244CORE Part 3

"I have a bad feeling about this." Tris repeated as he watched Navida pull her brown cloak around herself. They had safely docked at 244Core and were busy refueling. Now all that was left were the supplies.

"You have a bad feeling about everything." Navida deadpanned. "I'll just be gone for a little while so relax." She said, patting her side where she had stowed a blaster, and then held out her hand. "Give me the pieces you need. I'll see what I can do." Tris sighed but handed over the small lightsaber pieces that had been damaged.

C1 chirped happily as he got to accompany Navida. The Lothcat, surprisingly, had warmed up to Thrawn and was currently lying on his lap while being petted. Once Navida had left Thrawn spoke up "You know, these creatures caused me various amounts of trouble on Lothal yet they are surprisingly docile." In response the Lothcat let out a very satisfying purr while flicking his ears and showing his teeth during a yawn.

Tris cocked his head slightly as he observed the situation. It was rather funny seeing the severe blue alien simply sit down and pet a fuzzy animal. An animal he suspected was slightly more in tune with the Force than normal. Wild animals, especially those captured by smugglers, were not known to be so docile around new people. "If I may inquire, who exactly are you?" Thrawn suddenly asked, catching Tris off guard. The clone raised a brow but said nothing still. "The woman and you act like simple travelers but you are so much more than that." Thrawn continues unperturbed by the silence. "I know that your friend doesn't trust me. So the only logical reason why you stayed behind was to keep an eye on me."

"Well there is no reason to deny that fact." Tris stated bluntly as he gripped the armrest, ready to counter anything Thrawn might have planned.

"I mean you no harm, rest assured. You saved my life and I do owe you. I was merely making an observation." Thrawn said as he sat opposite to the clone and observed him.

"An observation......." Tris mumbled.

"Yes, wouldn't you find it odd that a man of smaller stature is tasked with keeping an eye on me, someone who is significantly larger, and has undergone hand to hand combat training." At this point Thrawn stopped petting the Lothcat and laced his fingers together. The Lothcat gave a small whine and nudged him slightly with its head. "Returning to my observation, there can only be two choices; one, you did not think it through that I might overpower you or two, you know exactly what I am capable of but you don't see me as much of a threat, which means that there is more to you than meets the eye."

"You forgot that there is a third option." The clone smirked. Thrawn's red eyes focused on him and he raised a brow as if asking to explain. "You don't want to get the pilot of this ship angry and have her dump you on a planetoid."

Thrawn's other eyebrow crept up as well. "Well, that is a valid point." He agreed. "I also do not wish to be left stranded on a planetoid."

Tris was about to add something when he saw the Lothcat get up and stiffen. Its fluffy tail bristling as it growled at the still closed ship door. "Well they certainly didn't waste time." Thrawn mused as he was about to stand up to face their incoming intruders.

"You can sit down." Tris advised him. Thrawn's eyes narrowed slightly as he watched the lanky man still sitting in his seat, his back to the airlock.

"Would it not be prudent that we take these bounty hunters by surprise?" Thrawn asked as he hesitantly sat back down.

"Oh, they'll be surprised." Tris gave Thrawn a wicked smirk that made the Chiss slightly apprehensive. "But I don't want Navida to get angry at a damaged door so I'll finish this quickly." he mumbled while flicking his wrist. Tris used the Force to initiate the opening mechanisms of the airlock. Four masked figures were standing dumbly on the other side, one had crouched to deal with the external airlock controls. The bounty hunters weren't in shock for long though. They charged in a few seconds after the doors whooshed open, their blasters trained on Thrawn and Tris who merely gave them a lazy glance.

"Get on the ground!!" The middle bounty hunter said, taking a threatening step forward when neither Thrawn nor Tris reacted. His voice was gruff and Tris could feel the aggravation roll off of him at his orders being ignored. Tris let out a sigh and flicked his wrist just as the aggravated hunter shouted "On the ground you bas-AAAAAAAHHHH" The man and the other three then shouted as they were flung into the ceiling of the ship. Their blasters were flung out of their hands and came to rest near Tris's feet. Another flick of the wrist and the four crashed down onto the floor hard. Tris then lazily waved his hand and sent the four hunters barreling past them into the ceiling and walls.

"Now you are just showing off." Thrawn said as the hunters kept bouncing against the hull. "If you are this powerful then why not simply choke them." The Chiss had seen his fair share of the Force, most of those consisted of Darth Vader Force choking someone.

"They aren't worth it," The clone told Thrawn. "and besides this is more entertaining." At this point the hunters were slumped in a pile, completely unconscious.

"Explain something to me, I've seen many Force users, both Jedi and Sith, yet you behave like neither. The Jedi would have incapacitated them, the Sith would have killed them. Which are you?" Thrawn asked.

