For the Credits: The Story of Tryonn Frenn

by Kom'rk Vhett

This story follows Tryonn Frenn, a smuggler who gets captured and has to fight to survive with bounty hunters chasing him down. *Since story format does not allow for italicized words, anything in the first person after the Prologue should be interpreted as Tryonn's thoughts.

p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"Prologue/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Personal Data Entry/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Location: Unknown/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Date: 24:7:22/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Name: Tryonn Frenn/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"I've killed innocent beings, stolen, smuggled, lied, broke more laws than I can count, and some I'm sure that I didn't even know existed, and yet I started out life as a farmer, believe it or not. If you find me and read this, that may shock you, but it's true: I started as a farmer. I'd grown up on Qiilura, mother died in childbirth, so I never saw her, but my father, Wryg, he was always there for me. Until Separatists killed him. We were farmers, pretty poor, not much land. We had a small herd of Merlies that we kept indoors in winter to keep away the kriffing Gdans, these little insect like things that will swarm on you, harmless individually, but in a group, they can be an annoying, sometimes deadly. We also used Merlies for wool to make clothes out of as well as their milk to drink and meat to eat. We had some vegetables, but not many. My friend Jeb had more, we traded meat for vegetables sometimes. And sometimes we didn't trade at all cause neither one of us had enough. There was also a lot of fighting on the planet. First with Separatists and us, then the Republic came and armed us so we could defend ourselves. That was nice of them, until they decided to renege on their deal because of some traitorous spies. 14:8:16. Every farmer who didn't run when the Republic said to, died that day. I lost some friends, and I'd already lost my father a few months earlier to a Separatist attack on our farm, where they burned our fields. That's how I'd had to learn to fight and defend myself. I had to help my father defend the farm, not just once or twice, but many times. When they burned crops, we starved, if they killed our Merlies, we starved./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"I'd stayed for a while after my father died, with Jeb's family on their farm, but only about a month. I was born in 2BrS 5:23, so I was only fifteen when my father died, although I turned sixteen shortly thereafter. I only stayed for a few months because of a chance I was given. I remember I was out one day with Jeb in Imbraani the capital of Qiilura. We were in a cantina, not a seedy one, it was pretty high class if you were to ask us, and going to the city was a treat we relished./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Anyways, so we're just hanging out, enjoying the place, drinking some muja juice-if you haven't had it, try it-when a rather tall human approached us. He was probably almost two meters, broad shoulders but thing. He had dark brown hair, so dark it was almost black, and eyes to match. He looked a little wild. It must have put Jeb on edge, cause I remember Jeb looking at him and reaching for his blaster, thinking we might be in danger. Jeb was a year older than me but a bit paranoid, I was always more calm about things, something my father said my mother passed on to me. Her name was Ealia, beautiful name, isn't it? Anyways, I remember the man looked at Jeb and laughed, saying, "If you wanna survive, you have to be a little bit sneakier 'bout putting your hand on that blaster, kid. It might get you shot full of plasma."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Jeb just kinda looked at the man, a little ashamed, then put his hand back on the table. The guy sat, without asking, and I turned to him and asked, "What do you want?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He didn't miss a beat there, "To hire you," he said, looking at me, not even glancing at Jeb. I remember Jeb looking at him sort of expectantly, and the man looking at him and saying, "look, get lost, or, you and your buddy here can take off." He then turned back to me and said, "but if you get up with him, that's a done deal, there's no talking to me later, this is a one time deal, take it or leave it." He was deadly serious, those eyes were not playing, and he looked like he was ready to just stand up and leave right then and there./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"I didn't even know what the deal was yet, and I wanted to ask but knew I wouldn't get an answer. Jeb was looking at me with that same expectant look he'd given the mystery man now talking to us-although mainly me-as if saying, well, what are you waiting for, let's get going here. I made up my mind in that instant that I'd be talking to this man. Even if he just wanted to separate us to hurt me, I/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"knew he wouldn't be able to pull it off in a crowded cantina, and if I didn't want to be part of his deal, I'd just get up and leave. "Just go man, I'll meet you back at the farm."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Jeb kind of shook his head, took another look at me, anger flashing in his eyes then just got up and left. I didn't know I'd never talk to or see him ever again. He died three months later when the Republic took back what they gave to us./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The man waited for Jeb to leave before he said anything more. Then he looked at me and said, "How would you like to make twenty five thousand credits?" He was deadpan, it wasn't like he was trying to soften me up for something, just deadpan. It was scary and a good feeling at the same time. It felt like he was being honest, but too honest at the same time./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Something in my gut told me I should back out then, it sounded a little strange, but I liked the sound of that money, I knew I could use it, and I also knew I wasn't cut out for farm life. Yeah, I could heard Merlies and take care of crops, all that nonsense, but the sad truth was that I always felt the most alive when I was fighting, blaster in my hand. I was probably born to be a soldier, it's too bad I never tried to go that route. So whatever this was, I was leaning towards doing it. "That would be nice."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Well then, here's what I need you to do." The plan he described was very simple, there was a ship he needed to liberate from a hanger, and he wanted me to play the part of a lost child so that I could distract the man away from his ship and allow Harrsik- he'd finally introduced himself-to run aboard and commandeer the vessel. I was to hop on board as soon as he was on, and we'd be off. He then said we'd be meeting a man on Nar Shaddaa where we would give him the ship, and then take a speeder back to Harrsik's starship where I would be paid and then let go on my own. I never understood why he wanted me to come back to his ship with him first. Maybe it was because the spaceport we docked at was in a pretty decent place of town, as far as Nar Shaddaa was concerned. It's a shame I didn't know what Nar Shaddaa was like, or I'd have stayed on Qiilura, not for much longer, but long enough to not end up in Nar Shaddaa. Or if only I'd known that Harrsik planned to abandon me after the deal was done. I should have known he was just using me as bait, and that he cared not at all for me, but I was a fool./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The plan went off without a hitch, and I got paid, and then abandoned. I was sixteen and for two years I survived on the streets of Nar Shaddaa, I had on and off jobs at different places that rarely lasted long. And in between I was on the street, thieving, robbing, running errands. I worked at the spaceport towards the end of my stay on Nar Shaddaa, which is where I learned to make repairs on almost any starship for almost any type of malfunction or physical damage. I learned starships inside out and became a pretty kriffing good pilot too./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"I met a man at the spaceport once, who had so many credits lying around he actually tipped me. I asked him what he did, and I guess he trusted me because he just shrugged and said, "I sell glitterstim." That's when I got involved with smuggling glitterstim, and one would think that's what got me captured, but no, of course not, I got caught smuggling some Tranthebar mountain rippers off of Tranthellix in the Senex and Juvex Worlds a year later./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"Chapter One/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"18 B.B.Y./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tranthellix was probably not a world that people would expect smugglers to gravitate towards, not because there was no profit to be made, but because apparently not too many smugglers knew of it. But those that did could get rich, and that's why Tryonn was here. He'd stopped with the glitterstim as soon as he heard that he could smuggle wild animals from Tranthellix to places all over the galaxy and make potentially hundreds of thousands of credits a run-essentially what he made on glitterstim-he had decided that was his deal, especially with a lighter ImPeRe infraction for smuggling animals./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"ImPeRe was a pain for smugglers and stood for the Imperial Penal References. There were five classes, with Class Five being the lightest penalty and a Class One being the heaviest. To get perspective, a One was lots of prison time or death, or both. A Five was usually just a fine, sometimes nothing if you threw credits around the right way. Glitterstim smuggling could rack you up a nice Class Four or Three ImPeRe infraction, depending on if you met someone who was a hardliner against narcotics, smuggling animals, that's a Class Five, just a slap on the wrist. Although even that can change from system to system, which is why Tryonn wanted to go with the Tranthebars, they were a Class Five normally, and even if that had some swing it wouldn't drop below a Four most likely. Glitterstim, that was already a shaky Four at best, and it could easily drop to a Two, it all depended on the person giving the infractions out./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn he knew he couldn't pass up the opportunity to make almost just as much, but with have the risk. Or so he thought. If only he'd known how difficult it would be to catch the darn things. They were avian creatures which meant they flew, but not just that, they were huge and could be deadly if provoked the wrong way. A wingspan of 5 meters was no joke and they had quite sharp talons and beaks. The other issue was they were needed alive, which complicated matters./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn had with him a Stokhli spray stick he had spent 10,000 credits on, which was apparently a good price as they normally went for 14,000. However, he'd also recently made some repairs to his starship, as well as upgraded the laser cannons for more rapid fire, as well as adding proton torpedoes, four in total, into a missile tube launcher held under the belly of his Corellian Action VI bulk freighter. I must remember to update my BoSS 'pad, lack to update it is a Class One infraction. To put it plainly, he needed credits, and quickly. However, if he could grab just two of the Tranthebar mountain rippers, he'd be making almost 200,000 credits off of just that one run./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Keeping them alive on the journey was looking to be an issue though. He knew he wouldn't be able to feed them because he planned on keeping them wrapped in his Stokhli spray stick's webbing the entire journey, and he hoped that wouldn't be a huge problem, he'd decided to keep the two creatures in a cargo hold, seal it shut, and flood about an inch of the entire hold in water so hopefully they could stay hydrated. He needed to get to Hutt Space, Nal Hutta specifically, but that would take only a week or so, depending on if he needed to stop over anywhere. At least getting to them wouldn't be a problem./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn planned on posing as a tourist in search of adventure, out to explore the rugged terrain of Tranthellix. That wouldn't be hard to pull off because although tourists were rather few and far between on Tranthellix the potential for an adventure seeker to be looking to live out in the wild for a few days was completely plausible. Tryonn just knew he'd need to be careful. The Tranthebars weren't the only alien species there that would harm him./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tranthellix was known to harbor Durggrats as well. They were a large, reptilian species that stood on two legs and were known to hunt for their food as well as attack if they felt their territory was encroached upon. However, Tryonn was confident he'd be able to survive, he was good with a blaster and had a keen sense of when there were other species around. As to catching the Tranthebars, they usually traveled alone but the scent of freshly dead prey usually drew more than one Tranthebar at a time. All Tryonn would need to do is kill a few Hyferods, make sure he cut them up good with his vibro-blade so the scent of fresh blood got into the air, and then wait for the Tranthebars to show up, he just needed to make sure he did this nowhere near any Durggrats, that he didn't miss with his Stokhli spray stick, and that he was able to even lure them to the trap in the first place. Then of course he had to avoid Tranthellix police, but he had a plan for that./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn had figured early on he'd need some sort of decoy, something to throw people off as to what he was bring back, and he got a solution quickly. He was already going to bring supplies with him to make his adventuring seem more plausible, but then decided to use the supplies so he could disguise the avians on his return. He planned to ditch his supplies once he caught a couple of the creatures, then drape them onto his X-34 landspeeder and disguise their carcasses with a hologram made to look like his supplies. Simple stuff, what could possibly go wrong?/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn's onboard computer binged once to let him know he would be dropped out of hyperspace in one standard minute. Tryonn stretched, yawned, disengaged the auto-pilot, and readied himself for re-entry. At exactly the one minute mark the streaked stars suddenly disappeared, as though he had been flying through stars that looked that way and had just passed the last of them. The blackness of space came back and the planet Tranthellix loomed into view in his viewport./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The planet looked very beautiful from space. It wasn't an ecumenopolis which meant he could still see what the planet actually looked like, and not just whatever buildings the planets inhabitants had built over top. He could see lots of green, some oceans, clouds, it looked peaceful, serene, and not at all like somewhere he would go to make a couple hundred thousand credits. But then again, looks were deceiving, especially in his trade. As Tryonn's sublight drives took him into Tranthellix's atmosphere he heard a voice crackle over his comm. "This is Tranthellix Spaceport Security, unidentified Corellian Action VI starship, please ID yourself."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn slipped one of his many fake transponder codes into the data slot on his onboard computer and let it transmit across. These particular codes identified him as Jeb Arcaus, a farmer from Qiilura, his old friend. Tryonn had also stored fake data on this transponder code that, if anyone checked, would show his ship had been to a multitude of the more common 'adventure seekers' planets like Anoat and Bestine. That would add to his cover story of him being here to explore, in case Spaceport Security got curious. "Nature of your business?" came the voice once again over his comm./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn opened up his channel and replied back, "exploration, here to see the sights. A friend of mine recommended I visit your mountains, said he had a lot of fun here a year ago." He hoped that would work. Most planets didn't particularly care if you were there to sight see, or adventure, whatever people called that stuff these days because tourists were rarely seen as a threat, instead governments looked at them as credits. Still, Tryonn waited in a slightly nervous silence, hoping his dreams of credits wouldn't fall apart right there./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Alright Mr. Arcaus, you're cleared for landing. Descend to docking bay 75, and enjoy your stay."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Thanks," said Tryonn, at that moment truly thankful. Then he closed his channel and began his descent./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The city wasn't quite as he imagined it. He figured it would be more spread out, like Imbraani, not clustered together like Coruscant. The buildings here were as close together as Coruscant's were, and Tryonn wondered if that's how they preserved so much of the natural beauty of the planet: By putting buildings so close together. Especially at the spaceport, Tryonn figured an amateur pilot had hit a building at least once, although maybe not, he doubted that happened in Coruscant and Coruscant wasn't really that much less jam packed than this little area. Really he had no idea though, all Tryonn really knew of Coruscant was the holovids and holopics he'd seen of it, and some stuff on the HoloNet. He'd never been there himself. One day, though./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He landed in the docking bay without a hitch, and went into one of his cargo rooms to pop the repulsorlifts on his X-34 landspeeder. Then he quickly unhitched his gear from his storage locker, dumped it into the passengers seat and navigated the landspeeder to his ships exit hatch. He hit the button next to the hatch and let the ramp fully extend before he piloted the landspeeder out of his starship. Tryonn hopped out of the speeder to shut the hatch behind him, and was ready to get back in when a short human with light brown hair and an ugly scar running across face came up to him. "Got yer BoSS datapad wit' ya?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""I thought they did those at the exit," he said carefully, pointing to what looked remarkably like a check-in/out desk in a docking bay. Fierfek, my new proton torpedoes and laser cannon upgrades, they're not on there./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Pah! Who ya kiddin', that's my office."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Kriffing great. Tryonn shrugged and pulled out his BoSS datapad, and handed it to the man./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"BoSS was the Bureau of Ships and Services and they kept tabs on your starship. Tryonn had paid to have his BoSS 'pad well doctored up, he had permits to carry almost any type of weapon, but he had failed to update the 'pad when he made the upgrades. Now he was gonna pay the price. he had no credits. I'm gonna get a Class One, right kriffing now. Although just maybe. It wasn't BoSS who required citizens to update their current armaments, it was the Empire. BoSS just needed you to have permits for what you carried. Your armaments were not transferred back to BoSS, the Empire just wanted everything in one location. If the man didn't notice he'd upgraded his armaments, he might slide through. The proton torpedoes were concealed and the laser cannons would take someone experienced in the different types to notice that they weren't the correct ones./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"This man didn't look too bright, so Tryonn sat in tense silence, hoping the man didn't notice anything odd, "Look here, I got work to do so could you try shifting it a little bit?" Tryonn hoped that by adding pressure to the man he'd make him think he was tense about wanting to go on with his work and not tense about the contents of his BoSS 'pad not matching up to his ship./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The human just grunted, stared at the 'pad for a minute longer then said, "Well here ya go buddy, yer all setup. It's fifty credits per day, two hundred for the week to dock here. What ya need?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""What's the three day cost?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Don't do those, one day or one week, take yer pick."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Do I get back credits if I come back before the week is up?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Nah, it's fifty for the day, two hundred for the week, no negotiations."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Okay but what if I'm only here for three days."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Then ya better come back each day, or pay for the week unless you want your ship scrapped, come on man, don't got all day here I have other people to dock. First yer complaining bout me wastin' yer time, well now yer wastin' mines."