FicWad

DISCLAIMER: See the Prologue.
SPECIAL DISCLAIMER: See the Prologue.
/IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:/ See the Prologue.

NOTE: The scene with Leia in the bar has been taken from the novel and edited to show her really dealing with her unwanted suitors. Also, the scene with Xizor has been edited to show his old rivalry with Darth Vader mixed with his new rivalry with Darth Kain. (PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED SINCE THE FIRST TIME IT WAS POSTED.)


Chapter 2

Leia sat in a bad cantina in the bad part of Mos Eisley.

A person really had to work hard at it to earn both those distinctions. Calling this place a dive would have elevated it four notches. Between the cheapness, the heat, the variety of drinks and meals, and that god-awful smell, the only good thing about this place was that it was dim enough so that she didn't have to look too closely at the patrons - from a dozen different species and none of them particularly good-looking examples at that.

Lando chose this place for them to meet in, which to Leia did not seem worth it. She'd considered the possibility that he chose this place just to get a rise out of her; she just hoped for his sake that that wasn't the case.

Right now, Leia rather envied Dr. Forenze; the Fosh had originally gone with Lando to check out Jabba's palace in the hopes of infiltrating it, disguising themselves among Jabba's throng of "loyal" employees. However, after her and Lando's first failed attempts to do so, the Alliance contacted her with coincidental timing, telling her she was needed back with the Rebel Fleet.

Not that Leia was sitting here in this dingy place all alone; Chewbacca the Wookiee was sitting right next to her, but even then, not by her own choice. In fact, he kept following her around so close that he could occasionally be confused as part of her wardrobe.

Lando had explained it to her: Something about a life debt between Han and Chewie, and since Han told Chewie to look out for her, he would do so until he said otherwise.

Leia had tried to persuade Chewie that it wasn't necessary, but even her best and most refined diplomatic skills couldn't get Chewie to budge. It looked as though she was just going to have to dutifully get used to him following her around as her bodyguard

Another good reason to get Han back: So Chewie would stop being her bodyguard.

Unbidden, some words she had said long ago seemed to come back to haunt her: "Will someone please get this big walking carpet out of my way?"

/If there ever was a price for saying that, then I'm probably paying it right now/, Leia thought, shaking her head.

Then again... even though she would most likely never admit it, there were times when having a two-meter-tall Wookiee as a bodyguard was an advantage. This was one of those times, in this wonderful place.

During the past hour, Leia had had to get closer looks of the patrons than she would have liked. Despite the fact she wore threadbare worker's clothes and had her hair drawn up into an unattractive bun, and also avoided meeting anyone's gaze, there had been a steady stream of various humans and aliens coming to visit her table. Never mind that a fully grown and armed Wookiee sat right next to her, making it quite clear they weren't welcome, they still kept trying to pick her up, that just didn't seem to deter them.

Sometimes, it seemed like males of whatever species were always interested in females of whatever species, when they wanted some female company.

The latest newcomer was a drunken Bith who banged into the table, earning him a growl from Chewie. The Bith took one look at Chewie, hiccupped, and stumbled away.

Leia turned to Chewie and said, "Here, you know what? How about I handle whoever comes by next?"

Chewie looked at her with consideration of her idea mixed in with some amusement, and then gave an affirmative answer as if to say, "This ought to be good."

Barely minutes later, the next one in the rotation came up to them. This one was a Devaronian, a horned humanoid who - surprise, surprise - wanted to buy Leia a drink.

Leia tried as politely as she could to decline his offer, but unfortunately, the Devaronian just wouldn't give up. He tried to convince her to let him have a drink with her, but he just couldn't take a hint. That and the fact that he was looking all the more demonic as he tried to persuade her.

They say that actions speak louder than words, and since words had failed, Leia decided it was time to use action. She pulled the small blaster she had tucked into her coverall pocket, and brought it out over the table where the Devaronian could see it. She then pointed it at the ceiling and thumbed the power setting button from "stun" to "kill." He saw that, too.

