The Mandalorians were all right, apart from their dull sense of humour.  Agent Knarf longed to be in the invigorating presence of Shadie again.
‘Here’s the datapad with the encryptions,’ said Kelbourn.  ‘We’ve had many coders try their hand at it.’
‘How do you know I’ll succeed?’ asked Knarf.
‘If you’re good enough for the Sith to capture you, you’re good enough for a Mando.  You crack these codes, we get access to the spicer’s base on Ylesia.  Then you can work on creating your own codes, and reprogram that droid.’  Kelbourn pointed to an old T4 astromech model.  ‘It’s going to be our new spy.’
‘You’re going after spice?’
‘No, barve, there ain’t no profit for us Mandos in spice.  We’re going after a spicer, a very powerful one.’
‘Contract?’
‘For a slicer, you ask a lot of questions.’  Kelbourn crossed his arms.
‘I just want to know what I’m getting myself into and how big his bounty is.’
‘No, this is no bounty.  It’s payback from the Mandalore himself.’
‘All right.’  Knarf nodded.  ‘How long am I obliged to stay with you and your team on Ylesia?’
‘Depends how long it takes for you to crack that code and program the astromech.’
Knarf sighed.  No matter how little time it took, it would be too long a time away from his Lady.  She truly did bring light into his life, as incredible as it still seemed, and he felt amazing, except for now, looking at the scrapped up T4 unit and the code on the datapad.  He needed to focus if he was going to get any of this done at all.  The sooner he started, the sooner he’d be done.

* * *

‘Aha, Ylesia!’ said Brenum.  ‘We know where to go after we’ve spoken to that exiled Jedi on Nar Shaddaa.’
Shadie looked at the blue glow of hyperspace.
‘Did Knarf know about this?’
‘Not until I told him, but yes, when he left, he knew he’d sliced into the Mandalorians’ communications system for us.  He is a slicer.  He can’t work without knowing what he’s doing.’
Shadie gave Brenum a sardonic look.
‘But did you know there would be a Jedi on Nar Shaddaa?’ asked Trylia.
‘I asked Knarf if he knew of anyone in Hutt Space who might be able to help us be more prepared for our mission.’

Continue reading Chapter Four.

Start reading from the beginning of Story 1.