Chapter 10

The Badlands

They had stopped off at the Open Market, a station close to the Badlands that trades with just about anyone, Empire, Republic, Bandits, Outlaws, Smugglers, and so on. The Open Market holds no bias nor grudge between any of the factions, and it has only one rule, leave the weapons and the muscle on the ship.

The station offered the one thing Garfield needed to barter with Helga, power core. The Akk dog would have given him a lifetime pass to her territory, though with it being an impossibility, Garfield had to go for the next best option.

After loading the power cores into the cargo bay, Garfield had to literally fend off Victor from tinkering with them as his latest attempt to get the fighter functionally failed. Eventually when Garfield had to be called away to take his shift at the helm did Victor get his hands on one of the power cores, he completely tore it apart and rebuilt it from the ground up.

Garfield freaked out and nearly mauled Victor if Richard and Kori weren't there to hold him back, Helga wasn't someone to mess around with and he needed all ten of the power cores to barter with her. It wasn't until Victor explained he had amplified the power cores energy capacity that Garfield relented, these improved power cores might allow them to cut the travel time down by at least four or five days.

Victor got to work upgrading all of the power cores, he even added in storm protection after Garfield explained where they were meeting Helga. During their trip to Helga's station Kori and Rachel had a few practice bouts with their lightsabers, though they had to have supervision by either Richard or Garfield encase either of them escalated the training bout into a full-on brawl, their previous occupations influencing their bias.

They all currently sat in the Rec room enjoying breakfast, chatting amongst themselves when a blaringly loud siren jarred them. Garfield bolted from his seat on the couch, tossing aside his bowl of fruit onto the floor without care. The others followed suit as they quickly realised that Garfield was heading directly to the bridge, dropping whatever they had in their hands.

Leaping into his chair, Garfield swiftly called up the external sensors, finding three ships closing in on an intercept course. Redirecting the Titan towards a large asteroid field, he was halfway through powering up the weapons when the ships sent a signal directly to his.

"Who are they?" Richard asked the moment he got to the bridge, he leapt into the captain's chair and pulled up the display screen attached to the seat, scanning the external sensors. The others quickly got into their seats and strapped themselves in, they were expecting a ship-to-ship fight when Garfield suddenly pulled the ship out of hyperspace. "Garfield?"

"Hold on." Garfield grumbled as he turned the ship around, waiting patiently for the three ships to arrive. Three sleek black and yellow starships exited hyperspace in front of the Titan, drawing to a safe distance outside of the Titan's weapon range. Calling the lead ship, Garfield watched as the screen suddenly showed an elderly woman with short white hair and bright blue eyes, she sat upon a large throne made of scrap and pieces of ships hull. "Helga! To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"

"Little Gar, I heard from one of our scouting parties that they saw you dock with the Open Market, you only trade at this station when you are coming to see me." Helga's smooth sweet voice and warm smile completely disarmed all but Garfield, they openly stared at the old woman ins shock that this was one of the greatest pirate captains around. "I thought I would give you a warm welcome."

"Helga, the answer is still no, and no amount of sweet talking will change my mind." Garfield cautiously stated, he didn't want to offend her in any way, but this sweet side she was showing was only an act. In an instant, Helga's sweet smile instantly turned to a glower, and she leaned back in her throne.

"Well then, if that is your answer, then maybe we shouldn't meet." Helga growled, Titan's sensors immediately picked up the three ships in front of them charging their weapons, moving slowly into attack formation. However, Garfield merely sat there with a disarming smile on his face, confusing both his passengers and Helga. "What's so amusing to you?"

"I know you aren't senile, Helga." Garfield jokingly smirked, his passengers flinched harshly when Helga death piercing glaze intensified before she sighed, waving a hand to someone off screen. The three ships quickly disengaged their weapons, turning around and regaining their distanced position. "Now, I have several crates of ores that I would have to sell, but if you are interested, then I would love a sit down to discuss a trade?"

