well, that's that. I'm hungry, let's eat."

"Sounds good. But I want to check out the crates afterwards. I need to see what's in there." Dolan stood and started for the stairs.

Following right behind him, Kell asked, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Not in the least." Dolan replied, finally shedding his coat and tossing it casually onto the semicircular couch against the fall wall of the common area. As he did so, a vision suddenly gripped him: an orange streak of light against darkness and the sound of voices crying out in pain.

"I have to know." He murmured softly, then turned and went to his quarters.

"How about nerfsteak? Haven't had that in a while." Kell called from the kitchen area. "Dolan? You okay?"

Poking his head back into the common area, he saw Dolan missing. "Oh hell..."

- - - - -

As I stand in your presence

I can feel quiet patience on your gaze

Like an old superstition

You are haunting all my dreams an' waking days