Through Space and Time
Chapter 5
Kanor Evad clicked his overgrown nails together. The sound echoed in his silent chamber. Everything appeared as it should. The captives were held in their cells, the children were being traced, and the Academy had been successfully invaded. The New Republic was under the command of a trusted member of the New Empire, Ronandar Piarka, and the government’s resources were at Kanor’s disposal.
Yet something was amiss. The air hummed with anticipation, as if their every move was being carefully watched. The Force had alerted Emperor Jahari days ago of this disturbance, and every step had been taken to ensure a foolproof rise to power for the New Empire.
A fuzzy transmission came in on Kanor’s communication system.
"Tracer 5 to headquarters, come in."
"Is the mission complete?" Kanor demanded.
"Tracing is complete. Repeat, tracing is complete. Waiting for permission to attack."
"Do you have them?"
"Within sight range, sir, and in a most convenient position. They are not alone, repeat, they are not alone."
Kanor’s single eyebrow arched in the center, showing his intrigue. "Who accompanies the little insectoids?"
"They are with a man of about twenty, and, I believe, with the young woman you have been-"
"Attack now. Get the girl and bring her here. Your reward will be waiting."
Kanor clicked the comm off, and sat back in his chair to relax. All would be well. The girl would prove to be a powerful asset, he was sure, and who knew what powers the stranger might possess. Then nagging presentiment would fade away, Kanor assured himself. The galaxy was theirs.
Jaina sat perfectly still as MaeRidd began to braid her hair and twist the braids up on either side of Jaina’s head.
"Will it work?" She hopefully asked.
"It’s nearly finished. Just stay still another moment."
"That’s it? How can you do that so quickly?"
Kevynn had been watching MaeRidd out of the corner of his eye, as he and Zekk initiated the preflight checks. Her adroit fingers swiftly wove braids, and pushed pins in the right place. In less than two standard minutes, she was finished. Jaina smiled, contentedly, and deliberately made her way over to Zekk.
"Have you already run the check on the ion shield?" She asked, sweetly, as she ducked under one of the Galaxy Wanderer’s wings with Zekk.
He didn’t look up, but answered. "No, he’s got a different kind of coding than what I’m used to." Finally, he lifted his eyes from the clipboard, and glanced at Jaina’s proud face. "Wow. You look just like…" He stopped.
Jacen instinctively turned away from the finar peddler’s cart. The colorful bird he had been examining paled in comparison to Jaina’s beauty.
"Like who?" She playfully inquired.
"Like Mom," Jacen answered, knowing Zekk never would have finished.
Tenel Ka stopped her conversation with the peddler, to stare at Jaina. It was true. She was nearly the exact image of her mother. But Jaina’s face was no longer playful. She looked completely sobered.
Jaina stared at her feet. She bit her lip, determined not to cry. Zekk placed a hand on her cheek.
"You okay?"
Her voice was very strained, and barely audible as she answered, "I wish she was here." Zekk pulled her tiny body into his arms, and held her there.
"I know."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Jacen asked, with a bright voice and a forced grin. Tenel Ka noticed with no small amount of irony how much he looked like his father.
"This is a fact," she announced, her voice already in its take charge tone. "What is left to be done for the preflight?"
"Not much," Kevynn admitted. "I have an automated system."
"Really?" Jaina looked up. "We tried to get one for the Falcon, but they’re so out of stock."
"Go check it out. The manual’s in the cockpit," Kevynn encouraged her. Anything to get that miserable look off her face.
MaeRidd’s body had gone stiff where she stood. She turned very slowly to face the cantina. From the darkened doorway, a shadow moved ever so slightly.
"Princess, come on-"
She ignored him. Her mind could feel it. They had been tracked.
The others had already made it on to the ship, and were bustling about inside.
Kevynn put a hand on her arm. Her limbs were cold, and goosebumps stood out on her normally smooth skin.
"No time for preflights, flyboy. Do you have hyperspeed from land?"
"Of course," he was confused.
MaeRidd grabbed his wrist and sped up the loading ramp. The door was barely shut behind them when the first blast hit the side of the ship.
"You’ve gotta be kidding me!" Kevynn was outraged.
MaeRidd shoved her way into the cockpit, calling over her shoulder, "You’d better believe it! Buckle up!"
She jammed the shift into forward position, and the craft rolled forward. They were headed straight for the cantina.
"You can’t go through the city!" Kevynn yelped as he was thrown back into the wall of the cockpit.
"Really?" Another blast threatened to dismantle their hyperdrive abilities. "Watch me."
She toggled the upshift to vertical, and pushed the hyperspeed lever. The Galaxy Wanderer pulled up into the sky at a ninety-degree angle, skimming the watchtower of the cantina and sending small debris into the city below.
As they leveled out in hyperspace, MaeRidd turned the controls over to Kevynn. "I’m not much of a pilot."
"Where’d you learn how to fly? The Blockade Runner’s Derby?"
She smirked, mischievously. "To tell you the truth, Kev, I’ve never touched a navicomp in my life." MaeRidd turned on one heel and left the cockpit, passing Jaina and Zekk on their way in.
MaeRidd took a seat in the back of the ship. She curled her legs up on the seat, and made casual conversation with Tenel Ka.
"You are a Princess?" Tenel Ka asked. "If so, this is a common bond between us."
"No, not really a princess. That’s just what the blaster head up there calls me."
Tenel Ka thought she detected the slightest bit of fondness in the words "blaster head". "Where are your origins?"
MaeRidd didn’t want to get into it. "I won’t give you the whole sob story. Let’s just say I’m from all over."
"What’s your real name?" Jacen asked. He was only half-paying attention. The other half of his brain was following a small winged insect around the room.
