717. Like Womprats in a Cage - Raezyr

Tyr stood before the two seated Jedi Masters in the Enclave Council Chamber.

He cleared his throat before starting the small speech he'd been rehearsing and amending over the past several days.  "Grandfather, Master Taisun, I've come to terms with the fact that I have spent a large portion of my life dedicated to a hatred built under false pretenses.  Much of what I've known in my life is a downright lie told to me by others or myself.  Other things that have shaped me I've simply misremembered or misunderstood."

Tyr made eye contact with his grandfather, who smiled at him despite the decorum.  He gave a brief smile and nod in return.  "As an adult, I have made poor choices and done horrible things.  I've also aligned myself with Sith, and received and been receptive to poisonous teachings.  I know now that I've made these decisions based on lies, purposeful and not.  That does not excuse my actions and decisions, nor does it escape me from the consequences I deserve from them.  I am fully deserving of any and all consequences because while misled, I was of sound and able mind."

This earned him a nod from the more feline master, Master Taisun.  Again, he nodded in return.  "I hope that I am able to make penance for my deeds with further good deeds, particularly on Coruscant.  I will accept any other punishments that the Council and Republic deem me worthy though."

It looked as though Tanner was about to interrupt him, but Tyr had to finish.  "However."  He cleared his throat again.  "I cannot give up the location of my two associates who are still at large.  They have been my only friends in the past two years, and would not betray me under any circumstances.  They are also guilty of horrible deeds, and I am aware of this.  They are still my friends though, and loyalty is something that most Sith are not noted for, they are capable of it and the Jedi admire it in each other.  I know that this is not a situation where the council will admire my decision, but I hope they can understand where it comes from and what it means to me.  If I knew the location of the Sith master known as Eiron who was behind the Coruscant attack, I would likely give that up in their stead, but none of us have the means of reaching him.  I apologize."

Taisun and Tanner stood silently for a moment. Finally Taisun spoke. "If given the opportunity, would you dedicate yourself to the Jedi Code, and submit yourself to Jedi training, even if it means becoming a Padawan to someone who may be younger than yourself?"

"I would."

"Then in instances like this, the Republic allows the Jedi Order to take in former Sith, but only if the offender is truly remorseful about their past and earnest in their willingness to change and make amends," Taisun informed him.


Tyr bowed to the pair of Jedi Masters, and a smile grew from ear to ear that he couldn't contain.  Weeks ago, he'd have never seen himself here in this spot.  What was more surprising though was how great he felt about the new direction his life seemed to be taking.  It was not so much as though a load had been lifted from his shoulders as much as it was that he was given a whole new body with which to have a second chance.  He felt utterly refreshed.

"I'd like to share something with you before your decision is final."  Master Solumni offered.  "I do not know if this will sway your view or not, but you deserve to hear this story of two brothers."

"Like a parable?"

"Not exactly."  Tanner crossed his arms and closed his eyes.  "Years ago, there were two brothers, born to a Jedi Father."

Tyr looked confused.  "Raezyr and Trychon?"

"No."  Tanner frowned.  "Please let me finish.  One of these brothers was very gifted in the Force, and was trained to become a Jedi.  The other was not, and he led a very bitter life regardless of the things that those close to him would do to try to make him happy.  He lived on the wrong side of the law often, he drank too much, and he slept with many women jumping from one shallow relationship to another shallow relationship, in between one night stands."

Tyr sat down on the floor and crossed his legs.  He had no idea where his grandfather was going with this story.

"As time went on, the wayward brother became a father, unwittingly.  He began to come around and tried to become a good father, but he refused to allow the Jedi to meet his son because of his own misguided principals.  Fast forward a few years, and now he has two sons from different relationships and his brother has one.  Either out of spite of the news that his brother's son will someday join the Jedi, or out of pure greed, he decides to sell his sons to the Sith."

Even new to the ways of the Jedi, Tyr was disgusted by this, but still unsure of how the story was related to him, so he kept his opinions private.

