Chapter VIII – Rescue Watcher One
Brand called Jaks on his headset and started punching some info into his data-pad.
"What's up, boss?" Jaks asked as he walked over.
"We've got a lead on the Watcher's location; I want you to escort the combat team to Toxic Lake and make a report."
"What about not splitting up?" he asked with a wry grin.
"Well, technically, you won't be alone, and neither will I, so I think that meets the letter of the law."
"Okay, are you going to report to the commander?"
"I'll let you handle that," the lieutenant replied, "I'm going to be flying like a Dactillion with its tail on fire. You know how to get to Toxic Lake from here, right?"
"Yeah," Jaks replied with an insulted look.
"Are you ready?" the lieutenant asked me.
"Give me a minute," I replied, realizing that I had an opportunity to send a message to Andronikos since I was outside the bunker's communication interference. I walked away to give myself privacy.
Pez floated behind me, and I turned on him. "Record a message for the Intrepid," I stated.
"Beep," the droid agreed as his eye focused on my face and a little red light came on, indicating it was recording.
"Andronikos, I've run into some complications on the surface and haven't gotten to the Jedi enclave yet. I expect to be able to complete the mission tonight and should be calling for extraction sometime after midnight. I'm in and out of com signals because of Imperial and Republic interference, so there might be a delay if you try to reach me. Hopefully, you will hear from me soon."
I motioned at Pez to cut the recording and turned back to the soldiers preparing to bug out. At that moment, with Jaks on his speeder, I realized the lieutenant's intent that we share a speeder. I cringed while I walked back to him, trying to think of a way out of being a passenger.
He seemed to recognize my internal battle and gave me a helpless grin. "You're going to need your helmet," he stated with a pointed finger.
I stomped off toward the helmet and looked at Pez. "Come here," I ordered sharply. The little ball drifted close, and I reached up to grab him so that I could turn him off and stuff him in my satchel.
"Dweep!" the droid shot back and hovered out of reach.
"Come here!" I growled, "I will be riding a speeder and don't want to have to deal with you."
"Chirp-blip-blip-tweet," it complained.
"Fine," I waved my hand in frustration, "I'll just leave you then."
I grabbed the helmet off the ground where I tossed it and crammed it onto my head in frustration as I walked back to the speeder, cinching it as tight as it could go to my chin after climbing onto the bike. I looked for something to hold onto other than the lieutenant.
"Can you hear me?"
"Of course," I snapped.
He recognized my discomfort, which actually made it worse. "I'll take good care of you . . ." he tried to soothe.
"Just go!" I spat.
"What about your droid?" he asked as he craned his neck to look up at Pez.
"Leave it; the thing is more of an annoyance than a help anyway."
The speeder came to life under us, and we shot away from the broken industrial ruins.
"We're away, Jaks," the lieutenant said into the com.
"I see you – be safe, man."
"You too."
As he clicked the com off, we shot out over the embankment that we rode up earlier, at least a hundred feet in the air as the speeder accelerated. Despite my misgivings, my arms reflexively wrapped around the lieutenant, and I closed my eyes when trees whizzed past in a blur. I had never ridden a speeder as fast as the lieutenant's, and we were still accelerating.
We banked as he dipped us into a river valley, and I felt the G-force pushing me against the bike seat. Despite my Force-enhanced senses, the terrain was moving so fast in my vision that I had no premonition of impending obstacles.
"We need to arrive in one piece, lieutenant," I complained.
"Don't worry, I used to race back home on Carida."
His words did not help alleviate my concern, but I refused to comment further. I had a problem with not being in control, which had no solution at the moment, regardless of any amount of criticizing. I decided it was best to close my eyes and focus on the Force in an attempt to calm myself before the inevitable storm. The closer we got to the sensor signals, the more a foreboding grew within me.
I heard Pez warble into my ear and realized that I had put the helmet over my glasses. Looking over my shoulder, I saw the black orb just behind the speeder. To be honest, I was quite shocked that the little droid could move that fast, his frame shuddering and a tiny blue flame shooting out his backside like an afterburner.
