Chapter 3

Shili Space

The swirl of hyperspace evaporated, and the green, red and blue marble of a planet appeared before the cockpit. The Locanas had arrived at its destination. Tarrok turned his chair around and gazed at the planet, frowning. This was the sixth world they had visited recently, and he was getting tired of the same technique they followed with each one.

As had been the case with each new world, Tarrok pointed at the planet. At the sensor station, the Advozse technician Tardrin Throd pressed a series of controls. A rumble was sent through the Locanas' hull as a cluster of drop pods fired from the hanger, jetting towards specified points on the surface below. Tarrok watched their vapour trails as they drove away, then turned to the navigation station.

"Where are we?"

Rix Malloy looked up, his wide orange Mon Calamari eyes blinking slowly. He ran a webbed hand over his grey skin, then hit a button. The planet reappeared above the console in miniaturised holographic form. "This is Shili, sir. Apparently, the Commerce Guild have gotten reports of alloys and gems in nearly a dozen spots, but the Togrutan government have a biological protection order in place."

Tarrok nodded. That seemed to be a common occurrence with the places they had visited. The Guild's list of planets, which no longer included Pantora, had focussed on planet's with reports of unusual alloys and gems. Although the probes had found several alloys, the local planets had security and defences, or treaties with other worlds that gave them such, that would stop the Guild from just swooping in and claiming the planet's riches. That was why the Locanas was here – to assess each planet and compare risks and rewards.

"What about the defences, Huntex?", he turned to his weapons officer, who was looking through the scans.

The Ardennian squinted at the screens, one of his four arms scratching his behind while another added the defences to the planetary hologram. "The cities are well guarded, with heavy turrets disguised into the architecture. I have also noted that all villages over a hundred thousand people have shield generator's that can withstand orbital bombardment. The Togruta are prepared for an invasions, as much as you can be in an Expansion Region sector, anyway."

"What about other ships?", asked Nimra, Tarrok's second in command.

Huntex shrugged, "There are three Coradar-class cruisers patrolling the edges of the system. I've picked up chatter about pirate attacks. The Togruta are watching for more."

Nimra hissed out her displeasure. "This is more protected than the last world."

A chorus of agreements echoed around the bridge. The three previous attempts, ranging from the glacial slopes of New Amperite, to the jungles of Plymto and the deserts of Minadara, had been guarded well, but the amount of alloy and gems that were not equal to the risk involved in seizing the planets.

"What about the alloys?", Tarrok asked.

Tardrin looked up from the console where he was watching the drones. "Preliminary scans show sunstones in the north crevices, and duravite alloy in ocean floor. Drone twenty three has some iron deposits in a valley along the coast too."

Overall, not a bad haul, yet not the largest they could've had. Tarrok mentally compared the ore amounts to the last few planets they had visited. New Amperite had iron deposits under it's mountains, and it was less heavily guarded. Shili wasn't looking viable for the Commerce Guild either. Which meant more flying about the galaxy doing Count Rellus' dirty work.

"Hey, what's that?", asked Rix, pointing out the viewport.

Tarrok followed his finger and frowned. Sitting out there in the planet's orbit was Shili's planetary refuelling station. "It's nothing. Just the refuelling station."

"Not that.", Rix barked, and pointed down at his sensor screen, "I'm talking about that."

"I'll get it.", Nimra chuckled. She clicked at the helm controls, and the cockpit viewport shuddered and telescoped in, showing a tiny, curved shuttle for a moment just before it flitted into hyperspace. Nimra shot a look Tarrok's way. "That is a Jedi shuttle! What are they doing here?"

Tarrok frowned. It was possible that the Jedi he and Kolreresh had been tasked to find had been here, and had just escaped. He had heard rumour that the Senator had crashed somewhere in this sector. What were the chances that they had been in that ship?

He was about to make some comment on the matter, when the door behind him opened. A tall, red-skinned reptilian humanoid appeared in the doorway, wrapped in reflective black robes. His feet scraped along the metal floor, long cybernetic claws that had replaced his usual legs scratching thin lines in the metal. Hanging by his side were two white clawed cybernetic arms. He wore the black hood over his head, the dark yellow and black eyes peering out from beneath the black fabric. His white and black Kaleesh warmask hung from his belt. Slowly, the cyborg marched over to the hologram and studied it, then cursed and turned to Tarrok. "Another dead end."

