[Fic]Diamond in the Rubble

[Cygnus Q'ol]

Many months have passed since the planet-wide devastation was felt. Some of the planet still smoldered, the rest seemed dead. The once great Taris had been in decline for decades anyway ever since the discovery of the newer hyperspace routes but, Malak, in his frustrated search for young jedi knight Bastilla Shan, dealt Taris her final death blow.

 

Now, tiny pockets of survivors here and there struggle to live on this pityful, burned out planet. All of the humane functions of a once rich society have all been eliminated. Primal, primative survival is all that separates the living from the dead.

 

Many salvagers and treasure hunters have returned to Taris bristling with the dreams of a grand and glorious payday. However, hardly any have ever returned with anything more than outrageous stories of devastation and wide-scale destruction.

 

 

 

 

 

TARIS

Phenneas sector - Scarcely a year since Malak

 

 

As the rag-patched mining freighter settles into orbit around Taris, her captain fidgets restlessly in the main command seat, fingering the controls.

"I'm looking for one of the main planetary, geo-thermal ventilation shaft sectors if any of them still exist." stated Shar-dik, ship captain and space lanes salvager.

"Any preferences on where to begin?" questioned a soft, sensuous, human female voice, seemingly coming from everywhere at once.

 

Staring down at the planet through the main viewport, Shar-dik continues.

"I don't know. Try an equatorial scan first, then radiate poleward. Integrate mapping protocols and initiate search, multi-frequency scan. Try the sectors that use to be heavily populated first."

"You've got to be joking. This place is an asteroid." the female voice mentioned with a touch of humor.

"Alright, alright." whined Shar-dik. "Any life-forms detected?"

 

After a brief moment.

"There is life down there, but the signals are intermittent and weak."

"Well, some is better than none. Let's jump in and get a closer look. Set ship status yellow alert. Commence entry proceedures."

 

Finding a flat clearing suitable for landing proved difficult but, once landed, Shar-dik sat still in the cockpit seat and stared out the front viewport.

After a hushed moment he lifted his head to speak.

"Set multi-scan perimeter to maximum. Warm up incinerators and mini-turrets and prepare an emergergency pre-launch proceedure. Alexis, kick on the floods."

 

After a few moments of silence...

"Is there anything moving out there?" asked Shar-dik.

"Not so far."

"Alright, punch me up an atmospheric and bring Scout and Rider on-line."

Unstrapping himself from the cockpit seat he unconsciously went about his routine of punching switches and lit buttons on the main console in front of him. During these post-landing proceedures, he simply could not look away from the sheer volume of destruction that lay just outside the viewport.

 

He caught himself a few times, mouth open, staring out onto the landscape, wondering what it must have been like to have been here when this happened. He snapped himself out of his daymare with a sharp shake of his head and proceeded out of the cockpit and down the corridor heading towards the cargo bay and personal weapons locker.

 

 

 

 

 

"These rags seem to get heavier and heavier." groaned Shar-dik as he pulled the loose leggings onto himself. "Maybe, I'm just getting old."

One touch to his belt and the leggings sucked in and form fitted his body comfortably. Once the long-sleeved, high-necked, poly-alloy mesh undergarment and armored vest were donned, he strapped on his adverse terrain boots and headed to the droid hangar bay.

 

As he entered, the rows of ceiling lights flickered on one by one, bathing the bay in cool, white light. A flash of polished metal moving quickly past his foot caught his eye.

"Proto, Stop! What are you doing roaming around on your own, huh?" Shar-dik asks playfully as he bends over to pick up the half-meter long droid from the floor.

Shar-dik admired the unique craftsmanship of the smooth and somewhat flat body, rounded at the edges and ovalish in shape. The rounded rear was slightly larger than the rounded head which hosted a set of lights, grouped close together and resembling the eyes of an insect.

 

The four pairs of legs, long and slim, bent midway up in a joint that would catch the envy of any arachnid.

