Chapter 8: Hornet's Nest
I knew Ken was not happy with me. But someone had to pilot the
Wayfarer, there were only two DCC's, and he'd picked paper against his mother! Paper. As if Arnor would go with ANYTHING other than scissors. I mean, anyone who knew us knew that I was the "rock" type and she was the "scissors" type.
It was obvious.
The thought made me chuckle, distracting me from the extreme discomfort of my current position. Umnub was your typical moon - gray, airless and utterly lifeless. The satellite was riddled with mines, most of which had been played out long ago. Some had remained in production longer, removing smaller amounts of high-value ores. Our target was one of the former, a long-abandoned iron mine which had been terraformed into a low-G resort and had been billed as a duty-free "playground" of the rich. That, too had passed, and the site had served as a hospital and research facility for decades before finally being sold to an eccentric entrepreneur as a private residence. How Juwynn had acquired it was unknown, but one rumor passed to us by the Front was that one of her 'harem' members was the heir and current owner, and had offered it up willingly when the people of Fulluusub had turned on her Warren-Clan. What we would find inside was anyone's guess.
I looked over at Arnor. I could sense her own discomfort - and anxiety - radiating from her own perch. The DCC's - Droid Combat Chassis - gave Mutt and Two amazingly good cross-country speed, but the cost was a hammering, jarring lope that made me feel like someone was slowly pounding me into a very small puddle of goo. A quick check of our position confirmed that the ride was nearly over, however. The fireworks should be starting any second now...
From the surface we could actually see the
Wayfarer drop out of hyper. It helped to know where to look, but realizing that Vegan had run the calculations to drop into normal space between the planet and moon made me shudder slightly. Still, the emergence was spectacular, not something you got to see with the naked eye often...
The Star Destroyer reacted. Massive ion engines sprang to life, and despite the extreme range turbo-laser bolts sparked into existence. Ken's song rang clearly in the force as he concentrated, bobbing and weaving toward the main landing platform. The instant reaction of the Star Destroyer seemed to confirm the idea that they were there over-watching the activities on the moon. It was now up to Ken to convince them that they had thwarted an attempted landing, and perhaps even draw them away into a pursuit.
Ken's piloting was amazing. Even from the ground, barely able to see the ship maneuver, I was impressed. He even managed to put a few turbo-laser shots into the Star Destroyer, hammering it with weapons far heavier than they could have been expecting. The results were telling: shoals of TIE fighters erupted from the Star Destroyer's bays, moving to hem the nimble freighter in and limit its ability to maneuver, making it an easier target for the Destroyer.
Two whistled and beeped. "Yes, I'm sure he sees them, Two." I replied. "He'll pull out soon."
And he did. With a masterful helix course he carved a fiery pathway through the fighters before steadying on course long enough to engage his hyper drive and jump back out. The Star Destroyer did not follow, but two Nebulon-B Frigates, which had been thrusting in to join the fray - did move in pursuit and jumped out after him. The fighters milled about for a time, covering shuttles on SAR runs before all the auxilliaries returned to the Star Destroyer, now moving back into it's higher orbit.
That was our signal. The secondary entry point we'd selected was on the opposite side of a ridge from the main entrance to complex 27, but it was still serviceable. As long as it had power...
Arnor and I unplugged our exo-suits from the DCC's piggy-back life support modules and dismounted while Mutt and Two plugged in and tried to hack into the port controls. Indicator lights blinked, so there was power, but after several minutes it became apparent that nothing the droids could access would allow them to open the hatch. I listened as the chirps and beeps between the two gradually grew more and more frustrated and finally decided we had to take a more drastic approach. "Two, this isn't working. Can you scan into the interior? Is there air inside the lock?"
The answering beeps were accompanied by a series of hums as the droid's sensors probed the interior. "Thanks."
Arnor looked the question at me. "No, no air. The space inside the lock is void. So..." I drew and ignited my lightsaber. "Shall we?"
Yellow and teal fire sliced through the thick door, making short work of the outer airlock. Even with two of us we barely made a hole big enough for the DCCs to enter, and the area inside the lock was extremely crowded. "Now what?" Arnor asked.
"Now..." I gestured to the inner lock's port. "Try again. And let me know before you actually open the door, guys."
Two answered with a rude string of low chirps while Mutt twittered the equivalent of laughter. The inner lock apparently did not have the same security in place, and Two made short work of it. "OK, wait one." With a mental pull I dragged the severed door back into place and Arnor and I made a sloppy patch along the cut. "OK, that's going to have to do it." Arnor and I braced against Two and Mutt. "Hit it."
