The reddish-brown twin planets of Kiffu and Kiffex loomed in the viewport of the shuttle. Those colors suggested that they were arid worlds, just as the database had reported. Skate had dressed appropriately, with light-colored, loose fitting attire. She had readied shorts to wear down to the planet, but Jace, being from Tatooine, had steered her clear of that idea. He had told her that it was wiser to cover the skin from the sun, and that baggy clothing would leave a pocket of air that cooled the body.

     "Skate!"

     Skate turned from where she had been standing at the hatch to the cockpit. "Yes?"

     "Do you have your equipment together?" Jen asked, fastening her belt around her waist.

     "Yeah. I need to go activate Ante, though."

     "We're going to split up," Jace said, coming from one of the small cabins. "Skate, take your droid. Access the city's information network and see if you can find anything on a possible residence that Ryvo Lorell keeps here. Look for family members, parents and siblings in particular. When you find something, contact Jen and me right away. Jen, I want you to check out some of the more seedy establishments for anyone that knows or knows of Lorell. If anything interesting turns up, contact us."

     "What are you going to do?" Jen asked.

     "I am going to go have a talk with the prefect-commissioner."

     "Have a talk?" Jen echoed.

     "Have a talk," Jace confirmed.

     "A blaster speaks volumes that the mouth can't," Skate commented as she strode to one of the cargo compartments.

     "Cute. I'll have to add that one to my datapad."

      As she made her way through the spaceport, Skate took in her surroundings. It was a long walk to the city proper, and one that showcased much poverty. As far as she could tell, most of the transits that lined the alleys and walkways were not Kiffar. Most were nonhuman, and probably spacers who had been grounded for one reason or another. Many worlds across the galaxy excluded off-worlder spaceport denizens from poverty-relief programs, and it looked like Kiffu was one of them.

     Skate couldn't help but notice a woman and three children standing behind and off to the side of a cart selling some sort of meat slabs on sticks. All four were clad in torn, dirty clothing and each held or wore a pack. Even though she didn't need the Force to know his intentions, Skate probed the only boy. She got desire, anxiety, worry, despair and…a nervous sort of readiness. That boy was all of ten standard years old.

     The Orfite vendor hawking the meat was quite big and looked to be of an indifferent nature. Skate didn't know much about Orfites, but she remembered one she had met on Laruasha, and that he had to wear a special power harness to assist him in his walking on standard gravity worlds, as the Orfite homeworld had light gravity. She saw no such power harness being worn by the vendor, so either the family had done their homework, or they lucked out in choosing him. Still, it was quite possible that the Orfite had lived on Kiffu--and other planets, for that matter--long enough to have adapted to the gravity. Skate saw somebody in need preparing to take a chance they might regret, and she had to act. With Ante in tow, she approached the cart.

     "What is this you are selling?" Skate asked the Orfite.

     "Kril meat," he answered in a deep, nasal Basic.

     "Kril meat?"

     "From my homeworld," he said, nodding.

     "The owner of that spacesuit shop over there needs one order of kril meat," Skate said, waving her hand in the direction she had come from. "You should bring it to him."

     "One order," the Orfite nodded, grabbing his tongs. He picked up one of the slabs, placed it in a container, and headed off.

     After breathing a sigh of relief that her Force suggestion had worked, Skate waved at the cart, offering it to the family. All four stayed in place, eyeing her.

     "You better hurry. He will return soon," Skate warned.

     "Why did you do that? How did you do that?" the woman quizzed, gently pushing the children forward. They scurried to the cart and began packaging the meat.      

     "I did it because I could and because I wanted to. How I did it is not important."

     "And what do you expect in return?"

     "Nothing. But I would appreciate some help with some information," Skate said, falling into step with the woman, following the children, who had loaded all the meat that they were able to.

     "I don't know much, but I will help all I can," the woman admitted.

     "Do you know the name Ryvo Lorell?"

     "It doesn't sound familiar. I'm sorry."

     "Don't worry about it," Skate said, shaking her head.

     "Thank you for what you did for us."

     "You're quite welcome," Skate said, smiling. And with that, she sadly began to erase the woman’s memory of Skate, followed by the boy, the younger girl and…stopping in mid-stride, Skate looked over at the other girl and tried again to wipe from her mind any memory of Skate, but she hit a wall of some sort. Skate frowned as she watched the family continue up the street. She reached out with the Force and tried to touch the adolescent girl’s mind, but she couldn’t. It was as if the girl wasn’t there. Was she Force-sensitive, using some kind of defense?

