This isa story of Jedi Knight Nnohe Henip, master infiltrator and spy for the Republic. She is infamous for taking down criminal organizations and she always works alone. She is an orthodox Jedi, always alone, always killing a criminal uprising. Nevertheless, she is Jedi, and she gets the job done like a Jedi: with all efficiency.
Let her prove it to you.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Jedi, Shistavanens, etc. Props to George Lucas and Lucasfilm for those. HOWEVER, I DO own Nnohe Henip. I DO own the Riscan Raiders, etc. They are mine, and you can only use them by permission.
Description: Like I said, this is the story of Nnohe Henip. She is sent on a mission by the Republic to retrieve an individual that was kidnapped by the Riscan Raiders--a space pirate group that endlessly plagues the Republic. ONE-SHOT
Dangerous Rescue
The ship shook slightly as if it had been caught in a tractor beam, then settled back smoothly on its course.
"Mistress Zqubok, there is a large Cruiser in the area, registered as the Shistavanen Fang," the small hovering Home Maintenance droid said.
Nnohe Henip glanced up at HM-67219. "I'll be right there," she said. She turned back to the full-length mirror, tousled the dark brown wig she wore, made sure the gray contacts she wore were in place and rumpled her dirty coveralls.
Nnohe exited the cabin of the freighter and took the few steps up to the cockpit, which was built for three. She pushed the receiver button and an image of a Shistavanen Wolfman appeared over the projector pad. His fur, a light, nut brown, glimmered in the bridge lights of the Shistavanen Fang and his iris-less eyes stared rigidly at Nnohe.
"This is Captain Conan Daunuav of the Shistavanen Fang," he said. "Who are you and what is your business in this area?"
Nnohe tried to look laid back. "I'm Zqubok. I'm runnin' some requested cargo out to the Riscan base."
The fur above the Wolfman's eyes lifted in surprise then his eyes became narrow slits. "I don't recall seeing you before."
Nnohe lifted her own eyebrows then sank into a chair. "I guess that means you're with the Riscans. Daunuav." She tapped a finger against her temple and looked down. "Daunuav. Daunuav. Ah, yes, I remember now. They said you'd be waiting with questions."
"They? Who?" he asked.
She again looked up and raised her eyebrows. "Guu'tnvakk's underlings. The old pilot who ran this supply run was promoted so they started me on this run."
At mention of Guu'tnvakk's name, Captain Daunuav's expression lightened slightly. Guu'tnvakk was the Riscan Raiders' main supplier and Nnohe's best chance of sliding into the base unnoticed.
"You are a day early. Our supplies weren't due until tomorrow."
Nnohe shrugged. "I'm new. I've also got a bit of cargo on board that I've got have on Sullust by tomorrow."
"I see," the Wolfman said. "How many other crewmen are onboard? Surely you are not alone."
"I am," she replied. "I had but one other fellow crewman onboard and he had a health crisis."
The Riscan captain frowned. "A health crisis?"
Nnohe yawned. "Yeah. Old Smrach had a massive heart attack half-way between Gamorr and Geonosis. There isn't enough out there to stop and call for help. So his health failed and . . .," she gestured to the cabin, "I laid his body back there."
Really, Smrach had been killed by Nnohe a day and a half ago when she had boarded the cargo freighter and he resisted.
Daunuav frowned. "Heart attack? Strange. You didn't have the necessary medical instruments?"
Nnohe gave him a look that clearly said, "No."
The Shistavanen Wolfman took the hint and did not press further. "Proceed. When you get closer to the base, you will be contacted again. Failure to accept their transmission will result in a giant turbolaser bolt through your freighter. Captain Conan Daunuav of the Shistavanen Fang, out."
As his image vanished, Nnohe smiled. That had been easier than she'd expected.
Daunuav turned to the comm officer after the woman—Zqubok wasn't it?—disappeared from over the receiver projector pad. "Get home base," he ordered. "Captain Ma'chek, in particular."
