Topic: C-PI: The Cairn

[Jack Chronos]

We waited a moment or two; he sat in that weird cross-legged position again and I checked my blaster for the safety and any gunk.  After a long enough time, I slung my blaster back into the holster.

"Alright," I said to Dem, unsure if he was asleep or something, "That should be long enough."

"Wait..." he said..."we need to talk, Jack."

...

"I'm sorry," I replied in disbelief, "Did you say som-"

"You can hear me, Jack," his voice echoed in my head.

"Whoa, um yeah," I stuttered awkwardly, a little scared and freaked out, "I'm not sure how you're doing that...I'm still drunk, aren't I? I'm back in the resteraunt, passed out, huh?"

"You're not intoxicated, just relax."

"Relax?! Why should I?" I replied, one hand on my blaster.

"Because I can't keep up mental communication with you when you throw up emotional walls like that, Jack." he replied, speaking again.

"Well, good then!" I stammered, "What's going on here?"

"You mean you don't know?" he replied.

"If I knew, I wouldn't have my finger on my trigger..."

"I see your point," he replied honestly, "Well...I am a jedi; or a jedi in training really. My master sent me here on this mission with the Republic...I don't know fully why, but he did say it was supposed to be some sort of trial for me, some test."

"Wait...you mean..." I stuttered, "...a jedi? Like...those guys with the laser swords and the magic tricks? But you're just a kid..."

"And you're just a lower city detective, but that didn't stop you from doing amazing things..." he truthfully replied, "And yeah, I've got a lightsaber."  He slipped a metal handle out of his boot to show it, and then dropped it back in it's concealed pocket.

"So that's why...that's why you were picked for this mission, isn't it?"

"Picked?...I don't think I was picked, but sure, why not?" he honestly replied.

"And that's how you were able to do all that stuff you did..."

"My feats are nothing compared to those of the masters," he cut me off, "but yes, it is how I am able to my feats...it is how I am able to sense danger.......and it is how you are able to sense it as well. It is the force, Jack."

"Whoa there, bud!" I laughed, "Maybe that's how you do it, but me...I just got instinct, everyone in the lower city has it when they've been there as long as I have."

"Last night while you slept, you were bothered by a nightmare...a nightmare that felt so much more real than normal dreams...am I not correct?"

"How did you know about that?..."

"You had unpleasant vibes shooting from you like crazy..." Dem laughed, "You had a premonition..."

"Wait...are you just taking a really long, awkward method of trying to tell me that I had gas?" I asked, suddenly very confused.

"You glimpsed into the future...don't ask me how it all works, because I still don't fully know, but you've got it...it's in you...it is the for-"

"Yeah yeah, the force, right I got it..." I replied, trying not to hear him say it again, "Listen, Dem, you're cool and all, but I have no idea what you're talking about...I'm just nobody...a lucky nobody. I didn't kill Niel Bastion, he shot himself on accident...I didn't round up the whole drug operation on my own, I had help...I'm just lucky, that's all."

"Why are you afraid of it?"

"Ha ha, afraid of what?" I asked, pretending like I didn't know.

"It..." he repeated, not buying my act, "Why do you fear the truth?"

"The truth?..." I repeated, staring at the floor, "No...I don't fear that, I guess. It's just...nothing..."

"Jack," he began, "I don't know if the force is just suddenly acting through you all of a sudden or something...Maybe it chose you for this mission or something...and who knows, maybe you're right, maybe it's just gas...but I've watched you, sensed you. You're gifted, and I don't know if it's temporary or not, but I feel that it's the reason the Council sent me here."

"Me?!" I laughed, "People five doors down from my office don't know who I am, let alone some jedi council."

"The Council senses many things, I can't tell you for sure...but the force brought me here to find you, I think." he continued, "The council sent me here to find you, I think...I want you to meet with a jedi master after all of this."

"How'd they find you?" I asked him.

"Well, hard to say really..." he replied, trying to remember, "I was young, very young.  But they found me nonetheless.  Jack, promise me you'll meet with the jedi after all this..."

"Fine...I'll do it..." I reluctantly promised, "But I'm telling you that they'll find nothing."

"That's for them to see..." he finished, "But I think you're wrong. Surely you've always sensed things before they happened.  You sensed me when we met...I felt it, I could feel your instinct reaching out and finding me."

"My 'instinct' just keeps me alive, nothing else..." I insisted; I was uncomfortable with all of this, "...You're wrong...I know you're wrong."

"Well, I won't let it bother you anymore, I'm sorry." he apologized.

"Whatever," I brushed it off, "Let's get going."

"Wait, Jack," he stopped me, "One more thing..."

"This had better not be about...you know."

"It's not...it's about the droid."

"IG?" I asked, curious about the subject change.

"I'm not comfortable with him...too much is just amiss."

"What do you mean?"

"Surely you sens- um...noticed that there's something wrong going on around him, didn't you?" he asked.

Now that he mentioned it, some things did seem a little out of place...and it was true that it didn't feel right.

"How do you think he knew the layout of this place? It doesn't make sense...I tried hacking this place already, it's a closed circuit. Which means-"

"Which means he'd have to be inside to access their codes, layouts, and anything else in the mainframe..." I suddenly realized; Dem was right, something wasn't right.

