Chapter Twenty-Four
Wild Nomad, Entering Dromund System
Riko had not told anyone about his vision. His silence had been nagging at him the past few days as the Nomad limped into hyperspace hours behind the fleet, estimated to be less than a day behind. He had tried to bury it by reading, training, anything. Even working on Niner, as he was now, didn't succeed, hours earlier, he had actually nicked himself in his left index finger with his hydrospanner whilst attempting to realign Niner's shoulder servo.
"Riko, we need you in the cockpit," Bao's voice sounded over the ship's intercom.
"Give me a minute, I'm almost done," Riko replied.
"Are you sure that you wish to update me in that fashion?" Niner asked as Riko finished installing a stun blaster, minus the handgrip, in the droid's left forearm, just behind the hand.
"Niner, if you're going to come with us, you'll have to learn how to defend yourself."
Niner was still trembling slightly.
"You'll be fine," Riko assured him, "If you do come, just stay close to me and Bao."
The droid was silent for a few moments. Riko didn't want to place the droid into danger. He hoped that he wouldn't have to.
Niner stared at his arm blaster, and then quickly moved it into a firing position. His head swiveled to face Riko, hoping for approval.
"Let's go," Riko said, standing up and checking his own gear. Val had provided him and Bao full access to al of his gear. Supplementing his lightsaber, Riko had also outfitted himself with a stun blaster of the same type as Niner's, as well as a grappling hook. His backpack was filled with a full kit: a medpac, water bottle, power pack with recharging cord for his lightsaber, and ration bar. He had donned a hooded raincloak in preparation for visiting Dromund Kaas' stormy surface.
Completing his getup, however, were his new goggles. Built into a synthleather headset that strapped around his forehead and scalp, covered his ears, and terminated in a buckle under his chin, the goggles were attached into a pair of circular servos built into the earflaps, which resulted in a flipdown goggle set. The headpiece included a built-in comlink that connected to a microphone located right next to Riko's mouth.
Riko loved it, he was wearing it now. This was the first time he had worn them in front of Niner.
"What do you think?" Riko asked as he grabbed the goggles and pulled them over his eyes.
"Oooh. We match!" Niner commented. Riko felt a little uneasy attempting to distract Niner on the eve of battle, but he was at least happy to dispel some of the tension.
The padawan and the droid walked into the Vagrant.
"Okay, Riko," Bao began, "This is it. I need you to see if Jade is here."
"Okay," Riko closed his eyes. He had tried to meditate prior to this event, but every time he tried, he kept seeing the duel between himself and Jade.
He would do his best to prevent that future from ever occurring.
It was difficult, sensing Jade's presence from this distance. Dromund Kaas was strong in the dark side of the Force, and this far away, it was hard to find anyone located in close proximity to that cursed world.
Then Riko felt her, just faintly, but she was there.
Jade, Riko projected, hoping Jade could hear him, We're nearby. Don't worry, we're coming.
"She's here," Riko smiled, opening his eyes, "It was hard finding her this close to Dromund Kaas, the Dark Side's pretty strong there, pretty hard to find people close to it from this far away.
"So I'm not an expert on ancient history," Val said, altering the topic, "I know that Dromund Kaas was a Sith planet, but not much else."
"A Sith armada relocated here after the Great Hyperspace war," Riko began...
"Let's just say that there's a reason most star charts don't have this system on it," Bao commented, "Even to the Jedi the location of this planet is restricted to members of the High Council."
"Oh. State secret," Val commented.
"This is a world of dark secrets, secretss best kept hidden," Bao responded.
Riko looked out the viewport as they moved closer to Dromund Kaas, a dark world whose surface was covered in marshlands that endured endless storms. He had no doubt, this was the planet in his vision. Jade was be here.
"Woah!" Val shouted, "What is that?"
Orbiting the planet, guarded by a Star Destroyer and a small number of support craft, its bright light standing out against Dromund Kaas's gloom, was a spherical space station, the size of a Star Dreadnought.
"Reminds me of a holo I once saw of the Death Star," Bao said.
"What is Death Star?" Niner asked.
"A superweapon the Old Empire built back before Luke Skywalker was a Jedi," Riko explained.
"Wait, you're not saying Itecht's building a superweapon," Val responded. He paused before adding, "Are you?"
Riko was able to get a clearer look at the station the closer they got. Unlike the Death Star, however, the structure appeared to rely on a metal framework that connected to a large tower in the center of the station that covered from pole to pole and branched out into two large metal structures resembling bands, one horizontal and the other vertical, that encircled the structure.
