All heroes seek above all else, truth.

It is strange, how one intent, one single mission, can bring together so many, and yet never show its true face. Lies, it would seem, do not simply exist isolated from the universe; they exist to be unveiled, to be crushed beneath the foot of those who will always seek the truth.

And it is in the unwraveling that those people will always find their common ground. Those of great consequence, for good and ill, for their own benefit and for others', will always find thesmelves drawn together to find that truth, even when it is the lie which drives them.

Perhaps this all makes little sense; perhaps a thousand aeons from now when this is next read it will be laughed at, the endlessly muttering voice of a living galaxy too old and addled to be taken seriously.

But, perhaps, in the telling of this tale, these things will become more evident. It was on Bonadan...


Bonadan System
Sapphire Hotel and Casino

"A business, my friends," the man said, "where the customer hands you the money with which to fund his demise is the true essence of capitalism." The clink of glasses; the low chatter of congratulations. "Welcome, to the Sapphire Hotel and Casino."

One of the investors spoke up, his face obscured in the core of a sillouhette cast about him by the room's (perhaps intentional) backlighting. That light was cast by the star of the Bonadan system, hovering distantly. "Does Vinda know where his money is going?"

The man only laughed, a lighthearted and carefree sound belying it's true origins. "Does it matter? He will believe what we tell him to believe, nothing more, nothing less. We are a respectable casino, not a weapons manufacturer."

"The Yaga Minor incident is not easily forgotten," he replied. "Who is to say Jiren will not find this project and stop it again, this time with Vinda's assistance? The stockholders must be reassured."

Another laugh, this time, far more cold and calculated. "The Yaga Minor incident was a rogue agent with no ties to our casino. No traceable ties, anyway, and that is all that matters. We adopted this project after its failure, and we will see it to completion."

"To Covert Nemesis."


Bonadan System
Two Months Later

The man sat in the cool, crisp darkness, not saying a word, despite the prodding eyes of his counterpart.

"I knew it would come to this," his counterpart said, bitterly spitting the words. "We could not receive upkeep and repairs from the Bonadanian government, because of the Project. And now, we are going to lose that project."

"We are not going to lose it. I refuse to lose it, not after all we have placed into it. Our customers eagerly await this; a fortune will be ours."

"Our customers are going to see their shipment working its wonders in ways it was never supposed to," his counterpart replied. "We have to cut our losses, turn ourselves in if we have to."

Only his eyes visible in the half-lighting, the man looked up slowly. "No. We will never do that." He stood up, heading for the door.

"What are you going to do?"

"It's already done. We're contacting other sources for help."

It could not be saved with tractor beams; it could not be saved with destruction, for both would loose the devious cargo contained within the delicate station onto the planet below. It was a delicate job, and only the best would be offered it -- for even their employers did not know how to complete it.

Sapphire was falling.

Eirtae Relena had been contacted two weeks prior to the re-opening of the Sapphire by a mysterious message droid while she was swimming laps in a small lake on Naboo. She raised an eyebrow suspciously. No one was supposed to know she was here. She took the disk from the droid and it followed her, probably to make sure she read it. She went to her datapad and plugged it in. Block letters appeared: SAPPHIRE IS FALLING. Eirtae tried to access the other file. It was a star map and letters spelling out YOU ARE NEEDED AT SAPPHIRE. "Great," she said sarcastically to herself. "An adventure."

For the week and a half long trip, she studied everything she could of the Sapphire. She found floor maps, technical data, and history. When she arrived at Bonadan, she had to go down to the planet to stock up. She bought a blue dress that allowed her freedom of movement, battery cells for her blaster, and a lockpick kit, just in case.

She waited in her hotel, going over the information again, waiting for the day of the re-opening.

Orbiting Bonadan

"Hold on there, Spartan, we're detecting some heavy weaponry on board your ship. Requesting that you put down in the military section of the spaceport." came the crackling reply over the comm link.

Kaniss sighed. He was fearing that response would come. He hadn't been given much time to prepare for an ambush or something along those lines, what with the bounty deadline. He had been forced to actually come to the target's homeworld of Bonadan and seek him out. Getting in was the main problem, as it was a strictly dead bounty. They would scan his ship a dozen times, and would certainly pick up his armor and guns.

"You don't need to search my ship." Kaniss spoke through the comm, using his limited force powers, "I should put down in the tourist area."

