Chapter 44
The great Fondor caper.
Part 1
On the bridge of the Dawn there was silence as they surveyed the scene before them. In the pale light of a blue star they were hanging a few parsecs away from the moon of one of the five planets slowly circling their primary. What caught their attention was the massive amounts of resources that were stacked on the surface of said moon. Even from a distance they could see it was several hundred tons of material that had been collected. A massive structure orbited the planet in a slow orbit. They could see an unfinished ship in one of the construction docks.
The shipyard was completely dark and absolutely no power or data transmission was detectable. Jaune swivelled in his chair at the helm and faced Keira.
"Why in the name of the force would none of this had been used?" He asked
"My ancestor said in her holocron they deliberately stayed away from here in case they were under observation. The idea was to keep the resources hidden till it was needed. If memory serves me the next major incident was a civil war among the Mandalorians about eighty years later and there was another galactic war after that. I do know from my clan history that the Wren citadel had been rebuild a few times before my clan split from the main family line. The same was for the Fetts, Brevkin, Onassi and Kryze. I guess it is possible that the knowledge of this site could have become lost." Keira said thoughtfully
"And this entire sector has been classed as uninhabitable, not just this system." Amelia said from her position in the command chair
"And the lack of traffic and the fact that Mandolorians will not tolerate their presence would explain why no pirates or smugglers set up in any of the systems." Keira said
Katya moved her hand over the terminal before her and moments later Four flares of light marked her firing multiple probes. A light started flashing on one screen before her
"Radiological warning." Katya said manipulating the controls to gain direct control of the probe.
They watched as the image from the probe shifted and moved in on the faint radiation it had picked up. They started making out large shapes and the passive radiation counter rose slowly, a faint green silver glow became visible they closer the probe got
"Are those Dilithium ore blocks?" Katya said incredulously
" I think so. There is enough there for several power stations. Or a battle fleet." Hina said
They switched their views to the other monitors as the probes flew over acres of staked metal plates reaching half a kilometre high per stack. Another flew over smaller stacks of plasteel then there were enough container stacks to make a city. Beyond that blocks of older ships stood landed in blocks by class. Fuel tenders, construction ships, supply carriers, fabricator ships. At the very rear of these formations stood four larger ships and due to the similar appearance of current ships appeared to be reclamation and mining ships. The ultimate prize behind those were what could only be fuel refinery ships
"Kriff me running and call me a squid." Katya breathed out
"All of those look ready to be charged and fuelled and they will be ready to go." Jaune said, softly, disbelief present in his voice
"I think it is time we call our designer up here." Amelia replied, her tone matching Jaune's
"Ten credits she faints." Hina said, absently toggling the intercom
"Ten says she faints after crapping herself." Yara said
Hours later the entire ship company was gathered in the mess for a meeting, Carnet was oblivious to the expectant silence as she was working through her datapad. She looked up as Jonathan coughed in his hand from the head of the table. She looked up and saw that everyone was looking at her.
"What is your initial assessment?" Jonathan asked
"That there is enough resources to build ships for years without having to import resources. And even if one tenth of the ships are usable you can have a working yard as soon you build one." Carnet replied
She linked her datapad to the holo emitter and an image appeared. One of the reclamation and mining ships. She cleared her throat
"The design of this type of ship has not changed for several centuries if not millennia looking at the current ones out there. They are mostly automated and need very little to no oversight. One of them will be able to take apart the old yards in six months even if accounting for the old programming. That brings up the problem with all of the remainder of these ships. They are too old to be useful for anything than source material, the same for any droids that could be down there. The same goes for the containers and whatever they contain. What might have been state of the art then will be only worth their weight in core material and minerals." She said
The image shifted to encompass the other reclamation ships and she continued
You would be best served to activate them and have them reclaim and filter and sort the materials you have here. That is the ships, the containers and the yard itself. Your idea for the Construction ship is a good one but it is only a start. You will need a lot more if you want to build ships. At the top of my head you will need forge ships, fabricators and specialised lifters." Carnet said
"So what you are saying is that the idea is not practical." Jonathan said
"Not in its current form, you will need to build a mini dock first and construct those ships and they in turn will build your bigger facilities and so forth till you can start building a ship. And that is something I am not qualified to do." She replied
Carnett lifted a hand to forestall any interruptions.
