Janna and Star, sans space suits, returned to the cockpit with the others. Tom, Marco, and Rosado were slumped into the seats, all panting as if they had just run a marathon.
"What are you guys so exhausted for?" quizzed Janna.
"I, uh…I forgot to breathe," Rosado admitted.
Marco raised his hand. "Ditto."
Tom sat up. "That was a little too close for comfort." He let out a whoosh of air. "If I'm being honest, I'm starting to think we're in over our heads a little."
Marco grimaced. "Yeah…I'm starting to think that, too."
Star felt rather guilty. "I'm sorry, you guys. I didn't mean to put you all in danger."
"Hey, we knew this was gonna be dangerous," Janna said as she unceremoniously shoved Marco off his seat onto the floor, sinking into it herself. "We just didn't realize they'd be waiting for us with a blockade."
PY-HD whistled something sarcastic that ultimately went ignored.
"So what do we do now?" Tom asked. "The only thing we really had going for us was the element of surprise, but with that blockade…"
"Even if we get past it, they'll be waiting for us on the planet surface," Star finished.
"Exactly."
"So how do we get past a blockade without being detected?"
Marco snapped his fingers, confident he had the answer. "We come back when everyone's asleep!" This suggestion garnered confused stares. "Or…maybe not."
"What we need is a cloaking device," said Janna. "Only way to hide a ship from enemy eyes and from scanners. But they're not easy to come by, and even if we found one, they're notoriously unreliable and tricky to operate."
"We could go back to Corellia," Tom suggested. "Reflectacorp had so much stuff, I'd be surprised if they didn't have a cloaking device for sale."
"Yeah, but even if they did, we'd have to gut the whole inside of the Raventalon just to make it fit. There's a reason why ships this small never have cloaking devices. They're just too big and use too much power for smaller ships to handle." Janna pursed her lips in thought. "What we really need is a ship that's already equipped with a cloaking device, but they're so few and far between…I wouldn't even know where to start looking for one."
"I might know where to look."
The four teenagers looked to Rosado, who until now had been silent.
Janna raised an eyebrow. "Elaborate."
The former Imperial Officer's lips curled into a smirk. "I actually happen to know of a ship with a cloaking device. A relatively small one, too."
"Really?" she asked skeptically.
Rosado nodded and sat up straighter. "Early in the clone war, the Trade Federation was really into blockading planets, and the Separatists adopted their tactics. So Republic scientists started developing a new cloaking device, hoping it would be less expensive to sneak past blockades rather than risk a bunch of ships getting destroyed trying to break through it."
"Right," said Star, rolling her eyes. "Because it's cheaper. Not because it put less Republic troops in danger."
Rosado shrugged. "Unfortunate truth of war. You can't win if you run out of soldiers, but you also can't win if you run out of money."
"Huh," Janna mused to herself. "Based on how parts of Coruscant sometimes didn't have power or water on a regular basis…"
"And how much the price of fuel and food inflated…" Tom added.
Star and Marco glanced at each other. Star gave her friend a questioning look, and Marco just shrugged. As Padawans, they didn't leave the Jedi Temple and upper levels of Coruscant much, and hardly ever had to pay for things themselves. Neither had any idea that the Republic had been in such dire straights financially by the end of the chlone war.
"So anyway," Rosado went on, "they got the prototype finished and, from what I've heard, it worked flawlessly."
"What kind of ship was it on?" Tom asked.
"They designed a whole new ship around the cloaking device. Small, narrow, almost cylindrical. I think something about the shape made it easier to be cloaked and harder for scanners to pick up. General Skywalker used it at the Battle of Christophsis pretty effectively.
"The thing is, the materials needed to build that compact cloaking device were so rare and hard to get, that one prototype cost almost as much as three Venator-cruisers. So it was deemed too expensive and they shelved the project."
Marco chuckled sarcastically. "Isn't that ironic?"
"So what happened to the ship?" Janna asked.
"Well…I don't actually know."
"Lotta good that does us."
"But I do know how to find it."
"…How?"
"The Navy moved the ship into storage somewhere. Now, I don't know where exactly, but the location would be listed in the Republic's military records, which are now, you know, Imperial. It's location will be classified, but…" He slid his code cylinder out of his pocket and held it up, smiling. "As long as I've got this, I can find it. All I need is access to an Imperial terminal."
The teenagers all looked at each other. None of them were quite sure what to say.
So PY-HD said it.
"BWEO! Bleep-bleep bip zworp! Beep bloooweo!"
Star smiled. "You're right, Pony Head! What are we waiting for?"
"I think," said Tom, directing his three-eyed gaze at Rosado, "We're waiting for the location of the nearest Imperial terminal."
