The Eyrie, as Videsse and Boba called it, was an abandoned hive of the bug-like Geonosians; a species that had been exterminated by the Empire almost fifty years earlier. The Eyrie's opening resided on the side of another narrower valley and was large enough for a moderately sized ship like the Falcon to enter. Its broad opening was unusual for the small-statured Geonosians, but Boba had done some explosive excavating to make room for the freighter after he had acquired the ship during the Second Galactic War. He had also installed a holographic emulator to create a rock wall mirage over the entrance, but over the last year, Videsse had stopped replacing its power cells. Thus, the gaping maw of the cave remained unhidden in the faint nocturnal light as Videsse's harvester climbed the incline toward it.
With effort, the harvester crept into the shelter of the Eyrie and exhausted, it came to rest a few meters within the entrance. Dust entered with it and slowly disappeared into the floor like a falling bed sheet before Videsse emerged. The night was finally upon Geonosis, and the reflected light of its celestial rings did nothing to illuminate the cave. Videsse, however, knew her way around it well and walked in the darkness to the eastern wall, lit a display panel and powered the dome lights.
With a flicker, pale blue lights bathed the Eyrie, a few shadowmoths fluttering away into the dark recesses. Like the eskrats, these were another species that had hitched a ride on Videsse's starship from somewhere else in the galaxy. The full atrium was now visible, stretching half of a kilometer deep and wide and over a dozen meters high at places. In the center, a Corellian freighter slept with her companion, a Firespray starship; the Millenium Falcon and Slave-1.
Multiple chambers and passageways were carved into the rear and side walls of the vast red cavern, and Videsse limped her way to the first one a few meters beyond the light panel. There was a communication console and power control unit arranged against the wall of the recess, heavy wires running upward like vines into the rock ceiling.
Videsse quickly turned the communication console on and punched in location codes. A static cloud appeared on the dorsal holographic display.
"Donal," Videsse spoke to the grainy fog. She re-entered location codes for Donal's shop on Nar Shaddaa. "Maybe the dish is down. Come on. Donal, are you there?"
There was no answer. She checked the power display and ran a ping test on the surface communication disk. Everything was working.
"Sod it!" Videsse slammed the display with her fist, fearing the worst for Donal. She immediately regretted hitting the display as she winced at the pain. She shook her hand and held it to her chest. She bit her lip again, and fire reemerged in her eyes. With a purposeful stride, the limp less obvious, she left the commlink chamber, passed a housing chamber and approached a sealed durasteel door.
Videsse unlocked the door with a swipe of her palm on a mounted lock display next to the door and the steel barriers gasped as the seal was broken. It opened from the center horizontally and retracted into the ceiling and floor, leaving just enough lip that Videsse had to step over it. Lights lit automatically.
The room was filled with varying armors and helmets on one side, firearms opposite, and explosives detonators displayed on the far wall. In the middle was a steel chest. This was Videsse's armament. As I have said before, she had no wealth restrictions, and so neither did her weapon's arsenal. On the right wall rested ten carbine rifles, including the FF-89 carbine rifle, a successor of Boba Fett's favorite, though much lighter and more powerful. Next to the rifles were another dozen mid-range blasters common to most infantry units throughout the years, DC-17's and 15's; two-handed blasters that fired ionized plasma rounds. Newer, more predictable models also filled in the gaps, such as the sleek DC-27. Finally, there were six pairs of varying pistols, each small enough to be held in one hand, and each with a matching partner.
On the left wall there stood, like sentinels, four sets of armor. Videsse walked up to the first. It was short silver Mandalorian armor with her mother's red starburst on the shoulder plates. She ran her finger over it. It was too small for her to wear anymore, but she had kept it for sentimental reasons. This was the armor she wore six years earlier when she had been trapped on a pirate ship outside of the Teth system; the first time she had interacted with her mother in eight years. She stared at it for a moment, her green eyes looking a little more glass-like than usual. She let out an almost silent sigh and moved on, passing another set of black Mandalorian armor that she had crafted a few years ago, and then past another red set, until she finally stopped at the last one, the one we had seen her wearing earlier on the streets of Nar Shaddaa. It was obsidian black, the familiar red starburst on its shoulder, but the helmet was the only one that did not have the familiar, Mandalorian, T-shaped view screen.
