《Star Wars: Pyro Rising》


 Star Wars Pyro Rising-Ketch Vantil

    KETCH VANTIL


    K-e-Tch Van-till


    Ketch ducked into the narrow alley between two buildings and held his breath, Campus police darted past blaster pistols drawn.


    ¡°I hope those fucking things are set to stun.¡± He mumbled to himself. Quickly he cinched his belt tighter; Marra had barely gotten him his clothes out of the wreck before the Patrol speeders had shown up. He chuckled quietly, she was decadent, even for a spiker. She had wiggled her hips at him, and they had skipped out of the facility meet and great for all of the new cadets, groundlings, pathetically hopeful males and females of nearly all the intelligent species throughout the galaxy. As wing leader, he had been forced to attend.


    ¡°We should get out of here.¡± She¡¯d said.


    ¡°But the shuttle doesn¡¯t pick me up for another three hours.¡± He¡¯d said drinking his Tei¡¯lek cocktail. The stims in it had his head zinging, helping drown out the annoying buzz of all the new cadets.


    ¡°That¡¯s alright, I have Daddy¡¯s Card.¡± She¡¯d said. His eyes glinted in the light reflecting off the electrum access card to the Dean¡¯s brand new XJ-2 Airspeeder.


    She giggled and led him out to the Airspeeder, parked like a prize lawn ornament on the perfectly manicured greens. It gleamed, red as blood, in the splashes of light from the party inside. Mara giggled and keyed open the canopy and climbed in hiking up her black party dress, it climbed dangerously up her thigh. She turned and the light glinted off the gold rings she had placed on the base of her horns, they where polished brightly for the night, and they poked up through her dark hair like the points of a crown. She winked and threw him the access card. Ketch snatched it out of the air. He looked over his shoulder behind him the party continued on. He shrugged and jumped in. Mara hadn¡¯t bothered to pull her skirt back down; she licked her lips as he started the engine. With a whine, the twin turbojet engines kicked to life. They were originally designed to function in groups of 50 aboard the gigantic bank-courier repulsor trucks of Aargau. The engines direct pressurized air through a series of thrust ducts that propel the craft at incredible speeds. The speeder also features a state-of-the-art sound system and a hyper-accurate tracking device.


    Ketch gunned the throttle and with a roar, they shot into the sky. The windows to the ballroom blew out. Shrieks and yells followed them as the shot into the sky. The trip quickly degraded as Marra¡¯s dress caught the wind. He gasped as she wiggled closer to him, and out of her dress. Behind them the dress blew away in the wind, leaving her in only her silk nighty. They certainly didn¡¯t have anyone like her back on Ryloth. After a few laps of the campus, she succeeded in distracting him enough that he missed a turn, and crashed into the pond in front of the dorms. With a crash they bounced off the surface of the water, and through the second-floor window of the athletic hall, landing on the schools only flight simulator.


    ¡°Well, that was definitely how to finish with a bang,¡± Ketch thought. A patrol speeder flew low and slow overhead. He ducked into a doorway and stood perfectly still. It passed by searching for him no doubt. Lights where on all over campus, and word must have spread like wildfire. He only had a few minutes before Marra started talking about who she had been with when they crashed, he needed to get back to his room and get his things. As he was no doubt expelled with his record. His scholarship from the Narglatch AirTech Company was definitely gone. Plus he was already on probation for taking money and bets, on which the groundlings dropping out after the G-force simulator.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Ketch ran across the lawn and barged through the eager groundlings standing around watching the Patrol speeders zoom around. He was totally out of regs; he didn¡¯t even bother to button his dress jacket. Running, he made it to his room without anyone stopping him. Ketch started stuffing all of his things into his bag.


    ¡°The Dean would most likely press charges,¡° he thought, ¡±kidnapping, rape, theft, destruction of property, reckless operation, avoiding arrest,¡° the list went on and on.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m sure as hell not sticking around for them to stick me in a cell for the rest of my life. I would have made a terrible officer anyway.¡± sighing he went to his bed and lifted the mattress, working the secret latch quickly he grabbed his grandfathers .48 Enforcer and slid it into the holster he had strapped to his waste the antique gun fit snugly in the small of his back.


    With a bang his door flew open; he jerked the huge slug thrower from its holster and crouched behind the desk. He stared over the sights at his terrified roommate, Daken stood frozen at the sight of the Gun pointed at him.


    ¡°Close the damn door!¡± Ketch snapped putting his gun away with the smooth grace of practice. Daken jumped and slammed the door closed the cheap Durasteel boomed, making Ketch wince at the sound.


    ¡°I heard about you and Marra, she¡¯s saying you forced her into the Speeder and threw her dress out,¡± Daken said. Ketch snorted and slung his pack over his shoulder. He left all of his uniforms piled on the bed. But he grabbed his black leather flight jacket, with its Wing leader patch still shiny and new.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t surprise me, well I got to get out of here before they find me. Good luck Daken, hope you get a better roommate next time.¡± He strode to the door.


    ¡°Wait,¡± Daken said, Ketch hesitated and glanced back over his shoulder. Daken tossed him a Credit chip and a key card.


    ¡°I can¡¯t take this!¡± Ketch said dumbfound, the key is to Daken¡¯s prized 77-Z speeder Bike. Daken spent every free credit on his bike. There wasn¡¯t a single stock piece left on the thing. Daken punched himself in the face hard enough to split his lip. Ketch stood there in shock, dumbfounded he watched Daken slug himself in the eye.


    ¡°Ow, well that hurt more than I thought it would.¡± Daken plopped down on the bed and punched himself in the temple.


    ¡°Stop that! What the hell are you doing?¡± Ketch said.


    ¡°Well when they show up to find you, I¡¯ll tell them you knocked me out and stole my bike. Now get your ass out of here, and don¡¯t scratch my bike. I owe you at least this much from cards, and getting me through astrophysics.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what to say... thank you.¡± Ketch shook Daken¡¯s hand and went to the door, thinking better of it; he went to the window and climbed out.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry; you know how much I¡¯m going to score from with this story? Get a move on they¡¯ll be here any second. And my Blasters in the side bag.¡± Daken held his battered face and lay down on the floor. Ketch waved and hopped down from their second-floor window.


    ¡°Not a bad guy, for a Cerean¡± Ketch thought. He ran over to the covered speeder bike and started it up, quietly as possible he made his way out of the parking garage and off into the night.


    ¡°I would have made a terrible officer anyway,¡± Ketch muttered, he didn¡¯t look back.

 Joran Katha

    Chapter 2.


    JORAN KATHA


    Joor-an cath-uh


    Joran sat down in the booth the service droid took her to. Her feet were killing her! She hadn¡¯t walked this much since she was back on the farm. Thank goodness she didn¡¯t have been assigned a padawan yet. That was the last thing she needed. She ordered tea and waited for it quietly observing the people in the small street side restaurant a few tired humans sat close in a booth most likely coming from an all-nighter, she sensed only weariness from them. A Twi¡¯lek sat hunched in the corner, watching everything. He was one to keep an eye on; if he left trouble was sure to be on its way. Sighing over her warm drink, Joran relaxed into the well-worn seat. Master Lien-Tsai Qel-Droma had sensed a potential for a disturbance in the force in this sector and Sent Joran. This was her third mission as a Jedi Knight and the first by herself. She hoped she was up to the challenge. Alone Bothan sat at the bar, curiosity radiated off him in waves as he studied her with interest, through his feline eyes.


    BOOM! A huge explosion rocked the building making the Duracrete outside crack. Joran shot up from her seat; her simple brown robe swirled around her as she hurried outside. Down the street, an Airspeeder had crashed into a patrol speeder. One of the buildings had been damaged badly, plasma had scorched the Duracrete and slagged most of the glass. Lucky the smog hadn¡¯t caught on fire if the accident had happened a few more levels down the fireball would have been blocks wide. Rescue droids where already on scene. Joran rushed over, to see if there was anything she could do. The Patrol speeder was nothing but pieces smoking on the causeway. The Airspeeder was completely engulfed in flames, its power cells rapidly eating through all of the fuel in an uncontrolled reaction. The bystanders were sheltered from the heat by the low wall of the crater the accident had made in the Duracrete.


    A huge shiny speeder bike was laid carelessly on its side next to the crater. A young Twi¡¯lek wearing a leather jacket with the Space Navy wing leader patch was beating at the flames trying to force his way into the burning vehicle. Joran jumped into the air and force pushed off the ground. She cleared the wreckage and landed next to the Twi¡¯lek.


    ¡°There¡¯s nothing you can do! Get back,¡± she said in basic and tried to pull him back. He shoved her away without looking and wrapped his jacket around his hands. Gritting his teeth he wrenched the glowing door off. A terrified family of Mon Calmari fell out of the wreckage; she grabbed the smallest and jumped back. The Twi¡¯lek helped the other two up out of the crater left by the Patrol speeder. Joran quickly assessed the fish like Mon Calmari, it looked to be a family of three.


    The male was dressed plainly, his skin dull red. His large lidless eyes looked frantically at his mate. She was wearing exquisite flowing robes that were slightly singed. Her delicate arm and leg fins where bright pink speckled with white, now torn in several places and oozing blood. The youngster was also a female and she clutched tightly to Joran shivering in shock. Joran made soothing sounds and gently soothed the child¡¯s emotions with the force until she dropped off into an exhausted sleep. Joran handed her back to her anxious parents, the rescue droids helped the Mon Calmari, and they were excited but not seriously hurt. The Twi¡¯lek¡¯s hands where burnt slightly but he let the medical droid bandaged them quickly. Then he grabbed his Speederbike and sped off under the protests of the medical droid.


    ¡°Curious.¡± checking one more time to make sure the family would be alright she followed after the retreating Speederbike. She flagged down a shuttlecraft.


    ¡°Council business, follow that Speederbike.¡± the Bothan driver glanced at her, saw her dark brown robes and her lightsaber clipped to her belt. He grunted and took off after the barely visible Speederbike. The Twi¡¯lek was weaving in and out of the levels of traffic with ease. Her Bothan driver was losing ground steadily as they descended deeper into the maze of Coruscant. The thick fog of the industrial level swirled just below them one more level and they would lose him for sure. He swerved just above the gray and white surface of the fog and parked on the balcony of a seedy looking bar. It was a huge business for so low in the City. It took up nearly a whole block by itself and fancy Airspeaders and Speederbikes lined the parking balcony. She had the driver drop her at the side entrance around the corner from the Twi¡¯lek. Her driver waved off the credits she tried to pay him for the ride.


    Joran ran to the corner and extended her senses to track the Twi¡¯lek. He was still out front; she slowed as she reached the corner and looked around the Durasteel edge of the building. The Twi¡¯lek was unloading a large military travel bag from the Speederbike, glancing around he palmed a hold-out blaster into his boot and strapped a heavy blaster onto his thigh.


    ¡°That¡¯s a lot of firepower for a student.¡± she thought as he swung a bandolier over his shoulder. He walked into the bar, Joran waited a few minutes outside. She called Master Lien-Tsai Qel-Droma to check in.


    ¡°Master, I think I was there for the disturbance you sensed,¡± Joran said.


    ¡°Good, did you sense anyone or see anyone strong in the force?¡± Master Qel-Droma asked.


    ¡°No Master, a Druid patrol speeder crashed into an Airspeeder with a family of Mon Calmari. A Twi¡¯lek rescued them and then took off on a fancy speeder bike. The odd thing was he didn¡¯t even wait to get his burns treated or for the Police to show up. He just took off as soon as he pulled them from the wreckage.¡± Joran said quietly.


    ¡°That is odd, he may be the one I sensed, but you said he didn¡¯t have any force powers?¡±


    ¡°No master, none that I could sense,¡± she answered


    ¡°Hmmm keep following him, see if you can get a better reading on him or a tissue sample for a Midiclorhin count.¡± Master Qel-Droma said.


    ¡°Master, I think he is running from the authorities or in some kind of trouble, he has at least 3 blasters that I could see and several other weapons.¡± Joran said nervously ¡°he also just went into a Bar just above the smog layer.¡±


    ¡°Well be extremely careful in that case. Don¡¯t approach him if you don¡¯t have to, but I sense that you are on the right path with this. Be careful Joran, may the force be with you.¡± Master Qel-Droma saidA case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°And also with you master¡± Joran answered clicking off her Comm. device. She followed the Twi¡¯lek into the bar.


    ¡°Hey you, Spiky! No weapons allowed in here.¡± a Trandoshan yelled at her from a counter behind a visible energy shield.


    ¡°Council business,¡± she said with a wave of her hand and a slight push with the force to sooth his suspicions and anger. He grunted and sat back down on his stool looking board. The bar was packed with all types of beings several Sullustans laughed loudly as they played an elaborate drinking game; their uniforms marked them as pilots, planetside for leave. A few Rodians sat hunched together in a corner nursing tall glass of bubbling liquor and staring at the crowd with hostile eyes. They looked like they were going to start some trouble. Joran pulled her hood over her head spikes and slid onto a stool at the far end of the bar. The Twi¡¯lek sat in a shadowed booth, the bartender nodded to him and a door panel slid open, and he walked through casting a Glance her direction. His bright green eyes glittered in the light of the bar his skin that she had thought was black was actually an extremely dark green with darker stripes molting the surface like the camouflage of the predatory Nexu. His extremely long and thin lekku or head tails were braided together with a thick cable or possibly cord of some sort. The door closed cutting off her detailed study of their target. Joran ordered a drink when the Kel Dor bartender asked her what she wanted; it was the first thing on the menu. It turned out to be a huge mug of some kind of rancid smelling pond water. She pushed it to the side and settled in to wait. She could sense the Twi¡¯lek in the other room, his mood was extremely agitated, and then nervous finally he settled into a gloom of depression.


    After nearly an hour he walked back out and sat down at the bar. While he had been gone, the bar had swelled full of even more patrons. Several had started to approach her stool, but a subtle push was enough to make them go in another own direction, usually wondering what they had been about to say.


    ¡°SO, how long are you going to Not look at me?¡± the Twi¡¯lek said loudly over the din in the bar. He was staring right at her. Resigned at being spotted, she waved him over. He just raised one hairless eyebrow speculatively at her, with a small sigh she got up and went over to him.


    ¡°Was I really that obvious?¡± She asked sitting down in the booth across from him.


    ¡°No. it just that when a bar is this packed, good looking women such as yourself, would have a much larger crowd. But,¡± he glanced pointedly around, ¡°No one¡¯s sitting within two stools of you.¡± he laughed at her chagrined expression.


    ¡°Plus I saw you follow me from the crash.¡± he threw back his drink and looked at her untouched glass. ¡°Quarren spit bucket. That¡¯s not a very ladylike drink,¡± he stated


    ¡°I¡¯m not a lady, I¡¯m a Jedi Knight. Joran Katha, we sensed a disturbance in the force, you.¡±


    ¡°Ketch, Ketch Vantil. Washed out Pilot, ex-naval officer. Nice to have met you, Joran Katha. Now stop following me.¡± he turned and went to walk away. She stopped him with a hand on his arm.


    ¡°Wait, Vantil, there was something about you on the Net,¡± Joran said thinking hard.


    ¡°Forget you ever met me.¡± Ketch¡¯s eyes had gone flat and his face was completely still. Hostility came off him like heat waves, and his hand strayed towards his jacket.


    ¡°You are a wanted criminal.¡± Joran stood up freeing her lightsaber from her belt; she levitated it to her hand slowly but didn¡¯t turn it on. ¡°You saved that family at the crash site.¡± Relief flooded him and he relaxed slightly but didn¡¯t take his hand off his hidden blaster.


    ¡°Good, I didn¡¯t want anyone hurt on my account.¡± He said.


    ¡°We should go someplace and talk; I¡¯m not going to arrest you. I sense very little of the darkness in you,¡± she said returning her Lightsaber to its belt sheath. Ketch studied her for a few seconds before taking his hand out of his jacket.


    ¡°I have a safe house nearby, do you have a breath mask?¡± he asked, Joran shook her head, and she hadn¡¯t been issued one for this assignment. He sighed and motioned to the Bartender who came over. He rasped something to the Kel Dor who laughed and grabbed a breath mask from under the bar.


    ¡°You speak Kel Dor?¡± Joran asked shocked.


    ¡°There a lot of things you don¡¯t know about me slim,¡± he said and flicked one of her head spikes. Her mouth hung open in outrage, she reached one hand up and rubbed her abused spike.


    ¡°There was nothing wrong with her spikes! True they were very thin, but they where nearly needle-sharp, and a very pleasing color of bright red.¡± she thought snatching the mask away from him. He led the way out of the crowd, nearly to the door he stopped and she bumped into his broad back.


    ¡°Uh oh, looks like you won¡¯t have to arrest me after all slim,¡± he said and inched towards the weapons cage. Joran peered around him, a group of six Rodian, bounty hunters by the look of them, were pushing through the crowd stopping all of the Twi¡¯lek males. Ketch was at the weapons cage and he turned in his ticket, the weapons keeper placed his bag and a sizable stack of weapons on the counter.


    ¡°How do you carry all of that?¡± Joran demanded.


