Chapter VII – The Rescue Plan
Sometime later, I was startled by a nudge and spun my head to see the medic staring down at me. She moved back when she saw me jerk and bring my hand up. "Sorry, you were in a deep sleep," she replied, "I didn't know how to wake you."
I sat up and looked around the mechanical room, trying to get my bearings. Hints of strange, anxious dreams hovered at the edge of my awareness, but I could not recall them directly. The last thing I remembered was meditating in the Force and hearing statements from the ghost of Lord Ergast. My eyes finally drifted to the medic, who was watching me nervously.
"The commander sent me to find you. He wants to speak to you."
I looked at my wrist com as the sleep haze began to clear from my mind and realized seven hours had passed.
"Your procedures are done. We can get those medical devices out of your ears." The medic was being patient as I got up to speed.
"Sure," I replied.
Leaning in towards me, she gently brushed my hair back from my left ear and deactivated the device with an electronic key. It retracted from my ear with a soft, sucking feeling. The unaltered sounds in the small mechanical room rushed into my newly repaired ear and somewhat overwhelmed me for a moment. I focused on my hearing as the medic repeated the process on my other ear and concluded that the procedure was successful.
She used the same electronic key to unlock the brace on my ankle. A little stretching and rotating confirmed that the sprain was mostly healed, leaving only a mild sensitivity to pressure. Luckily, I had grabbed my loose boot when I stormed out of the commander's office yesterday, and I took a moment to pull it on so that walking felt normal again.
"Why does the commander want to see me?" I asked out of curiosity as I stood up and gathered my things.
"He didn't say, but it's been a busy night with lots of communication between the Republic and Toxic Lake Garrison." She started to lead me up the stairs while she talked. "There were significant casualties on both sides from yesterdays actions, and the Republic is angry about the escalation. They are making some serious threats."
Her voice tensed up as she spoke, and I could not help thinking about her relationship with Commander Pillus. She was probably concerned for the whole company, but I sensed that she had particular fears about what would happen to her commander.
I could not shake the confrontation with the Lord Ergast's ghost during my meditation. His confidence when asserting that he and his fellow ghost, Darth Andru, would control me kept drawing my focus. How was he so sure? Why would he want to control me? How did they even exist as ghosts? So many questions plagued my mind.
However, the worst thought of them all was not a question but a certainty; I was not free. The tempting promise of freedom that becoming a Sith offered me was just a lie. I had left one type of slavery for another, left one master for many masters vying for control over me. Lord Ergast had told a half-truth to me in the tomb; if I bound him or failed, in both cases, I lost. He stated that I could make a ghost serve me for a time, and now I was beginning to understand what that meant.
We neared the commander's office, and my mind was still twisted up in thought. A sudden realization sank through my confusion that maybe it was not the ghosts or Zash and now Thanaton who were trying to control me. Something had always been around me from as far back as I remembered, giving me premonitions and keen reactions to avoid danger. I had always thought my life was a series of unfortunate experiences caused by evil or uncaring people using me, but now I was not so sure. Darth Zash and Thanaton were motivated by something, as were the ghosts, and a common theme linked those motivations, a theme that seemed to have a thread back to my childhood and even to my mother before me. Maybe my slavery was not a mistake; perhaps the dark hole of anger inside me was not the legacy of random acts of evil?
I had no answers for those thoughts, but the end result for me was slavery; whether to a cruel man on Ziost or some mercurial Force influence, it did not matter. What mattered was that I did not choose my course. I was not free. Something was pulling or leading me inexorably towards its ends. I did not know what that end was, but if the seething core inside me was any indication, it was not good.
Commander Pillus was on his com when we entered. "No, the Republic is lying," he stated emphatically, "we did not extend our reconnaissance perimeter into their zone, and there was no attempt to fire on Republic civilians."
"I know that," Colonel Hurdenn replied, seeming calmer than the commander, "I'm telling you that is their assertion, and their casus belli to demand our immediate withdrawal . . ."
"I'm all on board with that," the commander cut in, "I've been saying that from the beginning. There's no point in us being here."
"That's not your decision, Commander."
"Well, whoever's deciding it ought to have more clarity."
"Careful, Hern, this is a recorded conversation. You and your team have done a commendable job in a difficult position . . ."
"I don't care about commendable, Colonel, I'm losing good people out here . . . gotta give loved ones some pretty bad news without any decent answers. Get us out of here!"
"Your orders have not changed, Commander," the colonel replied in frustration, "and until they do, I expect your full cooperation."
"Then get me my supplies. I'm running out of medical equipment and cells even to fire our damn blasters; it's almost to the point where I can't feed my men."
"We are working on that now. I will contact you with the results of the Republic negotiations; until then, hold your position, Commander."