This guy must have been really oblivious, because in a last-ditch attempt to succeed, he even pulled out his "stimulating" Weranian holocards and held them in his outstretched hand. Leia just felt something inside of her snap as she suddenly aimed the blaster and pulled the trigger. For a split second, she could see his holocards, marked with scantily clad alien figures - just before a blaster bolt fried right through them.

The Devaronian yelped from surprise, not pain, and looked at Leia with wide eyes. The rest of the bar went silent and turned to look in their direction. Leia just sat there, blaster still pointed, and currently unable to believe that she herself just did that. Good stars, did I just do that? she thought to herself.

Very quickly, the Devaronian changed his tune and his tactics, and said, "Ah, well, perhaps another time. I, ah, just recalled that, ah, I left the converter charging on my ship. You'll excuse me."

He hurried away; it was truly amazing how waving a blaster around and even firing it could improve an obnoxious would-be suitor's manners.

With the spectacle over, everyone went back to their conversations and business as though nothing had even happened.

Chewie looked at her with something akin to awe.

"If you're going to comment about how I picked that up from Han or how he'd be impressed by that, then don't," she told him, snapping out of her trance.

Chewie murmured a growl and gave a small shrug as if to say, "I didn't say anything."

She put the safety back on and tucked the blaster away, and then went back to fiddling with the stir stick in her drink. Lando was going to pay for calling the meeting in this hole... somehow.

Leia's mouth quirked into a grin as she recalled a few years back when Rogue Squadron had had it with their tough commander, Ghede Ironmoon, and went about pulling pranks on him, doing everything from "reprogramming" his Astromech droid to "redecorating" his things.

She was just wondering how Lando would look covered from head to toe in pink goop when somebody opened the door and a flash of hot light spilled into the dank bar. Outlined in the doorway was a human who, for just a second, reminded her of Han.

Leia sighed. Up until that moment before he was frozen in carbonite, she didn't know for sure that she actually loved him. But then again, crisis had that strange way of making people act certain ways and revealing things about themselves. All those times like back in the short-lived Rebel base on Hoth, she took advantage of the times she and Han had fought and bickered over every little thing, earning the annoyance of everyone else. Now that Han was so far beyond her reach that she didn't even know where he was, Leia regretted how she'd acted towards him. And all the same, Han knew she'd loved him - or so he claimed right before he was dropped into the freezing chamber. It was now true, and Leia was now beyond the point of no return: Leia Organa, the skilled princess and diplomat, loved Han Solo, the risk-taking pirate and smuggler.

She just couldn't stop thinking about it...

"Buy you a drink, beautiful?" somebody said from behind her.

Still rather uptight, she spun around and whipped her blaster out so fast that she nearly pulled the trigger by accident in the process.

"Whoa, whoa, take it easy!" the newcomer said, raising his hands into the air. It was Lando. A moment later, he looked at her and asked quietly, "You're not still mad at me, are you?"

Smooth move, Leia, she thought to herself. "How did you get in here?" she asked, once she had calmed down and put her blaster away again.

"Back door," he said simply with a smile and a shrug.

Behind him were the droids C-3PO and R2-D2. Artoo's dome swiveled as he took in the bar, while Threepio, who was the most skittish droid Leia had ever been around, managed to look nervous even though he could not change his gold-plated facial expression.

Artoo whistled something to his counterdroid.

"Yes, I see that," Threepio said. A short pause. "Master Lando, wouldn't it be better if we waited outside? I don't think they like droids in this place. We're the only ones here."

Lando smiled. "Relax. Nobody is going to both you. I know the owner. Besides, I don't want you alone outside. You might find this hard to believe, but this town is full of /thieves/." He opened his eyes wide in mock amazement and waved his hands to take in the bar and the port around it. "You wouldn't want to wind up shoveling sand on some moisture farm, now would you?"

"Oh, dear me, no. I've already been on this planet once before and I got kidnapped by Jawas."

Artoo chided Threepio with something.

