Chapter Twenty-Seven
Corsair Interior
The cycle finished, the airlock opened, spilling its occupants into the destroyer's hall.
Riko held his lightsaber in front of himself, awaiting an ambush.
The corridor matched the vessel's exterior: angular and dark. The floor was painted scarlet, the same hue as the Intrika's.
There was no one. Riko was relieved, he enjoyed the idea that they would have a few minutes to catch his breath before the next inevitable crisis.
"It's clear," Riko declared, deactivating his saber and slicking his hair back from his face, glad to escape the storm.
Bao and Niner followed. Riko tapped the control panel and sealed the airlock behind them.
"It was cold," Niner said, "I should dry off soon."
Riko would have hugged Niner if it wasn't for his own desire to avoid getting wetter than he already was and the urgency of the mission.
"Let's find a terminal. We'll have to find our way to Jade." Riko remembered his vision.
"Bao," Riko admitted, "In my vision, I saw a droid helping me move through the facility, and it, it...it felt…"
"It felt?" Bao asked.
"...essential. Like we need it to finish the mission."
"Can you tell me anything else about this droid?" Bao asked.
Riko examined his memories of his vision again. Most of the details had faded, but he knew the droid wasn't humanoid-shaped…
"It had a domed head, with one visible eye," Riko recalled, then he realized, "Master, the droid is an astromech!"
"An astromech?" Niner asked.
"An astromech?" Bao repeated, "What did it look like?"
"Like I said, a domed head, one eye, blue and white color scheme...must be an R-series."
"R-series?" Bao responded, "They've been out of commission since my grandsire was hatched…Wait. I know one. Tau told me it was destroyed, years ago."
"You know them?" Riko asked.
"Yes. It belonged to Tau. A family heirloom. Where do we find it?"
"That part is hazier," Riko admitted.
"In that case, we should try to find a terminal. Let's try to access the datatape." Bao said.
For the next few minutes, they moved through the corridors, luckily, managing to avoid guards.
"There's one," Riko pointed. The trio ran towards it. Riko activated the console, and an image appeared on the screen.
"Okay," Riko said, accessing the drive, only to be met with an access denied. Riko was about to report on his failure when a shout jolted him.
"Hey! Stop right there!" Riko looked up and saw a human clad in a brown uniform with dark green highlights, overlaid by patches of armor.
"That's a commander's rank!" Bao said, reaching out with his hand and the Force.
"Wait, what are you…" the commander asked.
"You will give us the access codes required to view classified materials," Bao said. Riko knew what he was doing.
"I will give you...the access codes," the commander said. Perhaps he was resisting. Riko hoped that he wouldn't win.
The commander placed his hand into a pocket and plucked out a datachip, "This contains an override code for restricted files." He walked over and handed it to Bao.
"You are tired, you want to sleep, and when you wake up, you will forget you ever saw us," Bao finished.
"Yes sir," the commander replied before leaving. Riko simply looked at Bao.
"I thought you couldn't use mind tricks," Riko stated.
"I said I couldn't use Force Telepathy. Everyone can use mind tricks," Bao corrected him, handing him the datachip. Bao was proving himself to be more of an enigma than Riko had thought. He was proving to be a more interesting and different kind of teacher.
"Okay," Riko plugged the chip into a second access port on the terminal.
He attempted to access the drive, only to be met with another access denied. For one moment, Riko's mind was left recoiling at the realization of how difficult this mission would actually be. Then it dawned on him, "maybe that's what the droid's for, maybe it can access the file."
"Let's try to find this thing," Bao replied. Riko pulled up the cruiser's manifest and scrolled through the list, "Troops, weapons, starfighters, spare components…" he continued scrolling, "Droids! Maybe it's here!"
"Keep looking," Bao encouraged him.
"Okay," Riko looked through the list of droids aboard the ship. At the end, he felt nothing but disappointment. None of the droids he found on the list matched the droid in his vision.
"No luck," Riko said disappointingly.
"Maybe it's stored aboard the station," Bao suggested.
"Maybe…" Riko thought, "Or maybe...I'll check passenger records."
"Riko, I doubt he would…"
"Tau. Let's see…" Riko muttered to himself, "A couple of crates, that's it. Some personal items. A couple were transferred from the station. Components of an R-series astromech…"
"I found it, Bao!" Riko shouted excitedly, "It's in Tau's quarters!"