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Fine, here's the two hundred." Tryonn shoved some credit chips into his hand then jumped back on his speeder and took off. Kriffing tightwad, no wonder no one comes to this place. Tryonn idled for a minute just outside of the docking bay while he pulled out his datapad and quickly downloaded a map of the general vicinity. Looking at it now he was glad he'd paid for the week. Other smugglers had said the mountains where you'd find the Tranthebars were due north and wouldn't take much longer than a few hours to reach, but looking now he could see it might take him almost a half day. There must be a closer spaceport, or some smuggler hideout I don't know of. Or they used swoop bikes, although he couldn't imagine those being able to carry back even one Tranthebar without dropping. Tryonn plotted out a quick course for the mountains, trying to find the most direct route, which was not happening since he had a landspeeder. Being confined to just a meter off the ground was quite annoying, especially here where if he'd been able to get some altitude he would have had a much more direct shot out of the city. That's probably what they had, an airspeeder with some elevation./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The city looked nothing like Coruscant he quickly decided, there were not levels, only tall towers with balconies for landing speeders, no high arched walkways. It was like they just kept building up and up, never bothering to add more walking space. That's what was irritating him right now. Lack of walking space. Because of the lack of walkways maneuvering through the city was quite something. Pedestrians seemed to care little for the fact that he was on a landspeeder-or they just saw him as another stinking tourist-and in fact, Tryonn noticed he was the only one on a vehicle of any sort, and that was drawing a few stares. Or maybe it's cause I'm a tourist. Or maybe it's my kriffing gear I have. Maybe they know something about the mountains no one else knows. They are natives. No, it had to be something else. He'd done pretty extensive research on Tranthellix. He wondered for a second of landspeeders were illegal in the city, and looking up he thought it quite possibly, the sky lanes weren't busy, but they did have good traffic. That human at the docking bay would have told me. Then again, maybe not, it wasn't that mans job to tell me the laws, and it's not like he took a shine to me. However, Tryonn made it out of the city without incident and was soon well on his way towards the mountains, with something else to think about. Why all the attention? Like it mattered, he'd be gone soon enough. And it was probably my slow-as-a-Hutt speeder that really had them staring./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The planet really was quite beautiful. Having grown up on a farm Tryonn really did appreciate the outdoors and all it had to offer. Maybe I should come back one day, really, just to see, he mused, but doubting that that would ever happen. The grass was a bright green, not a dark green, almost lime colored but not quite. It looks healthy, Tryonn mused, wondering why he decided to view it that way. It was true though, everything here looked so vibrant, and even though it was mostly green it was probably the most colorful place he had ever been. There was a cool breeze out and it felt good on his face, whipping his hair back from his forehead as he rode./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"As Tryonn approached the base of the mountains the sun was just starting to get low in the sky, and the shadows made the trees look almost formidable, as if they were hands grasping at him, trying to draw him into the mountains and trap him there forever. The canopy of leaves was thick, and looked almost to be on fire in the dying sunlight. Minutes later he had entered the forest at the base of the mountains, and the canopy was so thick it was almost hard to see.. He also had to jack up his repulsorlifts, and he learned the hard way, by grinding his speeders nose over a rock he hadn't seen that stuck up more than the ten centimeters or so he had of lift./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Once he had to get that one meter off the ground he was easily able to could clear fallen trees, big rocks and sometimes rather large, almost landslide like piles of dirt and debris that Tryonn couldn't figure out for the life of him how they got there. Tryonn knew that he would have to make camp for the night soon, and that there was no way he was catching any Tranthebars tonight. He didn't even have his bait yet. However, Hyferods were fairly common, and Tryonn thought he may have spotted a couple already, although he couldn't have been sure, he just knew they weren't Durggrats, which is all that really mattered to him. The Durggrats were the only species aside from the Tranthebars on this planet that would attack him outright, and even the Tranthebars wouldn't mess with him unless he attacked them first. I better hit those stupid Tranthebars first time when I get them with the Stokhli he thought./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn approached what almost appeared to be a clearing of sorts, and as he drew nearer he could tell that indeed it was. Now that's odd, the trees have been cut, looks like with machinery, I wonder how recent this was. However, scanning the area he didn't see or notice anything unusual, aside from the cut trees, so he figured here was as good a spot as any to set up. Tryonn let the repulsorlifts on his landspeeder idle while he got his gear together and hoisted it up to a tree using a length of fibercord like a pulley system, then he shut his landspeeder down and climbed up the tree himself. One in the branches he pulled his gear all the way up, and the fibercord with it. Then he propped himself in the tree, tied the fibercord rope to him like a belt, and then it to the tree. Lastly he pulled out some dried bantha hide and a canteen of water, slowly eating and drinking as night fully settled./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"***/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn awoke with a start as the rope stopped him from falling out of the tree, leaving him suspended upside down and with a dizzying view of the ground below him. What he saw shocked him. It looked like a group of four or so people were standing stock still, listening, heads tilted slightly to the side. Oh fierfek, they heard me fall. Or almost fall, doesn't matter, I probably sound like a crashing gundark to them. Tryonn slowly reached his arms up towards his waist, grabbed the rope and began pulling himself slowly up the tree. Then one of his twin DL-18 blaster pistols fell from it's holster on his hip to the ground. What?! I had the strap on! Then it hit him, the strap must have come loose as he fell in his sleep, it was a miracle the blaster hadn't fallen instantly. Knowing at this point that his presence was known he simply hoisted himself quickly on the closest branch and tried to climb around the tree so it would separate him a bit from the people below in case a firefight broke out./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Hey Juric, someone's definitely here," said a short, stocky humanoid with a blaster rifle slung across his back. As he said those words though, he quickly grabbed the rifle and brought it into a firing position, scanning the trees around him and his comrades. The other three men also pulled out weapons and began scanning the trees./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Just come out now," someone called out, "we don't want to kill anyone here, and I don't think you wanna die." Tryonn, safely behind the tree-as safe as that can be-tried to think. Would they really not kill him if he came out? Were they just scared? And would they really try to kill him if he didn't come out? He knew they knew he was in the trees, but they didn't know which one exactly, although they must have had a pretty good idea based on where his blaster pistol had landed./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Last warning!" another voice called out. "You can try and hide but we have a pretty good idea of where you are." If that's true, thought Tryonn, then why are your men scanning all the trees? Then it hit him, they probably thought he wasn't alone, they were in a group, they probably figured he was too. But would they open fire against an unknown number of odds?/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""If that's true," Tryonn called out, "then you know you're surrounded and that fighting would be a mistake." He desperately wanted to say he had six or seven people surrounding them, but he thought that would sound empty, especially since there was probably fear in his voice. However, the mention of them being surrounded seemed to have worked, at least for a minute. The men had started scanning more rapidly as soon as he'd mentioned they were surrounded. Okay, so they're probably just scared, that's good, I can do scared. But now what, he didn't want to just drop down into the group of them and risk getting shot cause they were scared, or worse, get himself taken captive and held as ransom to people who didn't exist./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"One of the men below suddenly stopped scanning and aimed his blaster rifle right at where Tryonn was. Then another man called out, "Look, we don't wanna hurt you. My buddy there, that rifle has a scope with infrared, and you're the only life form he's seen in those trees since he started scanning. Just come down, we won't hurt you." As an after thought he motioned for his men to lower their weapons, but they didn't holster them./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn knew he didn't really have a choice. If he stayed up there he'd probably get shot, and if he went down he might get shot, but it was less likely. So he took a deep breath and called out, "okay, I'm coming down, give me a minute, gotta unhitch myself." Tryonn undid the rope from him and the tree, lowered his gear to the ground, then climbed down after it./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The men standing there looked at him for a few seconds and then one of them said, "so, what brings you to the mountains of Tranthellix?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Nothing in particular, just sight seeing, you know, exploring the world. It's a beautiful place."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"One of the men laughed. "That's a lot of kit for some 'exploration'," he said sarcastically, as if he didn't believe for half a second that's what Tryonn was there to do. "I'm Vhenn," he said, and stuck his hand out. "We're hunting Durggrats."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""For what?" Tryonn said, ignoring the hand for a minute. If I shake his hand, I can't draw my other blaster./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Their hides, isn't that why you're here?" Vhenn had dropped his hand quickly when Tryonn didn't take it. Maybe I should have, would have put him at ease. Now he probably thinks that I'm thinking about pulling my blaster out. Really, Tryonn didn't feel like it should matter if his blaster was in his hand or not, theirs all were, there were four of them, he was surrounded, and he only had one on him at the moment./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""I said I'm here to explore."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Yeah and so are we. We're not the Tranthellix police, don't worry, you can hunt with us if you want. They can be deadly, especially if alone."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn wondered what to do here. Obviously they thought he was hunting Durggrats for their hides, and if that's what they were doing he could tell them he wanted Tranthebars for their value on the black market. But maybe they were hunting Tranthebars as well and wanted to see if he was competition so they could eliminate him. Tranthebars could be hard to capture, he could see them wanting no competition, he certainly didn't. "Hey, wait, guys he has a Stokhli," said another man. "He's not hunting, he's capturing."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""So, you must be after the Tranthebars," Vhenn said. "Cause ain't nothing else here worth capturing."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Look, we wanna know why you're in our camp. So either you can be straight with us, or we can leave your kriffing body for the Tranthebars to find."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn debated for a second if he should try and fight them off, then conceded. "Yeah, I'm here for Tranthebars, I was at your camp cause it was a clearing I could park my landspeeder easily and it was getting dark. I didn't know it was your camp."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""See, not too hard now was it? What do you say boys, do we trust him?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""No, he's a kriffing liar. Bet he works for the Tranthellix government. That's why he's got the Stokhli, to web up people like us."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""I'm a smuggler, smuggling live Tranthebars off of Tranthellix. Look, I just want to sleep, I have to start early tomorrow."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""I don't trust him Vhenn."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Me either Kondar, but what are we gonna do, kill him? If he is Tranthellix government that would raise a lot of problems."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Prove you're here for Tranthebars," said the man Vhenn called Kondar./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Okay, look." Tryonn slowly moved to his gear and pulled out his holoprojector. Activating it, the hologram of his gear showed up. "This hologram, is how I'm bringing them back into the city where I docked my starship. I'm gonna ditch my gear out here, and place the hologram in my speeder so it doesn't look suspicious."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Vhenn and Kondar looked at one another, and then Vhenn turned to one of the other men Tryonn still didn't know the names to and said, "okay Juric, what do you think?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Let him go, I trust him. But kid, you gotta move, you can't stay here."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Man it's dark," said Kondar, "he'll end up killed for sure by a Durggrat."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Fine," said Juric. "You can stay here, but we'll be watching you, and one wrong move, I'll put a blaster bolt in you so fast you won't even have time to think you made a bad decision." Then he handed Tryonn back his DL-18 blaster pistol and then walked off to put his back against a tree in a direction he could see Tryonn and his speeder./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn made his way slowly back to his X-34, thinking just how close he'd come to getting shot. Next time, just tell them why you're here. Not worth dying over a couple hundred thousand credits. You can always make more./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"Chapter Two/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"18 B.B.Y./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn awoke a few hours later with the sun up and the four others no longer there. He quickly checked to make sure all his gear was there, found that it was, and let out a sigh of relief. He hadn't trusted that those men wouldn't have robbed him but he didn't have much of a choice. And if he wanted them to trust him he couldn't very well pack his bags and climb back up to his tree perch. Plus if they wanted to do that they could have done it before he went to sleep, no need to sneak up on him if there were four of them. Unless they were all cowards. Tryonn tried to eat something but his stomach felt a little hollow. It hadn't really occurred to him just how close he had come to death last night until just now, and he kept berating himself for not just telling them the truth from the get go. Or you could learn to lie better, that might be more helpful. Tryonn checked his chrono, it was just before midday, so if he got a good start he might be able to lay some bait before nightfall, capture the Tranthebars, and then head back to his starship the same day. He was worried about traveling at night though, Kondar's concern about Durggrats attacking him at night had seemed real enough, and Tryonn really didn't want to encounter any of them. Should have asked how much the hides are worth, maybe it's more than these stupid Tranthebar./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Before moving out Tryonn quickly checked his weapons, he was taking no chances. Already this had proved more dangerous than he thought. Both his DL-18s were probably in good condition but he needed to check anyways. He took apart first one DL-18, then the other, checking the XCiters in both of them. He had to make sure the XCiter was clean and there wasn't any 'residue' from the blaster bolt. When the blaster bolt was passed through the XCiter it sometimes left behind ionized residue, that, if left to build up for long enough could actually fry circuits in the actuating module meaning that if you pulled the trigger a few times too many, so much explosive blaster energy would build up in the XCiter that the blaster could actually melt or explode, depending on the density of the bolt, with more dense bolts making the blasters explode, and less dense ones simply melting the durasteel, although that was bad enough. Tryonn would not have that happening to him, not here./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"After he was assured his blasters were in working order, he holstered them and checked his vibro-blade, making sure the power pak was still charged up and that the blade was still sharp, although most of the damage came from how quickly the blade vibrated, hence giving it the name. Last he checked his Stokhli spray stick, adjusting the range to 150 meters. It was most accurate at 100 meters, and go up to 200 meters so Tryonn felt pretty confident he could hit what he needed to with it set to 150 meters, he was a pretty good shot and he wanted some extra range. Although battle droids weren't known for their ability to take cover, once they laid down fire it could be hard to pop up and get in a good shot, so he got good at seeing a target for only a split second and hitting it before ducking back down into cover. With his gear set up, Tryonn ate a quick breakfast of dried eggs and some bread, washing it down with water before he loaded everything into is X-34 and set off to find some Hyferods./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"It didn't take him long to spot some Hyferods off in the distance, but before he could cut his engines they had heard him and moved off. Cursing his stupidity, Tryonn tried to guess their general direction, then dismounted from his landspeeder and proceeded on foot. Hyferods were docile creatures, and also very lazy. Although scared easily, they often only ran far enough to put what they felt was a comfortable distance between them and what they feared, which wasn't far. Hyferods were notoriously fast and most species couldn't keep up on foot. However, Tryonn didn't need to be too terribly close. His DL-18 had a maximum range of 120 meters and 100 shots in each power pak, not like some of the other heavier blaster pistols favored by most who dealt with criminals or other underworld beings. Heavy blaster pistols were nice for damage, but usually had power paks of twenty five shots or less, depending on the type of heavy blaster pistol./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"It didn't take Tryonn long to catch up to the Hyferods, and this time he saw them and kept quiet. Knowing he'd only get one good clean shot before they started running-unless he was very lucky-Tryonn positioned himself between two trees that were rather spread out, and gave him a wider firing arc. Then he crouched down, steadied his aim, and squeezed the trigger. The Hyferods were running at the sound of the first blaster bolt but Tryonn was well withing 120 meters and by the time the Hyferods were out of eyesight he knew he'd dropped at least two of them. Running up on the dead Hyferods-he had killed two-Tryonn tied them up with his fibercord rope and dragged them back to his landspeeder. Dumping the dead bodies on top of his gear, Tryonn then set out to break the treeline, and find a rather open space to lay his trap./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"As Tryonn made for the end of the treeline he kept glancing at the dead Hyferods. He'd never seen anything quite like them. They were rather small, less than a meter tall, with short, white-gray fur, four very skinny legs that ended in four, three pronged feet. He would have said they had toes, but the feet really just looked like someone had sliced them up into three parts but left them connected at the back. They had large, bulbous dark black eyes, short pointed ears, and long snouts that reached almost to the ground. Odd creatures, to say the least, Tryonn couldn't even tell if the snout was their mouth as well or if that was separate, and he didn't have time to look. The treeline was thinning out and he could see up ahead that he was about to break out into the clear./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"As soon as Tryonn was outside of the tree line he untied the Hyferods, laid them out in the open, and hacked at them with his vibro-blade until their blood was leaking everywhere. Then he pulled back towards the trees, climbed one, and waited. His Stokhli spray stick was out and ready, with his DL-18 in an easy access position in case something went wrong. If something did go wrong he could just drop his Stokhli spray stick as it was attached to his belt via a belt ring./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"It didn't take long for the Tranthebars to show up, in fact it was almost alarming how fast and quickly they came. He saw one coming from in front of him, and then suddenly, behind him and above the tree canopy he could hear the flapping of massive wings, denoting that yet another Tranthebar was nearby and closing in. The one behind him reached the bait first, and Tryonn waited until it dove, trying to draw the other Tranthebar in too. He needn't have worried. The second Tranthebar, seemingly knowing that it's food was about to get eaten suddenly brought it's wings back, folded into a dive, and launched itself at the Tranthebar that was now about to grab a Hyferod in it's huge talons. These things are beautiful, in a deadly way. It's almost a shame I'm here to capture them./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The Tranthebar that was about to eat seemed to notice it's imminent danger, and rose up into the sky to meet it's attack. Perfect. Tryonn pulled the trigger on his Stokhli and held it down, watching as both Tranthebars became caught up in the inexorable power of the webbing and dropped to the ground. They would have been writhing around, but the Stokhli spray stick had a stun setting, that would also knock out the creature it hit with it's webbing, but Tryonn wasn't that trusting. Just to be sure he switched his DL-18 to stun and fired a couple bolts into both of the Tranthebars. Then he climbed down from the tree and approached the fallen animals. It wasn't until then that he realized just how big they were. They were both longer than he was tall, and pretty wide too. It was then he realized just how badly he'd calculated. There was no way the hologram was going to cover their bodies, and there was no way they were fitting in his X-34. He could drag them behind it, sure, but that could seriously hurt them and that was not part of the contract. Cursing himself once again, Tryonn tried to think of what he could do, and then it occurred to him. If he could place a comm call back to the city, he might be able to feign and injury and get a rescue team sent out to pick him up. Then, he could take out the rescue team, commandeer their speeder, hope it was big enough, and get the animals back like that. Then of course he had to get them to his starship, one problem at a time though./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn pulled out his comlink and punched in the emergency code for Tranthellix. It didn't take long for a response. "Operator Varsek here, what's the emergency?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Durggrats...got me good...I'm bleeding man...bleeding a lot..." Tryonn feigned gasping for breath and groans of pain, trying to make it seem as real as possible./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The operator must have believed him because he heard concern creep into his voice, though it stayed pretty level. "Okay man, you hang tight, I've got medics coming to get you, we got your location pinged so just hang tight until we get there. It won't be long, five minutes tops."