"Yes, Artoo, I do realize that if it hadn't been for that, we probably would have never met Master Luke," Threepio retorted.

Artoo made what sounded like a rude noise.

"Don't make me kick you again," Threepio said in a low tone, trying to sound tough.

Leia smiled and tried to fight down her laughter while Lando and Chewie shared a good laugh over that. What a band of characters she'd wound up with. Two funny droids, Lando Calrissian the gambler, Chewbacca the Wookiee, Luke the -

Where was Luke? He was a Jedi, or at least one in training. He also must have been awfully important, given how badly Emperor Palpatine seemed to want him. She'd heard rumors that the Emperor wasn't particular in how he wanted Luke, either alive or dead, but of course those were only rumors. While she definitely loved Han, she also felt something for Luke.

Another complication she did not need. Why wasn't life simpler?

Come to think of it, even without her fellow Rebel Vader currently in the picture, life was still rather complicated.

"I think we've got the Steel Nexu spotted," Lando said quietly.

That was Aurra Sing's ship. The bounty hunter who had taken Han from Cloud City. "What? Where?"

"A moon called Gall, circling Zhar, a gas giant out in one of the Rim Systems. The information is third-hand, but the informant chain is supposed to be reliable."

"We've heard that before," she said.

Lando merely shrugged. "We can sit and wait or we can go see. The bounty hunter should have delivered Han to Jabba months ago. She's got to be someplace. I've got a contact in that system, an old gambling buddy who does a little... shall we say, freelance cargo delivery. His name is Dash Rendar. He's checking it out for us."

Leia smiled again. "Freelance cargo delivery" was a euphemism for "smuggling."

"You really trust him, Lando?"

"Well, as long as my money holds out... yeah."

"Fine. How soon will we know?"

"A few days."

Leia looked around. "Anything would be better than waiting here."

Lando flashed his bright smile again. "Mos Eisley is known as the galaxy's armpit," he said. "I guess there are worse parts of the anatomy where we could be stuck," he added with a shrug.

Leia rolled her eyes at that comment. Chewie said something.

Lando shook his head in response. "No, I don't know why she'd be there. There's a shipyard on the moon; maybe she needed repairs. Something serious had to hold her up, because Jabba won't pay her until she gets there."

Chewie said something else.

"Yeah, I'm afraid so." Lando then looked at Leia. "Gall is an Imperial Enclave. Got a couple of destroyers based there, plus all the TIE fighters that come with them. If Sing's ship is there, it won't be easy to get to her."

"When has anything been easy since I met you?" she asked. "Let me ask you something, Lando. Of all the crummy places in the port, why did you choose this one?" Here, she gestured towards the rest of the bar.

Lando didn't look fazed. "Well, I do know the owner. He owes me a bet we made once. I get to eat and drink here for free for whenever I'm in town."

"Oh, boy. What a thrill that must be. You ever try to eat anything in this place?"

"I haven't been that hungry yet, no."

Leia shook her head. Her life had certainly been interesting since she'd fallen in with these guys. But it was like Lando had just said about Aurra Sing: Everybody had to be someplace.

Until they found Han, this was as good as any.

Leia said, "Maybe we better go tell Luke."



Piett was walking down the halls of Home One with Wedge and some of the other members of Life Squadron when a voice from a doorway called out to him.

"Piett?"

He turned to see a familiar face looking back right at him.

"/Veers/? Good stars, is that really you?"

Maximilian Veers stood in the doorway of some sort of conference room. "Yes, Piett, it's really me."

"What are you doing here?"

"Same as you, of course; I can't stand working for the Empire anymore. Kain is even worse than Vader ever was, and even the cloning and recruitment programs aren't compensating enough for how many people are being killed or are deserting."

Recruitment programs? Ah yes, Piett remembered now: The Empire recruited young men as stormtroopers in return for free educations. Piett had forgotten that fact during his time serving under Kain, most likely because of all the stress that went with it.

