《Daughter of Mortis》The Hunt
Advertisement
"Governor Pryce is currently preoccupied on Coruscant, as it were," Kallus explained while the hover took them deeper into the capital city. "However, she expressed her great delight at Lord Vader assigning you here. She has granted you access to all high level security codes in addition to the standard ones. You have use of all our resources while you hunt Fulcrum."
"Thank you, Agent. I trust I will be given the perfect opportunities to put these resources to good use," Ania replied.
Agent Kallus nodded his head. "You will be staying in the Governor's apartment building. There are over 30 floors of rooms. Your's are on the upper level. One of the protocol droids will take you there."
They ceased talking as the hover slowed and began its descent onto a lading pad, jutting out of the Governor's building. The transport landed, but didn't stop its engines. Apparently Kallus was going out again.
"When will you begin your hunt?" Kallus called out as the transport prepared to lift off again.
"Today." Ania's sharp blue eyes glimmered with anticipation. She hadn't had a proper target in a long time, and if Vader had assigned her to this 'Fulcrum', then he must be hard to find.
She turned away from the hover as it took off. A silver protocol droid waited for her to approach before speaking. "Greetings. I am LD-15, your most humble servant. I have been assigned to you during your stay on Lothal. How may I be of assistance?" The droid obviously had a programmed memory bank.
I'll have to fix that before I tell this droid anything. Despite Vader trusting Kallus and Governor Price, I don't share the same confidence. She smiled politely at the droid before replying. "I am Ania Tano. Will you please show me where I may rest and unpack my things?" Not that she had anything to unpack.
Advertisement
"Of course, Miss Tano. Please follow me." LD-15 began to move in its jerky motions towards the outer lift of the Governors building. She entered a number into the keypad and the lift drifted upwards. They emerged on the 25th level. LD-15 opened a door marked 231 and stepped inside.
Ania surveyed the rooms, quickly casting her senses out to detect any system bugs. She found only three. Two were in the sitting area and one was in the bedroom portion. Ania quickly disarmed them and threw them down the garbage chute. LD-15 watched carefully as Ania worked.
"May I help you with anything else?" The droid asked.
"Actually, I need to access something from your memory banks."
"My memory banks? I'm afraid I don't compute."
"Don't worry. You will very soon." Ania quickly deactivated the droid and pulled out her tool kit. She detached the protective covering that shielded the droids inner workings and swapped out a few switches and wires. Lastly, she wiped the droid's memory banks clean. She activated LD-15 and stepped back.
The droid turned around in a circle, taking in its surroundings and looking as confused as a droid could. "Gracious me. I must've powered off." She turned to Ania. "I'm terribly sorry, Miss Tano. Perhaps I need to go to maintenance."
Ania waved a hand dismissively. "Not at all. There was a bug in your system. I rebooted you and fixed it. You're perfectly fine now."
The droid's eyes flickered momentarily, as she ran her diagnostics. "Ah, and so I am! Thank you, Miss Tano. Do you need help with anything?"
"I need a land speeder. I'm going to go visit the last place Fulcrum's comm's were intercepted."
"There are many on the landing pad. You may take your pick. The Governor has given you free reign here, within the legal boundaries."
Advertisement
Ania laughed. "Legal? Clearly the Governor has no idea what being a mercenary entails." She turned to leave.
"Will you need my assistance?"
"No, thanks, LD. You just stay here and power down for a while."
"All right." The droid deactivated almost immediately.
Ania checked that her weapons and munitions were still on her belt, then left for the landing pad. LD was right. She hadn't noticed when they initially landed, but there were three rows of land speeders and hovers. She took her pick, a 74-Z speeder bike, and flew down the stabilized ramp towards the ground.
She entered a set of coordinates into her navisystem and pressed the thruster bars forward, quickly accelerating until she was flying through the grasslands. She could see her target a good ways ahead. It was an old abandoned comm tower that likely hadn't been used since the newer comm towers had been built.
Ania sped forward in a cloud of dust, unaware of the monoculars watching her approach. Ania pulled to a stop at the base of the tower and parked the bike. She jerked her head around, feeling a sudden presence near her. A glimmer of a shadow met her eyes. Ania pulled a blaster from her holster and crept forward. She used the Force to open the sealed lift and quickly channeled power back into it. The doors opened silently in the control room.
The room was left in disarray. Control panels were busted open, electrical wires hanging out of them. To the side, there was a portable cot, proof that someone was still living there. The door to the refresher and the kitchen were shut. Ania tried to open them, but found them both locked. She backed away and cast her senses about the room. A familiar presence hit her like a maglev. It was a presence she had felt once, in a vision, but it was faint. Once the initial shock of it wore off, Ania could tell that the boy hadn't been there in a long time.
She shook off her paranoid feeling and began to check the system's catalog for recent transmissions. She plugged her datapad into the central computer module and began to reboot the system. Ania had it up and running within 30 minutes. She quickly ran through all surveillance footage and then through old and recent comms. There were spots where it was obvious some data had been erased.
"Hm," Ania cast about the room again. There were many presences this time. There was a Twi'lek, the human boy, a grown man, and a couple. The couple's presence was nearly nonexistent. They had obviously been gone for some time. Lastly, there was a Togruta presence besides her own. The Togruta's face was blurred from her mind, though, almost like it had been erased like the memory banks. There was no evidence of Fulcrum ever being there. Apparently, he was as good as Vader suspected. Finding him would be a lot harder than she had thought.
Advertisement
- In Serial32 Chapters
Echo Black
As Humanity reverted to a Post-Atomic age, mechanical monstrosities formed of the remnants of tanks and planes lumber across the battlefield, breathing both soot and death. In a Future plagued with War a girl, worn and broken, seeks to find the truth about her past, but with every answer, there are always more questions just out of arms reach. Project 404 All Rights Reserved
8 193 - In Serial65 Chapters
Doomsday Pillars
The world end on January 2020, it was started with a plague that brought death upon 80% of the population. When the survivors thought there was no more hope.. They came. 1008 pillars dropped from the sky and spread all around the world in more than 100 countries. The pillars become defensive bases to the of the survivors left. But in the end.. after 10 years The human race still lost. This is a story of Alex, given a second chance to start anew, one month before it all started. This time it will be different for his family, friend, and the human race
8 161 - In Serial102 Chapters
The Class Of Dan ThunderField
Sam, Dan's brother recommends Dan as a teacher to The Magic Academy of The Wise and Learning but since the academy is filled with royalties, Dan doesn't have the will to go there because of his justifiable hate for royalty but one day he meets one of his student from the academy who is said to be the cursed demon because of her red right eye and things change from that very moment.
8 265 - In Serial24 Chapters
A Tribe of Kassia
An irreligious desert elf develops crippling panic attacks when his village is destroyed and betrothed kidnapped. Teaming up with a zealous minotaur monk -- himself a reformed mercenary -- is the only chance to save her.
8 94 - In Serial52 Chapters
PLAYBOY. beomryu
COMPLETED !- in which he is aplayboy and his new target is hisbest friend, ryujin.20210125 ━ 20210403written in fil-eng.three ; beomryuby huegothic.
8 244 - In Serial40 Chapters
The Academy 2
Heyyyyy!I recommend reading the first book, so that you understand what is going on. Now that that's out of the way...Now that Alicia and Nicola are a couple, things should be easier, right? Well, no.Alicia and Nicola still have to struggle between their social differences. And then, someone from Alicia's past shows up to make their relationship even more complicated.Read how the new couple fights to defy the odds.
8 176