"We don't need to search your ship," Came the echo after a few short seconds of pause, "Put down in the tourist area. Pad 2367."

"Acknowledged." Kaniss replied, grinning inside his suit.

*******

Surface of Bonadan

An hour later Kaniss was in persuit of the target, hoping to get a jump on him before any word of the assassin's arrival reached the man's ears. He had found his adress and phone number easily through his sources, and now he just had to find and kill the target. Reaching his house through a cab, he knocked on the door.

It was only his wits and force sensitivity that saved him, he dove out of the doorway as an Imperial repeater tore the door to shreds right where Kaniss had been standing seconds earlier. The assassin cursed. The target had known he would be there.

Damn those deadline-setting @#%$! he thought to himself.

With a couple of quick shots from his pistol, the door hinges were taken off, and he kicked the hanging door out of the way. Cursing again, he searched the house to find the back door open, and a small outline of a figure retreating. Bolting out the door, Kaniss hurried to catch up to the victim, afraid he might loose him in the crowd. He used his force powers, but that only gave him a faint signal. It was enough for him to follow however, and the trail led him through a series of alleyways.

Checking up on again on the location, he found that the target had appeared to have stopped, either to catch his breath, or out of plain cockiness. As he caught up, he found the man standing there, breathing softly.

Stupid, cocky fool. Kaniss thought, smirking to himself.

He took aim with his pistol and fired, catching the man in the shoulder before he could cry out. He fell to the ground, crawling backwards and clutching his shoulder in agony. He put his hands up in meager defense as Kaniss raised his pistol, taking careful aim at his head.

"No...plea-"

*BLAM* *BLAM*

Lying in a pool of his own blood, the target's eyes slowly glazed over as he relaxed, and embraced the cold arms of death. Kaniss smirked and holstered his pistol, making sure the man wasn't faking it. The signs that he weren't were obvious. There was a sudden crumple of debris under boot, and in a flash the assassin's Assault Rifle was in his hands and aiming at the faint outline of what seemed to be a humanoid.

"Come out slowly. Hands up." Kaniss hissed out loud enough for the man to hear him.

The humanoid complied, revealing himself to be a human, and a skinny, pale one at that. He grinned at the puny blaster holstered at the human's hip, and grinned wider as he viewed the man's haircut. Nonetheless, Kaniss was ever alert, his rifle still trained on his heart.

"Peace, friend. Peace." The man announcing, smiling, and holding his hands up, "I've come to you with a proposition."

"Really? What about?" Kaniss replied, barely attentive at what the man was saying.

"I work for some people who own a casino called Sapphire. Something has gone wrong and we need a team of people to go in and fix the problem, because the cargo is delicate, and a tractor beam would destroy it." He proclaimed, still smiling.

"What would this "delicate" cargo be, if I may ask?" The hunter asked, grinning.

"No, you may not. That, I'm afraid, is a secret." The smile turned into a grin, "All we need you, and others of course, to do is fix the problem with the generator, and then leave. I came to you because many say your the best of the best in weaponry."

"They say that, huh?" Kaniss asked in a seemingly interested tone, but that quickly changed, "I'm amost flattered. I'm no crusader, and I don't work for free."

"Of course not. We never expected you to," the man replied, his grin never fading, "You will be rewarded most handsomely for your deeds, if you suceed. And if something goes wrong and you make it out alive, we will pay you, less handsomely, of course, as danger fees."

Kaniss looked from the corpse laying behind him, back to the man, then to the corpse, and then back to the man again. The man's brow furrowed for a couple of seconds, but he finally caught on to what the hunter was thinking, and smiled again.

"Of course, we shall give you time to collect your bounty. We will send our best men for it ourselves so you won't have the hassle of going back and forth between planets." he proclaimed.

"Alright...I'll do it..." Kaniss said somewhat reluctantly, "I better be rewarded most handsomely for this."

"Oh you will, sir. You will."

In a spacious office on the planet of Bonadan a 501-Z law class droid, also known as Zed units, works tirelessly at his desk. Zed 9, an oddity amoung zed units, was a heavely modified droid. He was created to be a Civilian law commander for The New Alliance when it was at it's hieght of power.

Zeds are programed to be self sufficient enough to solve crimes and seek out the criminals independently. But the droids were still subserviant to humans. Most Zeds are programed to never be able to purposfully kill any organic sentients, under any circumstances. Even in the cases where deadly force is normally allowed when civilian lives are in danger.

