The Old Republic: Beyond Light and Darkness ch. 3
Chapter 3
Unbecoming.
The Temple in the night was a surprisingly busy place. And it's not because of some very important responsibilities the Jedi held. Whatever these people would say, Kaidan knew they simply liked wandering the halls aimlessly, reading Archive's texts or walking off muscle cramps from spending the whole day in strange meditating positions.
That made Kaidan's escape all the more difficult. And enjoyable. The harder the task the greater the satisfaction of completing it. And making fools of Force-users was an even more satisfying feat.
That said, there was a considerable risk when trying to sneak past Jedi or Sith, even if using stealth field generators or masking Force techniques. But Kaidan was not just any scoundrel stealing moonshine from a backwater cantina storeroom.
Slowly advancing through the hallway, Kaidan planned his escape route through the Temple. This turned out to be a troubleome task, as there was only one exit, through the main door. And that was a long walk from holding area. Besides, Kaidan had to make one stop at the bedrooms, on the other side of the Temple.
Kaidan slowed his approach, as he neared the main hall. He stopped at the end of the corridor and sticking out his head cautiously, he looked around the room. There were about seven or eight Jedi in the hall. Eight if counting the one who apparently fell asleep while climbing the stairs. Kaidan withdrew back into the corridor. He exhaled, concentrated for a moment and disappeared.
_That's gonna make things much easier._He thought to himself. Slowly, Kaidan started to make his way towards the opposite end of the big hall, steering away from the few Jedi traversing the spacious area. Even a half-conscious Jedi can be dangerous. While supporting a cloaking field was not so tiring anymore, a lapse in concentration might tip off even an unattentive Force-user.
„Did you hear what happened?" A Jedi standing near the stairs, hidden out of Kaidan's sight up to this moment, said out loud, making him nearly jump out of his skin. He turned to face the source of the sound and, to his relief, saw a Mirialan panther talking to a Devaronian.
„The fake, exploding holocron in the Archive?" The Devaronian asked,
„What? No, how the Council locked up Sarek." The Mirialan gave his partner a confused stare.
„Oh yeah. I can't believe what he did. He always seemed like a great guy, a true Jedi," The other Jedi replied „Look how power and responsibility changes people. How low can they fall."
„Yeah..." The Mirialan nodded, with a contemplative expression.
„You have to admit, though, the look on Haegren's singed face was priceless!" The Devaronian laughed.
The panther laughed in response.
Kaidan couldn't help but snicker quietly under his nose, while suppressing the sound with the Force. As much as he'd love to hear more about the insufferable Jedi Master's misadventure with ancient artifacts, he had to keep moving before somebody noticed he's gone missing.
The rest of the overheard conversation troubled him though. Is that what everybody thinks about him now? Jedi are no better than any other people, perhaps even more judgemental than anybody else. He decided that he wouldn't concern himself with it right now. He still had to get to the bedrooms.
Having crossed the dangerous main hall, Kaidan retreated into the empty corridors of the temple and shed his cloaking field. He stood in place for a moment, as something came into his mind. What would he say? How would he explain himself? Is this a final goodbye? Kaidan shook his head and decided he'd improvise. Trust his feelings, as Forzan would say. And he had feelings, allright.
Kaidan recognised the familiar corridor leading to the bedroom where he and a couple of his other friends slept ever since they came to the Temple. He quietly entered the room and memories flooded him. The look of his old bed, the smell of stale bedsheets, the sound of breating and occasional snoring. Kaidan enjoyed these things for a moment, smiling, before the fresh memories of brutal reality pulled him back into material world.
He carefully moved towards the bed on the opposite side of the room, carefully navigating through a minefield of personal belongings strewn across the room. Some things never change, he thought to himself. Kaidan finally made it to his target, leaned over the bed and whispered softly.
„Rex."
The fox didn't react at first, only muttered a few expletives and turned to the other side. Kaidan knew his friend was a heavy sleeper and the failed attempt did nothing to discourage him. He prodded the fox once, to no effect. Then again and once more, but his friend wouldn't even crack an eyelid.
