KAI'S GALAXY
Chapter 18
When bound by fate, paths will always cross again.
On the Midsummer Comet, Kai was getting ready to take off. The diagnostic scan had finished running, indicating that everything was in order. Kai still couldn’t believe what she had just experienced, from pulling off a heist on a Scarlet Eclipse cruiser to obtaining her very own kyber crystal. Part of her was impatient to get back to her usual ways on Coruscant, but another part felt like her story had just begun.
Kai settled down cross-legged in her captain’s chair and stared out in front of her as the day shifted to dusk on the landscape of Jakku, committing it to memory. She grabbed the bag she had placed on the floor next to her and took out a container and a spoon, courtesy of Aine. It had been intended for her trip, but Kai wasn’t ready to leave just yet. She opened the container with care, relishing the smell of the warm tomatoes and the mix of oregano, coriander and cumin that filled the air. A sense of nostalgia swept over her as she took her first bite of the dish, a large spoonful of comforting flavours, the eggplant and the potato slices melting in her mouth with a hint of sweetness. She thought about the kyber crystal now resting securely in the interior pocket of her jacket, to Aine and to her parting words: “May it guide your way out of the shadows.” Kai thought that it just might.
As she finished the hearty meal and was resolving to take off, Kai noticed a rather lavish ship making its approach out of the corner of her eye. Something about the ship caught her attention. Aside from the fact that it looked highly out of place, she was sure she recognised the ship’s model. She continued staring as the ship approached and sure enough, it was a Trade Federation starship. Considering what she had come to learn about Jakku, the Federation didn’t operate in this part of the galaxy, so why was one of their ships making its landing approach? There was a lot happening in Gurggo outpost that Kai didn’t know about, but the timing seemed curious. Had the Trade Federation learned of the attack on the Scarlet Eclipse and was somehow involved with them? Or perhaps they wanted to seize the market now that the competition had been dealt with. It didn’t quite fit. It was too soon for any sort of retaliation against the attack.
The Trade Federation ship had now completed its landing, only meters away from the Comet. Kai watched as the ship’s boarding ramp opened, revealing a woman in a dark uniform and long jet black hair, followed by a dozen Federation officers in similar uniforms. Kai had a strange feeling that they were heading towards her. There was no reason for Kai to be on the Federation’s radar, unless… She had recently picked-up two ruffled passengers in a rush to leave. Could the Federation’s presence on Jakku have anything to do with Brin and Elis, and by extension, her?
The woman with the dark hair gestured a handful of officers towards the Comet while she and the others made their way into Gurggo. Kai experienced a moment of deep anger and dread as she realised that Brin and Elis had awarded her the unwelcome attention of the Trade Federation, but she had no time to dwell on her feelings. The officers had almost reached the Comet and it would only take them a minute to open the boarding ramp if they were as well equipped as she feared. There were five of them, which meant that she could take them on if she could lure them in and fight them separately, but their next move would probably be to send in a scanner droid that would give up her location and any advantage she may have. If she was going to get her ship back, she was going to need help. With little time to spare, Kai ran to the Comet’s ceiling hatch, hearing the boarding ramp start to open behind her, and was quickly out of sight in the streets of Gurggo among the outpost inhabitants nonchalantly strolling in the evening streets.
Kai had to think fast. While Aine was well connected and would surely be ready to help, Kai had no interest in involving the Ardennian in this affair knowing Aine’s plans to support force-sensitives. Kai could speak to Vee, but doubted that the Duros would have any interest in personal favours. Whether she liked it or not, the only other two beings Kai knew on this planet were Brin and Elis. At least she could be confident that they too would be eager to reclaim the Comet and leave the planet as soon as possible.
Kai didn’t lose any time on her way to Vee’s in the hopes that Brin and Elis would still be there, only slowing down when reaching an intersection to see if the streets were clear. She weaved her way through the clay houses, the orange and crimson colours of the fading day infusing the streets like an omen. Kai arrived to find that the celebrations, although having died down, were still ongoing.
“It’s a little early to come back for another job, I’m afraid,” Vee said with a large grin on her face, holding the front door wide open. She was leaning quite heavily on its frame as though to steady herself, a full glass of some sort of liquor in her free hand. It was obvious that the tipsy state Kai had left her in had escalated to full-on intoxication.
