Chapter 17: Truths Unveiled

Nadia was panting by the time they reached the last location that Theron’s SOS beacon had pinged. Mako had returned to the hideout with Vera and Lana, while Nadia had gone with Kayora to rescue their SIS operative. Taking a knee behind Kayora to catch her breath, she looked down from the bluff they had stopped on to evaluate their situation.

Evaluation: not ideal. It looked like they were on the outskirts of one of the Revanite’s more active compounds. Cultists were milling about the wooden docks and bridges that criss-crossed the beach and water. Even more concerning were the number of Sith and Republic troops that were interspersed among the more traditional looking cultists.

“Wow, they really have recruited a lot of converts,” Nadia observed. Kayora merely hummed in agreement, obviously working on their plan of attack. There were several landing platforms farther out, with a variety of different craft parked on them. Several anti-air turrets were dotted about the area, and there were a handful of other tents and temporary shelters housing everything from weapons to bedrolls. The only two buildings of any significance were off to their left: one looked to be a large power generator and the other was built into the side of a large hill; Nadia had no idea what it might contain. Maybe a command center of some sort, or a place for storing supplies.

Whatever it had, that’s the building that Kayora pointed at before she began running through the plan. “Theron’s beacon sent its last ping from that boardwalk there, just a short distance from the gaping entrance leading into the rocks. I have to believe that’s where he’s being held.” Shifting her weight, Kayora rotated on the balls of her feet to face the generator. “There’s far too many of them to fight our way through. We’ll move along the ridgeline and drop in behind that generator, taking out whatever opposition is there. Once they’re dealt with, we’ll sabotage the generator, then circle around to the other building and slip inside while hopefully most of the cultists nearby are distracted. Ideally, we can get in, rescue Theron, and get out before they’ve got the generator back up and running, giving us a distraction for our escape.” She turned to look at Nadia, determination written all across her face. “Ready?”

“Always, Master.”

With that, they carried out the first part of the plan without a hitch. The Revanites were caught completely unaware and cut down before they had a chance to even realize what was happening. They dragged the bodies back near the cliff, tucking them in between the rocks. Creeping through the taller grass that surrounded the generator, the two Jedi found the utility panel. Though neither of them were particularly trained in this type of equipment, the control screen was straightforward enough for them to find a couple settings that would cause a system failure, requiring the generator to be fully rebooted before it could be used.

“Why aren’t we just destroying it, master?” Nadia asked, her curiosity getting the better of her even under these high stakes circumstances.

“If we damage it, it will be much more obvious that there are intruders, which will make the cultists more likely to begin a search rather than attempting to fix the generator.”

It was times like these that Nadia was made aware that for as much as she had improved in her combat skills and attunement to the Force, there was still a lot that could only be obtained through experience. She made sure to remember every impromptu learning opportunity that she came across, because she knew there was a good chance that at some point she may have to make a decision without being able to rely on Kayora being with her.

There was a loud rumbling as the generator increased past its designated energy output, then a loud bang before the rumbling stopped abruptly, replaced by two wisps of black smoke seeping out of the outer shell of the equipment. Perfectly in sync, Nadia and Kayora moved swiftly through the brush, passing unseen by a pair of Revanites who were making their way up to the now inactive generator. They made it into the mountainside structure without being seen, and carefully started moving along the steel grates that made up the flooring, keeping on alert for any enemies on their path.

Suddenly, they heard blaster fire coming from the hallway ahead of them that veered off to the right, out of view. Both quickly activating their lightsabers, they stood together in defensive positions, ready to face what was heading their way. What they were not ready for was to see Theron whip around the corning, firing shots behind him as he ran.

“Hey, nice of you to join the party!” he exclaimed as he reached them. “Love to catch up, but we’ve gotta move.”

“So much for our stealthy infiltration,” Nadia joked, before she and Kayora joined Theron in his race toward the exit.

—

Their escape from the Revanite compound could only be described as controlled chaos. Before they even got out of the building, they were confronted by a ranting holomessage from Revan, a self-destruct sequence that they had to abort, and a handful of assassin droids sent to impede their progress. Once they were back outside, it was a mad dash to the outer limits, relying on the element of surprise to get past any cultist who happened to be in their way. Theron was insistent that they get back to the safehouse, and it didn’t matter if the cultists were aware of their presence, so Nadia and Kayora took him at his word, never slowing down in their race to escape. Nadia couldn’t even be sure that the Revanites that they took down were dead, as many of them were simply thrown to the side and subsequently ignored. As long as they couldn’t shoot back, that was all that mattered.

