The Surface of Nar Kreeta, the Grand Chamber of Kerlin the Hutt
The massive, blubbering form of Kerlin the Hutt spoke, and Jarvis cringed slightly at the sound of the horrible language. "His most magnificent Kerlin the Hutt, ruler of the Outer Wastes of the planet Nar Kreeta, bids you speak now," A nervous-sounding protocol droid translated from its position next to the Hutt.
Jarvis took a deep breath, readying himself to say something, when Allara stepped forward a few steps and started talking in Huttese. The two conversed for a few minutes, and at one point, Allara started shouting, and took another—more aggressive—step forward. In the end, she bowed in thanks and turned to look at Jarvis. She walked by, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him after her.
"I didn't know you could speak Huttese."
"You didn't figure out I'm a girl until a day ago. Shows what you know."
"So, what'd he say?"
"He'll give us your friend Grennith, but we've got to do a job for him."
"
What? You agreed to a job for a Hutt without even telling me?"
"The Cavrilhu have put a price on your head, Jarvis. If we don't do what Kerlin says, he'll turn you in to the Cavrilhu and collect his reward. Sometimes, the only way to escape the scum of the galaxy is to find someone a little worse, and throw your lot in with him."
They reached their ships a few minutes later, and found Zal sitting outside. "What's going on?"
"Ask Jim," Jarvis said. Allara had forced everyone to agree to call her "Jim" while in public, and maintain the illusion that she was a male.
What a weird girl, Jarvis though to himself as he said the worlds.
"We're lifting off in half an hour. There's a convoy of ships leaving orbit in about 45 minutes, and we have to assist in escort duties."
"That doesn't sound too bad," Zal said, still sitting.
"It's headed through a rival Hutt's space, and they're expecting trouble," Allara finished.
"What?" Jarvis said. "You want to die, don't you? And I made you mad enough to want to take me with you."
"Relax; you'll be fine. Besides, I'll be in the Preybird, so you can die, and I can get away." The fact that Jarvis couldn't hear if she was saying that jokingly or not, due to the mechanized sound added by the mask, didn't help Jarvis' confidence any.
"Let's just get this over with," Jarvis said, kicking Zal lightly to get him to stand up.
Hutt convoy, in orbit above Nar Kreeta
"Escort vessels
Fortune's Frown and
The Wandering One reporting in," Jarvis called over the comm as they joined the convoy above the world.
"What are you talking about, 'reporting in'?" A human voice responded. "This isn't some army your joining, idiot. Just get in line somewhere, and don't do anything stupid."
"Listen, Jarvis: with these people, you have to think of the absolute worst way to do something, then add broken ships and a lot of alcohol, and that's about what you can expect," Allara said over the ship-to-ship comm. "But don't worry, because any trouble we run into will be in just as bad of shape as our guys."
"Get outta my way!" A slurred voice shouted from the comm, and Zal rolled the blastboat over as a small freighter careened by, one of its sublight drives sputtering on- and off-line.
"Ferril, watch the sensors!" Zal growled as he rolled back around to avoid a flight of starfighters that came speeding by.
"I was watching the sensors; that stupid ship was flying in something's sensor shadow, and popped at the last possible second. Sorry."
"This is ridiculous," Jarvis said, looking through the forward viewport at the mass of weaving ships that covered local space. "Get us out of the middle of this. We'll stay on the outside of the formation, like an escort is supposed to do."
"Aye, boss."
"Jarvis, what are you doing?" Allara asked.
"We're getting out of this mess. We'll parallel the main formation; drop in beside us"
"We're going to make them mad."
"Then they can shoot us, because I'm not staying in the middle of that chaos."
"Hey, moron, get back in line!" The same human voice from before said. "Idiot, I said get back in line! I'll come after you; don't think I won't."
"I am here to provide escort duties for this convoy, not run my ship into some half-conscious freighter pilot. I'll do my job, and you do yours."
