As Jegora moved from the at-ease lounge to the two-bunk room he shared– had shared –with Gio, he had to take several deep breaths in an attempt to get a hold on his emotions. Never before had he felt so out of control, so completely unpredictable. One moment he was seething with anger, the next confusion, and either one could, at any time, be replaced by a feeling of sheer emptiness that was nearly unbearable. On top of everything else he was feeling Jegora was extremely annoyed at just that: his inability to regulate his emotions.

As he sifted through his belongings, picking out things he might need, Jegora’s mind wandered from his current emotional state to his new duties as Assistant Squad Leader. He knew that leading such a distinguished team of elite infantry would be a challenge, but if there was one thing Jegora had it was confidence. He had been an officer, once, in what seemed like a different life, and even though those memories were vague and almost unreal he was confident he could draw on his prior experiences to help him do his new job effectively.

With the worries of his new position dealt with, Jegora found himself at peace for the first time in days. He had managed to push Aeos’ situation out of his mind, and was now looking ahead to the new mission. As he slipped off his casual dress uniform and pulled on a duty uniform, Jegora contemplated what would have to be done before and once they arrived at Anteevy. They had a Sentinel-class assault shuttle for transport, and Jegora had also received encoded orders on his datapad that he could give to the commanding officer of the Anteevy garrison, requesting (and in fact ordering) the Army troops stationed there to provide all possible support. Manpower wouldn’t be a problem, but Jegora honestly had no experience in investigation. He, and the three Jesters going with him, would simply have to play it by ear and hope for the best.

Dressed in a duty uniform and with a small duffel bag containing several changes of clothes, Jegora turned to his personal storage locker and quickly punched in the key code. The door popped open, and Jegora reached inside, removing a newly acquired Treppus-2 Vibroblade and his trusty M-4 pistol. The vibroblade he carried in a specialized sheathe on his left thigh, and his pistol into a snap-holster on his belt. Everything else would be loaded onto the shuttle, including the Jester’s signature black Storm Commando armor and Shadowsuits. Although he hoped they wouldn’t need them Jegora was quite happy the extra gear was coming along; he had a bad feeling about this mission already, and he hadn’t even left yet.

Twenty five minutes later Jegora poked his head into Jori’s room, which he shared with the new trooper, a lad who went by Beta, and barked out instructions to the troopers.

“Pad 9, fourth level,” he told them. “Know where that is?”

Jori nodded, but Beta shook his head. “No, sir,” he said somewhat politely. Jegora grimaced.

“Don’t sir me, I’m not an officer. Follow Jori, he’ll get ya there in one piece. Probably,” Jegora responded before moving off. He walked slowly down the hallway towards Jager’s room, not wanting to confront his fellow squad mate. Jegora had been way out of line, he knew that, but he also knew that Jager’s comments had been inexcusable. Jegora was quite sure that Aeos’ situation was not her fault, and he adamantly protested against any negative comments thrown at her. Unfortunately, Jegora didn’t have any proof to support his beliefs, and so Jager had been making cracks at Aeos for some time. True to the man’s nature, Jager hadn’t noticed the subtle and not-so-subtle signs of rage Jegora had displayed over the last few days, and the comment in the at-ease lounge had been the last straw. Jegora had snapped. He wasn’t proud of it, but it had happened, and he was sorry in the slightest.

Rapping sharply on Jager’s door, and receiving a muffled thump along with a muttered groan in response, Jegora hit the activation pad. The door slid open, and Jegora was greeted by the sight of Jager quickly stuffing some clothes into a duffel bag not much different from Jegora’s own.

Without any pretense of civility, Jegora spoke quickly and in clipped tones. “Pad nine, fourth level. Don’t be late.”

With that he turned sharply and continued on his way to the very landing pad he had mentioned, never once looking back. Jager would be there, he was quite sure, but that thought didn’t do much to cheer him up. In fact, it made things worse. Jager and Jegora really didn’t get along, and the new ASL was quite surprised that Angel had paired the two up.

Unless he did it on purpose, Jegora thought to himself as he climbed into a lift. Thirty seconds later the doors slid open, and after a quick march down the hall and a sudden right turn Jegora found himself at the appropriate landing pad, a Sentinel shuttle being fueled and stocked even as he approached. With a small sigh Jegora climbed up the ramp, stashed his things, and retreated out of the shuttle and back to the main launch deck. He settled back on his heels, leaning against a wall, and waited for his new charges to arrive.

As he waited, Jegora tried to think up a plan of action for when they arrived on Anteevy. He still had nothing, however, and so he pushed the thoughts away. He wasn’t a cop, and neither were his squaddies. They would have to do the best they could, or rely on someone already on Anteevy. There were no other options, and it was best not to worry about something you couldn’t control.

For the first time since learning he was the new ASL Jegora felt a twinge of nervousness. For all his confidence, he really didn’t want to fail on his first mission. He didn’t think Angel would be too approving, or forgiving.

Well, Jegora thought to himself, drawing a long breath, guess I’ll just have to not fail. Easy stuff.

Beta was nervous about his first mission and had no idea what to bring. It was only a few days ago when he was put on Jester squad. He was laying his things over the bed and walked into the hallway when Jori, his first roommate on Jester squad walked in to the room.

“What happened to my room? What is this stuff on the bed?” Jori said loudly.

“Sorry, sir. It’s my stuff. I’m your new roommate.” Beta replied as he popped back into the room.

“Ah. I’ve got two conditions. One, don’t you dare call me sir, and two, if you snore, be prepared to sleep either outside or in another room. You go by those conditions and I’m fine with you being my roommate…” Jori said. Beta then nodded to ensure that Jori new he understood.

“Good. And I’m fine if you’re the kind of guy that keeps a messy room cause I sure am.” Jori said.

Beta returned to packing his things into his duffel bag. He put in some clothes and also some darth water and some ration packs. Beta desided that it was enough so he put on the storn commando armor that he was told to wear. He put his two recently bought blaster pistols in holsters on each side. Behind each blaster holster he put a combat knife and hoped that he didn't bring too much weapons.

Jegora entered the room and asked “Pad 9, fourth level, know where that is?”

Jori nodded as Beta shook his head and said "No, sir."

“Don’t sir me, I’m not an officer. Follow Jori, he’ll get ya there in one piece. Probably,” Jegora responded before moving off.

“Just follow me. I know the way.” Jori said. Beta grabbed his E-11 blaster rifle as he followed Jori.

Okay, I'll follow all my squad's comands and I should be fine. First mission, can't be nervous...

During his entire time in the Vast Empire Military, nearly six years if he added it all together, Jegora had met very few people that he truly disliked. Corporal Jager Luth, however, seemed determined to add his name to that hallowed list. So far, the corporal was doing a damn fine job of pissing his new boss off.

Not that the situation was completely his fault. Jegora had to admit that he was an easily disliked person, too strict and uptight for some and too cold and distant for others. Off duty Jegora’s was usually more light-hearted, but recent events had him in a constantly foul mood. As a result his interactions with his squad had suffered at a time when they really couldn’t stand to get any worse.

There was nothing else for it, though. His three men would have to follow orders as best they could, and Jegora would have to try and keep a reign on his temper. That was the only thing they COULD do, really. As a squad they had no other options other than suck it up and get on with the mission. And that’s just what they were going to do, whether they liked it or not; Jegora would make sure of that.

Jegora was still leaning up against a wall when Jori and Beta entered the hangar. To his surprise and amusement both were fully decked out in Storm Commando armor. With a slight sigh, Jegora pushed off the wall and moved over to intercept them.

“I see you boys are ready,” the newly commissioned ASL said upon nearing the two troopers, his voice as light and humorous as he could make it.

There was a moment of silence in which Jegora could imagine Jori trying to figure out why the senior trooper wasn’t wearing his armor. After a long moment the new guy, Beta, spoke up.

“Sir?” he asked politely, obviously trying to figure out what the problem was. At the mention of the ‘S’ word Jegora’s head swung around, his eyes meeting Beta’s, which were fortunately (for the young trooper) hidden behind the black helmet and visor he wore. Still, the ferocity of Jegora’s gaze caused the newest Jester to take a step backwards, and Jegora felt a stab of satisfaction. When Jegora spoke again, all hint of amusement was gone from his voice.

“We have nearly a five hour hyperspace trip ahead of us, and you’re going to travel the whole way in your armor? In that ship?” Jegora took a moment to let his words sink in, and then spoke again, this time his voice milder. “Even if you manage to ignore the sheer discomfort caused by wearing armor for that long, you’ll be so stiff and sore that you’ll be no good to me. That I can’t allow. Understand?”

Both Jori and Beta nodded, there shoulders slumped, looking properly chastised. Jegora figured it was all an act, but he wasn’t about to push his luck, instead stepping aside and motioning the two young men onto the shuttle. He turned and followed them himself, having no one else to wait for. His group was here, and it was time to get this show on the road.

While Jori and Beta stored their gear and found seats near where Jager was sitting alone, Jegora made his way up to the cockpit, where the pilot and copilot, both Army trained, were warming up the Sentinel for launch. One glance at the dash told Jegora they were nearly ready, which relieved the squad leader considerably. The longer they waited the worse the Jesters would perform once they reached Anteevy. Well disciplined or not, a few days off or not, the Jesters were exhausted, and right now the key element was speed. Get there, get the investigation done, and get back. Any delays would only stress the already stressed troopers out further, and perhaps even ruin their effectiveness as troopers. That couldn’t be allowed to happen.

“We’re ready to go,” Jegora told the crew. The pilot nodded absently, and Jegora retreated back to the passenger’s cabin. As Jegora entered the cabin the other three Jesters, who only moments prior had been talking quietly among themselves, quickly silenced. Jegora felt a stab of regret somewhere deep in his chest, but he ignored it. They didn’t have to like him in the slightest, Jegora decided, they just had to follow his orders.

