CHAPTER SEVEN
Numidian Prime
Dani closely followed Lunara as they traversed their way through the corridors of the First Light, being careful to avoid notice from any members of the Veiled Sorority. Security seemed to be lax as it was, most likely because Viira had taken many of them to the outpost where she would be meeting with Booster and his crew. Dani couldn’t help but smirk; clearly Viira had not yet gotten into the mindset of being a strategic pirate queen if this was how careless she was.
As they passed a viewport, Dani caught a glimpse of an old YT-1930 transport descending from the sky and landing at a pad not far from the First Light and the outpost down below. She could only guess that this was none other than Booster and his party, coming to meet with Viira. She knew they were walking straight into a trap; she could not imagine any scenario in which Viira agreed to their terms and did anything but try to kill them.
She wondered if Toah would be with them. Maybe then they would stand a chance…
Lunara came to an abrupt halt and Dani had to stop herself to prevent bumping into her. The Arkanian woman had her attention focused on a sealed door, which Dani knew led to the main study, where the collection of artifacts gathered by Dryden Vos, her mother, and herself was held.
“What are we doing here?” Dani asked, keeping her voice low. “I thought we were headed to the control center. We can worry about the collection later.”
“This is important,” Lunara said. “There is something I want to show you.”
Dani frowned in confusion as Lunara stepped forward and opened the door. At first she was surprised that the Arkanian was able to unlock it, but then remembered that Sal Tyrius had likely given her the access codes back when he had briefly owned the star yacht. Dani followed Lunara inside and they navigated their way through the assortment of exhibits and artifacts, until they reached the exhibit containing the datacron that Dani had received from the Knights of Ren back on Ord Mantell.
As Lunara removed the artifact from the exhibit, Dani asked, “Why are you showing me this? I already know what it is.”
“Yes, but I am not convinced you are fully aware of its significance.” Lunara turned to fully face her, both of her eyes—cybernetic and organic—boring into Dani’s. “You are a Solo by blood. A direct descendant of Berethron, last King of Corellia.”
“I know this already,” Dani said, eying the Arkanian warily. “Where are you going with this?”
“The throne has been left vacant for centuries,” Lunara went on. “You are now one of many viable heirs to the throne. The oldest living Solo, Thrackan, is currently in the Resistance’s custody. Your supposed father, Han, is next in line but unlikely to claim the throne for himself, preferring to distance himself from his legacy. That leaves you, Danielle Kieran, as the next in line, before any of Han Solo’s other children.”
Dani raised an eyebrow. “You want me to claim the throne?”
“More than that. I want you to rebuild the Corellian Empire and reforge it into the galactic power it once was. The galaxy is in shambles, and with the Alliance falling apart and the First Order growing in power, it is in need of much needed guidance. And Corellia can provide that.”
Dani mulled on this as she looked at the datacron in Lunara’s hands. She had been content in living as a pirate queen, but since that had been taken away from her, she was in need of a means to prove herself—not just to others but to herself. What could be better than ruling over pirates than to rule over a planet? Over an entire sector? Perhaps even more….
Shaking her head, she looked back up at Lunara. “Why do you have such an invested interest in Corellia? I thought Tyrius had set up base there for the Malvis Cabal, but if they’re gone, then that can’t be the case anymore. Something tells me there’s more to it than that.”
Lunara smiled thinly. “There always is. But my interests—and those of the Curator—are no longer tied to those of the Cabal. This goes far beyond them.”
Dani wasn’t satisfied with this answer, but she knew she wouldn’t get anything more from the Arkanian. “All right, fine,” she said. “We take the collection to Arkania, then we head to Corellia. But first, we have to take care of the condition I spoke of.”
“Of course.” Lunara grinned, showing her teeth in a manner that was borderline predatory. Replacing the datacron, she reached for one of the other displays, an empty scabbard which had belonged to Prince-Admiral Jonash e Solo. As she handed it to Dani, she then picked up an antique sword which, while not quite the one the Prince-Admiral had wielded all those millennia ago, was at the very least Corellian made and matched the aesthetic of the scabbard. Lunara bowed her head in mock reverence as she presented the sword to Dani.
“Hail to the Queen.”
