The mountain range that held the Jedi enclave had an unreal beauty that stunned Kara. Looking around, she could understand why this would be a Jedi retreat. Even surrounded by soldiers and wearing armor, Kara could feel something in her relax as she breathed the clean air. She moved out of the way of the squads as she turned around, staring up at the snowcapped peaks.
Finally, she turned to look at her men, "Sergeant Blaze, are we ready to go?"
"Yes General," Blaze said.
"Lieutenant, we'll be back," Kara said.
"We'll be waiting," Screech replied.
Kara watched as her squads formed up before heading for the duracrete stairs.
"Sir," Blaze said.
Kara turned to look at the Sergeant, who was clearly uncomfortable, "Yes, Sergeant?"
"Let us take point, sir," Blaze said carefully. For a moment, Kara considered protesting, but there was something about the nervousness Blaze was emitting, and the tense protectiveness of Knight Squadron that prompted her to nod slightly.
"Go ahead," she said.
The nervous relief that flooded out of Blaze as Hopper and Rusty started down the stairs told Kara that something had happened that she didn't understand. When she looked over at Hook and his Bucket Squadron, their collective relief surprised her. Clearly something was going on between the squads. As she fell in beside Chip, Kara made a note to see if she could get someone to explain things when they got back to the Retrieval. Something told her that is was probably something a general was supposed to overlook, but she wasn't just a general, she was a Jedi, and if there was a problem she would at least offer her help.
Fallback dropped back to walk on Kara's other side, and she glanced at him at of the corner of her eye, but he was carefully not looking at her so she let it go. Whatever was going on between the squads would have to wait, so long as it didn't interfere with the mission.
The enclave entrance wasn't readily apparent from the landing pad, but the road lead them around an outcropping and there it was. A wall extended across the narrow canyon opening made of locally quarried stone. The wall reached halfway up the canyon wall height, and centered on the wall was a guard house.
"Where's the gate?" Rusty muttered.
"Over here," Kara said, heading for the point where the left edge of the wall met the canyon. There was a pile of boulders like an ancient rock slide, behind which was the gate. "The previous owner was very paranoid, given that this was his personal residence." She touched the gate with her finger tips, considering it for a moment, then reached over to flip open a panel disguised as a rocky protrusion. "Thankfully, the Council was slightly less paranoid." She keyed in the code and watched the door slide into the wall.
Once the way was clear, Kara walked inside. The path led around a second outcropping into the box canyon. She stopped short as she cleared the outcropping, because like the mountains that sheltered it, holos did not do the retreat justice. There were few straight lines, all of the buildings looked as if they were organically grown from the canyon floor and walls, only the windows showing the differences in some places. The path they followed was curved around gardens that looked a little unkempt, leading towards the largest of the buildings.
"Excuse me sir," Blaze said suddenly.
Kara started and moved, remembering that she wasn't there for a week spent in meditation and contemplation. "Sorry, Sergeant," she murmured. She tucked her hands behind her back once she'd cleared the entry, "Sometimes I hate this war."
It was very jarring to observe her troops in the midst of a place meant to harbor peace.
Kara forced the discontent from her mind, reminding herself of her mission. She turned, "Sergeant Hook, secure the gate. Sergeant Blaze, let's go."
She waited for Hook's salute, then headed into the enclave as she pulled up her mental map of the area. Behind her, she could hear her squad falling in with a few soft murmurs. Their path went past the larger buildings, to a smaller building just behind the largest building. This, according to the map she'd seen, was the archives that would lead to the vault.
"Sir?" Blaze said as Kara headed to one of the tables.
"I need my datapad," Kara said. She glanced at Blaze, "Or is there something else I need to hear?"
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean sir," Blaze said stiffly.
Kara hummed softly as she pulled out the datapad with the map on it and started it up. "Did you know that the Force allows Jedi to know things like emotions?" She glanced sideways at the uncomfortable Blaze. "I can't read minds without deliberate effort, but emotions? It's kind of like being in a crowded room and listening to all the conversations going on around you. I know there's something going on, my question is, is there something I need to know about it or is there something I could do that would help you deal with it?"
"No, sir," Blaze said.
Kara blinked slightly then jumped at the sound of armor smacking armor. Fallback had his hand on Chip's arm, restraining him. Clearly, whatever issue existed was something they didn't want her to know about, and remembering the odd tension and relief on the landing pad, Kara wondered if she even wanted to pursue it. Then her datapad beeped and Kara focused. They had a mission, whatever was going on in the ranks would have to wait for a more opportune time.
"All right," Kara said, "the door to the vault is over here." She headed towards one of the side walls where there was supposed to be a hidden door to a turbolift. She ran her fingers over the carved panel for a moment, with its beautiful depiction of a forest glade, then looked back at her pad. The way in was a light situated at the top of the panel, out of her reach. She regarded the light for a moment, then turned to look at the squad that was now watching her.
"Chip, can you give me a boost," she asked finally. "I need to trigger this thing."
"You can't," Chip began even as he started forward.
"No," Kara said, "jumping heights is one thing, floating on air is another. It's harder to do for myself and I can't trigger this and float at the same time."
"All right sir," Chip said as he linked his hands.
Kara stepped onto the boost and braced a hand on the carved panel while she quickly worked to get the trigger open. "Down please," she told Chip finally as the carved panel moved to the side, "and thank you."
"You're welcome sir," Chip said.
"Doesn't it seem odd," Hopper said as they crowded onto the lift.
"What?" Kara asked as she watched Fallback pressed the button to go down.
