Chapter 10: Infiltration

48 years before Revenge of the Sith

The wide walls of the Glorious Fist headquarters loomed ahead and soon the four speeders had parked in the loading dock. Nioman and the others had taken the clothes of some of the pirates and had disguised themselves to look as if they were delivering supplies to the base. They had known that their speeders would be detected before they came in sight of the compound so Mace had formulated this plan so that they could enter unnoticed. So far it had worked. The speeders had gained clearance to the storage lot and now the Rodian supply manager was approaching them.

"Hey, you. Hold up!" shouted the Rodain in slightly garbled Basic, "I don't remember ordering any shipments today. What base are you from?"

"A-7" answered Mace.

"Code name?"

Mace paused. This hadn't been part of the plan. The Rodian's mouth contorted into what might have been a smirk and was about to say something when Tyrone cut in.

"Hombara," he stated hurriedly.

The Rodian's shoulders slumped, "and I was hoping I would be able to make you leave and have to go get the code from someone. Lazy, forgetful scum that you are. Well that's it. Here's you clearance key, go deliver the supplies. But if I catch you nabbing anything..." his eyes lit up, "we do have a couple of hungry Acklay that could use a good meal,"

"I understand," acknowledged Mace, "we'll be getting out of your way."

Once they had gotten out of earshot of the Rodian, Sora spoke.

"How in the Force did you know that?" he asked Tyrone.

"Simple," Tyrone explained, "his mind was an open door. He already knew what he wanted to hear so all I had to do was walk in. It's a trick that you padawans should become familiar with," he added, taking an air of superiority as if they were younglings and he was giving them a lesson, "it could come in handy some day. If you ever reach knighthood, that is."

Nioman knew that the only reason Tyrone had acknowledged the question was to rub his knighthood in their faces yet again. It was really getting on Nioman's nerves. The only reason Tyrone was a knight and they were not is because he was five years older than they. If they had been the same age Nioman and his friends would surely have been knighted years earlier than he. Nioman tried to find a retort, something to challenge what Tyrone had just said. He was even more inclined to argue when he saw how Mace and even Sora were nodding agreeably. In the end he said,

"Isn't that abusing your powers of mental manipulation. Jedi are only supposed to do that if it is absolutely necessary. Even then it might be frowned upon."

Tyrone glared at him as he responded, "padawan, I must request that you refrain from your constant moanings. I am the knight here and you will need to trust my judgment."

Nioman wanted to retort back how Tyrone was a pathetic excuse for a Jedi and that his judgment meant nothing to Nioman but he knew that the mission had to come first. With so much at stake he would not allow himself to lose control again. After all, hadn't he already shown Tyrone who was the greater Jedi. Even if he hadn't had to resort to whatever dark power he had assailed Dooku with, he still could have won, he would have won had Tyrone not invoked the illegal power of Force choke to his defense. Nioman knew he was more powerful than Tyrone Dooku could ever wish to be and that would have to satisfy him for now.

The four Jedi crept through corridor after corridor in the pirate base, doing all they could to avoid any contact with the pirates that meandered about. When they did encounter groups of chatting pirates they simply kept walking and tried to act normal and not stand out. They were approached a few times but with the aid of Force-imbued suggestions were able to avoid suspicion. Eventually they reached the entrance to the private quarters of Samo Agravo, the leader of the Glorious Fist.

Tyrone had his hand raised, poised to force open the door, when Sora said, "hold up, Dooku!"

"Tyrone sighed and turned to Sora, "what is it, padawan Bulq? We are in a hurry you know."

"What are you intending on doing in there?" the Weequay inquired, "I'm sure you have some sort of plan, at least I hope you do, but you haven't bothered to fill the rest of us in on it."

"Fine," sighed Tyrone, "the first goal, as you all should have realized, is to deal with this Samo Agravo. The preferable method would be to take him prisoner but due to his refusal to surrender and the attack on a diplomatic vessel I would say that he can kill him if, and only if it is absolutely necessary."

"Okay, great," said Nioman, "then what? Is isn't as if these thugs will just surrender once we have their leader."

"No, but it will demoralize them and without their leader they will likely become disorganized and allow us to take control of the situation," explained Tyrone.

"I hope you don't intend on somehow capturing each and every one of them." said Nioman. It may not be the Jedi way to cause unnecessary deaths but Tyrone was taking that ideal much too far. Nioman had seen how Tyrone had pleaded with each of the pirates to surrender, only killing them once they refused. They were enemies of the Republic and needed to be taken care of. The Jedi were often too pacifistic. They often failed to realize that violence was the only solution to certain problems and some had even died because of that mistake.

