Last time: The Jedi and Kyr found out Cien was at the Garrison too.

Now: The Jedi and Kyr attempt to get the intel they need.

Chapter 8- The Garrison

It was three hours past midnight at the garrison. The time when those on duty were settling into the boring torpor of night watch on a dull planet where nothing happened, and the day watch was deeply asleep in their bunks or officers quarters. Also late enough that whatever junior officer was on duty might think twice about waking his commanding officer, and send it up a chain of bureaucracy, buying them a few extra minutes, or hours if the base's high command was a real tyrant.

Out of the darkness from the main gate, Kyr appeared like a coppery shadow. Behind him, Sasha and Viran were being dragged along, their hands in binders and tethered to a lead he held in his hand. Earlier he had complimented their new looks, looking like proper Jedi, it really helped his plan. They also did look pretty good in their new clothes. He had their lightsabers clipped to his belt, like trophies from a difficult bounty. They were playing their part, looking like cowed criminals that had finally been caught. At his thigh was one of the imagers for the temple inside.

"Hey up there, open up!" His voice boomed to the guard that was startled to alertness by his appearance. They were in a small gate house several meters above the ground, overlooking the main gate.

"State your business." The trooper said. Behind him his partner was already calling in the Mandalorian that had just appeared at the front gate with two Jedi in tow.

"My business is with your commanding officer." Kyr stated tiredly, with an edge to his voice. "Open up." He commanded. His rifle was slung in front of him, relaxed against his chest, and he idly rested his hands on the buttstock as he rocked on his heels.

"Hold there." The trooper said. "Don't move."

Kyr glanced back to his prisoners, "Yeah, don't move, ya Jedi filth." In a much quieter tone, he added. "If I tell you guys to get down, hit the deck, okay?"

Sasha and Viran glared at him, playing their part, but gave a very subtle nod.

The gate started opening before them. Inside an officer, a Lieutenant, judging by his rank plaque, was standing there, and a squad of four troopers had their weapons up and ready. A Major should have been in charge of this detachment. That must mean this watch officer wanted to impress someone, or the Major was a major pain. Either way this suited Kyr perfectly.

Kyr walked forward, tugging on the leads to pull the Jedi along and stopped short in front of the Lieutenant.

"Yeah, I'm here to drop off these two Jedi." Kyr said, nodding towards his prisoners. "I spoke with a Colonel Steave at sector command, and he told me to drop them off at the nearest Imperial base. So here I am."

"What is the meaning of this, how did you capture these two… Jedi?" He said, staying in place but looking around Kyr to inspect the convicts with a curious mixture of terror and arrogant Imperial attitude. He regarded them like a rather terrifying pile of dung.

"I asked them very nicely to come with me." Kyr responded, as though answering the stupidest question he had ever had to have the displeasure to hear. "You gonna take 'em or what?" Kyr said in a tired voice.

"Very well." He gestured at his escort to take them into custody.

"Uhp uhp uhp." Kyr said, holding up his hand. "Jedi ain't free, the going rate is 40,000 a head."

"I am sure you will be paid." The Lieutenant said.

"I'm sure I will be too. Before you take them into custody. Steave said you would give me the payment." Kyr said expectantly.

Just then a disheveled Captain walked out looking like he had been awoken in a sour mood. "What's going on here." He demanded.

"This… bounty hunter is delivering these… Jedi." The Lieutenant said stiffly.

"Yeah, Steave sent me." Kyr added.

"Steave? Steave who?" The Captain asked, thoroughly flabbergasted. "What is this?"

"Colonel Steave." Kyr clarified, most helpfully. "Said you would give me 90,000 credits for them." He added, also helpfully. He looked around idly. In his buy'ce visor display the signatures of the various watch troopers, most of them were watching the drama play out rather than watching the perimeter like they were supposed to, were tagged. Their floating outlines shifted as he rotated his head around, making sure he marked every one of them. Eighteen total. Two full squads.

"Why are you even here, this facility is secret." The Captain said reproachfully.

"Look bud, I-" Kyr started.

"Captain." He said annoyedly.

"Okay, look chief I was told to bring them to the nearest Imperial facility and this was what came up on the charts. I'm just the delivery boy, ya know?" Kyr stated.

The Captain looked from Kyr to the lieutenant, to the troopers, to the Jedi, then back to Kyr and then to the troopers. "Sergeant arrest all three of them, take them into custody."

"Whoa, chief, I-" Kyr started again.

"Be quiet, arms in the air." The Sergeant said to Kyr.

"Look, I don't care-" Kyr started, again. Annoyed he was interrupted again.

"Silence!" The trooper commanded as he and his squad stepped forward.

"So that's how you wanna play it?" Kyr asked. "Fine."

