#featuring more buddy-bickering with Korin and Corey

[keldae]

Drastic Measures (Chapter Twenty-Five)

“Does anyone have any news at all on Dantooine?” Sorand asked the moment the call to the rest of the Storm system was secured. It felt unusual to be talking to everyone without Thunder’s disguise on, but it would raise questions if Imperius wasn’t seen communicating with the resistance he had joined. It still didn’t stop the Sith from feeling naked in the call.

“Nothing here, from Corso or from CorSec’s intel.” Cole raked a hand through his hair, worry visible on his face. “My contacts with the SIS and the Green Jedi haven’t heard anything either, although they’re raising hell to find answers.”

Vector folded his arms, a grim set to his mouth. “Nor can we raise Commander Malcom or his forces over the communications network. Doctor Kimble is frantic.”

“You think Doc’s frantic?” Hylo Viz jerked a thumb over her shoulder at Reanden, standing just beside her. “You know how snarly Imp agents get when they’re actually scared?”

“I can show you ‘snarly’,” Reanden muttered. But Sorand noted his father hadn’t denied being terrified. The Sith himself was anxious about Xaja and the rest of the Dantooine cell, to the point of nausea. He knew Korin wasn’t much better. Between Xaja and Theron, as well as Ashara, Corso, and Guss, there were a lot of friends unaccounted for that both brothers were concerned about.

“We haven’t heard anything either,” Lana spoke up, just off to Sorand’s right. “But we cannot sit on our hands and do nothing while waiting for news. What concerns me is how Dantooine was compromised, and what intel the Zakuulans have managed to accumulate on the rest of us. Corso alone knew the primary cell contacts and locations. If he was captured…”

“Arcann won’t ease up if he catches Xaja or Theron. He’ll slow down, maybe, but then come after the entire resistance.” Korin shifted his weight on Sorand’s other side. “We need a plan.”

“We need to be moving.” Reanden crossed his arms in thought. Sorand could recognize the shift in his father’s voice — he was delving into the Cipher Nine persona, shifting his focus to the job. It would serve to distract him from the worst of his fear for Xaja. “Assume the worst case scenario and that Corso has been compromised. Even if Corso escaped, I’m honestly surprised there hasn’t been any Zakuulan retaliation on Tatooine.”

“Join the club,” Korin muttered. “Black and I are taking a run up to the Star Fortress later today, but we’ll be moving the cell out tonight.”

“It’s probably best if this cell scatters,” Sorand added. “Less chance of Zakuul being able to track and identify us. Most of the Mandalorians will be heading to rendezvous with Mandalore. I at least will be heading your way, Vector.”

“To another planet with an active Star Fortress?” Cole frowned. “I thought you were smarter than that, Imperius.”

“Gambling runs in the family.” Sorand shrugged with a confidence he almost felt. “Normal space traffic in and out of Alderaan space is still ongoing, and if Arcann has two working brain cells to rub together, he’ll think twice before stirring up that killik nest with a Star Fortress attack. If we stagger our approach times, we should be able to pull it off.”

“We’ll be ready,” Vector nodded. “We will notify Duke Organa of your impending arrival, Lord Imperius. What of the other cells?”

“Scattering’s a good idea, but we won’t be able to budge at all yet, no matter what Thunder says,” Hylo spoke up. “The old timers here think they got a lead to where the Star Fortress bunker is here.”

“Red Light sector,” Reanden confirmed. “Way the hell in the slums. It might take us some time to pinpoint the precise location with our limited numbers.”

“I can help with that,” Sorand volunteered. “My cult will be delighted to—”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Reanden’s surprise was obvious, even over the holo. “Since when have you had a cult?”

“Since about forever?” Sorand frowned. He blinked. “Didn't I tell you about that?”

“No!” A chorus erupted from Reanden, Korin, and Lana all at once, almost drowned out by the muffled snickers from the rest of the call’s participants.

“I could have sworn…” Sorand shrugged. “No matter. I can get you in contact with the cult leadership. Tell them Lord Kallig sent you, and they’ll probably bend over backwards for you.”

“How the hell did you get your own cult?” Korin’s brain appeared to have short-circuited, and he was stuck on the idea that his kid brother had a following of questionably-sane devotees.

“I’ll tell you later,” Sorand muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

“So we’ll get in contact with this... cult of yours and figure out recon or sabotage on the bunker.” Reanden shook his head. “We can scatter quickly enough and still leave a backup if things go south. At the very least, Kothe will have to stay behind -- he can’t risk his position by leaving.”