"
I'm in charge of this convoy, and
you can suck vacuum!" Two lances of light shot by, forward and starboard, and missed the ship by thirty or so meters.
"Swing us around to the other side of the convoy!" Jarvis yelled as he climbed into the laser turret. "Zal, you handle the ion cannons. Ferril, think you can deal with the launchers and copilot duties?"
"Sure, Brother."
"I told you that you'd make them mad," Allara cut in. The cannon was still firing, shooting through the convoy to try to hit him. "You should probably apologize."
"He couldn't hit us if we were dead in space," Jarvis said, bringing his turret around and returning fire, scoring a few minor hits in rapid succession.
"You shot me, you little—"
"You want to go another round? Because there's plenty more where that came from." The only answer was that of the cannon falling silent, and local comm traffic increasing.
"Jumping in thirty seconds," Ferril announced, powering down the weapons and shields and returning the targeting computers to standby. Jarvis strapped himself in, deactivating his own targeting computer and preparing for what was sure to be an eventful trip. Finally, the stars streaked by, and the convoy vanished into hyperspace.
Somewhere in Hutt Space
"Multiple contacts."
"I see them. Prep torpedoes and missiles. Jim, you ready?"
"Oh, yeah, captain; I've got you covered." Allara was hiding behind a large freighter on the edge of the convoy. Jarvis was going to lure the enemy fighters—mostly aging Z-95 headhunters—over, and she was going to pop out right behind them and take out as many as possible. They'd used this tactic twice already, and it had worked both times. Elsewhere, defensive forces were struggling to hold back their attackers, but Jarvis and his crew were managing to protect a substantial section of the convoy without any aid from other vessels.
"Zal, bring us about; we'll face them head-on."
"Sure thing, boss."
Jarvis fired the cannon as Zal swung the ship around, and soon, his forward-mounted ion cannons and light laser cannons joined the attack. A missile and torpedo sped toward the incoming fighters, then the forward shields started taking hits and Zal broke away, making for the marginal safety of the convoy. Jarvis continued firing as the aft shields took hits, then they were finally past the freighter, and Allara shot around from behind it in her Preybird, taking out one fighter with her lasers and one with a torpedo in a few seconds. The enemy fighters tried to run, but Jarvis picked one off and Allara took out the other two with another torpedo-laser combo.
"Wave eliminated." She reported, turning around and making her way back to the freighter. Then something different happened; two corvettes and half a dozen assault shuttles dropped from hyperspace and moved toward the convoy under the protection of two squadrons of enemy fighters, R-41 Starchasers and Z-95 Headhunters.
"Jim, swing around and engage enemy fighters on the other side of the convoy. Zal, you do the same."
"We've got to stop those ships!" Allara said desperately.
"We've got to free up the guns on the other escort ships and focus our fire. There's no way the four of us can take them out by ourselves."
"Traitors!" The human from earlier yelled over the comm. "Get back to your posts!"
"This isn't an army, idiot. There are no posts. If you want to live to see tomorrow, you'll shut up and do what I tell you to." Jarvis pushed a button on his comlink. "Ferril, patch me in to the convoy."
"Done."
"Alright, listen up; everybody focus your fire on that group of Y-wings and take them out before they launch another volley of missiles. I want the light freighters to form up and run interference on that group of fighters near the front of the convoy as soon as the Y-wings are gone, and I want everything with a gun pointed at the newly arrived formation as soon as that's done with."
"What about the other fighters?" The human asked arrogantly, as if he thought Jarvis had forgotten about them.
"I'll handle them," He said simply, then shut off the channel that the human had been using. "Jim, Ferril, Zal: let's get to work."
The blastboat and Preybird hurled themselves into the nearest enemy formation with ion cannons, lasers, torpedoes and missiles flying everywhere. Before long, the two ships were doing little more than chasing each other's tails, trying to take out the fighters that were following their ally. Allara's fighter took some damage, but they managed to take out the first group, and began moving to the next small pocket of enemy fighters, which was harassing an unarmed medium freighter.
