Chapter Twenty Four

Fog and low lying clouds shrouded the highlands of Corellia's northern continent like a blanket. Small villages dotted the mountainous countryside, the only sign of civilization this far from the planet's capital city, Coronet. Herds of wild paralope, goat-like creatures that called the mountains home, roamed freely. A group of them grazed atop an ancient mountainside, the once soaring peak brought low by millions of years of erosion.

One of the paralopes, the elder of the pack, suddenly stood upright, its ears focusing into the distance. A buzzing sound, at first distant, suddenly grew louder until it turned into a high pitched wail. Two Imperial TIE fighters shot through the mist, causing the paralopes to shriek in fear. The herd scattered as the fighters roared overhead, followed by the lower pitched rumble of an Imperial Lambda-class shuttle.

The trio of craft continued on through the mountains until they came to a valley that spread out before them like a bowl filled with trees, streams, and the scar-like disruption of an archaeological dig site. The site clung to the side of a mountain, a small village of tents and heavy equipment arranged upon a terraced clearing. The TIE fighters buzzed the tents with only meters between them and the ground, causing the hundreds of workers to scatter. The turbulence left in their wake buffeted everything that wasn't tied down, causing a dust storm that swept through the site like a destructive tsunami.

The shuttle descended from on high, settling between the furthest row of tents and the edge of the treeline further down the mountain. The shuttle's wings folded upright, bringing the ship into its triangular landing configuration as it touched down. A moment later the boarding ramp lowered, releasing several dozen Imperial stormtroopers.

The stormtroopers spread out, ordering everyone out of their tents. A lieutenant with pale skin, wearing a tan military dress uniform, exited the shuttle, followed by a Corellian Security officer, who wore a dark grey uniform.

"Line everyone up," the lieutenant ordered. "Search every tent. Bring me the head researcher!"

"I really don't think you're going to find her out her," the Security officer said. The man, who appeared to be in his late thirties, scratched the back of his neck with one hand while he held a datapad in the other. His brown hair was slightly unkempt, which was very typically Corellian.

"Is that your professional opinion, or do you know something that I don't, officer Horn?" the lieutenant shot back.

"I already told you everything that CorSec knows," Horn answered. The stormtroopers were rapidly emptying the tents around them. A large group of archaeologists had been rounded up and assembled for review at the center of the encampment. "We have had no confirmed sighting of Asirya Par in months."

"Yet you have been reading her communications…" the lieutenant said, eyeing his local counterpart suspiciously.

"Professor Kalimdron's communications…" Horn clarified. "We have no confirmation he is actually communicating to her, and not someone else using a similar alias."

A stormtrooper sergeant, the distinguishing feature between him and the other stormtroopers being an orange shoulder pad, stepped towards the lieutenant and saluted, interrupting the terse conversation. "Sir. We've assembled every civilian in the encampment."

"Good," the lieutenant nodded. He turned towards Horn. "Make yourself useful and check to make sure every member of the research team is present."

"As you wish," Horn said. He brought a small datapad out of his pocket and brought up a roster. He began moving down the line of researchers, quickly glancing at each one to confirm their face matched their profile.

Meanwhile the lieutenant spotted the head researcher, a rather forlorn looking Caamasi. The fur-covered humanoid stood in the middle of the group, his three-fingered hands crossed over his robed abdomen. "Are you Eleron? You're the one in charge here?"

"That is correct," Eleron answered, a rather distant look on his face. He kept his long snout pointed towards the ground.

"Where is Asirya Par?"

"I have not seen her in years," Eleron answered, hardly glancing at the Imperial.

"Look at me when I'm speaking to you," the lieutenant shouted. "Where is she?"

"I have not seen her in years," the Caamasi repeated. "I do not know her current location."

"Oh? Then why are you mentioned working with her by the Head of the Archeology Department at the University of Corellia? By Professor Kalimdron."

"He must have been speaking in the past tense. I have not seen her in years. I do not know her current location."

"Oh really?" the lieutenant asked.

"Perhaps we should try a different line of questioning," Horn suggested. He stepped in front of Eleron, who shifted his gaze to take in the security officer. The Caamasi's demeanor seemed to soften ever so slightly. "Can you provide an up-to-date map of your dig so we can search the tunnels?"

"Yes," Eleron answered. He motioned to one of his assistants, a human woman, who promptly stepped forward with a datapad and transferred some files to Horn's device.

"I'll transmit these to your squad leaders," Horn said to the lieutenant. "That way we can search the tunnels ourselves instead of wasting time with your...circular...line of questioning."

The lieutenant scowled angrily but didn't seem able to come up with any convincing reason to countermand his Corellian counterpart. He ordered a squad of stormtroopers to stay behind and watch the researchers, freeing up the majority to head towards the tunnel entrance at the other side of the encampment.

