Anakin grunted as the acceleration pressed him into the seat. A warning from the compensator sounded and he switched it off. Ahead of him he watched the Corsair twist and dodge as it came under fire.
"Why won't he fight. He outguns them," he observed.
"Who knows, the ship's pretty old. Maybe the guns don't work," answered Owen.
"Maybe we should ask," Anakin flipped switches and activated comms, "Hey there, you in some sort of trouble?"
There was no response from the snubs, from the Corsair however came a reply, "You bet we're in trouble. Sador's goons are about to fry my sweet ass!"
The voice sounded feminine. Well, a damsel in distress. That settled things.
"Okay, will render assistance. Stand by, Try not to get blasted," said Anakin.
"Stand by! What do you think I'm doing?" came the reply.
Fast as the Lancers were, the XC-50 was faster and had started in the lead. There was a flash as its afterburner engaged and it leapt ahead as if kicked by an angry god, deftly matching the vector of one of the snubs. From the front, an imposing repeating blaster cannon emerged and began spraying blaster fire at the target. The ship attempted to dodge but was too slow for the armed racer. The second burst stitched across the hull, pierced the cockpit and immolated the pilot. The other snub turned to face what was clearly the greater threat and was torn apart by the combined fire of the two Lancers.
"Got him!"
"Yeah!"
It was then that they noticed the drive flares coming out from behind the planet's mass shadow. Six more toad-like snubs were on intercept.
"Okay, kids. Time to go," called Cowboy.
The ships turned and began thrusting for the hyper limit, well almost all the ships. One of the Lancers turned to intercept the newcomers.
"Anakin! What are you doing?" said Owen noticing his brother's antics.
"I'm a little tired of bullies today. C'mon brother," replied Anakin.
"Oh, don't do this on my account," said the Corsair pilot.
Owen swore because that was exactly why Anakin was fighting instead of running. "Damnit bro'. Can't you just find a normal girl like me?" he muttered as he turned too to follow Anakin. Moments later the XC-50 turned, followed by the Corsair.
Anakin grimaced as the Lancer raced towards the enemy. A flashing light indicated he was feeding too much power to the thrusters. He ignored it and fired the nestine injectors. The rare volatile gas did its thing accelerating the Lancer on a pillar of self-fusing fire. The manoeuvre caught the enemy unprepared as the small fighter rocketed past them. As it did so Anakin turned the fighter, transforming the flight from a straight line into an arcing curve. Pressed against the side, he fired, raking the enemy as they now flew through the unexpected blaster fire. One exploded as a shot ruptured the fuselage, igniting the fuel supply while another's engine was shredded and it began drifting helplessly. As the others twisted and turned to avoid the fire Owen's Lancer came into range, acquired a lock and blasted another. Then the others arrived and quickly disabled or destroyed those remaining. Only then did Anakin's Lancer turn for the hyper limit.
"Right, now we can go;" he said.
The ships disappeared one by one into hyperspace.
A day later Akira had another visitor. A Firespray class privateer, popular among those who want a balance of speed and firepower on a budget. An experienced spacer would have observed the many customisations and enhancements visible and be able to guess at some of those not visible. A Nalanese Vibroblade as a fighting ship. The ship orbited Akira three times and descended at the site of a crashed ship. An armoured figure emerged from the Firespray. It recorded the crash and examined blaster marks visible on the crashed vessel. The figure shook its head.
"It's them." was all it said to no one in particular before returning to their ship. The ship rose, made orbit and departed the system.
Three more hours saw another visitor. A Patrol cruiser in the red and white trim of the Republic. As it entered the planet's orbit it was hailed by the Akira. Obi-Wan Kenobi listened to the desperate pleas along with the Patrol officers.
"Of course, the Republic will help. We will send a request for the sector fleet to send aid against this warlord," said Kenobi.
The Akira thanked them profusely while Obi-Wan reviewed the recorded events of the last few days.
"That dreadnought looks like bad business," said Captain Tol.
