The Red Eclipse

Marai

I had barely turned from Atton when I felt;

the Toydarian was working on his accounts. "Three bricks of spice out of Ylesia, then with the turn around...Um... no, that's won't work...

"We need to speak." A hissing voice said. The Toydarian turned. A Trandoshan stood there, visibly furious.

"Cahhmakt! Back already? I didn't expect you...So soon."

Some other ship takes our place. Another ship to take our cargo perhaps?" The voice was angry. "Some one takes from the Red Eclipse?"

"Well I tried to explain, but... Well..."

"Traveled far through the blackness has Red Eclipse. Bodies the Exchange sells. Bodies for tending, bodies to feed Quillan Spice. Without both, production falters, and the plants die. Yet when we come another ship occupies our berth, our territory usurped. Where the Red Eclipse should rest, another ship rests in her shadow. This will be explained. With your screams of pain, or with your life."

"I got no choice! These uh, thugs. They take the space. They tell me, 'what ship? Tell them to space themselves'. I try to say, 'but this is the Red Eclipse-"

"Enough. Find them. Tell them to come and move their ship. We will take them, feed them to the Quillan. They will pay with their agony!"

"Right, just find them..."

I found Atton standing in front of me. Visas stood there, the blade of her vibro-sword between us.

"Are you all right?" She asked softly.

"That isn't the question." I lifted my com-link. "Manda'lor." Nothing.

"Bao-Dur." Still nothing.

"They sleep, my sister." The Handmaiden said.

"Where is everybody?"

"Except for me, they still sleep. We are in the rooms we rented as you commanded."

"Get them up, meet me at the diner. We have problems."

We hurried across the quad. We ordered tea, and a moment after it was served Manda'lor came, followed by the others. The only one who seemed to still be asleep was Kreia, who grumbled about the young keeping her up.

"Someone has blocked our ship." I told them.

"Our ship?" Manda'lor looked at me. "The one you gave away?"

"Spare me." I snapped at him. "That damn Toydarian told him we were still here, and some ship named the Red Eclipse is blocking us in. By the way, What is Quillan?"

"A spice." Atton said. "Nasty stuff. They say it's grown using living people."

"People?" The Handmaiden paled.

"Yes. You need to have people tend it, and humans are best for some reason. The thorns are nasty though, and it injects a toxin that will paralyze a human being. You fall over paralyzed, the plants spray spores on you. They feed off the nerve tissue, and grow both up and down. It takes weeks for it to kill you and you're conscious every second."

"They intend to find us and feed us to these damn plants of theirs." I noticed the Toydarian flying around. He saw me, and tried to shy away. Then he flew toward us.

"Hey! There you are... I told you someone else had booked the landing pad, and they arrived a little early. So I have to ask you to move. But hey, I gotta another pad just a klick away-"

"Where you will park our ship after we are dead?" I asked conversationally. Manda'lor's arm snapped out, catching the snout, slamming the little being onto the table.

"No, it's nothing like that!" He protested.

"You have a choice, Quello. You can answer my questions, or my friend will rip your wings off, and throw you down the nearest chute."

"Hey, no reason to get violent."

"Manda'lor-"

"Wait! You didn't even ask!"

"This Red Eclipse. What type of ship is she?"

"Kuati 402."

"Half again our size. Crew of thirty." Manda'lor reported.

"And how many in her crew?"

"You got the Mandalorian here, and you asking me?"

"To pay you back for lying to us, yes. How many?"

"Thirty six. They don't need as much private space as humans."

"Weapons?"

"I think they're model 7-" He squealed as Manda'lor squeezed. "Model 19 Corellian blasters! Five of them, one in the nose, two on each broadside. Mark 3 blaster turrets!"

"Anything else?"

"They got a hover skiff with a tripod mount and two swoops."

I looked at him for a long moment. "Manda'lor? We need him

incapacitated for about an hour."

Manda'lor's fist came up, and came down like a hammer. Quello's eyes crossed, and he fell to the ground.

"What's the plan General?" Bao-Dur asked.

I grinned. "All right, Atton, Bao-Dur you will set yourselves up here. Manda'lor, you, Visas my sister and I will be down here-"

"And what of me?" Kreia asked.

"You will follow behind and kill anyone we don't."

