Power and Betrayal: Chapter 5

"So let's say, for the moment, that I agree to all of this." Dianiss responded. "How does this work? And for that matter, what do YOU get out of this?"

The Chiss agent grinned. "The Empire is not without its politics, and although the men who captured you do not know it, my employer is part of a faction that quietly opposes the one they represent. So if they were to be undermined in some way--surreptitiously, of course--this would serve my employer's interests."

"And you have a plan for this."

"Yes. The plan is that you escape, and take the Gree computer with you. Later, I recover it from you. Their failure causes their master to lose face and status, while my subsequent success at correcting their mistake causes my master to gain status."

"I see."

"In the mean time, of course, we can't have you doing anything that results in direct harm to the Empire. That would cause my success to instead be viewed as a failure to have acted quickly enough, rendering the entire effort counterproductive. So I'll ask one last time, and I want the truth: what are your plans for the Gree computer?"

Dianiss looked intently at her captor--with her eyes AND with the Force--trying to determine if she was telling the truth. Trusting an Imperial agent--especially in light of this web of plans within plans--was a VERY risky proposition. It didn't help that Chiss minds tended to be more rigid and logical than most, which made it more difficult to read their emotional state.

But everything Dianiss could see, hear, and feel seemed to indicate that this agent WAS being sincere.

"How do I know that I can trust you?" Dianiss asked.

"You don't, not really. Regrettably, I'm not permitted to reveal certain details that would most definitely convince you. But in truth, I'm the one taking a much greater risk here than you are. Plus, I've allowed you to see my face. Those men outside have not, and will not. So I'll keep your identity a secret, and in return, you'll keep mine. Believe it or not, in this endeavour, I am not your enemy, and you are not mine."

Though remaining wary of a double-cross, Dianiss did have to admit that playing the Imperial factions against each other seemed the best way to recover the device without risking an open confrontation.

"It's for scientific research. We need the device to solve a navigational problem so that we can find an archaeological site."

"And if you are successful, what do you hope to find? And do just skip ahead to the endgame, if you please, our time runs short."

"We hope to find a way to defeat the Emperor himself."

The agent paused, as if surprised at the audaciousness of it. But slowly, her facial expression shifted into a sly grin of approval . . . even admiration. "Yes. I suppose that will do nicely." she said. "I'll need to maintain the fiction of 'Miss Czerchin', if that's all right with you...?"

"That would . . . be helpful, actually."

"Good. Then here's what I'd like you to do...."

--

Agent Saffire emerged from the room with her facemask back on, looking for the two men she'd sent outside. "I've 'persuaded' her to cooperate. She's no Jedi, but she did admit that the other one is--so we'll need to use the capsule on board my ship to transport him. Take appropriate precautions, and transfer him to it. I'm returning to my ship to prepare."

Kinnan woke up rather suddenly, as if jolted awake by a traumatic nightmare. He remembered being sedated, woken up, interrogated, and put under again. He had a hazy memory of his interrogation. But this awakening was different. It felt familiar, and he quickly remembered why.

It felt like Taris, when Dianiss was purging the rakghoul virus from his system and healing his injuries. It must have been her just now, using her healing abilities again to purge the drugs from his system and rejuvenate his health.

Maybe part of the reason he remembered it so vividly was that, in that same moment, he was also feeling her mental presence approaching, almost intruding, trying to communicate. Often, when Jedi are close (such as with Masters and Padawans), they develop a bond that allows them to communicate directly with each other's thoughts through the Force with surprising clarity. He and Dianiss shared no such bond, but she still managed to impart some basic feelings and simple concepts.

Right now, the message that she was sending was understandable enough: Escape.

Taking a moment to check his surroundings, he realized that he was still in the same room, but the door was open and Dianiss was standing just outside, with one of the men behind her holding a gun to the back of her head. Two others were in the room with him, one behind him and another--the one who'd interrogated him earlier--in front of him. "I think he's waking up." he heard the one behind him say.

The interrogator leaned in to speak directly into his ear. "One false move, and your girlfriend's head gets a blaster-sized hole burned through it."

--

Dianiss knew that timing was critical, especially if she was going to pull off the trick of using the Force while making it look like Kinnan was using the Force and not her. She reached out to grab hold of time itself, grasping at that moment in time to stretch it out and prevent it from slipping away just yet, summoning all of the Force-enhanced speed that she could and creating the illusion--at least from her own point of view--that time itself was slowing down. She had two things that she needed to do, and it was crucial that as little time passed between them as possible.

