Walker Audenhoen stared blankly into the darkness beyond his cell, wavering ripples of red within the doors frame providing the only visual cue that his vision was still his own. The powerful smells provided by the rancid air, faulty recycling systems and refuse left by invasive rodents began to work visions into his mind’s creation, conjuring fabricated methods with which his life could be taken. The body suit provided little to no warmth at all against the drafts seeping mercilessly through the cracks rust had provided, cracks which he had tried to work with his fingertips but found useless with the encumbering manacles.
“It’s a good thing you’re dead old man.” He whispered into the stale air between the incessant skittering of rodents’ feet and hard-shelled insects, “rather than witness what our Empire has become…” he finished the thought. ‘But he had witnessed it hadn’t he?’ Walker followed up his comment with an homage to his mentor’s final resting place. Even through closed eyes, he could not evade the agonizing shock of fear that rest within the deceased man’s eyes, the contorted nature of his facial features as he wrestled through such a dishonorable death. “At least mine will be quick.”
Walker shuttered his hearing as best he could as scraps of rust fell from the cell’s rear wall, falling to the damaged flooring with a slap. He knew it could have been from his earlier attempts to peel at its corners but was satisfied with the truth when he felt the scurrying of small legs race over random portions of his body suit, finding some fortune in the delicacy of insects rather than the more vicious, and much more carnivorous, rats. He balked at the nervous twitch that ripped through his body, fighting the impulse to cause the busy beetles and other multi legged roommates any reason to investigate his northern regions. He could only close his mouth, shut his eyes, and hope they didn’t have reason to warrant any investigations into either nostril or ear.
A pounding echoed through his portion of the facility every seventeen seconds, Walker’s mind focused on identifying its cause, rather than the trajectory of the insects that seemed to multiply by the second. He guessed it was a malfunctioning air scrubber or recycling unit that had fallen into disrepair some time ago, the result of repurposing and reallocating efforts following the war but moved quickly beyond the thoughts to use its rhythm to measure time. He couldn’t help but think of Areti, how deeply he hoped her own pursuit of truth had led her to much more amiable destinations.
✦
“Ttooo slslsloww….Aaarettiiii neeeed cceecee…” The warbling audio directed the occupants of the hub’s control room, Areti jumping to her feet without hesitation and darting from the room before Kallus could move a muscle.
“Cee Cee is tethered to our inbound terminal, Areti is retrieving N’dali.” He responded, taking the momentary down time to survey the schematic she had digitally imposed over the viewing screens above the work space.
“Wwill nnneeed ddaataa acaccess cconfigfig ddellttta ththree…” N’dali stated as she continued to work through her own fine tuning of speech modifications. Kallus didn’t hesitate, brushing the numerous data pads, wires, and electronic components to the side with a clean sweep of his arm. He found the access configuration module and keyboard, which would give its operator autonomous control of almost any system under complete network, cleared a jumble of hand written notes from the work spaces access terminal and stepped back just as Areti returned with the colorful protocol droid.
Areti nodded her appreciation after inspecting the surface of the work space, no doubt reminding herself of what she already knew as CC-7 wasted no time inserting his own access cable into the cleared terminal, “thanks Sandr.” She said briskly, powering up the newly connected module to sync properly with the appropriate keyboard.
Turning his attention back to the screens, Kallus studied the position of the green inverted triangle, ‘Audenhoen,’ he reminded himself, as it began to ping in a slow concentric circle, ‘N’dali no doubt working the details into whatever she intended to do,’ he thought to himself. The sub levels of the old detention center would provide challenge enough to navigate had they been operational and properly maintained but he couldn’t remember the last time the facility was even active.
“How the hell are we going to get him out of there...I mean providing we get him out of there.” Kallus said casually with a hand toward the screens.
“I am not that far yet…” Areti spoke up through her haste to sync the devices. A sharp whistle and blaring, chaotic audio assault cut her off, both her and Kallus turning sharply to the protocol droid as it wavered slightly in its stance, his head completing a rapid three hundred sixty-degree revolution. “Cee Cee?” Areti asked as a light plume of smoke enveloped the droid’s head.
