Mission 5: "Death By Deception"

Part 2 Epilogue Supplemental


"Phantoms in the Dark" By Korey Robinson

“Three days have past since the virus was planted into the computer core of the city, but so far we’ve heard nothing from our scouts telling us whether or not our mission was a success,” Avatar informed the collection of refugees as he stood on a makeshift platform comprising of crates and boxes. He was a middle-aged man with dark hair and a trimmed beard with a scar on his right cheek just below his eye. He was dressed in his usual baggy gray pants, white, short-sleeved shirt, and gray protective vest. Strapped to his right hip was a modified heavy blast pistol, and he carried a bandoleer with grenades and thermal detonators all around. On his head he wore a military officer’s hat, which seemed to give him an air of authority in spite of the fact that he was nothing, according to the common gossip around the hideout, but an outlaw and a smuggler.

Just how he came to be the leader of the ragtag resistance no one seemed to know, but it was said that during the early moments of the Droid Uprising Avatar appeared from nowhere and rescued scores of individuals by leading them underground. No one knew much about him, and no one really cared. All they knew was that he was a good man, and he seemed to be pretty adept at leadership so they didn’t much care what his past was.

“However,” continued the leader, “our scouts have reported picking up on a signal from somewhere within the Military District’s lower levels. It is believed that it could either be a trap to flush us out or there could be some survivors like us down there. What I need is a team to investigate this signal to determine just who, if anybody, is down there. This mission will be dangerous, to say the least, but we need to know more about the situation with the droids and whether we have any allies in this fight or not. Do I have any volunteers?”

Avatar scanned the room only to be disappointed. It seemed that no one was really up to the task or courageous enough to try. Everyone avoided his gaze as they looked at one another, at their feet, or anything else but the leader.

Satchal Paige watched the scene from his location near the back where his friends and master were sitting. He was glad that none of them wanted to attempt such a crazy mission. As far as he was concerned it was pointless to try to go all the way to the Military District, the heart of the enemy’s most powerful forces, just to check out a signal that was most likely a trap. As he made eye-contact with Geldar and Brin’tac he saw that they were both somewhat uneasy about the leader’s request, and after they’d just been in the heart of the city’s computer core they seemed to be unwilling to go on another mission so quickly. Geldar had almost lost his life, after all, and Ivanna, Satchal’s master, had almost lost hers as well. Lialla had also taken some series hits, and she was still nursing some of her injuries even as she sat there.

Avatar sighed heavily and looked down at his feet. “I see,” he said. “Well, then I guess we’ll just have to….”

But someone cut him off before he could finish, and Satchal’s heart leapt into his throat. “I will go,” stated Ivanna plainly, and she stood before any of the others could utter a word.

Avatar’s eyes fixed on the Jedi, and a look of concern crossed his usually stoic demeanor. “Alone?” he said. “You were just seriously wounded. Are you sure you want to do this?”

Ivanna’s face was set and determined. “You said you wanted volunteers,” she replied. “Do you want me to go or not?”

Satchal closed his eyes to fight back the anger that was building within him. Why doesn’t she ever ask for my opinion on things or anyone else’s for that matter? I know she’s a master Jedi, but Master Lo always respected the advice and opinions of others, and he weighed every decision very carefully even when he needed to make a decision quickly. She’s rash and I’m always getting the feeling that she thinks she’s superior to everyone else. Am I really supposed to train under her? I feel like she’s the impulsive Padawan and I’m always trying to keep her from getting killed! Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?

Brin’tac stood to his feet quickly after exchanging glances with Geldar to make sure they were in agreement. “With all due respect, Avatar,” he replied, “my team and I have just been through a lot. I don’t think the rest of us are really ready for another mission just yet. If Master Ivanna wishes to go through with this I don’t think I can commit our entire team to aid her.”

Ivanna shot him a look as if to say that she had expected as much. “I know the limitations of this group,” said Ivanna confidently. “I was not expecting anyone else to accompany me. In fact, I would prefer it if you didn’t. As Avatar stated it will be very dangerous. If I succeed then we will learn everything we need to know. If I fail then you are only one person short.”

That did it. Satchal was on his feet now confronting his master eye to eye. Since she was just a bit shorter than he was he seemed to have an edge over her. “Wait just a second!” he snapped. “No offense, Master – and I acknowledge that you are my master – but I can’t just sit back while you talk about going off alone to get yourself killed. I know you are my master and I’m supposed to trust that you know what you’re doing, but I can’t. I’m not some stupid, naive Padawan anymore who just does whatever his master instructs him to do. Have you even considered just how valuable you are to this resistance? Have you even thought about how your powers can benefit our group as a whole? We need you here, and I don’t think it’s wise that you should just run off alone to search for some stupid signal in the Military District of all places! You’re not invincible, Ivanna, and although I’ve only known you for a little bit I care about you too much to sit by and let you do this.”

Ivanna only met his gaze with eyes that burned like a raging inferno, and all eyes in the room watched as they wondered just what was going to happen next. Not a person spoke or moved, and it seemed that after the words left Satchal’s mouth the entire room had been frozen in time.

When Ivanna finally spoke her words were barely controlled. “Mind your place, Padawan,” she said, and each word was emphasized sharply. Then she spoke up for all to hear. “I know what this resistance needs, and it is allies and information. I can sense other life in this city, and I know we are not alone. I believe that this quest will be fruitful, and we will find others to aid us. This situation is coming to its end, and we must take risks to achieve our goals. Every mission could be our last, and my life is no better than anyone else’s. I am a Jedi Master, and my abilities give me the best chance of success in infiltrating the Military District and returning alive. Anyone else coming with me may only hinder my progress. Therefore, Avatar, if you don’t mind I will be going on this mission alone without the aid of my apprentice and his companions.”

The words stung like a training saber set on high power. Satchal’s eyes narrowed. “Fine,” he said through clenched teeth. “Then go alone, but just remember this, Master.” He said the last with great sarcasm. “The last mission we nearly had to scrape you off of the floor. This time we won’t be there to do so. If I lose another master I won’t take another. I’ll finish my training on my own!” Then he turned and stormed out of the room leaving everyone stunned and unable to speak. Even Ivanna seemed to be shaken, and she clutched the back of the seat in front of her to support her.

Everyone watched to see what the Jedi Master would do next, and Ivanna took in a deep breath to regain her composure. She turned back to face Avatar and addressed everyone present. “I will go on this mission, and I will go alone,” she restated. “Now if you’ll excuse me I have other matters to attend to.” Then she turned and stormed out of the room herself following Satchal.

“Well,” said Avatar as she went. “I guess this means this meeting is adjourned.” Then he stepped down from his makeshift platform and strode off to find one of the scouts that had the transceiver that had picked up the signal.

“Lovers’ spat,” remarked Nyarchagga with a chuckle as the others attempted to collect themselves after what had just happened.

Tarrsk snorted at the Dug’s joke and made some remark of his own under his breath to the same effect, but the others missed it entirely. Lialla was already on her feet and making her way for the door Satchal and Ivanna had vanished through, and Geldar quickly snatched her elbow to stop her. “Wait!” Geldar said with a little more emotion than he’d meant to have. “You won’t do any good interfering.”

“She has no right to talk to him that way,” Lialla said heatedly, and she jerked her elbow away from him. “Someone needs to tell that snooty Jedi just where she can stick her attitude!”

“So you have deemed that you are the one to do it?” Brin’tac replied coolly as he came up to back up Geldar. “You will only make matters worse, Lialla. They must work this out on their own. Master Ivanna and Satchal both have their reasons to be upset in this matter. Master Ivanna is Satchal’s master and as such she should not have Satchal questioning her actions as he did. However, Satchal has lost a master already to a situation very similar to this one. Master Lo told Satchal he couldn’t come when he went to face Wraith and died. Satchal is afraid the same thing will happen.”

Kazzra’an gave off a series of roars interrupting the conversation with his own comments. “Oh come on,” he roared. “Call it like it is, Bothan. A blind Gamorrean could see that Satchal’s feelings for Ivanna run a little deeper than Master-Padawan.”

The comment, however, went unnoticed as Lialla, who didn’t understand the Wookiee one bit, replied, “So you want me to do nothing? I don’t care what the situation is, the fact remains that she is in the wrong here. She should not be going off alone through a droid-infested city.”

“So go with her,” replied Nyarchagga with another chuckle. He was enjoying this exchange most profusely. Lialla only rolled her eyes in his direction and returned to her argument.

“Now that would be something I’d pay to see,” remarked Tarrsk with a smile. “They’d be like two starving Rancors fighting over a pile of corpses.”

“Yeah, except there’s no sport in pitting a juvenile Rancor with a bull,” Nyarchagga added, and they returned to listening to the conversation.

“Fine,” said Lialla at last. “So we’ll leave them be, but I still wonder why we even have her with us. I don’t like her at all, and I don’t think she’s very much a part of our team. She doesn’t even consider us when she makes any decisions. I hope she goes off and gets herself killed.”

“Yeah, that’d show her,” remarked Kazzra’ an, and Geldar only threw him a sour expression.

“Can I say something here?” asked Tso who had, until this moment, been very quiet through the whole discourse. Everyone turned to look at him, and he shifted rather uncomfortably now that he had their attention. “I would just like to point out that, in spite of everything that’s just happened and everyone’s emotions and all, we still don’t know anything about this Ivanna person. I don’t trust her one bit, and I think we need to find out more about her. She may want to go off alone, but how do we know she isn’t going to just lead our enemy back here to us? That seems kind of suspicious to me. And another thing I’ve been thinking about is how do we know that she isn’t somehow responsible for the droids going crazy? After all we arrive here and suddenly the droids go ballistic. Doesn’t that seem kind of coincidental? I mean, no offense to Satchal, but I think his master is shiftier than the Dug when he’s playing Sabaac. She did spend ten years in a Dark Jedi infested prison, or whatever it was. How could she have spent so much time there and not been corrupted?”

Everyone was silent for a moment as they all took in his words. Then Geldar said, “You’re right. Maybe this is a perfect opportunity to find out more about our Master Jedi.”

“What do you propose?” asked Brin’tac, somewhat leery.

“We send Gnat to follow her,” Geldar explained. “She won’t be able to detect him with the Force. Gnat will spy on her and show us exactly what she’s really like when she thinks no one is around.”

Nyarchagga shook his head. “We couldn’t watch her with my wrist monitor. Gnat would send a signal back here, and that could be traced.”

“Gnat could record the information in his memory banks and we could play it when he returns,” Brin’tac offered.

Nyarchagga didn’t like the idea of sending his prized espionage droid off after a Jedi when there were thousands of virus-infested droids roaming about and a good chance that somehow the Jedi might pick up on his presence and destroy him. Instead of voicing this thought, however, he said, “Not a good idea. If he was discovered by enemy droids they could download his memory and discover our location. The Jedi might not pick up on him, but computers and droids could. That’s a risk we shouldn’t take.”

Tso nodded. “I say we follow her.”

