Chapter 3
Rescue

The medical technician was noticeably bored as he made his notes and dictated them to a small camera droid above his left shoulder.

"Subject is Mandalorian...male...approximate age of fifty to fifty-five standard years. Height...one point nine five meters...cause of death appears to be third degree burn trauma to the torso..." the technician checked the pad again. The Mandalorian had been placed in the morgue hours ago, but there was no trace of the burns aside from some patches of reddened flesh across the man's broad shoulders.

"Surface examination completed zero three-hundred hours. Beginning first level dissection..." He picked up the laser scalpel and hovered over the Mandalorian's torso to make the first cut…

Only to have the "dead" man's hand fly up and seize his throat, crushing the life from him.

Canderous sat up on the morgue table and threw the technician against the wall, his shattered neck drooping low. The droid followed, hurled into the wall like a child's toy in the middle of a tantrum.

Stalking to a barrel on the opposite side of the morgue, Canderous found his clothing and his trusty cannon waiting for him. Time for the fun to start.

Two guards were on duty, watching the cell.

"...And so the old Twi'lek says to his son, 'If she wasn't good enough to bed her own kin, she's no good to you!'"

The other one laughed hard. Mission balled her hands into fists and bided her time, but if she heard one more damn Twi'lek joke...

The first guard looked in and commented to the other. "So, which of us gets her first?" he asked.

Mission sourly sat near the forcefield, trying to look as harmless as possible and trying not to think of what those scummy guards were planning. It wasn't the first time she had to listen to captors plan like this. But this time wasn't the Vulkar hideout, and Big Z wasn't right around the corner making grenades to blast her out. They wore their keycards dangling from their hips, just barely out of reach. If it weren't for the forcefield...

"Ever the pervert, aren't you, Tarrant? Karath said she'll be interrogated first." Guard Two was sounding a little weary of his teammate's suggestions.

"Heard a rumor that we netted a Jedi with this zoo. At least we get something useful." Guard One looked in again. "You really think the commander would care if..."

Guard Two looked sharply at his teammate. "I'm not about to take my life in my hands."

"Spoilsport," he said. "I need to use the head. Be back in a couple."

"Yeah, not like the little missy's going anywhere." She heard the guard's heavy boots clank down the hall, and the door swish shut. One guard in sight.

Now or never...

"Hey, scumbag," she called.

"I haven't got all day to waste on you, girlie," he said, raising his rifle.

"What? Can't get it up yourself?"

The guard punched the forcefield controls and stormed into the cell, pushing her towards the back of the cell. Dangerous...way dangerous...maybe she should have kept her mouth shut...

No. Gotta be brave. Carth, Kairi, and Zaalbar need help.

"Quit crowding me. Sheesh! I've met Gammoreans who didn't smell as bad as you Sith!" She shouted at him.

She swore she could see him smile smugly under the helmet. "You think you're pretty funny, don't you? But you're only making things worse for yourself." He lowered his rifle to make a grab for her chest.

Agilely, she squirmed out of his reach. "How come every time you open your mouth, the smell of rancor dung comes out?"

He smacked her to the floor with the butt of his rifle. "You're damn lucky Admiral Karath wants you interrogated first."

Keep him distracted. "Who designed those Sith uniforms anyway? A blind Rodian with a sick sense of humor?" He wasn't even looking at her hands - good.

The Sith chuckled at that. "That's funny. You should tell that to the torturer when he comes to deal with you."

"What? You're...you're going to torture me?" The horror was only half-faked. But right now, her friends...She wondered if Carth was gonna be okay. Kairi and Bastila were Jedi, and Jedi had powers she didn't quite understand that might help them...

"No snappy comebacks this time? The thought of torture scares you, huh?" The Sith guard continued mocking. "Well, it should. The Sith have ways to inflict pain you can't even imagine."

I'm from Lower Taris. I don't have to imagine.

"It may be a few hours before your torture begins; we're busy interrogating your friends right now." He marched back across the threshold and activated the outside panel. "Hey, I know! You could use this time to think up witty ways to beg for mercy. I'll go and let you think of that for a while."

