Chapter Four
Aramis could hear his own footsteps echoing through the halls as he ran. The empty corridors, littered occasionally with the bodies of the dead, felt surreal. True, the Temple had felt increasingly emptied as the Clone Wars wound on. Over time more and more Jedi were called off to serve the Republic, and never made it back. But the silence that reigned today was more than just an emptiness. It felt like they were infiltrating the shell of a corpse, the corpse of an order that had stood for thousands of years.
Aramis reached a walkway that wound around an open courtyard. It was a smaller mirror to the grand hall at the Temple's entrance, many floors above. He peered around the corner and quickly withdrew. A Republic hover tank sat in the middle of the courtyard, its turret turning slowly as it scanned the walkway.
Aramis turned back, creeping slowly until he found Commander Yen near a reinforced security door. "There's a tank in the courtyard," he announced. "So the direct path to the hangars is cut off."
"They can watch the whole level from there," Kylta said. "Are you making any progress?"
Commander Yen was furiously rewiring the keypad to the security door. "They've reset the security passcodes," he said. "They must've done it at random from the security mainframe from the upper levels."
"Then how did you manage to open that first turbolift if they've reset the codes?" Akawa asked.
"That turbolift isn't listed as a security door. The Clones did a mass reset, but they missed doors on the lower uninhabited levels."
"Seems like a security hole," Akawa said, blinking her eyes quickly to signal sarcasm.
"It's impossible to secure a building as huge and old as this in only a day," Yen said, gritting his teeth. Finally his efforts paid off, and the door opened.
They entered the darkened room, which wasn't much larger than a closet. Yen sat at the controls and brought the holographic displays to life. His eyes went wide as he discovered an active alert. He brought the alert to the main screen, allowing the others to see it.
The holoscreen showed several squads of Clone Troopers firing at a target off screen. The troopers had barricaded themselves in front of the entrance to the archives. Suddenly one of the barricades lifted itself into the air and flew across the hall, sending the clones scattering. Two Jedi ran into the field of view, deflecting blaster bolts with effortless grace.
"It's Master Yoda and Master Kenobi," Kylta exclaimed.
"No wonder all the Clone Troopers have diverted to intercept them," Aramis said, smiling.
The Jedi Masters finished off the few remaining Clones. Obi Wan pressed the keypad that opened the archives, and faced the same alteration to the codes that Yen had discovered. But unlike Yen, who had been forced rewire controls the old fashioned way, they had lightsabers. Yoda plunged his shoto-style lightsaber into the locking mechanism and then shoved the heavy doors apart with the Force.
"I wish you could have done that," Akawa said, her eyes flicking rapidly.
"On to the task at hand…" Aramis said. "Can you open the doors between us and the hangar from here?"
"That I can," Yen nodded. "But I will have stay here. You'll have to go on without me so I can monitor the Clones positions." He handed Aramis a comlink. "I'll call you if trouble comes your way."
"Alright," Aramis nodded. "Let's go."
"You'll be alright by yourself?" Kylta asked Yen as the others exited the room.
"I'll call if anything comes up," Yen shrugged, an uneasy smile playing across his wizened face. Kylta looked unconvinced, but she turned away and caught up with the others.
It was easier going now. Aramis ran through the corridors, confident Yen would notify him if any troopers were lurking behind a corner. They found all of the blast doors open for them, and before long they had arrived on the walkway overlooking the hangar level.
They found it abandoned, just as every other part of the Temple was. The cavernous space was arranged like any typical hangar. The huge hangar blast doors hung open, showing off an expansive view of the city. Below them separate corridors large enough to fit heavy transports led off to both the left and right towards maintenance and repair facilities. Refueling facilities and the utility room were in the back, below the door that they had entered from.
Several Republic assault transports sat near the mouth of the hangar, and there were bodies of troopers and Temple personnel scattered about. Apparently the troopers had assaulted the hangar simultaneously to the attack on the main hall.
"Are those the transports you're looking for?" Akawa asked, nodding towards several nondescript freighters located near the side of the hangar.
"Let's check them out," Aramis said. There was no staircase leading to the main floor of the hangar. Instead a square freight platform, activated from a control panel, lowered them from the walkway to the floor. Aramis was the first to disembark, jumping off before the platform stopped moving.
He ran over to the first freighter, a boxy looking craft with thick landing legs and one engine mounted on a tail above the roof. He activated the ramp release latch, and the ramp hissed open, releasing hydraulic vapor as it went.
The interior of the freighter was half empty, most of its contents having already been moved to its destination. But he instantly recognized the crates that remained. They were identical to the ones inside Koruf's apartment. Aramis went to one of the crates just as Akawa and Kylta arrived on the freighter ramp.