Commander Pillus' angry eyes scanned the room after the com was cut and landed on Jayn and me. "Where the hell have you been?" He glared at me when I did not answer. "Have a seat," he pointed to one of the chairs facing his desk, "please," he added when I failed to move.
I did not like his tone and sensed that something bad was about to happen as I settled into the chair he pointed to.
"You're dismissed, Corporal," he snapped at Jayn, who looked shaken as she stiffened and marched out. We sat in uncomfortable silence for a moment. "I reviewed Lieutenant Zark's after-action report from yesterday. You managed to hold your own pretty well in a tight situation."
It was hard for me to believe he was paying me a compliment based on the tone of his voice. "I'm no soldier, Commander."
"There's a petition posted in the mess hall attempting to get you permanently assigned to Delba Company," his eyes softened with a little bit of humor, "next to a still of you blasting the Republic captain in the chest at close range."
"I'm not a mascot either," I complained.
"The team's got some pet names for you . . . wanna hear them?"
"No, I'd rather hear you explain why I'm sitting in your office and not free to go."
As I spoke, Captain Wraff stepped through the doorway and then stopped when she saw me.
The commander glanced over at the motion and made eye contact with the captain. "I know," he stated in answer to some unknown question. The captain nodded and then started to leave. "I'm stuck here," he added as he rose from his chair and walked to the door through which the captain had just left, "you're going to have to handle it."
The commander went into the hallway to converse with the captain and left me alone for a moment. I took the time to take account of my things and try to reconstruct my plans. According to my watch, Andronikos was expecting me to make contact for extraction at any moment. I tried to use my com but found it blocked by the Imperial security protocols in the bunker. Apparently, only official communications were allowed in and out. My body wanted to get up and pace, and I had to calm myself so that I could think. It would be dawn soon. There was no way I could get to the Jedi enclave before daylight. I could attempt to infiltrate during the day, but that would be more complicated and have a greater chance of failure. The sinking realization of wasted time crept into my thoughts again.
The commander stepped back in, looking more frustrated than before. "Sorry, things are kinda hectic at the moment." He did not return to his seat but paced around.
"No problem," I sighed, "you were just telling me that you appreciated my help, and I was free to go."
He shot me a glance with a twisted grin. "I gotta admit, you stay focused on your goal, Sith." I did not like the tone in his voice as another disturbance occurred outside his door. The commander glanced over his shoulder. "Come in," he commanded.
A tall man in full recon gear stepped through the doorway and stood at attention. "You called for me, sir?"
I recognized the voice as the recon officer who confronted me yesterday on the perimeter. Wondering what he was up to, I glared at the commander.
"I did, Lieutenant, at ease." The commander stepped closer to me, many thoughts and concerns burning in his eyes. "You recognize Lord Kallig, I presume?"
"Yes, sir," the recon officer responded.
The tone caught the commander's attention, and he turned from me to the doorway. "I said at ease, Brand, come in and relax, no titles." The recon officer awkwardly glanced between the commander and me and stepped deeper into the room to stand beside the empty chair.
"Brand is the best damn recon officer in the Imperial Marines," the commander said as he stepped back to his desk and looked at me, "and it's not just me saying that. The brass called in a special order and named him personally." He looked from me to Brand, "if you didn't know that before, you do now."
Brand did not know what to say, and based on the sidelong glance he gave me, he was uncomfortable with the public accolades. "Is there a point to this, Commander?" I snipped, "cause you are really starting to irritate me."
"The point is, Sith, I need my best recon officer here, watching over my company. I can't afford to lose him." Commander Pillus sat in the chair next to me and pulled off his officer's cap, tossing it on his desk. Then he leaned close to me. "Besides that, Sith, he's my best friend. We've been together through basic training and everything since."
"Commander," Brand spoke, not liking the emotional tone his friend was striking.
Commander Pillus raised his hand to halt his friend. "I can't afford to lose him . . . not going to let that happen in this hellhole."
"Get to the point," I snapped, "what the hell is going on here!"
"Your people are in trouble," he spat as he stood up and paced again, "and they're asking me to pull their ass out of the fire."
The first thought in my mind was Andronikos and the Intrepid. What happened? Panic started to creep in, and I wondered whether Thanaton had made his move. "My people?" I replied.
"You said you were intelligence; on a covert mission. Well, apparently, you aren't the only intelligence asset on Taris. Your covert op has become a Charlie Foxtrot; the whole team has failed to report, even the damn Watcher who was heading the thing up."
My mind spun from relief, knowing that Andronikos was not the 'my people' the commander was talking about, to confusion about why a Watcher would be on Taris. They were high-level intelligence commanders who usually coordinated operations, they were not usually seen in the field.
"Don't give me that look," he continued, "you know what's going on."
"Don't presume to know anything about me or my mission, Commander," I shot back.
"I'm not sending assets into a disaster that your people created."