Janna's lips curled upward. "Well, Hovis?"
"Well…I think the nearest system to Mewni with an Imperial facility is Rori."
Tom frowned. "Rori?"
"It's Naboo's moon."
"Gotcha." Captain Ordonia gave a determined nod. "Pony…set a course for the Naboo system."
The droid gave a whistle and set to work on the navicomputer.
Star felt Marco slide his hand into hers. She hadn't even realized he had come up next to her. He gave her hand an affectionate squeeze, and she met his gaze.
"We can do this, Star. We can get back to Mewni."
She squeezed his hand in return, and Marco felt his heart flutter as he noticed the determined gleam in her eyes. "I know we will, Marco. I know we will."
Rori was relatively small as far as inhabitable moons go, and was similar in terrain to the planet it orbited. But unlike Naboo, it's uninhabited sectors were far more treacherous. Thick, overgrown jungles interrupted only by wet, snake-infested bogs covered the planet's surface.
Janna brought the Raventalon in low to avoid the Empire's scanners and set the ship down in the cover of some trees in the swamp a few klicks short of the moon's largest city, Narmlé. The Imperial facility was on the far side of the city.
Tom stepped off the end of the ramp and grimaced as his boots immediately sank into the muck. "Yuck!" He jumped backwards back onto the ramp, shaking his foot and banging his boot against the side of the ramp to knock off the mud. "This place is gross!"
Marco's tongue dangled from his mouth. "This humidity is ridiculous. I'm leaving my hoodie on the ship," he said, already unzipping the garment.
Star, Marco, and Rosado came down the ramp together. PY-HD lagged behind. Two tendrils of smoke were visible in the distance, drifting up into the overcast sky.
"What does the Empire use this facility for, Hovis?" Star asked.
"It's actually one of the Empire's least interesting facilities. They make parts for mass-produced equipment here. Stuff for TIE fighters and walkers."
A devious smile stretched across Janna's face, and rubbed her hands together. "So then it would really stick it to the Empire hard if it were to violently explode."
Rosado chuckled. "Sure."
Marco and Tom had been listening and joined the conversation. "So…do we have a plan for getting inside?" Tom asked.
"I hadn't actually thought about that," Rosado admitted. "They must have figured out by now that I'm the one who helped you guys escape. Otherwise, I could just walk through the main entrance and no one would even question it."
Star looked up and watched as a flock of some sort of winged reptilian creatures soared overhead. "Hmmm…what about stormtrooper armor? They won't even know it's you in that. You know, as long as you don't take off your helmet."
Rosado nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, that would probably work."
Marco folded his arms. "The only question is how do we go about getting a full set of stormtrooper armor?"
"Let's head into the city," Rosado said. "The Empire likes to send out groups of two or three stormtroopers to patrol large areas on worlds they control. And by patrol, I mean 'harass civilians.'"
"The Empire sucks," Janna muttered.
"Yup. Bet I bet it wouldn't be too difficult for a pair of Jedi to ambush and incapacitate two or three stormtroopers."
"For me and Star?" Marco asked, pulling his lightsaber from his belt. "Piece of cake!" He confidently tossed his lightsaber into the air, spinning it end-over-end, but when he reached out to nonchalantly catch it, it struck his palm at an odd angle, sending it spirally away, bouncing off the ramp, and splashing into the muck at the bottom. His shoulders slumped dejectedly while Janna doubled over with laughter. "My occasional overconfidence will be the death of me."
Star gave him a playful shove that somehow made him feel better. "C'mon, Overconfident Boy. Wipe that thing off and let's go out on the town."
Rather than trek through the muddy bog and end up drenched and filthy by the time they reached town, Janna brought out her new speeder bike. With Star squeezed onto the seat behind her, Marco and Tom jammed into the sidecar, Hovis straddling the lead strut, and PY-HD magnetically attached to the back, Captain Ordonia carefully piloted the speeder across the swamp to the edge of the city.
Narmlé was the capital of Rori and the largest city on the moon, though that wasn't saying much. Only one other settlement adorned the inhospitable surface of the moon, and it was barely a town even by the loosest definition. Narmlé, on the other hand, was comparable in size to Theed, the capital city of the planet Naboo which Rori orbited. Unlike Theed, however, there was little luxury. Few buildings had a second story. The streets were paved, though, making it feel less like Zakaras Village on Takodana and more like a cleaner version of the town in cliffs on Iego.
The streets bustled with activity as Janna carefully guided the speeder bike toward the city center. Occasionally, they'd pass a few stormtroopers, usually only two or three at a time, and almost always harassing civilians.
"Let me see your identification!"
Janna steered well clear of them. No need to draw any attention to themselves. At least, not just yet.
