The Alliance ship Calrissian and Kenobi had commandeered after the battle over Coruscant, came out of hyperspace, sitting by a small moon with a rather dead looking planet beside it. Asteroids continually impacted the surface of the planet. The moon was somewhat better shielded, both by the planet and by a defense shield forming a dome over the base.
"I must say it looks a thoroughly unpleasant place." Threepio remarked from the communications area.
"Yeah, well, just keep listening to the Imperial chatter, Threepio. If...when you hear anything about the Chimera, or Thrawn or Anakin or Vader, call me immediately."
"Of course, General Calrissian."
"Cloak is functioning well, sir." An officer informed Lando Calrissian. The man paced for a moment, then turned to join his friends in the command area. "Keep me informed." He said, worried.
The moment he entered, multiple pairs of eyes landed on him.
"We're here. No sign of the Chimera yet. We've beaten them. But now that we're here, now what? We really aren't equipped to take on, let alone board, a Star Destroyer. And that supply base is well protected."
"They would surely notice if they arrived and the base had been in a firefight, in any event." Kenobi observed.
"So. Does anyone have a plan?"
For a moment no-one spoke. Padme finally observed, "We have the shuttle with the cloak, the Millenium Falcon, and … Admiral Piett." She looked at the silent still uneasy man. There could be few things more intimidating than being caught between conflicting duties, especially when one of the conflicts was married to a woman like Padme Amidala. Piett sighed. "I can give you the entry codes, last ones I knew, to get into the base. Unless they've changed them. Given the nature of the crash I was in, and the lizard cats, they may have assumed I'm dead."
"Can you give us anything else about the Chimera that might help us reach him? Anything different than the normal Star Destroyer, or changes Thrawn would make?"
Piett paused, considering. "He's like Lord Vader in that he rewards competence, not status or species. There are more woman aboard as well as aliens...his personal bodyguards are noghri...other than that..." But an odd look crossed Piett's face then.
"What is it? You've thought of something." Ahsoka alertly picked up his flicker of thought.
"I don't know if it will help...but I think it unlikely the noghri know about Vader. He frowned. "They used to be his personal guards. He traded them to Thrawn for a favor. But they practically worshipped him."
Leia's eyes widened, then narrowed. "Why?"
"Their home world was devastated by the Clone Wars. They weren't on either side, but the battle came to their world. A toxic bio weapon was loosed when a Separatist ship crashed." His unease increased. Clearly, he wasn't totally convinced the Alliance was better than Separatists. "They were forgotten, until Lord Vader rediscovered their world. I don't know why he was there, but they attacked en masse. Naturally they didn't defeat him, but their courage and ferocity were so impressive he offered a trade. Their services in exchange for supplies and help rebuilding and searching for a way to counter the bio weapon's effects."
"Ah." Obi-Wan's eyes had gone distance. "I believe I heard about this … Honoghr, wasn't it? That bio weapon was aimed at Naboo."
Padme cringed.
Piett nodded. "The noghri feel indebted to him. It's unlikely they would go along with his imprisonment."
Luke glanced around. "So they problably don't know about it. We might be able to persuade them to help, if we get aboard?"
"What condition is the world in now?" Obi-Wan asked rather sharply.
"Not good, so far as I know. We, he, Lord Vader and the Emperor...well, it really was a vicious bio toxin..."
"But they weren't in a hurry to have them out of debt." Han said, sarcastically recognizing the man's hedging.
"No. They weren't. In any event, they still need assistance and if helping him costs them that..."
Padme folded her arms across her chest. "Then we'll just have to make sure they get assistance."
"I'm going." Leia insisted. "It was me he sacrificed himself for."
"But...you've only just started training." Luke objected, looking at Obi-Wan for support.
"If those ysalamiri things are there, and we know they are, then having the Force won't be a big advantage. In fact, it might be the opposite. You'd try and call on it out of habit. I wouldn't." Leia countered.
Obi-Wan considered the group carefully, analyzing strengths and weaknesses. Of the group, Leia, and Captain Solo were the two with the most experience at literally navigating the insides of a Star Destroyer. Not counting he and Piett, for they weren't going. They didn't trust the Admiral that far yet, and he was needed here. Ahsoka was the next most knowledgable, albeit on the older ships of the Clone Wars. He closed his eyes, taking a moment to meditate. His decision, he knew, would not thrill the whole group.