She heard him storm off, probably to harass someone else. No one looking. Perfect!

"Or I could just use the keycard I lifted from your pocket to slice into the security panel and get myself out of this cell..." she muttered. Passing it by the slot, the forcefield shimmered away.

"Piece of cake!" she said. "I wonder when people will stop underestimating me?"

Lines of code and gibberish as the communicator droid accessed T3-M4. Numbers and letter that should be re-patterning the little droid instead met with a push back. The programming droid did not know what to make of it and redoubled its efforts. Punching in, there was something coming back through the data stream even as it tried to access the core memory of the apparently harmless astromech.

Warning! Warning! Code corrupted!

The re-patterning droid sailed a short distance away and gave up, collapsing in an irreparable heap as its own circuitry ionized. The cheery little astromech gave a whistle that sounded close to an apology and rolled over to the droid that had been next to go to the re-patterning. Punching in a code so elaborate that only a droid could have remembered it, the red-plated humanoid-shaped droid jerked upright, its golden eyes and tinny voice coming to life.

"Diagnostic: Running...Complete. Statement: I am in proper functioning order. It is now time for us to retrieve the master and render inoperable any forces that stand in our way. " Two flame-throwers jutted from HK-47's shoulders. T3-M4 followed suit by pulling open the panels that concealed the built-in blasters.

"Statement: Not bad for an astromech. But you have much to learn in the way of killing organics. Allow this to be a lesson..."

Sure enough, it worked just as planned. They had only put one guard on duty, no doubt considering him just a weak and helpless old man.

Old man, yes. Weak and helpless...not by a bloody longshot.

"Guard I need to speak with you," Jolee kept his voice low and quiet, needing to pull of the part as well as focus his energy for the trick he would do next.

"What do you want, old man?" shouted the guard. "You better not be trying to cause any trouble or you'll be sorry!"

Jolee flicked his hand, and added the Force to his voice. "This cell is too drafty. My old bones may catch a chill. We don't want that. You better let me out "

It was a struggle not to laugh at how well it worked. Never trust common guards to be all that bright.

"Uh...yes. It's too drafty in there. Your old bones may catch a chill. We don't want that. Get out of there."

The purple forcefield dropped and Jolee strolled right out of it. He still had to concentrate enough to pull off the next part of the trick.

"You shouldn't have let me out, sonny. That was wrong. Admiral Karath won't be happy with you disobeying his orders."

Underneath that faceless armor, Jolee could almost see the guard's eyes glazing over. "Yes...what I did was wrong. Very wrong."

"You deserve to be locked up for disobeying orders."

The Sith guard turned from Jolee, walking right into the cell. Jolee removed a couple key items from the guard on the way in. "Yes, I deserve to be locked up for disobeying orders." Once inside, Jolee pressed the cell's locking mechanism, and broke his hold over the weak-minded guard.

"Huh, what...what just happened? What am I doing in here? Damn you, old man! I'll kill you if I ever get out of here."

Jolee snickered, showing off the comlink, blaster, and cellblock key he stole. "Then I'll be sure to never let you out." With a jaunty wave, he walked down the hallway. "Goodbye, sonny!"

She may have sneaked out of her cell, but she wasn't out of trouble yet. Years of avoiding Vulkars and rakghouls in the underbelly of Taris had honed her ability not to be seen, but this was the biggest challenge yet.

She dashed past the corridor and flattened herself against a bank of lockers, hardly daring to breathe. It was a maze in here – dead-end corridors and half the cells were empty. She heard the faint clank of boots coming this way and balled her fists. In them, she had the only weapon she could obtain - the belt from her pants. From long ago, she remembered the Bek base, Zaerdra teaching her how anything could be used as a weapon, and how young Twi'lek girls in particular needed to learn how to fight and be prepared to die.

There are always fates worse than death, young one. Gandon is a good human man, but men like him are the exception...

She twisted the leather around her fists and pulled it tight. The nearby door opened and the guard coming out of it she recognized. He was the schutta that wanted to have his fun with her. And somewhere on this deck, those Hutt-spawned Sith were doing who-knew what to all her friends. Carth also said that this was the ship that led the bombing of Taris.

