CHAPTER 16 – A Miner Rescue
Captain Asassa heard her comm go off on the shelve next to her bunk as she wiped sleep away from her dark blue eyes. "Yes, Nis. Did your uncle arrive?"
"Yes, captain. I am now using the scanner to find the tracking frequency of the bracelet. I should have the data in a few minutes. I will send you the encrypted data as soon as its done and I'll get back as soon as possible. My uncle has the tracking device to place on the ship. Puhl told me it is magnetic so he doesn't have to get too close to the ship to place it. He understands he has to be extremely discreet about it." There was a loud, wheezing cough coming over the comm in the background.
Wazhay heard the cough before the mike shut off, and it sounded like the uncle was in dire health already. She didn't want to state the obvious to him. "Very well, Nis. How soon until he will have to leave again?"
"His schedule is ten hours off, just enough to get some rest. I will head back to the ship now. Jharri let me know when his ship takes off."
"Alright. Take your time if you want to spend some of it with your uncle before he leaves."
"No, he is in bad shape. He will need to rest the entire time to get his strength back. Visiting will only tax him further. I'll say my goodbye and pray I'll see him again after this mission is completed."
"Coded transmission received. The ship has departed," Ruu read off the console screen.
The Twi'lek nodded, "Its go time. Everyone to their stations. Trest get to the quad laser cannon and put the weapons system in hot standby. Ruu take us up."
The captain watched out of the viewport as they ascended toward the dome access corridor. "Ruu, keep your distance and don't get into a crowd. Ayala watch the sensor readings for Imperial ships. We want to be sure no one is close enough to see us veer off course from the ship traffic."
"I'm not seeing much close to us now. I'll keep monitoring though."
Puhl added. "I'm picking up the tracking device's signal. We've got that transport ship tracking now. Adjust course over the airspeeder lanes to intercept. You should see it on your navigation console now."
The ship moved in behind the mine workers' transport and followed them through the dome access corridor. As they passed the portal and came out the other side, they ran into the swirling mist of the toxic atmosphere. Wazhay watched through the viewport, trying to identify any ships that could be Imperial. It was a futile endeavor as the mist obscured too much. "How are those scanners looking Ayala? We can't see a frakkin' thing more than a couple hundred meters around us."
Ruu spoke up. "It wasn't this bad coming in, must be some sort of storm. It'll give us some cover but also it is wreaking havoc on our systems. Scanner readings are sketchy at best."
The Jedi tapped on her console screen. "You are correct. I'm getting erroneous readings. Too much interference. I can't identify any ship types other than a few around us. All of those are two civilian shuttles, a smaller cargo hauler and the transport."
Puhl frowned at his engineering console. "Stang, stang, stang! We're going to have to stay close to the transport ship. The tracking signal is not strong enough in this toxic soup."
Ayala's eyes went wide as she watched the console display. "Oh, no. I'm picking up a new ship coming in from a different vector, not one that is supposed to be used by spaceship traffic. Make that two, no, three now. They are showing up as… Imperial tie fighters. They must have a fighter escort assigned. Looks like they were trying to find the transport. What do we do captain?"
The Twi'lek hesitated as she watched the readings. "We wait until they break from the traffic pattern. Then we'll figure out something. Puhl, can you isolate that frequency on the transport. That signal must be more powerful than those bracelet trackers."
"Aye captain. I can change the settings to lock in on the tracking device. Give me a minute to switch it over and route more power to the sensor array."
"Hurry it up. They're altering course now," the Twi'lek exclaimed with apprehension.
The ship's technician ignored the plea, he was doing what he could and didn't want to waste time arguing that he was already hurrying and trying not to mess up. "I've got the signal. Now I need to change the parameters of the frequency modulation to match on the sensor array. We should have better sensor's than the fighters or the short-range transport. We can stay just out of range, stay one hundred fifty to two hundred meters away from them." He read more data streaming in. "Kriffing piece of junk," Puhl blurted out in frustration. "The signal is too weak. I'm going to have to re-route power from another system to boost the signal further."
The Jedi interjected, "I've lost contact with them. But I have their last course, so perhaps we can acquire them again on sensors."
