403. Sith Hunt: Part 1 - Mirk, Raezyr

It wasn't too long before the pair arrived back at the docking bay.

Jumping into his fighter and putting on his helmet Caecilius gave a nod to Nal as he started up the engine and left atmo with Nal close behind him.

Once in space Caecilius began figuring out astrogation calculations. "Alright coordinates for Carida... wait something is up"

"I sense it too" Nal replied

"Shields up" they said in unison as they activated their shields, just in time to not get blown to bits as 12 fighters that had been mixed with other traffic and a light cruiser opened fire on them.
"Foolish Jedi, you should have kept your noses out of exchange business" they heard over their coms as the lasers flew past their ships, some hitting the shields.

Gunning their respective throttles both Caecilius and Nal started taking evasive action.

It wasn't long before Caecilius was on the tail of one of the fighters. Leading his target slightly he let loose a barrage from his dual blaster cannons, the first few shots streaked in front of the enemy ship, but the rest hit directly on their mark. The other pilot was too slow on his reaction and his entire ship was hit as he flew right through the hail of lasers. The ship kept going for a moment before it exploded.

"One down" Caecilius said over the com, rolling to the right just in time to dodge a fate similar to the one he had just inflicted.

-----------------------------------

Raezyr

Nal barrel-rolled the nimble Aurek starfighter trying to shake the four fighters on her tail as her foils swept open into attack position. Luckily, they weren't production fighters, but rather each fighter was made out of wreckage of several other fighters and cobbled together. Fighters of that type were generally referred to as 'uglies' and one on one, they would have been no match for her, but numbers were on their side.

Given time, the two Jedi could have out maneuvered the uglies, but with the support of the light cruiser, they didn't have that time as the large ship was closing in fast.

Nal brought her fighter around and watched as Caecilius 'vaped' and ugly, then quickly rolled out of the way of some incoming fire from one of the uglies on his tail.

"One down," came her companion's voice over the comm.

She lined up her sights on one of the uglies on Caecilius' tail, then depressed the trigger switch. Green beams of energy shot out from her twin laser cannons and punched through one of the engine nacels on the fighter. The engine exploded and the ship went into a flat spin and out of control.

"Make, dat two down, Cae," Nal said.

The moment it took her to level out and fire had given the fighters on her tail too much time and light flashed over her cockpit as the red lasers splashed across her sheilds.

She flipped up onto her port wing and banked hard. "Come at me head on," she said into her comm. "At da last second, we'll make a close pass and dat will give us each a head on shot at da fighters on each oders six."

"Copy," replied the other Jedi, and he banked around lining up for a head on run straight at Nal.

Coming around she increased her throttle. Collision warnings blared in the cockpit as the Jedi's ships passed within meters of each other. Instantly, she depressed the trigger switch and fired into the mass of fighters following Caecilius.

She didn't hit anything, but it didn't matter. The uglies began taking evasive action in every direction and in the confusion, two of them collided, creating a single brilliant ball of fire.

Caecilius did the same, firing both of the laser cannons on the Skiv, but to greater effect. The enemy fighter directly behind Nal exploded instantly as the green darts shot out and ripped through it's fuselage.

Caecilius banked hard to starboard, barely missing the debris, but one of the uglies wasn't as lucky, as shrapnel ripped open the belly, creating another dazzling display of fireworks.

Nal was about to come around for another run as the enemy fighters were still scattered in disarray, when suddenly the light cruiser's turbo laser fire erupted all around her.

"Time to go, I tink," she said into her comm.

"That cruiser's right in our exit vector. Come around to my wing and we'll lauch torps. It won't hurt it, but it might bring their shields down and cause them to take some evasive action," Caecilius replied and brought his ship around to make a run on the cruiser.

Nal reversed thrust, and banked in a tight spin, coming around on the other Jedi's wing, then throttled up and switched her deflector screens to full front for their run.

She thumbed the weapon control on Firaxa 1 over to the concussion missile launchers and watched as the targeting reticle went from green to red.

"On my mark," came Caecilius' voice across her speakers. "3... 2... 1... MARK!"

She fired and watched as four missiles launched, two from each fighter, and streaked across the blackness. They exploded just back from the cruiser's hull, and blue waves rippled outward, then began to dissipate, indicating the shields were coming down on the starboard half of the ship.

For a moment she thought about attempting to fire again, but her scopes indicated the uglies had regrouped and were once again on the trail of the Jedis.

The cruiser began to take evasive action, rolling so the port side shields would be facing the incoming fighters, but the break in firing was all the gap the two Jedi needed for their escape.

They had already programmed the astronav coordinates into their computers, so all they needed was to align themselves with their exit vector. Once that was accomplished, they flipped the hyperdrive levers and shot away, leaving their attackers in their ion trail.

402. Flight of The Decoy - Raezyr

It took them a while, but eventually they found their best bet for getting onto the Republic Hammerhead-class cruiser. Lieutenant Jax Dotha of Alderaan was a fairly young man of slender build, and not unattractive. He was in charge of a terminal maintenance crew entirely made up of enlisted members aboard the Unity. Due to the Republic military policy restricting fraternization with enlisted, and the fact that his own supervisor was years older than him, he had become a bit of a loner.

Anya had spotted him some weeks earlier sitting alone at a table in one of the shipyard ring's tapcaf's and had made an excuse to get to know him. After finding out exactly what his duties were, and discussing them with Tyrrazapon, they had decided that he was exactly the type of person for which they had been looking.

Anya turned on all of her charms and it wasn't long before Jax began courting her, which wasn't surprising as there were already several other young officers attempting to win her as well. Having found her target, she slowly stopped seeing the others, and eventually let them down easy to avoid any harsh feelings.

She eventually introduced Jax to her 'cousin' Tyrrazapon, and it wasn't long before the three were seen together on a regular basis, although Tyrrazapon would always find some chore or other duty which needed his attention and excuse himself early, leaving Anya and Jax to be alone together well into the early hours of the morning.

Jax was having the best time of his young military career. Ever since graduating from the Republic Military Academy, he hadn't had any friends or companionship, and he couldn't believe how lucky he was, not only to find a beautiful girl who was interested in him, but to have made a real friend his own age on top of that.

Both Anya and Tyrrazapon had been asking him for a tour of the ship, to see where he lived and where he worked for a while now, and he had balked, since it was strictly against policy, but each time he had refused, the look of disappointment on Anya's face crushed him. He could tell that all she wanted was to know more about his life, and see it for herself.

Finally he decided that giving them a tour couldn't hurt anything, since he knew so much about them despite his short time knowing them. He scrounged around and was able to obtain a couple of civilian maintenance worker uniforms.

The tour went off with only a minor glitch. The security let them through since the two 'workers' were being accompanied by Lieutenant Dotha, and they weren't questioned once, although Tyrrazapon did get separated from Anya and Jax at one point, but no harm was done. Tyrrazapon explained that he had been looking around the Main Computer Control room when he realized he had been left behind. Once he realized they were gone, he stayed put, rather than wandering around blindly, knowing Jax would come back to get him.

A few days later, Jax received word that the repairs to the Unity were nearing completion, and they would be shipping out at the end of the week. He decided that now was the time to ask Anya to marry him. His tour of duty would be over in another year and a half, and then he could transfer off-ship to a planet-side base or space station somewhere and Anya would be able to join him.

He was devastated when she turned him down. Anya told him that she wasn't sure she was ready to settle down as she was still young and there was still so much of the galaxy she wanted to see.

Anya convinced him to stay in contact with her, and gave him a holo-net address where they could leave messages for each other, and then she gave him a kiss good-bye.

The next morning, Tyrrazapon and Anya left the Kuat Drive Yard aboard the Nefarion Wraith and headed for the Relarr System to pick up the Wasted Rancor.

"You're sure the program loaded itself, right?" Anya asked Tyrrazapon for the thousandth time.

"Yes! I'm sure! It did exactly what Trych said it would do. The terminal said the files were extracted and installed. All we can do is wait and see, and hope to the Ancient Lords of the Sith that it works," Tyrrazapon told her. "Your fiance was sure they were shipping out at the end of the week, right?"

"Shut up, Tyr. Hanging around that poor sap bored me to tears. How in the galaxy is a girl supposed to act interested in computer repair and Alderaanian nerf breeding strategies for weeks at a time? And to top it all off, the idiot asks me to marry him. I wanted to cut him down right then and there. Hopefully he's stupid enough to give us some good information when he leaves me messages," Anya said, rolling her eyes and leaning back in the co-pilots chair and kicking her feet up on the console.

Anya had taken to wearing a blood red, knee length skirt that was slit half-way up her left thigh. She still liked to bare her midriff, though and kept to the halter-top style top, although this one was blood-red instead of the black that she used to wear. Her skirt fell back a bit as her feet were resting on the panel in front of her, and Tyrrazapon checked out her shapely leg where it was slightly exposed out of the corner of his eye.

"So. I take it you're not going to reconsider his offer, then?" he said, grinning.

"You're not going to let this drop, are you?"

"Nope. Probably not," he said, although they spent the rest of the short hyperspace jump discussing how to get the Rancor noticed once the Republic Cruiser left space dock.

401. Flight of The Decoy - Trychon

They had no problems finding the cruiser. It was too hard to hide from them. Getting access remained a larger issue. The ship had been badly damaged by Raezyr's attack, and was under very heavy repair. When they first came across it all of the crew, including officers, had been relocated or temporarily evacuated. The only persons going on board were shipyard crew.

They could have forced or sneaked their way on while the ship was under remodeling... but it would have been harder or impossible to cover up their work. Maintenance workers were scrutinized closely for specifically the sorts of things that Tyrrazapon and Anya had hoped to do.

After several weeks, the ship would start allowing some of the crew to relocate back onto their native quarters and either help the shipyard crew or do their own work. Tyrrazapon and Anya agreed to wait until that time came to get Trychon's program installed.

