Chapter 2

"Looks like we're going to come out near Carrick Station, Captain," Corso said, bending over the readouts on the console. "Whaddaya say we make a quick stop for fuel and supplies before we hit Hutt Space?"

"And liquor!" Vex crowed in agreement. "All we've got left is that weird spiced ale that Akaavi gave us. Stuff gives me the hiccups." He leaned over to activate the cargo hold intercom.

"Gave you," Corso corrected. "For crying out loud, Captain, it was in a velvet-lined box!"

"Stow it where the stars don't shine, Corso," Vex replied flatly, then activated the intercom. "Bowdaar? How's our precious, precious cargo?"

A disgruntled Wookiee voice roared over the speaker. "It's a giant metal box, Captain! It's not exactly going to get up and walk away!"

"Solid. We're going to stop by Carrick Station real quick. Keep an eye on it for us, okay?"

"Bring back snacks!"

Vex settled back into the pilot's chair as they skidded out of hyperspace. Carrick Station loomed in front of them, framed by the perennial two or three Republic capital ships docked there. "Bowie says the cargo's in good shape."

Corso cocked an eyebrow. "'Bowie?'"

Vex shrugged. "I'm trying it out. What do you think?"

Corso winced. "Maybe don't say it to his face."

The ship settled into their usual hangar with a quiet hiss of hydraulics. Vex clapped Corso on the back as he got up to leave the cockpit. "Keep her warm for me, Corso. Be back in a flash."

Vex strolled through the corridors of his ship, whistling his favorite cantina number. His whistling trailed off when he passed the engine room compartment. Every time he went by he kept expecting to see her out of the corner of his eye, endlessly fiddling with the hyperdrive console. She'd always turn to him with a coy little smile, sarcastic barb at the ready. Vex shook himself out of his reverie and trotted down the ramp into the hangar.

Standing in front of the turbolift door were two Jedi, one female and one male, built like an hourglass and a brick shithouse respectively. The male had his lightsaber drawn and activated.

"Oh, space me," Vex muttered as they approached.

Back in the cockpit, Corso groaned when he saw two Jedi haul Vex away. He leaned over and slapped the intercom button. "Bowdaar? The Captain got arrested again."

"You owe me twenty credits!"

"Thank you for coming quietly, Captain Kalway," Ghereth said as he clicked the force-cuffs closed around the smuggler's wrists. "We'll make sure to tell General Var Suthra about your cooperation."

"General Var Who Now?" Kalway asked. Ghereth didn't respond. He grabbed Kalway by the forearm and began escorting him to the nearest Republic Security station. "Hey, watch the jacket! It's Corellian leather."

Ghereth said nothing. His awareness was distracted by an oppressive, looming darkness that settled like a lead apron over his shoulders. Carrick Station seemed to be operating normally…

"Either of you mind telling me what exactly I've been arrested for?" Ghereth dimly heard Kalway run his mouth at a thousand kilometers an hour. "It's so gosh-darn hard to keep track sometimes."

There weren't any other operations in the offing, as least as far as Ghereth knew. And his clearance was just as good as General Var Suthra's…

"Hey Jedi, if you're a massive tool, don't say anything."

Of course, nobody saw Darth Angral coming either. It was always so difficult to pierce the veil clearly enough for specifics…

Kalway cackled until Kira flicked him on the ear. "Ow! What the hell was that for?"

"You deserve it," Kira huffed as she steered him into the security station.

"What, for that joke?" Kalway sighed. "Yeah, that's fair."

Kira shoved Vex into a force cage, then went back out into the corridor to speak to Ghereth. "Master, this feeling cannot just be me." She hugged herself, as if a chilly breeze had just blown through the station. "Something's...not right."

Ghereth nodded. "You've always had good instincts, Kira. Something's definitely very, very wrong." He sighed and turned away. "I'll go speak with General Var Suthra and see if there's anything we should be aware of. Can you see what Captain Kalway knows about his cargo?"

