Wrecking Up the Tapani Sector

They lose the tracker signal leaving hyperspace. By the time they arrive in the Tapani Sector, Erin has discovered that Grand Moff Tarkin's clan are involved in this somehow, but the paper trail is obscured. Ree calls Commander Teris, who is not overjoyed to hear from them considering what happened last time, but is willing to help. He grudgingly agrees to help hunt down the person who holds the deed, and suggests they check the central real estate agency.

Ree tries to gently explain to Kedrihm'Val about buying and owning planets. He still thinks it's weird, but he's accustomed himself to the notion well enough to handle the thought of buying his world back. Whatever it takes to keep it safe. Oola tells him he has three million credits in his account, as well as the Krayt pearl. But why is Sienar involved? They're connected to the Empire and Thrawn, right? Are they spying on Drath?

Onna calls in a favor to get a meeting with House Barnaba, which owns Abindosan. The planet isn't valued highly on the deed, so she holds out hope that this won't be too complex. The deed is in the possession of one Sien Torenns, a spoiled rich girl who seems to be bent on having fun and looking good while doing it. Her financial assistant is Trista Graf, a woman with her head far more firmly attached. Onna warns them not to try to explain anything; just express interest--to the tune of 1.5 million credits. Trista comments in their first meeting that it's odd how everyone is suddenly interested in this planet. She's had two other parties query her about it so far.

It seems like a sensible idea to hunt down these "other parties," since the good money is on them being representatives of Drath and the Empire. Z wants to bribe some House employees, because servants are likely to see a lot. He sets Ree on the job by feeding her a story that happens to be true: "Your mistress is dealing with dangerous people."

The maid swallows that readily, because "How many hooded people do you have to deal with before you realize something is wrong?" She describes a human female and a Bothan who've come to visit Sien so far. Ree talks her into checking the Lady's appointment book for those two, and learns that Sien is meeting tomorrow morning with the Bothan, and tonight with a "Jek Schild" at an art gallery. The gallery is owned by a friend of Sien's named Meetha Orn. Apparently Jek disturbs Sien, she she's keeping him clear of her own house.

INON runs a check on Schild. He's young, but an older Schild, a widower, worked on the Death Star. Could be this guy is his son.

They finagle invitations to tonight's exhibit, which is ironically Alderaanian art, a fair amount of it created by Meetha herself. Looking around at the gallery, they notice that the artiste in question spends a lot of time around Schild. SARR tells them that he hates Alderaanians.

Sien and Meetha are both hanging around a lot with a charismatic young man who looks maybe in his mid-twenties. He lurks closer to Meetha than Sien, and Meetha positively drips off him. It's easy to overhear him telling her about how heartles the New Republic is. They've been positively cruel to the Alderaanians. She practically swoons in horror, and Sien buys in with visible schadenfreude.

Z: "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think we need more information." This guy is obviously playing the two women, and Trista clearly finds the whole display disgusting. When Jek mentions going to a back room to complete a business transaction, Ree grabs Dalt and sends him at Meetha to ask about a painting. Oddly enough, he does rather fit in with the limp-wristed artsy crowd. Dalt does it the easy way and simply Force-whammies the woman. "Now what?" he asks Ree. "That was my plan," Ree tells him. "'Do something.'"

Z, failing his Wisdom check, walks up to Trista and asks her, "Is your name Cloudstrider?" She says, "No," of course, so he punches her in the stomach, snatches her satchel, and breaks for the window.

Jek follows him out as Z leaps for a speeder but gets held up by Ree's confrontation of him. "I know who you are and who you're working for," she tells him. "Really?" he asks, clearly amused. "Who?" "I know who you are," she repeats, more emphatically.

Kedrihm, meanwhile, spots a Bothan pursuing Z and grabs another speeder. He's not a great pilot, by any means, but he's able to make the thing go forward long enough to get within range to drain the energy from the Bothan's speeder. Z launches skyward with his jetpack; Kedrihm notices that he left the satchel on his speeder, which is quietly following his trajectory, keeping close to the ground.

Jek doesn't care who Ree thinks he is; he points out to her that her friends are thieves. Ree has to vacate when she sees security forces heading their way; she leaps up to the shadows on the roof of the building. Jek looks a little surprised; without her robes, he didn't notice she was a Jedi.

Kedrihm'Val shuts off the Bothan's speeder; the Bothan jumps an improbable distance to grab hold of Z in mid-air. So it's a Force user. Kedrihm comms Ree to fill her in, then leaps downward to Z's speeder, where he finds that Z has mined the satchel and coded it so that only INON can open it. Jek, on another speeder with Meetha on the back, catches up to Kedrihm'Val, who refuses (quite reasonably, all things considered) to turn the bag over. Meetha draws a pistol on him.

Commander Teris arrives at the gallery. "You're a handsome man," Dalt quips, noting the family resemblance. SARR, unsupervised, steals a large number of small, valuable objects, while Oola, somewhat more focused, steals the security tapes.

Kedrihm snatches up the bag, leaps off the speeder, and runs back toward the building at Force speed. Ree swings in behind him with Jek and Meetha in pursuit. Teris arrests everybody on general principles.

Unnoticed because they haven't raised a ruckus, Dalt and SARR slip out while security takes care of everyone else. Kedrihm'Val tells the Commander about Z and the Bothan, figuring the Bothan might've followed them back to.

In fact, Z groped her, pepper-sprayed her, and let her run, and then he returned to the ship.

After Lydia points out that SARR, Z, and Dalt are their rescue party, Kedrihm'Val reminds them that Dalt is, after all, Force-sensitive. It's not like they're incommunicado. So Ree sends a telepathic message to Dalt asking them not to stage a rescue--yet.

After freaking out at them, Commander Teris gives them 24 hours to return the deed. Turns out, it's not in the satchel. When they get back to the ship, Ree in turn freaks out at Z. Kedrihm'Val cuts in to ask where he actually put the deed. "In my crotch," Z tells him. "Where no one will ever touch it," Dalt quips.

There's a message from Luke, casually wondering why the Jedi are getting reports of someone blasting out of CorpSec and committing crimes in the Tapani Sectory. "Call when you can," he finishes.

Z wants to take off with the deed right now. Dalt points out that it won't help. It's just a piece of paper; Sien can get another one notarized.

So they hunt down information on Jek Schild instead. He's a citizen of the Imperial Remnant, possibly a government employee--the uncertainty of which is an indicator in itself. If he's the Imperial spy, then that means the Bothan is working for Drath. They turn that information over to Teris, who "strongly suggests" to Sien that she not sell the deed, since it's likely to start a war. When Meetha continues pressuring her to sell it, Kedrihm'Val explains that it's his world, and that his people will be in danger if either the Imperials or the, spirits forbid, the Sith get their hands on it.