“No,” said Geldar. “That would be too dangerous. She’ll be using the Force most likely to detect life and where it’s located throughout the city. If she does she’ll know we’re following for sure.”

“Can’t you hide our presence from her?” asked Kazzra’an. “Orruwarr told me such things were possible for a Jedi.”

Geldar sighed. “I don’t think we’d be powerful enough to hide our presence from her, but I suppose we could try. I just don’t know.”

“All I’m saying,” said Nyarchagga, “is that if we are discovered by her then we’ve lost nothing. We can just say we were following to help her. If Gnat is discovered by droids….”

“We get the point,” said Geldar. “So we can’t send Gnat. I just don’t know if we should necessarily go ourselves. It seems very dangerous just to try to see what she’s like when we’re not around.”

Brin’tac, after pondering the situation for a moment, considered his friend’s true motives and thought of another solution. “Perhaps Gnat could be set to erase his memories the moment he is discovered.”

“Ah,” said the quick-thinking Nyarchagga. “But if Gnat is hit by surprise that won’t work. They could take his memories the moment he’s powered up.”

Tso sighed in frustration. “Then forget it. I’m sorry I said anything.”

“Wait,” said Geldar. “We can think of something.”

“Why not ask Avatar?” suggested Tarrsk. “He’s got some supplies. Maybe he has or knows someone who has a bug we could borrow.”

“The signal would still be traced back to here,” Nyarchagga replied.

“So we go somewhere else while we receive the signal,” Tarrsk said.

“Or we could take from Gnat’s memory our exact location,” said Brin’tac, and Nyarchagga threw his friend a fierce look as if to warn him to stop pressing that issue.

“That would not work,” Nyarchagga said. “We would need to erase his memory after he was already following Ivanna outside of this location.”

“He’s got a point there,” said Geldar. “We also have to keep in mind that Ivanna can move fast. The Force aids her movements. Gnat would be hard pressed to keep up with her. A bug is probably the best way to go.”

“But a bug doesn’t give us video feed,” said Tso.

Kazzra’an, growing bored with the conversation, growled, “Why don’t we just slap Gnat onto her back somewhere after taking our location from his memory? We then shut him down with a timer switch on him so that he powers up after twenty minutes or so. That should give Ivanna plenty of time to be far away from this location so that Gnat won’t know where we are when he powers up.”

Brin’tac smiled at the Wookiee. “A good suggestion! What do you think Nyarchagga?”

“Poodoo!” said the Dug viciously. “I think it smells like poodoo. Even if we could slip it on her somewhere…”

“I thought you were skilled enough to pull something like that off,” said Tarrsk challengingly.

Nyarchagga shot him a venomous glance as well. “A Jedi has better perceptions than most.”

“Slip Gnat on her when she’s busy staring at Satchal then,” Tarrsk added with a chuckle.

Nyarchagga swore under his breath, but before he could respond Geldar said, “The only problem with that is even if we could somehow slip Gnat onto Ivanna she might at any point discover him attached to her.”

“If we want to spy on her I don’t see any other solution,” said Kazzra’an. “Do you?”

Geldar thought about it a moment and had to agree. The best solution so far was to slap Gnat onto Ivanna somewhere and hope she didn’t discover him. However, if they were really going to ensure that they got accurate footage of her actions they’d have to be watching her constantly, for if she were to find the droid at any point she could alter his memories before she returned back to the base. That meant that they were going to have to watch from Nyarchagga’s monitor, which meant that they were still going to have to go somewhere else in the city to do this. That would be dangerous, but what else could they really do? He wanted to spy on Ivanna to see what kind of person she really was, and if they were going to get accurate information on her actions outside of the group it was going to have to be done this way.

“All right,” said Geldar. “I don’t see any other solution. Gnat is the best way to get both audio and video footage of Ivanna’s actions, and I, like most of us here, want to see what this Master Jedi is all about. I have to confess that I don’t trust her any more than I did Daragald’s Blight, and it would sure give me some peace of mind knowing more about her true character. Plus Satchal may feel better knowing that we are keeping an eye on her so we can see if she’s in trouble or not.”

“But that would mean you want to watch her from the monitor,” said Tso, a bit confused.

“Right,” said Geldar, and he explained his reasoning.

“That sounds logical to me,” said Brin’tac. “What do the rest of you think?”

Lialla piped in again. “I think it’s a great idea. As long as we’re careful and keep an escape route open we’ll be fine. Besides, if Ivanna is really going to betray us we’ll have time to warn Avatar if we’re watching her from Nyarchagga’s monitor.”

“It sounds like a good plan to me,” Kazzra’an chimed in, anxious to be done with all of it. Tarrsk also gave his consent, and Tso was soon to follow. The only one that didn’t really seem to like this idea was Nyarchagga, but he finally gave in, though very reluctantly.

“Fine,” said Brin’tac. “Then the moment we bid farewell to Ivanna we’ll have Nyarchagga slip Gnat onto the Jedi. When she’s gone we’ll go somewhere else in the city and watch her until she’s completed her quest.” With everyone in agreement they headed for the only exit to the hideout as they waited for Ivanna to leave.



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Nyarchagga sat with a scowl on his face as he waited with the others near the entrance of the hideout. Although he had agreed to the plan he still didn’t like it one bit. He had sent Gnat on plenty of covert missions before, but this was different. Ivanna was going into the heart of a city ruled by droids, and she was likely not going to come back. If she got caught and killed there was a good chance that Gnat would not escape the encounter and come back in one piece. In fact, there was a good chance that Gnat might be converted instead to helping the enemy track them down, and that idea was what he hated the most. Gnat was like a treasured pet to him, and the thought that Gnat might be turned against him sickened the Dug.

But there was nothing he could really do about it. He did agree with the others that Ivanna was suspicious, and he also agreed that Gnat was the best member of their team for the job of tracking her and seeing what she was really like. And so, Nyarchagga held Gnat in his palm and finished wiping his memory of the bases location, then he shut the droid down and set it to power back up after about forty-five minutes.

Just as he finished Satchal and Ivanna entered the room and paused when they saw that everyone was waiting for them. “What’s going on?” asked Satchal curiously.

“We were waiting for you two,” said Geldar casually. “We were all concerned, and we thought it best to wait by the entrance to the hideout to make sure neither of you left without us having the chance to talk to you.”

“We also wanted to wish Ivanna good luck on her mission,” Lialla added, though many observed the hint of sarcasm in her voice.

“What do you want to discuss?” asked Ivanna who was completely composed now, though it was obvious that something had changed about her.

“Well,” said Brin’tac, cutting in. “We were afraid that the two of you might have damaged your relationship, and we were going to see if there was anything we could do to help. However, it seems you’ve managed to make amends.”

“We’re fine,” said Satchal plainly. “I just got a little carried away back there. You know me. I’m terrible at taking orders from my masters.”

Brin’tac eyed him skeptically, detecting hidden meaning in his words. But he said nothing.

“Well,” said Geldar, a little uneasy himself about the situation. “That’s good to hear. So everything is settled?”

“Yes,” said Ivanna as she glanced over at Satchal. Geldar thought he saw the smallest trace of a smile in her eyes, but then it was gone as she looked back at them. “Everything’s settled.”

“Good,” said Brin’tac, and he came and extended his hand toward Ivanna. “Then good luck, Master Jedi, on your upcoming mission. May the Force be with you.”

“Oh,” said Satchal, a bit taken aback. “She’s not going alone. I’m going with her.”

Everyone exchanged concerned looks as they all realized that Satchal would only mess up their own plans. Nyarchagga looked hopefully at the young Padawan hoping that it was true and his beloved droid would not have to go after all.

Ivanna, however, was obviously not pleased with this. “Wait a minute,” she said as she turned to confront him. “We never agreed to this.”

Satchal met her gaze and hardened his expression. “But I thought we agreed that you going off alone was stupid.”

“I never said it was stupid,” Ivanna replied. “I just agreed to…well you know what I agreed to. I never said you were coming along.”

“But…” began Satchal, clearly getting irritated again, and Kazzra’an, Tarrsk, and Tso all moaned as they thought another fight was about to break out between the two.

“No buts,” said Ivanna sternly. “We may have a new understanding between us, but I still don’t think it’s wise that any of you come with me.”

Then Satchal lowered his voice so only she could hear. “So you still think you have to go alone to prove something?”

“No,” whispered Ivanna as she glanced at the others. “I just don’t want to risk anyone else in this. If I’m lost the refugees still have the rest of you. I know you’re worried about me, but Satchal you are still a Padawan, and I don’t think you’re ready for this. Please trust me on this one.”

The difference in her tone softened Satchal’s resolve, but he still wasn’t ready to give up yet. “You don’t think I’m ready? Are you sure that’s the reason, or is it that you’re just afraid I might get hurt?”

“Both,” she answered as everyone watched trying to piece together what was being said. “The Force isn’t as strong in you yet, Satchal. I can move quicker, and I have a better chance of avoiding detection. There are techniques in the Force you haven’t even begun to learn about yet, and these techniques can mean life and death in this situation.”

Satchal sighed deeply and turned away from her. “So is it agreed now?” asked Tso as he watched the two of them carefully, noting every word that past between them. The Sullustan had very good hearing, and he didn’t miss even a single syllable.

“Yes,” said Ivanna as she turned back to the others. “I’m going alone, as discussed previously. There’s nothing any of you can do to help. Please try to understand.”

“No problems here,” said Tarrsk with a shrug. “Just try to avoid letting anything slip out during your future interrogation.”

Ivanna ignored his comments, however, as she suddenly sensed that the atmosphere in the room was somewhat unusual. She couldn’t quite place it, but she felt as though something was wrong with everyone else. They were watching her as if expecting something, or perhaps they were trying to figure out what to do or how to do it. This put her instantly on edge, and her senses were on full alert.

“Well,” said Brin’tac as he extended his hand out to her again. “Again, good luck, and may the Force be with you.”

“Thank you,” Ivanna replied and she hesitantly took his hand.

Nyarchagga made his move then, and he got to his feet and made his way toward the door behind Ivanna and Satchal as Geldar came forward and wished her luck as well. Kazzra’an only nodded in her direction, and Tso remained unmoved. He, more than anyone else, was having troubles keeping his nervousness from showing. Lialla strode forward last, and she seemed the most pleased with Ivanna’s leaving, but this didn’t surprise the Jedi. She always knew that Lialla had feelings for Satchal, and this created hostility in the young woman.

After Lialla wished her well she backed away just as Nyarchagga brushed past the Jedi. Ivanna spun around to face the Dug, but he only looked up at her with a smug grin. “A bit more tense than usual, aren’t you?” he asked as she continued to look at him as if she expected to see him produce a blaster and fire on her. “And here I thought you and Satchal would be more relaxed after practicing your ‘meditation techniques’ together.” He chuckled, though Satchal glared at him with venomous eyes. Nyarchagga ignored both Satchal and Ivanna and continued on through the door. “Now if you’ll excuse me. I wasn’t going to make this an announcement but I need to relieve myself.” Then he exited the room leaving Ivanna feeling somewhat foolish.