"So how did he get those access codes without already being let in? I mean, I know droids are good at going unnoticed, but nobody can get into this place without being a fly or a hired man...I know, I've tried." he continued, "The only reason we got out of the sewer into this place is because he already gave us the access codes."

"The sewers......" I repeated, again feeling like something didn't add up.

"Exactly! The sewers..." he repeated, feeling the same problem, "The sewer system would have an automatic lockdown during a burn-day, and any entry, authorized or not, would cause a minor alarm and halt the burn for that day!"

"But no alarm went off..."

"Which means that programing was halted...deliberately." he said, "I think IG knew about the burn...I think he's trying to sabotage the mission!"

"What? I didn't get that feeling from him." I replied, not buying it...IG was a droid.

"Of coarse you didn't! He's a droid! I can't sense anything from him either." he replied excitedly.

"But it still doesn't make any sense," I reasoned, "What would he have to gain from making the mission fail? I can't see any motive..."

"Motive? He's a droid, he doesn't need a motive, he might just be going haywire, I don't know." Dem shrugged, "Maybe he's undergoing some sort of memory decay?"

"No, I've seen that happen, and that's not happening." I replied; that sort of thing would lead to unpredictable behavior and uncontrollable outbursts, which wasn't happening.  "There should still be some motive...some drive."

"Fine, maybe so..." Dem admitted, "But still...let's go."

We pulled ourselves together and prepared to make our way through the facility.

[Jack Chronos]

We exited the room to find a bare lobby.  We were appearantly already past the security check point and our equipment would not be scanned.  There were, however, card key locks on every door and a guards stationed here and there, well armed.  I even noticed the cameras here and there, scanning the room.

We approached the door that lead to the lifts and swiped our fake cards, given to us by IG, and the locks disengaged.  The door slid open and we advanced to the lifts.

"...so far so good..." Dem said in my head.  I just nodded.

The lift stopped at the third story and we filed out.  An official for the "company" stopped us...

"Where is your destination?" he asked, not looking up from his datapad.

"Maintenance crew headed to do checks on the facility." Dem said, mimicking the simple tone.

"Which facility?" the officer replied, looking up from his pad at Dem; I could tell Dem didn't have an answer.

"Processing."  I quickly said, covering for him.

"Very good then," the officer said, returning to his pad, "Continue to landing pad three please."

We quickly moved past him to the docks.

"How did you know the fake name for the palace?" Dem asked me once we were far enough away.

"I didn't...we'll have to find IG and Garund to find the right shuttle." I replied.

"Then why processing?" Dem asked, laughing a little.

"Because it seems as though in all the odd jobs I've done for companies," I explain, still quickly walking down the hallway, "every single company, regardless of the product, has some sort of 'processing' facility."

"Lucky guess then?" Dem asked.

"Exactly." I replied honestly, "Luck is my lady."

We continued down the walkway and went out a large exterior door, which opened up to a catwalk, lined with docking equipment and landing pads; we could see IG and Garund on the farthest pad.

"You go ahead," I told Dem, "I'll be right behind you."

I then looked around for some sort of relay dish or comm tower.  After a few moments, I was able to see a large, rigged comm dish near the shuttle and some thick wires ran from it to the tall view tower; I found their relay dish.  Following the wires, I followed them to an electrical box on the wall of the building; it was locked, and with an old fashioned metal mechanical lock.

I pulled out my blaster and looked around; no other crews or cameras could be seen.  I then held the gun to the lock and...

BAM! I shot the lock loose and threw it off the catwalk to the ground below.  Then I found the right converter and bashed it with the butt of the pistol, sending sparks into the air and making it useless. Everything was going so smoothly...and my gut knew that was a bad sign.

I ran quickly to shuttle; the major was already in the pilots seat and starting it up.

"What did you do?" the major asked me.

"Cut out their tongues." I replied.

"Good cal-" he started, but was interrupted by someone yelling something.

"STOP!" the officer from earlier was yelling, running at us with a few guards!

"I don't mean to push you, Garund, but we need to get going!" Dem yelled to the cockpit.  Just then the repulsorlifts kicked in and lift us off the ground!

Just as I began to breath again, blaster fire rang out! I ducked and pulled my blaster to return fire, but instead of seeing the guards aiming, I saw them ducking for cover and one thrown from the catwalk by a precise shot to the neck! I turned to see IG, anchored to the floor of the shuttle, raining blaster fire down on the guards from his automatic rifle!  All three would've been killed if the major didn't pull us far away and towards the mountains, where the palace waited among the cliffs...an awkward silence fell over all of us.

A while passed without a word, the hot afternoon wind whipping through the shuttle, the sun just now beginning to set, though still bright; the major shut the cockpit door to close out the wind.  My gut feeling was getting worse and I couldn't keep my eyes off of IG as he stood there...something seemed out of place...I tried to figure out what looked wrong...

My mind flashed back to the holo image of IG back on Coruscant and then to the picture in front of me...sure enough, something was there on his chassis that wasn't there before! A small bolt, no larger than my thumb, was secured into his chest piece!...

The shuttle jerked suddenly from a gust of wind and Dem tripped to the floor and hanging onto the edge of door as the wind almost pulled him out of the shuttle doors!...he hit his head, I could tell he was dazed...