The first thing was to reach out with the Force to see and feel all four of Kinnan's shackles, with perfect clarity and detail, then visualize them shattering outward, freeing him. With that image clearly held in her mind, she summoned the Force to make the image become reality and cause them to actually shatter, just as she imagined. Immediately, she saw the bands breaking apart, and a moment later (because of her manipulation of time) heard the sharp--but low-frequency--'crack' that accompanied it.

With that task complete, she moved on to her second task, which was pulling Kinnan out of the chair, through the doorway, and into the hallway where she was standing. It was a short distance, but it worked as a confusing diversion. As she released her hold on time to let the world snap back to its normal speed, Kinnan's body flew right toward her coming to a stop just in front of her.

She had expected Kinnan to attack the man behind her who was holding the gun, but instead he simply said "E-M-P". She didn't feel anything herself, but she heard the weapon behind her head spark and power down, inert and harmless.

Still reeling from her surprise attack, the agents inside started reaching for their weapons. Dianiss responded by using the Force to both slam the door shut and twist the door frame, sealing the two men inside--at least for a while.

By that time, the remaining agent in the hallway had figured out that his weapon was useless, and was going for his knife. Dianiss turned around, about to stun him, but Kinnan was already on it, holding the agent up off the floor in stasis for a few seconds before pushing him hard against the opposite wall, knocking him unconscious.

--

Kinnan got his first look at the area outside the room where he was being held, and realized that they were actually on board some sort of small cargo ship, on an upper deck usually used for crew quarters. "Nice work." he said. He wasn't sure if she knew that getting him physically away from the jammer inside the room would let him use his implants again, and pulled him away like that deliberately, or if that was just a happy accident.

"Thanks, but that won't hold them for long." she responded, taking charge. "The device is in a storage bay near the bridge. We need to get it, and get out of here."

She looked back through the open door across from them and summoned her lightsaber from the table to her hand, and quickly put it on her belt. "Let's go." she said, just as the on-board alarms started blaring.

Agent Saffire was waiting patiently at her communications console. As expected, it soon lit up to indicate an emergency call, which she paused a moment before answering.

Prowler didn't even wait for any kind of salutation or acknowledgement. "Emergency Alert. The Jedi and his assistant are attempting to escape. Please assist."

"Are they still on board? Do you still have the package?" she asked. To keep her role in helping them to escape a secret, she had to earnestly try to help him--or at least appear to try to help him--prevent their escape right now.

"Yes and yes."

"Then prepare for takeoff, and do a hard lock-out of the controls. If they try to get off the ship, that will seal the exits to the docking bay and cut off escape. If they try to take control of your ship, they'll fail. If you can get into space, then they'll be trapped on the ship with nowhere else to go."

"Yes, Mum. Right away. Prowler out."

As Kinnan and Dianiss made their way forward to the bridge, they heard and felt the engines come to life. "They're trying to take off." Dianiss said. "We need to hurry. You get the device, and I'll clear the way off the ship."

"Will do." he responded, admiring her cool-headedness under pressure. "With any luck, they stowed the camera there too and I can get my saber."

Tangress was only partly surprised to hear the alarms going off. She was almost certain that she hadn't been spotted, and so shouldn't have been the cause. But she was pretty close to where Kinnan and Dianiss were, and could sense that they were both awake and actively using the Force--so it was probably them who triggered the alarms.

In fact, it was probably Dianiss. She knew Kinnan was more careful than that.

But since the place was on high alert, it made her job both easier and more difficult.

The alarms suddenly created a lot of commotion and movement through the high-security areas, opening up more opportunities to sneak inside than before. On top of that, she didn't have to worry about setting off alarms herself if she found herself needing to engage in an open conflict. She could even use a dead body or two as a form of misdirection if necessary.

On the other hand, everyone was now actively on the lookout for anything unusual--and a white tiger carrying a large weapon with articulating blades, sneaking around in an Imperial spaceport certainly qualified as unusual--meaning she had to be all the more careful to ensure she didn't get caught. She could handle herself in combat just fine, but time was not on her side. She couldn't afford to get pinned down in a protracted fight with a large group of security goons.

