There wasn’t much time to reflect on the past. The present was still offering dangers to be mindful of. There was an explosion on the opposite side of the factory entrance where the Mantis was landed. Seconds later came the deafening booms of orbital strike cannons.
Imperial forces began open bombardment on the factory and surrounding areas. Everyone piled into the ship, Erikson taking the controls. He swung the Mantis around to the cliff face the factory was built near in time to see a drop ship crashed with Malgus running from it to another transport. Erikson directed the Mantis towards Malgus and opened fire with full turbo lasers.
A few seconds of those blasts and Erikson let up on the controls. He noticed that Satele Shaun was laying on the ground behind Malgus. They engaged one another and she wasn’t moving very fast. The Mantis dropped from the sky dodging orbital bombardment blasts all the way.
Satele was no fool. She knew a rescue when she saw one. With the last of her strength she force jumped to the small back ramp of the Mantis and held on tight with both hands. Erikson flew the Mantis north through the fiery chaos and to safety in a Republic aligned sector. For the moment it didn’t matter why the bounty hunter rescued her. The importance of such would come in time.
Erikson blasted out of that Republic sector on Alderaan with no time to waste. Multiple jumps were made and randomly chosen by the nav-computer totaling seven. “I always wondered why I couldn’t follow you. Smart thinking, brother,” Kassandra complimented. “But may I suggest these coordinates when you think we are out of harm’s way,” she asked as she handed him a data strip.
There was plenty of time now to ask questions, but the state of recent events left the ship’s captain and crew all confused and speechless. Slowly everyone ended up in the cockpit trying to figure out the answers to who, what, when, where, why, and how concerning Kassandra and Erikson. By the time Blizz made it to the cockpit Kassandra had about all she could handle with the wide eyes focused on her.
“Okay! Fine! I’m his sister and he is my brother. Get comfortable and I’ll tell you everything!”
She motioned for everyone to move out of the cockpit and into the storage and holo-communications room behind the cockpit. There she let them know her history. Everything matched precisely with what Erikson told them previously. And when there were discrepancies it all still fit perfectly when taking into consideration that Erikson believed his family to have been killed. He couldn’t have known, therefore it wasn’t his fault for the lack of knowledge.
Things got really interesting when Kassandra began telling about her travels leading up to the reunion she created. So many times she was so close to catching her brother. Sometimes she could have caught him but stayed behind on missions to follow up with research she was doing with a fellow slicer. And most of that research was done concerning Mako’s private queries on the galactic holo-net. Kassandra was quite possibly the genius slicer equivalent to Mako.
Kassandra wasn’t just trying to find her brother, she was trying to protect him; but from what she didn’t understand until recently. She was caught in the EMP explosion when Erikson fled Yavin. Where Erikson had a full crew to aid him, she was alone, a shadow of a shadow. Her specific set of skills was in observation and stealth, the tools of a slicer.
While Erikson proved to be a cunning mind, dangerous body, and a generous heart, Kassandra proved to be patient. She couldn’t save Mako. But was able to prove her value and claim her place aboard the Mantis with her brother and his crew by filling in the gaps in the work Mako started, 2V was working on, and Revan seemed to be after.
Erikson wasn’t going to try and hide the fact that he nodded off during some of his sister’s exposition; nor could she be upset at her big brother for such after taking on the galaxy’s two most known powerful force users in a single day; all of that on the heels of surviving an encounter with Darth Revan, of course. He was due some well deserved rest in order to help cope with his stresses. “So what do you know of Revan’s motivations concerning our search, Kassy,” Erikson asked as he was completely reacquainted with his long lost sister through the Force connection they shared?
“I’m pretty sure Revan knows the secrets hidden in the Jedi archives on Tython. I’m not convinced he understands what they mean. However, by revealing them to the galaxy, he feels the same as the Jedi who locked them away did. That they would grant power to so many and the governments and the Jedi order would be diluted to the point of the complete nullification of their authority.”