“All right,” she said turning back to the rest of them. “Well, I must be off. Thank you all for your send-off. I must say I wasn’t exactly expecting it. I haven’t really felt much like I’m a part of this group before.”

“Well,” said Lialla with a fake smile, cutting off Geldar and Brin’tac who were about to say something nice in reply. “You’re Satchal’s master and that means you are one of us.”

Ivanna didn’t buy it for a moment. “Right,” she said flatly. “Well thanks again.” Then she gave Satchal one last backward glance as if to tell him she’d be fine, and then she shot off out of the entrance before anyone could say another word.

Satchal turned on his friends the moment she was gone. “What was that all about?” he demanded. “You are all acting really weird.”

Brin’tac smiled and moved in closer. “We have made sure that your master will be safe, my friend,” Brin’tac said as he put his arm around his friend. “Nyarchagga has planted Gnat on her somewhere so Gnat can keep us informed as to where she’s going and what she’s doing. If she’s in trouble we’ll know, and we’ll be able to try to help her immediately.”

Satchal was stunned. “But that means we’ll have to stay relatively close to her to make sure we could rescue her in time.”

“Right,” Brin’tac replied, and though he hated not telling his friend that their true intentions were to spy on her to discover her true character he knew Satchal would be offended if he knew their plans. “So we’re going to have to trail her a bit with Nyarchagga using his wrist monitor to keep track of her. I know it’s a bit risky, and we might get into some trouble ourselves, but it’s the only way we could think of to make sure she comes back safe.”

Satchal looked at them all in disbelief. “I thought you all distrusted her,” he said, and when his eyes fell on Tso he knew the truth. The Sullustan was shifting uncomfortably, and when Satchal looked at him he swallowed hard. “You don’t trust her,” he continued with a bit more of a harsh tone. “You sent Gnat to make sure she wasn’t going to betray us or something, am I right?”

Brin’tac could not meet his gaze, but Geldar was quick to cut in. “Listen, Satchal. Ivanna was on Hoth for ten years surrounded by Dark Side spirits. We just want to make sure that she’s on our side before we trust her entirely. On top of that we want to make sure she isn’t blinding you to her true character. She may not be what you think she is. You know better than anyone that Dark Jedi have a way of fooling others with enticing words and…”

Satchal shook his head and cut Geldar off by turning and leaving the room. “Fine,” he said as he left. “Go spy on her. I won’t have anything to do with it.”

The door shut leaving the others feeling somewhat guilty. Nyarchagga returned shortly after and was filled in on what had just happened. At last Geldar said, “Like it or not I still think we need to do this. I want to find out once and for all whether this Ivanna is who she wants us to think she is.” The others agreed, and together they left the hideout in hopes that they weren’t making a terrible mistake.



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At last the Phantom Hunters arrived at a location within two miles of the hideout, and they felt comfortable enough to set up a temporary base of operations. They were in some maintenance walkway three floors below the surface of the city. There were three exits from the corridor, and Tarrsk, Kazzra’an, and Lialla were stationed at all three to make sure they would have an avenue of escape. Besides this they had placed some sensor units they took from the refugee hideout all around the area to ensure that they’d detect any droids that came without a mile radius of their location. So far these sensors picked up on some droid activity, but none of the droids seemed to be moving in their direction.

Nyarchagga quickly switched on his monitor, and instantly an image appeared on the screen of Ivanna’s legs moving so fast they appeared to be a blur. Nyarchagga blinked rapidly as he tried to figure out what it was that he was looking at. “Where’s her location?” asked Geldar as he, Brin’tac, and Tso all attempted to look over the Dug’s shoulder.

“She seems to be almost in the Military District now,” said Nyarchagga in an impressed tone. “I can’t believe she’s made it all the way there already.”

“Well at least it seems she is carrying out the mission,” said Brin’tac hopefully. He did feel bad that he didn’t trust Satchal’s new master, and he secretly wished that she would prove them all wrong.

Geldar met Brin’tac’s nervous glance and tried to calm his friend. He knew he felt the same as Brin’tac. The last thing they needed right now was a traitor. “Can you do anything to alter the image so we’re not staring at the ground rushing past her?”

Nyarchagga sent a command to Gnat, and the droid instantly swiveled so that he was looking up at Ivanna’s back as opposed to her feet. “Not much better of a view, but unless you want her to notice we’re watching her I think it’s the best we’re going to get.”

“It’ll do, thank you,” said Geldar, and he continued to watch intently.



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Ivanna stopped for just a brief moment to catch her breath. She’d been using the Force to increase her speed so that she could cover more distance in a short period of time. Glancing around the passages in the dim light of her golden-bladed lightsaber she held up the transceiver she’d acquired from Avatar before leaving the hideout, and she saw that she was nearing the location where the signal had been transmitting from. Although everything was silent now Ivanna figured there was still a good chance that someone might be in the area and they were just afraid to keep transmitting. They wouldn’t want to attract any unwanted attention.

With this in mind Ivanna decided to use her other abilities to sense whether life was close. She closed her eyes and reached out with the Force. It was difficult for her, for she was not well-trained in such powers, but after some time she managed to focus her thoughts on a small cluster that radiated with life energy. There were individuals alive in the Military District, and though they were some distance from the place where the signal had gone off they were still close enough for her to reach them shortly.

The only problem was that her sensor pack indicated a large number of droids moving through the area between her and the place where she sensed the life forms. She would have to be extremely careful if she wanted to slip past them and get to the other survivors of the city. Pulling out her data pad with the schematic of the city stored in its memory banks Ivanna searched for the most likely place that the refugees might be hiding. Based on her calculations it seemed that they were most likely hiding in some sort of shutdown power conduits in the sub-levels below the air field. This meant that the only way to reach them while avoiding the droids was to travel even deeper into the city in order to reach the end of the power conduit. This seemed to be where one of the shut down generators was located near the very base of the city. From there she’d have to force an entrance into the conduit and work her way up several levels. It was going to be tricky, but she felt she could do it.

Stowing her gear back within the folds of her black robes she shot off through the corridors once more traveling deeper into the city.



*************************************************************

“Something’s coming,” reported Tarrsk through a comlink. “I think we’ve picked up some unwanted attention.”

“We need to move our location and fast,” said Geldar. He was growing more and more nervous about their little scheme. He really hoped it would prove fruitful and they’d find out something useful.

“Which direction do we head?” asked Brin’tac.

“We need to go down the east shaft and into the next lower level,” replied the Trandoshan. “They’re coming from the west and moving into the level above us. They’ll be here in probably six minutes.”

“How many are there?” asked Tso.

“It looks like a patrol of about twelve,” replied Tarrsk. “We could take ‘em easily if they’re not assault droids or droidekas.”

“I don’t want to take any chances,” said Geldar. “Everyone pack up and move down the east shaft. We’ll head to the next lower level and keep moving one step ahead of the droids. We’ll keep moving until we’ve run out of sensors to plant behind us.”

“Right,” said Tarrsk, and within moments he was next to them with the others. While Nyarchagga continued to watch Ivanna’s movements the team fled down the east shaft and to the next lower level, sealing the upper hatch behind them to slow down the droids.



*************************************************************

Ivanna arrived at last at the shut down generator that the power conduit connected to, and her first thought was that she felt as though she’d entered a battlefield rank with the dead. All about she could see corpses lying some in pieces while others burnt so badly even their closest relatives wouldn’t recognize them. All were decaying, and the smell made the Master Jedi gag.

She pushed her way past the half-closed door and into the generator room. The machine was obviously damaged beyond repair, for there were blast marks everywhere, and a gaping hole was torn into the side of the generator itself. This was the scene of a final battle between sentient and droid, and the conclusion was the destruction of the generator. The ensuing explosion swiftly ended both leaving none the victor.

Ivanna reached the generator and examined the gaping hole and the power conduits above that had once linked with the massive machine. Most were now dangling loose, and she knew it was into one of those conduits that she had to go. Each one was large enough to fit a pack of Tauntauns in, but there were so many small cables and wires criss-crossing all around that it would be difficult for even a Jawa to squeeze through.

Ivanna climbed the destroyed machine and leaped an incredible distance to the power conduit she figured was the one she needed to go through. Catching a hold of some of the loose wires she only hoped that since the generator was powered down none of the wires would have any juice in them. She feared that they might be linked to another power source just in case this generator was taken off line, but she was pleased to find that they weren’t.

With great difficulty she shimmied in the darkness up into the conduit and felt her way along, deciding it best not to have her lightsaber lit just in case she accidentally cut a wire she needed to support her.

Once inside Ivanna found that the conduit was much easier to traverse. It seemed as though someone or something had already been through the mess nearer the entrance, and had cleared a path through the rest of the man-made tunnel. This was a good sign. It most likely meant that she was entering through a passage the refugees used, and that meant that she was likely to come across some of them soon. She tried to reach out with the Force, and was pleased to find that there were indeed a few life forms very near to her. She drew her lightsaber in defense, not wanting to be taken down by a nervous guard, and she zigzagged her way through until she suddenly found herself at blaster point.

To her surprise one of the guards at the entrance seemed unconcerned with her as he frantically fought to get around behind her. Before Ivanna could even question what he was doing he fired a shot of his blaster once and Ivanna saw, to her surprise, blue streaks of lightning spray all over a device attached to her robe.

“She was being tracked,” informed the guard to his partner, and the other swore. “Where did you come from?” he asked as he turned to her.

Ivanna was stunned as she pulled the device off her back. When she saw what it was she knew immediately where it had come from and who had planted it on her. She looked at the guard in the dim light of her lightsaber and his glow rod, and she said, “You can relax, officer. I’m Jedi Master Ivanna Zyn, and you are in no immediate danger. Perhaps I should explain….”



*************************************************************

Nyarchagga swore vehemently over and over and over again in Dug, and he threw his wrist monitor across the corridor. It bounced several times in a series of loud clangs until it came to rest at Kazzra’an’s feet. The Wookiee was leading the group down the corridor, and he turned back, as did several of the others, to see what was happening. In response Brin’tac, who was walking with the Dug, only closed his eyes as he tried to figure out what to do.

“We lost the signal,” Geldar explained in frustration from his position on the other side of Nyarchagga. “It looks like our mission is a bust.”

“I knew this was going to happen,” Nyarchagga complained, still cursing in his native tongue. “I knew it! Now Gnat’s gone! I hope that Jedi rots in the deepest mines of Kessel.”

“Please try to calm down,” said Brin’tac to his friend. “We don’t really know what was happening. She seemed to be climbing into some power conduit. There was a flash of blue light, and then the signal went dead.”

“Maybe we could replay the last few seconds to see if we can figure out what happened,” suggested Tso. “It may not give us much, but you never know.”

“What does it matter?” said Nyarchagga in Basic again. “Do what you want.”

