The Twilight Stalker made it safely out of the atmosphere and well away from the planet. They wondered for a while if they were going to be held up or questioned, but neither happened.
Once they were clear of the system, they entered the coordinates for Hoth and made the jump to light speed. They had given orders to their men on board the Jet Razor to hold up just outside the Hoth system and await their arrival before approaching the King's Lair as no one on Dianna's crew would recognize their voices although they should have the correct passcodes and were flying a craft with which the pirates were familiar.
Trychon sat down across from Raezyr in the galley and they opened their ales. Schyrt and Reed were proving to be quite reliable and had done an excellent job of stocking up on good ale and real Corellian brandy.
"First things first," Trychon began after taking that first long, delicious pull from his mug. "When we lifted off from Talus, did you send that communique to Di? The one with all the instructions for this job and the list of equipment she'll need?"
"Yes, but Trych..." Raezyr began, a skeptical look on his face.
"Raez..." the older brother interrupted. "If you tell me one more time that you have a bad feeling about this, I'm going to zap you like I did that henchman," Trychon said grinning.
"Yeah," the other Sith replied. "About that: when were you going to tell me about that? Daxon Var sure as hell didn't teach you that. We've been practicing that forever now, and nothing."
A sheepish look crept over Trychon's face. "Sorry, little bro. I'd been meaning to tell you that I cracked a new holocron. I promise I'll teach you whatever I learn from it. I hadn't had a chance to practice that 'lightning' thing yet so I didn't even know if it'd work, or if what that thing was teaching me was valid," the older Sith explained. "I didn't see the point in getting hopes up if it proved to be no big deal, like Daxon Var has turned out to be."
"Alright, just don't hold out on me," Raezyr grumbled and his brother nodded.
"You know, it's not like Var wasn't useful. He progressed us a long way in our meditation and other things, preparing us for the things we are learning now. He just was never very truthful about his real status as a Sith," the big man said.
"I suppose," Raezyr's brother agreed. "Speaking of 'status as a Sith,' we need to find out what the hell Tyr and Anya were thinking, ditching us like that."
The two got up and moved to the communications room on board the Stalker. A hypercomm holo signal cost quite a bit, and was usually avoided at all cost, but the two warriors wanted to see the look on their counterparts faces and not give them time to come up with an excuse.
Raezyr moved toward the holo-pad, but his half-brother put a hand on his arm. "Raez, let me. If I know you, you'll blow up and make them defensive. Not that they don't deserve a good tongue lashing, but we want to keep this calm and see what they come up with."
Raezyr hesitated for a moment then exhaled. "Very well," he said. He really wanted to lay into those two, but he also knew his brother was right. He took a seat at the communications controls and entered the appropriate codes for the direct link via the holo-net. He signaled Trychon that he was ready.
The older sibling stepped up on the holo-pad and crossed his arms as the pad lit up beneath him. In moments a holo-image of Anya's head and shoulders appeared in front of him. Her shoulders were bare, and her hair tousled as if she had been in bed, although she appeared anything but sleepy. Trychon's thoughts flashed briefly back to a night on Korriban which seemed ages ago.
"Oh, uh, Trych," the female Sith said, a surprised look on her face. Trychon, snapping back to the present, knew she was seeing a full life-sized image of himself, and he hoped he looked anything but pleased.
"Do you care to explain?" Trychon said calmly, but coolly.
The surprised look was gone instantly on the woman's face, replaced by one of relief. "Oh, Trych! I'm so glad you're safe! On the way back to the ship we heard the alerts for Corellian Security and thought for sure they were going to catch you! However did you get away? Wait a second, let me go get Tyr." The holo image blacked out.
Nicely played, Anya the Sith warrior thought to himself. She had not only avoided answering the question but had now changed the topic. He decided to let it go and see where the conversation went.
He also knew that she didn't need to 'go get Tyr.' Three times her eyes had strayed to the side where someone else must have been standing in the room with her. When she returned to the screen, she had pulled a halter top on and Tyr was with her as well. The image had zoomed out enough to show both of them from the waist up.
"Good to see you, Trych ol' buddy," Tyr grinned. "Did Darth Grouchy make it out as well?"
Trychon's eyes flicked to his brother sitting at the console. He noted that Raezyr's jaw was clenched and was thankful he stayed seated, despite grinning to himself inwardly. He knew his brother was probably close to boiling over. "Yes, Raez made it as well. He's sitting here as well."
"Oh," Tyr said and laughed good-naturedly. "Hiya, Raez!" he called and Anya chimed in her greetings as well.
Trychon looked over at the Sith at the comm station. He didn't look up from operating the panel, but only made a hand gesture toward the holo-images, clearly not feeling the same good-nature as the other two were portraying. "Raez sends his greetings as well," Trychon stated, disregarding the true nature of the gesture.
