Davro dodged and vaulted over and around the clutter and reached Kayylla as she was sitting up.
"Are you alright? What happened?", he asked, Jace following close behind. She tried to tell them, but couldn't find the words before nearing another outburst.
"It's gonna be okay, you're with us." He fished around in his pack and produced an extra blanket, which he folded and placed under her pillow for more support. Giving her a weak smile as she lay back down, he rose from his knees. "I'll be up in the cockpit if you need me..."glancing at Jace and blushing slightly.
Once out of sight, he ran his hands over his face as he walked to the cockpit. "KC, I wish you were here, buddy..." He dropped himself into the copilot's chair, checking the instruments, then settling back. Not being able to sleep, he pulled his blaster pistol, field-stripped it, and cleaned it's mechanisms and lenses, then reassembled it, and holstered it again. Satisfied with his work, he began to drift off, the fatigue of his test flight and their hurried escape, and his virtually blowing-up at Jace.
He awoke staring through the cockpit windows at the sight of the vast Kuat Drive Yards, one of the greatest starcraft builders in the universe. The "Minimizer" sped toward the center of the complex, past the skeletal forms of ships under construction and being repaired. Kayylla's nimble piloting brought them smoothly to dock with the central station.
Davro busied himself securing their gear and packing the supplies. He threw on his jacket and quickly followed after Kayylla and Jace as they left to procure another vessel.
Kayylla was amazed at size of the Kuat Drive Yards. Never had she seen so many ships in dry-docks and parked on platforms waiting to be purchased. Not all the ships on the platforms were made at the KDY, many had been brought in from all over the galaxy. She saw many models of the Corellian YT and YV
hundreds, a few from the Incom Corporation and many more from other known yards. The hardest part of it all was deciding on what ship to buy. Hopefully with the help of Jace and Davro she would be able to pick the right one for them.
She docked the 'Minimizer' in an open docking bay in between the Corellian Engineering Corporation and the Sienar Fleet Systems platforms. Exiting the ship they were greeted by a Kuat salesman. He wore the gaudy robes of the Kuat lower houses.
"Greetings from Kuat. My name is Dirnk, and I will be your personal salesman. How my our ship yards be of service to you?" He said with no real pleasure in his voice.
"We are here to purchase a freighter. It needs to be fast, plenty of room for storage and three separate sleeping quarters." Kayylla said emphasizing the need for storage.
"Ah, I do have a ship in mind for you. Come, it is to the Corellian platform for you today. I must say though, none of our ships here today have separate quarters. The crew quarters have three bunks in them. If you want the separate quarters you will have to give up the storage space. which ever you chose." He continued as they reached the turbo lift.
Kayylla glanced at the two men for any sign of disagreement about sharing sleeping space. Neither one showed any sign of objection. "That will do fine Dirnk." She said turning to the salesman.
"I believe I have a ship in mind for you then. It is the YT-2800. It is only a few years old. It contains a class 0.6 hyperdrive, not as fast as the famed Millennium Falcon but faster then most ships out there. It carries laser and blaster cannons. This special model has both particle and ray energy shields. The generators have been up graded to maintain the powerful shields. More modifications can be purchased here, for an extra fee our mechanics can install them for you. I'm sure you would like a tour off the ship." Dirnk said as he boarded the ramp.
Davro stepped aside and allowed Kayylla to board first. She met Dirnk in the hold. He started giving Kayylla measurements of the hold, she paid little attention to his voice. Instead she was already thinking of where they were going to place all of their cargo.
Once he finished his spiel on the hold area he moved on towards the crew quarters. Looking in Kayylla was able to see three separate bunks, each against one of the bulkhead that lined the room and enough space for their personal gear. On their way to the cockpit Dirnk also demonstrated how to use the 'extra' storage spaces in the deckplates. The cockpit was similar to the design of the 1300's, the difference between the two crafts though was the placement of the cockpit. The 28's cockpit was placed where the 13's mandibles were. The piloting set was not as complex as the 'Minimizers.' Kayylla knew she had to have this ship, it was perfect for her.
"How much?" Kayylla asked interrupting Dirnks explanation of the controls.
"Oh, the price, yes the price." he said eyeing the group up and down. "it will be one hundred and seventy five thousand credits, I'm giving you a discount because I like the looks of you." He smiled greedily.
Kayylla stood there a moment then asked. "How much will you take off for a trade in?"
"You're not seriously thinking about trading in the Cloakshape are you? Those were canceled decades ago. You're not going to get much for it." He said with a smirk.
"I see. Well there have been many modifications to her. She's hyperspace worthy, the hull plates have been doubled and has a larger cargo hold. You said it yourself, it is no longer being sold, there are many ship collectors out there who would love to get their hands on it. So lets take off twenty-five thousand from your quote and we will call it a deal." Kayylla said giving him her heart melting smile.
Once Davro and Jace saw the smile, they knew the ship was hers
Kayylla shook the salesman's out stretched hand. Once they released she added. "Oh, could you also throw in a few modifications? We can install them ourselves of course."
Dirnk only nodded his head in agreement.
"Wonderful, my companions here will tell you what we need. Davro since you know more about ships then I, how about you tell him what we need." She said turning to Davro. "I'll be getting the transfer ready."
With that she pulled out her datapad and pulled up the amount of funds they would be using. She stood back waiting for the men to finish, she noticed Davro also let Jace throw in some input on some up grades they might need.
Checking systems as he went, Davro had trouble containing his excitement over the new ship. He also felt flattered that Kayylla would trust his judgment regarding parts and upgrades.
"Okay, she needs a new tachyon pulse converter, the old one is showing some resistance on the 'G'-band. I'd like to get another backup power generator, a lower powered backup hyperdrive unit." He then crawled up into the gun-wells to check out the armaments. "What the....you calls these guns?! Two twin-barrel turrets fitted with the old KG-19 laser barrels? No good, focusing lenses on the KG-series were prone to early wear and lots of flashback. I'll need 8 laser tips, same sort as the Incom T-38 X-Wing fighter, they last longer and have improved range and accuracy. And one more thing,", he added, "I need an R2 series astromech droid. There's nothing onboard for automated damage control, and I need one to talk to the ship's computer directly."
