Good Deeds
From TFC Galactopedia
The stars seem lonelier tonight.
Fenris Ulfric, captain of the merchant ship Key West could not put the thought from his mind. Just a few hours ago, the subspace channels had been filled with the news. The Galactic Empire had completely destroyed Mars and landed troops on Earth. The Federation Counsel, its president dead, had surrendered shortly afterwards. The United Federation of Planets had been dissolved, leaving himself, his family, and crew citizens of the Empire. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned his gaze from the window to look upon his wife's face. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears, her face reflecting the torrent of emotions tearing at his own soul. "It'll be okay," he said, taking her into his arms.
"No it won't," Brenda Weatherby-Ulfric said with a sob. "Nothing will ever be okay again."
"At least our families should be safe." He said, but words felt hollow. Sherman's Planet was a small agricultural colony, not likely to become a battlefield. Hopefully the foods grown there would make it valuable enough for the Empire to leave it alone.
"And what of our family? You know what'll happen if they find out about Freya…"
"They won't. They'll not go poking over every merchant ship in the galaxy looking for children with that gift." He smiled down at his wife and kissed her gently on the forehead. He could see the doubt in her eyes. "Come on. Let's try and get some rest." His wife nodded mutely, and he began to lead her back to their bedroom when the ship's intercom bleeped at him. With an exasperated sigh, he stalked over and punched the button opening the channel. "What is it?" he growled.
"Sorry to buzz you so late, but we're receiving a distress signal," the soft voice of Karen Patterson, ship's communications specialist, purred from the speaker.
"Federation or Imperial?" Fenris asked, his anger at the interruption fading.
"Apparently neither. It's a holonet transceiver transmission, so we're barely reading it, but it's not Imperial. The transmitter is less than a light-year from our position."
"Fine. Tell Rr'sserr to have Allanro to put us on an intercept course, Warp 7. I'll be right up."
"Yes, sir," the Terran tabby replied.
He cut the intercom channel and looked apologetically at his wife. "I'm sorry. I've got to check this out," he said dejectedly. Fenris kissed his wife, then darted out of their small suite and down the hall to the turbolift. It took but a few moments to reach the bridge. The helm and navigational stations were to the front of the small room, the Deltan navigator Allanro monitoring both. Behind them was the captain's chair, within which was seated a Catian lion, First Officer Rr'sserr. To the left was the vacant engineering console, and to the right was Karen seated at the sensors and communications console. Rr'sserr glanced back at Fenris. "We're en route to the source of the distress signal, ETA 12 minutes," he said, standing and moving out of the way. "Our engines are approaching redline, but we'll arrived before they overheat."
"I hope these guys can last that long," Fenris said doubtfully.
The cockpit of the Lambda class shuttle was filled with smoke. Salina, until recently a Jedi Hunter of some intermediate skill, coughed harshly as the fumes burned her throat and lungs and wrenched the controls over, swinging the shuttle out of the way of a flurry of blaster bolts from the sleek black shuttle chasing her. Give up. There's no place to run. You cannot escape me, traitor. The words tore at her mind, the far more powerful Sith Dapawan in the shuttle assaulting her with projections of fear and hopelessness.
No! If you want my head, you'll have to take it! She railed back through the Force. Her hands began to shake as she began to lose the mental battle. She gripped the controls tighter, forcing them to steady.
The voice in her head chuckled tauntingly. You are lost, Salina. Give up. You will die, by my 'Saber or by my guns. Do not prolong your suffering. End this now, or I will make you pay most dearly.
"No," Salina said, but her voice was barely a whimper. He's right. I'm going to die. There's nothing I can do. She shook her head violently, trying to clear the thoughts. "No!" she shouted aloud, her voice cracking and her eyes filling with tears. The shuttle jolted as a volley of blaster fire shattered the shuttle's dorsal fin. "No," she whimpered again, the fear gripping her mind and rending her will.
Yes. It ends now, Salina. Good- WHAT?! The mental shout from the Sith apprentice snapped Salina out of her stupefied trance. She glanced around and her heart skipped a beat as she looked to her right. A starship over two hundred meters long and painted black with brilliant racing flames had virtually materialized beside her shuttle, and there was a momentary flickering in space as it extended its shields around her ship. She began to reach for the commlink when she was filled with a strange tingling sensation and a golden light surrounded her. When the light faded, she found herself in a strange room, on a platform with six glowing circles in the floor. Still in her sitting position, she fell back, landing painfully on her bushy ringed tail.
