Part: 1
When Captain Cortree Tincove, Jedi Knights Jaden Windu, Galen Argyus and Padawan Leoni Venusia first set out to find the Jedi Homeworld of Tython, their minds raced with expectations. Can we find it? Is it like the stories? Will it be habitable? Will it be scarred by the Dark Side of the Force? Did any of the Jedi stationed on planet survive somehow?
Jaden had had an open mind. The Archaeologist expected a planet full of mysteries to be solved, discoveries to be made and a long history to be explored. Galen had had inklings from the Force that told him there would be some kind of new hope for the Jedi Order if not the Galaxy on the surface. The Liberator had thought that surely some Jedi had found a way to dodge Order 66 and survive in the wilds, but had no faith of finding any actual civilization. Leoni had expected a Lost Jedi Colony to be awaiting them with open arms to reveal all sorts of mysteries of the Force that would make up for a lifetime of mistakes and tragedies. But, the Padawan hadn’t read any of the actual histories, merely the more exciting holos about the Great Galactic War. Cortree had heard Tython’s story a hundred times before about a hundred other failed colonies throughout the Outer Rim now lost to memory. The Fringer had expected an abandoned barren rock of a planet with plenty of salvage, some old Jedi Ruins and at least one Rancor they’d have to fight. He didn’t know if they had Rancors on Tython, but Cortree had been ready for that possibility.
Several weeks after setting out, the Allies had no idea they would find themselves fighting an Inquisitor and subsequently infiltrating an Imperial Occupation on Tython disguised as Stormtroopers…
“You’re doing what, Master?!” Leoni shouted into the commlink aboard the Jedi Training Ship, The Crucible.
“Keep your voice down, Leoni.” Galen whispered into the commlink, “maintain position and follow protocol for twenty four more hours.”
“Copy Master.” Leoni replied quieter than before, “May the Force…ahem…For the Empire!”
“For the Empire…” Galen said into the commlink to remain incognito inside the Imperial Base Aurek.
Imperial Base Aurek sat adjacent to Balian City, a small settlement made from Republic and Separatist Military starships forced to land on Tython at the conclusion of the Clone Wars and stranded for the past century. Base Aurek was a prefabricated Imperial Installation plopped onto the surface decades before to oversee the population of Clone War survivors on planet now forcibly enlisted as workers on this the most secret of secret worlds. Having learned as much as he could about the Empire while helping the Liberation Lane on Eriadu, Galen was somewhat familiar with these old prefabricated bases. Galen led the group down the halls to the closest auxiliary maintenance station they could find.
Finding it empty, Galen did his best impersonation of a Stormtrooper and stood guard outside as Cortree jacked a slicer’s datapad into the console with Jaden right beside him. Cortree’s familiarity with technology glided his commands through defensive layers.
“Haven’t upgraded their security in sixty years,” Cortree said, “Typical Empire fringe world.”
“The Force is with us so far.” Jaden said.
Cortree’s datapad and the console chimed in unison after a few commands, “I’m in. I don’t have total admin access, but I can’t go any deeper without setting off any alarms.”
“It’ll do.” Galen said over commlink, listening in on the conversation, “Where are we on planet?”
Cortree brought up the holographic map, “Base Aurek. At the south side of Balian City…”
Jaden enhanced various areas of the starship town. Imperial Walkers romped and stomped a patrol around the perimeter and down the makeshift streets. Stormtroopers were everywhere around them.
“Do a search on detention areas.” Jaden said, rubbing his chin.
Cortree tapped a few commands highlighting two points on the map, “Looks like there are two detention areas on planet. One local detention here, one special detention block near that beanstalk on the dark continent. Looks like they call it the Spire.”
Jaden zoomed in on the area near the space elevator connecting the Tython Orbital Station to the Imperial Base on the surface, “The Imperial base has a special detention area labelled, ‘Research’. Fascinating.”
“Sounds dangerous…” Cortree replied.
“What else is around that special detention area?” Galen asked over commlink.
