The hologram projector had been activated by Glin, displaying the two pieces of the map that the Rebels had gotten a hold of.
"Here we are, the Minos Cluster in all its splendor." He said.
"Two thirds of it, anyway." Vos commented, almost bored as he gazed upon the projected image. "I presume you're going to add the third piece into it?"
"Indeed I am." Glin said, taking the datacard and sliding it into one of the slots on the monitor. Within a few moments, the third piece slid into place.
"I still don't understand, exactly." Tessa said. "If it's just a map, why couldn't we use just any map to find this thing?"
"Each of the pieces has a special coding that only works together." Glin said. "We'd have a complete map, but the bit of coding behind any pieces of the true map we had wouldn't trigger."
The map completed its formation, showing the Minos Cluster. . .and a single point was being focused on.
"Pergitor?" Calen asked, looking at the planet in the projection, that dusty, ashen rock that he'd been all too happy to get away from. . .even if it had meant going to Gesaril.
"The weapon the Empire is looking for must be there." Glin said, then stopped short. ". . .oh."
"Oh, what? Why did you say 'oh'?" Vos looked over at him.
"There's a tracking node attached to the code." Glin said, quickly manipulating the controls.
"Shut it off! Shut it off now, you fool!" Vos rushed over to his side.
"Not on the cards! On the weapon!" He pointed to the small dot of light illuminated on the holoprojection. "It's sending out a homing beacon from the weapon."
"Wait. . .if it's sending out a beacon, that means weren't not the only ones who can detect it, are we?" Calen asked.
"No . . .no, we are not!" Vos had a look of panic cross his face.
* * *
"Admiral."
"Yes?" Ayro's wounds had healed greatly over the last few days. The flesh reconstruction via bacta was nearly eighty-seven percent complete. At forty-five percent, he'd gone back to active duty in spite of the warning of his droid. Apart from the now heterochromia the man had with his artificial eye, while he was in full uniform, it was almost impossible to tell that he'd had suffered any injuries at all.
"Sir, we're picking up a homing beacon from Pergitor, near the south pole." The sensor ops officer spoke to him from the crew pit. "Origin unknown. It's an Old Republic signal." A flash of realization passed through Ayro's mind as he realized what had happened.
"Set our course for Pergitor. Engage the hyperdrive as soon as we are able." Ayro barked out his orders. "Deploy the fleet. We will be expecting guests."
"Yes, sir!" Several of the men cried from the crew pit.
"Captain Dax, you have the bridge." The Admiral turned without waiting for acknowledgment, slithering back toward his quarters and closing the doors behind him. He activated his holoprojector, the image of a human male popping up.
"Admiral Ayro, we are honored by your communication. However, the Grand Preceptor has-"
"Put him on. Now." Ayro cut the man off sharply. "This instruction will not be repeated." The blue image of the man hesitated for a moment but, seeing as Ayro wasn't budging, he quickly relented.
"I shall inform him of your communication." The image winked out of existence. Ayro did not move from the small projector, instead staring directly at where the image had been until the blue light lit up once again and a familiar face was seen.
"Ah, Admiral. I see that you are-"
"A homing beacon was activated on Pergitor." Ayro cut off the holy man just as he had the man's underling. "At the south pole. A Republic homing beacon."
"I am well aware, Admiral. It is as has been foretold to me. I have already sent out excavation crews to retrieve the item."
"Excellent." Ayro said. "We will be there within a few hours."
"I hope so, Admiral. We shall require the protections of your Empire. The Rebels are already aware of the beacon as well."
"They are?" Ayro asked, a brow raised. "How do you-"
"They are the ones who activated the beacon. They pieced together the map, just as I said they would." Ayro had heard of the like, of course, code in multiple pieces that when run together activated a special function. Clearly, Caius had been more clever than he had thought.
"I will speak to my contact for support until we get there. Ayro out." Ayro pressed two keys on the pad nearby, the image of Critus disappearing and being replaced with a familiar Twi'lek.
"Admiral. What can I do for you?" Tin Daheel's toothy grin greeted the Admiral.
