RECIPROCITY

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Some that read this may notice that many parts of it are almost identical to sections in the runon. That is because both were being developed at the same time, and frequently I would extract portions of this story and add them to the runnon, and I would also take elements of the runon pertaining to the story and rewrite them from the main character's point of view. I made every effort to preserve the intent of other peoples contributions, and, aside from a few gramatical corrections, I preserved the dialogue between characters exactly. That, above all else, makes this story a cooperative work.

PROLOGUE

As soon as Amon entered his cabin, he knew he wasn't alone.

"You couldn't let it go." He told Jociam Chandler, who he noticed sitting on his bunk with a blaster pistol in his lap.

"I cannot let what you are doing, what WE are doing, go on." Jociam replied. He raised his gun and aimed it at Nezumi.

"Do you honestly think that you can stop me with that? What are you going to do? Shoot me? No matter which of us is real, you know that that won't work."

"Perhaps not." Jociam said, and turned the gun on himself.

"Now wait a minute. Do you realize what you are doing?"

"Yes. If I am the real one and not the halucination, then by shooting myself I will kill you. And if I'm not the real one...well, one of us left Gauss eighty long years ago seeking adventure, and at least the last remaining remnant of your soul won't have to witness the nightmare it has become anymore. At least, one way or another, I am done." With that Jociam pulled the trigger.

Jociam vanished as the blaster shot entered his brain, and Nezumi found himself alone in his cabin. He smiled.

"So the last part of my soul is dead? Perhaps. Or perhaps the last hinderance." He shrugged. "I don't think it matters, as long as he is gone."

Nezumi grabbed the slugthrowing rifle off of his wall. He knew what he would have to do, had known what needed to be done for a long time, only Jociam had held him back. He also knew that it would pretty much end his tenure with the Intruder Wing. No matter.

------

SA Stan heard the door to his office chime.

"Enter," he said gruffly. He was busy and didn't need the distraction. He stretched out with his still young force powers and got nothing from the visitor. Probably General Daishi comming to complain about something, He was the only one that Stan knew of that had a ysalamir.

The door slid open and in strode a man in an old republic army jacket. He raised his rifle and fired three scilenced rounds before Stan could react.

------

Nezumi looked at the unconcious and dying Sector Admiral. "Why do I always have to clean up the mess?" He asked nobody in particular.

He walked out past the dead guards, chearfully whistling an old folk song. His job in the IW was done. It was time for a little him-time. Jociam, before voiding himself from Amon's psyche, had made references to leaving a world called Gauss eighty years ago. Perhaps Gauss could tell Nezumi a little bit about his own past. Nez was dying to learn his real name.

He was off the Intruder and safely in hyperspace before anyone realized anything was wrong.

------

Once outside of the effects of the Ysalamir, Stan began to regain conciousness. He knew that he was hurt badly, and that there wasn't much time. In a flash of insight, he mentally projected the image of his attacker. He hopped that at least some force sensitive member of the crew would pick up on it.

------

Major Geist caught Stan's desperate thoughts. He quickly got on his com system and ordered a medical team to Stan's office. After that he placed a second call to General Daishi.

"General, I'm borrowing the POD for a while. I don't know how long I'll be gone." He said. "I need you to get me all of Sortek's old files on Amon Nezumi"

"Where are you going?" Daishi asked.

"To kill a freind."

------

Geist was in the launch bay when Eucilid found him.

"So he's OUR loose cannon, is he?" Euc said angry and sarcastic. "Stan is lucky to be alive."

"I'll bet." Geist felt the anger in Eucilid, it fueled his own and in that moment, he snapped. Spinning around, he focused the force, slamming Euc against the wall and pinning him there. "I know my failures, and I will deal with them. If you interfere, I will kill you." He said, barely registering that he was already choking the life out of Eucilid.

"Major Geist, let him go." The suprise of hearing Kevin's voice broke Geist from his anger. Eucilid slid to the deck.

