MC: AOTE: Fraught With Disappointment

[starmark2k]

Nic was dragged into the middle of the imperial dreadnaughts Brig, the troopers held his cuffed hands over his head while the Officer walked to the side on the room to an access panel. After typing in a sequence of buttons energy binders shot down from the ceiling and attached to the metallic cuffs around the mercenaries wrists.

 

The clones let go of his now suspended arms and one took a blindfold out of his belt pouch to wrap it around the prisoners head. Once again he was left hanging on his knees blindfolded with his bruised and cut torso in the open air.

 

The officer walked up to him and bent down so his head was closer to that of Nic’s. “When the Admiral puts that girl of yours in the captains custody, you’ll pay for what you’ve done to his ship!”

 

Nic’s mouth turned into a grin for the briefest moments before his head lurched forwards and smacked into the officer nose with great force. The officer stumbled backwards grabbing his now bleeding nose with his hands, One of the stormtroopers retaliated for his commander by smacking the butt of his rifle into Nic’s chin.

[Rogue Nine]

"Doc, I think our Jedi buddy needs a hand," Sam told Conn between shots.

 

"Eh?" Conn asked, looking over at her, then at Jeez standing about a half dozen meters away behind cover, shooting at the stormies. He was favoring his right leg though, and upon closer inspection, Conn saw the reason why. Grabbing his medical kit, he slung it over his shoulder and started towards Jeez. "I thought Jedi were supposed to be invincible," he muttered under his breath as he ducked his way over.

 

Sam laughed mirthlessly. "They bleed like everyone else, Conn," she replied. Pulling a flash grenade off her belt, she hurled it towards the stormtroopers while simultaneously yelling at Conn, "Go!"

 

The grenade exploded, splashing bright light everywhere and Conn rolled over to where Jeez stood. Extracting a pair of syringes, he plunged both of them into Jeez's leg a few inches above the wound. He felt the Jedi's muscles tense for a few moments, then relax as the fast-acting painkillers and numbing agents worked their way around the area. "Stand still," Conn instructed as he set his kit down and got to work. Using a pair of fine tweezers, he gently extracted the piece of shapnel. It came away cleanly, as the edge that had embedded in itself Jeez's leg was not serrated. The wound still continued to bleed out, however, so Conn staunched it quickly with a pad of gauze. After a few tense moments, he pulled away slowly and peered at the gash. The numbing agents he'd injected Jeez with also acted as a coagulant, speeding up the clotting of the blood. It still bled, but not as profusely. Conn cleaned it up as best as he could without irritating the skin, then fastened a large bacta patch over it. Looking up at Jeez, he saw that the tall Jedi was still concentrating fire at the stormies, no traces of pain on his face. Conn couldn't help but admire his resolve.

 

"Try not to put too much weight on that leg for a few minutes," Conn told Jeez, who smirked.

 

"As if, Doc," the Jedi gritted out, still laying down blaster fire.

 

Conn was about to reply when he felt his comlink buzz. Ducking down next to Jeez, he whipped it out of his pocket and brought it to his ear to better hear it over the screaming of the blasters. "Harlowe."

 

"Conn." Max's voice sounded oddly undistorted and clear. "Are you going to get the shield deactivated?"

 

He raised an eyebrow. "Shield?"

 

An exasperated sigh. "The containment field around the hangar for when your rescue party arrives."

 

"I thought that was a magcon field that allowed ships to pass through but keep the atmosphere out," Conn reasoned.

 

"Yes, but only if you have the proper clearance codes!" Max shouted. "Do they have them?"

 

Conn thought for a few moments, wondering if Beryl's plan had included such a detail. "No, most likely not," he finally responded.

 

"Lovely." Max's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Do you have any idea when they'll be coming 'round?"

 

"Any minute now!"

 

"I thought as much," Max said, sounding resigned. "I'll take care of it. Max out."

 

Conn thumbed his comlink off and stared at it for a few long seconds. "Lovely indeed," he breathed tiredly.

[JasraLantill]

Ryshana could sense that they were preparing to shift the entire platoon around to put all the pressure on Jeez's left flank. Cursing yet again, Ryshana yelled out, "Beryl! Get around this freighter and find some cover."

 

Beryl did and soon she had her back against a nearby cargo container. Without looking or leaving cover, she raised her blaster above her head and let of a series of rapid shots at the troopers, letting the Force guide her aim. Then she took a quick peek, before shooting again.

 

"There's only one guy left near the corridor across from us," she called out to Ryshana. "I could take him out and then give cover to Jeez from that side, while you cover him from here."