"What's it look like over there guys?" Jarvis asked.
"The corvettes have opened fire, some of the larger freighters have responded. The fighters and light freighters we've got left have engaged the enemy fighters, but the assault transports are dealing heavy damage to our fighters.
Jarvis flipped the general comm channel back on. "Focus! Everything above a light freighter, focus your fire on the central assault transport. Take it out, and move to another. It's a very simple concept! Concentrate your fire, and don't let up until your target is dead!"
The blastboat caught the fighters from the side, and the hail of energy turned most of them to scrap before they knew what was going on. Allara came in from a slightly different vector, catching a couple more fighters by surprise. A trio of friendly Headhunters streaked by, taking out the last of the enemies.
"We'll handle the rest of these guys; they need you at the main engagement," One of the Headhunter pilots said over the comm.
"Ferill!" Jarvis yelled.
"Already got 'em, Brother. Channel four."
"Negative." He paused for a moment, thinking through his options. "You three swing around and use the convoy for cover, then cut across and hit that last group with everything you've got. Jim, stay just inside this side of the convoy, and go straight for them, a little slow. Zal, take us away from the convoy a little, and then rush them head-on."
The five ships converged on their target at almost the exact same time. Everywhere they turned, they met a wall of laserfire. With the last group defeated, Jarvis' group turned toward the main engagement. As they drew near, they realized how poorly their side was fairing. Friendly fire had once again diverged, and enemy shields were soaking up almost all of the incoming energy with little effort. He opened the general channel once again and gave one more order. "Everyone with a missile or torpedo, form up on me; we're going for the lead corvette."
The general channel filled with complaints and objections, so Jarvis opened the channel he was sharing with the four other fighters and asked, "You guys with me?''
"I guess," Allara responded.
"Let's do this," One of the Headhunter pilots said.
"Okay, let's go." The five vessels shot straight through the enemy forces, getting fired at from every angle. Surprisingly, other defensive ships joined in, some of them passing the slightly slower blastboat. Several ships took fire and exploded, including one of the lead Headhunters, but Allara dropped into his position in the trio, and they kept going.
The forward ships fired their missiles and torpedoes, then broke away and flew back toward the convoy, taking potshots at enemy fighters that were pursuing the slower ships at the back of the line. Zal dropped the blastboat beneath the main group slightly, opening his line of fire and spraying the corvette with ion- and laser-fire. Zal slowed down slightly, buying them a few more seconds before they had to turn back. Ferril continued launching missiles and torpedoes as fast as he could, and Allara made another pass at the target, firing two torpedoes from the forward tube, then one from the aft tube as she made her way to a safe distance. Finally, something important took a hit, and the whole ship shook as internal explosions tore at its structure.
The corvette exploded, its flaming wreckage stretching out to impact dozens of ships—friendly and enemy alike—and finally the remaining defenders had some small hope of surviving. The assault transports broke away, their fighter escorts falling in beside them, and the corvettes laid down a field of fire to discourage the defenders from giving chase. Jarvis sunk in his chair slightly, relieved that it was finally over. "Jim, you still out there?"
"Yes."
"Ferril, status?"
"We've got some pretty serious damage to the dorsal wing, and the concussion missile launcher took some pretty serious damage, though—obviously—the missiles are fine. Shield generator suffered a power spike that damaged some systems, and we can't get it above about 60% power. Oh, one of the maneuvering fins took a hit while the shields were on the fritz, so don't ask Zal to make and turns to starboard any time soon."
The now all-too-familiar voice of the human "commander" came on the comm. "Good job, kid; you scared them off!"
"No," Allara cut in, "that's not what happened. It was all about cost-benefit. By the time we took out their corvette, they had destroyed so many of our freighters that taking the convoy wouldn't have paid for the losses. If they would have stayed and fought, they would have suffered more losses, and captured an even smaller number of our ships."