"Euc, get down to the med bay and get checked out." Kevin ordered. Eucilid staggered out of the room, and Kevin turned to Geist. "I didn't know you could do that." He said.

Geist, feeling a bit sore from the exertion of so much power, and fully expecting to be arrested for his little tantrum, simply shrugged. "Neither did I." He said, "I'm not really trained in force use, but sometimes I can pull stuff off."

"Like trying to kill fleet admirals that point out that you screwed up?"

"That was a mistake, sir, I wasn't thinking."

"Precisely why I wanted to talk to you before you went after Nezumi. You once told me that a good leader doesn't make decisions based on emotion. I don't think you have the objectivity right now to do this job."

"Are you ordering me to stay here?"

"Damnit man! All of us feel responsible. Me, Dogger, both of us had opportunities and more than enough motive to kill this man. Had we done so, none of this would have happened. But if you go off on some half cocked quest for vengeance like this, you know Nezumi will eat you, and anyone that goes with you, alive. I guess, for now, I'm ordering you to stay here."

Geist reached up to his collar and removed his rank insignia, dropping it at Kevin's feet.

"Is this your resignation, Major?" Kevin asked, suprised.

"He is my responsibility, I have to deal with him." With that, Geist turned and walked aboard his shuttle.

------

PART ONE

There will come a time for a reckoning. A settling of accounts, when all of my past decisions will be placed before the ultimate of judges and scrutinized. It is perhaps my greatest fear, to have my mistakes placed before God. --Alex Hazen

-----

Years ago. The tangled web that was Coruscant's underbelly.

Luietenant Geist led his squad through the dark passageway. The assailant had last been reported in this area. He was supposedly badly wounded, though considering that the man had fought his way out of the imperial palace to here, kilometers away, Geist doubted that he could be that bad off.

"Up ahead sir." One of Geist's men reported. Ahead a man in battered armor of unfamiliar origin stumbled into view. Barely able to stand, he raised a strange weapon to his shoulder, which began to buck in his hands.

Geist saw no muzzle flash and heard no sound, nonetheless, his men began to fall around him. "Take him down!" He cried as he raised his own blaster. A bullet struck him in the shoulder and dropped him to the deck before he could fire. Another man jumped on the assailant, knocking him to the ground and ripping the gun from his grasp. It looked as though the assailant had been subdued.

A ruby shaft emerged from the soldier's back. With perhaps the last of his strength, the assailant heaved the now dead man off of him and staggered to his feet, a lightsaber in his left hand. The four remaining soldiers raised their weapons, but the assailant passed out and dropped again to the cold stone floor.

Geist got back to his feet, clutching his wounded shoulder. "Join the army, get shot," he said. "Lets get this scum to the detention area."

One of the soldiers looked over the unconcious form. "This armor of his stopped a couple of blaster shots," he said. " Even stormmies don't get this good. Why do the criminals always get the good stuff?"

"We make up for our poor equipment with iron will, total devotion, and determination, soldier." Geist responded sarcastically.

"He still managed to kill a bunch of the squad, not to mention shoot his way out of the pallace."

"If its the same guy." Another soldier pointed out.

"God I hope it is." Geist said. "I'd hate to think there might be more than one of these guys out there. Lets get him locked up."

One soldier hoisted the unconcious man on his shoulder. With some dificulty they made it to the detention area, where a stormtrooper waited for them.

"You have the assailant?" He said.

"We've got him. Didn't go down quietly." Geist responded. "What was he trying to do at the pallace?"

"He was attempting to kill the Emperor."

"Whoa!" Geist said suprised. "No kidding? Guy's got a lot of balls to pull something like that." He winced at a twinge of pain shot through his shoulder.

"You are wounded?" The stormtrooper asked.

"Caught a round in the shoulder."

"Excellent."

Before Geist could register the odd response, the stormtrooper was firing. Within an instant, his last four soldiers were dead. The stormtrooper lined his blaster up on Geist.

