"Fucking Belsavis," Ky shuddered, recalling her brief foray through the prison wards in search of Rogun's old mentor Ivory. She'd never cared much for the Rattataki who wasn't above transporting slaves and in fact, was in prison for selling children to the Hutts, the two unforgivable spacer sins as far as she was concerned.
Many of Ivory's contacts had dried up while he was locked away, but he had served his purpose while part of her fleet due to his ties with several high-ranking Hutt families. This had allowed them safe passage through Hutt space and access to several worlds that might otherwise have been off limits. Like so many others, he'd left after the Republic rescinded contracts and immunity for her and her fleet. Those days of hauling spice without legal entanglements were long past, and she was still in deep shit with the Hutts for the shipment Skavak had stolen.
She wasn't sorry when Ivory parted ways, no love lost, and she would have zero qualms about shooting him in the face if she ever saw him again. He'd been playing his own angles behind the scenes, which was fine except it had put her team in danger one too many times. During the months they'd searched for Skavak after Port Nowhere, she'd found out, from one of Ivory's contacts they'd interrogated, that he'd been the one who tipped Skavak off about the spice shipment. It's astonishing how much information a Mandalorian can squeeze out of a snitch waiting to happen.
"Fueling will be done in another fifteen minutes," stated Corso. "I'll make the calculations now, you'd better contact Rogun."
"Make sure to come out of hyperspace outside the range of the orbital station sensors. We have to keep this on the down low."
"I know my job," he countered none too gently.
It's gonna be a long trip. Ky shrugged and went back to the holo-terminal.
"Destination is Belsavis," she notified the hazy blue image that flickered above the terminal. "You in hyperspace?"
"The shitty connection give it away? Almost to Denon now. I was already a day and a half behind you and didn't want to chance missing the meet time. Shit! Belsavis. Not my favorite vacation spot."
"Mine either. You know the drill. Go dark and stay dark. We'll figure out the rest when we get there."
"You're the boss one last time. Enjoy it while you can. Rogun out."
The delay on Denon put Ky no more than a couple of hours behind the ship carrying her objective instead of the half day or more. Rogun would not be far behind and, as usual, timing was everything. Nothing to do now but endure the nearly eleven-day trip from Denon to Belsavis.
By the tenth day, Ky had paced the ship's circular corridors more times than she could count. She'd become accustomed to the noise of her crew to break up the monotony of days or even weeks in space. The snippets of conversation, Gus's inane babbling, Bowdaar grumbling over a lost game of pazaak, Akaavi voicing concerns over plans and Corso's easy laughter. Risha's nonchalant quips, absent of late, but still, those were the sounds of home and the only family she knew. She missed the noise and the distraction.
Rapidly depleting funds, her people stuck on Nar Shaddaa and the unknown shitstorm she and Corso were likely walking into tripped through her mind like drunken interlopers. Her mood swung from cranky to distant, to agitated and she needed. Stars, she needed...
Doing an abrupt about-face, she entered the galley and removed a glass and the half-full bottle of whiskey from the cupboard. Taking a seat at the counter, she poured a three-finger shot and took a sip. Not bad for a knock-off of the Corellian she could no longer afford but not as smooth either. The tiny sip burned all the way down and left a fiery patch at the back of her throat before detonating in her stomach, sending tendrils of warmth through her veins.
Tired to the marrow, she hadn't slept well since they left Denon and remained on edge, keenly anticipating the other shoe and Corso's tender lovemaking did little to abate the restlessness that nagged her. She often left their bed to stroll the passageways of the ship, shadowy wraiths of memory and an uncertain future dogging her footsteps. Force help her, she craved something raw and volatile and harsh. Something to drive away the demons for just a little while.
Dread, worry and pent-up urges had been her companions for so long that relief wasn't the emotion she'd expected when the ship dropped out of hyperspace. She chugged the remainder of her drink, dropped the empty glass into the sink, capped the bottle and joined Corso in the cockpit.
