The group of TIEs swarming around the entrance of the hangar at the bottom of the base were picked of easily one by one, Maila and Seger flew at range as the KingofSpades moved slowely into the hangar, still stealthed. The inside of the hangar was bare, every TIE that had waited within now blown to pieces in the void of space. "Looks like they are preparing for our arrival, nobody in the hangar, clear to land. Stay frosty, I expect they are waiting for us."
Commodore Jeabre Baroelsm watched the scene above his assigned Imperial relay station in a state of shock. The crackling image they were able to display through the jamming signal seemed to only show four X-Wing class fighters. The blue display cut in and out often, so it was difficult to really make a count of how many craft we're actually attacking. He slammed his fist on the console enraged, their TIE pilots were modest at best. Sent to this station because of their lack of experience or for being difficult to work with. In the state the Imperial Navy was pushed to, they didn't have the option of turning away unscrupulous soldiers. Even so, they should have been able to destroy them with overwhelming force regardless.
"Ensign!" Commodore Baroelsm roared to the computer stations. "Why haven't we got a signal to the Havoc yet!?"
The man at the communications computer flinched from his officers reprimand. He shakily typed several commands and continued to try and solve the issue. "S-Sir! We're still being jammed! I-I cant find the source, I've never had to descramble a holo communication signal before." He admitted with a nervous gulp.
"Move away from your station Ensign." Commodore Baroelsm hissed through his teeth. "Let someone who knows what they're doing take over. You're dismissed."
"Sir! They're landing inside the hangar!" A different officer cried out to the room.
Commodore Baroelsm recoiled from the report. "What!?" He was confused by their approach. Once they began destroying the relay stations he assumed it was just a star fighter ambush. A simple assault to blackout the Imperial communications in the sector. What could they want by pushing inside the station when they could so easily destroy it from a distance. The stations shields were formidable and could withstand several dozen volleys of fire with indifference, but coming in on foot was riskier.
A raid. That was the only other reason he could think of, they wanted to steal the communications data that was stored in the station. "Send a squad of troops to intercept the Rebels and pull back the rest to this room!" Commodore Baroelsm shouted. "Lock down this office and start purging our records! We can't let them get what they came for!" He couldn't fathom how they were able to locate their position, this station had been relatively quiet for years, even before Baroelsm was assigned there. He watched as several officers rushed over to the main records station, a huge tower of advanced computing hardware capable of storing dozens of decades of information. It could take a long time to erase what was on there, if worse came to worst he could destroy it. A last resort if the troops weren't able to route the invaders, it would render the comm station functionally useless if it came to that. But still, these traitors deserved nothing. Even if his life would end today, and the lives of his men, he would ensure no benefit would come to the Rebels. From the darkness of the galaxy, even from the brink of destruction, the Empire would rise again.
The lift of the King of Spades lowered slowly, the cloaking matrix still active. Lindmon stepped out of the fighter and surveyed the hangar, warily inspecting various possible hiding places before being satisfied by the relative quiet around him. "Clear to land. Jack, pull your R4 out, we're gonna need your droid." He pulled his lightsaber from it's position on his hip and unslung his rifle. The tell tale tingle creeped down his neck. "We're going to have company soon. They must know we're here." The adrenaline pounded through his head.
Seger gave a quick click over the comms as an affirmative. He watched as his wing mate curved smoothly into a landing cycle, setting down in the large hanger. Once her cockpit pitched open she rolled out the small collapsible ladder from inside. The racks that would normally hold TIE fighters suspended from the ceiling were empty. Seger counted twelve in total, there must be a separate hanger for the rest at another section of the base. Gently hovering his own star fighter inside, he was cautious of any troops waiting in ambush, ready to blast them should they mistakenly show their position.
From the corner of his eye he saw Maila stop suddenly, her face looked startled and he whipped around looking for any sign of danger. She ran back to her cockpit and quickly climbed up the ladder, then back down again, tightening the brown leather holster across her waist.
He frowned slightly, Seger couldn't believe that his wing mate was someone so regularly unprepared. It wasn't his problem, he didn't make a point of going out of his way to make up for the faults of others if he didn't have to. She was on her path, and he was on his.
