A Broken House
Chapter V | Episode IX | 4/3/2020
Twil decided to give Rath his privacy. He didn’t need the Force, or even his own natural Zeltronian instincts, to tell him what his friend was feeling at that moment. Returning to where Zanroy was focused, Twil gazed upon the wall embedded with Kyber crystals.
“Can you hear them?” Zanroy asked, without taking his eyes off the cavern wall.
“They’re calling out.” Twil replied.
He knew that Zanroy was clearly hearing the same thing. The cries of sorrow from the crystals, from the planet itself. This was a sacred place. A good place. And it was being corrupted beyond anything Twil could possibly comprehend. And these crystals were crying out, reaching out to Twil, and surely to Zanroy too, for help.
The only problem was, there was so little Twil could do to help, in the situation they were in at the moment. So, doing the only thing he felt was in his power, Twil reached out towards the crystals with the Force, urging them to leave their ancient resting spots, and join him. Escape was their only hope.
As he did so, six of the Kyber crystals smoothly dislodged from the ancient glacial wall, and floated gently into his outreached hands.
“Thank you.” He whispered to them, I’m sorry I can’t do more.”
Just then, Twil was hit with an intense vision of the very imminent future. The cavern they were currently within was about to consumed in flames. As quickly as it had appeared, the vision came to an abrupt, jarring halt.
“We need to leave.” Twil said aloud, “Now.”
“Brothers…” Rath managed to say, in a choked, strained, whisper.
The Chiss was unable to process what he was seeing. His family. His brothers. Men he had looked up to and loved all his life. There they were before him, and yet, he almost could not recognize them in the worn, beaten, emaciated state they were in. Conflicting emotions warred within his soul. Joy at finally having found them. Rage at seeing what had been done to them. Hope that he might still find more of his family. Despair at the thought that the piles of corpses all around him might hold more of his beloved family.
Unfortunately for Rath he was given no time to process these emotions. No time to even say more than that one greeting, as Twil and Idozzi rushed around the corner, shouting.
“Rath! We need to go! Now!” Twil yelled.
Rath could hear the urgency in Twil’s voice and knew better at this point to not waste time with questions.
“Right.” He replied, looking back to his three broken and beaten siblings, he said, “They can’t move on their own. They’re on the brink of death as it is. We need to help them.”
“Sure thing.” Twil said, hurrying towards the group of Chiss.
Rath watched as Twil, with surprising strength and determination, lifted both Azlan and Ranik.
Blinking back a bit of shock, Rath went to help Thex to his feet. Worn and emaciated as Thex was, Rath knew that there would still be no way he could carry the giant of a Chiss, instead, he threw his elder brother’s arm over his shoulder, and did his best to heave him up off the ground.
“Up you get, ya big lummox.” Rath said in his native tongue, speaking casually as a defense mechanism against the overwhelming emotional turmoil he was struggling with, “What, have you been slacking on your training, Thex? That’s not like you. Come on.”
As Rath helped Thex to his feet, he could hear a brief, throaty, wheeze escape his brother’s lungs that almost sounded like an echo of the laugh Rath knew so well. Looking up to his face, Rath could see that Thex was struggling to focus his eyes on Rath.
With a pained, weak smile, Thex said in a barely audible whisper, “Ch’ith vuhn…”
A tear that Rath was unable to contain, rolled down his face, freezing almost instantly, “Never thought I’d hear you call me that, again.”
For the briefest of moments, Rath pressed his head into his brother’s chest, remembering the sensation from one of Thex’s countless, overzealous, and at the time, completely unwanted, bear hugs of his youth. Then he shook his head, and said, “Come on, let’s get going.”
“I’ll help.” Idozzi spoke up, surprising Rath, who had momentarily forgotten she or any of the others were even there.
“Thank you.” Rath muttered, as Idozzi took Thex’s other arm, draping it over her shoulder.
As the three made their was back toward the entrance to the wretched canyon, they noticed that Twil had stopped in his tracks, and set his own charges back down on the cold, icy ground. Meanwhile, Zanroy was standing ready, with lightsabers drawn.
“Twil?” Rath asked.
“Shh!” Twil shushed him, holding up a hand.
As Rath quieted, he could hear the unmistakable clanking of mechanical feet approaching.
Seconds later, two KX-Series Imperial security droids turned the corner. Before they could even react, Zanroy was already in the air, blades spinning. In the next instant, one of the two droids was rendered as nothing more than melted slag as Zanroy sliced it clean in two. With his other lightsaber still in hand, he flung it backward, hitting the droid in the back with the butt of the hilt.
