INTERLUDE
Twenty-seven years ago
“We can’t stay together.”
She could feel his eyes on her, even though her gaze was focused on the window.
“Why not?” he replied. “You just said you were—”
“I know. But I didn’t mean for it to happen. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
“The Force brought us together. Perhaps it was meant to be.”
She snorted as she shook her head. “See, that’s the thing: I don’t believe in your Force stuff. Or any higher power, for that matter. Things just happen and… that’s that. Nothing more to it.”
“Then why don’t you believe we should be together?”
“Because you’re a Jedi and I’m just some spacer. You’ve got more important things to worry about than raising a family that you didn’t intent to make.”
“I am more than happy to—”
“No.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I can’t have you do that. Neither of us intended for this to happen and I can’t… I can’t be the one responsible for you walking away from your duty.”
“Perhaps this is my duty—”
“No. It’s not. We both know it’s not.”
An unwanted silence fell between them. She heard his footsteps as he walked up to her and rested a hand on her shoulder.
“If you think this is what is best….”
“I know it is,” she whispered.
“…Then I won’t try to persuade you otherwise.”
After a long moment, she heard his footsteps slowly recede away. When she turned around, he was gone.
Only then did she let the tears fall freely.
Socorro, now
“This is quite the impressive collection you’ve amassed here, Doctor Bellok.”
The Nimbanel archaeologist simply glared at the pirate queen standing before him, his hands cuffed together behind his back. Around them, Queen Kestora’s crew of pirates were busying themselves with scouring through said collection and taking anything that wasn’t a forgery back to the Queen’s Hammer. Many of the items dated as far back as the Pius Dea Era and as recent as the so-called High Republic Era; however, while the novelty of having these items in her possession was all well and good enough, there was one item in particular that she was after that, if authentic, would be worth more to her than any value that could be placed on the entire collection.
Directing her attention to her Aqualish authenticator, Queen Kestora made her way over to the tusked woman as she went through a trove full of documents, analyzing each and every one.
“Found anything yet, Munda?”
The Aqualish clicked her tusks together as she held up a datapad she had pulled from the trove, wiping off the dust from its screen. “I’m afraid this copy of Supreme Chancellor Soh’s speech at the opening of Starlight Beacon is a forgery. While the signature is a near-dead match, it mistakenly uses the Treaty of Coruscant dating system, when by that point the Republic had already switched to—”
“That’s great, Munda,” Kestora interjected. “Just toss it aside if it’s not worth anything. Have you found anything pertaining to Corellia?”
Munda rummaged through the trove again and pulled out what appeared to be an empty, rusted scabbard.
“If I am not mistaken, this belonged to Prince-Admiral Jonash e Solo, used to sheath the sword he threatened Chancellor Vedij with at the conclusion of the Seventeenth Alsakan Conflict. I would have to cross-examine it with some other items in order to safely guarantee its authenticity, however.”
“Good enough for me,” said Kestora. “Add it to the pile to bring back with us.”
As Munda did so, Kestora returned her attention to Doctor Bellok, who had his small black eyes narrowed at her.
“And just what exactly is your interest in Corellia for, if I may ask?” questioned the Nimbanel archaeologist.
“I don’t need to tell you,” Kestora gruffly responded.
“If you did, I could help you save a lot of time by pointing you where to look. I can even get you in touch with some of my contemporaries who can provide you with—”
“That won’t be necessary,” Kestora said, folding her arms over her chest. “I’ve got all the help I need.”
Bellok continued to study her carefully, the whiskers on his pink face twitching. “Your voice… it sounds familiar, even with the mask. Have we met before?”
Beneath her mask, Kestora smiled despite herself. Just a few months ago, she wouldn’t have even dared to consider revealing her true identity to someone. But after everything that had went down at Ord Mantell, she had started to take on a new perspective on things. Still though, she wasn’t going to make it easy for the Nimbanel; she was going to have her fun with him.
“Once again,” she said softly, “we see that there is nothing you can possess that I cannot take away.”
