"Corran, I can't understand you," Luke said, well screamed, into the hyperspace comm. They had finally established contact with Zonama after weeks of frustrating silence. The interference was still present, which was what causing the static and for them to lose more then half of the words but it was good to know that they were still alive out there.
"Sorry Luke … trying … problem … success … Vong … project …" the broken voice of Corran said.
"Corran, what project is successful?"
"We … home … but … trying … understand?"
"Corran I can't understand you send again."
"Master Skywalker, we are losing the signal," the tech station at the comm center said while doing something to the board to boast the signal.
"Right," Luke said to the man and then transmitted again, "Corran we need you home, situation is grim, I say again, situation is grim. Do you copy?" Luke looked at the tech, who was shaking his head. "Corran, can you copy? Corran?"
"Sorry sir, we lost the signal again," the tech said still playing with the controls in vain.
"Can you tell me what is going on out there?" Luke asked, so far he has heard theories and guesses but no strong answers as to why the hyperspace comm was being interfered with in that area of the galaxy.
"Sorry sir, they are still working on it," the tech said looking embarrassed.
"Well thank you for trying and thank you for letting me know you were able to get though even if it was only briefly."
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Little Brother watched Ratnena Bora study her screen in her room with what some might call concern. Ever since that unidentified man attacked her on her ship, she had been working longer and longer hours on their mission.
They had almost lost their quarters after that fight since her parental unit, fleshy name Mother, had voiced concerns about him attacking her. The mother had doubts that he was as benevolent as Ratnena has said he was after 'the vicious attack against that wonderful man'. Ratnena had responded in her usual manner to her mother that she was not sane and that Little Brother was not malfunctioning. She even argued against her other parental unit, the Father, which is not something that she was prone to do especially in the manner in which she used her language. Little Brother had attempted to explain why his programming had enabled him to help defend Ratnena, however Ratnena refused to translate and neither unit would stay in front of a screen long enough to read the translation.
Ratnena and him, in the end, were able to remind in the home. Which suited Little Brother since many of their files and other tools in which they needed to complete their mission was kept. Duplicating and replacing that data and items would be too time consuming.
"Yes," Ratnena hissed out and stood up from the screen to look at some of the pictures she had hung in her room. "Yes, of course that is where …"
Ratnena had hung 558 pictures of the unidentified male who attacked her; many had been altered, or written on, although he could not decipher what she had written. She has also hung 200 other pictures that had various warehouses, buildings, some of the leader of the 'L' street association, and for some reason several pictures of Lt. Fern of the Kidriff Planetary Security Force.
"Makes sense where else would you hide it …"
HAVE YOU FOUND SOME NEW INFORMATION, RATNENA, Little Brother asked hoping that she would keep him informed. For the past few days her incidents of speaking to herself as increased 178 percent while avoiding answering his questions. Also, she just would often just sit in the dark room and stare at the pictures as if she was gaining some kind of knowledge from it. That made no sense to Little Brother, as far as he was aware of Ratnena was not a Jedi Knight.
"I got you now …" she whispered as she started getting dressed.
WHAT IS OUR MISSION TONIGHT RATNENA?
"You stay here Little Brother, I handle this … don't worry stopping him will be easy," she said grabbing her pistol and a thermal grenade that they had in the X-wing.
RATNENA WE ARE PARTNERS, I SHOULD BE ASSISTING YOU IN ANY AND ALL MISSION.
"I'll be back don't worry," she said as she left the room, leaving a very confused droid behind.
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"Hey Dirk, look," one of his lackey said poking him in the side.
Dirk looked over at one of the security cams and saw a inferred scan of a female stalking around the outside of the warehouse that they were guarding for his contact. He had thought that the contact was insane to think that Ratnena would be able to find the main warehouse and they were just spinning their wheels. Not that he was really complaining, it was easy money and she was cutting into his profits. Also, he knew that if they could eliminate that pain, which is always a gamble when it came to Ratnena, the trade would pick up again.
Who would have thought one brain could cause such trouble? Dirk knew that she was smarter then he was, not that he would ever admit it to anyone, but he hadn't thought that she was this good to be bale to hurt the trade as badly as she had.