While they waited for the opportune time, they hopped in and out of the system somewhat erratically, as any normal ship crew might that worked one small quadrant. They'd stay for a few days onboard the shipyard ring, pretending to enjoy some simple down time... and then they'd hop on board the Wraith again to disappear for a few days, keeping a close eye on the traffic in and out of the system, just to be careful.

They had disagreed a bit about the other half of their mission. They couldn't figure out when or where the best time to make an appearance and stir up some trouble in the Wasted Rancor. After many heated debates, with both parties changing their thoughts over and over... they finally agreed that they could make an appearance right before the cruiser was set to head out to space again.

They would likely have a week or so as a window where the ship had almost full access again to the crew... but before it made its second maiden flight.

In the mean time, they were falling back almost to older versions of themselves. Tyrrazapon was making acquaintance with the crew by taking small portions of their money at the Pazaak table... without making too many enemies. Anya was making contacts by acting like she was more like her more friendly older self. She was getting more attention from the crew, but she kept them at bay for the moment.

400. Hoth: King's Lair - Raezyr

The anger and ferocity, combined with the unexpectedness of Vikon's voice nearly shook the brothers out of their trance. Trychon was the first to recover.

"Lord Vikon, we have had to alter our plans. We have pressing concerns at our current base of operations," Trychon told him.

"That is of no concern to me. Do I have to remind you that you are Sith, and as such, the concerns of those not of our Order matter little. You will stop and set a course for the Bermatrix system immediately," Vikon demanded.

"No. We won't," Raezyr stated flatly.

"WHAT?" Vikon stated incredulously.

"Do I have to remind you that you are not our master? Lord Eiron instructed us to complete the missions on our own time frame, and we have now altered that time frame to suit our concerns," Raezyr informed him with resolve in his voice.

Vikon's eyes filled with fire and his voice became as icy as death. "You forget your place, young Acolyte. I am a Sith Lord. Defy me, and you risk my wrath." Vikon's voice softened a bit, but the cold undertones remained, "The seeds have been sown, and time is now ripe for the fall of the Taxl monks. I have prepared them for your arrival, and we are waiting."

"You'll have to wait a while longer, then, Lord Vikon. We will be there as soon as possible. Right now, our comrades are in peril and that requires our immediate attention," Raezyr stated.

"You may be able to help them, but your destinies lie along a different path. Heed me when I tell you that aiding them does nothing to aid yourselves." Vikon sighed, realizing he wasn't going to change Raezyr's mind. "Fine, I await your arrival, but do not think for a moment that this insubordination will go unpunished!" Vikon said and his image vanished.

Trychon looked over at Raezyr as they came out of their trance. "Maybe he's right, Raez. Di's tough. She can probably handle whatever it is that's going on."

Raezyr shook his head. "Maybe. I don't know, but if we don't go now, will there be anything to go back to later?"

"You've got a good point, but I don't think it's really in accordance with our training to be concerned with helping others. At least not according to Lord Var. He'd be pretty irate if we told him what we're about to do," Trychon said.

"Maybe it's misplaced for a Sith, but all I know is that Dianna's in trouble, and I'll be damned if I let her face it alone."

The upgraded power coupling that Delki had installed added a ten percent increase in speed and lasted nearly the entire trip before burning out. The time it did operate bought them a couple of extra hours. Instead of two days, they broke Hoth's atmosphere in just under 44 hours.

As Raezyr cut the sublight drives and kicked in the repulsor lifts, Trychon radioed the King's Lair to inform them of their arrival, but all that came back across the comm was static.

"They're not answering us, Raez," Trychon informed him.

"Just keep trying, someone has to be there. Delki, Bleetz, Dek, someone..." Raezyr said.

Finally after several more attempts, Zanz's voice came across the speakers, "Negative, Jet Razor, you are not clear to land. You've already done enough around here, go find a new place to infest, Sith," he said, snarling the last word.

Trychon growled right back at him. "Cut it out and open the doors, bantha breath," Trychon said, but once again, only static replied.

"Just use the emergency remote code, Trych," Raezyr suggested.

"I tried that actually, but our codes have been locked out."

"Do you still have remote access to their central computers?"

"Yeah, why?"

"See if you can slice in and override their command codes," Raezyr suggested.

"I should have thought of that. I programmed in a back door while Dek wasn't looking," Trychon grinned.

Raezyr circled above the entrance a few times before Trychon spoke again, still furiously working at the terminal. "Okay, we have to time this right. I can open the doors, but they'll be able to close them again the instant they fully open, so we need to be right at the doors."

Trychon did some quick calculations and Raezyr swung wide, then came around, lining up for a landing. The Jet Razor passed through the hangar doors, just as they began to close again.

The scene inside was one of complete chaos. They looked through the transparisteel cockpit windows in complete disbelief. Three of Dianna's ten ships were missing, and those that were there were in various states of wreckage. Everyone of them were covered in laser score marks, some were still smoking, and two of the fighters didn't even look to be space worthy. Bleetz and Delki were hard at work on the ships, but what concerned them most was Zanz marching across the hangar bay toward them, anger burning in his eyes.

Raezyr shut the ship down and he and Trychon made their way off the ship. As they reached the bottom of the ramp they looked over at Zanz. He looked to be in pretty bad shape, with kolto patches on his side and leg.

Raezyr stepped forward spreading his arms wide as Zanz came close. "What's the big idea..."

His statement was cut short as Zanz' fist connected solidly with his jaw.

399. Hoth: King's Lair - Trychon

Trychon ducked under Raezyr's aggressive forehand swing, and turned it into a roll. He got to his feet and spun around to face Raezyr as quickly as possible, not surprised in the least to find him already advancing. He put his right hand forward and pushed Raezyr back. Raezyr used his force defenses to deflect some of it, and what was left only halted his forward momentum momentarily.

They had sparred quite a bit on the return trip to Hoth, as the late Daxon Var had been less than impressed with Trychon's jokes about helping civilians for a half million credits, and had all but stopped speaking with them, at least about anything of interest. Boring lore was worse than no lore at all, Trychon had said after their last Holocron session a few days prior.

Finding himself on the retreat yet again, Trychon sidestepped an angled attack from Raezyr's practice blade, which hummed just as menacingly by his ear as the real one would have. Taking half a step back he gestured with his hand again, and concentrated on pushing at one of Raezyr's feet, as his defenses were strongest at his core.

Again, the attack was partially deflected naturally by Raezyr's defenses and what wasn't deflected had minimal affect as they'd agreed the previous day to 'training' powers during duels. The idea was similar to the practice blades, as they'd agreed to use roughly half of their normal abilities on all telekinetic attacks. Trychon complained that it was his only slight advantage, but Raezyr pointed out that he normally used two blades and not just one. Trychon maintained that Raezyr still had an edge, but they'd ultimately come to terms when a particularly well timed blast sent Raezyr into their table at the edge of the room, knocking their drinks over.

The new parameters had caused Trychon to adapt, and his latest attempts at specifically aimed Force shoves had proved mildly effective. The attack at Raezyr's feet was enough to nearly throw off the more advanced duelist's balance, and he was forced to take a moment to reset his footing. Trychon didn't hesitate, and used that moment to skip forward and aim a sidekick into Raezyr's shoulder. There was no holding the impact back and Raezyr stumbled to the side for a few steps before turning so his back could absorb the impact with the wall and he could rebound off of it.

Raezyr lunged forward and took a retaliatory swing at Trychon's left leg. Trychon didn't react quickly enough, or at all really. Raezyr's practice weapon burned slightly into Trychon's pants and thigh and pulled enough on him to cause his limbs to be swept from under him, and Raezyr watched him fall blankly to his back.

Knowing immediately that something wasn't quite right, Raezyr rushed forward to look down at his Sith Brother, whose eyes were staring blankly straight up at the ceiling and then at Raezyr. The blank stare was dominated by darkness, as Trychon's pupils had seemingly expanded to take over the majority of the open portion of his eyes. Unsure what else to do, Raezyr reached downward and slapped him across the cheek.

Trychon's head snapped to the side and then back to look at Raezyr with a number of blinks, and a normal set of eyes. Raezyr extended his hand again, this time as an offer of assistance, and Trychon took the help and stood.

"Something's not right..." Trychon started and then paused.

Raezyr began to walk off to the side to the table to have a seat and rest. "You mean with your defense?"

Trychon darted his a look over at his companion. Feel it, Raez.

Raezyr looked at him for any signs of a joke, and found none. He closed his eyes and extended his senses to Trychon, then began to sense outward as they'd been training on. He could see or sense nothing at first... but then began to feel a general sense of unease that nearly derailed his concentration. Assuming that had to be what caused Trychon's concern, he pressed on. For minutes, he could feel nothing more.

Suddenly, a vision flared into his mind's eye for a mere instant. He could see Hoth as it appeared when approaching for descent. Something was certainly not right though, as the planet appeared not in a numbing bright white... but in red. Blood red.

Raezyr opened his eyes and shot up from his chair, and ran straight for the cockpit. "Come on, Trych! I need your help!" He yelled as he exited the room. Trychon said nothing as he followed with the same speed.

They sat down and Raezyr began immediately tapping the controls. After a minute of frantic calculations, Raezyr spoke. "What did you see?"

Trychon shook his head. "Nothing. I just was overcame with a feeling of... danger. Not mine though. Just something inherently wrong."

"Well, I saw something. We have to change course and head towards Hoth. Our original course has us two days away, and we could have been there right now. Dammit!" Raezyr pounded the controls. "What can you do to coax more out of our hyperdrive?"

"Hoth? But... Dianna was headed off planet the same time we were. She made it sound as though she'd be gone a bit after we were... that's why we agreed to go meet this Darth Vikon and complete Master's mission right after we finished Corellia in the first place."

Raezyr glared at him. "Whatever's happened has something to do with Dianna and her crew. Can you speed us up or no?"

