Chapter 74
Arratak – Mal Torgo
The Slums were deserted. Runtan had led them away from the pirate vessel's remains and across the quickly drying ground. Deesix had been released from his backpack contraption and was rolling steadily beside them, beeping words of encouragement as they made their way across the final few miles to Mal Torgo.
Caloc was munching on a ration cube, this one flavoured with joopa rind. It was not his favourite, tasting as stale and rotten as the fruit itself, but he was at the end of his rations. Hopefully, he might be able to eat some real food soon. He crested the next ridge and found Runtan waiting for him. She pointed ahead of them. "Welcome to Mal Torgo, Caloc Tiac."
He peered where she pointed. Poking out of the muddy ocean was a metal bridge, linking their piece of the Slums to a mesa that stuck out of the muck. And right on top of the mesa was a town. It was surprisingly large for a town in the middle of nowhere. Pulling his scopes from his belt, Caloc took a closer look. The outskirts of the mesa, close to the edge, contained a huge scrapyard. Dozens of rusting ship models and makes were scattered about. A group of Ugnaut scrappers were currently disassembling the remains of a CR90 corvette that took up most of the yard.
Across the mesa, hugging the other side, were a dozen differently sized docking ports. Caloc gave a rough estimate that about a hundred ships could be docked at one time, depending on the size. His gaze flicked over the rest of the town. A lot of houses had their own private landing pads atop their stone and metal buildings, each with a ship atop it. Overall, maybe fifty ships were present. Some were the size of small freighters and starhoppers, while others were as large as corvettes. A tower shot up from the middle of the settlement, one that seemed like it could break through the heavy cloud cover.
A market was set up near the main street, covered with cloth tarps that stretched across the entire street. Several of the stalls were laden with fruit and produce from Shili, and there were transports in the nearest docking bays, minions unloading crates of that same produce. There was also a stream of pilots headed towards a round building in the centre of the town, smoke pouring from a tall chimney.
Runtan saw his interest, "That is the bakehouse. Arratak has some of the best bread you will ever taste. They make it from brunge worm moss, grown in the underground ruins."
He nodded, and swung his scopes further around. There, against the far side of the mesa, on the east side of the docking platforms, was a large wedge-shaped wall. It would slide around in a circle when storms came, sheltering the town. However, it would also trap anyone trying to leave. He counted the ships again. "Are there usually this many ships here?"
"Some are local craft.", Runtan nodded to those atop the residential blocks, "They are modified to not trigger a storm. The others are simply here for market day. A storm will probably come this afternoon. Thankfully, the one that your friends started did not continue here."
Caloc nodded. Although the ground around the mesa was a muddy bog, the bridge would assist their travels. He spun his scopes a little wider, and saw a ship that he had not seen for a long time.
"Let's get down there.", he said, suddenly eager.
Runtan placed her clawed hand on his shoulder. "I am not exactly liked around this town, Caloc. We need to sneak down there. Besides, there is still a distance to cover, even with the bridge. We will reach the mesa by nightfall."
"Then we had better leave now.", he replied, and began to walk.
They made it across the bridge to Mal Torgo just as the sun began to set and Shili began to cross the sky. This was the ecliptic night, when the planet passed before the sun. Arratak's slow orbit meant that it lasted longer than a usual night would, and they would indeed be facing away from the sun's light long after the planet had completed it's vigil in the sky. Night would contain nearly twenty hours of darkness
Sneaking away from the town entrance, for Runtan was being overly cautious, they climbed the mesa's rockface, Caloc telling Deesix to head inside the usual way and meet them inside the junk yard. Then their climbing had brought them to the edge of the mesa, Runtan looked down and gestured for him to stop.
He tried to mouth out 'why?', but before he could, a floodlight droid zipped past, the beam barely missing him. He ducked down, hands clutching the rock wall. Suddenly, a loud grinding noise could be heard far above them, and the metal partition began to telescope shut, doming the town in.
"We need to hurry.", Runtan said, checking the climbing gear attached to her boots and gloves. "You still good to climb?"
"I can heal quicker than most.", he replied evenly, testing out his bruised shoulder from earlier. It was still stiff, but he could live though the pain.
They scaled the rest of the mesa quickly, the Force allowing them to jump over trickier sections that would leave an inexperienced climber fumbling and falling. Reaching the top, they just managed to sneak through the edges of the partition before it slammed shut.
"It would appear that we are trapped for the night.", Caloc commented dryly, but suddenly a clawed hand covered his mouth.
