"What makes you think I was coming back?" Kira asked. "Your men work with the element of surprise. My men were dead almost before I realized it. Nothing short of a full army behind me would pursuade me to return."
The man sighed.
"Don't play tricks with me, I know that you do have an army. Or at least a navy."
"Preoccupied with Exuro at the moment," Kira pointed out. "And I don't play tricks... I have serious discussions."
He paused.
"And who is this Darth Talasi?"
"Darth Taiasi is the leader of the Seperatist Sith," Kira stated.
The man smiled
"That's odd, because what you're thinking is that someone called Nalaen is the leader of the Separatist Sith."
Kira knew she couldn't lift her head, but her eyes moved so she could see at least a part of him... his feet.
"How does this matter to you?" she asked.
"I don't like people lying, or misleading, me."
"How are you being lied to or mislead?" A smile came slowly to Kira's face.
"You tried to hide your boss', sorry, I mean master's real identity. Now, why do you want the ark?"
"Fry an egg and ask my master," Kira retorted. "All I know is that she's interested in the Ark, but was unwilling to uproot the entire Sith Empire to find it. That's why the Sith split... just so you know."
"You know, there could be a chance of an alliance between us. Your master sounds smart."
"The fact that you've taken me prisoner won't fly over well with her," Kira answered.
"If your master found someone wandering onboard her flagship, wouldn't she take whoever it was prisoner?"
Kira chuckled. "Point taken. But you also killed the men that were with me."
"Your men had their weapons out, ready to strike."
"And what else is there to do in the case of a suspected trap?" Kira's laugh was slightly harsh. "Sit down and put your head in the ground, waiting to be taken? Sith do not operate that way."
"I also." Continued the man. "Spared your life. We could have detonated the bomb once you were onboard the shuttle."
"True," Kira agreed. She thought about it. "What sort of alliance are you talking about?"
"Let me guess, you want the Ark to defeat Exuro and the jedi and take over the galaxy, right?"
"You'd have to ask Darth Taiasi about that," Kira answered. "To defeat Exuro, surely... but can the Ark help us in that?"
"Perhaps. At the very least it'll help you draw him into a trap." Said the man. "So, you want to defeat Exuro, maybe take over the galaxy. That's fine with me, it doesn't go against my own goals, I would, however, like to have the ark for....other reasons. So I see no reason why an alliance wouldn't be benificary to the both of us. "
"And are you going to... un-paralyze me so we can talk about this like civilized people?" Kira asked. "I don't feel entirely civilized when all I can do is stare at your boots."
"Just remember, if you try anything, you'll be dead before you leave the room."
A guard walked in, and deactivated the stun-cuffs. When she stood up, Kira could see there were at least 5 gun turrets aimed at her.
"Impressive safety precautions," Kira noted. "Shall we talk?"
The man shrugged.
"All right, start talking."
"You were the one that suggested an alliance between us," Kira told him. "I'm interested in knowing your reasons. You said our goals don't go against yours. So what are your goals?"
"My goals happen to be my own business, but I assure you, I do not give a damn what happens to the jedi, or Exuro. I do, however, want the Ark. Exuro has probably found one of its pieces, that means that in order to acquire it I need to defeat him. And I will need help with that. "
"And in that our goals allign," Kira said. "But I suspect that Darth Taiasi will not agree to work together unless she knows exactly why you want the Ark."
"Then I will tell her when it's necessary."
"Right," Kira muttered. "So how do you want to work this? Am I to return to Darth Taiasi with a message from you? Or perhaps you have something else in mind..."
"You'll deliver our offer. Sweet dreams." A small gas vented into the room, knocking Kira up. When she woke up, she was in a shuttle already in Dagobah's orbit. Next to her was a datapad containing instructions on how to contact the man again.
"Clever," Kira muttered. She directed the shuttle out into space and punched in the coordinates where she hoped the Separatist Sith fleet was still waiting.
----------------------
Some time later, the shuttle came out of hyperspace by the fleet and Kira immediately made herself known. When asked why she was returning on a different shuttle than she had left in, she said, "Darth Taiasi is the only one I'll be explaining that to."
She was allowed to land and went immediately to her quarters to rest a little before seeing Nalaen.
Nate, still waiting for Nalaen, heard of Kira's return, and of the change of shuttles, and immediately went to her quarters and knocked.
"It's Nate! What happened?"
"A loss of men and equipment," Kira said through the door. "Gained a potential ally... I'm trying to rest up, Nate... I still have to tell all of this to Taiasi."
"All right. I guess I'll learn the details when Na- I mean Talasi does."
"Yes," Kira answered, sounding terribly absentminded. "Go wait with her..."
"All right."
Nate began heading back to where Nalaen was, worried. The potential 'ally' was almost certainly the man who had set him up, and he didn't trust that man. He arrived, and entered.
"Nalaen? Kira's here."
(((Still waitin' for Jin >_>)))
Exuro stood on the bridge of his ship. The Ark peice had been moved to the ship and placed in a secure cargo hold. Exuro looked out into the stars as the ship ripped through hyperspace heading to the wookie homeworld, This however came with more fisk. The rakata fleet had taken that system nearly a month ago and had heavily fortified it with their ships and troops. Exuro knew his forces still outguned his new enemy but the losses of his forces will still be high. So high he his fleet will be severly weakened. This risk was a necessary one he had to get the second Ark Peice. The Power was within his grasp.