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Okay...just hurry...I think I'm bleeding out...I don't wanna die man...I just wanted to see the world a bit..." Tryonn let his voice trail off but kept the comlink channel open so it would seem as though he'd passed out. Then he quickly started dragging the Tranthebars back under the cover of the tree canopy, and the Hyferods as well. They said five minutes, that means they're coming fast, probably not a starship, but something quick, that's good at least. Once everything was under the cover of the canopy, Tryonn took a deep breath, held it in, and started covering his arms and one leg in Hyferod blood. Thrusting his hands deep into the cuts he'd made with his vibro-blade and rubbing the blood on him, trying to make it as realistic as possible. Then he went back out from the cover of the canopy, and waited for the medics to arrive./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He heard them before he saw them, the engine screamed with a high pitched wail that sounded almost like sublight drives but that Tryonn knew wasn't. Within seconds of him hearing the engines he saw the craft overhead. It was bright yellow with red lines down that side, which Tryonn assumed meant it was an emergency vehicle. However, it looked to be a Utilitech Metrocab just outfitted as a medical vehicle. The pilot spotted him quickly and set down next to him, the doors slid open and two medics rushed out. From his angle, he couldn't tell if anyone else was in the airspeeder, so he knew he was taking a huge risk here. As the medics approached he pretended to roll over in pain, disguising his left arm as it readied his Stokhli spray stick. Then as soon as they were only feet from him he rolled over so quickly they actually froze for a half second, and then were enveloped in the webbing of the Stokhli. The pilot leaped out of the cabin and ran towards him, blaster drawn yelling for him to drop his weapon, but Tryonn simply thumbed the trigger and watched him drop as well./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn knew he didn't have long. The medics had probably been staying in contact with whatever medcenter they had thought they were gonna need to take him to and the medcenter probably already knew contact had been lost. Wasting no time, Tryonn got the Tranthebars into the airspeeder and hit each one with a couple more stun bolts for good measure before leaping into the cockpit and taking off almost vertically. Inside the cockpit he could here the comm crackling and voices on the other side. "Operator Varsek to pilot, is everything alright? We heard yelling. Operator Varsek to pilot, come in, we need to confirm you are okay." Tryonn didn't respond and just kept heading towards the city. He didn't know what he'd do at this point, except go straight for his starship and hope he could get off planet before things really got hairy./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He could see the spaceport in his viewport, coming up on the horizon and encroaching fast, and as he approached his comms crackled once again. "Operator Varsek to pilot. Identify yourself now or we will shoot you down."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn opened his comm channel and replied back. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. There's two medics and a pilot in the back of this airspeeder and I don't think you want them to go down with me." Tryonn wished in that instant that he'd thought to bring at least one as a hostage getting the Tranthebars onto his starship would be real tricky now./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The comm stayed quiet after that, and Tryonn knew that didn't bode well. If they weren't trying to negotiate something either they already had him trapped or they didn't care about the men on board, and right now Tryonn didn't know which one was the case. He could see docking bay 75 now and he took the airspeeder in almost a nose dive towards it. Suddenly, behind him he heard the sound of more airspeeders, and looking back he could see he had Tranthellix police on his tail, it looked like four of them. Well I'm really in deep now, he thought. Then he noticed the docking bay doors closing and it spurred hope within him. If he could get inside before they closed, he'd buy himself some time. He pushed the airspeeder as hard as he could and at the last second cut all power to the airspeeder except it's repulsorlift idle. The airspeeder dropped sickeningly fast and at the speed he was going, the repulsorlift idle did not keep him up. The airspeeder slammed into the ground and skidded into the wall of the docking bay, leaving Tryonn slightly dizzy as the airspeeder came to a lopsided halt, repulsorlifts broken./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Moving as fast as he could, Tryonn opened the side doors and dragged out the still stunned Tranthebars. He had landed to the right side of his starship and he began dragging one of the Tranthebars towards his starship as fast as he could. He noticed the main door to the docking bay was still closed, so he fired off a couple shots into the control panel, frying it and buying him precious minutes. He didn't even bother to move the Tranthebar to the cargo hold he intended to hold them in, but instead just left it right inside the hatch to his starship and ran back for the other Tranthebar. As he was dragging that one to his ship he heard the sound of loud banging on the door, then silence. Laying charges I bet. Fierfek I really got myself in deep this time. If I make it out of this, time for a career change. Maybe bounty hunting, I might as well be doing that now. It would pay better than this for the work I just put in. He managed to get the other Tranthebar inside his starship and he closed the hatch, bolting for the cockpit. He powered up the starship as well as the laser cannons, knowing he'd need to blast his way out. Unfortunately his freighter was old and it would literally take a minute to warm up. So, he used that time to drag the Tranthebars to the cargo hold he intended to, then sealed the door and ran back for the cockpit. Just as he was closing in on the cockpit he heard a huge blast and got to the pilots seat just in time to see police charging into the docking bay. Without thinking Tryonn engaged his laser cannons, turning them into smoking piles of char. Then he directed his laser cannons at the docking bays closed doors and opened fire. It didn't take much, the doors were melted to molten slag which rained down on his starship, pounding at it. Although his deflector shields weren't up, thankfully he had reinforced durasteel hull plating and the melted door fragments didn't do any damage. Then, as quickly as he could, he rose out of docking bay 75 and into the sky./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"As soon as Tryonn was in the sky though, he was being pursued. Well, I could have guessed that much, at least they aren't shoot- and his hull reverberated as laser cannons hit it. He directed power to his aft deflector shields, leaving his forward deflector shields at fifty percent capacity. Then he raced for the stars. If he could break the atmosphere, he could make the jump to Nal Hutta and be gone from this blasted planet. However the starfighters were hard on his tail, pounding away at his deflector shields and doing a good job of shaking up his ship. I wonder if those Tranthebars woke up cause of all this. Stun bolts are powerful but man, this is a whole new level of everything. Just as he thought he was about to make it, and had punched in the hyperspace coordinates so that he could make the jump the second he broke atmosphere, a starfighter loomed right in front of him and opened up heavy. Tryonn opened up with his laser cannons, jerked his starship upward and tried to spread power from deflector shields across his starship so that he wouldn't be more vulnerable from a certain angle of attack. His hull reverberated more but no damage was done, however, if he wasn't out of here soon, he'd be in deep trouble. His vertical climb had moved him past the starfighter that was trying to intercept him, but now they were all behind him again. Just a few more seconds. He heard laser cannons go off, tried to redirect deflector shield power once more, but he was getting hit so fast the shields couldn't keep up, he drained power from his laser cannons, and then heard the ding of his navicomputer telling him he could make the jump to hyperspace. He punched the button at the same time as his deflector shields went down, and as the stars streaked and he moved into hyperspace he saw an engine light come on. He was losing fuel and engine coolant, and he was in hyperspace./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"This was not good. If he didn't drop out of hyperspace soon, his engine would either explode from overheating or he'd run out of fuel and just drop out of hyperspace, which would probably kill him. Tryonn knew he had to act fast. Activating his navicomputer he looked through the space charts to see where the safest drop out point was. Normally dropping out of hyperspace would be impossible, but Tryonn had made a little modification to his hyperdrive which allowed him to enable and disable the null quantum field generator as he pleased. The purpose of that was because the null quantum field generator prevented you from exiting hyperspace early, and was normally quite an important part of the hyperdrive to have active. However, Tryonn, who knew starships very well, realized early on the advantages that dropping out of hyperspace as he pleased would give him. There were immense dangers though. Dropping out of hyperspace randomly was deadly, doing so at a predetermined point, a little less deadly. Normally you would only be able to drop out when it was safe, but since that part was disabled, he had to rely entirely on his skills as a navigator, and how up-to-date his navicomputer was. The only issue was he wouldn't be able to input exact coordinates because in hyperspace navigation was next to impossible, so he ran the risk of smashing into a planet. All he could do, even with the null quantum field generator disabled, was manually drop the ship out of hyperspace, at the correct time based on his location as shown on his navicomputer. Using primitive astrogation tools he'd be able to determine a relatively safe place to drop out of hyperspace, with hopefully enough room for a small margin of error, because exiting hyperspace at the exact moment of your choosing was difficult to time right. And that was to say the least. This was his shot, and if it didn't work, well, he'd be dead./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"It took Tryonn less than an hour to accomplish this task, and although he wasn't sure where exactly he would drop out of hyperspace, if he was correct, it was somewhere near Eriadu. That was good, they had ship yards there and he'd be able to get his ship fixed up quick. It was an Imperial world though, which meant his special cargo could be an issue, still, he had no choice, it was that or inevitable death. Tryonn punched the button and dropped out of hyperspace./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He'd got it spot on, Eriadu loomed in front of him, almost as if he'd planned to jump here, and he felt his confidence swell. As he approached the planet his comm crackled and he heard a voice over the speakers. "Jeb Arcaus, you have a Class One infraction for attacking Imperial personnel outside the atmosphere of the planet Tranthellix in the Senex and Juvex Worlds. Please stand by for boarding. Try anything stupid and we will open fire."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Stang! Blast! Fierfek! Forgot to change my kriffing transponder codes. Gotta be kidding me. I just landed an Ace because I forgot to change transponder codes. Tryonn was furious, and he'd had no idea the ship he fired at was Imperial personnel but he knew there was nothing he could do at this point. He was in no condition to run, if he was, he wouldn't have been here in the first place. He knew he couldn't outfight them, plus he was leaking engine coolant and fuel, he'd be a sitting Gungan-and about just as deadly-after only a few minutes if he was lucky, and molten slag in less than a minute if he wasn't. "Jeb Arcaus, this is Imperial Officer Torgytt, please cut your engines and wait for boarding."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn did as he was told and waited for the clank of the docking ring on his hatch. But that didn't come, instead a hull cutter ate through his durasteel plated starship and clamps created an airlock between the two vessels. Then the hatch just fell off and four Stormtroopers rushed into his vessel, two of them grabbing him roughly and throwing him to the ground while they removed his weapons and searched him. The other two stood back while one barked out an order./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Search the ship, check for illegal cargo. Unless you want to just tell me now and save us the trouble."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Fierfek, why not, they'll find it anyways, not like I tried to conceal them, and I'm getting locked up anyways. "Two Tranthebars in the cargo hold to the back left."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Tranthebars, my my, you know it's illegal to take those off world, Class Five infraction there. And what's this, we have a scan indicating you have upgraded your laser cannons, illegally I might add, as well as adding concealed proton torpedoes, but to make matters worse your BoSS 'pad isn't registering that. That's a Class One infraction as well. You have heard of ImPeRe, yes?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Yeah, I know, just get it over with already." The Stormtroopers cuffed him and hauled him out of his own ship, onto an Imperial TIE/br boarding shuttle. He'd seen those before. They looked exactly like TIE Bombers except instead of a missile port they had docking capabilities. Capabilities was almost a euphemism here though, that thing had practically wrecked his hull. He was thrown roughly onto one of the plastisteel seats and a minute later they were off. Well, I managed to get three infractions, two very serious ones, first time, but still, I'm in for a while, if I ever get out, and I'm kriffing broke, couldn't pay off even a Rodian at this point./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"It wasn't long before they were docking on Eriadus surface, he hadn't even noticed them re-enter the atmosphere, which he thought odd. Ah, no viewports, that explains it. Although he should have been able to feel it. The inertial compensator must have been up pretty high. The hatch opened, the ramp extended, and two Stormtroopers grabbed him roughly and led him down. It didn't take him long to realize he was already at the detention block, there was none of the usual Imperial livery that screamed base at you, not much of anything in fact. No other shuttles, just this one boarding craft. Although there were room for more, and the big blast doors leading out of the hanger bay slash detention block indicated that much bigger vessels did pass through. They must have had a special docking bay for this prison as well, though he couldn't imagine why. He was marched across the hanger bay, through two sets of doors without doorways, or so he thought, until they closed behind him with zaps, indicating plasma security shields were up. He was led forwards to a small room where he was seated and told to stay put./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The Stormtroopers left at that point and he was alone except for two laser turrets, one on the door behind him, one on a door to his right. The room was a dark gray and constructed entirely of permacrete. Directly in front of where he was seated was a transparisteel window with nothing but a chair on the other side an an auditory amplifier located at about eye level in the middle. There was nothing for him to speak into, so he had to assumed he couldn't talk./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He wondered how long he was going to have to wait, but he needn't have worried. There was a hiss and he turned, expecting to see the blast doors opening but there was nothing. He turned back around to look back into the room he had been facing, and found a tall, very pale man dressed in gray Imperial attire who looked like he needed a lot of nourishment. His eyes almost had a yellow hue to them and his lips were the palest of pink, almost white. He had stretched skin, as though he was outgrowing his own skin and he walked almost gingerly, like he might break a bone if he stepped too hard. Although one could, if they wanted to be kind, see it as grace. It wouldn't have surprised Tryonn if the man broke a bone stepping too hard though, he sure looked like he could./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Across from the transparisteel window the man slowly took a seat, seeming to almost slide into the chair. He looked like he could be a Moff, but he didn't have the proper insignia./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""So," he said. His voice suit him, it was soft, slightly raspy and a bit intimidating. Somehow it managed to carry when he was just whispering-or so it seemed-and Tryonn put it down to the auditory amplifier. "Class Five for exporting illegal exports, Class one for an illegal weapons upgrade, and failure to update your boss 'pad, and a Class One for attacking Imperial personnel. That's a maximum of sixty years, which you will serve all of. You've been informed of you infractions and punishment, Stormtroopers will be along shortly to show you to your cell." Then the man simply stood, turn, and walked away, making a left and exiting Tryonn's field of view./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Sixty years...I'll be seventy nine. I'll die here. Defeat crushed him, he was done, his life was over as far as he was concerned. Not like I had anything to live for. My mother is dead, so is my father, I have no family left, no home, no ship, no credits. Even my name isn't mine. Sobering thoughts./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"About five minutes later the door to the right of him hissed open and two Stormtroopers walked in, possibly the same ones that had escorted him here, who could tell with their helmets always on. Stormtroopers scared him, they seemed emotionless. He wondered if they even had the ability to feel. Well, there's always a mystery in the universe. "Up, now, IP-1411." Ah, so now I'm a number, IP must been Imperial Prisoner, and I guess I'm number 1411. Although I could be prisoner 411, like it matters. He stood and the Stormtroopers practically dragged him to the door they came through. They marched him down a rather long hall, identical in material to the last room he had been in that had a few doors off to either side, Tryonn guessed it was administrative stuff behind those doors, or barracks for guards, who knew. He didn't see any markings on the doors but he noticed some of the doors had different color security systems blinking outside. Some were green, one was red, three were white. They eventually got to the end of the corridor and one of the Stormtroopers punched in what was probably a twelve to fourteen digit passcode-Tryonn had lost count after eight-and opened up a set of what was actually three doors: A durasteel door, a plasma security shield and then another durasteel door. Those plasma security shields were scary. The made a very thin wall of bright red glowing plasma energy that would literally cut him into pieces if he even accidentally tripped into one. Then he was marched down another hall, this one with plasma security shields lined on each side, some with prisoners, some without. They stopped at a cell that had one other prisoner inside, punched in another ridiculously long passcode to open the door, and tossed him mercilessly inside. Without another word, they were gone./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""They'll be back soon," said the other prisoner. "Gonna give you some nice white prison wear like me."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn looked over and saw a red Twi'lek male wearing all white clothing. Red, that's a unique color. Don't see many of those around. He also noticed he wasn't wearing shoes. "Do they give footwear?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The Twi'lek laughed, "are you kidding me? They don't give you frang in here. Plus, they keep the floors at around a hundred standard degrees or so, makes people wanna break out less, and if you do, you'll have no skin on your feet after a bit of running."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Well blast, I'm here for a while then," Tryonn rubbed his face wondering why he'd ever gone with Harrsik that one fateful day back on Qiilura. If he hadn't done that- I'd be either wandering around the galaxy with no home, no credits, nothing, or dead. So, pretty much the same place just a different route. That made him feel a little better./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Yeah, could be," said the Twi'lek. But something about the way he said it was funny./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn heard boots approaching again and two Stormtroopers as well as an Imperial officer stood in front of his cell and opened the door. They threw the same white clothes at him as the Twi'lek had on and said, "change into these, keep your boots on, you're going somewhere," said the Imperial officer. Tryonn really didn't like the sound of that./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""They'll torture you, for information on remaining Jedi," the Twi'lek said, keeping his head down and his voice so low Tryonn barely heard. That's when he saw the scars on the back of the Twi'leks head. Oh boy, I'm in deep this time, really. Good thing I know nothing, should be able to get this over with quick./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Don't have all day here IP-1411, let's get moving," the Imperial officer snapped. Tryonn quickly finished dressing and then stood to leave. "Get your old clothes, bring them with you." Tryonn did as he was told and was then cuffed, hands in front so he could carry his clothes, and taken away./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He was taken further down the hallway until it ended in a T with corridors going left and right. He was taken left and stopped at the first door on the right. There, the Stormtroopers took his clothes from his hands, opened the door, and shoved him into a pitch black room. He stumbled and fell but before he could get his bearings the door slammed shut. Then he heard the sound of a small repulsorlift engine, and a red photoreceptor came into view, hovering just above his head. Tryonn sat up, but before he could do anything else, the photoreceptor talked. It had a monotone, droid voice, and it asked one question. "Where are the remaining Jedi?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Don't know," said Tryonn./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Let's try again," said another voice. Tryonn couldn't see him but it was definitely a male. Suddenly blinding white light filled the room and he had to shield his eyes, it was almost as intense as a flashbang. Then he felt hands grab him and slam him into what felt like a durasteel chair. He closed his eyes to keep out the light as his legs were cuffed to the ground, and a durasteel clamp closed on his chest, making movement near impossible. Then the lights shut off and Tryonn heard the door open and close./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Where are the remaining Jedi?" asked the same monotonous voice that he recognized as the red photoreceptor./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""I don't know, I swear," said Tryonn again, he wasn't liking where this was heading at all. Suddenly a high pitched noise filled his ears, it hurt so bad he couldn't think, he heard nothing except the high pitched noise, constant, never changing. Then it stopped suddenly and he felt something prick his arm, like a needle, he tried to jerk but couldn't./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Where are the remaining Jedi?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Please, I don't know," the interrogation had barely started and already Tryonn wished he did know where the remaining Jedi were. He didn't even know there were any left, he thought they had all been killed, at least that was the news. Although I have heard rumors./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Like the interrogation droid could sense that he had just thought about the Jedi, it floated up to him, grabbed his ear lobe with pincers, and squeezed. The pain was beyond intense, it was burning his flesh, he could smell it, or could he? Fear, lots of fear. Suddenly everything was distorted, he couldn't make things out properly. The red photoreceptor looked almost like a planet shaking from a planetary bombardment. And that scared him, for some reason, he was scared of that shaking red. Then he was scared of the distorted view he had, nothing made sense, all he felt was fear, bile was rising, he was crying. Why am I crying? He couldn't process much of anything, his ear felt like someone was holding a flamethrower to it./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Where are the remaining Jedi?