Dani regarded the Arkanian carefully as she took the sword from her. She then placed it into the sheath and headed out of the study.
* * *
The apprehension in the room was so thick that one could cut it with a lightsaber. The humid climate of Numidian Prime’s rainforests certainly didn’t help matters, nor did the glares that were being exchanged from both sides of the room.
Booster Terrik sat opposite from the self-proclaimed Queen Viira at the round table while everyone else stood around them, waiting for the other side to make a move. To her credit, Viira had brought an equal amount of “help” as Booster had. Countering Cera, Toah, Typha, Kyla, and Wiskin were five other pirates from the Veiled Sorority; Cera recognized a few of them from the last time they had encountered the pirates, including a Codru-Ji who always appeared to be at Viira’s side. In addition to her was a Devaronian (whom she believed to have been her mother’s first mate), the Cragmoloid known as Vuula, a Zeltron in bright neon clothing, and a Nautolan who seemed very eager to start stabbing people at the drop of a pin.
If a fight did break out, Cera felt that it was going to be a very close match.
Booster and Viira were negotiating their terms of agreement, but Cera was only paying half attention to it. Instead, she found herself reaching out with the Force—something she had refrained from doing for so long and yet now found herself doing more and more often. She searched for any sign of her mother—for Dani—to see if she was still alive, if Viira had been bluffing. If she had already been killed, then surely Cera would have felt it. Or, if not her, then Toah would have….
“So certain, are you?”
Cera stiffened as she felt a severe chill run through her body. She recognized the disembodied voice to be the same one she had heard last night. Surreptitiously, she glanced around to see if the silhouette she had seen that night would materialize again, but saw nothing of the sort. Swallowing hard, she tried to ignore it as she focused herself back on the present matter at hand.
Viira stabbed at the meeting table with a small sharp knife to emphasize whatever point she had been making. Booster did not so much as flinch and stared back at her with his heavy arms folded over his chest.
“That’s my final offer,” the Twi’lek pirate queen said firmly. “Take it or leave it.”
“And if we don’t take it?” Booster asked, eyebrow raised.
“Then we’re going to keep giving you trouble on top of the First Order business you guys are already preoccupied with. Hell, we might even reach out to the First Order ourselves and see if they will take us up on it.”
“And Kieran? What will you do with her?”
“Exactly what I promised.” Although her face was concealed by the mask of the Pirate Queen, Cera could tell that Viira was grinning wickedly. “So, what’s it going to be?”
Booster sighed as he shook his head. “I can’t accept these terms. There’s no way Karrde’s going to agree to them, let alone General Organa. I’m sorry, but no deal.”
Cera felt a pang in her heart and she was tempted to speak up and protest Booster’s decision. But then she caught Toah’s eye and stopped herself. Through the Force, she felt him send her a wave of reassurance. She wasn’t sure if he was simply trying to calm her before she caused the situation to get out of hand, or if he knew something she didn’t. It reminded her of how Kalen would teach her during her brief apprenticeship… and frankly it was part of the reason she had left the Jedi in the first place. It frustrated her being left in the dark, and some Jedi seemed all too keen to leave her there.
Pulling her knife out of the table, Viira sheathed it and glared at Booster through the slits of her mask. “Is that how it’s gonna be, then? Pity. I was actually looking forward to working with you guys. Oh, well.”
The self-declared pirate queen turned as if to leave, and her entourage moved as if to follow suit. However, Cera felt a shift in the Force and time seemed to slow as she saw Viira reach for the lightsaber hooked to her belt while the other pirates unholstered their blasters. Moving quickly and without thinking, she grabbed Booster with the Force and pushed him aside just as Viira ignited her lightsaber and lunged across the table at him. At the same time, Cera drew the lightsaber she had taken back on Coruscant and moved to block the Twi’lek’s attack, green clashing against yellow.
The entire sequence happened in the span of a second. Viira seemed to be caught off-guard by the unexpected defense but quickly shook off her surprise as she pressed on the attack. Pushing Cera back, she jumped down from the table and swung her lightsaber wildly at Cera. Although it had been twelve years since she had last been trained with a lightsaber, everything she had learned back then came flooding back and she managed to deflect Viira’s strikes with ease. It certainly helped that Viira clearly had no experience with wielding a lightsaber, her moves clumsy and telegraphed ahead of time. Within moments, Cera managed to knock the green blade out of the Twi’lek’s hand before holding the pirate queen at swordpoint.