The Jedi master continued.  "One of his sons was gone before we got word.  When we sent a pair of recruiters to contact him about his sons, worried about their fate, he had already made a deal with the Sith for the younger child.  His brother and a Master intervened in the second son being sent off to the Sith, but the Master was grief stricken and decided not to hand over the child to the order either, and she took him off on his own."

Tyr started to think he knew what the connection was.  "You believe this child was Raezyr."

His grandfather nodded.  "We sent a team after the Sith who had gotten ahold of the older child.  We never heard back from that team again, but our spies among the Sith said that the group we had gone after also disappeared.  No news was ever found about the boy, but he was presumed dead along with the others."

"Trychon?  How can you be so sure of either?"

Solumni swallowed.  "We have some footage of your friend Raezyr on Nal Hutta, when he was careless with his helmet.  The scar over his eye matches the description of the one received by the child at a later attempt to retrieve him from the ersatz master.  That also matches what you told us about him being raised by a rogue Jedi, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does."  Tyr had to admit.  It was unsettling having these 'revelations' so often.  "What about Trych?"  He asked, noting to himself that he used the informal nickname for the first time in his discussions with the Jedi.  He'd avoided using the familiar terms up to this point.

"He is a little less shy, and we have several good holos of his appearance, including a few where he stared directly into the camera.  He looks exactly like his father.  Too much to be a coincidence.  In fact, we don't really believe in coincidences.  Your fate was intertwined with theirs from birth."

That caught Tyr off guard.  "Huh?"

"Tyr... the lost son here... the criminal, boozer, womanizer who sold his children to the Sith, only to lose them both to the galaxy... he was your uncle.  Your father's brother."  He sighed.  "My son."

"I..." Tyr didn't know what to say.  "I don't know what to say.  I have to meditate on this." 

Master Taison put his hand on Solumni's shoulder.  "Of course.  We're done here, and you're free to go."

Tyr turned to leave but turned around at the door.  "I'm not sure this will change my opinion.  They are still my friends... my cousins.  I don't know that I can betray their trust."

"It is of little consequence."  Taison responded.  Seeing the continued confusion and exasperation on Tyr's face, he told him what they had been undecided on revealing.  "Last night, Anya escaped in your ship.  We expected this and are tracking her.  We believe she will lead us to the Sith base."

716. Hoth: King's Lair - Raezyr

The trip back to Hoth was fairly uneventful. Dianna fretted about not being able to find a load to take back in the direction of Hoth to at least cover some of the expenses even though the single run they had just done had been quite lucrative. Not many were willing to take a load of weapons into Alderaan. The risk of getting caught was hardly worth the payoff, and normally not even Dianna would have attempted it, but not everyone had access to a slicer of Trychon's abilities. It had been a simple matter to alter their transponder signal to mimic one of the cargo ships which was actually still docked back at the spaceport. By the time the Alderaanian officials sorted out the mess of why the ship was requesting to leave a second time, they'd most likely chalk it up to a computer malfunction or an operator error, leaving Dianna free of any questions... until the next time she wanted to land on Alderaan.

But that was a problem for another time.

In the meantime, Raezyr was able to successfully keep his broken hand wrapped in bacta patches long enough for it to heal without his lover noticing. He was actually rather surprised that Rhox Vegha didn't go run and tattle on him. He decided that she might not have to die by his hand one day.

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

The four crew members of the Ice Spectre sat in the cockpit of the freighter as the mottled blue swirls of hyperspace turned into star-streaks stretching into infinity, then coalesced into pinpoints. Dianna banked the ship to port and the white orb of  Hoth swung into the center of the transparisteel screen, slowly growing as they approached.

After the ship's captain had been cleared for landing and received the local weather report, Dianna turned to Trychon. "As soon as we get back, I'd like it if you'd find out how Mannix is doing," she said. "I'm worried about the kid. I'd like to bring him to Hoth to convalesce as soon as the doctors will allow him to leave the hospital."

Trychon leaned back in his seat, putting his hands behind his head. "That shouldn't be a problem. The last time we checked in with the, uh, doctors... they estimated that he should be nearly ready to begin his rehab by now." He had almost slipped and said "med program." Thankfully, it didn't look like she noticed.

"Wait," she said. "The original estimates said he'd be nearly finished with rehab by now and ready to leave. What's the hold up?"