"Alright little buddy, go wake your brothers. We have work to do." Shar-dik ordered as he squatted down holding the droid between his bent knees. With a quick toss, he hefted the droid high into the air and across the room. Shar-dik smiled devilishly as he watched the gleaming droid arc high through the air and fall.

 

As he landed, the eight legs caught and absorbed the landing without strain or sound and after the perfect landing, he darted away with great quickness towards the cubicle labled Scout.

 

Scout, an exact replica of the half-meter long prototype, was quite a bit larger. He ran about six meters long and stood about two meters high when at rest. The length and strength of his legs allowed him to move quite fast. After all, he was an ATERMEX droid, known for their speed and agility.

 

Scout was exaclty that, a scout. He was laiden with sensors and optics to monitor and observe while maneuvering in most types of terrain. Hence the name ATERMEX:

Adverse Terrain Exploration, Recovery, Mining and Excavation.

 

Towards the rear of the bay sat Rider. Rider was another exact replica of the spider-like Proto and Scout with one exception.

He was massive.

 

Rider was easily over eighteen meters long and six meters wide. When he stretched his legs, he stood well over eight meter high. He was designed with seating to accomodate a few riders atop his smooth, metallic chassis.

 

...and he was just as nimble as his brothers.

 

After strapping a few items to his belt and vest, Shar-dik lept onto the first rung on Rider's side and began to climb. As he slid into the seat just behind Rider's head, he notice Proto on the seat next to him, excitedly walking in place, anxious to get going.

 

"I'm sorry Proto, my boy. You can't go along on this one." He said, noticing the droid slink down as if dissappointed. "I need you here to help Alexis while I'm away. Can you do that for me?" he asked.

 

The droid bay door clanged then groaned as it slowly began to open from the ground upwards. A blast of sunlight and dusty, sandy air entered the bay. Without hesitation, Proto lept up and slid himself down one of rider's legs, jumping off as he neared the bottom and scurried up the corridor leading towards the bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The wind was exceptionally strong for this time of year, not that there was anyone here to notice. It blew then stopped, then continued on, changing strength and direction on a whim. The soul-less wind was quite happy with his freedom to roam unhindered by towers and structures that would have otherwise kept him calm.

 

The sunset, once pink, now hides behind a veil of grey clouds, forever mixed with the smoke of a billion fires now extinguished, but not forgotten.

Desolate devastation existed to the horizon in every direction. Massive craters pockmarked the landscape in an artistcally random pattern of sizes and shapes.

 

The tumbling, twisted hills of metal and perma-crete seemed endless for there wasn't a noticeable landmark to be seen. Thin columns of smoke rose lazily here and there, evidence that the fires of Malak's intent, however small, still breathe.

 

In what use to be one of the wealthiest and most upperscale, metro areas on Taris less than a year ago, Phenneas Sector now is nothing more than a massive skyscraper graveyard. Buildings lay toppled and scattered as if some giant child suddenly got bored and just tossed them aside. The mulititude of colors and textures mixed together creates a kaleidescope of multi-hued devastation across the plain for as far as the eye can see.

 

 

Rider, nimbly leaping from perma-crete pile to perma-crete pile, lept once again to perch momentarily on a higher platform. As Rider sat poised, gripping the curiously un-damaged building spire that strangely sat upright, the view of him from below displayed the ghostly silhouette of a dark, spider-like form with the lights on the head appearing like red, demonic eyes searching for prey.

 

Shar-dik sat saddled atop Rider using his sensor-laiden macro-binocs and he curiously scanned a very mis-placed clearing here amongst the heaps of twisted metal and glass.

 

Once reaching the small clearing, Shar-dik leaps off rider and the three of them scan the immediate surroundings for threats or movement of any kind. The hollowed out buildings and rooms with walls missing created quite a surreal scene. Furniture and interior belongings were found everywhere your eyes rested. The breeze re-arranged everything he was strong enough to move and sprinkled sand on all that he couldn't.

 

The sun was attempting to set, casting long shadows and causing corners and rubble piles to fade even deeper into darkness. The charred breath of the wind singed Shar-dik's nose as he waved Rider over to him with Scout close behind.

