Entry 15

I contacted Pol Haus and informed him I was bringing a team with me. He looked relieved as he gave an update on the situation and assured me he would have a plan in the works and ready for our arrival.

We packed up our gear and left on the Laranth headed for Imperial Center. I noticed that Sacha and Magash seemed to get along together much better now…Sacha even managed to find properly fitting jumpsuits for the Zabrak woman. I guess agreeing that we are all part of a clan took away some of the tension between the two, which is good because they're sharing a cabin on the ship while I bunked with Den and I-Five.

After we made the jump to hyperspace I left Sacha at the helm and decided to get some sleep. I found Den and I-Five already in the cabin. I-Five was still in his HRD body and was currently gazing at a computer monitor with Den reading over his shoulder.

"Jax," Den began as I walked through the door. "Did Pol Haus say which prison planet Sheel Mafeen was being taken to?"

I shook my head. "No. He said she was transported from Coruscant to a prison barge. It will pick up convicts from various planets before going to its final destination—which is unknown to him at this time. Why?"

I-Five turned in his seat to address me. "We were just trying to do some preliminary research. There are a number of planets that have Imperial Prisons. There is one on the planet Dontamo, Garen IV, Branth, Rutan, Despayre, Serenno, Lusankya and Kessel. And that is just the ones we know about. The Imperials probably have dozens of secret locations."

I went over and sat on my bunk. "Hopefully Pol will discover where the barge is headed by the time we get to Coruscant." I flopped down on my bed pulling the pillow under my head. "He mentioned he might get me papers saying I was a guard, but he also told me to bring the Inquisitor outfit just in case." I looked over to Den and frowned. "I don't think you could masquerade as a guard. The Imperials have a very obvious human-centric bias. I have seen non-human Inquisitors, but the rank and file soldiers are usually human."

Den paced the room uneasily. "Perhaps Pol can forge papers making me a prisoner."

I frowned at that suggestion. "What if we can't get you or Sheel out? You will be stuck in a prison. Even if you had a short-term sentence there is no guarantee you will survive long enough to be reach your release date."

Den gave me a dismissive wave of the hand. "Sheel and I will get off the planet."

"Why do you say that?"

He looked at me with those big dark eyes and gave a wide smile. "Because Jax Pavan is part of my clan. He'll make sure all of us will survive."

I gave a cynical snort. "I'm sure Laranth thought the same way."

The smile faded from Den's face as I-Five made a groaning sound. "That's uncalled for, Jax." The droid's voice took on the tone of a disapproving parent. "We have faith in you…and so did Laranth. She sacrificed herself to save us. She knew what she was doing."

I looked away embarrassed. "Sorry. It's just…I'm a Jedi, but I'm not infallible. I don't want to put my friends in dangerous situations on the off chance that I might pull off a miracle and rescue them. It's a lot of pressure."

As my words echoed though my head I started to feel more and more anxious. When I initially agreed to this mission I was speaking only for myself. Now I had a strike team and that made me responsible for their lives. We were extremely lucky to survive our last rescue mission…but one day our luck might run out.

I can only hope that the Force will be with us.

Entry 16

The Laranth, masquerading under the transponder call sign Corsair, arrived on Coruscant after a four-day flight. During the journey I conducted Force exercises with Magash and Sacha in preparation for our next assignment. All Force instruction was risky nowadays, but I knew it was difficult to sense somebody through the Force while in hyperspace, therefore, it an opportune time to train. We worked on Force shoves, sensing danger and both sparred with the lightsaber against a remote. Sacha has great potential, but she is lagging behind Magash in ability. This is not surprising since Magash's trained since birth to utilize the Force…albeit it was through the use of spells, but it did give her a distinct advantage. Unfortunately, Magash's Force aptitude was mitigated by her complete naiveté of modern society. Growing up on Dathomir in no way prepared her for the culture shock she would experience on the city-world of Coruscant. Sacha and Magash would have to work together to survive.

During my last conversation with Pol Haus and he advised me that I-Five's HRD body would be too noticeable and recommended he come in a less conspicuous droid unit. Therefore, prior to our arrival to Coruscant, we transferred I-Five's droid brain into an Artoo chasis.

After docking we travelled by speeder taxi to the lower levels of Coruscant and then walked to a inoperable transportation tunnel in a deserted section of sector Zi-Kree. There we would rendezvous with Pol Haus operating an old Maglev Train that Whiplash utilized as a portable base of operation.

