CHAPTER 11
The thick level of red clay and sand that made up the barren surface of Talmun danced in a cloud as the Claw roared over the wide open desert. Inside the hold of the assault shuttle, Shae and Nalasee gathered around a small holoprojector emitting a miniature of Master Korr. "This listening post has been mining data from the Imperial Palace for years." Master Korr was saying. "Our intelligence indicates that the structure was finished around the same time as the palace on Coruscant."
"How do we get inside?" Shae asked as he adjusted the blaster pistol on his belt.
"The facility is entirely underground. There's an open entrance at the end of a nearby Canyon, but it's inaccessible due to the high winds in the gorge. The shuttle would be smashed to pieces on the walls. " Korr answered. The hologram shifted from his image to that of the bases schematics. A long line stretching from the South side of the base was lit by a red highlight. "This tunnel acts as a waste disposal area for the base. " The disembodied voice of Korr explained.
"A sewer?" Nalasee said with an audible frown.
"It's a several mile walk along the accessways until you'll arrive at a waste lift that leads directly into the facility." Korr said ignoring Nalasee's disdain.
"What can we expect to find Master Korr?" Shae asked as the hologram returned to Korr's fuzzy image.
"The base is sealed off from outside personal and is most likely run entirely by droids. Once inside the facility find the central computer room and dump all the data onto a holodisk we can analyze back at the temple. After you get the information, destroy the base." Master Korr said as he finished his briefing and looked from Nalasee to Shae. "May the Force be with you. Korr out." The Holoprojector winked off and the hold was temporarily thrown into darkness until the lights came back on. Shae finished attaching the small armor plates to the armorweave suit he had elected to don.
"Ready princess?" Nalasee asked sarcastically as the ship shook slightly beneath their feet when the Claw docked with an above ground access hatch for the sewer.
"Always." Shae replied as he passed her and walked to the docking ring in the ship's floor. He popped it open to find the rusted and sand smoothed access panel. The coded entry panel in the center was no longer functional, so a quick lightsaber swing dropped it from its hinges and into the darkness below.
"What an incredible smell you've discovered!" Nalasee said as her stomach turned at the sickening aroma rising from below. While human waste was nonexistent, the noxious chemicals that wafted down the green stone pipeway was more than its equal. Thankfully, small yellow glowsticks gave enough light for them to not use their lightsabers to see. They made the roughly ten foot drop from the roof of the sewer to the dirty catwalk below before beginning a cautious march to the lift. As they were walking, Nalasee heard something beside her in the water and whipped around, only to see nothing but small eddies in the underground stream."Feel or see something?" Shae asked.
"No." She returned truthfully. "Must be seeing ghosts. There's just something off about this place."
"Your senses are better than mine, and I'd hate to be caught in an ambush." No sooner were the words out of his mouth when a blaster bolt lanced out from the dark. It caught Shae's shoulder and turned him halfway around. Nalasee moved with to catch the next one with her saber and deflected the third back at their attacker. A loud explosion followed by a splash followed as the bolt returned to its sender. "Probe droids!" Shae said through gasping breaths." I really hope they're just in patrol mode and no one's controlling them.
"Are you ok?!" Nalasee said in shock at Shae's apparent invulnerability. Shae chuckled as he returned;
"Those plates are worth their weight ." Nalasee let out a sigh of relief as she straightened and began to move on. With the wind knocked out of him but no worse for wear, Shae followed close behind.
"Let's keep our eyes open for more droids anyways armor boy." Nalasee said as her head swiveled up and down the passage. However, as they moved down the passage they found no more of the robotic sentinels on their patrols, a fact that both Nalasee and Shae found perturbing. After an hour walk in the almost complete darkness, they arrived at a large archway that opened into an enormous dome where a large lift sat seemingly unguarded. A sense of perceptible danger pricked at the back of Nalasee's mind and she whirled around to the murky blue water. Once again, she found only swirling eddies in the water. One time she could write off as nerves, the second meant trouble. "Something's in the water Shae." Nalasee said stopping him before he could enter the dome.
"Something?" Shae asked with confusion evident in his expression.
"I don't know what and I don't want to." Nalasee returned firmly. "Just don't fall in." Shae nodded seriously and they entered the room, lightsabers ignited. Seemingly materializing from thin air, a swarm of Viper probe droids emerged from their hiding spots to surround Shae and Nalasee.
"Why can't it ever just be easy." Shae said through gritted teeth as he and Nalasee pirouetted through the air towards the droids. Nalasee's first strike bisected a droid clean through its photoreceptor; its halves, aided by the force, became crippling missiles for two more. Shae used the heads of the droids as platforms for further advance, landing on their heads and plunging his lightsaber into their droid brains before moving to the next. He came to a rolling stop on the catwalk opposite Nalasee, who had cut down four more droids with deadly and accurate strikes. Shae used the momentum of his roll to get a running start, building speed and using the curved surface of the wall to propel himself in the air toward another droid. His blow shattered the droid into pieces, but left him open to a strike from behind as another Viper droid leveled its chin mounted blaster at him. Nalasee saw the droid from the corner of her eye and flicked her saber at the droid. Guiding it through the force, it plunged into the side of the droid and sent it to a fiery demise. She called the saber back to her, but another probe droid had identified her as a target and swung in the way of the blade. Unable to change its course, the still active saber plunged into the unlucky droid. The droid exploded in a fireball launching her saber on an unknown course. She attempted to search for it, but was interrupted by the whine of blaster fire at her feet as another droid targeted her. Unable to block the bolts, Nalasee leapt backwards and around the bolts furiously. Shae finished off the last of the droids on the other side of the room and suddenly realizing her plight, charged forward to help her. However, another droid interceded for his companion and realizing it would have no chance to destroy the Jedi, self-destructed. Shae barely had time to cover his face before the blast threw him across the room and into the water. Nalasee grabbed the droid she was facing in the force and smashed it against the wall. With the droids gone, she casually leapt over to the spot Shae had fallen in, intending for a clever quip, when the memory of the danger sense snapped into her mind.