Within that time, a brief shootout had broken out, but Toah and the others had managed to take care of the other pirates. Vuula and the Nautolan had been knocked out, while the Codru-Ji, Devaronian, and Zeltron were nursing wounds.
Upon realizing that she and her crew had been swiftly beaten, Viira let out a chuckle that sound slightly uneasy. “Heh. Guess you’ve got just as much gusto as your mum, eh?”
Cera glared at her. “Where is my mother?”
“She’s being held on the First Light. I can take you to her. Just… put down the saber, yeah? I think you’ve made your point here.”
Cera continued to stare at the Twi’lek, unable to tell if she was telling the truth or not. Over Viira’s shoulder, she saw a dark shape begin to materialize and recognized it immediately to be the figure she had seen last night.
“She’s lying,” the voice said. “Kill her. She will only continue to cause problems.”
Cera’s eyes flicked from the figure back to Viira, the visage of the pirate queen’s mask staring back at her, hiding the Twi’lek’s face. As she wrestled over whether or not to trust Viira’s word, she felt a small tremble beneath her feet. The motion seemed to catch even Viira off-guard, as the pirate queen slowly tilted her head up to look at the ceiling.
“Oh no,” she murmured. “That better not be what I think it is.”
Keeping her rifle trained on the other pirates in case they made a move, Typha carefully moved backwards to step out of the outpost and look up to see what was happening. She then quickly stepped back inside with a startled look.
“It’s the star yacht,” she said. “It’s lifting up!”
Viira’s Devaronian first mate cast the pirate queen a fiery glare. “You didn’t post any guards at the control center?!”
“I didn’t think we would need any!” Viira protested. “Who’s gonna steal the yacht when we’re all down here?”
“Oh, I don’t know; maybe the prisoner?”
“But….” Viira shook her head. “There’s no way she could have gotten out….”
At that moment, a comlink on her belt began to buzz. Viira glanced at Cera and, with some reluctance, she lowered her lightsaber, nodding for her to answer it. The pirate queen then unhooked her comlink and turned it on, raising the volume so all in the room could hear.
“Who is this?” she asked, trying to put steel in her voice to sound authoritative although Cera could still hear her fear.
“I think you already know the answer to that, Viira,” came the recognizable voice of Danielle Kieran.
As Cera felt her heart soar, Viira barked into the comlink, “How in the blazes did you get out?!”
“I had some help. Now then, before we go any further with this conversation, let me ask you one question: Where is my daughter? Because if you’ve killed her—”
“I’m right here,” Cera spoke up. “I’m… I’m fine. We’re all fine here.”
She heard her mother sigh in relief. “Thank the stars. I was just ready to blast you all to oblivion if she had. If that’s the case, then here’s how things are going to go.”
“Look, if you want it all back, you can,” Viira interjected, no longer putting on the façade of bravery. “I’ve decided that being a pirate queen ain’t all that it’s cracked up to be. I’ll let you have the mask and—”
“You can keep it, Viira,” Dani replied. “I’m not interested in any of that anymore. I have… bigger prospects now. However, I will be taking the First Light and its collection as it is rightfully mine.”
“Okay. Okay, fine,” Viira muttered. “Then… what about us? Are you just going to leave us here?”
“You still have the Queen’s Hammer. I want all of you—and that includes Booster’s gang—to meet with me on Arkania. I have… a plan, and the only way it will work is to get all of you guys on board with it.”
“Dare I ask what this plan is?” Booster asked.
“You’ll get your answers on Arkania, old man,” Dani replied. “Until then….”
The comm went silent and the First Light proceeded to blast off into Numidian’s sky. Viira simply stood there, her arm holding the comlink slowly drooping down. She then tilted her head up to look at Cera as she let out a heavy sigh.
“Well then,” the pirate queen said. “Let’s not keep her waiting, eh?”
But Cera wasn’t listening to her, instead staring at the spot where the dark figure had been, where now there was nothing but stone wall….
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