Much to Rath’s shock, this somehow disabled the droid, without even damaging it.
Twil was about to offer his own congratulations on dealing with the situation, but he was cut off by Rath who shouted, “Well done, Zanroy!”
He turned to see Rath and Idozzi setting down Thex, and Rath rushing toward the deactivated, but still perfectly functioning droid. “Uh, Rath?” he asked.
“We can use this thing to carry them.” Rath said, already hooking up his implant into the droid, to no doubt reprogram it.
“Good thinking!” Twil said, appreciatively.
His good humor was quickly soured, though, as he could feel an unmistakable presence approaching. Four weak minded individuals were approaching. Stormtroopers, there was no doubt in his mind. However, like Rath, Twil saw opportunity, rather than conflict.
The Zeltron could sense the soldiers far before ever seeing them, thanks to his powerful connection to the Force, especially on this sacred planet. Reaching out, it was a simple matter to manipulate their minds.
As the four troopers wordlessly approached, Twil had to put a string hand on Zanroy’s shoulder, and said, “Wait.”
Twil watched, amused, as the four troopers stood before them, then wordlessly stripped themselves of their armor and helmets, down to practically nothing, and then left.
“What the hell was that?” Zanroy asked.
“Figured we could use their armor to disguise Rath’s brothers.” Twil said, beaming, “A few injured stormtroopers will be a lot easier to move out of here than three Chiss slaves.”
“Thank you, Twil.” Rath said, collecting the armor, “It will also do a lot more to protect them from this cold, than the rags they’ve got on now.”
As Rath began to dress his brothers in the stormtrooper armor, briefly explaining the plan to them, the KX droid sprung to life behind him. Rath turned and stood before the droid as he watched it’s photoreceptors light up once more, and steady its unblinking gaze at Rath.
“I am K-9M8.” The droid stated, “Who are you?”
“K9, eh? I like it.” Rath replied, mulling over the name, “My name is Rath.”
“You are the one who reprogrammed me?” The droid asked.
Rath nodded, saying, “I am.”
“Understood. Then I shall serve you. What are your orders?” The droid asked, in an emotionless monotone.
“We need you to carry these three back to our ship, with us, without drawing any attention to ourselves. They are injured and unable to walk on their own. Protect them with your life.” Rath explained.
“Understood.” K9 replied.
“That should do it.” Rath said, as he cinched the makeshift back sling around Thex’s body, strapping him to the back of K9, while the droid held Azlan and Ranik in each arm.
“Alright, let’s get out of here.” Zanroy said, anxious to leave. He knew what Twil saw and he knew it was coming soon. However, his own anxiousness was not enough to stop him dead in his tracks as he sensed something coming from one of the many piles of corpses strewn about near the exit of the cavern. “Wait.” He spoke up, holding up a hand.
“Wait?” Twil asked, “Zanroy, we don’t have time-”
Zanroy cut him off with another gesture of his hand. Reaching out with the Force, he could sense something, something alive in the pile of death nearby. Using the Force, he tossed the corpses aside, exhuming a single, tall, extremely skinny Muun.
Zanroy looked in shock as the Muun gasped for air, whispering, “Please, just let me die.”
“What the…” Twil muttered in shock. He couldn’t believe anything else could still be living in here, what’s more, that he himself never sensed it.
“Morrow Cantillis?” Rath said from behind them, rushing past both Zanroy and Twil.
Twil watched, as the Muun seemed to register some sense of recognition upon seeing Rath.
“Wait, Rath, how do you know him?” Twil asked, flabbergasted.
“Stim pack, Twil. Now!” Rath shouted.
“Right.” Twil replied, shaking his head. He tossed a stim to the Chiss and watched the two interact.
“Why are you doing this?” The Muun asked.
“Because you may know things that I do not.” Rath replied coldly, but added, “And also, because Verin Psi is searching for you.”
The Muun let out a long, pained sigh, but Twil could see the slightest bit of life return to him as Rath’s first aid took some small effect.
“Rath, who is that?” Twil asked again.
“He’s a former client.” Rath explained, “He may know more about Project Aura… and Idozzi’s parents.”
“Wait.” Idozzi interrupted, “That guy is…”
“The Muun you described from your vision. Yes.” Rath answered, he then turned his attention back to the Muun, “Can you walk?”
The Muun sighed again, “I can barely breathe.”