Annoyed, he grabbed Rex's side with both hands and shook him violently. The fox went wide eyed and opened his mouth to speak, but Kaidan covered it with his hand just in time to muffle the fox's words. He put a finger to his lips, signalling his friend to stay quiet and urged him to follow.
Rex complied, quite shocked and still mostly asleep. The two walked out of the room, into the corridor.
„What are you doing here? Did they let you free? What happened back there with the Council?" Rex had many questions for his friend.
„I don't have much time. I'm sorry, I wish I could explain everything to you, but even I don't know what's going on," Kaidan said „I have to leave and find out what happened to me. But I just had to see you again."
„Oh." Rex was disappointed. „But you didn't do it? They say horrible things, that can't be true"
„No. I mean, I don't know. I mean..." Kaidan sighed and continued „Something suspicious happened here. I think somebody wants me gone and I don't know who or why, but you can be sure I'll keep looking so long as I draw breath."
„I'm going with you!" Rex almost shouted, which made Kaidan wince.
„No!" Kaidan hissed at his friend, then spoke more clamly „You have to stay here and you must never tell anybody we met here. This is something I must do alone. But I'll be back, don't worry."
Rex wanted to say something else to his friend, but he was suddenly interrupted by Kaidan, who drew him closer to himself and kissed him. It was long and passionate, and made Kaidan feel hot all over. Kaidan didn't know how long were they already doing it for. It was probably seconds, but felt like hours and he wished it would never stop. The feeling of Rex's warm tongue in his mouth, their hot bodies hugged tightly. Their muzzles finally separated, leaving them connected with a string of saliva. Panting heavily, they looked into eachother eyes.
For a moment, Kaidan thought it was a horrible idea, he didn't want to leave now. And then, without a word, he turned around, cloaked and walked into the corridors.
He didn't look back, he wouldn't bear to see Rex like that. He tried not to think about his feeling and the times they've had together before. He had a shuttle to catch.
Sneaking past the dwindling numbers of insomniac Jedi, Kaidan headed for the exit. Having finally left the Temple, he felt the cool air of a summer night against his face. He had forgotten how it felt, having spent the last few years in decaying urban environments, rotting marshes or arid deserts. He took a deep breath, savouring the moment.If I'm gonna spent the next few hours stowed away in some crammed storage compartment, I might aswell enjoy the last few minutes of fresh air.
His reverie was cut short by sounds of people approaching. Kaidan rolled into cover behind a stone bench and saw suppliers loading a shuttle in the pad just in front of the Temple. _There's my ride._Kaidan cloaked once again and hurriedly approached the transport, as one of the men shouted something to the pilot, apparently giving him the green light to start. Kaidan boarded the shuttle, narrowly brushing the shoulder of a worker. For a moment, the man looked like he noticed the wolf passing by and Kaidan almost had a heart attack when he saw the man looking around the shuttle interior with suspicion.
Ultimately, he shrugged and left, as the shuttle doors started to close. Kaidan found himself a place to sit as he felt the craft take off. Flights like this usually take no longer than a few minutes. Kaidan had little time to think on his task before the muted sounds of commotion of a docking bay on the space station reached his ears. He cloaked in anticipation of intrusion into his hideout.
The shuttle doors opened and Kaidan darted out of the doorway as soon as it became passable. He vaulted over a stack of crates and crouched behind them. He had to find an alternative means of transport to Nar Shaddaa, but first he needed to grab some things from his ship. He made his way over to the his ship, which was a much more difficult task than negotiating an obstacle course of few drowsy Jedi.
The orbital station was teeming with life, handling dozens of supply ships and Jedi corvettes going in and out, back and forth. Dock workers, security and Jedi Knights ran from place to place between stacks of crates, attending to their duties.