In panic, Geist lashed out the only way he could. The force coursed though him, hurling the stormtrooper to ground.

Suprised as ever by the sudden outpouring of power, Geist didn't catch the movements of the now concious assailant, who moved faster than a man in perfect health could, carrying a shard of durasteel in his hand. Wielding the fragment like a dagger, he buried it into Geist's gut.

-----

Jociam Geist. After he had recovered aboard Nez's ship, and agreed to join Nezumi's band of mercenaries, Nezumi had told him that that name had been what kept him alive. Geist had never understood why. As he thought back, he realized that he never truly understood anything about Nezumi. Now his assumptions had brought him to this point, Hurtling through hyperspace looking for a world he never heard of, having abandoned everything he used to believe in. Perhaps Kevin was right.

But then, he really had no choice. There was too much history between him and Nezumi. Too many years fighting together on too many worlds. He couldn't bring the POD in just yet. It would be too conspicuous. He needed a target for them, and therein was the problem.

Sortek's files on Nezumi had made repeated reference to a world called Gauss. The world was completely unknown to Geist. He was certain that the imperial archives might contain the world. But all the archives were lost on Erebria. Perhaps they were still there. Though the planet was now a blasted wasteland under New Republic control, it was the only lead he had.

He was certain Nezumi was searching for the same thing. He hoped that Nez was just as in the dark as he.

------

"Rebellion, Empire, New Republic, Old Republic, its all really the same thing," Nezumi once told Geist. "One says they want justice in a cruel world. another says they want order in a chaotic world. You hear from the New Republic how cruel the Empire was, but then, durring the rebellion these 'justice seekers' killed millions themselves. They destroyed two deathstars and who knows how many warships. Those things weren't exactly drone controlled. And then there are republic complaints about imperial slavery. The rebs are just as guilty. Sure everyone thinks of a droid as an appliance, but hey, alot of them are self aware. If it wasn't policy to wipe their memories every now and then, there might be a droid revolution." Geist remembered that Nez's droid nodded with feverent agreement at that last statement. "Yeah, they're pretty much all the same. The same policies wrapped up differently. And all their money is good. Thats something you have to remember. A canny man can make alot of money playing both sides of the war."

-----

Geist entered the dim tavern, his nose assaulted by the smell of bad cigarrettes and worse alchohol. It was the kind of dive that he used to frequent for years when he was working with Nez. He remembered more than one night passed out in a corner, celebrating a successful job, surrounded by equally stuporous space monkeys. They all got hammered, all except Nezumi himself. He didn't drink.

Geist's ship had landed at what remained of Erebria's spaceport an hour ago. After getting through customs and convincing the authorities that, no, he wasn't one of the renegade Intruder Wing, he made for the nearest burned out backwater tavern he could find. He wasn't particularly interested in getting roaring drunk, but from experience he knew that he could find the contacts he needed there.

He scanned the faces in the crowd. He focused on one, a woman, at a rear table. She was the last person he was expecting to run into here.

She turned as though she sensed him watching her. Actually, she probably did sense him. She was good at that. She seemed just as suprised to see him here as he was to see her.

Geist went over to her table and sat down. "Hello Mellisaa," He said.

"Jociam," She responded. "I didn't think I would see you again."

"Nor I you. I thought you were running Nez's spys on Coruscant."

"He sent me here after Project Mayhem fell apart. He wanted me to keep an eye on the rebels." Mellisaa caught something in Geist's mood. "You're looking for him, aren't you?"

"Yes. Do you know where he is?"

"You're going to kill him."

"If I can."

"I'm not going to help you. I owe him too much."

"Still the devoted one. No wonder we never got married. He's become unstable. He attacked one of our officers and fled." Briefly, the thought So did I shot through Geist's mind.

Mellisaa caught it. "It happened again?"

"We aren't talking about me, dearheart. We're talking about Nezumi."

"How bad this time?"

Geist shook his head. "I got mad and before I even realized it, I had nearly killed someone."