He waited for the negative response, knowing full well that the military laser tips had little chance of being given, but he was curious how well this Dirnk knew his products.
"Oh, while I'm thinking about, I have a professional question for you; what would be your estimate as to the value of a fully restored Naboo N-1 starfighter, with an improved torpedo system.?"
Davro smiled and let the salesman chew the figures over in his head.
"Well, ah since the N-1 is nearly impossible to find. You say you have a fully restored starfighter?" Dirnk asked noting the nod of Davro's head. "I would have to say, you could name your price for it. Any collector would pay a Moff's ransom for something that rare."
Jace had a hard time covering his shock at the price the old fighter could bring. Too bad they had to leave it on 'The Rock'.
"Enough with the talk of starfighters." Kayylla said coming back into the group. "The money is ready to be transferred over. Do you have the files for me?"
"Yes, of course here they are." The salesman said as he reached into his belt pouch for her documents of ownership. "Here you go Ms...?" He said as he handed Kayylla the documents.
"Ms. Sttan. Thank you again and I believe the transfer is complete. Where can we pick up our extra modifications?" She asked after she transferred the funds to the KDY central computer and pocketed the files.
"I've sent for droids to bring and load your modifications. Your astromech will be here shortly. We had it off in another part of this bay." Dirnk responded after putting away his commlink.
"Oh, a few more things if you wouldn't mind Dirnk. Could we borrow a loading droid to help transfer our cargo from one ship to the other, we also need this ship moved to the docking bay near my old ship. And lastly, we were never her. You have no knowledge of our existence or that the KDY ever owned a YT-2800. Do I make myself clear or does my friend over there need to help you understand that better?" Kayylla asked motioning with her eyes at the blaster in Jaces hand, aimed at the side of his head.
"Oh, yes of course. I'm sorry Ms. but we have no YT-2800's available at this time. The last one was bought some time ago. Is there anything else I can do for you kind beings?" Dirnk asked though his voice sounded forced.
"Thank you but no. We'll keep in touch." Davro said keeping his own hand close to his blaster still holstered at his hip.
As they headed for the turbo lift they head the familiar beeps and whistles of an astro droid. From behind an old model YV-500 rolled a yellow and white astromech droid.
"I would like to introduce you all to R2-F8. F8 this is your new master." The salesman said almost in relief at getting rid of the droid.
They all entered the turbo lift and seconds later they were back in the docking bay they had started in. By the time they reached the 'Minimizer' the loading droids and their modifications were on their way in.
All three worked hard to unload the 'Minimizer' of it cargo. Once the ship was empty Kayylla's new ship had landed and was being loaded by the droids with few encouraging beeps from F8.
"Kayylla, what are you going to name your ship and your droid? Jace asked when they took a small break from loading the ship.
"Well, I have always liked the name 'Atropos.' I can't remember what language it is but it means 'the abhorred shears.' As for the droid I think I will call her Fate. What do you think of that Fate?" Kayylla asked the droid. It responded with an excitement of whistles and beeps.
They all chuckled at the droids positive response. "Then Fate it is." Kayylla said. "Can you two finish loading the rest of the supplies? I need to make sure I did not forget anything on board."
"Sure." Both men answered in unison. Then glared at each other when Kayylla turned her back and headed towards the 'Minimizer.'
Once aboard her old ship Kayylla moved immediately to the ships log. Entering in her private access code she started to purge her ships memory. This ship had lasted her through three lifetimes, almost four. It was hard to let go but she had to. Her peoples lives were at stake if she did not get rid of it, and the records of the places they had been.
Going back through her compartments Kayylla made sure there was no trace of her ever being aboard. She grabbed the tray of data cards from its own secret compartment under the copilots chair. She could not forget these, after all they were the brief histories of her people and their technology. She had to make sure these stayed safe or else her nightmare will come true. Making sure all the data cards were there Kayylla left the 'Minimizer' hoping the nightmares would stop.
Davro was shutting the last storage compartment when Kayylla stepped aboard, a box under her arm. He gave it a moments thought, but it quickly left him as remembered that this was a new vessel, and probably had settings to tweak and performance to improve.
He trotted up to the cockpit, and began running diagnostics and power-up sequences, watching the gauges, smiling at some and scowling at others.
"Number 7 condenser array needs adjusting, power grid needs calibrating, and I need to install that backup power unit...." he muttered under his breath. He edged to the side to let Kayylla and Jace into the cockpit, then settled into copilot's chair.
"Okay, main fusion reactor on-line, repulsorlift engines ready, sublight drive ready, hyperdrive powered-up and on standby. Life support system has a green-light, cycling the hatch and ramp closed, now......" Davro read off the instruments. "Atmosphere purged, we're ready any time you are to depart."
Jace looked over from the navigator's chair. "Alright, where are we headed now?"
"Set course for Ord Mantell. I should have headed there in the first place." Kayylla said strapping herself into the pilots chair. Her hands gripped the controls, she could feel the thrum of the engines pulsing through her. Excitement filled her as she switched on the repulsors and raised the landing gear. The 'Atropos' sat there, its weight supported completely by the repulsors energy field.
A smile spread across her face as she guided her craft out of the docking bay and into the KDY construction yards. The ship guided with ease around the dry docked vessels waiting for repairs. The 'Atropos' soared over the port side of a newly constructed Star Destroyer and nearly collided with a Firespray class patrol and attack ship shaped like a pachyderm Kayylla had seen in a holo once. She corrected with a hard bank to starboard.
"Where did he learn to fly?" Kayylla said to no one in particular. Suddenly her rear scopes pinged with a ship coming up on her tail. "What in space is he doing?" She said with alarm rising in her voice as the ship drew closer to her own.
'Uh-oh', Davro thought to himself. 'This guy is looking for trouble.' He immediately angled the rear deflector shields and charged-up the guns. "Fate, see if you can get us any more power from the main reactor." The astromech droid gave whistle and rolled back to it's work. "I'm going back to the guns.
Jace, keep those shields up. We're gonna make it out of here okay...." he reassured them.
