Mandalorian Jedi, chapter 2 - A Favor Returned
By Gabe Z.
PG
YJK-Action
Disclaimer - Argh, here we go again. George Lucas owns Star Wars and all the stuff related to it. I created Aric, Lirkana, Chirpy, and Lars. I used A Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy, second edition, by Bill Slavicsek to learn the sabacc rules.
Description - A few days after arriving at the academy, Aric journeys to Mon Calamari to help Lars out. But in the process, something happens that changes his life.
Aric flipped the ignition switches on the control console of the Nightwolf and he sat back as the ion engines roared to life. He pressed a sequence of buttons and the ship lifted off the ground. The landing gear retracted into the belly of the craft with a clank and hiss. The ship rose higher and higher into the air, and Aric pondered what he was doing. Lars had requested his assistance about five days ago, to help him regain control of his ore mining facility on Mon Calamari. He went alone, but no one had seemed to protest, apparently sensing the personal aspects of his errand. However, his new acquaintances had seemed a bit nervous at his insistence at leaving alone. He hadn't even brought Chirpy, much to the little droid's dismay, but he would be in good hands with C-3PO and R2-D2.
The ship rose through the atmosphere and cut a trail through the thick clouds of Yavin 4. He brought up his navigation display and patched in a series of hyperspace coordinates that would take him to Mon Calamari with little delay. He engaged his hyperdrive and the stars blurred to brilliant white as the Nightwolf broke into hyperspace.
- - - -
Ulek Sool watched the ship jump to hyperspace from his hidden vantage point in the mass shadow of the gas giant Yavin and used his hyper-advanced sensor suite to track the ship's hyperspace jumps and then prepared to follow it. He was going to capture this Jedi, and the Corporate Sector Authority was going to pay quite handsomely for his head on a stick.
- - - -
Aric rose from his chair in the cockpit of the chip and walked into the cabin to get some sleep. It had been a good day and half since he had been able to get a decent amount of sleep, and this two day hyperjump was the perfect chance to catch some sleep. He set his armor on the floor beside the small bunk and plopped down, hitting the mat with a light thwack. He closed his eyes and drifted to sleep within minutes, but he did not sleep well. Dreams of death and destruction on Lar's underground station clouded his mind and he slept fitfully. He awoke in a cold sweat and looked around the cabin in panic. He had, in his nightmares, seen someone following him, radiating evil thoughts, and he had seen this mystery foe kill him and collect a bounty on his head. Aric rose nervously and slipped into his armor. If indeed it had been a vision of the future, he considered himself warned, and he set about preparing for such circumstances.
He took the remote computer access pad from its socket on the wall and sat on the table in the passenger lounge. He keyed into the ship's main computer with the pad and set to work. The ship's computer was competent and occasionally impressed him with its efficiency and logic, but it was definitely no substitute for having Chirpy on board to assist in everything from diagnostics and routine maintenance to weapon calibration and firing. He momentarily felt a pang of guilt for not having brought his droid companion on his mission, but he suppressed the feeling, telling himself that this was a mission that he himself needed to do, as a friend, on his word as a Jedi.
He ran a routine diagnostic on the ship and ascertained that all systems were working perfectly well. He went on to more pressing and possible dangerous matters, preparing the weapons and shields for combat. He brought up the shield control matrix and adjusted the deflection field to have a rotating frequency, to keep any ships from getting a fix on weak spots in the shields. Satisfied at the shield configuration, he initiated weapon startup and configuration. Since he had no one to gun for him, he, as he done so many times in days past, slaved the top and bottom quad heavy laser turrets to fire together. He added the ion cannon and concussion missile tubes to the setup and then configured the top and bottom antipersonnel guns to fire even at ships, to distract them. He felt a little more secure, having set his ship up to fend off any attackers. But his sense of tentative security was tarnished as a red light and accompanying buzzer sounded from the sensor console. He ran to it and punched a button by the display. It was a ship, in hyperspace, following him! A know tied in his stomach. The vision had been correct, someone was out to get him. The hyperdrive signature was extremely faint, but it was there. Or was it? Was his ship being twitchy, was he becoming paranoid? He shook his head and deactivated the display. No, that was silly, no one could be chasing him. Could they?