We flew on as the minutes passed. The landscape changed as it whipped by, the river channel broadening into a valley and then a low area that began to smell like decaying vegetation. Water started ponding, and soon we were following thin strips of land between large lakes and backwaters.
"The signal we are tracking has grown stronger. I can make out six active coms; that means soldiers are still alive."
"Can you tell if one is the Watcher?"
"No, the dead soldier I took the headset from mustn't have had the clearance for that information. Do you want me to call over the com? Maybe someone will respond?"
It made sense to hail them. We could determine what we were getting into or if the Watcher even needed to be rescued, but there were downsides. "No," I replied, "if the Watcher is compromised, it will give away our approach. How much more time?"
"Ten minutes, not much more."
I glanced to either side of us, watching the scenery move past swiftly. We were climbing back up out of the lowlands following what could have been an old roadway. Pez actually flew up alongside us, his red eye narrowed with effort. Closing my eyes, I began to meditate on what was about to happen. The Jedi had attacked the combat team we had just helped, and they were likely after the Watcher, so I needed to prepare myself for a Force duel.
Meditation seemed impossible while being jerked about on a speeder, moving way faster than it should, but I had no choice. Drawing my focus inward, I found the Force essence within me and used it to concentrate better. Strangely, the dark emotions in my core were tumultuous, and the ghosts were close to the surface; I could feel their anticipation for the fight. I fought those emotions and the ghosts basking in them, wanting to be deliberate and cautious rather than violent and erratic.
As we drew closer, I began to sense the Force being used; the Jedi were here. I opened my eyes and noticed we were still climbing out of the lowlands and heading towards another area of crumpled buildings. The wrecked road we were following had a fork up ahead, with one side going into a large covered area like a tunnel. That is where the Jedi were.
"Slow down," I warned, "they are in that tunnel up ahead."
"That's where the headset signals are," Brand confirmed.
"Approach in cover," I told him.
The speeder slowed drastically, and we left the open path to begin winding through the dense undergrowth and uneven rubble. The lieutenant maneuvered to within about a hundred yards of the tunnel opening.
"Stop here," I ordered.
The lieutenant found a dense growth of bushes and stuck the speeder in its midst. I slid off the bike and removed the recon helmet when we stopped.
"What are you going to do?" Brand asked when he saw me check my belt and draw my saber.
"Stay here," I told him as I set the helmet on the bike and turned to leave. "You too," I snapped at Pez.
"I can't do that," the lieutenant replied, "where you go, I go."
The droid nodded his round frame in agreement.
I turned to see Brand dismounting next to me. "Look, I appreciate your concern . . ."
"It's orders; no one goes alone."
"Beep-click-tweep," Pez agreed again.
"I'm not military, so your orders don't work on me, and I recall the commander telling me to keep you out of harm's way."
"I can take care of myself," Brand replied sharply.
"Not against what's in there," I said, pointing toward the tunnel. "You saw the wounds on those dead soldiers. There's nothing you can do against a Jedi."
"Don't be so difficult," he snapped, "you fight the Jedi; let me do the scouting." He stepped past me and entered a crouch as he left the bush's cover.
Frustrated, I followed him to a large jumble of rubble with a few trees sticking out. Brand wound his way into the obstruction until he managed to find a location where he could view into the tunnel.
"There looks like a full squad of soldiers spread out at the end around an opening. I see two carriers and some speeders, which means there could be as many as twenty-six soldiers in there. We're going to have to cross almost a hundred yards of open ground with little cover."
I peered over his shoulder but had trouble seeing into the dimmer light of the tunnel with my unaided eyes. The recon helmets had a heads-up display that could adjust lighting and even switch to infrared if needed. "We aren't crossing that distance," I countered, "you are going to provide covering fire for me; can you do that?"
The lieutenant looked at me with irritation, "I can, but . . ."
"Good, and try to make it seem like there's more of us than there are." I moved out of the confined space we had worked ourselves into and began to walk around the back side of the rubble. Pez puffed along behind me. "You stay with the lieutenant," I said as I pointed to Brand. "Keep him safe."