"Oh, I don't know," Trychon said, blowing off the question. "Things are just taking longer than expected, I guess."

Dianna half turned in her seat. They were about to re-enter the atmosphere, one of the most dangerous parts of landing from space, but she wanted to look at Trychon who was sitting diagonally behind her. "What kinds of 'things?'"

"C'mon, Di," Raez interjected. "We're not doctors. We can't interpret all those charts and data by ourselves." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he was sorry he had said them.

"What do you mean?" Dianna said as she turned back around to watch her instrument panel during re-entry. The ship was beginning to buck and the climate controls in the cabin were beginning to have a hard time compensating for the heat from the friction on the hull. "Didn't you speak with a doctor? Can't they tell you what's on the chart?" the captain asked as they passed the dangerous point and the cockpit began to cool to a normal temperature again.

Trychon spoke. "Di, I'm sorry. We just set it up so we receive his medical data. We check to make sure everything is within normal ranges and if it's not, we look to make sure the trend of the data is drifting towards normal. It's just the last couple times we've checked, the final estimates for each stage of his recovery have been pushed back each time. We haven't been able to see a reason for it at all, but he's getting better."

"Gorramit, guys," Dianna said as she dropped the ship below the last of the clouds. In the distance, up a long valley in the side of a mountain, a black rectangle was opening, growing bigger as they approached, and more square as the doors to the main hangar opened. "You have to contact them, and talk to a doctor as soon as we get back, alright?"

They promised to contact the facility.

715. Hoth: King's Lair - Trychon

The two brothers had been sitting in their room for a little over an hour when Rhox called them to the cockpit.  Trychon agreed that Raezyr hadn't overreacted, he would have handled it the same way except maybe backing down sooner.

They headed up to the cockpit to find Ms. Vegah already going through a pre-flight routine.  She continued to work and didn't turn back to address them.  "Dianna's going to meet us at the drop point.  She sent the coordinates."

"She's riding with them?  I don't like this at all."  Raezyr growled as he sat down.

"She said you'd say that.  She told me to tell you that it's fine, and she just wants to get out of here."

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

As the Ice Spectre finished its approach to the landing pad they were directed to, they could see a second, much larger ship already awaiting them.  In front of it, was Dailo and several of his men.  Dianna sat on the outside of their little circle, tapping her foot.

Trychon and Rhox walked down the lowered ramp and Dianna walked over to them briskly.  As she reached the pair, Dailo gathered his thugs and headed their way.

"Where's Raez?"  She asked nervously through clenched teeth.

"He uh... opted to stay on board to avoid conflict."  Trychon smiled at the look of relief from Dianna, who seemed reassured that Raezyr hadn't gone off and done something stupid.  "Are we all good?  Can we bring the stuff out now?"

Dianna nodded and her apprentice and the Sith went to retrieve the two loaded gravsleds from the cargo bay.  After they brought them down, Dailo kept glancing at Dianna as his men inspected the crates and their seals, confirming that they were not modified.  She ignored him entirely while the process went on.

Finally, she turned to the smuggler's techs.  "Satisfied?"

The tech nodded.  "Yes, Ma'am."  Then he turned and headed back towards the ship, his job done.  As he did, he mumbled something under his breath about being the only one satisfied, which caused his boss's face to turn red.

After a little bit of grumbling, Dailo punched a few codes into his datapad, and Dianna's pad gave off a quiet note, confirming that the correct amount she'd been expecting had been transferred.

"Thank you, Dailo."  She flashed him a forced smile.

As he turned to walk away without a word, she called out to him.  "I may not have your familiarity with this sector, but I do know that not many runners will bring your sort of cargo here.  I suggest better manners next time."

Then, the three of them headed back into the Ice Spectre, with Dianna's parting comments not being acknowledged.  After closing up the ramp, they headed as a group to the cockpit, which they found empty.

Dianna turned to Trychon. "I thought you said Raez waited on board?" 

"I did."  Raezyr's voice came from down the hallway.  "Why?"

"What... were you doing?" Dianna seemed to hesitate to even ask.

