Author's Notes: At this time, Xizor is not yet head of the Black Sun and Boba Fett is out there.
DISCLAIMER: Star Wars and all publicly recognisable characters, names and references, etc are the sole property of George Lucas, Lucasfilm Ltd, Lucasarts Inc and 20th Century Fox. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author.
Note: Thoughts are in * and Italics.
The Jedi's ship passed through the Dagobah system quickly. They were still quite a long ways off from Corsucant, but they were gaining ground. Even at hyperspace speed, Obi-Was could not shake the feeling that they weren't going near fast enough or even if they were heading in the wrong direction. They were being to dependent on variables that weren't in their control.
"The contact said we should be getting close," Anakin said, hopefully.
"That's provided that they were right. For all we know, we could be flying blind," Obi-Wan said doubtfully.
"For all we know, we could be on the right path," Qui-Gon said, adding the only bit of optimism left in the ship. "Such negative thought will not help this quest, only hinder it."
Anakin nodded, taking the correction in stride, but Obi-Wan did nothing. For all the things he had in common with Qui-Gon, they were still extremely different. His former master had always managed to keep a clear mind, free of doubts, in every crisis they had fallen into. Obi-Wan, on the other hand, had a tendency to quickly slip into pessimism. He had alot of trouble finding the silver lining.
"I can't sense her, Master," Obi-Wan said.
"That doesn't mean she is not close."
"I had always been able to sense her before. Why would now be any different?"
Qui-Gon didn't have an answer for that one, but given the look on his face, he was trying to think of one. For a moment, Obi-Wan felt a little bit better. At least he knew there would always be at least one person who he could count of to support him. There was much comfort to be found in that thought.
"We will find her, Obi-Wan." Qui-Gon waited until Obi-Wan gave him some sort of reply which came in the form of a short nod, before the younger man returned to his own thoughts. He worried for his friend and continued to do so as he walked into the next area where Erju sat, hunched over a console.
"Have you found anything yet?" he asked.
Erju sat back, stroking his chin in thought. "It's hard to say. It's heavily encrypted and I've made very little progress in getting through it. For all I know, underneath all of this it could just be a recipe for hot chocolate."
"Keep working at it. This could be vital if it had been so heavily protected."
"That was my thought until we were ambushed. It's possible this was all just part of an elaborate trap."
"That might be true, but it also might be something else. There is more behind this and we must find out what it is."
Erju was silent and the expression on his face was that of a nervous and frightened man.
"Are you with us?"
There was no response.
Qui-Gon asked again. "Are you with us?"
Erju gulped once, clearly shaken. "Yeah."
It was enough to convince Qui-Gon, but he stood close as Erju worked. Suddenly, for the first time since their meeting, he found he did not trust Erju the same was Callisto did or the way he had before.
*Rekeme had found Callisto at about the same time a group of Tusken Raiders had found her. A week before this had happened, she had pasted a large group of them so they weren't exactly her biggest fans. They were afraid of her as most people were, but she was weak at tat moment and if revenge was going to be had, it had to have been then.
Rekeme showed up as they were prodding at her and he opened fire, scaring them off good. He binded her wounds and brought her back to his place, our place.
I hadn't been with the Mos Espa Nine all that long. In fact, when I came, it had been the seven, then the eight. Now it looked like we were becoming the nine. When Rekeme had walked in with the large bundle in his arms, we all pretty much knew what was going to happen. He would ask her to join us and she probably would accept, which she did. She was an escaped slave and would need protection pretty badly, and she would get that with us.
I won't lie to you, we're criminals. We always had been and probably would have continued. Maybe if we had been somewhere else it would have been different, but this was Tatooine. The rules are a little different here. But we weren't bad guys, although sometimes we did bad things, but they were to people who had it coming anyhow. Officially, we were traders. I won't tell you what we traded, but you can take a few guesses, you'll probably hit the mark, but I won't tell you if you're right.
Eventually she woke up and she healed. It took a little bit of time, considering she had lost a substantial amount of blood. She was Callisto, and she had always been one to bounce back from injury quicker than everyone else.
Almost immediately after her recovery, she was in the game with us completely. Most of the time, at least three of us were off planet, usually Alu, Bail, and Susim. Occasionally it was Trin, but she was a lot like me, hated the outside world and did everything she could to stay indoors. Unfortunately, that's what ended up getting her killed, but I'll get to that.
The point was, Callisto was still very angry about that whole business with Watto and the Black Sun. She was in the mood to seriously wound all involved parties any way she could. In Watto's case, she wanted to just take Anakin and Shmi because that would hamper his workload and possible drive him out of business. She also wanted to find those Black Sun lackey's and put a few dents in them. She was a bright kid, she knew she couldn't hurt the Black Sun itself, no matter how bad she wanted to. So she was willing to settle for offing a few lackeys.
Rekeme wasn't to thrilled about her wanted to screw with the Black Sun, but he understood why she wanted to. So he compromised with her and began looking for the guys that had messed with her that one day. As it turned out, they were back on Tatooine, on some big deal, very hush hush. Rekeme wasn't too big with revenge, but he could tell something off was going on when he couldn't find out the details of the deal. Normally with his resources, that had never been a problem. All of sudden, his contacts were drawing blanks. Either they didn't know what was going on, which would be pretty odd in itself, or someone was afraid to talk. Both of those things made him want to know more. Rekeme was always a very curious guy, and normally, that was a good thing.