"I think I'll go with your men," Horn said, waving his hand in front of the lieutenant in order to get his attention. "You should stay behind."

"I…" the lieutenant suddenly seemed to relax, his eyes becoming unfocused. "Yes, you should go with my men. I will stay behind." The imperial shook his head, as if clearing invisible cobwebs from within. "I have better things to do than tramp around dank tunnels. I'll be on the ship." With that the lieutenant turned and left, heading back towards the Lambda shuttle.

"Good idea," Horn said to himself quietly.

oOoOo

"I'll try, Thane," Asiyra said, a bit of sadness creeping into her voice. "Goodbye." Asirya turned off her holo-transmitter, terminating the connection that allowed her to speak to her ex-husband halfway across the galaxy. She leaned back in her canvas chair, glancing around at the inside of her tent. The sound of the Corellian night penetrated the cloth walls of the tent. She could hear crickets chirping in the distance, as well as the distant hoot of an owl. It was nearly winter, and already cold up here in the mountains.

She pushed the sleeve of her jacket upwards, revealing an antique chronometer she wore around her wrist. The heirloom had once belonged to her mother, who had received it as a gift from a Chandrillan artisan. The pricey device was analog, all gears and springs, but it could be configured to match the day/night cycle of any planet. It was the only thing she wore that would identify her as Asirya Par, the second daughter of a wealthy Chandrillan politician. Everything else...her hair color, her skin tone, her weight...she could change those to match any alias. But she wouldn't abandon her mother's chronometer.

It was only an hour or so until dawn. Any moment now...then she heard it, the sound of speeder engines approaching in the distance. She jumped up from her seat and hid her holo-transmitter, stuffing it inside a box meant for archeological artifacts. The device's counterpart on Jappa had just self-destructed, but she could always pair it to a new device if she wanted to contact Thane again. She exited the tent, her black, shoulder length hair billowing in the wind as two speeders set down at the center of the digsite.

Eleron had already arrived to greet the arrivals as Asirya ran over. The Caamasi wore the same formal robe he had worn ever since is homeworld had been devastated in a firestorm. She knew that the robe was traditional garb, something he would wear to a wedding. Or a funeral. That had been over a month ago.

A human pilot emerged from one of the speeders and greeted Eleron. "Sorry if we're early," the woman said.

"You're right on time," Asirya said, yelling to be heard over the sound of the speeder's engines. Her black air billowed in the wind generated by the engines. "Did you have any trouble?"

The pilot motioned towards his boxy speeder. A door unfolded from the back and a family of humans emerged. "No," she answered. "But the Imperials are on to us. They, and some people from the Diktat, were snooping around the university. This might be the last group we can get out of the system."

Asirya glanced at Eleron, who seemed to nod in agreement with her. She had known the Caamasi for over a decade but was often still surprised at his ability to read her body language. Perhaps the alien had some borderline Force sensitivity.

"I think it was going to be the last group anyway, this year at least," she said. "Winter is coming soon, and digsites always such down during the winter." She glanced at the group of people that had emerged from each speeder. They looked haggard, scared, but also hopeful. Someone from each group, or someone they knew, had crossed either the Imperials or the local Diktat, the oppressive regime that had ruled Corellia decades before the Empire had even existed. If they tried to get out of the system they risked being caught. And if they were caught they risked life in an Imperial prison. Which was really a drawn out death sentence. "This way," she motioned. "We need to get you out of the open."

She led the roughly two dozen refugees through the camp. Most of the archeology investigators were still asleep. Or pretending to be so. If one was asleep, one could not be a witness. After a short climb up the highest terrace the group arrived at the entrance to the tunnels. Eleron activated a control panel hidden against the stone of the mountainside. The tunnel leading deep within the mountain lit up with inner light as the glow panels activated.

"I'll head back to the camp keep watch," Eleron said to Asirya, bowing slightly as he left to put the refugees at ease.

"This way," Asirya said, taking a glow rod from a nearby bin and entering the tunnel. The refugees, the children amongst them clinging to their parents, followed. At first the tunnel seemed natural. This part had been carved out of the mountainside by the archaeologists, natural passages expanded with careful drilling. But things changed as the group reached a cavernous clearing. The natural limestone gave way to material that was artificial and ancient. The walls here were a polished material that seemed something between stone and metal. Here and there circular carvings danced around them, glowing with a faint inner light that seemed to follow the group.

Finally they arrived in a tall chamber. The ceiling had been hollowed out, allowing repulsor sleds to remove material emptied from within the mountain with maximum efficiency. A handful of the sleds, which didn't look like much more than trash containers with engines, sat parked inside of the clearing. Asirya walked over to one of the sleds and activated a hidden control panel. The top, which seemed to be filled with rocky debris, popped upwards, revealing a hidden compartment within.

