PART I: MANDATORY RELOCATION
CHAPTER ONE
Void Station, the Mid Rim
In hindsight, the betrayal had been inevitable.
Out of everyone on her crew, Kyla Kishanti had always trusted Keera the least. She had known her first mate Ace the longest and would have trusted him with her life; Wiskin was an honorable Cathar warrior and loathed the very thought of treachery; Bedo was innocuous and barely fit for the life she had dragged him into; and even Vessin had proven her worth in the few years she had spent with the Renegades.
But Keera had always been a mystery to Kyla. When the crew had met the Farghul on Socorro, Kyla had only agreed to let Keera join the crew because of her expert knowledge on star systems and obscure hyperspace routes that had been thought lost to time. For all her talents as a navigator though, Keera had never gotten along with the rest of the crew and seemed more interested in herself than anything the Renegades did.
Kyla knew she should have kept a closer eye on her. Perhaps then she could have prevented the situation she and the others were currently in.
As Kyla and the rest of the crew sat on their knees with their hands behind their head, held at gunpoint by several thugs, Keera sauntered up to the Octeroid crime boss she had sold them out to, handing him the Dathomiri totem that had been the catalyst of her betrayal.
“I believe this belongs to you, Lord Mikus,” the Farghul purred.
“It does now, Keera, my dear,” replied the green one-eyed alien, his speech translated into the Basic through the vocoder strapped around his neck. Rather than take the artifact himself, he motioned for one of his Hylobon bodyguards to take it instead. Mikus then shifted his massive yellow eye to focus on Kyla and her crew, the folds around his eyeball creasing in lieu of a sinister grin.
“It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Captain Kishanti,” the Octeroid said. “I’ve heard of many of your exploits from both Keera’s reports and even news from the HoloNet. You are truly one of the most prolific smugglers in the galaxy.”
“It’s not a reputation I’ve desired,” Kyla replied bitterly. “I prefer to keep a low profile.”
“I’m sure you do. Unfortunately, things don’t always work out the way we want them to.” Mikus chuckled to himself, a strange garbled sound coming from his vocoder. “Except for me, of course. Things have played out exactly the way I wanted them to.”
Kyla directed her glare to Keera, who met it with a faux-innocent smile. “Why did it take this long for you to sell us out?” she asked. “If we hadn’t found that blasted totem, how much longer would you have stuck with your little charade?”
“Oh, I was going to sell you out regardless,” Keera said. “The totem just gave me a useful out to lure you to Void Station.” Her grin turned wicked. “Besides, I told the truth, didn’t I? I did tell you that someone at Void Station would have an interest in the totem.”
“She’s not wrong,” murmured Bedo but was silenced by a growl from Wiskin.
Disregarding the conversation, Mikus turned to focus his attention on the most recent addition to the Renegades’ crew. The rough-faced man kept his brown eyes to the floor, though his breathing became visibly more erratic the longer the Octeroid stared at him.
“And you must be Kadar,” Mikus said, his voice dangerously quiet. “The Black Sun Butcher.”
Kyla felt her stomach churn, though she knew she should have seen this coming. Despite their attempts to fake the ex-Mandalorian’s death and forge a new identity for him, she had a feeling it would have only been a matter of time before someone discovered him and try to enact their revenge against him. She just didn’t think it would have been so soon.
“Believe it or not, I admire you, Kadar,” Mikus went on, still staring at the former Mandalorian. “Killing all of those vigos was a very impressive feat… not to mention very profitable. So many of their assets were left up for grabs, especially after Xalren and his new lieutenants were all blown up on Mustafar, that I was able to get my hands on a very large chunk of it. If it hadn’t been for Saiga Kas’lya’s death, I wouldn’t have been able to buy this little palace of hers!”
He let out a rueful sigh. “Alas, the price on your head is just too good to pass up. That, in addition to whatever bounties there are on your friends… by stars, I’ll end up being the richest Octeroid in the Cabal!”
“You’re the only Octeroid in the Cabal,” muttered one of the Hylobon bodyguards.
“Shut up,” Mikus hissed. “Now then, how shall we go about doing this?”
Kyla bit her lip and shot a glance at Ace. The Bothan met her gaze with a forlorn look, offering no hints of hope. There would be no way out of this one, Kyla realized. Not this time.
As Mikus seemed to consider his options, one of the Hylobons raised a hand to their helmet, a grim expression crossing his furred face. After a moment, the guard stepped over to the crime boss.
“My lord, there has been a disturbance in Sector Two.”