Erikson sat forward in his chair clasping his hands together and resting his elbows on his knees. “That would be worth protecting if you’re in power through such means. It would be worth more than simply protecting and I suspect that there are other secrets out there which will explain why the Jedi have buried and forgotten those secrets, Malgus wants those secrets, and Revan is trying to kill us over them. I just hope that whatever we are on to is worth it. Credits I have. Its truth I’m after now.”
Erikson’s crew was watching Kassandra, waiting for her response. “Do you suppose those stories we were told as children were true, about the founding of the Republic after the first world was lost?”
“I think they might be, Kassandra. I think they might be.” Erikson stood up and ordered 2V to return to his post decoding more from the trove of information they recovered from Tatooine and Hoth. From the communications room Erikson could see the nav-computer showing they were about to exit hyperspace from their first randomly programmed jump. “Blizz. Torian. Get to the engine room and prep the first charges for an EMP burst. I don’t want followers and make sure we didn’t pick up any bugs on the hull.”
Blizz exited with a skittery murmur of excitement and delight. Torian exited with his eyes gazing warming on Kassandra’s soft but toned features and her light brown hair caressing her jaw line. Skadge didn’t need orders. He went to the cockpit and made himself comfortable at a gunner’s seat. Gault joined him striking up a conversation about how much Kassandra could be worth if she wasn’t Erikson’s kin.
“I heard that, Gault. If you want to keep your other horn you’ll find something else to talk about!” Kassandra was very clear and Gault shifted topics to a spice mining venture that would allow Skadge to crack a few Imperial skulls on a rock called Kessel.
They made it through their first jump with no hitches and began their second jump.
“So, we will have a few hours before the third scheduled jump. We should talk,” Kassandra stated. Erikson sat alone with Kassandra in the communications room. They swapped stories and told tales and generally caught up. For many, such a time would have taken weeks or months; but as creatures securely rooted in the mystical energies of the Force, they had learned all they needed with that connection and the knowledge one another was still alive. Though their parents were forever gone, they had each once more.
Neither one had every truly given up hope that the other was gone, well, in as so much as they were simply missing. With them together, the Mantis’ crew was about to embark on a new mission the likes the galaxy has not seen in a long time. Kassandra had spoken about dragons, magic, and lost civilizations which resembled something older than ancient human empires. And the most intriguing idea was that one of the human empires was significantly different than the others. Not a single trace of magic or Force usage was found or recorded as being used by any human. That empire was the one lost in the outer rim territories, on the side of the galaxy with Tatoo and Hoth.
“So, Kassy, where do those coordinates dump us off at,” Erikson asked?
“Galand is where we are going. I think there is something there that you should see. I don’t know what it is but I hope that by the time we get there your droid will have deciphered enough of the data you acquired on Tatooine to make sense of these temple structures I found as well as the eternally decaying skeletons of undead dragons.”
This piqued Erikson’s curiosity very much. “Wait, the Ga
landans are near-human species who evolved there. But I remember seeing something in data I retrieved from Tython about Galandan being called something else before. Uh...New Avalot or something.”
“That would be New Avalon, sir,” 2V assisted in remembering as he entered the communications room from downstairs. “The New Avalon system was one of the oldest systems in the galaxy that harbored human life before the first set of galactic disasters which caused enough fear to create the Republic among many of the core worlds.”
“Yes. New Avalon! Thank you 2V. Was there something you wanted?”
“Yes sir. I wanted to give you a compilation of the work I’ve completed so far. I thought you might want it while I begin the last section of decryption.” 2V handed Erikson a data pad and returned to his work station down stairs.
“2V, prep Kassy’s quarters, please,” Erikson instructed. “Kassy, I need to get some rest for a while and look over this data. Whatever you need, just let 2V know. And I think if you can make some time, Blizz would probably like to work with you about upgrades for your gear. I think you are going to need it where we are going together.”
Kassandra acknowledged her brothers generosity and devotion to a strong heart with an unexpected hug. “I’ve missed you and mom and dad.” She pulled back from the hug. “So how do you propose we show the galaxy the truth about its existence? I’m sure that will probably cause the collapse of the galactic governments?”
Erikson smiled at his sister. “First we get some rest. Then we plan.”
~~~
To be continued:
Book 2- Doubtful Pride
The Hunter’s Gambit
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