Dapawan Tankaro frowned and lashed his whip-like tail behind him, trying to figure out what had just happened. Salina's presence in the Force aboard the shuttle had faded away, only to appear aboard the new starship moments later, where he could feel another weaker presence, another Force user, younger and untrained in the arts. Perhaps a good replacement for my Master's traitorous toy, he thought. The larger ship then veered off, its shields flickering again, no longer encompassing the crippled shuttle. It's great nacelles flared brightly, and it shot off into the distance. Warp engines… Transporters. That's the technology. That must be how they moved Salina from her ship. He smiled darkly. "You'll not escape that easily. NAR-1979, S.S. Key West," he said, recalling the ship's markings.
Within the Sydney-class transport's transporter room, Salina sat still, panting heavily as she fought off the effects of her mental battle and warily watched the three individuals in the transporter room. One of them, a Wombat, stood patiently behind some sort of podium. The other two were hulking bears, each carrying a phaser rifle, watched the black-clad raccoon with a mixture of appreciation and apprehension. She didn't wish to make any aggressive move. Even though she was certain she could take the two guards, she wasn't so sure about avoiding the effects of the device that brought her aboard. She could very well suddenly find herself materialized in space.
The doors covering the only entrance to the small room slid open, and the wolf that walked in was huge. He stood nearly two meters tall and was of massive build, though a touch overweight. His cargo pants, leather bomber jacket, combat boots, and mohawk gave him a piratical appearance, but when she reached out to sense his motives, she found no hostility, just a cautious apprehension. Something glinted in the light, and she noticed a golden ring on his left hand.
"Jedi," she heard him say under his breath, and she followed his gaze to the lightsaber lashed to her belt. "I'm Fenris Ulfric, Captain of the Key West. Are you okay? And, if you don't mind me asking, what was all that about?" he asked, turning his head slightly as if looking at something outside the ship.
"Yes, I'm fine," Salina said, still not moving. "That other ship was piloted by a Sith Dapawan who's been hunting me for about a week." If the Captain believed her a Jedi, she wasn't going to dispel that illusion. It made things less complicated that way. "Thank you for helping me." As a Dark Side warrior, she hated expressing gratitude, but it made sense to be polite to the people who'd saved her life. It made it more likely that they'd be willing to help her if she needed it again later, without her having to try and dominate them with her exhausted mind.
Fenris let out a low growl. "Well, that could be a fare bit of trouble." He shook his head and shrugged. "Okay, I'll take you as far as our cargo drop, but you'll need to find passage from there. I don't need a Sith chasing my ship." He stepped over and reached down. Salina took his hand and he helped her stand. He looked down at her lightsaber, opened his mouth to say something, seemed to reconsider it, and then smiled politely. "So, do you have a name?"
The raccoon tentatively returned the smile. "Salina. My name's Salina."
Fenris nodded and released her hand. "Narria here will get you set up with a room," he said turning to face a jumpsuit clad shapely vixen with a ridiculously large tail. Salina hadn't seen her come in behind the wolf. The vixen waved her to the door and padded out with her. Once the door shut, Fenris activated the intercom on the transporter control podium to contact the bridge. "This is Fenris. Rr'sserr, have our internal sensors keep an eye on our guest."
On the bridge, Rr'sserr let out a slow breath. His captain didn't trust Jedi as far as he could throw them, but then, he'd had one too many suggest that he give up his daughter for training and lose her forever. He supposed most parents would be protective. "Aye, sir. We'll make sure she doesn't do anything funny."
Salina eyed Narria suspiciously as the walked down the hall, sniffing at the air unnoticeably. Something about the vixen seemed off, aside from the unnatural size of her tail, something about her scent was off, and her mind didn't feel right, though Salina had no way of knowing what a Chameloid was. They finally stopped in front of a door much like every other on the ship, and Narria keyed it open. The door slid aside to reveal a rather small crew quarters, a bed with folded beddings to one side, a door to a restroom to the other, and a small table barren of any signs of habitation. "Here you go," she said. "It's a little spartan, but we weren't expecting guests." Salina smiled and nodded her thanks. "Sleep well," Narria said. "We'll see you at breakfast. I've gotta get back to the bridge." With that she turned about and strode off down the hallway.
Salina shook her head and stepped back into her room. "Strange crew," she muttered.
She spent the next few days playing up to the crew of the Key West, using their assumption that she was a Jedi to gain a medium of trust from them and befriend a number of the crew. It felt weird, playing nice to those who should be below her, but right now she needed allies, however she might find them. Tankaro had been the one who first discovered her as a toddler and brought her to his master for training. She'd never been all that powerful, but the Sith hadn't wanted another apprentice; he'd wanted cannon fodder. When Salina finally discovered this, nearly getting killed in a hunt because of it, she ran away. She should have known Magrath wouldn't let one of his servants go so easily.