Jegora chose a seat away from the other three troopers, and almost immediately the conversation started back up. As he strapped himself in Jegora was happy to note that Jori and Beta had removed their commando armor, although both were still dressed in their black Shadowsuits. Jegora shook his head. He would have to have a talk with the two troopers later about subtlety, and how they didn’t want to attract attentions, which a completely black bodysuit that couldn’t be picked up on scanners would most certainly do.

Blinking his eyes tiredly, Jegora decided that conversation would have to wait for another time. As the Sentinel shuttle gently lift off the pad and began moving out of Tadath’s gravity well, Jegora felt the first pulling of sleep. Space travel had always comforted him, and at that moment he was tired enough to succumb to the hypnotic motions of flight.

***

Two hours later Jegora awoke abruptly, unsure of what had shaken him out of his slumber. One look out the nearest porthole confirmed that they were in hyperspace, and another look around confirmed that the rest of his squad was out cold. With a grimace Jegora undid his saftey harness, which was cutting painfully into his chest, and moved towards the back of the shuttle and the refresher. Upon taking care of his more personal business the senior Jester trooper made his way back to his seat and pulled his datapad off his belt.

Upon activating the Datapad, Jegora realized he had a new message from the one person he most desperately wished to talk to. Aeos’ message was short and sweet:

Are you okay?

Reading those words Jegora felt a new rush of emotion, and even his eyes felt vaguely wet. Relieved and confused and angry all at the same time, Jegora began to write.

Back on the shuttle…

Beta woke up but didn’t open his eyes. He waited and noticed that no one was looking. He took a glance at a porthole only to see that their squads transport was still in hyperspace. Beta lifted his head from the seat, pulled up the sleeve a little and turned his wrist upside down. He saw his watch, which was timing how long they had been in flight for, and looked at it more closely. It said 3:13:46, so they had about one hour and forty-five minutes left of flight. Beta looked left, right and in all directions to see that Jori and Jager were asleep and Jegora was in the back doing something. He didn’t want to disturb Jegora or wake the rest of his squad, he stayed seated. He unclipped his safety harness and reached to the floor. Beta grabbed some water and unscrewed the cap, took a sip and put it back underneath his seat.

As Beta was about to stand up to find where he put his bag until he heard footsteps in the aisle to the left. He didn’t want anyone to know that he was awake so he clipped his safety harness back on and rested his head back down with one eye barely open. It was Jegora in the aisle and he obviously heard the harness clip shut.

“Odd…” Jegora muttered as he found his seat.

After about fifteen minutes Beta was sure everyone was asleep again so he unclipped his harness and stood up. He was walking around when he heard a sound to his right. As a first reaction he dropped to the ground and rolled under a seat. It was actually his water falling over. As he stood up he banged his head against the seat. As he put his hand over his head he heard a sound that was defiantly someone unclipping their safety harness. He saw feet stand up and walk to the front. Beta stayed put and stayed quiet, restraining himself from yelling out. The feet walked back to the seat and there was another clipping sound.

After another fifteen minute wait Beta was back at it. He walked to the one seat he hadn’t checked and his bag was there. He swore under his breath and opened the bag. He looked through it and he found his armor. Beta wanted to be ready before anyone else so he grabbed his armor, took a step and …tripped. He smashed his head against the floor.

He woke up, once again looked at his watch and Beta had 15 minutes left. He rushed across the shuttle as fast (and quiet) as he could. Now he didn’t care if someone saw him so he didn’t look. He quickly put his armor on and realized that he forgot to get his weapons. He raced across the shuttle, again and found his bag. Beta leaped over the seat, caught his foot on his bag and hit his head on the floor followed shortly by his bag hitting his head.

When Beta woke up he still knew what he needed to do. He got to his knees, grabbed his bag and put on the seat, got to his feet and saw everyone staring at him.

“What?...”

"Okay... so the new guy is retarded" Jager announced rather bluntly after watching Beta quickly get back to his seat. Deep down, Jager wanted to laugh... but this person was going to be covering him during a fire fight. A fact which was more alarming then funny. Jori shot Jager a cold stare and turned to the new trooper

"Don't listen to him, Its just nerves. Everyone goes through it"

"Yeah... Because I totally fell out of my seat on my first mission" Jager muttered as he went back to aimlessly spinning a lighter between his index finger and thumb. Several minutes of, not awkward, but uncomfortable silence filled the shuttle. They were only maybe an hour into the trip, but already things where looking rather grim in terms of teamwork and co-operation.

"So" Beta asked, breaking the silence and causing both Jori and Jager to jump slightly out of surprised. "How did your first missions go". By anyone's standards, Jager's recollection of his first mission was, at best... hazy and riddled with inaccuracies and exaggeration. But, since most of it couldnt be proved or disproven by most people he recounted the story to, then it didn't really matter.

"Well, while Jager just sits there with a stupid look on his face. I'll tell you how mine went" Jori declared, getting comfy.

"I was just out of the academy when Jester was sent to..."

"Hold up..." Jager cut in, "It'd be more accurate if someone else told him"

"That's not fair, no one in this shuttle was there on your first mission" Jori countered. Jager simply sat back and grinned,

"Exactly. Now hush, its story time" Jager sat back in his seat and got comfy, or as comfy as someone can get in a shuttle.

"Do you want the abridged version, or the full version?"

"Full" Beta replied, leaning forwards slightly

"To bad, I only have the abridged version"

Clearing his throat Jager began, "We got sent to a planet called Baroonda to find some defecting scientist and bring him back. So, we land, come under fire, beat them back and set up camp. The SL at the time send me out as a forward scout, and somewhere in between there and the extraction Corporal genius, then private genius, manages to bribe some of the mercenaries into giving this scientist fellow up. The kicker is he doesn't tell the rest of us, especially me. I manage to sneak into the camp and when this scientist fellow shows up, I move to secure him while Jester engages the mercenaries front line. And guess who I see walking with the scientist?"

"Corporal Geniu.. I mean, Jori" Beta answered,

"Exactly. Thing is, he's being trailed by this third party merc. So I dive in, throw the scientist and Jori into a tent and we just manage to avoid becoming a notch on some Merc's rifle. You see, without me... He'd be dead" Jager finished, laying back in his seat.

"Is that true?" Beta queried as he turned to Jori, who was shaking his head in a disgusted manner.

"Dont trust a word this asshole says" Jori replied

Again Jager smirked, "I Speak the truth, ask around" Beta nodded cautiously,

"What about yours"

"Mine" Jager stated trying to play the question off, "Mine was pretty casual. Shot some people, cake and drinks in the foyer afterwards."

"That's not what I've heard" Jegora added from his seat near the cockpit. He had been oddly silent the entire trip, and with good reason.

"Oh, and what did you hear. Oh fearless leader" Jager queried with a sarcastic tone

"Well, from what I was told... you got drunk, got robbed, slept on a couch then got kidnapped by thugs and beaten to within an inch of your life, and as if that wasn't enough you got locked up in a makeshift infirmary until Kami rescued your sorry ass." he finished, returning to his silence. Jager paused momentarily, it all sort of came back to him the beating, the drinking... even the couch.

"Well?" Beta spoke up, "How close was that?"

"Close enough..." Jager muttered "It wasn't an inch of my life..." , brushing the topic to the side as quickly as possible. Again the shuttle fell into an uncomfortable silence.

"How do you think mine will go" Beta asked


"It'll be a breeze." Jori assured, "These investigation's are really nothing" Beta nodded and the two began to talk amongst themselves, probably Jori's version of his first mission...

"Eight out of ten" Jager announced, catching the others attention.

Jori cocked an eyebrow, "What?".

"Eight out of ten chance that the new guy will be killed three minutes after disembarking the shuttle. It might have been seven"

"Making up figures doesn't make think you're smart" Jori retorted with a smirk. "Beta, don't take any notice of that, he does crap like this all the time, don't let it bother you"

"Hey... don't call me out on things that are true. Are you by any chance sleeping with a medic?"

"Are you?" Jori asked with a slight chuckle.

"Yes... actually." Jager responded proudly, then turned to Beta "Just do me one favor. Don't tell me your name until you, If you make it past this mission." Beta looked a little confused,

"Then what are you going to call me?"

Jager paused, He hadn't really been thinking of what to call the new guy. Hastily he examined him for any obvious features that could be made into a memorable, yet humorous nickname.

"Red" he declared, "On the count of your hair"

"So, can we call you annoying on the count that your annoying" Jori managed to say without bursting out into laughter.

"Constant persecution by these people." Jager began, "You with your comments and Sergeant smiles over there and his psychotic fits"

"Enough" Jegora ordered, "Jori, Beta. Stop talking to the idiot. Idiot, go to sleep or something I don't want to hear you" Both Jori and Beta sat still, holding back any further comments. Jager made a disapproving sound and raised both his hands about shoulder hieght, mimicking a surrender. Any further conversation was more or less dead now. With nothing left to do but stare at the ceiling Jager pulled his pack up and rested his head against it. It was going to be a long four hours...

The last few hours had flown by without so much as a hit. It seemed that no one recognized the holo-pic of Frozt even the tiniest bit. The lack of information was infuriating for Brightstar. Never had she been met with such a challenge in finding information about one man, and a dead one at that. The Sergeant had to admit that it wasn't just the challenge that was frustrating her. The amount of hostility with which she had been met, suggested that she wasn't going to get much more cooperation out of these people anymore than she would out of a brainless slug.

Bright would have wondered at why she had been singled out particularly, except she realized that with her bright red hair and quite noticeable and recognizable scar, she was one of the most recognized members of the stormtrooper corp based on Tadath. She sighed and gave up with the crowd she was trying to negotiate with. Shaking her head she pushed her way through the people and aliens of the street she was on.

"I need a drink." She heard herself mutter under her breath. She would have been surprised at herself had she actually had time to think about when she had started drinking.

