Revenge of the Jedi/Part 45

"This next is the final corridor," Bernius said. "B7-Q4 reports there are at least three guards within."

"Won't be a problem," Harshee promised.

Since leaving the reactor level, the droid's guidance had led them what felt like halfway across the destroyer; Bernius had filched a comlink from one of the dead soldiers and hardwired it into an unseen jack on his torso. Their astromech eye in the sky had to keep changing frequencies before security droids could detect the anomaly and track it to its source, but with droids on the sending and receiving ends of the comms, they could exchange an entire conversation in the time it would take Harshee to say "Hello".

"Can Bee Seven open the door for us?" Jirdo asked.

Bernius relayed the question in Binary, then reported, "No."

As Bee Seven was not a security droid itself, Harshee didn't know exactly how it had sliced the ship's systems in the first place; she suspected the droid had some after-market Intel modifications that might not be available to the average civilian consumer. From what they had learned by trial and error, Harshee gathered that Bee Seven could not directly endanger the ship, but could work its way around systems within those limits—it could not just turn off security cameras in a section, but it could loop footage temporarily. It had been able to expedite their turbolifts and clear some lesser doors for them; Harshee could see how opening the door to the Intelligence Section's private brig might be considered "endangering the ship", and she was not particularly concerned by a sealed door.

Jirdo scowled, though probably not about the door either, Harshee thought. "You sure we can trust this thing?"

"No," Harshee admitted freely. "But I'm sure we couldn't have fought our way through half the Sith on this ship to reach the reactor. When none of your options are great, go with the least bad."

Jirdo looked less than encouraged, but they rounded the turn into the final corridor. The armored door didn't even have an alphanumeric label, but there was a security camera built into the ceiling above it. Harshee asked, "Is the footage here looped?"

"No," Bernius reported. "Intelligence's surveillance is on a closed system."

"Then how'd the droid know there are three people inside?" Jirdo asked.

"B7-Q4 has been monitoring nearby cameras since it determined Neeric is inside. There are at least three beings inside; B7-Q4 reports there might be as many as seven, and any number of droids."

"Great…"

"Focus up," Harshee said as they approached.

"Can you do that Miraluka thing where you see through the wall?" Jirdo asked. "Narasi told me about a Jedi named—"

"I know what it is, but I can't do it," Harshee interrupted. "We're stuck with 'three to seven'. Can you get the door, or do you need me to?"

"Why not try the direct approach?" Jirdo said. He strode up to the door, gave the camera a disdainful look, and commanded in an authoritative tone, "Open."

"Identify and state your purpose," a speaker beside the door squawked.

Jirdo took care to sneer. "I'm Sith Acolyte Bras Kozondo! I'm bringing one in and taking one out."

"We have not been notified of this."

"If you haven't noticed, there's a battle going on!" Jirdo snapped. "I'll be sure to inform Lord Faro that you're displeased he didn't find the time to brief you beforehand!"

Harshee could feel the minds inside—not enough to count their numbers, but enough to parse the general wave of suspicion. Intelligence operatives were notoriously resistant to mind tricks, but Harshee put some pressure on them just in case.

She didn't know whether it was her nudge or Jirdo pushing the right buttons, but the door slid open. Jirdo kicked her inside, though it wasn't quite hard enough to knock her down. She couldn't see much over the nearby console, but one Human was standing right at it. She tried to get a sense for the other two to six.

"Which one are you picking up?" asked the Human.

"The Republic spy. Lord Faro—"

Harshee felt a wave of sudden tension. "No one said he's a Republic spy. Not even him."

She knew Jirdo had realized his slip, but even as she outlined her lightsaber hilt on his belt with the Force and prepared to spring, he took a second, then gave the man a withering look. "We're under attack by the Republic—haven't you followed the battle reports at all? If he's not Republic, that's one hell of a coincidence, don't you think?"

His condescension offended them, Harshee knew, and it was quite a bluff if someone other than the Republic was attacking, but for the moment it made them less suspicious. "We don't deal in guesswork here, sir."

"And Lord Faro's going to take the guessing out of it," Jirdo replied. "He wants to interrogate the prisoner personally while this attack is still in its nascent stages. Assuming he is connected to the attackers, he may know some weakness we can exploit.  So if we could move along…"

A second Human walked around the console, carrying stun cuffs, and Harshee thought, That's two; one to five to go. "What's this?"

Jirdo shrugged. "Saboteur. Maybe she'll prove more talkative before we need to get involved."

"What's the droid for, sir?" a third, higher voice asked as the second Human slapped the stun cuffs on Harshee's thick wrists.

"My functionalities include protocol, etiquette, translation, and interrogation, ma'am," Bernius reported. "Though I regret my trauma-inducing capabilities likely pale in comparison to these security specimens."