"Beep-duooh," Pez complained.
"Give me a minute to get the speeder," Brand said as he walked past me, "it's got a heavy blaster on the front that will be a big help."
I waited for him, closing my eyes to focus one last time. I could sense the Jedi now, and I wondered if they could sense me. It was pointless to try and shroud myself; they would know within moments anyway. I thought about removing my cloak, but it provided some protection from blaster bolts and would obscure my body as a target, so I kept it on and pulled up my hood. My skirt was already above my knees from riding on the speeder, so it would not hinder me. I removed Pez's HUD glasses so that they would not hinder me either.
Brand brought the speeder up very quietly and stopped right next to me. "Take care, Sith." He gave me a quick nod of his head.
"Open fire when I am halfway down the tunnel."
"What if I hit you," he worried.
"Don't worry about that," I waved my hand, "just make your fire effective; I'll avoid it." I turned to leave and then paused. "If you see the Jedi, anyone but me with a lightsaber, turn that bike around and flee."
I walked to an opening in the rubble and looked into the shadowy tunnel, butterflies whirling in my gut. I had been in conflict many times before, but somehow that anxious thrill managed to tighten my throat each time. Realizing I would not grow any calmer, I drew on the Force and sprinted from the cover of the rubble and into the tunnel.
Suddenly, Pez let out a loud screech and flew out of the cover toward the Republic position. "Pez, no! Damn droid!" I cursed as I went after it in a Force run. The droid screeched and warbled alarm sounds while flying toward the Republic soldiers. Buzzing right between the troop carriers, Pez opened fire on the soldiers with his miniature blaster, causing chaos for a moment as I sprinted forward.
I was almost on the Republic position when Brand's blaster shots started streaking past me. I dodged two green Republic blaster bolts before igniting my blade and Force leaping over an armored carrier and into the midst of the squad.
My goal was to rush the entrance and put the Republic squad behind me, but two heavily armored commandos appeared from within and blocked the entranceway when the fighting started. Soldiers were shooting and shouting orders at each other, taking cover from Brand's fire and trying to shoot at me simultaneously.
I blocked a blaster bolt straight back at the soldier who fired it, striking him in the side of his combat helmet and knocking him to the ground. I made it hard for them to shoot at me by putting myself between the groups, so their bolts were aimed at each other. Each shot I dodged ended up becoming friendly fire on their own men.
"Focus on the incoming fire!" I heard one of the big commandos yell over the din of battle, "we'll handle the Sith."
The soldiers stopped firing at me as the two armored commandos lumbered forward, igniting their saber-resistant tech-blades. I rushed the nearest one, putting his frame between his partner and me. A slash of my lightsaber indicated that the commando's armor was shielded. My saber bounced off harmlessly.
An intense duel ensued where I had to fend off two heavy tech-blades as I sought an advantage. I backed away from them, hoping they would leave the entrance and come after me. One of them did, but the other remained on guard, working as a good team. I backed close enough to two Republic soldiers, and one thought he had a dead shot on me and pulled the trigger.
I felt the pulse of energy in the Force slightly before the bolt left the blaster and turned sideways just in time for the bolt to graze my side and impact the commando coming at me. Unfortunately, his armor was impervious to blaster bolts, and he simply shrugged it off.
Pez buzzed in and swept close by one soldier's face to distract him. Unfortunately, his partner put a blaster bolt smack in the middle of the droid, sending Pez tumbling to the ground in a squeal and splash of sparks. Angrily, I unleashed my frustration on him and the soldier next to him. Seeing their comrades cut down by my saber made the others scurry away, some taking shots at me in frustration.
The armored commando came on, his tech-blade swinging hard at me in revenge. I could see a faint flicker in the armor plate where the blaster bolt struck and got an idea. My lightsaber was no use against such an armored opponent, but it was not my only weapon. Drawing on that ball of rage inside of me, I summoned Force lightning and extended my hand to direct it at the commando.