"Alright," Bao grinned, "Let's just hope Tau isn't there. Where are his quarters?"
Riko checked precisely where the droid was placed, "Deck five, Number One-two-five, Corridor Eight."
"Our location?" Niner asked.
Riko pulled out of the file and searched locations, "Deck One, Corridor Five."
"We need to find a turbolift," Bao stated.
"Right," Riko accessed the starship's layout on the terminal, "Nearest one is two corridors away. We'll be three corridors away from Tau's quarters when we reach that deck."
"Alright," Bao said, "Let's go."
"What are you doing?" Riko heard a voice as he removed the datachip from the terminal. A squad of mercenaries wearing uniforms similar to that of the commander, only with light armor over the cloth, had their blasters pointed at them.
"It's nothing," Bao replied, "You will let us go on our way."
"I need an explanation first," the mercenary demanded.
Riko almost groaned as he pocketed the datachip and grabbed his lightsaber. Unfortunately, the guards weren't weak-minded.
They'd have to fight.
"Let's go!" Bao yelled, igniting his lightsaber and deflecting blaster bolts back towards the squad.
Riko ignited his weapon, taking position behind Niner.
Reflex, Riko. Jade's words echoed in his memory. Riko held his saber parallel to his body and reached out.
There was one bolt that moved past Bao's screen and was about to hit Riko.
Left. Riko swung his blade and the blaster bolt ricocheted, hitting the wall.
Riko moved to Bao's side and felt each bolt coming.
He swung, blocking each one that came his way, even as he and Bao both fell back.
"Get to the turbolift!" Bao ordered, "It's time to go find that droid."
"Come on, Niner!" Riko said as he started to run down the corridor. The droid followed him.
Finally, they reached the turbolift. Riko deactivated his weapon and pressed the button.
He kept pushing it, but the door wouldn't open.
"It must be in use," Niner stated.
"Do we have our turbolift?" Bao said, joining the group, his blade still ignited.
"It's in use right now!" Riko replied.
"Move," Bao said as he walked towards the door.
"Master, what are you…' Riko's question was answered as Bao began cutting through the doors.
"We'll have to grapple down," Bao said as he carved the portal.
"There they are!" one of the mercs found them. Riko reignited his saber and defended Bao.
The merc fired, holding his blaster pistol outward. Riko angled his blade close to his body, knowing what he should do. He pushed with his blade, causing the blaster to move back, its angle only slightly different, and hit the merc's hand, knocking the blaster out of it and causing him to collapse in pain, holding his wounded hand.
It could have been worse, Riko could have killed him.
"Are there any others?" Riko asked.
"I eliminated the rest," Bao responded as he finished cutting and proceeded to push the severed doors down the elevator shaft, "We'll need your astromech. The whole depot will be on high alert now."
"Okay," Riko saw where this was heading. It was a good thing he had remembered to bring a grappling hook.
"I'll go first," Riko suggested, not even thinking about the words. He didn't know why he wanted to go first. Perhaps it was an unconscious desire to find out what happened to Jade by taking the lead on everything. Maybe he felt that Bao might still be recovering from his injuries on Atarashi'ie.
Whatever the case, Riko fired his grappling hook into the floor and attached the handle to his belt. Then he began to grapple downward.
Riko made the mistake of looking down and a swell of vertigo overcame him. Barely able to hang onto the rope, he just wanted to climb back up.
Jade's in danger! Focus! The image circled in his mind again, and Riko snapped back to his senses. He had to prevent his vision from becoming reality.
With that determination, he ignored his fear. When he reached level five, Riko closed his eyes and searched for the manual release.
The door opened, and Riko stepped through, removing the grappling line from his belt.
"You can come!" Riko shouted.
"Niner will go next! I'll be right behind you!" Bao yelled.
Riko looked and threw his grappling hook up to Bao. The Jedi Knight caught it with the Force, and moved it up to his hand. Riko waited a few minutes, then he saw Niner slowly descending towards him.
Riko grabbed the droid's hand, pulling him into the corridor just as he started to hear something moving up towards them.
"The turbolift! Look out!" Riko heard Bao say right as Niner entered the corridor. He looked up and saw that the elevator now separated the trio.
Riko knew that he and Niner would have to wait for the elevator to move.
