“The Twil”
Before anyone could say anything in reaction to Querrick’s announcement, Sadra’s comlink started beeping and buzzing. Answering the call, Sirena’s voice came over, shouting, “Where have you been?!” She started, “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for hours! You need to get back to the ship, now! Something’s wrong with these crates!”
“Wait, Sirena, what do you mean?” Sadra attempted to ask.
Sirena shouted back, “Just get over here!”
Sadra looked at the others, who had all heard the exchange, and there was no need for words. As Sadra ran for the speeder bikes, Querrick and Butter followed, the latter scooping up Knoll along the way to throw him into the sidecar of Butter’s bike.
As the others rushed into the ship, Querrick had one last bit of unfinished business to attend to. Reentering the starport’s main building, Querrick headed to the dock master’s office. The human took one look at Querrick’s newly armored form and said, “I knew you could do it, Querrick! I always believed in you. I saw what Jaffar saw. Even when no one else did.”
You did? Querrick thought to himself, cocking an eyebrow which was now hidden behind his helmet.
“Here.” The dock master continued, “I want you to have this. May it serve you well on your trials. And remember, these trials are not for the faint of heart. You will be pushed to your absolute limits.”
Querrick took the small box from the dock master and said, “Well, I have a feeling one is waiting for me at my next destination, Ilum. Wherever that is.”
The dockmaster simply gave Querrick a quizzical look and said, “Never heard of it.”
Querrick simply shrugged, and said, “Neither have I, but figured I’d mention it. Just in case.” He then held up the box and nodded in appreciation, and left without another word.
As he made his way back to the ship, Querrick opened the box to find a Mandalorian hunting knife stored within. Querrick was familiar with the weapon. Extremely durable, sharp enough to tear through the thickest armored plating of the most savage beasts, not to mention other forms of armor… Yes, this weapon would make a fine addition to his collection.
“These boxes were equipped with trackers.” Sadra was explaining, “If they take too long to reach their destination, they start emitting a long range signal so that the Empire can locate them.”
“Is there any way to turn it off?” Knoll asked.
“Get them where they belong.” Sadra replied grimly, “Once they’re closer to the destination, the signal will shut down.”
“How fast can you get us to Ilum?” Knoll asked.
Sadra looked at the boxes, then to her datapad, then to Knoll, and replied, “I’ll do my best.” She then ran off towards the bridge.
Knoll looked wearily at the beeping cargo boxes, then made his way back towards his medlab. As he walked down the corridors, however, he was nearly knocked off his feet as the ship lurched and shot off into hyperspace at a rate much faster and rasher than would be normal.
He winced as he caught himself mid stumble, reminding himself of the many injuries he had sustained just a short while ago. The fight in the mines was not a pleasant experience, after all. Once safely back in his lab, he began to apply bacta salves and inject stimpacks into his system. And, not for the first time, he gained a renewed appreciation for the advancements in medical technology.
Unfortunately, he had no time to relax as Querrick soon barged in on the doctor. Knoll noticed that he was no longer wearing the armor he had just earned, but soon realized why, as he saw that the Cathar’s body was covered in open wounds. In all the chaos of recent events, Knoll had forgotten that Querrick had been almost eaten alive by that Rishi Eel. The fact that he had not bled out yet was a miracle. Uttering a curse under his breath, he immediately went to work.
Querrick was mostly silent during the time Knoll worked over his broken and battered body. Only once did he speak up, asking, “So… Quannot’s Syndrome. No cure, huh?”
Knoll was silent for a moment, before responding, “No. Unfortunately not. People have researched it for decades, but no one’s even come close to curing it, despite all the advancements we’ve made in the medical field.”
“Hm.” Was all Querrick responded with.
Knoll stole a glance at the Cathar’s face. The reaction and his facial expression did not seem to match what Knoll was expecting. He did not seem overly upset by the subject. But at the same time, he did not seem pleased either. Knoll couldn’t work out the relationship Querrick had with this Jaffar Balor person. Was he a loved one or was he an enemy? It didn’t make sense to him. Maybe it didn’t make sense to Querrick either.
Knoll waited for the Cathar to say more, but he never did. And so, Knoll simply continued to treat him. It wasn’t his place to push the issue. Although it did make him wonder.
“We’re nearing Ilum.” Sadra announced.
“So, what’s the plan?” Querrick asked, “Last time on Chad didn’t go so well. I hope we have a better idea of what to do now.”