Trychon began tapping at his datapad. "I've removed a few of the normal parameter limits on the engine running. It'll cause a bit more wear and tear, but nothing drastic. Not sure how much more we'll get out of it."

"Trych, I need more power!" Raezyr raised his voice just short of yelling.

"I'm a slicer... not an engineer, Raez." Trychon continued to work on the computer. "Alright. It looks like Delki had a small upgrade nearly in place, but not set up to run because something must not be quite ready. I can activate it, but I can't make any promises. We'll speed up for at least a bit though." He merely looked up to see the determination in Raezyr's continued glare before hitting the necessary sequence to give them a temporary boost.

After nearly an hour of silently staring into the stretches of hyperspace, Trychon urged Raezyr to attempt to sense outward again. When Raezyr failed to feel anything at all, Trychon closed his eyes with him and they tried together to discern what could be so horrible on the remote pirate base.

Instead, a stern voice entered their head.

What do you think you are doing? Vikons voice echoed as though it was reverberating through the ship.

398. Pirates....... YAR! - Raezyr

Raezyr and Trychon made several attempts at finding who had placed the sheet of flimsi-plast under the glass, but neither the serving droid, nor the bartender seemed to know how it had gotten there.

All that was there was a set of coordinates which corresponded to a location several clicks outside the town. After a bit of discussion, they came to the logical conclusion that it was either a trap, or was the location where they would make the exchange with Dagus Kolant. Either way, they had no choice but to go, and if it turned out to be a trap, then better to spring it and find out who was trying to set them up.

They made their way back to the Jet Razor and climbed aboard after shutting off the security system. As Raezyr ran through his pre-flight checks and engine warm-up, Trychon contacted Aitchkay and instructed him to make his way to a low, stationary orbit around Talus over the coordinates they had been given. If it was a legit contact, they didn't want to have to wait along time for the droid to arrive, and if it was a trap, the air support that the starfighter could lend them.

They gave their droid enough time to get into position before heading to the rendezvous place. They location turned out to be a large grassy, moon lit clearing in a heavily wooded area just north of the town they had been in, and they were able to land easily, taking care to leave enough room for Aitchkay as well.

Raezyr checked the sensors, but found nothing out of the ordinary, as the sensors weren't calibrated to locate single life forms. Together they searched for any consciousness using the Force, and did locate one, somewhere in the forest ahead of them. Relatively sure that the meeting was going to be on the up and up, Raezyr shut the ship down and the half-brothers disembarked.

Once outside, Trychon used his electric torch and quickly flicked it on and off several times in the direction they felt the individual to be hiding, then did the same in three other directions so the person wouldn't suspect they knew he was there.

Pretty soon a figure emerged on the edge of the clearing and approached them. It was a Zabrak male wearing a black sleeveless tunic, loose fitting pants, and black soft leather boots. He was wearing a blaster on each hip, butt forward with the muzzle pointing behind him, in what was generally known as a cross draw setup.

It wasn't common, but Raezyr had seen it before. The set up allowed the wearer to reach across the front of his body and draw the blaster from the holster on the opposite hip, which was the standard method and where the set up got it's name. The lesser known method was to draw the weapon with the hand on the same side of the body, twisting the hand backward to grab the butt of the blaster. It was almost as fast and because it was usually unexpected, it gave the wearer just that much of an edge over his or her enemy. Raezyr noted it, and mentally warned Trychon about it as well.

Raezyr stepped forward as the man approached cautiously. "I assume you're here to pick up the merchandise."

"I am, and I presume you are the 'agents' of which Kingsdoom spoke," the Zabrak replied.

"I am Raezyr, this is Trychon," Raezyr said extending his hand, which the horned mercenary shook. Both Trychon and Raezyr noted the man kept one hand near his weapons at all times.

"Dagus Kolant," the man returned. "Where's my ship and other purchases?"

"Your other parcels are in the cargo bay right here," Trychon said, punching some buttons on a remote and lowering the cargo bay ramp. "Your ship is in orbit above us. We'll have it land as soon as you transfer the credits to us."

They led the mercenary into the cargo hold and waited while he opened the plasteel bins and checked the contents. Once he was assured that they were what he wanted, they unloaded the bins from the hold.

Trychon and Kolant took out their data pads and began the money exchange. "I've encrypted the transaction," Dagus said as he finished. "When I've inspected the ship, I'll give you the key to unlock it."

"Fair enough," Trychon said and took out his communicator and contacted Aitchkay. Within a few minutes, the fighter had landed and the droid climbed out of the cockpit.

When Kolant was satisfied he gave them the key to decrypt the transaction. Trychon, Raezyr and Aitchkay climbed aboard their ship and roared off into the night sky.

397. Pirates....... YAR! - Trychon

The two Sith meandered through a few alleys and streets until they found the location they were looking for. They were pretty surprised as they walked through the entrance to see that the inside of the cantina did not match the battered outside of the building. It was a different sort of establishment altogether, with a bit more lighting than they were used to. The area seemed much cleaner though, which seemed to be why they didn't mind having the lights on.

Some of the booths off to one side were still fairly dark, so it seemed that perhaps the management was still comfortable with the occasional shady deal, as long as it was a higher class of criminal. Trychon and Raezyr didn't really mind one way or the other, as they weren't worried about running into trouble anyway.

They picked out one of the booths, and sat down. The list of ales was longer than any they'd seen previously, so with their newfound credits they tried a few of the costlier brews, with mixed results.

Their contact was supposed to know to meet them here... and had presumably been given a day or two as a timetable, with a rough description of Raezyr and Trychon. They didn't have much info on their contact, so they simply waited. They passed the time by talking quietly about the unexpected windfall... Trychon laughed about Raezyr's 'Nice touch' in removing the one thug's ear as well as making the old man cry and soil himself... and Raezyr complimented Trychon on his seemingly heightened senses when it came to the man.

After a few hours, and many ales... a small slip of flimsi showed up under Raezyr's ale.

396. Pirates....... YAR! - Raezyr

Raezyr bent down and reached inside the dead alien's jacket to see exactly what it was the alien had been reaching for. Holding the object up, Trychon and Raezyr both gazed at the data pad that he had been holding.

They glanced at each other for a moment. "Uh oh," was all Trychon said before the half brothers each grabbed an arm and drug the body back aboard the Jet Razor. They stuffed it into the refresher and decided they'd shove it out of the airlock once they returned to space.

After securing the ship a second time, they headed into the town to get a feel for the place and look for the cantina where they were supposed to meet their Zabrak buyer.

They walked around the town for a bit, enjoying the cool evening breeze when suddenly a middle-aged human man, maybe 50 standard years of age stumbled out of a narrow, dimly-lit side street. At first glance his clothes appeared to be well tailored of fine cloth, but upon closer inspection, they were well worn and a bit frayed around the edges.

He reached out and grabbed Raezyr by the arm, nearly causing Raezyr to draw his weapon again, but something kept him from it. "Please, young sirs, I require your help."

What do you think, Trych? Raezyr thought to the other Sith. Should we tell him to 'Get lost, old man. We're busy' or 'We'd be glad to help'?

Nah, I think you should say, 'Please tell us more, before we agree to help you' Trychon thought back.

"Please tell us more, before we agree to help you," Raezyr said to the man.

"Very well. I owe a large sum of money to the owner of a local gambling establishment. Two of his thugs are coming down the street right now to collect payment, but I only have a portion of the money. If I don't pay them the full amount, they may beat me up, or worse. I just need someone to help me convince them that I just need a couple more days to come up with the money," the man explained.

"We have problems of our own. Why should we care what happens to you?" Trychon countered.

The older man sighed. "I have a very sick wife, and I'm the only person on Talus who will look out for her. I've spent everything I had looking for a cure, and I wagered a large sum of money on what was supposed to be a sure thing so I could keep looking for a cure. I tell you what, if you help me right now, I'll give you some of the money I do have. I still may be able to come up with the full amount to pay back the casino owner with the extra time you buy me."

Raezyr rolled his eyes, and Trychon exhaled loudly, slumping his shoulders. "Fine, but this better be worth our time," Raezyr commented.

"Oh, thank you so much!" the older man exlaimed, and turned back down the dark side street, beckoning the younger men to follow. He lead them down the narrow way for nearly half of a block when they saw two large humans step around the corner at the end of the street and begin to head towards them.

Raezyr noticed Trychon looking around uneasily. Do you sense something amiss?

Trychon just nodded his head.

Is it a trap? I'm not sensing anything. Raezyr thought.

No, not that. It's... something else. The old man himself, I think. Trychon thought back.

Raezyr stretched out his senses. He could feel that the two thugs approaching them had become wary, apparently not expecting to see anyone but the old man, but he still couldn't get a grip on what Trychon was feeling.

"You have our money, old man?" One of the thugs asked when they finally came face to face. Both of the thugs were large, well muscled humans, and both carried blasters in low-slung holsters tied down on their thighs. They seemed a bit cautious due to Raezyr and Trychon's presence.

"I can't pay you right now. Tell Yurik that I'll have his money by the end of the week, in full," the older man explained.

"No, today was your deadline. No extensions. If you can't pay, then we'll just have to take it out of your hide!" the second thug said and reached out to grab the man's tunic.

Raezyr stepped forward and knocked the man's hand away with his forearm. "You won't be taking anything out of anyone's hide today."

The thug opened his mouth to speak but Trychon stepped forward and continued. "You have two choices. You can go back and tell Yurik that you gave the man here until the end of the week."

Silence filled the air for a moment before the first thug spoke again. "Or?" he said, prompting Trychon to continue.

"Or you can go back and tell your boss that you gave the man until the end of the week... minus a limb or two," Trychon stated flatly.

The thugs looked at each other for a second, then burst out laughing. "Nice try, nerf-herder, you don't even have weapons. I think we'll stick to our original plan. Killing you two will just be a bonus," the first one said, and they both dropped their hands, palming their blasters.

