Approximately two years earlier, Mid Rim Territories, on approach to Iron Fist

"I can't believe we're doing this," muttered Vic'que, shifting in her uniform uncomfortably, she was wearing her hair loose and it fell down between her shoulder blades, besides her Sissir sighed.

"For a change, I guess we agree with one another."

Garin was leaning against the bulkhead leading to the cockpit of the shuttle, listening to the com chatter.

"Shuttle Corvinthus this is Iron Fist, confirm itinerary."

"Iron Fist this is Corvinthus and escort on approach for a meeting with Warlord Zsinj, permission to land in your secondary hangar deck."

"Copy that Corvinthus, you check out and are expected, permission to land in secondary hangar bay four. Your escort is cleared to within one kilometer of the Iron Fist."

"Received Iron Fist, on approach now; Corvinthus out."

Garin smiled, the escort consisted of four flight elements, each from his squadrons. He'd left Mantis behind as support for the Knight but the three Defenders, Avengers, Gunboats, and Diamond Blues would be more than enough to preview what Hades had to offer.

He looked back at his companions, Vic'que was wearing her black dress uniform without the cap, Sissir wore the slate gray uniform denoting her as Special Forces, her close cropped hair in stark contrast to Vic'que's long flowing hair; while Vic'que wore no weapon, Sissir insisted on having her blaster pistol at her side, and gods help anyone that tried to take it from her. Across from them sat Daru, being the only member of the crew that had anything other than uniforms to wear, she had decided with his encouragement to wear the dress that Thrawn had provided her. He knew that she was nervous, that she feared that Zsinj's people might become a bit too interested in her, but between himself, Vic'que and Sissir, none of whom were pushovers in a fight, he was confident that she'd be safe. He also hoped that the paint that the shuttle and fighters sported would impress, the shuttle had the same black stripes that the Knight carried with the red oval rimmed in blue, while each of the fighters had the same pattern emblazoned on their wings or solar panels, or as the case was with the absent Blastboats, hulls. Garin himself wore his light gray uniform with cap and he'd gone one step further and worn the officer's full cape* that befit his rank. It looked ridiculous, but with someone like Zsinj, pompous wasn't bad.

He didn't want Zsinj to see a weak force coming to beg for his assistance, Garin wanted to impress upon the Warlord that this was a capable and deadly fighting force that was offering him its services in exchange for certain guarantees. He watched as the hull of the Iron Fist filled the viewscreen and the fighters pulled away, rolling and waggling in salute as they returned to the Knight which was well out of firing range of the star destroyer. The shuttle entered the hangar, its wings folding upwards as the tractor beam took over. It touched the deck and the pilots cycled the engines, Garin turned to Sissir and nodded, she stood and turned to the eight commandos who had accompanied them.

"Escort, fall in!" The eight armored figures snapped to attention, they would not have their weapons drawn so as not to provoke anyone, but their rifles were slung over their shoulders and they carried the hip holstered pistols and boot sheathed vibroblades that were their standard kit. In their slate combat armor, Garin was fairly certain that no one would come near the shuttle while they were with Zsinj.

The ramp lowered and Sissir's voice barked again, "fall out and form up!"

They marched down the ramp two abreast, forming a corridor for Garin and the others to walk through; Sissir looked down the ramp and nodded approval, turning to Garin.

"Ready sir," she said with a salute that she followed with an amused smile. Hades rarely had need for this kind of parade procedure. Her commandos had needed to brush up on the proper etiquette before she'd even considered volunteers for the assignment.

"Alright," Garin said, offering Daru her arm. "Let's go dine with a Warlord."

Sissir walked down the ramp first, followed by Garin and Daru with Vic'que bringing up the rear. The scene that greeted them was to be expected, and Garin had to admit that he was impressed by how military everything looked. The soldiers that greeted him were clad in black armor with red visors, boots, and gloves, all trimmed in yellow. Their armor looked like someone had melded the Imperial Guard and Stormtrooper armors together and lightened them considerably. To their credit, despite the eight armed commandos who had trooped down the ramp they hadn't gone for their own weapons.

A single officer waited at the head of the assembled troopers, eying Garin and his entourage with an unpleasant smile. "Lieutenant Commander Durives I assume." He said, reaching his hand out, Garin shook it, careful of the bizarrely sharp nails on the man's fingers. "General Melvar, I am Warlord Zsinj's right hand."