"MaeRidd." The insect landed on her outstretched hand. She studied it with almost a smile playing on her lips.
"Ah, chosen by the stars."
"You know the meaning?" MaeRidd was surprised.
"This name is uncommon, but there was a child on Dathomir for a short time whom I befriend. She also took the name MaeRidd."
MaeRidd seemed uncomfortable. She shook the insect from her hand, and started to play with the wisps of hair the fell around her face. Jacen could tell the conversation was over.
Back in the cockpit, Jaina was itching to get a hold of the controls. She hadn’t seen a ship so stocked with attachments and improvements. This was excluding the Falcon, of course, and the Wanderer had some options not even Han Solo had tried.
"Do you mind?" Jaina asked.
"No way. I know you love to get your hands on a new ship," Zekk laughed. He was just as comfortable in the passenger’s seat behind her.
"That was some pretty fancy flying," Jaina began. "How does she-"
"I have no idea," Kevynn grumbled. "She’s a real trip."
Zekk observed the faint spark in the man’s eye as he spoke of the whirlwind woman that had just nearly gotten them all killed. ‘Or saved our lives,’ Zekk conceded to himself.
"…just comes in and takes over and expects everybody to get out of her way…And worst of all, everybody does. She’s never wrong, you know."
"I’ve noticed," Jaina chose her words carefully. "Have you- Well, has she had any training?"
"Flying? No, I guess not. According to her, that is, and I don’t really know that I can-"
"No, not flying. As a Jedi." Jaina was very serious. "I’m sure you’ve noticed the Force in her."
"Yeah, she talks about it. I don’t really know what it means, you know? I mean, she just says feel it, and I’m supposed to do something." Kevynn was quiet a minute. "Come to think of it, though, she’s always one step ahead of everything."
Jaina nodded. "Yeah. I can’t imagine that some one with that strong a sense would escape training. I wonder why she was never at the Academy…No matter, though. She’ll have to come now."
"Why? I mean, why does she have to have this training?"
Jaina tried to explain the ways of the Force to him, but Kevynn just couldn’t follow. It meant nothing to him.
"We’re coming out of hyperspace."
Jaina checked their coordinates on the navicomp. "We’re just about a hundred meters from where we left the Falcon. Should see it any minute now."
But there was nothing. No trace of any ship ever passing the site.
Jacen was at the door. "It’s gone. They must’ve taken them to a base, or…." He wouldn’t finish his sentence.
"Do not worry, friend Jacen. I trust that we will find your parents," Tenel Ka assured him. She took his hand in hers, and held it tight.
It hit Kevynn like a lightning bolt. And he took to it like a velker. "Wait! I know where they are." He jumped out of his seat and headed for his pack.
MaeRidd stopped him at the door. She was holding Lorpo’s magazine, the one Kevynn had been reading. "Looking for something?"
Kevynn ignored her. He scanned the article quickly. "Somewhere on the outer rim…" He voice trailed off. The outer rim was a very vague description.
Lowie growled and Em Teedee beeped with glee. "Master Lowbacca reminds me that I am equipped with an almanac. I can search my files and see if I can find an outer rim planet that would appear suitable for such an operation."
"Great idea, Lowie!" Jaina was feeling more optimistic by the minute.
Em Teedee hummed and buzzed for a moment, and then began to report his findings. "There are only three locations not commonly known to be occupied by a perfectly legal race. Would you like a full description, or-"
"Just the names for now, Em Teedee," Jacen cut him off. The little droid meant well, but once he got started…
"Hyari, Yukar, and Polarak. Hyari seems to be another desert planer, and Yukar and ice world, but there is no description available for Polarak."
"Hyari sounds like a good bet," Kevynn suggested.
MaeRidd spoke quietly, as if reciting from a book. "The majority of Emperor Kayhen’s workforce is comprised of Grans." She looked up, dazed, as if she wasn’t sure what she had just said. "They’d never survive on a desert planet. And we know Kanor is a cyborg-"
"No, wait a minute," Kevynn cut in. "How do you know that?" MaeRidd shrugged casually.
"I think she’s right." Jaina pointed to the picture of Kanor in the magazine. Behind his left ear there was a small wire. "I bet he’s part droid."
"Obviously not a purebred," Em Teedee sniffed.
Jacen laughed. "Did you hear the one about the midget cyborg on Hoth?"
Tenel Ka faced him seriously. "No, friend Jacen."
"A cyborg, who happens to be vertically impaired, crashes his ship on Hoth. He steps off his landing pad and dies. A wampa ice monster finds him and says…"Jacen paused dramatically. "He’s a short circuit!" Jacen laughed until his face nearly turned blue.
Jaina rolled her eyes and translated. "I think what my comically impaired brother is trying to tell us is that the base couldn’t be on Yukar because Kanor is a cyborg and would short circuit from the cold."
"Yeah, but it’s not funny when you say it that way," Jacen informed her.
"So Polarak it is," MaeRidd declared. "What’s near there that we can camp on?"
Em Teedee scanned his memory banks. "A small jungle paradise named Nailia. Inhabited by mainly humans and Ithirians."
"Ithirians?"
"A small subculture of the Ithorians, exiled to Nailia during the reign of the empire."
"We’re in agreement, then? To the outer rim, Nailia and Polarak?" Zekk wanted to make sure they were all in this together.
"What are we waiting for?" Jaina prompted, and Kevynn entered the destination in the navicomp.
Not far behind them, Sunnam Cameri heard the whole conversation. He quickly used his stealth-scanner to splice into their files and obtained their destination. He might have been one of the least known bounty hunters in the galaxy, but there was no way this opportunity was going to get away from him. Pausing only a few moments so the Wanderer could go into hyperspace and he could follow out of sight, Sunnam began his pursuit for glory and respect.
