Together Again

Numa plotted her approach into the atmosphere of the moon below. It had been a while since she had such anticipation for a mission. Hector contacted her about some suspicious artifact dealers that he encountered in his sector who were known to run fake Kyber through the Edge. They agreed to follow up on this lead together. And since they were both meeting on one of the moons of the Edge, they contacted Hannibal about joining them. Although she certainly looked forward to some of her meditation sessions with Hannibal, it would also be nice to work with members of the team again. They had each been so busy out fighting their own battles over the last three years, that they rarely found an excuse to work together as closely as they had their first year together on Syllian. Numa missed the fellowship of teamwork.

After landing the ship, Numa descended the ramp of her shuttle to find Hannibal and Hector already waiting for her. Although she was not yet in earshot, she could see them jabbering with each other. Those two were like brothers. She reached into her robes and brushed her fingers against the medallion that Myriam gave her. Myriam called her a sister at the end of their last mission together and Numa felt that they had grown close over the years, but she would not equate their level of friendship with Hannibal and Hector's.

"Hello boys," Numa greeted the squabbling Jedi. Her eyes met Hannibal's. "It has been too long."

Before Hannibal could answer, Hector responded excitedly, "Tell me about it. I feel like I might as well have become a Sentinel with the amount of time we've spent chasing our own leads."

"Getting a little too familiar with the livestock on your end of the galaxy, are you?" Hannibal smirked.

Hector cocked his head in Numa's direction, "I can't say I've missed this guy, though."

Numa shook her head, laughing lightly. "You two have not changed a bit. Now, what do we know about our Kyber counterfeiters?"

Hannibal's tone changed when he began to explain the mission. "A contact of mine has arranged a meeting between Hector's buyer and your suppliers tomorrow morning. I have all the details: time, place, their favorite drinks. We can go scope the place out tonight, then all we have to do is get a good dinner and some rest, then just show up in the morning."

After dinner, the trio retired to a two-bedroom suite that Hannibal had rented. Hannibal directed his friends to each of the rooms and he offered to take the couch. Hector gave a minimum amount of argument, but agreed to take the bedroom leaving Numa with Hannibal in the common room. "You weren't actually planning to sleep on the couch, were you?" Numa grinned.

"Of course not," Hannibal returned the smile.

When Hector awoke early the next morning, he was surprised to find the common room empty, but he prepared himself a small breakfast and made a quick meditation before a shirtless Hannibal emerged from Numa's room.

Hannibal tried to head off Hector's puzzled look. "Meditating."

"Is the climate control unit broken in there?" Hector inquired.

"Nah," Hannibal offered, "I just focus better when I can get more comfortable."

"So where's Numa?" Hector asked.

Hannibal gestured behind him. "She's still at it… the uh, meditations."

"Ah," Hector shot up from the couch. "I'll join her…"

"No don't!" Hannibal caught his old friend by the forearm as they crossed paths, then sighed reluctantly. "C'mon man, you're not this stupid." Hector shot a confused look at Hannibal. "You know we weren't in there meditating."

Hector's puzzled look returned for just a moment. It was replaced by a look of understanding, then one of horror. "You're kidding? How? She's Nautollan…and practically a Master…"

"A female Nautollan with needs," Hannibal added. "And I am a man."

"You're a dog," Hector objected. "Are you two even… you know… compatible."

"Very," Hannibal chuckled, then added. "It's not uncommon to see humans and T'willeks together. And T'willeks with Nautollan's is pretty common. So, it's not that big of a stretch."

Hector shrugged at the logic of the whole thing. "Fine, but attachment is forbidden."

Hannibal shrugged back. "You know I don't get attached."

"But as close as we all work together…feelings can get the better of us," Hector continued to object.

"We are being careful. Besides, we rarely see each other at all these days. We'll be fine." He heard her stirring in the room. "Now don't tell her that I told you. Or anybody else."

Hector's eyes widened and he quickly turned away from the bedroom door as Hannibal threw on his shirt, seconds before Numa emerged from her bedroom. She paused for a brief moment upon noticing that Hector was already awake and moving. "Good morning, guys," Numa offered.

"Good morning again," Hannibal answered, motioning towards Hector with his head. "I didn't expect you out so quickly after our morning meditation."

"Yes," Numa responded as Hector fumbled with some dishes in the sink in the kitchenette still not ready to look in her direction. "You know, I do like to get my day started pretty soon after a good meditation."