 

"Rider, set beacon, lock target depth and commence excav." Shar-dik ordered. "Scout, take up overlook position, stay on station and report any deviations of perimeter scan or motion tracker. Let's get to it." he said. "I'm tired. This had better be worth it."

 

As his red lights faded into green, Rider's chassis leveled out and his belly lowered near the ground. Splitting down the middle, riders belly slowly opened amidst a wash of green light. There fell out a trio of enormous, mechanical, three-clawed pincer grips that clanked thunderously to the ground.

 

Of course, it only seemed like the ground. In all actuality, they were standing on layer upon layer of perma-crete and collapsed structure. The depth of which is determined only by the number of buildings that once stood here. As the massive, clawed pincers clasped and pulled, iron meshing and perma-crete ripped apart and crumbled.

While the four outer legs supported his massive frame, the four inner legs began clearing away the piles and hunks of debris caused by the burrowing, hard-working pincer claws and now a blinding cutter torch.

 

After a time, quite a sizeable hole had been excavated and Rider and Scout now worked together to expedite the tunnel that has been created. Rider, deep in the tunnel working towards his beacon, continues to cut, rip and toss back pieces of wall, flooring and structure as scout laborously drags them to the entrance of the tunnel and discards them.

 

The last of the natural sunlight was rapidly decending. The purple band hanging over the horizon pulled the drapes of the night sky down and exposed the stars for what they really are.

...cold, white jewels suspended in the black expanse of the universe.

 

As he sat atop a permacrete pile, gazing dreamily at the constellations, Shar-dik quickly put his hand to his ear as if to listen more intently to what was coming from the ear piece of his Verpine occular enhancers.

"Scout, say again." he ordered, sitting up.

 

Snapped from his daydream, he fingered a few buttons on the wrist of his armored meshing and within seconds the area around which they worked began to illuminate. Flood lights that Scout had placed earlier saturated the clearing with light.

 

"How many are there?" He asked, as if to himself, fingers still pressing his ear. "Hmmmph, I doubt that. I wouldn't imagine anyone traveling these parts alone, especially at nightfall."

 

Barking orders, Shar-dik continues.

"Scout, do not engage, I repeat. Do not engage! Take up flanking position and await command. Rider, cease and dismiss excav, repeat, cease and dismiss excav. Set alert one and cover my six. Get up here, we're gonna have company!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

"What do you mean you lost track of him?" snapped Shar-dik angrily, peering around. 'How can you lose track of someone on this desolate, battered rock?" he sputtered, half out of breath as he climbed atop a large pile of rubble, trying not to lose his balance on the loose footing.

 

"It's not his fault, sometimes I prefer not to be tracked." came a smooth, calm voice from just behind. Shar-dik almost lost his balance he spun around so quickly and in one fluid, reflexive motion, squatted and pulled his blaster, as if from nowhere.

 

There standing in front of him was a man, normal sized, un-armored and weaponless. His curly, black hair shifted in the breeze as so did the lapels of his common nobleman's tunic. His gaze was warm and friendly and Shar-dik could swear he was smiling.

 

"Away with your weapon, I mean you no harm. I am Danius, Danforth Danius, son of Duke Danius the former govenor of Phenneas Sector. I've been here far too long. You are a sight for tired eyes and I seek passage off this rock."

 

Shar-dik could somehow sense that there was no immediate threat. As he lowered his blaster, he cocked his head slightly trying to figure out how this man got here. Surely, he didn't survive the bombardment or the choke-filled months that followed.

 

"What makes you think I can help you? More importantly, what makes you think that I will help you?" Shar-dik grunted, eyes never leaving the nobleman and still fingering his trigger.

"We don't have time to waste. We need to depart quickly." Danius replied, leaping down the rubble pile, surefooted and swift. Once down in the clearing, he quickly made his way past Rider and into the tunnel followed by an increasingly perturbed Shar-dik.

 

Shar-dik held out his hand as he passed Rider and Scout in a gesture to stay where they were as he made his way into the tunnel and after Danius.