 

Ryshana shook her head. "No, I sense they're trying to flank us from the left. We need to hold our positions until the Echo arrives."

 

Beryl gave Ryshana a confused look. "But...." She motioned with a nod over to the lone trooper who was hunkered down behind some cargo containers and taking pot shots at them. He had been guarding the last corridor that led from the barracks block into the hanger, but now, as the clones regrouped, he was alone. "I can take him."

 

"No. These aren't your run-of-the-mill prison guards, Beryl. They are clone troopers."

 

"I can take him!" Beryl insisted. "And then I can give Jeez some cover." She looked towards where Jeez was. Oddly, Conn was now right beside him and it looked like he was tending a wound on Jeez's leg. She frowned. "Which it looks to me like he badly needs," she added. Seeing Jeez injured and Conn more or less in the line of fire spurred her determination and she felt the Force grow strong within her. When there was a slight break in the clones' firing pattern, she ignited her lightsaber.

 

Before Ryshana could tell her 'no', Beryl leapt from behind the container and charged forward across the hanger bay, deflecting bolts coming at her as she ran. It wasn't as difficult as she had imagined it would be, and her confidence grew. It grew even more as her deflected bolts hit back against the troopers who had initially fired them. And it grew even more when she used the Force to abruptly sling away the cargo container the lone clone trooper was using as cover as if it were a small saltpot instead of a bulk ore carrier. And when she ran the trooper through with her lightsaber, she was on a definite high.

 

She heard a scuffling noise in the corridor that the clone had been guarding, and since she was feeling so confident and she was obviously on a roll, she decided to try to take out any reserve troopers that might be coming down the corridor to....

 

But as she came around the corner, she froze. "Oh, son of a gundark...!" She barely had time to duck out of the way before the repeating blaster fired at her. Dodging some of the shots and using her lightsaber to deflect others, Beryl exited the corridor and made her way quickly back to where Ryshana was.

 

"Erm... I think we might have made them a bit angry," she said to her master, her breathing heavy from exertion. "They're breaking out the heavy artillery." She gave Ryshana a look. "I thought they wanted us alive, or at the very least, whole."

[stingerhs]

"Beryl!!" Jeez started to yell as soon as she ran past him. "D*** it, why can't you people stick to a plan!?!"

 

"But I-" Conn started to say.

 

"Nevermind. We've got a lot of trouble heading our way though," Jeez stated as he could feel something ominous looming in the Force. Ducking back behind the cargo canister, he could feel Beryl running back to Ryshana. "All for the heroics. She's more reckless than I thought."

 

Looking over to his left, Jeez spotted Sam and motioned for her to make a run for his position. As soon as she moved, Jeez popped back up and put down covering fire. Making a baseball slide, Conn caught the mischievous grin on Sam's face. Popping back down into cover, Jeez turned around and said, "Look, something is coming, and we need to regroup with Ryshana and Beryl. When I give the signal, all three of us will make a run for it." Looking over at Sam, Jeez then tossed her his blaster rifle. "Take it. You'll need it."

 

Brandishing his lightsaber, Jeez then waited a moment. "Just a moment, our timing needs to be flawless."

_______________

 

Across the hangar, the Riot Troopers had finally arrived. Wearing even heavier armour than the standard Stormtrooper armour, these troopers were also equipped with larger and heavier blaster rifles. To help the process of pinning down the ragtag group of enemies, they also brought along two E-Web heavy repeating blasters. Using a hovering platform, they quicklly moved them into position and set them so that they were slightly under cover.

 

A Stormtrooper ran over to speak with the ranking Riot trooper.

 

"Sergeant?? What's the situation?" the Riot Trooper asked.

 

"Sir, we've got at least five combatants, three of them are possibly Jedi as they're using lightsabers. Two of them are camped out at the end of the hangar beside the last freighter, and they seem to be controlling a turret attached to that freighter which is making it difficult to maneuver past its cone of fire. The other three are hunkered down at the far end of the third freighter, and their currently staying under cover. Right now, that destroyed freighter is blocking any attempt at outflanking them from that side as anyone will be too exposed to their fire. Do you need anything else, sir?"

 

"We need to establish a plan of action. What we'll do is we'll use the heavy guns to pin them down from our current position. In the meantime, you're men will go to the other end of the hangar while my men take up positions to our immediate left. That should provide enough concentrated fire to allow us clear shots, and if those Jedi decide to leave cover, they'll have too much firepower trained on them to be any good. Are we clear?"

 

"Sir, yes sir! It will be done," the Stormtrooper Sergeant replied as he turned around and started issuing orders of his own.

