Escape From Onderon

[Cecily Demici]

It had been several days since her handmaidens had made contact with [member="Darth Adekos"] and arranged the daring escape from Onderon that was about to take place. Night had long since fallen over the harsh planet and her guards, who had grown lax over the many months of guarding her, were docile and predictable. They would never expect what was to happen.

Ruby, the most senior of Cecily's handmaidens had objected staunchly to trusting a Sith Lord with her lady's life, but Cecily had no other options. She had spent too long wasting away, a captive of the One Sith. There was work to do in the galaxy if she ever hoped to see them defeated.

Cecily stood alone in the drawing room of her estate, she wore a heavy wool cloak over simple traveling clothes. It was not long before her handmaidens began to trickle in quietly, Ruby, Felicity, Amily, Ivy, Harminy, Melidy, and Aubiry, all dressed identically, eased cautiously into the room and stood by waiting for orders.

Spoiler: Ruby

"Your Grace," said Ruby quietly, "all has been made ready. We have confirmation that the Galactic Alliance has received our communique and is ready to receive you. We will do whatever we must to see you safely off this planet, die if necessary"

Cecily smiled sympathetically as she reached for the woman's hand. "That won't be necessary ladies, Im sure our... savior will secure our safe passage."

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Cecily de Demici"]

The Sith trooper stationed outside the door turned at the sound of approaching footsteps. He was mildly surprised to see an older gentleman, a native of Onderon, rapidly approaching. There were no visits scheduled today. Thinning gray hair, two chins, the uniform of an Onderonian general. He seemed of a fairly high profile. Why wouldn't he have been made aware of such a visit? The trooper squinted as the general approached, noting the urgency in his step. This was strange, but the trooper was more confused than alarmed at his sudden appearance. "The prisoner won't be seeing anyone today." He said, but the general didn't stop walking.

"This won't take long." The general closed the remaining distance before he suddenly revealed an electrum coated lightsaber, angled it upward, and flipped its activation switch.

A crimson blade emerged and, at the current range, entered through the trooper's upper chest and exited out his back. Not a moment too soon, the holoshroud's battery died. The visage of the unassuming general flickered and failed, revealing a darkly clad man in a reflective mask. Darth Adekos liked to keep a low profile and didn't exactly maintain any semblance of fame in most public circles. That could change in the future, but as of now the trooper failed to recognize his murderer. The blade deactivated, retreating back into the hilt and allowing the trooper to collapse to the floor, dead.

Adekos returned the lightsaber to his belt, turned to the door, and knocked three times.

"Room service."

 

[Cecily Demici]

The cloaked figures pressed together defensively as they heard a commotion just outside the doors. When there was a knock and the voice spoke, they looked to Cecily for guidance, but she was at a loss for words herself. One of the cloaked figures signaled with her hands and three women rushed forward silently. Two took their place at either side of the double doors leading into the drawing room and the third readied herself at the knob.

In an instant, the door was thrown open and all three women sprang into action.

"Wait!" a voice called and the three women stopped short of throwing punches, "this is him."

It took a moment, but the three women moved aside as Cecily herself came forward and threw back the hood of her cloak. She studied his face for a moment by the light of the moon.

"My lord, I am Cecily Demici," she said hesitantly, "and I thank you for this kindness. I am told that the Princess [member="Thalia Rist"] remains on the planet among the beasts of Onderon. You must help us locate her before we leave."

Cecily stepped out into the corridor, but stopped and turned around again.

"If you are successful, I will ensure that you are richly rewarded and granted immunity for... whatever crimes you may have committed in the service of the Sith." Cecily made no sign of wanting to know what he had done, no doubt terrible things, but she would absolve him herself if she made it out alive.

"Shall we?"

[member="Darth Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Cecily de Demici"]

Three women just about sprang at him the moment the doors opened, prompting Adekos to take a step back and reach for his lightsaber before Demici managed to stop them. What was this, a book club? Why had the One Sith let the guardswomen live? It didn't matter. They would hopefully be a convenient addition to this little jailbreak and not an obstruction. Demici moved past them and revealed herself, peering at Adekos for a moment. The only face she'd see was her own- reflective visors tended to have that effect. Other than that, he was dressed much as how anyone would expect a Sith to dress: darkly colored clothes with a trace of light armor.

"A pleasure, Senator." He looked away from her to glance both ways down the hallway, just to make sure no one else was coming. The Umbaran moved aside politely when she moved into the corridor, grimacing internally when she mentioned combing the jungles for Onderon's princess. Or was it Queen? A few people had died during the seizing of the palace. Adekos had been too busy plundering the treasury and selling Onderon's physical throne on the holonet to keep track.

Oh, the crimes that were committed in the name of money.

"I suppose you haven't heard." Adekos said, tone somber yet sincere by appearances. "[member="Thalia Rist"] is dead. Mauled by wild beasts when she fled from the Beastia's care."

Shifting his gaze between Cecily and her attendants as he spoke, he continued. "No payment will be required, although now that you've offered a pardon, I will keep that in mind, should I ever need it." Strictly speaking, Adekos did not consider himself guilty of any crimes. No crimes that had witnesses or could be proven beyond reasonable doubt in a court of law, anyway. But now it was time to get moving. "Follow me, please."

With nothing more to add, the Umbaran turned and made his way back down the hallway in the direction he had come from. With any luck, his agents would have secured the extraction point by now.