    ¡°Skill.¡± ketch answered, Joran rolled her eyes, and Ketch slid a giant antique slug thrower into its sheath and the heavy blaster pistol went back into its holster on his thigh. The rest of the blasters and knives he swept into his bag and swung it over his shoulder. Joran jumped to the side. The Force warned her and she grabbed Ketch pulling him along with her. A red blaster bolt zipped past them and hit the wall. Pandemonium broke out behind them as people fled the bar, overturning tables for cover.


    ¡°Damn! Almost made it.¡± Ketch said through gritted teeth. Joran activated her lightsaber and stood up. She deflected the next wild shot from hitting the fleeing innocents. The bolt shot back at its owner and struck his blaster. It exploded in his hand and a blast of pain spiked into her head from the force. The Rodian clutched his mangled hand gasping in pain; another had been thrown to the ground in the explosion.


    ¡°ARE YOU CRAZY?¡± Ketch demanded grabbing her he ran towards through the door dragging her along behind him. ¡°You could have been shot!¡°


    ¡°I am not helpless, Ketch,¡± Joran said evenly as they sprinted out of the bar.


    ¡°You got that right, get on.¡± He started up the Speederbike just as the Rodians crept out of the bar. ¡°Hold your breath till you get your breath mask on!¡± he said through the voice modulator of his own mask. He zoomed off the balcony and they dove into the thick smog. Joran turned off her lightsaber before they entered the toxic air and held her breath struggling into the unfamiliar breathing mask.


    ¡°This! This is your idea of safe!¡± she demanded once she got the mask on, ¡°You can¡¯t even see anything!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s kind of the point! And neither can anyone else unlike them, I know where we are going.¡± He wove through the suddenly looming pillars and alleys with the ease of long practice. Joran didn¡¯t relax her grip on the force, trying to feel out paths through the swirling white and gray fog.


    ¡°He must have some connection to the force. No one could pilot this way without it.¡± Joran thought as Ketch coasted to a stop in front of a Duracrete balcony.


    ¡°Home Sweet Home,¡± Ketch said hopping off the Speederbike. ¡°She¡¯s not pretty, but she¡¯s always there.¡± Ketch worked the keypad which was the only surface free of rust on the building. Heavy bangs echoed from inside, Joran gazed steadily at Ketch.


    ¡°After you slim,¡± he said with a half bow. Joran reached for the door, the force warned her before she touched the door and she drew her hand back and shot him an arch look.


    ¡°Oh, sorry forgot about that.¡± with a sheepish smile he reached up above the door and worked a hidden catch. Sparks flew off the door as it discharged.


    ¡°It was only enough to stun you for a few seconds. Nothing too potent, some of the Smoker kids still hang around this level¡± Ketch pushed the door open after about six inches it stopped and he had to slam his shoulder into it a few times. His expression was slightly embarrassed as he held open the door for her.

 Chapter 3

    Chapter 3.


    Joran stepped inside, she didn¡¯t know what she had been expecting, but it certainly was the neat and clean space that greeted her. Ketch flicked on the Plasma lanterns and they hummed to life, with clean yellow light. She took off her breath mask and studied his hideout. all of the interior walls had been taken down, a large set of doors led into a section that must be a garage, a few half assembled droids hung from the ceiling. An old outdated Airspeeder sat on the floor mostly in pieces; blaster pistols and a carbine were in pieces on a work bench. A small galley style kitchen was clean and orderly. a couple of chairs sat in front of a Vid screen it was the only place where any disorder was allowed apparently, empty drink bottles and food containers littered the low table in front of the screen. Ketch watched her study his sanctuary, it was all squared away except for the mess Daken had left after he hid out here for the weekend after his girlfriend had found him with someone else.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to bring the speeder in, make yourself at home.¡± he walked back out, the garage doors swung open when he hit the button beside the door frame. Smog boiled in through the open doors, the odor was chemical and toxic. He eased the bike in quickly and closed the doors.


    ¡°Why would you drive that thing? It¡¯s not very stealthy¡± Joran asked as Ketch jumped off the padded leather seat and closed the door. He paused unloading the Speederbike, and turned to her straightening.¡±Look at me slim,¡° he gestured to his dark green skin, ¡±do I look like I would, purposefully, drive a red machine. Even one as fine as this.¡° he said looking at the bike. Joran chuckled at his outraged sense of style. She sat down on one of the chairs and motioned for him to take the other. Ketch plopped his duffel bag down and sat.


    ¡°Well, I guess we should talk about why you ran from that accident.¡± Joran started.


    ¡°Hell, slim. You can probably just pull it right out of my head why don¡¯t you go ahead. It¡¯s not like I could stop you.¡± Ketch said angrily. Anger and turmoil boiled off of him now, Joran opened her robe fully clearing the way for her lightsaber.


    ¡°You really think you¡¯re quick enough to beat a man with a blaster with that thing?¡± Ketch asked pointing at her belt. She drew the blade with a tug of the force before his hand had even completed its journey to his holster. Her blade hummed to life, its wide glowing gold blade, hummed with energy. Inches from Ketch¡¯s chest.


    ¡°Point well taken,¡± he said relaxing, ¡°Ma¡¯am,¡± he added.


    ¡°Now that we have that squared away why you don¡¯t enlighten me as to why you are being pursued by bounty hunters,¡± Joran asked switching her lightsaber off and moving it back to its sheath with a brief thought. Ketch snorted out a laugh.


    ¡°Here let¡¯s let the Vid tell it, at least they have pictures.¡± he clicked on the screen and threw the control on the table scattering bottles onto the ground. the screen hummed to life, Ketch¡¯s face immediately flashed onto the screen, Kidnapping, assault, rape, Grand theft, Destruction of property, evading the police, resisting arrest, assaulting a police officer, leaving the scene of an accident. There was a nice shot of her jumping over the crater from the patrol speeder, but it cut to her helping the Mon Calmari out of their burning vehicle. Then it showed Ketch speeding off. No mention was made of his help at the scene. Someone was editing the news, she looked at Ketch. But he wasn¡¯t even looking at the screen.


    ¡°Did you do all those things?¡± Joran asked. She couldn¡¯t feel the taint of the dark side in him, hardly at all in fact. Not to the extent that those actions would have had on him.


    ¡°Well not exactly,¡± Ketch said looking at her, he took a deep breath and told her everything that had happened.


    ¡°That¡¯s everything, except for some poor choices the rest of the charges, minus the desertion one, that one will stick. But the others won¡¯t hold up in court. I just don¡¯t understand why they are coming for me, so hard, so fast.¡± he hung his head exhausted from his tale.


    ¡°It has been a long day why don¡¯t you get some rest,¡± Joran said. She pushed just a little with the force to make him think it was a good idea. It was like hitting a brick wall, his mind was completely immune to her gently probe. Startled she blinked several times at him, but he didn¡¯t protest anymore and went over to the Airspeeder. He climbed into the cockpit and stretched out on the seats.


    ¡°You aren¡¯t going to use the bed?¡± Joran asked.


    ¡°Nah, you take it I¡¯ll just sleep here, you¡¯re welcome to It.¡± he closed his eyes


    ¡°I¡¯ll just meditate for a while, plus I have to check in with my master,¡± Joran said sitting cross-legged on the floor.


    ¡°Suit yourself slim,¡± he said and rolled over.


    Joran meditated for several hours, centering herself in the force. Her senses expanded she could feel everything around her. The steady pulse of Duracrete and Plasteel. The lively thrum of vermin, the bright glow of other beings, smoggers that Ketch had mentioned, most likely. A disturbance in the air made her eyes fly open, she peered around the darkened room. Nothing looked out of place that she could see. Suddenly a red light zipped along the ceiling, Joran crouched ready, using the force she flicked on the lights. Light flooded the room, a small droid darted under the Airspeeder shell.


    ¡°What! Are we under attack?¡± Ketch asked no trace of sleep in his voice he had a blaster in one of his hands.


    ¡°There¡¯s some kind of droid moving around in here,¡± Joran said standing up slowly.


    ¡°That¡¯s just K2tec, he was charging when we got in.¡± he jumped out of the Canopy, ¡°KayToo, get out here and greet our guest.¡±


    From under the Airspeeder, emerged the strangest looking droid Joran had ever seen, it looked like some kind of giant insect. Two bright visual sensors lifted out of the head on stocks and then retracted quickly so they sat back in their sockets. One of the glowing eyes was blue the other was green. Two sets of wings, like a dragonfly, fluttered on its long segmented back. It lifted into the air, exposing its six legs, each leg had two wheels on it. The wheels were flipped up like retractable claws on a cat.


    ¡°Good Evening Ma¡¯am. I am sorry for startling you.¡± the little droids voice was startling, deep and cultured he spoke like a noble. ¡°May I be of some assistance?¡± Another set of arms popped out of the section in the front with the wings, and the tiny droid dipped its head in a bow. It¡¯s newest set of appendages were tipped with tiny, five-fingered hands.


    ¡°Um, no I¡¯m fine thank you. What kind of droid is he?¡± Joran asked peering closely at the hovering droid.


    ¡°Well I put him together out of spare parts, he¡¯s an Astro droid mostly, and he gives me a hand repairing stuff. But his AI and other circuitry are mostly recycled navicomputer. His audio components I got from a couple of the local smogger kids.¡± Ketch said as K2tec landed on his shoulder.


    Joran was assaulted with a strong image from Ketch, he was standing out front in the thick smog, and a pair of filthy children covered in patched together rags where offering him a bundle of wires. He pulled a pair of new breath masks and another set of filters out of a box and gave them to the children along with a credit stick. The taller one tried to give the credits back, but ketch put them back in his filthy fist and closed the boy''s hand over it. Babbling excitedly the smaller child, a girl most likely hugged him and they sped off.


    ¡°The rest were military parts they were throwing out at the academy.¡± Ketch finished.


    ¡°You are a good man Ketch,¡± Joran said, and Ketch looked at her surprised.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± He asked, narrowing his eyes at her.


    ¡°Those children that got you the parts for K2tec, you didn¡¯t need to give them as much as you did,¡± Joran said placing her hand on his arm.


    ¡°How did you know about the kids?¡± Ketch asked, and Joran gave him a pointed look. ¡°Oh right the force, yeah; well enough people exploit the smoggers. Figure if I have the means, there¡¯s no reason for me to do it too.¡± he shrugged her hand off, gently, and walked back to the speeder.


    ¡°Might as well get some other stuff done since your finally up KayToo.¡± K2tec flitted over and settled down inside with him. After a few minutes of tinkering, they emerged with a pile of twisted metal.


    ¡°Figures the magnetic coil is warped, I¡¯ll have to fabricate another one.¡± he walked over to the wall off tools, pushing a wrench that was hanging on a hook. The wrench slid to the side and a service elevator emerged from the floor. Ketch stood on the Durasteel platform. ¡°Would you like to come?¡± he asked one hand hovering over the controls for the lift.


    ¡°Sure,¡± Joran said. She had sensed the empty space beneath them but not the cleverly concealed elevator. Once she was standing on the platform Ketch lowered it. Swiftly they plunged into darkness. The shaft of light from above was sealed off as soon as their heads were below the floor level.


    ¡°KayToo, get the lights,¡± Ketch said. The tiny Astro droid zipped off into the darkness and the lights flickered on after few seconds. Joran was shocked at the size of the place. Dust covered engines littered the floor, a few half burnt-out star fighters were suspended from the ceiling with chains, like the dried out husks of insects in an old spider web. Machines and tools beyond her imagination lined the walls; wracks of every spare part imaginable broke the huge workshop into aisles.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡°Wow, why didn¡¯t you sell any of this stuff off?¡± Joran asked as they made their way over to some complicated looking machine.


    ¡°First, you never know what you¡¯re going to need. Second, the doors leading out of this place are buried under a few hundred feet of rubble and most of its too big to fit out the service elevator.¡± Ketch said placing the broken coil on the machine. The machine hummed to life at the touch of a button, and scanned the broken part. Across the aisle, another machine clicked on, and whirred to life. Leaving the twisted coil Ketch went to the other machine. After a few minutes the machine turned off, and a shiny new coil emerged on a conveyer belt. Ketch grabbed it, and they headed back towards the elevator. They passed several large laser turrets that had been neatly disassembled. Joran stopped to study them.


    ¡°Did you take these apart?¡± She asked ketch.


    ¡°Yeah, I wanted to know how the Frei Tek, Inc Laser systems where put together.¡± Ketch guided Joran onto the lift gently, with a hand on her elbow. ¡°I¡¯ve had some success with scaling the lasers down some. But we still have a long way to go, huh KayToo?¡± Ketch said a slight note of embarrassment in his voice.


    ¡°Indubitably sir, indubitably,¡± K2tec answered in a brisk chipper voice. They went back up; K2tec turned the lights off to the huge warehouse below and zipped up just before the hidden door slid shut.


    Ketch placed the newly fabricated coil on an empty table and studied it quietly. Sighing he went over to another work bench and slid a chair over. Absently he started stripping his weapons off, and placing them on a clean cloth, Joran watched transfixed as he assembled his personal arsenal on the work bench.


    ¡°What are those weapons? I meant to ask you earlier, but we were busy.¡± Joran said.


    ¡°Oh, well this,¡± He said pointing, to the blaster he had taken out of his thigh holster, ¡°Is an S-5 heavy blaster pistol, made by Theed Arms Company. I picked one up because, well honestly, they fire green blaster bolts,¡± Joran laughed at his sense of style. He continued once she stopped chuckling, ¡°Unlike most hands held blaster that shoot red. Plus it has an attached grapple launcher, and a liquid-cable dispenser, making it an effective ascension tool if need be.¡° he placed the heavy blaster back down. Its gleaming green grained wood handle glinted in the bright overhead light, twin scopes made the weapon appear very accurate.


    ¡°This baby,¡± he pulled a smaller hand held blaster out of a hip holster and laid it down above the S-5, and took out the power cell. ¡°This is a DH17, manufactured by the Alliance Underground Engineers, it¡¯s a standard issue blaster for the Navy, and it was issued to me when I made it to senior year at the academy.¡± He patted the black scuffed and obviously well-used blaster fondly.


    From the small of his back he pulled out a fearsome looking slug thrower. The barrel was huge; with a flick of his finger he removed the magazine, and ejected an unfired slug from the barrel. ¡°My grandfather gave me this when I got into the academy. He said ¡±Here, surprise those Tech heads at the academy with this. They never prepare for the simple things anymore.¡° he¡¯d send me slugs, for my birthday every year.¡± Ketch smiled fondly at the weapon. ¡°It¡¯s a .48 Enforcer made by the Morelllian Weapons Conglomerate, it only holds eight shots and the rounds are damn hard to come by. But nothing surprises a foe more, than when your heavy metal slug passes right through their fancy energy shield.¡± Ketch smiled, the slugthrower was primitive looking and blocky compared to the blasters, with a lot more moving parts. The top slide was black Durasteel and the rest was gleaming Chromium, with black rubber grips.


    ¡°Next we have a few assorted knives, just in case.¡± from his wrists sheaths, he let a dagger slide down into each of his palms. He spun the blades smoothly between his fingers and grabbed them by their hilts; he placed them carefully on the table as well. Reaching behind his shoulder he pulled his braid around and slipped a Vibro blade from it. The blade was a good 11 inches long, without the handle! Joran marveled that he had been able to conceal it at all. From the nape of his neck, he produced three small black throwing knives. ¡°A good blade never runs out of energy, and it doesn¡¯t need to be reloaded,¡± Ketch said as Joran bent to study the primitive blades closely.


    ¡°Last for my blasters, is my trusty 434 ¡±death hammer¡° manufactured by Merr-Sonn Munitions, Inc¡± he took the death hammer out from under his left arm, where he kept it strapped snugly to his side. It had been mostly hidden by his thick leather flight jacket. This blaster must be his favorite. Joran thought. It was electrum plated, with thin silver swirls of Chromium lines all over the barrel and stock. The handle and grip were made of what looked like some kind of green crystal.


    ¡°Is that one your favorite?¡± Joran asked running a finger over the smooth gently faceted crystal grip.


    ¡°Not really. It¡¯s a bit flashy for my taste. A Rodian bounty hunter paid me with it.¡± Ketch said. Joran quirked an eyebrow questioningly. Ketch smirked and continued.


    ¡°After I helped him out of a tight spot. That¡¯s Rubat Crystal, from one of the moons of Ithor a Mid Rim planet, I think he said ¡± Ketch said. Looking at the arrayed weapons he waited for Joran to stop inspecting them.


    ¡°Are you any good with these different weapons?¡± she asked studying the blades closely. She glanced over at Ketch he looked slightly offended that she would ask.


    ¡°Of course, no sense carrying something you can¡¯t use, and use well.¡±


    ¡°But why do you carry so many?¡± Joran asked running her hand over her lightsaber fondly.


    ¡°Well in some circles of...um, less civilized company. The more weapons you have the greater warrior you are, and they are more likely take you seriously... I dislike not being taken seriously.¡± Ketch answered in a monotone. After a few seconds, she leaned back and studied him.


    ¡°Well, slim, what do you think? Want to add something besides that laser sword of yours. All though I must admit. I have never heard of an energy sword with such a wide blade. That thing must be nearly 50 centimeters across when you activate it. I thought they were supposed to be thin and elegant? That thing looks more like an ancient shields sword.¡± Ketch said lifting her cloak to expose her lightsaber.


    ¡°What¡¯s a shield sword?¡± Joran asked tugging her robe out of his fingers and sat down interested to learn something new. ¡°And don¡¯t call me slim.¡± She said. Ketch laughed and explained his comment.


