Volar was sitting cross-legged on a crate, Hydro-spanner in hand, tweaking one of the components of the Regal Stars' Hyperdrive unit. He noticed that his Holo-recorder was beeping and laid it out on the palm of his hand. The Hologram activated, displaying a hooded figure whose face was concealed by the shadow of his cloak.

"Volar Odias of the Galactic Trade Commission. I have an offer you simply can not refuse. In this age of heightened warfare the Republic often finds itself out gunned by the invading Empire.

We have at our disposal a line of unique weaponry, the type of weaponry that could turn the tide of war. The kind of technology that the Republic would shell out a lot of money to get its hands on.

Our problem is that we, 'we' being my associates and I, cannot be seen dealing with the Republic. It is bad for... business. Surely you understand what I mean. You and your GTC associates, however, can. And so what I offer you is this. You and your Vigo Davan Kelhur meet our associates at a secure location of our choosing. We shall sell you the goods for a modest sum. You then have exclusive control over the manufacture and sale of the weapons to a buyer of your choosing, and on your own terms. Please, make haste in contacting us. We eagerly await word of your approval."

The Hologram then turned itself off. Volar sat looking at it for a moment, then turned on his Comm.

"Davan? Could you come down to the Hangar bay? I have something here you need to see"

Davan was in the cantina, it had been a quiet day so he decided to come down and socialise with some members of the Galactic Trade Commission. It was always good to make an apperance once in a while to the lower ranked members not just the elite members of the consortiums. He had decided against against drinking as it was still early in the day.

Several of the members, most likely trying to impress one of the Vigos, were telling stories of their exploits. Davan couldn't help but smile it was good seeing all of these men and women trying to work their way up the GTC and into the Vigo's trusted circle... or as much as criminals could trust each other.

Davan's comm went off, it was one of the elite members of the Galactic Trade Commission, Volar Odias.
""Davan? Could you come down to the Hangar bay? I have something here you need to see"
"Ok Volar, I'm on my way I should be with you in a few minutes"
Davan shut off the comm and grab his coat. He turned to the GTC members at the table
"Its been a pleasure but I have to go now" He threw some credits onto the table "The next few rounds are on me, thanks for the stories"

Davan reached the hanger soon after leaving the cantina, he was eager to meet up with Volar he was interested in what Volar needed to talk about. He walked into the hanger and looked around for Volar or his ship.

Volar turned to ZR-23.

"Zar, get on the ship and make sure all systems are fully functional, I will need her to be ready for departure soon. Oh, and you might need this"

Volar passed the component he had been working on to ZR-23.

"Of course, Master. I will re-install this right away"

ZR-23 turned and walked up the loading ramp of the Regal star, soon disappearing from sight.

Volar looked across and saw Davan enter the Hangar. He waved him over.

"Check this out"

Volar handed Davan his Holo-recorder.

Davan watched the recording, his mind flashed back to when Volar had first been recruited and Davan took the newbie off to Voss for a simple business meeting, of course it had turned out to be anything but simple and forged a strong friendship between Davan and Volar after coming through it.

"The Gormak? They wore those robes when we spoke to those holo-images, and why else would they contact you and ask for me by name?" Davan thought for a moment "We are meant to be in business now, still behind the scenes of course but why hide themselves. They are secure lines. Your thoughts Volar?"

Volar thought on what Davan had said. He sure had a sharp mind to remember that one.

"Like you said, we are in business. I would imagine they are being overly-cautious. Remember, Gormak technology, particularly in communication and military hardware, is pretty damn advanced. They probably think our channels are not as secure as theirs."

Volar lifted himself off the crate and began to walk toward his ship.

"We'll both go on my ship. I have plenty of room for the cargo, and I imagine our boys would be alarmed by multiple ships arriving on the scene. Either way, we've passed their 'tests'. Hopefully this one can be a little more smooth, eh?"

Volar jogged up the loading ramp.

Davan watched Volar run up the ramp before turning towards his own ship. He walked inside to his private quarters, his armour was already laid out. He decided not to put it on yet and instead picked it up and headed back out to Volar's ship.

He walked up the loading ramp and went to the bridge to meet Volar. Even though Volar had given a good reason for whoever was on the message to hide themselves things still didn't add up for Davan. "So where are we going to meet this lot Volar?"

"It's an old, private hangar for a private tower used by senators on Coruscant before the sacking. Now it is all abandoned, the perfect type of place to do this kind of deal. We have a few days yet before the actual meeting takes place. I've gone ahead and booked accommodation nearby for us to use until the time comes"

Volar began tapping into the console, which pulled up the loading ramp. The engines then lit up, and the Regal Star slowly lifted off, and navigated out of the hangar. Soon the ship was shooting its way through the atmosphere of Nar Shadaa and into space. Volar tapped away at the console again and the ship powered up to make the jump to lightspeed.



"Well..." Volar turned to look at Davan. "Lets hope this goes better than last time!"

