YOU KILLED THE CARRIAGE
Dalla and Dono are off to rescue Kason, if the circumstances permit. Meanwhile, Thias takes a page from the immortal Ferris Bueller's book. All pretty dramatic but if you need more, check out DuchessKenobi's Some Say I Got Devil, in which some Polaris-related issues just hit the proverbial fan - LS
...
Dono leans into the alcove, her comlink pressed to her ear. "Hutch, Steela needs you to mess with the power generator's security system or something so they can get near it. They dealt with one patrol already but I'm not sure if they got the tank they need."
"Sensitive information much, Dono? Why are you comming me instead of heading back to base?"
Dono looks at Dalla sideways. "Actually, I'm not sure why I'm doing this."
"Are you on your way back?"
"No," Dono says, side-eyeing Dalla. "We have to do some … stuff … first."
"What kind of stuff?" Hutch asks suspiciously.
"Just stuff. Gotta go!" Dono hangs up and fixes Dalla with a glare. "If I go down for this, you're going down with me."
She already knew that bit was coming. "I promise, it's going to work. It's our best chance at saving Kase and we have to take it."
"Sure," she sighs. "I still don't know why I'm doing this."
Because Dalla all but ordered her? Because she doesn't want Rash to have Kason? "We only have five standard minutes before the carriage gets here. What does its escort look like?"
"Droid popper should take out the carriage itself. As for its escort, if Werda's right it's probably just regular battle droids. After curfew they won't be worried about much, and since it's not common knowledge they're moving your cousin they won't expect us."
"That's our biggest advantage." Dalla's not about to loan Werda the keys to the Hold or command of her ship, but she trusts her with this. "We disable the carriage, take out the escort, and get Kason. Easy."
"I'm not sure about this," Dono hedges. She checks her blaster batteries. "There are only two of us."
"There are only three combatants taking out the power generator!" She argues. "Just think - if we get lucky, then the power will go out just as the carriage gets here. And if not, it'll be a great distraction for Steela."
"You mean we become destroyer bait," Dono says woefully. "I hate destroyers."
"They probably won't have destroyers for an escort."
"You mean the escort carrying Rash's most valuable hostage?" She gets another idea. "What if Rash is in the carriage with him? Ever thought of that?"
If Rash is in the carriage with Kason the escort will probably clog the street and it'll take a lot more than two people and one droid popper to deal with them. "Then when we open the passenger compartment we knock him out and then grab Kason. Not a big deal."
"And what if there's a guard in the carriage itself? What it it's the General of the Royal Militia? Have you seen that guy? He could probably throw us like javelins!"
"General Tandin? He's even less of a problem."
"Girl, you are insane."
Dalla's about to say something to that but nixes the idea. "How much charge is in your blaster?"
"It's about three quarters full."
"So is mine. And we have two droid poppers?"
"One."
That's not great. "You throw it since you were trained. I'll take care of the escort." She's no Steela, but she's a decent enough shot.
"We're not going to have a lot of time to pull this off."
"We aren't. But I don't think we need a lot of time to take care of one carriage."
"And what about afterward. What are you going to do when you have your cousin?"
Dalla's answer is immediate: "Put him on a boat and send him as far north as north goes."
"How are you going to do that? Go with him?"
"Kason can sail by himself if he really needs to." She doesn't like sending him off by himself, but it might be their only choice if she can't convince one of the other rebels to go with him to the Hold. "I'll try to find someone else to go with him. I told you guys I'd stay here."
"Whatever you do, don't send Hutch. He's hopeless."
"Wasn't planning on it." As a bannerman Lux is probably the best choice, but he won't go. Saw would be a decent chaperone, but he really needs to stay here both for the rebellion and if Dalla's backup plan is going to work. That leaves Steela, which is absolutely out of the question. "Too bad the other Jedi aren't here. They would be perfect."
Dono checks her wrist chrono. "We're going to have to cross that bridge when we get to it. They'll be coming any second now. Get in position and pray that general isn't in the carriage."
