Chapter 2
Dangerous Cargo
Jaune was scrolling through the datapad LA1D2 had taken from the personal droid of the Zygerran
"And you say you did not find these coordinates in the ships navicomputors nav marking files? Jaune asked studying the file
Laid whistled and bleeped in confirmation. Jaune opened a visual file and looked at the image of the planet being circled by a broken moon. He winced as some long forgotten memory tried to surface
"And you are sure they will not be able to track your attack back to us?" Jaune demanded
Laid whistled sharply before whistling and bleeping a longer explanation.
"What do you mean they will be too busy sucking vacuum to worry about who attacked them?" Juane asked
Laid whistled a longer explanation and Jaune sat back in his seat before shrugging it off eventually
"Would have loved to kill him myself but dead is dead I guess, you are sure there were no slaves aboard though?"
A short bleep came. Jaune frowned as he rubbed his chin
"That does not make sense, a slaver not carrying slaves. Unless…" He trailed off
He got to his feet as SCD3 entered the cockpit. The droid turned to face Jaune
" All is optimal in the hold only one pod is failing at this time." The droid reported
"Kriff." Jaune exclaimed sprinting for the ladder accessing the main hold
He grabbed onto the sides of the ladder and slammed his boots to the side before placing his hands on the outside of the ladder. Relaxing his grip he dropped down rapidly. Stepping away from the ladder and turning around he immediately spotted the problem. The pod was now flashing a crimson light and the siren was more strident, the smell of burnt cables in the air. The power cable attached to the pod sparking merrily.
Jaune grabbed a crowbar from the wall mounted toolbox and advanced on the pod as Laid scrambled from the vac tube the droids used to get between decks
"Cut the power to that pod and douse that cable." Jaune ordered the astromech
The Astromech sped forward, a fusuon cutter extending from its body as sit sliced the power cable. The cable parted easily and a light turned red on the main connecter as the cable shorted out. The fusion cutter was returned to the chassis and a nozzle attachments protruded next. Thick foam was being sprayed onto the still sparking attachments. The siren died out only to be reclaimed by hurried clangs as Jaune attacked the top hinge of the pod. He managed to get a the crowbar into a joint and pushed down with his whole body
The top hinge broke of and the lid shifted open revealing a stasis pod. In the murky interior Jaune could see a small figure struggling weakly. He moved to the side and pressed his back to the pod, using his legs against the bulkhead he strained to push the object over. It slowly tipped over.
"Laid slice that lock and get the pod open.
The droid inserted a dataspike into the terminal on the pod. Moments later the lock LED went from red to green and a hiss came as the pod unsealed.
Jaune pulled desperately on the pod lid to open it, Slowly it came and fluid splashed as the seal finally broke, near frantically Jaune reached in and pulled the now limp figure out. He looked at the tube in her mouth before giving it a harsh pull get her fully free from the pod. He grabbed the limp figure before running back to the ladder and climbing up to the main deck.
LA1D2 had moved to the intercom and contacted the med bay. The door sprung open as jaune sprinted closer and TD 25 was already waiting
"Place the patient on the bed." The droid instructed.
Jaune laid the small form down and TD extended a probe.
"No pulse or electrical activity detected. Do you wish to resuscitate?" The droid asked
"Hell, yes." Jaune snapped out
He moved closer and started chest compressions. TD 25 placed a respirator mask on the young form before one hand extended a needle from the finger
"Administering Adrenal stimulant."
The needle was inerted between Jaune's fingers straight into the chest.
"Please stand clear."
The droid placed both hands on the chest and the whine came as it charged. The body shook as the charge was delivered.
"No pulse detected continue compressions."
Jaune continued compressions while TD25 sited an adrenal IV and attached monitoring electrodes
"Reassessing, stand clear. Shock adviced charging."
The body jerked again and a faint blip replaced the flatline on the screen.
"Continue compression till rhythm stabilises." TD instructed.
Jaune completed another two compression cycles before TD stopped him. Jaune heard the most welcome sound as the form breathed for the first time with the aid of the respirator.
