Star Wars Character Cafe - Trix Chapter 7

TRIX

CHAPTER 7

Maxx pressed his lips together as he stared at the hologram showing the internal corridors of the headquarters of the Armega Mining Corporation’s operation in the Vandagast Asteroid Belt. It had taken a lot of effort to reach this point. While Lo and TC-23J were taking care of the Nerf with Doc and Jessa, he and Trouble stowed away on a drone barge to Orron III. There, Trouble was able to have his way with the Corporate Sector Authority’s data center and the two of them learned many interesting things about Vardun Cantrel.

The most intriguing thing that they learned was that Cantrel seemed to be stealing from his employers. Trouble had noticed a few anomalies while digesting his initial download on information, and was able to convince Maxx to take a second hookup for further investigation. It took several hours of online investigation, but by cross referencing data from Cantrel’s Vandagast operations and other Armega operations, Trouble was able to conclude that some of the refined ore from the Vandagast operation was not being delivered to the bulk freighters that Armega had modified for operations in the asteroid belt. Trouble was able to cross reference the movements of several light freighters with questionable registrations and the timing of deposits on certain accounts and was able to put together an unbelievably complete hologram of Vardun Cantrel’s side operation. Maxx had developed a deep respect for the little droid over the years that the two of them had worked together, but even he was amazed at what his highly modified R5 astromech had been able to accomplish.

Trouble’s analysis suggested a way for Maxx to sneak the Nerf into Armega’s Vandagast operations. In order to have independent ship owners who were willing to carry the stolen ore, Cantrel seemed to insist on having independent ship owners with questionable reputations deliver spare parts to the mining operations. All Maxx had to do was make certain that one of the Nerf’s false IDs wasn’t too clean, fly to one of the worlds that supplied the Vandagast operation with spare parts and he should be chosen to make a delivery.

Maxx had studied the arrival and departure of independent ships at the Vandagast operations over the past three hundred days, and concluded that he would have a forty-eight hour window of opportunity to sneak up into the executive area and somehow spirit Aayla back to the Nerf. Maxx was certain that TC-23J’s disguises would prevent the Espo troopers that provided security for the mining operation from identifying him and Lo and the Espo trooper uniform he had purchased from Doc should allow him to slip up into the executive area unnoticed. The question was how he would get Aayla back to the Nerf.

As Maxx stared at the hologram, memorizing the corridors and elevator shafts, he felt Lo reach over and put her hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her and smiled.

“Why don’t you just offer to exchange our evidence for Aayla?” she asked, “Surely Cantrel would be willing to trade her to keep our information out of the wrong hands.”

Maxx chuckled.

“I don’t doubt that he would,” he replied. “Unfortunately there is a matter of trust. I doubt that Cantrel trusts us to give him all of our evidence without keeping a backup copy and I KNOW I don’t trust him to allow us to leave once we give him all the evidence that we have. Besides, I have another use for this information.”

Lo nodded somberly. She knew that Maxx was right; she just wished that there was a way to do this that didn’t involve the four of them flying into a heavily guarded facility deep in the Corporate Sector.

***

Lo frowned as she sulked toward the lounge. She normally wouldn’t have left the cockpit for anything that wasn’t extremely important. She may not have been much of a pilot, but Lo loved flying and enjoyed few things as much as being in the cockpit soaking up all the action. Even when there wasn’t much action to soak up, she enjoyed sitting there talking with Maxx, and even when Maxx wasn’t feeling talkative, there was something intoxicating about just being near him and knowing that she could just reach out and touch him if she dared. Now that intoxicating presence was almost too painful to bear. Maxx was heading on a new course and if she followed, the feelings that they shared would endanger them both. Lo knew that once Aayla Sedota was safe on Tapan, it would be best if she walked down the boarding ramp and never returned. It was hard to be so close to Maxx, to have so many feelings for him and know that she had to leave. Lo couldn’t help thinking of the time she had spent sitting on his lap cuddling and wonder what might have been.