Did she really think we'd let her go so easily? Tankaro pondered as he waited in a bar near the main spaceport of the Deneva colony, a major base for interstellar freighting and the next stop for the Key West. He marveled at just how easy it was to track the ship. A few mind tricks to get into the administrative offices, which were in a mess because of the Imperial takeover, and he'd confirmed that the ship was on its way, but would arrive a few hours late due to responding to a distress signal. He hadn't involved Imperial authorities, since he didn't want word getting back to his master that he'd temporarily lost the traitor. Magrath was a little temperamental about failures. Ah, Salina, you troublesome girl. I will make your death something most exquisite.
Thanks to the superior speed of hyperdrives, he'd arrived with nearly a week to spare. This proved unfortunate for a handful of the colonists he'd taken to toying with when he grew bored from waiting. Save for a couple of attractive females whose minds he'd enthralled, most of his games had lethal results. Well, there was one that survived, but the hospital had to keep him sedated in order to stop the screaming… He was smiling at the thought when he felt it – a familiar presence in the Force, and his smile grew predatory. Ah, there you are my dear. It's time we finished our little dance. He downed the rest of his drink as they strode away, then stalked out of the bar, the bartender certain the dark robed man had paid for his drinks.
Fenris glanced back from where he was watching the offloading of cargo, his gaze falling on the uncharacteristically nervous raccoon. "What's bothering you so much?"
Salina suddenly stopped, silently chiding herself for showing her emotions, but she could hardly contain her fear. "I… I felt him. I think I did, anyway. He's here. He's come to kill me."
Fenris' eyes went wide, and his ears folded back. "That Sith apprentice guy is here?" he asked, reaching into his jacket for his gun, his eyes darting back out over the activity down in the cargo hold and in the starport outside the loading doors.
"Not right here," Salina said. "I mean he's here, on this world, in this city. If I could feel him, he's certainly felt me. I can't stay here. If I do, he'll kill me. He's far stronger than I am."
Fenris frowned at that. "Okay, I'm no expert on this stuff, but why would a fully trained Jedi fear a mere apprentice?"
Salina winced, knowing she'd been caught in a lie. She now had to minimize the damage. "Alright, I'm not a Jedi, I'm only a trainee. I never received the full training to become a Jedi knight."
"And you managed to attract the attention of a Sith?" he asked incredulously. "I thought they had attack dogs for that work." He saw the flash of anger in Salina's eyes, something a Jedi would have controlled, and finally put things together, taking a step away from her. "Wait… You're one of those 'attack dogs', aren't you? What'd you do to get your master to turn on you?" He knew he was treading on dangerous ground, but if she wanted him dead, there was little he could do about it, so he was banking on her desire for help outweighing the desire to eviscerate him.
Salina turned away from him, her body trembling as her emotions surged out of control. How DARE he question me like that? Her mind railed. I should kill him! However, the more rational part of her mind managed to get itself heard over the surge of anger. You need him. If you don't convince him to help you, you're just another lightsaber for the Emperor's collection. She gnashed her teeth and gripped the handrail of the catwalk, eyes tearing up while she pretended to watch the cargo loaders work. "I got tired of it, okay?" she snarled out. "I and the others… We were cannon fodder, chattel to expend making our master's job easier. I was tired of being thrown into danger and being treated like I was worthless. So I grabbed the first ship I could and ran. You know the rest." She glanced back at him. "I've never had anyone help me before. No one has ever cared about my well-being, but you and your crew have… I don't know how to respond to that, or how to ask for your help again."
"So, you want us to help you fight and kill a Sith," he said, shaking his head. "Every fiber of my common sense is screaming for me to say no, but we already saved you once, and I can't very well kick you out and let you die." He let out a long sigh. "Okay, I think I've got an idea, but it'll be dangerous…"
Dapawan Tankaro's breath condensed into a misty cloud in the cool evening air, as the rat followed his prey silently. He'd been waiting for hours for her to finally leave the starport. Salina padded down the street and turned down a dark alley. Good, now let's finish this, he projected to her through the Force.
The raccoon, her silvery hair tied back in a ponytail, stopped pacing down the alley and turned to face the Sith apprentice. She nodded to him and drew her lightsaber. It ignited with a snap-hiss that seemed thunderous in the quiet alleyway. "I'll not die easily," she said, silently cursing herself as her voice cracked, revealing her fear as clearly as any probing with the Force.