"I was manning the quads, just in case.  What did you think I would do, sit and watch the sensors?"

Dianna called him some playfully insulting pet name quietly and headed to her seat to begin their ascent.  As she calculated their trajectory, she spoke up again.  "I didn't get what I was after, anyway... but he should behave better if there's a next time."

"You mean making me jealous?"

She rolled her eyes.  "No, I was trying to pump him for contacts.  When he wouldn't open up to me, I tried to use Dek's program for siphoning some from his datapad, but he turned it off hoping to avoid interruptions."  She turned to Raezyr.  "Business first.  I knew I could make you jealous, and I don't need a blowhard like that to do so."

Not much more was said before they headed out of atmosphere and entered hyperspace, looking forward to a little downtime to heal their short-term wounds.

714. Hoth: King's Lair - Raezyr and Trychon

Rhox Vega, Trychon and Raezyr climbed into the cab and sat down. The droid cab driver attempted to make small talk, but the former Czerka employee told it to be quiet.

They rode in silence for several minutes. Finally Raezyr slipped off his helmet, slicked back his hair and spoke in a regretful tone. "I should have ripped his throat out."

Rhox burst. "Don't get mad. It's your own go tsao de fault, you hwoon dahn."

"You best shut your xi niu mouth or it will be your throat that gets ripped out, si san ba," Raezyr replied. It would have sounded almost casual if it hadn't been for the menacing undertone in his voice.

"Do it!" she yelled. "I dare you, you chùsheng xai-jiao de xiang huo!"

The two stared each other down in the back of the cab as speed down the dark streets of Aldera, each waiting for the other to make a move. Finally it was Trychon who spoke. "Isn't this the part where you two are supposed to kiss?"

Rhox turned to the window and stared out, crossing her arms against her chest in disgust. The thought of kissing a Sith, any Sith, made her throw up in her mouth a little.

The ride was nearly silent after Trychon's quip.  They arrived at the spaceport and headed to the docking bay without any further conversation.

Raezyr was the first one to and up the ship's ramp.  He keyed in the unlock code and mishit a button on his first attempt.  "Open, gorramit!' he yelled as he smashed his fist into the locked door.  There was a hard metallic clang as he impacted the ship with his fist, but Raezyr was fairly sure he was the only one that heard the crunch that accompanied it.

He quickly punched in the code again and headed back to the cargo hold before the others could catch up to him.  He was already moving crates when Rhox caught up to him.

She stood behind him and waited for him to put down the crate he was moving and grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around.  "You really are as dumb as you look!" 

"Don't start with me.  I'm sick of this kriff."

"That had to have fractured a bone or two in your hand.  If you drop one of those crates or throw them around in your little tizzy, we're either not getting paid or we're exploded.  I want no part of either option."

Raezyr flexed his hand in front of his face to show he was fine.  Rhox grabbed it and squeezed.  The large Sith didn't even flinch, though it hurt badly when she did.

"I know why you're upset, but she's putting you in your place because you overstepped your bounds."  She didn't let go of his hand as she continued.  She squeezed it enough that his bones were shifting in ways they shouldn't have, and she could likely feel it, too.  "You have no real reason to be worried, because for some reason she's completely devoted to you.  I've never seen such attachment to... one of you.  Doesn't make sense, and I think she may be sick... but trust her, for all our sake."

Raezyr just stared at her.

She finally released his hand, which was throbbing now nearly to the point of numbness, though not quite.  "Now go take care of your hand while we take care of this.  Otherwise, she's going to think I did this to you."

The look on her face was stern, but the unintentional jest at the end of her tirade cause the corners of her mouth to turn upwards slightly.

Raezyr left without a word, and managed to make it out of the cargo bay before chuckling a little to himself as well before regaining his scowl.

713. Hoth: King's Lair - Raezyr

Rhox and Dianna slid into a booth in a small alcove in the back of the club while Trychon took the seat opposite. Raezyr stood by the entrance to the alcove and surveyed the room. A music engineer stood at a booth in the corner just off the dance floor, mixing songs so the dance beats flowed effortlessly. Strobes and lasers lit up the smoke-filled room while scantily-clad bodies writhed and clung to each other in time to the hard bass as it thumped.