"Well I was raised to be a Sith Lord." Tris admitted. He had been thinking about it a lot even if he hadn't voiced any of his thoughts yet. "But I suppose you can consider me to be somewhere in between. Neither the teachings of the Jedi or the Sith appeal to me much." Tris shrugged as if it was not a big deal. But it was something he had been, and probably was still trying to grasp. He was admitting to this but wasn't prepared to bare his thoughts to anyone yet, especially one he couldn't fully read.

They stayed chatting in relative silence around them, the occasional groan of the hunters was silenced by knocking them out again. When Navida returned she raised a brow and asked "You've been playing with your food I see." C1 however let out a series of frantic beeps as it rolled down the path where the bounty hunters had been slammed against parts of the hull.

"Oh, come on!" C473 answered the droid. "You're seriously worried about some small dents!" C1 let out another series of beeps that were something along the lines of "It's durasteel, it's not supposed to dent!!"

"I got what you needed and the supplies are being loaded into the hull right now." Navida told him as she deposited the new parts on the table. "Also, I might have a job for you."

"A job?" Tris asked perplexed.

"Yeah, there was a mine collapse not so far from here. It seems like several important visitors are also trapped in the shaft when the collapse happened. They are offering a large reward to anyone being able to free their personnel and guests." Navida explained as she patted the somewhat sulking C1. "I was thinking since we need money if we're going to keep wandering space, and they are offering it, that you can do your Force thingy and get us that reward. Those people will be saved and we'll have enough credits to resupply next time."

"They must be some pretty important people that the mining companies don't want to antagonize." Thrawn mused aloud. "There is normally no rescue operation for trapped workers."

"That's barbaric!" Navida shouted upon hearing it. The Lothcat that was rubbing against her startling slightly.

"The corporations on this planet are the law. There is no safety assurances, workers contracts or unions on this planet." Thrawn stated. "They would not want to lose productivity over trapped workers."

"What I can do depends on the stability of the shaft." Tris told her as Navida started the pre-flight check.

"Alright, we'll land at the mining dome. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes. The ship lifted out of the port moments later, after Tris had dumped the bounty hunters on one of the walkways of the port, and flew low over the barren grey landscape. Mining domes littered the area showing off large open pit mines that had shafts extending deeper towards the hard to reach ore veins. Navida set the ship at one of the mining ports and she and Thrawn disembarked with Tris. C1 remained behind to watch the ship.

"That's the guy I spoke to." Navida pointed to a portly man with a receding hairline that was graying along the edges. "He was in the city recruiting people for this rescue mission."

"I haven't met him before." Thrawn told them quietly.

"I can read him from here." Tris mumbled as they walked closer. "The nervousness is dripping off of him in waves."

The man seemed to have finally spotted them and hurried to the group. "Miss Navida you came!"

"Of course." She answered and Tris let out a quiet groan. Of course she had already made a business arrangement with this man.

"You said you had a solution to my predicament." The portly man nervously wrung his fingers. "Do we need to have some men set up equipment for you?"

"No need." Navida told the man and then pointed at her companion. "Just let Tris here start and everything should be just fine."

"Miss Navida, you are gesturing towards one man. We have a mine collapse due to sabotage that may cause us a lucrative contract and my job."

"You owe me for this." Tris mentally told Navida who coughed discreetly. He then turned to the chubby man who was trying to argue with Navida. Thrawn merely observed the situation, not offering any input to get them moving along. "Look" He addressed the man. "If I don't get them out you don't have to pay us. If I get them out you pay us and keep your job. So why don't we take a look at the situation first before deciding."

"But..... but..... But......." The man sputtered. "You are just one person!" Tris however wasn't listening anymore and started walking towards the mine shaft.

"Oh, he's done listening to you." Navida told the portly man as she rubbed her temple and watched her partner walk into the mine shaft. All they could do now was wait. Those that had also assembled to help blinked cluelessly as they watched Tris enter.

The wait was long, more than three hours passed before anything happened. Everyone turned when they heard sounds getting closer out of the mine shaft. Suddenly people, covered in dust and grime, ran out shouting in happiness. Tris was the last one out and he looked absolutely filthy.

"Who.... how.... Huh... what... HOW?!" The portly man sputtered as he watched the happy rescued workers. Those injured were loaded on gurneys and taken to the medical ships docked.

Navida let out a fake cough to get the man's attention. "Oh yes! Right." The portly man gestured for a neatly dressed woman to come forward just as Tris reached them. The woman was carrying a chest, that she opened to show them the amount of credits they were receiving. "As promised."

"I think we'll be good with this for a couple of supply stops." Navida mumbled as she accepted the credits.

"Can I ask you something?" Tris suddenly spoke starling the portly man. "To what organization did those people belong?" He gestures to the freed VIPs that were being checked over. To Navida he mentally sends "I got a weird reading off of them."

"Oh, they call themselves the First Order."

------------------To be continued-------------------

AN: whooo finally a new chapter. I've been in a writing slump for the past week. Looks like things are getting juicier. A new planet is up next of course and new adventures.