A New Lead
Chapter IV | Episode III | 11/3/2017
Twil stared in awe at the strangely organic hologram hovering over the opened holocron. “Master Warde, it is an honor.” He began, but was quickly cut off by Rath.
“Twil, may I suggest you play with your new toy later? Maybe when we’re not on a ship that is falling apart at the seams?!” Rath hissed, clutching the side of his head in pain.
“Oh, right.” Twil replied, dejectedly. He then turned his attention back to the holocron’s gatekeeper. “Master Warde, I apologize, but we will need to continue this discussion later, we’re kind of in the middle of a life threatening situation.”
The hologram bowed courteously, before dissipating into nothingness as the holocron shut down.
“Zanroy, can you carry her?” Twil asked, pointing to the unconscious woman that Rath had miraculously saved from the brink of death.
“Sure.” Zanroy replied. With a grunt, he hoisted the woman over his shoulders and began to follow the others toward the turbolift.
As they all entered the turbolift, a sudden explosion occurred in the cockpit. Before anyone could react, the turbolift began to descend rapidly along its tracks as the artificial gravity gave way. Not having time to react to the speed of the transport, Zanroy was flung into the turbolift’s ceiling, knocking him unconscious.
As the turbolift reached the lower level, the doors opened, and the crew began to float out, swimming through dead bodies and debris.
“Rath, you take point, I’ll carry these two, Idozzi you follow me.” Twil said, taking Zanroy’s and the mystery woman’s arms, one in each hand.
“Sure.” Rath said, making his way through the cluttered room, clearing a path as best he could.
Making use of the loss of gravity, Twil pushed off against the nearest wall, in an attempt to propel himself and the unconscious bodies closer to the airlock on the other side of the ship.
Unfortunately, Twil miscalculated his own strength, and propelled too fast. Unable to properly steer in this weightless environment, Twil crashed into the ship’s main reactor, causing him to lose his grip on Zanroy, sending him flying into a nearby wall. As luck would have it, though, this second collision was enough of a jolt to shock Zanroy’s system back to consciousness. Zanroy didn’t have long to get his bearings, however, before another explosion rocked the ship.
Much to Rath’s dismay, this explosion occurred down a hallway nearest to him. The ships paneling had blown open, and now a rather large hole was threatening to suck Rath and anything else in the vicinity out into the vacuum of space.
Thinking quickly, Rath extended his mechanical arms, and dug into the steel walls of the ship’s hallway. This caused him to stop just feet away from the hole. “I can’t hold on forever!” Rath shouted to the others, knowing full well that the pull was too strong.
Quickly assessing the situation, Zanroy spotted a large galley table just far enough away that it wasn’t getting pulled by the vacuum of space. Using the Force, Zanroy guided the table in such a way as to get caught, and cover the hole in the ship.
Knowing the solution was temporary at best, Rath scrambled out of the hallway and towards the airlock, reuniting with the others, as they all eagerly clawed their way through the airlock and into the Sovereign.
Twil wasted no time getting to the cockpit. Unfortunately, due to the current conditions, and constant explosions, he wasn’t able to disconnect from the Renegade’s Blood without great difficulty. In doing so, he inadvertently caused the large freighter to spin wildly out of control, becoming a massive fireball, shooting flaming debris every which way.
Even though Twil did his best to avoid the debris, and even with Zanroy shooting at it from the ship’s turrets, the Sovereign took a beating (including a Duros corpse smearing against the transparisteel windshield of the cockpit).
Once finally clear of the debris, Rath disconnected his own ship, the Crescent Blade, from the Sovereign, and commed to Twil. “Twil, I’m headed back to my base. There are some things that I need to take care of, things that I was in the middle of doing when you called me away to this death trap.”
“Really?!” Twil replied, annoyed, “You’re leaving again?!”
“Twil, these are important matters, and with what’s just happened, they’ve become even more crucial. I won’t be gone long. I’ll be back soon.”
Twil sighed, “Yeah, fine. Thanks for your help. We’ll be on Nar Shaddaa for at least a little while. Gotta go back for Baruda.”
Rath just nodded before ending the holocall. His ship then disappeared into hyperspace.
Twil leaned back and took a deep breath before computing the jump to hyperspace. “Next stop, Nar Shaddaa.” He mumbled to himself.