Belsavis, snow and ice-covered mountains and high elevation plains with advancing and receding glaciers that had gouged out tropical rifts over the millennia. The planet's molten core bubbled to the surface via huge vents and fissures creating habitable valleys of often oppressive heat and humidity. A thick fog hung over the rims where valley and mountain met, ideal places for cover or ambush.
The wildlife wasn't the most dangerous predators on this worst kept secret of the Republic. Released or escaped prisoners posed the more significant threat and the cleanup of the Empire's attempts at rescuing some of their own would continue for decades. Unofficial archeological digs by both sides to uncover and exploit some tech from a long-dead race didn't help matters any.
Ky had moved her ship to just out of range of the planetary sensor arrays and waited for Rogun's arrival. The item was on planet, and if Rogun didn't show soon, she and Corso would have to try it alone or abandon the retrieval altogether.
While they waited, Corso transferred her personal holo frequency to the ships and created a sub-frequency so that incoming calls to her could be answered without being directly traced or compromised. Rogun, Largo, Akaavi and Sonhem had the Soledad's frequency, but she still had friends elsewhere that might need to get in touch.
"You got the sublights masked?" she asked Corso.
"Yes, as well as the hyperdrive, no one detected us coming out of hyperspace, and nobody will detect us now. Stop worrying."
The holo chimed, it was Rogun. "Just dropped out of hyperspace. What's the plan?"
"They're in the old ancient tombs. Best bet is to land in the outer wastes and take the lava bridge from there. It's going to get damned hot and then damned cold, bring cold weather gear if you got it and pack a jacket for Corso and me also. Our stuff got left behind, thieves on the run, you understand."
"Masked and going in, best to land close to each other so I can leave a couple of my men on guard. It's going to be quite a slog without speeders, be ready to double time it."
Corso engaged the sublights to break orbit and start their descent. He'd always been better at landing and taking off than she was, but few people could outfly her through a blockade or asteroid field. Flying low, under the radar and using mountain ranges as cover, Corso managed a smooth landing in one of the rifts known as the outer wastes.
Leaving the ship droid in charge with instructions to keep the outer hatch locked at all costs unless it got her signal, she and Corso double checked their weapons and walked down the ramp which the droid retracted as soon as they were clear.
Rogun's ship landed not far away. She and Corso made their way through the stunted grass that grew in sparse patches in the gray soil. Some animal grunted in the distance, and the light hum of phosphor bugs drifted out of scrub bushes that littered the landscape.
Rogun gave instructions to two of his men before joining them. "Hey Ky, you're looking good. How's it hanging, Corso?" Rogun greeted them both.
"Bet it don't hang much with her around," one of Rogun's men quipped, slapping a hand in the crook of his elbow and springing his forearm upright.
Ky glanced sideways at Corso's reddening face and stifled a chuckle.
"Enough of that shit," admonished Rogun with a scowl. "Which way? We need to head out."
"That cave entrance over there leads to the lava bridge. Once across, I'll recheck my datapad."
"Let's go boys. Assholes and elbows, you know the drill. Tona take point, Salo bring up the rear." He motioned to Ky and Corso. "You two in the middle. Keep up."
Ky was glad she'd done all that pacing during the trip, kept her legs in shape and Corso never seemed to tire. The heat was damn near unbearable as they sprinted across the bridge. Sulfurous fumes mixed with an odd smell of charred meat drifted up in hot blasts of air making breathing difficult. She tucked her nose and mouth inside the top of her shirt and kept on running.
The sudden blast of frigid air slapped her in the chest as they exited the bridge-tunnel, nearly taking her breath away. Her hands shook as she removed the datapad from her back pocket, barely able to press the buttons. She nodded thanks as someone threw a padded jacket over her shoulders.
"Over there," she said keeping her voice low and trying to quell the chattering of her teeth. Her finger pointed to the left, but this area of the tombs remained in constant gloom, a viscous darkness that clung to the hair and clotted in the mouth and nose. Visibility was damn near non-existent.