"Ah, now I remember you," Wedge said, squinting. "You led the attack against us on Hoth."

Veers had the good grace to look ashamed. "Well, if it's any consolation... sorry about that."

Rocky huffed something in the Wookiee tongue, and then his translator kicked in: "Then again, if we could accept someone like Piett here or even Vader into our ranks, then I suppose anything goes."

"Not that I can speak for the rest of the Rebellion," Ar'ya added, "But I'm almost grateful to Veers and everyone else who attacked us on Hoth; if it hadn't been for them attacking us when they did, I'd still have been freezing my limbs off there."

"Anyway," Veers continued to say, "You're something of a hero - an underdog, if you will. Now, thanks to you, more and more Imperials are deserting all the time."

In a strange sort of way, Piett was flattered.

"In fact..." now Veers had a parsec-wide grin on his face. "I think maybe you should see for yourself."

Here he gestured to the room from which he was originally in, and Piett took a look, and consequently felt his jaw drop.

There were nearly two hundred new recruits in this conference room alone, and more than half of them were human men still wearing Imperial uniforms of different colors; Piett even recognized a few as former subordinates from the /Executor/. After that, there were other humans who were obviously new recruits as opposed to Imperial defects, and mixed in were some nonhuman recruits. There were Wookies, Twi'leks, Biths, Duros, Zabraks, Falleen, Quarrens, Sullustans... and was that a Trandoshan and a Ho'din over there?

Just then, a Rodian recruit pointed at Piett and garbled something in her own language, and everyone turned to look at Piett, awe written across their faces.

"See, what did I say?" Veers told him, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

Piett felt the heat rise to his face, embarrassed. He would have never expected this.

"It's too bad, though, that some of our older and closer friends didn't also defect," commented Veers. "Or /couldn't/."

"Really?" Piett said, turning to face him. "Like who?"

"Like good old Ferron, for one. Poor guy is now trying to get the second Death Star completed on time. Then again, it could be hard to sneak out when you're constantly trying to manage this huge 'construction project.'"

Piett remembered now: Ferron Jerjerrod. Another old friend from long ago, he and Piett both worked as Senate guards during the time of the Old Republic.

So, Ferron was also having a hard time under Kain? Maybe he would also be willing to get away from the Empire... Piett mentally filed that idea away for later.

"So, this is Piett, huh?" said a woman as she walked up to them. With dark skin, short black hair and a shapely figure, this new recruit introduced herself to Piett. "My name is Tiphanie Earlystar, and it's a pleasure to meet you, Firmus."

Veers blinked and did a double take. "'Firmus'?"

"'Firmus'?" the other Rogue Squadron pilots repeated incredulously behind Piett, who now looked down at the floor, embarrassed.

"What?" asked Tiphanie. "It says right in your Rebel profile that your first name is -"

"I know what my real name /was/," blurted out Piett, his face now red from embarrassment. "However, I changed it to 'Tomas'. I was hoping that no one would ever find out, but now..."

"Sorry," Tiphanie said, "but I guess that sometimes Sith happens, huh?"



Xizor left his four bodyguards in the antechamber and went into Darth Kain's personal meeting room. The guards were trained in several forms of hand-to-hand combat and were all armed with a blaster each and were excellent shots at that... but still, it wouldn't have mattered if he had four, forty or even four hundred guards with him if Kain wanted to harm him, because he was able to use that mysterious Force which could allow him to block blaster bolts or freeze a victim's heart or lungs, just like that. No one challenges Darth Kain; it was a lesson which many had learned the hard way but most had not lived to profit from.

Of course, the same could also be said for Kain's predecessor...

Fortunately, however, Xizor enjoyed the Emperor's patronage, and as long as that was the case, then Kain would not dare harm him. Well, at least in theory, anyway.

The room was nearly spare. There were only the necessities here in this room: A long table and several nonreactive chairs of dark greel wood, and a holoplate and a viewer. As a person who had much wealth but cared for little for wealth itself, Kain didn't decorate the room with any signs of his wealth.