The five of us waited anxiously at the designated coordinates. Magash appeared more relaxed in the abandoned part of Coruscant than the upper levels. The looming buildings and the throngs of sentients on the more populated levels almost overwhelm the young Zabrak's senses. She was the only person who preferred the desolate lower levels, though. Den, I-Five and I knew all types of nasty things lived down here, from mutated and criminally insane sentients to feral droids. Everything down here could kill you.

After a few tense moments we heard the hum of a maglev train approaching. We all raised our blasters in anticipation of some unforeseen and unpleasant surprise, which, fortunately, never came. I was greatly relieved to see Pol Haus at the controls of the train. The Zabrak prefect smiled through the transparasteel window as he brought the vehicle to a halt. After locking down the brakes he exited the maglev and came up to me, hand extended in greeting.

"I don't know how I will ever repay you for your help." His voice was filled with relief and gratitude.

As I shook his hand I noticed his typical disheveled appearance used to mislead the public no longer looked contrived. Pol Haus purposely cultivated a visual perception of ineptitude by his sloppy appearance. The hair surrounding his cranial horns always remained uncombed, his clothing wrinkled and stained, creating a façade of a person who is apathetic and ineffectual…which hid the fact that he was an extremely intelligent and shrewd police prefect. As a result, criminals not only underestimate him, but it was unlikely his superiors would ever suspect Haus of possessing enough fervor to participate in any subversive resistance activities.

I was accustomed to seeing him in rumpled clothing, but he could never truly hide the insightful look of his golden eyes—it was direct, probing and full of vitality…until today. Now I saw the pain-dulled eyes of a man deeply wounded.

"No repayment needed, Pol." I placed my free hand on his shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. After a moment I broke contact and I turned to introduce my team. "You know Den and I-Five." I gestured toward the Sullustan and I-Five in his squat Artoo body before motioning toward the others. "This is Sacha Swiftbird. She is the Antarian Ranger that helped free Yimmon and this is our newest member of the team—Magash Drashi from Dathomir."

He smiled at the group. "Pol Haus. It is an honor to finally meet you Sacha. Whiplash owes you a great debt of gratitude for your assistance in rescuing our leader. " He turned to Magash. "It is a pleasure to finally meet one of the legendary fighting women of Dathomir." He held out his hand to Magash in salutation.

For a moment I didn't think she would accept his handshake. She gazed at Pol intently for a moment before she finally gripped his hand and made a slight bow of her head. "I have heard great things about you Prefect Haus."

"Thank you." He gave a genuine smile before he ushered us aboard the maglev train. "I don't like to stay too long in one place," he explained as he pulled back on the throttle and the train jerked forward. "We'll be at our final destination in about twenty minutes. I have a weapon's stash in an abandoned warehouse." He turned back to I-Five in his Artoo body. "I got a surprise for you I-Five. I couldn't find you an I-Five chassis, but you might like what I did scrounge up."

I-Five's dome rotated so his optical sensor was facing the prefect. He made a few typical astromech noises before his speech synthesizer kicked in. His voice sounded tinny, but the words were understandable. "As long as it is not a mouse droid, I believe I will be delighted by any additional droid chassis."

Pol Haus gave a deep chuckle of amusement. "It's not quite a mouse droid."

Pol didn't expand on what he meant, but instead concentrated on steering the train down the meandering and dilapidated tunnel system. I sat down next to Magash when the maglev ride became bumpy and gave her a curious glance. "You looked surprised by Pol Haus. I told you he was a Zabrak, didn't I?"

She nodded her head. "Yes. His appearance is not what I expected."

I laughed. "He purposely dresses down to make people think he is not as competent as he truly is. Don't let his appearance fool you. He is a brilliant Whiplash leader."

She gave me a slow nod of the head. "He does not have tattoos. Facial tattoos are a rite of passage. They show a Zabrak's lineage or place of birth. I have never seen an adult Zabrak that is unmarked. Was he banished from his people?"

I gave a palms-up gesture indicating my lack of knowledge on the subject. In all honestly, I never noticed Pol Haus was missing the traditional tattoos. "He never mentioned to me where he was born or if he had a family. He is a trusted member of Whiplash, though, and therefore an ally to the Antarian Rangers." I gave her a level gaze. "Is this going to cause some cultural difficulty?"

She shook her head. "No, I simply found it curious."

"Okay," I said slowly as I turned my attention to Den, Sacha and I-Five who were wagering on what type of droid body Pol Haus had acquired for them. I-Five thought it was a C3PO body, Den joked that it was probably a Child Care droid, while Sacha said she hoped it was a repair droid so I-Five could fix himself the next time he got decapitated. Her comment was rewarded by a mechanical razzing noise from the Artoo chassis' vocal synthesizers.

Whatever the surprise is I hope it will be helpful in our mission.