Tarrsk picked up the monitor and tossed it to Brin’tac as they continued on their way again. Nyarchagga followed, but he was in a foul mood like none Brin’tac had ever seen him in. The Bothan examined the device to make sure it wasn’t broken before he worked the system to replay the last few moments. Since he didn’t know how to work the device as much he accidentally played some stored footage from an earlier time some hours before.

Brin’tac, at first, thought it was the right footage since Ivanna’s back was all he could see. Then, however, he saw the camera swivel around so that it was floating in the air far above Ivanna’s head. Satchal’s image suddenly came into focus, and Brin’tac realized that he was spying on a private moment between Ivanna and her apprentice. He almost shut the monitor off but Geldar stayed his hand.

“What is this?” he asked as he saw Satchal move closer to Ivanna in a seductive manner.

“I don’t know if we should be watching this,” said Brin’tac. “Obviously Nyarchagga was spying on Ivanna even before we….”

Ivanna suddenly shoved Satchal backward with the Force, and Brin’tac and Geldar’s hearts leapt into their throats. Brin’tac stopped the scene and exchanged looks with his friend. The entire group stopped now seeing that they were no longer following, and they came back to view the scene themselves. Only Kazzra’an remained at the front of the group, his attention drawn to something in the corridor ahead of them. “I think we need to play this from the beginning,” Geldar replied. “I want to know everything that happened in there.”

“After that I agree,” said Brin’tac. “Did you see the look on her face?”

Geldar didn’t reply to that. Instead he turned to Nyarchagga and said, “Why didn’t you tell us about this before? We may not have even needed to come out here.”

Nyarchagga only gave him a sharp look. “I haven’t watched it yet,” he replied. “I was too busy listening to all of you plan the demise of Gnat. I recorded it so I could watch it later. Believe me if I knew what was recorded there I would have never gone through with this,” then he added with a smile, “though I did find it amusing that I had already slipped Gnat onto her back before you went through your long and pointless tirades.”

Geldar only shook his head. The Dug never ceased to amaze him. “I think I’ve found the beginning,” said Brin’tac, bringing everyone’s attention back to the monitor. He then played the entire scene from the beginning...



*************************************************************

Satchal sat alone in a darkened corner of the hideout as he meditated on the Force to calm his raging emotions. When Ivanna arrived he felt her presence even before she rounded the corner down the hall from the room in which he sat. He could feel that her attitude had changed considerably now that the confrontation was over and she had time to really think about the situation. Still, her feelings were not clear enough for him to determine exactly what she really thought or felt. He could simply sense that she was no longer seething with anger.

The door opened, and Satchal greeted her with a simple, “What do you want?”

Ivanna’s voice was a bit more soothing. “I wish we had not fought in front of everyone like that.”

“Why?” said Satchal as he opened his eyes to look at her. “Are you afraid that everyone else may see you more as I do?”

“What is that supposed to mean?” asked Ivanna with narrowed eyes.

“You’re the master, why don’t you tell me?” said Satchal, and he could sense anger flare up within her.

“Why don’t you speak your mind instead of throwing out insulting insinuations?” Ivanna replied heatedly.

“Fine,” said Satchal. “During our sessions alone I have felt the turmoil within you, Master. I know you aren’t as confident in yourself as you pretend to be. You don’t think you’re really capable of training me, and you feel more for me than you’d like to let yourself believe. I also think that because of your feelings for me and because of your encounters on Hoth that you are not entirely sure that you are true to the Light Side of the Force. Is that correct?”

Ivanna seemed to break under his words, but her pride kept her from showing it physically. “I am a Jedi Master,” she said with more force than she’d intended.

“Who are you trying to convince?” Satchal said. “Tell me the truth, Ivanna. Are you really going on this mission for the reasons you told everyone in the meeting room or are you going on this mission to prove you are powerful enough to be a Jedi Master?”

“Your accusation are ungrounded,” she snapped.

“Are they?” said Satchal getting to his feet. He then came over to stand directly in front of her with only a few inches between them. Ivanna backed into the wall as she avoided making eye contact. “Then why are you so uncomfortable with me getting this close to you?”

Ivanna suddenly shoved him away with the Force, and Satchal found himself on the floor, stunned. “Don’t ever test me again,” she said as she trembled visibly. “I am your master.

Satchal recovered quickly and was on his feet again. “Why does it have to be like that?” he said. “You don’t have to pretend that you’re superior to everyone just because you want to feel like a master. I accept that you have the experience I need to become a Jedi, and I have accepted you as my master. Why isn’t that enough? Drop your guard, Ivanna. Let go of your pride for a moment and recognize that I can help you just as much as you can help me.”

Ivanna backed away from him and held the wall for support. “I don’t need your help, Padawan!”

Satchal shook his head, and a silence fell between them for a moment. Then Satchal walked closer to her again, but this time she met his gaze with a fierce determination. Satchal, however, was hoping for this, and for just a moment he held her gaze allowing the silence to increase the tension between them. Then at last he said, “I grew up surrounded by darkness, Ivanna. My parents worshipped the Sith. I have seen it, and I know it for what it is. There is no faster path to the Dark Side than denying your own failings. There is nothing that leads someone down the wrong path quicker than pride. We share a bond, Ivanna, I can feel it, and I know that you are afraid to show weakness. You are afraid to open up for fear that I and everyone else around you will see that you aren’t the Master Jedi that you want to be.”

This broke her, and she turned away to escape him. Satchal grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around to face him again, but she refused to meet his gaze. “I accept you, Master,” he said with a bit more tenderness than he really realized, “but you must learn to accept yourself.”

She looked up at him then and their eyes met yet again. This time, however, he saw into her soul, and he saw the pain and turmoil within her as clear as if it was painted on a canvas. She was drawn in then, and for a moment she seemed as though she might fall into his arms as if too weak to stand any longer. But then she pushed herself away from him gently, and he let her go.

She breathed heavily as she turned her back to him. Putting her head in her hands she wiped the tears from her eyes. “Maybe I shouldn’t be your master then,” she murmured. Her voice was barely audible.

“Maybe you should just give it some time,” Satchal said in reply, but Ivanna immediately shook her head.

“The bond we share is too dangerous to us both,” she said, and she seemed more composed now. “It is a bond that often forms between a Padawan and Master, but ours is much deeper than that. I should not have such feelings for anyone, let alone my apprentice, and if we allow this relationship to continue it may doom us both to the Dark Side. I won’t allow that. The Jedi Code forbids it, Satchal. ‘There is no passion, there is serenity.’ Remember?”

Satchal closed his eyes then to clear his thoughts. “I’m not asking you to break the Code, Ivanna,” he said after a moment. “I’m not expecting us to throw caution to the wind and forget everything we’ve been taught. All I want you to do is be honest about how you feel and what you think. Don’t deny it, and stop pretending you’re something you’re not. Stop pretending that you have all the answers and that you’re some great and invincible Jedi Master.”

“All right,” she said, at last surrendering, and this time she did fall into his arms as she buried her head in his chest. “All right.” Then she simply held onto him for a long time as if he was all she had left in the universe.



*************************************************************

When it was finished they only stared at the final moment between the two in disbelief. “I feel terrible,” the Bothan said as he stared at the screen. “I feel as though I have betrayed the confidence of my friend.”

Geldar only hung his head in agreement. “Well I don’t,” said Lialla as she reached over and shut the monitor off. “You all look like you’ve just broken your mother’s favorite vase,” she said angrily. “Do you actually buy this? You don’t actually believe she’s as nice and wonderful as she’s got Satchal believing do you? You saw the way she threw him to the floor. She was on the verge of tearing him apart. The look on her face alone could have killed him. She’s a Dark Jedi, or very close to being one. Her display in there showed her true colors more than anything else could have. Her throwing Satchal to the ground with that look of rage shows that for a moment he broke through her pretend mask. He broke through to the Dark Side within her. She lashed out with the Force, Geldar! You know Jedi aren’t supposed to do that.”

“She does have a point, doesn’t she?” said Tso looking at Geldar. “Maybe she is just playing Satchal. She could be feeding him feelings that she wants him to feel. It could all be manipulation.”

Geldar nodded, but before he could say anything Kazzra’an interrupted with a very serious expression on his face. “We’ve got trouble,” he said in a series of grunts and roars. “I think the droids have led us down here. We’ve been duped.”

Geldar felt his stomach drop to the floor. “What do you mean?” he said, his eyes as large as Tso’s.

“The passage ahead has been riddled with deadly plasma mines all easily triggered by heat sensors,” Kazzra’an explained. “I just checked the sensors and noticed that the moment we came into this section of the underground the droids behind us have tripled their rate of movement to catch up with us. They’ve already cut off several of our escape routes, and by the time we could reach the last of them we’ll run right into them. What’s more I think they’ve picked up some friends, because our sensors indicate their numbers have nearly quadrupled.”

“What is it?” asked Lialla, fear obviously apparent on her face. “What did he say?”

Geldar looked at her as the dreaded words fell from his lips even before he could comprehend what he was saying. “We’re trapped.”



*************************************************************

“Kazz, where are the droids currently?” Geldar asked as he attempted to get his mind to work swiftly.

“Sensor unit two floors up just got taken out about ten seconds ago. It registered about thirty droids on that level right above us. Another sensor unit closer to us registers about fifty droids coming down the passages on this level at a rate that will cut off our escape to the west in about six minutes. To the north on this level twenty more droids will be cutting off our escape in one minute. To the south we’ve got fifteen cutting off our escape currently. They seem to be holding their position.”

“And our east passage is cut off by mines,” said Tarrsk to finish recapping their situation.

“What about below us?” asked Geldar.

“A two hundred foot drop into the city’s main septic tank,” replied Kazz.

“That explains the smell,” said Tarrsk with a grunt.

“Is there any way you could disable the mines?” asked Geldar as a panic threatened to set in.

“Not likely,” said Kazz. “I don’t think I have enough skill, and even if I did one wrong move would finish the job the Trandoshans started.” He shot a glance at Tarrsk, but the Trandoshan only seemed to be thinking of what position would be the best defense if the droids pinned them in the corridor.

“The comlink,” suggested Brin’tac, and he quickly pulled his out to see if he could reach Satchal. “Nothing,” he said after a moment. “The signal must be jammed.”

“Blast it!” Geldar snapped. No matter what he couldn’t seem to figure out a solution other than dropping into the septic tank. “I’m such a fool! We never should have come here. I thought we were being so careful.”

“It’s not your fault,” said Lialla. “We all agreed to do this.”

“We just need a moment to think,” said Brin’tac.

“We don’t have a moment,” said Tso, a bit panicked.

As they all continued their conversation Nyarchagga moved to the other end of the corridor where the mines were, and he smiled as an idea came to him. While everyone was growing more and more concerned about their lack of an escape route Nyarchagga casually made his way over to them. “Get out of the passage and cover your ears,” the Dug said nonchalantly, and they all looked at him as if he were a nasty bug to be squished.

“What are you talking about?” asked Geldar.

