CHAPTER FOUR
Ord Talavos, eight years ago
“Hmm. Not exactly the most ideal location, but I suppose it will do.”
Drakmos watched as the spindly limbed Pa’lowick paced around in his chamber, tapping away on the device in his hands. It took everything within him to not grab the pathetic creature and hurl him out the balcony that was only a few feet away. Sal Tyrius observed the Pa’lowick from the other side of the room, his white eyes occasionally darting to Drakmos. Each glance carried a silent appeasement, suggesting to Drakmos that this was unfortunately normal and that there was not much either of them could do about it.
Running a hand along the stony wall, the Pa’lowick said, “The architecture of this facility is rather… archaic. Dare I say primitive. When was it constructed?”
“This fortress has stood for over a thousand years,” Drakmos snarled. “Even after the Jedi and the Sith destroyed the rest of Vostal in their war, it has continued to stand strong.”
“A simple number would have sufficed. I didn’t ask for a history lesson.” With a haughty sounding huff, the Pa’lowick spun around on his heel to face Tyrius. “As archaic and primitive as it may be, this building should be adequate for our operations. Once I get Malvis’s approval, I will begin reallocating resources to this planet.”
“Do so as quietly and covertly as you can, Orbego,” Tyrius warned him. “I may be Prince Xalren’s top lieutenant but even I can only do so much to keep this hidden from him.”
“Believe me, Xalren wouldn’t be able to notice us if he had a pair of macrobinoculars strapped to his face.”
With those words, the Pa’lowick marched out of the chamber. As soon as he was gone, Drakmos rose from his throne and stormed over to Tyrius.
“You should pray that I do not end up regretting my decision to agree to this,” the Despised One growled. “I only agreed to align with this Malvis individual to get myself out of Xalren’s thumb; I will not trade one overbearing guest for another!”
“Trust me, Malvis is generally hands-off when it comes to his associates,” Tyrius replied. “The process of joining his Cabal is only grueling because of the fact that he won’t let just anyone join. There are many criteria that need to be met.”
“I still fail to see why my domain needs to be assessed as part of that ‘process.’”
Tyrius shrugged. “Who knows why Malvis does what he does. This could also just be something Orbego is doing on his own accord. He likes to stick his proboscis in other people’s business.”
Drakmos bared his sharpened teeth. “I am only willing to put up with that for so long.”
“Well, if you’re serious about joining the Cabal, you will have to tolerate it for a little longer. Once your membership is finalized, I assure you that you will be left to your devices.”
“Let us hope,” Drakmos said darkly, “for both our sakes, that you are correct. Otherwise, Prince Xalren will have to pick up the pieces of his top lieutenant on every corner of the city.”
Tyrius smiled back at him with an equal lack of mirth. “Charming, to the last.”
The Errant Venture, now
“Have they done anything so far?” Booster Terrik asked as he and the rest of his entourage stepped onto the bridge of the Errant Venture. As soon as he had received Jast Kyjar’s alert about the Cabal ships’ arrival, he had recalled everyone back to the crimson Star Destroyer. Valrisa had no idea anyone his age could move so quickly, and even she and the other Renegades needed to quicken their pace to keep up with him as they followed him onto the bridge.
Standing at the helm of the ship when they had arrived, Jast Kyjar watched the stationary Cabal ships with a wary expression. “Nothing,” the Tarisian smuggler said. “They haven’t even made contact with us. We tried hailing them but no response.”
“They’re toying with us,” Booster grunted, folding his arms. “They know they’ve got us outnumbered and outgunned. I’ve seen this tactic plenty of times.”
“What do we do then?” asked Kyla Kishanti, standing nearby with the rest of the Renegades. Most of them in any case; Kadar and Vessin had elected to stay behind on Takodana, saying that they had found an alternative means of transportation. Valrisa currently wasn’t in much of a state of mind to ponder their absence.
“We wait,” Booster said to Kyla. “We wait for them to make the first move. If we act first, it would spell the end for us.”
“And… how long is that going to take…?” asked Bedo.
Before Booster could reply, a Togruta crew member called up from the comm station. “Captain, they’re hailing us.”
“Well, that was fast,” Booster grunted in amusement. “Put them on.”
A moment later, the viewscreen situated over the bridge turned on and everyone present was greeted with the sight of a dragon-like being. Upon seeing him, Valrisa shifted uncomfortably.
“That would be Drakmos the Despised,” she muttered.
“Errant Venture,” the draconian figure growled. “You are in the presence of the Despised One himself, Drakmos the Second, ruler of Ord Talavos.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Despised One,” Booster said dryly. “What are you doing here at Takodana?”
“Do not bother acting coy with me, smuggler,” Drakmos snarled. “I know of everything that happens in this sector. I am fully aware of the fact that you and your ‘Smugglers’ Alliance’ have been making attempts to track me down. Rather than have you come to my doorstep, I decided to save you the trouble of having to find me. So here I am, Booster Terrik. What do you want of me?”
Booster narrowed his eyes at Drakmos. “You’re with the Malvis Cabal, are you not? You’ve been causing a fair share of trouble for us.”
“Have I? Because I don’t believe we’ve ever met before. I fail to see how my actions could possibly have affected you personally.”
“Now who’s acting coy?” Booster snapped. “You guys haven’t exactly been keeping a low profile recently. Need I remind you of what happened at Corellia?”