The Head of House Barnaba is an intensely moral woman, who is not keen on endangering a planet full of innocent people or having her House embroiled in the middle of an interstellar incident. The planet will be a hot commodity in the Tapani Sector after this, so she takes custody of the deed herself to make sure no...accidents happen.

Which is the best they can hope for, for the moment. Returning once again to the ship, Ree finds another message waiting from Luke: "Hey, this is just Grandmaster Skywalker again, calling to see if everything's okay." When she calls back, he innocently answers, "Why, Ree. What've you been up to lately?" Once she gives him the story, Luke seems actually fairly pleased. For him, this probably counts as smooth sailing. Luke tells her that Kyp is on the way back. They've found some stuff on Kessel, but nothing pertaining to what they went for.

Then they receive a message from Commander Teris: "We've found some things missing from the art gallery." Ree turns to the others. "Has anyone accidentally...stolen anything?" When SARR is ostentatiously startled by the things that fell into his storage compartments, Ree growls, "Honestly, pickpocketing Dalt is one thing..." "Wha?" Dalt asks. "That's why your lightsaber keeps going missing," Kedrihm'Val explains helpfully. "And your wallet," Oola adds. "That's Oola, actually," Kedrihm'Val corrects her with a dry expression.

Creating Chaos in CorpSec

Kedrihm'Val and Dalt both remain tense about E'Val. Dalt considers it an abomination, and says this is pretty much the sort of thing that happens when you clone an Abindosani imperfectly. Ree has no advice when Kedrihm asks her for her opinion.

Oola has determined that the signal leads to Arken Multinode AgriCorp, a group handling farm supplies and products, and several fast food companies. It seems to be a fairly aboveboard operation, but it is CorpSec. Republic jurisdiction doesn't extend there.

Z: "Are we taking TechnoGay?"
Ree: "Well, we are visiting one of his-"
Z: "Haha, you knew who I meant!"

Leia arranges permits and travel papers for them. Ree promises to try to be discreet. "Given who I'm married to," Leia responds, "I have no expectations." When Ree asks what Han did, Leia mutters something about blowing up floating prisons, then says, "Whatever you do, don't mention his name." Dalt is familiar with CorpSec, and Oola knows some people. Looks like they're sitting pretty.

After they play 'follow the bouncing transmission,' the signal ends at Amalgamated Pharmaceuticals, one of CorpSec's top outfits. They're a big exploration group that explores planets for useful chemicals and other such items. Dalt tells them these guys aren't aboveboard in the least. The own about 600 systems outside CorpSec, which they exploit brutally for profit. Currently, they're holding an expo for their various products and services, so it won't be hard to slip in. They arrange false IDs as rubes, as SARR puts it: wealthy but clueless investors desperate for a 'good cause' to throw money at. Ree and Z will play the wealthy couple, and Lydia will fill in as their impressionable young niece. Oola, Onna, Dalt, and Kedrihm'Val are their entourage.

Some of the group find themselves uncomfortable with the level of opulence at the hotel they book. Z, however, makes up for any possible gaffe on anyone else's part by portraying an outstanding reckless playboy.

There are CorpSec security swarming the place in riot gear. Millennium Entertainments dominates the displays at the expo, featuring ads for Primal Justice and the movies. Bank of the Core is more discreet but ubiquitous, and ZZip Product Concepts advertises all sorts of custom-made luxury goods for the wealthy. Galaxy Publishing has apparently been hired by the Hutts to improve their public image, which it turns out is not actually possible, though they give it their best shot. The group are given invitations by all and sundry, sorting through them to find likely targets, especially anything relating to the Amalgamated.

Z hauls Kedrihm'Val to Millennium Entertainment's booth while the others head to Amalgamated. He wants to show him the teasers for next season, which apparently introduce a love interest for Kedrihm'Val's character who's an upper-class police woman. He buys Kedrihm a "By the beards of my ancestors" shirt.

Ree, meanwhile, frets over Kyp. "I hope he's okay." "They sent him with Han, Chewbacca, and Lando," Dalt replies. "You should hope Kessel's okay."

Amalgamated's showcase is a cylinder filled with water. They demonstrate how you can immerse an injured person and they are quickly healed to almost perfect health. To the Force users, it's as if the person's pattern is reset to their ideal condition. The core component of this device, the product demonstrators proudly declare, is located on only one planet. "Won't that make access difficult?" Ree asks. "It depends on who owns the planet by the end," she's told. The demonstrator avoids being engaged in further discussion about the contents of the cylinder, so Ree asks about a tour. While the booth operator looks into that, the crew discusses the buying and selling of planets. SARR suggests they'd better look into the history of Abindosan.

The tour is scheduled for tomorrow morning. Oola has Z buy some movie merchandise for her that she doesn't own yet. When the group collects again in their rooms, Ree tells them she suspects they're using coral to translate the information to heal people. If they can buy Oola's droids time to retrieve the computer core they stored the reef information on... Z says he can do that easily; he'll just act like a total jerk so everyone has to kowtow to his every whim.

Kedrihm is concerned about the use of the coral. The information from the reef has to be the first priority, they can at least look into getting the coral out.

Things go pretty smoothly. Oola's droids head back to the ship with the core. The droid they attached Dalt's coral detector to didn't get a bead on any (though it did register Kedrihm'Val), but it picked up something else: four people gathered around a holo relay--three Amalgamated staff and one Seinar Tech representative (Severan's old corporation), talking to Drath via uplink about getting the deed to Abindosan. He schedules a rendezvous in the Tapani Sector. Someone has apparently owned the planet since the time of the Old Republic, and the deed at some point made its way to the Houses of the Tapani Sector.

They send a message back to Coruscant about looking up records of Abindosan. Oola notes that their message is intercepted, and tracks a cloaked ship along the transmission path. They can't get identifying marks with its cloak up, but Dalt suggests scanning for gravity fields, which shows that it's a very small ship: too small to be Drath's. Oola sneaks up and levels an ion cannon at it, which knocks out the cloak and reveals it to be a Sienar design--Dalt's technology.

Ree wonders aloud if they're in trouble. "We're not in trouble if we kill them," Dalt points out. Compromising, they try to capture the ship, but the thing powers up to avoid them. It dodges Oola's shots at its engine with uncanny dexterity, marking the pilot as a Force user. By this time, they're drawing attention from CorpSec security, so Oola sits Dalt down and makes him help as she fires a tracker at the little vessel and then they clear out.

Z attacks the security ships to hold them off, and they chase their small target out of the sector. It's running hard to prepare for hyperspace. Oola locks in its final coordinates, and sure enough, it's heading for the Tapani Sector. Ree resends her earlier message to Erin and then they jump to hyperspace and follow it out.

Coral on the Brain

Ree gets back to investigating the ARC trooper they captured during the Festival.