Twil knew it would be a few days before they would reach their destination, so he took advantage of that free time. First he decided to check in on their new passenger.
Heading into the guest quarters, Twil could see Vex closely monitoring the still unconscious woman. “How’s the patient?”
“Weak. Very weak.” Vex began, “I am unsure what it was that she was injected with, Captain, but it should have killed her. I cannot fathom how she is even still alive.”
“Is she going to be okay?” Twil asked.
Vex took a moment to respond, “I believe so, yes. She is stabilized. But she has been through quite the ordeal, she will need much time to recover her strength.”
Twil nodded, “Keep it up, then.” He said, before leaving the droid with the woman.
He then called for Zanroy and led him to his private quarters, “Let’s try this again.” He said, pulling out the newly acquired holocron.
Twil activated the Jedi artifact once more, and the same holographic image appeared before them.
“Ah, I see you survived your ordeal, this pleases me.” The gatekeeper greeted the two.
“It pleases us too.” Twil replied with a laugh, “So, I guess we should start with proper introductions. I’m Twil Pinn, and this is Zanroy Diggersby, we’re both Force sensitive. We were taught by a former Jedi by the name of Elaiza Ren. But our training was cut short. It’s our hope that you can train us further.”
The gatekeeper considered the words for a moment before saying, “Those names are unfamiliar to me. But that is of little consequence. As I said before, I am the gatekeeper of this holocron, created by Jedi Master Suljo Warde. Master Warde was a powerful Jedi during the days of the Clone Wars, I assume the wars have ended by now?”
“Yes some time ago.” Twil replied.
“I am unsure if Master Warde still lives, or if he has become one with the Force, but at the time of my creation, Master Warde was extremely gifted in using the Force to see the future. Of course, many Jedi have had the ability to catch glimpses of possible futures, mere visions. But Master Warde’s abilities were far stronger than that. He had the ability to know outcomes far before they occurred. He could read the future actions of individuals, knowing what they would do, long before the thought of the action would even occur to the individual.
“This holocron does not contain those most powerful of secrets, but it is to act as a guide to the Kyber crystals of Master Warde. Those crystals do contain his most powerful abilities. I will only share that information with one who is worthy, however. It is my duty to observe you, as potential students. Should you prove yourselves worthy, I will share more information with you.”
“How do we prove ourselves worthy?” Twil asked.
“That is for me to determine.” The gatekeeper replied.
“Is there anything else you can teach us?” Twil asked.
“Certainly.” The gatekeeper replied. “This holocron contains many teachings of the Jedi order, more common teachings than Master Warde’s specialties. But again, I will not teach you unless you have proven yourselves worthy of the knowledge.”
“I see. Thank you Master Warde.” Twil said.
The gatekeeper nodded with a smile before deactivating once more.
Once the holocron closed, Zanroy spoke up, “We should activate the holocron in R5 now to see what knowledge it holds. It could have secrets that would make us even more powerful.”
“No!” Twil said forcefully. “There is nothing but hate, anger and death in that holocron.”
“How can you be so sure? How do you know it wouldn’t help us?” Zanroy asked back in a frustrated tone.
“Look Zanroy, there is nothing that that holocron can do for us. It is a force of evil and want’s nothing more than to enslave us for it’s own twisted purposes.”
“I’ll probably not be worthy in the eyes of Master Warde. He probably won’t teach me anything.” Zanroy replied, frustrated.
“That’s not true. He will teach both of us. You just need to start channeling the Force in a different way. Stop trying to bend the Force to your will. Look...” At that moment, Twil opened Zanroy’s mind to his own, showing Zanroy how he sees the galaxy. Zanroy’s mind is flooded with emotions, and feelings. The galaxy suddenly takes on a new spectrum that Zanroy had never seen before.
“This is how I see the galaxy.” Twil reached out further so Zanroy could feel the feelings of his fellow crew mates. “Idozzi’s happiness to not be a slave anymore, but still trying to understand her place in the universe; Baruda, happy to be back with friends; and even our guest, the injured captain’s pain and relief. The galaxy is full of colors and emotions. There is an ebb and flow to it all. There is light and dark to those patterns.”