As Lo stepped into the lounge, she was surprised to see TC-23J sitting at the Nerf’s rectangular table peering at a hologram produced by a small datapad. The hologram showed a small looking round faced alien with green skin, gray hair and strange triangular shaped ears. It was wearing a brown Jedi robe and was speaking in a strange language that Lo did not recognize. TC-23J killed the hologram as soon as Trouble whistled, alerting her to Lo’s presence.

“Hello Mistress Price,” TC-23J said cheerfully, “What brings you so far from the cockpit at a time like this?”

“I need a smoke,” Lo replied, “What were you up to?”

“I was consulting a holocron,” TC-23J answered as she stood up and removed a datarod from the datapad. “Our current situation has raised many concerns and I wondered what advice a Jedi Master could offer.”

Lo stared blankly at TC-23J as the droid deftly removed her plating and stored the datarod in a secret compartment.

“A holowhat?” she asked.

“A holocron,” the droid replied gently as she patiently refastened her plating. “I take it they weren’t featured in your holodramas.”

Lo shook her head.

“The Jedi used holocrons to store their teachings,” TC-23J continued. “I can’t use a real holocron because I am unable to access the Force, so Mistress Kjell stored the teachings she thought I might find useful in a few datarods. She thought that I would need all the help I could get raising a force sensitive child.”

Lo smiled in spite of herself.

“I imagine that raising Maxx had its problems,” she replied.

“It did,” TC-23J replied as she returned her gaze to Lo. “Would you like something to drink?”

Lo nodded.

“Whyrrens and water,” she answered.

“Mind you,” TC-23J said as she walked to the autochef, “the troubles of the past are nothing compared to the ones we are facing now.”

“I know what you mean,” Lo replied as she fished her duraplast pipe and a tin of tobac out of one of the many pockets of her work pants. “I’ve been trying to figure out what I’m going to do once I leave the Nerf. I’ve spent so much of my life searching for a place I belonged. Now I’ve found it and what do I do? Fall for a Jedi Knight. Sometimes I wonder if I can do anything right.”

TC-23J shook her head as she brought Lo a steaming mug of tea.

“You’ve done many things right mistress Price,” she replied, “Our continued survival is proof of that.”

Lo frowned as she scooped tobac into the bowl of her pipe.

“You know what I mean,” she answered irritably. “I’ve always had a good head for engineering, but it’s never seemed to help me very much. Sith! I couldn’t really use my engineering skills until Maxx and I had been together for a year.”

With that, she clenched the stem of her pipe between her teeth, lit it and took a few puffs. TC-23J waited until Lo had developed a steady rhythm of puffing before speaking.

“That’s because you wasted too much of your time pursuing momentary pleasure and didn’t focus on making the most of the opportunities that you had,” she replied firmly. “You’re more focused now and you have developed a bit of a reputation, a good one this time. If you apply yourself, you could continue enjoying the success you now have.”

Lo silently pondered the droid’s words as she puffed on her pipe. She could sense the truth in what TC-23J had said. All the success in the universe would be a hollow consolation for what she was giving up. Still, if she couldn’t be with Maxx, it would give her something to live for. As Lo silently puffed, she pondered the possibilities. She might start by seeking work with Marshal Thonas after they delivered Aayla to Trix. Marshal may not want any of his ships tweaked as aggressively as the Nerf, but it would be a start, and he might point her towards other clients. She sat there puffing and sipping until her pipe finally went out. At that time, TC-23J decided that it was time to help Lo don her disguise. Lo did her best to sit still as the droid carefully applied the layers of syntheflesh around her left eye. None of their plans would be possible if they botched this mission.

***

Maxx eased the throttle back as the Wild Nerf slipped into the Vandagast asteroid field. The Armega Mining complex was located at the field’s outskirts where the asteroids were not too close together. Wending a nimble freighter like the Nerf around the asteroids was child’s play to Maxx, but he couldn’t help wonder at the skill of those pilots that flew the huge CEC Action V transports through this maze. He knew that the ships that serviced the mining operation were highly modified for enhanced maneuverability, but it still couldn’t be an easy flying job. For the first time in his life, Maxx found himself wondering what it would be like to fly a ship so much larger than the Nerf.