Bolting to the gunwell, he climbed into the dorsal gunner's chair, strapped himself in, pulled on the headset, and brought the turret on-line. deftly swinging the guns aft, he lined-up on the following Firespray and zeroed in on it's cockpit. "Okay, pal....make your move...." he muttered.
As if on command, the Firespray opened fire on them, it's shots going wide thanks the Kayylla's quick reflexes. Concentrating on his task, Davro opened up on the Firespray, his lasers peppering it's forward shields with bright flashes and causing him to back off his close range. The onslaught continued, Davro refusing to back down and doggedly keeping Firespray in his sights and on the defensive. His determination paid-off when their assailant's shield finally dropped and several of Davro's rounds struck true, landing squarely in the Firespray's cockpit section. Long since clear of the Drive Yards, the Firespray spiraled away from them, heavily damaged, but not destroyed.
"Heh, they picked the right place to fight. I'm sure KDY will gladly tow them in and repair their ship...." he spoke into his headset. "I'll stay up here until we've made the jump to lightspeed, just in case..."
They had reached their jumping point without any further confrontations. Kayylla waited until the stars became starlines before she called Davro back to the cockpit. Moments later he walked through with a satisfied smile across his face.
"Nice shooting back there Davro, I'm glad you decided to stay with us." Kayylla said with a smile and allowing a little color to reach her cheeks. "Who was that guy any way?"
Davro opened his mouth to answer but before any words could come out Jace spoke up. "That ship was the 'Slave I,' owned by Boba Fett. Please tell me you've heard of Fett?" Jace asked when he saw her puzzled look.
"Well no, not that I can remember at least. I have sort of been in seclusion for the past few years. Why, is he supposed to be someone important?" Kayylla asked standing so she could look at both of them.
Davro stood there looking at her in amazement. "You've never heard of Fett? He's the most dangerous bounty hunter in the galaxy. How can you not have heard of him? Now he'll be after us."
"Yeah, thanks to you for shooting at him." Jace said coming to his feet.
"Hey! We are not starting a fight now." Kayylla said standing between the two of them, green eyes glaring. "By the time he gets his ship repaired we will be long gone. Let's forget about it and go over this ship. In know it's new but it needs some work. We have a days worth of travel still to go. So what do we need to do with her Davro?" She continued as she slid past Davro to the rest of the ship.
Davro swallowed a reply and followed Kayylla back into engine section.
"While we're traveling, we can install the backup power generator, I can check into some sublight drive adjustments, and see about channeling more power to your guns. Fate should be able to nearly install the power unit by itself in a couple of hours. I'll get on those sublight engines, see if I can't make this ship dance.", he chimed to Kayylla, smiling that lopsided roguish grin that made him seem both a saint and a
scoundrel at the same time.
He grabbed his aging set of hydrospanners and walked past Fate, who was installing the power unit. He reached the sublight drives, and started his work in earnest. After hours of cleaning, adjusting, calibrating, and testing, he emerged from service hatch nearly covered with grime, save for his beaming smile and a band across his eyes from his goggles.
"I am pleased to announce that the salesman had no idea what this ship was equipped with. The sublight drive core on this thing is de-centralized, it is composed of ten Novaldex Event Horizon starfighter engines, same ones used on the A-Wing. They badly needed adjustment and calibration, but you're in for a pleasant surprise when we drop back to sublight."
He giggled maniacally as he went back to get cleaned up.
While Davro was off fiddling with the engines Kayylla and Jace set about taking inventory of what they had aboard and what they would need once they reached Ord Mantell.
"From what we picked up at 'The Rock', we've got enough rations here to feed a small army for a week." Jace said closing the compartment where most of the ration bars were kept.
"And the food prep is ready anytime we are, it needed a few tweaks. Now we can get anything from Dianoga delight to knytix soup, or anything else you can think up." Kayylla added coming out from behind the food prep. She wiped her hands on an old rag hanging from her belt, not realizing she had a spot of grease on her nose.
By the time she had finished picking up her tools Davro had cleaned himself up from his work in the engines. "The rest of the modifications you need done will have to wait until we reach ground. You could do them in vacuum, but I wouldn't recommend it." He said drying his hands on a towel. "What's to eat? I'm starving." he added stepping over to the lounges table and taking a seat.
"Anything you can think up. Kayylla's fixed the food prep and it's ready to go." Jace called from the other end of the lounge.
"You two go ahead and fix whatever you want. I need to get a few things, then I'll join you." Kayylla said looking herself over for any spots she might have missed.
"Let me help." Davro said getting back up from the table.
"No. You sit and get something to eat, it will only take a minute." She said leaving the two of them alone.
Walking quickly she headed to the crew quarters they shared. Once she entered the room, Kayylla a went straight to her bunk. She had paid close attention when Dirnk was showing her the secret compartments in the room. She applied the right amount of pressure needed to open the compartment fixed into her bunk. It swung open to reveal the box of datacards she had brought from the 'Minimizer.' She grabbed one card from her previous journal stack and closed the compartment once again. Sliding the datacard into its receiver slot in her datapad Kayylla left to join the others in the lounge.
Stepping into the lounge her senses where blasted with a mixture of smells. Looking at the table she knew where they had come from. Jace and Davro sat across from each other with a plate of what looked like food in front of them. Neither one was talking. Both looked up when she entered and gave her a smile of recognition.
"I can see you were able to operate the food prep. I hope you like it." She said and went to fix herself a plate of Gnooroop steak and greens. She then headed over to the table to eat.
Both men stood once she neared the booth. She slid in on Davro's side and stopped where the bench curved around then straighten out to the other side. From where she sat she was able to get a closer look at what they had fixed. Davro's was a mess of colors but the strong spicy smell coming from it told her it was a Corellian dish. Jaces looked sort of green. Taking a closer look she saw it was noodles covered in a type of green sauce with veggies and meat added to it.
Kayylla took out her datapad and started reading through the journal entries of her previous life as she played with her fork.
Davro caught a glimpse of Kayylla's datapad read-out, but quickly looked away, berating himself for trying to snoop on others. He took another bite of food, washed it down with a sip of fozbeer.
