Star Wars: The Unlikely Hero
--sparkvallen

Disclaimer: Star Wars is copyrighted by Lucasfilm and associated companies. I do not own any of the Star Wars characters, settings, etc.

Chapter Eleven

Falco and Kire stared at the younger man's datapad, trying to make sense of the information it had collected from the droid. The Padawan sighed at the level of encryption they faced; there was more to this than they had the resources for being out in the swamp. He had hoped that by harvesting the data, they would have the secret to the mysterious flooding. However, there was no way to learn what information the droid was working with.

"Perhaps we could trace the information back to its root?" Kire suggested.

"That… might work. Let me see what I can do."

Falco turned back to the droid and plugged his datapad back in. They waited again as he gathered information then withdrew the device from the droid. Falco held the display up for his Master, a question in his eyes. Kire scanned the dataflow and raised a dark brown eyebrow.

"Southern continent."

"Didn't we read that there's very little down there?"

"We did," Kire replied. "So it makes me wonder what this little droid is really receiving and processing…"

Both Jedi gazed down at the box-shaped droid thoughtfully.

"Think it relates to the flooding?" Falco asked.

Kire nodded, his gaze remaining on the droid. "What does the Force tell you?"

"That we're taking a little trip…"

They slogged their way back to the landspeeder, Kire taking the controls this time. Falco sat down beside him, leaning his head back against the headrest and closing his eyes. Kire saw his Padawan's exhaustion clearly; he knew that if the path led them to the Separatists or some other considerable foe, they were going to need all their energy.

"Rest."

"But Master Kire--"

"No. Rest, Falco. I'll wake you if I need you, but I'm going to need you at your best when we reach the source of this transmission," he insisted.

Falco nodded wearily, closing his eyes again. He quickly fell into a deep sleep, using resting meditations that he'd learned at the Temple. Kire proceeded on, his eyes on the watery roadways, his senses tuned into the Force for guidance. Chad seemed well and truly abandoned now, the Chadra-Fans evacuated to their moon while the Jedi remained behind, trying to learn why the floods had taken such a violent turn this season.

It was a several day journey, having to navigate slowly through some regions as Kire took them toward Chad's southern continent. Falco and Kire took turns driving so they could each regain their strength and alertness, sharing the rations they'd packed in their mission packs. Master and Padawan spoke of the mission, their lives and continued to grow as friends in the "downtime." The beacon that was set in Falco's datapad showed them their course and how far they were from this mysterious source.

Kire halted the speeder several kilometers from the site, not wanting to catch any possible patrols. Stashing the vehicle into a mostly-ruined structure, damaged from the floodwaters, they trudged their way over the wet surface toward what was clearly a base of operations of some sort. They could feel more life forms here than there was supposed to be in this region; Kire picked up a sense of purpose, deadly purpose in fact. Glancing at Falco, he could see his Padawan wasn't attuned to the Force this deeply.

"Be mindful, Padawan. We are going to learn exactly what is going on here then report back to the Council."

"Master?" Falco asked.

"Yes, Falco?"

"Is it that bad?"

Kire nodded. "I think so, Padawan. I think so. There are forces at work here, so we must be cautious."

Falco set his face to a look of grim determination. They made their way closer to the facility, watching foot patrols and taking care to dodge them.

"Neimoidians," Kire whispered.

Falco nodded at the sight of the leathery-faced aliens. They didn't need to communicate how serious this was to find the submissive but subversive aliens on Chad; the Neimoidians had been instrumental in the blockade of Naboo; that had brought Anakin Skywalker to the Jedi, but cost them Qui-Gon Jinn. It had also brought about further galactic troubles and they were realizing that Chad's flooding was likely a part of that as well.

"Do we infiltrate, Master Kire?"

Kire paused, studying the patrols and considering the question. "We could return now and simply report this. It would be enough for the Council to go to Chancellor Palpatine. But the Neimoidians would cause troubles in the Senate and slow any action that the Republic could take against… this," he said with a frown. "If we could work our way in and find something that proves they're involved in the flooding problem that would help immeasurably."

"Then let's… let's do it!"

"Falco…"

The Padawan thought of every household they couldn't convince to evacuate. What would be their fate if the Senate was bogged down in rhetoric and procedure? These were people who could be Siri's relatives and it didn't matter if she had never known them; they were people who needed safety.

"We have to, Master. There are too many here who will suffer if we let the Senate discuss this… like… forever!" Falco said, explaining what he was thinking.

"You have a good heart, Padawan."

In hushed tones, they worked out a plan that would get them into the facility. Waiting for the next patrol to pass, the two Jedi moved as the troops passed them by, charging for the base, sticking to the trees for cover. Kire used the Force to quickly disable the door's lock, drawing on his technical skill. It worked immediately and the two were on the inside. With it being Falco's first mission, Kire wasn't keen on the idea of them separating; he trusted his apprentice but thought it best they stay together. He kept his hand near his lightsaber, ready to draw it if needed. They both hoped though that they could slip in and out unnoticed.