"I believe Leia and Ahsoka should go."
"And me..." Han scowled and rested a hand on his blaster. Luke opened his mouth but Obi-Wan held both hands up for silence. "No. Listen. Leia and Ahsoka go in first. Leia is a negotiator, a trained diplomat who may be able to talk the noghri into it. Keep in mind, you'll need to emphasize that Anakin as Vader was deceived into believing in the Emperor. Be careful not to villify him. Ahsoka has a good deal of familiarity with this type of ship in general and is trained, if it comes to that. But we still need a backup team in case, as is unfortunately likely, you can't get him off before the ship jumps again. That would be you and Luke, Captain Solo. Since you served a short time with the Empire, you would have the familiarity with the ship, Luke has the training and the connection to his family...both as a Jedi and a relative. You will likely need to complete the extraction."
Han fussed at this. He was afraid to let Leia go alone. Chewbacca suddenly rumbled something. If Leia and Ahsoka stowed aboard a different supply shuttle to board the Chimera, why not have Han fly the cloaked one down to drop them off. That way, he could bring it back.
Han still wasn't happy. Luke wasn't happy either.
"What are you complaining about?" Padme said, suddenly fierce. "I wish I had that much to contribute. I can shoot and negotiate, but I know how Anakin would react if I was threatened. And it wouldn't be pretty."
"It wouldn't be pretty if any of his family is threatened, would it?" Lando muttered. The Emperor had forgotten that, to his peril.
No-one replied to that. There was no time to think of another plan.
The first part of the plan consisted of Leia and Ahsoka, in disguise, with an apparently legitimate load of supplies for the base, as well as a few choice supplies for the Chimera. Lando and Han made sure to include cases of choice Corellian whiskey. It had a way of distracting officers from thorough checks, in out of the way outposts like this one. Han ducked the cloaked shuttle just out of the system, jumped back in uncloaked and landed using Piett's coordinates.
They were just in time, as they unloaded, to see the Star Destroyer Chimera arrive. Thanks to Piett's resources and Artoo's fiddling with the records, they were able to stow away on a ship making a quick cargo run. They were hiding in two large crates while the droid posed as a legitimate cargo being transferred to serve on the Chimera. Once they were unloaded into a cargo bay, he released them from their hidden imprisonment. Ahsoka shoved out past the opened hatch of the crate, which was lined on all sides with frozen produce. It had served to lower their body temperature and mess up the life sign detectors. She shivered. "Not my preferred way to travel" she noted, as she helped the equally shivering Leia out.
"I hope they choke on it." Leia grumbled, glancing at the frozen foods. "Where to now? I imagine we need a computer station for Artoo to find him. But how will we break him out of the prison level?"
"One challenge at a time, Leia." Ahsoka suggested.
The cargo room was sealed, but Artoo made short work of it. Ahsoka was reaching into the Force. "I don't sense anyone close."
"What if they have those things?"
Ahsoka glanced around. "I don't know much about them, but I don't think they do freezing temperatures. And we are definitely in the 'cold' storage area."
Leia cautiously opened the door. The two hurried out, making their way to the ship board laundries.
Remaining in the maintenance shafts, they nudged Artoo, who rolled in amongst the laundry droids and retrieved two uniforms. He rolled back and offered them up.
"Good job Artoo. They're even the right size." Leia observed.
"Definitely female crew aboard." Ahsoka agreed. "Do you think we should get Anakin one?"
"I don't think they'd fall for it, do you?"
Ahsoka considered. "From what he said about Thrawn, probably not. And he's a bit too tall to fit in a stormtrooper's armor, even if he would."
"He's gotten pretty claustrophobic about that." Leia acknowledged.
From there, they found an untended maintenance computer station. Artoo, being an expert hacker programmed by Anakin, had no trouble bypassing the normal blockages to the main computers and from there, the prisoner list. He let out an electronic snort of dismay.
"What is it?" Ahsoka asked, looking around.
"He's not listed by name."
"I guess that's not surprising. It's probably an added security layer. How about checking for time of arrival in the cell, matched to when he was taken?"
