It's like FINALLY we get to meet Kallisto, right? Hope so. Also I thought ya'll might be interesting in this little fact (and its not that I'm southern, with the ya'll thing). Yeah you're like whatever Sith Master we have no interest in if you're from the south. Anyway, I checked the story stats on my profile, Master and Apprentice: The Unknown Son has as of now, at this moment 8043 hits, which (for those of you who haven't checked your stats section or didn't even know there was one) means the story has been viewed 8043 times, but it doesn't mean of course that 8043 people read the entire thing, just means a chapter of it at least was looked at. Its called hits. The first Unknown Son has 8043 hits. This one has 924 so far. Just thought you might want to know. In addition to that REVIEW! I would so like to get more reviews than I did on the first Unknown Son (43) even if I get 44 I'll be happy.
Chapter 7: Meeting Kallisto
"We're going in that thing?" Mara asked in dismay. "Didn't I get rid of your crappy ship?"
"Tis not the only crappy ship we have." Alecto replied. "Believe it or not it is in much better shape than the one you used."
Mara rolled her eyes, staring at the shuttle she would be boarding momentarily. It was old. Very, very old, about twenty or twenty five years, an early variation of a Lambda class shuttle. It was a run down Theta class shuttle. Its normally white outer hull was streaked with scorch marks. There were giant rips of metal missing in places, and it was dusty and oil stained. Its primary armament, twin laser cannons on either side of the protruding cockpit, were both missing chunks of metal at the tip of their barrels, and the tops were burned black from what Mara might define as over use, which was a lot.
Its ramp looked as though it had been re tiled several time, and some places still had missing floor pieces. The landing struts were somewhat bent and looked as though at any moment the shuttle might become to heavy for them. In contrast with everything the huge cockpit window was brand new and glassy black.
Alecto led Mara up the ramp, she was flanked by a tall smuggler with a mustache and long sideburns who would pilot the ship. Mara was surprised at the interior of the place, a few things had been replaced, and some things were in bad shape but it was relatively okay. Mara followed Alecto into the cockpit, Alecto sat behind the co pilot's chair, and Mara sat behind the pilot's seat, where the tall man sat down and began priming the engines. The seats were very nice and looked new, mostly because Mara had never seen any old, or new Imperial shuttle with fine leather seats. She crossed her legs and sat back.
"So, how long is this going to take?"
"That depends." Alecto replied. "You want to get there quick or you want to get there in normal time?"
"Quick."
"Fifteen minutes tops."
"Tops? What's the minimum amount of time you've ever taken to get there?"
"Seven, but that's only because twelve Imperial TIE fighters were closing in on my tail." Alecto replied bitterly.
"Imperials came here?"
"Oh yes, about a year and a half ago. Thought it was interesting they detected bases here. Came down and shot the hell out of us, we ran and escaped to a backwash in the outer rim. Twas only about half a year ago we returned."
"Then how is it Kallisto has contacts with the Imperial, and why?"
"Dunno, tis your business not mine. You find out."
Mara rolled her eyes again. The shuttle lifted off and flew away across the treetops of Cato Neimoidia.
XxX
Fifteen Minutes Later
Mara was mildly impressed when the shuttle rose over a long hill and in the distance she saw the capitol Neimoidian palace. It sat on the ground, the capitol city in the distance, several miles away, floating on a ruined platform as all Neimoidian cities do. The palace was enormous, it was made of silver metal and sandy stone, spires and towers rose up around it, landing pads attached to some. Near the bottom Mara could see a hanger bay, a cavity in the largest tower. The shuttle headed towards it, when it came within half a mile or so the comm crackled with static and the voice of man filtered through, his voice was smooth and soft. It reminded Mara of a snake.
"Unidentified shuttle transmit your ID codes and wait for verification. You have two minutes to comply or be shot down."
"Transmitting now." Alecto said through the comm. She hurriedly pulled up some file on the internal computer of the ship and sent it through. The pilot circled around the palace once before the man came back again.
"Your ID codes check out. Welcome Alecto, you are authorized to land on platform number five on the main tower."
"Thanks. Alecto out." Alecto said quickly, shutting off the comm. Without having to be told the pilot turned up smoothly and headed for a platform near the top of the main tower. He circled around it as he prepped systems to land. Mara could already see a small party ready to greet them on the platform. They became closer as the pilot eased the shuttle into a landing.
"We reach our destination." The man said in an accent similar to Alecto's only much more distinct. His speech in basic could have used a little touching up as well.
