As the Dark Times fade.
Disclaimer: Skymaster23 has no connection to any RL actors mentioned below.
Second disclaimer: Skymaster23 does not support smoking or drinking.
TY to iamabarbiegirl12345 for the review.
Segment one happens while Obi-Wan is leaving to disable the tractor beam.
"The what? Hey, don't you... damn it." Carlin says, shaking the body just as two stormtroopers rush in. He begins to stand, but is shoved back to a crouching position.
"This is a restricted area, citizen. Move and you will be considered a combatant." The first one warns while the second scoffs.
"They already killed twelve of us; let's just-"
"Let's just what, trooper?" A third voice says, which Carlin finds to be from an Imperial officer. "What do we have here?"
"Sir, we have five confirmed dead throughout the premises; plus this one, connection unconfirmed." The lead stormtrooper explained.
The officer glances at Carlin before nodding to them, then allows him to stand. "I'm Lt. Ulgant, of the Hanna City garrison; and you are..."
"Cpl. Carlin Deler, sir. Air & land traffic division for the Emita branch of the Chandrilan Civil Protectorate."
"Deler, is it? That's the family operating Chandrila's most renowned Holotheatre, if I'm not mistaken?" Lt. Ulgant asks while raising a brow. "We'll have to take you in for questioning on this incident before the media arrives and sees you here."
"Understandable; is Sakal being told this as well?" Carlin asks him, noting that none of the military personnel appear surprised at the rather unconventional manner inwhich the rebels were killed.
"There was a second witness here?" Lt. Ulgant asks him with a more perturbed demeanor.
"Only to the speeder bike that escaped, sir. My partner, Sakal Imbru, should have apprehended the rider by now."
"In which direction? How much does he know of this?" The Lt. demanded, to which Carlin, unable to shake off the possibility that a whole planet is now dead, only answers the first question. "SD-255, there's another Patroller within the cordon. Send a squad out as far east as you can, and find them before sunrise!"
Once at the nearest Imperial base, Carlin is shown Imbru's status... he somehow burned to death. "We located your assigned interceptor while you were on the way here, Cpl. Deler. Regrettably, it went down over quadrant 3-19. Our follow-up investigation found that he has made a number of calls from his residence to this terrorist cell."
"Sakal? He was one of the most dedicated of my class." Carlin told Ulgant. He gets the feeling that the Lt.'s being dishonest, but the whole situation keeps him from deciding what to do. Carlin, who had always supported The Empire as much as the next person, was experiencing something new.
Doubt.
Doubt in the form of a recently deceased member of a species which everyone was told had died out before the tenth Empire Day, and in each molten slash-mark in a room full of military-grade durasteel.
"We attempted to take him into custody five miles from the site, but he chose to crash his speeder to keep this spice operation secret. I'm terribly sorry." Lt. Ulgant tells him, and turns to another one of his men. "Pvt. Wallen, escort the Cpl. back to his prescient."
"Yes, sir."
"Wait; what do you mean, spice operation?"
"Hmm? I would think that obvious. By order of Moff Seerdon, this was a case of inebriated driving that coincided with an overloaded spice processor."
Carlin gives a furious glare to the Lt. daring to sully his partner's record, ignoring the stormtroopers aiming at him, and inwardly swears to hunt down the sack of Fecklen bile who must have been on the speeder bike until the last root withers, but agrees. "By the Emperor's will." He tells the Lt.; a pledge that hours ago he would have died for now couldn't feel more acrid.
He is taken to an ITT, and leans back in his seat as the transport takes off. "...You see the Limmie match against Ralltiir?" The stormtrooper asked after a few minutes.
Carlin only sighs and says nothing. Once back at the station, the other two from the Tapcafe, and the chief, a retired clone are outside waiting for him. "I want you to know, I'll have a list of replacements for Cpl. Imbru on your desk in a few days; until then you can take tomorrow off." The latter tells him, and heads inside.
"Don't pay attention to him, Carlin." The female Patroller says as she pats his back. "I tried to let Toln know what happened, but the Star Destroyer he's on is at Kessel. Should we head back to the Gronda?"
"The offer's appreciated, Fenla, but i have a report to make."
