Chapter 9
Coruscant Orbit
He sat on the edge of the medical bed, feet dangling freely off the side. Most of the sensors had been removed from his skin, save for a single band around the arm – the equivalent of a field sensor pack that sent all his vitals to the nearby 2-1B. Every time there was a fluctuation, the droid would clomp over and study him before clomping back to its station.
Somehow, the electrical currents flowing through Caloc's left arm kept throwing off the droid's scans, which reset it to default mode. He couldn't wait to be checked over in the Jedi Temple. The doctor's there knew the mechanics involved with the mechanical heart and the metal plate in his shoulder. Ever since Arratak, he had been feeling weakened, and was worried that the seal might have broken around the plate, letting the Klipton fuel into his bloodstream and was poisoning him.
He looked out the viewport beside his gurney. Off to the right, he could see the curve of the planet below, the thin line between night and day crawling it's way across the surface. He preferred Coruscant at night from orbit. When you saw the dayside, all it looked like was a massive grey ball. The dark side of the planet showed where the lights of the planet were. And where there was light, there was life.
To the left of the globe was the vast emptiness of space, the glittering stars blinking at him invitingly. There was escape there. Excitement, even. Millions of stars meant billions of people. It meant that somewhere out there, a hundred different stories were taking place right now. He hoped most of them were peaceful.
He could see the larger ships around him, the other Dixin's like the Nightingale and the Skyhook were part of the Scythe's own defence team. Further out he could see the two Acclamator carriers and above them, the bulk of the Shepherd. But between them, flitting about like the tiny insects of a desert world, were the starfighters. He needed to get off this damned frigate.
Commodore Anglis had been forced to move the Scythe away from the rest of the blockade. The details were sketchy, but a suspicious cargo freighter had entered the system, and Anglis had detained it. Whether or not she was sending a crew aboard, Caloc didn't know. He had tried to see the ships make and model, but it had been obscured. The Dixin-class cruiser's only docking ports were along the bottom of the ship, right next to the tractor beam. The bridge would snag the freighter with the tractor beam, then attach the docking port and a few cables to secure it in place.
He was sure that it was an interesting manoeuvre, and was a little disappointed that he had missed it during his unconsciousness. The only moving ship he could see at the moment was the Vigil, one of the Acclamator-class carriers along the eastern pole of the planet. He had frowned at the inclusion of the carriers in the blockade fleet, but the latest upgrades to the vessels had also upgraded the shield generators. There had been talks of adding more anti-starfighter or heavy weapons to the carriers, but with more Venators being added to the fleet daily, there was little point.
"You look like a pile of nerf droppings."
He looked over to see a familiar face, one of the first since he woken up in this bed. She was leaning against the doorframe, arms folded across her chest. Her blue robes had been changed from practice robes he had seen in their earlier holographic conversation to the more formal attire people expected from a Jedi. He did notice that she had moved her belt from her hips to her waist, cinching her robes higher on her body and making her look even thinner than she really was.
Lozzan Karen's hair was loose, with multiple smaller braids hidden amongst the other free strands. One of those was her padawan braid, and he struggled to pick it out from the dozen others. Standing straighter, she reached up and tucked her locks behind her ears, revealing the tattoo on her cheek. Light blue, it lazily traced from above her left ear and curled in a swirl around her cheek bone. The symbol of royalty for females on Skilon.
He gave her a weak grin, "You have no idea how nice it is to hear your voice, even if it is when you insult me."
She shook her head and rolled her eyes, "I was about to ask to be placed on one of the search parties looking for you and Stass."
"Sorry to disappoint.", Caloc shrugged. "I guess that Deesix and I are just too hard to kill."
Lozzan gestured over her shoulder. "You going like that?"
Caloc glanced down at himself and his bare chest, and pulled his tunic back over his head. He let his outer robes hang loosely around his legs and wore only the grey undertunic and hood that Runtan Halasi had given him on Arratak. Leaning over, he grabbed the lightsaber from the bedside table and clipped it back onto his belt. He glanced down at himself and raised an eyebrow in Lozzan's direction. "Better?"
Her nose crinkled as she gave him a onceover. "For now. You ready to get off this ship?"
He nodded, and followed her out of the hall. A few doors down, he had a thought and reached forward to grab Lozzan's hand, "One moment. I forgot something."
Reaching out through the Force, he quickly found the room he was looking for and peered inside. The sleeping form of Luuna was visible in the bed, being watched by three droids of different makes. He smiled in satisfaction, glad to see that she was being well cared for. Grabbing the datapad at the end of the bed, he ran his eyes over the diagnostic. Luuna was in good health, all things considered. The Bothan doctor on Shili had been good at his work, and the droids had reported that they expected a complete recovery in less than twenty days. She would be able to stand in only two, though they would transfer her to sleep in the Pantoran Suite once the bulk of the space traffic had dissipated.
Putting the datapad back, he continued to follow Lozzan out of the medical wing and into the hanger, where a smaller Eta-class shuttle was wating for them, ramp lowered. He shook his head. Lozzan had a thing for the Eta's. He preferred the T-6, mostly for the added room and the tricky defensive flying he could pull with the hinged wing. The Eta was smaller and more compact, with blaster cannons at the base of each wing. The Jedi used it for the missions that weren't entirely diplomatic, or for landing in small hangers that had limited room. They went up the ramp, and Lozzan began plotting them a course for the Jedi Temple.
