Chapter Five: Everything a Warrior Should Be
Caecinius waited by his speeder for Grandmaster Shan to emerge from the new Matriarch's home. As he waited, he closed his eyes and attempted to meditate, to make his mind blank. To drain it first of thought, then of emotion.
Bengel Morr's face appeared in his mind. The burned Bengel, sneering at him through the holo projector. "I am the only Jedi left in the galaxy!" The young Bengel, grinning up at him from the practice floor. "Have to admit, I'm getting better." The bodies in the Temple. Master Gos, crumpling to the floor.
His eyes opened. Useless.
It had been long enough. He rose, strode to the Matriarch's house. He did not bother to knock before entering.
Ranna Tao'Ven was sitting at a desk, speaking over her holocommunicator to another Twi'lek. She glanced up in surprise as Caecinius entered.
"We will speak more of this tomorrow," she said, ending the call.
She smiled at Caecinius. "I did not expect to see you again so soon," she said. Caecinius saw the sadness in her eyes, and remembered that the young woman had just lost her mother.
"I apologize for the intrusion," he said. "The Grandmaster is needed back at the Jedi Temple."
Ranna looked confused. "Surely she's there already. She left Kalikori Village immediately after my mother passed."
Caecinius frowned. While Satele might have left had urgent matters come up, he was certain that he would have been informed. In the absence of something of importance, she would never have left the village before the matriarch's funeral.
Ranna stood, stepped toward him.
"You look exhausted," she said. "Why don't you stay a while? I can make us some tea."
She spoke sympathetically, with the right mix of grief and compassion in her face. But there was something off. The slightest catch in her voice.
Caecinius felt a presence in the house. A darkness, coming from an alcove in back. He wheeled toward it, his lightsaber springing into his hand.
Harsh, gross laughter. A figure emerged from the shadows. A Flesh Raider.
"Jeehd-ay!" The Flesh Raider leered at him. "Jeehd-ay fool!"
He stretched out his hand, directing a Force blast at Caecinius. This time, however, the Jedi was not surprised. His will easily enveloped the blast. He turned it back on the Flesh Raider, who was thrown against the wall.
He pressed in, holding his lightsaber to the creature's throat.
"Where is Grandmaster Shan?" he demanded.
"Let him go!" Ranna's voice. Shaking with fear, but firm in spite of that.
Caecinius pulled back, glanced at her. The young Twi'lek woman held a blaster, pointed directly at him. Behind him, the Flesh Raider laughed.
"Bengel Morr came to see me last night," Ranna said. "He promised to end the Flesh Raider attacks if we turned over the Jedi Grandmaster. If I refused, he would kill us all."
Caecinius stood, processing her words. He had been in the village for hours, most of that time in the company of Bella Kiwiks and Kira Carsen. Ranna could not have gotten Satele out past three Jedi. The abduction had to have happened earlier – while he was on his way to the cave.
When Bengel Morr had taunted him, he had already had Satele Shan in his grasp.
He glared at Ranna. "You idiot," he snapped. "Bengel Morr is a madman. When he's done using you, he'll kill you and your people. The Jedi were your only hope – "
"The Jedi?" Ranna sounded like she couldn't believe what she heard. "My mother appealed to the Jedi over and over. Occasionally, you'd send a couple students to help rebuild after an attack, but never help with our defenses. Nalen Raloch held the Flesh Raiders at bay. But you Jedi took him, too! We're supposed to turn to you again? For what – sympathy and proverbs as we die around you?"
He could feel the Flesh Raider behind him. The creature was rising to all fours, preparing to attack.
Caecinius kept his eyes on Ranna as he jabbed backward with his lightsaber. The creature died instantly. Ranna gasped, but she did not pull the trigger.
He stepped toward her. "You gave the Jedi Grandmaster to the enemy," he said grimly.
She backpedaled, fired. He swatted the bolt away.
"My people will have heard that!" she said.
He could already hear Twi'leks gathering outside, moving toward the door. He held his blade up in response, taking up a combat position.
Ranna's face blanched. She ran to the door, opened it.
"I'm fine!" she called. She forced the fear out of her voice. "Just an accident. Please return to your prayers."
She hesitated in the doorway a fraction of a second, taking in her people, the village. Her mind doubtless flirting with the idea of running.
She drew back in, closing the door and locking it. She turned to Caecinius, trying to adopt a brave posture.
