OOO
Chapter Thirteen.
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Get into Dak's data pad. That's all that mattered now. All he needed to do was crack the blasted data pad, and it would be over. Barriss would have her life back, and he would be free. Somehow. Someway.
Aiden blinked against the pierce of the screen that had been stabbing his vision for the last four hours, and rubbed his eyes, the firm set of his mouth a silent defiance against the fatigue dragging at his mind. He had tried to sleep, but there was too much adrenaline. Too much... something.
He glanced at Barriss' sleeping form.
Dooku wouldn't have wanted Palpatine's files so much unless something in them could bring the bastard down hard. All he had to do was find it.
One needle in the mother of all haystacks.
Ding.
The pad chimed a note that resounded in the darkness, and he blinked and looked down at the pad.
[Please enter password.]
He exhaled, and his lips pulled into a grin as he gave a mental shout, Yes!
Barriss flinched. She mumbled something lost to the sleep in her voice, and then pushed herself to a sitting position, a few strands of purple falling as she settled her gaze on him.
He paused. "...Did I just wake you?"
Her gaze fell from his bloodshot eyes to the pad glowing in his hands, and her brow creased. "Have you been up all night?"
He glanced at the chrono on the wall. 09:27. "Yeah, I guess. But it doesn't matter." He held up the pad, and released a breath that was equal parts relief and exhaustion. "I got through."
She sat up straighter. "You got... You mean we can finally begin our search for proof of the Chancellor's corruption?"
"Pretty much. I got through the DNA lockout, now I just need to get through the password protection, and we're in business."
A hint of the fire that had been missing since that night in the cockpit returned to her eyes, and she nodded. "Good."
He almost smiled. Or at least, he would have if it wasn't for the almost tangible awkwardness that settled into the silence that fell as they looked at each other.
He coughed lightly and turned back to the pad, tapping the screen with new commands. "I can set up a program to decrypt the passcode while I work on Jax' machines today. With any luck, we'll have the password waiting by the time I get back."
Lines began scrolling down the display faster than he could track, and with them, the last task he could use to occupy himself disappeared, leaving nothing but the awkwardness that now sat between them.
Maybe he should just tell her everything. Throw away all the cloak-and-dagger crap and just let the chips fall where they fall. She'd stuck with him this long, even after all the mess he'd put her through. Most of which was caused by having to hide the fact that Dooku was holding him hostage at long range via the bleached psycho.
He made a quiet sound in his throat. Of course, it wasn't just pissing off Barriss he had to worry about. She'd be angry, sure, but Dooku made it clear what would happen if he told anyone. And...
He grimaced, forcing himself not to glance over at Barriss. It wasn't just him Dooku would go after.
"Aiden? Is something wrong?"
He blinked and looked at her.
Wariness, but also concern filled her eyes. "Your mood just plummeted."
Oh. Right. Jedi.
He swallowed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I'm... well, I'm not fine, but..." He trailed off, and shrugged. What could he say?
Across the room, the door chimed, and the modulated voice of a service droid crackled through the speaker in the panel. "Mister Stari, Jax would like to see you in his office."
Barriss narrowed her eyes, but then hesitated.
He looked at the chrono and bit back a groan, scrubbing his face with his palms before setting the pad on the coffee table. "Guess that's my cue." He rose from the couch. "See you later, Barriss."
"Aiden, wait."
He stopped, and looked at her. "Yeah?"
She weaved her fingers together, and averted her gaze. "Before you see Jax, there's something you need to know."
OOO
Aiden marched through the door of Jax' office even before it had finished opening.
Jax reclined behind his desk like a hutt, the glistening of his forehead making him look just as slimy. His hand rested on a cool-pack sandwiched between his wrist and his belly. "Glad to see you were able to drag yourself out of bed this morning, kid. Seems we all had an exciting night."
"Cut the crap, Jax. Barriss already told me what happened."
Jax nodded slowly. "I'm sure she told you her version of it."
"So you're saying you didn't slime all over her."
"Some women can't take a compliment." He tapped a finger against a holo-reader sitting skewed on the stained surface of the desk. "How many of my machines have you fixed up so far?"