Marai

It may have looked bizarre having three women leading the attack, but all of us women were trained for close combat and the men were better shots. I know I am good with a blaster rifle, and I am sure that the Handmaiden could use one as well, but Visas... Well maybe she could, but in the middle of a firefight is not the time to find out. Manda'lor walked behind us, the perfect bodyguard, weapon at port arms. Kreia was to wait a minute before following. A lot of cargo containers had been spread haphazardly along the way, and we threaded our way through, ignoring the rustling movements. A ship hung over the Ebon Hawk. It was almost wasp-like in design, lift and drive engines howling as it hovered in just the right spot to block any attempt to take off.

We were halfway down the bridge to the ship when a Trandoshan stepped out in front of us. I could see half a dozen others standing behind us, as many more ahead. Then over the edge came the swoops and skiff.

"You usurp our place." He hissed. "For that you die."

"Ready?" I whispered.

"Always." Manda'lor said.

"My life for you." Visas whispered.

"Let's get it over with. These are not even entertaining." The Handmaiden said.

I grinned at her comment. I walked toward the Trandoshan and as I came up to him, my lightsaber hissed to life and he fell in pieces.

Atton

Pick off anyone behind us so we can retreat if we need to. Wait for my signal. Great plan. What kind of-

The Trandoshan in front of her fell in pieces, and I felt the trigger break clean. A Wee Quay behind them went down, and I immediately went for field rather than targeting focus. There. A Trandoshan had dived for cover, and now he was sticking his head up. I went back to target focus, pulled the trigger, and went back to field.

Not to check him. He was dead. I was looking for another target. I could hear Bao-Dur's rifle fire, and one of the men in the field went down.

Manda'lor

I picked off one of the swoop riders. The idiot had been at idle, and was a sitting target. The other had been smarter. He was already at speed when he came up and over, and he didn't slow down. He shot past us, climbing to turn and come back at us.

I tried for the skiff, but the pilot had dived down and was out of sight I heard the Handmaiden scream-

Handmaiden

Six of them in front of us, and they went down like grain before the scythe. The six behind had been killed by gunfire. But the ship was moving now, turning to bring her guns to bear. I saw the swoop, and shut off my weapon as I ran toward Manda'lor.

"Boost!" I screamed.

He looked back then at me, and his hands clasped at waist level. I leaped, foot hitting his hands. He threw me upward, and I put everything I had, muscles, momentum, and the Force behind my leap.

The rider had a second before my feet caught him, then he was gone, screaming into the void. I was too busy to watch his fall. As I had felt him wrenched from the bike, I had been turning, my hand catching the handlebars. I caught the throttle by mistake, and the bike leaped forward, trailing me like the coma of a comet. I saw the Red Eclipse coming at me at high speed, and I kicked the seat, arching my body forward, and let go as the bike slammed into the ship like a missile. I dropped, scrabbling to the hull, an antenna stopping my plunge, and I rolled away as the dorsal turret fired. I was too close to the hull! Then a gun popped up. An anti-intruder weapon, and I leaped, running as the gun bit divots out of their own hull, tracking after me. I dodged fire from both sides then leaped, the anti-intruder gun ripping into their own turret blasting it free.

I lit my lightsaber, concentrated, then threw, the twin blades spinning like a propeller, slicing into the mount, freezing it, then it sliced the capacitor returning to me. I caught the weapon and ducked as the gun overloaded, exploding.

Marai.

I leaped into a run toward the Ebon Hawk. All of them ahead of us were dead, but that damn skiff had dropped out of sight, using the ship as cover. Our three gunners were blasting the ship, but her armor was too tough for that. I leaped, landing on the mandible, running over the top of the saucer drawing my blaster as I did. The skiff gunner looked up, and was moving his mount when I put a bolt through his chest. The pilot was turning, and I put several shots into the body of the machine. One must have hit her antigravs because there was a shriek of searing circuits. The last thing the pilot saw was me waving goodbye.

I looked up, and the Red Eclipse suddenly staggered away from the pad.

Handmaiden

Lift and drives. Without them you cannot stay hovered in anything much larger than a fighter. I ran down the hull of the ship, heard the booming shriek of the drive fans. I was over one, and plunged my saber into the metal. There was a scream of dying machinery, and the ship staggered, now trying to fly with only three unbalanced thrusters. I ran, stopped, cut, and ran across, my saber bit into the second one. It was starting to fall now, and I turned. The pad was too far away! I ran toward the bow, which was aimed at our ship and leaped.