"We need a terminal. Hopefully someone's with rank so we'll have the clearance we need," Kire whispered.

Falco nodded but didn't respond, letting his instincts guide him through the base. They were fortunate in dodging Battle Droids that patrolled inside the building as well as the occasional Neimoidians. He simply trusted that Kire was behind him as he sought out the workspace they needed to complete their mission. Falco heard a muffled sound behind him but thought that his Master had simply coughed.

"Here we are… I think this will work fine," the Padawan said, gesturing to the chair so that Kire could sit. He turned around and gasped.

"So sorry, Falco!"

"Forty! What in space are you doing in here and where's Master Kire!" he all but shouted.

The little Ambassador's ears twitched and he signaled the Battle Droids that had previously taken Kire Finelli captive. They circled Falco and the boy's eyes widened as he realized that they'd been betrayed and tricked.

"What have you done with my Master!"

"He is well and you will be too as long as you don't resist," Forty said with no sense of sorry in his voice at all.

"So you're involved in this!"

It wasn't a question and the Chadra-Fan nodded. The guards tightened their perimeter.

"Please hand over your lightsaber, Jedi Volt," Forty said.

Falco thought of his Master locked away somewhere and tried to quickly decide what was best. Be captured as well and then work together for their escape or make a stand and rescue Kire?

"I don't think so." Falco took a deep breath and drew on the Force, trying to use his skills in the ways that Kire had shown. "You will call off these troops and lead me to Jedi Finelli."

"I will… hey! No cheating tricks like that!" Forty cried out, genuinely shocked and seemingly hurt by the attempt.

Drat, the Padawan thought. He drew his lightsaber instead, the blue blade snapping to life and startling Forty out of his path. The droids were programmed to know the lightsaber as an offensive symbol and opened fire. Falco was a second faster, dropping to the floor and throwing his dueling arm out wide, slicing several of the droids' legs out from under them. Those he couldn't reach, he simply backed into, throwing them off-balance. Falco snarled, determined to survive this, twisting around to lie on his back and slice at the blasters rifles, disabling them.

He hurried to stand, and the droid parts scattered around his feet. Forty had run off in fright which was both a good thing and a bad thing as far as Falco was concerned. He didn't want to have to face the traitorous Chadra-Fan but he knew that the Ambassador could also bring the rest of the base down on him.

"Hurry, man, hurry."

Falco threw himself at the workstation he'd found, rapidly downloading everything he could to his datapad. Klaxons sounded and he knew he was out of time. Falco ran down an unfamiliar corridor, trying to quell his panic in order to touch the Force and find Kire. As he tried to breathe and find his focus, he immediately sensed his Master's presence.

/Falco/

He gasped as he ran, ducking down another corridor in order to try and throw the skinny Battle Droids that were coming after him. Falco felt his Master in his mind and honed in on that sensation as he moved down one hall after another; he let the Force and Kire's presence guide him to the office that had been improvised into his prison cell. Battle Droids guarded the office door and Falco considered how to best manage this. He had been lucky by surprising their programming before; with these, it would be a head-on attack, stepping right into their line of fire and he wasn't sure he could pull that off.

He felt Kire's awareness that he'd arrived. Their minds' linked; they drew on their technological strength, pulling apart the droids with their connection to the Force. They exploded in a shower of shrapnel and light and Kire opened the door with similar ability.

"Thanks, Falco…"

"Anytime, Master. I've… well, I got what we needed. I think." He paused, realizing he didn't quite know that - he'd had time to download, not monitor what he was getting. "I hope."

"Good. Let's go."

Intuitively, Kire led them through sub-hallways for service work. He was headed toward the base's hangar, figuring that their speeder would be too hard to reach, especially as he learned from Falco that at least Ambassador Forty was involved in this. Kire had to thank the Force that the landspeeder hadn't been sabotaged - why had Forty allowed them to search for the source of the flooding based on the rumors anyway? Was he trying to tip off the Jedi to the actual problem? Or trying to eliminate them?

"This way…"

Falco followed on his Master's heels. They reached the hangar and ran into a patrol that expected them, now that the base was on alert. Twin lightsaber blades came to life again and they charged the nearest shuttle. Kire worked to help cover Falco who was good but still less experienced in actual combat. Falco sprinted up the ramp and made for the cockpit, slapping down on the power controls to bring up the weapon's system while the ship itself warmed up. Kire raised the ramp and rushed to the cockpit beside his apprentice, pleased at Falco's attention to detail, giving them defenses.

"What about our ship?"

"The Council can send a recon team if this base doesn't blow it out of space," Kire said.

"Oh."

"Luckily we picked a shuttle that'll go green quickly… and there it is. Strap in, Falco. We're headed back to Coruscant now."

At that, Kire rocketed the shuttle out of the hangar and made for space over Chad. He could hardly believe what had happened; the Jedi Knight still couldn't make sense of the betrayal and Falco was similarly mystified. Their escape was quick enough that the Neimoidians hadn't had time or the ability to scramble fighters to stop them. The shuttle calculated its jump and rocketed into lightspeed.