Alright so, last week, I kinda had a breakthrough with this story, and I've finally figured out how to connect the current plot to my plans for the big finish. This chapter is the beginning of that plan.
Secrets of The Outer Rim.
Act III.
The Hunters and The Hunted.
Chapter XXXIII.
Shock and Awe: Part I.
The Chancellery carried on through hyperspace, heading towards Hutt Space, while the three of us apprentices sat in the cockpit. Schweva in the pilot's seat, reading something on her datapad as the ship flew itself, I was in the co-pilot seat, and then I swiveled around to face back towards E'verta Ne'ull who was sitting behind us. The red-skinned Twi'lek seemed almost bored as she sat uncomfortably in the seat, waiting wordlessly for the voyage to end. Phanza, meanwhile, was in her bedroom, meditating, coming up with a plan on how exactly we were going to approach the problem of Quesh. The old Sith Empire wreck was going to be surrounded by Imperial walls and clones, probably under intense scrutiny, and I imagine part of the scrutiny is the Empire being in conflict with the Grand Duchy and our technology. Palpatine has likely realized that this Terminator-class Destroyer is part of the technological base that the Grand Duchy of Taaszon is based off of, so researching it may reveal ways of combating us and any technological advantage we might have. In that respect, we had another reason to make sure its navigational computer, and anything else on that ship really, stayed out of Imperial hands.
"I've been doing some research," Schweva finally spoke up, sharing what she was looking at from her datapad "The ship was moved from hole it was recovered from to the central courtyard of an Imperial research station on Quesh. I guess they wanted to take complete control of the operation and cut the Hutts out. This means that the ship is in the same place as Imperial adrenal production lines and their toxicity research facility. These could all provide cover for our operation."
"My thoughts exactly. Schweva, Zaliza, come on, I have something I need to discuss with you." Phanza spoke up, having appeared in the doorway while Schweva was making her speech I glanced over at the Twi'lek, silently asking if it was alright to leave her alone in the cockpit, still not entirely trusting her at this stage even if I was in favor of trying to pursue an alliance with them. Phanza, realizing what I was asking about, continued "E'verta, we will be back in just a moment, we are going to discuss something in regards to our overall strategy, once we return, we'll discuss our plans for this exact operation with you."
"You don't seem to have much trust for your prospective allies, Lady Attam." the Twi'lek countered. I wasn't sure how Phanza felt when talking to this girl, a Sith apprentice, a Twi'lek with a double-bladed lightsaber, a red-skinned Twi'lek no less. Phanza was speaking to someone the same species as her ancient idol, someone from the same Imperial tradition, and someone who used one of the weapons that was historically attributed to Darth Imperius. I had to wonder if that meant this whole dynamic felt weird for my red-skinned Nautolan master, someone more like Kallig than she could ever be, even with my master's tattoos and ever with her leading status among both the Grand Duchy of Taaszon and the Line of Kallig.
"I am simply taking a security precaution, my dear. We are not allies yet so I cannot trust you with confidential information, especially if you were to get captured by the Empire and decide you would rather sell us out than your master and his faction. Once we are allies, then you will receive significantly more trust and privileged information from us. For now though, you'll have to make due with being in the need-to-know category." Phanza replied, playing the young apprentice with ease, effectively throwing her words back at her and giving another reason for these Elysium Sith to pursue an alliance with us. To that end, it also painted us as professional and careful, even if this particular type of professional and careful was a snub to the young apprentice. The Twi'lek simply huffed and crossed her arms as the rest of us left the bridge and walked over to Phanza's bedroom, the door shutting behind us.
"Overall strategy, master?" I asked, referencing her earlier comment as Phanza walked over to a little holocommuciator she had by the door and started playing some light cantina music, just quiet enough that we could still hear each other speaking, but also just loud enough that the Twi'lek would have a hard time listening in from the bridge, something which she was, no doubt, doing.
"I already arranged something with the Hutts, we'll land on the surface in a air-sealed hangar belonging to some associates of Bajeeto. We'll get masks and rebreathers there to deal with the toxic atmosphere, but that puts on us the surface with the Empire having no idea we're there. All they'll know is that a luxury yacht arrived at one point and left at another point, the signatures will be randomized and they'll have nothing to go on. So, using the element of surprise, I propose we take the entire facility by surprise. We hit them hard and without warning, using lightsabers, the Force, blasters, everything. The point is we hit them mercilessly then, we place these all over the facility and the ship to blow it sky high." Phanza produced a neutral-manufactured high explosive, something she evidently had stashed onboard this ship in high enough numbers to cripple an Imperial base "They'll know they got hit but they won't know when we got here, why they were attacked, or even who exactly attacked them. The point is that it disrupts the Empire and it gets us what we want."
