After that particularly sickening display, Calen and Briemi were escorted back to the suite that Zobek had set aside for them. Finding it cleaned, Briemi and Calen once more checking for any bugs before opening their mouths to speak.
"That was-" Calen started.
"Terrible, yes." Briemi nodded in agreement, likewise rather disgusted by what she had seen. "We're going to have to bring down the facility. We'll have to send out some of our men to scout it."
"Think we can keep up the charade long enough to pull that off?" Calen asked.
"No." Briemi said. "I'm going to send a message to Command. We'll need a supply drop and doing it in the middle of a city would be a bit too obvious."
"So, scout the facility, get the supplies, take out the facility." Calen said, nodding. "Got it."
"And terminate or capture S'alzarri." Briemi said. When she saw Calen's raised brow, she elaborated. "It has to be done. All the research was done by him, he may be the only person alive who knows any formulas or other particulars."
"Right." Calen frowned.
"Problem?" Briemi asked.
"No. It's war. If that formula gets out to the Empire, it's going to end a lot more lives." Calen said.
"A rational transaction." Briemi said. "Either way, you don't need to worry about it."
"What do you mean?"
"When we get to the supply team, you're going back with them."
"What?!" Calen stared at her.
"I've read your personnel file. Hijacking a Star Destroyer and crashing it into a planet isn't exactly subtle."
"There were some extenuating circumstances with tha-"
"I'm aware." Briemi raised a hand as she cut him off. "But it is my best judgement that you've done well for the infiltration, not the op itself."
"And I suppose I can't change your mind?" Calen asked.
"You can take it up with Command when you get back." Briemi said. "It's that simple."
"Great..." Calen sighed.
* * * * * *
"I hope you will forgive my Excellency. He does not rise in the early hours of the morning." Pirc said.
"Of course." Briemi said. "We shall we in contact with you very soon, once my report has been given to my superiors."
"Naturally. Goodbye, Inspector." Pirc said, bowing to her. "Commander." The Nikto bowed to Calen as well. With that, the pair journeyed up until the hold of their shuttle.
"At least that is over with..." Calen muttered once they were up in the air and heading up out of the atmosphere.
"Probably my least favorite part of the job." Briemi sighed.
"Really?" Calen asked. "You seemed to come to it so naturally."
"I've been doing this a long time." Briemi said, taking a seat in one of the jump seats. "Eventually, you either die or you get so good at it that you don't know how to do anything else."
"I suppose that's true." Calen said.
"Is that how that works with your...y'know?" Briemi asked.
"My what?" Calen asked. Briemi waggled her fingers. "I don't understand?"
"Your personnel file said you were Force Sensitive." Briemi said.
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"I mean, yeah...I am." Calen nodded.
"Really?" Briemi asked. "I'd like to see that..."
"I mean...it's not a magic trick." Calen said.
"Oh, c'mon!" Briemi laughed. "Can you like...I don't know...hypnotize someone or fold space to make ships travel faster or something?"
"Uh...no." Calen shook his head. "I can't do any of that."
"Well, can't you show anything?" Briemi asked. Calen considered this for a moment, then reached up and unclipped the rank insignia from the front of his uniform.
"Here, hold this." Calen said, handing it to her. He moved across the hold from her, turning and standing with his eyes intently focused on the insignia plaque in her hand. He extended his hand, fingers spread, focusing intently upon the item in question. Through the Force, he could feel it. That connection between himself, the air around them, and the insignia in Briemi's hand. He pictured in his mind that the insignia was in his hand and, through an exertion of effort, he drew it toward him.
Briemi gave a gasp as she watched the plaque raise from her open hand with seemingly no hand behind it. The object flew across the hold toward Calen, landing in the palm of his hand. The soldiers gathered there clapped and gave cries of applause.
". . .that's...wow!" Briemi said.
"Good magic trick?" Calen teased.
"Shut up." Briemi chuckled good-naturedly, rolling her eyes. "But yes, that is really interesting."
"Such is the power of the Force." Calen said, waggling his fingers teasingly as Briemi had before.
"Yeah, I know the Jedi used to use the Force." Briemi said.
"Yeah, they did." Calen nodded. "My friend and I, we found this device on a planet called a holocron. It's supposed to be the sum of all the knowledge the Jedi had. Or part of it, anyway. We learned some of it from that."
"Do you still have it?" Briemi asked.
"No," Calen shook his head, "I told Niyasa to take it with her, just in case she ever ran into someone else like us."
"I see." Briemi nodded slowly, processing all of this.
"It's pretty spectacular, if I do say so myself." Calen said. "Even thought we had a good name for what we are: the Lost Knights." Briemi snorted. "Oh, c'mon, it's not that bad!" Briemi was struggling to not burst out laughing. "Stop it!"
"I just...don't see that...catching on..." Briemi was almost turning red from how hard she was trying not to laugh.
"Oh, c'mon!" Calen said. It was then that the shuttle lurched and both of them were thrown to the floor. "What the hell was that?!"
"We have enemy ships coming in from sector five-oh-five. They have Hutt comm signatures." Tyr reported as the two took their seats.
"Any sign of the supply team?" Briemi asked as she took a seat at the scanners, taking a look for herself.