"I didn't create anything!" I countered. "To be frank, I don't know what you are talking about. I operate on my own, Commander. The only contact I have in-system is Elios Maliss."
"Elios?" the commander stopped pacing, "you're working with Elios?" He and the recon officer exchanged a look.
"No," I shook my head, "he worked for me, collecting intel on the Jedi enclave."
The commander moved to his desk chair and sat thoughtfully. "Elios," he said to himself. "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"
"Why would I tell you my business?"
"Elios is a good guy. If you'd have said something . . ."
"Why should I have to do that!" I yelled, my irritation reaching the boiling point. "You've disrespected me from the moment we met . . ."
"I'm doing my job!" the commander yelled back.
"Hern," his friend begged softly.
Commander Pillus bit his tongue and looked away from me. After a moment, he turned back. "I should have thought of him earlier. Elios' will have some idea what's going on. Can you reach him?"
"I'm not contacting Elios," I stated flatly.
"You'll need intel to know what you're getting into."
"I'm not getting into anything, Commander. I already have the intel I need." He gave me the look I loathed. because it showed that I had preempted his ask. The whole conversation was a set-up for what he was about to say.
"I read the after-action report, saw the video of you yesterday," he got up and came around his desk to be closer to me, "what you are capable of without your lightsaber . . ."
"There is nothing you can say to me, Commander, that would ever convince me of helping you right now." The words were coming out of my mouth, fueled by the anger and frustration I felt, but at the same time, a quiet realization was echoing from a calmer part of my being. Something was towing me along to do its will; the thought from earlier rang a bit of clarity in my mind like a bell.
He was fuming, and for a moment, I thought he was going to come at me physically. Brand seemed concerned too and took a hesitant step towards his friend. Instead of coming at me, he redirected towards his desk and punched a finger on his data-pad — an image of a report beamed to life in the hologram above the desk.
"This order doesn't give me shit to go on," he grumbled, "but it does mention a Watcher, and do you know what that means?" He spun his gaze to me, and I gave him a 'don't give a crap' look in response. "A Watcher doesn't go anywhere without a company size special ops team, company size! That's my whole damn team, and they're all missing."
As he spoke, the calm realization in my mind began to coalesce into something more concrete. Elios' wanted me to help him; he said I owed him one. A Watcher, maybe Elios' boss, was lost on Taris with a contingent of Imperial Intelligence assets. I might need friends in Imperial Intelligence like Elios. Those facts were connected by threads, and if I pulled on those threads, maybe wove them to my needs . . .
". . . at least two Shadow Commando teams and an Imperial assassin. That's way more firepower than my whole company has." The commander tried to force himself to calm down as he looked at me. "I'm not sending my men in without help."
"I can handle it," the recon lieutenant replied.
"Not this time, Brand," Commander Pillus countered.
"If Lord Kallig doesn't want to help us . . ."
"Don't put words in my mouth, Brand," I snapped at him ". . . is that your first or last name? I'm getting sick of all the damn military titles."
"First name," he replied, "and sorry, but it doesn't seem like you give a shit."
"Giving a shit and having the time to are two different things."
Commander Pillus stared me down a little more hopefully. I remained in my seat, thinking. To my surprise, the commander sat next to me, then, a slow, exhausted sag into the metal military chair. "I'm asking for your help, Sith . . . Lord Kallig," he caught my eyes. "I know when things are FUBAR, and that's the most FUBAR order I've seen. Something's gone horribly wrong, and my friend isn't going to be able to fix it," he looked over at Brand.
I could not help feeling jerked down another path by some invisible hand. That angry part of me wanted to escape the stupid mess the commander and everyone else were in and deal with my own problems, but the threads were there, connections that I could use to my advantage. The commander's bluster was gone; his fight was over; the tired and hopeful stare he held me with was all he had left.
"Can I see the order?" I asked. Commander Pillus pulled the pad off the desk and handed it to me.
It gave a set of coordinates and ordered Lieutenant Issacar and recon assets deemed appropriate to perform a search and rescue to recover Watcher One and his insertion team and coordinate any activities directly with Colonel Hurdenn at Toxic Lake Garrison.
"Where are these coordinates?" I asked, setting the tablet back on the commander's desk.
Commander Pillus looked over at Brand, who withdrew his own data-pad from a side pack and flicked it on with his fingers. He set it on the commander's desk and swept his fingers across the touch screen to bloom a full-sized holographic map above the desk. There was a green dot and a red dot connected by a yellow line on a detailed 3D topographic map with no landmark or orientation that I could recognize.
"The coordinates are south of us," Brand answered in his deep voice, "about 50 klicks in the Brell Sediment, an area called the Chem Works. It's an untamed area of old industrial complexes that are still settling after the bombardment three hundred years ago. It's an unstable area with jagged topography; easy to get lost in if you aren't careful."
