The Cabal of Falling Stars

Once again on Coruscant, the crew gets orders to kick back for a few days while the Republic hashes things out with Thrawn regarding the Thule fleet.

A sound in her rooms wakes Ree in the middle of the night. She chops a small assassin droid in half and quickly chases down the one who sent it after her. Turns out, it's the stupid Rodian they met way back on Tatooine. She drags him back to toss him in a cell at the temple, then goes back to bed, figuring they'll have some information out of him by tomorrow.

The next morning, the crew goes to breakfast together. Kedrihm'Val realizes Ree's eggs have been poisoned, and then Ree narrowly dodges a speeder that comes plummeting at her out of the sky to crash through the facade of the diner. Talking to one of the waitresses, they get no real clue on who might've done it, but Ree finds a radio relay point on the roof. Whomever sent that speeder after her could've done it from anywhere within a couple of miles.

So they talk to the Rodian, whose name I think might be Koobis (it means 'mighty'). The Jedi guarding him say that the Rodian insists he's 'in hibernation' so he can't talk. Yes, there's a paradox there. Kyp gets a little annoyed, so he spends the next few hours occasionally strolling by the Rodian's cell and Force-pulling the guy into the zappy stun-bars. Eventually, this pays off, and the Rodian is willing to spill the beans in order to get Kyp to stop zapping him. Not that he has much to tell. He thinks he was trying to collect the bounty from the Bloody Spiral, a group that the crew had already smashed.

Getting back to her room, Ree finds a note on her pillow from an operative of Dust (the syndicate run by Oola's father). It says 'Bartho Schild' and 'Cabal of Falling Stars.' Ree recognizes Schild's name as being one of the formerly rich men from her planet. The Cabal of Falling Stars, Oola finds, is a group of four elite assassins.

Ree's uncertain of exactly what to do, but if she's going to track these people down, heading to her planet seems like the best move. When they go to the ship, they discover that SARR killed two would-be intruders. One of them, he...kind of chopped up. A lot. Cubed him, you might say. At least, presumably it was a him.

Z doesn't go with them. He heads of with the bounty hunter, Lerin, who intends to pose as...well, infiltrate the Thule forces as bounty hunters in order to see what may be seen.

Arriving at Ree's home, they discover that her youngest brother, Cal, had been kidnapped the day before by men who looked like Imperials, only to be rescued by a man wielding a sword with immaculate skill. From clues, Oola realizes that this guy works for her father. While they're talking to Ree's family, Kedrihm'Val realizes that their animals are stampeding. In fact, stepping outside, they see that not only are the animals stampeding, but they have bombs strapped to them. Furthermore, the space-cows (AH hahahahaha! space-cows!) are being mind-controlled. Kedrihm'Val uses a Force illusion of 'predator scent' to fend off the noble space-cows (hahahaha!) while Oola scrounges together some farm equipment and rigs up an ion gun to disable the bombs with.

(Ree's player informed everyone that technically, they're more like space-sheep.)

At this point, the family notices that Ree's uncle, the mechanic who works in the city, is late for dinner. Ree thinks she'd better check on him. Kedrihm'Val and Onna go with her, while the others stay at the farm to watch the family.

Sure enough, when they reach her uncle's shop, they note signs of a struggle, along with marks that look like lightsaber burns. Kedrihm'Val is able to follow the trail, which he counts as four people carrying Ree's uncle, which takes them to the shuttle port, while Ree contacts the port authorities and tells them to prevent all ships from leaving.

One ship was prepping for liftoff, and that's their target. Ree meets security there. They guard the front of the ship while she goes inside, where she finds herself confronting a Miraluka Force-user. The woman warns Ree that all she has to do is hit a button on the console and her uncle will die if Ree makes a move on her.

So, Ree stands still while she notices the lights on the console slowly blinking out (her uncle is no slouch at computers). She asks questions to keep the Miraluka distracted, and finds out that the woman wants to capture her. When the control panel goes dead, Ree draws her lightsaber and suggests the Miraluka surrender. She does. Ree's uncle steps out of the back, looking none the worse for wear. Ree calls Zann to let him know that everything's under control. Zann, however, informs her that there's a crisis back at her family's place: they're completely out of pie. Ree hangs up, vaguely disgusted.

While they're occupied with talking to their friends, the Miraluka's buddies stun Ree, Kedrihm'Val, and the security officers. Ree manages to shake it off and disable the goons, only to confront another assassin droid at the gangplank of the ship. This one's a real assassin droid, not the pathetic excuse for a floating laser pod that Ree had dissected in her room before. It informs her that it has captured and bound people from the port's staff, and has wired sensors to itself. If the sensors detect the droid taking any damage, then the bombs in the room with the prisoners will go off.

Ree's between a rock and a hard place on this one. She defends herself when the droid fires at her, but can't attack. The droid soon tires of the game, holding its blaster pistol to its own chassis. Ree pulls the pistol out of its hands. It draws a rifle to do the same thing, and she tugs that away too. So it triggers its self-destruction sequence.

Kedrihm'Val, meanwhile, has awakened from the stun, and with Ree's uncle's help, he sneaks out the back of the ship, intending to free those prisoners. When he gets there, though, he finds a man already doing so. Figuring it's easier than arguing, Kedrihm'Val tells the guy about the countdown, so the man just shoots the sensors and they break the people out. Ree, informed of their safety, proceeds to trash the assassin droid.

Apparently, this Cabal of Falling Stars means business. Ree's not sure what their next move should be, but just in case, Oola decides to track down their headquarters. Turns out, the Cabal is HQ'ed in Hutt space, on a space station. Oola's inclined to see if she can hijack and entire space station.