Somehow, they made it out without anyone getting injured. Or in Theron’s case, more injured than he already was. There were quite a few cuts and bruises across his face, and Nadia could only assume there was similar damage in the other covered parts of his body. He declined to talk the rest of the way back to the base, but it was apparently from his tense posture and angled brow that he wasn’t happy about something.

That something was quickly made apparent as they walked through the door into the main room of their hideout, where Lana, Vera, and Mako were looking over something at the center table.

“Really, Lana? You set me up to get kidnapped?” Theron questioned angrily as he made a beeline toward the Sith in question. Vera’s hand dropped to her sidearm before Lana reached over to stop her from drawing it.

“Theron, it had to be done. We needed to know where their hideout was and what they were planning. I’m sure you found that out while you were there.”

“Well, yes, but you could’ve just told me!” he sputtered, throwing his hands up irritably. “I would’ve agreed to the plan!”

“But we needed it to look real for it to work. If you had known there was a chance they’d realize it was a setup and all of it would have been pointless.”

There was a tense silence that settled over the group, the emotions so thick you could practically see the conflict. Nadia held her breath, fearful of what might happen next, but she should have expected Kayora to be the one to speak up first.

“We don’t have time for this,” the Twi’lek stated diplomatically. “Lana, I do not agree with using our own as bait, but I cannot deny that it did work this time. However, when I say this time, I mean only this time. We cannot work together if we are keeping secrets.” She turned to the SIS agent who was still obviously fuming and preparing to disagree vehemently with the fact that Lana was getting let off this easily. “Theron, you have a right to be angry, but you also must put this behind you. If what you say is true and you did in fact get information about the Revanites’ next moves, then Lana’s gamble paid off. I cannot have you holding grudges.” Nobody spoke after Kayora finished as she looked back and forth between the affected parties. “Am I clear?”

Both Theron and Lana voiced their agreement, and Vera chuckled underneath her helmet. “I can see why you like her,” she called to Nadia, making no effort to hide her insinuation. Nadia initially bristled at the comment, but then looked to her master to see the reaction there. Kayora’s calm face was all that Nadia needed to reign in her own knee jerk response, giving Vera a simple smile.

“Now that we’ve all calmed down, what is it that you learned, Theron?”

—

On a scale of minor irritant to galactic concern, the Revanites’ plan was definitely at the higher end of that spectrum. As they had feared, the Revanites had double agents in both the Empire and the Republic, at every level of government and military command and scattered across the galaxy. How they had kept this a secret was beyond any of them, but considering Darth Arkous had been a Revanite, it wasn’t far-fetched to think that some of the more powerful individuals were helping shield the others.

Even more concerning was the fact that Revan had been building his own fleet for some time now, kept out of the more traveled areas of the galaxy. It certainly wasn’t enough to take on either the Republic or Sith Empire head on, which is what Rishi was for.

Both galactic powers had been fed information that the other was gathering at Rishi to prepare for an attack. Over the past several weeks, each fleet had put plans into motion to intercept their enemy over Rishi and catch them by surprise, crippling their fleet and striking a decisive blow in the war. As it were, both sides would emerge from hyperspace fully prepared for each other, and heavyweight battle would break out between the warships. As soon as enough damage was done, Revan’s fleet would jump into the system, utterly overpowering any Republic or Sith ship that still remained operational, thus severely weakening both groups and allowing Revanites in other areas to begin to seize control.

“And even though I managed to get a list of the spies, we can’t warn the fleets when they arrive because of a massive jamming station located at the far side of the Revanites’ compound.” Theron leaned forward against the table, looking exhausted as the energy from his escape leached from his body.

“It sounds like we need to get in there and disable the jammer before the fleets arrive.” Kayora said what they were all thinking as she studied the expected jammer location on the map. “If we can get the signal freed up, can the two of you contact the heads of your respective fleets?” Kayora looked between Theron and Lana expectantly, and both of them assured her that they would be able to relay the information about the spies.

Vera stretched her arms over her head and let out a groan. “Mako and I can help you and your padawan take out the jammer.” She shrugged as both Nadia and Kayora looked at her with eyebrows raised. “I knew you were going to volunteer, so I figured we could just skip all that and get moving.”

“Agreed. Lana, please get Theron to rest a bit,” Kayora requested. “There will be some time before we can get the jammer disabled, even if we run into no resistance.”

The Sith nodded, before grabbing Vera’s hand and giving it a squeeze. As she let go, Vera grabbed her behind the neck and pulled her in for a kiss, letting her go with a smirk as she pulled her helmet on. There was a hiss as it connected with her jumpsuit and stabilized the seal. The bounty hunter clapped her hands together. “What are we waiting for? Let’s fuck up some cultists!”