Acutally... while there were no signs of Kain's commanded wealth as a Sith lord, that didn't mean it wasn't decorated at all. Miscellaneous skulls filled the room - some belonging to humans and other sentient races, some non-sentient - and Xizor wondered if Kain organized his meeting room in this fashion to get a message across. All the trophies and other mementos from Kain's days as a bounty hunter gave a sinister kind of feel to the atmosphere, as though he had just walked into a room of death itself.

Xizor sat himself down at the table and allowed himself to appear completely relaxed, as though he had nothing to worry about. He knew that Kain had a room full of monitoring technicians hidden away in a room somewhere inside the castle, monitoring his every move, looking for something to be concerned about.

Figuring that the poor technicians were probably bored right about now, Xizor decided to make things a little more interesting and allowed himself a tight grin. That ought to give the techs something to think about: Uh-oh, he's smiling - what do you suppose /that /means?

Of course, at the same time, he also had Kain under constant surveillance whenever he was outside his own castle. As a matter of fact, Black Sun's own spynet was the best in the galaxy, even better than the Empire's own. Well, perhaps the Bothans were slightly better...

The wall at the opposite end of the room slid aside silently, and Kain stood there, quite dramatic in his cape and black uniform, and completely silent from behind his helmet with its silver visor.

Xizor stood and offered a military bow. "Lord Kain."

"Prince Xizor," Kain offered in return, his raspy voice now speaking. He didn't bow in return, but Xizor ignored it. Since this was all being recorded and most likely to be viewed by the Emperor later on, the Falleen prince intended to be the soul of grace, the epitome of politeness, the acme of good manners.

"You asked to see me, Lord Kain. How may I be of service to you?"

Kain stepped into the room, and the door slid shut behind him. He made no move to sit - no surprise there. Xizor also remained standing.

Kain said, "My master bids me to arrange for a fleet of your cargo ships to deliver supplies to our bases on the Rim."

"But of course," Xizor said. "My entire operation is at your disposal; I am always happy to aid the Empire in any way that I can."

Xizor was referring to his legitimate shipping operations, Xizor Transport Systems. Considering how much of the money from Black Sun's illicit activities was funneled into XTS, his business was not only quite extensive, but enough to make him a very wealthy and powerful person, even without the rest of his wealth from other means.

Kain was also aware that the holocams were upon him, and so he decided to make a comment for the record. "In the past, it seems as if your company has been slow to respond to Imperial requests." Here, Kain put special emphasis on the word "Imperial," as though implying that the Empire was the best and most important organization in the galaxy, and demanded special attention.

"It embarrasses me to say that you are correct, Lord Kain. However, those individuals are no longer employed by my company."

Point, counterpoint. Kain carefully jabbed using a fine point, and Xizor parried. In the past, when Darth Vader was still the Emperor's right-hand man, each conversation he had with the Dark Lord of the Sith was thus, an obvious surface dialogue with much hidden in the depths below it. These days, the only thing that had changed in that respect was that it was now Darth Kain instead whom he verbally sparred with. Overall, it was a kind of competition, in which each player tried to score, like two brothers trying to outdo each other in the eyes of a critical father.

Xizor did not consider Vader nor Kain to be anything like a nest-brother, however. Especially not Vader. He might not have known it, but he was a mortal enemy to the Dark Prince of Black Sun.

Ten years ago, Vader had a pet project, research on a biological weapon. He established a hazard lab on Xizor's home planet of Falleen. There had been an accident at the supposedly secure facility. A mutant tissue-destroying bacterium somehow escaped quarantine. In order to save the planet's population from a horrible, rotting, always fatal infection for which there was no cure, the city around the lab had been "sterilized".

"Sterilized" was a euphemism for "incinerated from orbit," and thus among the incinerated were buildings, streets, homes, and most importantly of all, people.