Marai

I saw her leap then begin to fall. It was so close! I screamed as she fell-

Visas

There were no others to kill. I looked, and saw the Force shadow of the Handmaiden on top of the enemy ship, hacking at it like a demented creature. I saw it sliding away, and knew that she must fall if she did not move quickly. But I also realized she could not reach the pad from there. I ran ducking around the ship, running toward the rail. Able or not, I knew instinctively she would try.

The Handmaiden leaped like a hart trying to escape the hounds. The rail slammed into my chest, my arm reaching out. Marai was screaming. She was falling she was too far-

I screamed at grinding ribs as her weight caught on my wrist, hands clasped, my hand on her wrist. The grip used by trapeze artists. As long as even one holds on, the other is safe.

I could sense her looking up at me in shock. Below there was a roar as the Red Eclipse tried to ignite her main engines. One of the cuts she had made in the hull spilled fuel across her hull, and she was aflame. The ship lifted, but then rolled, dropping into the abyss. She watched silently as the fireball expanded, and moments later, the rumble of the ship's death.

"Are you going to drop me?" I heard her ask casually.

"Not unless you want me to." I replied. My chest was bruised. I had felt ribs break. Part of me wondered, would Marai feel these injuries were unnecessary too?

"If it is all the same to you, no."

"May I ask, why do humans say 'if it is all the same' when they mean no?"

"I have no idea. It is a figure of speech. Can you pull me up?"

"I think I broke a rib or two. Can you give me a moment to catch my breath?"

"Sure." She looked downward. "I will just hang around and enjoy the view."

"Nag nag nag." Marai said. She reached down, and the Handmaiden hooked her lightsaber on her belt as if she were not hanging over eternity then reached up with her other hand, catching the other woman's wrist.

"I can pull her up." I complained.

"I know you can. But with broken ribs you might hurt yourself doing it. So is it all right for me to split the load?"

"What ever pleases you." I said.

Manda'lor

There were ten more aboard the ship, and none of them even tried to talk. We dealt with them then began the process of cleaning. On Nar Shaddaa this merely meant carrying them off the ship in a cargo flat, and dropping them over the side. Ratrin Vhek and some local refugees were aboard. Vhek had been shot under the chin. If he'd seen them coming, or knew what they were, it might have been self-inflicted.

The refugee she had given money was among them. The Spice smugglers had been carrying needle guns laced with Quillan toxin, and the refugees were not dead. Not yet. But there is no antidote. She held out her hand silently, and I drew my shiv, laying it on her hand. For a long time Marai merely sat there, her hand on his hair. "I failed you." She whispered. Then she gave him peace. I moved down, and did the same. When a man was mortally wounded, you always sent him home if you couldn't carry him back for burial. Those bodies were sent to a crematorium. T3 made a long squealing comment, probably a diatribe against any people that leaked all over his bright and shiny floor and began cleaning.

Atton was forward, but ran back. "Marai, we have a personal encrypted message addressed to you. No sender, just a message to ask for a meet."

She nodded. She spent a few minutes in the com room, then came back out. "Visquis wants to meet me, alone."

"Alone?" Handmaiden asked. "It is a trap!"

"Of course it is." Kreia replied. "But traps close both ways."

"What did he say?"

She shrugged. "That he was in charge of the Exchange operations in this sector, and I am disrupting business. That if I really wanted to get the bounty lifted we should meet and discuss it because he is the one in charge of notifying the Bounty Hunters. Then he said that I should meet him in three hours at the Jekk'Jekk Tarr."

Atton snorted. "Well he picked a great place to guarantee no help. It's an aliens only bar over on the docks. No humans, no droids. Did he mention how you're supposed to wade through Cyanogen gas?"

"He suggested a space suit."

"Sure, no armor then either." Atton shook his head. "I don't like it."

"Do you think I do?" She asked with a sad smile. "But if I can get the bounty lifted, that is one less problem in my life."

"Yes, if he does not use this as a way to get you." The Handmaiden said.

"What about the Truce?" She asked.

"Who do you think would tell them the truce is lifted?" I commented. "Besides, have any of you read what that truce covers?" They all looked at me. I sighed. "People until Revan gave me the title, I was a mercenary and body guard for more than five years. A smart mercenary learns legalese or he doesn't get paid his due. Bounty hunters have worked with contracts for over 20 millennia, and it doesn't pay the freight if you didn't read the fine print and don't get paid.

"The only one covered by that truce is her." I pointed at Marai. "After our little dance with the Red Eclipse, what do you want to bet that they now know there are at least three Jedi here? But two of them aren't under that edict. Plus nothing was mentioned about those of us that are traveling with her. Anyone of us can be taken and no one will complain."