"So...you want this to serve as a model for future attacks against the Empire?" Schweva figured, realizing how this was fitting into the overall strategy aspect of Phanza's plan. This seemed rather similar to the Loukhamii attack to me, hitting the Empire in a seemingly random place and blowing everything up with explosives that can't be traced to us - Phanza is the type to keep a vast armory on her disguised pleasure yacht, and I guess if she ever needs explosives, they might as well be something available on the common black markets of the galaxy - she may not have something for every potential scenario, but, well, I could imagine Zapnha Tamat finding herself in situations where explosives could be a great equalizer.
"Exactly. Here is the key to the strategy: we arrive in secrecy, different places across the galaxy, different Imperial instillations with different purposes, and with different intervals of time in between. We attack in different numbers using different types of weapons and with varying levels of destruction. The whole point is to make sure the attacks hurt the Empire without having any clear unifying pattern. It's all about giving the illusion that the Empire is getting hit all across the galaxy by different groups with different agendas. We hurt the Empire, we prove to the galaxy that the Empire is not unbeatable, and we make sure none of it can be traced back to the Grand Duchy of Taaszon." Phanza explained, her strategy basically being about creating the illusion of a larger rebellion against the Empire. The attacks themselves are going to be loud and ruthless, but our arrival and our escape from these planets kept secret, making it seem as if we basically appear wherever we can cause trouble. We attack with different weapons and tactics, making it seem like all the evidence points to unaffiliated groups. The Empire may suspect it was all else, unwilling to believe widespread rebellion, but we won't give them the luxury of proof. There is one big problem though.
"What about reprisals? We saw on Loukhamii how quick the Empire was willing to target local resistance groups, won't this just cause the same thing across the galaxy?" I asked, concerned about what this galaxy might do to the actual rebels we might be framing by doing all of this. Phanza seemed to sigh, like she was expecting this question from me, but she wished she wouldn't have to answer it. That didn't fill me with confidence, because Phanza usually isn't the type to sigh and give in, which means that she really doesn't have an answer for the problem I posed.
"The thing about reprisals is that they do a really good job of turning the local population against the perpetrators. The cold reality of the situation is that reprisals against common people may help our cause in the long line." for a long time, I've been seeing the bright side of Phanza's pragmatism: the mercy, the good treatment of subordinates, and the close-knit group of allies she built up around her, many of whom weren't even Force users, but this was the dark side of that very same cold, pragmatic thinking. That reprisals may well lead to actual rebellion. Logically speaking, it was true, people aren't going to tolerate their neighbors being punished for a crime they didn't commit, but that didn't make it right. Our actions would spark the reprisals against a completely innocent population, the Empire was the one doing the killing but we would be the ones who caused it. I don't want my actions to lead to suffering, even if that suffering may be politically beneficial. I may not be a Jedi anymore, but that didn't mean I was going to let this happen.
"At the same time, if there are nascent resistance groups forming and we pin a major assault on the Empire on them, they could be wiped out before they have a chance to actually hurt the Empire at all." I countered, finding some practical reasons to back up the moral concerns I had. Phanza already knew about my moral objections, that's why she was reluctant to tell me about this part, but she told me anyway, which means that it's going to take something practical on top of the moral objections to convince her.
"Well then, to the best of our abilities, we can make sure the weapons and tactics we use do not match up to the local groups. That way, if the Empire launches local reprisals, they won't have evidence to support them and their cruel actions will be entirely on them. Would that be more agreeable?" Phanza asked, proposing that we do our best to avoid incriminating local resistance and, at that point, any evil the Empire does is their responsibility, at least more their responsibility than anything that could be attributed to us. There was still the risk of reprisals here, and the whole plan involved killing clones with ruthless fury and smashing Imperial operations across the galaxy, but the plan is at least somewhat better this way, and I suppose I don't have any better ideas. We have to hit the Empire, we have to do something to try and topple Palpatine and end the suffering of the galaxy, and, if this is how we do it, then I suppose we are the lesser of two evils. Our actions may warrant reprisals, but the Empire is the one who decides where to direct them and how brutally, so it really is their fault then if innocent people are targeted, especially if we do our best to make sure the weapons and tactics used in the assault do not fit the local modus operandi.