“I had no involvement in that,” Drakmos objected. “Believe it or not, not every member of the Cabal is in the know on everything it does… or even necessarily approves of everything it does.”
“Whatever. Point is, your Cabal has been causing us headaches and we’ve just about had enough of it.”
“I’m sure you have.” Drakmos paused for a moment, his golden eyes regarding Booster evenly. Valrisa made sure that she stayed as far out of the viewscreen’s visual range as she could, hoping that the Despised One would not see her.
Drakmos then leaned back in his seat, a gleam in his eyes. “Perhaps there is a way for us to make amends,” he said, forming a steeple with his clawed hands.
Booster arched an eyebrow. “Amends?”
“While I may not be involved in everything the Cabal does, my rank within the hierarchy provides me access to all the details. I can give you anything you want to know about the Cabal, in exchange for the promise that you will not disturb my planet.”
“And how do we know we can trust you?”
“You don’t,” Drakmos admitted. “You can take or leave any information I give you. But know that I am being sincere when I say that I will do anything to defend my homeworld should you intrude on it.”
“Don’t worry, I believe you on that.” Booster stroked his beard in contemplation for a moment. “All right. What can you give us?”
“I am transmitting an encrypted message from my ship to yours,” Drakmos replied. “I trust that the smugglers on your crew will be able to slice and decipher it. It will contain everything that I am able to give you.”
“Do I have your word that it isn’t a virus that will cripple my ship’s systems?”
“I doubt that my word will mean anything to you. But if it will make you feel safer, you may wait until after my ships have departed before giving it a look. Or you can send it to someone you trust. It matters not to me.”
Valrisa watched as Booster exchanged silent glances with Kyla and the rest of his advising team. She figured experienced smugglers like them operated on their own separate wavelength, as she had no idea what they were communicating to each other through their glances but it was clear that they had all understood what they were each thinking.
“Very well,” Booster finally said to Drakmos. “We’re ready to receive your transmission.”
Drakmos grinned. “An excellent choice.”
A few minutes later, the Togruta comm officer confirmed that the encrypted message had been received. Once Booster had relayed this to Drakmos, the dragon-like being bowed his head.
“Then we have nothing further to discuss. I wish you luck in your travels, Captain Terrik. Hopefully, for your sake, our paths never cross again.”
With that, his image vanished from the viewscreen. At the same time, the Cabal ships in front of the Errant Venture began to slowly turn around and jump to lightspeed, one by one. Only after the last ship—the largest one, most likely Drakmos’s—had zipped away did Valrisa and the others allow themselves to relax.
“See if you can transmit whatever Drakmos sent us to the Wild Karrde,” Booster ordered the Togruta officer. “I’m sure Ghent will be able to crack it.”
“Do you think it might be bunk?” asked Kyla.
“It very well could be. Either way, I don’t know what this Drakmos fellow is playing at or what his game even is.” Booster paused before looking over at Valrisa, his one red cybernetic eye glowing slightly brighter than usual. “You’re our Cabal girl, aren’t you? Don’t suppose you could shed some light.”
Valrisa shifted uncomfortably. “I’ve only done a couple of jobs for him. He was always cordial enough—compared to the others, at least—and I never got much of an impression on him as a person. He does operate on Ord Talavos, but I never knew that was his homeworld or anything like that.”
“What about the other crime lords? Do you know anything about where they operate?”
“Mikus currently runs the Void Station,” Valrisa replied. “Gaar Tandoon likes to move around a lot, most likely out of paranoia, but he generally keeps to the Western Reaches. As for the others, I don’t know enough about them to really say. I don’t even know how many crime lords there are.”
“Sounds like we’re still in their neighborhood then,” Booster said. “Let’s rendezvous with the Wild Karrde first and get whatever Drakmos sent us cracked before we proceed any further.”
Valrisa and the other Renegades took this as their cue to leave as Booster and the rest of his command crew began to confer among themselves. Only Kyla remained behind, albeit reluctantly, as her status as captain of the Renegades dictated that she be present for any meetings Booster and his team had over matters such as this. Valrisa couldn’t help but give the Mirialan a sympathetic glance as she stepped onto the turbolift.
As soon as the doors closed and the lift started moving, Ace Ral’kre said, “We should probably tell Kadar and Vessin that we’ll be leaving the system soon.”
“Assuming they haven’t already left themselves,” muttered Wiskin.
“Must you be so pessimistic?” Ace chided him. “You’re sometimes worse than Bedo.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” piped up the Ortolan in question.
Valrisa tuned out their conversation, as was often the case whenever she was within hearing range of one of their spouts. She would have been lying to herself if she had said that she wasn’t starting to grow tired of it. Perhaps once they met up with Talon Karrde’s crew, she, Typha, and Zarin could take the opportunity to undertake a mission of their own, without the distracting presence of Kyla’s crew.
She absent-mindedly glanced at her Pantoran partner, expecting to see an annoyed expression that matched her own, but instead was met with a forlorn look. She reached out and brushed Typha’s hand with her own, prompting her partner to finally look over to her, gold eyes meeting dark ones.
Not wanting to speak lest the others overheard, Valrisa merely raised a single eyebrow in question. Typha responded with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
That was all Valrisa needed to know that something was wrong and needed fixing. And given her own track record, she was not at all sure that she would be able to fix it….
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