A New Player in the Force

The only issue with injuring several dozen pirates on a small passenger transport was the lack of effective medical care available.

Sure, the ship had a medic, but their supplies were limited. And while I would have liked to have used Heal to help them, the power was only Adept:9 and, according to the interface, I needed it to be at least Professional:1 to heal others.

That meant I had to help the medic with the injured instead of watching Dooku interrogate the leaders.

It took a full day to handle all the injuries – which granted me a few levels in Medicine [First Aid] – and then a further day to examine the computers of the three pirate ships. Though for the freighter, I’d first had to jettison the bodies of the dead crew before I could do that.

While my Computing [Slicing] and [Electronics] were at Professional:50 and Adept:94 respectfully, liberal usages of Enhance Skill – which was in the high Savant range – and shoddy data protection meant I was able to not only find records of previous attacks for cargo and slaves but also the location of their base.

The records would help to ensure the surviving pirates would face prosecution. However, Dooku did not feel that would stop the attacks and I had agreed.

The pirate base was in a system that was nothing more than a number in the transport’s navigation computer and the name of it meant nothing to Thrall or Dooku.

Because of that and perfectly remembering the meeting on Coruscant and the fact the golden halo/light on the transports had led me here, I’d suggested privately to Dooku that perhaps the system could be used by the group we were building as an initial staging post in this area of the galaxy.

He had agreed, expressing that it could also potentially be used for operations into Hutt Space that we wished to keep hidden from the High Council, explaining that the Hutts were the major source of many of the more illegal ills of the galaxy.

This much I had already surmised from the few memories I had of actually watching the Hutts in the movies and the show, but I was unaware of exactly how vast their network was. Dooku told me that each Hutt was essentially a criminal kingpin over their own small slice of the Outer Rim and that despite frequently feuding with one another, they were all connected in a vast criminal network such that, if we made any move against them, we’d need a hidden base to work from. It brought to mind images of the stereotypical Mafia families back on Earth.

That was why, four days after the attempted boarding by the pirates, Dooku and I dropped out of hyperspace on the very edge of the system, which was named by a random string of text and numbers (R11-0407), in a repurposed pirate raider.

The other raider and the freighter had been handed over to Thrall and his crew to be used as they wished, though not before I had wiped their computer systems for all records of where this system was; though only after backing up said data to a datapad now stored in my Inventory.

The two days of travel were needed as the planet was well outside any known hyperlanes and we needed to stop at a few other systems to plot the next jump in the sequence.

“I really wish this thing had some decent long-range scanners,” I moaned from my seat at the helm as I examined the lack of useful information from said scanners. “As expected, we’ve got seven major bodies. Four gaseous and three that are small enough to be solid, though only one is in the habitable zone; and even then, it is at the far edge of the zone.”

“That should be where the prisoners indicated their base and station were,” Dooku commented from the command chair behind me. “Are there any indications of the other ships or the station from this distance?”

“Nope. As I said, this piece of junk is lacking decent long-range scanners.” I replied with annoyance at the raider.

The ship could carry up to fifty people – if they packed in and shared bunks – and work with a minimum crew of five. Since it was only Dooku and me currently on board, that meant we’d had to split up the work normally meant for those five. And since Dooku was uninterested in mechanics, engineering, and other technical subjects, that resulted in me having to serve as pilot, engineer and navigator while also ensuring the two laser cannons and one ion cannon were operational in the event we ended up in a fight.

Dooku’s interrogations, and my examination of the ship's logs, had informed us that around three hundred pirates were working from this system. That was a large number for such an operation, which meant, according to Dooku, that it had been active for quite a while and probably had backing from someone with more money and connections than your average pirate or slaver.

They operated in four groups. Two capture teams, one of which we’d taken out, one selling team that travelled into Hutt Space to sell the ore that the slaves mined from the planet as well as any slave that was proving particularly unruly, and a command group that managed the remaining slaves on the station and planet.

The reason that they didn’t sell all the slaves was twofold. Firstly, to allow the pirates some level of comfort while on the station and secondly, that the planet below the station was rich in several valuable ore and minerals. Those slaves not kept as ‘staff’ or sold on the slave markets in Hutt Space were sent to work in mines. And from everything we’d discovered, most did not live very long.

We were hoping that the two other teams were out of the system, as dealing with the rest of the pirate fleet would be extremely difficult. Our only real hope in that situation was that we would be able to approach close enough that I could use TK to take out entire ship crews. However, the issue there was the other freighter they were operating using carried a high number of sentients as that would indicate slaves onboard.

“Hmm. Very well. Set a course for the habitable planet. However, take it slow and alter the course randomly once we are closer. If we do run into other vessels, we can claim we are all that survived the boarding.”

“Perhaps we could also vent the atmosphere from a few empty sections of the ship?” I suggested.

“Yes, that would help to sell our story, but hold off on doing so until we are closer. I do not wish to risk what little integrity this vessel has on an illusion we may not need.”

“Yes, Master,” I replied as we began to move deeper into the system. At current speeds, it would take us almost a day to reach the station, but that was fine as it gave me more time to search the ship for hidden stashes.

We had gutted all three ships of their stores, discovering about ten thousand credits – that Dooku gave to Captain Thrall and his crew – and a good number of illegal substances – which we had jettisoned into space – medical, food stores and restraining equipment.

That meant I now had a dozen restraining cuffs stored away for a rainy day along with the further two dozen we had on board for securing any slavers that were smart enough to surrender.

