The young man turned up to look at the woman who growled, then turned back to the messenger.

(((It's CaptainSkye. I probably shouldn't be using this universal account for my own personal needs, but It may be a day or too before my account get's re-activated, and I don't want to keep you guys waiting)))

Kablo was swept with a wave of...fear? Odd. He rarely felt such emotions; what was the point? It was almost like he was having the fear inflicted on his mind, against his will. He shuddered.

"Er..." Staring into the woman's cold eyes, Kablo couldn't find his strength. Who were these people? He took a breath, and spoke the words. "I was told to tell you...Adar's killer greets the Sith warrior who hunted him." Kablo exhaled the words, feeling freed from them. Then he took a step back to watch the woman's reaction. The gizka in his jacket began to squirm madly. What was it on about...?

Despite his composure the young man's flicked up in surprise at the words 'Sith Warrior', he waited to see the woman's reaction.

Kira's eyes narrowed as she waited for Nalaen to respond. Now she was sure the message had been sent by the strange woman who kept glancing this way. And what was all this about Adar? A small sigh escaped her lips. No doubt it was a mission Nalaen had been sent on that Kira had not heard of... nothing unusual there.


Across the room, Nadira's sharp eyes took in Kira's response to the question and she turned slightly to get a better view of Nalaen, waiting for her response.

The young man heard the sigh and stared at Kira's eyes, attempting to see what lay behind them.

Kira caught the man's gaze and stared back, showing him nothing but a blank slate that her face had become.

As the young man waited for the woman's reaction to the message he kept staring at Kira

You do realize that staring at him isn't really doing anything, right? Teri's voice interrupted Kira's thoughts.

I know, Kira answered mentally, her eyes wavering slightly. Now shut up. Her eyes locked onto the young man's eyes again.

The young man resisted a grin, if there was one thing pazaak was good for it was helping you stare down anyone. Of course using the force helped.

Nalaen's eyes went wide and shot right to Nadira. So that was where she knew her from. Oh, that had been an interesting time. The cantina . . . Gods, was history repeating?

"Did they take your holocron too?" she wondered dryly, arching a brow, not caring that pretty much everyone in the cantina could hear her speaking across the room. Glancing at Kira she smirked sheepishly and lifted her shoulders in a meek shrug. Returning her attention to Nadira, she studied her. What the hell was going on here?

"A sith, huh?" Said the young man, being the only other person in the cantina to break the sudden silence.

She looked up at the young guy with mock surprise etched on her face and spoke into the silence. "Well, what else would I be? Do I look like a Jedi?" Giving him a disgruntled glower, Nalaen then looked around the cantina. She really didn't care if people knew she was a Sith. What were they going to do? Attack her? That thought nearly made her laugh. If that was the case, there'd be a lot of dead people in this place. No, admitting her allegiance was the best thing she could do now. Denying it would be stupid; on top of that, it would take away from any control or power she could have over the people.

"Yes, I'm a Sith," she said calmly, almost quietly. Her attention returned to the princess -- was she even still a princess? "And you . . . what are you doing here? Us bumping into each other again cannot be a good sign." After all, last time she had been sent to kill someone (and hadn't), it had been because of Nadira. Now, on another mission to kill someone (or something of the sort) Nadira had popped up again. What the hell was going on?

Kira nodded wordlessly in response to the man's question. She turned to Nalaen. "You know her?"


Nadira stood and crossed the room, handing Kablo the money she'd promised him, and took a seat across from Nalaen.

"A second cantina," she said. "Our paths cross again."

The young man didn't like this, it was getting complicated, but he revealed nothing.
He gave a shrug. "Didn't seem like either actually."

She grunted. Didn't seem like either? That was strange. Or perhaps he didn't want to say he had assumed anything. Seemed like a safer thing to say. Besides, she had been covering her Force aura, so it would be more difficult to sense what she was. Still, she was sure with the cloak and cowl and tattoos that she looked a little like a Sith. But it didn't matter.

Turning to face Nadira, whom had sat at the table, she nodded slowly.

"Yes, our paths do cross again. And it worries me why. Last time was because of Adar." So what was it this time? Coincidence? Nalaen was Sith: she didn't believe in coincidences. There was something to this. Perhaps Nadira was someone she had to talk to, to get information about her and Kira's duty. Was Nadira somehow tied into all this? However, this was pure speculation on Nalaen's part, trying to figure this bit of a mess out.