So he had Trin and myself surf the cyber waves to see what we could dig up. Callisto, Susim, Rekeme, Alu, Yelu, and Wester all went about Mos Espa to different places to gather information as discreetly as possible. Something about the whole set up bothered Rekeme. turned out he was right.
One night I had stepped out to get some new data storage. When I came back, I found Callisto, Rekeme and the rest standing about. When I stepped closer, I saw Trin, or what was left of her at least. She was half welded to the computer from blaster burns. She had never been much of a fighter, and given the way he injuries were, even if she had she still wouldn't have had a chance.
Rekeme had taken her murder as a warning, but it really had only been a prelude to what else was going to go down.
We just didn't think how soon.
We held a small funeral for her in the Dune Sea. She had no family to notify, none of us did. We had all one thing in common, we had all been alone in life, but we hadn't been alone in the Dune Sea.
Alu, with is big brown eyes, had been the first to fall, taken by sniper fire. Rekeme reacted quickly, but not before Susim and Yelu both were hit.
It had been an ambush, a very carefully planned ambush.
Bail and Rekeme had taken shelter behind some rocks to return fire. Callisto took point at the top of a low cliff where was shielded by higher rocks. She managed to take out more than anyone else had, but it hadn't been enough. Thugs showed up down and in the open. One stabbed Bail through the heart.
Rekeme saw this, and jumped out from where he had taken shoulder and gutted the tough. Before he could relish the victory, he was run through from behind.
The battle was lost, if you even wanted to call it that. Callisto was furious, she wanted in to take down as many as she could before she fell. But she wasn't a dumb kid, and she knew the value behind patience. She slipped away before they could find her. Me, I'm a coward. The minute the guns went off, I did too.
After all of that, we stayed in contact over the years. Callisto was a sly one, she tracked down everyone of them involved. I never asked what she did to those men, and I still don't want to know. She used every resource she had and found each and every one of them. All but one.
Rapalen, the current head of the Black Sun.*
Callisto awoke to the sensation of a boot prodding her shoulder. Her instincts were failing her as normally she would have woken instantly at the approach of another person. But then, why should this come as any surprise, she had failed to see the trap when it should have been quite obvious to her.
*Don't sell yourself shirt kid, these guys are professionals.* She shook her head. The thought was of absolutely no consolation, but she would make it up. All of this might still work to her advantage somehow. She just had to be wary.
She looked up to see the Mandalorian, if that's what he even was.
"Get up," he said crisply.
Callisto rose, making her displeasure very clear of her face. Of course the bounty hunter didn't care, but did exercise caution in handling her.
He pushed her down the off ramp of his ship, her hands bound before her and a rifle pressed between her shoulder blades. If it were possible, he probably would have had her ankles bound as well. He knew she was dangerous, but he would leave her with some measure of dignity. If he hadn't, he had a feeling it would have lead to her increased determination to escape. *Sometimes,* Fett mused, *that was all it took.*
Callisto allowed herself to be pushed. There was so sense if rousing trouble now. It could just lead to more injuries and make battle later that much more difficult. If she was going to where she thought she was going, she would need every ounce of strength she had.
Soon, a few guards joined the tiny procession. It was definitely being made a very big deal. Someone was definitely showing off. showing off to her what power they had to her and to the rest of the people working there. Almost as if to say, "Look, we have her. No one else could, but now we do." She allowed herself a tiny smirk. That would be over soon enough.
Moments later, the parade ended inside a small conference hall. She noted the extravagance painted all around her. They knew how to make their money, and lots of it. Most of all, they were arrogant enough to broadcast it to the entire galaxy, all from the city planet.
She was back on Corsucant.
She shook her head. "Really, all this trouble for me? If you wanted me that badly, why didn't you just take me sooner? For gods' sake, I live practically down the block," Callisto said.
Rapalen turned. "But where would the fun be in that?"
Callisto smiled, her eyes dark. "Yes, where would it be?"
The underlord turned to the bounty hunter. "You may go now. Your fee has now been paid in full."
Fett nodded once and then left.
Now she was alone with the Black Sun.
Raplen looked her over and then shook his head. "I honestly didn't think it was possible. I was sure you were going to be brought to me dead, even though I specifically asked for you alive. How did you allow yourself to be captured so easily? You're losing it, Callisto."
"You never had it."
"No?" He laughed. "Perhaps our opinions on might differ somewhat. Prowess in battle is one thing, but strategy and power are different. I prefer to make my wealth through others along with my own hand. You isolate yourself. That was a mistake."
"I'm not the one who made the mistake."
He stepped closer. "I worked with that team even before I controlled this organization. Those people were quite valuable to me," he said with a hiss.
"You're breaking my heart."
Rapalen backhanded her hard, knocking her head sharply to the side. When she turned it back, she could taste the copper tang of blood in her mouth.
"You really should have just let it be. Counted your losses and considered yourself lucky to have made it out alive, which you were. Instead, you made the mistake of crossing us."
"So have me killed and get it over with," Callisto said.
"I considered that, but then I decided against it. You see, you've become quite the popular one, both with my allies and my enemies. I'm handing you over to someone else along with that data you're fought so hard to take for all of these years," he said with a triumphant grin.
"That's going to be difficult, considering you don't even have it anymore."
He took her face in his hand. "Really. You know, if I were you, I would have been much more careful who I placed my trust with." He waved his hand and the guards pulled her off.