"Coruscant Underground


Part III"

Directed by:
Paul Burton.
&
Written by:
Anthony Hummerston.

STARRING:

Karnov,   Jimmi,   Niall,   Rojic,    Ta'alan,  Mama
And special guest stars:
Hen3ry , Joe-9T, Trio and 'Blinkie.'
as the droids.
AND
Storm Cutter, their ship, all redecorated in Republic mottled green drab version: 449-1-B.

“Fresia. It’ll ‘freeze yer’ bits off!” Jimmi jokes.

There is an awkward silence.

Mama begs, “Please stop. The singing is bad enough….Without the end-of-pier humour. –Talking of which, it’s a lovely sunny day at the seaside.”

They look at the weather charts. – Several storms are playing tag across the surface of the planet.

“Seven moons. –That must play havoc with the tides and the weather.”

“Long days too. Look, -over five hundred hours.”

Mama isn’t so unhappy. “More time for drinking, smoking and gambling then!”

“But on the flipside,” Rojic tells her, “The year is only one hundred and thirty-two days long….Making you about….” He looks at her intently. “About….Six hundred and fifty.”

“You don’t look a day over five hundred!” Jimmi chuckles, “I know a song about that.” Suddenly the whole ship is filled with Jimmi’s crooning. Mama isn’t to be outdone. She dips Storm Cutter out of the brilliant sunshine and under the clouds. The torrential downpour rattles on the hull, drowning out the sounds of singing. Jimmi stops. – Storm Cutter dodges the edge of the storm and makes a smooth approach to a nice little luxury island in the tropics and well upwind of the belching starfighter factories of Incom.

“Hmm…” Karnov says, “Lovely nice warm rain. Humidity at one hundred percent.”

“We need some air conditioning in here.” Jimmi says.

“Can’t. -It’s broken.” Rojic informs them.

“Then get me a hammer and some nails.” Mama asks.

“Why?”

“So I can nail Rojic’s feet to the table. His flapping wings should provide enough cooling. –We’ll also need some gaffa tape for his mouth!”

Rojic is so cross, he can’t find a rude enough word to retort.

“There’s our place!” Niall calls from the cockpit. “There’s a large cavern in the side of the rock face.” They drop to around ten meters altitude and line up for the approach. They glide in with minimal fuss.

“Nice landing.” Mama tells Niall.

“Thanks.”

“But next time, wait for the palm trees to fold back.”

“Okay! –Sorry!”

“Never mind. A place to shelter the ship from the rain is a rarity.”

Jimmi jokes. “Large cavern in the side of the rock face….A place to park the ship….Will they land there? Won’t they land there? It’s a real ‘cliff hangar!’”

When there is a stony-faced response to the joke, Jimmi makes a 'kaboom-tish!' sound –Still no response.

“What? A great gag like that?” Jimmi wails. “-And the sound of a drum roll and symbol crash! -Tough crowd!”

“I can simulate the sound of armour piercing rounds being loaded into Sarah-Jane.” Joe-9T says in his coldest assassin droid’s monotone, “Actually, scrap the simulation; -I’ll do it for real.”

Karnov punches the button to extend the ramp and they troop down. A Chagrian is there waiting patiently at the bottom.

“Welcome master Jedi.” He says. “Care to come inside and take some refreshment?”

“Oh yes please!” Mama says, retreating back up the ramp a few steps. Niall looks around, “What?”

Mama explains, “Well last time we met strangers, I got hurt. –In the chin, the rear and the pride.”

The Chagrian is not hostile however, “We have the finest delicacies from around the galaxy. –Luxury Alderaanian liquers, Orokeet eggs flown in from….”

“Orokeet?” Jimmi interjects.

“No. From somewhere else. Orokeet is not a place….Sir.”

“Or madam!” Jimmi adds.

“As I was saying, the selections include seafood delicacies, Gamorrean bacon, fresh lobster….”

Rojic is quick with the insults. “Take a swim Karnov….Plenty of food in the ocean.”

“Yes….You!” Jimmi titters.

With the choice of kings in front of them, Mama and Rojic exchange a glance. “Six Bantha steaks, rare as you like….And a pitcher of blue Bantha milk.”

“It’s off.” The Chagrian says.

“What?”

“It’s off….Because it’s peasant food.” He almost spits the word ‘peasant.’

