Ravensdagger_Overkill

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Eight It was unusual for Jedi Master Saesee Tiin to be in control of so many Jedi. He had earned a reputation as a calm voice of reason even during his short stay on the Jedi council, and his previous missions had always-or as much as he could-ended peacefully.He understood the value of martial prowess, but in truth that path had always made him uncomfortable. Taking a life sent ripples through the Force that left him disquiet. Bringing peace and joy, however, always gladdened his heart.Fortunately, he wasn’t alone on this mission. He had Jedi Master Coleman Trebor with him, a master of equal renown and great talent, and one who was, in Master Tiin’s own opinion, better suited to conflict of this sort than he himself was.That was... if this was to be a violent sort of conflict.The Jedi Master sat cross legged in his private quarters onboard a Consular-class cruiser, one of three being sent on this mission. They needed them for the twenty-two Jedi heading to Antar IV from Coruscant.So many Jedi on one mission, one where they had received only a small request for assistance from the system’s senator.He wiped away his growing frown, closed his eyes, and sank into the force.Sending this many Jedi out on a single mission was hardly unheard of. Sending this many when there seemed to be so little need for them on the surface, however, was strange. But it nonetheless felt right.There was a deep, thrumming warning in the force, and when Master Tiin first meditated upon his mission several weeks ago, he had asked for some assistance. Grandmaster Yoda had suggested Master Trebor, who had agreed to come.Master Windu had insisted on the other twenty Jedi.Half of them were knights, the other half their padawan, so it wasn’t as if Master Tiin was heading out with an army, exactly, but it was a much greater response than logic dictated they needed. And yet, as he sank deeper into the Force, he couldn’t help but feel like perhaps twenty-two wasn’t sufficient.

Taylor drank deeply from a metal flask of simple, cool water. She filled her mouth one last time, lowered the flask, then swallowed it all in one big gulp that ended with a happy exhale.She had never appreciated water this much before Tatooine. Now it was a simple pleasure. She was forgetting the rigours of the desert planet already, but every time she drank, it reminded her a little of that dustball.She never wanted to go back.Antar IV, which was quickly approaching past the viewport, was a much nicer world, and she was actually looking forward to visiting, even if she was a little nervous about it.Asajj was in the Atlas as well, on the opposite end of the ship, sitting cross-legged in the engineering compartment and presumably meditating. Taylor was keeping a thousand bug eyes on her, mostly because she had a few terrariums in that room which didn’t seem to bother Asajj much.HK-47 was tinkering with something in the workshop, the occasional welder flash going off, and the rest of her crew were either busy piloting the ship, or simply relaxing.She wasn’t so relaxed herself. There were, to use a rather silly idiom, butterflies in her stomach, and she didn’t quite know why. This wasn’t her first interesting situation, yet she still felt inexplicably nervous.She checked her gear one more time, just in case.Holdout blaster? Loaded with a fresh battery pack and cleaned up nicely.Primary blaster? Likewise ready.Lightsaber? Hanging from a quick-release on her hip. Similar to how Asajj had her own sabers.Her little communication device was buckled to her belt too.Taylor had discovered that one set of those Mandalorian boots actually fit her if she was willing to wear some slightly-thicker socks. The rest would still need to be tailored if she ever wanted to use it, though one pair of gloves was also a decent fit.Better than no armour, but not ideal.She really had to find someone to help with that Beskar. She pushed it up on her already long todo list.The Atlas hit some turbulence, and she looked up to see that they were already pushing through the planet’s atmosphere.Ships moved so quickly that it legitimately boggled her mind sometimes. She saw a large metropolis below, then they were pushing past skyscrapers on their way to the city’s main spaceport.As the ship turned around and started to come in for a landing, Taylor left her room. She stopped herself from checking her gear one more time. There was no point to it.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.Instead, she walked over to the exit door, not too far from the workshop, and waited for them to touch down. A whistle from behind had to half turning to see Tattletale rolling closer. She supposed they didn’t need to astromech now that they were planetside. “Any news from the Jedi?” she asked.The droid beeped and booped. It sounded more or less like a negative.Taylor nodded. She had to coach things in yes-or-no questions. “Are they on-planet already?”A negative warble.“Will they be coming soon?” she asked.A positive chirrup.“How soon? A day? No? Less? Alright. Twelve hours? Six? Three? Two? Ah, so between two and three hours. That’s... not very much time at all.” She shrugged. Their timing was really nice. If she left the Atlas now she might make it to the jedi just as they were leaving their ship. Or ships, as the case may be. That wouldn’t quite be an ambush, they'd have a numerical advantage, but it would also put her in a position where she could run if things went south.And it might give them the impression that she was more prepared than she was. Which might prove somewhat useful, because at the moment, she wasn’t feeling nearly prepared enough.