Chapter 19
The Dromund Kaas base was on lockdown. Every Sith had been called to the assembly square where Darth Volatis stood on the raised platform. As she looked out over the sea of 100-plus Sith Knights, warriors, and guards, she smirked. These creatures were bred specifically to fight Jedi. The Skywalker boy would be no match for them. She did not care what Hatus or her siblings thought; she was more than capable of hunting down and killing one boy without their help. By this time tomorrow, they would be apologizing for ever doubting her.
To the assembled crowd, she announced, "As you've no doubt heard, there is a Jedi loose on the base. We have identified him as Ben Skywalker, son of Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker." She paused while a large holoprojector next to her showed the security footage of the young Jedi killing the three Sith guards. The gathered Sith growled and grumbled at the sight of their brethren being killed. Volatis knew that they had been ingrained with a deep hatred of Jedi, and would not rest until this infiltrator had been hunted down and ripped limb from limb.
She continued, "Lord Hatus doesn't think we can catch him on our own, but I disagree. Now is your chance to prove just how skilled you all are. Bar the gates, double-man the watchtowers, and disable all ships so he can't escape. Patrol the entire facility in groups with weapons loaded and comlinks activated. All slaves are to be monitored closely at all times. To accomplish this, they will be working all day, all night, nonstop all week until the boy is dead. That means no breaks, no dinner, and no sleep. Is that understood?"
In unison, every Sith beat his or her chest and yelled to affirm their understanding. They then ran off in every direction to carry out their orders. Volatis admired the vigor with which they moved. It was obvious that they were eager to catch the Jedi, but nowhere near as eager as she was. She still could not believe that Ben Skywalker had been right under her nose for two months. He had made a fool of her, and for that, he must pay. When she caught him, she would cut off his head, show it to her master, and then send it to his father. Then, the Jedi would know that the Sith truly have returned, stronger and more dangerous than ever.
Ben listened to Volatis' speech from his hiding place behind the corpse warehouse. After what had happened in the kitchen, the base was crawling with Sith intent on killing him. In his efforts to avoid the patrols, he had ended up at the one place the Sith were hesitant to search. The pile of bodies within the warehouse had continued to grow, and the bodies at the bottom of the pile had been rotting for over two months. Naturally, this produced an overwhelming stench that made Ben queasy.
But, he had to endure the smell, otherwise he would be forced into the open. He was still armed with the ax rifle, but that would not be effective against a hundred Sith. He would only fight as a last resort. Until then, stealth was the key to success. Still, the sooner he came up with a plan, the sooner he could get away from the wretched warehouse.
His goal was straightforward: get into the command center and send a message to the Jedi Temple. Of course, this gave rise to numerous complications. He had to get into the building at the center of the base, find the command center, gain access to the interstellar communications array, record his message, and transmit it, all without alerting anyone to his presence. That was next to impossible.
Unless he could create a distraction. But it had to be large enough to draw everyone out of the building, including Volatis. What kind of distraction would do that? Maybe a riot? No, that would put the slaves in too much danger. What about an explosion? Possibly, but it would have to be a big one, and Ben had neither the time nor the resources to pull that off. It occurred to him that he could use his rifle to damage the power generators, causing a blackout. That would work, except the generators were on the other side of the base, likely under heavy guard.
Ben suppressed a frustrated scream. None of his ideas were any good, and he could not concentrate enough to come up with anything better. It was because of that accursed smell! Why did the Sith need to store the bodies, anyway? Whenever a slave dies, why not just throw the body directly into the furnace? It would open up the warehouse for other uses, feed the generators, and, most of all, not smell!
That is when it hit him; the warehouse! If he set fire to the warehouse, the Sith would lose their only power source. Eventually, the generators would run out of fuel, disabling the entire base. To prevent that from happening, every Sith on the base would flock to the warehouse to put out the fire and try to save the bodies. That would leave the command center relatively unoccupied.