The officer saluted. "Yes, sir," he replied, already getting to work.
In moments, a man's face appeared where the freighter pilot's image had been moments ago. Captain Ma'chek was a rough man, with stubble all over his chin and thin brown hair that was graying at the temples. "Who was it, Daunuav?" he asked in a voice that matched his face.
"Woman who says she works for Guu'tnvakk," Daunuav replied. "Said her name's Zqubok and that the old pilot was promoted, and she took his place. She said there'd been one other crewman onboard who had a heart attack between Gamorr and Geonosis."
"Hmm, she works for Guu'tnvakk, eh?" Ma'chek said, rubbing his chin. "Only partner died? Convenient for her. Did she say what cargo she was carrying? And why the cargo's a day early?"
"She didn't identify her cargo, just said that it was some requested supplies. She did say that she's early because she's got a bit of cargo that she has to run out to Sullust by tomorrow."
"Seems logical," Ma'chek said. "What about the ship? We couldn't get an accurate reading on it out here."
An officer strode up to Daunuav and handed him a flimsisheet readout on the freighter.
"Just an ordinary cargo freighter," Daunuav said, looking over the readout. "Bares Guu'tnvakk's seal on the underside and by the starboard engine. As to the ship's registered owner and name . . ." Daunuav read on. "It's registered as belonging to The Guu'tnvakk Supply Shipping Company and is named . . . GSSCF-32034 or nicknamed Guu'tnvakk's Bullet. Nothing really suspicious about the ship."
"Nothing suspicious about the ship but, her story sure makes up for that." Ma'chek rubbed his chin again. "We'll do a background check on Zqubok. Keep a watch on her." He nodded toward Daunuav. "Ma'chek out."
Nnohe took a deep breath. What she was about to attempt would be in no way easy. But then easy was not the way you lived in her line of work. She took another deep breath and let it out slowly.
She picked up a small, silver cylinder of durasteel from a table and tucked it into her coveralls. She ran a hand over the outside of her coveralls and made an adjustment. Her weapon must not be detectable. Nnohe would need every advantage and one of the largest advantages would be sliding in without her lightsaber being detectable. A normal cargo pilot wouldn't carry a lightsaber and if it was detected, it would raise unneeded questions.
Again Nnohe breathed in deeply. She looked quickly into a mirror. The temporarily gray eyes looked very troubled, stressed and anxious.
Do not worry, she told herself silently. She turned away from the mirror and closed her eyes. She took a very deep breath. Everything will run smoothly.
She used a calming technique she'd learned at the Jedi Temple years ago and that she'd perfected over the years. She opened her eyes and set back to work.
"Sir, we have the results on Zqubok."
Ma'chek turned to the officer who had spoken. "Get me a flimsisheet readout."
The officer nodded. "Yes, sir."
Within moments, Ma'chek had his flimsisheet. He looked over it carefully.
"Born in the nine-hundred, eighty-fifth year of the Republic," he read aloud. "Believable. From Coruscant. Easy to believe. No criminal history. Only identifying mark is a stretch scar on her left heel."
We'll just have to see about that, he thought to himself. Out loud, he said, "So she should be checked for the identifying mark when she arrives."
A nearby officer nodded. "Yes, sir. I will relay that message to the docking bay."
Nnohe pulled the freighter into the pirate's base's cargo docking bay, turned from ordinary engines to the repulsorlifts and eased them back until the landing struts rested on the docking bay's floor.
"Alright, Zqubok, you can shut down your freighter and open the cargo bay's hatch," a voice crackled over the comm. "We'll unload. You can go to the base's pilot's café."
"Mm, sounds good to me," Nnohe replied, already starting the shut down prodecures. "The food they keep in the servos on these freighters is disgusting. When you're unloading, leave that one package that's marked 'Sullustan Cargo' alone. I've got to have that one on Sullust tomorrow."
"Fine," the voice replied. "Mind telling me what it is?"