“I think the best plan of action is for us to play the role of Imperial officer and Imperial droid.” Knoll replied, gesturing to himself and Butter, “We pretend that we’re just here for a routine drop off, get in see what all this is for, and get out. Clean and simple.”
“Can you handle that?” Querrick asked Butter.
“I’d rather not play as an Imperial droid, ever again. But…” Butter then seemed to playback a recording of a happy cheerful creature, saying, “I can be anything you want!”
Querrick eyed the droid wearily, and turned back to Knoll, “And we just wait and hide?”
“Pretty much.” Knoll replied.
Just then, the ship lurched out of hyperspace, revealing the planet Ilum.
Immediately, Querrick could tell there was something very wrong with this place. Aside from the dozens of Star Destroyers and hundreds of TIE fighters orbiting above the planet, what was worse that the planet’s entire equator seemed to have been torn apart. There was massive amounts of machinery, covering the entire equator of the planet. Like, a massive mining operation, or some sort of complex structure. Querrick couldn’t tell. But it was off. And it was wrong.
“The haran is that…?” He wondered aloud.
Knoll looked down at the scene with the same apprehension as the others. Something big was going on here. And considering the items they were delivering, Knoll had a sick feeling he knew how it was being accomplished.
Before he could react, the ship’s comms lit up.
“Go!” He said to the others. As they ran off to their intended hiding places, Knoll quickly got dressed in the Imperial uniform Querrick had filched from the assassin aboard the Titan, and answered the comm.
“Wayfarer class freighter, please submit your clearance codes.”
“Understood.” Knoll replied, sending the codes left with the cargo shipment, “Codes sent.”
After a brief pause, the voice responded, “Affirmative Wayfarer class, please standby for routine cargo inspection.”
“Roger.” Knoll replied, “Wait here.” He then said to Butter.
“As you wish.” Butter replied.
As Knoll headed to the airlock, he could hear a ship docking. Seconds later, a low ranking officer and a handful of trooper’s boarded the ship. “Sorry about this.” The officer said in a bored voice, “Had some trouble a few days ago, so security’s been tightened like crazy. You know how the higher ups get. So, where’s your cargo bay?”
“Right this way.” Knoll replied, showing the officer the way.
“Man, what happened to you? Was it pirates? I tell ya, those pirates are everywhere these days. Can’t go anywhere without some thug thinking they can get the better of you. Why just the other day…”
Knoll was happy to let the man ramble on. He seemed oblivious to Knoll’s lack of responses. And he also seemed to have fabricated an excuse for the lateness of their delivery on his own, which suited Knoll just fine.
“Well, all seems to be in order. Okay, we’ll escort you down.” The officer replied, heading back to the airlock.
“Understood.” Knoll replied.
“That seemed to go well.” Butter stated as Knoll reentered the bridge.
“So far.” Knoll replied, wearily, “Just, follow the escort.”
“Understood.” Butter replied, taking the ship down to the surface of the planet.
As they drew closer, Butter could better see just what it was they were doing down there. Mining, certainly. digging into the entire equator of the planet. But also building. Building… something in its place.
“Okay, Butter, all we have to do is take the cargo to those doors.” Knoll pointed out as they neared the landing pad, “We do that, and we’re home free.”
“Underst-” Butter began to say, but cut himself short, as he saw who else was at the landing area. Another ship, Aurore class, and exiting it, a group of heavily armed and armored mercenaries, all brandishing the same insignia.
“The Zann Consortium…” Butter growled.
“What? Wait, what?” Knoll asked, confused.
“Those thugs out there, the ones delivering… what are those? Wookies?”
“It… looks like Wookies, yeah…” Knoll replied.
“Whatever.” Butter dismissed, “Those thugs, they’re Zann Consortium. I had a run in with them years ago… They need to be dealt with.”
“What? Butter, no!” Knoll replied, “Butter, we need to deliver this cargo, and get out of here. Those guys can wait.”
Just then, Knoll shoved a wet cloth over Butter’s face. As Butter sensed the substance, taking in the Zeltron pheromones covered in the cloth, his processors reached a hyper awareness like he’d never felt. And, if he could smile, he would have as he said, “Yes… yes they can.”
As Knoll began unloading the cargo, he noticed how oddly empty the place was. There were no Imperials in sight. Just the mercenaries, who were paying him little mind, and the Wookie slaves, who were all in binders and wearing some sort of strange mask.