“We don’t have a lot of time,” said Nyarchagga. “Just trust me. I know what to do.”

Geldar looked at the others and saw they all were just as bewildered as he was. However, since Nyarchagga obviously seemed to know what he was doing they all moved down the passage and out of the corridor as he instructed covering their ears in the process.

Suddenly, without warning, a terrible, ear-splitting cry shook the passages as the sound of Nyarchagga’s Dug bellow echoed off of the durasteel walls turning the underground into a giant gong. The walls and floor shook violently, and the sound was so deafening that even with their hands over their ears the pain was excruciating. They did not even hear the sounds of the explosions in the next passage as the vibrating walls set off the sensors on the mines.

Then just as quickly as it had begun the sound ended, and everyone’s ears were ringing for quite some time afterward. Kazzra’an was roaring in pain as loud as he could, but even though he was right next to them his roar sounded distant and barely perceptible. Half of the team was on the floor, and Tso was actually comatose from the experience. His ears were more sensitive than the others, and the Dug’s bellow had caused him such pain that his brain shut down.

Geldar was the first to recover, using the Force to try to help deal with the pain. He looked around to ensure that everyone was okay, and he was quite concerned to find most of them still holding their ears and writhing on the ground. Deciding to help them he moved over to Tso first and used the Force to heal him as best he could.

Tso awoke almost instantly, and Geldar breathed a sigh of relief. “Can you hear me?” asked Geldar, and when he realized he couldn’t really hear himself well he decided to speak louder.

Tso nodded when the words finally reached him, and Geldar moved to help the others. Before long, to everyone’s relief, they were all on their feet and their hearing was returning.

Nyarchagga entered the room and smiled victoriously. “The passage is now clear,” he replied. “However, it has suffered some major damage from the explosions, and it will be precarious to pass through. I see many gaping holes dropping into the septic tank below. We’ll need to be careful.”

“I never knew you could do such a thing,” replied Lialla in disbelief.

“I have only heard that bellow a few times,” said Brin’tac, “and it was never that loud. The walls down here amplified it to the tenth degree, I think, and that’s saying something since it is pretty loud when it isn’t amplified.”

“Our sensor equipment is destroyed,” remarked Kazzra’an, his voice strained from screaming at full force. “He either shattered the screens or I did when I fell on it.” Geldar pulled out his datapad with the schematics of the city and he saw the screen was shattered on it as well. “Blast! We’ve got no map,” he said.

“Hey,” said Nyarchagga. “You wanted a path of escape, and I gave it to you. Stop complaining.” Then he turned and headed off down the passage without looking back. He was still in a foul mood, and he just wanted to get back to base and put the whole affair behind him.

Everyone else followed after a moment, and they came to stand at the end of the passage where the mines had been laid. The whole passage was much worse than Nyarchagga had described. It looked as though the passage had been blasted with a turbolaser. The floor was almost non-existent, shredded by the deadly explosives. The walls and ceiling were scored and superheated. The very integrity of the passage was in question, and in short, it looked impassable.

Even as they stood there a section of the ceiling gave way, buckling under the pressure of some support beam above, and the passages shook once more. Then the passage caved in, and large sections of durasteel broke loose smashing through the area and crashing into the septic tank below.

This actually proved to be their salvation. Because of the cave-in a gaping hole was torn into the ceiling above them, and some of the debris provided a precarious ramp across the gaping hole into the septic tank and up into the next level. Nyarchagga was the first to note this, and he quickly and adeptly shot up the debris to prove its stability.

Everyone else eyed it nervously. At long last they decided to allow the lighter members of their team to go first leaving the heaviest for last. Tso carefully climbed up the thin metal slab and was up without incident. Lialla was next, followed by Brin’tac who both made the climb with relative ease. Geldar followed, but as he went he felt the ramp give way a bit, and his stomach lurched for fear that they all wouldn’t make it.

Kazzra’an and Tarrsk were the last, and they both looked at the ramp skeptically. Neither of them wanted to be the first to go, but Geldar helped them decide that Kazzra’an would go first. Though bigger and a bit heavier, it was reasoned that he was the better climber and also taller, and they figured that if he made it across he could reach down to help Tarrsk if the Trandoshan had troubles. (Of course, Tarrsk wasn’t convinced that Kazzra’an would necessarily be willing to help him, but that was beside the point. Tarrsk trusted Geldar and trusted Geldar’s influence with the Wookiee. That would have to be enough.)

Kazzra’an made it up, and just as he did the ramp broke loose below him. The Wookiee barely caught himself on the edge of the upper level, and the others were there to help steady him. The ramp fell through the floor and disappeared into the darkness leaving Tarrsk alone on the other side.

“Now what?” asked Lialla in a panic. “We can’t just leave him.”

“We’re not leaving him,” said Geldar in an attempt to calm her. “It’s not that far. He’s got a grappling gun. He can shoot it up her and we’ll haul him up.”

Just then a blaster shot nearly took Tarrsk’s head off, and he spun around to see droids pouring into the passage behind. “No time!” he cried and he took a leap across the pit before anyone could blink. The Trandoshan missed completely and fell through the gaping floor as everyone else watched in complete horror. Tarrsk disappeared from sight, and just as Geldar closed his eyes to hopefully help slow the Trandoshan’s fall with the Force somehow a hook shot up and nearly struck him in the face.

“Grab it!” cried Tso, and everyone made a grab for the line at once. Kazzra’an grabbed it just in time, and the line snapped violently nearly dragging them all into the pit. If not for some debris jutting out of the wall above to help catch them they would have all fallen into the septic tank.

The line was being reeled in quickly as Tarrsk ascended out of the darkness, but the droids were nearly to the end of the passage with blasters aiming for the cable supporting the Trandoshan. Then, as the nearest droid, who was carrying a vibroblade, reached the pit Tarrsk shot up to his friends and was yanked out of harms way. As he passed, the vibroblade came within inches of slashing open the side of his face, and Tarrsk felt several shots pummel his armor.

At last they were out of harms way, but they figured they weren’t safe for long. They had no map and no idea of where they were going. They only had one exit, to the east, and they knew that although there were no droids in that direction a few minutes ago that could have changed. What was worse was that they had no way of knowing if it had.

Down the hall they fled as fast as they could while they held their weapons ready for a fight. They reached the end of the passage and rounded a corner into another just as an explosion shook the underground once more. It came from behind, and Tarrsk, the last in the line, glanced back to see a hole in the ceiling leading to the next level up. Droids were dropping through the hole, and they scrambled to pursue even before they could right themselves.

“We’ve got to move quicker!” Tarrsk cried as he followed hot on everyone’s heals. “They’re coming from above.”

“I quit!” said Tso in desperation. “Game over! Game over!”

“Just keep running!” Lialla said as she came from behind Tso and grabbed him by the left hand to haul him after her.

They reached an intersection but didn’t even think of which direction they should go. It branched off to the right and left, and Geldar, at the front, took off down the right hoping it would continue to take them at least southeast. At the end of that passage they reached another intersection, and this time Geldar took them to the left to compensate for going right the first time. He just wanted to keep them going east since it was in that direction that the droids had neglected, leaving the mines to bar their escape.

Instead of finding another passage, however, they found themselves at the foot of a ladder. Having no time to think Geldar rushed up only to find, to his surprise, that the ladder extended far up through the bowels of the underground. He couldn’t even see in the dim light of the glow rods just how far it went. “I only hope this is our salvation,” he murmured, and he disappeared from sight. Everyone else followed without question, and Tarrsk came last just as the droids rounded the corner and fired at him.

“This is going to make us easy targets,” commented Kazzra’an, but Tarrsk was already thinking of something that would rectify the problem. As the first of the droids, which were nothing more than a series of protocol droids refitted with weapons, reached the bottom a small spherical object bounced off of the floor plating. The droids all turned their heads downward just in time to see the grenade explode.

Instead of blowing the droids limb from limb, however, the grenade plastered the entire area with a sticky, slimy goo that instantly hardened and held the droids fast. Any droids that attempted to step into the area were held fast as well, and they all fought hard to break, cut, and blast the substance in an effort to continue pursuit.

“That’ll hold ‘em for awhile,” said Tarrsk as he hurried to rejoin the others. “Let’s just hope they don’t have any more at the other end.”



**************************************************************

Satchal knew something was wrong, and he tried to focus on what it was. He could sense that danger had come to both his friends and Ivanna. He tried desperately to sense where they were and what was happening when all at once a vision entered his mind. “Satchal,” he heard coming to him from a great distance. It was Ivanna! She was in trouble. He saw her surrounded by droids on all sides. He saw her golden lightsaber flashing around as she cut down another and another. All around blaster-fire flashed from both in front of her and behind. There were screams and explosions and then…

…Silence. The vision ended. Try as he might Satchal fought to get the image back, but he couldn’t. He then tried to focus his thoughts on his friends, but the most he could feel was Geldar in trouble. Curse his inability to master the Force! Curse his weakness! He jumped to his feet and grabbed his lightsaber. Whether anyone in the refugee hideout was willing to help or not Satchal Paige had to do something to help his friends. He wasn’t about to be the only one left alive.



*************************************************************

They reached the top of the ladder and Geldar popped his head up to see if anything was in sight. Holding his glow rod aloft to allow some light to poor into the chamber Geldar saw that they were entering a large circular room with many exits. It was obviously a junction of sorts leading to many sections of the underground, and it was obvious that from here he and his team could easily lose the droids if they chose the right path and if they could get beyond the droids’ sensor range.

He made it the rest of the way out of the shaft and the others followed. “Now what?” asked Tso hoping someone had an answer.

“I say we pick a path and go,” said Kazzra’an as he held his weapon at the ready. “Any way could be just as deadly.”

“Can’t the Force help us decide?” asked Lialla hopefully.

Geldar shook his head. “The Force can’t do everything.”

“Especially when your not fully trained in using it,” added Brin’tac.

Geldar corrected, “Life forms I could detect, but droids I can’t. There’s no way of telling where they might be coming from or what the best route of escape is without the sensor devices or the map.”

Then Nyarchagga seemed to remember something. “Wait!” he chimed in. “I just remembered that I only took from Gnat’s memory the whereabouts of our base on a map of the city. I have it stored in my wrist monitor as well.”

Geldar was beyond excited. He rushed over to Nyarchagga and said, “Pull it up! Quick! Maybe we can figure out where we are and figure out the best way to get out of here.”

“Don’t rush me,” said the Dug, and he set to work quickly.

“At least we have a lot of avenues of escape,” said Kazzra’an, counting twelve different doorways.

“And twelve different ways they could rush us,” Tarrsk put in. “I don’t like being here. I say we move now.”

“This is a large chamber,” said Brin’tac. “It will be the easiest for them to find on the map.”

“Still,” said Lialla. “We should attempt to secure at least one entrance just in case.” And Tarrsk, Kazzra’an, and her all went to three of the doors to see where they led and to try to set up watch at each one. Tso, although nervous that he might suddenly encounter an armada of droids, followed their lead and went to another door himself to keep watch. Brin’tac, seeing that he wasn’t doing any good just standing there, decided to do the same, and soon almost half of the doors were being guarded.