He engaged the landing struts and settled gently down inside the bay. "R4 you're coming with us." Seger said to his little droid passenger. It chirped and warbled from behind the cockpit as the screen lifted up. He had to glance at the droid interface screen to translate, he never got around to learning the binary code language enough to understand their nonsense whistles.
QUERY: WE HAVE JUST EMBARKED INSIDE THE ENEMY BASE, WILL THERE BE DANGER?
Seger rolled his eyes, "No, no danger. Now get out." Seger yanked the undercarriage release lever which allowed the astromech to fall out the bottom port of the X-Wing.
He removed his helmet and gathered a blaster pistol and a small satchel with emergency medical supplies. Any Imperial base would come with Stormtroopers, in the event someone got shot, he would be prepared.
Seger leapt down from the cockpit and landed on the deep gray metal that made up the surface of the hangar bay. He unholstered the blaster pistol from his hip and scanned around the room. Positioned behind a large portion of his star-fighter for cover. There were no troops to greet them, the Lieutenant did say that the Imperials knew about their arrival. They must be waiting to strike from a better position.
Seger waved for R4-D3 to move forward, or...was it R4-E5? He couldn't remember. He didn't think it mattered, they were just large computers on wheels anyway. The red astro rolled out from behind the X-Wing, it's domed head swiveled slowly as it scanned for danger. Normally the R4 line of astromechs came with conical shaped heads, an attempt for the manufacturers to mass produce a less effective model with more space between its components. The Rebellion would buy R4 astromechs in bulk for cheap and replace the computing dome section with ones from R2 astromechs. This practice allowed them to cut costs by not having to purchase the wildly more expensive R2 body, but still make the droid effective for star fighter use.
The lightsaber in Lindmon's hand flared to life with a snap-hiss, the white glow of the blade illuminated a small portion of the floor. He took a deep breath before focusing on the hilt. With the blade locked on the saber floated out of his hand and took a position over his right shoulder. Weeks of practice had lead up to this strategy. Sitting cross legged on the floor of his room while training droids wizzed around him. His blade floating and spinning as the traning droids zapped harmlessly at him, skirting around as the lightsaber blocked the shots. He had gotten up to three droids in the past couple of weeks. The saber held its position while he checked the display on his E-11. "We're ready to move foreword. If they know we're here they will have started a data purge, the information we want will have been from several years ago so it should be towards the bottom." He motioned forward as the small group took positions near the exit door to the hangar. "Jack, get your R4 in a port, I want a map of this place as soon as possible."
A brief nod from Seger followed by a quick command to the droid sent the small robot rolling foreword to a nearby connection module.
I wish Ahsoka was here. Lindmon thought to himself, shaking his head as he pushed the wishes from his mind to focus on the task at hand. "I want the two of you behind me at all times, I should be able to protect us."
"Yeah sure." Maila said sourly, the reminder of Lindmons magic powers turning her mood. "I bet you can do anything."
She grabbed the blaster out of it's holster and holds it in an awkward ready position. Maila moved close to Lindmon even though she glared at his back in distaste.
Commodore Baroelsm and the rest of the control center freeze for several moments. The silence only interrupted by random status blips and beeps from the consoles. Their focus enraptured by the footage of the bases security system. "Are we still attempting to send a distress signal to the Havoc?" He says, breaking the stunned quiet.
"...Yes Sir!" One of the officers responds, still watching the camera screen depicting the invaders.
"Belay the distress signal." Commodore Baroelsm orders with a sinister smirk. "Send them our security recordings instead. The Grand Admiral will want to see this."
"Far from anything Ten get rid of the attitude we have plenty more to worry about. Jack get us a heading for the shield generator." Lindmon moved foreword to the hallway, peeking down the empty corridor. They must be holding back. Protecting the main points of interest. Lindmon thought to himself.The R4 droid chirped several times, a map appearing on Lindmon's wrist control. A yellow line started from their position and cut deeper into the base. "Alright let's move." Lindmon said curtly, stepping into the hallway and starting down deeper into the base.
"A little attitude never hurt anyone. You should try it sometime..." Maila mumbled as she rushed after Lindmon.