In an instant, black and red lightsabers flashed to life and sliced through flesh and bone, removing the thug's gun arms above the elbows. Trychon reached out with his off hand and Force pushed the men backwards to the ground.

Trychon kicked the blasters into a drainage gate in the gutter while Raezyr approached the two men who were moaning in pain and cradling the stumps of their arms. "You chose unwisely," Raezyr said, grinning and holding his red blade in front of them.

"Please, M-master Jedi, we're sorry, we... we didn't know," stammered the first thug. Raezyr snarled silently and flicked his wrist, removing the man's ear.

"I am NOT a Jedi," he stated quietly so only the thugs could hear. "Now return to you master, before I decide to leave body parts more vital to you for the carrion to feed upon."

He watched as they scrambled to their feet and ran down the street from the direction they had come. Flicking his blade off, he returned it to his belt, then joined Trychon and the older man.

"Thank you so much for your help, here is the money I promised you," he said, taking a pouch from inside his tunic. He placed it in the palm of Trychon's hand and turned, walking away quickly.

Suddenly, Trychon heard the man's thoughts almost as if he had spoken them aloud. Suckers! If those fools only knew the truth!

Rage instantly flooded Trychon at being taken advantage of, and he unleashed a Push so violent, the man flew forward several feet and landed on his chest. The brothers heard grunt as the wind was knocked from him.

Raezyr didn't comprehend exactly what was going on, but he knew enough to back Trychon's play, and together they jumped forward and hauled the man to his feet. Trychon shoved his unignited hilt into the man's belly. "I think you have some more to tell us," he snarled, still irate.

The man began wimpering. "Please, I'm sorry! Don't kill me!"

"Talk, damn you!" Raezyr said, grabbing the man by the throat.

"Okay! I lied! I do owe money to Yurik and those men, but it's because I paid them to kill my wife! She was rich, and was going to cut me out of her will because I was unfaithful. I told them I'd pay them when I inherited her estate, but I was planning on stiffing them and running to Corellia. My transport was delayed from tonight until tomorrow morning, and I needed the extra time! Please don't kill me! Oh, Sith spit, I just soiled myself" the man blurted, tears streaming down his face.

Trychon grinned at Raezyr. "How much did you inherit?" he asked.

"A million credits."

"Transfer that money to us, and we'll let you live," Raezyr said.

"But... but, I'll have nothing to live on!" the man blubbered.

"It's a generous offer we're making. Everyone who's double crossed us in the past, made the 'final hyperspace jump' shortly after, and we'll not make the offer again," Trychon informed him.

The man quickly decided that it wasn't his time to die. He pulled out his data pad, and within a few minutes, Trychon and Raezyr were a million credits richer. They watched as the man ran away down the street, still crying.

Trychon looked down at the account balance showing on his data pad, then over at Raezyr and grinned. "You want to go get an ale? I'm buying."

395. Pirates....... YAR! - Trychon

The two Sith spent the next several days of their trip reminiscing about their relative childhoods, and comparing notes on how life was in general as they grew up. They made a game of trying to compare experiences and finding similarities between them, since they had no other common ground for their now shared young lives.

They attempted to reach out to the mysterious Darth Vikon again several times. With the help of the Sith Holocron they'd managed to access, they did their best to hone their skills in this area. They began to sense more clarity in their visions of the stars and planets as they sent their collective consciousness out in attempts for contact, but it seemed that the man they were looking for had withdrawn from them for the time being. Daxon Var, the gatekeeper of knowledge of their Sith Holocron, continually pointed out their failed training, and complained about being relegated to fixing the weaknesses of the modern Sith. They usually ignored his snide remarks, as he didn't respond well to the sarcastic tendencies of Trychon's initial replies... having to leave the room and return to access the holocron more than once.

After they'd temporarily given up reaching out to Vikon, they took to another tactic with the occasional moody Holocron. After showering the ways of the ancient Sith with compliments, they were usually able to hear some very interesting tales of battles with the Jedi Order and sometimes other ambitious Sith. When they were extremely complimentary, they sometimes were able to coax out a few very helpful tips and strategies. They found that these stories passed the time for them rather pleasantly when they could keep a few of their choice comments to themselves. It became an evening ritual for them to try to draw out stories while they shared a few beverages.


----------------


They exited hyperspace and communicated briefly with Aitchkay, who was going to stay on the outskirts of the system, waiting for them to contact him to bring the fighter in to whatever location they agreed to meet with their contact.

Raezyr brought the Jet Razor in towards Talus, and set into a high orbit. They could see that the planet had nearly the full variety of climates and terrains, as well as a decent number of medium sized metropolises. Pulling up the information they'd been given on reaching their contact, they allowed their ship to wander again to the nightside of the planet, then they contacted the appropriate port and set up their descent.

After setting down the ship and setting up the security settings, they made their way down the ramp and looked around the dock. It was a fairly remote area, right on the outerskirts of one of the smaller Talus towns.

They were about to head off to get their bearings and get started contacting this Kolant character, when a blue skinned Twi'lek approached them. He rambled off to them in Huttese, demanding a local tariff of an additional 50 credits for this docking spot.

Remembering some of the stories they'd been told during their trip, Trychon gestured at the alien. "You don't want to try to take our money..."

The Twi'lek began to speak more loudly, and reached into the pocket inside his jacket. Before he had managed to pull out whatever he was reaching for, Raezyr had deftly swung his blade through the alien neck and one of its lekku. The saber was only ignited for half a second, and both the Sith watched as the misguided alien slumped to the ground.

Raezyr turned his attention to Trychon. "Seriously, Trych?"

Trychon answered under his breath. "Worth a shot..."

394. Pirates....... YAR! - Raezyr

Raezyr stood up and paced back and forth across the lounge, contemplating what he had just learned. After a few minutes, he walked down the corridor to the door to Trychon's berth. He was about to hit the buzzer, when Trychon spoke from inside, "It's open, Raez."

Trychon had been witness to the conversation, although in his sleep, it had seemed more that he was listening to a conversation taking place in the next room. Raezyr's sudden state of shock finally pulled him out of the dream, and he had sat up trying to sort out exactly what had been said.

Raezyr opened the door and stepped inside the small cabin. Trychon was sitting on the edge of his bunk. "I assume you heard, then?" Raezyr asked.

"Only vaguely. Run it by me again, in case I misunderstood, will you?"

Raezyr related what Darth Vikon had said, that he was on Alatx 3, that he wanted them to come to him, and that he had revealed that the two of them were half brothers. "So what do you make of that?"

Trychon got up slowly, scratching his head, then puffing up his cheeks and exhaling through pursed lips. He reached over and grabbed his shirt and slipped it over his head before answering. "Well, I don't know exactly. I suppose we should hug. It's what brothers do, right?" he said and spread his arms wide, stepping towards Raezyr with a somber look on his face.

Raezyr put out his hand and placed his palm in the middle of Trychon's chest, holding him at arms length. "Trych, if you hug me, I'm going to punch you."

Trychon put down his arms and chuckled. "Seriously, I don't know what to make of it. I was passed around the town as a sort of 'adopted son' back home, but I've never had any actual family before. I don't really know what do with this. Do you remember your parents at all?"

"No, I don't. I never had anyone either, besides Master. She was the closest thing I had to a mother, but it was still more of a student-teacher relationship than anything else, and any time I asked about my parents, she either changed the subject, or told me it was for another time.

"The one time she did speak about them, she told me that they were killed by the Jedi when they came to take me to Coruscant, and that she rescued me, but she never would discuss the exact circumstances. She did say that she picked me up on Reytha, but I don't know if that was actually my home planet or not." Raezyr folded his arms and leaned against the bulkhead as he finished.

"Now I'm curious to see where your shuttle picked you up from. I wonder if that isn't my home planet as well," Raezyr pondered aloud.

"Well, the townspeople said I just wandered into town one day, and no one in the region recognized me or had any idea about where I might have come from. Prior to that, I really have no memory." Suddenly Trychon grinned. "You know this calls for a drink, right?"

Raezyr laughed in return. "What doesn't?"

They made their way back to the lounge. Trychon slid into the bench at the table while Raezyr grabbed a couple of ales from the refrigeration unit and a couple of tankards from a cabinet. He emptied the ale containers into the mugs and set them on the table as he slid in across from Trychon and lifted his beverage to in a toast.

"To brothers, by blood as well as the Sith," Trychon said, raising his own tankard and clinking it with Raezyr's.

"Half," Raezyr corrected.

"What's a half-Sith?" Trychon asked.

"Shut up and drink, Trych," Raezyr said as they both took long drinks of the cold, carbonated amber liquid.

393. Pirates....... YAR! - Raezyr

After Trychon had gotten his fill of ale and jibes, Raezyr proposed they do some sparring, and got a little bit of payback for all the good-natured ribbing he had taken, although Trychon gave nearly as well as he took in the small lounge area. Raezyr made up his mind to eventually construct a practice short blade for himself one of these days so he could fully utilize his Jar'Kai style of fighting with two blades during practice.

Finally, Trychon expressed his desire to get a little nap in, complaining that he had been kept 'up all night,' and they decided to call it quits for the time being.

After Trychon had gone to his berth, Raezyr decided to meditate. He changed out of the tan fatigues he had been wearing and into a loose fitting tunic and trousers, then sat down in the middle of the crew lounge area. He crossed his legs and closed his eyes, drawing the Force from around him and letting it envelope him.

For a while he just let the power of the Dark Side flow through his body and basking in it's invigorating egergy. Finally he allowed his conscious self to melt into the Force as it swirled around and through him. He began to see far off places, and events, some which he knew had already taken place, others which he felt may be happening currently, and still others that may not yet have occurred.

He felt a gentle nudge on his mind, a slight pulling as if someone were tugging on his sleeve. He allowed it to guide his mind's eye in that direction, and soon he found himself looking at a person in a black robe, the cowl hiding it's face in darkness. Somehow he knew that this was the presence that had been calling to Trychon and him, so he pushed his own consciousness to the man, sending his own thoughts to the shrouded figure. "What is it that you want from us?"

