In Search Of Legends: Falcon

[Kira Vaal]

ACT I​

​

Chapter 1​

Reom


THE WHEEL
PERLEMIAN TRADE ROUTE


“Welcome to IsoTech. I am CZ-13.” The silver plated protocol droid, a receptionist by the looks of it greeted Kira as she entered the well-worn and used rented office space deep in the Wheel’s cargo levels. “You must be Master Reom’s appointment?”
Kira tried not to look to surprised, after all she hadn’t exactly told anyone she was coming this way, just following a message that had seemingly been sent by the same droid she was speaking to now. “Yes I must be.”
She heard the doors click as they locked, never a friendly sound.
“Do not worry security protocols have been increased due to recent events. I must lock all entrances while your identify is verifying.” The friendly tone wasn’t helping, only making it worse.
“Look I just came here because I received a message that—“
“I was waiting for you.” The deep voice came from a blue-skinned Twi’lek male who had appeared at one of the side doors to the office. He seemed to be wearing at least some form of smile, but his eyes were cautious of the young salvager. “Please come through. Take a seat.”
Kira followed Reom through the small door into his office, which was like the previous room extremely well-worn. Piles of data discs, papers, schematics and half opened food containers lay everywhere giving the office the appearance of a lived in space rather then just a workplace.
Reom took a seat behind his desk and waited for Kira to take the other before he began to talk.
“Kira, I know you must be feeling a little bit out of your league but I want you to know I am a friend. Doctor Husik spoke very highly about you. I do hope he is still well.”
“He’s dead.” Kira said bluntly. The memory still sharp in her mind even with the recent terrors of Coruscant fresh in her head. “Killed by pirates.”
“That is—“ Reom seemed rather put back, his hands rubbing across his head as eyes darted around his room. “—Highly unexpected. I didn’t know?”
“He told me to find you before he died.”
“Yet I had to find you?”
Kira shifted uncomfortably on her chair. The Galactic Alliance had become something of a hobby for her, the movement stealing her time away from the carefree life of yesteryear. “I have been busy.”
“Well, I hope your schedule frees up a little bit Miss Vaal.” Reom got a sense of business back to him as he leant back in his chair. “Surely with Doctor Husik’s trust you would have heard of the Millenium Falcon before?”
Kira narrowed her eyes cautiously at the mention of the ship, something she and Doctor Husik had spent years chasing. “I’ve heard stories.”
“I’m sure you have. It’s a ship of legend, especially among smugglers, salvagers and treasure seekers. Some say it faded out of existance, others argue it even ever existed but occasionally treasure hunters chase rumours, none have never found it. Some never return.”
“Some treasure hunters are stupid and go after the wrong things.” Kira replied with a smirk which seemed to irritate Reom somewhat. “Look, I’ve searched far and wide for that ship. Even down to extracting detailed elements capable of decrypting ancient hyperspace codes and do you know what we found? Nothing. The ship doesn’t exist, even if it once did it doesn’t anymore.”
Reom stared her down in silence for a moment before producing a small data chip out of his pocket and sliding it across the desk towards Kira who was hesitant to take it, twirling it in her fingers when she did.
“What is this”
“You need an open mind in the world of archeology and salvaging. So please understand what I am about to tell you is strictly open minded and a matter of chance and not long leashed planning.” Reom leant forward slightly as he lowered his tone.
“I’m listening.” Kira however leant back in response to Reom’s own posture.
“On that data card is the contents of a hyperspace alert pod that was recently found long dead near the wheel before being delivered to me thanks to a couple of favours I pulled. Now I’ll understand if you think this is some kind of con game, but that alert pod holds the dedication signature of one YT-1300 492727ZED—“
“492727ZED? Are you sure?” Kira sparked up, stretching forward to look at the data chip in his hand. “Are you positive that was the serial number?”
“I’ve triple checked it, scanned it through every record we have and even broken through what encryption I could. That is the code assigned to it.” Reom was taking special care in Kira’s reactions now, he knew he had her. “Problem is I can’t read the contents because the encryption is nearly a thousand years old, but I know what is on it.”
“So do I.” Kira began. “I can also read it or at least, I know who can.”
“Then it is what I think it is? The last known location of the Falcon and limited information as to its condition?” Reom went quiet as Kira gave a small nod. “I want you to find the ship for me.”
“For you?”
“Yes.” Reom said with purpose. “Here’s the deal. According to what we can make out the ship is at the outer fringed of the Outer Rim. At a minimum, I want you to find the ship, assess its condition and bring back all the information you can to our salvaging base on Raxus Prime. I also believe there’s some special cargo aboard that would be a huge boost to IsoTech. If you can find that and bring back as much as you can Ill double your reward. Quadruple it if you can bring back the Falcon itself.”
“You want me to bring a thousand year old freighter back to you?” Kira questioned. “Is there a team? Do I get a ship to load it on?”
“No, this is to be as low key as possible. I trust your abilities. You’re to take my droid with you, IT-3PO; he’ll arrive shortly. I’ll pay you 10,000 credits and make sure that any debts you owe are reduced significantly. If you skip out on me, and there was something to find however I will make you’re life very…very hard.”
Kira tried to judge Reom as she sat there, his face as stoic as it possibly could be. Why should she do this? She owed him nothing, but again this was the Falcon. It was her lives work. Even just the chance to see if it actually existed would be a chance most archeologists would kill for.
“Okay. You have yourself a salvager.”
“Excellent. Now ask around for what information you want, however let me warn you. You never know who is listening and recently there has been a lot of interest in this alert pod.”
“Consider it noted.” Kira stood to leave, Reom was fast behind her.
“I want you to leave tonight. I’ll make sure all the arrangements are made.”
“Thank you Reom. I’ll get the ship back.” Kira shook the Twi’lek’s hand and exited the office and the building passing a Rodian who was entering the door at the same time as she was leaving.
“Shuuta!” The Rodian cursed and threw up his hands before moving into the crowd and disappearing leaving Kira to head off towards the main facilities of the Wheel.

 

[Kira Vaal]

Chapter Two​

The Infochant

Kira had arrived at the wheel in a small scouting vessel that was unofficially owned by the Galactic Alliance, yet all markings and anything that could lead it back to Sullust had been removed prior to the journey.
It was in this ship that she had kept her droid, the antique rolling astromech known affectionately as Rollie.
“I dunno, just try it with the translators and then without I suppose?” Kira questioned the droid who was bleeping away towards its owner as she sat on one of the stools attached to the very small living quarters near the rear of the ship.
Rollie bleeped with an almost offended tone before the datadisc that was hooked up to his dome started to project out of his display that pointed at the floor.
A series of different screens were filtered through and most of them containing nothing but gibberish or corrupted files. Occasionally something would pop up that would cause the small astromech to pause for a second but every time he would bleep and move on.
Kira tried to keep up with the screens but could not, the data moved too fast and was too encrypted or damaged for her to make heads or tails of it. “Hey, slow down. Bring back that one.”
Rollie bleeped with slight frustration and re-raised a still image that seemed to be from the forward facing views of the ship in question.
“That’s an old Imperial Star Destroyer.” Kira said with excitement. “Like a really old Imperial Star Destroyer.
Rollie continued onwards in his search of the data before stopping and blurting excitedly.
“What?”
Another series of beeps came from the droid as he rolled backwards and forwards several times.
“I don’t get what your looking at—“ Kira’s eyes fell on the display. “—Oh.”
It was a flight plan, the last recorded flight plan. It showed a trail that led the ship from some mystery planet right to another.
“I know that place.” Kira stood and moved to the astrogation console nearby quickly entering in a bunch of details which symatically projected a large external display of a planet. “Cholganna. What in the hell made them stop there…”
Rollie blurped and bleeped at Kira’s question.
“Do a full scan on Cholganna, find me anything you can on that planet. I’m going to head back into the station, get some form of idea on this Reom guy.” Kira stood and tapped the droid on his head before departing the ship and headed through the hanger.

