Leading the troop, Shesprer trudged through the overgrown forest paths. He should actually had a good feeling. Soon they would be there and his mission would be accomplished. Ken would certainly have managed to disable the defenses and before the fight really begins he will be out to relieve Shesprer. There was no reason to worry. But he still couldn't calm down completely. There were always thoughts in the back of his mind that Ken might have failed. And then it would be over. Then he and everyone here would definitely die, and Ken himself would be history anyway. But he had to stop thinking like that. What he needed now was optimism. And above all, he should have trust in Ken. After all, he had proven often enough that he was worthy of it. Yes, he would definitely make it and this whole thing would all be behind them soon.
To his relief, he could now see in the near distance between the trees how the forest slowly ended and a clearing emerged. That could only mean that they had arrived.
"Stop!" he shouted to the others and held out his hand.
"What's wrong?" one asked cautiously, holding up the blaster to forestall possible danger.
"We're here," Shesprer told them.
The loud sounds of weapons being loaded rang out in the forest and startled some birds.
"What are your orders?" the man at the front of the line asked.
Under pressure, Shesprer thought. On the one hand, Ken had told him that they should just attack without hesitation. But he didn't want to do something like that without first being aware of the situation.
"What are your orders?" another warrior asked him again, and the rest also pressed him for an answer. It all became too much for Shesprer.
"Be quiet!" he ordered them loudly and quickly everything became quiet again. He took a deep breath in and out to come back down.
"We first sneak up quietly and secretly, get an overview, and only then we attack."
The others responded to his command and together they continued through the bushes until they reached the edge of the jungle.
Shesprer motioned for the others to stay back and quickly caught a glimpse of the truly breathtaking fortress.
There were a few soldiers and a tank in the outer courtyard. But he was much more impressed by the defenses in question. Ornan definitely wasn't exaggerating. Now he hoped even more that Ken had deactivated them, otherwise soon there will only be a maximum of atoms left of them, if anything at all. But even with that advantage, it would be an uphill battle.
He went back to the others and explained the situation to them.
"All right," said one of them. "How do we go about this now?"
Shesprer didn't like his tone. It sounded like he wasn't expecting much. They still underestimated him. But there was no time for arguments now, so he thought about a plan.
"Do you have grenades with you?", he asked the group.
Some of them took them out and showed them to him.
"Lots of them," replied the warrior directly in front of Shesprer.
"Good. We'll throw everything we have at them out of nowhere to cause trouble and take out the tank. At my signal we will then go on the attack."
"That's an attack to my liking," the warrior smiled at him. "I love the smell of explosions in the morning."
"It's nice that we agree on that," Shesprer replied with a smile.
"Stand up in a semicircle along the outermost row of trees so that you remain undetected. At my signal you let it rip."
He turned to two warriors with heavy rifles.
"You two take care of the tank. Throw everything you have at him and when you rush, kill his driver immediately."
"Yes," the two nodded and got into position.
To be on the safe side, Shesprer also packed some grenades, just in case.
A short time later the formation was captured. Shesprer stood at the very center, tensely surveying the future battlefield. His heart pounded as he counted down the seconds until the attack in his head.
"Come on!" he shouted when he reached the end of the countdown.
All the warriors immediately stood up from their hiding place and rained down countless fragmentation grenades on their enemies. The screams of death were completely drowned out by the loud bangs and Shesprer covered his ears so as not to lose his hearing. When the explosions stopped, all that was left was the blown dust and smoke, which blocked the view. But he knew that was exactly why they had to get started now.
"Fire open!" he shouted. "Tankdestroyers, charge forward! Everyone else stays back until visibility is clear again!"
Everyone docked and a flash of lasers pierced the gray fog. The two men that Shesprer had put in charge of the tank duly stormed towards it and destroyed it from the inside. They had saved a grenade especially for this purpose.
Just as the smoke cleared, the return fire began. Shesprer raised his lightsaber to deflect the first shots. Immediately afterwards he jumped high into the air towards the enemy warriors.
"Attack!" he shouted from above and his men followed him into battle.