"I want you to come to me on Altax 3, a moon of the planet Bermatrix," the figure told him. "I know you will. Your Master has commanded that you do so."

Lord Eiron had indeed commanded them to travel there. It was the location of the next mission which he had given the apprentices in his holo-recordings, but Raezyr wondered how this person could know that. ""Who are you, and how is it that you know what our Master has commanded us to do?"

"I am Darth Vikon, whom you once attempted to seek out. I have foreseen it in my visions. I have foreseen many things about you two Sith brothers. You will be powerful, indeed," replied the voice from the cowled hood.

Sith brothers? It was the third time that a strong Sith power had referred to them as such. The first time was the holo-guardian at the Sith base on THX 1138, the second time was the when they accessed the holocron of Daxon Var. That one had referred to them as brothers several times during the time they had accessed it, but he had always assumed they just meant brothers in the Sith. "You are not the first to call us 'brothers.' Tell me what you mean by that?"

The figure let surprise enter it's voice. "You do not know? You both sprung from the same seed, although they were sown in different soils. But that is of little..."

The news shook Raezyr out of his trance, cutting Vikon off in mid-sentence. It fully explained the Force connection between him and Trychon... they were half-brothers!

392. Hoth: King's Lair - Trychon

Trychon got out of his bed at his normal time and rubbed his eyes exhaustedly. He was tired, but that didn't matter. Dianna had suggested they leave today, and while she didn't tell them to go as quickly as possible... he wasn't one to wait around either.

He hopped in and out of the refresher in a matter of minutes, and then threw his most basic belongings into his travel bag and hefted it over his shoulder. He had been hoping to gather his things together the previous night, but he also wanted to try and get to sleep before it was too late. He hadn't planned on Kord and Dek cornering him to introduce him to a few of their other friends who hadn't met him yet. He was polite to them though for the most part and ended up with a decision between rushing to try to sleep and packing belongings. He chose the former of the two. He skipped the rest of his morning routine, as there was always time to meditate and read on their trips.

Checking his bag again to make sure he had everything he needed, he headed out for the docking bay where the Jet Razor was berthed, where Raezyr was sure to meet him when he was ready. He checked the ship quickly and then walked over to the computer console he'd used to hard lock a few of his files he'd set aside to sift later. It kept anyone else from getting into the files, without knowing the computer they were attached to... or knowing the extensive back slice he had on his datapad. He watched as the files transferred, and then went to go wait by the boarding ramp to the ship.


----------------


Dianna gave Raezyr a hug and a quick kiss, and then let him head into the docking bay. She waited a minute and then went in the side door. She felt a bit silly about sneaking around a bit like this, especially since she still planned to kiss him goodbye publically... but she felt it looked bad to be walking him out to his ship in front of her crew. She kept a smile from creeping up on her... as she thought to herself that it was kind of fun in its own way too. She felt like a kid again, trying to hide something from her father.

Sure that enough time was gone by that she wouldn't be conspicuous, and wary of waiting too long, so that something might seem off... she entered through the side door. She walked in and expected to find Raezyr and Trychon talking as usual. She was partially correct, as she found them not talking, but giving each other glances as they fiddled with their belongings.

It only took her a moment to figure out what they were really doing, and she almost yelled at them from across the bay. She managed to stop herself, and watched them converse silently for another minute while her cheeks began to turn pink. She did her best not to be embarrassed or mad, and she thought back to exactly what her plan was originally as she entered the room.

With one more deep breath, she was fairly sure she'd calmed enough down that at least her outward appearance was back to normal. She made her way to the boarding ramp and shook Trychon's hand, wishing him luck and thanking him for his help. She turned to Raezyr and gave him a hug, and then leaned back to give him a kiss. She was going to make it quick, but Raezyr didn't let her.

She walked away feeling better again.


---------------------


As the Jet Razor arced smoothly and silently away from the ice bound planet, Trychon and Raezyr continued their conversation audibly, and with a fair amount of volume. Trychon brought several ales up to the cockpit, and let the giant grins he'd been keeping to himself run free. Raezyr put up with all of his jokes, as he didn't see any other way of avoiding it, other than prodding Trychon to help him with the pre-jump, especially since they were coordinating with Aitchkay, who was piloting their loot.

Eventually, Hoth disappeared from their close range sensors, as Raezyr set the ship onto its next destination. After triple checking their destination, and verifying with the droid, they engaged their hyperdrive. A few short hops to hide their origin, and then straight to Talus, with another short jump at the end.

"You could REALLY see almost everything last night?" Raezyr asked, finally getting a bit frustrated.

"At least you were quiet with this one." Trychon grinned continually, enjoying every minute of the conversation.

"Oh... do shut up, Trych."

"The irony..."

391. Hoth: King's Lair - Raezyr

Trychon and Raezyr casually finished their meals and, after handing their dishes over to the poor saps on kitchen patrol, made their way to Dianna's office. She was sitting at her desk, looking over files on her computer terminal, and she looked up when they came in.

"Zanz views himself as a father figure around her, doesn't he?" Raezyr asked as he took a seat across from Dianna. Trychon sat down in the seat next to him and began twirling the silver tube of his lightsaber hilt in his fingers.

"Why? What happened?" Dianna queried, looking up from her terminal and leaning back in her high backed, nerf-hide chair.

"Oh, nothing much. He just threatened to hunt us down and kill us if we ever betrayed you or your crew," Trychon chuckled as he continued to fiddle with the cylinder in his hand.

"I'll have a talk with him about that," Dianna said, rolling her eyes a bit.

"Don't worry about it, Di. I think we've got an understanding," Raezyr commented. "What did you want to see us about? More questions about the holocrons?"

"No, not that. If you guys say you're alright, and that it won't affect the base adversely, then I'm good with that. What I wanted to talk to you about was your fighter." Dianna leaned forward in her chair. She had found a buyer for the fighter.

Trychon and Raezyr were excited by the news, but a little surprised at how quickly one was found. Something in her demeanor, though, made them feel as if there were more to it then that. After the initial excitement, Raezyr spoke again. "There's a catch, though, isn't there?"

"Frankly, yes. The buyer is on Talus in the Corellia system. There's a Zabrak colony located there, and that's where you're to deliver the ship. Your contact with be a Zabrak named Dagus Kolant," she said. "I also have some other items that he's buying, so those will need to be taken there as well. He'll have your payment for you when you get there."

"You're talking as if you aren't coming with us," Raezyr said, fishing for more information.

"I'm not. I have... something else to attend to at the moment, but seeing as you'll be making my delivery for me, you'll get a percentage of the profits from that cargo as well as everything from the ship. I'm even going to forgo the finder's fee that I would normally ask for hooking you up with the buyer," she said.

"You're holding out on us Di. What's going on?" Raezyr inquired.

"It's just another job, and I have to go on this one. It's not just a pick up and retrieval job, either," she informed them.

"What's with the secrets? Haven't we proved ourselves to you?" Trychon asked.

"Look, it's not that I don't trust you, I do, and I think you both know that by now. My problem is that I think I've got a information leak somewhere in my organization," she sighed. "I didn't want to worry you guys with this. It's not your problem."

"I'll find your leak, Di. Just say the word," Raezyr offered.

"No, I don't want it known. Look, when Fillis Rivars attacked us at Shogun, it wasn't the first time. He'd done it once before. I thought it was just a coincidence, until this last time. That's why I don't want this job talked about until the last minute." Dianna stood up and came around her desk, sitting on the edge in front of Trychon and Raezyr as she continued.

"Things have been getting kind of tough since Commenor. I used to have a pretty good reputation in the galaxy for being pretty neutral and straightforward. It allowed me to take on legitimate shipping jobs without too much harassment by official channels, but now things have tightened up. Legit businessmen don't want anything to do with me, and the Republic has decided I'm a threat that deserves their attention, making even the illegitimate jobs harder to come by.

"That's why I need to keep things tight on this. It's a big job that's going to pay well, and I need to be there, because if something goes wrong, I'm going to lose a lot more business," she finished, hanging her head a bit.

The room was silent for a few minutes, the stress Dianna was feeling filling the room. "When do we need to be on Talus?" Raezyr asked.

"I suggest you leave first thing in the morning," she told him.

Trychon stood up and hung his lightsaber back on his belt. "I'm going to start getting ready, I have a lot to do if we're leaving that quickly," he said as he left the room.

Raezyr stood up and put his hands on Dianna's shoulders. "Use this hardship, Di. Embrace it, and let it make you stronger than you already are. And if you need something from me, just tell me."

She stood up and wrapped her arms around his neck and looked into his eyes. "There's only one thing I need from you right now," she said softly, then leaned in, pressing her lips to his.

390. Sith Hunt: Part 1 - Raezyr

Nal and Caecillius contacted the Jedi Temple and informed them of what had transpired. The Council instructed them to continue searching on Nar Shaddaa, as that was still their only lead on the Sith Apprentices, but Caecillius had been correct. Their cover was blown and despite their best efforts to make contact with the Exchange, the next several weeks were unsuccessful.

They spent the rest of their time on the Smuggler's Moon attending swoop races and frequenting seedy bars and cantinas, but it seemed as if they were invisible. No one talk to them or even look in their direction.

Finally, they checked again with Taisun, the Catharian Jedi Master back on Coruscant. He informed them on an incident that occurred in the Commenor system possibly involving Sand Iago's ship. The Republic had received information from an informant that a known smuggler and pirate named Dianna Kingsdoom would be in the area aboard a ship matching the description of Sand Iago's ship, the Wasted Rancor.

The ship was captured by the Republic Hammerhead-class Unity, and Kingsdoom had been taken into custody, along with an unidentified male, but a man matching the description of one of the Sith apprentices from the Coruscant massacre somehow got aboard and effected the escape of Kingsdoom. During the escape, a fighter was stolen and used to cripple the Republic cruiser.

