CHAPTER FOUR
With the war going on and death unfortunately not being as uncommon a sight these days, Wallen Nix highly doubted that he would be given another boring case from GA Intelligence anytime soon. And that was perfectly fine for him.
For the past few years, the cases which GAIS had been giving him were murders and other crimes committed by petty, slipshod wrong-doers who always left some sort of trace of themselves behind, whether it be fingerprints or otherwise.
Unfortunately, his hopes were shot down like an avril getting hit by an HH-15 projectile launcher when the doorbell to his apartment chimed, the computer at the door identifying his visitors to be members of GA Intelligence.
Sighing heavily as he got up from his comfortable chair in his living quarters, he walked up to the door and opened it to see a young Omwati woman and a tall, burly human man, the latter who carried a briefcase.
Doing his best to keep his tone neutral, Wallen said, "To what reason do I owe this visit?"
The Omwati ignored his question and said, "Are you Captain Wallen Nix of the Coruscant Security Force's detective division?"
Wallen eyed the blue-skinned female warily. "Yes..."
"Born in the Inner Rim, but raised on Coruscant?"
"Sounds about right."
"Born fourteen years before the Battle of Yavin?"
Now his patience was wearing thin. "Yes, I was. What do you want?"
"Captain, we have a case for you to solve."
Wallen fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Why wasn't I simply contacted about this?"
"Because we have something you will need if you choose to undertake this mission."
This piqued a bit of Wallen's curiosity, but he made sure not to keep his expectations high just to have them shot down. "So, what's the case?"
"As you may have heard, quite a few Jedi have been disappearing," said the Omwati. "Last year, Master Ven'sol went to Taris to help contain the rakghoul plague but never returned. Thus, a few months ago, a team of six Jedi were sent to search for him. General Hawk later reported their disappearances as well."
Wallen scratched his chin. "Have the Jedi already tied searching for the six others?"
"Yes, and they found no trace of them...or the rakghouls." She gestured to the briefcase that her companion carried. "What they did find was a clue to their location."
"What's the clue?"
"I can only show you if you're willing to take the case."
Wallen though about it for a moment before saying, "I'll take it."
Wordlessly, the burly man lifted up the briefcase, so that its lock faced Wallen, and clicked it open, lifting up the cover. Inside laid a piece of flimsiplast scripted with the Aurebesh letters 'Trill', 'Herf', and 'Xesh', followed by the numbers '1138'.
After looking carefully at the inscription, he looked up at the two with a raised eyebrow. "Any idea what it means?"
"Only the highest ranking members of Intelligence know its exact meaning, which is top secret," said the Omwati woman. "But there's something more to the message than just that. Look closely."
With the other man's permission, Wallen picked up the flimsiplast and brought it up closer to his face. He then saw, engraved on the bottom right-hand corner, backwards letters written in a small font. Excusing himself, he rushed into his apartment's bathroom and held the flimsiplast up to the mirror.
Through the reflection, he read the etched out words: Follow the trail of Daragon.
* * *
"The Daragon Trail?" Xemer said once Wallen had explained to him about their mission and their only clue. "As far as I know, the only place it really leads to from here is the Esstran sector, but what's there that the Jedi could be at."
"I have an idea," Wallen murmured as he and his Kel Dor lieutenant headed for their shuttle at a local Coruscanti space port. "And I don't really like it. Dromund Kaas."
"Dromund Kaas?" Xemer echoed, his voice a bit incredulous. "You mean the old Sith planet? I thought there was radiation surrounding that planet."
"There was," said Wallen. "But Intelligence has informed me recently that most of it seems to have dispersed, as if it were never there in the first place."
The Kel Dor slowly nodded. "So we're going to a former Sith residence. Any idea how we're going to get around it without falling into a Dark Side trap or something?"
"The director has told me that the Jedi were going to send one of their own to accompany us. She said that he's been to Dromund Kaas before."
"I don't think there are many people who fit that category," Xemer said. "Didn't Kyle Katarn go there once? And I think Princess Leia did, too. Maybe it'll be one of them."
Wallen shrugged. "Who knows? I'm sure we'll find out soon."
He was not proven wrong. As the two detectives entered the docking bay in which their GA-class light freighter was docked, they saw a tall, dark-haired man standing by their ship with his back turned to them as he seemed to examine the craft. Upon noticing their arrival, the man turned...and Wallen froze.
The hair was darker, sure. But the face was roughly the right age and the likeness was almost uncanny. And even though Wallen had never knew the man, he had seen his face enough times to recognize it instantly.
Standing before him was Anakin Skywalker.
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