Chapter 6 - Dooku Captured
Kuat
Lira Blissex's office
4 weeks later
After my ship was crippled by Ventress, my engineers had brought the reactor to a state capable of bringing the Titan to Kuat for more extensive repairs. The crew was on Kuat's ground facilities keeping in shape, however, the Senior officers were busy filling out paperwork. Thus, it was a welcome surprise when I received a return call from Lira Blissex, the designer of the Venator, about the suggested modifications to my ship.
"Admiral Patton," she greeted me.
"Ms. Blissex" I replied, then rather impatiently asked, "Now, about these modifications. . ."
"Yes, the modifications. Admiral Patton, would you be willing to leave your ship here to undergo the modifications suggested?" She put a piece of flimsiplast on the table.
I skimmed over the text and saw that the suggested armament was three times as much as what an average Venator had. Three hangar bays had been removed as suggested and I could see that the model's armor was significantly heavier than before.
"Your ship would be the first prototype for this new subtype because most of its external systems have already been stripped away. Be warned that these modifications will take a few months."
Dang, a few months without a flagship, "What about the current crew of the Titan? What would happen to them? Surely they can't stay on Kuat."
"I never said that you wouldn't have a replacement ship," she clarified, "I said that you would lose access to your primary flagship. As it so happens, a new Venator is set to finish construction in 1 week and its crew from Kamino is delayed. I'm sure that you could arrange to have that ship."
"Hmm," I hummed, "That sounds acceptable."
"Wonderful," she finally showed some emotion, "Have fun with shore leave Admiral."
"Sure," I replied. I took this as my dismissal and left the office, taking the flimsiplast with me to read over. For some reason, I had the feeling that this week would go wrong somehow.
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Florrum
2 days later
I hate being right. I got a few hours of rest before I was called to Alderaan to rendezvous for a diplomatic mission to Florrum, of all places. Apparently, a gang of pirates had captured Count Dooku and were selling him to the Republic for one million credits in spice. With me in the transport to Florrum were Jar Jar Binks, Senator Kharrus, and Howler squad. Senator Kharrus was a Gran male with three eyes and floppy ears; I could assume that he was qualified for the job given how collected he was. Why anyone decided to bring Jar Jar along was beyond me; the idiot Gungan would probably mess everything up.
We had received the all clear from Anakin and General Kenobi to head to Florrum with the spice a few hours prior and we had just arrived in system. The clones and I were currently expressing our discontentment at the situation so we wouldn't have to vent at the pirates.
"How did some pirates capture Dooku when the Jedi couldn't?!" Cypher incredulously asked, "it just doesn't make sense."
I was trying to figure out where I had heard the word Florrum before. I mumbled the name under my breath to no avail and finally asked Senator Kharrus, "Do you have the name of the pirate who captured Dooku?"
"Hmm?" The Senator looked up, "Oh yes, a Hondo Ohnaka."
"Damn it," I cursed.
"Yousa better be watchen yousa language, admiral," Jar Jar admonished.
"Shut it, Jar Jar. We have bigger problems."
"Perhaps you could explain your reaction to Hondo's name," Cypher requested.
I mumbled, "Back when I was in the judicial forces, I was kidnapped by him. I was still a commander, in charge of a Carrack class frigate. I was naive, and I made the mistake of trusting him. I eventually escaped with the help of one of my friends."
"I remember, the last time I went on one of these ransom missions, I spent three weeks in a dungeon," Senator Kharrus added.
"Dang, that must've sucked. I only had to stay one week," I said.
"You wouldn't believe how bad it was, admiral," Kharrus grumbled.
"Let's hope that none of that happens today," interjected Walker.
"Whatever," I paused for a moment and sighed, "I have a bad feeling about this."
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In atmosphere
Florrum
4 minutes later
Once again, my gut was right. Two pirate Flarestar assault shuttles came to "greet us."
"Looksies, Isa our escort!" Jar Jar exclaimed while I groaned at the sight.
"Jar Jar, I don't think they are friendly," I said, "Get in your seat and secure yourself."
"Meesa trying," Jar Jar grunted, "Itsa stucken!"
"Oh, for goodness sake," Walker complained. He stood up from his seat and secured Jar Jar in place. "There you go, representative Binks."