He shook his head. "Not yet, please. I've been stuck in a medical wing for too long. If I don't get some good gruel, I will probably die of hunger."
Lozzan shook her head, but pulled back on the yoke and backed the shuttle out of the hanger. "I know a place you might like then."
The Gruata was a small mum-and-pop prizita joint not far from the Temple. Some of the lower ranking senatorial aides and other senate workers enjoyed coming down to the building after their shifts, either hanging out or simply grabbing a slice to eat on the way home. Already, a few small groups had shown up and were milling between the tables.
The cheese and onion prizita sat between Lozzan and Caloc, the thick pastry base swollen up and the cheese was running in stripes across it's surface. Lozzan looked across the table to where Caloc was fiddling a small commlink. Beside him, Deesix's green and grey dome turned to look at the device, and then at the rapidally cooling prizita. He beeped a small suggestion to his master. Caloc grabbed a small piece of prizita and stuffed it into his mouth, then went back to the commlink.
Lozzan shook her head and pulled a larger slice from the meal. The inside's of the pastry – a mixture of thin meat strips, small tomatoes and a delicious sauce – steamed in the air, and she quickly pulled out her knife and fork to eat it before it went cold. She glanced up at the other padawan, noting the intensity he stared down at the device in his hands. "Master Sil'o'can told me that you and Stass were the first on the surface when the terrorists attacked the transports."
Caloc smiled sadly, "That seems so long ago. Yeah, that was horrible. We lost far too many people in that attack."
"I'm sorry.", Lozzan reached across the table and took his hands, stopping their fiddling. "Is that why you are working so hard on this device? A sense of justice?"
"That's part of it.", he nodded, then bit his lip. "The other part is that I know Stass and I are the only ones who might be able to find the pirates that attacked us on Shili. If they have a home base, we can find out who put that Bounty on Senator Chuchi."
Lozzan pulled another slice of prizita from the central plate and placed it on her plate. She cut out a small piece and put it in her mouth, then immediately regretted it. The sauce was way too hot, and she grabbed the pitcher of water to try and save her taste buds. A quiet snort came from across the table, and she looked up to see Caloc throw a small piece of the pastry into the air and catch it in his mouth. He picked up the commlink.
"That should just about do it.", placing the device on the table, he flicked it on.
The image that coalesced was not one that Lozzan was familiar with. A circle of yellow with three red lines running across the centre and one grey line intersecting them, all surrounded by an orbiting blue triangle. Then it changed to the image of a blue-skinned humanoid with blue skin and two long gills along her jawline. An Araconian? Lozzan had never seen the species before, but her studies had included a document detailing their ability to filter out nearly every toxin through their gills. It was a useful skill to have, and made the species one of the hardiest in the galaxy.
This particular Araconian wore thin spectacles over her eyes, though without a nose, Lozzan had no idea how they were staying up. A thick leather apron was draped around her neck, stuffed full of various micro tools. Larger tools were clamped to a thigh holster. Her wrist had a miniature computer strapped to it, and a small LT-series droid was clamped to her shoulder. "This is the Bogstalker. How can I assist you today?"
"Good to see you, Ann Akka.", Caloc smiled at the woman, who squinted at the screen, then brightened considerably.
"Padawan Caloc Tiac! It is good to hear from you. Glad to hear that you survived Shili."
Lozzan stared at the woman, another helping of prizita centimetres from her lips, "You knew he was on Shili? Why didn't you tell anyone?"
The Araconian's gaze flicked to her, then back to Caloc, "Who's this?"
"A friend of mine.", Caloc answered, then smiled up at Lozzan. "Ann Akka is an Information Broker. She only gives away information for decent profit, or for new information."
Lozzan screwed up her face. Information should have been shared freely. Surely if this woman knew something life threatening, she would tell the Jedi! It was a question of morality! Even the lowest person in the Coruscant Underworld would… well, that was actually a gross exaggeration.
"I recognise that look. It's the Jedi 'Holier than Thou' look.", the Araconian smiled at Lozzan. "Means that you think I don't have morals. Listen, kid. You live a fancy life in the galaxy. But even your organisation runs on give and take. You use your skills to protect the galaxy, and in return, the galaxy gives you a Temple and a place to learn and train. I run a business. My 'skills' are my ability to locate information and supply it and resources. Unless I get paid, then my business go under, and my skills are worthless. So until I get paid, or am given something good I can sell, then the Jedi and I have no business knowing about each other. This isn't about morality. It's about survival."
"Then why even bother finding out where Caloc is if you weren't getting paid for it?", Lozzan asked.
This time, the Araconian's smile vanished, and her eye's pupils split in two. "Because, kid, he's my friend. I care about my friends. And I want to help them."
"Speaking of…", Caloc said hesitantly.