Knoll watched wearily, as the mercs ordered the Wookies to enter the nearby building, through a different door than the one Knoll was delivering the cargo.
It was an odd and sickening sight to see the ferocious creatures acting so docile and compliant. They marched in unison towards the door. As they reached the entry way, Knoll watched as one of the thugs removed their masks, one by one, simply telling them to enter. As they did, Knoll saw an already constructed, modified bacta mister spray the Wookies, one by one, with a sick green mist. Upon getting hit by the substance, the Wookies stood at attention, and walked with purpose into the building, with no sort of escort whatsoever.
There was absolutely no more doubt in his mind. Those Wookies were getting hit with the serum Knoll had researched. It was being used as a powerful mind controlling drug. It wasn’t helping anyone. It had never been intended to do so. And Knoll felt a renewed sickness in his gut as he saw it in practice.
He did not have long to consider this though, as his thoughts were interrupted by a growing argument coming from behind him.
“I knew it!” One of the thugs shouted, “This is the droid that went haywire and got our guys killed just because someone called him a ‘buggy chipless toaster!’ Get him boys!”
The fire fight began, then. And, unfortunately for at least one of these Zann Consortium thugs, Butter was still holding a very large, very heavy cargo box. Using all his might, Butter chucked the box at the nearest target. Butter could hear bones cracking under the armor, as the thug was knocked to the ground, but he could still sense life signs coming from the target. Disappointed, he resolved to do better with his next throw. But what to throw? He pondered that as another nearby thug took a shot at him.
“Ah.” Butter said to himself cheerily, “You’ll do.”
Querrick had been watching the scenes outside unfold through the infrared scanners built into his helmet. A handy new tool. So, it was no surprise to him when the shooting began. Eager to be out of his cramped hiding spot, Querrick leapt out, with rifle in hand. He rushed to the edge of the cargo bay doors, where Sadra had already taken a shot with her pea shooter holdout blaster, and took her place, as she ran deeper into the ship, some other idea clearly occurring to her.
As Querrick observed the scene, he admitted it did not look good for Knoll or Butter. Knoll was tangled up with one thug, while Butter was handling three more. A fifth merc was, at the moment, free and clear, aiming a shot at the Doc.
“Now that’s not very sporting, is it?” Querrick mumbled as he took aim. The blaster bolt tore through the merc’s stomach. He looked toward Querrick, before falling backwards into the thick snow. The force of the fall caused the snow to fly up and cover the body. Querrick hummed in amusement at the sight.
As the fighting continued, it was obviously not looking good for the Zann Consortium scum. Between the three of them, they had killed all but one of the mercs. The only one left was now safely in his ship, hovering ten feet in the air, attempting to fire at Butter.
Despite the first shot missing horribly, Butter still decided to make his aim even worse, by hurling a javelin of ice straight at the transparisteel viewport. Despite being practically blind at this point, the thug seemed intent to shoot the droid down. Butter was in no mood for such actions, though, and decided to take more drastic actions. Jumping into the air, with aid from his servo boosters, Butter launched himself into the viewport, and began bashing it with all his strength.
Querrick watched the droid’s bizarre actions, and, although he doubted it would help, he decided to attempt to aid the mad droid. Taking careful aim, Querrick shot at the point where Butter had been hammering. Much to his surprise, his bolt actually managed to break through the thick viewport, making a tiny hole. It wouldn’t be enough for Butter to actually break through, but it did ensure the ship could not make it out of atmo. Unless, of course, the pilot didn’t care about the vacuum of space. Which Querrick found to be unlikely.
As Querrick lowered the blaster to survey the surrounding area, he noticed Knoll ordering the Wookies, having them gather up the dead bodies, and storing them in an empty cargo container on the ship.
“What are you doing?” Querrick asked.
“Hiding the evidence.” Knoll replied, “And attempting to help these poor creatures.”
Querrick took stock of the Wookie prisoners for the first time, and realized there was something very wrong with all of them. No Wookie he’d ever met acted like this. He’d have to ask the Doc about it later.
The ship was slowly rising ever more. And Butter was getting nowhere attempting to brute force his way in through the viewport. With an annoyed sigh, he climbed around the side of the ship, and wrenched open one of the doors.
Now inside, he made his way to the bridge. The pilot was frantically looking around out the viewport, trying to find Butter, no doubt.