“Our cell can scatter as well,” Cole spoke up. “With all the chaos on Corellia, finding one resistance cell is nearly impossible -- as the Imps found out.” He paused, allowing a smirk to flicker over his features. “We can vanish into the planetary resistance if need be. Leaving the system itself might be difficult, but I’m pretty sure most of my group can manage something if we need to rendezvous. I can’t leave because of CorSec, but I can keep a friendly hideout open here.”

Sorand nodded. “If you can move from your current locations, I would suggest Alderaan to regroup and make further plans beyond what can be safely discussed over a holo. We’ll need House Organa’s support.”

“Good a suggestion as any,” Hylo shrugged her agreement. “We’ll be along soon as the old men are done scouting the place.”

“Sounds good.” The call disconnected, and Lana turned to survey the brothers. “I’ll oversee the evacuation process. Korin, you and Corey are due to make your flyby within the hour?”

“Yep. I’m gonna go make sure Dancer’s ready to go.” Korin nodded and turned to leave, lingering only long enough to tightly squeeze Sorand’s shoulder before leaving for the hangar.

“I’ll monitor their progress and keep an eye out for the Fleet,” Sorand quietly said to Lana. “I’ll have an ear open for any news that comes through directly from Corso.”

Lana nodded. “If we haven’t heard anything by the time we reach Alderaan, I’ll send someone out to Dantooine to investigate. Hopefully they’ll find more than just bodies.”

“That is quite the story,” Malcom finally said as he sat back in his seat, rubbing his temples. “If I didn’t know better I’d ask if this came from some holofilm.”

“Believe me,” Xaja assured him as she wrapped her fingers tighter around a mug of caf, “we wish we were making this up.” She shifted on her chair in Malcom’s office, drawing one leg underneath her comfortably, and felt Theron shift his weight beside her in the next chair. Pain still lingered along the bond, but it was muted now after Elara’s medical treatment and a dose of painkillers. It now mingled with bone-deep weariness, and Xaja couldn’t tell if it was her own or Theron’s overwhelming her senses.

When she looked around the briefing room, she could see that same weariness mirrored among their companions. Master Satele, to Malcom’s left, looked more drained than Xaja ever remembered seeing before. But then, losing the fourteen members of the Enclave had been a painful blow, both to the resistance and within the Force.

To Xaja’s right, seated on the other side of Theron, Corso slumped over his own mug of caf, dreadlocks falling out of their bundle and hanging around his face. He was uncharacteristically quiet, lips thinned and brow creased. When Xaja focused, she could sense the fatigue and frustration in his Force-signature. On her left, Kira slouched in her own chair, gazing out over the rim of her caf. Only Malcom and Jorgan seemed to be less affected, but closer inspection still revealed the sagging, puffy skin under Malcom’s eyes.

The resistance was in fine hands right now.

Finally, Malcom sighed heavily and ran a hand over his scarred face. “All right, let’s look at options. I don’t know how long we have before Zakuul connects me, or at least Republic forces, to that fight. We need to get you two in particular underground ASAP.”

“And with the Republic actively hunting us down, and the Empire about as hospitable as Coruscant right now…” Theron shook his head. “We might be stuck with Hutt Space after all.”

“The Hutts would just as likely sell you to the highest bidder,” Satele said, raising an eyebrow.

“Funny,” Theron muttered, eyes darting to Malcom. “He said the same thing.”

Malcom narrowed his eyes at Theron, but didn’t make a retort to his comment. “We’re currently en route back to Alderaan,” he said. “I’ve ordered additional jumps to different coordinates to make our origin harder to track.”

“Doesn’t Alderaan have a bunch of Zakuulans on it, or in orbit?” Kira frowned. “I’ve heard they have their own fully active Star Fortress. If they see us fly in…”

“What are they gonna do,” Jorgan snorted, “blow the planet up?”

“Arcann’s smarter than that,” Satele interjected. “Alderaan is a veritable killik hive of valuable resources, civil unrest, and angry noble houses. He needs those noble houses to remain compliant if he wants access to those resources, which he won’t get if he stirs that killik hive. The Zakuulans are having a difficult enough time trying to make Corellia bow.”

Xaja snorted into her caf mug. “Good luck with that one. He might have better luck getting the Hutts to submit.”