She waited...

As he passed by, she cried out and leapt onto his back, knocking the wind out of him, and sending him stomach-first to the deck. The helmet clattered uselessly a meter away, and when he tried to get up, Mission took her shot. She looped the belt around his neck and pulled with all her strength. He started to flop like an eel pulled from a brine tank. Tightening her legs around his waist, she gritted her teeth and held on. Leaning on him with all of her body weight to not let go. It seemed a small eternity later when he finally was stilled.

Mission was shaky when she rose, and kicked the Sith over with her foot. Unseeing, glazed eyes stared back at her, and she wanted to be sick. Sure, she had to defend herself before - Vulkars intent on capture, other scum intent on worse, and charging rakghouls - but somehow this was different - a lot more ugly and...personal.

Clanking boots...coming this way...Frotz! She dragged the corpse back towards the equipment locker and made short work of the door's lock. By now, she had plenty of practice with Sith security systems. It wasn't the most subtle lock-pick, but she didn't have time for it.

She swore. She didn't get the guy's rifle and helmet. She looked around desperately for anything she could use...

Jackpot! This was the contraband locker! She didn't have much time, but on one of the shelves was just the thing she needed. Maybe those Jedi had a point about the Force working wonders. She snatched the stealth belt and had just managed to put it on when the door opened.

"It's Tarrant. Looks like the little Twi'lek bitch got the drop on him."

"Told the bloody fool that a little fun wasn't worth it. C'mon, she can't have gone far..."

That's when the klaxons went off and Mission heard the sounds of fighting in the distance. Two blaster shots whizzed through the air and struck the guards down before they even had time to reach for their guns.

He may have been a wrinkled, old human guy, but he was the best sight she could ask for. Jolee was still in his nightshirt and bare feet, carrying a Sith guard pistol. The sight was almost hilarious.

"Come out, Mission. You may have been invisible to them, but not to an old Jedi."

The stealth field shimmered as it dissipated, and the young Twi'lek ran up to the dead guards, grabbing a sniper rifle.

"Whew. Talk about close call. I'm glad Karath's standing orders were to interrogate me first, THEN hand me over as a toy for those scummy guards," she said. "Fortunately, the guy guarding my cell never got around to escorting me to my date with either."

The pair started running aft, towards the high-security wing. "Looks like Canderous and the droids have got their attention. Time to give them something else to be cranky about."

Mission grinned. "Trouble's the specialty!"

As they were just about to leave the cellblock, a voice shouted to them in Rodian.

"You not Sith! Help me out of this cell and I help you!"

A young Rodian man (more a scrawny adolescent) had run up to the front of his cell, waving frantically at them. "Evil Sith unjustly capture me and my ship! They think we spies. They torture all the crew, trying to get information, but we not have any information to give. But Sith not care."

"Where's the rest of the crew?" asked Jolee. "We need as many friends as we can right now."

"Me the last. They "interrogate" captain until his mind snap. Then they grab first mate, then navigator...they all crazy now. Minds gone. So sad, but they nothing but animals now. Me lowest rank on the ship, but now me the only one left. Soon, Sith come to interrogate me, too. But me not know anything. Me just...uh...me just trader in rare goods."

Mission raised an eyebrow as she started to slice the cell. "Rare goods, huh?

He shrugged. "Me bring things to people in need. People who need things they can't get normally."

"Smuggler. I see," Jolee commented.

"Such unnice language!" he said as the forcefield fell. "Me helps people and people helps me. You helps me, and I helps you." He reached in the inside of his tunic. "Me have something special. Something you can use on ship. Something VERY powerful...an ICE breaker. It gives you access to computers on this ship and override Sith Security programs."

Mission's eyes grew big as she snatched it from him. "How did you manage to keep THAT hidden?"

The Rodian got awfully coy "Sith...um...Sith not very thorough in search."

Mission almost dropped it, but settled for wincing and gingerly stuffing it into her pocket. Jolee just shrugged. "Whatever works."