"Shae get out of there!" She shouted at him as he bobbed to the surface. Before he could swim for shore, an enormous green tentacle snaked from out of the water and wrapped itself around Shae's neck. With a choked cry, Shae disappeared beneath the water. Nalasee froze for a split second in shock, then her fear turned into a rush of adrenaline as she took a deep breath and dived beneath the water. She searched for Shae first with her eyes, but the murkiness of the water combined with the sewer's darkness made it impossible to see much more than a few feet from her face. She stretched out with the Force, expanding her sense slowly at first, but then allowing it to cover the entire room. She felt Shae's presence beneath her and dove for it. Suddenly, in the darkness, she saw them. Whatever the creature was, it had wrapped its slimy green tentacles around Shae's neck and limbs. He wasn't moving by the time she came even with him. Her hand fell down to the spot her lightsaber normally resided only to realize with horror it wasn't there. She searched for another weapon and found Shae's holster with blaster still inside strapped to his hip. She lashed out at it and curled her fingertips around the grip. Before she could sight the weapon, a tentacle lashed out and grabbed her wrist. The blaster swung wildly, discharging a random round into the creature's roughly ovoid torso. It let out a nerve wracking shriek and its grip tightened on Nalasee's wrist so quickly she thought it would break. Instead, it yanked down hard, drawing it towards an enormous gaping maw with dagger like teeth as the blaster dropped from her grip. Without thinking, she placed her boots at either end of the mouth and kicked back against it. The maneuver bought her no more than a moment. Her mind raced as she tried to think of some sort of option to escape. "The knife!" She thought as she grabbed onto Shae's heel as the water monster attempted to drag her back into his maw. Her hand found the blade's hilt and latched onto it, but the small hide thong that kept it in its secret sheath also kept her from retrieving it. She felt her grip failing as the monster put all of its effort into dragging Nalasee back into its mouth. For a moment, she thought about allowing herself to simply let go of all the struggle and succumb. "I can't lose Shae forever." Rose into her mind. The thought hadn't come of her own accord, but she suddenly that realized nothing had ever been more true to her. With a superhuman effort, she locked onto the hilt of the knife with a deathgrip. The pulling snapped the small hide thong and the blade came free. She snapped it back across the tentacle around her wrist, severing it and filling the nearby water with a dark green blood. She made a dash for Shae, severing the cord around his throat before lunging at the one wrapped around his waist. Suddenly, the tentacle released Shae and snapped toward her. It caught her directly in the solar plexus and almost forced her to relinquish her diminishing air supply. However, she was able to maintain her breath and slash the tentacle off. Before she could escape the monster's clutches, she felt another pair of Tentacles wrap around her ankles. Suddenly she was being pulled toward the monster's mouth, and this time she would have no way of escape. Unless… she would only have one shot at her gambit she realized. If she missed, she would undoubtedly be dead. She waited until the maw was in sight, in fact she waited until she was halfway inside it before flicking the knife in a spinning arc down the creature's throat. It's ear splitting shriek was cut short this time, and the creature began to sink. "With me still attached!" She realized in horror. Frantically she slashed at one tentacle, then the other with her teeth and claws, until she kicked free and paddled away. Her mind, drained of oxygen, had become narrow and singly focused . "Have to find Shae." Was her only thought as she searched for him in the Force again. This time she found him alone, but his Force aura was shrinking fast. She desperately swam until she finally saw him, limp and waywardly drifting. She wrapped one arm around his waist before orientating herself toward the surface. She paddled furiously for the surface, her lungs screamed in agony, but she would not give them reprieve. The surface seemed unreachably far away and just when she thought she would drown, she broke the surface, gasping for breath. She only allowed herself one or two breaths before dragging Shae aboard the lift. He wasn't moving and to her alarm, wasn't breathing. She began administering CPR all the while saying quietly to herself; "Don't die on me Shae." After what felt like an eternity, he coughed up water and began to breathe in deep raspy breaths. He groaned as his eyes slowly rolled open.
"I think you owe me a new knife." He said staring down at his empty sheath. She slapped him slightly hard across the jaw. "What was that for?" He said rubbing his jaw
"You said that it was a sign of affection on your planet." She returned with a sly smile. Shae looked at her a little confused at first, but then realized the meaning.
"I don't think it would be as meaningful if I hit you back." He returned with a weak smile. They both stared at each other, unsure of where to go from that point forward. The had just stared death in the faith, and now both had something to lose. "We should, uh, probably get going." Shae said somewhat uncomfortably.
"Right." Nalasee said equally awkwardly as she too rose from her sitting position and activated the lift.