Chapter IX:
The trap closes
Mira's glider swept through the land with seemingly impossible speed. She knew the imperials would try to build a defense line around the fortress, but she also knew it took time – even for the Empire – to put the advanced towers and machinery down the surface. Besides: the faster she went, the smaller the chance was for something to hit her.
A faint smile appeared on her face as she approached her target. The imperials could only deploy a dozen or so stormtroopers before the rift, accompanied by an AT-ST. Thrawn was a fool to prioritize the troops against Kyle. Now he had almost nothing left to stop her.
She was three hundred meters away from the soldiers, when they managed to spot her. The troops yelled orders between each other as they rushed into combat. Dozens of E-11s were raised towards the glider, alongside with two stationary guns. The AT-STs robust head made a small turn, lowering its gun to its target.
Mira thought about her trick from the last time, but the walker's rapid shots made her forget about the idea. Red lasers burst through the air, heading towards the glider. Mira swept the speeder away from the shot. It dug a crater into the burnt ground, only to be followed by dozens of smaller projectiles.
Mira glided away from the shots with swift manoeuvres. One projectile nearly hit her in the head, but she didn't care. The AT-ST fired again, and this time, the projectile almost melted the glider – only to be outmanoeuvred in the last possible moment.
By the time the walker could shoot again, the glider almost reached the defense line. A few troopers decided to make a run for it, the others tried to hit her with a desperate yell. The small distance made it difficult to evade them, but she managed to do it anyway. The AT-ST shot to the ground before the glider, the impact nearly flipped the vehicle, although she had managed to keep it on course.
Then she was through, gliding through between the mechanic monster's feet, continuing her way towards the rift. The troopers didn't cease fire after the breakthrough, they just simply turned back, and continued to fire towards the glider.
She expected the AT-ST to fire again – but she didn't notice the real threat.
The glider was stopped in the air with impossible force, then it was tossed to a solemn rock like a toy. The machine broke apart, rolling back to the molten ground in smoking pieces. By this time, Mira jumped off the vehicle, landing on her feet ahead of the glider's remains.
Her foe's identity came no surprise to her. Kylo Ren stood in front her, gripping firmly the lightsaber in his hand. They both remembered their previous encounter, and they both knew what would happen next. The imperials were on their way here from the defense line, still, they should have sufficient time to settle the score.
"You didn't expect this to be so easy, right?' Mira broke the silence.
"Don't worry, it will be quite easy for me. You? Not so much," Kylo shrugged.
"Funny, your grandfather said the same thing," Mira answered as she took the blade in her hand.
"And then he defeated you, just as I will do it again," he answered.
Mira took a deep breath, sensing what was about to happen. Being as impatient as he was, Kylo got bored with the conversation, and charged towards her, activating the triangular blade in his hand.
Mira raised the green blade to the defense, and watched as the red one swept through her sabre – and then through her body as well.
The air froze between them. Kylo turned towards her, then she did the same, gazing deep into the helmet. Another cut swept through her, then again, and again. At the end, Kylo screamed as loud as any man ever could.
"What have you done, Jedi?" Kylo asked, making another useless attempt to strike at his foe. Finally, he gave up, gasping for air, filled with anger like a child.
"I paid attention to my master," she shrugged, deactivating the useless blade in her hand. "You really believed I would leave Kyle behind?"
"What did you do?" he asked, gasping for air under the mask.
"I evened the odds," she answered with a smile or her face.
Kylo stared at her in anger, then the he looked up, as a ship's engines shook the ground beneath them. The Moldy Crow glided over the defense line, followed by half a dozen TIE fighters in its wake. The gray death machines took one shot at their target after the other, most missed, one managed to hit the ship.
Mira's expression changed for a moment. It was time to focus on other matters.
"We will meet again," she stated, then she disappeared.
"Time to wake up, princess!" Kyle's voice echoed through the ship, as she was awoken from her meditation. For the sake of both battles, she was controlling the projection from the gun battery, thus it took only a second to get back to the fight.
Previously, the Moldy Crow could offer no resistance, thus none of the fighters expected a counterattack. And now, as she began to aim with the gun, she could feel the pilot's desperate fear who thought it must have been broken. The first pilot tried to evade the shot, but to no avail. The shot tore the TIE fighter apart, its remains ripped another fighter into two.
Burning pieces fell to the ground after the fiery explosion. She turned the gun down to Kylo, sensing the death and destruction around him. The wreckages avoided them, but the Knight's fury remained. Filled with anger and desperation, he turned against Thrawn's forces, cutting the stormtroopers apart like dummies. The desperate soldiers on board the AT-ST tried to shoot him, but the vehicle was quickly torn apart as well.
She thought about shooting Kylo. As she turned to gun at him, she was ready to open fire, but the Crow tilted its nose down as she pulled the trigger. The shot got one of the TIE fighters instead, making sure that only a few would follow them.
To her surprise, the rest of fighters broke the chase, and turned back towards the Star Destroyer hovering above the fortress. Mira shot one of them into two, then she activated the intercom.
"What's happening?" she asked with haste.
"They are closing the entrance," he answered. "Don't worry, we will fit. Mostly."
"Mostly? I'm at the back at the ship, remember?" she snapped, but there was no answer.