Nnohe rolled her eyes even thought the Riscan couldn't see it. "As a matter of fact, I do. That is confidential to be spoken of only by the receiver and myself."
"Mm-hmm. Alright, I guess you'll want to get to that café."
"Alright, Zqubok out."
Nnohe finished the shut down procedure. She activated the landing ramp and set it to close and lock as soon as she was off of it. When she made it to the bottom, several pirates were waiting with blasters aimed at her.
"Hold it," one of them said. "We have orders to search you for weapons."
Nnohe rolled her eyes. She had been expecting this but she knew that if she was really the cargo-pilot she was pretending to be, she would be surprised that they were searching her. She knew they weren't really searching her for weapons, they wouldn't do that to an ordinary cargo pilot, they knew that a pilot would almost certainly carry a blaster of some sort. They were searching her for the mark that identified her as Zqubok the cargo pilot. Luckily, she'd prepared for this.
She groaned. "OK," she turned to the freighter's hull with her hands in the air, "search me."
One of the pirates holstered his blaster and stepped forward. Nnohe felt hands remove the blaster that she had openly put on her belt just so that no one would be suspicious. Then the hands moved down her arms, sides and legs. She was glad that she had hidden her lightsaber near to her stomach so that in the search, it was invisible. Of course, if the searcher decided to take the search beyond the normal frisk, she could always use the Force to re-direct him.
Her searcher bent down and pulled up the coveralls' left pant's leg and unzipped her boot. He ran a hand around her ankle and heel, seemingly looking for any weapons that may be hidden and disguised there but Nnohe knew he was looking for Zqubok's tell-tale stretch scar.
He found it.
He stepped back. "Turn around." She did. He tossed the blaster in her direction. "You're free to go."
Nnohe rubbed her ankle where she had had the fake scar placed. She holstered the blaster and nodded. "All right."
She turned and walked to the cargo bay's door that lead onto the rest of the base, quietly muttering to herself, but just loud enough for the pirates to hear, about how much she hated to be searched.
She knew that the pirates behind her were smiling, she could feel it. That was exactly the reaction that she had wanted to provoke.
Now all suspicion that they might have had was evaporated.
Nnohe kept walking, and as the door that led out of the cargo bay slid open, she couldn't help but smile. This was becoming easier and easier.
Beyond the cargo bay's door was the center of the pirates' "base" and the place where they relaxed and enjoyed their wealth. There were several restaurants and cafés where the pirates and pilots that flew in looking for employment ate and conversed. Nnohe looked around for a good, populated restaurant where she could get lost in the crowd. She knew that she would probably be followed by one of the pirates.
Even though they probably had no suspicion, one of them would be ordered to follow her.
Nnohe extended her senses to find her stalker. She located him quickly with his intent on keeping her in his sights sticking out easily from the laid-back attitudes of the others around him. He was about ten and a half meters away, at another restaurant, ordering food and sitting at a table where he had a good view of everything in the plaza, including Nnohe.
She looked for the most populated restaurant, waited until the pirate momentarily looked away, and made a quick dash through the crowd to the back of the restaurants. She ducked into the narrow alley between "Cocky's Corellian" and "Galactic Favorites" and ran as quickly as she could to the end of the alley where it opened to an area behind all of the shops and restaurants. It was dark and smelled like it had been the residents' garbage dump for quite a while.
Using the Force, Nnohe cut off her sense of smell as she ducked behind a large dumpster. She pulled the brown wig from her head and let her shoulder-length blond hair fall free. She took out her gray contacts and unlatched her coveralls. She wore a typical gray flight-suit under the coveralls and she looked several times different from when she had stepped off of the freighter's landing ramp, dressed as a cargo pilot named Zqubok. Now she would go back out into the crowd as a regular pirate. When she returned to the busy plaza, she knew that the pirate that had been following her would be suspicious and he would be wandering around, looking for Zqubok. But he would search the plaza for her before he notified anyone that he had lost her.
That should buy her the few moments she needed to slide into the private area of the base, undetected and unsearched.
