The Starbird arrives in the Kayan system. The planet’s moon is in the process of breaking up, and mining companies are pulling deep ores from its fissures. The planet itself remains largely rural, the coasts lined with houseboat fishing villages, but resorts and villas surround the main spaceport. Floating rigs haul valuable algaes from the seabed.
As the group proceeds through the spaceport, a curious crowd begins to follow and shout questions. When Dessa does not engage with them, a Duros union rep tells them to mind their own business.
Gai passingly mentions justice, a topic always on his mind, and Dessa asks him about it. Gai replies that bringing justice is the same as doing good, but Dessa responds with a more reactive notion of justice, saying that adding good to the world is just as important and that righting wrongs is an advanced technique. The Jedi can’t save everyone, such as the slaves in Hutt space, without becoming an army. Gai suggests that becoming an army is the natural progression of the Jedi attempts to recruit more of the galaxy’s Force-sensitives. The conversation is interrupted by a giant holo-advertisement for leviathan-watching tours, which Dessa agrees to take the group on when things are settled.
The group continues to spaceport customs. Dessa reveals herself as a Jedi and describes the container of furniture, giving the customs code. They wait in the concourse for a couple of hours while the query runs.
Returning to customs, they find a trove of information. The container was shipped by a man named Deonan Rinall, and they find his picture. The sale was listed as being from a private collection to the front organization they already discovered on Mettawi Station. The crate was picked up from a furniture showroom in the city, and they have an address.
The group proceeds to city hall to check property records on the address. Dessa impresses the clerks, and they offer additional resources. The property is behind on its taxes because they were being automatically paid from an account that has since gone empty. The property was owned by one Rego Oless; his picture bears a familial resemblance to that of Deonan Rinall. T3-N1 deconstructs the faces and finds that they are both alterations of a real face. Reconstructing it and searching public records, he finds that the face is that of the jewel thief Ogyris.
The group immediately takes a taxi to the property. The building is long abandoned, with broken windows and signs of a small fire. The carpet is still wet from the sprinkler system, suggesting the fire was mere days ago. A computer console has been ripped out of the wall and shot up; the intruders left a webcam watching the wreckage, which Teni carefully loops. Dessa finds a hollow square of grime on the carpet.
Teni disassembles the computer and examines its components. Its hard drive has been stolen, and the blaster fire has destroyed any residual memory. The case has several marks as though it was disassembled by metal hands. The toolmarks indicate the work of professionals with offworld kit.
Dessa determines that the square of grime shows where the sprinkler water drained into a seam in the floor. Peeling the carpet tiles up, she finds a featureless metal hatch. Telekinetically reaching into it, she finds a simple magnetic latch: no lock, just a simple magnetic bolt any child could open with a refrigerator magnet.
Suspecting a trap, Dessa and Gai hide in an office while Teni opens the hatch from as far away as possible with his grappling hook.
The resulting explosion kills Dessa instantly. The collapse of the building kills Gai and Teni.