Helga glared at Garfield for a few more seconds before nodding and ending the call, the three ships turned and headed towards the Badlands, leading the way to Helga's station. Garfield pushed the Titan to follow, keeping a safe distance from them encase Helga had any ulterior motives.

"Mind cluing us in to what that was?" Rachel asked after a second, from what Victor had told them, Helga wasn't someone to insult or even taunt. The interaction between Garfield and Helga had them all on edge, especially Victor who had flipped over his chair and hid behind in in some vague attempt to disappear from both the camera and the ship.

"First time we met, I took out three of those ships as I ran through her territory. She knows Titan is a brute and can't afford to risk her ships on taking her down." Garfield grunted, he focused on tracking the Helga's ships, both the three in front of her and any that may lie in wait. "Anyway, I doubt Helga would have attacked us, she's been trying to get me to marry her daughter for some time now."

"Huh…" Rachel gazed at him in disbelief, her eyebrow raised as she sat there thinking through what Garfield had said. The first part she understood, Titan was a beast and could hold her own in fight, however the thought of a pirate captain like Helga wanting Garfield to marry her daughter was beyond her.

"Let's just say that me and her daughter dated once… it didn't go well and neither of us have told Helga the truth as to why we broke up." Garfield sheepishly spoke after trying to ignore the glare from Rachel, the breakup ended with Helga's daughter cheating on him with one of her own men, a serious crime in Helga's eyes as she refuses for anyone from her own crew to date her daughter that comes with the punishment of instant execution. "Helga still believes that the breakup was mutual, though she wants me to marry her since I was the first person daring enough to try and date her daughter."

Garfield hadn't ever been a in relationship before Helga's daughter, he didn't really know what to feel or how to act. So, when he found her in the arms of another man in a bar, he didn't feel hurt or upset at the sight, instead he left the bar and pretended to date her daughter for a few more months before revealing that he knew of her indiscretion. The two agreed to break up on the condition that Garfield keeps quiet on the matter, and she doesn't tell anyone about the few secrets he told her.

"On a scale of mild torture to a slow and painful death, how well will this meeting go?" Victor remarked exasperatingly, the rumours alone were enough to be fearful of Helga, though the stories Victor heard while he was working on starships terrified the life out of him.

"Depends on if her daughter is there." Garfield sighed, though they broke up, Helga's daughter is still smitten with him. She had tried to apologise to him, telling him that she had made a mistake, though she refused Garfield's initial offer of acceptance.

He had never been in a relationship before, and all that he had learned came from stories he heard in passing space ports or from smuggler couples. They always spoke of trust and honesty, working together as partners and equals. Garfield always wanted to understand what it would be like and jumped in too far with Helga's daughter upon their first meeting.

After learning of her betrayal, he tried to forgive her like a normal couple would if one made a mistake, but he couldn't. Instead, he decided to take a step back and change their relationship to just friends, they could start again and work towards what they were before, but Helga's daughter wasn't having it. Garfield couldn't figure out why she refused his offer of hope, though he left before he could get a proper answer from her. That had been a while ago, Garfield hadn't seen her in a while though he hoped she had moved on and found somebody else that she would be happy with.

They shortly arrived at Helga's station, they had to traverse through a secret passageway close to the ion storm as the main path in is laced with high density mines. The station itself is a large rusty makeshift spire with clusters of similar designed starships like the three guiding the Titan scattered around, all of them connected to extensions from the main spire.

Passing through several clusters, the Titan was directed to an extension on the far side close to the storm. This was a counter measure Helga employs whenever anyone visits her station, this specific docking arm from the main station is fully detachable and with its own burst thrusters, she could fire the guest's ship into the ion storm immediately.

"Victor, you are with me." Garfield leapt out of his chair and headed towards the cargo bay, he needed to grab a piece of the ore first before heading to the starboard docking port by the Rec room. Victor followed close behind with the other three tailing, Garfield tried to wave them off to no avail. "Look, I need Victor to explain the upgrades to the power cores, and it will be a hard enough time trying to convince Helga not to kill him."