"Don't forget those things are booby trapped," Kylta reminded him.
"Right," he nodded. He glanced around the freighter's cargo compartment, and then noticed some peculiar handheld scanners hanging from the ceiling. The scanner plate on each one was oversized and archaic looking. "I wonder what these are for," he said with a smile. He grabbed one of the scanners, sliding his hand underneath its strap.
The scanner came to life at his touch, a green light indicating it had awakened from sleep mode. Aramis bent down and placed the scanner above where he knew, from painful experience, where the explosive was installed. The scanner beeped happily and Aramis heard a small click echo from within the crate as it unlocked.
"I'll do the honors this time," Kylta said. She approached the crate, rubbed her hands together, and ripped the lid open. This time there was no explosion. Inside they found the same rubber mat that protected the crate's contents and an explosive stuck to the side of the crate.
Aramis bent over the side of the crate and ripped the mat aside. Underneath lay a dozen Jedi robes, utility belts, datacards, and a handful of lightsabers. "Jackpot," Kylta said.
"Let's check the other freighters," Aramis said. They went to the second ship, and found it to be nearly identical to the first. It too, had been half emptied, only the crates they were interested in remained. They went to the third ship, and found its cargo section nearly empty. There were only two crates in this one. "I think we can condense all of the cargo onto one transport," Aramis thought out loud.
"I'll go get some load lifters," Akawa volunteered. She ran off across the hangar and disappeared into the utility section.
"Well, we found what we came for," Kylta said as she leaned against the outer hull of the third transport.
"It doesn't feel like much," Aramis frowned. "The entire archives is back there…"
"The three of us will never be able to move stuff from the archives to the hangar," Kylta reminded him. "We would need hover sleds, a bigger ship, enough time to get through the access locks...Oh, and I think the Clones would eventually figure out what we were up to."
Suddenly Aramis' comlink beeped. "Speaking of," he sighed. He activated the comlink and managed to speak before Yen got the chance. "We found the cargo. Akawa is grabbing a load lifter so we can move everything onto one ship."
"That's great, but you're about to have company," Yen stated. "The Clones have called in reinforcements to try and trap the Jedi Masters in the archive's security station. They've got assault transports inbound. Guess where they are landing?"
"Got it," Aramis said. "Thanks." He turned to Kylta. "We have to hide, now." He jumped from the freighter's loading ramp and together they sprinted across the hangar floor. Just as they reached the utility section they heard the sounds of transports inbound.
Akawa had found several load lifter droids and had already programmed them to move the containers with a datapad she found in an equipment locker. It was a simple matter to instruct the droids to do what they were built for. She jumped in surprise when she realized Aramis was furiously motioning for her to shut them down. She did so just as the first droid began to emerge out into the main hangar.
"Hide!" Aramis shouted as the Republic assault transports entered the hangar, threatening to drown out his voice in the roar of their engines. He ducked behind a storage locker to the left of the entry way, while Kylta hid behind fuel cell to the right of it. Akawa slid behind an inactive load lifter droid towards the rear of the room. The sound of engines died down, but was replaced by the noise of several squads of clone troopers disembarking from their transports.
"Squads one through three, on me," one of the clones shouted. "We'll hit them from behind as the other teams block off the main entrance. Squad four, secure the hangar." Aramis stood rigid against the wall as most of the troopers left the hangar. He tried to slow his breathing and become as quiet as possible, using the same breathing technique that was required to enter into meditation. He only hoped the thick hangar walls would disguise their energy signatures from the Clone's scanners.
"What are those lifters doing out?" a Clone asked, his filtered voice echoing across the hangar.
"I'll check it out," one of them volunteered. Aramis tightened his grip on his staff. He could hear the clone approaching. He frantically glanced around the room. It was impossible that trooper would not spot them.
Suddenly the sound of a blast door closing boomed across the hangar.
"Hey!" one of the troopers shouted. Aramis peered around the corner. A blast door across the hangar was closing, cutting off one of the maintenance wings. The squad was running over to the door, their blasters ready.
"Now," Aramis whispered over to Kylta. She nodded. Together they ran out onto the floor, all of the clones facing the other direction. He reached the first trooper before the clones realized they had company. He brought his staff up and kicked outwards, bringing his foot into the back of the the clone's knee and knocking his legs out from under him. Aramis brought the heavy end of his staff down onto the clone's helmet just as the unsuspecting trooper hit the ground. The helmet shattered into a thousand pieces which burst across the floor. Instantly the trooper was dead.