IG reached down to help him and took his wrist, pulling him up from the edge...and then holding him out of the door, letting him dangle there in the wind!

"Stop right there, IG!..." I yelled, blaster drawn! One of his eyes turned to look at me...they were now green, as opposed to the previous red!

"Or what, Jack?" IG said in a different voice, which sounded all to familiar...

"Niel?" I stuttered in disbelief...the voice IG now spoke in was Niel Bastion's, the man I saw die...

"You plan to shoot me?" Niel's voice said, "You would shoot the droid that is holding Dem up from certain death?"

Suddenly, a beam of blue light shot up from Dem, glaring over IG's head with a loud hiss!...but IG was fast, and grabbed Dem's free hand, preventing the blade of light from falling!...I could hear one of Dem's wrists break under IG's intense grip! Dem screamed in pain!

"You couldn't shoot me before, Jack." Niel's voice laughed, "You won't shoot me now..."

...he was right...with Dem dangling over miles of air, I couldn't shoot...

Dem somehow pulled himself up suddenly and swung his body, screaming in pain the whole way! He kicked IG, and even though the droid was heavy, it was enough to move him back a little, freeing Dem from the grip! He fell to the floor, just inside enough to not slip out the door!

I fired at IG, but the shot barely damaged his heavily armored arm! A vibroblade shot out of IG's forearm like a switchblade and stabbed Dem in the chest!  Dem didn't scream...he just stopped moving, stared blankly at IG, and fell down, breathing heavily and bleeding!

I jumped on IG's back, but my blaster was thrown to the floor!  He spun his upper body, throwing me on the ground!  I landed on the floor and I felt something poke against my ankle...the MLC! I pulled it out as IG turned to face me!

"Oh Jack..." the Niel-voiced IG gloated, "Dem will die, and now you will too. Kind of silly really...after you made it so far; but I suppose things did feel a little too easy.  This should've caused no mess, but I messed up...I gave you all the passes into the facility before we entered the sewers; I meant to let you burn down there.  No matter, though, because I always get the job done."

"Not this one..." I spat as he reached down to pick me up!

Flipping the safety cap off of the MLC, I drove it deep into the bolt, into any crease I found!  My hand burned from the heat of electricity and then it went numb and tingly; sparks flew from IG's chest as he halt immediately!

IG started violently jerking and screaming a number of electronic sounds, meaningless and desperate!  Many different weapons shot out and back in from his body!...and then he stopped moving...his eyes, all fixed on me, returned to their natural red color...and then faded to black...the bolt fell to the ground with a clunk.

I stood up, wiping the blood from my nose; I poked him and he fell hard and stiff against the floor.  Dem moaned near the door and I ran to help him! I ripped off some cloth from my jumpsuit and tried to stop the bleeding, but it was far too blood by now to find the wound!

"Jack," Dem attempted to speak, "Don't bother...my lungs are filling wi- *cough*..."

"Don't talk," I told him over the hot wind, "There'll be a doctor at the facility..."

"And then I'm good as dead..." Dem laughed, "No, I know..." He then coughed up some blood.

He was right...they'd figure out who we were and we would be killed...and his wound was fatal. His lungs were filling with blood...

"I was right, you know..." Dem spoke with great effort.

"About IG? I kno-"

"Yes, IG, but about- *cough*...-about you...You have it..." he said, placing something in my hand and held it there, "...and you will use it."

I looked at the object in my hand...it was his laser sword...his "lightsaber".

"Give it...give it to the jedi when you meet them." he struggled to say, "They'll understand...remember, you promised..."

"Yeah..." I sighed, "Yeah I know..."

"You-...*cough*...You promised..." he started to fade, "...speak to them...You have it...you can use it..."

Then...his eyes rolled back and...he left, I could feel it.  This was my nightmare the night before...Dem was right...it did happen...

I didn't cry, though I should have.  I barely felt anything...and then my sight faded...and I fell over...and all went black...

[Jack Chronos]

I awoke hungry and thirsty...

I was in a small, bare metal room, laying on a bare metal cot.  I tried to get up and found that my wrists were bound together...I was a prisoner here, wherever "here" was.  There was one bright light in middle of the room and one door; stains littered the dull gray floor and walls, making one worry what happened to the last occupant. The moment I sat up, I could tell that all of my gear had been removed, except for my boots; even my jacket was missing, leaving in just my pants, boots, and plain white shirt...the room was cold.

I waited a few moments...nothing happened...

...so I went back to sleep...

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"Wake up, Mr. Chonos." a voice was saying to me.  I opened my eyes to see an scary man looking back at me, between two heavily armed guards.  He was very tan, with a number of scary tattoo and scars.  His clothes were worn leather and he had a number of firearms slung about him.  He need to shave a little worse than I did and his face had years of tough living carved into it.  His long black hair hung freely down across his face, laden and dirty from sweat and dust.

"You the welcome committee, scruffy?" I sarcastically spat. He drew up his hand and backhanded me across the face, almost casting me onto the floor, the taste of blood in my mouth.

"You'll show my boss a little more respect...or you'll beg for death." he growled back.

He stepped aside to let his boss through...