"Wait what?" Victor stood stunned looking at Garfield in disbelief, he was already nervous being this close to Helga's station, but to actually meet her face to face…

"Don't worry, Helga's… reasonable… as long as you don't get on her bad side. So just don't look her in the eyes, don't speak unless I tell you to… oh and don't look at any of her daughters." Garfield tried his best to reassure Victor, though from the look of terror in his eyes told him that he was seconds away from locking himself in the hanger bay. "Just stay beside me and you'll be fine."

"I'm coming as well." Rachel coldly stated, glaring at Garfield harshly, daring him to refute her claim. The two shared an intense staring match until Garfield sighed and shook his head, admittedly he could use the backup against Helga.

"Fine but wear your cloak and keep the hood up." Garfield relented, he turned and walked towards the starboard docking port with the ore in his hand, Victor and Rachel following close behind. Accessing the door panel, he had to run through several programs and locking codes before he could open the airlock, it was a security measure encase anyone tried to open it with the intention of damaging those inside the house. "Richard, Kori, I have a code phrase I use when I work with Helga, its 'I'm here to work for the silver bandit'. If anyone tries to board without using that phrase, don't bother being polite, I'll deal with Helga if she gets mad."

The docking arm of the Ravagers Station had to be at least a league long as the three of them walked through it, they arrived at a strong airlock, one that was enhanced with extreme heatproof bulkheads. Beside the airlock was a handprint scanner, Garfield placed his hand against it and waited for the light to blink green. An ear-piercing screech echoed through the docking arm, causing both Rachel and Victor to wince harshly while Garfield just stood there wondering if these doors hadn't been used since the last time he had been there.

As the door slowly opened, it revealed a similar corridor to the docking arm, and a rather upset slender woman with long blonde hair and deep blue eyes. She wore a slim black shirt and a pair of bright yellow shorts, an ammo belt packed with gadgets and two blasters rested around her hips.

"Tara Markov, what an unexpected surprise." Garfield cautiously stated, though she was the one that had betrayed him, he still liked her as a friend and didn't want to fully close the door on their relationship. "How can I help you?"

"You turn up without even saying hello, AND I hear you are trying to barter with my mother?" Tara pointedly quipped, upset that she only caught wind of Garfield's arrival from catching sight of it out of the viewpoint being led to the guest docking arm. She had thought about just leaving Garfield alone, however she heard from some of the Ravagers intel network that he had acquired a crew. "Who are these two?"

"I'm on an urgent mission and need passage through the heart of Helga's territory." Garfield answered as Tara led them through the station's corridors, she didn't seem to upset with him, rather she looked upset that he hadn't sent word of his arrival. He decided to introduce the other two with nicknames to protect them. "This is Cyborg, my new engineer. And this is Raven, my co-pilot."

"Co-pilot?" Tara passed a side glare at Rachel, somewhat irked that this woman was allowed to pilot the Titan when she couldn't when they were dating. Garfield religiously protected his ship, especially the controls, he wouldn't even let anyone insult his ship without repercussions.

"Yes, Co-pilot. I also have Red X as muscle, though I opted to leave him on my ship rather than insult Helga." Garfield replied calmly, they entered through a set of large cast iron doors into a large bustling central area filled with Ravagers, the pirates all bustled about working on various tasks from metal work to training recruits. The central area had a gap through the hundred floors leading up to the main dome at the top of the station, standing at the bottom floor, one could barely see the top.

"Good call, Mother's not in a good mood." Tara shook her head, she knew of Red X, but not the other two. Victor look the part of an engineer, especially the nervous part as he constantly twitched whenever a Ravager walked by. However, the co-pilot confused her, she seemed almost too calm, as if none of the pirates were capable of handling her. "Your mission wouldn't have anything to do with the Republic?"

"Nope, Sith." Garfield grumbled, Tara flinched as well and passed him a sympathetic glance. The Ravagers lost all connections with the Sith after they had tried to butcher an entire battalion of their soldiers. Helga admires strength, but senseless slaughter brings out her rage. "What'd the Reps do now?"