"This sled is equipped with life support systems and anti-scanner equipment," Asirya said. The refugees appeared skeptical. "They take material removed from the site to a processing facility to the south, which sorts the material to weed out any valuable minerals. Once this one reaches the facility your sled with be redirected to a freighter owned by my organization. From there you will be taken to Alderaan, disguised as freight."

"That doesn't sound very appealing," an older man said, his voice trembling.

"Would you rather spend the rest of your life in an Imperial prison?" Asirya said. He shook his head, after some hesitation. "Then you should all get inside."

The refugees filed in, finding the interior much more comfortable than seemed possible from the outside. When all of them were safely inside Asirya sealed the container behind them. The top lowered, and the sled didn't look any different from any of the others.

Asirya went to work, waking up the four hibernating industrial droids stationed near the corridors that led to other parts of the archeological site. The big droids were centuries old, humanoid-shaped lumbering machines that were as loud as they were bulky. If anyone came snooping hopefully the droids would provide an adequate distraction.

Suddenly her comlink, which rerouted its signal through a series of antennae installed inside of the tunnel for a secure connection to the outside, beeped loudly. "Yes," she answered.

"The Imperials are on their way," Eleron said ominously. "You have only a few minutes."

"Thanks for the warning," she answered. Asirya glanced around the room. If they caught her here they might do a more thorough search and find the refugees. She took off at a run, choosing one of the side corridors at random, her glow rod held high. Eventually she came to a closed off room that was filled with ancient computer equipment that defied modern scrutiny. There were console shaped tables set throughout, but they were made of the same stone as the corridors themselves. There were no identifiable buttons. No electrical inputs. No one had any idea how the devices functioned or what they were supposed to run. She identified one of the consoles that was large enough to obscure her body and squeezed behind it. She extinguished her glow rod and hid it behind her back. And then she waited.

The only light illuminating the room was the peculiar glow emitting by the swirling carvings on the wall. The glow was in the corridor outside of the doorway.

"Go away," she muttered. "You might as well be telling them where I'm hiding." To her astonishment the light went out. "Thanks…" she said, no small amount of fear creeping into her voice.

oOoOo

Kasyndra Pereth stood sidled up to a bar in Coronet cities' main spaceport. The facility was modern but heavily used. Bits of trash drifted here and there, trampled underfoot by the thousands of beings that passed through the place each day. Yan Po Lom stood next to her, his tall leonine frame overshadowing her. She wore a tanned leather flight jacket and tight cloth pants. She wore her belt loose around her hips, although she lacked a blaster to go with it. If it wasn't for her Mid-Rim accent she would be able pass for a pretty typical Corellian. She glanced around herself at the multitude of beings that drifted through the wide halls. There were more species than she could count, let alone recognize. It was so much less homogenous than Jappa.

She glanced up at the drink menu behind the droid bartender. The drinking age was also lower...suddenly the sound of a dozen pairs of hurried footsteps approached from behind. Kasyndra turned to find a squad of stormtroopers staring at them, blasters raised.

Yan Po Lom stepped in front of her, shielding her with his massive body.

"Kasyndra Pereth, Yan Po Lom," one of the stormtroopers said, his voice filtered through his helmet. "You're under arrest."

oOoOo

Hal Horn reluctantly followed a squad of stormtroopers into the archaeological tunnels. He had spent almost his entire life on Corellia, but he had never before visited one of these sites. The idea of an ancient civilization whose ruins dotted not only Corellia but the other sister planets in the system, ruins that defied explanation despite decades of research, gave him the creeps. As they explored the tunnel a glowing light seemed to follow them on the wall. The stormtroopers ignored it, their focus squarely on finding hiding refugees and a wanted criminal, and not wondering about the mysteries of the universe. But, as the stormtroopers fanned out, Hal couldn't help but wonder what the glow was, what powered it. He reached out with the Force and felt...something. Something strong, but unidentifiable and intangible. His father, a Jedi Master who had died shortly after the Clone Wars, had never said much about these ruins.

Finally they came into a large chamber whose ceiling opened up to the sky. A handful of repulsor sleds sat parked within, filled with excavated stone. Four industrial droids rumbled slowly back and forth, picking up buckets of rock and depositing them into the sleds.

"Search the bins," the stormtrooper's squad leader ordered. Hal could sense the refugees hiding in the sled near the far wall, through the Force.

"I'll take this one," he called out. He approached the sled and made a good show of looking into it. The refugees were sealed within a hidden compartment. He felt no signs of fear from them. Clearly they had no idea a dozen stormtroopers were nearly on top of them. "It's clear he called out."

"Alright," the squad leader said as the other troopers signalled the other sleds were clear as well. "Split up and search the side tunnels. Shoot to stun. We want to bring in the target alive."