"I can live with that." I eventually accepted. Schweva was giving me a look during all that, featureless red eyes looking at me, but her face wasn't saying much and, once she realized I noticed her looking, she turned her attention back to Phanza. I imagine this was a continuation of Schweva not understanding why I was unwilling to commit to the Sith way of life and ideology, despite being Phanza's apprentice, but, well, she didn't seem like she was going to tell me exactly what this was about. it didn't seem like our relationship was actively hostile, not anymore anyway, given that the Empire presented a much more threatening antagonist and, with Taaszon gone, we all had bigger problems than this personal feud, but there was still some sort of tension between us two apprentices. Schweva saw me as an older, more experienced Jedi who was a threat to her position as Phanza's Sith apprentice, and, to her, the most annoying part was that I wasn't even a Sith. I wasn't much better though, because I was jealous of Schweva taking Phanza's attention away from me and that was legitimately one of the reasons why I asked to become Phanza's second apprentice. The jealousy wasn't exactly logical, nor mature, nor was it really justified whatsoever, but I couldn't deny that sinking feeling I felt when Phanza turned her attention to the younger, more energetic Chiss girl who was more like her.
"I'm ready to follow, my mistress." Schweva added, and that was exactly the kind of behavior that fed my own irrational jealousy. There was no reason for Schweva to add onto that, everyone in this room knows that she doesn't have any objections, she's an unabashed Sith who shoots lightning and wields a whip in combat, nobody expects a moral conundrum coming out of her, but she spoke up anyway. As if for no better reason than to remind us all that she's in the room and to make sure that Phanza's attention was torn away from me for a minute. Then there is the fact that she still calls Phanza "mistress." Is the word more accurate, technically speaking? Sure, but the Jedi have never had a problem calling females master and neither have the Sith for that matter - even Phanza called Voytana her master - so that means Schweva does it deliberately. What's her agenda there? Is it just a personal quirk? Is it her way of flirting with Phanza or otherwise trying to get some sort of romantic attention from her own master? Or is it a sycophantic routine? Perhaps Schweva believes in the old Sith tradition of the apprentice killing the master to overthrow them and is simply trying to buy time and divert attention until then.
I didn't even really believe that though, I didn't think that Schweva was the type, and, in fact, I think it stems more from insecurity than scheming. The fact is that Schweva doesn't think she's good enough for this post. She survived the Exavellos Academy and she has proven herself a capable fighter and a clever mind when under pressure, but she's also learned about the Grand Duchess and the Line of Kallig all her life. Now Schweva finds herself the apprentice of the de facto Grand Duchess and the heir to the Line of Kallig, a prestigious post that she's built up so much in her head she doesn't think she's good enough for it. Schweva may fight fiercely with two weapons, she may have already encountered three hostile Force users - the late Thonna, Vader, and now Sarna Lu - and lived to tell the tale, and she may have the third best Force Lightning I've ever seen, surpassed only by her master and her master's master, but she still doesn't think she's good enough. Therefore, Schweva wants desperately for Phanza to like her and approve of her, and she also doesn't like the fact that I present the most realistic threat to her position. It's one thing when Schweva dreams up a powerful Sith Acolyte that outmatches her in every way, it's another thing when, everyday, she encounters another apprentice of Phanza that she perceives as more experienced and more powerful - which I don't even think I am - and, therefore, she sees me as the most real, the most tangible obstacle to her remaining as Phanza's apprentice, despite the fact that there is no threat of her losing her position.
"Excellent, lets go fill in the tag-along apprentice." Phanza concluded, ready to get down to business again.
The Chancellery landed in the Hutts' underground hangar on Quesh, the circular ceiling closing above us to seal it off from the toxic atmosphere outside. The four of us watched as the hangar sealed and then the ventilation systems activated, sucking out any contaminated air and replacing it with something clean and breathable for us ordinary humanoids. Once the air was filtered out and healthy, Phanza led the rest of us off the ship and towards a table next to the exit, finding four breathing masks with their own miniature filters. I fit one to my face, clipping the straps together in the back and lifting my hair to cover it. This left a black and brown mechanism on the front of my face to clean up the air I'm breathing. I was dressed in a black and burgundy set of robes with watching gloves, boots, and belt, leaving the only uncovered thing my face, and even that now had a mask on it and was underneath my hood. Schweva and Phanza were similarly dressed, in a set of black and purple robes and a set of black and silver robes, respectively, while E'verta wore the same black set of robes she was wearing the whole time, not having the luxury to change when traveling on someone else's ship.