He pulled off a panel from under the console. "I know, I know. Hold on. Changing systems on the fly isn't all that easy ya know." He replaced a jumper to another one, and then checked his screen. "Okay, I think I got it."
The captain raised her lavender eyebrows, "you think…" and then she stopped short. "Ruu, get on that vector where they went off course, quickly. We got to make up a little ground."
The Sullustan pilot adjusted course in pursuit of the transport and their fighter escort. "They can't be too far ahead, unless they spotted us. Let's hope not."
A minute later after changing course, Ayala spoke up. "I'm picking up the bug's signal again, it's very weak but getting vector data." She intensely watched the read-out. "The signal is going out. They've must have altered course."
Wazhay's forehead creased as she checked the data. "I doubt they know we're following them or the fighters would be on us." She thought about why would they change course then. "They must be going above the storm to stay out of the interference. Ruu. Stay on the same vector but head up fifteen degrees elevation."
"I am getting the tracking device signal again, captain. You were correct, they are altering course to get above the toxic storm. If they get above it, we could shadow along and stay out of sight and sensors. I have no idea how strong the star destroyer's sensors will be from orbit to detect us or not though."
The Twi'lek shrugged, but nobody noticed. "Yes, well we can drop deeper into the mist if we are discovered, but we'll lose sight of the transport. Let us hope that doesn't happen. It'll take a miracle to find the mine from near the surface if we lose them. Not to mention it'll put the Empire on high alert."
"Do we have any good news," the Bith asked wryly.
"Sure. We're all still alive," the captain quipped.
Ruu flew the ship toward the edge of the toxic cloud as she growled, "we aren't done either." She yelled back over her shoulder, "Ayala let me know when they are above the mist. I need to try and stay as far away as possible without losing their signal."
Wazhay added, "be very careful. They aren't changing course so we can pick them up again. We need to stay close enough and reacquire the signal every minute or two."
"Got it. They appear to be out of the cloud now. We have a decent signal. Drop altitude until I say so."
The Sullustan dropped the ship deeper into the toxic storm clouds.
"Sensor lock is going out now."
The pilot and Ayala both worked together to keep maintaining sensor contact with the transport ship as they bobbed along the toxic storm trying to stay just at the point of sensor failure. This went on for almost ten minutes before the transport began to descend back down into the mist.
Wazhay let out a long breath she'd been holding. "Nice flying Ruu. They have to be headed down to the mining complex." She flipped the comm to the quad turret. "Trest, get the targeting computer up and be ready. We don't know what we'll run into here they may turn around and come back straight toward us. If we get off of the vector they are on we could slam into a mountainside or cliff. We'll follow the same flight path back out. The navicomputer will have the path logged so we should be able to retrace our route."
"The transport is making its landing in a hangar with a magnetic shield."
The captain nodded. "Excellent. This storm will hide our arrival. Slow us down to a crawl and descend until we hit solid ground, using repulsors. Ruu and Puhl power down everything but sensors, repulsors and sublight engines and switch sensors back so we can target the mining complex's sensor array. Let's wait a minute or two, the fighters ought to be headed back out."
Everyone stared out at the swirling mass of toxic vapor as if they could spot the ships. They couldn't actually see anything beyond the mist. It felt like they were inside a gas giant planet's atmosphere, without the crushing gravity.
Wazhay watched the chrono on the console. "Times up, let's move in. Bring us up above the roof of the complex. Power up everything. Ayala start active scanning on the mining complex. Find that array. Trest fire as soon as you get the lock. Puhl prepare to jam their internal comms. Only on my signal. We don't want to give away our surprise attack."
"Weapons hot," called out Trest from the mounted quad cannon turret. Ayala added, "active sensors switched to forward sensor array, captain. Scanning." "Moving in above the complex," Ruu announced as she pulled back on the steering handles.
"Target Aquired, sensor array locked in," the Jedi announced with satisfaction. "According to my readout there isn't a gunner turret, so it must be automated or controlled from a firing panel inside the complex."