“Behind you.” Butter announced himself.
The pilot yelped and let out a curse, firing a shot at the droid that went wide in his panic. Realizing he had no chance, the thug began to ran, attempting to slide past Butter.
The attempt failed, as Butter grabbed hold of the mercenary, and held him high above his head. He then made his way to the now open door. As the thug screamed and flailed, Butter launched the man into the air. There was a satisfying crunch as he landed on the icy ground some fifty feet below.
Again, if Butter could smile, he would. He then jumped from the hovering ship, using his boosters to soften his approach to the ground. And then returned to the Mythosaur, which was preparing to take off.
“It’s a miracle no one noticed that.” Sadra mused as the ship was leaving atmo.
“We landed right in the middle of a changing of the guard.” Knoll answered, “The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.”
“Or worse.” Querrick chimed in, “If those mercs hadn’t of been there, then Butter wouldn’t have caused all that commotion in the first place.”
“They got what they deserved.” Butter replied.
Before Knoll could say more, the ships comms lit up once more.
Everyone stared at the console, wearily, as Knoll answered it.
“Wayfarer class freighter, please dock in the hangar bay of The Detainer CC-2200 for confirmation of cargo delivery.” An Imperial voice ordered.
Knoll looked out the viewport towards the ship indicated, and his stomach lurched. Another Interdictor class cruiser. Just like the one he was stationed on before he escaped. Just like the Immobilizer 418…
There would be no escape, now. Knoll knew this. If this was anything more than a routine cargo check, there would be no getting away this time.
“Do as they say, Butter.” Knoll said, deadpan.
Butter complied, and the ship was soon docked in the hanger bay of the Detainer.
Just then, a voice blared from the comms, “Mythosaur, ship of the Good Trader, Surrender your ship and your crew immediately. By the authority of the Emperor, you are under arrest. Fighting will only get you killed. Your ship is locked down. Come out willingly and you won’t be shot.”
“It’s on now.” Querrick growled, readying his rifle.
Knoll was quick to stop the Cathar in his tracks. “No.” He said, “We can’t win this. We go out shooting, we die. Plain and simple.”
“I’d rather not be put back into the hands of the Empire.” Butter spoke up.
“Would you rather die?” Knoll asked.
“What is death to a droid?” Butter replied.
“It’s over.” Sirena spoke up from behind, “We have to surrender. If we do, some of you may make it out of this alive.”
Knoll was careful to note the way she did not include herself in that equation. What did she know?
“It’s the only choice.” Sadra agreed, “I’m not fighting this.”
Querrick couldn’t believe his ears. After all they had done, they were just going to show their bellies and surrender? They had all simply lost the will to fight? To live?
Then, a thought not his own entered his mind, kebbur be jorbe. “Haar’chak!” He muttered under his breath, and then said to the others, “Fine. We go quietly.”
As Knoll and the others exited the ship, they were greeted by dozens of stormtroopers, all standing at attention. Blasters in hand, but not aimed, at the moment.
As they stood there, a Human woman, wearing a rank insignia plaque marking her as a Moff, waltzed into the hangar bay. She stopped a good distance away from the group and looked them up and down.
After a brief moment of confusion, Knoll recognized the woman, the infamous Doctor Barris, head of the program responsible for the mind controlling serum.
“Hmph.” She began with a scoff, “Interesting, Twil never mentioned any of you. You are all being detained and questioned for aiding and abetting criminals to the Empire. Cooperate and we may let you go. Resist and you will be executed.”
Knoll glared at the woman, knowing just how much of a lie that promise of their eventual release would be. He then felt the nudge of a blaster rifle in his back, as a stormtrooper spoke from behind, “Alright, move it.”
Sadra sat in her cell, slightly terrified. She had no idea how they were going to get out of this one. By all counts, it did not look good for them. The others seemed equally weary. At least, Knoll did. Butter looked the same as he always did, such are droids. Querrick looked oddly calm. Almost bored. It struck Sadra as strange, especially considering how the Cathar usually reacted to small confined spaces. As Sirena was in the cell next to hers, she could not see the Human. But she could definitely sense the emotions tearing at her. There was great conflict raging in her mind. And it pained Sadra to be able to feel it so piercingly.
Sadra could hear footsteps walking down the stairs, and followed the eyes of her fellow prisoners to a woman in Imperial uniform, different from the one who had “greeted” them in the hangar bay.