"I've been thinking of why Boba Fett would've jumped us at KDY.", he started. "I've come to three conclusions. First; he was tracking the previous owner of this vessel, and they dumped it to evade pursuit. Second; he was angry at nearly running into us, but it doesn't make sense for him to open fire on us just for that. Third; the Empire has offered a bounty on a cloak-shape freighter that blasted out of Coruscant, so he was waiting for one to show up at KDY and make a change of ships. From what I've heard about him, he's not above bribing or physically threatening others to get info on his next potential paycheck. And, I don't think he would care that much about doing in innocent traders if he could possibly find one of the Empire's most wanted."
He took his empty plate back, cleaned it up, then sat back down to finish the rest of his drink. Draining his cup, he went back to check on Fate.
"Power unit looks good, Fate...." he said, as he double-checked the connections and made sure the unit was securely installed. He glanced back toward the dining area, sighed, and turned back to the droid. "You look like you use some cleaning up yourself. Weren't too concerned about the droids at KDY, were they?" Fate whined in the affirmative as Davro led him back to an area where he could work easier. Within minutes, Fate's cylindrical body was gleaming like new. Davro grabbed his tech-scanner and hooked up Fate for a diagnostic check. "Reminds me of KC, looking at your read-outs. He's the last astromech droid I had. He's waiting for me at home, I wish he was here."
Fate chirped quizzically at him as his checking slowed and stopped, giving him a start.
"Sorry about that. You seems to be in good shape. A little recharging and you should be fine." After hooking-up Fate to the ships power grid, he went to his bunk to try and catch a nap.
"He's not much for conversation is he." Kayylla said once Davro left.
"He does have a point though, Boba Fett wouldn't come after someone for almost running into him, so I think we can cross that one off the list. I can slice into the data base on the ship and see who the last owner was. Hopefully the KDY was sloppy and didn't do a complete wipe of the ships memory. Maybe Fate can help me with that." Jace said clearing both of their dishes from the table.
"You could be right." Kayylla said closing down her data pad. "But from what I know of the Empire and how they are always jumping to the wrong conclusions when it comes to 'aliens'. I think they believe you, one of their loyal sons, has been kidnapped by a strange species of alien and will only be returned if they pay a ransom. They would never believe one of their own would ever leave their service." She said letting
sarcasm enter her voice.
Jace didn't comment, he finished cleaning the dishes then turned. "I'll still check the ships records and see if they will give us any information." Not waiting for her response he left for the cockpit.
Kayylla sat there in the lounge alone. She thought about reading her journals again but decided against it. She slid out of the booth and headed for the cockpit. Her pace slowed when she passed the crew quarters, she thought about checking on Davro but then decided against it. Ever since she has known the man he was always being woken up from his sleep, he deserved some time alone.
When she reached the cockpit she saw Jace hard at work going through file after file of data with Fate at his side beeping with encouragement.
"Any luck?" She queried as she sat in the copilots chair.
"I'm getting a few leads but then when I get to the files, they've all been erased. I did find out that a merchant owned this ship before, that might explain the hidden compartments. The previous owners name though has been erased and I'm unable to find it." Jace responded.
"Well I guess that's a start. When we reach Ord Mantell I want to download some files from the holonet, maybe those will help us in some way. We should exit from hyperspace in less than two hours. Fate I want you to wake Davro before we jump back in, I want him manning the gun turrets in case we have a surprise waiting." Kayylla said placing her booted feet on the console infront of her. Fate beeped in acknowledgment.
The time passed all too quickly for Davro, one moment dreaming, the next being awakened by excited droid whistling.
"Okay, KC, I'm up.....oh, sorry, Fate." He shook off his grogginess as Fate began replaying a holo-message of Kayylla speaking to the droid
".....I want him manning the guns in case of trouble...", the miniature Kayylla stated, bringing a smile to Davro's face.
"Alright, point taken. Fate, head back to the sublight drives. Plug-in and monitor their status. You see a problem, try to compensate and adjust. The power flow might be troublesome to keep leveled across them."
Fate rolled off to the engines while Davro once again climbed into the dorsal gun turret and prepped for sublight.
"Davro here, I'm in position. Ready for sublight speed. Fate is monitoring the engines, in case something goes haywire."
Kayylla shutdown the hyperdrive and kicked in the sublight engines, the sight of Ord Mantell appearing in the cockpit windows ahead of them. The whine of the properly tuned high-performance engines became distinct in the background. She could tell simply by how the 'Atropos' was handling that she now had many times the thrust available now than when they had left KDY.
Davro scanned their surroundings for any vessels, his targeting scopes showing the area clear. "My scopes are negative, you have anything on the long-range sensors, Jace?"
"I've got a Lambda-class shuttle in-bound to Ord Mantell and a large object, probably a container transport, out-bound. Other than that, we're clear.", Jace replied.
"Roger. I'll standby up here. Sounds like the engines are ready for action, go ahead and open 'em up, Kayylla."
Advancing the throttle, the 'Atropos' shuddered faintly, smoothed out, and shot forward as quickly as any fighter any of them had ever seen. Davro sat in the gun turret, facing forward, reveling in the sheer speed that this vessel was attaining. "I don't know who engineered the drive arrangement on this thing, but this is easily faster the 'Millennium Falcon's' sublight speed! Wahooo!", he excitedly shouted.
They made planet fall in no time, thanks to Davro's handy work. The spaceport gave her a docking number and directions on how to get there, they never even asked for her ID. By the time Davro had returned to the cockpit Kayylla had the ship docked and almost shut down. Moments later they were all
heading down the ramp into the empty docking bay. Both men stood guard while Kayylla locked down the 'Atropos,' she didn't want anyone touching her ship without her knowing it.
Once the ship was locked they all headed towards the crowded streets beyond. They stayed close so they wouldn't loose one another on the heavily trafficked pedestrian walkways. Davro lead the way, he said he knew someone on planet who could give them a deal on what they needed and they might have a job for them as well. Jace followed behind him, with much protesting and Kayylla bringing up the rear.
They had crossed a crowded street near a dark alley when Kayylla was hauled off her feet and being dragged into the alley. She was too stunned to call out. When she regained her voice she came face to face with the last person she ever thought she would see again.