Hector shook his head as he rubbed a sponge against a clean plate. He tried to convince himself that he did not know what he knew so that he could turn and begin participating in their charade. Taking a deep breath, Hector turned with a clearing of his throat. "So uh… should we go over the details of the mission one more time?"

"Great idea!" Hannibal tried not to sound too excited, then sat on the couch. He was soon joined by the others. Numa took the opposite end of the couch from Hannibal, leaving Hector to awkwardly sit between them. Hannibal floated a cup of caf to his hand through the Force and began to rundown the mission. "The cantina is an out of the way one, but known enough by the local lowlifes, that our friends are comfortable meeting there. There could be some locals present who may know my face so I will remain outside. Hec, you will be undercover as a waiter, serving our friends' table. Numa, you will be off in a corner booth with your nargila."

"Hector," Numa asked, "Are you sure you will not know the buyers?"

"Nah," Hector shook his head finally able to refocus on something besides the morning's revelation. "My guys never do business in person. Any chance your suppliers will know you?"

Numa also shook her head. "Alezandra referred this transaction to a competitor. Probably hoping I will take them out for her."

"What are we planning to do with them?" Hannibal asked. "Do we arrest them all and see what intel we can get or do follow them and see who they report to?"

Numa pondered the question for a moment. "I will pursue the buyers. Hannibal, you and Hector will arrest the suppliers, hand them over to someone we trust to hold them until Master Granger can get here. Then you two can catch up to me and we will follow the others to wherever they wind up."

"What if they are headed all the way out to Nelino's new neighborhood?" Hector raised an eyebrow.

"Then we have a long spaceflight ahead of us," Hannibal shrugged.

XXXXXXXXX

Hector acted as though he was cleaning the bar. When a customer would ask a question, he would play as though he could not talk and defer to an actual member of the staff. Finally, the parties for which they had been waiting arrived, nearly at the same time, but neither recognizing each other as their business partners, until they had taken their seats at the booth with Hannibal's contact, a Gran. Hector caught Numa's eye who nodded, so he approached the table to take the drink orders. Almost immediately, he locked eyes with the Klatooian who he had not recognized from the back. "Jedi," Ballousk growled.

"Poodoo," was Hector's retort.

"It's a set up," one of Ballousk's associates yelled as everyone in the booth except the contact pulled their blasters, most of which were turning towards the Gran although some at the opposite party.

"No, wait, don't!" Hannibal's contact threw up his hands screaming, knowing he could do nothing to block the blasts and had no time to duck.

Hector leapt from the ground in a flip, landing on top of the table with both lightsaber blades lit, just in time to deflect the blasts coming for their contact. Numa jumped from her table and Force rushed across the distance of the barroom floor. At about half the distance, she used the Force to snatch as many blasters out of the hands of the outlaws as she could manage. When she reached the booth, her lightsaber was also out and she partially blocked their exit. "Everyone just calm down," she ordered.

Hannibal soon joined the stare down with his lightsaber pulled as well. The small crowd in the cantina had stopped what they were doing to pay attention to the commotion, but did not seem frightened. Hannibal took this as a bad sign. Ballousk, who had two blasters out, but could not decide on a target, confirmed this fear. "Frosh that. Waste 'em all!"

Most of the other customers across the cantina pulled blasters and everyone began to fire seemingly at random. Hector sent a kick down to the shoulder of the Hannibal's contact, attempting to shove him to the floor of the booth. "Get down!" This was enough distraction to allow one of Ballousk's random shots to singe the Jedi's shoulder. Hector winced in pain, but continued to deflect as many blasts as possible with his sabers. Numa and Hannibal managed to turn in the direction of the blasts with their backs to the booth. Hector hopped down from the table. Fortunately, most of the outlaws only fired long enough to get to an exit. The Jedi managed to drop a few of them with deflected blasts. The barrage only lasted seconds, but Hector felt as though he had not breathed for an eternity. When the last shot was fired and he took a deep breath once again and felt the pain in this shoulder.

Hannibal rushed to his friend's side as Numa checked on their contact. "Well, that was fun." Hannibal sat his injured friend on the floor propped against the bottom of the cushion of the booth. Numa sat their contact upright, next to Hector. Except for wet pants, the young Gran was unharmed.

Numa and Hannibal checked the fallen criminals. Only two survived their injuries. Only one of those was in good enough shape to do any talking. The healthy Jedi got all the injured to the infirmary. Hannibal paid his contact a little extra and assured him that nothing like this would ever happen again. Then all three Jedi transported their conscious prisoner to a holding cell at the office of the local authorities.

They watched their captive through a two-way mirror. "Hec," Hannibal began his inquiry of his oldest friend. "You said there was no way any of those guys would know you."