He tried to block it with his tech-blade, but he had no Force ward like a Jedi or Sith would, and I could shift the lightning past his weapon. The purple energy sizzled against his shielded armor and made the plates begin to flicker as the shield overcharged. Several more casts of Force lightning had broken the shield on his left arm and chest plate; he was vulnerable.
The commando knew he was in trouble and began to work back towards his twin, but I Force leapt over him and blasted his helmet with lightning as I vaulted. Stunned by the lightning in his face, he swung wildly towards me and left himself open. I ducked under his attack and swept my saber upward on his left side, where it caught his arm just below his shoulder and sliced it off.
The commando screamed as his arm fell to the ground, and the soldiers around me turned their fire back on me in a panic. I rushed the second armored commando, throwing lightning toward his head as I dodged the blaster bolts flying around me. My lightning and several friendly fire bolts struck the commando in succession, and he backed into the entrance defensively. I followed closely, and we dueled with several quick parries in the tight space of the entrance.
I summoned lightning into my hand again, and to my surprise, the ghost of Darth Andru rose up into my consciousness with a swell of rage and power, driven by an ancient battle lust from long ago. The Force lightning that left my hand was far more powerful than any I had ever summoned, and it staggered the commando back when it struck him.
Panic crept into the commando's frame. "Close the doors!" he yelled inside his helmet. I looked past him down the dim hallway and noticed a set of heavy doors at the far end. Realizing I could end up trapped, I quickly focused on finishing the duel. Darth Andru was a dual-wielding Sith, and he urged me to distract the commando with my saber while blasting his legs with Force lightning. When his armored grieves lost their shield, it took only two slashes to get into the joint behind the knee and cut the commando down.
The doors at the end of the hallway were beginning to close, and I Force sprinted as blaster fire started flying at me. I was not going to make it, but Darth Andru surged within me at the last moment, and Force leapt us past the securing doors and into the room beyond.
More than a dozen soldiers watched in panic as I landed in the room and the heavy doors closed with a clang behind me. The Jedi, a tall man and a woman with a double-bladed lightsaber, stood at the far end. They were standing before the Watcher and his men. Everyone looked at me in a strange and awkward pause before again chaos ensued. An officer barked out an order, and everyone opened fire at me. I Force leapt over the nearest soldiers and headed straight for the Jedi. Green blaster bolts flew everywhere, and the Jedi and Imperial prisoners both ended up dodging and crouching for cover.
"Stop firing!" The male Jedi yelled as he struck his blue lightsaber and came at me, but it was no use in the mayhem as the soldiers continued to fire in panic.
The ghost of the Servant rose up to join with Darth Andru; the hatred from both of them towards the Jedi filled me and made it difficult to think. The Jedi rushed at me as fast as I towards him, and our blades crashed together in a rapid conversation. I heard a cry escape my lips, something akin to a wildcat, and I began to wonder if I had lost control.
The female Jedi joined the duel as I pressed the attack against her partner. I sensed from his Force aura that he was the master and tried to take him out of the fight first. However, the master and padawan worked well as a team and kept me from gaining an advantage. After a moment of balanced combat, the Jedi went on the attack, and I realized that it would be difficult to defeat the two of them on my own.
Darth Andru changed my tactic and switched my attack to the padawan. She looked surprised by my change of focus but managed to keep her composure, her double-bladed saber form creating a defensive barrier to my attacks. Filled with a battle fever and hate for the Jedi, Darth Andru called up lightning with my hand and threw it at the padawan. She brought up her saber to ward the energy away from her face, but it was not enough, and some of the lightning sizzled into her head and neck, making her stumble back in shock.
"Kira!" the male Jedi yelled as he rushed to intervene.
Darth Andru cackled inside me; he fears for his padawan; use it against him! I had to back away under the Jedi's attack and could not press the padawan before she recovered. Instead, I threw lightning at him, forcing him to stop his attack and ward himself. We dueled sharply, and I shifted several times to make him deflect blaster bolts from his own soldiers, hoping it would distract him and create an opening.
"Stop firing!" he yelled again in frustration.
The Jedi was a better swordsman than I, much to the ghosts' frustration. I sensed I would have difficulty beating him in a one-on-one saber duel. The padawan joined in again, and I switched my attack to her.
