The Ebon Hawk landed on one of the nicer landing platforms in the urban cesspool that was Nar Shadaa. If this wasn't a platform controlled by Krayn, Kastor would have honestly been nervous to leave his ship alone, even with the anti-personnel turret deployed. It didn't help that his storied vessel had a pretty thick history of being stolen.
Kastor or Calo as he was known to everyone in these parts along with Rhys made their way off the ship to find a welcoming committee already waiting for them, though that wasn't a surprise. Even if Calo was a regular smuggler for Krayn, nobody went anywhere near his operations without being guided and watched. Lucky for Calo, one of his 'escorts' was Zora and the other two were from the local slave guards that technically worked for the moon's ruler, even if he did bow to Krayn and the Hutts.
Zora's face was set in a cold disposition, her icy blue eyes matching Calo's own cold, detached stare. She looked cruel and heartless and everything Krayn wanted her to be, with her now shorter red hair, black facial tattoos and her red bodysuit. Her eyes narrowed on Rhys next to him, but then she dismissed him and focused back on Calo.
"Father," she said, the title holding no warmth, and even a hint of disappointment. She really was fantastic at undercover work. "It seems you finally found someone willing to deal with you for the first time since I left. Who's the muscle? Krayn wasn't expecting you to have someone with you."
"Daughter," Calo replied dryly. "This is my new first mate, Jaco Quinn. He's an old acquaintance of mine from that stint where I worked with the Lok Revenants. He left the Revenants and is a mercenary now, and has agreed to sign on with me for a while."
Zora nodded disinterestedly and then turned to 'Jaco'. "You'll soon realize that if you want to make real credits and find real power that you won't find it working with my father. He's too stubborn to realize that, but hopefully you're smarter than him."
Calo rolled his eyes at the old argument. It was part of their cover. Siri or 'Zora' had tracked 'Calo' down after learning about him from her mother, wanting to get away from their poor circumstances. She'd then decided to work with him to try and learn the tricks of the trade and make a name for herself, but after doing several jobs for Krayn's organization, she'd received an offer from Krayn with 'Calo' to join his organization. Calo was 'stuck' in his ways and preferred to freelance while Zora wanted power and wealth, and she wanted it fast. Thus, the father-daughter smuggling team had parted with both taking shots at each other to convince them to come to their side. Publicly, they argued a lot and took many shots at each other.
"Still his lapdog I see," Calo remarked. "You remind me of your mother more and more every time I see you," Calo added in a disappointed tone, and Zora's eyes flashed with anger.
"I'm nobody's lapdog, father. Krayn will see you now," Zora said stiffly and then with her two guards, they escorted them through the rough and violent city to Krayn's palace. Everywhere Calo looked, he either saw the signs of extreme poverty and slavery, or he saw those who benefitted from it.
It was a relatively short walk to the palace, since the pad Calo was allowed to land on was a private one near the palace maintained by Krayn. Some would look at it as being favored by Krayn, or trusted, but Calo knew that it was simply that Krayn wanted to wait the least amount of time. He was as greedy a bastard as any Calo had met, and time meant credits.
They entered Krayn's throne room, which Calo could always admit was much less grand than one would think a pirate lord in control of a small empire would have. It had been one of the keys to Calo figuring out how much greed ran through Krayn's blood. On the plus side, that meant he probably hoarded far more credits than he needed to, far more than anyone might even realize.
"Ah, Calo Jurgens! My friend, welcome," Krayn's voice came, and Calo got a look of the large boulder of a humanoid man that Krayn was as Zora moved to his right and sat next to him. "I see you finally managed to find yourself a new crew member after your daughter joined me," he said with a rather smug smirk, one which Calo did his best to not react to other than his eyes hardening while inside Kastor wanted to roll his eyes at the narcissistic prick. "If you train him half as well as you trained her, I'll have to poach him as well, and then maybe you'll finally join my organization."
"I rather like my freedom, Krayn," Calo replied stiffly. "Obviously my daughter isn't quite so picky. I have a bit more faith in my new first mate."