    ¡°Couple of thousand years ago, on some planet or other, the Humans there where primitive a lost colony. They had reverted back to archaic tech to survive. For some reason in their culture the larger your sword the stronger you were. Which makes a kind of sense, can¡¯t swing a huge sword around if you¡¯re weak. One of the nobles designed a sword that was wide enough to double as a shield, since shields where considered a sign of fear or weakness. The theory was sound and soon enough everyone used it. Blades where typically 50 centimeters some as wide as 80 cm. You turned it broadside and it would cover a far bit of your body with no trouble.¡± Ketch said as he carefully picked up one of his wrist knives and started to sharpen it with a wet stone.


    ¡°Well,¡± Joran squirmed when Ketch looked up sharply at her hesitation. She smiled embarrassed slightly.


    ¡°At the academy, we have to design our own lightsaber and build it with either a crystal we get on our own or from our master. I was slightly clumsy and dropped my crystal.¡± Ketch smirked at her.


    ¡°Good to know you grew out of that,¡± Ketch said. Joran blushed slightly and continued.


    ¡°So the tiny fractures diffuse the energy when I activate it, making it arc out like you noticed, so the blade is wider than most, just as effective, but wider,¡± Joran said a tad defensively.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you get a different crystal later?¡± Ketch asked. Joran started to answer but paused and thought about it. She had never considered replacing the damaged crystal, which would have made sense, she supposed others might have.


    ¡°Well, I never really considered it, I damaged it so it was my fault. After a while, it simply reminded me that little things can have larger consequences than expected.¡± Joran said thoughtfully.


    ¡°What about you? What about the small blaster in your boot? And the other one in your jacket? Or that odd bit off heavy wire sewn into all of your cuffs.¡± Joran asked studying Ketch intently. Ketch stiffened, but relaxed quickly, he brought out the other two blasters.


    ¡°You caught me, don¡¯t miss much do you? Gran-dad always said, ¡±What¡¯s the point of carrying a hold out blaster if everyone knows you have one?¡° sorry, old habits die hard I guess.¡± he held up the smaller of the two blasters, it looked more like some kind of handheld comms device then a weapon.


    ¡°Merr-Sonn model J1 palm blaster, I modified it to pass casual inspection. I keep it in my pocket, only has the energy for around 10 shots. The other one,¡± he held up the blaster from his boot. It was just a miniature version of a regular blaster pistol, at least that¡¯s what it looked like to Joran¡¯s untrained eye.


    ¡°This one is just a stock Blast Tech DL-22, also a Merr-Sonn weapon. It¡¯s to let anyone who search me, think they found my hold out blaster.¡± ketch said


    ¡°As for the wire in my cloths, you never know when you¡¯ll need it, and it makes a handy garrote.¡± ketch didn¡¯t smile at all after pulling out all of his weapons.


    ¡°Well, I must say, I am impressed despite myself. You must be quite the marksmen.¡± Joran said smiling at Ketch


    ¡°Top of my class,¡± he stated blandly tapping an intricate badge on the left breast of his jacket. It was a small badge, round with crosshairs trained on a gold blaster pistol, the word ¡°marksmen¡± was embroidered along the top edge in basic.


    ¡°Well I better let you get some sleep,¡± Joran said as she settled back down to finish her meditation. Ketch grunted and tucked the slug thrower back into its holster, and slipped the rest of the weapons back into their respective places with the ease of practice. Yawning he climbed back into his ¡°bed¡±.


    Suddenly a knock on the door banged out, Ketch climbed out of the Airspeeder with a groan.


    ¡°What now?¡± he said tiredly. Drew his S-5, carefully he let one of his wrist knives slide into his hand. He held the long knife under the blaster, a very tactical position Joran noted. Ketch made his way to the door and peered at a display next to the door, the screen showed him a short smogger in ragged clothes and bright red goggles peering around covertly. It carried a large box of what looked like food.


    ¡°Who is it?¡± Joran asked sliding to stand next to the door beside Ketch.


    ¡°One of my delivery boys. Stay out of sight.¡± Ketch warned and slid the door open, he blocked the view of most of the garage with his body.


    ¡°Snell, glad you made it with my order from last week!¡± Ketch said sounding deadly serious. He put the blaster away but kept the knife out, tapping the point steadily against his thigh, the smogger winced and handed over the box.


    ¡°Sorry boss, hey I heard you had some trouble above the soup?¡± Snell said through his breath mask. His voice was barely discernible as male came through the old battered speakers.


    ¡°Yeah? You hear too much Snell, that¡¯s a dangerous trait to have in your business.¡± ketch said grabbing the box.


    ¡°Right sorry boss.¡± Snell said turning to slink back into the gray mist.


    ¡°Snell, tell Knives I want to see him,¡± Ketch said slamming the door.


    ¡°Knives?¡± Joran asked quirking an eyebrow.


    ¡°A friend...one we can trust,¡± Ketch said setting the box of supplies down on an uncluttered counter. ¡°Now maybe I can finally get some sleep.¡± Ketch nearly stumbled back into the speeder to collapse into the reclined seat. Joran smiled and climbed into the clean well-made bed that Ketch had offered her earlier.

 Chapter 4

    Chapter 4.


    The rest of the night went by without any incident. In the morning she checked in with her master.


    ¡°Master, there must be some mistake, Ketch is a good man. I can find no taint of the dark side in him. Also, the news seems like it is being filtered to paint him in the worst possible light.¡± she paused thinking


    ¡°Joran, keep him hidden, there is something very strange going on. All that we have been able to uncover so far, is that he did crash the speeder, the women he was with, was the owner¡¯s daughter and had taken the keys without asking. She told the real story once the council stepped in. It seems a private bounty has been put out for him.¡± Master Qel-Droma said.


    ¡°How much is the bounty for?¡± Joran asked.


    ¡°350,000 credits.¡± Master Qel-Droma replied, ¡°So be on your guard, and stay hidden, for at least a week. Until the bounty hunters move out of the sector. I¡¯ll stay in touch, but try not to contact me unnecessarily in case someone traces your transmission.¡±


    ¡°Yes master, I¡¯ll keep you updated. May the force be with you.¡± Joran said.


    ¡°May the force be with you always, Joran.¡± Master Qel-Droma replied


    Joran put her comm. unit back in her bag, Ketch and K2tec where working in the garage. Ketch was seldom calm or still, being confined seemed to wear on his nerves. From the moment he woke up till he slept he was in constant action. After the second day of looped newsreels, they had stopped watching the Vid. In the last three days, they had completely stripped the speeder down and started from the frame.


    ¡°What kind of speeder is that hulk your working on,¡± Joran asked trying to distract Ketch from dwelling on being trapped in the garage.


    ¡°Lady, this isn¡¯t a hulk. This one of the most state of the art pieces of engineering you will ever see.¡± Ketch said.


    ¡°It¡¯s a Modified version of a Koro-2 Exodrive Airspeeder. They are designed for wasteland worlds with thin or corrosive atmospheres. Instead of checking in with your handler all the time and meditating all day. Why don¡¯t you give me and KayToo a hand finishing this thing so we can get out of here.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, get out of here?¡± Joran asked walking over to where Ketch was lying on his back under the Airspeeder. She hooked one boot under the gravsled that let him slide around on the smooth floor underneath his project and drug him out so she could look at his face.


    ¡°I mean I¡¯m not going to wait around for the Patrols to get a hold of me, or the bounty hunters to laze down my front door. This canopy is one-way, once I get the power connected. K2tec hand me that magnetic coupler for the right coil.¡± Ketch said sliding back under the frame. He extended a hand out waiting. K2tec tried to drag the heavy coil of wire and electrodes, but couldn¡¯t get it off the ground. Joran grabbed the coil and handed it to Ketch. He took it and with one hand placed it in its spot in the right front prong of the Airspeeder. After a few minutes, Ketch slid out and looked up at her.


    ¡°What no comment on not laying low, like your master wanted?¡± he asked. Sighing Joran closed her eyes and gathered the force around her and in the speeder. After a few seconds, Ketch stood up, just before he could speak the Airspeeder wobbled and lifted off the stands. Joran opened her eyes, but they remained unfocused. Lifting her hands the speeder floated even with her palms. Parts rattled and flew off the bench, Ketch jumped back eyes wide. He had never seen a real demonstration of the power of the force. The power core gently floated into place, and all of the bolts screwed themselves in, holding it securely. Wires moved likes snakes weaving themselves into place tightly till they were as tightly knit as old growth vines. Panels flew off the walls and clanged gently into place like the frame was a giant electromagnet. Gently, Joran lowered the Airspeeder back to its resting place.


    ¡°How, how, how. Did you do that? Have you built one of these before? How did you know where the parts went?¡± Ketch stuttered.


    ¡°No, I¡¯ve never worked on an Airspeeder before, but all of the parts know where they belong. I can feel them trying to go back where they should be.¡± Joran said plopping down. ¡°But it took most of the strength I¡¯ve gathered over the last few days, to do that much. With enough time I could coax the whole thing back together.¡± She laughed tiredly.


    ¡°But it would take less energy, and most likely, less time to do it by hand.¡± Joran studied the speeder. ¡°Well, the power core is in, let''s fire it up, and see about that canopy.¡±


    Ketch took this in silence, shaking his head, he climbed into the speeder. Gritting his teeth, he powered up the basic systems. Braced for a malfunction or an explosion of some sort at the very least. Seconds ticked by, and nothing exploded or shorted out. Letting out his breath, he went through a basic systems reboot. K2tec swarmed up the side and in next to Ketch, he extended a universal jack and interfaced with the onboard systems. After a few minutes, they both climbed back out looking excited.


    ¡°Well, everything seems to be in working order, thanks to your help. After me, and K2 here rebuild that magnetic front end, we should be up and running in two days max. Just a few more body modifications, and some other mods, and we should be good to go.¡± Ketch said smiling at the Airspeeder in eagerness.


    ¡°So what exactly have you modified on this thing?¡± Joran asked moving to stand next to him. K2tec landed on her shoulder, and she petted his smooth exoskeleton fondly. They had grown close over the last three days. The polite little droid was impossible to resist, he was always ready with a quick answer from the net or from his impressive logic circuits.


    ¡°Well, the original speeder had the usual repulsorlift system, and electromagnetic coils in each of the forward mandibles. Those electromagnets charge incoming molecules and drive them out the rear, to propel the craft forward. But we added in a pair of Radon-Ulzer 620C Turbo jet engines in the rear. These should push the top speed up to around 1,400Kph, but the engines will only maintain that speed for, a max of about 30 seconds. Then they will need twice that to cool down. We can maintain 800-1,000Kph with no problem.¡± Ketch said pointing to the large matching turbine engines underneath the rear cabin. Walking around the Airspeeder he pointed out other modifications he had made.


    ¡°These extra flaps will help us air-brake and turn. I got the idea from Daken¡¯s Speederbike, those extra flaps on the back really make piloting the thing a synch. We also sealed the canopy better so don¡¯t worry about it leaking fumes in down here, or losing air in space. Then we added in another row of seats so we can fit four people stretched the cockpit, added some very basic sanitary facilities. But with no rest quarters or cooking facilities, I wouldn¡¯t want to take more than a 14-hour trip. Plus we don¡¯t have any working Hyperdrives just laying around, but we did have some boosters that we mounted around the back so we can handle a couple of hours of space travel. In the morning I¡¯m going to finish adding in the weapons systems and a few other little surprises, for...anything else we might encounter.¡± Ketch finished looking smugly at the nearly completed speeder.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    ¡°Well, it sure looks fast. Not bad for an officer cadet. Where did you learn to turn a wrench like that? Or all pilots mechanics as well?¡± Joran asked startling a chuckle out of him.


    ¡°Nah, my Grandfather made me earn my keep back in the Starship yards. Then the company gave me a scholarship to the academy, right before the Empire fell.¡± Ketch said sitting down and dusting off his pants.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see that was my second year, then while we where restructuring with the rebel alliance, and then the new republic. None of us advanced much for four years, classes only started up about a year ago now. Well, about my plan. I know you''re with the council and all but. I don¡¯t think I have any hope of getting a fair trial here while the Dean has it in for me.¡± Ketch said.


    ¡°Well aside from a disturbing trend of impulse control, and a love to gamble. You¡¯ve done nothing that warrants so much attention, did you do anything else to attract the attention of someone that would want you shot first?¡± Joran asked.


    ¡°None that I can think off hand,¡± Ketch said thoughtfully. ¡°But I¡¯ll think about it some more.¡± He turned back to the speeder and slid under it, K2tec scuttled under after him. One of his eyes snaked out and winked it at Joran. A few minutes later they both crawled out.


    ¡°Have you always been so good with machines?¡± Joran asked him


    ¡°No, it was a rather recent development actually.¡± he looked thoughtful, ¡° I was a decent mechanic when I worked with my grandfather, but not especially gifted, that changed just before the end of my first term.¡± he put the new coil down on the workbench and sat on the edge of the bed. Worry and Fear pulsed off of him. Joran sat down next to him.


    ¡°Ketch, what happened at the end of that term?¡± Joran asked softly. She extended her force senses to gauge his truthfulness. He took several minutes to answer, finally, his emotions calmed and he looked at her.


    ¡°Well, the empire was looking at every possible way to increase its pilot¡¯s performance. The called for volunteers, to test a few new treatments to increase our abilities.¡± He said taking a deep breath.


    ¡°The first few tests where basic, they tampered with our diets, limiting our food and such trying to eak out the best meal plans. Finally, they started doing Robotic enhancements to anyone who would take them. Anything, from hardwired navicomputers in your brain, to droid arms or hands, to increase your reflexes. I refused any of those alterations, and they were going to drop me from the test group.¡± Ketch had a pained faraway expression on his face as he tried to recall the details.


    ¡°I needed the money though. My scholarship didn¡¯t pay for food, or even for clothes and books. So the last treatment they came out with was some kind of injection system. I figured it was some kind of stimulant, they gave me and another cadet regular injection of some clear liquid for almost a year. I didn¡¯t have any side effects that I could tell, and I guess they gave up on the project. Since they stopped giving me the shots, they continued to test me right up till the collapse of the empire. It was a little after that, I started having these really lucid dreams. they were strange though, not like regular dreams more like plans and schematics, Like KayToo over there, I dreamt of his design. I had no idea how I was going to come up with the right parts, but they seemed to keep falling into my lap. First, a gambling buddy repaid me with the location of this place. Then those smogger kids started hawking their scrap parts on me, till finally, he was all ready to go. Weren¡¯t you big fella?¡± he asked patting K2tec like a beloved pet.


    ¡°Quite right sir,¡± K2tec answered with dignity, but his eyes glowed a little bit brighter at the affectionate touch.


    ¡°Next I dreamt up this Airspeeder, I mean who in their right mind would use a 30-year-old Airspeeder frame, with even older pod racing engines! It¡¯s crazy but it seems to be working out. This sounds crazy doesn¡¯t it, like a conspiracy theory or something.?¡± Ketch asked heavily


    Joran took what he had said and ran it through all of her training and experience.


    ¡°This could well be the reason for the unusually harsh way he was being pursued. An imperial test, suddenly cut off, never being told what the drugs were exactly. Maybe the imperial researchers were trying to keep Ketch out of the New Republics hands.¡± Joran thought.


    ¡°Ketch, what happened to the other test cadet?¡± Joran asked him.


    ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t see him except at the injections. He dropped out after about two months, some kind of side effect to the drug is what they told me when I asked. He left the academy right after. I never saw him again.¡± Ketch said.


    ¡°I think this is definitely has something to do with why the news is being spun so badly against you. And why those bounty hunters where so quick to find you.¡± Joran said.


    ¡°Makes sense, now I wish I knew what they had put into me that they want to hide so badly,¡± Ketch said.


    ¡°I have a theory.¡± Joran said.¡° I think you are force sensitive, and whatever they did to you it augmented that ability. That would explain your visions and your new competence with machines.¡±


    ¡°Well, is there any test you can do? That will tell for sure if I can channel the force or whatever?¡± Ketch asked.


    ¡°Yes with a blood sample I can get your Midiclorhin count, and that will tell us how strong in the force you are.¡±


    ¡°Alright let¡¯s do it. How long will it take to get the results?¡± Ketch asked offering his finger. Joran pricked it quickly with a small device she pulled from her robe.


    ¡°Well I¡¯m going to encrypt the transmission as much as I can, and send it out to get tested. We should have the results in the morning.¡± Joran started working with her comm. device. Ketch stood up and went over to keep working on the speeder. He needed to keep busy and try and not dwell on the events unfolding around him. It felt as if he had no control over what was happening in his life. Not a comfortable feeling. He tested all of the bolts that held the fusion generator, they were all tight. Nice work, for a Jedi, Ketch thought.


    K2tec tweaked the program for the miniature rotating laser torrent they had designed. The six rotating barrels helped prevent overheating. They had mounted it right below the pilot seat to cut down on the delay from when he squeezed the trigger to when the blaster actually fired. The delay was .0034 seconds or so K2tec told him but with the repositioning, the delay was cut down to .0012 not much but it could be the difference between life and death. In space, the difference between living and dying was measured in microseconds. Their design was innovative because it allowed the turret to swivel 360 degrees. It was hidden from view, but once he activated the targeting systems it lowered out. They had rigged a traditional set of forward blasters, and one rear facing Ion cannon.