As Shar-dik caught up to him, Danius stopped sharply and spun around to face him. With an inquisitive smile, he asked,

"You are here to salvage, are you not? What if I told you that I could help you find an enormous cache of family wealth?"

"How much wealth?" snapped Shar-dik.

"Well, more wealth than you can imagine."

"I don't know, I can imagine quite a bit."

"...and you'll get it. But we must hurry."

"Why, what's the rush. My droids can only work so fast." Shar-dik replied, fingering his wrist control to call Rider and Scout back in to finish the job.

"Well..." Danius sighed. "It seems my past is about to catch up with me, finally."

Shaking his head, Shar-dik blurts, "I haven't the slightest idea of what you're talking about."

 

Pacing quickly back and forth, Danius began.

"To make a long story short, I have a bounty on my head. Sometime back I, er, took something that didn't quite belong to me from a very powerful man on Dantooine. Now, he wants my head. A Hutt on Nar Shadda has opened the books on me."

 

"No offense." replied Shar-dik. "But, you seem to be somewhat intelligent. Why didn't you just give it back to avoid all of this trouble?"

 

Squinting his eyes tight and pinching the upper bridge of his nose as if he had a headache, Danius muttered, "Because what I took cannot be given back."

 

"Oh, Rancor pizzle! you can always give it back or replace it with something of equal or greater value."

"Not this time, besides the bounty is already set and the hunters draw near. I can feel it." Danius replied, looking up and around

"Feel it, huh? Hanging around on this asteroid has definately got you paranoid. As a matter of fact, this is probably the safest place for you. No one would look for you here. Even if they did, it'd be near impossible to find someone deliberately hiding in this place.

 

The smile gone, Danius peers around nervously then walks right up close to Shar-dik.

"Listen, we are short on time, so I'll make this quick. When I'm captured, I'll be brought to Nar Shadda. Once the hunter is paid, I'll be given to the Hutt for safekeeping until the man from Dantooine arrives to claim me. This is where you come in."

"I'm listening."

"The man from Dantooine cannot be bought, but Hutts are remarkable double-crossers and their souls are filled with nothing but greed."

"No doubt." Shar-dik grunted.

 

Looking back towards the back of the tunnel, Danius continues.

"Surprisingly, you and your droids are on course for a nice piece of loot and one very unusual and valuable artifact. This particular artifact will certainly gain the curiosity of the Hutt and subsequently, allow my release."

"How can you be so sure?" Shar-dik scoffed.

"I have no doubt in your bargaining skills." Danius says with a sideways glance and a grin. "Just bring the bejewelled case that you'll find near the cache that you'll find at the bottom of this tunnel and I'll take care of the rest. You won't be able to open the case without destroying what's inside, so please, don't even try. Only I can open it's lock. With me present to open the case, offer it to the Hutt."

 

Danius paused, listening, then continues.

"Now I can tell you are a man of honor depite your current occupation and we'll have to work together to secure my release. Then, and only then, can I help you locate my family's vast wealth, which I'm more than willing to share with you."

"Developing a beef with a Hutt was not on my list of things to do today. How do I know I can trust you?"

"You don't, and there's nothing I can really say to make you. But, when you get to the bottom of this tunnel and find what I've told you is true, you'll know that there is a thousand times more waiting for us and I'm quite sure you're smart enough to figure that out. Besides, you're my only hope. Soon I'll be in custody."

"Why do you keep saying that?"

 

"...because he knows that his apprehension is at hand!"

A stern voice, a female voice sharply cut in on the conversation, echoing from the mouth of the tunnel.

 

Shar-dik's reaction was a natural one. A quick spin, squat and aim. Peering at the dark corners of the tunnel, he mutters to himself. "Show yourself."

Danius just slumped, shook his head defeatedly and sighed.

 

Echoing throughout the tunnel came, "Darrius Danforth Danius, you are coming with me! Your physical condition as you do this is entirely up to you."