"Are you alright? What happened?", he asked, Jace following close behind. She tried to tell them, but couldn't find the words before nearing another outburst.
"It's gonna be okay, you're with us." He fished around in his pack and produced an extra blanket, which he folded and placed under her pillow for more support. Giving her a weak smile as she lay back down, he rose from his knees. "I'll be up in the cockpit if you need me..."glancing at Jace and blushing slightly.
Once out of sight, he ran his hands over his face as he walked to the cockpit. "KC, I wish you were here, buddy..." He dropped himself into the copilot's chair, checking the instruments, then settling back. Not being able to sleep, he pulled his blaster pistol, field-stripped it, and cleaned it's mechanisms and lenses, then reassembled it, and holstered it again. Satisfied with his work, he began to drift off, the fatigue of his test flight and their hurried escape, and his virtually blowing-up at Jace.
He awoke staring through the cockpit windows at the sight of the vast Kuat Drive Yards, one of the greatest starcraft builders in the universe. The "Minimizer" sped toward the center of the complex, past the skeletal forms of ships under construction and being repaired. Kayylla's nimble piloting brought them smoothly to dock with the central station.
Davro busied himself securing their gear and packing the supplies. He threw on his jacket and quickly followed after Kayylla and Jace as they left to procure another vessel.
Kayylla was amazed at size of the Kuat Drive Yards. Never had she seen so many ships in dry-docks and parked on platforms waiting to be purchased. Not all the ships on the platforms were made at the KDY, many had been brought in from all over the galaxy. She saw many models of the Corellian YT and YV
hundreds, a few from the Incom Corporation and many more from other known yards. The hardest part of it all was deciding on what ship to buy. Hopefully with the help of Jace and Davro she would be able to pick the right one for them.
She docked the 'Minimizer' in an open docking bay in between the Corellian Engineering Corporation and the Sienar Fleet Systems platforms. Exiting the ship they were greeted by a Kuat salesman. He wore the gaudy robes of the Kuat lower houses.
"Greetings from Kuat. My name is Dirnk, and I will be your personal salesman. How my our ship yards be of service to you?" He said with no real pleasure in his voice.
"We are here to purchase a freighter. It needs to be fast, plenty of room for storage and three separate sleeping quarters." Kayylla said emphasizing the need for storage.
"Ah, I do have a ship in mind for you. Come, it is to the Corellian platform for you today. I must say though, none of our ships here today have separate quarters. The crew quarters have three bunks in them. If you want the separate quarters you will have to give up the storage space. which ever you chose." He continued as they reached the turbo lift.
Kayylla glanced at the two men for any sign of disagreement about sharing sleeping space. Neither one showed any sign of objection. "That will do fine Dirnk." She said turning to the salesman.
"I believe I have a ship in mind for you then. It is the YT-2800. It is only a few years old. It contains a class 0.6 hyperdrive, not as fast as the famed Millennium Falcon but faster then most ships out there. It carries laser and blaster cannons. This special model has both particle and ray energy shields. The generators have been up graded to maintain the powerful shields. More modifications can be purchased here, for an extra fee our mechanics can install them for you. I'm sure you would like a tour off the ship." Dirnk said as he boarded the ramp.
Davro stepped aside and allowed Kayylla to board first. She met Dirnk in the hold. He started giving Kayylla measurements of the hold, she paid little attention to his voice. Instead she was already thinking of where they were going to place all of their cargo.
Once he finished his spiel on the hold area he moved on towards the crew quarters. Looking in Kayylla was able to see three separate bunks, each against one of the bulkhead that lined the room and enough space for their personal gear. On their way to the cockpit Dirnk also demonstrated how to use the 'extra' storage spaces in the deckplates. The cockpit was similar to the design of the 1300's, the difference between the two crafts though was the placement of the cockpit. The 28's cockpit was placed where the 13's mandibles were. The piloting set was not as complex as the 'Minimizers.' Kayylla knew she had to have this ship, it was perfect for her.
"How much?" Kayylla asked interrupting Dirnks explanation of the controls.
"Oh, the price, yes the price." he said eyeing the group up and down. "it will be one hundred and seventy five thousand credits, I'm giving you a discount because I like the looks of you." He smiled greedily.
Kayylla stood there a moment then asked. "How much will you take off for a trade in?"
"You're not seriously thinking about trading in the Cloakshape are you? Those were canceled decades ago. You're not going to get much for it." He said with a smirk.
"I see. Well there have been many modifications to her. She's hyperspace worthy, the hull plates have been doubled and has a larger cargo hold. You said it yourself, it is no longer being sold, there are many ship collectors out there who would love to get their hands on it. So lets take off twenty-five thousand from your quote and we will call it a deal." Kayylla said giving him her heart melting smile.
Once Davro and Jace saw the smile, they knew the ship was hers
Kayylla shook the salesman's out stretched hand. Once they released she added. "Oh, could you also throw in a few modifications? We can install them ourselves of course."
Dirnk only nodded his head in agreement.
"Wonderful, my companions here will tell you what we need. Davro since you know more about ships then I, how about you tell him what we need." She said turning to Davro. "I'll be getting the transfer ready."
With that she pulled out her datapad and pulled up the amount of funds they would be using. She stood back waiting for the men to finish, she noticed Davro also let Jace throw in some input on some up grades they might need.
Checking systems as he went, Davro had trouble containing his excitement over the new ship. He also felt flattered that Kayylla would trust his judgment regarding parts and upgrades.
"Okay, she needs a new tachyon pulse converter, the old one is showing some resistance on the 'G'-band. I'd like to get another backup power generator, a lower powered backup hyperdrive unit." He then crawled up into the gun-wells to check out the armaments. "What the....you calls these guns?! Two twin-barrel turrets fitted with the old KG-19 laser barrels? No good, focusing lenses on the KG-series were prone to early wear and lots of flashback. I'll need 8 laser tips, same sort as the Incom T-38 X-Wing fighter, they last longer and have improved range and accuracy. And one more thing,", he added, "I need an R2 series astromech droid. There's nothing onboard for automated damage control, and I need one to talk to the ship's computer directly."
