Hands bound, Taz and Lyra marched through the heavy doors of the squat detention center adjacent to the security office in Rho-277's administrative quarter. Their captors prodded them past security scanners to verify that they had no hidden weapons, then down a dark corridor to a set of reinforced double doors. A guard buzzed them in and the doors whooshed aside to reveal a wide space. Seven prisoner lockups surrounded a central control station.
A black-uniformed guard sat at the panel and nodded to the security troops as they entered. "More prisoners," he sneered. "Business is looking up."
Lyra saw Tess and Varun in separate cells behind a steel lattice. The guard hauled Lyra to Tess's cage, then pressed a key chip to her binders. The white glow of the confinement ray blinked out on Tess's cell and the grate slid up.
"Prisoner advance!" ordered the guard. He put his blaster against the small of her back and shoved. Lyra stumbled into the cell, though Tess caught her before she fell. The guard at the station threw a lever and the grate slammed back into place. He threw another, activating the cell's ray shield.
"Hey!" Taz snarled. That earned him a whack across the back of the head from his captor's E-11. Taz dropped to his knees with a cry of pain.
The guard shoved his blaster muzzle against Taz's cheekbone. "Want some more of that, Rebel scum? Just keep running your mouth."
The others shouted angrily as the two troopers removed his binders and threw him into the cell with Varun. Taz spat curses as the door was sealed again.
"Silence, or you'll be stunned unconscious!" bellowed the guard at the panel.
"Want us to hang around, Broder?" The man who'd struck Taz snapped his rifle up, aligning his scope on Taz. "I haven't had anything to shoot at but training remotes for months."
The other guard ran his gloved hand through wavy brown hair that was showing some gray. "No target practice today, Seeb, as good as that sounds." He fingered the SE-14 light repeater on his belt. "Admiral wants to make examples of them. No killing." He clicked his tongue.
"Who said anything about killing?" the younger Seeb shot back, twisting the control knob on his rifle to lower the output. "I was just gonna burn 'em some. Maybe one or two of 'em gets shot while escaping. It happens, you know." He swept the rifle around.
"Ruatha'd never go for that and you know it." quipped Rayfeldt, pushing Seeb's E-11 muzzle toward the floor. He looked at Broder, switching gears. "Sabacc tomorrow, remember? You still owe me fifty credits from last week."
"And you're not going to let me forget it," Broder groaned, wiping a hand over his face. He tilted his helmeted head toward the entrance. "Go on, get. Shift just started."
"Let's go, Seeb. Broder needs to practice his bluffing skills, and it's galliopan night at the mess."
Seeb rubbed his hands hungrily. "Galliopan!" he repeated, smacking his lips. He threw a wave over his shoulder. "Later, Brode."
Broder grunted a sendoff behind the desk and swiveled his seat, taking a sabacc deck from the panel and shuffling it. He watched the prisoners for a few seconds, then started dealing practice hands.
In the cell Taz rolled over and sat. He put a hand to the back of his head. It came away bloody. He pressed hard to staunch the bleeding.
"Are you okay, Oktos?" called Lyra from the next cell over.
"Yeah," he groaned, "You?"
"I'm okay," she assured him. The jailer shot them a nasty look before returning to his cards.
Taz turned to Varun. "Guess we wore out our welcome."
"Ruatha," he spat the name. "She probably ran us through ISB's database. She arrested us at Tessa's parent's place."
"Do they know?"
"Amanda and Jerric? Yes. Tessa told them earlier today." he looked upset and resigned all at the same time. "I don't know if I could've kept the truth from my parents either if I was seeing them for the first time in a decade. I knew that ISB bitch was going to be trouble." Then as an afterthought he asked, "What happened? Did you fall in a lake?"
Taz waved his hand. "Later. Did you get a look at the mining operation?"
"I was planning to do it today." He lifted both hands in a gesture of futility. "I don't know the details but Tafo and Ruatha said enough when they arrested us to pretty much confirm what we suspected about this place." Varun helped him up and Taz sat on the bench at the back of the small cell.
"How do we get out of here?" Taz asked in a low voice.
"I don't know but we'd better think of something fast," Numarkos said. "Ruatha's going to interrogate all of us, starting with Tess."