________________

 

Suddenly, it seemed that the ground around them was alight with sparks as Sam, Conn, and Jeez hunkered down behind the cargo canisters. "E-Webs!! I thought you were waiting for some "flawless moment"?" Sam stated cynically as her smile quickly faded.

 

"I *am* waiting for a flawless moment. Those E-Webs have a specific cooling cycle which will allow us about two seconds to provide a distraction," Jeez replied.

 

"That's not much time to put a distraction in place," Conn commented.

 

"Like I said, our timing needs to be flawless. If not, well, I hope you have some life insurance," Jeez commented as he tried to concentrate.

 

"Well, that's reassuring," Conn stated sarcastically.

 

As they waited for a couple of moments, Jeez then yelled, "NOW!!" Almost as soon as the three of them started moving, the E-Webs stopped firing as they stopped automatically to cool. Activating his lightsaber, Jeez then reached out his hand towards one of the larger pieces of wreckage. Lifting it into the air, the wreckage suddenly flew outwards towards the E-Webs as Jeez used the Force. At the same moment, Jeez began deflecting what seemed to be hundreds of blaster bolts away from Sam, Conn, and himself. Meanwhile, the E-Web operators grabbed their E-Webs and started to pull them out of the way, and the massive piece of wreckage landed and slid harmlessly by them.

 

Finally reaching Ryshana and Beryl's position, Sam and Conn quickly moved behind cover as Jeez continued to deflect blaster bolts until he finally dropped behind a cargo canister himself. "Nice of you to join us," Ryshana commented dryly as everyone piled in.

 

"Yeah, well, our hosts weren't very hospitable so we decided to join you instead," Jeez replied. "How much longer till that turret fails?"

 

"Not much longer," Ryshana stated as she concentrated on the turret a bit. Indeed, the liquid pumps were already working overtime to cool the turret, but it was quickly becoming a worthless endeavor. After a couple of moments, the cooling fluid began to vaporize inside the coolant lines, and steam began shooting out of an emergency release valve. Finally, the safety diodes kicked in, and the turret finally ceased firing.

 

Almost in a triumphant chorus to celebrate the moment, the E-Webs opened fire yet again which forced Sam and Beryl back behind the cargo canisters as the blaster bolts sent sparks flying everywhere around them. "So, what now?" Ryshana asked as she looked over at Jeez.

 

Thinking for just a moment, Jeez suddenly got an idea. "Sam, Conn, you stay here. Ryshana and Beryl, you're with me." As Beryl and Ryshana gathered around Jeez, he then said, "Alright, we need to wait for another cooling cycle on those E-Webs. When that happens, we'll go back down towards the cargo lift. Once we get behind that wrecked freighter, we'll need to concentrate on how to take out those E-Webs. If we don't, our ride out of here is going to be a very short one because they'll rip that ship to shreds in a hurry."

 

Pausing, Jeez looked right at Beryl and said, "And you, don't do anything wreckless this time. The last thing we need right now is for you to go on some banzai charge again and get tagged by those E-Webs. Stick to the plan."

 

"What do we do? Sit tight and try to play catch with the Stormies' grenades?" Sam asked.

 

"No, I need y'all to provide us with some cover fire if at all possible. Try to keep those heavy troopers behind cover as best as you can manage," Jeez replied.

 

As blaster bolts continued to ricochet and impact around them, Jeez waited yet again. Finally, Jeez gave the signal, and they quickly turned the corner while activating their lightsabers. Hitting their cooling cycle, the E-Webs quit firing which gave Sam and Conn an opening to fire from cover from their position while the three Jedi sprinted towards the wrecked freighter while deflecting blaster bolts that came their way.

 

Just when they were about 5 meters from the freighter, the E-Webs finished their cooling cycle and opened fire yet again. Targeting the Jedi, the blaster bolts from the E-Webs came dangerously close to hitting the Jedi, but before they could find their mark, the three Jedi were finally behind the wrecked freighter.

[JasraLantill]

Her back against a large piece of debris that used to be the hull of the freighter, Beryl found herself sandwiched in-between Ryshana and Jeez as the E-Webs continued to fire. “Well, isn’t this cosy,” she commented dryly over the noise. “Now what?”

 

“We wait for the next cooling cycle,” Jeez said. “And then, we…”

 

Quite unexpectedly, there was complete silence. All weapons fire had ceased. Jeez frowned slightly. This pause was no cooling cycle.

 

“Yeah, and then we what?” Beryl whispered expectantly.

 

Jeez held up a hand to silence her. “Shh! Something’s changed. Listen….”