The next trooper turned at the sound of his fellow hitting the ground, but didn't have time to react any further. Kylta aimed a punch at the soldier's breastplate, which exploded into a shower of plastoid as if he had been hit with a blaster. The clone flew across the floor and slammed into the hull of one of the freighters.
Aramis had already moved onto the next trooper before Kylta's target was down. This one had enough to time to raise his blaster rifle and get off a shot, but not enough time to aim properly. Aramis ducked as the first shot went wide. He struck his staff against the clone's rifle, throwing off the aim of his next shot. He then rained a series of rapid blows upon the trooper, breaking bones and shattering armor with each strike.
Kylta jumped meters into the air, landing upon the next trooper's torso and taking him to the ground. A single punch into his helmet and he too was dead. Aramis spotted a trooper near one the assault transports raising his rifle towards Kylta. He dropped his staff and picked up the rifle of the trooper he had just disabled.
He fired just as the trooper did, striking him in the shoulder. The clone went down, but was attempting to get to his feet when Aramis fired a second shot, putting the clone down permanently. He turned to find Kylta bowled over, holding her head.
He began to run over to her when another shot rang out, this time from the other side of the hangar. A trooper fell from the load lifting platform, a smoking hole in his chestplate. Although the wound itself might not have been enough to finish him off, the crunching impact from the floor as he fell from the walkway did.
Aramis felt adrenaline rushing through his veins as he glanced around the hangar. Akawa emerged from the utility section, holding the blaster pistol she had used to strike down the last combatant. He quickly ran over to Kylta, who was attempting to get to her feet.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"He took off a few of my horns…" she gasped. Aramis glanced at her crown and noticed three of her cranial horns had been cut in half, melted cartilage slowly solidifying where the bolt had passed through. "It feels like my head is on fire."
"I'm guessing you've got a lot of nerves in there," Aramis frowned. "At least he didn't hit you in the head."
"I feel like that would've hurt a lot less…"
"Is she okay?" Akawa called as she hurried across the hangar.
"Yeah, I'll live," Kylta said, getting to her feet with Aramis' help. "But I don't think those will ever grow back.
"We need to get those crates moved to one of the freighters," Aramis said. "I think these guy's friends probably already know they got taken out. We won't have long."
"Right," Akawa nodded. She hurried off towards the utility room once again. A moment later the load lifter droids rumbled to life and began trundling across the hangar.
"I need to have a sit down," Kylta said.
"Inside one of the freighters," Aramis said, steering her slightly. He walked with her towards the second ship, and together they went up the loading ramp. He searched the ceiling until he found an emergency medical supplies box. He popped open the lid and tossed her a bottle of painkillers. "These should help."
"Thanks," she said as she tore off the lid and swallowed several of the pills.
"Aramis, you there?" came Ven's voice from the comlink.
"I'm here, we're inside one of the freighters."
"The rest of the troopers are circling back to the hangar. You're about to have more company. There are also more clones arriving at the main entrance."
"What about the Jedi?"
"They were inside the security mainframe, no camera access to that room from here. I don't know what they did in there, but now they are headed out. They're moving up the main corridor."
"On the complete other side of the temple…"
"Yeah, and one other thing."
What's that?" Aramis asked, picking up something odd in Yen's voice.
"I'm cut off from the hangar. My trick with the blast door, to distract the troopers while you surprised them? It outed my position. They're checking all of the security stations."
"Commander, you need to move," Aramis said.
"Yes, but not in your direction. I need to divert as many of them as possible."
"Commander…"
"Just focus on the task at hand. You don't have long before those other squads show up."
Aramis sighed heavily. "Right...we won't fail." The comlink beeped. Yen had shut down the connection from his end. He exited the freighter and shouted "Akawa!" across the hangar. "Can you fly one of those?" he asked, pointed towards one of the assault ships.
She stood with her hands on her hips, watching as the load lifters began transferring crates. She looked towards the assault transport and nodded.
"Get airborne, we're going to need some fire support. And tell the load lifters to put the crates on this ship."
"Got it," she shouted back. Aramis moved back into the freighter and took the pilot's chair. Kylta already sat in the co-pilot's seat, her hand covering her eyes.
"It sounds like you have a plan," she said, her voice slightly weak.
"Calling it a plan is probably a bit generous," Aramis said. He began flipping switches, activating the freighters engine. He felt the weight of the craft shift as a load lifter began placing crates in the back. Outside the ship's forward viewport he watched as Akaway took control of one of the assault transports, lifting the gunship into the air. She rotated her ship, the rockets and forwards cannons coming online. Now she could only wait for the clones to arrive.