“Cee Cee is fine...easier and faster to communicate this way. His vocater is already embedded with my own protocol and algorithm.”
“N’dali!” Both Kallus and Areti sounded out together. “How is this possible?” Areti couldn’t help herself.
“No time, explain later. I am going to power up the facility Areti, you will have to assist with obstruction clearance. Sandr, work on finding a suitable escape vector through the space lanes via speeder while I secure him a vessel.” N’dali said through CC-7’s vocater, the voice belonging to the droid with the technical enthusiasm of the Thebeskan. They both found it oddly soothing while they set themselves before the implements of their designated tasks.
“Upper levels would provide more capable vessels and give me a trajectory coinciding with proper vector.” Kallus informed the collective digital hive.
“I can only track the Director so long as he wears the manacles, yet he will be encumbered by doing so...suggestion?” N’dali asked.
“If the embedded question relates to his ability to perceive that fact, I suggest keeping them on for as long as we can.” Areti responded in full compliance.
✦
Walker sensed the change before the chaos ensued, a heart pounding moment of terror ripped through his body as he shuttered involuntarily, the act, he knew, stirring up the instinctual behaviors of the insects that vastly outnumbered him in the chamber. As quickly as the feeling had overwhelmed him, it had passed to the brain jarring thunderous buzzing that slashed through his cell. A buzzing that ended with a quick clip and heavy thud. His mind began entertaining the worst of thoughts before the buzzing repeated itself three more times and a whirl of activation sounded out somewhere in the distance. Within seconds, streams of yellow light began blinking rapidly in the hall outside his cell.
Walker rose to his feet quickly with a nervous twitch, feeling the agitation within the scampering legs of whatever insect tickled his neck. He stomped erratically with his bare feet into the cracked flooring, hoping to smash whatever passengers he had carried with him into it as they fell from his body. He approached the magnetic field separating him from the blinking light source, not daring to look behind.
The buzzing had ceased, but louder thumps and metallic clunks could be heard elsewhere beyond his cell. His mind was barren of any useful imaginary tactics given his present situation, ‘this could be great, or the end,’ he thought to himself, finding no middle ground with which to bridge hope. He waited patiently at the doors edge for murmuring, footsteps. Anything. Some sign that would prove one of his extreme predictions correct. But there was nothing, only the continued whirls, chirps, and audio evidence of a systemwide reboot without the workforce to make it happen. As the progressive sounds faded into the distance, any hope of conclusion faded with them. He began turning his head around to face the darkness of his cell once more, to face his voracious roommates and make amends with those he didn’t kill as the warbling hum that had wavered itself into afterthought ceased altogether. Walker turned back toward the door to find the magnetic field emitters as dark as the recesses in his dank cell.
✦
“Corridor 223, suspension field 16 A.” N’dali barked out quickly, Areti accessing and activating the appropriate key as she watched her own progress manifest in real time on a miniature wireframe replica of the facility her friend was trapped in on the lower right screen.
“Deactivating his cell emitter...now.” N’dali said, the action more than likely taking far less time than it took to say in Areti’s estimation.
“Cmon Audy...c’mon Audy.” Areti heard Kallus whisper to himself, coinciding with her own internal motivations.
“The path out will require downward trajectory, will he comply?” N’dali spoke through the vocater again startling them both out of their hopeful prodding.
“Yes.” Came the combined answer, both Kallus and Areti sharing a glance and smile between them.
✦
The shock of improbability wore off quickly as Walker stepped through the doorway, but not before he glanced quickly at the disheveled pile of his uniform, considering it a parting reminder of the life he had loved, the emitters coming to life immediately upon his exit. ‘I am being watched.’ He thought to himself as he glanced down the corridor to his right, the way he had been ushered in and observed a stasis field not ten paces from his position, wavering silently in the fractured light. He thought through the wisdom of approaching the stasis field but found himself back pedaling in the opposing direction just the same, his resolve concrete within his desire to defect.