The mercenary had already had the fire control stick in his hands, and the targeting array lit up in the display. The target flashed red and Trest pulled the trigger firing two twin blasts from the linked weapons. The red laser bolts destroyed the array and the surrounding area sending showers of sparks, fire and smoke to add to the toxic soup in the atmosphere. He continued firing, strafing the rooftop. The gruff mercenary had hoped to take out the blaster cannon turret but without the target lock the bolts just impacted across the duracrete roof of the mining complex causing only superficial damage.
The captain spoke vigorously, "Puhl, jam all the comms now!"
The ship's technician hit the switch to activate the jammer. He scowled at his display. "Kriff it. The jamming system is being affected by the interference. It is scattering the frequency modulation making the range extremely small and intermittent. Anyone inside the complex will have local comms only, albeit intermittent."
The Jedi interrupted, "The general alarm is going off in the mining complex and the mines. Everyone will be on alert now.
The Twi'lek did not look happy at the news, "what are our options, Puhl?"
"Sorry, captain. With the complex on alert now, we have no time for alternatives for the jammer. There's not enough space to park on top of the complex and not enough room in the hangar bay."
The Twi'lek got to her feet. "Puhl, you'll have to help man the quad laser turret. Ruu bring us to the edge of the complex, and lower the ramp, we'll have to go in the hard way. Everyone else, don your enviro-suits quickly, we're going to need them until we can breach the building. Trest, bring some detonite for breaching the roof and a spool of wire in case we can't remote detonate with the interference. Let's go."
The ship pivoted on its repulsors giving the ship a cushion to keep from hitting the building with the turbulent winds. The rest of the crew got on their sealed grey and black enviro-suits and waited at the cargo ramp. Wazhay flipped the switch to silence the warning sound from going off. She hit the ramp button and the ramp's motors whined as the heavy metallic door swung down toward the roof's edge. The infiltration team marched down the ramp and searched for a place to set the charges."
Wazhay called the ship, "Ruu. Keep hovering the ship as close as possible so we can maintain our comms with you."
The former Jedi activated her group comm channel. "Captain. I would suggest breaching on the back side of the building. That hangar is in the front and if we breach there, we could kill the miners that are being offloaded."
"Acknowledged Ayala. Ruu, move the ship back and see if there is section of wall that has no transparisteel windows. That will likely be storage, repair, or something like that and will be less likely to be in use."
"Acknowleged moving into position. Stand by." The pilot maneuvered the ship and shined running lights toward the back of the building. Center back section, top floor there are no windows."
Wazhay spoke on the comms, "Trest, set the charges."
The group moved a few meters away, as the charges were not fragmented and all the force would be directed downward toward the roof. Trest reeled off the wire and wrapped it around a small detonator device and connected the wire around a post.
Ayala interceded before he could detonate. "Captain, please let me breach first. I have experience with this kind of operation."
Wazhay just gave a nod staring at the human woman and then shrugged. "I've seen what you can do, go for it. Trest blow it."
The mercenary crewman pressed the button on his activation device and a muffled explosion sounded. A round shaped ring lit up with a blinding light. The embers glowed along the edge of the circular piece of duracrete as it fell down into the building."
The Jedi moved swiftly to the edge of the hole and peered at the round duracrete resting below. It was only two and a half meters down. She dropped into the room holding her stun baton and glowrod in her off-hand. She surveyed the area quickly. "All clear. It's a droid storage room, there are a few mouse droids, an inventory droid and a power droid that are shut down and recharging, and lots of spare parts on shelves." She noted that the duracrete block had crushed the thin duralumnium table that was in the middle of the room.
The rest of the team lowered themselves into the room. Ayala readied a stun grenade as the others pulled out their weapons.
The Twi'lek held up a hand. We need to move in quickly, we don't want to flood the building with toxic gases more than we have to."
The Bith interrupted. "Wait. I have an idea. That inventory droid that's deactivated. I'll hold that thing in front of me and I can go out first and use it as a shield and step out just enough to search for enemies."
"Sounds good to me, Nis." The captain said with a pleased tone. "Lead the way."