"Gauntlet support will be required at the south pole of Pergitor. Immediately." Ayro said. "We are close now to capturing the Grand."
"Of course, Admiral. My men will be there to assist on the ground. Air support, however, you shall have to supply."
"Air support?" Ayro upturned his brow.
"My sources say the Rebels are already mobilizing their forces." Tin Daheel's words brought a seething rage up in the Admiral.
"They will not. Defeat. Me. Again." Ayro said, switching off the projector and turning to once more resume command of his vessel.
This would be his day.
* * *
The whirlwind of quick preparation that followed had seen Calen aiding in the loading of several X-Wings - all of Blue Squadron's as a matter of fact - onto a transport. Instead of one of the GR-75s, an old CSS-1 had been refurbished as a decoy. With various codes the Rebels had obtained and extra shielding, it was more than capable of passing through any Imperial checkpoints without issue, not that any were expected before they reached the planet.
Now, it was simply the wait of a few hours between Karideph and Pergitor. Niyasa Jaast had known just what to do.
"Move your feet!"
Calen was moving his feet, for lack of a better way to move. Or see, for that matter, given the blast shield down over his eyes. His hands gripped the vibroblade that had been placed into his hands. He was trying to do it again, to reach out as he had on Gesaril. That was different, though. That place had been so strong, he'd felt such a wealth of power there as if the land were some sort of extension of his senses. Here, he was in a sealed spaceship out in the void of hyperspace, trying to sense an opponent that had no energy or sense of malice.
That and he couldn't see anything. He heard the blaster go off, swinging his blade in an attempt to deflect, and got nicked in the left leg for his trouble. Calen gasped out a bit at the sudden sting, but soon recovered. He tried to block another shot and was this time hit in the right leg.
"Concentrate!" Niyasa urged him.
"What do you think I'm doing?!" Calen snapped, growing increasingly irritated. His thoughts eventually found themselves going back to the Temple on Pergitor, how Critus had so casually caught the knife that Ordos had thrown at him. He began to wonder if he could do the same thing, but with a blaster bolt. Hearing the training drone whiz about, Calen dropped the vibroblade.
"What are you doing?" Niyasa's voice dripped with confusion. Calen wasn't listening, instead listening for the drone's movement and trying to suss out where it would stop and fire from next. When it did, he raised his hand, palm out to it. Calen tried to focus on the incoming bit of plasma, that energy that was being sent to him with blinding speed. He felt a strange crackling sensation at the tips of his fingers as it felt like, for a moment, he was holding it in his hands. . .
. . .and then he yelped out in pain as the bolt seared into the skin of his hand. He fell back, the helmet falling off of him and clattering to the ground as he was blinded for a moment by the sudden return of the overhead light. When he finally managed to rise and his vision cleared, he saw Niyasa taking the training drone down into her claw-like grip.
"Where did you get that thing?" Calen hissed as he wiggled his fingers to make sure they all still worked.
"Junk dealer on Nal Hutta." Niyasa said. "Honestly kind of surprised I ever got the thing working again. It serves well enough, though. Why in the Force did you think you could catch a blaster bolt?"
"I thought it was worth a try." Calen said. "I saw Critus do something like it on Pergitor, before Ordos and I got arrested. He caught a knife."
"A knife is a physical object." Niyasa reminded him pointedly.
"It's still energy, though." Calen said, focusing and waving his hand. The training probe flew from Niyasa's hand into his own. "How do you explain that?"
"Focus on a material object and then moving it by willpower." Niyasa said.
"So you think moving energy is too much to ask?" Calen asked, raising a brow.
"No, but clearly you can't do it." Niyasa said.
"I'll keep practicing." Calen said.
"Save it for after the battle." Niyasa said, waving her own hand and bringing the drone back into her hand, setting it back in the metallic case. "I think we're almost there."
"How do you-?" Calen started, cut off by a jolt as the ship dropped out of hyperspace. "There's no way you could have predicted that."
"No, but you have to admit I had you going for a minute." Niyasa chortled as she locked the case up. "Man your ship, Blue Eight. May the Force be with you."