     Ante beeped softly from behind her, reminding her that she had a mission to complete. Still, she filed the girl in the back of her mind. It could be a useful bit of information in the future.

     Skate rounded a corner onto a narrow side street. Not twenty steps into the alleyway, her danger sense came on like a warning klaxon. She grabbed her lightsaber, ignited it and spun around just in time to parry a knife that had been thrown at her. The assailant had ducked around the corner for cover, as nobody was in site. It was also possible that they had fled into the crowd of pedestrians on the main street. Ante whistled frantically and Skate whirled around again, to see two figures approaching her. One was a human male, quite unkempt, brandishing a blaster pistol. The other was an Arcona, who held a long vibroblade in his three-fingered right hand.

     "What's with the smirk on your face, there? Do I need to burn it off with my blaster for ya?" the human said in an accent that Skate couldn't identify.

     She hadn't realized she had been smirking, but felt it was a totally justifiable expression in this situation.

     These thugs, whatever their problem may be, simply don't know whom they're kriffing with.

     Sensing their compatriot, presumably the knife thrower, she turned her back to the alley wall, so she could keep an eye on both sides of the two-pronged attack. In doing so, she saw that the knife-hurling thug was human, a young man with short blond hair. Ante rolled into a small recess leading to a door for cover. Skate kept her lightsaber ignited, holding it up in a fashion that would easily allow her to deflect any knives or blaster bolts. About ten steps away the aggressors stopped their advance.

     "We protect all the fine businesses around here. Whatever ya did back there just isn't going to pass," the human with the blaster said in his thick accent. "Are ya some kind of Jedi? Gonna hit us with some kind of mummery, are ya?"

     The two humans laughed, while the Arcona curled its mouth up into a malevolent smile. The older human raised his blaster and took a shot at Skate. She easily parried the shot, deflecting it into the wall. She then yanked the gun from his hand using telekinesis and sent it down the alley to land in front of Ante. The astromech droid deployed his power saw to cut it in two. Skate directed her attention to the younger human, who held two throwing knives in his hands. He threw them both at her in direct succession, one aimed high, one aimed low. She blocked them in a wide, swinging arc of her lightsaber. Spinning around, she swung her blade at the Arcona, who had taken her distraction with the knife-hurler as an opportunity to rush her from behind. Her indigo blade sliced through his forearm, the hand holding the vibroblade falling to the ground. The yellow-eyed alien fell to his knees, clutching the stump of his right arm. She quickly stabbed him in the chest, moving the blade around, as she wasn't sure where the vital organs of Arcona lay. Raising her left leg, she caught the knife-hurling youth in the mid-section with a sidekick as he charged her. She then used telekinesis to send the remains of the blade from one his knives into his neck. He fell onto his back, and his body slackened.

     Skate turned to the older human. He stood frozen in place, his eyes shifting from one dead body to the other. His eyes narrowed, and he reached to his belt, producing a vibroblade of his own. Skate stood waving her indigo blade around slowly, waiting for his attack. It never came. The man broke down the alley, heading back the way he had come. Shaking her head, Skate drew her blaster and shot him. He stumbled to the ground and didn't move. Ante rolled out from the alcove and whirred.

     "Thug life born, thug life bred, and when they mess with a Sith woman, they'll be thug life dead!" Skate said, modifying the old Korbin motto. She shut down her lightsaber and looked at her droid. "Come on."

     As they left the side street and moved down a busier thoroughfare, Skate couldn't help but realize something. She had helped those in need, in turn had been attacked, and could have died were it not for her ability in the Force and combat prowess. Some Toprawans had thought they were doing something good when they assisted Rebels, and it had got their civilization all but destroyed. Were these things a coincidence, or was the line between goodness and stupidity very, very fine?

As soon as Ante had accessed the information network, Skate had had him run a search for "Ryvo Lorell". The query hadn't come up with an exact match, but had displayed the names "Brettu Lorell" and "Marsila Lorell". Brettu was listed as current office-holder of the position of prefect-commissioner of Wytai city. Marsila's address matched that of Brettu's, so Skate had assumed it was his wife. She had also conjectured that Ryvo was an uncommon name, as the network hadn't cross-referenced anything with "Ryvo". 

     After contacting Jace and Jen to report on the miniscule information that was found she had headed for a local tavern, at Jen's request. Jen hadn't given her any details, but had stressed that she should make haste. Skate had sent Ante back to the shuttle, as his role had been fulfilled, not to mention that he would only slow her down.