"Why her?"
"Tafo wants her." Varun spat, looking furious. "He threatened Jerric and Amanda's lives if she didn't comply."
Taz's expression darkened. "Tell me everything."
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When Varun finished reciting the day's events, Taz spat a sharp curse. He leaned back against the wall, then winced from the painful knot on the back of his head.
"Are you alright? You got whacked pretty good."
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
"I don't suppose you've got any ideas for getting out of here?"
"Like what? You're the spook here. Don't you have some kind of trick up your sleeve?"
Varun smirked. "I'm not a field operative. What about, you know..." he waved his hands in an exaggerated, mystical gesture.
Taz scowled. "I got a look at the controls. I might be able to move the levers that control the doors and shields."
"Give it a try. If one of us can surprise that guard—"
A buzzer sounded in the room, interrupting him. A small door opened beside the entrance and a battered service droid walked in bearing a plate with four bowls of some kind of thin-looking broth. "Meals for the prisoners," it intoned, turning its red photoreceptors toward the guard. Broder flipped switches and small panels opened in the cell grates, just large enough for the bowls to fit through. Lyra and Tess took theirs, then Varun and Taz.
Taz looked skeptically at the food. Varun tipped the bowl to his mouth and drank. "If they wanted to kill us they wouldn't bother with poison, they'd just shoot us."
Taz shrugged. "I suppose so," he said and followed Varun's example.
After he finished, he whispered, "Now?"
Varun shook his head. "We need to get out of here but let's try in four hours. We all had a full day. If we're going to escape we should get some rest."
"Why four hours?"
"It's enough time for us to recharge and It'll be deep into the guard's shift when he'll be least alert."
Taz liked the logic. "Okay. I'll… try to let Lyra and Tess know."
Taz called on the Force, blocking out the headache that had started pounding at him. After a minute he began to sense the people nearby. As at the temple, Lyra's essence felt the most vibrant to him. He wondered again if she might be sensitive to the Force, at least a little.
Nanvarr had taught him not only to pull thoughts from others, but to send them too. It had taken hours of exhausting practice and he'd only managed to transmit a simple thought, but that was before his night in the Dai Bendu temple. Taz stretched out his feelings toward Lyra's presence in the Force and touched it gingerly. Escape attempt in four hours. Sleep now. Let me know you've heard me. She felt scared and uncertain, but also warm and defiant. Taz took unexpected comfort from her ferocity. He repeated the thoughts over and over.
After a time, Lyra tapped her bowl against the steel grate and addressed the guard. "Broder, was it? We're done over here. Send your droid to take these bowls so we can get some sleep."
"Don't tell me what to do, Rebel," scoffed the man.
"I'm not a rebel. Imperial Customs Office."
"Even worse, a traitor," he sneered.
"Suit yourself but when your droid comes along to collect them we might be sleeping, so unless you want to open this cell now…"
"Shut up," snapped Broder, but he pressed the call button for the droid.
"We're going to sleep?" Tess asked, shoving her bowl through the slot for the droid to take.
"Taz," she said softly, tapping her temple.
Tess looked confused, then astounded. She wondered briefly why he hadn't contacted her. Maybe he can't? Or he doesn't want to. "How long?" she whispered.
Lyra reclined on one of the cots. She drew her knee up and laid her hand on it, then tapped four times with her finger.
Tess looked through the grates at the guard. "You come anywhere near this cell while we're sleeping and you'll regret it."
Broder glared at her, but made no response. Hoping Varun and Taz had received her message, Tess took the other cot, closed her eyes, and tried to sleep.
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Taz cracked his eyes open. After sending the message to Lyra, he'd used the healing trance on himself then fallen asleep. The lights were out in the cell but he was sure the video monitors could still see him. Beyond the grating he could see Broder at the central control station, dimly illuminated by the overhead lights that had been lowered, but not extinguished.
The man threw down the spread of cards in his hand. "Damn sim," he grumbled, stabbing at a switch on the panel. A display went dark, closing down the sabacc simulator he'd been playing against.
There was no semblance of privacy in a cell and Taz needed a reason to get up. His exercises with Nanvarr and his own experiences had shown him that he got the best result interacting with people and things through the Force when he could make direct eye contact.