Artoo let out a sudden distress series of beeps. Ahsoka's head rose and her eyes went distant. The slightest vibration and hum made her look at Leia in dismay. "We just made the jump to hyperspace, didn't we?"
Leia grimaced at the readouts. "Yes."
Ahsoka held her eyes. "Byss is a very dangerous place, for all of us."
"Well. Like you said. One challenge at a time." She paused. "Can you feel him in the Force? I can't tell if there is a block or if it's just that I'm not very close to him, or not experienced enough..."
Ahsoka's eyes slid shut and she reached out. "Frowning, she pushed harder.."
"No. I don't think so. For a second I thought I got a flicker, but it's gone again."
Artoo suddenly let out a triumphant buzz. The display flickered to life, showing security footage.
"Aha!" Ahsoka leaned closer. Then she winced and looked at Leia.
"Talk about getting a dose of his own medicine." Leia observed, but she was frowning with concern. There was a time she secretly might've figured it was just what he needed. She took it back, now. Now seeing him like this actually hurt her! It was definitely Anakin, cuffed, collared, and if his expression was anything to go by, attempted to concentrate in the midst of pain. "What's going on with the lights in there, Artoo?"
The droid let out a disturbed and lengthy series of twittering beeps.
"Sense Torture. Flashing lights, loud and piercing noises, plus the shocks..." Ahsoka was angry.
"I don't see an ysalimir. Artoo, can you pull up footage around the cell?"
The droid hummed for a moment.
"Oh." Ahsoka was disturbed to see various creatures along the whole dead end cell block. Artoo flashed images of the two surrounding cells, as well as the nearest room on the third side. Ysalimiri. "This is so not good."
Leia chewed her lip. "How are we going to get him out of that? Artoo, how many entrances to the cell bay?"
The droid beeped unhappily. This was the highest security area. Only one entrance in or out.
"Air vents? Garbage vents?"
The droid drew up a schematic. There were garbage vents nearby and below. But they were not near Anakin's cell and there were at least two guards stationed in the middle of the corridor. There were air vents, which, they noticed, led to more than just air, but also to canisters of soporific in case of trouble with rowdy prisoners. Unfortunately, the vents were too small for either of them, let alone Anakin.
"We're going to need someone to move him out of there, first." Leia finally said.
Ahsoka nodded. "Artoo, patch into the internal sensors and see if you can locate any of the noghri."
The droid let out a questioning burble.
"Just start with looking for non humans. We know there are three, myself, the Grand Admiral and the noghri. If the noghri are bodyguards, even if there are other species aboard, I'll bet the noghri will be the highest concentration." Ahsoka suggested.
"And you can probably ignore any in prison cells." Leia added. She instantly felt a twinge of guilt. There may be other prisoners who deserved rescue. But it could compromise there objective. Now she was in the same position he had been in, when she insisted on freeing them all. Sometimes, you just couldn't. For all she knew, of course, some may truly be criminals.
"Right."
"There." Leia murmured, as Artoo pulled up a location in the crew area. "I bet that's their own assigned living area." She sucked in a deep breath. "Even with the evidence we brought...Artoo, dig around some and see if you can find any specifics on what the Empire has done or is doing on Honoghr. Just in case we need to prove they are being betrayed." She sat down on the black seat, rotated it to face Ahsoka. "And here I thought it was hard to persuade people to trust a new government. At least I didn't usually have this kind of deadline."
"Remember that, next time you're tempted to complain." Ahsoka said dryly.
On the Alliance command ship, Han was busy tooling, tinkering and repairing his beloved Falcon. He was desperate to put his mind on anything but Leia and Ahsoka being off on their own.
The comlink signaled at the same time the big ship shuddered. Chewbacca let out a knowledgable growl.
"Han, they've gone to light speed. No signal from Leia or Ahsoka."
Chewbacca rumbled worriedly.
"Yeah, I hope so too."
The plan was very loose, very much a play it by ear situation. And he remembered Anakin's warnings about Byss. He may not understand the Force, but he understood that Anakin and Vader were very different. And that Byss was a prime example of what the dark side could do. He didn't want his Jedi friends anywhere near the place.
to be continued