Revenge of the Jedi/Part 42

When the alarm sounded, Jirdo asked, "What's that?"

"Battle assembly, sir," one of the escort soldiers said.

Jirdo knew it was the best chance they would get. "You should go, then."

"We have to see you to your quarters, sir."

Jirdo dared not try a mind trick; it had never been his strongest suit, and trying to manipulate two of them at once was even harder. And that assumed they had no special training in resisting Force manipulation, which might not be true. But though his Force powers might fail him, he had honed other skills over the past decade. "Soldier, I assure you I'm more than competent enough to find a dormitory section. But if we're about to enter battle, your commanding officer might not look kindly on you acting the escort instead of preparing for combat."

It was a foundational manipulator's trick—diminish the reward for pursuing Course Aurek while heightening the consequence for avoiding Course Besh. Of course, the Sith robes helped, but Jirdo was pleased when the soldiers looked at each other and the corporal nodded. "As you say, sir. Down this corridor, take the turbolift up three decks, turn right."

Jirdo nodded and flicked a hand. "Go."

They walked off in different directions, and when the soldiers were out of earshot, Harshee muttered, "Nicely done, Master."

"Thanks." Now that the moment was over, Jirdo's stomach felt a little fluttery, but Guudria had always been that way too; once he got into his groove, his nerves only caught up to him once it was all over.

"We will continue course for those turbolifts, but take them four decks down instead," Bernius said. The droid had downloaded the Kiss of Death ' s schematics from Tirien's datapad.

Jirdo felt a little uncomfortable; he had not missed a word of Raven's argument with Bernius, and he knew Bernius resented being with them, as much as a machine could resent anything. Harshee, however, said, "We need to keep moving, Master."

"I…right. Let's go."

No one questioned them en route to the turbolift, or on their way down to the lower deck. Jirdo took the chance to study the hologram Bernius projected from one of its photoreceptors; someone—probably Tirien, although perhaps Bernius itself—had labeled the largest room on this deck ''R EACTOR? '' The path only had a few turns from the turbolift, but Jirdo didn't like the number of portals along the way; he assumed, as Tirien had in their briefing, that some or all of them might be code-locked, which would mean hoping Bernius could slice them or abandoning all attempts at subtlety and lightsabering their way inside, each of which had its own problems. While Harshee carried the Second Chance ' s thermal detonator under her slave smock, that was a plan of last resort; aside from the fact that its yield was enough to kill one or both of them, destroying the reactor this early might kill the strike team, too.

They exited the turbolift and set off down the corridor toward the first portal. The good news was that the portal was open; its frame was wide enough that Jirdo thought it housed a blast door, but he had to guess, because the doors were socketed into the bulkheads. The bad news was that, once they were through, they walked right into a Sith patrol, and this one was led by a Sith Acolyte.

"Ha! We've found the little imp!" crowed the Acolyte. A green-skinned Near-Human, he was a little taller than Jirdo. "And with her…"

He narrowed his eyes at Jirdo, and the Force gave him a gentle little nudge. It did not drive him to action, or fill him with righteous fury or wicked cunning. It just poked—a little mental prod to make sure he was aware that something was going on, perhaps just so it could see what he would do. The Sith had two other dark siders and four soldiers, so fighting was out, and there could be no running. And when fighting and running are out…

"Typical," Jirdo sneered. "Arriving on the scene when the work's already done. No wonder Lord Darshkére sent me here.  And who's your master?"

…you bluff.

The Acolyte blinked. "I…Lord Faro. Who—"

"Oh, of course." Jirdo rolled his eyes. "I should've known."

"Lord Faro's the one who found out about the plan to sabotage the reactor!"

So Gasald was not merely on to them, she knew their plan. Or at least an outdated version of it; this man had expected Harshee, but not Jirdo or Bernius. Jirdo's throat tightened, but he powered through it; he thought the rasp in his voice added a helpfully aggressive edge as he said, "You knew she was coming and you still couldn't find her?!"