Aiden narrowed his eyes. "Why?"
"It's a simple question, Aiden."
He pressed his molars together. "Almost all of them. Again: Why?"
"Good... Good." Jax leaned back, and folded his hands as much as he could with the pack. "I want this to be a nice place, Aiden. A place where the weary can enjoy a moment without having to worry about the dangers of the world. Dangers I've worked hard to keep outside the doors of this establishment.
He looked at Aiden. "Dangers like an unstable schutta who gets violent at a wink."
Aiden huffed. "Yeah. I'm sure all you did was wink."
Jax lifted the hand from the cool-pack. "That girl's trouble, Aiden. And that's bad for business. So you have a choice to make. Either you get rid of her, or I get rid of both of you."
"You really are a bastard, aren't you?"
"I'm your best friend, you just can't see it. When your mommy and daddy died, I saved you from being another youngling wandering the underworld streets, flinching every time you saw a rodian."
Aiden's lips parted. He would use that as a weapon?
"And now," Jax continued. "Here I am. Saving you again from another green psycho. But this time, I'm saving you before she can do the damage I can see she's gonna do to you." He leaned forward on his desk. "I'm all you've got, Aiden. I'm the only real friend you've ever had. I took you in. I taught you how to work electronic systems. I taught you how to survive. And now, you're about to throw it all away again.
Something gleamed behind his eye. "Get rid of her, stay here and work for me, and we'll both get rich."
"Always about the profits, isn't it, Jax? That's all anyone's worth to you."
"I know exactly how much you're worth, Aiden." He picked up the holo-reader from the desk, and faced the screen toward him.
A picture of himself stared back at him, 'Wanted' flashing in red letters above his image, and 'Reward: 10,000' flashing below.
"...And now, so does everybody else. So unless you want to be back out there alone with a ten-thousand-credit bullseye on your back, get rid of her."
Aiden stared into the electronic eyes of his condemned reflection. His worth to the galaxy, written out for him to see. Ten-thousand credits.
But then, that's how it had always been, hadn't it? Jax, the people who hired him when they needed a slicer 'off the books'... Dooku, and now Jax again. Everyone he ever met, he was just a way for them to get what they wanted.
...Everyone except a single tenacious Jedi who defied her entire Order to save his life.
He bit down on the hollow weight building inside him, and steeled his jaw, locking his world-worn gaze on Jax with whatever strength he had left.
"You're a liar." He ran a hand down his mouth. "And you can go to hell."
He turned, and marched through Jax' doors into the flashing sea of lights, his footfalls steadier than they had any right to be in the face of the growing knot inside him.
If he had looked back, he would have seen Jax lower his eyes to the bounty, and finally reach for a communicator on the desk.
OOO
Nubian leather enveloped Palpatine as he sat in his office, fingers steepled together in front of his face.
Circumstance into advantage. Another unexpected development at the hands of the slicer. Another opportunity to be forged.
He glanced once more at the image of Dooku that Bane left on his desk, and his jaw creaked.
And a new enemy to be dealt with. One of the dangers of accepting an apprentice of advanced years. They begin their apprenticeship already feeling they should be the master.
The communicator on his desk began beeping rapidly, and he took the device, Admiral Tarkin appearing a moment later. "Your Excellency, the SBI has just been alerted to a call claiming the location of Aiden Stari. Officers are mobilizing now."
Palpatine sat forward in his seat. Bane had informed him of the cretin's refuge last night, and currently waited outside the den for word to move on the slicer, but with the revelation of Dooku's treachery, more time was needed to consider the proper course of action.
Perhaps the call claiming the location of the cretin was fake. "How much time until they arrive? And where?"
"A cantina in the underworld called 'The Chance Lounge', I'm transmitting the coordinates now. And no longer than five minutes until local CPF troopers arrive. Should I stall them?"
He rubbed his thumb and forefinger together. So they had indeed found the slicer. Nothing could be done to halt what was about to happen. There was only to guide events down a favorable path.
Weaving threads unfurled before him, and pieces clicked into place until a clear path lie forward. Perhaps this was one circumstance that would forge itself to his advantage. Against all his enemies.