"Kira, get back," the master called out, which seemed to irritate his padawan. I threw lightning at her again, and she blocked it that time but left herself open for my lightsaber attack, and I almost got her arm with a quick jab.
The master Jedi drove hard against me, anger clearly on his face. He did not like me threatening his padawan. The Jedi is compassionate; that is his weakness, attack his soldiers. Seeming to take control of my body, Darth Andru made me do as he suggested, Force leaping away from the Jedi at the officer who ordered his men to fire on me.
The man seemed shocked at how quickly I was on him and aimed his pistol point-blank at my chest, but I Force shifted out of the way as his finger pulled the trigger, and the bolt shot off across the room. Darth Andru urged my saber up and across to cut the man in two, and at the last minute, I turned the blade so that instead, he lost his hand and the pistol it held.
The officer howled in pain, and the two soldiers next to him brought their weapons around on me angrily, but Darth Andru had already summoned Force lightning and blasted them with it, causing them to fall to the floor screaming in pain.
I did not want to attack the soldiers, and I had a sort of out-of-body moment as Darth Andru surged through the hapless men. I turned my weapon where I could to wound instead of kill, but the ghosts were in a rage, and they wanted death.
The Jedi came after me, trying to separate me from their soldiers. In the process, the padawan made herself vulnerable, and I attacked, almost disarming her and then striking her with lightning again, this time knocking her to the ground with a scream.
"Kira!" the master Jedi yelled. "Stop!" he said to me as he rushed up to defend her.
"I will kill them all!" Darth Andru yelled through me in a hissing voice I barely recognized.
The Jedi looked at me with a mixture of anger and shock. "No," he countered.
I managed to fight my way through the rage of the ghosts for a moment of control. "I want the Watcher and his men," I stated in a more measured voice. The Jedi gave me a harsh look and made to press his attack anew. "Get out now, or I kill them all!" I yelled.
He glanced quickly at the numerous soldiers moaning and crying on the floor, then back to me. I could see the hate in his eyes. He was torn between wanting to kill me and save his men. It was a very un-Jedi-like moment.
"I take Doctor Godera," he snapped.
"No," I heard the Watcher yell from the corner.
"Take him and go before my reinforcements arrive." I lied; there were no reinforcements, but all the Force use had exhausted me, and I was worried about continuing the fight. The Jedi was thinking, his weapon still raised and ready to strike.
"We were sent to rescue Doctor Godera, Jaren," the padawan stated as she recovered from my attack.
"Listen to your padawan," I urged, "and prevent further death." I backed away from him toward the Imperial prisoners in the corner of the room and lowered my saber.
"Get the soldiers out of here," he snapped at his padawan. He still stood in an attack stance, his eyes burning into me.
"We're pinned down at the entrance," one of the soldiers yelled near the heavy doors that had been drawn closed.
I had no way of talking to Brand, since I removed the recon helmet and Pez was gone. "Watcher," I called, still eyeing the Jedi warily, "call through your com and have my men cease fire and move aside so the enemy can leave." After a moment of nothing happening, I glanced back at the Watcher. "We picked up what was left of your combat team and have a headset tuned to your frequency."
With an awkward look, he stepped over to a table near him and sorted through equipment till he found his earpiece. The Jedi had removed his equipment when they took the men prisoner. The Watcher put the earpiece in and nodded to me. "This is Watcher One to the Imperial forces firing on the entrance; the Republic troops have agreed to retreat. Cease fire and give them distance. Please confirm?"
There was a tense moment as we all waited. "The order has been confirmed; the firing should stop."
I looked into the Jedi's eyes and saw that he was still struggling with a decision. Despite his reluctance, a soldier activated the heavy doors, and with the sound of them opening, the rest prepared to leave. The Jedi seemed to have realized he had lost the moment and looked back at his padawan and the soldiers in frustration.
"Someone needs to help the doctor; he's been drugged." The padawan and a soldier lifted the doctor and began to carry him towards the door. It took several minutes for the Jedi and the Republic soldiers to clear out, with the master Jedi standing near with his weapon ready the whole time.
