//------------------------------// // An Unsavoury Empire // Story: The Dragon and the Force // by FenrisianBrony //------------------------------// Spike rolled over, yawning as he rubbed his eyes as the light from a nearby star streamed in from the viewport. Rolling out of the bunk he had been assigned, Spike looked towards the other bunk that Solaris had occupied the night before. Unsurprisingly, his master was not in her bed. She always woke up early. Spike quickly made his way out of room, nodding to a technician as he passed him in the corridor. He’d lost count of the days since the tournament on Coruscant, and the last time he’d been on a planet for that matter. Solaris was, odd, to say the least, and not at all what Spike thought a Jedi master would be like. He hadn’t had many preconceptions before he had become an apprentice, but he could categorically say that whatever he imagined, it wasn’t her. She loved space, everything from flying around in the Cyclone, or just being on some sort of ship or space station. If she had her way, Spike was sure she wouldn’t set foot on a planet. She even had a permanent place of residence aboard Fireshot Station, a Republic deep space military installation. Parsecs away from any habitable planet, the station was a perfect zone for free fire testing and training. Since he had come aboard, Solaris had been drilling him relentlessly, making his training at the temple seem like a walk in the park. If she wasn’t training his skills in starship piloting, something Spike was slow to grasp at, she was teaching him more about Niman, the force, or basic maintenance and upgrades on ships. Spike was pleased with his progress in truth, even if he was progressing slowly in Niman, and Solaris was pleased, but Spike didn’t think he had impressed her as much as it could. Personally, Spike thought it was because of his lack of enthusiasm towards fighters. He wouldn’t go as far as saying he hated them, and he liked space as a place, but being in a fighter just felt…wrong. Finally reaching the control room, Spike keyed in the pass-code, before walking inside, snapping a salute off to the commanding officer, before walking over to the massive transparisteel window overlooking the dry-dock facilities of the station and standing next to Solaris. “Master.” He said, announcing his presence. “Any interesting arrivals today?” “Nothing of note. A few Praetorians and a battleship testing out a new turbolaser configuration.” She said, before looking around at Spike. “Sleep well?” “No better no worse.” Spike smiled. “Good, that’s good.” She mused. “The council has a message for us, I told them that you would be awake in five demi-cycles. That was four demi-cycles ago. They’ll be back with us in a moment.” “Lead on then.” Spike said, following his master out of the room, and towards the communication room. Moving into the circular room, Spike waited as Solaris punched in the transmitter key, before standing back and waiting. Soon, the surface of the table was disturbed as a translucent wave travelled across it, before collating into an image of the council chamber on Coruscant. “Master Solaris. Padawan Spike.” The small image of Garton Brine spoke. “High council.” Spike said, bowing deeply, before getting back up and listening intently to what they had to say. “To business. What, if anything, do either of you know of Lady Herank Kalia?” Brine asked. “She was the head of a slaver ring on Coruscant, shipping those too poor to have any options away to spice mines and dancing bars in the outer rim.” Spike said quickly, thinking back to his history lessons. “That is correct.” Garton nodded. “I thought we shut that ring down and caught her.” Solaris asked. “We shut the operation down, yes.” Garton agreed, “And yes, we did apprehend Lady Kalia, and were transporting her to a Republic penitentiary facility on Jax.” “Let me guess, the ship never arrived?” Solaris asked. “Oh no, it got there all right. It wasn’t alone though. It seems Ms Kalia is part of something much bigger. A larger syndicate that could stretch across over half of the galaxy if survivor’s are to be believed about which crime families were there.” “Survivors from what?” Spike asked. “Jax is gone. The facility was the only thing on the planet, it’s uninhabitable other than the shielded facility, that’s what made it such an ideal location. Now that’s gone, it’s just another lifeless rock floating around in space. The inmates and Republic staff are either dead or missing, presumed to be slaves. The few that were left, who were obviously missed by the slavers, told us that it was over before it began. This is a highly organised, well equipped and smart syndicate, and we need to stop this before they hit another planet. The Republic is mounting a full investigation, and as keepers of the peace, we have been tasked in finding another solution.” “Do we know where they are?” Solaris