 

“… told you that I wanted her alive!” An angry male voice could be heard from within the corridor that led to the barracks. “Now, get that thing out of my way! Now!” There was a slight amount of scuffling and then a few sharp, measured footsteps. And then silence again.

 

A blaster in one hand, Admiral Berasmus Quitaan stood hands on hips beside one of the E-Webs and surveyed the scene before him. One destroyed freighter, two slightly damaged, and another with steam coming from its overheated turret gun. A few dead troopers, several cargo containers damaged, and a huge pile of raw ore dumped on the hanger deck. He let out a huge condemnatory sigh.

 

“Beryl?”

 

“Oh, no.” Beryl’s eyes widened as she recognised her brother’s voice. “It’s Nuss.” She bit her lip, unsure whether or not she should answer.

 

Ryshana prodded her in the ribs. “Answer him,” she said. “Maybe we can negotiate our way out of this.”

 

“Or into something worse,” Jeez said warily.

 

“Beryl?” the Admiral called out again. “I know you’re here. Come out, please. I just want to talk to you.”

 

“They’re not shooting at us,” Ryshana reminded Jeez. “At the very least, talking might buy us some time.” She nudged Beryl again. “Answer him.”

 

Beryl cringed. “Ok, fine,” she whispered reluctantly. She took a deep breath then shouted back at her brother. “What do you want, Nuss?”

 

The Admiral’s lip twitched at the corner, his version of a grin. “Are you alright?” he asked.

 

Beryl frowned quizzically. “Am I alright? Your men are shooting at me and my friends with heavy repeating blasters and you’re asking me if I’m alright?”

 

“Yes, I’m sorry about that,” the Admiral said, taking a step forward. “Communications error. They weren’t supposed to kill you. Only detain you.”

 

“Uh-huh, right, sure,” Beryl replied cynically, earning her a nudge in the ribs from Ryshana’s elbow. “So, what do you want, Nuss?”

 

“Actually, I’d like to know what you want,” the Admiral said. “You and your ‘friends’. You’ve done an awful lot of damage here today. A huge waste of Imperial credits.”

 

“Well… we….”

 

“We want a transport, supplied, fuelled, and ready to go,” Sam yelled from the other side of the hanger. “Or Doc Conn here gets it!”

 

Beryl blinked with disbelief, wondering if she heard Sam right. Then she grinned as she figured out what her friend was doing. “Yeah!” Beryl said. “We want a transport and a way out of here!”

 

“So, the good doctor is your hostage?” The normally stoic Admiral suddenly laughed.

 

“Uh oh….” Beryl slumped down against the debris. “Not good. He never laughs.”

 

“Oh, Beryl, please,” the Admiral called out to her. “It doesn’t have to be like this. I don’t want to hurt you. I certainly don’t want to kill you. Just come out so we can talk. It’s so ‘uncivilised’ shouting to you like this.”

 

Not moving from her cover, Beryl called out, “Ok, here’s what I want, Nuss. You let my friends go, and I’ll come with you. Quietly,” she added.

 

“We tried that once, Beryl, remember? That’s how you’re in this situation in the first place. No, you’ll have to have a better offer than that. By the way, how did you like your ryshcate?”

 

“It was fine. Thanks.” Beryl frowned. “Wait… you didn't poison it or something, did you?”

 

“No, I didn’t poison it.” The Admiral rolled his eyes, in the same manner as Beryl would have. “Although, I suppose on reflection perhaps I should have. So, are you going to make me a reasonable offer, Beryl, or do you really want me to shoot you?”

 

“Hey, no one’s forcing you to shoot us,” Beryl retorted. “Just… let us go. What’s a few lousy prisoners worth anyway?”

 

“’Lousy’ ones? Very little.” The Admiral paused a moment, and glanced down at his comlink. “Lightsabers… a very interesting choice of weapon for a ‘lousy’ prisoner, don’t you think?”

 

Beryl sighed. “This isn’t going very well,” she said to Ryshana.

 

“You always did like to move in the elite circles, Beryl,” the Admiral continued. "Good to know that hasn't changed much." He sighed then, hit a small button on his comlink, and then said, “If you’re not going to negotiate with me, perhaps one of your ‘lousy’ friends might?”

[stingerhs]

Looking over at Jeez, Ryshana then said, "Well, it might be worth a try."

 

"Wait, what? You can't be serious," Jeez replied incredulously.

 

"Yes, I'm being serious. It can't hurt, and its not like they couldn't take us without a fight," Ryshana returned.

 

Shaking his head, Jeez said, "Something isn't right here. The Darkside is clouding too much for you to step out on a limb like that. Stay here, and we'll think of something."