The Moldy Crow glided towards the entrance as the giant blocks of metal came to a close before them. Mira took a deep breath, feeling Kyle's desperation from the corner of her mind. The ship's nose got through, just as the middle section, but the gates managed to enclose the end section in the last moment. For a second, it seemed it would crack the ship apart, but the engines managed to push them through before the shields would give up.
"Whoa, that was close," Kyle commented, as they continued their path towards the bottom of the fortress.
"You call this close?" she asked.
For a moment, she expected an answer. Then she saw the multitude of bunkers and defense cannons beneath them. They could rip the Crow apart, that was more than certain.
"Don't worry, they are not manned yet. I see Kylo's shuttle near the biggest one, I think this is where Rey is," he answered, tilting the ship's nose to the ground. "I don't know how, but I can feel her."
"Me too," she nodded. "Any chance they are ready for us?"
"Not much," he said. "I think he really didn't expect this one."
"Let's hope so," she nodded.
She heard gunshots, as the Crow's forward batteries opened fire, obliterating everyone who would stand before the sealed entrance. Another salvo, and the metal door was pierced open as well, clearing a path towards Rey.
Mira kept sweeping through the area with the gun. There was no resistance left. For once, it really seemed that Thrawn took the bait.
I would be that cold? She asked for herself for a moment. Deep down, she knew the answer very well.
The Moldy Crow made its landing next to Kylo's ruined ship – even Kyle couldn't stand the urge to reduce it to molten debris. Mira took a quick glance at it as they left the ship, then quickened her steps to catch it with Kyle. Her partner didn't pay much attention to their surroundings. He just wanted to get Rey, and leave this place while they still could do so. Deep down she couldn't agree more.
The first problem posed itself as soon as they passed the entrance. Dead stormtroopers bodies lay on the floor. She swept her surroundings with the Force, there was no reinforcements in the proximity. She could only feel Rey, the personnel were too few even for an escort.
"I don't like this," Mira broke the silence.
"Brings back memories, huh?" Kyle asked, remembering how things went in the previous facility that looked exactly as this.
"Don't worry, I'm here to save you," she said jokingly. For a moment her fear was gone. Then it quickly returned.
"Let's go," Kyle stated, starting off towards the corridor.
Mira nodded, and followed him. It didn't matter how few beings she sensed, there could always be a trap before them. She kept her eyes open all the way through the corridors, focusing her attention only to their goal: and that was rescuing Rey.
Mara tasked her to look after her, and she probably died knowing she was only one to save her child. If she truly died like this, then there was nothing that she wouldn't do to save Rey, and if Mara were still alive, then it was all the more advised to return with the girl on her side. Otherwise there was no telling what Mara would do to her.
No guard stood at the entrance. Kyle crossed her eyes with Kyle, then she nodded. They had to get in, no matter what stood at the other side.
The door glided to the wall with a loud thud. She stood shocked at the sight of the other room. Memories from seven years ago flooded her mind, and died away, as Thrawn locked eyes with her. The Chiss stood behind the thick glass wall of an observation post, looking at the young Rey being prepared for her fate.
Two surgeons made ready for the procedure, marking the cuts they were preparing to make. Mira could see in their mind what they were about to do. They were to cut off her limbs, strip the girl from her eyes and ears, and put her in a tank soon to be embedded into the floor. To a crypt where no one could escape from.
"Get away from her!" she yelled, igniting her lightsaber.
Thrawn glared at her with an expressionless face.
"You can see what are about to do, don't you?" the Chiss asked. "Go ahead, stop them."
There was no need to repeat the suggestion.
The surgeons backed away from the child. Mira sensed their fear, but cared little about it. She raised the sabre, and quickly trusted it into the tallest men's chest.
"Mira!" Kyle yelled, but to no use.
Mira leapt to the other side of the table, cutting the other man into two. She looked back at Kyle with fire in her eyes. For a moment none of them could be sure that they were friends or foes in this room.
"What are you doing?!" Kyle raised his voice.
"Some people are too dangerous to be kept alive," she answered, then extinguished the blade.
"Exactly my point," Thrawn added.
The green blade was ignited again, and then thrown towards the Chiss. The glass stopped the blade with only a scratch on its surface.
"Why do this with a child?" she asked.
"A three year old would hardly make a great host for Tenebrae, don't you think?" he asked. "If one wants to provide the perfect host for him, there has to be some augmentations."
"How about I make some augmentations on you?" Mira darted. She reached towards him with the Force, but she couldn't get a hold of the Chiss. As if he was never here in the first place.
"You are not the only one who could command projections," Thrawn answered. "You played your cards well up to this moment, Mira. However, there is one thing you have gravely mistaken."
"What?"
"You didn't save Rey by killing the surgeons, they are hardly irreplaceable. Neither did you save Rey by threatening me. In fact, you just prolonged the precious little time I could allocate to answer appropriately to your intrusion."
Mira heard the door open behind them. She quickly turned back in the room, only to see his old enemy to enter. Kyle stepped through the door, carefully keeping an eye on both of them. He had arrived quicker then she expected, but it didn't matter.
This time, he was up against the two of them.
Thank you for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! :)