Mikus’ eye went wide as he spun to face the Hylobon. “The lounge area? What’s going on there?”
“A fight has appeared to have broken out. Shall I dispatch all units to quell the situation?”
“Well, yeah! We’re supposed to make sure people are having a good time!” Mikus shook his large round head, huffing in exasperation. “Stars, how hard is it for people to have fun?”
While the Hylobons started barking orders into their comlinks, Mikus turned to the thugs holding Kyla and the others. “Take them down to the dungeons and keep them there for the time being. I’ll come back for them once this stupid thing is dealt with.”
The leader of the thugs, a burly Chagrian, grunted his assent before motioning to the others. Kyla was then dragged to her feet and, with a blaster pressed against her back, was pushed into line with the others before following the Chagrian down to the dungeons.
Whatever was going down in the lounge area, she could only hope that it would last long enough for her to devise a plan to get them out of this mess.
* * *
In hindsight, the fight had been inevitable.
Sare Valrisa had not wanted to come to Void Station in the first place, knowing that it was being run by a member of the Malvis Cabal. However, the ex-Jedi Zarin Kal — whom she and Typha had welcomed onto their crew not too long ago — had insisted on going, believing that they would find someone who would help in his quest to find the Whills. Seeing as they were already in the sector, Valrisa had decided a quick stop would not hurt, provided they kept a low profile.
Unfortunately, it had hurt. And it was still hurting.
The spacer who had first made the unwanted advance on Typha laid forgotten behind the counter of the bar, dazed as he rubbed the growing welt on his head. His Lasat companion had not taken this well and had lunged at the Pantoran woman, who already had her blaster drawn. Zarin had stepped between them and pushed the Lasat away with the Force, sending the burly creature crashing into a sabacc table occupied by seven smugglers, sending their cards and earnings flying everywhere. Naturally, this had not sat well with them either.
It wasn’t long before the whole room had erupted into chaos, blaster fire shooting in every direction as smugglers clashed with bounty hunters clashed with pirates clashed with spacers. Even the Hylobon Enforcers that Lord Mikus employed were having difficulty in controlling the situation, with the arriving reinforcements doing little good to help.
Valrisa had since found herself huddled behind a fallen table with her two companions, exchanging blaster shots with anyone who had centered their focus on them. The odds of them getting out of the present situation with their lives were looking less and less good by the minute.
“I told you this would have been a bad idea,” Valrisa muttered.
“I am aware,” Zarin replied, deflecting a blaster bolt with his red lightsaber. “Consider this as something to use against me the next time I propose somewhere to go.”
“That’s provided there is a next time,” Typha pointed out. “Are you sure there aren’t any other exits?”
“The only way out is the one the Hylobons are coming in from,” said Valrisa.
“What if we make an exit, then?”
Valrisa shot her partner a look. “We are not using thermal detonators in a place like this. Take out the wrong wall and we all get sucked out into space.”
Typha pouted. “Well, maybe if you’d let me bring my sniper rifle….”
“Wait, I have an idea.” Zarin looked over to Valrisa. “There’s a level below this one, isn’t there?”
“Probably, but I don’t know what would be down there,” she replied. “I don’t have a map of this place.”
Zarin flipped his lightsaber around and pointed it at the floor. “Only one way to find out, then.”
“Wait, what are you—?” Valrisa started to say. She was cut off as Zarin plunged his lightsaber into the floor and began slicing through it, cutting out a perfect circle. The Kiffar then lifted the slab of metal he had cut out with the Force and hurled it into the chaotic scene behind them, knocking out the same Lasat from earlier as well as a couple of Hylobon enforcers. Zarin then jumped into the newly made hole, leaving the other two gawking after him.
“That is one crazy Jedi,” Typha muttered.
“Aren’t you guys coming?” Zarin called out to them. “It’s all clear down here!”
“Yes, well, sometimes crazy works,” Valrisa said before jumping down into the hole, followed closely by a reluctant Typha as blaster bolts whizzed above their heads.
The place they now found themselves in was a sharp contrast from the one above it. Unlike the luxurious lounge area with stainless floors and pristine seats, this room looked as if it had not been maintained in centuries. Grime and rust caked the walls and floors as the smell of death and decay pervaded every corner. Typha immediately covered her nose while Valrisa’s face twisted in disgust. Clearly, this was where Mikus brought the guests he didn’t like.
They found Zarin standing at the large iron door to the room, peering through the barred window. As Valrisa and Typha approached him, he raised a hand to stop them and motioned them to be quiet.