Kira rolled her eyes. "Look at me. Kira Carsen, big bad Jedi Knight. A Padawan no longer! How do I still get stuck with the scutwork that won't stop staring at my chest?"

Ghereth spread his hands in surrender. "Fine. You can go navigate Var Suthra, the SIS, and the rest of the Republic bureaucracy while I interrogate the smuggler."

Kira sighed and crossed her arms. "Well, when you put it that way…"

Ghereth smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "I'll see you in a little while."

Ghereth was most of the way toward the SIS post when every holocomm, billboard, and terminal on Carrick Station lit up with the same image. It was of a razor-thin Chiss in voluminous purple and black robes. Ghereth could feel the stench of his dark power even over the holocomm.

"Attention Republic stooges, specifically the stooges of Carrick Station. This is Darth Zhar'il, Dark Lord of the Sith, representative of the Dark Council, and your worst nightmare personified. You have recently come into the possession of something that belongs to me. For your own sake, I suggest you remain calm, surrender now, and prepare to be boarded. Or don't, see if I care."

The darkness pressing on Ghereth's awareness suddenly crystallized, moments before the station was rocked by turbolaser fire.

Zhar'il stepped away from the holotransmitter just in time to watch the Khem Val drop out of hyperspace directly next to the station.

"My lord," exclaimed a random bridge officer. "The Naga Sadow and the Ravager II are in place to intercept the Telos and the Gav Daragon, respectively."

"Turbolasers are primed," cried another.

"Fire," Zhar'il spat, staring out at the station through the bridge window. Shielding a station of this size from a sustained barrage of turbolaser fire was all but impossible: green blaster bolts lanced across the hull of the station, causing bursts of electricity and the occasional explosion of flame.

"Captain Javros, prepare your men to board," Zhar'il said. The captain saluted and scurried away. Zhar'il turned toward his Intelligence hanger-on, Cipher Nine. The agent stood, arms crossed, looking impenetrably at the station as it rocked and buckled under the barrage.

"Shall we put Intelligence's legendary infiltration expertise to the test, Cipher?" teased Zhar'il. The agent looked at him blandly. "I want you to board under cover of stealth and determine our target's precise location and supervise its delivery. If you meet whoever stole my cargo, I want them dead."

Zhar'il caught only a moment's hesitation before the agent bowed. "At once, my lord."

Zhar'il went down to the lower decks to join one of the shuttles bound for the station. He was flanked by three troopers on each side. He closed his eyes a moment to probe their feelings. Most of them were excited at the prospect of action. A few had never gone into battle before. More than one was nervous that a Sith Lord was within choking distance. All perfectly understandable, if mildly seditious.

The shuttle flew the short distance from ship to station, juking and looping a few times to dodge enemy fighters and anti-spacecraft guns. They settled into one of the hangars. The soldiers surrounding Zhar'il buzzed into action, moving to slice open the sealed hangar door with a plasma torch.

The station shuddered and groaned around them as the battle ensued. Zhar'il could feel flashes of rage from lesser Sith and desperate attempts at serenity by the few Jedi on board the station. This place was much more poorly manned than he'd anticipated.

The hangar bay blast door was shrouded in dust and smoke as the troopers finished their labor. Zhar'il supposed he should've expected the Jedi that came flying out of the debris, lightsaber ablaze. He barely brought up his own saber in time to block. Their sabers clashed, sending flashes of sparks across the hangar.

The Jedi was nose-to-nose with Zhar'il now. He was a Miraluka with scarred features and a boy scout's disposition. "I don't know who you are or why you're here," he spat. "But your choices have brought you here. Surrender or die, Sith."

"Don't know why I'm-" spluttered Zhar'il. His free hand crackled with purple lightning as he sent a bolt directly into the Jedi's chest, sending him flying backward. "Have none of you been paying attention?!"

Vax deactivated his stealth field generator, fizzling back into visibility on one of Carrick Station's maintenance catwalks. Preliminary scans showed most life signs on the station condensed in the expected areas - troopers moving to protect choke points, civilians headed for the escape pods - except for two. Two of them were moving down an obscure back corridor near the shuttle bays. A hunch told him that this might be their thief trying to make his escape. Vax learned long ago to trust his hunches.

