"Correct Captain, Master Skywalker and Grand Admiral Pellaeon sent me out to find you. Sorry it took so long but I have had some trouble getting here." Tahiri said, trying to boast the gain on the signal. She also had to keep an eye on the scanners to make sure the natives could not detect her.
"That is ok Jedi Tahiri, the fact is you are here now. How big is your ship and is there anyone else coming to assist you?"
"Right now it is just me and a droid, I'll have to contact the GA or Imperials for any back up. My ship is a Model 47 freighter and holds about 100 metric tons of cargo."
She heard Captain Arien Yage let lose a large sigh. She was quiet for so long Tahiri thought she lost the signal again.
"Captain?"
"Jedi Tahiri, we need to be evacuated as soon as possible the situation down here is extremely volatile. I am sending you everything that we have on this planet. You must get the Imperial or GA to send enough force to get us off planet and stage a rescue of 5 members of my crew that was captured one month ago."
"Droid are you receiving the file?" Tahiri asked into the intercom.
YES TAHIRI, the droid answered from the pod. I AM REVIEWING THE INFORMATION NOW.
"I have the files Captain, could you give me a quick run down?"
"I have lost 600 hundred of my crew members when we crashed on this planet, we have one power cell still operational; we have only about one week worth of power left maybe less. Our shields are slowly failing, it's not that the natives are using powerful weapons but they are throwing so much at us that it is wearing them down. Our landing bays were both destroyed; all Tie fighters and shuttles were destroyed. Weapons are down to two turrets; we don't have enough power to fire more then 50 shots. Food supplies running low, the water here has to be treated, air is breathable. The natives have been attacking for the past 3 standard months. A squad of stromtroopers, my second in command and Dr. Hegerty were taken captive during an attempt to work out some kind of deal with the natives. The nation that has them is "Kingdom of Hyter", under the rule of King Ferent."
"How were they taken captive?"
"Miss. Tahiri, we were desperate for any kind of help. Even before the first ship was in sight I was trying to contact anyone who could help us. We are lost, damaged beyond our abilities to repair, surrounded by aliens who want nothing more kill those who trusted me to see them home safely. Then the Kingdom of Hyter contacted us they said that they were willing to help. They told me that they understood that we had not landed here on purpose and wanted to meet with some of us to work out some kind of solution. I broke procedure, I was willing to work with them." Tahiri could hear the self-approach in the older woman's voice. Tahiri could easily see her sitting up at nights beating her self up for the lost of her crew. "I sent my XO and a squad to work things out, Dr. Hegerty went along to advise since she has more experience dealing with alien races then anyone else on my ship. But it had been a rouse; as soon as they step on the ship they were attacked with some kind of knock out gas. The storm troopers were physically over taken since they had filters that blocked the gas. King Ferent's father was on this island when we crashed. And as we learned later every world leader and most of their families, except one, was on this bloody island when we crashed. They have some pretty stiff penalties for attacking leaders of nations, in fact in all the wars these people have fought over the years they avoid attacking each other capitals just so they don't take the chance and accidentally kill a leader. To kill a Ruling Class member is equal to killing one's own child and serving it up for a life day celebration.
"Fas! That explains why they are attacking you all right."
"Yes, this planet loves to fight to the extreme, they make the Yuuzhan Vong seem like pacifist and the more we have been able to learn the worst it gets. They have a theory that goes something like this; at the end of the last war 5 years ago the surviving nations decided to try and work out a treaty to form an one world government, a government that could stop all these war. The Empire of Goth was not willing to give up any of its power and did want to rule the world. The Empire of Goth was going along with the plan while they secretly conspired with us to wipe out every leader and their families there so they could move in and take over the planet. It didn't help that the Empire of Goth has fought against the idea of one government, by arguing the longest or the loudest of all these petty nations. It also didn't help that their Emperor was already three days late when we came in for a visit. Since then the Empire of Goth has been basically wiped out and any power that can reach us has. One thing we were able to do was unite the planet like nothing else has." Captain Yage said with a humorless laugh. "This planet has had more wars then Hutts have fleas. It seems that this island is consider to be neutral ground, the leaders were here to sign a sweeping peace treaty that would have formed the single world government. In the past 5 standard years not a shoot had been fired anywhere and this peace treaty was the capper; the finial show that the last world war, which lasted 20 years, was finial behind them."