- - - -
Ulek held his breath for several moments as his sensor board indicated that his quarry had spotted him. He let out a heavy sigh of relief as the sensor lock faded and the ship he was tracking ignored him. He set his craft, the Blood Hunter, to autopilot and walked into the weapons locker behind the cockpit. He was not prepared to attack the Nightwolf, even though he was certain that his ship's complement of weaponry would be able to take down the pursued ship. But he didn't want that. No, it was personal, he was sure of that much. After all, this one had killed his brother on Dathomir. He grabbed a blaster rifle, a belt of powerpacks, a pair of ten-inch vibroblades, with which he was an expert fighter. Sure, it made him just a little jumpy that a Jedi had killed his younger brother, but that didn't matter. He had been very close to his brother, but when they were eighteen, they went separate ways, Ulek becoming a bounty hunter, and Jek becoming a soldier in the corrupt Corporate Sector Authority. Ulek never liked his brother's decision, and had tried to persuade him to become his bounty hunting partner, but had nevertheless respected the decision.
He shivered. Had Ulek joined the Espo force, he might have also been killed in the raid on Dathomir. For a fleeting moment, he wondered what they had even been doing on the distant world, but it was of little consequence. A grim smile came to his lips. That Jedi was going to pay. Oh yes, he was going to pay.
- - - -
Aric grabbed the hyperdrive levers on the console in front of him and pulled back. He watched as the brilliant starlines faded back into the faint glow of distant stars, surrounding the watery blue world of Mon Calamari. He quickly ran a scanner sweep and came up negative for any ships in pursuit, of within a hundred-thousand kilometers, for that matter. He engaged his stealth mode, essentially cloaking the Nightwolf from normal sensor methods. With the kind of security Lars had described for his captured outpost, Aric didn't think that the Imperial loyalists would have anything but outdated, overused pieces of equipment. He couldn't be sure that they wouldn't detect him, but he crossed his fingers and stretched out with the Force to further cloak the ship. He kicked in the realspace engines and sped down into the moist, humid atmosphere of the water world. He keyed in the coordinates which Lars had given him and was just crossing into the stratosphere when a jolt ran through the ship. Ion burst, he thought in a panic. Blue flashes of electricity snaked through his consoles and he watched helplessly as the systems shut down, one by one. Resigned to panic, he frantically scrambled to get his engines and weapons working, but to no avail. He sat back in his chair and fought down panic as another jolt hit the ship. Not an ion beam, it felt more like a tractor beam. So he was going to be captured, but by who. He jumped from his chair and held his lightsaber at the ready as a shadow filled the viewport of his ship.
He ignited his saber as the Nightwolf came to a shuddering halt in what he presumed was an Imperial cruiser. He tensed and stretched out with the Force, trying to sense who they were and if they were going to try to attack him. He sensed a down lifeforms outside the hatch to the cabin, but as he sensed another lifeform approaching, he could no longer sense them. A Ysalamiri? They were supposedly extinct, but apparently the rogue Imperials had procured one. He panicked and offered to resistance as several men clad in black, wearing large helmets, charged through the door, stun beams blazing. He felt hit after hit course through his body and a strange tingling sensation ran through him. Aric collapsed to the floor in a crumpled heap, and the blackness enveloped him.
- - - -
Back at the academy, Lirkana was worried about Aric. He had promised to send a message as soon as he got to Mon Calamari, which would have been a two and a half day trip at the worst of times. It had been five days since he had left, and she feared the worst. Lirkana walked around a corner and found Jacen walking to her. "Morning, Lirkana."
"Hello, Jacen. Have you heard from Aric?"
"No, I haven't. Was he going to write or something?"
"Yes, he said he would contact me as soon as he arrived at Mon Calamari, which should have been three days ago. I am afraid to think. . ."
Jacen stopped her and replied. "I don't think so. But if where he's going is really controlled by Imperials, he's going to have his hands full, but I think he's capable. Hell, I know he's capable. But even so, he might have been captured. If so, I don't know what to do."
Lirkana smiled thinly and replied. "I do."