The technicians who've been interrogating and studying him say that he seems to be a droid. They don't know where he came from or who was running him. It was set to wipe its instructions if it was captured, and is extraordinarily well-programmed. Ree asks Oola to take a look, but she's unable to discover much more. The droid's construction is a very strange mix of mechanical and organic. In fact, she tells Ree, it strikes her as "Dalt's sort of weird." She's right; Dalt finds it intriguing, and agrees to look into it further.

While he works on that, the crew heads back out to Eidolon Base with a New Republic team, but when they get there, they find the whole place wrecked. There were 2000 inhabitants: they're all dead. Lightsabers and toxic gas killed them. Oola's able to retrieve some more information from their computer, and they gather some personal effects and diaries to get an idea of what happened, but their best first guess seems to be the right one. Thrawn sent someone out to do 'clean-up.'

Dalt doesn't even wait for them to reach Coruscant, calling them in transit on the way back to tell them that it's the weirdest android ever. "It's insane technology," he tells them, and he means it quite literally. This thing is not a cyborg; it's a person who was made into a robot. An organic lifeform modified to work with technology. "A brain scan might work better on it than a computer scan," he says. He theorizes that it was programmed to watch them extensively, and it got so bored that it made a game of the task in its own mind. Hence the games with Ree and so on. He has more to tell them when they arrive, but he doesn't think he should share it over a commlink. Something about his descriptions leaves Kedrihm'Val feeling uneasy. Ree doesn't notice; she's feeling too sick over all the death they've encountered recently. Z and Onna are concerned about her.

They drop in on Dalt as soon as they get back. "Whoever did this didn't have a firm grip on science," he tells them, showing them the...remains. Its organs are carved with sigils. A piece of coral is embedded in its brain. Kedrihm'Val recognizes it all immediately as Abindosani.

The strange being has Dalt wondering what happens to Abindosani when they die, and just how they're connected to that coral. The tainted coral begins influencing Abindosani who stay near it for too long, Kedrihm tells him, having felt such an effect himself. How far that twisting could go, he doesn't know and isn't keen to find out. But he remembers that Dalt wasn't the only Force user interested in such subjects; Maul experimented extensively on Kedrihm's people too. Hunting through all the artifacts and documents they retrieved from the underwater base that made its way to Dathomir, he finds Maul's lab records from those experiments.

Maul tortured Abindosani Force users before killing them. At first, he wanted to see if their spirits would be drawn back to the reefs when they died. Then, figuring that since torturing good people could just as easily bring out their best qualities--courage, hope--as their worst ones, Maul posited using that to herd and concentrate whatever taint lurked in the reefs. He theorized that a Dark Sider native to the planet would grow more powerful as the reefs grow darker, and that by carrying a piece of coral, an Abindosani Force user could remain linked to his planet no matter where he went.

He looked for Abindosani Dark Siders to help him with his project. There are some, as Kedrihm'Val explains to the others, but most of them are simply hostile and anti-social, which was no use to Maul. He wanted someone who delved into the Dark Side because they were awful, not because they couldn't control themselves. He found only one promising candidate: Tazorin'Ken, a man with an unhealthy fascination with technology.

Kedrihm'Val knows the name, but it's hard for him to believe. The figure of Tazorin'Ken is almost legendary. He lived over a hundred years ago; parents use tales of him to frighten their children into behaving. Of course, Kedrihm'Val has seen stranger things, at this point, and on the other hand, it could simply be a different person using the same name. In any case, Tazorin'Ken agreed to work with Maul, performing experiments like this...bio-droid on Imperial soldiers. On the tapes, Maul muses that he never understood why the Abindosani were so anti-tech. Tazorin'Ken seems to have taken the idea of breaking that taboo and run with it; he sees technology as being more perfect than nature. The cyborg fishmen the crew ran into on Abindosan before were Tazorin's. Maul simply used the tools he found at hand, though he thought he could achieve better results, given more time, and found Tazorin's work rather unaesthetic, but promising.

This casts an even grimmer light on the damage to Abindosan, and makes healing Kedrihm'Val's planet a priority. Kedrihm'Val gets Dalt and Cilghal together to see if they can come up with any ideas. Dalt has several, but they're all in conceptual stages at the moment. Still, they're pretty certain this can be done without destroying whatever personality or mind is at work in the coral.

Before leaving for Abindosan, Kedrihm stops to talk to Zan, who helped heal the Vodne before. He says that Force Light does help, but the taint is more like a disease. He tells Ree that the Council will send someone to keep an eye on Kessel and hunt up what they can learn about that poison that killed Zay. Then he asks Kedrihm'Val what he expects to find on Abindosan. "Hopefully nothing," Kedrihm tells him. "I expect to find a man pretending to be a bogeyman who has drafted a few Dark Siders to his ends. I fear I'll find a bogeyman who has cyborged himself and organized people toward his goals using knowledge Darth Maul gave him."


Dalt comes along for this trip. He brings the coral-scanner he created in CorpSec so they can search for a heap of coral that isn't in the oceans where it belongs. SARR recommends not wandering blithely into a place that someone might have held for hundreds of years. Kedrihm agrees. He plans to talk to people first and see if word of mouth can give them any idea of what to expect.

Ree talks to people too. They may be primitive, but there's a limit to their superstitions. Tazarin'Ken is a child's story, but they're willing enough to tell her the stories. Kedrihm'Val explains to the elders that it may be someone using his name, which they can believe more readily and are somewhat concerned about.

Oola detects a concentration of coral about four days into the forests out of the remnants of the Imperial base. She also picks up three lifeforms and an odd electrical signal coming from that location. There's a village about two days out in that direction. They leave SARR and INON with the ship while they scope things out from the village.

When they camp the first night, Kedrihm'Val gets a strange staticky feeling in his head. Ree and Lydia sense it too, though not as keenly. It's almost like telepathic feedback. Ree tries to get a clearer sense of it, but she can only tell that it leads toward the ocean. When she suggests that Kedrihm'Val try it, he passes out as he successfully taps into the signal.

"It's a computer," declares Dalt after listening for a bit. "They're hacking the planet like a computer." Lydia is able to wake Kedrihm, who tells them the information is being drained from the reef. It's heading toward dawn by that point, so they decide to pack up and head toward the village. Kedrihm'Val notices that none of the animals that should be out and about at night are anywhere to be seen or heard.

They reach the village at dawn. Everyone there is unconscious, locked into the signal. It's being sent through them like a radar dish. There are tracks all around, all belonging to the same person over several days. Whoever they are, they were moving faster than a normal human, and with a limp, as Tazarin'Ken was said to have. He apparently comes down sometimes to check on people, especially the more Force-sensitive ones, as though he were fine-tuning a remote receptor.

