The Hand off and Fighting for the Good Trader

Chapter III | Episode III | 2/25/2017

The crew had made it safely away from Yavin IV, but their current destination was unknown. Floating in space, a decision needed to be made. But before that would happen, the crew would get some answers.

As Twil left the cockpit, he found Doc Barris in the lounge. She was busily working away on her datapad, barely looking up at the Zeltron. “I’ve scheduled an Imperial pickup at a location that I’ve already sent to your co-pilot.”

“You don’t look hurt, but I’m gonna have Vex take a look at you just in case.” Twil said, making the comm for the droid to tend to the Doctor.

Barris’ eyes lit up as she saw the droid. “Captain, you have a Vex unit?” She asked as she approached the droid, inspecting him.

“Yeah.” Twil replied, he’s been a god little addition to the crew.

“I’m taking him.” Barris said suddenly.

“I’m sorry, what?” Twil asked, taken aback.

“I’m taking him for the Empire.” Barris stated again.

“Uh, no.” Twil said, still confused, “I do business with the Empire. I’m not a company within the Empire. My property is not yours to take.”

“Hmph, fine.” Barris said. She made a gesture with one hand, while attempting to do something to Vex with the other just before the droid left, after ensuring the doctor was in no physical distress.

Unbeknownst to Barris, Rath had been watching the encounter closely. Once Vex was out of the room, he immediately examined the droid, and found a transponder under his plating. With a sound of disgust, he pulled it out, dropped it to the ground, and crushed it with his boot.

Having had his fill of the strange woman, Twil said, “Okay, I’ve done more than enough to help you out. I’d say that means you can answer a few questions for us.”

“Excuse me, Zeltron?” Barris asked with a haughty tone, “I owe you nothing. You serve the Empire, as all citizens do.”

“Look, I helped you out, the least you can do is answer a question or two.” Twil replied, trying to persuade Barris.

“What kind of questions?” Barris asked, with a look cold as stone.

“Well, for starters, what do you know about me?” Draven cut in as he entered the room.

Doc Barris looked long and hard at Draven, as if seeing a face she couldn’t quite place. Her expression immediately changed, however, as realization donned upon her. “Captain, what are you doing with this creature?!” She yelled, jumping to her feet.

“Creature? What are you talking about?” Twil asked, confused.

“That thing is property of the Empire. And you will turn it over to my custody immediately.” She demanded.

“Hey!” Twil yelled back, “No one on this ship is property! Draven is my friend, and a member of this crew. And he is here because he chooses to be here. I’m not going to turn him over to you or anybody else!”

“That wasn’t a request, Captain.” Barris responded with a hint of malice.

“I don’t like your tone, Doctor.” Twil replied, “You can wait in the guest quarters. When we meet up with your ride, we’ll call you.”

Before Barris could respond, Twil and Draven forcefully showed Barris to the guest quarters, and locked the door behind her.

“I doubt she’ll give you any information willingly.” He said to Draven, “Although we might-”

Twil’s sentence was cut short as a horrid noise rattled throughout the Sovereign. All was silent as the noise echoed into nothingness. “Rath, what was that?” Twil asked over the ship’s comms.

Before Rath had a chance to respond, however, multiple mynocks burst through the paneling throughout the ship’s interior. Screeching and flapping their leathery wings, the creatures threatened to tear the ship apart with their rows of sharp teeth. As multiple alarms blared, the crew jumped to attention, knowing they had to deal with this threat.

Rath and R5 immediately headed for the engineering bay. He knew that mynocks fed off of power supplies of ships. And the juiciest target for them would certainly be engineering.

Upon arriving he was greeted by four mynocks, already attempting to tear apart the energy conductors and power cables in the room. With R5’s assistance, he was able to dispatch them with a few good aims of his blaster.

Of course, this wasn’t the only section of the ship that was in peril.

Draven immediately headed for the main hold, where he had stowed the newly freed slaves from Yavin IV. He could hear terrified screams from within before he forced the door open.

At least a dozen mynocks had boarded through the cargo hold, and they were terrorizing the former slaves.

With a grin on his face, Draven drew both of his blaster pistols. And in a show of marksmanship unparalleled, he disposed of the mynocks one by one. Often pulling off theatrical moves, running along walls, and shooting the beasts with pinpoint precision.

When the last creature fell, the slaves rejoiced in their multiple native tongues, praising Draven as their savior.

Meanwhile, in another section of the ship, Zanroy was struggling with a pair of mynocks of his own. He was far to close to aim his blaster properly and had missed his mark multiple times.

Fed up with the situation, he grabbed both the creatures, physically, and tossed them in the nearby airlock. After securing the hatch, he opened the airlock, letting the creatures fly off into space.

Just when the crew had thought all was said and done, another scream emanated from the ship. Twil realized that it was coming from Doc Barris, so he rushed to her quarters. Unlocking the door, he saw a single mynock, attacking the ISB agent.

With a well aimed blaster shot, the creature fell dead. After collecting the dead mynock for disposal, he re-locked the door, not saying a word to the visibly shaken doctor.

Although the ship was in extreme disrepair, it was still capable of making the jump to the rendezvous point Doc Barris had given them.

As they arrived in the empty quadrant of space, Twil left the cockpit to release Doc Barris and send her on her way.

Rath, on the other had, remained in the cockpit. The less time he spent around ISB, the better. He watched for whatever Imperial ship was coming to pick up the doctor. expecting an Imperial freighter at most. He nearly fell out of his chair, when he saw what arrived, appearing suddenly, as it exited hyperspace.

There before him was a very unique ship. It looked similar to a Star Destroyer, but smaller. And on both sides of the ship were two large spherical structures, built into it. The sight terrified Rath.