Three days after the incident, several riots caused by the dissolution of the Imperial Senate, as well as another blow to Chandrila's reputation in the form of the execution of it's representative, Canna Omonda, Carlin is on leave, a bit too exhausted to acknowledge the greetings from the passersby while buying voice coils for the Holoprojector in chamber 4 along with his younger sister, Nirame, and her boyfriend, Hallem Rossiker. "Hey, 'Lin, there's some refraction crystals on sale in aisle eight."
"We have enough back home. I'm going to pay for these and put them in the backseat. Don't keep me waiting like last time." He says, and walks off as Nirame scowls.
"Did you hear what he said about me just now, Hallem?" She half-complains.
"Heh, he's just upset cause he's not as well off as we are, my dear." He told her.
She was about to reply when she noticed something projected behind him, and called Carlin back frantically. Both men turned around to see a Xof And Acquaintances announcement. "- ile all attempts to reconnect with the Alderaan system have failed, Imperial Center urges everyone not to speculate as to the cause."
Nirame was about to comment on it when she hears Hallem and a few other customers yelp in response to something that turns out to be her brother collapsed on the floor. "Carlin!"
In the nearest med-center, Carlin wakes up, and complains while covering his eyes. "Whell zomebody get me the manager, the lighting's set too... Thi-this ishn't the store." He mumbles before his vision clears, and sees his family and Hallem standing next to a 21-B. "Mother, father... what's going on?" He asks as his sister latches onto him.
"You don't remember yet? Mr. Wenfare said one of his employees called this facility when you fainted infront of everybody." His mother, Ibellia, tells him.
"You weren't moving at all, Carlin. I thought you were dead, too!" Nirame added while sobbing as Hallem stayed back, uncertain of whether he should, or could, say anything.
All of this causes Carlin to recall what was on the holonet and realize the dying man's words: "Know their deeds". That blinding green light rushing towards him was the last thing every citizen of Alderaan, as far as he knew, saw as The Empire murdered them for reason not yet known. As he strokes his sister's head, he inwardly kicks himself for making her have to relive the time she was told she was adopted after The Clone Wars ended.
He briefly considered sending her outside and enact a CCP protocol to the droid so he can inform their parents in private, but decides against it, and picks the other option. "Has it caught up to you, son?" He was asked by his law father, Tab, who Ibellia married four years after his blood father Hevnit joined the Coruscant Rescue Ops after the CIS attacked Hanna City with a bio-weapon, only to die in a structural collapse following the bombing of the Republic capitol-world's power grid.
Carlin then thinks of what else the man said. He vaguely recalled the word "force" having something to do with a scam that a member of his family 200 years ago was involved in, but shook his head. "No... well, some of it. But i will need to handle it alone, please."
Four days later, his shift is over and he is walking down a street when he is called over by an alien peddler. "You sir, you look like there's some cred's weighing you down; how's about lightening the load with one of these little beauties?" He asks while showing a case full of cheap trinkets.
"Forget it, wrinkles, i can get better two blocks from here." Carlin says while rolling his eyes.
"Aww, not even this one?" The peddler asks while holding a ring. Carlin is about to decide to put in a little overtime, until he notices a small rebel symbol on it. "I'm Capt. Lokmarcha of the Alliance SpecForces. Sakal Imbru didn't kill himself, Carlin Deler. Fulcrum can prove it." The peddler tells him sternly.
Carlin stares at the item before replying. "Where?"
Hours pass before the two arrive at a settlement with a few people standing around, each in possession of various blasters. The person gives a password and they head to the side of one of the buildings, where a panel on the ground opens, revealing a ladder. "As one of the fighter pilots from our main base would say: Tada!" Lokmarcha says.
Carlin peers down the hole before joining him, and they head down several tunnels to a room full of people of more than one species. "Assuming this is your headquarters, are you Fulcrum... or is he one of those?" He asks aloud, randomly pointing at a Mon Calamari, causing everyone to glare at him.
"Permission to speak freely sir?" One woman he couldn't see from where he stood asks. Not that he needed to see her to cringe at what was next.