He settled into a prone position, sniper rifle aimed at the corridor below. If the scans were accurate, those life signs should be headed this way within two minutes. Vax gazed through his scope and settled into a sniper's favorite pastime: waiting.

He almost jerked when his comlink buzzed. He thumbed the activator in his ear. A familiar voice rushed in.

"Cipher Nine? Watcher Two here. You missed your last check-in. Status report?"

Vax did his best to remain professional as he detailed a series of increasingly ridiculous events. "Darth Zhar'il has press-ganged two other Imperial cruisers and used them to board Carrick Station in pursuit of the package. I'm waiting on the smuggler who stole it now."

He could almost picture Watcher Two's face contorting with incredulous rage. "Board...board Carrick Station?! A Republic fleet infiltration operation has been in the offing for months! Weeks of planning, thousands of credits, cooperation from three different ministries! This is beyond the pale, even for a Darth of the Dark Council! The Minister of Intelligence will be livid, say nothing for Darth Marr and Darth Malgus!"

Vax couldn't hold back a smile. "You're so cute when you're flustered."

"I do not begin to have the cycles to spare on you right now, Cipher Nine! Do your best to dig yourself out of this hole Zhar'il has dug. I'm pulling the plug on this operation right this moment. Watcher Two out."

Vax didn't have much time to reflect on how well and truly fucked the entire show was before he saw two figures come down the corridor below. He swiveled his rifle to track them. One male, one female. The female was a Jedi, if her lightsaber and utter lack of humor were any indication. The male was more difficult to pin down. He wore a leather jacket typical of Hutt-space cargo runners. The female Jedi had him in force-cuffs and was roughly guiding him down the corridor. The smuggler who stole the cache, perhaps? Vax focused the scope on the smuggler's face, then froze.

It was like looking into a mirror. Vax could see the same facial structure, the same eye color, even the same shaggy hair. They weren't identical. Vax was relatively certain he hadn't found his clone or long-lost twin. But there was definitely a resemblance. A family resemblance?

Vax had always felt alone in the galaxy. Borne of two Sith, he was abandoned to military school for his lack of Force sensitivity. He was groomed for Intelligence. Destined to work alone. Always alone. The idea that he just might have family sent his mind reeling.

The cold steel of a blaster barrel pressed to the back of his head jerked him out of his reverie. He glanced at his scope again, but the two figures were long gone. "Hello, Cipher Nine," said a quiet male voice. "Always nice to see you."

"Agent Shan," Vax replied coolly. "How long has it been? Since Belsavis?"

"Don't you bring up Belsavis," said Theron Shan, scowling. "I still haven't paid you back for CZ-198."

Vax chuckled humorlessly. "It flatters me that you keep such careful score."

Theron gestured with his blaster. Vax felt the barrel brush through his hair. "Stand up very carefully. I don't want to have to ventilate you. At least not before we've had a nice, long chat."

"Of course." Vax slowly made to stand. This gave him the opportunity to reach for the vibroknife hidden in his boot. In a flash, he whirled, stabbing Theron in the thigh and thumbing the taser on the pommel, sending the enemy agent twitching to the catwalk floor. Vax swiftly activated his stealth field generator and vanished from sight.

"There is no way in hell that I'm leaving him to deal with all this by himself!" Kira muttered bitterly as she dragged Vex roughly down the corridor.

"What, do you two have a thing going on?" Vex asked. He'd given up protesting, but so help him if the leather got cracked… "I didn't think Jedi were allowed to have things going on."

Kira only glared at him.

"I'm not hearing a nooooooo!" Vex said in a singsong voice. Kira flicked him on the ear again. "OW-would you stop doing that?"

"I really don't have the time to put up with you right now, Captain." As if to punctuate her statement, the station rumbled with yet another explosion. Vex could faintly hear blaster fire and shouting voices, even the clash of lightsabers.