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Don't...know..." Tryonn could barely talk, then he puked, all over himself, all over the floor, he couldn't stop. Then pain in the back of his head, like nothing he'd ever felt before. It was like his skull was being peeled back and his brain exposed, like they would just pick the truth out of him. More smell of burnt flesh, or was it? Maybe not, he didn't know./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Where are the remaining Jedi?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Tell me!" he screamed. He wanted to know now, if he knew it would end, it was his fault. He had to know something, he had to, this had to end, it was happening cause he knew something. What did he know? Pain in his pinky finger, like a weight being dropped on it, he tried to look, what was going on? He couldn't see, or could he, the red photoreceptor-or was it?-was in his face, too close, like a star, about to explode. He was gonna die, he had to get out of the way. But he couldn't, the Jedi were stopping him, he had to find them, they were holding him back./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Where are the remaining Jedi?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn couldn't even get a response, more pain, pain everywhere, would it ever end? The high pitched wailing, it was pack again, his other ear, was it his ear? The pain was everywhere, but his ear especially, it hurt too much, could he even hear? I'm deaf, this is what deaf is, that high pitched wailing. More pain, more fear, then bright lights, too bright, his head slumped forwards, something was holding his eye open though, or was it? He couldn't tell, reality wasn't real anymore, he was in another realm, nothing made sense, he just wanted to find the Jedi. It was a simple question, he couldn't give the right answer though. Why not? Was he stupid? No he was pretty smart, or was, was he even real?/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Then dead silence, nothing, until a door opened, Tryonn screamed, he didn't even know why. The light was too bright, that's why, the light, it's the light side of the Force, the Jedi, they are here! "They are here! Right here!" He was screaming, suddenly, a hand over his mouth, he tried to scream again, he couldn't, mucus ran out of his nose, his eyes watered./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""So you want to play games?" The lights dimmed, an Imperial officer. Was it an Imperial officer? No, it was a Jedi, or was it? Everything was distorted. The hand removed itself./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Right here! Can't you see!" The hand was back, then pitch blackness. A small scraping sound, his knee, oh no, his knee, it was hurting, a lot, too much, why all this pain? Too much pain. He passed out-/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"And woke right back up again to his skull being peeled away. Wait, again? Hadn't that already happened. Maybe it was in layers, were skulls layered? The confusion, the loneliness, the pain, too much. It was all the Jedis fault. "Stop the games, we don't do games, only the truth. Do you know what OV600 is?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"What? He wants to know that? But the Jedi. "No, the Jedi, please."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Yes, the Jedi, where are they?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Dead!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""You know where some are."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Yes!" Wait, I don't know./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Where?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""No!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""No?" More pain, his other knee, both knees, was it the same knee? He didn't know left from right. He passed out again./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"***/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn awoke in darkness, the photoreceptor was there, but all he cared about was the pain. There was a lot of pain, but the distortion, it was gone. What had even happened? The photoreceptor moved. He screamed. The photoreceptor would kill him. More pain, too much. He passed out./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"And awoke again, to bright lights, high pitched wailing, another Imperial officer, or a Jedi? Were there two now? Jedi had special powers, the Force, maybe it was two. He passed out./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Where are the remaining Jedi? Where are the remaining Jedi? Where are the remaining Jedi?" He remembered that from his sleep, had he slept? The door opened, was that water? Blackness./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Nothing mattered except the Jedi. He needed to find them. It was his mission. He had a job to do. But how to find them. Could he find them? He had to. The door opened. Someone walked in. Grabbed him roughly, stuck something in his arm, it didn't hurt much, but what was it?/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Where are the remaining Jedi?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""span style="text-decoration: underline;"I DON'T KNOW!/span" he screamed, knowing that to be true and just wanting the pain to end. Nothing this time. Nothing at all. He passed out, and awoke later in his cell./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"Chapter Three/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"18 B.B.Y./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn woke up, his whole body sore, he felt groggy, he was confused. What had just happened. He was in a lot of pain. His knees, ears, head, hand. He looked at his left hand, his pinky was gone, there was nothing there, just cauterized flesh. And his knees, the flesh was gone, peeled away it seemed, it was raw, there were holes in his pant legs. He would have touched the back of his head, but it hurt too much. Then he remembered, his skull was gone. He sat up, more pain, he screamed. The Twi'lek looked over at him. Oh no, the red, not the red. He wanted to curl up in a ball but all he managed was falling back again, and that hurt too, he screamed more. "Where are the remaining Jedi?!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Take it easy, you're safe now." Tryonn cowered in fear, waiting for more pain, more lights, more noise. It didn't come. "You were there for two days, the drugs will wear off by tomorrow."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Where are the remaining Jedi?" It was all he cared about./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""They found them on Belsavis. They got them."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Belsavis! The Jedi are on Belsavis!" he roared. Suddenly a hand clamped over his mouth. He wanted to struggle, but couldn't. "You fool!" the Twi'lek hissed. "They will take you back if you so much as look like you might have real information."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"So it was a lie, lies were bad, lies meant pain. The hand moved. "Where are the remaining Jedi?!" No answer. "Where are the remaining Jedi?!" Silence. "WHERE! ARE! THE! REMAINING! JEDI?!" Nothing. Tryonn screamed, he needed to know, for the pain to stop. Lies meant pain, the truth meant peace. He fell back to sleep, waking every hour or so to ask about the Jedi, and so it went for a day. Dreams full of red lights and pain and Jedi, and waking hours full of an unanswerable question he needed an answer to./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"***/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn awoke again, and this time he only felt pain. No more Jedi. Why had the Jedi mattered? He remembered the pain, but why so much pain? He didn't know about the Jedi. He looked around, the Twi'lek looked at him from his bunk and Tryonn realized he was on the floor. He must have looked very puzzled because the Twi'lek said "it didn't make much sense to me either. For a day I was like you, I wanted the Jedi. Then, I forgot why they mattered, and how I got to where I was. But you remember, it will come back, it's horror, but you will remember. I don't know if that's any comfort."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""I guess," said Tryonn. "Where are my shoes?" He knew he'd had shoes on, he remembered that much./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""They take them away after interrogation. You won't get shoes anymore."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn looked at his left hand again, the pinky was still gone. "When did-?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Bone fragmenter, crushed every bone in your pinky, they probably just cut it off and cauterized it."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""IP-1411 and IP-1400, stand back from the door." There was a Stormtrooper outside the plasma security shield with what looked like food. I'm really hungry. When did I eat last? "Move along!" barked the Stormtrooper./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Here, come on," the Twi'lek half carried half dragged Tryonn to the back of the cell and the laser wall opened, food was placed on the floor, and the plasma security shield closed. "Stay put, I'll bring it to you." The Twi'lek stood up and grabbed the two trays, then brought them back. It was filled with gray slop and a cup with water./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""That's food?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Sort of, nutrient enriched...mass, pretty much. Tastes like nothing, but it keeps you alive. I'd eat if I were you, they bring you one of these a day."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""And water?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The Twi'lek pointed to the small 'fresher in the corner. "Get it from there. And drink while you can, the take the tray and cup back after thirty minutes."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn nodded, started eating. The Twi'lek was right, it did taste like nothing, but right now nothing was cuisine, he was so hungry, he didn't care. When he was done he was still hungry. He drained his water, tried to stand to get more and collapsed. His knees, they hurt the worst. The Twi'lek held out his hand and Tryonn handed him the cup. "Thanks," he said, and he meant it./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The Twi'lek just nodded and handed him the glass back, full with water. "You're doing good, for someone who just got out of interrogation. My name is Ky'rin, by the way."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"That's right, I was interrogated. This makes some sense now. "I wouldn't know, and I'm Tryonn."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""No, I suppose not. I've seen at least five people come through this cell, they all get back from interrogation and either kill themselves or are so insane they have to get moved to another block. Been here about a year now, nineteen left."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""I have sixty," he said dully, wondering if he should just drop himself through that plasma security shield right now like he was sure others had./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Woah! What did you do for that one?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Three ImPeRe infractions. Two Class Ones and a Five."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""You crazy schutta, what did you do?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Illegal export, attacked Imperial personnel, illegal armaments upgrade to my ship without updating my BoSS 'pad."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Well, your memories good. That's why I asked, to check your memory. If you were gonna go crazy you wouldn't be remembering all of that. You'd be confused still, lost. You'll do fine, the pain will fade in time."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""What do I look like?" Tryonn asked, eager to change the subject. He felt as though Ky'rin wanted more answers and he wanted to change the subject to something else quickly. Thinking about the interrogation and how it almost ruined him was not something he wanted to dwell on./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""A bantha that got hit by a turbolaser." He smiled for a quick second, then seemed to realize now was not a good time to joke. "Well, your ear lobes are uh, split in two, both of them. And you have scars on the back of your head, they left lots of long cuts to the back of your head, not too deep. But overall not terrible."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"There was a pause, then he added, "I've seen worse, believe me. But you'll want to sleep only on your back, without the blanket. You need to let the skin on your knees breath. The back of your head will be fine, that's the least of your worries."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn just nodded and forced himself to believe that was true and not just something the Twi'lek was saying to help him keep his sanity. "Will they come back for me?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""No, they only care for information. They don't torture for fun, although sometimes I wonder if their methods are the product of people who do."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Probably, I wanted to give an answer I didn't have."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""That's the worst kind of torture. It will be so bad you want to know what you don't know. And if you're really unlucky you start to think you know something. Then if they use OV600 on you, even if you're telling the truth you'll think your lying and it will react, making them think you're lying too."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""So they didn't use it on me?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Probably not. They usually start with Bravo 6, increases how much pain you feel, distorts your vision, paranoia, awful stuff."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Yeah, I think they gave me that. Why do you know so much?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Sometimes the guards threaten me, saying they will torture me more, and they describe in detail all the little torture devices they have. Just to mess with my head. They like seeing you go insane."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""I don't think I can make sixty in here."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Oh me either, I'm glad I only have nineteen." Again the Twi'lek seemed to realize his humor was too soon. I bet he's hilarious when things aren't so serious./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""How did you get in here?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Class Two infraction, smuggling guns. I got caught up, did a random jump, ended up here. Imperials selected me for random inspection as I was trying to head out, I have a Class Three infraction too, for bribery, and I guess they saw that and decided to check me out."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""So two infractions?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""One technically, the Class Three is old, not very though," he added with a slightly mischievous smile./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn decided maybe jokes were the way to go, maybe laughter would help him deal with things. "So what, you tried to bribe your way out of here?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Oh good, you have a sense of humor," the Twi'lek grinned. "No, but I considered it, then remembered I have no credits." They both laughed at that, but it hurt Tryonn's broken body a lot. They both were pretty broke./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Got family?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""I did, on Ryloth. The Empire enslaved them. I ran, I became a smuggler. You?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Mother died in childbirth, father was killed by Separatists. No siblings," he added as an afterthought./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"They both lapsed into silence, not an uncomfortable one, just silence. It was filled with sadness though and Tryonn knew that like he, Ky'rin was thinking of his family. I never got to know my mother, my father's dead and my life is slowly draining away. Sixty kriffing years, I'll be seventy nine when I get out of here. If I do. He just sat there, numb, wishing he at least had memories of his mother, like he did his father, but he didn't. They said the bond between mother and son was inseparable, sometimes he thought that wasn't true. If it was, how come he couldn't even feel his mother? His father had told him stories of her, how kind she was, caring, how she had loved him from the moment she knew she was pregnant with him. Promising him a childhood of love and care. In a way, she fulfilled that promise. His father had showed him so much love, never once placing any doubt into Tryonn's mind as to how much he cared about it. Tryonn knew just how much his father cared. He'd knocked him aside to take a droids blaster bolt for him, and as he was dying, said only that he loved him. Footsteps snapped him out of his thoughts./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""IP-1411 and IP-1400, stand back from the door." The Stormtrooper was back, or a Stormtrooper at least, they all looked and sounded the same. Tryonn also found it odd he asked them to stand back, even though he hadn't moved since Ky'rin brought the tray back to him. The plasma security shield opened and the Stormtrooper said, "push your trays, cups on them, to me." They both complied, but Ky'rin did something interesting. As he pushed his tray he seemed to almost purposely tip the cup so it rolled off to the side of the door, but Tryonn couldn't quite be sure. The Stormtrooper looked at him and said, "you never get it right do you, you little red alien freak. See this is why we can't have your kind around, too kriffing clumsy. And stupid." The Stormtrooper was thoroughly enjoying this it seemed, even though the voice was a bit distorted coming out of the helmet speaker, Tryonn could still here a bit of amusement in his voice. So maybe they do have the ability to feel emotions. "Come on now, Twi'lek, bring me that cup." The way he said Twi'lek made it sound like an insult, as though he'd just called Ky'rin a nerf herder. Ky'rin stood up, and Tryonn felt like he was purposely looking cowed as he approached the Stormtrooper, then he picked up the cup and handed it to him. Then, in a swift act of violence the Stormtrooper body checked Ky'rin so hard he fell to the ground. "Try again tomorrow, Twi'lek." He said the Twi'lek part like he had before, as if it was an insult. Then the Stormtrooper turned and left, closing the plasma security shield behind him. Ky'rin picked himself up off the floor and looked at Tryonn./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""That happens every day?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Yeah, but it's worth it."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""What do you mean?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Look, I don't know about you, but I'm not gonna spend nineteen more years here."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn didn't know if he'd heard him correctly. Is he insane, is he really thinking what I think he is? There's no way we can escape, all the security shields, stang, I don't even remember the route I took to get in here. But if I don't take this opportunity, I will be here for a very long time. So instead of voicing his concerns he just asked, "Are they audio recording us? Or just video?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Not a clue, but I say it's about time we find out."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Find out how?" Tryonn had a sick feeling in his stomach./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Talk about Jedi."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He's lost his kriffing mind, we'll be back in interrogation so fast we won't even know it happened. Although the idea of escape was nice, he wasn't about to purposely try and go back to getting tortured. At least if he tried to escape they'd just kill him. "Look," his voice was shaky, "I just got out of interrogation, one wrong word here and I'm back in."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""I really know where the Jedi are though," Ky'rin said./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Well then go tell the Imperial officers. I bet they'll be glad you want to be so honest now. They might even think you're telling them everything and not interrogate you again." I can't do this. He was really shaking now and Ky'rin seemed oblivious./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""I saw one once, I swear."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""You're losing it, Ky'rin" Tryonn warned. If he'd had the strength he would have choked the Twi'lek./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""What? Just cause I saw a Jedi on Dantooine I'm losing it?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""How would you even know it's a Jedi?" Come on stop, he pleaded in his head./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Cause Jedi have lightsabers, and this one had a green one."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Okay look just shut up, you're scaring the bantha fodder out of me, if you know something they will think I do too, and then we'll both be back in interrogation." If he didn't keep it together he might lose it, and he was barely hanging onto his sanity now./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Well now you do know something. You know there's a Jedi on Dantooine."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Look, he's-"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""She" he said pointedly,/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""She's probably not even on Dantooine anymore! So why even think about it?! The only useful information you have is you saw someone with a green lightsaber! Jedi can be killed, obviously, cause there aren't many left, so someone could just pick up a lightsaber!" He hadn't realized he was yelling until he'd already started, but now he couldn't stop, he needed Ky'rin to shut up but he was too weak to do anything physically, and Ky'rin knew it./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""And what fool would do that at a time like this?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"" I don't KNOW! Maybe the same kriffing fool that's saying the type of nonsense that will get us back in interrogation!" Tryonn's voice felt raw from the yelling, and he hadn't done much. I must have screamed in interrogation a lot./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Ky'rin stood up and punched him in the face, hard. Tryonn was sitting and fell back as Ky'rin hopped on top of him, hitting his face again. Then again. Tryonn wanted to fight back but he was too tired and he hurt too much. Ky'rin stood up and looked down at him, "call me a kriffing fool again, I'll split your head." Tryonn didn't doubt it./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Ky'rin crossed to the other side of the room and sat down, just looking at him. He sat that way for a minute or two, then he smiled. "What's so kriffing funny?