"I would." Marai said.

"Then there is that. Self-defense on the part of the prey violates the truce. That means even the dumbest bounty hunter knows that all he has to do is try to take one of us and if you-" I hooked my thumb at Marai, "Try to interfere with it, then the truce is off, and they can try to collect. Some might even try to slip through it by saying that if any of us try to stop them from collecting a bounty on anyone with you, then the truce has been broken." I looked from face to face, and they were suddenly realizing what I was saying.

"All this meeting is for is to get you alone, away from us. I don't know what Visquis plans, but I expect all of the others will drop on us like the War God's hammer, hoping to claim afterward that we violated the truce, not them."

"It does not matter." Marai said. "If I do not meet, then everything you have said comes to pass. If I do, and it is a trap, then I may die. But if it is not, then perhaps I can get the bounty lifted." She stood tall. "Manda'lor, you and the others prepare. Visas, Handmaiden, you two must stay aboard the ship. Do not give them a chance to try to collect. I will be back."

Lookout

Marai.

As I had told Atton, I didn't gamble except with my life. I spent a few minutes preparing the pressure suit that had languished in one of Ebon Hawk's lockers for only the gods knew how long. I filled it from the test tank, argon gas with an agent that made argon fluoresce in contact with oxygen, and ran the pressure up to three time standard. It held pressure. Good enough. I dumped the test air back into the tank, and checked the bottle. Enough for four hours. If I were still in there after four hours, air would be the least of my problems.

Bao-Dur came in. "I downloaded all of the specs on cyanogen gas. It is highly toxic, and can poison on skin contact."

"I know." I said.

"There's some meds that can slow it, but they don't work for prolonged exposure."

"I know that too."

He looked at me helplessly. I had seen that look before;

I was walking toward the shuttle to the courier that would take me home. Revan had already said her goodbyes.

I passed a transparisteel panel, then dropped my bag and ran back. The scene outside was utter carnage. Wreckage of ships floated past, rolling gently. I could see the star, and from here I should have been able to see...

Malachor V. Where was Malachor V?

"It was pulverized, General." I looked back. Bao-Dur had a gut shot haunted expression. "When the Mass Shadow Generator went off Malachor V tried to go stellar."

I stared at him. Malachor V had been an enormous gas giant. 100,911 km in radius, massing 2.498 time ten to the 27th tons. We had used it for our line to stand because the hyper barrier of it's gravity was so large that even 20 light seconds away you were trapped in normal space. If the Mass Shadow Generator had to be activated, it would have been the equivalent of a star sitting less than a million and a half kilometers from the planet. It had been postulated that a mass the size of Malachor V was only about 10 percent from automatically initiating fusion generation. It was a star without enough pressure. Pressure we had given it.

I stared in shock. I hadn't given the order! "Who gave the godsdamned order?"

"We think it was Quintain. He was aboard Ravager. He was the one we had to give the damn button to in case of an emergency." Bao-Dur looked at me bleakly. "He killed over three million people, General." He looked away, his voice dropped to a whisper.

"But it isn't all his fault, is it General? I designed it, you pushed to have it built as a weapon of last resort. Whose fault is that some stupid son of a bitch actually used it?" He waved toward the shattered ships. "Just under a million and a half of our own dead when the atmosphere blew off in superheated plasma. A little over a million and a half of the Mandalorians." I could see the unshed tears in his eyes. "All that's left of the planet is the core."

I stared at him, appalled.

"Ravager went down, they think, General. After the electromagnetic pulse fried all of the circuits, the radiation wave probably killed everyone aboard. No hand at the helm, she fell into the core. So did a lot of others, both Mandalorian and Republic."

"But it was set to pulse once! For a tenth of a second!"

He laughed, and it held insanity. "Kinda long tenth of a second, wouldn't you say? Maybe I built it too well. Or not well enough?" He said. "You have a ship to catch, General."

I looked up, and Bao-Dur was gone. Maybe the naked grief of that farce had been on my face and he couldn't take it. I picked up the suit, my mood black, and left the ship.

I was almost to the entry to the docks when I heard a shout. Atton was chasing after me. He handed me a pile of emergency injectors.

"I ripped every antidote injector out of the med kits. If the suit doesn't hold, you'll need them. Once the seizures start you'll only have seconds."

"I'll try to keep that in mind."