"We'll see," Krayn said with a wicked grin before turning to Zora. "Zora here certainly has seen the benefits of working for me," and then he pulled her in for a rough kiss that Zora allowed, though as Krayn pulled back, her eyes flashed angrily. Krayn just grinned at that. "Now to business. I have three offers for you."
"Three offers?" Calo said with an eye raise, though Kastor started feeling the Force warning him.
"Well, you see I don't really need smugglers anymore," Krayn said, attempting to sound mournful, but his eyes gleamed. "I have some partners taking over that side of business, freeing me up to focus on slaving and production. In order to help my partners, I need to drive any smugglers using the Kessel Run out of business or away, thus making my partners the ones in control of distribution."
"So you need me for mercenary work," Calo said, his eyes narrowing, though Kastor still felt the Force alerting him to danger.
"Well, I personally feel like my pirates are more than up to the task of raiding ships along the Kessel Run," Krayn said. "The problem is I know that you have a reputation for being better than the average smuggler, and even escaped a couple ambushes set by my men, though of course we didn't realize it was you," Krayn said, putting on a sorrowful act. "Naturally, we were just aware of a ship leaving Kessel, not who it was, otherwise we would have simply contacted you ourselves."
"Naturally," Calo responded dryly, not believing Krayn for a minute.
"So, I need you to stop taking jobs that will take you through the Kessel Run, but I only see a few ways to do that."
"Oh?" Calo asked blandly, though Kastor sensed the six pirates who were shifting their hands toward their weapons. He alerted Rhys telepathically, receiving only an acknowledgement that he was already aware.
"Yes, one, you start working for me," Krayn said, "though unfortunately you've been rather uncooperative in that regard. The other option is for me to offer you a large enough sum to buy you out, but I fear that means buying your retirement, since someone with your skill and ship probably has grand ideas of what his buyout price is, which leads to the last option, kill you and take your ship, adding the Soaring Razer to my arsenal."
Kastor felt the six pirates start to move, so he drew the blaster from his hip and turned gunning down two of the pirates before they'd even taken aim, and then killing a third as he got off a panicked shot that was nowhere near Kastor. Kastor then spun around, dodging a bolt aimed at his head and returned fire only for the aggressor to drop dead first, courteous of Rhys, who had already gunned down the other two pirates. Kastor and Rhys turned back to Krayn and Zora, neither of whom had moved, though Krayn now had a wide smile on his face.
"You are even better than I'd heard," Krayn praised with cold eyes. "I guess taking your ship would cost more than it's worth, so that leaves two options. Buy your commitment to take other jobs, or hire you as a mercenary, since you have obviously proved yourself against my pirates both in space and with a blaster.
"Glad we could work that out," Calo replied flatly, relaxing now that it was apparent all hostilities were over.
"Zora dear, why don't you escort your father and his dangerous friend back to their ship and negotiate the deal, one way or another," Krayn said, waving his hand dismissively.
Siri nodded and then left Krayn's side walking in between Kastor and Rhys before they both turned and followed her out and back to the Ebon Hawk. Once aboard, Kastor did a quick customary search for bugs on the Ebon Hawk, not finding anything, which wasn't surprising since they had stopped trying to bug him after the first two times. Once they were in the clear, Kastor engaged the jammers, which would prevent anyone from using a scanner or any sort of technology to listen in on their conversation.
Once they were in the clear, Zora's cruel look dropped and she smiled warmly, taking the hug that Kastor offered. While physical forms of affection weren't quite standard for most Jedi, Kastor personally felt like those undercover needed it. Siri was dealing with pirates, slavers, and a piece of filth named Krayn pawing at her, groping her, and stealing kisses. She'd managed to avoid having to bed anyone due to her fierce and brutal reputation with a vibroblade and Kastor's own reputation for what he'd done to a pirate who'd openly groped 'Zora' early in their partnership, before she'd gained her own reputation, but that didn't mean small tokens of affection between friends or through their pseudo familial bond didn't help with resiliency.