"Thank you for the assistance captain. Now please leave to let me attend to the patient." TD instructed firmly
The sisters were waiting outside as Jaune was chivvied out of the room he owned by the droid he also owned. Jaune narrowed his eyes as he noticed what the two were dressed in. Matching blue footed one piece pyjamas
"So there was no accident in the wash. You just stole my onesies." Jaune accused them
"Your point being?" Yara asked
"That was after telling me no adult should wear them and I should be ashamed for having worn them."
"They are warm and comfortable." Katya shrugged
"You stole my clothes." Jaune stated adamantly
"We are felines. What you think you own, we do and the rules we impose on you do not apply to us." Katya said dismissively
"I am docking your pay for the replacements." Jaune threatened
"You are forgetting who is your accountant and who handles the payroll." Yara said
"The fact that we are his favourite sisters do not need to be mentioned." Katya sniffed
The door opened behind them and TD25 hovered into view
"The patient is stable. Preliminary testing showed the patient is missing several critical inoculations. I have given the inoculations and am running blood samples to test for pathogens." TD reported
"Can you tell us anything else?" Katya asked
"Negative, as you are not related that would be inappropriate. The only one that can be given information is the captain."
"Because he is the captain?" Katya stated irritated
"Yes and secondly the patient is related to the captain. Basic testing has matched her genome to the captains. How close the relation is will be determined once I can run further diagnostics."
Jaune looked at the droid in shcok.
"Did I hear you right. We have matching genomes?"
"Do I need to schedule a physical exam captain? Is your hearing affected? As stated before there is a correlation in your genome with the patients."
Despite having been given a more humanoid appearance no one would ever accuse a TD unit of being able to to tactfully deliver world changing information. Jaune was standing stock still as he tried and failed to process the information. Katya snuck a quick glance at the figure lying on the bed as TD23 was keeping the door from closing
"Nope." She stated
She marched to her room and returned moments later with a cloth item in her hands. She barged past the droid
"Yara take Jaune to the bridge. I will be there the moment I have her dressed." She said
Katya glared at the droid
"Have you never heard of the concept of preserving the dignity of the patient?" She demanded
"It is part of my programming." The droid replied
"Then why in the name of the emperors sagging underpants have you not dressed her or at least covered her with a blanket." Katya stamped a foot, her tail stiff.
Yara pulled Jaune away and started steering him to the cockpit. SCD3 was plugged into the mainframe
"A pulse message had been sent from the cargo bay. I was unable to block transmision" SCD3 reported
"Could you track to where it transmitted to?" Yara demanded
"Tattooine and Rendill." SCD3 replied
"Fuck. So both Jabba and Minasa will know something happened to the cargo." Yara swore.
"Affirmative." SCD 3 Spoke
Jaune came to live
"Drop us out of hyperspace and set a random course. No way we are going close to either planet." He stated
Jaune scrunched his hands in his hair
"First planet we get to you and Katya step of. I am not getting you involved in this further. I will make sure to be seen in a few places to draw the bounty hunters after me." He said
His head rocked as he was dope slapped by a returning Katya
"No, Bad Jaune. We do not abandon anyone in the pride."
His head rocked again as Yara also delivered a slap
"You are pride. We do not leave the pride." She said angrily
Katya pointed to the pilots chair
"Sit down and let us get our facts together before we contact the Mothers and tell them what is going on. It is time we tell them about the mess I got us into"
Katya held up an hand to stop their protests
"There is no point in trying to deny it. I got us involved with the Hutts, no one else. Me."
She woke slowly and blinked her eyes. She could hear the sound of running engines, the hiss of an air conditioner. Lights blinked randomly on a wall in the dimly lit room. She started breathing rapidly as she realised she did not know where she was.
"Sentient, calm yourself." A metallic voice spoke
She looked in the direction of where the voice came from. Her eyes widened. She screamed in fear, scurrying to the side of the surface she was lying on. Before dropping to the floor. She crawled back desperately as the thing hovered closer. She crawled into a corner and kept on shrieking in fear. Two panels split apart and more light streamed into the room. A male figure was highlighted against it, as she squinted at it, it seemed a lot like her dad.
"You are safe." The voice was reassuring sounding a lot like dads
The man moved closer slowly. She took another look and her eyes rolled back and she returned to the darkness.
