Chapter 12 – The Mines of Celvalara
It felt like years, not days since they set out from Celvalara, and Din allowed himself a deep breath as the ship touched down on the moon, letting himself feel the exhaustion that weighed on him like a lead blanket, before steeling himself once again. The mission wasn't over yet.
A cluster of people had already gathered in front of the ship. A shock of red hair moved through the crowd.
The child cooed when Din picked him up. "Glad to be out of there?" Din asked quietly, looking closely at the little green face, the dark eyes that felt like they could penetrate his helmet and see the real him.
The ramp was down when he got down the ladder, Suri and the rebel had already disappeared into the crowd below and Erno stood at the bottom of the ramp talking with Gatt.
Sinead stood by the opening, looking at Mirian who stood with her back against the opposite wall. "You can't hide in here," Sinead said. "Just get it over with."
Mirian squared her shoulders but no amount of determination could hide her trembling hands, and she hurried down the ramp and gave Gatt one frightful look before elbowing her way through the crowd.
Gatt's blue eyes followed her niece, a vein popping on her temple. Once Din and Sinead had made it down to the ground, she turned her steely eyes on them. "What the fuck happened out there?" Her hands clenched at her side.
Sinead took a small step forward. "Maybe we should take this inside."
… … … … …
Gatt drew a hand across her face, breathing deeply through her nose. Sinead and Erno had just finished telling her what happened, with little input from Din, who chose to stand at the back of Gatt's cramped office. The kid nestled into his arm, seemingly content with just quietly watching what was happening.
"How did you not notice a girl in that tiny bucket of rust?"
"She hid under the main motor, with a breath mask," Sinead said.
"Idiot girl." Gatt pinched her lips together. "My sister and her bleeding heart of a husband coddled her. She doesn't know anything about the real world. I'll deal with Mirian later."
Sinead shifted. "She was nearly killed, don't you think that's punishment enough?"
"I'm not one to let insubordination slide."
"She's a child, not one of your men. Isn't that why you don't want her involved?"
Din felt the change in the room as Gatt glowered at Sinead. He was about to step forward, when the door opened and the politician hurried in, nearly knocking into Din. It seemed like he had a knack for interrupting tense situations. "Ah, there you are! I heard you were back." He tripped around the desk and stood beside Gatt, who looked about as pleased to see him as she was of hearing Sinead's remark. "I assume those are for us." He gestured to the stack of datacards sitting in front of Gatt.
"They are," Gatt said between gritted teeth.
"Marvelous!" He beamed across the desk. "I would like to extend to you my most sincere gratitude for your invaluable help in this, our fight against tyranny. Rest assured, your names will not be forgotten as we continue to work towards a brighter future."
That nearly made Din snort. He wondered what Bal-Sul would say if they pointed out that he didn't know their names, and would like to keep it that way. He'd probably flounder for a bit before trying to change the subject. Politicians.
"I do believe it's time for you to uphold your end of the bargain," Sinead said once Sul-Bal was done with his spiel.
"Right," Gatt sighed, and got up from her desk. She went to the door and bellowed down the corridor. "Sedabb!"
The Sullustan appeared in the doorway, wiping his brow with a trembling hand. "Yes, Commander?"
"Escort these two down to the archive." She looked directly at Sinead. "Do not take them anywhere else. Once they're done, take them to their ship. Do not let them wander, ya hear?"
"Y-yes, Commander." Sedabb's jowls trembled.
"You stay here, Erno," Gatt said, moving back to sit behind the desk. "We're not done yet."
Din was glad when the door shut to Gatt's office and he'd be even gladder to leave the moon, but they still had work to do.
Sinead seemed to walk faster as they followed Sedabb into the mine, her eyes shining in the harsh light even as they turned red and irritated from the hot gusts of wind. Din felt the heat too, how it snuck under his armor and made beads of sweat break out on his brow. He couldn't wait to get a moment alone so he could remove his helmet; it felt like he'd lived in his armor for weeks.
They came to an old lift that led further into the depths. It was nothing more than a platform held in place by two cables suspended over a void, no railing of any kind to keep anyone from falling into the deep. Din subconsciously held the child closer.
"It doesn't look like much, but I promise you it's safe," Sedabb said, scuffing the ground with his foot. "Lurian craftsmanship always holds up." He grabbed a rusty lantern from a hook on the wall and handed it to Sinead.
"I guess we have to take your word for it," Sinead said and stepped into the lift, the movement sending a shudder through the cables.
Din went after her and felt how the platform wobbled with every movement. The child craned his neck to see into the deep.