“Well, then, get ready for a very uncomfortable experience. We’re taking you back to our ship, and we’re getting you out of here.” Rath said, donning his helmet once more, he then picked up the Muun, more forcefully than Twil would have liked, and then, disappeared.
“So, what? You’re going to play puppet master?” Twil asked, as he saw the Muun standing and moving but clearly not of his own volition.
“Haven’t I always?” Rath’s snarky disembodied voice replied, “If anyone asks, just say he belongs to you, lieutenant.”
“Oh, right.” Twil replied, in all that had happened, he forgot that he was currently disguised as a human Imperial officer.
“Can we get moving now?” Zanroy called out, clearly anxious.
“Yeah.” Twil replied, “Yeah, let’s get moving. But where? Do we head to the ship? Do we head to the second camp?”
“I suggest going back to where the ship was originally, and remotely flying the ship back to us, and hiding somewhere else entirely.” Rath called out, “There’s no way we can travel with all these injured people, and rescue six more.”
Twil was conflicted with this idea. He did not want to leave this place, only to come back, but he knew Rath spoke the truth. The droid and the trooper armor were strokes of luck, they could not hope for similar luck to continue. “Alright.” He finally said, “We’ll give this a shot.”
As Twil and his “Imperial entourage” exited the cavern, their first test of deception presented itself to them as two Imperial soldiers in unfamiliar, pitch black armor appeared, heading towards the cavern they had just left. With an air of confidence, Twil strode past the two, and thankfully, noted there was no incident as they continued past them.
Once the door to the cavern was shut behind them, Twil heard a familiar sound. He turned to see that the door had been absolutely plastered with a shot of Rath’s sticky goo. Twil couldn’t help but chuckle to himself, he knew that whoever those soldiers were, they weren’t getting out any time soon.
As they continued on down the same path they had entered, their luck continued to hold as not one Imperial gave them a second glance. From what he could overhear from others, there was news of some sort of cave in, and anyone who even bothered to look their way, assumed the injured “troopers” being transported by the KX droid were simply victims of the cave in.
After about an hour of slow on foot travelling, the group finally arrived in the barren, glacial outskirts where they had landed previously.
“And you think it’s a good idea to try to fly the Sovereign back here? Considering the issues we had earlier just trying to get the ship away from here?” Twil asked Rath.
“It’s our only hope, Twil.” Rath replied, solemnly, “Look at them, they can’t travel down an icy trench, for who knows how many miles, in these conditions, even with the droid.”
Twil sighed, he knew Rath was right. But he did not like his odds of avoiding the eyes of every walker and TIE fighter in the hemisphere, especially when they were all on alert for his ship, specifically.
“Use the Force.” Rath said, half sarcastically, half matter-of-factly.
Twil nodded his head to the side in agreement. Reaching out, making use of the newfound powers taught to him by Suljo Warde, Twil was granted a vision almost immediately. He could see precise movements of walkers, turrets, and TIEs, every minute detail, revealing, one and only one chance of getting the Sovereign out of it’s current hiding spot and back to him and the others.
Back in the present, with datapad in hand, Twil activated the remote steering capabilities of the Sovereign, and waited for his moment. Just like in his vision, through the cams of his ship, he could see the telltale TIE fighter flying overhead, counting the seconds down in his head, Twil shot the Sovereign out of the trench, leveling off just in time to fly parallel with the TIE, just under it, its pilot none the wiser, and no other Imperial machines looking their way.
A few tense seconds later, the ship was back to them, landing safely and quietly.
“Knew you could do it.” Rath said and he clutched Twil’s shoulder tightly.
Twil was unable to register the compliment fully, though, as his mind was reeling from relief that his vision proved true.
The next few minutes were a blur as Rath ordered Vex to treat his weakened brothers and their new Muun companion, and helped set up makeshift cots and sickbeds for the new arrivals.
“They are in a very dire state, Master Rath.” Vex said, scanning Ranik.
“I know, Vex.” Rath replied, irritated, as he finished welding the last cot to the floor of the cargo bay, ensuring it remained secure in case of so called turbulence, “Just treat them… as if your life depended on it.”
“Understood, Master Rath.” Vex replied.
Rath felt a twinge of guilt for the empty threat, but he needed the droid to understand just how vital is was that his brothers get the treatment they needed.
The last thing he wanted now was to leave the men with whom he had just been reunited, but he knew his task was not over. Not nearly. With one final look at the three Chiss, who were now sleeping soundly, due to the medicines given by Vex, Rath whispered, “Stay strong, I won’t lose you again.” Then left the cargo bay to find Twil.
