Chapter 20
The trials of Terri
The Ebon Hawk came out of hyperspace well out of range of the gravity well of Dantooine. Sending their id to the air traffic controller, they were given clearance to proceed to the enclave airfield.
T3 started bleeping excitedly from where he was plugged in to the sensor and navigation relay. Carth looked at it in mild annoyance.
"What is it going on about now?" He asked
"It says it found a strange transmission. It keeps on repeating itself." Bastila answered
"Sith?" Carth querried
T3 started bleeping and whistling
"Unknown, it uses a frequency it has never encountered before."
Carth thought for a moment before moving the steering.
"Plot a course to it, we had better investigate it."
The external coms sprang to life.
" Hawk, This is Dantooine ATC, you are deviating off course. Please correct your trajectory."
"ATC, Hawk. Our droid picked up an unusual signal. We are moving in to investigate."
"ATC copied. Please update frequently and be careful."
"Will do, ATC"
They looked at the very battered satellite as it drifted past their window. T3 Started bleeping again.
"It says it is transmitting a repeating message in basic binary code."
"What does it say?" Mission asked , craning her neck to get a better view.
T3 clacked and whistled, its dome spinning in a half rotation.
"Greetings from Earth. We approach in peace and wish to exchange knowledge." Terri translated
Bastila looked excited.
"It is a first contact drone. We have to tractor it close so it can be studied"
"And what if it is a trap?" Carth asked
T3 bleeped and whistled, it sounded annoyed.
"The programming is so basic he already infiltrated and scanned it. There is no sign of viruses or malware" Bastila said.
With a sigh, Carth opened the intercom. The alert chime whistled through the ship and he waited before speaking
"Stand by on the tractor beam, we are picking up space trash."
Melissa and Terri were standing behind Bastila's chair as she poured through the data downloaded from the satellite. They had to borrow a protocol droid to translate the leterring to binary to aurubesh. Master Dorak had been as excited as Bastila and the last they heard a team was en route from both the hall of learning and the university of Coruscant to come and study the satellite.
"This is magnificient. The entire history of an unknown human offshoot, their culture and science." Bastila gushed
Mission had been the first to notice the naked figures on the hull of the satellite and had to point it out immediately, of course. She spotted it as the satellite had been carefully transferred to a hoversled borrowed from one of the estate farms due to its size.
Bastila had been poring over the data for days now, barely moving to do the basic necessities. Melissa pointed to a file.
"Open the game file called flight simulators. I would like to see what their craft looked like."
Most of the craft depicted was planetary bound, but still interesting to look at.
"Crude but interesting. The fighter craft looks efficient but I don't know about those ones with the blades on top" Terri gave her opinion.
Melissa was busy copying the data from the space capable craft to her datapad. She looked up at the enquiring glances she got.
"I want to check with Karana and Lancelot if they know someone at Mandalmotors that could see if any of these could actually fly."
"You do know, that these are designed for entertainment?" Terri replied.
"I know. At worst it is a bust and at best we could get new craft designs. You have to admit that there has not been any significant changes in designs for decades. Some of those missile ideas should be easy to build as it is already. And it is not like that university would not do the same. If it is useful we will just have to patent the designs fast, or actually do it now before anyone can jump the line."
She pulled her comlink out. Dailing her lawyer she got him to file the patents as pending design. He was a bit sceptical but promised to have it done as soon as possible as soon as he looked up the relevant laws and statutes.
Snipes put away his comlink and shook his head. His biggest client was certainly ambitious, at this rate he will have to double the size of his office. He paused, with the offer he recived from Muunilist for representation yesterday, he was going to have to do it anyway. His brother's daughter should be finishing her articles soon, if he was not mistaken. With a sigh he got up for the long walk to the enclave to get to the holocom transmitter, hopefully the line to use it would not be too long. Perhaps he should contact his cousin and ask if there was perchance an auditor or accountant at his firm that might want to get away from Alderaan for a spell. With the way things was going he might as well invest in an office building for himself, he was sure his second biggest client might give him a good deal if he used her construction company.
Fay was busy packing her office up when Terri knocked on the doorway. A duffle bag was already packed and lying on one of the cots. The healer was dressed in civilian clothes.
"Going somewhere?" Terri asked
Fay looked up with a smile. Terri felt someone brush past her and looked down. Ellia was dragging a duffle bag behind her, looking much happier than she had ever seen the little girl be, she too was dressed in civilian clothing. Fay reached over and ruffled the girls hair, the girl's annoyed look was betrayed by the smile she was trying to hide and the fact that she leaned closer to the healer.
"Yes. I am taking my own advice and finding my own path, this little vagabond is coming along for the ride."
"I take it something happened while we were gone."
Fay pulled the girl closer. Ellia immediately latched onto Fay.
"You could say that. One of the knights was going on about Melissa and this one called him something she could only have learned from Mission."
"He was being mean to Melissa." Ellia defended herself.
"Vrook overheard her and starting tearing into her. That was when I decided enough was enough."
"She said naughtier things than I did." Ellia shared in a whisper
Terri hid a snicker at that. From the short time she knew the woman she had always thought the woman had a feisty side.
Fay cleared her throat.
"Things were said and we came to the agreement that I am not fit material to be a Jedi and he was lower than hut slime on Nal Hutta. When I quit the order, this one decided this life was not for her either."
"I bet Vrook liked that." Terri grinned
"He looked constipated, but the again he always does, he did gain a new colour when I told him that though."