After a few moments of looking around for a decent Catina, Bright found one that still had a roof and so entered. There weren't many occupants inside but those that were looked like the seedier type. The type she would have found in the Catina's on Nar Shadda. Bright suppressed a shudder and hoped buried memories stayed that way.

She took a seat at the bar and ordered a Bakuran Whiskey straight up. The bartender slid her drink to her across the counter. He seemed to be interested in a hushed conversation between a Deveronian and a big burly human man. Bright watched the odd pair with mild interest as she drank her whiskey. It wasn't everyday she saw a Devish on Tadath, she wondered idly what this one was doing here. Shaking her head she looked around the room taking in as many details as she could.

This Catina had suffered some in the recent attack and even more in the rioting that had been going on sporadically here and there. One side of the room was closed off do to the crumbling ceiling, several of the tables were cracked down the middle and others had missing legs. Even in the din Bright could make out a small blood pool in the corner by an over-turned chair. The two occupied tables straddling the entrance were guard posts, Bright decided seeing the heavy blasters that the occupants were packing.

The red headed woman down the rest of her whiskey savoring in the slight burn as it slid down her throat. "Another." She said shortly holding up her glass. The bartender responded quickly, and Bright managed to catch the man's eye. She wanted information and she was willing to pay for it. The nod the man gave her was small and could easily have been mistaken for a spasm in the man's neck muscles that he was just trying to ease.

The bartender was taller than she was by about four inches and he was muscular not fat. This man's muscle came from fending for himself on the streets and tossing crates in the freight yards. His dark eyes weren't so much intelligent as they were wise, and his sandalwood hair was cropped close in a crew cut, at on time may have been clean. The bags under the man's eyes suggested lack of sleep and worry. Bright's mind rifled through ways she could handle this man and settled on the gentlest she could find.

"What would be your price, Sir?" She asked as if starting a casual conversation.

"Twenty-five." He said quietly proceeding to wipe the counter around her. "What would be the product, Miss?" He looked her up and down and seemed to deem her likely able to handle herself.

Bright's eyes wandered over the the end of the bar where the Devaronian and big man were still in quiet conversation. "And..." She said pulling out the holo-pic she had of Frozt. "I'll pay extra."
Bright said in response to the way the man eyed her.

The bartender shrugged and started wiping out glasses with a clean towel. "Those two have been talking about some sort of failed attempt, finding different ways to blame the other for something or another. Never did say what the attempt was though." He shrugged again. "Him though," He indicated the holo-pic sitting on the counter between them. "Seen him a couple times, oh about a week and half ago. Before the attack for sure."

"Was he with anyone that you know of?" Bright asked, suppressing the urge to hug the man.

The man thought, searching his memory while methodically turning his towel inside the glass he was wiping. "He had a couple guards with him. Don't remember what they looked like, sorta just seemed to blend into the crowd. I believe he had a woman with him that last night as well. Pretty thing, about as tall as you, dark hair to about her shoulders, blue eyes, and the Huttese letter T on her neck."

"Which side of her neck, Sir?" Bright asked taking in all the details on a hidden recorder in her sleeve.

"Street," The man said shortly. "Call me Street, everyone who knows me does. And it was just under her left ear."

Bright nodded looking thoughtful. The bartender, Street, had a good memory. Now it was time to see if it served him well. "Thanks, Street. The whiskey was great by the way." She said sliding him the promised credits and a few extra for a tip and to pay for her drink. "Let me know when it's back up and running, I'll stop by for another." With that she walked out the door flipping the guards on either side a credit chip for their hard work as well.

Maybe she just felt guilty for not being able to protect the civilians when she was out there doing her job, or maybe it was just that she wanted to see Tadath back to the way it was before. Shaking her head at her soft heartedness she replayed the information she had gathered from her new friend, Street. Her next priority? Find the woman.

"Angel, I may have a lead I'm going to check it out." Bright said as soon she was in a deserted strip of walkway.

"Be careful, Bright. Let me know what you find out." Angel responded in a light crackle over the comm channel.

"Will do, Boss. Bright out." Bright closed the channel with her squad leader and looked around. She needed a terminal. "OK lady, where are you?" She asked.

Jegora spent the last hour of the trip in relative silence, doing nothing but thinking. He did a lot of thinking. He thought about his parents for the first time in years, about his home above Corellia, about his time in the Navy, his first days in the Army, and most of all he thought about Aeos. He sat by himself, isolated from the other three troopers, who were talking quietly amongst themselves.

As the ship jerked and reverted from hyperspace, the ship’s intercom buzzed. A voice filled the passenger cabin, and Jegora immediately perked up, leaving his deep thoughts behind. “Gunny, incoming message,” a crew member said. Jegora sighed, got up, and left the passenger cabin.

When he reached the cockpit one of the crew (Jegora assumed he was the copilot) pointed towards a communication’s console just to his left. Moving over to the console Jegora accepted the transmission, and immediately a miniature hologram of his squad leader appeared on a small display podium.

“Jeg, I dunno when you’ll get this, but listen up,” his squad leader’s image said immediately. “We’re pursuing leads here on Tadath, and I want you back here ASAP. Do a quick but thorough sweep of the facility and get out.”

“On a different note,” Angel continued, “high command thinks we deserve a reward for our efforts on Anteevy and later on Tadath. The necessary data is included; just download it to your datapad.”

Pausing slightly, his squad leader took a deep breath before continuing. “Be careful, and don’t be obvious about this: the less people that know about this operation the better. Angel out.”

With that the transmission ended, and Jegora dutifully plugged his datapad into its port. After a quick moment there was a dull beep, and Jegora removed his datapad. Browsing through the list of promos and medals that had recently been approved he was quite surprised to see his own name there. None the less he quickly forwarded the list to his squad mates, and then turned back to the pilots.

“How long?” he asked gruffly.

The copilot checked a display. “Ten minutes, tops,” he said confidently.

Jegora nodded, grateful to be getting out of this shuttle soon. “Good. Buzz us when we land. And don’t go anywhere; we may need a quick extraction.”

“Rog-e-o Sarge,” the pilot said.

With that exchanged Jegora retreated back to the crew cabin, intending to inform the troopers of the medal/promo list and to let them know they would be landing soon. Instead he found Beta suited up and Jori wearing his black Shadowsuit. For once Jager was dressed appropriately, wearing nothing but a duty uniform.

“What the hell?” Jegora asked upon entering.

Jori looked at Beta, then at Jager. “What?” he questioned, obviously confused.

Keeping his face as smooth as possible, Jegora glared at the young Zabrak. “Didn’t I tell you to dress casual? We’re suppose to fly under the radar on this one, and commando armor and infiltration suits really don’t suit that purpose,” he explained, his voice full of cold fury.

Beta piped up. “What if we get shot-” he began, but Jegora cut him off abruptly.

“Then you die.”

Jager was grinning from ear to ear, evidently happy that he wasn’t being yelled at. That alone was enough to make Jegora visibly angry, but he kept his temper in check, along with his tongue. Throwing his datapad in a seat, he glared at the troopers.

“We’re landing soon, and you should have some updates on your datapads. For now, though, I want everyone in casual and/or duty attire and ready to go. We’ll be landing in the facility this time, so we won’t get the freeze our asses off.” Looking around, Jegora shook his head again.

“Let’s go people,” he ordered.

Returning to his seat, Jegora couldn’t help but notice that the Jori and Beta quickly changed, much to his satisfaction. Then he noticed Jager, who was still grinning stupidly, and his anger welled up again. Jegora didn’t know what it was about Jager that drove him nuts, but whatever it was the Corporal did it well; Jegora could barely stand to be around the man anymore.

Gritting his teeth, Jegora checked his pistol, making sure it was still secure in his tactical holster. His vibroblade was also secure, and he had extra ammo for his sidearm, along with other necessary equipment, on his utility belt. He couldn’t do much to be more prepared, and so he sat back and enjoyed the rest of the trip down to the surface of Anteevy.

Returning to the planet brought up bloody memories that Jegora himself would’ve rather left forgotten. He wasn’t sorry for anything he’d done here, but it was rather uncomfortable to think about. Jegora comforted himself by remembering that the men he had slain had been trying to undo the Empire that he had pledged his life and service too, the Empire he had come to love as much if not more than his homeland, and that made him sleep better at night.

It didn’t make the deeds anymore comfortable to deal with, though.

The one positive about visiting Anteevy now was that the four man squad would be landing directly inside the facility, bypassing the need for bulky Snowtrooper gear and thankfully eliminating any voyages out into the snow. Except for this facility Anteevy was literally deserted, and so there was very little chance that the troopers would have to leave the warmth of the garrison. That was a good thing, because even though Jegora didn’t mind the cold, he hated ice planets.

Grimacing at the thoughts of the upcoming investigation, Jegora tried to put a plan together. He had to be honest with himself, though, and admit that he had no plan whatsoever. He had no idea how to go about this investigation, and he had no one to contact. Once again Jegora felt the familiar but heavy discomfort of command, the weight of being the one to make the decisions, and the one to take the fall.

Shaking his massive shoulders Jegora threw off the depressing thoughts. It wasn’t like he was an officer again, and he was only commanding four highly trained individuals this time. He was confident that they could come up with some plan of action.

If they didn’t kill each other first.

The shuttle did a quick fly-over of the facility before it drifted gently into the hanger. As the squad disembarked it was clear that the troops stationed here had wasted no time in repairing whatever structural damage the hanger and its adjacent sections, had sustained in the operation. Several tent-like structures had been setup near a set of large blast doors that lead into what was at best guess a maintenance area. At a guess, Jager put the garrison numbers between a hundred to hundred and fifty. Less of a garrison, more of a salvage team as there was little chance of anyone wanting to take up residence here.

Jager was in no hurry to leave the shuttle and by the looks of things, neither was anyone else. Two fresh-faced looking troopers stood just to the left of the loading ramp and greeted Jegora with a salute.

"Sir, Welcome to Anteevy."

