“S-Sir, the internal sensors say that it was sabotage and the system was fed back into itself, causing an overlo-”
“Two humans and a damned Wookiee could not fit into that crawlspace!” Ayro roared at the man at the operations station, who shook from the volume.
“S-S-Sir…the sensors d-don’t show the Wookiee. It’s two humans and something else.”
“Explain now.” Ayro’s eyes narrowed on him.
“I-I don’t know, sir.” The crewman reported. “It’s not a human. With the sensors damaged, we aren’t able to get a positive ident. But it's definitely non-human, sir. I thi-”
“Useless whelp!” Ayro slammed a fist into the tabletop nearest the man. “I would start praying that they do not escape, if I were you!” It was misdirected, certainly, but he found fear to be an excellent motivator. Such as it was with this whelp before him, who would quickly either sink or swim. “How many lifesigns in Stairwell Six?”
“T-Three, sir.” The comms officer, at the opposite end of the command deck, spoke. “But none of our troopers in that section are responding.”
“Then they have paid the price for failure.” Ayro’s teeth clenched. “Lieutenant Dax!”
“Yes, sir?” No stammer in his voice. Perhaps the good Lieutenant was getting used to him. He’d worry about that later.
“Contact the men that remain on Level Eleven and tell them to activate the containment breach protocol.” Ayro said. The protocol for a prisoner riot, at least in the Imperial rulebook, was simple - eradicate the lot.
“I’ve already done so, sir.” Dax reported, causing Ayro to raise an eyebrow...and everyone else on the deck immediately stop and stare in horror.
“You did this?” Ayro’s voice dropped dangerously low as he approached Dax, his eyes meeting the younger man’s unblinking ones.
“Yes, Admiral.” Dax said, not inching away for a moment. He stood, his face as blank as stone, ready to accept whatever was dealt him. “Lieutenant Dax. I hereby promote you to the rank of Captain. Effective immediately.”
“Thank you, sir.” If Dax was surprised by this, as was everyone else in the room very much was, he showed no reaction. Ayro felt all their eyes upon him, most likely wondering if he’d lost his mind.
“This is what dedication, service, and showing some damn initiative get you in the Empire! Take note of it!” Ayro barked at them all, and they quickly dove back into their work. He turned back to Dax. “Now, Captain Dax. You will assemble a team of troopers from Level Sixteen and move down into the docking bay area. Lock down all ships within. Anyone who is not an Imperial soldier is to be shot on sight, is that understood?”
“Crystal clear, sir.” Dax said, and began to move to the comms station.
“S-Sir?” Ayro spun around at the words of the operations officer speaking again. “The lift’s have been unlocked. Full transit is now possible.”
“What do you want? A medal?” Ayro snapped, rolling his eyes. “Expecting rewards for showing baseline competence! Pah! During the War, that would have never flown!”
“B-But, sir, I di-”
“Silence, Crewman!” Ayro snapped. He turned to watch as Dax took a blaster rifle from the weapons locker at the end of the room and got into the lift. “Don’t disappoint me, Captain.” The young man nodded as the doors closed and the lift descended.
Levels below, Calen was stirring. His eyes closed, he felt something falling onto his face. From the smell, he realized what it was - debris. A cough forced its way up from his lung as his eyes snapped open, his vision swimming as a bright, red light was the first thing that he noticed. Then came the blaring of the alarm klaxons. His vision quickly recovered and there was an outrageous amount of ash in the air, waving a hand through it, Calen found it was a thick fog he could not easily push his way through. It surrounded him. He moved the collar of his shirt so that it blocked his mouth (little good it would do him) and started moving toward the red light.
“Ordos? Niyasa?” He called out. Even if the Imperials could hear him, that didn’t necessarily mean they could find him...and hopefully, the other two could before that happened. If not, he still had...no blaster at his side. As his foot moved through some of the crumbled bits of the stairs, he realized how fortunate he had been to not be crushed under rubble. He froze as a shape made itself plain through the ashen fog, the soot-splattered armor of a Stormtrooper...the being within it promptly falling to the floor and being still. It seemed, from the dents, that it’d taken quite a few hits from the impact...or impacts as the case more likely was given the fall.