During his time away from the others, he had done some research into new Imperial tech, at great risk to himself. One item in particular caught his attention above all else, the Immobilizer 418. He had only seen blueprints of this dangerous new weapon, but he knew that the ship before him, had to be that weapon.

“Twil, what have you gotten us involved in?” He muttered under his breath.

“The way I see it, Doctor.” Twil explained, “We saved your life. Multiple times. So, you go your way, we go ours. Neither of us say a word about what’s transpired here between us. Deal.”

“Deal.” A very disgruntled Doc Barris replied, just eager to get away from the ship and its crew.

As she left for the docking ring, to board the Imperial shuttle that had come to collect her, Draven sneakily pilfered her datapad, the doctor completely unaware.

Rath watched wearily from the cockpit as the shuttle disembarked and headed back to the Imperial ship. It was only when the ship left, launching into hyperspace to some unknown destination, that Rath allowed himself to breathe.

“You okay, buddy?” Twil asked, reentering the cockpit.

“Twil, I have no idea who that Barris woman is. But that ship that picked her up, is trouble. If they had decided that they wanted to take us in, for interrogation, or worse, there wouldn’t have been a thing any of us could have done.”

“Oh.” Twil replied, “Well, it’s a good thing they left then, huh?”

“Sure.” Rath responded. Deep down, though, he couldn’t help but feel that they’d be seeing that ship again some day.

Just then Draven entered the cockpit, “Hey, uh, Rath. I stole that doctor’s datapad. You think you can crack it?”

Rath restrained himself from explaining why that was such a dangerous move, and simply replied, “Let’s see it.”

Draven handed the device over to Rath. As he examined it, he remarked on how well constructed it was. He hadn’t quite seen anything like it before. As he began to slice into the datapad, following usual protocols, the device instantly burst into flames.

Rath let loose a few expletives, as he tried his very best to get any information out of the device, which was now a flaming chunk of metal and wires, in his hands.

He dropped the device to the floor, and stomped out the flames, before looking up to Draven, “That was the most secure datapad I’ve ever seen. It clearly had some sort of advanced tamper-proofing installed. All I got was the words ‘Project Aura.’”

“Really? All that effort for that?! You couldn’t get anything else out of it?” Draven yelled, frustrated.

“Hey! Did you not see that it burst into flames in my hands? You’re lucky I got that much out of it!” Rath shouted back.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough.” Twil cut in, “Draven, Rath did his best. No one’s perfect. We’ll figure all this out, in time. I promise you.”

Clearly still incensed, Draven changed the subject, “What about those slaves? What are we gonna do about them?”

“Oh, right.” Twil replied, “Hmm, let me make some calls, maybe I can find someone to help them out.”

“Don’t bother Twil, I’m already on it.” Rath replied. He had activated his flesh camouflage, taking on the form of one of his many pseudonyms, and was activating the ship’s comm.

A slightly heavy set, bearded human, wearing a Rebel pilot suit appeared over the comm’s holo.

“Hello again, Snap Wexley.” Rath greeted him, “I’ve got some more potential friends for your Rebellion.”

Nar Shaddaa was the meeting place set for the slave drop off. A Rebel envoy met the crew to pick them up, and give them a chance at new, free lives.

After that was taken care of, the crew took the chance to actually breathe for the first time since they had all been reunited. While some went to restock on supplies, Rath and R5 stayed at the hangar in Gretta’s workshop to repair the badly damaged Sovereign.

They weren’t on planet for more than an hour before Twil got a distress call from Aklee.

“Captain, you need to return to the Good Trader on Coruscant, immediately. General Tessala is demanding your presence. She’s giving you 12 hours.” Aklee informed Twil over the comm.

Twil attempted to argue that they needed more time for repairs, but it was futile. The Imperial General wasn’t going to move on the issue.

After arguing with Rath that the ship was capable of flying across the galaxy in under 12 hours, the crew left Nar Shaddaa almost as quickly as they had arrived.

They had reached the Good Trader headquarters in Coruscant. All were on edge.

“Rath, Draven, you stay in the ship. If things go south down there, I want this thing ready to take off at a moment’s notice.” Twil ordered, “Idozzi, Zanroy, you’re with me.”

As the three disembarked the ship, and headed into the Good Trader, they were met with a most intimidating sight. General Tessala was there, and with her, an army of storm troopers.

“Restrain them. Find it.” General Tessala ordered.

Immediately, the stormtroopers brought Twil, Idozzi, and Zanroy to their knees. While the remaining troopers began trashing the office, looking for something in particular.

“General Tessala, what do you think you’re doing?” Twil yelled out.

“You and your cronies are under arrest, Captain Twil Pin.” Tessala announced, “You are traitors to the Empire, and will be dealt with as such. The Good Trader will fall into Imperial custody, with me as its overseer.”

“Traitors?!” Twil shouted, “You’re the only traitor I see around here! And I’ve got proof!”

Tessala turned her attention directly towards Twil, approaching him slowly, she said in a low voice, “You will give it to me. Now.”

All coversation cut short, however, as the entire room was silenced by the sound of a loud buzz and sharp hum. Instantly, a blinding rod of light cut through the air, eliminating multiple troopers. Bodies of troopers smashed and collided against each other and dropped to the ground with dull thuds. Within seconds, all stormtroopers were dead.

The lightsaber flew back to the hand of a sullen warrior — Elaiza. Standing in a deafening silence, she turned to an awestruck Tessala and looked her square in the face saying, “You have no business here. Leave.”

Without a sound, or even looking back, Tessala left the building with a blank stare on her face.

The old woman stood, majestically and vocalized a single sentence to the stunned onlookers, “I need your help”.