Glancing back at Kira, she shrugged once more. "The last mission my Master sent me on. I had to kill a man who betrayed the Sith. Fool. But he had also betrayed Nadira," here she nodded to the woman sitting with them, "and so she got to kill him. It was a rather big mess, I quite enjoyed it. Luckily my orders were that my mark had to die, not necessarily that I had to kill him." Her eyes darkened and anger flared around her. "But a holocron, one we needed, was stolen. And I paid the price for that." Her eyes shot to Nadira. "Did they take yours? Assuming you had one."

Great, the man thought, now I'm stuck in the middle of a confrontation.

"We going to play that last hand or not?"

"I didn't," Nadira answered. "But I think I may have a clue as to who has yours."

Kira leaned forward, showing her first real interest. "Who?"

"Adar's second in command has taken his place," Nadira answered. "There's a good chance that Lachlan has it." She paused for a moment. "But I have learned something else that disturbs me more than Lachlan."

****, here comes the damn conspiracy thought the man. Ah well, he'd help them if he could. If they'd just let them finish this damn hand.

Nalaen's ears perked, as did her brows as she stared at Nadira. Casually, without moving an eye, she laid down a card, making twenty on the table. Returning her full attention to the third woman, her lip twitched slightly.

"Okay, so what the hell is going on around here? Could someone explain? I was sent out -- again -- to do something that I had to figure out on the way, and find Kira doing pretty much the same thing. Then you show up and say that Kira has also lost a holocron. Bloody hell, what is happening? Can we just get to the easy part and start killing things?!"

Kablo, satisfied that the credits he had just received were more than enough to get him far away from this place, decided that Nalaen's final statement was his cue too leave. He side glanced at Nadria.

"Ah, well. Thanks..." he mumbled as he shuffled his way towards the door. This situation no longer concerned him, hopefully.

Nadira nodded in response to Kablo's thanks before turning back to Nalaen. She smiled faintly. "Ah, you are so much like you were when I last saw you... only interested in who you must kill. A true assassin!"

"But this is not so easy as that," she went on. "Two days ago, I confronted Lachlan meaning to kill him. He laughed in my face and told me something that frightened me greatly."

"Get on with it," Kira hissed. "You've said that twice now."

"I am not from this time frame," Nadira answered slowly. "In fact, there are multiple dimensions. I am from the future of one of these."

Kira's eyes widened and she stared at the woman sitting next to her. "What?"

"Adar and Lachlan of this dimension took me from my own and recreated my story here," Nadira explained. "They did this to free up my own dimension for the Adar and Lachlan of that dimension to take over."

Dead silence. Nadira sighed.

"I know it's confusing," she admitted.

After hearing the multiple dimensions thing, the man motioned to the bartender.
"Bartender, another drink here, please. A strong one."

Kablo tripped out the door, very much intent on getting to his ship and making haste to another starport. He didn't want to be involved in this mess anymore. Once he got outside the cantina he began briskly walking in the direction of the hangar.

*exit*

Multiple dimentions? Well . . . Nalaen supposed she could handle that one. But it was the other bit that had her kinda confused. And suspicious. They removed her from the proper time-stream to take over her power? Kingdom? Planet? Whatever, still . . . ambitious. Ingenious, really, if it didn't destroy the galaxy. Playing with the time-space continuum was really a thing left up to the Gods, and if need be, perhaps Force users. But for some stupid little petty mortals to tamper with things . . . It irked her.

Leaning closer in, she arched a brow. "Did he tell you this? Or do you know from your own recollection. It's a bit of a stretch, don't you think? Things like dimentions are not easily toyed with. Perhaps they're . . . playing with your head?" She paused in thought for a moment. "It still doesn't change the fact that they're mortal. I don't care how many times they split their presence over time. I'll kill them all."

"Lachlan and I fought two months ago," Nadira answered. She lifted her head, revealing her neck. There was a long scar at the center of her neck. "After giving me this, he told me what was going on."

"If you don't believe me," she went on, "there is further proof that I am not from this time frame. The Sith Hunters."

"What?" Kira snapped.

"You've not heard of them, have you?" Nadira asked. Kira's eyes narrowed and she shook her head.

