Chapter 11: Parting Ways
48 years before Revenge of the Sith
The four Jedi infiltrators had barely started moving through the sewer when Tyrone called a halt.
"Everybody stop," he commanded, "we can't rush in without a plan. We need to be on the same page before we rush into danger again."
"Alright," said Nioman, crossing his arms, "I'm sure as leader of the operation that you have a brilliant plan just waiting to be unleashed upon our eagerly waiting ears"
Tyrone's eyes lit up and he opened his mouth to speak, then must have thought better of what he was going to say and closed it. He took a deep breath before speaking again.
"Believe me when I say that you will be punished for your impetuosity," warned Tyrone, "but now is not the time. I do in fact have a plan and I hope that you all have the sense not to argue."
"Alright," said Nioman, "well we don't have all day so how about you fill us in."
"The main objective is still to complete with assignment with as little violence as possible," explained Tyrone, "our best bet is to intercept Agravo before he is able to assemble a large portion of his men. If we subdue him it should be enough to bring the others to the point of surrender."
"And if they don't?" asked Sora.
"Then we will be forced to kill Agravo and fight his men. In an open fight I am sure their numbers are great enough to overwhelm us so we will need to keep moving and fight them in groups, specifically targeting those who appear to be leaders. The quicker we eliminate those in command, the easier it will be to force them into disarray. After that it should be of little difficulty to finish them off. It will also lead to as few fatalities as possible given the circumstances.
"Well..." said Mace, rubbing his chin, "I suppose it is the best we have."
"Hold up." argued Nioman, "has anyone considered that there might be an easier way of doing this besides slinking about until we find Agravo."
Tyrone raised an eyebrow, "and what might that be?"
"I say he head for the hangar," proposed Nioman, "there wont be many guards and we can commandeer some of the ships docked there. With those we will be able to fly in and knock out this base before the gunners even realize what happened. Any sensors will be focused outward so we will have the element of surprise."
"You realize what that would mean?" said Tyrone, "we wouldn't even give them a chance to lay down their arms. Surely this bombing that you propose will cause the instant deaths of most if not all of these sentients. We cannot simply kill them without offering the option of surrender. It directly defies the Jedi way of thinking."
"You really think they are going to surrender?" scoffed Nioman, "after attacking our ship. After we, as far as they will know, tried to assassinate their leader. It's obvious that they have no respect for the Republic or for us! They are simply violent thugs who kill others for money!"
"They still will have a desire to protect their own lives," persisted Tyrone.
"At what cost?" argued Nioman, "to be locked up in some jail cell on Coruscant for the rest of their lives. If I was one of them I would take my chances fighting or running, not give up my freedom to rot in jail for the rest of my life!"
"We must still give them that option!" shouted Tyrone.
"And wasting our own lives when they refuse? All you will accomplish is causing our deaths when we are overwhelmed by them. When instead we could complete the assignment. And we already gave them the chance to surrender, remember when we first arrived and Master Difusal contacted them?
"That was simply Agravo setting us up. It must be an individual decision for these pirates, for these people to make! This is not your call. I am the highest ranking Jedi here and I have made my decision and you must abide by it, padawan!"
"I will not follow along with this foolishness." stated Nioman, "Do what you want, I'm following my own plan. I don't need your help. Go and die following your morals and I will tell the Council that your death was your own doing."
It was then that Mace stepped in. Nioman figured he would at some point. His Korun friend always tried to prevent Nioman from getting in trouble. Recently, though, he was siding with Tyrone and against his own friend. It made Nioman wonder where his loyalties really lied. He knew he could still count on Sora but Mace seemed shaky. It made Nioman wonder if Mace suspected something about him. About the darkness that had latched onto him. Was Mace distancing himself on purpose? If so, Nioman didn't blame him. Mace didn't want a scar on his record because his friend lost control of his emotions. That didn't mean Nioman couldn't resent the betrayal. He couldn't even help the scowl that deepened on his face when Mace spoke.
"Nioman, look," he said in a very measured tone, "I know how you feel about this but we cannot abandon our principles. If we work together we can still salvage this mission but we can't have you going off and sabotaging our efforts."
"Our?" questioned Nioman, "so you're siding with him now. Against your own friend."
"Nioman, please," pleaded Mace, "I just want to do what's right, I want to do what the Council would want."
"The Council?" spat Nioman, all anger returned to him, "so now you want to please them. Alright then, go off and serve Tyrone and the Council, I don't care. Sora, what about you, where do you stand on this?"
Sora looked decidedly uncomfortable as he said, "look, don't go turning on me, I'm with you here. I think it is our best option to blow this place up. We can worry about what's right later. right now we have a job to do and we've wasted too much time arguing here as it is."