All but a week’s worth of food had been transferred to Captain Thrall’s transport, though I had discovered a few hundred more credits in hidden stashes along with a few other miscellaneous items. And I was hoping to be able to loot the vessels and station here once we took care of the pirates.

… …

… …

Early the following morning, I was woken by Dooku summoning me to the bridge before the start of my shift.

“It appears we are in luck,” he stated as I entered the small, cramped bridge. “Neither the transport for selling nor the other capture team is in-system.”

I moved to the helm station and pulled up the scanners.

What Dooku had stated was correct, a small raider about the same size as our vessel was currently travelling between the planet and the station.

I also noted that while we were approaching the planet slowly, the ship was carrying out a series of seemingly random movements along the y-axis hopefully suggesting that our vessel was damaged.

“They’re trying to hail us,” I said as the commlink began to blink.

“Ignore it for now. When we are closer, we will reply. I have the names of a few of the lower members of the crew you can use if asked.”

I turned and looked back at him.

“While I could carry out the conversation, my tone and style are far too refined to allow me to play the role convincingly,” He explained, answering the question I had conveyed with a look. “While you are far younger than any member of their crew, a simple dropping of your tone, along with applying some basic contractions should be sufficient to fool whomever you speak to. At least until we can land at the station.”

“Yes, Master,” I replied as I turned back to my station and looked over the scanner data.

I frowned as I read the details about the station. Mainly because, while it was large enough to be a station, it clearly was not.

The vessel was massive, having dimensions of three by two by five kilometres, and their engines dominated the back of the ship – which was the direction we were approaching from – with the largest engines being easily wide enough for our raider to fly into.

What confused me about it, however, was the fact that while the engines and the area around that looked like a starship, the upper reaches of the vessel ended in towers and spires that reminded me of churches and temples from Earth.

“What is that?” I asked out loud as I pulled up a holographic image of the temple-ship.

“I am unfamiliar with the design, though judging from the multitude of damage suffered by the hull, I would surmise it was old and adrift when these slavers discovered it.”

“Why does it look like a temple, though? I don’t recall ever seeing any starships with that profile in any history files.”

“Hmm. I feel as though I have heard of such ships, but in history books that predate even your birth,” Dooku said slowly as the image rotated as the temple-ship turned in real-time. “However, that is a mystery we can discover once we have secured the vessel.”

As a warning blinked on my console, I changed the holographic display to show the small vessel that had been travelling to the station had altered course. “We’ve got an escort inbound.”

“Very well. Use the name Haram if asked for one and begin the random venting program you devised.”

A few seconds later the program I had created began to slowly vent atmosphere from various points along the hull in a seemingly random pattern. It had taken me a few hours to design a simple randomizer function and insert it into the program for venting. Hopefully, it would help sell our ‘damage’.

Even as we began to vent, I manually made sure to keep the approaching raider under the aim of one of our ships’ weapons. I did this by moving all three in jerking motions. Again, I could only hope the approaching ship bought the charade and didn’t spot that I always had a weapon trained on them.

Again, the commlink blinked, and after a comment from Dooku, I opened the link while activating Enhance Skill for Deception.

“Crassk, what are you doing?” A voice hissed over the comms. “And why can’t we see you.”

“Crassk is dead,” I replied, doing my best to make my voice seem deeper and rougher. “The fracking ship was carrying Jedi!”

“Kriff! What about the other ships?” the voice demanded.

“Lost. The Jedi waited until we docked the transport before attacking.” I paused for effect. “It was a massacre.”

“Double kriff! Darvok is going to be furious.” The voice went silent for a moment before continuing. “How many of you escaped?”

“About a dozen of us, but the ship’s starting to fall apart. The Jedi tried to rip the damn engines from us as we fled.”

“That’s… right, right. We can see hull breeches from here. Follow us into the hangar. Darvok is going to want a report.”

The link closed before I could reply, and the approaching raider banked towards the temple-ship as I moved to follow.

“Nicely done, Cameron. I would say there is now a fair chance that this Darvok will be waiting for us on their command ship along with members of his crew.”

“Meaning we can take out their leadership before they realise what is going on,” I replied even as I waved away a notice saying I’d gained another level in Deception as I stopped using Enhance Skill.

Dooku nodded. “Indeed. Ideally, the other raider will and nearby so we can take out its crew before they can react.”

We spent the time as we moved towards the temple-ship developing simple plans for taking out any welcoming party and gaining control of the station/temple-ship.

The simple truth was that bar me using TK to take out our escort ship, and the welcoming party before they could call for help, the plan was basically to identify the slavers and then disable them. Though I suspected that Dooku’s meaning of disabling the slavers involved more extreme methods than most Jedi would prefer to use. Or at least I hoped it did as I felt that slavers deserved no mercy.

It was about twenty minutes later when our raider was guided into a large bay on the far side of the temple-ship.

While I thought I saw other such bays dotted around the massive vessel, this was the only one that was open. Perhaps that was by choice, but more likely it was due to it being the only one that was open when the slavers discovered the vessel.

“Our escort is hanging back,” I stated as we passed through the forcefield that held the atmosphere in the bay. “They’re beginning to turn.”

“What about their weapons?” Dooku inquired as I guided our vessel towards where a group of about ten sentients were gathered. We were still too far away to see what they were up to, but if they weren’t thinking about targeting us, I’d buy a holiday villa on Hoth.

“Still no lock. I think…” I paused as I saw something on the scanners. “They’ve moved behind us. It doesn’t seem like they’ve locked on, but we’re in their sights.” I felt… something as though a feeling was trying to warn me about something even as Danger Sense flared.