"They're heading towards the shield generator sir!" Said an officer. The multitude of security systems tracking the positions of Lindmons group as they moved through the base.
Commodore Baroelsm thought carefully about their actions as he watched the security feed. They attacked the base to raid it for information but still want to disable the communications system in the process. Each objective could be accomplished separately, yet together was a significantly riskier task to undertake.
"Are our troops positioned to cut them off?" He asked the security detail officer. The officer simply nodded in affirmation.
There was some important reason they were pursuing both objectives at the same time. Commodore Baroelsm was intent on sabotaging whatever it was they were working so hard towards.
The small group approached a turn in the long hall. Just before Lindmon stepped out into it his senses screamed at him. He pulled himself quickly back and threw his arm in front of the other two, just as a hail of blaster fire slammed into the back wall. "That's way more than three training droids worth..." Lindmon said quietly to himself. His lightsaber returned to his hand quickly and he plucked a small orb out of a pocket on his belt. "Get ready to round the corner on my mark." He presses the button on top of the orb and it beeped, blinking red. He floated it up out of his hand and flicked his wrist, sending the detonator hurtling down the hall. A shout and a scramble of noise preceded the large explosion from the device. Lindmon's saber returned to its hovering position. "Let's show these folks what we can do." He said, rounding the corner.
At the other end of the hall, a small squadron of stormtroopers was clambering back together, several lay on the floor near a large blackened section where the explosive had erupted. One of the troopers shouted and pointed as the others raised their rifles and opened fire. The tingle had filled Lindmon's body at that point, similar to his encounter in the temple. This was the first time since that it had been this intense. His lightsaber spun and whirled in front of him as he advanced, blaster fire bouncing off the blade as he moved. His rifle fell into place at his shoulder as he fired through the gaps he left for himself.
The dazed troopers clambered off the ground, they recovered quickly and fired multiple hot red blaster bolts at the incoming invaders. "Jedi!" Shouted the squad leader of the troopers. The white shimmering blade cut through the dissipating smoke, deflecting and slicing away their shots. They had only light training when it came to a Jedi encounter, beyond a standard briefing about their skills they had no purposeful experience. Shooting and blasting at the dancing blade made it recoil slightly as it floated in the air, the impacts pushed it backwards and sideways in response. Two trooper helmets were pierced by the invaders blaster shots, each head shot drilling through the lens and smoldering the flesh inside. They slumped against the floor dead. One trooper from the rear primed a thermal detonator, and held it in his palm after activation to reduce the time of explosion after it was thrown. He remembered bits of the Jedi weaknesses, explosives and gas mainly. If he could stop the Jedi here, maybe the rest of his squad could survive. The detonator chirped quickly and he threw it hard in the direction of the Jedi, it's timer would detonate the grenade before it struck the ground.
As the orb sailed through the air Lindmon threw his hand up, his focus flickering for a moment as the lightsaber wobbled in the air. The bomb halted its motion and returned towards the sender, exploding a moment later over their heads. A laser round passed by his saber and clipped his right shoulder, twisting him sideways. The blade resumed its dance as he pulled himself back to the fray, his shoulder aching. The padding of his flight suit took the brunt of the blast but the skin on his shoulder sizzled from where the blast had passed. "Move forward" he said with a grunt, slinging his blaster and returning the blade to his hand, continuing his defensive flourish as he ran towards the stormtroopers, still pulling themselves together from the second explosive.
Seger hid calmly behind the corner wall as Lindmon's defensive flurry advanced forward. He fired round after round into the troops and each red bolt slapped them in the chest and left burnt smoking craters in the armor.
Right behind Lindmon, ducking nervously behind his body was Maila. Her grip on the blaster pistol was cumbersome, unexperienced, and her shots flew wildly off target. The few that managed to hit were grazing and less than mortal.