asked. “No. If we did, then the Republic would have already moved in themselves. The pair of you are to go to Jax, investigate the ruins, find out anything you can, and either investigate further or report back to the council. We already have a team on route, but we feel it would be better for all parties to have backup.” Garton said. “We’ll leave immediately.” Solaris said, before bowing deeply. “May the force be with you.” Garton said, before the holocommunicator went dark once more. “Get breakfast, meet me in the hanger bay in thirty.” Solaris said, before turning and leaving the room. Solaris usually left Spike to his own devices during meal times, only having shared a few meals with him in the past few standard weeks, usually just slinking off to the hanger bay. When she ate was a mystery to Spike, but it didn’t overly bother him. Quickly reaching the mess hall, Spike walked up to the counter and nodded to the chef behind it, before grabbing a plate of the vegetarian slop mixture. It was good, but something about the texture just didn’t sit right with him. Then again, given the choice between that and meat, and in the absence of gems, he guessed he was going to have to live with it. He couldn’t envision himself eating meat anytime soon, so for now, he was going to have to live with the substandard vegetarian options. Walking over to an empty table, Spike began to shovel the food into his mouth, when a shadow fell over his table. Looking up, Spike saw the familiar face of trooper Loas, flanked by another couple of pilots. Loas was a pilot in the navy, flying S-100’s and XC-01’s both on missions and testing out experimental ideas. Young and brash, he was a career pilot, having already served with the navy for six years, and apparently getting ready to take his officers exam in another year. In the time Spike had been on the station, Loas had flown over half of the training missions with Spike, allowing him to get extra practice in areas that Solaris on her own couldn’t manage. He was loud, vulgar, and bragged constantly about his accomplishments, most of which were actually true from what Spike had gathered. Never the less, Spike had hit it off with him almost instantly. “So, you and your master joining us on exercise today?” Loas asked, sitting down with his own tray. “Not today I’m afraid.” Spike said in between mouthfuls. “Ah, come on. We got some new Saber pilots to run through their paces, could be good practice.” He smiled, taking a bite of whatever type of reconstituted meat he had got from the cafeteria today. “Sounds like fun, but we got a mission. You know Jax?” Spike asked absently. “The prison complex? What about it?” One of the other pilots asked. “It’s gone. Slavers hit it, there’s nothing left. The Jedi and the Republic are going to get to the bottom of this, which means I’ve got to go.” Spike said, finishing up his plate. “Shit, you mean the whole things gone?” Loas asked. “Yeah, lot of lives were probably lost.” Spike said solemnly, before getting up and grabbing his plate. “You be here when I get back, you hear me?” “Find the fucks who did this and rip their head off.” Loas growled. “That’s not the Jedi way.” Spike said with a smile, before turning, and after dumping his tray, walked out of the cafeteria. “Hey Spike, wait up!” Loas called, and Spike turned to see the pilot running after him. “I’ll come down with you.” “Well just to the flight deck. I doubt you’d just be allowed to come with us on a mission.” Spike smiled. “You're kidding, they wouldn’t fire me.” He laughed. “Yeah yeah, you’re too good to be fire, I’ve heard your stories.” Spike deadpanned, before grinning at the pilot’s optimism. “You weren’t at Selro Spike, if you were then you’d know they could fire the survivor’s.” He grinned. “If you say so.” Spike said, before stopping at a door. “Well, here’s the hanger. I’ll see you when I get back, don’t crash while I’m gone.” “Good luck Spike, you’ll need it.” Loas laughed, clapping Spike on the back, before turning and walking away, leaving Spike to enter the hanger. Walking over to the far side, Spike stood next to Solaris, who was doing some last minute checks on the Cyclone. Receiving a nod from his master, Spike walked over towards his own Fighter. Compared to Solaris’s, it was hardly modified at all, and even the modifications that he had put on were simply cosmetic. He had wanted to name it, but Solaris had told him that until it had seen battle, it didn’t get a name. So far, Spike hadn’t made any actual differences to the ship, but it was easily identifiable from the others. The standard yellow colouration had been changed to match his scales, now being a deep purple. Taking after his master, Spike had painted a stripe down the middle of the saber as well, this one being a bright green stripe that matched his eyes and his back spines. Giving the ship a final onceover, Spike walked back over to where