“Okay….We’ll take Nerf at a pinch….And some freshly-squeezed Jawa.”

“I think you mean Java, madam.”

“I know what I mean!”

The Chagrian bustles off busily into the building.

“We never caught your name!” Karnov says.

“Sed Seddah.” The man it pitches to her, “Follow me!”

They troop after Sed.

“Sed’s dead baby….Sed’s dead!” Niall says, playing with the man’s name. Jimmi starts singing. “Que Sed Seddah, whatever will be will be, Que said, Sed Seddah!”

“Introductory cocktails.” Sed Seddah says sullenly.

“Thanks!” Mama says, taking two differently coloured ones. She takes a sip and screws up her face.

“Something wrong?”

“No alcohol!”

“It is only nine in the morning madam.”

“But my body-clock is on Storm-Cutter time!”

“And what time is that, madam?”

“Well the clock says its time for a drink.”

Rojic interrupts. “That’s ‘coz you glued the hands down.”

The Chagrian sighs, slowly. “Mistress Kirin Pash will be here shortly.” He says.

“Kirin….That’s a type of beer isn’t it?”

“Or a bicycle race.”

“Or a mythical spirit horse.”

“Or an island….Kirrin island….Say….I wonder….”

“If she has a dog called Timmy?”

There is a long pause. –not paws. After the pause, Karnov says, “What’s a dog?”

“Kinda like a Bothan.”

“Aha!”

“None of the above….” Kirin Pash says, slinking in, “Welcome to my humble abode.” She looks them over. They are not quite what she expected. The Jedi are nibbling at the delicacies, Mama is enjoying a fat death stick on the balcony. Joe-9T stands impassively, and Rojic is stuffing his face with food, and wishing he’d brought a doggy-bag – For taking the silver cutlery home in.

Pash takes them in. As they are not ransacking the place, but on the other hand not dressed for fine dining, she sums up the situation.

“It’s about him….Is it?”

“Well….” Rojic starts to say.

She starts a long rant. “That lying, cheating, no-good, son-of-a-Hutt, backbiting, double-crossing, womanising….”

The diatribe goes on for a minute and in several other languages. When she has quite finished, Jimmi adds, “You forgot ‘Nerf herder’”

“Nerf herder!” She says.

“There-there, you got it out of your system.” Jimmi says, smoothing ruffled hackles – figuratively and literally. Hands run over her shoulders and along her jawline. Jimmi fancies that she is purring.

“We are talking about the same thing aren’t we?” Mama asks.

“About the….” Pash starts to say.

“Nerf herder.” Jimmi prompts.

“Nerf herder –thanks- hey! -Who drank all the blue milk?”

Mama slides her cup off the table and clutches it between her knees while trying to look nonchalant. “Actually we were thinking this might be something to do with Hondo and a certain gemstone….”

This starts another diatribe this time it lasts two minutes and includes words that make even Joe-9T go a funny colour.

“There, there….” Jimmi says, massaging for dear life. “Get it out of your system.”

“I’m not giving it back.” Pash says eventually.

“Can I see the gem?” Rojic asks.

From, a cord around her neck, Pash brings forth a pendant. It is finely worked metals which form claws to hold the most impressive of flame-gems. It has an inner glow and a subtle blue hue. In the centre are radiating spokes of pale blue fire.

“My -oh my- what a pretty bauble.” Mama says to herself. Rojic is in seventh-heaven – like a cat dosed up on catnip. He almost cries at the stone’s beauty.

“Wow….And I mean wow!”

“It’s the Cathar’s whiskers alright….The Gamorrean bacon, the Nerf’s nads!” Rojic says in the end. He looks over at Pash, who is puty in Jimmi’s hands. “Mind if I pass it around?”

“Go ahead.”

Rojic passes the jewel around the room. The crew are blown away by its inner fire and its beauty. Joe-9T isn’t so impressed. “I suppose it’d make a good crystal for Sarah-Jane. Make ‘em glow blue in the dark….Then nuke ‘em from orbit. Hur….Hur….Kaboom!”

In the end they start arguing business. “I don’t suppose you’d sell it?” Mama asks.

“No.”

“We have a senator with an interest and a reputation to keep. –I imagine they’d be able to rustle up a lot of credits.”

“It’s sentimental. I don’t want to. –Besides I have almost all that I want here. –A nice house, a private island. An ocean full of fish….Flunkeys to wait on me hand and foot….”

