Chapter 44: Jedi in the Machine
A/N: I'm back! Saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens (three times), moved across the country, had a lovely welcoming snow storm our first weekend in our new home, entertained visiting family all around Washington, D.C., and got a work transfer in motion. Whew. I think it's time for some more Lyrical Lightsabers, don't you?
Songs in order of appearance: It Was Always You ~ Maroon 5, Smack My Bitch Up ~ The Prodigy
Quinn insisted on a twenty-four hour re-cooperation period and then we would be back on task. The team had managed to not only complete the trandoshan assignment for Captain Vandorn, but also assist Special Agent Ava Selden while getting to my location. So we were free to work on our own original orders again.
I woke up from a nap to see Malavai kneeling beside the bed, looking down at me. I smiled at him and stretched, yawning. His face made me happy.
"Watching me sleep?" I asked him with a laugh.
"Yes," he replied simply, smiling. "I actually have something very important to ask you."
I tossed the light covers from myself and stood. "I'm all ears."
He remained as he was, hands resting on his knee, just turning himself to face me. His expression had changed to earnest and nervous. My stomach flip-flopped slightly.
"In light of your recent disappearance and re-acquisition, I've decided that our lives are too unpredictable to wait for a 'proper time' for everything. You've shown me there's nothing we can't achieve together. I, I'd be honored if you would marry me."
I stared at him for a few moments, eyes wide with surprise, my heart suddenly in my throat. I had to swallow and lick my lips, reaching down to his hands.
"I'll marry you, Quinn," I said softly.
His face erupted into a gigantic smile and he stood, wrapping his arms around me and swinging me up off the floor in a spin.
"You've made me very happy, my Lord. Once we are allowed to be ourselves again, in light of our new commitment, perhaps you can start calling me 'Malavai' in public." He chuckled as he set me down.
I raised my eyebrow at him, "I'll just call you 'husband' once the deed is done. How's that?"
He looked at me, trying to read my tone. "Please, don't."
"Or maybe, 'hubby.' Hubby-to-be. Captain Hubby. Oh! 'Q' would be easier. Or just 'Mal' as Vette likes to call you. But I do really like the idea of just calling out 'Oh, husband!'" I said, teasing him.
"I know better than to take you seriously," he said with a small head shake and chuckle. "It's time to get back to work, Wife-to-be."
My crew is like my family, I've mentioned that, I think. Stepping from our tent I could tell they already knew what Quinn had been up to. Every one of them offered us engagement congratulations. Vette was already scheming up wedding plans to my amused dismay.
We were back on track, returning to the High Security area of Belsavis' large prison complex. This time we were heading for a special section in High Security Storage, known as the Records Room.
It didn't take us long from Vandorn's Imperial Command Post to find the set of buildings we were looking for. Luckily, it was mostly surrounded by Imperial awed prisoners, who let us pass without provocation. Once inside, however, we knew we would be fighting our own again.
"For the record, I am highly unhappy with the death of so many Imperial officers thus far," Quinn voiced as we disembarked from the landspeeders. "I fully understand collateral damage, but these men and women have no idea what kind of silent war they're in."
"I'm all for less death and more incapacitation, however that takes longer," I replied.
"What if we attempt a Force mind trick, cause a small mass hallucination for those inside," Jaesa suggested. It had been almost a full year since she had completed her training under Apprentice Sarith's—Lord Sarith since about three months ago—brutal boot, but the lessons she had learned with the Indigo Phoenix training company continued to serve her and her team well. Following her initial lessons on Dun Moch, Lord Sarith had enrolled her in a special class to hone her ability to affect living minds with the Force. "If the three of us do it combined, like what Wilde and I practice when I borrow her essence to enhance my special abilities, we might have enough strength to convince all the living inside that the place is on fire or something."
I turned to Jaesa, head angled slightly as I thought about her idea. "It's a little crazy. But, it just might work."
Malavai shrugged. "I'm willing to try it if we can save innocent Imperial lives."
"Broonmark," I called out, watching him deactivate his stealth field and stride over to me. "Would you please scout inside, let us know how many living beings you see inside."
"No kill?" He asked.
"Not at this time. We want to try something special," I replied.
He nodded and gave a small bow. "Broonmark will look." He shimmered and disappeared.
Several minutes later our talz returned.
"Less soldiers than droids," he held up eight digits. "All standing close to computer."
"Excellent. Thank you Broonmark," I said nodding. "Let's see if we can fool the living into an evacuation."
###
Our footsteps echoed off the metal floor as we descended into the mostly abandoned Records Storage area. As warned, there were still a few droids to dispatch, but we had managed to manipulate the living minds of the Imperials and have them leave without blood shed.
We located the room we needed to access, but the door had been shut. Vette tried, to no avail, to open it from the mangled control panel.
"Sorry, Wilde. This panel's been mauled."
I pounded on the battered durasteel door in frustration. "So close."
"Hello out there. A word, please. I am Jedi Master Somminick Timmns," a male voice called from the other side of the stuck slab of metal.
We all shared a look of amused bewilderment.
"I know you're there, I can feel your presence. Not to mention that little stunt you pulled. What's more, I know who you are," the Jedi called out. "Many years past I was the Padawan of Master Noman Karr. He and I forged a bond through the Force. I know about your confrontation with Master Karr... and what you did to him."
"He's lucky I spared him," I said softly, frowning.
"I should have killed that miserable old man when I had the chance," Jaesa called back.
Everyone but Broonmark glanced at her in surprise.
