by Greg Keyes
“Thanks for trying,” Klin-Fa said. It sounded as if she really meant it.
“No problem,” Uldir replied. “It’s my job.” He wanted to say something else, but what it was exactly eluded him. He fired four shots at the nearest flier instead.
“Do you hear music?” Klin-Fa asked.
“Now that you mention it, yeah. I thought I was losing it.” Two fliers had him firmly in their sights, now. He could try and dodge, but that would leave the Jedi’s back unguarded. He repressed the urge to close his eyes. He’d watch death come for him, thank you, and stare it down until the last second.
Except that the flier didn’t fire. Instead, it was forced to turn at a barrage of small-arms fire sizzling against its hull. In fact, all of the fliers were under attack. One didn’t turn fast enough to meet the new threat, and lost its aft stabilizer and repulsorlifts within a few heartbeats of one another. It wobbled and then dropped like a stone. One of the others banked up and caught it in the belly, dropped low and limped away smoking. Uldir fired after it, as something rather strange showed itself over the edge of the arroyo.
A pair of gigantic eyes was staring down at them, set into a head at least a meter-and-a-half wide. From its gaping mouth, music was blaring. Stranger still, a figure seemed to be dancing on the head, spinning out streamers of bright green light.
“What in -- “ he began, before it finally started making a twisted sense as he noticed the light was not streaking off randomly but harassing the remaining flier. The dancer was a Dug, balanced on one forepaw and firing blasters with his other three hand-feet.
“It’s Leaft!” he shouted.
A thicker series of bolts joined the Dug’s wild firefight with the flier, and Uldir made out a platinum-haired woman standing beside the head, which he could now see was mounted on some sort of hover-platform. That was Vega and her blaster rifle.
“Come on!” Uldir told Klin-Fa.
“That’s your crack team of rescue pilots?” She asked, skeptically.
“You better believe it.”
“Why are they riding on exec Lounha’s head?”
“I’m sure they have a good explanation,” he replied.
The two ran through a decreasing volume of skyborn fire until they reached the floater. Vega gave Uldir a hand up without looking at him, at the same time stitching red bursts through the windscreen of the last flier still in sight. It went down, leaving a blaze of flame across the far wall of the canyon.
“That’s three to your two,” she called up to Leaft.
“Hurr. Human luck,” the Dug snarled down. “Next time -- “
Vega ignored her companion. “Vook,” she called into the gigantic head. “We’ve got the boss. Now get us out of here.”
“Doing!” The Duro called.
At an excruciatingly slow speed, the floater began drifting back toward the spaceport.
“This is insane,” Klin-Fa said. “Where are we going on this thing?”
“Farther than you were going on foot,” Vega said, dryly. “You okay, boss?”
“I’m fine,” Uldir replied. “But she has a point. One of the fliers got away, and besides, they must be in contact with their headquarters. We can’t fight off another half-dozen fliers on this thing, let alone something bigger.”
“Hey, we did the best we could,” Vega said. “This was the only thing we could find on short notice.”
Despite himself, Uldir cracked a grin. “A float from the parade? You were always good at improvising, Vega, I’ll give you that.”
“You better believe it,” Vega replied. “And I’m not done yet.”
“What’s that mean?”
“I got a call from Uvee right before we picked you up. He finally got the ship out of dry-dock. It’s on the way.”
“Uvee?” Klin-Fa asked. “Another one of your aces?”
“Our astromech,” Uldir clarified.
“An astromech flying a ship? Alone?”
“He’s not your ordinary droid,” Uldir replied.
“No,” Klin-Fa said. “I don’t expect he would be.”
* * *
The No Luck Required arrived about ten minutes later, flying a little erratically and landing with a bump that set Uldir’s teeth on edge. He hadn’t wanted to say so in front of the Jedi, but he’d had his own doubts about whether he would ever see his ship again after Vega’s casual announcement -- though he’d modified the UV-002 droid to fly the ship in emergencies, the reality was pure theory until now.