- - - -
Aric awoke from his stun-induced sleep and sat up. He clanged his head on the low durasteel ceiling and cursed foully in a dialect of Corellian. Combined with a splitting headache, the lump on his head began to swell and made him feel worse. He blinked little white flecks out of his vision. He saw that he was in a small room, a sterile silver color, from the durasteel plating the walls. He looked beyond what looked like an open door to his cell, but he knew better; there was definitely a force field surrounding the cell. He saw no one guarding the cell, but he again knew better. There was a ysalamiri outside the cell, on a cobbled-together nutrient frame. Aric laid back and sighed resignedly. There was no way to escape for the time being.
He idly wondered where he was. He could think of only two possibilities: either the patrol ship that had captured him and his ship, or the captured mining facility on the ocean floor. He heard no roar of engines or repulsors, and occasionally the cell slowly rocked side to side, so he figured that he was being held on the mining facility. They had taken all of his weapons, his saber, everything, but they didn't take his boots. He began to formulate a plan. He smiled thinly. They would never see it in time.
- - - -
Jacen pulled back the hyperdrive levers of the Rock Dragon and the starlines abruptly reverted to realspace. Tenel Ka looked out the viewport at Mon Calamari. "Such a beautiful planet."
"Yeah."
Jacen adjusted his sensor board to the Lightning Rod's sensor frequency as it came out of hyperspace. Jacen keyed up the comm and sent a message to the other ship. "Jaina? Zekk? You there."
Zekk's voice came back. "Yeah, I gotcha. You ready?"
"Yeah. . . wait a sec. I have something here on my scope. Unidentified."
Jaina's voice interjected into the conversation. "Yeah, I see that too. What do you think?"
Jacen replied, an ominous tone in his voice. "I don't know. We'd better be careful."
- - - -
Ulek almost panicked at these two new complications in his hunt. First, some fanatical Imperial loyalists had captured his quarry and was holding him somewhere in the depths of the Mon Calamari oceans. And now, there were these annoyances, some Jedi wannabes looking out for their Jedi friend. He smiled and laughed evilly. He charged his laser turrets and loaded up his proton torpedo tube. These Jedi were going to regret coming to look for their friend. Oh yes, would they regret it.
- - - -
Zekk looked at the sensor display on the control console of the Lightning Rod. "Jaina. . . looks like he's powering up weapons. . ."
"I saw. Lasers coming online. Ready to fire."
Zekk smiled. Such an efficient person, Jaina. "Okay, good. Get to the top turret and hold him off."
She smiled and nodded, apparently eager to do battle. She clambered up the ladder to the upper gun turret and he watched as she disappeared into the gunner's compartment. He turned back to the controls and watched the rangefinder beside the wireframe display of the approaching ship. It got within weapons range and Zekk raised shields. He braced himself, but stayed put, hoping that the ship had no hostile intention, but his hopes were not well founded, apparently, as the unidentified ship breezed past, opening up a laser barrage, rocking the Lightning Rod with low-power blasts. Zekk flinched and brought the ship into a tight corkscrew loop and brought it around to line up parallel to the attacking ship's pattern. "Jaina! Get ready!"
Zekk strained his Force sense and maneuvered to get behind the attacker. The ship juked and rolled, but Jaina opened up with the laser battery and a flash of yellow exploded from the top of the Lightning Rod and scored a hit, as the ship's starboard engine caught fire and began to list to one side. "Nice shot, Jaina."
"No problem," she replied with a satisfied tone to her voice.
- - - -
Ulek couldn't believe it. These blasted Jedi-in-training had managed to disable his ship and he was on a collision course with the planet, spiraling down rapidly towards the blue-green seas. His frustration quickly turned to anger and he decided that if he was going to die, he should take some of his killers down with him. He smiled evilly as he initiated a reactor overload, and waited for his engines to overheat and explode, sending a devastating shockwave through space.
- - - -
Jacen glanced at the readout of the dying ship and the hairs raised on the back of his neck. The ship would have a core breach in less than thirty seconds. A blast of that magnitude would completely obliterate the Rock Dragon, as well as the Lightning Rod. He got onto the comm and yelled. "Zekk! It's going to have a reactor meltdown in twenty seconds! Get as far away as you can!"