"I turned your Grandmaster over to Bengel Morr," she said. She spoke slowly, clearly enunciating each word, as she walked toward Caecinius. "Not my people – Just me."
"Where did he take her?" He leveled his blade at her.
The young woman swallowed thickly, but held his gaze.
"He said something about a Forge," she said. "He said he had unfinished business there."
The Great Forge. Where Canlyn had stopped Nalen at dawn. Where he had killed Calief. Bengel is going there to finish the job!
Ranna stood in place, waiting for his judgment. His hand trembled as it held the lightsaber. He wanted to strike her down. There was nothing she could do to stop him, and she deserved to die. She even looked resigned to her fate.
He thought of Satele Shan, coming here to comfort the girl's dying mother without a second's hesitation. He thought of Canlyn, pleading for the welfare of Nalen, a man who had done everything to make himself her enemy. He remembered Satele, in the meditation garden, bluntly telling him, "You struggle with your anger." His defensive response, that his anger was under control.
He deactivated the lightsaber, sheathed the blade.
Ranna released a breath, her body slumping.
Caecinius slapped her across the face. A hard slap, so sudden and sharp that it sent her sprawling to the floor.
She held a hand to her burning cheek. She looked up at him.
"I know you don't believe this," she said. "But I hope you find her alive."
Caecinius hoped so, too. He wasn't sure what he would do if Satele Shan was dead - but he was certain that he wouldn't be able to stop himself from doing it.
Once Cress had firmly laid out the situation for him, Dareg couldn't talk fast enough. He admitted that the Empire had been supplying the separatists for months. The Empire had suggested building the base in Mount Avilatan, and had supplied engineers to make the work go quickly. He didn't know what the Empire's long-term plans were – But it was clear to Cress that the Imperials were the ones truly in charge of this would-be revolution.
"A gross violation of the Treaty of Coruscant," Jorgan observed over the earpiece. "We now have the proof Captain Tavus wanted."
"Yeah," Cress drawled. "I'm sure the Senate will get right on that." They might even create an exploratory committee to investigate the possibility of writing the Empire a sternly-worded letter.
Dareg confirmed that most of the separatists who were still alive had surrendered by this point. The third floor, however, was occupied by Imperials. Anyone not an Imperial officer was allowed only by direct invitation. The separatists had quickly learned not to challenge that edict.
"HAVOC thought they were only dealing with seps," Jorgan said. "They walked right into an Imperial ambush."
Cress did not want to ascend in the same elevator that had brought Tavus straight to the ambush. Dareg, eager to curry favor, showed him to a maintenance ladder that led up to every floor. He admitted that there were cameras and proximity alarms.
"We can jam those," Jorgan announced confidently.
Cress asked for volunteers from the Republic troops. He leveled with them - This would be a hazardous mission. Unlike the patriotic holovids, only a handful of men actually stepped forward - but it was enough.
"You men are going up the elevator," he said. "The same one Captain Tavus used. Get under as much cover as you can. Stay alive. Once you get to the third floor, secure a position and make noise. Kill anything that moves. With any luck, the Imps will be so busy focusing on you, they won't notice when the cameras go down. Worst case, we still split their forces."
He picked four men to accompany him up the maintenance ladder. They waited until the elevator began to rise, until they heard the sound of blaster fire from the volunteers.
"Cameras are down!" Jorgan called. "Move, Sergeant!"
Cress and his men climbed the ladder as quickly as they could, burst out onto the third floor. Just in time – The security failure had been noted, and a group of armored Imperials were heading toward them. Cress threw an incendiary at them while his men opened fire. The Imps fell – but if Cress had been 30 seconds slower, the enemy would have caught them on the ladder and dispatched them easily.
Cress wanted to go in search of Tavus and the others, but Jorgan reminded him of their first priority: Securing the ZR-57.
"Our hold on this floor is tenuous," Jorgan said, "and I'll bet the Imps built a launch bay into that floor. So here's the plan. We have the deactivation codes for the bomb. We use the kill codes, fry the ZR-57's internal systems. Leave the Imps with a giant radioactive paperweight."
The plan meant locating either the bomb or a communications terminal. Either way, Cress and his men were left to sweep the floor room by room. He again had them move methodically. Every room they came to, they would throw a grenade inside first. Then they would secure the room and search. Then move on to the next one.