At last, they reached the opposite outskirts of the city and Janna stopped the bike. A long, dirt pathway stretched out before them, curling its way between the jungle trees and down a long hill and ending at a security gate guarding the entrance of the Imperial factory. Twin exhaust stacks atop the building belched smoke into the sky. The air was heavy with an acrid stench that burned nostrils and made eyes water.
Rosado gestured to the complex as he hopped off the speeder bike. "Well…*cough!* *cough!* there it is."
Star pinched her nose. "Ugh! What is that smell?"
Janna yanked her knit hat from her head and held it over her nose and mouth, and Marco pulled the collar of his shirt up over his face. "This is awful!" he said.
While his companions suffered, Tom felt little discomfort. In addition to being extremely hot, his homeworld was very sulfurous. He could tolerate the burning smell and smoke just as well as he could withstand extreme heat. While his friends were distracted by the smell, he calmly peered through a scope, inspecting the factory. Several dozen stormtroopers were visible patrolling the grounds or standing guard at various checkpoints. None of them seemed to be any kind of distress. "The stormtroopers don't seem to care about the smell."
"Their helmets have smoke filters," explained Rosado. "And I'm sure the facility doesn't smell this bad inside, either."
"In that case, let's get out of here until we get our hands on some stormtrooper armor." Janna pulled her hat back on and hopped back atop the speeder bike.
"Agreed."
As soon as PY-HD had taken a scan of the facility grounds, they quickly vacated the area, eager to escape the putrid air surrounding the factory.
"So we need stormtrooper armor," Tom shouted above the wind rushing past. "How are we going to get some? We can't shoot them or lightsaber them. Everyone would notice the damage and suspect something's up!"
"I had a thought about that," Janna called back. "And it involves Marco's metal leg."
Marco, who had only been half listening, perked up at the sound of his name. "What about me now?"
"Hey! You there!"
The young Gungan man froze. That electronically-altered voice was unmistakable.
Stormtroopers.
Gulping down a nervous lump in his throat, the Gungan turned to spot a pair of the white-clad Imperial troops stalking toward him. "Meesa?" he asked.
"Yes, you. Let me see your identification," demanded the first stormtrooper, holding out his gloved hand.
"M-Mesa have it! Mesa have it!" the panicked Gungan spluttered, quickly tapping the pockets of his vest and trousers. "Right, uh, here…or maybe…maybe here?" He froze. He knew where his identification was.
At home.
"Uh-oh." The Gungan gave the impatient Imperials a nervous smile. "Um…Misteren Stormtrooper, um…Mesa leften mesa identification at home."
"Uh-huh. A likely story," muttered the second trooper.
The first trooper produced a set of binders. "I'm gonna have to ask you to come with me, citizen. We need to ask you a few questions."
The Gungan waved his hands defensively as he backed away. "Oh, nosa, dat's okeeday! Mesa don't think mesa needen to answer any questions!"
The troopers advanced toward him. "Come on, sir, don't do anything you might regret."
The Gungan tripped and stumbled, and as he did, found himself falling backwards against a wall. He was trapped. "Oh, no! Ohhhhh, no!"
The first stormtrooper reached out and grasped the Gungan's forearm, raising the binders in his other hand to slap one end against the frightened citizen's wrist.
"Yoooooohooooo! Oh, boyyyys!"
The cheerful and unexpected voice came from overhead. The pair of stormtroopers were quite surprised to find a teenage girl with long blonde hair, enthusiastically waving to them from the roof directly above where they stood.
"What do you think you're doing up there?"
"I heard the Empire's been looking for Jedi!" called the girl. "Well, here I am!"
"You're a Jedi?"
"You bet!"
The first stormtrooper dropped the binders and his grip on the Gungan's arm. Both troopers fumbled for their blasters. "Set to stun!"
Both troopers fired, but the girl sprang into the air, sailing over the stun rays, over the stormtroopers' helmeted heads, and landed on the ground behind them. She flittered her fingers in a taunting wave. "You'll have to do better than that!" With a flip of her hair, the girl turned and ran down the alleyway, shouting, "Catch me if you can!"
Forgetting about the hapless Gungan (who was already sprinting in the opposite direction) the stormtroopers gave chase. "After her!"
"I'll call for backup!" The second stormtrooper activated his helmet comm. "This is TK-five-six-oh-seven requesting backup in sector twelve! We're in pursuit of a Jedi heading for the city center!"
As the troopers disappeared down the alley, another teenager, a Demonicite, emerged from the shadows with his astromech droid.
"Did you jam their comms in time, Pony?"
The droid whistled a reply that, indeed, it had.
"Good job. Let's follow and make sure we stay in close enough range to keep them jammed."