“Someone’s coming down this way,” the Kiffar whispered.
“How many?” Valrisa asked.
“Lots.”
Valrisa frowned as she heard the approaching footsteps getting louder and louder. She pushed Zarin aside in order to get a better look for herself. From around the corner came a large horned Chagrian, followed closely by an entourage of thugs and what appeared to be prisoners, with a female Mirialan and a male Bothan at the front of the group.
“Looks like they’re headed this way,” she murmured.
“Now can I use my thermal detonator?” asked Typha.
“No!” Valrisa hissed. “There’s people with them; people who are probably in the same situation as us.”
“So?”
“So we can’t just atomize them like that. Besides, they might be able to help us get out of here.”
A small smile crossed Zarin’s face. “I can see you haven’t forgotten your teachings.”
She shot him a look. “Don’t even start with that.”
Typha huffed impatiently. “So, what are we going to do?”
“This.” Zarin motioned Valrisa to step away from the door before reeling his arms back. She could sense him calling upon the Force, gathering up all of its energies, before unleashing it in a mighty blast upon the metal door. The slab of iron went flying off its hinges and went straight into the approaching entourage, hitting the Chagrian and knocking him into the others behind them.
“Yeah, let’s not atomize them,” Typha said dryly. “Let’s just knock the life out of them instead.”
Three of the six thugs were already back on their feet and charged towards the trio, blasters ablaze. Zarin ignited his lightsaber and deflected their shots, redirecting them back into their chests and taking them out. Valrisa then drew her blaster and shot down a Twi’lek thug that had been about to toss a thermal detonator. This left only the Chagrian and a female Besalisk; the former had gotten back to his feet with a nasty welt on his head and drawn his blaster, though he did not yet fire it.
“I don’t recall ever tossing you three into the dungeons,” he growled. “That tells me you came from somewhere else.”
“It’s really none of your business,” said Valrisa. “Best you just let us run along.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening.” The Chagrian narrowed his eyes at her. “Besides… I’m pretty sure Malvis has you on his wanted list.”
Valrisa tensed at this but kept her cool.
“To be honest,” the thug went on, “I’m surprised you even came here in the first place. You know that Malvis has put all of the Cabal lords on the lookout for you. You know that Void Station is run by Lord Mikus. Why did you think it was a good idea to come here?”
“She didn’t,” Zarin said before she could say anything. “It was my idea.”
The Chagrian narrowed his eyes at the Kiffar. “And you would be?”
“Zarin Kal, Lord of the Sith.”
“Sure you are, buddy,” the Chagrian snorted, eying the red lightsaber in Zarin’s hands. “Maybe the poor sod you looted that laser-sword from was a Sith, but you don’t strike me as one; least not from the company you seem to be keeping.”
“Oh?” A wicked gleam flashed in Zarin’s eyes. “Perhaps this will convince you.”
He raised a hand and brought his thumb and index figure together. The Chagrian let out a gasp as his hand flew to his spasming neck. The Besalisk looked at him in concern before raising her four blaster-wielding arms at the Sith.
“Whatever it is you’re doing to him, stop it!” she growled. “Or else I’m gonna—”
The Besalisk was cut short as she started to choke as well, dropping all four of her weapons. She and the Chagrian fell to their knees at the same time, clutching in vain at their constricting throats.
“Zarin?” Valrisa’s voice was quiet as she watching the horrific scene play out before her. “You can… you can stop now.”
Zarin did nothing of the sort. In fact, he seemed to be reveling in the torment he was inflicting upon the two thugs, his eyes tinted with gold.
“Zarin, stop!” She grabbed his arm. “There’s no need for this!”
When she touched him, it seemed to snap him out of the reverie he had fallen into and he immediately released the two thugs from his invisible grip. However, the damage had already been done and the Chagrian and Besalisk slumped lifelessly to the floor.
For the longest time, Zarin simply stood there in a state of shock, mouth agape as he stared upon his handiwork. The Mirialan and the rest of the (now former) captives stared down at the dead thugs before looking towards Valrisa and the other two.
“I’m not sure whether I should be grateful or fearing for my life,” the Mirialan said.
Valrisa shook her head as she stepped up to the green woman. “I’m going to wager a guess that you guys are looking for way out of here.”
“That’s an understatement.”
“Then our goals align. Do you have a ship?”
The Mirialan nodded. “Provided Mikus hasn’t already had it dismantled, it should still be in the hangar.”
“Will it be guarded?” asked Typha.
