I waited about twelve hours for that 'first available' vector. It was around about midnight, Mendellian time, when we got clearance to commence our descent.
In the meantime, I'd had a chance to swap out my augmetic eye for the prosthetic. I'd been wearing the augmetic for so long that losing the false-colour overlay, the wide-range visual spectrum, and the data channel made me feel almost blind. It was especially jarring to talk to Dis and not get the subtitles. I could still figure out a fairly large part of it, but the nuances (did he call me a mud-eating monkey, or a mud-eating chimp?) got lost.
It being Mendellia, I probably could try and rock an eyepatch, but if Thayer was really in trouble, I figured I'd probably need binocular vision before long. Otherwise, I'd elected to wear long pants, boots, a lace-up pirate shirt I couldn't remember buying, and a cloak.
All the better to conceal my weapons with, my dear.
I decided to grab a few of the spare comlinks I had lying around, since I vaguely remembered something about Galactic technology being withdrawn from Terra Group at its disbandment. I took my usual stormtrooper blaster carbine - there were bound to be some still floating around Mendellia, so it wouldn't be spectacularly out of place - and my lightsabre, because sometimes you need to cut through everything in your way.
Once I'd completed my preparations, then I only had a mindlessly tedious wait for that vector.
Dis did the actual piloting in, of course. While I can handle the ship in an emergency, I'm just plain not as good at the delicate stuff. I'm always overcompensating.
You can shut your big fat mouth, now. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
I didn't need subtitles to understand Dis was complaining of our poor sensors. The little guy seemed to take it as a direct insult that we didn't have the finest electronics to offer, and had been on at me about the sensors pretty much from day one. He got grumpy when I prioritised the shields as the first thing to look at improving, though it's not like we'd saved up enough just yet to do much more than fiddle. Dis claimed to have adjusted the sensors to three times their usual sensitivity, but I got the impression that was either hyperbole or the sensors were just that terrible.
Still, it was a fairly relaxed descent - our re-entry barely raised a flicker on the shields, and we set down in the middle of the biggest patch of forest - almost jungle, really - on Mendellia. I couldn't make out much since we were running without landing lights, but Dis set us down smoothly and we didn't seem to defoliate the area on our approach.
I told Dis to seal up the ship after me, and stepped out into the Mendellian night.
It never really got cold in Mendellia - being on the equator, it didn't really have recognisable seasons - but there was a chill in the air tonight - the wind was blowing straight off the ocean. Still, I set out to find the nearest road to get on my way to the palace.
It was slow going - I'd brought a glowrod, so I wasn't tripping over everything, but the only path seemed to meander wildly, with switchbacks and...
Oh. This wasn't a game trail. This was a killing ground. An enemy following the path would be open to attack on all sides. I recognised the handiwork. I stopped in the middle of the path and yubbed, <Is this the way to welcome your clan?>
There was a rustle of movement, and sure enough, some Ewoks sheepishly waddled into the light of the glow-rod. One of them was carrying an AK-47 - a little awkardly - and another had a shotgun. The rest had standard-issue spears. <You speak our language, stranger?> one of them yubbed at me.
I put my hood back. <No stranger, I hope. Strength to you.>
Some of the spear-wielders looked a little confused, but the ones with firearms seemed to recognise me, and bowed with reverence. <Forgive us. We did not know you had returned from beyond the stars.>
<There is nothing to forgive,> I yubbed, helping them back to their feet. <I only just came back.>
The AK Ewok turned to the others. <Behold the Honourable Man,> he declaimed, <whose warrior spirit grew too strong to contain. He sacrificed an eye for wisdom, so that he could temper that strength and become a stronger warrior still. He has returned to us from beyond the sky!>
Now, I'd imagine this isn't something that happens to a lot of people, but there's something distinctly uncomfortable about hearing some of the darkest parts of your life being mythologised into a quest for glory. Having a bunch of Ewoks starting to make keening noises of adoration while someone does so is even more uncomfortable.
<Please,> I yubbed desperately, <I'm just a man. Please stop that. No, seriously, get up, I'm not worth it. Get off my leg. Really. No, don't do that - put that away! Listen, I need to get to the Palace - I don't need a spear, but I appreciate the offer. Can you help me - I need to walk on those! - I'm not hungry, thank you - can you help me get to the Palace?>
<If you sacrificed an eye,> asked one of the spear-carriers, <why do you still have two eyes?>
<He must have learned powerful magic,> yubbed another spear-carrier, <and used that to restore his eye.>
<There was no magic,> I yubbed, <I had help. No, don't put your eye out! It won't help. It needs to be done in a special way, and, uh, you're not properly prepared.> The Ewok took his spearpoint away from his eye, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Junto Daas hadn't mystically given me wisdom when he'd taken my eye, but he'd shown me what I wasn't.