"You need proper training, Jociam. Your power in the force is fairly high. If you don't learn how to use it, you will become more dangerous than Amon."

"I don't have time right now. Nezumi has to be dealt with."

"Because he did the exact same thing as you?"

"I acted on impulse without realizing it." Geist said. "Nezumi coldly walked into Stan's office and shot him full of holes. There are worlds of diference."

"Even if I wanted to help you, I couldn't. I don't know where he is." Mellisaa probed into Geist's mind. "But you think you know where he's going. Gauss."

"Does the name mean anything to you?"

"Once when I was in Amon's mind, I remember hearing that name, connected with thoughts of home. Is it his homeworld?"

"I think so. But I don't know where it is. And Nezumi knows so little about his past I doubt he knows. But I think he's on his way there. He went through all of our databases looking for it before he fled."

"Could he be trying to learn about his past?"

"Could be, I need to find the location first."

"So you can be waiting for him when he arrives."

"It has to be this way, dearheart. Nezumi has become too dangerous."

"For revenge's sake?"

"He was my responsibility. I'm the one who swore he could be trusted." Geist looked into Mellisaa's eyes. "I could use your help."

"You once asked me to abandon Amon and come with you to the Intruder Wing. My answer hasen't changed." Mellisaa shook her head. "Even if what you say is true, I will not help you kill him."

"Dear sweet woman. I pray that you are wrong about Nezumi. Because when I find him, he dies." With that, Geist got up and left the tavern.

-----

"I understand that you and Mellisaa are quite an item now," Nezumi said years ago.

"She's a great girl. But I think she's really just taking pity on the old soldier with uncontrollable power." Geist responded. "Her heart seems to belong to you."

"Really?"

"I've never seen such fierce loyalty, and I used to know stormtroopers."

"My space monkeys and I took her out of a bad life, taught her how to use her power. We gave her a home, and a family to belong to. To her I am the father. Facinating isn't it?" Nezumi chuckled. "I do believe Jonas hired us solely on my ability to inspire such loyalty in downtrodden people like that."

"It couldn't have anything to do with our abiliy to blow up things that aren't supposed to blow up." Geist responded.

"Jonas is a different sort of fellow. Your usual merchant will barter you to death trying to get the best deal. Jonas just offered us an astronomical fee and didn't bargain at all, which implies non mercantile intentions. He was an imperial officer, so terrorism comes to mind. But he didn't spout out the flimsy ideology that is the trademark of the terrorist. He seems very much to be a grand master contemplating his next chess move. A curious individual." Nezumi shrugged. "But to get back to the subject at hand, Though Mellisaa sees me as a father of sorts, I know she loves you."

"You say that like it is a problem."

"Love is a dangerous thing, young man. If you let it get to you and run your life, who knows how you might end up."

Some time after that conversation, Geist was offered a position in the Intruder Wing's 2nd POD regiment. He asked Mellisaa to come with him, but she refused. He took the position anyway, so in a way he took Nez's advice to heart. He still thought of her often though.

-----

From his concealed position under the skeleton of some large animal or other, Geist studdied the rebel command center outside the frontier town carefully through his binocs. When the ISD Illustrious crashed into the planet during the battle of Erebria, the primary computer core was destroyed completely. The rebels had moved all the remaining data to this base after they ocupied the planet. The town that had arrisen out of the wasteland nearby was one of several that grew as refugees from the ruined region began looking for a new life.

The rebels obviously feared guerrilla attacks, there were soldiers on every streetcorner. The base itself seemed to have a strong garrison. All in all it looked alot like the hundreds of smash and grab jobs Geist had pulled during his time with Nez. Simple.

Yeah, simple. The opening in the rebel patrols Geist was waiting for appeared, and almost before he realized it, he was up and running. He didn't have much time before they closed the gap in their perimeter, but he was relying on his combat armor to protect him if this didn't work.