 

Shar-dik rolled over to the nearest perma-crete boulder, still aiming at the entrance. He decided to speak up.

"Show yourself crone or prepare to become vapor!" He looked over to Danius, but Danius just closed his eyes, shook his head dissapprovingly and sighed, again.

 

"Salvager, this buisiness is none of your concern. Stand aside and no harm will come to you. This will not be repeated."

 

From behind the boulder Shar-dik shouts, "Listen huntress, you are outnumbered and outclassed. You'll be making no bounties today! I strongly suggest you be on your way. Today is a good day to stay alive. You'd better consider this, we have you surrounded."

 

"If you are referring to you Atermex droids, I'm afraid they've been ionized. Don't worry, they'll return to form in time. Just be glad they weren't part of the contract, as well with you. You will stand aside salvager!"

 

A red lazer blast punched the perma-crete boulder and knocked Shar-dik back a few feet. Without hesitation, he rolled, lept up then dove for another boulder on the opposite side of the tunnel. As a blue flash snapped from the tunnel's mouth, he knew he wasn't fast enough and the blast took him square in the chest sending him sliding limply into a corner.

 

He was stunned and immobile but, still barely conscious. He lay paralysed but able to watch as the huntress slowly strode down into the tunnel. Her slim body silhouette outlined a tight fitting black body suit, silver knee high boots and a few items clinging to her hip riding utility belt.

...and what curvaceous hips they were. If Shar-dik could have smiled, he would've.

 

"Make this easy on yourself Danius. Let's go." She smirked, reaching behind her back for something on her belt. He just smiled and sat cross-legged, hands in lap, back against the tunnel wall.

"Get up, Danius." she said a bit more menacingly.

"Good to see you too, Alanra." smirked Danius sarcastically. He stood up slowly and offered his hands together, expecting restraints.

"Just get going." she snorted.

 

He walked on towards the entrance peering back to a crumpled Shar-dik lying in the corner. Once Danius was about ten steps ahead of her, Shar-dik watched helplessly as she pulled a blaster from behind her back and with arms straight, aimed at the back of Danius.

...and fired.

 

In a flash of light, a large spinning, circular web shot out of the wide-barreled blaster engulfing Danius in a gleaming alloy wrap. His body fell over and lay writhing as the web constricted, shrinking him into a man-sized cocoon.

 

Walking slowly over to him, she knelt down and slid two large shiney discs under his body. One near his back and the other under his hips. She fingered her wristlet and his body began to rise. His doubled up body rose to about waist high and she gently nudged him forward and guided his repulsor-lifted body down the tunnel and out into the night breeze.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time seemed to stand still as he lay frozen in the dark tunnel. He could see and he could think but he could not move.

...or could he?

Slowly his fingers began to clench and unclench and he could feel warmth flowing down his spine as he slowly turned his head back and forth.

He felt his toes wiggle inside his boots and with a smile he muttered, "It's about time."

 

Soon he was on his knees attempting to stand when noises were heard entering the tunnel. Blaster at the ready, he searched the shadows. A set of red, gleaming eyes came forth from the darkness, then another. He exhaled and lowered his blaster.

"What took you so long?" he grunted under his breath as he rose lathargically to his feet.

 

 

 

The drone of the cutter torch and pincer claws was suddenly drowned out by the scream of a blaring klaxxon. Shar-dik was startled out of his doze and immediately jumped to his feet. No blaster this time as he knew what this meant. As rider cleared the area around the cache, Scout nervously paced in anticipation.

"Easy boy." He patted Scout as he walked past him and peered into the hole that Rider had made in the floor of the tunnel.

 

A large, rectangular space, a safe of some sort, was packed to the top. As Shar-dik shined his light down, the sparkle of jewels reflected light from their transparent casings and cast colored waves of light that flickered along the walls of the hole. Rows and rows of transparent cases sat unblemished, waiting to be retrieved.

 

Shar-dik's greedy grin stretched from ear to ear as he recognized the types of jewels and the rows upon rows of credits packed into bundles. Other crates weren't transparent, but he had Scout retrieve them as well. At the bottom of the cache, tucked in a corner, was a strange looking black box. It was an oblong box as long as his arm and about twice as wide as his arm.