He received no reply, but figured that he had understood as the Lightning Rod did a one hundred and eighty turn and shot away from the planet. Tenel Ka followed suit by taking the Rock Dragon on the same course. Five seconds to explosion. Four. Three. Two. One. Zero. . .
Kaaaaabbbboooooom! The explosion could be seem from a million kilometers away, a brilliant, sustained flare of white, yellow, and orange. The shockwave impact was felt by both ships, which rocked violently as the explosive wave rolled past. The comm of the Rock Dragon buzzed to life. "Jacen! Tenel Ka? You guys alright?"
Jacen was never happier to hear Jaina's voice. "Yeah, we're alive. Ship got a little cooked, though."
"Good. Glad to hear your voice."
"You don't know how glad I am."
- - - -
Aric glanced around his small cell, waiting. He hoped that a guard would arrive and open the force field, for even three seconds, if just to give him some food. He removed both of his boots and laid them conveniently by his arm. He sat back on the metal bunk and waited. Hours passed, until finally someone came into the isolated cell room. It was a guard, dressed in the khaki colored uniform of an Imperial lieutenant. He carried a rickety tray with a bowl of something that looked anything but appetizing, as well as a little pitcher of a bluish liquid. Aric tensed and reached for his boots. The guard set the tray down on a little table and spoke to Aric as he punched a deactivate code on a control panel by the cell. "Don't try anything funny, buddy."
Aric almost smiled. If he had any idea. . . The cell's force field came down and in a lightning quick display of reflexes, Aric grabbed for his boot with his right hand. He threw it forcefully at the guard's head. It hit his skull with a dull thwack and he slumped to the ground, clutching his head. Aric, satisfied, stood from the bunk and put his boots on. He grabbed the guard's blaster pistol and went over to the ysalamiri's nutrient frame. He checked the power pack in the pistol, armed it, and fired it.
The Force-inhibiting creature fell from the white-pipe frame, a black hole it its side smoking. It hit the metal floor with a wet smack and a puddle of blackish liquid pooled around it. Instantly, Aric felt the Force, coming back to him. He could sense numerous life forms trapped in cells similar to his. He decided that just ridding this facility of the Imperials was no longer enough. He hated the Imperials, and especially despised their non-human bias. He would free the prisoners and destroy the station, sending a message to whatever rogue moff was controlling the faction that their insurgence would not be tolerated. He found his lightsaber in a compartment in a wall in the room. It hadn't been tampered with and it worked fine. He also found his armor in a large supply closet adjacent to the cell room. He strapped it on and checked all the connections. It was undamaged, it just felt a bit heavy, since he had been weakened by his imprisonment. He channeled the Force into his strength and felt a renewed burst of strength course through his veins. He hoisted his lightsaber in front of him and held it at the ready. He breathed deeply and walked to the door. He opened the door and walked through, unsure of what would come next. . .
- - - -
Jacen and Tenel Ka set the Rock Dragon down on a landing pad at Crystal Reef, provided by Ambassador Cilghal. Jaina and Zekk followed suit, and the four Jedi were soon on the tarmac of the landing pad, discussing how they would get into the mining station. The Mon Calamari ambassador approached the four. "Hello, ambassador." greeted Tenel Ka.
"Hello, Tenel Ka, Jaina, Jacen, Zekk."
They exchanged greetings, but then the tone became much more serious. Cilghal spoke. "I know the location of the mining station you need to get to. And I have the means by which you can get there. I don't know how you will get in, but I wish you luck nonetheless."
Lirkana had come on the mission as well, but she had slept in the cabin of the Rock Dragon, since she hadn't slept out of worry since they speculated that Aric had been captured. Tenel Ka walked back into the cabin as the other conversed with Ambassador Cilghal and woke her. "Lirkana, we have arrived."
Lirkana opened her eyes and sat up. "Thank you."