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Nothing, that's a smile of triumph, we aren't being audio or video recorded. Or if we are, no one pays attention. I just did two things to attract attention, talk about Jedi, and hit you, nothing happened, we're not under surveillance."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn sat there for a second to absorb things. "Don't talk to me, until I'm ready to talk to you." He didn't yell this time but his voice carried a certain seriousness and weight to it he hadn't heard before./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Ky'rin seemed to notice this as well cause he just nodded and stayed sitting where he was./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"When the Stormtrooper brought them their food next, he didn't say a word about Tryonn's face. They don't care, they really don't care. Maybe that was a good thing./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"***/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"For the next few weeks, Tryonn barely survived. He could barely move and so getting himself to the 'freshers to clean his knees and pinky was hard, and cleaning them hurt quite a lot. It also brought back memories of his torture, and that was what was hardest to cope with. Some days he felt as though he was on the edge of losing his sanity. He would worry endlessly that if he was taken back for interrogation it would be the last thing that happened to him. He couldn't do that again, and now, knowing what Ky'rin had told him, even though it was a lie, made him even more fearful that his interrogators would think he knew something. If he didn't pull it together, maybe he would just walk through the plasma security shield like several others in this very cell had done./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Walking hurt him the most, when his skin pushed together pain flared intensely, and so Tryonn kept his legs bent and slid around the floor by using his hands to move. If seeing that had any immediate affect on Ky'rin, he didn't show it./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"One day Ky'rin brought him his tray again. Tryonn didn't bother to say thanks, but it didn't look like Ky'rin expected it. I wonder if he's up to something or if he just feels for me. Ky'rin did the same thing the next day though, and the day after that./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Regardless of the fact that Ky'rin was bringing him food, Tryonn wasn't sure he really wanted to talk to Ky'rin. It was a kind gesture, one of the nicest and only ones he could make given the situation, so Tryonn knew he was really feeling bad, but he couldn't take his mind off what had happened. Maybe he was just trying to help, but he could have waited longer to test that theory and he should have known I wasn't joking. That he needed to stop. That wasn't good acting. Even someone with bantha fodder for brains could see that. Tryonn wasn't ready but Ky'rin was also planning to escape, and he hadn't ended up back in interrogation. He'd also been the one to voice that question, but he felt that was no excuse either. What Tryonn didn't understand was that Ky'rin also had seemed to know nothing would happened. He just seemed to know things and Tryonn couldn't put his finger on why./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The thought had occurred to him that maybe Ky'rin himself was a Jedi, but he doubted it. If he had been, Tryonn had a sick feeling that he never would have ever met Ky'rin. The Imperials were good at hunting Jedi. Tryonn could feel all his emotions coming together, swirling in him, ready to explode. He needed out of here, he wasn't going to die in an Imperial prison, especially if Ky'rin was planning on getting out without him, he'd said he needed Tryonn, but did he really? Could he trust him? Tryonn didn't really know, he was confused, scared, hurt, angry, depressed, and there was just this little glimmer of hope for freedom./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"That freedom from the prison wouldn't free his mind of what he had endured. The mere thought of of his interrogation, or torture, that was more what it had been, made him sick to his stomach. He pushed thoughts of it aside. He had to bury those memories. He also needed to cling to that glimmer of hope, before he let that fade. He needed to escape, and he needed Ky'rin to do it./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He looked over at Ky'rin and said, "I think I'm ready to talk."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Well first, I'm sorry, although I realize that cannot change the feelings that what I said may have left you with." Ky'rin bowed his head slightly, and for the first time Tryonn noticed a lot of lekku movement. He hadn't noticed much before, although he knew that Twi'leks lekku moved they hadn't seemed to as much on Ky'rin as the others he had encountered. For some reason, this made the apology seem very genuine. "I was selfish, I wanted to test my theory, I had a feeling I was right. I won't do that to you again. I really, really want out of here," he said, "and I need your help. I've been waiting a while for someone who was strong enough, mentally and physically. I know we can do this, and you have more to gain than I do."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"For a second Tryonn thought Ky'rin might be suggesting something about the other people who had either gone insane or killed themselves after interrogation, saying they were weak. But he brushed it aside. He's giving you a compliment, stop reading into things too much. Maybe he is this way because he too was tortured. He must not want to become what they did, or want me to become that way. This must be harder for him than me, he has to watch people endure what I did, and died or lose their sanity. "You're right, I do. But what's the plan?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Ky'rin just smiled./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"***/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Days turned to months, and continued on as normal, or as normal as they could get in what Tryonn assumed was a maximum security prison. He was also emotionally and physically drained. His body had healed but not his mind. Although planning their escape kept his mind well occupied, every night before he slept he had to endure memories of his body being tortured. And during the day, he would be reminded of it when he saw that his left pinky was gone, or saw his pants with holes cut into them exposing his scarred knees beneath. Eventually the memories began to grow distant, distorted, like he didn't really remember them properly. What he knew was real was the fear. The fear that event had left behind in him. But he didn't let that fear eat at him, at least he tried not to. He turned that fear into energy to expend on a good escape plan. If they could get out, he could get away from the potential to at any day be brought back for more questioning./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The Stormtrooper brought the food everyday at the same time, although neither of them knew what time that was as there were no chronos around to tell him the time, it might even have come at different times everyday, but it felt like the same time, and based off of the cycles of the lights they inferred that it most likely was. For all they knew that one meal a day came at the busiest time in the prison, when the most guards were about, and in broad daylight on Eriadu. But those things would be worked out later./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"They needed to start with basics. Ky'rin continued to miss his cup everyday, getting some sort of beating or degrading talk every time, and always made to come pick the cup up. It was off of this that they planned to base their escape. Tryonn had noticed that the Stormtrooper seemed to be using a code on his gauntlet to open the plasma security shield instead of punching in the numbers like had happened on the first day. He must be a guard, the others were just bringing me in, so they needed to punch in the codes./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"From this Tryonn gathered that if they could get a hold of his gauntlet they could unlock all the doors in the prison. But Ky'rin argued that it was most likely just a code that opened plasma security shields for prisoners. In order to get access to the outside world, they would need a code cylinder from an Imperial officer. Tryonn had to concede that point, realizing it would be stupid to trust a mere foot soldier with every code to the prison. But then the problem arose of how to get an Imperial officer's code cylinder./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Ky'rin, as usual, had a solution. "You know that Imperial officer that comes? The one who checks up on us, to see if we have further value?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Yeah, sure, what about him?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""He must have code cylinders for this place, if he didn't how else would he be getting in?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""That Moff looking fellow probably lets him in, tall guy, pale."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Yeah, the one who sentenced us. Okay, good point. We should look at him, try to see if he has any code cylinders next time he comes."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""And how would we even get to him? If we escape based on our meals than we need to time it so that he is at our cell block, at least, better if he's near our cell, at the same time as the Stormtrooper comes to grab food."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""He does come at that time, at lunch hour. Possibly because of that exact reason. We are getting fed, so what better time to take us somewhere than right then and there, we can eat our meal and that's one less thing to worry about for a day if they want to keep us alive."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""They will have food if they need it, Ky'rin" Tryonn said, slightly exasperated, he thought Ky'rin was stretching it this time and that the officer might just keep to a tight schedule, which always meant he could break it./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Or I could be wrong about why he comes at that time Tryonn, but he always does. Maybe it's because they have a schedule for it, Imperials are tight about that."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Okay, that's true too." There will always be things that we cannot control here. They are trying to control us, after all./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Also, I can assume we are fed during the day, which brings about the issue of more guards."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"However it also guaranteed them a few things. One, the middle of the day meant transport would be in the docking bay, which meant they would have means to get off planet. Two, since the officer was there during the lunch hours that meant they could overpower the guard when he opened the door to their cell to collect their trays and be guaranteed to have an Imperial officer around, which meant code cylinders and freedom. Also, if it was the middle of the day-and they both assumed it was, as it was the only thing that made sense-the prison would be busier, the planet too, so their escape by starship would be easier than if they were a lone starship at night trying to fly out at breakneck speeds. All in all, more guards for all those bonuses seemed like a good deal to Tryonn, Ky'rin as well./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The plan was getting there, but was far from fool proof. They would need to take the Stormtrooper who was taking back their food out of the equation quickly and silently. They also needed the Imperial officer to be nearby so they could quickly kill him and take his code cylinder. They didn't know if the prison was just this one hall or not, but both suspected it was not as Ky'rin had mentioned other prisoners getting moved to another block./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Something else they debated long and hard over was whether or not to try and free the other prisoners in their block. Tryonn argued it would behoove them to do so as the added muscle would make overpowering any opposition easier. Ky'rin was not about that though. First, he exclaimed, how could they trust the other prisoners, and two, what if they wasted too much time freeing the prisoners and therefore lost precious time to escape. The alarm would most certainly be sounded the second they made a move on the Stormtrooper and reinforcements were sure to come quick. They also started to debate about the best way to take the Stormtrooper out. Ky'rin was all for rolling the cup like he usually did, and then taking the Stormtrooper out as he handed it back to him. Tryonn, however, wanted to try something else. The way the plasma security shield worked, it was like a doorway, meaning he could stack on one side or the other, and the Stormtrooper would be unable to see him./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn suggested that Ky'rin leave his tray near the bunks which were opposite the doorway. They would then use pillows and sheets to make it look as though Tryonn was asleep. Tryonn would put his empty tray by the door, and then stack on the left side. By doing so he would be on the same side as the Stormtroopers blaster rifle, and the Stormtroopers ability to bring that rifle to bear would be limited as he would need to turn his whole body to get a shot off. In that split second, Tryonn planned to grab his blaster rifle, shoot him, and take his gauntlet. But Ky'rin argued adamantly against it, saying that was way too much of a risk to take. If they had been able to experiment, sure, but there was no good way to see if it would work without actually trying, and the Stormtrooper might notice it wasn't Tryonn in the bunk./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The other issue was getting the gauntlet. Neither one of them had experience with Stormtrooper armor and so taking the gauntlet off could prove to be tricky, although at this point it wasn't necessary, as the Imperial officer had the codes they wanted. Still if they wanted to free prisoners they would need that gauntlet, so they decided against freeing the prisoners. If it was opportune to do so, they would, but that was unlikely to happen. There was also the potential for an intense firefight to erupt. If this was happening in the middle of the day there was a high likelihood they would encounter heavier resistance, but not everything could be perfect./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"They had been planning for a few weeks when they got their first chance to observe the Imperial officer in person. He came to their door, flanked on each side by one Stormtrooper. He himself looked unarmed, but Tryonn couldn't say for sure. What he did notice, and Ky'rin saw as well, was a code cylinder, it's top just visible over the officers left breast pocket. They were both elated./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Just like Ky'rin said, he came during the delivery of food, but Tryonn decided he had to spring a question. "Ky'rin, how do we know he's still here by the time our food is picked up?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Ky'rin mulled it over, he knew Tryonn was right, there was no way that they could possibly know the Imperial officer would still be there later. That was when plans had to change. If they wanted to get to the Imperial officer before he left, they needed to get the food from the Stormtrooper when he dropped it off, not as he was picking up the empty trays. They figured this was the first cell block of many, as there didn't appear to be any other entrance, so they could safely assume that if they escaped when the Stormtrooper dropped off their food, the Imperial officer would be in their block, or seconds away. They then decided to go for Tryonn's idea at taking out the guard, but first, they needed to at least attempt to test it./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The next day, when the Stormtrooper came to bring the food, Tryonn feigned sleeping in his bunk, he kept his back turned and pulled the blankets over his head, so that the Stormtrooper could see just the shape. As usual, he came to the door and called out the standard stand back from the door. He seemed to take no notice that Tryonn was sleeping as he set the food down, then he left./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"After he was gone they looked at each other elated, but then Tryonn brought up that he might have infrared on when he looked in the door so he could identify if both prisoners were really there at all times. That made sense to Ky'rin and he tried to think of a way to fix that, but there was no good way. The only suggestion he had was to wrap Tryonn in blankets and make him give off so much body heat that the blankets might, just might read as having a lifeform, but Tryonn shot that down, pointing out that if he really did have infrared the Stormtrooper would see Tryonn stacked against the door. Again, something else that was coming down to pure dumb luck. In all honesty, most of this was pure dumb luck, but then again, how many people had foolproof plans for escaping a maximum security Imperial prison. Tryonn was willing to bet zero. He also sometimes wondered what his parents would think. Farmer turned smuggler turned convict. How about that, he thought./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"Chapter Four/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"18 B.B.Y. (on the cusp of 17 B.B.Y.)/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"They could be escaping any day now. They had planned and planned, trying to think through as much as possible. They had waited two more months and let the Imperial officer come two more times. Each time everything was the same. The Stormtrooper dropped their food off just after the Imperial officer got there, and the Imperial officer always left within fifteen or twenty minutes. Every night before they slept they would run the plan over together out loud, tonight was no exception./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""So the Stormtrooper brings in the food, when he steps in the door you grab his blaster, jam it into the gap in his neck created by the helmet being separate from the chest plates, killing him."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Yes, correct. Then we move into the corridor, you with the blaster rifle and his thermal detonator, me with his two LXR-6 concussion grenades, and we take out the Imperial officer and his Stormtrooper guards."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Exactly. Then we use the code cylinder to access the cell block doors and make our way into the other room. It's a hallway with doors so we need to be careful, but we run down there, making for the next room and taking out the turrets in there if necessary."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Then it's through that door, past the last two plasma security shields, and we hit the hanger bay to find transport." It was at this point that things were really sketchy, as if they weren't sketchy enough already. The transports could be locked, they could have guards, they could be closed in the hanger bay and Tryonn was sure the blast doors would not fall to mere laser cannons on an Imperial prison, which could be an issue. The plan though, was about as close as it could get to perfect, now all they needed to do was be patient. If only Tryonn had known just how patient./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"An entire month went by without the Imperial officer coming through again, and then another. It was at that point that Tryonn and Ky'rin began to become concerned. "Maybe he doesn't come back and check if there are no new prisoners," Ky'rin said./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""That, or a combination of that and our block being filled up. Maybe we've reached max capacity and the Imperial officer won't be coming back here for a while."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Possible," said Ky'rin, but Tryonn didn't think Ky'rin thought that likely. The prison was designed in a way so that you couldn't see other prisoners around you, or hear them for that matter. The cells were staggered on each side so that each cell only offered a view of a blank durasteel wall if you looked out of the doorway. Even by standing to the side and trying to get an angled view, it was impossible to tell if there were any other prisoners. It was concerning. Still, they drilled the plan every night, they even practiced stacking on the wall with Tryonn going to the left side and practicing grabbing and killing the Stormtrooper by using Ky'rin as the Stormtrooper and a blanket that they would roll up and then wet with water from the 'fresher to help stiffen it a little as the blaster rifle. Tryonn's injuries had pretty much entirely healed, although of course he didn't have his pinky. This worried Ky'rin because he wondered if Tryonn could still disarm the Stormtrooper with only three fingers and a thumb on his left hand. However Tryonn promised it wouldn't be an issue, and Ky'rin fell silent about it./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Late one night they were up talking and Ky'rin raised an interesting question: What to do if the Imperial officer didn't come back at the right time or wanted one of them for further questioning. The further questioning, Tryonn reasoned, would not be an issue because he wouldn't come until after the Stormtrooper was through with the food and at that point the escape would have started. However, if he were to come back at a random time and suddenly want Tryonn or Ky'rin, things could get sticky./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Obviously we can't take him on," Ky'rin said. "Not with two Stormtroopers guarding his back and without the element of surprise."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""What if we draw them into the room somehow?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Like how?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Well, it doesn't seem like people can hear us through this plasma security shield, so we could just feign an argument the instant he appears, and if he goes to open the security shield, we just start brawling."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""They'll probably just flashbang us, or stun bolts. Ah frang, they might even just kill the one of us they don't want to interrogate further."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""So we refuse to back up, just stand there and-nevermind, that won't work." This was a frustrating problem and one they hadn't thought an issue until the Imperial officer broke his regimen./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Okay, what if the guy is just dead, what if we're worrying for nothing?" Ky'rin seemed almost desperate, as if he knew this plan was a my way or the sky lane kind of deal. Either the guards in the prison fell into the trap or they didn't, and there wasn't anything the two of them could do to assure that the guards would fall into their trap./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Then another thought occurred. "The Stormtrooper, what if, as soon as I attack him, he locks the plasma security shield, do you think he can do that remotely? Or would he have to scan his gauntlets datapad?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""I'd assume he can do it remotely. In fact he probably is trained to do so in the event that he is attacked. Lock the security shield and call for backup."