"The electromagnetic interference means we can't talk to you but-"

"Atton."

"Huh?"

I kissed his cheek. "Go back to the ship."

Mira

She was walking fat dumb and happy, wrapped up in her own thoughts.

"You know, I thought Jedi were supposed to be smart." I said in a conversational tone. She froze. She wasn't looking back. "You know, I have a theory. Humans are the most stupid race in existence."

"Prejudice?"

"Of my own race? Nah." She turned. I know I didn't look that dangerous, but cute gets a lot of things done. When all you have to do is smile, sidle up to the guy and plant a shaped charge on his armor with a dead man switch, cute works wonders. "Humans are the only race I can think of that would have wounded egos about a snowball fight. I thought you Jedi were above that kind of thing.

"But no! You're here less than a full standard day and night and you're running around like a Zaktian gerbil, sticking your lightsaber into everyone's business. Anyone ever explain subtle to you?"

"I have been told before that I have that problem." She admitted with a small smile.

"What, you're planning on rescuing every lost kitten on the planet? How long does your branch of humanity live? Cause from where I'm standing, that would be a lifetime occupation. Besides which you're as subtle as a Mandalorian Assault Phalanx."

"Well if you are going judge my character, shouldn't we have introductions?"

"You're Marai Devos. If you're the same one from the history books, you're a thousand klicks of very bad road, and they aren't smart enough to realize it. As for me, I'm Mira, the best Bounty Hunter on this rock."

"Are you?"

"Hey, that isn't brag. I've had you in my sights half an hour after you landed, and have been following you every step. That was a neat job in the Refugee housing sector. Convincing the Serroco to act as their defense force was choice. Did you know there were pilots in there? The Serroco are going to be running a shuttle service for the refugees to get them to and from work, and they'll be eating better now than they were before they left home. But for someone with such a high price on their head, you really should learn some caution."

"Will this take long?"

"No, but before you go, It's a trap. Visquis is having all drinks half price, which is like believing in an honest Hutt banker. There are over three hundred people in that place, and most of them know about the bounty. But some aren't smart enough to know that it's been put in abeyance. You pop just one of them and the truce is over and you're a greasy spot on the road to life. He turns the body over to Goto, 'oh sorry boss, she made us kill her' and he walks off with my bounty."

I stepped down, and made a motion with my arms like saying 'ta-da!' "But then you meet your guardian angel with red hair. Goto contacted me. He wants to talk with you personally. I'm supposed to deliver a message to Squid-head then take you to his shuttle. No threats, no guns. Just to talk. He's promised you safe passage."

"And if I decline?"

"He said, and I quote, 'tell the woman that I can deliver the location of Zez-Kai Ell, though I cannot tell her exactly where. All I ask in return is some of her time'." I saw her look. "Thought that would get your attention. But before we talk any more, I would suggest that we get off the road. I have a safe house on the way, and after our discussion, you can go see Goto, or go slap Visquis around. Your choice."

I call it a safe house, but it was more like a safe room. I opened the concealed door, let her in, and shut it. Then I activated the mines built into it. If Hanharr ever found this place, he'd be hound food when they went off, and only I could get into it. Everything was manually set, no electronics to spot or slice into. I looked at her expression.

"Hey, it may smell bad from the fuel fumes, and it is a mess, but it's the maid's day off." I went over, and started some tea. She was looking over my bookshelf. "I love history. It's better than dealing with the null brains out there." I waved toward the walls and the docks beyond.

"So there is no man in your life?"

I snorted. "Why do you think I dress this way? When a man's looking down your cleavage, he isn't checking what you have in your hands. It's simple really. If I want a man, I sidle up to him, slap a come along charge on his chest or use a Bothan stun rod, put him in cuffs, starve him for a couple of days until his mind is putty, then double check to see if he has a bounty, and if he does, turn him in. What can I say? I love my work."

"I was speaking of sex."

"Sure, the nun wants to know if I'm getting any. If I feel the itch, I scratch it. But nine nights out of ten I'm curled up in bed with some Ithorian thin leaf tea, and General Valenzuela."

"Author of 'The complete Sith War', volumes one through nine."

"Don't knock him."

"I wasn't. Though his evaluation of Tanif IV left something to be desired."

"I know what you mean. He's so vague I feel the urge to go and dig up the ruins myself." I handed her a cup, taking one for myself. I put a spoon of honey in mine that she declined, thankfully.

"This shows a measure of trust at odds with your profession." She motioned toward the room.

