ECLIPSE (part IV)

A bit more from this story......seems to be growing larger than I thought....hope you enjoy reading it.
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I successfully put Dale off the scent for a while, but I knew I had to act soon or he’d start following me around looking for a way to help. Sometimes friends can be inconvenient. Don’t get me wrong, Dale is like a brother to me and I am not belittling his concern. I just didn’t want him involved in what I needed to do.

Here Tenric pauses for a long pull on his Correllian Ale. Ragun signals the server droid for another round and settles in for the long haul. He knows Tenric's been needing to get it out and intends to make sure he does. Finishing his ale Tenric sets the empty flagon down.


So…I had the shipyards scoped out and had decided how I was going to go after a ship. The guard and security droids kept to a rigid schedule that allowed me time to get in unobserved. Once inside I just had to disable the droids by slicing the security terminal and pick a ship. The only real variable was the DL engineer. The guy seemed to sleep at the shipyards. I really didn’t want to hurt anyone, but then again I wasn’t going to let anyone stop me either. The following night I made my move on the Dure-Lite shipyards.

I waited until mid-shift since the guard’s attention would be at its lowest. I gently touched the sleepy guard’s mind and used a Force-illusion to cover me as I flipped over the gate. I could have just put him to sleep, but I don’t have much experience with that and didn’t want to over do it. He was supposed to check in hourly and I couldn’t afford to slip up. I was dressed all in black to make it easier for the guard to believe I wasn’t there. He didn’t even blink as he watched me go by.

Once inside I made for the nearest ship, an old Correlian cargo hauler, and used it for cover. Sliding under the ship I waited for the droids to make their rounds. When I saw the pair of them round the far ship and head my way, I quickly crawled up into one of the landing gear wells and shot a small amount of refrigerant back down the strut to erase my recent heat signature. It took ten agonizing minutes for the droids to finish their rounds and head for the far side of the yards to begin again.

As soon as it was clear I dropped down and sprinted for the security console just inside the mech-bays. I only had a few minutes until the droids got to that area so I had to work fast. I was immediately confronted with a serious problem though. The console was not in security mode as it should have been. That meant the droids were running on their internal programming and I would not be able to bypass them. I became acutely aware of the weight of my light saber hanging at my side, as well as the near certainty that I would need to use it.

I was so intent on my foiled plans that I did not sense the engineer’s approach until he spoke...

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Came a voice from behind me.

In a sudden rush of surprise and confusion I whirled around, grabbing and igniting my saber in a badly aimed slash at the sound. Good thing too since I nearly cut the poor guy in two. He jumped back and stared wild-eyed at me, shocked into silence. The thrumming of my blade cut through my paralysis and I shut down the saber with an apologetic shrug, putting it away and trying to look innocent.

“Man I’m sorry! You really scared me there! I mean no harm, really. I just wanted a close up look at some of the ships.” I lied.

Lowering the data pad he’d been holding up like a shield, the engineer looked at me closely for a moment. “Hey, I know you.” He said uncertainly. Then he seemed to gain confidence from my demeanor. “What are you trying to do with this console?”

“I wanted to add my name to the security droids personnel list so I could look around without raising the alarm.” I answered truthfully.

“Dure-Lite does give tours you know…in the daytime.” He responded punching a code into the datapad. Before I could ask him what he’d done the two security droids came full speed into the bay, weapons tracking me. I kept my hands perfectly still and locked eyes with him.

“I’m really no threat to you or the company.” I said, pushing the thought at him with the Force.

“I can’t be sure you’re not a threat.” He replied not quite convinced.

“You said you knew me.” I pushed again hoping to find a way out of this. I could likely take out both droids and the engineer without getting hurt, but I wouldn’t get a ship that way. His eyes went wide for a moment then he smiled.

“You’re right I do know who you are. You’re that crazy space-jockey Tenric…um…from Darkwood settlement aren’t you?” He said as though he’d passed a pop quiz.

“That’s me.” I admitted, smiling and relaxing a bit. Now that I had him talking. Things might still work out.

“Where, may I ask, did you come to possess a light saber?” He asked while the droids kept their weapons trained on me.

“It belonged to my uncle. He left a few years ago and asked me to keep it safe for him.” I offered another push.

“Hmm. I guess that makes sense. But why are you here?” he countered.

Reaching out I saw the currents swirling around us both. They seemed to go from him to me and back again, then outward to the ships. I realized he had formed his own opinion and decided to play along. “I’ve got a thing for Z-95s and I’d heard you had a couple of Mods here in the yards. I knew the tours wouldn’t let me get a really close up look so I decided to guide my own tour.” Just a small push this time since he was already on this train of thought.

He smiled at the audacity of my remark. I could see he wanted to believe me so I just waited, as my Master had done so many times with me, for him to make the decision I wanted him to make. It took a few more moments then he punched another sequence into the data pad and the droids stood down. They didn’t leave, but they weren’t about to blast me anymore either. Then he shifted the pad to his left hand and stuck out his right.

“My name’s Orlan. I’m the team lead for DL’s Research and Development wing here on Soma III and I’ve been wanting to meet you.” He shook my hand with a firm, confident grip.

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