Almost there, Kinnan. Don't let her get you killed in the mean time.

Kinnan approached the forward area of the ship, looking for a terminal of some sort. In a side room that appeared to be a medical bay, he found one, and activated his implant to help him slice into the ship's systems.

It did not slip past his notice that Dianiss somehow knew the location where they'd stored the White Parallel device, even though she had no reason to know that--and the Imperial agents would have no reason to tell her. He made a mental note to ask her about that later while he reviewed the ship's door access logs and cargo manifests. They confirmed that she was right: it probably was in a security locker near the bridge, in some kind of armory. So was his camera with the shoto hidden inside. So was, in all likelihood, the fourth member of the Imperial team.

He also took a couple of stabs at issuing a command to abort the launch sequence, but to no avail. Those controls seemed to be physically disconnected from the rest of the ship's systems, and the door access logs confirmed that the bridge itself had been sealed off.

Leaving the medbay console connected to his implants wirelessly, he was at least able to lock the door to the armory until he got there, and prepared to unlock both it and the relevant storage lockers inside when he was ready.

Dianiss made her way to the main cargo door at the aft section of the ship, hoping to be able to get it to open normally, but fully expecting to have to use 'abnormal' means instead to get out.

The Chiss agent warned her that they would respond to the alarm by initiating take-off, but also warned her that she'd provide no assistance for their escape--just the opposite, in fact. All she'd offered instead (aside from the location where the device was stored) was an odd assurance: I know what you're capable of. They don't stand a chance. I might even try to kill you myself . . . just for appearances' sake.

As expected, the safeties on the door prevented it from opening because the ship was already off the ground and in motion, rotating inside the bay to point the nose toward the airlock before moving through it and out into open sky.

She had her lightsaber--back in its normal power mode now--but even with it, she couldn't cut a big enough hole through the ship's outer bulkhead in the short time she had, either.

That left the more direct approach.

Moving to one of the outer walls (the main cargo bay door itself folded down to double as a ramp, so it was actually thicker and stronger than the side walls), she ignited her saber and used it to etch a large 'X' into the wall, creating a known weak spot at the desired location and of the desired size.

Concentrating on the center of the 'X', she focused her mind on directing the full potency of her Force power into exploiting that newly-created weak area for maximum damage. Then she summoned one of the most powerful attacks she knew how to use . . . a massive ball of turbulent Force energy whose destructive power was unmatched.

When she released it, it impacted the hull with a bone-jarring THUD that shook the entire ship, and burst completely through the wall to the outside, bending the four corners that used to form an 'X' outward so that they now formed a roughly square hole just big enough for a person to fit through.

Hurry up, Kinnan. she whispered to herself.

Before opening the door to the armory, Kinnan used his implants to do a full-spectrum scan of what was inside. As he expected, infrared confirmed that the fourth member of the team was there on the other side of the door and seated in a fold-down seat attached to the opposite wall. X-Ray scan confirmed that he was armed.

Kinnan issued the electronic command through the sliced medbay console to unlock the door, and just as he opened it, said the word "Dazzler".

At that command his occular implants began projecting bright white lights in an irregular flashing pattern, designed to not only blind anyone who sees it but also induce a seizure in anyone who is the least bit sensitive to such things. Even in those who are not, the pattern is still designed to attack the brain's visual center, creating a painful headache and making concentration difficult-to-impossible. The down side of using it was that, due the brightness of the projected light, it was the second most power-draining ability his implants had. Also, it impaired his own vision to less than 20% of normal.

But it was (as always) VERY effective. The agent had no more than lifted his weapon, than he was recoiling from the bombardment of light that was causing his brain to enter involuntarily into full panic mode. He did manage to squeeze off a few shots, but they were completely wild and un-aimed, not even coming close to Kinnan in the few seconds he needed to close the gap and deliver a hard elbow to the midsection, knocking the agent to the ground. Kinnan followed up with a hard kick to the back of his head that dazed him even further.

Dianiss had been using the Force to slow the ship's rotation, but despite all her effort, it had still managed to rotate the full 180 degrees so that the nose was pointed outward at the airlock. Since Kinnan hadn't emerged from her improvised 'escape hatch' yet, she was getting worried that she wouldn't be able to slow down the ship for much longer.  Even if the hull breach she'd created prevented the ship from going into space, it could still easily leave the hangar bay and escape somewhere far away while staying within the moon's atmosphere.