The former Jedi did not want to risk getting them killed, so she concentrated on the Force. Reaching out and searching out living beings nearby. The Force was turbulent much like the toxic storm outside. She couldn't maintain peace as she worried about them getting trapped and killed. The dark side crept into her mind. "Use your power, Shasie. Save your friends and crewmates. Use it. You have no choice. This could be a trap. Don't embrace your weakness." She shook off the thoughts and tamped them down. Her mind took back control, "No. There's always a choice."
The ship's captain hit the activation button just after Nis moved into position holding the humanoid sized droid's chassis in front of him like a shield. The door opened and he moved out just enough to observe the area, and then went all the way out into the corridor. He called out over his helmet speaker, "Clear on the perpendicular halls. Looks like another main hall in the center heading toward the front of the building."
They group hurried out the door and shut it behind them hastily. Wazhay spoke up, "Stay together, let's head to the right hallway. Ayala take the lead, Nis you take the rear. Leave your droid friend behind. We'll check the rooms where the doors are open and fry the door controls of the ones that are locked. There is nobody up here searching so either they don't know where we breached or they're setting up an ambush."
She glanced back and amended her orders, "Disregard that, Nis. Stay on guard on this side of the intersection out of view of the main hall, keep an eye out for any troops coming through the turbolift at the end of the main corridor. Shoot any vid-cams you see, but if you see any soldiers don't engage, signal us first so we can back you up."
Nis stood watch keeping his eye out for anyone, and he spotted a cam above the turbo-lift. He raised his long-barreled blaster carbine and sighted the cam a dozen meters away. He squeezed the trigger but missed the target by a few inches. He huffed and grumbled under his breath, then squeezed the trigger in rapid succession and finally destroyed that blasted cam with a satisfactory shower of sparks and smoke. "Security cams out of commission, captain." There was a curt acknowledgement as they were checking the rooms.
The team swept both side corridors' rooms and shot out the controls of the ones that were locked. Now they only had to sweep the main corridor. The captain had Trest take the lead this time on the halls to the left and right of the turbo-lift. He had to watch both directions and the turbo-lift, while the others swept the rooms along the main corridor. All of them were locked though so they destroyed all door controls. Trest called back on his comm, "there are only two doors on the same wall as the turbo-lift." The team moved in and opened one of the doors, it opened to a catwalk overlooking the hangar. They saw that the catwalk ran along the same wall as the left and right corridor so the other door also opened to the catwalk. Wazhay peered down and scanned the hangar. She saw that a group of lifter droids were loading minerals from the mines into the transport. There weren't any other troops in the hangar that they could see, which was good, but a bit suspicious. Her forehead creased as she analyzed the situation. "They are likely going to try and ambush us coming down the turbo-lift, or we locked the troops in when we shot out the controls. If that's the case it'll hold them for a little while." She glanced down at the hangar and mentally measured the distance. It was a drop of about five meters. No way of getting down there without a breaking some bones in the attempt."
The Jedi volunteered. "Captain, I'll get down there. I can climb down the outer part of the turbo-lift. I'm a very good climber, used to do free climbs on sheer cliffs back on Sullust."
The Twi'lek flashed another raised eyebrow, but she trusted Ayala would know her limitations. "Give us three clicks on the microphone to let us know you're in position. We'll get in the turbolift and then you can move in and drop a stunner and then we'll open up and clean up the rest. Be careful."
The Jedi nodded and waited for the others to leave the catwalk. Once the door was closed, she dropped down to the hangar floor landing as lightly as a lolth cat. The human woman spied on the droids which were ignoring her, focused only on loading the ore carts. She also noticed they were using the left side rounded-corner, large rectangular door hatch. She pulled out her stun stick and a stun grenade in her left hand and came to a halt in front of the door panel. She waited a several long moments since she got down too quickly and the team might have been suspicious at her rapid descent and movement. Ayala took that time to inhale deeply and summon the Force. This time she became at peace allowing herself to sense all living things around her. There was a squad of three units right outside the hatch she was about to open, and another group of three standing at the elevator with one more person, most likely a sergeant or an officer a couple meters behind and further down the hall.