Jegora gave him a quick nod then silence. The two troopers stood motionless for a few moments as Jegora's gaze shifted from one to the other. From his vantage point at the shuttles door, it was clear that no one knew exactly what they were supposed to be doing. After several more moments of awkward silence, Jager spoke up,

"Take us to your leader"

It took all of his self-control to hold back from laughing, after all... he was playing 'Mr Investigator' and bursting out into hysterics would have been very inappropriate. One of the troops that greeted them gave a quick, and thankful nod.

"Uh, Sir, yes... right away" then quickly turned and motioned the Jesters to follow. Jori shot Jager a somewhat confused look,

"Take us to your leader?"     

"Worked, didn't it..." Jager retorted, as he began to follow the two troops and Jegora.

The tents were at the far end of the hanger, which gave the squad about a minute and a half to work out a game plan. The problem was that no one was talking, Beta and Jori were a few paces behind Jager whilst Jegora led a few paces in front. They reached the tents far to quickly, Jegora looked back at the others with what seemed to be brooding confusion.

"Gentlemen" The garrison commander greeted rather bluntly.

"Sir, We're fr..." Jegora began but a hand movement from the commander stopped him,

"I know why you're here... and before you start with your whole spiel about how you're 'only here to make sure things run smoothly' crap, Know this. I've served the Corp for the better part of twenty ye"

"We're Investigators, here to try and dig up some information on the leaders of this facilities previous occupants, Sir" Jegora quickly butt in before this turned into a lecture.

The garrison commander stopped and began to stare down Jegora. It was obvious that he might not of trusted their claims, since pretending to do something else was the best way to observe his troops. By the way both men were staring each other down, Jager figured that they'd be kicked out of the facility before they even had a chance, and there was no way he was going back to Angel empty handed.

"Sir, We're working on a limited time frame here." he began, earning him a wary yet annoyed look from Jegora.

"It would be in everyone's interest if we could get this done as quickly as possible. But in order to do so, we'll need your full cooperation"

The garrison commanders stare shifted from Jegora to Jager. After a few seconds of silence he spoke up,

"My mistake." he corrected, still with a tone of suspicion "How can I help"

Mentally Jager smirked, he had taken a real chance on that. The only problem was that now he was stuck without anything to say.

"We'll need any documents or servers your men have found, and we'll need to take a look at the bodies and their personal effects" Jegora added to what Jager had started. 'Nice to see he's not completely incompetent' Jager mused

"Give my men twenty minutes, I'll have it moved two tents down. Anything else?"

Jeg looked over at Jager for the first time without scowling and simply shrugged, to which Jager replied in kind.

"That's it, We'll be in the tent." Jeg finished, nodding to the commander then motioning his squad out the door.

"I take it you'll want to talk to the prisoners as well" the commander called as Jeg had taken his first step out the door. The squad froze, actual flesh and blood beings would be an excellent source of information and would make things that much quicker.

"Shotgun" Jager called as he turned to one of the troops that had guided them from the shuttle, "Show me the prisoners"

----

"Alright, we're done here. Next" Jager called as he motioned for the captive Merc to leave the small tent. How he ever thought this was a good idea escaped him. At first Jager could of kissed the pilot of the shuttle who crashed on take off, which meant that any survivors were forced to stay on the planet until a second shuttle could be arranged, which wasn't a very high priority.

So far he had counted roughly three cases of Post traumatic stress disorder, two cases of "I just work here" and a few very scared Merc's who were barely out of their teens. It was interesting to see how many actually survived the assault, obviously their attempts at leveling the facility were woefully ineffective.

"This is the last one, sir" the trooper stationed outside Jager's makeshift interrogation tent announced as he shoved the Mercenary in.

"Take a seat" Jager sighed, not even bothering to look up as he went through his notes which amounted to a whole two lines.

"Name, planet of origin, where you were recruited, your rank in the group"

The Merc sat silently, "I cant read mines, but I'm taking lessons... but just for the heck of it, lets use our words" Jager prompted, still aimlessly staring at his notes.

"Lawrence Meerlay, Coreworld's, don't remember, patrol leader"

"Well, Lawrence. Who hired you?"

"I was already with a group of veterans"

"Well" Jager paused, "Who hired them"

Lawrence paused and stared down at the table.

"What do I get if I tell you?" Lawrence asked

Jager ceased his aimless scanning of his notes and looked straight up. It took a few moments to register that Lawrence was actually trying to bargain with him.

"Uh.. nothing. Why?"

"Then we're done here" Lawrence countered, returning to his silence. Jager's glance moved from the wall, to the Merc. It was like deja vu, he had seen this guy before but he had no idea where. A similar look came over Lawrence's face, yet his was more of tension rather then surprise.

"Do I know you from somewhere" queried Jager, placing the data pad on the table. Lawrence shook his head slowly,

"No"

"No... no, I know you from somewhere. Ever been to Tatooine?"

Again lawrence shook his head, "I've never met you"

"Whatever" Jager stated, brushing the topic to the side, "Listen, you help me out... and, you know... maybe I could argue for your release".

"I don't believe you"

"Dont believe me? Who cares if you believe me or not. I could just mark you as a 'Someone who knows something' then you'd be taken to one of the empires many fine undisclosed re-education facility... you know, to see if they can find out what you know"

The mercenary simply smirked, "I don't respond well to threats..."

Jager ceased his bargaining... it was obviously going no where. The only problem was that he still had nothing. Perhaps Jeg and the others had had more luck. Personal belongings and data files had a tendency not to lie. His aimless musings continued as he measured up the Merc sitting across from him. For someone who had been survived quite an assault, he was still in fairly good nick. No real injuries, no real damage of any kind. Which begged the question... why?.

It was then when he sneezed. His nose, though cosmetically normal, was still a mess underneath. The medic's had told him to wear a bandage over it, but he was never one to listen to the advice of professionals.

"God damn, son of a bitch broke my nose. Hope he got bur..." he mumbled as he looked back at Lawrence. It was then that he recognised him. He never got a good look at his face, but he still knew it was him...

"So..." Jager began rather rather mildly, "Break any troopers noses lately"

The look of Lawrence's face showed that he had recognised who Jager was as well. "...whats it to you" he asked sheepishly.

A small metal ashtray sat on the table, earlier Jager had offered two of the captives cigarettes but instead of taking the offer, they recoiled in horror. It happened quickly, Sure if Jager was paying attention he may have been able to dodge it... but after a good hour of questionings his sense were dulled.

A swift kick to the table knocked the ashtray within Lawrence's reach. It was then as easy as picking it up and Frisbeeing it at his interrogator, an act which manage to strike the poorly prepared corporal across the bridge of his nose. Jager lent back sharply on the chair as his reactions caught up with what was happening, which in turn sent the chair out from underneath him. 

The sounds of a scuffle and blaster fire filled the tent as he slowly picked himself up and tried to wipe the blood out of his eye's.

"Dont shoot him, he knows som..." he ordered as he reached the tent's door. It was to late. The trooper guarding his tent was being helped up and a few others were checking the body of the now late Lawrence Meerlay. A wave of disappointment and failure hit Jager, he could of just ignored the fact that Lawrence had broken his nose... didn't even have to mention it and perhaps he would of gotten some useful information out of him.

"Arrrhhh, son of a bitch" Jager mumbled as he rolled the corpse over and quickly checked him. "Thank you for impeding an imperial investigation." he muttered to the trooper who had killed Lawrence. The sounds of footsteps behind him hailed the arrival of the one person who he didn't want to see, Jegora... as well as the garrison commander.

Jager slowly got to his feet and began staring at Jeg, who pulled a similar maneuver.

Before Jeg could speak, Jager raised his hand "No, I didn't find anything... Yes, I'm going back to the shuttle." he nodded to the garrison commander and began his trek back to the shuttle. Pausing at Lawrence's corpse and giving it a swift kick...

"Fucker busted my nose twice" he mumbled.


----

OOC:

Bodies and such will be in a separate tent from where the documents and such are being moved to. You've got personal effects to work with (Diary's, Personal datapads, other documentation). The server thing was a bit of a "errr" kind of thing, it wouldn't be far fetched if a server or backup server survived the collapse, heavily damaged of course. Either way, Alternatively we could just go back empty handed for the lulz

After spending a good hour arguing with the garrison commander, who introduced himself as Captain Hubress Tyne, Jegora was exhausted. The lengthy nap he had taken en route wasn’t nearly enough to keep him functioning at 100%, and he was quickly losing his patience and temper with the stubborn garrison commander.

“What do you mean my men can’t have access to your after-action reports?” Jegora asked the Captain, his voice dangerously low.

The captain shook his head. “I’m sorry, but those reports are code-word classified.”

Jegora took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. It wasn’t working very well. “I told you I had authorization! Hell, I even told you the damn code word!”

“That may be, but you’re not on my list of people authorized to know the code word.”

Jegora glanced around. In the course of their argument he and Tyne had drifted away from the main center of operations. They were a good thirty meters from any other living being. Frustrated beyond compare, Jegora decided to try a different tactic.

“Listen, you said you were in the Corps, right?” he asked the commander.

The Captain nodded. “Why, yes I was. Twenty years, or near enough.”

“Then you know exactly what my boss is gonna do when I go home empty handed,” Jegora said.

Tyne nodded, but his face remained as impassive as ever. Jegora continued on, pressing his luck. “And if you know what my boss is gonna due to me, then you probably have a good idea of what I’m authorized to do in order to get the information I need.”

At that Tyne shifted his eyes uncomfortably. “No matter what you may or may not be authorized to do, if you touch me my men will tear you apart,” he said, his voice confident but hinting at a deeper uncertainty.

Jegora rested a hand on his sidearm, and looked the garrison commander straight in the eye. “Doesn’t matter. They won’t be here in time to save you, and I’d rather go down like this than face my boss empty handed.”

Tyne met Jegora’s gaze, and it was then that Jegora saw him crack. “Listen,” he said gently. “I have the clearance. We’ll be quick, and even if anyone finds out, you can blame it on us, which is fine seeing as we’re authorized anyways. Just let me look at those reports.”