Terri laughed at that.
"Did he not try to stop you from taking Ellia?"
"I did not give him much choice. Before I quit I claimed her as my padawan learner in public, he could not refuse my claim. As I was her master for all of five minutes she became my legal responsibility. Something Dorak and Zahr had to point out to him repeatedly."
"How did Vandar react?"
"He looked amused, though he said we will still be welcome to visit."
"That is more than Melissa got."
"Very different circumstances though."
Terri nodded at that.
" So where are you two going?"
"We received two hundred credits each as severance pay, I will see how far we can go, Doctors are in short supply out on the rim, so I expect to find something soon."
"Go see Melissa she will either be on the Hawk or at the cantina site. With what she and her cousins are planning, there will not be a shortage of work."
"Cousins? I distinctly remember that she is an orphan." Fay said surprised.
Terri waved it off and shrugged.
"Mandalorian thing. She was adopted into two clans. They are investing heavily in agriculture and development here through dummy corporations to prevent mandalorian bias from scuppering their plans. So the work will be legitimate and not charity."
Melissa was preparing to practice her force jumping again while wearing her armour. The difficulty was not lessoned by Mission lounging under a sun shade, cold drink and snacks close to hand, while recording her failures and offering useless advice. She was glad as she felt Terri approach, any excuse would do for now, idly she wondered why Bastila was not with her as the two were rarely apart these days.
"Are you going to jump or not." Mission called.
"After Terri tell us what is bothering her." Melissa stalled.
Terri sat down in the spare lounger and helped herself to Mission's drink, ignoring the girl's pout at that. She turned to the two.
"Are the two of you up for an adventure?" She asked.
"Sure." Mission replied
"Was planning on going to the estate and check up on Fay and Ellia. But I can put that off." Melissa stated.
"Good, the masters gave me a shopping list of tasks to complete. I believe Vrook is still pissed."
"Is he still cleaning his room then?" Melissa asked
Ellia and Fay had left him a going away present in the form of the unused paint mines planted in his room, twenty five of them to be exact. Melissa and Mission could not stop giggling at the picture when Ellia had sent it to them.
Terri gave a small smile.
"Remind me to later show you a picture Fay sent me of Ellia trying to ride a nerf."
"How did that go?" Melissa asked.
"The nerf refused to move apparently and she fell asleep on top of it."
Terri looked at the ship.
"I can only sense Carth, where is the other two?" She asked
"Hunting Ibex, Mission talked them into getting venison for the cantina." Melissa answered
"They did not need a lot of persuading. They actually jumped at the chance" Mission said defensively
"What are these tasks?" Melissa asked.
"Some geology students that came out with the anthropologists and archaeologists from the university failed to check in, so we have to go check the caves for them, some obsessed woman want to have her droid found, then stop a feud between two of the local bigwigs, oh and check why the kath hounds are acting so aggressively."
"That one is easy, say it is their mating season." Mission replied
"Can't, I already checked, mating season is four months off. Dorak handed me the datafile personally."
"Practise runs for the main event." Mission tried again
Terri and Melissa both snickered at that.
"Not going to fly, only sentients do practise runs." Terri replied.
Melissa noted an addition to Terri's belt.
"Finally made your lightsaber?"
"No; Hissk loaned me one to "enhance my importance during negotiations". He wants it back as soon as the feud is stopped."
" Bastila not coming with."
"No, I was told to do this without her assistance."
Terri gave a smirk
"However they failed to specify I could not get help elsewhere."
Melissa walked to the Hawk.
"Let us get Carth and the scout. Get this done as quickly as possible."
They were approaching the Matale estate at a decent clip. Metal music thundering in the air. The music was Mission's idea, that and stocking the central locker with drinks and snacks. Mission and Melissa were gently bickering about names for the scout vehicle.
" Seriously what is wrong with whispering death?" Mission asked.
" The fact that this thing is definitely to loud to be called whispering anything." Cart weighed in
"Call my ride a thing again and you can walk next time." Melissa called over her shoulder," and her name is pouncing shadow."
"Not seeing much pouncing being done either." Terri remarked.
" It is not to be taken literally, right Mi."
Mission tapped Melissa's shoulder.
"Pull over. I need a potty break."
"Told you not to constantly drink cold drinks."
"Yes, yes. You told me so, no pull over before you have to wash the seats."
Mission rushed behind some bushes once they stopped. Coming out a few minutes later, she wrinkled her nose.
"What is that smell?"She asked
"You have to ask after going potty in the bushes?" Melissa snarked.
"It is coming from the opposite direction, wiseass." Mission responded.
The wind turned and they could all suddenly smell it and wishing they didn't.
"Something died in the bushes." Cart exclaimed.
With feral roars a pack of kath hounds stormed them. The pack ran into a hail of plasma bolts, the last one dropping a few metres from the craft. Melissa groaned and climbed out of the drivers seat.
"Got to go check what died in there now."
"Why?" Carth asked
Melissa pointed to the claw of the last kath hound.
"There is a piece of cloth stuck around the claw."
Closing the hermetic seal on her helmet she approached the bush the pack had burst from. She came back after a few moments, a datapad in hand. She handed the datapad to Mission. Unlocking the seal she pulled her helmet off.
"Body and what looks like two or three droids. Been dead for a while, the body is badly decomposed." She reported
"I hope you did not pull this from the body." Mission said
"Found it in a bag a few meters from the body."
