Chapter 24: Deep Secrets
September 3.
Despite the warnings, the imperial offensive had surprised the Coalition with the sheer brutality and numbers. Also, the tactics of the imperials had been much more advanced than in the pasts, and though they weren't enough to cause a collapse of the allied front, they made the situation difficult.
The Coalition had been already forced to pull out from Corsin and retreat toward a more defensible position up the Hydian Way, mostly around Taris.
Still, the situation was far from desperate. Kota had brought his fleet over and he, with his long experience combined with the fact that he had learned to use the basics of Battle Meditation, was boosting the defenses of the Coalition.
With the situation relatively manageable, the Jedi Order was still focused on its primary objective: find and destroy whatever sorcery Palpatine was planning to become immortal.
For that, the Constantinople was monitoring the imperial main routes. By now they knew that the forces assigned to Palpatine's own projects mostly operated via secondary channels and acted like a shadow organization. It was mostly thanks to Ahsoka and her network if the Jedi managed sometimes to find a trail. Even the crew of the Millennium Falcon had joined the search, considering that Han and Leia operated on behalf of the ICO and had a lot of liberty. They couldn't count on the intelligence agencies of the UACT, however, as the ICO was focusing entirely on the Empire military and MI6 also had its hands full with the new war threatening the borders of the Federation.
Darvos was passing them any intel that he thought could help them, but nothing decisive ever came by out of thin air.
Speaking of whom, because of Darvos' recent arrest, with the whole galaxy knowing that it only happened because the Republic was trying to force the Jedi into its ranks, the other members of the UACT in Andromeda had become even more suspicious of their senior partner. Many were denying the requests for reinforcements coming from the Republic to fill the gap on the frontline while Lianna dispatched more ships.
The other nations justified this by saying that they had good reasons to believe that the Empire would soon launch a full-scale offensive all around the galaxy, despite everything pointed to the fact that the attack of this Admiral Rax had been prepared for months and the Empire was investing everything it had built since their campaign last year, the one that ended ruinously at Rhen Var.
Jaral was in the strategic room, reading a report on today's losses for the Republic. Ezra walked in and reached beside her. "You shouldn't read those, anymore. They're bad for your mood." he commented with all good intentions.
"On the contrary. It reminds me why we need to end this war as quickly as we can." she replied calmly.
"Be aware, sis. I learned at my expenses that a sense of justice can quickly turn into anger."
She couldn't deny that. "And anger leads to the Dark Side, I know. Don't worry, I know the limits of my patience…
"It's just...every time we seem to make a step toward finding Palpatine, we bump into a dead end. It's like we're trying to grasp air itself."
"If there is something the Emperor is very good at, is keeping his secrets. We may have revealed to the galaxy that he's a crazy old man, but I doubt many outside the Republic believed us."
She huffed tired. "Sometime I wonder if he's trying to leave the galaxy exactly because I stated that."
"I doubt he would leave all his power just because of a 'you got me'." Ezra half-joked.
Jaral chuckled, albeit with a tired tone. "You're right. I think I'm getting too self-centered."
Ezra patted a hand around her shoulder and rubbed it a bit energetically. "You have earned to be a little self-centered." after seeing her smile he removed his hand. "Oh, by the way, did Darvos say anything about Samira?"
"I think she'll do fine in his apartment on Lianna. And Raze is there to guard her, so I feel safe."
"So far she has lived half her life with just her mother, and now with just her father. Let's hope she can have both very soon." Ezra commented.
"You're surprisingly considerate." she quipped. Then she whispered. "And when are you and Sabine getting into the business?"
Ezra chuckled it up, albeit there was a bit of embarrassment in it.
"Actually...we still haven't talked about it."
"Well, I can't really see Sabine accepting a pregnancy in the middle of a war. I know it was frustrating to be away from the fighting, sometimes."
Right at that moment, the door of the room opened, letting them spot their father walking in.
"Ah, right on cue." Jordan said. "We are receiving a call from Ahsoka." and gestured lightly to the comm room right behind them.
The family stepped in and Jordan picked up the call. The hologram of the Togruta fazed into the field of micro-cells.
"Ezra, Jaral, Jordan. I think we found something."
"Good." said Jaral. "What is it?"
