Chapter 22
Stass ran through the canyon, trying to avoid the Vulture droid's scanners as they zipped above her. Laser bolts streamed through the air and thudded into the ground behind her. The heavy R5 memory core bumped awkwardly against her shoulder as she bolted past the rock formations. She had removed the core from her droid when she'd seen the Trade Federation ship drop out of hyperspace above her, hiding the body of the droid amongst her campsite belongings. Ducking into one of the small caves in the wall of the canyon, she sat for a moment to catch her breath. The R5 memory core was a small but extremely dense part of the Astromech droid assembly. The small box contained the entire memories of her droid. It had all the proof she needed to arrest Ziro and prove the holocron was purchased. She silently berated herself for ever landing on this planet. Why had she thought that Sarloc was a good place to land? She should have just continued flying to a Republic controlled planet. Still, the little voice of reason in her head whispered, reminding her that the ship would've blown up if she had continued to fly it. A loud roar came from above her, and a vulture droid zoomed through the gap in the canyon rocks above her. Stass waited another few seconds, then ran into the open, dodging laser fire as it came streaming out of the sky. She had almost made it to the river, which she knew led back to her fighter, when a droid slowed and landed in front of her. Legs swinging from horizontal to vertical, it towered above her. The dome-like 'head' of the droid popped out of its socket, swivelling left and right until it focussed on her. Stass snatched her lightsabre from her belt and ignited the blade, holding it diagonally across her body in a ready position.
A thought popped into her head, one that sounded disturbingly like her Master, "Just remember the Forms, Stass. Motion moves into motion." In truth, Stass had never fought a vulture droid. She had beaten every kind of criminal she had ever come up against, but this was something else. The droids were not only massive, but their blasters could fire at an exceptionally quick rate, spewing forth a tide of red laser fire. The fact that it could change from walking to flying in less than a second only added to the menacing metal monster. The whole scenario was worsened by the fact that another menacing droid landed behind her, blocking the way back into the cover of the canyon. Stass watched both droids closely, a worm of fear in her gut. She felt a sudden, sharp poke in her head, the Force nudging her confidence. The young Jedi Master jumped on instinct, soaring above the droid's head as they fired. Where she had just been standing was a crater, blackened and burning. Stass noticed all this while still in the air. She reached the apex of her jump and landed on the top of the vulture droid's head in front of the canyon. The other vulture targeted her, firing quickly. Stass jumped again as her droid platform exploded in fire. She quickly landed on the other droid's head and slashed down with her blade, melting the droid's circuitry. That was easy enough, she thought.
Looking down at the destruction she caused, she turned and ran through the trees, keeping low to avoid being spotted. The continuous roar of ion engines continued above her. She broke clear of the trees and stopped, pausing on the edge of an abyss. A dangerous collection of cliffs dropped dangerously below her. She could tell by the colour of the water that it would be deep enough to jump into. But she could have sworn that there wasn't a cliff on the map she had on the holodisk. She must have run off course, away from the edge of her map. Suddenly, the sound of engines roaring distracted her. Over twenty dangerous vulture droids were flying towards her, only dots so far, but getting closer by the second. Stass knew she couldn't take that many droids on her own. She also knew there was little chance of finding help on this world. Yet she hesitated. There was something different about the droids coming for her. From a distance, the regular Vulture droid appeared as a H-shaped vehicle, with two arc-shaped curves of metal stuck up horizontally on each side. The metal lump in the centre of the 'H' was the central hub, or head, of the droid, where all the circuits and memory of the droid was kept. At least six of the droids flying towards her appeared to have two hubs instead of classic one hub. She shook her head to clear it, and dove off the cliff, landing with a splash in the river below. She slowly sunk though the water, tendrils floating around her like tentacles. She quickly reached out and began swimming steadily downstream.
Above the dark blue river, the Hyena Bomber Droids, a new innovation for the Trade Federation, flew in a tight formation alongside their Vulture cousins. They made it to the river, and their second nub creaked slightly as the bay doors situated on their bellies opened. Massive cylindrical bombs rained down towards the water below, splashing the river water high into the air like reversed rain. As the bombs sunk below the surface, the lights around the ends of the cylinders flashed once … twice … and a third, final time. Then, as if a giant, invisible fish had broken the surface, the water burst up in a dazzling display of liquid explosion. But as the water splashed and fizzed down into a mixture of white foam and blue liquid, there was no sign of the Jedi.