Solaris was waiting. His master was also wearing a full flight suit, although Spike knew that this was just for the end of the journey, and was not what she liked either. “Are you prepared Spike?” Solaris asked. “As soon as I get my suit and helmet on, yes.” Spike nodded. “Good. Suit up then. We leave on your go Spike.” Solaris smiled, before turning and getting into her cockpit, pulling the cover closed with a slight hiss. Nodding, Spike walked over to the wall behind his ship, and grabbed hold of his flight suit. Pulling it on, Spike smiled as his back spines slipped through the suit. He had asked for it to be changed, and the Republic had obliged, placing holes along the back of the suit just for him. They sealed tight once it was on, creating an airtight seal around them, and keeping the suits environmental integrity. Slipping the helmet on which had undergone similar modifications, Spike sighed with content. Now his spines were no longer being crushed down, the outfit was much more comfortable for him to wear. He still didn’t like it, but it was better than before. Clipping the air hose from his backpack to his helmet, Spike climbed into his cockpit, flipping a switch to close it behind him. Looking over to Solaris, Spike gave her a thumbs up, before thumbing the ignition. Instantly, the engines roared to life, and Spike heard the Cyclone do the same, quickly raising off the deck. Following behind his master, Spike shot out into space, quickly accelerating and forming up on his master. “Comm check, go for sound.” Solaris said over the radio. “Green checks, five by five.” Spike said, looking over his crafts readouts and his helmets head up display. “Good. Punch in hyperspace coordinates and wait my mark.” She ordered. “Standing by.” Spike said, pressing a few key on his ships control panel. “And….mark.” Solaris said. Pushing the control stick forward, Spike felt the familiar feeling of accelerating past normal sublight speeds. This was only the third time he had jumped to Hyperspace in his fighter, but he knew the principles of controlling it. With a slight queasiness in his stomach, Spike watched as the stars around him seemed to stretch out, before he rocketed forward. *** Spike eased the controls back on his ship, and felt the sudden deceleration, the straps digging into his chest. “Spike. You copy?” Came the voice of Solaris. “Aye. All systems nominal, ready on your go.” He replied. Glancing up, Spike took in the planet of Jax in front of him. Compared to a planet like Coruscant, it was tiny, barely half the size of the capital world. Unlike the capital however, this planet was not covered in a single city. Instead, the entire planet was black or red, the lava streams flowing across its surface. The only part of the planet that seemed like it wasn’t natural was the small grey splodge near the northern pole. It too was covered in bits of fire, but this fire was also not natural. “There. Grid seventy two by fifty six. Is that it master?” Spike asked. “I believe so. Keep your suit tight and an eye on your air gauge.” Solaris ordered, before she sped up, leaving Spike in her cosmic dust. Sighing, Spike accelerated behind his master, quickly reaching the upper part of the planet’s atmosphere. As he descended through the denser air, Spike could feel the winds gusting against his craft, and had to fight to keep himself from veering off course. “Spike? How are you holding up?” Solaris’s voice crackled over the radio. “Fine. My instruments indicate winds of one hundred and twelve miles per hour, please confirm.” Spike asked, glancing down. “Sorry, one hundred and thirteen miles per hour.” “Confirmed. Close your flaps and increase speed. We’ll get under it and land as quickly as possible. I don’t like this wea...” Solaris ordered, but before she could finish, the radio suddenly cut out. “Master? Master?!” Spike shouted, flipping a switch on his control panel. When he got no reply, he switched through the other frequencies on his communicator, but received nothing but static. “Damn it!” he shouted. Looking around him, Spike tried to see through the black clouds of smoke, trying to find his master, but finding nothing. Cursing again, Spike glanced down at his instruments. His entire view of the outside was obscured, so he was going to have to do this completely by instruments. Just his luck. Spike descended through the cloud layer, keeping an eye on his altimeter, and his other eye on his way point. He was only five hundred meters away from it now, and reduced his speed accordingly. Nervous that he still couldn’t see the ground, he brought his ship in closer to the ground, making sure to keep his eye on his altitude. One hundred meters Fifty meters Ten Spike felt his entire craft shake as he touched down, and quickly shoved his engines into reverse, slowing to a stop quickly. Flicking another switch, Spike opened his cockpit, before getting