“Personal masseur,” Jimmi adds, tickling her, “Or is that masseuse?”

“Lovely.” Pash purrs, “Are you available in packs of three?”

“I’m available any time.” Jimmi says, coyly.

“I think I’m getting a furball.” Rojic says.

“Shh!”

Niall and Karnov have been quite quiet during this exchange. They are starting to worry that they are running out of time. Niall asks to look again at the gem. “I don’t suppose it was manufactured. –Not naturally occurring?”

“Maybe. Who can tell?” Karnov says.

“Only there are certain Sith rituals that can be used to manufacture gemstones. They were known to do that for their lightsabres. –Hence the predominance of red.”

“You’re not thinking….” Karnov asks.

“I can’t feel it in the force. –No more than any other stone –or gemstone.”

“Me either.” Karnov says, looking in all the wrong places.

“Or me.” Jimmi adds, somewhat unnecessarily.

“Why are you so attached to it? Is it something between you and Hondo?” Joe-9T asks.

“He ran off with a cheap floozy –A bounty hunter’s moll.”

“Oh?”

“It broke my heart at the time. So I took the thing he valued above all others. – Payback, see?”

“I see. Who was this girl?”

“A mean streak called Aurra Sing. –She’s all pale – bald except for a pony-tail. Wears orange and likes shooting, killing, double-dealing, murder, revenge, double-crossing and murder.”

“You said ‘murder’ twice.”

“She likes murder.”

Mama casts her mind back. “Bald…Pony-tail….Orange….Bounty hunter?”

“Yes, why?”

“We’ve met her.”

“We have?” Karnov says.

“Yes…. Briefly. On the Knight’s Move. There was all kinds of scum on that ship….Present company included of course, she was there with the Mandalorians….If I recall correctly she figured out that it was a one-way trip, conned and shot her way to where the money was stashed and took it to her ship.”

“Clever girl. I wish I’d thought of that!” Rojic says ruefully.

“You did. That’s why you and Joe-9T conspired to do-do-the-droid-switcheroo and leave them with nothing.”

Rojic remembers. “A huge crate of money. All mine….I mean ours.” He starts to cry.

“What’s with the tears?”

“We left the crate on Rose Wanderer….Which crashed along with the Knight’s Move into the only uninhabited mountain on Coruscant.”

Pash looks up from her massage. “So that was you?”

“Us? Yes. -A lot has happened since then.”

“I’m impressed!” Pash says. “Though I’m still not selling the gem. Hondo’s gonna have to pay for more than a lifetime for leaving me.”

“I think we have a bit of an impasse.” Rojic says, handing the gemstone back.

Pash is already stretching out under Jimmi’s hands. “I think we’ll sleep on it.” She says and sashays slinkily outside onto the sunny veranda.

The others close the screen to enable them to talk.

“Is slinkily a real adverb?”

“I dunno. –It kinda fits though!”

They talk in hushed tones, “We could steal the gem.” Mama suggests.

“Not really with the whole stealing thing.” Niall warns, “It tends to get one a bad reputation.”

“I don’t see too much of a problem.” Rojic says.

“We figured that.”

“Me either.” Karnov adds, “But only because we’re not supposed to have material attachments.”

They sit and think for a while. “How much is it worth?” Niall asks.

“As much as someone will pay.” Rojic says, “You see this is a known stone. It dates back some hundreds of years. It has passed through several people’s hands….You can’t really put an accurate value on that.”

“Could you forge it?”

“With materials and time….But I’ll let you know in a year or three.”

They discuss other solutions. None of which are very probable. – Though Joe-9T’s suggestion that they murder everyone in their beds and take the gem, then nuke the island to cover up any evidence at least holds some water.

“Talking of water….I think I’ve drunk too much.” Mama says.

“Too much to drink?” Karnov tuts her disapproval.

“No. -Too much water –not enough alcohol!”

Pash comes back in from her little nap in the late afternoon sunshine. “A storm’s coming.” She says. “I’m off to bed.” She shoots a sideways glance at Jimmi, “We should sleep on this. Maybe everything will be different in the morning. -Well, goodnight!”

They all say goodnight.

“Just like a Farghul. –Take a nap before their main sleep.”

“I expect she’s got a wicker basket for a bed, a tray full of gravel and a post to exercise her claws on too!”