 

""Think of something"? Haven't you done enough of that already?" Ryshana stated bluntly. "We're in a tight spot right now because you wanted to come out guns blazing, remember?"

 

"Hey, I didn't hear anybody offering any alternatives. What's wrong with my plan anyway? We did manage to fight them to a standstill despite being outnumbered and outgunned. This lull in the fighting doesn't benefit us as much as it does them," Jeez returned.

 

"Yeah, but what about us just ending the fighting altogether? That's a much better alternative in my book," Ryshana replied as she was becoming increasingly agitated.

 

"No, its not. We try to end this fight by negotiation, and what do we have to bring to the table? We have a couple of weapons and the clothes on our backs. We have an empty side deck, and they haven't even touched theirs. If we don't press the attack, we're finished here, and I'm not going back down there."

 

Sighing in frustration, Ryshana turned away for a moment while Beryl just stood between them in a bit of shock.

 

"Look, I just want to give it a try, OK?" Ryshana said without looking over at Jeez. "Whether you like it or not, we don't have much to lose here, so I'm going."

 

Moving past Jeez and Beryl to the left, Jeez rolled his eyes. "Ryshana-"

 

"I don't want to hear it, Jeez. We're not having a repeat of last time," Ryshana stated as she turned to look at him. Smiling for a moment, she then reassuringly said, "Its all going to be OK in the end."

 

Grabbing her by the hand, Jeez did his best to return the smile as he gave her a soft squeeze. "Alright, go give it a try," Jeez said as he gave in at last.

 

With one last squeeze, Ryshana let go of Jeez's hand and started to walk around the the freighter. Suddenly, Jeez's heart sank as he felt something stir in the Force. "Ryshana wait!!" he yelled out.

 

Turning the corner to see what Jeez was fussing about, a blaster suddenly fired from the other side of the hangar. Connecting with Ryshana's head, the twi'lek slumped onto the ground. In an instant, Jeez could feel Ryshana's life become one with the Force. Ryshana was dead.

 

As Jeez stared at Ryshana's lifeless body, he suddenly felt weak, and he dropped to his knees. For the second time in his life, Jeez could feel a piece of himself die in the Force. It was such a strange thing to feel a part of yourself to just die, and Jeez could hardly believe it. At the same time, Jeez could feel something else come to life inside of him.

 

"The rest of your "lousy" friends will share the same fate if you keep this up, Beryl. Its your move yet again," the Admiral stated calmly as he brought his pistol back down to his side even as the barrel still steamed a bit from the shot.

 

Before Beryl could reply, Jeez stood up and turned around to look at Beryl. In a state of shock, Jeez could feel her rising anger. "There's no need to get angry. Its time for me to finish this," Jeez stated calmly.

 

Holstering his lightsaber on his belt, Jeez then yelled out, "As you wish, Admiral. You want to leave us with no way out, then so be it."

 

"I'll make my own way," Jeez added softly at the end as he could feel himself filling with resolve. Concentrating on the freighter, Jeez closed his eyes as he reached out his hands towards the freighter. A creaking sound could be heard from underneath the freighter, and Beryl backed away from the freighter cautiously. Then, the freighter began to move upwards. It moved slowly, and soon there was about a foot tall gap between the floor and the heavy freighter. "You want to play things that way, then lets play by mine," Jeez stated under his breath.

 

Heaving forward, the freighter suddenly flew straight towards the other end of the hangar. The E-Webs and the Riot troopers manning them were instantly crushed by the massive wrecked hulk, and the freighter quickly moved straight towards Admiral Quitaan. As the Admiral dove out of the way, Jeez used the Force to pull the pistol out of his grip.

 

"I think you've done enough here, Admiral," Jeez stated as he looked sharply at him. Holding the pistol in midair in front of him, it slowly began to deform as Jeez crushed it with the Force. Dropping it, Jeez then walked over to Ryshana's corpse and knelt down in front of it.

 

Studying her, he ran his hand lightly across her face. Feeling the fading warmth of her body, Jeez closed his eyes and then said, "I will mourn for you. Just not today." Reaching down, he picked up her corpse and cradled Ryshana in his arms. Turning around to face the opposite end of the hangar, Jeez began to walk slowly in that direction.

 

"What are you waiting for? Kill him!!" the Admiral shouted to the remaining Troopers. As they peered out of their cover and started to take aim at Jeez, their weapons suddenly shot out from their hands. Floating in front of them, the weapons started to deform as the Admiral's had. Looking over at Jeez, he had stopped walking forward and was instead standing still with his eyes closed in concentration.

