They emerged from hyperspace without incident in far orbit around Dekata II. A moment later the cockpit's passive sensor board pinged with distant contacts.
"Looks like three capital ships," Aer-ki said, studying the blurry profiles. While the ship remained in stealth mode it was the best resolution they were going to get, but it was still adequate for a position fix. "They're holding in geo-synch orbit over the colony. We shouldn't have any trouble slipping past," he said as he vectored them in towards the planet.
"We're landing?" Luke asked, a little surprised.
Aer-ki looked at him innocently. "Why shouldn't we be?"
"If those are hostiles," Luke said, gesturing out the viewport, "shouldn't we keep our distance?"
"There are only three, Luke. It'd take a lot more than that to blockade a planet of this size. And even if they had a thousand ships I'd be willing to bet we could make it through."
"It's the getting out again that concerns me," Luke emphasized.
"We'll be fine. I've done this sort of recon before," Aer-ki said as he plotted a course to low orbit. "We'll come in on the far side of the planet and work our way around in the upper atmosphere, that way we won't have to get close to them until we have surface terrain to obscure us."
Luke decided to take him at his word and kept his attention focused on the unidentified ships. As their approach brought them into a closer orbit the distorted sensor readings began to clear up and the droid processor that had been built into the ship finally had enough data to compile a crude wire-frame profile.
Both Luke and Aer-ki stared at the two plump starships along with the 'no match found' holographic tags floating beneath them. The larger of the two ships was cruiser class, approximately 800 meters long. The second smaller design was frigate class, running somewhere between 310 and 330 meters long.
"So much for pirates," Luke said as the ships disappeared behind the curve of the planet. "Are you sensing anything?"
"Trouble," Aer-ki said as they crossed the terminator onto the planet's night side. "Just not the trouble I was expecting."
"I guess I'll take that as good news," Luke said.
His fellow Jedi gripped the controls a bit tighter as they began to enter the planet's atmosphere. "Don't."
Jyr set them down in the forest on the far side of a small ridge opposite the colony site, squeezing the ship in between several trees before the landing struts finally hit dirt. It'd take them another twelve kilometers on foot to reach the human settlement, but both Jedi had agreed it was the only way to keep their approach hidden. They didn't know what kind of sensors the colony might have set up, and their ship's countermeasures weren't very effective at short range.
Aer-ki opened a wide locker in the aft compartment to reveal three sets of body armor. One was green and black…the same design that he'd worn the first day Luke had met him. The other two were gray with black highlights and sandy brown with white highlights.
Jyr pulled on a thin, black underlayer then began to attach the green and black armor to his body, piece by piece.
"Suddenly I feel underdressed," Luke commented as Aer-ki slid on his helmet.
The now armored Jedi opened another locker and pulled out a dark, flexible suit and tossed it to Luke. "Wearing armor without being used to it will slow you down too much. That combat suit should be more to your liking."
Aer-ki waited at the boarding hatch while Luke slipped out of his robe and pulled on the rugged, yet flexible body suit. He moved his arms around experimentally and found that he still had good range of motion. He looped a slim utility belt around his waist and attached his lightsaber before joining Jyr at the door. The ramp hissed closed behind them as the pair quickly slipped out into the nighttime forest, blending into the shadows as they darted between the trees and headed for the nearby ridge.
When they reached the top and found a break in the canopy both Jedi were taken aback by what they saw at the colony site.
The human-built structures had been demolished to piles of rubble, around which new buildings were being erected under the glare of towering floodlights by a legion of insectoids…a species that neither Skywalker nor Jyr could identify.
Aer-ki began taking detailed reconnaissance photos while Luke kept an eye on the surrounding area. A few minutes later Jyr stiffened behind his handheld scope.
"What is it?" Luke asked.
Aer-ki passed the palm-sized unit to Luke and directed his gaze to one of seventeen green-white structures. It was open on one end and he could see dozens of the multi-appendaged things gathered around a cluster of low racks. They appeared to be eating…
Luke felt the pit of his stomach fall out. "Those are human limbs," he said, pulling the recorder from his eyes.
Aer-ki took it back from him and continued his surveillance. "It looks like our best approach will be on the south side, near those rubble piles. They haven't cleared that part of the forest back much…I'd say no more than four meters."
"Do you sense anyone still alive down there?" Luke asked.
Jyr shook his head. "No, but we need to get closer to be sure. There are way too many lifeforms to sort out at this range."