The corridors of the hanger deck were as to be expected on the station. Heavily cosmopolitan as humans, aliens and even a large amount of droids all did business through the scattered market places and stores. Nearby a large group of armed bodyguards escorted a well-to-do Bothan through the crowds, no doubt on their way to the stations high-class casinos.
Kira didn’t have to worry about them though, her target was someplace a little bit more well travelled.
The Blasted Asteroid was a cantina chain that was located in star ports and space stations throughout the galaxy. Here on the Wheel it has become a favourite for regular travellers and space farers. The cantina never closes and is constantly crowded with the newly-arrived, the nearly-departed and all those patrons in-between.
Kira made note as she entered the Blasted Asteroid of the dingy surroundings and the large mass of muscle that was standing behind the bar. If she was going to get any information she would be best to start there.
“Howdy there.” The bartender said with a thick accent that was from someplace beyond Kira’s experience. “Names Ceoloe. Can I get you something?”
Kira shot him a smile. “Yes, a Corellian Ale would be great.”
“You sure, these things have become rarer than a Star Dragon.” Ceoloe smirked back. “Forty seven credits.”
“Forty-Seven? I’ll just take a water then.” Kira replied in shock.
“Forty-three credits.” Ceoloe smiled.
“You’re serious aren’t you?”
“I can give you just an ale.” Ceoloe pointed to the lower shelf. “Eight credits for those.”
“Alright I’ll take one of them.” Kira placed a one hundred credit chip down on the table. “I also need some information.”
“Information?” Ceoloe responded way to loudly for Kira’s liking. “I’m just a barman.”
“I however may be of assistance.” A softer voice came from behind Kira’s ear that made her turn to take in the rotund human who was smiling at her. “Waroon Dak. Please come, sit in my booth.”
Kira was slow to move to the booth that Waroon had taken a seat at but she eventually lowered herself down into the chair opposite Waroon.
“So you can help me?” Kira was cautious at best, but the man before here seemed the likeable sort, which was a problem, the likeable sort usually ended up being the worst.
“Depends.” Waroon smiled.
“Depends on what.”
“What you ask and how deep your pocket book is.” She had to give him the fact he jumped straight to the point.
“I need to know about Reom.” Kira asked simply. Waroon’s eyebrows raising slightly. “More specifically can he be trusted.”
“Ah, so you’re his little treasure hunter.” Waroon smirked at Kira’s apparent surprise. “News don’t take long to travel around these parts little girl. I know all about you, all about Reom and all about what it is you’ve been asked to get.” He let the words sink in a little bit. “I’ll give you some advice though, be cautious. Reom’s not the only one after that ship, I know for a fact there is another salvage clan heading full-steam for that ship; the Yiyar Clan.”
Kira had heard of the the Yiyar Clan before, it was hard not to in her line of work. Rough and bloodthirsty was the best way to describe the Yiyar Salvage Corporation. “So Yav Yiyar thinks he can beat me?”
“He knows he can, he’s already beaten three other corporations off the hunt. Problem is Reom is ahead of him, by a long shot. Reom has a message pod which seems to have information that even i’m not privy too, you however know of what I speak.” Waroon took a large sip from his glass. “You also have another problem.”
“Today just keeps getting better and better doesn’t it.”
“Imperial sorts. Not the core ward Sith type though.” Waroon expressed the last piece of info. “I’m talking those extremists that just burnt half of Eriadu.”
“The First Order?” Kira questioned, she hadn’t been on Eriadu but the Galactic Alliance news feeds had been full of it.
“Seems they’ve been more than a little interested in the pod that Reom has got. I’d watch you’re back.”
“I will. What can you tell me about Cholganna?”
Waroon’s eyes opened wide. “Only that you’ve told me too much. The rumour has been there for years but no-one has had any evidence. People have been asking for astrogation charts, but the planet hasn’t been mapped since oh five hundred years ago or so. I don’t need to hear anymore, it’s too risky for me. You need to leave now.”
“I need more info, I’ll pay!” Waroon waved a hand and Ceoloe appeared next to her.
“It’s time to go.” He laid a hand on her shoulder. “Understand.”
“Yeah I understand.” Kira stood and moved away from the table still hearing Ceoloe and Waroon speaking in hushed voices.
“Rollie.” Kira spoke into her com-channel. “I think we have everything I’m heading back to the ship.”
A series of beeps came from the droid.
“Well get them off, we don’t need any maintenance done. Damn maintenance droids.”

 

[Kira Vaal]

Chapter Three​

Yiyar Clan

Onboard Kira’s ship all the necessary arrangements had been made for a quick departure. Rollie had seen to a full system test and even managed to somehow manipulate the hanger systems into unloading a full compliment of fuel into the freighter without a single credit.
Yet despite all the good motions towards the mission Waroon’s warnings had been playing on Kira’s mind.
fifteen minutes ago the ship had received a message from a Shira who had claimed to be Reom’s sister, she had stated that Reom’s droid Eyetee-Three would be delivered to their hanger in five minutes, yet with the time fading away no droid had arrived yet.
Kira had attempted to call Reom but the transmissions had gone unanswered, a sign that something was amiss.
The question was did she just sit here or go and actively follow the feeling in her gut.
“Rollie, keep the ship prepped I’m going to head back to IsoTech and find out what is going on.” She said with a raised eyebrow and grabbed her belt and blaster. “There is something fishy going on.”
Making her way across the hanger Kira hit the door controls and was immediately greeted by two unconscious human guards sprawled across the deck. Their uniforms definitely not Wheel Security, but more mercenary paramilitary. A few metres further were five Rodians tossing a disabled protocol droid, REOM’S protocol droid she added onto a small cargo gravsled, she instantly recognised one of them as the Rodian she had walked into outside Reom’s office.