“Hello Mother.” Sadra could hear Sirena greet the woman.
Sadra’s eyes grew wide in shock as she took in the woman standing before Sirena’s cell. No, this would not end well.
The woman sneered, and said to Sirena, “I wish you would have died.” She then turned and shouted, “Guards, take her.”
Sadra watched helplessly as she saw Sirena being taken from her cell. She turned to look at her, and said, “It’ll be okay. Remember your training!”
Before Sadra could even respond, Sirena was whisked away and out of sight.
Feeling helpless, Sadra sunk to the floor, hugging her knees, and whispered, “What training?”
Minutes later, a piercing pain shot through Sadra’s entire body and soul. As if a great force had been extinguished. A light snuffed out. A life… ended. Unwilling tears began to fall from her eyes, as Sadra realized what had just happened. Unconsciously, she said aloud for all to hear, “Sirena’s dead.”
Knoll was heartbroken at the news. And, although it was impossible for Sadra to know for certain this was the case, he somehow did not doubt her.
Before the news could settle, though, a new set of footsteps announced another visitor. Knoll was prepared for Barris, but was shocked to see it was someone else entirely. Dressed in an Imperial science officer uniform, the woman looked haggard, eyes bloodshot and weary, but full of joy upon seeing Knoll.
“You’re alive!” She shouted happily.
“Ava Bailer.” Knoll replied, shocked to see his old research assistant standing before him, here of all places.
“You’re alive!” She shouted again, “They said you were dead! They said you died! How are you here? How are you alive?!”
Knoll shook his head, “I escaped. Ava… why are you here?”
Ava’s face suddenly twisted in confusion, “What do you mean? I, after you died, well, after I thought… I’m continuing your research. I was trying to honor your memory. Oh, Dr. Din, the breakthroughs we’ve made! You’d be so proud of our work! You can’t-”
“Wait!” Knoll interrupted, “You’ve been continuing that work?”
“Y-yes…” Ava replied, uncertainly, “Dr. Din, what’s wrong?”
“Ava, our research has created one of the most monstrous poisons the galaxy has ever seen!” Knoll replied heatedly.
Ava took a step back, and said, “No, you’re wrong. We’re helping people.”
“Helping? Helping?!” Knoll replied, “Ava do you know what they’re doing down there? They’re creating an army of slaves! An army of compliant, mind controlled, slaves! Ava, our research helped create this monstrosity.”
Ava stared at Knoll for a long moment, confusion and betrayal evident on her face, “That can’t… you’re wrong.” Her head suddenly jerked away as she heard something, she then turned back to Knoll and said, “I can’t stay… I’ll try to come back again later.”
And with that, she was off. Leaving Knoll feeling even more sick and horrid than before.
Querrick had been silent this entire time. He had been listening, though. He had been listening to everything intently. And there were still a lot of things that he did not fully understand. But there was something he knew. He just didn’t know why he knew it. He knew that patience was the key here. He would not be a prisoner for much longer. His chance would present itself. He would use reason. He would not act rashly. He would wait. And when the right moment came, he would strike. Like the Mandalorian he was…
A new set of footsteps announced yet another visitor, shortly after Ava’s sudden departure. This time, it was indeed Moff Barris, looking unbelievably smug.
“After all this time, I finally have something of his. This is a grand day for the Empire.” She then stopped before Butter’s cell, “Ah, another one of his pets. You will tell me everything you know about him. I’m certain he’s got all sorts of great information stored within you. That’s what he does, isn’t it? Store all his secrets in his droids? He stole one from me, once, you know. It’s only fair I get one of his in return.” She said, sounding slightly mad, almost caressing the energy barrier separating her from the droid.
“What are you talking about?” Knoll spoke up.
“I’m talking about that fool of a Zeltron, Twil Pinn!” Barris snapped, her giddy mood suddenly taking a complete turn towards rage. “He has thwarted and humiliated me for the last time. You work for him. You are more of his zealots. His followers. They’d all die for him. I know that. And I’d love to grant them their wish. Now, it looks like I’ll get to do just that, won’t I Dr. Din?”
Knoll could see that the woman had grown quite mad since he’d last known her. Whatever this Twil fellow had done had clearly rattled the woman. “Look.” Knoll began, “We don’t know Twil.”