"I…we…" Jirdo could see the Acolyte knew he was losing ground. "Who are you?"

"I'm Bras Kozondo," Jirdo said. If they were compromised, all their names might be too. "And your name? Assuming you have wits enough to remember it?"

One of the soldiers chuckled, and the Acolyte whirled to give him a ferocious glare and a Force choke. "Hold your tongue or I'll cut it out!"

"Don't blame him for your inadequacies," Jirdo complained. "Do you want to accompany me while I take the prisoner to your brig, or shall I do that for you, too?"

"We'll go with you!" the Acolyte vowed; his green face was turning jade. "A dozen teams down here…any of them would love to take credit…what'd the Jedi have?"

"No explosives, fortunately," Jirdo said. "Just the usual utility belt full of nasty tricks—we tossed most of them back at the last disposal. Oh, but she had this."

He pushed Harshee forward, and she stumbled to her hands and knees. Resisting the impulse to apologize, Jirdo took her shoto off his belt and held it out, though close enough to himself that the other Acolyte couldn't really see. As the man stepped closer, Jirdo said, "Jedi weapon—a runt, just like her."

He snickered and showed the weapon more clearly, and the other Acolyte laughed and leaned in for a better look, and Jirdo, still chuckling, said, "Now."

Bernius moved faster than even Jirdo had expected, and the Acolyte glanced away from the lightsaber for just a second, which was all Jirdo needed to turn Harshee's lightsaber toward him and ignite the yellow blade into his face. The dead man's lightsaber flipped off his belt before he even began to fall, slapping into Harshee's palm mid-leap; she maimed one of the dark side adepts through the shoulder on her way past, then touched down and amputated a soldier's foot.

The remaining beings rallied, and the second dark side adept drew his lightsaber, but none of them stood a chance, because by then Bernius was past the dead Acolyte and had drawn its baton from its satchel. Jirdo had just enough time to recognize that it was a telescoping staff—now extended to full length—before Bernius beat the lightsaber out of the way, jabbed with one end of the staff so fast it pulped one of the dark sider's eyes and collapsed that part of his skull, then whirled the other end of the staff around hard enough to tear off his lower jaw. The soldiers, who had been aiming at Harshee, turned too slowly; Bernius crushed one man's skull, smashed another's throat, then jabbed the third in the chest, breaking his armor and the sternum beneath, before swinging the staff down to crunch his helmet into his head. The droid spun and struck the maimed adept in the back of the head, then folded up its staff with a press of a button.

Harshee had killed her amputee soldier with a second stroke, so the massacre was over almost before it began.

Jirdo felt a wave of nausea as he took in the carnage; now that it was over, the nerves his mind had suppressed struck him full-force. "S-so…when you said Donarius K-Kaivalt gave you extra programming…"

"My programming is multifaceted and was useful to my master both on and off the battlefield," Bernius said.

Harshee curved her hand around her neck, and her shock collar unlocked and fell free. "They knew we were coming."

"The knew you were coming," Bernius corrected. "They detected nothing amiss in Jirdo's presence or mine."

"Bernius and I could keep going," Jirdo volunteered, though the idea of going up against more packs of Sith without a Jedi Knight made him glad he'd hit the refresher before the Second Chance touched down. "I could use the Darshkére story…"

"That was really quick thinking under pressure, kid, but I don't think it'll work again," Harshee said. "Definitely not enough times to get you to the reactor."

"So what, then?" Jirdo said. "Fight through?"

"Given our compromised—" Bernius started, but it cut off as whistling filled the corridor…but not the whole corridor. In fact, as Jirdo looked around, he thought it was coming from only a single speaker. He expected to see an astromech rolling down the corridor, and waited for the electronic wail that meant the corpses had been spotted.

"Is that…droidspeak?" Harshee asked.

"It is Binary, yes," Bernius said. "The speaker claims to be an astromech droid designated B7-Q4."

Jirdo blinked. "O…kay?"

After another series of whistles, Bernius said, "B7-Q4 claims to be an operative of Republic Intelligence."