With speed that he could only manage in his powered combat suit, Geist quickly slipped through the perimeter without tripping a single alarm. He found the window he was looking for and, first double checking that he was unnoticed, started up his "glass cutter". The short bladed lightsabers built into his armor's forearms, a gift from Mellisaa long ago, quickly gained him entry into the facility. He found himself alone in a computer room. Precisely where he wanted to be.

The rebels had moved all the most important computer files off of the planet long ago. What remained was hardly vital military information, but Geist hopped it had what he needed.

His hopes were dashed when he saw the main computer. Nezumi had been here first. The computer was ruined by a lightsaber, the only legible thing remaining was a half burned sheet of paper with a few lines on it.

ADMIRAL KARL GARRETT

IMPERIAL NAVAL OFFICER IN COMMAND OF FORCE AMBER

ORIGINAL HOMEWORLD: GAUSS

CURRENT LOCATION: PARAK

This smelled like a trap to Geist. Shoot, it would smell like a trap to a retarded gamorean. But his options were limited. Geist pocketed the paper.

Outside, he heard alarms and the sound of blaster fire.

-----

Blaster fire. A number of months before this, Captain Geist looked around his shattered company's position, on the edge of the starport of Eridani. Everything was in position, as ready as they could be. The 2nd Heavy Infantry had already repelled a major assault against the starport, their only toehold on the planet. Now five minutes after the fatefull call of "many enemy troops converging on the starport", Beta close assault company of Alpha battalion awaited the comming storm.

He soon caught sight of the lead armor battalion advancing through a burned out field. Forty juggernaught heavy tanks. Enough firepower to role clean through the 2nd Heavy Infantry and their reinforcements, the 1st Commando. For that brief moment, Geist saw death staring him in the face.

But something about the picture didn't look right. He had been over that field before, looking for a good defensive position. It didn't look the same now. He had his armor cycle through diferent view modes. from vislight to thermal to magscan and got nothing. Finally, hating the necessity but needing to know, he stretched out with his mind, and got something. There were people out there. People who seemed pleased to see this horde of heavy armor approaching, not as allies, but as... hunters. Well I'll be damned...

Rockets shot from the concealed position, striking tanks and bringing them to a halt in a blast of artificial lightning. Geist recognized the weapons, had used them himself on occasion, Ion warheads. That pretty much confirmed what Geist had already suspected. He knew what came next.

Seeming for all the world to be spirits of the underworld comming to gather souls, a handfull of men emerged from the ground and ran for the tanks. With reflexes honed through constant practice and enhanced by their powered combat armor, the agents recklessly charged, using thruster assisted leaps to board the temporarily disabled tanks, where they then began to plant sequence charges with what only could be described as pure delight.

The agents soon fled, moulding into the background again in a way that would be sureal to Geist if he weren't already familiar with their mimetic armor. Behind them they left the burning remnants of nearly two dozen heavy tanks. The rebel advance came to a screeching halt, the rebel commander obviously unwilling to send his armor into more of these ambushes. That left him only two options, and rebel commanders don't have the stomach to use artillery or orbital bombardment against an inhabited city.

On his company frequency, Geist began to give orders. "Prepare for an infantry assault," He said. "Plan Alabaster". He began to make sure his own combat armor was ready. Infantry they could deal with.

-----

That had been the last time Geist had been in a ground battle. He had been badly wounded and missed out on all the fun on Erebria. Now Geist moved quickly through the facility, rushing headlong into another fight. That blaster fire meant that he was pretty much out of time. He turned a corner and was confronted by a rebel soldier. The soldier raised his blaster by reflex, but before he could act, Geist took his head with a backhand swipe of his lightsaber. Ahead, the heavy blast doors slammed shut.

Geist turned to the technician who had closed the door. He grabbed him, pinned him to the wall and raised his right arm saber to the tech's throat.

"The door code." he said.

"Marybeth." The frightened tech replied.

"You're joking." Geist responded suprised.

"No! No!" The tech said frantically.

Geist dropped him. "You enter it."