There was something else on our robes too, and that's a massive arsenal of weapons. I had my new single-bladed purple and black lightsaber which I've been carrying for a few missions by now, along with my pair of blaster pistols - the ones I wore while in disguise on Nar Shaddaa at the beginning of this now twice-extended trip - and I had an automatic blaster machine gun strapped to my back, connected to a bandolier on which I was carrying my share of the explosives for the mission. Phanza had her curved-hilt lightsaber, her heavy blaster pistol from Loukhamii, an electrostaff, and her own share of the explosives. Schweva had her lightwhip, her lightsaber, her own set of blaster pistols, her own explosives, and also a long, sleek sniper rifle she picked from the Chancellery's armory. E'verta Ne'ull, out of some stubbornness, only took the explosives from Phanza's arsenal, leaving her with just her double-bladed lightsaber in comparison to our more diverse arsenals. That was fine though, I trusted that she was capable enough with that weapon, and she had us as her allies.
We walked through the blast door and down the long private hallway before taking a left at an intersection, apparently crossing an extensive network of underground Hutt tunnels. I imagined that this was part of the Hutts' method of controlling the planet, a network of secret passages which gave them access to all the various factories and facilities they leased out to their clients. The question was, how close would this get us to the Imperial position? Were they incorporated into the Huttese system, or did Palpatine manage to secure a level of privacy for his operations on the planet? Well, as we descended down a staircase to an even lower level, we eventually got our answer, as we found the blast door to the Imperial base, but we also found it guarded by clone troopers. I watched as Phanza kept walking, even as the clones raised their guns and ordered us to halt, but then she simply waved her hand and I watched as both clones went completely stiff. First their bodies started contorting in sickening ways, then, despite that, they began desperately grasping at their throats, trying to relieve the pressure Phanza was putting on their necks, then, finally, they collapsed to the ground as Phanza walked right past them.
I watched as Phanza grabbed a pouch off her belt, producing a white powder, and then blew it onto the keypad controlling the door, the specialty powder settling on the most used buttons on the keypad, effectively revealing the combination. Phanza was on one side of the door, inputting the code, E'verta went to the other side, not having a ranged weapon in her arsenal, while Schweva and I stood in the center, me armed with my machine gun, Schweva armed with her sniper rifle. A destructive device and a precision tool, an interesting contrast. The weapons both flared up with blaster bolts once Phanza opened the door though. Another eight clones guarded this part of the base, standing at the foot of an elevator which led to the surface installations. Schweva instantly sniped one clone down, shooting so fast that all I noticed was the smoking hole in his helmet as he dropped to the ground. I didn't let that distract me, because I swept the room with my machine gun, releasing automatic blaster bolts at the clones, putting some of them down, forcing others into cover in what was truly a display of suppressive fire. One of the three remaining clones tried to peek out of cover but Schweva again got him with a sniper bolt, scoring her second kill of the mission. Taking advantage of the fact that Schweva's sniper could only fire so soon in succession, another clone popped up, aiming his blaster at Schweva, but I gunned him down with a burst from my gun. The final clone was against the wall in a small alcove but, not wanting to waste time, Phanza peaked out from the edge of the doorway with her heavy blaster pistol and shot a white and black round through the wall into him, killing the clone and leaving a smoking hole in the wall.
"Come on, we're going to the surface." Phanza ordered, voice distorted ever so slightly by the mask she was wearing. The three of us joined her on the large, square elevator platform as she brought us up above, all of us knowing that the base itself would no doubt be alerted by now, and we would be facing a significant threat the moment this elevator reached its destination. I watched as E'verta grabbed her double-bladed lightsaber, not yet igniting it, but ready to bring both blades alive and spin them to create a shield protecting herself, meanwhile, Schweva was eyeing the short little wall at the other end of the elevator...we weren't sure why that was there, but we did know that we could use it to our advantage. I think I would join Schweva down there, because I was already imagining the damage I could do if I braced my machine gun against the barrier and unloaded it into the clones. That left Phanza on the left acting on her own.
The elevator broke through to the surface, toxic yellow-green atmosphere above us, thick orange smog near the surface, and red sun in the sky. None of that seemed to matter just now though, because the four of us sprung into action. E'verta igniting her lightsaber succeeded in making her the center of attention and drawing most of the Imperial fire while Schweva and I dived for cover, the Chiss woman taking accurate, deadly aim at the clones as she lined them up one by one, meanwhile, I steadied my machine gun on the barrier and started firing, covering the courtyard with a wide arc of red blaster fire. Phanza, meanwhile, was shooting lightning with one hand and her heavy blaster with the other, aiming for the clones on the catwalk above us. There was a wide open space in front of us, then a squared off section of catwalks began, and in these catwalks sat a wrecked Terminator-class Destroyer, the very target of this mission. The other Imperial facilities here were on the other ends of the courtyard, one on the left wall, one on the right, and a third on the far side beyond the ancient Sith warship.