Nnohe strode quickly to the end of the plaza where the pirates were entering. She could see that there were palm-locks that no one could pass without having one of the accurate palm prints that the lock recognized.
Nnohe did not have one of those palm-prints.
But she did have the Force.
As she reached the door and the lock, Nnohe swept her hand down as if she was going to put it to the lock but she stopped about seven centimeters short and used the Force to make the lock open the door without an accurate palm-print. She made sure that it didn't set off an alarm by using the Force as well.
The door swished open and she walked in.
The area immediately beyond the locked doors was average, and commonplace. Nothing about it was worth noting, save for the twenty or so turbo-lifts that exited on this floor. Nnohe wasn't really sure which turbo-lift could take her where she wanted to go but she was sure that with a little emotion sensing and mind influencing, she could figure it out.
She reached out with the Force and expanded her awareness over the nearly one-hundred square meter area, feeling for the sense of alertness and secrecy that would give her the direction she needed.
She felt several people to her right, exiting a turbo-lift that were feeling alert and secretive but also people in front and slightly to the left of her as well. So which turbo-lift would take her where she needed to go?
There was only one definite way to find out.
She strode towards the turbo-lift on her right and narrowed down her Force awareness to the ten square meter area closest to the turbo-lift and searched for the pirate with the largest sense of secrecy.
She located her easily.
One pirate about three and a half meters away stood about a meter and a half from the turbo-lift's entrance, speaking with another pirate. She was giving off such feelings of secrecy and alertness that Nnohe knew she was highly placed.
Nnohe again narrowed down her sense of awareness, this time from the ten square meters closest to the turbo-lift to the spot of emotions that was the pirate. She then tuned her hearing closely to that woman and the other pirate she was speaking with.
"We must be careful, Je'suu," the one with the deep feelings of secrecy said. "No one outside of the inner circle must know of this."
"I agree, Yeosyn," the other said. "No one can know."
Nnohe sensed before the move was made that Je'suu, the one who had first spoken, would turn and scan for people watching and listening. She turned quickly, took a datapad from her belt and began examining it discreetly. She felt the pirate's eyes scan her area.
"Hmm," Je'suu said. "That woman over there in the gray flightsuit looks suspicious."
Nnohe felt another set of eyes focus on her. "The one with blond hair?" Yeosyn, the one that Nnhoe had located by her emotions said. "She does."
Nnohe muttered a quick, "Oh, please, no," under her breath and tightened her grip on the datapad.
"Hello," one of them called out. "You there, in the gray flightsuit."
Nnohe turned around. She put a finger to her chest. "Me?" she asked the pirate.
"Yeah, you," the other one replied. "Come here."
Nnohe frowned and strode their way. She paused and clipped the datapad back to her belt. "Yes? Why do you want me? Who are you?"
Yeosyn cocked her eyebrows. "Hold off on the questions for a moment. Who are you?"
Nnohe's mind worked quickly to come up with a false name to give the pirate but she didn't allow her face to show any emotion. She remembered one of her Jedi instructors from her student years and turned her name around backwards. "Ida. Ida Aillag."
"Well, Ida, where are you headed?" Je'suu asked, taking a very casual stance.
"I'm not quite sure," Nnohe replied. "I was just checking my datapad for my instructions."
Yeosyn cocked her eyebrows again. "Ok, then. Are you going to be on your way?"
Nnohe cocked her head to the side. "I will. Good day."
Both pirates smirked. "Good day," they both said.
As she turned to leave, Nnohe tried something she knew would be very difficult to do without looking suspicious. She first read the pirates' emotions, then plunged deeper and read their thoughts.
That one needs to be watched, Je'suu thought. She is too strange not to be up to something.
Nnohe touched her thoughts and discreetly changed them a bit. Now Je'suu was thinking, She doesn't need to be watched. She wasn't that strange.
The other pirate was more difficult to read. Nnohe had to really put an effort into reading that one's thoughts.
