STARWARS : The Late Era: The Voice of the Apparition

7.

It is night, or what passes as such here, with the moons still high in the sky and a translucent darkness everywhere. The city, for the most part, is quiet, and the dominant sound is the pounding of the waves on the shores around it. Zobra and his men – the five Guxuant and the wild droid – speed down to the droid hive. Everything is set. Zobra watches the facility through electrobinoculars as his men take up positions around the entrance.

They wait for the girl. Scanners place her awake, and making her way through the facility, silently, in preparation for work, along with the other slaves. Zobra draws a lock on her location using his triangulating devices. They wait.

When she does come out, the light is just starting to break, and one of the moons is slipping over the horizon. They cut their radio chatter and tense up, preparing for the action. As the girl exits the building, two of the Guxuant start heading across the plaza up front towards her, nonchalantly, the first point of contact.

Zobra watches. He feels something in the Force, someone confusing, something new.

The girl and the Guxuant approach each other. She seems to think nothing of it. They meet – the Guxuant touch her arm and stop her; one of them mutters something she doesn't understand. Then the other Guxuant grabs the girl by the wrist and starts pulling her toward the street, ahead of schedule.

The girl starts to scream. A Guxuant strikes her, giving the plaza an appalling silence. Other slaves point and watch.

Blast it!

Zobra gets up from his vantage point and heads down the street, where he meets a speeder operated by the wild droid. He jumps in and they race off to the plaza.

But when they get to the rendezvous the two Guxuant are empty-handed, and Zobra can see the girl running towards the nearby slums. They follow, but the pedestrian traffic is like soup, and the girl escapes.

"Track her!" Zobra's hand clutches his blaster as he rides in the speeder.

"She appears to be headed to a residential district," says the wild droid, its scanner rotating atop its head.

"Don't lose her!" Zobra commands. "She's priceless!"

The wild droid tilts its head and widens its eye at the bounty hunter, but then turns back to driving, expertly maneuvering the speeder. Such a droid wasn't designed for driving, but the free automaton has probably performed reckless upgrades on itself.

The girl enters the building a few miles north from the droid hive, an apartment complex of low repute, mostly housing semi-free slaves. The Guxuant follow. Meanwhile the wild droid manages through the alien flotsam; enough to impress Zobra, a little.

"What do you want us to do?" his communicator translates over to him.

"Just keep her there!"

"We will. Wait – she's CZRRRKSK!" The radio crumbles into static.

"Do you read?" Zobra asks into the communicator. He gets no reply. He turns to the assassin droid. "Let's go."

They hurry up to the elevator: Zobra, the remaining Guxuant, and the wild droid. When they reach the right floor they can smell laser fire and Zobra swears loudly as they near the apartment.

After one final blast, the silence ensures, and the only thing Zobra can hear is a powerful hum coming from inside the apartment.

The girl steps out through the busted door, turning towards them, holding a red laser sword.

"Shakeete!" says the Guxuant. It's a common word for "Force User." The Guxuant raises his blaster instinctively and throws a couple of shots at the girl without thinking.

The girl bounces them off her laser sword and they come back and strike the Guxuant in the head, blowing a crisp hole through his brains. The Guxuant collapses as the girl stands before them, watching for their next move.

The wild droid whirrs and steps forward, but does not raise its blaster. It clicks, then there is a loud "Pft!" as it shoots out a paralyzing electrodart. But the girl moves at an amazing speed, and dodges it without effort.

"Wait!" says Zobra. "Stop! We're not here to hurt you."

"Who are you," the girl asks, trembling. She has a sharp outer rim accent.

"I am Zobra," he says. "The question is: do you know who you are?"

"I'm just Vemma," the girl says, eyeing him closely. "There's nothing special about me."

"That's where you're wrong," Zobra tells her.

"If you don't stop, I'll kill you," the girl says.

"Don't be naïve. There's no escape for you. I've faced your kind before."

The wild droid takes another step forward, unsheathing a vibrobaton from its arm.

"Tell your droid to stop," Vemma says.

"It's not my droid," Zobra snickers.

The droid steps forward again, inching closer to the girl. The only way out is through them.

Then there's a male's voice behind, risen in terror: "Vemma!"

Zobra turns. There is an old man with a blaster rifle pointed at them. "Just stay right there," the old man stutters, aiming at the droid. "I'll shoot both of you."

"Dantid!" gasps the girl. "Run!"

Zobra turns back to her and considers the heat of the laser sword she is holding. For a moment he is unsure as to what to do. But he spins and fires his blaster at the old man, incinerating his chest and face in laser light.

The girl screams and runs toward Zobra, laser sword high. He's seen her kind before, and she is obviously… untrained. But still –

I'm dead.

Sparks fly; the wild droid jumped in front of the girl's strike, losing an arm in the process. Zobra – dumbfounded – lifts up his left arm where he keeps his tranquilizers, and fires one at the girl. But the Force is with her, and she dodges this as well. With another strike she cuts the wild droid cleanly in half, and then points the laser sword at Zobra.

"Your hate isn't strong enough to stop me," she says.

He nods, agreeing, letting her pass. Watching him out of the corner of her eye, she kneels knelt to the dead man, taking his hand in her own and saying something only they hear.

Then she runs.

Sirens erupt as the girl escapes. Zobra sighs and takes in the mess around him. In a moment of weakness he kicks the dead Guxuant in the face. Afterwards, compassion and curiosity come over him, and he drags what's left of the wild droid with him.