“You work for the Good Trader!” Barris cut him off, “Do not think you can lie to me!”
“Yes. We work for the company.” Knoll replied, “But we have never met this Twil Pinn. We were hired by someone else. Someone who worked under him.”
“You will tell me what you know!” Barris shouted, “I know you know more than you’re letting on Doctor. After all, it was your research that so aided my own. Without you, the serum may not have ever been as successful as it was. Of course, I’d never admit to that, as such. The glory belongs to me, and me alone.
“But that is besides the point. You will tell me what you know. About Twil. About his followers. About the Good Trader, and yes, about all your research, too. You will serve the Empire once more, Dr. Din.”
Knoll foresaw this outcome, and said with resignation, “I don’t know anything about Twil Pinn. But if I tell you about my research, will you allow the others to go free?”
Barris made a slight, muffled laugh, and said, “After they tell me everything they know, I may consider it.”
Knoll was about to respond, but a stormtrooper suddenly appeared behind Barris, whispering something to her, and handing her a datapad.
“What is it?!” She shouted, but upon looking at the datapad, she smiled, and shouted, “Make the jump! Now! Move!” She then disappeared out of sight as the ship suddenly lurched into hyperspace.
Querrick smiled and got to his feet, as he heard the alarms blaring. A loud explosion had rocked the ship from somewhere very distant from where they were. And that explosion had clearly done something to the ship’s power supply, as the cell’s energy field was wavering.
They had taken his rifle. They had taken his knife. But that only made him more dangerous. And these fool Imperials would soon learn that very painful lesson.
Watching the energy field’s wavering, he timed his jump just right, flying through the empty space with perfect timing. He was freed. And his captors would soon be dead.
“Hey, you!” A voice from above shouted.
Querrick looked up to see four stormtroopers standing watch from above. The stairs were nearby, and Querrick practically leapt up them, landing in front of the first trooper.
He smiled a vicious smile and whispered, “A Mandalorian is never without a weapon.” With that, he raised his hand, claws outstretched, and swiped at the trooper, tearing through the laminate armor, straight into the chest, ripping flesh from bone.
Watching the Cathar, Butter felt inspired. And, after a few painful attempts, he was able to escape as well. Flying up the stairs, Butter charged at the next nearest trooper, sending him plummeting to the ground below.
“Look out!” He shouted at Knoll, who had just escaped himself, and was in the exact spot where the trooper would land.
As the doctor jumped out of the way, the trooper landed, skull first, snapping his neck on impact.
As Querrick made for another swipe of his claws, the mangled trooper was shot clean through the head, by Sadra from below, who had picked up the gun from Butter’s kill.
Acting on instinct, Querrick grabbed his target’s gun out of the air, before it could fall to the ground with its dead former owner. He then turned to the remaining two troopers and opened fire. The barrage of blaster bolts was hardly as precise as his own weapon, but he could not deny the weapon had potential, as his targets fell to the ground, riddled with holes.
Sadra could feel something different now. There was a presence on the ship that had not been here when they first arrived… two presences. Light and Dark. Not competing. But… in unison with each other. She couldn’t explain it. And she didn’t have time to seek it out.
“This way!” Knoll shouted, “Our stuff will be kept up here. We can get back to our ship this way.”
Having served aboard the Immobilizer 418, Knoll had a very good understanding of Interdictor class cruisers. And he was confident he could get them back to their ship. What’s more, whatever was causing the chaos, was clearly the bigger priority, as no one was looking twice at their haggard, rag tag group.
As they reached the hangar bay, there was only a small contingent of stormtroopers left to guard the ship. Before they could react, though, Knoll heard Querrick let out a feral roar and began to open fire.
They had escaped. Somehow, they had escaped. The Detainer was destroyed. And they had made the jump to hyperspace. Unfortunately, they could not jump far, as the ship’s alarms began to blare.
As Sadra looked over the reports, she pulled the ship to an emergency stop, realizing just how battered the ship was. It had been heavily damaged over the past few weeks, and it was only now that she realized they had not had a chance to repair any of the hull trauma. Pushing it into hyperspace, again, after all that had happened, was simply too much. They were now dead in space. And she explained as much to the others.
“I can try to repair it. Good thing this ship has spacesuits.” Sadra explained, “But it’s going to take time. And over the next few days, we’ll be going without a few luxuries. Like… power, hot water, cooked food, and so on.”
