Rac had a pondering face and he nodded slightly.

"Very well then, I`ll have my men on the surface to deliver one artifact here for your examination and the rest you shall see trough a screen, the deal shall be made on the planet as the rest of the artifacts are secured from the temple and you shall have that one artifact in forehand."

Rac pushed buttons and opened a channel.

"hey there Nebael I need you to deliver one artifact here for an examination of a possible JEDI buyer..."

Nebael answered with a sort of metalic and cold voice, Nebael would return armed and ready with the artifact because Rac had told him that, if a jedi was to appear Nebael should be ready for a fight.

"Sure..."

Rac closed the connection and began floating activating his droids to follow.

"Oh don`t worry about these two fellows, they are just my personal security and now if you may please follow me to the hangar to have a look at the item..."

Rac floated to the door waiting for Silus to come and next they would enter the elevator, which would lead them to the hangar where Nebael would be soon waiting.

-----

Nebael guided his modified freighter to the hangar of the battlecruiser, he sighed and lifted a box up as the landing ramp opened. He came out laying the box on to the floor and opened it showing few holocrons well packed that they wouldn`t get broken. The carrier of the box wore an armour that covered his hands, shoulder and chest, but most of all his head. The hemet had 4 holes on for the mouth to speak and 2 for the eyes. He also had black long hair coming out of the back of the helmet, he was armed wiht a gaffi stick, many poison darts, few ropes and a heavy blaster with a tripod. For sure anyone could tell that he was not a complete human or a strange human at least.

"Very well then, I`ll have my men on the surface to deliver one artifact here for your examination and the rest you shall see trough a screen, the deal shall be made on the planet as the rest of the artifacts are secured from the temple and you shall have that one artifact in forehand."

What are you planning, Silus wondered. Businessmen were never this easy; not when there was a chance at more profits.

Silus didn't trust him. Of course, Silus hardly trusted anyone, but it was a trait that had helped him to survive for this long. Distrust was as much a part of him as the Force.

"Oh don`t worry about these two fellows, they are just my personal security and now if you may please follow me to the hangar to have a look at the item..."

Silus stood, taking a long pull from the drink before place the empty glass on the table.

"Everyone has their own defences," Silus said quietly, following the dug out the door.

The Dug, Jedi and 2 droids exited the room, Rac floated in his chair that was made for him and granted him to be on others level because he hated being smaller in a way. They entered an elevator that began going down and Rac followed as the floors changed, but suddenly opened his mouth.

"Tell me Silus... How was it that sent you to do the work for them? Perhaps the strange raced Vodo Baas?"

Rac smiled because he knew about the Jedi something and had heard of this Vodo from Tir Esias, but anyone could have known that by spying on the Jedi for a while or searching for them slightly. Rac left the elevator into the hangar where Nebael waited with the box on the floor, but then Nebael raised it on another box so that it would be on Silus stage. Rac floated next to the box waiting for the Jedi as Nebael put his arms on his chest and seemed to obviously show his interest of the Jedi because he had never met one before nor fought one.

Silus crossed his arms and waited as the floors rushed by. Easing out into the Force, Silus felt his surroundings, invisible ropes created and poised to strike at the droids. All this went on unknown to the dug.

"Tell me Silus... How was it that sent you to do the work for them? Perhaps the strange raced Vodo Baas?"

Silus eyebrows rose at "strage race". It was no surprise that Fegal knew about Vodo, the Jedi Master was no stranger to the public.

"It is enough for you to know I am a Jedi. You will get your credits, and we will get our artifacts," Silus gave a slight smphasis on the 'our'. He was getting tired of this skipping around.

The elevator stopped, the dug floating into the hangar and Silus following cautiously behind. This new figure, perhaps the "Nebael" Fegal spoke to, was armed enough to take on a small army. The Jedi Knight stepped carefully to the box, closely examining the holocrons being proffered. They were certainly real...

How long, he wondered, have these been missing? Many years, likely.

To Silus's eyes, these holocrons were just that... simple holocrons. Old trinkets, no matter what wisdom they contained. To him, they were hardly worth the credits.

But he wasn't to look at these through his eyes; he was to look at them through the eyes of the Jedi.

And when he looked at these, he saw that the Jedi would be most willing to let go of the credits. The holocrons were of far more value to them.

"Thirty thousand credits," Silus said. "No more, no less."

Rac looked at Silus with an amused smile and pondered for a while.

"30 000.. you jed truly are greedy one`s.... well for you jedi knight Silus you can have them 35 000 each and with a compromise we will all be winners..."

Rac pushed a button in his chair opening a small screen to the chair and guided Silus closer.

"There are the rest of the artifacts of course if 35 000 is a reasonable price for you mr Silus?"

Rac observed the Jedi as Nebael did so too and was prepared to act, if the Jedi started to get dirty, but that wouldn`t be the case until they had secured the rest of the artifacts besides black mail was a quite easy thing to do. Rac could blow the rest of the artifacts sky high, if Silus dared to threaten him.

Silus looked back at the holocrons and mentally sighed. If the other artifacts were like these, the Jedi would certainly be interested in them. The sooner this was over, the better. He didn't trust this dug... nor this Nebael. The armoured figure seemed ready to strike at any moment.

Unknown to either, Silus's hand strayed closer to his lightsaber. Things could suddenly get very bad... fast.

"The Jedi accept your offer."

Rac smiled and clapped his hands together with back thoughts of course not to forget few plans for this Jedi.

