Shocked, Anuli glanced at the displays, taking a few moments to compose himself. He quickly activated the internal comlink and called out, "Attention, attention. Foreign ship detected. Battle stations, everyone."
He opened a link to the other ship, intending to warn them, when a message came in from it.
"Hello. Sorry for the delay. I had to get myself a new ship," Harry's voice echoed through the speakers. Relief flooded Anuli's chest. They hadn't been discovered by enemies.
"Good to see you. I thought you were an enemy. I'll stand down the alarm. Please stay in touch," Anuli said with relief, then reconnected with the internal comms. "False alarm. It's Harry," he informed everyone before reestablishing the connection with Harry's ship.
"Is everyone calm now?" Harry asked, receiving a nod from Anuli.
"You're several hours late. We were planning to leave here in a few hours," Anuli said, and Harry looked apologetic.
"There was a change of plans that I couldn't inform you about. Apparently, someone wanted to kill me and attacked my ship over Nar Shaddaa to board it," Harry said, as if it were a trivial matter.
"You were attacked? How did you get hold of the ship?" Mako asked as she entered the cockpit, catching up on the conversation.
"Well, after they boarded our ship and thought we weren't on it anymore, they panicked. Apparently, they were supposed to loot the former slaves. Since they couldn't, they had to flee Nar Shaddaa. But we hid in the cargo hold and emerged when they docked at their secret base. They looked surprised when we suddenly appeared in their base and started killing them," Harry said casually, shrugging.
"So, you've seized a secret base from some pirates and their ships too?" Mako summarized, receiving a nod from Harry.
"Should I take you to the base? It's better than floating out here in space, where we could be attacked at any time," Harry suggested, transmitting the hyperspace route for the ships. Mako hesitated briefly before telling the other ships to follow Harry's. She hoped Harry hadn't dug them deeper into trouble.
Sector Suolriep, unknown location.
After about three hours, the ships exited hyperspace and beheld a vast asteroid field. A planet with two moons appeared on the sensors, but it seemed too hot to sustain life. Besides these rocky planets, there were three gas giants in the solar system. Each of these gas giants had a few moons, but they also seemed uninhabitable. Shortly after leaving hyperspace, they were hailed again, and Harry's face appeared as a hologram.
"And what do you say? So many possibilities," Harry said, smiling at them. None of them shared Harry's opinion. The place didn't look cozy to any of them. Perhaps suitable for a short-term hideout, but there was nothing particularly special about this solar system.
"I only see a large asteroid field and a few uninhabitable planets. Nothing where we could hide for a few months," Mako remarked, and Anuli nodded in agreement.
"Well then, follow me. It'll blow your minds," said Harry, transmitting new coordinates. Mako examined the data and was puzzled why Harry was directing them to a location within the asteroid field.
"I'm not comfortable with this. Maybe we should send only Harry's ship first. This could be a trap," Mako pondered aloud, tapping some commands into her computer, which were then sent to the droids on Harry's C-ROC Gozanti-class freighter. Shortly after, she received a response, and the ship moved into the asteroid field. They waited eagerly, reading the sensor data transmitted by the freighter.
As soon as the freighter disappeared into the asteroid field, they received unexpected data. Inside the field was indeed a space station. The measurements showed a large asteroid with a diameter of about 80 kilometers. The asteroid appeared to have a stable orbit, making maneuvering through the asteroid field easier. A small field around this asteroid had been cleared of smaller celestial bodies. A large hangar door was carved into the asteroid, large enough to accommodate three CR-70 ships.
Another com connection was established, and Harry appeared before them again.
"It seems you don't trust me. Very well. I'll open the gate and then come to your ship," said Harry, and the gate opened. A small unarmed Sheathipede-class transport shuttle took off and headed towards the CR-70 corvette. Mako quickly rushed with Anuli to the ship's hatch, both carrying blasters, as they didn't expect Harry to come alone. When the ship docked, they waited along with some other armed researchers at the hatch. The hatch opened, and Harry stood alone before them, hands raised. He was unarmed.
"Did you expect something else? Like several pirates on the ship trying to kill you? What do you take me for?" Harry said with a smile on his face. The tension eased among the armed individuals, and many holstered their weapons. However, Mako remained suspicious. How could Harry, along with some former slaves, overpower a pirate gang without anyone getting hurt?
