Quo's communicator beeped. Who was calling him at this time of night? Quo rose from his light slumber, wrapping himself in a cloak that was lying on the floor at the side of the bed. Picking it up from his night stand he keyed the unlock button. Reading the message a curious expression crossed his face.
'Quo, I need your help, Keevo.' So, thirteen years of silence, ended in six words.
Keevo Danext was a Basilisk raketeer. His business, run from his adopted homeworld of Coruscant, ran from running protection schemes and gambling dens, through to assassination. He had give Quo his first employment after his flight from Dathomir, when he had spotted the potential in the young lad, and nurtured it to his own ends. That wasn't strictly true, it was to both their benefit in the long run thought Quo. Still, what kind of trouble was he in? Was it another job? There was only one way to find out. Striding over to the communications wall in his apartment Quo brought up the message template, and replied.
'What do you need?' was the simple message in return. Quo encrypted it using their old cryptology, hoping that Keevo was still using it, and more importantly could remember the key code to decrypt it. The old scoundrel was many things, but technology was not his forte, being more likely to break it than achieve whatever he had set out to do. Never mind, Quo was sure that Keevo had someone within his organisation that would sort it out for him.
Packing his travelling gear, basically anything that he could carry without being bulky, Quo dressed. Any other equipment that he required could be purchased when he arrived on Coruscant. He booked passage on the first ship that was going to Coruscant from Aeotheran, unusually finding that he was travelling on a passenger carrier, rather than his usual transport of fate, the garbage scow, or cargo transport. It would make a nice change travelling in style.
Dressed in his usual black garb, with a hooded top, Quo left for the spaceport, boarding the passenger vessel, and making his way across the Galaxy towards the Core. Within forty eight hours his feet were on Coruscant.
Making his way down the levels into the bowels of the City Planet, he re-covered old tracks, heading towards the centre of Keevo's business empire, making his way to a little frequented bar, he ordered food and a drink, settling into one of the booths at the rear of the establishment.
Removing his hood, he sat, finished his meal and keyed his comm. A burst of data was dispatched, flying across the ether. A beep rang out behind him, from the next booth.
"Hello Keev," Quo almost whispered the words, but with enough inflection through the Force to carry it to the listener.
"Hello, my old friend," rumbled the Basilisk as he rounded the corner, sitting himself opposite Quo in the gloomy booth. "I'm glad you came." He looked genuinely happy to see they young Zabrak, "How was the food?"
"Hot and filling, just what was needed, and surprisingly tasty." Quo looked around the bar, no body peaked his interest, but Quo knew that Danext would have one of his bouncers at least close by. "What can I do for you, old man?" He was never one for small talk, cutting straight to the point, even though he used his nickname for Keev. Keeve laughed, slapping Quo on the shoulder with one of his massive lower hands.
"I have a slight problem. A little job I took on a few weeks back, and easy job at first look, went a little bit.......er....."
"Kaka?" Suggested the Sith
"...yeah, you could say that. It was a hit, on a Corporate Guild employee, low to mid ranking, not a big deal, in-out job. Unfortunately there was a slight hiccough, when the agent I assigned the job was found with a terminal case of dead the night of the operation."
"So, hire a new assassin." Quo leaned back, looking relaxed, although a little confused as to why he had been called by Keevo for such a trivial matter.
"Oh I did, and the job was done, no comeback,"
"OK. I'm now wondering why you needed me to come here for this?"
Reaching into his pocket Keevo brought out a transparent, plasteel case, about four inches square, and three deep. He pushed it across the table towards the Sith. Quo leaned forward towards the table, not reaching out to touch it, just bringing his eyes closer to it. Inside the box was a triangulated projectile, about two inches long, and half an inch in diameter. Pointed, with cut out vanes, and a strange inscriptions on the side. It looked like it had be exploded, from the inside out looking at the fracture patterns.
"What is it?"
"That was what killed my assassin, we've never seen anything like it before, and it's possible that it came from Wild Space, or the Unknown Regions, but I've had it analysed, and the alloy is like nothing that my people have come across. There was one word that both of them kept mentioning, and that word was 'Dominion'," Keevo looked serious, even a little worried "but that wasn't the clincher"
"What was?" Quo was definitely interested now
"He was cut in two....... with a lightsabre
Quo felt as if he had been forceably struck. A lightsabre. A Dominion Jedi? A Dominion Sith? A Dominion...... something? He would have to report this. Keira Viru would definately be interested in this news, but so would his Master, Tasha'Vel Versea. Who to tell first?