There was a moment of silence and un-surety as the the Rodians stared her down before suddenly blaster pistols were drawn and waved in her direction.
Kira was quick to get behind a nearby gravsled for cover as the Rodians released several stun blasts in her direction and started to swerve through the crowded concourse. Yelling a screaming followed the sled as they roughly negotiated the crowd.
“That’s my droid!” Kira yelled and withdrew her own blaster and hoping into the pilot seat of the sled she had taken cover behind, hitting the throttle to allow pursuit at similar speeds.
A small repair shop called the Dented Droid took up a large section of the path, Kira watched as the Rodians forced a large pile of droid parts onto her path, the bits providing obstacle as she weaved around them while also dodging several stun blasts. She had yet to return a shot but that was mostly because of the crowds around her, stunned by the Rodians going through them they would scatter and make it harder for Kira to keep the sled in a straight line.
“MOVE!” She yelled at a group congregating outside Tasia’s Tap Cafe, barely missing a couple as they shifted out of her way.
Eventually the crowds began to fade and the corridor turned more industrial as they approached the secondary ship hangers on the station. The Rodian’s used this as an advantage and began to fire with live rounds rather then the stun shots they had been releasing when in the crowded market places. However by firing at Kira they had given her permission to do as such back, her blaster was raised and several shots returned causing the Rodian’s to duck and weave as they headed towards a large opening dock door, a Corellian style freighter sat ready within.
Kira knew she didn’t have much time left to get the droid, if they got to the ship that was it, they had him and whatever information Reom had planted within.
Hastely looking around she noted several large crates hoisted by a dock-mover near the entrance to the hanger and with a well placed shot managed to break the support beam of the crane releasing the crates into a free fall at the ground.
The Rodians weren’t fast enough and were thrown airborne as the gravsled collided with the newly fallen crates.
Skidding to a stop Kira dismounted her own Gravsled and closed the gap with the Rodians, her blaster held close and ready to fire if need be. She reached the gravsled that had been piloted by the running thieves and turned it around, jumping aboard and sending the trottle hard to zoom off in the other direction, a well placed shot managed to pierce the fuel chamber of the abandoned sled and left the Rodians with no means to keep up with her and her retrieved droid.
“Rollie. Get the ship as ready as you can!” She shouted through her comm-link as the scenery again started to become more residential. Occasionally an odd look would be thrown her way as she passed, people recognising the sled as the one that went screaming through before.
It was clearly one of those situations that was just better to keep going and not look back.

The ship was fully prepared when Kira had got back, the dull hum of the engines indicating an easy takeoff was ahead.
“Good work.” She said to her little astromech friend as the protocol droid, still inactive was carried up the ramp of the ship with great difficulty. “Did you get those jumps put into the navicomputer?”
R0-L3 gave a happy sounding beep and rolled up the ramp towards the cockpit, leaving Kira smiling.
She made her way to the pilots chair and had the freighter up in the air before anything else bad could happen.
“Oh frakk!” Through the view screen she could see the Rodians appearing in her dock again, they seemed to be cursing as he ship gained height and turned to face the shields of the Wheel’s docking system. Several laser blasts passed her as she hit the throttle and shot out into space. “Let’s get the hell outta here!”
The stars extended into the familiar tunnel of hyperspace and the wheel was soon far behind them.

 

[Kira Vaal]

ACT II​

Chapter 4
Cholganna

“My name is Eyetee-Three. Human-Cyborg relations.” The worn chrome panelling of the protocol droid turned to look at Kira who stared back with a slight un-impressed look. “I do not believe we have met. You must be the treasure hunter that Master Reom was speaking about.”
“I suppose so.” Kira replied simply as she opened a ration bar and began to chew on it idly. “Reom said you were a key to what I’m doing. Maps, surveys and the like.”
“Master Reom is most kind with his praise. I am part of the extended crew of the Organa and would very much appreciate being reconnected with my friends.” Eyetee-Three seemed rather excited about the prospect, but his words did bring about a level of confusion to Kira.
“The Organa?” She figured not to push the matter and let the droid continue with his story.
“Ah, yes the Organa is a magnificent ship, wait until you see her. Pride of the Resistance and the New Republic both.”
Reom had said the droid had a few screws loose, but this was just too much. “Sure it was Chrome-rod.”
“Oh just you wait, you’ll be rather impressed I’m sure. We should be arriving at Cholganna shortly.”
A beeping came from the cockpit. “That’ll be the gravity well indicator.” Kira explained as she launched herself into the pilot chair and prepared the ship for hyperspace release.
The Starlines faded to realspace and in an instant the sensor systems immediately went haywire, flashing light and sounding malfunction alarms.
“What the frell?” Kira glanced over the systems and every indication showed that it was jammed and overwhelmed, the ship shutting it all down.
She glanced outside, however rather than seeing Cholganna, or even stars for that matter all that she could make out was a dim, hazy disk.
“Damn it.” She flicked through some systems as Rollie screamed in the background. “We’ve dropped out in a nebula field. Get those adjustments put through Rollie!”
The droid attached itself to a console and went to work as Kira concentrated on making sure they didn’t hit anything. Several boulder-size asteroids let themselves known as the bounced off the ship’s particle shields.
“Have you got those systems working yet?”
Rollie bleeped and tooted as the lights all began to light up on the dashboard again, sensor scans initiating and systemically scanning as fast as they could. “Good work!”
Kira pulled the ship hard left and suddenly with a blast of speed the dust clouds were gone and before them a giant blue and green orb dominated the viewports.
Rollie released a small whistle and Eyetee-Three leant slightly forward to look through the cockpit at the planet.
“So that is Cholganna huh?” Kira leant back in the chair and gave everything a thoughtful look.
“Yes it is Mistress Vaal.” Eyetee-Three replied. “We should try and contact the Organa.”
“No, no and no.” Kira put her arms over the droid to stop him from touching the controls. “We don’t know what is down there and I’d rather not have to deal with unwanted attention.” She looked at the controls and then the planet. “No we plan this out.”

Kira had let the ship float aimlessly in space as she prepared the correct systems using the pod’s release data. Connecting it all to the ship had given her information on the ships last known position over the planet. However as there was momentum involved, Kira knew that the ships resting place could be on the other side of the planet.
“Prepare the scanners.” She asked the astromech as her form sunk back into the pilots chair. “Lets do some scans on the hemispheres, work out large dense areas and we will go for there.”
Kira moved the ship into low orbit, and began to scan. Setting the clock for five hours worth of data-pulling.
For five hours Kira stared at nothing but the planet, Galactic Alliance datalogs and several small novels that she had stolen from the library on Sullust. Finally the alarms rang for the end of the scans and Kira decided it was best to read over the results before going any further.
“Do you have anything Mistress Vaal?” Eyetee-Three asked as he tried to read the results over her shoulder.
“A couple of hits.” She pointed at the map display. “Several metal call-outs scattered on this zone. Another here that looks like a capitol ships escape pod trail and then this here…” She paused. “It’s too big for what we are looking for. Much too big.”
“The Organa is a large class ship Mistress Vaal.” Kira rolled her eyes.
“I’m not looking for the—“ She sighed. “—We will go and check out that area, perhaps it’s just a larger echo from our target.”
“How exciting.” Eyetee-Three stated as Kira lowered the pitch of the ship and turned it within the orbit of Cholganna and headed off towards the indicated signal.
All she had to do was hope that Reom wasn’t trying to get her killed.