They found the floor's communications center in a central chamber. Imperial troops had a tight guard on the room, and fired as soon as they saw the Republic forces approaching. One of Cress' men cried out as an Imperial blaster found its target.
This time, unlike on the freighter, Cress had smoke grenades. He threw two into the room, waited until the visibility was close to zero. He indicated to his men to guard the door. He fired three blind blaster bolts into the mist, then threw an incendiary in. In the smoke, the Imperials did not see it.
The grenade exploded. Cries from in the room. Cress fired into the smoke, then dove inside.
More blaster fire, but it was still blind, and the bolts went over Cress' head. He crawled on his belly toward the communications equipment.
The smoke was clearing, and he saw two Imperials, crouched near the wall, blasters focused on the door. They were not looking in Cress' direction. He raised his rifle and dispatched them.
He turned to the equipment, feeding the kill codes in as Jorgan guided him. He pressed the "transmit" button.
He heard Jorgan applaud. "Good work, sergeant!" the lieutenant said. "The bomb is dead."
Which left Cress free to do what all his instincts cried out for: Find the other members of HAVOC Squad – alive or dead.
Jorgan was right about the launch bay. Cress found it not long after transmitting the deactivation codes.
Locating it was not a challenge. As his team progressed deeper in, he noticed that engagements with Imperials were growing less frequent, and that the enemy soldiers were more focused on holding Cress back than in actually wiping out his team. A delaying act, covering a strategic withdrawal.
Eventually, the corridor opened up to a large hangar, filled with Imperial ships, all of which were being frantically loaded for takeoff. Cress ignored the lines of troops being pressed onto transports, or the technicians loading equipment. His eyes were drawn to a freighter, near the rear.
Tavus, Gearbox, Fuse, and Needles sat glumly by the freighter, Imperial guards standing over them.
"I've ordered more troops to the Third Floor," Jorgan informed him. "They'll be at your position in less than ten minutes."
The guards made a motion. At Tavus' lead, the members of HAVOC Squad rose and walked toward the ship.
"They'll be on their way to Imperial space in ten minutes," Cress said. "We're going in."
He had one last smoke grenade left. He lobbed it as hard as he could, and it landed right at Tavus's feet. The captain gave a startled look. His eyes met Cress, who gave him a quick nod.
Tavus nodded to Gearbox, then to Fuse. Then the grenade went off, and the entire group was hidden behind thick smoke.
Cress could hear signs of a struggle behind the smoke. HAVOC had gone to work on their captors. Cress gave the order to change to tranquilizer rounds; he was not about to risk killing the very men he had come to rescue. Then he and his men charged into the smoke to engage.
With Imperials surrounding them, an extended struggle would be suicide. Cress focused on finding the members of HAVOC squad in the confusion. Once they had a soldier, they withdrew to the entrance – a position that could be held against the Imperials until backup arrived.
Cress got hold of Gearbox, pushed the big man back.
"You're something else, kid," Gearbox told him.
A blaster bolt ricocheted off Cress' helmet. His ears rang, and he yanked the helmet away. He tossed it toward the smoke, pulled Gearbox the rest of the way to the entrance.
The full Imperial force had engaged now. All Cress and his men could do was crouch behind cover and wait.
"I hope you've got a way out of here," Tavus noted. He had been pulled out by another trooper. Fuse and Needles had also been recovered, though Fuse had been tranq'd. Given the young man's earlier injuries, that was probably just as well.
"Reinforcements are on the way," Cress reported. "They'll engage the main force while we get Fuse out. Once he's safe, the rest of us will join in the fun."
Tavus grinned. "Good work, Sergeant. You're everything a warrior should be."
So far, the rescue had gone like clockwork. Jorgan told Cress that reinforcements were only a few minutes away. "Just keep behind cover, stay alive. Enough men are coming to lock down this entire hangar."
Cress relayed the information to Tavus. They crouched down, firing intermittently to keep the Imperials back.
That's when Cress heard the blaster bolts from behind him. Cries as his men fell. Some of them tried to turn, but the shots were perfectly aimed. One shot for each body.
Cress felt the muzzle of a blaster at the back of his head.
"Don't move, Poster Boy."
A woman's voice. A familiar voice.
"Wraith!" Captain Tavus stared in shock.
Then he did something entirely unexpected. He grinned at her. "What the hell took you so long?"