“There,” said Geldar at last. “That should be the best way to go. We take the shaft leading east and head to this ladder which will take us up three more floors. I’m pretty sure that will take us to the streets above. We should be just on the outskirts of District Five and Two. From there we might be able to find a transport of some kind and shoot back over to District Four. From there we drop back below ground and make our way to the headquarters.”

Nyarchagga shook his head. “I have a better route. We pass through the ventilation system after we make our way down this corridor. Then we drop down through these maintenance shafts and into this storage unit. From there we make our way through this sewage pipe to this series of passages and down three more levels using this turbolift shaft. That will take us almost directly there, and we can bypass the droids if they are anywhere near where we thought they were before.”

“Let’s just hope we don’t lead the droids right back to base,” Kazzra’an put in. “If they follow us at a distance keeping us in sensor range we could inadvertently take them home.”

“Good point,” said Geldar, “but if we could just get outside of their jamming field we could send a message back to base and let them know we’re in trouble. If they could bring to us someone with some sensor units we’ll be back in business again.”

“We don’t have time to discuss this at length,” said Brin’tac. “I say we follow Nyarchagga’s suggestions. He’s pretty good with figuring escape routes out. He’s had years of practice at it.”

“Fine,” said Geldar, glad that he wasn’t being forced to make such a difficult decision on his own. “Then let’s move. Everyone follow Nyarchagga.” Then the group rushed through the passage next to the one Tso was guarding as they disappeared from the chamber.



*************************************************************

Satchal had found two other soldiers to go with him, and together they raced through the passages hoping to somehow track the others. Satchal wasn’t at all sure whom he should be going after. Ivanna was obviously in trouble but his friends were too. Ivanna was a Jedi Master but she was all alone. His friends had each other, but would that be enough?

He decided to let fate decide. He had the one carrying the sensor units lead the way and told him the moment he came upon any major droid activity to let him know. It had been nearly twenty minutes since they’d left the base, and still they couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. In fact, it seemed everything was too quiet.

Then the officer suddenly came to a halt. “I’ve got something. Sensors indicate droids are swarming everywhere just a few miles from our location due east. There’s something weird, though. It looks like their numbers are decreasing as we speak. It’s as though there’s a major battle happening there.”

“Any life forms?” asked Satchal.

“No,” said the officer. “It’s almost as though the droids are fighting each other.”

“The virus,” said the other soldier. “That hacker’s virus must be doing its job. I bet the stupid droids are blowing each other apart.”

“Thank the Force for something,” said Satchal. “Still, if the droids are gathered in that location they must be doing it for some reason. I’m going to wager that they were going after my friends when the virus took over their systems. Let’s make for that direction and see if our sensors pick up on anything as we get closer.”

“We’ll need to be careful,” said the soldier with the sensor units. “If we get too close they’ll pick up on us.”

“That’s your job,” said Satchal. “You’re the one who knows how to use the sensor devices.”

“I’m not trained in this stuff,” the soldier replied. “I’m no military officer. I’m just a mercenary with some lesser experience in this.”

“Just do your best,” the other officer said. “That’s all we’re asking.”

They took off in the direction of the signals until at last they came upon what they were looking for. Life forms were detected moving west. Based on the soldier’s schematics and sensory units they were moving most likely through some ventilation shafts that would take them deeper into the underground. “Perfect,” said the soldier. “It looks like they’re headed for this turbolift shaft. We should be able to meet them there if we hurry.”

Satchal breathed a sigh of relief. “Great. We’ll rendezvous with them and then go after Master Ivanna.”

“Whatever you say,” said the other, more physically built soldier with the crew cut and shifty eyes. He carried a modified blaster rifle that looked rather wicked and terrifying. “You’re the boss. I’m just looking for some action.” Then the three took off down the next passage hoping they were right about the destination of the other Phantom Hunters.

And then, all of a sudden, Satchal was pummeled with a vision. It was the same as before but much clearer. Ivanna was surrounded by droids as blaster fire shot all around her. “Satchal,” she said, and her voice was clear and concise.

“Ivanna!” Satchal said aloud. “Are you okay?”

Ivanna slashed another droid down and ducked behind a support beam for protection. “Satchal. Whatever happens to me you must warn Avatar to strike soon! He only has three days before…” Then the connection was broken, and the last thing Satchal saw of Ivanna was a droid’s clawed arm reaching around to grab her skull and crush it.

“Ivanna!” cried Satchal and he shot down the passage before the others could comprehend what was happening to him. They immediately followed, but it wasn’t until Satchal had nearly exhausted himself that they were able to catch up with him.

“Well,” said the thinner and more lightly built sensor officer. “You’ve managed to take us off course a bit. What was that all about?”

“We have to hurry,” said Satchal as he gasped for air. “We need…to reach my…master now! She’s…in terrible trouble. We have to hurry!”

“Fine,” said the sensor officer, “but just so you know we could be at the other location in five minutes. It’s your call, but we could rendezvous with your friends and then head in that direction. It doesn’t look like any of the droids are following them. I don’t think we’ll have any trouble along the way.”

“Fine,” said Satchal. He was too exhausted to argue. “Let’s just go.”

“Are you sure you can handle it?” said the heavier officer. “You look like you’ve already exerted yourself pretty badly just running here.”

“I’ll be fine,” said Satchal as he stood upright now. “Let’s just get to my friends and get to Ivanna. I don’t want to waste anymore time than we already have. She could already be dead.” And with that they were gone.



*************************************************************

Nyarchagga reached the turbolift shaft and froze. The others behind him stopped dead in their tracks as the Dug stiffened and sniffed the air. “What is it?” asked Geldar who was instantly on alert.

“I heard a sound coming from the shaft,” the Dug said, “and I can’t smell anything over the rank fumes Tarrsk is putting off.”

Kazzra’an chuckled and added, “It’s amazing how just falling into the open air of the septic pit caused the fumes to cling to him as if he’d been hit by a Bortalai Stench Beetle.”

Tarrsk gave them all a sneer as he strode over to the turbolift and took up a defensive position near it. “Why don’t we just fire a few shots down there and ask questions later?”

“What if it’s someone from the base?” Brin’tac said in response.

“Who would be out here?” said Tso. “It has to be droids.”

“Well if we’ve lost them we don’t want to let them know we’re here,” said Lialla. “Is there any other way to go?”

“No,” said Nyarchagga. “The turbolift shaft is the only way, but we could go up instead of down as we’d originally planned.”

Geldar closed his eyes and tried to focus his thoughts down the shaft while the others discussed the situation. Then his eyes shot open in disbelief. “Wait!” he cried. “It’s Satchal, and he’s brought others with him!”

“Satchal!” cried Lialla with intense relief, and she rushed over to the turbolift door as she tried to force it open. Kazzra’an quickly followed, and together with Tarrsk the three forced the door ajar. “Satchal!” she cried again but louder as she peered into the shaft.

“Keep your voice down, fool!” cried Nyarchagga. “Who knows what could have heard you!”

“Lialla!” Satchal cried back, and the Dug rolled his eyes and threw his forelegs up in surrender. “Is everyone okay up there?”

“We’re fine,” she replied. “Tarrsk smells a bit, but what else is new.”

Tarrsk gave her another sneer and thought about shoving her over the edge to fall screaming down the turbolift shaft. This brought a wide, sadistic grin to his face as his mind drifted to places that brought him the most pleasure.

“Why are you here?” asked Geldar as he appeared next to Lialla.

“We don’t have much time,” Satchal called up as he tried to quicken his pace up the maintenance ladder. “Ivanna’s in trouble. We have to go help her.”

Lialla coiled back away from the shaft then, her smile instantly turning to a scowl. “The last we saw of her she was making her way into some power conduit in the Military District. I think she found some sort of sign that the original location of the transmission wasn’t accurate, and she went to investigate.”

“What happened?” asked Satchal as he finally came into sight.

“I think the better question is,” said Tso nervously, “how is our droid situation currently? Our sensor unit was broken, and we have no idea if we’re surrounded or what.”

Satchal nodded, but it was the sensor officer that replied, “We’re fine. The droids seem to be in chaos. We think the virus has kicked in. That should thin the numbers of these blasted droids considerably.”

Tso breathed a sigh of relief and stepped back away from the shaft. That was all he cared about presently, and all he wanted at that point was to put the rest of the nightmare behind them.

“So what happened with Ivanna?” Satchal asked again as they helped pull him and the others up out of the shaft.

“There was a bright flash and then the image was gone,” explained Brin’tac.

“Any ideas what may have caused the flash?” asked Satchal, concerned.

Nyarchagga answered, “I’ve actually been giving it some thought, and I think she knew she was about to encounter something. Her lightsaber flashed on again just a few moments before there was a clicking sound as if a blaster was being readied to fire. Then there was some scuffling sounds and the flash of light. I think she ran into someone who knew she was carrying Gnat, and they fried him with an Ion gun.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” said Satchal. “I saw her in a vision. She was surrounded by droids and blaster-fire and fighting for her life. There was no one else with her.”

“Well you know Ivanna,” Lialla commented harshly. “She likes to run off and play hero.”

“That is true,” said Brin’tac. “She does seem to enjoy heroics.”

“Well whatever the case,” said Satchal, “we need to go after her. Where was she last?”

“What makes you think we can do anything to help her?” asked Geldar. “Satchal we’re in no condition for heavy combat. We just barely escaped a swarm of droids ourselves. I don’t think…”

“To the fifth planet of Rigos with your thoughts, Geldar!” Satchal snapped. “I’m going after her. As long as I have breath I’m going to do everything I can to help someone who’s in trouble.”

“Someone who’s in trouble, or just Ivanna who’s in trouble?” said Lialla. “Think clearly, Satchal. Ivanna is a Jedi. She knows what she’s doing, right?”

“Wrong,” said Satchal. “You don’t know her like I do. She may be a Jedi Master but she’s not like the others. She’s struggling with things you couldn’t possibly understand.”

“Is she a Master Jedi?” asked Lialla, speaking thoughts she’d only been keeping to herself. “She’s been stranded on Hoth for ten years. Before that she was only a Jedi Knight, and from what I understand she was only barely a Jedi Knight. I thought Masters had to be accepted into their rank by the Jedi Council. If the council doesn’t make you a master you can’t be one, or am I totally wrong?”

“She has a point, Satchal,” Geldar put in. “I never really thought about it, but she’s right. She can’t be considered a Master unless the council makes her one. She’s acting outside the council when she teaches you.”

Satchal was instantly defensive. “The council doesn’t even know she’s alive yet. When they find out I’m sure they’ll see she’s capable of teaching others.”

“She’s obviously confused,” said Geldar. “A master that is confused should not be a master. They should be confident and know what they’re doing before they try to train someone else. That’s just common sense. How can you train someone when you are unsure yourself of your own training?”