She was wearing tall black boots, tight black pants, a white spacer's shirt that was a little low on her, a tight black velvet vest, and black leather gloves.

She reminded me of a knife; sharp and beautiful facial features, red lips, flowing blond hair, thin but curvy body, and piercing blue eyes...the eyes were the strongest feature.  Her eyes could make a strong man beg and a weak man kill; beasts probably whimpered in fear or went mad with affection when she looked at them.  Those blue eyes were bright, shiny, and sharp...they seemed to look strait through you...

"I hope you're ready to meet Dakba the Hutt, handsome." she teased, strolling over to me.

"Just call me Jack please," I said, sitting up and smiling at the girl, "And how 'bout you let me out of these bonds here?"

"Sorry, can't do that, what with you being a big strong man and all." she laughed.  She was pretty and flirtatious, but she was scary nonetheless...as if she would just as soon stab you as she would kiss you.

I didn't say anything...

"I understand that you might not be willing to cooperate, Jack, but I assure you that I'm your friend here." she said, leaning in close to my face; her red lips very near and her eyes like daggers.

"And so is your bulldog there?..." I nodded at the leather-faced thug.  She just smiled and then straddled me where I sat; I felt very afraid...in multiple, confusing ways.

"Oh, don't blame him...he's not bright, but he obeys me, and you will too." she giggled, "Things will be much more fun for us both if you do as I say..."

"And if I don't?..."

"Well, I'll certainly still have some fun with you either way, though whether or not you'll like remains to be seen..."

...she paused a moment...

"I admit, Jack, I'm a bit surprised at you." she laughed, getting off of me, "Not positively, of coarse...you're not nearly as tall and big as I imagined when I found out that you killed Niel."

She motioned for the guards and her un-bathed hound to leave, sealing her with me.

"It really must've been something, Jack..." she began to daydream, "You and Niel, locked in epic battle...and then the finest man I've ever worked with, blown away by one fateful shot...How did it feel? What was it like?"

I didn't reply...I could see bloodlust in her blue eyes.

"But no...No, you must've killed him another way; he was too good to die in open battle." she giggled, reveling in her thoughts of his death, "Tell me how you did it!  Did you kill him while he slept? Oh I love that one...or did you trap him? Out-smart him? Tell me!"

"...He shot himself in the head..." I replied honestly.  She immediately had a look of curious disappointment; but that was quickly melted a by a new look of fascination.

"He shot himself?!" she laughed, "Holy cow, you must've really been toying with his head! I mean, I've heard driving someone crazy, I do it all the time, but to make Niel Bastion shoot himsel-"

"It was an accident..." I interrupted, not wanting to hear her mad obsession, "He didn't know that the windshield was rayshielded and the shot bounced back."

"So you tricked him?" she asked again.

"No...I thought I was a deadman." I replied, again honestly.

She paced the room, obviously disappointed; her hips moved side to side and her lips were pouting.

"So...no battle? No mind games?" she asked, unable to let it go, "One shot, from his gun?...and it was an accident?...no, I don't buy it."

"I don't care if you buy it or not."

"You're really serious, aren't you?"

"No, I'm just $&*#ing you..." I sarcastically replied.

"But..." she started, but stopping herself and thinking, "..........Niel was the best darn man, the absolute best...that makes you better."

She returned back to where I sat, sitting next to me and laying her arms on me and caressing me.  It was obvious that she decided to change her approach.

"It's a shame what happened to Dem..." she said.

"How did you know about that?"

"His body was on the shuttle that landed here, laying next to you, dead." she smiled sickly, "But he was a fool...always a do-gooder."

"How do you know him?" I asked.

"My name's Milla Manhurter." she grinned, flashing her perfect white teeth, "Remember that..."

"Somehow, I doubt that name was given to you by your parents." I replied; she laughed as got up.

"Jack, I'm not going to lie to you, you're a deadman.  When you killed Niel, which the galaxy thinks you did, you pissed off the worst people you could've.  I too am mad you killed him, but..." she stopped, twirling her finger in my hair, "I'm a little more complex than that."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Dakba wants you as a trophy, as does every other crimelord in the galaxy; your cold, bloody, severed head is worth a fortune, your disembodied hands equally so."  She smiled, touching my face and then my hands as if to imagine them as pure, lifeless, gold. "In anyone else's company you'd already be dead...but in my company, I'll make you live; and I mean live truly for the first time."

She then moved across the room, as if to look off elsewhere...I suddenly felt sorrow...as if some horrible truth had been jabbed into my heart, poisoned with grief...I knew that bad news would soon pass her lips.

"What do you remember of your family, Jack?" she asked me, not facing me...I didn't reply. "Years of living alone in isolation can make one forget many things...but the memories of a mother and father rarely die...though the people themselves-"

She stopped and turned to me; tears fell from her eyes and her mouth was in a twisted grin...

"...-though the people themselves DO die."

"No...no, you're lying." I replied in a low tone, feeling true anger for the first time, "...you're a lying shutta!"

"They are dead, Jack, I know this for a fact." she replied, pulling herself together, "When Dakba was unable to find you, he found them...and his men left nothing but a couple of whithered, charred corpses.  I'm surprised your didn't already know...surely your friends in the Republic would've recognized the last names."