"It's not trust, but I have some quick explaining to do. You see, I'm not sure, but I think Goto is the one that put up the bounty."

"Why?"

"Because of everyone involved, except me, no one else is paying attention to the 'alive' part of the bounty. You get only one percent of it if you kill them, but most will accept that. It isn't just you he's after; it's any Jedi he can catch. Between you and me, the reason the Zhug the Gand and the droids moved into this mess was because Jedi being better than the idiots thought and really fighting back has caused the life expectancy of an average Bounty hunter to drop like a rock in a standard G field.

"And it's specific enough to save those that have just a smattering of the Force. If the Mid-count is less than 3,000 you get paid one percent of what you get for a dead Jedi, and if you bring them in dead, you get zippo. Stopped them from popping anyone with that small ability. Me I want to buy a small planet somewhere with the biggest personal collection of history in the Galaxy and hot and cold running librarians. So bringing you in dead doesn't appeal.

"I almost caught the other Jedi-"

"Zez-Kai Ell."

"Yeah, him. After trying about a dozen times he met me in a dark alley. Since I wasn't willing to kill him and he wasn't willing to go quietly, I agreed to leave him alone. Besides, do you know how hard it is to find a man that wants to talk when you say talk? Most of them think 'talk' means you'll say hi, and lip lock.

"He got the same offer from Goto and refused. Goto hasn't removed him from the bounty, but I think that's just to keep him pinned down here until he will talk.

"But Visquis is playing fast and loose. He wants you where he can get the money and to hell with us. But there's a catch. He knows about the truce, and him breaking it is worse than us doing it. He works directly for Goto, so he knows the man's temper."

"I do not even know who Goto is."

"Join the club. Right about the start of the Jedi Civil war he popped up. Very secretive man. A competitor tried to blow him up at a meet not long after he arrived so he never meets anyone in person. When he contacted me it was through a common pay booth I was passing. The guy has connections everywhere.

"For defense He's got a series of Aratech model 41 interrogation units. Big ball shaped anti-grav units."

"Yes, I know. We used them during the Mandalorian Wars."

"Then you know they're big, and the way he's tricked them out, very nasty. As good as any soldier you might face, and they don't run or surrender. Plus they're operated from a mainframe on his ship, and any attempt to slice their programming shuts them down. When they shut down they go boom in a big way, like three-square blocks, so no one messes with them.

"He uses one of the droids to transmit messages, sit in at meetings, that kind of thing. A year after he got here, he was the number 10 man and right now he's number 2 or three. Pretty good. He bought a Mon Calamari cruiser about three years ago, but once he did, he had it tricked out with every defensive system known, and added a stealth system designed by his own people. Better than the military ever bought, so he could be in orbit anywhere in the Galaxy and you'd never know it.

"Works like a Djarik master but he's quick. When someone suggests putting a bounty on him, Goto puts a bounty on them instead, and every time it was high enough that a seated monarch on a planet wasn't safe. If you bug him too much, he takes you out, nice neat and simple. But he doesn't hold a grudge."

"You know him pretty well."

"There are a lot of people out there wondering about if he'd be worth taking, and I studied him. If someone offered what they're offering for you, I might consider it.

"I have to... meet with... with..." She looked up confused.

"You know, I had to jack up the dosage on the anesthetic gas to five times the lethal dose just to make sure? We've read reports from Peragus." I took the cup, it might be a mess, but it was my mess and I didn't want to have to clean up the spill. She was trying to move, but she couldn't. "Pretty fancy stuff. Used in psychotherapy for the really violent patients. Interferes with the conscious thought processes. One shot of this and the guy can't decide what kind of ice cream he likes."

"But..." She tried to stand, but it was a stagger. I caught her, lowering he to the floor.

"You remember the tea? It's part of a two-stage antidote. It grows on the same planet and is a natural antidote. The honey is special too. The bees live on the same planet where the spice it's made from grows. The honey is made from the nectar of both plants and neutralizes the chemicals. But without the tea, you're still out like a candle. That and inhalant blockers; can't be too careful." I laid her on her back. "Now this'll keep you calm until I have finished passing Goto's message on to Visquis. Then I'll carry you over to Goto's shuttle, and we'll ride up.

"You see, he said 'if she won't come, I need her alive', so I'm not breaking the truce. I was the only one he could trust at that point. So you get to see him, he gets to see you, and I get the full bounty.

"Everyone's happy."