Videsse began equipping herself with the armored leg brace and worked her leg in with effort. The black plated armor fit snugly over her legs. It was lean but strong, and unlike the other suits, it could deflect plasma bolts-if fired from a distance. Videsse opened a drawer in the central steel chest and removed a small power cell. She inserted it into a side port on her left thigh. The brace emitted metallic clicks at the hip and knee as power fueled the joints. Videsse smoothly raised her lame leg and bent her knee. The armored brace gave strength and fluidity to her leg movements and allowed her to function normally without a limp.
Videsse continued the process of equipping herself; slipping into a synthetic puncture resistant doublet, then her exterior breast armor and shoulder bracers. She carefully examined various gauntlets that hung behind the armor.
"Hmm," she said to herself. Her hands passed over the wrist-dart gauntlets and the gauntlets with the vibroblade sheaths before finding their way to the last pair. She removed one and opened the forearm compartment to evaluate. Two dozen thanatizine-primed midge droids slept in tight rows, waiting to awake and inject the sedative. "These'll do," she said.
Also, arranged on the wall behind the armor, were two jetpacks; the unpredictable and clunky Z-6 jetpack with its powerful concussion missile, and next to it the smooth-lined and compact S3. Videsse opted against either of these and slipped a cross-mounted rifle holster on her back. The FF-89 carbine rifle then found its way into it. However, our heroine did not completely reject the idea of flight, as she covered her feet with rocket-equipped boots, each with an inconspicuous vibroblade sheath on the lateral edge. These boots would give a shorter duration of flight than either jetpack, but with proper use, she could squeeze ten seconds of flight with each charge cartridge.
Videsse was almost finished. Two vibroblades ended up in her boot sheaths. A utility belt equipped with a rear-mounted cloaking device slid around her waist, tracking devices included. Three magno-floating cases of charges (smoke, physical, and ion) and another floating case of boot charges, and power cells were selected. Lastly, she donned her helmet, her blue eye screens charging to life as they helmet attached to the flexible power conduit that traversed her entire outfit.
She slid out of the armory, the floating cases of supplies following her. Turning to another recess she grabbed a few more items, a heated medical bacta-bag and two canisters of bacta.
"I've got six hours of lightspeed to waste, might as well try to heal up a bit," she commented. She was thinking like a bounty hunter again, and it felt good.
Finally, she activated a floating chest of rations and headed to the starships.
It seemed that the Falcon looked on as she approached. She smiled under the helmet as she thought of this ship. She considered it to be her ship since she was the one that had brought it back to life eight years ago. She traced her hand on the underside of the hull that she had repaired.
"I wish I could take you with me, girl," she said to it. "But I can't fly you alone."
Videsse then looked to Slave-1, now decaled red and black. She sighed a breath in frustration. It was not that Slave-1 was not an adequate ship for her purpose; for without question it was more than capable for the exploits of a bounty hunter. However, it brought to Videsse's mind too many memories that she wanted to be free of. This was Boba Fett's ship, the ship he inherited when his father died; the ship that she now inherited from Boba and Terrah. It was the ship that her mother had obtained after she had stolen it; the ship that her mother had equipped with a droid AI fashioned after Boba's speech mannerisms; one of the many modifications she had made.
Videsse dreaded approaching Slave-1. She looked beyond it at a far wall, a carbonite cast of a kidnapper, The Keeper, hung there; the deep brown image clutching to the dismembered head of an assassin droid. It was another reminder of when Boba Fett had rescued her years ago.
"There are too many memories here," she said to herself. "Memories, I can't even leave behind." She looked back to the ship and reluctantly began loading the crates up the ventral ramp.
Once loaded, Videsse took her place in the tight cockpit and started the starship. The droid AI came to life with the flight console.
"What are we hunting today, Videsse?" the droid began.
"Raider, turn yourself off," Videsse said unequivocally. The droid immediately powered down, leaving the ship in Videsse's hands.
"I don't want to put up with your voice," she stated. "I'm gonna do this myself."