Dalt asks Kedrihm'Val what information is being taken from the reefs. Kedrihm tries again to tap into the signal, more delicately this time, and finds himself muttering aloud in the Architect language. Dalt says it's "science stuff," then goes on a bit about sentient Architect reefs and Kedrihm'Val's people as coral-droids, sentient feelers evolved and sent out by the reefs to go out and pick up experiences and new information. Kedrihm'Val asks if it's the same with the Mon Calamari. Dalt says perhaps, and it could be a similar thing with Ithor as well, maybe even Dathomir or Kessel. But what kedrihm'Val got out of that data stream wasn't the core information; Dalt thinks it sounded more like a firewall. He might still be trying to break in.

That night--the signal obviously travels better at night--Kedrihm accidentally taps into the signal again, better this time. Tazarin'Ken is obviously reading the reef's mind. Enormous amounts of information are being transmitted.

The next day, they head up toward what seems to be the man's installation. Four hours out from it, Kedrihm'Val spots a dart trap. Z disables it, then has Dalt take a look. The thorn is wired with tiny thrusters as a heat-seeker. Meanwhile, checking her sensors, Oola sees signs of a broadcasting signal. He must be transmitting the information he gets from the reefs somewhere else. Off-planet. It's heading out toward the Outer Rim. Dalt says there's something else bad going on here; "Something...unappealing."

Kedrihm'Val and Z dismantle a pit trap and then a 'shoot an angry animal at someone's face' trap. It looks like a sort of cyberized badger. As they get closer to the installation, Kedrihm snags some hair the man left on his trail so they can check it later. Z climbs a tree for a better look, and spots a big satellite dish, a couple of huts, and large cables running between them. A n old-looking man wearing skins and extensive cybernetic adaptations is puttering about with two patched-together destroyer droids in tow and a new-model assassin droid. Either the assassin droid or the old man is giving orders.

They contact SARR to have him try to track the signal before they blow up the dish. SARR doesn't find any dish registering on the ship's sensors, but the signal is easy to track outside the atmosphere. He says he can reverse the signal and overload the dish.

The crew skulks closer to the installation. Kedrihm warns them to keep an eye out for modified plants, and sure enough, they're all over the place. Z suggests taking an ion blaster to the whole thing, but Ree wants to bring the old man out. The plan: cut the cables leading to the dish, use the Force to float two grenades over to the destroyer droids so they get inside their shields, and take on the man and the assassin droid themselves. But upon reconning the place a bit more, they find that the cables lead into two people who are hooked into the system somehow. Cutting those cables might kill them. After Kedrihm'Val reminds Oola of her little droids, she sends them to investigate the people. One is apparently a relay; the other is a power source, drawing power out of the reef.

Z arranges blazing electronic death, daisy-chaining a series of ion grenades together. He fires his rocket pack to fly right into the installation, Kedrihm'Val and Ree leaping in behind him. The assassin droid turns on a double-bladed lightsaber and attacks Ree, who cuts it in half. Tazarin'Ken makes a run for the forest, but Z brings him down first, ramming him into the ground. Knowing Z's about to get lightning-bolted by an angry Dark Sider, he chases after, kicking the guy in the head.

Instead, Tazarin lets out some weird howl, summoning a bearlike animal that's been modified to about twice its normal size and had two extra arms cybernetically attached. It's 22 feet high! Ree calls helpfully, "It's not as big as the Krayt Dragon!" Kedrihm'Val retorts, "I can't reach its sinuses." Oola hits the bear-thing with a knife-droid. After Tazarin nearly gets loose a second time, Z unloads his flechette launcher into Tazarin'Ken's head at point-blank range, leaving him and Kedrihm soaked in gore.

Kedrihm'Val: *spit* "Thank you, Z." Z: "You're welcome. Or are you being facetious?" Kedrihm'Val: "Mostly." Z: "Are you proud of me for knowing that word?"

Ree attacks the bear, smoothly removing its left arm and head.

The poor souls Tazarin'Ken hooked into his machines are nothing but burnt-out husks. Oola is able to track the signal's coordinates into CorpSec after following it through a couple of relay stations. Dalt reminds them that Maul had a base there. Ree reminds Dalt that he did, too, but Dalt doesn't recall doing such a thing. He laments the devastation of the Dark Sider, wondering what they might've learned from him if he'd stayed in one piece.

Oola checks the assassin droid's brain. It's a tough crack, but she makes it in. Maul sent it to advise Tazarin. He was after this information because these reefs hold DNA coding for every lifeform in the galaxy. That seems like a far-fetched claim, but Dalt thinks it might be the DNA for their final evolutionary forms. Why is it there, though? Another component of the Blueprint? Maybe the Blueprint holds the record of worlds, and Abindosan's reefs hold the records of lifeforms?

They'd placed the villagers on nutrient support. Kedrihm'Val reminds them they should disconnect that before anyone wakes up. When he comments on clearing out the abominated flora that Tazarin'Ken left behind, Dalt suggests that SARR use the ship to do a controlled burn. This pleases SARR.

They return the two burnt-out captives to Kedrihm'Val's people who, as Kedrihm warned they would, pretty much offer the opinion that they're dead in the ways that matter. Let them go and give them a funeral pyre.

Ree checks on the reef before they leave. The parts that were the most damaged in the previous go-round seem to be find now. She leaves some Force crystals with the Abindosani, who say they'll try to get them to the Vodne, who can probably do a better job with them. After setting Dalt and Oola to look over the recordings they've taken, she calls Luke, who tells her she'll be expected at a Council meeting.

On the way back to Coruscant, the Alderaanian groups are in the news again. "Eventually someone will have to talk to Senator Sent," Ree muses. "I'll go," offers Dalt with a laugh. Commenting on the Sent family resemblance, Z: "Can't wipe away ugly."
Dalt: *silence*
Kedrihm'Val: *moves to sit next to Z.*
Ree: "Z, that was uncalled for."
*pause*
Dalt: "I tried with your mother."
Kedrihm'Val grabs Z.

SARR asks about the reef data. It wasn't copied, but actually removed. It needs to go back in, but how do they do that? They might have to hook up some coral to the computer to, er, translate. But...Maul just wanted the reef emptied? What did he want to put in instead?

When they reach Coruscant, Ree learns that Han, Chewie, and Kyp went to Kessel. She frets over how Kyp will handle that.

Dalt and Oola talk. "If you were Maul and had a planet-sized computer to put stuff in, what would you put in it?" he asks her. He'd go about making a Force Star, he tells her. He also wonders what effect this might have on the planet. If 85% of the information has been drained from the reefs, then that's more room for the reefs to be changed...or to change themselves. Dalt advocates killing E'Val, to which Kedrihm'Val agrees. But there are guards, so they'll have to convince the Council to agree to it.