"Granted-Farr!" One older man standing next to an odd holographic symbol says before having her restrained for walking up to Carlin and kicking him in the shin. "I apologize on her behalf."
"No need; I'm at the very least not innocent." Carlin replies as he rubs at the bruise.
"Otherwise, I'd have shot you."/"Will you get her out of here, please." 'Farr' and the cell commander say, before the latter speaks again. "Fulcrum's not here physically, Cpl. Deler. But since you are, you're going to have to abandon the high-human viewpoint from this moment on."
"This is Captain Bentesh, currently in command of the Chandrilan resistance cell now that Major Naughlen is gone. He's the only one with Fulcrum's channel code." Lokmarcha explains to Carlin. It's easy for him to guess that this Major was the dying man who showed him the unknown planet's fate.
"And i am Fulcrum." A modulated voice from a speaker says next. "Such opinions have no place amongst us."
"Is it wrong for humanity to be in charge after what the aliens of the CIS did?" Carlin asks the voice, wanting to get to the topic of Imbru's death, and is answered by the symbol being replaced by a square screen.
"...You be the judge." Fulcrum replies flatly as a series of holoclips appear: the wastelands of Gravlex Med.
Slave camps on Kashyyyk and Ryloth.
Firespeeders washing off very familiar red fluid from a Star Destroyer landing pad at Ghorman.
Post-Base Delta Zero cleanup of Caamas, Kinyen, and Falleen.
The razing of Lothal.
Before and after images of Jedha and Scarif.
The media coverage of The Pacification of Salline was one thing, but all this as well as Alderaan's fate proves too much, and he falls to his knees. "St-stop it! Stop-" He yells before vainly holding back a vomiting spell. "Th... can this be what I've been supporting?!" He asks himself while a scrubber droid zips around.
"Now that you're aware of what the real Empire is, shall we get to the matter of your fellow officer?" Captain Bentesh asks after ordering for some water.
"I am told Sakal Imbru was pursuing a speederbike after you witnessed a bomb go off." Fulcrum adds.
Carlin slowly nods. "Yes... I gave that order; what really happened to Sakal back then?" He asks after rinsing his mouth.
"How he died was by the rider." He is then told, and another screen pops up showing the dying man he saw, which is replaced by one that caused the hairs on the back of his neck stand. "On the left was Major Naughlen, former member of the Jedi Order. For the last 18 years he had been doing his part to keep the memory of them alive until what we thought was a window of opportunity to evacuate him and the Bothan girl, whose body you saw at the crash-site." Fulcrum explains, and adds that the QH-7 he was pursuing that night was stolen for an extraction since both individuals took part in what happened at Salline, before the second screen, which is of a man in black clothes and a thin visor over his eyes, is highlighted.
"We don't know his name, but we do know he is in, or perhaps even in an organization above, the Imperial Security Bureau. During the pursuit, this individual stopped, dismounted, and shot him down by throwing a weapon similar to these..." Fulcrum says next as an image of a pair of curved metal bars is shown. "...straight through your interceptor's fuselage."
"Jedi?" Carlin asks first. "They're the cultists who tried to kill the Old Republic's leadership 20 years ago, aren't they; i was that close to one of them?"
"No. Much of what happened back then was unrecorded. According to procedure, the Jedi attempted to arrest The Emperor when he proved unwilling to end the war after the leader of the CIS was defeated, only for one of their own to betray them and everybody else in The Galaxy."
Carlin found this too massive to think of, and changed the subject. "Other than that... You're telling me Sakal was impaled in mid-air at hundreds of kilometers per hour? How can you even know this?"
"You're going to have to believe it. Everything you were told about The Emperor for the last thirty years is a lie." Fulcrum tells him. "His overextended Chancellorship, The Clone Wars, The Jedi Purge? Palpatine was behind all of it so he could build this Empire."
"When i was an youngling, Coruscant suffered a planet-wide blackout. My blood father was one of the Rescue Ops that died repairing the after-effects." Carlin says, at the canyon's ledge of the biggest decision in his life.
"Yes, Count Dooku was just another of his disposable servants."
"...I'll ask you again; how do you know this?" He asked sternly.
