Star Wars - Jedi Fugitive

Chapter 4

The shuttle slipped quietly out of hyperspace and back into realspace, where it hung there, motionless in the void. Raxus was just a dot in the distance.

They had been traveling behind enemy lines for two days now, making small jumps that zigzagged across Sepratist space, avoiding any systems along the way. Now they had just one micro jump left and they would be at their destination.

Inside the ship, the crew was in a flurry of activity, excited to have something to do other than check and recheck gear.

"Check the cloaking device," Jethro ordered.

"All lights green sir," came Blazer's voice, the edge betraying his excitement. "Ready to go into cloak as soon as we drop."

"Holographic projectors?"

"Ready to go," Dom answered, his emotions, if he had any, were hidden under his icy facade.

"Alright. Corsair, you got the coordinates ready?"

"Getting the feed now."

"Alright, are we all clear on the plan? It's not like we haven't done it a thousand times before."

A chorus of clears met his ear.

"Now can we please just get this thing going?" Blazer complained. "It's getting kinda ripe in her and I'm ready for some fresh air."

Jethro laughed. "Alright Corsair, you heard the man. Let's get going."

Corsair pushed the hyperdrive control lever forward and the stars streaked out into lines of light, but before they could form the tunnel of hyperspace, they shrank back into points of light eclipsed by the planet that now took up most of the viewscreen.

"Now!"

Blazer and Dom threw their levers simultaneously, both cloaking their ship from scanners, while projecting the image of an asteroid around them, explaining the flame of an object entering the atmosphere. It was a plan that had gotten them onto several Seperatist worlds in the past.

The ship shook violently, buffeted by the atmosphere as it descended in a freefall towards the planet's surface. They couldn't alter their course until suicidally close to the ground or anyone could see right through their ruse.

At the last second, Corsair reversed the thrusters and swung the ship belly side down, letting it land heavily on its landing struts.

"Ah, I don't think the old girl can take many more of those landings," Corsair's voice came from the cockpit as the screams of the engine faded away.

Jethro undid his safety restraints and staggered to his feet. "I don't think I can either."

"Come on," Blazer said, cracking his neck, "that was fun."

"Shut up Blazer," retorted Leadfoot, also standing and cracking his own neck.

"Alright people let's saddle up," Jethro ordered. "We head out for Raxulon now."

The capital city was large, Jethro gave it that, but the desperation of the Sepratist war effort could be felt even in their capital. All around them the buildings had begun to fall into a state of disrepair. The people who inhabited them seemed to have a depression hanging over them. Some cases were so extreme that it looked as if they felt a sense of dread. Who knew, maybe they did.

Jethro observed all this from amongst the people. Behind him, Blazer and Dom followed from a distance. Somewhere in the city, Leadfoot was 'finding' them some transportation. Corsair was waiting outside the city, macrobinoculars trained on any sign of trouble, ready for an extraction at a moment's notice.

The whole squad had left their gear with Corsair. A Jedi walking around with a couple of Republic Commandos would have drawn a little too much attention in the Sepratist Capital, even for them. The only gear they had kept were the small blaster pistols the commandos wore under their street clothes, and Jethro's lightsaber, also hidden beneath his clothes.

All around them, droid patrols milled through the crowds, ready to respond to an attack that they would never see coming. Ahead of them, at the opposite end of the square they had gathered in, was an unassuming building that they had tagged as the Confederacy's Science Division Headquarters.

They had been waiting outside since morning. No one seemed to take notice of the strangers lounging about the square.

Around midday, their target appeared. He emerged from the building and headed directly across the square at a brisk pace that surprised Jethro. He expected less from a man so old.

He moved to follow and sensed his two companions do the same.

The Quarren lead them to a small, open air tapcaf, where he sat at a table by the street and ate his meal.

Next to him, Jethro felt Dom pull a small, pistol shaped object from his tunic, a dart launcher with a heart-stopping, undetectable poison designed specifically for Quarrens.

Jethro put his hand over it and pushed it back down.

"Not yet," he whispered.

Dom complied.

The Quarren finished his meal and returned to the Science Division.

He didn't emerge for the rest of the day.

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