"Well the Jedi can always come back later and worry about fixing that," Tahiri said after a short pause, "right now lets worry about getting you and your people out of there. I'm going to move back up in a higher orbit and contact Master Skywalker. I contact you when I have something; just hang on a little bit longer."
"My crew knows that you are here, Jedi Tahiri. They know that they will be rescued soon, they will hold on through anything now."
She didn't really know how to respond to that statement. She hoped that she could live up to their expectations. She tried to imagine being one of them; marooned on a primitive planet, with natives misunderstanding you and reacting with violence and fear. As she set a course for a high orbit around the moon she silently shook her head. She wasn't marooned on a primitive planet but hostiles natives, who always reacted to her with fear and violence, has always surrounded her.
As soon as she got in a place she grabbed the worm from its storage compartment and headed back to the pod. The droid was still busy back there; she wanted a better handle on what was going on before she contacted Master Skywalker.
"Ok what do you have?" She asked sitting down next to him.
THE INFORMATION FROM THE IMPERIALS HAS HELPED GREATLY IN UNDERSTANDING WHAT WE ARE COLLECTING. THERE IS A PROTOCOL DROID ON THE WIDOWMAKER AND IT WAS ABLE TO TRANSLATE MOST OF THE MAJOR POWERS LANGUAGE. THOSE TRANSLATIONS WILL ALSO HELP ME IN DECRYPTING THE GOVERNMENT AND MILITARY CODES.
"Astro, did you hear the conversation with Captain Yage?"
YES.
"Was her assessment of the natives tu'q?"
WHAT DOES 'TU'Q' MEAN?
"Sorry tu'q means a direct hit."
THANK YOU. YES, IF ANYTHING SHE WAS UNDERSTATING THE PARANOID OF THIS PLANET'S INHABITANTS. USING THE TRANSLATION PROTOCOLS I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO READ MOST OF THE NON-MILITARY NEWS SERVICES. MOST OF THE POPULATION DOES BELIEVE THAT THE EMPIRE OF GOTH HAD CONTACTED THE WIDOWMAKER IN A BOLD MOVE TO CONQUER THE PLANET. THE EXECUTIVE OFFICER, THREE STROM TROOPERS AND DOCTOR HEGERTY ARE THE ONLY SURVIVORS FROM THE PEACE DELEGATION; THE OTHER NINE STROM TROOPERS HAD BEEN EXECUTED FOR CRIMES AGAINST THE PEACE.
"How long do we have until the rest are killed?"
UNKNOWN, THERE WAS NO TRIAL. THEY ARE RANDOMLY REMOVED FROM THEIR CELLS AND TAKEN OUT TO A COURT YARD. ONCE THERE THEY ARE LAID DOWN ON THE GROUND WITH EACH LIMB TIED WITH A ROPE. THE ROPE IS ATTACHED TO ONE OF THE FOUR CREATURES, SOME KIND OF HUGE 4-LEGGED CREATURE. THE FOUR ANIMALS ARE THEN LEAD IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION, THIS CAUSED THE OFFENDER TO BE SEPARATED LIMB FORM LIMB. IT SEEMS TO BE EXTREMELY PAINFUL AND CAN TAKE UP TO 6 HOURS TO COMPLETE THE EXECUTION.
The droid activated one of the screens and showed Tahiri a video of one of the executions. Tahiri watched as four animals that looked like a bantha, it was about the same size with much shorter hair and shorter tusk; slowly start walking away from each other at an angle. As the beasts get to a certain distance from each other the ropes, each one attached to the trooper's arms or legs, would get tight. She could see the pain in the man's face and hear his screams.
"It takes them six hours to die?"
YES.