Mace's shoulders slumped and his face took on a defeated expression before he regained composure of himself. In that moment of weakness Nioman had been able to sense how much this was tearing Mace apart and part of him wanted to relent. Then he remembered just who Mace had sided with in this argument. If he wanted to buddy up with Tyrone Dooku, so be it. That was his choice to make but it wasn't one Nioman could forgive easily. It was clear Mace knew the gravity of his choice but he still chose to abandon his friends. If that is what Mace felt it took to prove his dedication to the Jedi ideals so be it. Nioman and Sora would just have to complete this mission on their own.
"Please Nioman, Sora," Mace asked in one final attempt to sway them, "I won't beg. I wont try to force your hands on this. I know that taking and authoritative argument in this would never work with you two. But please reconsider. Regardless if we succeed or fail think of how this will affect your futures. This one choice could destroy all your dreams of greatness within the Order. That's all I have to say. Just think about that before you do this."
"Our futures wont matter if we're dead," pointed out Nioman, "I'm sorry it came to this but I'm not changing my mind. If you are going to go with Dooku then go now. We only endanger ourselves further by staying here."
"I knew you would never become a knight," Tyrone muttered as the pairs parted ways. Nioman and Sora heading for the hangar and Mace and Tyrone heading to the control center where Agravo was most likely to run.
Nioman and Sora moved quickly through the base as they aimed for the hangar, which a quick hack into the computer system revealed to be on the eastern wing of the compound. Progress was much quicker now that they did not have to deal with Tyrone's precautions. Most of the pirates they passed ignored them and those that questioned them were quickly eliminated. There was no reason to dispose of the bodies, the base was already on high alert, but as long as Nioman and Sora kept moving they would not be caught by a large enough force to present a problem.
Nioman was stunned at the difference of this situation to when they had been sneaking towards Agravo's quarters. Now that Tyrone wasn't there to nag and lecture them on Jedi policy the two padawans were able to move through the base much faster. There was no more stopping to argue on the next move. There was no more going out of their way to spare lives. All there was now was the objective at hand and two perfectly capable Jedi to carry it out without the restrictions of Jedi teaching.
Nioman pushed off the doubts that tried to surface as to whether his actions were right or not. All these pirates would die anyway once the base blew up. It didn't matter whether the Council would deem his actions acceptable or not. All they would need to know is that Nioman had succeeded in his assignment. Perhaps they would finally see just how powerful he was. Perhaps they would realize that when he came back and Tyrone did not. It was likely that Tyrone would die in the explosion that would happen when the base blew. Nioman hoped that his arch-enemy within the Order would die. It wouldn't be Nioman's fault if he did. Tyrone was the one who had made such a foolish choice. Nioman hoped that Mace would see the error of his decision and make it out before Nioman took out the base but if he didn't...well he had made the same choice as Tyrone. The Jedi always taught not to expect second chances. One mistake and it could be your last. Mace had made his decision and Nioman couldn't blame himself if his friend died because of it.
It was not long before Nioman and Sora had reached the electro-fence that surrounded the hangar. As they peered into the hangar Sora spoke.
"So, what's the plan?" he asked.
Nioman studied the expanse of duracrete that held a great assortment of ships. From tiny one-man starfighters to massive cargo ships all in one place. Nioman scanned around until he found what he was looking for. There weren't many but he only needed two. Settled in the shadow of a freight hauler were a handful of small bombers. They were light and maneuverable but still able to pack quite punch to capital ships or, as was needed here, to targets on the surface. His plan had originally intended for four bombers but two would have to do now that it was just him and Sora.
Now he needed a way to get inside the bombers before any of the pirates that hung around the hangar noticed. He couldn't allow any of them to get into fighters of their own and prevent him from raining fire on the base. His plan relied on surprise and he needed the bombing to be well underway before the base was alerted and gun emplacements began firing on him. Once again he wished Mace was there to help but he and Sora would just have to make do.
"Well?" Sora said, a bit impatiently.
"I'll need you to distract the guards," Nioman instructed, "Once you finish them off run to those bombers over there. I will already have yours prepped and will have placed charges on the others. "
"And what if I have a problem with the guards?" questioned Sora, "as I'm assuming we can't allow them to contact the base."
"I'm sure you can handle it," assured Nioman, "besides, it's just you and me now. As long as you catch them by surprise you'll be fine."
"hmm," said Sora, rubbing his chin, "Master Difusal always said to be prepared and have a backup plan if something goes wrong."
"Well, we don't have many options," pointed out Nioman, "we'll just have to manage as we are. And you should consider that just because Master Difusal was on the Council doesn't mean he is always right."
