was aware this could all be an act.
'When we arrive at the estate you need to wait outside,' she said out loud. 'My Master doesn't like uninvited guests.'
'I'll hide in the bushes like a scared little Kath pup,' he promised.
'This isn't a game,' she warned him.
'Everything's a game,' he replied. 'This is just one you really can't afford to lose.'
'If I lose, you might end up dead, too.'
'Or I could end up as your Master's new apprentice,' he countered with a sly grin.
'You wouldn't find him nearly as tolerant of your impertinence.'
'Then I truly hope you win. Is that all, Master?'
When Zannah nodded, Set rose from his seat and executed a deep bow, his head dipping down so low his long hair tumbled forward to hang like a silver curtain covering his head and face. 'Lead and I will follow,' he offered, though there was something almost mocking in his tone.
She couldn't help but wonder what Bane would have done in response to Set's irreverent behavior. The consequences would no doubt have been harsh. Zannah, however, was content to let the Dark Jedi have his fun. She had wounded his ego, humiliating him by so easily overpowering him during their confrontation. It was important to let him regain his confidence. And if his jests made it easier for him to accept his role as apprentice, she was willing to put up with them:to a point.
Set understood all this, of course. She knew he was pushing her, testing the limits and boundaries of their relationship. At the same time, Zannah had been testing him. So far he had been smart enough to know where to draw the line.
Leaving their bags on the ship, Zannah and Set made their way from the hangar to the small customs building at the front of the starport. Chet, the young customs officer who had spoken to her the last time she'd left Ciutric, was on duty again.
'Good evening, Mistress Omek,' he said with a tilt of his head. 'I'll have someone bring your speeder around.'
'Thank you, Chet.'
'Want me to send someone for your bags?'
'I'll pick them up in the morning.' If I'm still alive.
'Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?' Set chimed in.
Zannah silenced him with a glare.
Chet obviously caught the exchange, but what he made of it Zannah wasn't sure. A few seconds of silence passed before the customs official said, 'May I speak with you alone for a moment, Mistress Omek?'
Curious, Zannah nodded at Set, who turned and walked away in the other direction, looking mildly offended.
'Had an unregistered drop ship enter atmosphere a few hours ago,' Chet whispered once Set was out of earshot. 'Touched down in the jungle about a hundred kilometers east of the starport.'
Odd, Zannah thought.
Ciutric IV was located at the nexus of several key trade routes, but the tariffs and taxes charged by the customs stations were minimal. No legitimate merchant would incur the risk of landing in the untamed jungle just to avoid some paperwork and save a handful of credits. And there weren't any smuggling operations active in the region; if there were, she and Bane would have known about them.
'Any idea who they were?'
Chet shrugged. 'They landed outside our jurisdiction, and they didn't send off an emergency beacon, so nobody bothered to send a patrol to investigate.'
She wasn't surprised at the lack of official urgency generated by the unregistered vessel. Ciutric was generally a law-abiding world; as a result planetary security was somewhat lax. It was one of the reasons Bane had chosen to take up residence here.
She was intrigued, however. Did the drop ship have anything to do with the unease she'd felt upon landing?
'You said they touched down to the east?' Our estate is on the eastern edge of the city.
'Yeah. Showed up on the sensors a couple of hours before your brother got back.'
'My brother?'
'Oh,' Chet said, mildly surprised. 'I just assumed you knew. He left the day after you did. Just got back tonight.'
'Any idea where he went?'
The customs official shook his head. 'Sorry.'
Zannah's mind was spinning with a thousand possibilities as the valet arrived with her speeder. Bane almost never left Ciutric. If he had business, people came to him:or he sent Zannah. Something must have come up that was too important for him to wait for her to get back. Either that, or he had business he wanted to deal with personally. And if that was the case, was it possible he had sent her to Doan as a way to get rid of her temporarily?
She could think of only one reason Bane would have wanted to keep her from knowing about his journey: he was looking for someone to replace her!
'Trouble?' Set asked, wandering over to see what was going on.
'It's fine,' Zannah replied, not wanting to reveal her apprehension to either of the men.
She climbed into the speeder and nodded at Set to do the same.
'Thanks for the update, Chet.'
As the speeder roared to life and took to the air, she began to consider her options. If Bane was alone, she would challenge him as she planned. However, if Bane had found someone else to become his heir things would get more complicated.
If Bane had cast her aside, did the Rule of Two still apply to her? Or would Bane and his new apprentice combine their strength to defeat her as an enemy of the Sith? If that happened, she wouldn't be able to survive alone.
If things went bad, she didn't really know if the Dark Jedi sitting beside her would come to her aid, but she didn't have any real choice. She had decided to confront Bane tonight, and she wasn't about to turn back now. She'd waited too long for this moment, put it off too many times before.
'Be on your guard when we land,' she warned Set.
'I'm always on guard,' he assured her.
Zannah's apprehension continued to mount as she approached the estate, but as she drew nearer she realized she couldn't sense her Master's presence. Puzzled, she brought the speeder in to land and saw that the front door was wide open.
'Wait here,' she instructed Set.
With one hand on the hilt of her lightsaber, she approached the open door cautiously and peeked inside. At first glance the damage was almost more than she could comprehend. The plaster on the walls was cracked and burned in at least a dozen places; the marble floors were scratched and scorched. Sticky strands of synthetic webbing and flakes of ash were everywhere.
Every piece of furniture she could see was either smashed or overturned. Carefully, she made her way upstairs, still wary despite not sensing anyone else in the building.
A quick inspection of the various rooms assured her that there was no immediate danger, and she sheathed her lightsaber. It seemed as if most of the damage had been confined to the foyer and the sitting room just off the mansion's entrance. If there were answers to be had, she'd most likely find them there.
When she returned to the front of the manse, she wasn't surprised to see that Set had disobeyed her orders. He was sitting on a chair that had survived relatively unscathed, his legs crossed and a glass of wine in his hand, casually waiting for her to arrive. A freshly opened bottle stood beside him on the floor.
'Your Master has excellent taste,' he said, raising the glass and drinking a toast to the absent host.
It was clear from the evidence that someone had attacked Bane in the mansion, and it was only logical to assume they must have been on the drop ship. Who they were and why they had come, however, were still mysteries she couldn't solve.