“Hmm. I believe they have not entirely bought your deception,” Dooku muttered, confirming the feeling I’d just had was a warning from the Force, and I reached out with Detection.

“You might be right, Master. I think I can sense another thirty or so beings behind the doors to either side of our landing area,” I said, trying to still sound vague to not make it seems as though I could sense every sentient being and droid within a hundred kilometres.

“There is no need to understate your ability, Padawan. Neither Master Fay nor I have your sensitivity with senses others through the Force.” Dooku said firmly and even without turning, I knew he was scowling at my attempt to undersell my ability.

“There’s sixteen to the left, eighteen to the right along with a few droids,” I said, not bothering with an apology as Dooku was not one to accept them, preferring instead that I simply learnt the lesson and moved on. “There’s also seventeen on the raider on our tail and, given to the group of fifteen I can sense, another vessel is approaching from the planet from behind the temple-ship, which is probably why the scanners on this bucket can’t detect it.”

“How far away is this second vessel?”

“Seventy kilometres, I think.” I wasn’t being vague on purpose here as the distance they were at was beyond my minimap, so I was only given a rough estimate of the range to the targets; in this case between fifty and one hundred klicks.

Once again, the usefulness of Detection over distance was limited due to my minimap. Hopefully, a new Perk or Player Power would allow for upgrading the minimap.

I quickly rotated the minimap with a thought, to see where the group was relative to my current plane. “They’re approaching from below and on our right,” I added, taking advantage of a new feature of the minimap to allow me to rotate it to show the z-axis. That feature had been added during the update, but I’d only discovered it while we were travelling to this system as there had been no mention of the interface changing in that way with the update.

“Most impressive. And highly advantageous in situations such as these.” He paused for a moment as I brought the vessel to a stop as we touched the deck. “We need to disable both those vessels quickly before we lower the ramp, but if we move too early, we risk alerting those aboard this station to our intentions and increase the chances they can warn their cohorts on other vessels or the planet below.”

“I can sense about another hundred beings and ten droids aboard the station, Master. I cannot tell which are slavers or slaves, however, though I’d suspect that the two groups that are crowded together are prisoners.”

“Hmm, then after we secure our landing area, we will have to take the station the normal way.” Dooku with a subtle uptick of his lips as he stood. “Come. We have to pay our respects to our hosts.”

I managed to avoid chuckling at Dooku’s humour as I followed him off the bridge.

As we reached the landing ramp, he moved to the controls but paused before lowering the ramp.

“Can you still sense the crew of the two other vessels?” I nodded, as I’d kept Detection on the Force gave me a warning. “Good, then on my mark take them out…… Mark.”

As the pressure seal hissed as it released, I reached out with TK and violently slammed every sentient on the two raiders upwards, and then down then repeated the process on the three droids, though I slammed them up and down a second time to be sure. The whole process took only a few seconds, but most of the marks shown by Detection faded away.

Even as my XP leapt upwards, confirming the majority of those ship’s crews were dead, I silently prayed that there were no slaves upon the vessels. As for the slavers… they had it coming.

“Jedi!” someone roared from outside the ship, drawing me back from my thoughts, as a handful of blaster bolts came our way.

I simply leaned to one side to avoid the few that passed near me while Dooku effortlessly deflected them back, killing the two who had shot at him.

Before the ramp was even fully descended, I had used Barrier to block all incoming fire a few metres in front of us.

“Impressive,” Dooku stated as we walked down the ramp, the blaster fire bouncing harmlessly off my Barrier. “How long could you maintain this barrier?”

I glanced at my FP bar, noted the number it was displaying, then the various powers I had active – Detection, Barrier, Precognition and Bullet-Time – and did a few quick mental calculations.

“About three minutes, though I could extend it to maybe ten if I concentrate on nothing else.” Meaning disabling all other active Force Powers, which I was not keen to do in a combat situation after my kidnapping just over two years ago.

Dooku gave a single, brief nod, but anything he might have said was cut off as the doors to port and starboard opened, allowing the reinforcements I had detected to enter the bay.

“While impressive, I believe it would be more beneficial if we took the offensive.” His voice never once rose in concern at the fact we were now outnumbered over twenty to one and I found myself adopting a similar sense of calm.

“Yes, Master.” I reached out with TK, but instead of throwing everyone upward, I instead focused on every blaster in the room and yanked them towards me.

“What the?” “Huh?” “Kriff!”

Several voices called out as I yanked over two dozen blasters towards us, then turned them around in mid-air and aimed at their former owners.

“Surrender. This is your only chance.” Dooku called out as I dropped Barrier to concentrate on the blasters, trying not to think about how cool it must look for me to be holding nearly four dozen blasters in the air and aiming them, and silently wondering why Jedi didn’t do this more often.

“Why? We’re not in Republic Space, Jedi. You have no authority here.” A voice called out as a Bothan stood, flanked by two Trandoshans. “We are operating with the permission of the Hutts.”

“That may be, but you are targeting Republic transports, and are engaged in slavery. We will not tolerate this.” Dooku countered as I noted the two exceptionally large Trandoshans had pulled vibroblades from their belts; and gripped them tightly with two hands.

I had to assume the other pirates were also reaching for spare weapons, and it was only a subtle gesture from Dooku that prevented me from firing off every blaster I held with TK. Though given the way my FP was rapidly dropping from me holding all these blasters aloft, I suspected I could only keep this up for another minute or so. Which told me why Jedi generally didn’t do this often. No matter how cool it looked, it was a very taxing use of the Force.