The tiny hologram spun to look at him, but Ann Akka was already shaking her head. She held up a finger to stop him from speaking further, "Now before you even start, I expected you to call, kid. Unfortunately, whoever put out the bounty on the Senator is being protected by the Raven. I tried to bust through his encryption, but he is a little better than me at protecting him database."
"That's a shame.", Caloc said, sounded a little miffed by that. He tore off another piece of the prizita for himself. "Guess he has more to hide, though. Is there any other way to get the intel?"
"There is always the location of the drop.", Akka shrugged noncommittally, then saw the expression coming from both padawans. She sighed and spoke slowly at them, as though to children. "Don't even think about it kid. If they find out that I told you I will be in so much trouble. I'd get banned from the guild."
Picking up another piece of prizita, Caloc said nothing, just kept staring at the broker until she sighed.
"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you. The location the bounty was made might have an identification code for the person who placed the bounty. It's a new security measure the Hunters Guild is enforcing. Most of their members don't even know about it yet. But you'd be needing on-site help to get into the system and figure out where the files are. You need someone with prior access to the network."
Caloc frowned, "I'll want a location on Branol then. He could get us in, right?"
"Almost definitely.", Akka nodded, tapping at her forearm computer, "What you got to pay with?"
"Before I get to that", Caloc said, holding up a hand, "I want you to identify something for me."
"That'll cost extra.", Ann said, "I'll charge it as a second job."
"I know that.", Caloc nodded. He gestured to Deesix, who projected an image above the table. Akka peered at it, then looked down at her left arm. The tiny computer there projected the image, now indistinguishable to the Jedi, but Akka frowned at it. Lozzan glanced at Deesix's version. It was a ship. A damn ugly ship. It looked like a hodgepodge of different makes and models, with the forward half being from a Ubrikkian and the engines scavenged from a Recusant-class destroyer.
"Where did you get this?", she asked Caloc, sounding awed.
He gave her a nervous look, then stuffed another piece of the pastry in his mouth. "They were the pirates who shot us down over Shili. They apparently hunted Stass and the Senator."
"Not you?", Akka asked.
Caloc shrugged. "I landed on one of the moons – Arratak. They hunted me there too. I thought that their ship might give us a clue as to who they are."
"This is just a cursory glance", Akka tapped a few commands into her computer and Deesix's projection turned and zoomed in to peer at a small decal on the hull. "You got a good scan though, droid. I think that this is supposed to be one of the battle droids from Ahn Krantarium, or possibly one of the cyborg beasts there."
"That sounds like a clue.", Caloc said, his tone going hopeful.
The Araconian frowned up at him, "You ain't getting a name 'til you pay, Caloc. You're a good customer, but I am not going to hand out freebies for you. I got paying customers I need to finish orders on, and you can't just cut the queue without some serious compensation."
Caloc rolled his eyes and gestured at Deesix. "Here, I'm sending through the Pyke data from Hala, the location of the pirate ship's crash, and the location of the Restored Triumph's crash. If you give that to scavengers before the Republic can get to it…"
He trailed off, and Akka shrugged noncommittally. "Look, all that I know is that the symbol belongs to the Obakic Gang. I'll send through what I know, but I want information. Tell me what you find there, okay? I get the sense that my services are about to become all the more needed, and I need good intel."
"Understood.", Caloc watched the hologram fizzle out, then reached back to the central plate.
Lozzan giggled as his hand closed over empty air, and gestured to the thin Arcona behind the counter to gesture for one more pirzita. She watched as Caloc's gaze drifted into the space he used for deep thinking. She decided to speak before he sunk too deeply into the void. "I'll go and find the drop location, if it helps."
He glanced up at her and raised an eyebrow in question, clearly confused by the suggestion. "Really?"
She shrugged. "Why not? You can't be in two places at once."
"Because your Master won't let you.", he pointed out, clearly trying not to point out that he and Stass could split up. Ever since Devaron, Stass had seemed to want to keep her padawan close. It would probably get worse after they were stranded literal planet/moon apart.
Lozzan considered his words. He wasn't wrong. Tia Sil'o'can would not be happy with her 'galivanting off' on a supposed 'hunch'. He liked facts, and he didn't like Caloc's reckless style of finding drama. Truthfully, information from a broker was meant to be treated as untrustworthy by a majority of the Temple. Lozzan had felt the same during her youngling years, though even she had her moments. The rules were there for a reason.
Which might be why Tia had chosen her for a student in the first place. Though she was still more disciplined than Caloc – obvious just by their different ways of eating their dinner – she had relaxed a little, and discovered that the Force flowed more freely through her when she did.
And so she gave her friend a cheeky grin, "Who says that Tia has to know?"
Caloc snorted in amusement, but a serving droid arrived with their newest pirzita before he could retort. His gaze fell to the pastry, eyes going wide. Lozzan had to agree that this pastry was different from the last one. Instead of the cheese and onion topping, this one was covered in thick, flat chips – usually used for dipping into a variety of sauces. Carefully, Caloc picked up a knife and sliced into it, revealing a mixture of small red and green vegetables Lozzan couldn't identify, mince, and the thick sour sauce. The two padawan's exchanged a glance, then grinned. Neither had seen anything like this, but they were more than ready to try it.