"Splendid!" Rac declared "Nebael you may take us to the surface with your ship...but depending if you have the credits with you now mr Silus?"

Nebael closed the box and carried into the freighter as Rac floated at the ramp and looked at Silus for an answer.

"You shall have a trip to the surface with this ship, if you have a proof of your money and if not you can leave wth your own to your temple or whatever you lived in...but I must warn you... if you try to go to the surface without me and wiith your shuttle...you are done for because no shuttle can reach that planet as hole because this cruiser will shoot any intruder....So how is it?"

Nebael was on his guard because this was trully the point where things could get real ugly, if the jedi didn`t have the credits he would be a target because it seemed that he wasn`t leaving without the credits. Of course he was in trouble already because on the surface waited about 200 battle droids guarding the area and patrolling. Of course no one should forget the mercenaries that were recovering the artifacts.

Silus smiled. It was not a nice one.

"Of course. I have the credits on my ship."

Vodo had seen ahead and made proper preparations. There was enough. Silus wasn't the only one who distrusted this businessman.

"Wait here and I shall retrieve them for you. It will take only a moment," Silus said and, without another word, made his way to his own ship.

They aboarded Nebael`s ship named the Krayt Fang, Rac sat comfortably in the cockpit and Nebael escorted Silus into the cockpit. Nebael sat down and looked at the Jedi with warning eyes.

"If you don`t want to mess with me Jedi....then stay right where you are and don`t even try to wander around, if you respect my privacy..."

Nebael started the engines and left the cruiser with speed towards the planet, there was a lot of smokes and machines down on the planet as you might expect from a mining planet. Nebael softly speeded above the planet syrface towards the site and looked at the Jedi once more with intrest.

"Tell me Jedi.... what is it like? I`ve heard about that force babble on Tatooine, but I`ve never actually faced one in battle or no Jed has been in my reach so that I could have collected them...."

The Jedi would probably at least now realise that Nebael was a bounty hunter and that there was more to him than just the scary out look, Nebael began landing to the site. The ship slowly landed and Rac exited with the box waiting for Silus, but Nebael stayed behind Silus making sure that the jedi moved out of the ship. The three arrived to a small command post and a mercenary captain greeted Rac.

"We have secured the last artifact I would believe, but they are still to be packed and there is actually one door still left to be blown up, but I haven`t dared to because my men reported that there were sounds. I suspect that some animal might have made a nest there and I am not going to sacrifice my men into the hands of some beast...."

Rac snorted pondering, but then turned to Silus with a big smile on his face.

"If you take that thing out what ever it is then I´ll drop the price to 33 000 each..."

Of course this was a trick , but Rac wanted to see how far Silus was going to get the artifacts and if he decided to accept then Rac`s men would blow few explosives. One Jedi less and business would go on....

Silus sat, arms crossed and eyes closed. It allowed him to rest and read more into the Force, even while lacking in the stereotypical positions associated with meditation. He ignored the rocking while the ship began the climb down to the planet's surface. For now, he was content to probe the minds of those around him.

From the dug, he felt contempt, confidence. All the more reason not to trust him.

As for the mind of Nebael... it was the mind of a hunter. That didn't help matters; Silus knew that. It was obvious in the way he walked, in the way he moved. In the way he talked...

"Tell me Jedi.... what is it like? I`ve heard about that force babble on Tatooine, but I`ve never actually faced one in battle or no Jed has been in my reach so that I could have collected them...."

Silus opened his eyes and grinned into the hunter's armoured face. "That's obvious. You are here talking to me, and you are here in one piece."

Nebael didn't have time to retort, as the ship had chosen that moment to land. Silus let the smile disappear and followed Rac, paying close attention to the bounty hunter.

You will not be making any collections today, Silus thought to himself.



They arrived at a command post and were greeted upon arrival by some sort of military official... mercenary, by the looks of him.

"We have secured the last artifact I would believe, but they are still to be packed and there is actually one door still left to be blown up, but I haven`t dared to because my men reported that there were sounds. I suspect that some animal might have made a nest there and I am not going to sacrifice my men into the hands of some beast...."

Ahh, now the hand is played. Silus mentally grinned.

Rac snorted, turning his smiling face on Silus.

"If you take that thing out what ever it is then I´ll drop the price to 33 000 each..."

"Very well," Silus nodded, "I'll take care of this 'beast' for you."

The Jedi turned to the captain, "If you would lead the way?"

"Of course."



The temple was old... time and the local vegetation and taken their toll on the building. The walls were cracked, long ago flagstones were broken and faded. The Jedi never end well... that was a fact Silus was getting used to. You became a protector, a powerful warrior and traded in any chance you had at a quiet, peaceful life or a quiet, peaceful end. Very few Jedi died in their beds. Very few Jedi died anywhere close to home.

The journey stopped at a large door, made of stone. Silus nodded at the mercenary, "I expect you had better go."

The man nodded and hurried off. Silus turned his attention to the door, running his hands over the ancient markings etched in the stone. How long have you been here?

The door opened, and Silus strolled into the room. The room was the typical ancient chamber: cracked stone walls, dust, cobwebs. What it was lacking, however, was a large, snarling beast. Silus tsked loudly.

"Rac... Rac... Rac," he said, running his hand along the wall. "I'd expected something more clever from you."

His hand ran over a small square of stone that, until observed closely, looked like just another part of the wall. There was a click as his fingers touched it.

Ah, I thought as much. Now, it is time to get out of here.

If there was a way in, there was always a way out.




A minute later, the room exploded.