She rose as strapped on her knife belt. She followed Tenel Ka out onto the landing pad as Tenel Ka filled her in on the situation. Lirkana became angry inside at the thought of Aric being captured, but she kept het calm, collected exterior intact, even though she wanted to kill something. Lirkana and Tenel Ka joined the other Jedi and Ambassador Cilghal as they walked to the submersible docking station. Ambassador Cilghal took them to a lone submersible docked in a large berth. "This is the submersible you will have to take. It's small, but you five should be able to fit in alright." She paused and handed Jaina a datapad. "Here's the last known coordinates of the mining station. Be careful."
Jaina smiled and replied. "Don't worry, we will."
- - - -
Aric brought his lightsaber down on the guard and slashed through his chest before he could even draw his blaster pistol. A dark black pockmark filled his chest, followed by a pool of red blood on the floor. Aric stepped over the limp guard's body to the first prison door. He carved open the durasteel door with his lightsaber and a large chunk of the door fell away, smoldering. He hunched down and slipped into the room.
It looked almost exactly like the cell he had himself been in not ten minutes before. He looked into the cell and saw a Bothan woman, with snowy white fur, and grey streaks on her face and hair. She was quite attractive, but as he contemplated that, Lirkana came to his mind. He shook his head and went over to the force field control panel. The field flickered and shut down. He went to the pretty Bothan and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked away, obviously scared. He took off his helmet and clipped it to his belt. He asked her a question. "Are you alright?"
She nodded ever so slightly and he asked her another simple question. "What's your name?"
She paused for a moment as if trying to remember, but she replied. "Lyra. Lyra Sy'kra."
"Nice to meet you, Lyra. My name's Aric."
She smiled shyly. "Nice to meet you, Aric."
Aric withdrew one of the blaster pistols that he had taken from the dead guards and handed it to her. "Here, take this. If you see any guards, don't hesitate to shoot."
She nodded, but she appeared puzzled. "What about you? Don't you need a weapon?"
He drew up his lightsaber and an understanding look appeared on her face. Aric stretched out with the Force and detected several guards on approach to their location. "We've got trouble. Take cover."
The snowy fur on the back of her head flared up and she let out a low snarl of contempt. Lyra kneel behind an overturned greel wood table and aimed her procured blaster pistol towards the still-smoking hole in the door. Aric slid up beside the door and activated the dual-phase mode of his lightsaber. He could feel the guards getting close. A khaki-uniformed figure appeared in front of the door and Lyra opened fire, again and again. About ten blaster bolt hit the guard in the head and chest, and he fell limply to the ground, bleeding from a dozen wounds, smoking holes in his upper body. More guards came through the door and Aric went to work, slashing with his saber. Two guards went down, smoking, charred holes in their chests. Lira let another volley fly and another guard went down. The remaining guard tried to flee and it appeared he had succeeded, but Lyra dove through the door into the hallway. She came up on one knee and let fly one blaster bolt. It caught the fleeing Imperial neatly in the back of the head. His khaki hat flew off and he bounced off the left wall before he tumbled to the ground. "Nice shot, Lyra."
She just nodded, satisfied. He took the initiative. "Come on, we need to get out of here."
"I couldn't agree more."
- - - -
The minisub approached the mining station quickly, with Jaina and Zekk at the controls. Jaina activated the signal masker on the craft, broadcasting an Imperial frequency to fool the station into believing that they were an Imperial submersible. The drab brown armor of the station grew in the viewport and a bay began to expand in the bottom of the ring-shaped station. Zekk maneuvered the ship under the station and rose into the bay, slowly. "That was easy," he remarked. "No questions asked."
Jacen replied. "Well, they probably can't afford it. They're pretty short on everything these days."
"Yeah."
The minisub shuddered as a clawgrip grabbed it roughly and set it on a docking rack inside the remarkably dry landing bay. "Hey, there's Aric's ship." remarked Zekk.
It was indeed the Nightwolf, sitting unmolested on a surface elevator, that would take it up a shaft to the top of the mining station, above the surface where it could take off. The submersible clanked down onto the docking hold and shuddered to a stop. Jaina shut down all of the systems, but left the engines in quick-access mode, should a quick escape be required. Tenel Ka opened the hatch and poked her head out into the bay to see if anyone was watching. "No one is guarding the bay." she stated.