At this, Doctor Bellok’s eyes went wide and Kestora could see a hint of recognition gleaming in his beady black eyes. “Dani…?” he started to say hesitantly. “It… it can’t be. You were just a spacer; a wannabe smuggler!”
“A lot of time has passed since we last met, Doctor,” Kestora replied. “I’m a different person now than I was thirty years ago.”
“But… but how? How could you have possibly accumulated….” The Nimbanel gestured with his head to the many pirates under Dani’s command as they continued to sift through his collection. “…All of this?”
“You can thank my mother for that. She had connections that I was able to take advantage of once she was out of the picture.”
“And just what exactly is your end goal? To rob poor old men like me of their possessions until… what? Until your own child takes over?”
Kestora chuckled humorlessly. “Hopefully it never comes to that.”
“That does not answer my question.”
She did not give him the answer he sought. Instead, she turned away from her old rival and walked back over to join her crewmates. As she approached, her chief of security Viira turned to face her and offered a toothy grin as she held up a cylindrical object.
“Look what I found.”
The Twi’lek pressed an activation switch on the object and a green blade of energy snapped out from an emitter.
“A lightsaber!” exclaimed Viira’s Codru-Ji friend Ketanna. “What’s someone like Bellok doing with one of those?”
Viira shrugged. “Who cares? It’s mine now.”
“Oh?” said Kestora. “Says who?”
“Well, I found it. So that makes it mine.”
“Is that how it works, now? Remind me when we’ve ever operated that way.”
Viira scowled. “Well, it’s how we should operate. It’s how most pirate crews operate.”
“We are not ‘most pirate crews,’” Kestora said coldly. “I decide who gets what. Those are the rules of the Veiled Sorority.” She then extended a gloved hand to the Twi’lek. “Now, hand it over.”
Viira narrowed her yellow eyes. “And if I don’t?”
“You don’t want to find out.”
The Twi’lek continued to glare at the pirate queen, her eyes boring into the eye slits of Kestora’s mask. After a long, pressing moment, Viira switched the lightsaber off and slammed the hilt into the pirate queen’s hand.
“Fine,” she hissed. “Have fun with your new toy.”
With that, she stormed off, leaving the other pirates staring after her. Ketanna glanced furtively at Queen Kestora before running after her Twi’lek partner. The remaining pirates exchanged a few glances as they returned to their work.
Kestora remained where she stood for a long time until she heard Bellok’s voice speak up from behind her.
“How long have you been at this, exactly?” the Nimbanel asked.
“Long enough,” Kestora curtly replied.
“Long enough for your crew to want a change in leadership?”
In one swift motion, Kestora pulled her blaster out of its holster, pointed it at Bellok, and squeezed the trigger. A plasma bolt seared through the Nimbanel’s bald head and dropped him to the floor. Some of the pirates paused in their work to stare at their queen, only resuming when she placed her pistol back in its sheath.
Within a couple of hours, the personal keep of the late Doctor Frepa Bellok was cleared of all valuables, leaving behind nothing but the archaeologist’s unmoving body.
Twenty-five years ago
“Where is she? WHERE IS SHE?!”
All she could see was red as she violently shook the terrified Sullustan in front of her. The jowled alien stared at her in confusion as he feebly attempted to get out of her grasp.
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about, lady!”
“My daughter! She was right here! I only had my back turned for a second! Where is she?!”
“It’s easy to get lost in these spaceports, ma’am. Hell if I know where your little goblin is—”
She threw the Sullustan to the ground and pinned him there with her knees. Her fists flew at his face, knuckles making contact with his jowls. Blood splattered onto the concrete with every blow. Behind her, two large hands grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her away. She struggled against their grip, screaming her daughter’s name, trying to get them to understand. But they did not listen to her as they dragged her away.
The Queen’s Hammer
“So… did you find anything good?”
Sitting in the command chair of her flagship, Queen Kestora barely lifted her head to acknowledge her first mate. “Define ‘good.’”
Lavira propped her arm on the top of Kestora’s chair. “You know, anything valuable. Anything we can sell to Dok-Ondar for a profit. Anything you can add to your collection.”