"A pleasure General, may I introduce my CDO, Chief Kerrila, Major Yvonne my commando team leader, and Lieutenant Sajuuk, one of my squadron leaders."

Melvar greeted them all with a cool smile, his eyes falling on Sissir's blaster, "I'm afraid that you may not take that with you Major."

She smiled at Melvar in a pantomime of his smile. "And I'm afraid General, that I am not going anywhere without it."

Melvar snorted, considering her for a moment before snapping his fingers, two of the troopers fell out and made to disarm Sissir, her commandos reached for their weapons but she raised a hand and they once again resumed their attentive stance. She waited for the first trooper to reach for her, before spinning out of his reach and delivering what should have been a jaw shattering kick to the second man. He caught it however and made to twist her leg but she used the leverage to pull herself upwards and deliver a blow with her free leg that connected with the trooper's chin, sending the man staggering backwards before he fell to the floor. The first trooper fell back into a guarded stance while Sissir remained open, waiting for her opponent to move; when he didn't she sighed and drew her blaster a single motion and pointed it at her opponent's faceplate, firing a blue stun blast point blank and dropping him to the deck in the time it took to draw a breath. There was a long silence, and Garin wondered if the show would cost them Zsinj's good will, but after a moment more of quiet, Melvar began clapping, his smile one of genuine pleasure.

"That was unexpected, after such a show I believe I have to let you keep your weapon or risk having more men in the infirmary. Please come this way."

They fell in behind Melvar, but not before Sissir nodded to the commandos who moved to stand guard around the shuttle, none of Zsinj's people were to be allowed anywhere near it, that Zsinj would try to place a beacon or other device aboard the Corvinthus was a given, but Garin would be damned if he'd make the task easy for him. They followed Melvar to a waiting repulsor shuttle, taking their seats as the vehicle whisked them towards their destination. Garin had to say he was relieved, the Iron Fist was nineteen kilometers long, and he hadn't been looking forward to walking; he took careful note of how rehearsed everything was en route to their meeting with Zsinj. There always seemed to be something for Melvar to point out that exemplified the excellence of the personnel under Zsinj's command. It was a good, if somewhat annoying sign, it meant that Zsinj saw reason to impress them which in turn meant he saw Hades as something valuable. Of course he'd said as much before in their holo communications, however to actually see it in action was reassuring. Besides him, Daru leaned closer to him, reaching a hand down and clasping his tightly. Her head-tails were twitching nervously and he gave her fingers a reassuring squeeze as the repuslor craft continued its course through the halls of the star destroyer.

Present, interrogation room aboard the Mon Cal cruiser, Home One, Bilbringi Shipyard

"He gave you the full tour," Deana said with a smile, "I'm sure he expected you to be in awe of his ship."

I chuckled, remembering the hour long tour through the ship we'd been sent on, in the end when we'd reached our destination all four of us were fairly certain that we'd simply been going in circles on a guided tour whose sole purpose was to show what we could be a part of.

"Zsinj was a showman among other things; he knew how to inspire awe when he wished to."

"Were you in awe?"

"We'd seen and done too much by that point to be in awe of what amounted to a larger version of the people we'd been tearing down in the years since Endor. We were simply there to come to an agreement that would benefit us and wasn't too damning either."

"I can't see Zsinj letting you get away with that," she said with a slight smile.

"No, he wasn't about to give us everything we wanted for nothing, I was well aware of that. I just hoped that we could come up with something that wouldn't leave us as little more than his bullies. We'd all had our taste of being little more than thugs and murderers under Vader, and we had no desire to return to that status."

Approximately two years earlier, Mid Rim Territories, aboard the Iron Fist

"Welcome, welcome," Zsinj said heartily as he greeted them with a warm smile that would have been more at home on someone's uncle rather than a warlord that controlled much of known space. It was the most unnerving thing about the man Garin decided, that all too pleasant smile on the face of someone he knew could order thousands dead without batting an eyelash. "I am very pleased that you were able to join me for dinner, I feared that you decline the invitation."

"How could we refuse?" Garin said with a cautious smile.

"Well we have much to discuss Commander; however you must introduce your stunning companions to me." Zsinj said, looking in particular at Daru; Garin knew how nervous she was, but for a change her experience as a bureaucratic consort served her well as she gave Zsinj a playful smile in return for his attention.

"This is Vic'que Sajuuk, one of my lieutenants and squadron leaders," Vic'que inclined her head in a slight bow, Garin turned to Sissir. "This is Sissir Yvonne, the leader of our special forces detail and security chief."