"Not bad, dad. I guess your reputation is decently earned," she teased, and Kastor chuckled.
Rhys gave them amused looks. "I thought I knew what I was getting into, but damn Kastor, you sure know how to keep me on my feet. I almost thought you two hated each other."
"That's the idea," Siri said with a wink.
"Rhys, let me formally introduce you to Padawan Siri Tachi, aka my annoying adoptive daughter."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Rhys said, eyeing Siri appreciatively.
"Down boy," Siri said with a grin and Rhys's eyes widened, not expecting that from a Jedi.
"I'm afraid she's rather taken with someone else," Kastor said with a chuckle. "Sorry, Rhys."
Rhys blushed slightly revealing that under his tough exterior, he was still a young man. "I thought Jedi weren't supposed to have those types of relationships," he said sheepishly, though with a hint of curiosity.
"Well, technically, Jedi can have physical relationships," Siri said rather blasely, causing Rhys's eyes to widen, "but we aren't supposed to fall in love and commit to someone, so they are generally discouraged. However, something to get the taste of Krayn's saliva out of my mouth does sound nice right now . . ." she finished, giving him a more alluring look.
"Oh, but Kastor just . . ." Rhys said, now looking confused and even a bit alarmed before Siri cut him off with an amused look.
"By all accounts, I would be breaking the rules if I were to pursue a relationship, though you could consider that Kastor was just teasing," she said, her eyes narrowing sharply at Kastor, who shrugged.
"I was married, so I'm not exactly one to judge on the no commitment thing," Kastor said, drawing another confused look from Rhys. "Siri, dear, can you also please stop teasing my partner."
Siri smiled and nodded in agreement goodnaturedly while Rhys just grinned in bemusement.
"We're getting off track, and I can explain about my origins and my wife after Siri here returns to Krayn," Kastor said before he focused on Siri. "I will say, I trust Rhys implicitly, so you don't have to worry about keeping secrets around him, at least not secrets that I'm aware of."
Siri eyed Rhys with interest at Kastor's statement, and he shifted a bit uncomfortably under her scrutiny. "That's high praise coming from Kastor. Don't let him down."
Rhys nodded solemnly at that, hearing the unsaid threat, realizing that he was seeing a much closer bond between two Jedi than he'd been instructed on with the Rangers, at least outside of Master/Padawan bonds, and also realizing that these were two very unorthodox Jedi. Things weren't as cut and dry as he had thought.
"Now, let's use this time wisely," Kastor said, getting his two companions back on track. "We'll take whatever offer he's willing to give for the mercenary work, so come up with an answer and wire us the funds after you get back to Krayn. Who are Krayn's partners?
"The Colicoids have been taking over the Spice trade," Siri said. "They have almost complete control of the mines on Kessel, but need a processing planet, like Nar Shaddaa, which works for Krayn because he can't get enough Spice from Kessel himself either through piracy or smuggling, and the latter cuts into his profits. He was willing to take the cut when it was needed, but with this business arrangement, Krayn just needs to process Spice, and he'll be processing it in larger amounts than he's ever had to."
"The Colicoids obviously want to use Krayn on Nar Shaddaa so that they can take advantage of having slave work, since, as members of the Republic, they can't utilize slavery themselves," Kastor summed up, and Siri nodded. "Then, I think it's time to start working on ending this and getting you out of this cover," Kastor said. "We can't afford for this arrangement to come to fruition."
Siri smiled widely, her shoulders releasing some of the tension that was nearly permanently in them, no matter how much she meditated.
"We need to bring Krayn down before the Colicoids lock in a deal, or the illegal Spice trade will rise greater than it's ever been," Kastor said grimly. "Krayn's network has got to go."
Siri nodded firmly.
"The corrupt officials spread out among various governments that you've passed on to us should be easy enough to take care of," Kastor said. "We'll have to coordinate with many governments and send out a great many Jedi teams, but that was to be expected. It's Krayn himself, and Nar Shaddaa that are the problem."