Eventually, I got them to take me out of the forest and I began to trudge along the road to the capital. There wasn't a great deal of traffic at this time of night, and at any rate, no Mendellian was likely to pick up a hitch-hiker wrapped in a cloak. It just wasn't done.
So when a car pulled up behind me and spitted me on its headlights, I was more than a little skittish. "Stay where you are," boomed a voice over a loudspeaker. "Put your hands where we can see them." I turned towards the car and threw my hood back again. Belatedly, the blue light of the gendarmerie began to flash on the top of the car.
One of the car doors opened, and a Mendellian cop walked towards me. "Sir, you must know this area's reputation. Do you seek death?"
I spread my empty hands from under my cloak as he approached. "No, but I find myself without transport. Are you saying the roads are not safe?" Mendellian speech-patterns could be contagious.
The cop stopped out of easy reach, and glanced around into the night. "Safe enough for traffic, perhaps," he said. "But some have vanished into the forest, never to be heard from again."
"But not children," I said, recognising the style. "Or those in distress. They have safe passage in these woods, do they not?" The Ewoks weren't so territorial that they'd stoop that low.
The cop looked uncomfortable. "How could you know that?"
I smiled at him. "I've met the denizens of the wood. They let me pass." At these words, yubbing broke out from somewhere in the darkness, and the cop froze. Even with the headlights behind him, I could tell he turned pale.
"Good," he said eventually, keeping his gaze on me with what seemed to be a Herculean effort. "Where are you headed this night?"
"I have business at the Palace," I said. "I've been invited."
He looked at me sceptically, so I nodded out at the source of the yubbing.
"Would you like a lift?" he said, trying to sound casual.
*****
I talked to the cop - Stunod, his name was, and his partner was Eeffoc - as they drove me into the capital. It seems elections had been successfully held a couple of years back, only for the Royalist party to win an overwhelming majority. So it looked like Thayer was still in charge, with the democratically-elected government keen to hop to his every whim. And to be fair, Thayer fairly oozed True King-ness, but I hoped the Royalists wouldn't get too entrenched - it's all very well to staunchly support monarchs when they're conscientious and smart, but the Royalists would support another Eugor should he wind up on the throne. Or on the Dictator's chair, at any rate.
The economy had apparently taken a downturn, too, which I gathered had been a worldwide phenomenon. The cops were quick to point out they didn't blame Thayer, and indeed, Thayer had publically foregone a lot of trappings of office out of sympathy with his people. The cops sang Thayer's praises, and I thought for a moment they'd literally sing and break out into the national anthem. I hoped they wouldn't, because I'd be expected to join in, and I didn't know all the words. I didn't think 'ner ner ner' would go over too well with patriots.
They dropped me off at the Palace gates and sped off. I still had a bit of walking to do - Palace guards who'd open the gates to me at this time of night weren't really worthy of the name. So I picked my way around the perimeter to the service entrance.
Clearly whoever they had in the surveillance centre was on the ball - I was met just outside the service entrance by four guards, conspicuously armed. "Halt, citizen. What business have you?"
I hadn't bothered to put my hood up since I'd been dropped off, so I just said, "I'm here by Royal invitation." I nodded at their sergeant. "Y'revil, do you still drop your guard when you jab?"
"Captain Nolan?" Y'revil said incredulously. "We thought you were dead."
"I've had that before," I said, "and it hasn't taken yet. And I'm not a Captain any more."
"Well, you understand I have to call this in," Y'revil said, and assigned one of the others to that job with a nod. "After you were gone so long, we kind of assumed you'd died on a mission somewhere. And then when Terra Group was disbanded..."
I shrugged. "Need-to-know is a bugger."
"Why have you come back?"
"I was asked to. I don't know why I was asked. And even if I did, I don't think I'd tell you. But I don't, so I can't, even if I wanted to, which I don't."
"You could tell me, then kill me," Y'revil said with the ghost of a grin.
"But then I'd have to kill myself for breaking security, and then where would we be?"
"Sarge," said the guard who'd been on the radio, "orders are to take Captain Nolan directly to the Royal Quarters. Apparently His Majesty left instructions to be awoken when he arrived."
"His Majesty still thinks you're a Captain," said Y'revil. "Come on, sir, let's get you on your way."