The sky darkens as night closes in. Jimmi’s brain is calculating. “What are the chances of arriving on a planet an hour before sundown….When the rotational period is over five hundred standard hours?”

“Shhhh!”

They slope off to bed. Mama awakens four times. The first time to watch the moons rise and fall. –With seven in orbit, this is quite a feast for the eyes. The next time there is a noise from along the corridor, like stealthy movement. An hour later, she has to get up again – what with having drunk a lot of liquid and being old….One can imagine where she is going. As she leaves the bathroom, she sees Jimmi slipping out of the doorway of Pash’s room. “Aha!” She thinks to herself.

The fourth time, there is a slight vibration in the air and indeed in the room. –“Either the building has a vibro-system….Or it’s being bombed….Or….” She looks out of the window. A storm has brewed up, and between lightning flashes, she fancies that the swimming pool on the terrace has been removed – or slid under a secret hidden floor. – A moment later, a light transport YT-2000 ship rises up on a repulsor lift. – It hovers for a moment while the swimming pool is replaced. By this time, Jimmi is also observing from the next window. A familiar flapping is also evident at the door. Mama lets Rojic in.

“They’re off!”

“So I see. Get the others. We are gonna see where!”

A moment later, the crew are assembled in the hangar. Jimmi runs up, pulling on a robe and looking slightly the worse for wear.

“Oh look what the cat dragged in!” Karnov says.

“Dragged into her bedroom more like.” Mama finishes the sentence. Jimmi looks sheepish for a moment.

“Gonna be fun flying in this weather!” Rojic groans, looking at the lashing rain and high winds.

“For you maybe.” Mama says, hastily dragging on a coat. “We’re going in the ship. –Bye!”

They hear a low rumble as the transport’s engines start to spin up. They scramble over the sofa and take up positions on Storm Cutter.

“Just waiting on the hangar doors…..Rojic?”

“Working on it!”

“Work faster please. This ship isn’t equipped with a battering ram!”

“Going to silent running.” Karnov announces, and turns off radio Ord Mantell.

Storm Cutter eases out of the hangar into a violent rainstorm. The thunder and lightning have abated, but the wind and rain make flying tricky.

“Follow that transport!” Niall says pointing into the utter blackness.

The transport has headed northwards. A few moments later, when they are out of earshot of the island, its engines flare and it speeds off. Mama rises to the clouds before doing the same, dipping beneath every few minutes to check their pursuit.

“There!” Karnov says, peering into the gloom. “She’s putting down.” Mama cuts the engines and comes in on an assisted glide. As they approach, the dark shape of an island is seen. Then slowly at first, but building to a crescendo, they can see bright streaks of light at ground level.

“Small arms fire. Blaster bolts!” Niall says, grimly. “Is she assaulting the place!”

“Where are we?” Karnov asks. Rojic pulls up a map. “Northern archipelago. –This one’s a research base for Incom.”

“Research as in developmental spacecraft?”

“You got it!”

“Taking us in!” Mama calls, putting Storm Cutter into a steep dive. “Shame we can’t strafe the place.”

“Too small an area.” Jimmi warns. “You’d catch attackers and defenders alike.”

“Not seeing a problem.” Joe-9T says.

They put down rapidly at the end of a jetty. By the time that the two Jedi have lit lightsabres, the fight has reached full ferocity. The defending guards have suffered some casualties and have been beaten back. They sound a retreat into a small control tower, as several crab-like aquatic creatures scurry back and forth among them, herding, rounding-up and killing. The transport sits on another jetty, waiting patiently.

Karnov and Niall wade into the fray. Several Sauvax soldiers are scattering the last seven defenders.

Six sprightly Sauvax soldiers spring out from the sea. Karnov breaks the alliteration. “Ohh! Fishsticks -yummy!”

Mama follows the others out of Storm Cutter. They run along the jetty, leaving her far behind. “I’ll stay here then, shall I?” She asks. The Sauvax soldiers have sharp serrated spears. Karnov screeches to a halt. “I’m gonna lightsabre off your left ring finger if you don’t throttle back with the ‘s’ key!”

“Can you use lightsabre as a verb?”

“I can!”