"Relax. It's big, but no match for modern warships. The Akira will be fine. Meanwhile, we are close behind the Skywalkers." said Obi-Wan. He paused and closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them he walked over to the star map and pointed to a system. "This is where we will catch them. Captain, we head to Hephaestus Station."
The small band of ships exited hyperspace in the system of a white dwarf. Nearby was a circular shaped habitat.
"Here we are, Hephaestus Station, biggest trade hub in the sector," said the as yet unknown Corsair pilot. "We can find some more mercs and also get us patched up."
Anakin checked his sensors. Most of the station was quiet, with no power and by the looks of things, no atmosphere either.
"Uh, maybe that was some time ago?" he hazarded.
"This isn't how I remembered it! This place was so alive! What happened?" cried the Corsair.
"Same thing that's happened everywhere. The Republic. Once the big hyperlane got charted, folks just moved to the core." said Cowboy.
"What's the Core got that we don't?"
"All sorts of things hon. Wealth, riches, law and order. Kuros is now a backwater. Same thing happened to my world. We used to think we were the lords of the universe until we discovered the Republic."
"And where are you from?"
"I'm from Earth ma'am."
"Never heard of it." Neither had anyone else.
"See."
During the conversation, the ships docked with the station. Once the sensors indicated the hanger was pressurised and breathable Anakin leapt out and made for the Corsair. Instead of a relatively welcome damsel in post distress, there was just some scrawny lad that looked barely able to shave. Not that he was that much older, mind.
"Thank you for the assist. I am Chad of the..." said the young man.
"Never mind that, where's the girl?" interrupted Anakin.
"I'm right here." came the feminine voice.
Anakin tried looking about to see where she could be. "Um, where are you?"
Before she could respond the youth spoke up, "You must mean Nell. She's the ship."
"A droid?" said Anakin deflating a little. Typical.
"I prefer the term Artificial Intelligence myself. You seem to be the sort of person the Akira are looking for. Chad, make your pitch." said Nell.
The young man seemed to remember something, "Yes, I am looking for warriors to help defend my planet from Sador." he said.
By this time the others had also arrived.
"Sador? You going up against Sador kid?" said Cowboy.
"Yes, I am looking for people willing to help us," said Chad.
"You mentioned this Sador before, what's the big deal?" said Adara.
"The big deal? Sador's big deal is the Xoson class dreadnought he uses as a mobile command centre. With it, he can keep his cruisers and fighters supplied at the front and smash any resistance. A planet of crystal huggers like the Akira has no chance, no offence kid." said Cowboy.
"The Akira really have no chance?" said Adara.
"None whatsoever, look it's real sad but that's life here on the far Rim," said Cowboy.
Owen and Anakin looked at one another.
"You know if this Sador clamps down, then finding the Lightsabre will be tricky," said Owen
"He might even find it before us," said Anakin.
"Or this relic dreadnought may have a clue as to its location," said Owen.
"Bound to have other treasures too if he's been conquering and looting worlds," said Anakin.
"A Xoson is practically an antique in itself," said Panolpei.
"Extremely valuable," agreed Adara.
"So..." began Owen.
"How do we steal it?" said Anakin.
"Steal it?" said Chad, Cowboy and Nell in unison.
"Yep," said Anakin.
"No more Xoson, no more danger to Akira, or anyone really," said Owen.
"What sort of warriors are you?" said Chad.
"Oh we're better than warriors," said Adara.
"Yes," said Panolpei putting an arm around the confused Chad, "We're something much better."
"What's that?"
"Thieves."
"But just in case, you should stick to your original plan as well. Let's see if this station is home to anyone able to provide regular opposition," said Anakin.
As they ventured into the station it quickly became apparent that it was indeed abandoned.
"This place is a dump," observed Panolpei as they examined the latest abandoned gallery.
"So why is the air fresh? Someone is looking after the recyclers," said Owen.
There was a noise behind them and a rasping mechanical voice, "Perhaps we could assist beings?" it said.