"Cal and Kubari have recently stumbled upon an imperial officer carrying some interesting intel. We followed that track and found out that he was part of a secret imperial mission to the planet Wayland."
"Wayland? Never heard of it." Ezra said.
"Not surprised. It has been mostly erased from the maps since the founding of the Empire. We had to take our old Republic maps to confirm its existence. During the Clone Wars there was a research structure on the planet.
"But get this: until yesterday Wayland was behind our lines, now it's undefended."
"So the Emperor ordered this offensive just to recapture that planet?" Jordan asked.
"Wouldn't be the first time." Jaral said with an understanding. "Remember that last year he attacked after we let him know that I was going to Korriban?"
"Precisely. However, according to Cal's intel, the imperials are still traveling toward Wayland. If we move quickly we can intercept them. I'm moving in to assist those two, are you in?"
"Send us the coordinates." said Jordan promptly. "I'll set a course right away."
Ahsoka made a firm nod. "We'll scout ahead and then signal you where we meet. See you soon."
"Be careful, Ahsoka." Ezra recommended before they finished the conversation.
"A secret lab. And we didn't know anything for all the time it has been under our nose." Jaral mumbled, stroking her chin in thought. "We really are at a disadvantage in the information war."
"We'll make up for it somehow. We always do." Ezra replied optimistically. "How about we go inform the rest of the crew?"
Jaral nodded. Right at that moment, Jaden, Lissia and Sellion were sparring with the marines in hand-to-hand combat down in the shuttle bay, and all hands would be needed on deck for this mission.
"Cody to Admonitor," the clone said through the comlink. "The capital is secured. Our allies are making one last sweep, but the heads of the opposing families are already under our custody."
"Excellent. Tell your men they did good, Commander." Iulius replied with both relief and satisfaction in his tone. "Make sure the nobles are not harmed. I will speak with them later."
"Yes, Grand Admiral."
The rest of the bridge also took a moment to breathe and exchange a few comments on the success, then returned to work immediately.
Iulius could thus order Ciena to send a message to all the 101st elements to regroup there over Neelanon, the real capital of the SJ sector, the one where the heads of all major families used to gather.
And it was that around which Iulius' plan had revolved. Senex had been quite easy to submit, given that the three major houses of the planet had their main bases there. With their civilization under external threat, Iulius was informed by the imperial faction that the other houses were going to convene at Neelanon.
They probably thought it to be safe, considering that the Zann Consortium had sent a pretty massive fleet to guard the hyperspace route on which both Senex and Neelanon sat. They didn't know that the 101st was the best fleet of the Imperial Navy and that puny mercenaries were not even remotely of a match, especially with the new type of ships for which nobody was ready.
Thus, the major houses had been trapped over Neelanon two weeks before. The imperials set up a blockade of the planet while Veer's army slowly captured the most important worlds of the sector, many of which saw where the wind was blowing and decided to pledge allegiance to the new overlords.
Iulius would now have the delicate task of balancing out the requests of the loyalists, who now expected to become the dominant houses of the sector as a reward for their service, and also not humiliate the defeated too much, for they would most likely rebel in the future if they were.
Officially, Iulius had intervened to quell the civil war, and he didn't want to appear as an invader, which is why he had ordered to simply take the other house heads alive. Now a long round of talks prospected for him, and he certainly wasn't looking forward to that.
"Sir." the comm officer called from the pit.
Iulius turned his head around.
"We are receiving a message from Lord Vader. He says to prepare for his arrival."
The Grand Admiral was surprised to hear that, but didn't budge. "Very well. Where is he?"
"The message doesn't specify." the officer replied, sounding a bit sorry.
"Grand Admiral." sensor officer Maurice intervened. "There is an imperial squadron coming out of hyperspace. One of the signals is...particularly large."
Iulius started to understand now. He watched outside, as the Admonitor was facing the direction from which the ships would come out. A couple minutes later, emerging from hyperspace was a gargantuan ship that distorted space itself for a moment because of her sheer mass. Immediately after she was followed by a formation of Star Destroyers that appeared only as small dots at that distance, even if the flagship was clearly defined.
The new Super Star Destroyer had just entered service.
The other officers were also staggered and couldn't hold back from crowding the viewport a bit.
"Look at that thing."
"At least it's on our side, this time."
