Star Wars: Return of the Sith
11: Disaster Strikes
By Nanaki
Kuat Drive Yards, Orbital Shipyard #12
Jerin let out a loud sigh of relief as he hurried into docking bay H-4, noting that the Sword of Justice was still there and in one piece. Jerin knew how to use the Force for quick bursts of speed, but he wasn't able to draw on it for a sustained sprint, and it had taken him another twenty five minutes to get here after he'd left the girls. As Jerin hit a button on his belt to lower the boarding ramp, he noticed a starfighter parked next to his ship that at first he took to be an XJ32. However, he realized that what he had first taken to be a very odd paint job was actually a layer of anti-sensor coating, and he was looking at a Stealth X-12. He found his eyes drawn to the top of the ship, where an astromech with a blue and white color scheme fixed its optical sensor on him. "Holy hell." Jerin whispered under his breath. There was no doubt in his mind that he was looking at R2-D2, which meant that this fighter had to belong to one of the Skywalkers. He whirled around, expecting to hear a lightsaber humming to life behind him, but there was no one else in the immediate area.
"Hey there." Jerin waved a greeting at the galaxy's most famous astromech. Artoo tweetled back a reply that sounded friendly enough. "Are you here to keep me from escaping?" Jerin was familiar enough with astromech sounds to get the gist of Artoo's reply, which was a negative. "That's a relief." Jerin shrugged. "I'd hate to have to blast you."
Artoo let out a surprisingly long series of sounds that Jerin suspected meant something along the lines of: I'd like to see you try.
"Well, I've got to get ready to go. See you later, most likely." Jerin waved as he headed up the boarding ramp.
R2-D2 deactivated the laser cannons that had been aimed at Jerin, a bit puzzled. This one didn't ACT like a dark sider. He filed away a recording of the brief encounter to show to Dirk later.
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Eight minutes later, the engines were hot, the coordinates for the first hyperspace jump after they'd left the system were already programmed in, Arfive had activated the ship's antipersonnel weapon systems, and Jerin was tapping his foot on the floor of the cockpit in irritation. Finally, just as he was about ready to head back into the station to see what was taking so long, his security cameras showed Denan walking into the docking bay, closely followed by Tenn and the still hovering form of Joona. Then, instead of heading right for the ship, they stopped to admire R2-D2. Just kriffing great.
Jerin charged down to the bottom of the boarding ramp and started waving for everyone to get going. "Come on already!" He shouted. "Do you want to get off this station or not?" THAT got a response, and the rainbow colored line of young ladies began hurrying toward the ship. "Everyone find a place to get comfortable. We're taking off right away." Jerin informed the girls as they filed up the ramp. "I left some bacta patches out on the copilot's seat." He informed Tenn as she gingerly made her way up the ramp, being careful not to bump Joona's head on the hull. Finally, Denan started walking forward as if to go up the ramp as well, only to stop in his tracks as Jerin drew out his blaster again. "Where do you think you're going?"
Denan didn't look nervous at all now, Jerin noticed. "Do you seriously want to kill Gadran?" He asked calmly.
"Of course I do." Jerin responded, equally calm.
"Then I want to help." Denan said sincerely.
"Why?" Jerin wondered simply.
"I'll be glad to fill you in on the details later." Denan glanced up at the boarding ramp. "But for now..." He pointed at his temple. "Look closely and you can tell. My left eye is fake. My left arm is fake below the elbow. My left foot is a prosthetic too."
Using the infrared sensors in his helmet, Jerin could tell that that the temperature of Denan's left arm and foot was a good deal lower than the rest of his body. "No need to say anything else right now then. Welcome aboard." He holstered his blaster, then extended his right hand and Denan shook it, with a grip that wasn't quite as limp as Jerin had been expecting.