"That is why I should have gone first. Your ugly mug knocked her out." She dimly heard
She woke again in a soft bed. A hand was threading through her hair and she heard purring, like Snowy always did as she napped in the sun. But this was too loud for Snowy. She cautiously opened an eye, then another.
The hand left her hair, a Faunus girl sat back in a chair and the purring stopped. She knew the girl was a Faunus as she made no attempt to hide her cat ears. A tail flicked from behind the girl and she took a closer look. No human ears, two animal features, slitted yellow eyes like a normal cat. This was no Faunus!
She stiffened and the girl smiled softly at her. She shifted the chair back before sitting on her hands. When the girl noticed she was still staring she wiggled her ears and purred again
"I promise you I am not that scary." She said
The girl wiggled her ears again.
"My name is Hina. Hina Ichuru. You are currently on a ship named the Wallowing Bantha. My idiot little sisters and adopted brother have no sense in naming things. I suggested the jumping dolphin but no they had to name it after lazy steak." She said rolling her eyes
She sounded much like Sapphron, and was roughly the same age.
"But enough of that. Jaune rescued you from a stasis pod and actually brought you back to life if the stories they tell is not an embellishment." Hina continued
Her stomach growled and she shifted back into the bed. Hina smiled again
"You must be hungry, nutrient paste keeps you going but it is no substitute for real food."
The girl moved to a table and picked up a tray and pressed a button on it and moved to the bed. She moved further back. Hina stopped
"I promise no one here will hurt you."
The smell of soup filled the room. Hina took a spoon and took several sips before moving closer and placing the food at the end of the bed before sitting down again
"Not poisoned or drugged. I promise you."
Her hunger won over her caution and she pulled the tray closer. After a cautious taste she started gulping down the food
"Slow down, it is not going anywhere." Hina chuckled gently
She slowed down and ate slower. Hina sniffed imperously
"Not fish, but a decent enough taste. Jaune was the one who made it."
"Who is this Jaune?" She finally asked
"So you can speak. Jaune is the captain and owner of this ship." Hina said
"Are we close to Vale or Anima?" She demanded
Hina cocked her head
"Are those planets?" She asked
" No continents. Why do you say planets?" Came the confused reply
Hina stood up and moved to the wall. She pressed a button and the wall slid apart. The first thing she saw was the black outside and distant lights. She gasped
"Yes Kitten, you are in space." Hina said
"That is impossible, dust stops working twenty kilometres from surface. There is no way to get beyond the planet." She objected
"I do not know what this dust is you speak of, but we have been going to space for millennia now." Hina replied
Reality struck hard. Technology beyond anything Atlas had, someone who was not human nor faunus.
"I am not on Remnant." She gasped
Unwittingly she pushed the container over and soup spilled onto the bed. Hina moved in and picked up the container once it struck the floor, no the deck she corrected herself.
"I am sorry Kitten, no you are not on Remanant." Hina said
"Remnant." She corrected absently
Her stomach made a twisting motion. Hina moved to another panel and a door opened. Hina helped her to a familiar object before she lost all she had eaten. She could feel Hina keep her hair back as she weakly coughed up. Hina helped her to her feet
"Do you want to shower while I clean the bed and get you another bowl of food?" Hina asked
Hina pointed to a cube like structure, several black panels were along the wall. She could see not taps.
"How does that work?" She asked
I am sorry Kitten, I forgot you would not know. It uses sonic waves to clean you. You wave a hand in front if the sensor, that green circle and it will turn red and the shower will turn on. Once you are done you wave your hand in front of the circle again."
Hina left the room and she hesitantly stepped into the cube, taking a deep breath she waved her hand. She started feeling vibrations against her, it felt like a hand brushing her off after tripping and being helped up.
Conversation stopped as Hina stepped into the lounge. Multiple heads turned to face her. Hina turned to face the one seated. An elder Male Yuki and three older Yuki was sitting down. Hina flickered her ears to the old tom before nodding to the females. She hid a grin as she ignored the three seated in a line on the ground despite having open seats. Her amusement was shared by another male close in age to the elder females
"Elder Shiro, mothers, father. The kitten is awake." She reported
"How is she?" Jaune demanded
"Confused and scared though she tries to hide it." Hina reported
The elder rubbed an ear, his hair and fur were grey and the ear had a chunk missing.
