As the Imperial shuttle entered into the Dathomir system, Hailey and Karus looked over the now Imperial controlled red planet. There were 3 Imperial Star destroyers surrounding the planet with an unknown outer metallic-like ring surrounding the planet with tubes puncturing the planets sources, drawing forth some unknown green, glowing liquid.
"Karus, what is ring used for," Hailey asked the older Jedi.
Karus looked at the ring and proceeded to close his eyes to feel the aura around it. The aura he felt was incredibly ancient and old; a magic that hadn't been used in decades now. He deduced that the ring was used to keep the nightsister's magic contained within the ring as some sort of magically energy source. He felt an unexpected tug at his force aura whilst feeling the emotions in the energy: it was Hailey. She had tagged into his aura and said, " What happened to the Nightsisters?"
Karus replied over the connection, "The Nightsisters were a powerful group of witches who used the force in a different type of way to fuel their powers. I only met them once but they were quite fascinating nonetheless."
Hailey was fascinated with Karus' old war stories and now she always wanted to know more of his time during the Clone Wars but before she could ask anything else, Karus said, "Landing in 2100, get your helmet on now, don't want the Empire suspecting anything."
She sighed sadly and Karus could tell that she wanted to hear more stories and smirked at the much younger woman and chuckled softly, "I can tell you more stories later, I promise Hailey dear."
Hailey smiled at the older jedi when he said this and proceeded to put on her helmet.
They were nearing closer to the complex when a voice came through the intercom on the shuttle, "Imperial Shuttle D-1652, what are you doing here?"
The voice was one of an officer and he responded with, "Central command, this is Commander Frederick Storms, requesting permission to extract the prisoner known as MD Prisoner-0001."
Radio silence droned on for awhile before the voice was heard through the intercom once again, saying, "Imperial Shuttle D-1652, requesting your entry code into this complex and the mission code for such a high valued extraction of a prisoner."
"Let's hope that these codes work still," Karus thought to himself.
"Sending over the mission code: Admin Echo-512DF-4
Even more radio silence was heard on the intercom as they waited in anticipation as the officer was confirming these codes. The silence was broken when the intercom came back on and the officer replied with, "Imperial Shuttle D-1652, you are cleared for landing and the extraction/relocation of MD Prisoner-0001. Proceed with landing procedures and standby for the agent that is going to be stationed there."
Agent? Oh no, Karus thought to himself, They couldn't be talking about him? Could they? This would complicate things if they were true.
Now Riser Mack had no clue who this prisoner was on the Dathomir Prison Complex but apparently she was a past war criminal of the Empire. Even when he tried to inquire to Thrawn about who the prisoner was, he would shut him down by saying that it wasn't important but he knew that the Freedom Ringers would take the bait. Although one thing Thrawn didn't know was that who was going to take it.
XXX
"Head agent, I have assigned this task to you because the Emperor, himself, wanted you to prove that you were still useful to our Empire. If you are to fail this task and don't capture the rebels this time, he informed me to tell you to execute on the spot. I hope you know that if this the unfortunate result of this mission, that it will be quick and painful."
He was conflicted and troubled by this news from the Emperor. He knew now that he couldn't mess this up now.
"Where shall I go for this mission and where I do bring the prisoner," asked the agent.
"I want you to head over to Dathomir, there you will land onto the Dathomir Prison Complex we have built there. Take the prisoner out of the Complex using the Imperial Codes I have sent to your terminal and transport them to the designated spot that I have placed. From there, you'll scuttle the ship by docking into a TIE Bomber that'll follow you there. You'll send a distress signal, which in-turn, should signal these Freedom Ringers to take action. When the sector is entered by the Rebels, we'll know and my fleet will intercept them from there to destroy these rebels."
XXX
These were the last words the Grand Admiral said to him before he departed on an Imperial Shuttle to Dathomir.