"Is it under Imperial or Republic control?" I asked as I leaned forward and tried to get my bearings. "Where the hell are we? I'm not a mind reader, Lieutenant!"
"We are the green dot here," he pointed calmly.
"And?" I sighed, "where is the Republic base, the Toxic Lake Garrison, zones of control? I'm trying to get my orientation."
"Toxic Lake Garrison is here," he pointed to the west of our position, "the Republic Resettlement Zone is here," he moved his finger to a little east of our position. "There really is no zone of control where the coordinates are; it's a sort of a no man's land."
I stood up and walked away from the map. The coordinates were in the opposite direction of the Jedi enclave. I could feel the anger building in me again with the realization that this detour would probably take hours, if not a whole day.
"This mission is completely opposite to the direction I need to go," I could not help complaining as I turned back to the men.
"Brand is the best recon expert I know," Commander Pillus replied, "he'll have you at those coordinates quicker than anyone else. You do a little look around, complete the search part of it, and if you don't find anything, you head back, mission complete. We meet our end of the bargain, Colonel Hurdenn is happy with me, and I'll owe you a mark. Whatever you need, call it in; I'll walk you into the Jedi enclave myself if you want me to."
No, no, no! I fumed internally, unable to get past the day I'd already wasted on Taris, Andronikos waiting for my contact, and the ticking clock towards Thanaton's inevitable return. The two men stared at me while my mind and soul struggled with each other for control.
The presence of a ghost rose up inside of me, and I was surprised to sense it was my ancestor, Darth Kallig. It was a fleeting touch in my mind, but it confirmed my earlier realization. My ancestor wanted me to help, wanted me to find Watcher One.
"Okay." My voice was flat, almost calm, but I was still screaming No! Inside, still burning with frustration and fear that my time was running out.
Commander Pillus seemed stunned for a moment, expecting a pitched battle of wills instead, but recovered quickly and looked at his friend. "Are you ready?"
"Yes, sir," Brand nodded, "it will be daylight in about an hour."
Commander Pillus got up and moved back around to his desk, grabbing his holo-pad and typing on it. Before I could figure out what he was doing, the holo lit up, and Elios' surprised and scruffy face appeared.
"It's a little early for social calls," Elios grumbled as his face spun around and his eyes landed on me. "Lord Kallig, I see you've made it to the comfy confines of Crater Command."
"It's not a social call, Elios," Commander Pillus replied. "Sorry to wake you, but we are in a bit of a bind and need some answers."
Elios looked from me to the commander. "I'm not sure how I can help?"
"We've got an order to perform a search and rescue for a Watcher and his entire team. Do you have any idea what's going on?" The commander pulled up the order so that everyone could see it in the com.
Elios gave us a funny look. "Search and rescue, huh."
"Yeah, it seems the whole team has gone dark. Colonel Hurdenn has issued the order. I'm assuming that the Watcher missed a report-in or expected return time."
"Well," Elio's sighed, "I'm really not at liberty to discuss anything."
"Dammit, Elios!" the commander growled, "if you know something that can help us out, you'd better come clean. The colonel asked for Brand personally, and I don't want to send him out without understanding what we're getting into."
"I don't know much, only that intelligence assets were planet-side on a covert assignment of great importance. It sounded like a pretty high-level mission."
"Can you think of any reason why they'd have gone dark?"
"Yeah, lots of them, but not many with a positive outcome."
"What would it take to put his team out of action?"
"Quite a lot," Elios turned his head to look at me, "not your local Republic forces, that's for sure. More like someone trained in Lord Kallig's skills."
"Jedi," the commander spat. "Do you know why the Watcher would be at those coordinates or what we can expect around that area?"
"Sorry, I was not involved in any briefings and only told that I might be asked to assist, which I wasn't." Elios gave me a slight grin. "Have you completed your plans successfully, my Lord?"
"No," I grumbled, "the commander has been monopolizing my time."
"I see; well, that's unfortunate."
"Yes," I replied as I glared at him and the commander. "Is there any word from Dromund Kaas?"
"No," he gave me narrow eyes, "I told you I would let you know; still don't trust me?"
I did not answer, but his response did help lower my fears about Darth Thanaton showing up.
"You haven't been much help, Elios," the commander sighed.
"Sorry, I wish I could do more. If you are going to try and find the Watcher, I would use caution."
"I'm sensing that," the commander replied. "If you hear anything that might help, let us know."
"Of course, you know I will."
The commander cut the com and rubbed his hands through his hair. "Elios knows more than he's letting on; I could see it in his eyes."
"He's not going to say anything compromising over a military channel," Brand added.
"He confirmed my suspicions, though," the commander said as he stood up, "something bad has happened."
"If you're insisting upon my cooperation, Commander, then let's get on with it."