“Lucky us. Shield Generators, Military Jamming Station…and a standard-sized Imperial Base.” Cortree said.
“With these disguises we should be able to go right past their security.” Jaden said.
“Where can we go?” Galen said over commlink, “These disguises won’t last forever.”
Jaden thought for a moment and held up a finger, “Perhaps we could assign ourselves to a prisoner transfer from one detention area to the other. Might even be able to find out what’s going on.”
“That’s a good idea.” Cortree said, “Easiest way to get somewhere you’re not supposed to be is to have a reason to be there.”
“Do it.” Galen said over commlink.
Cortree went very carefully through the databases and pulled up the day’s schedule. He passed the data over to Jaden, who carefully analyzed it. He stopped on a blinking red entry.
Cortree smiled as he punched in a few commands, “This system is tricky, but I got access. Pick the prisoner we want to be assigned to.”
“There’s a transfer happening shortly at the local detention block.” Jaden confirmed, “A Jedi General Tetreen.”
Jaden pulled up the file, showing a large, strong Trandoshan Jedi. He enlarged the red blinking part.
“File says that Tetreen is considered to be extremely dangerous even without weapons.” Cortree said.
Galen said over commlink, “Let’s go meet her then.”
The allies took their new orders and hopped on a shuttle that took them across Balian City. They passed over tents, shops and homes. A little piece of civilization even here in this remote world…even with AT-STs stomping by.
The shuttle dropped the Allies in front of an anient stone pyramid structure. The allies stood in awe of the pyramid, unsure of the feeling flowing through them.
“What is that?” Galen asked.
“Map called it, ‘The Forge’” Cortree said, motioning to Jaden, “Jedi Temple mentioned it too. Some kind of history to it, Jaden?”
“Yes.” Jaden confirmed, “It’s where the first Lightsaber was built…”
Part: 2
The Forge had been described by historical records as various places with conflicting descriptions. A Temple of Knowledge, an ancient device of unknown origin to the original Je’daii, a piece of a ruined Tythonian city. All of the tales described a place of knowledge of technological wonders where the warrior-scholars that became the Jedi created the First Saber, an artifact that would become their iconic weapon, the Lightsaber.
Jaden, Galen and Cortree found a pyramid structure built into the side of a hill as a bunker. As they passed through the entrance in their Stormtrooper disguises, they found the walls made of something not quite stone or steel. They saw circuits of light and power going through arteries in the walls. The Force Sensitives felt the power flowing through the planet and into this place. This was a place of creation, of wisdom. This place had more places to explore and expand their knowledge of the past.But, it had been made a detention area for the Empire.
As the allies made their way further and further into The Forge, Stormtroopers and Imperial officers walked past them. Jaden took notice of the troopers and the Archeologist began his analysis. He saw how they carried themselves, how they marched, how they saluted the officers, how they watched their perimeter and how they stood as the white armored champions of the Empire with all their conviction. As they reached the detention area, Jaden corrected Galen and Cortree. He whispered in their ears on how to walk, what to do, how to best sell their fragile disguises.
After a few minutes of following signs and passing through ancient halls, the Allies found the holding area. Though the arteries of light and power in the walls were impressive, they were obviously unrelated to the blastdoors and devices installed by the building’s new occupants. This place had become a series of cages meant for Jedi and their sympathizers.
Jaden led the way to a line of Stormtroopers standing by. In front of the quartets of stormtroopers were Commanders denoted by their extended red shoulder plates. Jaden noticed the commanders around here all carried the same weapon, a handheld cannon of some kind that seemed to let off steam or mist around it. The Allies didn’t recognize the weapon and dared not ask about it, lest they be discovered. Jaden saluted one of the Commanders and gave him a datapad.
“New orders, sir.” Jaden said in his best stormtrooper voice, “We’ve just bee assigned for the prisoner transfer.”
The Commander looked over the datapad with practiced routine.
“What happened to your fourth and you commander?” The Commander asked.
