Chapter 11: Ambush
Amir sat on the sofa in the spaceship's hall, drinking tea made from an unknown blend of leaves. He sank into the soft animal fur and highly elastic synthetic filling. He couldn't help but curse capitalism and thank Faronis once again.
BD-4 watched the signals coming from Coruscant in the cockpit.
Amir had hesitated, but ultimately decided to bring BD-4 along so that he would have an assistant and wouldn't have to constantly monitor the communicator.
Faronis had left some credits on the ship, but most of his remaining assets were valuable items, such as currency from outer ring planets, high-end spaceship components, rare weapons, and metals.
Amir searched for a long time but couldn't find the Beskar he wanted. This Mandalorian metal, which is capable of withstanding lightsabers, had piqued his curiosity for a long time.
The ship had five rest rooms, a warehouse, a workshop, and a scrap disposal bay that doubled as a bathroom in the corner.
The main areas were the cockpit, the main hall, and the gunnery compartment.
The beeping of BD-4 woke Amir, who had been admiring the spaceship.
"Has the target left Coruscant?"
"Beep—zzz—!"
"All right, prepare to activate the spatial interference device and wait for the target to enter hyperspace."
"The target has entered hyperspace."
"Five, four, three, two, one! Activate!"
. . .
Coruscant, Imperial Port 3. A large prison ship takes off from the port. It is carrying recently captured Coruscant criminals who will be sent to the Empire's outer ring colonies. There, they will work alongside the most lowly slaves, using their physical labor to mine resources needed by the Empire.
A group of new Imperial recruits stands before an officer, ready to report for duty.
"Commander Herman!" they shout in unison.
"You will now split into groups and follow your squad leaders to patrol the ship. Pay close attention to the procedures and follow orders!" Colonel Herman, a high-ranking officer wearing green military attire, issued orders to the new recruits. They were the elite of Coruscant who had come to earn mission records before graduation because doing so would expedite their promotion to officer ranks.
Herman didn't harbor much resentment toward them. He was willing to show leniency to those with genuine ability so they could serve the Empire in critical roles instead of as frontline grunts.
Eight years ago, Herman had gone through the same experience. At the time, he was an outstanding graduate of the Coruscant Military Academy. After joining the Imperial Army two years after the Empire's establishment, he rose through the ranks by demonstrating exceptional command skills in several hard-fought battles in the Outer Rim. He was promoted to senior colonel and transferred back to his hometown of Coruscant.
Now, Herman was just over thirty years old.
If war broke out, he was certain that he would be promoted to brigadier general and command a squadron directly.
Unfortunately, he had not been called upon in the recent war, and instead, he had been assigned such a task.
Still, it was better than nothing. At least it was a stable assignment with no danger or risk. All he had to do was wait for the ship to travel from one place to another.
However, the agents traveling with him—who called themselves Imperial Inquisitors—always made him feel uneasy.
After watching the group of new recruits leave the command cabin, Herman sat comfortably in the command chair and gazed at the stars outside.
The new recruits were assigned their tasks and began patrolling the ship. One of them kept glancing at the ship docked in the port.
"Focus, rookie! You've already died several times on the battlefield!" the veteran in charge shouted.
"Sorry, sir!" Kaiyin replied, immediately turning his head back to focus on the patrol route. However, his mind was still on the titanium fighter he had just caught a glimpse of.
. . .
Amir activated the space interference device and waited a few seconds. There was no movement around him, and it was as quiet as if he hadn't pressed the button.
"Is this thing broken?"
"Beep... beep..."
The man and the robot stood silently facing each other. Amir looked out the window and saw a clear, starry sky, not a speck of debris in sight.
Just as he was about to abandon the mission and return home, a spaceship suddenly appeared outside their planet's atmosphere, and a small red dot appeared on the detector.
Amir put on a Clone Wars-era helmet that Froines had once collected and said,
"Ha! They're here. Let's go, BD-4!"
Chaos reigned on the prison ship.
"Reporting to the captain: We've been forced out of hyperspace. Monitoring indicates spatial instability in this area!"
Herman didn't pay much attention. Although the routes were carefully selected for stability, spatial turbulence could still occur occasionally. He asked, "How long will it take to recover?"
"Based on the level of disturbance in this space, it should take about half an hour!"
Herman nodded and continued thinking about his own matters. Being half an hour late wouldn't draw any attention.
At that moment, a spaceship quietly took off from an unnoticed small planet nearby. The stealth-enabled ship slowly approached the boarding bay of the prison ship, aligning itself with the connection duct. With a soft click, the two ships were fully connected.
The hatch opened, and Amir and BD-4 peered out from the entrance, looking around.
"No one's here. Let's go." Amir stepped into the prison ship through the entrance.
He extended his left hand, pressed a button, and the spider robot detached from his wrist. Its eight legs moved swiftly as it rushed forward to scout the area.
"Find an access pod, hack into their database, and locate the target," Amir instructed BD-4.
Upon receiving the command, BD-4 ran forward immediately, while Amir began controlling the spider robot to scout the surroundings.
It was much better to gather information first and act with a clear objective than to search aimlessly.
Senir hadn't provided much information this time. Had they known the layout of the spaceship and the target's location in advance, the entire mission could have been completed in less than ten minutes.
Fortunately, the space interference device was effective, and they had plenty of time, despite not having such prior conditions. They would have enough time to explore the entire spaceship.
"Beep—beep—"
"Good. Hack the system and pinpoint the target's location." Amir listened to the information transmitted by BD-4 and said with satisfaction. Sain had equipped BD-4 with the most advanced hacking program. With the secret keys that Amir had "borrowed" from the empire during his time at the military academy, BD-4 quickly broke through the prison ship's firewall.
At that moment, the spider robot also transmitted information.
After waiting a moment, BD-4 finally obtained the cell number. After observing the map obtained by the spider robot, Amir decided on a course of action.
He touched the lightsaber hanging on his left side, took the blaster pistol out of his holster, adjusted it to silent stun mode, and slowly walked forward.
. . .
"Rebels? Haha, a small organization I've never heard of, daring to openly oppose us?" The Imperial Inquisitor, fully clad in black armor, looked down at the two prisoners lying on the ground and laughed coldly.
"You'll tell us everything soon enough. Just wait. You'll soon find out what the most painful punishment in the Empire is." Beneath the inverted, triangular helmet was a pale face covered in scars. The most striking feature, however, were the pair of white pupils, which sent a chill down one's spine.
"You'll never find those children!" the male prisoner said. The other prisoner, an older, shorter creature, had already fainted.
"I will," the imperial Inquisitor said, lowering his head slightly to give the prisoners one last look with his white pupils before turning and leaving the room. As he departed, the alloy doors slammed shut.