Chapter 16: Breakdown

"What is going on? Somebody talk to me?!

Jas arrived on the bridge to find it in chaos, Coop's hands were flying over the control panel; he was checking every instrument they had; meanwhile, Figgy and Tessa continued to shout out reports from their stations, letting the captain know what they were seeing on their panels.

"Main power is offline," The Bith called out, "Navigation and defensive systems are not responding."

"Reserves are functioning," Tessa added, "We still have life support and gravity, but I can't say for how long; trying to raise engineering now."

Coop hissed.

"Pipe it through my terminal; I want to speak with Shusk."

Tessa obeyed as Jas took his seat next to his captain and best friend.

He still could not say what had happened. The Coop's Folly had performed well; it had done everything they required for a ship of its type and size. Randa Halcyon, and her team, had done their job well.

He did not see how such a catastrophic system failure could occur.

Randa was too good of a mechanic to allow for something like this.

It did not make sense.

"Shusk! Report!" Coop called out over the comm system.

"Shusk? Can you hear me?!"

The only response was static.

Coop's eyes narrowed.

"Burr," he called out over the comm again, "Go down to engineering, find out what happened to Shusk."

Again, there was no answer, just static.

Coop looked over at Tessa.

"Are internal comms down too?"

"Not according to my board," she said checking again, "Everything is in the green, but whatever took down main power might have fried our comm system."

Jas frowned as he checked his own monitor.

He saw nothing on his terminal, nothing to suggest what had occurred; why they had lost power.

What had just happened?

"I'll go check on Shusk," Jas offered, "See if he can tell us what is happening."

"Go," Coop replied, "Take Tessa with you, see if you can find any physical damage to the comm system while you are at it."

The young Captain sighed.

"And make sure our guests stay in their quarters, at least until this is over."

Jas nodded and made for the exit hatch, Tessa falling in step behind him.

He could feel the tension in the air, what was happening should not have been happening. The Coop's Folly had fail-safes; at least one of them should have kicked in and prevented main power from shutting down.

So what happened?

Was this all some mechanical failure, or…

His frown deepened.

Was it something more?

As they made their way down the command walkway, Tessa paused every so often to open up this panel or that. She muttered something about the comm lines, that Randa had hardwired internal comms to prevent any type of jamming or electronic interference.

The communications officer pursed her lips.

"What do you think the chances are of this all being some kind of coincidence?" she asked.

"I take it you are referring to our guests?" he replied.

Tessa nodded.

Jas considered what she was saying, but at that moment, it made no sense.

Unless the ship had been more damaged in their scuffle with the Scorekeeper's Mark than they realized; everything should have continued to function normally, they should have been on their way to Alderaan right now.

He reached out with the Force, trying to get some idea of what was going on, some…sense of what the future might hold.

He felt nothing.

Jas shook his head.

What Tessa was suggesting was that this power failure was intentional, and if it was, that meant one of two things.

One: The Red Eclipse had managed to attach some type of device to the Folly during their escape. It was possible he supposed, all that debris and the planet's rings, the Trandoshans could have attached a device to their hull, perhaps something hidden in a warhead that missed a direct hit, yet still managed to launch something, something that would send…an ion pulse…maybe…through their hull and fry their systems?

It was a common enough pirate trick, but considering what they had faced, he did not see the Trandoshans using it, an ion pulse device was used for taking a ship intact, the Scorekeeper's Mark had tried to destroy them.

Plus, the Folly was designed with external scanners, Randa had made sure that they would have a means of detecting something attached to the hull, be it a bomb or a tracking beacon, those scanners should have picked up such a device and warned the crew before anything catastrophic had happened.

Could the enemy of used such a toy, possibly, but Jas did not see how it could have avoided detection, besides, it would have been pointless. The Folly had been no match for the Mark; it should have been over the moment the corvette emerged from hyperspace. The Red Eclipse would have known that.

Why waste the device when you had an enemy ship outgunned, it had only been a matter of the Force that the Coop's Folly had escaped.

No, he found the first scenario unlikely, which, of course, led to the second possibility, one that Jas really did not like to think about.

