Chapter 10
Whoops
If I don't kill something by the end of the day, some backwater system is going to be very unlucky, Tanner thought as he ran to the brig. "What is going on in here?" he shouted as he opened the doors. He looked and saw Nick, laying on the floor.
"Are we theeere yet?" she asked, seemingly again. The droid at the door yelled his mechanical yell, and pointed his gun at the ray shield. He fired, and it sent the bullet ricocheting around the room.
"Get a grip or that next shot better fry your circuits," Tanner hissed at the droid. "If you don't like her asking that question, turn off your audio receptors."
Nick, hearing his voice, sat up. "Awww. Tanny-boy. The droids just having a little fun. You're being a buzz-kill. He isn't killing me, and nothings broken."
"There is a long list of things I would love to kill right now," Tanner said. "You are slowly making your way up that list. Now stop antagonizing my droid so I can get us to my master." He turned and walked out the door, heading for the cockpit. "And so help me, if I have to come back here one more time, you will be getting very well acquainted with the vacuum of space, mission or not," he said loudly.
Nick sighed loudly, and laid back down. She grabbed a few locks of her hair, and began to braid them. She waited for the inevitable tug in her gut that would mean they had launched into hyperspace, but after three times of hair braiding, she still had felt nothing.
00000
Son of an unholy, motherless- "Dammit! What happened to the hyper drive?" Tanner shouted angrily.
"Sir, the hyper drive appears to have sustained damage," said a random droid.
"Droid, I am aware that the hyper drive sustained damage. That tends to be why it stops working. I want to know how, when, and why it isn't fixed," Tanner said through clenched teeth. "Now, come here. I have something I would like you to inspect on the dash," he said, pointing at a spot on the control panel.
The droid walked over and looked closely at the control panel. "Sir, I don't see anything."
"Just look a little closer, you'll see it."
The droid bent over, analyzing every inch of the control panel, and said, "Sir, I-"
"FOUND IT!" Tanner shouted, smashing the droids head into the edge of the control panel, breaking it in half. He threw the scraps of droid head out of the cockpit, followed closely by its body. "That was relaxing," Tanner breathed, sitting down in his chair.
His relaxing moment was suddenly interrupted by his communicator beeping. "What?" He asked.
"Why hasn't the ship gone into hyperspace yet. I figured you wanted to get rid of me," an all too familiar voice said through the device on his wrist.
"I don't know how you got on this channel, or how you even obtained a communicator, but you will shut up before I close your little box up on you," Tanner said into his wrist.
"That droid by the door gave it to me. Look, why aren't we moving? Do you need me to fix it again?"
"Shut up. My hyper drive was just fine before-" Tanner realized what had to have damaged his hyper drive; Aban's student bumbling around in his ship. "I should kill your friend. I should kill her, flay her, and send her skin back to Aban as a gift while dumping her body in the nearest Sarlacc pit."
"Two things. One: that is not very nice. And two: since the damage is done from outside the ship in order to fix it you are gunna have to stop for parts. I can't use scrap droid pieces to fix this one."
"I really don't like you right now," Tanner said, logging in the coordinates of the nearest inhabited system that wasn't Coruscant.
"Hey sithy, I have a question."
"What?"
"Are we there yet?" He could hear the smirk in her voice.
"We just got moving, so what do you think you annoying brat?"
"Gasp!" she said. "What did I ever do to you to deserve such harsh wording?"
"You won't shut up. Now, shut up so I can drive in relative peace."
The communicator went silent, and Tanner steered the ship toward the nearest planet.
00000
After a very slow and very long journey, Tanner landed his ship on Mygeeto. "Now, we're going to be going out there together. No funny business or I will make you regret it," Tanner said into his wrist. "Be civil."
He heard loud footsteps behind him, and saw Nick walking toward the cockpit. She had two small braids on each side of her face, and one of her eyebrows was raised. "You think I'm the one who needs to be more civil? Look who's talking."
"How did you get out of your cell?"
"That droid let me out."
"Jail guard droid?" Tanner said into his wrist.
"Yes, sir?"