Dammit Kinnan, we're running out of time.

Kinnan had immediately gone to work searching the lockers' contents to find the Gree White Parallel device, while keeping tabs on the semi-disabled agent. Using the full-spectrum scan again, it was easy to find both the case and the holo-camera he was using at the parking area by the bank, then wirelessly unlock the locker and get both.

Working quickly, he pressed a specific sequence of controls on the holo-camera that caused one section of the device to open up, revealing the end of a small cylinder that he pulled out.

As the man on the ground began began to stir and roll over, Kinnan ignited the small lightsaber and plunged the short blue blade into the man's chest, killing him instantly.

Time to go. he thought to himself. Hearing no sounds coming from the hallway, he ran back out of the armory toward the ramp to the lower deck.

...and right into the path of a thrown vibroknife. He tried to dodge it, but was caught by surprise and not fast enough. He did avoid letting it hit him square in the chest, which would have been much worse, but it still struck him deep in his right shoulder.

Dianiss was trying will all her might to hold back the ship from leaving the hangar, but all she managed to do was slow it down to maybe one-third of its normal taxi speed.

As the nose of the ship came within a few feet of the force field that protected the airlock, the inner layer of the field--that one that blocks solid objects from passing through--automatically shut down, leaving only the outer field online to protect against energy such as radiation, lightning, or laser fire (and, to a limited extent, the pollution of Nar Shaddaa's atmosphere).

At the same time, the hangar's automatic safety protocols activated, erecting similar force fields at the inside entrances to prevent anyone from coming in while a ship was actively moving in or out, and the loudspeakers inside the hangar began issuing warnings to stay clear in both Basic and Huttese.

GREAT. There goes our escape route. she thought.

Tangress could feel the anger building up inside her. She had ALMOST made it to them, and had a safe return path for quick escape already planned out. Now that the force fields were up, she'd have to find another way in.

Kinnan already had what he came for, and just wanted to escape as quickly as possible, so there was no point in engaging the agent--except that that same agent stood between him and the ramp where Dianiss had gone ahead, and he was already crouched behind a portable cover shield aiming a new weapon . . . and firing.

Quickly, Kinnan activated his saber and managed to deflect the fire, but the shoulder wound hampered his speed and technique. Without any kind of armor to absorb the stray hits, it'd be suicide to try to run past him.

From the look on the agent's face, he was clearly surprised that Kinnan had a lightsaber. But he also apparently knew that time was on his side, and all he really had to do was keep Kinnan pinned down.

Dianiss realized that there were only seconds remaining for Kinnan to get out before the ship would completely clear the energy shield and be out in open atmosphere. The nose had already pierced through and now the ship was just passing the point of being half-way out.

She had been trying with all her might to hold it back. She was failing.

Except that . . . she knew it wasn't really ALL her might.

There was still one option left: summoning the assistance of Lord Kallig.

She didn't like using his power except in extreme circumstances. His presence felt like a burning flame that rose up and threatened to consume her if she called upon it, one that was at best uncomfortable and at worst painful.

But that wasn't even the worst of it.

The main reason she didn't like using it is because to do so she had to indulge in strong emotions which toppled her balance and made it difficult to center herself again.

It was, unquestionably, a power that originated from the dark side and the complete opposite of how she'd been trained as a Jedi to use the Force.

Ever since the incident on Dromund Kaas, she'd found that controlling him had become a little easier, but only in small short bursts--like when she enhanced the Jedi Mind-trick on one of the agents earlier. In that particular case, she had embraced a tiny morsel of passion in the form of lust when she kissed the courier agent. Thankfully, the sedation they gave her allowed her to sleep off most of the after-effects, and thankfully her interrogator hadn't been that same man. If he had been, she knew she wouldn't really have been able to think clearly at the time because she would have still been feeling those certain . . . tingling . . . sensations for him.

But this would NOT be a small burst. It would be easier if she were in physical pain and could focus on that, but she wasn't. She wasn't even angry . . . if anything she was just worried for Kinnan. She could sense that he was still alive and conscious, although he was also recently wounded in some way. The strongest emotion she could focus on right now was a genuine desire for Kinnan to be here with her. That would have to do.