"Because a reliable source tells me you have the same skills Major Naughlen had. Recent events have caused us to gain a renewed interest in seeking such individuals." Fulcrum explains.
Carlin had a feeling that wasn't the whole story, but he need not hear it. With the knowledge that his ancestor wasn't a fraud after all, if there was even a chance that he could prevent anymore lives from being taken... he turned to the captain. The man smiled at the unspoken acceptance, but held up a hand. "First thing's first, I'm afraid. If you really are force-sensitive, You'll need to be taken off-world as soon as possible. Bircher, you're in charge. Lokmarcha, follow us to supply for 2 sets of Imp clothes and some binders."
"Yes, sir."
Before Carlin could ask, the two drag him off and explain the plan. "There's an Imperial light freighter due to land at Hanna in seven hours. You and i are going to commandeer it posing as an Imperial Colonel and a Sgt. with a Rebel spy wanted by a Captain Isoto in our custody."
"Is this Isoto expecting us?" Carlin asks him.
"No; but we can buy him off easy enough. And if not, he's inept to the point that he couldn't catch fire."
Despite Carlin's disgust at his reflection in the windshield, the three head off in a hidden V-43 landspeeder. Along the way, Carlin thinks of his home. Of his room with models of dejarik creatures and a TX-130, holo-posters of Wynssa Starflare (5 of them), Garik Loran (pre-scarring), and Jaalib Brandl. Of the family and friends he would be leaving behind. "I'm sorry, Mother, Father, Nirame. Fenla and Toln. I'm going to have to be your enemy now. May we never cross paths again. Goodbye." He thought to himself.
At the spaceport, the trio approach a checkpoint. "Hand over your Identicards." One Stormtrooper says to them, but is refused.
"We have no time for that, trooper. This non-human cur is wanted by Capt. Isoto for transfer to Jagg Island immediately." Bentesh tells them as Lokmarcha struggles.
The Stormtroopers glance at the prisoner and each other. "Did you not hear him? Step aside, the rebels may be all around us!" Carlin adds while looking around at an alley.
"Understood, sir. I'll give escort." The Stormtrooper replied.
Bentesh sighs and they continue. "Had to jump in, didn't you?" He asks Carlin quietly.
"Sorry."
The group makes their way to the docking bay when they are stopped again... by Lt. Ulgant. "Halt; haven't i seen you somewhere before?" He asks while looking Carlin over.
"Have you? Maybe we met at the officer's club; you wouldn't happen to know who took a Shuura from me the other day, would you?" Carlin suggests, leading him behind some crates.
"The officer's club? But aren't you onl-" Ulgant tries to say when the other three hear someone fall down hard.
Carlin walks back alone. "The price for petty theft goes before one's rank." He lies, and the Stormtrooper waves him off.
"Can we just get going, I'm not getting any younger here." Lokmarcha tells them, and they head to the bay's entrance, only for Bentesh to frown when he sees a Zh-25 light freighter.
"Something wrong, sir?" The Stormtrooper asks.
"One moment... H.Q., our shuttle's overdue." The Captain says into his comlink.
"We know, a report just came in from Fulcrum that Isoto got rerouted to Danuta due to that last-minute diversion for Rogue One." Bircher tells him.
"Damn! What are we supposed to do now, then?" Bentesh asks just as Lokmarcha is shot in the leg.
"You are to be placed under arrest for treason against the Empire." Ulgant says as more stormtroopers show up. "Especially you, Deler."
As their escort turns on them, Bentesh tackles the Stormtrooper. "Run!"
But Carlin is unable to take the advice as the shooting starts. He aims at one on his left. Time freezes as he remembers all he now knows them to be capable of. "Can i do this? He's a person like me." One half of him thinks.
"He's a Stormtrooper; a remorseless weapon. Kill or die." The other half thinks.
Carlin pulls the trigger, and strikes the Stormtrooper in the lower torso. His first time taking a life. An act he does five more times before seeing the freighter take off. He makes his way past two empty bays until he sees one with a YV-100, and tosses his blaster in an airvent before hiding in a crate. He sees a few troopers pass by, but just as he is about to exit, a droid shuts the lid on his head and locks it. After an unknown amount to time, he wakes up and hears talking. "-e shieldgate is holdin' everybody up?"