Zednine is modified so that his programing only allows him to use deadly force under specific circumstances. The main objective is the preservation of life. That included his own.

The counsil scrolled through a mailstrom of paper work. Once the droid left the TNA he sought out a new place to work. The Vinda Corp. heard of his successful methods and hired him as the civilian affairs administrater. That left him in charge of civilian defense and crime investigation. There were hundereds of cases to oversee daily.

A Company like VC is not an easy thing to patrol. In the last month along he had investigations and arrests in the realms of Identity fraud, illegal arms smuggling, coorperate espionage, multiple assasination attempts and then there was the casinos. Ever lasting sources of cases, trying to keep them running crime free is a full time job for half of the droids staff.

In his normall corner, laid out on the ground metal paws first, was Zednine's canine like count-part K7-9. The droid dog was the size of a small horse, about the right size that a small human could right him, a small metel horse. The droid was programed with some higher funtioning capabilities but for the most part it acted like a dog. Barking rather then speaking or beeping like an Astro-droid unit. Kseven was a constant companion to the droid.

Coming to the new casinos the droid kept on running through the list. There were three new casinos opening soon. The Bantha's Luck, The Correlian Stripe, and the Sapphire. This was routine for the droid he did a back round check on all the owners and the building's themselves. With the kind of people that VC deals with the droid can never be sure that any thing is what it seems to be. Or at least that it is not something that is not sponsored in part by the VC.

The droid also had info on VC's more 'colorful' practices. Normally the droid would be at odds with his programing. But again Zednine shows his capacity for free will and works with it.

He stoped at the Sapphire. The droid had made his rounds to the other two casinos. The Sapphire was the last on his list to do a surprise inspection on.

Information on the owners of this new endouver were sketchy, but it all checked out as legit.

-And yet...- the droid thought as he sank back into his seat.

Something did not 'feel right' in his gut. Part of his programing let him put together vague feelings on cases that allowed intuition to enter into the equation. That applied to this place but he did not know what.

At least not yet.

Bonadan System

"Tell them we're here for the job issued to the Rogue Jedi Order." Gash said, reclining slightly in his command chair. "By the Sapphire Corporation."

The droid nodded its metallic head, and spoke as such into the commlink in front of it. It was a Cobra-Omega Battledroid, a model which was originally a takeoff on the Trade Federation Battledroids, but which had evolved into a semi-sentient, self-replicating force serving as everything from police to soliders to pilots in the Ossan Armed Forces.

Yet despite the directive from Gash Jiren, the Hermes -- a Marauder Corvette -- moved what seemed to the Jedi Master barely an inch forward in space. The spacelane before it was clogged with traffic, men and women flooding in and out of Bonadan at a pace Gash had seldom seen, but for his time governing the Republic on Coruscant and on the busiest days on Ossus.

"They say, sir," the droid finally replied, "That there are multiple beings who have accepted this assignment, and despite the Sapphire Corporation's rather generous... donations, to the Vinda Corporation and the Bonadanian government, we will not be allowed to violate Bonadan traffic laws."

Gash rolled his eyes. "Do they realize I once ruled most of the space in this sector?"

"They do not seem to care, sir."

Gash nodded. "Set us a course at 36-95-39-30, top speed. Get us out of this line." The Rogue Jedi glanced at Kasien, showing what might've been the slightest hint of a proud smirk. "I doubt we'd have made it past inspection, anyway. The Hermes isn't exactly civilian-issue."

"Uh, yeah." Kasien replied, staring down at his datapad. He scarcely acknowledged that Gash had spoken, which was odd, given that the two had been friends for nearly two years -- since before the war against a revived Thrawn.

"Something wrong?"

"Something, yeah." Kasien looked up. "Aren't we a little past taking jobs like this? We don't need the money, unless the Sovereign-Elect's salary is getting a little low for you. And you sure as hell don't need the prestige, least of all here, oh supreme ruler of the Corporate Sector and slayer of the CSA."

Gash eyed him ponderously. "Should I give you the real reason we're here, or would you like to guess?" He seemed half-bemused, half-serious.

"Wait, don't say it," Kasien remarked sarcastically, "Your Jedi instincts."

"Pretty much."

Kasien sighed.

