Chapter 11: A Plan Comes Together

  After several hours of analysis, it finally felt like they had a solid lead. Between the information gathered from their in person contacts, as well as a decent amount of data Mako was able to scrape from the holonet, the portfolio they had on the Revanites had grown tenfold from what they'd known coming in.

  The Cult of Revan was well known across the galaxy. They were devout to an ancient Jedi and Sith warrior, who had fallen in battle with the current Sith Emperor several centuries prior. Those in the cult believed that Revan was not truly dead, and would return, leading the galaxy into a new age. Though they were spread out across the galaxy, the cult had a fairly prominent presence on the Sith capital world of Dromund Kaas, and they were not subtle in their efforts to find new converts. Hell, Vera had been approached by a cultist, and had completed several requests for them while on the planet.

  Although they were far from hidden, the Cult of Revan had never been more than an annoyance to the Empire. A fly, persistently buzzing around their head. They were constantly out there, preaching their tenets, but in terms of actually causing a disturbance, that wasn't really their style. The most they did was successfully recruit Imperial citizens or soldiers, which was an irritation in the most minor of ways, since generally whoever they recruited wasn't that important to the Empire anyway. Or so they had thought.

  It made it that much more curious that not only were these cultists apparently correct in their assessment of Revan's status, insomuch that there was some manifestation of Revan currently present, but that the cult had managed to bolster their ranks with so many high ranking individuals on both sides of the Republic-Sith conflict. Attempting to lure in random citizens and grunts was one thing; having both a Sith lord and a Republic general under their thumb was quite another.

  Additionally, the sharp rise of violence was out of character for the cult as well. Were they perhaps waiting for their savior to begin, or was it at Revan's direction that they increased their destructive capabilities? Whatever they answer may be, it was obvious that the Cult of Revan was an afterthought no longer.

  "Are we sure that Rishi is the planet?" Vera asked skeptically, looking at the holo of a tropical planet spinning lazily above the planning table. "I mean, this says that not only are the native inhabitants unaffiliated bird people, but it's also a haven for pirates. Certainly doesn't sound like prime cult material."

  Mako scoffed as she shoved a datapad at the bounty hunter. "You dare doubt my hacking skills?"

  "I don't know if I call hours of holonet searches 'hacking', Mako."

  "I'll have you know, I got into a lot of databases most people don’t have access to, so I'd watch that tone boss!" Mako ran a finger down a different datapad, trying to find the section she was searching for. "Ah, here! See, this clearly shows that there's a correlation between the Nova Blades recent activity and what Lana's contact told her about them working with the Revanites."

  "And it all seems to point back to Rishi," Lana finished, leaning forward against the table. Her eyes swept over the various readouts and documents, not really taking anything in since she'd read everything there at least twice already. As unlikely as it sounded, the tropical pirate planet did seem to be their next destination. "But now that we know where we're going, we need to start planning on what we're going to do while we're there."

  "Obviously we go fuck up some Nova Blades," Vera answered, grinning as she cracked her knuckles.

  The Sith rolled her eyes. "As much as I'm sure you would excel at that, we need to tread lightly. We need to find out what the Revanites are going to do next, and we can't spook them off before that." She crossed her arms, beginning to pace back and forth, boots making a dull metallic clang with each step against the floor of the ship.

  "Can we infiltrate the Nova Blades?" Mako asked, fingers steepled in front of her face as she rested her elbows on the table. "Maybe try to get information from them?"

  Vera shook her head. "There's no way that they know the full extent of Revan's plans. If the Revanites are truly allied with the Nova Blades, the pirates are a means to an end, not part of the final outcome." Pushing herself up from the stool she was seating on, Vera took a closer look at one of the maps. It showed the hyperspace routes near Rishi and where Nova Blade attacks had been recorded. There was a clear shift in targets and locations as of a few months ago, which seemed most likely to be an indication of when the pirates began taking orders from Revan.