She may be attempting a rescue at our prisoner, Yeosyn thought. She must not go through that turbo-lift. If she does, we will know what she is after.
Nnohe tampered with her thoughts too. She also removed her suspicion and placed a sense of obligation in its place. Now Yeosyn had no major thoughts toward Nnohe at all.
Now Nnohe had the answer to her question. She went to the turbo-lift that Yeosyn had been thinking of, and hit the button for the top floor.
Moments later, after the turbo-lift had reached its destination and after Nnohe had passed through many more palm-lock guarded doors, she paused and extended her senses with the Force, feeling the corridors around her for the sense of other people. She felt no one.
The corridor she was in was quiet and dark. She knew she was getting close to her destination because this area was next to deserted.
Nnohe continued on down the corridor with all of her senses on alert for detection devices and other people.
Then several presences appeared in her bubble of awareness, far behind her in the corridor.
And they were searching for something.
Nnohe quickly flattened herself against a heavily shadowed wall and crouched down. She activated the chameleon controls on her flightsuit, which she had left gray until now. The flightsuit changed black to blend in with the shadows and Nnohe pulled a hood over her head to hide her obvious golden hair. The hood turned black as well.
She could now hear footsteps and voices down the corridor, rapidly coming her way. Nnohe estimated that there were around five of them, running.
The pirates came into view as they rounded a bend in the corridor. Nnohe had a clear view of all six of them, with blasters drawn and eyes searching. They halted right in front of Nnohe.
"She couldn't have gotten far," a voice that Nnohe recognized said. It was Yeosyn, the pirate that she had tricked into letting her past moments before.
I guess she had deeper suspicions than those I took away, Nnohe thought crouching slowly lower. She is smarter than I thought. This may complicate things a bit.
"Yes, she didn't seem to be in a hurry after she left us," another voice that Nnohe recognized said. It was Je'suu, the other pirate that she had tricked. "I can't believe she wouldn't guess that we knew she was lying."
Nnohe smiled to herself in the shadows. She really had to work on her hasty lying. It might have saved her this trouble.
"Hold your tongue, Je'suu," Yeosyn whispered. "Just because it was easy for us to know that she turned Jedi Master Adi Gallia's name around backwards doesn't mean we need to flaunt that."
"I really need to work on that," Nnohe muttered quietly under her breath.
"Alright," Yeosyn said to the others. "She hasn't gotten far so when we get to the junction ahead, you two," she gestured to two pirates, "will take the leftmost corridor and search for her. You two," she gestured to two others, "will take the rightmost corridor and Je'suu and I will take the middle one to double the guard on our prisoner."
Nnohe grinned widely in the darkness. Yeosyn didn't know it, but she had just given Nnohe the information she needed most.
Unexpectedly, before the pirates continued down the corridor to the junction, one of them turned and fired a blaster straight at Nnohe.
However, the Force warned her and she had her lightsaber out and ignited before the blaster bolt struck Nnohe. The red bolt bounced off of Nnohe's green blade and went back at the pirate who had fired, killing him.
Nnohe quickly rose from the shadows as the other five pirates began firing at her. She threw back her hood and swept her lightsaber down to bat away several more bolts.
She swept her lightsaber quickly up, catching and redirecting another red bolt to kill the one who had fired it.
Before she knew it, there were five bodies on the floor, all dead. Only one pirate was still alive.
Yeosyn was crouched behind another pirate's body, popping up only to fire at Nnohe.
As the shots came and were blocked, Nnohe began to move steadily forward. Yeosyn began to back up just as steadily, continuing firing.
Nnohe reached out with the Force, got a good telekinetic grip on the blaster in the Riscan Raider's hand and yanked with the Force. It flew from Yeosyn's grip and into Nnohe's. She turned the blaster at Yeosyn and rested her finger on the trigger.
Yeosyn steadily stood with her hands held high. "A Jedi? That explains the quick removal of my surface suspicions. But just so you know, that made me even more suspicious."