"I have the designs of builder ships on my terminals on Fondor as well as designs for construction facilities. As part of designing a ship you also need to design what you need to build it. However what you will need is a Yard engineer or twenty and those are rare to find outside formal employment and then you have to wonder why they are not employed."
"It sounds as if you are building up to something?" Derrick said
"I know of a good one. Recently retired and by now probably bored out of his skull. Has been since the Empire was established, he has refused to build or maintain anything for the Empire or the companies that do business with them." Carnet replied
"Why?" Jaune asked
"He had a younger sister, she was a Jedi. She was killed before his eyes by the clone troopers assigned to the yard he worked at" Carnet answered
Several winces followed that statement and Jaune sat forward.
"And you think he would come out of retirement, why?" He asked
"Because he will want a chance to get revenge. Furthermore he was loyal to the Republic and the Jedi and will help any Jedi he can find, if only for his sister." Carnet said, pointing to his lightsaber
"You sound like you know him well?" Daphne commeneted
"I was married to him for five years before I took the Incom vacancy. We divorced shortly thereafter." Carnet replied
"People change, he could have had a change of heart." Derrick said
"He is from Agamar, twice as stubborn as pack of bantha's. Last I saw him was him boarding a transport to Agamar to return to his family farm. Though it would be more accurate to call it a patch of dirt that has yet to produce anything in the hundred years his family had it. And one thing he is not is a farmer. Of course I will have to go with to talk to him."
Six deep groans met her statement. And moments later Jaune started banging his head on the table, The sister had their tails and ears drooping and Amelia was rubbing her eyes and Keira tried to look neutral. Carnet gave them a sympathetic smile.
"Agamar, why is it always Agamar?" Jaune muttered, thumping his head
"I take it you have encountered the people of Agamar before?" Daphne said
"Yes, let us say it leaves a lasting impression." Amelia said diplomatically
Jaune stopped banging his head and looked up a light of hope springing up in his eyes and a happy smile on his lips as he remembered the aftermath of their last visit.
"I can't go to Agamar. Not after our last visit there." He said
"Nor can we." Katya said pointing to herself and her sister, catching on
"Why not?" Ruby asked
"We are wanted criminals on Agamar. It would be incredibly stupid of us to taunt the Agamar authorities by going there." Yara said, mock fearfully
"What did you do?" Sapphron asked sternly
"Nothing much, skipped paying our docking fees when we left, and we may have had a bit of a light fight in the docks itself, and there may have been some dead bounty hunters thrown from the ship as we were leaving taking out a communications array in passing." Katya said innocently
"So you see we really can not go." Yara said trying to look regretful
There was a moment of silence as the four in question came under scrutiny. Their eyes shifted to Keira and Amelia, Keira nodded in affirmation
"Yes they did that, what they are forgetting to mention is they went into hyperspace just outside the planet triggering a blowback in the atmosphere causing a flame ball seen by half of the planet. That alone got them a hefty bounty." She said
"Bad Ass! Go, Fearless Leader and Kitties!" Nora hopped in her seat, holding her hand out for a high five
"Okay we can understand them being reluctant to go there, but why did you and Amelia look like somebody peed in your coffee?" Yang asked
"Yang!" Ruby cried out
"Agamar and its people has a reputation and they do all they can to live up to it." Amelia replied, after hesitating
"They are the hillbillies of the galaxy." Yara said bluntly
"You saw the hillbillies around Serenity, now think of an entire planet filled with them, and that is not even close to what Agamar really is like." Katya said.
Keira pointed to herself, Amelia and those that had been on the Executor.