Hector shook his head. "It doesn't make sense. Ballousk and his crew weren't anywhere near this and even if they were, he is way too high up to be handling this himself."

"Who exactly is this, Ballousk?" Numa asked.

"His crew is mostly independent, semi-connected with the Huts out here. Too far out for the Suns to have any interest in, too small for the Vespuccio Family to see as a threat. I've dealt with him a little, both good and bad terms," Hector summed up for his friends.

"The terms didn't seem so good," Hannibal commented.

Hector shrugged. "You two are the smooth operators. I do business by lightsaber and Ballousk by blaster, it seems."

"Let's go talk to our friend," Numa suggested. The trio of Jedi left the viewing room and entered the holding cell. "Greva Nida," Numa called the young Aqualish's name as they entered.

"What are the charges?" Greva leaned to one side to keep pressure off his wounded thigh.

Hannibal sat across from the detainee while his friends stood on either side behind him. "That's up to you. Tell us what we want to know."

Greva leaned back in his chair as far as was comfortable. "And then Ballousk ends me and my whole family? No thanks."

Hannibal grinned. "So, you work for Ballousk. That's the idea. That's a good start. Keep it coming." Hannibal did not know until that moment that an Aqualish could roll their eyes. "Why was Ballousk after Kyber?"

"What the frosh is Kyber? I thought we were picking up spice…" Greva realized he was volunteering information again and cut himself off, but he was curious as to what exactly he had gotten himself into.

"Spice," Hannibal was tempted to chance a glance at his friends, but decided to keep up the charade for his prisoner. "You didn't find it odd that Ballousk would put his own neck out for a simple spice run?"

"As much as I was getting paid for simple muscle service, I assumed Ballousk was making a poodoo load of credits," again Greva could not stop himself from offering an answer to the Jedi's questions.

"And enough credits will make anyone stick their neck out," Hannibal tried to seem understanding. Hector shifted on his feet and cleared his throat. He wanted to ask a question, but did not want to interrupt Hannibal's interrogation method. Based on what Hector had already said about Ballousk, Hannibal thought he picked up the other's thought. "When did Ballousk start dealing spice? It's not his usual area of business."

Greva cleared his throat, but could not swallow his answer. "Ballousk is no dealer. Someone hired him to make this run. The job was about protecting the shipment."

"And not the shipment itself," Hannibal sat back in his chair scratching his chin. Numa placed a hand on his shoulder signalling that she wanted to talk outside the cell.

Back in the observation room, Numa asked her friends, "Does any of this seem right to either of you."

"No," Hector began, "I have a really bad feeling about…" He was interrupted by coughing from the holding cell.

The Jedi turned to see Greva doubled over the table, clutching at his throat, making hacking and gurgling sounds. "He's choking!" Numa screamed and rushed into the room.

They helped the Aqualish to the floor. Greva took one of Hannibal's hands, nearly crushing it in a vice-like grip as the life slowly ebbed from his eyes. Hector ran for the intercom link. "This is holding cell 3. We need a medic!"

XXXXXXXX

An hour later, the Jedi were in the morgue, staring not only at the body of Greva, but two others. Just before Greva's choking, the other captive died in the infirmary, with no seemingly logical explanation. Not long after that, Hannibal's contact was found dead in an alley near the cantina with a close-range blaster hole in his back.

Back at the rented suite, Numa and Hector contacted Syllian while Hannibal contacted some other trusted informants to see what, if any, useful information he could find. "Yet another dead end," Granger stroked his chin.

"Reeks of Holden, Master," Hector offered.

"Or whoever Holden is working with," Numa added. "Remember, Nelino ran into him on Batuu just a couple of weeks ago."

"Wouldn't be impossible to get here from Batuu in that amount of time," Hector countered.

Granger shook his head. "Holden or not, associate of Holden or not, we'll never catch any of them if the trail continues to go nowhere."

A few seconds of silence passed when Hannibal hurriedly entered the suite. "Sorry to interrupt, Master, but I got a lead on Ballousk. We gotta hurry though, he's got a ship at the space port, prepping to go very soon."

"Go and may the Force be with you. Granger out," the image disappeared and the three Jedi rushed from the apartment.

It was late at night and most legitimate business at the docks had ended hours ago. A few loading droids scurried around, but the only landing pad with any activity was Ballousk and his crew fuelling and prepping their ship for take-off.

