The fleet came out of hyperspace above Mustafar. As soon as it did both The Twin Moons and the Starbird separated from the Mon Cal cruiser. Rogue squadron and 4 assault shuttles launched. Rogue's 1st and 3rd flight joined up with the Starbird and one of the assault shuttles. The 2nd flight joined up with The Twin Moons and the remaining shuttles.
Luke watched as the first group made for the surface, he hoped it all went well. They would head down about 5 minutes after them and were to hold a little ways off.
Sitting behind Luke was General Cracken with Iella behind Mara. Cracken also provided gunners for the three Quadlaser guns. K4 was in his slot at the Shield/weapons station in case he needed to operate the bottom turret.
L/M
Wedge led the first flight ahead of the Starbird and assault shuttle. He had 3rd flight in close support to the two ships.
"OK Rogues, Lets watch out for any surprises. Corran, I will lead my flight around the fortress to see if the hanger is open and if anyone is around. Once we are sure of no heavy weapons that can take out the Starbird or the assault shuttle you can follow."
"Copy that Wedge."
Wedge led his flight in a wide path around the fortress for the first pass. "Gate see if you can get a visual on the hanger area. If it is open, we will make a quick entrance to secure it fast."
Gate responded an affirmative.
L/M
On the Starbird Hera flew the ship while Ashoka, Ezra and Sabine all meditated to see if they could get a feel of any danger.
"How are we looking so far? The Rogues are starting their first pass?"
"There is something there but the Darkside is masking it a little."
"OK, I'll let Rogue leader know. Rogue leader this is Starbird, be aware we are detecting there may be some danger. Use extreme caution."
"Thanks Starbird. Making a wide pass first."
Hera watch as they came in wide. "Someone sees them." Ezra called out.
"Rogue leader, you have been spotted."
"Roger, thanks. We just passed the side the hanger is on. Gate reports it is open. Joining back up with you. Once we join back up we will make a fast approach to the hanger. Myself and Rogue 9 will go in with you while the rest watch for trouble outside."
L/M
Luke and everyone in the cockpit were listening to the communications between Wedge and Hera. He turned to Mara who had her eyes closed. "Mara."
"Ezra is right, someone has seen them. There is danger but not sure from where."
"Rogue two, we are heading in with the others. There is something. Probably on the ground and we have guns on our bottom side. Stay and watch over the shuttles."
"Roger Luke. Careful."
"Will do." Luke turned to K4. "K4 get the gun powered up and ready. Iella make sure the shields are good."
Both acknowledged his orders and went to work. About that time Mara called out over the radio. "First group pull out now!"
They also heard Hera call out also. The first group pulled up just short of the hanger. Luke and Cracken were watching out the front window as laser shots came up from around the hanger.
"R2 can you pinpoint the gun emplacements?"
R2 gave off a few beeps and whistles which K4 replied to. Cracken asked Luke what they said.
"R2 has a pretty good idea where they came from and gave K4 the coordinates. R2 also sent them to Wedge."
Just then a couple X-Wings launched proton torpedoes. Luke then brought is ship in close enough for his bottom and port side guns to fire on the positions themselves.
Luke radioed Wedge. "Rogue Leader you should be good for your assault."
"Thanks Luke, heading in now."
They watched the assault force make a quick run on the hanger bay, while a couple other X-wings made another run on ground positions.
L/M
Hera brought the Starbird in first since she had the most Jedi on her ship. She already had the boarding ramp open. As soon as she touches down the five Jedi on board all exited and headed to around the front of the ship. As they came around, they came under fire. It was not too heavy at first, but Hera could see others entering the hanger from the rest of the fortress.
They started to advance while the Wraith Page's group and Kapp's team all came up behind them and fired on the enemy positions. The battle was intense for the first few minutes but the enemy started to pull out of the hanger when they realized they were out numbered and out matched. 20 minutes after the assault began the main hanger area was secured.
The Wraiths headed to a turbo lift that lead to the hangers control room while Kapp and his team secured the entrance to the hanger. Page and his team started clearing any areas connected to the hangers. It would be another hour before they were sure the area was fully secured.