Two hundred thousand Falleen had been killed by sterilization lasers crisscrossing the domed metropolis from orbit. The Empire considered itself lucky to have only lost that number when the necrotizing bacteria could have killed billions, and maybe even escaped offworld to infect other planets. It had been a close call, but the cost had been relatively minor - that is, in the opinion of the Empire.

In the opinion of /Darth Vader/.

Among the dead were Xizor's mother, father, brother, two sisters, and three uncles. He had been offworld at the time, cementing his control of Black Sun into place; otherwise he would have been another one of the victims himself.

He had never spoken of the tragedy. Through the offices of Black Sun, he had caused his family's deaths to be erased from Imperial records... and then eliminated the operatives themselves who had done the deed, just to be safe. Nobody knew that Xizor the Dark Prince had personal reasons to detest Darth Vader. It would be natural to see the two as rivals for the Emperor's favor, and there was no way to hide that, but of the other, no one save Xizor had any inkling.

Xizor had been patient. It was never a question of "if," only a matter of "when" he would repay Vader in kind.

However, Vader's current status as a former Imperial and Sith, now a Rebel pilot, certainly made things more complicated - but also more /interesting/. For the past few years, Xizor had followed the twists and turns of Vader's life. When the Empire's Death Star exploded in Yavin's orbit, Vader crashed on the Rebel moon, severely injured and without his memory. The leader of the Rebel Alliance, that ever-so-compassionate Mon Mothma, had refused to put Vader on trial, feeling it wasn't right to put an amnesiac on trial for crimes he couldn't remember. Instead, she offered for him to join the Rebellion - an offer which he accepted, much to everyone's shock and some people's disgust. It had taken some time, but by the Second Battle of Yavin, he was trusted by the majority of the Rebellion.

Xizor himself still remembered the very moment when he heard the news, and of all the different things he felt in response, hope was among them. Hope not only to destroy a now-weakened Darth Vader, but that he would now replace the former Imperial cyborg as the Emperor's right-hand man.

However, one could only imagine Xizor's own shock and disgust when he had been overlooked by the Emperor in favor of his new apprentice, Darth Kain - formerly known as the respected and feared top-notch bounty hunter Boba Fett. Why in all the realms of all the galaxy's religions Fett had been chosen over Xizor was beyond the Falleen... at first. One of Black Sun's agents had been spying on Fett, disguised as just another prisoner, when the Emperor had him taken into Imperial custody, and relayed the conversation to Xizor. It seemed the Emperor had purposely selected Fett for his hatred for the Jedi, since his own father was killed by a Jedi Master at the beginning of the Clone Wars. Also, according to his "imprisoned" agent, Xizor learned that Emperor Palpatine was able to bestow the mysterious and powerful Force upon Fett... merely by giving him blood transfusions from Force-strong people, however painful the process itself would be.

However, Boba Fett's being chosen to be the Emperor's new Force-strong apprentice was only the first in a list of reasons for Xizor's ire.

Once Fett had officially become Darth Kain, he had become cocky and superior to everyone else under him, Grand Moffs, Grand Admirals and all others alike, as though he had been superior to them all his life - including Xizor, whom Fett had actually worked for many times as a bounty hunter.

After that, there was Kain's tendency to execute multiple people at random, especially for insignificant things, something which even Darth Vader never did. This wouldn't have bothered Xizor at all, if it weren't for the fact that quite a few of those victims had been some of his own people and contacts, which made their deaths a problem for Black Sun.

And to top it all off, there was that first meeting between Xizor and Kain more than three years ago, after the Second Battle of Yavin. Xizor had politely and respectfully greeted Kain, congratulating him on his new position as the Emperor's right-hand man; without warning, Kain suddenly responded by Force-choking Xizor, telling the suffocating Falleen prince that if he wasn't careful, he would meet the same end as the rest of his family.

Kain immediately stopped when the Emperor told them off, but even with the pain in his lungs subsiding, Xizor instead felt a burning hatred in his heart. By unjustifiably throttling Xizor and then saying that about his family, Kain had made himself into yet another enemy on Prince Xizor's long list of enemies. From that point onward, Kain was now as bad in Xizor's eyes as Vader was.