"How? How did you do it?" Mako asked, still aiming her blaster at Harry.
"What do you mean? Robbing Eidolon? Dealing with Mika? Or do you mean capturing this base?" Harry asked, seemingly unconcerned that Mako might shoot him.
"How did you accomplish all of this? This isn't normal," Mako said, posing the hundred-million-credit question.
"I'm very good at sneaking around and eliminating enemies," Harry said mysteriously, further fueling Mako's suspicion.
"Tell me," Mako demanded forcefully, but Harry simply turned to Anuli.
"Now that it's clear I won't kill you, can you finally come into the base? We have a lot to discuss," Harry said, seemingly unfazed by Mako aiming her blaster at him.
"Answer me," Mako shouted and fired at Harry. The shot hit his arm and was reflected back to Mako. She quickly ducked, as her armor couldn't withstand a direct hit from a heavy blaster. Shocked, Mako looked at her blaster and then at Harry, who still stood unperturbed in the airlock.
"Is it clear now?" Harry asked, a bit annoyed, receiving an incredulous nod from Mako. He turned on his heel and walked back through the airlock to the shuttle. Anuli quickly followed Harry, while Mako took a few seconds to decide what to do. In the end, she chose to follow Harry and the others into the other ship. The airlock closed behind her, and she sat down on one of the seats in the ship. The ship was rundown and smelled of urine. Not something she liked smelling, but she couldn't dwell on it for long before the ship accelerated and flew towards the hangar door.
Shortly after, they landed and Harry casually remarked, "Welcome to our new base. Much of it is old and run-down, but the base should provide us with suitable shelter. We should be able to survive here for the next few weeks."
In the distance, they could see several ships that had landed in the hangar of the space station. The hangar itself appeared poorly maintained, with bullet holes visible in several places. The ship landed, and everyone disembarked from the small vessel.
"Do you know who built the space station?" Mako asked, and Harry shook his head.
"I don't know. Maybe we can find out. Right after taking over the station, I flew to join you all. Bigbull said he would examine the station's systems with the others. Since he's the only one who knows a bit about the systems, it'll take some time. You can surely help him," Harry said, turning to Mako and Anuli.
"If the information is stored in the systems, we should be able to find it," Anuli muttered, then spoke into his communicator. "Everything seems to be in order here. You can land the other ships."
Nervously, Mako sat in front of the surveillance camera recordings, watching them intently. She couldn't believe what she had been watching for the past few hours. Disbelieving Harry's story, she had decided to review the footage herself and was astounded by how Harry had taken out the pirates. He consistently ambushed them, stunning each one before disappearing with them. Mako couldn't believe it. Harry seemed to make himself completely unnoticed. It appeared to go far beyond simple invisibility. Throughout her career, she had encountered various camouflage technologies, but each had its flaws, rendering them ineffective against individual targets. Some were merely foil-like coverings that failed when the person moved quickly, and droids could still detect the person. Harry's technique seemed flawless, effortlessly eliminating most of the pirates. Eventually, he was discovered, but the shootout ended within minutes. Harry's armor proved highly effective against the pirates' weapons. His occasional misses were insignificant; the pirates stood no chance.
However, it wasn't Harry's battle with the pirates that unsettled Mako; it was what Harry did with the pirate leader. Somehow, Harry appeared to absorb the pirate captain's knowledge, thus gaining access to the security codes. After viewing the recordings, she understood how Harry had obtained Eidolon's passwords as well. Eidolon would never have willingly given Harry the security codes; Mako had been certain of that from the start. He must have extracted the knowledge from Eidolon, which greatly troubled Mako. What would stop Harry from doing the same to her? She realized she couldn't take any action against Harry if he decided to do the same to her.
A little tired from work, Harry retreated to reflect on his achievements over the past four days. Not only had he confronted a criminal boss, but he had also robbed him and freed numerous prisoners. Then, he had dismantled a pirate gang and seized their ships and space base. It all felt surreal to him. With so much on his plate, now he had 83 people to look after, all unexpectedly looking up to him as their leader.
He didn't desire this role, especially not the heavy responsibilities it entailed. Harry sensed he was being manipulated again by that mysterious power. Since then, he kept his invisibility cloak close, even during showers, determined not to succumb to its influence. He refused to let anyone control him and vowed to prevent it from happening again.