Taz swung his legs over the edge of the cot and sat, making a show of rubbing sleep from his eyes. Broder glanced at him, looking bored.
This might be easier if they'd put a droid in charge of the overnight shift. Taz pushed up from the cot and walked to the toilet on the wall next to the cell door. The guard eyed him.
"What, you've never had to relieve yourself in the middle of the night?" He stood over the bowl and took care of his biological needs, keeping his eyes on the sentry. After a second, the man turned away.
When he was fourteen Taz had unknowingly used the Force to stop an assault by two Imperial upperclassmen. He'd never really understood how he did it until Nanvarr's lessons, and he'd refused when the Fereax suggested he practice on his fellow crewmates. Now he looked out of the cell and thought Broder might make a good practice subject.
He flicked a glance over at Varun. It looked like he was sleeping but Taz figured he was awake and waiting. Tess and Lyra were over in the next cell, probably doing the same. He was pretty sure they'd gotten his telepathic message. And there was no way he was going to let Ruatha interrogate Tess, Lyra or any of them.
"Right." Taz mumbled. It took only a few seconds to feel the Force around him. He shuffled at the front of the cell. The guard looked his way. He found Broder's presence in the gray mist and pushed his thoughts outward. With a suggestive hand wave he said, "You want to go home now."
Broder blinked. "What are you talking about, Rebel? Go back to sleep before I hit you with stun gas."
Taz scowled and reached out for the man's presence. He read annoyance and hunger. Smiling to himself, he tried again, pushing more of his will into it. "The cameras aren't working. You want to turn them off."
The sentry blinked again. His hand moved to the console and he flipped a switch.
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Encouraged, Taz continued. "Some of that galliopan sounds good. You want a snack from the mess."
"Think I'll see if anything's left at the mess." Broder got up and took a step toward the door.
Taz pushed even harder. "You won't need your code key. Leave it behind."
As he walked out, Broder took his code cylinder from his shoulder pocket and dropped it on the floor.
When the door closed, Taz let out a nervous sigh. "It worked."
Varun was at the cell door as soon as the guard left. "How'd you do that?"
He waved his hands, mirroring the melodramatic gesture Varun had used before. "The Force. Lyra, Tess?"
"We're here," Lyra answered.
"Give me a minute. I'm going to try opening the cell door."
"Why didn't you just get the guard to do it?" Numarkos asked.
"Because he wouldn't have," Taz answered, annoyed. "Be quiet. I need to concentrate."
He closed his eyes and focused. Finding objects in the Force was harder for him than finding people, but after half a minute the cell controls resolved from the haze in his perception. He wasn't sure how to manipulate a single control. Can I use the Force like a hand? He imagined himself tripping the small levers. Nothing happened.
Taz had no idea how long the guard might be gone but he kept at it. After what seemed like a long time, the confinement ray flickered off. A second later the cell doors flew up into the ceiling. Taz released his hold on the Force and blew out a labored breath, sweating and shaky.
Varun went to the controls and checked the surveillance cameras outside the detention center. The guard was just opening the door. If their escape was discovered then everything was over. "Back in!" he urged. "Broder's on his way!" The others hurried back to the cells and Varun threw the levers.
Varun pressed himself against the wall beside the door. The guard came through, licking the last of the glazed galliopan from his fingers. He saw the code cylinder he'd dropped and bent to pick it up.
Varun took a step and drove his knee into the man's face. Broder screamed for a half-second before Numarkos brought his elbow down hard on the base of his skull. The Imperial flopped to the floor.
Varun dragged him behind the wrap-around control center and relieved him of his stun baton. He released the others and rubbed painfully at his elbow. Then he grabbed Tess in a furious embrace and held her tightly.
Taz flipped through information on the data terminal. "Looks like his shift ends in two hours."
Over his shoulder Varun said, "See if you can loop the surveillance recordings so they won't know we've escaped. Then find the data vault. And see if they got Sera or Reiko."
Taz nodded and got to work.
"What's our next move?" Lyra asked. "Head for the mines?"