It took Mission moments to unlock the datapad. She quickly read through the last inscriptions
"Name was Casus Sandral. He seemed to have believed he was going to be the next big thing in archaeology, keep referring to some ruins in the south. He was moaning in his dairy about the enclave council declaring them off limits. Seems he was going to try and sneak in with three droids for protection."
"That ended well." Carth commented.
Terri pulled out her datapad and read through the file she had been given for her assignment.
" Sandral and Matale, constantly complaining to the council about something or another. Yadda, Yadda. Here we go most recent accusations are of their sons being kidnapped, both blaming the other. Names of the missing sons Shen Matale and Casus Sandral."
"So we know kitty litter was not kidnapped." Mission remarked.
"Mission, some tact please." Carth winced.
Melissa leaned against the scout vehicle. She reached for the central locker and pulled out a bottle of water and took a few deep sips
"Where do we go to first? The estates are adjacent to each other."
Terri thought for a moment.
"Matale is closer, we can get him done first."
Two turrets and several sentry droids locked onto them as they approached the front of the Matale residence. Melissa stopped and turned the nose slightly, discretely lining up on one turret.
A door hissed open and a protocol droid came walking out."
"I am T1T0, in service to Master Matale. The master does not wish to entertain visitors at this time and politely asks for you to vacate the premises."
Terri shot the droid an unimpressed look.
"Good thing that we are not here for entertainment then. Tell your master that I am here under the authority of the Jedi enclave council. And I do not have time to waste playing power games."
Minutes later an elderly man stepped from the building adjusting his clothing as he walked.
"If it were not for seeing your weapon I would have assumed you to be a vagabond trespassing on my land, with a mandalorian and a twi'lek street walker no less. Though I have to say I will be addressing the council on the rudeness you offered my droid."
Terri climbed back into the scout.
"Let us go, the old racist has nothing to say I want to hear. He can sort his own problems out."
Shrugging the others climbed back in
"Wait! What about my son?" The old man demanded.
"What about him? You seemed more eager to insult us than worry about him." Mission replied
"That bastard Nurik has my son!"
"What proof do you have?" Carth asked
" My security droids destroyed a bunch of his droids coming onto my land. Obviously to assassinate me and then force my son to hand over his birthright by torture."
"Did you recover any data from these droids to substantiate your claims?" Carth again asked
"I did not have to. And why are you interrogating me instead of the hutt slime that has my son?"
Terri turned to Melissa
"Go. We are getting nowhere here."
"With pleasure."
The other estate was a near carbon copy of the locking on to them and sentry droids encircling the vehicle. This time a protocol droid was already waiting.
" I am…"
"Don't care, Tell Nurik we have news of his son." Melissa interrupted
The droid tilted its head.
"Your very rude message has been relayed. Master Nurik wishes for you to follow me."
The waiting area was lavishly decorated, two water features tinkling in the background. Terri noted two large boxes mounted above the door.
"Turrets by the door." She muttered.
Melissa switched her helmet to heat vision.
"Two coming closer. There is another very blurry image a floor down. Cannot see clearly what it is."
The door opened and a woman in her twenties entered with another old man.
" I have been told you have news of my son." He stated briskly
"We found his remains on the edge of the Matale estate. I am sorry for your loss." Terri stated.
She handed over the datapad that had been found.
"We marked his location on the map."
"You can leave now."
"There is still a matter to discuss…" Terri started
"I said leave."
Abruptly the old man turned and walked away.
"Rahasia, come. We have to mourn your brother. Matale will pay for killing him." He snapped
"Unless Matale has learned how to domesticate kath hounds there will be no retaliation. I say this under the authority given to me by the Jedi council" Terri stated, firmly
"Kath hound, droid, mercenary. It does not matter Casus died on Matale lands and Ahlan Matale is responsible for it."
The old man walked through the door, the woman scampering behind him. The droids that thad followed them in started raising their weapons and the sounds of gears activating filled the room.
"Time to go." Terri stated
They calmly walked out of the building. As they were about to leave they noticed movement at the corner of the building. The woman Rahasia was frantically waving at them.
"Mission, go." Terri said softly.
Melissa lifted a panel by the engine and appeared to tinker with engine. The air shimmered as Mission engaged her stealth generator and she faded from view
Mission made her way to the woman.
"What is it? What do you want?" Mission asked
The woman gave a small shriek.
"Quiet." Mission hissed.
" Shen is in the house, my father had him kidnapped a few days ago from the market in Khoonda. You have to get him out. I can not tolerate the thought of him being hurt." Rahasia babbled
"And how do you propose we do that?"
"Servants entrance in the back. The door is faulty and currently not connected to the security system."
"Can you not just switch of the security system, and open the doors for him"
"Daddy does not allow me to go near it and I could not defy daddy like that."
Mission desperately wanted to hit her head against something, repeatedly. Just what was it that made these rich girls so stupid and juvenile.
"Fine, just go! We will make a plan."
She made her way back to the group.
"I am back, let us go." She said.
They mounted the vehicle and pulled off, Mission shimmering back into view as the stealth field switched off. The device reaching the ten minute mark before it had to cool off.
They pulled up out of sight of the house. Needless to say no one was impressed by the news she had to share
"Do you suddenly lose IQ points if your allowance hits four zero's." Melissa moaned.
"Seems that way." Terri replied.
Carth was pacing slightly as he pondered the situation.