"He's never been the same, and he no longer communes with the Force," Master Timmns replied solemnly. "Ever since you defeated Karr and took Jaesa Willsaam, the Jedi Council has been keeping track of you. We know you are no longer allied with Darth Baras and are, in fact, here to stop Lord Melicoste from freeing Darth Ekkage."
Jaesa turned and looked at me, a dark smile playing across her lips. "Nice to see you Jedi aren't all in the dark," she replied, turning back to the door.
"You'll find we are not as inept as your former Master may have suggested," he retorted. "It's a dead end, Sith. To follow Lord Melicoste, you need information from the computers in this room, but the door has been fused."
"Yeah, no kidding," Vette growled, rolling her eyes.
"I came for the same reason," Timmns continued. "I got the information, but Lord Melicoste's commandos trapped me in here."
"Outmatched by mere commandos," Jaesa scoffed. "Not your proudest day."
"Oh, I don't know," Timmns called back with a slightly humored tone. "There were quite a lot of them and I held my own. But I have an idea. Our combined strength, striking the door from both sides simultaneously, could break the physical seal. Trouble is, there's a fail safe force field that makes even that impossible. Now, if you were to take out that force field..."
Jaesa banged on the door. "I don't appreciate dramatic pauses."
"There are several power stations feeding this installation. Destroy them, and the force field will not engage. Then you and I can break through this door and you can access the prisoner reports."
"Stop talking! I'll do it," Jaesa called back to Timmns.
"Glad to hear it. Scour the area and destroy the power stations. Then return and start banging on the door. We'll work it out. I'll be waiting, after all, where am I going to go?" He ended with a sardonic chuckle.
Jaesa turned from the door and slowly walked over to us, her facial expression relaxing to a nervous grin. "So, did I do alright?"
"Channeling your Lord Cynn, you did quite well. I don't think he knows how many of us are actually out here at the moment," I replied.
We continued to move away from the door a few more meters and then huddled together to talk through our plan of action.
"The small generators the Jedi is referring to are topside in the courtyard. With the personnel cleared out, it should be easy enough to disable them and bring down the force field," Quinn explained.
Pierce smiled. "Let me and blueberry here go up and take them out, rest of you just sit tight a few. Be back in a tick."
"Blueberry? Really?" She asked.
Pierce shrugged. "What? I call all twi'leks your color. I'll stop when you're back to normal."
She punched him in the arm, then he and Vette headed out of the room.
###
We heard some muffled explosions from above, the lights flickered a few times and then Pierce and Vette were back.
"Shall we?" I prompted Jaesa with a wave toward the large door.
She walked back over and pounded on the metal with the flat of her palm. "I have returned, Jedi. The power stations are down."
"Great. With the force field down, we should be able to break the door open. On three. One, two..."
Quinn, Jaesa and I stood facing the door, side-by-side.
"Yeah," Vette yelled out. "You should really move back, Jedi man!"
"Three!" Jaesa called out.
The three of us rammed at the door with a combined wave of the Force, causing the center to dent in and fly back into the room the Jedi had been trapped in. When the dust settled, there was a mirialan male Jedi, picking himself up from his face down and flattened position on the floor. He had skin the color of new grass, eyes the same shade and was bald. His black tattoos were similar to Apprentice Qorrah's, diamond shapes in patterns on his chin, cheeks and forehead. However, they were different enough to be his own.
He stood up, nearly laughing. "Well done, Sith... and company." He studied each one of us, looking between me and Jaesa a few moments. "Now... I know one of you has got to be Jaesa Willsaam."
Jaesa looked at me and smiled darkly, turning back to the Jedi. "I used to be."
"Any regrets, my dear? Joining up with these rogues?" Timmns asked, his tone light.
She laughed. "Absolutely not, Jedi. Not when I get to meet and destroy obnoxious fools like you."
"We have more important matters to attend to," Quinn prompted.
Timmns nodded. "That we do, Sith. Now, before you think to fight me, I suggest you look at the computers in here." He pointed behind him with his thumb and then led us into the room.
The data banks had been visibly damaged by lightsaber. I sighed softly. I heard Quinn give a similar sound of disappointment.
"I'd say they've seen better days," Timmns remarked. "Hm. Still smoking. I wonder who could have destroyed them."
"Obviously, you destroyed the computers so we couldn't get the information we need," Jaesa said.
"I did it to make sure no one else sent by Darth Baras could succeed. That is, after you and I stop Lord Melicoste. Now I'm the only one who knows where to go. Our goals are one, even if our motives vary. I suggest a partnership."
"Tell me where Darth Ekkage's cell is, and we can part ways," I prompted, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Sorry," Timmns said, shrugging. "I can't be sure you won't attack me once you know. All I'll tell you is that we're headed for Deep Prison. The exact location of Darth Ekkage's cell remains my secret."
"C'mon. Let's get it outta him the hard way," Pierce growled out, cracking his knuckles.
Master Timmns shook his head. "In good faith, I'll point you to her assassins. You can make sure they remain locked up while I get access to the Deep Prison."
"How about you deal with the assassins and we move to the next sector?" Jaesa asked.
"Because I suspect you'll have slightly better repoire with your fellow Sith," Timmns explained. "You might get the assassins to back down without a fight. Me? Not so much. Here are the coordinates." He offered a datapad to us.
Quinn stepped forward and accepted it.
"My frequency is encrypted on the datapad. Holo me when you're done and we'll face the Darths." He looked at our group again, nodding to himself. "It really will take all of us." He nodded again and then walked past us, to the outside room.
Quinn looked up from the datapad. "We're heading to the Maximum Security wing, Pod J-P9. I don't know how deep our original rioters have managed to spread the word. I doubt it made it that far this fast. We should expect anything."
"Then let's prepare for everything," I replied, leading us out.
