Chapter 33: Chapter 30: Accidentally
Tentacles, or Qiv rather, was not the most physically impressive member of his species. Though he was tall, he was also reedy and looked like a strong wind would knock him over. Compared to his thin face, his solid black eyes were huge and bulging.
He was dressed in a skin-tight jumpsuit, over top of which he had hung a few tool belts.
His hands twitched nervously and his gaze shifted back and forth between Gaarurra and I, occasionally patting the ray shield generator now mounted on his belt, as though he was terrified it would suddenly disappear.
I wondered if he realized I could simply crush it from here? It would take some effort on my part if he had any active Force defenses, but I was reasonably certain I could pull it off.
I decided to tell him this.
"Yeah, I'm aware. I've seen enough footage of you in action to figure that out on my own, hotshot," Qiv grumbled, "This was more to surprise you for a sec."
I shrugged, "Just keeping you informed."
"You gonna let me talk now or did you have something else? 'Cause I still got stuff to say," He asked, now slightly annoyed. I gestured for him to continue, "Good, 'cause I was about to give you a few reasons why killing me is a bad idea."
I raised an eyebrow.
"First, I'm not dumb enough to rely on just one contingency," He started, "I got a droid wired up to a few security cams I swiped. You kill me, it goes to the nearest Inquisitor with video evidence, along with a clip of you killing Lord what's-his-name. And I wouldn't bother going after it. It'll get there before you can figure out which droid it is. I go down, I'm taking you with me."
Alright, I'd admit that that's a pretty good reason. I wasn't happy at getting blackmailed, but given his position, it was an understandable precaution. Hell, I'd probably have done it myself if our roles were reversed.
"You've been having me followed?" I inquired.
"I've been having everybody followed," Qiv shrugged, pulling something off his belt. It was a small orb, cobbled together from scrap parts. A central red "eye" lit up as the device activated, revealing it to be a tiny droid, "It's the other reason you might want to hold off on killing me. I know where everybody's been and what they've been doing. At least while they were here on Korriban."
A glance to my side showed that Gaarurra had a very perturbed expression on his face. I imagine finding out that you were being stalked was a bit disturbing for everybody else. At this point, I've just gotten used to it after dealing with it for most of my life.
I acknowledged the point with a nod, "I'll admit, that's pretty tempting. Now, what do you want?"
"Besides the whole you not murdering the hell out of me thing?" The Nautolan deadpanned, "Just one, little itty bitty thing. In fact, it's the reason why I approached you," He paused and took a deep breath, "I want off this rock."
"You want me to smuggle you off Korriban," I replied, equally deadpan. And how the hell did he expect me to accomplish that feat?
"But I'm not talking about that ship you got stashed in the wastes. According to Iren's files, the hole in the defense screen was closed a while ago," Qiv explained. I was suddenly much more interested, "See, there's a reason I got your attention and not Crazy Eyes'.
She's got connections with other acolytes. You've got connections with the soldiers. That means you've also got connections with the soldiers' supply shipments."
Ah, I saw where he was going with this, "Say I call in a favor and get an extra crate loaded onto an outgoing transport. Preferably one with air holes."
"Exactly," Qiv grinned, "Military shipments usually pass through Vaiken Station before heading off. I can slip out there and find a ship to Nar Shaddaa, then disappear so deep the Sith'll never find me," He clapped his hands together.
"So here's the deal. You don't kill me and get me onto that ship, and I leave you…pretty much everything I got here. So all the recordings and the droids you guys didn't fry or break on the way in."
"And delete the recording of me killing Renning?" I insisted. I didn't really care that Gaarurra was hearing this since I assumed that he was smart enough to realize that with how often he was seen hanging around me, he would likely be considered an accomplice.
With the Empire's attitude towards aliens, I doubted that they would investigate too much before slapping him with that.
"Yeah, that too," He nodded, "In fact, I'll do that right now. As a show of good faith." Taking out his datapad, he typed in a few commands, "Done. The other thing's still in place, though. Call it a bit of insurance."
"Fair enough," I shrugged. Honestly, it was. This was Korriban. Trusting anyone completely was plain stupid, "Although…you couldn't have just asked?"
Qiv's reaction wasn't quite what I had been expecting. His face screwed up in confusion, "I…did."
"You tried to have me killed in my sleep!"
"I did?" He repeated, this time as a question. Clearly, he was now even more confused.
"Your droid tried to strangle me!" I declared, incredulity seeping into my voice.
"It was supposed to just deliver a message since I couldn't go see you without tipping off Olia!" The Nautolan blinked in surprise, his brow furrowed. He started muttering to himself, leaving me to piece things together on my own for the moment.