"Initiate your self-destruct sequence. Now."
The sound of technology short circuiting and electricity jumping into the nearest objects could be heard from the brig in the cockpit. The thunk of the droid hitting the floor resounded nicely, followed by a small explosion.
"It's so hard to find good droids these days."
"So, am I fixing your ship or not?"
"We need to find the parts first, then yes. Luckily, Mygeeto happens to be a very good place to find good tech. The planet wouldn't really function without it," Tanner said, walking out of the cockpit. "So, come on. I'm already late."
Nick followed him out of the ship, but quickly walked in front of him. "You're going to want to follow me. There are a few guys here who owe me some favors. Just keep the lightsaber away. They think I'm just a traveling mechanic, and I hate anything that has to do with Jedi or Sith."
"Fine, but I'm keeping this handy," Tanner replied, brandishing Ol' Trusty.
"You son of a bitch! Gimmie!" Nick said, practically jumping on top of Tanner, reaching for the gun.
"No," Tanner replied, holding it out of her reach. "If I don't get to use my lightsaber for the sake of being inconspicuous, I am not letting you have a blaster. Besides, if worse comes to worse, I will be much better at killing than you."
"Star! Hey kiddo!" a voice hollered from across the hub.
Nick immediately stopped jumping for the gun, and turned around. A Twi'lek male walked toward the pair, waving. Nick waved back, and yelled back at the tall, blue man. "Jaku! Hey!"
"What are you doing here? I thought you were headed to the academy?" he asked.
Nick shrugged. "Eh. I took up a mechanic job on my way. I decided I could use the creds."
Jaku looked at Tanner. "Who's he? Your boyfriend?"
Nick laughed. "No. He actually hired me."
"Oh really? Why'd you hire Star?" He turned to the padawan. "No offence kid."
"She was cheap and easier to look at than the other options. My ship seems to have the worst luck, so I end up talking to my mechanics a lot," Tanner replied.
Jaku laughed. "Most of the guys around here would agree." He punched Nick in the arm. "Star's the whole package. Good at what she does, and easy on the eyes."
Nick laughed, shaking her head. "Ha ha. Very funny Jaku. Listen, stop making jokes. I need a favor, and since you owe me one I figured it'd be a good time to pay up."
"You did save me from those guys back at the cantina. What do you need?"
"I need parts to fix a hyper-drive."
Jaku inhaled through his teeth. "You know I can't get you those."
"Come on Jaku. You owe me."
"Star, if it were any other guy that sold them…"
"That's why I can't go. You know that."
"If I may interject, I have been known to be very persuasive. Perhaps I could be of assistance," Tanner said. "I have a family gathering to get to and I really need to get my hyper-drive fixed, or I will never get there in time."
Jaku looked at Tanner. "The guy you need is named Epp Drexel. He is the only guy around here that sells those parts," he said, shooting Nick a worried look.
"Thank you, Mr. Jaku. Now, if you could just point me in the right direction…?"
Jaku shook his head. "You aren't going to want to go kid. Epp doesn't like new faces." He turned back to Nick. "Star, you're going to have to…"
"Look. If his stupid goons weren't after me…"
"The kid is going to get nowhere with him Star."
"I know!" she yelled.
"Star, I will owe you double if you don't make me do this."
She sighed. "Fine. You owe me double Jaku."
He smiled, and tousled her hair, undoing the braid on the left side of her head. "See you Star. Good luck getting to your family on time kid." Jaku walked away.
"Well, let's go find this Drexel guy so we can get out of here," Tanner said.
Nick frowned. "This is going to be awful."
"Hence why I get the gun," Tanner replied. "I have multiple means to the same end, and at least one of them is enjoyable for me."
Nick sighed, and lead him toward Drexel's. Once they arrived, she turned to him. "Okay Tanny-boy listen up. You are gunna have to let me go in. Alone. Drexel only sells to certain people and I'm, unfortunately, one of them. I will have to pull some major strings to get us those parts so stay out here, and don't do anything dumb."
"Yep, that's nice," Tanner said, walking in. "I'd like to speak to Epp Drexel," he said loudly.