The rat chuckled darkly. "Oh, that you won't," he said. "Nor will you die quickly," he added with a sadistic leer. He drew his own saber and ignited it. Now, let us see how loud you can scream, he projected into her mind. He felts something wrong when his mind touched hers though. It was a triumphant surge of joy that a mere Hunter should not have felt against a Sith, even a Dapawan. He glanced around, looking for an ambush, but his danger sense told him nothing, save for a distant, unspecific warning.
Tankaro's eyes widened as Salina lifted her left wrist, an object previously beneath her sleeve becoming visible. The feeling of victory from her flared as she shouted, "It's us! Do it now!"
"We've got them locked," Melnom, their Bolian wombat engineer said, using the energy sources of the ignited lightsabers to specify the transporter targets.
"Do it," Fenris said. He waved his hand for the two bears to aim their phaser rifles into the transporter chamber. "Remember, blast the rat, not the ringtail."
The transporter hummed to life under Melnom's fingertips. In the alleyway, Tankaro let out a fearsome shout of rage and thrust out with the Force, sending Salina flying through the air towards a concrete wall with enough force to shatter her bones. Suddenly, though, Salina stopped in mid air, golden energy swirling around her. The Dapawan found himself also unable to move, the same energies swirling around him as well. When the light faded away, his danger sense was screaming at him. He tumbled out of the way of the two phaser rifle blasts. He then brought up his 'saber in a defensive stance, however; it was no longer functioning.
Melnom had disabled the weapons mid-transport, leaving both Dapawan and Hunter unarmed, or so he thought. Tankaro raised his hand and sent the two bears slamming back into the wall. A wave to the side sent their phasers flying across the room. Suddenly, he himself found himself flung against the far wall of the transporter chamber, though not nearly hard enough to hurt him. He glanced over at Salina and snarled with rage. Extending his hand once again, he slammed her back into the chamber wall, then across the room, impacting the wall behind the control podium so hard that she left a dent. The raccoon slumped to the ground.
Fenris grabbed for his own phaser, but suddenly felt his throat constrict, painfully cutting off his ability to breath. He gasped and staggered forward against the side of the console, eyes locked on the Dapawan and his clenched Force-choking fist. His vision growing blotchy, he glanced back at the wombat, clapped him on the shoulder, and gestured desperately at the transporter controls. Tankaro's eyes went wide as logic pierced his rage, and he raised his hand, throwing the wombat across the room with a surge of Force lightning before he could throw the final switch.
His vision reduced to a gray-toned tunnel, his lungs burning from the lack of air, Fenris reached over and shoved the three sliders all the way to the top. Tankaro let out the beginnings of a scream of rage before he dematerialized. The grip on Fenris' throat vanished, and the wolf collapsed to the ground gasping for air. Melnom stood slowly, wobbling a bit as he made his way over to the transporter controls. "What do you want me to do with him?" he asked, voice filled with pain. Fenris tried speaking twice, each time only managing a hoarse croak followed by violent coughing. Finally, he just slid his finger across his throat. Melnom swallowed hard, but nodded and followed the order, using the transporter to scatter Tankaro's molecules across space, finally killing the Sith apprentice.
The doors to sickbay slid open, and Fenris waved to the half-Vulcan Doctor Kevel as he stepped inside. After a short look around, Fenris walked over to the bed where Salina was sitting up, reading a novel the Doctor had supplied her with. "So, I'm told you were looking to speak with me about something important," Fenris said, his voice still a little rough.
Salina closed the book she was reading and looked over at Fenris. She smiled sadly and nodded to him. "I do, both something to ask of you and to offer you. We both know there's really nowhere I can go. I'll have an Imperial death mark on my head, and the Rebels and their Jedi friends will never accept me. This is the only place I'll ever be safe. I've also felt that a child on this ship has the potential to learn how to use the Force, I assume it's one of yours, since you've the only family aboard. If you'll allow me to stay aboard, I'd be willing to teach your child about the Force." She saw and felt the objection coming. "Just the Light Side," she amended. "I think the Dark Side has its place, but I know you feel differently. All I ask is that I be allowed a home here, aboard your ship."
Fenris thought for a long moment. "Perhaps," he finally said. "I'll need to discuss this with my wife and daughter, but we might be able to work something out." He laid his hand on her unbroken shoulder for a moment, then, with a smile on his face, turned and left the room. As the doors shut behind him, Salina clutched the novel to her chest, for the first time thinking she had a real chance of starting her life anew.
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