 

[Cecily Demici]

As her ladies raided the body of the trooper who had been guarding her door for weapons, before dragging him into the room and stuffing him into a wardrobe, Cecily narrowed her eyes at her would be savior. She had received word not a day earlier of the Princess' whereabouts and had reason to doubt the Queen of Beasts would be so quick to dispose of the rightful ruler of Onderon, but she would play along for now.

"Then we will retrieve her remains," she said with a tone of finality, "I will not leave the body of my princess to rot in some jungle while I flee to the Alliance. No, I think not."

"You went through all this trouble, help us find her," she implored as they followed him.

[member="Darth Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Cecily de Demici"]

"Her remains?" Adekos guffawed, watching the handmaidens drag the corpse out of sight and jam it into a wardrobe. Maybe they wouldn't be completely useless after all. "Anything is possible through the Force, Senator, but I cannot use it to divine the location of a corpse."

Once the handmaidens were done with their sordid business, Adekos began to lead them through the hallway. On occasion there was a guard to step over, frequently accompanied by a pool of blood. Their throats were slashed, though it wasn't the work of a lightsaber. "Onderon has a diameter of just over fifteen thousand kilometers. Do you truly expect me to comb every inch of ground in an attempt to find one body? One that could very well have been devoured completely by now? Or dragged into some cave?"

He turned a corner. By now Cecily would probably realize he was taking them to the courtyard. "I'm sure you'll understand if I deny your request. The living are far more important than the dead."

 

[Cecily Demici]

Cecily pursed her lips in frustration as they continued and her ladies shared looks of uncertainty. She was not accustomed to being cowed, especially not by a Sith, but it appeared she had little choice in this matter. She would have to make other arrangements to free her Princess from the clutches of the Sith. After studying him for a moment longer, she nodded and continued to follow into the courtyard.

"There should be a contingent of Onderonian ships ready to escort us out of Sith space, if everything is going as planned elsewhere," she said, waiting for further direction. When Cecily had dispatched her messages that eventually led her to this rebellious Sith Lord, she also made contact with several well known resistance fighters on Onderon who were setting in motion concurrent plans to ensure their safe escape.

"Now what?"

[member="Darth Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Cecily Demici"]

He opened up the door to the courtyard and repressed a derisive scoff. If he hadn't needed an escort getting in, what made her think he would need one getting out? The courtyard was empty, save for the bodies of a pair of guards that were slouched against the walls where Adekos' minions had left them. There was nothing immediately visible that would have hinted at a method of escape, which might have been the cause of Cecily's incredulous question. "Oh, you of little faith."

Registering his arrival after another moment, the cloaking field on the landed shuttle disengaged. It was a Sekairo-class Stealth transport. An old design, but endlessly reliable when it came to stealth insertions. Adekos had frequently borrowed one from one of his colleagues, but it eventually got to the point where he used it so often that instead of returning the transport, Adekos just gave the man money for it. Now it was his shuttle and Cecily's designated getaway vehicle. The ramp was lowered, and inside where a pair of Metanecron, doubtless the ones responsible for dispatching the two courtyard guards and who-knows how many else. Adekos imagined that if Cecily were at all aware of what went into the creation of those monstrosities, she might have elected to languish in prison for a few more months.

Ignorance is bliss, or so it goes.

"There should be enough room for everyone. Don't bother alerting your escort, they won't see us either." The Umbaran explained, standing to the side of the ramp to make way for the good Senator and her retinue. "After you."

 

[Cecily Demici]

Cecily stopped as the ramp came down and narrowed her icy blue eyes at the Sith. The idea of working with a Sith Lord at all made her blood boil, but what choice did she have when she agreed? Now he was preventing her from dispatching her own personal escort. Her lips tightened as Ruby came to her side to whisper something in her ear.

"Get on board," she ordered harshly and none of the women hesitated, filing onto the ship and past the ominous guards, "you had better be as good at being sneaky as you are at murder."

You're still a prisoner, she had to remind herself, a thought that made her shudder in displeasure. She would have need of the Onderonian troops, but she had no choice, but to leave them behind.

"Well, let's go," she waved her arms in a resigned fashion before trooping up the ramp, ready to get out of Sith space.

[member="Darth Adekos"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Cecily Demici"]

Surprisingly, Darth Adekos had nothing to say. He fancied himself fairly skilled in both the arts of sneaking and murder, but it would be better to just escape with the former Senator and let actions speak louder than words. The assortment of women marched up the ramp and only after they were all on board did Adekos and his guards join them. The boarding ramp shut behind them. The two seats left were quickly occupied by the Metanecron, who buckled their seat-belts dutifully. Safety was also a top priority. Adekos, meanwhile, continued into the cockpit and would likely remain there in the co-pilot's seat for the duration of the flight.

"Hello passengers." His voice cackled in over the small shuttle's intercom. "Local time is about 11:38 PM. Refreshments and snacks are available in containers located under your seats. We will be flying directly to the neutral world of Quarzite, where I have arranged for a luxury yacht to transport the lot of you to a Galactic Alliance world of your choosing. We will make one pit stop in orbit of Cato Neimoidia, also a neutral world. To Cato Neimoidia will take anywhere from three to four hours depending on traffic, hyperspace anomalies, etcetera. To Quarzite will only take two, thanks to the hyperlane."

The engines rumbled audibly as the ship lifted off from the courtyard, sound dampeners keeping it from waking the rest of the Onderonian compound and stygium cloaking device keeping it from showing up on all other sensors. Technology was just a grand thing, but Adekos did not expect the denizens of a backwater planet like Onderon could appreciate such things. Without further delay, the shuttle shot upwards towards the atmosphere and bade Onderon a speedy farewell.

"And away we go."