“I’m sure we can find a buyer for most of the items. The Pius Dea-dated stuff especially. Not much else beyond that.”
“Uh-huh. And how was your meeting with Doctor Bellok?”
“I think he let it get to his head.”
“Right.” Lavira rolled her eyes. “I hope he doesn’t have any friends who will want to avenge him.”
Kestora snorted. “No. Bellok was a retired old man who cared about no one but himself. No one will miss him.”
“Still, was killing him really necessary?”
The pirate queen tilted her head upwards to look at her Devaronian first mate. “I had no idea you cared for the old man, Lavira.”
“It’s not him I care about,” Lavira said sharply. “It’s you. More specifically, your actions. Ever since Ord Mantell, you’ve been acting… off. You’ve become a lot more… short-tempered. High-strung. In all the years I’ve known, you almost never lose your cool. And now, all of a sudden, a defenseless retired archaeologist has been left dead on Socorro. The Kestora I know would never have done that.”
Kestora gripped the armrest of her chair tightly as she glowered at Lavira from behind her mask. “I don’t need to explain myself to you,” she said icily. “Besides, what’s done is done. Bellok probably didn’t have much long to live anyway.”
Lavira frowned and looked as if she was about to say something when a Bivall crewmember spoke up from her station.
“Your Majesty? We’re approaching the Druckenwell system. We should be coming out of hyperspace any minute now.
“Excellent,” Kestora said, turning away from a glaring Lavira. “Let us hope that Baron Tagge has those battle droids he promised us.”
“Do you still think he’ll pull through for us?” asked Lavira. “I’m not sure dealing with pirates is good for their business.”
“Until recently, it’s been the only business they’ve seen. The fall of the Empire was not kind to the Tagges and many of their assets were seized, leaving them only with a facility on Tepasi. It was only when Baroness Wayulia came to power that they were able to reestablish some of their operations, mostly out here on the Outer Rim. And even then, they were only able to turn a profit by dealing with people like us.”
“That may be so. But how long do you think that will last? At what point will the Tagges deem themselves successful enough that they don’t need to rely on us and instead sell us out to the Alliance?”
“Hopefully we won’t have to find out,” Kestora said.
Before long, the Queen’s Hammer exited hyperspace and the industrial world of Druckenwell came into view. Orbiting the planet was a control station that Kestora knew belonged to TaggeCo. After a few minutes, the ship’s comm officer was able to hail the station and the visual of a TaggeCo representative materialized on a screen above the viewport.
“Queen’s Hammer,” the representative, a short-haired human woman, said. “You are… ahead of schedule.”
“I had some errands that wrapped up quicker than I had anticipated,” Queen Kestora replied. “Besides, I was hoping to have a friendly chat with Baron Tagge before we got down to business.”
The representative noticeably stiffened. “About that,” the woman murmured. “We have just received word that Baron Tagge has been found dead on the planet Terminus.”
Kestora’s eyes went wide behind her mask. “Dead? How?”
“Reports are suggesting that a demonstration of a new TaggeCo product went haywire and the Baron was gunned down by the droid. The Executive Board is preparing to conduct an investigation into the incident.”
Kestora found herself at a loss for words, still trying to process this information. Noticing her silence, Lavira moved in to take over the conversation.
“Who’s in charge now?”
“The Executive Board is, at the moment. Another member of the Tagge family is to be named Baron; however, I cannot disclose their identity as of this moment. In the meantime, we have your shipment of droids ready for delivery. You may dock at Station Seven-Five-Three to receive them.”
“We will do just that,” Lavira said. “Thank you.”
With that, the screen went blank and the Queen’s Hammer proceeded to the station. As it did, Lavira turned to give Kestora a pointed look.
“Why the shocked silence? I had no idea you cared for the Baron,” the Devaronian said ironically.
“I don’t,” Kestora said quietly. Slowly, she inclined her head to look up at her first mate. “Lavira, have you ever heard of the Charge Matrica?”
“Can’t say I have. Why?”