The dyed, red-haired human woman clicked her mike three times to signal her companions, waited another three second count and hit the controls with the hilt of her stun stick. The heavy metallic door screeched as the middle section parted and opened outward. The Jedi dropped the stunner into the opening and stepped back.
The grenade bounced and hit the nearest stormtrooper in the ankle, which made him look down just as the concussive shriek exploded. It knocked him backward, slamming him into the hangar door frame and then dropped hard on the hangar deck. The other two stormtroopers squad members felt the concussive wave and the screeching whine and were briefly deafened by the sound.
Meanwhile, Wazhay was directing the others as the lift headed to ground level. "Trest get down on the floor. Nis, we'll stay in the lift and get cover on the sides. I'll take the right and you to the left. Expect targets to be there. They'll likely know we are coming. Focus…" she was cut off as she heard the high-pitched shriek from the stun grenade and pumped her fist in her off hand and murmured in a low voice "here we go."
"Now we're talking! About frakkin' time we get to pop-off some Imps," Trest said excitedly from his prone position.
The lift stopped and she added with gusto, "let's give Ayala some assistance, shall we." The door opened and there were three storm troopers in their shining white armor along with an Imperial officer a few meters behind them on the main corridor with a drab grey uniform and brimless cap. The troopers were watching something off to the right and didn't react quickly enough to the door opening.
Trest didn't hesitate, he unleashed a flurry of blaster fire from his blaster carbine striking the nearest one several times across his lower and mid torso, and then fired at the next closest trooper which slammed in the center of his chest and another round burning hole into his upper right shoulder.
Nis took careful aim as Trest downed two of the solders and leaned out firing his DH-17 carbine at the final member of the squad. The fiery red blast struck the white armored man's solar plexus dropping him to his knees. He seized up and then fell face first onto the grated metallic floor.
The Twi'lek sighted up the Imperial officer who was pulling something small off his thick black belt, likely his handheld comm. Her sizzling bolt struck the officer just below his right collarbone, nearly causing him to drop both his pistol and the small device.
The officer grimaced in pain as he rushed toward the nearby door but managed to squeeze off a few wild shots from his blaster pistol which hit the side wall and back of the turbolift. He had moved too fast and glanced back to dodge another shot, but when he turned back, he was too close and couldn't slow down. His momentum carried him into the wall shoulder first. Ignoring his injuries out of fear or desperation, he managed to activate the door control with his elbow which swooshed open as he frantically leapt into the room.
The second Stormtrooper squad moved into the hangar to find the attacker that threw the grenade. They each looked left and right, the trooper on the right yelled through his helmet speaker, "contact right!" The trooper on the right bent to his knee and they both fired at the woman holding the stun baton. Ayala cartwheeled to her right, then rolled forward as they fired multiple blasts of red bolts of plasma at the young woman. She rolled up onto her feet in between the two soldiers. One of the shots hit the left side of her cheek drawing a nasty burn mark. She reflected on the fact that she could have been unscathed if she could use her lightsaber but resisted that urge for now. The wound was painful but she needed to end this fight quickly.
The Jedi maneuvered around them keeping them close so they couldn't aim their blaster rifles, she pushed aside the barrel of one of the stormtroopers with her baton and then stuck it into the hip joint of the white armor and discharged the energy into him. She released it as the trooper tried to hit her with the butt of his rifle. She ducked out of the way easily as he was twitching from the jolt. She hurriedly moved between the two soldiers again.
Wazhay watched the officer run toward the door in the main first floor corridor but ducked out of the way as he fired wildly toward them. She spotted the Imperial officer enter the room and she sprinted after him. She yelled back to her crew, "go help Ayala."
She reached the door as the smug officer tried to close the door. She got there as the door was shutting but her target side stepped the blaster shots. She cursed in Huttese and then shot the door panel controls, effectively locking the officer inside.
Nis ran down the hall to the right, Trest fell behind because he had to stand up first. The Bith reached the open hangar portal seeing one stormtrooper out cold on the deck and two more troopers locked in battle with the human woman swinging her stun baton with fervor. He couldn't take a shot without risking hitting his crewmate. He threw his rifle behind him on his gun sling and pulled his vibro-knife out and taunted the troopers. "Two to one, didn't anyone teach you fair play. How about we even it up."