This was not a difficult task, as when the Chiss entered the ship’s corridors, he nearly collided with the Zeltron.
“How are they?” Twil asked.
“In about the worst condition possible.” Rath said, bluntly, “But, with treatment, they will, hopefully, recover.”
“You ready to head back in there and rescue the others?” Twil asked.
“Not quite.” Rath replied.
“Wait. What?” Twil asked, using a phrase that he noticed had become all too commonplace lately.
“It just occurred to me that with the ship needing to be constantly on guard, and possibly moving, dangerously, Rackett is not exactly the best one to be left in charge.” Rath replied.
“Well, yeah, he’s not much of a pilot.” Twil replied, shrugging.
“Well, we do have someone who is a good pilot.” Rath replied.
“What are you talking about?”
“R5.”
“Rath. R5 is gone. You’ve been trying to fix him, with no success I might add, for ages now. What makes you think you can get him working now?” Twil asked, clearly annoyed.
“On the flight here, I was close. I just screwed up one little part. Thanks to the notorious redundancies in Arakyd Industries designs, I was able to salvage that part from K9 earlier.”
“Rath, what are you talking about?” Twil asked, again, getting irritated.
“I can fix R5!” Rath replied.
“Do we have time?”
“It’ll take less than a minute. Guaranteed.” Rath replied.
Twil gave Rath a concerned look, but said, “Alright. I mean, it’s your family. If you think you can take the time to do this, I guess I won’t stand in your way.”
“It won’t take long at all.” Rath said. He then started heading towards his quarters, with Twil following behind.
Twil watched as Rath moved with precision and speed, installing the new part much quicker than Twil had anticipated.
“Alright. This is it.” Rath said eagerly, “This should do it.”
Pressing a button inside the astromech, Rath stood back and watched with anticipation.
However, Twil could feel that anticipation quickly turn to anger.
“What? No. No. No no no! That should have worked! What the kriffing-”
Rath’s tirade blurred out of Twil’s consciousnesses as he was suddenly treated to an unexpected vision. Like so many of the others, it was brief but clear. As he returned to the present, Rath was still shouting curses, or what he assumed were curses, fiddling with the defunct droid.
Reaching into his pocket, Twil produced a small, blue Kyber crystal, and held it in his hand. As he contemplated his options, he put his free hand on Rath’s shoulder, and said, “Stop.”
Rath was overwhelmed, he could not understand how this wasn’t working. He had done everything right this time. Everything he new about mechanics, which could fill entire institutions of learning, told him that R5 should be functioning properly now. He had been working so long, and so hard… Why was this not working?
Suddenly, Twil’s hand was upon his shoulder, and the Zeltron, in an unusually calm voice commanded, “Stop.”
“What?” Rath bit back, swerving to face the Zeltron. He then saw the crystal in his other hand, and he cocked his eyebrow at Twil.
“Use this.” Twil said, pushing the crystal towards Rath.
“He’s not a lightsaber, Twil.” Rath spat out.
“Just trust me.” Twil said, hand still outstretched, “Use this as the power source.”
Rath glared at Twil, then eyed the Kyber crystal. Finally, he shook his head and said, “Sure, why not? Nothing else has worked.”
Grabbing the crystal, Rath returned his focus to R5, opening the droid up, once more, he removed the traditional power cell, and in its place, he affixed the blue crystal. Closing the droid up, he tried once more.
To his great shock, the droid whirred to life, as the internal systems began booting up for the first time in ages. Seconds later the three photoreceptors on the old droid’s flat-domed head were infused with life as R5 began to beep and boop in excitement and confusion.
“Buddy! You’re back!” Rath shouted, overwhelmed with joy. He wrapped his arms around the droid’s cylindrical body, unable to hold back his emotions at regaining yet another being near and dear to his heart.
“I knew you’d be back!” He continued, “I never gave up on you!”
R5 beeped in confusion.
“Wait, do you remember me? Do you know where you are?” Rath asked, standing back to give the droid space.
R5 confirmed that of course he remembered Rath, and that he was on the Sovereign, but apparently, the last moments of his life before it was cut short were a blank.
“Hey R5!” Twil chimed in, “It’s good to have you back!”
R5 again beeped in confusion.
“We’ve got a lot to catch up on, old friend.” Rath said, patting the droid’s head.
Just then, the three were interrupted by Vex, who, upon seeing R5 functioning, shouted, “R5?! Is that really you?! Thank the maker!”
“He’s got it under control?” Twil asked as the departed the Sovereign.