"Oh. Well, I still say good job! That was some impressive stuff!"
"Let's just get to where we're going and get back," Jarvis said wearily.
"This is it, kid. There were supposed to be some ships waiting for us here, but I guess they aren't coming."
That filthy Hutt! "We're getting out of here. Back to Nal Kreeta, best possible speed."
"Now hold on; we can't just abandon our mission; not without proper authorization."
"This isn't an army, old man. I'm going back to Nal Kreeta. If you want to stay here and see how long it takes for someone else to come along and kill you, go ahead; I've had enough."
Grand Chamber of Kerlin the Hutt
"His most magnificent Kerlin the Hutt, ruler of th—"
"Save it," Jarvis cut him off, stepping forward until his shins bumped against the edge of the raised platform Kerlin the Hutt was sitting on. "I want my friend on my ship, in perfect health, in ten minutes. I want my ship, and Jim's ship in full operational order and fully restocked, with no special little "surprises," in ten hours. And I want payment for services rendered, right now."
The Hutt started laughing excessively, and his guards started moving to envelope the three visitors. "Boss," Zal said, sounding worried.
Jarvis pulled an odd little package with a button on it out from under his jacket, and held it up for everyone to see. "This contains the nergon-14 charge from one of my few remaining proton torpedoes. It's not quite as impressive as the thermal detonator that I used on the last group of people that tried to take what's mine, but it'll do its job. I want what I'm owed, you filthy backstabbing worm, or I'll make sure that you killing me ends with me killing you.
"Hey, kid, calm down now," The human from the convoy said urgently from the back of the room.
"He sent us out there to die. He sent us all out there to die. That's why there wasn't a decent escort, and that's why the only people at the end of the trip were enemy ships, waiting to take us out."
"Why would he do that, kid?"
"He's a Hutt, does he need a reason to kill people? Besides, after seeing that fight, after being in that fight, how many of those guys do you thing he wanted around? There were maybe five guys in the whole convoy that were worth the dirt they're made of, and at least one of them died."
Kerlin began laughing again, and didn't stop for a few minutes. Then he belched out some other apparent nonsense, and the droid began to translate. "The mighty Kerlin—"
"He said the Cavrilhu are here," Allara cut in. "If you want to live through this, you better put that away, and agree to stick around for a while. He'll send them away, without a mention of your being here, if you do those two things."
"How do we know we can trust him," Zal jumped in, pulling out his blaster, apparently an attempt to add dramatic effect.
"Because we'll be dead otherwise," Jarvis said, lowering the package reluctantly. He looked up at Kerlin, "I still want all of that stuff, and on that timetable. I don't work for free, and if you don't like it, the Cavrilhu can have me, or at least what's left of me, 'cause I still have this bomb here," He patted the package with his free hand.
Kerlin started laughing again, and squirmed about in what might have been intended to be a nod, mumbling something.
"What about them," He asked, pointing at the others in the room.
"One good turn deserves another," The human said, smiling wide and showing his crooked, discolored, and missing teeth.
"What about my ship?"
"The Cavrilhu are in another docking area, so they won't see it," Allara said after listening to Kerlin for a few seconds. "And our ships will be repaired and resupplied as soon as possible." She stopped and listened to Kerlin again, then said, "You want to go see your friend? They'll be letting him out in a few minutes; we can go meet him at the jail if you and Zal want to."
"Let's go!" Zal shouted, clumsily putting his blaster away and taking half a step toward the jail, then remembering he didn't know where that was and stopping abruptly.
"I'll lead them," A human in a flight suit said from the doorway, then walked quickly over, a Shistavanen in a similar flight suit following closely behind.
The group made their way into a side corridors. "You two were in the Headhunters, right?"
"Yeah. I'm Vincent, call me Vince; this is Harvik, but call him Harry."
"How do you spell that?"
"Like the name, not the reference to how much hair one has."
Oh, he's so smart he even uses words like "one"; what a human. "If you don't mind me asking, who was in the other Headhunter?"