“He did. The Corellians are something else.” One side of Malcom’s mouth pulled up in a smirk that eerily reminded Xaja of Theron. “To the best of my knowledge, only one Zakuulan has been seen planet-side in months, and she has resistance sympathies.” He looked over at Satele, brow slightly creasing. “She said she had met you on Jedha.”

“Senya Tirall?” Satele offered a soft smile. “I’m glad to hear she made it to the Organas. I had worried about her.” She looked back over to Xaja and Theron with a slight nod. “She is an outspoken critic of Arcann and had left Zakuul’s service when I talked to her. I do not predict her being a threat to you.”

“I’m taking your word on that, Master Jedi.” A warmth flickered through Malcom’s gaze briefly before he returned his attention to the meeting. He cleared his throat. “I can get you to Organa Castle without being caught, unless the Star Fortress can see inside of a Republic war cruiser. The last I checked, Republic vessels can still move to and from Alderaan at will,” he added. “Even if we are searched, we can find a way to hide you on board. Once you’ve gotten in contact with the resistance, we’ll figure out a plan from there.” He paused for a moment. “Unless contact has already been established?”

“Not since I got the distress signal out,” Corso finally spoke up. “My comm got busted in the fight and I can’t get hold of anyone on the secure channels. We’re silent until we reach Alderaan and I can get a secure message out to Cap’n Korin and Thunder.” He frowned. “Kriffin’ hells, Thunder probably thinks we’re dead.”

Forget Thunder, Xaja thought to herself. My dad and brothers, if they’re in contact with the resistance and got that distress signal… Beside her, Theron shifted enough to reach his uninjured arm over and gently squeeze her knee under the table.

“And I’m continuing to operate on radio silence with the resistance on Alderaan while we’re in transit. There’s simply too much risk of it being intercepted.” The former Supreme Commander shook his head. “It’ll be probably two standard days before we reach the planet. Thunder and their resistance will have to wait.”

“We won’t be able to stay on Alderaan,” Theron quietly said, exchanging a look with Xaja. “Chances are we’ll be around long enough to let Thunder know we’re not dead yet, but we’ll need to keep moving. Arcann might not deploy the Star Fortress if he knows we’re on Alderaan, but he’ll still endanger civilians to get at us.”

“Just where do you plan on going?” Malcom asked.

Xaja exchanged another look with Theron before answering. “We... don’t know. Not yet. I mean, we’re making this up as we go. But it stands to reason that, as long as we keep moving, it should be harder for us to be tracked.”

“As far as plans go, Master Taerich, that’s not exactly a great one,” Jorgan spoke up.

“No, but it’s the only one we have so far.” The fatigue and anxiety of the past week caught up to her and Xaja slumped in her chair. The knowledge that she and Theron had to keep running bordered on demoralizing. As long as Arcann is in power, she thought, we’ll never be safe, and neither will anyone else we try to hide with.

“We have a couple of days in transit to think of a more solid plan,” Satele offered with a faint, reassuring smile. “In the meantime, you should use the downtime to get some rest. One of you has a new injury to heal from and the other is still recovering from carbonite poisoning.”

Malcom nodded decisively and stood up. “We’ll reconvene before arriving in the Alderaan system. For now, you heard Master Shan: Get some shut-eye — you have a long road ahead of you.”

There was a scraping of chairs as the meeting adjourned. Xaja felt Theron subtly slide his hand down her arm to keep her near him as they started to make their way out of the briefing room. When she glanced back to see if either of Theron’s parents had noticed that action — considering Theron had been acting so cagey around his father — she noted that neither of them had moved to leave the room. Malcom had sat back down, and appeared to already quietly speaking to Master Satele, his voice low enough that Xaja couldn’t listen.

She shook her head and followed the others out of the briefing room. Elara had just arrived, and was giving directions as to where the refugees from Dantooine could get some sleep. “It’s tight quarters, but we can fit you into the barracks on the lower deck.”

“Right now, I think most of us are fine with any vaguely horizontal surface,” Kira dryly said, and got a grin from Elara. “Thanks. We really appreciate it.”

“Any time. We weren’t going to leave you to the Zakuulans.” Elara smiled and stepped away, Jorgan falling into stride with her as they moved off to check on the rest of Malcom’s forces.

Xaja sighed wearily and made to walk in the direction that Elara had indicated, but was brought to a halt by Theron tugging on her hand. When she looked up at him, he nodded toward an alcove in the corridor and lowered his voice. “Can we talk for a second?”