out and jumping to the ground, peering through the haze. The smoke was thinner here, and Spike could see again, but he still couldn’t catch sight of the Cyclone. “Master!” He bellowed, his helmet speakers amplifying his shout. “qzzzcchhhh Spi..ke chhzz” His helmet crackled. “Master?” Spike asked, adjusting his frequency. “Not…quite.” The voice came again, clearly not Solaris, but not being clear enough to tell who it was. “Say again over.” Spike said. “Look behind you.” The helmet said, now clear, and the voice being very familiar. “Norik!” Spike yelled, turning around and seeing a figure wearing a full hazmat suit, the helmet showing off his lower bionic jaw. “It’s good to see you as well, Padawan.” Norik said, his voice taking on the tone that Spike had associated with his version of a smile. “Wait, if you’re here, does that mean Tarhal’s here as well?” Spike asked excitedly. “He is on the planet, but he stayed with the ship. He doesn’t like hazmat suits.” Norik replied. “You have one ship between you?” Spike asked. “Yes. One Crescent X-9. It’s landed just outside the ruins of the complex. Now, where is Solaris?” Norik asked. “We got separated during the decent, and I can’t raise her on the communicator.” Spike said. “Let me try.” Norik said, raising his arm towards his mouth. “Solaris? Solaris come in, over.” “qzzzch Norik?” A garbled reply came. “Affirmative. I have Spike, and the pair of us are heading to my ship. We have landed just outside the prison complex on the westward landing pad. We will await you there.” Norik replied. “I…hear you.” The radio blurted, before going dead again “Come Spike. My ship awaits.” Norik said, before walking off into the haze. Taking the time to ensure his ship was locked, Spike followed Norik. *** Spike and Norik stood together in the airlock of the ship as it slowly cycled the air to be breathable again. Taking lead from Norik, Spike removed his helmet, unscrewing the air hose and taking a proper breath. Shaking his head and smiling, Spike followed Norik inside the ship. Instantly, he was tackled to the floor by a large mass of brown fur. “Spike!” Tarhal roared, clearly happy to see his friend again. “Tarhal.” Spike growled back, smiling at the Wookie. “What are you doing here?” Tarhal asked, releasing Spike. “We got the mission from the council to help in the investigation of Jax. No idea you were part of that.” “We were nearby when the first distress call came in.” Norik cut in. “By the time we got here the battle was over. We called for a medevac and went down to check it out.” “Master Norik? Come in, over.” Came the voice of Solaris, now much clearer. “Affirmative Solaris, come on in.” Norik said, before turning to Tarhal. “Tarhal, the airlock if you please.” “Master.” Tarhal bowed, before walking over to the airlock controls and pressing a few buttons. A few seconds later, a hiss was heard around the ship, and the airlock slid open, admitting Solaris into the ship. “Spike. It is nice to see you found your way here.” Solaris nodded, removing her helmet and shaking her head to let her hair fall again. “Master. Sorry about losing you.” Spike said, bowing, before walking over to stand beside her. “It is not your fault Spike. Conditions are not good for flying as it is.” She said, before turning to Norik. “What have you learnt so far?” “The ship loyal to Lady Herank Kalia were meticulous in their attack, not much left, and any wrecks were towed away.” Norik said slowly. “So. Any ideas?” Spike asked. “A few. Tarhal found something on the scanners that isn’t in the schematics, and we think it could be a wreck they missed.” Norik replied, bringing up a small holo projection and pointing out a blip. “It’s in the middle of a collapsed prison block.” “Well then, we need to get to it. If its black box is still intact then we can find out where it came from.” Spike said with a smile. “Precisely. Spike still has his brains, eh Solaris.” Norik said, looking at the female. “That he does Norik, that he does.” Solaris smiled. “Come on then, suit up, we’re going back out.” “Tarhal, keep the ship ready, and the scanners up.” Norik ordered, before slipping his helmet on. Nodding, the wookie walked over to the controls, as the three stood inside the airlock as the door slid down. “Stay safe Tarhal.” Spike said over the communicator, before heading back out to the inhospitable surface of the planet. Turning around, Spike followed Norik and Solaris as they made their way towards the blasted ruin of what had once been a high prison wall. Spike saw that the blast door was still locked securely, but the rest of the wall was not as secure, a massive hole being blasted straight through it just to the left of the metal door. Picking their way over the rubble, Spike gasped as he saw the bodies of hundreds of republic guards, their weapons lying uselessly by them. Quickly running over to one, Spike placed his gloved hand over