 

[Kira Vaal]

Chapter 5​

Welcome to the Jungle

Kira had set down the ship as soon as she had found a suitable clearing in the jungle canopy that would allow the craft to break through without getting stuck in the thick branches. From there the archeologist had set out into the thick trees and undergrowth of Cholganna’s terrain with the two droids following as best they could.
Several hours passed with no real passing incident, several times Kira had called a halt on the march as sounds from some jungle creature passed by, she had held her breath each time but had yet to attract any attention from the beasts.
Through the trees the high rising sun indicated that it was near midday as Kira pulled herself over another tall rock formation that let her see out over the world around her.
A narrow, winding valley, one of the many cutting through the rugged and overgrown terrain could be seen. A small river visible through the trees spread out into a long lake thanks to a large rocky damn at the southern side.
“Well that is unusual.” Kira muttered, the world wasn’t meant to be settled but dams like that weren’t naturally occurring in the wild. She withdrew a set of micro lenses from her pack and pulled them up to her eyes.
She gave the dam a good look over, seeing nothing of any interest.
“Wait…” She frowned as she adjusted the focus on the lenses. “No way…”
She realised that the dam was not natural at all. The rusted hulk of a ship was jammed between the rocky outcroppings of the opposing bluffs. The hulls colour was so similar to that of the surrounding rocks making it all but invisible. Now she had seen what it was she could take in the huge holes that allowed water to pour through them and flow through the decks and engines to create a series of natural falls before continuing the water south.
“It’s a damn cruiser.” She said in disbelief as she lowered the micro lenses. “A Republic cruiser.”
“Ah yes, that is the Organa.” Eyetee-Three said proudly behind her. “She is quite the ship.”
Kira raised her eyebrow towards the droid. “Eyetee, you said the Organa was part of the New Republic?”
“Yes and the Rebellion prior.”
“That ship is not the Organa then, she can’t be.” Kira shook her head. “Plus…you don’t look over eight hundred years old.” Rollie whistled in protest next to the protocol droid. After all wasn’t he just as old.

It took fifteen minutes of hard going to get to the east bank of the lake, the trio stopping in a clearing that would have been big enough to land her ship in if Kira hadn’t left it behind in her advance through the terrain. Moving down the soft mud Kira came to a stop near the waters edge where a small remains of a makeshift metal-and-wood boat were half buried.
“Strange.” Kira picked at the skeletal boat. “It seems only a couple of months old at the most.”
“Then the crew must still be alive.” Eyetee-Three said with a sound of urgency.
“They can’t be alive Eyetee. If this is the Organa they would all have died a long, long time ago.” She gave the boat another look. “No there must be some form of scavengers or primitive life-form near this site. We should proceed carefully.”
Kira began to move through the water towards the ship, the water only coming up to her knees as she moved across the shoreline. “I’m going to check it out, you two stay here.” She added as she began to make her way to a steep, rocky outcrop that was one of the pillars holding up the ship hulk.
To say the climb was hard was the understatement of the century, Kira having to move one foothold at a time all the while lugging her pack with her which was a mistake on her behalf. Occasionally she had to move from the rock face to the broken panels of the hulk, but eventually with deep breaths Kira emerged on the top of the ship wreckage.
Taking some slow steps across the hull plates Kira took in the scene around her. Low groans of metal stretching came from beneath her footfalls as the weathered hull struggled to keep her weight.
“This is odd.” She muttered as she lowered her profile and placed her pack onto the lip of a panel that had given way to a cavernous large opening. “Weathering is about…thirty years, maybe fifty.” She pulled out a thick rope and a set of winches that she attached to what solid material she could before lowering herself into the large space beneath.
As the darkness began to take over she lowered her goggles and flicked the torch that was sat next to her temple allowing a dull glow to illuminate the walls around her.
The sound of running water filled her ears as she passed a stream that had made its way through a corridor and was cascading down into the chambers below.
As she proceeded further into the bowels of the ship she happened across words printed upon the walls.
“The Organa.” She found herself confused at the discovery. More so at the memory of everything Eyetee-Three had said so far, she opened up a comm-link with the droid. “Eyetee, the Organa, when did you serve on her?”
“If my memory banks serve me right Miss Vaal we departed the core operating worlds sometime after 45ABY.” The droid said matter-of-factly. “We entered Hyperspace and departed late in, oh my—“
“45ABY?” Kira gave the ship a good look. “Nah, that isn’t right.” With agile arms she started to hoist herself back up out of the wreck.
“— If the calculations within my systems are correct I was jettisoned from the Organa late in 812ABY. I do believe there must be an issue with my programming Mistress Kira.”
“I don’t think there is.” The young adventurer hoisted herself back onto the roof platforms. “I think your systems may be perfectly correct…”
She cast her eyes North where the trees seemed ‘newer’ than the rest and finally settled them on a larger hulk that was the remainder of the Organa.
“I think we’re looking at an actual ship from the civil war.”

 

[Kira Vaal]

Chapter 6
Relic of a Past Not Far

Kira had questioned Eyetee-Three pretty heavily after she had returned to the banks of the lake, finding out that the droid had indeed served on a ship known as the Organa and somehow the ship had slipped out of hyperspace after some calamity had seen them thrown through time 800 years. Apparently he had been ejected from the ship as part of the fail safe during the vector towards Cholganna and somehow drifted across space until being picked up by Reom and his company.
“So this ships been here?”
“forty five years by my calculations Mistress Vaal.” Eyetee-Three stated.
“Crazy.” She whistled. “So this doesn’t make sense though, why would Reom go crazy about the Falcon? This isn’t anything to do with that ship.”
“Actually Miss Vaal.” Eyetee seemed to tilt his head in the direction to the north. “When the Organa left Hyperspace we automatically scanned for friendly transponders, the Falcon was detected in the area. Unfortunetly our systems were already breaking apart at that time so rendezvous was potentially never made.”
“Really? Now that is interesting.”

It took several hours to navigate the lake to the north, the water lapping quietly against the jungle noise at their side. Eyetee continuing the tales of the Rebellion as they went which kept Kira entertained to no end.
“Hold up.” Kira paused. On the lake’s easten shore she saw what appeared to be a large irregularly shaped hill randomly covered in vines and vegetation, it was partially concealed by the jungle canopy from where they stood. Atop of the hill was an odd angled building or at least the ruins of one with most of the windows broken out. “Holy Force. It’s the fore.”
The bulk of the Organa lay before them, it’s facing was towards the lake where the skidding hulk had come to rest with its hull splayed and the lower deck all but buried and crushed into the old river bank.
Kira jolted with excitement. “Come on!” She shouted as the explorer ran towards the ship.
“Oh dear.” Proclaimed Eyetee along with a series of beeps from Rollie.
“It’s been camouflaged.” She took hold of a vine and pulled at it. “See.” The vine fell away revealing some netting made of leaves. The trio were dwarfed by the ruins of the ship.
“Some crew may have survived.” Eyetee noted.
“Going by the stripping on the ship i’d say so.” Kira paused and looked around with her hands on her hips. “Look!” Again she was off in a run.
A large encampment lay under the jungle canopy away from the shore that held the ship. Within lay heavily overgrown ruins of shacks, rock encircled fire pits and other similar structures. “I’d say you were right with that.” She gave the place a look. “Maybe thirty, fifty at the most.”
A large area had been put aside for rows of metal plating. Names were etched into them with rough carvings. “It’s a graveyard.”
“Oh my.” Eyetee walked up and down the rows lamenting over the names. Kira almost felt sorry for the droid.
“No ones been here for a while though.” Kira added. “Twenty years at the least. A shame.” She looked back to the ship, instantly noticing that some of the escape pod tubes had been made into makeshift entrances into the hulk. A large trunk was tilted sidewards to allow access to the bridge as well.