The corridor to the left was a short venture, ending in a T intersection with a right and left option under the wavering and horribly timed flashes of decades old illumination. Some failed to comply at all while others burned with such intensity that Walker felt they would explode from their tubes, forcing cognizance to refresh his mind with his bare foot present state. The lights did little to comfort him as they revealed the path ahead either way only to conceal their findings within a darkness that seemed to creep ever forward.
Mechanical clunks sounded out periodically, some near some quite distant, but none of them offering anything but a chaotic randomness which only increased the unsettled feeling in the pit of Walkers stomach. Another stasis field signaled its presence to the right, its wavering lines a flash of burned yellow when the lights decided to cooperate and a crimson hue when they didn’t. The decision wasn’t difficult as he chose the left, only hoping his escape would continue with the same directness.
✦
“What the hell?” Ginns Stohe shouted as he parted the group he stood amongst, shoving past a greasy Nautolon in the process of pinching spice. “Someone is stealing my ride!”
“Woo...now that’s a good one!” Another of the retinue responded to the tune of clanking bottles and encouraging shouts from the others within the group outside ‘Derv’s Yard.’
“Not the song you idiot...someone is literally stealing my speeder…!” Ginns continued, yanking at the mop of black tousled hair that draped down his back… “My dad is going to kill me!”
✦
“Well, I’ve no idea who Derv is but the speeders outside his Yard are quite capable and not far from our extraction point.” Kallus voiced over the rush of activity and calculated commands between human and droid. “Isolating now…” He continued as he revved the selected speeders motor remotely and closed the doors.
“Corridor 224, suspension field seven D.” He heard N’dali command.
“Cutting illumination in retreat...I think he realizes what is going on.” Areti responded, “do you want to try removing the manacles? He’s going to need his hands for that crawl space on the lower level.” She continued on multiple fronts.
“If you believe he will understand the implication and retain them to aid in his own escape, then yes.” N’dali replied immediately.
‘It is a prayer.’ Areti said to herself.
“Let me know when you need the speeder to arrive, it is six minutes out.” Kallus updated everyone.
✦
“This is insane!” Walker said aloud, his voice echoing through the corridor as he navigated through the wavering light, dodging refuse, broken debris, and deep scared rusted cracks in the duranium flooring. He proceeded as quickly as he could shuffling his hips to compensate for the loss of balance his encumbered arms should be providing. Another left turn, hopefully the right decision based on his initial assessment led him toward a divergence and options. A small worn metal staircase was notable directly in the center of the floor, which would require hands to traverse or the easier path forward.
With less vigor than before, and less certain of his predicament than he’d been up to this point, Walker walked slowly forward and over the staircase. The blaring hum and obvious activation of a stasis field blocking his path three meters distant forced the shrug of his shoulders as he turned quickly and eyed the stairs once again. As the lighting that had illuminated his path receded to darkness once again he knew he didn’t have much time. Walker lowered himself to his knees and began the arduous task of navigating the steep decline. Lowering his right foot into the darkness below, he felt a vibration rocket through his wrists and prepared himself for some form of incapacitation charge to steal his motor function from him. The manacles only buzzed a short response, chimed twice, and fell open, freeing his arms as they both shot out to arrest the handrails to either side. The manacles bounded down the remaining steps with authority, disappearing into the darkness below.
Walker didn’t waste any time and propelled himself down the descending staircase, each foot pressing into the corrugated metal that bit into the feeling at the pads of his feet, opening gashes no doubt that he hadn’t the time to address. He reached the bottom quickly, all things considered, but had to stoop over to keep from bumping his head into the lowered ceiling. An illuminated path began to flitter to life before him and he began to understand both the patterns and behaviors at work that were assisting him. He briefly eyed the manacles that lie motionless on the bottom step, then gave himself a pat down, quickly realizing his progress was being assessed through either the control stuck fast to the roof of his mouth or the manacles themselves.