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""So how would we stop that?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Kill him real quick." Ky'rin wasn't joking, that was the only way. This drove them into a frenzy of trials with Ky'rin and the wet blanket again. They practiced until it was muscle memory for Tryonn. And Ky'rin would count in his head as Tryonn tried to 'take him out'. If he got to three seconds, Tryonn had failed./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"***/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Lying in their bunks one night Ky'rin asked Tryonn, "when we get out, where do you want to go?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Somewhere I won't be wanted."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Ky'rin laughed. "So to another Imperial prison."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Or some backwater world like Nar Shaddaa or Nal Hutta. Maybe even Raxus Prime."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Yeah, Raxus Prime sounds nice. Lots of toxic waste, no civilization. We'd fit right in."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"This time Tryonn laughed. "Seriously though, where would you go?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""We could try Tatooine, I'm sure we could find work, although landing could be a trip."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Yeah how are we gonna explain flying in on an Imperial starship? It's not like the locals there are fond of the Imperials, not to mention they don't bother with Tatooine, it's conveniently ignored."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""If we land in the desert and then trek to Mos Eisley, or Mos Espa, we could make it."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Don't you think the Imperials will look for us on Tatooine?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""They'll be looking for us everywhere most likely. Pull this off and we'll have huge bounties on our heads. We do know though that the Imperials themselves won't come to Tatooine, it will be bounty hunters. What we can also count on is that neither one of us is actually in their system."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"That was true. Tryonn remembered a discussion he had had with Ky'rin where they had found out they both were caught using transponder codes with names attached to people from little known planets who had died before the Empire was created. The Empire had therefore just assumed they were not in their system yet, and put them in as their transponders showed. Of course any real digging would have uncovered the fact that they were using fake transponder codes, but their real names would not be found out. "Well, they could try and trace us through our ship purchases, but I bought mine under a fake name as I am assuming you did too?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Ky'rin nodded, "yeah, I've never put my real name out there for the datapads. I am, in essence, dead already," he smiled that mischievous smile again./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""What type of starship did they bring you down in?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""A TIE/br boarding shuttle."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Okay, same here, but we can assume there are other craft in the docking bay."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Definitely, I saw a Lambda-class shuttle when I was being brought it."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Okay, I wanna go for that one, good hyperdrive and sublight speed on that one."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""I agree, and we can probably run the starship and the guns at the same time. It's smaller than that other troop transport they love so much, what is it that Sentinel-class landing craft they have. Although the thing is faster, despite being bigger. No idea why they didn't make the Lambda-class at least just as fast."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Because Moffs drive it, remember? And you don't want to give them too much power now do you?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Course not," Ky'rin snickered appreciatively./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Hey, you're gonna be covering your feet when the Stormtrooper comes right? Don't want him seeing our foot wraps." To solve the problem of the one hundred standard degree floor, they had decided to take their pillow cases, rip them in half so they were like two mini blankets, them wrap them around their feet, tucking them in tight and drenching them with water from the 'fresher, it wasn't the best solution, but it's what they had./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Yeah, I'll be on my bunk, feet under the blankets, it will look good cause you're 'asleep' so what else would I be doing but lying there. That's all I would do in between other prisoners sharing my cell with me."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Alright, sounds like a plan." It was./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"***/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Their chance to escape came a couple of days later. They were both silent, just sitting in their bunks, when suddenly Ky'rin, who had the bottom bunk, punched Tryonn's from below in excitement. "Imperial officer here," he said the excitement in his voice practically making it sound like the man was his hero, which in a sense, he was./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"As soon as he said those words Tryonn rolled off his bed, quickly drenching their makeshift foot wraps in water while Ky'rin made the top bunk look as though he was sleeping. Then they wrapped their feet quickly and quietly, no words were spoken, they were on auto-pilot. They had drilled this into themselves. Tryonn stacked on the left side of the door and Ky'rin lay on his bed with his feet just under his blanket, body angled in a way so the Stormtrooper couldn't see that his pillow was missing./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"They waited in those positions for what felt like hours, but was of course only a few minutes. "IP-1411 and IP-1400, stand back from the door." Tryonn tensed, like a coiled spring, his whole body just felt loaded. And scared, but that didn't run him right now, he was still on auto-pilot. His back was flat against the wall, his hands were a bit sweaty, but he wasn't shaking. His head was turned left, looking at the exact spot the Stormtrooper was about to be. Seconds seemed stretched into minutes and then he saw the gloved hand deliver the first tray of food. Before the Stormtrooper could even register that Tryonn was there he had pounced. It was all instinct. The Stormtrooper was holding his Blas-Tech E-11 blaster rifle one handed in his right hand, barrel pointed towards the air. Tryonn's left hand shot out and grabbed the Stormtrooper by the wrist, yanking down, while a split second later his right hand shot out, sliding up the Stormtrooper's wrist and right to the back of the grip. The combined force of the downward motion into a sudden upward pull, and some help from the Stormtroopers shock made it almost all too easy. The rifle now in his hand, Tryonn yanked the Stormtrooper left pulling him to the left side of the door, while at the same time stepping forward just a bit and spinning to face him, shoving the rifle under his helmet, he pulled the trigger. The man dropped./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Ky'rin had already started moving the second Tryonn grabbed the Stormtrooper's wrist and was already at the door by the time the Stormtrooper dropped. Tryonn tossed him the rifle while he dropped quickly to snatch the Stormtrooper's two LXR-6 grenades, he was about to flip the body over to grab the thermal detonator when Ky'rin shouted, "Forget that! Bigger problems!" and let loose a stream of blaster fire. There was shouting and alarms, well, they had blown it, that was for sure./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""How many?!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Maybe three! Hard to tell!" Tryonn primed one of the LXR-6 grenades and tossed it. He heard yelling and shouting and Ky'rin let loose another stream of blaster fire then yelled, "Move! Move! Move!" before bursting out into the corridor./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn burst out behind him, checking to the right as Ky'rin looked to the left, the right was clear but not the left. The Imperial officer and a badly wounded Stormtrooper were still fighting. He wished in that instant he had the blaster rifle. He ducked back into the slight protection the doorway to the cell offered, realizing if the security shield reactivated it would literally just slice him in two, but deciding better that than taking blasterfire because he was too stupid to take cover. Ky'rin, who had shot the officer first, unloaded into the last Stormtrooper who had probably already commed for help and then burst forward as the Stormtrooper fell dead. They reached the three bodies and Tryonn dropped to search the Imperial officers body for his code cylinder, when he received a nasty shock, the man had four of them. "Fierfek!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""What?" Ky'rin sounded bewildered, as if everything happening was going off according to plan./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""He's got four kriffing code cylinders!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Well try them all! I'm getting off this planet or I'm gonna die trying!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn slipped the code cylinder in, and felt his heart race as it worked. The first one worked! How lucky is that? He grabbed one of the E-11 blaster rifles from a dead Stormtrooper as well as one more LXR-6 grenade. Then they burst into the next room through the set of triple doors. No blasterfire, this hall was clear. They raced down it as quickly as possible, and an LXR-6 grenade fell from his pants pocket, but he had no time. At the door he slammed in the first code cylinder, nothing, red lights, and another loud alarm. Fierfek, they use a different one for each door, that's why he has four with him. Tryonn tried the second one, somehow it worked. He thought he might have had to override security or something because the first one had failed, but apparently not. I guess they assume if you use the right one immediately afterwards that it could have been an error./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Before Tryonn entered the room he remembered there was a turret right above the door and he stuck his blaster just outside the door, aimed up and squeezed the trigger. The turret exploded and he yanked his hand back as debris fell. The second turret swiveled opening fire and he had to jump back. Then suddenly, Ky'rin leapt forwards and seemed to almost dodge the blasterfire as he hooked a hard right into the room, firing as he did and taking the turret out. With no time to ponder the incredible set of acrobatics he had just seen, Tryonn ran forward expecting to need a cylinder code, and almost got shot as red blasterfire arced into the room, the other two plasma security shields already down./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn dropped to the floor and Ky'rin did the same beside him. From his angle of view, he could see almost none of the docking bay, there didn't appear to be many starships in there, in fact the only one he could see clearly was the Lambda-class shuttle because of its ridiculously tall tri-wings that were folded in the up position. As for the Stormtroopers, he couldn't really tell, he just knew blaster bolts were whizzing over his head so close he could feel their heat./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""There is no cover out there!" yelled Ky'rin, "I remember from when they brought me in, it's open space, they are probably just lined up ready to mow us down!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Okay, I'll go first! I'll toss this last grenade and let's roll!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""No! You toss, I run!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn didn't feel the need to argue, if this Twi'lek wanted to be a hero, then let him. Or maybe he just thought it more sensible to have the person throwing the grenade not expose themselves at the same time. Or he's gonna dodge more blasterfire. Tryonn had to wonder again if this Twi'lek was a Jedi. "It's out!" he called and he tossed his last LXR-6 grenade. Ky'rin sprang to his feet and charged, E-11 blazing and a half second later Tryonn was after him./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"It wasn't as bad as he'd thought, he could see the hanger bay spread out below them, the blast doors were not closed meaning that they could still fly out, provided they made it to the Lambda-class shuttle. The problem was they hadn't planned for this. They managed to find cover behind a couple of what looked like ammunition or food storage crates. He couldn't tell and at this time honestly did not care. Although he'd prefer it were food in case the ammunition exploded. Ky'rin was right beside him and as they were pinned down he shouted. "I got a good look at them, looks like four or so troopers, spread out in a wide firing arc near the blast doors towards the back of the hanger! They don't have cover but it's not like they really need it!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The Lambda-class shuttle was a straight diagonal from them, and not too far, also, Tryonn had noticed that the boarding ramp was lowered and the hatch open. "That Lambda is ready to board! If we run and spray blasterfire we might make it!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Ky'rin looked at him incredulously but then seemed to come to the same conclusion Tryonn had. If they didn't run for it now, then they would inevitably be pinned down too long by blasterfire to make it and they would surely be flanked. The same went for if they wanted to try and get into a shootout and clear the Stormtroopers before heading to the shuttle. They just didn't have time. "Alright! Let's go!" and Ky'rin leapt to his feet and charged. Tryonn followed suit just behind him and they pounded away towards the shuttle-and freedom-blasters at their hips spraying fire in the general direction of the Stormtroopers. This might work! Tryonn could feel his freedom in his bones. Their sudden charge had probably stumped the Stormtroopers, or forced them into cover as there wasn't much return fire. They had almost made it to the shuttle when suddenly bright angry red bolts poured out from behind them, and Tryonn saw as multiple bolts slammed into Ky'rin's back as he crumpled to the ground. Tryonn didn't need to call out, Ky'rin was dead. Even if he was still alive there was no way he would make it to that shuttle, even with Tryonn's help, and Tryonn knew if he helped him, he'd die too. Now he knew why the firing had stopped, there were Stormtroopers behind him that the ones in front of him hadn't wanted to hit, so they had just taken cover and were gonna let the soldiers flanking him take him out./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He was suddenly onboard the shuttle, and hitting the button to shut the hatch behind him, running straight for the cockpit he dropped his E-11 to get situated behind the pilots seat and quickly powered up the ship. It was warming up and although it wasn't about to move in the next ten seconds, it would be out in less than a minute and the reinforced durasteel hull plating would prevent the blasterfire from doing any real damage, maybe some scorch marks, but that was all./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Indicator lights on the onboard computer blinked green, notifying him that he was ready for lift off. Okay, let's not fail now Tryonn, mess this up you really are dead this time. He pulled the shuttle off the ground and aimed the nose towards the exit, and that's when he saw the blast doors were starting to close. Lambda-class shuttles were not exactly known for their speed or handling, and this would be a close one. Tryonn dumped all spare power into the deflector shields, with the rest into the engines as he tried to beat the closing blast doors, for the second time in less than a year. I really need to think about the kriffing blast doors before I decide to just fly on out of somewhere, this is number two, third time, I'll be killed. And it nearly killed him then. He managed to get through, sort of. The doors closed on the back end of the starship as it exited the hanger sending him into an uncontrolled spiral. Luckily he wasn't loosing altitude too fast, and the prison was quite elevated meaning he would have time to correct, he hoped, the urban sprawl of Eriadu was fast filling his viewport. He routed some power to the ion engines to give his sublight drives a quick burst of power then pulled up on the yoke and fired his stabilizing thrusters to right the ship and send it into a steep climb. He could hear Imperial comm chatter coming through the channel he had onboard the shuttle, but he ignored it, he was getting out of here. He had no time to input coordinates for a hyperspace jump to Tatooine, so he did the only thing he could think of, cleared the ship for it's last known jump. Now, as soon as he was out of the planets gravitational pull he would instantly jump to hyperspace, and end up who knows where./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"There were fighters screaming after him, he knew that, and remembered he had an aft laser cannon. Shifting power from the forward to aft laser cannons he was able to up their power by a bit as well as increase the fire rate, and he let loose a stream of bright green bolts back at his pursuers. He doubted it would stop them, but sensors showed that somehow, he had turned a TIE fighter into a blazing wreckage. As if his luck would never run out, the careening TIE fighter smashed into a TIE Interceptor that was chasing after him as well, sending them both spinning to their deaths. Just a little longer now. There were ships approaching from the front now too, and Tryonn knew he wouldn't be able to scare them off with some laser cannons, so he dumped all available power into his deflector shields once again and pulled upwards, going for another steep climb, hoping to stay just above his pursuers. Laser cannon fire slammed into his ship, getting absorbed into the deflector shields but ratting the starship so hard that his teeth rattled and he bit his tongue, hard enough to draw blood, which sprayed onto the onboard computer as he spat out a curse./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Then there was that ding, that peaceful ding, that meant hyperspace ready. He punched it and once again slipped into another dimension of space as laser cannon fire trailed behind him. He hoped it would be the last time he ever entered hyperspace like that again, last time it had nearly killed him, this time it probably would too, and his luck would run out, no one was that lucky, not even a young smuggler with nothing to lose. However, knowing him, this would not be the last time something like this happened. No, most definitely not. He checked the destination that he was set on and his heart sank. It was Garnib, an Imperial slave world. I'll just quickly re-jump to a world with a Shadowport or something, scrap the ship, get a new one. Without credits getting a new ship might be hard, but then again, he was getting good at stealing the kriffing things./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"With a minute to finally relax for a second, Tryonn took a look at his feet. The wraps-now dry-had held up well, his feet were fine. They hadn't been on the heated floor for long it seemed. Either that or it had never been heated to a hundred degrees. Ky'rin never told him how he'd learned that. That escape had, in a sense been too easy. Or he had just got very, very, lucky. I was a lot luckier than Ky'rin. The thought sobered him. Yes he had been a little on edge about Ky'rin, but the Twi'lek had been the one with the initial plan for escaping. He was the reason Tryonn was where he was now. He wished then he'd never yelled at Ky'rin, yes the Twi'lek had been messing with his head, worrying him he would end up back in interrogation but it had all been for the escape. We would have become friends, if he had made it. We had plans, go to Tatooine, lay low, start an operation there. Now he's gone. It bothered Tryonn quite a bit. He also couldn't understand how come he hadn't been cut down as well. Ky'rin was in front of me, he was a longer shot to take, how is it they completely missed me? Especially after Ky'rin was killed? He'd never understand it, and in the back of his mind he would always wonder if somehow, Ky'rin had sacrificed himself so that Tryonn might live./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"Chapter Five/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"17 B.B.Y./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn heard the dinging, letting him know he was about to drop back into realspace. And seconds later, he did. Garnib was an icy world, with oceans, ice, oceans and more ice. It had two enormous polar ice caps, one north and one south, separated by an ocean which was dotted with small snowy islands. He had to jump quickly, before his ID was tagged and the ship was recognized as stolen from an Imperial prison./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"At first he'd thought maybe he should go to a Shadowport but then decided that anywhere he would normally go was probably the last place he should go, Shadowports included. He decided to head for Tatooine, like he originally planned. He was a smuggler, he had some contacts on Tatooine he could get into touch with who would probably be able to give him some type of work, although he would still need a starship, and a way to reduce the one he was flying into nothing short of charred durasteel. I need explosives. I really should have been a bounty hunter, more lucrative I'm sure, maybe more dangerous, but I'd at least be better prepared for this if I had decided to take up bounty hunting instead. Tryonn was really never sure why he hadn't been a bounty hunter. Maybe it was the fact that sometimes, you hunted someone you didn't want to hunt. Although one could argue that sometimes a smuggler carried cargo he didn't really want to carry. It all depended on if the price was right. Yeah, right now I'd do just about anything, fierfek anything to be able to get my hands on some credits. I'm out two hundred thousand credits, and down a ship I just spent a fortune on, not to mention my blasters and fancy Stokhli. Tryonn sighed aloud. Life was getting rough./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Punching in the coordinates for Tatooine he wondered briefly if maybe he should make the jump to Geonosis first, then approach Tatooine on his sublight drives just to make sure there were no Imperial starships in the area. He was sure there wouldn't be but he was done taking unnecessary risks to accomplish his goals faster. It was time to play things smart. Yeah, play things smart, see if that keeps the Empire off my back for a while. He wondered how wanted he was, and if his face was plastered all over the Holonet with a huge bounty out for him. Fierfek I hope not, if the bounty is big enough and that crazy Mandalorian bounty hunter Fett hears about it I'll end up back where I was before, or dead. He could change his appearance easily enough, that wouldn't be an issue. His hair had always been a bit on the long side his entire life, and he wasn't anything special. Just an average height, average weight, average looking face with brown eyes and plain features. Yeah, if I watch my back, keep my head down, don't do anything too crazy, and dye my hair, cut it too of course, maybe get a scar or two. That would work. Most people weren't crazy enough to give themselves scars but Tryonn could feel himself fast approaching that point. Not to mention my scars. I'll need to keep my legs covered. Thankfully his hair had grown back over where the scars the back of his head were, so those were no longer visible. Or he could fake his own death. That usually worked. Usually I'm not concerned about Fett though. Leave behind something genetic for a forensics specialist to look at. Maybe he could just crash the shuttle straight into a planets surface. Get into the onboard computer, create the idea that there had been an engine error, or some type of malfunction. Maybe ship damage that ended up being fatal in the end. The problem was the actual crashing, he wanted to live, not go down with the starship. Maybe I'll hire a droid./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Deciding then that he'd been thinking a bit too long, Tryonn sighed, cleared the coordinates for Tatooine and input the ones for Geonosis. Play it smart. The stars in his viewport streaked once again, and this time, he entered hyperspace peacefully./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"***/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Where are the Jedi?" Ky'rin asked him. He loomed in front of Tryonn, the red in his skin seeming to pulsate./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""I don't know.." Tryonn whimpered. Why was Ky'rin torturing him. He was dead, he had died escaping. How come Tryonn was back in the interrogation room?