There is little time to argue further, they barrel into the fray. Niall sidesteps a spear-point and swishes with the lightsabre beating the creature back a little. Jimmi shoots from the hip on the run, neatly sidestepping a spear. Rojic swoops in, lining up a shot. He underestimates the reach of a spear, which jabs him cruelly in the side. A Sauvax soldier and Karnov trade blows, trying to find a chink in one another’s defences. Karnov’s battle instincts kick in and she starts up her sweeping lightsabre stance, swooshing from side to side and snarling at the narrator. A Savaux lunges at Niall, who deflects the spear, and runs his lightsabre along the haft. At the end, a neat flick of the wrist plunges the weapon deep inside his assailant. The crab creature shudders for a second before collapsing. Rojic flaps for altitude and manages to land a shot. Another crab-creature rushes Jimmi, who dances to one side, shooting all the while.

Meantime, Mama has managed to make the end of the ramp. Huffing and puffing with the effort. – This is no game for an old bird! – She also has Bertha the sentry gun underneath her arm. This she starts setting upon its tripod as a crab-man scuttles sideways toward her. Can she set up the gun before being speared, clawed and turned into fish-food?

Jimmi has seemingly learned the error of past experience. Using the force a crab-man is lifted into the air. It hangs there like boulders don’t, its legs dangling. It launches a spear at Jimmi, who sidesteps. –Jimmi proceeds to fill it with blaster bolts.

Niall strides forward, but is caught with a spear. It has snagged his robes and makes a hole in them and his flesh too. Niall growls something about how difficult genuine robes are to obtain. “Sartorial designs exclusively by mister crab the tailor!” Jimmi jokes. The runner is closing on Mama fast. At ten yards she switches on the gun. A red light flashes for three agonising pulses as it powers up. At five yards, she swings the barrel to face the onrushing Savaux. At four yards it readies a spear to impale the captain through the vitals. At three yards the point of the spear is within touching distance. Mama squeezes the trigger. A stream of heavy blaster bolts spit form the muzzle of the gun. Shot after shot drill through chitinous carapace into the soft brown meat inside –instantly cooking it. The spear dips, the creature is held in position long enough for the damage to do its work. The spear drops at Mama’s feet; the creature heaves its last breath and expires. The excitement of it keeps Mama’s finger on the trigger, blasting the creature off the ramp.

Flushed with the success of lifting the Savaux, Jimmi tries to spoil the aim of another attacker. –This time by lifting the spear point as it aims for Jimmi’s chest. Karnov is speared. The weapon pierces her shoulder and imbeds itself. Karnov flips the lightsabre from one hand to the other and cuts through the shaft. The cruel point still in her shoulder, she marches through the ranks with grim determination. Rojic takes a pot shot at Karnov’s attacker, but misses. Niall has a moment of calm, -even finding a joke to tell in the heat of battle. “See Jimmi –That’s what happens when you sleep with Farghul girls – You get crabs!”

Another crab-man manages to get a pincer around Niall’s free arm. It clamps down with all its might. The lightsabre in his other hand is desperately trying to sever it, but leave his hand still attached. Karnov rolls beneath the attacker. Mid roll, she brings her lightsabre up and cuts a long gash in the creature’s belly. It slumps to the ground quite dead. Niall removes the claw from his attacker and in several quick blows, manages to cut the rest of the Savaux into neat chunks. Another impales Niall, who is starting to think that this fight is him versus the rest. “Karking spear-artists!” He curses. By this time, Karnov has run out of immediate enemies, she switches to blaster and manages several quick shots. Mama strides up, her aim is true and she shoots another through the head. Niall takes this as a cue for more killing, and with a tumbling leap, comes crashing down on the last attacker, splitting it from stem to stern. The smell of cooked crab is palpable.

The defenders give a ragged cheer. They attend to the wounded. Anyone not dead already will survive with some treatment. They break out kolto patches and administer first aid.

“What’s so special about this place?” Jimmi asks.

“We’re a research station. Prototype N is stationed here.” A technician says.

“Prototype N?”

“Yes it’s….” The tech goes to reply, as a starfighter powers up and roars out of the hangar.

“Being stolen!” Mama yells over the engine noise.

There is no time to lose. They scramble to the remaining fighters in the hangar. Rojic and Niall leap for a Z-95 each. “Old, reliable and deadly.” Niall says, powering it up in seconds and sliding from the hangar. He is immediately cut-up by a larger, less-sleeker, more bulbous version, all shiny and silver. Mama has slyly undertaken him and shot out of the entrance. Jimmi and Karnov are in the gunner’s seats. Rojic follows a moment after. They bank around steeply to catch the tail of the other prototype. “I’m on the leader!” Mama calls over the comm. “Watch my tail.”