The band turned to see a trio of servitor droids. They were humaniform in appearance, although the plastoid skin clearly marked them as droids. Each also had a holstered blaster.
"Yeah, you can. Do you lot have an owner?" said Anakin.
"Of course sir, this way." said one of the droids and motioned with it's arm.
"Okay, lead on then," said Anakin.
As they followed the droids, more appeared to follow them. They were all identical and also armed. While the blasters looked archaic, they appeared well maintained and functional. The droids were also a little erratic, making odd or exaggerated motions.
"Anyone else getting creepy vibe from this?" said Owen.
"Aww relax, they're just droids, they probably haven't seen anyone new for a while," said Anakin.
"Do you think these have had regular wipes?" said Panolpei.
"I'm sure, those twitches are probably due to, um something else," said Anakin.
"Like what?" said Adara, "I'm getting a bad feeling about this."
"Me too," said Panolpei.
"This is all strange to me," agreed Chad.
"Kid's right. This is all kinds of spooky," said Cowboy.
"Just relax," said Anakin as they approached the doors to what was clearly the station's control centre, "I'm sure there's a perfectly..." he trailed off as the doors opened, revealing a cybernetic monstrosity on a podium it was a part of in the centre of the room surrounded by several deceased cyborgs, their organic portions now only skeletal remains, "reasonable explanation."
The monstrosity turned revealing a human head amongst the machinery. "Oh, hello my dear beings. Welcome to my station," it said.
As they regarded the cybernetic terror the droids filed in behind them.
"Nice place you have here," observed Anakin.
"Why yes, it's not much, but it is home. Oh, where are my manners, I am Doctor Hephaestus."
"The original?" said Panolpei, "but that means you're over a thousand standards old!"
"Fifteen hundred and eleven and still fit as a fiddle. But enough about me, what brings you here, the custom has been rare, of late," said Hephaestus.
"Well, most of us are treasure hunters. Kuros is said to still have some," said Anakin.
"And I'm here looking for weapons and fighters. Are your droids for sale?" said Chad.
"Treasure? Depends on what you think is valuable. Weapons? Well, yes, I have those. Who are you planning to use them against?" said the cyborg.
"Sador, of the Malmori," said Chad.
"Sador? Well, well, well. I see." said Hephaestus. "I will see if my daughter can help. Yes, she will be able to assist, please wait."
A chime sounded and a few minutes later a young woman arrived.
"Why father, I did not know you had designed new droid models," she said.
'They're not droids but, living forms. Quite compatible too, I may add," said Hephaestus.
"I don't like the sound of that," said Cowboy as he drew his sidearm, the others quickly doing likewise.
"Neither do I, what are you about Doctor?" said Anakin.
"There's no treasure in Kuros and no hope fighting Sador. So I think you should all stay here with me?" said Hephaestus.
"What makes you think we will do that?" said Anakin.
In reply the cyborg launched an arc of electricity at all present, quickly rendering them unconscious.
"Oh, I can be quite persuasive when I put my mind to it," Anakin heard as he passed out.
Anakin slowly awoke and regretted it. Everything hurt, he was in a bed and it was dark. In the darkness, he could make out a feminine figure moving.
"Padme, is that you?" he hazarded blearily. What was she doing here? Where was he?
"There, there now. Just relax, you've been asleep for almost nine hours now." said the woman. He felt a damp cloth being applied to his forehead.
"I had a horrible nightmare, I dreamed we went to the Deep Rim looking for treasure, it was terrible," he said.
"Well, you're safe and sound now, back on good old Hephaestus Station," said the woman.
Suddenly, it all came back. The dilapidated station, the cyborg and his crazy demands.
"Hephaestus station!" Anakin shot up and looked about. A luminator activated and he regarded the woman the light revealed. It was the daughter of the crazed Doctor. "You're, you're," he stammered as he took in the surroundings. He was in what was definitely a woman's bedroom.
"My name is Nanelia. You were acting haphazardly and father disabled you." said the woman.