The Jedi rushed towards the ship with lightsabers ignited. Ballousk ordered his men up the ramp. He covered them with his blasters. Soon the ships guns were also turned and firing on the Jedi. Ballousk holstered one blaster and grabbed the rail connected to the ramp, continuing to fire as the ship slowly lifted from the ground.

"No," Numa mumbled. Extinguishing her saber, she held out both hands. Grabbing the ship through the Force, she attempted to keep it close to the ground.

Ballousk held on tightly, nearly losing his balance, but continued to fire wildly as the ship jerked, struggling against the Force hold. Hector and Hannibal deflected the shots back into the ship, but the shields were already activated. "Frosh it," Ballousk muttered. He pulled a thermal detonator from the back pouch of his jacket. He dropped it and let it roll over the edge of the ramp.

Numa noticed the detonator. She switched her concentration from the ship to block the blast that would soon ensue. Hannibal likewise closed his saber and screamed for Hector, whose focus was fully on deflecting the blaster fire. "Hector! Cover!"

The ship lurched again freed from Numa's hold in the Force, sending Ballousk off balance once again. His final shot went out wildly, but found Hector's thigh as he switched focus from the blast to the detonator. Hector growled in pain and closed his eyes expecting the worst. The blast was deafening, but the ship shot out of harm's way. Numa and Hannibal deflected the blast enough to avoid any harm, but Hector was far enough in front of them that he did catch a few small pieces of shrapnel in his left shoulder and the side of his head.

Hector was squirming on the ground when Hannibal and Numa reached him. "Hec, you okay?"

"Yeah," Hector collected his bearings and painfully lifted himself from the ground. "We almost had him."

"Yeah," Numa helped Hannibal brush the dust off their friend, "but for now, let's get you back to the infirmary."

Hannibal could not help, but chuckle as Hector propped on his shoulder with a limp. "You've really taken a beating this go round."

"Yeah," Hector grimaced in pain with each step.

XXXXXXXX

A few days later, Hector was fully recovered and out of the infirmary. Numa and Hannibal turned up no new leads while they investigated the affair. They discussed the case as the droid-operated transport carried them to their shuttles. "I can't wait to get off this rock," Hector mumbled as the transport stopped at his shuttle's landing pad.

The trio exited the transport. Hannibal patted his friend on his non-injured shoulder. "Well, it was good to see you again. Always plenty of work to do out here on the Edge. Stop by anytime."

"Of course," Hector could not help, but grin and turned to Numa. "Keep me in the loop?"

"Of course," Numa nodded. "And if I can ever lend a hand again, feel free to let me know."

"Will do. And may the Force be with you both." Hector entered his shuttle and prepped for take-off.

Numa and Hannibal watched the shuttle until it was no longer a dot in the distant sky. Finally, they turned to each other. Hannibal broke the silence, "I don't get out to this moon very often. I actually have the suite rented for a couple more days. Thought I might hang around a while."

A smile spread across Numa's face. "I don't have any pressing business on Cepha at the moment. I could also remain here for a couple of days.'

Hannibal opened the door of the transport to allow Numa inside. She paused at the door, then turned sharply. "Did you feel something?"

Hannibal held up his hands in mock defence. "I didn't touch you."

Numa smirked. "That's not what I meant." Numa's eyes scanned the tops of the few buildings around the docking area. "I think we are being watched."

Hannibal also turned to scan with his eyes as both Jedi attempted to reach out with their senses. They could only see a handful of droids tending to various ships and equipment. They could only sense a couple of dock workers in the break room. "Want to conduct a search?"

Numa sighed. "No, we both need some rest. No need to exhaust ourselves just to hit another dead end."

Hannibal was relieved that Numa did not want to search the dock, but was a little unsettled by her pessimism, but before he could mention it, Numa opened the door for him this time. "After you." She gestured inside the transport for Hannibal to go first. She gently brushed his shoulder with the palm of her hand as he entered.

XXXXXXX

From a platform above the docks, Naklon watched the two remaining Jedi as the third's shuttle lifted into the atmosphere. What was that he was sensing. He could feel something between these two, an affection, attachment? Such things were supposed to be detestable to the Jedi and yet, he felt it plainly. Before he could ponder the thought any further, he sensed that he was about to be detected. He ducked behind a control panel, closing his eyes in concentration. He pulled the Darkside in around him, hiding his presence in the Force from anyone who did not know how to look into the shadows. A few moments passed before he chanced a glance from behind the panel. The two Jedi were getting into the vehicle. There almost seemed to be a playful manner about them. Then the Nautollan brushed the shoulder of the human. Naklon stroked his chin in contemplation. How could he use this to his advantage?