Nnohe shrugged. "Yeah, I really have to work on being more subtle in those things."
"Yeah, you also need to work on better impulsive lying. It was easy for me to see that you were lying when you said your name was Ida Aillag. So I just turned the name around backward. Gallia, Adi."
"My thoughts exactly," Nnohe replied with no real emotions. "Too bad that I'll have to kill you. You were very quick to figure all of that out."
The pirates hands had slowly sunk down. "You don't have to kill me."
Nnohe rolled her eyes. "Oh, I could just tie you up and take away your weapons?" She coated her voice with sarcasm. "Yeah, but then you just might be able to get untied and endanger my mission."
"I thought that Jedi didn't do these things. They didn't kill unless forced to."
Nnohe knew that she had just drawn a sleeve blaster and held it in her palm. "Yes, but you just forced me to."
Before the pirate had even fully drawn the blaster from behind her back, Nnohe had pulled the trigger and the bolt had burned its way through the pirate. She collapsed on the floor with the rest of her band.
Nnohe tossed the blaster down, powered down and hung her lightsaber at her hip and sprinted down the corridor, opposite from the way that Yeosyn's group had entered.
Now that someone had figured her out, she had to be very quick.
When she came to the junction that had been mentioned, she took the center of the three corridors.
While still running, she extended her senses down the corridor. She stopped almost immediately.
Nnohe sensed a hidden camera around the next bend in the corridor. She slowly peered around the corner, sharpening her vision with the Force so that she could see even in the shadows.
"There," she muttered as she spotted it. She slowly eased back from the corner and squatted down. She took a small electric dart from her belt and removed the protective cover over the sharp end. She peered around the corner again, waiting until the exact moment when the camera would turn the other way . . .
The instant came and she threw the dart. It struck the camera and blue lightening engulfed the device for a moment. Nnohe dashed around the corner and past the camera's range quickly. The dart's effects would only last for a moment.
She made it out of range seconds before the camera came back on.
Nnohe slowed down but kept moving quickly. There wouldn't be many more security devices until she got right where she wanted to be, and that would definitely make up for the lack of defense otherwise.
Nnohe kept her quick pace until she got to the corridor's end, a ten-square meter area with only one door which was on the opposite wall from where the corridor opened into the room. Nnohe counted ten pirates, eight sitting around two squat tables gambling and two watching the corridor entrance. She kept back in the deepest shadows, careful not to alert the pirates to her presence. She slowly drew three small palm-sized round objects from her resourceful belt, putting two in her right hand and the other in her left hand. She pulled the tabs from the objects' tops and threw them one at a time.
She threw the first one at the two pirates guarding the corridor. It disappeared in a large puff of smoke and the puff grew till it encircled the two surprised pirates. She tossed the second one onto one of the gambling tables, filling the second third of the room with the smoke. The third landed on the other gambling table and the rest of the room was covered in smoke. There was a lapse of a tenth-second between each of the throws, which took all of the pirates by surprise.
The room stayed smoky for a moment, and then the smoke cleared, showing all ten pirates slumped and unconscious. Nnohe darted into the room.
Nnohe hurried to the door at the end of the room, reaching out her palm to undo the lock that kept her from the prisoner she was here to rescue. She tried the same trick that she had preformed on the lock on the door that lead into the secret area of the base, sweeping her hand down toward the palm-pad. She stopped seven centimeters short and used the Force on the lock. The door did not open.
Frowning, Nnohe bent over to examine the lock closer.
After a few seconds of examining, Nnohe realized that after the palm-print test, the lock was set to do a retina scan of the eyes. She didn't have a retina that would pass the lock.
Her brow wrinkled in thought. Wait a moment, she thought. If I don't have a passing DNA and retina and it scans me . . .
Nnohe gasped and made an effort to jump back quickly but she was too late. While she had been examining the lock the lock had been preparing its scan. Then just as she had realized that it was going to, it scanned her retinas.