Phanza took care of the final clones on the catwalk when she grabbed them with the Force and threw them into the air, sending them flying through the air and crashing down to the surface. For extra measure, and likely just to prove that she could, Schweva sniped one of the bodies out of the sky, sending the clone to the ground with a thud. The entrance way cleared, we advanced deeper into the base, Phanza headed for the catwalks and the ship itself, wanting to do the most important part of the mission herself, while directing me to the left side of the facility, Schweva to the far side, and E'verta to the right. We were going to split up to cover as much ground as quickly as possible, and to make sure no part of the base has an opening to organize a response. This whole kind of operation depended on speed and response. We needed to hit the Empire where they least expected, we needed to hit them hard, and we needed to get out of there before they could respond. We can't force them off planets but we can disrupt their operations and set their plans back months, we can't keep the Empire off these planets, but we can force them to have to rebuild everything over and over and over again. We can't kill the Empire with a decisive blow, so instead, it'll be a death by a thousand cuts.
I ran towards the building on the left, the western-wing of the facility, as a squad of clones arrived through the ground level blast door. I grabbed my lightsaber in one hand and a blaster pistol in the other, using the purple and black blade to block shots directed at me while firing purple lasers in retribution with the lightweight yet scoped and long-barreled underworld-grade blaster. I used the Force to guide my shots as the clones shouted about me being a Jedi, watching as two of them dropped, the result of my blasters, before a third was shot from across the courtyard by a still sniping Schweva - the Chiss apparently wasn't getting attacked quite as hard, so she was covering the result of us while moving to the eastern facility - his fourth friend blasted at me, but, considering I was still running, it was now so close that I easily deflected the shot back at him. This left me against two final clones as I closed in. I surprised the clones by deactivating my lightsaber, swinging the hilt into the first clone's gut, then activating it, killing the clone and rendering him limp in my grasp. Using the fifth clone as a shield, I lifted my blaster pistol beneath his arm and shot the final member of the clone. I deactivated my lightsaber and left them falling to the ground. The clones were dead and the blast door was open, my way into the west-end facility was clear.
I put my lightsaber away and I switched to dual-wielding the blaster pistols, deciding that a longer range weapon was the right move here, but I didn't want to be constricted by the long and unwieldy machine gun at close quarters. I entered through the blast door and climbed the stairs to the upper level, heading halfway up, turning one-hundred eighty degrees on the midway platform, and then heading the last flight of stairs to the upper level. I stopped before I completely emerged though, because I saw the wall against the staircase, saw the area between the staircase and the observation window was clear, but still sensed that there were clones in this room. That meant that they were on the opposite end of the room, waiting for me to appear so they could fill me with blaster bolts. I wasn't going to fall for that though, so I closed my eyes, I sensed where two of the clones were, and I fired my blaster, curving the lasers and directing them at their designated targets. At the same time, realizing what was happening, the other clones opened fire while one of them threw a stun grenade across the room.
The grenade exploded and, despite the fact my eyes were closed, I was affected and my concentration was broken, I even stumbled down a couple of steps before I was able to regain my composure. Between my vision shaking and my ears ringing from the grenade and the sound of the blasters tearing through the wall in front of me, I wasn't going to be able to focus enough to do that again. That left my with precious few options. I took cover on the inside of the staircase, hiding against the side wall of the room, a foot or so of which stood against the top of the staircase. It was just enough to let me peak into the room where the reaming four clones were unloading their guns. If I raised my gun and tried to shoot them, first of all, my aim would suffer considering my present condition, second of all, I might not even get that far as my arm could get torn apart my blaster fire as soon as I raised it. I realized then that I was going to need outside help.
"Master, I'm pinned down by a squad of clones, anything you can do to help?" I asked Phanza, hoping that things were going better for her on board the ship itself as I contacted her through our mental link. I didn't get a response at first, implying that Phanza was busy after all, but then my master started sharing mental images of her current situation, showing that she was currently fighting two clone troopers armed with riot batons, which was bad, however, the good part was that she was on the left side of the ship, traveling through the broadside cannon tunnel. I watched as Phanza kicked out beneath the baton, unsettling the clone, and then she swung her lightsaber at his feet, knocking him to the ground and then finishing him off with her lightsaber. At the same time, she caught the second clone by surprise by grabbed her electrostaff, activating it, and then throwing the staff at the clone, electrocuting him dead.
"Yes, as a matter of fact I can." Phanza replied, the Nautolan smirking as she realized she was in the perfect place to help me. Phanza stopped sharing mental images as I realized I needed to take cover and Phanza got to work with her admittedly overkill strategy to finish off these four clones. I retreated to the midway platform and knelt at the wall where the two staircases meant, covering my ears as Phanza released a bombardment from the Terminator-class Destroyer, blowing up the second story of the west-side facility and clearing the way for me. Phanza spoke again as I stood up and shook off the last of the effects of that stun grenade from earlier "Make sure that nothing survived the bombardment then meet me in the ship, we're now on a tighter time table."