Twil continued, “When you harness the Force, you try to bend it to your will. You harness hate and anger and make the Force do what you want. When I use the Force, I implore it to let me use it. I ask it, I persuade it to do what I ask. I use peace, calmness and focus to use the Force. By lightly tapping into it, it happily obliges. You can do the same. Master Warde will teach you if you show him you can control your emotions, and harness the light side of the Force. It is easy to give into the dark side. Don’t.”
Releasing from Zanroy’s mind, they both open their eyes and find that are sitting cross-legged, several feet away, facing each other.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. As they arrived at Nar Shaddaa, Twil landed the Sovereign at the Good Trader’s offices on the planet. As he lowered the boarding ramp he was greeted by Baruda, who quickly boarded the ship.
“Hey Baruda! It’s been a while!” Twil said, pulling the Klatooinian into a big hug.
“Captain, am I ever glad to see you. I’ve been so bored here.” Baruda replied. “You know, working for Kaltho used to be rewarding, but after having a taste of what you guys do, I want more.”
Twil laughed, “So, did Nax agree to the deal?”
“Yeah,” Baruda replied, “I mean, I still need to report to Kaltho on everything you guys do, but I’m free to travel with you wherever you go.”
“That’s great news!” Twil said, He then produced a large package from one of the ship’s shelves, “Oh, by the way, I got you a little something.”
Taking the package in hand, Baruda said, “Hmm, it’s heavy. So, what, do I hit people with it?”
Twil laughed again, “No, it’s a gift, you open it.”
“A gift? I’ve never gotten one of those before.” Baruda replied. He then cautiously started to peel away the wrapping. Once he saw what it was, he tore the rest of it off, revealing a new and improved light repeating rifle. “Captain, is this what I think it is?”
“Yeah, that’s Mama Bear.” Twil said proudly, “I had Gretta do some work on it, cleaned it up, replaced most of the parts. But at it’s core, it’s still your old gun. It’ll just work a whole lot better now.”
“Oh, Captain.” Baruda mumbled, before pulling Twil into another hug.
“You’re welcome buddy.” Twil said with a laugh.
Just then, the Sovereign’s priority call alarm started sounding off throughout the ship.
“I better go check that.” Twil said, leaving Baruda to marvel at his new gun.
As Twil entered the cockpit, he answered the call, only to see Rath’s face pop up on the holoprojector. “Hey Rath! How’s it going?”
“I’ve finally got a lead Twil!” Rath said, enthusiastically.
“What? What are you talking about?”
“I’ve got a lead on Zoroc, and others!” Rath replied, “I need to get to Nar Shaddaa, immediately. I’ll have Axel fly my ship for me. I can explain more when I’m there, I don’t want to let this call go on longer than it needs to.”
“Oh, okay, sure, we’ll be here.” Twil replied. The call then cut off instantly, leaving Twil to wonder what Rath was planning.
Over the next few days, while waiting for Rath to arrive, Twil took advantage of the free time to take care of logistical matters. Through Gretta, he ordered a new set of armor for Zanroy (seeing as his old armor was ripped to shreds by the pirate droids on the Renegade’s blood). He also got some new armor for Baruda.
While out shopping, Twil also happened to stumble upon a local pet shop. Feeling lonely without his pet Galva, Twil decided to head inside and see what they had. The second the Zeltron entered, every animal immediately tried to get at Twil. Twil wasn’t sure if it was his pheromones or his connection to the Force, but something was clearly getting these animals excited.
As Twil perused the store, he saw a small, multicolored bird with a long small beak. “Awww.” Twil said upon seeing the cute little creature.
Instantly, the bird mimicked Twil’s reaction, “Awww.”
Taken aback, Twil asked, “You can talk?!”
The bird replied, “You can talk?!”
The store owner then came up to Twil, “Ah I see you’re interested in that little guy.”
“He’s adorable!” Twil gushed. “What type of bird is he?”
The store owner laughed, “I have no idea, to tell you the truth.”
“Interesting.” Twil mused.
“Interesting.” The bird mimicked.
“What does he eat?” Twil asked.
“Anything you feed him.” The owner replied, “Doesn’t seem to matter to him what it is, he’ll eat anything, and nothing seems to affect him.”
“That’s convenient.” Twil said, “How much you asking for him?”
The owner thought for a moment, “I could let him go for 20,000 credits.”
“How’s ten?” Twil bargained.
“Yeah, you got a deal.” The owner replied, shaking Twil’s hand after taking the credits.