Nick followed him in. "God dammit. He only lets one person be in here at a time dumbass."
Out of the back walked a very fat, very tall man. He was very greasy (not because he worked with ship parts) and his white shirt looked yellow. "Star!" He said. "Glad to see you."
"Epp," she said, bluntly, avoiding his gaze.
He leaned over the counter and grabbed her chin, making her look him in the eyes. "How's my girl doing?"
She yanked her face out of his hand, a disgusted look on her face. "I'm not your girl, Epp."
Epp frowned, and finally noticed Tanner. "And who is this?"
"I'm her current employer. I need parts to fix a hyper-drive," Tanner replied.
Epp smirked. "Well my little starshine, you know the rules. One customer at a time. I'll get boyo here the parts while you," he tapped her nose, "wait outside."
"That's fine by me," Tanner replied. "I was hoping she would wait outside myself. You know, let the men talk."
Nick glared at Tanner, who smiled at her. She turned, her hair hitting Tanner in the face, and walked outside. "Alright boyo. What kinds of parts do you need?" Epp said.
"All of them. My hyper-drive sustained some pretty serious external damage," Tanner replied.
Epp smiled. "That'll be fifty."
"Fifty-thousand?" Tanner asked, skeptically.
"What do you think smarty?" Epp replied. "It's a whole new system."
"Okay, is there anything I can do to bring the price down?" Tanner asked.
"Tell ya what boyo. You hand over Starshine out there, you can have it for free."
"Nope," Tanner replied flatly. "How about you give it to me for free, and you get to keep your head?"
Epp thought about it for a second. "Okay boyo you drive a hard bargain. Tell you what, I'll give you the hyper-drive for ten-thousand, and you keep Starshine. Deal?"
"Make it five and you get to keep your skin," Tanner said coldly.
"Five it is," Epp said, sticking out his chubby, greasy hand for Tanner to shake.
"I'm not shaking your hand. But here," Tanner said, throwing down five thousand credits. "I'll take those parts now."
Epp went into the back, retrieved a very large box with parts to build a whole new hyper-drive, and plopped it on the counter. "Thanks for your business boyo."
Tanner grabbed the box of parts, and went outside. "I don't know why you were so…" he started, until he noticed Nick was nowhere to be found. "Sutrook," Tanner said.
He began to look for her. She couldn't have gotten far. Suddenly, Jaku came running up to him. "Kid! There you are! Star's in trouble, and I mean big trouble."
"What happened? Where is she?"
"She was waiting for you when a group of guys grabbed her. She usually has a blaster, I don't know why she didn't use it on them. Anyway, she got into it with a few of them the last time she was here. Their leader has it in for her, apparently he met her on another system. You've gotta do something!" Jaku said, frantically.
"Where?" Tanner asked, drawing Ol' Trusty from his pocket.
"They went east. They were loud and destructive. She wasn't going quietly let me tell you."
"So finding her should be like trying to find a rancor in a small dune?"
Jaku shook his head. "Let me put this bluntly, they are going to kill her. Motivation enough for you to get moving?"
Tanner took off running east. He began feeling around with the force for Nick's presence, and in a few minutes, found himself in front of a large building. "Well, she makes enemies in high places, I'll give her that," he muttered, walking in.
He was about to use the force to find out where she was, but didn't need to. He suddenly heard a scream from the third floor. "You son of a bitch! Let me… AH!" The scream happened again.
Tanner grabbed his lightsaber after putting Ol' Trusty in his left hand, igniting it and cutting through the ceiling. He jumped through the hole and repeated the process, landing on the third floor. He turned, to find a group of many different species sitting around laughing. They heard him approach, and they turned. They noticed the lightsaber, and backed up. "I'm looking for a girl. She screamed. You will too if you don't tell me where she is," Tanner threatened.
A chuckle came from behind the group. A Mandalorian stood up from behind them, and walked toward Tanner, blood dripping from a knife in his left hand. "Kid, this girl is none of your concern. Run along."
'You don't know how wrong you are," Tanner replied. "I need her for a few reasons, so you better hand her over in one piece or you will pay."