***

Maxx performed one of the breathing exercises that TC-23J had taught him as he flew the Nerf into one of the large hangers that were built into the small planetoid that served as the mining operation’s base of operations. He carefully followed the ground controller’s instructions and breathed a sigh of relief as the Wild Nerf touched down into her parking spot. Slow maneuvering in close quarters was trickier than flying into and out of docking bays at the spaceports that Maxx usually frequented.

Once Trouble had shut down the Nerf’s power cores, Maxx turned towards Lo. She was sporting a nasty looking gash that ran from her left forehead, through where her left eye would have been and down her left cheek. Her eye was covered by a patch of syntheflesh that was supposed to protect the open socket from infection.

“How do I look?” she asked.

Maxx smiled.

“Positively gruesome,” he answered warmly. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your coming here with me.”

Lo smiled nervously.

“Then don’t,” she replied as she unfastened her crash webbing. “Let’s just get what we came for and leave.”

“With pleasure,” Maxx replied as he stood up and walked towards the boarding ramp.

Lo followed Maxx closely as they left the ship and tried to hide her face as much as possible. Both Maxx and TC-23J knew that Lo would feel nervous and self conscious about going undercover, so they hit on the idea of incorporating disfigurement into her disguise. Any stranger who saw Lo would assume that the reason she seemed so nervous was that she didn’t like being seen looking like this. The scar would also give Lo a good excuse to remain in the relative safety of the ship where she could help ensure Maxx’s escape.

A small but nervous looking human clerk was waiting a respectful distance from the foot of the boarding ramp. He was wearing an ill fitting suit and was flanked by two Espo Troopers wearing black uniforms with body armor.

“Captain Marc Mann of the Star Rider?” The clerk asked. He was new at this job and the idea of being approached by two such dangerous looking individuals was making him tense.

“Pleased to meet you,” Maxx replied heartily as he offered what looked like a mechanical hand, “and this is my wife Stra.”

The clerk, who was clearly unnerved by the sight of the gash on the left side of Lo’s face, recoiled at the sight of the droid like mechanical hand that Maxx had offered. Maxx shrugged and withdrew his hand.

“I take it you have the plasma drills we ordered.

Maxx handed him a small datapad containing the manifest.

“Yes I do,” he replied. “I’d appreciate it if you’d unload it and pay us quickly. Stra doesn’t like spending more time away from the ship then we have to.”

“I can imagine,” the clerk muttered as he stared in horror at the scar that Lo was trying to hide. “We can have you unloaded within the hour, but I’m afraid you’ll have to wait here for ten hours while we examine the drills. Standard business precaution you understand.”

Maxx shrugged.

“As you wish,” he replied. “I hope you won’t mind if Stra and I wait on board the ship.”

The clerk nodded as he continued to stare at the scar.

“Whatever,” he replied. “You are also free to take advantage of our facilities.”

Maxx nodded.

“Thanks, I just may do that a bit later.”

***

As Maxx and Lo waited on board the Wild Nerf, a tall figure wearing an Espo Trooper’s uniform crouched in distant shadows and spied on the craft using electrobinoculars. As the stranger examined the craft, he noted that while the ship was a stock looking first year YT-1300, like the Little Bantha, there was nothing definite that would tie the two ships together. In fact, there were some indications that this Star Rider might have been another ship altogether. This craft had a nice circular rectenna sitting on top of the saucer shaped part of the hull, and the once sharp blue on white paint scheme contrasted with the fresh light grey paint that the Little Bantha wore. As he continued examining the craft, a cruel smile crept to Victor Tekel’s lips. He would have to congratulate Marcel on the degree that he had disguised his ship.

Victor had been assigned to an undercover operation on Armega’s Vandagast operation five days ago. He was supposed to be secretly investigating allegations that Director Cantrel had been siphoning off refined ore for his own use, but Victor had other interests. He was aware that Marcel’s purple Twi’lek was now in Vardun Cantrel’s possession and he secretly hoped that his half-brother would be arrogant enough to attempt to rescue her. It had been a stroke of luck that he had been chosen to accompany that coward Allrat to meet Captain Mann and his wife. Their disguises were quite good, but neither of them was good enough to fool him. Victor Tekel had despised Marcel for too long to not recognize him now, and that woman Stra had to be Marcel’s companion on Etti IV. No scar, no matter how cleverly applied could hide the fact that Stra Mann had the same basic facial shape as Dallat Ristal.

