CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

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The Chronicles of Brus-bu contained the directions to find the Temple of Pomojema, where the Splinter of the Mind's Eye could be found. It was located on Mimban, a planet located in the Expansion Region—the section of the galaxy between the Inner and Mid Rims—which the text referred to as Circarpous V.

The world had fought hard against the Separatist army during the Clone Wars with the aid of the Republic Army, which had trained and assisted the Mimbanese Liberation Army during the conflict. At the end of the war, the Mimbanese found themselves controlled by the Empire, which took over the planet's dolovite and swamp gas production. Seeking their independence, the Mimbanese Liberation Army began to fight against the Empire under the leadership of a tribe leader named Iasento. In response to this, the army deployed the 224th Imperial Armored Division to deal with the dissenters.

Addia sat in her bunk playing the sabriquet, accompanied by the Fourth Sister on the masmot hide chair and playing the fizz. Things had somewhat relaxed aboard the Plunderer after Lothal. Addia recovered her weapons and her bed, and the Fourth Sister slept in the cockpit with the door locked, making sure they stayed on course and off comms. Conversation seldom passed beyond the trivialities of cohabitation. And when it did, distrust kept things vague and brief. Music had become the one thing they could both do to pass the time without worrying.

"You always miss that one note." The Fourth Sister stopped playing. "It goes—" She played it to her.

"No. It goes—" Addia did her version.

"Are you tone deaf? How is—" the Kage played Addia's version "—the same as—?" She played her notes. "It's completely different."

"In your head, maybe. The song goes—"

The nav computer's alert interrupted them. They had arrived at their destination.

"That's a better tune." The Fourth Sister got up.

The moment the Plunderer came out of hyperspace, a squadron of TIE fighters came to challenge its presence. The Fourth Sister communicated with the Star Destroyer orbiting around Mimban to give her security clearance. Once it checked out, the closest place they were allowed to land was a forward base in the mud fields. Mimban's dense, ionized atmosphere made flying difficult and dangerous. The quadjumper's lack of flying surfaces put it at a high risk of crashing. Rather than take their chances, the Fourth Sister agreed to land on the base to procure ground transportation.

Mist covered the forward base. A network of deep trenches had been dug in the mud for stormtroopers in wet-weather gear and specialized swamp troopers to conduct combat operations. Behind the battlelines lay an Imperial encampment; a series of domed shelters with portable power distributor hubs attached to them, dotted by irradiator illumination banks and primary communication boosters. Technicians excavated and reinforced collapsed dugouts, shoveled sites for cisterns and latrines, or scooped out the legs of stuck AT-DTs.

"What a delightful slice of paradise." Addia hauled her backpack down the boarding ramp, looking up at the sun struggling to break through the thick haze.

"Things looks different when viewed through the mind's eye," Ilum said from inside the Addia's backpack. "There is a beauty to every manifestation of the Force."

An officer in a gray trench coat approached the Plunderer, accompanied by a couple of stormtroopers. "I wasn't made aware the Inquisitorius was conducting operations in the area."

"We don't announce our missions, major. We just demand full cooperation. I'm the Fourth Sister."

"Major Staz, commander of Sigma Base."

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