"Thank you captain." Alecto replied as the hydraulics that lowered the ramp squeaked. She and Mara stood up and headed out onto the platform.
The group the greet them was more than small and less than large. There was only one important looking person who wore an old general's uniform with a small blaster pistol holstered to his side. He was flanked by about seven other smugglers, dressed in hodge-podge armor and each carrying some type of heavy blaster rifle and a different variation of a vibro blade. He saluted as Alecto approached him, Mara behind her.
"Welcome miss Alecto." He said. He spoke in an accent even more strange than Alecto. His A's sound like ah, his I's sounded like E's and he rolled his R's, similar to Alecto's yes, but he spoke in a much different tone, the best Mara could describe it, different.
"Hello Zador." Alecto said, but it sounded like more like she snapped at him. Mara came out from behind her and looked the man full in the face, for the first time noticing his skin had an odd green tinge to it.
"And who is this?" Zador asked, his th's also sounded different, like Z's.
"Mara Jade." Mara snapped. "Nice to meet you too."
"I meant no offense." The other replied. "I simply wish to inquire why you are here."
"Why are you a secretary or something?" Mara asked with a slight chuckle.
"As a matter of fact… I am. Lady Kallisto's secretary."
Mara burst out laughing. "Aren't secretaries supposed to be women?"
"Aren't nurses supposed to be women? Some are men so shut up if you please and answer my question. Why are you here?"
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no." Alecto hissed, shaking a finger. Her little oh and five no's saying was getting to Mara; it was as annoying as three ounce mosquitoes from Dagobah. "You not be speaking to a guest like this Zador. Or you never speak again. We clear?"
"We clear." Zador replied saluting. Mara was now forming her own opinion about him, and he was much stranger than Alecto, her accent, her hair style, and the pilot put together. "Now she be coming to see Kallisto I assume."
"You be correct." Mara snapped. "A tip for you; learn proper basic before becoming a secretary."
"A tip for you. Keep you tongue behind your teeth lest it be cut out." Zador retorted. Mara now didn't like him at all now.
"You two best shut your traps and get down to business. Mara comes to see Kallisto, Zador take her to her now." Alecto hissed with more than a little irritation evident in her accented voice. "Be gone now. I'll be in de shuttle till you come back."
"Yes Alecto." Zador replied. He turned and narrowed his eyes at Mara. "Follow."
"Follow?" Mara muttered under her breath, so quiet she could barely hear it. "What kind of moron says follow?"
"Apparently this kind." Zador snapped without turning his back to her. Mara jumped when he said that, now this guy was much stranger than anyone she had ever met.
XxX
Zador had led Mara to a turbo lift in the main tower. Only she and him had entered it, the rest of the smugglers had gone back to their routines. Zador pressed the top floor button, (don't they all?) and the lift shot upwards, not going as fast as Mara would have liked. Bored she put her hands behind her back and raised herself up and down on her toes while Zador stood there calm and still. Elevator music began to play. After a few moments the lift had passed the half point in its ascent and Mara's nose twitched as a foul smell entered it.
"Something stinks." Mara noted.
Zador nodded. "My species have bad foot odor. It is unnoticeable in large areas but in small areas it becomes clear."
"Sick."
"To your race perhaps."
Mara rolled here eyes and began to breathe out of her mouth. Finally the lift reached its destination and the doors pulled back with a ding. Mara and Zador stepped out into a large windowless throne room. It was far from glamorous, and looked as though it was used for meetings and weapon storage. Pillars aligned either side of the wall, each had a number of red and black plasteel weapons crates in between them. The ceiling was high raised with several inactive chandeliers. The light of the room came from spotlights set up around it and glow rods attached to the wall. In the middle of the room was a decent looking situation table, made of polished black metal, the chairs surrounding it each had two curving spike designs on the top, it was like the Imperial classiness Mara was accustomed to seeing.
At the very end of the room, raised on a two step platform was a throne, originally it looked like it was simply made of white stone, however red pads had been firmly attached to it, making it look comfortable. On either side of the throne were two small, not-so-fancy arches, leading to what Mara guessed were sleeping and living quarters.