"Not a nice way to go." She said as she shut off the screen. Tahiri looked at the droid and sarcastically said, "How nice of them to recorder it."
THAT WAS SHOWN LIVE TO THE PLANET WHEN WE FIRST ARRIVED IN SYSTEM. AT THE TIME I RECORDED THE VIDEO I WAS NOT AWARE OF THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE PRISONER.
"So they wanted to show the whole planet that they could kill helpless prisoner?" Tahiri was pretty disgusted at what she saw. There were ways to kill prisoners and they sure didn't do it in the best way, they did it in a very dishonorable way.
THIS METHOD OF EXECUTION IS COINCIDENT WITH THE PUNISHMENT OF A PERSON BELIEVED TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATH OF A RULING CLASS. THIRTY OF THE THIRTY-FIVE COUNTRIES HAVE A SIMILAR EXECUTION PROCEDURES FOR THOSE PRISONERS THOUGHT TO BE Involved IN A DEATH OF A RULING CLASS MEMBER. THE POPULATION IS ENCOURAGED TO WITTINESS ANY SUCH EXECUTIONS. IN FACT THERE IS MUCH DISCUSSION THAT THE KINGDOM OF HYTER IS PLAYING UNFAIRLY SINCE THEY WILL NOT ALLOW THE POPULATION TO PRECIPITATION IN THE PRE-EXECUTION FESTIVAL, AS PER TRADITION.
"Gee sound like a wonderful place to live, don't it." Tahiri said deadpan. The droid swung his dome to look at her in a jerky motion. He seem to be wondering if she was serious of not. "Let me guess the other five have even nastier way to get rid of people?"
CORRECT THEY ARE …
"Please," she said holding up her left hand, "I don't really want to know. So they are bunch of bloodthirsty little buggers are they? Well we are not here to change their minds on that just to save the crew of the Widowmaker. Do you have any idea where they are keeping the rest of the prisoners?"
YES, THEY ARE BEING HELD AT THE MAIN COMMAND AND CONTROL BUILDING. The droid brought up the map of the Kingdom of Hyter and had a small area blinking about the center of the country in a mountain area. As she study the lay out the droid continued to brief her. THE COMPLEX IS UNDER A MOUNTAIN AND WAS COMPLETED WITH IN THE PAST 5 YEARS.
"Do you have the plans for inside the place?"
NOT YET, THE NAVIGATION OF THEIR COMPUTER SYSTEM IS HAPHAZARD AT BEST.
"Keep looking for it. We are going to need the floor plans of that complex if Master Skywalker is going to rescue them." She got up and started heading towards her bridge. "Thanks for the updates. I'm going to call Master Skywalker. Let me know if anything else comes up."
"This is Galactic Federation of Free Alliance relay outpost Alpha-Gamma 056 little girl and we don't have time for your little games." Ensign Hertz said as he leaned back into his command chair. He was the Officer of the Deck for the 'graveyard' shift on this outpost. They had been here for about two months on the edge of the Unknown Region near the planet of Galantos to act as a relay to this end of the galaxy. In the months following the war they have been working non-stop to bring the Holo-net back up to full strength. There were still holes in the net, parts that will still suddenly go dark as the left over Vong weapons still roomed the galaxy. The out post was really a corvette that had been hastily retro fitted as a communication ship. Hertz and the rest of the crew had no idea how long they would be stuck out here, although they have been told that a permanent outpost was going to be constructed soon. But when they will actually get started was still not clear. Ensign Hertz was not happy to be out here, even on temporary duty. He would rather be out in Hutt space fighting rogue Vong then playing a switchboard operator. Now for the first time since he has been out here he had a chance to release some of that anger that has been building up.
"Please understand, I am Jedi Knight Tahiri, I was sent out to the Unknown Region to locate the missing Imperial Frigate Widowmaker that was lost when Zonama Sekot went into hyper-space 5 months ago. I have found the ship but they need immediate assistance, more then I have with me right now. I need you to contact Jedi Master Skywalker on Denon and set up a relay so we can talk."
