21 ATC
Vaneer's residence, Coruscant
Advanus Vaneer walked down the hallway leading to his study, the sound of his footsteps damped by the richly decorated carpet, and he only casually glanced at the artworks that lined the walls to both sides. They were fine and tasteful Chandrillan works, chosen by his wife, although only a meager selection compared to her collection back in their ancestral home on Tepasi. He fumbled for his code cylinder and could already imagine the smell of old paper beneath his fingers as he opened the door to his study. Where art was the passion of his wife one might say that books were his. Real books of course, made of paper and ink. One might ask what use a book could possible have in a time where they had holobooks that could store a thousand times more information and even present it in more tangible ways. But books had something material, something real about them. Even more so when they were actually handwritten. Books were made of living, breathing material. So like all living things, they aged and by doing so the paper of the pages itself was telling a story about its past. About the places it had been stored, about the finger that touched it and about the eyes that have read it. It was unfortunate that he had been only able to bring a small fraction of his library to Coruscant.
As he took a step into his study he suddenly froze. Something was wrong. He couldn't remember leaving the desk lights on and nobody except for him even had a key to this room. He was carefully scanning the study as he stepped back into the hallway, expecting a threat to pop up from behind the desk or the curtains any moment now. There was a slight movement from behind one of the enormous armchairs that faced the window front - just a pair of pale fingers beckoning at him from the shadows in the dim lit study. Advanus let out a small sigh of relieve and slipped the hold-out blaster back into his pocket, not being able to recall even drawing his weapon. Good to know that at least some of his combat reflexes hadn't left him.
He composed himself and walked down the study to let himself drop into his favorite armchair. Without so much as looking at his unexpected visitor he carefully unpacked and lit a Domhill Corona - one of his last and almost impossible to get by now thanks to the Zakuul and their damn Star Fortresses. His only sin he thought as he inhaled just a taste of the cigar smoke while taking in the grand view that was the Coruscant cityscape at night.
“You know, if you had gotten here earlier, I would've invited you to dinner. My wife did some terrific Nerf steak in Alderaanian herb sauce tonight and I'm sure she would have come up with some vegetarian alternative for you.“ Advanus smiled fatherly as he turned to meet the gaze of his visitors silver-gray eyes. “Its good to see you, Jatara. So I see my invitation has reached you”.
Jatara was sitting crossed-legged in the other armchair, dressed in a plain black bodysuit and only her white hair, bound to a loose bun, shone faintly in the shadows.
“Why am I here, general? Sareen wasn't very specific.”
“Because we- because I need you back.”
“We both know what happened to Aygo and the others,” she turned her head so he couldn't see the look on her face, “Face it. Your schemes had finally failed.”
“Oh. But my plans never failed, I only postponed them.”
“So what has changed?”
Advanus leaned back as he took another long drag on his cigar and replied, “I was contacted by someone who said he was building an Alliance of sorts. He claimed that they already won a major victory against the Eternal Empire in Wild space.”
“If that's true, than it will only be a matter of time until Arcann has dealt with this newest insurrection.”
“Perhaps. But my instincts tell me something else. We already have the SIS on it, but their early reports are still diffuse. However I'm certain that something is changing in the Galaxy and fairly convinced that this 'Alliance' might be our best, might be our last real fighting chance we gonna get.”
Jatara tilted her head slightly. “So if that contact of yours was able to find out about your past deeds, than the Chancellor's hounds might also be on your trail.” Did Advanus hear concern in her voice?
“We all knew the risks”, he answered , “And this is not the time to pull back. We have to act now. But for that I need your help, Jatara. There might be no later”
Advanus studied the Echani's face as she stared into the night, seemingly lost in thought as her expression was almost motionless. It took a moment until she finally spoke again.
“I've done many things for you in the past.”
“Do you regret any of it?”
Now it was her time to face him as if she got a sudden surge to stand up and defend herself. “I do not regret. I've know many Jedi who confused self-reflection with regret. Always caught in the past, always self-doubting whether they did the right thing. I'm not one of them. I focus on the present.”
“But you still blame yourself for what happened to your squad, don't you?”
Jatara was sinking back into her seat again. “I realize that there are losses in war. Soldiers die to accomplish goals. I have accepted my own mortality a long time ago.”
“You didn't answer my question.”
Her eyes focused on a transport ship passing in the distance. She hesitated as she gathered her thoughts. “You were the one who lead us through the hell that was Kalsunor and what came after. Even after the war ceased, when you called for arms, we didn't hesitate. And than after the day that they...” She paused, blinking as she regained her composure. The Echani tapped on her armrest. “I remember sitting here in this very chair, you were over there giving a speech as you always do. I would have followed you anywhere that day. If you had asked me to march up that Spire with you right into Arcann's throne room, I would've been with you in in a blink of an eye. And even after our defeat, even after I left, I still reported back to you. You already know my answer, don't you General? But you want me to say it.”
She gave him a long look, but they was no defiance in there just the realization of how strong her loyalty towards him actually was. Advanus had always known that he was good in inspiring people to follow him. That was why he had became such a good officer in the first place. He could make people believe in a cause, but he also knew that in the wrong hands this was a dangerous power to be had. Not that he needed to in this case – in many ways she and him were much alike. Jatara sighed loudly and leaned back, her voice returning to her usual indifferent almost cold tone.
“I've followed you this far and I won't stop now.”
Advanus gave her a warm, heartily smile. “Good. I knew I could count on you. It's good to have you back”
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
16 ATC
Republic Communication Outpost X154, Kushibah V
“That whole thing here is crazy,” opened Joker over the squad's com channel, “And we're really sure we understood the general's orders correctly?”
