609. The Heist - Trychon and Raezyr

Raezyr and Trychon walked around the base half aimlessly, discussing everything from their holocrons to specific maneuvers during their last mission. They figured to run into Anya and Tyr sulking somewhere, and did not need to bring any more attention to themselves than normal. They had made a few full circles of the base without any luck before Raezyr finally stopped.

"Where the hell are those...." He started before quickly turning and jogging down the hall. His brother knew what he was thinking and didn't bother to ask before following him.

As they arrived in the docking bay, their fears were confirmed. The Nefarion Wraith as well as the Wasted Rancor were both gone. "Gorram it!" Trychon swore quietly. He had no particular plans for the ships or the occupants that were gone, but he was losing his patience for their antics. They were out of line in his opinion and they better not do anything further to push him or his brother's temper.

Raezyr followed his older brother to the control room and checked the logs. Anya and Tyr had left in the middle of the night. No notes, no parting transmission.

"Those two have lost their logic loop." Trychon said. He pulled out his datapad and mulled over some data on it. "They accessed the Stalker before they left. We'd better run a quick inventory." His brother let out a low growl and they turned to head to the docking bay.

"I wonder what they wanted on here," Raezyr wondered aloud as they boarded the large vessel. Deep down he knew what it was, but hoped against hope that he was wrong.

"I'll give you three guesses, Raez," Trychon replied facetiously and lead the way to the cargo hold which had been converted to an exercise-slash-meditation room. Sure enough, the storage locker where they kept the holocrons was left wide open.

The two Sith dashed forward, the eldest arriving first. He peered inside, paused, then chuckled.

"What is it?" Raezyr asked, pushing his brother aside and looking for himself. At first glance he thought all the holocrons were still accounted for, but after looking more closely, he noticed only one was missing: Daxon Var's.

The big man began to chuckle as well. It had been quite some time since either brother had accessed Var's holocron. He had run out of things to teach them, or at least had run out of things he was willing to teach. Both had progressed so much further since gaining access to the other two holocrons and even though the avatars had chosen to speak only to one of the brothers, Trychon and Raezyr had diligently passed on the knowledge to each other.

But they had never told Anya and Tyr about accessing the new holocrons, only about Var's. Apparently they hadn't thought to take any other holocron but one that one.

"Apparently they must have thought the others don't function," Raezyr commented once he finished laughing.

"When I told them about it, I kind of gave them that impression," the older brother said with a smug grin on his face.

"Still, it worries me that they took even one we didn't need. I assume it means they're not planning on coming back for some time, and they may even think we'll go chasing them down," Raezyr said after thinking about it for a few minutes. "If we didn't have more pressing matters I would hunt them down just on sheer principle. They're going to think they got one over on us, and even though they'll be wrong, it irks me."

"Let it go, little brother," Trychon said to his bigger sibling. "Our energies are better used on more productive things right now than worrying what they think of us... like breakfast, for instance. I'm starved and if we don't get to the dining area quickly, we'll have to cook something for ourselves."

Raezyr shuddered at the thought. He'd eaten enough of Trychon's meals to know almost anything was preferable.

As they neared the cafeteria, Diana caught them in the hall and she still looked distressed. This can't be good, Trychon thought to himself.

Suddenly she threw her arms around Trychon's neck and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, then stepped back in case one of the crew happened into the corridor. "Thanks, Trych. This means so much to me."

Trychon grinned. "If I get a hug and kiss for that investing that amount, I'm wondering what I'll get if I double it!"

Diana glowered at the comment and Raezyr's hand shot out, aiming for his brother's neck, but Trychon ducked around the corner and into the chow hall just in the nick of time.

"I'm going to get him for that," Raezyr commented.

"Not if I get him first," replied Diana.

The two looked at each other for a moment, then laughed and followed Trychon into the dining area.

608. The Heist - Raezyr

Raezyr slipped out of bed as quietly as he could, dressed and began to strap on his armor. Theoretically he shouldn't need it here, but after the assassination attempt on Tatooine, he didn't dare trust anyone outside of those he considered his inner circle. At the moment, that consisted of just two people: Trychon and Dianna Kingsdoom.

And he wasn't sure how long that would remain true. He looked over at Dianna to make sure she was still sleeping. She was a light sleeper, but the big Sith used the Force to dampen the slight sounds he was making to ensure she wasn't disturbed. Before he left, he scrawled a quick note with a stylus and some flimsi he found letting her know that he had already talked to Trychon and they were going to "invest" the money with her.

He walked down the corridor. He could sense Trychon was in the area of the computer room already this morning and headed that direction. He didn't know exactly how this conversation was going to go, but whatever happened, he knew Dianna wasn't going to lose this base or her business.