"Thank you," Jar Jar said as Walker sat back down.
A sudden thud rang out through the shuttle. The pilot's voice came over the intercom, "We're under attack! Strap in and prepare for a crash landing!"
Since everyone was strapped in we didn't have much problems with that. After a sound that I recognized as a hit from a concussion missile, the pilot yelled, "We're hit! I repeat, we are going down!"
Our shuttle began a bumpy ride through Florrum's atmosphere. Since the shields had fallen a while ago, environmental control was working overtime to keep us from burning up. Static was pouring through the intercoms and everyone in the shuttle was being jostled around.
Just when I thought that the shuttle would finally fall apart, another loud thud reverberated throughout the hull. The shuttle made an ugly scraping noise as it plowed through Florrum's sandy surface and finally came to a halt.
The dazed members of our party slowly walked out of the shuttle. The clone commandos, senator Kharrus, and Jar Jar were all still alive. Hawk went to check on the pilots while the rest of us cased the area.
Florrum looked the same as it did when I was last there. It was hot, sandy, and generally miserable, the perfect place for a pirate hideout. My mind soon drifted to the events all those years ago, how the pirates boarded my ship, how they plotted to ransom me, how I was finally rescued by my Mandalorian friend. . .
I was snapped out of my thoughts by Hawk saying, "Pilots are dead. We pretty much have two options, we can fight our way through the pirates, or stay here and repair the comms."
"Why should wesa repair da comms?" Jar Jar asked, "The pirates are friendlies!"
"Jar Jar, the pirates just shot us down," I turned to the rest of the group and said, "let's repair the transponder."
Everyone voiced their agreement and went off to complete their respective tasks or rest. I was watching over Jar Jar to make sure that he wouldn't destroy the shuttle even more while Cypher tried to fix the responder.
"Ouch!" Cypher yelled as he got shocked and fell down. He proceeded to yell Mando'a profanities at the transponder. Luckily, Jar Jar couldn't understand.
"Sir," Cypher called to me after he calmed down, "The transponder needs a better facility for repairs. I'm going to try and fix the homing beacon instead."
"Sure," I said. I looked around for a moment and asked, "Wait, where's Jar Jar?"
Cypher looked up from the homing beacon and shrugged.
Kriff, Jar Jar better not have gotten to the spice. I ran outside the ship to see him looking at the geysers. Walker and Hawk were telling him not to go near it, "Sir, those geysers are spewing acid. Step away," Walker paused for a moment and weakly added, "please?"
The animals close to the geyser that Jar Jar was at started walking away. Jar Jar saw this and followed them away from the geyser. Ten seconds later, the geyser went off, singeing the ground around it.
I sighed in relief and walked over to hear Jar Jar say, "Hmm, thesa beasties don't like the geysers neither. Wesa should stay away from thesa geysers."
"Jar Jar, the rest of us already knew that," I informed him. I was about to scold him, but I heard the sound of speeders approaching.
"Whatsa that?" Jar Jar asked as we all looked in the direction of the speeders.
"You think this is trouble, sir?" Walker cautiously asked.
"Yes."
"They could be the ones that we're supposed to deliver the ransom to," Ammo tried to put an optimistic spin on things.
"Yeah, no. Hawk, go get Cypher and the Senator. We have to get out of here," I urged them on.
Shortly after Hawk got into the shuttle, the 10 or so pirate speeders reached into firing range and started shooting at us. We all ducked behind a rock while putting up a pitiful resistance.
Ammo managed to destroy a speeder with a lucky shot from his blaster carbine. The other pirates actually whooped at this, either enjoying the thrill or liking that there was more spice for themselves.
I shot a pirate of his speeder with a burst of blue laser fire. His speeder slowed down and the pirate behind him died in a bright yellow explosion.
The pirates were trying to keep us away from the shuttle and the spice. They formed a line and started walking closer and closer, laying down suppressive fire as they went.
Jar Jar said, "Follow me, let's hide."
Walker and Ammo turned to me and I shrugged. Jar Jar gestured to the geyser next to us and they followed him in. I also climbed down to the ledge Jar Jar had found.