“Skirmish at the temple, sir.” Jaden said crisply, “Jedi took them out.”
The Commander nodded in understanding. He looked over to three of stormtroopers next to him and made a motion with his hand.
“You three are dismissed, you’ve been relieved.” The Commander said, turning to the Allies, “You four form up and make ready. Blasters on full charge. You even think the prisoner is trying to escape, blast ‘em and keep blasting until your power cells run dry.”
“The Jedi Scum won’t escape us, sir!” Galen said in his best stormtrooper voice.
The other stormtroopers left and marched down towards the mess hall as the Allies followed Jaden’s previous instructions and lined up in a perfect formation behind the Commander and next to a single Stormtrooper that was part of their “Squad.” Of all the things the Jedi had had to do recently, standing at attention in white armor had been the most difficult and unfamiliar. The white armor of the stormtrooper made it difficult to move and breathe despite being of very little actual protection against blasters. In addition, the trio knew that one false move could tip off the entire base to their presence and have them surrounded. The best thing they could do was to stand at attention and wait.
Then they heard the screams from down the hall. Jaden dared to move his eyes to the side, seeing only a glimpse through the helmet’s visor. Down the hall hecould see alcoves and stasis devices holding Jedi aloft in electrified shackles. Jaden dared to stretch out with The Force. He could sense pain and confusion coming from whomever was down there. Someone was strapped to a table and someone else was asking questions and didn’t like the answers. Someone was asking questions. Someone dark and powerful.
What is going on here?, Jaden thought, Are the Jedi being experimented on?
Then there was another who was coming this way.
The Stormtrooper Commander forced them to attention stone still as the blast doors of the secure wing opened. A Masked Zabrak in the black suit of an Imperial Inquisitor, his head spikes protruding from his head and a double—bladed lightsaber hung at his hip, walked with silent purpose in front of his prisoner. The Inquisitor felt powerful, cruel and a bottle of rage. As the prisoner came into view, all the Stormtroopers trained weapons on her with disciplined precision. The Trandoshan Jedi General Tetreen walked in an orange Prison Jumpsuit collared and muzzled, her limbs bound at the wrists, elbows and the ankles with binders of metal and electricity. Even if she had had a Wookie’s strength, the allies could see that Tetreen could not escape them with great power.
But there was also something to this Zabrak that the trio’s senses in the Force couldn’t put a finger on. Something wrong and yet…familiar.
“Move out to the ship.” The Inquisitor said in a deep, ragged voice.
“You heard the Second Brother.” The Commander ordered to the Allies.
The Stormtroopers both real and fake made ready and escorted the Jedi down the hall…
An hour later, the allies found themselves on a Transport Shuttle flying over the landscape of Tython. The Cargo hold was empty save for a squad of Stormtroopers training their guns on General Tetreen’s cage in the center. If she made a move, the Stormtroopers would have more than enough time to blast her to ash. The Inquisitor made an anxious stroll around the cage, seemingly eager for the Jedi to try exactly that so he could taste her blood and death.
The allies waited in the port-side crew area for the shift change in the middle of the flight. Cortree looked at Galen and the allies whispered in hushed tones.
“You sure this is gonna work?” Cortree asked.
“It has to.” Galen said, “Can you cut the power to the engines and the comms at the same time?”
“I think so.” Cortree said, “I can hold my own against some troopers.
“I can handle our Commander.” Jaden said with confidence.
Galen took out and hung his Lightsaber from his belt, “I’ll take the Inquisitor. Be ready.”
“Let’s do this.” Cortree said.
Part: 3
The shift change came and the allies took their places. Jaden stood on the starboard side opposite the crew compartment they had just left and the only other real Stormtrooper in their squad. Next to Jaden stood the Stormtrooper Commander with his strange steaming weapon. Galen and Cortree stood at the aft end. As Cortree took his place, he looked over the console attached to the engines and environmental controls before doing a left face turn and standing at attention like Jaden told him. The Inquisitor continued strolling around the cage with his Double-Bladed Lightsaber in easy reach.