A server approached and Raezyr held him up with one hand. He then made a show of patting him down for weapons before he allowed the club employee to take drink orders. The pat down had been unnecessary for the big Sith warrior as he could sense no ill-intent when the man approached, but he knew they were being scrutinized and appearances must be kept and roles must be played. His was the hulking, meat-head to provide physical security in close quarters, a role he was happy to play as it would give him the edge if hostilities broke out.

After an hour a young Rodian female wearing a skimpy clubbing outfit and bobbing to the rythym, bounced up to Raezyr. He held up his hand, indicating she should approach no further, but instead she moved closer and began to dance against him. He expected to feel some emotion from Dianna, anger, jealously, anything, but instead there was nothing. It surprised him for the briefest of moments, realizing that she knew this was a job, and it wasn't as if Raezyr had gone looking for this female.

He grabbed the Rodian roughly by the shoulder and was about to push her away when she slid her hands down his torso and tucked something in the waistband of his trousers. She then danced her way back into the crowd. Raezyr reached down and pulled out a folded napkin with something scrawled on it. At first he assumed it was probably just her private comm channel and he was about to crumple it up and throw it on the floor when he took a second look.

The big Sith turned to the table he was guarding. Dianna was trying hard to look disinterested in what had just taken place, Rhox looked disgusted, and his brother had a grin on his face from ear to ear. He could tell Trychon was about to make some comment so he spoke first. "You better take a look at this," Raezyr said, tossing the napkin on the table in front of Rhox.

"Eww," she said in disgust, holding her hands up and away from the disposable paper product in front of her. "I'm not touching that. I saw where she put it."

Dianna reached over, snatched it up and read the note. "Let's go," she said and slid out of the booth. Raezyr led the way to a side hallway, the entrance to which was marked with the universal restroom signs. The four walked past the doors there and to the end of the hallway where three more doors were located. One was to a storage room, one was an emergency fire exit, and the other revealed a set of stairs going up.

They took the stairs quickly despite the poor lighting. One of the glow rods was flickering and they could see where others were missing, leaving just enough light to see the stairs. They reached a landing, turned and went up a second flight, coming to a halt at a small landing just big enough for the four of them.

A heavy security door marked with a sign that read 'Office' stood in their way. Raezyr knocked, his gauntleted fist rapping loudly on the steel door.

A slot in the door and a camera eye slid out to examine them. "Haku uba naga?" a voice asked in Huttese.

Raezyr, who was standing closest, answered. "We're here to see Dailo."

"Bolla neechu. Hees nopa tah baatu baatu," the voice said.

Dianna pushed forward. "Tell Dailo that if he wants his shipment he better stop playing games."

The camera eye studied moved it's focus from Raezyr to Dianna and studied her for a moment. "Wanga tee-tocky," the voice said. Several moments went by before it spoke again."Dailo stuka chuba ateema." The camera retracted and the door slid open.

A male Weequay stood there with a wide stance, his hand on the hilt a very large vibro-sword sheathed at his waist. "Bolla wata," he said and turned, leading them down a hallway. They passed several doors, some of which stood open revealing supply closets and offices. The alien tapped in a sequence into the key pad at the door at the end of the hall and it swooshed open.

Inside was a large office. Behind the desk was a large wall-sized window showing the entire club. Raezyr assumed it was a one-way mirror or they would have noticed it when they came in. The occupants of the room all sat around a sabacc table. Five beings were playing cards while three ladies seemed to have the appearance of groupies, but all four pirates noticed they didn't move like civilians. They were tensed and ready and it was clear to the trained eye that they were body guards, despite how they were dressed and acting.

"Con tah stuka chuba, Lorda," the Weequay said.

A middle-aged human male with a black vest and gray shirt on the far side of the table put down his cards and gave the guard a rather irritated look. "Ak-sev! What have I told you about the Huttese?" he asked. "This is Alderaan, for Lor's sake. Speak Basic."

The man stood up from the card table and crossed to the desk. He looked back over at the card table. "I fold this hand, boys." He opened an ornate box on the desk and pulled out a big cigarra. "Any of you want one?" he asked the new arrivals. When they declined he lit his own and came around the front of the desk, then sat on the very edge.