The tech complied and the doors opened. Shaking his head, Geist ran into the sunlight. Ahead came Master, Narm, Hippie, and Macintosh.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" He asked as the last guard was felled. Of course he already had a good idea what. Kevin was a persistant man.

"We came to get you, Major." Mac replied.

"Brilliant, four known officers of the intruder wing wandering around a NR controlled planet. Are you trying to get us all killed?" Geist sighed. "Alright. Your ships have probablly been found and confiscated by now. Mine is this way." He ran in the direction indicated, leaving the others little choice but to follow.

Without much further problem they got to the shuttlecraft Anabel. As they came aboard they were greeted by Mellisaa, who was bleeding profusely from behind the ear.

"I changed my mind," She said simply, then passed out.

Geist bent down to check her out.

"What the hell is going on here?" Narm asked.

Geist removed the helmet of his armor and turned his head to reveal the long scar behind his own ear.

"When someone works for Nezumi they have a comlink implanted behind their right ear. It allows then to remain in constant contact with each other. She tore hers out. The only problem is Nez had them designed so that if you remove yours without proper medical support you are likely to bleed to death." He got a medkit and began to treat her wound. "She should be fine."

"This is insane." Hippie spat.

"Of course." Geist said, "What kind of man did you think we were dealing with?"

-----

Years ago, a lifetime ago, Geist and Nezumi sat in the lounge of a fasionable hotel on Correllia. Geist craddled a sniffer full of Correllian Whiskey in one hand. Nezumi had his flask of fruit juice.

"You did well, Jociam." Nezumi said. "You lead the strike team expertly. Your performance warrents a bonus."

"I did my job." Geist replied. "I don't need more money for doing my job. I don't want more money."

"And why is that?" Nezumi asked. "Do you feel you've betrayed someone by becoming a mercenary? That you have sold your soul? Indead you fit your name so well."

Geist looked at Nez, confused. "I don't understand..."

"And well you don't." Nezumi responded. "The instant you do, you may become a liability. What have you betrayed? The Emperor was evil because he destroyed planets and enslaved wookies, Mon Mothma is good because the power she wanted to grab was against the Emperor. Thrawn is neither good nor evil, he's dead. What is left to betray? That coward Paelleon? The New Republic? The Old Republic? The Maker? The Destroyer? The Infidels? The Heretics? The Martyrs? The Riteous?"

Geist had no answer for this. Truth be told, he wasn't sure it was meant for him anymore.

-----

Geist was on his way to the pilots compartment when Master came up to him. "I'm taking you back to the Intruder, Geist." He said.

Geist shook his head. "No you're not, there is no way I'm going back, I set out to find Nez and I'm going to finish it."

Both Geist and Master turned to the other three men in the cabin. Hippie and Narm seemed to be making wagers on when either Geist or Master resorted to violence. Mac just watched the growing argument. On the other side of the cabin, Mellisaa remained unconcious.

"You guys gonna help me with this?" Master asked his fellow officers.

Hippie shot a glance at Mellisaa, unconcious because she removed a device Nezumi had implanted in her head. He looked back at Master and shook his head, saying nothing.

Incongruosly chearfull, Narm said. "Let me think about that one.....nope."

"It's your fight Master." Mac said, "Kev may have put me in charge, but he said for me to take your advice; so, I'll let you sort it out."

Master muttered something under his breath then looked back at Geist.

"I was ordered to bring you back and that what I'm gonna do. You don't need to chase Nez. It's not your fault he injured Stan and ran off."

Geist wasn't convinced of that. Had he not been the one that offered Nezumi the contract with the IW, even though he knew that at his best Nezumi was unstable? "I am doing this so it doesn't happen again. Hippie said it, he is insane." Almost to himself, Geist added "Anyway, I feel like I could have stopped him"

"You couldn't have stopped him; you just don't get it. He made up his own mind when he injured Stan, and he will pay the consequences, but you dont need to chase him across the galaxy. We... the Intruder Wing will find him, and then he will be tried and judged." Master said.