Hera got on the radio. "General Hanger secured."
L/M
"All forces move in." Cracken called over the radio.
Luke took The Twin Moons in first with the rest of the shuttles following. This was in case there was any more ground fire. Iella had told all the gunners to be on guard for ground fire.
Luke brought the ship in a few minutes later. Mara had already headed for the boarding ramp to exit with the rest of the ground troops on board.
Once down Luke turned to Iella. "Ship is yours. I am heading out with the others."
"Don't worry Luke K4 and I will take good care of it."
Luke left with R2 on his heals. When they exited the ship he headed to where Cracken was talking with Ashoka, Kapp, Page and Face. Luke headed that way.
When he arrived he heard. "The hanger, control room and all the rooms off the hanger have been secured. Wedge is calling in the rest of his fighters. Once they are in we will close the hangers so we don't have to worry about anyone coming in that way. Not that it will be easy unless they have ships or speeders."
"OK, lets get things set. I want The Twin Moons and Starbird where they can cover the hanger entrance. Set up defense positions to the side of the two ships. Once we have a line of defense set up we will then move to secure the fortress."
Everyone then moved to follow his orders. Hera moved the Starbird to where it was off to the left of the Twin Moons. She angled it so that the Starbird's foreword guns could fire on the entrance. All the fighters were set up towards the bay doors that lead to the outside. They were parked on either side of the doors. This was so they could scramble fast if need be. All the shuttles were in between where the fighters were and the two freighters.
A couple hour after they landed, they started to prep to start securing the rest of the place. Once they were ready Page and his commandos took the left side of the door leading to the rest of the fortress and Kapp took the right. Ashoka and Luke took the center with the other Jedi behind them.
When they were ready Luke used the force to open the doors. They moved with caution. After going down a short hallway they came to a junction. Accordingly, to the plans straight ahead lead to the front entrance to the fortress. The left and Right hallways lead to where they could access the turbo lifts or stairs to the upper and lower areas.
Kapp and his group headed for the entrance. Once they started to cross the junction they came under fire from the front and the sides. A couple soldiers went down before the Jedi could move to start blocking enemy fire.
A battle then insured on three sides of the Republic forces. With the Jedi they were able secure the junction and hold it against the enemy. The battle lasted about a hour before they stop receiving fire from the enemy.
Cracken started issuing orders after the wounded were taken back to The Twin Moon's for medical treatment. 2 soldiers had died in the attack and a few more wounded.
"Kapp take your group and secure the front doors. Page you take the left hallway and head up to the top of the fortress and start working your way down. Loran, take your group and head down the right and take the stairwell to the floor with the throne room and control room on it. Secure both rooms. My group will hold this junction and the hanger bay. Everyone move out."
Luke watched the groups move out. "Mara, stay back just down the hallway to the hanger bay and try to sense any danger."
"OK Luke." Mara then moved just far enough that see could not be sean from either hallway. A couple soldiers moved to guard her since her eyes would be closed while reaching out in the force.
Luke helped the group of soldiers he was with set up defensive positions on all three sides. Cracken had headed back to the hanger bay to use one of the ships communications to call the fleet and le them know what was going on.
L/M
Page and his group reached the top where the shield controls and main communications room was located. Once they searched the floor they split into two groups to headed down the two stairwells to the next floor. They cleared all three floors above the floor with the throne room on it. They stopped there just long enough to make sure that the Wraiths were good before finishing the rest of the upper floors.
L/M
The Wraiths searched all the rooms except the control and throne room first. Once they were secured the had a few soldiers watch the stair wells and turbo lifts. They then secured the control room. Once they were sure it was safe they left a tech and a droid to start working on getting control of the fortress. Face left a few more soldiers to help keep it secured. Once that was done they all headed to the throne room. It just took a few more minutes to search it and all the rooms off it, including the room that had Vader's Bacca tank. Once that was done they headed down to the main floor to join up with the others.
