“Captain, the acquisition has vanished from scopes.” The uniformed tech advised from his bay. Sylde all but ran over to his position, descended the steps to the ‘pit’ itself and looked for himself. He had been on Star Destroyers and the like long enough to have heard fellow commanders and captains alike disregard slivers of information, musings from the ‘pit’ crews and general speculation only to have those slivers prove their downfall.
“Well done, Rand, Lieutenant Rand,” He corrected himself, the young man had worked hard for the promotion.
Although no Star Destroyer, his IGV-55 was ever reliant on the most basic slivers of information imaginable. Very few of his compatriots ever understood his insistence on using the surveillance cruiser as his command ship but then ‘they’ weren’t commanding the Emperor’s Silent Fleet. Sylde could not have cared in any event. He produced results and that was the bottom line.
“Maintain silence and retrace trajectory, there’s a reason we’re here and not the ‘Executor’.” Sylde said, patting the young lieutenant on the shoulder. “Bev, what have you got for me?” He turned his head toward the next bank of stations.
With a finger raised in a gesture of silence she nodded to her fellow techs then clamped a hand on the lone earpiece she adorned to continue her own surveillance while updating her Captain, “Silence sir, cosmic wake and flare backlash only...hang on…” She raised the finger again, “never mind, seismic kickback planet side. Nothing after the flare.” She focused on the console in front of a junior tech and rotated a large dial. A static hum resounded through the ship followed by a clunk. “Reorientation of dish three, should be straight on target sir.” She raised the other earpiece to the opposite side of her head and screwed her eyes shut to cut off interfering senses. Sylde watched patiently as her head seemed to dance to a song only, she could hear, starting and stopping in a tight infinity loop. Just as suddenly she jerked her head violently and tore the hearing aids from her head. “Lock on that vector Ty!” Sylde, still watching with great interest, learned long ago that handpicked officers were at their best left alone, let ‘Bev’ follow her intuition to its conclusion. ‘Ty’ rapidly coded the vector, angle, and exact location of the ‘interruption’ into a wire mesh grid on the holoimage before him, triangulating between their own location, the relay station planet side and small emplacement on the moon, Nar.
“We should have that target within a few meters sir.”
“At two hundred thou Km distant that would be a lucky shot, Bev. Any thoughts on closing the distance?” Sylde asked. “Anyone present?”
“Launch a trio of probes, fitted for reflective reverb toward the target tangential to last known position, in essence, triangulate within the triangulation. It would reduce our target area by…” The tech who spoke up tapped his neuro implant lightly, “seventy three percent.”
“It would in effect, give them our position as well...Bev, what was the interruption?” Sylde looked back at the comm officer for her reply.
“Sounded like screaming sir.” She replied without hesitation.
“Perhaps they've powered down then, ensign, we’ll go ahead with your suggestion.” He decided.
“Ju, instruct the bay to ready three probes, ref/rev maximized and launch when ready. Pritcar, nice work, you’ll have primary control of navcon when released.” His attention shifting from the female ordinance officer to that of the junior analyst. ‘This is how we get results where others only enact failure’ he thought to himself, proud of their efforts.
Sylde could ‘feel’ the launch at the same time Ju notified the bay crews. “Prit, probes away, you have the con.” She spoke.
“Affirmative, running true.” Pritcar said in return.
The entire room fell silent as the tech closed his eyes, concentration was required for the task and there was none better. He waited patiently for the tones he knew were coming. Listening to all three probes simultaneously, he heard probe two receiving reverberating feedback and listened for the crescendo. The mark was either a metal component or a large comet, and visuals removed the latter from consideration. Finally, the sweet chime of acquisition sang its sweet tone, and he pounded his finger into the console before him. “Mark two, positive lock.” He angled the trajectory of the final two probes to arc closer to probe two’s last known position and subsequently heard the affirming chimes and splendid tones from the other two. “Mark one, Mark three, positive lock.” Pritcar said.
