What's up, Star Wars fans!

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

So, I'm hoping to get a lot of time to finish up my final edits in the next week, since I will be off.

Hope the Force is with you all.

Enjoy!

Chapter Nineteen

On the top floor of Shadow Outpost's command center, Kyra looked over battlefield schematics and data charts. The other two soldiers there with her were watching the surveillance cameras and making sure all security measures were functioning properly. Like Dodonna had said, after the Star Destroyers left, the separatists had attacked the base with frustrating frequency. It was never a large contingent of droids, only a few squads from the north side, or a company charging the front gate. Months had passed now, and Kyra had lost only six soldiers in the dozens of engagements that had occurred. Their base's defenses were impregnable, the troopers' reaction times and mobilization impeccable, and their accuracy legendary. But still those six lives hurt. She learned from each casualty, though each seemed to be lucky shots from extreme range.

However, each time the droids did attack, it always seemed to probe at the defenses, like they were assessing each aspect of the Outpost's responses and capabilities. This unnerved Kyra to no end. She knew they were building to something. A large-scale assault was inevitable. But still, the enemy did not know exactly what they housed within the mountain. They did not know just how much value the mine held.

There was a nudge from the force, and Kyra immediately recognized the warning. "Sound the alarm," she shouted. The clone didn't hesitate and quickly executed the command, and klaxons began blaring.

"What is it?" he asked.

She ran towards the surveillance screens, "Intruders," she said quickly, "They're scaling down the mountain side."

The clone switched from camera to camera, trying to capture what she was sensing. "Nothing's coming up on the footage."

The other trooper chimed in, "Nothing on the scanner's either."

Outside there was a long, bone-chilling howl. "Voolvif senses them too," she said and then started running for the balcony. "Find them, Corporal, and get that information out on the comms." Kyra exited the command center and stood on the wraparound balcony of the central building, looking up at the mountain side. It was too dark to see anything from this distance. She yelled back to the clones, "Get those floodlights on now."

Within seconds the sheer rock face was illuminated with white-blue light. She scanned the mountainside, searching for any movement. How could they get past the sensors? Clone troopers were streaming out of the barracks. Those that were already on the night shift security detail were fanning out, searching for the threats.

Then the front gate turbolasers opened fire. "What?" Kyra said and turned around so she was facing Eastward. Sure enough a platoon's worth of battle droids was charging the front gate. "That's it? Thirty some odd B1 Battle droids?" She shook her head. The force pinched at her again, once again from the mountain side. That's when she saw them—a half dozen BX Commando droids repelling down the rock face at a staggering speed.

She quickly brought up the comlink that broadcasted to all base correspondents, "BX Commando's, scaling down the mountain side, lock the facility down." Only static returned. They were being jammed. "Kriff," she cursed out loud. The klaxons sounding signaled the lockdown protocol, which sealed the main blast doors to the mining facility. But there were several other smaller entrances, and it was quite unlikely all of them were shut due to the impending attack. However, a company of troopers were ordered to stay inside the facility during any attack in preparation for any such infiltration. But if the droids were able to see inside the mine, and then get that intel back to their commanders, it would be too late.

Kyra sucked in a deep breath, instantly becoming Alight. To the clones running by her she would appear as a blue beacon atop the tower, glowing in the night. She leapt off of the central building, and drew on the force to slow her down and cushion her fall. She hit the ground and took off, zipping past the clones that were running in the opposite direction towards the front gate. "Droids scaling down the mountain!" she yelled, as she flew past them.

She reached the mining facility in seconds just as two assassin droids landed on the ground in front of the main doors. One of them took out a cutting torch, while the other stood guard. Before they could even get situated, Kyra let loose a force push that sent them crashing into the doors, smashing them to pieces. She searched for the next target, and saw two more droids sprinting for a secondary entrance. "Curse these BX droids and their blasted speed," she said as she sprinted after them. Her heart sank as she saw them enter the doorway.

But the next moment a barrage of gunfire erupted from inside the doorway, and both droids stumbled backwards riddled with blaster fire. A clone trooper with light grey shoulder pads and stripes stepped out of the doorway. "Of course, it's you, Hoppie," she said.

"Always here to serve, General."

"Let's find the rest."

They both turned around to see another commando droid flip down off his repelling line, sprint three steps, and then a furry brown mass crashed down on top of it. Voolvif let out a howl as stood to full height, "General," he said, nodding to Kyra.

"Fantastic dismount, General," Hoppie said, which caused the shistavenen to bark out a laugh.

"Where are the rest?" Kyra asked.

Master Monn sniffed at the air, but shook his head, unable to sense any others.

"Five? I highly doubt that's all they sent," Kyra said, "Fan out."

A lightsaber swooped over their heads and sliced through a droid that was still repelling down, and about to land near the main doors. Master Halcyon called the lightsaber back to him. "I'm not sure that's all of them either."