    ¡°Sir, I must state again. That if we do end up using these weapons they will deplete our available energy in less than 16.8842333331 seconds.¡± K2tec said.


    ¡°Do you always have to do that?¡± Ketch demanded with a grunt exasperated as he welded armor plating on over the power core.


    ¡°Do what sir?¡± K2tec asked.


    ¡°Give me everything to the tenth decimal point? It¡¯s not really necessary.¡± Ketch said.


    ¡°I... will try not too in the future, sir,¡± K2tec said. They went back to working on the computer programming. Once they finished all of the programming and system diagnosis in less than an hour. Next, they finished welding in the first layer of Durasteel armor. They put a triple layer over the front mandibles and the shield generator. A double layer over the Fusion reactors, the rest they left single layered. Ketch finished the bodywork and installing the last of the air flaps and brakes.


    ¡°Alright KayToo, you paint it and we will be all done once it dries.¡±


    ¡°Very good sir, what color did you decide on?¡± K2tec asked


    ¡°I don¡¯t care, I¡¯m too tired. Just nothing in the orange or red spectrum.¡± Ketch said yawning.


    ¡°It will be done by the time you wake sir,¡± K2tec said starting up the paint equipment.

 Chapter 5 BRUEKAL

    Chapter 5.


    BRUEKAL


    Bruck-Call


    Uklak the Hutt slithered back and forth in agitation, in his three hundred years, he had never put out such a risky bounty. His mother was going to feed him to his own Krayt dragon. Or worse have him slow roasted and eat him herself. 350,000 credits on one lowly Twi¡¯lek. He must be losing his mind! But just the chance of squeezing into a better position on Coruscant was worth considerable risk. the seat of the galactic government was not the best place to set up a thriving bounty hunter business. He had a hunch that in the budding galactic alliance there was money to be made in bounties and assassinations.


    He slithered back and forth along the cage rapping it with his metal scepter. The dragon roared at the noise and sprang at the bars. 5 meters of angry lizard tried to rend him, a phlegm soaked chuckle burbled out of his thick neck. The risks nearly outweighed the possible benefits. But it never hurt to please a contact within a recently overthrown government, just in case the old empire become the new rebels. One thing he knew from his short life was that governments never lasted long. Chuckling wetly he slithered over back to his apartment. The door slid open and the slave girls he had chained to the walls recoiled, the door closed behind him as he slithered in eagerly.


    In the common area below, Uklak¡¯s bounty hunters enjoyed all he had to offer them for entertainment. A full bar covered one whole side of the large room and a line of cages displayed the captives that had been brought in. the lighting was kept to a minimum and smoke choked the air. The cages were filled with every type of being from across the universe most simply sat, heads hung in defeat. A few prowled the confines off their cages. At the end of the line, a larger reinforced cage held a single Wookie.


    He raged against his cage, howling and crashing against the bars. Uklak owned the whole complex so no one who heard him would care. All 248 floors. The tower stretched all the way down to the crust of the planet, it was an initiation rite among the new bounty hunters to see how far down they dared go. Some of them never made it back. It was rumored that Uklak had stocked some of the floors with creatures from all over the universe and some kind of treasure was at the very bottom level, many had disappeared trying to make their fortune.


    Uklak had been given control of the building as his share of the inheritance when the last monarch of his family had died. It was worth more than some outer rim planets and was the capital of the underground slave trade on all of Coruscant. Slavery on Coruscant was much different than most of the galaxy.


    Most who ended up in slavery did so willing, selling themselves for their families, or selling years of servitude, few ended up in slavery unwillingly. Uklak thought as he slithered towards the common rooms below his penthouse suite.


    The Wookie was practically raining blood, on everyone around him. His hands and fists were slashed and bruised from his near-constant pounding on the bars. Blood covered his bare skin.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Bruekal¡¯s anger obliterated any capacity for thought as he pounded mindlessly at his prison. The bounty hunter who had dishonored him was just out of arms reach. It talked and joked calmly with his scum friends. Bruekal roared in frustration and lunged as hard as he could against the bars, they bowed slightly and the caged actually rocked forward ripping one of the bolts out of the floor. His vision went from blood red to white burst of pain as his shoulders hit the Durasteel. He was flung back and landed in a heap. His bare skin shredded against the rough floor of the cage. He was stunned unable to move, thoughts fought their way to the surface of his mind through the haze of pain and rage. The bounty hunter would pay! That filthy Nikto had lied to him and drugged his drink. Bruekal grimaced showing his impressive fangs as he struggled to crouch on the cage floor. He had managed to crush the bastards hand before he had fallen unconscious. But it had not been worth the indignity of waking up with all of his perfect fur shaved off! Exposing his lightly tanned skin, only tufts around his feet, hands, and face had been left on to mock him. Revenge. The word cemented itself in his thoughts as pain swamped him again the Nikto threw a hunk of raw nerf steak into the cage with him and laughed. Bruekal simply growled low in his throat and glared.


    ¡°That beast is gonna murder you Morgesst.¡± a Trandoshan said quietly, as he watched the antics of his captor. Morgesst, now he had a name, soon it would be Morgesst¡¯s turn to suffer, Bruekal thought grimly, settling down, he prepared to wait.


    Uklak came down to the common room to survey his employees haul for the week. 14 political prisoners, 4 criminals, and 2 private bounties, not a bad week. His mood soured abruptly as one of the bounty hunters threw a glass at a naked shaved Wookie. It was almost enough to lift his black mood. That bounty had cost him more than he was ever going to get now.


    ¡°Moorg! stoop toorrmenting that thing!¡± Uklak said angrily. he slithered over as fast as he could to the Nikto.


    ¡°Just having some fun boss,¡± Morgesst said looking offended. ¡°I got it back here in time, speaking of which, where is my money?¡± Uklak turned a slightly darker shade of green and black started to appear in blotches. he struggled against his first impulse to kill the fool. sighing he gave in, he ignored the rest of the Nikto¡¯s chatter. he glanced at his most trusted hunter, the Trandoshan nodded. he lashed out with a leg and sent Morgesst stumbling back.


    Bruekal reached a hand through the bars quick as a striking snake. He grabbed Morgesst in one giant clawed hand, he wrapped his other hand around his struggling throat. Morgesst was a professional, he didn¡¯t cry out he, just struggled as hard as he could against the titanic strength of the enraged Wookie. to no avail, Bruekal simply drugs him closer to the bars and wrapped both hands around Morgesst¡¯s throat. Corded muscles up and down Bruekal¡¯s arms bunched. with a wrench of his wrists, he snapped the Nikto¡¯s neck just before he managed to get his blaster clear of its holster. with an almost casual show of strength, Bruekal threw the body halfway across the silent room. Uklak smiled and addressed the Wookie in common.


    ¡°Thank yoou foor that, yooung Wooookie.¡± Uklak had trouble with common, it was such simple language, with nearly no inflection, he always drew out the Os. Just to give it to somebody. ¡°It seems that yoou are extremely lucky. The party whoo signed yoour boounty has died suddenly. yoou are free to goo, but befoore yoou doo. I woould like too ooffer yoou a joob, as yoou can see we have an oopening.¡± he chuckled wetly and the crowd of bounty hunters joined his mirthless laughter.

 Chapter 6 D鈥橰YN KEPNEG

    Chapter 6.


    D¡¯RYN KEPNEG


    Dee-Rhine Kep-Neg


    deep below the more respectable levels of Coruscant, Jedi apprentice D¡¯Ryn Kepneg crept through the bowels of the plant-wide city. he was on a mission, find the slavers and eradicate their filthy trade on the planet. it had been his master¡¯s task but his master had been betrayed and died in a trap. Now it was only him, he had stopped checking in with the council after they had stopped looking for the murderers.


    D¡¯Ryn stalked unseen through the smog-choked corridors of yet another deserted auction house. Misery and death coated the place like slime. some kind of infection had sprung up among the recent shipment of slaves from off world. Bodies were stacked like packing boxes along the wall, their rotting faces beseeching him for help. Anger swamped his vision, he fought it down.


    ¡°Don¡¯t feel shame at your feelings, accept them, don¡¯t let them dictate your actions.¡± Master Watanade had said. D¡¯Ryn stopped and took a holo-recording of the death and misery that had been left behind. once his stomach had settled he pressed on searching for clues.


    nothing. how can this many beings be sold as produce and leave NOTHING behind. no traces of DNA not a single track, no litter, just bodies. this was the work of a very large and well-organized group. D¡¯Ryn suspected Hutt involvement of some sort, no one else could have such a profound reach among the scum that traded in lives. He finished his scans and swept out of the three-story chamber. His black robes billowed behind him, they had once been white but the smog had long ago stained them black. He didn¡¯t mind, black allowed him to hide with ease this far from the sun. the robes did little to hide his skin, the mostly oxygen air tinted it gold. all of his people had such an allergy, just as the Chiss did. that was about the only thing they had in common with the distant relatives.


    Long ago his ancestors had left their homeworld of Csilla. They had been the First Chiss colony, The Lost Colony, that¡¯s what the Chiss called them, simply a footnote in their early history. Their ship had been built for deep space exploration and colonization, in the very first days of the Chiss¡¯s race for the stars. the ship had a catastrophic navigation failure in Hyperspace. It had overshot their planned coordinates by over 500 parsecs. The system they emerged in was dying, the sun had degraded to a white dwarf, barely capable of keeping them alive. They had settled on a moon in a stable orbit around the fifth planet, Csilla Minor they named it. The planet was a gas giant but it emitted more heat than the sun, enough for their small moon to have a breathable atmosphere, extremely heavy in trace gasses and methane. The air would have been toxic to any other species. Even they had needed to alter their own DNA slightly to adapt until they were found by their people again.


    For a thousand years they lived, all technology slowly degraded. Only the barest essential equipment had survived, even that had eventually failed. The learning machines had been preserved the longest, but even they had stopped working when the power supplies had been exhausted. The colony had never been meant to go so long without some kind of resupply from the Homeworld. Finally, nearly 1,800 years after they had been lost, Humans had found them.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    the shock had been enormous, aliens had found them before their own people. and to add to that their genetic modifications had unforeseen side effects. In oxygen-rich environments, their skin lightened towards the hue of burnished gold, their hair faded until it was white, and their eyes gleamed the color of freshly minted gold coins. Giving them a very striking appearance, but their own people rejected them Humans thought their coloring was beautiful and striking, but their own people deemed them so strange and twisted that they had more in common with the other aliens than their own people. In the end, they had not been welcomed back into the Chiss territories.


    Turning to the alien species that had rescued them from living as stranded primitives, They re-named their species and Moon, Nurupla after the two main families of the colony. Resigned, they joined the rest of the galaxy to make their own way.


    D¡¯Ryn followed the only path left to him, he let his eyes drift out of focus and opened himself up to the force. Pain assaulted him, but he did not shrink away. Misery dragged at him, he did not let it slow him. Anger swamped him, and he did not allow it to drown him. Agony, hopelessness, vengeance, all these things clawed at him. He rode them like a boat in a storm, tossed and battered but surviving. Sheer will kept his mind his own until he excepted the emotions around him, they calmed enough for him to see clearly the energy flows. Through the negative energy pouring out of the caverns, he found them. A path, blacker than black it burned a path that the lesser miseries shied away from. Oily, it clung to anyone that passed through it, tar-like. D¡¯Ryn shivered as he followed the path that everyone else avoided. anyone with even the faintest force sensitivity would subconsciously stay away from it. He had never sensed such evil, it had to be stopped. as quickly as he could D¡¯Ryn ran along the path, the lightless trail seemed to reach out to grasp at him, it sucked at his feet and clung to his robes. mile after mile he wove through the bowels of Coruscant, the warrens that never end. fighting with each step he slid off the corruption that tugged at him as best he could.


    after hours of moving through the shadows and filth, D¡¯Ryn stood breathing easily on a ledge. below him just above the layer smog that ringed the planet¡¯s surface, a pair of guards frisked everyone who passed through a pair of double doors. Pain and suffering practically seeped off the building before him. he opened his sense and studied the structure. two guards and another inside, people locked in rooms, higher the levels had less and less misery, at the top a black spot withered and snapped on the top floor.


    Yup definitely the right place, D¡¯Ryn force pushed off the ledge and sailed across the gap between him and the guards. time slowed as he fell into the flow of the force. he studied the guards with all of his attention focused on them. He recognized them, they had been there when his master and he had been ambushed! he landed in a crouch in front of them, his lightsaber crackled to life. It caste a harsh white glow around him.


    ¡°Guilty ¡± he whispered. the guards opened fire even as he rose from his crouch, he deflected one of the blaster bolts back at the guard as he surged forward it struck the Klatooninian in the shoulder causing it to spin and collapse to the ground. With a practiced twist, he pivoted under another bolt and decapitated the other guard. D¡¯Ryn checked around him for any other threats but any spectators had the presence of mind to flee. the Klatooninian growled savagely as it tried to pull out a disruptor pistol with one hand. D¡¯Ryn walked past its struggling form, without looking down he casually he cut off it still working arm and stabbed it in the chest. Lightsaber still lit he walked through the doors the other guard cowered behind her desk. he studied her, the Human was tainted by the darkness around her but not yet gone.


    ¡°GO.,¡± he said. She ran out the door without looking back. D¡¯Ryn stepped into the lift, and it sped upwards. as he reached midway up the tower, the lift slowed and stopped. Alarms started to blare, gas pumped into the lift tube. D¡¯Ryn sighed, some people never learned new tricks. He slipped on a breathing mask to filter out whatever the Hutt was trying to kill him with this time.

 Chapter 7

    Chapter 7.


    Bruekal was let out of his cage, once he agreed to the Hutt¡¯s terms. his wounds were treated and he was given clothes to cover his bare skin. The cloth felt alien and scratched against his sensitive exposed skin. He wondered how long it would take to grow back. they hadn¡¯t trusted him with a weapon yet, smart of them. He vowed to destroy the Filthy Hutt and his entire disgusting house. He was led to a lower floor and told to clean up and wait. after a few hours, he slipped into a light sleep. the sound of someone entering the room woke him instantly. it was the Trandoshan from earlier that had warned the Nikto to leave him alone.


    A possible ally, Bruekal thought to rise silently to tower over the alien.


    ¡°Uklak says he wants to see you at the top of the tower.¡± The Trandoshan said.


    Bruekal followed him silently eyeing his weapons. they made their way to a lift in the center of the tower. the doors where electrum plated and slid silently open at their approach. the Trandoshan turned around, a blaster pistol held low in front of his body, a cold smile on his face. Bruekal snarled quietly, ceding the point to the bounty hunter. he didn¡¯t pretend that he hadn¡¯t been eyeing the weapons strapped to his back. the Trandoshan motioned him into the elevator with the end of the blaster.


    ¡°Good luck furball.¡± It said with a nasty grin on its face. Bruekal snarled loudly at it. He climbed into the elevator, he stooped to avoid hitting his head. the doors hissed closed and he started to rise. after a few levels, the lift snapped to a halt, and Uklak¡¯s voice rasped out of some concealed speakers a protocol droid translated his words into wookie. and a hologram blinked into existence in front of Bruekal.


    ¡°we have a prooblem wooookie, there is an intruder in my toower. we will droop his lift and yoours to the same floooor loower in the toower. if you kill him, you will be given your weapoons back. and your first boounty... 100,000 credits....coonsider this an auditioon.¡± Uklak¡¯s voice laughed harshly and the hologram disappeared. Bruekal didn¡¯t bother to growl, he had expected nothing less from the slimebag at the top of this tower. his lift jerked, then started to plummet down.


    The lift stopped and a young Hutt appeared as a hologram in front of D¡¯Ryn.


    ¡°the coouncil has oordered yoou back to repoort, yooung Jedi.¡± the Hutt said in basic.


    ¡°You killed my master Hutt! and the sorrow you spread from your disgusting trade infects this whole planet!¡± D¡¯Ryn hissed through clenched teeth. the Hutt simply laughed, and D¡¯Ryn slashed the projector for the hologram and the speakers in one swift motion. he started to slash through the wall of the lift to make his own door, but the lift jerked nearly throwing him off his feet, before it plummeted down. after D¡¯Ryn counted a thousand feet of descent, the lift slid smoothly to a stop and the doors chimed and opened. D¡¯Ryn studied the dimly lit space before him, he sensed nothing living moving in the deserted floor of the tower. Cautiously he crept forward. the lights flickered off and on, rendering his eyes nearly blind. What he could see of the chamber it looked like deserted office space, old desks where shoved against one bank of filthy grime encrusted windows. the windows where nearly black from the smog swirling thick as soup outside the cracked Plasteel. across the deserted office space another elevator slid open spilling golden light out. D¡¯Ryn slid silently into the shadows, blending with them, he cloaked himself with the force so not even cameras would pick up his presence. concentrating, he closed his eyes and studied the large being that stepped out of the lift. D¡¯Ryn¡¯s eyes popped open in surprise. the wookie was wearing pants and a loose shirt. He had never heard of a wookie that wore clothes. slowly the wookie crept out of the lift, he had no weapons evident on him. D¡¯Ryn probed further with the force, cameras studied the Wookie¡¯s every move.


    mind made up, he crept silently over to the cameras and one by one broke the wires leading into them. the last one emitted a shrill whistle as it shorted out and the wookie turned towards D¡¯Ryn snarling. they circled each other warily for a few minutes. D¡¯Ryn checked for any kind of listening devices or other means of observation he could think off. But he spotted none, and tried to talk to the oddly dressed wookie.