Sure, the IW will find him, a man that spent eighty years killing enemies that the IW could never possibly... Don't they understand what this man is? Geist felt anger pour into him. Anger at all the fools that thought they could deal with anything, anger at Nezumi, anger at himself, it didn't matter. Dark energy flowed through him and Master was hurled into the durasteel bulkhead. Geist countinued speaking with all the deathly calm of Ahab.

"I will catch him, even if I have to follow him across the whole goddamned universe! I will get him, and he will pay for what he did. And there isn't a damn thing you can do about it. You can either come with me or get the hell out of my way."

Master slowly stood, a blaster in his hand. "I'm sorry you feel that way because you are comming back no matter if you like it or not"

In an instant, Geist felt his anger disipate. Frustrated, he turned away from Master. He was letting this get out of hand. The image of Mellisaa shaking her head and repeating the old mantra "control, you need to learn control" sprung into his mind. Things were running too hot. He turned back to Master and the others.

"I will drop you off at the POD command ship. You can get a ride back to the Intruder from there." He said.

Master shook his head. "I am supposed to bring you back alive. I cannot do that if Nezumi or one of his agents kills you."

"Do you really want to fight me?"

"No, but I will if I have to."

Master didn't catch Mellisaa's thought before it was too late. He only had a chance to glance at her as she raised a small blaster and stunned him, dropping him to the deck.

Geist shook his head. "Nice to see you awake, hon."

Mellisaa smiled weakly. "If I had know it would hurt that much to pull out that damn comunicator you would probablly still be on your own. Now what do we do with him?"

"Wake him up." Geist responded. "And talk."

Geist got a stimulant out of the medkit and injected it into Master. Master awoke with a start.

"Wha..." He said, still a bit woozy from the stun blast.

"Master, you can't win. I've gotta see this through. Now we can let you go back to the Intruder and sulk, or you can come with me to Parak."

Mac jumped in. "What's on Parak?"

"A man named Karl Garrett."

"Wait a minute. ADMIRAL Karl Garrett?!?!"

"Yup. According to the lead I got, He's Gaussian by birth."

"The guy's got a fleet of five ISDs, thousands of troops, and I don't think he likes us." Mac said "He was out trying to get our ships to defect to him back when the rebels were smashing us! I heard that two of his ISDs used to be DLSF, which means they used to be ours. What are you gonna do? Just walk up to him and ask him if he would like to tell us where his homeworld is? "

Geist smiled. "More or less."

"He'll either have us killed or try to recruit us."

"Well, that's assuming we come in the front door." Mellisaa said.

"This guy is no slouch, he'll have every 'door' covered." Mac retorted.

Narm grinned "Then the obvious solution is to blast open a new door."

Geist smiled again. "Exactly. All we need to do is stop at the Pod command ship and get some door openers."

Master jumped in as this point. "Geist, I was ordered to bring you back alive, and that's what I'm going to do." Forestalling any protest Geist could have made, he continued. "Even if that means I come with you to find this Karl Garrett then Nez; but after that, you are comming back with me".

Geist felt his smile return. "What changed your mind?"

"Well, I don't want another stun blast from your, ah... girlfriend over there." Master said with a glance at Mellisaa. "And also, if I didn't go with you, you probably wouldn't be alive."

"Good to have you with us Captain," Geist said amidst the laughter, "Good to have you."

-----

Again, a bit in the past.

Nezumi entered Geist's cabin, caught sight of the captain's bars on Geist's shoulder, saw the packed bags, then looked Geist in the eye.

"I take it this means you have accepted Ardan Sortek's offer?" He asked.

"Yup." Geist replied. He considered the blaster he wore, and wondered if he could get it out in time if Nezumi became violent. Probably not.

"Were you going to tell me before you left?"

"Mellisaa was going to, after I was long gone."

"I would have liked to know ahead of time."

"I'm sure." Geist responded. "But I'm not sure how you would react to the news that your 'right hand man' is leaving." I watched you kill a man who crossed you by trying to skim on our supply fees.