Suddenly, the alarm activated. Riko began hearing an electric clang clang clang!
"Go, Riko!" Bao ordered via Riko's comlink, "We'll meet up!"
"We have to leave, Riko! Eighty percent chance we'll be found!"
Riko didn't want to leave his mentor and friend behind. But he also knew that Bao would want him to complete the mission.
As soon as he found Jade and the droid, he would find Bao before leaving. He would leave no one behind.
Tau's Quarters
As Riko suspected, the door was locked. Riko inserted the override chip into the terminal, and the door opened.
Tau was no exception to the Jedi's policy of anti-materialism. All that Riko could see was a table, a bunk to sleep on, a closet, a mirror, and a handful of holoimages.
They were recordings from Tau's life. Riko saw Tau, close to his current age, with his hair just beginning to grey, standing with a woman that Riko recognized as a younger Thalia. Her face lacked the lines it assumed later in life, and, this caught Riko's attention, her belly was swelling. Both were happy.
The second image showed them a few years later. They were joined by a third person in the image, a girl, roughly five or six years old. Riko knew he was looking at Jade when she was a child. She looked happier than Riko had ever known her to be.
The last one left Riko extremely shocked. It was Tau, somewhere in his mid-thirties. He was standing in front of a simple home on an unknown planet. But that didn't capture his attention.
Tau was standing with a man that Riko recognized as Kali'sto, along with a young woman who wasn't much older than him or Jade; dark-haired, green-eyed, her skin a dark shade of tan.
The two knew each other. Riko remembered how Tau had greeted Kali'sto like an old friend. Jade had told him that they had been friends in the past, that was all her father had told her. Judging from the photo, Tau had known Kali'sto for at least three decades.
The third person...Aside from the eyes, skin, and hair, there were other resemblances in her face. She was dressed in a set of robes with beautiful patterns woven into the fabric, patterns very similar to those found on Asharr's mask and his old lightsaber. Was this woman Riko's mother?
Riko was tempted to take the photo. He had lost the last link to his family when he had lost his lightsaber. This was a chance to get another reminder of that connection.
"Niner," Riko asked, "Should I take this?" Riko gestured to the holo.
"I don't know," Niner said. The droid had grown more attuned to Riko's emotions over the past two years, and he could probably guess what he was thinking, "Is because this is the last link to Kali'sto?"
"Yes," Riko answered, "I don't have anything else from him. But…"
"Tau was taught by Kali'sto," Niner said, "Maybe this is special to him."
RIko considered Niner's words. Tau had clearly held a deep friendship with Kali'sto. If Riko took this holoimage, he might be depriving Tau of his last link to Kali'sto.
Riko placed the image back, "I shouldn't. I should just try to find the droid." As he spoke, he realized that he had been wrong. He hadn't lost his last link to Kali'sto and his old life. He had Niner. Niner was his link to a wonderful past. He still had a link to his dad.
Riko still had some good things in his life. And he had to make sure he didn't lose one of them.
"Let's check the closet," Riko suggested, walking towards it and opening the door. He instantly recognized the object he saw.
It was a deactivated R2 unit, matching the droid Riko had seen in his vision. Its head was domed, a dark silver with blue highlights. Two legs protruded from the sides of its white cylindrical body.
Riko found the droid's circuit breaker and pressed it. Lights flickered as the droid's startup sequence initiated.
Once it had finished its activation sequence, the droid came to life with a series of beeps. It waddled on its feet, clearly attempting to move out of the closet. Riko and Niner stepped back as the astromech deployed a third leg from the bottom of its torso and exited the space.
"Dee dee breet?" the droid was clearly curious as to who they were.
"Can you understand him?" Riko asked Niner.
"The code's old, but I get it," Niner replied.
Riko turned towards the droid, "Hello. I know you don't know me, but I need your help. I'm Riko Nai-Jal. This is Nine-Are-Zero. We need a guide in this station. Who are you?"
"Trill de bee breet!"
"Really?" Niner asked, twitching with excitement.
"Bee deet, dreet."
Niner rolled straight up to the astromech and tried to hug him, to Riko's confusion.
"Wow weo!" the droid trilled, clearly annoyed.
"Sorry," Niner rolled back, still awed.
"Riko! This is amazing! It's Artoo-Detoo!"