She had to be lying, there was no way my parents were dead.  It was true I hadn't seen them for years, but...but Garund would've told me...But they were dead, there was no lie in Milla's piercing blue eyes. Why didn't Garund tell me?...Why didn't he tell me?

Milla smiled, as if she had just won something...as if she had seen something she had been looking for.

"They died, Jack, though they did nothing to deserve it. Dakba the Hutt killed them without ever slithering one inch from his slimy, undeserved throne." she said, approaching me again and reaching out to embrace me, "He is old, but his death will not come soon enough......unless we make it happen.  He will kill you, Jack, after he has had his fun in torturing you.

"But you've survived death from the killers on Coruscant! You stopped the dealers on Coruscant!  You killed Niel!...so you know what I think?  I think you will survive Dakba...I think you will stop Dakba...and then you will kill him...and then you will live, truly live for the first time..."

I didn't know what to think! Tears welled up in my eyes, blood ran from my mouth, and I felt like shooting...shooting everything, and then choking anything else alive after my blaster ran out of ammo.

"You can't do it on your own, though," she smiled, "Dem is dead, the major has deserted you, and Dakba will never even give you a chance to put up a fist.  But I want you to live...you're better than Niel, and you could do so much more!  I am your friend, Jack!"

"And why should I trust you?" I spat back.

"...you shouldn't..." she replied, seriously, "You shouldn't trust me.  You should loath me, hate me for what I am going to do to you.  You should want to kill me, but you won't get that chance if you let Dakba win.  You either accept me as your friend and let me help you get revenge for the deaths of Dem and your family...or you die at the hands of Dakba's minions."

I was so confused...I was furious, but whenever I thought of Dem I felt as though there was still something good worth fighting for.  And what of the major? How did Milla suddenly know of him? And why didn't he tell me?...and my parents? I couldn't understand why I was furious, I hadn't seen them in years...

Then, as my thoughts again drifted to Dem, I felt a calmness fall over me, and my emotions melted away...I felt calm and again apathetic, just as I did whenever I was solving a case. I now knew what had to be done.

"How will we kill the slug?" I asked Milla in a defeated tone.  I knew I couldn't trust her, and I knew that following her would just make things worse...but at the moment, she was my only ticket out of the cell.

"In due time, Jack..." she giggled, walking to the door, "But right now, you have a slug to meet..."

[Jack Chronos]

The gaurds were called back into the room and I was blindfolded.  I was then lead from the room and down a few hallways from what I could tell.  Majority of the time I could hear the screams of some poor soul in some distant torture room as my boots clanged on the metal floor.  Though I was blindfolded, I could tell from the echoes that the prison I was in was anything BUT luxurious, nothing but metal and concrete, the sound drips from leaky pipes filling the corridors.  Heavy machinery could even be heard very faintly and the light tinkle of music danced in the air.

As I was led farther, the music slowly become louder.  I had been keeping track of how we turned in the hallways and how far we went in each direction; I quickly became aware that we walking in a number of circles and patterns, making it impossible for me to know where I was; they were smart, and it sucks to have a smart opponent.

We finally arrived to some large door, behind which the music was coming from.  As soon as the doors slid open, the vibrant sounds of party flowed forth; the alien music, laughing guests, steps of dancers, and pouring drinks!  The moment I was led through the room, the music died down and the guests all fell quiet...I was led to the middle of the room and shoved down onto my knees.  The only sounds now were the whispers of shushed people, the clicks of blasters, and the heavy breathing of some creature.

"Deemi no bonga poodoo." a deep, loud, alien, but oddly weak voice ran out in an alien tongue.

My blindfold was removed and I saw that I was in a colorfully yet dimly lit room, given simple and cheap decorations.  I was kneeling in the center of the main dancing floor it seemed and the guests lined the walls of the large rectangular room; a band of aliens were in the far corner, their instruments silent.  Before me lay a massive stone bed of some sort, around which a number of prominent-looking aliens hovered.  Various machines hung around the throne as well, most of which were a mystery to me.

And barely fitting on the throne was Dakba the Hutt...I assumed it was him because he seemed rather obvious and out of place.  His massive eyes appeared to have trouble staying open evenly and one of them reflected from blindness.  His slimy skin was withered and even dry in some areas.  His breathing seemed weak and he wheezed constantly; I soon saw that some of the machines were part of some kind of life support system, keeping this ancient puss-slug alive.  This was Dakba the Hutt...old and decrepit, yet gluttonous, slimy, slow, and able to have an harmless family murdered on another planet...his age only made me more angry.  Milla stood at his side, smiling.

The slug spoke something again, barely able to get the words out.

"Behold!" Milla translated to the crowd, "Here before us kneels Jack Chronos, the wretch whom killed Niel Bastion!"

The crowd rang out tremulously, roaring with a mix of cheers for my capture and jeers for my still living self.  Milla raised her hands to silence them, and they instantly became quiet.  Dakba again muttered.

"Many would have him dead at this very moment, but such a fate would be too fast for this worm!" she proclaimed, "He is instead to be beaten, bruised, and broken until he begs for death!  He will not be given any manner of scar or mark, for after he is broken, Jack Chronos is to be skinned alive to make the greatest trophy yet seen in this palace!  Taxidermy will turn him into a trophy, one that you may gaze upon whenever you reside here in the palace as a reminder that even the Republic is nothing but a fly to true power!"

