Ochi looped the Bestoon Legacy in on a close orbit, ignoring the warning of the navicomputer that, under his manual control, the coordinates were drifting from true.

Ochi wasn’t going to let a computer tell him how to fly his own ship.

He focused his optics on the yellow and blue glare of the planet’s surface as it approached at considerable speed. He ran his tongue over his front teeth. His mouth was dry, his throat almost closed up.

He wanted a drink. He needed a drink, on a job like this. Chasing across the galaxy to get some backup that they should have given him in the first place. Did Ochi of Bestoon have to think of everything himself? Clearly, he did, and all this did was sour his mood even further.

“Altitude, master! Altitude!”

That D-O was his only companion on this particular trip did little to make Ochi feel better, and now a data retrieval droid, of all things, thought it knew about spaceflight? All the ridiculous thing was doing was bleating out the same warning that the navicomputer had started. Stupid machine couldn’t even think for itself.

Releasing one hand from the control yoke, Ochi swiped down blindly by the side of his seat with his fist, but only succeeded in clipping one of D-O’s antennas. Ochi glanced over his shoulder at the sound of the droid wheeling quickly away, and saw it disappearing behind one of the support pillars and turning sideways to hide.

“You’ll have to do better than that, droid,” said Ochi. He could see the green end of D-O’s nose on one side of the pillar, and the silver cap of his twin antenna on the other. The antenna quivered as the droid shook with…what? Fear?

Ochi’s thin mouth stretched wide in what passed for a smile.

Good.

The navicomputer blared another warning, louder this time, and Ochi turned back around, just in time to skip the Legacy over the crest of a ridge. Warning silenced, he looked out at the bright landscape. Ahead was a mountain range, and from here, Ochi could see the entrance to a large cave. In front of the range was a plateau, which was currently serving as a landing port, with two large transports and several smaller vehicles arranged in a fan. In the center, tiny figures were working, hauling crates from the cave and stacking them in front of the transports.

Ochi skimmed the area, then turned back in a lazy circle to find a place to land.


Star Wars Shadow of The Sith Chapter 33