"The port says some rebels stole BoShek's ship from the port we just left." He hears from another.
"Dat would explain all de shootin', and de debris patch." The first says.
Although disheartened at the idea that he'd caused needless death again, Carlin tells himself that it may be for the best that both sides think him dead for the time being, and knocks on the crate. Whoever is above him is now his only way out of the system. "What the?"
"Ralth, get de lockuh open. Ready? One, two, three!" He hears before the lid is removed. "Appendages up, yuh little... I mean, Sergeant." An alien with a familiar form says just before being shoved. "Ow... Well, excuse me fawh freein' yuh."
As the one who must be Ralth locks an arm around Carlin's neck, his eyes adjust to the lighting. "I th... thought that he was Neimoidian for a second."
"Colorblind, eh." The spacer remarks, and motions for the other one to let him go. "What's de Empire's finest doin' in a cargo crate?"
Since he can't risk the chance of anyone else dying because of him, Carlin makes up a name and runs through holodrama plots. "I... I'm Chaelo Sigal. The Empire had me layed-off, so i had one too many twistlers." He tells them. "And I may be familiar with the Duros, but who might your friend be?"
"I'm Jraan Iblon, Captain of de Driftin' Dream, and he's Ralth Ghireh; my firstmate(1). His people are called de Vurk." He says as 'Ralth' sets down a blaster rifle.
"If you're looking for a job, you picked one frotzed up way to do it."
Carlin could only nod before looking around. "M... my apologies, Mr. Iblon. What would you have to offer?"
Five systems away, the man who killed the rebel cell as well as Carlin's partner walks next to a second man's holo-form infront of a seated black-garbed figure at the Imperial Senate Rotunda. "Inquisitor Jerec answers the call of His Imperial Majesty." He says while kneeling.
"You may rise, my servant. You carried out an assignment on Chandrila recently, did you not?" Emperor Palpatine asks rhetorically.
"I did; both the Bothan girl from the stolen speeder and the former knight on the second floor. Have the rebels recovered from it already?" Jerec asks him while opening a container with the former's head and the latter's hand, still holding a lightsaber.
"They have not. However, The Force still gives off a tremor in that direction, albeit much weaker. Moff Seerdon here has informed me of a potentially related incident at the Chandrilan capitol." The emperor replies, and motions for the projected individual to speak.
"...One of my junior staff, Lt. Haros Ulgant, recently informed me of an escape attempt from the Hanna city starport before vanishing. Two rebels; one human, the other Dresselian, and a CCP patroller identified as a Cpl. Carlin Deler, who was the partner of the man you executed, stole a smuggling ship and made a run for the shield-gate. Fortunately, the ISD Stalwart was able to neutralize it." The second projection explained after grimacing at the "trophies".
"Or so you believe. I have already foreseen that it was Lt. Ulgant who was the third casualty." The Emperor says, causing the Inquisitor to scowl.
"Leading you to believe the rebel major lived long enough to have awakened this lawman's sensitivity to The Force." Jerec realizes furiously. "I shall return and end this miscalculation!"
"No, Inquisitor. I will correct your failure." Darth Vader tells him after his projection appeared, startling the Moff out of instinct, only for The Emperor to shake his head.
"If a dying man's presence was enough to hide that of this Cpl. Deler, then there is no need for you to fail me in this as well, Lord Vader." He said harshly, still very angry over his own failure to predict the defeat at Yavin IV. "The identity of Kenobi's three accomplices, and the combined projects of Director Wessex, Admiral Screed(2), and General Mohc are The Empire's top priority. Now leave me, all of you; i have ceremonial preparations to organize."
"Yes, my master." The two agents of evil replied in unison.
"As you wish, my lord." The Moff said as well.
At the same time, the pair tell "Chaelo" to take a seat until they pass the shieldgate and jump to their next destination, then they introduce themselves further. "Ralth and i wawhk fawh de Baobab Merchant Fleet." Jraan tells him as he takes a cigarra carton out of his pocket.
"I heard of them on IHV; they're-or rather, you're the company who invented the Bocce language." Carlin replies while peering down, and grimacing at the Duro's "bad habit". "I thought you might be the less honest type."