For an hour or two Kira went about climbing through the ruins, finding nothing of note but empty corridors and abandoned rooms. Several small creatures would scatter out of hiding holes when she would enter certain places, but other than that she found nothing more than mould, dust and condensation. Yet she did not care.
Simply walking through the piece of history, especially one that was considerably well maintained compared to the ancient wrecks of the others found in the galaxy was refreshing to her. She made her way up to the bridge in due time occasionally being directed by Eyetee who had a great understanding of the layout within the Organa wreck.
What was once the bridge was now overgrown with vines, moss, and strange flowering plants. Consoles and electronics had been striped from their housing, and transparisteel windows were shattered or missing. Even the seats had been salvaged, their bolts all that remained. Kira could make out small insects and strange amphibians inhabiting the crevices, creating the illusion that the shadows themselves seemed to crawl. At the rear of the bridge a bulkhead leads into a dark recess of the abandoned hulk. The door had been removed, apparently by a fusion cutter according to the metal wounds.
Small personal units lay open here and there with no real finds of interest.
“Hold up there.” Kira pried open a unit that was barely open, a layer of slime pouring out of the compartment as the door noisily crunched open and proceeded to fall off. “A holoprojector?” She turned the device around in her gloved hands, a small light flickering in the corner proving it still had power.
The device fired to life at her command.
<“We can’t hold her together sir.”
“She’s breaking up”
“Just keep her level, if we hit the trees we can hopefully soften the landing.”
“BRACE FOR IMPACT”
“BRA—“>
Static sounded as the playback scrambled and cut out, Kira’s eyebrow raising as she pocketed the data pad.

 

[Kira Vaal]

Chapter 7
Murder in the Dark

“Eyetee.” She spoke into her wrist communicator. “I’ve got a data pad with some details on it, I’ll bring it down for analysis.”
She removed her goggles and head wrap, looking around the bridge again taking in the ambiant noise.
Except their wasn’t any.
The insects and creatures had gone silent, fear played on the air.
“Something isn’t right.” Kira’s hand reached for her blaster.
A growl rolled from the darkness of the corridor behind her, a series of glowing eyes coming into view as a Nexu slowly began to slide into the bridge.
It’s fur was raised in a threatening display as it began to circle Kira who noticed the metal additions to the beast body. Someone had added cybernetics to the creature. A white blue energy seemed to crackle against the ground with each step and flashed or polished metal teeth sent shivers into Kira’s spine. The whip like double tails of the Nexu were plated in interlocking scales of armour and made the teeth clenching groan as they hit and dragged on the ground.
“Good kitty.” Kira tried to get a feel for the place, look for escape routes, yet never taking her eye of the Nexu that had really riled up.
She had one chance at this.
The creature went to pounce, Kira rolled and raised her blaster firing off two shots. One hit the creature in the foot, the other missed but the Nexu wasn’t fazed, no it just infuriated it. Scambling around Kira took cover behind a console and managed to confuse the beast momentarily allowing her to clip her rope that had been around her waist to a hooked piece of bent flooring.
She glanced at the closest broken window on the bridge, she could make it in a single sprint if the Nexu moved, but as the beast was now slowly moving through the torn remains of the bridge trying to find Kira who refused do as much as breathe in the hope that she remained hidden.
“Come on K. You can do this.” She whispered as she prepared herself for this.
A snarl from the Nexu who had caught her scent put doubt to her thoughts, but she had little choice.
The beast came at her as she rose, metal teeth snarling before she cleared out of the bridge in a jump that was all but suicidal.
She fell and fell down towards the sharp mud-covered rocks of the crushed hulks base but found herself suddenly paused as her rope went tight and stopped her fall.
The wild bleating of the Nexu followed her down, the noise chilling her soul before it faded and disappeared, the creature disappearing knowing it’s prey was lost.
Kira gazed downwards, she had maybe four metres of free space between her and the icky water below, a fall from here was more than likely easy than what she would have if she hadn’t had the rope.
She cut the harness and fell into the lake, emerging soaked through at the shoreline near where the two droids were sat waiting for her.
“Oh welcome back Mistress Vaal, you seem rather…”
“Wet?” She replied back with a smirk.
“Why yes. You should have avoided the water, it is rather bad for your health.”
“Thank you Eyetee.” She rolled her eyes and looked at the darkening tree line. “We need to make a camp.” She seemed unworried about the sounds of creatures in the dark and more worried about the perfect style of fire for her to at least try to warm and dry off at.
Rollie had aided with setting a fire, which had grown large thanks to a large stockpile of wood from the nearby trees, it served several purposes for Kira, warmth and safety. She had pulled an old ragged blanket out from her pack and placed it over her shoulders before sitting near the fire with the droids both on scanning modes nearby.

A warble from Rollie caused the scavenger to raise her eyebrows, “What?” The droid repeated himself. “Oh nothing, just thinking that is all.” The little astromech came up alongside her and whistled again. “Just thinking about all this, these skeletons of the past. It’s all I have, all I know.” Rollie turned his photo-receptor towards the near invisible hulk nearby. “There’s got to be something more out there, something else other than this for me.” A reply of several little whistles made her smile. “I know I’ve got you, I’ll never doubt that. It’s just…This is becoming all a bit too much for little old me. I’m just Kira. Nothing else.” The droid wheeled itself even closer to her and Kira’s hand tapped the metallic dome of it’s head. “I’m going to try and get some sleep. Don’t worry too much about me. I’m a big girl. I promise.”

 

[Kira Vaal]

CHAPTER 8
GENERATION GAP

Kira was awoken by the sound of splashing coming from the lake and the startled alarms of Rollie as he proceeded to panic around the camp. The fire had gone out overnight and Kira found herself rather dry thanks to the jungle heat, but the sight of three large creatures swimming towards her made all these things fade to the back of her mind.
From her position she could make out a prominent lizard-like head on a long, upright neck that sat a good three metres tall. Whatever they were had their bodes underwater, leaving a strong wake as they went, however each bore a rider along with several passengers straddled to their back in what appeared to be some form of boat, all onboard appeared to be humanoid.
“Rollie, stay calm.” Kira pulled herself to her feet and made her way slowly towards the shore making sure her blaster was secure in her holster.
The creatures finally reached the shoreline and began to make their way out of the water, their boats remaining attached to their backs like saddles. An older-looking human sat on the middle beast, while an Aqualish, a Wookiee and two other humans shared the others each baring arms. They looked menacing enough until the older man waved them off, indicating the guns to be lowered.
His skin was weathered and dark, visible scars running across his bald head. His uniform looked battered and worn but was clearly from a naval background of some kind. He went to speak only to be cut off by a familiar voice from behind Kira.
“Captain Harsol. Sir. I’m so glad to see you’re still alive!” Eyetee-three started to shift down towards the group. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited to find you again. Silly me! Of course you do. As ordered I have brought a rescue party. I’m also happy to report that I have made great strides in developing our maps through the galaxy, even if they have taken a more…generational time frame than we expected.”
Captain Harsol, who had dismounted his riding beast gave the droid a querying look at IT-3PO before bursting out in a laugh. “I knew you were clever Eyetee, but…Well done damn it!” Turning to Kira the rough looking soldier eyed her suspiciously. “Well, you’ve got my old droid. Never expected to see that irritatingly resourceful thing again. Now who the kriff are you and where is our rescue party?”
“Rescue party?” Kira gave Harsol a hard look before turning back to regard IT and his blank expression that she swore was looking rather smug. “Nah, I’m a salvage operation. I wasn’t hired for search and rescue.”`
“Salvage?” Harsol stared at Kira with anger in his eyes. “Salvaging what exactly? My ship?”
“No, a ship yes, but not yours.” Kira didn’t dare mention anymore.
“A ship?” Harsol’s weapon was raised and pointed directly at her, Kira responding with her arms raising to the air. “Listen here girl, you need to be straight with me right now or your not leaving this clearing.”
Kira exhaled. “The Falcon. I’m after the falcon.”
“The Millennium Falcon?” Harsol began to laugh. “Good luck with that. He lowered his weapon and started to make his way back to the Reevo that had been his mount.
“What do you mean good luck with that?” Kira followed him ignoring his attempts to brush her off. “It is here isn’t it? You know exactly where it is don’t you?!”
“Listen girl.” Harsol was already getting back into his boat. “The Falcon is a legend. A myth and nothing more.”
Kira felt the pull of defeat in her gut, if an apparent Republic General said it didn’t exist what chances were there anyway. She stopped pursuing Harsol and instead merely stared off over the water.
“You coming girl?”
She snapped out of whatever thoughts she was entering. “What?”
“You coming? All legends have to start somewhere don’t they?” Harsol’s face was expressionless. “Come with me and I’ll tell you all about the Falcon.”