Without further internal debate, Walker grabbed the manacles and fastened one of its cuffs around his left wrist, deciding it better to not have to decide at all. He took the moment to inspect what he was certain were garish wounds on the bottom of his feet, taking advantage of the flickering light to dab his fingers around the most painful lesions on either. Wincing from his probing touch, he quickly tore at the fabric at his sleeves and ripped swathes from the bodysuit wherever he could find it yield from its seems. In the interest of maintaining speed his top priority, he quickly wrapped both feet in what mish mash of protection he could and stood up, banging his head on the forgotten height of the ceiling above.
Rubbing at the crown of his head, Walker continued forward with a lurch in his step, limping from the covered injuries and maintaining his leaning stoop. With his left hand pressed firmly against the confining walls he propelled himself forward as best he could, through rubble, frayed wiring and fallen metal panels. Small rivulets of brackish water gleamed in his path, warnings beacon of detritus and infection should he step within it. He heard the hum of another activated stasis field and felt assured that he was doing his part as he pressed on through his forward progress.
✦
“There is someone else present…” N’dali said cryptically, the droids head a flurry of action as it trained photoreceptors on various access ports and quickly removed cables only to insert them into adjacent terminals.
“How do you know.” Areti wasn’t sure if the timing was right for a question of that nature, nor should she be questioning whatever N’dali had become.
“Stasis fields aren’t only falling in descending order they are being destroyed outright. That would require presence.” N’dali responded.
“It would take a score of E-web to penetrate that armor plating, even if it is in disrepair.” Kallus commented immediately, remembering a tour of the aged facility quite a few years prior. “Unless there is someone in the control room…”
“There is not, the fields are being destroyed on location.”
“That’s a problem...Droid?” Areti chimed in.
“No, I would register the cognitive network.”
“I can only think of thermal detonation...or…” Kallus stammered for words as his eyes began to swell… “or lightsaber.”
“Thermal detonation would render residual after effects and compromise what stability the facility and power grid have remaining.”
Silence fell over them all suddenly but only for a moment, “Is there a third option?” Areti asked what they all thought.
✦
Walker pressed his momentum as he crawled over a canted pipe that had fallen from its moorings above, trying to remain at a consistent pace to aid whoever was helping him. A thunderous boom shook the walls at his sides as it rocked through his head, dislodged a rain of paint and plasters and the static discharge of newly exposed wires. He could feel the very foundations of the facility vibrate its noncompliance, offering a suggestion of increased threat and increased speed behind him.
Turning around was not an option and Walker didn’t bother double checking the assertion with a glance behind him. He pressed his advantage with increased momentum and focus, scurrying over loose brick and debris much the same way his cellmates had climbed over him. Walker guessed he was in one of the lower-level maintenance tunnels, and that this particular endeavor would end with a long ascension hand over hand to the freedom of open skies and Coruscant’s version of fresh air. The thought in tow, he plodded along as best he could while minimizing the use of his upper legs and forearms, trying to conserve as much energy as possible in the event he was correct.
Another loud bang stole his movement from him as involuntary impulse pulled at his muscles and stopped him on the spot. The vibrations and echoing reverberations did not help to isolate the source but did resonate with a sense of proximity he found alarming. “I’ve got to get out here…” he said, the flickering light beginning to reveal the truth he had suspected as rungs became visible through the rain of dust that whirled through the small corridor. He thrust his progress forward once again, hell bent on reaching the ladder ahead of him just as he heard a crackling behind him. Reminiscent of forge welders in the Imperial yards as they fuse bulkheads to hull, the sound sparked with an angry fury. Walker swiveled his head briefly to see a contrasting magenta energy beam pierce the ceiling ten meters behind him, the edges of its protrusion beginning to glow a fiery red.
✦
“I have isolated a signal source directly above our target. Wrist comm device. It’s wearer moves quickly. The target will have to pick up speed or he will be compromised.” N’dali said bluntly. “I can manipulate the signal, but I find no routine with which to slow its wearer.”