 

One by one, the destroyed weapons clanked to the ground, and as the last one fell, Jeez opened his eyes and continued to walk down to the end of the hangar as he cradled the lifeless body of a person that he had greatly loved.

[Rogue Nine]

Conn wasn't quite sure he believed his eyes, but the fact of the matter was that Jeez had lifted a freighter and hurled it towards the stormtroopers and then had disarmed the Admiral, all after Ryshana had been shot dead. Glancing over at Beryl beside him, he could feel the rage and the turmoil swirling within her at seeing her master murdered in cold blood by her own brother. Her hand was trembling as she gripped the lightsaber so hard her knuckles were white. Conn reached out slowly and touched her arm. She turned her head to glare at him, the anger in her eyes making her look almost unfamiliar to him. He swallowed hard. "B, take it easy," he told her quietly, but urgently.

 

"No." Her tone was clipped, neutral. "Nuss isn't going to get off easy. Not this time." She stood up, Conn's hand still at her arm. She glanced down at him. "Don't try and stop me, Conn." She flicked her finger and her lightsaber ignited, the brilliant blue blade boiling out from her hand.

 

Conn looked from her face to the lightsaber in her hand, then back to her eyes. Hesitantly, he released her arm. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

 

For a fleeting moment, the rage in her eyes subsided and gave way to sorrow, and Conn's heart sank. "It's never been about what I want," she said. "But I'll be damned if I give Nuss what he wants, after what he's done." With that, she turned towards her brother and started walking purposefully towards him.

 

Conn looked over the bulkhead at her, the same old familiar feeling he got whenever Beryl would try something reckless sinking into his stomach.

 

********

 

Max cursed as she heard the sound of crunching metal outside of her shuttle. "What in Sithspit?" Her deft fingers flew over the console, working feverishly to input the commands to lower the energy shield around the base. By some stroke of dumb luck, the shuttle she had chosen was outfitted with a state-of-the-art electronics suite, making her job that much easier. "Must be some big shot's personal ship," she muttered to herself as she tapped the last sequence into the console. Grabbing a datapad, she plugged a transfer cable into the jack. After a few moments, it beeped and she disconnected it and shoved it into her pocket.

 

The shuttle rocked slightly again, almost causing Max to lose her balance. "Why do these kids always have to play rough?" she groaned, rubbing her knee. Making her way to the back of the shuttle, she poked her head just outside of the boarding ramp, quickly spotting Conn behind a bulkhead. She was about to call out to him when noticed something that made her stop short. Beryl was walking towards a garrison of stormtroopers, a lightsaber in her hand.

 

"Bloody hell," she muttered as she disembarked.

[JasraLantill]

Her eyes burning with rage, Beryl strode in the direction of her brother. She had never felt the Force flowing so strongly within her as she did now, and she didn’t care whether or not she was using the Light side or the Dark side. Ryshana was dead—killed by her brother. And as if that weren't bad enough, she had been killed dishonorably. Just like the man at the cantina on Coruscant wearing unearned bloodstripes, shooting someone under the guise of a truce was just as dishonorable in the eyes of a Corellian. Berasmus had to pay for his crimes.

 

The Admiral was attempting to regroup his troops, but with the Clone Troopers unceremoniously disarmed by Jeez, they were just obstacles in Beryl’s way. He noticed an unfamiliar look in his sister’s eyes—a mixture of hate, sorrow, and vengeance. Still, his expression remained stoic. “Beryl, you’ve lost. I don’t want to have to hurt you. Put your weapon down and this can all be over,” he called out to his approaching sister.

 

Beryl paused then, and turned slowly to look over her shoulder. Jeez was carrying Ryshana’s lifeless body down to the far end of the hanger bay. Sam was following him, but walking backwards, shouting and beckoning to Beryl to come with them. Conn remained where Beryl had left him, peering around a bulkhead and watching her, his eyes reflecting a faint hope that she would abandon her task and join him instead. She smiled at him, but her smile wasn’t entirely friendly, rather it was predatory.

 

She turned back to Berasmus. “You're right, Nuss. It’s not over yet,” she said in a chillingly calm voice and she started forward once more. Lightsaber burning bright, she swung at the first trooper obstructing her path, slicing him in two at the waist. A second trooper stepped in, intent on doing some hand to hand combat, but a quick flourish of her saber and the trooper suddenly had no arms to do any combat with. With swipe after swipe of her blade, she cut down with impunity any troopers or guards who decided to impede her progress until finally she was pointing her blade at her brother’s chest.