The group split up, and continued their search for more infiltration droids. They scoured the area and sent orders to several clone squads to search the premises, but found nothing. The three Jedi and Hoppie met up in front of the main doors to the mining facility, all of them a bit perplexed by the recent attack.

"I still sense something, Master," Kyra said to Neeja.

"I do as well," he said.

Voolvif growled his own response.

Kyra knelt down on one knee, and closed her eyes. She took several deep breaths, and then sank deep into the force. She inhaled peace, and exhaled confusion, ridding herself of anything that might hold her back. The Force responded, nudging her toward the Northern wall.

"The North wall," she said, "Something is there."

Voolvif gave a quick bark, and then took off, and Kyra was right behind him. Without the force, he would have left her in the dust, but Kyra drew on the infinite energy field, fueling her muscles, and so she easily kept pace with the very fast wolfman.

As they came to within one hundred meters all they saw was one loan clone trooper walking casually towards the wall. The two Jedi slowed and then watched as the clone trooper jumped up, and dug his hands into the wall. Then he continued to scale upwards like a kowakian monkey lizard, and leapt over the top of the rampart.

"Son of a Sith harlot," Kyra whispered, and then sprinted forward.

Voolvif barked in response, and chased after. The two Jedi leapt onto the rampart in one bound and watched as the clone hopped onto a STAP, and then sped off on the one-person hover craft.

"Lothcat's out of the bag now, isn't it," Voolvif growled, as they watched the lone trooper fly away on the speeder platform.

"Nek frakking take it," Kyra sneered. She gazed for a long moment towards the northern field, willing the trooper to turn back. But one she knew that wouldn't happen, and two, she knew that wasn't a trooper. "Come on, let's head back to HQ, we have work to do."

"As you command," he said, and the two Jedi leapt down from the rampart and jogged back to the command center.

Kyra and Voolvif strolled into a busy room, clones were rushing this way and that, trying to figure out what happened. "Corporal," Kyra yelled, "Pull up the video feed from inside the mining facility, look for any clone trooper that just...doesn't seem right."

The room went silent. "G-General," the corporal stammered, "You think a clone did this?"

"No," she said, "I think it was a droid that looked like a clone trooper that did this. Perhaps a proxy droid, or something of the sort."

This seemed to ease everyone in the room, and the frantic movement continued with clones rushing this way and that. "I've got something," one of the security officers said. Kyra walked over, and observed the viewscreen. There they saw a clone nonchalantly slide past a dozen or so clone troopers that were scrambling out of the barracks that were inside the mining facility. He strolled past them, and then made his way to the edge of the pit and seemed to gaze down at the wealth below, pause for a few seconds, and then walk back out.

"It's gotta be a PROXY droid, projecting the image of a clone trooper."

"Our sensors should have picked that up?"

Kyra shrugged, "Maybe they did, and we were just all too confused to know better, or maybe they had new technology and jammed those sensors."

Hoppie walked over towards Kyra and Voolvif, "Well, what happens now?"

"We prepare. They're going to attack with everything they have- thousands of droids," Kyra said, speaking loudly so the room could hear. "Commander, alert everyone, and send a message to Captain Dodonna, letting him know we've been breached. I take full responsibility."

Several clones stood up in defiance, "General, that was not your fault," one of them shouted.

"He's right, General," Commander Cosmo said, "I'm commander of this base, you said so yourself, and this is my fault."

"Wrong," Kyra said finitely, "This is my task, my mission, and on paper I am the commanding officer here." She turned to the communications officer, "Tell them what's happened, and tell them I take responsibility. That is a direct order," Kyra said, and walked back to the turbolift. "Make preparations. I expect they'll attack tomorrow. Everyone, get ready."

"Yes, General," the clones responded, and Kyra stepped onto the lift and took it down. There was work to be done.

"You're positive she's going to be there?" Aedan asked.

Quix shook her head, "Kahl, how many times do I have to tell you? She. Is. Going. To. Be. There."

Aedan held his hands up, "Okay, okay. It's just...hard to believe, her being famous and all. What was the connection you had with her again?"

The SecOps agent shrugged, "Cousin's ex-boyfriend played in her band, or something."

Aedan chuckled, "Small world." The group was once again sitting around the campfire. This was their reprieve from the stresses of the day. During the months of planning and preparing and setting things in motion, it became tradition for the five of them to return here to debrief and decompress. Although tonight, no alcohol was involved. They needed to be at their best.

"And you, did you solidify our covers," Quix asked Aedan.

"Yes."

"And?"

"He has Drallig, your three teammates, and me going as card sharks," Master FIsto said.

Quix smiled and nodded. "Okay, what about Yoda, Aedan and me."

"We um...are pretending to be on our honeymoon."

Quix shifted glances to the others, then finally looked back at the fire. "Meh, I've had worse."

The four jedi laughed. "What husbands or cover stories?" Aedan asked.