He waited for the negative response, knowing full well that the military laser tips had little chance of being given, but he was curious how well this Dirnk knew his products.
"Oh, while I'm thinking about, I have a professional question for you; what would be your estimate as to the value of a fully restored Naboo N-1 starfighter, with an improved torpedo system.?"
Davro smiled and let the salesman chew the figures over in his head.
"Well, ah since the N-1 is nearly impossible to find. You say you have a fully restored starfighter?" Dirnk asked noting the nod of Davro's head. "I would have to say, you could name your price for it. Any collector would pay a Moff's ransom for something that rare."
Jace had a hard time covering his shock at the price the old fighter could bring. Too bad they had to leave it on 'The Rock'.
"Enough with the talk of starfighters." Kayylla said coming back into the group. "The money is ready to be transferred over. Do you have the files for me?"
"Yes, of course here they are." The salesman said as he reached into his belt pouch for her documents of ownership. "Here you go Ms...?" He said as he handed Kayylla the documents.
"Ms. Sttan. Thank you again and I believe the transfer is complete. Where can we pick up our extra modifications?" She asked after she transferred the funds to the KDY central computer and pocketed the files.
"I've sent for droids to bring and load your modifications. Your astromech will be here shortly. We had it off in another part of this bay." Dirnk responded after putting away his commlink.
"Oh, a few more things if you wouldn't mind Dirnk. Could we borrow a loading droid to help transfer our cargo from one ship to the other, we also need this ship moved to the docking bay near my old ship. And lastly, we were never her. You have no knowledge of our existence or that the KDY ever owned a YT-2800. Do I make myself clear or does my friend over there need to help you understand that better?" Kayylla asked motioning with her eyes at the blaster in Jaces hand, aimed at the side of his head.
"Oh, yes of course. I'm sorry Ms. but we have no YT-2800's available at this time. The last one was bought some time ago. Is there anything else I can do for you kind beings?" Dirnk asked though his voice sounded forced.
"Thank you but no. We'll keep in touch." Davro said keeping his own hand close to his blaster still holstered at his hip.
As they headed for the turbo lift they head the familiar beeps and whistles of an astro droid. From behind an old model YV-500 rolled a yellow and white astromech droid.
"I would like to introduce you all to R2-F8. F8 this is your new master." The salesman said almost in relief at getting rid of the droid.
They all entered the turbo lift and seconds later they were back in the docking bay they had started in. By the time they reached the 'Minimizer' the loading droids and their modifications were on their way in.
All three worked hard to unload the 'Minimizer' of it cargo. Once the ship was empty Kayylla's new ship had landed and was being loaded by the droids with few encouraging beeps from F8.
"Kayylla, what are you going to name your ship and your droid? Jace asked when they took a small break from loading the ship.
"Well, I have always liked the name 'Atropos.' I can't remember what language it is but it means 'the abhorred shears.' As for the droid I think I will call her Fate. What do you think of that Fate?" Kayylla asked the droid. It responded with an excitement of whistles and beeps.
They all chuckled at the droids positive response. "Then Fate it is." Kayylla said. "Can you two finish loading the rest of the supplies? I need to make sure I did not forget anything on board."
"Sure." Both men answered in unison. Then glared at each other when Kayylla turned her back and headed towards the 'Minimizer.'
Once aboard her old ship Kayylla moved immediately to the ships log. Entering in her private access code she started to purge her ships memory. This ship had lasted her through three lifetimes, almost four. It was hard to let go but she had to. Her peoples lives were at stake if she did not get rid of it, and the records of the places they had been.
Going back through her compartments Kayylla made sure there was no trace of her ever being aboard. She grabbed the tray of data cards from its own secret compartment under the copilots chair. She could not forget these, after all they were the brief histories of her people and their technology. She had to make sure these stayed safe or else her nightmare will come true. Making sure all the data cards were there Kayylla left the 'Minimizer' hoping the nightmares would stop.
Davro was shutting the last storage compartment when Kayylla stepped aboard, a box under her arm. He gave it a moments thought, but it quickly left him as remembered that this was a new vessel, and probably had settings to tweak and performance to improve.
He trotted up to the cockpit, and began running diagnostics and power-up sequences, watching the gauges, smiling at some and scowling at others.
"Number 7 condenser array needs adjusting, power grid needs calibrating, and I need to install that backup power unit...." he muttered under his breath. He edged to the side to let Kayylla and Jace into the cockpit, then settled into copilot's chair.
"Okay, main fusion reactor on-line, repulsorlift engines ready, sublight drive ready, hyperdrive powered-up and on standby. Life support system has a green-light, cycling the hatch and ramp closed, now......" Davro read off the instruments. "Atmosphere purged, we're ready any time you are to depart."
Jace looked over from the navigator's chair. "Alright, where are we headed now?"
"Set course for Ord Mantell. I should have headed there in the first place." Kayylla said strapping herself into the pilots chair. Her hands gripped the controls, she could feel the thrum of the engines pulsing through her. Excitement filled her as she switched on the repulsors and raised the landing gear. The 'Atropos' sat there, its weight supported completely by the repulsors energy field.
A smile spread across her face as she guided her craft out of the docking bay and into the KDY construction yards. The ship guided with ease around the dry docked vessels waiting for repairs. The 'Atropos' soared over the port side of a newly constructed Star Destroyer and nearly collided with a Firespray class patrol and attack ship shaped like a pachyderm Kayylla had seen in a holo once. She corrected with a hard bank to starboard.
"Where did he learn to fly?" Kayylla said to no one in particular. Suddenly her rear scopes pinged with a ship coming up on her tail. "What in space is he doing?" She said with alarm rising in her voice as the ship drew closer to her own.
'Uh-oh', Davro thought to himself. 'This guy is looking for trouble.' He immediately angled the rear deflector shields and charged-up the guns. "Fate, see if you can get us any more power from the main reactor." The astromech droid gave whistle and rolled back to it's work. "I'm going back to the guns.
Jace, keep those shields up. We're gonna make it out of here okay...." he reassured them.