 

“Why?” Beryl asked. “You killed Ryshana under the guise of negotiation! Why?”

 

“She was a Jedi,” Berasmus said, his voice as calm as ever. “She’s an enemy of the Empire.”

 

“She was my friend!”

 

He eyed her saber, and then the corner of his mouth upturned into a wry grin. “She was more than that to you, wasn’t she?” he whispered. “Don’t be lured into becoming their pawn.”

 

“Pawn? She was my friend, Nuss! And you had no right to kill her like that! No right!” Her blade moved closer and her eyes narrowed venomously. “No Corellian would ever do that,” she hissed.

 

“I’m an Imperial officer first and foremost. Someday, you’ll understand the meaning of duty and discipline. And you’ll understand that sometimes, sacrifices must be made.”

 

“Sacrifices? I ought to sacrifice you!” Her blade moved back to strike, but then she hesitated. Berasmus was her brother, her own flesh and blood. She couldn’t kill him. No matter how much she hated him at this moment, she couldn’t do it.

 

“If you feel you must, then do it,” Berasmus said, his voice maintaining its even measure. “I’m unarmed. I can’t stop you.”

 

Suddenly, alarms began to blare. Emergency lights near the hanger bay doors began to flash. The remaining prison workers, guards, and troopers, including the people in the control tower, started to evacuate the hanger facility. Not knowing that the planetary shields were down, compliments of Max, they were preparing to vent the entire hanger wing of the facility to the outside atmosphere in an attempt to kill off the remaining escapees. The hanger doors were opening and the shielding around the landing pads had been turned off.

 

Beryl frowned. If the Echo wasn’t on it’s approach this very minute, they had little time left. She raised her blade to strike once again, but then, through the Force, she detected movement nearby. A prison guard, with a blaster in hand, was taking aim at her. Using her other hand, she drew first and fired, killing him instantly. But then, she felt something pelt her shoulder. And then her thigh. And then her neck. A wave of unsteadiness washed over her as a strong wind began to blow through the hanger.

 

“I can’t stop you,” Berasmus added, his hair being ruffled by the increasing wind, “but the Major can.”

 

Beryl blinked. Nuss’ face was starting to blur. In the distance, she heard Sam scream her name. Conn shouted, too, but his words were unintelligible, swallowed by the rushing wind. Her saber and blaster became heavy like lead and fell from her hands to the deck. She tried to take a step back, but her leg buckled. And then her other leg buckled. She reached up to her neck and felt something cylindrical. She pulled at it. It appeared to be some sort of dart. As her fingers lost feeling, it clinked against the floor just as she slumped forward.

 

She wanted to ask her brother what he had done to her. But no words would come. She was paralysed.

 

Major Payne appeared from within the corridor, flanked by the Admiral’s personal guards. "That worked rather well, sir," he shouted over the noise of the rushing air as one of the guards lifted Beryl into a fireman's carry.

 

“Take her to the med bay and give her the antidote,” the Admiral ordered as they all headed for the safety of the back corridor. He gave a backwards look over his shoulder at Doc Conn and the others, then shook his head. “And activate any auto-defences.”

 

With that said, the Admiral's party disappeared into the corridor. The door shut and then pressurized, leaving the prisoners alone in the hanger bay.

[steven]

Jack raced towards the prison as fast as he deemed approbate, and was pleased to see the hanger blast doors firmly open or else he would of have to abandon his plan and think of another way in. When he got in range, Jack began to slow the momentum of his ship so he wouldn't crash at the end of his plan. The Echo continued to zoom forward, slowing itself as it got closer to the hanger doors. Eventually the Echo plunged into the hanger before coming to a complete halt, sending a weak shock wave of air through the hanger, the outercomm shouting "Yee-haa!" as it stopped.

 

As he landed the Echo, Jack announced the situation over the intecomm. "Will Jana, Cloud and Other please report to the landing ramp please to help prevent a s*** loads of stormies crawling into our ship."

[Rogue Nine]

It all happened so fast that Conn almost didn't believe it. One moment, Beryl was about to cut down her own murderous brother in cold blood, the next she was slumping to the ground, hit by no less than three darts. Conn shouted out, but his voice was drowned out by the ominous howling of depressurization. He stood up quickly and hefted his pack and moved towards the door that Beryl and her brother had disappeared.

 

"What in the NINE HELLS do you think you're doing, Conn?" Max's voice screamed above the rising din.

 

Conn stopped abruptly and turned around to see Max sprinting towards him. "Max?" he said. "Where've you been?"

