Chapter 7: The Top of the Mountain

"...so I boarded an escape pod and ended up here," General Isa finished.

Jolly nodded, impressed. He knew that keeping one's head in a crisis like that took a lot of courage and skills. And she had been General Beto's apprentice! Of course she knew how to get to safety.
"Who's in command of your vessel?" Asked Zar. It had taken a few hours, but both clones were now comfortable enough with the unusual General to ask questions. They had stashed the speeders in another handy cave and were slowly crawling the last few meters up the ridge to what the Jedi-General insisted was some sort of base. The clones had their helmets on and tuned to the frequency of the small bead comlink in the Jedi's ear. It was high-tech stuff and picked up her quiet murmur as if she, too, were wearing a commando helmet.
General Isa's smile slipped at the question. "My apprentice," she said quietly. "And he's only fifteen. He stayed on the bridge when I went to help down in engineering."
Interpreting her somber mood for worry, Jolly said hesitantly, "I'm sure that he's all right."
"Well," said General Isa, "It depends on your definition of all right. He's alive. And he's not gravely injured. But I can Feel his distress even from out here. He's scared. And I've only been training Zach a year but I know that he doesn't scare easily."
"You can feel that from here?" Jolly asked. He was amazed. No wonder the Jedi were in charge, with powers like that. How different would it be if he had been able to feel what was happening to his original squad? Or to even have that connection just with Edge and let him know that he'd made it. The General had replied something while Jolly was lost in thought and he only managed to pick up the last part of Zar's phrase.

"...General Mag Liano?"
"Actually, yes," said General Isa. "I just got a return signal. He's waiting for us on the other side of the compound."
"Wait...what?" Said Jolly.
"My old master and I just managed to...ugh...Force-talk," said General Isa.
Jolly just blinked. Zar said nothing. Then, "Force talk?" They chorused.
"It's as if we can communicate by sending emotions to each other," she said. "Few Jedi can send specific details – even if they've trained together for a long time. The only pair I've ever personally known with that ability was Qui Gon Jinn and Obi Wan Kenobi. But Beto knows I'm here and I know he's there."
"He's on the planet?" Demanded Zar.
"He's very hands-on with his missions. What type of Jedi would just sit back when something like this needs doing?"
Jolly thought that was exactly what a Jedi-General was supposed to do. But he didn't get to argue the point because they'd gotten to the top of the ridge and seen what the droids were doing.

It was worse than they had thought. Even Jolly was speechless and he heard Zar's breathing hike up.

The top of the mountain had been blown away, deep holes plunged down into its rocky slopes, where silver ore gleamed in the reflection of three of the neighboring planetoids, like three moons in the night sky. Bright lights illuminated spindly walkways that all connected to a thin spire that rose up from the center hole. Each spindly arm, curved around and connected to the dark, imposing frame of Something.
Something large and mechanical. Bones of some sort of ginormous round ship. Droids crawled over the entire thing like ants over their hill. And it looked unfinished. And it was massive.
"Ah..." Jolly gulped. "General...?"
"I don't know what that is," she said grimly. "I...oh."
"What is it?"
"Beto just saw it," she said. "I felt his surprise. It was...a bit more panicked than normal."
A small oranges light began blinking in the corner of Jolly's HUD and he focused his gaze on the read-out. Zar's heart rate was approaching panic level. Jolly blinked to turn on a private comm with him.
"Ner vod," said Jolly firmly, not a trace if his usual good humor. "Breathe. We've got two Jedi generals and probably a ship full of troopers in orbit. We'll be fine. Deep breaths, come on."
"It looks like a large version of the space stations on Genosis," Zar breathed.
"This isn't Genosis," Jolly reminded him.
"I...I know..."
He's having a flash-back, Jolly realized. Fierfek. What a time...
"Zar," General Isa reached out and placed a hand on the smooth, white of his armor. "I can use a Jedi trick to calm you down. Would you like me to try?"
Zar hesitated. And then nodded.
As far as Jolly was concerned, nothing happened. But Zar's heart rate dropped back down and a few seconds later, he straightened his shoulders and gripped his Deece a bit tighter.
"Thank you, General," said Zar.
General Isa nodded and said. "North around the perimeter, boys. Let's get to it."
Zar took point. And Jolly wondered if General Beto would mind if he found his old apprentice even more fascinating than him.

Beto Felt the two missing commandos before Nicko and Edge were able to pick them up with the night vision from their medium-range laser-cannons. A simple brush with the Force told him that they were both okay, although Zar has the tell-tale shadow of Isa's calming techniques and Jolly had minor bruising on just about every single rib.
"Three friendlies approaching, men," Beto told his two companions. "It's my old apprentice for sure and your two missing squad mates are none the worse for wear."
"Confirmed, tracking with long-range sensors," Nicko's relief was palpable in the Force. Edge's was so strong that it was almost visible. Several minutes later, Jolly half-crawled, half-climbed into their protected position behind a mining hole that had been begun and then abandoned. He was instantly embraced by Edge. The greeting was silent to Beto's ears, even with the bead comlink in – they had switched to a private frequency. Zar came next and, to his surprise, was given a quick embrace by Nicko.
Isa came over last, lightly hopping down from the small ridge and landing easily on the balls of her feet. "Hello, Master."
He gave her a hug, too. They were both Solarian after all and had worked together for more than a third of the young Jedi's life. "It is good to see you, Isa," he said warmly.
"And you, General." The word General was said with a teasing lilt. She obviously found the idea of him leading men into battle as bizarre as he did.
"Comm check. General Mag Liano, Bel-Mart?" said Edge in his ear.
"Yes?"
"Hear you loud and clear," said Isa. "And to whom am I speaking?"
"Edge, ma'am," he replied, touching two fingers to his forehead in a respectful salute. "And this is Sergeant Nicko."
Nicko gave her a full salute, but didn't hesitate to shake her hand when she extended it.
"Now we're all here," Isa said briskly. "So what do we do?"
"And what is that?" Added Jolly, jerking his thumb in the direction of the bright lights of the construction site and mine.
"I hope I'm wrong," said Beto grimly. "But I think that it's the center portion of a round satellite."
"Well," said Jolly after a pause. "That's a very large sphere."

The plan that followed focused on one thing; finding out for sure what that was.

And finding the rest of the pieces if there were more.

Everyone hoped that there weren't more.

"The Nova is still not responding," said Nicko grimly several minutes later. He'd been trying to hail their ship for the last ten minutes. "I don't think that they're in range."
"Should one of us go to the fighter and try to contact them?" Zar wondered aloud.
"No," said General Beto softly. "No...Commander Jay is a good man. If they're not in orbit, then someone must be in imminent danger. Trying our long-range fighter communications may put them at risk. And it most definitely will give those droids a way to track us."
General Isa nodded. "We'll have to execute the plan without them. As it is, all we're doing is recon."
"With plan B," Jolly added.
"I don't particularly like plan B," Zar grumbled on the private channel.
"First light, when dawn will make it hard for them to see us," said General Beto with finality. "We'll stand watch in pairs. Any volunteers?"
"Edge," said Jolly.
"Jolly," said Edge.
And then they both grinned. Everyone knew it, even without being able to see their faces.

And General Isa felt a chill go down her spine