"No..." His lips pulled slightly. "Do not stall them. In fact, I believe they'll be right on time." If Dooku was holding young Aiden's leash, it would be foolish to give the little cretin enough breathing room to escape should he choose to do so.
Wherever this Chance Lounge was, Dooku was certain to be near enough to keep a watchful eye on his new puppet.
Palpatine disconnected the call without ceremony, and tapped a few buttons on the device.
A surprised Dooku materialized in his hand, and he suppressed the curl that so desired to form on the edge of his mouth. "Lord Tyranus. You have arrived on Coruscant, have you not?"
Dooku inclined his head. "Yes, my master. I search for the slicer as you commanded."
His audacity would be commendable, were it not for his arrogance. "Your search will be short, indeed." As will your time as my apprentice. "The slicer has revealed himself, and forces converge on his location now. Proceed to these coordinates, you will intercept and take him away from here. And Dooku?" His eyes specked with gold for a brief moment. "If you fail to reach him before he is captured, I will be very displeased."
The threat lingered, but if anything, a smile rested behind Dooku's eyes. "I assure you, my master, I will certainly not fail."
His image winked out, and Palpatine set the device back on the desk with a soft clack.
Now, he let his lip curl freely. One minute should be enough time. He waited, and then picked the device up again and input his Chancellor's code to be connected directly to the Jedi Council.
"Master Jedi." For the first time in his career, his joy to be speaking with them was not an act. "I've just received excellent news..."
OOO
Aiden brushed through the scraping threshold of room twelve, jaw clenching and unclenching.
Barriss looked up from her morning stretches, her violet eyes pausing on his expression, and her brow knit. "Aiden, what—"
"We have to leave." He paced under the dim shafts of light, shadows stalking across his face as he moved. "We can't stay here anymore."
She straightened. "Why? What did Jax say?"
"He showed himself for the slime he is. But the point is, we can't stay here tonight. We might not make it to morning before someone kicks down our door."
Her lips pulled into a thin line, and she looked away.
Something opened inside him, and regret squeezed his belly. A distant echo of her voice whispered: Blast it...
He stopped short and scrunched his brow, but then shook his head. Apparently, it was true what they said about fatigue and hallucinations. "It's fine," he said. "The creep got what he deserved. I just wish..." He sighed, and rubbed his forehead with his palm. "I wish I hadn't been gone."
"It wasn't your fault, Aiden."
"Yes. It was."
She looked at him.
He shook his head and shrugged. "Jax saw me leave last night. He knew you were alone." He gestured to her. "You left the room because I didn't tell you I was leaving, and Jax cornered you because he knew I was gone. The whole thing happened because of me." He huffed out a breath. "Again."
First that whole mess with her master on that loading dock, and now this fix with Jax. Maybe I should just get out of her life now before I get her killed or something.
She blinked and looked somewhat startled for a moment, and the open feeling closed off.
She shook her own head like she was clearing away a thought, and then stepped toward him. "The confrontation with my master was not your fault, Aiden. I made my own choices. And you're not going to get me killed." Something that might have been humor grazed the edges of her eyes. "If anything, we need to stay together so I can make sure you don't get yourself killed."
Her gaze held his, and finally, he released a small breath. "Must be nice, knowing what everyone's thinking all the time. Sure makes finding the right words easier."
"I don't know what everyone is thinking."
He quirked his lip. "You always seem to know what I'm thinking."
She gazed deep, and chewed the inside of her cheek for a long few moments. "Aiden..."
Screams erupted outside the door in the lobby of the Lounge, and a muffled voice carried through the walls: "CPF! Everyone down!"
His heart seized. How did they find him here!? He made sure no one followed— Realization struck him like a smack to the face, and his jaw clenched. Jax, you bastard...
Her saber-hilt was in her hand in an instant, her body rigid. "Get everything you need, Aiden. Now."
He mentally spat Jax' name as he swiped the data pad from the table, the encryption program still running thousands of possible passcodes down the screen, and he tucked it into his waistband in the small of his back under his shirt, patting his pocket to make sure Barriss' old communicator was still there. "Two out of two."