"Both."

Aedan laughed again, "Fair enough."

"Wait," Quix said. "What about Yoda?"

Aedan winced at that and avoided the Grandmaster's gaze.

Yoda grumbled.

Quix looked at Yoda then back to Aedan. "Tell me."

"Well, we had to take into consideration that he's the most recognizable Jedi in the galaxy," Aedan said.

"And we aren't sure how much surveillance the dark jedi will be running, and if they have lookouts on the ship already or planted in the crew."

"I'm aware, Cin," Quix said. "So, what's the plan."

Aedan sighed. "I'm going to smuggle him onto the ship in my suitcase."

Quix's eyes went wide, and her lips formed a tight line, desperately trying to hold in a laugh. Which she succeeded for all of one second. And then a snort escaped, and both hands went to cover her mouth. And then everyone around the fire burst out laughing.

"Yes, yes, laugh at the small jedi master," Yoda said. "Turn you into space dust I will."

Aedan noticed a slight smile on the wise master's face.

"Sorry, Master," Cin Drallig said. "It's just a humorous situation."

Quix and the jedi were still grinning when Master Fisto spoke up. "And you're sure we can't bring more soldiers on board, have a quick response team or an escort."

"It'll be too obvious. Bringing seven on board is manageable, any more than that won't be covert enough," Aedan said. "They'll most likely jam communications the moment they get close, so that negates a quick response team from jumping in. And a space escort will just scare them off. The moment they see starfighters they'll just break away, and then all our planning was for nothing. And The objective is to catch them."

"I know," Fisto said. "I just don't like not knowing all the facts. We don't even know how many there are, or how they'll attack."

"We don't even know if they're going to attack," Drallig said.

"Be there they will. Feel it I can," Yoda said, settling the matter.

He didn't say much. But when he spoke, others listened.

"Tomorrow the dark jedi will be stopped."

"In that case, I better get some rest. See you guys in the morning," Quix said glancing at the others, her eyes lingering on Aedan's for a moment longer, then she turned for the house.

A chorus of goodnights echoed back.

"Oh, and Quix," Aedan said. "Thank you for being so hospitable. We are indebted to you."

She turned back around, and shook her head. "Put an end to these guys. That's all I'm asking in return."

Aedan nodded slowly.

Master FIsto stood up next, "I'm going to get one last swim in, and then turn in as well."

"Calling it a night for me as well," Master Drallig said.

Now it was Yoda and Aedan left, the only noise present was the crackling of the fire, and subtle wind rustling the trees. Aedan sighed, taking in a deep breath. He gazed up at the ocean of stars above. He wondered what stars Kyra was looking at. Or if she was even looking at them. But if she was, was she thinking of him? What was going to happen to them? Would they ever get a chance?

"Wrong you were, Master Kahl," Master Yoda said, startling Aedan out of his dreams of a different future.

He gritted his teeth. Wondering when this lecture was going to come. "I know, I know. I never should have let my personal feelings get in the way."

"No, not that," Yoda said, and then sighed. "Felt attraction, attachment to someone I have before."

Aedan nearly choked. "What? When?" he sputtered. "How?" he shook his head. "Who?"

Master Yoda poked at the fire with his gimer stick, disturbing the coals turning them red hot, and sending orange embers up into the sky. The embers now mixed with the fireflies that were fluttering around, lighting up frequently.

"Grew close Yaddle and I did."

Aedan was up out of his seat in a heartbeat. The surprise was overwhelming. He paced back and forth for a good ten seconds, Master Yoda watching him with a bemused expression.

"Wha-What happened?"

"On a mission together we went. Developed feelings for each other we did," his head drooped. "Attached I became."

Aedan's breath left him. "I-I had no idea. Master."

"No one did. Before let it go further, ended it I did. Told her wrong this was. Begged she did for me to change. Said to me, 'Together, stronger we are.'"

Aedan's heart contracted violently. This was just too much. "I'm so sorry, Master."

Yoda grunted, "As am I."

The little green master gazed up at the stars above. "Gone she is now," his voice breaking. Then the master of the order let out something that must have been a sob, and continued, "A light she was to me."

Aedan sat back down with a huff, the revelations completely flooring him. They stayed in silence for a few moments.

"Proved me wrong, you have. Love has strengthened Kyra, and you, beyond imagining. But I fear that others in the order do not have the same wisdom that you do. Or the same awareness and understanding that she does. Permit relationships inside the order, I cannot."

Aedan sighed, "I understand, Master," he said, resigned to his fate.

"But," Yoda said, "made exceptions can be." Then the small master struggled to his feet, his gimer stick aiding him.

"Wait, what?" Aedan asked. "Say that again." Damn his odd speech pattern. What did he mean?

"Sleep now, I must. Yes," he grunted. "Rest."

Aedan watched the little Master amble his way inside the ship. And then looked back up at the stars. Perhaps there is hope after all.