Denan headed up the ramp, closely followed by Jerin, who hit the controls to raise the ramp even as he was still walking up. Jerin quickly observed that he couldn't go any farther, because the main hallway was filled with confused girls, wondering what to do now. Jerin tugged his helmet off, knowing his voice would be louder without it. "Hey, we can't take off if I can't get to the cockpit!" He called out, trying not to sound too irritated. "Stay out of the left room just behind the cockpit, but otherwise find a place to sit down." Slowly but surely, the ladies opened the doors to the other four rooms and squeezed inside. Jerin noticed that they completely avoided the prison room, even though it was unlocked. Finally, he was able to hurry up to the cockpit, where he started the takeoff even before he was strapped into his seat.
As the ship began to move toward the docking bay entrance, Jerin reluctantly dialed his inertial dampers all the way up to one hundred percent. He wouldn't be able to feel the ship respond to his touch now, but he had way too many passengers who couldn't be strapped in to keep the dampers turned down. "Arfive, I want us in hyperspace the very instant it's possible." The astromech obediently plugged into a wall socket behind Jerin's chair, ready to make it happen. Jerin turned to his right to see Tenn gingerly applying a bacta patch to Joona's leg. Joona was seated in a chair right behind the copilot's, and her discarded, blood-soaked bandage was actually leaving a small puddle on the floor. Joona let out a relieved sigh as the bacta began seeping into the wound. "Better now?" Jerin smiled.
"Much." Joona smiled as well, tilting her head back and closing her eyes. However, after a few seconds she sat up straight again. She watched the view out of the cockpit with fascination as the ship moved out of the docking bay, into open space. "I often wondered if I'd ever see real stars again." She said quietly.
"You'll see plenty more." Jerin nodded. "You all will."
"So... Why were you in such a hurry to get out of there?" Tenn asked from the copilot's seat.
"Because that Nikto said that Gadran didn't send him, and I believed him." Jerin summed it up. "So if it wasn't Gadran, then it had to be..." He turned toward Tenn, but received only a blank look in response. "We're a long way from Hutt Space here." He elaborated. "There's only one Hutt other than Gadran that could have gotten men here so quickly." Tenn frowned, but didn't say anything. "Korgo." Jerin stated. "Since he's based on Coruscant, I'm pretty sure Korgo sent those men."
"Why are you more worried about Korgo than Gadran?" Denan asked from the back of the cockpit. He was wedged into a small seat behind Arfive.
"Because Korgo is several centuries older than Gadran, he's got a lot more money, and in my admittedly biased opinion, he's a lot smarter. If he thinks I double crossed him over Tenn, he might do something... drastic." Jerin explained.
"Technically, I think you did double cross him." Tenn observed.
"You're not helping." Jerin complained, but there was a slight smile on his face even so. Now the blue and green sphere of Kuat was steadily shrinking behind them, and Jerin turned toward his scanners... just as four laser blasts flashed by the cockpit, way too close for comfort.
"Jerin Danar, if that is your real name, come to a complete stop and prepare to be boarded." Jerin recognized the voice of Lucia Skywalker coming over his cockpit speakers.
"And just what have I done to warrant a seizure of my ship?" Jerin asked calmly.
"How about the fact that you're holding an innocent hostage, for starters?" Lucia shot back.
"Jerin, she's a Jedi. She's not going to hurt anybody." Tenn said quietly.
"It's not HER I'm worried about." Jerin frowned. "If Korgo really is after us, we don't have a second to spare." Jerin leaned toward his comm. "I'm sorry to say, I don't have time to stop and talk here." He told Lucia. "But if you'd care to follow us though hyperspace, I'd be happy to have you on board when we get away from this system."
"I wasn't ASKING, Danar, I was TELLING." Lucia responded. "Come to a complete stop right now, or I'll make you."
"She seems nice." Denan observed dryly from the back seat.
"Let me tell YOU something." Jerin raised his voice. "Jedi or not, you can't disable MY ship all by yourself, and that's a fact."