“It was a contest initiated by the Sith Lord Vilia Calimondra thousands of years ago. Its original purpose was for Calimondra’s heirs to expand her empire, with whoever expanded her empire the most to be named the heir of her holdings. That changed however when the children started fighting each other to the death; by that point, it was whoever was the last one standing that was named the heir.
“The concept was exclusive to the Sith until a society of wealthy aristocrats and socialites adopted it for their purposes. Under them, the Charge Matrica was only initiated when the one who put it into place died and their seven children were put to the death to claim heritage to their parent’s holdings.”
“Bizarre,” Lavira murmured. “I had never heard of such a thing.”
“The last time a Charge Matrica was held by this society was around five centuries ago. The Republic found out about it before it could get very far and was quick to prevent it.”
“Interesting.” Lavira glanced out the viewport at the slowly approaching TaggeCo station. “So what does this have to do with Baron Tagge?”
“Tagge was one of the seven children of Sareth Valrisa,” Kestora explained. “In her will, she declared a Charge Matrica in the event of her death… and I killed her back on Ord Mantell.”
“Ah. So Tagge was most likely killed by one of his siblings.”
“Yes.” Kestora gripped her armrests tightly. “And my own daughter might be next.”
Lavira blinked in confusion. “Your daughter?”
“She was taken away from me by Sareth over twenty years ago. She even gave her the name Valrisa to brand her as if she were her own offspring. And now, because of this blasted Charge Matrica, her other children will have marked her for death.”
Lavira frowned. “How come you’ve never mentioned this before now?”
“I would have, back on Ord Mantell, once I had taken her back from Sareth. Things did not go as planned however, so I did not get the chance.”
“Still, you could have at least mentioned it.” Lavira narrowed her eyes. “What other secrets have you been keeping from us?”
Kestora snapped her head to the Devaronian. “What are you trying to insinuate?”
“That you haven’t been honest about who you really are. I’ve known you for a long time, Dani, and yet not once have you ever mentioned about having a daughter. Hell, I didn’t even know you were related to Han Solo until you started going after that datacron.”
It was at this point that Kestora realized that most of the crew had turned their heads to look at her. Some of the guards posted near the turbolift started to slowly walk forward, their hands hovering over their holstered weapons.
“Is this really happening?” Kestora murmured as she rose from her seat. “Is mutiny really the route you want to go down? After everything we’ve been through?”
“How can any of us trust a captain who won’t even confide in their most trusted compatriots?” Lavira retorted. “We lost a few pirates back on Ord Mantell to those rabid droids; pirates we wouldn’t have lost had you not been blinded by your petty vendetta against the Dowager and your obsession with a family heirloom. And how do we know you won’t throw more of us to our deaths in order to save a daughter you’ve only just now told us about?”
Kestora heard the doors to the turbolift open and turned around to see Viira storming onto the bridge, clad in her full set of armor and lugging a blaster rifle in her arms. Behind were five more similarly armored and armed pirates, all with their eyes set on their Queen.
“It’s time for a change, Dani,” Lavira declared. “A change that is long overdue.”
Kestora reached for her blaster but was not quick enough. A series of blue rings shot out from Viira’s rifle and the Pirate Queen of the Veiled Sorority was knocked into darkness.
Thirteen years ago
It was her face. There was no mistaking it.
She had her hair and his eyes. Her smile and his brooding gaze.
She may have not believed in the Force, but she did believe in intuition; that special kind that only a mother could have.
She made sure to memorize each Aurebesh letter as it scrolled across the bottom of the image, plastered forever in her memory:
“Sare Valrisa, youngest child of Sedratis dowager, officially disowned for ‘transgressions beyond comprehension,’ according to mother.”
“I’ve found you,” she whispered to herself. “I’ve finally found you.”
Taking in a deep breath, Danielle Kieran held up the mask of the Pirate Queen—passed down onto her upon the death of its previous owner—and she placed it over her head. As she released her breath through the vents of the mask, Queen Kestora uttered her first vow:
“I will bring you home.”