“Bev, fire tracker.” Sylde said immediately, a dull thud resonating throughout the ship was all the confidence he needed that this was indeed the perfect crew.
They all waited, watching the central monitor in the room as the tracker salvo carried video monitoring for the purpose of guidance. An offset screen to the left showed trajectory, computing angles and displays of the triangulation vector points and a screen to the right displayed a rear mount surveillance cam on the payload, some watched as their own ship shrank to nothingness in the view.
Within seconds the primary screen showed the hull and retracted trio of armament wings of a centuries old ship.
“Kuati, D5-Mantis. Patrol vessel, heavy armament. No signal, no ping, unregistered.” Another junior tech spoke up just before the main screen displayed impact and then static. The image faded to black within seconds.
“Well done, everyone.” Sylde commended his crew. Although seemingly mundane, his efforts, their efforts, were always noticed.
Ahsoka holding Kowani closer to herself was rubbing vigorously on the Mirialan’s right arm as she began to muster under her grip.
“Oh, thank the stars!” Ahsoka said, wiping a tear with her free hand.
“I don’t feel so good.” Kowani remarked, covering her stomach with her hand.
“Just breathe Ani, in and out…. that’s it” she said feeling Kowani’s breath following the pattern she was suggesting. “Look at me.” She instructed, lifting her chin with her finger.
“You got it sister.” Kowani stammered. “I think we’re stuck together.” She answered the unanswered question. “He tried to free himself to seek out a possible vessel and do a little recon…” She paused for a few breaths, “But I don’t think he has the ability to leave now.”
Ahsoka understood the implications and assumed the worst. “Ani, that can’t be healthy, dare I say it, for either of you!”
“Your probably right.” She agreed. “Not much to be done for it though….at least his taste in beats is on par.” She finished with a short laugh and resultant coughing fit.
“Great, you haven’t lost that stellar sense of humor.” Ahsoka said, lightly punching Kowani in the shoulder. “Can you move?”
“I think so,” she said fidgeting her hands around the harness, “Zero G won’t help much though.”
“Right, about that. If there was indeed a vessel here, they would have already scanned our area after decanting. Should be safe to power back up to minimal.”
Kowani didn’t object, but Ahsoka froze with her hand above the main control as she heard a soft thud resound through the hull. Kowani heard it too and they both swiveled to look behind them.
“Powers down therefore shields down...debris? Kowani suggested.
“Possibly but assume the worst.” Ahsoka answered.
“Take me back to Dagobah.”
Ahsoka turned back to the Mirialan, “What? Why?”
Kowani laughed despite herself, “It’s the only place we’ve landed and taken off from without destroying something in the process.”
Ahsoka shook her head and played to take another swing at her shoulder but pulled herself into the aft section of the cockpit. “With power down we won’t be able to open the door either.”
“Nor should we, it’ll be depressurized which doesn’t really matter but freezing which really does.” Kowani said, “As you said, assuming the worst, we are now being tracked.” She lowered her voice to a whisper.
“Why would that matter, and how is it assuming the worst?” Ahsoka asked in a whisper of her own.
“Given that were still alive, ‘THAT’ worst case scenario is nullified. If we’re not dead, there’s a reason. Given our location, that reason is Imperial. Common sense fills in the rest.”
Ahsoka had no retort, “Ok, I’ll buy that, if we’re being tracked, power isn’t an issue then is it. If we remain powered down, it may raise suspicions. And that gives me another idea.”
“Aww c’mon Ahsoka.” Kowani inflected sincere sorrow.
Ahsoka turned to her with a quizzical look.
“I really liked this ship.” Kowani said too quick for Ahsoka to say anything. Her hand ran over the co-pilot navigation gear.
“We haven’t been powered down too long to draw too much suspicion and we could make it look unintentional.” Ahsoka said, her tone still hushed.
Rolling her eyes Kowani added, “And for effect line us up with one of those fiery tributaries. Destroy the evidence.”
“Perfect.” Ahsoka said.