In one smooth motion, Kyr drew his blaster pistol, ignoring the rifle at his chest. He went right to left, taking out the squad in less than two seconds. The sergeant got off a shot at him, but it just bounced off his left chest plate. The Lieutenant and Captain barely had time to register this act, before Kyr dropped to his knees, his right arm out and extended. "DOWN!" He yelled, turning his head to face Sasha and Viran through his armpit. The two young Jedi dropped to the ground as they were ordered and covered their heads. On his right gauntlet, the Captain and the Lieutenant saw a quarrel of small darts extend with a blue glow from a half cone shaped protrusion.

Twelve darts shot out with a curious whistling sound, buzzed around at head height for a split second before going off to their individually tagged targets on the perimeter detail, which was only now catching up to the events in the courtyard.

"Tac, send firepackage Aurek, load three airburst flachete and three HE. Stand by for mortar tasking." Kyr holstered his pistol as he stood up. The darts found their targets and a dozen of the perimeter guards died in small explosions, and the rest started swinging their weapons up. Ignoring the Captain and the Lieutenant for a second, Kyr brought his own carbine up and started working his way down the remaining six perimeter guards.

Sasha and Viran clambered to their feet and reached out with the force, summoning their sabers from Kyrs belt to their hands. Activating his blade, Viran broke off Sasha's bindings first before she did the same for him. Now, unbound and lightsabers active, the two Jedi were ready to join the fray.

"Hey! Those things aren't cheap ya know, I was going to unlock them when I finished." Kyr said as he blasted the sixth and final perimeter trooper. Some smart nugget had activated the alarm, so he was sure the entire garrison was probably grabbing blasters. To prove a point he pressed one of the buttons on his gauntlet during the ensuing second of quiet, and the binders undid themselves, falling off their wrists. "See?"

"Sorry, we will buy you new ones," Sasha said as she belted her saber. "Or you can steal a few pairs from these guys." She gestured to a pair hanging from the Lieutenant's belt.

Kyr turned back to the two officers, who were standing there in shock at what happened over the last eight seconds. "Oh, you guys are still here? Don't you know the base is under attack? Run!" As he yelled that, six missiles came screaming in low over the base wall, three slammed into the barracks building, and the other three into the hangar. They were both hardened structures so the damage they did was fairly minimal, but the hanger would not be operational for hours, and the main entrance to the barracks was reduced to slag from the high explosive warheads, probably eliminating a few squads of troopers that had been rushing to get out.

Sasha approached the two officers who still hadn't moved and waved her hand in front of them. "Sleep," she said as she used the Force on their minds. Suddenly both troops dropped like a ton of bricks to the floor. Sasha turned back to the others. "Now let's move before more troops arrive."

Viran let out a low whistle as he smirked at her.

Kyr watched the two officers fall and looked up at Sasha. "Nice trick Sash'ika." He started moving to the dark shadow of the temple stones. "We probably have twenty seconds before the rest of that barracks comes out looking for blood. Let's get the imager setup, we'll need to hold them off while it takes the scan."

The three of them took off at a run, getting to the stones. There were some lights strewn through the site, but evidently most of the work was done during the daylight. In the darkened shadows Kyr turned on his light enhancement mode, not sure how the two Jedi might see. He carefully tracked through the familiar layout, rifle up and ready, and approached the main plaza. There was no one in here. Behind them he could hear shouts as the troopers started fanning out through the complex trying to figure out where they had gone. Kyr rushed to the site and unhooked the imager from his belt, setting it on the ground and setting it to work.

"Okay, I'm going to go get the stela, you guys hold here and kill anyone who gets close, or put them to sleep or whatever." He said to the two Jedi. "Don't engage if you don't have to, let them keep looking in the rest of the compound." He added, not sure how tactically adept the two were.

He trotted through the temple with his rifle at the ready, sweeping around corners to make sure they were clear. He kept the torch on his rifle off so as not to throw any light that might alert the garrison that their quarry was in the temple grounds. He came around the corner and saw it, the column of stone standing there. This was one of the few areas that was well lit, evidently some researcher liked to study into the evenings. They weren't here now, though. The site was messy with some equipment and a few datapads. As Kyr walked by he grabbed the datapads in case there was anything interesting on them, and then inspected the stela, making sure that there were no changes other than the local scenes. The timing scene showed the temple surrounded by a wall, just like the base, and the Shadow Runner speeding away amidst several explosions around the temple as three figures dangled from ropes.

"Hey, good news guys." Kyr called over the com to Sasha and Viran. "We get out of this one." That was actually a pretty good idea for an escape plan.

"Great news," Viran responded. "But if you are done, there is a large squad of troopers headed this way."