Back to getting the information back into the reefs: Tazarin'Ken channeled it out through an Abindosani, so channeling it back in through one would be an idea. But... "People are made to collect information for the planet," Dalt says, "but that much information will kill people." "Well, if all else fails," Kedrihm tells him, "I am here to do whatever I need to save my planet." Dalt agrees, but thinks that's an extreme solution. A radio signal through water, or a giant computer with coral built in, patterned on an Abindosani brain pattern, might work.

This somehow morphs to a long, involved talk about stealing brains. Dalt wants to lurk about till somebody dies, says he can remove a brain and put the skull back on in 2.5 minutes. Oola and Kedrihm find this alarming information indeed. Feeling morbid, Oola decides to call SARR and see if he has an extra brain lying about. He doesn't (thankfully), and wants to know why they ask. "Dalt wants it," Kedrihm tells him. SARR responds, "Aren't you supposed to be weaning him away from that?"

Luke is worried about sending them to CorpSec. That sector of the galaxy is under its own governance; Jedi and the New Republic have no authority there. This'll be a sensitive operation. He talks to Leia.

a Whisper of DUST part 4: Twin Suns Cast Darker Shadows

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.

A Whisper of DUST part 3: Ryloth's Caverns are Dark, Dark

Personnel on Ryloth have orders to allow the crew wherever they need to go. They're given friendship badges which signify that as guests of Twilek, rather than tourists or traders, they are permitted in Twilek parts of the city. When some of them voice their concern, Sareth Fenn tells them he's amused at the idea of someone trying to assassinate Lo Tser.

The crew has been to Ryloth before, but this time Oola's whole family is assembled, and they're given formal introductions. Nat is her oldest brother and the one who works in the Senate. Ulu, her older sister, is a language instructor at the Jedi temple, though not Force-sensitive herself. Serdo is her youngest brother, a smuggler and pod-racer on Tatooine and Coruscant. Looking uncannily like their father, Oola explains that he's expected to take over the 'family business' when Lo steps down. Oola's mother, Ree, is a Force Adept and martial artist. Kedrihm'Val asks if she'd be willing to teach him some things.

Lo is less concerned about being targeted for assassination than why Grand Admiral Thrawn is so interested in them. He makes fun of Oola for failing to keep a low profile...but what can you do when you travel with Jedi?

On the topic of the assassination, they have a week left before the attempt is to be made. Z suspects the fat, corrupt Portmaster. When Oola accesses his personal files, she finds out that Z has a point: the Portmaster has not been discreet about her father's dealings, and has been skipping checks on certain ships. His daily itinerary indicates that he's attending a meeting in an hour and a half at the floating rock gardens, which is enough time for the crew to get there ahead of him.

From their hidden positions, Ree, Z, and Kedrihm'Val watch one the Portmaster's assistants meet a dark, cloaked figure. He hands over a box and papers, and then they part. The three follow the cloaked figure back to one of the ships--a small Zeltron transport--that weren't checked by the authorities. Ree has Oola lock down the ship's stardrives, and then they follow the figure to a larger freighter.

After their target leaves the Zeltron ship, Oola sends her little droids to retrieve the box and papers left on board. The papers turn out to be detailed maps of the spaceport and the city, including a hidden lower level that Oola has never heard of before, about halfway up from the city cistern. There's also a rough itinerary of her family's movements for the day of the assassination. The box is locked with Sith markings--some kind of puzzle lock. Kedrihm'Val is able to open it, revealing another map to something building-sized buried on Ryloth. The map is covered with old Twilek writing that indicates it's an ancient Sith academy. According to Jedi lore, it was a training site for assassins.

They switch the Sith map with a fake, copy the map of the missing level, and Oola's little droids slip everything back onto the Zeltron ship. Sareth plants traps for the assassin along the family's expected movements, then bugs the Portmaster's office. Thus, they learn that he's meeting someone else tonight at Maala's Kitchen, the local cantina. Maala's a good woman. After Oola speaks with her, she agrees to help bug the Portmaster's table.

Lo Tser thinks the lower level of the city must have been added during the Empire's reign. The Empire did a lot of work on the port, refitting it to accommodate Imperial transports. Since Oola's still concerned about the Zeltron ship, Kedrihm'Val leaves to take another look at it, and discovers that she's right: it's saturated with Zeltron rage. But as the Zeltrons themselves don't seem to be here, the good money is that it's Asajj Ventress under that cloak.

They're proven right that night. Listening to to conversation at the Portmaster's table, they hear her asks if "the troops" are ready. She complains that it's humiliating to use so much strength to destroy a single family, and demeaning to be used for this when the Portmaster already has an army on tap.

While monitoring the bug, Oola notices that another spy is listening in from the freighter that Ventress visisted earlier. Ventress set up some kind of relay, but Oola can't tell whether someone is listening from the ship, or if the ship is beaming the signal out. Oola sends her little droids onto the freighter. It's empty, which means the signal's being beamed elsewhere. Sareth tells her to disable the ship's hyperdrive to keep it from leaving. While she's at it, Oola tightens up the job on the Zeltron ship as well.

Asajj asks about "the rest of the payment." The Portmaster tells her it's on the secret level, and promises that he'll retrieve it when they're done. When her attitude changes suddenly, becoming more oily, the Force users realize that she's responding to some image from his mind. Z notices that the Portmaster keeps referring to "the boss on Tatooine" the way they used to talk about Jabba: it's the fear associated with a real crime lord.

If there are troops on that hidden level, they're either droids or soldiers in suspended animation. Probably Imperial, or maybe even Trade Federation. Whatever Ventress wants down there, it could be something that Dooku left.

Passing that information on to Lo causes a family argument. Serbo thinks it's unfair that Oola can go down there while he gets yelled at for pod-racing. In response, Lo suggests (strongly) that Oola would be most useful staying up here to monitor and hack the hidden level's systems. She agrees and sends SARR and INON down with the others. To make sure there are no live soldiers being held in stasis, Oola's mother suggests scanning for energy drain due to life support pods. Oola finds none of that, but there is a massive shield drawing half the power for the city, wrapped around a person-sized case. Z makes sure people are equipped with EMP guns to face combat droids.

SARR on the subject of killing droids: "I'm not saying I'm against it, I'm just saying I find it morally repugnant. They're two completely different things." Evan: "Are they really?"

When they go down, they find loads of battle droids and about 150 super battle droids stored in an enormous bay that runs most of the length of the level. Oola nails the transponder for the battle droids to keep them from activating, but she warns them that the super battle droids are autonomous. If something activates them, they'll still be a threat.

The other end of the vault is blocked off by two huge doors. Kedrihm'Val senses powerful emanations of the Force coming from the other side. Oola opens the doors to reveal a cloning tube containing something cloaked and hooded. It's difficult to see clearly through the shielding, so Ree steps toward it just as Kedrihm'Val heightens his senses to get a better look. He grabs her right before she triggers a pressure-plate trap on the floor. On closer inspection, the whole area around the tube is trapped to activate who- or whatever is inside.