"Right, and it was build thanks to us!" someone proclaimed, and that caused a round of proud laughs among the officers, as they still remembered that glorious day when they captured the Protector, drove the enemy from Lantillies and saved the Empire.
Iulius certainly shared that confidence and pride. Even if with a little smirk, he turned toward his officers. "You may ogle all you want once we dock at a shipyard. Come on." he concluded as he swung his arm.
The officers complied, so Iulius took his comlink and ordered Qathora to prepare his shuttle and his escort as it was clear that Lord Vader expected the Grand Admiral to come to him. By the time he was aboard his ship, Lord Vader's Death Squadron had taken position over the orbit of Neelanon, no doubt that was going to strike fear into the few Senex soldiers still resisting.
The Lambda left the Admonitor and started its approach toward the huge dreadnought, from which patrols of TIE Fighters were already coming out to guard the ship from any snub possibly trying to come at them. As the shuttle got closer, the sheer proportions of the Super Star Destroyer succeeded in striking a sense of preponderance inside the Lord-Protector. They passed next to some of the major cannons: each of them was perhaps half of the bridge of the Admonitor. No doubt they could make short work of any known design and from a considerable range, too.
There were 14 km between the point and the nearest hangar to the bridge. Iulius used that chance to see how really that ship was a small floating city, with the various towers sticking out from the center of the triangular shape and a myriad of lights dotting the hull.
Finally the shuttle received clearance and was allowed to land inside the hangar heading to the bridge, where Lord Vader was waiting.
To his surprise, Iulius found two lines of stormtroopers from the First Legion, Vader's personal contingent, to greet him, their weapons held for inspection. There was even Commander Kimmund leading the platoon, while an officer with the ranks of Lieutenant was waiting between the two rows.
Iulius and his escort walked outside until the Grand Admiral was in front of the officer, who clacked his heel and made the salute. Iulius returned.
"Welcome aboard the Executor, Lord-Protector. I'm Captain Firmus Piett, I've been tasked to escort you to the presence of Lord Vader."
"Greetings, Captain. Let's not make him wait."
The walk lasted only until Piett led them to a small bullet rail. The ship was so big that it had a whole system of them, or it would have been unsustainable to transfer from a section to another. The cabin was too small, so Iulius decided to bring only his two bodyguards, ordering Qathora and Yagler to guard the ship.
"Are you the officer in command of this vessel?" Iulius asked while they sat in the shell.
"No, sir. You'll soon see that there are many Captains aboard the Executor. I am the responsible for the section of electronic warfare. When Lord Vader isn't around, the commanding officer is Admiral Ozzel." Piett replied dutifully.
Ozzel?! Iulius almost barred his eyes. That same Ozzel who was responsible for the defeat at Desevro in the early stages of the war? Who in their right mind assigned him to an important formation like Vader's personal fleet?
"I see." was his final comment.
A few seconds later, the capsule reached the bridge and Piett accompanied the Lord-Protector into the command center and then finally into the bridge, where Piett took his leave and returned to work.
The bridge itself was basically like that of a regular Star Destroyer, but larger, and with more consoles around the room. It still felt very familiar to Iulius nonetheless.
And standing on the plank between the two pits was the tall, menacing black-clad figure of Lord Vader. Right next to him there was Admiral Ozzel, waiting for orders.
"Welcome, Lord-Protector." Vader's metallic voice resonated. The Dark Lord was still facing the viewport instead of the door, and Iulius wondered if this was just a way for Vader to flex his ability with the Force.
At hearing that, Ozzel turned his head slightly, made only a hint of greeting and turned back again, completely ignoring the fact that Iulius was much higher than him in the chain of command, no matter if Ozzel served Lord Vader directly.
"My Lord. Your visit is unexpected, but certainly a pleasant surprise." Iulius commented politely, still ogling around.
Vader turned around this time, his hands hanging on his belt. The Dark Lord made one of his signature breaths as he walked calmly toward his guest.
"This ship is a testimony of your triumph, Grand Admiral Tanis." the black-clad man said with a tone that was overall neutral, yet it seemed to transpire a genuine respect.
Iulius made a nod of thanks. Vader then added something.
"The Emperor has high expectations for you. Come, he wishes to speak with you."
And started walking toward the door to leave the bridge. Iulius was caught a bit by surprise again, and started to wonder if Vader found some sort of enjoyment in pushing him around. Nonetheless, the Grand Admiral dutifully followed the Dark Lord out and into another room in the back of the command structure.