With the Force aiding her, Star could have outpaced the stormtroopers with ease, but she purposely held back, letting the Imperials keep her just in sight. She darted from the alleyway and out into the bustling main thoroughfare, easily evading collision with pedestrians and the odd landspeeder.
The stormtroopers, on the other hand, were not so fortunate. They knocked several beings to the ground, upended a mobile vegetable stand, and were nearly trampled by a large quadruped of questionable domestication as they pursued Star across the street.
When Star reached the opposite side of the thoroughfare, she ducked into another alley, this one much narrower than the one where the chase had begun.
"There she goes!"
"Don't let her escape!"
The voices told her the stormtroopers had not lost her, and Star maintained her pace.
The alleyway ahead turned ninety degrees. Star paused at the corner and looked back, allowing the stormtroopers to catch up a bit. When they raised their blasters, she darted around the corner. A dozen meters beyond, her path was blocked by a fence where they alleyway reached an intersection at the corner of a building. Star turned and waited. The stormtroopers rounded the corner, not expecting to find their target actually waiting for them.
"Looks to me like the Empire's finest could use some more training," Star mocked. "You guys are so slow!"
"I'm switching back to 'kill'," the first stormtrooper growled.
"So am I."
Star stood steadfast as the troopers raised their weapons, and as she felt their fingers tighten around the triggers of the blasters, she leapt into the air propelled by the Force and backflipped over the fence as the blaster bolts impacted on it.
"After her!"
The troopers sprinted toward the fence, jumping up and catching the top. They hauled themselves up, swung their legs over to the other side, and dropped down-
"HIIIII-YA!"
From around the side of the adjacent building came Marco, launching off the ground toward the troopers, leading with his cybernetic leg. The heel of his boot struck the closer stormtrooper squarely in the side of the helmet, propelling the Imperial solider into his counterpart. The helmets made a loud *thwack* as they collided, and both troopers crumpled to the ground.
Star emerged from around the corner, followed by Janna and Rosado. Captain Ordonia wore a very self-assured smile. "Nice work, Diaz. You, too, Star."
Marco yanked the helmet from one of the troopers' heads and tossed it to Rosado. "Disguise acquired."
They left the stormtroopers in the alley, tied up. Someone would find them eventually. The gang returned to the Raventalon with their newly acquired disguises.
"Have you ever worn stormtrooper armor before?" Tom asked as Rosado began attaching the armor over his clothing.
"I have not. And I'm not really looking forward to it."
Marco whipped up something quick for second meal and everyone ate while Rosado readied his disguise. The former Imperial stopped to eat once he had donned the lower half of the armor.
"So what's your plan?" Star asked.
"The most easily accessible terminal in the base is probably the one in the officer's mess," said Rosado. "Which will most likely be empty during mid-afternoon. If I act casual and don't draw any attention to myself, I should be able to walk right in and right back out."
"And what if you do draw attention to yourself?" Janna asked.
Rosado let out a deep breath. "I don't know. Hopefully it doesn't come to that."
"Well, I hope you don't think you're going in there alone," said Star. "We have two sets of armor, one of us should go with you!"
"I'd love to have one of you guys come along," Rosado said. "Believe me, nothing would make me feel safer than having a Jedi with me. But you can't."
"Why not?"
"You and Marco both have cybernetics that were installed by the Empire," Rosado explained, referring to Star's mechanical arm and Marco's photoreceptor eye. "Every cybernetic component built by the Empire has an identification chip that their scanners at the entrance will pick up. As soon as they scan it, they'll know who you are and sound the alarm."
"Pegasus feathers."
"Then I'll go with you," volunteered Tom. He snatched up the stormtrooper helmet sitting on the table and pulled it onto his head. Unfortunately, his horns prevented it from sitting down all the way, and the bottom of the helmet only barely covered his nose. "Or…maybe not."
Janna yanked the helmet off her copilot's head. She tossed her hat onto the table and pulled the helmet on. "I will go with you."
If you will recall an author's note from so long ago that I can't even remember which chapter it was in, Hovis Rosado is based on a coworker of mine who watched the entirety of SVTFOE just so he could read this story. One day, I asked him, "Hey, which character do you want to go on a solo adventure with?" Without so much as a second's hesitation, he said, "Janna!" I knew that would be his answer even without asking, but I figured I'd ask anyway.
So yeah…next time on S(W)VTFOE, Janna and Hovis infiltrate an Imperial facility.
ALSO:
I just finished up writing a very action-packed chapter for this story and honestly need a break from it. I could use a little low-stakes, humorous fluff, so the next thing I'm going to work on is a new one-shot for You Should Kiss Her and other short Starco stories because I've not had anything to add to that in months. Starco fans, keep your eyes open.