Oola deactivates the floor sensors for them, but whoever set this trap up was canny. Deactivating the sensors triggers the battle droids. Evan heads out with Z to hold them off while the others deal with whatever's in that tube.

Able to get close enough to see clearly now, Kedrihm and Ree recognize Emperor Palpatine! It's another bloody clone. Ree ponders the right course of action. Kedrihm doesn't hesitate at the thought of destroying it, but doesn't have a weapon that can punch through the glass. Keeping an eye on the battle outside, SARR informs them, "You have one minute." Oola counts. When she gives SARR the signal, he spins and puts a lightsaber through the tube. Ree is dismayed, but Kedrihm distracts her with a reminder that they need to help the others with the battle droids.

150 super battle droids against a Jedi, a gun-ninja, a regular ninja, Onna, SARR and Z; it doesn't last long, but it sure does look pretty. Once they've finished off all the droids, they tell Z and Evan what they found. Z is surprised Ree even needed to think about it. Evan's just glad it's dead. Ree and Lydia are a little less hard-edged. To distract from their philosophical differences, Kedrihm'Val redirects their attention back to the clone, asking "Proper protocol is to burn this, right?"

Once that's handled, they arrange a trap for Ventress if she comes down here. Using the battle droids that didn't activate, Oola recalibrates their blasters for stun and resets the pressure-plates. They create a hologram of the clone and its tank, and reverse the shields so that if someone steps on the plates, it will trap them inside. They wait for some time, but the trap never activates.

After a while, Oola checks the port's cameras to discover that Ventress stole another ship and left while the group was exploring. The freighter, however, is still transmitting a signal. Just in case, Oola rigs shields around it and Sareth Fenn calls for bomb procedures "after the unfortunate death of the Portmaster." Turns out, though, it's not a bomb at all. It's a recorded message from Drath. "I'd like to thank you for taking care of the one rival I had to worry about. And since you're there, since I've forseen it (I really hate saying that), I assume you've switched the maps and I have nothing. But I've got a dead Palpatine, so that's okay." He also comments on how "weird" Tatooine is and that he keeps running into Thrawn's people.

Fenn tells them that whomever is in charge of the new crime syndicate is running things from Jabba's palace. This is a new development in the past three or four months. Lo tells them his people will get the Sith map back to the Council, and Ree calls Kyp to give him an update. He'll pass word on to Han and Luke, he says, and commends them to Lady Valerian, the other major syndic boss on Tatooine. He's sure is involved in this and be very interested in what they have to say.

A Whisper of DUST part 2: Chandrilan Nights

The crew heads back to the ship with their prisoner (whom they figure will be safe with SARR and INON guarding him) to fill SARR in on events and decide their next move.

After Evan tells them Zay stayed with Enda for a couple of nights, some pieces fall into place. Zay had dangerous information. She associated with Enda. Enda associates with Rel. Could Enda have stolen the plans? But why would she want them? Z suggests that he hire her to get her out of the way so the others can do some discreet breaking and entering. Evan supports the idea, and even volunteers to set it up. "It's what I do. Partly."

While Z keeps Enda...occupied, they burgle her rooms. Oola finds a hidden safe in the floor which contains half of the missing documents, but it quickly becomes apparent that these are only useful if they have the rest. There's also a coded journal, which Oola is able to access easily. In it, Palra says she and another prostitute (Zay, they can guess) are using the papers for blackmail. Palra knows there's a connection between this slave ring and Tatooine. The papers indicate that whoever this crime lord behind Rel is, he knows very well about DUST and its true purpose, which is notable since Oola's father has been very successful in keeping that a secret. Enda is worried because two government officials (actually Imperial spies, as the crew now knows) have been killed in the last couple of days. Rel is scared; their bodies were left outside his headquarters with the DUST symbol burned into their foreheads. It's obviously a signal to let him know they're on to him.

The next move is clearly to turn over Zey's room again to look for the rest of the papers. But before they can leave, a thermal detonator rolls into the room. Ree chops it in half, then leaps out the door after another two Mandalorians she spots fleeing down the hall. But the Mandalorians set up booby traps. Ree gets caught by a tripwire. Lydia cuts Ree out while Kedrihm'Val takes over the chase. He finds one dead in the stairwell, cut in half by a lightsaber. There's a datapad lying on top of the body, listing a ship and a docking bay. He recognizes the sense of the Force user from the giftshop roof.

At his requrest, Oola taps the hallway security cameras to get a picture of a person in Sith armor with glowing red eyes. A Chiss. Wracking her brain for any known Chiss Force-users, Ree remembers only one: Severance Tann, a Chiss Dark Sider the Jedi have crossed paths with before. But she's dead.

Setting to work on the information in the datapad, Oola learns that the ship in that docking bay has been here for quite some time. It comes from the Mandalorian sector, and is reported as having five crew. It's not listed officially, of course, but it's obviously a Mandalorian ship. Tracing and tapping their local accounts, she finds that seven million credits have been deposited to them by Rel. It looks like they're working as assassins on retainer.

Hightailing it to Trinwal's place, they arrive to discover it's already been ransacked. A speeder takes off, heading toward the port with two Mandalorians on it. Ree pursues, racing along at Force-assisted speeds to leap up onto their transport. "Want to surrender?" she asks. "Why?" asks one of the Mandalorians. She ignites her lightsaber. The other Mandalorian tosses the papers out. Ree jumps after to catch them, but they fooled her: it's nothing but a slashed-up catalog. Still, that's not enough to put down Ree Shevan. Grappling a passing speeder, she swings back up to catch up with the Mandalorians again. But they're not interested in fighting at close quarters against a lightsaber. This time, they hand over the real papers and tell her they're clearing out.

With what they came for now in hand, Ree returns to the others, wondering if they should make sure Z is okay. Popping in on the comm frequency (he was listening in again), SARR says, "Z is fine." "Alright," Ree replies. "We're not going any further with that."

The papers describe an extensive slave ring. Chandrila is simply a waystation. DUST has gotten wind of the operation and is interfering all over. Whomever is running this out of Tatooine is controlling it from Ryloth, and knows about Oola's family, who they are, and plans to kill them at their next gathering in about a month. It looks like this is the information that Zay was worried about.

Oola calls her father. Tser takes it calmly, even seeming amused. He tells her he's inclined to wait and see who's trying, but invites her friends along and suggests that they pick up Sareth Finn. They last encountered him on the commerce station in Hutt Space, and it turns out he's the one who's been killing those politicians on Chandrila.