As much as Victor wanted to pull his blaster and finish Marcel off then and there, he didn’t. If he had learned one thing during his five days at the Vandagast mining colony, it was that these “independent pilots” were protected here. He couldn’t even visit the side of the hanger where the Star Rider was parked without raising attention. Victor was going to have to bide his time and wait for the right moment to have his revenge.

***

Maxx pressed his lips together as he walked to the mining colony’s executive area. So far everything seemed to be going as planned, but Maxx knew how quickly things could fall apart. He also wasn’t comfortable being so far from the Nerf without as much as a vibroblade on his person. It also concerned Maxx that he didn’t know why he was being taken to the executive area. All he knew was that Vardun Cantrel had wanted to speak to him alone. Presumably Cantrel had wanted to discuss a possible hauling job, but if he had figured out that Captain Mann was the very person who had slipped Trix and Aayla off of Etti IV… The two espo troopers flanking Maxx opened the door and motioned for him to go in alone.

The office was large and well appointed. The walls were tastefully adorned with wood paneling and had various ancient weapons on display. Vardun Cantrel was sitting at a hand crafted wooden desk that was longer than any of the speeder bikes Maxx had ever owned. He was a lean and muscular man in his mid ‘50s, and gave the impression that he was used to getting what he wanted. Maxx also noted Aayla Sedota lounging on a nerf hide couch against a far wall. She was wearing a pink silk bra and matching loincloth which contrasted well with her purple skin. If she had recognized Maxx, she didn’t show it.

“Would you like a drink Captain Mann?” Cantrel asked as an elegant black R-10 household droid unobtrusively wheeled up to where Maxx was standing.

“No thanks,” Maxx replied apologetically. “Stra and I are planning to lift off in a few hours and I’d like to be sober when navigating that asteroid field.”

Cantrel chuckled affably.

“I understand,” he replied heartily. “Still, I could arrange it so that you had the extra time here to recover from the ill effects.”

Maxx smiled politely.

“That’s nice, but I’m rather anxious to be going,” he answered. “We’re trying to save up for a little reconstructive surgery for Stra, so I’m trying to keep the ship moving as much as possible.”

Vardun Cantrel nodded.

“I can understand that,” he replied politely. “Tell me, Captain Mann, how did your wife sustain such grave injuries in the first place?”

Maxx looked down at the floor and pretended to struggle a bit before answering.

“Lets just say that drunks with vibroblades are a nasty combination,” he said haltingly. “I nearly lost her that night and the medical bills chewed up every bit of savings we had. Now we’re taking every job we can get in hope of saving enough to put Stra right.”

Vardun Cantrel listened politely. He didn’t really care about the problems of a couple of freighter bums, but his cache of ore was piling up and he needed to make a shipment soon.

“I’m sorry to hear about that,” he said as gently as he could. “I think I may have a way I can help you.”

Maxx looked up at Cantrel, his eyes pretending to radiate hope.

“You do?” he asked.

Cantrel did his best to smile warmly.

“I do,” he replied. “I have a special shipment of ore that needs to go to a customer in the next few days. You’ll have to stay here for another forty eight hours, but the job pays ten thousand Imperial credits. Are you interested?”

Maxx stood there and furrowed his brow for a moment.

“I take it this job of yours involves bending the law a bit, right?”

Cantrel stared at the spacer and frowned.

“Is that a problem?” he asked.

Maxx shrugged.

“Not really,” he replied. “I just want to know what I’m getting into, and yeah, for ten thousand I’m interested.”

Vardun Cantrel smiled.

“It’s settled then,” he replied. “I’ll arrange for you to receive the containers in the next thirty six hours or so. After that, you’re free to go.”

“Thank you sir,” Maxx replied appreciatively, “I’d offer you my hand, but sometimes it just doesn’t know its own strength.”

As Maxx left the office and walked back to the Nerf, he thought about what he was going to do. He had 36 hours in which to do it.

***

“Are you sure you’re ready to do this?” Lo asked as she watched Maxx carefully pack his satchel.

Maxx smiled.