"It would certainly seem that way.", Tarrok shook his head slowly.

The Kaleesh wasn't finished. "I don't even know why Rellus wanted us to look here. Shili is a known Republic world. Any attack on them would be met with swift justice. We shouldn't even be here. We should be looking for that Senator."

Tarrok rolled his eyes. Kolraresh was right – they had officially been placed on the hunt for Trav-iss Torn – but he missed the big picture. They needed a location to hunt down the Senator. Until Rellus' information broker could find a hint of the Pantoran, the Locanas would be busy hunting for Rellus' new mining world so that he could make some deal with the Commerce Guild.

A chime sounded as the comm beeped. The comms officer, a young Niemodian who kept the hood of his own black robes up, studied the incoming data and glanced back at them. "It's coming in from the Mistress, sir."

"Put it through.", Kolraresh said before Tarrok could tell him to ignore the signal.

Above the console, a half-sized image of Count Rellus fizzed into existence, though it was interrupted by lines of static. Beside it, a far clearer image of the Raven, the information broker Rellus had brought in, came into focus. Both men were sitting, and so only the top half of their bodies was visible.

"Ah, Tarrok.", Rellus practically purred out, his eyes like tiny red spots on his face. "Which planet haven't you found yet?"

"At the moment, we are above Shili.", Tarrok answered, resisting the urge to roll his eyes, "I believe that it is similarly unsuitable for our needs. To well guarded, too well fortified, and not enough to risk acolytes on. We were about to head for the next on your list."

"I understand.", Rellus nodded with mock pity. "In that case, since you have proven yourself and your crew to be useless, I want you to take a detour. We have a request from Count Dooku. He has an asset that has gone rogue. At this late stage in his planning, he needs no loose ends. You need to destroy the asset and gather the data needed from the console. The Raven will send you the coordinates and the details."

"Speaking of the Raven", Kolraresh looked over at other hologram with a look of distain. "any luck finding our missing Senator? I believe that was your job."

The thin man looked up at the Tholothian and Kaleesh in turn. "As a matter of fact, he is on the planet below you. Unfortunately, he won't be leaving. I sent a bounty hunter down there to recon the area. Trav-iss Torn is dead, and the remaining aides are protected by two Jedi, who just left the planet by shuttle. Any further strikes will need to wait until they leave hyperspace above Coruscant. I'll send you an updated target list."

"Understood.", Tarrok frowned. He wasn't sure that he liked the information broker. He seemed to be balancing precariously on the line between cocky and confident. Still, it was good to know his hunch had been right. "So, where is the Count's target?"

The Raven straightened his tie, and spoke quietly to someone off cam. "I've just sent you a package with the relevant information. You go there, board the ship and take the information. Leave no survivors. Think you can handle it, or will you need to resupply at Base Five?"

The Locanas had not been present at Pantora, and so it's crew and the followers Tarrok had left behind had been safe. These included some of his heavy hitters and space combat specialists, or those too young to be on a mission as dangerous as Pantora had been. As for the reconfigured Corellian YX-950 Industrial Freighter, it was fully equipped, with two heavy starfighter's in the reconverted hanger bay, heavy cannons cleaned, and the crew's weapons and explosives up to standard.

The only reason to stop at Base Five might be to offload their passenger, the Givin prisoner they had removed from Pantora's Black Cliff Prison. Dr Elbrain Yak'shere had been confined to his room on board ever since they had left Pantora. Still, if they moved fast enough, they might be able to detour back to homebase and deliver Yak'shere personally before they returned to Rellus' jobs. But he decided against it.

He turned to the Neimodian comms officer and gestured for him to cut the feed, then turned to Nimra. The woman stood straighter, hands gripping the helm, which only made Tarrok feel a little prouder of the girl. "Prepare for lightspeed, Nimra. Best possible speed."

Nimra nodded, and Tarrok felt the deck rumble as the freighter's high-quality reactor sent power flowing into the six large engines that pushed the Locanas' flight. The deck tilted to align with the hyperspace route they needed, and Nimra pushed forward the hyperspace lever. Again, the stars flicked from pinpricks to starlines and then to the tunnel of hyperspace. And yet Tarrok felt his stomach turn. Something about this task… he had a bad feeling about it.