The Rodian grinned. "Ha ha! Me always knows good opportunity when me sees it. You go fight guards, me go and hide now, wait for chance to get to ship."

"Well, may the Force be with you," Jolee said dryly. "Help yourself to a gun before you leave."

As the Rodian vanished down the corridor, Mission turned to Jolee. "That just gave me a VERY nasty idea..."

"Computers are this way."

Juhani had hidden, using the Force and the natural stealth abilities of the Cathar people. The hardest part had been the waiting. Oh, how hard it was, though! She hid among one of the ship's many compartments and hidden panels, biding her time until the middle of night shift - several hours after capture.

She had felt Kairi and Bastila being cut off from the Force, which made it impossible to know whether her dear sisters-in-arms had survived. When the alarms went off, she knew her part in the plan, throwing open the docking ramp and catching the rather bored soldiers unprepared.

"I will be your doom!" she howled, rushing at them like a demon, twin lightsabers blazing. Shoving one group to the side with a bolt of Force-energy, Juhani charged the other half, striking swiftly and pitilessly.

"Admiral Karath!" babbled a lieutenant. "Escape attempt on detention level. I'm locking down the bridge and taking all precautionary measures."

"There shouldn't be a need, lieutenant," Saul said. "I'd have expected Onasi and his friends to make a run for it by now. The guards can put down three fugitives easily enough."

"No, sir."

"You do not tell me..."

"Sir, it's all over the deck. ALL the prisoners are loose. Riot suppression...Riot suppression has failed, sir. I've been locked out of it."

"Countermand!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Sir!" cried another officer. "Reports from the docking bay before communications went dead. There's an intruder sir...A Jedi."

"Damn it. How could this happen?" As soon as he said it, he knew the answer - look at the people he had captured. If anyone could make a functional and deadly crew out of what his guards had pulled off the boat…

"Never mind - override the lockout on the riot suppression systems. Lock down the decks. And summon the troops to deal with this insurrection - NOW!"

HK-47 was having more fun than any droid had right to. Flames shot from the twin cannons on his body, and his metallic voice laughed chillingly.

"Query: A little too hot for you?" This as he was literally cooking three unlucky troopers alive in their metal uniforms.

Picking up a fallen blaster rifle, he shot with the unnerving accuracy only a droid could manage. Laying cover fire, he would scoop up grenades, loading them into compartments in his arms and chest cavities. All it would take is a simple slide of the wrist to dispense the deadly projectiles.

T3-M4 was proving a rather decent combatant, too, but the little utility droid had as much deviousness as his compatriot had homicidal mania. While HK-47 mowed down the soldiers and technicians in the area of the droid bay, T3-M4 set to work repairing and activating the three deadly assault droids, powering all their systems to maximum efficiency and sending them on their way to distract any backup that might be on its way via the lifts.

Sith assault droids looked and walked like metal predators, twice as big as a man and armed with heavy blasters that could punch holes in durasteel. Their glowing shields were a rival for most starships. One was bad enough, three would be sufficient to cause incredible amounts of trouble.

With a trail of bodies and burns in their wake, the droids battled aft, passing the medical facility. Canderous was laughing and shooting up the place, painting the walls with blood and bits of vital organs. Passing by the remains of it, HK-47 jerked his metal head around in approval. "Statement: I have always admired the artistry and brutality inherent to your people."

Canderous looked away from the carnage he created to examine the bloody and burnt handiwork of the assassin droid. "Not bad yourself, tin can. Now, the high security wing is this way. We should rendezvous with..."

"Hi, Canderous." Mission ran up to him. "I've got the computer systems locked up - but I dunno for how long."

"Good work, street rat," Canderous said. He nodded to Jolee. "And good to see you, too, old man. Now, the high security wing is far aft. Come, we have to get them all out of there."

They'd tortured the Wookiee, hair burnt, burns from force pikes and other pain-inductors. A technician and two uniformed guards had been quietly charting the results when they charged in.