“As ready as I’ll ever be, and you?”

Lo grimaced.

“I don’t know if I’d ever be ready,” she replied. “Still, I think I know what I need to do.”

Maxx turned towards Lo and stared into her eyes.

“Just remember, don’t let anybody but me and Aayla on this ship no matter what. Our cover will soon be blown and anyone who gets on board is a potential threat, so keep this ship locked down at all costs. If that means raising the shields or using the retractable blaster canon to drive off the hostiles, so be it.”

“Got it,” Lo replied crisply. “Good luck captain.”

“Thanks Lo,” Maxx replied. “At a time like this, I’ll take even luck.”

Before he walked to the boarding ramp, Maxx walked over to Trouble, who was plugged into the lounge’s engineering station. He patted the droid on top of his flower pot shaped head and whispered.

“If this thing goes sour and I give you the signal, fire up the engines and get Lo and the Nerf out of here.”

Trouble softly keened, asking Maxx what would become of him, TC-23J and the Nerf if Maxx didn’t make it.

“You all belong to Lo,” Maxx whispered. “Please serve her as well as you’ve served me.”

The droid keened a nearly inaudible affirmative and Maxx stood up. As she watched Maxx walk down the boarding ramp, Lo wondered if she would ever see him again.

***

As Maxx walked along the hangar floor, he thought about his cover story. If anybody approached him, he would just say that he was going to the commissary to score a few power couplings for the Star Rider. These old freighters were always having little problems of some sort and Maxx doubted that Vardun Cantrel was inclined to be stingy with spare parts when he had several hundred thousand Imperial Credits to gain. As it was, nobody approached Maxx and he was able to sneak into an empty washroom and change into the Espo Trooper uniform that he had purchased from Doc.

Maxx had spent enough time observing Espo Troopers during his year in the Corporate Sector that he doubted that he’d have much trouble impersonating one. The helmet and visor should hide his identity well enough, and all he had to do was walk that business like walk that they must have taught at the Espo Academy and act as though he was on a mission. Nobody even thought to bother Maxx and he had no trouble at all until he slipped into Vardun Cantrel’s office suite.

Suddenly Maxx found himself face to face with Vardun Cantrel. The older man scowled.

“I didn’t call for you!” he bellowed.

Maxx quickly drew his Espo blaster and pumped a stun bolt into Cantrel. Maxx then raised the helmet’s polarized visor.

“Ok Aayla,” he said quickly, “Its time to go.”

Aayla Sedota just shook her head.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said firmly.

“Don’t you understand?” Maxx pleaded, “I’m here to rescue you.”

The young Twi’lek scowled.

“Oh, I understand plenty,” she replied fiercely. “I understand that there are hundreds of armed Espo troopers in this facility and I understand how dangerous traveling with you can be. This time I’m going to stay here with my master, it’s much safer.”

Maxx frowned, he hadn’t anticipated this.

“Don’t you want to be free?” he pleaded.

“You don’t understand flyboy,” Aayla replied coldly. “I’m a Twi’lek and a slave, I will never be free.”

Maxx leveled his blaster at Aayla.

“In that case,” he answered firmly, “You’re mine now, come!”

Aayla just stood there, her fists planted on her hips, her eyes blazing.

“Then shoot me now,” she demanded. “I’d rather die here.”

Maxx’s lips curled into a fiendish smile.

“As you wish,” he said as he pulled the trigger.

“Thankfully blasters have stun settings,” Maxx mused as Aayla crumpled to the floor. As he stared at the Twi’lek’s limp figure, it occurred to Maxx that he had no idea how he was going to get her back to the Nerf. That task would have been hard enough if Aayla had been conscious and cooperative, but now? Maxx started searching the suite for something inconspicuous that he could put her in. He found Cantrel’s sleek little R-10 household droid cowering in a corner and quickly blasted it. Maxx didn’t like the idea of harming the helpless droid, but he couldn’t have it raising an alarm. While he was searching the suite, he heard the door chime. Maxx hit the intercom and listened.

“Room service,” a droid replied on the other end.