"Because we're both aliens, Sgt.?" Ralth wonders.
"No, i heard you mention the name of a smuggler i saw on a wanted holo." Carlin tells them. "I may have been of that opinion once, but i was given an... opportunity... to change my point of view."
The two look to each other before Jraan goes on. "Anyway, when i was younguh, i did dabble in smugglin' fawh de Stark Collective. All i got out of it was an ORSF cell on Christophsis dat I'd still be in if de Clankers han't invaded. So we just use dem tuh stawh extra watuh canisters. Yuh got me so fahr?"
"Why do that?"
"Because my people are partly amphibious." Ralth tells him. "Though unlike the Ishi Tib, Vurks only bathe to keep their body temperature higher than most other beings due to coming from a tropical climate."
"Hence the coat you have on." Carlin realizes.
"Right. Anyway, aftuh de war, i went straight, and joined de Baobab's. I went from one crew tuh anudder until i made enough creds fawh dis ship. " Jraan replies.
"That's how he met me." Ralth says next. "My mate and i left Sembla ten years ago after we came of wandering age. We made our way from one job to the next, when allowed to, before she met Jraan at a market on Tansarii Point. "He took us, and one of his crew, to a Baobab station in orbit of the swamp world of Parcellus Minor."
"Most of de pruhvit made goes tuh de restawhashun from a disastuh dat happened down dere twenty years ago. De vegetashun down dere has a flammable substance dat de Empire said one of those Jedi ignited tuh covertly interfere wit' de war." Jraan adds.
"It wasn't them." Carlin says under his breath.
"Hmm? D'ja say somethin'?"
"You know about them... about the Jedi, i mean?" He asks, causing the pair to glance at each other, neither sure whether or not they've just interfered with some Imperial operation.
"...I already said i was around back den." Jraan replies before admitting he doesn't know enough to say whether that stuff about them messing with the brains of all those chancellors is true or not. "But sure, I seen dem once. Two Humans and an alien wit' a creepy mask who arrested me, but i can't seem tuh remembuh deir names." Jraan replied until a beeping is heard. "We're at our next stop, Sigal... Planet Berchest, by de way. Evuh been off-wawhld befawhe?"
"Uh, no, but i watched some in-system Sun jamme... Berchest? Wynssa Starflare did a holodrama about a groundquake there! I always have a hard time deciding which is better looking, her or the city it was recorded in." Carlin said while following the pair to the cockpit, and gazed at the ships passing in and out of the atmosphere.
As the Drifting Dream is making it's approach, word of the incident has reached another ship, the ISD Brimstone. "KL-8311, report to the Senior Captain's briefing cabin. I repeat, KL-8311 to the briefing cabin." A Stormtrooper hears from the barracks.
"What could he possibly want with me?" He wondered as he headed for the command section. "You wanted to speak with me, Senior Captain Krell, sir?"
"Yes. Please, feel free to remove your helmet and take a seat." His C.O. says, and looks to an ISB agent. "He's all yours."
"Ensign Malkev, Toln. Stormtrooper. Resident of Emita, Chandrila. You were assigned to this ship two years ago." The agent says to him, walking around him.
"Yes, sir. Have i done som-" Toln tries to ask him.
"Did i phrase my words in the form of a question?"
"No, sir; you did not, sir."
"That's correct. I imagine you have acquaintances back in Emita, Chandrila. Is that also correct?" The agent asks next.
"Yes, sir. Did... did something happen to any of them?" Toln asks the agent, who turns to the C.O.
"This agent was contacted by the regional governor of the Bormea sector. He passed on a message made by your parents... and a young lady by the name of Fenla Celwick, to both the mayor and the CCP commissioner of Hanna city." Senior Captain Krell tells him, and speaks into a comm unit. "Inform Moff Seerdon that he can transmit now."
A moment later, Toln's parents and his girlfriend appear on the wall-screen. Each of them is miserable looking. "Son, we were just told something horrible today." His father says while holding his wife.
"Father; Fenla... Fen? Please stop crying, what's going on?"
"It... it's... Carlin. He-he ran away from home this afternoon, and he was-he was killed at the spaceport in Hanna!" Fenla explains inbetween sobs.