Skillfully avoiding detection, Kaidan finally made it to the hangar where he left his ship. The standard-issue Defender-class corvette looked slightly diffirent from it's sister ships. Kaidan had it re-coloured dark green with white strips, as he didn't like the ambivalent stock pink-red. He has inherited a liking to the colour from his Master. The hull bore scorch marks of many dogfights and space battle Kaidan was part of during the war. The ship was also modified from it's standard equipment, making it faster, stronger and more powerful than other ships of it's model. But most importantly it was Kaidan's home away from home. Not anymore, he thought to himself.
As expected, the hangar bay was put under guard and the outer bay door was covered by a blast door. That ship wasn't going anywhere.
Avoiding the guards was not a problem, Kaidan was inside the hangar in no time. Inside, he overheard two mechanics, a Rodian and a coyote, talking about the ship.
„Did you lock down the systems and downloaded the navicomputer?" The coyote asked.
„<<Are you kidding? That ship is a death trap! I couldn't take a few steps inside before a crazy protocol droid came at me with a blaster rifle and shouting invectives!>>" The Rodian replied irate, in Huttese.
„A droid scared you off??" The other mechanic chuckled.
„<<You should've heard the things it said about my mother...>>" The Rodian said, lowering his head.
_Good boy!_Kaidan thought to himself, as he walked past the vexed mechanics and boarded his ship.
The inside was dimmed, the ship was on emergency power mode. Kaidan went out of cloaking and walked slowly up the stairs to the main deck, when he heard something move. He stopped in place and tried to locate the source of this sound, when he saw a humanoid silhouette coming out of his quaters.
„Greeting: Master, I am overjoyed to finally see you back!" The silhouette was a tall, grey droid with orange strips on it's hull. It was carrying a sniper rifle and a vibroknife was attached to his side at the waist, „When the Rodian came in here, waving a hydrospanner in a threatening manner, I wasn't sure whether to shoot or call the medical bay about a stroke victim."
„HK, you have no idea how glad am I to see you too" Kaidan replied to the droid, sincerely. HK-51 was like a friend to him and recently the closest sapient being to him, „Things have gone insane down there, we have to get out of this system and get back to Nar Shaddaa, And we have to avoid Republic authorities and members of the Jedi Order."
„Query: Does „avoiding" include indiscriminately eliminating Republic organics in order to leave no witnesses?" The droid enquired enthusiatically.
„Did I ever tell you to go crazy and start running and gunning, firing at everything that moves?" Kaidan replied in a condescending tone.
„Clarification: Well Master, if you intend on nitpicking, there were a few of such situations, to name a few-" HK was about to start reciting, but Kaidan cut him off.
„Allright, allright I get it." He said.
„Addendum: And if you consider eliminating a large number of organics in one killing frenzy as 'crazy', then I believe you're not as mentally sound as you'd think you are." The droid added.
„Just don't kill anyone unless I tell you to," Kaidan ordered the droid sternly. „How do we get to Nar Shadda from here?"
„Explanation: That could be problematic Master, as there are no direct flights from Tython to Nar Shaddaa." The droid said. „Not only because plotting a new hyperlane through the Deep Core borders on impossible, but also because Jedi have very few buisness with the Hutts and criminal cartels"
„Great. Any indirect routes?" Kaidan asked, worried about the success of his plan.
„Answer: Yes Master. A shuttle to Coruscant takes off from Hangar 11-38. On Coruscant, we can easily catch a flight to the Y'Toub system." The droid answered enthusiastically.
„Did I mention we're hunted by the Republic?" Kaidan asked, uncertain if the droid was paying attention to what he said.
„Answer: Not directly, but I deduced that fact from what you said." HK said.
„And yet you're plotting an escape route through the heart of enemy territory?" Kaidan kept inquiring, still not convinced of his droid's judgement.
„Weary Explanation: Yes Master, that is exactly what I did. And I just like to point out that it is only out of necessity I have done that." HK was visibly tired of explaing that fact. „Observation: That wouldn't be your - our - first mission on enemy territory, you should have more confidence in yourself Master."
„If something goes wrong, I'm blaming you" Kaidan warned the droid jokingly.
