CHAPTER IX: Troublemaking
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Once they group reached the arranged apartment, Grenn gave them a short rundown on their situation before departing, leaving two guards at the door.
"This isn't good," Atton grumbled, tugging at the new jacket uncomfortably. "If they find anything out there, we're going to be in deep shit."
"No duh," Kiray remarked, settling on a bed. Her amber eyes were glinting with worry, but were also planning, calculating. Atton shrugged before adding, "Well, we could hit Nar Shaddaa once we're out of here."
"And you know this from experience?" Atton shrugged with a guilty grin and answered, "Hey, everyone needs to hide in the crowd at some point or another."
"Kreia, what do you think?" Kiray asked, turning to the woman. Kreia's face was etched in a frown as she said, "I sense that we came here for a reason. I must meditate on this."
"Yeah, you go ahead and meditate," Atton stated, wandering towards another one of the open beds, "As for me, I could use some shut-eye."
"No kidding," Kiray remarked, yawning and laying flat on the bed, out like a light. Atton settled also, and fell asleep just as easily while Kreia selected a space in front of the bed farthest from the door and began meditating.
BeeDEE-deep, beep! BeeDEE-deep, beep!
Kiray groaned as she sat up from her invigorating nap, her hair tousled and messy. Atton was snoring louder than he had been in the TSF station, and Kreia had surrendered to her own need for natural sleep and had taken the last bed. Kiray muttered one or two harsh words of Mando'a to herself before getting up, smoothing out her hair, and answering the terminal.
"What?"
"Excuse me?" one of Grenn's TSF guards asked politely, "You have a caller: Moza, from the Ithorian planetary restoration interest. Shall I let him in?"
Kiray checked the time. "Officer, it's three in the morning. If it's urgent, let him in, but if not, ask him to come back later." The officer ducked out of the shot for a moment, reappearing to say, "He says that it will not take much of your time."
"All right, send him in," Kiray conceded, and she stepped away from the terminal and waited a few seconds before the door opened. A tall, hammer-headed Ithorian swayed in, speaking in his native tongue. With the help of the sonic imprint sensor, Kiray was able to follow what he said.
"Are you the Jedi known as Kiray Fett?"
"I am. What's it to you? And how did you know that I was here?"
"My leader, Chodo Habat, sensed you through the Force. A great pain, as he told me. According to him, if you help us, we may be able to help you." Kiray frowned in suspicion, but continued listening to Moza, who suggested that if she help root out Czerka's corruption in trying to get the Ithorians' restoration contracts. Kiray felt it was a good deal, and agreed to meet with Habat once she was released from house arrest. Moza was pleased, and left immediately.
Now maybe I can get some sleep, Kiray thought to herself as she shuffled back to bed, and the next person who calls is going to get a full plate of my a'den. She groaned as she fell asleep again, and rested peacefully.
BeeDEE-deep, beep! BeeDEE-deep, beep!
Kiray growled a few hours later when the terminal called her out of sleep yet again. It was five-thirty in the morning now, and her rage was at its limit. However, it slackened, when Kiray noticed that it was Czerka calling. This oughta be interesting, she thought as she answered.
A protocol droid by the number B4-D4 greeted her cheerily, asking whether he could connect Kiray to the exec, Jana Lorso. More and more intrigued every minute, Kiray agreed, and the picture fuzzed out for a few seconds as she was reconnected, and soon she was face-to-face with Jana Lorso.
Lorso was a woman decorated with Sith-like tattoos. Kiray instantly did not like the look of the woman, and she was more inclined to trust Moza and the Ithorians. Lorso was civil, but Kiray did not like how Lorso put the term of aid as a "job", and refused to work for her, saying, "You know, all I'm hearing is that the Ithorians just want me for my old life, you want to pay me well for going against them. What if I would rather be rewarded just by knowing I helped you strengthen your hold on the RZ's? Your point is not compatible with mine, and that is that!"