"We were able to give CorSec the slip and make it back in one piece, although we did get some help from an unexpected source, but what I really need to know is what happened with you two," Trychon asked.
The images of Tyr and Anya glanced at each other for a moment before Tyr spoke. "I decided that in the event you were caught, it would be best if we were off-planet and that we shouldn't have any interaction with your ships or your crewmen. That way, we'd be able to come back with a team from the King's Lair and mount a rescue for you two."
"And if we had made it back and needed a quick take-off?"
"It was a risk, yes, but Anya pointed out that it was imperative that someone get cleanly away," Tyr explained. Trychon noted a glimmer of irritation cross Anya's face. It was so quick he wasn't sure whether he had imagined it or not.
"Well, I knew there was a good explanation," Trychon said, smiling. "Don't drink all the ale at the King's Lair before we get there!"
"Oh, you'll beat us back there," Tyr returned. "We're on our way to pick up the Wasted Rancor first. We left it in an uninhabited system in the Endoku Sector and well have to do a bit of doubling back, so don't YOU drink all the ale before we get there!"
Trychon smiled, noting Tyr's slip up. "May the Force serve you," he said and Raezyr cut the transmission.
The younger Sith stood up and looked at his brother. "What are you smiling about?" he asked. "You let them off completely scott free!"
"It would seem that way, and it's what I'd like them to think," the older sibling explained. "They said they were planning on getting help for a rescue mission, but they had no such intentions."
"I know that," Raezyr said, "but how do you know for sure?"
"They're already on their way to pick up their other ship. If they really were planning on a rescue attempt, they know time was of the essence. They'd have to get help and get back before we were turned over to the Jedi," Trychon explained. "Stopping to get the Rancor tells us they had no concern about rescue."
"Those slimy Hutts were just going to leave us to rot, weren't they? I swear, when we see them again, I'm going to..."
Trychon interrupted. "We need them, brother. Just wait for now. We know they're up to something, but let's not tip our hand yet. Let's wait and watch closely. If we're patient and observant, we'll figure out what exactly they're up to."
He paused for a moment then added, "They are also sleeping together."
The younger Sith forgot his rage for a moment, replaced with surprise. "How in the name of the Sith do you figure that?"
Trychon thought, wondering how he was going to answer that when a beeping noise sounded from the data pad at his waist, saving him. He pulled it out and punched a few buttons. "Interesting."
"What is it?" the younger brother inquired.
"Some glorified data-mucker has been messing with my program," commented irritably.
"Is that bad?"
The older Sith looked over and shrugged. "At this point, it's of no consequence at all."
----------------
The Sith warriors left their droid in charge on the small bridge of the ship for the next few days. There wasn't much to do there besides monitor the sensors and make minor course corrections over the three legs of the journey to the outer-most edges of the Galaxy.
The warriors themselves spent the time either in meditation and training either with their holocronistic Sith teachers or showing each other the techniques they were learning from their new mentors.
Trychon, was slowly but surely picking up the skills needed to wield his new double-bladed lightsaber and was excited to try it in combat. "You're still not quite ready," Raezyr told him near the end of their trip. He then ducked under his older brother's attack and came up with the pommel of his own lightsaber, stopping it just short of connecting with Trychon's chin. "You are close though," the younger of the two said with a grin.
The ship ended it's final hyperspace run on the outskirts of the Hoth system. After rendezvousing with their crewmen on the Jet Razor and giving them the final coordinates to the King's Lair, the two ships completed their journey, landing in the large hangar bay on the ice and snow covered planet of Hoth.
"Raez! Trych!" called a familiar voice as they disembarked their starship. They looked up to see Mannix running across the hangar bay, waving his hands excitedly. For a boy who was the only survivor of his reclusive colony, he looked as if he was adapting well.
"Guys, Taggart has been teaching me to pilot speeders and we've already moved on to the small fighters! He says I'm already as good as any of their other pilots here!" Mannix blurted out with a grin.
"Nice to see you, too, Mannix," Trychon laughed.
"We'll get you in a simulator and see just how good you are against a real pilot," Raezyr added jokingly. His older brother had worked up some simulator programs based on their up coming mission parameters and they planned on having all of the Kingsmen run through so they'd be better prepared.
"I can't wait," Mannix replied.
"Neither can I, Sith," a feminine voice added from behind them. Raezyr had sensed Dianna's approach and turned around, sweeping the red-headed pirate queen in his arms.
"Let's get down to business, then," the big Sith said, grinning.
"I spent hours in a Corellian sewer, yet now I'm nauseated," the older Sith said making a sour face.