It's too late and too dangerous to explain Tandin right now, so Dalla crosses her fingers he isn't in the carriage simply because it would be too complicated and time-consuming to worry about droids, wrangle Kason, stop Dono from killing Tandin, and give Tandin the knockout punch he'd need to maintain his cover story.
She flattens her back against the building and glances to Dono's chronometer. It's exactly six minutes after the time Werda said the carriage would leave the palace, and judging from the distance it would take about that long to reach their location at that speed, as long as they're taking the most direct route to the Rash estate. Are they? Or are they going to loop their way through the streets like Lux and Steela did taking her to their safehouse?
Her ears perk. "Are those -?"
"Wheels," Dono confirms. "It's the carriage. Can you see it?"
"Not yet," Dalla inches closer. "Starting to now. Looks like a three-droid escort -."
"That's it?"
"And they're not destroyers. You're in luck, Dono. They must be banking on Kason's presence not being common knowledge."
"I don't know," Dono hedges. "Three battle droids?"
"More would attract attention. He doesn't want that."
"If you say so. What about the carriage itself?"
"Looks automated. Droid driver, can't see in the passenger compartment."
"We need to be sure this is the right carriage. When they get closer, can you see your cousin?"
"The windows have shades drawn. I can't see anything."
"What about a shadow? You have to be able to see something."
The carriage rolls ever-closer. "I can't. We're going to be behind them in ten seconds."
"If we can't confirm he's in there I'm not throwing the droid popper."
"The shades are made so you can't see through them!" If they don't do this now Dalla's going to go crazy. Kason's so close she can practically reach out and touch him; there's no way she's about to let him slip through her fingers. "Dono, they're in the perfect position. Throw the -."
An energy pulse swallows the rest of her sentence at the same time the street lights wink out.
Dono lights up. "They did it!"
The carriage's escort stops short and looks around, flipping on their headlamps. "What was that?" one mechanical voice asks.
Dalla gives Dono a hopeful look. "Never going to get a better chance!"
"No we won't," Dono agrees and rolls the droid popper. The device rolls between the carriage's huge wheels and goes off, taking the driver with it. Dalla really hopes what Ahsoka says about them not being harmful to organics is true.
"What the -?" One of the escort droids cries. Dalla steps out of the alley and knocks it down with a shot to the chest plate.
The situation snaps into place for the others when she takes another shot that misses wildly. "It's an ambush! Call for -!"
"Oh, I am not doing destroyers today!" Dono rages and charges in, an expression of pure rage on her face. "No way, no how, not after all the crap that's happened!" She blasts one of the droids in a head. "Not after the traffic, not after the almost leak, not after being tank bait, not after all the crap she talked me into doing. Nope! It's -." She blasts another. "Not!" Another. "Happening!"
"Um, Dono?" Dalla points out. "I don't think they can call for backup if they're dead."
Dono glares at the dismantled droids with a look that could scare a rancor.
"Get your cousin and let's get out of here," she growls.
And pray those droid poppers really don't harm people. She races over to the carriage door and tugs on the handle. Dono sighs and walks over. "It's locked, Dalla. You'll have to spoof the code if you want to get it -."
Dalla slams the butt of her blaster against the locking mechanism.
"Or you could do that."
The lock futzes for a second and then with the device no longer holding pressure on the tumblers, releases. Dalla yanks the door open. "Kason! Kason, it's me. We have to -." she stops cold.
Every inch of space in the carriage is covered in boxes.
"Oh no," She rips open the top of one of them, revealing a statue wrapped in packing peanuts. A second, filled to the brim with gold bars. "No, no no!"
Dono jumps into the doorway and her face falls. "Oh, that's not good."
"He's not here," Dalla rips open another box even though they're all far too small for Kason to fit in them. "Werda said he was going to be here!"
