"Here you go Peacekeeper," one of her teammates, a human female said, handing the little Jedi a data pad.
"Thanks," she said after removing her robe, to reveal that she was wearing combat armor underneath. Smith looked over her shoulder to see it was the floor plans for the building. "I hope these are accurate."
"They should be," A Devonian said as he put some kind of charm around his neck. He was wearing a field medical kit as was the Mon Calamari Jedi standing with the Solo. "We did get them from the Department of Building Codes."
"Remember Fusty," the young Jedi said with a wary smile.
"Good point, lucky for you then that I am here," the doctor said striking a ridiculous pose that was, Smith supposed, to communicate that he was something special. The Jedi just gave him a wary smile and went back to studying the plans while the rest of the team looked at him strangely.
"Were they all that weird," the female said to the one called Snoop.
"Trust me kid," Han Solo said with a grin, "he was one of the normal ones."
"Miss Tahiri! I have wonderful news," the Solos' protocol droid said walking quickly to their location from the transports they arrived in. He seemed oblivious to the spectacle he was making of himself. Not that it mattered much, two Security transports, three civilian air cars and a small group of people armed to the teeth already stuck out like a sore thumb.
"3PO, no names remember," she said in a tone one would normally use to communicate with children not droids. Not that Smith had much use for droids, they were great tools but she seemed to take it a bit further, almost as if she sees him as an equal. She must have picked it up from the Solos, since they treated the droid the same way. "Call me Peacekeeper, remember."
"Yes, ma'am but I have great news. I was able to established contact with Little Brother …"
"Do you have a location?" When the droid nodded it's head she had him point it out on the map. "That looks like they are in the main chamber one floor up from us."
"There is a stairwell located here," Smith said pointing to a spot on her pad, " it should be wide enough to get a team up it, the rest can use the main ramp."
"We are going to have to be very quick about it," the medic said tapping the pad, "we have done a few S & R, we only have a few minutes to get in there before they get the not-so bright idea to off the person we are going to save."
"Can we get the doors open before they have time to move her is the question I have," the other female asked.
"I can get the doors open no problem," the other male human said with a grin and slapping his bag.
"That might not be the best answer," Han said, "you might want to go in real quiet like and then hit them hard."
"That depends on what kind of security that they have sir," the human responded with a grin, "and my way is faster."
"Oh by the Cold, why are all you explosion experts such diabolical mad men," the medic said rummaging around his pack and puling out another … charm?
"Must be from all the concussions they receive when they screw up their calculations and make the boom bigger then they need." Snoop replied off handily.
"I never make that mistake … often."
"Oh what about Coruscant?" The human female said rolling her eyes.
"Hey they said take care of the nest of warriors in that building and I did," he responded looking innocent.
"They didn't mean bring down the entire building and the other six buildings around it!"
"They never told me not to either."
"C-3PO, do you have any more information to report," the girl said while the other three and the medic argued about the definition of eliminating targets.
"Yes Miss Tahiri, Lt. Bora is in poor health and has been severely abused during her captivity. Also Little Brother and her mother …"
"Wait! Her mother is in there too!"
"Yes ma'am," the golden droid responded in the sudden silence, "that was how he was able to locate Lt. Bora. Little Brother and her mother acquired the assistance of a man named Dirk," the girl let out a groan and started rubbing her forehead while looking down at the pavement. Smith let out an internal groan of his own. She must have contacted him to help her find Ratnena …why didn't they just come to us! "Little Brother stated that he attempted to warn her but she was unable to understand what he was saying." The girl said something in what Smith assumed was Yuuzhan Vong. "Well Miss Tahiri, as you know I am not physically …" the droid cut himself off as she stood on her tiptoes to glare at him.
"That was an expression not a request."
"Err, yes ma'am."
"What now Peacekeeper," Mrs. Solo, who was trying to hide her amusement at the droid, unlike her husband and the others.
"I want to hear what the others find first before we come up with a plan," she said rubbing her forehead again.
"Perhaps," the Mon Calamari Jedi said in soft tones, "we should have Inspector Smith call in for additional assistance."
"That should be no problem, they could get here in a half hour."
