Two: Incursion
19, Ninth Month, 5 ABY
Stealth CR90, Basilisk
Padawans Jeyda and Tal were playing cards as Jedi Brood walked in from the cockpit. The quiet hum of the ship surrounded a tense atmosphere in the lounge. Maris closed her eyes, to the untold observer she could simply be taking a quiet moment of rest.
Krezik smirked, “Full Sabacc!” he called out, fanning out his cards on the table.
Akim threw her own cards down dejectedly, and Jedi Brood opened her eyes. “Don’t take it too hard, Jeyda. I sense Tal’s affinity with identifying minute details through the force may be growing.” She turned, aiming one finger and a pointed glare at Padawan Krezik. “And you had better make sure that particular skill is used only in harmless times such as theses, dishonesty leads to the dark side.”
Tal’s smirk slipped off his face, embarrassment taking its place. “Yes, Master Brood. Sorry Jeyda” he offered. Maris closed her eyes once more, feeling the shifting of the pilot. “We’re here” she said, flowing into command mode, “Prep for the drop, meet the others at the ramp”. The Padawans nodded and hurried out of the lounge.
Tal and Jeyda found a place near the front of the strike team onboard. The modified corvette had a drop-ramp fixed into its underside, and the rest of the team was readying themselves to jump down onto the rocky surface. Basilisk was a barren world, devoid of much flora and fauna. It’s native people, the Basiliskans, had declared they would be loyal to the Empire.
“Hey, kid,” whispered one of the strike team to Jeyda’s side. She was a Twi’lek woman with a deep red skin and elegant patterns on her lekku. The side of her shoulder armour indicated she was a Lieutenant. “You might want to clasp that breather, you’re leaking,” she pointed to Jeyda’s Jedi re-breather. The air on Basilisk was toxic to Humans, as well as many non-human species. Apparently, not so toxic to Twi’leks. Jeyda thanked the Lieutenant, and Tal helped her adjust the Jedi equipment.
Maris strode into the drop-chamber, standing at the front of the team. Her very presence seemed to command an air of authority. Jeyda could have sworn the strike team was noticeably calmer with her there. The comm units mounted into the ceiling crackled to life, the pilot’s voice coming through to the team. “Approaching the drop point, standby…” The seconds seemed to drag by for Tal as he stood at the precipice of that ramp. He was no stranger to fighting, as a Royal guard on Naboo he had even fought some Imperials before, but never like this, never an entire garrison. He felt a gently hand on his arm, and silently thanked Jeyda through the Force for having his back. “Drop!” the sharp command snapped him back into focus as the ramp slid open, revealing the dark planet surface far below.
Falling was never something Jeyda had gotten used to. They had trained in many ways at the Academy, Master Skywalker was very open about the fact that he did not have all the knowledge of old training techniques. He relied heavily on those Jedi that had survived the purge and war, such as Master Elaiza or Jedi Brood. Still, he was committed to teaching a variety of techniques that had helped him greatly during his time with the Rebellion. Jeyda pushed out powerfully with the force, perhaps a bit too powerfully. As opposed to the jet-assisted or force-controlled soft landings of the rest of the team, she flew back up into the air and then came down hard, landing with a painful thud.
Tal helped her to her feet, only a small fraction of worry seeping through to his eyes. “Let’s move,” ordered Maris, pointing out on the horizon. Tal squinted out, the light was an oddity here, the planet’s surface seemed to actively absorb so much that it remained a deep black colour on all rocky surfaces. Off in the distance, perhaps two klicks or so, he saw the sharp outline of the Imperial base.
19, Ninth Month, 5 ABY
Imperial Remnant Facility, Basilisk
The trooper never knew what hit them as the New Republic strike commander silently dispatched of the door guard. Stormtroopers. That was a worrying sight, thought the Padawans. The Empire’s elite troops had once been visible across the galaxy, but with Remnant forces spread so thin they were rare to see on something like guard duty. Tal and Jeyda quickly hurried to either side of the door as the strike team took up positions in cover and Maris tried to engage the locking mechanism. Jeyda was just starting to worry they should’ve brought a slicer when the soft hiss of the Imperial gate slid open.