Two: Someone onboard the Folly had done something to disable to the ship, to set them up to be found by the Red Eclipse.

Of course, that was insane, who would be stupid enough to try such a thing? The Red Eclipse had proved earlier that they were not interested in taking prisoners.

To disable the Folly, and await the arrival of the pirates would be suicide!

Tessa stopped at another junction and opened the panel, she frowned as she dug through the wires, and Jas noticed a blinking red light.

"Damn," Tessa hissed, "Damn it!"

"What?" he asked.

Tessa did not respond, she reached for her personal comlink, the one means of communication that was still open to them...

"Captain? Can you hear me?""

"Yeah, Tessa, what've you got?"

She shook her head.

"The ship's emergency beacon was tripped when the reactor went offline," she informed him, "All comms are out except for our emergency distress beacon."

She sighed.

"We are broadcasting our location on an open channel, anyone could pick it up."

"Get it off line," Coop called back, "Now."

"I have to cut the hardline in the engineering section," she informed him, "The emergency system will only shut off if reserve power is no longer connected."

"Do what you have to;" Coop said after a brief pause, "We can't afford to be found before we get the ship back online."

"Roger that," Tessa replied, "Any luck getting ahold of Shusk or Burr?"

"Neither of them are answering," Coop said, "Don't worry about that right now, the beacon is your priority; that and getting main power back."

"Roger," she said, "on our way now."

It was at that moment that both Val and Alric joined them, the two Bann security officers emerged from their quarters.

"What is going on?" Val asked, "Why are we stopped?!"

"We are going to figure that out right now," Jas promised, "We're heading back to main engineering."

Char Valenthyne nodded.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" she asked.

He thought of telling them no, of following Coop's orders and telling them to remain in their quarters and to keep an eye on Vess.

Yet, that did not feel right, and besides, it was not like their lives were not on the line too.

They could use all the help they could get.

"We will know more, once we hear from Shusk," Tessa told them, "We also need to turn off our emergence beacon, it is hardwired to broadcast our location if the ship suffers any kind of failure, it's now broadcasting our location on all emergency channels."

Val's eyes widened at that. Neither Jas nor Tessa had to explain what that meant.

"I don't suppose either of you know anything about ship communication's systems?" Jas asked.

Surprisingly, Alric smiled.

"My mother runs the largest communications firm on Bantoon," he informed them; "Before I joined the protectors she had me fixing all kinds of comm equipment."

Val looked at her subordinate.

"You think you could find a way to jam the emergency beacon? Could you stop it from giving our location away?"

"Maybe," the boy said with a shrug, "I would need access to the comm system, preferably on the bridge."

"I'll take him there now," Tessa offered.

"What about the hardline?" Jas asked, "I don't know how to disable it."

"Contact me on your link," Tessa offered, "I can walk you through it if you need my help."

Jas nodded, while Tessa and Alric made their way forward; that left him and Val alone.

The security chief was wound up like a spring; Jas could feel her tension, her worry about what was going on.

"Is Vess okay," he asked her.

"I told her to lock herself in the cabin, and only open up if Alric or I came to get her."

She gave him a serious look.

"What are the chances of this being some accident?" she asked.

Jas sighed.

"I would prefer to say, unlikely, but considering everything we have seen so far…"

Val nodded.

"Always expect the worst, and you will never be surprised," she said.

He nodded.

Grim, he thought, but sadly true.

"Come on, engineering is this way."

The two of them moved together. Jas pulled out his comlink and tried to raise either Shusk or Burr, getting no response from either of them. The Chandra Fan was not the type to leave his post, if he wasn't responding; it was likely that he was unable to.

Jas did not want to think about that.

Val said nothing as she followed him, but then again, she did not need to.

He could sense her distrust starting to rise again.

"Do you think your pet thug betrayed us?"

He shook his head. He may not have liked Burr all that much, but that did not mean that he thought the man was stupid.

"He has nothing to gain by trapping us here, and certainly nothing to gain by giving away our location."

"Yet, he did want to sell Vess to your employer," she reminded him, "Could he be seeking to make a deal with the people hunting us?"