"Please. Call me Vex." He treated her to his most dashing smile.

Kira rolled her eyes and shoved him toward a shuttle bay door. "Nice name. Name yourself after what you do to every woman you meet?"

"Don't worry. They're just feelings. They'll heal." Vex spared time from checking her out to actually take note of where they were. "Wait, what exactly are we doing here? Shouldn't we be headed for the escape pods? Oh, please tell me we're headed for the escape pods."

"The disappointments continue, Vex," Kira said as she gestured toward the door. "You're going to wait in there like a good little prisoner while I go help my Master."

"Oh, so I just wait for some broody Sith character to show up and filet me in a nice brown sauce?" Vex tried to shoulder his way past her. "You go martyr yourself at your boyfriend's feet, see if I care. I'm getting the hell out of here!"

Before Kira could respond, they both spotted a squad of Imperial troops headed down the hallway toward them. "Darth Zhar'il wants a clean sweep! No survivors!" cried an officer at the front, flanked by half a dozen troopers on each side.

"Oh, hell," Kira sighed. She pulled a gnarly-looking double-bladed lightsaber from her belt. She shoved Vex into the alcove of the recessed door. "You get down. And don't. Go. Anywhere."

Before Vex could crack wise in reply, she was gone, carving her way into the Imperial squad. "Holy shit," Vex breathed as he watched her go. The Imps fell around her like dominoes with poor fashion sense. There was something bizarrely sexy about a woman who could kick your ass.

When the last of the Imperials fell, Kira came back over. Flushed and panting from the fight, she reached down to help him up. "Come on, we're -"

Then the door at the other end of the corridor exploded inward, allowing Imperial troops to pour in. Vex estimated three or four squads before he lost count.

He scowled up at Kira, raising his wrists and rattling the force-cuffs in her face. "Will you please?"

"Fine!" Kira snapped, and hurriedly unlocked the cuffs. She pulled a fallen blaster to her with the Force and tossed it to Vex. "Don't you make me regret this."

Vex fired, nailing an approaching officer between the eyes. "Gorgeous, I get the feeling we're all going to have a lot of regrets when this is over."

How so many Imp troops could board the station so fast was beyond Vex, but he focused on the task at hand. He stayed in cover by the shuttle bay door, peeking out for choice, precise shots against the encroaching soldiers.

Kira waded into the melee, the green blades of her saberstaff gleaming among a hundred red blaster bolts. She paused, concentrated, and sent a shockwave of Force power reverberating through the crowd. Vex leaned out and fanned the Imps in midair, trying to ventilate as many of them as he could.

Kira turned to face the next squad of troopers that poured in through the blown-out door, but Vex grabbed her hand. "What are you doing?!" she cried.

"We're wasting time! We've got to get out of here!" Vex yelled over his shoulder as he took off running with her in tow.

"I know how to run without you grabbing my hand!"

This Sith was extremely strong in the Force. He gathered lightning around him like a Tesla coil, only using his lightsaber to swat aside Ghereth's attacks.

Ghereth's defense nearly buckled under one such barrage of dark energy. He shifted into the more balanced Shii-Cho form, stepping around the Sith's guard and cracking him across the face with the hilt of his lightsaber. The cacophony of lightning abruptly came to a halt as the Sith slumped over in a daze.

Ghereth paused, panting, holding the gleaming blue blade of his lightsaber to the Sith's neck. "This is your last chance, Sith. Surrender now, and the Jedi Council will do its best to help you."

The Sith's shoulders heaved in a series of dry chuckles. "Why you sanctimonious…" Ghereth sensed a great condensation of power, but before he could retaliate the Sith made a grand heaving gesture, propelling Ghereth across the central chamber of the station, sending him crashing into the towering pillar in the center of the room.

Ghereth slid down the pillar with a groan, destroyed holographic displays tumbling and sparking around him. His awareness was clogged with pain and frustration. The Sith's defenses seemed impenetrable, a bottomless well of hatred ready to drown all the innocents on the station.