A red light began to blink on the lock, showing that an alarm had been activated.
Groaning, Nnohe unsheathed her lightsaber and plunged the green blade through the door that the lock had been guarding. The durasteel peeled back under the heat like a flimsisheet over a candle, opening a hole large enough for Nnohe to step through and setting off more alarms.
She ignored them and stepped through the gap with her lightsaber in her right hand. Beyond the door was a large room, three-quarters of which was behind a barred dividing wall.
The room had but one occupant other than Nnohe, an alien man sitting in a corner behind the barred wall, staring at the floor. He was a tall Wanglin alien, with the smooth blue-green skin and hairless head that marked him as a occupant of the Lingouwa system. His clothes were tattered and torn as he had been treated roughly during his stay with the Riscan Raiders but they had once been expensive robes of shimmersilk. When he heard Nnohe enter, he jumped up from the floor and rushed over to the bars. He was almost two meters taller than Nnohe, towering over her like a tree.
"Please," he purred in his Wanglin accented voice. "Help me!"
Nnohe gestured with her left hand for him to be calm. "I will. You need not fear about that. I am Nnohe Henip, Jedi Knight. The senate and Lingouwa's people sent me. Stand back."
Senator Gwallk of Lingouwa obeyed and stepped back from the bars.
The Jedi swept out her lightsaber and cut a large hole in the bars, large enough for the three and a half meter alien to step through. She powered down her lightsaber.
The senator wasted no time. He bent over and stepped out of the barred side of the room, obviously glad to be free. "Thank you very much, Jedi Henip," he bubbled.
"It is my job, Senator Gwallk," she answered with a bow. "And please, call me Master Henip."
He returned the bow. "I appreciate it none the less, Master Henip."
"Enough formalities, let's get out of here." She gestured to the hole by which she had entered the Senator's cell-room.
The tall Wanglin ducked through the small hole quicker than was expected of a creature his size. Nnohe quickly followed.
Beyond the door, she quickly scooped up two blasters from the still unconscious pirates and handed them to the Senator. He took one in each hand.
Nnohe sprinted down the corridor and Senator Gwallk followed easily. The kept running until they came to the place where the corridor and two others joined and Nnohe skidded to a stop so quickly that the Wanglin crashed into her back.
She drew her lightsaber with her left hand. "Ambushers. Around the corner," she whispered.
The Senator nodded.
Nnohe snuck around the corner, hoping to get a glimpse of her ambushers before she ambushed them. She counted five, all squished against the walls in the shadows. Nnohe took a deep breath and sprinted around the corner.
After only a few steps, the pirates opened fire on her. She whirled her lightsaber around and caught the bolts before they hit her, bouncing them back at the pirates and making short work of her ambushers.
She motioned Senator Gwallk to continue on behind her and they returned to their quick pace. Soon they reached the turbo-lift that had brought Nnohe to the corridor and that would take them back to the main area of the base.
Before they entered the turbo-lift, Nnohe stopped and made the Senator do so as well.
"Why are we stopping?" the Wanglin purred. "You must know the way out. We can go the way you entered? Why don't we just continue?"
"We are stopping because I do know the way I came in," Nnohe answered. "However, we cannot exit that way."
"Why?"
"The pirates are by now suspicious and they know that I was not here for the reasons I gave them. So they will have inspected, guarded and placed a tracker on the freighter that I entered on. We will not be able to exit that way. So I think we should take a route that will take us to the docking bay used by the Raiders themselves. We will be able to take one of their ships easily."
"I see," he purred. "Let us continue."
And they did. For almost five standard minutes they wound their way through the corridors on their way to the Riscan bay to make their escape. They encountered almost no one and those who they did encounter were either killed when their blaster bolts burned back through them or stunned by one of the bombs that Nnohe carried on her belt. She knew the way because of a datapad map chip that she had taken from one of the pirates.
She took another look at the datapad file, removed the map file and dropped it to the ground. She placed her boot heel over it and bore down. It cracked into several pieces.