Kiray closed the line before Lorso could retort, and as she went back to her bed, Atton mumbled, "You took good care of that gal. She probably would've forced us to work for her if you hadn't said no straight to her face."
"Thanks, Rand. Get me up at noon, would you? I find talking to these people annoying."
"You got it. Just get me at one in the afternoon."
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Kiray was jealous of Kreia, who had gotten a full night of sleep, as well as mad at her for getting her and Atton up at nine-thirty. Grenn appeared at ten, saying that the Hawk's I and D was finished, and they could go reclaim it, T3, and their weaponry. Kiray rubbed at her eyes before turning to Kreia.
"Maybe we should wake her up in the middle of the night, see how she feels in the morning," Atton grumbled, agreed by Kiray, as they made their way to the shuttle that would take them to the entertainment module. Kreia stayed silent as they traveled, and spoke up with a curt, "Perhaps one should remain awake to accept more calls."
Kiray rolled her eyes at that as they deboarded, and she saw a merchant, where she bought a set of Mandalorian battle armor and shoved it at Kreia, who utterly refused, causing Kiray to spin around and resell it for less that she'd paid, rubbing at her already burning temper. Kiray, however, did take the time to buy Atton a new blaster pistol, which he spun expertly as he slid it into his grip. Kiray, Kreia, and Atton then proceeded to help out a hapless Sullustan who had unwittingly picked a fight with a pair of mercenaries, receiving one hundred credits in the process and information on the large numbers of mercenaries Czerka had been hiring before the trio proceeded into the cantina.
To Kiray's taste, the music was terrible, and the dancers were too scantily clad for Atton, and Kreia just downright did not enjoy that they had even entered the bar in the first place. As Kiray got two drinks, a juma juice for Atton and an on-the-rocks Corellian whiskey for herself, a man Kiray had no doubts was Exchange tried to come onto her. He'd been rewarded for his troubles with a stiff punch in the gut and the hard words of a pink-skinned person by the name of Luxa, who forced the guy, Benok, to back off before Kiray was able to get him again. Benok shuffled away from Kiray, and the Mandalorian gave Luxa a nod of thanks before taking the drinks and taking them back to her companions.
"Here's to getting out of the apartment," Atton said cheerily, raising his glass. Kiray chinked it with her own glass, taking a sip while Atton drank down the entire helping of juma with Kreia looking on disapprovingly. Kiray's eyes roved over the patrons, and her attention was nabbed by arguing Republic and Onderonian soldiers. Kiray expanded her senses and quietly listened to their argument.
"Joining the Republic was the worst mistake Talia has ever made!" the Onderonian rumbled, "It has cost Onderon their people, their economy, and the prosperity of Iziz! And has the Republic done anything to help us? Of course not!"
"You make it sound like the Republic forced Onderon into joining and then became a prison colony!" the Republic soldier reasoned, "I can say that Onderon joining has improved the planet a lot! Besides, if Onderon hadn't joined, this station would have a hard time restoring Telos without the wildlife of Dxun."
Dxun. The name of Onderon's nearest habitable moon gave Kiray the shivers up and down her spine. Dxun was where the Mandalorian armies had struck out at the beginning of the wars, and that was where Kiray had truly become a stranger to her people, killing fellow Mandos. And, as she remembered, one of those she had murdered was a Fett. She had killed a clanfriend, someone who had just gotten in her way and probably would have recognized her had they fought hand-to-hand.
"I recommend that we get moving, if you are done," Kreia said uncomfortably, shaking Kiray from her memories. With a silent nod, she left hers and Atton's empty glasses, along with a few credits to settle the tab, and they left, passing through another shuttle bay before reaching the TSF offices. There, Kiray spoke to the droid at the desk to check on getting the Hawk back.
"I regret to inform you that the Ebon Hawk is missing, but the TSF is investigating the situation."
"WHAT!" Kiray and Atton shouted at the same time. The droid tried to shrug apologetically as it explained that the Hawk hadn't even reached the I&D docks, instead transferred to the surface. At this point Atton looked confused.