"We are going to have to go in and get him. Don't we?" He said, sighing deeply.
"Unless we want to let this escalate to full on violence, yes." Terri responded.
"To make it worse, we are going to have to go in now. Sandral is likely to shoot him out of spite, if he has not done so already." Melissa stated.
Terri pulled her and Mission's combat suits from the locker behind the driver seat. She tossed Mission her suit and she started to pull of her clothes. Carth hastily turned around.
"We are going to have to go in loud." Melissa suggested, strapping a grenade belt on.
"How many ion grenades do you have there?" Terri asked.
"Five, I counted fifteen droids outside. There will likely be more inside and whatever the old mynock had installed for his security." Melissa replied
"Not mentioning having to sweep rooms as we look for him." Carth added
Terri zipped up her combat suit and slung her gunbelt back on.
"Vrook is going to lose his shit over this." She said
"Run and gun for the droids and turrets and hard breach of the back door." Melissa suggested
"Run and gun." Terri confirmed.
The first turret exploded in a burst of flame as they rushed the perimeter. There was the crump of the grenade launcher and a flowering of flames in a group of droids, Metal parts rained down as the flames died.
Melissa spun the wheel and they lined up on the second turret as it tried to track her movements. The rear heavy repeater chattered as Carth opened up. Mission fired the second heavy repeater and another turret went up in flames and smoke. Terri fired the launcher again into another cluster of droids as Melissa opened the engine and gunned for the third turret. Lasers flashed by as she swerved as the turrets got a momentary lock , She fired the repeater one handed and the third turret went down
Reaching the back of the building the last turret could not lock on fast enough and Mission scattered it across the ground with sustained fire from her gun. Terri jumped out and slapped a breach charge on the door before jumping back into the scout. Melissa drove straight for the droids coming around the corner. Sustained fire destroyed them, Carth opening up as the droids coming from the far side came into view. She slammed the brakes and pulled the steering to the left. They swung a hundred and eight degrees. The door charge blew scattering metal onto the paving.
They jumped out and rushed the door. The inner door hissed open to reveal a droid. The snap-hiss of a lightsaber activating was followed by the clang of metal as Terri bisected the droid.
Mission pulled a visor from her pack and slipped it on. The visor designed to let her see electronic emissions, a useful tool in the arsenal of a slicer. Activating it she saw blue of power lines running and two dark green forms outside the next door.
"Two by the door." She reported.
"How close to the door." Terri asked
"Right up against it one by each door panel."
Terri shoved the blade of the lightsaber through the door and heard the explosion as she hit the central processor. She spun and slammed the blade through the second door panel and a second explosion came. She pulled the blade down to the locking mechanism and the door opened.
Melissa and Carth leapfrogged her. Two side doors opened up in the passage.
"Ion out." Melissa called.
She armed the grenade and rolled it down the passage. Mission turned around quickly as she did not want to be blinded when it blew. The visor on Melissa's helmet darkened as the grenade popped. There came electric squeals and three explosions shortly there after, a fourth droid staggered into view and was gunned down.
"Clear." Carth called.
"Clear." Melissa echoed.
Mission spun back around and looked at the far door.
"Turret by the door." She called it out
"Heat signature close by." Melissa reported
They pressed forward. Mission saw a terminal in one of the rooms the droids were in.
"Found a terminal. Going for a slice."
She swiftly hacked in. Thankful for the recently upgraded gear she had received. Lancelot may be delicious eye candy but he also knows his slicing equipment and he had a decent brain to boot.
"Turrets disabled. I can not access the droid controls."
"Can you get us a map?" Carth asked.
"Sorry no schematics found."
They breached the door and entered a passage, four doors lining it and small side passage suggested another door. Looking through her visor Mission saw a solid green mass in the side passage.
"Multiple droids, unable to confirm numbers up the side passage."
Terri placed a breach charge on the door and backed away rapidly. Carth sat on the corner to the passage, ion grenade at the ready. Mission was slicing the door where they had seen the heat signature. The door blew and Carth threw the grenade around the corner. Electronic screeching filled the air followed by a seemingly near endless chain of explosions.
Mission finished slicing and the door sprung open. Melissa saw a blur of movement as Rahasia ducked underneath her bedcovers. Leaving a visibly quivering mass in the centre of the bed.
"Really?" Mission was stumped at the sight.
They moved up the side passage and another heat signature showed. Mission sliced the door. A man of about twenty five stood in the corner.
"Did my father send you?" He called
"No, but we are here for you anyway." Carth replied.
"I am not leaving without the love of my life." He declared," You can go back to him and tell him I will not leave without the beautiful Rahasia. My muse of love."
"We don't have time for this." Carth snapped.
He walked forward and cold cocked the man. Pulling the body over his shoulder, he turned to leave.
"Package secured, extract."
The man woke up halfway back to his fathers estate. He immediately tried to jump from the vehicle to go back to his love. Carth clocked him again.
Ahlan Matale was mouthing of about Nurik Sandral when they dropped his son by his feet. They left the two while Matale was still declaring endless enmity onto his foe and the man wept for his beloved.
At the edge of the estates they pulled up and stepped out of the vehicle.
"Is it just me or was this a clusterkriff of epic proportions." Mission stated.
"You can say that again." Carth muttered, rubbing his knuckles.
In the background sounds of fighting were erupting. Melissa climbed onto the bonnet with a pair of macro binoculars and looked back.
