What the Eye Doesn’t See…8

The Sigiri was a lambda class cargo shuttle that had been highly modified. The L class shuttles were perhaps the most versatile of all the space-craft that the Empire had. They were standard light utility craft, approximately twenty meters in length, a maximum acceleration of fourteen hundred G’s with a tri wing design, based on the Theta class shuttle that had been used during the Clone wars. L-class shuttles could transport up to eighty tons of cargo or twenty soldiers. Usually they had a crew of four to six, which included a pilot, co-pilot and navigator, comm officer and gunner but they could be flown by one person if the need arose. The L-class were all equipped with class one hyperdrives and very well armed with two double laser cannon and three double blaster canons, one of which was rear mounted. They had heavily reinforced hulls that could deflect laser fire and were protected by a powerful deflector shield.

The Sigiri was configured for longer hauls and carrying primarily passengers rather than troops. Her cockpit was set up for a possible maximum crew of four not six. So there were four passenger cabins and a small crew room as well as a common seating area and a very small galley with a little dining table. She was mostly used for non military and non essential personnel ferrying and some cargo. Even so, she like most imperial ships had teeth. Despite the reason for my trip I was overjoyed to be back in the pilot’s seat of a L-class shuttle.

I arrived fifteen minutes before I was supposed to and after I had dumped my bags in the small crew room, I did my pre flight check much to the annoyance of the officer of the deck.

“Miss, we’ve already checked her out.” He told me as he had seen me do a quick external sweep.

I gave him a sweet smile. “I am sure you were very thorough.” I told him without pausing in my check. “It’s a pilot’s habit, I just like to be sure. This way if poodoo hits the rotary oscillator I know I did all I could.”

The man sighed as though he were long suffering and I was only contributing to his pain. “I assure you Miss…er… miss….”

“Gabriel.” I helped him.

“I assure you Miss Gabriel we were exact in our exam.” He said tartly.

“Oh, so I guess I shouldn’t tell you that the port auxiliary thruster warning light was showing?”

“What?”

“Oh don’t worry I checked it out, just a glitch, a short in the onboard. But you might want to have it looked at when I get back.” I told him and took a great deal of satisfaction in the look on his face. It had the desired effect and he went away, grumbling something uncomplimentary about female pilots.

I finished my pre flight when Lord Vader swept onto the deck, with my uncle in tow. He had his large satchel slung across his shoulder and in his hands a very large duffle bag. I frowned when I saw it, because it was unlike my uncle to travel with that much stuff.

Lord Vader handed me a datapad. “Here are your instructions and clearance codes.” He said and motioned for uncle Vahlek to go one board.

“You’re not coming?” I asked, a bit surprised.

“No, I will be joining you later.” He said looking up at the ship. “What he is carrying is important, do not fail me, girl.”

I nodded. “I shall try my best not to.”

“Trying does not interest me. Do your job well or suffer the consequences.” He growled. I took this as Vader speak for 'Have a good trip; see you in a few days'.

“Yes, my lord.” I nodded. Without further word he swirled around in that look at me, I am magnificent sort of manner and stalked away. I scowled at the datapad in my and with a last look around went on board, closing the ship up after me. It felt very odd to be flying a shuttle solo carrying only a single passenger.

I glanced at my uncle who had seated himself in one of the passenger seats. The look on his face said we still don’t know one another. I just shrugged. I was cross with him enough as it was without all this ridiculous game playing.

“Strap yourself in Mr. Akosh, we will be taking off momentarily.” I spoke coldly, two could play this game.

Before he could answer I made my way to the cockpit, shut the door and let go the breath I had been holding. I was angry. I was angry at being placed in this situation. I was furious at my uncle for not telling me that he knew Jyrki from before. I was angry at having to play solo ferry pilot and annoyed at the vagueness of the job at hand. Mostly I was just angry and that anger wasn’t going anywhere useful, it was just giving me a headache.

I sat for a second and contemplated the controls then began the pre flight start up procedure. Through the head set I could hear flight control and when I was ready I requested clearance for exit.

“You are all clear, Shuttle Sigiri, happy hunting!” said flight control. The voice sounded young and his cheerfulness was startling. Usually the flight controllers were humourless and by the book.

“Copy that, Executor. Stay out of trouble till I get back!” I thanked him and took the shuttle out. As we dropped out of the shielded hanger I marvelled at the sheer scope of the ship we were leaving. I never tired of seeing her from this vantage point. Next to the Executor, the Sigiri looked like a gnat on a Krayt dragon. I watched the read outs and locked the wings down as they unfolded gracefully. A part of me was sad that I could not be on the outside watching the shuttle’s dance because of all the vessels in the Imperial Navy these were my absolute favourites.