“HK-47,” she called out. “Are you almost ready to go? We’re taking some of the B1s with us.”The droid stood up from the workbench he was on and turned towards her. Behind him, were their battledroids, all of them standing at robotic attention, ready to go. Some would stay behind of course, to guard the Atlas. In fact... maybe she’d only bring a dozen, in order not to be too intimidating. “Request: One moment, master. I have something to give you.”“You have something to give me?” Taylor repeated. She fell back onto her heels. “Alright. What is it?”“Explanation: It wouldn’t do for someone with the title of Darth to meet a Jedi without wearing the appropriate form of dress. But, lacking access to a proper cloak and traditional garb, I have found this in the ship’s stores. It’s an emergency weather-proof article of clothing.”The droid reached over to the counter of their workshop and grabbed a folded pile of clothes, handing it to her.She unfurled it, revealing... “This is a poncho,” she said. It was yellow. A bright, almost eye-searing yellow. It was made of a faintly reflective material, with a built-in hood. At least the hood was black.“Affirmative: It is, master. And it will disguise your missing arm and your choice of weapons from sight.”That... wasn’t a bad point, actually. “Alright,” Taylor said as she slipped the poncho on. It was fairly comfortable, the end stopping at mid-thigh, and she could hide all sorts of bugs in there. “It won’t hide my face, though.” She undid her belt, holster belt and tied it back on top of the poncho. It looked... decent enough, she supposed.It was hard to tell. Fashion was strange.HK-47 didn’t have a face to emote with, but Taylor still sensed his amusement. “Negation: It will not. However, this will.”The droid picked up another item from the workstation.She’d seen him making this through her bugs, but had thought it was a replacement part of some sort. Or a blank piece to show someone once they found someone capable of working with that Beskar they’d found.The item was a mask, with two visored slits and an angular faceplate with a protruding chin. It was all blackened metal, with a few highlights in red and yellow. The same paint they had used on her battledroids. “Huh. Thank you, HK-47.” She wouldn’t have thought the mask looked good, but something about it felt right.She looked inside it, figured out the straps at a glance, and noted that there was room within for a half-mask, and maybe some fancy HUD stuff, if they ever had the time to improve on the design.“Welcome: No need for thanks, master. I have a smaller, half-mask that the Dathomirian can use as well.”Taylor grinned as she fit the mask on. “Do you have another one of those ponchos?” she asked.“Amused affirmation: Yes master, I do.”“Well, I’m sure yellow is Asajj’s colour. It’ll make her look like a proper... sidekick.”Maybe Taylor shouldn’t have been feeling so amused. She might need Asajj’s help if things went crooked.Soon enough, that kernel of worry was buried under a mountain of amusement as Asajj looked at the outfit they’d picked out for them. She grumbled, spat, and made a fuss, but she wore it all the same.And then they were off, off to wait next to the landing pad that Tattletale had discovered the Jedi would be using.She was looking forward to this meeting. Hopefully it would be productive.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Thirty-Nine Jedi Master Saesee Tiin felt the ship touching down, and as it did, he opened his eyes and unfolded himself from his seated position.It was time.He adjusted his robes, then checked to see that his sabre was hooked in the right place. Not an action he’d done often, but one he felt was necessary now. Master Trebor was waiting for him in the corridor, green-skinned face set in a firm scowl. “So, you felt it too,” he said.“Yes,” Saesee Tiin said.“What do we do?” Trebor asked.“As the force wills us,” Tiin said easily. It was the answer to many of his questions. He felt the darkness. He felt something waiting for him. But he also felt the force stirring around them, a strong wind that nonetheless wasn’t a storm. There was curiosity there, and wondering, and caution, but not that electrical tingle that would announce impending violence.“May it be with us,” Trebor murmured. The vurk Jedi Master walked next to Master Tiin and they walked through the ship at an unhurried pace that likely belied some of their own nervousness. But as more Jedi knights appeared, ready to accompany them, Tiin was reassured by the pace Trebor set. It was a calming one, reassuring their subordinates that all was well in hand.“Master Tiin,” one of the knights said with a differential nod. “We are all ready.” The Jedi had her sabre in hand already, and Tinn gestured for her to be calm.“We will be leaving first,” he said. “Knights, come behind us, padawans behind you.”“What’s out there?” a young voice asked, and several eyes turned to a small human padawan who shrunk back at being the centre of so much sudden attention.“I don’t know,” Tiin admitted. “But I don’t sense animosity. We will do as Jedi ought, and investigate.”“Peacefully,” Master Trebor added. “Let us not be too hasty and spark violence where none need be sparked.”