"We can safely say that was a mission fail. Looks like they are going full out on each other back there." She reported
"I am really starting to hate rich people." Mission stated.
Terri dropped to her back in the grass.
"Wonderfull start right there. No way this going is going to come back and bite me in the ass. Totally covered everything perfectly."
Melissa sat down next to her.
"There was no way this was going to end well and you know it. They are so self absorbed it staggers believe."
Mission was now scanning the ridge with the binoculars. She started bouncing in place exitedly.
"Guys! Guys! I think I found the missing droid." She called out happily
Terri sat up, a hopeful expression on her face
"Where?"
"By the ridge, Surrounded by a…" Mission's shoulders dropped.
"By a what?" Carth asked
"Pack of kath hounds." Mission gritted out.
Terri dropped back into the grass.
"Can this day just end? Or someone shoot me? Either option will be fine." She groaned
The geologists base camp was wrecked, Carbon scoring on a crate showed it was not by accident. Clearly visible track led to the cave entrance. Lighter treads possibly indicating civilians and the heavier treads possibly by their attackers.
Terri was down on one knee, touching the ground with one hand, eyes closed in concentration. She opened her eyes with a sigh. Melissa was standing in the mouth of the cave, a hand to the rock face.
"You feel anything?" Melissa asked
"Lots of living things in there, that is all I am getting."
" That is what I was getting too."
Terri stood and primed her rifle.
" Doing this the hard way again." Terri said
" Do we ever have it easy?" Carth replied.
Mission fitted a torch to her visor and switched it on. The visor went from blue to green as she switched to night sight. Melissa also clipped a torch to her helmet.
"What is with the torches? Don't you have night sight in your helmet? And Mission I though twi'leks had natural dark vision" Carth asked.
Mission shrugged her shoulders
"Twi'leks have dark vision true. But contrary to popular believe any form of night vision requires some residual light. You cannot generate something from nothing." She explained.
"Huh, you learn something new every day." Carth stated.
Terri handed him a spare headlamp from her tactical vest. Her ears were twitching slightly from nervousness. All Elvenhan had an instinctive dislike of going underground.
" Melissa, Mission take point."
The cave was dark and damp and the slope led downwards. The darkness seemed to press in on them. Terri swallowed thickly as her fear increased. Melissa stopped next to her and pulled her in for a hug.
"You could go wait outside, no one will think any less of you if you do." She said softly.
"No, I have to do this." Terri replied
"Then lean on us as we have leant on you. If it gets too much we leave, screw the council."
A light was bobbing in front of them wildly.
"Contact." Carth called.
A young twi'lek male dressed in light armour was running frantically towards them. His rifle slung across his chest forgotten in his panic. Mission polearmed him as he ran past her. Carth stepped on his chest to keep him down.
From deeper in the cave came skittering and cheeping as whatever was chasing him drew near. Terri added a flare grenade to her rifle and fired. The light revealed a horde of two metre high four legged insects. Their torsos held a set of arms that were serrated.
"Kinrath. Thermal out." Melissa called.
Her helmet tinted against the flash, the air was filled with screeching as the insects burned. The group opened fire, Carth keeping his foot on the captive.
" Targets down, reloading." Terri called
"Cover." Mission replied
Terri bent down to examine their captive, a tattoo was engraved on his neck. This and the armour meant he was probably no student. Carth pressed down harder as he was starting to squirm.
" Who are you?" Terri asked firmly
The man refused to answer.
"Who are you?" Terri laced her voice with the Force.
"Cala Arrana." The man reluctantly answered
"What were you doing here?"
"The student camp was an easy mark, we thought we could pick up some slaves and supplies to take back to the boss." The twi'lek swallowed." They ran into the caves to escape and we followed and those things found us."
"How many of you came down here? How many students did you see?"
"Thirty of us, fifteen fresh slaves." He gritted out
"Where can we you find your boss?"
"Not telling you that." He snarled.
He reached for a knife and Carth shot him. He looked dispassionately at the fresh corpse.
"I was told that, that force trick is unbeatable." He stated.
"The weaker the mind the stronger the suggestions impact, in his case the fear of his boss was greater than his fear of us and he could resist." Terri explained.
A screeching roar echoed through the caves. They all took an involuntary step back.
"Seems there is a matriarch here. Great an extermination mission and a rescue mission in one." Melissa said.
" Why not just get the students and get out?" Mission asked.
"Kinrath are classed as five x creatures, sentient killers. They breed rapidly in colonies like this, they have been known to wipe out settlements. Any colony found has to be exterminated." Terri explained," And do you really think the militia is up to the task."
"We are going to have to fall back and get Canderous and Zaalbar to back us up and bring some heavy weapons and extra ammunition." Melissa said.
"Heavy on thermal charges as well, frags mights have the caves ceiling dropping on us." Cart added.
They waited for an hour for their reinforcements to arrive. They came driving up in a landspeeder. Canderous was wearing heavy armour and his rotary rifle, backpack heavy with ammunition. He tossed another backpack to Melissa.
"You and Tails are going to have to share. Furball has another pack for Jetii and fleet." Canderous said
"As long as we have enough to share I don't mind." Melissa replied
" What is the sitrep?" Canderous asked
"Fifteen civilians, twenty nine hostiles and unknown amount of Kinrath and a matriarch. Numbers are bit less now but cannot say if it is civilian or hostiles" Terri replied.
