Tatooine Misadventures

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May 20, 2017
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ISD Mk. II, the "Omega"
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160
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Female
He agreed to join me on Tatooine, where vast tales of a lethal yet cryptic Rakghoul plague had been raging, of late.

Truth be told, I never expected my master to agree to come; at least not willingly - and not without some hesitation cleverly built in. Like most masters, he preferred to remain unpredictable and taunting, but in this case - he was different. He came within hours of my transmission, arriving on Mos Ila spaceport and heading straight to Zaroshe. No delays. No excuses. It was altogether just…too perfect. But I dared not look a gift bantha in the mouth - and so I took his offering in the spirit with which I thought it was given.

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We set out for the most remote region of the Dune Sea right away, kicking up clouds of sand as we sped past gauntlets of bewildered locals and eager predators. They were no match for us, I thought, casting them an occasional derisive glance as I followed my master-misanthrope. For his part, Verrin said very little and remained largely preoccupied with his thoughts - which he kept well hidden from his apprentice. I had come to expect no less from him and our current set of circumstances was no different. Before we knew it, we arrived at the wreck of the 'Stardream', formerly a Republic cruiser - now an unruly heap of magnificent debris.

According to all the major Imperial news sources, it was this wreckage that released the Rakghoul pandemic on the Jawa homeworld - but the details were sketchy at best, and only a thorough investigation of the crash site was guaranteed to reveal more details about what caused the 'Stardream's' ultimate fall. I immediately considered searching out bits and pieces of the cruiser's computer systems, as they might have contained the information I so eagerly sought. One problem remained: lack of access codes could render any search futile, and I was fresh out of those. Who am I kidding? I was no Republic officer; I was that damnable thing they were ordered to shoot and kill on sight. Yes….I was. And proud of it.

Verrin suggested that we could search the bodies of the dead officers for the said access cards. Inwardly, I berated myself for not having thought of it, first. But when we began our search for said corpses, we noticed to our bewilderment - that there were none to find. Instead, we came upon several infected security personnel, haphazardly roaming the wreckage…. We would neutralize them, instead - and thus gain access to the ship's security computers.

We made short work of them - with my master at my side, they were hardly a match for either of us. It took a while to find the appropriate clearance card, but we did it - and after a brief search for an intact computer panel, we managed to tap into the 'Stardream's' security system and download their security logs. There were three terminals we could find and log into - but we ran into a small snag - the data we acquired was heavily encrypted. If we could find the Captain of this ship - provided that he was still around, wandering about aimlessly like his counterpart crewmen and officers - we could get a complete readout of the ship's log without having to break a single strain of code. We set out to look for the captain right away. According to the ship's manifest which we came across in our database search - his name is…well, was…Magnus.

I had the idea to power up the nearby generators, producing an uncanny noise - emitting low-frequency vibrations which seemed to attract the plague-infested crew. We had taken out most of the crew around the east end of the wreckage - but as it turned out - not all. Scarcely a couple of minutes into the generator-induced symphony - a large, decrepit form of what was once a man in a Republic officer's uniform, appeared to be stalking towards us.

Magnus.

My master engaged him without delay. It was an uneven battle, though the plagued captain seemed to feel no pain and no fatigue - and fought until the very moment Verrin's lightsaber sliced off his decaying head. As I administered minor kolto patches to my master's cuts, Verrin rummaged through Magnus' pockets - a brief yet thorough search which produced the very access codes we needed. He handed them to me without saying a word and I immediately set out in search of a console we first passed upon our arrival - an intact computer terminal located at the top of the hill to the south - which looked like it came from Magnus' own ready room. It was more than likely that the captain's personal database would contain all the information needed to unravel the mystery of the crash. I accessed the panel without delay and ran the codes - then downloaded the entire database into a datapad - securing it for its final voyage back…to Nogatan.

I daresay, my master barely spoke on the way back to Mos Ila and appeared to be quite distracted - perhaps even restless. He had contracted some kind of a fever during our brief stay in the Dune Sea, which caused him to become nauseated and dizzy. His eyes, however, spoke volumes - and I had no doubt in my mind that he blamed -me- for contracting this mysterious illness. It wasn't long before I too, began exhibiting similar symptoms. I could only hope that we could get back to the Academy in time for this affliction to get proper treatment. If it was the Rakghoul plague, our prognosis was bleak….but then again, I had faith in myself as a skilled healer - and in my master, for his stubborn persistence to survive. Together, we would find a way out of this most inconvenient -and- undesirable predicament. After all, my master once told me - faith was the ultimate cornerstone of survival.

I hoped he was right. He had to be. Time would tell - and that was only one way to find out.
 
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