"Shut up, Trych," Dianna and Raezyr replied in unison.
Once they were clear of the system, they entered the coordinates for Hoth and made the jump to light speed. They had given orders to their men on board the Jet Razor to hold up just outside the Hoth system and await their arrival before approaching the King's Lair as no one on Dianna's crew would recognize their voices although they should have the correct passcodes and were flying a craft with which the pirates were familiar.
Trychon sat down across from Raezyr in the galley and they opened their ales. Schyrt and Reed were proving to be quite reliable and had done an excellent job of stocking up on good ale and real Corellian brandy.
"First things first," Trychon began after taking that first long, delicious pull from his mug. "When we lifted off from Talus, did you send that communique to Di? The one with all the instructions for this job and the list of equipment she'll need?"
"Yes, but Trych..." Raezyr began, a skeptical look on his face.
"Raez..." the older brother interrupted. "If you tell me one more time that you have a bad feeling about this, I'm going to zap you like I did that henchman," Trychon said grinning.
"Yeah," the other Sith replied. "About that: when were you going to tell me about that? Daxon Var sure as hell didn't teach you that. We've been practicing that forever now, and nothing."
A sheepish look crept over Trychon's face. "Sorry, little bro. I'd been meaning to tell you that I cracked a new holocron. I promise I'll teach you whatever I learn from it. I hadn't had a chance to practice that 'lightning' thing yet so I didn't even know if it'd work, or if what that thing was teaching me was valid," the older Sith explained. "I didn't see the point in getting hopes up if it proved to be no big deal, like Daxon Var has turned out to be."
"Alright, just don't hold out on me," Raezyr grumbled and his brother nodded.
"You know, it's not like Var wasn't useful. He progressed us a long way in our meditation and other things, preparing us for the things we are learning now. He just was never very truthful about his real status as a Sith," the big man said.
"I suppose," Raezyr's brother agreed. "Speaking of 'status as a Sith,' we need to find out what the hell Tyr and Anya were thinking, ditching us like that."
The two got up and moved to the communications room on board the Stalker. A hypercomm holo signal cost quite a bit, and was usually avoided at all cost, but the two warriors wanted to see the look on their counterparts faces and not give them time to come up with an excuse.
Raezyr moved toward the holo-pad, but his half-brother put a hand on his arm. "Raez, let me. If I know you, you'll blow up and make them defensive. Not that they don't deserve a good tongue lashing, but we want to keep this calm and see what they come up with."
Raezyr hesitated for a moment then exhaled. "Very well," he said. He really wanted to lay into those two, but he also knew his brother was right. He took a seat at the communications controls and entered the appropriate codes for the direct link via the holo-net. He signaled Trychon that he was ready.
The older sibling stepped up on the holo-pad and crossed his arms as the pad lit up beneath him. In moments a holo-image of Anya's head and shoulders appeared in front of him. Her shoulders were bare, and her hair tousled as if she had been in bed, although she appeared anything but sleepy. Trychon's thoughts flashed briefly back to a night on Korriban which seemed ages ago.
"Oh, uh, Trych," the female Sith said, a surprised look on her face. Trychon, snapping back to the present, knew she was seeing a full life-sized image of himself, and he hoped he looked anything but pleased.
"Do you care to explain?" Trychon said calmly, but coolly.
The surprised look was gone instantly on the woman's face, replaced by one of relief. "Oh, Trych! I'm so glad you're safe! On the way back to the ship we heard the alerts for Corellian Security and thought for sure they were going to catch you! However did you get away? Wait a second, let me go get Tyr." The holo image blacked out.
Nicely played, Anya the Sith warrior thought to himself. She had not only avoided answering the question but had now changed the topic. He decided to let it go and see where the conversation went.
He also knew that she didn't need to 'go get Tyr.' Three times her eyes had strayed to the side where someone else must have been standing in the room with her. When she returned to the screen, she had pulled a halter top on and Tyr was with her as well. The image had zoomed out enough to show both of them from the waist up.
"Good to see you, Trych ol' buddy," Tyr grinned. "Did Darth Grouchy make it out as well?"
Trychon's eyes flicked to his brother sitting at the console. He noted that Raezyr's jaw was clenched and was thankful he stayed seated, despite grinning to himself inwardly. He knew his brother was probably close to boiling over. "Yes, Raez made it as well. He's sitting here as well."
"Oh," Tyr said and laughed good-naturedly. "Hiya, Raez!" he called and Anya chimed in her greetings as well.
Trychon looked over at the Sith at the comm station. He didn't look up from operating the panel, but only made a hand gesture toward the holo-images, clearly not feeling the same good-nature as the other two were portraying. "Raez sends his greetings as well," Trychon stated, disregarding the true nature of the gesture.