Satchal was growing more and more angry with them, and Brin’tac knew he had to smooth things over, once again, to keep the group together. “Please! It is not our place to judge Ivanna,” the Bothan pointed out, and instantly everyone turned to look at him. “We do not have to trust her, but if Satchal is willing to train under her there is little we can do to stop him. It doesn’t do us any good to get angry with one another especially out here where distractions could mean our deaths. For now Ivanna travels with us, and hopefully before long we will once again be back to civilized worlds where we can have her stand before the Council to be judged by those far wiser than us in the ways of the Force. However, until that time I say we must accept her as a part of the team unless she proves to be false. It isn’t good for us to be constantly suspicious of one another, and if you stop for a moment you will see that this suspicion isn’t strengthening us. It is only splitting us apart. I, for one, will not let that happen.”

“But if we don’t deal with this now she might stab us in the back when we’re most vulnerable,” Lialla argued. “I’m telling you she will be the death of us all.”

Satchal turned on her. “He’s right, Lialla, and we have just as much reason to trust Ivanna as we do you.” His words stung like jab from his lightsaber, and she seemed almost about to break out into tears. “You don’t know her, but you know me. I trust her, and I’m asking you to trust my judgment concerning her.”

“Do you know her,” Lialla shot back, “or do you know who she wants you to know?”

“Please,” said Brin’tac again. “Let’s drop it. The fact is we have to decide now whether we are going to help Ivanna or go back to base. That is our current situation, and that is what we need to focus on.”

“Brin’tac’s right,” said Geldar. “What do you all think?”

“I say we go back to base,” said Kazzra’an. “I don’t like the idea of risking our lives for someone we don’t even trust all that much.”

“Kazzra’an wants to go back,” Geldar translated. “What about the rest of you?”

“Back,” said Tso almost immediately, and he felt guilty for saying so. “I just don’t think we’re going to be much good wandering around anymore looking for Ivanna, and how do we know she isn’t already back at base?”

Satchal threw his hands up in frustration. “Fine,” he said. “Go. I’m going after Ivanna.”

“Calm down, Satchal,” Brin’tac encouraged. “The decision hasn’t been made yet. The entire group hasn’t decided, unless we aren’t a team anymore.”

Satchal fell silent and turned away trying to regain control over his emotions. “Lialla?” asked Brin’tac as he continued around the group.

“Home,” she said without looking at anyone.

“I say we’re already out here,” put in Tarrsk, “we might as well go see what happened to her. It doesn’t mean we have to get close enough to get caught in another trap.”

“We didn’t think we’d get caught in the last one,” Kazzra’an replied. “What makes you think we won’t get caught this time?” Geldar translated for those that didn’t understand.

Tarrsk shrugged. “I don’t care much, really.”

“Geldar?” asked Brin’tac, and Geldar sighed heavily as if he was too tired to deal with anymore decisions.

“Let’s go,” he said meeting Satchal’s surprised look. “She is one of us now whether we like it or not, and I don’t feel right about leaving one of us in trouble.”

This brought a groan from Tso who was obviously feeling guilty, and when Geldar said what he did it was clear Tso was changing his mind. “Okay,” said Tso, “we should go, but I know we’re making a mistake.”

“What about you Brin’tac?” asked Geldar. “Do you think we should go or head home?”

“I agree with you Geldar,” Brin’tac replied. “So that just leaves Nyarchagga.”

Nyarchagga looked up at him with a smug grin. “I say we go, but it isn’t for Lialla. I say we go for the real lost member of our team. I want to know what she did to my droid!”

“Fine,” said Brin’tac. “Then it’s settled. Let’s go.” He turned to Nyarchagga. “What’s the best route from here into the Military District?

“Wait!” cried the sensor officer. “I don’t think we have to go very far at all.”

“What is it?” asked the other soldier.

“I’m suddenly picking up on a fast moving mass of life forms,” he said, his eyes wide with disbelief. “It’s like an army of living beings moving fast along some sewer tunnels just a few klicks north of here. They’re just at the edge of our sensor range and moving fast.”

“How quickly can we get there?” asked Satchal, his hopes rising.

The officer fell silent a moment as he gauged the distance and the routes of travel. “Fifteen to twenty minutes depending on how fast all of us can move,” he said. “I could be wrong though. As I said before I’m no expert here.”

“Great,” said Satchal. “Then let’s move. If there are people alive down here then maybe Ivanna found them and they’ll know what happened to her.”

“Right,” said Geldar, and he gestured to the sensor officer. “Lead the way.” And they were off once more moving as fast as they could through the dark passages of the Cloud City underground.



*************************************************************

Gariss trotted at the front of the long line of refugees as sweat glistened off his reptilian forehead. He was strong and capable of enduring a great deal of hardships, but after everything he and the others had just been through he was near exhaustion. He hated the fact that he’d lost some others in his unit, and he was even more frustrated that it was really his fault they had gotten mixed up in this whole affair. It definitely hadn’t been worth the credits.

Behind him Par’kiss fought to keep up as he continued to monitor the sensors. “Hold up!” he cried suddenly bringing the Barabel’s attention back to the Devaronian. “I’ve just picked up on some life forms at the edge of sensor range. One, two, three…ten total.”

Gariss considered this a moment, but even as they spoke between breaths they continued to trot along keeping the line flowing at a steady pace. “It looks like the Jedi was right. We’re coming up on some scouts from the other base.”

“It’s about time,” said Hodge, another member of the Daragald’s Blight mercenaries. “My legs are about to fall off, and most of these other people were not built for this kind of thing.”

“If they want to live they’ll keep moving,” was all Gariss said, and he continued on to an intersection ahead. “How soon are we going to encounter these people?”

“It could be about ten minutes if they start heading in our direction,” Par’kiss reported. “It’ll be twenty if they don’t.”

“How’s our droid situation?” the Barabel leader wanted to know as they moved in the direction Par’kiss pointed towards.

“Still being pursued by some three hundred droids, but it seems their progress has been slowed. We should lose them by the time we reach the others if we keep up this pace. She must have done the trick,” Par’kiss reported.

“Great,” said the leader, and for several long moments he turned his focus back on making it through the passages.

“They’re moving,” Par’kiss said after a minute or two had past. “And I’m also picking up on some droid signals off to the east of our location. There’s a whole lot of them.”

“What are they doing?” asked Gariss.

“They seem to be keeping to their own sections,” Par’kiss replied.

“Good,” said Gariss. “Let’s hope they stay there.”

Suddenly, Jarith, the human soldier and scout of the group raced up to the front panting heavily. “Sir…we can’t keep going like this…people…passing out.”

Gariss didn’t even stop to glance back. “Keep them moving Jarith. We’re all tired. Pick the weak ones up and drag them with if you have to. Just keep with the group. We won’t lose the droids behind us if we don’t.”

Jarith nodded then stopped to allow people to pass by him so he could both catch his breath and get back to the rear of the column. The entire group of nearly a thousand refugees continued on through the darkened passages moved more by their own terror than by anything else.

At last Gariss reached a corridor where three passages intersected, and Par’kiss finally announced, “That’s it! We’re beyond sensor range for the droids. We’ve lost them.”

Gariss didn’t stop. “Just keep moving a little further then. We don’t want them to accidentally find us just because we decided to stop too soon. We’ve worked too hard for that.”

And so they ran until they came face to face with Satchal, Nyarchagga, and the others that followed close behind. As soon as they entered the corridor with the Phantom Hunters Gariss at last called for a halt.

“Where’s Ivanna?” Satchal demanded before any formal greetings could be exchanged.

“Nice to see you too,” said Gariss gruffly. “If you’re talking about your Jedi Master she stayed behind with Captain Krastil and his team of security troops to keep the droids back so we could make our escape.”

Par’kiss added, “If you want to go help them I’d say you’ve got about three klicks between us and them, maybe four.”

“I wouldn’t waste your time,” Gariss continued. “They were up against an onslaught of droids. We had a good thousand to fifteen hundred droids bearing down on us. We had almost double the number of people with us that we do now, and I’d say if they’re still alive they won’t be long. They were fighting a pretty overwhelming battle.”

“I want their location,” Satchal said desperately.

“Here,” said Par’kiss, and he threw Satchal a data card with the information on it. “Good luck.”

“Wait just a second,” said Gariss as Satchal was about to run off to follow the map. “We’ve got to get these people back to your hideout before we’re discovered. Someone needs to take us there.”

“This many people with you will stick out like a sore thumb on sensor scans,” said Brin’tac in alarm. “You can’t hide all these people in our small hideout. There’s no room.”

“What would you have us do?” Gariss said. “Besides, we’re not going to be staying for long. We’ve got to make some sort of united final assault soon. The droids have been gathering poisonous gases to unleash into the lower passages of the city. In just a few days they’ll have collected enough to filter it through the whole city. It’ll wipe out every person that breathes! We’ve got to hit them before that happens even if we haven’t got a chance of success.”

Satchal suddenly remembered Ivanna’s warning. Now he understood what she’d been trying to say to him during the vision. She wanted him to warn Avatar that the droids were going to poison the city and kill everyone just in case she and the other refugees weren’t able to make it back. He felt kind of foolish now that he hadn’t even tried to warn base of such a threat before he continued to go after his friends.

“How do you know all this?” asked Brin’tac curiously.

“Par’kiss is a genius,” Gariss replied with a grin. “You should know that by now. He tapped into a back door in the mainframe of the system and just monitored their transmissions and movements. He also picked up on your virus. Very clever thing, but the droids also figured it out too. They’ve been trying to stop it, but Par’kiss says the way it works causes it to shift from one file to another if located. The droids infected immediately turn on all other droids in the area wiping out as many as possible. Usually these are mostly refitted protocol droids or maintenance droids, but they do some damage at least, and the number of droids has thinned considerably.”

“This is great news!” said Geldar, “but we really must be on our way. We can’t wait any longer or we may be too late. Satchal’s two companions here can go back with you to the base while we continue on. Just give us one of the sensor units, and we’ll be out of your way.”

“Glad to see you all still alive,” Gariss said with a smile. “It’s nice to know we have a few people with a million lives to spare still walking around. Good luck.” Then he motioned for the column to continue as the entire river of refugees reluctantly picked themselves up and left the Phantom Hunters alone in the dark.



*************************************************************

Ivanna slashed down another three droids that managed to breach the makeshift barrier they had erected but still more poured through. Another explosion shook the walls and sent her sprawling to the floor, but she was covered by Captain Krastil’s cover fire. He and his men continued to rain blaster-bolts into the gap in the destroyed section of the passage dropping droids like insects.

“That’s it!” one of Krastil’s men cried. “The last of our people just fled beyond sensor range.”

“Finally,” Krastil replied as he took the head off of another droid. “We’ll sit here for a moment longer and then fall back.”

“There’s really nowhere to fall back to, sir,” the officer replied. “All exits have been cut off. I think the droids have figured they lost the others for now so they’re going to concentrate on finishing us off first.”