“Yeah.” Rath answered, “R5 says he’ll keep the Sovereign hidden in the trenches nearby. Says as long as that ‘amateur’ stays out of his way, we have nothing to worry about.”
Twil chuckled, R5 and Rackett will be an interesting dynamic to watch in the future. But he couldn’t deny that Rath was right, he felt much better about leaving the ship in the much more qualified hands of R5. He watched as the Sovereign lifted off, ever so gently, and quietly flew down a trench with ease, hiding from view of any possible Imperial patrols.
Turning back to face his crew, he said, “Alright, round two. You guys ready for this?”
“More than you know.” Rath answered, reactivating his stealth suit, “Lead the way Lieutenant.”
As Twil led the group, he noticed that the atmosphere was much more tense than it had been during their first visit. No doubt due to the chaos and confusion he and the others had caused in rescuing his three brothers.
From what Rath could overhear, there was talk of someone using “the serum” on a group of troopers. Obviously, they couldn’t tell the difference between Twil’s mind control and their own sick brand of poison. There were times when Rath wasn’t sure there was a difference, though, if he was being honest with himself.
Others were murmuring about stuck doors, missing personnel, and otherwise strange occurrences. It brought a sick smile to Rath’s face. These monsters should feel fear. And one day, they would feel a hell of a lot more of it, if Rath had anything to say about it.
Finally, their path diverged, as they headed toward the second “camp.” This path took them outside the caverns, briefly, to an open area overlooking the main trench. Below were countless mind controlled slaves, no shortage of them Chiss. The sight made Rath sick. He wished there was more he could do.
Ahead were a group of troopers, laughing like drunken idiots as they chucked balls of snow and ice down on the slaves in the trench jeering and shouting at the helpless victims.
Rath’s hand hovered over his weapon as he watched the disgusting display. But before he could act, he watched Zanroy raise his hand. Seconds later, a particularly large hunk of ice that had been tossed by what looked like the leader of this pathetic band of troopers suddenly changed direction and veered straight for the troopers head.
Rath watched with grim satisfaction as the ice connected with the trooper with overwhelming force, snapping his neck and smashing in half of his helmeted face.
The others watched in shock, unable to understand what had just happened, they began to run, completely ignoring Rath and the others as they sped past in complete confusion.
“Nice.” Rath muttered, loud enough only for Zanroy to hear.
He saw the Human give a slight smirk in response, before the group continued on.
Eventually, they had arrived at the location marked as the second concentration camp. The Empire had a very strange definition for “camp,” though, in Rath’s mind. It was, in actuality, a platform, overlooking a massive chasm. On the platform, chained to the ground, though, were more of Rath’s family. His sisters Valora, Tari, Larunae, and Crystala. His aunt, Aralani. And his mother, Vala.
Rath’s heart leapt and sunk at the sight. Once more, his emotions were going haywire. He overjoyed to see them. He was devastated to see that they were in the same condition as his brothers. And he was heartbroken that not all of his family were present. So many still missing… So many potentially dead…
But above all, he felt a blind, unrelenting fury towards the other people present on the platform. Two Imperial death troopers.
“Halt, state your business.” One of the death troopers said, upon seeing Twil and the others.
“I’ve been sent here to pick up these slaves, there was a cave in back there and we need more hands to move the wreckage.” Twil lied as smoothly as possible.
“We only take orders from the Admiral, and he hasn’t said anything about that to us.” The death trooper replied, tensing up.
Twil mentally shook his head. He had tried the easy way, now he gave them no choice. Using the Force to twist their minds to his will, Twil spoke again, “The Admiral sent me here to collect these slaves.”
He watched as the troopers were clearly struggling. Twil knew these were no rank and file soldiers, but even so, it was surprising to see them able to resist this much. Imploring with the Force to aid him, Twil tried again, “You will release these prisoners to my custody.”
Finally, the trooper spoke up, “We will release these prisoners to your custody.”
As Twil watched the death troopers unlock the maglocked chains, he continued, “And you will strip off your armor.”
“And we will strip off our armor.” The death trooper replied in a monotone voice.
“Idozzi, chain them up.” Twil said to the disguised Twi’lek.
“Why?” Rath interrupted, making himself visible, “Why bother chaining them up? Just throw them off the ledge.”
“They’re unarmed and unarmored, they’re no threat to us.” Twil replied.
“They’re monsters and they deserve nothing more than death!” Rath shouted.
“Rath, do you want to argue, or do you want to help your family?” Twil asked, eager to get Rath past the point of murdering in cold blood.