"I don't get that. Most of Telos's atmosphere is very corrosive. But that droid must've done it! He's probably joyriding through the system right now, laughing at all of us!"
"Come on, Rand, get real," Kiray answered, "He'd be breaking loads of behavior inhibitors to be doing something like that, and you know how hard it is to reprogram those and then give him a memory wipe?"
"Point taken," Atton replied as the droid recommended that they wait for the ship the Republic was sending, which, of course, Kiray was not going to do. Instead, she reclaimed their gear, and once they were well-equipped, they returned to the residential module, hoping that their aid would be welcome news to the Ithorians.
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Of course, their help was readily accepted. Chodo Habat didn't mince words, thankfully, and came right out in asking Kiray to help them get Czerka off of Telos's surface, which she was more than happy to do. Chodo was pleased, even though Kreia was not a great fan of the peaceful aliens, and Habat gave them their first assignment right off the bat.
"A few months ago, the droid we were using for the restoration effort vanished," Chodo explained, "We believe it was stolen, because of the highly advanced circuitry, and my herd has gone to great pains to buy a second, yet lesser, droid to replace it."
"Want me to escort it from the hangar, right?" Kiray asked. She wasn't strictly in her armor; she had taken the cloak off of the Matukai robes and attached it to the armor, as well as putting on black pants instead of the armored legs and boots, lowering the high amount of defense, yet allowing at least some. Habat nodded, and sent them off to Hangar Bay 2 at the dock module 126.
"This seems almost too easy," Kiray commented as they boarded a shuttle to the docks. "I mean, just bringing a droid to the compound ought to be no problem."
"Unless some of Czerka's mercs come after us," Atton groaned, causing Kiray's optimism to fall flat. Silence reigned until they docked, and as Kiray walked towards the bay, two Czerka employees appeared, one a Twi'lek.
"So you're Habat's errand girl," he commented. Kiray's eyes narrowed in suspicion as she answered coldly, "No. I'm just exploring around here. But if Jana Lorso wants me to go and bring her the Ithorians' droid, think again."
"That's too bad," the Twi'lek answered coolly as he entered the turbolift to the now-departing shuttle, "She'd have paid you handsomely for it. You still have a choice." He vanished with his compatriot, and Kiray shook her head.
"Remind me to never listen to an exec officer from any company ever again," she moaned. Both Atton and Kreia, albeit a little reluctantly, agreed before Kiray spoke to the bay's manager. The Ithorian opened the door, and Kiray, followed by Atton close to her right and Kreia far to the left, entered the bay.
"I'm glad you showed up!" a lone TSF guard called when she came closer. "I'm the only man the TSF could spare, but I hope there isn't any –"
"Masters," the new droid interrupted, "I believe we have some visitors." Kiray spun around to see five thugs approaching them.
"This is bound to be fun," she said, giving Kreia a short glance and a quick nod. The old woman gave the Mandalorian Jedi the tiniest of grins before releasing a full blast of lightning that engulfed three of the five. Kiray rapidly sheathed her sword and grabbed the two Mandalorian guns from Juntas's body back on Peragus, and she and Atton fired away at one thug each, dropping them in a few seconds.
"That was almost too close," Atton muttered as he lowered his guns. Kiray slid her own pistols back into her belt and picked up her sword, replying, "Well, I guess it could have been worse."
"Masters, one of them was carrying this," the droid said, shuffling towards Kiray and holding a small hold-out blaster. The TSF guy looked over Atton's shoulder as Kiray examined it. Kiray's eyes were slits as she growled, "Modified, so much so that it has to be illegal. I'll hang onto this until I can get it to Grenn."
"Where will we be going, Master?" the droid asked, cocking its head annoyingly. Kiray turned to it and replied," Ithorian compound, now."
"I'll trust your judgment, Master," the agriculture droid commented, and Kiray was very annoyed at it as they led it out if the hangar and back to the residential module.
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By the way, a'den: rage, wrath.
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