Though the landing was a little rough, the droid seemed to have done okay, and it was good to see the rugged transport. They abandoned the floater and crowded up the landing ramp. Uldir went straight to the controls, where the readout was scrolling, Uvee talking to him from his mooring station.
Hi boss-boy. How did I do? the droid translator read.
“You did great, Uvee,” Uldir said, making a mental note to keep Vega away from the astromech in the future. He hated being called “boss-boy.” “Perfect.”
Shall I take us to orbit? “That’s okay,” Uldir quickly replied. “Take a rest. I’ll get us out.”
“Fliers, four clicks,” Vook said, from tactical.
“That’s just fine,” Uldir said. “They can chew our exhaust.” He punched in the drive, turned the ship skyward, and left Bonadan in a bloom of ions.
Only much later -- two jumps from Bonadan -- did he relax, and then not much.
“We still don’t have shields,” he noticed.
“No,” Vook said. “And the hyperdrive is -- undependable. The repairs were not completed.”
Uldir blew out a breath and nodded. “Well, you take what you get,” he said. “At least we have some drive capability. Where can we set down to finish repairs?”
“Well, there’s Shelter,” Vega said. “That’s close.”
“Yeah. And in the Maw. I won’t try that run with a testy hyperdrive.”
“Good point. How about Mon Calamari?”
“Sounds prudent.”
“No!” Klin-Fa interrupted. “We can’t spare the time for that. You have to plot a course for Wayland, immediately.”
“Wayland?” Uldir said. “What in blazes are you talking about?”
“And just exactly who are you?” Vega asked, her gaze tracing uncharitably up the Jedi’s figure.
“And what in space makes you think you can tell us what to do?” Leaft added, edging close to her, his teeth barred.
Klin-Fa tensed, but otherwise ignored the threatening Dug.
“I suppose introductions are in order,” Uldir allowed. “Everyone, meet Klin-Fa Gi. She’s a Jedi, if you haven’t figured that out already. Klin-Fa, this is my crew -- Vega Sepen, Leaft, and Vook Gehu.”
Vega nodded her platinum tresses curtly. Leaft continued to growl, and Vook turned his flat face toward her and nodded absently. “Pleased to meet you,” the Duro said. He didn’t sound pleased -- he sounded doleful. Vook always sounded doleful.
Klin-Fa wasn’t distracted. “I have to get to Wayland,” she said.
“It’s important.”
Uldir grinned sardonically. “But you won’t tell me why.”
“I can’t. I’ve explained that.”
“You want me to space her, boss?” Leaft asked, in a helpful tone.
“Yes,” Uldir returned, “but you’d better not. Klin-Fa, Wayland is in Yuuzhan Vong occupied space, in case you haven’t heard. I’m not taking a ship in this condition there unless I have ample reason. You’ve given me no such reason.”
“I’m on a mission for Master Skywalker. That should be reason enough.”
“Sure. If I believed you, but I’m not sure I do. Trust goes both ways. You want me to take you to Wayland? Tell me why.”
“I can’t.”
“Fine. Then we’re going to Mon Calamari. Meanwhile I’ll try to contact Master Skywalker and see what he has to say about this.”
“You’re making a mistake.”
“I’ve been making mistakes since t
he moment I first saw you. Why should things be different now?”
“Because the fate of the galaxy depends on what we do now, that’s why. There’s no time to lose.”
“So you say,” Uldir said, shrugging.
Klin-Fa’s face registered barely concealed fury, and again Uldir felt something a little troubling in her presence. The feeling faded as she composed herself and vanished when she quirked a little grin, the first he had seen. He was right -- it made her prettier.
“I guess I wouldn’t believe me, either,” she admitted, reluctantly. “Fine. When you contact Master Skywalker, he’ll confirm what I’ve said. But you ought to do it quickly.”
Uldir raised his eyebrows in surprise. “That sounds almost too reasonable.”
She shrugged. “What choice do you leave me? I’m at your mercy.”