"Good," remarked Jacen. "Okay, let's find Aric."
- - - -
Lyra shot another troop cleanly between the eyes and he fell face first to the ground. The control center was secure and she moved to guard the single point of ingress into the auditorium-like control bridge. Aric slashed a security monitor above the security console. He used his lightsaber to slash open the security computer and then he pulled all the wires out of it, completely destroying the computer. Lyra took down two guards that came charging down the access corridor with two clean blasts.
Aric quickly hacked into the main computer, silently cursing and wishing that he had brought Chirpy on this mission. Things would have been much faster hacking into the computer, but he had adequate skills. Within minutes he had located the Nightwolf, as well as the system that made the whole station rise to the water. He had a plan; and it involved both of those factors. He figured out a quick route to the hangar and called to Lyra. "Hey, we need to get to my ship. Come this way."
"Right." she replied in a deadpan voice as she shot another Imperial in the gut. Aric lingered over the controls for a moment as he activated the repulsors in the station, and he felt it begin to move through the water. He looked up and rushed out into the corridor and blocked a stray blaster bolt from an automated defense blaster. He ran through what seemed like an endless maze of corridors for what seemed like an eternity, with Lyra providing expert cover fire. The two ran and ran, avoiding guards and slowly making their way to the lower hangar bay. Aric ran around a corner, and hearing sounds, he expected several guards, but to his surprise, it was Jacen, Jaina, Zekk, Tenel Ka and Lirkana. Aric saw a group of troopers rushing after them. "Get down!"
The troops opened fire, and all of their blasts missed except one. A random bolt struck Lirkana dead on in the stomach and she went down, screaming in pain and clutching a smoldering hole in her stomach. "Lirkana!" cried Aric, panicked. Lyra precisely picked off the four guards covering their escape route. Jacen took charge. "C'mon, we know where your ship is, walk this way."
The seven ran towards the hangar bay and, to their pleasant surprise, there was only one guard in the whole bay. Lyra activated the laser scope on her pistol and picked him off of his catwalk vantage point and he fell from that height, crashing to the ground with a sickening snap. Aric gave the voice activation code and the Nightwolf roared to life. The hatch opened and the boarding ramp shot out. The seven clambered up the ramp as the pursuing guards shot hopelessly at the ship. Aric plopped hastily into the pilot's chair and ran through the startup sequence with blinding speed. Aric was close to tears as Tenel Ka laid Lirkana on the bed in the cabin and began to tend her wounds with the inadequate medkit. Aric activated the repulsors, and as if on cue, the doors above opened, and the Nightwolf shot out into the sky. Aric wheeled the ship around and, his voice cracking, asked, "Anyone want to blow this thing up?"
Jaina and Jacen each took to a gun turret as Aric powered up the ion cannon and missiles. He looped around and dived at the station, lasers and missiles blasting away. Numerous explosions and fires raged on the drab brown metal of the hull and it began to list to starboard. Aric, filled with rage, swung around for the killing blow. The gunners lined up and they opened a final barrage at the station. A dozen concussion missiles and several hundred laser blasts later, the station sunk below the waves and the fires fizzled out. Aric slumped in his chair and almost cried. He turned the controls over to the capable hands of Jaina and Zekk and walked back into the cabin where Lirkana lay still, barely breathing. Jacen and Lyra were sitting conversing in the lounge, but their expressions turned to sadness as they saw Aric on the verge of sobs. Tenel Ka left the cabin as he walked in. Closing the door, he kneeled on the deck beside the bed. Aric could no longer restrain himself, and he cried freely.
He felt Lirkana weakly put a hand on his head as he kneeled there, and he could feel that she was dying. Her imprint in the Force was fading fast, and Aric couldn't save her, not even with all the Jedi on the ship performing a healing trance. Her breathing shallowed as she tried to speak. "Aric. . . I. . . love you. Take. . . care."
She closed her eyes as Aric held her hand and rubbed it gently. Her chest stopped heaving, and Aric could feel the life pouring out of her. He lay his head on the bunk and sobbed, for hours.
