**Last time on WO: They finally set off to Onderon, planning to meet up with the Damerons. Ben finally completes his lightsaber and it's blue (he's the only one who doubted)**
"Okay. Are we ready for this?" Luke asked. Everyone nodded, with Shara and Poe giving an affirmative from their com link. Ben was pacing, his hand unconsciously touching his saber every few steps. Han was checking their munitions, a smile on his face. Though he was concerned for the success of the mission, flying and diversions were what he knew. Especially diversions where you blew things up. Leia sat with Rey, stroking her hair and although she had wished for a more active role in the plan, she knew that she was playing an important role-being there for Rey.
"Chewie, ready to drop us off?" Luke asked, shouldering a bag with some explosives. They were going to use them as well as their lightsabers to cause as much trouble as possible. They needed to distract the Aki Aki so they could get into the temple undetected. Ben gave Rey a kiss on the forehead, and trailed his hand down her arm. He had to fix this for her. He took a deep breath, pushing down all the emotions he felt and letting his mind become laser focused. He then took another bag and joined Luke at the ramp. Chewie roared a 'good luck' and then 'now' when he got down as low as he could without crashing the Falcon for real, and not in the spot they planned.
Ben and Luke jumped down, using the force to slow their fall, and land fairly softly. They both grunted and took a second to catch their breaths. They were going to wait until they got the signal on their com links that Han and Chewie had a group going to "help" with the Falcon and with Rey. Ben sat on the forest floor, and calmed his mind to meditate. This was the last chance to practice getting the force to help him detect illusions, and he'd made Luke promise to snap him out of it however necessary if he felt any signs of Ben losing control. Ben tightened the shield between him and Rey, and reached out to the Force.
It wasn't long before they reached their soon to be crash site and Han gave the warning and Leia braced herself as she felt the Falcon taking a dive. She kept one hand and a trace of the force to steady Rey. They bumped hard three times and skidded before sliding to a stop. Chewie roared to check they were okay. "We're good!" Leia called to him. "Do what you need to do."
Rey hadn't flinched and Leia sighed in relief that she hadn't even moved during the crash landing. She checked her over for any new injuries just in case and then changed her bacta patches on her hands. They only looked marginally better than the day before, and she hoped that the artifact worked and Luke could heal them before permanent damage was done. This was when the feeling of uselessness set in more. She could hear Han and Chewie banging around outside the ship, no doubt making it look worse than it had been. Han stuck his head in their quarters and gave Leia a wink. "Let's do this. We will be back soon." Leia nodded and sat back to wait.
Han and Chewie got themselves oriented and took off towards the temple. They walked in silence but that was nothing new for the two of them. They'd been friends for so long, been on so many smuggling runs and well as missions for Leia that often a single look could convey what they needed to.
They sped up significantly as the temple came into view, it wouldn't do to approach without a sense of urgency. A crash wasn't something that happened every day and if one of their crew were unconscious that would only fuel their need to get help.
"Please!" Han yelled once they were in hearing range to the guards. "We crashed…" he put his hands on his knees, huffing. Han fleetingly thought to himself kriff, I'm getting old, none of this part is a show. "One of my crew is injured, please help us!"
Chewie gave a loud agreement even though it was unlikely that they understood him.
Two of the Aki Aki exchanged a look. They must be the ones in charge, Han thought. "How bad?" one of them asked.
"Our mechanic, she is out, we can't wake her, and her hands… They are terrible," Han answered.
"Which way?" the same one inquired. One of the leaders nodded and motioned a group of ten or so and walked over to gather a med kit nearby. It was a step up from what was normally carried on a ship like the Falcon, so that was a twist of luck in their favor.
When Han pointed in the opposite direction of their camp, the leader frowned. "Squad A, all of you go with H'mil," he instructed. "We'll get you some help, the best we can offer."
Han and Chewie led the group away towards the Falcon, and when they were almost there, he pressed the com link three times- the beep to let everyone know they had drawn as many away as they could.
Ben was pulled out of his trance with a beep in his ear from the com link. He'd had no luck. He tried not to get discouraged and hoped that when the time came, he could pull it off if necessary. But now it was time to get the plan going so he didn't have the time to put any thought into it. He heard the low rumble of a Firespray-31 and he smiled. Poe and Shara were here and about to cause all kinds of trouble from the air. He wouldn't have trusted many other pilots with this job.
Ben nodded and pointed to the left. He walked away from Luke and jogged about a half mile away from Luke. He waited about thirty seconds and set his explosives down, backing up to a safe distance before force blasting a lit branch to set them off. He took off, felling trees with his saber as he ran to meet Luke at their next rendezvous spot. He heard a bang, knowing that Luke had set his own off, so Ben slowed down a bit.
They met up and crouched behind a cluster of trees that provided decent cover. Luckily things seemed to be going pretty smoothly and he saw two groups of around fifteen each making their way to check out the commotions. Once they passed Luke and Ben crept closer to the temple. The larger remains came closer into view and they could hear various explosions all around. Groups of Aki Aki were breaking off from patrols, carrying stunning weapons, powerful ones at that and Ben definitely wouldn't want to face a group of them. Luke and Ben searched as quietly as they could, Luke was certain that the wayfinder holocron would be hidden in the wreckage of the larger temple. However, they would not have long to search before they needed to break through patrol and make their way into the other section of the temple that the artifacts would be located in-they hoped. Ben used the force to try to detect any sort of cloaking or disturbance that wasn't typical of the darkness he felt from the rest of the remains. Precious minutes ticked by before Luke made a low whistle and pointed to their ultimate destination.
Ben gave a five beep transmission to let them know the next step was ready to be deployed. An explosion rocked out to the east, the opposite direction of where they'd set off their munitions. There was a buzz among the group of Aki Aki nearest them and more people took off in the direction of the lastest explosion. Ben and Luke waited a bit more and then when yet another crash and rumble emitted, they guards that were already spread thin, got the order to go. They grabbed their gear including the nasty stun guns, and set off. This was the opening that Ben and Luke needed. In the chaos and when the guards were the thinnest they would probably get, even if more damage was done all round them, more guards would return when they discovered there was no-one around the explosions and that it was just diversions.
They made it almost to the entrance, when they heard a guard behind them. They turned at the same time but were almost too late to stop the blast that would render one of them useless. Ben used his saber to deflect the blast, wincing as it reversed and struck the guard. He didn't think that it was set to kill, because that didn't seem in line with their beliefs about life. He spared a second to glance at the guard and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the gentle rise and fall of it's chest. They hurried towards the door, and used the force to barricade the door. They could only hope that it would hold until they were either deep enough into the temple and the protections that they could get what they needed.
Ben glanced at Luke who gestured for them to go deeper into the temple.
The thing that Ben most wanted and feared at the same time.
**AN: forgive my lack of spacecraft and/or explosives knowledge if anything I described isn't possible.**