The thump of droid feet. The mechanical whirring of their servomotors. The hum of Cassandra’s lightsabers. His breath. He stood his ground, white-knuckled grip on his Bryar pistol, finger itching to pull the trigger, yet doubt stopped him. Something was off. One derelict droid stomping around the base, cannibalizing electronics scraps to keep itself powered through the years was one thing. This facility had been inoperable for nearly half a century now, had suffered bombing runs by the Rebellion, had been stripped to the bone by expedition after expedition of scavengers. There had been no signs of active power, no readings from the ship’s scanners either. This shouldn’t be possible. This could not be.
And yet, they came at them. Thump. Thump. Thump.
From the corner of his eye, he saw the Holocron pulse once again, saw the wave of electric blue energy travel in a wave through the room, lighting up long-dead lights and screens for less than a heartbeat before going black again. He followed the wave to the droids and their photoreceptors, which pulsed in the same electric blue.
It couldn’t be that simple could it?
It was almost… too logical.
His eyes went to Cassandra’s lightsabers as a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead. He licked his lips, contemplating his next move.
“Cass?” he said. He pointed to one of her blades when she glanced at him “Let me see one of those, will ya?”
She looked at him, a flat stare, lips tight. “Why?”
“I, uh, just wanna try something,” he said.
“Now is not exactly a good time to begin your Jedi training, my friend,” she began, a tense smirk drawn on her face. “Besides, I do not believe you have a—”
“No time,” he growled, reaching out for her weapon, half-expecting her to recoil. Perhaps even a Jedi could be caught off guard, or perhaps she could sense his intentions. Either way, she relinquished her weapon to him. He wrapped his hand around the metal cylinder, the sensation surprisingly cold, but also surprisingly empowering. He held it before him, staring up its plasma blade for a second, suddenly feeling invincible. He almost wanted to charge the droids, lightsaber swinging. Instead, he spun on his heels and stabbed the blade through the Holocron. The device flared with electricity, sparks flying, metal bubbling, and then it went dark. Whatever power resided within died there and then.
The droids stomped onward, feet stomping, but then, there was a lull in their movement, as if their mechanical limbs were falling out of sync. Finally, they sputtered, actuators grinding to a halt. Their eyes shimmered blue then went black. One by one, they collapsed, as if time itself was catching up to them, collapsing in a heap of metal parts as if they’d been lying there all this time.
Bale looked at the lightsaber still burning in his hand and grinned. “Handy, that.”
Cassandra met his gaze as he returned her weapon, an eyebrow cocked inquisitively.
He grinned at her. “I work with all sorts of electronic and mechanical devices. Don’t reckon I know much about Holocrons or Jedi business, but I can tell a power source when I see it.”
She deactivated lightsabers and returned them to her robes. Then, she approached the deformed remains of the Holocron. She held her open hand palm down over it and closed her eyes. There was a hint of sadness or disappointment in her voice when she spoke. “I fear you’ve destroyed a valuable source of knowledge.”
He shrugged. “I saved our lives.”
“Perhaps. Alas, I fear this is a mystery that shall go unresolved.”
“Heh, sorry, Cass. I can’t say I care much about Jedi business. All that’s ever brought me is a load of trouble and an estranged daughter. Still, I didn’t mean to cheat you out of such a find. It seemed like the right thing at the time.”
The Jedi nodded, “Of course, my friend.”
It dawned on him that the schematics may have been stored on the device, but it seemed highly unlikely that Imperial researchers would have actively employed such abstract technology. The Empire worked with datadisks, not old space wizard magic cubes. A flicker of light in the corner of his eye captured his attention.
“Huh,” he said as he hurried to a nearby console. An array of switches and buttons, black screens, empty meters, and one red light blinking. His eyes flickered to the Holocron, thinking for a moment that it might be coming back to life. No. It was scrap metal, nothing more. This was different.
“What is it?” Cass asked.
“I think this may be just what we need,” he said with a grin. He fished the All-kit tool from his utility belt as he bent low underneath the console. He set about cutting through the panel, sparks showering him as he worked, and before long he tossed the sheet of cut metal aside. Reaching blindly inside and feeling around, his hands found what he was looking for—a power cell. He yanked hard once, twice, and on the third attempt, it came free. He climbed back to his feet and moved to a nearby data terminal.
“I am not sure I understand what’s happening here.” announced Cassandra. There was no impatience in her words, no frustration. Perhaps this was her polite way to ask what the pfassk are you doing, sleemo?
“Alright, so, it seems the recurring pulse of energy from the Holocron left enough residual charge in this auxiliary power cell to supply the terminal,” he explained as he popped another panel open, this time under the terminal. He pulled out a wad of wires, then set about connecting the cell. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the terminal was booting up. “It won’t last long though. We got lucky.”
“In my experience, there is no such thing as luck,” said Cass with a soft, knowing smile.
The terminal booted, Cass produced the data core they’d found earlier from her robes. Bale plugged it into one of the ports. Strings of code unraveled on the screen, an endless stream of them scrolling up. Bale cursed under his breath. The blasted thing was encrypted. They would need a slicer to extract any data from the device and he had no such knowledge. Now he wished he’d invited Aylin Sajark along for the ride. He canceled the process, then returned the core to his Jedi companion.
“Luck or not, we’re not getting anything from that here,” he said. He frowned as he returned his attention to the screen. He typed in some commands and brought up database access. If he had any hope of finding those schematics, that was it. His heart sank when he read the status report for individual database modules. He whispered, “It’s all gone.”
Cassandra placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m not sure we should linger here much longer. I sense something is… wrong. Do you believe there is a chance you’ll find what you’re looking for deeper inside?”
He shook his head. “This is a bust.”
He looked at the twisted Holocron, then back to Cassandra.
“It seems I wasted your time, master Jedi.”
And it seemed he’d need another way to save his daughter from that greasy Hutt.
Pfassk.