STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- Rescue

"No, we haven't," Rand says to Xavier. "I'm telling you this because he has failed to contact me, as we planned."

"So either Galder's being himself and has forgotten to contact you - not that I could blame him - or he's being himself and has gotten into trouble. Let me guess. You want us to find out what's going on."

"My, aren't you intuitive today," Rand says, looking up from his work. "Precisely. You see, if something has happened to him, something could happen to us."

"That is obvious. And that is why he should not have gone off by himself...do you even know where he went?" Rianna snaps back. "Though, how convenient this would be..."

"Convenient indeed. All four of us out of your slimy tentacles for good?" Dak says suspiciously. "Still... I suppose there is a threat, if he's been captured."

"Don't be stupid," Rand says. "While I am a skilled swordsman, there is no doubt that I am in need of your particular taste for carnage. I am willing to risk all this back-stabbing in order to survive the Bureau."

Rand pushes forward a holoprojector and slides a small data-tape into its side. It projects an image of a world, along with read-outs on the atmosphere and networth and so on.

"Galder informed me that he had tracked the rumors unsuccessfully until a new one came up, pointing to the world Skythros. I got nothing more out of him, but I did some research that should be useful."

"Skythros? So where's that? And what's there?"

"Skythros is an agricultural world. Not unlike Demarus, if you remember it. I learned of it in my studies as a youth in the Jedi Temple, where it served as an example of worlds beyond the Republic that flourished without the assistance of galactic government."

He brings up a display on the projector that segments the Skythros hologram into areas.

"The populace is composed entirely of human farmers. A man of Skythros works as long as he can operate the tools of agriculture. The farms they work on are immense," Rand gestures to the segmented areas, "and owned and operated by large towns. No unified government, no standing military. Skythros was originally colonized by the Republic for its fertility but they abandoned it when the pirate problem became too expensive. Too far out."

"Sounds boring. Why would rumors of Kuylen pop up there?"

"Skythros has always had a problem with pirates. The towns were forced to make arrangements with the raiders. Much like Demarus feeds the Republic, Skythros feeds the pirates. I mean, Demarus was not even worth it to the pirates because they ship wheat, but Skythros has a variety of crops, one of which can be concentrated to create illicit substances..."

Rand shuts off the projector.

"But the pirates are the main reason Kuylen might be there. Do you remember the Red Lance, Dak?"

While you have no idea what Demarus is (though Rianna can fill you in that they were first attacked by the Bureau, all part of the scheme by Doon), you do remember the Red Lance. They were pirates that worked for Kuylen, when your Master was trying to stimulate civil war in the Damagran system. You were not involved in that part of Kuylen's work, but you know they betrayed him.

"Of course," Dak answers, tail lashing. "They betrayed Kuylen."

"So Galder said. According to him, their leader, Pelloran, hadn't been finished off because Kuylen had more important business to attend to... anyways, the pirates that recently preyed on Skythros were associates of the Red Lance, unimportant goons. However, rumor had it that a highly skilled swordsman laid waste to their raiding forces and they fled the system. Galder thought maybe it could have been related."

"Seems like strenuous evidence at best, but from our short time here I've had the impression that Galder doesn't care about that kind of thing when it comes to Kuylen." Xavier speaks lightly.

"If only you knew," Rand sighs. "He could have saved us a great deal of trouble if he were not so blinded by his fanaticism, but he hasn't learned."

You really have no idea what most of this chatter is about, Xavier. Apparently Galder and Dak followed some guy named Kuylen who was an effective leader with a plan that failed. It is because of people like Kuylen and Galder that you had to flee the Bureau.

"Perhaps someday I shall know," Xavier mentions passingly. "So is anything special about this force that has attacked the pirates?"

"A man with a lightsaber fights off a pirate raiding force... you tell me," Rand says. "He also has followers."

"How many and have they been identified yet?"

"Of course Galder would be interested in that. What I'd like to know is how someone supposedly leading a force like that would manage to stay completely hidden for however long."

"That is what you are going to discover," Rand says. "If this is going to be a problem for us, we want to know what we are dealing with. Think of it as threat assessment."

"Great. Sounds like this should be a ton of fun." Rianna says sarcastically. "At least it's a change of pace and we'll be out of here for a while."