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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2026303" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 148: Waiting for the Right MomentAfter a few more hours, Jen was up and doing her best to repair the hyperdrive. At first, Titus had tried to help, but it had soon become obvious he was getting in the way. So, he’d left her to work, stepping out of the engine room just as she was cursing the hyperdrive again. It took ten hours total until Jen finally decided it might work. Even then, she hadn’t been sure. Considering the bad shape of the Alderaan as a whole, the fact that they were still alive was amazing enough. If the hyperdrive could just give them one jump to Nar Shaddaa, then they could pick up a completely new one. Sure, it would be expensive, but money was rarely a problem on the Smuggler’s Moon.    “If we can limp down to the moon there shouldn’t be too much of a problem,” Jen commented as she slid into her seat in the cockpit. Idly, she glanced over a few of the sensor readings, noting that there was nothing at all anywhere near. Good. Of course, she avoided looking at the small screen that Titus had up to display the internal damage to the ship. That would just be more depressing in the end.    “Not a terribly comforting idea to limp to a place like that,” Titus said as he worked on manually plotting a course to Nar Shaddaa. The navcomputer had been torn apart for pieces to fix the hyperdrive with. A cruel irony that neither of them were laughing about.    She shrugged, reaching over to help him out, “Its better than asking for help to be pulled down to the planet.”    “True,” he grinned slightly, “But sometimes its nice to let others do the work.”    Jen raised an eyebrow at that and tapped him on the side of the head, “You just want to go broke on a vacation, don’t you?”    Titus shrugged and smiled weakly, “Might as well lose what’s left of my money to something like that. Though that might mean selling Alderaan...”    “Ahh, but its not technically yours to sell!” she laughed and sat back, waiting for the last few numbers to be processed into the computer.    But Titus shook his head, “Of course it is. Remember that mention of this being our ship? Not yours?”    “Of course I do!” Jen said, laughing again, “But you forgot that half of this ship is Akan’s!”    “Technicalities,” Titus said, waving his hand, “He probably forgot about that by now.”    “Good point.”    “But you can ask him if you’d like,” Titus said as he pulled the hyperdrive levers. Thankfully, the stars extended and they shot off to Nar Shaddaa. He’d half expected those to have been his last words...and those would have been very bad last words. Especially to Jen.* * * *Sitting at his desk on the top level of his tower, Ket Halpak was watching the holo on his desk with extreme interest. About ten minutes earlier, two humans had walked into the small lobby at the bottom level of the building and started asking questions. The woman at the desk had sent word to him immediately, as some of the questions were a bit odd. He would have gone down himself, but he had been busy prepping a large cargo shipment and sent Nine instead. She had stayed out of sight, and was only now returning.    Nine walked across that horribly long distance from the turbolift, between the columns that lined out a pathway, and straight to his desk. When she arrived, he switched off the holo and looked up at her expectantly. She nodded, “It’s the brats.”    “You’re sure?” he leaned back in his chair, knowing the answer to that question but asking it just for the sake of asking.    “Of course,” she said, half glaring at him, “Shall I follow them?”    “No,” Ket leaned forward again and shook his head, “We still need a little more time and those questions they were asking sounded more like they were trying to gauge the building’s layout and security in a very...unique way. Apparently, the male had said he ran some kind of mercenary group that could easily help out. Stupid questions, really, and anyone with half a rain would know they were a front,” he then completely changed the subject to more important matters, “Are the last of the droids finished yet?”    Nine nodded in the usual formal and stiff way, “About an hour ago. I was preparing to go and get them aboard Loki so we can leave as soon as is necessary.”    But Ket shook his head, “They won’t be coming with us. I want you to scatted them out through the main corridors and stairwells. Put them in two and four droid groups and stagger them across the floors. Keep it random, but not too random.”    “Of course. When should we shut down the turbolift and other systems?”    “We’ll wait until the last minute for that,” Ket said, getting to his feet and stepping around the desk to walk with her to the turbolift, “I believe we can send the rest of the work away now. I believe I’ll not fire them all like I’d originally thought. This business is fairly profitable...I’ll let them fight amongst themselves to see who gets to keep it.”    “You almost sound like you plan to come back,” Nine commented with a curious look on her face.    Ket simply smiled, “One never knows what the future will hold. Perhaps once we are finished at home, a short trip here for...the sake of nostalgia will be nice.”    “Perhaps it will,” Nine said, actually sounding happy at that for once, “Should we put a sign to mark the place where Marix dies?”    As they rounded the corner, Ket allowed himself a short laugh, “We’d have to leave the body. I believe it will be much more useful to bring it with us. Imagine the look on the Empress’ face when she sees you carry the body of her daughter in.”    “Make sure to record it,” Nine said with a devilish grin on her face.</blockquote>

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