The corridor was devoid of life, and the Republic team crept carefully inside, posting a guard just inside to keep an eye out for any curious Imps. Jedi Brood retrieved a holoprojector from her belt, and a 3-dimensional map of the facility cast the faces of the operatives in a blue hue.
“Our informant claims these schematics are up to date, but be ready to improvise when following them”, Maris began, “Here,” she gestured to a long-looking room at one end of the base, “is the main technician’s barracks. That’s where our man is. Jeyda, Tal, it’s your job to get him back to his entry hall. The rest of us,” she started tracing a line through the hologram, “will be following this path to the command center. We’ll extract the intel, and hopefully the Commander as prisoner. We rendezvous back here. Everyone set?” She glanced quickly at most of the team, gazing more steadily at the Padawans as she received a chorus of determined affirmatives. “Good, May the Force be with you.”
♦♦♦
“This place is a maze,” Tal muttered under his breath. The pair of Jedi Padawans had been following the “map” for much longer than either of them thought would have been necessary. “Hold up,” Jeyda whispered, raising a hand in front of him just before the corridor turned. “I sense… I don’t know,” Tal crouched low against the wall by the bend and closed his eyes. He wasn’t quite as attuned to the “passive echo” as Master Elaiza called it, though when he did concentrate, he picked up on things she couldn’t.
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“You’re right,” he whispered back, standing slowly, “there’s something dark there.” Tal removed the borrowed saber from his belt. It felt strange. Even the training sabers were permanent assignments, so that the student could form some sort of connection to the tool. This one was cold, detached, a weapon. He turned back to Jeyda; she too held a saber in hand. She nodded that she was ready and counted down on her fingers. Three…two…one…now! The duo leaped out from behind the corner, a snap-hiss filling their ears as their blue-white and orange-white blades surged to life. They saw…nothing? Akim and Krezik stood still both assuming the medium guard of Shii-Cho, the Way of the Sarlacc. Their eyes scanned the empty passageway as their minds reached out through the Force. Suddenly Tal recoiled, both mentally and physically as he stumbled back, saber hitting the floor.
“Tal!” Jeyda cried out, deactivating her saber, and moving to catch him. “I’m— I’m alright Jeyda,” he panted through ragged breath, his pale face telling a different story. She looked back down that hall again, it was still empty, but something had changed. The Force! Whatever she was sensing, that subtle pressure at the back of her mind, was gone. She reached out carefully, slowly trying to examine the empty chamber, and finding nothing. Tal slowly got to his feet, steadying himself on his friend’s arm.
“You look ill, Tal” Jeyda prodded, “I’m fine. We have a mission to do, and whatever it was is gone now so let’s just keep moving.” Jeyda studied his face a while longer, searching for any trace that he didn’t believe himself, but she couldn’t find it. “Alright, let’s go.” Tal collected his borrowed weapon, and they continued following the oft-incorrect map to their destination.
♦♦♦
Maris twisted, the green-white blades of her twin tonfa lightsabers snapping to life. She spun the sabers effortlessly, deflecting the poorly trained Imperial conscript’s fire directly back at them. The Republic strike team around her dove for cover and the corridor erupted in a cacophony of screaming bolts. She planted her feet and channeled the Force into her focus, transitioning into her own blend of Form III: Soresu.
Each movement of her sabers was precise, the rotating blades forming a near-impenetrable barrier in front of her. The bolts meeting her weapons were redirected with a practice that spoke to her years of experience before the Great Jedi Purge. For all the raw aggression and fear of the conscripts, they could not hope to harm the practiced control of a Jedi Knight, least one who had conquered her fears long ago.
As the Imperial numbers thinned, and the enemy grew more wary of peering out to take a shot, Jedi Brood held deactivated a saber. She held up the hand that grasped the hilt, signalling the Republic soldiers to hold their fire. She waited a moment, hoping the Imperials would make the right choice, but finally decided they hadn’t the time, and made it for them.