The Bothan chuckled at Dooku’s statement, as did a few others.

“Really? The lapdogs of the Senate, who care nothing for the Rim, won’t allow slavery? What if I told you that some of our biggest clients were on Core worlds such as Coruscant?”

“I would not be surprised. I take it you will not surrender?” [Be ready, Padawan.] Dooku added mentally.

“No. Eve…”

“Very well.” Dooku cut off the leader and raised his lightsaber for combat. [Fire.]

I did as he instructed, and the floating collection of blasters opened fire on the three groups of slavers.

They only fired for a few seconds before Precognition warned me of an attack, and I dropped the blasters, spun and unclipped and ignited my lightsaber, allowing me to easily deflect the blast that was aimed for my head back the way it came. Using Precognition with Bullet-time was incredibly overpowered when dealing with a small number of enemies, which explained why well-trained Jedi were so feared as opponents.

I stepped towards where that blast had come from, deflecting or avoiding a few more blasts as I noted that there were less than a dozen slavers left alive in the landing area with us.

As I deflected another blast, a blade came flying towards me from behind a stack of crates, and I ducked while moving my blade upwards. The offending arm fell helplessly to the floor even as its owner screamed in pain.

His screams died as I slashed him from waist to neck even as I pulled another pirate towards me, slamming them into the crates.

“I give up!” shouted the only slaver left in the small group I’d approached as he dropped his blaster pistol.

I hit him with a Stun and turned back to the crates where the first slaver of this little group was slowly standing.

Before he could orientate himself, I drove my saber through his chest.

Another glance at my minimap told me the landing bay was now secure. Including the one I’d stunned, there were only three others alive in the bay.

I walked back over to our ship and noted that Dooku was glowering down at the now one-armed Bothan. Both Trandoshans lay dead on the floor with various limbs lying around their bodies.

Part of me was disturbed by how calmly Dooku was about dismembering and killing, but the larger part knew from my previous life that in combat the most important thing – beyond making sure you survived – was taking out your enemy.

“The bay is secure Master,” I stated as I pulled the stunned slaver to the ship. “This one chose to surrender.”

“A far wiser choice than the one taken by his leader,” Dooku replied, turning back to the kneeling Bothan. “Now, you will tell me how many others there are on the station.” Dooku almost growled out as he waved his hand across Bothan’s face.

“Ha!” The Bothan spat at Dooku’s feet. “You think I’m some weak-willed fool who’d let you manipulate me?”

“You will tell me.” Now Dooku did growl and I noted that Bothan’s eyes rolled back in his eyes for a moment as the Force washed over the area.

“I will tell you. There are another thirteen of my men on the station.” All the confidence was gone from the Bothan’s voice, as was any hint of emotion as he answered robotically.

“And on the planet below?”

“Another twenty-three.” The Bothan drooled as he spoke and I was certain that Dooku had pushed harder than most Jedi would approve of, but I had no sympathy for the slaver.

Dooku turned to me. “Secure these two and that one in the ship. I will see about securing this bay fully and locating a terminal.”

I nodded and lifted the leader, the one who had surrendered to me and another slaver that was slummed over near Dooku into the ship.

While I had levelled up thanks to the combat, I ignored the notice as the business of securing the temple-ship took precedence. Though the fact my FP had reset with the level-up was another exploitable quirk of my power that I wasn’t going to complain about.

Once that was done, and we were heading to the ground, I’d pull up the notice and examine what new Perks and Player Powers were available to me.

As I returned to the landing bay, I found Dooku examining a computer console.

“Cameron, please examine this.” He stated without turning.

As I approached, I noted the console was massively different from anything I’d seen so far in this galaxy.

Most computer systems, even those designed on opposite sides of the galaxy, used similar basic styles and layouts for their displays and consoles.

This one, however, along with looking as though someone had stripped away most of the outer casing, did not conform to that style.

The characters, while still Basic, were in a font I could not recall ever seeing before.

“Thoughts?” Dooku asked as he stepped back to allow me to use the console, which I began to do after activating Enhance Skill for Computing [Electronics].

After tapping away at the controls and examining what I could of the programming language from this point, I turned to look at him.

“This ship is old. Incredibly old judging by what I can follow of the underlying code. It’s still on Basic, which does suggest Republic, or at least Human, origin. Beyond that, there’s not much I can say beyond speculation.”

“It does not match anything from your original time?” He agreed with me about its age and was looking for a guide as to when the ship had been launched.

I shook my head. “No. While millennia have passed, the underlying styles have not altered as much as one would expect. This, however, I have never seen anything like it before.”

Dooku leaned back and stroked his beard. “I believe I may have, but until we learn more about this station, I am reluctant to state my suspicions.”

I gave a single nod in reply. Dooku, as I had learnt from my time with him, was very much a person who preferred facts and details over hunches and speculation, which was why I had held off on revealing my thoughts about the ship’s age.

“While it is old, Master, I have been able to locate the main bridge. The slavers have jury-rigged a workaround that has given them basic control of this place along with a map.

“Using this, and the Force, I’ve picked out nine of the remaining thirteen slavers onboard. Six are in or around the command centre with the other three near the engine room.” I explained, pointing to those two locations on the map that was now displayed on the console.

“And the last four?”

“Given that the slaves appear to be in two main areas, I’d wager that there’s a pair at each location acting as jailers.”

“Yes, that would be the most logical approach. However, until we secure the slaves, we cannot be sure about that.