"We really only have a few options," Siri admitted. "Either we have to try and get Nar Shaddaa under Republic control, we need to convince the ruler of Nar Shaddaa to stand up to Krayn, or we need to assassinate or arrest Krayn and perhaps some of his top leaders and hope for the best. With all of his government contacts arrested and the leadership dead, it would certainly be a while if ever before someone was able to piece back together the empire."
Rhys eyed Siri with more interest, noting that her eyes had flashed with a hint of sadness when mentioning a possible assassination, but then they'd hardened. She had steel, that was for sure, and Rhys was confident that most Jedi wouldn't even consider assassination without very good reason.
"I'm really not sure how we could get Nar Shaddaa under Republic rule without getting rid of Krayn. The Colicoids might take over after Krayn is dealt with, which would help, but that doesn't help with removing Krayn," Kastor admitted. "We could probably convince the Hutts to deal with Krayn, but since he pays a portion of his profits to them, we'd have to convince them that it is far more profitable to go to war with him, something I don't see happening, and of course that would just grow the Hutts Cartel, something I really don't want to do."
"Honestly, I don't think we could convince Aga Culpa, Nar Shaddaa's ruler, to go against Krayn, at least not without significant power to sway him," Siri admitted. "He's too afraid of Krayn, and knows he doesn't really have the strength to fight him. We might be able to convince him to destroy what remains of Krayn's organization if we remove Krayn and probably Rashtah too."
"Rashtah is his other lieutenant, correct?" Rhys clarified.
Siri nodded. "A Wookiee. Perhaps because he's so vile compared to the rest of his species, he's little more than a brutal, violent beast. He certainly doesn't have the cunning to take over Krayn's empire, but he's a fantastic enforcer. If someone else is smart enough to take over, Rashtah will help him keep enough people in line to restart the empire."
"Removing Krayn and Rashtah, and arresting all his contacts is probably our best bet," Kastor said with a sigh. "We can pretty much seal the deal on destroying his empire if you can locate where Krayn keeps his treasure hold. No money will make it nearly impossible for anyone to seize Krayn's operation, and then we could convince Aga Culpa to reclaim his planet, though I suspect it will be seized by another enterprise eventually. I don't think it would be too hard to set an ambush on Krayn's ship to create the opportunity to arrest him or end him should he not come quietly."
"We'd have to predict where he's going to hit, or offer up a target too tempting for him to ignore, something that will take a bit more time," Siri said. "As for his wealth, I'm still working on finding his treasure hold. I've narrowed it down to one of three places, but we're not completely there."
Kastor nodded thoughtfully, while Rhys observed and learned. His training with the Antarian Rangers had certainly helped prepare him with the skills needed to operate, but now he was getting experience watching it happen in real-time.
"Taking out his ship shouldn't be too hard," Kastor muttered. "It's much bigger than the Hawk, but my weapons should be more than enough, especially with Rhys's assistance from his fighter. If we bring in some Judicial Cruisers, it should be easy enough to disable and board his vessel. The slaves won't help him. Let's take some time to analyze what targets he's hitting along the Kessel Run among other areas and then we can get an idea for where we can lay a trap."
Siri nodded, looking eager to finally deal with Krayn, while Rhys nodded, looking eager for action as well.
"Let me know as soon as you've located his treasure house," Kastor said, focusing back on Siri. "It's very important that we seize those funds."
Siri nodded. "If he has even a fraction of what I think he has, the Republic and the Order are looking at a good payday. You should start feeling out which politicians would be the best to inform about the incoming funds so that hopefully they can be funneled into something good, without being hidden in the Republic's coffers."
Kastor nodded thoughtfully, not commenting on the rather cynical statement. Rhys saw Siri's face soften.
"How's he doing?" she asked tenderly, and Kastor sighed.