As the owner walked off, Twil opened the cage and said, “I think I’ll call you Piękny.”
“Piękny!” The bird replied.
Twil then held out his hand. The bird looked at it, before hopping on, climbing up to Twil’s shoulder and settling in quite comfortably.
Later that day, Twil decided to check in on their passenger once more. This time she was awake, but only just.
“You may speak with her, but please keep it brief.” Vex instructed, “She still needs to recover.”
“Thanks Vex.” Twil said, as the droid left the room, the door closing behind him. He then turned his attention to the woman lying in the bed.
“I understand I have you to thank for saving my life.” The woman said, sitting up slightly. “I don’t have much, but I’ll pay you whatever I can.”
“I’m not looking for payment.” Twil said, shaking his head, “What’s your name?”
“Captain Saral Aenet.” The woman replied, “The Renegade’s Blood was my ship. I’m just a simple trader.”
“And yet you were attacked by those pirates.”
“Yes. Remarkable that you came along when you did, mister…”
“Pinn. Captain Twil Pinn.”
“Captain Pinn, then. Tell me Captain Pinn, how is it that you were able to rescue me? How did you know where we were? We were in the middle of nowhere, and you just happened to show up?”
“We got your distress call.” Twil answered.
Saral stared at Twil for a moment. “I din’t think anyone was close enough to hear it.”
“It was just luck.” Twil shrugged, “We were flying nearby, and picked it up.”
“Just luck. So, it was just luck that you also stole that item from my ship before escaping too?”
“What are you talking about?” Twil asked.
“Before I passed out, I saw you taking the package. Why did you take that?”
“I don’t know.” Twil lied.
“Do you know what it is?”
“No, do you?”
“No.” Saral replied, shaking her head. “All I know is that I acquired it from Erron Irbian, an Imperial Duke stationed on Cato Nemoidia. Next thing I know, he’s sending an entire squadron of fighters after me.”
“So you stole it?”
“No!” Saral replied, offended, “I acquired it legally. And I was told that to the right buyer, it would sell for a lot of credits.”
“You can’t sell it.” Twil replied, “You’d never make anything off of it.”
“So you do know what it is.”
“I’ve heard about them. And I know they’re extremely illegal.” Twil sidestepped the question, “You would never be able to sell this. The Empire would just hunt you down until they had it, and you were dead. Which is why I can’t give it back to you. It isn’t safe.”
“It is mine.” Saral said harshly.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s one of those artifacts, isn’t it?” She asked with a humorless laugh.
“What artifacts?”
“I heard the stories, when I was younger. The Jedi and their fanatic religion.”
Twil thought for a moment, “Yeah, it is one of theirs, which is why you can’t keep it. You know this stuff is illegal. And no matter where you go or what you do, as long as you have it, you’ll be a target. I know people, I can get rid of it for you. I can keep you safe, but regardless of how you acquired it, you won’t be profiting off of this .”
“So I lost my crew and my ship, for nothing.” Saral scoffed.
“I’m sorry.” Twil replied, standing up, “At least you didn’t lose your life. You really should rest more, you’re still not fully recovered.”
Saral just made a grunt of displeasure before lying back down, falling back asleep.
During their time at port, Twil had tasked Baruda and Zanroy with keeping watch over the ship. The Sovereign had been attacked far too many times for Twil’s liking, and he wasn’t about to let it happen again.
On the third day, Zanroy had finally spotted something. A Weequay had been loitering in the nearby shadows for far too long, watching the Sovereign, intently.
Attempting to sneak up behind him, Zanroy stumbled over some boxes, falling face first into the ground, causing the boxes to topple over on top of him.
The Weequay immediately jumped at this and pulled out a vibroknife, “What do you think you’re doing?!”
With a little assistance from the Force, Zanroy shoved the boxes off of him, leaped to his feet, knocked the vibroknife away, grabbed the Weequay, and slammed him against the nearest wall.
“Hey, what’s the big idea?!” The Weequay squealed, now terrified.
“What were you doing, watching that ship?” Zanroy demanded.
“What, a guy can’t just stand around?”
Zanroy then twisted the Weequay’s arm, almost to the point of disconnecting it from his shoulder. “What were you doing?!”
“You ain’t got nothing on me.”