“Don’t tell me it’s hopeless, cadet,” the captain replied. “I’m not about to give up until I’m dead, and even then I’m planning on taking out a few more.”

“So what are we going to do?” the cadet wondered hopelessly. “They’ve cut off every escape route with five hundred more in front of us and about three hundred behind us.”

“Ivanna!” Krastil called to her, and he had to do so several times to get her attention. Ivanna dropped back then and leapt over the barricade to take a moment of rest and to hear what he had to say. She did not speak but only fought to catch her breath. “We need a way out. You’re a Jedi. Can you think of something?” Then he pointed at the cadet’s sensor layout, and Ivanna only glanced at it as she understood what he expected.

“I’m…a Jedi…not a…technical person,” she replied as she noticed she had sustained a rather nasty wound to her forearm. Her robes were gone now, and her dark green combat fatigues were slit and charred from the wear and tear of battle.

“Well we need to think of something quick,” said Krastil. “The rest of our people have gotten away, and if you don’t want to die I suggest you help us out here.” Then he fired on another droid and it fell but got back up. Another couple of shots from Krastil and several others kept it down for good.

Ivanna snatched the sensor unit from the cadet angrily and shoved him away when he tried to take it back. Viewing the screen she fought hard past fatigue to orient herself with the map. When a precious few minutes had gone by Ivanna shook her head and threw the sensor back at the cadet. “There is no way out!” she yelled at him with a viciousness that caught the captain off guard. “We’re not going to survive this.”

The captain swore. “There has to be a way out of this. Give me that!” Then he dropped down behind the barricade and snatched the sensor unit up just as the poor cadet was reaching for it. He scanned it thoroughly looking at every angle when suddenly the wall blocking off the passage exploded at them with a deafening boom! They were all thrown to the ground as half of the barricade was destroyed and many of the droids flooding through were taken out as well.

Krastil wasted no time. “Fall back! Fall back!” he yelled with everything he had, and he took off toward the entrance to another passage behind them calling for everyone to follow him. “Hard retreat!” he called again, and he saw many of his troops rushing to join him, some getting cut down by blaster-fire.

Ivanna picked herself up and looked in the direction that the blast had come from. She dodged several blaster shots as her eyes focused on a powerful looking droid. It was tall and ominous military assault droid that looked more like a mini-tank than anything. It moved forward on treads, which made up its lower half, and it had many weapons extending from appendages of every sort. Ivanna made out what seemed to be a heavy repeating blaster, a cannon of sorts, a needler gun, a missile launcher, and 2 vibro-axes. A blue energy shield was powered up around it, and it seemed to sending out commands to all the others.

Ivanna rose and quickly followed behind the last of the fleeing troops as she attempted to draw the fire of the droids. The larger droid shot at her with its repeating blaster, and Ivanna managed to dodge only barely. When at last she was at the entrance to the next passage the droid army was only a few meters from her. Then, all at once, she stopped as she prepared to fight to the death in order to allow everyone else the chance to get away. With golden saber at the ready she met the first of the oncoming droids.

Then something totally unexpected occurred. Blue lightning flashed into the passage from a power conduit nearby. It exploded and brought down the entire passage once more on the droids sealing off all pursuit. Ivanna just barely leapt out of the way and avoided the destruction as massive sections of the ceiling crumbled down around her.

All droid activity suddenly stopped, and Ivanna shook her head for a moment to clear it. Ahead she heard the cadet shouting to the captain that all droids had suddenly frozen in their tracks. It seemed they were unsure what they should do. “Move while they are confused,” Krastil ordered, and they took off ahead of Ivanna without even looking back. Ivanna cursed and took off after them barely keeping up with the last of the troops.



***********************************************************

“That did it!” cried Nyarchagga victoriously. “I set the power conduit in that sector to overload. It was a big one. It covered their escape. The sensors indicate their coming in our direction.”

“What about the three hundred droids between us and them?” asked Satchal who stood by the Dug in front of the newly powered up computer terminal.

“They seem to be thrown into confusion, and I was thinking of making it worse by using my bellow again.”

“No!” everyone cried at once, and the Dug snickered in amusement.

“How much longer until they reach us?” asked Geldar, nervously.

“Fifteen to twenty minutes,” the Dug replied. “I’m trying to see if I can connect with some other power conduits to help clear more pathways.”

“Do what you can,” said Geldar. “Kaz, any peculiar droid movement?”

“They don’t seem to be noticing us, Geldar,” the Wookiee replied, and so they waited for the longest seventeen minutes and forty-two seconds of their lives. When the first of the surviving soldiers came into view Geldar and the others cheered loudly.

Krastil was at the head of the group. “I don’t know how you did it,” he replied, “but whatever you did you’ll have to tell us about it later. Lead the way.”

Geldar and the others immediately complied, and they all began running out of the chamber and back towards the hideout. Satchal waited until the last of the soldiers past him, and he was relieved to find Ivanna at the rear. He embraced her for a moment, and she thanked him for it. Then the two took off down the passage after everyone else with Satchal half carrying his master.



*************************************************************

“…and after the power conduit exploded the entire passage caved in on top of the leading droid,” Ivanna explained to Avatar and the others gathered in the now overly crowded hidden base in the bowels of Cloud City. “From that time on the remaining droids in the area seemed to be totally confused and uncertain about what to do. Our team was able to break through their lines relatively easy when we encountered them at the junction leading from the lower sewer systems into to the maintenance crawl-ways.”

“So perhaps the war is over already,” said Avatar hopefully.

“Not very likely,” said Par’kiss who stood next to Gariss. “It is possible, I suppose, but from what I could gather from the computer systems there are several droids that seem to be leading the others. They are some sort of I7 series of military assault droids.”

“Those are the most powerful assault droids here on Cloud City only used for the city’s defense in case of invasion,” Captain Krastil put in. “I7-B29 was their leader. Can you describe the droid to me? B29 was different from the others.”

She went into as much detail as possible, and the moment she mentioned some of the more pronounced features Krastil was certain he knew the droid. “Amazing! That sounds like B29. He was the only droid outfitted with the heavy repeating blaster and needler gun. His other features are equally as devastating.”

“So maybe we took out the leader after all,” said Lialla brightly.

“We can’t trust in that,” said Ivanna sharply, and Lialla looked at her with narrowed eyes. “We need to still strike soon.”

“Agreed,” said Avatar. “Even if the leader was destroyed we must still take the airfield and commandeer some starships. We’ll begin planning our final assault soon.”

At that moment, Chairman Sil’karith stepped forward to have a few words with everyone. He was the spokesman for Sprillious Corporation and its CEO, and through all the chaos he had somehow still survived. “First I would like to thank you all for your brave efforts to save this city and its inhabitants. It is sad that…” and he continued on though most around hardly listened or cared about what he said. At this point they were either too tired or more worried about their own survival to really have much interest.

When he was finished Avatar stepped forward again and said, “And with his thanks and such we can now call this meeting over. After we get some rest we can maybe work on a plan to take back the city or at the very least get some people out there to get some help. Agreed?” There were no arguments, and so everyone filed out of the meeting room making their way to some sort of area to get some sleep. People were everywhere, and so there was little room to even move let alone find some place to rest, but for those who had just fought in the terrible battle to free the other refugees a series of dark rooms was made available to rest and recover.

It was into one of these rooms that the Phantom Hunters went, and the moment they were all through the door Ivanna spun around and suddenly hurled something at Nyarchagga. The Dug barely caught it in his left foreleg, and he recoiled in hostility.

“What was that for?” demanded Brin’tac, coming to the defense of his friend.

“Did you all enjoy your little spy games?” Ivanna demanded, and her face was a mask of outrage. “I hope it was worth it. You all nearly got me and everyone else at that other refugee base killed.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Geldar, a bit on the defensive.

“The droids were already looking for the other refugees,” explained Ivanna. “They were swarming all around because they were doing sweeps for the other base. Captain Krastil and Gariss’s mercenary unit were leading a lot of raids on the enemy droids doing as much damage as possible. They had up a cloaking field so the droids couldn’t detect their heat signatures. However, because you put Gnat on me and had him sending off some sort of signal to you the droids were able to track me right to the other refugee base. It didn’t take them long, even after I was within the cloaking field, to figure out where the refugees were. That was why we had to fight our way to escape! They swarmed all over us in the thousands.”

The entire group fell silent, all except for Lialla. “How dare you talk to us that way!” Lialla exploded, her emotions raw. She had reached a breaking point, and all of her pent up feelings were unleashed like a flood. “I’ve had just about enough of you! If this is anyone’s fault it’s yours! How dare you blame this on us? You know what I think. I think you were the one that led the droids to the other refugee base, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you were leading them here. Blame it on us? I don’t think so. We were careful not to endanger anyone but ourselves, and furthermore if it hadn’t been for us you’d be dead right now! How do you even know it was Gnat’s transmission that led the droids to the refugees? Huh? You don’t because they were already searching for the others. Anything could have triggered them finding the refugee base. Besides, how do you know your own heat signature didn’t lead them there, Master Jedi? Huh? How do you…”

And suddenly Lialla fell backward with a jerk as her face contorted in a mask of pain. She fell to the ground and clutched her chest as if her heart had suddenly burst in her chest. Everyone froze in disbelief, and only Satchal and Geldar saw the fury in the eyes of Ivanna. “Do not ever talk to me that way again, do you understand?” she said as her body shook. “Ever! You were all responsible for all those deaths. It was you.” Lialla continued to clutch her chest in total panic and pain, and she seemed to be gasping to breathe. No one could move. Everyone was frozen in disbelief.

Then an image flashed in Satchal’s mind. He remembered the Dark Jedi Savor Kibbs and how he had died in his cell all those months ago on Naboo. He was clutching his chest just as Lialla was now, as if a predator was gnawing at her chest.

Satchal reacted instantly, and before he even knew what he was doing he smashed Ivanna in the face with his fist. Ivanna hit the floor hard, and Lialla was immediately free from the terrible pain. Everyone still watched in shock. Even when it was over and Ivanna was simply laying face first on the floor they still did not move. Finally Tso moved to Lialla’s side to try to see if she was okay.

Then, at last, Ivanna looked up into the eyes of Satchal, and she saw the confusion there. She saw in his mind the doubts now, and she knew what he was thinking. As if she had just realized what she’d done, she looked over at Lialla, her eyes filled with horror. Then, without a word, she ran from the chamber as if fleeing from a ghost.

The room was silent even after she was gone, and for a long time no one could speak the words that were racing through their minds. They simply stood there staring at the doorway where Ivanna had disappeared through wondering if somehow she was connected to the deaths of Zegmond Pent of the Flail organization and Savor Kibbs, the renegade Jedi on Naboo. Then, at last, Brin’tac spoke up, and the words he spoke sent shivers through everyone in the chamber. All he said were a few words, but they were enough to make everyone go cold. He said, “Perhaps she really is the Master.”




Mission 5 (Part 3)

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