The Captain of the Trade Federation ship smiled darkly as the droids turned back towards the main ship. In truth, he was relieved. His life was spared, but more importantly, he had won favour with the mysterious Tyrannus. Perhaps a reward was in store for him now. The captain moved to the communication relay, pressing a button on the wall.
"Contact our Employer. I need to tell him about the Jedi's death."
He waited a second, then a blue hologram of the masked man appeared about him. The mask was gone, but a hood was pulled low over the face, obscuring the face, but showing the edges of a greying beard. He spoke now with a very droll accent, "What is it Captain?"
"Tyrannus. I have good news. The Jedi has been blown to smithereens."
A smile played on the lips of the holographic man. "Good work Captain. My Master and I may have work for you in our organisation very soon"
Stass pulled herself out if the water. Stunned from the blast, she had floated downstream for several hours, ending up near her makeshift campsite. Now she lay on her back, cold water dripping from her robes and running across the grassy ground, soaking into the sand and vegetation. She watched as thousands of tiny dots, the Vulture droids, made their way up towards the massive, circular battleship hovering above the planet. A multitude were swarming around the hanger doors, waiting impatiently to land and recharge. She watched as the swarm gradually entered their hive again. Then the final dot flew through the opening and the hanger doors slowly closed. The ship seemed to shudder for a moment, then rushed forward into hyperspace, becoming a blue streak pulsing through the sky. She sighed softly. The hunt was over, finally. And she still had all her fingers. A numbness crept over her right leg and she bent up to study the limb. A massive, sharp piece of stone was wedged in her leg, something she had picked up from the bottom of the river. A groan escaped her lips. This would take some serious pain to get out. She groaned again, this time in anguish, and began to drag herself towards the Delta-7. Grabbing the Med-pack from the rear compartment and pulling herself onto to the wing of her fighter, she brought her leg up and grabbed the rock, preparing to remove it. She hesitated, looking around the ship for a distraction, and noticed the scratches and blast marks in the wings. She groaned again.
"Well, that's another job I don't want to do."
In a tower high above Coruscant, a man impatiently circled, glancing at the holoprojector located on the massive metal desk. Finally, exasperated, he pressed the button on the desk. A loud beep sounded, and the massive, masked figure of his agent appeared in front of him. He spoke now, barely containing the rage in his voice. He begun with what he always said to his student.
"My agent! You have news for me."
"Indeed, My Master. The Trade Federation operative we sent to find Master Allie have reported that she has been destroyed."
The man's lips curled into a smile, "Good. Good! Well done, Tyrannus. It would appear that you have learnt not to show yourself to the rest of the universe, as you seem to love doing."
Tyrannus looked up as his Master. "My Master, I have request."
"Tell me, and I will consider it, my agent.", the man spat out.
"I have worked for you for the past nine years faithfully, my Master.", Tyrannus inclined his head, "I have never asked you for anything before, and I wish to continue serving you. But I cannot continue doing it with the resources I have."
The man sighed deeply, "Your speech is exhausting me, Tyrannus. What is your request?"
"Have I earned my new sabre, Master?", before he could answer, Tyrannus continued, "I believe that Master Allie's Padawan will be able to recognise the sabre I currently call mine. I need to… change it."
The man looked at his apprentice sharply, then thought for a moment. "Very well, Tyrannus. I will grant you this request for this single mission. Once it has been completed, you will return the blade to me until you are ready to wield it. When in and around the Jedi Temple, you must continue to use your original blade. Now, tell me of your progress with Admiral Trench?"
Tyrannus smiled, "Everything is on schedule, My Master. We shall soon be ready to move onto the next phase of our plan."
The hooded figure growled. "Are you forgetting the padawan? Killing his Master may only heighten his need to find you. He may seek revenge, like his Master did when you killed that fool, Keltr Tress."
"Do not worry, My Master.", Tyrannus lowered his head. "I have my most skilled operative hunting him as we speak."