He was still caught up on who was the prisoner as he was entering the system of the Dathomir which was apart of the Quelli Sector of the Outer Rim Territories.
Who was this prisoner he was talking about? I mean they couldn't be that Important if was willing to sacrifice them for nothing basically.
The more Riser started to dwell on the Blue Chiss' words, the more worried he got. That's when it finally hit him all at once and he turned white like he'd seen a ghost.
There's no way it could be them… after all this time… I thought they died when they tried to escape?
He needed to confirm this was who he thought it was. Now.
As Karus and Hailey docked onto the landing pad, an Imperial officer came to visit them with a squadron of troops following in behind him. When the loading hatch finally dropped, the officer was surprised to see just two stormtroopers inside the shuttle. He looked at them mildly confused and asked, "Uh, why are there only two of you on the shuttle Commander?"
"Sir, we were requested by the Grand Admiral himself to escort the prisoner to their new location. He had reports that some rebel scum were thinking about infiltrating the complex and wanted to move them to a more secure complex. Now unless you want the Grand Admiral to have both of our heads," then saying the last of his words using force persuasion," I would highly recommend that you just let us pass."
The officer's mind was susceptible to the persuasion because the next words that came out of his mouth were, "It would be recommended to let you pass," as he ordered his squadron behind him to let them pass.
Hailey was completely shocked at what he just did. She has seen him do this before whilst on missions but it was always a pleasant surprise whenever he did this. The two force sensitive individuals walked passed them, disguised in their stormtrooper armour and made their way towards the maximum security detention cells.
Riser Mack's shuttle was nearing the planet of Dathomir and when he entered within comms range of the complex, his intercom lightened up, signalling that someone was trying to contact him. He pressed the lightened up button and a voice came on over the intercom, " Imperial Shuttle…. Wait. Imperial Shuttle D-1652? You already docked on the landing pad, who is this," the voice questioned over the intercom.
Wait what did he mean that his shuttle already docked on the landing pad.
Sure enough, when he neared where he was supposed to land, there was already a landing craft docked there. This mildly confused him, being the fact that no-one was scheduled to visit.
"This is Head agent Riser Corellius Mack, Why is there another damn shuttle docked on my landing pad," he said passive aggressively.
"Riser?! You're finally here now? Wait if that isn't your shuttle then… who is that," inquired the voice.
"Well officer, who did the people in the other shuttle say they were," the agent questioned.
Radio silence droned on for awhile before the voice over the intercom said, "They, well, one of them said they were Stormtrooper Commander Frederick Storms, but now that I realize it, he's still stationed in Mustafar, isn't he?"
Before they could come up with a reasonable conclusion to this huge mix-up by the officer, Riser heard an alarm blared through the intercom and a voice said, "The Control Room has been breached, requesting all guard personal stop this at once."
Rebels… Riser thought to himself.
As Karus and Hailey made their way through the detention cells of the Dathomir complex, they passed many different prisoner of different races and species. Hailey looked at them through her helmet with genuine sadness and Karus could feel this. He told her, over their bond, We can't save them now, we need the prisoner in the maximum detention cell of D-0001, they have inside information on the Empire that we crucially need.
But I feel sadness Karus, some these people aren't even guilty of crimes, she mumbled over the connection
I know but extracting this prisoner will give us the edge we need to build a stronger rebellion Hailey. Please know that if I could and you know I would, free these other prisoners if we had time but we don't Hailey, responding to Hailey and sending her an embracing wave of force to her aura. She felt relieved and not as sad now but there was still a heaviness in her heart. She would go back to save them after this specific prisoner was safe and wouldn't care if she was captured in the process because at least she would have good conscious knowing that she tried. Although Karus wouldn't know that and she somehow managed to block him out of her mind for awhile, she didn't want him to know what she was planning.
As they passed many detention cells, they had finally reached the maximum security detention cells and were stopped by a guard personnel guarding the entrance.
"Cylinder please."