"All of us have extensive bounties on us. And after the incident the authorities on Agamar are paying a lot more attention to ships arriving and searching them accordingly. We are likely to be tagged by them or the bounty hunters guild who also are on high alert. More so since half of their number were taken out in one go,"
"That leaves those not known to be associated with us or have their faces on bounty pucks to move around and none have experience moving unaided in the wider galaxy." Amelia said
Derrick cleared his throat and leaned forward. He pointed to himself and the other Vale agents
"Then it is time that we gain that experience, Since we do not expect combat I believe us and team NDGO will be sufficient to go with miss Carnet once we obtained a ship. The only thing I think that can be problematic is a lack of identification." He said
" Rukill station will still accept us and a slicer there should be able to insert you into a database." Hina said, rubbing her chin
"Plus there is a trader in ships at the station, though they will be rather crappy." Yara said
"Crappy is good, crappy is inconspicuous for a meet and greet. As long as it can carry us and some cargo it will be good enough. I am guessing miss Carnet's friend will likely also have equipment that will need to be moved." Daphne said
"What will the rest of us be doing?" Juniper asked
"We still have the cargo we dropped on Talasea, maybe start using the droids there to set up a base? I do believe all of us can do with some time not on a ship. It should be safe enough to land the Dawn there for a while and save on fuel." Yara suggested
"You are right we can detach en route and jump to Rukill en route. Get a ship for the Agamar group and move on to Fondor." Jaune said
There was a gentle murmur of consent at the suggestion. Jaune shifted in his seat
"I think it is time to unlock the Aura of the younger among us. If we are in hyperspace it will be difficult to track us in the force and from the latest tests Hina had done it is only a question of time before the girls do it spontaneously and become known to the Force." He said
"As much as I would prefer not to I agree it is best to do this on our time schedule." Jonathan said
" I believe the gene therapy is ready to be tested so we can unlock those of our none Remnant crew. That includes the two Zabrak sisters, they have been asking to join the crew." Hina said
" That will also mean that Amelia and myself will not be available for the Fondor operation as I believe that you will want us close to be under observation." Keira remarked
"True that also means I will need to stay as well." Hina replied
"That leaves us with three Force sensitives then and two familiar with the galaxy, who else wishes to go?" Jaune asked
"Team RWBY will go." Ruby volunteered
"Of course I will be going." Nora said
"As will I." April added
"I think me and the guys will sit this one out." Coco said
"That is eleven, that is enough." Jaune said
"What are your objectives?" Derrick asked
"To retrieve Miss Carnet's equipment and secure it, try and get the simulators either legitimately or from the black market. Thirdly I want to see if we can get access to another information broker. We have Karrde but I would prefer a second source." Jaune said
Jaune pushed up the accelerator lever and slowed the ship down as a flight of Z95 Headhunters took up escort position a tugboat came into position before them and he cut power completely as the tractor beam locked on. There was a slight shudder as the other ship started towing them. Katya secured her station and looked to Jaune
" You sensing anything?" She asked
"No, I think we were just unlucky enough to get selected to get searched by customs." He said after concentrating for a moment
The deck canted slightly as the the tugboat adjusted course heading to an orbital station. Jaune and Katya got up from their seats and moved to the docking area, Katya hoding a folder holding all the identity cards for the crew. As they passed the crew lounge they saw everyone was getting into their positions and roles. Weiss took up a regal pose on one of the chairs. She was dressed in high end clothing similar in style to Alderaan's latests fashion with Velvet taking position behind her in a maid's uniform looking servile. Pyrrha took position nearby dressed in uniform commonly seen worn by professional security operatives, she was wearing a gunbelt with an empty holster strapped to her thigh. Climbing down the ladder they found Ruby and Yang laying out a pair of sleeping bags between a group of crates and sitting down on them, playing the part of poorer customers that could just afford passage. Both were dressed in worn but maintained clothing hholding a bag filled with similar clothing between. April and Blake were shooting glares at Jaune dressed in skimpy dancer leotards, Nora was busy trying to adjust hers without a care in the world if someone saw her pulling at the form fitting clothing she looked down
"Still got that camel toe." She said and started pulling at the clothing again
"Was this really the best cover story for us?" Blake demanded
"We could only have one down on her luck Heiress and Weiss was perfect for that role." Jaune said looking away from Nora with a slight blush at her antics
"And we could not pretend to be poor immigrants why?" April demanded
"Too many immigrants and they may refuse us entry, Fondor is a mostly human planet so Ruby and Yang could easily sell meeting up with a family member. You being not human and an unknown species will draw more attention, but the bar we have listed on your employment documents is well known for its exotic erotic dancers, They will look and forget about you." Katya said
There was slight shudder and they could see the airlock light come on as a seal was formed. A light started blinking as the docking seal was being overrriden from the other side. Katya looked at the three exotic dancers before switching on a music player laying on a crate
"Nora stop touching yourself and start shaking your butt, and you two join her. Shake what your mama's gave you." She said with smirk.