"Okay," Kyr responded as he finished looking at the stela and snapping pictures of the scenes, just in case, with his visor. He started trotting back towards the plaza. "Do they look threatening?" He asked.

"No, but I get the feeling that more are sure to follow them," Viran responded.

"'Kay." Kyr responded as he moved through the darkness of the temple. "Keep your blades off as long as possible."

Viran and Sasha stuck to the shadows as they kept a close eye on the imager. In the distance, they could hear the sounds of Stormtroopers headed their way. Viran using the electrobinoculars in night vision mode could see how close they were getting. Lowering the binoculars, Viran glanced over to where Sasha was hidden. He could see her clearly enough to make out her basic form. She gestured at him with a hand sign that meant 'one go around take out from behind, the other stay and protect.' Viran nodded. He took to the shadows and moved to get around to a higher vantage point so he could ambush the coming squad. Sasha moved from the shadows and stood before the imager, protecting it.

"There's a Jedi!" one of the troopers called as they were now within range.

The troopers raised their blasters ready to fire. Sasha ignited her saber, a bright green blade illuminated the night like a beacon. As blaster fire rained upon her, she stood there blocking blast after blast that got too close to her.

Kyr came around the corner having heard the saber ignite, and saw Sasha blocking the blaster bolts and reflecting them back towards the troopers. Not killing them as she was not about to take another life, but still taking them down with ease. That brought him up short for an instant. He had heard of that Jedi ability, but never really been able to picture it. It looked quite impressive. He brought his rifle up and started picking off the storm troopers as Sasha took down most of them with their own bolts, he picked off two that she didn't have a chance to get to. Sasha glanced back his direction when he did that.

"I'm moving up back towards the garrison." Kyr said, "I'm going to call in some support from Tac, watch my back, and if I tell you guys to take cover, hide behind stones." He called, moving out through the shadows. They still had eight minutes until the imager was done.

"More troops incoming," Viran said over the comms.

Kyr disappeared into the shadows. This temple was like a veritable forest of standing stones, almost as if it had been designed to give them more cover than the other temples he had visited. Around him the troopers swept through the temple, oblivious to his presence. Sasha and Viran could take these guys on. As their ghostly forms moved away from him, he moved up so he could see the grounds outside the temple. All the troops were converging, well over two hundred, on their position.

"Tac, six rounds indirect, airbust. Relay from my buy'ce. Send." He called into the coms. He got an acknowledging beep. Even Tac got serious in these situations. A few seconds later the shriek of falling mortar rounds from the ship fell, airbusting several meters above the ground and shredding troops with the shrapnel burst. The troopers were taken aback, but kept coming, heading into the temple complex, but he had eliminated at least two squads.

The squad Viran had called in came in, and he leapt down behind them before they got too close and used the Force to send them flying. Any that managed to keep their footing, Viran took down with a stroke of his blue lightsaber having ignited it upon his epic low crouched landing. Sasha continued to protect the imager by blocking bolts left and right and reflecting them back to the troopers. That took care of another batch, but more were still coming. It was like they wouldn't stop until they defeated every last trooper or until they were captured by the Empire. Neither were a very good or likely option at the moment.

From his sheltered position Kyr didn't want to give himself away. A few troopers were getting to close, going past him in the dark forest of stones not knowing he was there. He pulled out his vibro knife from the sheath at his shoulder, and as one passed right next to him, Kyr grabbed him across the neck and shoved the knife up through the back of his helmet. Another trooper came around the other side, stumbling across the scene, but before he could say anything Kyr brought the knife around and threw it into his face, keeping his position secure for now. He pulled the knife out from the helmet and kept it in hand.

"Tac, Repeat."

A few seconds later another six rounds burst near his position, knocking out more of the troopers as they scrambled from their positions around the base to converge on the temple grounds.

As the next wave moved in, Sasha and Viran were backed up to the dias protecting the imager as it was still another four minutes before it was done. The damn thing always seemed moved faster when they weren't in a rush, but now it sure was taking its sweet time. Viran and Sasha provided cover for the imager, wondering when the stream of troopers would end. The explosions from outside the temple sent flashes like lightning throughout the base.

Kyr had to readjust his position, two full squads were going to stream right past him. He ducked between the stones like he was moving from tree to tree in a forest. So far he had been able to come to a stop and let troopers flash by him in the darkness, or he had had to take them out with his knife, hoping to keep his presence hidden. That changed when he came around the corner and saw three troopers. He ducked back around the column and sheathed his knife quickly, with years of practice, and brought his rifle up and at the ready. The troopers had stopped, not sure what they had just seen, and he popped around the corner, felling them with a single shot each. The blaster fire had not gone unnoticed however, and the swarm of troopers still coming on started concentrating fire on where he had been. Kyr let off some covering bolts and ducked back to the next layer of columns before he got pinned down. He turned back around the opposite side of the column and fired off a few rounds as soon as he saw an armored figure.