The crowd cheered boisterously again, raising glasses and dancing again; even over the commotion, I could hear the vile Hutt's laughter wheezing deeply in triumph...Milla just stared at me, a trace of a smile glinting off the corner of her ruby lips.

The hutt then raised his own hand to silence the crowd, and after a moment the room grew quiet again; Milla moved aside for a moment.

"Gonga bur doomba donba fong..." the hutt spoke out.

"The great Dakba the Hutt asks you if you have any last words, Jack Chronos." Milla translated.

"All I have to say is that I'm sorry..." I replied, my escorts lifting me up by my arms.

"Tumba gong yomba Bastion." the hutt replied, laughing.

"He says that he is certain that you will be sorry for Bastion's death." she again translated; I laughed a little to myself, which made even the hutt's laughter silent.

"No," I laughed, "I'm not sorry for that... I'm sorry for what will happen to your Imminence; I'm sorry that it will end like this."

The hutt then just laughed again, gloating and then gesturing for me to be taken away...

...I was blindfolded again and taken from the room...But now I had met Dakba and now I knew...Dakba couldn't be behind all of the illegal activity, he was just a puppet...but for who?

It was ironic that even though the mission was obviously down the tube with a haywire droid, the trained soldier missing, and even a jedi dead, I still remembered my objectives...

[Jack Chronos]

I was violently thrown back into my cell, dazing me as I hit the concrete floor hard.  The guards remained outside the cell door; Milla followed me in.  The single flickering glowlamp swayed back and forth from when my head hit it on the way in.

"So what do you think of him?" she laughed, "He can have a person killed with the shake of a finger, but he can barely see what's happening in front of him; I'm his eyes and ears at the moment."

"Awfully handy position to be in, eh?" I smiled, pulling myself back onto the cement cot.  She stopped her pacing and cocked an eyebrow at me.

"...Quite." she simply replied; her reaction was ambiguous and impossible to read, "I have some matters to attend to, but I will return to have a chat with you.  Now remember, Jack...you can be my friend and have some fun, or I'll make you beg for death...either way, I'm content; though I love the idea of you helping me."

She winked and left me in the room alone; the light went out after they left, plunging me into darkness.  For a moment I just sat there, sorting out my thoughts...

So far I knew that Milla Manhurter was keen and intelligent, but cold and though I never saw her in action, I knew her type to be cruel and psychotic.  Dakba the Hutt was old, dying, and becoming senile; his stupidity, however, was no mask for his financial and criminal power.  Major Garund was missing in action and I hadn't seen him since I passed out on the shuttle.  Dem was dead and his corpse was probably destroyed by the hutt's thugs.  IG was also missing; whether or not his possession under the deceased Niel Bastion was known to the dealers or not was still up for debate.

Next I did a check on the situation.  We were located a few hundred miles from the nearest city, not to mention that the only known access to the palace was via aircraft into the hanger.  There was no known Republic support or backup that could be called into action.  The layout of the base itself was still a bit of a mystery to me.  Most of my gear had been stripped of me and without Major Garund, there was no way to obtain supplies.  Milla was offering a possibility of escape and survival, but her credibility was tenuous at best.  I was locked in a cell which appeared to have no ventilation system access or means of escape other than the door.  I inventoried my gear to find that I had only my jump boots; the rest of it must've been stored somewhere in the prison facility.  My wrists were still bound.

Suddenly the door flew open but the light didn't turn on.  A tall, oddly-shaped figure stood in the doorway; though I couldn't tell who it was because a number of odds-and-ends cloth was draped across his body, he looked oddly familiar.

"You're scheduled for execution." a plain, boring droid voice spoke, entering my dark cell, "Come with me."

"Hey, wait a second here!" I shouted as the droid grabbed me by the shoulders and lifted me up, displaying obvious strength as I resisted, "Milla Manhurter said tha-!"

"She said that you must not allowed to live.  She saw your display of resourcefulness on Coruscant when Niel Bastion shot himself and now it's time for your to be made a trophy." the being interrupted as he pulled me past the guards, who were appearantly fine with this.

"How did you kno-" I began, wondering why he said that Niel shot himself instead of saying that I killed him, like everyone else was saying.  Something was amiss here, but it was a better position to be in than back in the cell; I just wish it wasn't a mechanical being dragging me away, as his grip was impossible to break, ruling out any chance of running for it.

"Stop talking." he commanded, and I obeyed for the moment...

He led me down into the halls of the prison sector and eventually stopped at a dead end which had only a heavy hatch on the floor.  The being kicked open the hatch...

"I suggest you jump in." the droning voice prodded.

"What's down there?"

"Jump in." he again insisted; I did the math and realized I didn't have much choice, so I dropped in.  I fell a dozen years or so and landed in a strange mixture of darkness, trash, sewage, and odor.  I was laying atop a heap of garbage unable to get up because my bonds held fast when another loud crash landed next to me; why did the droid jump in?

He grabbed my shoulders and flipped me onto my chest, my hands bound behind me and a face full of garbage; I heard the hum of a warm vibroblade activate behind me...my death seemed imminent, as strange a death it was going to be...and yet, unlike all of the other times I've almost died, I felt no threat...