But there were two problems with that plan. Firstly, Volatis would immediately realize that Ben had set the fire, and have every Sith on the base search that area for him. There was no way he could get past them all unless he was far away when the fire started. Also, how was Ben going to start a fire? He had learned how to make small campfires using wood and kindling, but he knew nothing about starting fires large enough to engulf an entire building. He had no accelerant, no lighter, and no wood dry enough to burn.
There was a rumble of thunder, prompting Ben to look up. Off in the distance, gray storm clouds were rolling in, illuminated by near-constant lightning bolts. Dromund Kaas was known for having some of the most severe lightning storms in the galaxy. Luckily, the Sith had been prepared for them. Every building had lightning rods that attracted lightning and delivered it safely to the ground so that it could not cause any damage.
It then occurred to Ben that he could use the lightning to set fire to the warehouse. However, there was no guarantee that a bolt of lightning powerful enough to start a fire would hit that particular building. He had to find a way to increase those odds. He studied the warehouse and found the wire that ran from the lightning rod into the ground. He knew that there was a second rod buried in the dirt. If he dug it up and attached it to the warehouse, the lightning would transfer to the walls instead.
Ben did not have a shovel, but he did have the next best thing: the Force. Reaching out with his senses, he probed into the dirt until he found the metal rod. Then, he willed it up towards the surface. He had to jiggle it repeatedly to loosen the packed soil surrounding it, but, after nearly a minute, the rod finally broke through the surface and landed at Ben's feet. Smooth enough.
Now, he needed a way to attach the rod to the warehouse. If he had his lightsaber, he could simply poke a hole in the wall, but all he had was the rifle. He supposed it might be powerful enough to shoot through the wall. Pressing the tip of the barrel to the wall and pulling the trigger, Ben fired a blaster bolt point-blank through the metal. When he removed the rifle, he saw that it had left a burning hole just large enough for the rod to slide through. Stale air that reeked of rotting corpses escaped through the hole, causing Ben to retch. Thankfully, he was able to hold his breath long enough to plug the hole with the rod.
Ben exhaled and stepped back to admire his handiwork. If lighting struck the warehouse, it would set it on fire. But there was still a greater chance that lightning would strike another building instead. Fortunately, he already had a plan. He moved to the building right next to the warehouse and repeated the process, only he stuck that building's ground rod into the warehouse. Now, if lightning struck either of those buildings, the warehouse would catch fire. Satisfied that he had a good plan, he went to carry out the rest of it before the storm arrived.
Two hours later, Ben had connected the lightning rods of almost every building to the warehouse. For buildings that were further away, he attached their ground rods to the lightning rods of the next building over. Now, nearly the entire base was connected by a network of cables. If lightning struck anywhere on the base, it was likely to be transferred to the warehouse. Hopefully, the Sith were too focused on searching for him to notice his sabotage.
Incredibly, Ben had not been seen by any Sith, much to his surprise. There had been a few close calls in which a guard had caught a glimpse of him, but before they could investigate, Ben had found a hiding place. There were also instances where a passing slave had noticed him, but they remained silent. Either they were hoping that Ben would succeed in thwarting the Sith, or they were too afraid to draw attention to themselves by speaking up. Either way, Ben had thus far eluded capture, and that was all that mattered.
The next part of his plan relied on luck, unfortunately. Rain was starting to fall, and loud thunderclaps indicated that the storm had arrived. Ben had to hope that there was a lightning strike powerful enough to set the warehouse on fire. Until then, all he could do was wait. He was hiding behind a slave hut on the opposite side of the base so that, when the Sith flocked to the burning warehouse, Ben would be nowhere near them.
From his vantage point, Ben watched the warehouse and the dark sky above it. There were occasional flashes of lightning, but no actual bolts. After a couple minutes, from the corner of his eye, Ben noticed a lightning bolt strike another warehouse. He waited for several seconds, but nothing happened. Oh, well. He did not expect it to work on the first try. So he waited another minute for another building to be struck. Nothing happened then, either.