Nnohe's alien escort frowned. "Why did you do that?" he asked.
"Because, after we leave and they search this place for clues of who I am, they will find this chip. If I had left it intact, they would have been able to get an accurate fingerprint mark quickly. I want them left guessing."
"But they can reconstruct it and still get an accurate fingerprint," the Senator pointed out. "They will not be left guessing."
"I know, but they will be left guessing until we are back on Coruscant."
The Senator nodded and they continued on their way.
At the end of the corridor was a turbo-lift and emergency stairs. They took the stairs.
About halfway down, Nnohe stopped and made the Senator stop as well. "At the bottom there will be many Riscans trying to stop us. You'll have to put those blasters to good use." Gwallk drew the blasters and held them at ready. "We will head for an average-sized, two-man fighter and I'll point out the exact one to you when we get there."
So they continued down the stairs, on their way to escaping the Riscan base.
At the bottom of the stairs was a guard and a door that only he could open. Beyond the door was the bay and Nnohe and Gwallk's only means of escape.
When they approached him, he held up a hand. "Stop."
They did.
"I need your name and IDs," he said. "The bay is on lockdown." He looked up at the tall Wanglin and his eyes narrowed. "Might you be Senator Gwallk? The one we're searching for?" His blaster was in his hand in a heartbeat.
Nnohe waved her hand in front of his face, using the Force to alter his weak mind. "No, he is not the one you're looking for. He is not Gwallk, he is Kaanz."
The suspicious look disappeared from his face. "Alright pass on through."
They did and once out of earshot, Senator Gwallk bent over and whispered in Nnohe's ear. "Useful trick," he said.
Nnohe only nodded.
In a few moments, they reached one of the many doors that led into the Riscan hangar.
She drew her lightsaber and activated the door.
From the moment she stepped through the door, she was covered by heavy blaster fire. Her lightsaber moved rapidly, keeping the blaster bolts away and Nnohe unharmed.
Senator Gwallk popped in and out of the door, firing at the Riscans with both blasters.
As Nnohe kept her lightsaber moving, she looked around for the right kind of starfighter. She spotted one not too far away.
She reached out with the Force and touched Senator Gwallk's mind. That starfighter, she mentally directed him.
He looked at it and nodded.
Run, I'll cover you, she thought at him. GO!
He did. The Senator ran, quickly to the starfighter that Nnohe had indicated, firing with both blasters at those who tried to get in his way. He made it to the starfighter and ducked down.
Nnohe continued to deflect blaster bolts for a moment then joined the Senator. She paused from deflecting blaster bolts and used the Force to open the landing ramp.
It opened and still dodging blaster fire, the Senator and the Jedi boarded the pirate starfighter.
In moments, Nnohe had started the engines, lifted off and sped out of the hangar. Once clear of the Riscan base and planet, the starship made a jump into hyperspace.
But before it did, Nnohe took out her datapad and pressed a button. Only she knew what it was for.
Back at the Riscan base, a team searched the ship that had carried the infiltrator into the base. Every inch of the freighter was searched and no clues were found.
Then one pirate opened the only bit of cargo in the hold that hadn't been taken out. The box marked "Sullustan Cargo."
And he found the only clue that had been left in the freighter.
It was a holo projector and as soon as the crate was opened, it played its recording.
The image of the Jedi infiltrator appeared. "Hello, Riscan Raider. I am Jedi Knight Nnohe Henip and if you are viewing this, I've infiltrated your base and successfully escaped with Senator Jyboran Gwallk. That was my mission that was given by the Galactic Senate and the Jedi Council.
"You are no doubt searching for clues now as to how I infiltrated your base so cleanly and got out so easily. You will find few clues. Because you see, we Jedi are thorough and precise. I purposely left you clues still. Let this be your warning: defying the Senate and Jedi will bring trouble and you cannot do so without heaping upon yourselves trouble.
"Your warning has been issued. Do not make me prove myself."
THE END