one of the corpses, trying to sense for any damage to him, and to find out what killed him. “He’s got no wounds.” Spike said over the radio, looking at the two masters. “They didn’t need to shoot him.” Solaris said simply. “They just took out the shield and let the planet do the rest. Innocent, guilty. Criminal, guard. This planet makes no distinction.” “Come on. We need to find that ship.” Norik said, pointing to what was once a square building, but now had a large amount of rubble covering a hole that had collapsed one of the corners. Carefully picking his way through the dead bodies, Spike was, for the first time, thankful that he was wearing a helmet. Just looking at the dead made him uneasy, and he was not sure he would be able to keep down his breakfast if he could spell this many as well. Reaching the building, Spike began to make his way up the rubble. Being the smallest member of the group, he took the lead to find a safe path up the rocks. Quickly reaching the top, Spike looked in at the dark interior of the ruin. “It’s a ship all right.” Spike called back, looking back at the others. “Not one of ours either.” “Good. Just…” Norik said, before slipping over, sliding back down to the bottom of the slope. “Spike. Go and see if you can find the black box. The rubble is too unstable for Norik and I.” Solaris said over the communicator, before clambering back down to stand by Norik. Nodding, Spike began to make his way down the inside of the building, Sliding down and steadying himself on the rear of the ship’s hull. It was a systems monitor by the look of it, or possibly a Skiff of some sort. Defiantly nothing that should have been in this area, meaning Tarhal had been right about it being one of Lady Kalia’s ships. “I’ve found a hull breech.” Spike said, informing the others of his progress. “Heading inside now. Let’s hope that the black box is intact.” Clambering inside the Ship, Spike was pleased that there was only a single body inside, strapped into the pilot’s chair with a metal strut sticking through it. Spike guessed that when the hull was breeched, the other crew had been sucked into space. “The cockpit seems mostly intact, bar the damage that killed the pilot. I think we may just be in luck.” He smiled to himself. “Good, get it and leave. Wrecks are dangerous places.” Solaris said over the comm. “Will do.” He replied. Moving forward, Spike pushed the corpse over and away from the control panel, before he bent down and began unscrewing the control panel. Placing the metal plate to one side, Spike reached inside, grabbing hold of a small red rectangular box and pulling it out. “The black box is red, makes perfect sense.” Spike muttered, before scrambling out of the wreck and back towards Solaris and Norik, before the trio returned to the ship. *** As soon as Tarhal had cycled the airlock, the three of them removed their helmets, before Spike moved over to the console. Opening the box, he removed a small chip from the box, and plugged it into the receptacle on the cockpits panel. “Such a big box for such a small chip.” Spike mused as the ship whirred to process the information stored inside. “It has to be to protect it from a crash.” Norik replied. “Let’s just hope the information is intact. “Let’s see what we’ve got here.” Solaris said, leaning over and inspecting the data readout. “Well?” Norik asked. “Looks like it’s intact.” Solaris said slowly. “The ship jumped here from the Utapau system, and came from the Wrek system before that.” “Any idea where the main base could be?” Tarhal asked. “Let’s see…the only system that the ship constantly returned to was the Dalchon system.” Solaris said, turning to face the others. “Orvax IV.” Spike said simply. “I’m sorry?” Norik asked, looking at Spike. “Orvax IV. It’s a planet in the outer rims. Apparently it’s like a real life hell in the galaxy for slaves.” Spike replied. “How do you know this?” Solaris asked. “Asho.” Tarhal said, cutting in before Spike. “She was a slave there, before being brought. The rest you know.” “Well then, it looks like we have our heading.” Norik said. “I’ll call in the Republic and they can take it out.” “It won’t stop it. They’ll just come back.” Solaris said, straightening up. “I know, but we can cut off the head now. It will take time for a new one to grow.” Norik said. “We need to scope it out first.” Solaris said. “Come back to Fireshot and we can make proper plans. Don’t want to send any more troops into an avoidable slaughter.” “No, no we don’t.” Norik agreed. “Very well, we will meet you at Fireshot station.” “See you there.” Solaris smiled. “Spike, helmet on and back to your fighter, I’ll see you in orbit.” “Master.” Spike bowed, before attaching his helmet again, grimacing slightly. “Don’t crash.” Tarhal grinned. “I won’t you overgrown rug.” Spike shot back with a grin, before the airlock cycled, and he began to make his way back towards his fighter.