"Disabled? That lunatic attacked us. I'm out of here!" Anakin moved to get out of the bed and paused as he realised he was naked. "Where are my clothes?"
"Father may have forgotten that you were organics so some repairs were needed. Your genome indicated you were the most compatible male so I had you brought here. Do you want to start mating now?" said Daniella as she approached the bed.
"What!" Anakin scrambled away from the crazy person, and half fell, half backpedalled off the bed. He landed with a thud and attempted to disentangle himself from the bedsheets. Meanwhile, Danelia sat on the bed and began unfastening her tunic. "What are you doing?"
Danelia paused, "Removing my clothing of course. If we are to mate, I will need to be unclothed as well. The instructional holo was quite particular. Should I put my clothes beside yours?" indicating with the last the neat pile of folded clothing on a locker.
"Instructional holo?"
"Why yes, if you're unfamiliar then I can give a quick summary. You see, the male..." began Danelia.
"I'm quite familiar with, look I've had sex before, I mean..." attempted Anakin.
"Oh good, you're an expert then. I will just get undressed and then we can commence," said Danelia and resumed unfastening her clothing.
"No, wait," said Anakin stalling. Danelia was quite attractive and he was worried that if naked, even her hamfisted seduction attempt may well work and ruin any attempt to escape. "There are all sorts of important things we need to do beforehand.
Danelia paused again, "Like what? I've checked your genes and your physiology. We're compatible."
"I, I have to get you a gift," Anakin said and immediately regretted it. No one would fall for that!
"You do? That wasn't in the instructional holo."
"Yes! It's like charging a flux capacitor. Everyone just assumes you have an ion converter on hand. So they don't mention it."
Danelia nodded, "I understand. So, what sort of gift?"
One far, far away from here was a good start in Anakin's opinion, "Uh, um Firelian Clusters. From the Albregdo system. I'll just be going to get one," he said mentioning something on the other side of the Galaxy as he moved towards his clothes.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. I'll need the others too, can't fly there alone."
"This isn't some sort of trick?"
"No, of course not. This is absolutely essential. Would the ideal mate lie to you?"
"You have a point. I'll just go and inform father."
"No! I mean, um, it's best we do this ourselves."
"So I am to come with you then?"
Anakin reviewed the conversation quickly, oops.
"Uh yeah. This is all part of mating. As an expert, I can tell you that getting your parents involved is a bad idea,"
Anakin then quickly got dressed and then following Danelia left the bedroom. The station droids watched them, but at Daniella's command did not act as they moved to the cells where the others were held. It was a simple matter to release them.
"Anakin, what's going on?" said Owen as he left the cell. He spied the pile of weapons where the droids had placed them and went to retrieve his blaster.
"We're leaving this crazy place," said Anakin as he picked his weapon up.
"He's going to get me a Firelian Cluster," said Danelia.
"You're doing what?" said Owen.
"Yes Anakin, what is it that you think you are doing?" came the voice of Dr Hephaestus. As the voice boomed over the intercom the droids moved forwards menacingly.
Anakin reacted by grabbing Danelia and holding his blaster aimed at her head.
"I said that we're leaving. One move from those droids and I'll blast your precious daughter's head clean off," he said hoping his imitation of popular holo villain Snid Whipla was convincing.
Everyone began moving for the exit. The droids followed but made no hostile action. They then began edging along the corridors.
"Please, see reason. Nothing but death awaits you out there," pleaded the voice of Dr Hephaestus. More droids appeared blocking their way.
Adara activated her lightsabre. "Didn't think this was going to end sweetly," she said.
Cowboy aimed for the nearest droid, "These things never do," he added.
Chad looked worried, "Are you really going to end her?" he said.
In response, Anakin jabbed the tip of the blaster into Danelia's chin, "End? Yes, of course, I'll end her! Well, Doctor? Want to see your daughter's head explode?"
The blocking droids shuffled away. Everyone quickly moved towards the docking bay, Anakin went last dragging the surprised Danelia with him. He maintained the threatening pose until they were inside Adara's yacht and underway. He then released her. Danelia smoothed her tunic and looked at him.