"Affirmative," Horn said, nodding. He made a show of pulling out a blaster pistol, although he didn't bother arming it. He glanced around the chamber at the various entrances to the side corridors. The stormtroopers were already hurrying down them. He reached out with the Force, and then smiled. He took off at a run, catching up with one of the pairs of troopers just as they reached the room Asirya had hidden herself in.

The troopers stepped into the room, the glowlights on the ends of their blasters scanning the room. One of them spotted a foot just barely poking out from one of the consoles.

"You there, hands up!" the trooper shouted. Asirya cursed and stepped out from behind the consoles. She kept her glowrod hidden behind her back. "Put binders on her," the trooper said to his fellow.

The other trooper approached, dropping his blaster down in order to retrieve a pair of cuffs from his utility belt. As he neared she tensed up, ready to bludgeon the trooper. She didn't know how she would avoid being shot by the other.

Just as she was about to swing she heard another pair of foosteps in the hall beyond the room. "Freeze!" Hal Horn shouted.

The trooper approaching her suddenly stopped. The other, his blaster still trained on her, likewise seemed to stop in place. Asirya meant to swing the glowrod and knock out the nearest trooper but found that she too could not move.

Horn stepped into the room. "Asirya Par," he said, a slight grin on his face. "They caught you at last."

"Hal Horn?" Asirya asked. He stepped into view, his face illuminated by the light reflected from the trooper's blasters off of the wall.

"None other," he said.

"Would you release me?" she asked, mildly annoyed.

"Sure," he said. "Just don't do anything stupid."

She felt something fall away from her body, like an invisible hand that was holding her in place had suddenly vanished. She revealed the glow rod from behind her back but decided not to use it as a weapon. For now.

Horn stepped between Asirya and the troopers. "There is nobody in this room," he said, a commanding tone coming over his voice. "You should keep searching elsewhere."

"There is nobody in this room," both of the troopers repeated in unison. "We should keep searching elsewhere." One trooper lowered his blaster while the other put the cuffs back into his utility belt. Together they turned and left like nothing had happened.

"That's a neat trick," Asirya said. "Wish I could do that."
"I bet you don't," he said after some hesitation. "If the Empire knew what I was they would be hunting me a lot harder than they are hunting you."

"I knew you were a friend to the organization, but I didn't know you were a Jedi," she said, staring at him curiously.

"I'm not a Jedi...not technically," he responded. "I never completed my training, and my dad broke a lot of rules training me himself."

"Didn't complete your training?" Asirya asked. "You don't seem half trained to me."
"Hey, I didn't say I wasn't gifted," he answered back, laughing.

"What about the refugees?"

"They're safe, as far as I know. The ones in the repulsor sled are all of them?"

"Yeah," Asirya said.

"Well, I can cover for you today," Hal said. "But you got lucky. I just happened to be in the office when the call came in. I hadn't been..."

"I get it," Asirya answered, nodding. "What tipped them off?"

"They hacked into Professor Kalimdron's communications. You may have friends like me in CorSec, but we can only do so much. There are a lot more ISB agents in the system than there used to be. I support what you've done here...but it might be time to move on."

"You might be right," she agreed. Her thoughts suddenly went to the family she had abandoned years ago.

"I want a status report," came the harsh voice of the Imperial lieutenant through Hal's comlink. A series of reports streamed in from the stormtroopers. Each of them reported an all clear.

"Horn?" the lieutenant asked.

"All clear," Hal answered, holding the comlink up and eyeing Asirya. "I think this is a wild paralope chase."

"Frakking hells," the lieutenant cursed, breaking military discipline. "I want everyone back to the transport immediately. We just got a call. The target's daughter just showed up at Coronet spaceport."

"Copy that," Hal said solemnly.

Asirya eyes went wild. "They have Kasyndra?"

"...It could be a false i.d," Hal offered.

"I have to get to her," she said, panicking. She was about to burst past Hal when he held up a hand.

"Hold on," he said. "The kind lieutenant may have came up empty this time, but that doesn't mean he's given up. The Imperials had probe droids on their transport. They're going to be watching the site. Your only way out is on one of your repulsor sleds. And even then, you can't just show up at the Imperial administrative building and bail her out. Let me handle this."

"I...I suppose I don't have any choice but to trust you," Asirya said at last. "I don't like being in people's debt," she added, eyeing him warily.

"Your not in my debt," he responded, shaking his head. "It's the least I can do...after all the people you've gotten out of the system. Helping your daughter is the very least I can do."

"Thanks Hal," she said. "I won't forget this."

"Thank me after I've saved the day," he said, smirking slightly. "You sit tight for a few hours."

"Horn, get your ass up here," the Imperial lieutenant shouted over the comlink, "Or I'm leaving you behind."

"Better go," Hal said. He nodded towards Asirya, turned, and then took off down the corridor.

As soon as he left Asirya nearly collapsed onto the floor.