Two twittered one last time and triggered the inner lock. The chamber was immediately filled with a hurricane of swirling air, which immediately died down as the space pressurized. "GO GO GO!"
Arnor and I slammed into the corridor followed by Two and Mutt. We kept going, Mutt right behind, as Two turned to plug back in and close the inner hatch again. We didn't quite make it in time: The hasty plug failed under pressure and blew out, and the corridor instantly became a hurricane of wind. Arnor and I were physically picked up and hurled backward, only to slam into Mutt, who used his chassis to pin himself in place. I heard Arnor grunt as she hit, and felt a wave of red agony erupt from her in the force, even as her thread in our shared song suddenly dimmed. I saw her slipping to the side, away from me, and I struggled against the escaping torrent of wind to lay hands on her. I caught her just as she started to roll off of Mutt's chassis and held on with desperate strength as Two finally managed to insert his data connector and closed the hatch at last.
Instantly the wind stopped. Freed from it's pinning power, Arnor and I slid down the DCC's legs and to the floor. I rolled my wife over, eyes scanning her ExoSuit's tell-tails. Far to many were yellow and orange, indicating broken bones and internal trauma. Her eyes fluttered open, filled with panic and pain. I abandoned the suit's medical diagnostics, tore my gauntlet off, opened her helmet and made physical contact, laying my hand against her face.
The song enveloped me... I turned, found Arnor's thread, saw the pain and hurt there. I joined the song, shared her pain...
And I sang... A song of healing, learned long ago, flowed from me into her, easing the pain, repairing the damage...
heal ... heal ... heal ... heal ... healI opened my eyes, startled.
The crystals are ... singing my song?I leaned back and felt healing energy, focused by the song now echoing through the force, flow into both Arnor and myself. It wasn't enough to instantly repair all the damage - bones took time to knit, despite the force, and tissue still needed time to repair - but the bleeding stopped and if nothing was completely healed then everything was partially healed. More importantly, the pain receded, allowing Arnor to take over the healing song herself and drop into her own healing trance.
I sat back, relishing the power coursing through my own body. The crystal "explosion" in Fulluusub had hurt me more than I'd cared to admit. Now the song was coursing through me, replentishing my endurance and healing the hurt. It was refreshing in ways that could not be described. But it was also puzzling.
Why is this happening?I stood and walked over to the wall, laying my hand on the stone. It was practically pulsing with power, like a naked electrical relay, but the power was ... unfocused. Just a chiming chord, like a wind-chime in the wind. Random, beautiful in its own way, but with no real melody or harmony or rhythm. Exactly what I would expect from a natural crystal lattice, though even Pontite wouldn't normally carry this kind of carrier power. Softly I focused and sang, injecting a song of peace and tranquility. Nothing radical, just ... peace. Calm. I felt it radiate out from me, propagating through the crystal lattice.
Maker, what a powerful weapon... Even in the 'Tragedy of Vyth, when Kage Odjina defeated the Two despite their dark manipulations of the song, nothing like these crystals is mentioned!And the realization dawned. "Where is Julwynn?"
Two, standing close over Arnor's unconcious form, beeped a question. "This lattice should be HAMMERING us with power, like the alleyway in Fulluusub, only exponentially more powerful. Instead the crystals are passively accepting my songs. Why not hers?"
More beeps, this time laced with rude grunts. "No, I don't expect you to know. I'm just thinking out loud." I turned and lifted Arnor with the force, carefully draping her back into the carry harness we'd rigged on the back of DCC. "Plug her back into your life support, Two, and go to the extraction point. Your job is to keep Arnor safe. Do you read me?"
Thankfully the droid responded with only a serious and affirmative response. "Thank you." I brushed a kiss onto her cheek and re-sealed her helmet. "Mutt, you're with me."
As we advanced, my mind kept returning to the old sagas. My saber crystal, "The Ancient One", was supposed to be a crystal so strongly embedded in the song that it would only draw the strongest singers to itself. Some of the legends surrounding it were fantastic, but I could attest from my own experience that the crystal did indeed sing to me and even reinforced my own song in the force. Other stories, like the sagas of the Dark Times, the Tales of the Reaving, and the Tragedy of Vyth all told of Dark Singers who had threatened the Mak'Tor or others and had ultimately been defeated not by brute force but by the song itself. As Master Chillum had taught me, the point was that whether for good or ill, whenever a Singer bent the song to his or her own will, the ultimate outcome was tragic. Even the good intentions of Kage Dorian, who created the Crystals of Balance in their shrines on the Spire, ended up hurting more than helping in the end. Always the final lesson: Trust the Maker. Trust the Singer. Not the song.
I shook off the wool-gathering thoughts, reaching out to mentally caress Arnor one last time in the force. I felt her stir in response. That was good. She was out of danger...
