Hutt Space
Xhorta System
Xhorta, swamp covered sole planet of the Xhorta System
Outside the Inquisitor's safehouse

The Astral Voyager skimmed through the mists, across the surface of Xhorta's world swamp water. It slowly came to a stop and settled into the dark water. The hatch ramp opened and out from it emptied two speeder bikes, followed by a flying droid. On one speeder bike sat Agent Sluka in the pilot's seat, wearing his ISB laminate armor and with a blaster carbine on his shoulder harness. A rocket launcher was attached to the bottom of his carbine. Sal sat behind him in her robes. Agent Sluka turned his head to the other speeder bike. On it sat a curious pair. In the pilot's seat was an insect-like humanoid wearing a respirator, signaling that it could not breath the air which was hospitable to most human-like species. Night vision goggles covered its enormous compound eyes. The creature grasped the handlebars with three-fingered hands. Behind it sat a short and fur covered creature, about a meter and a half tall, which had a long fur beard growing beneath its chin. It too was wearing night vision goggles.

A Gand and a Bothan, Agent Sluka said to himself. Tony and Litholan. A couple non-humans. I hope these two that Tico sent with us can be trusted. Better yet, I hope that droid can shut down some of the droids Tico said are in the compound. He pointed ahead with his left hand and the Gand nodded. Both sped off, side by side, into the night. In hard and fast, Agent Sluka said to himself. The droid silently followed three meters above the water.

The speeder bikes raced across the surface, flying through tall stalks which were growing from the water, signifying its shallowness. In moments, they were upon a compound with no lighting. Droids don't need lighting, Agent Sluka said to himself. He noticed the Gand slowing down yet did not follow suit. Agent Sluka sped on, then slammed the speeder bike into an emergency stop. The bike instantly complied, throwing both Agent Sluka and Sal overtop the handlebars. Each tumbled forward and came up in a run.

A red and black armored sentry droid turned to face them. It had skeletal arms and legs with a thick torso. A heavy blaster was built into its right arm and an enormous shield covered its left, a riot shield. The Unnamed King's blade blazed to life in Sal's hand in the corner of Agent Sluka's eye, a white blaze that lit the dark compound. He trained his vision past the sentry droid beyond to a second one which had not yet raised its shield and he fired a burst. The sentry droid shuddered from the impacts but did not go down. The white blaze flashed and Agent Sluka saw Sal dance around the nearby droid's shield, then split the droid in half. The other droid steadied itself, placing its shield to block incoming fire, and brought its blaster to bear on Agent Sluka but he was already ahead of it. Focus, he said in his head. The burst of bolts from his carbine sailed just overtop the shield and landed in a small pattern on the head of the droid.

It collapsed to the ground in a crumpled heap.

Blaster fire blazed to Agent Sluka's left. He glanced over to see the Gand and Bothan, each on one knee with a blaster rifle in hands, concentrating fire on a third sentry droid. The droid was hiding behind its riot shield but shuddered a couple times from the few shots that got through. He glanced back ahead to see Sal was leaving him behind. Shit, he screamed in his head as he began moving forward.

Sal's blade blazed white as she cut down another sentry droid.

Agent Sluka quickly scanned past. They've already locked down the entrance, he realized. He quickly leveled his carbine at the door and triggered the launcher under his carbine. It rocketed past Sal and into the door. Red fire filled his eyes, dampened by his goggles' compensators, and heat washed over him. The sound of the explosion was dampened too.

Agent Sluka broke into a run.

He swung the blaster carbine back to his shoulder and drew a lightsaber, one of the five found in storage onboard the shuttle of the Unnamed King. A yellow blade of plasma erupted from it as he ran toward the hole in the compound where the locked entrance had been a moment before. The hole which Sal was racing through.

Agent Sluka raced through the hole behind her.

And raced into a hail of blaster fire. He deflected a first bolt, then a second, and then a third, before he dove to his left and behind a storage case sitting on a skid. Agent Sluka rolled out of his dive and came up in a crouch behind the skid. He glanced over and saw Sal crouched behind a similar skid where she had dived to the right upon entering the structure. Firing at them were a half-dozen sentry droids of two different models. Four were black and red, like the ones they fought outside, while two were solid black.

"Blow'em up," snapped Sal over her com.

Agent Sluka started to, and then something struck him, a feeling. "No can do," he snapped back over his com. The droids continued their concentrated fire, a half dozen firing at Agent Sluka with the other half, including both solid black droids, concentrating on Sal. Too many, Agent Sluka recognized. In too small a spot. He glanced at Sal who was looking at him. "We've got to retreat and regroup" he said.

At that moment, the four red and black droids ceased firing and froze in place.

Agent Sluka and Sal glanced at the droids and instantly sprang overtop the skids they were hiding behind. Our help's droid shut them down, he realized. He and Sal each deflected a handful of bolts from the remaining two solid black droids and quickly closed with them. Yellow plasma blazed from his lightsaber as he struck into the shield of the all black droid. Agent Sluka felt it. Felt the blade's power flow into the shield and mostly disperse, leaving a charred fissure down its black surface as he quickly removed his blade. What the? He deflected a shot from the droid's blaster rifle and then danced around its shield. His next strike cleaved the droid's head in two. Agent Sluka glanced over to see Sal had done likewise.

"What was that?" Sal asked. "I've never felt anything like that before when I struck something with a lightsaber." She looked around the room for more trouble.

"I'm not sure," Agent Sluka said and then a memory climbed up out of his mind. "Wait, I think I remember something. I remember reviewing some briefs which said that, during the Clone Wars, the Separatists had made a deal with some unknown interstellar organization or state from Wild Space. They were gifted with a number of droids at least partly fabricated from a material called cortosis." Sal just stared at him. "Just a guess."

"Now, let's see what the Inquisitor has been keeping here," Sal said.

At that moment, their allies arrived. The Gand and Bothan walked in through the blown door with their droid floating behind them. "Did you shut those droids down?" Sal asked them.

A mechanical voice broadcast from the droid. "Yes, we did," it said. "This is Tony speaking through the droid," the voice added as the insect-like Gand raised his hand. "The droid accessed the system and downloaded Litholan's viruses."

"Now, let's see what's behind this door," Sal said as she walked toward it.

"Human children," answered a mechanical voice from the droid.

"What?" Agent Sluka and Sal simultaneously asked.

The Bothan growled, a short and angry snarl.

"The Imperial human with the double-bladed lightsaber hired us through Tico," came the voice from the droid. "Litholan used his networking skills, both electronic and personal, to narrow the search area. I brought them in," the voice from the droid finished.

"And why," Agent Sluka said to the droid then turned to face the Gand. "Why are you helping us now."

"Because they feel like pieces of shit for doing so," Sal snapped. "And you should." She looked at the two aliens in front of her, then walked to the door beyond the crumpled droids and opened it.

"That wall isn't structural, is it?" Agent Sluka laughed. "It's just a divider." Sal stopped and looked back toward him, as did the Gand and the Bothan. "Nothing's wrong with my launcher," Agent Sluka said. "I was about to blow up the droids but just got this feeling it was a bad idea." Sal stared at Agent Sluka for a moment, then turned back to the door and opened it.

Beyond the doorway stood a single shirtless black-haired boy, about seven or eight years old. And in his hands blazed a red lightsaber.