"Let's hope that the others will be alright," I said.
We waited a few minutes until we were sure that the pirates were gone and we started climbing out. I was the last one to the top, and just before I arrived Ammo asked Jar Jar, "How'd you know this geyser was safe?"
"Meesa knew it was safe since the beasties were nearby," Jar Jar reassured him. Right after he said that the creatures started walking away.
Everyone ran back to the shuttle as the geyser erupted when we were at a safe distance.
I walked in and saw a blaster in my face, "Whoa! Stand down trooper, it's just me!"
Cypher managed to look sheepish through his armor and apologized, "Sorry, sir."
"It's fine, we're all on edge," I asked, "Did the pirates take the spice?"
"Yes, sir. We all had to hide in the vents. By the way, thanks for the distraction."
"I can't believe that that pirate would betray us like that!" Ammo yelled in indignation.
"He's a pirate," Senator Kharrus grumbled, "that's just what those scum do."
"Something still seems off about this though. Hondo generally keeps his word," I said. My mind drifted to the events all those years ago. . .
Flashback, 8 years ago, Florrum. . .
"Come on, Silas! Let's get out of here!" Jorad yelled. He ignited his jet pack and laid down suppressive fire as I ran. Explosions rocked the interior of that scum's headquarters as the mandalorian threw thermal detonators at the pirates.
A large and sudden thud reverberated throughout the fortress. It shook the group of weequays in front of us off their feet, weapons clattering on the floor. Jorad stunned the pirates and we kept on running.
"Did you just blow their generator up?" I almost giddily asked. We ducked behind a corner to catch our breaths. Jorad just pointed to his vambrace. I could almost see his grin through his helmet. He tossed me his spare pistols and I holstered them while he reloaded his rifle.
"We'd better get going," I quipped, "Wouldn't want Skira thinking you're getting old now, would we?"
"Oh, you're on."
We continued plowing through the pirate compound until we reached the "hangar." It was an open air space with 3 flarestar class assault shuttles neatly parked in a row. Two weequays were supposed to be standing guard, but they had evidently taken a nice, healthy dose of spice earlier.
They were slurring out their words and eventually one of them tried to stop us, but he held his rifle the wrong way. I paused my run for a moment to watch the humorous display.
That was a mistake. A large group of pirates came running after us, firing their lasers in bursts. I jumped in the loading ramp of a flarestar and frantically fired my pistols. This gave the pirates pause as they ran forward, giving me enough time to yell, "Jorad, start the damn ship already!"
"Working on it!" He called back, "this thing has some weird systems!"
"Have you tried turning it off and on again?" I ducked as a brave pirate jumped up from his cover and shot at my head.
"Can it, mir'sheb!" I heard a quieter grumble, "rangir."
The ship's systems turned off and on again and I heard Jorad mumble, "huh, that worked."
"Take off already!"
"Yes, sir," Jorad quipped as we exited the pirate compound. I could see Hondo shaking his head in dismay at one of his ships being stolen, "Please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times and strap in folks."
We had left the atmosphere at this point and I was looking back at Florrum, hoping to never go back there again. "Prepare to jump to lightspeed," I said.
"Aye aye, Captain," Jorad said. Little did I know that I would be back to Florrum as the rescuer one day in the future. . ."
End of flashback, the present. . .
"I suggest we wait here for a republic rescue party," Walker said.
"No, wesa can't wait," Jar Jar said.
"We don't have much choice," Senator Kharrus grimly replied.
"Ani and Obi Wan are waiting for us to deliver the spicen," Jar Jar argued.
"Those pirates are on speeders; how are we going to catch them?" Asked Cypher.
Jar Jar looked around for a moment and he caught sight of something. His eyes shone with determination and he said, "Meesa be haven an idea."
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Florrum
20 minutes later
Jar Jar's idea was for us to ride on the animals that ran away from the geysers. These things ran surprisingly fast for how they looked and we had quickly caught up to the pirates. The clone commandos came on the pirates flanks while the rest of us followed behind the pirates.
There were 7 speeders left and we had gunned down 4 in just our opening salvo. Two pirates took evasive maneuvers but they were gunned down. Only the last one managed to escape, the leader by the looks of it.