“Speeder is waiting at extraction point….Climb Audy!” Kallus shouted without thought.
Areti narrowed her eyes as she glared at Kallus following his outburst, returning quickly to her personal data pad, and jamming a communications cable between it and the access ports CC-7 was deftly navigating. She found, and pinged, the source signal of the manacles N’dali was using to track Audenhoen then entered an algorithmic equation with a flurry of finger taps. She shot her gaze to the live feed N’dali had been maintaining in the lower right screen and waited for a response.
Several seconds passed, Areti’s hope with it before a wide circle appeared around the central source. Three tiny points returned a ping as her face was consumed by her smile in response. Without turning her gaze from the data pad, she enacted the second portion of the protocol she had just written as the three pings began to pulse with a life of their own, her smile widening further to expose her teeth through the grin.
“You just wrote that?” Kallus turned to her astonished, her only answer a simple nod in return. “Genius!”
✦
Walker heard a change behind him but didn’t turn to investigate as he threw his hand around the first rung and quickly began to ascend the wall fastened ladder. Pushing his upper legs to the extreme, he saved the self-congratulations as he found and pulled on the next rung then the next, focusing his sight on the outlines of a hatchway at the top. The lighting flickered briefly, casting the upper reaches of the access port into darkness before they burned with a bright fury, illuminating the five floors of ascension he needed to pull himself from.
Walker had no idea what was hunting him and removed himself from the thought altogether as he pulled himself within three floors. His muscles clenched before the massive explosion rocked the foundations, surprising him just the same as it stole his hearing entirely and peppered his back side with stone and metal debris. For a moment he felt his muscles loosen their death grip on the rungs to freedom as they fell outside of his control. Walker knew it could only be a reaction to what was most likely severe wounds, gashes through his rear thighs, lower buttocks and back, but pushed beyond the absence of pain and through the initial stages of what was most assuredly shock.
Two floors remained between him and the swiveling mechanism already functioning that would open his hatch to freedom. He heard someone actively kick debris and rubble from a landing below him as the lighting in the shaft flickered to a gut-wrenching darkness once again, only to be filled by the heart pounding sound of an energy gate opening and the hiss of its lethal blade coming to life. The darkness was immediately cast from its moorings as the entirety of the shaft was bathed in a cool magenta hue.
Walker only proceeded to climb faster as he felt the stability of the ladder buckle within reach of the opening hatch, a soft hiss and inrush of fresher air beckoning as it swung wide at his arrival, only to be waylaid as the ladder pitched from its upper bolts and fell across the circumference of the shaft. He could still make, would still make it, it would only take a minor improvisation.
“Where are you going Director?” A sultry voice wafted upward, Walker losing all feeling of his extremities and what little composure remained if only for a moment, but long enough for the woman below to jump from the corridor she was standing and catch the rungs of the ladder behind him. “You are scheduled for execution after all..” She continued, Walker fighting this time for control of his own actions as he swung his arms to the side of the ladder and spun himself atop its fallen upper section.
Although curious about the approaching woman, Walker wasn’t ready to die and pushed down on his legs coiling the momentum briefly within his thighs before jumping to catch the rim of the opening above. He could sense the magenta hue growing brighter as he pulled with every muscle that responded and all but propelled himself from the shaft and onto the auxiliary platform just as a somersaulting blade erupted from the opening right after him, its blade burning a slight gash on his right forearm as he rolled out of the way. He knew she was only moments from bursting through the opening herself as he lifted his head quickly banging his already aching head on the open door of idling speeder.
✦
“Very wise Areti Sigurn, there is much hope for you.” N’dali said through CC-7s vocater, the droid’s head turning to express her amazement.
“I only hope the blast didn’t injure him too badly, it was reactionary...I didn’t think whoever that is would use them against him…” Areti was almost in tears as the result of her rushed decision expanded beyond her own estimation.
“Hurt is better than dead.” N’dali responded, “Of your assessment, we must assume the adversary is an adept Force user and quite sensitive to finite change.”