"No back way out of the caverns in this place as far as I know. Slicer friend of mine got some schematics before you went in for Ivory. I gave you what you needed and held out on the rest." Rogun shrugged. "One way in, one way out. Let's take it slow from here. I'll send two of mine to scout ahead for us."
Rogun used hand signals to send his two guys ahead, and the rest of their group followed in single file. Ky slid the datapad back into her pocket and slipped her arms into the too-long sleeves of the jacket. She'd have to drop it once they got inside of where they were going, not having easy access to her blaster and knife put her more on edge than she already was.
Rogun raised his fist in the halt signal. "My guys say only two guards by the entrance. They'll take care of it nice and quiet, stealth generators are such sweet toys."
A muted thud followed closely by another reached their ears, and Rogun motioned them forward. Rounding a stand of boulders, they approached the tunnel entrance, the two guards lay on the ground bleeding out in expanding black pools in the snow.
The tunnel was fairly short with two more guards at the other end which Rogun's men dispatched with ease. An open area lay beyond with an entrance to one of the tombs as evidenced by the architectural structure on the other side.
"You go on ahead," Rogun told his advance guard. "Scout for traps and don't take on more than two. If you find more in the way, wait for us. There's gonna be a fight at the end and no point in alerting them before we're ready."
The two men headed out and as soon as they disappeared down the entrance ramp, Rogun led the rest across the open area where they started their own descent, trying to muffle their footsteps as much as possible when boots tapped onto the flagstone floor. Ky pointed to the right when they reached a T junction near the bottom of the ramp.
The way was lit by some form of ambient lighting flowing from the ceiling. Rubble and broken shards of pottery lay scattered at the feet of plinths that stood in staggered arrangements as they proceeded. The walls were smooth, gray stone void of any pictographs or writing.
The subdued murmur of voices came from up ahead, and a red glow lit the wall in front of them. One voice rose above the others, either in dissent or dismay. Problems in the ranks? That could be an advantage.
Rogun sent his two stealthed men around the corner and waited for recon data. He raised both hands, and then three fingers indicating thirteen men that his point men had seen. Rogun squared his shoulders, readied his weapon and led them around the corner.
The cavern was more massive than Ky had expected. The floor composed a semi-circular platform extending out over an abyss emitting the orange-red glow of a lava flow. A lidless stone sarcophagus sat at the apex of the arc and stately columns of native stone supported the ceiling above.
She was frankly surprised that the guards were shaken out of an air of lax disinterest only when her troupe entered the room. They had evidently not been anticipating company. Rifles snapped to shoulders, and the whine of charges being loaded interrupted the heated discussion coming from the far end of the chamber.
Three men, two black robed and masked faced them and the third in an Imperial gray uniform had his back turned.
"You are not welcome here," said one of the robed men, his voice tinny and reverberating through the mask's modulator. "Leave now while you still can."
Ky threw her jacket toward the entrance and stepped forward, Corso by her side, his game face making a mask of its own. "You the assholes that tried to kill me on Tatooine? Where's Sonhem?"
"Sonhem met with an unfortunate accident once he'd picked me up on Denon," the Imperial said before turning around. "Loose ends are so untidy. So nice of you to come so we can make a pretty bow."
The brows of the officer who turned to greet them rose from a frown into twin arches of surprise. The horizontal scar marring the man's cheek reddened and his mouth twisted into a smugly cruel grin when his gaze landed on Corso and recognition flitted across his eyes.
"Well, well, if it isn't the little lamb come to be sheared again. I've missed you."
Suppressed rage radiated off Corso and Ky glanced his way when a growl stalked upward from someplace deep inside and leaped from his throat. His eyes crackled with fury and his lips pulled back from his teeth in a snarl. The skin over his knuckles paled as he curled his hands into tight fists and his knees bent slightly into a half crouch like a Nekkar who's just spotted its prey.