We attached the spice to our animals and Cypher said, "Now that we have the spice, we just need to find the pirate compound."
Hawk looked through his visor and said, "look, power lines."
"They must lead somewhere," agreed the senator.
"There'sa power, there'sa be people, too," Jar Jar agreed.
After another hour of following the power lines, we came to a halt as Jar Jar said, "there be some bombad clankens headed this way."
"Pardon me, Jar Jar?" I asked.
Jar Jar handed me Cyphers macro binoculars and pointed in the General direction of the "clankens." I saw three pirate tanks, "shoot, yeah, bombad clankens they are, Jar Jar."
After Walker saw, he said, "Representative Binks, we're going to need your services for this part of the mission."
"Whosa?" Jar Jar asked. He pointed to himself and said, "Meesa?"
"Yes, sir. You're a senate representative, so we need you to. . . Negotiate with those pirates."
"Meesa no liken this idea, but okay," Jar Jar said as he started walking down to the tanks.
"He's probably going to get himself killed," mumbled Hawk.
"Don't worry," I reassured him, "Jar Jar's smarter than he looks."
Jar Jar reached the pirate tanks and we saw him talking with the pirates.
"What are you supposed to be?" Asked the first weequay.
"Meesa representative Binks, coming to deliver the spicen," Jar Jar replied.
We saw the pirates conversing with each other about what to do with Jar Jar and the first pirate yelled out, "You, representative Binks! We'll take you to your Jedi friends so you can, uh. . . Negotiate."
"Okey day," Jar Jar happily yelled back.
"Sir, their taking the representative hostage," reported Cypher.
"Get ready," Walker said.
I continued to look through the macrobinoculars and saw Jar Jar slip, pull the navigation stick to adjust the tank, and accidentally slam his elbow into the shoot button. The tank that was to the right of Jar Jar was reduced to a flaming wreck.
Miraculously, its pilot was still alive and he yelled, "kill him! Kill him! He's no representative, he's a plague!"
"Whosa plague?" Jar Jar obliviously asked as he cut the power to the whole pirate compound with a lucky shot, "Meesa?"
The last pirate was working on aiming his cannon at Jar Jar when the rest of us walked up behind him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," I growled out.
We loaded the most intact tank with the spice and our prisoners and left to Hondo's main base. Apparently, we had caught Hondo at a bad time as he had a lightsaber to his neck.
"Ani! Obi!"
"Jar Jar?" They asked simultaneously
"Meesa have arrived with the spicen," he said.
"Excellent Jar Jar," General Kenobi turned to Hondo and said, "that is, assuming the pirates still have Dooku to trade?"
I heard the familiar noise of a flarestar taking off and said, "Well, that answers that question. Oh, and Hondo, here you go." I threw the pirates' bodies out to him.
Anakin's ship, a very ugly ship at that, was behind us. "Sergeant, start the engines," General Kenobi ordered Walker.
Hondo was still standing there, with Anakin's lightsaber to his neck. He sighed out, "So what now, Jedi? You going to arrest me?"
"No," General Kenobi replied, "Anakin, release him."
"What?!" Hondo, Anakin, and I asked at the same time.
"Captain, you have nothing we want," General Kenobi explained, "and since we're not prisoners anymore, you don't have any bargaining power. Let's leave on even terms."
"Hold on, Hold on. Jedi after everything you're just going to walk away?" Hondo asked warily.
"We seek no quarrel with you and we seek no revenge," General Kenobi replied.
"Indeed, very honorable, master Jedi."
"Oh, Captain, you will find that Count Dooku does not share our sense of honor. And he knows where you live."
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Corellia
Unnamed safehouse
3 days later
I walked into an old safe house. Every piece of furniture was coated in a thick sheet of dust. I found the box that I was looking for: a chrome safe.
I blew off some of the dust and put in the code. It clicked open. Inside was a single communicator, still clean.
I turned it on and left a voicemail for a friend, "Jorad, when you can, come back to Coruscant. You would be a welcome addition to my new crew. If you accept, you know where to find me."
I turned it back off, closed the safe, and left the building.
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A/N Favorites are appreciated. Sorry this chapter is a bit late, Fanfiction was down for me. 11/19/23 update