“Also, in their position, I would have a secondary method for dealing with us. Probably explosives at or near the slaves.” He paused and leaned closer to examine the map. “These two locations appear to be bays similar to this one. That would make eliminating those slaves a simple task that would not threaten the integrity of this place.”

“The controls for this docking bay are not linked to the bridge, which would suggest the others are not either,” I explained slowly as I manipulated the map. “Though they could easily have rigged explosives to those bay doors with a remote trigger being held by the new commander of the operation.”

“Indeed. Then our primary objective now is to secure the slaves in landing bays, preferably without alerting those in engineering or command.”

“Master, perhaps there is a way to secure them and take out the bridge at the same time.”

“Proceed.”

I pulled the map of this place back until it showed all five possible targets. “While you head to the bridge, and confront the slavers there, I can scout the two bays and locate the explosives, if there are indeed any. Once I’ve done so, you can face those on the bridge while I take out those holding the slaves.”

“While I have been impressed by your performance so far, I do not believe you can be in two places at once.”

I smirked. “Technically no, however thanks to training with Master Fay, I can have improved the distance I can teleport, and with the map of the ship, and being able to sense where everyone is, I’m confident that I can move from one to the other without being seen.”

“Hmm.” Dooku once more stroked his beard. “There is merit to your proposal and while I am reluctant to support it, I feel it does grant us the greatest chance of taking out the slavers and securing the slaves without their lives being threatened.”

He stepped back from the console and turned to face me directly. “Very well. We will approach this your way. However, if at any moment I feel you are overexerting yourself, I will inform you to cease using the Force to teleport and instead handle each group to the best of your ability.”

“Yes, Master,” I replied.

“Good. Contact me once you have reached the first location.” With that, he turned and walked towards the central doorway, the only one that had been open when we had landed and where the initial group of slavers had been gathered.

I took off at a jog towards the nearest bay holding the slaves.

While making my way there, I wondered just when the slavers had gathered their captives in the two locations. I had to assume that they allowed them some right to roam freely while they ‘worked’ or assigned them to different areas of the station.

Given that they were ready before we even landed, it suggested that Crassk – the name they’d used when the first raider had hailed us – had actually been a coded phrase. That was more than I’d expected from a group of slavers, but given the size of this operation, it did make sense that the beings in charge had been expected to be rumbled at some point.

I had to hope that the missing group – the one responsible for selling those slaves deemed of high value – hadn’t been alerted to our attack. If they had, they would either go to ground or try to hire mercenaries and muscle from whoever was backing this operation. And given that the Bothan leader had hinted that they had connections on Coruscant and other Core worlds, that reprisal could be large and brutal.

Soon enough I was close to the nearest of the two landing bays and I slowed.

Now that I was closer and could focus on the information Detection was providing to me via the minimap, I was able to note that almost everyone in the bay was huddled together in small groups, save for two who seemed to be walking around, though one was always close to the main door to the bay.

It was logical to assume that those two were the ones in charge.

After a moment examining what Detection and the minimap were telling me, I Phased through a wall near the entrance and glanced around.

The area I’d appeared in was in a corner, partially shielded from sight by the two now-confirmed slavers.

I pulled my head back and turned, running as quickly as I dared through the corridors of the massive ancient ship until I reached the second slave-filled bay.

Again, I used the combo of Detection and the minimap to locate a quiet corner in the bay and Phased inside to make sure it was clear.

I tapped open my commlink, slid a small comm receiver into my ear to prevent it from broadcasting Dooku’s expected reply, and whispered.

“Master, I have identified the guards in the two bays.”

“Excellent. I will leave my link open. The moment you hear a voice other than my own take them down and evacuate the slaves from the bays.”

I didn’t reply, instead simply waited as the sounds of a door hissing open could be heard.

“That’s far enough Jedi!” someone hissed, though whatever he added I did not instantly hear as I threw a pair of Stun blasts at the two guards in this bay. I would, however, be able to review what was said thanks to Eidetic Memory at a later point in time.

“Quickly! We need to get out of here!” I shouted as the two Weequay collapsed in heaps.

“Who?” “What?”

Several voices commented on the two guards falling like puppets that had their strings cut. Then slowly, very slowly, the gathered slaves – mainly females – turned towards me.

“Look, I don’t have time for this,” I called out as I ignited my lightsaber. “You need to get out of this bay. NOW!”

“But the masters…” One female, a yellow-skinned Twi’lek began as I noted that she, like the others, was all wearing a metallic collar that I had to assume was used to control them. And was probably rigged with explosives if they tried to revolt.

“…are dead.” I finished, before shrugging. “Well, most of them. My Master is handling the last few, but we need you out of here before they realise what I’m doing.”

Slowly, but getting quicker, the sixty or so people in the room began to move.

“Good, that’s it,” I said as the first few exited the bay into the corridor. “Keep moving. We need to get out of this bay quickly.”

“What about the children?” The yellow-skinned Twi’lek asked. “They keep them separate as a way to control us.”

“I’ll free them, just get everyone out of here and seal the door behind you,” I replied before Teleporting to the other bay.

“What the kriff was that?” one of the guards in this bay asked, though his partner wasn’t able to reply as I struck them with a Force Blast, sending them crashing, fatally if the sound of bones crunching was any indication, into the far wall.

Perhaps I could have stunned them like the other two, but learning they were keeping children as prisoners took my mind back to my mission two years ago, and the state I’d found Bultar and Jon in. Thus, those two slavers had just paid the price for my thoughts and residual anger.

“Who are you?” a Human male who was maybe a year or two older than me asked as I noted that he was one of the few children to have a collar like the adults. Probably as most were far too young – and thus too small – to need or fit a control collar.