"Hey. Just for that I will not give you that private dance later." Nora threatened her girlfriend with a sniff.
"Show time" Jaune said as the door started to open
The custom agent was shuffling through the cars until he found Pyrrha's and swiped it
"Artemis Solus?" He read out looking at her
"Yes." Pyrrha replied in a clipped tone
"Professional guard out of Commenor." He continued
"Yes, I am with the Darklight agency." Pyrrha replied
" Where is your weapons?" The man pointed at the empty holster
"The captain insisted that no one but him and his crew carry weapons. I adviced a new ship but my principal insisted on this one" Pyrrha replied stiffly
"As I have said before Solus, speed is of the essence for my needs. And weapon or not I trust that you company would have trained you well enough to work past that inconvenience." Weiss snapped imperiously
Pyrrha visibly gritted her teeth but did not reply to the statement. The agent shuffled the cards again till he found Weiss's
" Countess Frost?" He asked, his tone more polite
"That is me." Weiss nodded to him
"May I enquire as to the purpose of your visit to Fondor?" He asked
"Merely business with old family partners, they have not been fulfilling on some deals and my Father wishes to know why." Weiss said airily
Weiss pointed to Velvet
"My handservant. Satin and her family has been in my family's employ for years. You have already questioned the guard my father has insisted I take." Weiss said
The customs agent turned to Jaune who had been leaning against the wall of the crew lounge.
"And where is the weapons of said guard and that of your crew?" He demanded
"On the bridge. Right this way." Jaune pushed off from the wall.
Jaune led the way to the bridge and showed the agent the secured weapons locker before tapping in his code and opening said locker. He pointed to blaster and a rifle.
"Those belong to Solus. The three gunbelts are my crews and mine. No weapons for the two sisters and I have not seen anywhere the three dancers could have a hidden weapon." Jaune said
" Where did you pick them up?" The agent asked
"Correll, The sisters are apparently from there. The princess and her handmaiden are from Bakura, how they ended on Correll I don't know, but what I can tell you is don't extend her credit. Her payment bounced twice before it went through." Jaune said
"The dancers?" The agent asked
" Picked them up in a bar near the docks, the barman is an old friend and pointed them in my direction. As far as I know they were recently hired by the Moonlight Lounge. Good passengers and kept to themselves, not bad dancers though, they were rehearsing whenever they could." Jaune replied
"What species are the two feline looking ones?" The agent asked
"Not Yuki and that is all I can tell. Neither my mechanic nor co pilot knows either." Jaune shrugged
A comprehensive search later and they were cleared to proceed to dock on Fondor. They assembled in the cargo hold all now dressed in regular clothing. Jaune and Yara opened the second smugglers hold and started passing out gunbelts and blasters. Yara pointed To Weiss and Ruby
"You two are with me and Velvet, we will be shopping for new supplies and refuelling duty. Then we will look around the markets if we can find any useful." She said
"Pyrrha, Blake you are with me. We will be going through the stores and outfitters that may have simulators." Katya said
" April, Yang, Nora. You are with me. We will be renting a cargo barge and stripping Carnet's storage unit." Jaune finished off
"Once we are done Weiss you will take up the role you played again, we will be going to a high end entertainment facility. Pyrrha will act as bodyguard, I will be taking over the role of the handservant. We will be listening for news and rumours." Katya said
"The rest of us will break into two groups and go bar trawling, again listening for information and rumours. I and Yara will also be putting out feelers to find a slicer or information broker." Jaune added