He stood in outside the door for a minute then pushed the control button. The door whooshed to the side and closed behind him.

"Brother... I need to speak with you," he said.

"Hang on," Trychon responded. His hands flashed quickly over the keyboards in front of him.

Raezyr stood there and waited several minutes while Trychon continued to work before he spoke again. "Trych," he said, this time with more emphasis.

"In a minute," the older Sith said, still staring and the three screens in front of him.

"No, now," Raezyr said forcefully.

Trychon stopped typing and turned to look at his brother. "What is it, Raez?" Something in the big man's voice told Trychon it was serious.

"The love of my life spent most of last night in tears because she's afraid she's going to lose everything and let down all those who depend on her. I told her that no matter what, that isn't going to happen," Raezyr said.

"And?" Trychon asked skeptically.

"And I told her we'd give it to her no matter what you said," Raezyr said, staring down at his half-brother.

There was a long pause. "And how'd she take that?" Trychon asked.

Raezyr sat down in a chair and exhaled. "About like we figured she would. She said she couldn't take charity. I told her she could consider it an investment and then pay us back."

"And she was okay with that?" he paused as Raezyr nodded his head, then continued. "Excellent. You had me worried there for a minute," Trychon grinned.

"Trych... I need you to tell me again how she's supposed to benefit from this. Dianna's taking this awfully hard. I know we hated Zanz, but he, Taggart and Dengar were close friends of hers."

Trychon rolled his eyes. "I've explained this a thousand times, Raez. Dianna gets the money to pay off her debts and even enough to upgrade some. She won't want to take more than she needs, but we'll insist that she take it, since it's our investment and we want her to do as well as possible. You can blame that insistence on me, if she's not happy about it.

"Also, with our 'investment' we can now be a bit more involved with them, which she was always hesitant to allow... but you know we can help her in the long run.

"And since it was our plan and legwork to implement the entire thing, we get steady payments from the King's Lair and can make big time investments on Den Var. It's win win for everyone," he explained.

"Say," the older Sith continued. "Speaking of Dengar, you never told me what actually happened to him. Did he really go with Zanz and Taggart?"

"He saw me uploading that special program you had me upload to the cargo shuttle, and on the way back, he started to get suspicious... I had to throw him out of the airlock or he might have caused trouble back here," Raezyr said with a grin.

"Shiny!" Trychon said. "Lucky, really. It kind of put the icing on the ryshcate. Just makes them look even more guilty."

"Well it was a spur of the moment decision. I know it wasn't in the plan, but the more I thought about it, the more that his disappearance seemed good for us. Really it was all in the explanation of his disappearance," Raezyr said.

"Speaking for plans," Trychon said. "Maybe we should go fill Tyr and Anya in just a little. They're all bent out shape about losing the aurodium shipment."

607. The Heist - Raezyr

Raezyr punched back into real space, the starlines collapsing into pinpoints again. The Sith banked the ship toward the bright-white pearl hanging in the blackness of space just as the Twilight Stalker emerged from hyperspace as well.


Delki and Bleetz hadn't been overly excited about making a victory pit-stop for Rylothian whisky and cigarras, but had agreed once they found out that the Sith were paying for it.

Trychon and Raezyr should have known better than to take a Chadra Fan and a Squib to a trade planet like Den Var. They had planned to stop only long enough for a decent meal, a few drinks and to pick up supplies. They ended up spending two days there, most of it looking for the two furry little aliens. They finally found them in a large junk-dealer bazaar and were able to herd them back to the ship.

The large, ice-covered hangar doors parted for the two ships and they settled to the deck, the landing gear hissing as it released it's compressed gases.


Raezyr strode down the off ramp and waited for the crew of the Corellian corvette to disembark as well. There was an eerie feeling in the compound, but it was hard to pinpoint exactly, as it permeated the entire area.

The feeling of unease was only increased with a call on his personal comm to bring Trychon and meet Dianna in her office. This was the sort of thing that would normally elicit at least a shrug or snide comment from one of them, but their expressions remained level as they headed down the hall as they were requested.

When they entered and found Dianna meeting with Anya and Tyr. Instead of a standard greeting they were given a morose look from Dianna. "No word from Zanz and Taggart. We have absolutely no indication of what may have gone wrong."

"They could be in hiding somewhere?" Trychon offered with a concerned look.

She shook her head. "They would have sent me at least something. Hearing nothing at all by now is tantamount to something gone horribly wrong. I don't know what to do."

"And that's why we may as well get out ahead of this thing and go find another job like it." Tyr insisted.

