Coruscant...



Adrian had attended the event thrown by PR people from Arliss Industries. He was amazed at the level of organization employed to create an atmosphere despite the conditions on world.


A signal came in informing all that the Governor Elect had entered the system.

"I am sorry Sir. But your credit account has been closed."

Adrian looked at the woman, irritation beginning to brew inside. "Why don't you enter the numbers again." he said sweetly, a hand patting her consol.

"The numbers are correct, Mr. Atriedes. The account is there.. There just is no money in it."


"That's impossible!" Adrian nearly shouted in exasperation. "I am missing valuable PR time with a mistake that your insitution obviously has made. Go gety your supervisor so we can straighten your incompetence!"


The woman merely smiled and said, "I am sorry sir. There are no funds available."


Adrian walked away in disgust as he went to an information terminal and began typing away to access the account balance.

Unfortunately the woman was correct.

What the?


He tried several credit accounts to withdraw funds, many of which had been mysteriously depleted.


What the hell is going on?


"Transmission.. Thyeferra - Signature, Dace Archon, connect.."



"I am sorry Sir, but there is no signature for Dace Archon on the planet."

What the hell, did he not arrive? Where did Dace go?



"Adrian!" came a shout from the foreman who stormed down the area in nearly a panic.

"What's wrong?" Adrian asked, a deep, dark pit beginning to form in his stomach.

The man's voice seemed to carry a spell of doom.


"Adrian.. Everything is wrong! We are in big trouble!"


Adrian's eyes widened as the foreman told his tale.


Emperor's Black Bones! We are in trouble!

Coruscant..



Adrian Atreides, formerly of Cryonics Industries, boarded a commercial shuttle bound for Thyffera. In the days that followed his startling discovery of Cryonics financial situation, it seemed as though he were kept purposefully out of the loop.


The Ops/RIC center comm system seemed to be deactivated and he could find no one he seemed to trust.


The Cryonics Employees were taken under the wing of Arliss Industrie's reclamation project, a move to keep them working though the factories would now be sold directly to Coruscant's Civil Government at a fraction of the cost.


The Embassy grounds still stood but nobody seemed to know who they took their orders from.


Adrian bit back frustration as he found all corporate accounts frozen. With the devaluation of the CSA credit, most (if not all) of Tenloss' investments went under.


There was no money.. and more importantly, there was no Tenloss.

He'd tried a hundred times to raise the leader of Cryonic's Industries but to no avail.

Even Dace Archon, on Thyferra, seemed to be missing.


What the frell happened?


He was still holding a termination notice from the office of Tenloss, wondering what nitwit was making the decisions for the Company.

Apparently Mechis III is offlimits, some sort of accident there involving a developing AI system.

But nothing made any sense.


There were massive amounts of security personnel wearing Cryonics uniforms but no one that Adrian seemed to know.


It was as if overnight, someone else replaced Tenloss as head and replaced all known officers and employees with fakes..


Cryonics operated in name only... but nowhere to be found were those that made up it's heart.


What the frell happened?


He needed answers and if the prices were any indication, he'd use all his emergency funds up before he found those answers.


The new Governor released the hold on exiting ships, content that the terrorist attack threat had diminished with the influx of increased planetary security personnel.


A large influx it seemed for Planetary Security was everywhere.


Some under the new Coruscant colors, some still sporting Arliss and Cryonics colors.

All deputized by the Senator and reconfirmed by the Governor which seemed to mean, another paycheck for the personnel in question.

What a deal!


The transport began to lift...


Dace, where are you?

Thyferra



The once mighty berths of Cryonics Industries stood devoid of any life. Resting in the holds were once capital ships used by Tenloss to maintian order among his corporate worlds.


And now here they rot...


Apparently, with crumbling of Cryonic's financial structure, the former CFO attempted to stave off desperation by having the banks forclose on the ships.

They must have really been desperate for money.., he looked sadly at the scores of ships that had, only a month ago been in the service. now, they are just rotting..


There was no money to keep maintenance crews operating, no money to keep power to the yards...
no money to refit or refinance...

Truth be told, there were some people working in the industrial plants to keep up Bacta production and shipping.. Courtesy of Arliss.., Atreides thought bitterly.

Adrian did not trust appearances. The fall of Cryonics and the assumption of control was handled too quickly.. too smoothly for this to simply be.. bad luck... bad joss..

It just didn't add up...


Well, no. That wasn't true. It did add up but not to any solution he cared to look at.


There had to be someone on the inside...


He had tracked Dace's transport into Thyferra and even found the people he was to meet regarding emancipation rights for droids. He met with them one day and then disappeared.

No word, no nothing.


Even his hotel room seemed to be cleared.


He decided he'd better cash in what stock he owned in the Galactic Stock Exchange. A holdover subsidiary of the old Galactic Bank [in whose notes the stock was originally purchased]. Adrian wondered briefly whatever happened to Dogg the Hutt.


Creating credit value from a dissolving stock value was next to impossible but Atreides managed to do it.


First things first. Survive!


Answers would have to wait.

Thyferra


Hungry, penniless and out of ideas, Adrian Atreides walked through a dark alley in hopes of catching the latest indigent transport bound for somewhere closer to Onderon, the place where it all seemed to start for him.

His clothes were becoming tattered and he’d no more money to even rent a room aboard. He’d have to travel in the decks reserved for the poorest of poor.. amid aliens, scum and stink.

Not having shaved in days, his beard was starting to show some gray.

Oman used to make fun of my gray..

His thoughts drifted at the former RIC (Regional Intelligence Committee) agent…a scoundrel and smuggler at heart. He had quit when Tenloss had started to actually demand work out of him.

If Oman was to work, it would be for his benefit and not Tenloss’


He thought back to that bar on space station Tenloss kept in orbit over Onderon wondering if ol’ Gort was still there or if the rather fat alien had taken off with Oman in search of the treasure he seemed hold for his already dead people.

The alien could really drink…





The transport was very large and very old, having seen better days probably before the formation of the Old Republic. The air was putrid and condensation was everywhere as were beings.

Beings in their own filth and stink, prostitutes and criminals all looking for that greener grass across the spatial plane.


Where did it all go? And Why?


Adrian could find no leads as to Dace Archon’s whereabouts. The man had departed his transport to hold a meeting with several Bacta Manufacturing Plants with regards to their droid workers and he HAD held some meetings..

..but then Dace seemed to simply, disappear.


Arliss Industries had taken control of Cryonics Industries after the devaluation of the CSA credit. The denomination Tenloss used in abundance to finance his company.

The same CSA that Ms. Arliss funneled money into…

If he wasn’t so hungry, he’d find the connection whose existence his mind demanded was there.



He slipped in a hall, the passageway lighting being very dim, flashing every once in a while as the vessel made course corrections or whatnot.

“Pudu human!” a gruffy, alien voice whispered harshly behind him as he picked himself up.


Adrian mentally chided himself for not picking up the tail but he was so..hungry..

Before Adrian could fully stand though, he felt something hard and something sharp thrust against his ribcage and he suddenly lost his grip, falling to the floor.

He dimly was aware of hands running through his clothes in search of some items of value the pain in his side excruciatingly painful.

As the alien left, the former Cryonics man looked at the passageway floor and in the dim light found the expanding pool of blood dripping from the stab wound.

As he tasted salt in his mouth, he felt a strange sort of fatigue set in..

Before he closed his eyes, the only thought running through his mind…why?

And he thought no more…