I tweaked my wrist, indicating the still-lit lightsaber. “Cameron. I’m here to rescue you. I’ve already freed the other bay with the adults. We need to get out of this bay, NOW!” I used Force Compulsion to make my point.

“We need to get out of this bay, now.” The boy repeated before he turned to the others. “The Jedi are here!” he called out as the children, some looking no older than five, moved closer.

The way they looked up at me, hope mixed with disbelief on faces that had seen far too much of the darkness of the universe at far too young an age was something I would never, ever forget. Even without Eidetic Memory. And, I suspected, would influence how I went about my plans for the future.

“Come on. We need to move.” I stated as calmly as I could as I opened the main door. And came face to plate with a droid.

“You…” The droid wasn’t able to get anything out as I struck it with Ionize.

That was still a low-level power and would only disable the droid for a minute or so, but it was enough time for me to ascertain that it was nothing more than a service droid. Hopefully, the other droids onboard were like this one and not designed for combat.

The group of around twenty children, ranging in age from maybe thirteen down to five quickly exited the room and I sealed the doors.

“Prisoners secure,” I stated through my commlink.

“These negotiations are finished.” I heard Dooku state followed by the unmistakable sound of a lightsaber swishing.

Blaster fire and a few screams followed, but after a minute the link fell silent.

“I have secured the command centre,” Dooku stated. “Gather everyone in the hangar where we arrived.”

He closed the commlink without waiting for a reply and I turned to the boy who’d spoken up when I’d first entered the bay and used Observe.

“Reithe, I need you to get to make sure the others follow me. We’re going to another hangar where we’ll meet the adults.”

“How…” Reithe stopped his question – probably about how I learnt his name – and nodded. “Right. Everyone, we need to follow the Jedi. He’ll keep us safe.”

As I turned to walk down the corridor, I felt a tug at my robes. Turning back, I found a young tan brown-skinned Zabrak girl standing there. She looked to be around seven or eight, but it was hard to be certain and I didn’t bother using Observe on her.

“Are you really a Jedi?” she asked as she pointed at my lightsaber, which I had powered down just before opening the door out of their landing bay.

“Yes. I’m Cameron. What’s your name?”

“Tedra. Are you taking me to my mummy?” She asked and I nodded. “Okay.” Her hand slipped into my free one and I felt… something as we touched.

Curious about what it was, I cast Observe on her, and I was glad I was already turning back as I read the information.

Tedra Zill

Race: Zabrak

Level: 5

Health: 80% [Malnourished]

Age: 6

Force Potential: High

Threat Potential: Negligible

Emotional State: Hopeful, Curious, Amazed

Tedra has been held on this ship for months and is hopeful you can free her and her mother.

She has always wanted to meet a Jedi and has many questions for you.

And she wonders if you know something about the strange things that happen around her.

…

Most of that was what I expected, but the high Force Potential made me stop for a moment in mid-step.

She was the first person I had discovered with such potential who was not a member of the Jedi Order. Oh, I’d come across a few with intermediate Force Potential outside the Order, but those had all been people older than me. Yet Tedra was the first with a potential high enough to be considered for Jedi training that was younger than me.

Perhaps I could get her placed in the temple once this was all over, however, I was concerned they would reject her based on her age and what she had experienced her. And I would also have to speak with her mother if she was still here.

As I shifted back to the here and now, I remembered about the three slavers in engineering, and after checking the Detection-boosted minimap, I noted that there were only two people now there, and one was Dooku. His signature was pulsing to indicate a Force Bond.

“I have secured the engine room,” came his voice over the commlink as if he knew I was just realising where he was. Which he probably did due to the Force. “I will return to our landing bay shorty so we can speak to the freed slaves and consider our next move.”

“Yes, Master,” I replied, before glancing at Tedra. “I think I’ve found something, someone, of interest.”

“Indeed,” I could sense his curiosity through the Force Bond we shared. “I look forward to seeing what or who this is once I arrive.”

He closed the link, and a few minutes later I arrived with the children in tow at the landing bay to find the freed adults mulling around outside.

“Resa!” one of the adults called out and a green-skinned Twi’lek female broke from the adult group.

A child from my group ran to her and quickly the corridor was full of lots of reunions.

“Is your mother here?” I asked Tedra, who had still to let go of my hand as my eyes scanned for any adult Zabraks.

Tedra shook her head before it fell. “I, I don’t see mummy.”

“Hey, it’s ok. We’ll keep looking” I replied with a smile. “There are still people on the planet below. She’s probably down there.” I could only hope that was the case as if not, then her mother had probably been sold into slavery in Hutt Space which would make finding her almost impossible.

“Yeah.” Tedra smiled back, but it was not a strong smile.

“Tedra, I need to go and clear out this room. There’s… some bad things in there that I need to clean up before you and the others can go in.” I explained slowly before spotting Reithe who also had not found a parent or relative. “Can you wait with Reithe until I get back?”

“Okay,” She whispered, and I quickly led her to the older boy and explained vaguely why I had to go in alone.

Thankfully, he understood what I meant by bad things, and he led her to a group of children that had not found their loved ones and where the adults without children were also congregating.

It took me about ten minutes to move all the bodies to an airlock, loot them for valuables – netting me a few thousand credits – and stockpile all the weapons before I was willing to let the freed slaves in.

Though as I re-emerged into the corridor, I found Dooku in a heated conversation with some of the former slaves.