"What do we do boss?"
"We follow the plan," Dirk said, playing it safe. The contact came up with this plan, and considering how smart he was Dirk was sure that it would work better then anything he could come up with. Again, not that he would allow anyone to think that nor would he ever admit it. "If we follow the plan and she get lose then it is his problem and not ours."
"Yea," his lackey said arming the trap, "you are really smart."
"Don't you forget it," he growled out as he watched the girl enter through a security door. That girl was a genius when it comes to computers, no doubt about it. The contact had told him that he had put up the best defense possible to keep her out, if for no other reason she would be suspicious if she got in to easily. To stop a brain it takes a brain, he thought as she entered the building. "Is it ready?"
"Yep, here it goes."
On the inferred scanner he saw her stop in the middle of the floor and start shooting towards the stairwell, not that it would do any good against that droid. He had heard about those Vong killers and always wanted one but they were still next to impossible to get one without being in the military. Now watching one in action he knew he had to get one himself. The droid took shot after shot without so much as skipping a beat and slapped Ratnena to the floor, with barely any time passing at all. How the contact got one was something he was still looking into or how to steal this one, whichever way was quicker and cheaper.
"Wow," the lackey said with a whistle. Ratnena was out cold in the middle of the floor with the droid standing guard over her body.
"Yep, lets go collect our bounty."
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Why is it only when grown on Coruscant does the murta root has that effect, Major Grodin Tierce wondered as he read the latest chemises report on Bliss production. He wanted to know what other planets he could set up shop on in case the Rebels figured out what his little treat was and where it came from. That way they would be tied up in knots trying to stop numerous growing sites and not be able to cut off supplies by sealing off the system. Which was a very real possibly since Coruscant was still a closed system that was under control of the Rebel military. If they wanted to stop every ship coming in and out of the system, search them or shoot any ship that refused to stop, they could and would. The Senate wouldn't say a peep, especially after all the problems his little treat was causing from one end of the galaxy to the other.
Even with all the minor brush wars that had starting all over the place, alliances falling apart and being reformed and the general uncertainly that prevailed in the galaxy, the military hasn't eased up in Coruscant.
However, according to this report, murta root grown in the laboratory had no desire effect on the masses then any normal spice would have, none, zip, nada. It wasn't the soil content, lighting or radiation; nothing that they could measure made a difference. When grown on other planets the effect was the same as in the laboratory, absolutely nothing. Only when the root was picked on Coruscant did it become the deadly Bliss.
"You want to explain what this is all about," Alema Rar said storming through the hatchway and into the former captain's office with a data pad in her hands, which she tossed to him.
"Ah, they finally caught her," Grodin sad after reading the text.
"Who is Ratnena Bora and why is she so important?"
"She is, my young Jedi, a partner and best friend of someone who holds a special place in both of our hearts."
"Tahiri," she purred out after a small pause, the way her eyes lit up, now he could see that she understood why it was good news.
"Yes," Grodin said, feeling phantom pains in a certain area of his body, "she is also, according to my contact there, responsible for the sharp decline of Bliss supplies on Kidriff 5. Which is why they waited so long to grab her, she was taking such an active role they had to wait until she came to them. If they snatch her off the street it would cause concern and lots of official troubles, however if she disappeared while looking for Bliss …"
"Still causes concern?" Alema said looking confused.
"No," he said shaking his head, "since she was working outside the law and many feels that she was doing nothing more then cleaning house to set up her own show. There is as much distrust in the security department against Ratnena due to her past then there are people thinking she was doing good."
"How was she able to stop the trade anyways," Alema said coming around the desk to rub his shoulders.
"She is a outcast freak like Tahiri, probably why they got along so well, she is a super genius and has a photographic memory. Our contact there hates her as much as we hate Tahiri and always down played her IQ but from different sources, I've been able to gathered that she could possibly be smarter then I or my creator."
"Really?" Alema said stopping her massage and pulling his head around to look into his eyes, "You're not joking are you?"
"No, which leaves us a problem," Grodin said, he hated to admit something like that but the gods demand that truth must be acknowledge at all times, no matter how much it hurt. "I don't trust them to hold on to her until Tahiri and the others come to the rescue."
