Chapter 60: Welcome

When I ran this time, my legs and lungs were better prepared for the long trek. A distance that would have taken me at least several days to overcome at regular walking speed was covered in the span of a few hours.

Being able to run at vehicular highway speeds was definitely a perk of being Force Sensitive. It wasn't all one long dash, however. 

Force Speed was extremely energy intensive for even short bursts. If I hadn't enhanced my legs and lungs, maintaining that speed would have caused more damage than it had the first time I tried that. As it was, I still had to stop several times to rest and refresh my muscles with the Force.

Even with the Force bolstering me, I was pushing my body to its limits. Five days with only a minimal amount of sleep. Two battles against powerful individuals. Near constant physical activity during my conscious hours.

It was all wearing on me. My eyes felt like someone had dumped a bag of sand in them. All of my muscles ached. I wanted to curl up into a ball in some dark cave and finally stop.

But I couldn't. Stopping here would mean dying, either from the Leviathans or from slow starvation. I had a ship to catch.

Eventually, the mining colony came into sight, right where the memories said it was. Thanks to being built in a small valley, it had been protected from the worst of the storms and prevented it from being buried beneath the mud like the cruiser had been. Even after three hundred years, I could still see the Czerka yellow painted onto everything.

The complex wasn't large, just a few prefabricated buildings: several bunk houses to house the miners, some supply sheds, a mess hall, and a hangar. The settlers had barely had time to start digging the beginning of the mine before the Leviathans were upon them.

The monsters had torn into the place. The bunk houses had huge gouges torn into them by enormous claws and all that was left of one of the supply sheds was a single wall.

But the hangar was intact. None of the settlers had a chance to run for it.

My legs were trembling from the exertion, but I refused to stop.

I could hear the psychic screams of the Leviathans, echoing back to me.

I couldn't afford to allow my tired mind to wander.

I hadn't been able to both hide my presence and run at full speed, meaning I needed to do what I came here to do before all of them showed up. I had tried, but I discovered that my spell of concealment burned out more quickly the faster I moved. Running at full Force-boosted speed, it only lasted a few seconds.

The knowledge of what was behind me and how little time I had left erased any hesitation from my mind just before I threw myself off the top of the valley wall. Mud was sent flying in all directions as I hit the ground again, my fall cushioned by the Force.

My legs, aching from the run, screamed in pain as they bent, but I pushed it all behind yet another wall of Crucitorn and forced myself to stand and trudge forward through the mud. Intellectually, I knew that just blotting out the pain was a horrible idea, but I couldn't stop now. Not when I was so close.

Soon, the hangar doors loomed before me. I didn't bother looking for the keypad, instead reaching out with the force. The metal doors, rusted in place, groaned as invisible hands struggled to pry them apart. With what seemed like agonizing slowness, they moved, displacing the mud that had built up around the base of the building. Once they were fully open, I let go.

The shuttle was there. As I ran a hand along the hull of the small vessel and allowed my power to seep into it, the only damage I found was a heavy coating of dust, gathered over the centuries. It was untouched. Unharmed.

A tired, victorious smile creased my face as I reached the entrance ramp. It asked for access codes.

I didn't need access codes.

With a mental order, the ramp started descending. I didn't wait for it to lower all the way before I darted into the ship.

It wasn't large, intended for transporting personnel or small amounts of cargo offplanet to another ship waiting in orbit. My brief scan showed that it didn't have a hyperdrive and it had shit for a fuel capacity. But the engines were still in working shape and it was still space worthy. That was enough for me.

As I ran through the small cargo/passenger compartment and threw myself into the pilot's seat, lights across the shuttle flickered to life as its systems started their warm-up procedures.

Despite expectations, flying a ship was not the same as piloting a speeder. Speeders, at least the low flying versions I'd gotten used to on Korriban, shared some resemblance to driving a car and had a similar set up, with a steering wheel and pedals in the right places.

A ship was more like stepping into what looked like the unholy combination of a cargo plane and a space shuttle, with an appropriate number of lights, dials, and buttons flashing at you.

I was not a pilot. The most I knew was that pulling back on the yoke was up and pushing forward was down. Fuck if I knew what all those other buttons and knobs did. Given this was a Czerka shuttle, I wouldn't be surprised if one of them was a self-destruct or an emergency ejection seat.

There was neither the time to learn nor a need to, at least for the moment. The Force could compensate for a lack of knowledge, allowing me to directly tell the ship how I wanted it to fly without knowing what any of the controls were.

Taking in a deep breath, I stretched my awareness out into the ship, latching onto every bit and piece and binding them to my will.

Instantly, I felt the rumble beneath my feet as the engines started, lifting the small craft off the ground. The landing gear retracted as it shot forward out of the hangar and up into the dark sky, the acceleration pressing me back into my seat.

Peering out the side viewport, I could see the obscured forms of dozens of Leviathans plodding towards the colony, to where I had just been. Blazing red eyes paused on their sojourn to follow my path into the air.

As the ship ascended, the psychic screams that had been pounding away at my psyche for hours lessened bit by bit until I hit the cloud cover, where it disappeared entirely. When viewport cleared up to show the starry void of space, I released the breath I had been holding the whole time into a shaky chuckle.