"Understood." I replied as I realized what Phanza meant. Quesh was likely on full alert right now, the explosions drawing attention, and it was only a matter until it drew Imperial attention. We needed to finish this mission, get the navigational computer, destroy all evidence of our presence, and get off of Quesh before we're faced with a Venator-class Star Destroyer entering orbit. Thus, I hurried back to the upper level and found that everything in the room was blasted out of existence, including the clones, but, now that I could see past the ambush point, I saw that there was another room - a lab - that was relatively untouched by the bombardment. I would join Phanza in a moment, but first, I needed to find out what this lab is and then place the explosives that will render it out of existence.
I entered the newly revealed room and first, I saw a bunch of random adrenal related inventions in various stages of development. These were likely experiments in trying to get the clones - or perhaps specialty units like the hunters we faced on Nar Shaddaa - to fight harder, longer, and more fiercely than they possibly could by natural means. Secondly, I noticed the toxic vats of Hutt Venom - the gas native to Quesh that makes these adrenals possible, and also makes the atmosphere toxic - on the other end of the room. Thirdly, I heard the panicked breathing and the desperate whimpering of the Imperial scientists - non-combatants, arguably civilians, even if they are involved in creating the Imperial war machine - which put me into a difficult place. Now, the whole point of this attack was to remain anonymous and make sure the Empire didn't know who did this or why, so, by that logic, I should leave no witnesses, but, on the other hand, I'm not willing to kill somebody who poses no direct threat to me. I may not be a Jedi anymore, but I'm not a cold-blooded murderer.
"You will get up. You will get out of here. You will forget everything that you saw." lacking better options, I tried a Mind Trick, which probably isn't the best of ideas considering mind tricks target the weak-minded and these are scientists, but these are also panicked civilians in the middle of a war zone who just witnessed the other room getting blown up by a broadside blast from space combat grade cannons. These people aren't exactly in a good state of mind to resist the will of a persistent Force user. I watched as the scientists stood up, rather stiffly at that, making me believe that they were obeying my command, and then they walked right past me wearing stoic expressions and looking straight ahead, which confirmed my beliefs. These people were acting unnaturally, these people were under the influence of someone else's command rather than their own free will, these scientists were getting up and getting out of here, and that means that they'll also be forgetting everything they saw here. I got what I wanted, so I went deeper into the room to plant my explosives. I planted one on the vats of Hutt Venom, knowing that exploding it would take care of most of the room, I placed another under the main workbench, wanting to specifically destroy the furthest developed projects here and making sure that the Empire had nothing to recover, and I placed a third and final explosive against the opposite wall, in an attempt to even out the damage.
Satisfied with the explosives, I rushed out of the west-side facility, finding that the scientists were already gone by the time I exited out of the original ground level blast door, and I headed over to the Terminator-class Destroyer to support Phanza. I had to circle around back towards the beginning of the courtyard and climb the catwalks, but fortunately Phanza was very thorough with clearing out anything in her path. That left me walking quickly down the top level of the catwalks to the still open entrance hatch that my master used to board this thing, the turbolaser batteries still smoking beneath me from the earlier broadside - ancient Sith turbolasers weren't fired under atmospheric conditions all that often, they were envisioned as more of a space battle weapon - as I boarded the ancient craft. Once again confronted with Phanza's trail of destruction, I rushed off to find where she was now.
I followed her trail of destruction through the ship and eventually found myself through the artillery tunnel that she was in earlier, even passing by the console Phanza must have used to blow up the west-side facility for me. That being said, as I continued further into the ship, it became clear that Phanza hadn't been quite as thorough as I had initially thought. Now, I understood why, she was rushing to get to the navigational computer and then she was planning on blowing up the whole ship anyway, but, as I emerged out of the tunnel - which Phanza evidently used to bypass a huge portion of the ship - I found a squad of clones, including an EWHB-12 heavy repeating blaster, preparing to ambush Lady Attam, who has evidently sealed herself in the bridge. I realized that this called for my intervention, so I quickly raised a blaster pistol and gunned down two of the six clones. I took cover behind a nearby wall as three of the other clones provided suppressive fire and the fourth tried to get the EWHB operational. This was the biggest threat to me right now, so, even with a wave of blaster fire directed at me, I tried to blind-fire at him, though without either vision of the Force to assist my aim, my shots missed rather pathetically.