Sick of getting nowhere, Zanroy called for Twil. Soon after, Twil and Baruda arrived.
“Who are you? What were you doing eyeing my ship?” Twil asked forcefully.
Before either of them could react, however, the Weequay made a move with his foot, which had a blade ejecting out of the tip of his boot. Stabbing Zanroy in the ankle, the Weequay was able to squirm free of Zanroy’s grasp and immediately began running.
“Oh no you don’t.” Twil said. Using the Force, he strained the Weequay’s mind, causing him to stumble.
This bought Zanroy just enough time to use his own powers to yank the Weequay back to them, knocking the thug to the ground.
Completely bewildered, the Weequay began to talk. “Alright, alright, I’ll tell ya what you wanna know! I was just hired by some guy to watch the ship and report back.”
“Who was it?!” Twil demanded.
“I never saw his face! He sounded Imperial-”
The Weequay’s sentence was immediately cut short, as a blaster bolt tore through the Weequay’s head, killing him.
“No!” Twil shouted.
Zanroy, however, wasted no time in reacting, seeing where the bolt came from, he immediately began to pursue the attacker. Ahead, he saw a suspicious Camaasi attempting to run, but he was no match for Zanroy’s Force assisted speed. Using his powers once again, Zanroy reached out, grabbed the Camaasi, and flung him overhead, back towards Twil and Baruda, slamming him hard on the ground.
The Camaasi struggled to grab his vibroknife, but it was snatched up by Baruda.
“Who sent you?!” Twil demanded.
“I ain’t talking!” The Camaasi hissed.
Before the interrogation could continue further, Twil and the others were interrupted by port security, two Chadrafan.
“I got this.” Baruda said to Twil, stepping up to the security guards and 200 credits in hand, “This is Kaltho business.”
Upon hearing this, the two security guards nodded, took the credits and walked away without question.
“Okay then.” Twil said, surprised at the easy resolution. He then turned his attention back towards the Camaasi, who was being held down by Zanroy.
Twil attempted to read the Camaasi’s thoughts, but they were too clouded with anger and fear.
“Alright then, we’ll go a different route.” Making use of a different skill taught to him by Elaiza, Twil altered the Camaasi’s thoughts so that Twil and the otehrs would appear to be the Camaasi’s contacts.
Confused, the Camaasi looked at all three of them, “What, how?”
“Are you okay?” Twil asked.
“Uh, yeah, I guess. How did you guys…?” The Camaasi trailed off.
“We need to verify your identity. What were you sent here to do?” Twil asked.
“Teemo sent us here to spy on that ship, and to report back to him. That Weequay was about to spill everything, so I had to put him down.” The Camaasi explained.
“Good, that’s right.” Twil continued, “Is there anything else you know?”
“Of course not. Teemo only tells us the bare minimum.”
“Then you’re of no more use to us.” Twil said, turning his attention to Zanroy, “Knock him out.”
Not wasting another second, Zanroy hit the Camaasi hard with the butt of his rifle, knocking the thug out cold.
“Baruda, we need to send a message to Teemo.” Twil said, his back turned to them, “Carve this into that Camaasi’s skin: Leave us alone.”
“Sure thing, boss.” Baruda said with a smile, handling the newly acquired vibroknife.
Later that day, Rath had finally arrived on planet. He wasted no time getting to the Sovereign. As he boarded he was greeted by Baruda.
“Hey! Welcome back traveler! Give me five!” Baruda then held up his hand in a gesture that Rath was unfamiliar with.
Giving the Klatooinian a look of confusion and annoyance, he continued on board the ship, finally seeing Twil.
“Hey Rath! Welcome back! Meet Piękny! Piękny, say ‘Rath.’” Twil said, excitedly.
The bird responded with, “Rath! Rath!”
Just then, R5 rolled into the area and began beeping at the bird.
In perfect mimicry, the Bird beeped back at R5, which resulted in the droid getting more and more agitated.
“I think R5 just taught Piękny how to swear in droidspeak.” Twil said with a laugh.
“Twil, I’ve no time to gawk at your new pet. We need to talk, now! Get Zanroy, too, he’ll want to hear this.” Rath said, heading to the cockpit.
“Sure.” Twil replied, a little let down by Rath’s response. He then called out to Zanroy, telepathically. He could hear Zanroy sigh heavily in his mind, in response.