"Can that droid brain fly the ship?"
"Yes," Aer-ki said, frowning. "I think they have a sentry line deployed in the forest."
Luke stretched out his senses. "I feel it, about a klick ahead. How do you plan to get by it?"
"Let's get a better look before we decide that," he said, stowing his recon gear in a slot on his utility belt.
The two Jedi slowly made their way through the dark forest, careful not to let their presence be detected. They moved within 150 meters of one of the insectoids and took cover behind a large deadfall.
"They're too closely spaced to slip by," Luke whispered.
"And I bet they can see in the dark too," Aer-ki added. "We're going to have to take a couple out."
"Some insect species operate with a telepathic hive mind," Luke reminded him. "If we take one out the others might know."
Aer-ki cringed beneath his helmet. "Possibly. If we stun them quickly they shouldn't be able to report anything back. If we try and sneak past and fail…they're sure to set off an alarm."
"I know. I just wish there was a better way."
"I don't suppose you could sneak by them?"
Luke shook his head. "Not a chance. My camouflage skills have improved, but not nearly that far. And it would do nothing to hide my scent."
"Ok, we'll do it the hard way then. We have to do this simultaneously, and even if we pull it off…"
"…we'll be on the clock. Remind me why we're not killing them?" Luke asked, still a bit sick to his stomach.
"If they find them unconscious, without a wound, they won't be sure what happened to them. If we kill them it'll be too obvious, plus the smell of blood…"
"At least there's a reason…that's good enough for me," Luke said, feeling a little better.
"I know how you feel," Aer-ki said quietly, his hand slipping to one of his lightsabers. "We can't let this pass, but we need to be smart about when and where to hit them."
"I know I shouldn't feel this way…" Luke started to say.
"You should, actually. It's your past that's clouding your thoughts. What were you told to do in a situation like this?"
Luke felt his jaw flexing. "Forgive and forget…what's done is done…look for a diplomatic way to rectify the situation."
Jyr's helmet nodded. "I thought as much. Your gut instinct says that's wrong and your emotions are overcompensating in the other direction. Put your conflict with those idiotic notions aside and focus on the here and now."
Luke closed his eyes and blew out a slow breath, bleeding off his conflicting emotions. Underneath he felt a steady resolve to do something. He focused solely on that emotion and looked up at Jyr. "So…what do we do about the here and now?"
Aer-ki pointed a gloved finger at the ground. "Search for survivors…recon the area…take samples," he said, as he extended a third finger. "If they try and stop us we fight our way off the planet, killing any that get in our way. They've just declared war on all humans and there's no point in imagining otherwise."
Luke nodded. "I'm good with that. Thanks."
Aer-ki turned his attention back to the sentry line guards. "Take the one on the right."
Luke positioned himself on the other end of the deadfall and felt his friend try and connect to him through the force. He responded and sent a portion of his senses and situational awareness to Jyr through the battlemeld technique that they'd been devoting a significant amount of their training on during the past year. Luke, in return, received a rough feel of Aer-ki's body position and surroundings as they waited for the right moment to strike.
A few minutes later it came. Both Jedi sprang from cover and sprinted towards their targets while they were momentarily obscured from their line of sight. They tore their way through the underbrush and closed with a smaller version of the insectoids, barely a meter high.
Aer-ki felt Luke ready to strike…but he wasn't in position yet. He compensated by force leaping hands forward toward the squat creature now emerging from behind a thick tree trunk. He felt and heard Luke's blade snap to life, and saw the creature flinch in response to the sound just before Aer-ki ignited his blue blade half a meter in front of its face.
Jyr extinguished his blade before he hit the ground and rolled into a crouch. He heard nothing, not even Luke's blade, and extended his senses towards the nearest insectoid on the sentry line. He monitored it for more than two minutes, simultaneously observing the one nearest Luke thanks to the battlemeld. He felt Luke's urge to move and sent back his approval. He took one last look at the small, six legged sentry and met Luke some fifty meters away between the two stunned creatures.
"They're different," Luke whispered.
"I know," Aer-ki said as they pushed their way through thorn-filled underbrush. "It's either a subset of their species, or two species working together."
Luke was careful to keep the thorns away from his exposed face, while his combat suit was doing a good job of deflecting the little razor sharp needles. "I think we're in the clear."
"For now," Aer-ki reminded him. "We have no idea how long they're going to stay stunned or how long before they'll be missed. Let's make this quick."