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Anja and the Lightning Rod were nowhere to be found. Either she had failed to identify her ship, or she had never come there at all.

Meanwhile, Zekk pored over a hard-copy diagram of all usable docking facilities on the planet, both authorized and unauthorized. Tenel Ka, with Jacen beside her, studied a listing of docking authorizations in the past week. Many of the ships were unnamed or only partially listed.

Jacen was about to ask just what kind of clue she expected to find when the warrior girl nodded with satisfaction. "Ah."

"Aha?" Jacen asked, not knowing exactly what she had found.

Zekk hurried over from the computer console. "The Lightning Rod?

Or at least a lead we can follow?"

"No, but something unusual, nonetheless. A ship we have encountered before, on our way to Anja's world of Anobis."

Zekk squinted down at the shimmering electronic page. "The Rude Awakening?"

Jaina looked up from her computer console and scratched her head.

"Sounds familiar but I can't place it."

"Hey, wasn't that the name of the ship we bumped into not far from Ord Mantell, that gunrunner?" Jacen said.

Jaina frowned. "You mean Lilmit? But what would a gunrunneror even an ex-gunrunner-be doing here on Kessel?"

With a thoughtful growl, Lowie began punching commands into the computer console. A moment later he gave a suspicious woof.

"Yes, indeed, Master Lowbacca. Very odd!" Em Teedee agreed.

"It seems that our smuggling friend has a valid authorization to pick up a shipment here on Kessel." Lowie added something with a sharp bark.

"Why, yes. Given the circumstances, I daresay he should have docked in one of the standard commercial loading bays."

"But he's not," Jaina observed. "According to this code list, Lilmit's authorization came directly through Nien Nunb's late Second Administrator."

"So where is he docked then?" Zekk asked impatiently.

Jaina stood, leaned over Zekk's sheet of docking diagrams, and pointed.

"A cargo bay way over here, near all the new andris-mining and processing operations. Perfectly legal, of course. Just... really out of the way."

"Sounds suspicious to me," Jacen admitted. "I don't think Anja actually knows this guy, but it seems like an awfully big coincidence that he just happened to be in the Anobis system when we were there, and now he just happens to be on Kessel."

Tenel Ka nodded. "Perhaps Nien Nunb's conspiracy theory has a more solid foundation than we realized."

"Hey, either way," Jacen said, "I'd say it's about time we paid our old smuggler friend Lilmit a visit."

Without saying a word as he came up from behind, Jacen put a hand on Lilmit's slumped shoulder. The onetime weapons smuggler, his head and neck buried in the engine compartment of the Rude Awakening, gave a start and banged his head.

"Anything we can help you with, Lilmit?" Jaina asked sweetly.

"What do you mean, sneaking up on a guy like that?" Lilmit muttered, backing up to extricate himself from the opening in the access panel.

Lowie gave a warning rumble. Lilmit whirled at the sound, stumbled backward a step, and hit his head again, this time on the outside of the engine compartment.

"No, no, it can't be!" the hapless man said, staring around at the semicircle of faces he had not seen since his disastrous weapons smuggling assignment to Anobis. "Not you, too! I'm ruined. Why can't everyone just leave me alone?" Lilntit squeezed his eyes shut.

"Please let me go. I was just about to leave."

Exchanging amused glances, Jaina and Lowie popped their heads inside the engine compartment to take a look. Jaina withdrew again and gave Lilmit a skeptical look. "From the looks of your engines, I don't think you're going anywhere soon."

Lowie's roar echoed inside the engine compartment. "Master Lowbacca confirms this diagnosis," Em Teedee translated.

Jaina placed her hands on her hips. "Even if Kessel does have all the replacement parts you need, it'll take a pair of skilled mechanics two days to get this mess fixed."

Lilmit blanched. "Days? I don't have days.