Mutt turned a corner and let out a warning squeal just as a flurry of blaster bolts cascaded into his personal shield. He began returning fire while emitting a series of hoots and screaches that should have made him blush. "Mutt! Language!"
I ignited my saber and did a forward shoulder roll past Mutt, bringing myself fully into the main chamber and into the fight. The song of battle hummed in my chest and there was no reason to fear it now. My blade described a golden shield around me as red, blue and green blaster bolts arced away in multiple directions, some at crazy angles, others into enemies wielding weapons. Mutt was also in rapid-fire mode, showering the Sith Shadow positions with a steady stream of fire, using his heavy blasters to concentrate on weapons positions and anyone firing from effective cover. Meanwhile, bouyed by the force and the power still flowing through the crystal lattice around me, I launched into a full-blown Ataru attack, spinning and slicing my way through the enemy from one side as Mutt worked the other. Together we met in the middle, where a trio of Dathomirians attempted to make a final stand. Several times I severed a hand or fore-arm only to have my target ignore the injury and pick up a weapon with his other hand. None stopped until they were either dead or unconscious. In the end I found myself surrounded by fallen foes, mostly dead. "Mutt! Status!"
Mutt answered with a string of chirps and whistles. "Understood! Try to conserve weapons power. Right now I need you to look for a computer terminal so that..."
"You'll find nothing. She's apparently taken her favorites and flown the coop, as it were." called a silky baritone from across the room. "And there's nothing in the computer, either. I checked."
I turned, spied a comm port and gestured to Mutt to plug in. "You won't mind if we check for ourselves Mr....?"
"Lord Cha, at your service, Master Jedi...?"
I shifted uneasily, reaching out and feeling the raw power of the man. Sith for sure, the hammer of the drums was unmistakable. But not a singer, or I'd feel him in the very walls of this place! "Ka'Ah'Re Mack of the Mak'Tor." I replied. "There are no Jedi here. Your Master saw to that."
Cha chuckled. "Did he, now? Considering what I just saw I find your assertion ... disappointing. I was hoping for more of a test." I sensed the massive force push building, the lighting, and brought my own blade up and prepared to block, but the Sith didn't attack me directly. Instead, the push and lighting snapped out and struck Mutt, slamming him away from the data port and burning out the interfaces of his DCC, leaving him alive but trapped in his shorted-out body. Meanwhile the Sith closed with me, a pair of red blades snapping into existence in his hands as he closed, laughing.
I smiled, the song of battle swelling within me, and I sang it into the force. I adopted a middle guard and waited for his attack, letting my song echo and break around me, swirling like a dervish in the force.
Sing, master. Sing sing sing ... KILL KILL KILL KI...I snapped myself back out of the song, confused and slightly panicked.
What was that?The Sith had also stopped, his eyes wide, filled with sudden recognition ... and fear. Without saying a word, Cha turned and ran.
I let him go. I was stunned. The shock was still washing through me, like the after-effects of adrenaline in the system. My hand shook slightly as I deactivated my blade and hung my saber on my belt. I walked over to Mutt and opened his systems panel. The DCC was fried, but with a couple of pushes and tugs in the force I was able to disconnect him and free him from the chassis. He whistled his thanks and returned to the data port, intent on scouring the computer for anything of value.
Meanwhile I sent another melody of peace and calm into the crystal lattice, slowly dropping the Sith Shadow survivors into a half-sleep, half-trance that would incapacitate them for a time. That done, I carefully centered myself, wrapped mental fingers tight around my shared song with Arnor and Ken, and opened myself to the song again. And I sang...
What are you?
I am Master and Slave. I am yours to command! Let us rule together! Sing to me, Master! Sing!I shuddered and pulled back as a wave of desire to sing, to bring all around me into subjection, washed over me.
Where? Where are you?Here! Why do you not sing? I stood, focused. There was now a beacon in the song, a bright, repeating motif. It was very close. "Mutt, carry on ... and brace yourself."
Mutt answered with a single whistle. "Yes, I'll be careful." I replied, stepping up to the spot where the beacon was shining in the song. I was facing an inner wall. "So, here you are..."
I opened the cabinet, expecting wires or some kind of fancy shrine or something. I was disappointed. A single, red crystal lay on the shelf. Pontite. Perfectly formed. Visually very plain.
And literally pulsing with power. I swallowed, and walled myself off from the force as much as I could. "Mutt, relay to Two. Contact Ken and execute Extraction Two." I ignited my saber and closed my eyes. "OK, here goes nothing..."
Master! Sing to me!
Sing!
Sing!
SING!I struck...