"Is that your clinical finding or using your gift?" He asked
"Mostly what I felt what she projected in the presence, though the other is easy to see as well. Though I have to repeat I am no pshyciatrist, my medical discipline is in another field
It was another peculiarity of the Yuki species, they never gave up those that were force sensitive instead training them enough to be able to use their gift and still be usefull to the prides. Something that had left to several clashes with the old Republic with them adamantly refusing to comply with the demands that they be handed over to the Jedi. The last time a demand was made was under Chancellor Valorum that led to what is called the Yukira incident in the Senate records.
Valorum had tried a heavy handed approach riding on a high after the Naboo incident. The Yuki delegation had merely floated their pod up to his podium. Turned around it and dropped their pants and presented him with a raised tail and a brown eye, since then no Yuki had set foot in the Senate building
Jaune cleared his throat.
"Can I see her?" He asked
"Not yet, I am slowly getting through to her. I don't want to overload her with information for now." Hina said
Jaune dropped his eyes and looked crestfallen.
"Okay, that makes sense. She must already be overwhelmed as it is without being told she has a brother that she has never seen." He said downcast
"What do you mean brother?" A voice spoke from the doorway.
The girl was standing looking around the doorway looking ready to sprint though where she was going to go was up in the air
" Sit." The younger male spoke
The older females had started to rise on seeing the girl. The younger male pointed to himself and the others
"Let is introduce ourselves first. I am Lio Ichuru of the pride Ichuru. The matriarcs of the pride. Kirei, Ashana, Miko. The old and useless tom is Elder Shiro Ichuru."
"I will show you useless." Shiro replied pointing a walking stick at Lio
"See as I said useless, he needs a stick to look threatening." Lio grinned
A short and quickly stifled smile lit the girls face. Lio pointed to the rest
"I hope my daughter introduced herself. If she did not she is Hina. Now the three on the ground is Katya and Yara, two very naughty kittens. The funny looking one is Jaune, how my kittens convinced me to adopt him in the pride I still do not know. I distinctly remember teaching them not to bring strays home."
Lio shifted and looked at her fully
"That is everyone. May we have the pleasure of knowing your name, young miss?"
The girl edged closer into view and looked hesitant before speaking up
"Mari. My name is Mari Arc. Mari is short for Marigold."
Lio looked at her hair
"Marigold. Yellow flower. I see a reference to your hair I guess."
Kirei pointed to an empty chair.
"Why don't you sit down little one. We promise nothing will happen to you, we promise it on the Great Feline."
"Praised he be." The others chorused
Mari slowly slinked into the room and sat down cautiously. Hina smiled at her.
"Shall I get you more food?" She asked
"Please." Mira said softly
"So well mannered." Miko said with an approving smile
Miko then shot a look at her kittens
"See that is a real word. So start using it and stop trying to teach Jaune not to use it." She said mock sternly
Mari shot a look at the only other human. Jaune sighed and returned the look
"Before I explain what I can, do you know what DNA is?"
"Have not really learned of it yet in school. Everyone has it." Mari said hesitantly
"That is correct, and those who are family have matching DNA, but we will get back to it."
Jaune shuffled a bit so that he fully faced her.
"I do not know where I came from. My earliest memories was of burning place and being a slave till I was rescued by someone I saw as family as I do the Ichuru pride. We found you when we were going to do a job for a very bad being. The pod you were in was damaged and was failing. We got you out just in time." Jaune said
The one named Katya spoke next
"Before you get the wrong idea. We did the job because we were forced to. It was to deliver you and fourteen others to a very bad being."