"In some ways, he's fine, and in other ways, he needs help," Kastor admitted. Siri's eyes sharpened, and Kastor raised his hands placatingly. "He's dealt with his grief," he said softly. "Right now, he's struggling with self-doubt. His Padawan is very talented, but headstrong, self-reliant, and he has a need to prove his worth, which isn't a great combo."
"Letting him take a Padawan so soon after his Knighting, and so soon after Qui-Gon's death was foolish," Siri said with a curse, and Kastor couldn't help but marvel how she'd changed while being undercover. Gone was the young Padawan that was nervous or opposed to going against the Council, the one who often hid behind a cool exterior, and mostly bowed to the opinions of her seniors. In front of him was a Knight, even if she hadn't been Knighted yet; one that was finding her strengths and self-confidence, and realizing that she trusted herself and could disagree with those who had more wisdom and experience.
"You know how stubborn he is," Kastor said with a roll of his eyes. "That stubborn fool promised Qui-Gon, and he wouldn't have let anyone else train Anakin. I help whenever I can, but I can't always be there, and I shouldn't be, or else I could undermine his lessons and their bond."
Siri nodded and sighed.
"It won't be much longer," Kastor said and then he grinned. "You know, he asked me about you when I left him two days ago."
Siri's eyebrow rose curiously.
"Yes, he asked me to find out your location because he was coming to get you, no matter what you've done, and no matter how long it takes me to find you. He doesn't care what he has to do, he said he's convincing you to return."
Rhys marveled at the smile that bloomed on Siri's face and she laughed. That was true joy, simply due to an action Kenobi had taken. It was easy to see that she wasn't simply taken with Kenobi. Very unorthodox Jedi indeed.
"He's just as much of a stubborn gundark as he's always been," Siri said fondly, grinning. "Maybe I'll be fortunate enough to see his face when he realizes I'll come back willingly."
Kastor chuckled. "Perhaps," he agreed. "Now, I believe we've spent enough time here. Rhys and I have some hunting to do."
"So do I," Siri said before she took a farewell hug from Kastor, nodded at Rhys and then left the Ebon Hawk. "I'll send you a list of which ships coming to Nar Shaddaa belong to Krayn so you don't hit them . . . or at least don't get caught hitting them."
"She's impressive," Rhys offered up after Siri had left, and Kastor nodded, pride on his face. "I'm sure she'll be just fine."
"I'm sure she will," Kastor said, "or at least I hope so. She has her job though, and we have ours. Thankfully, this job will be quite pleasant. It's rather amusing to think that Krayn just paid two undercover officers to crack down on smuggling out of the Kessel System."
Rhys laughed in agreement. "So, what's our first move? Monitor Kessel and intercept ships that are leaving?"
"That'll be part of it," Kastor agreed. "Most smugglers aren't willing to risk death for their cargo, so the general plan will be to disable and then board our target's ships and seize their cargo, which we can sell to several medical facilities I know of. That will remove illegal spice, help provide more medicine in the galaxy, and earn us profits, while doing our job for Krayn. The loss of the cargo will generally convince most smugglers to find different work and get out of the sector. We'll tip off the Republic about the rest."
Rhys frowned slightly. "You seem just as focused on making credits as you are on bringing Krayn down, or cracking down on smuggling, and helping people. I didn't think Jedi cared about credits."
"Generally we don't," Kastor admitted. "I care about credits for a specific reason. The last of my secrets. I think it's time I reveal all to you so that you can make an informed decision on whether you want to continue to work with me or find a more orthodox and stable Jedi," Kastor finished with a slight chuckle. "Let's get the Ebon Hawk into the sky before Krayn decides to send guards, and then we'll talk."
Rhys nodded, feeling a bit concerned, wondering what secret Kastor might have that could convince him to find someone else, something that would make a Jedi care about credits.
Once they got the Ebon Hawk into orbit, and after they received a partial payment from 'Zora', they tasked Scrappy and Wrench with setting course for Kessel while the two of them moved to the main hold for a discussion.