“Great,” Uldir said. He glanced at his filthy clothes. “I’m glad that’s settled. We’ve got a long hyperspace jump -- I for one, could use a ‘fresher. You could probably do with the same.”
“I suppose,” she conceded.
“You can go first. Vega will find you a change of clothes.”
* * *
An hour later, feeling considerably more human, Uldir met with Klin-Fa again in the ship’s small lounge. She looked smaller in one of Vega’s black jumpsuits, and younger, too.
“Maybe we got off on the wrong foot,” Uldir said. He stuck out his hand. “I’m Uldir Lochett. Pleased to meet you.”
She grinned wryly and took his hand. “Pleasure,” she said.
“You’d better watch that,” he said.
“What?”
“That’s twice now you’ve smiled. It might ruin your look.”
“If you’d been through what I have . . .” she began, but trailed of, her gaze going muddy, lost in a past that Uldir knew nothing about.
“Yeah,” he said. “Well, if you ever feel like talking about it, I’m a good listener.”
“Right. The soul of concern.” She shifted. “So this is a Jedi rescue ship.”
“Yep. My little kingdom.”
“Looks kind of beat up.”
“Well, we don’t like to attract attention. But she can do the job, when she’s in good condition.”
“You’re proud of her,” Klin-Fa noticed.
“Sure. And of my crew. You won’t find better.”
“I don’t deny the four of you seem to get through, somehow.”
Uldir couldn’t tell if that was a compliment or not. He let it pass.
“Want a look around?” He asked.
“Well, you’ve seen one transport . . .”
“Nah. C’mon.”
“Shouldn’t you be trying to contact Master Skywalker?” She asked.
“Vega’s working on that. We have to bounce the signal around a good bit and put it through several layers of encryption. Takes time.”
“Not too much, I hope.”
“No. I expect an answer in an hour or so.”
She sighed. “Fine. I guess I’ll take that tour.”
“Okay.” he stood and started leading her around. “The chassis is an old Corellian medium transport,” he explained, “but we’ve made a few changes.”
He took her up the shaft into the turbolaser turret.
“Nice,” she said, when she saw the armaments.
“Turbolaser is state-of-the-art,” he replied. “Cesium vapor, and packs a real mean punch. We can also target proton torps from here, as well as from the central panel. And there’s an extra layer of plating.”
“But just one turret?”
“Yep. I sacrificed the other for something better.”
“What’s that?”
“The best part. Come back up.”
She followed him to an access hatch.
“This used to be the cargo hold,” he explained, keying the hatch open. “Between that and the missing second turret, we made room for these.”
He finally had the pleasure of seeing her surprised.
“Starfighters!” She breathed.
“Yep,” Uldir said, gesturing at the sleek little ships. There were four of them, nestled in a rotating frame. “We can only launch one at a time, but we can still get them all out in under a minute, if we have to.”
“A-wings,” she noted, sounding somehow disappointed.
“You know your ships,” Uldir said. “They came out of the shipyards as A-wings. Now they’re a little something special -- each has room for a passenger and emergency medical equipment. Sometimes we have to get into tighter places than the No Luck Required can go.”
“You use them to extract Jedi?”
“And place them. We’re not only in the rescue business -- sometimes we ferry Jedi into Yuuzhan Vong space, when a mission calls for it.”
“Interesting. Things have changed a little since I’ve been away.”
“I guess so.”
“I see you sacrificed the escape pods, too,” she mused. “But I suppose the A-wings can serve the same purpose.”
“Yeah. It’s never come to that, but that’s part of the plan. Number one there is even hyperspace capable, so if we have to split the mission or send for help, we’ve got the extra legs to do it.”
“Fine,” she said. “You’ve impressed me.” As if to belie that, she yawned. “Now, with all of this, do you have a spare bunk? I haven’t slept in -- well, I guess a week. I think I’ll take the rest of that hour to have a nap.”
“No problem,” Uldir said.
After showing her to her bunk, Uldir went back up to where Vega sat at the controls.
“Nice new friend you’ve got there,” the Corellian commented.