“While I certainly understand your desires, allowing them to face mob justice would only lower yourselves to their level,” Dooku said calmly as he stood between a group of about ten freed slaves and four slavers. Three of the slavers were missing limbs, while the fourth was staring down at the ground.

“We don’t care! They deserve to die!” shouted back a Togruta female who drew my eyes due to her unusual purple skin. “They killed my brother!”

“And my mate!” “Where’s Kisa?” “We want justice!”

The shouts from the group were loud and I glanced at the children who hadn’t found a relative, and possibly never would.

“They will face the full extent of Republic justice; I assure you of this,” Dooku stated with an air of certainty. “However, what you seek is not justice, but revenge. Instead of taking stock of your situation, learning how to remove those ghastly collars, or organizing for when the last group of slavers returns, possibly with heavily armoured reinforcements, you instead wish to carry out mob vengeance.” He paused and glared into the eyes of each of the groups who were facing him. “Have you devolved that much?” He asked though I was certain he would say more if not for the fact he was a Jedi Master and thus had to maintain an air of serenity.

I watched as he continued to glare at the group, impressed with how well he was handling them as I had felt that Fay was the better at de-escalating a situation. And while Dooku’s words and posture were working – only a few continued to meet his eyes – I was sure Fay would be less… forceful in her words, gestures, and posture than Dooku was being.

“Should I secure the prisoners, Master?” I asked, drawing everyone’s attention to me in a way that should hopefully distract them enough for their anger to subside where they weren’t trying to threaten a Jedi Master.

“Yes, Cameron.”

“You trust a child to guard those monsters?” the purple-skinned Togruta asked with a snarl that exposed her teeth.

I bristled at the putdown and waved my hand, lifting the four slavers behind Dooku into the air then dragged them towards the bay doors.

“While still young, I would wager that Cameron here has seen more combat than any other than I. And it is he, not I, who took out the crews of two vessels from distance and most of the crew of this station,” Dooku explained as I sensed his pride through our Force Bond.

I didn’t catch the rest of the conversation as the doors to the bay closed, but I couldn’t deny that I walked taller as I crossed the bay to our re-purposed raider; the four slavers making sounds as I lazily rotated them around in the air as they floated along behind me.

... …

A few hours later, we were on the way to the surface of the planet that the temple-ship orbited.

While both Dooku and I would have liked to head to the planet immediately and take care of the pirates there, a few issues had to be dealt with before we could go.

The first, and one that took the longest, was getting the slaves to agree to stay on the temple-ship and wait for us to return from the planet instead of flying down there themselves.

Dooku had managed to convince them of the inherent dangers in them doing so, not least that few of them were in any condition to fight.

I’d also pointed out that the adults were still wearing control collars that could kill them if someone sent the right signal to them.

This was overcome by Dooku persuading, ok more like subtly threatening, them to give over the codes and me confirming those codes with the rather primitive computer system the slavers had rigged up on the temple-ship.

Before said collars were jettisoned into space – they contained a minute explosive charge – I had added a few to my Inventory. While I doubted that I’d ever need such a device, it was better to be prepared.

I had also added a few extra blaster pistols and rifles and vibroknives to the Inventory as well before we allowed the slaves to arm themselves. Strangely, the Inventory allowed me to stack the weapons even when they were not the same make and model, just that they were the same style. The only downside of this was that I just wouldn’t be able to select which weapon I got from the stack if I pulled one out.

We had then to locate and distribute supplies to keep the now uncollared slaves fed, though that had been more about working with the six or so – including the purple-skinned Togruta named Baalta – to organize the freed slaves.

While Dooku had dealt with that, I had pulled the two now derelict raiders into the bay – amazing those in the bay – before cleaning them out. Sadly, I hadn’t had time to search the ships for hidden caches before we had left for the planet.

The plan if the slavers didn’t surrender was simple. Take out any air defences, then land and secure the base. If the defences were too great for us to take head-on, or the slavers had done the same as those on the temple-ship, I was to use my more, as Dooku put it, exotic abilities to disable any advantage the slavers appeared to have.

“We’re coming up on the camp now,” I said from the helm while Dooku had again taken the captain’s chair.

“Have they spotted us?” he asked just before a few stray bolts of blaster fire struck the raider’s shields.

“I’d say so, but from these readings, they don’t have any anti-air defences. Hmm, scanners are only showing less than a dozen beings in or around the camp.” I replied, ignoring the blasts that were coming from pistols and rifles as they lacked the power to do any real damage to the raider’s shields.

“Program the ship to bring us down in the clearing at the west of the camp. Once that is done, reach out and see when you can sense.”

I did as he instructed and tilted my head at what I sensed.

“I’ve got a further six beings in the trees to the south while the rest are either in the three groups totalling a few hundred that are no more than a kilometre below the surface or are outside the range of what I can sense,” I said, explaining what I picked up from Detection.

I was still surprised that more Jedi didn’t spend time training that power as even outside of tense situations like combat, the advantages it gave you were immense.

“Hmm. It appears we will have to convince them to surrender,” Dooku began and I just knew he was stroking his beard as most Jedi did. Which was a big reason why I didn’t plan on growing one. “Once we have landed, perhaps you might go and greet those to the south while I speak with the welcoming party.”

“Yes, Master.”

The blaster fire from the ground had stopped as they realised it was ineffective, and after the ship began its automated landing program, I decided to open up my list of Perks since level 20 had granted me one Perk Point and one Player Power Point and I hadn’t yet examined my options.

PERKS

These are earned by spending perk points [which you earn at a rate of 1PP per 4 levels].

Currently, you have 1 PerkP.