He froze on the spot, a terrible thought entering his mind. What if Ordos had been crushed? What about Niyasa? Could she have even survived the explosion? He felt that panic setting in again, and that niggling little voice that kept whispering in his ear that his friends were dead. He’d be next, if the Empire found him. Already, he’d gotten more than a few lucky breaks. Far more than most got. That luck was sure to run out soon enough. The seconds kept ticking by, closer and closer to his doom. ‘Stop.’ He told himself as he continued to push through toward the red lights, through the fog and haze. ‘You have to remember what Ordos said.’ He thought back, back to that lockdown. ‘You’re alive. Focus on that. Keep moving.’ All these, he told himself as he made his way through the fog, every so often finding the fallen body of another Trooper, but not an old man or the short bird woman. He soon found, through his careful steps, the way out of the stairwell and into some corridors proper, just as the stinging of his eyes was becoming unbearable.
The corridor was, thankfully, still seeing proper ventilation, which was sucking up the dust and ash. Falling to the far wall, he took in a few shaky breaths of the free(ish) air. In his mind, he was already concocting the next move. Tessa and Rook, if they’d gotten down to the docking bays, had the ship ready to go. Of course, in the chaos he couldn’t really know how long he had been unconscious or if they were even alive. The klaxons still going off were a good sign that they hadn’t been, or that the Empire’s goons were still looking for them rather than the two escapees prepping the ship. He also still had to go back in, see if he couldn’t find Ordos or Niyasa, or some evidence of their demise. Getting up, he stumbled toward the body of a fallen Trooper, reaching down to pull the helmet from his head. As he did so, he heard a sound that was becoming all too familiar today, the click of a blaster’s safety.
“Stand up, drop the helmet, and put your hands behind your head!” Calen slowly did just that, raising his hands up behind his head and standing. He turned on the spot, again very slowly, to see the battered form of a trooper. It seemed that he wasn’t the only survivor of that explosion after all. “I tried to show mercy. I won’t make that mistake aga-” Calen charged the man, grabbing his hand at the wrist and forcing it up. The shot intended for Calen ricocheted into the ceiling and off of several walls, narrowly missing the duo as they struggled, both falling to the floor. Much like his struggle with Tessa that now felt like an eternity ago, Calen rolled across the floor with the armored man. At once point, though he managed to wrest the blaster completely from his grip, he ended up beneath the man as he straddled him at the chest.
“So they still don’t teach ground-hogs hand to hand?” The man brought down his gloved fists multiple times and Calen put up his best efforts to block the blows to his head and torso. He grinned as the man was quickly putting his strength behind the blows, but progressively becoming less effective. His wounds were getting to him. Calen pulled at his body to give more strength and was rewarded with just enough to throw the man off-balance, giving him the chance to roll out from beneath him in a way that had admittedly no grace whatsoever. But, at the very least, he was free. '
His eye catching the blaster, Calen made his best effort to crawl to it, reaching out for it just as the trooper grabbed his ankle. When Calen was turned back around, it was now the trooper’s turn to have a blaster pointed in his face. “Guess not.” The bolt slammed into the man and sent him flying down the corridor, eventually hitting the floor and skidding to a stop several feet away. Calen took a deep breath, his hand almost dropping the blaster.
“Damn, kid. Nice work.” Ordos’ voice cut in. Calen immediately leaped up and turned to the source of the voice, finding the old man himself leaning against the doorway that was once the stairwell access. “Not how I would have done it, but nice.” He was covered in the soot and debris, at some point he’d torn a cloth from his tunic and made a makeshift bandage to cover his arm, but he was alive. Calen ran up to him.
“I thought you were dead!” Calen exclaimed, stopping just short of the man. “I was going to go back in and-”
“Yes, yes. I’m sure.” Ordos said, waving this off. “But I’m okay. And you’re fortunate to be all in one piece after that. Where is the bird woman?”
“I’m a Mrlssi, thank you very much!” The voice preceded a panel pushing open from the inside, seemingly of its own accord and clattering against the debris-laden floor. It was indeed the Mrlssi in question, although Niyasa was covered in some kind of foam rather than the remains of the stairs as they were. “I didn’t think their environmental controls would be that subpar. I must have swallowed my body weight in coolant!”
“What do you mean?” Calen asked.
“I was just trying to flood the stairwell!” Niyasa insisted. “It was supposed to flood the stairs with coolant foam, not blow it to Kingdom Come! Stop laughing!” Calen was nearly doubled over in laughter at her clear exasperation. Calen could have sworn her scales were turning red.