He refused to give into his anger. He had to focus. There is no passion, there is serenity. Think of all the lives that depended on him. The countless innocents on the station whose names he'd never know. General Var Suthra and a dozen well-trained SIS agents, each with families and friends depending on their critical work. Kira.

Kira.

Ghereth summoned all of his remaining strength and made a flying leap from the crater in the pillar, slamming straight into the Sith as he gloated at the top of the stairs. The battle began anew. But this time, Ghereth was the aggressor.

The aggressive Juyo form was usually a touch too acrobatic for Ghereth's typically stalwart, defensive style. But dodging lightning bolts required thinking outside the box. Lightning cascaded around him, arcing from the Sith's outstretched fingers and deflected by Ghereth's lightsaber. The Sith snarled, pressing the attack, giving in to his rage, accessing more power at the sacrifice of control. The only opening Ghereth needed.

A female voice rang clearly through the cacophony around them. "Hands off my Master, you son of a Hutt!"

Zhar'il only had enough time to glance over his shoulder in the direction of the voice to see a whirling dervish of green lethality before it raked across his back, sending him stumbling to his knees. He let the pain feed his rage, even as the stench of rapidly-cauterized blood filled his nostrils. He saw the whirling saber fly back to its owner, a redheaded female human.

The Jedi he'd been fighting held his lightsaber close to Zhar'il's throat. "Kira, didn't I tell you to look after the smuggler?"

"Does that mean you're not happy to see me?" retorted the female, who was evidently named Kira.

"I didn't say that."

"You rang?" came another voice even more unbearably smug than the first Jedi's, were that possible. It was another human, a male in a leather jacket wielding two stolen Imperial blasters.

The Jedi seemed surprised. Zhar'il stayed silent, waiting for his opening. "Captain Kalway? Shouldn't you have cut and run by now?"

The male human shrugged. "Figured this would be as good a way as any to get back on Var Suthra's timecard. God knows I could use the work after all this."

"I'll put in a good word for you," said the Miraluka Jedi. He turned back to Zhar'il. He had quite a good glare going for a man without eyes.

The smuggler gestured at Zhar'il. "So what do we do with the blue guy?"

"Blue guy?" finally spat Zhar'il. "Why, you racist…" He slowly staggered to his feet. Purple power began crackling between his fingers. "All you had to do was surrender...and give...me...the cache. But noooooooooo!" Before the Jedi could retaliate, he lashed out, imprisoning them all in a whirlwind of energy. Then he did what all proper Sith do when a battle wasn't going the way they'd hoped. He started running.

He raised his wrist comlink to his lips, but was dismayed to find it already buzzing with activity.

"Ravager II has been routed-"

"Gav Daragon now on intercept trajectory-"

"Three Republic dreadnoughts on hailing frequency!"

"Fighter carrier just dropped out of hyperspace-"

"Enough!" Zhar'il snapped, generating instant radio silence. "All units, break away and regroup at the rendezvous point. Khem Val, focus turbolasers on the station. I want it in pieces by the time I get there." He switched frequencies to growl directly at that Intelligence knucklehead. "Cipher Nine, I had better see that cache resting comfortably in my cargo hold. Zhar'il out."

Vax didn't relish the idea of sacrificing a squad of veteran Imperial troopers at the feet of an angry Wookiee, but it was the only way to bring the savage creature out of his guard post. While the Wookiee and his dreadlocked friend made short work of the troopers in the docking bay, Vax snuck onto the ship under cover of stealth.

It was a fairly standard XS freighter, all things considered. A number of illegal modifications made to the hyperdrive and sublight engines. The captain's quarters was a mess and generated odors that Vax didn't care to identify. He would be remiss if he didn't scatter a few listening devices about, right? To better know one's adversary, of course.

He made his way back to the cargo hold. The cache was there, looking exactly as described. They were even so kind as to leave it on a repulsorlift dolly for ease of transport. Vax activated his comlink. "Besh Squad? You are clear to deploy. Draw them away from the loading ramp." He switched frequencies. "Cipher Nine to Darth Zhar'il: I have the package. Securing it now."