Ben watched for several minutes as lighting struck various buildings throughout the base, never having any effect. Perhaps there had been a flaw in his logic. Maybe what he was hoping for was impossible. If that were the case, then all of that work had been for nothing, and Ben was no closer to contacting the Jedi Temple.
"Come on," he growled softly, as though willing nature to do his bidding. "Come on!" He stomped his foot and let out a stifled groan, venting his frustration. Why would it not work? The Force should have made it work! Did it not care that innocent people were being enslaved and tortured? That Ben was their only hope of freedom? That he had put all of his faith into this plan? Or was everything happening the way the Force willed it to, in which case, Ben had no hope of succeeding.
He sat in the mud and started to cry. He did not care if anyone saw or heard him. Ben had failed, and was ready to accept his fate.
"Your men are obviously not looking hard enough!" exclaimed Volatis.
General Vonar Dykes growled at her. "My men are the best! They have scoured the entire base a dozen times, checking every nook and cranny, and there is no sign of the Jedi! If they have not found him, then he is not here!"
"He is here!" Volatis emphasized her point by pounding on the conference table. Every Sith in the command center had stopped what they were doing to witness the fiery exchange. Taking note of this, Volatis forced herself to calm down and said, "He has to be here. Where could he possibly go? There are no ships, no civilizations in any direction for thousands of kilometers. He'd starve to death within three days out there."
Dykes conceded, "I do not disagree with you, Lady Volatis, but if the Jedi is here, he is too well hidden."
Volatis almost roared at him about his men's incompetence, but she thought better of it. Their argument had already gone in that direction too many times. Instead, she said, "If we can't find him, then we'll draw him out using the slaves. The Jedi's compassion is their key weakness."
"Do you want us to start torturing them?" Dykes asked hopefully.
"No," she replied grudgingly. "Lord Hatus has made it clear that we can't harm any of the slaves as long as they can work. We need to wear them down, and then punish them for not working hard enough. Make sure everyone is doubly aware that there will be no food or rest until the Jedi is found."
"We've already told them that. It'll be several hours still until the slaves start to collapse from exhaustion."
"We don't have that kind of time! I want the boy found, now!" Volatis stared angrily at Ben's hologram, which was being displayed all over the base. He had spent two months as a slave; surely, it would not be difficult to draw him out! But how could the Sith do that without killing their workforce?
Slowly, an idea came to her. What if they only had to torture one slave? One slave out of a thousand should be an acceptable loss, even for Hatus. She straightened up and looked at Dykes. "That girl he saved in the security footage. Find her and bring her to me. If I'm right, then she's the only slave we'll have to torture to draw the boy out."
Dykes pounded his chest. "I will fetch her myself."
The Sith general was about to leave when a guard suddenly yelled, "Fire in Warehouse 2!"
Volatis stiffened. "Warehouse 2?" she repeated. She looked out the window in the direction of the warehouse. Sure enough, smoke was pouring from holes in the melted metal walls. Whatever was inside the warehouse must have been burning. And there was only one thing inside that particular warehouse. "Put out that fire, NOW!" Before the guard could relay her orders through the PA system, Volatis was already on her way to the warehouse.
"Fire in Warehouse 2! Repeat: Fire in Warehouse 2! All personnel, report to Warehouse 2 to put out the fire!"
Upon hearing this announcement, Ben stopped crying and looked up. When he saw the smoke, he laughed triumphantly. His plan had worked! It had just taken a little more time than he had expected. Sith and slaves from all over the base were now hurrying towards the warehouse, including command personnel. Ben knew that there were water pumps that could be placed in the river, as well as fire hoses that could be hooked up to them, but the base had never had to use them before. It would take time to set everything up.