Was he being overly paranoid? Perhaps, but the power's unsettling effect on him couldn't be denied. It was the only explanation for the strange occurrences. Yet, his understanding of this power was limited, and he hoped he'd never have to grapple with it again. Even his invisibility cloak behaved oddly, appearing whenever he needed it urgently, almost as if summoned. Harry found it unnerving, unsure how to unravel this mystery. If there were records of such occurrences, they'd be in one place, but he didn't know how to return there, to Earth. Then there was the ring, materializing on his finger seemingly to protect him from a ghost. Rings don't simply appear.
Besides grappling with the enigma of this strange power and the cloak's behavior, Harry had his hands full managing the place. Everyone sought his guidance. Fortunately, he could delegate some tasks, establishing a small administration. Yet, the weighty decisions still fell on him, as if he were an expert in managing a space station or ensuring everyone's provisions.
A knock interrupted his thoughts, drawing him to the door. Opening it, he was surprised to see Leila, the Twi'lek he had rescued from Mika's clutches for her brother.
"Leila, what brings you here?" Harry inquired, as Leila flashed him a seductive smile
"Can I come in?" she asked sweetly, and Harry quickly stepped aside. She walked through the door and sat on Harry's bed. It was only now that Harry noticed she was wearing a long cloak that concealed her body.
"So what brought you to visit me at such late hours?" Harry asked, taking a seat at his desk. It was one of the perks he had received as the leader of the group. Previously, the room belonged to the owner of the space station and was accordingly spacious.
"I wanted to thank you for saving me. My brother Zevran told me that you attacked my former owner just for me," Leila said, crossing her legs. Her left leg came into view. Harry had to bite his tongue internally. It was a very beautiful leg.
"No need to thank me. I just wanted to reunite families," Harry waved off, and Leila stood up from the bed.
"But I want to thank you and also for saving the others. Without you, I would probably be lying in the bed of some sleazy criminal who demands indecent things from me," Leila said, opening her cloak. Revealed was her naked body, which stirred the blood in Harry's body. She looked simply stunning.
She let the cloak fall and approached Harry slowly. He didn't know what to do. He had never been in such a situation and had no idea how this would end.
Harry sat slightly flushed at one of the makeshift tables they had set up in the hangar of the space station. The hangar was the only place in the space station where all of them could gather for this important meeting. It was important to Harry that everyone be present for this discussion, as it concerned their future actions in the coming weeks and months. The morning after the night had been quite pleasant, yet he still couldn't meet Leila or her brother's eyes. Although he suspected Zevran knew about his sister's actions. Why else would Zevran keep giving him knowing looks?
Once everyone had taken their seats, Harry began: "Now that we're all here, we can begin. Before we decide on our next course of action, we should first establish what resources we have at our disposal. Does anyone know how long our water and food supplies will last?"
A human woman stood up. As far as Harry could recall, she was one of the slaves he had rescued from Mika. Like the other former slaves, she had altered her clothing and now wore garments they had found among the pirates' belongings. They were men's clothes, but some of the women had started making new clothes from the materials they found. It was certainly better than the slave attire they had worn before.
"Yes, myself and the other ladies managed to take inventory," the woman said. "In addition to the provisions Mako and she acquired, the defeated pirates had stored some food supplies in the space station and their ships. We should have water for the next hundred days and food for 150 days."
Harry nodded at her. "So, we can sustain ourselves for a few weeks. Is there a way we could become self-sufficient, or do we need to send out some ships to acquire more supplies? We have enough funds for such an operation."
"The space station has a water treatment facility, but it's currently non-functional," Bigbull said, with Mako adding, "Anuli, Mako, and I have inspected the facility, but we're not sure if we can get it up and running again. If we can, it will take several days."
"We should also address the power supply and the integrity of the space station. Some areas seem to lack power, and some may have collapsed. Whether we have the necessary components is questionable," Mako continued.
"What about the water treatment facilities on the ships? Surely some of them have such facilities. Can't we salvage components from the damaged ships to use for the space station?" one of the researchers asked. Harry recognized him immediately. It was Lorin, a rather sociable Iktotchi who had previously worked for Eidolon in data analysis and processing but also had a good understanding of geology.