The two Jedi reviewed the holo-recordings and security logs Master Taisun had forwarded to them from the Unity. "Dat one is Raezah. I'm sure of it," Nal said, pointing at the man on the screen wielding red and blue lightsabers.

"Are you sure?" Caecillius queried.

"Absolutely. Not only are da blades correct, but I can tell by da way he moves, and carries himself. I'll not be forgetting dat anytime soon," she said determinedly.

"Well, according to the security logs, the informant claimed they had last been seen in the Shogun system. That's Mandalorian territory, but there is a long enough gap in time that they must have made a stop somewhere between Shogun and Commenor," Caecillius surmised. "I suggest we start looking around there."

389. Hoth: King's Lair - Raezyr

Raezyr woke up in the morning to pounding on his door. Trychon's excitement was strong enough that it would have awoken him even without the pounding. Raezyr rolled over and sat on the edge of the bed. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes for a minute and pulled on a pair training trousers before using the Force to open the door.

Trychon slid in as the door slid open. "I can tell you were awake. What took you so long?" Raezyr opened his mouth to reply, but Trychon continued. "Nevermind, it doesn't matter. I was contacted again last night," he said quickly.

"Trych, we've both been having those dreams. What's so important about this one?"

"It wasn't just an indistinct voice this time. I could see a figure and could make out what he was saying to me," Trychon explained. He sat down in the chair across from Raezyr and filled him in on the vision he experienced. Trychon went on to explain that the figure hadn't said much in detail, other than they were to come to the man, and that he would help them in their mission.

They discussed this new development, and what exactly it meant, but there were many more questions than could be answered. Who was the man? Where was he? What 'mission' was he talking about, and if he had been referring to a mission that Lord Eiron had given them, how did he know about it? They decided that from now on, instead of just listening passively to the man, they would actively try to contact him.

After a while, they decided to get cleaned up and get some breakfast. While they were eating, Dianna's first mate walked over to the table where they were sitting and sat down.

"I don't like you guys. Haven't liked you since you first set foot here on Hoth, and I don't like you experimenting with your hokey, ancient religion poodoo around here in the King's Lair," Zanz began.

Trychon looked over at Raezyr, Kind of abrupt, isn't he?

Let's just hear him out, Raezyr thought back. "Your boss doesn't seem to mind," Raezyr shot back to the aging ex-Sith commando.

"Speaking of my boss, don't think I haven't noticed what's going on between you and her, and I don't like that either. Know this: If you betray her, or hurt her or this crew in any way, I will make it my mission in life to hunt all of you down. I will dog you and make your lives a living hell. If it were up to me, you'd be off this rock in a heart beat, and never be allowed to set foot on this ice ball again," Zanz said heatedly.

Raezyr shoveled a forkful of breakfast into his mouth and spoke around it. "Well, it's a good thing it's not up to you, isn't it?" He swallowed before continuing. "Di is a big girl, Zanz. She can make up her own mind about what is good for her and for her outfit."

Zanz stood up and glared down at the two Sith. "Just remember what I said," he growled before walking away. He activated the door controls and paused after it opened. "Oh, and the Captain wants to see you two in her office, when ever your finished."

388. Hoth: King's Lair - Trychon

They had in fact missed dinner but Dianna took them back to her room, where she was equipped to cook up a quick, but large, meal. They made several plates full disappear in a rather short time, and then at the behest of Trychon and only with their promises to go get rest when they were done, she brought out a few of her finer ales for them.

With the two Sith happily fed and satisfied with drinks in hand, Dianna admitted to why she invited them back to her room rather than feed them in the commissary. She wanted information about what happened, and she wasn't sure how much they'd tell her in an open setting or if any of their admirers came around.

"Not that much to tell, really." Trychon said through another mouthful of food. "Honestly... I don't think we were even in any sort of a trance. Just... very distracted."

"I don't understand." Dianna stared at him as he grabbed another roll.

"No, I think he's right Di. I didn't sense any sort of control exerted either. I suppose it's slightly possible. It's more likely thought that we were simply enthralled. Imagine meeting with a memory of a great smuggler, who was telling you of how many great things you could achieve."

They gave her much shortened versions of some of the stories they were told, but then at her insistence, they didn't stay long before heading back to their rooms to meditate and get some rest.

Trychon entered into his room and changed into some of his night clothes. Sitting on the bed, he closed his mind and began to replay in his mind some of the things that the embodiment of Lord Var had told him. He didn't remember passing out.

In the morning though, he would distinctly remember the suddenly much stronger visions of a man calling to him. That he WAS to come to him and that he WOULD be helping him.

387. Hoth: King's Lair - Raezyr

IF YOUR MASTER IS SO INEPT THAT HE CANNOT TRAIN YOU HIMSELF, THEN THE SITH MUST BE A SORRY LOT INDEED. I AM SITH LORD DAXON VAR. I LEARNED AT THE FEET OF TULAK HORD, BLADEMASTER AND DARK LORD OF THE SITH. SIT, BROTHERS, AND LISTEN WELL, SHOULD I CHANGE MY MIND ABOUT TEACHING YOU THE KNOWLEDGE THAT TOOK ME A LIFETIME TO AQUIRE. the specter standing before them said.

They did as Lord Var insturcted, and as Var spoke to them, time seemed to hold no sway. They listened as the the specter taught them the ancient teachings of the Sith. He spoke to them of many things, some which they already knew, some which they were now struggling to learn, things of which the two young Sith had only heard rumors, and things which were far beyond their current abilities.

He spoke to them of the ancient times and battles long forgotten, of famous Sith Lords and of those whose names had been forgotten. Var spoke of planets and races which had vanished into the mists of time, and of those that were known even today.

He instructed them on lightsaber techniques, some which with they were familiar, others which they still hoped to learn, and even some that had long since been outdated and long forgotten.

The students asked respectful questions where appropriate, and although the ghost from the past seemed irritated, it would answer them before continuing.

Eventually, Lord Var finished it's tutelage, and instructed them to practice all he had taught. Raezyr asked the Sith Lord if they could return for more instruction, and it agreed, albeit grudgingly.

Trychon and Raezyr discussed what they had been taught so far, and although they knew many of the things they had been show were far beyond their current abilities, they also had a much better grasp on the things they already knew and those they had been trying to master.

They turned the lights back up and began putting away the holocrons into the duffel bags. They unlocked the door to the workout room, and began to walk down the hall to their respective rooms. "I'm really hungry. I think we must have missed the evening meal," Raezyr commented.

Trychon checked his wrist chrono. "We did, but not by much. If we hurry, maybe we can get in on some leftovers."

They hurried the rest of the way to their rooms and secured the holocrons in their lockers, then took a moment to freshen up before heading back to the mess hall. Trychon had previously taken the time to add an encryption layer to the locks on the rooms for added security.

As they neared the cafeteria, they ran into Dianna walking the other way down the hall. "Are we too late for the meal?" Raezyr asked as she stopped in front of them.

"And which meal might that be?" she returned, looking a bit annoyed. "You know, I was getting ready to break down that door."

Trychon and Raezyr glanced at each other. "I love dinner as much as anyone... but you don't have to go breaking down doors over one missed supper," Trychon said, chuckling a bit.

"One supper? Absolutely, but this is the third supper you've now missed, you nerf-herders," Dianna admonished. "You're locked in there playing with who-knows-what kind of powerful ancient artifacts, and don't bother coming out for two and a half days, and the whole time, that room was causing a noticeable power drain on the facility. I think I had cause for concern.

Raezyr was about to speak when Trychon interrupted. "That's all well and good, but the more important question is, 'Are we too late for supper?'"

386. Hoth: King's Lair - Trychon

The two Sith struggled through trying to access another holocron with no success, and were beginning to become irritated at the holocrons in general. Their concentration was starting to wane, and they decided to try one more before taking a break for a few hours.

They set the third holocron down in the center of the room, and got back into their meditative stances, and began to clear their minds. Doing everything they could to pull back out the intense feelings they were drawing on before, they finally heard a noise. They looked up, to see the holocron sitting in front of them with no signs of disturbance.

They both got to their feet, prepared to concede this battle, when one of the other holocrons began to light up and float towards them. When it made its way to the center of the room and hovered over the other holocron they'd intended to activate, it stopped.

They stared at it silently for several moments. Raezyr stretched out with one hand, and was about to take a step towards it when Trychon and Raezyr both felt the dark side energy they'd built up swell around them. Instinctively, they raised their force defenses just in time as the holocron spat out short bursts of lightning at them.

Their defenses were not sufficient to defeat the attack, but they were both able to withstand it without giving up ground to the artifact. The onslaught didn't last very long though, as it seemed that the holocron had deemed them ready or worthy.

Nothing happened again for a few moments, although it felt to them as though the holocron itself was gathering energy. They weren't sure yet if that were the case or even theoretically possible. Either way, they watched as the holocron began to spin, and then the light began to dim from the room. Specifically, light began to disappear in the center of the room, and it was darkened throughout the room surrounding, almost as if there was a miniature black hole there. The darkness took the rough shape of a shadow with no actual features. It was hard to make out the outline of the shadow, but it appeared to be similar to a regular humanoid covered in a cloak and hood.

Then, where the hood would have been, two eyes appeared, shining a bright yellow around the dark pupils. The eyes shifted back and forth between the two Sith. Unsure what to do or say, or what they were looking at, they stood still.

The eyes blinked once. Then again a moment later. Finally, an impatient voice boomed into their heads. WHAT IS IT THAT YOU NEED?

Raezyr and Trychon looked at each other and then back to the Eyes. Trychon spoke first. "We need teachings."

WHERE IS YOUR MASTER?

Raezyr spoke next. "We aren't sure, exactly. His last instructions were for us to find you." It was technically true, and Raezyr figured it was a safe bet until proven otherwise... the holocron was more likely to have an ego than the ability to sense a lie or hidden truth.