"Nothing yet, a squad of Republic soldiers led by a Jedi is here negotiating with mother about arranging safe passage through her territory for a group of Republic transports carrying medical supplies." Tara sighed, the Republic were annoying to deal with, but the Jedi are completely another matter. They are impossible to read, and they aren't easily threatened. "Mother didn't want to deal with them, but they agreed to arrive here in our ships and without their weapons. So… mother agreed to the meeting."

"They must be really desperate." Rachel remarked, she never knew Jedi that would willingly leave behind their lightsaber, it was basically a part of their code to never leave it behind. Nodding in agreeance, Tara chuckled slightly as she found the idea of a Jedi without a lightsaber hilarious. "What are they bartering with?"

"Knowing the Jedi, Morality." Garfield grunted, Sith aren't trustworthy, and Jedi are practically broke misers preaching peace and justice, they will always try to get what they want by playing the heartstrings of their targets. "If that doesn't work, then Republic will use credits."

"And that's why mother's in a bad mood." Tara groaned, she had been expecting this when she first heard about it, but Helga's insanely stubborn and refused to back down once she's made up her mind. "Hope you have something special otherwise Helga's gonna laugh you out of the station."

"Don't worry, that's why I've brought Cyborg with me." Garfield figured as much after Helga tried to attack his ship, she must have been trying to drive him away as she already had one headache and didn't need another. "I think I have something that will cure Helga's headache."

"Good, I can't bear to see her in this mood." Tara sighed, she hated seeing her mother pacing back and forth while barking orders. She had been trying to find a way to cheer her up, though with the Republic soldiers and the Jedi on the station, everything she tried failed.

They entered a large flat elevator that shuddered slightly before launching them upwards, both Tara and Garfield bent their knees slightly and took the jarring motion with stride. Rachel and Victor on the other hand nearly fell flat on their faces, stumbling slightly before regaining their balance.

"Not to be rude, but… how old are you?" Victor asked confusedly after standing upright, he had been confused by Tara as she looked around the same age as Garfield. Silence reigned in the elevator for several seconds as Tara glared at Victor and Garfield stared into space for second before erupting into laughter.

"Oh… sorry… I knew I was forgetting something…" Garfield chuckled as Tara shifted her glare from Victor to Garfield, wondering what it was that he forgot to tell them. "Helga takes in wayward stray girls, she raises them as her own and teaches them how to survive. She considers them all her daughters and protects them with an iron fist."

"Yeah, she picked me up after the Ravagers raided an Empire base and found me working as a slave hand. I've been ever grateful to her since then." Tara spoke softly after relenting her ire, she recalled her harrowing experience working for the Empire. They technically weren't slaves, instead they were dissidents paying off their crimes with forced labour, a fancier name to smooth the ruffled feathers of the Empire citizens.

"All of Helga's daughters are girls she recused from either pirates, Empire, or even the Republic." Garfield explained, it was one of the reasons he tried to avoid tackling with Helga as he respected her work and what she did for those in similar situations like he had been in. "Oh, and brace for the jolt."

The elevator practically collided with the frame of the final floor, sending all four of them into the air for a split second before they landed. This time Rachel and Victor had been prepared for the sudden jolt and landed without falling over, though they were a second behind as Garfield and Tara were already walking off the elevator.

They walked through an empty floor that had several guards milling about and chatting with one another in front of a large black and yellow door, one that had five half metre thick bars locking the door in place. The guards noticed Tara's arrive and immediately bolted into action, some stood at attention while others ran to open the door, none of them wanted to be on the receiving of Helga's wrath.

A loud grumbling noise echoed throughout the station as the door's mechanical parts grinded to life, the large metal beams screeching as they were removed from the door. It took several minutes before the last beam left the door and the large blocks of metal swung open painfully slowly, a tactic Helga employed to inflict fear upon those wishing to meet her.