     When Skate rounded the corner and the bar Jen had directed her to came into view, her stomach tightened. Hovering in front of the establishment simply labeled The Hideout, were more than a dozen swoops. Long, wicked-looking swoops, many of which were detailed with chrome and decorative paint. As she got closer, she noticed that a distinct emblem was emblazoned on most of the swoops. DarkStar Hellions, she thought. Jen had to stir some stuff up with the most dangerous swoop gang in the galaxy. Steeling herself, Skate strode into the tavern.

     More than three dozen beings of varying species and sexes occupied the small place, almost filling it to its maximum occupancy. Several patrons gave her a quick glance, most turning back to their drinks. But a group at the bar-some of the DarkStar Hellions she guessed-stared at her, making comments to each other in low voices. She didn't get any malevolence from them, and by the grins displayed on their faces, it was clear what they were whispering about.

     "If you're looking for a seat, there's one right here, honey," one of the swoopers said, patting a bar stool.

     "No thanks."

     The Hellions all erupted into laughter, save for the one that had offered her the seat.

     "He's a ladykiller!" one of them yelled.

     "Skate!"

     Skate turned to her right to see Jen seated in a booth with a rather large man in swoop gang attire. She looked to be quite content, and no negative feelings could be detected from her.

     "Oh, you know her?" one of the Hellions asked, and the laughter all but died. They all turned away and went back to their drinks.

     Jen waved Skate over to the booth. Skate weaved her way through the close set tables to the booth. The man sitting with Jen didn't get up, but held a gloved hand out to offer her a seat next to Jen. He had long red-brown hair, a beard sans mustache and dark brown eyes. He wore black leather pants and boots, and a black shirt of the band Starburst. Tattoos covered his arms, the most prominent of which was a DarkStar Hellions symbol on his left forearm.

     "Skate, this is Meltdown," Jen said, waving a hand at the swooper.

     "Meltdown," Skate repeated, more out of bewilderment than wishing to greet the man. She offered him her hand and he grabbed her forearm and shook it hard one time. Assuming it must have been a swooper thing, she slid into the booth next to Jen.

     "Can we get you anything to drink, Skate?" Meltdown asked.

     "I'll just have a shot of some of that Whyren's Reserve there," Skate replied, gesturing to the bottle. Meltdown whistled to a waitress and yelled for her to bring an empty glass.

     “Well, how did it go?” Jen asked.

     “Not well. I ran into some enforcers from a local protection ring.”

     “What? Meltdown asked, interested. “Local protection ring?”

     “Yeah. An Arcona and a couple of humans.”

     Meltdown scratched his head. “In the spaceport?”

     “Yeah.”

     “Hmm. I don’t know about any protection rackets going on around here.” Meltdown shrugged. “We run the illicit activity, none of which includes protection rings, so I will have to look into that.”

     “Did you handle it?” Jen asked, concerned.

     “Yes,” Skate said, nodding. “It was taken care of. So, what's going on? Why did those guys act so funny when they found out I knew you?"

     "You missed it!" Meltdown blurted out, sitting up in his seat. "First she outdrank every last one of them and they didn't like that. A few of them challenged her to arm wrestling matches, and she beat them at that, too. The smart ones didn't challenge her and saved themselves from being beat in front of the whole place."

     "Looks like your work has been productive, Jen." Skate raised her eyebrows at the other Sith Squadron member as the waitress sat the requested glass on the table.

     "Oh, but it has. Meltdown here is good friends with Ryvo!"

     "That's great!" Skate said, genuinely surprised. She took the bottle of Whyren's and filled her glass. Taking a sip, she turned back to Jen. "And?"

     " He was asking me why I came to Kiffu. I told him about the time we met Ryvo on Obroa-skai. Skate . . . I can't lie. We really didn't come here to pick up a shipment of local crafts. I wanted to come here to find Ryvo. My long lost love."

     "Will you ever get over him, Jen?" Skate asked, exasperated, going along with the act. "I can't believe you snuck out of the hotel room that night to go be with him."

     "It was one night, but the best night I have ever experienced. One night I can't let go of." Jen stared blankly at the table, as if remembering an unforgettable passion.

     "Yeah, Ryvo is known as quite the ladies man," Meltdown said, nodding his head.

     "So where is Ryvo?" Skate asked, taking another sip of her potable.

     "Silly me. I thought it would be logical to go to someone’s homeworld to find them," Jen said, smiling. "Guess what? Ryvo grew up on Celalon. But he does keep a residence here on Kiffu."

     Skate smiled back, but frowned inwardly. Ryvo's name had not come up on her search of the information network. Perhaps Ryvo had removed his name for occasions such as this one. Information brokers weren't exactly the most popular people in the galaxy. "So, is Meltdown going to take you there?"