She concentrated on the task at hand as much as possible and called upon Kallig to assist her. Immediately, she felt the burning sensation of that rising flame welling up inside, consuming her inside and out. She could also feel the last of her calm and serenity involuntarily slipping away, and an abiding desire to have Kinnan next to her rising up to take its place.

Fear, doubt, worry . . . they all arrived as well, and she used her Jedi training as best she could to push them aside and focus only on that desire. As she did, her strength in the Force also ignited like an explosive fuel and gave her the power--many times MORE than enough power, actually--to pull the ship backward a bit and slam it down HARD against the floor, damaging the landing struts, the bottom of the ship, and (to a lesser extent) the floor of the hangar. As the ship's engines kept pulling away, she kept holding it down . . . crushing the ship's hull a bit further.

The ship's engines responded by applying greater thrust to break free of her hold, but to no avail. She felt like her entire body was engulfed in flames, but she was now determined that this ship was NOT GOING ANYWHERE . . not with him still on board. Little else mattered to her in that moment than making sure that this ship did not take Kinnan away from her.

And she slowly squeezed the engine's exhaust ports closed, trapping all of that energy inside with less and less ability to escape, until the ship's safety systems shut them down automatically to prevent catastrophic failure.

Not!

Going!

Anywhere!

Nobody was expecting the sudden reversal and CRASH of the ship's forced landing, but Kinnan was desperately looking for an opening he could use to escape--and this was it.

Both he and the agent were knocked off their feet by the impact, but before the agent could regain his balance and stance, Kinnan was able to use the Force to leap directly at the agent and then push him further down the hallway, past the ramp to the lower deck, and again knocking him off his feet.

Kinnan raced for the ramp, only having to deflect a single shot before rounding the corner where he was no longer in the agent's field of fire.

The last thing Kinnan saw before running down the ramp was the other two men emerging from the room where he'd been being held. Evidently the impact also broke open the door that Dianiss had hastily sealed shut a few minutes ago.

Finally, Kinnan emerged from the makeshift 'escape hatch' that Dianiss had made, with a small blue lightsaber in his right hand and a briefcase in the other. When he saw Dianiss standing near the front of the ship, he started to call to her to come with him, but stopped himself as he increasingly realized that he hadn't yet fully assessed the scene that he was only just starting to take in.

Dianiss had just channeled the Force in a way that he had never seen before (and technically still hadn't, but the evidence was there right in front of him), and had only barely read about--and he read A LOT. The ship looked like it had crash-landed at high speed into solid bedrock AND had its tail section dipped into the photosphere of a star.

The warnings to clear the area were still being broadcast over the public address, because the nose of the ship was still sticking out through the energy shield, making the spaceport docking systems think that the launch sequence was still ongoing. That meant that the force fields at the exits were active and blocking their way out, unless some sort of override could be found . . . and quickly.

"We need to get out of here." he shouted to her, just as the first of the agents came out through the same hole in the ship's hull that they did.

Dianiss quickly put a protective bubble of Force around Kinnan and healed his shoulder wound just as the first shots made their way to him. They were both in a pretty hopeless predicament, since she and Kinnan were now under fire from all three remaining agents and boxed in by the force fields blocking the exits.


But Dianiss had an idea.


She'd once heard a story. It was from a time before she'd become a Jedi, and--oddly enough--something her own Master had allegedly done.

Without a word, she ran towards one of the exits . . . but not one of the exits into the rest of the spaceport. Those were blocked with force fields.

Instead she ran towards the one exit that was NOT blocked by a force field: the open wall through which the ship could come and go. Because the nose was still penetrating the shield, it was still down.

There was nothing beyond that opening but polluted air and a long, LONG drop to the moon's surface.

At the end of her short sprint to the edge of the hangar, she planted one foot and used it to spin herself around, allowing her momentum to carry her onward and out into the open air.

As soon as she spun around enough that she could see Kinnan, she reached out with the Force and pulled him toward her, right through the air, right off his feet.

Needless to say, he was NOT expecting this.

Neither were the Imperial agents.

As he flew over the threshold of the airlock and collided with Dianiss, she wrapped her arms around him and held tight. It felt REALLY GOOD to hold him close to her. The blaster fire from the agents was harmlessly absorbed by the outer energy shield.

And, now with no floor of any sort below them, they did what anyone would do when presented with this particular situation.


They fell.

Continue to Chapter 6 . . . .