Varun shook his head. "The mine's out. They'll have it under double guard. We need hard evidence. There should be a data vault somewhere. We need to gather as much information as we can, then get off this planet."
"What about my parents?" Tess said, looking alarmed.
Varun looked pained. "Sweetheart, we'll come back with a task force, I promise, but we can't help them if we don't bring intel about this operation back to the Republic."
"That could take weeks!" she cried.
"I know, Tessa, and I'm sorry, but we don't have many options."
"We can take them with us!"
"Their house is guarded and we're unarmed," Taz pointed out, still working at the terminal.
"If we get caught they'll shoot us and be done with it," Lyra followed.
Tess looked on the verge of panic. "If we leave them here Ruatha will kill them!"
Varun was torn. He pressed his lips into a thin line and turned on Tess, but before he could say or do anything Taz stepped in front of him. He grabbed Tess and gave her arm a rough shake.
"Captain Tessalyn Daro!" he snapped, looking as cold as he could. "You think we can afford compassion right now? If we don't leave, we die." He shook her again, harder. "If you stay, you die. That's all there is to it." He pushed her toward Varun, hating himself for what he was doing.
"Hey, Oktos you don't need to—" Lyra started.
He cut her off with a raised finger and a sharp look. "You and Tess are our only pilots. One of you has to make it to the ship while Numarkos and I break into the data vault and get the intel we came for. You might have to fight your way out of here but right now that's the only thing any of us should be thinking about—" He stabbed his finger toward Tess—"Not rescuing her parents. If whatever's left of the Empire is building a new fleet with kyber-enhanced superlasers, the entire galaxy's at risk, not to mention everything we fought for in the last decade."
"You don't mean that, Taz," Tess uttered, looking pale and heartsick.
Varun glared at Taz. "You're a heartless bastard."
"Call me what you want. I'm also right." Seeing her like that, Taz almost lost control of the hard shell he was projecting. To avoid the betrayal in her dark eyes he grabbed Broder by the arms and dragged the unconscious man toward the open cell.
Varun turned Tess gently by her shoulders. "Your parents are resourceful, sweetheart. We have to trust them to take care of themselves. As much as I hate saying it, he's right." His glare lanced through Taz again. "We have to keep the big picture in mind." He pressed the baton into her hand. "As long as they don't discover our escape your parents are safe."
He glanced at the terminal where Taz had been working. "Looks like Rei and Sera are being detained in the security annex next to the hangar. You and Lyra get over there. If you can release them you'll have a better chance getting the ship out. But if it looks like you can't do it without getting caught, you'll have to leave them, understand?"
Tess looked sick, her eyes awash with simmering tears. Lyra answered for her, though she looked just as uncomfortable. "We've got it."
"It's half a klick from here. You need to move now."
Lyra added, "With Allegra we can cause the kind of havoc that'll make your parents the last thing on their minds." She glowered at Taz, then held out her hand to Tess.
"I—" Tess started to say.
Varun kissed her hard. "Get the ship ready for us. I'll see you soon." He flipped controls and the heavy doors opened. The two women hurried out.
Taz finished with the guard. He took the man's comlink, set it to the monitor channel, and clipped it on his belt, then went back to the panel and locked down the cell. He glanced at Numarkos, who looked like a thermal detonator ready to explode. "What?" he demanded.
Numarkos's fist caught him square on the jaw. Taz spun and fell to the floor, dazed.
"That's for what you did to Tessa!"
Taz swore and spat blood. His mouth was numb from the punch. He felt a sudden flash of anger but it passed in a second. I deserved every bit of that. And I got off easy.
Varun glared down at him before holding out his hand. "Get up."
Taz glared right back, then reached up and let the intel officer help him to his feet. He wiped the back of his hand across his bleeding mouth. "One of us had to be the bad guy." He picked up Broder's code cylinder. "If anything happens to Amanda and Jerric, she'll need someone to hate." His stomach lurched as he said the words.
Numarkos raised an eyebrow. "You should've just let me handle it."
Taz ignored him. "We've got one, maybe two hours before they figure out what happened and all hell breaks loose. We'd better get what we need and be gone by then." He walked purposefully out of the detention center, Varun close behind.