 

The petite trustee strode the last few meters towards Conn, grabbed his arm and proceeded to haul him back towards the freighters. "Never mind where I've been," she snapped, tugging him along. "Did you get hit in the head or something? We need to get out of here."

 

"But I need to go after Beryl," Conn said, sounding somewhat dazed.

 

Max whipped her head around to glare at the Doctor. "Oh yeah, sure. What are you gonna do? Go through his entire corps of stormies? Never mind getting past that sealed door." She waved her hand around. "If you haven't noticed, this place is depressurizing fast and unless you fancy spending the rest of your short life as space debris, I suggest you cooperate and let me get us out of here."

 

The weight of her words sunk in. "Sithspit, you're right," Conn said, moving with a sense of urgency now.

 

Max sighed exasperatedly. "Of course I am," she retorted.

 

Conn cast a last longing look at the sealed door, then over towards the newly-arrived freighter that was dozens of meters away. Jeez and Sam were almost to the lowered ramp. "What about them? Shouldn't we go there?"

 

Shaking her head, Max replied, "By the time we reach there, this place will have depressurized completely and we'd be mynock fodder." She pointed ahead at the shuttle she had occupied. "We're taking that for now, we can meet up with those guys later."

 

"Right," Conn agreed as he and Max sprinted towards the shuttle. They bounded up the ramp and Max headed for the cockpit.

 

"Dog that hatch shut and make ready for departure," she ordered, sliding into her seat and gripping the controls.

 

"Got it," Conn said as he slapped the ramp controls, then cranked the pressure seal shut. Moving to the co-pilot's seat, he sat down and strapped in.

 

"Hold on, this is probably going to get dicey," Max said as she primed the engines. "The Imps will have their planetary defenses active by the time we're both spaceborne; I was only able to set a temporary scramble code to lock them down, meaning they'll have them up any minute now." She looked outside the viewport at the freighter idling just outside the blast doors. "They need to get their butts moving now, otherwise we're all dead."

[stingerhs]

Seeing the Echo land in front of him, Jeez just kept walking towards it. Despite all the alarms going off and the vague feeling of the bends, Jeez just kept walking forwards with an almost grim determination. "Umm, shouldn't we start running now?" Sam asked somewhat incredulously. Just shaking his head in reply, Jeez just kept walking. "OK, well, I guess you'd know better," Sam commented.

 

With the cargo ramp lowering, Jeez finally caught sight of Jana, Cloud, and Riebe. Running towards Jeez and Sam, Jana yelled out, "What happened? Do we need to get her to the medbay?"

 

With Jeez and Sam almost there, Jana caught up to them and moved to check Ryshana's pulse. "You already know the answer, so why do you bother?" Riebe yelled from behind them.

 

"She's dead, isn't she?" Jana asked as her hope began to fade.

 

Finally reaching the ramp to the Echo, Jeez finally replied, "Yes. She's dead. Where was her quarters?"

 

"Follow me," Cloud stated as he closed up the ramp.

 

"We're all here Jack. Light up the burners and lets get out of here!" Jana yelled into the comlink while pressing the button to close the door to the cargo bay.

 

Behind Jeez, the door closed with a heavy thud, and Jeez could feel the ship taking off. Following Cloud, Jeez just walked on in silence. Finally reaching Ryshana's quarters, Cloud opened the door and stepped aside as he watched in silence as Jeez slowly walked into the room and carefully laid Ryshana's body down on her bed. Crossing Ryshana's hands over her chest, Jeez studied her for a moment.

 

"Sir? This was her lightsaber," Cloud stated from the doorway as he held her lightsaber wrapped in a soft cloth. Looking over at Cloud, Jeez nodded his head. Stepping into the small room, Cloud removed the lightsaber from the cloth and carefully placed it under Ryshana's hands with the emitter facing upwards. Stepping back, Cloud gave Ryshana a respectful bow and then he left. With Jeez sitting on the bed looking over at Ryshana, he slowly slid down the bed. Using the Force, Jeez closed the door to Ryshana's quarters and locked it.

 

Thinking for a moment, Jeez couldn't help but ponder the irony. He had sacrificed his own life five years ago for her, and now, she had risked and lost everything to save him. Shaking his head, Jeez knew why she had done it. Love is a powerful force that in many ways can even rival the Force itself. Perhaps now with both of them sacrificing so much for each other, Jeez finally cam to the only true conclusion about love: even with the most noble of intentions, love is always fraught with disappointment. With his head hung low, Jeez could feel the Echo slip into hyperspace as his mind raced to remember everything it could possibly remember about the woman he had called his wife, his greatest friend, and his only true love.

 

 

-------------Fin--------