Kastor started out by explaining his history and his time frozen in the Force before he jumped into what happened when he was awoken and the visions he received, the visions that hinted about a dark future, one where the Jedi would face possible extinction, and the galaxy would face death and destruction.
Rhys's face grew grim, listening to Kastor's story and the possible futures of the galaxy and the Jedi. Rhys understood why Kastor worried that he might want to find new work after these revelations because Rhys could understand how the pressure of the knowledge could crush someone, and how actively working for someone who was determined to make sure certain people survived, but he himself wasn't one of those people, meant that working with Kastor could lead to Rhys's death.
However, this also meant that working with Kastor might possibly be the best place to try and make a better future, to fight real evil, and to help the Jedi who had helped his planet. It was everything Rhys wanted to do, something every true Antarian Ranger would dream to be a part of.
"Now, you know almost everything," Kastor said, finally coming to the end of his tale. "I'll ask one last time whether or not you wish to continue working with me."
Rhys nodded seriously. "You've got my ship to the end. It sounds like you need help, and one way or another, it sounds like you'll be involved in the fate of this galaxy, and I would never be able to live knowing I turned down a chance to be a part of that."
Kastor smiled gratefully. "You're right. I do need help. While the Council certainly will take actions to prevent the rise of the Sith, they aren't really going to start preparing for if we fail to prevent the darkness from rising. That's what I'm doing, and I need to keep it quiet, for if a purge happens, I have to be careful about who might reveal certain information, willingly or not. Something I have going for me is that I have knowledge of this galaxy from over three thousand years ago, so I know of things that have been forgotten, but it also is detrimental for so many things have changed. This modern Order has accomplished many great things, but in my opinion, it's too reliant and attached to the Republic. Almost all of our funds come from the Republic, and many of our assignments come from them. I have dedicated my entire life to fighting for and protecting some version of the Republic, but the Order follows the Force, and protects people, whether they be in the Republic or out, and I worry about our reliance on it."
"What preparations have you done so far?" Rhys asked, knowing they had plenty of time since Scrappy and Wrench had just entered them into hyperspace, and choosing to ignore Kastor's statement about reliance on the Republic, though he agreed, since the Republic had already let his own planet down. The Jedi had helped . . . but not at the request of the Senate.
"So far, collecting resources and finding contacts throughout the underworld has been all I've really accomplished, and obviously the latter can and will change often," Kastor admitted. "Restoring this ship was also part of my plan. I mean, yes I wanted to restore this ship because I needed one, it has significance to my family, and all the reasons I gave to the Council to allow me to restore it, but I increased the bed capacity and cargo hold's size for a reason. This can act as a mobile home and base that has the weaponry and speed to escape most situations. Other than that, I'm making plans for outposts to be built, but not only will it be expensive to build said outposts, I also need to rent or buy construction droids to do the work in order to keep the work secret, which means that credits is really the name of the game right now."
"You obviously have had years to think about this," Rhys said, honestly impressed, "so I don't know how much I can add to your plans, but I can at least be your agent. The only concern I have is using the Ebon Hawk as your mobile base. I'm just not sure it's big enough, though I guess you need something that can be manned with few people . . ." Rhys finished with a mutter.
"No, you have the right mindset," Kastor said with a nod. "The first issue is credits. The Order certainly isn't going to give me the credits I need to buy a frigate or cruiser that could be minimally manned, yet have the space for possibly dozens of people. That's one of the hopes I have for bringing down Krayn. I've been saving nearly every ill gotten credit I've earned while undercover, but Krayn's wealth should be an easy way to get a lot of credits that I can then put into the markets so that it can grow without my help. If I can get the credits, when the time seems right, I'll buy and modify a cruiser. If you want to keep an eye out for good options, that would be helpful."
Rhys nodded eagerly. Keeping up with spacecraft was a hobby of his anyway. That would be easy. "Do you have any idea where you want to set up outposts?"