They'd passed another of the Bonadan system's worlds, finally coming up on the majestic city planet itself. Gash's earlier mental comparisons to Coruscant were not folly at all; it resembled Imperial Centre in a variety of ways, including the almost-fearsome network of lights that criss-crossed its surface.

And looming in front of it, finally becoming apparent as Bonadan swelled to encompass all of the Hermes' viewport, was the Sapphire Orbital Hotel and Casino. "Inform them why we are here." Gash chuckled slightly. "And drop my name, this time."

"Yes, sir." A moment of silence, as the station grew larger and larger in the distance. "They're hailing all inbound vessels, sir. It seems we are not the only ones."

"Put them through."

Appearing in front of Gash was the profile of a clean-cut, well-dressed businessman, the true image of an upstanding citizen of a Vinda Corp world. "Greetings, gentlebeings. The Sapphire Corporation is most pleased to see that so many have rushed to aid in this... delicate corporation. Please wait for landing permission, and touch down in bay X21, where you will be greeted and briefed."

Kasien looked at Gash. "They seem rather calm, for a bunch of people on a crippled, falling space station."

"Yes, they do."

Present Day

A matte black YT-1300, heavily modified of course, decloaked along side the Hermes. The Justice was known to, though to few, to be the ship of one Ganner Rhysode. Often the Jedi Master Nathaniel Somir was also aboard, though.. today that was different. Even though the Justice had decloaked, it was still difficult to see with the naked eye against the blackness of space. Sensors, however, had little trouble picking it up. Though, in the confusion, they seemed to have been overlooked.

At least for the moment.

Ganner thought back to the events which had led to this course of action.



Two Weeks Prior

Ganner stood before the Sovereign Protector ready to duel to the death. Then, his mind erupted with his master's presence.

Ganner. I shall handle this as he will not soon be alone. Go now, flee, and to to Bonadan and the station in orbit there. There you will meet an old friend. I must handle this, though I may not return. If I do not.. do not come searching for me. This is my destiny. You have your own destiny to fulfill. Continue your training, serve the galaxy. Do what you must, not what you wish. That is the final lesson I teach you.

Ganner had not wished to obey, but the last two line had convinced him to do so. Do what you must, not what you wish. The words echoed in his mind as he departed the dark planet of Vjun. The echoed in his mind even still.

“Quite a haul there Mr. Katta; quite a haul indeed” the casino guard stated as the pair walked down a quiet, carpeted hallway.
“Yes, I do admit it was a lucky night” Kas replied with a slight smile.
“Luck? Yeah, right. I saw how you played those men. It was like you knew exactly what they were thinking. And that isn’t possible, with the security measures we have in place. Even if you were a Jedi those lizards the boss’ had installed would have kept you from reading minds. No-sir-ee, that was pure skill, and I’m glad to say I was there to see it.”
“Thank you for the kind compliments, but you are mistaken. I’ve never played this variation of sabbac in my life.”
“You’re kidding, you walked in with two hundred credits, and now you’re leaving with eight hundred thousand additional credits lining your expense account. I’m telling you, the manager was sure glad you left the money instead of withdrawing it all. Haw haw!” The slightly pudgy guard slapped his thigh and roared with laughter.

Kas looked sideways at him and allowed another smile. Well, perhaps it wasn’t entirely luck after all. It wasn’t hard to win at cards, even though some people were good at hiding their feelings, aka, cards behind a stone like expression.

“There you are Sir, fixed just the way you like it. If you need anything, just give a ring.”
“Thank you, I shall.”

Kas entered his private room, and took a quick look around. Clean, neat, and somewhat spartan, just what he had asked for. A quick once over the place to ensure no one was hiding, as well as a scan for bugs in the obvious places set his mind at ease. Sabbac was easy to play a single game at a time, but all day? A good sleep was what he needed. A good, restful sleep without dreams.

Eirtae arrived at the casino via a shuttle aboard a luxury shuttle from groundside. She had donned the dress that was just loose enough so that she could wear a pair of tight slacks underneath for freedom of movement. She had her blaster parts tucked into the platforms of her shoes, and her knife was stuck in her hair, which she had slung into a bun on the back of her head. Its handle looked like that of an ordinary hair device.

She looked around for something. She had a feeling she would know what to do and when, and her instincts told her to wait. She went to the bar, being interrupted once by an elderly woman who told her she looked like Lady Kensingfortham, and then the woman's husband apologizing because the lady refused to wear her glasses.

