Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 1827789" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 24: Never Trust the Empire“Pull us out of hyperspace in two minutes...” Jen said quietly, that eerie calm still consuming the cockpit, “Should come out in open space...then make another jump to any place near.”    “Right...” Akan was feeling slightly worried still, but they hadn’t died yet, and it’d been five long minutes, “At least we know the hyperdrive isn’t damaged. But I think the sublight engines are dead, if not on their last life. We’ll find out the hard way. Hopefully that’s the only trouble.”    They were silent after that, and Akan simply watched the chrono counting down. He shifted slightly in the seat, moving his tail out of the way again. Why did it have to be so damned sensitive, anyway?! One day he’d have to actually take time to figure out small details like that, as they continually drove him crazy. Somehow, though, he doubted he’d get the time to do that for a while now.    The chrono was nearing zero, and Akan glanced over his shoulder to Jen. Neither of them were going to say goodbyes or similar, but they were thinking it. If Jen’s calculations were wrong, they could easily revert to realspace through a star, or worse. And there was a good chance she was wrong, as there had only been a short second between being shot off course and the jump to lightspeed. The navcomputer had fried itself trying to comprehend what had happened, and that helped even less. Part of him wanted to close his eyes when he reached to the lever, but Akan wanted to see what appeared in front of them, even if only for a split second.    The chrono reach zero. Slowly, Akan pulled the hyperspace levers back. The blue tunnel around them faded, and the stars reverted back to their places. The ship shook violently, but beyond that...Jen had been right. Deep space, no planets, or objects around. Both of them let out long sighs of relief, and Akan quickly went to rechecking the damage. Sublight engines were at half power. The hit was low on the deflector shield(which had already been taken out), so now there wasn’t even a chance of the shield being able to recharge.    As he did his best to reroute a little more power to the engines, he heard Jen’s voice, “We’re somewhere out beyond the sector and close to...Malastare.”    “Malastare, eh?” Akan thought about it a moment, then couldn’t help a smile, “Right near the Hydian Way...can you plot us a course there and then along to...I dunno, isn’t Sluis Van down that direction?”    There was a moment where Jen was going over maps, “Yes...we’ll have to make a couple jumps though. Sluis Van’s on the Rimma Trade Route. You sure about that, though? Isn’t Sluis Van occupied by the Empire?”    “What isn’t these das?” he replied, turning the Y-Wing towards the bearing that the navcomputer was starting to feed to the HUD, “At least there we can be fairly sure of getting a new ship. Can probably get some average money for this old piece of junk.”    The journey was fairly long, but thankfully travel across hyperspace routes was faster than trying to make your own. Akan had slept, and figured that Jen had done the same. He awoke to the beeping of the navcomputer and reverted the ship to realspace. A fair distance away was the large pale blue of the planet Sluis Van. A few grey marks could be seen orbiting the planet. The shipyards...Imperial shipyards. Thankfully, the entire planet wasn’t covered in troops. After convincing the docking authority in one of the smaller merchant cities that they were having engine trouble(which was true), that they were just planning to stay a short time(another truth), that they were also in the market for a new ship(three truths), and they wouldn’t cause any trouble(Akan didn’t believe this one himself), they were given clearance to land.    The nice part about the docks was that each ship had a nice, large area that could locked. The problem with this was that the man who’d approached them at the docks wanted a lot of money for it. Akan had given in, too exhausted to concentrate and use the Force to convince the man to be a little more friendly, and just paid him the extra hundred credits for the lock code. Once that was done, Akan locked the door as Jen got the poor Imperial out of the cargo compartment.    The man fell out cursing. You couldn’t blame him, really. Jen explained what had happened when he had tried yelling and cursing more, and eventually he calmed down. Though he had no weapon, Akan was still worried about this Imperial. It was in the eyes and the way he stood. Dangerous. His last encounter with this man did nothing but help the ‘dangerous’ feeling.    “Captain Titus Voort,” the Imperial said when asked his name. Funnily enough, Akan didn’t care, it was Jen who’d asked it. Akan would have been happy calling him scum, sithspawn, or any number of colorful names that seemed to fit the mane very well.“Alright, Voort,” Akan said stepping over and leaning against the Y-Wing, “We just finished our end of the deal. Now your turn. I think my questions can be summed up simply. What the Sith was going on at Naboo and where did that freak take my friend?!”    Akan was getting annoyed more, because he knew he should be able to still feel Shadow there. Somehow, though, he couldn’t. Shadow had explained the distance didn’t matter with their Link. It would always be there and always be very strong. But why was it silent? She couldn’t still be unconscious. She couldn’t be dead. Then what could she be? He sighed and just looked to the Voort to answer.    Voort had obviously been thinking about what to say, when realization came over him, “Ah ha! Thought I recognized you. You’re a little taller, but I’d know that anywhere!”    That what? Akan glanced at where the Imperial was pointing. He was pointing to Akan’s shoulder, with the burn mark from the blaster shot that had hit him on Endor. Why would he be...? Realization then his Akan, “You’re the one that shot me?!”    “Would have killed you, too,” Voort went on with a shrug, “Shot got glanced off by something.”    Akan had the look that Jen was quickly learning to recognize. He was going to kill this Voort. It was in the glare, and the flattening of the ears. She put her hand up, “Look, let’s just get to business, okay?’    Somehow, that calmed Akan some. His tail still swished across the ground slightly, and his ears were still mostly flat, but he didn’t look ready to pounce and maul anymore. Voort couldn’t help an almost cruel smile and said, “Sadrak would have taken her to his secondary base. It was where he was going to take me. I believe its somewhere out in the Garek system not far from the Corporate Sector.”    That was too easy. Far too easy. Akan raised an eyebrow, “You’re so open. Why is that, Imperial?” he said the last word slowly and as if it were the worst curse in the books. In his mind, it sure was up there.    Voort shot him a venomous look for only a short second, “I want him dead. And I always keep my word. Now, our deal is finished.”    The Force suddenly went crazy. Akan glanced to his left, where the warning had come from, and then realized that there was one very large piece of the wall flying at he and Jen. He dove to the ground, pulling Jen down with him and it slammed into the Y-Wing. Great, that’ll take at least another hundred credits off the worth. It would probably fetch barely enough to get a used blaster, by now.     Akan was getting up and starting towards Voort, who had began running to the door. He reached for his blaster, and aimed to the Imperial, but was suddenly hit in the back of his head with another piece of dock. Akan fell face first into the metal ground of the dock. Before he blacked out, he caught sight of Voort moving back their direction. He also remembered why he never liked or trusted any Imperials. Especially ones that were so willing to ‘help’.</blockquote>

Verification