There was a long pause in which both Jegora and Tyne were absolutely still. Then the Captain gave a jerking nod, and Jegora’s face broke into a feral grin. “Excellent,” he said. “Don’t worry ‘bout it. Everything will be fine.”

With that Jegora moved back towards the main cluster of tents that had been set up in the hangar, leaving the garrison commander to find his own way back in due time. Along the way he pulled out his comlink.

Hitting buttons in quick succession, Jegora opened up a link to Jager. “Luth,” he said gruffly upon confirming he had a connection, “gather Jori and Beta. We need to sift through these after-action reports, and then we need to go exploring.”

There was a pause before Jager responded. “Alright, We’ll meet you at the command tent,” he said, his voice only slightly less sarcastic than usual.

Jegora nodded, and then started off towards the tent. He wanted to start going through those reports as soon as possible, and then get to the exploration of the depths of the facility. Much of it had been left unexplored due to instability and the possibility of booby traps. None the less, the Jesters would have to try to find something useful in the facility, or go home empty handed. The latter wouldn’t be quite as bad as he had made the garrison commander believe, but it still wasn’t a happy prospect.

He had only taken three steps when the hangar doors slid open once more. Jegora stopped and watched as a non-descript supply transport floated gently down beside their Sentinel shuttle. That by itself wasn’t surprising; of course the troopers here would need supplies. They certainly weren’t self sufficient.

No, the big surprise came when the shuttle’s ramp deployed and the one person Jegora had never expected to see descended from the transport.

It was Aeos.

In one surge of emotions Jegora felt both elated and terrified, joyous and angry. Then he met Aeos’ eyes, and all his thought scattered. He stood there dumbly as she approached. He noted, somewhere, that she no longer wore her symbols of Officer-ship. He would have to ask her about that sometime…

His thoughts trailed off again as suddenly Aeos was standing right in front of him. She looked him in the eyes, and then gave a slight smile, and Jegora was flung back into a maelstrom of emotions.

Things had suddenly gotten a lot more complicated.

The Jesters’ second trip to Anteevy was turning out much like the first on had: quick and shitty. After Jager had been more or less incapacitated from the combined efforts of Jegora and Aeos the remaining Jesters had proceeded to search through the after-action reports. Finding nothing of value they resigned themselves to scouting out the lower levels of the facility. It turned out that those levels not destroyed in the attack and its explosive aftermath contained unimportant and trivial facilities. It looked like the trip to Anteevy had been a waste of time.

After their exploration of the lower levels Jegora found himself sitting in a tent with Aeos, trying to think of something to say that would break the tension between the two. While they had had something to keep them busy there had been a mutual understanding that questions and answers would come later. Now it was later and neither one of them wanted to talk about what had happened on Tadath, although they both felt obligated to explain themselves. So they simply sat in uneasy silence, each waiting for the other to say something and break the ice. Every now and then one would open their mouth as if to say something, and then close it abruptly. It was awkward, and it was going nowhere fast.

The situation continued like that for some time, until eventually the tent flap was pushed aside and Jori stuck his head in. He seemed hesitant to enter, as if wary that he would get injured if he did so; he probably wasn’t wrong.

None the less, enter he did. He even spoke, the first sound to be made inside the tent since Jegora and Aeos had entered it nearly half an hour ago. “Jager’s awake,” the newly minted Sergeant told the two senior non-coms.

Jegora just nodded, but Aeos stood up to follow Jori out. As the two left the tent, Jori in an undeniable hurry and Aeos only slightly less so, Jegora let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. Slowly he stood up, unwilling to leave the tent, but he had little choice. He really had to check on Jager, and then begin to make preparations to get off this rock.

Jager was the bigger problem. It was obvious to everyone that the two really didn’t like each other, but now their verbal bantering had turned into a physical altercation. No one, including Jegora and Jager, knew what was going to happen next. It was uncharted territory for everyone involved, and the next few hours and days were going to be very, very interesting.

Surprisingly, though, Jegora bore Jager no more ill will after the fight than he had before. In fact, it was possible that he was slightly less angry with the other man. It seemed that injuring Jager had allowed Jegora to let off some steam and cool his temper. Even Aeos’ presence didn’t bother him as much as it did before. He felt calmer, more relaxed. He felt good.

Unfortunately the same probably couldn’t be said for Jager. Jegora bore the other man no ill will, but he didn’t think Jager felt the same. During the fight with Jegora the man had been hit repeatedly in the ribs and face, and then Aeos had literally put him to sleep with a vicious blow that had caught him off guard. The medics had said that Jager would be fine, but the man seemed to be taking a particularly long time in waking up. Personally Jegora felt that the corporal was appreciating the attention just a little too much and had decided to postpone his recovery. Wisely, though, Jegora decided to keep that opinion to himself, as he had no wish to do anymore damage to his relationship with his squad mate.

Jegora crossed the camp to the small tent they had laid Jager in, but he never made it. As Jegora approached the tent its flap opened and out came Jager, fully clothed and apparently ready to go. Jegora altered his course, not wishing to talk with Jager at that particular moment. As good as he might be feeling Jegora knew that conversation wouldn’t end well, especially right at that moment, so soon after their fight.

So instead he moved off to where Jori, Beta, and Aeos were standing, only a few yards away. As he approached he caught snippets of a conversation concerning whether or not the other Jesters would have to restrain Jegora or Jager, or both, for the trip home. Jegora just grinned and kept walking, moving right for the group. Aeos was facing Jegora’s direction and must have seen him coming, but she gave no outward sign. Beta and Jori, however, were facing away. With an evil grin Jegora walked up behind Jori, put his head over his shoulder and his lips right up against the other mans ear, and whispered, “Boo.”

The effect was instantaneous. Jori jumped and staggered forward, while Beta started and nearly fell. Aeos snickered, obviously trying not to laugh aloud. Even Jager, who was fast approaching the group, had to smile. For his part Jegora was grinning from ear to ear.

“Don’t do that!” Beta exclaimed, still trying to catch his balance. Jori looked from Aeos to Jegora and then back to Aeos.

“Why didn’t you tell us he was right there?” Jori demanded.

Aeos just shrugged. “This was more entertaining.”

Jegora’s smile just widened. “You should have seen the looks on your faces,” he said.

Evidently Jager had had enough of the fun. “Yeah, yeah, you scared him, big deal. When are we getting of this shithole of a planet?”

“As soon as the crew gets the shuttle primed and I have a chat with the garrison commander here. You all might as get on board now,” Jegora answered. “No sense in putting this off any longer.”

Getting nods all around, even from Jager, Jegora turned and began to glance around, searching for the garrison commander. He finally spotted the man, but he was clear at the other end of the camp. Unwilling to travel that entire distance, Jegora stood there, trying to figure out what to do. As he watched the garrison commander go about his business Jegora heard the shuttle fire up its massive engines. The noise echoed throughout the chamber, and the garrison commander just happened to look up. Jegora began to wave frantically, trying to get the man’s attention.

It worked. The other man gave a slight wave, and Jegora took that as permission to leave. Not that they really needed permission, but formalities were nice sometimes. Wasting no time Jegora jogged to the shuttles ramp, just in time to intercept Aeos as she began to ascend into the bowels of the ship. Action on sheer impulse Jegora grabbed her by the waist and kissed her full on the lips.

After a long second Jegora detached his lips from hers, but still held her close. They stood like that for what seemed like several minutes, simply looking into each others’ eyes. They might have stayed like that for even longer but Jori interrupted them once again.

“Ahem,” Jori said, clearing his throat. Immediately Jegora and Aeos separated. Aeos quickly climbed the ramp, with Jegora following close behind. As he passed Jori he noticed the young sergeant was grinning ear from ear. Jegora met the Zabrak’s gaze and held it, willing the younger man to feel his utter displeasure at being interrupted at that particular moment.

It seemed to work for Jori’s smile slipped and he turned back and took his seat in the crew cabin. Jegora followed, making a short stop to inform the pilot and copilot that they were all on board. He then walked slowly back to the crew quarters, where he took a seat next to Aeos.

She didn’t seem to mind.

Just like the arrival trip the Jester’s were all asleep within minutes of lift off. Such is the way of an experienced soldier, to take sleep whenever the opportunity presents itself. Even so, Jegora managed to hold out long enough to watch Aeos fall asleep, her head on his shoulder. He began to slowly drift off, and the arrival of sleep was punctuated by one last thought.

Maybe this trip wasn't such a waste after all.

Bright looked down at her datapad to be sure the address she was standing in front of was the correct one. She had just spent the last day searching all known data bases for the mysterious tattoo woman that was her lead. Whoever had covered the woman's trail had been good indeed. It was only by chance that Bright had managed to find this address at all.

She stuck her datapad back into her pack and walked forward. There was know alarm system and the only security feature was the digital combination lock on the door. That took Brightstar only a matter of moments before she had hacked the numbers. The correct code entered, the durasteel door slid open.

The entry way was dark, and Bright felt a small shiver run up her spine. She really hoped she wouldn't run into a nasty surprise around one of those shadowy corners. Bright entered fishing out a glowrod and activating it. The light did little more than make the shadows longer and more ominous.

Get a grip, Rain! Bright thought, silently berating herself. You aren't afraid of the dark so what is your problem? For a moment the question hung in Bright's mind, and just as quickly as she asked it she pushed it away. Feeling like she was loosing her mind, Bright pushed forward into a much larger living space.

It was in this room that a horrendus stench reached the young woman's nostrils. Her free hand immediately went to cover her nose as she started breathing through her mouth. She looked around the room and found the light switch. Flipping it on, Bright looked for the source of her inconvienience.