"Let's find out." Lucia said quietly. A split second later, Jerin's proximity alarms began blaring, and he could tell from the shudders that shook the Justice that Lucia had just stitched a line of laser blasts all along his spine.
"I don't think you realize who you're trying to pick a fight with here..." An aggressive smile lit up Jerin's face.
"Jerin, let me talk to her." Tenn said, a pleading look in her eyes.
"Knock yourself out." Jerin shrugged. "Just make it quick."
"Lucia, can you hear me?" Tenn leaned toward the comm mike in front of Jerin's controls.
"Tenn, are you okay?" Lucia asked with an odd wheeze that made Tenn think she'd been in the middle of flipping her Stealth X around as she spoke.
"I'm fine. I'm not a hostage." Tenn assured her. "I'm also not coming back to the Jedi. Not right now, anyway."
"Tenn, damn it, you..." Lucia paused for a second. "I know this is going to sound patronizing, but I'm just worried, okay? You're just confused. You need the order's guidance now more than ever."
"Maybe I do." Tenn admitted. "But there are other factors in play here. I will see you again, I promise. Just not now."
"Even if you don't want to come back, I need to get you away from HIM." Lucia growled.
"What'd I do to YOU?" Jerin demanded.
"Oh, Jerin, you are so NOT helping." Tenn told him bluntly. "Lucia, believe it or not, he's not a bad guy." She explained patiently. "Maybe not an especially GOOD guy..." She gave Jerin a pointed glance, "But definitely not a bad one."
"Tenn, with my own eyes I saw him throw a burst of Force lightning that would have put Palpatine to shame!" Lucia sounded exasperated.
"I know. I was there, remember?" Tenn smiled. "But... How should I put this? He may have intuitively tapped into the dark side, but he's not consumed by it. It also doesn't look like he wants to be. Not the way Seco and Negian do, anyway. Plus, even if you don't believe me, you need to stop your attack. We've got thirty six innocent civilians on board here. Well, thirty seven." She corrected herself as she turned to look at Denan.
"If they're not hostages..." Lucia started, sounding confused. "Do I even want to know what's been going on?"
"Yes, actually." Tenn giggled. "But Jerin was right when he said we don't have time to stop here. We really do need to get going."
"Why?" Was all Lucia had time to ask before Jerin's proximity alarms began blaring again. This time his scanners revealed dozens of starfighters coming out of hyperspace in somewhat sloppy formations. They were virtually all very old, the kind of obsolete fighters that would be cheap to buy and easy for a private collector to modify. In this case though, they didn't belong to a private collector so much as a private crime lord.
Well, Jerin wasn't about to wait around to see just how many there were. They must have cleared Kuat's gravity well while Tenn was talking, which meant he was free to jump to hyperspace now. "Arfive, jump to light speed-" Before Jerin could finish his sentence, a large capital ship reverted to realspace, uncomfortably close to the Justice. "Now!" Jerin finished. Nothing happened. Behind Jerin, Arfive let out an excited series of beeps.
Jerin could read the exact meaning on his cockpit displays: 'The capital ship has a mass shadow generator!'
"But..." That didn't make sense to Jerin. The giant ship rapidly filling up his cockpit windows was clearly a Victory class Star Destroyer, not any kind of Interdictor cruiser. Then, it started to make a certain kind of sense. The mass shadow generators on Interdictors generally made rounded bulges in the hull, making the ships easily identifiable from a distance. A Victory class Star Destroyer was a good deal larger than a standard Interdictor, and if it only contained a single mass shadow generator, that generator could conceivably be hidden within the hull, leaving no outward sign of its presence. Of course, the Republic military had Interdictors with very small generators that didn't create hull bulges either, but such technology was very expensive. Whoever owned the Star Destroyer seemed to have created something similar on the cheap.
Arfive let out another series of beeps and whistles: 'Should I deploy the S-thread boosters?'