  "What about disrupting the Nova Blades' activities?" Mako seemed to be a font of ideas at the moment. "It might be enough of a disturbance that the Revanites get more involved so we can track them. Or, at the very least it could extend our timeline a little more. If whatever the Nova Blades are doing is part of Revan's plan, preventing them from accomplishing it would give us more time to figure out Revan."

  Lana and Vera shared a look, both coming to the same conclusion. "That's a good plan, but the only problem is we can't actually carry it out," Lana said. "We're both known to the Revanites, given the fact that the Sith Empire has plastered our faces around the galaxy and labeled us as traitors. We'll need somebody else."

  Mako's face lit up as she had yet another suggestion. "Oh, what about Kayora and Nadia? They were both pretty bad-ass, and neither of them have been labeled as traitors, so that's a point in their favor." She glanced back and forth between the other two women, and apparently was able to read their minds as she spoke again. "But we couldn't really have them here representing the Jedi or the Republic, right? Still need to keep it on the downlow … hmm." They all three lapsed into silence, mulling over the possibilities in their heads. Kayora and Nadia would work well, but they needed some way to work against the pirates without drawing attention to themselves.

  Lana flinched as Vera clapped her hands together sharply. "I've got it. You know what doesn't draw any attention?" The Chiss woman waited, red eyes flicking back and forth between Lana and Mako before finally Lana let out a huff of annoyance and waved for her to continue. "Pirates attacking pirates." Pulling up another list, Vera zoomed in on a series of names. "These are all the pirate gangs that are currently active on Rishi." She tapped a couple of buttons, and the list tripled. "And here are all the pirate gangs that have been active on Rishi in the past year. The turnover is pretty constant, so it's not at all unusual for a new player to enter the game, try to muscle into the territory."

  "So what, we convince a different pirate crew to attack the Nova Blades?"

  "Nope, we make our own pirate crew, led by the bloodthirsty Twi'lek Kayora T'ven." Vera's declaration was met with a healthy dose of skepticism from the other two around the table. "I mean, we send an anonymous request for Kayora to meet us on Rishi. She's already expecting something to happen with the Revanites, and let's be honest, she's a fucking Jedi, so it's in her blood to investigate anyway. Before we send that out, we start spreading rumors about a pirate crew that's coming to Rishi. We'll give just little bits of information at a time, to a bunch of different people, but we'll describe Kayora and her ship, so when she arrives, everyone is already expecting her to be a pirate. Once we fill her in on the plan, she can go after the Nova Blades and it'll look like a territory dispute." 

  "Except that this new pirate leader wields a lightsaber," Lana remarked dryly.

  Vera waved her hands flippantly. "Nobody is going to be paying much attention to that. At least not enough to be taken seriously."

“I’m sorry, how are they not going to be paying attention to that?”

  "I like this plan," Mako said, ignoring Lana’s question and hopping up excitedly. "Can I name the pirate gang? Oh I'm definitely going to start coming up with rumors to spread." She tapped a finger to her chin. "You think I could convince people that Kayora is a cannibal?" Before the other two could even respond to such an inquiry, Mako darted away, heading toward her room to apparently brainstorm more absurd rumors to boost the Jedi's street cred.

  Lana took a step toward Vera, a smile dancing at her lips. "I can't say I fully agree that this plan will work, but it's certainly creative."

  The Chiss grinned, almost predatory in the way she looked at Lana. "Meet me in my room tonight and I'll show you how creative I can be." She leaned in, kissing Lana in a way that was somehow soft and yet brimming with sexual promise. "But for now, I need to go set a course for Rishi." With that, she walked off toward the cockpit, and Lana made no attempt to hide the way she watched the bounty hunter leave.

  Lana headed down the stairs toward the bunk that she had claimed on the nights they didn't spend together. Chuckling to herself as she passed Mako, who was fervently scribbling down ideas for no doubt absurd rumors, she sat cross legged on her cot, preparing to get a session of meditation in.

  The last thought that hung on in her mind as she cleared it was the anticipation of what that night would bring, and what sort of creativity Vera had in mind.