I, however, also had a bandolier of explosives on my chest, so, grabbing and arming one of the explosive charges, I threw it, landing it directly on the back wall and watching as it implanted itself in the wall and began beeping fast. The clones tried to react, knowing what was coming, but it was too late, the bomb exploded, clearing the room, singeing the walls, and blowing a hole in the wall. I got out of cover to find that the bomb had the side effect of blowing the blaster door open. I rounded the corner to see Phanza raising her heavy blaster, assuming it was one of us coming, but wanting to be careful just in case it was somebody else. Once she saw me, my master smiled and put the gun down, navigational computer under her arm, and our real mission completed. Now all there was left to do was to hurt the Empire as much as possible before getting out of here. To that end, Phanza ordered us to split up, me heading down the side of the ship she already cleared, Phanza heading through the other end, with the mission to place bombs at even intervals down the length of the broadside tunnel - placing our explosives next to the thousands of years of old munitions for maximum explosive effect. This meant that Phanza was going to face the brunt of the surviving clones, but that hardly seemed to be a problem for her, and I didn't really want to insist on joining her to kill the men I once thought alongside.
That was a different time though, a different civilization...or was it though? I want to believe the clones were brainwashed, I saw myself as Commander Warlock went from saving my life from a separatist trap to trying to kill me once he received the order from Chancellor Palpatine, but what is going on now? Are they still being actively brainwashed? Was there some sort of passive programming that was rendered active by the Order 66 command, or was this always within the ability of the clones, they just dropped the pretense of serving us once Palpatine gave the order? I didn't want to be too pessimistic, but I couldn't help but feel like the brainwashing was too convenient an excuse for us Jedi, something to help us come to terms with the fact that the clones betrayed us and killed the vast majority of our fellow Jedi. Maybe the clones were always aware of the fact they were going to kill us, simply waiting for Imperial command. On the other hand, maybe it's all true, considering the hundreds of thousands of clones that died in service of the Jedi. I didn't know what was true and what wasn't at this stage, all I knew was that these corpses all around me as I placed these bombs were the same men, or at least the same type of men, that I fought alongside side since I became a Padawan of the Jedi Order, now, we were killing them, and, by the sounds of it, we were going to be killing them in ever more aggressive ways.
I stabbed a clone in the stomach earlier and used him as a human shield. A year ago, could I have even imagined doing that? If I had a vision of that a year ago, what could I possibly have told Master Avdune? How could I have looked men like Commander Warlock or Winch or Wishlist knowing I would do that to a clone that shares the exact same face? How can I even make my peace with this now? This new shock and awe plan against the Empire was so violent, so aggressive, and this was just the very first example of it - Phanza made it sound like this is going to be our main strategy against the Empire going forward - how was I going to feel once I killed a hundred clones? ...Have I killed a hundred clones already? Ypherro, the Sage, Loukhamii, and now Quesh, all these battles, just how many clones have I killed already? I couldn't be sure, and that scared me, especially because I knew I was going to kill an awful lot of clones in the near future. In fact, if I haven't killed a hundred clones by now, I think I will here today when we blow up this ship and the rest of this facility. Am I okay with this? Quite frankly, I don't know. I can do this, I've proven that with what I've done so far but does that mean that I want to do this?
All the while, while I was going through the mental turmoil, I had basically retraced my steps, placing the remainder of my explosives all the way down, all while hearing the sound of blaster fire in the distance. This was the sound of Phanza making her way through the opposite side of the ship. Elsewhere in the base, I think that, by now, Schweva was probably wrapping up on the east side of the base, meanwhile, on the far side of the base, I think that E'verta Ne'ull is going to take a little bit longer, both because she stubbornly refused to grab weapons from the Chancellery's arsenal and because she was given the furthest away part of the base. Meanwhile, I was back at the entrance hatch I boarded from. I peaked outside and saw the west-side facility was now on fire, an effect of the broadside cannons, and that was with the explosives I planted earlier not even having been detonated yet. There was another thing, responding to the explosion, and having decided that if someone is going to raid the Empire, it might as well be them, Huttese air skiffs were approaching, manned by Huttese enforcers and Bounty Hunters alike.
"The Hutts are sending forces in from the air. I've planted my share of the explosives and I'm gonna deal with them before they can make ground fall or identify us." I informed Phanza through the link and I got off the ship and rested my machine gun blaster on the railing of the catwalk before raising it to the air as an impromptu anti-aircraft gun. We had masks on and an assortment of weaponry that made us hard to identify from a distance, especially when our lightsabers weren't activated, but I still needed to make sure they didn't see too much, so, from this position, I opened fire on the closest skiff. These Huttese vehicles were built for speed and as a weapons platform, not necessarily as an armored assault craft, so, I started blasting through the floor of the craft, effectively slowly shooting it into pieces. At the same time, somewhere behind me, from the ground, I heard the sound of Schweva's sniper rifle as she fired at the other skiff, managing to hit the pilot with the help of the Force. That sent the second closest skiff crashing to the ground. The other apprentice was certainly making herself useful.
