The quarry

*Six Standard Days earlier**

Jalus Crell, a mercenary and bodyguard of some note, sat at the back of the bar on Ithor. His black battle dress uniform bearing the Corellian Bloodstripes he had earned ten years prior. His wife, a purple skinned near human named Jezinth, sat at the bar watching as he talked to the trader. She was young, perhaps upper teens maybe low twenties. And she looked as though she had seen something that would forever dominate her dreams.

She took a shaky sip of the Whyrens' Reserve, "So we had just dropped out of hyperspace when my instruments started blaring. It...it read out a massive spike in photonic activity, almost a GRB level..."

"GRB?" Jalus interrupted, "A Gamma Ray Burst? That's Hypernova level of energy."

"I know! There were no Gamma rays though. Just pure unadulterated energy...then...Alderaan was gone!" she said shuddering.

"How could the rebels have..." Jalus asked, incredulously.

"I looked through the sensor logs. There were no rebel ships in the system. So...So I downloaded all the data from the hypercomm satellites. Shera'na, my love...uh...co-pilot said the only thing in the system was this massive space station. So big it had measurable gravity. The photonic activity, the superlaser if you will, originated from it. The comm tags identify it as being commanded by Grand Moff Tarkin himself."

Jalus nodded, now understanding why the trader would be seeking him out and cashing in on a life debt. If she had just pulled a hypercom dump, her own ships tags would be left behind for the ISB to track down. Or even Rebel Intelligence. "And what now?" Life debt or not there wasn't much his small band of merry marauders could do to put up a fight against the Galactic Empire.

"My grandfather saved your father in the Clone Wars. All I and Shera need is an escort to Illium. I have some slicer friends from college who can distribute..."

"Whoa. Listen. Shut up. We will go to Illium, Bherna. I will get you there, but after that I don't want to know what you are going to do. Not even in vague terms." Jalus said cutting her off.

Bherna nodded, a twitchy fast nod. Her blue eyes were wide, and her currently unkempt blond hair waved.

Jalus had never seen the usually meticulous looking girl so frazzled. Granted he hadn't seen her since her grandfather's funeral ten years earlier. "Call your partner and tell her to get to docking bay 22. We'll meet her there."

"And my ship?" Bherna asked, meaningfully. That it had also been her father's ship.

"I have a friend that can try and look after it, but if you left your tags on that satellite, and you probably did...I wouldn't ever expect to see it again."

"You're right, I'm an idiot." Bherna said, then fiddled with her commlink. "Shera, don't ask, but clear out as much clothes as you can and get to docking bay 22. I'll be there waiting. Don't bother with the bank accounts, just get...ah...my father's box." Bherna said, finishing a little lamely. Jalus figured that it was something that she could sell and would fetch a decent price.

One hour later the Incom Corporation X4 Gunship, registered to Crell Security Corps, lifted off. In one of the passenger quarters sat a red skinned Twi'lek holding the slightly smaller (but feisty) Bherna. "Bherna, I know seeing that planet's was horrible, but...you have to get rid of the shakes when you talk about it."

Bherna sniffed, "I...I just feel like I felt all that , Shera'na."

"Shhhh, everything will be alright." Shera'na said, stroking Bherna's face with one hand while her other unzipped the blue shipsuit proclaiming the wearer as an employee of Jeran's Traders. Bherna hadn't gotten around to changing the name or smiling face of her late father as a logo.

"She has to get that information out." Jalus heard from beside him.

"Why? It could be delusions. And it's not like we can make any money on this." He said as he looked at his purple skinned, black tressed wife.

Jez shook her head. "This isn't about money. It's about justice. The Empire must be held accountable."

Jalus rolled his eyes, again his wife's hatred of the Empire rears it's head. "Well, justice can wait till we figure out if what happened is what she said happened. Soon as we can look at the data we'll check if it's authentic our rebel propaganda. Maybe I should go and get the data now..."

"Now would not be a good time. Bherna and Shera'na are busy. There'll be time enough for that later."