"Make it three to two and soon to be four to two since your cowardly officer ran and hid during the gun battle," came the words from the burly mercenary, though huffing a little from being out of breath from his mad dash.
The stormtroopers glanced at one another and one of them threw his rifle on the ground and the other soldier had little choice but to follow suit. "Hey, we're just doing a job. A crappy one in this wretched toxic mine."
Ayala addressed the soldiers, "take off your helmets, set them down and place your hands behind your backs. Then tell me how many more troops are here." She gazed back toward the Bith. "Nis, please bind them."
The soldier that put down his rifle first answered immediately. "There's a squad upstairs and another squad in the mine. The squad upstairs was trying to get the door open because the controls were disabled by your people, we assume. The squad in the mine was being recalled to support the officer, along with their sergeant who went to get them because of the comm problems. We haven't answered so they'll assume we are down too. That's all we know."
The Jedi nodded slightly, "thank you for your cooperation. We'll try to minimize any injuries to your comrades, but my crew's safety comes first. Please hand me your code cylinders and comms."
Wazhay joined the group and heard the human woman's words, giving a disapproving eye toward Ayala. "I agree to a degree, but stun settings against armor will endanger us further. We will have to use lethal force if they do not surrender."
The Jedi pursed her lips tightly but nodded with a monotone reply, "yes, captain. It's unfortunate as these seem like conscripts forced into service based on their lower skills, or bottom tier graduates or both."
Without the helmets both of the men looked more like teenagers, one having buzzed cut light amber hair and hazel eyes, the other had dark brown wavy short hair. The buzzed cut soldier asked "what is a conscript?"
Ayala answered as she gave the Twi'lek a sideways bemused glance. "A conscript is someone that is forced into military service or are paid a small number of credits or debt forgiveness to join the military."
The glazed expression of the two soldiers appeared they were even further confused.
The captain rolled her eyes as she waved her hands toward the door into the complex. "Forget it, we don't have time for this. Let's get into position to address the next wave of stormtroopers and their sergeant, who will likely be much more combat seasoned."
The human woman added. "We also need to be aware that there is another squad on the second floor locked in, but they could get the door open soon. They weren't heavy duty doors."
Wazhay tilted her head as she thought about it. "I don't think this place has a stairwell that we saw so they would have to come down the lift. It could have been in one of the doors we disabled. But that would take time and it would be a lot easier to take the lift. We can try and get into the door across from where the officer hid. But I think that it is locked."
The Jedi held up two skinny cylindrical objects with a spiral activator on the end. "I got the code cylinders from the soldiers that surrendered. We should be able to open it unless it is a command room or something else requiring elevated privileges."
"Alright, let's get moving," the captain ordered to her crew.
They jogged down the hall and stopped at the elevator where the corridors intersected. The Twi'lek pointed to the left. "Nis and Trest you take the elevator, high and low. Ayala and I will take corner of the hall across from you two and we'll open the door across from where the officer escaped. The Jedi pulled out the code cylinder into the door control port, it opened up into a room containing comm and sensor consoles. There were some lingering sparks and the acrid smell of smoke in there, as several of the consoles had shorted out. But there was also the smell of the toxic atmosphere. Wazhay studied the room. "I wonder if our attack on the sensor array caused this equipment to overload." She shifted her gaze to the ceiling and nodded. "Yep. That was our doing, though the ceiling integrity is still mostly intact. We'll need to seal the door. We can't hide in there or we'll get toxin exposure."
Trest opened the comm channel interrupting the two women. "I see three troopers coming from the end of the hall and another one farther back with a green shoulder pauldron on his white armor."
"Get in position now, stay out of sight until they're just eight to ten meters away," the Twi'lek intoned urgently.
The crew scrambled into position and waited, peeking out on occasion as they watched the soldiers work their way behind the mineral carts. Ayala pulled a stimpack from her belt and jabbed it into her shoulder. She soon felt some relief as the bacta flowed from her shoulder to the burn wound on her neck and started to turn the damaged skin back to a darker pink coloring. She removed another stun grenade and held her stun baton at the ready as she left the sensor room.
