Evan and Sareth Fenn come with them to Tatooine. Serdo promises Oola he'll meet them there. Z is disgruntled that someone else probably got their hands on Jabba's treasure.
Fenn gives them the lay of the scummy, criminal land on Tatooine. Lady Valerian is a Whiffid, a species he describes as "cotton balls with big claws." She's said to be gloriously beautiful for her species, but ruthless and intelligent. She runs the Lucky Despot, a casino/cafe just outside Mos Eisley. The Lucky Star is another bar outside Mos Eisley run by Sheriani, a Twilek woman who used to be a protege of Lady Valerian. The boss who moved into Jabba's palace is named Firith Olan. Lady Valerian is said to consider that a very cheeky move, and people are waiting tensely to see what she'll do about it. Finally, there's a newly-arrived Hutt in the area named Herugaa who's running the Crystal Moon in Mos Espa.
Firith, they quickly learn, has some contact with the old Imperial Eidolon Base out near the Dune Sea, which is now settled by Imperial loyalists led by Captain Arajen Turmin. The loyalists are mainly just settlers, but they do have eight TIE fighters and sufficient arms to ward off the Sand People.
There's no government record of Zay on Tatooine until her departure from Mos Ethna, when she's registered on passenger manifests. She took a tour liner that was heading toward the Core worlds. Oola notes that Eidolon Base holds itself--and its records--separate from the rest of Tattoine, and delving into their systems, scores: Zay Vellar is from Eidolon Base.
They've got a lot of ground to cover, so the group splits up. Sareth Fenn vanishes on his own errands. Kedrihm'Val, Z, Lydia and Evan head to Mos Eisley. Collecting rumors, they soon discover that while Lady Valerian is still fond of Sherani, Sherani these days seems less pleased with her old mentor. Word is that Lady Valerian murdered her husband, though why isn't clear and bringing it up to her isn't said to be good for one's health. She's known to be more generous and forgiving than Jabba, not that that's not hard.
Ree, Oola, and Onna go to Mos Ethna. There, they pick up indications that some of the tension on the streets is due to rumors of Sherani's involvement with Firith. Lady Valerian, residents believe, isn't aware of this. It's widely known Sherani hates the Empire, and undoubtedly is not aware of Firith's involvement with them. Herugaa, meanwhile, is keeping a low profile, and is focused on the new tenants in Jabba's palace, which he/she/it considers to be invasive upstarts muscling in on Hutt territory.
Now that Oola has a name, she dredges up further information on Firith. He's nothing but a petty crook. When her father finds out, he's flat-out insulted that such a small-timer would try to mess with him. The question is, is Firith really in charge here? Or, perhaps, was the assassination attempt his shot at the big time?
While the group in Mos Eisley arranges a meeting with Lady Valerian, the others in Mos Ethna try to convince Sheriani to listen to their evidence. Oola disguises herself to keep from being recognized as a Tser. Sheriani is distressed to learn of Firith's association with Imperials and slave-running, and tells them to return in two days. They suspect she's planning to verify it independently.
In Mos Eisley, on their way to meet with Lady Valerian, someone on a speeder tries to run down Kedrihm'Val. He leaps above it, lands on the back, and knocks the man off. Then six more attackers open fire on them on top of and around nearby buildings. Z, Kedrihm'Val, and Evan go after them while Lydia covers the unconscious man. Two more of their assailants survive; Kedrihm'Val knocks one out and Evan kneecaps the leader, who's the last one standing.
Z bribes a bartender to use a back room for questioning. When the leader tries to command the others to stay silent, Kedrihm'Val nerve-pinches him into unconsciousness. The other two are just thugs. The guy hired them two days ago, offering no name. They believe he's from Eidolon. Freeing those two, who after all are no different from 3/4 of the people on Mos Eisley's streets, they focus on the leader.
After Kedrihm'Val mind-whammies him to get him to speak, he confirms that he's from Eidolon. They attacked because they want the papers back to protect their interests on Tatooine. He knew Zay, but has little to say about her other than that she's a traitor for leaving. When he starts spewing bigoted Imperial propaganda, they knock him out again and turn him over to what passes for Tatooine's authorities. Kedrihm'Val realizes too late that he forgot to ask the guy how he knew they were coming, but there's nothing for it now but to get on with the meeting and wait for the guy to bribe his way out and attack them again.