Zaalbar tapped on a bracelet he was wearing and the translator device he received switched on. He grunted and growled, a moment later the translator kicked in, the tone emotionless.
"No one objects if I claim the Kinrath?"
"You want them, they are yours." Carth replied.
"Good, I have been craving kinrath soup for a while now."
Melissa and Terri led the way back in. They went deeper than they had before and the cave split into two tunnels. Concentrating for a moment they took the left hand tunnel. Here and there a patch of bioluminescence algae broke the darkness. The tunnel ceiling grew higher and a tinkle of water was heard. Terri raised her fist as they stepped into a cavern.
She swept the area with her rifle barrel, the force was warning her of imminent danger. Melissa switched to thermal to spot for ambush.
"Ceiling!" Melissa called firing.
Forms dropped from the stalagmites as fire scythed through them. One or two tried to stand up after falling but was gunned down. Canderous scythed the stalagmite formations to make sure there were no more hidden predators. Six Trandoshans laid among the carnage unleashed.
"Twenty three hostiles left. Make sure to record their faces to check for bounties" Canderous spoke
The cavern had three exits. Mission scratched in her ear with a finger.
"What is that whining noise?" She said
"Don't know, but it is irritating me." Zaalbar's translator spoke.
"Where do you feel it coming from?" Terri asked.
Zaalbar pointed to the middle exit.
"There and it is close."
Terri led the way to it and touched the rockface.
"Feels like some sort of vibration" She spoke.
A hundred metres in their progress was blocked by a mass of kinrath, trying to batter down a flickering force shield. Forming a firing line the group advanced.
"Thermals out." Terri ordered
Three grenades dropped into the tightly packed mass of insects, they opened fire as the grenades exploded. Canderous's rotary blaster and Zaalbar's bowcaster inflicting the most damage. Caught between a hammer and an anvil the kinrath were soon overrun.
Climbing over the insect corpses they were blocked by a slowly strengthening force shield. Fourteen younger sentients and one older human female, stood behind the shield, two sonic emitters were sweeping their parabolic dishes older woman holding a holdout blaster
"Everyone okay? No injuries?" Melissa asked
"Checking on the market goods?" The woman spoke, scathingly
" No we are your rescue party. I am Terri Cazor, the enclave send me to check on you when you failed to contact the university group. You are lucky there has been a bit of raider activity otherwise they might have only started looking after a few days."
" And I am looking right at the raiders." The woman replied.
Terri sighed and ignited the lightsaber and waving Zaalbar forward.
" Have you ever heard of a Wookie taking part in a slave raid, or any one not a Jedi to walk around with one of theses."
"Dressed like that and the mando with you, how do I know you did not pick that up from a body."
Terri reached out and lifted one of the sonic emitters a few feet up before lowering it. The woman finally put the blaster in her pocket.
"Name is Abigail Chasen. You understand I had to make sure. Got to say it is strange to see a mando with a jedi."
Terri smiled.
"Actually I am here with two. Can you tell us what happened?"
Chasen looked shocked for a moment.
"Brought the students out for some cave crawling and set up camp above. We had found the first kinrath and was pulling back to contact the enclave to call for extermination when the raiders came tearing into the camp. We grabbed the two emitters and the portable shield generator and some power cells and barricaded ourselves in here. Been here for about a day."
"Did you see any of the raiders anywhere? We accounted for seven so far." Melissa asked
Chasen pointed to the floor
"There is another seven under that pile of dead bugs. They tried to convince us to give them shelter. I refused, they would have turned on us the moment they were inside the shield."
"Good call." Carth complimented.
Terri thought for a moment.
"Right lets head up. Get you away from here. Then we will come back for the colony."
Chasen motioned to one of the sentients and the shield dropped and the emitters stopped swinging. Mission gave an audible sigh of relief.
"That sound was driving me insane." She muttered, thankfully.
Night was starting to fall when they made it back to the surface. Terri boycotted Chasen's suggestion to try walking back to Khoonda.
"The kath hounds are in an uproar for some reason and trying to move at night when they are more active is suicide with a group this big with limited weapons." Terri explained.
"So what do we do?" Chasen asked.
Terri turned to Canderous.
"You have more experience, what would you do?"
Canderous lit a nicotine stick.
"Check what can be salvaged, contact the enclave to arrange pick up in the morning. We set up camp in the mouth of the cave. Park the kid's vehicle in front of it to give covering fire from there and set a second position pointing to the cave with two of the repeaters. Three hours on, three hours of on watch. The civvies to stand watch as well, one of us front and one back with a civ. Anything moves blow it to hell."
Terri nodded.
"There we go, lets get to it."
Melissa was getting irritated with her watchmate. The girl moaned the entire time of being hungry and cold. Everytime she moved, the thermal blanket she insisted on wearing crinkled, which was every few minutes. A third chapter was added to the litany, now she was complaining of a full bladder.
"Just climb out, find a patch of grass, drop your pants and get it over with." She eventually snapped.
"I am not a savage like you." The girl retorted.
"Then hold it in and stop moaning."
Melissa was not the only one getting irritated with the students. Earlier she had Carth shouting at one to stop messing with the repeater and Mission had slapped two who had asked her for a lapdance. Chasen was trying to hold them in line but dawn and their pickup was still far off.
She stiffened as she felt the warning coming from the Force. She lifted a flare gun and fired. The flare arched over the open field and exploded in a bright white light, slowly drifting down. A veritable sea of Kath hounds were visible in the bright light as they were stalking closer. Melissa opened fire with the repeater
"Get your useless twat behind that grenade launcher." Melissa shouted.