The General sat in a cross-legged meditation stance. She seemed to know patience.
The other shift of Stormtroopers made their way to the crew quarters and made ready to get some down time. Galen watched them go in and close the compartment door behind them. The Inquisitor continued his stroll around the cage and turned his back on them.
Galen looked to Cortree and then Jaden and nodded. The pair nodded back and took their positions.
Cortree moved to the Engine console and Galen stood in front of him to hide him and watch his back. The Tech Savant’s intuitive sense of technology bringing up the commands he needed before he knew what he needed. He pressed in a few commands within moments.
As the Second Brother strolled to the back of the cage, Galen reached out to General Tetreen. He sensed great calm and cool collection from the General. Much like the Order’s own Battlemaster Droast. He sent a message to her through the Force.
“We stand with you General.” Galen sent to Tetreen, prompting no mvement.
The Inquisitor stopped on the other side of the Cage and turned towards Galen.
The General sent a message back.
5…4…3…2…1…
“Now.” Galen whispered to Cortree as everything happened at once.
Cortree punched in a command and power surged through the shuttle. The lights dimmed as the engines and communications stopped at once, causing the shuttle to lurch as it moved to landing repulsers and began descending.
Jaden looked for a weakness in the binders just as General Tetreen stood up and ripped her reinforced binders apart in a single motion.
The Second Brother ignited his lightsaber’s dual red blades and brought it up for a swing to cut Tetreen in half.
Galen leapt on to the ceiling as the shuttle lurched. His motion was so fast it drew the attention of the last stormtrooper and the Commander as Galen became a white blur. The Master of Ataru flipped off the ceiling and the cage, drew his own blue-bladed Lightsaber and intercepted the Inquisitor’s swing.
Galen and the Second Brother matched swings as they engaged each other. Galen flipped and quickly dipped under the Second Brother’s fierce swings throwing the cumbersome stormtrooper helmet to the floor.
The Stormtrooper Commander raised his strange weapon towards Tetreen as the craft lurched. Jaden took the opportunity to elbow him in the face and into the wall, “accidentally” knocking the commander unconscious.
Cortree punched in another command and locked the starboard crew compartment blast door. He laughed as the Stormtroopers on the other side slammed their fists against the sealed door.
Galen and the Second Brother spun around and matched each other blow for blow. Galen waited for an opening.
The last stormtrooper moved around the cage to flank Galen, but Galen moved too fast for that.
Then General Tetreen let out a roar as a blast of Force Energy flew in all directions, breaking the cage to pieces. Jaden braced himself against the hull, but the last stromtrooper was slammed against the wall. The Jedi General was now free.
Galen managed to dodge the Force Slam, but the Second Brother was knocked off-balance for just a moment. Galen felt it was the only moment he’d have in this fight. The pair matched blades again and Galen put all of his strength, courage and convinction into one one move.
The Second brother made a wild swing as Galen ducked under it with blinding speed. Galen elbowed the Inquisitor in the face, spun around and followed through with a practice motion. Galen’s swing went right through the darksider’s defenses and took his head clean off. The Inqusitor fell to the deck and Galen made a sigh of relief.
Then the Stormtroopers in the locked crew compartment began to move.
“Stand back!” The Commander in the crew compartment said as his weapon charged and fired.
The door froze in a flash before a few blaster bolts followed and blew the door to pieces. The last stormtrooper squad made ready against the allies and the General.
Cortree fired his blaster at the squad, the confined quarters making aiming difficult as he shouted at the equipment, “I can’t see a thing in this helmet!”
Jaden picked up the fallen Stormtrooper commander’s unfamiliar Cryoban Cannon at his feet and leveled it at the reserve squad’s commander. The Weapon bucked unexpectedly and the shot went wild, freezing the side of the hull, completely missing it’s target.
“Nice try, impostor!” The Commander said as he levelled his own Cryogun at Jaden, “Shoot the Jedi!”