He couldn’t see his face through the helmet, but Twil could guess the look Rath was giving him. Finally, he said, “They’ll die from the cold soon enough anyway.” And started heading towards the Chiss women.
One by one, Rath injected the antidote into his sisters, aunt, and mother. Seeing that they were starting to come to, as best they could in the near death state they were in, Rath removed his helmet, and knelt down to bring his face level with the Chiss he was currently working on, his mother.
He watched as light dimly returned to eyes. Her expression went from oblivious, to confusion, and finally to recognition. Reaching out a frail, shaking hand, she managed to say, “Rath…? Is that really you…?”
Tears fell freely from his eyes now, as Rath replied, “I’m here, Mother. I’m here.” He wrapped his arms around her as gently as he could, burying his face in her bony, emaciated shoulder. He could feel her weak, tiny fingers attempt to stroke the back of his head, resting in his hair. “I’m here.” He eked out once more, unable to stop the stream of tears as years of grief, sorrow, and tribulations came crashing down upon him.
After what felt like an eternity, but was probably closer to mere seconds, Rath broke away from his mother’s embrace, and said, “We need to get you out of here. All of you. We’re going to disguise you in armor, and we’re going to get you out of here.”
Just then, a new voice called out from behind Rath, “What’s going on here?!”
Zanroy turned in shock, mentally cursing himself for not taking watch, he should have known more troopers might come this way. Sure enough, the new voice belonged to one of two new death troopers that had just arrived.
“Oh, hey.” Twil tried to interject, “I’ve just been sent here to collect these slaves. Got a new job for ‘em.”
“Try the other one.” The death trooper said, readying his gun, “There’s been no such order given.”
“Well… I don’t know what to tell you, those were my orders.” Twil said.
Whatever Twil was trying, it clearly wasn’t working, Zanroy noticed. Whoever these death troopers were, their mental conditioning clearly went far and above the rank and file.
Zanroy noticed that one of the troopers was about to call in back up, and that’s when he decided to take matters into his own hands. With a jolt of Force energy, Zanroy gripped the two in the Force equivalent of a stasis field. Whatever that trooper was going to say, he’d have a hard time doing it without being able to move his mouth, or tongue, or even push air out his lungs.
Twil looked over at Zanroy in confusion, and asked, “What just happened?”
“They’re bound. But only temporarily.” Zanroy said, focusing all his energies on keeping the two troopers in stasis.
“So, they can’t move?” Twil asked.
“Essentially.”
“Good, then take their armor off, we’re short one, and we can certainly make use of the other, later.” Rath called out.
Zanroy turned to see that he and Idozzi were in the process of outfitting the women, but they were indeed one suit short. Looking back at Twil, the Zeltron shrugged, and got to work taking off the death troopers’ armor.
“Y’know, I’m usually the one taking off my clothes.” Twil said, making conversation with the bound troopers, “Ah, those were the days. Back on Mos Shuuta. Good times. Heh heh.”
Zanroy just rolled his eyes as he focused on holding the troopers with the Force. The effort was exhausting, but Twil was remarkably skilled at stripping the armor, so it didn’t take too long.
“If you want to chain them up, do it quick.” Zanroy said, feeling his grip slipping.
“Thanks buddy.” Twil replied. The Zeltron then got to work chaining up the two new arrivals, and gagging them for good measure.
Once he was certain they were under lock and key, Zanroy released his hold, and relaxed. That relaxed state lasted about one second as he could hear more footsteps coming toward them. Except these were mechanical, and there were a lot of them.
Turning to face the new arrivals, Zanroy muttered, “Ah, shit.”
His family was now fully outfitted in stormtrooper and death trooper armor. The real troopers were bound and gagged. Ar’alani, Valora, and Crystala were being supported by K9, but Larunae, Tari, and Vala would need others to assist them. Overall, Rath was hopeful that this would work just as well as the first time.
It was then that he heard the mechanical clanking, and Zanroy’s muttered curse. Turning to face the new threat, he saw full well why Zanroy reacted the way he did. Leading four KX-series droids was a clearly non-Imperial IG-series bounty hunter droid. One of the deadliest killing machines in droid-kind.
Before he, or anyone else could react further, Twil rushed up to the droid and said, “Excuse me, what is the meaning of this?”
The IG droid’s head swiveled, possibly to face Twil, Rath couldn’t tell. As far as Rath was aware, the thing had photoreceptors in every angle of it’s cylindrical head.
“This bounty has been claimed by IG-33.” The droid proclaimed, pointing his gun towards Zanroy.