"Something that will now never happen." Jaune said fiercely
The others nodded in agreement
"The reason we were forced to work for the bad being was because of a mistake I made. I took on cargo without speaking to Jaune and Yara. When we found out who it belonged to it was too late. The thing is the Hutts do not accept the excuse that you made a mistake. Once you work for them once you work for them period or they will hurt the ones close to you before hurting you." Katya explained
"What is a Hutt?" Mari asked
"the galaxy is filled with various species. The Hutts are a large reptilian species and all born to be bad. They run the criminal empires on many planets." Lio explained
"We will show you pictures of all the species later." Miko said
Hina returned with another bowel of food and a blanket. She tucked Mari in before handing the bowel over and sitting down down next to her. Jaune continued
"Our medical droid found that we are related, more specifically that we have the same parents."
Ashani leaned forward forward
"Mari. I know it will be difficult but can you tell us what you remember. If you can not it is also fine." She said soothingly
Mari placed the bowl of soup down on a table.
"I can not remember much, we were on a school trip…"
Remnant Flashback
Mari was pouting as the bus made its way back to Fort Freedom. It was not fair to be going back early, especially after how long it took her to get mom and dad to let her go on this schooltrip, why were they so against letting their children go places. It is just to the Evergreen forest and back.
They did not even have time to step out of the bus when the Hunters told them to return, typical of the Grim to spoil everyone's day. She felt a nudge against her
"Still upset?" A voice asked concernedly
She looked to the side at her friend. Violet was looking at her in concern her brown eyes wide
"A bit. I finally get to go on a trip and it gets cancelled." Mari admitted
"There will be others. They will even reschedule this one." Violet said
Mari sighed and looked out the window.
"I know. It just took forever to get them to agree and now I will have to do it all again." She said with a sigh
"But this time it will be easier since you got it done once already." Violet said encouragingly
"I guess." Mari shrugged
She took her friends hand
"I just wish I knew why they are like this, they never let us do anything or go anywhere. Saphron had to run away to get out of Fort Freedom with Terra."
The bus swerved as the ground erupted before it. The driver swinging the wheel hard to miss the newly opened hole in the road. Kids screamed as they were thrown around in the bus. He managed to evade the hole amd slammed down on the emergency button on the buss scroll. He frowned as a disconnect tone came instead of the expected pinging sound or the voice of the town defence coordinator demanding to know the nature of the emergency. A second button had the emergency shutters drop down and close the windows and back door of as well as deploying a set of bars across the side door.
Something struck the bus and blue electricity ran along the body. The engine died as well as all the electronics. The driverreached into the lockbox under the seat and pulled out the shotgun and ammunition it kept. A shotgun is normally useless against a grim but well enough to keep it distracted enough to keep it from breaking in. If the attackers were bandits the shotgun would work well enough
Heavy footsteps came from around the bus. The back door shook as entry was tried and failed, the solid steel plate not budging to the blows rained on the door. The driver pushed the tip of the barrel into a special slot on the door and waited. There was the sound of the reinforced glass shattering and a dent appeared in the door frame. He fired both barrels. A pained squeell came from outside as well as the sound of something heavy falling. The sound reminiscent of what a pig would make. The squeeling continued
A loud sound came and the squeelling stopped. The driver reloaded certain they were dealing with bandits now.
"Kids take out your scrolls and phone home now." He ordered
No one had signal despite being close to the relay tower. A clanging noise came from the back door. Blinding white light erupted along the door frame and the door was ripped out. They could barely see the figures climbing in. Blue flashes of light filled the air.
Mari shuddered and started to cry once her tale was told. Hina pulled her close and hugged her, rubbing her hair and purring to her. A sound that was replicated by the other females as they moved closer.
Jaune got up and walked to the cockpit. He gripped the headrest of his seat and gripped it tight resisting the urge to scream in anger. He wanted to go back and hug the distraught girl but could not as she had no reason to trust him. He was both furious and helpless.
He startled as a comforting hand was placed on his shoulder.
"As much as you do not want to hear this you need to give her time to get to know you. And it is good that you left before your anger took over" Lio said
Jaune exhaled. The two sat down and waited in silence. Katya appeared an hour later.
"She is asleep. Hina gave her something." She reported
Jaune nodded his thanks before standing up
"I am going to open the other pods, we need to know what is in them." He said resolutely.