When he informs Ree about this, they both wonder exactly what's going on here. It was on Tatooine that they first encountered hints of the child slave ring, and Imperials, and Zan. How heavily is Eidolon Base involved? Ree considers setting a trap using falsified papers.
Z and Co. get to their appointment with Lady Valerian. She knows no more about Firith, but is very disturbed by the idea of Imperial connections to goings-on on Tatooine. Oola is able to discover that the leaders of Eidolon base believe that Firith is human. He contacted them, but that's all the information she can find.
And that's their last lead. At a dead end, the only direction they've got left to move in is Jabba's palace itself. Z comes up with a plan to get in. The monthly grocery delivery is due tomorrow morning. They'll ambush the delivery, bribe the driver, and take it in themselves.
The food delivery is unaccountably huge for the 40 or so people they're able to account for once they get inside. Oola cracks a terminal for background information. Firith was a two-bit hood until just a few weeks ago, when his style changed entirely. He moved in and took over Horugaa's whole operation within a couple of days, removed all his old advisors, and stowed them in cells under the palace. Looks like the first move is to break out those advisors and see what information they can share in their gratitude.
It's easily done. There are too few people in the installation to keep watch over most of the tunnels and halls, so sneaking around the back areas is simplicity itself. The pathetically grateful ex-advisors tell them that Firith spent a lot of time with those strange robot monks that live on the lower levels till he suddenly became much more ruthless and less like himself. It looks like the monks might have switched his brain. But if so, who is in there now?
Taking a good look around at what Firith has access to, the crew decides that there's no point in messing around. They can clean this nest of vipers out right here and now. Z arranges a diversion to draw the guards toward the kitchen while the others storm the throne room. With the advantage of surprise, Ree and Kedrihm each account for one person, Evan guns down three, and Oola attaches a restraining bolt to a dangerous-looking droid. The last soldier standing spins to decapitate another droid: it's Sareth! He found his own way in. They'd wondered where he'd gotten off to.
Firith's the last one standing, but before they can turn on him, the floor drops out from underneath Ree and Kedrihm'Val. It's Jabba's damn rancor pit. But there's no rancor down there now. Instead, Firith is keeping a Krayt Dragon!
The grate closes over top of the two Force users, trapping them with the enraged beast. While Ree and Kedrihm'Val defend themselves against that thing, leaping and dodging and doing what little damage they can, Firith makes a break for it. Too bad for him, Oola's been lurking near the entrance keeping an eye on him! She deftly kneecaps him with her knife-droids. Sareth helps her subdue him while Lydia cuts the grate open and drops down on top of the enormous animal. Evan shoots at the dragon from above, but Onna gets an idea. She fires a grappling hook into it, then runs across the throne room to jam the cable into an electrical box that Oola tears open for her. That does a number on it, but the Krayt Dragon is huge and not so easily defeated.
Done with the guards in the kitchens, Z charges in, yelling, "Its sinus cavity is its weak point!" "You're sure?" Ree asks him. "I'm a bounty hunter!" Z reminds her. Kedrihm'Val, who's been dodging this thing's giant snapping teeth in the front, waits for an opening and lunges, nailing the beastie dead on target with his fist (player rolled one of the best crits ever!).
The dragon collapses, stone-dead.
Ree gets the prisoners out. "We thought you were dead," they tell her in relief. "We heard the Krayt Dragon!" Z lands and takes a vibro-knife to the carcass, extracting seven Krayt pearls--some of the most valuable gemstones in the galaxy, he explains to a bemused Kedrihm, who's watching nearby. He declares they're also keeping the dragon. He plans to have it stuffed and displayed. It's too big for them to simply carry it back, so Oola has her brother pick up some equipment and retrieve it for them.
