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[slide] "FOR CYCLES UNCOUNTED, I HAVE WAITED." The machine boomed, lights and screens flashing now in time with the syllables. "BETRAYED, AND ISOLATED FROM MY EMPIRE. BUT NOW YOU HAVE COME, SMALL ONE, AND THE WORK CAN BEGIN AGAIN." Irma stared up at the huge machine. It towered over her...

The passage continued for several meters, and as Irma continued, she felt an increasing sense of foreboding. The Tintinna gripped her ancient blaster, her expression set in determination as she advanced. At long last, the passage widened into a vast, cylindrical chamber, and Irma stared up in...

It took Irma some time to find her way out of the throne room, but eventually, she did. Making her way along the walls, she felt for seams, and eventually found one. It was the outline of a door, not quite closed, or at least not quite flush with its surroundings; nevertheless, it stubbornly...

[slide] Irma lingered for a long moment at the threshold of the chamber before her, holding her friend's depleted blaster. The room was vast, lit by overhead fixtures that provided only small pools of light around the same style of tapered columns she had seen in the preceding rooms. The...

The Ziggurat was like a maze. The alarms were still blaring overhead as Irma scurried through shadowed passages, keeping watch for the sensor globes that scanned from their ceiling-mounted tracks, and dodging patrols of droids that tramped by on foot, on wheels, or on clattering treads. The...

Irma looked anxiously around the corridor as she walked, mulling over her situation and chewing her lower lip in agitation. She had been following the camera droid for several minutes now, walking down a long, monotonous corridor. It was decorated in the same style as everything else she had...

Irma cursed as Tagal leaned out and simply blasted the camera, scurrying after the Mandalorian and the Cathar. Waiting for the lift to arrive, she looked around nervously, expecting guards to come streaming around the corner at any moment. "Assuming everything goes well, they're still probably...

Irma walked cautiously along the permacrete train platform, looking around at her surroundings. The gigantic station had obviously been built to handle hundreds, even thousands of people; cathode displays on poles flashed up timetables and route information, glowing vending machines selling...

BENEATH THE SURFACE OF AGORAX, PRESENT DAY... Irma Kinton, former librarian and amateur archaeologist, huddled on the seat of the train car, looking up and down the corridor occasionally as it rushed at un-guessed speed through Agorax's lightless nearly tunnels. Occasionally, the Tintinna got...

Most of the remaining students were already making a break for it, casting fearful glances back at the still-open doors from which the Slaughteroids had emerged. From inside them, more clanking sounds could be heard; more droids were definitely coming. The Mirialan who had spoken earlier cast a...

THE SHIP OF STONE Once there was a Ship of Stone That orbited a mighty Star And from it flew the First Ship's crew Whose children we all are And no matter how long we've drawn our track Still over our shoulder looking back Through the Tibanna's hiss and the Lethane's moan Past the polymer...

Irma scurried after Tagal, glancing up at the Cathar as she and him pressed up against the wall, waiting tensely for the turbolift to arrive. "Couldn't we... I dunno... have your boss call the CEO, or something?" She wrote that idea off almost immediately. The Cathar's manager would probably...

Irma cursed expressively, and stared at the keypad, biting her lip. She felt that at any second, some straggler guard was going to come around the corner and see her... "Alright, well, that's out then. We draw attention to ourselves and we're done." The Tintinna fished out her tools once more...

Irma looked up at the gate as she, Tagal and the Cathar approached. At the Cathar's explanation, she raised her eyebrows appreciatively. "Well, that ought to keep them busy for awhile, at least. I just hope none of them are smart enough to think it was a distraction from the start." At Tagal's...

With about half their number felled in short order, the remaining Slaughteroids became wary, fanning out. For millennia-old machines, they moved with the smoothness and surety of modern, top-of-the-line models; they withdrew to a safe distance, their postures taught and ready to move out of the...

Irma blushed at Tagal's interjection, glancing over at the Mandalorian with a sort of sheepish glower. She helped the Cathar disconnect from the access port, close and re-lock the junction box, re-coil the bundle of cable and retrieve the portable computer. Hefting the portable's strap back onto...

Irma watched the Cathar work, more than a little impressed by the big feline's skill; she had some elementary knowledge of slicing, but her calling - aside from library work - had turned out to be mechanical systems. The Cathar, however, seemed to be right at home in the digital realm. If he...

Irma looked around, biting her lower lip. The walls of the tunnel were dense with thick cables; some of them were power conduits, she knew, and it wouldn't do to get one mixed up with an ordinary data line. "Well, if we do hit something like that, you're certainly allowed." Responded the...

The droids that rose from the control boards, sturdy as they were, were no real threat. They were maintenance and utility models, not combat units; they could take hits, but they had never been designed to fight. As the tiers of control consoles sank into the floor, they went with them...

Irma climbed down the rusty ladder that led down into the utility tunnel below, looking around at the gloomy underworld apprehensively. The space was quite dark, lit only by a few red tritium lights spaced along the corridor. Reaching into a pocket of her flight suit, the Tintinna withdrew a...