"You're think that we should bring her here?"
"Yes, we can hold on to her. If she escapes so what? We are in the middle of nowhere and she would have no way to get off ship."
"Well, not until we are ready for her to see her old friend again," Alema said smiling, "would you like me to arrange for the pick up."
"If you would be so kind, and stress to them that they can do anything they want to her except kill her. Tell them if they kill her, I will arrange for Tahiri to know exactly how to find them. She is useless to me dead."
"Don't worry about that my dear," she said leaning down to give him kiss on the cheek, "I make sure they have no doubts about what to do." With that she headed out of the office.
Grodin for his part picked up the report and studied it some more, why only Coruscant?
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Wedge saw Tahiri enter the bridge, looking less then chipper this morning. She has had several run ins with Flight Officer High, who was pushing things to the limits and sometimes beyond, the briefings she has given on the Emperor, worried about Face who was still in the tank, grief over Ruskin and finding out who was to meet them when they arrived might be the reasons that she was starting to lose some sleep. That would be a full plate for anyone, now matter the age, to handle at one time.
"Morning Captain Tahiri," Wedge said giving her a smile.
"Good morning General," she said looking around the bridge.
"Bad night sleeping?"
"If I could get some sleep," she said looking out the view port at the growing ball called Denon.
"Worried about your team or your old classmate?"
"No," she said glancing out the door with a hint of follow me in her expression. Wedge nodded and they left the bridge until they came to the main briefing room. Once inside she didn't sit down but paced the room, "I talked to Cathy this morning before I came here. She agreed to beat some sense into High, before I get rid of him. Since they have a relationship and she is now my second, she agreed and felt she might be able to reach him better then anyone else."
"That is a smart move," Wedge said sitting down while she continued to pace.
"Thank you sir, I hope it works he is a good man for the most part. I saw Face, he is doing better."
"I did too," Wedge said, Face was always a fighter and Wedge knew this was only a small set back for him. "So are you worried about Rayner Thul?"
"No, Master Skywalker can handle him, he has more experience dealing with insane Jedi then I do. Besides this is a Jedi problem, not a Wraith problem."
"It could be a Wraith problem, you know and you are a Jedi," Wedge said which got her to stop pacing and glare at him.
"With all due respects General, the Wraiths are not equipped to take on a Jedi, regardless of who it is. I am not going to let my team within a parsec of him. The Jedi can deal with him; they have the skills and training that we don't have. Anyways, I left the Order, I am not a Jedi any longer."
"You still use a light saber …"
"Best tool to do the job General, which is why I would argue long and hard about this not being a Wraith problem."
"So what is keeping you up at night?"
"Visions," she said letting out a sigh and finally sitting down across from him.
"Oh," was all Wedge said.
"See, normally I would talk to Rat and Little Brother about this but they are still running around Kidriff 5 doing the Yum-Yammka only know what and still it may be a few weeks before we can hook up with them."
"You get these visions a lot?"
"Not really they are just … disturbing."
"Can you explain?"
"Yes, … no … I don't know," she said getting up again, "and I beginning to think they not so much as visions as they are … lessons."
"Bridge to Captain Tahiri."
"Tahiri here," she said going over to the wall panel.
"Ma'am we will be landing in 5 minutes. The reception committee is waiting at the dock."
"Thank you bridge, Tahiri out", she said grumbling a curse of some kind and pulling out her comm, "Doc?"
"Yes ma'am."
"We disembark in 5 minutes, make sure the troops look pretty, we leave our gear here for now until after the briefings and we get some quarters."
"Will do ma'am."
"Tahiri out," she said closing down the connections and looking tired.
"Look Tahiri maybe you should pull Luke aside and …"
"No," she snapped out, "I mean no sir. I don't trust them enough to talk to any Jedi about this, not yet anyways. I was hoping that after all the chaos I could …" She let her words trail off, with a hopeful and scared look on her face.
"My door is always open Tahiri," Wedge said giving her a smile.
"Thank you sir," Tahiri said looking vastly relieved.
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"He is here to see you Darren," young Celia said from his office doorway.