“Uh… excuse me? This bounty has been claimed by me, by the Empire. You have no claim on it.” Twil bluffed.
Rath watched as the droid processed the information.
“Bounty not claimed. Confirm capture.” The IG droid replied.
“What do you mean, confirm capture? Can you not see that I have him, here?” Twil replied.
The droid was silent again, then repeated, “Bounty not claimed. Confirm capture.”
“I just told you, I just found him, I haven’t had time to confirm the capture. But if you interfere, then you’re interfering with Imperial law. Let’s see how many credits you get by trying to claim that bounty.” Twil continued to bluff.
The IG droid’s head spun a few times, before it replied, “Processing.”
Suddenly, Twil’s voice was in Rath’s head, “Can you remote slice it?”
Rath gave a slight jump, not accustomed to Twil invading his mind, no matter how many times he did so. Begrudgingly allowing the Zeltron access to read his thoughts, he thought back, “I can try, but there’s no way I can completely reprogram it… best case scenario it’ll self destruct.”
Twil’s voice rang in his head once more, “Try… not to do that.”
Rath shook his head, but attempted the impossible task, regardless. Making use of his implant’s special remote slicing capabilities, HUD’s began displaying before his eyes as he saw the inner workings of the droid’s programming. To say that it was complex would be the understatement of a lifetime. Safeguards, tripwires, and digital booby traps of every kin guarded the droid’s brain from any sort of tampering. Like trying to thread a needle during a planetary ground quake, Rath knew that any false move would result in catastrophe.
However, Rath was invigorated. His family was on the line. He had no choice but to succeed.
A few tense moments, and the task was done. Like he had warned Twil, he could not reprogram the droid completely. This was no KX unit. But he had disabled the droid’s ability to fire his weapon, he disabled it’s sight and speech functions. It was, essentially useless.
He watched, amused as the droid suddenly started spinning in place, its limbs flaying wildly. Eventually, it hit a wall, and just kept walking, going nowhere.
Zanroy had no idea what had just happened, but he didn’t care. Seeing the immediate threat taken care of, he reached out with the Force, clutched the group of KX droids, and flung them through the air, over the ledge, and into the abyss below.
Turning his attention towards the IG unit, he saw that Twil had maneuvered the droid to begin walking towards the ledge. And sure enough, the scrambled heap of metal just walked right off. Whether the thing was equipped with a jet pack or not suddenly didn’t matter to Zanroy, now, he thought with a smile, as he imagined the droid’s shattered remains on the floor of wherever that chasm led.
“Shall we get going?” Zanroy asked.
The other three almost yelled in unison, “Yes!”
The trip back to the ship was uneventful. The atmosphere was even more tense. But no one was bothering to care about Rath or any of the group. R5 had proven the dutiful and capable droid Rath always knew him to be. And soon enough, they were all on board and preparing to take off.
Despite his best efforts there simply weren’t enough makeshift cots to go around in the cargo bay, so Rath had to set up some of his family in the crew’s quarters. He was shocked, yet grateful to hear their agreement to the plan, even if it meant giving up their own beds.
Twil graciously allowed Larunae the use of his own private suite. A fact that was not lost on Rath. He noted that he would have to watch that development in the future. All the others were divvied up as best as Rath could muster.
With that task taken care of, and everyone safely strapped in, Rath headed towards the cockpit, to help Twil in the near impossible task of leaving this deadly, deadly planet.
“Everyone taken care of?” Twil asked as he heard Rath enter.
“As best as they can be.” Rath replied.
Twil could tell the Chiss was clearly exhausted, physically and mentally.
“Hey.” He said, as Rath took his seat in the co-pilot’s chair, “You did it! You saved your family.”
Rath managed a very weak smile, “A good portion of them. Yes. But we’re not in the clear yet.”
“Right.” Twil replied, “So, we just go to this uninhabited planet, and drop off your family with Zoroc?”
“Who is at a small Rebel outpost on the edges of the Unknown Regions. Zoroc will then take them back to base, where Nox can tend to them.” Rath replied, nodding his head a little too much, “Then we head right back here and try to pull the scheme of the century where you pretend to be a bounty hunter claiming the bounty on Zanroy’s head, delivering him straight to big daddy Dac.”
Twil let out a laugh, “Man, you really need some rest.”
“Yes I do.” Rath sighed, closing his eyes, momentarily.
“Alright, I’ll take it from here.” Twil said.