One more minute is all they needed then they could escape, but the troopers wouldn't stop coming. This was becoming tiresome. Sasha and Viran could feel their muscles growing heavier, but that wasn't going to stop them now. This next group had managed to land a few lucky shots. A few blasts managed to wiz past their sabers and left them with some fresh new burns on their arms or thighs. Thankfully, none had done any real damage. But the burns from the blasts still stung as they kept their guard up.

"You know, I think droids were easier," Viran said from beside Sasha.

"Yeah, because no one cares if you kill a battle droid," Sasha responded with a smirk.

"But these guys are still lousy shots," Viran pointed out.

"And that's why we have the advantage," Sasha finished.

With that a beeping came from the imager to signify it was done. Sasha and Viran exchanged a nod before Sasha deactivated her saber and started to tear down the imager. However, when she turned she noticed Kyr had disappeared from behind them. Slightly curious as to where the copper mando went, Sasha still focused on tearing down the imager safely while avoiding being shot.

"Kyr, the imager is done," Sasha called into the comm. "It's time to go!"

"Roger roger!" Kyr shouted into the com line over the sound of the bombardment and the blaster bolts impacting the stone columns around him. "Tac, we need a pick up, drop the fast ropes and get your shebs over here!" He had been pushed back deeper into the temple, almost back to the dias where Sasha and Viran were holding out. He turned around the corner of the column he was taking cover behind and shot a few bolts towards the advancing troops, trying to slow them down as he displaced deeper into the temple grounds, back to the site of the dias.

Overhead he heard the roar of the engines as the YT-2300 came sweeping in low over the walls of the base and came to a hovering stop over the top of the dias. For good measure, Tac had the lower blaster cannon firing into the troops as they tried to advance into the temple.

"Get on the ropes! I'm right behind you!" Kyr's voice came over the comm line. "Tac, indirect cover fire!"

Sasha attached the imager to her belt and rushed for the ropes as she watched them dangle from high up. Viran deactivated his lightsaber and rushed after her. Sasha got a good grip on the ropes and looked around at the others. Viran grabbed a hold as tightly as he could.

Out of the darkness of the temple stones blaster bolts started showering through into the dias and up towards the ship. Kyr ran out of the cover and grabbed onto a rope as the ship started lifting, he heard the muted pomph pomph pomph as the mortar fired a few rounds back, and explosions went off, in the midst of the troopers. He caught his foot on the small stirrup at the bottom of the rope and turned to face the enemies as they flew away. He also checked the time to mark when to base the calculations. Tac started reeling the ropes in as he kept the ship at a relatively low speed so they wouldn't get caught in the slipstream. Once they reached the ramp, Viran pulled himself on board followed shortly by Sasha and Kyr. Once on the ramp, Kyr hustled into the ship as the ropes finished retracting.

"Tac, get us out of here," Kyr called out.

An affirmative whistle was heard through the corridor.

Cien sat on the floor of her fighter, meditating. Back on the planet, Cien had thought she had sensed the girl's presence. However, it was still unlikely she was there at all. But as the time went by while hiding behind the small moon orbiting the planet, Cien was able to pick up Sasha's Force signature. So the girl really was there and she wasn't alone. Cien could also sense the boy, Viran, with her and one other who had a similar Force signature to that of their Master… Oppie, was it? She was curious as to why the Jedi were there at all and what they were looking for. She needed answers as to what the Jedi were up to. She continued to keep an eye on the Jedi until she sensed them leaving the planet. Coming out of her trance, Cien moved from the floor to the console. Peering out of the viewport, Cien witnessed a vessel moving in her direction as if they would zip past and jump into hyperspace. Waiting until they were enough out of range, Cien booted up her fighter and followed after them. Once they jumped, she jumped using Sasha as her beacon to where they were headed.

Safely in hyperspace, Kyr, Sasha and Viran relaxed in the lounge. Tac was at the dataport running the calculations, and Sasha and Viran were availing themselves of the medpacks to heal the near misses from the blaster bolts. After a few minutes, all three too tired and worn out to make much conversation, Tac wheeled into the room, beeping and warbling excitedly. Both Viran and Kyr 's heads shot up to look at the droid, then looked at eachother.

"What?" Sasha asked. "What did he say?"

"He just said the next system has four stars." Viran explained.

All three looked at eachother. After eight grueling months, they had the planet they had been searching for.

"I can't believe it," Sasha breathed.

End of Part 2

REVIEW!