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The first thing Sera did upon waking was to rub the back of her neck. Whenever she got stunned that's where it seemed to hurt the most. Getting shot twice made it feel like she'd been stomped by a stampeding herd of banthas. Reiko knelt over her, concern and relief competing on her pretty round face. Sera gave her a little smile and wiped a tear from her cheek. The young engineer sobbed and hugged her.
"There, there, Rei-sha," Sera soothed. "It was just a stunner."
"I know, but I was so scared you wouldn't wake up!" Reiko bawled.
Sera sat up. She felt the normal dizziness and nausea that stun blasts induced, but she'd been trained to anticipate those aftereffects and fight through them. She glanced around. They were in a little cell that was secured by a door with heavy bars floor to ceiling. She didn't see a confinement field. Good news. Beyond the door was a spindly bipedal droid with a large head and pale blue photoreceptors, standing immobile next to an empty desk and chair. It looked inoffensive except for the stun baton in its hand.
"I'm fine, Rei-sha." Reiko sniffed and nodded, a blush of color coming back into her pale, worried cheeks. "That's my girl," Sera said encouragingly. "Tell me what's happening."
"They brought us here about six hours ago. They boarded Allegra and took Yuzu and me. We saw them on the monitors when they overrode the ramp controls. Kalli wanted to fight but I told her to hole up and wait for further instructions."
"Probably a good move. She might have gotten herself, or you, shot to pieces if she'd tried taking them on."
"She didn't like it but she hid in one of the escape pods. They led Yuzu off to the hangars. Said something about being behind schedule with TIE maintenance." She screwed up her face. "That nasty Archeson was there. Yuzu doesn't know anything about TIEs!"
Sera patted Rei's hand. "I'm sure Yuzu will be fine. Did you see any guards?"
Rei shook her head. "As soon as they put us in here they left. That service droid came in a few minutes later but it hasn't moved, even when I called it."
"Hmm. They've probably got it on a short leash. Imps don't give their droids much autonomy." She went to the cell door and touched the bar, receiving a nasty jolt for her trouble.
The droid turned its dark head her way. "Prisoners must refrain from touching the electrified bars."
"Thanks, metalhead. I'll keep that in mind," Sera said, sucking on her numb fingers. She grinned at Reiko. "Well, at least we know it's energized."
Rei looked glum. "Any ideas?"
She lowered her voice. "If we could get our jailer to come over here I might be able to catch his arm and drag him against the bars. The shock might short him out."
"That would be cruel, Sera-sha."
"But expedient. We can't afford sentimentality right now, my love. Escape is our first priority, okay?"
Reiko didn't look happy about it but she nodded. After a minute her eyes lit up. "Ooh. I might have an idea."
"I'm all ears." Sera leaned in.
Rei whispered. "I was tuning the power converters when they came aboard." She scratched her jacket. Sera noted its metallic sheen and the distinct sound of fingernails over metal mesh. "It's electrically insulated. I could lean against that door all day without getting shocked."
"Not sure I follow."
"Push me into the door."
"What?"
"You know, like we're fighting. I'll fall against the bars. Most droids are programmed to respond if a human's life is endangered. It'll have to come over, either to break up the fight we're not really having, or to push me away from the bars. Either way, you should have your chance."
Sera thought for a second, then planted a big kiss on her lover's mouth. "You're a genius, Reiko Hudson. If we weren't in a pinch I'd kiss you all night."
Rei smiled at the thought. She took a step back and raised her voice. "—No, you're stupid! If you hadn't taken a swing at the Director we wouldn't be in this mess!"
Sera raised her eyebrows for a second, then put on a menacing face. "Watch who you're calling stupid or I'll flatten you."
"Prisoners will refrain from aggressive behavior while in custody," the droid said, and took a step toward them, its stun truncheon extended.
Sera pressed close to Rei and whispered, "Punch me as hard as you can, and forgive me Rei-sha."
Rei looked aghast, but Sera nodded urgently. The engineer balled up her fist and struck as hard as she could at Sera's torso. Sera let out a grunt, then grabbed Rei by her jacket and threw her against the bars. She knew her lover's size and weight intimately, and she tried to be as gentle as she could. Reiko stumbled backward and fell against the bars with a thud. She gasped, then let herself slide to the ground and faked a spasm.