“I suppose it is, isn’t it?” Kai forced herself to smile. “I actually came back to see Brin and Elis, are they here?” She asked as casually as she could, fighting the powerful urge to look behind her to see if the Federation officers had followed her.
“They might be!” Vee exclaimed with a slight burp.
Vee then extended her free arm widely in an extravagant gesture to invite Kai in just as Brin was approaching the door, leading to an unfortunate collision that projected the content’s of Vee’s glass onto his shirt.
“There’s one of them,” Vee said, having hardly noticed the lost contents of her glass. She gave a big grin to both of them and went back to her lingering guests.
“Well it’s not like it makes a huge difference,” Brin muttered to himself, looking down at his shirt that was still covered in filth from their trip to the Scarlet Eclipse cruiser. He then noticed Kai standing in front of him. “I thought you’d left,” he said with a frown, looking confused.
It took a second for Kai to control her resentment at the sight of him carelessly unaware of the threat making its way through the streets of Gurggo.
“I had some things to take care of,” Kai answered more irritably than she intended. If they were going to work together, she was going to have to control her emotions, at least until they were safely away from the Trade Federation. Besides, she couldn’t fully absolve herself from the responsibility of her current predicament having knowingly accepted two ruffled humans on board her ship who were clearly on the run. “I need to talk to you, and Elis,” she urged.
“Can it wait? I need some air,” Brin said, walking closer to the door and trying to move past her.
“It’s important,” Kai insisted, moving directly in front of Brin to block the way and shooting him an acute glare. “Do you know where Elis is?”
Brin paused, seemingly taken aback by her unyielding assertiveness. “He’s still inside.”
“Come on then,” Kai said with such urgency that Brin surprisingly didn’t argue. He also looked remarkably composed, for which she was grateful. She would need both men at the top of their game if they were going to get away from the Federation.
Elis, it turned out, was almost as drunk as Vee. He was sitting with a handful of different beings on a couch, doing a lot of strong nodding as though in deep agreement about the topic of conversation.
“Fantastic,” Kai mumbled sarcastically at the sight of him. She started to have doubts as to whether she should be recruiting Elis at all. While he would not have been much help in a fight to begin with, a drunk Elis would be even more of a burden, maybe one that she and Brin couldn’t handle in a critical situation. Nevertheless, she couldn’t just leave him. While she didn’t really know Elis, or Brin, nor what they had done to get on the Trade Federation’s bad side, she had heard rumours on Coruscant of the Federation’s methods. Who knew what they would do to any of them if they were caught. There was no denying it, they were in this together.
“Elis, how’s it going?” Kai asked as she made her way to him, testing the waters.
“Captain! You’re back! Come join us! We’re talking about the many ways in which the splinter fern is far superior to the uneti blossom. Well, of course it is. While helpful for meditation, the uneti blossom does little else then to provide a pleasant scent, while the splinter fern can be used for acupuncture, clearly a more concrete application,” Elis explained intently, as though trying to convey the deep importance of the matter.
“That’s great,” Kai answered sharply, “but actually, I was hoping we could have a little chat.”
“Oh but this is so interesting! Sit down." Elis gestured to the empty cushion on the floor next to a sleepy Rodian who was having trouble sitting straight, the saucer-shaped antennas on her head dropping almost as much as her eyelids. Elis then went back to the conversation about the splinter fern and the uneti blossom.
Kai turned to Brin. “Do you mind?” She asked impatiently, gesturing towards Elis. “It’s kind of urgent.”
“Whatever you have to tell us, it had better be good,” Brin said. He made his way to the couch where he proceeded to grab Elis, lifting the lean man abruptly by the arm and dragging him away while ignoring his outraged protests. The rest of the group didn’t seem to be too phased by the abduction and quickly resumed their conversation.
Once they were in another room and Elis had somewhat recovered from his forced displacement, Kai went straight to the point.
“If I told you that I just saw a Trade Federation ship land on Jakku and that Federation officers proceeded to force their way into my ship, would that mean anything to you?” Kai asked with a little more than a hint of displeasure. Immediately, Brin’s expression shifted from impassive to worried, while Elis simply looked bewildered.