Star Wars - Aliit Nehutyc

Chapter 7: Reunion

Kad made his way to Darra's room and knocked on the door. The door slid open into its pocket in the wall revealing a frustrated Darra.

"Yeah?" she snarled.

"I am going on a trip, and I need someone to come with me. Could you? Atin is also coming, but this is a three-man job." Kad asked, leaning on the doorway. Darra thought for a minute,

"Okay, fine, I'll go. But no goofing around on the trip, okay?" she stated flatly.

"Okay. Let's head to the ship garage and I'll brief you and Atin there," Kad said, did an about-face and strode down the hall. A few minutes later, they were in the garage, standing in front of a VCX-100 freighter. "Welcome to the Mirshko, ladies and gentlemen."

"Looks like a hunk of junk," Darra stated.

"This ship is the fastest freighter in the galaxy. It can make point-8 at lightspeed and has several cannons and a deployer-2 for seismic charges," Kad boasted, looking over the ship with a grin.

"I still say it's a hunk of junk, Kad. A hunk of junk that needs a new paint job." Darra said. Kad didn't respond. He pulled a key from his belt and opened the entry ramp. They walked into the ship and Darra looked around. Several cables hung from the ceiling and a panel was missing from the interior walling. She groaned.

"Our mission is simple. We go to Tatooine, give the Daimyo some help against the Pykes, and in return, he gives us some beskar he has. Understood?" Kad said over the intercom.

"Understood," Atin said. Darra crossed her arms and sat back in her seat.

"Darra, you understand?" Kad said turning around.

"Yeah, yeah. Understood," Darra said reluctantly. She still had many questions concerning why they were going and who this Daimyo character was.

"Two minutes till lift-off," Kad said, engaging the engines and flipping several switches. The ship slowly rose from the ground and the garage door opened with a groan. The VCX-100 engaged its secondary engines and flew out of the garage. It lifted above the tree line and into the upper atmosphere. An old B1 battle droid clambered into the cockpit and sat in the co-pilot's seat.

"Bee-One-Kay-C-c-cee reporting for d-d-d-duty sir," the droid stammered. Its head was slightly lopsided and the light in its right eye flickered.

"Thanks, Kay-cee," Kad said, flipping a few switches on the panel. "Could you enter the coordinates for Tatooine?"

"R-r-roger roger!" The droid's servos whined as it leaned over and clacked a six-digit number into the navi-computer. Darra and Atin had sat down in the passenger seats and strapped in by the time the jump coordinates were set, and they gave Kad the thumbs up. He pushed the jump lever, and the stars faded into star lines. During the few hours in hyperspace, Darra left to get a snack in the galley. She was dismayed to find that the freeze box was empty though. She strode back to the cockpit where Atin was taking a nap with his feet on the dash. Kad was reading his datapad. His helmet was off, and he was rubbing his eyes. "Hey," Darra said, "the freeze box is empty." She stopped when she saw the distraught look on Kad's face.

"Oh. Sorry," Kad said, his voice distant.

"Hey, you okay?" asked Darra, a bit disturbed.

"Fine. Just thinking about my dad. Last I saw him, he was plummeting into a Sarlacc pit."

"Oh, sorry to hear that," said Darra slowly. She was having a hard time knowing exactly how to handle this situation.

"It's been about a year since I was last on that God-forsaken planet."