"May the Force be with you." Calen echoed, heading off to get the rest of his flight gear on and heading toward the hangar with his helmet in hand. His eyes caught Bashin grouping with the other members of Blue Squadron, the Abednedo waving him over. Calen walked up, joining the group.
"Alright." Glin stood among the group, his gaudy robes making an interesting contrast to the militaristic garb of. . .everyone else, now that Calen thought of it. "We've gotten back our preliminary sensor sweeps - the site of the beacon has been occupied by members of the Church of Infinite Perception and the Empire is already mobilizing the fleet." There were a rush of whispers, some panicked, others outraged. "This changes nothing. Commander Vos has made it clear that if we can't retrieve the weapon, we are to destroy it."
"Against the full firepower of the Minos Fleet?" One of the pilots spoke up.
"Our plan involves disappearing before they ever bother to show up." Glin said. "Blue Squadron will head down to take out the defense grid the Church has set up around the site. The ground team will go in after and retrieve the weapon. We get in, we get out, and we're home in time for dinner."
"You make it sound so easy, old man." Tessa commented, dressed in a soldier's uniform as Calen had seen of the ground team.
"Easy, no. Plausible, yes." Glin said, looking to the younger woman. "With you leading them, I'm sure they can't fail, Lieutenant Gaxan."
"Oh!" It was as if someone had flipped a switch in Calen's mind, he finally made a connection he hadn't before. After a moment, all eyes in the hangar were turned on him. After a pause, feeling immensely awkward, he fidgeted. "Sorry. . .never mind."
"Right. . ." Glin gave Calen a strange look, then turned his attention back to the briefing, as did everyone else (much to Calen's relief). "Any questions?" When no reply came, he nodded. "Then man your ships. Drop crew, get ready for your drop." The hangar exploded into action, everyone moving to their spots.
"Good luck to you out there, Darkhaven." Bashin patted the human on the shoulder.
"You too, buddy." Calen nodded, patting the Abenedo's wrist before they broke off, heading to separate X-Wings. As he moved over to his, Calen found himself face to face with Tessa.
"Umm. . .hey." Tessa said, looking a little uncomfortable.
"Hey." Calen said, head tilted slightly with uncertainty.
"So, um. . .about earlier. I'm. . .sorry I snapped." Tessa said.
"Apology accepted. I'm sorry, too." Calen said.
"Yeah, so uh. . .try not to die out there, alright?" Tessa asked, finally managing to look him in the eye.
"Same to you." Calen nodded. The two shared a smile as Tessa moved off to join the rest of the drop team, including Rook (who Calen could have sworn was smirking). Calen headed over to his X-Wing and saw the astromech being loaded in. White with yellow paneling, topped off with silver highlights to the chassis. "R2-Y7?" He asked.
The droid beeped at him.
"Hi. I'm Calen. Guess we're going to be flying together."
The droid gave a few non-committal beeps.
"Uh. . .thanks."
"You don't speak binary, do you?" The technician who had just put the R2 unit into the X-Wing asked him.
"Uh. . .no." Calen said as he climbed up into the cockpit. "Still, it doesn't hurt to be polite." The technician just shrugged, hopping off the X-Wing and going to attend to other duties. Getting in, he strapped his helmet on and started to utilize the controls to do the pre-flight checks. Everything was looking above board. Now all there was to do was wait.
Luckily for him, he didn't have to wait long.
"All wings, check in. Blue Leader, standing by."
"Blue Two, standing by."
"Blue Three, standing by."
"Blue Five, standing by."
"Blue Seven, standing by."
"Blue Eight, standing by." Calen rang in when his call sign came up. The other few members of Blue Squadron called out when appropriate. By the time they had, the hangar had been cleared and the bay doors had opened up, the atmosphere still contained by the deflector shields over the doors, ones that ships could fly out of, but not into.
"Take off, Deployment Formation Alpha." At Blue Leader's instruction, the X-Wings retracted their landing gear and began to move on thruster power. Calen felt his ship push off from the ground.
"Hang on back there, R2." Calen intoned, the droid chirping out a few more melodic notes, the display on his X-Wing's dash clearly translating the Binary for him.