385. Hoth: King's Lair - Raezyr

The two Sith locked themselves inside one of the smaller workout rooms and cleared everything out of the way, back against the walls. They pulled out their duffel bags and carefully removed the objects from within, setting them on a bench located in the center of the room, each one placed as equidistant from the others as they could manage without taking exact measurements.

They dimmed the lights down and took up locations on opposite sides of the bench which the one dozen pyramidal Sith artifacts were now resting. They studied the objects closely as they sank into crossed-leg sitting positions.

Each holocron was unique, in that each four sided pyramid was framed with precious metals that had been intricately carved with the ancient Sith runes and symbols. Some of the frames had been wrought in silver, others in gold, some in platinum, and still others in the most precious of all metals: aurodium. Some of the carvings included depictions of powerful and ancient Sith Lords, their names lost to the eons that had passed since their time.

Inside each frame work were crystals of different colors. Red was clearly the main color choice as fully half of them were scarlet, yet there were other colors: blue, green, two orange ones, and even clear and black.

They decided to work together, as neither of them knew exactly what to expect. Trychon had read everything he could find on holocrons, but just as he had explained to Raezyr, there wasn't much information other than mentions that this Sith or that one had constructed on. It seemed that not only the construction, but the accessing of holocrons just wasn't a subject that was written about. It may have been probably that at one time, accessing holocrons was just considered to be basic knowledge. It was also possible that a Sith Lord who was powerful enough to create one of these mystical objects wouldn't want anyone accessing it until long after he was gone.

After looking at the objects for a few minutes, Raezyr finally picked one up and began looking it over, turning it in his hands as he did so. "So do these things have an 'on' switch or something like that?"

For a moment, Trychon thought he was joking, until he realized Raezyr was trying to push anything on the fist sized object that looked as if it might be a button. "Raez, sometimes I think you're so far ahead of me when it comes to learning about the Sith and the Force, and the next moment you ask if holocrons have an 'on' switch."

"So the answer is 'no,' I take it?"

"Of course the answer is 'no!' These are holocrons, Raez! You can't just order them from G-bay on the holonet, and they don't come with instructions, either," Trcyhon said incredulously.

"I was just asking, Trych. A simple 'yes' or 'no' would have sufficed," Raezyr said, shaking his head as if he hadn't just asked the dumbest question in the galaxy. He returned the holocron to it's spot on the bench and they began to meditate.

Trychon focused on his desire for power, then added his irritation with Raezyr for good measure. He felt the dark side of the Force rise up inside. He could feel Raezyr brimming with power as well, and together, they let it out, bit by bit, poking and proding at the first holocron, seeking the secrets that were hidden within.

They probed the first holocron for a while. Both men could sense the power contained inside of it, but it made them feel like street orphans standing outside of a bakery shop. The could sense the wonderful, deliciousness of the Dark Side so strongly, but all they could do was look at it from the wrong side of the window.

Trychon spoke to Raezyr through the Force. Let's move on to the next one. There has to be one that's easier to access, and we can always come back to the harder ones.

384. Hoth: King's Lair - Raezyr

Raezyr removed his practice blade from his duffel bag and snapped it on. He looked over at the man sitting on the bench and watching and asked him if he was going to join in, but the man just mumbled something that Raezyr took for a 'no' and looked away.

Raezyr then told the other two men to step back for a minute so he could warm up with Trychon. They stepped back as he moved to the center of the room, stretching a bit and twirling the blade at the same time. Trychon circled around in his ready stance as Raezyr continued to move, rolling his head around and stretching his shoulders. Trychon knew that despite Raezyr's non-chalant antics that he was perfectly capable of attacking at any second.

Raezyr glanced at Trychon from the corner of his eye, making sure he was ready. Wouldn't do to catch him off guard in front of these guys, although he doubted that he could even if he tried. Both of the Sith knew this was a nerf and wookie show.

Suddenly Raezyr lashed out in blinding attack, letting himself become an extension of the Force. The movements were fast, and although Trychon gave ground under the assault, he deftly blocked each stroke.

Finally seeing an opening in Raezyr's attack, Trychon dropped and attempted a leg sweep, forcing Raezyr to flip backwards. Anticipating Raezyr's reaction, Trychon finished the sweep and lunged at the spot he knew Raezyr would land. Raezyr blocked Trychon's attack at the last second, but he was off balance. He backpedaled in an attempt to regain balance, but Trychon pressed his advantage.

It had been awhile since he had had Raezyr on the defensive like this and he continued to drive forward, his strikes a blur to the men watching.

The two men standing against the wall scrambled out of Raezyr's way as he circled around the room, seeking to regain his footing. Trychon was getting better, much better, and he barely had time to block the incoming blows. In the confines of the room, large though it was, it was nearly impossible to get far enough away to regroup.

Unbidden, a passage from the tome he had been reading came to his mind. It was about using the attacker's strength against him, and a plan quickly formulated in his mind. It was unconventional, but it might work.

Trychon suddenly realized something was wrong. Raezyr was still off balance and backpedaling, and Trychon was still pressing hard, almost at a run, but something about Raezyr's demeanor was nagging at him.

Raezyr slowed his pace almost imperceptibly, letting Trychon come in as close as possible, then dropped into a backward roll. Trychon tried to halt but his momentum carried him forward and Raezyr's feet came up under his guard and hit him squarely in the chest.

Raezyr let Trychon's forward movement do most of the work and at the last moment he shoved with his feet, sending Trychon flying through the air over the top of Raezyr. He tried to use the Force to shift his body around and land on his feet. It would have worked, except the wall was too close. He crashed into it, then landed on the floor.

Trychon tried to scramble to his feet, but Raezyr's lightsaber was there at his throat.

"That's a new one, Raez," Trychon said reaching up and grabbing Raezyr's extended hand.

Raezyr helped him up then wiped the sweat from his brow. "I had to do something, you almost had me there," he said with a grin.

Raezyr turned to the other men in the room. "I'm warmed up now, you guys ready?"

They looked at each other, then back at the Sith. "Man, we couldn't even see your blades moving."

Trychon nodded to the four other men who had come in during the match. "They can even up the odds a bit. Besides, like I said before, we'll go half speed."

Both Raezyr and Trychon noticed that the man on the bench had slipped out sometime during the match, and while it was possible that he had just been scared off, something about it just didn't sit right with either of them.

They all spent the next couple of hours sparring. Sometimes one on one, sometimes in teams, and Trychon and Raezyr both offered tips and techniques to the other men as they went along. Throughout the training session, various other members from the crew came and went, watching the sparring match, but Dianna and Kord spent the most time watching of anybody who stopped by.

They finished up just before the noon meal, leaving them plenty of time to freshen up. A couple of the men were interested in continuing, but Trychon and Raezyr declined, as they had other plans in mind.

383. Hoth: King's Lair - Trychon

Trychon got up out of bed and turned on the lights. He felt well enough rested, but he'd had an interesting night of sleep. He got up and walked around the room, feeling as though he had some extra energy to work off, and then continued to stretch a bit while he waited to feel Raezyr stirr.

When Raezyr did finally get out of bed, Trychon gave him a moment to get his bearings before trying to communicate with him. Interesting night?

Uh... not particularly?

Good dreams then?

Yeah, now that you mention it...

Ok. Just checking.

Trychon could feel a bit of confusion flood back from Raezyr, but decided to let him figure it out on his own. He headed to the refresher to get ready for the day. As usual, it wasn't exactly meditation for him, but it was close. He came out with his mind feeling clear again, and picked out more of his training clothes. Standard blacks, with the shirt missing the sleeves again. He couldn't keep the sleeves on anyway, so he didn't bother anymore... Raezyr would just cut them off if they were there during a match.

He grabbed both his standard weapon and his training bag, and was about to walk out of his room when he felt a presence pacing outside his door. It took him only a second to figure out why before he hit the door control and stepped into the hallway. Kord was there as he suspected, and once again he nearly walked right into Trychon.

Kord stammered at first before calming down. "Oh, uh... Hello there uh... sir. I was just heading down to Control to check in with the Captain. Where are you headed?"

"Don't call me sir." Trychon responded, turning down the hall away from Control, and to one of the training rooms. "You don't owe me anything yet, kid." Kord didn't say anything, but turned to follow Trychon away from Control. As they walked, Kord eventually started asking questions again. He started by asking if he really planned on fighting crew members, and led on to questions about his lightsaber and practice blade and even the Sith.

Trychon turned into the training room they'd agreed to work in that morning, as it had a bit more room to accommodate a larger sparring match, as well as maybe a few extra spectators. The room was empty so far. Trychon smiled and threw his bag into a corner, and sat in the middle of the room with his legs crossed and his lightsaber in his lap. He closed his eyes to meditate, and then opened one to look at Kord, who suddenly seemed to remember he was headed to Control. Trychon smiled and closed his eye again, and allowed himself to meditate on the movements of everyone nearby in the base.

There was movement all around, but it was a little while before anyone actually headed his way. That was why he came down so early though... a bit of last minute solitude. When a few people did come his way, he could feel that Raezyr was just now getting out of the refresher. Oh well, time to entertain them a bit on my own. Trychon thought to himself, as he lifted his lightsaber a foot off of his lap as the men were turning into the room.

There were three of them. Two of them he recognized as men that were at the table the night before and had shown interest in a friendly match, the third he had seen before, but had never spoken to him. The one closest to him set his bag down. "Now you're not going to use any of those tricks on us, are you?"

Trychon grabbed his weapon and shook his head to reassure them as he rose to his feet. He switched out his lightsaber for his practice blade. "Half speed, ok guys? I haven't had many three on one fights before." The third man backed up and sat down on a bench. "Just watching for now." He said.

"Alright then. Shall we? Carefully..." Trychon turned to the other two who had gathered their swords and were settling into ready positions. They moved forward while Trychon held his ground. He ignited the practice blade and the first man lunged forward. Trychon parried and spun to one side, stopping with both men firmly in front of him.

