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Synopsis:
Corellian smuggler Fenig Nabon finds herself on the
bad end of a deal with “partner” Ghitsa Dogder: a
plan to con a Hutt, with the unwitting aid of Mistryl
assassin Shada D’ukal. She greets Shada and her new
apprentice Dunc T’racen as they arrive on Ryloth. They
are concluding a deal with the Shak Clan, to ship Twi’lek
females to Nal Hutta. Shada objects, she hauls slaves
for nobody, not even for 20,000 credits. Ghitsa claims
the females are a dancing troupe, en route to Durga the
Hutt. An uneasy Shada ups the price to 32,000 credits,
and accepts. Shada can sense that Ghitsa’s an
Imperial, and keeps a close eye on both smugglers the
whole trip. They come upon a relay buoy, meaning a
likely trap ahead, but it is too late to back out now.
Shada pulls the freighter out of space, and good thing
too, a Firespray-class ship is waiting for them. Shada
takes it out, but recognises it as belonging to the
Karazak Slavers Cooperative. As the ship rushes to Nar
Shaddaa, Ghitsa prods Dunc into a fury, telling her they
had indeed been slavers after all. Shada realises full
well what Ghitsa’s trying to do: push the Mistryl into
breaking their contract. Nevertheless, why? Ghitsa will
not answer, and will not explain what is really going
on. Furious, Shada throws both smugglers into an escape
pod and shoots them off.
Only it turns out the laugh is on the Mistryl: Ghitsa
altered the ship’s ID code to read as a slaver ship.
The escape pod lands on Nal Hutta, where Ghitsa rushes
to Durga’s palace and spins a yarn about his ship
being taken by the KSC. He invokes Hutt law and provides
the altered ID code to evade execution. Back on the
smuggler ship, Shada and Dunc find a message from Fen
outlining the whole sorry deal. It seems Ghitsa set all
this up to ignite a gang war. Shada returns the slaves
to Ryloth while Fenig and Ghitsa fly off into the stars
with their ill-gotten gains…
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