"It would be preferable if they all saw reason and chose to surrender," reasoned Tyrone, "but if not then I am willing to take appropriate measures. And," he added, looking directly at Nioman, "if I give an order you had better not question it. I will not have you costing us this mission because of your pride."

"Fine." spat Nioman, "as you said, we are in a hurry so let's get on with this."

The execution of their plan was flawless. As the door was forcibly slid open to blue lightsabers ignited in an instant and the guards that flanked the doorway fell. A yellow saber followed and cut down a Klatooinian and an Iktotchi who stood at a table with their leader before they could even register what had just happened. the yellow blade was followed by a green one that positioned itself at a stunned Agravo's throat. Moments later the padawans had closed in and pointed their blades at the pirate commander. Samo Agravo was trapped. The Jedi had surrounded him and he had no way out.

The shock was easily apparent on the pirate's face. He was must have been stunned to see four of they Jedi that he thought had died on the cruiser. There was no way he could have expected them, not only to arrive on the moon but to reach him undetected. To the man's credit, he was able to hide his shock after a moment under a mask of defeat.

"Fine, fine, I give up." he groaned, "you Jedi are tougher than I thought, I'll give you that. Just do whatever you need to and get it over with."

Nioman wasn't sure if he could believe the pirate. After all, Agravo had been pretty resolute during his conversation with Master Difusal. He didn't seem like one to suddenly give up just because the Jedi had caught up with him. But he was surrounded and there wasn't anything he could do. Perhaps he was just hoping that he could get out of this mess alive. Maybe he hoped that his men would be able to free him before the Jedi left with him. That seemed reasonable. Jedi were taught never to give up just because their lives were in danger but Nioman knew that most sentients did not hold the same values as the Jedi.

"I accept your surrender," Tyrone was saying. The young knight lowered his lightsaber as he rummaged in his supply kit for electro-cuffs. Even as Tyrone did this Nioman felt a slight warning in the Force but it was too late. In that instant that Tyrone had let his guard down Agravo struck. Before any of the Jedi could react Agravo pushed over the table that stood between him and Tyrone, knocking the Jedi off balance even as the pirate slammed into him. Nioman and his friends attempted to intercept Agravo but in that instant a thermal detonator went off just feet from them, forcing them to leap backwards in order to avoid the blast and momentarily obscuring Agravo and Tyrone from sight.

As the smoke cleared Nioman heard the sound of a blaster going off and the hum of a lightsaber swerving about to deflect the bolts from the owner's body. When Nioman was finally able to see Agravo, the pirate was assaulting Tyrone with a constant barrage of laser bolts from one of his gauntlets while his other hand held some sort of remote which had a red light blinking on it, most likely signaling other pirates. As Agravo stepped out of the doorway he pressed a button on the remote and a ray shield came to life in the entrance between him and the Jedi. He cast one last triumphant smile at the Jedi before sprinting off down the hall.

"Blast it!" cursed Tyrone, "we need to get those shields down immediately!"

"There's got to be some device to deactivate them in here," assumed Mace.

"It's even worse than that," warned Sora, pointing at one of the vents which was now emitting a green gas, "he's trying to trap us in here and suffocate us with that."

"There has got to be a way out," reasoned Mace, though there was a frown on his face and his eyes were closed in concentration.

"Can't we cut through the wall?" suggested Nioman.

"I'm sure it's too thick," said Tyrone without even considering Nioman's idea.

"Maybe the ceiling..." wondered Sora.

"Perhaps," said Tyrone more reasonably, "though it will take too long to cut through it from down here."

The gas was thickening and the air had begun to sting. They needed to find a way out and fast but nobody seemed to be able to come up with anything. They were running out of time. As Nioman frantically surveyed the room once again he noticed something. Behind some furniture that had been thrown against the wall by the thermal detonator blast there was what appeared to be an opening to another room. It had been almost entirely obscured by the bookshelf and chairs that now were heaped by it and by the thickening haze of the gas but Nioman could make out a sliver of it. Perhaps there was another exit. It was worth a shot at any rate. It wasn't as if the others were making any headway in finding a viable way out in here.

Nioman reached into the Force. He felt its energy swirling around him, waiting to be manipulated to his will. He stretched his arms out, drawing from the power that immersed the room. He closed his eyes, reaching inwards to grasp at the power that dwelt inside him, the essence of the Force that lived within all Jedi. He felt the tingle in his fingertips that indicated the presence of the Force, requiring only for him to set a task for it. He lifted his arms and envisioned the bookshelf that now blocked his path lifting upwards and away from the entrance. The object he was lifting was made out of some metal and had to weigh a couple hundred pounds but didn't Yoda always say that with the Force, weight was no issue. Nioman felt a satisfied smile touch his lips as he heard the scraping of the bookshelf ascending and then the crash as it fell a few feet away.

