"At this rate, I've stolen enough ships to be considered a pirate."
Looting an armory proved a lot easier than I had anticipated. Quite frankly, the hardest part had been walking over here. Do note, however, that this did not mean much. Lord Grathan had spent most of his defense budget on massive anti-aircraft guns. Using them against foot targets was a valid use of them, true, but that meant taking them off their air-defense duty, potentially leaving the estate open to an aerial attack.
That was an unacceptable opportunity cost as far as Lord Grathan was concerned.
So they had remained pointed up at the sky, leaving my little party to only have to deal with the mobile defenses. You know, those same mercenaries and droids my little party had been encountering as long as we had been on the estate grounds.
Granted, I had very much not fought an equal third of all enemies my party had encountered. Fortunately, the apprentice and his pet Dashade were walking instruments of mass destruction, and I was very happy to have both of them on my side.
And I was even more happy to have another Force user at my side who could help me lug several dozen crates filled with military equipment across an active warzone that was still being lashed by perpetual rain. Could I have used droids to accomplish the same thing? Probably.
Did I trust Lord Grathan's droids to not screw me over for tripping some unknown security program? Nope!
"Remind me again why you need all this equipment," the apprentice said, setting down the last of the crates from the armory. This one contained blaster rifle power packs and was absolutely plastered with security warnings. It fit rather snugly into the belly cargo hold on the freighter I had selected for myself, but at least that meant I did not need to spend unnecessary time strapping it down. "This isn't just about denying Lord Grathan some of his assets."
"True," I allowed. By the front landing gear, I puzzled over the unfamiliar controls before punching a poorly labeled green button. Not that it had been that much of a mystery since the red one had caused the cargo hold to descend from the ship like a freight elevator. With the rumble and groan of high-torque motors, the light freighter's cargo hold retracted into the main body, giving me a few seconds to come up with an appropriately nonsuspicious answer. "An associate of mine managed to rack up a debt with some gangsters in Hutt Space. This is to clear the debt."
"Someone managed to get you into debt?" he asked, incredulously. Behind us, Khem Val muttered something in that sibilant tongue of his. Naturally, we both ignored him.
"A little side-effect of preferring to cooperate instead of forcing obedience," I said, punching an unknown and unlabeled third button. This one did nothing, but the fourth button caused the boarding hatch to pop open at the rear of the freighter, rather like the trunk of a car. Unlike a car's trunk, however, a ramp deployed from the bottom of the hatch to allow me to reach it.
"That sounds short-sighted," the apprentice commented.
"It might," I allowed. "Until you realize that you get a lot better results if everyone involved is getting what they want. Case in point, this little cooperative venture of ours. You got that mystery gadget of yours and I got the gear I needed to pay back a debt. Everybody wins."
"Still, I find the concept of being in debt distasteful," he said, accompanying me to the boarding ramp. Khem muttered something in response, causing the younger Sith to answer him. "That's a bond through the Force, Khem, not a debt. It's completely different."
"You're not alone in that opinion," I said, waiting with one foot on the boarding ramp. "I, however, rather like the idea of having other people invested in my ongoing survival. Speaking of which, I really should be off."
"Very well." The apprentice did not seem put out over losing an accomplice. Then again, there was another Sith whom he clearly knew who was rampaging through the estate, so no doubt he was considering getting an upgrade. Not my problem. "Then I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors."
"The same to you," I said, boarding the ship that was now mine. The third ship that held that designation since I had become a Sith. Potentially the fourth, if you considered the unauthorized use and subsequent loss of military equipment. Hopefully, I could find a way of keeping this one.
And more importantly, keeping my life.
Crossing the habitation area, consisting of a lounge, bunk, refresher, and sundry amenities, I made my way to the cockpit at the very front of the craft and initiated the take-off procedure. At least, what I thought was the procedure. Power on, wait for the reactor to get warmed up, engage the repulsorlifts, power to engines, and blast off while broadcasting my clearance codes on an open channel in case the Empire had decided to put air defense around a traitor's headquarters.
It took about ten minutes to get me from a ferrocrete landing pad to soaring above the jungles of Dromund Kaas. Ten minutes which I spent trying to figure out what I was going to do next.
No, it was quite clear what I needed to do. The only question was in what order I was going to do it. No, scratch that, I knew exactly what needed to be done first.
Powering up the communication array, I connected to a specific frequency and waited patiently for the call to connect. After a few seconds of a soothing chime echoing through the cockpit, a small blue figure appeared on my dashboard, hovering just above the dashboard.
"Apprentice Natia, my dearest ally," I greeted the miniature figure now standing on my dashboard. Well, more miniature. Hang on, were most of the powerful people in my life shorter than me? "I have a proposition."
"Fairly certain I'm your only ally on this planet," she countered. "But go on."
"How would you like to be a witness?" I asked, easing the throttle down as I attempted to navigate the unfamiliar navigation computer. Since I wasn't inputting actual coordinates but only scrolling through a list of landmarks, it wasn't too great a distraction.
"I know I'm going to regret this, but a witness to what?" the Sith apprentice on the other end of the line asked, exasperation clear in her voice.
"Resolving a minor succession crisis," I answered after finally finding the navigation marker for the Dromund Kaas Spaceport. A click of a button, and a previously unlit section of my dashboard came to life, displaying a new heading. Pulling on the yoke, I managed to align my current heading with the target heading and relaxed a bit. "The matter of Darth Thur's rightful heir is still a matter of debate, and I've received some very precise instructions to help sort it out."
"Why do you need me as a witness?" she asked. "You and your silver-tongued friends can resolve this over tea. Wait, none of them are women, your talents won't be of use here."
"The claimants are not exactly on tea-drinking terms, Natia," I pointed out, ignoring the jab at my reputation. I really had chosen the worst planet to make my Sith debut. Oh wait, that hadn't been my choice to make. Thanks, Egatio. "There's a decent chance they would kill each other if we can get them in the same room. Or would kill me if it meant denying the other party the ability to use me as a symbol of their legitimacy."
My ally was silent for several seconds.
"You're holding yourself hostage," she said, accusingly.
"Yes," I admitted readily enough. "And I will do so again in… about an hour, I think? I've been broadcasting my clearance for a decent bit of time, and I don't think the shield of 'it's too obvious' will work a second time."
"What makes you think they'll even show up?" she asked.
"Were it not for my lack of experience, I would be the natural successor to Darth Thur. The only outcomes for me in this situation are either as a kingmaker or a corpse," I revealed. "And they both know that."
No doubt there was a Nash Equilibrium to that little dilemma, an optimal choice no matter what the other person chose. I very consciously chose not to figure out what it was for the sake of my own sanity.
"Fine," she eventually said. "Fine. I'll meet you at the spaceport. But you had better make it up to me afterward."
"I am a man of my word," I said cheerfully, and the line went dead.
It was nice having allies.
...
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