„Appeasement: Master, you are a great agent, for an organic, and I have full confidence in your abilities. Besides, think of the joy of running from authorities. Like in one of those holovids organics enjoy watching" HK reassured his Master, then suddenly changed his demeanor. „Weary Suggestion: Now, can I _please_cease placating you like a hysterical female and can we be on our way?
Kaidan chuckled at the droid's bold insinuation.
„Yes, let me just grab a few things" He said as he headed for the storage room.
One of the perks of being a spy that Kaidan enjoyed the most was access to an arsenal of cutting-edge gadgets which gave operatives an advantage against simple mortals and immortals alike. He had a few customised devices for personal use. He was also very fond of throwing vibroknives. Among other things he had a highly advanced and highly illegal slicing suite that could crack almost any system, an intravenous kolto injector with a specialised mix that could raise a dead man, a remote controller for his ship's slave circuit, an experimental commlink that can intercept and decode communications from almost anywhere, to name a few.
And last, but not least, Kaidan's pride and joy (second on the list, actually. Lightsabers take priority) - custom made, high - powered twin blasters, gifted to him by his friends at the SIS for his first anniversay of working there. He picked them up from the shelf and studied them admiringly, smiling. He twirled them around on his index fingers for a moment and put them in the holsters at his belt. He felt badass every time he'd done that.
He checked his equipment once gain, uploaded all necessary data he was given by the mysterious Twi'lek into his personal datapad, then went to the cockpit. He accessed the ship's computer, downloaded some crucial data on his datapad and activated a complete systems purge.Don't want any of this to bite me in the ass later.
He bid HK to follow him and walked down the exit ramp. Cloaking oneself with the force is quite a feat, but cloaking oneself and someone else was nearly impossible for even those who mastered Force stealth. To Kaidan it was almost natural, if more straining. He hid himself and his droid under the Force veil and the pair made for their flight.
The path there was no more difficult than it was to Kaidan's corvette. The hangar itself was more crowded though, passanger coming from and to Coruscant went abour the hangar in an uncoordinated manner. It actually made the task of stowing away much easier, as the personnel's attention was focused on directing the mass of people distrupting the order of things.
Kaidan and HK approached the huge ship from behind and entered the still open storage compartment. It was almost filled to the brim with personal baggage and the pair found a small spot in the corner to sit down and make themselves as comfortable as possible, at least in Kaidan's case. They didn't have to wait long for departure, as the storage ramp began to close soon, and they could feel the ship taking off. A few minutes later, Kaidan recognised the sharp tug of internal dampeners kicking in just before the hyperspace jump.
A shuttle of this class at this distance would arrive at it's destination in a few hours. Plenty of time to rest. Kaidan still didn't know what's in the data he was given. Now was a time as good as any to review them.
„HK, power down for now, I'll signal you when I need you again" He ordered the droid.
HK complied and turned itself off. Kaidan needed some peace and quiet to think about everything and read in peace. He pulled out his datapad and opened the files.
Something about regs, confidentiality of files. Dossier on some person or other. Dossier, dossier, another dossier and even more dossier. Kaidan grew increasingly frustrated. He was hoping for a quick summary for all the shit he stepped in, not Republic Top Trumps.
Finally, he found a file that caught his attention.
Asset Alpha must be allowed free operation across Republic space with no knowledge from Republic authorities, the Jedi and the Order. Asset Alpha must rendezvouz with Asset Beta in R-Point Aurek within 72 hours of liberation. No more than ten agents at any time can be made aware of the Asset's objective, location or identity. Asset must not be actively monitored by operatives to prevent tracking by unwanted element.
Kaidan's frustration did not dissipate as he read this short and annoyingly cryptic document. And they said that Jedi were secretive. Kaidan wondered if this is a kind of a puzzle, all these people discribed in dossiers and these few mysterious sentences hold a truth that would come out once enough cards were uncovered. For now he had to wait and see what happens.
He tucked his datapad in his pocked, leaned against the wall, closed his eyes and dreamed of the past.