 

[Kira Vaal]

CHAPTER 9​

Revelations​

For thirty minutes Kira and the two droids had sat within the boats attached to the backs of the Reevo mounts used by the apparent crash survivors. The giant lizards keeping the other jungle predators at bay as they waded through the water near the banks to minimise any chance of being detected by overhead scans.
“We call it the escape.” Harsol muttered as he relaxed at the front of the boat. “The river that is.”
“The escape?” Kira questioned regarding the murky surrounds.
“It is the fasted way to travel between the Organa and our settlement, it is also the safest.” Harsol replied. “Between the Nexu and the Octupikeys we are lucky to be alive still, but the river has gifted us life.” As the Reevo slowed near a fork in the river Kira noted that the crew seemed ready to disembark so made ready herself. “We have to hike from here.”
The steep trail Harsol led them on was a hard path but as they emerged from the thick foliage, Kira could make out the shape of a rocky bluff towering many meters over them. A formidable wall of tree-trunks and starship hull plating curves outward toward the group, two tall sentry towers built across its length.
“Welcome to the retreat.” Harsol smiled as he guided his entourage to a large gate made of rusting metal.
Kira wasn’t given a tour, the various wooden shacks barely glimpsed as she was marched towards a large metal and wood building that was heavily covered in netting and tarpolines. A crowd of about thirty survivors and a few droids slowly parts in front of you as the captain waves everybody inside through the thin doorway. They are dressed in patchwork clothing and primitive skins, clearly made on Cholganna. Only a few wore remnants of Republic uniforms.
As Kira was ushered passed the crowd she could hear the expected questions and whispers of curiosity.
“So, Harsol, why is she not dead yet?” A voice cried out from the crowd. “You gone soft?”
“Could be things are changing around here.” He fired back, anger flashing on his face. “Tell Cratala to get over here. Now!”
The captain led Kira into a cramped control room, boards and thick cloths covered most of the computing systems which looked worse for-ware. Hand fashioned lamps were scattered through the small space giving it an almost surreal atmosphere.
“Take a seat,” He indicated to a rough chair that had been placed near the wall, while he turned and took a vantage upon an old table.
“Welcome all.” He offered as more people entered the room. The captain moving their attention to the protocol droid stood near Kira. “A few of you might remember Eyetee here, the one that was supposed to bring help. He’s the reason we have guests tonight and not prisoners.”
Kira gave the droid a sidewards glance, the feeling of slight betrayal thick in her mind.
“When I saw his homing beacon light up on the old responders, I thought it was just another malfunction. Well, Ninan spent all night analysing the unit and signal, and it checked out.” There was some excited chatter among the crowd. “Now if it weren’t for this little welcoming committee here, I would already have questioned her and announced any good news.”
Harsol was interrupted suddenly by a voice from the back. “Like we trust you. I bet if it wasn’t for this committee she’d already be dead. I wouldn’t be the first time!”
The captain flared with anger, his voice changing from victorious to overly defensive, almost threatening the other survivors. “Well of course, it wouldn’t be just me. I would have asked Cratala to join us, of course. Just like we always do here in our retreat, right?” The crowd tumbles in disagreement, yet nobody else spoke out.
Harsol lowered his defences. “I know a lot of you don’t trust me anymore to keep you safe. I know you don’t all agree with me that hiding from the First Order should have been our number one priority all these years.”
First Order? Kira had heard of them before, some upstart Imperial group. How would Harsol know of them though?
“Well maybe Eyetee and his new friend have a way to improve our lot. Maybe even escape this planet, and still stay out of an Imperial prison or execution chamber. So, let’s take a few minutes to ask some questions, and see what everyone thinks.”
Silence and then an explosion of noise all directed at Kira. Every single survivor launching into their own questions about the outside galaxy, wanting to know where she had come from, what she was doing here. Could she answer all of them? No.
For the next twenty minutes guided chaos was Kira’s life. She attempted to answer what she could and when she could, but for the most part her conversation was guided by Harsol’s own agenda. One by one he wittled down the crowd until only he, the woman called Cratala, Kira and the two droids remained.
“So that is our community.” Harsol seemed worn out as he slid into a seat near the wall. “Backstabbing and vicious lot. All of them.”
“They aren’t that bad Captain.” Cratala stated with a smile. “They are just lonely for the outside world.”
“I take it you two aren’t as lonely?” Kira asked and was gifted an angry look from Harsol.
“Staying on Cholganna is the best thing for all of us right now. We know we had an anomaly, their isn’t anymore Rebellion to fall back to.” He said quietly. “The rest don’t understand, so we kept it secret. They all think if we get off the planet they will have homes and families to go back to.”
“They don’t realise what year it is?” Kira was shocked.
“They don’t even know what century it is.” Harsol confirmed. “Look Cratala and me, we know you can help. However this is where we hold the power, you help us and we let you get off this rock. We want to go with you however.”
“Look, I’m not a rescue op, I don’t even have a ship anymore.” She had lost her way to the one she had landed with, somewhere in the jungle it would be abandoned for all time. “Which puts me at a loss as to how you are even going to get me off this rock.”
“Really?” Cratala said with a smirk. “Look around you kid.”
“It’s a briefing room. It can’t fly.” Kira shot back.
“Not right now it can’t.” Harsol mentioned. “Considering your looking for one thing on this planet your doing pretty poorly at noticing it.”
Kira’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t mean?
She walked over to one of the clothes that covered the wall and pulled it off hard. The wall behind wasn’t a wall, it was a bulkhead, instruments and viewing panels all over it. A second cloth covered a tunnel that led to a…
“Cockpit…” Kira whispered as she entered it, fully aware of Cratala behind her. “It’s the…”
“Welcome to the Millenium Falcon. Although you would never know it.”
She wanted to dive into her own questions, the how, the when, the why. Harsol had other ideas however.
“So here is what I want. You need to fix this ship. We lost our technicians in the crash and with all honesty no one here can even wire a weapon together, let alone a ship. You fix the Falcon and we all get off world.”
“I…”
“I’ll give you the night to think about it.” Harsol offered. “Cratala will take you to a room.”