The danger was short-lived as his helmet shattered from the force of General Tetreen’s charge and subsequent headbutt, taking the man down and dropping the Cryogun to the deck.
The Stormtrooper squad fired at Galen, how deflected the bolts away and made his way towards them.
Cortree spotted the gun drop and fired at the fallen weapon, thinking it look unstable. His shots hit home on the regulator, but his timing was off as the ship rocked as it touched down. The Cryogun exploded in a cloud of freezing vapor that caught Tetreen in the face as the Stormtroopers dove back.
Cortree sensed they were on the ground now, so he turned his attention to the cockpit door and took aim. Moments later, the cockpit door opened for a pair of armed pilots, who only found Cortree’s blaster bolts flying at them. The pair dropped where they stood.
Half the Stormtroopers grabbed and extended stun batons and engaged both Tetreen and Galen in hand to hand. The others fired their blaster at Tetreen, whose Trandsohan physiology was slowed by the cryoban. The blaster bolts hit home and scorched Tetreen’s hide as she powered forward. The tactic was unexpected and unusual weapons caught Galen offguard as the Stormtroopers used genuinely good fisticuffs to hold him off and prevent his lightsaber from coming to bare.
Jaden looked at the Stormtroopers and watched their movements. He analyzed their trained formation, found an opening on their flank and fired the blaster. The blaster bolts took out the two stormtroopers all over Galen, freeing him up.
The two remaining stormtroopers shot at the General, hoping to drop her before she reached them. But the the Jedi General was faster and her superior strength and skill shattered their helmets against the deck as they fell.
Galen held up his lightsaber and swept the area for danger.
“Clear starboard.” Galen said.
“Clear fore and aft.” Cortree said.
“Clear Port…” Jaden said cutting himself off, his gaze falling to the ground.
“What is it, Jaden?” Galen asked, his gaze following to the Inquisitor’s severed head now out of the mask that covered it.
Cortree moved forward and looked down, his face turning to surprise, “What the?…”
Galen, Jaden and Cortree had been doing a lot of research on the Clone Wars in light of recent events. They knew the faces surrounding the conflict. They knew the faces of those who started the wheels in motion.
They immediately recognized the Second Brother’s dead face as being almost identical to the most infamous Zabrak in the Galaxy’s recent history.
“Darth Maul…” Jaden confirmed, “Or at least a corrupted clone of him.”
“That’s not possible.” Cortree said, “I heard you can’t clone Jedi Folk. Doesn’t work.”
“Historically,” Jaden said, “accelerated cloning of Force Sensitives has resulted in universal failure. Subjects either don’t possess Force Sensitivity or are mentally unstable with a lifespan so short their usefulness is too limited.”
“We have to find out what they’re doing here.” Galen said, shutting down his lightsaber.
The trio turned as General Tetreen ripped off her muzzle and other restraints and threw them across the room, drawing their attention. Though wounded and still unarmed, Tetreen seemed ready to take all three of them single-handed.
“First you have to answer my questions,” General Tetreen said in an rocky authoritative Trandoshan hiss, “Who are you?”
Part: 4
Galen shut down his lightsaber and let fall to his side. He made a light bow to the Jedi Master before him.
“We are here to rescue you. We are Jedi Knights Galen Argyus and Jaden Windu of the Jedi Order and this is our ally Cortree Tincove, Captain of the Jedi Training Ship, The Crucible.” Galen said.
“You are not of Tython.” Tetreen said.
“We came from Coruscant,” Galen said, “We followed an old map left behind by Master Yoda. We discovered the Temple and feared the worst.”
“Prove to me you are Jedi.” Tetreen said, “Your word and your Lightsaber alone are not enough.”
“What would you have us do?” Jaden asked.
Tetreen thought for a moment and spoke, “Emotion?”
Galen picked up on the challenge code, “There is no emotion.”
“There is peace.” Jaden followed. The pair picked up on it immediately.
“There is no ignorance…”
“There is knowledge.”
“There is no passion…”
“There is serenity.”