"Emergency! Emergency!" cried the droid, then emitted a shrieking alarm as it rushed to the door. As soon as it put its hand on Reiko's back Sera surged forward and grabbed the droid through the door. She dropped to the floor, put her boots against the bars, and heaved as hard as she could. Reiko rolled away as the droid, off-balance from bending down, found its head pressed against the bars. Electrical arcs raced from the energized grate to the droid's cranial plates and its photoreceptors. The shrieking stopped and it uttered gibberish, flailing for another ten seconds or so while Sera kept pulling. Finally, its digital cries died away and its eye sensors dimmed. The droid's limbs went limp.
Sera let go, then reached through the bars and snagged the stun baton. She glanced over at Reiko, who looked alarmed. "Are you okay, Rei-sha? I didn't hurt you, did I?"
"Fine," Rei assured her, getting to her feet.
Sera handed her the baton. "Can you do anything with this?"
"Maybe," Rei said, thinking hard.
"Make it quick if you can. That racket might have alerted whatever security staff is around."
Rei pointed to the upper corner of the cell bars. "Can you see if there's a box up there on the outside?" She held her hands about thirty centimeters apart to show the approximate size.
Sera got her head as close to the bars as she dared and looked up at the corner. "Yeah, I think I see something."
"That's the door controller. Look for a metal contact plate on the bottom. It should be square, or maybe round."
Sera moved her head this way and that. After a few seconds she pronounced, "Maybe. It's hard to say from this angle."
"Okay. That's a maintenance port. Two or three shocks from the baton might overload it, at least temporarily." She handed the baton to Sera. "Wait!" she added, stripping off her jacket.
"Good thinking. That's my girl!" said the ex-commando, putting her arm through the insulated jacket sleeve. She reached through the narrow gap in the bars and, working blindly, pressed the baton's probes to the underside of the box where she thought the maintenance port was. She moved it around, tapping the electrified end of the truncheon repeatedly against the control box. After a few seconds she heard a buzzing sound, followed by loud pops and crackling sounds. The odor of burnt insulation made her want to sneeze.
She pressed her shoulder against the bars and pushed. The door stuck for a second, then yielded, swinging out. Reiko uttered a little cry of joy but Sera was already at the desk, rummaging for anything useful. She turned on the monitor and frowned. Two uniformed men with blasters in hand were jogging toward the little security annex where they were imprisoned. She motioned for Reiko to crouch, and she did likewise.
The guards stormed in and stopped at the sight of the empty cell and the fallen droid. Sera wasted no time jamming the energized baton into the nearest guard's groin. He staggered and yelped as she surged up and swept the heavy rod around in a swift backhand, striking the other guard in the throat. He clutched involuntarily. Sera put the probes against his chest and triggered it. The second guard writhed, then collapsed.
"Wow!" Rei said, eyes wide with amazement. "You're really good at that."
Sera flashed a grim smile. She searched the men, collected their weapons and code cylinders, handing one of each to Rei. Then she dragged the guards to the cell door, put their arms through the bars, and secured them with their own binders.
"Just a second," Reiko said. The fallen droid was beginning its reboot sequence. She hated seeing restraining bolts on droids, but just this time, she was glad for it. Rei flipped a switch on the stubby cylindrical bolt, powering down the droid. "Okay, all set."
"Good," Sera checked the DH-17's power cell and gas supply, then motioned with the muzzle. "Let's go."
The door to the holding area opened into a short corridor, with another door opposite. Sera peeked through the little window into a small room. There was a panel that looked like a comm station, but nothing else. At the back over a heavy blast door was a sign, illuminated in green: Tactical Control Center.
"Think that's where the base's weapons and deflectors are controlled from?"
"Probably," Reiko said. "They brought me in right at shift change and I saw techs going into a lift behind the doors." She peered through the window. "Looks like it's ray-shielded. I don't see a switch panel or a socket for a code cylinder. That probably means it can only be opened from the control center, or on some kind of schedule." The engineer scowled. "I'd have liked to get down there but we'd have to blast our way in."
"Not in the cards," Sera agreed. "Let's get back to Allegra, then figure out our next move."