The door leading into the compound was an old style blast door set within an alcove cut into the side of a stone cliff face. There was a singular security camera mounted just above it. Beyond it he could sense several presences gathering - apprehension palpable. He was an aberration, an unknown factor appearing in place of what they had expected to see. The girl had already vanished, darting through a cut in the rocks around the side to reach the air vent she had labeled on the map.
He centered himself in the camera's field of view and waited.
After several minutes, the door snapped open and a number of heavily armed men stepped out. Most of them were visibly human, though he spotted one twi'lek amongst them with heavily tattooed lekku. He stood still as they approached, weapons held ready to fire. When they were less than a meter away, he moved - lightsaber activating as he called it to his hand.
He sliced through the first two in one swing. One step forward from that blow and the next one fell, finger on the trigger to fire. He pivoted, blocking bolts with his blade as the rest tried to retreat back through the door. He reached out with the Force, shoving the rest with a wave that knocked them back hard enough to snap their spines. There were still a few inside the door, but they had staggered and fallen due to the Force push. He charged in unimpeded, cutting them down as they tried to scramble to their feet.
A short corridor led into a warehouse just as the scribbled map had promised. There were a few crates stacked in the middle, open and rusting, their contents long since emptied out. A freight elevator sat attached to the farthest wall, next to the door leading into the first floor corridor. The lift cables were disconnected, deliberately it seemed. The warehouse had not seen use in several years. There was, however, a metal stairwell leading up to the second level catwalk leading to another door, just like the map had previously indicated.
He started for it.
There were more mercenaries headed towards him down the second floor corridor. They reached the edge of the catwalk just as he did, blasters taking aim as the lights cut out. Swallowed by darkness, the mercs panicked. Blaster fire rung out indiscriminately, lighting up the area in short bursts. He deflected the bolts that came his way, advancing down the catwalk towards them.
As he reached the middle, one of the mercs made the foolish decision of attempting to throw a grenade. It hit the catwalk at an angle and rebounded back, taking out those closest to it and sending everyone else flying back. Even he fell back, the force of the explosion knocking him into the rail and sending his lightsaber flying out of his grip. The blade extinguished as it fell. He tried to summon it back but the first grenade had triggered a chain reaction. The next few blasts caused the catwalk to buckle and then collapse, forcing him to focus on escaping it as it struck the ground.
When the dust cleared, he glanced about the wreckage. The darkness was no longer absolute - red emergency lighting now cast a dim glow about the area. The now broken catwalk was blocking access to the first floor corridor. A somewhat familiar presence was approaching down it. The door snapped open a moment later, the girl peering through. She looked only mildly alarmed at the wreckage.
He shoved the broken catwalk aside with the Force and strode past, surveying the lower hallway a moment before looking back at the mangled metal. His lightsaber was nowhere to be seen. He glanced upwards, searching the support columns. A second later he spotted it, wedged into a gap between a crumpled column and the supports for the freight elevator. He yanked it free with the Force and it returned to his hand.
The girl watched this with an interest he chose to ignore for the moment. He started down the corridor and she fell in behind him, just a few steps back.
They encountered only two more mercenaries as they progressed deeper into the compound. These were dealt with quickly, though he could sense more of them moving about further on and further up. They soon found a terminal and with it a map of the facility. It showed that the main control room was three levels above their current position. With main power down, the interior lifts would be non-functional. There was an access stair nearby, but he knew they would most likely have stationed themselves in such a way as to turn it into a kill chute.
The girl took one look at the schematics before starting back the way they had come. He watched as she found a vent and pried off the grate. Realizing what she meant to do, he turned away as she climbed in and disappeared. The stairwell was just around the corner from the terminal.
He waited just outside, listening and sensing.
When the sound of blaster fire rang out he went in, storming up the steps. As he hit the third floor landing it went silent. He saw three bodies at the door. Beyond the frame, two more mercenaries had their backs turned towards him, blasters aimed at a point further down the hall. They turned upon hearing him, but were too slow to do much more than shout in alarm.