    ¡°Easy. Easy there, they can¡¯t see us anymore.¡± D¡¯Ryn said easing out of the shadows. the Wookie stopped snarling and studied D¡¯Ryn closely. The Wookie started speaking in his own language, D¡¯Ryn listened hard trying to recall his language classes from the temple. he had loved learning at least a few phrases in as many different tongues as he could.


    ¡°....prisoner...........grandfather killed......Hutt, Uklak.¡± The Wookie said.


    ¡°Wait, slow down, are you saying that Hutt is named Uklak? and he killed your grandfather.?¡± D¡¯Ryn said softly. the wookie snarled his lips showing his fangs in an exasperated, or enraged face. he couldn¡¯t recall exactly which. it was only a matter of millimeters of fang exposed that made the difference.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    ¡°My name is Bruekal,¡± Bruekal said slowly. ¡°......Hutt captured me..... down here.....kill......... or die.¡± Bruekal finished slowly.


    ¡°Well, I think we can help each other in that case. I¡¯m Jedi D¡¯Ryn, I¡¯m here to kill the Hutt.¡± D¡¯Ryn said smiling showing his teeth just enough to let Bruekal know that he was serious. Bruekal returned his snarl and nodded, they went slowly to the lift shaft.


    Bruekal slid his claws into the thin crack left by the doors and wrenched them open with one heave, the doors ground apart with a shriek. the shaft was empty, of course, D¡¯Ryn thought with a mental shrug. Bruekal held the doors open, D¡¯Ryn jumped out onto one of the support struts and activated his lightsaber. he slashed opened one of the access panels that led into the bowels of the tower. I doubt the Hutt has anything in these tunnels, D¡¯Ryn thought smirking. he deactivated his lightsaber and motioned Bruekal into the access panel. the wookie glanced down and made a worried trill at the yawning chasm below them that fell away for thousands of meters.


    ¡°I thought Wookies lived in trees?¡± D¡¯Ryn said questioningly. Bruekal just huffed dismissively and clambered into the access panel, it was a tight fit for his massive frame. D¡¯Ryn followed behind him and they made their way slowly upward towards the top of the tower where the Hutt, Uklak was no doubt furiously searching for them. D¡¯Ryn led the way as they squeezed through the thin access shafts winding their way slowly upward. after a few hundred meters the tunnel suddenly widened and deposited them in some kind of hub. Bruekal grunted and stretched to his full height and rolled his shoulders. D¡¯Ryn searched the floors for some kind of clue for which way to go. Bruekal studied the chamber and scented the air, he shivered in the stale air. he would need to get warmer clothes without his fur. he thought despondently. a breeze from one of the tunnels alerted him to move in the still air. he growled and subvocalized a warning to D¡¯Ryn. then he tapped the strange Jedi on the shoulder when he didn¡¯t hear the warning.


    D¡¯Ryn shinned his small light down the tunnel that Bruekal pointed towards. He cursed when the wookie slapped the light out of his hand and shoved him out of the way as he dove to the side.


    ¡°Idiot.....perfect...target.¡± Bruekal rumbled. D¡¯Ryn felt foolish, his light had made him a beacon for whatever was down the tunnel. a slithering noise like the sound of many claws rasping on metal drifted towards them Into the thin light D¡¯ryn¡¯s lit lightsaber caste scuttled the scene from the deepest darkest places of your worst nightmare. Thousands of


    Several long dusty and dirt filled hours later D¡¯Ryn and Bruekal had finally made it to just below the top floor of the tower.


    ¡°Come on. Let''s finish this.¡± D¡¯Ryn whispered. Bruekal refused to move. he just pointed out the vent they had been looking through at the same room he had been caged in earlier. Bounty hunters and slavers ran in and out of the room, still searching for the missing Jedi, and Wookie.


    ¡°What!?¡± D¡¯Ryn hissed edging further up the air duct they where creeping through. Bruekal growled low and motioned at the rows of blasters along the walls below and whined wistfully.


    ¡°You need a blaster?¡± exasperated D¡¯Ryn dug in his pockets and handed Bruekal a small blaster. Bruekal eyed it doubtfully and gave D¡¯Ryn a bland look.


    ¡°What!? it''s fully charged,¡± D¡¯Ryn said.


    ¡°....break...........thing¡± Bruekal mumbled.


    ¡°Well don¡¯t break it then. It¡¯s got ten shots, COME on.¡± D¡¯Ryn said angrily. Reluctantly Bruekal followed him looking disgustedly at the tiny holdout blaster in his giant hand. the ventilation shaft finally tilted up and they slowly climbed up the shaft. The next vent looked out on Uklak¡¯s apartment. females from all across the galaxy were chained all around the room. Disgusted D¡¯Ryn shoved the grate open. it clattered to the ground as he leaped out, activating his lightsaber. Bruekal followed him struggling to crawl out of the vent.


    ¡°Uklak! answer me, Hutt!¡± D¡¯Ryn yelled the slave girls around the room huddled against the walls away from his anger. the Hutt slithered out of an alcove where a halo screen showed all of the security feeds from the building.


    ¡°What are yoou gooing too doo Jedi? my business interests here are tootally legal, and the coouncil dooesnt supoort yoour little crusade here.¡± Uklak sneered at Bruekal and D¡¯Ryn


    ¡°Don¡¯t call me that... I¡¯m not a Jedi any longer.¡± D¡¯Ryn said Bruekal glanced sharply over at him. With a scream of rage, D¡¯Ryn ran towards the Hutt, too shocked to move Uklak didn¡¯t stand a chance. With a flash, D¡¯Ryn sliced off his head and cut his bulbous body into three steaming chunks. green blood splattered the walls and the room went instantly silent. A small red light on the council that Uklak had been sitting at blinked off and on as D¡¯Ryn collapsed to his knees staring at the remains of his hated foe, all of the anger drained out of his body, all emotion slowly slid off of his face. his lightsaber fell limply from his hand.


    Bruekal snatched the laser sword off the ground, the Jedi didn¡¯t even twitch, and he disabled the door. quickly and went around slashing the chains of the slave girls. as soon as he finished that Bruekal went to the computer and started hacking into the system to find out what Uklak had been up to. Finding the files he needed, he smiled satisfied. the Hutt had taken accounting to an extreme, he gathered all the files and sent them to the senate detailing exactly the activities of one late Hutt. for good measure, he sent a copy to the major news agencies on the planet. the weeping group of former slaves had gathered together close by D¡¯Ryn.


    ¡°What now?¡± one of the naked females asked D¡¯Ryn, Bruekal rolled his eyes when the Jedi didn¡¯t respond. He waved a hand at them, and cooed gently trying to be reassuring. Ukllak''s system had said he stored his private Starship outside on the terrace. Bruekal led the shocked females outside he grabbed some of the curtains, ripping them into strips he handed them to the females to wear. He grabbed the stunned former Jedi and carried him gently out into the star ship.


    ¡°Well lets see if my luck holds.¡± Bruekal thought as he strapped into the pilots chair. ¡°If there¡¯s any justice in this universe, I¡¯ll be home before next week.¡± Bruekal started the engines and prayed he didn¡¯t crash before getting clear of the tower.

 Chapter 9 Ketch

    Chapter 8.


    Ketch slowly eased out of the garage, knives waved at them as he shut the hanger door. the sleek green and gold Airspeeder handled like a dream. K2tec¡¯s color choice was much more pleasing than the speeder bike they had been forced to leave behind. the hodgepodge of parts was performing perfectly together, not that he was surprised. He had learned to stop questioning his instincts on such things.


    Joran watched as an unabashed smile spread over Ketch¡¯s usually sober face. his fingers danced along the controls as he tested each of the onboard systems. like a master musician, he tuned the barely audible whine coming from the engines till they hummed perfectly in sync with each other. cheery green lights flashed along the control panel, and Ketch flashed her a toothy grin.


    ¡°Hold on,¡± he said gunning the accelerator. the Airspeeder jumped ahead, launching with enough energy that it seemed to be ready to surge ahead and into orbit. K2tec¡¯s tiny censor nest clicked as if full of marbles as the tiny droid worked the Nav systems and helped plot a course through the mess of traffic infesting the skies of Coruscant. Even with her sense extended as far as she could manage, she could barely follow Ketch¡¯s wild flight through the smog-choked skies. They zipped through alleys with bare centimeters to spare.


    ¡°Building!¡± Joran yelled as they headed straight for a Durasteel support structure. Ketch jerked the ship vertical and gunned the engines. with a casual twitch, he flicked toggle and the comforting green lights all blinked into angry shrilling red. the Engines went from a harmonious hmm to a tortured shrill scream of outrage. the floor shuddered as the pod racer engines mounted mere centimeters below their feet coughed to life.


    ¡°KETCHHHHH¡± Joran¡¯s hard-won control evaporated under the force of their screaming ascent.


    ¡°YAAAAHOOOOOO¡± Ketch¡¯s answering yell held none of her concern. his eyes were nearly shut as their path blasted through the smog. The screen in front of Joran showed the fog left in their wake spreading with ripples like the surface of a pond. with a cough the pods below them cut out, it had been the longest 30 seconds of Joran¡¯s life.


    ¡°Let''s not do that again....okay?¡± Joran¡¯s


    ¡°You''re the boss,¡± Ketch said grinning, he patted the controls fondly. ¡°K2, check the police bands make sure no one noticed our unscheduled launch into sub-orbit,¡± Ketch said grinning as he worked the controls that sealed and purged the cabin pressure as they drifted free of the planet¡¯s atmosphere. welcome aboard lady, and...uh lady the captain has turned on the artificial gravity feel free to maneuver around the limited cabin space. we shall be arriving at our destination in less the twenty standard minutes please enjoy your trip.¡° Ketch announced over the interior speakers of the small shuttle craft.


    ¡°Was that really necessary? I¡¯m sitting right behind you.¡± Joran said exasperated, a small smile tugged at her lips though.


    ¡°Hey, just trying to adjust to the civilian shuttle life, going to have to get used to ferrying passengers all over know space since my military career is bust,¡± Ketch said lightly, but a slight hitch in his voice made the comment harsher then he had intended.


    ¡°Nothing on the scanners sir looks like no one noted out escape into sublight space,¡± K2Tec said.


    ¡°Well keep an eye on the sensors, let me know if anything heavier armed then a pleasure yacht flies by,¡± Ketch said. they settled in for the short trip up to the moon base, as they drew nearer to it, Ketch became aware of his shoulders hunching up and becoming tense. Joran noticed his mounting anxiety,


    ¡°Relax Ketch, we will find some answers up here I¡¯m sure of it.¡±


    ¡°Oh, what makes you so sure? got a feeling or is the force telling you?¡± Ketch said snorting derisively through his nose. He had little respect for the force even though he had witnessed its power on several occasions now.


    ¡°Well if you must know, No it¡¯s not the force, its sound reasoning. it makes sense that there will be some kind of record left up here, no matter how effective of a sweep they might have done to the labs, there is always something left behind. plus no one likes to move cheap equipment into space, so everything there would be of the highest quality there for highly unlikely that they would destroy it. more than likely it¡¯s all on standby and just waiting for some0one to come back and get the whole thing running again.¡± Joran said thinking her way through the answer.


    ¡°Hmmph.¡± Ketch just snorted and continued to pilot the craft through the light in system traffic leading to the main moon base.


    ¡°Papers and manifest.¡± A protocol droid demanded as soon as they left their small craft.


    ¡°We are just visiting for the day, no cargo,¡± Ketch said brushing past the gleaming black humanoid droid.


    ¡°Sir you know this means the craft will be scanned for contraband.¡± the droid called after them, Ketch just waved a hand vaguely over one shoulder.


    ¡°Was that wise? some of those weapon modifications must be illegal?¡± Joran asked hurrying to keep pace with Ketch in the .5G of the spaceport. she tended to bounce too high and hang in the air waiting to come back down, Ketch had a distinctive rolling gate that allowed him to keep in contact with the ground almost as if he was skating along more than walking.


    ¡°Nah I had K2 register the ship as a free transport and a mercenary ship so the weapons systems are all authorized. plus we really didn¡¯t have any cargo, let them spend five or six hours searching the ship to find that out. It will give the real smugglers a little leeway.¡± Ketch said grinning. Joran paused and tried to mirror his motions and keep pace through the corridors. she was mildly successful and didn¡¯t want everyone to know how little experience she had in low gravity.


    ¡°You remember the way?¡± Joran asked.


    ¡°Yes, now be quiet I¡¯m trying to recall which turns they took me on.¡± Ketch walked purposefully through the cramped corridors of the spaceport dodging the heavy foot traffic of various crews refueling and going about their normal in system resupplying. a sharp left and the traffic around them dropped off as they headed deeper into the subsurface of the moon. another left and quick right had them in a rarely used access tunnel, the floor where dirty and only a thin path were evident down the center of the corridor. ketch led them on for several minutes, K2Tec kept pace easier in the lower gravity he was even faster than back in the garage. for several long minutes they walked deeper and deeper into the moon, several turns made them double back for several meters, but always ended up leading deeper. Ketch finally stopped next to a closed transport lift.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    ¡°is this the place?¡± Joran asked


    ¡°No, but this will get us to the other side of the dark side of the moon, it''s faster than walking.¡± Ketch pointed at the control port, and K2Tec flitted down and plugged himself into the terminal. after a few seconds, the doors slid open and they all climbed into the lift, the doors slid shut and they have whisked away nearly straight through the center of the moon. after nearly 15 minutes the lift slowed and chimed as it opened, Ketch stepped out into the corridor and looked around. he froze as his eyes locked on a think bulkhead door that was sealed closed. a slight shiver passed over his body, Joran placed a hand comfortingly on his shoulder. Ketch¡¯s head dropped as he took a deep breath and squared his shoulders, the cocky grin slid back into place on his face as he went over to the door and K2Tec worked on getting the doors open. with a hiss, the doors slid out of the way and ketch led the way into the dimly lit space on the other side of the door.


    Joran looked around expectantly, there was diagnostic equipment everywhere. the best scanners and monitors that money could buy lined the walls of one exam room, another room the lights were turned off in. a faint odor of something burnt floated throughout the complex. Ketch looked questioningly at the darkened exam room and flicked a light on from the observation room, a plasma lantern flickered and tried to turn on but sputtered and blinked out. Ketch jiggled the switch and the lantern sprang back to life glaring light all over the room. everything inside of the room was blackened and burned the heat had been so intense that the exam table had melted into a puddle on the ground humanoid outlines off ash on the walls looked like charcoal sketches. ketch grimaced wondering what heat source had ignited so furiously in the confined space that it flash burnt the poor exam techs into the walls. Joran came over and wordlessly stood next to ketch studying the damaged room.


    ¡°Was this damaged the last time you came here?¡± Joran asked after several quiet seconds.


    ¡°No, nothing like this was here and they never mentioned an explosion. which is odd since it¡¯s a must on any space station. fire is no joke in these confined environments, and they are investigated very thoroughly.¡± Ketch shook his head and looked for his droid, K2Tec was busily snooping through the computer systems. Ketch walked over to the small droid.


    ¡°Anything left in the system?¡± Ketch asked.


    ¡°Yes, sir quite a lot actually seems they were in quite a hurry to clear out of this complex after the fire, they must have been afraid of an investigation by the local authorities,¡± K2Tec said pulling up screen after screen of partially deleted files.


    ¡°Wait. Stop. go back ¡± Joran said looking over Ketch¡¯s shoulder. K2Tec brought back the last batch of files and Joran scanned over it more carefully.


    ¡°What do you make of this?¡± Joran asked Ketch. Ketch studied the indicated file closely.


    Subject species harvest yield location


    !@%$$^& @#$%cal Y .86% N/A


    !&&$@ *&!@@@!$ #! ($!*@ D


    the file continued on in a broken manner for several pages sometimes detailing species and name of the subject sometimes not.


    ¡°The file has been contaminated sir,¡± K2Tec said. ¡°That is the best I can repair it.¡±


    ¡°It''s okay K2. least we got something. see if you can pull up any shipping info maybe where whatever the drug was they were giving me came from.¡± Ketch said thoughtfully. After several minutes K2Tec pulled up a shipping manifest, the inbound shipments contained the names of species arriving and a number detailing how many where transported to the station. Ketch had been looking around and had found a back room full of strange deadly looking instruments dangling from the ceiling. needles and blades attached to robotic limbs looked ominous in the dimly light room. another room had contained row upon row of cages with shackles welded to the floors. A shudder had coursed through his body as he studied them trying to discern their use. Joran was sitting at the terminal next to K2Tec running her own searches. she gasped and shuddered slightly as she pulled up a screen of data. Ketch bent over to peer at the scrolling Data, but it was gibberish too him. Just dates and weights listed and storage information.


    ¡°What did you find?¡± Ketch asked her putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Joran didn¡¯t answer for several seconds she seemed stunned by what she had found. Silent shivers rocked her body and she leaned into his hand taking what comforts she could from the contact.


    ¡°Ketch I think I figured out what they were injecting you with....it¡¯s not pleasant,¡± Joran said finally taking a steadying breath.