L/M
Luke was watching and waiting. First to return was Kapp. "We set up surveillance equipment outside the main doors. No one will be able to approach without us knowing. We did see a group a way down from the fortress but not sure what they are doing. We also set up a portable shield generator to keep the entrance secured with a second line of cameras just down the hallway from the doors. It is all tied into the small portable command center we have in the hanger bay."
"OK, once the other two groups get back then we will look to secure the rest of this floor and then securing the lower floors."
"Ok Luke. Hopefully we can have the whole fortress secured in a few more hours. Then we can look into the reason we are here."
L/M
It took another 6 hours to search and secure the fortress. By that time it had gotten late and Cracken and Luke set a night watch.
They had some techs and droids in the command center working with some guards and two Jedi. Saba and Kyp got that job. So they could take shifts they turned one of the rooms on the floor with some cots so they could get some sleep. On the main floor they set up a guard station at the main junction with guards watching the hall leading to the main entrance and the area where all the stairwells and turbo lifts were. They also had guards at the doors to the hanger bay. The rest of the Jedi rotated shifts to help keep an eye on things. Those off shift slept on the ship and shuttles.
L/M
The next morning they made their way to the area with the vaults and the prisoner's cells. They would spend the day going threw everything to see what they could find, including the identities of the Jedi that had died there.
Luke walked up to the vault that had Jedi artifacts in it. Ashoka was with him. He was letting her go first since she probably knew some of them.
As Ashoka stood in front of the doors Luke headed to the keypad. He put in a set of numbers and waited for the light to turn green. When he did Ashoka started to open the door but Luke stopped her. He entered another set of numbers then hit unlock. The door opened.
"My father was paranoid, though he was sure the Emperor had another code hot wired in the system. He rarely came down here himself. He just instructed some a droid he built to bring items to the vault. That way he could insure the droids loyalty."
"It would not be the first droid he built. C3-PO would be the first." Ashoka told him."
"I had no idea. Well let see what we have."
Ashoka lead the way in with Luke and Mara right behind him. This vault was not very big. It had shelves with creates on them. Each one had a name on it. Ashoka walked threw and read the names.
"I knew some of these names. They were Jedi."
"These must be the items he wanted us to retrieve." spoke Mara in a quiet voice.
While Ashoka started looking in some of the creates Mara and the other Jedi there started taking an inventory of all the items in the vault.
Luke had moved to the far right of the vault and saw another door. It had a symbol that he did not know. He called Ashoka over.
Ashoka came over and gave off a small hiss at seeing the symbol. "Inquisitors. This was their symbol."
"I remember reading about them but don't really know much." Luke told Ashoka.
"Jedi hunters, Ezra had sever run ins with them. So did I. They were all gone by the time you came along."
"I knew of them." Mara stated. "I saw a few but there were none left when I started with my own missions. All I know was Palpatine said they all failed."
"The Lothal cell took out the grand Inquisitor and Ezra had a hand in two more of their deaths."
"I don't think my father knew this was here. He never said anything about a second door."
"Are you sure he told you everything or just what he wanted." said a skeptical voice behind them.
Luke turned to see Ezra, with Sabine behind him. "I know you only knew him as Vader and no reason to trust him, or even me.
Put aside what you knew about Vader. Vader is gone. He died in the end when Anikin decided to save me. If you don't want to believe me then trust Ashoka and ask her what she believes."
"If he knew this was here he would have told Luke. We can believe he did not know of this."
Mara spoke up. "My guess is that Palpatine knew more then Vader wanted him to know. Once he figured Vader didn't come down here hardly at all he could have had this door installed."
"There is another keypad, but we don't have this code." Luke told everyone we will need to cut it open, but we need to be careful. We don't know how much room there is between the door and any items in there."
"Ezra is pretty good at picking locks, let him try first." Sabine suggested."
Luke waved him forward. "Better idea then mine."
Ezra pulled out a tool he had not used since the days of the rebellion. Luke watched him work and was impressed. It only took a few minutes, and the door opened up. When the lights came on the hole group looked on in horror.