Simply put: If Vader was Xizor's most hated enemy, then Kain was a very close second.

Besides... bounty hunters turned Sith lords shouldn't criticize about other people's dead family members when their own fathers went and got themselves decapitated by Jedi Masters when their equipment malfunctioned.

Back to Vader... Xizor knew all about the short-lived "Battle of Bespin" as it was now being called, where several months before, another one of Xizor's agents had recorded the encounter between the Emperor and Vader in Cloud City. From a nearby building and using state-of-the-art spying equipment, this Black Sun agent had recorded the entire conversation between the Emperor and his former apprentice. Xizor enjoyed the whole drama of the Emperor torturing Vader, restoring his memory in the hopes of gaining his former apprentice back... and then the old corpse blasted Vader out the window with Force lightning when he refused. Xizor was actually chuckling at the last part, and almost cheered when he saw that happen.

Now that Vader had his memory back... it would make revenge much sweeter, in Xizor's opinion, than if he had remained an amnesiac. In a strange sort of way, it was almost a shame that Vader was no longer the Emperor's right-hand man - the saying "the bigger they are, the harder they fall" came to mind there. If Vader were still the Sith lord he once was, Xizor would have been able to spear two fleek-eels with same trident: Vader the impediment to his power and Vader the killer of his family would both be... removed.

Ah, well... at least with the current way things were, he'd be able to settle the score with even more people that just Vader. Not only would the Underlord of Black Sun inflict untold pain on Vader by killing his only offspring and remaining family, but he would also be able to make Kain look bad in the eyes of the Emperor. That was the key to Xizor's plan: He knew that he couldn't kill a Sith lord who was his rival - being Vader, Kain or even both - but he could still make their lives /very /miserable. He would leave the former Dark Lord emotionally broken and without anything to live for, as well as leave the current Dark Lord disgraced and dishonored, just waiting to be tossed aside by his beloved master.

After all, loyalty and devotion towards a subordinate was not a virtue which Palpatine had, as his abandonment of Vader showed - who was to say that Kain was not just as expandable, if circumstances made it so?

Xizor felt a smile but held it, lest it be seen by Kain and the gazes of his hidden holocams. Yes, that would be justice -

"We will need three hundred ships," Kain said, his raspy voice cutting into Xizor's thoughts like a rusty blade. "Half of them tankers, and half of them dry cargo transports. Standard Imperial delivery contracts, as usual. There is a large... construction project of which you are aware. Can you supply the vessels, dear friend Xizor?" he finished pleasantly.

Xizor repressed the urge to raise an eyebrow at his sudden change in attitude. Good stars, what drug is this man on? he thought to himself.

"Yes, my lord. You need but tell me where and when you desire them and I will make it so. And Imperial terms are acceptable."

Kain stood silently for a moment, and the room was completely silent.

He didn't expect that, Xizor thought. He thought I might argue or try to haggle over the price. Good.

"Good. I'll have the fleet supply admiral contact you with details." This last part was ground out, as though Kain had instead lost somehow and was bitter over it.

Does Kain have a multiple personality disorder or something? Or is he just incapable of making up his mind about how to feel?

"It is my honor to serve," Xizor said. Again he gave Kain a military bow, a bit lower and slower than before.

Anybody watching would only see how eager and courteous to please Xizor was...

Without another word, Kain turned back towards the room's portal. The wall slid back again, and he swept from the room.

...And anybody watching would see how close to the edge of rudeness Lord Kain walked. Not to mention the edge of insanity itself.

Again, Xizor allowed himself a tiny smile.

You think you're better off than Vader ever was, Kain? Or, should I say, Boba Fett? You've just inherited more from your predecessor than you can ever have imagined, Fett, and then some. And when the time is right... I'll be laughing over your downfall.

Everything was going according to plan.