“Well, better them than us.” Ordos said, the rare ghost of smile on his lips. He reached down, grabbing one of the fallen blasters from the remains. “And good to see you again, Feathers. So...where are we?”
“Looks like it’s Level Two.” Niyasa pointed out the markings in Basic on a wall. “We’re nearly there.”
“If they’re even down there.” Calen said.
“Trust me, they’re down there.” Niyasa said. “I know Tessa is for a fact. You could throw the entire Empire in there and they’d have to blast her into atoms to keep her away. But we better get moving before we get blasted into atoms.” Calen found himself agreeing with that assessment and moved toward the doorway to the stairwell, rather grateful that he didn’t stumble through the many spacious holes in flooring that had been created by the collapse.
“Hey, they’re over here!”
“You first, kid!” Ordos cried out, pressing a hand to Calen’s back and pressing forward.
“Wait, wha-!?!” Calen managed to get out before, in what was becoming yet another recurring theme today, gravity ensued. He fell the two remaining levels that separated them from the docking bays...and stopped just shy of the last floor. “What the-?” He realized something was holding him back, some form of resistance, and he soon realized what it was - a grappling hook from a trusty utility belt had been stuck to him at the waistline of his pants. “Oh…” He heard the click as it released, and had the presence of mind to shift so that he (somewhat shakily) fell on his feet.
Ordos came down nanoseconds later, and Niyasa dropped from under his arm and hit the ground moments before his own feet hit the ground.
“Let us never speak of that again.” Niyasa said as she righted herself.
“You there! Freeze!” The blaster fire came from above and the trio bolted from the room as fast as their feet could carry them. From there, there were the corridors around the docking bay area. They were on a higher level than the main group. The particular piece of corridor they’d come out in bled out into a pair of staircases leading down into the bay as well as a small control center that was, at the moment, unoccupied. The view allowed them to look out over as much of the docking bay as could be seen until the walls moved with the curvature of the station and their perception was cut off.
“Okay, now what?” Calen asked.
“Tessa’s not far off. A few hundred meters that way.” Niyasa, without looking, pointed a claw far to the left past where Calen could see.
“How could you possibly know that?” He asked.
“I can sense her.” The Mrlssi replied with an almost bored tone of voice, not looking up at the younger of the two humans.
“What?” Calen was nudged in the shoulder by Ordos, and it seemed that Niyasa wasn’t up to answering the question, regardless.
“We’ll have to get past the scouts moving around.” Ordos said, pointing among the docked vessels and illuminated several troops in formation. Standard search parties. “We should split up.”
“That...isn’t a good idea.” Calen said.
“We’re two escaped fugitives and a bipedal bird woman.” Ordos said, then quickly added to Niyasa, “No offense.”
“Noted.” Niyasa chirped, a tinge indignant in her tone.
“But yes. We’re those things.” Ordos said. “There’s really no way we won’t be seen if we all move together.”
“I’ll take the vents. You both move to the left and to the right.” Niyasa said. "The ship shouldn't be too far off."
“What ship?” Calen asked.
“Transport K-3954.” Niyasa said as her claws yanked open the paneling in the floor. “Move.” She slipped down into it, pulling the grating over her head. Calen looked to Ordos, who nodded to him before taking the right path out. Calen, gripping his blaster closer, took the left. Crouched down, he crept down the steps as quickly as he could and made his way behind some supply crates. A line of TIEs were hung up in docking racks, awaiting their refit from the machinery above, sparks falling from the ceiling as they were worked on. Calen avoided them, moving around from crate to crate to follow the path that Niyasa had traced and to avoid the patrols while doing so.
“Captain Dax, we cannot locate any interlopers.” He heard a trooper reporting. Looking across the way, from the safety of the body of a transport and the stack of crates being loaded onto it, he saw a human of about his age wearing an Imperial officer’s uniform. Clearly, the trooper had made some sort of mistake - the man only had the swatches and code cylinder of a Lieutenant, not a Captain.
“You will find them and you will find them now.” The man called Dax said. “Unless you’d like to explain to the Admiral why you’re displaying such incompetence.” Understandably, this inspired an immediate reaction in the men, even under their helmets, it was clear that they were not highly savoring the thought of meeting an angry Ayro. “Go and check the other wing. Now.” The troopers began to move off...heading in the exact opposite direction that Calen was heading. ‘Maybe my luck isn’t running out after all…’ He thought as he started to move, seeing they had moved and Dax’s back was turned. However, he didn’t get more than three steps before a voice spoke. “You breathe so loud, I’m surprised they didn’t hear you…”
Calen froze on the spot.