Once the three were behind closed doors, Twil caught Rath up on current happenings. After that, Rath delved into his news, “Zanroy, I’ve finally got a lead on that name you gave me a while back, Ari Diggersby.”
“Okay.” Zanroy said slowly, clearly intrigued.
“After breaking into Imperial records, I’ve discovered that her name is showing up on shipping manifests, going from port to port. What’s interesting to me, is that I’ve just now discovered that the one I am looking for, Kor Zoroc, is also showing up in those same manifests.”
“What does this mean?” Twil asked.
“It means one of two things. They are either being held as slaves, and being shipped around to different slavers. Or, what I think is much more likely, they are being held on a ship acting like a mobile prison.” Rath explained.
“Why would they be kept on a ship?” Twil asked, “Why not just throw them in a regular prison?”
“You’re missing the big picture here Twil.” Rath explained, “Do you know the odds of both of them being held together? Ari is Zanroy’s mother, a former senator of Coruscant. Kor Zoroc is a pirate. They couldn’t have less to do with each other. They both could prove useful, but not together. Not unless one made the connection of those two with Zanroy and myself. And as far as the rest of the galaxy is concerned, they don’t know that I work with you or Zanroy. I’ve always kept my appearance a secret. That’s why I always wear this armor.”
“So, who then?” Twil asked.
“Have you forgotten what Elaiza told me?” Rath asked, “There are two Chiss within the Empire, and they are looking for me.”
“Wait, your people are within the Empire?” Zanroy asked.
“Yes, two of my people are. I can only guess their motivations. I don’t even know their identities, but I have a few strong hunches. All I know, is that they have been trying to find me for some time now. And If they are who I think they are, then we are in for a whole lot of trouble. You think I over analyze? These two will stop at nothing, they will use every resource at their disposal to get what they want. And they will use every aspect of our lives to their advantage. Hence Zoroc being captured by the Pirate Queen and handed over to Barris. Hence your mother’s disappearance. Hence Teemo working with the Empire.”
“Saral steals an artifact from an Imperial Duke, yet it’s Teemo’s men we find aboard the ship. The Weequay said his employer sounded Imperial, the Camaasi said he was hired by Teemo.” Twil thought aloud.
“Exactly.” Rath agreed, “These Chiss that are after me are using every resource they have to find me. Using everything they can, against us. Including old adversaries like Teemo.”
“But why?” Twil asked.
“That’s what I intend to find out.” Rath replied. “You know my past. I don’t know why what happened, happened. And I’ve spent the better part of my life trying to figure it out. And now, finally, I’ve got a lead.”
“How so?” Twil asked.
“That ship containing Zoroc and Ari? It left port here less than a week ago, and I know exactly which port it was. I get to that port, I find the logs, I can find that ship, and with it, answers.”
“So you’re suggesting we take on an Imperial ship?” Zanroy asked.
“Yes.” Rath replied curtly. “Look, I won’t let this opportunity get away from me. I’ll either go alone, or you can come with and help me. Your choice.”
“No, we’ll help you.” Twil replied, “Let’s get going.”
Rath, Zanroy, Twil, and Baruda arrived at the port, to find it mostly empty. There was a single port officer, looking bored, but it was otherwise deserted.
Spotting the officer’s office, Rath said, “All I need to do is get in there, and get access to the computer.”
“Well, I could try using Kaltho’s pull with the security officer if you want.” Baruda began, but saw that Rath had already activated his suit’s suite of stealth tech and was most likely already inside. “Or, yeah, you could do that too.” Baruda trailed off.
While Baruda and Twil waited around for Rath to return, Zanroy was patrolling the outskirts of the port.
Suddenly, Zanroy was thrown against a wall with a forceful hand. “Leave now.” A gruff voice ordered.
Reacting instantly, Zanroy pushed off against the wall with both feet, causing his mystery assailant to go flying through the air, landing in plain sight of Baruda and Twil.
Baruda wasted absolutely no time in pulling out momma bear, and pelting the armored human with a fierce barrage of blaster bolts. Letting go of the trigger, Baruda yelled out, “Stay down, don’t move, and we’ll let you live!”
Crawling to his feet, the man began to run, yelling, “Get them!”
Before any of the three could react, an army of bounty hunters appeared out of nowhere, ready to fight.