"I don't believe that is part of any mating ritual," she said.
"Oh, I don't know," came Adara's voice from the cockpit, "Mandalore, Korriban, Zygeria. Any of those places would consider Anakin quite the player."
"Player? I am not familiar with the term, but does she mean we will still be mating?" said Danelia.
"Not helping Adara!" said Anakin.
Obi-Wan meditated in the small cabin of the scoutship he had been assigned. Hephaestus Station had been a bust. The Skywalkers had already been, wreaked havoc and departed after adding kidnapping to their growing list of crimes. Their next target was clearly the Xoson Dreadnought and whatever valuables this Sador had looted. He had requested the scoutship from the Patrol with orders to bring the sector fleet on his signal. With a bit of faith and trust in the Force, he could stop the Warlord and bring the Skywalkers to justice. So he was now here,, awaiting his quarry at a transit point in deep space. The vastness of space made any such attempted interception impossible. Transit points were huge volumes relative to a ship. There was no way to predict precisely when and where a ship would exit hyperspace.
Unless, of course, you were a Jedi. Obi-Wan had placed himself in the exact right space and now awaited the right time. As he waited, he meditated. The Skywalkers were criminals, but they were thieves and chose their targets more out of a sense of audacity than any true monetary value. In fact, several of the more high credit items had been returned to what could be considered their rightful owners with any reward a pittance compared to their value. They were flamboyant showoffs so why had they turned to kidnapping? He sought an answer trusting to the Force to reveal the missing connection.
With a flash of pseudomotion the Malmori Dreadnought appeared a scant three hundred metres above him. Using the Force Obi-Wan guided the scout towards a small craft bay. Quietly and quickly he boarded the large ship intent on his mission and in search of answers.
C3PO looked at his grinning masters. "Do I really have to speak in the voice of these abominable creatures? I must protest. The Malmori are incredibly crude with a barbarous dialect. What if my circuits froze and I was stuck on their speech patterns forever?"
Owen smiled, "Then we will repair you, no problem."
"So just speak like a Malmori and ask if we can dock with the dreadnought," said Anakin.
Anakin, Owen and Adara were all aboard a Malmori attack ship they had borrowed and were now in the process of returning it to the owners. With them on board.
"What if they want to know what I am doing here?" asked the worried droid.
"Then make something up 3PO, be creative," said Owen.
"Oh master, I am a droid and not very good at such things. What if they don't believe me and blast us all into a million pieces?"
"Just tell them the ion exchanger is broken or something. Honestly Owen, why do you two keep him?" said Adara.
"3PO's always come through for us before. Anyways, He's practically family," said Anakin. He was about to continue when he was interrupted by a loud beep from the R2 unit.
"And your family too buddy. So come on. Let's see what treasures this Sador has."
Aboard the main bridge of the Xoson, the Malmori were busy navigating the ship back to Akira. A crew member looked towards Sador, the Supreme Warlord and master of the Kuros sector.
"My Lord, we are picking up a transmission from one of our ships, it's number forty-seven." said the crewman.
Sador leaned forward on the makeshift throne he had installed on the bridge. "Kalo and Tembo? What are those idiots doing here?"
The crewman nodded, "Attack craft forty-seven. Why are you here and not on patrol above Akira?"
The reply soon came back, "Apologies, the ion exchanger is broken or something."
Sador grimaced, "Those morons. Oh very well. Tractor team four, get that ship aboard while I decide whether to space those two fools or not."
The crew hastened to obey.
Once aboard, Anakin, Owen and Adara crept out and admonished the droids to not get noticed or blasted. They then made their way to an out of the way terminal and sliced in. Soon they were reviewing the ship's layout.
"So, if I was a treasure room, where would I be?" mused Owen.
"Probably near the headman's quarters. Try and find out where this Sador puts his head down," suggested Anakin.
A quick search revealed the location of the commander's room, They quickly departed for it.