By the time they get back to Mos Eisley, people are already whispering about the Krayt Dragon. These things are known as some of the fiercest predators in the galaxy; to kill one is the ultimate test of prowess. But the crew (well, except for Z) is more interested in the job they came to do. After Evan and Ree argue about reading Firith's mind, Evan storms off to get a drink. Ree turns away the local security forces when they show up to demand Firith be given into their custody. Z explains to her that they're looking for a bribe. "I got one of those Krayt pearls from the dragon we just killed," he then tells one of the officers. "You wanna try to take 'em?" "Z!" Ree scolds him. "Gettin' strong-armed by thugs," Z mutters in sullen protest. "I don't feel particularly strong-armed," Ree replies, staring ominously at the officers. Since they won't leave her alone, she places a call to Erin, asking the investigator if this can be officially made a Republic matter. "Just a bit," Erin tells her. A moment later, Chancellor Organa-Solo calls back. "Put me on with whomever's closest," she tells Ree, at which point it becomes Not A Problem.
With more time, and official access, on her hands, Oola digs deeper into Firith's past. As she knows, he's a petty criminal who had the gall to set up in Jabba's palace. After his sudden sea change about a month ago, he began using Jabba's old contacts and seemingly endless reserves of money (undoubtedly Jabba's hoard) to take over Herugaa's slave trade. Kedrihm'Val thinks he--or someone he's been working with--has been picking up the pieces left behind of the Shadow Academy ring. The slave operation has been re-adjusting lately, because when Thrawn returned, he announced the Empire wasn't dealing in slaves anymore, and with Thule taken out of the picture, Nal'Hutta is now their only major customer.
With the brain behind the slavery ring out of commission and several prisoners who may be able to share more information on the Empire's spies and involvement, this escapade is essentially wrapped up. So it's back to Coruscant with their prisoner and their info. They work on Firith on the way back, but he maintains his identity steadfastly. Whoever is really in there, he's not giving anything away.
By the time they arrive on the Republic's capital planet, the Krayt Dragon story is everywhere.
The Port Authority has left a note for Z that his "package" has arrived. While the Dragon is off being stuffed and mounted, Z buys a hangar and equips it to display the dragon. He plans to sell tickets. When Ree calls him, Kyp is very excited. He says Luke has been talking about it all week. Ree downplays it, sidetracking him with the information about the slave ring, and asking Kyp to see about taking care of Ara Mores' remains. Kyp warns her to check her messages. He's already spoken with her family, he says; he put Luke on with her little brother Cal for two hours the other day. If the kid nearly passed out when Han Solo visited his house...
Oola discovers that Primal Justice has broken all viewing records. Dalt is curious about what he's missed, so they fill him in on the story. He finds it distantly interesting, but is a little put out that he's not in on receiving heaps of adulation from the galaxy at large.
When Ree delivers her report to the Council, she again tries to slip past the fight with the Krayt Dragon. "He dropped us in the pit with the dragon, and after we fought that..." But Luke doesn't let her get away with it. Once she's done delivering the important information, he backtracks with "If we could revisit the fight with the Krayt Dragon..." Knowing when she's defeated, she informs them all of Z's little initiative, and the Council decides to go see it.
Ree and Kyp go to dinner that night.
After explaining that they're the most valuable gems in the galaxy, Z gives everyone a pearl, including Sareth and Evan. These particular pearls, given their association, he has had appraised at about 1.6 million credits each. Ree asks Z to sell hers for her. She plans to give the money to her family. In fact, to Ree's shock, the ensuing auction pulls in 2.7 million credits, which is more than the appraised value of Ree's whole planet! When her family receives the money several days later, her mother calls to inform her of that fact. In fact, the normally stalwart woman is practically babbling. "I'm sorry to surprise you," Ree tells her. "Oh no no," her mother counters. "You can surprise me with that any time you like, dear. That or grandchildren." "What?" is Ree's blindsided response.
Oola has hers cut. One piece, she installs on INON after having it carved with her family crest (which is also the symbol for DUST). She gives another piece to SARR. From the rest of the stone, she has a ring made for her father, necklaces made for her mother and sister, a stylus pointer for Nat, and at his request, a key for Serdo's race-pod.
Kedrihm'Val keeps his as a souvenir. He's not normally one for killing things, and definitely not one for money, but...well, he does come from a hunting society, and that was a pretty impressive feat.
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