“What’s the status Bev, anything?” Sylde asked his comm officer. She had recorded what audio was available which wasn’t much to speak of as the hull of the Mantis was built to withstand multiple hits.
“By intuition they are aware they are being monitored on some level.” Bev said. “To what degree is unknown, nothing articulated through speech. Linguistic analysis working sir.”
“They?” Sylde fired the question and snapped his head around to focus on the most senior member of the crew.
“Two humanoid, one Togruta, alive, registering 36.7 IR average. Power down, zero LS.” An electronic vocater announced through relays at an unmanned station toward the rear of the room.
‘Only one target was expected, two, although uncomplicated, represented a change to what had been perceived’ Sylde confided in himself alone. “Zero seven, apprise if there is a change as well as notify at any quick movements.”
“Affirmative.” The electronic voice responded.
“Your move Mantis.” Sylde said staring at the right screen, and the empty space within.
“Rapid engagement of sub light will get us there quickly, we’ll have to cut them just as quickly, angle rotation, dump fuel to light up the sky then engage repulsors with precision to buy us the time to get off this thing.” Ahsoka relayed the plan.
“This is nuts.” Kowani said but having no other grand ideas she defaulted to Ahsoka on how best to ‘crash’ a ship. She had managed to get herself back to Vyndal after all...alive.
“Is there time enough to steal into bunk rooms to see what I can put together for supplies?” Kowani asked.
“Yeah, but make it quick...and hold onto something, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
Kowani shook off any feeling that had remained from T’zar’s attempted exit and powered up the ship as quickly as she could. Ahsoka flipping switches just as quickly to reduce downtime. She watched a blinking green light with anticipation as it stopped blinking altogether. She fired from her seat and headed for the cockpit door control on the wall beside it, slamming her palm into it without stopping. The door hissed and shot open as she rushed through it.
“Slow down will you...vertigo was not on the menu today.” T’zar’s voice rang in Kowani’s head.
‘Good to know you pulled through after that...that…. what was that?’
“I should have been able to drift free Kowani, I apologize. Pain was not intended.” T’zar replied.
Kowani, despite severe cramping in her lower legs, was deftly searching rooms for anything resembling supplies. ‘No need to apologize, if you didn’t know you didn’t know, we’ll figure that out later, for now...I am truly glad you’re still here.’ She said, illuminating the third room she’d come across. “Hello there!” She said out loud.
T’zar said nothing but Kowani could feel a sense of awe emanating from him.
“That is a lot of explosives.” He said flatly. “What are we doing that would necessitate all that?”
‘Well after we crash the ship…’ Kowani paused. ‘Truthfully, I have no idea. But explosives can’t hurt right?’
“You had better grab the med packs on the other wall too after an answer like that.” T’zar added. “Let me rephrase the question in a way that truly reflects my concern…. What are we doing? More rhetorically even, why not just land the ship. Whomever stirred this much panic would surely have made a move to destroy the vessel outright if that was indeed the goal. No. You...sorry...we are being permitted to land this craft on Mustafar. Whatever part of the agenda that follows cannot be foreseen but use logic my young friend.”
Kowani stopped stuffing thermal detonators into a duffel she had found under an unkempt bunk and chimed her comm. “Ahsoka.” She said.
“Yeah?” she heard the response from both her wrist comm and the open walkway to her right.
“Ahsoka, just land the damn ship...T’zar is right, if they were going to kill us, they would have already.” She said into her comm and again over her shoulder, shouting her voice back into the hall beyond the door. A silence hung between all three of them for a few moments before Kowani finished stuffing the duffel and cursed inaudibly as she slung it over her shoulder then eyed the med packs seated on inlaid shelves on the opposite side of the room and, with a sigh, moved to grab those too before leaving the room. She set the heavy bag down at the top of the ramp and headed into the fourth and final room. Again, her mouth dropped as she hit the illuminator.
“They were prepared for a war!” T’zar intoned what Kowani thought simultaneously.