“I hate to say this, but for once I have to agree with Joker,” boomed Hazard's voice, “I mean... damn. Our comrades are falling left and right back on Kalsunor and here we are on this forsaken excuse of a rock about to blow up one of our own outposts.”
“Shh, big guy,” said Karen's soothingly, “How did the general put it? We are just disrupting our communication channel back to Coruscant.”
“Yeah. When by disrupting you mean cutting our last lifeline to High Command,” grumbled the Gotal back.
“And when during the last months did the high-ups there ever transmit a sensible command to us, eh?”
Joker cut back in,“But how am I supposed to request new caf beans for our machine back in the barracks than?”
Jatara shared their uneasiness but this was getting out of hand. “Everyone focus now. I know how you feel about this. The general is playing a dangerous gambit here. If he can't receive commands from High Command any longer, he might be able to find a loophole that would allow our troops to retreat from Kalsunor. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I need an update, Sketch. What about our distraction?”
“Well I found a station to hook me up with their network," sounded the serene voice of the Mirialan, "Still working though, give me another minute, Commander.”
Jatara was gazing at the towering silhouette of the central communication hub. Neither positional lamps nor searchlights were illuminating the pitch black night and the system of transmitters, receivers and satellite dishes that extended like a spider net into the desolate desert of Kushibah V. A howling wind was picking up, sending sharp grains of sand like a hundred small lashes across her face. She pulled the scarf over her nose and let the night googles snap into place just as her comlink was beeping again.
“Sketch here. Got it, commander. One button press and I'll send a dozen men running for their lives.”
“Good. How long will it last?”
“Until they realize that something is wrong? Don't know. One minute maybe? Once we're on you'd better be quick about making that fake radiation leak into a real explosion.”
“Speaking of which,” said Jatara and turned around to observe Hazard and Joker preparing the explosive charges. As Joker caught sight of the Jedi's glance he began to juggle three of the small packs around as if they were part of one of his many card tricks. “Well I got enough of those little babys to blow a new crater into this little moon.”
Jatara sighed. “The generator will suffice. Thank you, Joker.”
“Oww. You are no fun, Commander,” answered the Corellian.
She pointed at him and that beast of a Gotal beside him. “Alright. Suit up you two. We're moving out soon. Karen? How is the look from up there?”
The sniper answered in her typical casual tone, “Pretty boring. Lots of sand. But yeah, everything quiet over there. The two regular guards seem to be on their Caf break.”
“Good. Keep me posted.”
Jatara checked her equipment one last time and than joined Hazard and Joker at the entrance of the narrow canyon, which lead down into the outpost's valley.
She addressed them leaving her comlink turned off, “We mapped out enough of their security system. Stay close to me and I can get us through undetected.”
They were both straightening and nodding silently. She could feel how their discipline took over, them focusing on the task ahead. As they formed up behind her she got back on the coms again, “That's it. Remember: no one dies today. These are our comrades over there. If all goes well, they'll never even know someone was here. Let's move out.”
Jatara climbed the last steps up to the walkway that surrounded the central communications tower. From here one could oversee the majority of the outpost's many communication arrays. The cutting wind had been picking up even more, now blowing large clouds of dust across the bleak landscape. She could barely make out Hazard and Joker working at the feet of the tower as they were setting the last breaching charges to create an access into the reactor chamber.
The wind was almost drowning out her voice as she spoke into the comlink, “Sketch. Everything ready here. Hit the button. Joker, on my mark...”
Jatara could not here the noise of an alarm siren nor where they any warning lights to be seen, but she could feel a sense of panic emanating from the tower's inhabitants. They had taken the bait. “Now!”
She felt a explosion beneath her and the two commandos had stormed through the breach before the dust could settle
“Watch out, Boss!” shouted Karen over the com, “Two guards coming around.”
Jatara had felt them too – the two men would bump into her in a matter of seconds.
“Got them in my sights. Requesting...”
“Negative,” interrupted Jatara the sniper and reached instinctively into the belt pocket where her lightsaber was hidden. She hesitated.
The true test of battle is not how to kill an opponent, its how to incapacitate him. Using just the right amount of force, just the right weapon to stop him. Had it been her old Master or her Grandfather back on Eshan who had told her this?
Jatara flexed her fingers and was already upon the two human guardsmen coming around the tower. Her fist connected with the first man's throat before he could even realize what hit him. The man staggered back, coughing, barely being able to clutch to his rifle. Jatara turned around just in time to evade the blow of the other guard's gunstock. She stepped to the side and lead a counterattack, hitting the joint between the armor plates of glove and forearm. The man dropped his weapon in agony and Jatara's kick send him crashing into the wall of the tower before he could recover.
She could feel the other man focusing at her. He was raising his weapon but clearly underestimating the speed of his opponent as the Echani managed to grab his rifle before he could pull the trigger. Jatara pulled the weapon together with his wielder closer and a decisive stroke into the neck knocked the man unconscious. She barely managed to reach out with the Force to prevent him from falling down the tower.
Jatara turned around to watch the remaining guardsmen fumbling for his sidearm with his uninjured hand. Almost casually she walked up to him and ended the fight.
A voice was shouting to her trough the earpiece, “Boss. We have to get out of here!”. I took her a second to realize it was Joker.
Jatara glanced at the bodies of the two unconscious guards. She couldn't just leave them here, they would get caught in the blast. Just than Hazard appeared beside her, grabbing one of the guards and shouting: “You heard the man. Let's run!”.
The next few moments became a blur. She was pulling the republic guard away from the tower, adrenaline pumping through here veins and the force enhancing her strength. She turned her head, looking, at some point she had lost sight of Hazard in the swirling dust clouds. Than, suddenly, came the explosion and the world turned black.