"Um, just that it would be so hard to open the lift." Hopper said, "Sir."
"The Archivist who handled this place could have used the Force to do it," Kara said, bracing herself as the lift began to drop. A hand ghosted against her back, probably Rusty, giving her silent support. "The kind of fine touch that requires is difficult to do on an unfamiliar object. Now that I know how it's triggered, I could just use the Force next time."
The lift came to a halt, and Kara quickly cleared the way for her squad, approaching the first of the vault doors. She pulled up her most serene expression as the room seemed to echo with Master Yoda's familiar admonishment that size mattered not.
The first vault door was heavy, too heavy for most beings to lift alone. It required a Jedi to open, not only because of the weight, but because of the difficult maneuver it required to open all the way. Kara pressed her hands to the door, feeling the solid stone within as her men moved around behind her. She tilted her head forward slightly, letting the Force fill her for a long moment. She then carefully lifted the block and shifted it to the left, then she lifted again and slid it back to the right. Carefully she slid it back and forth, freeing it from the different catches that held it. Finally, it was raised enough that she could slide the block all the way to the left and allow her men through the door.
One of them whistled softly as they took in the thickness of the block, that it was wider than two of them standing shoulder to shoulder.
"Master Yoda always says, size matter not," Kara said softly as she followed Rusty and Hopper into the next chamber.
"I remember General Yoda," Rusty said, "it sounds like something he'd say."
Kara smiled, "Did he get you in the shins, Rusty?"
"No?" Rusty said slowly.
Kara chuckled, "We used to joke that you weren't an initiate until Master Yoda hit you in the shins. Everyone got at least one." She turned her attention to the next door. It was equal in size to the other door, with a large ten meter by ten meter panel taken up with smaller panels, each of which was covered with circular markings, but none of which lined up, and with a single blank space currently on the bottom left.
"It's a puzzle," Kara said, studying it, "A puzzle lock. I've heard of these, but I've never seen them."
"How does it work?" Chip asked.
"You have to know what it's meant to say, or be, to put it together. There are currents, if you misalign it too badly, you can be electrocuted." Kara replied. "Each square can only move in certain patterns to finish it."
"And if you can't get it?" Chip asked after a moment.
"Fail enough, and the contents of the vault explode," Kara said, "it's quite ingenious. Not useful if you need to go in or out a lot, like at the Temple, but useful if you expect to be gone for a while." She tilted her head slightly, "I need to meditate on this before I try anything. They wouldn't have sent me if I didn't know this."
"What should we do?" Blaze asked.
Kara glanced at her Sergeant, "Eat something? I'm surprised none of you have noticed that Mash's stomach has been growling since we got on the elevator."
Everyone turned to look at the trooper in question and he tilted his head, "What?"
"You forget to eat?" Blaze asked.
Mash hesitated, "Maybe?"
Kara sighed, "Everyone just take a break, okay? Don't hover, but don't go too far." She took her personal datapad out of her pack and sank down before the door. She looked up at the door as her hand began moving the stylus. There was something familiar about the pieces, something she'd definitely seen before.
After a while, Kara took a deep breath, closed her eyes and sank even deeper into the Force, searching for her memories. She was aware of her squad moving around behind her, of her hand tracing something on her datapad, and even could detect some worry from outside, possibly her other squads. She almost pushed to make sure, but instead turned back to her original task.
It was the scent of something hot that brought her out of her trance. Kara turned to find Fallback putting a steaming cup of caff next to her.
"Thought you'd like some, sir," Fallback said.
Kara smiled, "Thank you." She picked up and took a sip, fighting not to grimace at its strength, "Do we have any sugar?"
"Sure," Fallback said, "hold on. Do you want something to eat?"
"No," Kara said, "I'm fine."
Fallback raised his eyebrows, then stood up and went to get the sugar. Kara glanced down at her pad. It was Yoda, thwapping some poor initiate on the shins. The boy in question had a branching image of a Jedi Knight, lightsaber lit, and looking like some holovid hero.
"Of course," Kara said as it connected. She jumped to her feet, staring at the pattern, "why didn't I see it before." She touched her left wrist, then turned, "I know how to get in."
"How?" Blaze asked.
"I should have remembered, Master Yoda set the lock three years ago, when they shut everything down. This, this was something he told me about." She studied the panels. "When I was about six, I saw him thump a couple of initiates who'd just passed their Padawan Trials. They'd been bragging about becoming Jedi Knights and great warriors. Master Yoda told them that 'Wars not make one great'. That phrase smacked me as being something so important, it, well, it resonated for me. I told Master Yoda how it felt and he told me a very interesting story."
She made her first move carefully. "When Master Yoda was young, already a Knight but not a Master, he met a being who was very old and very sad. He'd been an explorer, an adventure, dedicated to helping people wherever he went, much to the dismay of his people. Then his people got into a war they couldn't lose and the being became a warrior. When they had used their great weapons, and were struggling to hold onto their final city, the leaders of his people gave the being a weapon that would end the war. So, he took the weapon and he used it, and he learned that his leaders had not spoken of the price. That to end the war with the weapon would mean that only this very sad and very old being would survive the war. Yoda gave me a token from that being, a bracelet with a metal tag. On it was written "Wars do not make us great" in the language of that fallen race to remember their folly and the price they paid."
She gestured at the now completed puzzle, "It's something only the two of us would know, I imagine."
"That is impressive," Blaze said as the door opened.
"Let's finish our drinks and get this packed up," Kara said. "This seems to have taken longer than I thought it would."