Runtan nodded forward, where two scrappers were huddled over the engine compartment of the CR90 corvette. They were in the scrapyard, Caloc realised. But why was his companion so concerned about being heard? Then he put two and two together. "You have a bounty on your head, don't you, Runtan?"
"I made the local warlord very angry once.", she replied quietly, "Now I have a girl who brings me fresh food from the markets so I don't need to come here. We might be able to find a friendly home with her until they allow you to fly offworld again. But how do we get there…"
She trailed off, and Caloc felt her relax into the Force. Suddenly, an alarm sounded, and the nearby scrappers stood up, dropping their tools on the portable workstation before they walked towards the entry to the yard. He grinned, then gestured Runtan towards the nearest wall. They could blend in with the traffic leaving the yard, he reasoned. Even now, he could see the green dome of Deesix's head trundling forward – just another droid. Nodding, she pulled her shawl over her head to disguise her ears and features. They leapt the wall and turned into the street.
"This way.", she told him, gesturing to a nearby ally.
"Not yet.", he replied, pulling a commlink from his belt and handing it to her, "Call me on that if you need me. I have something I need to do first."
She gave him a look of disbelief, understandably so. He had never been to Mal Torgo before. But if what he had seen was correct, then there was someone he knew who was here currently. He didn't bother to explain, instead Force-leaping onto the roof of the nearest building and starting towards the ship he had seen.
Deesix looked up at Runtan, a questioning burble his only comment.
"I do not know, droid.", she replied, "Perhaps there is something he knows that we do not."
The T-6 shuttle sat in Docking Bay 67T, still and quiet. Caloc landed next to the ship, studying it carefully. It was definitely one of the Jedi's ships, but there was additional marking etched into the right side of the wing. A dragon, curled around a bright spark and backlit by a spattering of stars – the symbol of the Pyke Syndicate's Hala branch. Caloc chuckled sardonically. Of all the places for the Pyke's to take the shuttle he had left on Hala, they brought it to Arratak. The Force provided, in more ways than one.
A loud warble came from behind him, and he spun. An R-4 series astromech stood behind him, dome spinning in question. Caloc nodded at it, "Hello there."
"Hello to you too.", a voice came from the darkness. Caloc turned again, and found himself staring into the barrel of a blaster pistol. "Fancy seeing you here."
"Dorus Magoo!", Caloc asked, plucking a nonsense name from thin air.
The blaster quivered slightly, "Who?"
"Isn't that who you are?", Caloc asked.
"No.", the man's voice rose in pitch, "Do you not remember me?"
Caloc frowned. He knew the voice, high-pitched and whiny. This man had imprisoned his Master. He had thrown them in prison! So he knew precisely who he was, and what that meant. "Are you hunting me, Magoo?"
"I am not Magoo!", said the man, stepping into the light to reveal a red-skinned Pyke that towered over him, blaster jabbing out to push Caloc back. A thick metal mask covered the man's tiny face that looked comically small on his large head. "I am Fife, the former leader of the Hala Pykes. Now, thanks to you, I am but a soldier again."
"And you just happened to land here on Arratak on the day I get into town?", Caloc smiled sardonically, "You must be keeping tabs on me."
"I am simply here on business, boy.", Fife barked. "Killing you, that will just be a side benefit."
"Killing me?", Caloc chuckled quietly, putting false bravado into his voice, "Why would you kill me?"
"You stole our data!", Marg Krim spat out, "That has greatly effected my standing in our organisation. You owe me greatly."
Caloc looked up at the ship above him, studying the new brand staining the white and red paint. "You seem to have taken my Master's ship. Is that not payment enough?"
The pyke seemed to consider that, rubbing his free hand over his bulbous cranium. As he did, his grip loosened on his blaster, just for a second. That was all that Caloc needed. Reaching out with the Force, he pushed the blaster aside, leaping forward to jab the man in his rubbery throat. The move left Fife a spluttering mess on the floor. Caloc leaned down beside him. "I will be requiring my ship returned to me, Fife. If you want, I can return you to Coruscant as well. I think that the military has a nice cell waiting for anyone related to your organisation."
Fife looked up at the padawan, a spark of fear in his eyes. "I really hope that there is an alternative."
"You need to disappear, Fife.", Caloc replied, his voice low, "Go to whoever you need to for transport, but leave the ship for me, got it? If you don't, then you will be travelling with me back to Coruscant, though it will be in cuffs."
Fife slowly nodded. "I understand."
Caloc grinned, reaching over to grab the astromech with the Force. With a gesture, the droid was floating above their heads, and then it dropped, slamming on top of Fife's head. "Now sleep for a bit."