She reached out with the Force, bringing to bear the greatest power in the universe. She pulled with her mind, wrenching the weak and frightened soldiers out from behind their hiding places with a mighty invisible grasp. The strike team fired a final volley of stun rounds, rendering the defenceless conscripts unconscious in a heap.
“No time to waste Commander,” she returned the weapons to her belt and started moving toward the target once more.
♦♦♦
“This is it,” said Tal, peering through the metal door with the Force. “Our informant is inside, but they’re not alone. How do you want to do this?” he looked to Jeyda. She drew the lightsaber from her belt, adopting not so much a practiced lightsaber guard position but more a stance designed to intimidate.
“Which one is he?” she asked, and Tal pointed out to her side, “Right inside, on your left”. He drew his own weapon, trying to mirror her form, and then reached out with the Force to push open the door. A snap-hiss followed the slide-opening of the Imperial barracks, and the room was bathed in an eerie light. Padawan Krezik stepped forward quickly, assuming a more defensive stance, and Jeyda pointed her saber directly at the informant.
“You! Come with us! You know where the Commander is?” She tried to sound authoritative and intimidating all at once, and for the moment it seemed to work, none of the other technicians were reaching for any blasters.
“Uh, yeah, yeah I can show you” stammered out the informant, and it briefly occurred to Jeyda that it may not have been the Jedi way to actually frighten the man. “Move!” she ordered, she would have a chance to apologize later, but right now there was something at the edge of her mind building in pressure. Tal saw it first, one of the techs at the far end of the room was crouching down behind a console.
“Don’t!” He shouted, adjusting his position slightly to face the threat.
“Tal, look out!” Cried Jeyda, twisting and raising her blade to block the incoming red saber! She just barely managed to deflect the blow, sending the blood-red blade into the side of the wall instead of cutting through Tal. The distraction was all the tech was waiting for, she drew the blaster pistol at the console and fired! The shot went wide, Imperial techs may have been armed but they weren’t exactly sharpshooters. Tal focused the force, rolling with speed back into the corridor past their attacker. Jeyda did the same, and the door slammed shut as soon as she was clear.
The aggressor was a tall humanoid figure. Jeyda prided herself on her knowledge of the galaxy, but she couldn’t quite place the woman’s species. She had red skin, and short twin tentacles hanging down from her cheekbones. Her eyes were a fearsome yellow, and as she stood before the two Padawans, they could feel a wave on hatred washing past them. Tal readied himself in the high guard position, Jeyda the medium, and the woman slowly let out a harsh laugh.
“Ha ha ha… Padawans? Really?” her voice had a refined quality to it, and she spoke with an accent of the Core worlds. “They sent, padawans to Basilisk!? Your new order is far more fragile than I imagined…” she taunted, twirling her saber around, passing through a variety of stances the two students couldn’t recognize, few they could. Finally, she came to rest in a low guard of Form I. “Very well,” she breathed, the malice of her tone almost visible around them, “Let’s dance.”
As soon as she struck out at them with her glowing red-white blade the pair of Jedi Padawans knew they were not going to win this fight. She was too quick, too precise. The door to the barracks flashed open! The informant stood behind the red-blade, defiantly taking aim at her with a blaster pistol. Then, suddenly, the weapon tumbled from his hands. Jeyda twisted out of her opponent’s saber lock, stepping back further, joining Tal.
The technician who had risked so much to contact the New Republic, was paying the ultimate price. He clutched and clawed desperately at the invisible grip tightening around his throat. It was over in mere moments, the lifeless form dropping to the ground with a sickening thud. Tal could feel the anger rising inside him, calling out one word. Revenge.
Maris took a half-step toward the command-center door, before clutching at her chest and stumbling against the wall. NO! She sent a thought with the force of a star destroyer echoing across the Imperial base.
Jeyda pushed out with all the strength she could manage, ripping the very floor up from the corridor and hurling it at the blood-red woman. The hallway erupted in a shower of sparks and she pulled Tal back away from the now blocked passage, dragging him back until he finally returned to his self.