There, around the front of the battered sofa, lay a young woman. Dark hair, shoulder length, was plastered to the woman's face, and she was bloated and pale with death, but even through that Bright could see the she had once been pretty.  Bright crouched beside the body and used her glowrod to push the hair away from the woman's neck. There was the letter T in Huttese tattooed just below her ear. That was enough to confirm that this was the woman that Bright had been looking for, but being the cautious person that she was, Bright lifted one eyelid. Not that she could tell the woman's eye color now with the pale blue film of death having covered them.

"Great." The sergeant breathed. "You just had to be dead when I found you. Talk about making my job hell." Bright sat back on her haunches, let out a deep breath and pulled out her commlink.

First she called the morgue's best medical examiner and employed her to pick up, and examine the woman's body. Next she commed Angel. "Angel, this is Bright. I found the woman I was looking for."

"Thats great, Bright. Bring her in so I can question her will you." Angel said.

"Well, You'll have to catch up with the M.E. then, because she's on her way the morgue."

The soundof disappointment was evident in Angel's voice as he replied, "Will do. Stay at the residence and collect whatever evidence you can. I'll send someone shortly to help you. Good work."

"Thanks, Boss. Bright out."

With her leave to collect whatever evidence she could, Bright set straight to work, starting with the room where she had found the body after she had cleared the rest of the residence.

============

The living area had proved to be a good place to start. Bright had collected several foreign fibers from the area around where the body had been and a small piece of white substance that looked as if it had been chipped off of something.

The table in front of the sofa yeilded several fingerprints and a palm print. Also Bright collected a couple of flimsiplast notes that might or might not reveal something about this otherwise unknown woman and possibly who she worked for or her killer. Bright also collected both present datapads, and the empty glass on the woman's side of the table.  On the opposite side of the table Bright dumped the remaining liquid from the other glass into a sample dish and then collected the glass as well.

After an hour of going over every inch of that living area, Bright's promised help came. It was the shadow in the  doorway that made the red head look up. Her violet eyes widened for a moment before she hid her feelings again. Inside she was both surprised and relieved.

"Your in my light." She said lightly as if she had been expecting the other woman all along. The blond woman moved out of the light and Bright tweezed out a piece of gravel out of the ugly bantha rug she had been going over, dropping the small bit into a bindle before looking back up at her guest. Or  guests. Aeos was not alone.

"You know. I can't tell you just how glad I am to see you. For more than one reason." Bright said to Aeos as she allowed her friend to help her up. "The kitchen needs a good going over, if you would please, Jori. I don't think you'll find much but, collect anything that looks suspicious." Bright said to the other person who had come. "Ae, would you like the bedroom or the refresher room?" Bright asked as Jori grinned and walked into the small kitchen.

"I'd rather have seen to the body but the bathroom sounds as if it could be fun." Aeos replied shrugging.

"Then I get the bedroom. Aren't I lucky." Bright said sighing in mock sarcasm. "I think Angel is with the body. Not that I think they'll learn much from it. But hell we could use any lead we can get."

Aeos nodded as she headed into the bathroom. Bright took to the bedroom a few moments later.

Looking around, Jori grimaced and rubbed his stomach as it rumbled loudly. Licking his lips, he started rummaging through the kitchen, looking for food even though he knew he shouldn't be eating anything from a crime scene. He went to open a drawer and frowned as it refused to budge. Crouching down, he examined it closely to see if anything was different. Finding no distinguishing characteristics, he stepped back and narrowed his eyes, thinking of how he was to get the drawer open. He considered basing it in, but that would cause way too much damage to it so he scratched that idea. Suddenly, he had an idea. Leaning down, he pushed the drawer up, but was disappointed when it didn't work. Angry, he kicked at it, but jumped back when a loud click sounded and it sprang open, hitting his foot and knocking him off balance. Swaying back and forth for a few moments, Jori slowly regained his balance and walked over to the now open drawer. Reaching in, he pulled out a piece of flimsi. Frowning, he searched through the whole drawer, but that was all he found. All it had written on it was seven numbers: 1522343. Shrugging, he bagged it and continued searching through the kitchen. All he found was a few crumbs and another blank flimsi.

Weird. I figured I would at least found some food. But it looks like nobody has even lived here for a couple years. Might be note-worthy.

Mentally shrugging, Jori walked back out of the kitchen and looked for Aeos. Not finding her, he  figured that she was already in the bedroom and headed that way. Finding her in there, he handed the baggie to her and told her about how he found it.

“So, you need any help in here?” Jori asked hesitantly.

Shrugging, Ae turned, “Help yourself to any part of the room.”

Nodding, Jori turned and started examining a holobook and holovid shelf. Sliding his hand up into it, he smiled slightly when he felt a large bump in the grain of the red wood. Poking and prodding it for a moment, he pushed it in and heard a slight click. Noticing nothing out of the ordinary, he touched the book and froze as he noticed a small hole in the back that hadn't been there before. Quickly, he took three holobooks out and looked at it. It was sunk into the wall and had a number pad on it. Amazed, Jori stepped back and looked over to where Aeos was standing.

“Uh... Aeos? I found something that you might need to see.” Jori said.

Jager lay mostly comatose on the table, a puddle of saliva the only thing keeping his cheek off the unforgivingly hard plastisteel. A brooding silence mixed with the a thin mist created by the occupants cigarettes hung in the air giving the bar a very welcoming feel. Welcoming to Jager that was. It had been a long day, a day he would like to have forgotten, but circumstances being what they were that was probably not going to happen. The phrase "Disciplinary action" had lost all meaning to the corporal, as had the word "Insubordination". There was nothing they could really do to him that would have any lasting effect, and if there was he would liked to see it. A demotion meant little as the standard pay for a Corporal and the standard pay for a Private was more or less the same, and since a promotion seemed a bit of a stretch it didn't much matter what he was.

The only question he had was why Aeos had hit him. The bitch comment was a bit harsh, but so was having three showers to get the smell of hot brain out of ones hair. Jager put it down to one of two things, Either she had finally had enough of his garbage or she saw it as the only way to stop the fight. But what's done was done, now all he had to do was avoid the two until he or both of them were killed or left Jester... which ever came first.

A beep from a datapad, followed by a sharp nudge broke Jager from his sleep.

"Get up, we're going" Snipes announced in a doughy fashion,

Jager remained stationary in the hopes that Snipes would just leave him there. Snipes had another idea though. A hand grabbed at the back of his collar and with a quick yank Jager was brought to his feet. For a brief moment the room spun, he had never gotten up from a drunken nap so quickly and now he could see why.

"Come on, Come on..." the first sergeant began as he pushed Jager towards the door. "Get your shit together in the speeder"

It was still daylight, much to his resentment. "Wha.. whats the rush" the disorientated Corporal mumbled as he was guided over to the speeder parked just down the street from the bar. Though it felt like a good few kilometers. Upon boarding the speeder, the two simply sat there....

"You have to turn it on... just incase you were wondering" Jager quipped after regaining a small amount of composure and lighting a cigarette, which Snipes quickly liberated right out from the doughy Corporals grip. Jager contemplated hitting the Sergeant, but he had already gotten his ass kicked once today. Instead he simply mumbled something that sounded like  "lets go" and dropped his head back.

---

The speeder stopped abruptly outside an apartment block. Lacking any real enthusiasm Jager sat up and looked around. The street was peaceful and generic. Empty speeders lined the street from end to end accompanied by the occasional light pole which seemed to grow out of the pavement.

"Listen..." Jager began in a no-nonsense tone "I think this relationship is moving to fast. I'm not the kind of girl to put out on the first date." his head clear enough to form such sarcastic drivel. Snipes slowly shook his head,

"Please, I have standards... Ae told us to meet her here."

"Wonderful" The corporal murmured. If Ae was here, then there was a good chance of Jegora being here and he was far to sloppy to be around either.

"Tell you what, Sergeant. I'm gonna hold the fort outside and you can go in. How does that sound"

Snipes cackled, "You're just afraid she's gonna kick your ass again."

"Something like that" he shot back as he climbed out of the speeder and stretched. It was a lovely day for those who weren't wedged between what may have been a concussion and what was definitely the first indication of a hangover.

"Whats inside?"

Snipes took another quick look at his datapad "Ae, Jori and a dead body"

"Pass... I'm not in the mood" Jager retorted, leaning back on the speeder, "I saw a new stand a street over... I could use the walk"

"Suit yourself, I'm almost out of smokes anyway" Snipes stated in a lackluster tone. "Go buy me some, your shout"

---

The walk to and from the news stand was deceptively long, but it gave Jager more time to gather himself. The idea that Jester squad had now become a crime scene investigation unit sickened and confused him. Mainly because he was woefully unprepared for it as basic only taught him how to kill not to determine how someone was killed. The idea that he had split his nose open twice on a mission that was supposed to involve little or no violence also annoyed him, but then again it gave him an excuse to not do his job.

The street was still dead quite, as bad a pun as it was. Taking a few slow drags of his cigarette, Jager took a seat on a concrete porch two doors down from the apartment.  He needed something to do... anything, preferable involving weapons fire. Outside of an actual squad mission Jager was more or less a waste of space, the thought of which drove him to drink... thus making him a self destructive waste of space. The very idea that he was caught in such a vicious cycle only helped push his little habit along.

It was while he was mulling things over when he saw her, just out of the corner of his eye. At first he took no real notice. A civilian off base was nothing to get excited about, but there was something about her movements that screamed "suspicious" and prompted Jager to further investigate.

The suspicious women stood just inside an alley between two houses, making it almost to easy to double back and appear at the opposite end of the alley. A task that was made even easier by her attention being fully locked on the apartment Aeos and the others were occupying. Taking an unlit cigarette out of his jacket he approached her,

"Got a light" he queried no more then two steps away from her. Jager had never seen someone so on edge before, the women practically jumping a few feet in the air as she spun to meet the corporal standing behind her, an unlit cigarette wedged between his index and middle finger. He had pegged this going on of two ways, she would either pepper spray him and call for help or she would light his cigarette. Which only added to his surprise when a swift right hook caught him across the face, opening the nose wound that had only just been resealed.