Sedabb hit a small lever set into the wall and jumped on before the platform started to descend, the movement sending it swinging. Din's heart jumped in his chest and his hand shot out and grabbed Sinead's shoulder before she lost her balance. On his other arm, the child giggled.
"Sorry about that," Sedabb squeaked. "There's supposed to be someone manning the lever at all times, but now it's just me."
"A little warning next time." Sinead's voice was higher than normal.
"Sorry ..."
Din's hand fell away the second he was sure she wasn't about to slide over the edge. She flashed him a small grateful smile before clearing her throat and looking at the child. "At least he's having fun."
Carefully, Sedabb picked his way across the platform. "What is it?" He asked and peered at the child in Din's arms, who fought the instinct to shield him from view.
He rolled his shoulders in irritation, about to tell the Sullustan to mind his own business when Sinead jumped in.
"He's a baby Jawa."
"W-what?"
"That's how they look under their robes. You didn't think they sprang out fully cloaked, did you?"
Din grinned under his helmet.
"Really?" Sedabb stared at the child, his mouth open. "But his eyes aren't yellow."
"They don't start turning yellow before adolescence, see. It's still just a Youngling." Sinead's smirk was visible even in the gloom.
"Why -uh ... why'd you have it?"
"We found him-" she seemed to catch Din's look even through his helmet- "on, uh, Tatooine. Abandoned."
"Oh," Sedabb took off his soft cap and dabbed some sweat from his brow. "That was nice of you to keep him."
The lift moved at a snail's pace. Every gust of wind made it rock on the cable which creaked in the darkness above them and the lamp cast a weak circle of light that barely lit the platform. It grew hotter and a sharp stink of sulfur and rot filled the air.
At long last, the lift touched ground and Sedabb was the first to skitter off the platform and onto uneven ground. "We're here," he said and threw out an arm to gesture at their surroundings. From what could be seen in the low light it looked like more of the same uneven tunnels as before, although the stench of sulfur was much stronger.
Sinead got off the platform and turned on her heel. "Lovely place you got here." Her voice echoed down the tunnel.
The Sullustan smiled shyly at the ground. "I-I'm the only one who comes down here, really, and Bix of course. You'll meet him in a bit."
A small wave of relief went through Din once his feet were once again planted on uneven, but secure, ground. He looked up at the impenetrable darkness above. "You don't use the tunnels for anything?"
"Um, not really, no. The risk of cave-ins is too big." He caught Sinead's expression. "I-I mean most folks can't navigate this place alone, they'll wander into an unstable tunnel and boom." He wiped his forehead again.
"Well, consider me reassured."
Sedabb wrung his hands. "It's not far, honestly. There's nothing to worry about." He led them down a small tunnel that seemed to be going in a straight line, and it didn't take long before Din lost all sense of direction in the darkness. Thousands of feet had worn down the ground to a smooth surface.
"You sure you don't need the light?" Sinead's voice echoed through the tunnel.
Sedabb was nothing but a silhouette in the darkness. "Oh no, we Sullustan's evolved underground. Having a light in my eyes would only slow me down to tell you the truth."
They came to a junction of sorts, a small chamber where more tunnels led farther into the mine. The light revealed old signs in Aurebesh that Din couldn't read in the low light. Apparently, Sedabb didn't need them, because he made his way to one unremarkable tunnel and gestured for them to follow.
"You know what they mined down here?" Sinead ducked under a spiderweb that hung suspended between two rusty beams that Sedabb had somehow avoided.
"Bix knows more about it than I do, really, I mostly map the caves and such. He found some records the other day, about a project they were working on."
"Who's they?" Din asked. His cloak fluttered in the hot wind.
"Oh, um, it was the Empire. They showed up years ago, started up the old mines even though it was too dangerous. Celvalara's structure is already weak, you know, but they just kept on digging. Celvalara's more mine than moon at this point, I always say." He sent a smile over his shoulder.
"What were they looking for? Spice?" Sinead asked.
"Goodness no, we don't have anything like that here. It's hard to say, on account of the Empire leaving in such a hurry. I think- I mean, Bix thinks that they were building some big station called Eclipse."
"What kinda name is that?"
"Codename, probably."
Something skittered across the rock and high-pitched squeaks echoed through the tunnel. An upturned cart lay across the passage spilling dirt and rocks on the ground.
"Why would anyone ever abandon a place like this," Sinead said as she skirted around the cart."
"Haha, yes," Sedabb said nervously. "It's just through here." He stopped by the same kind of door that led to Gatt's office. This one was propped open by a wrench and warm light spilled out of the gap and it groaned when Sedabb forced it open.