Commander Pillus sighed with relief, "you heard the Sith, go."
I grabbed all my things, hoping I did not need to come back to the bunker, and followed Brand out the main doors and around the back where a small hangar was. The rising sun's light was just beginning to gloam on the eastern horizon. Inside the hangar was a mess of broken and half-constructed or deconstructed equipment, in the midst of which sat two beaten-up speeders with a recon sergeant standing between them.
"We're a go, Jaks," Brand said as he walked up to his speeder and flipped open the side case to drop his data-pad into it.
"I've just started going through the checklist on the speeders," the younger man said as he looked between his superior and me.
"All right, let me help," Brand said as he took the requisition pad from Jaks and started looking at it.
I had no interest in observing military red tape, so I walked outside the hangar and looked at the shimmering shield and the brightening horizon beyond. I needed this detour to end quickly so that I could get on with my own mission, and I glanced at my wrist to check the time. I was past due to check in with Andronikos, but the bunker's security was blocking my communications. Getting away from its interference would allow me to send the Intrepid a message.
I meditated a bit, trying to sense any disturbance in the Force, but things seemed calm. The meditation helped me settle myself a little as well; it unnerved me to be so emotionally volatile. My thoughts drifted to the search and rescue mission and the potential of finding Watcher One. Part of me realized that finding and rescuing him would help me develop connections, but it would also cost more time and not allow me to get on with my own mission.
I was still trying to decide which outcome I preferred when Brand stepped up to me. "We're ready when you are." I turned and walked back to the speeders. After twenty minutes of preparations, dawn was almost fully upon us.
Sergeant Jaks was apparently going along and hopped onto the speeder next to Brand's as I walked up. "Oh, no," I said with a shake of my head as Brand settled on his speeder and looked over at me, "I'm not riding along as a passenger. Get me a speeder."
Brand gave me a look of bewilderment with his helmet in his hands. "We don't have another speeder; we can barely keep these two running."
"Then your friend stays here," I insisted as I walked up to Jaks' bike.
"Shit," I heard Brand mumble under his breath.
"Is there a problem?" I said sharply as I turned to look at him.
"Look, these bikes are pretty finicky. It's been a constant effort on Gearhead's part to keep them running," he poked his finger backward toward a stocky man at the back of the garage holding several greasy tools and watching our discussion.
"Jaks and I know how to fly them . . . know their quirks. We'll get there faster and safer if you let us do the driving."
I glanced between the three men staring at me incredulously. There was no way I could explain to them why I was hesitating, nor would I want to if I could. It was none of their damn business why I would irrationally fear wrapping my legs around a strange man.
"Get off the bike, or I'm not going," I stated flatly to the sergeant.
The two soldiers shared a quick glance, and then the sergeant complied. I climbed onto the bike before anyone could second guess their decision and began to familiarize myself with the controls. I had flown speeders before, and this seemed to be a standard military issue, but there were several jerry-rigged additions to the console.
Brand dismounted his hike and stepped up to me. "Don't worry about the extra controls," he said sharply as he waved a stiff hand at the ad hoc knobs and switches, "you'll be able to keep up without them. This dial," he pointed to a small red knob attached to the side of the console, "throttles the energy into the engine, sometimes the drive sputters. Right is more energy, left is less."
"I can handle myself," I snapped, feeling the irritation overwhelm my restraint.
He lifted a speeder helmet up toward me. His eyes narrowed when I refused to take it. "I can't communicate with you if you don't wear it."
I yanked the bulky helmet from his hand and jammed it on my head in frustration. It was too large and shifted around, even after I tightened up the strap as tight as possible.
"Can you hear me?" Brand spoke into the recon com, his voice echoing in my ear through the helmet.
"I can hear you, now let's go."
He kicked his bike on and shot out of the garage. It took me several tries to get my bike started, and I had to fiddle with the red knob to idle it steady. Angrily, I accelerated and followed them. At the base of the shield, there was a framed portal large enough to fit the speeder through, and as I flew up to it, the small shield inside the portal flickered off so that I could pass.
Finicky was not the word I would have used for the machine I was riding; dangerous, dilapidated, or lethal would be more appropriate. I almost ran into a tree and the other speeder within the first klick from the base. The clumsiness of the bike just made my mood even worse, and it was everything I could do to tamp down the anger brooding inside me and focus on where Brand was flying.
We twisted and swerved through the landscape at a breakneck speed, and I was utterly lost within minutes. He had to stop and wait for me to catch up several times because I had missed a turn or slowed down to avoid obstacles. I hated the 'I told you so' look they gave me when I came alongside them.
"You okay?" the lieutenant asked the second time he waited for me.
"I'm here, aren't I?" I snapped back. "Can't you plot a straighter course?"
"I'm avoiding Republic patrol areas and known hazards."
"Carry on, then," I sighed.