Palra Enda agrees to seek protective custody. Ree turns to Z and tells him, "Get me Ral." ZZ returns about an hour later with the unconscious Twilek gangster. Evan Srell says he wants to come with them to Ryloth. "I'm not sure whether it's justice or revenge, but I plan to find out," he tells them. They leave Ral and Dren with Republic Security and head toward Ryloth.

After introducing Evan and Sareth around to the droids, Ree asks Evan where he got training in the Force. He tells her he trained briefly at the Jedi temple on Yavin about ten years ago, but the philosophy never really agreed with him.

A Whisper of DUST part 1: They're Falling at Your Feet

Kyp standing a little behind her, Ree kneels at the side of the poisoned girl as she breathes out her last word: "Dust..."

Ree doesn't really want to put this in someone else's hands, but Kyp reminds her that there's nothing here that immediately indicates it's Jedi business. Reluctantly, she calls New Republic security. Erin arrives shortly after and Ree exacts a promise from her to call with whatever they learn.

RepSec quickly IDs the girl as Ara Mores; 17 years old, from the Outer Rim, specifically an unremarkable little textile-making planet with no particular name. A diary found in her bags indicates that Ara was on a touring cruise of the Inner Rim, for which she had saved up for years. She was a big fan of Ree and the others. Her luggage contains gifts for each of them. They also a tracker whose signal traces back to Chandrila--not hidden--and, more oddly, two very different styles of clothes: half of her wardrobe contains rather tasteless, plain outfits, while the other half looks like nothing so much as a stripper's wardrobe, along with wigs, makeup, and all the trimmings. The even odder thing is that those clothes come in two different sizes. The trashy clothes fit her better, though that's not what she was wearing. Also, she has an inexplicable tan.

The poison that killed her, Erin says, is one that was popularly used on slaves during the Empire's reign, though it's no longer manufactured. It has the unpleasant property of being programmable to activate when the victim experiences specific stimuli or emotional states. In this case, Erin guesses that the stimulus was extreme nervousness.

Wanting to help, Ree grabs Kedrihm'Val and Lydia, and sends a message to the others. Oola's attention is drawn by the name of the cruise company Ara had chartered her tour with: Outer Rim Tours, a company Oola knows well as it's owned by DUST, her family's crime syndicate.

Ree has Kedrihm'Val read Ara's belongings. Uncertain about the wisdom of trying to gain psychic impressions from Ara's body, he tries the ill-fitting clothes first. The face he sees is not the young woman Ree found. The girl in the vision is younger, plainer and somewhat awkward. She did come from the textile world Erin described, and he gains the impression that these two girls, whomever they are, share the same name.

Erin runs some checks, and discovers that the dead woman's ID was indeed falsified. Oola runs her own data search on this new information, and turns up the girl Kedrihm'Val saw. A trace on the tracker's signal turns up a matching receiver at a bar called the Broken Wave, located on Chandrila. When Z arrives, he quickly identifies the clothes as a style Chandrilan prostitutes wear. Erin lets them know that further tests from the labs indicate that the poison was in this woman's system for six years. It wasn't triggered by nerves, though. It was triggered by hope. That bit of cruelty is the final straw; whomever did this needs to be brought to justice.

No, Z. Not primal justice.

The woman's final diary entry is dated two weeks ago, at her arrival on Chandrila. Z notes that was during the Life Festival. Some things she wrote in her journal indicate that she was a latent Force-sensitive. Erin suggests that they go ID the person receiving the tracker signal, then call the authorities.

After considering the situation, Kedrihm'Val decides to try reading the dead woman's body after all. As he suspected it might, the girl's death scene hits him like a hammer...except it's the wrong death scene! He sees Ara Mores, the drab girl Oola found in her data search, being killed in an alley. The girl lying on the examination table, a Chandrilan prostitute, watches the murder from a hiding place around the corner. She's already worked up, he can sense; on her way to tell someone something important. As Ara dies, the two womens eyes meet, and the prostitute feels the force of Ara's fear drive their minds together, their thoughts jumbling with desperation and the import of news they each carry. Lost in a confusion of identity, Ara's drive to go to Coruscant and meet Ree merges with the anonymous girl's desire to run, which he surmises is what letd them--her--to Ree.

While Oola hunts through Chandrilan databases to find the identity of this missing woman, she finds an abnormal number of recent missing persons reports (which puts up a flag with the group, as Chandrila is where they first encountered the child slavery ring). This hooker, one of those missing, is Zay Vellar. She worked for a crime lord named Doran Nar who's said to be, well, pretty decent as crime lords go. Not a native, she arrived on Chandrila at the age of 13 with the poison already in her system a year at that point. She came from Tatooine. Oola also learns that the detective in charge of Zay's case is named Jondo Bess.

While Oola researches, Z badgers Kedrihm'Val about Primal Justice. "Can you say 'By the beards of my ancestors'? Your character says it on the show all the time." Bemused by the things people come up with, Kedrihm'Val asks him, "Have you ever seen anyone on my planet with a beard?"

"Chandrila's been fucked up ever since Dalt's clone had his way with it," Erin observes. And it's true; they've always suspected that the corruption spread further than what they dealt with the last time they were there. If there's more going on, Ree feels it's her duty to put it right as well as she can. This girl came to her for help, after all. She asks Oola to get a duplicate of the tracker so they won't have to move this one and possibly let people know they're coming, and then it's pack your bags and off to Chandrila.

Their first stop on the beautiful vacation planet is the Broken Wave bar. Everything on Chandrila is elegant, even the seedy underside. Oola notes that the building is attached to a casino complex, which is also owned by her father. She knows that in every business affiliated with her father's organization, there's at least one spy who reports straight back to DUST. This spy's job is to make sure that the business owners keep everything honest. The owner of this particular bar is named Erwal Tr'end, but the hotel's chef, Ordal Sinra, is the DUST operative on site. Oola plans to hit him up for information later on.

It takes about a minute to pinpoint the signal as originating upstairs, where the employee lodging and the freshers are located. Ree tells the others to wait while she sneaks upstairs. Her task isn't difficult. She finds it in a room shared by two girls. Judging by the holo-pictures on the desk, one was Zay, and the other is a waitress named Trinwal Zev. There are other pictures of the two of them with one of the casino's bouncers. It looks like the tracker was a sort of mutual protection arrangement; keeping track of each other in case something happened.

Ree isn't gone long. When she re-enters the room, Kedrihm'Val notices someone visibly recognize her as a Jedi and leave. "Z?" he mutters, indicating the exiting man. "Lots of people around here wouldn't be comfortable sharing space with a Jedi," Z replies, "but it's worth keeping the guy in mind. "

Turns out, the waitress at their table is Trinwal. Ree slips her a note on a napkin that they have news about Zay, and asks her to meet them outside on her break.

On their way out, the Force users feel themselves being watched. The sense is deeply malicious. Ree pinpoints the observer on a rooftop about three buildings down. She sends Z and Kedrihm'Val to investigate.