    ¡°Ketch sat down next to her,


    ¡°Go ahead when you¡¯re ready, I can handle it, I need to know what it was,¡± Ketch said quietly to her.


    Joran took a deep breath before continuing.


    ¡°I was looking at the shipping info, but there was no record of anyone leaving the station that matched with the arrival dates so I assumed they must have been slaves, but who would need SO many? plus they obviously didn¡¯t take them all with them when they left. so I was trying to track down where they went...I found it, there were no records of them leaving because none of them ever left...they all died here.¡± Joran said in a hushed voice. Ketch shuddered but nodded for her to keep going.


    ¡°There are records on the station of all the accumulated waste that is incinerated and then it¡¯s billed to the party responsible, these offices had a lot of waste billed to them. I checked the weights against the incoming cargo... and they match to close to be a coincidence. whatever they were doing here, it killed hundreds of beings.¡± Joran said a tear slid down one of her cheeks as she finished.


    ¡°But what were they killing them for? surely they didn¡¯t do it for simple fun! I don¡¯t know exactly, but slaves can''t be cheap especially not this close to the core systems!¡± Ketch said trying to rationalize the insane information he had just acquired. Joran took several deep breaths before continuing.


    ¡°They didn¡¯t just kill them... we have been getting reports of kidnappings for the last several years of force sensitive beings all across the universe. its seems they ended up here. I think they figured out how to harvest the Midicholrinis from their bodies, but the process kills them. that¡¯s what they where injecting you with Ketch, each of those injections was the life of one of these poor beings that they killed trying to harness the force from their bodies.¡± Joran said grasping ketch¡¯s hand on her shoulder.


    Ketch¡¯s mind reeled, he had received hundreds of injections over the last two years...each one had cost someone their life. His eyes swam as tears clouded his vision. the room tilted and he realized that he had fallen out of the chair. Joran saw him falling and managed to get under his shoulders just in time to stop his head from crashing into the metal floor. the world receded to bright points as his eyes rolled back in his head, the last thing he heard was Joran calling his name across a great distance then everything went black.


    ----------------------------

 Chapter 9 Brukal

    Chapter 9.


    Bruakal was sick of looks his forced haircut got him from the spacers in each of the seedy bars D¡¯Ryn and he went into looking for someone to fence their stolen ship too. But then again the reputation the quick-tempered Jedi and his hair-trigger lightsaber skills where getting them, they were definitely being taken seriously by any of the less reputable buyers they did manage to find. He sighed as yet another buyer glanced nervously at the blankly staring Jedi. D¡¯Ryn eyes remained distant and flat as he studied their table companion. Bruakal elbowed D¡¯Ryn sharply in the side hard enough to send the smaller sophont nearly tumbling from his chair. He recovered and glanced over at the wookie, his face had remained blank never showing the faintest twitch of emotion. But he did stop studying the shabby looking Bothan who was talking into a translator quickly. Bruakal listened to the offer and agreed to meet the Bothan at their hanger to look at the ship in a few hours. They parted company without touching or shaking hands as the humans tended to do.


    D¡¯Ryn watched the Bothan go, his presence leaving little flickers of afterimages as he moved away. The force had taken on an odd quality since he had killed the hutt responsible for his master¡¯s death. Instead of the usual high-speed flashes of images that assaulted him every time he studied someone closely with the force, he was just seeing quick snapshots highlighting their actions. The Bith wasn¡¯t a bad sort really he had a run of bad luck recently and was trying to scrape his way back to legitimacy by any means possible. Bruakal didn¡¯t say anything to him just lead the way as they left the dimly lit lounge. Thousands of images flitted in front of him as they made their way slowly through the crowded main corridors of the station. The images slashed at him, forcing him to see things he had never wanted to behold. a mother slapped her crying child till only whimpers came from the huddled bundle, a son yelled abuse at his parents and stormed out leaving the home broken full imagined slights and undeserved rebukes, all around it whirled till blissfully it all vanished pushed back.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    D¡¯Ryn blinked dazed as his eyes cleared and he noticed finally that the corridor had frozen and a large circle of space had opened around him. He glanced down at the glowing lightsaber in his clenched fist, puzzled he had could not remember having drawn it. He searched panic gradually building for Bruakal. Relief poured over him as his friend shoved through the crowd growling at his delay.


    Bruakal shoved his way towards D¡¯Ryn, life debt or no, this was the last straw. The Jedi had to get a hold of himself or be left behind. He opened his mouth to say just that but D¡¯Ryn beat him to it.


    ¡°Bruakal! Thank goodness, my friend!¡± D¡¯Ryn stumbled over to him. Puzzled Bruakal looked at the smaller Jedi.


    ¡°Here, take this, I need to meditate. Until then I can¡¯t trust myself with it keep it safe!¡± D¡¯Ryn thrust his lightsaber into Bruakal''s huge hand. Thankfully he had remembered to switch it off, but that had been out of years of long habit, not a real plan or thought on his part. It just showed how badly he needs to focus. Bruakal nodded and guided his gratefully babbling friend towards their hanger. The rapid mood shifts more concerning than the sullen silence that had been his norm.

 Chapter 10 Corey Macaulay

    Chapter 10.


    Sergeant Corey Macaulay eased himself into the booth of the seedy dinner that his partner had chosen. He studied the other Human for a second. 2 meters, extremely thin, receding hair black hair faded to salt and pepper, a nervous tick with his fingers, signs of death stick addiction. rumpled Police uniform that needed to be cleaned and had probably been slept in, the only thing left that was clean and immaculate as always was his blaster pistol on his belt. Sergeant Felik Demond, Coruscant police force, former Lieutenant of the imperial order, looked worn out. He had been a thin man when he had commanded Corey¡¯s unit back in imperial order half a lifetime ago.


    ¡°Mac, glad you could make it,¡± Felik said as he toyed with his steaming cup.


    ¡°Of course Lt, any time,¡± Mac answered, he had been given a chance to get off the streets nearly five years before and into the homicide division. The Lt had encouraged him to go for it, so he had, leaving the last member of his old squad on the streets to train rookies.


    ¡°So what¡¯s up Lt?¡± Mac asked hesitating slightly. The Lt smiled stiffly and reached into a pocket and drew out some papers, and handed them across the table to Mac as he sipped his drink. The serving droid came by just as he took the papers.


    ¡°What you gonna have Human?¡± the droid asked, managing to sound cranky even with a cheap audio output. Mac answered distractedly trying to read the menu and the papers at the same time.


    ¡°Nerf steak, rare.¡± Mac chose his usual meal. The Lt waved the droid off but smiled at Mac¡¯s typical choice.


    ¡°You never did become fully civilized.¡± The Lt said with a rough chuckle a sound rarely heard, and never by rookies or recruits. Mac smiled reading the papers quickly.


    ¡°Finally got your walking papers, you earned them Lt,¡± Mac said looking at his friend. The Lt grimaced.


    ¡°Yeah, they finally decided I had given enough...after all these years.¡± The Lt looked around at the dinner, mostly humans with only a handful of aliens scattered among them and a deep frown pulled at his thin lips.


    ¡°You remember this place, Mac?¡± The Lt asked nodding at the dinner around them. Mac followed his gaze behind him to the far wall where a few holes in the Durasteel had been badly repaired. The memory flooded back unblunted by the years.


    Mac jogged into the dinner try to get out of the stinging acid rain as quickly as he could. The Lt had sent him back out to the patrol speeder for his forgotten comm. unit. Mac silently berated himself for the mistake; something like this would have gotten him killed in the field. Being out of contact with the rest of the squad and he was mincemeat for any rebel sniper with a bad attitude and a heavy blaster rifle. He ducked through the door and whipped his patrol helmet off so the acid rain wouldn¡¯t pit the metal. He glanced around and froze, the Lt was sitting down calmly in a booth facing a pair of ugly Shistavanen, their squat dog-like bodies bristled with completely illegal weapons. Nonhumans weren¡¯t allowed to have anything with more punch then a holdout blaster in this sector! Mac thought his hand instantly went to his holstered blaster pistol. Cautiously he walked forward to stand at the Lt¡¯s shoulder


    ¡°Look fur face, I still need to see some kind of paperwork for those weapons, either a contract that says your freelancing for the Empire OR something from another HUMAN employer.¡± The Lt finished. Mac tried to look confident at his partner¡¯s attitude, but sweat beaded his brow. The bigger of the two Shitavanen¡¯s nostrils flared and its eyes whipped to focus on him. The sight of filthy aliens trying to act like humans, carrying weapons as if they owned the planet. With a practiced flick of his hand, Mac drew his pistol just as the Aliens clawed hand pulled a concealed weapon. He barely had time to register the weapon before his world suddenly tilted to the right and pain blossomed in his knee. Shocked, Mac realized that the Lt had kicked his legs out from under him. The second Shitavanen had already slid a blaster out of its holster and started firing directly where Mac¡¯s chest had been a split second before. Bolts of crimson death whizzed by Mac¡¯s face as time seemed to slow, his hand came up out of reflex and years of training with the Imperial Storm Troopers paid off. Even as he fell he fired a burst of three shots from his blaster pistol. One shot clipped the first Shitavanen on the shoulder spinning it to the side. It¡¯s weapon discharged harmlessly into the windows beside the booth. Mac noted idly just before his head hit the ground that it had been a disruptor the alien had pulled on the LT, powerful enough to completely vaporize a human. Then everything went black as his head struck the dirty floor.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    His thoughts snapped back to the present and he glanced over at the LT, while his mind was occupied the LT had pulled out his service blaster. Its well-polished barrel glinted dully in the cheap plasma lanterns of the dinner. The service droid dropped his nerf steak off with a clatter as he simple stared across at the tormented eyes of the LT.


    ¡°What¡¯s that for LT...¡± Mac said quietly.


    ¡°I had nothing but this left.¡± The Lt unclipped his badge from his chest and put it on the table next to the gun with a gentle reverence. Around them, the room faded into silence.


    ¡°You know what we did back in the bad old days, there¡¯s no place left for us in the new order of things. Not MEN like us. I just wanted to say goodbye and give you this.¡± The Lt handed Mac a data chip. Without another word, he twirled the blaster expertly in one hand, pointed the barrel at his temple and pulled the trigger. This time in the dinner everything went white.


    Six months later.


    Mac swirled the expensive liquor around his glass, eyeing the rest of the bottle, little less than half was left. Which meant that he would have to go out again, back out into the stinking alien-infested streets. He downed what was left in the glass and poured another healthy sized dose of his medicine into the glass. Mac looked bleary-eyed around his apartment, it had never been much just the same boring set up that a trillion others had at this level of Coruscant. His place hadn¡¯t been cleaned, vermin had moved in, Mac didn¡¯t care. He was on a vacation paid for by the department, 6 months paid mandatory psychology vacation. Talking to some med droid every day about his feeling seamed ridiculous. What could a machine know about Human emotions? Disgusted with the whole situation he drank down the warm liquor with barely a grimace. Pounding sounded on his front door.


    ¡°Mac! Open the damn door!¡± After a brief pause, the pounding resumed. Mac groaned and rolled over it was too early, barely before noon galactic time. He waved blearily at the door and it slid open with a satisfied beep.


    ¡°Damn it, I thought a locked door was an obvious no,¡± Mac said as the room still spun lazily, leftovers from his long night of drinking alone.


    ¡°Yeah, I figured you would want to hear this one though.¡± Captain Algran said pushing a pile of dirty clothes off the one chair in the filthy room.


    ¡°Its right up your alley, Twi¡¯lek, kidnapping, rape, destruction of property, resisting arrest, reckless endangerment. Something that might take your mind off of Felik. Plus you could probably use the money by now.¡± Algran said glancing around at the mess. Mac snorted and sat up reeling slightly he staggered to the bathroom, he left to door open so he could talk.


    ¡°Actual you would be surprised, The Lt practically saved every dime. He gave it all to me, right before...¡±Mac stopped as bile rose in his throat, he choked it back and zipped his pants back up. He stood there for a few seconds struggling against the tide of memories try to drown him. Braced against the wall, his shoulders shook as he rode the tide of images, blurred by drink the edges worn soft by time. They were still nearly enough to have his head in the toilet.

 Chapter 11 Ketch

    Chapter 11


    Lights swam by his bleary eyes. Ketch blinked struggling up from the darkness that had swallowed him. His eyes focused on the lights that where whisk by his face, plasma lanterns he realized bemused at the sluggishness of his thoughts. A reddish display flicked into being in the upper right-hand corner of his vision.


    ¡°011.23.50.50G¡±


    ¡°011.23.50.49G¡±


    ¡°011.23.50.48G¡± the display continued to count down by 1-second increments. It stayed fixed at the very corner of his vision no matter where he moved his eyes. After several more seconds, it occurred to him to turn his head and look around.


    He was laying flat on his back beside Joran as she hurried along a stark utility corridor. Her hand was stretched towards him fingers spread and tensed. He studied her perfectly trimmed finger nails, he marveled at her unblemished skin. So odd for a Zabraak not to have a single tattoo he thought. Slowly his head cleared further, he shook his head glancing around again he realized he was floating down the corridor unsupported by any means he could see. Joran glanced down at him as he stirred, her mouth moved and he realized he couldn¡¯t hear anything but a high pitched buzzing. As he struggled to focus, memories flooded back in, the horror of what he now knew swamped him. The edges of his vision crumbled back into darkness leaving the red countdown timer as the only thing he could see.


    ¡°011.23.48.30G¡±


    Next time his eyes could focus Joran was gently lowering him to the cold metal floor of the small hangar they had rented for the day.


    ¡°Ketch! KETCH you¡¯ve gotta wake up we tripped some kind of alarm or something in the lab. Security is searching for us. We need to get off the moon do you understand me?¡± she asked a slight edge of desperation creeping into her voice. She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him roughly. Ketch nodded with a groan he tried to sit up slowly, he had to stop once. He grabbed his knees and held onto them trying to catch his breath. He closed his eyes and the timer glowed against his eyelids brightly,


    ¡°011.22.44.59G¡±


    ¡°How long was I out?¡± He asked surprised at how raspy his voice sounded ¡°And why does my throat hurt?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t remember? You started screaming once you hit the floor, I had to knock you out so you wouldn¡¯t hurt yourself.¡± Joran said carefully,


    ¡°You¡¯ve been out for little over an hour since the last time you woke up.¡± She watched him for any sign of returning distress. Ketch¡¯s mind raced and tried to flood him with pain again, he walled off the part of his mind that was trying to override the rest. He locked it away until he could deal with it. His face went blank as he controlled his emotions, his mind cleared but his emotions felt distant. As he studied the Airspeeder another number flickered into being below the first, it was bright green, a set of navigational coordinates it looked like.


    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s find a ride out of here before we are forced to stay a LOT longer then we want to,¡± Ketch said calmly, Joran nodded and started to put their few supplies back into the Airspeeder. K2Tec zipped out of the open canopy and flitted around Ketch lights flashing brightly in concern


    ¡°Sir, my scans indicate that you have recently experienced a sever shock to your system. Did you need to talk about something? I can link with the AI that runs the base she has a full medical protocol.¡± K2Tec said, his synthesized voice concerned.


    ¡°No,¡± Ketch said brushing the hovering droid away like a pesky insect. Joran glanced at his uncharacteristically abrupt treatment of the droid.


    ¡°Follow me,¡± Ketch said and started off.


    ¡°Wait! We need to leave, where are you going?¡± Joran demanded jogging to catch up to him.


    ¡°To get us a new ride, that one¡¯s not going to get us to where we need to go,¡± Ketch said absently, he studied the hanger numbers quickly as he hurried down the corridor.


    ¡°Where is that exactly?¡± Joran asked cautiously.


    ¡°The Outer Rim if my math¡¯s right, and we have a dead line.¡± He said matter-of-factly ignoring Joran¡¯s odd look he kept moving quickly away trusting her to keep up.


    ¡°What kind of deadline? How much time do we have? Joran asked cautiously so as not to upset him. Ketch closed one eye and squinted.


    ¡°011.22.31.48G¡± the display read.


    ¡°11 days, 22 hours, 31 minutes, and 44 seconds galactic standard time I assume it¡¯s not local time anyway,¡± Ketch said absently still focused on the hanger numbers, the bays were getting progressively bigger as the continued down the corridor. Joran¡¯s sense of concern grew at his exact number. Before she could question him further, he stopped at a medium sized hanger. He froze, literally.


    A stillness like no she had seen before, short of a meditation trance came over him he didn¡¯t even seem to breathe for a few seconds.


    ¡°This is the one.¡± He said returning to normal.


    ¡°What was that?¡± Joran demanded, ¡°And what the hell do you mean this is the one? We¡¯ve never even been down this way!¡± Joran hissed shaken at the lack of emotion in his voice and his strange behavior. Ketch didn¡¯t answer his hands flew over the keypad that opened the hanger air lock for several seconds. Numbers flashed by on the screen too fast for her to follow till the door chimed and slid open smoothly.


    ¡°¡­How?¡± She stopped herself, ¡°Never mind¡­ what now?¡± Joran demanded.


    ¡°We wait.¡± Ketch led the way into the hanger and after glancing around they hid behind a large stack of equipment near one corner. Joran stifled her questions and sat down next to him, she smiled ruefully and snorted out a disgusted laugh. Ketch looked over at her blankly.


