Snow swirled in through the widening gap. A blizzard was in it's infant stages outside. It was already bad and by the look of it, things were going to get much worse before they got better. It wasn't a good day to be outside on the planet Hoth.
"What do you think she's up to?" Raezyr asked his brother, staring out into the whiteness, searching for any sign of a dark shape approaching.
"I don't know," the other Sith answered, "but it worries me that I can't sense Tyr with her."
"A thousand creds says she either left him in some sort of lurch, or she got him out-right killed."
"If you want a bigger allowance then say so," Trychon chuckled, "because that's not a bet I'm willing to take." He listened to his brother's chuckle coming from under the dark blue helm. After a moment of silence, he was about to comment on the fact Raezyr probably didn't need to be wearing it since Anya already knew what he looked like, but just then a dark shape began to take form out in the white nothingness and the faint whine of repulsor lifts began to grow louder.
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Anya Tachi was glad to be on Hoth. She knew they'd probably not be the happiest with her, but they could either get over it or stay mad. She really didn't care which. She decided she'd act as if absconding in the middle of the night with the Sith holocron and then losing it to the Jedi was no big deal.
She didn't bother looking out of the transparisteel windows of the cockpit. Everything was vague shapes obscured by a white haze in the surmounting blizzard. Instead, she relied on the instruments, allowing them to guide her into the hangar of the base.
Suddenly she was inside. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the relative darkness inside compared to the bleak whiteness that was the Hothian landscape. Her gaze settled quickly on the two figures standing, waiting. She was instantly nervous. Raezyr had his helmet on, which wasn't a good sign, and Trychon didn't have his usual grin.
The ship settled to the deck, and after shutting all the systems down, she headed for the loading ramp. Tee Seven beeped at her and followed. "Might as well get this over with," she said to the little astromech and slapped the controls to lower the ramp.
"Raez! Trych!" she exclaimed happily, putting away her nervous thoughts and concentrating on pretending she was happy to see them. In truth, she really didn't know where else she could have gone. Back to Korriban, she supposed. But to what end? There was nothing there but an empty building.
"Oh it's so good to see you guys!" she said striding down the ramp and hugging Trychon. After giving him a kiss on the cheek she pulled back just a bit and held him at arm's length. "Wow! You look great! The simple pirate life is suiting you two well!"
Before he could answer, Anya turned to Raezyr. "C'mon, Raez," she said, grinning and holding her arms out for a hug. "Take that helmet off and let me hug you." Raezyr made no move to do so, but she reached up and pulled the protective headgear off and threw her arms around his neck. "I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, but it's truly good to see you," she said and kissed him on his cheek.
Raezyr snatched his helmet back from her and pushed her back. "Where have you been, Anya, and where the niufen is Tyr?"
Anya frowned, before forcing a feminine laugh. "Where haven't we been? Even though we didn't leave on good terms, we figured we could still help out by leading the Jedi on a wild kornack chase through the better part of the galaxy."
"But..." Trychon folded his arms.
"Tyr got sloppy." She frowned again. "He got us shot down on an uninhabited planet, with no way out. The Jedi hunted us down, but they got him before they teamed up and got me. They took us to Dantooine and tortured us to find you. I didn't give anything up, of course... but I'm not so sure Tyr will hold out forever."
"And they just let you go, eh?" Raezyr growled.
"Of course not!" She giggled again. "I was able to escape. I couldn't be expected to break into another part of the compound though. You guys are going to have to come with me to get Tyr out and deal with him."
The two Sith stared at their wayward companion and didn't say a word. Her composure dropped a few notches and she began babbling through more detail than the others probably cared to know.
After several minutes, and more silence from the brothers, Dianna came pounding through the landing bay, clearly upset. Anya turned her cheer back on and welcomed her friend.
"Di! I think I've missed you most of all!" She jogged over to her to close the distance, and opened her arms to embrace her. She wrapped her arms around Di's neck and then gasped.
With a shove, Dianna knocked her to the floor on her back. As she stood over the blonde Sith, small object was barely visible in Dianna's hand which looked like a cloth of some sort.
Anya tried to say something to her, but only a grunt and a gurgle escaped her mouth, followed by a trickle of blood down her lips. Slowly, she looked down at the object she clutched, protruding from her stomach.
She moved her hand and there, covered in blood, was the Tingel Governor's blade.
Raezyr finally broke the silence. "Wo de ma he ta de fengkuang de waisheng dou!" he exclaimed. "Di, we're mad too, but that's a little extreme, don't you think? Or was it the kiss? Because that was still a bit of an overreaction... it was on the cheek and didn't mean anything," Raezyr said. He was about to go on, but something in Dianna's look told him he better shut up.
"She was followed," the pirate captain said.
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