Riddles
"I hate Malapos Spaceport" Balthier muttered as Marina set the Strahl down into a docking bay. "I feel like if I turn my back for one second my ship will be gone."
"Do you want me to go and you stay here with the ship then?" Marina offered.
Balthier thought on it for a moment then nodded. "I'll run a few more diagnostics to make sure everything is in good shape."
Marina nodded and flipped the switch to lower the loading ramp. Balthier stood up and looked down at her. "What?" she asked curiously. "Stay here for a second" he told her.
Then he walked into his room and pulled out a handheld gun from under his pillow. He found a holster that fit it in his closet and then he returned to the cockpit. She had stood up from her chair but otherwise had not moved. Balthier handed her the gun. "Take this with you and be careful. House 211."
Marina smiled a little. "I'll be fine." She kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Don't worry."
Once she was gone Balthier set to work on checking to make sure that nothing in the hyperdrive was getting too worn out.
--
Meanwhile, Marina hailed a taxi to take her to house 211. She paid the driver to wait for her before she knocked on the door. A tall, aged woman with high cheekbones and long white hair answered the door. "Yes?"
Marina smiled kindly. "I'm a friend of Viktor's and I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit more about one of the stories you used to tell him." Balthier had filled her in on everything Viktor had said about the planet.
The old woman nodded and moved out of the way so that Marina could enter. The small living room was decorated very simply. It had one rocking chair, which the woman sat down in, and one small couch. She indicated for Marina to sit down on the couch. Marina did so. "Now what story may I interest you in?" the grandmother asked.
"My friend tells me that you come from a planet that is impossible to detect even with machines."
The old woman stiffened and leaned back in her chair with a serious look on her face. "And what interests you about this planet?"
"We have learned that a man of great power is seeking out a weapon found on your home planet. A weapon of mass destruction. We want to find it first and destroy it."
The old woman frowned. "And how am I supposed to know that you do not want this weapon for yourself? You are a pirate are you not?"
Well the woman certainly hadn't lost her wits with her youth. Marina stared into her eyes. "You're just going to have to choose who you want to trust."
The old woman stared back at Marina for a long time. Then she said,
"In the temple of Naboo it hides it's true form,
Until the worthy come it shall appear norm.
Placed in their circles the four stones that glow,
Fire, water, earth, and wind,
They will unlock the secret you wish to know."
Then she reached into a pocket in the folds of her old worn coat and pulled out a polished silver key. She handed it to Marina.
"Thank you." Marina bowed. The grandmother nodded and Marina left her in peace.
--
Balthier had just finished replacing a few old circuits in the deflector shield generator when Marina returned. "Did you find her?" he asked.
Marina nodded then grabbed his hand and drug him into the cockpit. Then she let go of him and sat down in her chair. "You have a riddle to solve."
Balthier sat down and listened carefully as Marina recited the riddle.
"In the temple of Naboo it hides it's true form,
Until the worthy come it shall appear norm.
Placed in their circles the four stones that glow,
Fire, water, earth, and wind,
They will unlock the secret you wish to know."
Balthier sighed in thought as he leaned back. "Each stone is a key of some sort and each one represents one of the four basic elements. It would make sense if the key was found on a planet that represented the element that the key corresponded to. For instance, the fire key would be found most likely on Mustafar and the water key on Kimino."
Marina nodded in understanding. "And what about the rest of it?"
"I believe we're supposed to find all four element stones first and then find this temple on Naboo. There must be something on Naboo that is important but first we'll worry about the 'stones that glow'."
"She gave me a key too. But I guess we'll know when to use it when it's time to unlock something."
Balthier nodded. "For now, set courses for Mustafar." As Marina punched the courses into the computer, Balthier charged up the hyperdrive.
"Courses are set. Hyperdrive is fully charged. Navicomputer has routed our course. We're ready to fly when you are captain" Marina reported.
Balthier nodded once and flew the ship into hyperspace.
--
The Strahl was equipped with a Series 401 hyperdrive motivator that adjusted the performance of the engine while the ship was in hyperspace and made sure the engine was ready to return to normal space when the pilot was.
The navicomputer in the ship calculated a course for the ship to follow while in hyperspace. The navicomputer calculates the quickest route to the ship's destination without allowing the Strahl to run into other ships, stars, asteroids, or anything of that nature. And like most pirate ships, the navicomputer in the Strahl was voice-printed in order to hide where the ship has been.
Balthier and Marina had done some heavy modifications on the ship's shields and weapons. Especially the shields.
The original deflector shield generator was replaced by a stolen stasis-type shield generator. This way the shield was about four times stronger than before. Other modifications having to do with how quickly the shield charged, and how well it stood up to different temperatures were also made.
The Strahl had one unique weapon as well that most ships in the entire galaxy did not even know about. Even though it was very old school, the lightning gun on the Strahl was quite powerful. Balthier and Marina had stolen the parts and built it specially for the Strahl.
These modifications, among others, allowed the Strahl to be one of the fastest ships in the galaxy and it's owners had proven that case in more than one instance. If it wasn't outrunning another ship, it was a race for money. In more than one situation, the Strahl had proven herself to be a fast and reliable vessel. It was the perfect ship for a couple of sky pirates.