"Is he above doing such a thing? No," Jas admitted, "But once again, I still don't see it. The Red Eclipse is not famous for negotiation, and they have already tried to blow up this ship once…"

Jas shook his head.

"Burr would know that dealing with them was pointless. I don't think he is responsible for this. The facts don't add up. What is the point of trying to sell someone out if people you are trying to strike a deal with are trying to murder you along with everyone else?"

Val nodded.

"I see your point, still where is he then? Why won't he respond?"

Jas frowned.

He had no answer for that.

If Burr had done something to Shusk and disabled the main reactor, would he have simply gone into hiding? The ship wasn't that large, and it would not take the crew long to find him, provided they got things working again.

A new thought occurred to him.

What if Burr was in the engine room? What if he was waiting to pick off whoever came to check on Shusk?

Jas' wrist flexed, he felt his lightsaber drop into his hand.

If Burr was waiting, if he was stupid enough to think he could work a side deal with the Eclipse, he was in for a very nasty surprise.

Val noticed that he had his weapon in hand.

She gave him a cruel smile.

"I thought you didn't believe your pet thug was behind this?"

Jas Dar Bynn shrugged.

"I've underestimated the stupidity of people before.

"I won't make that mistake again."

She nodded and drew her blaster.

"Whatever happens, I got your back."

He nodded, grateful for her support.

They continued down the walkway. Jas tried not to think about the distress beacon, or who might be out there listening for it.

Time was definitely not on their side.

They needed to get this done, and fast.

He picked up the pace.

The clock was ticking.

IOI

They arrived to find the engine room sealed the emergency blast doors were down.

Jas cursed under his breath.

I should have known that it wouldn't be easy.

He entered his pass code on the terminal next to the door. Both he and Coop should have had access to all ship's systems.

The panel beeped loudly, a red blinking light flashed over the keypad.

His codes were not going to work.

"Locks been scrambled," he informed Val.

"Is there any other way to get it open?" she asked.

"Cutting torch…maybe, it will take time though, and that is something that we don't really have right now."

Val gently pushed him aside and knelt down before the lock; she reached into her coat and pulled out a small bundle from one of its interior pockets. She unrolled it and pulled out two small electronic devices.

Jas' eyes widened. He recognized them from his days in Clan Nuna.

"Those are electronic lockpicks," he said, "N series?"

"X series, actually," Val said interfacing with the terminal.

Jas shook his head.

X series?

"You know those are illegal in Republic space, right? Even having one of those on you is an automatic two year sentence on a penal colony."

Val gave him a saucy smile.

"Bantoon is not officially part of the Republic yet," she reminded him, "And besides…"

Her smile turned playful.

"I won't tell if you won't."

In spite of everything that was going on, Jas snorted with amusement.

It seemed that Miss Valenthyne was just full of surprises.

"I thought you were some kind of royal guard?"

She shrugged.

"Technically, I was captain of the royal guard, but that doesn't mean that I didn't have a life before I joined the protectors. My childhood was…interesting to say the least."

"So you weren't noble born then?"

"Nope," she said entering a command with her lock pick. The screen above the panel began to flash green.

"And you still managed to become a security chief and sworn protector of your queen?"

Jas smiled.

"Impressive."

Val chuckled.

"There are many things that I could do to impress you, Not a Jedi, but we are a little pressed for time at the moment."

Jas laughed, but he could not completely stop the blush coming to his cheeks.

That last statement sound a little…suggestive.

In the short time since they had met, he had come to respect Char Valenthyne, it was not an easy thing, swearing yourself to defend others.

The fact that she was an attractive young woman did not hurt matters either.

He smiled and shook his head.

He let it go for now.

Now…was not the time.

His comlink beeped, he hoped that it was Coop with some good news.

"Yeah?"

"How's it coming down there, old buddy," Coop asked.

"Engineering has been sealed off, the lock was scrambled."

"I see," Coop replied, sounding worried.

"You need any help down there?"

He looked down at Val, who shook her head, no.

At that moment, the security chief's full attention was on the blast door, an X-series lock pick was one of the finest slicing tools on the black market, or so he had heard from the slicers that had served Clan Nuna.