The massive room beyond had large metal pillars running the length of them, leading to a large pile of burnt scrap metal from ships and blasters formed in the shape of a throne. Each piece that built Helga's throne came from every enemy she had destroyed, Garfield was fairly certain that there was a piece of his hull somewhere in that pile after her ships managed to knock a small piece off.

Helga sat on her throne in her usual black and yellow armour, she had her legs crossed and her chin in her hand, and a displeasingly frustrated grimace on her face. Around behind her say her daughters in similar colour and clothes to Tara, all either playing with knifes or data pads, some even paying attention to the conversation.

Guards stood around at the edges of the throne, all of them heavily armoured with heavy weaponry. Standing in the space in front of the throne was a man in plain brown robes with short brown hair, he had his back to them and was speaking animatedly at Helga. Behind him were five armoured Republic soldiers without their weapons, their armour was a mix of dark crimson and patches of dark gold.

"Ahh, the Crimson Guard, I'm surprised you guys ever leave Coruscant." Garfield announced his presence by addressing the Republic soldiers, they flinched in response and turned to meet the newcomer. They tried going for their weapons before remembering that they left them behind, instead they stood defensively around the Jedi.

"Little Gar, I hear you have a crew now, mind introducing me?" Helga immediately took to the new arrival, interested in changing the subject instead of continuing the conversation with the Jedi. The man turned around to appraise the new arrival, he had chiselled features and hazel brown eyes, and a slightly bemused grin.

"My engineer, Cyborg. And my co-pilot, Raven." Garfield introduced them with their code names, the two behind him nodded to Helga respectfully. Waving for them to stay by the short stairs to the main platform before Helga's throne, Garfield walked up and stood just off from the Jedi, eying him carefully. "Left Red X on the ship, didn't want to be insulting by bringing a hired gun."

"Red X… I had heard he moved to the smuggler business… didn't think it would have been with you, Little Gar." Helga pondered aloud before pointedly looking at Garfield, the smuggler was known for his aversion to anyone staying aboard his ship, and Red X was the last person she thought he would ever hire. "Anyway, I hear you have some ore for my time?"

"Yep, two crates of the stuff." Garfield threw over the piece of ore he had in his hand, without even wasting any effort, Helga caught the ore in single swing of her hand. Eying it carefully, Helga took out a short vibroknife and cut a piece off the ore, the grey metallic metal inside glittered with the heat for a second before cooling. "Was going to sell them, but if it gets me a fair meeting then I'll happily hand them over."

"You have my interest." Helga lent forward in her throne, she had completely ignored the Jedi who curiously gazed at Garfield with mild interest. Some of her daughters ceased their actions and turned to gaze at Garfield, equally interested in what Garfield has to offer.

"I have an urgent delivery mission that requires me to pass through the heart of your territory." Garfield stated, he took a step forward and stood just short of the pile of scrap that was Helga's throne. "And I have power cores to trade with… in fact, they are upgraded with increased capacity, generation, and potential storm resistance. Cyborg?"

"Umm… yes! I adapted the power core to withstand surges of energy that would normally plague ships close to ion storms, it should last nearly double… if not triple the time that normal power cores would last this close to an ion storm." Victor rambled almost in a single breath, he had been keeping his eyes low to the ground before Garfield introduced. Now that he was practically staring eye to eye with Helga, he found it difficult to breathe. "I have tested them, and they function properly… the results are on here."

Cyborg pulled out a data pad and didn't know what to do, he stood at the bottom of the stairs wondering if he should approach or not, though his answer came in the form of one of Helga's daughters appearing from behind one of the pillars and taking the data pad. She had dark brown hair and a pair of thick engineer goggles on, scanning through the data pad, she nodded to Helga before handing the pad back and disappearing behind the pillar.

"How many of these improved power cores do you have, Little Gar?" Helga asked, her interest piqued as she was almost leaning off of her throne. Those power cores could be a game changer for her station, they were burning through too many power cores as of late, and with these new ones they could turn their focus on upgrading their starships.