Drawing his hood up over his helmeted head, Vader jumped off the bantha, appreciatively patted it, and sent it back on its way to the Tusken camp from whence they came. His plan was to meet his soon at Obi-wan Kenobi's old home, and to get their via the /Desert Angel/, his restored and unique Naboo N-1 starfighter.

However, as Vader walked over one last dune in order to reach Mos Eisley spaceport, he felt as though he had something coming on...

But why? he thought. I haven't been having any more flashbacks since my memory was completely restored... Here, he gave an involuntary shudder, recalling that awful experience when he was last in the presence of the Emperor, back at Cloud City on Bespin.

Vader felt some emotions; he felt rivalry... humiliation... envy... smugness... triumph... And for a few seconds which seemed to last more like a few hours, Vader saw something: Darth Kain standing in a bare room, seeming to be in conversation with someone... yet from his angle, Vader couldn't see who it was, but he could see something reflected in the T-shaped visor of Kain's helmet...

But as quickly as it came, it lingered for a moment before finally passing.

What the stang was all that about? He thought to himself.

Wait a minute... that wasn't a memory. He was actually feeling something at that very moment, something to do with the Emperor or Kain... or maybe even both.

Kain was meeting with someone at that /very moment/...

Vader focused on the vision again. However, all he could make out was the reflection of what seemed to be another person... with green skin.

Unfortunately, seeing as how plenty of people in the galaxy had green skin, that really didn't narrow it down by much.

And yet... those emotions also felt familiar... as though associated with the same person whom Kain was currently with...

Could I have also had something to do with this person who Kain is now with? Vader wondered. Well, that would certainly explain it. However, he couldn't quite place it in his recently-restored memory...

He'd have to think about this.

Now focusing once again on the matter at hand, he continued with his entry into the wretched hive of scum and villainy that lay ahead.



A/N: Personally, I think I like how this turned out, especially with my twist on Xizor in this alternate universe. Now, he's waging a secret war on two fronts: Against both Vader and Kain.

Note about Leia and the Devaronian: Personally, I liked the touch with the blaster.

Note about first names: Veers' first name in canon is indeed "Maximilian." Some of you may be surprised that he should join the Rebellion, but as Mandi said in an email to me: "I can imagine even a few hours under their leadership would make even Tarkin go crying to the Alliance if the opportunity arose..." As for Piett and Jerjerrod...

"Tomas" Piett: Both Mandi and I agreed that "Firmus" (Piett's official first name in canon) just has some potentially bad connotations to it. Mandi suggested "Tomas," which I liked. However, it was sometime later when I pointed out that incidentally, there was a man in the Bible named Thomas the Doubter, and Piett does doubt (as well as question and defy) the Empire.

"Ferron" Jerjerrod: This was a name I came up with, and can have multiple meanings. There's the Latin word for "iron," both the noun (/ferrum, -i/, n.) and the adjective (/ferreus, -a, -um/); after all, Jerjerrod is overseeing the construction of the second Death Star, which is probably made out of iron or other metals... or maybe he has an iron-clad will to defy and get even with Darth Kain after what happens in "Recompense"? There's also the Latin adjective (/ferox, -ocis/), which means "fierce, ferocious," or in some cases, "warlike," "defiant," or "arrogant," all of which also describe Jerjerrod well. Finally, there's also the irregular Latin verb (/fero, ferre, tuli, latum/), which means "to bear, carry, bring," or in some cases, "to lead," "to suffer," "to endure," or "to tolerate"... then again, Jerjerrod does all of these at one point or another under Kain...

Note about Tiphanie Earlystar: Her first name is a different way of spelling the name "Tiffanie," and I would like to thank Tiffanie Early from the Luke_Vader Yahoo group for allowing me to use her funny siggy ("Sith Happens") as long as she had a character named after her.

Note about Kain's old trophies: I was reminded of two different things when I wrote this in: The collection of alien skulls from Predator 2 and, strangely enough, the room full of hunting trophies which causes Ace to flip out in /Ace Ventura 2/.

Next chapter is where we see Luke again... -Quillian