Riko checked the sensors. There wasn't any apparent space for a superlaser or propulsion system. At this distance, Riko could make out the large pole that tethered the spherical structure to the planet's surface, as well as a faint triangular shape attached to it.
"No, this is just a skyhook," Riko assured Val.
Riko double-checked the sensor screen, confirming that an Inquisitor class destroyer was docked to the station's planetary tether. He was surprised to see the destroyer suddenly start descending towards the planet's surface, still attached to the spire, clearly carried down by some kind of turbolift system.
"It's apparently an elevator for large starships," Riko said, "There's got to be some kind of supply depot on the surface."
"That has to be Asharr's ship," Bao responded.
"Moff Itecht clearly has a taste for the old days," Val proclaimed.
Riko had been briefed on Val's encounter with stormtroopers on Taris, as well as the man who controlled this region of space. Arkus Itecht was one of the Moffs that sat among the Imperial Council, the Director of the Imperial Security Bureau, and a known recluse. He controlled many territories that had formerly belonged to the Sith Empire, and ostensibly kept particularly dangerous worlds like this one under lockdown.
A hologram appeared on the control panel. It was an image of a Duros in an Imperial uniform.
"This is restricted space. Please state your purpose in this system, and transmit an authorization code," the Duros requested.
"We're transferring, uh…"
"Supplies for the station!" Niner improvised.
Riko didn't know if this would go well.
"Specify," The Duros ordered.
"Food, metal, water, basics," Niner said.
Riko groaned. Many of the Nomad's weapons were still offline, they weren't prepared for another dogfight.
"Authorization code," The Duros requested.
"Give us a minute," Val said as he cut the connection.
"Wait, Val!" Bao exclaimed, "We won't make it to the station."
"We'll just have to go full speed," Val suggested, "We'll leave on the Vagrant."
"We're abandoning ship?" Riko asked.
"No," Val corrected, to Riko's relief, "Emdee's programmed with pilot training. I just need to get us close enough to drop us into the atmosphere, then Emdee will fly the Nomad away from the station until we contact her."
"No offense to Emdee," Riko replied, "But I think that you should fly the Nomad and drop me and Bao off."
"You might need me in there," Val protested.
"Riko's right," Bao agreed, "We need you out here. Once we've found Jade, we'll head to a terminal and contact you. Until then," Bao grinned toothily, "Try to keep the Ties off our backs."
Val groaned, "Alright. But you have to take that annoying pile of junk with you."
"Really?" Riko asked, reluctant.
"Yep," Val responded.
While he had speculated that Niner might have to accompany them, or at least see combat, Riko didn't want to put the little droid in any more danger.
Then again, either way, the droid would be in a lot of trouble. Whether being chased by TieXs on a damaged gunship or accompanying a Jedi Knight and his Padawan aboard a Consortium craft that was docked with an Imperial station…
"Deal," Riko shook Val's hand. Though he was afraid for Niner's safety, he wanted Niner to be within his sight. Their mission was to rescue Jade, transcribe their intel, nothing more. They had no plans to arrest Tau or Asharr or anything, not on their own.
"What weapons do we still have?" Riko asked.
"We have the turbolaser, chaingun, and one seismic. That's about it," Val replied.
"Let's hope that's enough," Bao commented.
"Good luck Bao," Val said, handing him the datatape. Then his eyes turned to Riko. Riko didn't need the Force to tell that Val was worried about him. He couldn't tell why, though.
"May the Force be with you, Riko," Val said.
"Likewise," Riko replied.
"We can do this," Niner responded, "I'm lucky."
He'll be fine, Riko thought as his gut squirmed.
Val walked off the Vagrant and back into the Nomad's corridor. Bao walked to a control panel on the door's starboard and closed it. No one spoke as Bao took his seat at the pilot's chair, as Riko sat adjacent to his teacher, as Bao fired up the Vagrant's systems. For a few moments, there was simply silence.
"What pile of junk?" Niner asked, breaking the silence, "We do not have any debris here."
Bao sissed, almost thrashing his sides. Riko could tell that he was laughing.
Niner just brimmed with confusion, obviously oblivious to Val's insult. The little droid had probably assumed he was accompanying the two Jedi no matter what.
Riko was silent and simply stared ahead at the station. Even as he kept thinking to himself, We'll find Jade, it'll be okay, the image of Jade attempting to kill him was most prominent in his thoughts.