Death in tandem

Atton

I went back to the ship. The wicked bitch of the west was meditating. I glared at her. It would have been so easy...

"Why do you disturb me."

"I came clean. She knows everything. Your blackmail hold is gone."

"Oh really. So now you are free of me you think." She moved smoothly to her feet. "So small inside your mind. You held a single Jedi by her throat I held the galaxy! I wielded power beyond your imagination. I could reach out and touch a mind anywhere, and change it; make it mine.

"I had all of that and it was only when it had been ripped away from me that I realized what I had lost. But I have enough still that I can plumb that cesspool you call a mind. You angers, your lusts.

"Did you tell her that the woman you hated and loved did you one last service, before she had died? It is there in your mind, and Marai's face floats there now. She has starred in your lusts more often than any woman aboard. It would be so easy for me to join them. To make her and the dead woman one in your mind, and there is nothing you can do to stop me. Think of laying with her, for that first time you imagine, your hands around her throat, throttling the life out of her as you make love."

I backed away from her.

"Oh no my little puppet, you remain mine to command. Now leave me before I get upset."

I stalked out. The Handmaiden saw me. "Atton?"

"I'm going out."

"But Marai said-"

"Right now I don't care what Marai might have said. I want a drink, I want it alone, and I want it now. So get out of my way."

I stormed away from the ship. Part of me wanted to run to the Jekk'Jekk Tarr. Tell her every little thing, even if she would never speak to me again. But what I really needed was a drink.

There was a little cantina off to the side, and I went in. Dark, dank, the smell of half the galaxy's life forms having been there at one time or another chugging their version of the favorite brew. It smelled like home. I'd always liked Tarisian ale but since the planet got whacked it's as rare as lightsaber crystals. I went up to the bar. "Juma, the roughest you got. And keep 'em coming."

I chugged the drink. Gods that was a rough vintage, they must have aged it a solid month. Staying on the ship was obviously such a bad idea.

"Sad little man." A Twi-leki voice said. She was a little smaller than I was, but she had the lithe body of a dancer with the hour and a half glass figure a mature Twi-lek yearns for.

"Poor little man. "This one was a finger taller than I was. Her body did things I would rather forget about right then. Every yearning of that sort led me to thinking about Marai.

"Perhaps this one needs company." The first one purred. "The company of two of us." Her friend giggled. "Do you think he would survive the night of pleasure?"

"Uh, do you have names?"

"I am Zora and this is my sister of the dance Kaliea."

"Charmed."

"What brings you to the smuggler's moon. Do you seek something?"

"Perhaps us?" Kaliea wasn't too quick on the uptake.

"Ladies, maybe another time. I'm not in the mood."

"We do not please you?" Kaliea asked.

"Perhaps it is the one he travels with. The Jeedai."

"Are you bounty hunters?" Every alarm had gone off, and right now I was wishing I had brought every weapon I had. Tac-nukes might not be enough.

"Yes, but we are not like those filth out there." Zora purred. "We wish for her to surrender herself to us. Does she care about you? If you are not important enough, we merely kill you and chose another."

"We like you, that is why you get to die first." Kaliea said helpfully.

"Ladies-" They'd made the classic mistake. They had gotten too close. Dance is wind, and I assumed that as I struck out using Rock. There's a fast three punch combination called the Cliff Face. Solar Plexus, sternum, throat. The smarter one went down gasping, but alive. So okay, I pulled my punches. She was a fox and if I ever came back she might not hold a grudge.

The dumb one was standing there, looking at her friend. Her face contorted with fury, and she leaped back, or tried to. I caught her foot with a sweep, and she went into a back flip. Standard wind move. I extended, catching both hands in a savage spinning kick and she landed on her face, I gave her the mill stone, fist slamming into her back. While I pulled my punch I decided to stay away from Nar Shaddaa in the future. This one would hold a grudge. Say it's a gift.

"I don't feel like dying." I finished my sentence. The crowd was staring at me in a horrified fascination. You'd think I had urinated in the punchbowl or something. Then it hit me. What Manda'lor had said.

Technically I had broken the truce and all hell was about to break loose.

Hell has arrived.

Mira

Even when I was a kid I hated suits. If you didn't check them yourselves, you were putting your life in some other person's hands.

But I trusted her. I don't know why, I just did.

The helmet is always the worst. All you can smell is the plastic, the rubberized cloth of the inside, and in this case, a slight odor of cabbage.

I walked in, the greenish gas floating near my face.