"That's because they don't exist yet," Nadira explained. "In about 2000 or so years, they will appear in history. They are in my past."

"You could have made that up," Kira said suspiciously. Nadira shrugged.

"Perhaps," she said. "But if you help me return to my rightful time frame and restore my kingdom to me, you will learn how truthful I am being."

The bartender came and gave the man his drink and Kira stopped him. "I'm thinking I want one of those too."

The bartender nodded and moved away. Nadira smirked and turned to Nalaen.

"I hope I haven't driven you into drinking too?" she said.

Nalaen snorted at Nadira's words and lifted up the strong smelling drink that had appeared before her. This waitress was amazing. She hadn't even seen the woman put the drink down: she had felt her, but had ignored it, not sensing a threat. "I don't need anyone to drive me to drink," she replied, downing the dark amber liquid. "I can do that on my own." A quick grin and a warm feeling settled over her for a brief moment. She let the feeling fade before speaking on the matter. "As for the whole time thingie, I don't have a problem with it." She hiccuped and laughed. Maybe that drink had been one too many . . . well, only one way to find out. She lifted her glass up in silent demand for yet another drink.

"I think," Nalaen pontificated slowly, swirling the drink once it arrived, then downing it quickly like its cousins; her eyes swam for a moment. "I think that this doesn't matter. What needs to be done? Furthermore, why am I helping you? I know," she stressed, leaning over to use the table to help support herself, "that you're tied into this as usual. But I still wanna know the facts. What's going on? Why are you here? What needs to be done? And why in the Gods names are two Sith supposed to help?"

"You're supposed to help because I can get you what was stolen from you," Nadira answered quietly. "In answer to your other questions, let me put it very simply; I don't know. I don't know why I'm here. I'm not even truly sure what needs to be done... now do you see why we can't simply kill somebody?"

"So what do we do?" Kira demanded downing the drink she'd been given.

"First thing's first," Nadira answered. "We have to find Lachlan." She grinned. "Then you'll have somebody to torture. We need information. He has it."

"If he's in this galaxy I can find him."

Kira stared at the man who had oh so casually offered to play pazaak with Nalaen, her jaw nearly hitting the table. In the end, it was actually Teri who asked the question. The girl's eyes darkened to a deeper blue and her hair changed color slightly... to a very dark brown.

"How can you do that?" she asked. As soon as the question was out of her mouth, Kira's black hair and pale blue eyes returned. Nadira stared at her, unable to hide her curiosity about what just happened, but she knew that one of them would have to wait. She turned to the man.

"If you can find him, by all means, please explain," Nadira agreed.

Nalaen stared at the man for a moment, completely ignoring Kira's transformation. She had seen it enough to not find any specific horror in it any longer. After the moment was up, she leapt to her feet, hurling her glass at the table.

"I'm sick of this!" she shouted, not caring if the whole cantina could hear her, or were staring; which she could feel anyhow. "The Sith Lord sending me off to do work that I don't know about. These damned people always being here at the right time. What the hell is going on? Why is it no matter where I go, there's someone just waiting for me? Actually wanting me to get my job done? To help?" First she screeched, tearing at her hair then she turned on the man. She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him none-too-gently, eyes wild. "What the hell is going on here?!"

Kira put a hand on Nalaen's shoulder in an attempt to calm her and said, "If the Jedi girl has taught me anything, it is that patience is important, no matter what side you're on. Relax, Nalaen. Think about this rationally. Let your anger fill you, but do not let it overflow. You'll need the overflow later. Do not waste it now."

"Well if you've got a decent description of him and his ships I got contacts all over this galaxy, including the unknown regions. I can access flight logs, dock logs, ID databanks. I can get a warrant issued on him to flush him out."

"Who are you?" Kira demanded. Nadira smiled at her blunt approach, but said nothing. She wanted the answer too.

The young man shrugged.
"Someone who walked into the right cantina today. Do you want my help or not?"

"Of course," Nadira said quickly before Kira could continue making demands that were sure to evolve into threats. "But let me ask you one question..." She leaned forward. "Did Adar and Lachlan do something to you that makes you so eager to help us find Lachlan?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out."

"Are you dealing with memory loss or something?" Kira snarled.

"And perhaps the name Lachlan is familiar to you... though you are not yet sure why?" suggested Nadira.