The roof is a furnished patio above a giftshop, arranged for outdoor parties. It's empty now, but their wather deliberately left a datapad behind, containing information about an 'escort' named Palra Enda. There's a symbol at the bottom of the datapad entry--a hand with a glowing red eye in the palm--that looks strangely familiar. Kedrihm'Val takes a moment to familiarize himself with the departed Force user's sense before he heads back down with the datapad. Oola makes sure it has no tracers or traps.

Trinwal meets with Ree, who tells her the bad news. The poor, grieved waitress can't help much. She doesn't think that Zay even remembered whatever that desperate information was. She gives them the bouncer's name--Evan Srell--and says he'll probably know more. Ree shares her commlink frequency in case Trinwal ever needs to get in touch.

After Oola looks up data on Palra Enda (Doren Nar's ladyfriend, he pays for her lodgings at a swank hotel), they hit up the casino. "Woohoo, blend in naturally!" Z cheers. Giving the others a promise to arrange their lodgings, Oola leaves to find Ordel Sinra. He's curious why Daddy's Little Girl is here. She tells him abut the murder. He says he's been watching Udlak'na Rel, a 'Twilek jackass' who's recently moved in and gaining local influence. Palra Enda has been splitting the difference between Doran Nar and Rel, wanting to make sure she comes out on the winning side. That's all his information on the scene. Before she goes, Oola shows Sinra the symbol on the datapad. Shocked, Ordel identifies it as 'the eye of Thrawn'--the mark of Thrawn's own secret police--and demands that Oola tell her father about this. Sinra doesn't want to be responsible if something happens when Tser's daughter tangles with the Grand Admiral's people.

Meeting back in their suite, Oola tells the others about the new developments. If Thrawn's operatives are involved, then this may've just gotten a whole lot uglier. Of course, he might just be keeping track of the crew, which somehow is not any more reassuring. Deciding there's nothing they can do about that at the moment, Ree suggests they simply look around for now to see what they can see. Kedrihm'Val looks at Z. "There's a good chance we'll get chased around this building, so we'd better get used to the layout." Z agrees. They really do work well together, to Kedrihm'Val's ever-so-faint disgust, because while he likes Z perfectly well, it means he never hears the end of PRIMAL JEEEEEUSTICE! Oola's presence conveniently gets them access to just about everything. She nabs them cards for the restricted access areas.

They locate Evan Srell that evening at the bash for the casino's nightly opening. In truth, he's hard for the Force users to miss; a glowing ball of Force-sensitive despair and rage. Most of the bouncers wear stun-sticks. He has blasters. And he's not just sensitive; there's a telltale sense of control about him that indicates he's had training. Z tries awkwardly to talk to him while Oola and Onna canvas the room. Quietly looking around, Kedrihm'Val notes that the waiter ferrying complimentary drinks is the one who ducked out of the bar earlier that day. When he grabs a drink from the man's tray for Lydia to check, she designates it as "wrong." Kedrihm tries to close in on the guy quietly, but the man spots him, trips him, and runs for it. Ree catches him in the kitchen and after she flips him into a wall, Kedrihm knocks him out. Z grabs the unconscious man and pulls eight of his teeth out in a bloody, impromptu dentistry session. They're fake, he replies to the others' shocked questions. And sure enough, the teeth Z's torn out contain poisons and explosives. Evan, having followed Z to the scene of the trouble, approves.

With the man subdued and disarmed, they take him to security. He's resistant to interrogation. Kedrihm'Val, figuring the alternative is to leave the guy to Z's and Evan's 'tender mercies,' mentally compels him to cooperate. Giving his name as Dren Wert, he tells them he's an operative for the Imperial Remnant. The Force users can tell he's also lightly Force sensitive. He explains that he attacked them because they're with a Jedi, and confesses that he's the one who killed Ara Mores after she overheard him having a clandestine conversation in an alley.

Then, prodding at his sore mouth, he exclaims, "All of them? I only have one secret tooth left." Ree grabs him by the face while Z snags the tooth. When Ree chides, "Z, try not to..." Dren interrupts, "Wait, wait. Z?!" He hadn't realized who this bunch actually was.

Dren was here to make contact with "y'know, criminals." Ara overheard them talking about collecting recruits or, "You'd call them slaves." This is clearly why people have been disappearing. Ree surmises that they have agents in the government who are looking the other way. Dren confirms that, and goes on to complain, "Slavers. Stupid slavers. They lost a whole operations procedure a few days ago." Which is, coincidentally, about when he killed Ara. None of the operatives know who took it, he tells them. He guesses it was probably one of the hookers. He has been here for four or five years now, and he knew about the Shadow Academy. He's working with Rel's new crime syndicate, which is funneling the slaves off-planet, but another syndicate (DUST, is the crew's good bet) keeps interfering...though Dren doesn't believe they took the plans. Rel's group must be working for someone significant, he tells them. He has excellent funding and connections. But Dren can't tell them much about the slaves. Their disposal isn't his bailiwick. Only Rel knows what the next step is, which is why those missing procedures are so important.

Kedrihm'Val suddenly realizes that he's smelling gas. It's seeping under the door. Opening the door, Kedrihm finds himself face-to-face with an assassin droid...which he promptly trashes. As it goes down, it shoots a ball out of its head. Ree chases it down and snatches it: a record of their conversation. She calls Oola, who was still downstairs keeping an eye on the room with Onna.

Heading up, Oola is attacked by two men wearing Mandalorian armor. She fights back with her knife-droids. Roaring "Don't ruin that armor!" Z grabs Kedrihm'Val and they go running to her aid, but the Mandalorians have already had enough of Oola's knife-droid and come crashing up through the floor on their way to escape. Z jumps on one, while Kedrihm puts his fist through the other's jetpack. Then, to the crew's surprise, Evan opens fire like some kind of Force-using gun-ninja. Looking at their defeated foes, Kedrihm'Val figures that since Ree's not there, someone needs to do the honors, so "Care to surrender?" he asks them. As they bow their heads in apparent assent, some kind of hidden blade decapitates them.

Z calls dibs on a set of the armor.

Inspecting the suits, Oola notes that the blades are remote-controlled. They could have been activated from a distance. And the pod with the record of their conversation is programmed with directions that lead them nowhere informative.

Dren isn't surprised at being targeted. The crew knows that whoever was behind this will try again; they need to get him, and his information on the spy network, someplace safe. Ree tries to reach Erin, but discovers they're being shielded. In fact, her commlink explodes when she tries.

Evan suggests they talk to Jodo Boss, the guy he hired to find Zay. Oola manages to hack through the block and send a message to Erin, but it'll be a while before she gets here, and they can't trust the potentially compromised Chandrilan security forces. Which means there's only one place safe for their captive in the meantime...