“There is no chaos…“
“There is harmony.”
“There is no death…”
“There is the Force.” The three said simultaneously.
Galen walked up to her and handed her his lightsaber.
“If you don’t believe us,” Galen said calmly, “Strike me down with my own blade.”
Tetreen regarded the young man intently.
“So be it,” Tetreen said, “Jedi…”
Galen sighed in relief as Tetreen handed back his saber, the danger passed.
The allies at down and broke out some rations as they recovered from the combat.
“How did you get past the Guardian Fleet, Master Jedi and Captain?”
“Yoda’s Holocron had old ident codes.” Jaden confirmed.
“You are fortunate, they would have blown you out of the sky.”
“What’s happened here, General?” Galen asked, “What is the Empire doing?”
“The Empire?” Tetreen said, “We don’t know.”
“Forgive us, General. We’ve found conflicting information.” Jaden said, “How long has the current occupation been here?”
“Sixty Years ago the Legion and the Order retook Tython,” Tetreen confirmed, “We’ve been at relative peace with the Imperial Garrison here for nearly that whole time. They attacked us right out of the blue five weeks ago.”
“B-314’s chronometer must be off,” Cortree said, “He said Five Years.”
“We’ve been trying to get that fixed,” Tetreen said with familiarity, “But that’s what happens when the Empire rakes the entire planet with ion cannons and destroys the most accurate star charts.”
“So your Order has been stuck here for century?” Galen asked, genuinely curious,”How did you survive?”
“Master Balian’s a survivor. He reminded us of all the things a Jedi could be. Especially in times of greatest need.”
“When we came in, the Guardian fleet gave us a strange greeting.” Jaden said. Tetreen nodded, recognizing the concern.
“A relic of the past, but only used by a small small minority among the Jedi on planet.” Tetreen said,”Most of us are not like that.”
“It concerns me, Master the militarism apparent on Tython. Do you think yourselves soldiers?” Galen said, as carefully as possible.
“We think ourselves as Jedi.” Tetreen said, “The Jedi Order has taken many forms over the millennia. Our situation demanded that we needed to be the strongest version of the Order to survive and to bring the Galaxy back to a better time before Empire.“
“But what if your war is over?” Galen asked honestly, “What if the Republic has moved on?”
“War is a temporary state, but struggle and change never end. The Legion of Light and its members are like all other Jedi, servants of the Republic. We are not despots or dictators, we are guardians of its people, its laws and its ways of life. Even if there is no physical enemy for the Jedi to face, there will always be struggle between Light and Dark. We face that struggle along with the rest of the Republic. It is our duty to help it along and hope that it chooses the Light.”
Galen felt moved by the words. But he also wondered how the Seekers of the current Order would fair with these new Jedi with them…
“What did the Empire do with the rest of the Jedi?” Jaden asked,”In the Forge there were some kinds of experiments.”
Tetreen hissed, her stillness cracking from the memory.
“The only thing we know about the Imperial Occupation here is that they seem to be doing some experiments up by the Wellspring.”
“The Wellspring?” Galen asked.
“A Large Force Nexus on the other continent.” Tetreen said,”It augments Force abilities using some kind of strange technology surrounding it.”
“Strange how?” Jaden asked.
“You might have seen some of it in the walls of the Forge. Some kind of ancient technology the original Jedi Survey team found. We can’t really comprehend it or everything it can do besides its ability to build things rapidly. When the surveyors first found the Forge and the nearby Fount of Rajivari, they were but ruins. But they grew into the massive bunker you saw. What we do know for certain is that the technology seems to only be able to be operated or reassembled by Force Sensitive people.”
Jaden pursed his lips as theories fell into his consciousness, “This technology, did it feel alive?”
“Yes. I think so. I haven’t spent much time with it.”
“Are you familiar with the Infinite Empire?”
Tetreen shuttered at the thought, “A few footnotes from historical study. But didn’t they die out tens of thousands of years ago?”