/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Lies," Ky'rin said. "I can sense you are lying, I am a Sith." He smiled./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"A Sith? Tryonn was lost. Ky'rin snapped his fingers and the red photoreceptor appeared again. No, no no, not that, anything but that. Ky'rin was still smiling. "Ky'rin! Stop!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Where are the Jedi?" Ky'rin tapped his finger on Tryonn's face. It made a dinging sound. Ding, ding, ding. The photoreceptor was closer now, soon he would be in a world of pain. Ding, ding, ding./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn awoke with a start, almost lurching to his feet in the pilots chair, sweat running from him. It was a dream. Tryonn looked up and got another shock. He had been so deep in sleep he had missed his navicomputer going off to warn him he was about to drop out of hyperspace, and now Geonosis loomed in his viewport. Oh, and those rings, those asteroids. Fierfek, I'm in deep./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He was coming up on them really fast, just hopefully not too fast. His hands flew-even as shaken as he was-adrenaline and experience took over as he dumped all power to his engines and reversed their thrust, then he thrust redirected upwards, and cut the power to his engines. He was now, essentially, floating in space a few kilometers above one of the most deadly asteroid rings in the galaxy. That was close. And I'm supposed to be playing it smart./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Suddenly a red indicator light flashed on his screen, alerting him something was wrong, what that something was, he was about to find out. He reached out, pressing the indicator to acknowledge that he saw it and brought up a diagram of the ship on the screen to help him figure out exactly what was wrong. Times like these and he didn't regret a single second he spent in that seedy Nar Shaddaa spaceport. Times like those, prepared him for times like these./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He zoomed in on the engine compartment of the ship, which was flashing red indicating that was the problem. He hoped it wasn't the kriffing hyperdrive, repairing a broken hyperdrive could be very costly, and although he had never planned on taking a hyperspace route directly to Tatooine, he would rather not be a sitting bantha if the Empire showed up to reclaim it's stolen vessel, and it's escaped prisoner. I must have them ticked. I killed an Imperial officer. The Stormtroopers, whatever, they have plenty, but that officer. He didn't like it, not one bit./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"There was something else he wasn't liking one bit. He had been so close to the asteroid ring that when he reversed thrusters he had pulled the smallest of space rocks into one of his sublight drives, and it had caused a bit of damage. It looked like it had managed to hit one of the local power cells in the ion engine, decreasing the power output of his right sublight drive by about 25%. That meant, in order to fly straight, and not like a spinning top, he had to cut his power to the other sublight drive by 25%, which reduced his atmospheric top speed by two hundred twelve kilometers an hour for a maximum top speed of six hundred thirty eight instead of the regular eight hundred fifty. Not to mention his realspace speed had been reduced from fifty megalight to thirty seven megalight. So it will take me a little over a full day of travel to get there now, instead of just under a day. I guess I could divert power to my engines, but then I'd need to cut them again if I encounter trouble. The nice thing about ion engines was they could draw power from the ships own power if necessary, and not just off the local power cells in the engine. So, I do that, boost my speed, make it to Tatooine in under a day. But then I'll be a sitting bantha if I come in contact with Imperials while power re-routes and then I'll be a slow bantha. As if banthas understood the concept of speed.. There was no use moping though so he set course for Tatooine, turned the ship to auto-pilot, set the sensors to maximum range, and had his onboard computer do comm scans for anything mentioning Jeb Arcaus. Then he stretched and got out of the pilots seat to explore the ship and try to find food. I won't find schutta, but I should at least try./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn made his way out of cockpit and into the passenger area and rummaged around, trying to find something to eat. It didn't surprise him that he found nothing. The place was stark clean, and startlingly empty. It was like it had never been used. He checked the first of two storage lockers, just some spare Stormtrooper armor, two complete sets lay stacked neatly in the locker, complete with body gloves. Tryonn closed the locker and moved on to the next one. That carried exactly what the previous had. Frustrated he moved towards the back of the starship where a promising looking storage locker stood. This one though, was locked, there was a control panel and it would require a passcode. Well, there must be something in here that is of some value. He sat for a minute trying to think of the best way to override the locking mechanism. His gaze slid to the E-11 he had dropped in his rush for the cockpit. Frying the lock wouldn't open it though, he knew that./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn sat stumped for a minute. He didn't have any tools like a false eye or a false touch readily available to him to try and get past the lock without trying to crack the passcode. Taking a closer look at the lock he noticed something, on the display screen there was a little indentation, it wasn't much, and he wouldn't have noticed if his shadow hadn't made it show up when he moved his head just a bit, but now he could see it clearly. He had thought it odd that the screen was just blue, making him at first wish for the false eye or false touch. Now, he had another idea. He remembered how the Stormtrooper at the prison on Eriadu had used his gauntlet datapad to open up his cells security shield, so maybe, just maybe./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn made his way back to the first of the two lockers he had tried-not like it mattered which one he hit-and grabbed the gauntlet that had the datapad on it from the storage rack. Bringing it back to the display he pressed the gauntlet datapad into the control panel-it must have been that, not a display screen-and waited expectantly. Nothing happened. Frustrated he tried different angles, still nothing. Okay, obviously I'm missing something here. Maybe I need to link up the datapad to the HUD on the Stormtrooper armor, but if that's the case I don't know how. Well, he could always put the helmet on and just see what happened. He had no idea how to work this Stormtrooper gear, it was a world above him it seemed, but he decided to give it a go, no harm done. Walking back to the storage locker yet again he this time retrieved one of the helmets and turned it over to look inside. Nothing spectacular, it looked pretty ordinary. So is there a switch? Or do I just put it on? Well, there was no harm in trying so he put the helmet on not quite sure what to expect./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"It was nothing special and he was a bit disappointed, there were to data read-outs or anything of the sort, just a view through a helmet. It was like looking through transparisteel. Nothing special. Tryonn sighed and took the helmet off. Obviously he would not be getting this to work. He decided to give one last shot to getting those doors open by going back up to the cockpit to see if he could unlock it from there./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Climbing back into the pilots seat he tried to get into the ships computer, and was frustrated to see he needed a security clearance to open the door. That's that, I've got what I've got. He needed a plan for what to do when he landed, and where to land. Pulling up a map of Tatooines surface Tryonn took a minute to study it. The inhabited part of Tatooine was split into three major areas, the Western Dune Sea, the Jundland Wastes, and the Eastern Dune Sea, with settlements scattered throughout./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"It was then that Tryonn was struck by the enormity of his challenge. He had no food, water was only available from the 'fresher onboard, but he had nothing to carry it in and he had no transportation. Not to mention there was always the risk he would be caught and killed in one of Tatooine's deadly sandstorms. His only real hope was to find a moisture farmer and see if they would let him stay the night. Finding one would not be too difficult. Moisture vaporators were pretty easy to spot and usually not far from a moisture farmers home. I'll also need something for my feet, I guess I'll use the Stormtrooper boots. I can wrap my feet in the pillowcase if they are too big or uncomfortable. Explaining why he had Stormtrooper boots on to a moisture farmer could be an issue though. I could just take them hostage, but then I draw attention to myself. Maybe I'll just wear the wraps, but is that even believable that I walked that way wearing nothing but a pillowcase? And how do I explain why that's on my feet. They will know it's not some type of cultural footwear. Fierfek maybe I'll kill them./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He had to solve one problem at a time though, so he decided first he needed to look for a safe place to land. He planned on going into a settlement and trying to find someway to destroy his ship. He didn't know exactly how he was going to accomplish that, but he had a feeling if he found the right character he could get it handled. Maybe I'll find someone with a starship. This meant he had to land relatively close, but also behind tall rock outcroppings so that his ship would not be spotted./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He immediately excluded the Jundland Wastes, it was too close to settlements and his starship might be spotted. Ideally he wanted to land in the Northern Dune Sea. He could see that he would be able to land pretty close to settlements if he came low to the ground farther out in the Northern Dune Sea and then flew in and landed behind some of the rock formations, however he'd heard Jabba's Palace was in the Northern Dune Sea and he thought it possible Jabba had starship scanners, and although Jabba would most likely not turn him in, if his bounty stretched far enough maybe one of Jabba's lackeys would./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The Western Dune Sea is where Tryonn finally decided to land. He would land Southwest of Anchorhead and head there on foot. It was a one hundred and fifty six kilometer journey, and on foot he expected that would take about twenty four hours of solid walking. That wasn't too bad, considering the distance it could have been, but the issue was that it would be about fifty six or sixty four kilometers before he had a good chance of encountering any moisture farmers. That meant he'd have to walk for close to ten hours before he could really rest./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"This was looking to be like an impossible task. Maybe if I find someway to store water I could make it. I could soak my clothes in water before I go, drink as much as I can, and then suck water from my clothes as I walk. It seemed rather ridiculous but he didn't know what else he could do. Unless... An idea struck him. He had heard someone once talking about how they had sold a Jawa a landspeeder who's engines were shot because they wanted to scrap it for parts. It was possible that the Jawas would have a speeder Tryonn could convince them to make work for him. That could take serious work though. Jawas were tricky negotiators and would try and pull one on you if they could. I could fly low, and try and look for a sandcrawler. Maybe they will have a landspeeder. I might have to steal it though, or I could let them scrap this ship./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Really though, he needed to get rid of the ship entirely. Jawas would good work on his ship, but some stuff would be left behind, and if that happened there was always a risk. Although if he came back and it was mostly gone, destroying it would be a lot easier. Still, the shuttle was huge and Tryonn doubted that the Jawas would take enough of it to make the job easier. Plus, flying around would be risky, even if it was low to the ground. He was already risking it landing as close to settlements as he was, but he didn't have transportation allowing him to land further out./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"If only I could get that storage locker open, I bet there's a speeder in there. A military grade speeder could still draw attention but he could get it closer to a settlement than the starship. Tryonn decided to just stick with his original plan. It wasn't the best, certainly not, and it relied on him finding a moisture farmer, but it was the best plan he had. Now all he had to do was get to Tatooine and put it into action./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"Chapter Six/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"17 B.B.Y./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tatooine was slowly becoming visible through the viewport in the starship, and the scanners had not picked up any other ships in the area, so Tryonn proceeded forward, confident that he would be okay. As he got closer to Tatooine and got ready to break into it's atmosphere Tryonn checked his map of Tatooines surface and linked it to his ship so that it would show-relatively-where he would end up if he kept on his current course. Not wanted to be spotted breaking the atmosphere Tryonn decided that he would enter from the southern pole and then, once lower to the ground break northwest for the Western Dune Sea./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Angling his nose downwards, Tryonn began his descent. The twin suns of Tatooine scorched the planets surface, it's sandy red brown color making it look like the suns were literally baking the planet. There were rock formations sticking forty or fifty meters plus into the air, some cracked and broken, like the planet was slowly splitting apart. Checking his navigation console to make sure he was still on the right track Tryonn scanned the atmosphere for other ships, hoping that if he saw any, they wouldn't spot him./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Then, through the viewport, just south of where he had intended to land, he saw what looked like a Jawa sandcrawler. Well, it must be, there's nothing on Tatooine quite that big. He stuck on course for it and as he got closer he was able to confirm it was indeed a sandcrawler. The enormous boarding ramp was lowered and Tryonn assumed Jawas were out and about, although he couldn't quite see yet, the creatures were quite small./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn decided to land towards the front of the sandcrawler but back far enough so that he could take off again if necessary without first having to reverse thrusters. As soon as he landed he noticed the Jawas all looking is way, a couple started moving towards his ship then stopped as if waiting. Tryonn wrapped his feet in the pillowcase again and made for the storage locker with the Stormtrooper armor. Grabbing a pair of the boots he put them on his feet and was surprised at how well they fit. Then he grabbed his E-11 and checked it's charge level, just to be sure, before he disembarked./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He opened the hatch and clambered out walking towards the Jawas that had moved forwards just a bit. It looked like it might have been a camp but he couldn't be sure. There were some droids about as well as even smaller Jawas that Tryonn assumed were children. He must have made quite the spectacle. White shirt and pants with holes, Stormtrooper boots and an E-11. He hoped he didn't scare them off. What really struck him was the enormity of the sandcrawler. He probably would have been about half the height of one of the treads if he had gotten close and stood next to it. And the inner workings. It looked almost like a factory. Tryonn couldn't see too well but he could definitely see some sort of salvage arm. It had three prongs and looked like it could extend outwards and down. There were pipes and coolant valves running throughout, blinking lights, and lots of scrap and droids./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"As he got closer one of the Jawas called out to him-or so he assumed "Utinni!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Not knowing what that meant, Tryonn just shrugged and kept moving closer. They have to have some type of translator droid, not many people speak Jawaese. Soon a few more Jawas walked up to the original two that had walked forwards a bit, and he could see a silver 3PO protocol droid ambling its way up as well. Oh good, it can translate./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He was close enough now that they could talk and the Jawa turned to the 3PO droid and rambled something so quickly Tryonn couldn't understand a word he said, then the 3PO droid looked at him and said, "He wants to know why you landed here."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Better just give it a shot, he thought. "I want to buy a speeder, one that works."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"More rambling. "No buying, we only do rentals."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Okay, a rental, I could use that, but I'd rather own one. "I have a deal, my ship, for a speeder."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The Jawas seemed to almost start bouncing up and down, and he saw more than one look towards his starship. It looked like his deal would work./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The 3PO unit beckoned to him and said, "come, they will show you what they have."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Feeling good for the first time in a while, Tryonn followed the droid and Jawas, eager to see what awaited him. What he saw was nothing special, in fact, the three speeders they had brought out all looked like they were in need of a lot of repair work, either that or they had been repaired using scraps that were barely functional. Looking at them he saw now he had the choice of a G-17 open cockpit landspeeder, an X-X closed cockpit landspeeder, and a V-24 that was supposed to be a closed cockpit, but the transparisteel on it was gone./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The X-X looked like it was the least damaged of the three, and so Tryonn pointed at it and asked, "can I try that one out?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""No," the 3PO droid said. "You only get to look. Then you can pick one."