It turned out to be the communication room, with a holo-projector standing at the end of it, and people had to reach it with a gangplank. They both did so and Vader knelt down as he arrived at the edge.
Knowing that there was only one person to which Vader bowed, Iulius promptly did the same and took the knee.
Immediately after, the hologram of Palpatine appeared in the room, slightly over the regular size.
"Ah. Lord-Protector." the old man croaked. "I heard the Empire owe you another victory."
"I think most of the credit goes to my men, Your Majesty." Iulius said, keeping his head low and talking fondly. "They have showed that they can operate optimally even without me managing everything."
"Good. The Senex have defied my authority for too long. It was about time they were brought into the Empire."
"I'm afraid it's not over yet, Your Majesty. My spies confirmed that the Zann Consortium and Crimson Dawn have some sort of presence in the rest of the sector. Even if we captured the heads of the families, the deeper worlds will have to be taken one-by-one."
"Which is why I sent Lord Vader to assist. You may use him as you see fit against these pirates."
Why, this day was proving to be full of surprises. "I will, Your Majesty."
"Also, I know that you have been struggling with limited resources in these last months. Know that I've reassigned Fondor and its shipyards to be at your complete disposal, and your budget will be increased as well."
"I…" he felt actually overwhelmed. "I thank you, my Lord. But...I don't…"
"There were reasons for your shortages, Grand Admiral. I am sure Mara will be glad to explain."
"Agent Jade?" Iulius could only conclude that she was somewhere aboard the Executor or another of Vader's ships. "Very well, my Lord."
"Good. Keep preserving your forces, Iulius Tanis. Know that, soon, the Rebellion will lose its greatest symbol. After that, you will help in retaking the Outer Rim."
"As you wish, Your Majesty." Iulius replied, not entirely sure of what that meant.
"Keep being the shield of the Empire. Our sword will take care of the rest. That is all." and the hologram disappeared.
Clearly, many things were not being told to him, but Iulius decided to bite and hold his doubts for a moment. They left the room and Vader plainly asked what were his plans now. Iulius replied that, of course, he needed to see firsthand the true capacity of the Executor, but first he needed to study the ship's specs, then he would decide how to use her.
Vader promised him that the chief engineer would send him everything he asked for, then the Dark Lord retired to what seemed to be his meditation chamber, guarded by two praetorian guards. Iulius decided that maybe it was time to take a small tour of the ship when a familiar voice called him from the corridor.
"Lord Tanis. I see you have been busy."
He turned his head to see Mara walking toward him and he remembered the words of the Emperor.
"Agent Jade." he greeted cordially. "It has been a while."
"Marek also sends his regards. At the moment he's waiting aboard the Devastator. Both me and him are at your complete disposal."
"Ah, good to know. The Emperor said you could...update me on what happened outside my jurisdiction."
Mara gestured him to follow and as they walked around, she started explaining. "It must have been frustrating to be so neglected by Imperial Command, and I apologize on their behalf. However, they were building up forces for a new fleet, and a new offensive in the Outer Rim. I assume you read the reports?"
"I did. So, it looks like the Emperor has appointed a new Grand Admiral."
"Gallius Rax, yes. I guess you probably earned his name before."
"He was leading one of the fleets at Lantillies, but I don't think I ever met him personally."
"No surprise. Rax is one of the Emperor's proteges. He knows how to lead a fleet, but what counts more to His Majesty is his full devotion to him."
"And why did the Emperor order an attack in such a remote region? If I had been informed, we could've coordinated a more effective attack."
"The Emperor is preparing a trap for the Jedi." Mara answered and Iulius' interest surged. The Jedi. They had been so far from the main conflict that he had almost forgotten about them. "And in order for them to fall into it, it was necessary that you didn't know about the offensive. We know for certain that the rebel intelligence is focusing almost exclusively on you, that's why they didn't know a fleet from the Core was about to strike them."
Iulius hummed silently. Indeed, that was a sound strategy. He still believed that his battle-hardened troops could have made this offensive more devastating for the enemy, but overall he could understand the plan of the Emperor, so he didn't object further.
"A trap for the Jedi...so that was the 'symbols' of the Rebellion."