"Yes, I know what you think about that," said Sora, "I just feel uneasy about this."
"Me too," admitted Nioman, "but we have to keep going. Everything will work out fine," he assured.
"What about Mace?" wondered Sora.
Nioman thought for a moment, pondering his answer before saying, "he is one his own now. Hopefully he will get out in time but if not...we can't let the mission fail because of one life."
Sora stared at him, stunned. Nioman realized that what he had said was probably too cold. but he was right. the success of the mission came first. He couldn't let it fail because Mace had made bad call. He couldn't let his feelings get in the way. He wouldn't lose the mission because he had been unable to let a friend go. He assured himself he was doing the right thing. That he was following Jedi teachings by putting the mission first. He couldn't let these pirates go free. They had to pay for what they had done.
"Look Sora, I don't know what to think right now," admitted Nioman, "but we need to carry on. Mace's decision was his to make and we can't let it get in the way of our duties to the Jedi, to the Republic, to freedom.
"I know," conceded Sora, "let's go. I just hope we don't end up with Mace's death on our hands."
The plan went wrong almost immediately. Nioman had been so intent on remaining silent and moving unseen that he hadn't even noticed the mechanic crouching next to the bomber Nioman had been heading towards. As soon as Nioman saw the man he switched on his lightsaber and brought it down on the worker's neck but not before the man uttered a cry of distress that alerted the guards to Nioman's presence. He was forced to defend himself from the pirates that had immediately answered. The sounds of combat would only draw more attention to his position. He needed to do something fast or else his plan wouldn't work.
Nioman couldn't see Sora anywhere but he could hear the sounds of conflict from the other side of the shipyard. That wasn't good. He needed Sora with him now so that they could get in the bomber and go before the base's shields went up and the gun operators were warned. He wanted to reach for his comlink to contact Sora but he needed a two-handed grip on his lightsaber to deflect the blaster bolts that were being fired at him. Using the Force to bring it to his mouth wouldn't work either, he wouldn't be able to concentrate enough while fending off the pirates. He would just have to do everything himself, as usual.
He charged the pirates, hoping to eliminate at least a few before they could move out of the range of his weapon. Nioman felt his blade tear through flesh and one of his adversaries fell, screaming, to the ground. He twirled his lightsaber around, causing the men around him to jump backwards, away from the yellow glow but also separating them as they backed in different directions. Good, now he would be able to pick them off one by one.
As Nioman was about to carry out that plan he heard the sounds of more footsteps approaching and a curious noise that sounded like something metal rolling across the duracrete surface of the hangar floor. Nioman turned around to see several more men turn the corner of the freighter and begin firing on him, accompanied by the metal thing he had heard. As he deflected this new onslaught of blaster fire it uncurled to reveal what Nioman recognized to be a Destroyer Droid. It was a killing machine that had been invented by the Colicoids and was used mostly by very wealthy corporations like the Trade Federation to supplement their Battle Droid forces. The Glorious Fist must have found one during one of its raids. It wasn't good news for Nioman.
He knew how deadly these droids were said to be. They had their own deflector shields and rapid fire dual-blasters in place of arms. This one, however, had something Nioman had not seen before. On top of its "head" sat another, larger turret. Perhaps a rocket launcher. Whatever it was Nioman did not want to be on the receiving end. He decided his only option was to charge the droid. There was no way he could deflect its fire as well as that of the pirates and if he moved fast he might be able to get it before its shields came up.
He leaped toward it, lightsaber raised to block any attacks from the droid or the men that surrounded it. He was only a few feet away from it, its shields still hadn't had time to activate. His blade was falling down on it. That's when it used the turret it had been fitted with. Flames poured forth from the weapon and headed straight towards Nioman. He was so close, he didn't have time to react beyond raising his arms in front of his face as best he could. The wave of heat that struck his arms was almost too much to bear. He could feel it burn through his sleeves and hit his arms. Searing pain washed over him. He fell backwards, barely landing on his feet. The sound of the flamethrower stopped but the pain didn't.
"But..." Nioman heard himself protesting, "flame weapons are illegal."
"You think we care," snorted one of the pirates as he leaned over Nioman with stun cuffs in his hands, "the law means nothing to us out here."
Nioman must have dropped his lightsber. It wasn't in his hand and he couldn't see it anywhere as his vision darkened. He had failed. He had failed the mission, he had failed Sora, and he had failed Reesa. Reesa, would she ever forgive him. That was his last thought as he blacked out.
A/N: Okay, I can promise with complete certainty that there will only be one more chapter for this mission. In fact, it has already been written and I will post it tomorrow. Hope you enjoy and don't forget tor review or read Candace's Transcending Tyrannus ;-)