"No," the girl said shaking her head, "there was a reason she had pictures of Lt. Fern next to Dirk and this Yunder. Lets say he is working for either one on the side, if you put out that we are here and need back up, he would be alerted correct?"
"Yes," Smith said, he had to admit that she might have a point. Smith hated bad cops worst then the common street scum. "We are required to carry our comm links at all time and they can be programmed to alert us to any calls for assistance or emergencies."
"That is easy ma'am," one of his troopers said, "Janie down in comm does it all the time for us."
"So he could have it programmed to listen to specific address?"
"Sure," the trooper said giving the kid a shrug, "and since Blinkie went here it would only be natural he would want to be alerted to any troubles."
"Blinkie?" Han Solo asked with a look of confusion.
"Lt. Fern's full name is Bilking Fern," Smith said with a sigh, "however, Ratnena gave him that nickname because he used to sleep with a blanket. She used to hide it from him and the guy could not sleep without it and he would run around the school all night looking for it, so the story goes. The nick name has stuck to him ever since."
"Blinkie," the girl mumbled with a full smile on her face. She looked like she wanted to say more when the other two members of her team came around the corner. Her smile went out like a light when she saw them.
"Lead, Hunter, what is the word?"
"Not good," the older man said as he handed her a pad.
Smith couldn't help staring at the new arrival ... No it can't be him! But it sure looked like the hero of the Republic, Wedge Antilles!
"Peacekeeper, there are at least four security cams that we could see, so assume there is at least two hidden." The Alien said showing her where each one was on the pad. "The doors looked to be standard, however an air car arrived while we were observing the building, it took longer then normal for the door to lift up to allow passage. All the ground floor and for at least 15 floors up are covered what appears to be simple mesh wiring but Snip said through his scope that they had small wiring around the mesh."
"It could either electrified or just alarm wire, either way it is too much for us to cut through before they spotted us."
"Any guards?"
"No, at least we didn't see any when the car drove through, they could be in the rear out of sight. We are sure that there are some there since the car stopped and the doors open and then immediately started to close once it was through. We detected no transmissions at that location while it was around and no exterior port to tap into."
"How long did it take the doors to open," Han Solo asked.
"About minute and half, that was just enough to get the car through, 3 minutes to open and close all together."
"Any back doors?" Solo said looking grim.
"Not this time Han," Lead said, "the side doors had trash and other barriers around them. It looked like it has been years since they been used."
"Well, that may be the only way in Wedge," Han said to the man, "Especially if we want to be quite like."
"Socket?" The girl looked at the mad bomber but he was shaking his head.
"I could blow a hole in that door but it will be small, if it is reinforced like they said. It would be big enough to get one or two in at a time."
"That will be too slow to get us into position ma'am." The female human said looking as the rest did, grim.
"Maybe we should go up and work our way down?" Leia Solo asked but just about everyone was shaking their heads.
"It would take too long Leia, plus we have no idea what kind of security they have at that end," Lead said.
"Ok here is what we are going to do; we are going to use this door here," she pointed out the spot on the pad. "Lead, Snoop, Hunter, Snip and I will go through first, I slice the door open if I have too. Once we secure that floor, Smith, Lead, Hunter Snip and I will go up the main ramp. Snoop, Socket and the other cops will take this staircase you have our rear gentlemen. Solos, and the medics and C-3PO will come up last. We take out any resistance; locate Rat, her mother and Little Brother. Once they are secured, medic will attend to Rat, then her mother, and then any injured parties on their side. All weapons on stun, if you hear "Kwaad", switch over to kill. Socket, you can use your anti-personal mines but only if it comes down to our lives and theirs. We are here to S & R, take prisoners and gather intelligence; we are not here to start a bloodbath. Having said that, our first and main objective is S & R; do not let them hinder that operation. Questions?" When no one said anything she nodded, "may the Force be with us and may the gods smile on us. Move out!"
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Darren, with Celia by his side, and Lt. Fern walked up the main loading ramp to where his 'guests' were located. Dirk had comm him earlier saying that he had a surprise for him when he got here. He had also received word that the pick up was schedule for today. They would be meeting him, Fern and Ratnena at one of the docking bays that the school owned a few kilometers away.