“You needn’t come out, I know you’re here.” Dax was addressing him. “How do you think you got this far without being swarmed? There are only so many entry points to the docking bay. You were bound to go through one of them.”
“Okay, and?” Calen asked, gripping his blaster tight.
“If it makes you feel any better, I have no desire to turn you in.” Dax’s voice was heard from out in the open. “Quite the opposite, in fact.” Calen’s brow was raised. He kept his blaster in hand as he rose, slightly. He expected to be greeted by the troopers returning or back up being called for, but that wasn’t the case. Just the man in the uniform. His eyes turned to him.
“I require the help of the Rebellion.” Dax said tersely.
“The Rebellion?” Calen asked. “How in the hell do you think I would know anyone in the Rebellion?”
“You know two of them, actually. A human and a Mrlssi.” Calen tried to keep the surprise off of his face. “I know they were sent here, I was the one who slipped them the information."
“That’s treason, you know.” Calen told him.
“Says the deserter.” Dax shot back, his cold, blue eyes pinning their way right into Calen’s browns. Coruscant had never frosted over like other planets, but Calen remembered a family trip to Krownest. One of his father's times on leave. Dax's eyes reminded him of the ice pools that had dotted the landscape outside their living area. It was unsettling to the young man, to say the least.
And, more to the point, Calen had to admit, he had him there with the deserter comment. “If I wanted to have you just shot dead, I could get those Troopers to come back. But I won’t. I’ve been tweaking things that have helped you and your friends get to here so easily.”
“We blew up a stairwell.” Calen retorted dryly.
“Your plan, not mine.” Again, he had him there. “You’re damn lucky any of you are alive. At least, with luck, one of you will be able to get a message back to the Rebels.”
“What are you talking about?” Calen asked. “What message? And you aren’t making any sense. Why would you betray the Empire?”
“I’m betraying Ayro. Not the Empire.” Dax said. “There’s no point in serving loyally to the Empire if there’s no Empire left to serve.”
“Same question still applies - why?"
“Whatever it is that is on that ship Ayro is tearing apart Pergitor looking for, it’s a weapon.” Dax told him. “I don’t understand it all but, I do know if Ayro gets his hands on it, he’ll become unstoppable.”
“From some old relic?” Calen asked.
“There are more things in this galaxy than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Darkhaven.” The officer answered. “The Heart is one such thing. I don’t know if I believe those old records that Ayro dredged up from the old Republic archives, but if they are true...this is something that goes beyond duty to the Empire.
“What records? What does any of thi-?”
“You don’t have time. You have to move, now.” Dax cut him off. “You have to go to your new comrades. Tell one of them, tell either of them: Gemini says it’s getting worse.”
“Gemini?”
“You haven’t been doing this very long, have you?”
“Buddy, after the week I’ve had-”
“I’m sure. Now, go.” Dax said, and then immediately drew his blaster. “STOP RIGHT THERE!!!!” He cried out at the top of his lungs, firing off three shots, all of which only narrowly missed Calen. He ducked to the side, stumbling into a bolt down the floor. He didn’t look back to see if he was being followed, and his movement between the ships was - he hoped - enough to keep him from drawing any more attention. After a few meters, he stopped himself, ducking back once more into the shadows of the room as best he could. So far, he had no one following him...he hoped.
Had Dax just snapped on him? Or was it a cover? He had to assume the latter. Either way, there was some information he hadn’t had before. It wasn’t too hard to figure out that Ayro was more than a little off his nut, but a weapon with enough power that he could challenge the Empire? Someone with rage issues like that needed nothing of the sort. Tessa or Niyasa would have to be told...but would they even believe him? Did he believe Dax? Calen shook his head, remembering Ordos’ words. He had to focus on escaping. Escaping meant survival. He couldn't tell anyone anything if he was dead.
A few ducks later, and he was near the open hatch of an Imperial transport. The control panel near it listed its designation: K-3954. Elated, he started up the ramp and onto the ship, finding a familiar corridor. Like all Imperial ships, it was designed to be uniform, and hence looked identical to the ship he’d been brought in on. Up the way, past the cells, he found a familiar woman in Stormtrooper armor guarding the way as a Wookiee was working the controls to warm up the ship.