However her attention turned to the woman sitting in the chair, Kallisto she assumed, and her color was definitely red. She was lying over the chair, her feet going off one armrest her back leaned on another. She was reading a datapad which she dropped in boredom as Mara entered. Back to the description, red was her color. Her hair was fiery red, darker than Mara's own, she wore some sort of suit, made of flexible red material, and high heel crimson boots. On her black belt which nicely contrasted with her red clothing were two mirror shiny blaster pistols, holstered on either side. But the most noticeable feature of Kallisto was a tattoo on her forehead, of a black spiky sun with a crescent shaped white moon in front of it. It was no bigger than two coins, the size of a quarter combined but still noticeable. She turned her head towards them and spoke in a flawless tone of basic, unlike her smuggler cronies.
"Who have you brought Zador? Not another person looking for employment I hope because I am tired of having to turn them down and kill them." Kallisto said.
"No, no Lady Kallisto—"
"I told you not to call me Lady Kallisto. Boss will do."
"No boss, someone Alecto brought here to talk."
Kallisto suddenly showed as sign of interest.
"Leave then." She said to her secretary who bowed and headed back to the turbo lift. Kallisto slid off her throne and walked over to the situation table, sitting at the northern end. Mara sat to the south.
"If Alecto brought you she must have deemed you worthy. Tell me, what did you have to do?"
"She had me assassinate some guy on Coruscant, then she made she fight her with a vibro blade and I won. Now—"
"We haven't gotten to the now part, I only asked you what you had to do." Kallisto snapped. "But very impressive not many could best Alecto in sword combat."
Mara shrugged her shoulders. "I think she kind of sucks."
To her surprise Kallisto shrugged too. "I really wouldn't know. I am not a fan of melee weapons."
Kallisto pulled out one of her shiny blaster pistols and shot it into the ceiling, tiny particles of durasteel and permacrete rained down on the floor.
"I like my blaster, and rifles." Kallisto said, putting the weapon away. "And I especially like this."
Alecto pulled a circular object from her belt Mara hadn't noticed and held it up. It was a giant slim ring, and razor sharp by the looks of it, it seemed to larger or thicker than a standard dinner plate, but it also had an S shaped handle in the middle, and was entirely black.
"What is that?" Mara asked.
"My own invention, I call it smart disc. It locks on to any target I want it to and bounces off multiple targets, then comes straight back to me through mind sensors."
"How does it work with mind sensors?"
Kallisto pointed to the tattoo on her forehead. "This tattoo covers up a scar I have where they installed a chip onto my brain that I use to control the smart disc."
"Who's they?"
"Medical technicians." Kallisto replied.
"So how good are you with it?"
Kallisto didn't answer, she merely gave the disk a light toss, it took off, spinning so fast Mara could barely see it, she looked as it hit a weapons crate, making a large dent in it, bounced of a pillar and flew back towards Kallisto. She stretched her arm out and grabbed it by the center handle. Then she clipped it back onto her belt. Mara was mildly impressed.
"Interesting, how exactly does it fly?"
"Its powered by something like twenty nearly microscopic repulsor lifts on each side. A new technology."
"Interesting, now back to business." Mara replied.
"Yes, indeed back to business." Kallisto agreed. "Why did you come here?"
"I need help contacting the remnants of the Empire still loyal to the old Emperor. I was told you can get in touch with them." Mara said.
"I can, yes. But not directly. I message through them with Mourth Doole, he took over command of the prison center on Kessel a while back and mines spices with old Imperial prisoners and anyone he can catch. He hate the Imperials but the ones loyal to the old Emperor threaten to take Kessel by force unless they get fifteen percent of all spices mined. They like to sell it to make credits. I do business with them through Doole as well."
"Fantastic." Mara groaned sarcastically. "I jump from Alecto, to you, and now we have to go see someone else to get in contact with the Imperials?"
"Yes. Sorry for the inconvenience, but tell me why you need contact with them."
"I need help so that I can kill the son of the new Emperor for killing the old."
"Ooh assassinations. My other specialty, okay I'll help you, I suggest you wait here until I can make contact with Doole."
"Fine." Mara sighed.
"Good, now before I find you some quarters what is your name?"
"Mara Jade.
Kallisto extended her hand to Mara, she took it and shook. "Welcome to my business Mara Jade."
Mourth Doole is the guy from the Jedi academy trilogy by Kevin J Anderson, I am using him in this story for the lack of anyone else. He doesn't do business with Imperials of course but this is fan fiction and I am bending the rules. Oh and of course only Alecto and Kallisto really belong to me, every one else was either created by George Lucas, and or Timothy Zahn/ Kevin J Anderson. By the way I'll be going into a subplot I think with Ravan, Vader and Leia now since I haven't really got into anything with them yet.