Jerin winced. "Not yet." He said tightly. S-thread boosters were a miracle of hyperspace engineering, able to create stable hyperlanes where there were none, or in this case, able to allow the Justice to get away from an Interdictor. However, they were also incredibly expensive. If Jerin sold the three he currently had on board, he probably would have been able to buy another ten ships like the Justice. The S-thread boosters might be the only way he could get out of this mess in one piece. Even so, if he had to use them, he was at least going to blow up a lot of the enemy fighters first to even things out.
"Arfive, broadcast the following on all frequencies." He informed the astromech. "This is Captain Jerin Danar of the frigate Sword of Justice." He announced into the comm. "Would the motley fighters in piss-poor formation please patch me through to whoever's in charge?"
Scarcely a second later, the cockpit was filled with a low, gravelly voice that could only belong to a Hutt. "Jerin my boy, I think you know why I'm here." Korgo the Hutt stated calmly.
"Not necessarily." Jerin answered easily. "There are several possible reasons. What it boils down to is, at least one of us got played by Seco and Negian, but it's possible that we both did. If that's the case, there's no reason for us to fight."
Korgo grunted, before replying. "Jerin, you've been a good business partner on many occasions. But this time, you've betrayed not only your own employer, but HIS employers as well. However, I would hate to destroy a ship filled with such valuable cargo."
"You're talking about Tenn, I assume." Jerin surmised.
"Yes, partly, but you've got a lot more than that. Jerin, give me some credit!" Korgo laughed. "I know you just knocked over Gadran's brothel."
"What? You knew it was here?" Jerin's right hand began to tremble with rage. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"That's simple. The more you annoy Gadran, the sooner he'll put a huge bounty on your head. And until quite recently, you were a loyal employee. I was TRYING to protect you."
"You're all heart." Jerin hissed.
"At any rate, the merchandise you've just taken possession of is worth more than all the ships I've brought on this little excursion." Korgo said with a hint of eagerness in his voice.
"Including the Vic?" Jerin asked incredulously.
"Including the Vic." Korgo assured him. "So, if you could see your way to turning that merchandise over to me, I might be willing to overlook your transgressions of the past several days. Of course, I have no authority to tell Seco and Negian what to do, but I'LL be satisfied."
"Well, that's a pretty sweet deal." Jerin stated calmly, earning him a look of alarm from both Tenn and Joona. "But I think I've got a better one for you. You get out of here right now, and you get to stay alive." He grinned.
"You arrogant peon!" Korgo roared. "How dare you try to dictate terms to me?"
"I dare, because I know what Seco and Negian will do to you if anything happens to Tenn." Jerin smirked. "I dare, because I know you can't beat me anyway. I dare, because while you may have a whole horde of flunkies, I have the Force! But even if I didn't, I'd still dare anyway, because I'm Mandalorian! Oya Manda!" With that, the Justice raced toward the Star Destroyer at full speed.
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"They got a lotta guys... Yep. But, you need more than just numbers!" - Mu La Flaga, Gundam Seed Destiny
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(Character Name Origins #4: "Darth" Seco
I haven't decided on Seco's last name yet, which is why it's not listed. Seco's first name is also a bit of a puzzle, in that I really have no idea where it came from. Seco has some obvious connotations with "second", but he's clearly the one in charge of the Seco-Negian dynamic duo. When I first started getting ideas for this story, there was going to be a big, dramatic scene revealing that Seco's full name was Seco SOLO. However, the Legacy of the Force series both made that impossible by getting rid of Jacen before he could have any male children, and also beat me to the punch on having a Solo as the main villain. Even so, "Seco Solo" has a certain kind of rhythm to it, and that may be where the name came from.
As for his character, Seco is basically my id, what I would be like if I had no self control whatsoever. As a result, he's one of the easiest characters to write, but I kind of gravitate between admiring him and fearing him. However, I think that's probably true of most people's darker impulses.)