Still...not feeling threatened ends up being a fleeting feeling when you hear the vibroblade being brought up above your head...

[Jack Chronos]

I shut my eyes, anticipating the searing pain that was signature to a vibroblade cut; I knew the feeling first hand, from a tweaked out rodian on Coruscant near my my office a few months back.

...a moment passed...each moment filled with both apathy and uncertainty...

And down the came the blade...

My bonds fell off of my wrists and I felt no pain! I brought my hands up to realize that I had been cut free!

"So it's you, IG." I laughed quietly, "What caused the change of heart?"

"The fact that I again have one." he replied, his voice back to his original cool male voice.  I stood as best I could on the garbage heap and faced him.

"What do you mean?"

"Let me explain, master.  It is in fact true that I have long been doing work for the Republic, usually solo work, for over fifty years now."

"Fifty years huh? How's the senior citizen benefits of the job?" I laughed.

"What the Republic doesn't know was that five years ago, when they put me on a job with operative Niel Bastion, whom I think you know about, a restraining bolt with override programing was fitted onto me while I was temporarily out of commission." he continued, "I later realized that it was Niel who shut me down and had it put on; I also realized that the programming prevented me from speaking of it or even really being honest about my new owner."

"New owner?"

"Well, I had a master a hundred years ago or so, but then he passed away of natural causes and I was not inherited.  I used my new found freedom to pursue work as a-...well, freelance work, and I think you know what I mean; bounty hunting, investigative work, and so on, but always with ethical integrity...just because alot of assassin droids have no form of moral integrity doesn't mean I have to be the same.  But Niel Bastion took that away; his programming prevented me from acting on my own will and made me suitable to continue his dirty work even after his death.  He became my new owner and while I wasn't a fan of the idea, I had no choice in the matter; you can imagine how it was even more frustrating for me to find out he was dead but that I still couldn't gain control of myself again."

"Yeah, I suppose that would be annoying." I nodded, "But how did the Republic not find the programming when they checked all of their droids?"

"I'm not owned by the Republic, I'm a freelance contracted droid, and as such I am not on their droid inventory list."

"So you weren't checked!" I realized, "That's why Niel chose you, the clever bastard."

"Yes," IG continued, "No other droids were put under the control I was, mainly because it would make me harder to trace."

"Since you're telling me about this, I assume you've regained control of yourself, huh?"

"Yes, thanks to you." he said, "When you overloaded and fried the bolt back in the shuttle, I was forced into a reboot sequence.  It took a while but I regained 'consciousness' and control; you were already passed out on the floor and Dem was dead."

"The major?"

"He was sealed in the cockpit and the ship prevented my infrared detectors from picking him up through the heat of the shuttle." he explained, "When the shuttle landed in the hanger, I hid amongst the ship as you and Dem's body were taken away; I didn't see the major anywhere."

"You hid amongst the shuttle? It's like a cockpit and one hold." I replied in disbelief.

"I don't look like a bunch of rusty pipes for fun, Jack." he replied, "I don't know what happened to the major."

"So how did you find me, IG?"

"Same way I usually find anyone or anything.  I pose as simple service droids; it's easy to sneak around if you're a droid.  Once I found out your location and downloaded maps of the base, I hacked the system and had you scheduled for execution."

"Milla's going to be pissed." I laughed, "I gotta' admit, IG, even though we had a rough intro, I'm relieved to be around a friendly again."

"You're out of your element here, Jack, and it's stressful on you." he sympathized, "This isn't simple detective work anymore.  Milla Manhurter isn't a thug or simple dealer like the ones you're used to dealing with; you're out of your league here, but I intend to help, master."

"I was always out of my league, IG.  I'm good at finding missing persons and bringing in simple criminals, not stopping organized crime...I just seem to keep getting lucky, or unlucky, it's hard to tell." I sighed, "But why do you keep calling 'master'?"

"You gave me my free will back." IG explained, "And intend to repay you by giving it to you.  I will help you while you retain your moral integrity or until your dying day."

"That's a bit heavy, don't you think?" I was taken aback by such statement.

"Maybe for you, because you will someday die." IG replied, "But I will most likely out-live you for many many years, and what's seventy five more years or so to me?"

"I see your point." I smiled, glad to have his service, "So what's the situation?"

"Major Garund is missing in action, along with all of his tech equipment; I theorize he may yet still live, though I have no reason for this other than that there is no record of his apprehension or the storing of his gear.  Niel Bastion and a VERY select couple of crime-lords were ever aware that I was under their control, so to my understanding, Dakba and Milla are both unaware of my involvement; this will prove useful, I think."

"And Dem's body?" I asked, feeling obligated.

"I regret to say that they had him incinerated this morning." he replied in a solemn tone, "I did manage to recover this from the shuttle site before they could take anyone from the scene; you dropped it when you passed out and I believe he wanted you to have it."

IG handed handed me the metal cylinder which I had forgotten about; the laser sword thingy.  I wasn't sure what use it would be as I had no idea how to turn it on; I could tell which end the beam came out of, which was a start, but there were more than one little knobs and switches and I wasn't about to go messing with them.

"Thanks." I replied, holding it loosely in my hand, "I assume Dakba didn't want the body around as evidence if he knew Dem was a jedi."

