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And that isn’t even going into the Sith ruins scattered across the planet. Would that you had enough time, you’d love nothing more than to go spelunking with Ceyla and the other members of the {i}Albatross{/i} in search of ancient treasure. Alas, such a trip will have to wait for many, many years. You foresee that even after this mess, Kessel will be too hot of a planet for any prolonged visitation.
Sia-Lan eventually succeeds in starting the speeder, blasting a small cloud of dust into the street as she revs the engine. With a pleased look and a contented hum, she opines: “We’ll follow three kilos behind you.”
Nodding, you don your goggles, and insert a fresh filter into your rebreather. “I’ll hold position until you get to the mine, then we’ll all go in.”
“Damned right you better,” Ma’kis says, just before the canopy on their vehicle closes. “I’m not about to let you give Potkin the riot act without me being present.”
For the second time today, you take to the blasted landscape of Kessel. Exiting from the gates of Lowtown, the path to the rendezvous has you taking a longer route. Factoring any local patrols or other observers, you maintain a sedate pace on the main roads until Kessendra is out of sight.
Only as the last of the blinking lights of antennae and spaceport signals vanish behind the horizon do you jerk the stick and open the throttle all the way. The world becomes a blur as you blast a path of dust and debris behind you as you race into the wastelands of Kessel.
It takes a little under an hour to reach the abandoned mine, but you saw the signs as you grew gradually closer. The treads of tanks grew less frequent, eventually vanishing beneath decades’ of dirt and sand and ash. Paved roads lead to compacted dirt, then nothing at all. And in addition to the ancient ruins, half-collapsed buildings, rotting silos, and rusted transportation vehicles litter the landscape.
All this culminates in a web-like structure of mineshafts scattered across a five square kilometer area. Resembling more of a nail than a building, the reception building vanishes halfway deep into the earth. Remarkably, KesCorp hadn’t cut all the power to the abandoned mine – there’s just enough lights on the exterior to mark the location, and prevent speeders from colliding into any fencing or auxiliary buildings, or stumbling into the shafts.
You only finish hiding your speeder when Sia-Lan and Ma’kis come racing up the incline, coming to a short, controlled stop only meters away from your position. The canopy pops open, and both Jedi leap out, eyes alert and lightsabers at the ready. When nothing immediately attacks, they relax their stances, and gather towards the entrance.
“We have the codes,” says Ma’kis, entering a four-digit number into a terminal by the door. With a beep, the blast doors slowly groan open, just far enough to allow a person to enter. “…no chance of the speeder fitting, though.”
(cont.)