Bolting to the gunwell, he climbed into the dorsal gunner's chair, strapped himself in, pulled on the headset, and brought the turret on-line. deftly swinging the guns aft, he lined-up on the following Firespray and zeroed in on it's cockpit. "Okay, pal....make your move...." he muttered.
As if on command, the Firespray opened fire on them, it's shots going wide thanks the Kayylla's quick reflexes. Concentrating on his task, Davro opened up on the Firespray, his lasers peppering it's forward shields with bright flashes and causing him to back off his close range. The onslaught continued, Davro refusing to back down and doggedly keeping Firespray in his sights and on the defensive. His determination paid-off when their assailant's shield finally dropped and several of Davro's rounds struck true, landing squarely in the Firespray's cockpit section. Long since clear of the Drive Yards, the Firespray spiraled away from them, heavily damaged, but not destroyed.
"Heh, they picked the right place to fight. I'm sure KDY will gladly tow them in and repair their ship...." he spoke into his headset. "I'll stay up here until we've made the jump to lightspeed, just in case..."
They had reached their jumping point without any further confrontations. Kayylla waited until the stars became starlines before she called Davro back to the cockpit. Moments later he walked through with a satisfied smile across his face.
"Nice shooting back there Davro, I'm glad you decided to stay with us." Kayylla said with a smile and allowing a little color to reach her cheeks. "Who was that guy any way?"
Davro opened his mouth to answer but before any words could come out Jace spoke up. "That ship was the 'Slave I,' owned by Boba Fett. Please tell me you've heard of Fett?" Jace asked when he saw her puzzled look.
"Well no, not that I can remember at least. I have sort of been in seclusion for the past few years. Why, is he supposed to be someone important?" Kayylla asked standing so she could look at both of them.
Davro stood there looking at her in amazement. "You've never heard of Fett? He's the most dangerous bounty hunter in the galaxy. How can you not have heard of him? Now he'll be after us."
"Yeah, thanks to you for shooting at him." Jace said coming to his feet.
"Hey! We are not starting a fight now." Kayylla said standing between the two of them, green eyes glaring. "By the time he gets his ship repaired we will be long gone. Let's forget about it and go over this ship. In know it's new but it needs some work. We have a days worth of travel still to go. So what do we need to do with her Davro?" She continued as she slid past Davro to the rest of the ship.
Davro swallowed a reply and followed Kayylla back into engine section.
"While we're traveling, we can install the backup power generator, I can check into some sublight drive adjustments, and see about channeling more power to your guns. Fate should be able to nearly install the power unit by itself in a couple of hours. I'll get on those sublight engines, see if I can't make this ship dance.", he chimed to Kayylla, smiling that lopsided roguish grin that made him seem both a saint and a
scoundrel at the same time.
He grabbed his aging set of hydrospanners and walked past Fate, who was installing the power unit. He reached the sublight drives, and started his work in earnest. After hours of cleaning, adjusting, calibrating, and testing, he emerged from service hatch nearly covered with grime, save for his beaming smile and a band across his eyes from his goggles.
"I am pleased to announce that the salesman had no idea what this ship was equipped with. The sublight drive core on this thing is de-centralized, it is composed of ten Novaldex Event Horizon starfighter engines, same ones used on the A-Wing. They badly needed adjustment and calibration, but you're in for a pleasant surprise when we drop back to sublight."
He giggled maniacally as he went back to get cleaned up.
While Davro was off fiddling with the engines Kayylla and Jace set about taking inventory of what they had aboard and what they would need once they reached Ord Mantell.
"From what we picked up at 'The Rock', we've got enough rations here to feed a small army for a week." Jace said closing the compartment where most of the ration bars were kept.
"And the food prep is ready anytime we are, it needed a few tweaks. Now we can get anything from Dianoga delight to knytix soup, or anything else you can think up." Kayylla added coming out from behind the food prep. She wiped her hands on an old rag hanging from her belt, not realizing she had a spot of grease on her nose.
By the time she had finished picking up her tools Davro had cleaned himself up from his work in the engines. "The rest of the modifications you need done will have to wait until we reach ground. You could do them in vacuum, but I wouldn't recommend it." He said drying his hands on a towel. "What's to eat? I'm starving." he added stepping over to the lounges table and taking a seat.
"Anything you can think up. Kayylla's fixed the food prep and it's ready to go." Jace called from the other end of the lounge.
"You two go ahead and fix whatever you want. I need to get a few things, then I'll join you." Kayylla said looking herself over for any spots she might have missed.
"Let me help." Davro said getting back up from the table.
"No. You sit and get something to eat, it will only take a minute." She said leaving the two of them alone.
Walking quickly she headed to the crew quarters they shared. Once she entered the room, Kayylla a went straight to her bunk. She had paid close attention when Dirnk was showing her the secret compartments in the room. She applied the right amount of pressure needed to open the compartment fixed into her bunk. It swung open to reveal the box of datacards she had brought from the 'Minimizer.' She grabbed one card from her previous journal stack and closed the compartment once again. Sliding the datacard into its receiver slot in her datapad Kayylla left to join the others in the lounge.
Stepping into the lounge her senses where blasted with a mixture of smells. Looking at the table she knew where they had come from. Jace and Davro sat across from each other with a plate of what looked like food in front of them. Neither one was talking. Both looked up when she entered and gave her a smile of recognition.
"I can see you were able to operate the food prep. I hope you like it." She said and went to fix herself a plate of Gnooroop steak and greens. She then headed over to the table to eat.
Both men stood once she neared the booth. She slid in on Davro's side and stopped where the bench curved around then straighten out to the other side. From where she sat she was able to get a closer look at what they had fixed. Davro's was a mess of colors but the strong spicy smell coming from it told her it was a Corellian dish. Jaces looked sort of green. Taking a closer look she saw it was noodles covered in a type of green sauce with veggies and meat added to it.
Kayylla took out her datapad and started reading through the journal entries of her previous life as she played with her fork.
Davro caught a glimpse of Kayylla's datapad read-out, but quickly looked away, berating himself for trying to snoop on others. He took another bite of food, washed it down with a sip of fozbeer.