- - - -
Back on Crystal Reef, Jacen and Zekk were apologizing profusely for the loss of the submersible, but Ambassador Cilghal was forgiving, stating that they had paid the debt by destroying the Imperial presence on Mon Calamari. They had been given free room and board for three days to recover, and had all accepted gladly. Aric reclined in a large, cushy chair in his room, brooding. He hadn't been the same since Lirkana had died; he was depressed and sad all the time, he never wanted to do anything with the others.
His dark, gloomy thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door. "Yes?" he asked in a tired voice.
"It's Lyra."
"Come in."
Lyra. She was the only one who could make me feel any better right now, he thought unhappily. The white-furred Bothan timidly entered and sat in a chair across from Aric. "Hello, Aric. I'm so sorry. . ."
He put his hand to his head. "No, really, don't. . ."
She moved and sat next to him. "I know you're still getting over her death, but ever since I saw you when you rescued me on the station, I thought you were so handsome and brave, but I knew that there was probably someone. . ."
His expression lightened ever so slightly. "Well, yes."
She smiled warmly. "I'm here for you, Aric."
He smiled, something he hadn't been able to do for the last two days.
- - - -
A knock sounded on his door. Aric looked up from his holobook. "Who is it?"
"Zekk. Want to join me and Jacen for a little sabacc?"
"Yeah, sure. Give me a minute."
Aric rose from his seat and threw on a semi-nice shirt over his undershirt and washed his face up. He inspected his face, seeing the great accumulation of stubble that came with not shaving for three days. Maybe he would cultivate the beard. Oh well, no time to shave. He opened the door to his quarters and Zekk was there, in a pair of navy blue trousers and a white shirt. Aric wore black pants and a white shirt and vest. The two men walked down the hall towards Jacen's quarters. They arrived and Zekk knocked. Jacen's voice came in over the intercom. "Yes?"
"It's Zekk. I got another hand for the sabacc game."
"Oh, good, come on in."
The door hissed open and Zekk stepped through, with Aric right behind him. Seated around a circular table were Jaina, Jacen, and Lyra. Jaina was using an automated shuffler to mix up the cards. Zekk took a seat across from her and Aric took a seat adjacent to Lyra. She giggled. "Nice beard."
Jacen chuckled. "Yeah, what's that, a 72-hour shadow?"
"Shut up. Start the game."
Jaina dealt the cards and Aric picked up his three. The six of flasks, the two of staves, and the three of coins. An eleven. Bets were placed, but no one had any intention of keeping anything. A small stack of credits piled up in the middle of the table and Jaina pressed a button and the cards shifted. Aric held his breath. The two and three stayed put. The six was shifting and shifting for what seemed like an eternity. It stopped to reveal. . . an idiot. Yes, he had an idiot's array. He could barely keep his excitement down as the betting commenced. Through four rounds of betting, Zekk, Jacen, and Jaina bowed out. That left Lyra and Aric to end their betting and see who would win the hand. A trail of sweat made its way down Aric's brow and dropped onto the table. "You first." he said.
Lyra grinned and put her cards down on the table. The Commander of flasks, the eight of coins, and the three of coins. A pure sabacc. Aric almost breathed a heavy sigh of relief, but he held it at bay. He placed his cards on the table and jubilantly announced, "Idiot's array!"
Lyra smacked the table and frowned, but then she smiled. "You're a pretty good player. Another hand?"
Nods of assent rippled through the assembled friends. Another hand commenced. Aric won again, with a twenty-one, against Zekk. He walked back to his quarters with a pile of credits that his friends insisted that he keep. He deposited the chits in his quarters and then went for a walk in the watery court of the Crystal Reef resort. Strolling slowly around the large circular courtyard, he saw a figure approaching him. It was Lyra, the Bothan. She quickly strode up to his and spoke. "Hello, Aric."
"Hi, Lyra. There's some things I've been meaning to ask you, but I never got the chance. . ."
He was surprised by her response. "Shoot."
"Well, you're an excellent shot. How did you get so good?"
"Well, my father was a spy back in the days of the Rebellion. . ."
"Did he discover the plans. . ."
"In fact, yes, he was one of the six who survived. He's still alive as far as I know, and I'm not all that certain because I've been locked up for the past three years."