“Hey, I’m glad you’re alright, too.” Calen quipped.
“Yeah, yeah. Pleasantries all around, now where are they?!” Tessa snapped.
“We split up. Niyasa took the vents. Ordos took the second path.” Calen said. “They were alright the last time I saw them.”
“Which was how long ago?” Tessa snapped again.
“Don’t give him too much grief.” Niyasa’s voice came from the corridor behind Calen, who turned to find the Mrlssi standing there, considerably drier than when he last saw her. “We should get moving.”
“What about Ordos? He’s still out there.” Calen said.
“No time. We have to get back to Karideph.” Tessa turned, heading back up toward the controls. “Rook, have you got anything?” The Wookiee gave a few growls. Tessa, at a loss, looked to Niyasa.
“He says that he’s having trouble getting the sublight engines on.” Niyasa reported.
“Well, let’s work on that, then.” Tessa grimaced, heading over to a terminal and standing to work the keys with surprising speed. “I’ll run a quick diagnostic…”
“We still have to get Ordos.” Calen said.
“We’ve got the faux departure codes and we only have so much of a window from Gemini.” Tessa said. “I don’t intend to waste it.”
“Wait, Gemini! That reminds me I-” Calen started, but Tessa threw up a hand to stop him.
“Tell me when we’re out of here.” She told him before getting back to work. Calen sighed, turning back to Niyasa.
“I ran into someone who said he was called Gemini, that it would mean something to you.” Calen told her.
“Gemini, you say?” Niyasa asked. “Who was he?”
“Some Imperial lieutenant.” Calen said.
“Interesting…” Niyasa said, touching a clawed hand to her chin. “Boss said we had a mole in Ayro’s personal staff. I didn’t think it was legitimate.”
“He said that whatever’s on Pergitor is some kind of weapon.” Calen said. “And that if Ayro got it, it’d be bad.”
“How bad?”
“Galactic annihilation bad.”
“That’s definitely bad.”
“Yes. So...you guys are Rebels, then?” Calen asked, and the entire ship went quiet there.
“Yes. We are.” Niyasa said. “All three of us.”
“Wait, even Rook?”
“Rook was undercover. He’s an actual bounty hunter, yes, but he’s been tailing you since Glin worked out that part of your map.” Tessa told him. Rook’s growling seemed to confirm this.
“Glin, too?” Calen wasn’t sure whether he should have been surprised or should have seen this coming from a mile away.
“Yes. Now don’t tell anyone or we’ll kill you.” Tessa commented nonchalantly as she finished futzing with the terminal and went back to the pilot controls. Calen thought it was a joke...mostly.
“Okay, but all of that regardless...are we still leaving Ordos behind?” Calen asked. “Because I don’t think I have that in me.”
“Look, if you want to go and look for him, be my guest.” Tessa snapped before Niyasa could answer. “But once we get this baby up and running, we’re getting out of here. Without or without you.” Calen nodded to this and went over to the weapons locker at the rear of the cockpit, pulling a blaster rifle from it and loading in a power pack, listening to the purr of joy that seemed to emanate from it with activation.
From the command deck, Ayro was observing the search. Multiple life signs, but still no sign of the escaped prisoners or their allies. Dax had worked out that there were at least three, maybe more who were assisting Calen Darkhaven and Maddox Ordos in their escape, but where were they?
“Do we have cameras restored in the docking bay?!” He demanded of the operations officer, who jumped at the sudden rise in voice from dead silence that had preceded it.
“N-No, sir.” The man stammered out. “Several key systems are still offline.”
“Of course. With this place falling apart as it is.” Ayro sighed, his fist clenching once again. “I have half a mind to-”
“S-Sir, we have an unauthorized terminal access.” Ops spoke up again.
“What? Where?” Ayro asked, moving over to the terminal.
“The docking bay. Terminal Sixty-Two...it’s an older code they tried to use, sir.” Ayro looked down on the screen at the string of numbers and letters.
“I haven’t seen these since…” His voice trailed off. Who would be using an old Clone Trooper code? Those codes had been retired years back...unless, of course, they weren’t trying to access the terminal at all. He watched on the small map as other terminal points lit up, all of them using the same code.
“S-Sir...what is-?”
“A message. For me.” Ayro said, turning and starting for the lift. “Have my personal guard meet me at the docking bay.”
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