They loaded up and headed to the boarding ramp. As the ramp was lowering Jaune could see a group gathered at the edge of their landing pad. Several were dressed in coveralls marking them as technical staff. Two were dressed in more formal clothing making them the port authorities representatives. He strolled down the still descending ramp and dropped to the tarmac before moving over to them. Paying the docking fees in cash he turned to the senior technician and pointed to the ship
"Just need a fuel top up and draining of the grey tanks and water top up." He said
"Good, if you were looking for repairs you would have been waiting for days." The technician replied
" Lot of breakdowns?" Jaune asked
"No, big refitting job. Every available technician and mechanic has been pulled for the job." The technician replied
He pointed to a supermax freighter. The area around it was a hive of activity. Regiments of droids were standing in place and cargo barges were wheeling pallets into place. Tugships were above lowering cargo containers onto the hull
"What is the job?" Jaune asked
"Star Destroyer got caught in a meteor field, they are insisting on onsite repairs before moving the Kuatt yards. Normally Kuatt would send a ship but currently are fully engaged with their projects. We had some slack and got the contract." The technician replied
"So all of that is for repairs, damn must have been hit really hard." Jaun whistled
"Royal pain in the ass, they are insisting that all the droids have their memories purged before being loaded. So some poor bastard will be reprogramming them on site. Like how dangerous is a construction program anayway. It would make more sense to purge them once they are back if you are worried about sensitive information." The man grouched
"Guess you are right, but then again common sense is not that common. And as long as they pay for it, then the delays are on them." Jaune said amicably
Their attention was drawn to the side of the field as a convey of scout bikes and several troop carriers were escorting several cargo barges behind the convoy a second convoy of deep space welding rigs were being flown to the supermax freighter along with several construction shuttles. The senior technician departed in the direction of the freighter leaving a junior to collect the fees for the refitting. Jaune paid the account from an IGBG account that had been set up by the slicer on Rukill station in the new name of the Bantha news cover identity.
He stood watching the movement at the supermax as the others exited the ship and Yara locked up behind them. Katya stood next to him.
"Jaune, please tell me you are not thinking what I am thinking you are thinking." She said
"You mean that there is an entire ship being loaded with exactly what we need." Jaune replied
"Have you seen all the stormies around that ship? You know that mass of white around it?" Katya replied
"They only showed up with whatever is in the containers they were escorting. I expect that most will be gone the moment that the cargo has been loaded." Jaune stated
" And if not?" Katya asked
"Then we just walk away. Can it really harm us to ask a few questions around about it?" Jaune replied
"You are assuming that there is not any non disclosure contracts in play." Katya responded
"That is a Kuatt yards ship being loaded with Fondor equipment, Equipment that had most likely been pulled from local jobs. Equipment that will most likely be returned in poor condition from Kuatt after having "unplanned" delays in their return. A contract will mean nothing to the blue collars who will be sitting without work while Kuatt gets the job using their equipment and them not seeing a single credit." Jaune replied
" Okay we will keep our ears open, but we decide on this as a crew." Katya replied in a huff.
They managed to get a cargo barge with great difficulty, one that should have been recycled long ago. Only eight of the ten repulsor coils worked as was only one of the engines. That had been forcing Jaune to counter steer just to keep the vehicle in a straight line and level. They were slowly approaching the storage unit where Carnet had stored her equipment. The Rodian in charge of the facility barely looked at the written work order Carnet's attorney had supplied them with before returning to his office and sleeping at the desk.