"My last travel-partner," Harry said gruffly, stepping ahead of the slow-moving group and continuing to the jail at a quick pace, forcing the others to speed up or be left behind.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Jarvis said sadly.
"Anyway, we were hoping we could fly with you," Vince said, cutting off any further talk of the dead pilot. "That Ubese is a pretty good pilot, but he could use some help, i'm sure."
"We'll talk about it later," Jarvis said as he stopped at the door that led to the holding cells. "I've got a friend to meet right now." He stepped toward the door, but it swung open just before he got to it, almost hitting him in the face. On the other side stood a Rodian in dirty clothes and carrying a tattered bag.
His nose wiggled a little, then Grennith said, "Jarvis, is that you?"
Zal stepped forward, pushing Grennith into the wall. "What's the matter, you stupid thug, don't you remember
me?"
"Zal!" He exclaimed, raising his hand in an odd greeting.
"Hello Gren. It's nice to see you still have all your fingers. Is it safe to say the same for your toes?"
Gren let out what was probably the Rodian equivalent of a chuckle. "Yes, good friend, it is."
Jarvis turned around quickly, starting the walk back to the dock. "Well, we've got to get back to the ship and make sure none of that dirty Hutt's henchmen take anything. Oh, and by the way," Jarvis added, gesturing to Allara," this is Jim. He's a jerk, so get used to it."
They were back at the blastboat soon enough, and after politely shooing away Vince and Harry and introducing Ferril, who had stayed behind to watch the ships, to Gren, the five went onboard
The Wandering One to figure out what to do next. The door closed, and Jarvis fixed Allara with a stare, saying: "I think there's something Jim wants to tell you.
Her head tilted slightly, then she said, "Fine, there's no point in trying to keep secrets around here anyway." She pulled off her helmet, muttering, "My name is Allara, and as you can obviously see, I'm not really a 'he.'" She quickly put the helmet back on.
"Okay, here's the plan," Jarvis said, pausing as something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. "Ferril! What'd you do to that astromech!"
Ferril looked over at the various pieces laying on the floor and shrugged slightly. "I got bored. Besides, with the right parts, I can get him working almost as well as an R2 unit."
"It's an R5, Ferril, and we don't even need it. But it's hard to sell an astromech when it comes as a bag full of disassembled parts. Put it back together, and we'll get rid of it as soon as we can."
"Listen, Brother, I can make this work. With the right parts and a little extra programming, that R5 can help run the sensors, regulate power flow, and even help chart hyperspace coordinates. We need it. With all these extra systems, there's no way I'll be able to keep this ship running at full capability. With an astromech, I might have a chance."
"Maybe so, but not an R5. I've met loadlifters smarter than R5s."
"I think we all agree that I'm the closest thing to a mechanic we've got, and I'm telling you, we can't keep this ship running without an astromech, and that one will do just fine. Besides, we don't have the credits to buy another one."
"Surely, between the five of us, we've got enough money to buy one astromech. C'mon, how much money do we have?"
"You haven't paid me since I've gotten on this ship, boss," Zal reported.
"All I had to my name was pocket change when I left Varn," Ferril said, pulling out a couple coins from his pocket.
"I spent everything on the hyperdrive and astromech," Allara said.
"Gren, what about you?" Jarvis asked
"That stupid guard stole all my stuff. They gave me my blasters, but took the power cells."
"Well, everything I owned was on the freighter when it got hit. But Kerlin said he'd pay us, right?"
"Jarvis, he's going to send some thug by to throw a dozen credits in your face an laugh at you, and that's if he's feeling generous," Allara said.
Jarvis collected the handful of credits from Ferril, then stretched out his hand to Allara, who finally pulled out one last stash of credits and handed them over. Jarvis walked into a back room, pulling out a small box and digging out the few credits he had found on the ship. He walked back onto the bridge and spread them all out over one of the consoles. "What can we do with this?"