I had survived. I had killed a Leviathan by myself and survived.

A light on the dash started blinking. I had to analyze it with my power to realize that it was supposed to indicate an incoming communication.

One of my burned fingers gingerly pressed the button to allow it through. Major Selvin's cheery Cockney-accented voice drifted through as a white shuttle flew into view.

"Cut it a little close there, didn't you? Only had two hours left."

I wanted to cuss at him, but right now, I was too tired. I just wanted it to be over.

"My comm got destroyed on Corbos, so I had to find an alternative. Unfortunately, my ship doesn't have a hyperdrive, so I'll need to cross over to yours."

I had a sneaking suspicion that the comm unit would have failed anyways due to some other issue.

There was a pause before Selvin's voice took on a sheepish tone. It was hard to tell if it was faked or not, "See, there's an issue with your plan there."

If this was the "sudden yet inevitable betrayal," there was going to be hell to pay from someone. I have no idea how one became a Force Ghost, but I'd make my best effort to figure it out if only so I could make Selvin's life hell.

"I don't have a hyperdrive either."

My brain screeched to a halt. After it rebooted, I ventured a guess, "You don't have a hyperdrive because…you broke it?"

"Arse," He immediately shot back, "I don't have a hyperdrive because this shuttle never had one installed to begin with."

That would mean…

"Wait…have you been…?" I started to ask, only to get interrupted.

"Been what? Floating around this pit for three days waiting for your sorry arse to call?" There wasn't a holoimage, but I could picture the man rolling his eyes, "Yeah, I have. Real riveting stuff. You do whatever the Boss wanted you to?"

"Yes." I answered simply.

"Right. Well, I'll send out the signal now. Our ride should be here in five minutes." The soldier reported before awkwardly letting the conversation drop.

I let the silence persist as I pieced the scenario together in my head. When it was complete, I had to grudgingly admit that the whole thing was a pretty effective way of getting a Sith of unknown loyalties to do what you wanted.

If I'd tried to take over the shuttle I'd woken up on, the best that would have happened would have been that I had a ship that couldn't leave the system. I'd have been stuck until I ran out of air, fuel, or water, which would force me to either strand myself on one of the planets in the system or die.

If I completed the task and got off planet, then I was someone too strong or clever to allow to run away. If I failed, then the potential problem had been taken care of.

If I found a hyperspace capable vessel on Corbos, then there was someone on site to alert a nearby ship. While I didn't actually know how to operate a navicomputer, I might have been able to do it with the Force, but that might take time. 

And in that time, the ship would have had the opportunity to arrive and turn me into solar dust. Alternatively, Selvin would have done it himself with whatever he had on his shuttle.

And the only cost? The possible loss of a single shuttle and a single soldier.

Despite being the "victim" of it, I could appreciate the ruthless pragmatism.

Eventually, an alarm somewhere in my shuttle sounded off. It was a proximity alert.

Something was coming out of hyperspace.

One second, there was nothing. The next, there was something as I found myself suddenly staring down the guns of a Harrower-class Dreadnought.

The communications alert flashed again. When I pressed the button, a different voice spoke, though in a much more formal tone than Selvin used.

"Executioner to Czerka shuttle, automated docking procedures have been initiated. Shut down your engines and prepare to be boarded."

I complied. After the engines were deactivated, I began drifting towards the gray behemoth and whatever awaited me inside.

When the shuttle landed, I was waiting at the ramp and started down as it opened. A squad of twelve soldiers stood silently in two rows at the bottom, heavy rifles in their hands. Major Selvin was nowhere to be seen, though that was

probably for the best.

As I walked between them, the first pair I passed fell in behind me while the rest moved to form a circle. The last two stepped ahead, guiding the formation.

Next to their gleaming, perfect armor, I felt a little under-dressed in my battered, mud-splattered gear.

Of course, I could have easily killed them all…but I had no reason. I was tired...and more curious about meeting the puppetmaster than I was with escaping. For the moment, at least.

None of them said a word as they marched. That was fine with me. I had nothing to say to them either, instead taking the time to observe my surroundings. Like everything with the Imperial military, everything was orderly to the point of being almost machine-like in its precision.

Though most of the ship's occupants were mundane military, I did see the dark robes or armor of a Sith now and again. As we passed, their eyes would briefly glance in our direction before returning to their duties.

After a ride on the ship's internal transit system and a trip up an elevator, we finally reached our destination. As the doors swished open, a cold chill settled on me as I saw the occupant, seated in a large red chair behind a gray desk.

The familiar scarred face smiled back at me, his elbows propped up on the desk and his hands clasped together. As I walked through the door, he waved a hand, dismissing the soldiers. After they had left and the door closed behind me, he spoke, his voice a deep rumble. It was the same voice as the one on the comm.

"Welcome, acolyte." He gestured to one of the chairs before him, "Please. Have a seat. We have matters to discuss."

====================

The first book of this fanfic has been completed on Patreon, you can look it up in the collection alongside the second book. You can visit Patreon if you want to read in Advance.

 p@treon.com/Rage_moon