"It's possible, but only to a limited extent. I must admit, none of us are proficient in this technology. I'm a hacker; I can infiltrate, but repairing such a facility is beyond my expertise," Anuli said, and Mako nodded in agreement. Both were computer experts, but space stations were not their forte.
"Can't the numerous droids we have help with this?" Harry asked, recalling how his two astromechs could repair his ship.
"Droids can handle known technology well and repair it, but creating new technology isn't their strong suit. Additionally, we only have six functioning astromechs, and they're needed for repairing the power supply," Anuli pointed out.
"So, we'll have to do it ourselves. A foolish question: how long will we have oxygen? I know the ships have systems for air purification. The station should have them too, right? Has anyone looked into that?" Harry asked, prompting surprised looks from everyone. It seemed they hadn't considered it.
"We need to check on that, but if there are issues, we may need to evacuate," Bigbull said, quickly jotting something down on his datapad.
"It seems we have two pressing issues to address: energy and oxygen. Everything else is of lesser importance at the moment. I want everyone who can help to assist in repairing this space station. Do we have any information on who built the facility and how it came into the pirates' possession?" Harry inquired, and Bigbull responded.
"The space station, as well as the metal foundries on the moon, were built fifty years ago by a small company that wanted to start their own ship production from here. However, they found that the construction of this station and foundry consumed more money than planned, and they went bankrupt. The entrepreneur's family then fled here with some people to hide. They adjusted production slightly and wanted to terraform the planet to continue hiding from debt collectors. Unfortunately, they had supply problems, and several people died in an accident, so they abandoned the station. Three years ago, the leader of the pirate gang found this station and tasked two of his people with getting the facility operational again," Bigbull summarized everything they could gather from the station's systems.
"Why only two people? If the whole gang had worked on it, they would have been much faster," Aldrik Torn asked. He was a former slave who had been used by Mika as a guard and overseer of the other slaves. After his release, he apologized to everyone else, explaining that he had been forced into what he had to do. Most understood, but some still wanted nothing to do with him. As he was knowledgeable about weapons and fighting, Harry appointed him as the deputy head of internal security of the space station, and a former security officer from Eidolon became the head of internal security.
"It seems that Nojin Tavira didn't fully trust his crew and wanted to prevent the location or existence of the space station from being known to the Geléren. He would have gladly turned this large space station into his new operational base. From Tavira's Mark I Bulk Transporter data, we have the location of a pirate harbor that belonged to the Geléren and is now independent. Not as large as this facility, but it is now under the control of a former subordinate of Geléren who has declared independence. The harbor is several hundred light-years away and could become a threat to us if they become aware of us," Mako explained, and Anuli added.
"Thalos Rynn has a small fleet consisting of ten HWK-290s, three Interceptor-class frigates, and several dozen small freighters that have been modified by the gang for piracy. An impressive fleet that could destroy us very quickly," she continued.
"What can we do? Does anyone have any ideas on how to deal with this threat?" Harry asked the group, but received only shaking heads from the others.
"What's the likelihood of them discovering us if we bring the space station back into operation?" Harry asked, again receiving no response.
"All right. I have a suggestion. We will avoid confrontation as much as possible and improve our early warning systems. Only if absolutely necessary will we leave the station with ships, so that nobody can detect the hyperspace signature of our ships," Harry decided, but Aldrik countered.
"Sitting still is all well and good, but if they find us, we don't stand a chance against them."
"I'm aware of that. That's why our largest ships will always be stocked with provisions and everything we need. If it comes to it, we'll flee from here. Come to think of it, that could even be a way to deal with them. They'll try to secure the space station and wouldn't expect us to then attack them," Harry thought aloud, and the others looked at him as if he had lost his mind.
"How so?" Mako asked, and Harry grinned at her.
"I'll stay on the station, and when their ships have landed, I'll deactivate the shield that holds the atmosphere in the dock. That will kill some of them. Then I'll sabotage the energy systems and also flee from the station. They'll either have to expend a lot of effort to restore the systems or leave the station," Harry explained his plan.
"That's crazy, but it's your life," Mako said, and the others shook their heads.
"Once that's settled, we can focus on getting the materials for repairing the station. Where did the two pirates get the materials for repairing the station?" Harry asked, steering the conversation in a new direction.