"She wouldn't lie to me, not when I'm the closest thing to a friend she has. She must have - oh gods," Dono sighs. "Black wealth. This must be the stuff Rash stole from King Dendup, and since it's stolen the people call it 'black.' If Werda wasn't so close and she heard them talking about it, then it sounds like Blackwell."
He's not here. He was never here. He's still at the palace with Rash, and his only defenses are an old man and General Tandin, whose loyalty I don't even have verbally.
Dono grabs her shoulder.
"We have to go," she urges. "You're not going to find your cousin here, and getting captured or killed isn't going to help him either. Now let's go!"
Dalla nods mutely and follows her out of the carriage and down the alley, running faster than the fambaa speeder could probably ever go.
"Oh, and by the way?" Dono pants. "We are so not telling Steela about this."
...
Five...four...three...two…
The second his father rounds the corner, Thias Blackwell bangs on his sister's locked bedroom door.
"Dalla! Open up!" He yanks on the doorknob for good measure. "Are you dead in there or something?"
"Thias, stop that!" Marlon orders and jogs over.
"She's locked everybody out," Thias argues.
"She's very sick," Marlon reasons, gently pushing Thias away from the door. "I don't want you or any of the others catching it and I don't want you disturbing her. She needs her rest."
"If she needs her rest then why'd you lock her door? Then she has to get up every time someone goes in to check on her." This more than anything tripped Thias' lie detector. Dalla habitually locks her door to keep out brothers and cousins and Portia, but never when she's sick. She hates shuffling from bed to door every time she wants to let someone in.
Marlon fishes around in his pocket. "She doesn't have to," he explains and holds up a key. "See? I can come in and check on her whenever I need, and she has her comlink in case she needs anything."
"Why hasn't she ever commed me when you're busy?"
"Because I told her not to. She knows only to comm me or Aunt Shara and we check on her enough she doesn't need to do it often. Now step away from the door," he squeezes between Thias and the door and sticks the key in the lock. "Thias, let me be Father. I'm going to make sure you didn't wake your sister."
Thias' gaze drops to his feet. "Did you tell her about the contract yet?"
Marlon slips in and shuts the door without answering and before Thias can get a good look inside the room. He stalks away in defeat. Well there went that option of finding out what the heck Dalla's doing in her room, or if she's even there.
He was willing to entertain the illness story for a while, but now it's just weird. Dalla hasn't made a sound from inside her room, and the foods Marlon's brought in supposedly for her aren't things Aunt Shara would give to a sick person. That, compounded with the fact Marlon hasn't eaten with the family since then leads him to believe that just maybe Dalla isn't the one taking meals in her room.
He falls back to the corner and peeks around the wall until Marlon emerges.
"I'll be back soon, Chirn Bait," he says with a wobbling smile. "Comm me if you need anything."
Oh, that seals it.
Thias tiptoes away to Aunt Shara and Uncle Jamos' wing of the Hold.
…
Cornel sits on the floor building a tower with his and Arkon's blocks when Thias enters their wing without a care in the universe about being caught. Uncle Jamos is away at the Harkons' to act as their family's representative for Miranda's funeral since Marlon and Dalla can't go, and he passed Aunt Shara stress cleaning a few rooms over.
"Cornel, I need your help."
Cornel doesn't look up from his project, but that's typical for him. Thias knows he's listening.
"It's Dalla. I need you to pick the lock on her bedroom door."
Cornel grabs two blocks and compares them while Thias keeps talking. "I know you can do it. You've looked at locks before; opening one shouldn't be a problem. C'mon, Corns. You can help Kason and Dalla."
No reaction, not even the small ones Thias knows to look for with Cornel. Makes sense, he's only eight after all. Nobody that young would understand how opening Dalla's door could possibly help her if she's sick, or how it could help Kason all the way in Iziz. He sighs in defeat. Oh well, he knew it was going to come to this anyway.
"I'll give you cake."
Cornel hesitates a tiny bit at cake.
"Your mom's making a care package for the Harkons. She just baked one of those fruit cakes she makes on special occasions," he says. "I swiped it and if you help me, I'll give you a piece."