If she could not get the door open with that, nothing would work.

"Alric and Tessa have managed to jam the emergency beacon," he informed them, "Though she still thinks that it is a good idea to shut down the system entirely. Call me back as soon as you have breached the door."

"Roger that," Jas replied, "Talk to you soon."

"Over and out."

Jas shut off the comlink and returned his attention to Val, the woman was humming softly as she worked, a series of numbers scrolled across the face of the control panel.

"Almost there," Val murmured.

"Just a few more seconds; and…"

The door beeped loudly. The panel above it flashed green, and the door to the engine room irised open.

Val was on her feet in seconds, her blaster at the ready. Jas held up his lightsaber but did not ignite the blade.

He reached out with the Force, trying to get a sense of what was inside. He sensed both pain and confusion.

Shusk…maybe?

"I'm going in," he told Val.

"I'll cover you," she promised, "Stay frosty."

He nodded and slipped into the compartment, all the while he was reaching out to the Force, wrapping himself in its light.

He could still not get a sense of what was in here. He sensed something but…

Pain.

Confusion.

Nothing was really clear; he tried his best to tune it out.

It was not a good idea to be distracted.

They needed to get things up and running again, and fast.

The engines took up much of the compartment, with the reactor sandwiched in between. The core glowed weakly, at least it wasn't smoking or damaged, the only illumination in the room came from the overhead emergency lights, and that was not much.

The room was thick with shadows. Anyone could be hiding in them, or anything.

He finally ignited his lightsaber, violet light filled the chamber.

He picked up his comlink with his off hand.

"Tessa, we are in engineering, how do I disable the beacon? Where do we start?"

"There should be a panel behind the reactor casing," she responded over the link, it will be a large red box with four black power cables feeding into it. You are going to need to disconnect those cables."

"Roger that," Jas said, searching with both his eyes and the Force.

He could sense something was amiss, but was not sure what it was.

Val stayed close, her eyes scanning the shadows, it might have been Jas' imagination, but it seemed like the security chief's eyes had an almost feline like glow to them.

He was about to ask her about it, when she suddenly tensed, her blaster came up.

"There is someone back there," she whispered, "To the right, behind the engines."

He searched with his own eyes and with the Force, he sensed it then, the source of what he was feeling. Pain seemed to radiate out from where Val was pointing.

The two moved in closer, Jas stayed in front; ready to cover Val if any blaster fire came from the shadowed corner. Jas did not think that it would. He sensed no threat, only a sense of pain and confusion.

They continued to advance, the shadows pushed back by violet light. Finally two shapes emerged from the shadows.

Jas' eyes narrowed.

They had found Shusk.

The Chandra Fan was curled up in a small ball, shivering slightly. Jas leaned down to check him, finding an ugly cut on the top of his head, blood leaked from the wound as the small alien continued to shiver.

The engineer was hurt, but at least he was not dead.

One small mercy to come out of this, he supposed.

"There should be a med kit up near the door," he told her, "See if you can find it."

She nodded, glancing over his shoulder.

"How is he?" she asked.

"Head wound," he answered, "Maybe a concussion, but he is alive."

Val began to back up, but not before she noticed what else was in the room.

Her blaster came up, with the safety off.

"Don't move!" she called out, "Let me see your hands!"

Jas looked up, and that is when he saw it too.

They had found Burr as well.

The enforcer was crouched down behind where they had found Shusk; he was propped up against one of the engine coils.

Jas was about to stand up and bring his weapon to bear, but quickly realized that it was not necessary,

Burr was unconscious too!

"What the hell?" he murmured.

Jas leaned in closer, illuminating Burr's body. He was alive, Jas could tell that through the Force, but he did not look good at all.

The veins around his neck were practically standing up against his skin; both his nose and mouth were covered by some kind of white froth.

Not a pleasant sight to be sure.

"Val, look at this," he said bringing a bit more light down on Burr's body.

The Security Chief frowned, her eyes narrowed.

"He's been poisoned," she said flatly.

"No kidding," Jas said dryly, "Is it fatal? You recognize it, right?"