As they climb into the atmosphere, they see another streak of engine wake below them. The little transport is scooting for home. Niall radios to the droids on Storm Cutter to follow them and ensure they don’t escape. Joe-9T sits in the pilot’s seat and gives chase. He fire links all the cannons, Bertha, Sarah-Jane the sentry guns and the concussion missiles. “If they so much as jink, they’re toast!” He gurgles.

“Every girl loves a brave pilot!” Trio says, almost swooning.

The prototype breaks atmosphere. Mama and the others push engines to the limit to try to gain on it. Over a thousand kilometres they are finally in range. “I have you now!” Mama says calmly. But just then, three more fighters drop out of hyperspace. “Locking S-foils into attack position!” Karnov says calmly. Mama targets a missile. Karnov, who is in the front gunner’s seat lets fly with a long burst. Silver-blue streaks leap form the guns and hammer into the fleeing fighter. The shields are shredded. Two of the attack craft come up on Mama’s six and fire, but miss. Niall is on the starboard side and fades right. Jimmi manages to land a volley onto one of the pursuers. Three more heavy fighters appear. Now it is six-plus-one against three!

Missiles streak from Mama’s prototype toward the leader, who pushes the engines to maximum. Niall peels off the pursuit to deal with the latest interlopers. He gives a long blast and in the debris, narrowly avoids ploughing into his quarry.

“I hope you’re gonna register a near-miss when we get back to base.” Mama tells him, “How much was it by?”

“About half an inch!” Rojic reports.

“That’s not a near miss, that’s a near hit!” Niall whoops, Buck Roger-ing through the debris. The ship he hit is still intact though.

The Belbolab fighters line up on Mama’s tail. She jinks to avoid getting shot from the sky. Jimmi guns the guns for dear life, trying to keep them at bay. One manages to get a hit on Mama’s craft, shredding the shields. The third Belbolab fighter misses Rojic’s craft. Rojic pulls a snap K xxxxx turn and shoots back, taking it down a peg. Mama slows for an instant and this allows Jimmi to keep the lead pursuer at bay. Mama targets the prototype with another missile. It slams into the port engine, slowing the craft visibly. – Black smoke pours from the cowling.

A shot rocks Mama’s craft. Jimmi yells a warning. The ion engines sputter and die – now they are no faster than their quarry. The two Belbolab craft are gaining fast. Jimmi stabs at the guns a fraction before the reticule closes on the pursuing ship. This is enough to strip the shields and pierce the hull. A second later it explodes in a silent fireball. “Kaboom!” Jimmi whoops.

The second slows slightly to come up behind Rojic, who can’t shake his pursuer. The Belbolab strafes Rojic, making the hull screech. Niall comes alongside then he stands on the rudder and pulls a fast loop. –Now the hunter has become the hunted. This streaks forward, Niall’s shots playing over the shields. It doesn’t compensate for Mama having slowed and overshoots. Karnov finishes it with a critical burst of cannon fire. Another crosses the gap only to find the sting in the tail. Jimmi draws it in before giving it all power. The ship splits and splinters into glitter. Mama keeps firing the missiles until the magazine is empty. They trail on, keeping the last fighter desperately looping and jinking. Finally it loops too tightly and the missile detonates below the engines. The last starfighter is gone.

Our trio regroup and head back. “We saved one prototype….And stopped it getting into the wrong hands at least.” Karnov says.

They return the fighters to the airbase and grab a lift back to the island. The place is in lockdown, as another storm is passing through. The entrance to the hangar in the cliff has been sealed and the secret hangar is blocked by Storm Cutter perched over the swimming pool.

“I thought there was something fishy about having a pool on a small island.” Karnov says. “All that lovely ocean to swim in.”

“But the storms, the predators….The hostile crabs….” Niall reminds her.

“I knew it was fake.” Karnov continues, “Just concrete painted blue.”

“How did you find that out?”

“When I dived form the ten-metre board.”

“Top tip,” Niall says sagely, “Next time test it from the twenty-five metre board!”

They rendezvous with Joe-9T and the other droids. Pash is locked in her room. There is going to be a lot of explaining to do….

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Footnotes: None today.