When she got a drink from the bar, an Eyeblaster, she went to lean against the pillar near the docking bay to watch people arrive, occasionally slipping a cred into the slot machines around her.

Bonadan System

With a few easy manuevers, Kaniss had quickly lost his escort, not being one to accept help from anyone willingly. His HLAF-500, the Spartan, shot towards the distant speck that was the casino. He smirked as he shut off the comm system to escape the banterings of the escort trying to find him again.

The casino was growing larger by the minute, and he was now in range for a scan. As he skimmed through the scannings, he was suprised to see that there were many lifeforms of different species, most likely civilians, on the Sapphire. He had thought the man who had made the deal with him said the casino was plummeting towards the atmosphere of Bonadan.

The assassin was now within clear visual range with the casino, and it was obvious that the structure indeed was falling. He had to keep focused on the controls just to stay with it. Turning back on the comms system, he was greeted by an immediate hail from the casino.

"Greetings, gentlebeings. The Sapphire Corporation is most pleased to see that so many have rushed to aid in this... delicate corporation. Please wait for landing permission, and touch down in bay X21, where you will be greeted and briefed."

Arching the Spartan towards the bay designated, Kaniss kept a steady course towards the Sapphire docking bay. As he entered the bay, the hassle of keeping up with the falling casino dissapeared, and he hovered well above pad, finally, he pulled his starfighter in a backflip, descending through the entire manuever, and settled down onto the durasteel floor.

Sapphire Orbital Hotel and Casino

The cockpit window slid backwards, and Kaniss leapt out, glad to be out of the stuffy compartment he had been trapped in for the journey to the casino. Jumping down to the floor after glancing quickly at the ladder the mechanics had set into place for him, he immediatly went into an equipment check. Rapidly testing all of the systems his suit had to offer, he replaced the magazines of his rifle and pistol.

Tossing the rifle into the air, he spun the pistol twice and holstered it, catching the rifle and holstering it as well. Scanning the docking bay, the hunter tried to decipher who he'd be working with from the civilians and casino employees. Sighing, he decided not to bother after a quick and futile search. He hated working with people he didn't trust, and that was almost the entire galaxy.

The man was thin, but not in a sickly fashion -- more thin in the way that a snake might be, thin but coiled and ready to strike. Though it was doubtful that this man's strikes would be physical, the comparison to a snake was likely not far off of his actual personality.

He stepped quietly through the hangar, avoiding the unloading privateers, pirates, mecenaries, and other assorted galactic scum who had assembled at his call. He walked with the purpose of a man who was used to being seen and heard; it was a demanding step, and he possessed a demanding presence.

Whether the irreverent crowd he'd assembled heeded the demand of that presence was another thing entirely. "Ahem," he cleared his throat, climbing atop what seemed to be a cargo canister. "If I could have your attention, for just one moment, gentlebeings, then you can get on your way to earning the credits you came here to earn."

At the mere mention of credits, the majority of the group silenced themselves almost immediately. "Much better," the man said, adjusting his expensive-looking suit. It disgusted him to work with such undignified... persons, as these, but the situation demanded it; he had to be sure that they would not discover the truth behind Sapphire, and only mercenaries looking to earn their keep would allow him to be sure of it. "As you know, you have been invited here to solve a... malfunction, we have been having with the Sapphire Hotel and Casino. Due to a lack of proper maintainence for which I must take responsibility, the reactor of this station has been slowly decaying. The gravitational force exerted by Bonadan was underestimed in the design of this station, and we are paying the price."

He cleared his throat again. "To fix the station will be a delicate operation. You will be working in the superstructure of the station, which was not exactly designed to be worked in. The reactor emits a large amount of radiation, and in places, you will be risking your own lives. One misstep, and you will likely find yourself to be... ah... one with the Force, shall we say.

"For obvious, primarily monetary, reasons, knowledge of this reactor decay has not been released to the public. So regardless of your methods, we ask that you not make a spectacular show of it for our guests. We will provide you with maps, and ask you to respect that some areas of this facility will be... off limits. Those breaching these areas will not be paid." A murmer rose up in response to that.

The man glanced over the gathered group one last time. Around thirty, having arrived on about as many ships. More than enough to do the job. "Now, I will leave you to your planning. My assistant here will provide the maps. I advise you all to co-operate with one another. Ensure your collective survival, eh?"