“We think they’re makin’ some kind of return.” Cortree said,”We’ve had run ins in the past.”
“They possessed technology like the kind you describe.” Jaden said,”According to the histories, their Empire used technology that was fueled by the Force and became attuned to the Dark Side. At some point the Empire somehow lost their ability to use the Force and therefore their technology.”
“But what does it mean?” Tetreen asked.
“It means they’re doin’ something that needs a lot of Force Users.” Cortree said,”Big project might demand you capture as many of ‘em as you can, I figure.”
“That is certainly a possibility…” Tetreen said,”What do we do from here? Do you have a ship?”
“My ship, the Crucible,” Cortree said, “We can use it to get past the Guardian Fleet easy. Galen’s apprentice is piloting it, but she should be able to get us out.”
“Good idea.” Tetreen said,”We should return to the Republic and bring as many Jedi and Republic Forces as we can muster.”
Galen thought about the situation long and hard. He thought about Tython, about the road they had taken there, about everything that had happened to all of them recently. He thought about what they should do. Guided by the Force he felt that he couldn’t just leave his fellow Jedi in the hands of the Imperials.
“How many Jedi are on Planet?” Galen asked, “How many does the Empire have?”
“One to two hundred, depending on our losses. A few dozen I think are still in hiding including General Balian who still has the command codes for the Guardian Fleet.” Tetreen said.
Galen made his decision. He followed the will of the Living Force.
“We’re not leaving them behind.” Galen said,”I won’t abandon Jedi to the Empire. I won’t let them be slaves or lab rats. I sense we are on the edge of something terrible here. Something that only we can stop. Even if I have to do it alone they must be freed…”
Cortree, Jaden and Tetreen looked to him and realized that he could not be swayed. They realized that he meant what he said, that he would do whatever it took.
The three of them looked to each other and nodded.
“You won’t have to.” Tetreen said.
“I’ll help.” Jaden said without hesitation.
“You can’t blow up an imperial base without me.” Cortree said,”Haven’t gotten a chance to try that yet.”
“Thank you all.” Galen said, “So, what’s the plan?”
The allies took out a datapad and opened a holographic map of the area.
“The Imperial Base sits on top of a large canyon with steep cliffs on either side, making a ground assault impossible even if we had access to the Guardian Fleet.” General Tetreen reviewed,”The Guardian Fleet itself is cut off from the surface by the Signal Jammer. We would have to destroy that jammer before would could call them for aid. In addition, the Planetary defense shields are strong enough to repel any kind of Orbital bombardment.”
“Our primary target should be the Shield Generator or the Signal Jammer.” Jaden said, analyzing the information.
“He’s right,” Cortree said, looking over the site,”If we can can blow up one of them, it leaves the planet open to the Guardian Fleet who I’m guessing have been waiting sixty years for a fight. I don’t think an Occupation this size can repel two million battle droids.”
“I can be your insider. I can help free the other Jedi if you can get me to the right place.” Tetreen said,”You can use that Inquisitor’s outfit to scout the area and see if there’s a way to free us.”
“We have to free these Jedi,” Galen demanded,”That means our primary target should be the shield generator. Once it’s down, we can get Leoni to fly in with the Crucible and get the prisoners out.”
“Hundred and fifty some odd folks?” Cortree said, “Tight fit but we can do it with our cargo space. Won’t be a comfy ride if we have to bug out to Coruscant.”
“How many of the Jedi are members of this Legion of Light? How many can fight?” Galen asked.
“A little more than half of us.” Tetreen said,”But, even the most peaceful of us are still Jedi Knights. If you can get the Jedi free and take down that Shield Generator, we can take out that Signal Jammer together.”
“We will have to trust the Force to guide us.” Jaden said, getting up.
“I’ll check the weapons locker an’ see if they got any Thermal Detonators.” Cortree said, walking to aft.
Galen went to the fallen Inquisitor and began stripping him. He activated his commlink and opened a channel to Leoni.
“Leoni.”
“Yes, Master?”
“Here’s the plan…”
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