It seemed to absorb light instead of reflect it. He almost didn't see it in the dimmness. But, there it was, and when he pulled it out, the box seemed to have no lid or seam that opened. He realized it must have been upside down for when he turned it over, the spectacle of jewels that were inlaid almost blinded him.

 

 

Take off and ascention was smooth and uneventful. Sky color change from blue to black as they leave the atmosphere is always a welcomed, comforting sight to Shar-dik.

"Alexis, set course for Nar Shadda, minimal time lag. We've got urgent business."

"What about the urgent business of repairing the port stabilizer or the urgent business of the faulty cooling rings on lateral thrusters three and four or how about the urgent business of the main cargo bay's broken loading arm?"

"We'll get to them after this." he replied with an eyes-closed frown, knowing what was coming.

"Thats' what you said when we left Tatooine last time, remember?"

"I know, I know. This is different." he dismissed.

"How so?" she asked tauntingly.

"O.K. don't start on me now. This trip will allow us to address all of those issues plus, a few sweet modifications that you've always wanted."

"Promises, promises..."

"Ugggh! You infuriating crate of electrons...!"

"No need to get hostile my sweet, forgetful captain and I hate to interupt your glorious tyrade, but there are several ships approaching. Three marks at two-ten. They're accelerating to attack speed."

"Red alert! Shields to max. Go evasive and calculate jump. Hurry!" Shar-dik barked.

After a quick moment,

"Captain, ships have been identified. There's one yacht and two snubs for cover. They're firing!"

As he strapped in and assumed flight control, he sarcastically mutters to himself, "I wonder who this is and what they want?"

 

Their shields absorbed a lazer blast that resonated throughout the ship with a thump and a hiss. The Gaian Gale appeared to be a simple freighter. It's discolored and battered hull suggested little promise of any real worth. Although most of the modifications were for mining and recovery, protecting oneself in space is the number one priority for any farer.

 

"Ah, so they want to dance do they? Alexis my dear, our friends seem to want to dance. Let's give them a little music shall we?"

Shardik worked the controls like a Bith musician. His knowledge of this ship and it's limits allows him to fly almost by feel. His maneuvering precision was almost always underestimated.

 

He accelerated faster than the snubs anticipated and he separated from them a bit. Then with a quick de-acceleration, he corkscrewed through an arc and accelerated directly back towards them. They realized their mistake and started to separate. The small size of the snub fighters allowed them to change direction quickly, but not quick enough.

"Alexis, target the port fighter and fire. I'll handle the other one."

As Shar-dik veered severely to the right, a snapshot homing missle set out after the other, retreating fighter. Shar-dik de-accelerated a bit, re-directed his vector, then full out accelerated after his quarry, now locked on. A blue-tinted explosion flashed off to the left of them and it's concussion resonated dimly. It only took two bursts from the belly turret to dispose of the second.

 

The yacht, clearly ten times the size of the Gaian Gale was coming around to bear.

"I'm not up for a tractor pull today. Are we ready to jump? We need to burn sky now!" Shar-dik shouted nervously.

A green light on the cockpit panel flashed simultaneous to the sound of a familliar hum and the stars in the main viewport stretched into lines.

[Jae Onasi]

Cool start to the story. It will be very interesting to see what Shar-dik does next with that box.

 

There were a couple of spelling/grammar things which we all have in our stories. The most noticeable was the verb tense--you switch between present and past and it's a bit distracting. I'd put it all into past tense.

 

Looking forward to seeing how Danius can predict the future so well.

[Cygnus Q'ol]

Thank you. I appreciate you takin' the time.

 

The tense confusion has always been an issue for me. I write how it sounds in my head, but sometimes that manifests itself wrong on paper. I've been dealing with that since middle school. (and that's a long time)

 

It's been a while since I've written anything substantial. Hopefully, this fic can help me work some rust off.

 

Thanks again.