Calling out to the Force, Twil attempted to make use of the powers taught to him by Suljo Warde, once more. Once again, he was shown a series of visions. However, this one was not a simple choice of one or the other. He saw multiple possibilities. All but one resulted in the Sovereign exploding in a fireball of death and destruction.
The sights were almost too much for Twil to behold, but he held on to that one vision of safety, of freedom. The path he needed to take would have seemed suicidal to him, except for the fact that he had seen it work. So, Twil gritted his teeth and lifted off.
Weaving between and under a series of TIE fighters and Imperial Star Destroyers, exactly as the vision had shown him, he could not believe his own luck when he had somehow broken atmo without a single Imperial noticing the ship.
“Making the jump… now!” Twil said, as the line of stars fell to the familiar, comforting blur of hyperspace.
With a deep breath, Twil sat back and relaxed. They had made it. They were safe. Finally.
“I’m gonna hit the hot tub!” He announced, heading out of the cockpit.
The trip to this remote, unnamed planet would take at least a full day of travel, Rath knew this, yet he could not allow himself to relax. He paced from room to room, watching over his resting family. They had all been put into medically induced comas by Vex. So he knew they were safe, and they certainly wouldn’t be able to converse with him. Yet he couldn’t help but feel a great desire to somehow wake each and every one of them and have a week long one on one chat.
With Ar’alani, especially… While his reunion with all the others would be an overly joyous occasion, he would be having a very different conversation with Ar’alani. He knew full well that his Aunt aided Thrawn in overthrowing his House, in overthrowing the Ascendancy. He would know why. He would know how. And he would see justice served.
But that was a discussion for a different time. And even though he felt nothing but anger and hatred for the woman. A small part of him still felt pity, and familial responsibility, seeing her in the state she was in now.
As he continued his rounds, he noticed Twil exiting his chambers, after checking up on Larunae once more.
“Is she well?” He asked, letting out a tired laugh.
“Seems to be.” Twil replied, “I’m just checking on everyone, even the Muun.”
“Sure, sure.” Rath said, his eyes drooping.
“We’ve still got a ways to go, buddy, why don’t you go get some sleep.” Twil said, putting an arm on Rath’s shoulder.
“Sure, sure.” Rath repeated, too tired to argue.
He headed towards his own chambers. His bed was currently occupied by Thex, whose legs and feet extended far past the actual bed itself, but Rath had tried to accommodate by putting pillows on a table at the foot of the bed and adding extra blankets.
He gazed at his older brother, remembering happier times, and feeling great sadness seeing him in the state he was in. “We’ll get you back to your full strength before you know it, you big oaf.” Rath whispered.
Almost as if in response, Thex let out a light snore.
Rath chuckled lightly, flattened out his temporary bedroll on the floor, and drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Alarms blared throughout the ship.
“Something’s wrong!” Twil said, unable to manage the sheer amount of warnings that flashed across the screen.
R5 let out a shrill series of beeps in response.
“It’s a destination error.” Rath said, scrambling over the ship’s computers, “It’s saying the planet doesn’t exist!”
“Well, it’s uncharted, right?” Zanroy asked.
“No, it’s saying it’s literally not there!” Rath replied.
“Pulling us out of Hyperspace!” Twil shouted over the blaring alarms.
As the ship hurled itself back into real space, the crew of the Sovereign were greeted by a horrific sight. The planet, or at least what was left of it, was in shattered pieces.
“No.” Rath whispered, horrified by the ramifications of the sight.
“Look, out there, is that a TIE fighter?!” Twil said, pointing out the cockpit’s viewport.
“It’s hailing us.” Rath said, reading the new alarm on the screens.
“Rath, can you block it’s outgoing comms?” Twil asked.
“So it can only talk to us? Done.” Rath replied with a few quick keystrokes.
Twil then accepted the hailing frequency.
“No…” Rath muttered again, as he saw the holocall spring to life.
There, before them all, was the holoimage of a severely beaten and bloodied Kor Zoroc. “I ain’t saying this!” Zoroc growled at someone off screen. The butt of a blaster rifle appeared briefly as he was struck in the head. The Shistavanen growled again, but looked forward and said, “You were unable to protect me… You were unable to protect your friends… You have betrayed us all… and now you will pay the price.”
“There’s no one on that TIE…” Rath whispered, realizing this was nothing more than a recording.
A new voice laughed, as a new image entered the holorecording. Dac Diggersby, hated father of Zanroy Diggersby, stood before them now, looking as proud and self important as possible. With a smug smile, he said, “I thought I might find you here. Come find me at these coordinates. We have matters to discuss.”