“Sounds like the good old days.” Querrick wheezed, slumped in one of the bridge’s chairs.
“You might want to do some work of your own…” Sadra replied, looking at Knoll.
“Come on Querrick.” Knoll said, getting to his feet, helping the Cathar along to the medbay.
As Knoll examined and worked on the bloodied and beaten Cathar, he remarked again at just how lucky he was to still be alive. During the escape he had clearly been shot multiple times. The worst of it was a punctured lung due to a broken rib.
“You ever consider taking it easy, sometimes, Querrick? You damn near died back there.” Knoll lectured as he worked.
Querrick let out a pained laugh, “Could have fooled me, Doc. Adrenaline’s a haran of a drug.”
Knoll just shook his head. He’d lecture more, but he knew that had it not been for the child’s “heroics,” they may not have escaped as easily as they did. It was far closer than the others realized, he thought.
“Well… glad you’re still with us.”
Querrick was silent for a moment, as his smile faded, he asked, “Doc, what was all that back there? On Ilum. What were they doing?”
Knoll was silent now. Thinking through an appropriate answer, he replied, with, “I truly don’t know.”
“You know something, Doc.” Querrick groaned, as Knoll set another broken bone, “I know I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I know what I heard. You said something about slaves.”
“That I do know, yes.” Knoll replied, “Whatever the Empire is doing on Ilum, it must require a massive amount of slave labor. And, using the serum that I unwittingly helped research, and those machines we delivered, they’re administering a type of powerful mind controlling toxin into the slaves’ systems. It’s robbing them of their free will completely. Making them totally compliant. And they don’t even know its happening.”
Querrick was silent for a long time after that. And when Knoll glanced towards his face, he could almost see tears forming in his eyes, but blinked away before they fell.
“Are you feeling okay?” Knoll asked.
Querrick shrugged, putting on the facade he used when trying to hide weakness, “Just uncomfortable. How many more bones?”
Knoll laughed, a hollow, humorless laugh, “Maybe this will teach you to use a bit more caution next time.
It had been over a week since the Mythosaur had been stranded in deep space. Sadra had been working to the point of exhaustion each day, but there was only so much she could do while drifting in the emptiness of space.
Finally, though, she was fairly confident she had made enough repairs to get the ship minimal power. Enough to get it moving, To get it to the nearest inhabitable planet, and make some real repairs.
Exhausted, she made her way back into the ship. As she passed by the room that Sirena had once occupied, however, she could feel a presence there. An empty presence. Like a reminder of her one time friend and mentor. The first and only person who truly tried to understand who Sadra was. The first person she felt like she could entrust all her secrets to. The first person who understood what she was.
Feeling this presence. Or, lack thereof, was too much for Sadra. Now that her work was complete, she finally let her guard down, and she felt all the emotion she had been holding back these past few days.
Overwhelmed, she fell to the floor and let the tears fall.
The pain washed over her anew, as she thought back to what she had felt in that horrid cell. The loss of her friend. And as she focused on that feeling, a new feeling was washing over her. Something familiar, yet different. Coming from Sirena’s room.
Slowly, she got to her feet, and entered the room. There was something here. Something calling to her.
Kneeling on the floor, Sadra meditated, focusing on the source of this call. As she did so, her hands reached out of their own accord. She watched as a small hidden compartment under Sirena’s bed, slowly slid open. And within, was Sirena’s lightsaber.
Sadra reached out to it, with now trembling hands. As she grasped it, she could feel a wave of emotion emanating from the object. It was almost as if it was happy to be found. It was as if it knew that Sadra was not Sirena, that Sirena was gone. But it was happy all the same that it was Sadra who had found it. As if it wanted to belong to her now.
It was the oddest sensation. Yet Sadra could not deny the truth behind it.
A fresh flow of tears began to stream down Sadra’s face as she clutched the lightsaber to her chest. She whispered, “I will honor your memory, my friend.”
As Sadra entered the bridge, Knoll was about to speak up, but was interrupted by the ship’s comms lighting up for the first time in days.
Hesitantly, he answered.
“Hi.” A friendly, smooth sounding voice chimed over the comms, “Is this the Mythosaur? The Wayfarer-class medium freighter hired by a Janrose of the S.S. Titan for transporting goods on behalf of the Good Trader company?”
“Who’s asking?” Knoll asked wearily.
“This is Captain Twil Pinn, nice to meet you.”