    ¡°Here I thought I was supposed to be the mysterious one,¡± Joran said, Ketch studied her for a few seconds not saying anything. When she didn¡¯t say anything else he turned away and stared out the deflector shield that offered them a clear view of the starscape obscured only by the occasional shuttle or starship.


    This had better not be a long wait. Joran thought concerned about Ketch¡¯s odd behavior.


    Bruakal glanced nervously at D¡¯Ryn as they followed the Bothan who hadn¡¯t given his name, but he was the first one willing to trade for their ship that D¡¯Ryn hadn¡¯t attacked as soon as he walked into the room. He stopped at the intersection of the corridor they had been walking in and motioned for them to wait. He spoke quietly into his comm. unit. He must have got the answer he was looking for because he looked back at them and motioned for them to follow again. A few hanger doors later he stopped in front of a medium sized bay and punched in the code for the door.


    Bruakal led the way into the empty hanger bay. He glanced around, and a quite snarl escaped out of his pursed lips. The Bothan looked nervous and glanced at his translator to check if it was working correctly.


    ¡°What is wrong?¡± The Bothan asked his synthetic voice steady despite his nervous glances. Bruekal growled and talked to D¡¯Ryn gesturing angrily at the empty hanger.


    ¡°He says, where is the ship?¡± D¡¯Ryn translated into common.


    ¡°It¡¯s coming, where is yours?¡± The Bothan asked. Bruekal pulled a sleek control device from his pocket and pushed a few buttons, the Hutt¡¯s gleaming shuttle slid smoothly into the hanger and parked in the far corner by a large pallet of supplies that was stacked there. The Bothan made an appreciative noise at the polished hull. He ran one hand expertly along the seam for the door and flicked a hidden switch, a panel popped open revealing a small diagnostic screen and key pad. He went to work expertly on the ship checking the integrated systems and easily bypassing the system security that popped up trying to limit his access.


    Bruekal recognized the work of an expert in his craft and wondered again at what the Bothan¡¯s possible background was. After a few minutes, the Bothan closed the panel and turned back to them looking pleased.


    ¡°This will work perfectly for our needs. I¡¯ll give you 534,000 credits for it.¡± The Bothan said calmly. Bruekal¡¯s heart missed a beat at the offer, it was more money than his entire village made in a year. He was deeply tempted to cash in on this windfall and leave the Jedi and all the trouble hanging over him. He looked over at D¡¯Ryn who was standing calmly looking out the clear deflector shield that kept the vacuum of space out. He seemed to be searching for something among the stars. With a sigh he curtly gestured the offer aside, the Bothan looked shocked at his refusal. Bruekal spoke quickly to D¡¯Ryn for a minute, D¡¯Ryn listened without looking away from the stars. After Bruekal stopped he spoke calmly to the Bothan without glancing at him.


    ¡°He said, the ship is worth at least 2 mil even used. Which doesn¡¯t matter since we agreed to a trade not selling it.¡± D¡¯Ryn finished.


    ¡°Well considering who the previous owner was, and the cost of changing all the registration beacons and codes 534 is more than a fair price. Of course your right though.¡± He added quickly when Bruekal took a threatening step toward him. ¡°We did agree to a trade.¡± The Bothan looked nervously between Bruekal and D¡¯Ryn then spoke quickly into his comm. unit to quietly for them to hear what he said.


    A few minutes went by then another ship flew into the hanger with considerably less grace than their stolen craft. Bruekal growled in appreciation, he liked the aggressive looking design of the ship with its to forward swept mandibles with mounted auto laser torrents. The whole craft was vaguely designed around a boxy crescent with just enough space between the points to allow a clear view forward from the cockpit.


    ¡°Uh, this is our humble trade offer. VCX-820 manufactured by Corellian Engineering. In this configuration it has all of the weapon packages, has working Hyperdrive with a 2.0 rating. Fastest Hyperdrive system on the civilian market. Has a backup Hyperdrive rated at 12 just in case any¡­meteors take out the primary drive or an¡­accident happens.¡± The Bothan started, obviously knowing his craft well. Bruakal calculated the ships price at around 1 million credits new, maybe 650,000 now that it was used. Their ship was easily worth twice that new but used and stolen lowered that to maybe 500,000 on the black market, more probable they might get 200,000 with no questions asked.


    ¡°Has 1-ton cargo capacity, crew quarters for 8 and three passengers. Has 3 twin heavy laser cannon turrets, 8 auto blasters, and 1 proton torpedo launcher. The shield generators are Military-grade, um¡­¡± he trailed off as Bruekal walked away to check the freighter from all angles. The Bothan followed after him now, wringing his hands anxiously as the deal seemed to be slipping from his hands.


    ¡°can sustain the crew and passengers for 6 months without resupply. Has a Max speed of 950 km/h in atmosphere¡­ Uh, I have to mention it is a fixer-upper.¡± Bruekal stopped in his tracks and glared down at the diminutive Bothan. At 2.5 meters Bruekal towered over the meter and a half Bothan, he flexed his hands sullenly and crossed his arms silently waiting. The Bothan gulped audibly before continuing.


    ¡°we are willing to trade this ship as an equal to your own, we¡¯ll even change the codes and security over to your own signature for free, and um scramble the ID beacon too.¡± He trailed off and glanced back at D¡¯Ryn who hadn¡¯t moved yet. Bruekal took a deep breath and rumbled out a word in basic.


    ¡°Why?¡± He said using one of the few words he could make heard in most beings range of hearing.


    ¡°This is a prototype model. The weapons targeting systems haven¡¯t been added in yet and the navigation system needs work. But it¡¯s in your price range.¡± A small noise made Bruekal¡¯s head whip around and he stared at the pile of equipment on the pallet but didn¡¯t hear anything else.


    ¡°All of the components you would need are right on that pallet all they need is for someone to put the time into installing them. I¡¯ll even throw them in as part of the deal.¡± He said staring to look of desperate. All kinds of alarm bells were going off in Bruekal¡¯s head, but with this ship, he could finally finish his mission that had gone so disastrously wrong when he first left his village.


    His father had sent him out among the aliens to acquire a freighter so they could set their own prices for the few goods they had to export off world. He had been entrusted with the entire savings of the clan to purchase a ship. Now after nearly 5 years after he had left he had his first real chance at completing his task.


    Bruekal let the Bothan stew for a few more seconds as he babbled on trying to sell the secondhand ship to what he assumed must be a complete idiot. Bruekal held up a hand to silence him. After the Bothan stopped talking Bruekal opened a control panel on the outside of the hull and pointed at it. The Bothan nodded and brought up the codes for the ship. Bruekal nodded and stuck out his hand, the Bothan took it apprehensively. Bruekal roared over to D¡¯Ryn the Bothan squealed and tried to pull away.


    ¡°He said it¡¯s a deal.¡± D¡¯Ryn yelled back to them. Bruekal let the Bothan go and quickly typed in a set of private codes to the ship and changed the owner ID to his own. The ID codes the ships broadcast to any station they approached for supplies had to be as inconspicuous as possible so as too not excite suspicion. The Bothan bowed gracefully and went over to do the same to the Hutt¡¯s ship. Bruekal stroked a finger down the side of their new ship lovingly. His smile was feral as he contemplated the modifications he was going to make. Bruekal opened the Starship¡¯s cargo doors, and gently guided D¡¯Ryn into the kitchen area. D¡¯Ryn sat at the table and emptied his mind of all thoughts and distractions. Gradually his awareness shrunk back into him, closing him off from the emotions of everyone around him. Bruekal was humming and grabbed a repulsor lift to carry on the parts that where piled in the hanger. The Bothan had finished changing the codes on his new ship, and he climbed in quickly and flew out without acknowledging them. Bruekal shrugged fitting the grav grapples onto the pallet of parts he activated the repulsor lift and the whole pallet floated free of the deck.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Ketch calmly walked out from behind the pallet they had been hiding behind as it lifted off the ground. The sight that greeted him was enough to make shock leak through the barrier he had built around his emotions. The wookie was wearing clothes, which was odd enough, but under the clothes, all of his fur was missing, except for tuffs on his hand''s feat and face. Joran froze next to him her mouth hanging slightly open as she starred at the Wookie.


    ¡°My God, what happened to you?¡± Joran exclaimed in Shyrwook, the language of the Wookies. Bruekal stopped what he was doing at the appearance of the strange aliens from behind the parts. He had started to reach for his blaster but when the Zabraak spoke his language obviously upset at his appearance, the shock made him hesitate. Bruekal¡¯s mind raced at what their sudden appearance might mean.


    ¡°Your pronunciation is awful,¡± Bruekal said after composing his thoughts.


    ¡°I know,¡± Joran said smiling despite her nerves at Ketch¡¯s random actions.


    ¡°011.07.44.30G¡± the timer glowed in the corner of Ketch¡¯s eye.


    ¡°We need a ride,¡± Ketch said to the wookie blandly. Bruekal growled, sick of the poor manners of the aliens he had to deal with. He crossed his massive arms, glaring down at the green-skinned Twi¡¯lek. Silently he studied the pair of them, the women a Zabraak, her pale pinkish skin and gleaming ivory head spikes where fetching for her species he supposed. But her gleaming bald head and utter lack of body hair ran against his definition of beauty, Give him a 2-meter female with long silken hair over a bald, hairless as a newborn, petite female any day. She was dressed in robes similar to D¡¯Ryn¡¯s, so she must be a Jedi. He thought quickly.


    The Twi¡¯lek male was young perhaps 21, his military hair cut and neatly pressed clothes marked him as some kind of officer. His leather flight jacket had insignia of a captain in the space navy. He had to be a cadet, the rank was far too high for someone so young. But it could be his ranking among the students. Bruekal could see at least 4 blasters concealed on his body and two knives, what an officer would need with so much fire power he couldn¡¯t guess. His emerald green skin and darker green stripes made him look as intimidating as could be expected of one of the smaller races. He was just less than two meters tall Bruekal estimated quickly and lean with muscle, not bulky, a fencer¡¯s build. If he had to guess, he would think that he was rather good with the weapons he was packing. A cadet out for a joy ride, still in school and no doubt in some kind of trouble. Bruekal decided.


    ¡°Why where you hiding there?¡± Bruekal demanded at the women. Ketch started to answer but she cut him off.


    ¡°Please excuse my companion here. I¡¯m Jedi Knight Joran Katha. He¡¯s Ketch, we need transport to these coordinates.¡± She held up a holo projector that she had input the coordinates Ketch had given her into. It displayed the coordinates above her palm for the Wookie to see.


    Bruekal studied the coordinates intently, looked like the Klyndatho system. About as deep in the Outer Rim as you could get before you hit dead space. Bruekal shuddered, the space between galaxies was terrifying in its infinite beauty. Vast emptiness that stretched further than most could imagine, some lost their grip on reality starring at the deep for too long.


    ¡°Why should I give you a ride? I don¡¯t think you could afford me, besides; I¡¯m not taking on any passengers.¡± Bruekal said dismissively, he turned to get into his ship. The last thing he needed was more infants to baby sit. His mind wandered as he thought about how he was going to get enough of a crew together to man the ship properly, and what it would cost him to get the parts installed.


    ¡°Wait,¡± Ketch said after listening to Joran¡¯s translation of what the wookie had said. I can help you, you need a crew. I¡¯ll sign on as your engineer.¡± Ketch said. Bruekal looked at him skeptically.


    ¡°I have 5 years of schooling as a Starship engineer at the academy. My grandfather worked for a starship company. I helped him out in the shipyards my whole childhood.¡± Ketch said. He had started to sweat. The effort of restraining his emotions was starting to wear on his strength.


    ¡°011.07.29.50G¡± the timer read. He rubbed his right eye hard trying to banish the image. It just glowed brighter when he closed his eye. Bruekal thought about it quickly calculating how much it would save him to have them along if he could actually install the components. They would still need a navigator and additional crew to man all the gun ports.


    ¡°What about you? What can you offer the ship?¡± Bruekal asked Joran gruffly.


    ¡°I am proficient with most basic Starships systems and a fast learner,¡± Joran said baring her teeth in a mildly challenging grin at the Wookie. Bruekal barked out a harsh laugh at her attitude. Damn them! He liked them both, this was probably going to come back to haunt him, but he heaved a heavy sigh.


    ¡°I would agree to take you on as crew in trade for your trip, but I don¡¯t have the fuel for it if we aren¡¯t carrying any cargo to pay for the return trip. We have just enough fuel to get me back to my home system. Truly, I am sorry.¡± He told Joran sincerely.


    ¡°We have a Starfighter we would offer as collateral,¡± Joran said quickly. ¡°Put it in the cargo hold, if we don¡¯t perform to your standards, or if you can¡¯t find something to salvage where we are going. Keep it and sell it for fuel.¡± Joran told Ketch what she had offered. He blanched at the thought of losing the Airspeeder he had just finished building but nodded at her quick thinking. K2tec flitted out to hover in front of Joran. K2tec bowed gracefully with his tiny robotic hands together and addressed the surprised Wookie captain.


    ¡°Sir, I am K2tec, I would also offer my cervices. I am primarily an Astro tech droid, with navigation being my specialty. I see that you have yet to install the navigation circuits as they are on that pallet full of parts. I will substitute as the ships Navi computer until the parts can be installed by my master.¡± K2tec said respectfully addressing the Wookie. Bruekal glanced sharply at the pallet of parts and saw the circuitry the droid had mentioned, he snarled out a curse. He continued to curse angrily at himself as he contemplated the treacherous Bothan. The ship was practically useless without those systems installed. Weapons systems where fine, he didn¡¯t plan on running into any trouble. But without the Navi, he was flying blind.


    ¡°Got taken pretty good didn¡¯t you big fella,¡± Ketch said Bruekal snarled out a curse to all aliens. He tossed an empty crate across the hanger so it banged into the blast doors leading into the corridor. An angry growl worked its way out of him as he worked off his rage on the few empty crates in the hanger. He finished crushing the empty metal trash bin into a ball and trilled out a victory cry. Dismissively he kicked the ball into one of the corners near the door.


    ¡°Fine. Get your fighter and load it in the cargo hold, you stay in the crew quarters. No sense messing up the passenger quarters if we don¡¯t have paying passengers. I¡¯m Bruekal, you can call me Captain.¡± He said glaring at Ketch. ¡°Either is fine from you.¡± He said less gruffly to Joran. ¡°Now get a move on, we leave in 2 hours I¡¯m going to see if I can find a few more crew willing to sign on for free passage and a cut of potential profits.¡± Bruekal said sighing. He waited until Joran translated for Ketch and the droid. The three of them bowed respectfully and headed out the blast doors to get their ship. Bruekal watched them go his mind racing with worries and potential problems.


    Bruekal checked in on D¡¯Ryn, but he was still in the exact same spot staring off into space.


    ¡°Change,¡± Bruekal said in standard, handing the placid Jedi a set of coveralls from the crew supplies. D¡¯Ryn changed without argument and stuffed his soiled robes into the locker in his quarters. Bruekal watched the Jedi for signs of trouble but he seemed calm enough to stay out of trouble. So he put an add out on the Hypernet for crew members willing to leave in an hour to meet him at the hanger for interviews and selection. That done he settled back into the captain¡¯s chair on the bridge with a grateful sigh. He set the computer to run a diagnostics sweep to make an exact list of what parts were still needed to install. While that ran, he finished loading on the pallet of parts.


    Ketch and Joran hurried back to their hanger bay, Joran¡¯s mind raced at what Ketch had done. The force was practically leading him around by the nose. She had never seen such blatant manipulations by it before. She was startled to realize she was frightened of the implications of what was happening around Ketch. She felt an almost frantic need to call her Master but knew the risk was too great.


    K2tec zipped past them scouting out the path ahead for security at Ketch¡¯s orders. Joran cursed herself for forgetting that they where wanted criminals on the moon now as well as the planet below. Luckily they made it back without being spotted, Ketch leaped into the cockpit as soon as they entered the hanger, Joran froze, Ketch had just force leaped 10 meters across the hanger bay without even seaming to notice.


    ¡°This is getting out of control!¡± Joran thought it had taken her a month to learn how to harness the force well enough to perform such a maneuver. Wordlessly she ran to catch up and climbed aboard just as Ketch closed the canopy. Expertly he flew the craft out of the hanger and around the station, traffic had picked up and he wove in and out of the incoming shuttles and Starcraft with alarming ease. A Corsec troop carrier was docking a few hangers down from where they were meeting Bruekal.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t bode well,¡± Joran said quietly.


    ¡°No, really? Ya think so spikes?¡± Ketch demanded swiftly swinging their Airspeeder into the relative protection of the hanger. Bruekal was standing by the corridor blast door talking to a line of spacers. When he saw them he pointed at the open cargo doors, and Ketch parked the speeder smoothly beside the pallet of parts. As they climbed out Bruekal jogged up the loading ramp leading the strangest assortment of aliens that Joran had ever seen. There was a small pack of rodent-like beings, 6 where adults she assumed, they led a brood of smaller children of the same species. She looked closely at the Small intelligent rodents, each had on some kind of pouch or a tool belt. They where each about half a meter tall and had tiny hands with three fingers and an opposable thumb. Their large round eyes and tiny mouse-like ears made them all look about as unthreatening as anything she had ever seen. From the similarity in their fur color and markings she assumed they were all related somehow.