"We were able to give CorSec the slip and make it back in one piece, although we did get some help from an unexpected source, but what I really need to know is what happened with you two," Trychon asked.
The images of Tyr and Anya glanced at each other for a moment before Tyr spoke. "I decided that in the event you were caught, it would be best if we were off-planet and that we shouldn't have any interaction with your ships or your crewmen. That way, we'd be able to come back with a team from the King's Lair and mount a rescue for you two."
"And if we had made it back and needed a quick take-off?"
"It was a risk, yes, but Anya pointed out that it was imperative that someone get cleanly away," Tyr explained. Trychon noted a glimmer of irritation cross Anya's face. It was so quick he wasn't sure whether he had imagined it or not.
"Well, I knew there was a good explanation," Trychon said, smiling. "Don't drink all the ale at the King's Lair before we get there!"
"Oh, you'll beat us back there," Tyr returned. "We're on our way to pick up the Wasted Rancor first. We left it in an uninhabited system in the Endoku Sector and well have to do a bit of doubling back, so don't YOU drink all the ale before we get there!"
Trychon smiled, noting Tyr's slip up. "May the Force serve you," he said and Raezyr cut the transmission.
The younger Sith stood up and looked at his brother. "What are you smiling about?" he asked. "You let them off completely scott free!"
"It would seem that way, and it's what I'd like them to think," the older sibling explained. "They said they were planning on getting help for a rescue mission, but they had no such intentions."
"I know that," Raezyr said, "but how do you know for sure?"
"They're already on their way to pick up their other ship. If they really were planning on a rescue attempt, they know time was of the essence. They'd have to get help and get back before we were turned over to the Jedi," Trychon explained. "Stopping to get the Rancor tells us they had no concern about rescue."
"Those slimy Hutts were just going to leave us to rot, weren't they? I swear, when we see them again, I'm going to..."
Trychon interrupted. "We need them, brother. Just wait for now. We know they're up to something, but let's not tip our hand yet. Let's wait and watch closely. If we're patient and observant, we'll figure out what exactly they're up to."
He paused for a moment then added, "They are also sleeping together."
The younger Sith forgot his rage for a moment, replaced with surprise. "How in the name of the Sith do you figure that?"
Trychon thought, wondering how he was going to answer that when a beeping noise sounded from the data pad at his waist, saving him. He pulled it out and punched a few buttons. "Interesting."
"What is it?" the younger brother inquired.
"Some glorified data-mucker has been messing with my program," commented irritably.
"Is that bad?"
The older Sith looked over and shrugged. "At this point, it's of no consequence at all."
----------------
The Sith warriors left their droid in charge on the small bridge of the ship for the next few days. There wasn't much to do there besides monitor the sensors and make minor course corrections over the three legs of the journey to the outer-most edges of the Galaxy.
The warriors themselves spent the time either in meditation and training either with their holocronistic Sith teachers or showing each other the techniques they were learning from their new mentors.
Trychon, was slowly but surely picking up the skills needed to wield his new double-bladed lightsaber and was excited to try it in combat. "You're still not quite ready," Raezyr told him near the end of their trip. He then ducked under his older brother's attack and came up with the pommel of his own lightsaber, stopping it just short of connecting with Trychon's chin. "You are close though," the younger of the two said with a grin.
The ship ended it's final hyperspace run on the outskirts of the Hoth system. After rendezvousing with their crewmen on the Jet Razor and giving them the final coordinates to the King's Lair, the two ships completed their journey, landing in the large hangar bay on the ice and snow covered planet of Hoth.
"Raez! Trych!" called a familiar voice as they disembarked their starship. They looked up to see Mannix running across the hangar bay, waving his hands excitedly. For a boy who was the only survivor of his reclusive colony, he looked as if he was adapting well.
"Guys, Taggart has been teaching me to pilot speeders and we've already moved on to the small fighters! He says I'm already as good as any of their other pilots here!" Mannix blurted out with a grin.
"Nice to see you, too, Mannix," Trychon laughed.
"We'll get you in a simulator and see just how good you are against a real pilot," Raezyr added jokingly. His older brother had worked up some simulator programs based on their up coming mission parameters and they planned on having all of the Kingsmen run through so they'd be better prepared.
"I can't wait," Mannix replied.
"Neither can I, Sith," a feminine voice added from behind them. Raezyr had sensed Dianna's approach and turned around, sweeping the red-headed pirate queen in his arms.
"Let's get down to business, then," the big Sith said, grinning.
"I spent hours in a Corellian sewer, yet now I'm nauseated," the older Sith said making a sour face.
"Shut up, Trych," Dianna and Raezyr replied in unison.
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