"Depends… how many will get me across your territory?" Garfield cheekily replied, he knew her game, but he had to play it carefully. Helga would want all of his supply which meant he had to reframe from stating or hinting at the actual number otherwise Helga will want nothing less. "Though, I am interest in what the Jedi has to offer for… what are you here for anyway?"

He was trying to divert the conversation away, if he knew what the Republic had to offer Helga then he could reasonably estimate how many power cores he could trade for his safe passage. Those power cores were useless to him due to his ship's experimental nature, but that didn't mean he was about to hand them all over without getting something worthwhile in exchange.

"We have medical transports that are in need of evacuating, however they are low on fuel and supplies. Their only means to return safely is to pass through the Ravagers' territory." The Jedi calmly spoke, he had a slight grin on his face as he spoke, as if he were amused by the scene before him. "We had come with a sizeable sum of credits to barter with, though I see now that was a mistake."

"Medical transports… past Helga's space… These wouldn't be transports from the planet Marcat?" Garfield asked, his answer came in the form of the Jedi flinching. Marcat was the only habitable planet in the Mara system, an almost unknown system to anyone but the best smugglers, the system provided a great place to lay low. The settlement there has little to no contact with any other planets, they were colonists that were escaping the Empire's purge of traitors and the planet was far enough away that they wouldn't be found. "If transports are coming from there, that means the Empire found them, haven't they?"

The Jedi flinched again, he nervously chuckled and scratched the top of his head. Helga immediately turned her head between both Jedi and Little Gar, unsure if she was upset at being lied to by a Jedi, or that Little Gar knew something she didn't.

"Helga, I'll trade you all of my enhanced power cores, for both my ships safe passage and the transports." Garfield words stunned everyone in the room, the smuggler didn't exactly have the best relationship with the Republic. "Look, I owe the people of Marcat, they took care of me when I was at my lowest. If I can repay them then I will."

"Honourable, I can respect that. How many power cores do you have?" Helga leaned back in her chair, she didn't want to admit that Garfield was turning out much like her own daughters, but he had matured since the first time they met, and she was willing to make an exception to her standard rules.

"Ten, all enhance." Garfield replied earnestly, Marcat was the planet he first went to after escape from Coruscant and the Scarlet Reapers. They were the ones that looked after him and even gave him one of their few starships when he wanted to leave the planet, he had been searching for a way to repay them for a long time.

"They have eight transports, as well as a cruiser that will be passing through my territory… I sorry Little Gar, but that isn't enough for both." Though Helga wanted to help Garfield, she had to maintain her reputation and allowing both a smuggler and the Republic to pass through her territory on such a small price, despite them being enhance power cores, wasn't something she could allow. "One or the other, but not both."

"I appreciate the offer, smuggler…" The Jedi started to say, though this would solve his issue with the Ravagers, it didn't feel right to take the charity of another on an important mission. He was already thinking of things he could buy with the credits the Republic gave him to trade with Helga when Garfield waved his hand.

"That's fine, Helga. I have… another route." Garfield dismissed the Jedi, he always made sure to have an alternative route in place when take any job, it was to ensure he got to where he needed to go if any problems arose. However, his alternative route wasn't exactly one he wanted to use, it was more of an… emergency, if things go totally wrong… route. "Oh, and I'll happily be taking those credits, as payment of course."

Garfield turned to the Jedi, holding an expectant hand out to him as he smiled. The Jedi looked at him for a second before laughing, taking out the credit device he had been given and handing it over.

"Garfield, there is no other route around my mother's territory that will get you wherever you want to go in time." Tara confusedly stated as Garfield turned around and walked casually out of the room. Rachel stood there for a second before realisation dawned on her, she had been scanning over the star charts on the way here, planning for anything that might happen during their trip through Helga's territory.

There was only one route that could possibly get them to the rendezvous point on time, and that route was not only insanely dangerous, but impossible to traverse. Rachel spun on her heel, her head whipping around wildly as she chased after Garfield.

"Garfield! You're insane! You! Are! INSAN… HEY, HEY! GET BACK HERE YOU MEGLOMANIC!"