Maxx hit the door switch. The doors slid open and a chrome plated SE4 servant droid walked in pushing a large serving cart. Maxx smiled and blasted the droid at the base of the neck as soon as the door closed. With any luck, this droid would be repaired soon and would be serving new masters. Maxx quickly examined the cart and discovered that if he removed the dividing tray, he should be able to cram Aayla into the lower compartment. “The force may be with us after all,” Maxx thought as he removed the tray.

***

Maxx used Cantrel’s hallway surveillance system to confirm that the hallway was empty before he wheeled the cart containing Aayla out of the room. He injected Cantrel with a strong tranquilizer to make sure that the executive couldn’t raise an alarm until Maxx was far away. Maxx was aware that Espo Troopers didn’t normally push serving carts, but a service elevator was only a short distance down the hallway. Maxx blasted the holocams in the hallway as soon as he opened the door and wheeled the cart to the elevator without being bothered.

***

The elevator seemed to take forever as Maxx waited for it to travel down to the hangar decks. The whole facility must have been alerted to the fact that something was definitely wrong and it wouldn’t take them long to figure out that there were only a few places that the perpetrator could have gone. Maxx was certain that there would soon be squads of Espo Troopers waiting for him at the lower exits, so he slipped out a few floors early to find another way down.

***

Maxx drew his blaster right before the doors opened and peered outside the elevator. Apparently nobody thought that Maxx would get off out here. Maxx noticed that he was on an upper balcony that looked down over the hangar deck. Maxx glanced down and saw the Nerf surrounded by Espo Troops six levels below. There was no way he was going to be able to get Aayla into the ship around that group. He’d have to signal Trouble to get out and steal another ship to escape with Aayla. Maxx was looking for a place to stash the cart containing Aayla so that he could scout around and find a ship to commandeer when he heard something that made his blood freeze.

“Turn around slowly and drop the weapon.”

Maxx recognized the voice. He slowly turned around and saw a tall man wearing the same black Espo Trooper armor that he was wearing. The man was pointing his blaster carbine right at Maxx’s head.

“Vicky!” Maxx said heartily as he carefully lowered his pistol to the floor. “Long time no see.”

The figure stiffened as if taken aback at Maxx’s familiarity.

“You’ll soon wish that you had never seen me,” the man growled.

“Oh, I’m already doing that,” Maxx replied agreeably. In the distance he heard a familiar whine, “So tell me kiddo. Now that you’ve got me dead to rights, what do you intend to do?”

Victor’s hold on the blaster stiffened. He could sense that Marcel was playing for time, but he couldn’t imagine what the smuggler thought he might gain by doing so. Surely, he didn’t imagine that the other Espos or Vardun Cantrel would go easy on the man who was trying to steal Cantrel’s favorite plaything away from him.

“I believe that you have an Imperial death mark on Tapan. As much as I’d love to take you there and see you face charges formally, I don’t think that Director Cantrel would allow you to leave in my custody. I suppose I’ll just have to finish…”

The whine quickly grew into a roar and soon drowned out even Victor’s voice. He turned around and was shocked to be looking at Marcel’s old YT-1300. The boarding ramp was lowered and a small repeating blaster canon was pointed at his head. Suddenly he felt himself being hit by a stun bolt and he crumpled to the floor.

Maxx quickly picked Victor Tekel up and put his body on top of the cart and pulled out a vibroblade to cut the railing so that he could push the cart containing Victor and Aayla onto the boarding ramp.

“Thanks!” he called out to Lo and the droids as TC-23J quickly injected Victor with a sedative. Maxx strode into the cockpit, sat down and flipped the switch that armed the ship’s weapons. He noted that Trouble had closed the boarding ramp and raised the shields as soon as he was on board. Maxx quickly fastened his crash webbing.

“Ready to blow this place?” he asked Lo as he pointed the bow towards the hangar doors.

Two concussion missiles quickly opened a hole in the hanger doors and the Wild Nerf rocketed out to freedom. Maxx figured that the Espos had probably launched fighters by now, so he slammed the throttle forward and counted on his reflexes to keep from hitting the few asteroids that stood between him and his hyperspace jump. He did have one near collision with a bulk freighter, but it wasn’t long before the Wild Nerf was safely zipping along in hyperdrive.