"I am here on the Mission code: Admin Echo-512DF-4, I need to take MD Prisoner-0001," replied Karus.
"Oh I am sorry sir, I didn't know it was you Storms. Please, head right ahead," he said as he pressed a button on the terminal near the door and the heavily plated door was opened. They noticed that the MD cell was just a singular cell that had no bed, toilet, or anything at all. They saw an older woman, around Karus' age. Chained up on chains that held her suspended above in the air. It looked like she was recently just suspended back up there and they walked up to her. As Karus walked up to the woman, Hailey slipped away from there and headed towards the control room.
"Well, well, you must be the prisoner. Fera Amethyst Mack, Daughter of Yuri Mack and mother of that damned Imperial agent," Karus said walking up to the chains. The old woman looked at him and spewed, "What do you want Storms, come to torture me?"
Karus took his helmet off and said, "Unless you want force wielders to torture you, then I would highly suggest you take the alternative option and escape with us."
Fera looked at him confused and replied," Us? Are you sure that your head is working still after all this time Karus Marcellus V?"
Karus was now confused and was shocked when he realized that Hailey was gone now.
Where did she go, he thought to himself before replying out loud with, "She went to free the other prisoners, KARABAST."
Hailey made her way towards the control room of the complex, passing many cells and guards whilst doing this. When she finally arrived at the door that said 'Control Room', she tapped into the force and saw into the door's locking mechanism. It was a rather difficult one but overtime she managed to open up the door and let herself in. There were few Imperial officers guarding the space with machinery and consoles taking up most of the space. Although there was a central console in the middle of all the machinery and a head officer stood there. It took awhile before an officer noticed the stormtrooper standing in the opening of the door and when he did, he said, "Stormtrooper, what are you doing here? This is a high clearance sector and unless you have clearance I suggest you leave before we detain you."
Hailey just stood there looking at them before one of the other officers realized something and spoke out, "Wait a second, Stormtroopers don't wield Bo-rifles," it took him awhile before realizing," You're the Rebel Miraluka we've been hearing about," and then sounded the alarm.
As Riser's Imperial shuttle landed in the extra landing pad, he made haste march towards the control room of the complex. As he passed the grey metallic walls of the complexes hallways, he came up to an intersection of the complex that had 3 ways to go: Left, Right and Center. He knew that the control room on this prison complex was straight forward and that the prisoner cells were located to his left along with the cantina being to his right. As he looked left, he saw Stormtrooper Commander Storms dragging his mother, out towards where supposedly his landing pad should've been.
Wait, His mother was still alive after all this time. I thought she died in the escape? Wait, was she the prisoner he was suppose to bait the rebels with?
Anyways he quickly shook his head and he shouted, "Stop," as he took potshots at the 'commander'. Before he could even reach the door of the holding section, the sliding metallic doors were shut close. He went up to the control pad that controlled them and found the door to be nonoperational now. They were completely jammed.
"Dammit," he shouted before turning around and attempting to stop the intruder in the Control Room.
"Who else was with you," questioned the older woman.
"Hailey was, well I guess is my adopted miralukian daughter you could say, I have been taking care of her since she was 14" Karus said.
She mouthed, 'ah', and took a moment to gather her surroundings as she was getting used to being free. After a quick break, she said, "So shall we get out of here."
"Not until we go after Hailey," and as if Hailey knew he'd say that, she quickly responded over the force, "Leave this place, get Fera out of here. This was my choice and I can't explain it but I feel as if this needs to happen."
"Hailey, I am not leaving you behind. You're going to get yourself killed," he responded.
"Karus, please trust me. I am not a little girl anymore, I am a fully grown young adult. I need to take risks myself sometimes. Just please trust me on this. Ok?"
Karus absolutely hated the idea of leaving her behind but knew she would just get up being upset and angry if he'd protest. He sighed and responded over the force with, "Just be careful and try to make it back to the Black Pearl, I love you Hailey."