 

[Kira Vaal]

Chapter 10​

Flightless Bird

Kira’s night had been restless at the best.
The sound of the jungle around the Retreat was fine by her, the screeching of beasts and their prey a normal background sound for the young explorer. It was more the scratching of guards outside her door or the never ending whispers of passers by that kept her awake. That and the fact that outside there was a certain ship that she and her mentor before her had spent their entire lives looking for, or so Harsol had said.
The blinds of the room were drawn back as the woman who Kira recognised as Cratala entered letting in the dim light of mid-morning and the smell of fresh roasted meat.
“Roasted Jungle Ronto, it’s not the finest meal in the galaxy but for us its a breakfast of the year.” She said noticing Kira’s inquisitive look passed her. “I brought you some. Here.” A metal disc was put down on the table unit and Kira was non-hesitant in immediately digging into the thin strips of hot meat that were on offer. It was the one thing she would never get over with her line of work, the fact of how quick one could get hungry while on the job.
Cratala took a seat opposite Kira and stared at her intently, it was the first time she had been able to really pay attention to the apparent ship survivor and finally the years of hard work were apparent on the otherwise young woman’s face.
“You’re not human are you?” Kira swallowed a mouthful of food before questioning the woman who should be in her sixties yet looked thirty if not younger.
“Arkanian. Cybernetic specialist.” She offered a smile. “I believe you ran into one of my guards on the Organa.”
Kira had to think for a second. “The Nexu? You cyberneticalised a damn Nexu!?”
“Sometimes when you find the alpha species of a planet you have to make sure that you build something stronger. It was the natural choice.” Cratala explained apologetically, “I am sorry if it caused you any harm. It was just doing it’s duty.”
“It’s fine, just gave me a fright that is all.” Kira tried not to show the want to wring the woman’s neck. “So…is it really the Falcon?”
“I thought you might ask that.” Cratala sighed. “Yes, she is. In her past at least. We were transporting her away from a certain issue when we hit the hyperdrive anomaly. The event fried her circuits as well as the rest of the craft on-board. I’ve tried everything to get her to work but she is beyond repair I’m afraid.”
“Then why does Harsol want me to fix her, surely he knows it’s impossible?” Kira queried as Cratala stared blankly out of the door.
“He still has hope.” She moved her head closer. “Look Harsol is losing the plot. He silences any who oppose him, and, if they continue to defy him, they end up missing. His first mate stood up, two days later he was found dead down the hunting track. I would just entertain his hope.”
“If I can’t fix her though—“
“You’ll never leave yes, but the last time a group of treasure hunters like yourself found their way to the Organa Harsol had them all killed. He even destroyed their ship making it impossible for anyone to leave.”
Kira started to understand. “He loves the control. He doesn’t want to get off this planet, he wants to stay here where he is king.”
“Bingo princess.” Cratala gave her a wink. “However don’t think I’m here with just the bad news. I’ve got a team retrieving parts from the old treasure hunter ship as well as the one you left when you arrived, Harsol had already seen to it’s destruction. You should be able to at least get one of the outlying fighter carcasses working.”
“What about the—“ Kira went quiet, she wasn’t seriously turning up an offer to break out because of a damn ship shell was she? “—Falcon. I can’t leave without solid proof.”
“I can offer one better. The Organa was carrying ten thousand Imperial Credits, small amount for back then but in your present day and age it would be considered the find of the century. Harsol and myself have stashed them in a secure lock beneath the Falcon’s floor panels. Take it and go.”
“I want the Falcon.” Kira said quickly. “If you can bring me parts I can get it working. I can get everyone off world.”
“You can try, but you will not succeed.”
“We will see.”

 

[Kira Vaal]

CHAPTER 11​

Running Outta Time​

The few days that had passed since Kira and Cratala’s discussion had seen quite a gain in momentum. The salvage teams had managed to bring back many pieces from her own shuttle, which she learnt had been destroyed by Harsol prior to their meeting.
It was with these parts that Kira had set to work, slowly making sure that what she was given held the chance of being implemented into the Falcon’s dated and useless systems.
When Kira had asked Harsol if the camp still had anyone remotely knowledgable in the technology she was working with he had merely appointed Cratala as Kira’s aide and assistant.
It turned out that she was next to useless and had no idea what she was doing, but she had a still hand and could micro-control the situation which helped with the wiring.
“Look I need a power cell from the shuttle.” Kira tried to explain to one of the scouts one particular morning after they had returned with nothing of use. “Unless it is able to replace the Quadex Power Core the ship is never leaving the ground!”
It had been the same story each time the hunting party had returned, either something wasn’t compatible or they just refused to lug back what she needed.
“This is never going to happen.” Kira sighed, her fist hitting the wall near the technicians center of the ship, sending several small screws and fittings flying. “I need parts.”
“What about some of the droid parts we have around the place?” Cratala offered, unknowing if her advice was actually of any use.
“We could take several components, I could then build a…” She went on about some technical jumbo that was better left unsaid.
Cratala merely stared at the young girl. “I have a degree in cybernetics not engineering systems remember.”
It was an odd thing to say for Kira, who herself didn’t have any formal training. She just knew. She loved ships and everything about them, it was the same for most pieces of technology. “Oh yeah? Sorry.” She took up a piece of engine that had come out of the back of a small cavity nearby and started playing with it. At least she got to touch the Falcon, that was enough wasn’t it?

Another week had passed, then two. Kira settling into the encampment of the survivors with surprising ease. Progress had been made on the ships state, mostly due to Cratala and Harsol final agreeing to let Kira have access to the long since shutdown garage and the three speeder bike wrecks that had sat inside it.
She had also befriended another survivor by the name of Rewna, who had admitted to be an apprentice droid engineer aboard the Organa. Kira had instantly taken advantage and now between herself, Rewna and the occasional assistance of Cratala they had managed to rebuild several systems into what Kira insisted was a temporary fix to at least get them off the planet.
Of course she hadn’t tried them yet. The power supply was still iffy at best and she was worried that a premature test would create a back-sweep through the improvised parts enough to destroy everything she had done so far.
Harsol had become increasingly frustrated with the time it was taking to fix the Falcon. Constant remarks of effort and a complete disregard to requests from Kira had drawn a rather ugly line in their relationship.
“You have a week.” Harsol had stated, his voice quivering with anger. “If you don’t have it working by then I’ll feed you to the Nexu.”
“A week? I need more parts, your crews aren’t bring back what I need.” Kira had argued, for several hours they had continued on at each other until both had gone their separate ways and refused to even be in the same room as the other.
That had been four days ago.
Time was running out.