"Well, actually, it was Mistress Milla who had the body incinerated; to my understanding, Dakba never even knew a jedi was involved."

"But..." I began; again, there was something I didn't know about Milla.  She revealed to me earlier that she obviously knew Dem...but how?  And did she know about Major Garund? She obviously suspected something...

"I admit, I find Mistress Milla's reaction towards Dem rather odd," IG explained, "Which leads me to believe that she knew him rather personally at some previous point beyond our knowledge."

"I agree."

"Here," IG said, holding something out to me, "I believe you'll want this."

I realized that he was handing me my belt! Again I had my blaster and my gear, which was a relief.  He then removed one of the articles of clothing around him and showed me it was my jacket.

"I knew you'd want these, as they have proven faithful to you in the past." IG said as I put my jacket on.

"Thanks a ton, IG." I sighed, "I'd be dead right now if it were for this stuff...so what do we do now?"

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure, Jack." IG replied, "Reuniting with you was my objective.  I'm not sure what we should do nex-"

He was interrupted by series of beeps, like that of an astromech droid.  We looked around to see that one of the service doors to this garbage shoot had been opened and that there was a tiny automated mouse droid beeping at us.

"What's he saying, IG?"

"It's not very clear but it's not a type of alarm." IG replied, "All I hear it saying is basically 'you go here, follow, safe' but there's not much more to it; I fear these little droids are horribly inarticulate. What do you think?"

"I think we found our new objective." I replied, entering the crawlspace where the little droid beckoned us.

[Jack Chronos]

The little droid led us down the shaft and through a number of turns and twists; only a few emergency lamps kept the shaft navigable, the droid beeping contently.

"What's our heading, IG?" I asked, wondering where in the base we were.

"We are currently underneath the processing plant." he replied.

"Processing plant?"

"Yes, Dakba has a small weapons operation here in the base, to help keep his toadies equipped without suspiciously importing weapons." he explained as we continued to follow the little mouse droid; I was surprised to find that IG didn't make much noise while crawling in the metal shaft, despite his casing.

The little droid then turned to open a crawlspace door into some dimly lit room.  We followed.

The room was very small, just a closet of some kind, roughly only four square meters in size.  The floor was concrete, one locked door, and the walls weren't visible behind the shelves of junk that lined the room; nothing special...

...except for a little case sitting alone in the floor in the middle of the room.  The case looked strangely familiar and was sitting perfectly in the dim light cast by a single bulb hanging from the ceiling, as if placed there to be found; the little droid bumped against it and then shut down amongst the junk.

The case opened easily and inside I found a strange assortment of items.  There was a red jumpsuit, a datapad, and a new MLC.  I booted up the datapad to find that it contained maps of the base and specific information on each area.  This was gift from someone, and I was pretty sure who...but why the secrecy?

"I think I know what you're supposed to do." IG commented as I put on the jumpsuit.

"Me too." I replied dryly, "And you'll help me...after we get through this door."

I kicked the case shut and instantly the little mouse droid came out of the shadows and pushed the case away into the shaft again.  At the same moment, the door's locks disengaged.

"Whoever our friend is, he or she is helping us considerably, Jack."

He or she...I hadn't thought of that. I thought I knew who was helping up, but after IG said that I wasn't sure, as it could've been Milla leading us on, I supposed....but the, where did she get the MLC?

"Whoever it is, they obviously have a plan." I replied, opening the door.

[Jack Chronos]

The next room was actually a hallway, dimly lit and consisting of rusty metal grate floor, dirty concrete walls, and old pipes overhead.  There were only a few guards in these hallways, though they didn't even seem to be guarding anything and didn't even bother us; my jumpsuit was ID enough for them and IG...well, he was a droid.  To be honest, we had no idea where we were going, so we just kept moving away from center of the complex and away from the guards where we could speak freely.  We finally came to a dead end of a hallway where even the light above the door was out and the door itself had no power running.

"Well, what now?"

"Behind this door is the old abandoned part of this base, which was an old warehouse for this cliff-side community; Dakba took over the place eventually and the settlers were displaced or enslaved." IG filled me in on the old door.

"And that's relevant to our current situation how?"

"It isn't."  IG replied, ignoring my sarcasm, "We should arrange for transport off of the base."

"So we head to the hangars." I said, running my hand through my hair, "But we need to know what happened to Garund."

"I suppose..." IG hesitated, "That will give us a chance to complete our objectives, so I figure that's fine."

"I know it's fine." I insisted, "And even after our objectives are complete, if we don't know the fate of Major Garund, we're not leaving."

"That hardly seems practical, but I am in your service." IG admitted, not fighting.

"So your not worried about just your survival then?" I laughed.

"If you had my features, you wouldn't be worried either." IG joked for once, "Though I'm surprised you do not have such a same survival instinct."

"Oh com'on," I replied, "I can't die.  I'm the great Jack Chronos, the vanquisher of Niel Bastion.  And if I'm not, then I'm already a dead-man, given enough time.  Garund is a good man, which is more than I can say about myself or most people I've met."

"It's true, you're not that good of a man." IG replied.  I wasn't sure if it wasn't a joke, but I didn't really care.

"Well, let's get to that hangar then."