"They're almost in position," Trest announced. "Though, I don't see the last one with the green pauldron."
"Open fire as soon as soon as they move forward," Wazhay commanded over the comm channel. "We'll worry about the missing person later. I don't like the sound of it though. Something is up. Stay alert."
The white armored troopers moved around the repulsor minecarts, and into the open. Trest stared down the long barrel of his blaster carbine and sighted in on the enemy combatants. He squeezed the trigger and hit him directly in the chin area of his helmet, and partially under the unarmored area, dropping him to the ground. He fired several quick rounds at the two others. One burned a hole into the Imperial's plastoid armor around the collar bone, the other received a glancing burn which was absorbed by the soldier's plastoid armor, leaving only a burn mark on the gleaming white armor.
Nis fired off several rounds of his own blaster carbine at the two soldiers, burning a hole in the midsection of the one on the right, and the second one in the middle of his chest. Both fell to the ground and succumbed to their wounds.
"Anyone got eyes on the trooper with the green markings, he's got to be their sergeant," the mercenary human asked.
"I've got a bad feeling," came Ayala's voice over the comm. "Wait, I think I see him… but there are other people. Oh, no. He's got Bith hostages from the mine, and the transport pilot."
Wazhay moved stay hunched over as she moved up to the nearest minecart. "Release the prisoners, we don't want anyone else to get hurt."
"You should have thought of that before you attacked this facility and killed the soldiers doing their job."
Trest advanced to another minecart to the left of the captain. "We have you outnumbered and outgunned. But we can end this peaceably. Let them go. I can appreciate being a soldier, but this is not the honorable way. Many of your soldiers are alive, we can treat them if you give up."
"No, scum! You are going to move away. Drop your weapons and we are going to take these prisoners with us on the transport and leave."
"Then you are going to die, this is your last chance," Trest growled.
The Twi'lek yelled out. "We get paid whether or not you shoot a few prisoners. Drop it and leave with your transport. I don't care. We were paid for the miner's rescue. Head out, while you have the chance."
Trest rested his gun on the edge of the cart, aiming squarely at the sergeant's laminate helmet. "You heard the lady. You have until the count of three to save your skin. Take your transport, now. Three, two, one…"
"Alright. I give up, me and my pilot are leaving." He threw down his rifle and motioned for the pilot with the olive-colored utility suit to move with him, both of them ran with their hands held up high. The miners ran and ducked for cover farther back on the opposite side from the fleeing men. The first two captured stormtroopers ran toward the transport, "wait take us with you." They joined the pilot and scurried up the ramp.
Trest watched the two Imperials disappear into the landing bay, before he relaxed his grip a little. Suddenly the sergeant leaned into the bay doorway while tossing a roughly cylindrical metallic device toward the middle of the crew. He roared in an angry terror as he dove between the minecarts, "Frag!".
Everyone was in motion desperately trying to get into some cover, everyone except Ayala. She stood still like she was wading in a peaceful stream on a bright sunny day. The Force rushed through her and gave her clarity. For her the grenade had slowed to a crawl as it flew through the air. She could see the markings, the manufacturing date and company logo on the deadly device. She raised two fingers and pointed at the explosive grenade and it altered its trajectory and sped down the main hall opposite the turbolift.
The Jedi stepped to the side out of the main corridor. The frag detonated against the far wall at the back of the building. A huge shock wave sped back down the hall toward the turbolift like a champion podracer. It rattled the entire complex and made their ears ring as the gale force wind carrying very small pieces of debris impacted against the stormtrooper bodies, walls and the turbolift. She hoped the crew taking cover they wouldn't realize what actually happened.
The sergeant had just gone up the ramp and disappeared before Trest could get his rifle up to shoot him. "Piece of frakkin' poodoo," he screamed at the man with the green pauldron.
Wazhay grabbed the comm and called up to the ship with a dangerous edge to her voice. "Don't let that kriffing transport leave. Don't let that piece of Shab get back to the city."