The flight went on longer than I had hoped. Slowly, I grew accustomed to the controls and feel of the speeder and felt less endangered. The landscape changed, becoming more industrial with larger elevation changes. Collapsed buildings and massive equipment replaced the woodlands and vegetation we came from. Brand's speeder climbed a steep rubble embankment and then disappeared out of sight to the left.
"I found them!" Brand called through the headset as I finished flying up the embankment behind him. I veered to the left as he did and caught sight of several Imperial personnel carriers in a flat area near the broken wall of a large building.
I pulled the speeder up next to the lieutenant's and noticed several dead soldiers on the ground next to the carriers. The two recon soldiers were already off their bikes and performing a quick sweep of the area with blasters drawn. The two dead soldiers lying on the ground next to the closest armored personnel carrier were the driver and vehicle commander. The hair on my neck prickled when I noticed the unmistakable sign of saber wounds.
I jumped off the bike and swept my lightsaber into my hand as I moved closer to the nearest personnel carrier. Getting into cover alongside the vehicle, I reached out in the Force but did not detect any Force users nearby.
"The area looks clear," Brand stated as he rounded the front of the other vehicle and looked back to where I stood. "There are four other bodies over here, all dead."
I walked toward the lieutenant and noticed two of the other bodies. They had saber wounds as well. Sergeant Jaks was kneeling between the two carriers scanning the base of the building wall that loomed over us.
"Looks like we're too late," he mumbled into the headset.
I scanned the wall as well and noticed an entrance nearby, and looking at the position of the vehicles, it seemed like they were focused on that opening. I walked towards the wall and noticed another body near the entrance, and my Force sense felt a hint of something deeper within the ruins.
I heard Brand walk up to me as I focused. "I should call this in."
"That's a good idea," I agreed, "stay here with the speeders," I added as I stepped toward the ruined building.
"Ah, no," the lieutenant countered through the headset as he walked with me, "no one goes alone in recon, company orders."
I spun on him. "Did you notice their wounds, Lieutenant?"
He looked at the closest body and then back at me. "Orders," he mumbled, "you go, I go."
I was going to argue, but I sensed that the Jedi were long gone, so I let it drop. Loosing the strap on my helmet, I yanked it off and tossed it toward Sergeant Jaks. "I can't fight in that thing," I complained.
"We need it to communicate with you," Brand countered.
I got an idea, remembering that Pez was in my satchel. Walking over to the speeder, I pulled my pack from the storage compartment and drew out the round black ball. Pez shot from my hand, warbling after I turned him on. He did not like being shut down.
"I'm sorry," I stated as he buzzed my head, "the soldiers don't like you, and they gave me an order."
"Dweep!" Pez vented angrily as he spun his eye toward Brand, his little round frame shaking with frustration.
I put on the HUD sunglasses that gave me Pez's audio and visuals. "Okay then, if you show them how useful you can be, maybe they will change their minds and like you."
"Zwip, Zweep," the droid complained again, lofting off in a random direction as if it could care less about us.
"He'll come around," I commented before walking towards the entrance.
"C'mon, Jaks," the lieutenant stated as he fell in behind me. There were two more dead bodies in the shadows of the entrance; they appeared to be guards.
"Duooh," Pez sounded as he drifted up and saw the bodies.
"Pez," I ordered, "scout the path ahead," pointing at the entrance into the ruined building.
"Zwip-Beep," the droid confirmed before whooshing slowly into the darkened corridor, his travel lights clicking on to light the way. I made a move to follow behind the droid.
"Hold a minute," Brand called to me as I stepped past them.
I turned back to see him kneeling down and trying to remove one of the dead soldier's helmets. "We don't have time for that," I stated, assuming he was trying to collect dog tags.
He craned his head back to look at me. "I can use the headset in the helmet to get a fix on the rest of his team." I nodded to him, and he went back to removing the helmet.
It seemed morbid to undress the dead, especially when the man's rugged face and curly brown hair were exposed, his dark brown eyes staring unblinking into eternity. I had to turn away, unable to focus on death at that moment.
Brand fiddled with the helmet until he was able to remove the com sensor, then set it on the ground near its former owner. He pulled out his datapad, and I turned away and headed down the ruined hallway. It grew dark quickly, and Jaks came up next to me and flicked on his helmet lights.
We made our way slowly through the dark ruins, following the path that Pez had tracked. The video in my glasses showed the droid reaching the bottom of a stairway and then moving into a larger room. After a short walking distance, we found the stairway and went down multiple flights. At the bottom, there were clear signs of battle, with blaster scoring on several stairs and the walls. Another body lay cut in two a few paces from the bottom of the steps.
We passed several opened doors with wrecked rooms beyond as we made our way down the hallway. At the end of the hallway, we passed through double doors into a large hall that appeared to be a control room of some sort, with many panels active and lights flickering. On a raised control platform lay three heavily armored bodies, illuminated by Pez's travel lights.