“No HK-47, you can’t just open up on the Jedi the moment the ramp is down,” Taylor said.She stepped out from the spaceport’s terminal and onto the... she supposed it was a tarmac? Yes, that seemed like the appropriate term for the large space in the spaceport where ships actually came for a landing.There were three of them here. Taylor knew very little about spacecraft, and yet she did recognize these three ships. They were much nicer, better-maintained versions of one of the craft some pirates had attacked her with once.They were long, with a flattish body and a large cylinder at the front, as well as a rather exposed engine at the rear. These were painted a stark red, with a few white highlights, and the symbol of the Galactic Republic was proudly emblazoned on their flanks.Taylor adjusted her mask as she walked to the centre-most of the three, then she stopped.There was still a good fifty yards between her and the ship. There was less than that between her and the exit. “Lay out the droids in a line. If we need to run, we’ll use them as cover,” she said in rough basic. It would have been easier in English, but she needed every bit of practice she could get.Fortunately, Basic was... basic. It was a mess, with a strange grammar, but it felt a lot like English in that it basically had a lot of rules and none of them mattered as long as you had more or less the right words in more or less the right order.She supposed that it made sense as a lingua-franca for the galactic community. Something easy to learn and master so that trade could happen.“You’re going to run?” Asajj asked.Taylor glanced her way. “You said that Sith like you and Jedi have fought before,” Taylor said.Asajj nodded.The young woman looked rather silly. She wore her usual outfit, but has a poncho not too dissimilar to Taylor’s on. The difference was she was wearing it inside-out, yellow on the interior and black on the outside. That, and her HK-47-made mask, not too dissimilar to Taylor’s, but only covering half her face.It made her look fearsome, and yet... misplaced.Taylor was no Glenn, she couldn’t just whip up a cool costume on a whim. This would do for now.“Yeah, a Sith could chew through the average Jedi with ease. I heard that a Sith recently fought one. Killed a master. It was big news in the right circles.”That... was concerning, and definitely something Taylor would have liked to know before. “Well, there’s probably more than one Jedi here. And they probably have soldiers. Three ships is a lot. How many Jedi can you take all at once. And if you can take that many... can you handle those?” She pointed to the ship’s turbolasers.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.“Tch,” Asajj spat off to the side. She didn’t argue any more though, not even when the droids placed themselves in a line, maybe a yard between them, guns lowered to look non-threatening, but still in hand.“Suggestion: Master, it is not too late to give up on this farcical idea of negotiating with the Jedi from a position of weakness.”“That wasn’t actually a suggestion,” Taylor pointed out.“Suggestion: Negotiate instead from a position of power. Perhaps after razing the Jedi temple?”Taylor rolled her eyes. “Really?” She asked.“Contrite Statement: I knew you would disagree.”“Do not open fire unless the Jedi start to fight. And I mean actually attacking with blasters or lightsabers, not just arguing that could be vaguely translated as a ‘fight.’” Taylor said. She waggled a finger at her assassin droid, and it stared back with the expressionless face that countless people and droids had seen last.Taylor turned back to the ship.“They’re coming out,” she said.The bugs she’d placed on Asajj shifted as the young Sith woman changed her stance to something even more cocksure. Taylor decided to simply stand tall and still. There were ways to intimidate with one’s stance alone, but those required things that were outside of her control. So perfect stillness would have to do.The ramp on the side of the ship lowered, hitting the ground with a dull thump. Her insects, a few of them, at least, moved in, tagging the Jedi as she prepared herself for anything.