Zsinj beamed at Sissir chuckling as she shook his hand firmly, "yes, I've seen your work. Not just anyone can throw my Raptors around like that; I appreciate your tact as well, if you'd killed anyone it would have been unfortunate."

She smiled at the Warlord the way a cat would eye its prey. "I didn't want to cause more trouble than necessary; however I never let anyone take my weapon."

"A very wise policy, though troublesome in these situations I've found." Zsinj said with a nod before turning to Daru, taking her hand and kissing it, the very mark of a gentleman Garin thought with some mirth. "And who is this gem that you've brought with you Commander?"

"This is Daru Kerrila, our CDO and Chief Mechanic. She's responsible for our bomber platforms."

"Ah," Zsinj said, his eyes lighting up with excitement. "I had meant to ask you about that, I am very grateful that you decided to bring her with you, I consider myself somewhat of a mechanic as well you see and I couldn't help notice the skill with which those craft were assembled. I can tell that you and I will have much to talk about my dear."

Garin hadn't expect this, he'd expected Zsinj to be taken by Daru given her dress, but that he'd also take an interest in her because of her mechanical prowess; well it just meant more bargaining ability he hoped. Zsinj lead Daru to the long conference table and pulled out her chair for her before seating himself. Garin and the others took their seats; Sissir leaned over to Garin as he draped his cape over the back of his chair and seating himself.

"You'd better make this up to her, she might have experience with this sort of thing, but he's practically slobbering over her."

"That's the idea Sissir, just don't shoot anyone."

"I'll try, but if Vic'que starts punching people I'm going to feel left out."

The conversation ended as Zsinj turned his attention back to them, "now we have much to discuss I know, but there's no need to do so on an empty stomach." He clapped his hands and orderlies came into the conference room bearing platters of food. A second wave approached and laid out glasses and bottles of wine that would have made Toth faint with joy. Zsinj waited for the orderlies to leave again before he leaned forwards intently, raising his glass in a toast.

"Now, we can discuss this matter like civilized beings."

Present, interrogation room aboard the Mon Cal cruiser Home One, Bilbringi Shipyards

"So you discussed the terms of your service over a meal. Sounds like a business meeting." Deana said scornfully.

I smiled and shrugged, "that's exactly what it was. We had something he wanted, he had something we wanted and both parties were going to bargain for the best deal they could get."

"Charming," she said with a frown.

Silently I wondered how much longer I'd have to discuss my past with her; I had to keep this going as long as possible though; certainly I had plenty of material to work with.

"What was eventually decided?"

"Oh nothing too special, we agreed to answer any call to arms he issued, he agreed to let us raid Isard's bacta operations in exchange for a fair cut on his part; though I admit that the watchdogs he gave us were a bit aggravating."

"He assigned someone to keep an eye on you?"

"One of his Raptor units yes, it certainly made the dinner conversation interesting."

*Yes, as funny as it might sound, part of the Imperial Navy's officer uniform was a full length cape. I've only seen this in use on rare occasions in the books and graphic novels, but it is only ever in appearance on officers. I assume that it is considered a bit excessive even by dress standard which is why it is seen so rarely.

Uniform colors for members of the Navy:

Grand Officer: White (Thrawn and Zsinj)

Flag Officer: Dark Gray (Iriana and Orlis)

Fleet Officer: Light Gray (Garin)

Fighter Officer: Black (Vic'que, Toth, Matrin, Kalan, Harth)

Technical Officer: Bluish Gray (Daru)

Petty Officer: Black

Special Forces: Slate Gray (Sissir)

Uniform Notes:

--As far as I know, Zsinj was never a grand admiral; he was only an admiral when the Emperor gave him command of Iron Fist, however upon going rogue following the Empire's defeat at Endor he seems to have fashioned himself a grand admiral's uniform which he wore from then on.

--I'm not sure if Petty and Fighter officers have some kind of differentiating marker, however both seem to wear the same black uniforms.

--I have never seen the Special Forces uniform, however the Navy Special Forces do wear slate gray armor, so I assume their uniform is the same color.

-- Fleet Officers seem to be those officers who are both Fighter Command and Fleet Command (Biggs Darklighter and Hobbie Klivian both wore this uniform before their defection and were the first and second officers, respectively, of their ship in addition to being fighter pilots)

--I've noticed some variations in these uniform colors so nothing should be considered totally accurate or canon, I'm simply solidifying it for the sake of my story.