He switched frequencies one more time. "Cipher Nine to Watcher Two. Acknowledge. I'm told Ithor is lovely this time of year."

"Lovely if you enjoy tornadoes and bland casserole. Cipher, with all due respect, what in space are you still doing on that station?"

Vax glanced over his shoulder. He could still hear roaring and blaster fire. Still, there wasn't much time. "I have the cache in my possession. It appears to be exactly as Zhar'il described."

"You can't possibly be asking…"

"I am, Watcher. Requesting permission to extend the operation."

"Eager to see Zhar'il's next historic blunder?"

"We both know that Intelligence needs to know the contents of this cache. It's too dangerous to leave it to the Sith. Who else do we trust with a mission like this?"

Watcher Two sighed, sending a rush of static over the comm. "Cipher, you can be so...intoxicatingly infuriating. Keeper won't be happy."

"When was the last time Keeper was happy? Cipher Nine out."

He managed to push the dolly bearing the cache down the ramp without incident. He spotted the Wookiee and the smuggler battling Besh Squad at the other end of the hangar.

"Make it quick, Bowie! We gotta find the Captain and vamoose!" cried the human with dreadlocks.

"What did you call me?!" roared the Wookiee.

By the time the whirlwind dissipated and Vex's boots touched the deck of the station, the Sith was long gone. There was a loud sound of rending metal as the station suddenly careened at a thirty-degree angle. A line of explosions broke through the walls, destroyed most of the few remaining holographic displays.

"They're bombarding the station!" cried Kira. "This whole place is falling apart!"

The other Jedi cursed and opened his comlink to the public channel. "I don't know if anyone is still on this station, but you have to leave, now. The Sith are going to destroy it." He scowled and looked around. "There's no way we'll get to the Defender from here."

"Come on," Vex yelled, running down the nearest corridor. "We'll take my ride!"

The three of them dashed down the hallway, explosions sounding all around them. The station rocked and bucked, tripping them up more than once.

He heard Kira talking into her comm. "T7, take the ship and get the hell out of here! We'll comm you as soon as we can! Get going!"

"That droid can pilot a Corellian corvette by itself?" Vex hollered as they rounded the last corner.

"And make you a Corellian Sunrise that'll make your toes curl!" Kira replied with a smile.

The XS freighter loomed in the hangar in front of them. Vex could see Corso and Bowdaar mopping up the last few Imps trying to board. "Everybody in, let's go!" He waved frantically as the four of them disappeared up the loading ramp. He followed them up and shut the ramp behind him. "Anybody touches my dejarik set, they're gonna take a long walk out the airlock!"

Vex made a beeline for the cockpit, Corso and the Jedi following close behind. "At least we get to skip the preflight checks," Vex muttered as he gunned the engine. The freighter hovered in place, turning around and dashing through the hangar force field just as Carrick Station shuddered and began to break apart.

The ship emerged into a fevered space battle, but the Imps were too busy retreating to pay them any mind. He maneuvered his way through the debris and dueling capital ships, finally reaching clear enough space to make the jump to lightspeed.

The sudden calm flooded in on them with an almost audible thud. Vex got up from the pilot's chair and turned toward the Jedi. "There. Now, would you be so kind as to tell me what the hell I've been hauling and why it's so damned important?"

The Jedi shrugged and crossed his arms. "I'm afraid your guess is as good as mine, Captain." He put out a hand to shake. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. Ghereth Maddox, at your service."

"Vex Kalway." Vex took the offered hand and shook. "But I bet you already knew that."

Ghereth nodded. "Pleasantries aside, do you mind if we take a look at what's in your cargo hold?"

Vex shrugged. "Be my guest. That's the only thing I was hauling, anyway."

"About that," said Kira, strolling purposefully into the cockpit. Vex found himself distracted by the pleasing way her robe settled around her figure. "The cargo hold's empty. The box is gone."