“Possibly.” The Mirialan glanced at Zarin. “Though I doubt they’ll be too much trouble for you guys.”
“Don’t count on it too much,” Valrisa replied. “Let’s get going.”
* * *
“Seriously. You people are supposed to be having a good time. How can you have a good time if you’re all shooting at each other?”
None of the subdued patrons said anything as Mikus walked past them, admonishing them like a disappointed parent. The Hylobon Enforcers had just barely been able to get the situation under control mere minutes before the crime boss had shown up.
“How did this all start anyway?” Mikus asked, looking from one sheepish face to another.
“Some koochoo was hitting on a Pantoran cheeka,” said a Nikto smuggler. “She threw him over the counter and it… kind of went off the rails from there.”
“Is that right?” Mikus scanned the room with his single large eye, not seeing any Pantoran male or female. “Where is she now?”
“I think she went through a hole in the floor,” said a Zabrak spacer, pointing at exactly that.
Mikus’ eye went wide, realizing where the hole led to. “Draemon!” he barked to a nearby Hylobon. “Put Grokk on the line!”
The enforcer raised a hand to his head comm as he hailed the Chagrian thug in question. A few minutes passed before the Hylobon frowned.
“Can’t get a hold of him, my lord. Nor any of the others.”
“Then send someone down to the dungeons!” Mikus ordered. “We can’t let any of the prisoners escape!”
“Shall I dispatch additional units to the hangar bay as well?” Draemon asked.
“Do that. And do what I just told you.” Mikus flailed his thin arms around. “Just do something to make me happy again!”
The Hylobon Enforcers were quick to head off to carry out their orders. All of them knew what happened when their master was unhappy, and none of them wanted to be around to witness it.
* * *
As Typha had predicted, there were a good number of thugs and enforcers guarding the Renegades’ ship. And just as Kyla had predicted, Zarin had been able to make short work of them.
Kyla still was not sure how she felt about letting a supposed Sith Lord onto her ship. But considering the situation, she figured she had bigger things to worry about.
As the Renegades and their three new friends clambered onto the YT-1930 transport, Kyla and Ace hurried into the cockpit and started flicking switches to bring the ship online. Outside the viewport, she could see a squad of Hylobon Enforcers swarming out into the hangar, with three of them lugging an E-web blaster with them.
“Wiskin, get on the guns!” Kyla yelled. “Blast them before they get that E-web set up!”
The Cathar warrior was already two steps ahead of her as no sooner had she finished speaking that a pair of plasma bolts flashed from the Renegade’s bottom turret — a recent modification — and blasted the incoming Hylobons.
“Don’t stop shooting until we’re out of here, big cat,” Kyla said, strapping herself into the pilot seat. Ace flipped another few switches and the ship’s sublight engines thrummed to life, causing the vessel to shake.
“I’m gonna need you to plot a course,” Kyla muttered to the Bothan. “Considering we’re short a navigator….”
Ace nodded, his expression grim. “We should probably get as clear of the sector as we can. Only safe route for this system is the Kaaga Run, however; that’ll take us to either Bothawui or into Hutt Space.”
“Bothawui would be our safest bet. We can then hop onto the Manda Merchant Route and go from there; maybe even throw them off our scent.”
As Ace began plotting their course, Kyla lifted the Renegade from the deck and gunned for the open hangar down, shooting out into space. Automated turrets opened fire on the Corellian transport as it weaved its way through the station’s defenses. Wiskin and Vessin manned both of the ship’s turrets and took out some of the station’s guns while Kyla pulled off all of the maneuvers in her book to evade their firepower.
“How much longer before we can jump, Ace?” Kyla called to the Bothan, even though he was sitting right next to her.
“Just a minute,” her co-pilot said. “Just a minute.”
A blast from one of the station’s turrets caused the ship to shake violently. “We don’t have a minute!” Kyla shouted.
“Now!” Ace grabbed the hyperspace lever and pulled it.
The stars stretched into lines of white as the Renegade was hurled into the safety of hyperspace.
* * *
Keera watched through the window of Mikus’ office as the Renegade jumped to hyperspace.
It was a shame, she supposed. Obviously, Mikus was not going to be happy about this. But his feelings were not really her concern. No one’s feelings were, if she was being honest with herself.
She supposed she could make the Octeroid happy by telling him she had wired a tracking beacon onto the Renegade and that he could use that to track them down. But then she wouldn’t have been able to track them down herself and wait for a more opportune moment to catch them.
Naturally, the more fun of the two options prevailed.