It looked like the room's original purpose had been an observation deck and not an archive; one of the walls was made up entirely of a thick window looking out into total blackness, and along the opposite wall ran a control panel that stretched all the way up to the tall ceiling. The new occupants of the room had filled it to the brim with stuff; mining tools and equipment, broken data discs, machinery parts spilling foul-smelling oil on the floor, and broken stormtrooper armor was all thrown in a pile in the middle of the room or stacked on every available surface. The fluorescent lights that lined the room had long since died so it was lit solely by flickering lanterns placed wherever there was room on the floor.
A low clicking sound sent a spike of adrenaline down Din's spine. A creature dislodged itself from the ceiling and landed between the heaps of junk, toppling over a stack of flimsi. Its bulbous eyes narrowed as it looked from Din to Sinead.
Din turned his body to shield the child while grabbing his blaster in a fluid motion.
Sedabb let out a squeak and skittered into Din's vision. "Don't shoot! He's a friend. It's Bix!"
The Geonosian made a long string of clicks and beat his wings in aggravation. Din sneered under his helmet. He'd only met a Geonosian once years before and he had heard rumors that the Empire had wiped most of them out. Despite everything, he felt a small stab of sympathy.
"Oh, um, Gatt ordered me to bring them down here. They're looking for someone."
Bix let out a guttural scream, and the kid hid his face in Din's arm.
"I'm sorry," Sedabb winced. "He … doesn't really like people in his space."
"You understand him?" Sinead slowly let her hand fall from her blaster.
"Um, yes. It's not that hard really once you get the hang of it. It's a bit like binary."
"Right," she muttered. Her brow furrowed when she looked around the room. "You found all of this in the mine?"
"You won't believe how much stuff the Empire left just lying around."
Bix sat down on the only surface not occupied by useless crap, still clicking a long string of nonsensical sounds. The bad lighting cast strange shadows over his twig-like body.
"You know what happened down here to make the Empire clear out?" Sinead crouched down to get a better look at the Stormtrooper armor. She reached out for the nearest helmet, and Bix erupted in a shrill scream. The child cried out and Din drew his blaster.
Sedabb jumped between them again. "Wait! He doesn't like anyone touching his things!"
Getting to her feet, Sinead sneered at the Geonosian. "You don't say!"
Sedabb looked imploringly at Din. "Please just put your blaster down and tell him what you need to find."
Slowly, Din lowered his blaster but kept it at hand just in case the Geonosian went off again. The child made a soft noise and Din held him a little closer while trying to relax his tense shoulders.
"Okay." Sinead folded her arms across her chest. "Okay, let's get this over with." She looked at the Geonosian. "I'm looking for someone by the name of Kyen Beck. He came here along with other slaves from the Hutt Empire, I'm not sure exactly when."
Bix stopped his clacking and jumped down from his seat, hobbling over to a stack of datacards hidden under a stained stormtrooper chest plate. He started going through them, replacing each one carefully when he was done peering at the name.
"Why, uh, why do you need to find a former slave?" Sedabb's voice wobbled as he spoke.
"I have my reasons." Sinead's eyes followed the Geonosian's every move.
Din recognized the look Sedabb gave him, he'd seen it countless times before in the faces of his bounties or whoever was stupid enough to hide them. Fear, disgust, anger. The child felt heavy in his arms.
To everyone's surprise, Sedabb took a deep breath and stood up straight, his entire body trembling with indignation. "Now I-I don't … I don't think I can just let you d-do that."
"We're not here to-" Din said before really realizing what he was doing. "I mean … he's not-" He stopped short, he'd never before cared what some stranger thought of him so why now?
Sinead tore her gaze away from Bix, her brows furrowed before she caught on. "We're not trying to bring him back, I swear. I, um, knew him. From the Hutts."
Her last statement hung in the air.
"Oh. Oh!" Sedabb cast his eyes down on the cluttered ground. "I didn't know that."
"So can we maybe …" Sinead gestured to the datapads.
"Ah, yes, right!" Sedabb said and turned to Bix. "Found anything yet?"
The Geonosian made a noise Din assumed meant yes and went over to the control panel that lined the wall where he shoved a collection of metal plates off the console to reveal a dusty screen with a big crack running along the bottom which flickered on with a small pop. Bix slotted the datacard into the console and a row of names appeared on the screen. Sinead rushed forward and Bix screeched again, shielding the screen with his body.
"Alright, fine!" Sinead threw up her hands in defeat. "Just look for Kyen Beck."
Bix warbled something under his breath and turned back to the screen while blocking as much of it as he could with his thin body.
While they waited, Din went over to a hollowed-out astromech propped up in the corner, taking care not to touch anything. Neither Sedabb nor the lone Geonosian was any real threat to him, but every minute staying on this godforsaken moon wound him even tighter with anxiety.