In a way, he felt a pang of regret about her final destiny. She had such potential; he always knew that for the first time he met her when her parents had applied to admit her. She was so beautiful, even then, such an incredible reasoning and problem solving skills, and IQ that just astounded him. He knew that once she was old enough that she could be a huge asset to his growing empire. Unbeknown to the children, many of his plans had actually been disguised as problems to solve for class, and all her plans rose to the top. Yes, the other children abused her, the staff had open distain for her and he never step in to halt it, knowing it could help later down the road, but he always made sure to be there for her.
But she just never learned, he thought sadly. She never could understand that she was special, that she and the others at the school were above the rest of humanity. That the masses were inept fools who needed them to wipe their noses and pat them on the fanny when they were naughty. That the masses were only there to amuse and be abused. Poor Ratnena never understood that, she always wanted to help the people. Just goes show you what bad parenting can do, he thought with a small sigh.
It had been fine until that night, after their visit while he was showering, she had been playing on his computer and stumbled upon the records of his spice empire. She had been shocked, horrified at his activities; begging him to stop hurting people. He refused of course, but she was quite a fighter and never knew when to stop. She started to mess up his schedules and delivers; he beat her. She stopped her visits, saying that he had to stop hurting people and he beat her. She started leaking information to the Security Force, he beat her, encouraged the other children and staff, not that they neither need much encouragement nor knew why, to make her miserable and abuse her till she stopped. But she kept fighting back; he had her thrown out of school thinking that would solve everything. She still kept breaking in to the computer, changing delivers, messing with account information and braking into various businesses that he owned.
He tried to get Bog, her old gang leader; to rein her in and the little freak engineered his retirement! Finally, after years of fruitless attempts to get her arrested, her new violent streak got her arrested. He encouraged the judge to ship her of to the military, and somehow she survived that too! Then using her past, he arranged to pay of her squadron commander to make a pass at her, knowing full well what her response would be. They were ready to ship her off for 30 years of labor when she was snatch out of prison by someone else. Now, she was back again and trying to stop him again!
This time my dear, there will be no return for you, he though. If the contacts didn't kill her the Bliss would.
"Stop! Please what are you doing to her!"
"That sounded like Mrs. Bora," Yunder said to Fern, who just shrugged not caring either way. When they go to the top of the ramp, they found out it was indeed Mrs. Bora, who was on the floor cradling Ratnena in her arms trying to shield her the scum around them. Yunder saw that Dirk and about 30 of his men were standing around watching the spectacle going on. That annoying droid was also near Mrs. Bora with his arch welder out as if to threaten anyone who dares to hurt them.
"Fern your gun please," Darren said quietly. The droid had attacked him before and he wanted to be ready this time. Stepping out of the shadows he spoke up for all to hear, "Mrs. Bora, what a lovely surprise." The look of shock and horror that was on her face when she turned to stare at him was priceless. Her mouth moved like a fish out of water as she tried to wrap her pathetic mind around what she was seeing. The droid had no such problems; it retracted his arch welder and extended his saw blade. Whistling and beeping it started rolling over to him. "Put that away or I shoot them both," he calmly told the droid as he aimed the pistol at Ratnena and her mother. The droid stopped and spun his dome around to look at them, back at him and then at the two ladies again. Reluctantly, it withdrew its blade and rolled backwards, keeping its body between him and the ladies. "As I was saying Mrs. Bora this is a nice surprise having you join us. We are about to have a going away party for young miss Bora." The nasty laughter going around the room seemed to penetrate that fog she was in.
"What are you doing to her … what are you doing to HER!"
"Miss Bora has been, acquired by some associates of mine who are very keen on having her join them. They will be stopping by in a few hours to take her on a little trip." Yunder said giving her a nasty smile.
"How can you be doing all this," Mrs. Bora said through her tears, "you are a head master, you are …"
"Annoyed with your daughter is what I am. She has cost me millions over the years with her activities and now she has a chance to pay me back, don't you my dear." Ratnena didn't say anything she just moved closer to her mother.
"Darren, she doesn't seem happy about her trip," Celia said walking up and holding his hand.