He motioned to the Weequay. "Get back to the door," he told the guard. When he had gone he finally turned his full attention to the pirates. "Dianna Kingsdoom," he said and grinned. "I've hear a lot of things about you." Dailo scanned the red-headed woman up and down with a gaze that said he was looking for more than just weapons. "And they clearly didn't do you justice."

Trychon could feel Raezyr's ire starting to rise, and for a moment he wondered whether he'd have to restrain his brother.

"You know, a gorgeous, enterprising woman such as yourself could do pretty well for herself here on Alderaan," Dailo said. "What do you say that the two of us discuss some business plans over dinner... with out the riff-raff," he suggested, motioning to the others in the room.

Dianna spoke quickly. Even she could feel the heat coming off Raezyr and wondered it had been a good idea to bring him along. "I'm here to make this deal, Dailo," she said. "Let's do it so my crew and I can get the kriff off this rock."

Dailo looked a bit sad. "I heard that about you too... all business and no play. If you ever change your mind..."

"Just transfer the creds and give me the drop coordinates," Dianna said, rolling her eyes at the lame pick-up attempts. She'd received better offers from much better people and it hadn't worked before. These kinds of offers might work on regular girls, but she was no regular girl.

"Well, not so fast," the man said. "I think first I need a demonstration. I want to make sure that I'm not paying for a load of junk."

"You're far to naive," Dianna retorted. "Alderaan is much too populated for an effective demonstration... if you'd like a test, a test on a remote planet, then name the system."

Dailo just looked at her for a moment then gave her a mischievous grin. "I'm sorry then. I guess you've come all this way for nothing... unless you could persuade me otherwise." He took a step forward and stroked the tips of her red hair that hung by her neck with his fingers.

Raezyr had had enough. "Get your damn hands off her, scum bag," said reaching for Dailo's throat.

Dailo didn't move, but instantly all his people had blasters out and pointed at Raezyr. Raezyr's hand paused just inches away. Trychon could almost hear his brother's thoughts, but Rhox and Dianna didn't need a Force connection to guess that he was calculating... not whether or not to attack, but how fast he needed to move to be successful.

"Ray! That's enough out of you!" Dianna reprimanded him. They decided previously to use aliases for the Sith. "Step back and stand down until you're ordered to do otherwise, got it?" She knew she had to step in before her lover did something foolish.

The big Sith didn't move. He was tired of this fool's insolence and disrespect. Every ounce of his being was telling him to teach this big fish in a little pond just exactly who he was dealing with and who as in charge. 

"Remember. Your. Place," she told him through clenched teeth. The tension in the room was so strong it was almost alive. She knew if he didn't back down that it would snap like synth-rubber and people would die. Dianna knew Trychon and Raezyr probably had a good chance of surviving, but Rhox and herself didn't have the benefit of the Force.

Finally Raezyr slowly dropped his hand to his side and stepped back and guns around the room were lowered. "Yes, Captain," calm a quiet but tense voice from the helm.

"Looks like you need to keep your hounds on a shorter leash, Di," the middle aged man said. She noticed that he had dropped his hand away from her though.

"Look," Dianna said, ignoring the jab. "I've got a holo right here," she pulled out a small disc. "It shows the sealed crates being opened, random weapons pulled out, tested, replaced, and the crates resealed. The data is all here. When we make the drop, you'll be able to see that the seals have not been tampered with since the holo was created." She dropped the disc in his outstretched hand.

Dailo smiled. "I see this is not your first trip into the black, so to speak." Dianna didn't answer, just crossed her arms while the man crossed to the holoprojector and watched the recording.

"Fine," he said when it was over. "We'll begin the transaction, but I'll give you the final code at the drop point after I have inspected the crates."

Dianna stood there for a few moments, pondering. "Agreed," she said and turned to her crew. "You three get back to the Spectre and make her ready. I think I'll take Dailo up on his offer for dinner." She let that sink in for a minute. "Any questions?" she asked, although the glare she gave the helmed Sith told him there better not be any.