     "Out of the question," Meltdown said, shaking his head. "I can sympathize with your situation. I met women all over this area of space. Some of them I'd care to never see again. Some I'd like to see on a regular basis. Some I'd like to have just an hour with. But I can't take you to my friend's house. It just wouldn't be right."

     "You should take us. It would be good for all involved," Jen suggested through the Force.

     Meltdown stroked his beard in thought. "Well, maybe he wouldn't mind seeing you again, Jen." Meltdown's eyes focused and he shook his head. "No. I'm sorry."

     Skate was shocked at Meltdown's resistance to Jen’s Force-assisted suggestion. Jen poked Skate's thigh, a signal to go along with her next plan.

     "How about we arm wrestle for it? I win, you take us. You win, we . . . buy you and your boys drinks."

     "Are you kidding? We practically get free drinks in this place. No way."

     "Okay. I win, you take us. You win, we . . . both go home with you."

     "What?!" Skate shouted.

     "Yeah!" Meltdown shouted even louder.

     Jen poked Skate again, signaling her to remain calm.

     "So do we have a deal?" Jen asked the swooper.

     "Sure. But I'm warning you, you don't become a local leader by baking sweet rolls," Meltdown said, smiling as he rolled up his right sleeve.

     "Hokay."

     The rest of the swoopers made their way over to the booth when they saw the tabletop being cleared. Skate stood up to give Jen more room. Meltdown smiled as Jen locked hands with him. One of the swoopers placed his hand on top of the contenders' and lifted it with a yelp. After a few seconds into the contest, Meltdown's smirk went to a gritted-teeth expression of distress. He was clearly surprised that he couldn't put the woman down in the early going. Then the deadlock ended. Jen slowly brought Meltdown's hand to the table, as he fought it with all he could. When she finally slammed his hand onto the table with a thud, the swoopers all roared in laughter. Meltdown stared at his hand, still lying on the table.

     "Well, I guess this means we're taking a trip to Ryvo's place," Jen said, pouring herself a victory drink.

     Skate blew an inconspicuous sigh of relief. She was an experienced gambler, but Jen had scared her with that wager. It was Skate's hope that whatever they found at Ryvo's residence would pay off.

     Skate combed her hands back through her hair after jumping off the back of the swoop. She had rode with the least brutish of the Hellions, an Advozse by the name of Havoc, while Jen had rode with Meltdown. They had told Skate that she should wear a bandana over her head, but she wasn't too impressed by the selection they gave her. In fact, she was downright repulsed at the filthy, torn cloth they had offered up. What scared her even more was that the swoopers had nothing in the way of helmets. Nevertheless, they had made the short trip across town to Ryvo's local dwelling.

     "An apartment," Jen said. It was not a question.

     "Yeah, so?" Meltdown questioned, jumping off his swoop.

     So he's a big time information broker and he lives in a tiny apartment? Skate thought as she moved into place next to Jen.

     "He struck me as the type of guy that likes a lot of space." Jen shrugged. "It surprises me that he has such a small place."

     "Just don't get snobbish on me. I can't stand snobs."

     "No snobbery here. After all, I rode on the back of your swoop."

     Meltdown opened his mouth to rebut, but Skate cut him off. "So what number does he stay in?"

     "Two ninety-nine."

     They made their way up to the door and pressed the door chime button. There was no answer, so they pressed it again. Again, there was no answer.

     "Well, I guess he's off planet," Meltdown said. "Let's jet."

     "I . . . come all this way and I don't get to see him." Jen sagged her head. "Do you know his address on Celalon? Or any other way to contact him?"

     Meltdown shook his head. "He's very mobile and only visits his parents there every once in a while. I don't know what to tell you. Leave him a note." He shrugged.

     "No. He probably wouldn't even remember me. We can leave now." Jen looked up. "Can you drop us off at the marketplace in the spaceport?"

     "You don't wanna party with us?" Havoc asked, raising his arms in question, revealing a holy Mobquet shirt under his jacket.

     "While we wouldn't usually pass up the opportunity to party with guys like you, we must be on our way," Skate said, with regret in her voice. "Those local crafts need to be loaded, after all."

     "Well, if we were gentlemen, we'd offer to help you, but you know," Meltdown commented in a soft tone, and elicited laughs from the two women.

     "Just take us to the spaceport," Jen ordered in a jovial tone.

Skate already knew the plan. Once they had parted with the two Hellions, they'd contact Jace, return to the apartment and have a snoop around. She could only hope that there would be enough information there to find Ryvo Lorell.