"A few," Kastor admitted, "but that's certainly where I'm short, that and potential allies. I need places that either nobody knows about or places that few people go. Thankfully I know of two planets that are nearly forgotten in this age, one of which has a location that isn't even remembered, however they do hold some significance in Jedi history so I'm hesitant to set up outposts there, since they are places enemies of the Jedi might look, even if it will be hard for them to even find them."
"Which planets?" Rhys asked with interest.
"Ahch-To and Odessen," Kastor said. "Ahch-To housed the first Jedi Temple after the ancient Je'daii, the forerunners of the Jedi Order, left and spread from Tython. The next temple after that was on Ossus. Tython and Ossus are two planets I also considered. Ahch-To is barely remembered, since it has little resources to offer and is so far removed from anything, but it is findable both in the Republic and Jedi Archives. Odessen is a planet that my sister and I found back during the Great Galactic War, and she ended up exiling herself there for a time, after I was lost, and later it housed what remained of the Jedi Order before they retook Coruscant. Ever since the ending of the Eternal Alliance, Odessen has been forgotten and as far as I can tell, after the hyperspace lanes collapsed, the galaxy never bothered to find new lanes and the planet is only mentioned, even in the Jedi Archives, but I haven't found any records on how to find it, which is good, since I know how to find it. It's possible some of the systems near the Expansion Region or in it might know its location, but that's a problem for the future. I suspect, like Illum, the Order let its location be forgotten, so it would only be known to members of the Order, but unlike Illum, if it's known to any in the Order, it's known to very few."
"Sounds like you have two good options," Rhys responded thoughtfully, "but obviously you'd like more places to run to if needed or to have as rest stops. Have you thought about Dxun?"
"That's the moon of Onderon, correct?" Kastor said curiously. "Didn't the Mandalorians control it and booby trap the hell out of it?"
"Maybe four thousand years ago," Rhys replied. "It's still overgrown, and you can find the ruins of Mandalorian caches, but the Antarian Rangers use it as a site for survival training. The moon isn't populated, and it would be easy to hide an outpost on it, just as the Mandalorians did so long ago."
"That's a great idea," Kastor said with a smile before he sighed. "Truthfully, the Mandalorians were on the list of potential allies, though I'm not so certain of them anymore."
"Aren't the Mandalorians and Jedi ancient enemies?" Rhys asked with a frown.
"In a way, yes and no," Kastor replied. "The Jedi and Mandalorians have fought in the past, but they've also been our allies almost as many times, generally against the Sith, and at least half of our wars with them were instigated by the Sith, so I would argue we were never really enemies at least in my era. That certainly isn't really the truth now, but the Mandalorians have aided us at some of our most desperate moments, and Mandalorians and Jedi working together is a force to be reckoned with. Besides, the Mandalorians have fought pretty much everybody."
Rhys chuckled. "I guess that's true. So why aren't you sure about them?"
"Last I checked, their government is attempting to be pacifist, and their warriors have taken off their armor or been exiled," Kastor explained. "Not exactly the people set to help us."
"Well, I understand that the government is attempting it, but not fully succeeding," Rhys said. "There's a lot of pushback and there is a fairly large organization deadset against that change of policy. The warriors have not yet all been exiled, last I heard while on Dxun, and even the 'exiled' Mandalorians are simply settling on other Mandalorian worlds or moons like Ordo, Concordia, Concord Dawn, and Kalevala. Perhaps they could use some negotiators to help mediate between both sides?"
"Perhaps," Kastor mused. "It's definitely food for thought, but for now we should get some rest, since we'll have to start trading off shifts so that we can start dealing with smugglers. I want to minimize how many ships Krayn's pirates are able to intercept."
Rhys nodded in agreement, knowing it was going to be a lot of work trying to intercept as many smuggler's craft as they could, and they'd be on the Ebon Hawk for quite a while. Though the Ebon Hawk was starting to feel a bit like home, Rhys having spent much of his childhood on his father's transport ship, and now with all secrets and future plans on the table, Rhys felt completely like a partner and member of the team.