"Are you really that afraid of me?"

Geist saw no reason to not be honest. "Yes." He said. "You are too unstable, an unknown even after all these years."

"Relax." Nezumi responded. "My mind isn't half as warped as you and Mellisaa think." He shrugged, "Truth be told I'm suprised you stuck with us for as long as you did. This doesn't really seem to be the sort of life you want. I just wish you could have told me sooner so I could find someone to replace you."

"Kameron is more than capable of filling my shoes." Geist said.

"Hardly." Nez replied. "Kameron is the quintessential space monkey. He worships me, never questions anything I say." He laughed. "I could tell him to charge an AT-AT naked with a pitcher of lemonade in his hand and a rubber chicken clenched in his teeth and he'd ask me if he should add sugar to the lemonade. I don't want another space monkey watching my back and making sure my plans will work."

The image Nezumi described popped into Geist's head. Yeah, that could happen.

"You're leaving, Mellisaa doesn't have the temperment. Robert is out of reach, Ferox is too greedy, JETHRO is too disturbed, Kaathiraan is too obsessed with her brood, the rest are all space monkeys."

"I'm sure you will find someone mercenary enough to replace me." Geist responded. "Perhaps your new employer Jonas can recommend someone."

Nezumi took on a more serious look. "You understand what leaving us means."

No more terrorist discount at weapon shops? "I don't have a hundred drunken space monkeys to worry about rampaging through every bar on every planet I come too?"

"It means that some day you and I may be enemies." Nezumi said. "It means that some day you may be staring down the barrel of a gun Mellisaa is pointing at you. It means you and I may some day be trying to kill each other."

Of course it means that. You are a mercenary and I have something to believe in. "I can live with that."

Nezumi smilled. "Well, at least one of us will."

-----

Back in the present aboard the POD command vessel Obaka, Geist shook his head after thinking about what his semi former commander, General Daishi, had just told him. Is this the season for needing to kill old freinds? Better not tell Master just yet that I've agreed to go with Dai on this quest to kill a man and liberate a world later. He might not take my reneging on my promise to go back with him to the Intruder right.

Dai and the bunch were talking about the fight on Erebria. Mellisaa came out of the cockpit and leaned over to whisper in Geist's ear.

"I need to talk to you." She said.

Geist released the crate of explosives he was carrying to Narm's dubious control and followed Mellisaa into the cockpit.

"What is it?" he asked when they were alone.

"When we find Amon, I don't want you to kill him." Mellisaa said.

"What? I thought you agreed now..."

"I know he has to be found. He needs help."

"Dearheart. You and I both know that Nezumi would force us to kill him before he would let us capture him." He nodded towards the cabin, thinking about Master, "Especially with a Jedi with us. And Master certainly isn't going to stay behind."

"Even for all the evil he has become, I don't want him to die."

"None of us wants this." Geist sighed "I promise, if I can, I will take him alive."

"Thank you." Mellisaa graced Geist with a smile. "I just threw away everything I ever had for you, so I don't want you going off and getting yourself killed either. Understand?"

Geist gave Mellisaa a quick kiss on the cheek. "Perish the thought." he said as he lead her back into the cabin.

"Everyone here who's comming with us on this mad crusade?" he asked when he got back to the cabin. A wave of nods answered him. "Alright, then here's the plan. After we leave here, We are going to rendevous with an old Corellian Transport that, god willing, will have Tycho, Argon, and about a dozen commandos aboard." Geist turned to Mac and Hippie. "I want you guys to take my shuttle back to the Intruder after everything is transfered to the other ship." He raised his hand to forestal any complaints "We've already stripped alot of good pilots away from the command ship, and we should have someone who knows where we are going in case a rescue is necessary." He smiled "Besides, I like my ship and I don't want it to get blown up if this is a trap." That won him a few chuckles. "When we get loaded aboard the Cort, we'll figure out how best to pull this stunt off."