He landed right next to a warrior and immediately slashed his chest. Then the fog was completely gone and he allowed himself a brief overview of the battlefield. Some corpses and body parts were already distributed. Further behind, the destroyed tank was smoking. But the enemies were still in the majority. It would continue to be difficult. At least there was still no sign of the guns. So Ken had probably really done it. But where was he? Actually, it shouldn't take too long for him to get out again. So be it. He had to hold out until then.
He swung his lightsaber and took out two more enemies before going on the defensive like Ken had taught him. Fighting was made somewhat more difficult by his injured hand, as he was not used to wielding his lightsaber one-handed. Still, he only sweated slightly. After all, it wasn't the first time he had done it and as a Jedi he was prepared for all exceptional situations.
Suddenly the shelling stopped briefly and their enemies began to move towards the wall. That made Shesprer happy. They had already beaten them back. Now they just had to increase the pressure and they will soon have the outside area secured.
"Forward!" he shouted to his men and the horde rushed forward.
Suddenly he heard the sound of a mechanism shifting.
When he then looked up he realized where it came from and why the warriors had retreated.
The guns were aimed directly at them. So they were still activated after all. And the enemy has retreated to the wall to be in the blind spot and give a clear field of fire. That was an absolute disaster.
"Forget it!" he shouted, hoping they would listen to him immediately. "Back to the forest! Immediately!"
As soon as he said that, the first shots were fired. He barely managed to avoid it by diving backwards, but the explosion caused by the impact of a single shot still knocked him back. No wonder, they were just removed turbolaser batteries from a Dreadnaught.
His men weren't so lucky. Several explosions on the battlefield vaporized their bodies or sent corpses flying. Shesprer couldn't count how many losses they had made in just one moment.
What took Ken so long? Or did something happen to him?
He just knows that they had no chance of surviving here for long and ran into the forest as quickly as possible. But when the others also sought shelter in the trees again, the turbo lasers continued to fire and burned deep furrows in the bushes.
Shesprer now realized that they couldn't get out of range of their detection range because the guns appeared to be controlled manually.
"Run even deeper!" He hoped that he could at least block their view.
"Why are these damn guns still activated?" a warrior asked angrily.
"I have no idea!" Shesprer said, bowing his head. "Something probably happened to them in there."
"We have no choice!" said another one and you could hear that this decision was difficult for him. "We have to escape!"
"No!" Shesprer said firmly. He knew it was completely irrational to stay here, but he didn't want to give up just yet. "We're staying here! Tey will certanly make it!"
"We have no chance!" the warrior appealed to him impatiently. "Too many are already dead and if we stay here even more will follow!"
"We can hold out long enough here in the forest! We just have to hold on a little longer!"
"This is crazy! We don't even know if they're still alive!"
But Shesprer was sure. "But I do! If Ken had died I would have felt it! But at the moment I still feel his presence!"
"Even if…!"
"The Force is with him!" Shesprer interrupted him. He tolerated no further contradictions. "He'll do it, for sure!"
The warrior sighed. "And what do you plan to do now?"
That was a good question though. Shesprer thought for a moment.
"Everyone go into sniper mode and shoot our enemies on the wall. This way we will be able to lure them here and engage them in close combat. As soon as they are here with us, the guns will stop firing. Come on!"
The warriors responded to the order and all took cover so that they could aim accurately. Shesprer hid to wait for the melee.
Come on, Ken, he thought to himself. Don't let us down now.
….
Ken blinked awake and realized he had been unconscious again. This immediately put him in a wide-awake and equally nervous state. How long has he been unconscious now? If it was more than ten minutes, then his comrades, including Shesprer, were now dead. That couldn't be allowed.
His fear only now made him realize that he was chained to a wall with his hands tied behind his back. And to his surprise, there were Cuyaes and two guards in front of the door of the small cell.
And then Ken was overcome with anger. He had fainted too quickly to realize it earlier, but Cuyaes had betrayed them. And it was only thanks to him that they were now in such deep trouble.
"What's this all about?", Ken growled.
"First of all, I want to assure you that you were only unconscious for a few minutes," Cuyaes replied, without answering his question.
That made Ken a little relieved. If that was really the case, he could still make it, at least if he escaped, which it didn't look like at the moment.