“SE-15, A-180, K-16Bryar, E-403…. T’zar look at all the power cells! And on that wall!” Kowani said aloud, pointing to the opposite wall. Arm and shoulder guards of all shapes and sizes lay underneath a wide array of tactical helmets. “Range finder and broadband antennae mounts?” ‘T’zar, Mandalorians?’ she switched from all out speech to thought.
“Not that I was aware of, these may be post purge...spoils, if you will.” He responded.
Kowani shrugged and began looking for another bag to stuff, the pain from earlier completely out of mind.
“Ahsoka is calling.” T’zar said. Kowani barely heard the voice over her heartbeat and increasing excitement. She stuck her head out of the door. “Yeah?”
“What did you say earlier?” Ahsoka asked.
“You didn’t hear…. Ugh…” She sighed and stopped what she was doing to walk back to the cockpit. “Ahsoka, just land the ship.” She repeated herself from moments earlier “They would have attacked already if they intended to...besides it’s Mustafar, getting ONTO the planet isn’t the problem. Do you know where your headed anyway?”
“I guess that makes sense.” Ahsoka said with a shrug, “I have kind of grown fond of the ship to be honest.”
“Oh, you’ll find a way to destroy it.” Ani said with a jestering laugh.
Ahsoka shot her a mocking grin over her shoulder. “Southern hemisphere, old slagging, and refining station. There was extensive damage done to the place though and I am not sure it is still there, but it’s a start.”
Kowani lost interest in everything instantly. The thermal detonators, the arsenal, T’zar, even the mission. “What kind of damage, when, how!?” She asked with, what Ahsoka thought, the hardened edge of a war tested general.
“The place was set to an automated destruction as soon as we were detected.” Ahsoka stated.
The past rushed right back into the present for Kowani, and her eyes flew open. “Just like Keno.” She whispered.
“Sorry, what?” Ahsoka asked turning around fully to face the Mirialan.
“Just like Keno Ahsoka, Symphar and Danth...others.” She trailed off, her words mingling into the brackish muddle her mind had instantly become. She sat right down on the deck plating of the cockpit, mentally listing all the souls she had known in her own facility, the countless others that were lost to the tragic workings of lunacy at the facilities that she did know of...and how many others she hadn’t. “Ahsoka, I spoke of Keno. When we were liberated, it was only because we were one of the first ones. Other facilities, Symphar, Danth...were on a simultaneous strike.” “I know Ani. It was my plan. I gave the orders.” Ahsoka admitted. “It was a different time and we had to get as many of you out as we could, but no one could have anticipated the lengths the Emperor would go to maintain secrecy. Each of them ended the same way and we abandoned the efforts right after Y’gall.”
“Y’gall” Kowani repeated, and she remembered. All hands lost, no survivors, no rescues. Not even Imperial. “What could be so important Ahsoka…. what could be worth that many lives?”
The question brought relief to Ahsoka. She had never told her friend about the role she had played in those endeavors, although that point had never seemed worth knowing. The relief she felt was in the knowledge that Kowani would have done the same. “That is precisely why we are here Ani.”
“So, this doesn’t have anything to do with at all with Anakin.” Kowani said, intending it to be a question but answering herself in the process.
“Not at all, just like I said.” Ahsoka looked at her with that smile again.
‘That damn smile’ Kowani thought, feeling her own smile peel her out of the rigorous husk she had become on the floor.
“I’ve grown rather fond of it personally.” T’zar said.
“Shut up.” Kowani said.
“What?” Ahsoka replied looking confused.
“Not you.” Kowani responded shaking her head.
“Let’s go save some lives Ani.” Ahsoka stated, extending a hand to help her friend up.
“Hell yes!! Oh…. there's enough firepower back there.” Kowani said enthusiastically, a thumb cast over her shoulder, “To stage one major offensive.”
Ahsoka placed a hand on Kowani’s left shoulder, Kowani mirrored the gesture and the two nodded to one another before the Mirialan rushed out of the room to encumber herself with as much as she possibly could.
Ahsoka returned to the pilot’s seat and began looking for the old station she knew was still there.