"Indeed. With them gone, the Rebellion will lose much of the will to fight."
Mara said that confidently, but Iulius didn't believe it in the slightest: the Rebellion was born and had grown well without the Jedi, they only gave it a significant boost, but the rebels were not going to fold, not after they had managed to create and preserve new nations for themselves for more than a year by now.
"Anyway, do you have any use for me and Marek?" Jade asked suddenly.
Iulius returned to the moment and calmly assessed the situation.
"Yes, I'm sending you on a scouting mission, for the moment." he took his small holo-projector and opened the star map of the region on the southern quadrant. "As soon as we regroup, I want to push and secure the D'aelgoth Trade Route. We will move to Karfeddion and launch an attack toward the Anturus system. That's your destination."
"Consider it done." Mara replied. "Do you have orders for our gloomy comrade?"
"Yes. Tell him to get down to the capital and meet me there. I need to persuade the captured House heads to either submit or collaborate with the Empire, which requires both carrot and stick."
"And he's gonna be the bad guy. Got it." she replied amused.
Iulius smirked and bid farewell to Mara, as he needed to prepare for his next move. The campaign of the SJ sector promised to be quite a long affair, but if he could expel the two criminal syndicates from there, it would go a long way in securing additional resources and a bulwark on his western flank.
September 4.
The Constantinople left hyperspace into the Wayland system, carrying the Ghost ready for launch with the rest of the Specters aboard.
Not unexpected, the system seemed to be deserted, but the scanners picked up only a very small imperial flotilla around the only inhabitable planet of the system.
"Guess what." said Raniza as she inspected the sensor console. "A Victory-class Destroyer. Same signature as the one at Vjun."
"Which means the Astartes are not far." Jaral completed.
"Do we have a lock on Cal and Ahsoka's position?" Ezra asked instead.
"Yes. We are getting the transponder of the Mantison a safe channel, right at the bottom of a mountain." the Asari replied.
"All right, ping them back and let's get moving." the Knight concluded and he moved out of the cockpit, quickly followed by his sister.
"Guys." Jordan called them. They stopped to hear him. "Be careful. Those strange stormtroopers might be accompanying them this time, too."
"Right. Thanks for the reminder, Dad." Ezra replied with optimism. "You don't get caught by that destroyer."
The siblings took the elevator and reached the hangar, where their three Padawans and the other Legionnaires of the ship had mounted, ready to reach the surface and infiltrate while the Ghost stood ready to assist Jordan and the frigate in case things boiled over all of a sudden. With the cloaking device engaged, the Kodiak left the bay and headed straight toward the surface, following the signal sent by the Mantis.
Once they arrived close to it, Ezra and Jaral noticed that there was a mountain with a clearly artificial structure carved on top of it, and it was at the bottom of such terrain formation, among the lush vegetation of the planet, where the Mantis was laying low. There they met with Ahsoka, Cal and their Padawans, all waiting outside the modified yacht.
"Hey. Guess your track was right." Jaral commented to them.
"Indeed," replied Ahsoka. "but I don't know if it was timely enough." and she pointed toward the top of the mountain.
The siblings looked up just in time to see a freighter of some sort carrying a large container beneath its hull, escorted by four TIE Interceptors.
"They've been shipping materials toward the orbit for a few hours. We need to move if we want to know what they were hiding." said Newak, Ahsoka's Rodian Padawan.
"But how do we get up there quickly enough without them shooting us down?" Thabo asked, noticing that the mountain was too high and too angled. The jetpacks wouldn't be able to get them that far while fighting head-on against the gravity of the planet.
"For that, Merrin has a proposal." Cal intervened, leaving some room for the Nightsister.
"Thanks to my Magick, I can teleport on short distances. I can only bring you two people at a time, but once we secure one of those platforms, it will be easier for me to bring the others."
"I can't imagine that won't take a toll on your mind and body." said Ezra.
"I can't say I'm looking forward to it, but once I fix in my mind a clear image of the place I need to go, it will become much easier."
"Then thank you, Merrin. Let's get moving." said Ezra.
"Let me and Thabo go first." Gutierrez spoke up behind his helmet. Everyone turned around to listen. "Once we find the right spot to bring everyone up, he can set up a barrier to defend the LZ while Merrin goes back and forth. I will cover him. After that, bring the Bridgers there."