"This won't end well for you, Sith," he threatened.
"Do you sense any fear in me, Jedi," I spat back and stood my ground with rage and adrenaline rushing through my body, making me shake softly with tension. It took all my willpower at that moment to keep the ghost's from overpowering me and attacking the brash Jedi. Finally, with the soldiers boarded and ready, the padawan came back through the heavy doors into the room.
"We're ready," she stated.
I got a sense that the Jedi would renew his attack then, now that the distractions were cleared out. The ghosts surged within me, and I could not stop them from making me step toward the Jedi in a bracing gesture. "What is it, Jedi?" my voice barked tauntingly, "will you throw it all away and attack me?"
"Jaren," the padawan broke in, "the doctor is our primary mission."
He did not say anything but gave me one last bitter look before turning and striding out of the room. I held my stance for another minute, not actually believing that it was over. Finally, when it seemed like the danger had passed, I flicked off my saber and relaxed. The ghosts within grew angered by my amity towards the Jedi and withdrew into my core, leaving me suddenly alone and without their Force energy. That, combined with the exertion of using so much Force power, sent me reeling, and I slumped against a nearby console.
"Well done, my Lord," Watcher One said in his high-class accent as he stepped near, "I had actually grown concerned about our fate before you arrived."
I gazed at him while trying to collect myself, noticing the uncomfortable looks that his soldiers were giving me, a mix of fear and aversion.
He seemed to notice his men's reaction as well. "All right then, Corporal, stop gawking and secure the room." He waved his hand from the table containing their equipment to the heavy doors at the room's far end.
The men snapped to action, picking up their gear and moving towards the entrance. I closed my eyes and struggled with vertigo, sliding uncomfortably to my knees as my head swam. I felt sick in my gut, which seemed to be coming from the dark core within me. Aching fatigue numbed my limbs, something I had experienced before when overtaxing myself in the Force.
"Are you in need of assistance, my Lord?" Watcher One inquired nervously.
"No," I replied as I put up my hand, though my weak voice indicated otherwise, "I just need to catch my breath."
"Indeed, I can't recall ever seeing a Sith Lord use so much lightning; it was truly impressive. Of course, I have only witnessed one other duel between a Sith and Jedi, and that incident did not end well for the Sith, a Lord Bhokhar if I recall correctly."
I looked up at him, surprised that he was talking so much as I struggled to understand his words. He gave me an odd look, like his soldiers before. "Your eyes, do they always glow during battle like that?" He noticed my look of confusion at the question. "Sorry to ask, it's just rather remarkable. I'd heard rumors of Sith eyes changing to amber with the power of the Force, but I have not seen it until now."
I leaned my head against the control panel base, trying to keep it from making me sick. "Watcher, you need to get to safety," I mumbled, "the Republic might come back."
"Quite right," he agreed as he crouched down next to me, "I had a drop-ship ready to pick us up when the Jedi intervened. I didn't want to risk the ship while the outcome was still in the balance. I will call them in now. I sure wish we would have kept the doctor, but you did a smashing good job anyway, and I scanned his works before the Jedi arrived. I've got quite a good showing for our efforts, despite losing the doctor. Are you sure you don't need assistance; you don't look well?"
"I'll be all right - just need to recover my strength."
He stood up and walked a few steps away, and I heard the soft chime of his com activating. "This is Watcher One to AT1D; we are ready for pickup at my coordinates, confirm." I did not hear the confirmation, but the Watcher appeared satisfied and looked across the room at his men. "We'll have our lift in a moment; guide him in."
I closed my eyes again and took a deep breath. It really unnerved me that my body felt so weak and uncomfortable. Memories of the ghosts controlling me drifted across my consciousness; the surreal feeling of losing control as the Force poured out of my body was not helping to calm my twisting head. I took some time to meditate and try to bring calm to my fatigued body and distressed mind. The Force was strongly linked to me due to its use in battle, and I slipped into a deep state of contemplation, but the storm within was not calming.