"Why's that?"
"Well, following my graduation from the Bothan Martial Academy, in which I was near the top of my class in accuracy and target shooting, I joined New Republic Intelligence. The rogue Imperials, under a Moff Disra, I think, had a grand scheme to supposedly resurrect Thrawn."
"Yes, I heard."
"They captured me and held me in about a dozen places, the mining station being the most recent. Until you came along." she looked at him.
He could sense the presence of familiar eyes watching him. It was Jacen, Jaina, and Zekk looking at the two from a second floor window. Had he not sensed them through the Force, he would never have noticed them. He leaned his head down to Lyra's ear and whispered conspiratorially to her. "Don't look now, but we're being watched."
She giggled and stopped as they reached a wall on the far side of the courtyard. "Well, if we're being watched. . ." she trailed off as she wrapped her arms around him waist. He wasn't entirely at ease, she could tell, but she intended to make it that way. "Let's give them what they want."
Aric looked down at her in puzzlement but understood as she kissed him. He returned her affections, not just because his friends were watching, but because he was falling in love with the one he had saved from a life of Imperial captivity. He wrapped his thick arms around her waist and drew her close. He swore that in the background he could hear catcalls coming from the observers. He would have smiled, had it not been for Lyra's lips pressing against his own.
- - - -
The Nightwolf glided into Yavin 4's atmosphere with a smooth rush of air. Aric engaged the landing gear and within minutes, was on the ground, doing a post-flight routine. Lyra, who had been sitting alongside him for the duration of the trip from Mon Calamari, broke the silence. "There's something I need to tell you. A reason that the Imperials held me. . . was that I was Force-sensitive. They wanted me to become the first of a new order of Dark Jedi. And it would have happened had you not rescued me."
It was a painful confession for her, he could tell, but he was glad that she had. If she was Force-sensitive, she could train at the academy, and they wouldn't have to be apart! "You know, I think you've come to the right place."
- - - -
It was a warm day on the jungle moon as Aric and Lyra walked down the boarding ramp. A little entourage approached, including Chirpy, who blatted and tooted a great welcome. Zekk, Jaina, Jacen, and Tenel Ka were all there; they had left for Yavin sooner than Aric and Lyra had, and there was Luke Skywalker, also. "Master Skywalker. This is Lyra Sy'kra. She was being held captive on the mining station that I was forced to destroy. She is Force-sensitive."
"Is this true?"
Lyra nodded her head. "I wish to train here and try to reach my full potential."
Skywalker smiled benevolently. "Very well. Glad to have you as a student, Lyra."
"And I am glad that you accept me."
"Come, we will discuss your training."
Skywalker and Lyra walked off towards the great temple, and Luke was telling her all about what she would be doing as a Jedi student. Aric watched them walk off until he could no longer see them against the drab color of the Massassi temple. He turned around and Chirpy was waiting for him. He set an arm on the droid's dome. He blatted a question. "My adventures? Oh, no, not much to tell, really."
The droid hooted, knowing better than that. "Oh fine. I'll tell you later. There's something I need to. . . attend to."
He was, of course, referring to Lirkana's funeral, for which he had made no arrangements. He would bury her simply; he knew she would have wanted it that way, the simple warrior that she had been. He looked up from the black and white dome of the droid to the two couples who were looking into the sunset. Couples? He had never thought of Jaina and Zekk and Jacen and Tenel Ka like that, but it was obvious that they were made for each other. Could it be the same for him and Lyra? He would just wait and see.
Jaina turned and walked back to him, obviously picking up on his thoughts of Lyra. "If you really love her, don't be afraid to show it. Although you seem to be able to do that just fine." she winked as she laid a hand on his shoulder. "I really think that you two are right for each other. I really do."
"I'm glad you think so. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to. . . talk to someone."
Jaina smiled and walked back to Zekk's open arms. Aric smiled and walked back to the temple. She was right. He did love Lyra. He was sure of it. It was an interesting way to meet, on an Imperial controlled station, a prisoner and a rescuer. He had been glad that he saved her ever since their escape, and now he had all the time in the world to love her. And he was going to do just that.