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"I'm picking one up today. Just a small shipment," the smuggler said.

"Taking it to Mon Calamari. Czethros probably told you all about the Black Sun activities there. We've been building up quite a spice stash close to Crystal Reef, their largest resort city, near the Arctic. We hide the andris in the water beneath the polar ice caps to keep it potent.

From there, we plan to sell it to select clientele in the floating casinos.

The profits from this operation alone could make Czethros a wealthy man for the rest of his life. There's a thriving black market. Only the wealthiest people from all over the New Republic can afford to stay on one of those oceangoing resorts. Especially Crystal Reef" Anja nodded slowly. A stash of andris on the ocean world.... Black Sun agents making illicit drug sales to customers in the floating casinos.

It all made sense now. Czethros was indeed part of Black Sun, perhaps one of its leaders. He already had his claws into the gambling and entertainment on Cloud City. He stockpiled drugs on Mon Calamari... ?????

and had been running weapons to the civil war on Anobis, all the while pretending to be her friend and protector. Many of Anja's people had died because of him. She began to wonder how many pots Czethros was stirring that she didn't know about yet.

"Tell me the coordinates of your stash, Lilmit," she said. "How do I find it? I'll be taking over this run from you."

Lilmit blanched. "No, please!"

"It's all right. I've been testing you," she said. "For Czethros. He wanted to be sure you were up to the new assignment." She paused, thinking fast. "You'll make the delivery to Coruscant. I'll take care of Mon Calamari, because-because it falls into my new territory. I'm surprised Czethros didn't warn you."

Lilmit said, "But what you ask is impossible. I couldn't possibly make it past security to Coruscant with a load of spice."

She sighed and shook her head in a disgusted fashion. "I told him he wouldn't be able to entrust this mission to you, but he assured me you wouldn't disappoint him again......

"Wait! No. I can do this. If Czethros is trusting me to pull this mission off, then I will."

"Good. Now tell me how to find the stash of andris on Mon Calamari.

Czethros has ordered me to move it."

In a stuttering voice, Lilmit told her. He gave her maps and the transponder frequency of the stash so that she could locate the supply in the extremely cold waters of the ocean world's polar seas.

" I need to hurry," Lilmit said, his voice quavering. "I don't have much cargo, but..." He looked around furtively, anxiously. The other people in the domed space dock didn't seem to feel his nervousness.

"You know something's about to happen here-and it's got to be very soon now. Czethros has plans for Kessel." He lowered his voice. "Between you and me, I don't want to be here when his troops come in for the big takeover."

"When?" Anja said.

"I don't know. If he didn't tell you, he certainly wouldn't have told me.

" Lilmit shrugged. "But these people don't suspect at all, and I don't want to be here during all the blaster fire. I need to get off this planet."

"You will," Anja said. "But I'm leaving first."

"Wait. Why didn't Czethros tell me about this change of plans?"

Lilmit wanted to know.

"You said yourself there are many things Czethros tells me that he wouldn't tell you," Anja said.

"All right." Lilmit glanced furtively around. "Just don't let Czeth ros touch my family."

Remembering that Lilmit had a family-one that he had barely kept out of slavery-Anja felt a pang of conscience. Although this man had smuggled who knows how many weapons to Anobis to fuel the war there, Anja found it harder to judge him now. She herself could no longer justify all of the work that she had done in Czethros's service.

She couldn't even be certain that she knew the consequences of all of the tasks she had performed for him.

"If all goes according to plan, I assure you Czethros will never touch or threaten your family again,"