Lindmon rushed forward, Seger's barrage sailing past his shoulders and into the cluster of troopers. The soldiers left scrambled to their feet and aimed down their rifles, only to find the white blade of the lightsaber whirling past them. Lindmon twisted and spun, his saber cutting through armor and flesh as he worked his way through the last of the soldiers. The few remaining trooper turned to retreat, only for blaster fire to slam into their backs from Seger's well aimed assault. With one final lunge, Lindmon's lightsaber slid through the back of the last soldier, who gurgled as the last of his breath left his body and he crumpled to the floor. Lindmon motioned over his shoulder for the group to continue, looking over his shoulder briefly at Maila. "Breath Ten, shooting a pistol is just like firing your X-Wing, trust your instincts, point, and shoot." He said
The white saber hissed and crackled as Maila watched, wide eyed, the horribly graphic image just less than a meter from her face. It groaned as the trooper sucked a few terrified breaths, the lungs inside pierced and swimming with blood. The black grimace of Lindmon's TIE pilot helmet strobed in the illumination of his saber impaled on its prey, the black lenses twisted his visage with stark brightness and harsh shadows. Maila thought he looked like a nightmare specter of death. She wasn't able to comprehend the degree of power these so called Jedi wielded. Lindmon's weapon was able to slap away blaster bolts with little effort. How was he able to even intercept them? Maila had no way of knowing how he could move the saber in time. It was like a vibroblade made of pure energy, only intensely more powerful. Capable of thrusting through Stormtrooper's armor with no effort. "Uh...yeah. Okay..." Maila responded numbly. She gathered herself as much as she could, but still glanced at Lindmon cautiously out of the corner of her eye. Now that the troops had been dispatched, Seger stepped out of his cover from behind the wall. As he walked over to join Lindmon and Maila, he stepped over the body of one of the troopers. He pulled the trigger as he moved and the blaster shot out a fatal bolt. It sunk into the neck of the trooper laying on the ground beneath him, the trooper's injured squirms and groans abruptly ended in the same instant as his life. Segers face remained impassive through the whole encounter but now that everything was settling Lindmon could sense a degree of pride emanating from Seger. His display of Jedi powers and flourishes of combat expertise gave Seger a great deal of confidence in his comrade, trusting implicitly in his leader's instincts and commands. He nodded towards Lindmon, affirming that the combatants had all been dispatched.
The crew turned the corner into a large open room. The dark grey metal walls arched high over their heads and the large generator of the shield relay sat in the center of the room, blue electricity streaming forth from it's peak and into the ceiling where it was collected and condensed. Lindmon ran to the other end of the room, pointing at the relay. "Jack, get that down, radio Joker when you're almost done so he can get in position. Ten with me, were going to keep an eye on the entry hall to make sure we aren't disturbed."
Seger nodded and ran to the display monitor at the base of the generator, pulling up the menus and getting to work. Maila and Lindmon stood against the far wall on opposing sides of the door. Maila glanced nervously at Lindmon as he peaked into the hall. Several tense minutes passed as Seger tapped away at the console. Finally he came over the comms. "Joker, Jack, shield is coming down in 3, 2, go." The beam fizzled out and the room went quiet.
A moment later the base shuddered as the loud explosion from above shook the structure, the sound of crumpling, screaming metal emanated from above.
"Primary target is down, repeat primary target is down. King, word from the Diver. They are engaged with the Havoc and want us out ASAP. They're taking heavy fire." Lugo's voice came through the comms.
"Copy that, we're proceeding to data retrieval." Lindmon responded, motioning for Seger to join them as they prepared to move forward.
The Imperial control room shuddered for several moments as the relay dish shattered from the X-Wing's assault. It's pieces splintered as it exploded, huge chunks of the metal dish drifted away into space from the force of the explosion.
"Did we get the the recording out in time?" Commodore Baroelsm whispered to his officers.
"I-I think so sir..." A control officer replied. "We cut through the jamming signal the moment the dish was destroyed."
"Data purge is at fifty percent sir!" Another officer called out from the computer terminal. "They won't be able to get any relevant information from us at this point."
Commodore Baroelsm leaned back, satisfied that at least the last few years of Imperial records were out of the reach of these raiders.
The group moved quickly down the hallways of the base, the eery silence surrounding them. As they rounded a final corner the yellow line on Lindmon's map blinked several times. The Comm center lay just on the other side of the large silver doors, sealed tight in front of them.