Here we go again.
"That's the spirit!" Calen grinned. He saw several X-Wings, including the one carrying Bashin, zip off and he was quick to follow them. Had it not been for the thrusters, they would have been in freefall the moment they'd left the ship. Instead, the Squadron moved along the pre-programmed flight pattern toward their objective. Heading toward the southern pole of Pergitor, they broke the gravitational pull of the ship that had brought them there and went right into the planet's. With only a minor bit of course correction, they were able to slip in without thruster power. . .to a certain point at least.
Soon enough, the Squadron had broken the atmosphere and were coasting down over the ashen ground. It was raining again, the gray liquid splattering against the cockpit.
This planet's atmosphere isn't pleasant.
"Yep, you're telling me." Calen muttered, echoing the droid's sentiment as they moved along the path. The south pole area of Pergitor seemed to be no different than closer to Gehenna, with the liquid ash stuck forever raining down and then being evaporated back into the air again and the gray, barren land all over. The whole place seemed like Hell, if you were to believe in such a thing. Crises of faith, though, would have to wait until later.
"Three hundred kilometers to the site. First targets coming up. Lock S-Foils in attack positions!" The X-Wings did just that, their wings taking the 'X' shape they were nicknamed for. Calen kept his eyes between the bow and the sensor grid. Soon enough, his sensors started picking up the first of their targets.
'Just like the simulations. . .' He thought as the first two of the defense towers came up on the sensor grid.
"All fighters, begin attack formation Delta." Blue Leader's voice crackled over the comms. Calen pulled ahead alongside Bashin's, the two fighters moving in in a pincer formation. A series of precise laser blasts caused the tower's guns to explode, the automated structure collapsing in a cacophony of fire and metals. The second tower did much the same.
"Nice shooting, Blue Eight."
"Cut the chatter! We have incoming!" Blue Leader's words were followed by several more pings on the radar.
"Those aren't Imperial signatures. . ." Calen said, confused.
"Standby, they're charging weapons!" A few Fang-class fighters came into view, firing weapons. Calen hit the accelerator, swinging around them at the port side along with several of his compatriots. Laser blasts singed the air between the vessels. Two, then three of the Fangs exploded.
"Their shields aren't up. What in the hell are they-?"
"I'm not picking up any life signs. Can anyone confirm?"
"They're dummies! Remote piloted."
"Push through. They're just up to distract us. Move ahead to the next point." Blue Squadron did indeed do just that, pushing along. The Fangs moved in behind them. "Blue Eight, Blue Three. Mop up those fighters. We don't need them on us the whole time."
"Roger that, Blue Leader." Calen nodded, preparing to make a U-turn. "Ready, Blue Three?"
"Born ready." Bashin's words made him grin.
"Hang on back there, R2!"
I already did that.
"I know!" Calen brought the X-Wing around, accelerating and moving skyward, flipping around now behind two of the Fangs coming at them. Two trigger presses later, a pair of photons smashed into the backs and sent the ships heading for the ground.
"Blue Eight, watch it! You've got one on your tail!" The warning came just soon enough for Calen to react, weaving out of the way of a pair of laser blasts.
"Okay, not dealing with that anymore!" Calen gritted his teeth and weaved further away, spinning around and around with the Fang at his back, its lasers only managing to cut through the space where his X-Wing had been instead of where it was then. Unfortunately, at the current speed, he wasn't able to get around behind his opponent. "I could use a hand here!"
"I've got you!" Bashin's fighter swung into the loop, blasting the Fang pursuing Calen out of existence.
"Thanks, Bashin." Calen gave a sigh of relief.
"Don't mention it!" The two X-Wings resumed formation, heading into the oncoming lines of droid-piloted vessels coming their way. Chatter over the comms told them that the second set of towers had been downed and the drop ship was enroute.
"We have to clear these up before they get here." Calen said.
"I'm with you. Hammerhead formation. Go!" The two X-Wings split off in opposite directions, each taking a handful of the fighters with them. Calen spun his craft into an aileron roll. Several fangs moved to evade, risking running into the craft, though Calen pulled up at the last second, accelerating.