Unfortunately for me, the skiff I was shooting also made it close enough to retire fire, so, while standing here on a wide open elevated catwalk, I was also getting shot at with blaster pistols and even rifles. I knelt down and took what little cover there was behind the tiny railing and fired my machine gun through th gap, though the heavy, unwieldy weapon wasn't quite as accurate when it couldn't be braced against shots were getting closer to me, I saw the railing a few feet from my head get hit with a blaster bolt, scorching the metal and leaving a horrid smell behind, one I could feel even through the filters of my mask. The smell of rust turned to plasma by a supergassed blaster bolt fired off way too close to me in an industrial hellscape. Realizing that things were getting too close for comfort, I realized that I had to do something, so, I stood right up and brought the machine gun up to my hip. I started firing while walking backwards towards the entrance hatch, hoping that the suppressive fire would keep me from getting hit while so exposed.
I wasn't so lucky though, because, somewhere on that skiff, a lucky bounty hunter raised his blaster pistol and took a shot right for my head. I could do nothing but watch as the blaster bolt flew towards my face, hit directly on the filter of my mask, and sent me flying backwards with my mask flying off my face somewhere else entirely. I instinctively took a deep breath as I realized that I was still alive, my face was fine for the most part, but then I realized two things really quickly. First I felt my nostrils go hot and dry as I breathed in the toxic air, then I realized my mask was completely destroyed and thrown off my face by that blaster bolt, and, because of that, the toxic, burning feeling was not only getting worse, but spreading to my lungs. I tried not to breath anymore and tried to ignore my lungs crying out for pain while I crawled towards the entrance hatch, the skiff still firing towards me even as Schweva was now sniping at it with all she could. I felt like the toxic air was trying to burn itself out of my lungs and corrode my body inside out but, despite that, I was still trying to get to safety and figure something out. I was close to the entrance, very close, but it just seemed like I wasn't making any progress. Lacking any other option, I sent one mental signal out: "Help."
"Zaliza!" I heard Phanza call out in person from somewhere near me as I collapsed to the ground, involuntarily breathing more and more as my body gave up and cried out for air, not realizing this planet's air was the very thing causing all the damage. Lady Attam looked around desperately before realizing that my mask was destroyed. I heard something explode near me, the skiff perhaps, but I had no way of knowing it. I felt my eyes closing as my body began to suffocate, but then, I felt an outside pressure on my lungs. My eyes widened as I looked up at Phanza. My master looked downright horrified as she looked at me while raising her right hand with the Force, only managing to get two words out "I'm sorry..."
I felt the air getting torn out of my lungs, realizing that Phanza was getting the toxic air out of my lungs, and that made me wonder why she was apologizing. She was saving me from the toxic air, why was that a problem? Though then, feeling the air leave me lungs, seeing the expression on Phanza's face, seeing her hand motion, and realizing that my master would be crying if she had tear ducts, I realized what was going on. Phanza was saving my life, but she was saving my life by Force choking me. I felt something sinking in my stomach at that realization, but I didn't have much to think about it as my lungs cried out again, this time for being empty, and I tried to convey that to Phanza. My master, getting the message, released the choke. I tried to resist my impulses and kept from breath as Phanza grabbed my mask off the ground and handed it to me finding where the damage was and pulling a field bandage from her belt. I watched as Phanza put the mask on my face, used the bandage to seal the holes in it, tied an easy knot, and then instructed me.
"Hold the bandage tight and breath sparingly, if the filter even still works in this stage, it's just barely. Understood?" Phanza asked. I nodded and took a tentative first breath, finding oxygen, healthy oxygen, and feeling my lungs cry out in reliefs, feeling my vision get clearer, and finally being able to focus on something, but I would feel my lungs grow desperate and my vision darken and tunnel-up again as I understood that I could only breath when absolutely necessary. This is a very, very impromptu fix and the fabric could fail at any moment. If I lost my grip, the air-tight seal would be lost, if I gripped too hard, I would risk tearing the fabric and also breaking the seal, so, I was effectively rendered useless.
Phanza, Schweva, and E'verta covered me as we returned to the tunnels. The explosives were detonated at some stage. I didn't really know, I was really able to focus on anything other than breathing until we finally arrived at the air-tight hangar just before we left the planet. Our mission a success.
Ciao everyone!