"Just long enough to get you here and just long enough for your friends to show up here."
Ken's relief was gone as quickly as it came.
"What's happening out there?" he asked, trembling.
Cuyaes just shrugged. "Of course I don't know for sure, but I just gave the order to open fire. So it won't last too long."
Now Ken finally forgot himself.
"You damn traitor!" he insulted him. "We actually regretted your death. Now I wish you had just died!"
"Am I really a traitor? After all, I was never on your side. My loyalty has always been to the Mandalorians." His voice remained ice cold.
As angry as Ken was, he knew anger wouldn't do him any good now and he tried to come down. Maybe he could convince him after all.
"Have you still not understood that Mandalore is a madman who will bring death and destruction to the galaxy?"
"It's a high price, yes, but one I'm willing to pay."
"And what for?" Ken was more than desperate by his lack of emotion. He really didn't seem to care at all.
"I do all this for my family. I was once the commander of a small infantry unit. However, one day my wife was accused of treason because Mandalore suspected that they had contact with the Blan Flos. Of course he had no proof. Anyway, she and my children were all captured, but I stood up for them and asked him to spare them. Mandalore then made me an offer: If I succeeded in destroying the Blan Flos, he would release them again. I then infiltrated them as a spy and just waited for the right opportunity, which now finally presents itself to me."
Ken recognized Iasa here. She also gave up everything for her family and was willing to sacrifice anything. Unlike him, however, she chose a pacifist path, while he chose the path of war.
"That's all well and good, but that's clearly going too far."
"You once told me that Iasa would leave everything behind for her child, and I remember that you even tried to persuade her to do so. So why is this any different?" Cuyaes confronted him.
"Because it is absolutely disproportionate to put the lives of billions at risk for a few people!"
"I don't give a damn about these billions of creatures," he said dryly. "I neither knew nor have I ever seen them. My family, on the other hand, means everything to me. For them I would wipe out everything and everyone, if necessary the entire Galaxy."
"Do you see? That's exactly why we Jedi aren't allowed to enter into relationships. Because they lead to nothing more than selfish actions and cruel deeds."
"Don't tell me your Jedi nonsense again," Cuyaes snapped. "I have enough. I'll take care of the battle now, and once it's over you'll die!"
Cuyaes put his helmet back on and left the room, followed by his two guards.
Ken was getting angry again now. He realized that he could probably no longer be saved. He would have to kill him. But first he had to get out of here. However, his hands were tied behind his back, making it impossible to move even a little.
After a few minutes the door opened again. To Ken's surprise, however, he didn't see Cuyaes, but Ornan and Duke, in full gear.
Ken could hardly control the happy hormones that were coursing through his body and almost started to cry.
"What are you doing here?"
"Oh well," Duke grunted. "getting you out of here."
Ken didn't know how they were going to do it, but if they did it for themselves, they will do it for him too.
"Unleash," Ornan then said and suddenly Ken's bonds opened and he had to brace himself to avoid falling on his face.
"Just in case, I had voice control installed in the cells, of course only tuned to my voice. Oh yeah, and we brought you this."
He handed Ken his lightsaber. Ken was really starting to love this bastard.
"We always surprise each other," was all Ken said.
"Let's hurry now," Duke reminded her of her real task. "We're way over schedule and there's all hell going on outside."
The three of them, led by Ornan, made their way to the control room, which went without incident.
Once there, he quickly opened the door and immediately went to the terminal, with his datapad in his hand. Ken and Duke stood guard, but all warriors had been withdrawn outside. Cuyaes probably didn't expect that they would manage to break out.
"Deactivated!" Ornan shouted euphorically.
Ken let out a short sigh of relief.
"What to do now?" asked Duke, who didn't allow himself any breathing space. After all, it wasn't over yet.
"You go down and help the others," Ken decided. "The two of us will secure the lab."
"All right," Duke said. He grabbed a grappling hook, ran towards the window, threw himself out and rappelled down.
"Come on now!", Ken shouted towards Ornan. "If we can still secure your experiment, we've won."
"I'm with you," said Ornan and they made their way to the last floor together.