On being reminded of the previous run in with the Gormak Davan rubbed his cheek. He remembered the moment his face had been smashed into that wall, completely breaking his cheekbone and one of most severe pains he had ever experienced. Made ever worse by the fact he had to wait a couple of days for proper medical treatment was worse, just basic things like eating and talking caused pain.


"If we have a few days we could set up a few sercurity measures, just in case. Do you have anything we could use on board? If not we can easily get stuff from one of our contacts on Coruscant"

With a flick of a switch, the Regal Star jumped to lightspeed. Volar slumped back and thought about Davans suggestion for a few moments.

"We'll see. Since the meeting is a place of their choosing, odds are they will have security personnel there, which will make setting up our own perimeter pretty hard beyond our own residence. Nothing is stopping us from scouting this place out, however."

"In terms of equipment, all I have on board are a couple of blasters, spare clothes, food and medical supplies and some spare ship parts. And this rust-heap of a droid here"

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that, Master"

"If you can find use for any of that then, by all means help yourself. If not we'd be better off picking up equipment on Coruscant."

"Well with that stuff if i had a few days I could create a super weapon to get on the Republic and the Empire" Davan winked at Volar. "Its probably best we wait until we reach our destination then."

Davan settled into the co-pilots chair and got as cozy as he could "Well I feel I may need some sleep before this mission, who knows what could happen with the Gormak, wake me up if you need anything Volar" Davan closed his eyes, seeing images of the fight back on Voss until he dozed off.

Volar turned to see Davan was still asleep. He swiveled back and forward in his chair for a while. He turned to ZR-23.

"Zar"

The droid activated, pulling its head up and light once again appearing from its eyes.

"Yes, Master?"

"We're going to need you to stay on the ship. We will be landing at a star port a small distance way from our intended destination. If I activate this emergency transponder, fly to my position"

"But Master, Co-Pilot Dania told me I'm not supposed to-"

"I own the ship, not Dania. Be ready for my signal"

"Of course, Master"

ZR-23 shut himself down.

Davan was back in the arena, it was odd he couldn't remember how he got here. He was looking at the man on the floor, he couldn't take his eyes away until he suddenly floated towards the wall. His felt his face slam into the wall but then he didn't feel it and once again his face went into the wall. No pain. It must be the adrenaline.
He was falling all over the place, there was no focus, he swung his arm at a shadowy figure over and over but to no avail. Once again he seemed to be floating through the air. All he could see now was a massive head pierced with a spike heading towards him. Confusion gripped Davan, this didn't make any sense. The spike came through the head splitting it in half and hurtled towards Davan.


Davan woke quickly, he was sweating. He looked around and saw he was in the cockpit of The Regal Star, Volar Odias's ship. He couldn't remember what he had been dreaming about that would cause such a reaction.

Volar observed Davan as he shook and began to sweat in his sleep. Clearly he was having some kind of Nightmare. Not the best experience to have right before a contract that may require them to have their wits fully with them.

"Zar, go prepare a drink for him, preferably something that will calm his nerves"

Volar saw that Davan was waking up.

"Welcome back to the living Chief. We are about to drop out of hyperspace"

ZR-23 re-entered the cockpit and presented a drink to Davan.

Davan took the drink and thanked the droid, he must have still been sleepy, he never thanked droids. Must of the time they were annoying either beeping or metallic voices. They also seemed to be very good at getting in the way.

"Good to know, I am eager to get a look around this meeting place so we have options of what to do... this incase things don't go to plan."

Davan strecthed his muscles before sitting back up straight in his chair.

"OK, preparing deceleration."

Volar tapped at some of the controls. The Regal Star dropped out of hyperspace above the city-planet of Coruscant.

"Home, Sweet Home"

ZR-23 stood back in to the corner and found itself the most secure position for standing. The droid had suffered many 'incidents' during Volars more 'exciting' landings. The ship began to pull down into the atmosphere. The hull of the ship cut through the clouds until out of the other side appeared a top-down view of the City, with Skyscrapers reaching out towards the sky, and criss-cross of transports all in line across the entire city, as far as they eye could see and beyond.

"Crew of the Regal Star, please state your intentions."

"This is Volar Odias, captain of the Regal Star. We are here on a business meeting, with accommodation prepared for us in D quadrant."

"Roger that Captain Odias, please set course for Hangar Bay CX-1"

Volar set the ship into deceleration and maneuvered it into the Hangar Bay. With a low thud the ship set down, and the loading ramp lowered. ZR-23 picked up it's custom blaster rifle and set itself to follow Volar and Davan at a distance of 5 metres. Volar walked down the loading ramp and walked over to the edge of the hangar and looked out on the City.

"When people think of Coruscant, they think of pompous Jedi, corrupt politicians, nightlife and dangerous criminals. In the day it is almost an entirely different world."

Volar took a step towards the edge and looked over.

"It seems as though you can almost see the bottom."