I piloted away from the Super Star Destroyer and then looked at the datapad. The first thing was a course heading which I punched into the nav computer. We were away from any gravity wells so it was not too long before we slipped into hyperspace. I swept through the rest of the data and shook my head. It was a set of co ordinates for a rendezvous and a couple of clearance codes. No destination name, no information on who we were meeting and worst of all no reason for the trip. I puzzled at the jump points and then unstrapped. This was a mystery that would unfold itself in its own time.

I sighed as the start of what promised to be a nasty headache began to blossom from the back of my neck. I checked over the system readings and set the auto pilot on. I had analgesic patches in my satchel so before the headache that played across my shoulders could get worse I decided to take care of that first.

As I walked back through the ship to the state rooms I saw my Uncle sitting there. He looked up at me, questions in his eyes but all that did was fuel my anger at him and the pounding at the base of my skull increased. I shot him a filthy look and then ignored him as he undid the flight straps to get up to follow me.

He watched, standing just behind me, as I opened my satchel and rummaged around it for the small analgesic patches.

“You seem troubled lei’lei.” He said breaking the heavy silence.

I just glanced at him and peeled the back of the pain patch. When I tried to apply it to the nape of my neck he stepped forward and took it gently from my hands, doing the job for me.

“No. I am not troubled.” I replied coolly.

“Then my second guess would be that you are angry.” He said stepping a pace back from me, folding his arms across his chest.

I sighed loudly and turned my back on him, digging around in my satchel again. Everything that was precious or important to me was in this satchel and touching these things somehow reassured me, grounded me, well most of the time. My fingers brushed the little container that held the things I had taken from Jyrki’s room. Reminding me that my uncle had not been very forthcoming about all the information he had on Jyrki. I touched the handle of my lightsaber.

“What is going on Zte’sa?” I asked through gritted teeth. I stayed with my back to him.

“I can’t tell you that.” He said quietly.

“Is there anything you can tell me?” I hissed trying to control that deep seated burning sensation that boiled away in my gut. This time I glanced over my shoulder to look him in the face. I was clenching my jaw so tightly that I wondered if my teeth would break.

He gave me a puzzled look. “We’re not talking about this mission now, are we?”

“Is this a mission?” I asked. “All I was told is that I have to ferry you to a given point in space. You tell me? What are we talking about?”

“What is it, lei’lei? Why are you so hostile? What have I done to make you so angry, because I know it has nothing to do with this particular meeting?”

My anger spiked and without even thinking about what I was doing, or worse, who I was doing it to, I grabbed the lightsaber from my satchel without turning it on and spun around on my uncle. With a strength that my anger fed me I slammed against him, then with a move Master Kjestyll had taught me I used my leg to buckle his knee and he went to the ground with a thud on both knees but before he could react I shoved him backwards and straddled his chest, bracing his arms to his sides with my legs. I shoved the lightsaber handle up under his jaw hard enough to push his head back. He was surprised but he didn’t fight me, instead he stayed very calm, ready but not tense. In the back of my head I knew he did not, for one moment, consider me any sort of a threat but I chose to ignore this in favour of my fury, after all I was the one holding the weapon. His eyes never left mine and he waited, patiently, for me to get to the point. My rage spilled about us like an out of control fire.

“Why did you lie to me?” I growled.

“I have never lied to you. You know this.” He said gently. His pale green eyes never looking away from my face.

“You haven’t told me the whole truth though either!” I said raising my voice.

“Be specific, lei’lei.” He said with just a hint of annoyance.

“Why did you not tell me you knew Jyrki from before?” I snarled.

The play of emotions on his face startled me. There was a sudden and terrible sadness in his eyes that I did not want to acknowledge. When he sighed it was as if his heart was breaking but he didn’t say anything so I jammed the lightsaber harder into the soft flesh under his chin. I was happy to see him wince.

“If I turn this on, it won’t be pretty.” I told him.

“No,” he said softly, “but it would be quick.” His utter calm unnerved me, confused me.

“Damn it Zte’sa, talk to me!” I yelled, feeling my self control slip. “Why didn’t you tell me you knew Jyrki? What is he to you? Why are you protecting him?” The knuckles on the hand that gripped the lightsaber had turned white.

A flash of pain that had nothing to do with me flicked in his eyes. He spoke quietly but his words screamed at me.

“Because I think he might be my son.”