They approached the door to the unit and unlocked it, Jaune caught a flickering light as the door lifted. As the door fully opened he played a light along the frame and found a transmitter attached to the door. He pulled it of and showed it to his companions
"April, I think we are going to need a lookout." He said
" And here I though we are just picking up cargo." Yang replied
"Maybe I am being paranoid, this was likelty placed in case Carnet came back." Jaune replied "And if her bounty is inactive we will not be bothered, these units are cheap and easily replacable."
"But you are worried someone will come looking." April completed
"Yes." Jaune replied
April settled herself behind the controls of the cargo barge and was for all facts and purposes lost to the holozine she was reading while the other three were loading the contents of the rental unit. Spotting movement at both ens of the passage she whistled softly to draw their attention. Jaune stepped out and casually opened a toolbox they had brought with, revealing his lightsaber and four blaster pistols. He saw the facility manager approaching along with two humans and a trandoshan. At the far end four trandoshans were slowly walking closer.
He walked to the manager datapad in hand. The Rodian motioned for him to stop
"Is something wrong?" Jaune asked
"Why are you cleaning out the storage unit? Where is it going?" The Rodian warbled
"You saw the order. Deceased estate clean up." Jaune lifted the datapad
"Can we see it?" One human called
Jaune shrugged and pushed the datapad across the floor with a push to the group. The human lifted the datapad and read it.
"Seems to be okay. It is quite normal for attorneys to send in clear up crews when the client is dead without any relatives on planet to take care their affairs." The bounty hunter said
"Then why are you and your group blocking the exits?" April asked
"The thing is. Dead people don't contact their attorney and instruct them to issue documents." The bounty hunter replied
"Oh, that is unusual. But I fail to see how that affects us. We got given a job and will only be paid if we complete it. Even if the client is not dead that is a legitimate work order and authorization on that datapad." Jaune shrugged
"That is true. But as you can see things like that makes one curios. So we set up a watchpoint and what do you know an even bigger bounty shows up to collect the possessions of the first bounty." The bounty hunter said, unsnapping the holster on his hip
"So Jaune Arc or Jaune Noname are we doing this the easy way or the fun way?" The second bounty hunter spoke
The trandoshans produced weapons and were raising them as were the humans. The Rodian dropped to the ground in a ball. Jaune twisted and extended his hand. His lightsaber flipped end over end to smack into his hand. The blade flashed into existence with the clearly recognisable snapp-hiss as Jaune toggled the button. The human bounty hunters stepped back in surprise while the Trandishans surged forward
"Jedi!" A Trandoshan screamed firing.
Jaune deflected the bolt into a wall before force jumping in front of the trandoshan and swinging his blade, decapitating the Trandoshan. He batted away another volley of fire before moving in close with the remaining trandoshans. Behind him April had thrown blasters to Nora and Yang and were exchanging fire with the human bounty hunters and their trandoshans. The Rodian was curled in a ball on the ground screaming his head off.
Jaune spun away as one trandoshan fired a weapon. The disruptor round shredded the wall where he had been moments ago. He force pulled at the weapon and the Trandoshan stumbled forward as the strap tied to the wrist held as the weapon was ripped from his hands. Jaune impaled the trandoshan on the tip of the lightsaber. Behind him the sound of firing stopped.
"Clear." Yang called out
"Clear." April and Nora echoed
Jaune closed his blade and walked to the wailing Rodian who by now was trying to burrow in the duracrete floor. He hid a wince as he smelt that the Rodian had soiled himself. He pushed the Rodian onto his back with his boot
"Is that all of them?" Jaune demanded
"Yes." The rodian warbled
"Are you sure?" Jaune laced his voice with the force.