Dianna sighed, as though she didn't even have the energy to roll her eyes. "There are no jobs like that one. We put too much into that job, because it was a once a lifetime opportunity."

Anya shoved her way in front of Tyr. "So we do a bunch of little jobs. Hit banks in random systems. Branch out and try something new and fun."

Dianna's voice began to rise at that. "The last thing I'm worried about right now is what you consider to be 'fun!' I'm not a two-bit robber!" She paused for a moment and looked at the new arrivals. "Where's Dengar?"

Raezyr looked at her with a puzzled look on his face. "He had to seal the breach from the shuttle side. He went with Taggart and Zanz."

"Why didn't you tell me! I was supposed to be notified of any change in the plans," she said exasperated.

"Zanz said he had already told you about it. I took his word for it since I wasn't able to monitor all radio channels," Raezyr said. His lover looked almost on the verge of tears. The obvious explanation was beginning to dawn on her. The big Sith reached out and put on Dianna's shoulder. "I'm sorry Di. We'll get to the bottom of this. It can't be what it looks like."

"It's impossible," she said. "Zanz wouldn't just run off with the money."

"This is why we should go hit lots of smaller targets!" Anya said again. "Please, Di, we can do this, and maybe we'll run into those backstabbing Hutt-spawn and we can cut them open."

Dianna looked at the blond Sith incredulously. "You really do take this whole 'pirate' thing too literally, don't you? This isn't some holo-drama, girly. This is real life. We run cargo for people who don't want questions asked! This was a once in a life-time mission to get back on our feet."

"Just drop it for now, Anya," Raezyr said, speaking up.

"No," she said defiantly. "This is the only way to save this place. Don't you see that?"

"Anya, we'll discuss this later. Now is not the time," Trychon said calmly.

"No, we'll discuss this now," Tyr said, speaking up.

Raezyr took a step toward him. "Now is not the time. Both of you return to your quarters and we can discuss it later," he said coldly, emphasizing the last word.

They stood toe to toe for a breath, and for just an instant, Raezyr thought it might come to blows, that he might have to kill Tyr. Tyr broke their eye contact and looked down at the floor. Raezyr looked over at Anya and her face was a mask of ice as cold as the frozen planet on which they stood. It was a look he had seen before, and he decided to keep a close eye on his back. It wouldn't be the first time she had tried to stick a vibro blade into it.

Wordlessly, Anya and Tyr turned and headed down the hall toward their quarters. Something was going on with those two, but whatever it was would have to wait. The brothers turned back to Dianna.

"Can I speak with you alone, Raez?" she asked them.

The Sith exchanged a wordless glance, and Trychon excused himself, saying he'd get to work trying to track them down over the holonet.

Raezyr took Dianna gently by the arm and escorted her back to her quarters. Once they were inside, she threw her arms around his neck and began sobbing. "I'm so sorry Raez. It was nothing against Trych, but I just couldn't keep the facade up any longer."

He eased her over and sat with her on the edge of the bed. "I think he knew that, love."

"I just can't believe that Zanz would do something like this. He's always been like a second father to me, and Taggs... I gave him a shot when no one else would touch him. He owed me everything, and Dengar, I treated him like a brother... everyone here is like a family," she said, sobbing.

"There has to be some other explanation... there just has to be...," she cried into the big man's embrace.

"I think we have to face facts, Di. Money can do crazyr things to people," Raezyr began. It was killing him to see her like this, and the sooner she accepted the truth, the sooner she'd be able to move on. "Remember how Zanz insisted he lead the shuttle insertion team?"

"Yes."

"And Taggart may not have been involved, but may be a victim as well. Dengar and Zanz were going over plans all by themselves until pretty late the night before we left for the mission, then there was the deviation from protocol when Zanz claimed to have informed you about Dengar leaving with them instead of on the Jet Razor with me," the Sith paused for a moment to let all those facts sink in. "I'm sorry, Di. I mean, maybe something happened and they crash-landed somewhere without sending a message, and they just forgot to tell you that Dengar was with them, but the much more likely option is that the son of a bantha is planning on retiring and living the good life.

"Either way," he continued, "that money is gone."

Dianna nodded her head in agreement and cried for some time. "What's worse, is that the King's Lair is done for. I took out loans against the base and every ship we owned to upgrade, hire, and make repairs to prep for this mission," she said feebly, emotionally drained. "Everything my father built is gone."

Raezyr was silent for a few moments, the slid down onto his knees in front of her so he could look into her eyes. "Maybe not," he said excitedly. "Trych and I, we made some investments a while back with what money we had. We can sell them off!"

"Are you kidding me?" she said, disbelieving. "Do you know me? I can't take that kind of charity, no matter how close we are, Raez."