The technician saw it coming first. Two shots, and he was lying on the floor with a sucking chest wound. One of the soldiers tried to reach for his pistol, but Canderous had the drop on him, firing away until his head was vaporized, just an oozing, half-cauterized neck spilling blood on the floor. Dodging the blast from the second's pistol, Mission shot her in the gut, knocking her dead to the floor.

Jolee ran ahead and opened the cage, sending Zaalbar tumbling out. The elderly Jedi helped him to his feet. "Are you hurt badly, Zaalbar?"

"They sought to weaken, not to kill. I am in pain, but not badly injured. Come, they have put Bacca's Blade into that locker. Fetch it for me if you can."

Mission nodded and jogged over to the far end of the room, working on slicing the lock.

"Good," said Canderous. "We may need a little of that Wookiee strength in the time ahead."

"I know where they have taken Kairi, Carth and Bastila. They could not see me, but I could see them...and the things the dishonored man did to them."

"Take us, then," Canderous said.

Mission gave Zaalbar the sword and the party charged behind the tall Wookiee as he hurried down the corridors and into the end of the hall. Mission used a passcard she pulled off the Sith she had killed in the torture rooms, and opened the doors. T3-M4 helped her slice the controls. Suddenly, there was a great commotion from behind the heavy doors.

The only cell they were fixed on was the one in front of them. It slid open, and Mission cried out in joy, running towards them. Carth was the first one to reach her, and she threw her arms around him, babbling into the fabric of his undershirt.

"You're okay...I was so scared that I'd never see you again. Don't die on me, promise?"

"Did..." He could barely speak it. Saul's words cut deeper than he wanted to admit. "Did those bastards hurt you, Mission? Did they..."

Mission looked up and shook her head. By then, Kairi had reached their side, and Mission hugged her, as well, undoing the Force-nullifying collar around her neck. Jolee undid the one on Bastila. The pair of them set to work doing Force-healing on Kairi.

Carth took two steps forward and looked up at Canderous. "Your idea, wasn't it?"

"Some of it," Canderous admitted. He nodded to Kairi. "Some of it hers, as well."

Carth nodded in understanding. "You keep getting us out of jams like this, and there might be a place in the Republic army for you, even if you are a Mandalorian."

Canderous shook his head. "When Tatooine is flooded, brother. Now, where is your gear?"

Carth thought a moment. "If I remember the layout of this ship, our equipment should be in a storage chamber just through the north doors. After we grab our stuff, we just need to get to the main bridge controls. The bridge is the only place we can open the docking gates of the hangar where they've got the Ebon Hawk. We have to open those gates before we can fly out of here."

"We better get moving," said Bastila. "I can feel the darkness of Malak's presence approaching, and I don't want to be here when he arrives. None of us is a match for the Sith Lord."

"We'll need a plan," said Kairi. "Knowing you guys, there's quite the commotion going on. We'll have to take advantage of it. Surprise and secrecy will serve us best. A small group might have a better chance of sneaking onto the bridge undetected in this chaos."

"Count me in, then. I've got a score to settle with the Admiral before we get off this ship, and I have a feeling I'm going to find him on the Leviathan's bridge," Carth said.

Kairi was worried for him "Careful, Carth. There's more at stake here than revenge."

"That's true, Carth. You can come, but don't let your hatred of Saul Karath jeopardize our true mission: getting the Ebon Hawk safely off the Leviathan." Bastila glanced over at Kairi. "Kairi, you better come with us. The others can find their way on their own, but we might run into trouble. We'll need you and your powerful Force abilities to deal with it."

She nodded.

"The three of us will get our equipment and make our way to the bridge. The rest of you head down to the docking hangar where they've got the Ebon Hawk. You'll have to find a way to deal with the guards," Bastila said.

Canderous grinned. "Don't you worry about that. I know how to deal with the guards...Juhani is down there clearing a path for us right now."

Kairi couldn't help a smile. "Good. Get to the Equipment room, grab what you need, and get going."

"We'll meet you there as soon as we get those docking bay doors open. Just make sure the Hawk is ready to fly free when we get there," Bastila nodded to the remaining party. "And may the Force be with you."