Nioman went to investigate the adjacent room, hoping that an exit would be revealed. The first room he entered was a bedroom. A quick scan revealed nothing helpful. There was a window but Nioman could see a blue tint that gave away the presence of an energy shield, ruining any chances of using the window as an escape route. Force, this pirate was good. He must have been planning that Jedi would attempt to capture him at some point and had planned the building accordingly. There were two doors, one of which led to a closet and the other to a bathroom. That is when Nioman got an idea. After making sure that his plan would work he went to tell the others.

When Nioman re-entered the main room the presence of the gas was nearly overpowering. From what he could see of the others in the green-clouded room Tyrone had on a rebreather and his eyes were closed while Mace and Sora had their faces in the sleeves of their robes. They were having an argument.

"You should always be prepared for any situation on a mission," Tyrone was saying.

"And why in the Force would we need rebreathers on a place like this?" protested Sora, "all the air is breathable and there isn't any water or anything that we would need them for."

"I'm sure you wish you had them now," pointed out Tyrone.

"But we shouldn't have needed them!" argued Sora.

"I must say I'm mostly with Sora here," coughed Mace, "while they could have come in handy here there wasn't any reason to believe we would require them based on the description of this mission."

"Perhaps, but I hope you have learned from that mist-" Tyrone was saying before Nioman cut him off.

"Shut up." Nioman cut in, "I found something."

The reaction was priceless. Sora jumped and nearly fell over a broken chair, Mace whirled around, lightsaber at the ready, while Tyrone's eyebrows rose considerably and Nioman was sure that the rest of Dooku's face had taken on an incredulous expression though it was mostly covered by his rebreather. Nioman had to admit that he had purposely waited for Tyrone to start talking before he spoke up. It might have been immature but it felt good to be rude to Dooku and he had enjoyed seeing Mace stand up to the pompous knight.

"I believe you should be made aware of your place, young padawan," fumed Tyrone, "you are not to interrupt a Jedi of superior-"

"Did you even hear what I said?" interrupted Nioman for the second time, "I found a way out. Now let's move unless you'd rather die of air poisoning in here."

Tyrone was indecisive for a moment. He clearly wanted to lecture Nioman on the proper attitude to be taken by padawans or some other nonsense but in the end his instinct for survival prevailed and he stalked after Nioman, Mace, and Sora to the exit that Nioman had discovered or, rather, created. the bathroom was currently in a state of disarray as Nioman had needed to move some things around and remove others from their fixtures in order to find what he had hoped he would see. Nioman's first attempt had been with the laundry chute he had discovered but it had proved far too small for a human to fit through and Nioman wasn't exactly sure that whatever mechanisms were at the bottom would be entirely safe. Then he had moved on to his original escape plan which had yielded more success.

As he had stood in Agravo's bedroom contemplating an escape route Nioman had remembered a construction class that he had been in when he was ten. The purpose of that class had been to teach the initiates common patterns of building so that they could use that knowledge if they ever needed to infiltrate or escape a building as learning common routes of ventilation shafts and plumbing could prove useful in those instances. The one in particular that Nioman was hoping for was, indeed, in place in the headquarters of the Glorious Fist. The pipelines of the toilet, shower, and all the other facilities drained into a main pipeline than ran about a foot below the floor, connecting all the various dormitories on this floor of the building before dumping into wherever it led after that. It would be simple enough to enter the pipeline and simply walk a distance before using their lightsabers to cut upwards into another room which would provide them free reign of the building.

Nioman didn't need to explain the escape route to the other Jedi as it was pretty self-explanatory. Nioman was quite pleased with himself that it was he who had discovered a way out and not Tyrone. While the others had panicked he had kept calm and found the other rooms. This would prove to Tyrone that he could, indeed, keep control of himself when necessary and that he would not be a liability to the mission. Nioman's moment of victory was sweetened even more as he saw Tyrone's nose wrinkle through the rebreather as the Jedi Knight realized where they would need to go in order to escape. They would need to enter a sewer.

It was then that Nioman noticed the unpleasant odor that wafted out of the newly cut hole in the floor. It wasn't the nicest of escape routes but it would have to do. After one last disgusted look Tyrone leaped into the tunnel, followed by the three padawans. They had escaped Agravo's trap but this mission was far from over. They would still need to deal with the pirate leader and dismantle the Glorious Fist. The greatest danger was still likely ahead but they were still alive for now and Nioman was sure that they could overcome any danger. These pirates would be defeated. Even more important, Reesa would be avenged.