The girl ran back with a scream. Mission jumped into the craft and manned the grenade launcher. Explosions mixed in with laser beams as the packs dropped their stealth approach and charged. Canderous and Zaalbar stepped up and opened fire. The assault soon petered out. Leaving piles of dead kath hounds
"That is really not normal behaviour for kath hounds." Melissa said in a strained voice
"No it is not, and that is not what has you hacked off. I saw your partner fleeing to the middle of the group peeing herself." Mission replied
Melissa sighed.
"You are right. I am trying to restrain myself from going over there and bitch slapping her up and down the cave." Melissa said
"Why not just shoot her? I have heard that that is the traditional punishment for abandoning your post." Mission asked
"It is forbidden to shoot civilians for desertion." Canderous broke in
"And if I lift my hands to her. I am proving all the stereotypes true.
"Then how about pranking her." Mission grinned savagely
Canderous and Melissa looked at her
"You can do the force persuade thing, right?"
"Yes, why?
"Get her to do a striptease in the morning in front of all her friends."
"You just want the perverts to staring at you," Melissa grinned.
Mission jerked as her head was given a light slap
"Bad, Mission. No giving Melissa bad advice." Terri rebuked her
"Come on it will be good for everyone's morale." Mission whined.
" Mission. No." Terri reiterated
Mission huffed and crossed her arms. She paused
"Oh Melissa. By the way, what is a twat?" She asked
Melissa rubbed the collar of her pauldron, thankful she was wearing her helmet
"Uh. Don't really know, the drill instructors kept shooting it at us during basic"
"Oh." Mission responded
Terri nudged Melissa.
"Good save there, can't let the girlfriend know you are thinking of other vaginas" She mock whispered, loudly.
The night's embarrassment did not end there. Having heard Melissa calling Canderous Buir, one of the students approached him to offer a bride price as Mandalorians still did that. Carth jumped in and offered to mediate the negotiation, Canderous had merely lifted an eyebrow and said nothing. The final offer was three nerf bulls and twenty cows, since credits were deemed as demeaning and the value of a bride was determined by the livestock offered. Canderous said he would consider it only if the student completed a trail of blood by killing a checabra barehanded. Since the bride did so with a knife, the husband as the superior had to outdo the bride. The student lost all interest as he was shown what a checabra looked like
The transporters showed up well after first light and to the groups dismay contained no reinforcements from the council, the militia or the marshal's office despite the size of the threat having been relayed. They did get a message from Vrook to deal with the situation as they saw fit and that Vandar was too busy to reply to their messages.
Entering the dark again they rapidly moved to the central cavern. Zaalbar now carrying one of the light repeaters, his bowcaster on his back
"Left or Right?" Carth asked.
"Might as well take left. We will have to come back and check right as well." Terri said
They found a line of bodies going deeper. Voices echoing up the passage led them to the remainder of the raiders.
"I say we make a run for it now or we are dead. We are down to our last power cells" One voice came
"Then what? Have the Vesalik's skin us alive like Celchu." Another answered
"I never said anything about going back. Look we make a run, collapse the roof of the cave. They come looking they find the cave collapsed they think we are dead, in the meantime we wait for a freighter to come in and stow away. Get to Nar Shadaa and go work for a Hutt."
"Yeah and what if they open the cave and come looking?"
"They find whatever the bugs did not eat, again it looks like we are dead. With any luck the bugs get a Vesalik. Either way we are free and clear."
Canderous went stock still on hearing this. He was visibly vibrating in anger.
"Ad, on me. There is clan business to take care of." He ordered
He marched stiff backed into the small cavern, Melissa at his side. Mission moved to follow but Carth held her back.
"Not this time. As he said clan business."
"What is going on? They could need our help. Let me go" Mission struggled.
"If they need our help, we will jump in, not a moment before."
"Explain, now." Zaalbar's translater spoke.
Terri ran a hand through her hair.
"The Vesalik clan has a standing bounty on them for half a million credits per head, and ten thousand per head for anyone helping them. So far they are the only clan all Mandalorians have disavowed. The only one all Mandalorians are honour bound to pursue at all costs"
Carth elaborated
"What makes them so special is that they were the bodyguards assigned to a scientist named Demagolk. That thing conducted experiments on captives. The most disgusting atrocities were committed on mere whims of him. Cross species limb and organ transplants, forced genetic mutations, new ways to kill as painfully as possible and much, much worse. He did things Malak would never even consider."
Carth shuddered looking green, hastily pulling out his water canteen he took several deep swallows
"When the war ended, they tried to hide him and themselves but their atrocities were found out anyway. Demagolk was publicly executed during the peace talks in the very room they were negotiating in as a sign of repentance. The Vesalik clan was cast out for helping him and participating in the atrocities." Terri continued
Canderous came to stop in the middle of the cavern, ignoring the weapons pointed at him. Calmly he lit a nicotine stick and took a deep drag.
"This is a one time offer that will only last as long as this smoke. Tell me where the Vesalik's are and you can walk away alive with a thousand credits to get to Nar Shadda each."
"Snitch on the Vesalik's , are you crazy? New plan boys. We kill this old fucker and take his head and the girl to the them, that should buy us some grace."
One leered at Melissa.
"I am in as long as we get to play with her first."