"Shadow Commandos," Brand stated as he stepped up near the first body. It had a burned hole in the front of the breastplate from a lightsaber stab. It was clear that a Jedi had been here, not just because of the wounds, but I sensed a residue of the Force in the room. Pez flew around, scanning for doors and other bodies as the two recon soldiers stood near me.
"There are not enough bodies," the sergeant stated as his helmet lights started panning around.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Those carriers can haul eight passengers plus the crew. I only counted nine, maybe ten bodies."
"Maybe they were taken captive," Brand replied.
The sergeant moved off toward the darker area opposite where Pez was scouting, his headlamp still scanning.
"What the hell were they doing here?" the lieutenant asked as he bent down to pick up the shadow commando's heavy blaster.
"It seems strange that this room would have functioning equipment," I replied as I walked up to one of the control panels. "Someone seems to have reactivated parts of this industrial complex."
"I can't imagine why," Brand complained, "it's mostly rubble."
"Over here!" Jaks yelled. The lieutenant hurried to the corner where the sergeant was standing, and I followed. "There's footprints and scuff marks in the dust," Jaks pointed, "something was dragged over here."
We walked around a large piece of equipment and came up against a closed door. Jaks stepped forward and tried to open it, but it was locked.
"Dweep-click," Pez observed as he dove in from above our heads, his little travel lights scanning the metal door from top to bottom.
A sense in the Force prickled my skin. "Step back," I stated as I drew my saber. Pez warbled and rose out of range, and the two soldiers moved back as I ignited the crimson blade, a rushing hum filling the quiet room. I stuck the blade straight through the lock and sliced into the jamb to sever the bolt, then reached out to pull the door open.
Before the red blaster bolt appeared in the darkness beyond the door, I sensed it in the Force. Three shots rang out quickly as someone in the room beyond yelled. I blocked each bolt, sending them careening back into the room to strike equipment with a pop.
"Hold your fire!" Brand yelled behind me, "we're Imperial soldiers!"
One more shot came from the room, which I deflected into the dura-steel door with a splash of sparks.
"Hold fire, dammit!" Brand yelled again.
I stepped into the dark room, and Pez puffed his thrusters to drift in behind me, the droid's travel lights revealing a mechanical room with heavy machinery on the floor and lots of piping and wire raceways above. Several soldiers had poked their heads out from behind the equipment, one still pointing his blaster at me.
"Lower your weapon, soldier," the lieutenant ordered as he walked behind me. Pez warbled in agreement, his miniature blaster sliding out of his side and aiming at the soldier.
"Are they still out there?" the man asked, his fearful eyes looking past us at the open doorway.
"Just us, soldier," the lieutenant spoke calmly, "and we're on the same side."
Slowly, the panicked soldier lowered his weapon, and I walked over to where he was hiding. A group was hunkered down between two large pieces of equipment, some of them injured.
"What happened?" I asked.
"We tracked the doctor here," the soldier with the weapon spoke, "the Watcher was just apprehending him when the Jedi showed up, and all hell broke loose."
"Where is the Watcher?"
"I don't know," the man shook his head, "everything went sideways when the Jedi stormed the complex."
Pez and Jaks spread out and scanned the rest of the room while Brand and I focused on the soldiers. "What are you doing in here?" I asked sharply, "weren't you supposed to be protecting the Watcher?"
"We're no use against Jedi," the man mumbled as he shook his head, "the commando captain told us to get back since they were trained to handle Jedi. We dragged the injured in here and locked the door."
"Who's in command?" I snapped in irritation.
"Lieutenant Gerra is with us, but she's hurt bad and passed out a while ago."
"How long have you been hiding in here?"
"God only knows, Ma'am."
"That's not helpful; give me an estimate."
"At least an hour, maybe more."
The thought of trained soldiers hiding in a locked room while their companions were cut down made me angry, and I had to turn away from them. I looked at Brand. "We need answers," I growled, "can you collect this group and get them to their carriers? Maybe while you are helping, someone else will have better information."
"Sure," he nodded as he looked over at Jaks.
I left the equipment room and went back into the raised platform in the main hall, Pez puffing along behind me. The Watcher's body did not seem to be amongst the dead, so he had been captured or escaped. The soldier had mentioned tracking a doctor, and the control room had the feel of a lab, with tables full of parts and multiple computer panels flickering with lights.
Jaks led the way as soldiers started filing out of the room, some limping, others carrying wounded. The sergeant was helping a wounded soldier limp toward the stairway when Brand walked up with a small uniformed woman in tow.
"This is private Karva; she sounds more coherent than her comrade."
I looked at the woman, who stared back with hollow eyes. "Can you explain what happened here?"