"Good for me." the Nightsister replied. "You all ready?"
The Jedi all made a nod of approval. Merrin stepped between the two male Legionnaires and touched their arms. She closed her eyes and recited something in her language that nobody else understood. What everyone saw, was that in a few seconds she started emitting a green flow of energy, which started enlarging and swirling around her and the two passengers. The energy started humming and the sound became increasingly louder, until the stream collapsed on the center and the three disappeared into nothing.
Just a few seconds later, from the top of the mountain, where the structure was, the echoes of blaster fire and the incessant drumming of Gutierrez's M76 Revenant reverberated all the way there.
In just another couple moment, Merrin reappeared, tending her arms toward the siblings. "Quick!"
They didn't waste a moment. Their armors already materialized, they grabbed a hand of the Sister each and they were transported inside the energy of Magick field. They weren't sure of what they saw, what it was clear to them was that, in the blink of an eye, they were suddenly on the large ring-shaped trench running at the top of the mountain where the imperial structure was located. Thabo was standing, his hands emitting psionic energy to keep up the barrier and don't let anything in, while on the contrary, Gutierrez's bullets easily found their way out and toward the stormtroopers who were trying to take down the protective layer.
Indeed, Thabo could only keep it up for so much against such fire.
Gutierrez immediately turned to the siblings. "Go! You two focus on finding the twins!" he instructed.
The Bridgers nodded, but they weren't going to leave without softening the imperials a little for their friends.
Instead of their rifles, they took their old TL-50 and rushed out, igniting their jetpacks to initiate what was basically an improvised strafing run. They used the secondary fire of their weapons to blast a couple of stacked piles that the imperials were using for cover, then they just burst out half of the cells, cutting down some stormtroopers who tried to avoid the rain of bullets and take them down, not that their rifles could pierce the siblings' shields so easily.
Meanwhile, Merrin had brought up Michalina and Cal, who now made sure the stormtroopers couldn't chase the siblings as they ran toward the entrance they spotted.
Feeling a clear disturbance in the Force, the Bridgers charged in, shooting the few stormtroopers who tried to stop them inside the structure and then ended up in what was clearly an abandoned laboratory, probably left to itself following the disastrous imperial retreat last year.
With no imperials left to stop them, the siblings looked around with the help of Jinx and something became clear very quickly.
"This was a cloning facility." Jaral said, looking at emptied vats.
"Not only that." said Ezra as he entered a room full of heavy instruments that had not been brought away. "I think we know where the puppet you faced on Korriban came from."
"But what are they looking for, here? They committed an entire fleet to secure this sector."
"When we find the Astartes, we will ask them."
"Yeah…but where are they? They are invisible to the Force."
Ezra knew that, and yet he closed his eyes, reaching for the Force. He wasn't, however, trying to perceive their aura directly, rather he was looking for any little discrepancy in the natural order of things that the Force dictated in that lab.
There. Two rooms away, there was something. A very tenuous magnetic field, the kind only living beings or cyborgs at most would emit.
Helping his sister sensing those anomalies as well, Ezra sprinted toward what promised to be the core of the structure. His sister followed suit through the hallways barely illuminated by emergency power the imperials likely restored when they arrived.
Then they found it: the main cloning lab. It was quite a large room, and at the opposite end of the door stood the Astarte twins in front of an empty vat.
The siblings aimed their weapons at their foes.
"Hands on, you two. This doesn't have to end badly." Ezra said composed.
"How considerate." Morit replied coldly. "But I think you are misunderstanding the roles."
As if they had been cast a spell on, the siblings felt a warning from the Force, coming from outside the structure. Maybe they had just been impressed by the confidence of the male twin, but then they realized that no: something was wrong.
It dawned on them: this was a trap!
Ezra sent the mental order and his comlink opened to reach Cal and Ahsoka. "This is Ezra. Guys, do you copy?"
Only statics followed. Instead, the sound of multiple firearms from outside the structure arrived all the way there. Tenuous, but possible to hear.
The Astartes confidently ignited their plasma swords and took a fighting stance.
Just to be sure, Ezra fired a burst at them, but as he expected, the twins just extended a hand and a kinetic barrier absorbed the bolts.
The siblings put away their repeaters and took their own lightsabers.
"This isn't good. We need to fall back to the others." Jaral said down the bond.