"I don't understand why not," Darren said sarcastically, "I am sure that her guards here have made every effort to keep her … entertained." Ratnena tried to make herself smaller as the shame of her existence was finally came crashing down around her as some of the men agreed loudly and rudely with that assertion.
"Perhaps she needs something from you Darren," Celia said sweetly. Ratnena stiffened and turned her head slightly in their direction.
"I think you are right," Darren said as he watched Ratnena try to pull away from her mother, the look of hunger in her eyes was very satisfying. "But I seem to have forgot to bring her anything to help her." The look of anguish on Ratnena face was priceless; he wished he had a camera to capture this moment.
"Silly Darren," Celia said pulling out the case that he had given to her to carry, "I swear you would forget your own head if I wasn't around."
"So true my dear," he said giving her a smile, "look Ratnena, a supply of Bliss just for you." She broke from her mother, and started over to him when one of the guards knocked her down.
"Not that way Bora," Fern said with an evil grin, "you know how to ask."
The look of abhorrence at Fern and the longing for Bliss fought for control of her face, but as they all knew the longing would win out. Getting on her belly and leaving a couple trails of blood, she crawled over to Darren.
"Fern, do you have a blade on you?" Darren asked as a truly wicked idea occurred to him.
"Yea," he said pulling one off his belt, "why do you want it?"
"It is special night, that's far enough Bora stay there," he said stopping her about half way to him. "Celia has been working so hard, I wanted to give her some entertainment before Ratnena leave us for good."
"You are so sweet Darren, too bad Ratnena never could never understand you. She never deserved you!" Celia said with a sneer at the girl lying on the floor.
"It is so easy to be sweet to you my dear, unlike Ratnena you understand," Darren said with a smile then turned to Ratnena, "you want this don't you?" She nodded with the look of longing still in her eyes. "Then you have to do me a favor, do you understand?" Again she nodded without hesitation. He tossed the blade to her, "then entertain us before you leave and kill your mother." Her eyes bore into, looking for something that would tell her that he was not serious. By he just nodded as Fern, Celia and the rest cheered and egged her on. Her mother sat in horror at the spectacle, her tiny brain finally understanding just what was going to happened to her, while that droid continued to make its noise.
"Please," Ratnena whispered out.
"Come on Ratnena you want to feel good don't you?" When she nodded, he egged her on, "then just kill your mother. Do it Ratnena and you can have all the Bliss you want."
"I … do … anything but please not … that," she whispered out.
"You want Bliss don't you?" Darren said getting angry with her. "Then kill your mother and do it now." Again the girl just looked at him and begged him to ask her to do anything else. How by the Creator is she resisting? He wondered as she told him again no. "Either kill her or you will never get Bliss again! Do you understand Ratnena; you will never feel good again! Now Kill Her!" With her whole body shaking and the desire for Bliss just oozing out of her, she again said no. Darren couldn't believe his ears she was still defying him! He walked over to her and kicked her in the face and screamed at her as her mother screamed for him to stop. "You worthless little brat! You were nothing, you will always be nothing!"
"I am somebody," she screamed out, "I am a Wraith!"
Darren felt his blood go cold as her mother ran over to hold her child, as he back up he had the very distinct feeling that she was telling the truth!
"So what if you are a Wraith, they are nothing!" Fern said as the other laughed at the sight before them.
"She is telling the truth?" Darren asked turning to face Fern.
"Darren what is wrong," Celia said sounding a bit concern, and she should, Darren thought as he stared down Fern.
"So what if she is a Wraith …"
"Is it true!"
"Yea, I found out last month … what is the problem?"
"You mindless idiot!" Darren screamed as he thought furiously, he has heard of the Wraiths and he knew just like annoying Darth Vader there were certain things you did not do! Darth Vader at least made a production out of killing you and only you, the Wraiths to save one of their own has brought down at least one government that he knew of and they never announced their visits! "They were at Ossus last year!"
"But that was just … look I sure that they aren't that good!"
"I am sure you are a idiot! Kill them both and the droid now!"
"Are you crazy? That Jedi wants her …"
"Kill them now! We have to hide the evidence before the Wraiths arrive!"
"Too late," a very soft and young sounding voice said from behind him followed by the very distinct sound of a light saber turning on.