"Ok...this is where things get iffy." He said quietly. Think Lindmon. Think. There were no consoles on this side of the door, likely a security measure to keep out would be intruders during a lockdown. No, feel, don't think. He though to himself. He abruptly sat on the floor, legs crossed. "Get ready you two, this isn't going to be easy." He said, his lightsaber floating in front of him. He streatched out with his feelings, weaving into the other room. Nervous energy perveyed the space. Tension, anxiety, fear. He closed his eyes, willing the feelings to coalesce.
"Six to the left, four to the right, seven further back in the middle." He remained focused as best he could. The lightsaber hovered up to the top of the door, sliding slowely into the metal. Molten slag parted from the blade as it passed through to the hilt. It slowely descended, the effort causing Lindmon to shake.
The blade continued it's slow crawl down the door, sweat beading on Lindmon's forehead. Seger and Maila watched as his whole body seemed to shake from the strain. Maila was aghast, from the moment they landed his display of power had shaken her, if he turned against them what could he do, what could they do? Seger stood steadfast, blaster at the ready. Finally the saber finished its path, the door separated down the middle.
"Get ready." Lindmon said simply, the blade pulling from the door and spinning in front of him. He reached out his arms and grasped at the doors. Willing them apart. Weight is an illusion your mind puts in place to tell you you can't. Ahsoka's words echoed in his mind. The doors groaned as he pushed them open, slowely separating. As the doors opened halfway a hail of blaster fire flew through the opening. Several bolts bounced off the lightsaber while others slammed against the side of the wall. Seger and Maila opened fire, Seger fired into the small cluster of troopers on the left, his well aimed shots finding home one after the other. Maila fires at the four to the right, her shots sailing past them and into the back wall. Lindmon finished opening the door, the strain pounding in his head. Just as he moved to stand a thermal detonator sailed past his head towards Maila, the bomb blinked several times and the look in Maila's eyes screamed terror. In one fluid moment, Lindmon hurled his arms foreword, sending the detonator and the troopers at the door spiraling backwards from the force he slammed into them. The detonator flew back into the room, erupting a moment later. Lindmon stood, trembling, his blade whizzed past him, slamming hilt deep into the chest of one of the troopers before whizzing back to his hand. He held it up as the troopers clambered back to their feet. The eyes on him from the officers in the room were a mix of fear and awe. Time seemed to slip past Lindmon, his mind reeling.
You will fail them.
Your comrades will fall one by one.
Trust your feelings.
As the blaster barrage resumed, the lasers whipping towards him seemed to slow, as if shot through molasses. One by one he studied their course, twirling his saber in hand into each shot. The lasers ricocheted off his blade and back at the trooper who fired it. In a moment all went calm. Each trooper a smoldering, groaning mass on the floor. The adrenaline coarsed through him. Voices ringing in his mind.
I will not let that happen.
He thought briefly to himself, standing in the doorway, surrounded by death.
Commodore Baroelsm gazed at the fallen defense force around him, smoldering holes penetrated their armor, leaving them dead or incapacitated. The Jedi had overwhelmed the troops in an instant. A tense moment fell across the room as the intruders strode in. From the security footage he knew that one of the intruders had acquisitioned a TIE pilot's uniform, but seeing him in person raised a sharp fury. In the heat of the moment Commodore Baroelsm had grabbed his blaster in self defense, prepared to fire upon the Rebels, in doing so the rest of the officers in the control room had stood from their seats, drawing their own small arms blaster pistols.
He slowly put both his arms in the air, letting the blaster pistol drop out of grip and hang on a single finger. Commodore Baroelsm looked back to his men who were prepared to make their final stand. "Lay down your weapons men." He commanded sharply. If the recording had sent and the Imperial data records had already been wiped to this extent there was no reason for his officers to be slain. "A Jedi's morals keep them from striking down the defenseless, even if they are their enemy. They are too weak to do what needs to be done in the trials of war."
The officers slowly dropped their weapons and watched in anticipation to see if the Commodore's words held true.
Lindmon strode forward, adrenaline still coursing through his veins. His vision blurred with each step but he held his balance as best he could. "Back away from the consoles and drop your weapons." He said calmly, raising his lightsaber. "Jack, get your R4 plugged in, cancel the purge, and find me the data we discussed." Seger nodded, moving past him and up to a nearby console as the officers stepped away. The R4 droid rolled past them and into the room, finding a plug module near Seger. "Ten, radio command. We have seven imperial officers. I need to know what they want to do with them." Lindmon took another step into the room. The commodore smiled slyly.