Most perks have multiple levels, allowing the Player to take improved versions of a per if they so wish.

Currently, you have the following perks:

Ambidextrous

Eidetic Memory

Empathy

Force Prodigy

…

Available Perks:

Bookworm

Boosted Growth Mark 2

Brainiac Mark1

Cat's Grace Mark1

Cult of Personality Mark1

Dominant Mark1

Enhanced Regeneration Mark1

Heart of the Force [1/2]

Giant's Strength Mark1

Iron Skin Mark1

Luck of the Force Mark1

Medic Mark1

One with Beasts

One with Nature

Physical Regeneration Mark1

Stat Limit Boost Mark1

Style Mark1

Wisdom of the Ancients Mark1

…

That was… a much longer list than before.

Bookworm, Dominant, Enhanced Regeneration, Luck of the Force, One with Beasts/Nature, Physical Regeneration and Style were all the same as before, while Boosted Growth Mark 2 increased my XP gains for all things by another ten per cent.

Of the new perks, Brainiac, Cat’s Grace, Cult of Personality, Giant’s Strength, Iron Skin and Wisdom of the Ancients lowered the time required to upgrade a stat – INT, AGI, CHA, STR, VIT and WIs respectfully – by ten per cent. While that was nice, it wasn’t a big deal currently as I’d already increased Intelligence and Wisdom in just over half a year. In the future, however, those perks could be extremely useful though as the help menu stated that it became harder and harder to increase a stat.

Medic increased the HP boost from any applied medicine – whether that was from a bacta patch or an injection – that was used by me by fifty per cent. That seemed to suggest it would also apply if I used a bacta patch on someone else. However, with Force Heal, a boost to HP restorations from medicine was a low priority.

Stat Limit Boost was exactly what it said. An increase in physical stat limit of 10. That would mean, provided those stats stayed balanced, each could reach about 25 before hitting the limit. It was something to consider for the future.

However, what truly had my interest, and provided the Player Power list didn’t contain something extreme I would take, was Heart of the Force [1/2].

That perk – which the interface said was available due to the Force itself finding a place for me in its seeking of balance – would lift my FP per level to 650, double my FP regeneration and increase my midi-chlorian count to over twenty thousand. From what I understood and remembered, that was Anakin/Vergence in the Force range.

The only major downside – and this was because the interface said it was manipulating midi-chlorians and thus risked aggravating the Force – was that it required one PP and one PPP.

The boost in FP and regen was certainly worth it, but if I took Heart of the Force, I’d solidify a lot of the talk about me being The Chosen One. Sure, Nilas had said my fate was linked to Anakin’s, but I hadn’t given it much thought beyond me being his brother if he followed the path I was on, or rival if he didn’t.

Yet, the more I realised that that kind of Force Power was nothing to sneeze at and I remembered that it was Sidious who was the real threat, not Anakin, the more I was inclined to take the Perk.

Add in that TPTB had hinted at things worse than Sidious and his order of Sith and having more power to counter those threats made Heart of the Force the obvious choice.

Just to be sure, however, I examined the list for Player Powers.

PLAYER POWERS

These are powers and skills that are unique to The Player and earned by spending Player Power Points [PPP].

Currently, you have 1 PPP.

Many Player Powers have requirements that depend on the Player’s level, or stat values and will remain hidden until their requirements are met.

Some Player Powers grant abilities that mirror, or even surpass, what many consider to be ‘Dark-Side Force powers’ so be careful when using them around ‘Light-side Force users’.

Currently, you have the following Player Powers:

Inventory

Player’s Mind

Player’s Body

Observe

Silent Interface

…

Available Powers

Colour Shift

Enlarge/Shrink

Heart of the Force [2/2]

Glamours

Greater Minimap Mark 1

Enhanced Inventory

Superior Inventory

Upgraded Minimap Mark 1

…

Again, there were some Player Powers that were listed before. Those being Colour Shift, Enhanced Inventory, Enlarge/Shrink and Glamours.

Of the new options, Greater Minimap would increase the range of the minimap to 5km. That was something I’d been hoping for, though with Heart of the Force [2/2] being there, it wasn’t a “must-have now” choice.

The same could be said of Upgraded Minimap, which allowed me to see hidden locations, be they passages, rooms or alcoves, within range.

Superior Inventory doubled the number of slots available to me. Not really that useful, as I could work around the slot limit by using bags and would prefer Enhanced Inventory over this power.

Honestly, I had hoped for a greater choice, but since I was focused on Heart of the Force, it wasn’t a major problem that the list of Player Powers was lacking.

Quickly, I took spent the Perk Point and Player Power Point to gain Heart of the Force as a perk and grinned as it took effect.

I now had 13,000FP – up from 10,000 a moment ago – and a regen rate of 260FP/minute, though that fell to 240FP/minute while Telepathic Shield (T-S) was active. Which was whenever I was around other people on the off chance that I accidentally ran into someone with the ability to read minds.

“I understand that you wish to free these people, Padawan However, showing enjoyment in the coming battle is not a trait worthy of a Jedi,” Dooku stated firmly, having picked up on my happiness at the upgrade in my Force Power via our bond.

Even with T-S maxed, both he and Fay could sense my feelings, and communicate telepathically with me, because of our shared bond when close enough. That made Force Bonds both a blessing and a curse as the more people I bonded with, the more could still sense my moods even with T-S active.

“Yes, Master,” I replied, bringing my thoughts back to the upcoming engagement.

Though I did wonder how the improvements in my power levels would affect my actions in the coming minutes.

Only time would tell.

… …

… …