Ben picked up his stolen rifle and stealthily darted from building to building. Just as he had predicted, all of the guards were running away from him, so no one saw him approach the command building. Peering out from a recessed alcove, he saw Volatis by the warehouse, barking orders to everyone around her. It was now or never. When he was sure that no one was looking, Ben ran into the command building.
The warehouse was doomed. That much was clear. Whatever had happened to the building had caused the doors to melt together. As the strongest Sith warriors tried to pry the doors open, their hands began to burn from prolonged exposure to the hot metal. Even when they wore heavy-duty gloves, they could not withstand the heat for long, and they were forced to give up. Finally, Volatis ordered a pair of Sith Knights to cut the doors open with their lightsabers. When the doors finally opened, a wave of heat, coupled with the most horrible stench, caused everyone to recoil.
When Volatis recovered, she looked into the warehouse, raising her hand to shield her eyes from the light. The massive pile of corpses, stretching all the way to the walls and ceiling, was engulfed in flames. There was no way anything could be salvaged. The base's only fuel source was gone.
Whatever despair Volatis may have felt was quickly replaced by anger. She was not sure how or why, but there was no doubt in her mind that Ben Skywalker was responsible for this. That boy had sabotaged the entire operation. Without bodies, the Sith could not feed the generators. Without the generators, the base would have no power. Without power, there would be no light, no heat, no communications, and no defense cannons. The base would be utterly defenseless.
General Dykes approached Volatis. "We need to call for reinforcements from Korriban before the power goes out."
Volatis' head snapped in his direction. "No! I promised Hatus that we could capture the boy by ourselves! If we call for help, then we prove how ineffective this base is!"
Dykes growled. "Even if we capture the boy, how do you intend to keep this base running?"
"If you just shut up and let me think, I'll tell you!" she snapped back. When the Sith general did not respond, Volatis' mind began to whir. If any of the other Sith bases tried to contact Dromund Kaas while the power was out, Hatus would immediately know that something was wrong, and he would send reinforcements anyway. And then, he would punish Volatis for her miserable failure. She had to keep the base from losing power, and that meant finding new fuel for the generators. "Take any slave that's underperforming and throw them directly into the furnaces. Let them burn to death; that should catch the boy's attention."
Dykes began, "But you just said that Lord Hatus–"
"Lord Hatus doesn't know how many slaves we have. He won't notice if a few are missing. You have your orders, General, now carry them out. And make sure that the only ones who know about this will never speak of it to anyone. Hatus can never find out what happened here. Understood?"
Dykes bowed. "Yes, ma'am."
As the Sith walked away from her, Volatis called out to him, "And make sure that girl is one of the first to die!"
Ben's distraction had worked so well that the command building was mostly empty. What few Sith he encountered were unarmed and startled to see him. Ben made quick work of them with his rifle. He made his way up to the communications center and jammed the doors shut so that he would not be interrupted. Sitting at the console, he began to toy with buttons and switches, trying to learn how to use the Sith's equipment. After a couple minutes, he figured it out.
Ben knew that in order to convince the Jedi that it was really him sending the message, and not the Sith attempting to lure them into a trap, he had to record a hologram that included his image. He turned on the holorecorder and began his message.
"This is Ben Skywalker. I'm alive, but I'm a prisoner on a Sith base on Dromund Kaas. The Sith have kidnapped innocent people from the Outer Rim and are using them as slaves to build weapons. I've been trying to gather whatever information I can, but my cover's been blown, and the Sith are after me. If you get this message, please send help ASAP. Hundreds of innocent lives depend on it."
After he had finished recording, Ben input the frequency corresponding to the Jedi Temple. And then, he hit "send." A readout on the console confirmed that the message was on its way to Coruscant. The Jedi should be receiving it within a few hours. He only hoped that they were not too busy to notice it.
I'd like to point out that I am well aware that the lightning rod trick Ben used would not work in real life. That was one of the times I had to cheat to make the story work. Besides, it's Star Wars, where the laws of physics are different. If you have any comments or questions, please leave them in your reviews or private messages.