Canderous dropped the nicotine stick and crushed it under his boot.
"You should not have said that."
Melissa threw one hand up and the leering one grabbed at his throat as he went on tip toes, before twisting her hand and his neck snapped. With her other hand she drew her blaster and fired. Canderous spinning on one heel as he fired a barrage.
It was over in moments. The first speaker leaning against a boulder coughing up blood.
"I assume… the offer is longer… on the table." He gasped
"There never was going to be one, hutuun."
"Well then…Fuck you and your bitch."
He drooped to the ground and a foul smell erupted as his bowels voided before death claimed him. Canderous idly picked at a scrape on his armour.
"I see now what Karana meant about having extra heat dissipation being usefull. Melissa groaned.
Her armour showed three scorch marks from hits.
"You did well, Ad. We will get another shot at the Veaslik's another day."
"You had better tell me why they are so important to risk this manoeuvre."
"Later, when we have some alcohol available. Nowtake their pictures we have a hundred and ten thousand credits to collect on these slime"
The matriarch was surrounded by a seething mass of kinrath as they tended to her. She was lying on a small platform, her egg sacs bulging.
"That is a lot of bugs." Mission said swallowing, her mouth dry.
They were all looking nervously at the matriarch, all except Zaalbar who was eating a kinrath leg raw, growling in delight, completely ignoring everything else."
Terri took a deep sit from her canteen, hand shaking slightly.
"Sound of. What ordinance are you carrying?"
"Two frags, two thermal." Carth
"Three mines and three area charges. One thermal." Mission
" Three thermal, three mines, two rifle grenades." Melissa
"One frag, Furball is all out." Canderous
" Two thermals, Not nearly enough for this mess." Terri stated
Melissa cleared her throat.
" There is another bandoleer of grenades and three mines in the locker behind the driver seat, Plus the grenade launcher and repeaters on the pouncing shadow."
"You have a plan?" Carth asked
Melissa took of her helmet and nodded. Her hair matted and face streaked with sweat. She pointed to a bunch of boulders slightly to her rear and left.
" we go get the repeaters and launcher. thenwe setup mines to the entrance, and the three area charges…"
"Claim mores." Mission interrupting, insisting on using the name she gave the unnamed devices.
"Okay, claim mores, a stupid name by the way. In front of those boulders. Fire on the queen and shoot as fast as we can when they scramble to get to us. They will bunch up at the entrance, that is where the repeaters and launcher will be most effective. Throw grenades and keep on shooting"
"So shoot and pray that it works?" Mission summed up
"More or less." Melissa admitted
Terri pointed to the road back.
"We can also grab those sonic disrupters the students left behind to give us some breathing room to fall back if the swarm becomes unmanageable."
"Only have to be faster than the slowest one, on the way out." Carth joked grimly.
The matriarch screeched in agony as one of her eyes pulped into jelly as the shot punctured one of her eyes. A cacophonous screeching came as the swarm reacted to her pain. Melissa thought for a moment she fell the ground tremor from the sounds, Then the ground did tremor as the swarm charged. She lined up with rifle aiming for another eye.
"Hold it, Hold it." Terri called.
Melissa inhaled deeply and steadied her hand, she exhaled squeezing the trigger.
"Now."
Another eye burst. The launcher thumped as grenades were launched willy-nilly into the milling swarm. Mission pushed back slightly each time as she fired. Canderous, Zaalbar and Carth opened up with the repeaters, pushing forward against the recoil. Terri force shoving grenades to the front of the swarm. Melissa fired again, trying to have her shots perforate into the brain pan of the matriarch.
"Next time take the disruptor rifle when it is offered." She thought
Slowly a wall of dead kinrath began to block the entrance, forcing a bottleneck. The three repeater rifles were now fired in short bursts one after the other to give chance for a speedier reload. Mission and Terri now firing their rifles into the swarm as the grenades were depleted.
The now eyeless matriarch was screeching continuously, swinging her head around. Melissa fitted the last rifle grenade and waited. The open mouth was coming in her line of sight. The grenade went of in her mouth, and the screeching stopped the head exploded in a green mist. The kinrath stopped all movement as they were no longer being controlled and became easy targets
Mission idly kicked the dead matriarch
"So you kill the queen and everyone just shuts down. How come none of you said that?" She asked
" Did not know. Mostly once a colony is found a surgical air strike is called on it, or a turbo laser barrage from orbit." Cart replied.
"So we are like the first to do it this way. Cool!" Mission exclaimed.
"Found the egg chamber. Bring the charges" Canderous called.
Melissa rubbed her neck.
"About that. Me and Terri better go topside for this." She said awkwardly
"We know of Terri's species fear of being underground, but why you too? Carth asked, gently
Melissa sighed.
"Every time any one of us kills, Terri and I feel it in the force. Since those eggs are technically innocents the effect on us will be greater, than during battle and the extermination we just did."
Terri nodded numbly at Carth's unasked question. Mission pulled them into a hug.
"Go on, we will be okay, take the landspeeder and get as far away from here as you can. We will take the Whispering death back to the Hawk."
Mission got really concerned as Melissa did not rise to retaliate against the name. They numbly turned around and walked away to the surface.
They were just driving aimlessly when they felt the pull from a grove of trees. Cold, anger. The area was dotted with the nests kath hounds made, but after the morning attack none were left alive and the nests were abandoned. Terri looked at Melissa as she stopped the landspeeder.
" Once more into the breach…"