"Hammer head, hammer head. . ." Calen muttered under his breath, seeing Bashin pull up at the same time, heading right for him. At the last second before a collision would have happened, Calen rose up and the Abednedo dove. Two of the Fangs collided into each other.
"Blue Eight, Blue Three. Report!"
"They're dropping like flies, Blue Leader!" Calen said as he shot out across the plains, turning back the other way and laying down some fire to cover Bashin as he did the same.
"Drop ship is enroute."
"Excellent. We have the second tower pair destroyed. We're heading to your position." Coming from the clouds, though the occasional bits of ashy rain, Calen could make out the outline of the drop ship heading to its location, carrying Tessa, Rook, and their team to the drop zone.
"No Imperial contacts yet."
* * *
The next hour involved mopping up most of the Fangs that remained. There weren't many, and them being remote piloted meant the numbers dropping made the task easier, rather than harder. In any case, soon enough, Calen was one of the fighters on perimeter guard. The drop ship had landed less than a kilometer from the evacuation site, where they'd mowed down the ground forces that had been there - largely what seemed to be Gauntlet mercenaries and the occasional worker droid, along with a few Church cultists here and there.
Either way, the group had headed in, and communications from them hadn't come in. Even as they traveled down into the bowels of the Grand that had been hauled up, their lifesigns were at least coming up on the sensor grid.
Something troubling you?
"I hate waiting." Calen told the astromech plugged in behind him.
Waiting for what?
"My friends to come back out."
Do you think they aren't coming back?
"No, I know that they will."
Then what are you worried about? If you know it's going to happen.
". . .you're insightful for a droid."
You must not have met many interesting droids, then.
"One or two." Calen said.
Well, they must not have been like me. I'm one of a kind.
"I bet you are." Calen couldn't help but smile at the R2 unit's pluck. His sensors picked up the lifeforms in the area on the move back up. Through the rain and the overcast sky, he could make out very little on the ground. However, it looked like their number had gone in. . .and without a scratch had gotten the item in question.
"Alright, everybody. Ground team has the weapon in containment. Make sure their exit is cleared."
"Blue Leader, this is Base One." The voice of Glin came over the comms system. "We're picking up an Imperial signature that just dropped out of hyperspace. It's the Warden!"
"Oh, kriff. . ." Calen groaned. That meant they had minutes, at best, to get out.
"Alright, Blue Squadron. All wings, let's move!" Blue Leader's cry did not go unheeded. The X-Wings moved into formation as the drop ship took off, taking a defensive formation around it.
"They're tracking us."
"Simmer down. Radio silence until we get to the jump point." They moved up into the atmosphere, piercing through the clouds and finally out into the-
"EVASIVE MANEUVERS!" The Fangs had been there to soften them up. Calen now realized what was going on as wings of TIE Fighters were raining down on the small convoy.
It was a trap, and they'd gone right into it.
* * *
Onboard the Vigilant Warden, High Admiral Maltus Ayro was quite pleased with himself as he watched the battle from the safety of his flagship. Battle was, perhaps, too kind a word. The Rebels had moved right into a slaughter, and had done it right after getting their prize for them.
"Block them off from hyperspace travel." Ayro ordered. "Get rid of the fighters, but only target the engines on that ship. I want our prize undamaged."
"Yes, sir!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Yes, sir!" The chorus of affirmations to his words were heard. Dax, standing at the comms station in the crew pit, spoke to the comms officer, then turned and called up.
"Admiral, we have a request for boarding."
"What idiot wants to board our vessel at a time like this?!" Ayro snapped at him.
"The Grand Preceptor, sir." Dax replied. Ayro was caught in a moment of genuine surprise and confusion, having no idea what that crazed holy man could possibly want now. ". . .shall I deny the request, sir?"
"No. . ." Ayro said. "Tell them to come to Bay 327. I will greet him personally."
"Yes, Admiral." Dax said.
"You have the bridge, Captain." Ayro said, turning and moving toward the lift.
No comments:
Post a Comment