Cornel selects a block and places it on the top of his tower.
"Two," he demands.
…
Ten minutes and two slices of cake wrapped in foil later Thias watches Cornel fiddle around in the door with two slim pieces of metal.
How long can opening a lock possibly take? In the holos it only takes a few seconds, but Cornel's had his ear pressed to the lock for almost three whole minutes.
"We don't have a lot of time, Corns," he worries. "If Father comes back while we're here, then we're toast. We don't have any reason for opening Dalla's door that he'll think is -."
Cornel gives one of the files a twist and the lock clicks.
Thias' eyes go wide. "You did it!"
Cornel gets up, sticks the files back in his pocket and holds out his hand expectantly.
"Yeah, you deserve two pieces," he happily deposits them in Cornel's hands. "You rule, buddy. Thanks!"
His cousin takes the cake and unwraps the foil on one of the slices to pick at the fruit topping.
"Find Kase," he says, and walks away
Thias' heart tugs a little as Cornel goes away. He thought they'd all done a good job of sheltering Cornel and Arkon from the ugliness of the last few weeks, but of course he noticed his big brother was gone. Of course he wants to help.
Well, so does Thias. He checks once more to make sure no one else is in the hallway, then turns the doorknob and enters the room.
Dalla's ledgers are spread across her desk. The laundry hamper is half-full. The bed is made but the covers are crumpled as if someone's been sitting on it. The refresher door is wide open, revealing an empty room.
The only thing the room's missing is Dalla.
Thias' gaze snaps around the room. Fishing gear, check, clothes, check, toiletries, check - she didn't take anything with her. She left in a hurry.
Someone took her.
Thias clicks the lock behind him and bolts for his bedroom. Why Father would cover this up he has no idea, but there's only one place someone would take Dalla. And if they took her the night Marlon told everyone she was sick, then she's been there for two days already.
That's enough time to hold a wedding, he thinks as he feverishly rifles through the pockets of his leathers. That's enough time for him to do salt-gods-know-what to her. Forget who owns the navy, we need the rebels. We need the rebels to get her and Kason out of there. We need to - kriff it, where are the kriffing numbers?!
He put the numbers in the pocket of his leathers when he pulled them out of his drawer and he hasn't moved them since. Heck, he hasn't moved his leathers since he heard about Miranda and nobody else has. Nobody but Dalla, who folded them the night before she disappeared.
Thias stops looking. She took the numbers.
That doesn't make any sense. If Dalla was kidnapped why would she take the numbers? And why didn't she try to escape or signal him or…
The truth smacks him like one of Aunt Shara's skillets. She needed them. She had to call the rebels because she was going to Iziz and she needed their help. She left on her own.
He doesn't know whether he's more relieved his sister hasn't been kidnapped or angry that she fleeced him.
Thias takes a few deep breaths and thinks. Okay, Dalla has to be in Iziz by now. She left on her own, she has his comm numbers, and Father's covering it up. Probably so Rash doesn't find her. If he knew she was so close, especially with the contract…
She doesn't know about the contract.
He grabs his comlink and furiously dials Dalla's number, only to get a busy signal. Figures she destroyed or ditched her comlink, but how is he supposed to contact her now? If she has a burner comm he doesn't know the number, and he didn't memorize any of the Bonteris'. The only way to warn Dalla about the contract would be to do it in person.
Well, that would be a challenge for the ages. He'd have to slip out from under the watchful eyes of his father and aunt and Double Trouble, steal a ship, somehow worm his way into Iziz without anyone noticing, and find the rebels in the middle of the capital city.
But it might also mean saving Dalla. It might mean getting Kason out of the palace. It might mean bringing Miranda's killers to justice.
He grabs his leathers off the back of his chair and yanks them on. No one ever said Thias Blackwell was one to back away from a challenge.
…
Thank you all for reading (especially you, Starwarshobbitfics) and don't hesitate to chat with DK and myself in the forum!