"I am expected by Visquis." I told the barman.

"He is the private room it is-"

"I know where it is." I replied. I had to go through three rooms to get there. The place was packed, and enough Bounty Hunters had heard what was happening that just about everyone inside were bounty hunters, including about thirty Gand. But the truce was still in effect. They ignored me as long as I didn't start shooting.

Visquis

Visquis shook his head. "Even Jedi can be so stupid. Seal the doors." The Twi-lek beside him pressed the button. "Unseal the private doors. I will meet her here."

"There, she is delivered as I said she would. Where is Goto?" Hanharr growled. The best way to save Visquis from Goto's wrath was to fake an omni-directional transmission. Visquis had asked the wookiee to help in return for this woman walking to her doom. This meant that he could honestly say he had not made the broadcast.

"Until I have the collar upon her, nothing is finished, and our contract

remains open. I ask your patience."

Hanharr merely growled.

It was painful waiting. Humans are so clumsy in suits. She passed through the rooms, and entered the personal airlock. The deadly gas was blown away, and she entered the private sanctum.

"Please, make yourself comfortable. That suit is obviously confining. The atmosphere is amenable to your species."

The woman took off her helmet. Visquis thought the Jedi had slightly red hair, but this one had fiery red hair instead. "Hi guys." He had heard the voice somewhere, but...

"Mira!" Hanharr roared.

Mira

"Are you sure?" Visquis asked. Most aliens can't tell us apart, and the Squid head was no exception.

"Not bad, Hanharr, three seconds. That's why you're still number 2." I sneered. I dropped the suit.

Hanharr almost leaped at me, but Visquis sighed. "Restrain yourself, Hanharr. I gather from your reaction that this is not the Jedi. They all look alike to me. So you are Mira the Bounty Hunter. Would you care to explain why you are here, and why the Jedi is not?"

"Yeah, and I have a question for you, sort of from Goto's lips to your ears. Goto wanted to know why you were backstabbing him and taking the Jedi, even though he said she was free to walk the planet."

"She murdered Saquesh my pod mate. Besides she figures in my plans."

"Well Goto said your plans don't mean squat to him. Either you back off, or you join your friend."

"Arrogance. So typical of your species. I have my plans, and when they are done, Goto will have nothing to say about it. If he really had a brain, he would know that his days are numbered. And you would have been advised not to come. Those that stand with Goto against me will die."

"Like he can't figure this out? The guy has connections everywhere on this moon!"

"But not in here. I discovered quite by accident that Goto does not record what occurs within these walls. I made a slight indiscretion when I was here. But he did not know about it until I commented later, outside the club. After testing it again, I discovered he couldn't hear what I say in here and since that day, everything I wish to be hidden from him is done within.

"Second, I am acting on my own, assuring my place in the Exchange by making a deal with Vogga-"

"The Hutt? Tell me you're not that stupid!"

"Oh he knows I have been negotiating with the Hutt, but he thinks it is for Vogga to cease operations that might be upsetting Goto. But when we met in here, it was agreed that I would arrange for Goto to be removed, and when I was in charge, I would end this stupid feud with the Hutt.

"You see, Goto's attacks have weakened Vogga. Made his word have less weight than he deserves. We all know there is a leak somewhere in his organization, but instead of finding and sealing that link, Vogga merely intends to kill Goto. Hanharr here was commissioned to carry out that contract and when I heard, I offered him the one thing he did not and could not have. Access to Goto's yacht when I know him to be there.

"You see, I have noticed the almost desperate chase which Goto has made of this hunt. If he had been wiser he would have stated the Bounty on Jedi as Alive only, but he made a mistake. I do not know why he wants to speak with one so badly, but if Hanharr and I deliver one, he must come out of his shadow room and speak with her face to face.

"So you will tell me now where she is. I am not in the mood for further negotiations."

"No. I already caught her, and you can't touch her. That is the Code."

"Then you leave me no choice." He turned to Hanharr. "We will have to come up with another way."

"Keep her." Hanharr growled. "The Jeedai is stupid. She cares about other people. When she hears that Mira did not come back out, she will come."

"If you think so."

I jumped and the first three stun beamers missed me.

But for once my intelligence was wrong. There were nine of the damn things.

I hit the ground, gasping. A huge furry hand picked me up, and I was staring into Hanharr's face from about 10 centimeters.

"If you are right, you can have her as my gift as well." Visquis was saying.

I fell into darkness,