CHAPTER 2: BLOOD BROTHERS

Ganner

When I finally regained my senses, I found myself lying in a bed. The room was dimly lit, and a tan man with black hair and stood on the other side looking out a window. He looked like...Arron? In the Force he seemed... familiar. "Long time, no see." He muttered. "I haven't seen Siri or Blaze since you landed here. What happened to them?"

Barely, I mustered the energy to speak. "Siri was working for Mari-.. for Saris."

He let out a sigh. "And why are you here?"

"Massikus isn't dead. Why are you here?"

"Dylan Antiunknown put a bounty on my brother's head. I followed him here."

"Where is he?"

"Ganner, I'm a criminal. I went by an alias. My name is Cade Slarwalker."

He was my brother. And I had a bounty on my head.

"Cade... What happened?"

He turned to face me, but his blue eyes couldn't meet mine, burdened with the memories of his past.

"I never knew my parents. Our parents. Long as I can remember, I worked for the Brotherhood on Nar Shadda. Then, the Republic caught me, and I ended up in Antimatter Squadron. When I was on Felucia, I began to remember things from before... a life I'd never known I lived. I had to follow it. A few details later, Dylan Antiunknown wants me to be his new personal bodyguard and I need to prove myself. Now, we're here."

I didn't think he was about to kill me, and I wasn't going to hurt him. I began to see the opportunity for us both to gain something from this.

"Cade," I said, "I think I have an idea."

Cade

"You have to be kidding me," Dylan said, in awe. He was looking at what seemed to be Ganner's lifeless body lying on the table between us. What he didn't know, however, was that Ganner was actually merely in a very deep meditative state, almost hybernative. "How did you do it?"

"He was on a balcony watching the Temple. He never saw me coming."

"Impressive... Most impressive. Looks like you're hired." He unclipped the two lightsabers from Ganner's belt, taking one and handing me the other. "Consider this your payment for the kill. I have a feeling these things going to skyrocket in value."

The lightsaber was surprisingly light, and I pocketed it. Sorry, Ganner. Looks like you'll have to get a new one. Like he had instructed me, I swiftly took out the focusing crystal and put the saber back together, then left the orange crystal in Ganner's hand. Dylan saw nothing.

I activated the jammer concealed in my pocket. There was no way Dylan didn't have this apartment bugged, and no one could see Ganner leave. Ganner had known fully well ahead of time escaping was up to him alone, and even seemed to want it that way so the others would think him dead. Dylan put his arm around me as he led me out the door into his crime syndicate, laughing. "You're gonna do just fine."

He had no idea.

Ranulph

Hans and I stared at the now static feed of Dylan's apartment. For a while, we sat there, as though praying somehow it would come back online and Ganner would be alive. We sat there silently praying that somehow that wasn't Arron, or Dylan, and we had just been tricked. But it did no good.

Ganner Slarwalker was dead, Arron Radion had done it, and Dylan Antiunknown had paid him for it.

Hans spoke. The words were little more than formalities, for it had already been settled for both of us.

"We're going to kill him."

The story of Antimatter Squadron will be continued in DARK MATTER.