"Negative." Tyr shook his head.
"Let's get out of here." Calen said, hitting up navigation. "New heading at oh-seven-six-three."
"On it." Tyr nodded, moving the control yoke to follow the path. The shuttle veered through a hail of laser fire, dodging the hits that were coming its way. "Nice plotting, Darkhaven."
"Just something I learned at the Academy." Calen said, checking the proximity sensors. "Got a photon coming in. Evade!" Tyr twisted the shuttle about, a full three hundred and sixty degrees to avoid the missile. "Great go-oh, kriff!" The torpedo swung around, streaking toward them - a droid operated missile! By the time Tyr could react, it was too late. The torpedo slammed into the bridge of the Siren. The shields held, but only just. Even as they did, the blast caused the pilot's console to erupt in sparks. Tyr cried out in pain as he was caught up in it.
"Tyr! Tyr!" Briemi cried out. She got up, rushing over to the pilot's side as she sprayed foam form an emergency extinguisher, feeling for a pulse. ". . .he's gone..."
"Switching to secondary pilot mode." Calen said, taking control of the Siren through the navigation station. He twisted the shuttle around, attempting to get out of the range of fire for another smart missile attack.
"Shields are down to thirty-six percent." Briemi was gritting her teeth as she looked over the damage report. "The back up generators have failed."
"We take another hit like that and we're done for." Calen said. "Check the sensors for any nearby gravimetric activity."
"What? Why?" Briemi asked.
"Planet has caves, right? Used by smugglers?" Calen asked. "We run aground, get to one of them, we can hide out there for a few days at least."
"Are you crazy?" Briemi asked. "Command wouldn't even know we were still here! Not to mention what probably happened to the supply team!"
"Trust me, I am all up for suggestions if you have an alternative!" Calen said. The proximity alarm went off again. "Oh, no!"
"It's another smart missile! It's heading for us!" Briemi cried.
"I know! I know!" Calen said. It was a moment that reminded him of the escape from Gesaril Prison. The slowing of time, the intense focus on just one thing. One thing. In that case, it had been escaping the Prison. In this case, it was escaping the missile. The missile was the obstacle, as were the ships fighting them. He reached out once more, feeling his connection to the shuttle, to the missile, to the enemy ships bearing down on them.
He couldn't twist the shuttle in a way to loop around and attack the missile head on, there wasn't enough time before it hit. He couldn't send it careening into the other ships. However, in that instance, he realized what he could do - nudge it. With the Force behind him, he imagined that missile just moving ever so slightly to its port side. The effect was immediate as, having been fired from one of the rear ships, the missile was nudged just enough to the port side to impact against one of its fellows.
"One of the ships just took out another one!" Briemi shouted excitedly. "And that ship is crashing into another one! There's only one left!"
"Good. Hopefully that'll give us the distraction we need for this..." Calen muttered, turning and sending the Siren shooting off back the way they had come. "Caves. Quick. Let's go." He said.
"I've got a cave system showing...fifty kilometers ahead." Briemi said, reading off the scanner.
"Reducing speed." Calen said, the shuttle moving lower toward the planet, narrowly avoiding some of the elevated plateaus. "Plotting a course into the cave." The Siren climbed up, twisting in the air before diving down into one of the deeper crevasses. The proximity alarm was going crazy as Calen barely managed to avoid hitting the rock formations at several points on the way down.
"Where did you learn to fly?" Briemi asked, exasperated.
"Somewhere where landing in caves on the fly wasn't in the curriculum." Calen said, reaching over to the power panel. "Opening outer hatch and shutting off power..." He flipped some switches, doing just that. "We need to go check on the others as well."
"Right." Briemi said, unbuckling from her chair and heading toward the hold once more, looking regretfully toward the body of Tyr in his chair as she did so. Calen likewise gave the man a sorrowful look before joining her. The damage to the Siren had been more severe than they'd thought. Several troopers were sprawled out in their jump seats, only still in them due to the crash webbing and their safety belts. The few that were mobile didn't look much better, many looking battered and a few being treated for wounds.
"Report?" Calen asked.
"Twelve dead." One of the troopers came up, his head having been bandaged for lack of bacta available. "We're the only ones left."
"Down to eight. Not great odds." Briemi muttered.
"Been through worse." Calen said quickly. "Fully intending to get out of this to be in worse yet again."
"I like that optimism." Briemi said. "But what about the last ship? If it finds us, we're sitting ducks."
"Maybe." Calen said. "But that's why we're not going to stay here."
"What's the plan, Captain?" One of the troops asked.
"Gather up weapons, supplies, anything you can carry. We're going deeper into the caves." Calen said. "They want us, they'll have to come and get us."
"I have a bad feeling about this..." Briemi muttered.
"What?" Calen asked.
"How do you know these caves go that deep?" Briemi asked.
"The scanners showed they go down a few miles." Calen said. "We should be able to wait there, out of their sensor range."
"Unless they saw us dip into the cave." Briemi said.
"As you said, optimism."
"Right." The next hour was all done with preparations. The soldiers that remained could walk mostly unassisted, no one needed to be tended after too closely. The supplies were gathered and the able-bodied carried them as they left the Siren behind and journeyed deeper into the caves.
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