She nodded, and slapped the panel on the door.
Patrol troopers were dark silhouettes against the flashing, yellow lights of the lounge. "That's them! Freeze!"
Blasters leveled, and his breath caught.
Barriss shoved her hand forward, and armor-encased bodies jerked back and tumbled through the lights, slamming into gambling games he had just fixed yesterday with a clash of sparks.
Too bad we don't have time to smash all of Jax' machines before we leave.
She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him toward the opposite end of the hall. "Come on!"
They sprinted down the dark metal of the corridor, his heart thumping painfully as voices carried behind them, and a plain, back exit sign teased promise of escape just around the corner of the end of the hall. Out by the skin of our teeth once again.
They rounded the corner, and ghostly-white flashed at the edge of his vision. A snap-hiss exploded from the shadows, and the darkness of the corridor plunged into a blood-haze as a crimson streak cut through the oily shadows straight at his face.
He slammed to a stop and sucked in a breath.
A second snap-hiss burst azure light and crashed into the red streak like two comets colliding in front of his face. Heat poured from the locked blades that trembled against each other, and an unnaturally pale face smiled.
"Well, well..." Aurra purred. "What do we have here? A bounty to collect and a Jedi to kill? Must be my lucky day."
He stood frozen, heart pumping. What the blazes was she doing? She wasn't dumb enough to betray Dooku for a lousy ten-thousand...
Barriss grit her teeth, and shoved her saber forward.
The heat swept away from his face and Aurra stumbled back a step before digging her heels in and launching at Barriss with a screech.
Barriss threw her hands forward with a whip of onyx sleeves, and Aurra smashed into darkened metal, tumbling to the ground.
The open feeling inside him flickered hard as Barriss grabbed his arm, and her voice shouted in his mind: 'Hurry!'
He whipped his head toward her, and his brow knit tight as she dragged him past the recovering Aurra, waving her hand quickly at the exit farther down the corridor. The door panel shifted green and the metal groaned, as much light as existed in the underworld flooding the corridor.
Aurra snarled and shot a hand out, catching Barriss' ankle and sinking her skeletal fingers deep.
Barriss cried out and stumbled, letting go of his arm before she hit the ground.
His stomach flipped, and his momentum carried him a few steps as he skidded to a halt, eyes wide. "Barriss!"
Aurra carved her fingernails in viciously and wrenched her saber down, fangs bared.
Barriss crashed her blade into the crimson with a grimace, and slammed the boot of her free leg into Aurra's face. "Aiden, go! Now!"
His gut clenched. "But—"
Flat on her back, fending off blow after blow, she tilted her head back and locked her eyes on him upside-down; Fear, desperation, but ultimately, resolve swirling together in her eyes. She pushed her free hand toward him, and all the gravity in the galaxy was suddenly directly behind him.
He flew backward like a black hole had opened in the doorway behind him, devouring everything in its path, including him. His world blurred as he tumbled through the haze of the underworld, and his back smacked into the slimy metal of a dumpster, a choked grunt blowing passed his lips. Barriss!
He scrambled to his feet and looked up just as she waved her hand again, and the door screeched shut and latched, the panel shifting red.
"Blast it, Barriss!"
A gust of air blew down on him with a moaning woosh, and he flinched. What the!
A black shuttle that absorbed all the light around it like a living shadow swept over him, looming down like a creature from the depths circling its prey.
The wail of sirens grew louder in the distance, but he stood frozen, staring at the metallic beast as it lowered to the surface, touching down with a hydraulic hiss that slithered the air. The back of the shuttle creaked open from the top like a jaw unhinging, and the entire back plate slowly hinged downward until it touched the ground like a ramp leading into the shuttle.
And at the top of the ramp, with hands folded and a slight curve of the lip tilting his mustache, stood an all-too-familiar specter made all-too-real.
"Greetings, my young friend." Dooku looked down at him, and his tilt-of-the-mustache grew even as Aiden's blood ran cold.
"So nice to finally meet in the flesh."
END CHAPTER