The women then took off, shouting into what Jager guessed was a communicator that she had been discovered. Shaking off the blow the trooper gave chase. This was a chance to finally get some action, yet assist the squad in playing detective. She was fast, much faster then Jager but she continually stopped at each street corner to check where she was. If her shouting was any indication, she was trying to make it to a pick-up point, Jager was going to have to act fast if he was going to catch her.

He pulled out all the stops but it still wasn't enough to make up the lost ground. He was going to need help. Fumbling with his pad he managed to get a connection to Jori,

"What?" the newly promoted sergeant asked with limited enthusiasm.

"Kid, shut up. Get Snipes, Get Ae, fucking get anyone" Jager demanded

"I outrank you now, Corporal. So show som.."

"I don't give a shit!, heading north off of 120th and 90. Pull your finger out!" Jager finished, mashing his hand against the pad in a haphazard attempt to cut the connection. She was slowly pulling away from Jager who was starting to feel the effects of the little outing he had with Snipes. If someone didnt show up soon, he was going to lose her.

Two streets later she broke from the street and began moving down an alley. It was almost over, Jager could feel it, she was going to get away and there wasn't a damn thing he could do. A fence that had been erected a few feet down the alley obstructed her and Jager's path, a fence which the women gracefully cleared in a few quick movements. Jager on the other hand struggled, throwing himself over the top to make up for lost time.

He hit the ground with a thud and hastily picked himself up. His options were limited which called for something drastic. Drawing his revolver the corporal readied it to fire. His aim was shocking at best, the barrel of the weapon drifting from one extreme to the other, but this was his only chance. The first two shots missed their mark, one bouncing off the pavement and another shattering a parked speeders window. The woman's pace quickened, she was almost clear of the alley and her purser. Jager cut his loses and squeezed of the remaining four rounds in the weapon. The hail of bullets cut through the alley and out onto the busy street. The first, second and third missed by a steady margin but just as she had made it to the end of the alley the forth round found its mark.

A shoulder wound, nothing serious, but still enough to stop someone of her stature. She stumbled at first, her momentum not dissipating which made it a challenge to keep her balance. A satisfied smile covered across Jager's face, now it was only a matter of walking up and and more or less sitting on her until a fellow Jester or security force officer picked the two up. It was all coming up roses, he lowered his revolver and slowly made his way towards the women. He had to hand it to her, she was determined. Even with a wound as painful as that she still didn't want to go down.

It was then she made a mistake. She could have gotten up and made it at least four doors down the street before collapsing, but instead she decided that crossing the street was her only chance. The sound of a body slamming into the front of a speeder was disturbing, the dull metallic thud echoed down the alley like thunder.

A wave of disbelief hit him, this was the second time that such an incident had happened... he must have been cursed. After a several moments of self-loathing he got back to his feet and went to examine the tragic event that had befallen the women.

Jager had thought the worst was over. She was dead, not much he could do about it... but he was wrong... a burning rage seemed to well up from the very pit of his stomach when he reached the street and saw the body, or more importantly, the man standing over her.

"I didn't see her, she just came out from behind that speeder." the Iridonian stammered in a panic as he quickly checked her pulse. A crowd had formed around the crash, but a crowd was not going to stop an obviously infuriated Corporal from eviscerating the driver of the familiar looking speeder.

"Lekrif, you stupid son of a bitch. I'm going to fucking murder you!" Jager cried as he made his way through the crowd. Jori looked up from the body in surprise,

"Jager, wha... oh shit"

Jager shoved an onlooker out of the way, bringing him with a few meters of the Sergeant when the crowd quickly dissipated.

"Hold it right there, buddy. Drop the weapon and kiss the ground" A voice ordered from his six o'clock.

The weapons fire and subsequent vehicular homicide had gotten the attention of the local authorities who arrived to find Jager, gun in hand, threatening to kill someone. Dropping the weapon to the ground then dropping to his knee's Jager looked up at Jori, who was waving his Imperial ID around,  and sneered. Something told him that Jori wasn't going to tell the officer's that he was an Imperial as well,

OOC:

She has been recording everyone who has entered the apartment, but she failed to return the information to her superiors. I though it was a good idea,

Another fifteen minutes of Bright’s gentle and Jegora’s not-so-gentle questioning had produced nothing but more tears. Jegora, who by nature wasn’t a very patient person, was nearing the end of his rope. Even Bright started to show signs of strain, but she kept her frustration well under control. Jegora couldn’t say the same.

Jana was recounting some childhood tale. Jegora didn’t really care, but he knew that the secret to interrogation was getting the subject to start talking about anything. The particulars could come later. Unfortunately, nearly all of Jegora’s interrogation experience involved torture, and so this whole ‘coax the information willingly out of a subject’ procedure was a completely new situation. He simply didn’t know what to say.

Turning his attention back to Jana, Jegora tried a different tact. He leaned forward, and then in one smooth motion reached out and grasped the woman’s head by her jaw, forcing her to look him in the eyes. He continued to look Jana directly in the eyes as he spoke, his voice emanating menace. It was safe to say that the combination of his cold grey eyes, his strong grip on her jaw, and his terrifying voice grabbed the slicer’s attention.

“Listen to me,” Jegora said in that soft, terrible voice. Even Bright was silent as she watched events unfold. “You have one chance, and one chance only to tell me exactly what you know. If you lie, I’ll know. If you hold anything back, I’ll know. If you even think of giving me false information, I’ll know.” Pausing, Jegora took a deep breath and got hold of his anger. He didn’t want to scare the woman, not really, but he needed information. When he continued, Jegora’s voice was slightly less menacing. “We need your help, Jana. If you know anything, anything at all, you have to tell us.”

He released the slicer’s chin and sat back. For her part Jana remained seated as she was, her eyes still locked with Jegora’s. Finally she took a deep breath. Jegora was hopeful that maybe he had finally gotten through to her, that they were finally going to get some answers. He leaned forward slightly, anticipating a full confession…

And the girl started crying again.

Instantly full of rage, Jegora stood quickly, nearly flipping over the coffee table that rested between the two couches. Jana flinched, but continued her crying, and Bright eyed him coolly, as if to say, Well done, asshole. Jegora was too mad to do anything but leave the room.

Even after he had left the room Jegora could hear the woman crying. Attempting to ignore the insistent sobbing he focused instead on getting a hold of his emotions. Outside he was visibly calm; inside he was a seething cauldron of repressed rage. Jegora had never been very good at controlling his emotions, but he was excellent at controlling his facial expression and body language. The only thing he couldn’t control were his eyes, which had the bad habit of changing from a cold, light blue to a grey color as he became angry, or so he had been told. If it were true, then Jegora figured his eyes had to be nearly black. He was that angry.

He was angry at the woman, of course, but he was also angry at himself. Jegora wasn’t use to failing, and his inability to get any useful information out of the women infuriated him.

Finally, after a few minutes of pacing, he began to calm down. He took a seat on a bench in the entrance, staring into to the room where Jana and Bright were still sitting. He could even hear Jana’s muffled crying. As he sat there, waiting, Jegora debated going back into the room. After another few minutes of hushed crying and some whispering that was unintelligible Jegora had finally had enough. He stood, intent on entering the room and, if need be, beating the information out of the foolish slicer. He had even taken a step forward before Bright rounded the corner.

“She’s talking,” she said quickly, her voice a low whisper. Immediately Jegora halted his advance.

“I’d ask how you did it, but it really doesn’t matter. Does she know anything yet?” he asked impatiently.

Bright just shook her head. “I’m not sure. She’s mumbling about spice and Frozt.”

Jegora just nodded absently, trying to figure out what he should do. She was beginning to open up, and they needed her to do just that. His presence might jeopardize her continuing cooperation. On the other hand, he wanted and needed to hear the confession for himself. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Bright to get the full story, but Jegora would feel better if he was present.

Silently mulling the options over in his head, Jegora was forced to make a decision. “Alright, here’s the deal: I’d rather not go back in there. She’d probably freak out and go comatose,” he said, admitting his own failure. “Hell, she’d probably go comatose on us.”

Bright snorted, and Jegora gave a rare smile. Things were looking up, after all; there was no reason not to loosen up a bit. He continued on. “Yeah, well, I am what I am. At the same time, I really need to hear her confession, if that’s what this is going to be, for myself.”

At that Bright opened her mouth to protest, but Jegora raised a hand to cut her off. “I know you could do it, but it’s for my own peace of mind more than anything. I’ll feel better if I’m present.”

“Fine,” Bright acknowledged grudgingly. She saw Jegora’s need to be present as an insult to her professionalism, but she would get over it. “Shall we go in? If I go in first and distract her, you can slip into a corner somewhere. I think I can keep her talking.”

Jegora nodded, shifting his weight. He was impatient to get to the bottom of this ever-thickening mystery. Bright sighed, exasperated by Jegora’s antics. “Just don’t say anything!” she warned, and Jegora nodded. He might have technically been the senior trooper, but he and Bright both knew they were really equals. He didn’t order her around anymore than she ordered him around. It was more of a cooperative effort, and since Bright was a woman she got her way about 99% of the time.

There was nothing left to say after that. Bright turned and walked back to the couch, taking a seat next to Jana. She asked the young woman a question, and while the slicer was engaged in conversation Jegora slipped into the room, using all his training to remain as quiet as possible. Even in the dim room and shadowy corners it was hard to hide the presence of a 6’4” individual, but somehow Jegora managed to avoid detection. From his new vantage point he could hear and see everything. The only downside was that he would have to remain absolutely still and silent unless Jana spot him and become hysterical again. Jegora thought he could handle it. He had definitely been through worse.

Bright talked softly to Jana, trying to coax the story out of her. “Can you start over for me, Jana?” she asked, her voice soft and comforting. Jana just nodded slightly, more of a jerk than any real indication of assent. None the less, the slicer started to speak, hesitant at first but slowly gaining strength as she told her story.