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn was exasperated but he wasted no time and simply said, "fine, I'll take the X-X"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The Jawas quickly brought him the landspeeder and so with nothing let to do he climbed on in and shut the cockpit, cutting off the droid thanking him for his business. The cockpit was relatively small, with a readout computer for the landspeeder's engines and components as well as a small navicomputer with an up-to-date map of Tatooine's surface. Not bad for something from some Jawas. Tryonn plotted a course and headed off towards Anchorage./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"At a top speed of three hundred ninety kilometers and hour he could reach Anchorhead in about twenty four minutes, however this X-X was a little slower. He topped out at two hundred and five kilometers-although it said it could handle three hundred and ninety-an hour making his journey jump from an average of twenty four minutes to an average of forty six./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"During his flight he thought of what he would do in Anchorage, it was still day, although the suns were starting to set, and he knew he looked ridiculous. Jawas might not see it, but others would notice his Stormtrooper blaster rifle and boots. If he hadn't been hiding from the Imperials he would have said he was a stranded trooper, but he didn't want any word of that to get out-like he thought it may-and attract unwanted Imperial attention./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"I'm going to have to rob something, or someone. I need different clothes. I don't want to rob a store, and if I rob someone I can't let them walk free. He'd have to kill them. Tryonn was surprised at how little that bothered him. Break some laws, that was fine, kill people attacking him, he could do that too, but taking another life in cold blood, he'd never done that before, even back on Tranthellix, he hadn't killed the medics. He'd changed though, he cared less for others now, he just wanted to survive. Everything he'd had had been taken from him, he'd take from someone else if he needed to, kill them too./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"I'll have to do it at night, so I should probably get close enough to see Anchorhead on the horizon, then wait until dark. That was a solid plan, he knew. He could approach at dark, leave his landspeeder on the outskirts of the settlement and then sneak his way in. If he did well, no one would see him enter or leave./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He kept pressing forwards, and then cursed, startled as something slammed into his speeder sending it spinning out of control. He stopped the spin and halted, looking around. He was in a rather narrow ravine with small ledges running along the side of it here and there. The ledges weren't high off the ground and he could have climbed up to one if he wanted to. He heard a crack and then his speeder was hit again./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"I'm being ambushed, he thought. Scanning the ledges quickly he saw one in front of him to the right that had a brown head peaking over topped, it looked like the person had wrapped their face in something, and then it hit him, they were Tusken Raiders. Tryonn reacted quickly, reversing thrusters and backing his speeder against the rocks behind him, he then turned it diagonally to provide cover and popped the hatch, quickly getting out and taking cover behind his vehicle, E-11 in hand./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn had no idea how many there were, he assumed at least two as Tusken Raiders did like to travel in groups. More shots rang out, four or five in quick succession, some landed in front of his landspeeder, a couple smashed into the rocks behind him, knocking its loose and kicking dust into the air. Tryonn popped up and quickly returned fire, blaster bolts cutting through the air. Then he popped back down again. Checking his charge, he noted with some dismay he only had a hundred and fifty shots left, out of his starting number of five hundred./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"More shots rang out and a couple hit his landspeeder this time. If this kriffing thing breaks I'll find one of their camps and slaughter their children. He wasn't joking, and it surprised him. He returned fire again and must have hit because he heard screams and shouts. Using that opportunity to let of more shots he fired a stead stream in their direction until he was down to a hundred shots. He took cover again and waited, nothing. Maybe they're waiting for me to stick my head up./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He waited for a while, still nothing. He was getting impatient but didn't think he'd killed them all. Maybe they fled. He waited a bit longer than gave up and stuck his head around the corner of the landspeeder. Nothing. Carefully he approached the ledge the Tusken Raiders had been perched on, blaster rifle ready./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He needn't have worried, as he hoisted himself up onto the ledge he saw two dead Tusken Raider bodies, both with slugthrowers similar to the Czerka 6-2Aug2. But what Tryonn was really interested in were the robes. They looked just like any other, and Tryonn quickly took a set from one of the dead bodies. Underneath the robes they were wrapped tightly in more cloth, not an inch of skin exposed, and for that Tryonn was thankful as he piled his old prison clothes together and threw on their robes. I'll still need something for my feet though. These robes do cover my boots but I don't want to risk it./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Heading back to his landspeeder Tryonn quickly inspected it for damage, seeing nothing obvious except a couple dings and scrapes that could have been there from before he got back in and checked the read-out. Everything was green, he was fine./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"It wasn't much longer until he could see Anchorhead off in the distance and since the suns hadn't set yet Tryonn looked for a good place to sit and wait where he wouldn't be spotted by other potential travelers. There wasn't really a good spot that would conceal him him multiple angles, so Tryonn made his way to a small rock formation sticking up out of the ground and pulled his landspeeder up next to it. If he kept an eye out and hugged the rock formation he would probably be able to get behind whatever side wasn't visible to the incoming vehicle./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The hours passed uneventfully, and Tryonn didn't see anyone come his way. The suns slowly made their way down past the horizon, and as darkness fell Tryonn started the landspeeder up again and headed towards Anchorage. He had debated whether or not to even stop in Anchorage, but decided that he would need to rob someone regardless because he still needed something for his feet. Another blaster would be nice too, this rifle is running low on charge./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"When he was a few hundred meters from Anchorhead itself, he once again stopped his landspeeder and cut the engines. Climbing out he took a quick look around. He didn't see anyone or anything coming in his general direction and hoped his landspeeder would still be there when he got back. I doubt it has an alarm system, not like I would hear it anyways. I shouldn't be long though, maybe an hour./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Making his way quickly towards Anchorhead Tryonn kept his eyes peeled, making sure no one was headed his way on a a speeder of some sort or on foot, he was all clear there. Anchorhead was a small settlement, not nearly as big as Mos Eisley, and Tryonn hoped he would be able to find people out and about, late as it was. He had been coming from the west, but the only entrances to the settlement were south and north, so he skirted the walls to the west, making his way north and then entering into the settlement through a small alleyway that looked largely unused./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Once in the alley Tryonn paused to think. He could hear noise that sounded like a cantina up ahead of him, and as he crept slowly up the alleyway and stuck his head out just ever so slightly to try and get a read for about how many people were about. It didn't appear to be many, maybe ten or twelve that he could see, most heading towards the sound of the cantina, but there was one who stood out. A Twi'lek, blue-skinned and roughly his height, who seemed drunk and on a direct course-or as direct as he could make it-for the alley Tryonn was hiding in./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The male humanoid had two blaster pistols, one strapped to each thigh, although Tryonn couldn't make out what models. He also had boots on, ones that looked like they were made of bantha hide, that was good, those were sturdy./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"This was it. Most other people had departed the street already, with just a few lingering around and chatting. Tryonn waited until the Twi'lek had just turned the alley, then he leapt forwards, grabbing him by the throat with his right hand, mouth and nose with his left./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He swung the Twi'lek up against the wall and pressed as hard as he could, slowly choking the life from him. The Twi'lek's were wide in fear and he struggled to grab at his blaster pistols-and if he was sober he may have succeeded-but Tryonn kept jerking his body every time the Twi'lek got close, messing him up and leaving him no choice but to try and remove Tryonn's hands from his neck and face; which is exactly what Tryonn wanted./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Maybe a minute and a half later, and with Tryonn scared out of his mind that someone would come along and find them there the Twi'lek went limp, his last breath escaping him. Tryonn slowly lowered him to the ground and ran his pockets, checking to see if there was anything of value. There wasn't much, just a couple of peggats, one trugut and four wupiupi. Doing some quick conversions Tryonn calculated that he had roughly ninety two standard galactic credits and was slightly dismayed. Although out here, that might carry me for a day or two. He then grabbed the blaster pistols, holsters too and strapped them to his thighs, as well as removing the boots./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Carrying the boots in his hand, as well as his E-11 he quickly made his way back out of Anchorhead the way he came, snaking around and keeping to the walls he slowly melted away into the night and back towards his speeder./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn was glad to find that there were no Jawas or other scavengers at the site of his landspeeder and he quickly climbed in, shoving the E-11 and boots to the side. It was getting cramped inside and Tryonn decided to find somewhere to bury the boots and E-11 before he made his way to Mos Eisley. Keeping far to the outside of Anchorhead Tryonn kept heading in the direction of Mos Eisley, intending to bury the boots when Anchorhead could no longer be seen behind him. Well, that wasn't so bad, it just had to be a Twi'lek though. Sorry Ky'rin, I had to. He had expected to feel worse, like he'd just done something horrible, but he didn't, he felt nothing, like what he had done was part of his every day job. Should have been a bounty hunter./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"With Anchorhead no longer visible Tryonn halted the landspeeder and hopped out, kicking at the ground. It was rock solid, he wouldn't be able to bury anything. Knowing he didn't want to go to Mos Eisley with anything indicative of his past though, he switched his boots to the ones he had stolen, and tried to think of what to do. Well, I could shoot at the boots until they are just little more than piles of melted plastoid. The one hundred shots left in my E-11 ought to do the trick./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He set the boots down then put a bit of distance between them and unloaded. By the time he was done all he had was a charred, indistinguishable pile of rubble. Satisfied that no one would be able to recover that, he took the now empty E-11 back into his landspeeder and got back in. He didn't have a way to dispose of that yet, but he'd think of one as he got closer to Mos Eisley. He also took a quick moment to check his blasters./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"One was a Model 434 heavy blaster pistol, checking the charge Tryonn saw it had a hundred shots meaning it was at full capacity. The other blaster pistol he'd acquired was a DL-18 blaster pistol like he'd had back on Tranthellix, it only had fifty three shots left but that was still better than nothing./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"With everything under control-or as under control as it could be-Tryonn set a course for Mos Eisley which was north of Anchorhead. The small navicomputer onboard the X-X told him that he was about eighty kilometers from Mos Eisley, and if he kept at top speed the entire time it would take him just over twenty three minutes to reach Mos Eisley. Checking his fuel gauge Tryonn saw he was running low on fuel and that he would probably be running out of fuel right about the time he arrived at Mos Eisley. Kriffing Jawas, I should have known to check my fuel gauge./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"That meant the first order of business would be to find a spaceport or fueling station where he could acquire more fuel, then he would need to get his hands on some quality explosives. Explosives, those may be difficult to come by, in fact, I doubt I can get any at all, especially with my lack of currency. It was then that Tryonn thought once more of the locked compartment onboard his ship. I bet there are explosives there, and maybe if I'm lucky I can find a fusioncutter or something to cut through that door with. Then I could blow up the kriffing thing and be done with it. Provided I have enough credits. He cursed the Jawas again./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The real issue was that the Jawas could have already cut through the door and taken the explosives, although he doubted they would because Jawas were more interested in armor plating like durasteel, or other scraps they could use to repair their droids, sandcrawlers and speeders with, not explosives that could potentially blow their sandcrawler and all it carried into the atmosphere. There was always a part to his plan that relied on other beings making a certain decision it seemed and Tryonn made a mental note to try and eliminate as much chance out of any future plans as possible. Although I suppose all plans come down, in the end, to the choices others will make. So the best I can do is have a back-up. I guess if the Jawas took the explosives I could always try and steal some from somewhere, although I don't know how I would manage that. One thing at a time./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"He could see Mos Eisley off in the distance, the spaceport lights shimmering and flickering, guiding starships into the docking bays. Even late into the night Mos Eisley stayed active, starships coming and going frequently, some with illegal cargo. Tryonn watched a freighter lift off into the air and wondered if that particular one carried anything special-like glitterstim. I know I have, many times. Tryonn had been to Tatooine quite often, but only to Mos Eisley, and rarely for very long. He usually received a shipment there, and then left, the exchange taking less than two hours./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn entered through the Outer Curved Street and made a quick stop at a fueling station right inside the entrance, just to the right. He cut his repulsorlift engines and hopped out, scanning the area for whoever was in charge. He was not going to walk away from his landspeeder for even a second. Mos Eisley was notoriously dangerous, as well as being filled with thieves. He didn't have to wait long, a Rodian quickly approached him, wearing an assortment of mismatched clothes with a small hold-out blaster strapped to his left thigh and a vibro-blade strapped to his right thigh. He also had a lump on his left side, underneath his dark orange jacket, and Tryonn assumed it was another blaster of some sort. Some would have thought that was overkill for the owner of a fueling station, but in Mos Eisley, carrying no weapons was a sure fire way to winding up dead./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""I need a fill," Tryonn said motioning to his battered X-X./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The Rodian laughed, "Well okay, but don't come back to me trying to say my fuel is bad if she explodes."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Yeah, count on that. I'd be dead anyways." Oh fierfek, I did nothing to change my facial appearance, although my beard has started to come back. Tryonn was instantly nervous but then relaxed. He would do something about his face tonight, and letting some people see his face wouldn't kill him. There were, as far as Tryonn knew, no Imperials on Tatooine. Although that could change if they think I will head here./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Right, that's one trugut."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Here," Tryonn handed the Rodian the one trugut he had and let him connect the fuel line to his X-X and fill the tank./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"As he waited Tryonn tried to remember where a The Mos Eisley Inn was. He had stayed there once before when a shipment had been delayed. It was very cheap and not many ventured there, although bounty hunters possibly could. That was something Tryonn relied on, that bounty hunters would be coming to Tatooine to look for him, if anyone did. The Empire he knew would steer clear of Tatooine, and wouldn't dedicate many resources to finding him. Instead they would throw a large of sum of credits on his head and wait for someone to bring him back to them. He wondered if his bounty was for dead, alive, or both./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn had taken extreme care to make sure there was nothing relating him to his formerly imprisoned self that a bounty hunter might be able to use to track him. What he was truly worried about was his ship. Blowing it up had seemed a good idea at the time, but he realized that an experienced hunter would be able to track him based on the remains, as it would leave behind explosive residue. I could hope for a sandstorm. No, he was done with things that relied entirely on chance, he needed a better plan. Maybe I should just go back and see what the Jawas have done with it, take things from there./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Hey!" the Rodian said nudging him and snapping him out of his thoughts. "Your full up, get moving."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn hopped back into his X-X and and pulled out into the Outer Curved Street. Mos Eisley had plenty of denizens still on the streets and Tryonn had to carefully navigate to avoid them. To the left he could see a Pacithhip arguing with a tall Er'kit, over what he couldn't tell. There were womp rats running throughout side alleys and scavenging for food in the trash that littered the streets. Jawas haggled with a couple of Ithorians over the price of a pair of astromech droids they were trying to sell, a ronto waiting patiently nearby. How Jawas ever managed to tame those, I will never know. Although I have heard they are easy to train./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Following the Outer Curved Street to where it intersected with Spacers Row Tryonn quickly turned and began scanning for the Mos Eisley Inn. I'm almost positive that it's on Spacers Row. Just past the intersection of Paradise Road if I remember correctly. He had: The third building to the right was the Mos Eisley Inn, looking as run down as ever, although that wasn't saying much as quite a few of the buildings in Mos Eisley were in quite a state of disrepair./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Pulling his landspeeder around to the back of the building, he found an alcove to conceal the it and then made his way to the entrance to the Mos Eisley Inn. Tryonn had not realized just how tired, hungry and thirsty he was until the prospect of sleep and a meal came within sight. He knew that the food was nothing to be too excited for, he wasn't even quite sure as to what it had been the last time he ate here./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Ducking to step inside the low archway Tryonn gave his eyes a few seconds to adjust to the dim lighting inside. Dim was an understatement. It was practically night. The only lights came from a glowlamp positioned by a door to the back that Tryonn knew led to the rooms, and two more glowlamps by the bar. Well my face will be well hidden, that's something at least. The room itself was small, rectangular and barren, with no tables or seats except for the chairs at the bar./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn approached the Bith behind the counter-the only other sentient present-and said "Water and something to eat."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Food?" the Bith seemed surprised./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Yeah, food."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""What type?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""What have you got?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Womp rat stew, roasted gorg-"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Roasted gorg, water."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Twelve wupiupi,"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""And I need a room for the night."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Okay, that's a trugut then."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn reached into his robes pocket and pulled out one of his peggats. "Can I get two truguts and sixteen wupiupi back?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Yeah," said the Bith grudgingly, and he handed him his change. "Your room is the first door on the left after you enter through that door." The Bith pointed towards the only other door in the establishment and Tryonn just nodded. Then the Bith grabbed a cup, filled it with water and slid it over to Tryonn before turning and making his way to the other side of the bar to prepare his food./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn sat sipping slowly on his water, enjoying the taste and trying to think of what his next move was. Ky'rin would have known, he always had at least an idea of what to do next. But he's gone, and you've always worked alone, so now's not the time to start wishing you had help. The real question for him was what to do for credits. He was running low and would need to acquire more somehow. His first thought was to try and find some sort of work on Tatooine smuggling contraband locally, but he had to stop and reconsider. That could draw unwanted Imperial attention, although if I keep it on world I should be fine. His main concern was bounty hunters but Tryonn was confident he could disappear. Tonight I'll do something for my appearance, get rid of this hair, my kriffing pinky though, that's not coming back. Tryonn knew that if a bounty hunter wanted to find him, he would be able to find him, regardless of what he did for his appearance. I'm condemned to a life of looking over my shoulder, I always have to be ready to run./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"The Bith laid his food down in front of him, the smell almost making him gag. The food has not improved. The Bith must have noticed because he laughed and asked, "are you from around here?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""No, but I've passed through before, this time, maybe it will be more permanent."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Running from something?" the Bith asked./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn got nervous but quickly calmed himself. He can't know. "No, looking for work," there was no harm in telling him that./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""What kind of work?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Well good question. He didn't think he would last long in a regular job, so he just asked, "what do you mean?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""You really must be new here. There is work to be had, if you know where to look. Work that pays well, and without the Imperials sniffing about."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""What do you mean?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""There's a human that runs an inn just down from here, called the Mos Eisley Haven," he snorted. "It's no better than this dump, I don't know why he gets the business. Regardless, he's taking my business, my costumers, and newer ones go to him over me, even though he's farther down Spacers Row."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Maybe it's the name?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Yeah right, anyone with half a brain know nothing here is a haven from the streets of Mos Eisley."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""So why are you telling me this?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Well, you seem like a man who could use some credits, real credits, not the currency used here."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Yeah, and you have that? Because I have to ask, if you do why does it matter that he takes your business?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Let me worry about that, but let's just say, if he were to end up...disposed of, there would be a good sum of credits available for whoever carried that out. Somewhere along the lines of a thousand credits."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"A thousand isn't much, but here, that could get me places. "And how would you know he's dead?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify""Bring me the security key card to his establishment, it is on him at all times and he would never part with it. Think on it," and with that the Bith turned and left him to his meal./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn finished in silence and when he was done, drained the rest of his water and made his way to his room for the night. I'll sleep on it, and if in the morning I feel like I could pull this off, maybe I will./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"Tryonn found his room and entered, swiping the key card the Bith had given him. The room was small, dirty, and in need of some repairs, but the bed had covers and there weren't rodents that he could see, so Tryonn carefully laid his two blaster pistols by a table next to the bed and closed his eyes to sleep./p