After fiddling with the lock the trio entered a large room and paused as they surveyed the contents. PIles of Azaelin Rubies, ingots of gold in neat pyramids, shielded canisters no doubt holding radioactives along with statues, paintings, tapestries and other works of art from over a dozen worlds.
"Wow," said Owen as he surveyed the treasures.
"You can say that again. So these are the so-called wages of sin? I could like this," agreed Adara.
Anakin moved about. "I was hoping for a lead on the Lightsabre," he said as he examined various piles.
"I take it you don't mean the regular version," came a voice.
Anakin, Owen and Adara turned to regard the now-revealed fourth occupant.
"Obi-wan Kenobi! What are you doing here?" said Anakin.
"Oh, the usual. Hunting wanted criminals. I would ask the same question, but it's rather redundant. So, the Lightsabre? What's your next target? The Starforge? The Chalice of Life?" Said Obi-wan as he walked around the trio.
"Chalice of Life sounds cool. I'm told the Starforge won't fit in a pocket. So, Kenobi, what happened to the regular you're under arrest?" said Anakin.
"I thought we should wait until we deal with the other little matter," said Kenobi.
"Sador?"
"Sador."
Chad sat in the pilot seat of the Corsair as they orbited Alkira. He and Daniella had found some others willing to fight, but the thieves had vanished. He reviewed what forces they had. It was small, but it would have to do.
"I really thought they would help," he said.
"That sort only care about one thing. Don't worry kid, we can still give Sador a run for his money," replied Nell, the ship's AI.
"You think so?"
"Of course. Would I lie to you?" lied Nell.
Sador stood on the bridge of the Xoson as the ship moved through hyperspace. Soon, they would be in orbit of his latest conquest. He wondered what value the Akira had, besides its strategic location. Maybe they could entertain his soldiers.
With a flash, the dreadnought entered the realm of matter near Akir.
"Full speed ahead. This will be little more than an exercise. Ground teams prepare for landing." said Sador
At this point, the lights went out and the giant ship began to drift.
"What is happening?" yelled Sador.
Down in Engineering four beings regarded their handiwork as the powerplants shut down. There had been guards, but there always were. There had been security on the controls yet nothing a little slice here and there wouldn't bypass.
"Well done. It is a pity you don't use your talents in the service of others," said Obi-wan as the lights went out. "Unfortunately, now I must inform you that you are now under arrest."
There was no reply. It took a moment to realise that the criminals had not cooperated. He sighed and ran for the hanger as he activated the signal for the fleet.
"Anakin!"
The trio heard Kenobi as he began chasing them.
"Poor Kenobi," said Owen
"Yeah, he's slowing down. Must be old age." agreed Anakin.
"Just keep running!" urged Adara.
"Do we leave him a ship?"
"Seems only fair."
Sador seethed as he waited for the crew to restart the powerplants. Soon the gun batteries and sensors were online, powered by local emergency generators. Maybe he could take out his frustrations on Akir and the pitiful band defending it.
"My Lord, we are picking up multiple transits." reported an underling
Sador examined the display. Eight Republic Heavy Cruisers had exited hyperspace and begun disgorging attack craft.
"This is Admiral Dral of the 275th Frontier Fleet. You are ordered to stand down or be destroyed." came a new transmission.
"No! I am Sador of the Malmori. I am the ruler of this sector. I am invincible. All units fight!"
The resulting exchange was pyrotechnic, brief and one-sided as the Republic cruisers englobed the underpowered Dreadnought and broke it apart.
Anakin watched it as their stolen ship headed for the transit point. He held a hand over his heart, "That poor, poor treasure," he said.
Adara and Owen shared a look and then revealed bulging bags.
"Oh, I wouldn't say all brother," said Owen with a grin.
The small attack ship made a quick jump and was soon met by Panolpei.
"How about we resume our search? I've got a lead," she said.
Aboard a forgotten transmat station the hunter sent a message into the core. "Minor Warlord in Kuros sector defeated by Jedi and Republic forces. Also, suspect involvement from the Skywalkers."
