2. Sage's Dilemma

The thief was standing in a force cage identical to Sarin's previous accommodations

The thief was standing in a force cage identical to Sarin's previous accommodations. He was not as spry as Sarin had imagined him – indeed, the man looked like he had two decades on her, but perhaps that was due to his prolonged… interrogation. When Sarin entered the cell room trailing Eorlax, those glazed green eyes glinted. A dark scraggly beard was preparing to take residence on his weathered face, and what might in better days have passed for thick and chestnut just looked limp shoulder-length hair. Sarin's eyes were drawn to the ragged army uniform of the self-proclaimed Jedi, which she could glimpse was concealing some sort of armored plating. Curiouser and curiouser.

"This the thief we talk about, says he is a Jedi."

"Thinks he can get a fair trial on a false reputation, does he?" sneered Sarin, convincing herself that was not amusement glinting below the green haze occupying the man's eyes. "Alright Eorlax, I know how to operate this thing. I won't go too hard on him. Let's save me some time – can you bring me an inventory of your latest order. I'll question this fool and stack up your papers soon as you return, then we can both leave."

Eorlax looked between Sarin and the thief. Sarin arched an eyebrow. The Geonosian flicked his wings in indecision, then vested his trust in Sarin, leaving the room. "Big mistake, bug-brain…" Sarin muttered under her breath.

She locked the door behind the bug, then approached the thief.

"You Separatists are losing your touch," the thief said suddenly, "I was so looking forward to meeting the renowned Count Dooku."

His voice was husky but his tone was cold. "Dooku? What do you know of Count Dooku?" asked Sarin. If this thief was no Jedi, then perhaps her best bet was to leave him to Dooku. No. She needed to get out before Dooku arrived, if he was indeed the Geonosians' new client. "What are you doing here? Are you truly a Jedi?" she enquired.

The thief arched an eyebrow. The trick was more effective than when Sarin had employed it. "Perhaps. Why don't you let me out of here and we'll talk?"

Sarin narrowed her eyes. Her experiences on this planet merited suspicion on her part, but the Jedi Code won out. "Give me your word you won't run without me."

"So you aren't CIS. A Republic spy, then?" the thief smiled thinly, sardonically. "I'm Sage. You have my word. Neither of us stands a chance of escaping here alone."

Sarin tapped the controls and the force cage fizzled out. "I'm Sarin Silvern, spy extraordinaire. I was sent here by the Jedi of Coruscant."

Sage stumbled on his way, leaning heavily on the wall. Up close, Sarin could distinguish a faint scar running down his cheekbone. Fresher burns and bruises decorated his skin. "Ah, rescued by a Jedi. It doesn't get much more exhilarating."

Dry humor. Sarin offered him a kolto pack from Eorlax's bag. And discovered something hard beneath the medicine.

"What the..?" Sage looked up, green eyes clearer, as Sarin unearthed a compact hologram slipped into the medicine. Flicking it on, the blue holographic likeness of Eorlax sputtered into being.

"I speak to the Jedi on behalf of the worker caste of the Geonosians. Our economy thrived on your Republic's orders, and some of us remain loyal to the Republic despite the secession of our planet." Sarin stared as Eorlax's nearly flawless basic emerged from the hologram. Her first thought was that she had wasted her acting on him. Her second was to hijack a ship out of the tense politics of the planet, pronto.

"We took the tool of the thief but I now return it to you, Bronze. Tell Jedi of our plight. When Separatist threat is over, tell Jedi to vouch our loyalty in making droids."

The image died. "Here I thought they were barbaric bugs. Fond of their economy, the Geonosians," commented Sage, while Sarin dug in the bag for whatever tool Eorlax had mentioned. She was surprised to withdraw a battered lightsaber hilt.

"This yours? Then you are a Jedi."

"Only Jedi can carry these around?" enquired Sage, "I hear the Sith used them too. Is it unlikely for a merc to pick one up?"

"Unlikely," repeated Sarin, but she handed him the saberstaff. "You're a mercenary? But we'll deal with introductions later. We need to leave before Dooku gets here. I've had enough of politics for today. Take the whole bag of kolto, you need it more." She handed Sage the satchel and the holo.

"I presume you have a ship?"

"Hijacking one will be our first line of business. Mine was rendered somewhat… useless by the asteroids."

Sage looked amused. "Then perhaps I shall navigate the asteroid field on our retreat."