"Well, Tavira repeatedly towed ships to a rendezvous point. The two pirates then removed the components they needed from the ships with their small ship and brought them here," Anuli said, and a smile appeared on Harry's face.
"You're not thinking of bringing the ships here, are you? We'd have to dock them to the CR70. Only it has the necessary power to tow some of the ships," Bigbull interjected, receiving a nod from Harry.
"That's insane. Might as well put up a neon sign pointing to this space station," Mako protested. Several others in the meeting nodded in agreement.
"Okay, if you think it's too risky, we won't do it now. But I still think the idea has merit. They surely have more goods hidden on the ships, and we could definitely use those," Harry defended his idea, raising his hands in a conciliatory manner.
Harry sat eagerly with two technicians in their Sheathipede-class transport shuttle, flying with them to the foundry on the moon. They had realized they lacked enough Durasteel plates for repairing the space station. Hoping to find some plates at the foundry, they set off, hoping for success. The two technicians wore tight-fitting spacesuits, while Harry wore his armor, equipped with a life support system that he and Mako had salvaged from a pirate pilot's suit. The system would allow him to walk in space like the others, but his air supply would only last him three hours before he needed to return to the ship. In exchange, his armor was more heavily armored and could withstand a fight. He already had an idea of how to extend the air supply a bit, but he needed to read through Bill's books first.
The shuttle landed on the moon, and Harry was the first to exit. He had never been on a moon before and couldn't believe it. He might be the first wizard to set foot on a moon. It wasn't Earth's moon, but it was still a moon. He wanted to jump for joy, but as the leader, he had to set an example and remain serious.
Approaching the airlock, they attempted to open it, but there was no power.
"Xaven, can you open the airlock?" Harry asked one of the technicians. Xaven, a Mirialan who worked as a developer for Eidolon, specializing in creating new armor and equipment for Eidolon's troops, replied, "On it." He pulled out a datapad from his pocket and connected it to a computer terminal next to the airlock. Then he took out another device and connected it to the datapad. Xaven tapped on his datapad, and they could hear the airlock starting to creak.
"It seems to be rusted. We'll need a cutting torch to get through," Xaven explained to the others, and Harry sighed. He should have known it wouldn't be easy.
"Then we'll have to find another airlock," Harry pondered aloud, and Xaven nodded in agreement. Together, they returned to their ship and flew to the next airlock. They couldn't enter the hangar as the hangar doors were closed due to the lack of power.
Approaching the next airlock marked on the blueprints, they were surprised to find that they could dock their ship to it without causing damage. This opened up more possibilities for them. Carefully, they docked, and Xaven entered commands into the computer.
"It seems the opening mechanism for this airlock is damaged, but I managed to unlock it. We should be able to force it open without causing damage," Xaven said, looking away from the computer.
"That doesn't sound too bad," Harry remarked, accepting one of the crowbars offered by Xaven. They positioned the crowbars on the airlock and leveraged the door open with effort. Zethan, the other technician, quickly placed an iron rod to prevent the airlock from closing.
"We were lucky this section of the station still has pressure. Otherwise, it could have ended badly," Zethan remarked, and Xaven cursed.
"Damn, I didn't think of that," he said, and Harry turned to the Mirialan.
"What didn't you think of?" Harry asked, looking at him quizzically.
"We didn't check if this area had pressure. If it didn't, we would have been sucked through the airlock, which wouldn't have been good," Xaven explained, elaborating on Harry's look.
"We would have been pulled through the airlock and slammed into the walls. We could have suffered broken bones or serious injuries," he added.
"Shouldn't we depressurize the area to prevent being sucked into the next area?" Harry asked, receiving a nod from Xaven.
"Well, that's doable. We'll have to proceed more slowly since we only have a limited oxygen supply," Xaven considered, proceeding to depressurize the section after Harry nodded. Once the threshold was reached, the life support systems in their suits activated automatically.
After depressurization, they continued to explore the facility. The area they entered served maintenance and power supply. They found several large rooms with generators, but none of the fusion generators had enough fuel to partially restore power. Slightly frustrated, they continued searching the facility. The further they went, the less hopeful they became. The facility was in a dilapidated state. There were holes in the walls everywhere, and the cables hanging out looked as if an animal had gnawed on them.