"Ye…No there are more outside." The Rodian broke under the force compulsion
"How many?" Jaune demanded
"Four." The rodian replied
Jaune pulled his blaster to him and shot the Rodian with a stun bolt. Yang and Nora were still covering the front and rear. Nora had run forward and had grabbed the disruptor rifle and the bandolier filled with shells that the trandoshan had carried, her blaster had been stuck between her cleavage in her bra
"I think we may want to get going before they call for reinforcement" Nora said
"Are we bailing on the cargo?" Yang asked
"We will have to." Jaune said with a sigh
"What are these grates for?" April asked pointing downwards.
Jaune looked down and saw that the duracrete were in fact covered by grates. A very large channel ran below the grates
"Looks like a drainage system, saw something similar on a documentary about an abattoir." Yang remarked
The other three gave her an incredulous look at the statement. Yang shrugged.
"Had a friend that was trying to convert me to veganism." She said in explanation
April pointed to the facility cargo barge that the manager had ridden in on
"That should fit in there" She said
They unloaded their cargo barge and moved it to the end of the passage. Using the force Jaune upended the cargo barge making it sitting square in the passage. Nora fired into the controls and the barge dropped to the ground blocking the road. Yang and Nora then lifted the grate and Jaune drove the new barge over the opening before cutting the repulsor coils and dropping the craft into the opening. They double timed on lowering the cargo to the barge and pulled the grating back over the entrance. Jaune send a pulse of the force through the Rodians forehead.
"What are you doing?" April asked
"I am using a limited force push. I just gave our smelly friend a concussion. That should scramble his memories for a day or two." Jaune replied
"That is a bit hardcore." April replied
"Our other option is to let him tell everyone there is a Jedi around or put a bolt in him. This one will flip at the first sign of a credit chip or of someone puts a blaster to his head." Jaune responded.
"Okay I can see giving him a headache is a better option then." Yang replied
Jaune lifted the Rodian with the force and put him inside the now empty unit. He shoved his lightsaber blade into the controls once the door had closed. The dropped into the drainage pipe and pulled the grate back into position. Keeping the engine at low power they started moving away. Reaching the end of the passage they found a drainage grate. Jaune lit his lightsaber and cut a larger exit, the poorly maintained wall crumbling under the heat of the plasma blade. On the other end they found a massive pipe running through. The smell of sewage filled the air as Jaune cut an access point. They moved into the pipe as the sewage started spilling into the walkway. No longer caring about silence they pressed forward at full throttle looking for a service point. Jaune handed his comlink over to April
"Warn the others, it is possible that I was not the only one to be recognised" He said
Velvet was hiding a smile as Ruby was negotiating with a being Yara identified as a Toydarion. The girl had made a beeline straight to the stall the moment she had smelled the baked goods. How she managed that over the other dominant smells of the open air market was another question. To her side Yara was looking on incredulously as Ruby was managing something few can achieve, she was actually managing to get the Toydarian to lower his price.
"Never underestimate the power of puppy eyes and seeming cute innocence. She wields those even better than she did Crescent Rose." Weiss said from behind them
Velvet felt a warning ripple in the force and she started looking around. The pathway they were in had a patrol of stormtroopers slowly moving their way. The Force warning had her look the other way. A group of humans were looking straight at them. All of them holding onto a weapon of some sort. One was holding a datapad up as he was studying them. The Toydarian stopped negotiating with ruby and shoved several packets towards her and dropped the shutters over his stall, not bothering to ask for payment. Several other traders followed his example. The shoppers sensing the change in atmosphere were moving closer to the closed shops and started moving into the spaces between the stalls blocking escape routes, this sudden scattering caused the other traders to close up. The four were stranded in the middle of no mans land. Weiss moved to be back to back with Ruby her hand on the vibrosword she had taken to wearing
"Shit." Yara muttered
"Nowhere to go but through." Velvet summed up their situation
One of the humans threw an object towards them and Velvet send it back to sender with a force push. The exploding cryoban grenade painted the aisle in white and blue. Velvet managed to bat back the volley of bolts being send to them while The other three returned fire
" Get the stormtroopers, we got these." Yara called to Velvet firing rapidly
Velvet rushed to the other end where the stormtroopers were getting into a firing line. One had had a hand to his helmet, she was certain that the trooper was reporting back to base. She vaulted forward in a force jump batting away several bolts as they started firing upon her. Mentally she took a note not to complain about the training drones again as she managed to safely divert away all the bolts. She landed and shoved her hand down and unleashed a Force Tremor. The troppers cried out and staggered as the ground shook below them. The one with his hand to his helmet was now audible..