“Learning through the experience, half way across the galaxy…” Kallus interjected, ‘sounds like old times’ he thought to himself out of nostalgia.
“Accessing rear facing cams from selected conveyance.” N’dali updated their reality as the droid’s head swiveled back into position once more. A blurry image materialized on the lower left screen as something large cast itself in front of it.
“If you have the ability, blow the vacuum seals on the main gala view panel of residence 9034 of Ladshan Domestic.” Audenhoen’s voice crackled over the rudimentary audio offerings Areti had erected.
“Audy!” Areti shouted, rising from her chair.
“The feed is one way, he cannot hear you.” N’dali advised, “...accessing control, Ladshan Domestic...back inside the Imperial district. This is highly inadvisable.” She continued.
“So is remotely hacking a decrepit detention facility in the district adjacent, but here we are.” Kallus added with a sneer.
“Your assessment is valid Sandr, seals have been disengaged.”
✦
Walker picked himself up as fast as he could, slipping momentarily in the blood he was letting from injuries too numerous to count. He heard the clang of metal as the thrown saber clattered to the landing pads surface only a few meters distant, the sound enough of a cue to leap into the open door of the speeder headlong a split second before the sabers owner vaulted through the opening. He didn’t bother closing the door as he kicked viciously at the speeder’s accelerator, worrying about trajectory after he had put some distance between her and himself. He was uncertain if the vehicle would behave in the same manner as the facility beneath him but counseled himself to cover all avenues in any event, “If you have the ability, blow the vacuum seals on the main gala view panel of residence 9034 of Ladshan Domestic.” He shouted as he lifted himself, with intense discomfort, into the driver’s seat of a highly polished black limousine.
Walker arrested the controls of the speeder as he stomped as hard as he could on the accelerator, hoping to the stars his adamant pursuer didn’t find another miraculous way to tail him. The speeder spanned the distance in a matter of minutes as he brought the its headlamps in line with the stated viewport of residence Nine thousand Thirty Four. For a moment he contemplated the ridiculousness that would follow as he slammed the auxiliary throttle all the way forward, rocketing the speeder straight through the viewport with a violent shatter that shook the sturdy craft. Just as quickly, Walker pulled the throttle back, engaged the repulsor bank and slapped the roof of his mouth with his tongue. Tapping quickly with its tip he rotated once clockwise and the tiny hover cam burst from its hiding place and shot for the driver’s side of the speeder. Walker opened the door quickly and snatched the device from the air just before looking through his windshield.
Lying before the bright lights of the stolen speeder was the body of his former mentor and confidant, “They aren’t even going to investigate…” He said aloud, his quick observations telling him that his was the last form the deceased would ever receive before disposed of with the pomp and circumstance the decorated veteran was due. Without thought, he spun the craft ninety degrees knocking over furniture and lamps, and shot from the passenger’s side, “Open the rear doors…” He shouted on his way out. Walker ignored the stabbing pain that emanated from head to toe and gathered what little strength he had left to arrest the fallen man in his grip. Walker pulled the body into the back of the waiting speeder with one final extension of his lower back as the doors closed themselves and the speeder vaulted from the vast living room and up into the Coruscanti night.
✦
Through the course of the ceaseless barrage of those requesting his attention, he simply offered a stalling open hand as he addressed a chime within the folds of his robes. Whomever would have occupied the next precious five minutes would be made to wait for the importance of the device he proffered from a hidden pocket. The deamplification field tinted to an inky blackness before he initiated any response. “Is the matter taken care of?” Palpatine wasn’t in the mood for semantics.
“No, but the matter is ongoing. He had assistance.” A woman’s voice responded, lacking any form of visual reference.
“He must not be allowed off this planet Jade...the man knows too much.” Palpatine paused in consideration. “Assistance from whom?”
“Unknown my Lord. I will endeavor to discover the truth however.” She responded immediately.
“Very well.” Was all Palpatine said in response as he deactivated the device and returned it to the folds of his robes, circling within the sphere in deep-set contemplation.