"Corso, you know this man?" she asked.
"He is a beast, and he is mine. Do not interfere," Corso's voice oozed flat and cold-blooded through clenched teeth, adding an extra chill to the dank surroundings.
Ky focused her attention back to the Imperial officer whose eyes were now narrowed and pinned solely on Corso.
"I hate to break up this reunion," she stated, "but you have something of mine."
The Imperial Major casually moved his eyes back to her, seemingly unfazed. "I think you overestimate your chances, thief."
"I'm highly insulted. That's master thief to you. Now hand over the box like a good little soldier."
"You are hardly in a position to bark orders," he sneered and pressed a plunger he'd pulled from his uniform pocket.
The floor bucked, chunks of stone fell from the ceiling and dust filled the air. From behind several of the newly cracked support columns more fully armored and armed Imperial soldiers appeared and the red glow of two lightsabers pierced the gloom.
In one fluid motion, Corso pulled the strap of the rifle over his head and threw the weapon to Ky before rushing across the room toward the Imperial officer. She'd never seen anyone move that fast who wasn't using force speed. How Corso escaped injury or worse amidst the chaos was a miracle, perhaps fate itself bowed before such blind hatred.
Rogun's men spread out, green and blue blaster fire cut through the air followed by the stench of seared flesh and acidic tang of spent tibanna. Grunts and yelps of the injured mixed with the moans of the dying. The two Sith advanced, sabers swinging in a blur, deflecting any blaster bolts coming their way.
"Deflect this, asshole," Ky spat as she raised the rifle, took aim and fired. The report of the slugthrower echoed like thunder, the saber extinguished, and one Sith fell face forward.
She caught sight of Corso and the officer who was steadily backing away. Corso's shoulder lurched backward as the officer fired and the shot connected but he never slowed his advance.
She ducked in time to avoid the hissing crimson arc of a lightsaber thrown in her direction and backpedaled as the remaining robed figure leaped in her direction, landing soundlessly mere feet from where she'd stood. She fired the rifle and missed, damn the fucker was fast on his feet. She fired again, and he dodged before launching himself into the air, blade held high for the downward killing stroke. There was no time to react, no time to do anything but die.
Corso fleeted across her mind, she couldn't breathe and a roar blasted through the noise from somewhere close by. The blade was close enough for her to feel the energy ripple the air, and then it was gone. One of Rogun's men, his chest a bloody ruin, crashed into the Sith sending them both over the edge and into the fiery death that waited below.
She blinked, trying to register what had happened, searching for Corso amid the settling dust.
"Rogun?" Ky yelled over the fray.
"I see it," Rogun yelled back.
The officer had retreated from Corso to the point where he teetered on the edge of the platform at the brink of the volcanic abyss that backlit his form in crimson. Corso had disarmed the man with a deft throw of his knife and now stood no more than three feet away.
Everything for Ky slowed to a crawl as she followed Rogun across the floor littered with the bodies of soldiers and Roguns' crew. The fighting had stopped, and the silence was like its own barrier, thick as syrup, sticking to the skin and dulling the senses.
"I'll drop it," threatened the officer as he held out the lockbox over the crevasse. "Let me go, and you can have it."
Corso's laugh crawled up Ky's spine and made her shiver. He advanced another step, never taking his eyes off the Imperial's face.
The officer's foot slipped, his face blanched in the garnet light, the box tumbled from his hand, and he started to fall. Corso's arm snaked out and caught the front of his uniform twisting him around and throwing him to the floor. His head struck the stone with a dull thud and he lay still.
Ky held her breath, Rogun fired some sort of netting, engulfing the box in the mesh and pulling it to safety.
Corso emitted a shrill, keening wail only animals make and landed on the stunned officer's chest, flailing at his face, his hands a blur, scarlet droplets flew like ash landing soundlessly on the floor. By the time Ky reached him, his knuckles were raw, his clothes and face spackled with gore and still, he beat on the man whose features closely resembled lumps of throwaway scraps from a butcher shop.