The Mandalorian grinned, and stepped aside. Laying on the floor, in a pool of her own blood, was a nearly unconscious Nick. She had a cut matching the one on her right arm on her left one, and it was still dripping with blood. "Don't worry, I haven't hit any major arteries. Yet."
"Oh, you are so dead," Tanner hissed, charging at the Mandalorian. "I need her unharmed!"
The Mandalorian jet packed away, pulling out his blaster with his free hand. He fired three shots, easily deflected by Tanner. Tanner shot back, and the Mandalorian dropped to the floor, avoiding the shots. They both charged each other, brandishing their blades. They slashed at each other, blades crossing in a grapple. "Vibro-blade?" Tanner asked.
"Of course," the Mandalorian replied. "Prepared for anything."
"Not everything," Tanner replied, using force push on the ground and creating a massive energy wave. The Mandalorian flew backwards using his jet pack to correct himself, pulling out two thermal detonators.
"Keep this up, kid, and you won't be in any better condition than she is," he said, throwing the detonators.
Tanner shot them out of the air, throwing his lightsaber at the Mandalorian in the process. It was deflected with his vibro-blade, and the Mandalorian charged at Tanner. "Never disarm yourself, kid," he said, brandishing his blade for a slash. "It leaves you open for attack."
Tanner smirked. "I'm never disarmed," he said holding out his right hand. "I'm a sith apprentice." Tanner closed his right hand, and the Mandalorian felt his throat being crushed. "You pissed me off, now die," he said, using the force to snap his neck. He then pulled his lightsaber back to him, also taking the Mandalorian's blaster and vibro-blade. "These will be nice trinkets."
The rest of the Mandalorian's group, by now, had scattered. Nick was still on the floor, and she was still losing quite a bit of blood. "You just have to be bleeding, don't you?" Tanner asked, looking at Nick. "That's going to draw a lot of attention."
"Well what did you expect?" Nick said, starting to sit up. "Ew. It's in my hair."
"Can you at least get up?"
Nick, now sitting, started to try to stand. She got about halfway off the floor before she fell forward, flat on her face. "Why is the room spinning? Is it supposed to do that?"
"That would be the effects of extensive blood loss," Tanner replied. "Come on, then. I'll carry you," he said, throwing her over his shoulder. He walked towards the hole in the floor that he made to get here. "Hold on tight," he said, jumping down.
"You dummy! I only have one hand I can't hol-" Nick started, before he jumped. When Tanner jumped, Nick almost fell off his shoulder! She yelped, and Tanner tightened his grip.
"I'm not going to drop you," Tanner said. "I need you, remember?"
Tanner began walking the two back to the hub. About halfway there, Nick suddenly spoke up. "Sithy? Im getting really sleepy... Can I take a nap?"
"Not yet. That's the kind of nap you might not wake up from. You need to get stabilized first, then you can do whatever you want," Tanner said, hurrying his pace.
"But I'm tired now. Come on Tanny-boy. What's the harm?"
"I can't afford to let you die on me now, dammit, that's the harm!" Tanner replied, now running. "Now you will stay awake until I get you attached to the life support in my ship!"
The two finally reached the hub, Nick barely awake and Tanner frantic. He ran past Epp, Jaku, and some droids to get Nick back in his ship. He took her into the infirmary, where a droid immediately grabbed her from his shoulder and laid her down. "Sir, you will have to leave now. I need to care for the patient," the droid said.
"Fine, but if you don't save her, you might as well activate your self-destruct sequence."
"Yes sir," the droid replied, setting to work.
Tanner left the infirmary, and left his ship. "Jaku!"
"Kid! Is Star going to be okay?"
"She'll be fine. Listen, do you know how to repair a hyper-drive?"
Jaku nodded, grabbing his goggles to set to work. "By the time I'm done with this, Star should be up and kicking again!"
Hey! Chapter 11 is in the works and I'm tired and scholarships are kicking my butt... but whatever. Rate review all that jazz by now ya'll know what to do!
TTFN! ~Alyss