"Splendid my dear, please show him in." Darren said putting aside some class work that he was working on. The life of an administrator is never done, he though with amusement as Celia escorted in his guest. "Good evening Lt. Fern, and how are you today."
"Fine sir," Fern said sitting down across the desk from him, looking as uncomfortable as he use to look when he was younger and a student here. "How are you tonight sir?"
"I am well, busy as you know," Darren said as Celia came over and sat down in his lap. "But the perks of this job is what keeps me going."
"Err yes," Fern said looking away embarrassed, not that Darren cared. His works in and out of the classroom left him precious little time to indulge in any recreation and how he chose to spend his off time or with whom was no one business but his own. Anyway, Celia was a much better assistant then Ratnena had been in so many ways. "Anyways sir, my suppliers had contacted me, they are willing to pay top credit for her. They only state one condition and that is that she be given to them alive."
"That could be a problem Darren," Celia said, "she has already tried to hurt her guards twice."
"True my dear Celia," Darren said thinking hard.
"Just make her go away Darren," Celia said with a glee that he enjoyed so much.
"We can't kill her," Fern said sharply.
"Why not? It not like we could have any use for her ever again," Celia said glaring at the policeman. One thing about Celia, she was very jealous of Ratnena.
"They were very serious about this Mr. Yunder. They promised dire consequences if she is dead. Through some checks on my own I found out one of them is most likely that rogue Jedi Rar."
"Yes, annoying a Jedi is always the worst move one could make," Darren said remembering the lesson that Darth Vader had given his predecessors when they annoyed him. While they never survive long enough to enjoy the fruits of that demonstration, it was something Darren never forgot. "Did you ever find out why they want her so badly? Killing her, although it would pain me greatly, does seem to be the smartest course of action."
"They want to use her to get to someone else, she is just bait."
"That is all she will ever be good for," Celia said with an undercurrent of jealousy in her voice.
"So true my dear," Darren said giving her a kiss on the check and had a brilliant idea. "You know she was so interested in our little enterprise here, we should give her a first hand look into it."
"That is a wonderful idea Darren," Celia said brightly who was quicker then Fern, who sat there with a stupid look on his face.
"Come my young Lt. and learn," Darren said getting up and grabbing a special case from his desk drawer.
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It took awhile for them to travel to the lower levels of the building that house the school; these levels were mostly warehousing and storage compartments. The school, through dummy companies, actually owned the entire building and this is were he stored most of his 'other' activities, such as Bliss. After all who would look in a school for the biggest drug ring on Kidriff 5.
"Hello Ratnena," Darren said as they dragged her up to him from the cage they held her in, and she was fighting them every centimeter of the way. She was dirty and smelled but then again they hadn't let her bath since they caught her breaking into this warehouse.
"Who is this?" She said looking at Celia, "another kid you are abusing you sick twisted rancor dropping …" One of her guards sucker punched her in the gut and pushed her against a table.
"You never understood," Darren said leaning down to look into her eyes, "I loved you Ratnena, I really did."
"You are so dead …"
"What are you going to do Ratnena? Think bad thoughts about him," Fern said as the rest of the scum laugh at his joke.
"She looks so sad Darren," Celia said walking over to him. "Can't you help her?"
"That is why I love her so, Ratnena," Darren said giving Celia a smile, "she is always thinking of other."
"You got to get away kid, please run away and …"
"Someone is coming by in a few days for you Ratnena," Darren said and taking the case from Celia, "and I need you here and in one piece. Plus, Celia is correct, you look so sad, therefore I want to give you something to make you happy." He pulled out a syringe with about 10 cc of Bliss in it. The blue liquid was enough to keep her still and … happy.
"No, no you don't, don't you dare you …" Ratnena said, eyes getting bigger and fighting harder to pull away from the table.
"I am sorry my dear but this will make you all better," he said as he pulled her hair away from the side of her neck.
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Ratnena refused to scream out; she just stared into that scum's eyes as he plunged the syringe into her neck, pumping Bliss into her blood stream. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry in pain and sorrow, refused to give him any twisted satisfaction of any kind. He would get nothing from her but silence; inside her mind however …
TAHIRI, help me by the Creator please help me TAHIRI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