“Of course.” Xaja’s brow creased as she eyed her partner, mind racing to try and figure out what he wanted to talk about. Had he known about her eavesdropping on his conversation? What the hells was Malcom saying about suicide letters?

Theron nodded and took a deep breath as if to brace himself. The words that came out of his mouth, however, were nothing like what Xaja had expected. “Something… something happened, during the fight in the caves… I think you need to know.”

Power blackouts on Nar Shaddaa, especially in the Red Light sector, weren’t uncommon. A series of rolling blackouts across the entire sector were a little unusual, but not enough to gain the attention of the Hutt overlords. And hopefully, they wouldn’t be enough to make Zakuul look too closely, either.

Reanden crept along a walkway with Kaliyo, following a young, pretty woman who had introduced herself as Kylee. She was apparently one of the leaders of the Screaming Blade cult — no, Lord Kallig hadn’t come up with the name, she assured an incredulous Reanden, he had just inherited it when he’d taken the cult from a rival Sith and hadn’t bothered to change the name — and still remembered the Sith with some strange mixture of awe and fondness. It was enough to convince her to aid the strangers Lord Kallig himself had sent. And really, she was much easier to deal with than her fanatical counterpart, a man named Destris.

The human woman paused before a corner and gestured with her head to Reanden. “The bunker should be just ahead, sir.”

“Y’mean where the giant-ass turret’s standing?” Kaliyo looked around Kylee and raised one brow-ridge. “The Zaks compensatin’ for everything with how big they gotta make things?”

“I blame the bastard in charge,” Reanden muttered. He also took a glance around the corner, then pulled back. “Nobody had any questions about that huge turret before?”

“Nobody who wanted to live, sir. Everyone who came around here got killed.” Kylee shifted nervously. “Folks still keep their distance from here — Cartel, gangs, mercs, even our cult members.”

“That approach is gonna be a bitch,” Kaliyo muttered as Reanden flipped on his stealth generator and stepped out to get a better look at the turret. “They got a full field of view for anyone approaching. Probably have infra-ed or proximity sensors for stealthers.”

“Likely,” Reanden’s voice muttered out of thin air. “Not a great angle for us to get a flyby from a ship, either.”

“Not unless you wanna risk killing a bunch of innocent people… or at least as innocent as you get on Nar Shaddaa.”

“That sounded strangely caring of you, Kaliyo.”

“Only because I know you got a thing about that, old man.”

Reanden rolled his eyes at ‘old man’ and turned his focus back to the bunker. “There might be a side or back entrance to the facility that doesn’t require going past the turret,” he murmured. “Otherwise we’ll have to sabotage that to get into the bunker. And sneaking up on that is going to be a pain in the ass.”

“There any way we can get underneath it?” Kaliyo frowned. “Maybe try disabling it from below?”

“Maybe!” Kylee brightened up exponentially. “I’m pretty sure I can get blueprints of this area.”

“Excellent.” Reanden returned to the shelter provided by the corner and switched his stealth generator off. “See what you can pull for us, Kylee. The sooner we can take down that bunker, the better.”

The shield protecting the Star Fortress skeleton in Tatooine’s orbit was gone, but that didn’t mean the station wasn’t a danger. Korin frowned as he piloted the Dancer toward the satellite, just getting a glimpse of Corey’s freighter, Kotyc, out of the corner of his eye. “Fierfek, this thing’s huge,” the Mandalorian’s voice came over the comms.

“That’s what she said.” Korin couldn’t stop from grinning as he swooped low under the fortress, even if his heart was racing at the idea of the station being operational enough to shoot. Beside him, Tee-Seven made a beeping noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

“I’m going to punch you again, burc’ya,” Corey muttered. “At least one of us is an adult.”

“Bah. You’re no fun. At least Tee-Seven thought that was funny.” Korin angled the Dancer downward; a moment later, he felt his heart leap into his throat. “Holy—!”

“What?”

“Okay, so actual grownup talk now… hells, it looks like they have their own sun in here.” Korin nimbly flew around the skeleton as Corey chose his own route around the station. “Is that how they’re pulling all that insane firepower?”

“Their own sun?” Corey sounded skeptical. “That doesn’t sound—” He suddenly went quiet, before letting loose a few shocked expletives in his native tongue as he regained his composure.. “Oh. I see what you mean. Shit, they actually have miniature suns inside the fortresses.”