At least two security droids, Harshee understood. She followed the Human as slowly as she dared. As they walked around the console bank, Harshee saw another two Intelligence officers, though one was a female Zeltron. There's three, and four with her…

A security droid carried out the Republic spy, Neeric. Bare-chested, he was bruised from his abdomen to his neck and along his jawline; one eye was swollen shut. Jirdo asked, "All this and you still haven't broken him?"

"He's been well trained, sir," one of the Humans said.

"Hmph. Well, we'll transport him out." Jirdo looked at Bernius. "You're prepared?"

"I am, sir."

"Good. Oh, you'll need this control device for the prisoner."

Jirdo drew Harshee's lightsaber off his belt and tossed it in one smooth move. Before her Human escort could process what was happening, Harshee drew it into her hand, ignited the yellow blade, split her stun cuffs, and leapt into a sai cha vault that dropped the Human's head and his torso onto different sections of the floor. Bernius snatched his ion pistol from his satchel and shot one security droid after another, the static crackles overlapping. Jirdo drew the lightsaber he had taken off the dead Acolyte and cut down the Human on the other side of the console, but then he fell back on defense, deflecting blaster fire into bulkheads.

Harshee felt their chance slipping—a single alarm might bring half the ship's complement down on them—but Bernius was on top of that, too. Drawing a blaster with his other hand, he gunned down the surviving Intelligence officers with ruthless, methodical precision, putting neat little cauterized holes between each one's eyeballs. One got a shot off at him, but he took it on his armored chestplate with barely a wobble and returned fire; his attacker didn't fare as well. By the time Harshee hopped up onto a console to survey the scene, lightsaber chambered at Jedi ready, it was over.

The spy lay on the floor beside the disabled security droid, and he looked only slightly more functional. Harshee shook his shoulder. "Can you hear me? Are you Neeric?"

He groaned. "You…Jedi…?"

"Yeah. Bee Seven sent us to rescue you."

"Damn droid. Couldn't just leave me…"  Harshee felt the half-conscious affection behind Neeric's words.

Jirdo pulled a corpse off a console. "Bernius, can you slice their system? Get us information?"

"Yes, but likely not in a timely fashion." He launched into a barrage of Binary, listened, then reported, "B7-Q4 will clear us a path wherever we wish to go."

"Whassa mission?" Neeric mumbled. "Thought you were…gonna kill Gasald…"

Harshee pulled him up to his knees. "Eh, that was too easy. We figured we'd wax the whole ship."

Neeric's unswollen eye fluttered wide open. "How?"

"We were supposed to hit the reactor, but they knew we were coming. Any suggestions?"

"Uh…"

Jirdo reappeared from the cell block with a dazed Aqualish and a cringing Ithorian in tow. "We couldn't just leave them…"

"No, we couldn't." Harshee smiled at him. "But now what?"

"B7-Q4 reports the Kiss of Death is moving into possible engagement position with the attacking force," Bernius noted.

"Battle?" Neeric asked. When Harshee nodded, he said, "Why not drop the shields? Leave her exposed?"

Harshee looked at Bernius. "Can it be done?"

"B7-Q4 can not lower the ship's shields," Bernius reported after another cascade of Binary.

"Oh, right, no endangering the ship…"

"B7-Q4 clarifies that it can not engage in any action with the direct and natural tendency to endanger the ship," Bernius corrected.

"So it could open the door to the shield generator, just not turn it off?" Jirdo asked.

"Correct."

"So where's the nearest shield generator?"

As Neeric struggled to his feet, Bernius projected the schematic of the ship into thin air. "If disabled, the conduit in this room will drop these shields…while the conduit here will drop these shields."

Bernius highlighted swaths of the Kiss of Death, both amidships. Harshee said, "The first one covers more of the ship."

"But the second one's closer to the hangar bay," Jirdo noted. "We still have to escape."

If we can. "Our priority is to destroy the ship."

"Are you soliciting input on a potential change of priorities?" the Ithorian asked. Everyone ignored her.

"We'll split up," Harshee decided.

While Neeric bent down with a groan to pick up an Imperial's fallen blaster, Jirdo sighed. "Great…"

"You take Bernius and the prisoners and hit the one closer to the hangar," Harshee told him. "I'll nail the other one."

"By yourself?"

"Jedi Knight, remember? I'll blow my conduit and meet you at the ship."

Jirdo narrowed his eyes. "Will you?"

"Hey, the heroic sacrifice thing is all well and good, but I'm only here as a favor to Tirien—I've got people to protect when I get out of here," Harshee said. "Now get going."

"Grab Bee Seven on your way out," Neeric said.

"But what if—"

"No time!" Harshee said. She hopped down and started toward the door. "I can feel it—whatever's going on with the others, it's getting worse, fast."