    Last one in was a small furred being that looked like a miniature version of a wookie, it was talking to Bruekal with a translator device that it wore around its neck like a collar. From the deepness of the programmed voice she assumed he was male. He wore a leather cap over his head that let his small round ear poke up through it, and a bright blue jump suite marked him as spacer of some experience. He was about 1 meter tall, his fur was a beautiful brindle color except for a mask of pure black fur that highlighted his eyes. His eyes where the most starling thing about him, she had expected them to be brown like Bruekal¡¯s or the small rodent-like aliens. But they weren¡¯t, one was vivid blue so light it was almost grey. The other was a much darker, she couldn¡¯t tell exactly what color it was but it looked to be hazel or maybe a very deep green. She looked away when she realized she was staring. She glanced back, but neither Bruekal or the small alien had noted her rudeness.


    Bruekal closed the cargo ramp and studied his crew of assorted beings. A Twi¡¯lek, a Zabraak, a Dozen (rat aliens name), an Ewok, a Wookie, and one whatever D¡¯Ryn was. A stranger assortment of people he couldn¡¯t recall having ever seen.


    Bruekal waved Joran forward so he could have her translate for him. Before she could finish taking her first step a crimson bolt of blaster fire screamed into the cargo hold nearly hitting Ketch who rocked back on his heels. The new crew members scatter into the ship seeking shelter from the hail of blaster fire now pouring through the blast doors leading to the corridor. Bruekal dove for cover towing D¡¯Ryn with him who had come out to study the new crew members. Joran activated her lightsaber bathing the hold in harsh its blue light. She turned the blade and used its wide width to shield herself as she ran towards the attacking Corsec troops. They saw her coming and their rate of fire dropped slightly in shock.


    Not pausing to explain herself to them once she reached the blast doors, she slid forward on one knee dragging her other foot to slow her headlong rush. Her lightsaber cut a graceful arc through the control panel for the deflector shield holding in the atmosphere in the hanger bay.


    She was instantly jerked backward as if by a huge rubber band as the hanger bays deflector shield flickered and went out. The atmosphere screamed out into the vacuum of space dragging her along with it. The blast doors snapped closed nearly catching the hastily retreating Corsec troopers. Joran pushed off the ceiling with the force, trying to angle her flight towards the rapidly closing cargo ramp of Bruekal¡¯s Starship. She had miscalculated her trajectory slightly since the wind was channeled over the top of the vessel like a stream of water around a boulder. She closed her eyes, preparing herself for the icy embrace of space, content that she had saved her companions at least. A steel vice clamped around her leg jerking her to a bone-wrenching stop mid-air.


    Her eyes flew open as she was towed unceremoniously into the cargo hold just before the ramp slammed shut. The blood rushed to her head as she was dangled upside down by her legs. K2tec was busily manipulating the controls for the tractor beam that had snatched her from the jaws of oblivion.


    ¡°Wait,¡± Bruekal growled waving for the K2tec to stop. Bruekal walked over till his face was even with Joran¡¯s upside down one he growled. He quickly spoke low and angrily so that only Joran could hear him.


    ¡°What the hell did you think you were doing? We don¡¯t need a sacrifice on this ship. We have the bare minimum of a crew for a safe journey. You might be willing to die to save us but you would have doomed us all anyway if we had been in space¡­.Don¡¯t do it again.¡± Bruekal finished. He reached over and turned off the tractor beam. Joran managed to flip over and land on her feet, Bruekal didn¡¯t notice, he had already turned around and started walking towards the cockpit.


    ¡°Go with him K2, get us out of here before they bypass the safety locks that keep everyone in their hangers,¡± Ketch ordered K2tec, K2tec bowed and zoomed off after their Captain. He helped Joran from up from her crouch, she was a little unsteady on her feet still. Ketch glanced at the odd man who had been on board when they got back. He was dressed in a poorly fitting orange flight suite. His skin was metallic gold, it even gleamed in the light like real gold. His long hair was snow white and pulled back in a tight pony tail. His eyes were what where setting off alarm bells in his head, the where dead, the color of mercury they reflected everything but seemed to absorb none of the things in front of them. He blank face didn¡¯t help matters any he simply observed everyone with the same disinterested stare.


    Ketch guided Joran past, giving him a wide birth. Joran let him take most of her weight.  The events that they had gone through in the past few hours weighed on her and she was nearing her limit. Her hands had started shaking. She had been so ready for death, everything seemed too bright now, too loud, too¡­real, too everything she thought. Ketch slid her into a seat in the galley, and made her a cup of tea quickly. She sipped it and thought it was the most wonderful cup of tea she had ever tasted. Though that might be from her brush with death effecting her perceptions, but she didn¡¯t care. She sighed enjoying her tea. Ketch sat across from her, back rigid eyes locked politely over her right shoulder, focused off in the distance.


    ¡°We need to decompress and rest Ketch,¡± Joran said. She slid out of her seat and led the way to the crew quarters. She took the first door on the left they came to, and Ketch took the room across from hers on the right. She watched him climb wordlessly into his bunk and shut the door. She turned and opened her door, a high pitched squeak of outrage startled her into jumping back. The family of Mouse like aliens had all paused to look at her. They looked to be in the process of building a complicated nest out of supplies that she couldn¡¯t imagine where they had gotten.


    ¡°Excuse me I didn¡¯t realize this room was taken.¡± She bowed politely to them. The largest member of the family bowed back and gently pushed the button to close the door again. Joran chuckled at their formality and took the next room, checking with the force first to ensure it was unoccupied. He studied her new room for the next few months, it was an undecorated cubical of metal with a simple desk welded to the hull and a fold-down bunk that would allow her to sit on and use the desk or sleep on. There was a metal locker by the far corner and a tall metal cabinet next to the door. When she got in, she could nearly touch the walls with her hands if she stretched a bit. It was about 3 meters by 2.5 meters, not luxurious by any stretch of the imagination, but it would have to do.


    She sank gratefully onto the bed not bothering to undress, she was asleep nearly before her head hit the pillow.

 Chapter 12 Ketch

    Chapter 12


    Ketch sat up in his bed slowly he lowered the mental blocks he had set up. They taught them how to partition their minds at the academy, it allowed them to make the best decisions without fear distracting them in combat. K2tec was chagrining quietly in the corner of the tiny room. He had downloaded as much of the wookie language as he could before they had exited the range of the moon base. Now Ketch wouldn¡¯t need Joran there whenever the Captain talked to him. He took a deep breath and really thought about what he had learned.


    ¡°011.04.11.01¡± Blazed in the corner of his vision.


    Ketch braced himself for the onslaught, ¡°Come on y9ou bastards. Men have dealt with worse things!¡± He screamed silently as he thought of all the pain and horror he was part of. He struggled against the flood of pain, he called to mind the exploits of other men who had lived with worse acts. Luke Skywalker had killed 500,000 imperial troops in the defeat of the first Deathstar. A few thousand deaths, a drop in the bucket compared to that. Every ship that had been lost in the clone wars held hundreds of thousands of troops obliterated in a second by a well-placed proton torpedo. Anger welled up to hold him above the despair that he felt for the poor beings that had lost their lives at the hand of cruel fate. Prepared he calmly faced his feelings all the pain inside amplified by the injustice he had been party to.


    In front of him, his hands flew over the stack of spare parts he had snuck into his room. His eyes were unfocused as he struggled inside with himself. Mindlessly he assembled the machine in front of him, it grew slowly but steadily under his hands as he fell deeper into what Joran would have called a trance. Ketch hit himself with the image of all those people dying for him, to bring him to this exact moment in the universe in exactly this way. Thousands had lost their lives so he would be prepared as he was now. He gave himself over to a power greater than himself and his awareness of the force blazed to life in front of his eyes. In that instant of perfect clarity, he was connected to everything. Everything sparkled with a touch of the force in it. The bulkhead, faint sparks of its presence in the universe fixed only by the will of its pilot. Tiny imperfections instilled in it from its builders, symmetry imposed there by its designer all wrapped up together. Entranced Ketch lost himself in this new awareness. Through the haze of the objects around him, he saw the clear bright pulse of another in the force. Tied in a web more intricate even then the one knotted around him, she slept at peace. He could tell it was a woman somehow. With a start, he realized it was Joran that he was seeing as she truly was for the first time.


    He had gotten to his feet at some point. He stood with his arm extended towards her. His fingers blocked by the cool Durasteel of the hull he yearned to touch her. Disturbed, she tossed in her sleep trying to awaken to see what called too her. Quickly he withdrew, his body shook at what he called on it to do as if he stretched a muscle he had never used before. As his awareness shrunk back he caught a glimpse of a strange boiling cloud of darkness in one of the rooms on the ship. Before he could wonder much too about it, his wondering mind returned with a snap to his body, enclosing him again. Shutting him off from the greater universe.


    Ketch sagged exhausted against the bulkhead wall. He struggled his way over to his bunk and collapsed, his eyes struggled to focus. Before the familiar feel of darkness swallowed him again, he saw the device he had built in his meditations glowing cheerily green on his workbench. Ready for use, whatever that use might be. He had no idea what it was for. His thoughts fuzzed away into blankness as he struggled to figure out what he had built this time.


    Bruekal stomped through the crew quarters until he found the room Ketch had claimed. He banged on the door with a closed fist.


    ¡°Bang, Bang, Bang¡± Ketch¡¯s dreams where interrupted by his pounding hangover. Daken was going to catch hell for waking him up before his head had cleared all the way. Ketch struggled to his feet and stumbled over to the door with his eyes pressed shut tight against the dim green glare coming from his desk. He rubbed his eyes trying to focus over the burning glare in the corner of his vision. He held his head in both hands trying to remember what he had drunk last night that had kicked his ass so thoroughly.


    ¡°010.22.55.24G¡±


    ¡°010.22.55.23G¡±


    The timer countdown steadily. Ketch froze, his mind clearing her remembered everything from the last few days and braced for blackness to claim him again. It didn¡¯t come, but his headache flared painfully at the continued banging coming from his door.


    ¡°WHAT?¡± he demanded yanking the door open roughly. Bruekal regarded him steadily for a second then jerked his thumb towards the cargo hold. And growled something in Shyrwook. Ketch blinked at him, it was too freaking early for this crap, he thought.


    ¡°K2, what¡¯s he saying?¡± Ketch asked pulling on his flight jacket.


    ¡°He says ¡°Rise and shine, its first thing in the morning ships time, time to get to work.¡± at least that¡¯s as close as I can translate sir,¡± K2tec said helpfully.


    ¡°Cargo bay?¡± Ketch asked skeptically, Bruekal nodded.


    ¡°Navi computer installation?¡± He inquired mumbling as he followed behind Bruekal¡¯s massive frame. Bruekal¡¯s only answer was quick glance back with a tight-lipped smile and a glint of mischief in his eyes. Ketch studied the wreckage in the cargo bay with a grim sort of resignation, it figured nothing ever went smoothly these days. He sighed and Bruekal started to growl something at him Ketch held up a hand.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, I know. Get to work or you¡¯ll kill me and beat me to death with my corpse.¡± Ketch said he took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. Bruekal waited for him to turn to the tool wrack before he coughed out a quiet chuckle.


    ¡°Kids got some spine to him after all. I can use that.¡± Bruekal thought as he left ketch to work on installing the parts he needed. Ketch grabbed tools with ease as he worked steadily putting the banks of computer circuits in their proper places. The family of (rat alien name) came to watch him. The smallest member of the group a pure black cub? Kit? Baby? Ketch didn¡¯t know the proper name for their young, followed K2tec around as he zipped back and forth to the tool chest.


    ¡°Do you have a name little guy?¡± Ketch asked the young black furred an alien. He stopped his quick hopping around and cocked his tiny head to the side studying Ketch intently. Finally, he straightened up to his full height and nodded seriously at ketch.


    ¡°Can you tell me what it is?¡± Ketch asked stopping to study his progress, he didn¡¯t stare at the small nervous alien directly, so he didn¡¯t scare it away. Again the tiny alien nodded and looked at him expectantly.


    ¡°Are you going to tell me what it is?¡± Ketch asked chuckling, amazed at the amount of sarcasm silence could convey. The tiny black furred alien chirped sharing Ketch¡¯s humor. He hopped over to the toolbox and pulled a tool out with his nimble little hands, ketch saw that he had three tiny fingers and a thumb. He pointed at the tool and then at himself. Ketch glanced down at the proffered tool it was a precision caliber for measuring the headspace on bolts down to micrometers.


    ¡°You¡¯re named after a tool?¡± Ketch asked picking up the Caliber, again a quick nod was his only answer.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­ is your name Caliber?¡± he asked. A negative nod this time.


    ¡°Cal?¡± he guessed next, this time he got an excited hop, followed by an upraised hand waffling back and forth.


    ¡°Closer?¡± a positive nod this time.


    ¡°Hmmmmmmmm¡­ what about Cali?¡± an excited chirp and she pointed at the tip of her nose.


    ¡°Right on the nose,¡± Ketch said grinning. ¡°Cali is it? Well, I¡¯m Ketch, That¡¯s K2Tec that you¡¯ve been following around. you want to give us a hand?¡± At her excited nod, some of the tension he had been feeling seemed to ease for some reason.


    ¡°You have to ask you¡­ parents?¡± she nodded and pointed at the largest of the pack and his dark-colored mate. Quickly she zipped off and held a squeaky conversation with her parents. The larger of the pair dug around in a small pack he had fashioned to fit his small body and pulled out a translation device and hung it around his neck.


    ¡°We would be honored if you would show our youngest a few things around the circuitry of our new home. She will do exactly as you instruct her, I can guarantee that.¡± His voice projected out was startlingly deep. He glanced sternly at his offspring who didn¡¯t shrink from his gaze in the least.


    ¡°Alright sir, and we will try to make sure she learns something while we keep her out of your hair, ah fur, um way.¡± Ketch finished sheepishly. K2tec bowed gracefully with his hands together in front of him, and Cali¡¯s father mirrored his gesture. Cali followed Ketch back to his project and literally dove into the wires.


    ¡°Whoa there speedy, hang on a second,¡± Ketch said fishing her out of the nest of wiring. He explained the diagram of where the wires ran to and from. Cali listened raptly and followed his instructions carefully. As the day wore on she proved invaluable in digging out the smaller connecting wires and helping connect all of the circuitry. After he dropped a small connecting bolt down the bulkhead and she gladly climbed down after it Ketch realized that her size might not be a bad thing when working on a starship. Her parents called her away after a few hours to go eat and clean up as the ship day was ending.


    Joran crept up silently on him as he closed up the access hatch to the Navi computer.


    ¡°I saw how you handled that youngling today. That was very well done.¡± Joran said softly to Ketch¡¯s hunched over figure. K2tec flitted away towards the cockpit to check the system control from the bridge leaving them alone.


    ¡°She¡¯s a good kid, species doesn¡¯t matter at that age, we only learn to distrust outsiders when you¡¯re older. You can always tell which ones are the good ones.¡± Ketch said smiling, it was nice to find a little joy in the darkness that was closing in around them.


    ¡°She reminds me of myself when I was younger. Always squeezing into anyplace I could fit to check out how things worked. If she pays attention she¡¯ll learn more in a week on this ship then she would learn in a year at the academy.¡± Ketch said as he scrubbed the grease and dried circuit glue off his hands.


    ¡°We need to talk,¡± Joran said her smile fading as she grew more somber. Ketch nodded and followed her towards their cabins. Bruekal intercepted them in the mess hall and stopped them. He nodded for K2 to come over and translate. Then rattled off a long speech at Ketch, he could tell a reprimand no matter the language.


    ¡°He says, your work was barely adequate and if it holds up for the journey it will be a miracle. Also, your now on the ships log as Cali¡¯s instructor and anything she gets into your responsible for fixing,¡± K2tec said, Ketch winced, the ship''s log was law and the only legally admissible record of the events that happened on the ship.


    ¡°Meeting for all crew in the galley in ten minutes.¡± A metallic voice said from the speaker system. It was a female voice but it lacked any of the personality Ketch liked to program into his own Droids, he enjoyed an AI that had a little snark to it. Cali sprang out of an access port for the ships ventilation system as he walked past, she followed after him; a few smudges of grease still marred her hastily washed fur. He hesitated to point out that he had left her to fix up the last of the navigation wiring, not the rust smelling ships air handler.


    ¡°Great more good news I bet,¡± Ketch said under his breath as he finished putting away his tools and dusted off his pants. Cali followed his example and busily cleaned the grease off her fur. The sight of the tiny rodent-like alien mirroring him made him smile for the first time in days. Thinking of the time he looked down at his new apprentice. ¡°Can you keep up or do you want a ride?¡± he asked her. In response, she took off down the corridor leading to the galley. Ketch tried to keep up, but after a few meters he gave up; grinning as Cali bound around the corner, ricocheting off the wall so she didn¡¯t lose speed in the turn. He decided to walk at a dignified pace, more suited to his advanced age. He chuckled to himself for his internal rationalizations, he came into the mess hall as the rest of Cali¡¯s family arrived in a flurry of bouncing bodies they occupied one of the table tops to be able to see everyone.


    Bruekal began briskly, ¡°we have to resupply, we have enough consumables for a week but after that, we will be on half rations, then 30% rations for the remainder of our supplies until in a little over 15 days, ship time we will be entirely out of food.