“There’s not much to tell, really,” Jana began, trying to stifle her sobs. “My parents were religious nuts, more or less, and they were convinced that they could find the truth on Ylesia. They found truth alright.”

At the mention of Ylesia Bright’s eyes flicked to where Jegora was standing stock still. Giving a small nod Jegora acknowledged the information, and then turned his attention back to Jana.

“When we arrived we were taken as slaves and sent to work in the spice factories. I can still remember the smell of the raw spice and the processing chemicals we used. At first it made me sick. Now it just makes me numb.”

Bright took Jana’s hand sympathetically, and it seemed to encourage the young woman to continue. “Frozt was like me, a victim of the Ylesian’s deception. I can’t believe he’s dead…” Jana trailed off, her thoughts obviously going to some far away place.

Suddenly Jana’s head snapped up, her eyes refocused, and with a squeeze from Bright’s hand the young slicer continued her tale. “Frozt and I…we were friends. More than that, really,” she said shakily, “we were—”

Jana cut off, unable to continue. “You were lovers,” Bright prompted, urging the slicer to move past the painful parts and get on with her story. It seemed to work.

“Yes, we were lovers. But mostly just friends. I suppose we loved each other, but nothing ever really came of it.” She paused, thinking. “Now that I go back and think about it, I really did love him, once. I would have married him, had he asked. But instead he convinced me to join the Resistance.”

“The resistance?” Bright asked, honestly confused. Jana, who had been staring at the floor, lost in her own thoughts, glanced up before continuing.

“Yes, the Resistance,” she said. The difference in the way Jana said the word was obvious. “Don’t ask what we resisted. I still don’t know. It started locally on Ylesia, I think, an effort to free the factory slaves, but in reality it was just a criminal syndicate.”

Bright nodded, both to Jegora and Jana. Jegora gave another subtle nod, once again acknowledging the information. He idly wondered if this ‘Resistance’ was the same organization that had been behind the attacks on the Corps. It was certainly a possibility.

Jana was continuing with her story. “The Resistance rescued us, and took us in. In return we worked for them, learning the slicer’s trade. I became good. Frozt became better. He was amazing. He could hack anything, he was always cool headed…he was the best of us. I guess that’s why he got this assignment.” Tears welled up in here eyes again, and Jegora prepared for the worse, but Jana carried on, her voice strong.

“What I can’t figure out is how we got the resources to pull off the attack on your government. We were skilled, maybe, but we were poor. Then all of a sudden we moved to Anteevy and were told that we had a new objective,” Jana said, her voice slightly apologetic.

Bright smiled reassuringly, but when she spoke her voice was anxious. The objective of this little interview was to find something on Frozt, and so far they had nothing but useless personal information. “What about Frozt?” Bright asked as patiently as she could. “Did he stay on with the resistance?”

Jana nodded. “Frozt was assigned somewhere other than Anteevy,” she said.  “I think he stayed behind on Ylesia. At the very least I know he made trips there every now and then, because I would get messages over the holonet from Ylesia. They were his, of course. No one else would ever try and contact me.”

Bright laid a comforting hand on Jana’s shoulder. “Where in Ylesia could he have stayed?” she asked. Jana thought for a moment, and even then her reply was hesitant.

“We had a house,” the slicer said, “before a bunch of us moved to Anteevy. He might have used that. Otherwise, I have no idea.”

Bright looked up to Jegora, making no effort to hide the movement this time. Jana followed her gaze and saw Jegora’s faint outline standing in the shadows. She started and gulped, but otherwise remained calm. Jegora stepped out of the shadows. They had what they needed now.

“Thank you, Jana,” Jegora said as kindly as he could. “Would you mind coming with me?” he asked.

Jana just stared at Jeg, then at Bright, and then her gaze moved back to Jegora. “Why?” she asked.

Jegora just gave a smile, which didn’t appear to comfort the young woman any. “My boss would like to speak to you. Be careful, or he might light you on fire,” Jegora said jokingly. Apparently Jana didn’t think it was very funny. Her face went pale, and she started to shake slightly. Bright gripped the woman’s arm and shot a venomous glare in Jegora’s direction.

Apparently Bright didn’t think it was very funny either. Without another word he followed the two ladies out into the afternoon sun.

Well this has been one hell of a night

Angel crouched over the body of the dead woman, having died a particularly gruesome death. There were many ways he could see himself taking a dirt nap, but to drown as your lungs filled with your own blood and bile...just sent shivers down Angel's spine. It was a horrible way to go, and Angel could only hope that if this was his fate, he would be armed and able to end it quickly.

From the witnesses he had gotten several conclusive descriptions of what had transpired: A woman ran into the street, was hit at high speed by a transport, then was subsequently stomped on by a raving lunatic claiming to be an Army Commander. His shock at the events had been quickly erased by pure anger, however. Krilling Snipes should know better... He ranted to himself. The damn High Council sends him down here to be their eyes and ears, and all he's done is fuck up the investigation left and right.

Sighing, Angel shook his head slowly and began searching the body. These things couldn't be helped now, and all he could do was work with the evidence at hand. Brushing the woman's blood drenched hair from her shoulder, he found where Jager had shot the fleeing suspect. Gently tugging on the woman's arm, he rolled her onto her back, and fought back a gag at the sight of her face. After the collision she had slid almost 20 meters on the duracrete street...mostly on her head. Pulling a bit harder, he forced the body on it's other side. The head lolled lifelessly to rest on the street once again, shifting her hair ever so slightly.

A single eyebrow on Angel's forehead raised at a marking which caught his attention. A red tattoo of the Huttese letter "T"  identical to the one on woman's body he had just seen in the morgue, was just under her ear. "Well, one more of these dead bodies and we have ourselves a genuine conspiracy." He said to no one in particular.

Brushing the street grime from his palms, Angel rose from his crouch just as the ME was arriving to collect the body. A bright eyed young man hopped out of the transport and and scanned the crowd, searching for his target. The brown-haired kid spotted Angel walking directly toward him, and scampered towards the Jester squad leader.

"Sir." The kid said, snapping a salute, "I was told to bring you the final results on the last body we collected."

Angel couldn't help but smile. The kid's exuberance for his job was surpassed only by the amount of sweat pouring from his forehead. Snatching the file from the kid's hand, Angel let his smile turn into a scowl, and the pipsqueak took it as his cue to leave.

Opening the cover of the file, Angel leafed through the first few pages. Most of it was boring and routine medical jargon: Body temperature, hair color, skin color, brain weight, organ status. The flashing lights of the military police vehicles made reading difficult, constantly illuminating and darkening the pages, but one section caught his eye....Stomach Contents.

"Stomach contained partially digested food normally found in...Imperial ration packs..."Angel read aloud from the report. He cocked his eyebrow at the next line and continued reading: "Blood analysis revealed presence of glitterstim and Varl virus, commonly known as 'Tempest Spice' produced mainly by the Hutts on Ylesia."

A slow grin had started to creep over Angel's face, when his comlink beeped. Unclipping it from his belt, the squad leader was greeted by Sala's voice. "Angel, I got something on your bug." She said smugly. He could just picture her, standing on the bridge of the Divinity with a proud and cocky look on her face, and rolled his eyes.

"Ok Ms. Smarty-Pants, what do you have for me?" He replied, letting sarcasm drip into his voice.

"The bug is native only to one planet in the galaxy." She continued, ignoring Angel's tone. "It's in Hutt space and is called..."

"Ylesia." Angel interrupted. He had obviously shocked the information broker by knowing the planet's name, evidenced by the pause over the comlink. "How did you..." Sala stammered, obviously frustrated by not being able to rub something in Angel's face, a practice she had grown very used to recently.

"Lucky guess." Angel quipped back. He knew not telling her would enrage her even more.

"Well let me tell you something about the tattoo then..."

**                    **                      **                        **

"So the mystery is beginning to unravel." Angel mused, having just listened to the entirety of of Jaina's story. It was a sob story indeed. Raised by idiots, enslaved by fanatics run by Hutts, forced to mine spice...finding 'love' and a cause... The entire story made Angel want to vomit with its sugar coating, but he fought through it, as well as Jaina's repeated sobbing breakdowns, to glean the information he needed.

Jegora had tracked Angel down back at the morgue, where he was examining the frozen body of Ja'k Frozt. Aeos' pistol had indeed done a number on the man's head, leaving a crater where the back of his skull used to be. Being an enemy of the state, Frozt's body was not buried or burned, but kept as evidence, a fortunate thing for Angel, as he sought to complete his conspiracy theory. In the end he had quickly found what he needed, just before Jegora tracked him down.

Returning his thoughts to the present, he found Brightstar was trying to console the once again sobbing Jaina. "Bright, get her out of here," he sighed, rubbing his temples to rid the mounting headache her constant crying was causing him. She had been frozen stiff when Angel first came into his office, the memories of his actions on Anteevy never far from her thoughts. It had take a lot of prompting from Brightstar to finally get her to talk, and even a few threats from Jegora to leave her alone with Angel, a lighter, and a flask.

As Brightstar ushered out the sobbing woman, Angel turned back from where he was staring out the window to his ASL. "I got a hit back on the tattoos." He said with an air of smugness.

"Oh really?" Jegora answered, "And what would that be?"

"The 'T' in Hutteese was tattooed on the necks of slaves on Ylesia, homage to the name of the Hutt who owned the spice mine they worked in. Both dead women had them, as did Frozt." Angel continued, plopping down the file he was holding onto his desk.

"...Now that you mention it, Jaina had a similar mark, only hers was a H" Jegora suddenly realized. "Different owners?"

"You bet'cha." Angel quipped. "And I bet you know what I'm going to say next right?"

Rolling his eyes, Jegora replied with his usual impassiveness. "Pack your shit, we're headed to Ylesia?"

"Well, after gathering the squad of course." Angel said. "I'll take care of our armaments and transport."