The group climbed down into the hold. Hina stopped and stared at the crates of the secondary cargo
"Have you searched that?" She asked pointing to them
"No we watched as the contents were counted and the crates sealed." Katya replied
"Scan it, there is something wrong there. Use your droids" Hina demanded
Jaune pointed La1D2 to the crates before moving to the first pod. He pulled out his comlink
"SCD3 are your ready?" He asked
"I am ready." The reply came
"Going to start breaching the pods, make sure no signal gets out."
Having a better understanding of the pods now Jaune cut away the front covers to reveal the stasis tank inside. A woman in her twenties was drifting in the fluid. On top of her head was a set of canine ears. The other thirteen pods contained children in Mari's age range.
Laid started whistling urgently an started pulling a crate to the inner doors of the loading ramp. Jaune rushed to the controls and opened the inner door and the droid pulled it into the space before maglocking in place and whistling again. Jaune closed the doors before lowering the ramp. The residual air in the space escaping was enough to pull the crate into the vacuum of space
Laid extended its data arm and slotted into the terminal. Jaune rowned as he read the message before closing the boarding ramp and activating the decontamination sequence before opening the ramp to space again. Before running the decontamination sequence again
"Laid detected biological markers in that case. It thinks it was Gamorian blight." Jaune explained
"You said the cargo was for Tattooine? For the Hutt and the return cargo was to be carbonite sculptures?" Shiro said thoughtfully
"It was." Katya confirmed
"And the slaver was a Zygerran?" Shiro continued
Lio looked at the elder Yuki
"You have an idea what this is about?" He asked
"And so should you, then again history was not something you loved studying." Shiro replied
"A Hutt, carbonite sculptures and Zygerrans. I know this." Miko said
Hina sighed
"It is an ancient tale. During the first separation of Arkaxis from the Republic. The Zygerrans led a failed slave raid that was foiled by a companion of Lady Revan. The raid leaders were encased in carbonite and sold to the Hutts. Since then the statues have been captured as prizes as the Hutts replaced one another in their dominance games. The sculptures became as much a sign of dominance as is ruling over Tattooine." Hina said
Shiro pointed to the cases.
"The Zygerran set you up to die. The Hutts would have come after you once they traced back the infection to the cargo. He never wanted the sculptures the Hutts would never give it up, but getting revenge for the insult they suffered was achievable."
"Four thousand years is a long time to carry a grudge and Revan was male." Jaune said
Shiro shook his head
"Everyone believed Revan was a male. The catacombs contain the true records of the time and we believe the Mausoleum does as well." Shiro said
"The ancient burial grounds on Arkaxia." Jaune said surprised
"Yes, the Yuki colony is older than anyone knows as is the Mandalorian presence on Arkaxia. You should know Galacticorp was the oldest corporate structure before signing on with the Seperatists. Even then Arkaxia was neutral."
"Next you will be telling me there is an ancient reason that Arkaxian soldier droids had a speech peculiarity and looked butt ugly." Jaune said with a laugh
His laughter stopped as no one joined in.
"Really?" He said
Shiro nodded
"Next time you are on Arkaxia we will need to go on a very long journey. Now however we have to deal with this situation."
Shiro pointed his cane at the three
"You three will have to disappear for a few years at least. Your Hutt controller set you up as well, there was no way she did not know that the Zygerran was trying assassinate Jabba. She will be after you to silence you. Jabba will be after you for failing to deliver and he is happy to use bounty hunters even if you could convince him you saved his life by not delivering that cargo."
Lio spoke up
"The good news is that the locations marked on that datapad is not on any standard map. So there may be a planet to hide out on. It would also give you a chance to return these younglings home."
Lio pointed to the remaining crates
"And the best part is you can do it with enough resources paid for by the Hutts. You just have to wait it out with the growing rebellion enough unrest will ensure that someone will take out Jabba eventually and you can return."
"Even better you can use the time to search for an empty planet in that area. It is high time that we establish a New Yukira, that way the fish can not keep on blocking us from getting a planet by using their Senate puppets" Miko added
Hina walked closer to Jaune
"If you are doing this you will need a real doctor. And right now I need a job." She said
She gave him the pleading kitten eyes and he sighed before nodding.
"What is one more to boss me around on my own ship." He muttered
Hina looked to her sisters
"And you said he was unteachable?" She said