She grabbed at Corso's arm, "He's dead, you can stop now."
Corso turned a vacant stare on her and swatted her backward to land hard and skid across the stone tile on her ass. She rolled to her feet and went to him again.
"Dammit, Corso, he's dead. Stop! Please stop."
Corso inhaled a deep shuddering breath and eased back, staring at his hands like they were foreign objects he's never seen before. Sweat and blood flung outward in a vermillion spray when he shook his head. He gazed around as if he didn't know where he was and flinched when she touched his shoulder like she'd poked him with a ronto prod.
He crawled to the nearest wall and sat, supported against the stone with his legs drawn up and his forehead resting on his entwined fingers. Ky knelt before him but gave him space and didn't attempt physical contact again.
"Are you back?" she asked.
He nodded stiffly.
"We will talk when we get back to the ship," she offered.
He raised his face to regard her with glazed and haunted eyes. "No, we won't."
"Well, something happened here I don't understand. It was so out of character..."
"Yes, it was," he interrupted. "You do not need to understand, and I will not speak of it, ever. Do not push me on this, Ky. Please."
With a resigned sigh, she rose to her feet and walked over to Rogun who still held onto the lockbox. "How many did you lose?" she asked.
"Four of mine, the imps lost more. We have two prisoners, what do we do with them?"
"Tie them up and leave them," Ky responded. "They at least have a chance this way. The Sith would have killed them all. Save one helmet, the Sith's robes, and lightsaber. I need to send a message."
Rogun raised his brows but nodded in agreement. He'd never known her to be so cold as to leave unarmed men trussed up to die, but supposed she had her reasons.
He handed her the lockbox and wandered off to give instructions to his remaining men. Ky closed her ears and heart to the soldiers who promised silence and begged for freedom and cast a glance toward Corso who still remained seated by the wall.
All the bodies of the dead were thrown into the chasm. Ky knew that none of Rogun's men had family, it was part of their contract for service. No teary goodbyes, no one to be used against them and no one to mourn their passing. They fought, drank and played hard, life and death just two sides of the same coin. She almost envied them—almost.
Once the floor was cleared of evidence, and nothing remained but the tied and gagged men, she strode back to Corso and cleared her throat. When he looked up, she offered her hand which he took and pulled himself to his feet. The trip back to the ship remained solemn and wordless.
When they reached the outer wastes, Rogun loaded his remaining men on his ship and promised to keep in touch. Friend or not, he would still want his cut of whatever this ended up being, and he trusted her enough to come through.
"Go take a shower so I can tend your shoulder and those hands," she said to Corso before heading off to the cockpit for pre-flight checks. The sooner they got off this damnable planet, the better.
Once they were outside the gravity well, she engaged the sublights and instructed the droid to take them a few hundred parsecs off the Belsavis Run smuggler route and cut the engines, leaving only life support active. Fuel was going to be a problem, and she needed time to figure her next move.
She left the cockpit and proceeded to her cabin where Corso was struggling with his shirt. "Kriffing thing is stuck to my shoulder, and it keeps tearing my skin," he grumbled.
She exited and came back with a pair of scissors from the med bay.
"Hope that shirt wasn't one of your favorites," she said, then proceeded to cut off the sleeve and surrounding fabric, leaving only the material closest to the wound. "The water will help to soften the blood and skin and allow you to pull it away. When you're done, meet me in med bay so we can get you patched up."
An hour later Corso was as patched up as she could make him. Kolto gel and bandages guaranteed he would at least be able to get some rest without undue discomfort.
Corso was already in bed when she exited the shower, his back to her, his breathing steady. She could tell he wasn't asleep when she crawled between the sheets and curled up against his back, grateful for the warmth. She draped one arm across his ribs, and he took her hand but didn't turn over.
"I love you," she whispered into his hair.
"Yeah, you too," he murmured.
She smiled. Touché, my love, touché.