“How the hells…?” Korin muttered. “I want to know how they’re making their own personal stars inside those fortresses.”

“Heh. I thought the title of Star Fortress was just the Zaks being dramatic as per usual.” Korin could almost hear Corey’s frown. “Making even a miniature star like that shouldn’t be possible. What kind of tech do they have out there?”

“It’s damned good already, just from the Fleet. This is marginally more terrifying.”

“At least these stay in one place… I hope.” Kotyc zoomed through Korin’s field of vision as Corey went high. “That shield they had on the planet surface makes me think there’s a glaring vulnerability in the fortresses, especially in construction mode like this. I don’t think there’s any space on board yet for lifeforms to be here.”

“Come on, the Zaks run everything with their droids. They’d have no reason to have people on board. If we found a way to disable all their droids, their entire society would collapse.”

<<Zakuulan droids = too many = overpowered.>> Tee-Seven beeped indignantly. <<Zakuulan droids = rude.>>

“Sounds like their humans, buddy,” Korin muttered as he darted closer to the Star Fortress for a better read on the shields. “See what you can pull on their shields for me?” He got an affirmative beep.

“Disabling all their droids…” Corey mused over the comm. “That’s surprisingly not a bad idea, coming from you.”

“What was that supposed to mean?!”

“You know exactly what that meant. I’m surprised the guy who thought flirting his way into a Zakuulan camp to get intel came up with a good idea.”

“Excuse me, that idea worked perfectly. I got intel, and I got laid.” Korin grinned. “A win all around. I’m just full of good ideas.”

“I don’t know how your brother hasn’t strangled you yet.” Corey sighed as he completed a circuit around the satellite. “Far as I can tell, they’ve got basic shields up, but nothing as good as what the bunker was providing. We get in with a quick enough strike team, we might be able to knock this thing out of the sky before it gets to be a bigger threat.”

“I almost wanna try infiltrating it,” Korin murmured as he dove dangerously near the skeleton. “If we can figure out how they’re making those mini suns to power the damn things, might give us something of an edge.”

“Sneaking on board a karking Star Fortress? You’re insane, even by Taerich standards.” Corey went thoughtfully quiet. “Plan for both, ret’lini. If we’re gonna do either, we’ll have move fast, before they complete it enough to pressurize. Otherwise, I think the next one we’d get a chance to take out is the one they’re putting up over Voss.”

“Rumour has it there’s another one over Hoth too,” Korin added. “Not sure how far along that one is yet.”

“Hoth? What the hell’s on Hoth that the Zaks want to keep contained? Wampas and tauntauns?”

“Hey, you ever get bit or chased by a tauntaun? Those things are vicious!”

“Did you try your patented flirting technique on the poor tauntaun, too?”

“Fuck you, Black.”

“Buy me dinner first.” Corey retorted. “Even if it’s a pity screw at this—”

Tee-Seven suddenly started whistling a warning, loudly enough to drown out Corey’s voice. “What?” Korin asked as he glanced down at the droid. “They’re targeting weapons on us? I thought their weapons systems weren’t live!”

<<Weapons systems = live now!>>

“Thanks,” Korin muttered as he dove sharply, the Force just warning him of the Star Fortress’ cannon fire. “Corey?”

“I see it!” Kotyc zoomed past to Korin’s left, dodging its own stream of ion beams. “So, shields, weapons systems…”

“And I’m pretty sure they’ve got surveillance and comms systems. All they’re missing is life support.” The Dancer angled sharply as Korin tore away from the Fortress. “Blowin’ one up might be easier than sneaking on. Dammit.”

“Sucks when I’m right, doesn’t it?”

“Oh, shut up,” Korin muttered, and could almost hear Corey’s grin. “Tee-Seven, how are we looking?”

<<Star Fortress = sending comm signals = communicating with Zakuulans. Dancer =/= jamming systems.>>

“I’m aware I don’t have signal jammers for a thing like that!” Korin retorted as he banked hard to the left. “Any updates from the ground as to when folks’ll be ready to haul ass outta here?”

“If things are going smoothly they should be about ready to send the first transports out,” Corey grunted, pushing Kotyc into a hard, spiralling dive. “With luck, most of them will be out soon.”

“Here’s hoping the Fleet doesn’t show up before they can get moved out,” Korin muttered. He shook his head and glanced toward the astromech. “Keep your ears open, Tee-Seven. We’ll need to send up flares if company does show up.”