Toln looks down in shock before standing. "No. No, you're lying... don't you lie to me, dammit! How could this happen?!"
"Don't you take this out on her, boy!" His father yells back.
"I'm afraid she isn't lying, Ensign. New evidence indicates Cpl. Deler was also in contact with the smuggling ring that caused that explosion in Emita." The Senior Captain says, being no more aware of the real story than anybody else. Not that he would care if he had been in on it. "The ISB tells me that he and two rebels were involved in a shootout, and that they stole a freighter that was later destroyed attempting to reach the shieldgate." He continued as a clip is played of Carlin killing two Stormtroopers before the camera is blasted.
"Carlin Deler may have been shooting at the wrong people, but he did so with a steady hand." The ISB agent says. "Just who was he, and how well did you know him?"
"That's... it's because he was a traffic patroller for four years who's family manages the Imperial Cavalcade of Stars. My family owns a store nearby that sells sip-packs to them, so naturally, we grew up together. But Carlin wouldn't do anything like this. If there's anyway to get to the bottom of this, sir, allow me to do so." Toln said to him with a determined gaze, under the impression that Carlin was coerced.
Back on Berchest, Carlin sets foot on foreign soil for the first time.
He breathed in a different air for the first time.
While the planet was not without visual appeal, it was colder because of the altitude altitude, smelled sour, and made his head hurt.
"Dat sawht of ting's nawhmal, sarge. Give it half a day."
"You mean you can smell this place, Mr. Iblon?" Carlin asked him. "But you don't even have nostrils."
Jraan's response is to point to the skin under his eyes, causing Carlin to blanch a few seconds later. "Yuh stay and get used tuh de place while we getcha some new clothes."
When he does get back, he finds Carlin speaking with a Quor'sav, a Rodian, and two H'nemthe. "I'm just saying i don't see how anyone can stand such low oxygen lev-" The Chandrilan is saying when he is hit on his backside.
"What are yuh doin' budderin' everybody, fawh? Sawhry, folks." Jraan says as he drags him back inside.
Once Carlin is done being reprimanded, he reminds himself of the chief's motto back home, "No matter how many millions of planets you visit, there's only one world.", and right now he needs the latter, so he suggests the cantina from the holodrama he mentioned. "Why, so you can talk the heads off more of the locals?"
As the trio enters it, Carlin excitedly points to a spot occupied by some Sullustans. "Look there, it's the booth Wynssa and Datt Mamon were at; can you believe she... and that other person... were here once?" He asks Jraan.
"Yuh doan say."
Carlin ignores him, and makes his way to the counter. "How do you like your venom?" A Nikto waiter asks.
"Jawa Juice with a side of chatter." He says in a different tone while passing two credits more then are on the menu. "This place being what is is, you get fake identicards. Who gives them?" He asks quieter, passing five extra.
The waiter takes the creds. "Who really wants to know?" The waiter asks, earning two more, and glances to a door in the back.
Carlin heads over to his new employers and says he's going for some sight seeing. "Fine; just be at de 'Dream in fifteen minutes."
He enters the back room, finding a long hall with an Aqualish and a Zabrak standing watch at the other end. "Check him." The latter says, and the former frisks him.
"Usually it's me doing this." Carlin thinks to himself. The guards find nothing and let him into a room clearly intended for VIPs. As he sneers at the thought of what depravities must have happened on the couch he's about to sit on, a hologram of an older man with his feet on a table and a Mirialan lady wearing a bit less sitting next to him appears.
"Evening there, Sgt... or was it Cpl." The man, and the other reason Carlin knew about Berchest, tells him. "Whatever your rank is, you're looking pretty good for a dead guy."
"Then you do indeed know why i sought you out..." Carlin told him as he sat down. "Mr. Karrde."
Nirame Deler: two years younger that Carlin. Except for the eyes, she physically resembles the title character from manga series Kaguya-sama: Love is War.
(1) Switched the crew's roles around.
(2) Replacing Thrawn (and Pallaeon by default) from Star Wars Rebels with the admiral from the R2 & C-3PO cartoon from the 1980s.