"Everything you could want is gone. We started the purge the moment you landed. You Rebel scum will get nothing of use from the remaining information." He chuckled to himself smugly. The Rebellion was always the same, and the Jedi just like them. Weak.
After a few moments Maila called out to Lindmon after contacting the Blue Diver for orders. "King. They are facing heavy resistance right now, there isn't any time to handle prisoners to extract more information." She said, "we have to get out as soon as possible, the Havoc has already gone into hyperspace suddenly!"
King, Jack, Ten. Callsigns no doubt. This only further implicated the Rebel's defection from the Empire, and a once highly trusted officer at that. Fifty two was an ancient card game, sophisticated and refined by its strict rules unlike the degenerate Sabacc. Commodore Baroelsm deftly waved to the officers at the computer console to move away and allow them to take their meager reward, he had planned on destroying the records system if they had gotten this far. At this point it wasn't worth it, he couldn't possibly understand what they could do with such old information, there was nothing relevant from after the discovery of the despised Skywalker and the growth of the fledgling Rebel Alliance. Being able to inform his superiors in person about this defector and the few telling details about him was more valuable than laying down the lives of his men to protect such old information.
Lindmon stood for a moment. Seger turned his head and nodded at him. They got what they came for. Time was running out and they had to leave. The decision was his.
"We can't afford survivors..." he said with a finality
"What!?" Maila screamed at Lindmon as he gave the command. "You can't be serious! They surrendered! Don't do this!" She pleaded incredulously, unable to believe that they were about to slay an entire room of Imperial officers.The Commodore looked nervously about the room and made eye contact with each of his officers, a regretful flicker of emotion passing across his face. Seger stepped forward, his blaster tight in his hand. He had already experienced the harsh truth of Rebellion, lives need to be taken to ensure the success of the mission. It was nothing personal, and if his wing mate lived long enough, she would come to realize that.
Commodore Baroelsm closed his eyes as Seger raised his blaster in front of Baroelsm's face. "Gentlemen, it's been an honor." He said grimly, accepting their impending fate. There was nothing they could do against the powers of the Jedi. The slain squads of troops was a testament to that. "For the Empire..."
"Fire..." Lindmon said quietly, raising his blaster and shooting into the group, Seger did the same, each of their blasts landing true. As the last officer fell to the floor a dark silence filled the room. "We can talk about this back at base. Let's go." He said calmly, his fist clenched around the hilt of his blade as he placed it back on it's holder. "Hustle, we need to be out of here yesterday. Queen, Joker, we got what we needed and some mean company is on it's way, prep all torpedoes, as soon as you have our all clear get those wherever they will do the most damage. R3, prep ladder, we're coming in hard." He turned and dashed out of the room, followed close behind by Seger and Maila.
The group trudged back through the halls in silence. As they passed by the group of dead troopers on the floor near the hangar Lindmon slowed, looking down into the open, cauterized wounds his saber had left. He could almost see the face of each soldier he passed. As he neared the final one the helmet changed to a dark, sneering skull, half shaded in darkness. A gasp caught in his throat and his step wavered, the fatigue catching up to him all at once. He stumbled into the wall next to him, a wave of nausea passing over.
Not yet. We have to get out.
They approached their fighters, clambering inside and donning the rest of their flight gear. The arms of the droid slot pulled the R4 unit up into Seger's X-wing and the group pushed out of the hangar.
"We're away. Take the shot." He said, his body heavy. "Reed, get us home buddy."
Several torpedoes slammed into the hangar bay, the explosions rippling through the structure of the base, with each blast, a subsequent explosion rung through the structure, within minutes large portions floated on the shockwaves into the void. Just as the crew readied to make the jump, the blue lines of hyperspace pulling into view, the large silhouette of the Havoc entered the system. They were only there long enough to catch a glimpse as the fighters lept into hyperspace. The blue stars waved and moved around Lindmon as his head spun and darkness enveloped his vision. The last thing he saw before passing out were the red glowing eyes piercing through the darkness of two empty sockets.