Sinead didn't move a muscle and stared a hole into the Geonosian's back, her face carefully neutral.
Something glinted in the glow from the lamps half-hidden by a moth-eaten uniform of undeterminable origin, and Din pulled it away without thinking and grabbed the small metal disc which shoved two crossed force pikes.
Bix clacked loudly and flapped his wings so hard he lifted a foot off the ground.
"He says that there's no record of a Kyen Beck working here," Sedabb squeaked. "Sorry."
"What?" Sinead strode to the screen and pushed Bix out of the way under loud clacking protest. "He must've been here! Check it again!"
Sedabb raised his voice over the indignant Bix. "I'm sorry, but I did say that some of the records are missing."
"So what? We risked our lives for nothing?"
Din looked down at the emblem. "Maybe not."
Sinead stopped mid-rant. "What do you mean?"
"This." He threw the disc to Sinead. "You heard about Loovria? Used to be a slave hub during the Empire."
She ignored Bix's angry screams. "Unfortunately, yes." She jabbed the emblem at Sedabb. "Where did you find this?"
"Let me see." Sedabb gingerly took the emblem and peered at it. "I'm not really sure, it could've come from a lot of places."
"But are you sure you found it here in the mine?"
"Oh yes, it's definitely from here."
Din breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe now they could finally leave. "If the Empire dealt with Loovria, he could have been sent there or somebody there might know him."
Sinead bit her lower lip and looked back at the screen.
"Best lead we got."
"Alright," she grunted, and Sedabb handed her the emblem back, under loud protests from Bix.
"C'mon Bix, it's not like we need it. You didn't even know it was there in the first place!"
Sinead joined Din at the door where she offered Sedabb a weak smile. Din noticed how she drew her thumb across the emblem in an almost trance-like way.
"Thank you," Din said to Sedabb who shuffled a bit on the spot.
"Don't mention it," he said. "We're just happy to help. I hope you find him."
"I do too." Sinead closed her hand around the emblem.
Finally, they could get out of here.
... ... ... ... ...
They were still here.
A surly dug had informed them as they arrived outside, that he'd been asked to fill the ship with fuel and now Din had nothing to do but wait for him to be done. The child toddled around in the trampled grass on the lookout for anything to examine or eat. Din followed behind him but otherwise left him to his own devices since it wouldn't be long before he was cooped up in a ship again.
Sinead had been quiet on the way back and she had disappeared as soon as they came out of the mine.
The kid tried to climb up a power converter that was connected to half a dozen starships and Din grabbed him before he could electrocute himself. He was about to return to the ship when he heard a familiar voice over the sound of the base.
"I'm glad I caught you before we leave," Sinead said, her voice coming from behind a starfighter.
"I don't wanna talk to you," Mirian mumbled.
"That's fine, I'll talk at you and you can choose whether or not to listen." There was a slight pause. "I know it feels like you're alone in all of this, but almost getting killed isn't the answer. I honestly don't know if you wanted to help or you were trying to kill yourself, but you can't drag other people down with you: You get that, right? You're not the first one to be trapped against your will and you won't be the last but dying isn't the only way out."
Din knew he should go, but his feet were frozen to the ground.
"A wise woman once told me that no matter what they do to you, as long as you keep breathing, they haven't won. Ever. No matter how much you want to scream and fight back, you keep your head down until you find a moment to strike. I promise it's coming, someday you get to fight back on your own terms."
"And what happens if I can't just sit here?" Mirian's voice was thick with tears.
"You have to. No matter how much it hurts you keep on breathing. And if the urge to stow away on a ship ever gets too strong, find some small rebellion to tide you over. I used to steal, although I have to advise you against taking anything too important. You want to show you're still living, not tank the whole operation."
Mirian made a sound like she was stifling a laugh.
The seemed to snap Din out of whatever kept him there and he hurried back to the ship and tried to tamp down on the uneasy feeling that made his chest feel tight.
Sinead showed up just as the dug hobbled away, and she sent Din a smile that made him look away.
"You ready to go?" She asked.
"Mhm."
"How do you know about Loovria? Been there before?"
"Was there for a bounty."
"Oh."
"A bail jumper hiding out in the capital city. You heard about it too?"
"We all knew about Loovria. No matter how bad we had it, someone always had it worse." She looked down at the emblem still in her hands. "Luria, Loovria. As long as it doesn't end with us running for our lives."
"Right." Din grabbed the ladder. "Let's go before they find something else they need us to do."
… … … … …
AN: There you have it, the end of the Celvalara arc, which turned out to be two chapters longer than planned, rendering my carefully crafted outline completely useless :(