"Confirmed sighting, we have a Jedi. I repeat we have a Jedi."
Velvet extended her hand and the trooper was shoved back first through the steel shutters of a stall and out through the back of the stall landing on a fryer unit. A small explosion followed as the fryers power unit short circuited and ignited a power cell on the troopers utility belt. She moved in on the remaining squad her orange lightsaber a blur of movement
Ruby drew a bead on one of the humans firing on them using the blaster she had taken in the cantina fight on Ruustam station. She was aiming for a leg trying to keep her efforts non lethal. She screamed as the person dropped to become prone when her bolt took the falling person straight in the face. The blaster lowered in her hands as she stared in horrified shock at the prone figure. She flet Weiss shaking her, screaming something, but she could not concentrate as her eyes were fixed on the prone figure. She felt her head snap to one side and the sound returned
Yara shook her hand, the one she had used to slap Ruby out of her funk. She saw Velvet running back to them a pile of white bodies lying on the other end.
"Weiss, watch Ruby." She snapped
Velvet closed the distance to them with another Force jump closing her blade down as she landed. Velvet closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated. She pointed down a passage between several stalls.
"That way." She said
Velvet led the way, with Weiss pulling Ruby along and Yara taking up the rear. They came up against a wall and Velvet ignited a single blade on her lightsaber and cut through the wall. A push had the cut through segment of wall falling on the other side. Velvet stepped back before force lifting a manhole cover
"Get in, we have to hide." She said
"Why not go through the wall?" Weiss asked
"I feel a lot of people with ill intent closing in. we will not be able to outrun them, but we can hide and move in the sewers." Velvet replied
They climbed down the service ladder quickly and Velvet pulled the cover back over them and used her lightsaber tip to melt the cover close. She started moving upstream cursing her sensitive Faunus senses. Behind her she could hear Yara swearing as she fell in behind her, another one with increased senses. She could hear Weiss cajoling Ruby to move. She knew Ruby had suffered a massive shock but for now survival and escape were their first priorities, dealing with first kill jitters could wait till they were safe.
" Let us hope the others did not run into any problems." She said to herself.
Blake lowered her end of the cargo container she was carrying. She looked over at Pyrrha who was wiping sweat of her forehead. Katya activated the controls of the cargo sled and the two of them jumped up on the space that had been left open. Katya drove it into the warehouse. They were among several of casual workers hired for the day to help prepare for a massive shipment. Katya stopped the cargo sled ina designated square and lowered it to the ground before she joined Blake and Pyrrha in clearing the cargo area of the sled. She stiffened slightly as a grey uniformed imperial stopped them to scan the crate they were carrying.
"I can not see why we can not use the repulsors in the containers." Another worker was moaning from one side.
" Delicate cargo, can not risk damage to it should the repulsors fail."
"If you have a problem with manual labour, you are free to leave." The Imperial sneered
They loaded their last container on a pile and the Imperial added a tally to his datapad. He gave them a rather disgruntled nod of satisfaction before taking Katya's delivery pad and signing of on a safe delivery.
"Good. I believe this was your last delivery. You may go and collect your pay." He said shortly
"Thank you. Sir." Blake said politely
"Get going and clear the space." The Imperial said dismissively, returning his attention to his datapad
The three returned to the ship unmolested. They stopped in the boarding ramp as the smell of sewerage came from within the ship. Katya turned to her companions
"Why do I get the feeling something happened?" She asked
"Did you switch on your comlink again?" Blake asked
"Oops." Katya replied