"Watcher One assembled us as an insertion team to apprehend Doctor Godera . . ."
"Who is Doctor Godera?" I interrupted.
"I'm not sure," she mumbled, "that information was not in my ready report. All I know is that he works for the Republic as a weapons expert."
"Good enough," I replied, "where is Watcher One?"
"I don't know," the woman shook her head slowly. "He was here with the doctor when the Jedi attack started. Things got chaotic, and people started dying. The commandos told us to hide, that they would take care of the Jedi. I didn't see what happened to the Watcher after that." Her eyes drifted to the fallen forms of the shadow commandos as her words trailed off.
I looked over at Brand. "Show her the dead soldiers; see if she can ID the Watcher among them."
It took some time to organize what was left of the Watcher's combat team. The medic had been killed, so no one with medical knowledge was available to help the wounded past basic care. Several had perished in the dark equipment room, waiting for rescue. The remaining able-bodied members wanted to collect their dead, so Sergeant Jaks helped them while I looked around for any other hints to the Watcher's whereabouts.
While inspecting some of the tables strewn with mechanical parts, Pez warbled to get my attention. I walked over to a congested corner of the lab where some equipment was buzzing loudly. Pez was waiting for me, lights shining into a dark space between the equipment.
"What is it?" I asked the droid.
"Dweep-click-click-beep," Pez sounded as he drifted closer to the darkness.
I waved the droid back and stepped into the space. A mechanical passage ran behind the equipment, and I got a sense that it went deep into the building. I was going to explore further, but Pez called me back, and the lieutenant was trying to contact me.
"Dweep?" the droid asked.
"Patch him through," I replied.
Pez generated a holo of Brand standing by his speeder. "I connected the soldier's helmet-com to my speeder transmitter; it's got a more powerful sensor range. I've got some vague hits on my scanner."
"What does 'hits' mean, lieutenant?"
"I think I found them," he replied.
"I will be right there," I said as I waived at Pez to cut the com. I looked back at the maintenance passageway and focused in the Force but did not sense anything. Interested in what the lieutenant had found, I turned and headed out of the lab.
When I made it outside, Jaks was organizing the Watcher's team in one of the carriers, and Brand was still by his speeder looking at his data-pad.
I walked up to him with Pez in tow. "What have you found?"
Brand lifted up his data-pad towards me.
I looked at the screen, which had a topo-map of the local Taris region with blinking symbols and red lines. "What does it mean?" I snapped as I shoved the tablet back at him.
"It means that some of the Watcher's team are in a different location. Here." he pointed to the map.
"Where is 'here'," I waved a frustrated hand, "how far away?"
"It's on the other side of the Toxic Lake Garrison, in the Tularan Marsh region. Looks like a fifty-minute ride at full throttle."
I looked over at the broken Watcher's combat team huddled on the open ramp at the back of a transport. "Did the woman ID the Watcher among the dead?"
"No, and there are five others unaccounted for. It seems as though the Watcher escaped with part of his team."
"I found a passage in the lab that he could have used to escape the Jedi."
"Then this is where they are," the lieutenant said as he tapped his pad.
"We don't know that," I countered. "Those signals could be of captured team members. Can you communicate with them?"
"Not at this distance. The scanner barely picks up the signal on its highest setting; there would be too much distortion for any kind of communication."
"We performed our search and rescue," I mumbled as I looked over at the personnel carriers again. "In a way, we met our obligation."
"I'm okay with that," Brand replied as he caught my gaze with his. "I can call Toxic Lake and tell them what we've discovered. They can follow up on it if they want to."
I wanted to get back on task, wanted to finish my mission and get off-planet before time ran out and Thanaton found me, but at the same time, finding Watcher One could be a boon in many ways. It could help me with Imperial Intelligence, getting the spies and agents on my side instead of against me. Then there was the notion of building my power base, something a Sith needed to be effective. Way down the list, there was also the possibility of helping out Elios.
Deep inside, it felt like the Force was nudging me. "There's no one at Toxic Lake that is prepared to handle a Jedi," I stated flatly, "if the Watcher is at your signal," I pointed to the lieutenant's pad, "then he needs my help."
"That makes sense," he nodded, "if the signal is the Watcher's. We could be walking into a trap if it's not." I was thinking through my options and did not respond. "So, what are you saying?" he added.
"I'm saying that I need to reach those coordinates as quickly as possible."
"Then I'll take you there," he replied.
"No," I shook my head, "someone needs to help this team get to safety."
"Jaks can do that." He saw my resistance to his suggestion. "To be frank, I just saw how you pilot a speeder, and you have no idea how to get from here to there, what dangers to watch out for, or what areas to avoid. I can get you there safely and in the quickest time possible."
Inside I fumed, but I could not find a fault in his logic. "Very well, lieutenant, let's get on with it."