"I've been thinking of why Boba Fett would've jumped us at KDY.", he started. "I've come to three conclusions. First; he was tracking the previous owner of this vessel, and they dumped it to evade pursuit. Second; he was angry at nearly running into us, but it doesn't make sense for him to open fire on us just for that. Third; the Empire has offered a bounty on a cloak-shape freighter that blasted out of Coruscant, so he was waiting for one to show up at KDY and make a change of ships. From what I've heard about him, he's not above bribing or physically threatening others to get info on his next potential paycheck. And, I don't think he would care that much about doing in innocent traders if he could possibly find one of the Empire's most wanted."
He took his empty plate back, cleaned it up, then sat back down to finish the rest of his drink. Draining his cup, he went back to check on Fate.
"Power unit looks good, Fate...." he said, as he double-checked the connections and made sure the unit was securely installed. He glanced back toward the dining area, sighed, and turned back to the droid. "You look like you use some cleaning up yourself. Weren't too concerned about the droids at KDY, were they?" Fate whined in the affirmative as Davro led him back to an area where he could work easier. Within minutes, Fate's cylindrical body was gleaming like new. Davro grabbed his tech-scanner and hooked up Fate for a diagnostic check. "Reminds me of KC, looking at your read-outs. He's the last astromech droid I had. He's waiting for me at home, I wish he was here."
Fate chirped quizzically at him as his checking slowed and stopped, giving him a start.
"Sorry about that. You seems to be in good shape. A little recharging and you should be fine." After hooking-up Fate to the ships power grid, he went to his bunk to try and catch a nap.
"He's not much for conversation is he." Kayylla said once Davro left.
"He does have a point though, Boba Fett wouldn't come after someone for almost running into him, so I think we can cross that one off the list. I can slice into the data base on the ship and see who the last owner was. Hopefully the KDY was sloppy and didn't do a complete wipe of the ships memory. Maybe Fate can help me with that." Jace said clearing both of their dishes from the table.
"You could be right." Kayylla said closing down her data pad. "But from what I know of the Empire and how they are always jumping to the wrong conclusions when it comes to 'aliens'. I think they believe you, one of their loyal sons, has been kidnapped by a strange species of alien and will only be returned if they pay a ransom. They would never believe one of their own would ever leave their service." She said letting
sarcasm enter her voice.
Jace didn't comment, he finished cleaning the dishes then turned. "I'll still check the ships records and see if they will give us any information." Not waiting for her response he left for the cockpit.
Kayylla sat there in the lounge alone. She thought about reading her journals again but decided against it. She slid out of the booth and headed for the cockpit. Her pace slowed when she passed the crew quarters, she thought about checking on Davro but then decided against it. Ever since she has known the man he was always being woken up from his sleep, he deserved some time alone.
When she reached the cockpit she saw Jace hard at work going through file after file of data with Fate at his side beeping with encouragement.
"Any luck?" She queried as she sat in the copilots chair.
"I'm getting a few leads but then when I get to the files, they've all been erased. I did find out that a merchant owned this ship before, that might explain the hidden compartments. The previous owners name though has been erased and I'm unable to find it." Jace responded.
"Well I guess that's a start. When we reach Ord Mantell I want to download some files from the holonet, maybe those will help us in some way. We should exit from hyperspace in less than two hours. Fate I want you to wake Davro before we jump back in, I want him manning the gun turrets in case we have a surprise waiting." Kayylla said placing her booted feet on the console infront of her. Fate beeped in acknowledgment.
The time passed all too quickly for Davro, one moment dreaming, the next being awakened by excited droid whistling.
"Okay, KC, I'm up.....oh, sorry, Fate." He shook off his grogginess as Fate began replaying a holo-message of Kayylla speaking to the droid
".....I want him manning the guns in case of trouble...", the miniature Kayylla stated, bringing a smile to Davro's face.
"Alright, point taken. Fate, head back to the sublight drives. Plug-in and monitor their status. You see a problem, try to compensate and adjust. The power flow might be troublesome to keep leveled across them."
Fate rolled off to the engines while Davro once again climbed into the dorsal gun turret and prepped for sublight.
"Davro here, I'm in position. Ready for sublight speed. Fate is monitoring the engines, in case something goes haywire."
Kayylla shutdown the hyperdrive and kicked in the sublight engines, the sight of Ord Mantell appearing in the cockpit windows ahead of them. The whine of the properly tuned high-performance engines became distinct in the background. She could tell simply by how the 'Atropos' was handling that she now had many times the thrust available now than when they had left KDY.
Davro scanned their surroundings for any vessels, his targeting scopes showing the area clear. "My scopes are negative, you have anything on the long-range sensors, Jace?"
"I've got a Lambda-class shuttle in-bound to Ord Mantell and a large object, probably a container transport, out-bound. Other than that, we're clear.", Jace replied.
"Roger. I'll standby up here. Sounds like the engines are ready for action, go ahead and open 'em up, Kayylla."
Advancing the throttle, the 'Atropos' shuddered faintly, smoothed out, and shot forward as quickly as any fighter any of them had ever seen. Davro sat in the gun turret, facing forward, reveling in the sheer speed that this vessel was attaining. "I don't know who engineered the drive arrangement on this thing, but this is easily faster the 'Millennium Falcon's' sublight speed! Wahooo!", he excitedly shouted.
They made planet fall in no time, thanks to Davro's handy work. The spaceport gave her a docking number and directions on how to get there, they never even asked for her ID. By the time Davro had returned to the cockpit Kayylla had the ship docked and almost shut down. Moments later they were all
heading down the ramp into the empty docking bay. Both men stood guard while Kayylla locked down the 'Atropos,' she didn't want anyone touching her ship without her knowing it.
Once the ship was locked they all headed towards the crowded streets beyond. They stayed close so they wouldn't loose one another on the heavily trafficked pedestrian walkways. Davro lead the way, he said he knew someone on planet who could give them a deal on what they needed and they might have a job for them as well. Jace followed behind him, with much protesting and Kayylla bringing up the rear.
They had crossed a crowded street near a dark alley when Kayylla was hauled off her feet and being dragged into the alley. She was too stunned to call out. When she regained her voice she came face to face with the last person she ever thought she would see again.