"We still don't know what they are looking for." Ezra countered.
"All I see is an empty vat. I'm sure they already got what they wanted and only stayed here to…"
Their mental talk was interrupted as the Astartes were suddenly in front of them. They had moved at a speed far superior than last time they fought.
Ezra and Jaral barely had the time to raise their swords and deflect the blows coming at them. They jumped backward to regain some space and have the minimum time to focus and use their battle precognition.
Because the Astartes might have been invisible to the Force, but that didn't mean that the Bridgers couldn't sense the dangers coming at them. Nonetheless, the twins seemed to have been significantly upgraded since their defeat on Vjun and the Bridgers were finding themselves in a pickle.
They decided to earn some time with the most simple solution: after managing to put some distance between them and the Astartes, they exploited a moment where the twins were recovering to simply jump back through the threshold and immediately blasted the controls of the lab's door, sealing them in for a moment.
"Come on!" Jaral exhorted.
They ran toward the exit, but in the next room they found the people Jordan had warned them against.
A squad of stormtroopers dressed in a completely irregular way: Task Force 99.
"Nice to meet you. Jedi." their leader, the only one looking relatively ordinary with the orange pauldron on his shoulder, said with a hint of sadistic excitement.
To the siblings' surprise, the man really ignited a green lightsaber. The huge armored trooper bumped his fists loudly and two small cannons appeared on his wrists. The rest of the troopers aimed their weapons and prepared to fire.
"We don't have time for this." Ezra said, not sure if they could take them all down before the Astartes caught up or without getting killed in general.
"Just follow me."
Jaral had noticed another corridor slightly behind them. She didn't know where it would lead them, but it was better than being trapped.
With a jolt, the siblings ignited their jetpacks and moved backward, taking out their repeaters and firing two bursts that forced the stormtroopers to spread and fire in movement, making them slightly less accurate.
Their leader, whose name was Kreel according to the dossiers, charged at them, despite not having much of a chance to catch up to them while they were jetting away. But it was still a move bold enough to keep the siblings off-balance.
Still managing to keep their distance, even as the Astartes reappeared, Ezra and Jaral kept running until they found another exit that brought them again on the outside ring of the structure, but on the complete opposite side of the mountain from where the rest of the team was.
And if that wasn't enough, an imperial dropship was unloading another platoons of stormtroopers, and another group of white-armored soldiers were converging from the other side. The siblings were surrounded.
"Just jump!" Ezra said.
They sprang up over the short wall that delimited the external ring, and now below them there was only the jungle. In the sky they saw three TIE Fighters opening fire. One of them was blown up by the fire of the Ghost, but the freighter didn't fly over them.
The comms were still being jammed. They had no way to contact their friends, and the imperials were almost on them.
With no choice left, the siblings ignited their jetpacks once again and headed downward, knowing that they have been overheating that piece of their armors.
In fact, their HUD was sounding the alarm that the thrusters were going to shut down shortly.
"Over there! That river!" Jaral thought.
Beneath them a stream of water that ended into a waterfall. It wasn't a great idea, but from that height, even they would be severely injured if falling on hard terrain, and perhaps the stream would help them conceal.
They arrived over it just in time before their packs shut down.
The only thing they noticed before hitting the water were the Constantinople and the Ghost flying away chased by a squadron of TIEs.
"At least they're safe." Ezra thought to his sister.
"Keep pressing forward!" Jane said with vigor as she led the counterattack on the bridge, with Liara and Javik following her.
This was part of a last-ditch effort from the Normandy crew to plug a hole in the defenses around the Naisseri District of Nos Astra, the main city of Ilium. The Tambaran, to the complete surprise of the Federation, had brought with them a huge dreadnought that they shouldn't have been able to build, both for lack of resources and the technical know-how.
Yet there it was, and it had caused heavy casualties on the allied fleet, allowing the Tambaran to invade the surface.
They have been fighting for days, while John was waiting for an opportunity to take out that huge ship.
In the meantime, they managed to throw back the aliens out of the defensive perimeter established by the Systems Alliance and the Ilium Planetary Guard.
The three members of the Normandy just had the time to take a breather, when Jane's father called her on the radio.
"Jane, we have an opening. Take your crew and return on the Normandy."
"Copy that." she said determined. It was time to turn the tide.