"On it," responded Ruu and Puhl hesitantly, both a little shocked at the vitriol in their captain's voice, but they went into action instantly. The Kazellis-class light freighter moved into position, lining up to face the transport that was spinning up its engines rapidly. They hovered above the mining complex tilting downwards to give the laser cannons an advantageous angle of attack.
"Take the piloting controls, Puhl. I'll take remote control of the quad cannons from the co-pilot console. "Sorry mate, but you couldn't hit the broad side of a moon with the quads."
"Well, I can't fly very well either."
"Then let's hope we take them down on the first barrage. Here it comes, just keep it steady Puhl."
"Target Lock. Firing." The bottom twin cannons rattled as the ship the unleashed their red-hot plasma. The huge dual lances of red energy raked across the top hull of the transport, followed by another pair. The final shot sent flames into the air and then the murky clouds lit up in an orange-yellow glow. The Imperial ship turned into a blazing fireball that came apart into massive chunks of molten metal that rained across Clak'dor's dark, toxic landscape.
Puhl pumped his fist in the air, "Yeah, baby! Nice shooting Ruu."
Her face flaps widened as she smiled broadly and bobbed her head. "That was a relief. Alright, let's go get the rest of our crew and those enslaved miners." She buzzed the crew's comms, "We're coming into the landing bay, do we have the all clear?"
Wazhay responded quietly, "Go ahead and land. We've got another squad coming down the turbolift, we're sitting in ambush. Shouldn't be a problem though. The pile of bodies in white plastoid armor on the deck, will give them serious pause."
The door to the turbo-lift open and all of their guns were pointed at the stormtroopers. Trest spoke up for the group. "Drop your weapons, now. You are surrounded, your sergeant took the pilot and left you to die. You gotta love the loyalty of your senior soldiers. Your Imperial officer locked himself inside a room, leaving you to fend for yourselves. I suggest you don't owe them a frakkin' thing."
One of the soldiers lifted his rifle and the other one grabbed it. "Stand down. Look at the bodies. They're right. I heard the transport taking off."
"We don't know that," one of them argued.
"Yeah, the officer is not here and his men are all laying on the ground. It doesn't appear we are nothing more than fodder. This toxic place is worse than a diseased decaying bantha baking under twin suns. We formally surrender."
After another glance at the bodies all around, they all promptly dropped their weapons and surrendered.
The Twi'lek spoke to them gently. "You were given the worst assignment. You can come with us, but you will be deserters. The Empire is doing similar things across the galaxy. Strip mining planets, destroying their planets and then they leave the people to rot. Wherever you came from, your planet maybe the next one that this happens." She waved her hands around indicating the toxic landscape around them.
The first trooper stated, "I am done. You are right. I've turned a blind eye to what's going on. I don't doubt it since I've heard the rumors myself. This could happen to any of our home planets." The second trooper nodded his head in agreement.
The third person answered. "I'm not deserting. Think about it, you will be on a list and an outlaw."
"Yeah, we know. But I'm sick of what we've become. These people are giving us a chance to live when if it our commanders had defeated you, we would have been ordered to gun you down anyway."
Wazhay nodded to the first two troopers and turned and shook her head toward the third one's stubbornness. "I'll give you fair warning. We are going to blow up the building with our ship, seal yourself in the mine and pray that the Empire comes for you before that toxic atmosphere does you in." She turned to Trest and pointed to the troopers. "Cuff these stormtroopers. I do apologize, but we can't take any chances at the moment for security, as you well understand. Nis, free the miners and see if you can find some explosives. We'll end this mining operation here and now."
The two stormtroopers that surrendered and the Bith miners were brought aboard the ship. The troopers were each locked in the forward airlocks, the trooper that stayed was taken and sealed in the mine entrance hatch. They set up the mining explosives on a five-minute timer in the middle of the complex. The Bastion of Eriadu flew out of the hangar following the last heading. They felt a jolt as the mining complex exploded behind them. They flew up to the edge and rode along the waves of toxic clouds until they were out of sensor range of the massive Imperial capital ships and on the opposite side of the forsaken planet where they left orbit and jumped into hyperspace.