He killed them both and moved on.
Further down the corridor he found the girl, ducked within the slim cover of a recessed door frame. She glanced up as he passed by, before hurriedly falling back into step behind him, footsteps echoing his own.
The control room was occupied only briefly. He simply Force slammed the occupants as the door opened, then strode over their crumpled corpses.
"Guard the door."
She didn't acknowledge the command, but simply unslung her rifle again and fell into position. He went to the command console, quickly restoring power to it and the comms. It seemed the mercenaries had upgraded the original communications equipment that was installed, resulting in a transmitter powerful enough to rival most of the ones used to coordinate the Imperial Fleet. How they had managed this, he did not know, nor did he care much beyond the fact that it allowed him to contact his flagship. Relaying retrieval orders took only a few minutes.
As he finished, a shot rang out behind him. He turned in time to see a mercenary falling to the ground at the far end of the hall. There were still several stragglers, it seemed.
He could wait for his forces to arrive to wipe them out, but the chance they might escape or restore enough systems to dig in somewhere in the compound was too high. He would have to hunt them down. He stalked past the girl, calling his lightsaber to his hand.
"Hold this room."
She raised no objections as he departed.
He returned to the control room just as the shuttles carrying his troops arrived at the compound. The girl was watching from the window, expression one of mild apprehension as the retrieval ships unloaded several squads of troopers onto the outer landing platform. Whether that apprehension was from the presence of the soldiers now flooding the base or the increase of lightning on the horizon remained to be seen. Her gaze left the control room window when the troops found them, attention turning to focus on the new arrivals. The captain of the lead unit saluted him upon entering.
"Secure this location and select a garrison," he commanded. "I want this made into a permanent outpost."
"As you command, Lord Vader."
He turned to leave, keenly aware that the girl was now watching him as he approached the door.
"Come."
He did not pause to see if she would obey - observation told him with reasonably certainty that she would.
He strode down the hall, ignoring the storm troopers now traipsing through. They jumped aside as he passed and saluted as they should. He led the way back to the side warehouse with its broken catwalk. He stood there, surveying the mangled metal for a moment before turning to look at the girl. She had stopped just a few feet away, watching him with a wary expression.
"Toyn's lightsaber," he stated, holding out a hand for it. She didn't look surprised at this, nor did she ask how he had known. Without a word, she reached into her pack and pulled it out, handing it over. He gave it a glance, then clipped it to his belt beside his own. "From this point forward, you will be completely honest with me. Lies of omission will not be tolerated. Is that understood?"
"Yes."
"Toyn was planning on training you."
It wasn't a question and he did not expect any kind of response. Least of all the change in her expression. It was subtle, a slight flash of irritation that was more palpable in the Force than on her face.
"Planning," she echoed, annoyance putting a slight amount of strain into the tone of her voice. "Arguing. Didn't...didn't know what 'no' meant."
That did sound exactly like what he knew of Toyn. From what he recalled, the Jedi had departed Coruscant shortly after a rather loud disagreement with the Council. He hadn't known the cause of the argument at the time, but now it seemed evident. Toyn had identified a Force sensitive and had most likely tried to cite precedent in being allowed to train the girl. From what it sounded like, it seemed he had gone against the Council's ruling.
"I can not train you," he stated after a moment. "The Emperor is particular concerning those sensitive in the Force. He will not allow it. But neither can I allow you to continue as you are."
She didn't say anything to this, just waited and watched him with the same wariness as before.
"What I can do is offer you a place within the Empire's ranks."
"...like a soldier?"
"An officer. Of a division that answers solely to me."
She was silent, perhaps contemplating the offer. He saw her eyes dart to the exit corridor for a brief moment before flicking back to him. There was a distant rumble of thunder, heralding the arrival of the storm outside, muffled only a little by the walls.
"Alright."