"And why don't you just call him yourself?" He was kind of impressed, the kid somehow redirected the signal so it appeared way out of range of any other relay station except his. "Don't you know his number?"
"Yes I do, but I'm too far away in case you haven't noticed. I need you to act as a relay."
"Well that is what we are out here for, we do boast and relay all hyper-signals from official sources." He used the tone of voice that he uses with his sisters young children. "Now if you will let me speak to your mommy and daddy …"
"I don't have any parents and this is an official call!"
"Yes I'm sure but the Jedi are busy these days and we can't just let anyone call them. If you really do need help I would suggest you contact your parents or your local government."
"Look," she said sounding huffy, Ensign Hertz let out a smile he was spoiling her fun all right, "I gave you all the proper codes and frequencies to show you who I'm and that will allow me access to the Jedi. Now I need you to do your job, Kane a bar!"
Ensign Hertz looked over at one of the crewmembers on duty with him. The crewman was busy with his board.
"It's Yuuzhan Vong and it means: 'the dung of a meat maggot'."
"Oh really!" Ensign Hertz angrily activity the comm. again, "Yes lets talk about those codes. I'm not sure if you know this little girl but slicing into government files is a serious offense as is sending out a false alarm on official hyper-waves. You are in enough trouble as is little girl and if you disconnect now we just forget about all this. If you keep up this little joke I will personally make sure you are arrested and sent to jail. Trust me you would not like that at all, it is not any thing like your mommy and daddy taking away your favorite toy. So what will it be?"
He heard a whole string of grunting and gargle words not understanding a bit of it. He looked over at the communication specialist and saw the man with a grin on his face.
"What is she saying?"
"Oh she is good sir, that was a string of Yuuzhan Vong and Tusken Raiders, or sand people as they are known on Tatooine, insults. She is describing you and accusing you of committing several improbable and anatomically impossible acts."
"That will be enough young lady! This is an official outpost and we have more important jobs then to humor a rude spoiled brat such as you. This conversation is not over!" He punched some keys on his board, blocking the kid from reactivating a call. He then logged the incident and passed the log and a copy of the recording up the chain of command. Maybe they will tracker her down, he though as he finished with the report. He then sat back and saw he had four hours till the end of his shift. After he gets done with his shift he knew he just end up going to sleep and wishing something important would happen out here.
Tahiri tried for the third time to reestablish communications with the outpost, each second she was getting angrier and angrier. She knew that a Jedi was calm and patient but that son of a Hutt was really pushing it with her. She knew that her voice was child like, it was not her fault that she was only 17, but to be treated so rudely! If it was just her own life on the line it probably been less annoying but the 219 lives down on the surface counting on her to help them just made it worst. She hated the idea that some pompous windbag was going to stop her because he had more authority then brains.
"Fas!" That cut it she was blocked.
She sat back in her pilot's chair and stared out at the moon and the stars in the background trying hard to control her breathing and her anger. Anger would not help here; she needed a clear head to figure out what to do next. The Widowmaker would be losing its shields soon. On the island were 50,000 armed and mad troopers with about a hundred ships out in the sea throwing high explosives at them. Add in those slow but deadly aircraft flying day and night adding to the attack. When those shields failed the men and women on the Widowmaker would be overrun in matter of minutes. If they were lucky they would be just dead, if not they would die slow and extremely painful deaths. Then there was the five already held as prisoners.
She couldn't contact the Imperials, without a relay station they were just too far away. It held true with contacting anyone on Denon or Captain Solo and his wife in the Corporate Sector. She tried contacting the Chiss but her calls went unanswered. She could try to contact Bakura; she might be able to get a signal that far. But that would just add too many days to the equation. They need help today not next month.
Guess it is up to you Tahiri. She thought to herself. She was not really thrilled with the idea of taking on this job all by herself. Her track record has not exactly been successful in the rescue department. But it didn't look like she had any other choice. She decided to take in the scene one last time before she head back to the pod. The droid and her had some serious planning to do and she wanted to get started as soon as possible.