"It definitely delivered one!" I shot back.
"No no no. All I did was add a few lines of code," He replied, waving his hands to try and calm me down before pausing, "Huh. I guess my tampering tripped something in its programming."
I stared slack-jawed at the man as I quickly realized what had happened. Next to me, Gaarurra started laughing.
"Are you telling me that you accidentally almost assassinated me?!" I'll admit, it was a first for Korriban. It was the first time something had unintentionally tried to kill me.
"Yes?" Qiv seemed to shrink in on himself, a sheepish expression on his face.
I ran a hand down my face and let out an explosive sigh, "…Fuck it. I'll do it. We'll get you off planet and as far away from me as physically possible before you end up succeeding."
"Great! Now…uh…I'm gonna shut off the ray shield to save some battery. Just in case I need it again in a few minutes…"
...
After that, he walked Gaarurra and I through his operations here. While most of his larger droids had been trashed out in the passage, he still had a huge network of spy droids wandering around. He even managed to have some planted in the Overseers' offices, up in the vents.
"I'm actually impressed that you managed all this in a just couple months," I complimented.
"Hey, just 'cause I bungled one thing doesn't mean I'm completely useless," Qiv shot back.
"I wasn't implying that," I assured him, "Actually, with this set up, you probably could have taken most of us down," Especially if he managed to get a hold of some poison gas.
Just sneak some into the dormitory vents at night and suddenly he'd be the only surviving acolyte, "Why did you want to leave?"
"Besides getting away from all the murder and possibilities of horrific death?" He asked with a roll of his eyes. Now that he knew I wasn't going to kill him, he was a lot more relaxed.
"'Cause I'm not dumb enough to go after something I know I can't get. Imps don't like aliens and they don't get far or have a long lifespan. Last I checked, I was one, so I want to skedaddle back to someplace I might be able to get a good life."
"That's not the only reason, is it?"
Qiv snorted, "Well, that and I ain't exactly Sith material. You might have noticed I'm a bit of a coward," He shrugged, "Also, I dropped my hydrospanner on my foot four times this morning. Same foot each time. Imagine what I'd do with a lightsaber."
I winced. Yeah, I could imagine, "Lightsabers aren't the Sith's only weapon."
"I know that. But I ain't good at any of 'em, except when it comes to tech."
"Hold on a second," I stopped him, "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
Because if he was, I wanted that.
"What, using the Force on tech?" He asked, "I've always been able to do it, just got better at it since coming here. Always knew what to fix, even without looking at blueprints," He gestured to one of the wrecked droids just outside.
"Hell, the plans for those probably don't even exist anymore. Computers too. It's easy to hack a terminal when it talks to you."
"Mechu Deru," I breathed out.
Jedi and Sith unintentionally used it at its most basic level to construct and maintain their lightsabers, creating blueprints with the Force. But doing anything further with it was incredibly rare. In summation, it was the ability to analyze, control, and construct machinery using the Force. That Qiv was able to do it instinctively and was only getting better at it…
Suffice it to say, it was incredibly dangerous at its highest levels, as Belia Darzu could attest. A sufficiently powerful practitioner could control a dreadnought with just a thought. And that was low-balling it and didn't get into its more…creative aspects.
"I'd like to alter our deal," I held up a hand, stopping him before he could interrupt, "And don't worry, I won't be altering it further." I held up two fingers, "First, I'd like any notes you made on this ability as well as any that you can make in the time between now and the next shipment."
"Sure, I guess. And the other?"
"I'd like to establish a way to get in contact once you're on Nar Shaddaa," I continued, "Your skills are too useful to ignore and once I graduate from the academy, I'd like the option of calling on them. I'll pay you for your time, in credits or resources."
"You want to hire me?" Qiv asked, his hairless eyebrows rising.
"Not full-time. Otherwise, you'll be left alone," I assured him, "Can you say that you won't want the business?"
"I wouldn't say no to an income…" He replied slowly, scratching his chin as he thought it over. His head tendrils twitched a few times before he replied.
"Alright. My cousin owns a cantina up on the promenade level, right near this real ugly aurodium statue of Karagga the Hutt. If you end up needing something, talk to him and he'll pass the word somehow. We'll talk price then." He held out a hand.
"Deal?"
I grasped the hand and shook it, "Deal."
Qiv chuckled, "Looks like I won't be getting completely out of the Sith life like I wanted."
"Looks like it," I agreed. Taking out my datapad, I keyed up a number, "Cormun, it's me. I need another favor…"
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