Chapter 15: Contingency Plan

Theron was typing away furiously on a datapad, his cybernetics humming, when Lana and Vera returned to the hideout. The SIS agent glanced up briefly before returning his attention to the pad.

“So in good news, I have confirmation that a ship matching Kayora’s has just entered the system and is heading toward the village as we speak.” A few more taps, and Theron set the datapad onto the table, running a hand through his fauxhawk, which Lana realized held its shape impressively well considering the humid environment they were in. Must be a lot of hair gel, the Sith thought, internally amused that an undercover Republic operative was so dedicated to his hair upkeep.

“When you start a conversation mentioning the good news, there is inevitably bad news,” Vera drawled, popping her helmet off with a hiss and tucking it under her arm as she leaned against one of the beam supports scattered throughout the room. “In the interest of time and my sanity, please just explain the bad news.”

Letting out a huff of what was either annoyance or nervousness, Theron rubbed his hands together. “You remember how irritated you were about my extra cryptic message?” The two women glared at him with disdain, neither of them looking forward to what information was going to follow such a loaded priming statement. “Well, a little bit of that convolution may have wormed its way into the rest of the plan to get Kayora to find us.”

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Lana could sense another need for a rage session growing, and they didn’t even have the specifics yet. A look at Vera confirmed the bounty hunter was mentally preparing for the worst, her lips pursed and eyes narrowed.

“As much as I don’t want to ask, please elaborate, Theron,” Lana said through gritted teeth.

There was a series of noncommittal noises before Theron tore off the bandage and explained the predicament. “I programmed the crier droids to spread rumors about the Red Hulls, and that if someone matching Kayora’s description asked for more information, the droid would direct her here. I only managed to reprogram a handful of droids, and it turns out they only are able to wander within about half a klick from this location without going offline.”

“And the landing platform is farther away than that?”

“The landing platform is farther away than that. So, in order to counteract that little wrinkle, I forged a message from the Red Hulls to Kai Zykken, a fairly well known smuggler, claiming that he owes the Red Hulls money.”

Vera waved her hands, causing Theron to stop. “I’m hoping you’ll explain when I let you continue, but before that, I would like to ask how the fuck you thought that was the best course of action?”

Raising up his hands placatingly, Theron nodded. “I can understand how you’d have that question. See, I’m still operating under the better safe than sorry protocols, so am doing what I can to limit the chances that anybody who ISN’T Kayora will find us or link us together. So, I sent the message to Kai, with information that if the Red Hulls came to him, he was to send them to the crier droids, who would in turn send them to us, under the guise of us paying off Kai’s debts.”

“Something else went wrong, didn’t it?” When Theron didn’t immediately respond, Lana let out a loud groan. “Theron, do you think you may have overdone it with the better safe than sorry approach?”

Crossing his arms defiantly Theron lifted his chin. “We haven’t been found by any Republic or Imperial spies, so I would say it’s been a success.”

“We also haven’t been found by Kayora, so if anything it’s a draw,” Vera countered dryly. “What’s next?”

“Kai is a little bit more … jumpy than I expected. Instead of waiting for the Red Hulls to find him and then sending him to us he may have … hired some pirates to go hunt down the Red Hulls first.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, Theron!” Lana shouted.

“I know, I know! Not that I’m worried Kayora can’t take care of herself against some pirates, but yes, a rather obnoxious development.”

Vera took a few steps forward to place her helmet onto the table. She cracked her knuckles before folding her arms across her chest (in a way that only slightly drew Lana’s attention to her tits) and fixed Theron with an interrogating stare. “Let me see if I now understand the order of operations. Kayora will land, be potentially attacked by pirates, somehow then need to figure out that the pirates were hired by Kai Zykken, find Kai Zykken, who I can only assume does not want to be found by Kayora, get the message from Kai that tells her to go find a crier droid, track down one of those, which will then tell her to come here, where she can finally meet us and help deal with the Revanites. That about sum it up?”

Theron’s eyes bounced back and forth as he ran it all through in his head. “Yep that seems right. Ow!” he exclaimed as Vera slapped him on the back of the head. “Look, I didn’t intend for it to get so complicated, it just ended up that way.”

  “And now we have to hope that Kayora actually follows through on all of it to get here,” Lana mused, glancing toward the door as if she could just manifest their Jedi friend into walking in instead of going through this absurd set of tribulations.

“Oh I’m sure she’ll follow through,” Vera said. “The real question is whether it’ll break through that Jedi aura of calm, which I can’t decide whether I want to see or not.” With a noncommittal shrug, Vera wandered over to one of the chairs and dropped into it, draping herself across it like a scarf. “Looks like all we can do now is wait.”