"Right," said Sarin, "The docking bay is across a complex of factories manned only by protocol droids. As long as there are no bugs around, we'll have no problem getting out-" some intuition seemed to awaken in Sarin. Perhaps a fledgling of precognition Master Windu was so passionate she learn. "Someone's coming."

Too late. Eorlax easily bypassed their lock. He wasn't carrying any papers. If the sporadic flicking of his wings was any indication, he was nervous. "Bronze got my message? You must hurry. I tell others you take click inventory. You need ship in dockyard eight. Take thief with you and tell Republic no bombing Geonosis."

"Self-preservation. And here I began to suspect you of altruism."

Sarin considered Sage, then Eorlax. "Don't sound so disappointed. I think I understand now. But why the worker caste, Eorlax?"

"Wingless Geonosians are workers, while my winged brethren are warriors,"

Eorlax explained. "I am a worker because my wings do not support me."

Sarin didn't explore that bitter story. "Alright. Lead on, Eorlax."

They filed out into a corridor, Eorlax buzzing anxiously in front of Sarin, Sage limping behind. They didn't get far. At least a dozen bugs, these with wings, were hovering in ambush once they passed into a walkway. Being a narrow walkway that raced high over vats of molten plasma, sans guardrails, the flightless were at a disadvantage. Amidst the clicking and buzzing, Eorlax translated.

"Tell them we surrender," said Sarin, as the bugs closed in. "We can't fight here."

Eorlax clicked. The bugs buzzed nearer, two of them snatching Eorlax. A couple spoke in halting Basic, punctuated by clicks. "We take the click traitor and the spies to the execution arena."

"We cannot make show now, client click Dooku will arrive soon," argued another.

"Dooku kill them anyway. We present him with their click corpses after."

"Execution entertaining," conceded the second bug, emitting a cackle-like buzz. "But quickly. Not public. Not in click arena."

During this exchange, the bugs had efficiently led their prisoners through the room and into a domed enclosure. There was a hangar gate at the far end, and several cages around the walls held acklays and nexus. Sarin noted the double-bladed spears and force pikes leaning against a wall. Two bugs to a prisoner held Sarin and Sage, while Eorlax was being dragged by his crippled wings. "We're right off the docking bay through that hangar," Sage hissed at Sarin. Indeed, she could hear a ship landing just beyond the gate.

"We release nexu," clicked two bugs, striding off to a cage. Sarin counted five more restraining them, readying herself to fight, but Sage struck first.

She heard the familiar buzzing of the lightsaber only after Sage's green blade had cleaved his two bugs into four halves in two smooth strokes. The bugs holding her sprung back and grabbed the force pikes.

"Before they release the nexu, if you will!" Sage yelled, swinging at another bug's head and clipping its wings before finishing his third Geonosian. Two more assaulted him armed with force pikes, and he was forced to dodge, rolling up a cloud of orange dust, his advantage spent. Limping up, he resumed combat.

Sarin ran for the nexu cage, tackling one of the bugs before it had time to react. The bug slammed into the wall, cracking its wings, while Sarin cursed its rock-hard exoskeleton. Dimly she heard the hangar door opening, and it occurred to her she should hurry. Sarin dodged the other bug's force pike, which jabbed its fallen comrade instead, and lashed out with her boot, managing to knock the weapon from her attacker. She could hear Sage's lightsaber impacting his combatants' force pikes in flashes of viridian light.

Springing up Sarin grabbed the fallen weapon. It was double-bladed, humming with static energy and sparking purple. Without pausing for even a flourish, she jabbed the hovering Geonosian in the neck, but the bug's bony chestplate absorbed the damage. Ducking under a claw, buffeted backward by a wing, Sarin landed a glancing blow on the bug's other wing, and it fell clicking angrily, snarling. It swiped viciously with its claws, and Sarin ducked again, jabbing the pike with all her might into the exposed armpit.

With a pained buzz, the bug's other arm ripped the force pike from Sarin's grasp and sent her stumbling. As the bug closed in, swinging the weapon expertly, Sarin let out the highest pitched scream she could muster.

The echo in the dome was fantastic. The bug before her dropped the weapon and brought its uninjured arm to clutch its ears in agony. The two bugs fighting Sage also crumpled from the air, and he quickly slashed both. Sarin reclaimed the force pike and pierced the bug's exposed neck, before turning to the last bug she had left for dead next to the nexu's cage. The bug was dead alright. So was Eorlax. The nexu he had released was crunching something bony, wings trailing out of its wide mouth. The feline monster turned all four of its diabolical eyes on Sarin, a smile revealing bits of bug stuck in a field of big, pointy teeth.

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