Humming to herself, Keera sauntered out of the room and headed down to the lounge area, planning on having one last night of fun before she left.
The Renegade, en route through hyperspace
Valrisa let out her breath as she slumped into a booth within the freighter’s main hold. Typha slid up next to her, resting a head on her shoulder, while Zarin leaned against the technical station. From the gunwell emerged a burly Cathar and a young Mandalorian woman, both who eyed the newcomers warily but said nothing as they found their own seats in the hold. The other two members of the Renegade’s crew — an Ortolan and an older man — sat nearby in silence, with the former making furtive glances in Zarin’s direction.
After several long minutes, Typha broke the silence by murmuring, “We left our ship behind.”
“I didn’t even think about that,” Valrisa admitted. “Probably for the best though; Malvis’ goons would recognize me by that piece of junk.”
“I’m gonna need a new sniper—”
“So you work for Malvis, then?” asked the woman in Mandalorian armor, eying Valrisa carefully.
“Used to,” she corrected. “Had a falling out with the Cabal back on Ord Talavos because of an auction that went wrong, ending with one of their top leaders dead. I wasn’t even the one responsible for his death, but they’ve got it out for me anyways. My guess is they were just waiting for an excuse.”
“Well, even so, I don’t think Kyla’s gonna keep you guys around for long.” The Mandalorian woman glanced towards the older man, who did not meet her gaze. “We’ve already got enough wanted faces on this ship.”
“Fine with me,” Valrisa said. “Drop us off wherever is convenient for you… so long as it isn’t a junkyard or anything like that.”
The Cathar frowned at her. “What were you doing at Void Station anyway?”
She looked in Zarin’s direction, but the Kiffar did not offer to speak up. In fact, he seemed to be lost in his own world, not even acknowledging anyone’s presence. She frowned to herself but quickly hid it as she turned back to the Cathar.
“We were just hoping to meet up with someone,” she said. It was a partial truth, at least. “Obviously, that didn’t go so well.”
The Cathar continued to look wary of her but said nothing further. A few moments later, the Mirialan captain — Kyla, Valrisa figured — emerged from the cockpit, looking just as skeptical of her new passengers as the rest of the crew.
“It’ll be a moment before we reach Bothawui,” Kyla said, folding her arms over her chest. “The planet is under Alliance jurisdiction anyway, so I doubt the Cabal will bother us there.”
Valrisa shook her head. “That’s not much of a guarantee. The Cabal operates anywhere they please, Alliance or no Alliance.”
Kyla arched an eyebrow. “You seem to know a lot about the Cabal. Were you an operative of their’s?”
“I was, for about three years. I don’t know all of the ins and outs of their operations, but I’ve learned enough about them to know where their hot spots are.”
“Is nowhere safe then?” asked the Mandalorian woman.
“The Core Worlds might be our safest bet, but don’t quote me on that,” Valrisa said. “They could be running things on Coruscant for all I know.”
“What about Corellia?” Kyla asked. “Are any of them on Corellia?”
Valrisa thought for a moment. “Not that I know of.”
“Then we’ll head there. Then we can talk business opportunities.”
The Cathar looked at Kyla in surprise. “Wait… you mean we’re not just going to ditch them?”
Kyla shook her head. “Like it or not, both our groups are in the Cabal’s crosshairs, especially if Keera is now working for them. Since Valrisa here knows more about their operations than any of us, I think an alliance would be beneficial for both of us.”
“They have a Sith Lord though!” squeaked the Ortolan.
Kyla smirked. “Even better.”
“I’m not a Sith Lord.” Zarin’s voice was hoarse, barely audible to those in the room with him. “I’m not a Jedi either. I’m just… I’m just Zarin.”
Kyla shrugged. “Whatever. You’ve got a laser-sword and magic powers, so that’s all that matters to me. I’m just Kyla, by the way. Kyla Kishanti.”
“Wiskin,” growled the Cathar.
“Vessin,” said the Mandalorian woman.
“Bedo,” the Ortolan said quietly.
“I’m Valrisa. This is Typha.” Valrisa patted her Pantoran partner on the head. She then looked over to the older man, who had yet to so much as speak. “And you?”
“We call him Ziar,” Vessin said, a bit too hasty to not be suspicious. “He doesn’t talk much.”
“Clearly,” Valrisa muttered. “So, Corellia it is, then. Here’s hoping we don’t run into any trouble.”
Wiskin chuckled mirthlessly. “You must be new,” the Cathar growled. “When you’re with the Renegades, you always run into trouble.”
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