—

It was late in the day before the three of them heard the scrape of metal indicating the outer door was opening. Lana hoped desperately it was Kayora, or at least if it wasn’t, it was somebody who she could kill, because her irritation was at critical levels. They waited patiently as two sets of footsteps got louder, echoing through the hall, before finally Jedi Master Kayora T’ven and her padawan Nadia walked through the doorway.

“Thank the Force,” Lana mumbled under her breath as Theron called out “Excellent, you made it!”

“No thanks to your inane scavenger hunt,” Nadia snapped, obviously annoyed with the hoops she and Kayora had just jumped through.

Smiling, Lana gave Theron her best I-told-you-so look. “Yes, that was Theron’s idea.”

Vera snorted as Theron planted his hands on his hips. “Hey, better safe than sorry,” he said, which probably didn’t sound quite as worn-out to the newcomers as it did to Lana and Vera. “And with what we’ve found here, the pirate cover story we made for you is definitely going to come in handy.”

—

After explaining the situation, which involved a significant amount of conversation on why Kayora and Nadia had to be cannibal pirates, they’d come up with a course of action. The Nova Blades were working for the Revanites, and thus any damage that they could do to the Nova Blades would hurt the Revanites in kind. Ideally, if they caused enough disruption to the pirate crew’s operations, the cult would no longer view the pirates as a worthwhile partnership, and cut ties with them, effectively eliminating them as a threat that Lana and team would need to deal with. In addition to the Nova Blades, Theron had learned about a Mandalorian mercenary crew, led by an individual known as Torch, who had declined to work with the Revanites when offered. As the saying went, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so there was a potential ally in Torch and their group.

Naturally, Vera had been the first choice to attempt contact with the Mandalorians, with her being a Mandalorian herself. Kayora volunteered to assist her, especially given the knowledge that Torch’s crew wasn’t the most inviting group of individuals: the island they inhabited was surrounded by gun emplacements and the wreckage of ships that were welcomed warmly by said gun emplacements. Nadia agreed to sneak into one of the Nova Blade camps and rescue a cadre of slaves that were being held there, and Vera had offered up Mako’s assistance in that endeavor.

Everything decided, they all began to split off to head toward their respective assignments. Vera made her way over to Lana as Kayora and Nadia exchanged goodbyes of their own.

“Try not to get killed by the gun emplacements before even landing on the island. I’d be so embarrassed.” Lana gave Vera a nudge as the shorter woman laughed.

“You’ll be pleased to know that dying in the flaming wreckage of a shuttle that isn’t even mine is not on my agenda,” Vera replied as she curled an arm around Lana’s waist and pulled her closer. “Besides, I would be so disappointed to lose out on more time with a certain Sith lady.”

Dropping an all too brief kiss on Vera’s lips, Lana drew back and murmured, “Yes, it would be a shame to lose the woman I love so soon after admission.” A rare blush dusted Vera’s cheeks as she surged forward, slotting their lips together in a much more passionate kiss. The Chiss pulled away (still too soon for Lana’s liking), dragging Lana’s lower lip back between her teeth before releasing it.

“Don’t get in too much trouble while I’m gone, sweetheart” Vera said, putting some distance between them as she lowered her helmet down over her head.

“No promises.” Lana smirked as Vera backpedaled away, throwing a lazy salute before linking up with Kayora to head out of the building toward the docks. Theron had managed to secure a loaner shuttle to take them to Torch’s island, though Lana didn’t have high hopes the shuttle would make it back unscathed. Honestly, it was more likely the shuttle wouldn’t make it back at all, and the Jedi and the bounty hunter would have to find another ride back. Putting those thoughts out of her mind, since there was nothing she could do to influence them at the moment, she focused on the other plan she had been working on in secret, which would hopefully help speed along the process of uncovering the Revanite’s plans.

—

Jakarro the Wookiee had finally arrived on Rishi, since he had offered his services to help take down the cult after Kayora and Vera rescued him from the lab on Manaan. Of course, that meant that C2-D4 was with him as well, still just a droid head strapped to the Wookiee’s furry chest.

“While I do appreciate the change of scenery, you still haven’t told me what we’re doing here,” the droid lamented as soon as he and Jakarro entered the safehouse. Jakarro growled and roared, to which C2 let out a dismissive scoff. “Obviously it’s to destroy the cult, but a little more specificity would be appreciated, you grumbly brute.”

“Jakarro, C2, great to see you,” Theron remarked, hopping up from his chair to offer a hand to the new arrivals. “To answer your question C2, you will be providing fire support for Nadia and Mako. They’re running a rescue operation, and will need extraction, as well as potential assistance in taking out any heavy pirate resistance.”

Jakarro roared again, slamming his fists together. “Yes, I’m sure there will be pirates to shoot, quit whining,” C2 replied.