They smiled at him, relaxing a little now that the first exchange was over and they still had their limbs. They took turns swinging at him and advancing. Trychon deflected or dodged every attack, and stayed mainly on the retreat. He made basic attacks at them when they were in clear position for a clean block. He allowed this to continue for several minutes before changing things a bit by feigning a quick lunge and then jumping back.

The second man's blade nearly caught his shirt, but by the time his jump was completed, he was over a meter out of their reach. He paused and held up a finger, motioning for them to wait a moment. Without looking, he tossed his lightsaber blindly at the entrance to the room.

Raezyr caught it deftly with his right hand as he turned the corner. Turning it off and tossing it back to Trychon, he walked over to Trychon's bag and set his next to it. "Good morning to you, too." The two men who had been facing Trychon laughed, letting their blades back down.

382. Hoth: King's Lair - Raezyr

Raezyr sat for a minute finishing the rest of his ale, and Dianna sat quietly at his side. They listened to the voices of Dek, Kord, and Trychon for a moment. Raezyr set his empty mug on the bar. "I think those kids would kiss a Gamorrean if Trychon asked them to," Raezyr said.

Dianna laughed, and Raezyr thought her laugh must be a form a music on a planet somewhere in the Galaxy. "They probably would, but I can't believe you can sit here and call them 'kids.' You're not much older than they are."

He thought about that for a minute. He'd been through so much in his life that to him it felt as if he had never been a kid, and in a sense, he hadn't been. His whole life had been about running from the Jedi, learning about the Force, and selling his fighting skills to the highest bidder. "I've been through a lot, Di. I feel a lot older than I really am. Hell, I've met people older than I am, that still seem like kids to me."

"Like the guys that challenged you and Trychon to a sparring match in the morning?" Dianna said with a grin.

"Yeah, like them. I still can't believe Trychon agreed to it, but then again, by that time, Trych was starting to slur a few words here and there," Raezyr said shaking his head.

Dianna stood up and stepped over to him. "You're starting to slur words, yourself." She placed her hand on his chest and leaned close, putting her lips next to his ear and whispered. "That means it's time for bed."

It took a moment for Raezyr to process what she had said. He was about to reply when she grabbed his hand and, spinning around, led him out of the lounge and down the hallway to the living quarters.

She stopped in front of his door and hit the control switch, sending the door sliding back into the wall with a 'whoosh,' then she turned around to face Raezyr.

He slid his arms around her narrow waist as she put her hands on his muscular shoulders, and he leaned in. Their parted lips met as he pulled her into him, crushing their bodies together.

Still embraced, he turned and walked backward, pulling her into the darkened room with him. As they reached the bed, she slid her hands across his shoulders to his neck, then down to his chest and shoved Raezyr backward onto the mattress.

She then turned abruptly and stode back to the doorway.

"Wait! What?" Raezyr said confusedly.

She paused at the entrance and spoke over her shoulder as she was about to leave, "You've got a big fight in the morning, Raez. I'd hate for you not to be fully rested." She stepped out and punched the controls, leaving Raezyr alone in the dark.

As if I'm going to get any sleep now, he thought to himself wryly as he stripped down to his undergarments. He decided if he didn't meditate first he'd never get any sleep.

Sitting on the bed he let himself sink into his usual trance, but this time, instead of focusing his on the Force through his anger, he realized that he had a new emotion that seemed to burn equally hot.

381. Hoth: King's Lair - Trychon

Trychon took in the attention like a Mon Cal sponge. With a grin from ear to ear, he animatedly retold day by day the various obstacles they'd encountered. He played down their early discomfort, and played up their victories as though they'd come easily. He did it in part because he knew it made for good storytelling, but also because when he first began talking about the Tarantatek, he saw the worry creep into Dianna's glances.

He and Raezyr very carefully shared a few private thoughts about how close they'd come to disaster through their bond. At one point, he thought Aitchkay was about to interrupt because he'd left out details on some of the injuries, but a sideways glance to the corner the droid was standing in kept him silent. He thought to himself that he'd have to crawl around some of the programming... he was impressed with the intuitiveness for a droid.

As the stories continued on a few more of the crew joined the table, and joined in with laughter before long. Trychon kept hoping maybe Raezyr would give him a break and take over for a part of their journey, but to no avail. Raezyr sat there listening and smiling, and talking quietly on and off with Dianna. Trychon didn't mind, because they kept bringing him his drinks... but he was thinking of how to get Raezyr back in the back of his mind.

As he neared the end, the crowd started to dissipate again, they all welcomed the two Sith back to the base again and thanked them for the stories on their way out. When Trychon was completely done, all that was left was he and Raezyr, Dianna, Dek and the kid Kord. Raezyr finally spoke up loud enough for those left to hear. "So, is there a bunch of the crew still out on a mission?"

Dianna frowned for the first time since they'd arrived back on base. "No. There's just quite a few who have decided to be anti-social while you guys are home." Trychon caught her use of the word home, and was sure that Raezyr had as well, but neither commented on it. They'd all had a pretty intense experience together when the Republic tried to capture them, and it was obvious that she felt close to both of them even if it was moreso for Raezyr.

Kord, who had remained silent through all of Trychon's retelling, finally spoke up. "Some of the guys were even ribbing us kinda hard for not staying away... they played it off like they were teasing. They weren't though."

"I'll take care of it..." Dianna started to say, with her cheeks starting to burn a different sort of red.

"Don't." Raezyr interrupted. "They don't like us and they don't have to. Nothing will come of it. If it does... we're not worried."

"Delki will keep the ships safe, too." Trychon added. "Well, fellas and Kingsfolk... I promised a few sparring session with Raezyr and a few of the soldiers... so I think I'm gonna head to my bunk for a bit. Everyone have a nice night."

Dianna and Raezyr nodded to him. He got up from the table and headed out of the common area. He stopped and turned around after turning the corner to catch Dek and Kord offguard, nearly running into him. He smiled. "Yes?"

Dek was a nice kid, Trychon had chatted with him a few times briefly on their other stopins. He was a very talented and natural slicer, but he still had a bit to learn. He seemed a bit nervous as he spoke up. "I didn't want to say anything in front of the group... but I haven't been able to open the files you left behind... from the cruiser?"

Trychon nodded. "Yeah. They're encrypted."

Dek seemed frustrated. "But I've sliced Republic files a bunch of times! Not always really quickly, but I've been able to do it for two years now!"

"Relax kid. I encrypted those files. Figured if you could get into them after that, you deserved to look through them. Otherwise, my intel is always my intel first."

Dek looked a little disappointed, but he smiled at Trychon and nodded. It had been a test for the kid, and he'd tried. It was good exercise for him. Dek started to leave, and pulled on Kord's sleeve, but the other young pirate seemed to be thinking something over.

Trychon looked at him. "Anything else, guys?"

Kord smiled nervously. "Can anyone watch you when you guys fight in the morning?"

Trychon laughed. "Sure thing. Not exactly a fight... Raez and I will be using practice blades, but your friends might not. Makes it more interesting."

With that last comment, Trychon turned around and headed for his room. He wanted to meditate a bit, as he was trying to expand his more subtle connections to the force. This seemed to be one of the earlier steps towards unlocking the tools in his tome.

When he arrived in his room, he ensured everything was still where it belonged, switched into some looser black pants and a sparring shirt he'd ripped the burned sleeves off of, and he knelt on the floor with his eyes closed. He concentrated on the flow of energy around him. He took it in and tried to predict the ebbs and movements of it... then he began poking at it to watch the ripples.

380. Hoth: King's Lair - Raezyr

Aitchkay continued to unload their gear from the ship, while Trychon had brief discussion with Delki and Bleetz about some maintenance issues and restocking the ship. The Hoth crew was still gathered around, apparently eager to hear what THX was like, but Dianna pulled Raezyr to the side a bit.

"I hate to admit this, but I was worried that you might not come back," she said, still speaking in a lowered voice.

Raezyr placed his hand on her shoulder, his helmet tucked under his other arm. "I'll be honest. There were a couple of times that I wasn't too sure I was going to make it back, but the thought of unfinished business here kept me going," he said with a smile.

She smiled back at him. "And just what sort of 'unfinished business' was that?" she asked mischievously.

He removed his hand from her shoulder and grabbed the pack which HK-51 had set beside him. "Oh, you know, we've got a ship to fence, some Republic info to decrypt, and new missions to plan." He tried to hide the smile which indicated his facetiousness, but failed.

She gave a look of mock hurt and punched Raezyr in the shoulder. "And here I thought you were about to tell me how much you missed me. You're a real jerk, you know that?"

"It's why you like me," he retorted.

"I guess I'll just have to give you a better reason to miss me, then."

Raezyr raised his eyebrows questioningly. "Oh? And what will that be?" he asked, but she just gave him a sly, sidelong grin and turned back to the rest of the group.

Dianna suggested they move to the lounge to have a few drinks before supper, as some of the crew seemed to have alot of questions about what they had done on their adventure.

As they headed off, Raezyr noticed one of the younger members of the crew, a young Corellian named Kord, seemed to be like a little puppy dog, following Trychon around. In fact, Kord was even wearing a similar type of camouflage fatigues that Trychon had worn when he first arrived.

Kord seemed to be fairly popular with the rest of the crew, and alot of the younger members hung around with him, including Dek, the young slicer in Dianna's employ. Since their arrival, the group had all seemed pretty excited to have 'real live Sith' walking among them. At the same time, the group had seemed to be a bit afraid to approach them.

They arrived at the lounge and ales were passed around. Kord was the first to toast the successful return of the Triad, and Raezyr was about to point out that only two of them had returned, when Kord and his friends began peppering Trychon with questions about what had happened on THX 1138.

Trychon looked over to Raezyr for help, but he just smiled, leaned back on his barstool next to Dianna and took another sip from his tankard.