Harshee had started dragging the bodies to one bulkhead. "How convenient."

"B7-Q4 was sent aboard the Kiss of Death along with two other members of its team to retrieve the ship's schematics and the clearance codes we used to land," Bernius continued to translate. "One of its team members was killed, but B7-Q4 transmitted the information, which it gathers was successfully relayed to our group leader, whom it identifies as Jedi Knight Tirien Kal-Di."

"How does this droid know we're the Jedi team?" Harshee asked.

The pitch of the whistles oscillated this time, and Bernius paused a moment before translating. "It is currently plugged into shipboard surveillance, observing us while looping video so we are not detected. It says we just killed three Sith, and observes that if we are not a Jedi strike team, our impression of one is most convincing."

Harshee snorted once, but Jirdo said, "If they knew we were coming, they'd know all this. Or be able to guess it."

Another series of hoots and whistles… "B7-Q4 identifies its team leader as Captain Cynan Oraska."

Jirdo and Harshee traded looks, and Harshee said, "What does it advise?"

"B7-Q4 is aware our intent is to sabotage the ship's reactor, but cautions that multiple Sith lay between here and our destination, along with several redundant security systems and a battalion of war droids. Even accounting for the presence of two Jedi Knights and…"  Bernius stopped, turned until it found the surveillance camera, and stared. "I am not an assassin droid!"

"Bernius," Harshee said.

The droid swiveled its head back. "Even accounting for the presence of two Jedi Knights and…a droid of my capabilities, B7-Q4 calculates our odds of success at no greater than 13.417%."

"Those…aren't great odds," Jirdo admitting, blanching. Especially because I'm not a Jedi Knight.

"So what does it suggest?" Harshee asked.

"Since transmitting the plans, B7-Q4 has been occupied with an attempt to secure the release of one 'Neeric', the surviving member of its team aboard this ship. It says, if we assist it in releasing Neeric from his detention cell, it will facilitate our arrival there by opening every door en route, and will thereafter assist us in disabling whatever shipboard system or systems we desire."

"If it's a Republic Intelligence droid, shouldn't it just help us?" Jirdo asked. "Didn't Captain Oraska say they'd all die for the mission, or something?"

Bernius listened to the hoots, beeps, and chirps, then shook its head. "It states that its mission was to transmit the schematics and the codes, which it accomplished. It was given no further instructions, which, B7-Q4 informs me, allow it to determine its own mission.  In the absence of any ruling guidance from Captain Oraska or another party, B7-Q4 has decided its mission is to rescue Neeric.  Once Neeric is released, however, it will be free to be assigned to the mission of destroying the Kiss of Death."

Bernius gave a mechanical sigh. "This sort of behavior in an astromech, although uncommon, is not unheard of in the prolonged absence of routine memory wipes. I would add that not only would memory wipes be counterproductive for a spy droid's heuristics, but the sort of advanced programming and software required for an astromech model to be effective as a Republic Intelligence asset would greatly accelerate the rate at which such aberrant behaviors form."

Jirdo threw up his hands; things were moving so quickly that he was feeling overwhelmed. "You're the Knight; I'm just your backup."

"Bernius?" Harshee asked.

"It is essential that the ship be destroyed," Bernius said. "I possess advanced combat protocols, but not enough to defeat an entire battalion alone. I must defer to your perceptions in the Force as to our correct course."

Even Jirdo heard the alarm in the beeps on the loudspeaker, and Bernius added, "A Sith patrol is approaching. B7-Q4 will unlock the nearest door for us to hide the bodies, but it advises us to decide our course of action at once."

Harshee held out her hands for a moment, palms up as if in prayer; it reminded Jirdo uncomfortably of the years he had spent misleading his Guudrian devotees in "Jedi rites", but unlike those empty rituals, he felt the Force flowing through her. She took only a few seconds before she dropped her hands and grabbed a dead man by his collar. "It's the best option. Let's go, boys; we've got spies to save and a ship to destroy."