“They will signal for pick up in a cargo container on the other side of the bay,” Lana explained. “Until then, you are free to engage any Nova Blade forces that you encounter.” She winked at Jakarro, who laughed heartily.

Theron brought up a map on the center console. “Lana and I will be going on a little recon mission. She picked up some intel that there is a building not far away that’s used as a staging point for incoming Revanite supplies. We’re going to go see what we can find.” He gestured to the location in question, then turned back to the droid and Wookiee. “After you pick up Mako and Nadia, check back in with us. We may want your support depending on what we find.” Before Jakarro could even ask, Theron jumped back in to clarify. “Yes, and by support I mean weapon support, don’t worry.” Jakarro gave a broad grin and crossed his arms, which had the unintended consequence of covering up C2’s photoreceptors.

“Jakarro, you know I can’t see when you do that,” the exasperated droid said, prompting the Wookiee to quickly uncross his arms, letting out a chuckle.

“I’ve sent the coordinates to your ship,” Theron continued. “We’ll talk to you two later. Ready to move out, Lana?”

“Waiting on you,” Lana confirmed.

“Let’s go, then!”

—

Unbeknownst to Theron, the lead Lana had given him wasn’t quite what she’d led him to believe. Based upon the cult’s sudden ramp in activity, Lana was getting concerned that time was not on their side to determine what Revan was planning on and how to stop it. They were certainly making good progress, and while the missions that the other team members were currently occupied with would be beneficial in the end, things were still moving too slow for her liking.

They needed to know Revan’s plan, and they needed to know it now.

Which was why Lana had sent an unencrypted message to a dummy recipient detailing Theron’s arrival to the building they were currently observing from a rooftop across the platform. She was certain that the Revanites were scouring every transmission they could get their hands on and that Theron’s name would jump to the top of their priority list in terms of actionable information. A high profile target like Theron would almost undoubtedly be taken to the main base of the cult’s operations, and it also likely that Revan or another high ranking member would try to convert Theron, giving the SIS agent a prime opportunity to put his skills to use and finagle some information out about Revan’s plans.

Naturally, there was a chance that Theron could get killed, but she couldn’t afford to warn him. It had to be believable beyond a doubt that he had no part in the plot, and the best way to ensure that was to make it true.

“I haven’t seen any activity,” Theron remarked, frustration tinting his voice. “Are you sure this is the location?”

“I’m positive. It’s possible there’s a back entrance that they’re using, though, out of our sightlines.”

Theron drummed his fingers on the macrobinoculars he was currently peering through. “This is taking too long. I don’t want to sit up here and miss our chance because they have a secret door.” Tucking the binoculars into his pack, he shuffled across the roof to the utility ladder they’d used to get up there. “I’m going over there to check it out. Cover me from here and let me know if you see anything.”

“Copy that,” Lana said, watching the SIS agent’s fauxhawk disappear from view as he slid down the ladder. Shifting her body so she was pressed up against the overhand of the roof, Lana watched Theron casually sauntering across the wood decking toward the target structure. The faintest twinge of guilt vibrated through Lana’s mind as she waited for the inevitable to happen.

Theron had made it to the door of the building, and was angling his stance to see as much as he could of the interior through the small window in the center of the door. Regardless of what he had seen, he grabbed the handle of the door and slid it open just enough to slip inside. Before he was able to make his entrance, several pairs of hands grabbed him and pulled him through the door, slamming it shut behind him. Lana could hear muffled grunts through the earpiece as Theron struggled with his kidnappers.

“I’ve been compromised!” he managed to wheeze out between punches and kicks. “Alert the other-“ A loud crack followed by a choked exhale cut off his sentence. Whether due to his training or just luck of the draw, he avoided mentioning any names, which was the best Lana could have hoped for. Obviously the Revanites would assume that he had backup, but the less information they had the better. There was a buzzing sound through her earpiece, like an insect getting closer and closer, before all sound cut out entirely. Tapping her earpiece, she confirmed that Theron’s was no longer operational. Mostly like the aggressors had activated some sort of EMP, both to cut off Theron’s communication as well as short out some of his less protected augments. If they’d been smarter, they would have tried to use the earpiece to triangulate Lana’s position, but it did not appear they were that smart.

After waiting for several more minutes, Lana pulled out her comm unit to send a message out to Kayora, Vera, and Jakarro. She wasn’t sure when they’d finish with their respective assignments, but the sooner they got started on a rescue mission for Theron the better chance they’d be able to act on whatever information he had acquired. And the better chance he wouldn’t end up dead.

Typing away on the comm unit, she made the message terse and to the point: THERON KIDNAPPED BY REVANITES. RECONVENE AT HIDEOUT. RESCUE OP NEEDED ASAP.