"I love you too dad, I love you too."
She took a deep breath as he proceeded to take off her helmet and let her short brown hair fall around her head. Her near-blind eyes peered out the window as she felt an Imperial shuttle leave the vicinity of Dathomir's atmosphere. She didn't have her usual bandage around her eyes since it made her feel uncomfortable while she wore the helmet and decided to leave it in her room on the Black Pearl. She stood there for awhile before she felt another presence behind her in the opening of the entrance.
As Riser made his way to the Control room, he couldn't do anything about the escaping rebels but knew he could, at-most, bring in the other rebel in for interrogation. As he entered the control room, he saw that imperial officers were defeated by a female with short brown hair, staring outside the window of the control room that overlooked the entirety of the complex. She turned around and noticed her eyes sparkled a very foggy golden colour as if she was nearly blind. Riser Mack would be entirely lying to himself if he said that this woman wasn't incredibly beautiful just on her facial features and hair alone and couldn't imagine what it was like under her armour. He stared at her beauty before feeling a familiar feeling about her before he almost dropped his jaw and said, "The Miraluka?"
Almost like a cue, she withdrew her bo-rifle and unlatched the dual pong ends and activated it so that the sickly yellow energy coursed through and out the pongs. Riser responded to this by unsheathing his razor sharp vibrosword and getting into a defensive position. The two stood there for awhile before Riser took the first move and swung his vibrosword in an overhead downwards motion and it connected with the leftmost pong of the bo-rifle. He pressed into the bo-rifle which caused the miraluka to retract her bo-rifle a bit before flipping backwards and force propelling herself Riser with a connecting sideswipe that immediately followed through. He was completely caught off guard by this but quickly defended the quick attack with jumping backwards and pulling his sonic blaster, taking shots at the miraluka. The Miraluka deflected the shots back at the imperial agent with efficiency and charged him with her bo-rifle at her side before she took a swipe at his lower abdomen and managed to connect with his lower abdomen. Riser Mack had yellow, sickly electrical energy course throughout his body before dropping down in anguish. As the miraluka made her way to knock him out, he quickly shot his blaster at her which in turn, caused her to stumble in agony as the concentrated mass of sound caused her body to quickly crumble. She screamed and cried in pain and held her hand over where her heart as she screamed. Riser panicked at this and realized his blaster wasn't set to stun like he intended but before he could act, 3 Inquisitors enter the room alongside with the Grand Admiral.
"Ah, Head Imperial Agent Riser Mack, I see that you managed to capture the miralukian rebel we have identified as Hailey," said Thrawn, sounding rather pleased with this.
He stood at attention before the Grand Admiral and responded with, "Yes, I have captured this rebel but unfortunately," sighing before he took a deep breath and finishing with, "My mother and 'Commander Storms' have escaped."
Thrawn appreciated the agent's honestly and responded with, "I appreciate you telling me that you saw the prisoner was no doubt your mother, Riser Mack. Do not feel defeated. For this capture," as he looked at the anguish miraluka, "Is, without a doubt, a great victory."
Riser was slightly confused but asked, "What shall we do with her."
"We will do what we do with all rebels, which is interrogate them for a complete scale of information before their friends decide to come back for her. Which, I, no doubt to expect her to escape. Although I had gathered the feeling that it might be done by someone that seems at first the most unlikely, although in the end, when you have combined the pieces, it makes sense," he replied, being rather cryptic.
He was confused with his cryptic message but shook his head responded with, "I'll be back at my star destroyer if you need me Thrawn."
He chuckled and implied back to him, "Oh no, Riser, You aren't going back, you'll be there for the interrogation. Let it be a valuable lesson on efficient interrogation and torture tactics to gain the most complete and fulfilling set of information from your enemies."
Riser saw the unusual excitement in his words and this made him uncomfortable. Just what did Thrawn have in store for him?
Only time could tell.