Commander Yen crept through the halls of the Jedi Temple. He moved away from the hangar level, towards the central courtyard and the hover tank that he knew still sat there. He had successfully avoided the three squads of troopers that had arrived from the hangar. They had doubled back and would soon be engaging his young prodigies. There was nothing he could do to stop that. But he could stop further reinforcements from heading in that direction. To do that, he needed chaos.
He arrived at the final corridor that led to the courtyard. He crept along with his back to the wall until he reached the last corner. Even from tens of meters away he could hear the tank's engines humming and reverberating through the building. He raised his comlink.
"Security station delta-three-one," he called, activating the automated functions he had set up before departing. "Activate command four, lower dormitory level, main courtyard." The comlink beeped affirmatively.
Suddenly the lights in the courtyard went out. The fire alarms, deactivated during the clone's initial assault of the Temple, came to life. Sirens blared and fire extinguishers began shooting plumes of depressant into the courtyard. Yen bounced around the corner and ran full speed towards the tank.
It's operators had frozen in confusion, and didn't realize he was running towards them until it was too late. He jumped onto the front of the tank just as its forward cannons rotated towards him. They fired but he had already landed upon the front of the vehicle. The shots blasted apart columns behind them in fiery showers of rock and metal.
Yen moved up the tank and landed atop the main turret. The clone inside spun the cannon, attempting to shake him off, but he grabbed the handle on the turret's entry hatch and held on tight. The hatch was locked from the inside, preventing him from simply ripping it open.
Yen closed his eyes and tried to focus on the Force. He felt it, but it was hazy and indistinct, just as it was to all those who were not powerful enough to become full Jedi. The tank's security system activated, sending arcs of blue energy into his body from the hatch. He gritted his teeth and allowed the pain to flow through him. Although he could not control the Force, he could allow it to control him.
Smoke rose from his body as he clamped his other hand onto the main turret. He willed the electricity to flow through him and into the cannon's acceleration capacitors. They overloaded, sending a plume of black smoke streaming out of the turret. The security system shorted out, and the energy assaulting his body faded. But, as blood dripped out of his mouth, nostrils, and ears, he knew that a lot of damage had been done. He closed his eyes and tried to strengthen his connection to the Force.
The hatch unlocked and swung open, allowing the smoke filling the interior of the tank to escape. A clone tank commander emerged, holding a small blaster pistol. The commander took aim at Yen but he reacted instantly, even as his eyes were still closed. He grabbed the commander by the throat, gripping tightly beneath the clone's helmet. He tightened his grip, collapsing the clone's air passages. He bent over the open hatch, grabbed the dead soldier by his breastplate, and tossed him over the side of the turret.
Yen jumped inside the tank, landing on top of one of the other crewmen and sending him to the floor. The third clone, the pilot, aimed a blaster pistol and fired, sinking a shot into Yen's upper chest. He cried out in pain but didn't hesitate, grabbing the clone's pistol just as the second shot missed and struck the other clone in the back. He headbutted the clone, knocking him backwards and into the tank's controls. The tank surged forward and struck a support column in the inner wall of the courtyard. Cracks formed in the column, but it held steady.
The clone tried to fight back but Yen easily overpowered him, holding him down with one hand and landing punch after punch into his visor. He couldn't strike as hard as Kylta, but eventually the clone stopped moving. Yen allowed the clone to slump down and fall into unconsciousness on the tank's floor.
He closed his eyes, suddenly aware of all the blood he had lost. He felt woozy, like he was about to pass out at any moment. But he couldn't allow himself to die. Not yet. He reached up and switched the tank's comm settings, allowing chatter to play out of the vehicle's internal speakers.
"501st e-division, form up along the main stairwell," a clone general was saying. "The Jedi are headed east, try to cut them off as f-division slows them down." Yen activated the tank's controls, backing it away from the support column and turning towards the main stairwell.
"Tank alpha-b13, the security network is showing the alarms on your level going haywire. What's going on down there?"
Yen activated the comm. "This is tank alpha-b13." He didn't bother trying to disguise his voice, which was thick with blood. "I'm afraid the crew is dead. Why don't you come down and join them."
"All units, the comms are compromised. Switch to verbal commands until we isolate his frequency," the general ordered. The comm went silent.
Yen steered his tank towards the main stairwell, clumsily knocking into and demolishing a fountain. He could barely see the controls in front of him, much less the terrain around his tank. He fumbled for the forward guns and began firing at random up the stairwell. Blaster bolts came streaming down at him, bouncing against the tank's armor. He ran into the wall, tearing a huge chunk out the duracrete. He glanced up as an automatic alarm screamed at him. Armor piercing rockets were inbound. The tank insides of the tank exploded into a shower of molten durasteel. The power banks short circuited and burst into a ball of energy. Commander Yen was gone.