"Well then... consider it a loan... or an investment!" Raezyr said. "We'll pay your debts now, in exchange, you can make payments to us over time until the debt is gone. How does that sound?" he asked with a grin.

"What if Trych says no?" Dianna asked, wiping the last of her tears away.

"Well, let me talk to him first. I can't just take the money without discussing it with him, but I don't really care what he says, I'm going to get you that money," he said determinedly.

"I can't let you do that, not if it means a rift between you two," she replied.

"He won't say no, but that's not the point, my love. The point is that I'm here for you, I got you into this mess, and I'm going to get you out."

Without a word, she pulled the big man into her arms and kissed him deeply.

606. The Heist - Raezyr

Captain Wash Moklam stood at the viewport of the bridge and watched the pseudo motion of ships slipping the bounds of real space. The small Corellian capital ship that had been keeping the other hammer-head, the Arcus Fire, occupied the whole time while the Unity had been helpless was the last to leave.

In seconds only three ships remained. The Arcus, the Bogan Charge and his own hammer-head class star cruiser. Suddenly the lights and sensors on the bridge flickered back to life.

"All systems seem to be functioning normally, Captain," his first officer said from his station.

The captain of the ship turned slowly without saying a word and walked deliberately to the turbo lift. "Send all reports to my quarters," he said without emotion just as the lift doors slid shut.

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

Geoffry Spickolly stood outside the captain's quarters. It had been two days since the ambush. Two days since Moklam's task force had been resoundingly defeated in what should have been an easy victory given their superior firepower and technology. Two days since the captain had emerged from his quarters, and Spickolly was unsure whether it was a good idea to bother him.

That vibro-jack program, the one that sliced into the system and hi-jacked the basic systems, had been much bigger and vastly more complex than he had first imagined and thus had created many problems trying to fix it. The number one error he had made was assuming that the program had been inserted remotely and recently.

If he had known how big it was, he would have known there would have been no way to slice it in remotely. The time and bandwidth it would have used to download would have been detected easily. The only possible explanation was that somehow they had gotten on board the ship and downloaded the program manually. The only time that could have happened was during the time the Unity had spent in the Kuat Drive Yards.

Spickolly knew the captain was probably in big trouble for losing that cargo shuttle, and he could easily sit by and let that happen, but the civilian's ire was up now. He'd been made a fool of and as a slicer, it would get around that some self-taught piece of lese had gotten the better of him, and in the slicer world, he could not let that stand.

The door swooshed open for Spickolly shortly after he knocked on it. Stepping in he surveyed the room. Papers, flimsi-plast and various other items were strewn around the room. He assumed this part of the ship must have been hit fairly hard during the fighting.He said as much to Captain Moklam who was still lying on his bunk.

"What makes you say that?" the officer said, rolling over and sitting up on the edge of his bed.

Spickolly took another look around the room. He suddenly wondered if the mess was due to fighting at all. "Heh heh heh... no reason."

Moklam rubbed the 2 day stubble on his face and looked blearily at the civilian in his brightly colored shirt. "What in the Galaxy do you want from me, Spickolly? Did you come here for your, 'I told you so's?'" The ship's senior officer stood up and walked over to his tipped-over chair, righted it, then sat down and opened a drawer. Pulling out a dark colored bottle and cup, he tried to pour a drink. When only a drop landed into the bottom of the glass, he looked at the bottle with disgust, then tossed it haphazardly across the room, confirming Spickolly's new theory about where the mess may have come from. Moklam reached into the drawer and pulled out another bottle only to discover this one was empty as well. "Just as well, I guess," he sighed, leaning back in the chair.

"Well?" Moklam asked, prodding the social recluse to explain the reason for his visit.

"Dude. That guy totally kicked my tail," he said and laughed as if he told a funny joke.

"That may be, but you'll go on with your career. I, on the other hand, will be lucky if I'm not drummed out of the Service. Now if you're done gloating, please leave," the captain said, dismissing the slicer with a wave of his hand.

"Oh, no way, General dude. I'm not gloating or anything, bro," the slicer said. "I've totally got a plan to get these Sith guys, but I need your help, dude sir."

"Didn't you hear me? I'm probably going to be forced into 'retirement' for this. How am I supposed to help you?"

"I will totally take all the blame, Commander. I'll report that it was all my fault, but you gotta find a way to keep me from getting fired. If you can do that, I can hand these Hutt slime to you on a platter," the slicer said.

Moklam leaned forward. For the first time since losing the battle, he was feeling something other than shock. "Go ahead, Spickolly. I'm listening," Captain Moklam said, grinning.