"Damn, it seems the facility has a Mynocks problem," Xaven muttered, looking around frantically.
"That wouldn't be good. Not good at all," agreed Zethan. Harry had seen these creatures in Dendo's memories and couldn't blame them. Annoying creatures that seemed to feed on radiation and electricity.
"What do we do if we encounter any?" Harry asked, drawing his blaster. One could never be too cautious.
"Light helps, or helium. Did anyone bring a helium grenade? That could kill them," said Xaven, cursing in a language Harry didn't understand. He abruptly moved his flashlight, seeming to be in immense fear.
"Calm down. Panicking won't help you," Harry tried to reassure Xaven, but he seemed trapped in his fear.
"I don't want to die," murmured Xaven, then suddenly ran off.
"Hey, wait for us," called Harry, and Zethan and he immediately followed the fleeing technician. Shortly after, they heard screams. They hastened their steps and turned the corner.
Harry's heart sank. Xaven had stumbled into a swarm of Mynocks, and they were trying to get through his suit. His entire body was covered with the creatures, and he seemed to have lost consciousness. Harry aimed his flashlight at the creatures, causing them to screech, but they wouldn't let go of Xaven.
Without much thought, Harry fired his blaster at the Mynocks. He hit one of the creatures in the head, killing it. But to his dismay, this prompted several of the creatures to fly towards him. He barely managed to dodge them.
"No. No," murmured Zethan, slowly retreating. He fired randomly, drawing the Mynocks' attention towards him. They flew towards the Nautolan, trying to get through his suit as well.
Fear momentarily paralyzed Harry before his will pushed it back. He had to act. If he did nothing, they would die here. Harry continued to shoot at the Mynocks, wishing he had brought a wand to the space station. Unfortunately, he didn't have room for a wand in his armor, as he had to sacrifice a layer preventing his body from expanding in vacuum. He couldn't even fit his invisibility cloak in his armor, something he reluctantly accepted. Unfortunately, Mako couldn't go to the refinery in his place since their armor lacked life support systems, and they only had two spacesuits.
The Mynocks attacked him from all sides, and Harry lost his blaster. Unarmed, he couldn't do anything against the creatures. Anger surged within him, towards himself and the creatures, but also towards Mako and the others. He shouldn't have let them persuade him into taking this mission.
"Disappear!" Harry shouted, unleashing a wave of force that threw everything around him away, including the Mynocks, Zethan, and Xaven. Although completely drained by this action, Harry crawled to his blaster, only to find it damaged by the Mynocks.
"Damn it," Harry muttered, wishing he had his wand back. As if on command, a wand appeared in his hand. Harry didn't hesitate long. He cast the first spell that came to his mind.
"Lumos Solem!" Harry shouted, and a blinding light emitted from his wand. The Mynocks screeched as they were hit by the light and fled.
Exhausted, Harry leaned against the wall before noticing Zethan and Xaven being thrown against the walls by the force. He crawled to Zethan and saw blood running over his face inside the suit. Luckily, the suit wasn't damaged. This could have had dramatic consequences in a vacuum. Harry then crawled to Xaven and was horrified to see the display on his suit indicating that it was damaged. Without much thought, Harry cast the repair spell. Some areas of the suit closed, but the display now indicated that there was only ten minutes of oxygen left.
His eyes widened as he read this. He couldn't let Xaven die. No one should end up like Sirius. Die because of him. Die because he was stupid.
Without much thought, he removed the life support hose from his armor and connected Xaven's suit's life support systems to his own. Harry held his breath. Breathing wouldn't help him now. The air in his helmet was no longer being replenished with fresh oxygen. It felt like minutes, but Xaven's suit display showed that the systems were stable again. Quickly, Harry reattached the hose of his armor to its intended place and took a deep breath. He felt dizzy, but he had saved Xaven.
Once he had collected himself, he saw Zethan stirring again. He walked unsteadily to the Nautolan and helped him sit up.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked, getting a pained look from Zethan.
"Does anyone know where the Dewback is that knocked me down?" groaned Zethan, laughing through the pain.
"Good thing you're well enough to joke," said Harry, then asked, "Can you get up? Xaven is still unconscious, and his oxygen reserves only last half an hour, and we need to get back to the ship."