Uldir nodded. “Not bad with a lightsaber.”
“From what I saw, I’d say spectacular,” Vega corrected. “Cute, too.”
“That I hadn’t noticed.”
“No, of course not. You just instantly recognized her as Jedi in need of aid and chased after her.”
“I thought she was a thief,” Uldir said, defensively. “I thought I’d help the local authorities catch her. I didn’t know they were the bad guys.”
“Yeah,” Vega said. “Speaking of which, I think we can mark the whole Corporate Sector down as unfriendly now. I did some checking up on that new exec, the one whose head we borrowed. From what I was able to glean, I’m guessing he’s been in secret negotiations with the Yuuzhan Vong for two weeks now.”
“Given that there was a Vong in the search party, that’s not surprising. And Klin-Fa said there was an executor on Bonadan.”
“Well, things just keep getting better and better don’t they?”
“Just makes things more interesting,” Uldir said.
“You can say that again. And you probably will. There’s more hot systems every day.”
“It’ll turn around, eventually,” Uldir said. “Now that Master Skywalker has plans in motion.”
“You put an awful lot of faith in him,” Vega said.
“It’s not faith. Faith is something you accept without proof. Master Skywalker and the Jedi have proven themselves time and again. It’s the government of the New Republic that’s gumming things up.”
“Don’t be too sure,” Vega said. “The Jedi are all well and good, but they aren’t invincible.” Her tone became somehow more cautious -- and more leading. He knew Vega, and knew she was about to make a point of some sort, probably an unpleasant one.
“What?” He said.
“The Jedi. If even one of them turns to the dark side, we could have bigger troubles than the Yuuzhan Vong.”
“That’s true, but I don’t think it’s likely.” He tilted his head in suspicion. “You have a reason for bringing this up?”
“Sure. Just how much do you know about this Klin-Fa Gi?”
He hesitated.
“Well?”
“It’s just -- I got some disquieting feelings from her, back on Bonadan.”
“What do you mean?”
Uldir frowned. “I’m not sure.
Probably nothing.”
Vega twisted her mouth. “Look,” she said, “I know you’ve got a little of this Force thing -- ““Very little. What I have isn’t dependable.”
“Maybe not. But don’t let a pretty face distract you from what it might be telling you.”
He turned to her seriously. “What are you saying?”
“Well, I got a feeling from her, too. Not one of your mystical ones -- just the suspicion that something doesn’t add up about her. And Wayland -- why Wayland? I can think of only two possibilities, right off hand, to explain why a Jedi would want to go to Wayland.”
“I haven’t had time to think about it all,” Uldir admitted. “Fill me in.”
“Wayland is where Emperor Palpatine’s secret toy-box was. All kinds of nasty dark side things on Wayland.”
“Not anymore,” Uldir said.
“Wrong. I’ve read the reports. Some of the Emperor’s devices are still there -- buried, yes, but still there.”
“Buried under a mountain,” Uldir corrected.
“Yes. But the Yuuzhan Vong are there now, and they have a way of digging things up, don’t they?”
Uldir acknowledged that with a tilt of his head. “But the Yuuzhan Vong don’t exist in the Force,” he pointed out. “Even if they found some kind of dark side weapon, they wouldn’t be able to use it.”
“Probably not -- but they might be able to learn something about the Jedi that will be of use to them.” she held up a finger. “So that’s one possibility -- they’ve studied the Emperor’s old tech and are developing some sort of anti-Jedi weapon. Our new friend learned of this somehow and is off to foil their evil plot.”
“You mentioned two possibilities.”
Vega unfolded a second finger. “The other possibility is that they’ve found something Klin-Fa Gi thinks she can use herself.”
“You’re saying she’s gone dark.”
“I’m saying she’s angry. Even I can see that. And aren’t you always telling me that anger is of the dark side?”
“I think she lost someone,” Uldir said. “She mentioned a name, when she killed the Yuuzhan Vong warrior. And I’d be angry too, if my home planet was doing its level best to turn me over for sacrifice.”