 

[Kira Vaal]

CHAPTER 12
The First Order

Rain had managed to dull any cheer in the team working on the YT. It wasn’t the usual soft rain that Kira was used to, no it was heavy torrential rain that turned everything into a river and left you soaked through to the bone.
She had been forced to have the Falcon covered by makeshift sheets in order to attempt to protect the exposed parts of the rebuild. Limiting the three of them to the inside of the ship.
Kira had taken the time to start shifting through the parts that had surprisingly been returned to her from her shuttle after the argument with Harsol. The retrieval crews bringing everything that still remained of the ship.
Several panels had already been welded into place and the power cores had been placed in, she just had to do some heavy re-wiring to the systems to allow seam less co-operation between the computers and the foreign core.
In her hand was part of the cargo hold panel work. It had been brought along because it still had good wiring strung along the back of it from where it had allowed power to flow to the auxiliary hydraulic systems. Kira had been busy removing the wiring when she noticed something odd about the shape of the panel. It was domed at the rear, or at least the piece of metal was that had been wedged in behind the wires.
With patience and a few tools she managed to pull the device out and cleaned the mud off it.
Her eyes opened wide in alarm.

“HARSOL! Harsol!” Kira shouted as she ran out into the rain, scanning the camp in search for the Captain. She stopped one of the survivors who was busy hanging catching buckets on rope hung from the wooden structure that hid the Falcon. “Have you seen Harsol?”
“Uh, over by the gate.” The stammering fool responded as Kira already began to slide through the mud towards the wall and gate that bordered the camp.
She found the captain on overwatch next to another guard. “Harsol!”
“Shhhh.” He raised his hand to Kira. “The jungle’s gone quiet.”
“It’s just—“ She was made to go quiet again by the captain.
“It feels wrong. It feels like…”
“The First Order.” Kira said over the top of the captain who turned back to her with large eyes of anger, surprise and just a hint of misbelief.
“Impossible.”
“I found this. On one of the piles brought up from the river.” She handed the small piece of metal to Harsol. “It’s a tracker. They know we are here.”
“I—That is impossible—it’s—“
Suddenly, everything around them shook. The rumble of starship engines passes low over the retreat making everything from the leaves to unsecured items fall to the ground beneath the grumbling shake. People began to panic, screams of instruction rang out as they all rushed to hide or grab their weapons. Kira could just make out the glimpses of the ship through the trees as its crosses the Retreat and began to land.
Alarm gongs began to sound from the other tower, followed in suit by the next. Kira followed Harsol down from the gate and into the Retreat’s grounds. He turned on her with an enraged and paniked look over his face. “This is your fault! You led them here!”
“I led them here?” Kira shrugged desperately. “I have no idea how I possibly even would have got them here if it was me?”
“No! It’s my fault. I should nave have brought you here.” His face changes to stunning realisation and levels his blaster at you. “I should’ve killed you. Like the others, we would’ve been safe! We would have been—“ The blaster was shaking desperately in front of Kira who was trying to will the trigger to not be pulled.
“It’s not anybodies fault.” Kira whispered. Harsol’s eyes glaring at her. “I can help, I can fight.”
“Fight?” Harsol almost seemed to suddenly recognise where he was, what was going on. “The First Order. Fight?” He shook his head. “Of course. Here.” He pulled out a blaster from his hip and handed it to her, Kira recognising it as her own. “To the walls.”

 

[Kira Vaal]

CHAPTER 13
Flight of the Millennium Falcon

They never made it to the walls. A large explosion erupted through the gate as a detonator was thrown from the First Order stormtroopers making their way through the jungle. Several bodies of survivors were thrown through the air landing with a heavy thump against the ground.
Red blaster beams erupted through the area, a curtain of death as the sparkling white armoured terrors began to break through the camps breach.
Kira took cover behind a crate and released several shots as she watched Harsol trying to direct the resistance against the First Order soldiers.
She saw another two of the Retreat’s members fall dead near her, it was like Coruscant all over again, except this time it was different, she could change everything. Her eyes moved up to the box of wood enclosing the Falcon.
She could save them all.
Breaking cover she sprinted towards the ramp of the ship and was inside it despite being showered in sparks from loose bolts of blasters.
“Cratala, Rewna!” She shouted as she made it to the cockpit.
“Yes!?” Cratala appeared behind her, visibly shaken by the sudden appearance of the First Order. “Where did they come from? Why are they here?”
“I don’t know and I don’t really care to find out in all honesty.” Kira said as she launched herself into the pilots seat. “REWNA?!”
“She’s gone.” Cratala gulped. “She went to fight.”
Kira tried to not scream. “Sit down.” She pointed the co-pilots chair. “Lets hope this works.”
“Your not going to operate it. We aren’t ready! The power cores are all in disconnection zones, there is a dispenser on the fuel cells and we don’t even know if the life support is working!”
“Well I guess we’re going to find out aren’t we.” Kira flicked a switch and tried to work out why nothing was working. Her fingers twitched nervously before she slammed her fist down on the console. A dull hum igniting from it as the lights began to flicker on, dimly but on at least.
“HA!” Kira could almost cry. “Um, flick that.”
Cratala hit another switch and the hum intensified, several sparks coming from a panel next to Kira’s head, but it worked and the power seemed to regulate and spread evenly across the board.
“You did it!” Cratala seemed lost for words. “You got her working!”
“Internally yes. I’m not too sure about…”
“We need to get out of here!” Harsol had appeared at the end of the cockpit ramp. “Stop playing and fight them!”
“I’m getting us out of here!” Kira shot back.
“What?” Harsol stared around and suddenly saw the lit up console. “In this piece of Junk? You did it?”
“I did it.”
“SHE DID IT!”
Harsol looked ready for tears. “Get us out of here then.”
“What about the others?”
“There are no others.”
“What?”
“I’m it, we’re all that is left.”
Kira hit a switch and the hydraulics moaned as the ramp sealed outside the ship. “I can’t see anything because of the housing.” She muttered, the wooden planks that had turned the Falcon into a makeshift headquarters blocking all sight. “So we are doing this blind.”
Her hand hovered over the ignition. Shaking in anticipation. “Come on baby, don’t let me down.” She hit the switch.
The Falcon shook, the heavy whir of the engine erupting before dying down again. She hit the switch as if on repeat, the whir getting heavier and heavier as she did until finally with an all might crack the entire ship sparked into life. The dust fell from the panels around them, streaming information began to flare across the displays and Kira felt the pull of the ship as she sat there in complete disbelief.
“SIT DOWN!” She yelled and hit the throttle, the Falcon shook and spluttered but with the grace of a charging bull she broke through the wood and lifted upwards into the night sky. Blaster fire rained around them from the ground as stormtroopers responded to the surprise of the freighter appearing from nowhere.
Getting the Falcon into orbit was as easy as pointing it in the right direction. Everything seemed to be holding together well. The orb of Cholganna disappearing behind them as the Falcon escaped the gravity well of the planet. There was only one thing left to do. Get to Reom.
Kira set in the coordinates. She turned to Cratala who was still shaking in the co-pilots chair.
“Ready for this?”
“We’re going to die aren’t we?”
“Probably.”
Harsol laughed from the seat behind them, his hand held over a large wound in his side.
“Guess we should at least try it.”
“Punch it!”
The starlings began to form, then twirl as the Millennium Falcon, fabled ship of the Rebellion moved into hyperspace leaving the terrors of the jungle behind.