"I should be able to walk alone, but I don't think I can help you with Xaven," explained Zethan, standing up. With a sigh, Harry followed suit, almost regretting it. His legs didn't want to support him. With shaky legs, he approached Xaven and tried to lift him, but the Mirialan was too heavy. He couldn't lift him.
Harry pulled on the Mirialan's arm, and he moved slightly in the direction Harry wanted. "If you take the other hand, we might be able to drag him back," said Harry, and Zethan nodded. What else could he do? They were in a foundry infested with Mynocks, and they needed to leave quickly. Harry seemed to know what he was doing, or at least pretended to. Zethan didn't care, as long as they weren't stuck in this deserted place any longer. He wouldn't set foot in this foundry again. One attack by Mynocks was enough for him.
Zethan took Xaven's other hand and pulled. Xaven's body moved, but they both knew they were too exhausted to make it back to their ship like this. Zethan knew Harry wouldn't leave Xaven behind, and he was too afraid to walk alone through the corridors. What happened to Xaven was a lesson for him.
The next fifteen minutes were torture for Harry as he contemplated how to get out of this situation. His life support systems would function for another half hour, while Xaven only had a quarter of an hour left. Not enough time to reach the ship. If he went alone, he could make it to the ship within ten minutes, but by the time he returned, Xaven would be dead.
He knew Zethan was too scared to walk the corridors alone, and Harry didn't trust him enough not to just fly away if he made it to the ship. Harry knew he had to make a tough decision, but he wasn't ready to leave Xaven behind. Another way had to be found, but he couldn't fathom it.
Time was against him, and Harry knew it. A solution to this problem wasn't apparent to him. Frustrated, he looked around, and his gaze fell on Zethan. Then it dawned on him. Zethan must have larger oxygen reserves than Xaven and he combined.
"If this continues, Xaven will suffocate before we reach the ship. How are your oxygen reserves?" Harry asked Zethan, who briefly checked the displays. "I still have oxygen for two hours," muttered Zethan, his eyes widening. "No, I can't do that. What if something happens to us or if we get stuck here for more than an hour?"
"We'll make it. We've been through this path before. There are no more dangers on this path," Harry tried to reassure Zethan, but seeing that it didn't help much, he tried guilt. He didn't like resorting to this tactic. "Do you want Xaven to die?"
"No," murmured Zethan, seeming to consider briefly before sharing his oxygen with Xaven.
"We'll still take too long to get back to the ship," Zethan resignedly noted.
"What about the hover sled we saw? Could we reactivate it?" Harry asked, receiving a pensive nod from Zethan.
"That might be doable. It was also in an area of the foundry largely spared by the Mynocks. Hopefully, it's just lacking power and not much else."
Together, they dragged Xaven to the room where they found the hover sled. Harry looked at his own oxygen supply with concern. It was already a struggle to ensure Zethan shared his oxygen with Xaven. Harry realized he couldn't convince the technician to share oxygen with him too. Upon reaching the room, Zethan immediately set to work examining the hover sled. After a few minutes, the Nautolan let out a triumphant shout.
"Yes, I did it," he exclaimed, pointing at the hover sled, now floating again.
"Well, then we should hoist Xaven onto the sled," said Harry, feeling that he had very little oxygen left. With effort, they lifted the unconscious man onto the sled, and Harry collapsed unconscious next to Xaven.
"What's wrong?" Zethan yelled, looking at Harry's suit. His eyes widened. He hadn't realized that Harry also had only limited oxygen reserves left. Zethan faced a problem he couldn't solve. On one hand, Harry had saved him, but on the other hand, he would jeopardize his own survival if he shared his oxygen with Harry now. Even with the sled, they would still need half an hour to reach the ship, and his own reserves would last for another three-quarters of an hour. Zethan did the only thing that made sense to him. He pushed Harry off the sled and drove away.
Hello everyone. The story continues, and I hope you're looking forward to this chapter. It was quite interesting to write, and I had to do some research to get everything just right for you to read now. You wouldn't believe how much Star Wars lore I've delved into for this tale. The hardest part for me was deciding what to incorporate from the Star Wars universe into the story and what to leave out. The next chapter will address some of your questions. This chapter serves more as a transition to the next one and to build some suspense. There's relatively little that's truly exciting happening in this chapter.