The man seemed reluctant to discuss it any further.
"It's nothing. You want my help or not?"

Kira was not content with the little information the man had given them... Nadira knew it and was intent on getting the man's help, though she too was curious to know why he wanted to help them.

"Of course," she said quickly, before Kira could say anything. "Thank you."

"Good. Follow me to my ship, I'm gonna need you to give me a description or something that can help us."
The man headed out of the cantina.

Nadira glanced at Nalaen and Kira before standing. "If he can help in any way, I want to trust him as much as I can."

With that, she turned and followed the man. Kira watched them move toward the door before turning to Nalaen.

"What do you think?" she asked quietly. "Should we help?"

The man led her to the docks, where a ship like nothing she had ever seen before waited. He reached into his pocket, took out a remote and pressed a button. The ship's loading ramp opened and they walked in.

"I'm going to need you to describe the men, any ships they used, the holocron they have, everything."

Nalaen growled low in her throat, a primeval sound as her shoulders hunched slightly, body instinctively ready for the attack.

"Who follows someone hiding information? Who in their right mind follows blindly? Risking one's life on the off-chance they're telling the truth is utter stupidity." The last thing she wanted was to follow. On top of that, he would be demanding information from them. He could be an assassin sent to wipe them out and then either protect or take out their marks. She didn't want help from someone lying to them.

Looking at Kira, she added, "And who says he knows anything about what we need? That he can really help? What if we're just wasting time? I don't trust him. I don't trust him." She shook her head trying to free herself of these feelings, the panic, the heaviness. But they just wouldn't go. She would be damned if she followed some pseudo-amnesiac into oblivion.

"Do we have another choice?" Kira asked quietly. "We don't know anything about this 'Lachlan'. We have absolutely no information about him. A holocron has been stolen from you and you're concerned about an assassin?"

She smiled. "Come on, Nalaen! If anybody can outthink and outmove an assassin, it's you. Don't focus on your panic. What happened to the Nalaen I knew? The one who felt power from the panic of others rather than panicking herself?"

The man led Nadira inside and into a comm station. He sat down and contacted his closest source. The man popped on screen.
"Hey, Frep, how you've been?"
"I need some help" said 'Frep'.
"Sure, what do you need?"
"I'm looking for a man, he's got a holocron."
"Anything more specific?"
"Hold on." He turned to Nadira.

"His name is Lachlan," Nadira said. "He stole the holocron from a Sith woman. Aside from that, he's also been messing with space, time, and other dimensions of space. He's tall... something like six feet tall. Dark hair, blue eyes, square chin, average forehead. His nose isn't particularly big or small. Thanks to me, he's missing the index finger on his left hand."

She raised an eyebrow. "Detailed enough?"

"Who's that?" asked the contact.
"No one you need to know." said 'Frep'
"All right, all right. There may be someone. Doesn't call himself Lachlan though. I'll need to check. "
"All right."
'Frep' cut off the connection. He punched in antoher number and a young Republic officer appeared on-screen.
"Rom, what do you need? "asked the officer.
"Information on a guy named Lachlan. Missing an index finger, has a holocron, know him?
"I know of him. We haven't heard of him in a long long time. "
"Look for anywhere he might be for me, will ya?"
"Will do."
'Frep/Rom' cut the connection off again.
"Well, we've got smugglers and the republic looking for him. I can try crime syndicates, the hutts, but you tell me. Who is he more likely to try to contact?"

"I'd suggest the Hutts," Nadira answered after a moment of silence. "He's been known to deal with them before."

Nalaen stared blankly at Kira for a while. Then she sighed, shoulders slumping somewhat. "Yeah, I know, you're right." Lifting herself up somewhat, she studied Kira. "Still . . . He's done nothing to prove his worth, his loyalty." Shrugging and drawing her sabre into her hand with the Force, she gave in. "Alright, we'll follow him. But if he makes any wrong moves, I'm removing his extremities."

"As I thought you would," Kira said grinning. She stood, flicked a coin at the bartender and walked out. In a few moments, she and Nalaen had caught up with Nadira and the man who had still not given his name. They were just in time to hear Nadira tell the man, "Frep and Rom... makes me wonder how many other names you use."

Kira glowered, but said nothing. Nadira noticed her approach and smiled.

"Our Sith friends decided to join us," she told the man.