She nodded.

"It is coral skate venom, its paralyzing agent, we use it in the guard, to subdue people that the nobles want questioned; at least, the symptoms looks like coral skate venom."

Jas reached out carefully, lifting up Burr's head, he saw something; something shiny was stuck in the man's neck.

He used the Force to remove it; it came out with a gentle pop.

It floated before Jas' eyes, a small trident shaped dart, barely the size of a human finger nail.

"Now where did you come from," he murmured to himself.

Val was once again at his side, looking over his shoulder, she had slipped away and returned with the med kit.

"From one of these, probably," she said holding out her left wrist.

Jas frowned as he looked over.

Val had a small device strapped to her arm, similar to the sheath he had for his lightsaber. He could see that it was a weapon of some sort; he could just make out the tips of the six of the little darts in its housing.

He almost used the Force to fling the security chief back, fearing that he was about to get hit with one of the darts, but such an attack never came, Val wasn't trying to attack him, she was simply showing him what had put down Burr.

Plus, Val's dart launcher was full, there were no empty slots.

She had not taken down Burr.

It was at that moment that Shusk regained consciousness; the little alien groaned and tried to sit up. He squeaked with pain as he touched his head.

"Easy there, little guy," Jas said supporting his back.

"Don't make any sudden moves."

"Jas," alien murmured weakly, "Comm systems…shut down…must…shut down the comms."

"They are already down, Shusk; only the emergency beacon is working."

The little alien shook his head.

"No…internal…internal comms, power…power surge…building…building in the internal comms. Feedback…feedback into the reactor…shut…shut everything down."

Coop took the med kit from Val, who continued to watch over his shoulder. He pulled out a small bottle from the case.

"Easy now," he said, tending to the alien's head wound.

"This is a kolto spray; it will help until we can get you fully checked out. We need to get the reactor up and running again, Shusk, we are dead in space right now."

The alien blinked his large eyes, his whiskers twitched.

"Shut down reactor," he said, "I…I shut it down, prevented powers surge from overloading everything…sloppy…sloppy job. It…it could have killed us all!"

Jas' eyes narrowed, putting what he was hearing together.

There had been a power surge in the internal comm system, a power surge that fed back into the reactor system. Shusk had detected it and tried to fix to the problem. He had probably had only enough time to isolate the reactor when he was attacked struck from behind.

Burr might have seen or heard something, and gone to check on Shusk, the one responsible for the power surge had likely been waiting in here. Burr had likely blundered in, not expecting trouble, and got a dart in his neck for his trouble.

It hadn't been flawless, but it had worked, still had Shusk not isolated the main reactor, the whole ship might have blown.

As the alien had said…it was sloppy.

Jas pursed his lips.

Whoever had done this was no professional, but they had some knowledge.

He had a strong suspicion of just who had done it, and he was not alone.

He and Val looked at each other.

Both nodded grimly.

The spray was taking effect surprisingly fast, Shusk's dark eyes already looked clearer, the alien stumbled to his feet; Val came to his side to steady him.

"Can you get us going again?" she asked, "Can you get main power online?"

The little alien nodded.

"Yeah," he said in a dreamy voice, "Just…just give me a moment."

Jas' hand tightened around the grip of his lightsaber.

They might not have a moment.

He pulled out his comlink.

"Tessa," he asked, "Is Alric still up there with you?"

"No," the comm officer called back, "he said he went to go check in Vess, why?"

Val cursed under her breath.

Jas snarled angrily.

The pieces were starting to fall into place.

He did not like what they were showing him.

"Tessa disable that jamming field that he helped you set up, I don't think it is a simply jamming signal. We are going to disconnect the beacon from here. Shusk is up and around now, we are going to try and get things up and running."

"Jas, this is Coop," the Captain's voice filled the comlink.

"What is going on?"

Jas Dar Bynn did not have time to respond. It was at that moment that they all got an answer to what exactly was going on.

…A distant scream…

…A little girl's scream…

…Vess's scream.

Jas was moving in seconds, Val right behind him.

"Damn it," he spat.

Damn it all to hell!"