Extraction

[Placeholder 0128]

He'd never really known how fast he could run; the human body tended to surprise him, especially in times of crisis. The bolts soared over his head as he charged through the bureau's greeting center. Cursing, the knight ducked beneath the information desk, just narrowly missing a stream of emerald blaster bolts that would have given him a few extra holes.

Of course they find me the one time I don't bring a lightsaber.

Comms in the area had been jammed, and the doors were sealed. The fact that Cedric and his team had committed to the operation at three in the morning had certainly helped their chances, but now he was pinned. The three Sith soldiers were wasting no time in closing in on him. rifles firing just above his head to keep him from retaliating.

"Gorza, what's the news?" Cedric hissed into his comm.

A shrill voice crackled back. "Ready to go whenever you are. You need some help?"

A bolt smashed into the chair next to Cedric's head. The youth's brow furrowed. "No, just get the doors open. I want us to be burning atmosphere in five."

He reached out into the empyrean, called upon its energies for some form of assistance. The ethereal energies rushed into his form in response. With an expression of telekinetic will - a power Cedric had great trouble in maintaining - the information desk flew forward and crushed the soldiers underneath. It flew with such force that the men were slammed back against a wall, snapping their necks and killing them instantly. Satisfied, Cedric rose to his feet.

"I'm sorry, but you all left me no choice," he muttered with honest regret. Taking lives was never something he enjoyed. Without any further hesitation, Cedric turned to leave out the main doors; his ride was waiting just outside.

But something made him halt. There was someone else here, alive, and very much aware of what had just transpired.

No one could be allowed to know of their operations here.

"Where ya at Grayson?" Gorza's voice sputtered through the comm.

"There's someone else here. I need to find them."

"The bomb'll take care of them."

"I don't kill unless I have to. We dealt with the soldiers, but whomever is left needs a chance to surrender. Hold a moment," Cedric cut the comm before Gorza had a chance to reply. The alien was right - they could just leave and leave whoever it was that remained to their fate at the bomb's hands.

But Cedric was not a murderer.

He reached out with the force, finding the source of life to be in an adjacent room nearby. With another messy expression of telekinetic will, the knight force the door leading to the room open.

"Whomever is in there might want to surrender. This facility is rigged to explode; if you want to live, you're coming with me."

[member="Sebastian Thel"]

 

[Sebastian Thel]

Deep within the facility, Sebastian tapped away at keys with all the speed he could muster. Green code rolled down a screen in front of him as he jammed in numbers with every inch of a second. Above the ground, explosions rattled the roof and caused him to jolt in his seat, his eyes being pulled away from the screen for only a moment before turning back the quantities as he decoded the abstract figures travelling through the terminal. The hour turned to three and Sebastian sipped a mug of coffee.

"Thel, we need to evac!" A gruff officer opened the door to the bunker and called. Shoving off his headset, Sebastian turned around with a frustrated glare. He became more fearless than he realized when he was concentrating. Signals from the militia force attacking the Sith reached his terminal and he grabbed the headset again as he turned to the soldier.

"I only just got a lead!" Sebastian exclaimed and set the headphones back over his ears. With long coat hanging over the back of his chair, he wore a white shirt with the first button undone, beneath beige, puffy trousers tucked into socks and lace-up shoes. Among the military company, he appeared unusual, a boffin assisting the armed forces.

As the officer slammed his fist against the wall, Sebastian continued to dissect the incoming signal. His hands grew dry as he tapped away, analyzing the rates at which the frequency changed and producing the messages in numerical forms. More signals arrived from the operation, alerting Sebastian to the explosions rigged into the facility. The urgency of the situation suddenly hit him, throwing him back into his chair and as the messages arrived and his hands hovered above the keys. When he looked around, the officer had left him alone.

Suddenly, the terminal shut off. Communications blew all around him as equipment shut down. The code on the screen dispersed into static and died. Freezing, Sebastian remained calm and pulled the headset off his ears. Listening for any sign of somebody who might help him, he could hear nothing above the sound of muted blast fire from above.

"Kark..." Sebastian muttered under his breath. He threw on his coat and left the chair, darting out of the bunker and peering into the corridor outside. With the facility empty, the Imperial forces had left him to perish.

Swallowing a gulp, Sebastian tried the doors, only to find them all locked down. He planted his back against the door and held his breath for as long as he could, before exhaling. Footsteps drew near and he followed their sound through the corridor, picking up his pace as the bombs ticked away. A voice called from the last doorway and Sebastian slowly raised his hands in surrender. With his eyes wide and a frightened tilt in his head, his gaze locked with the Force-user staring him down.

[member="Cedric Grayson"]

 

[Placeholder 0128]

The last thing Cedric had expected was a civilian.

The Jedi Knight paused for a moment as he observed the man, his lips pressing into a thin line. Precious seconds ticked by as Cedric registered the situation, and finally decided on a course of action. "Alright, hands down. If you shoot me, I'll take your hand off." The threat was not an idle one, though Cedric did not exude any sense of hostility. If anything, he seemed more concerned that the man hadn't tried to make his way out of the facility when the fighting had started. He checked his chrono then, found himself more than a little displeased with the time they had left, and turned on his heel.

"Alright, you need to run with me. There's a ship waiting outside, and you're joining us. You won't be able to outrun the blast now even if you tried - it's me or the grave." The knight had never been a particular fan for dramatics, but sometimes the situation called for them.

Without another moment's hesitation, Cedric broke into a dead sprint toward the exit. The doors parted once he drew near, revealing a large rickety old U-Wign with its trooper bay door slid open. A single Trandoshan stood in the bay, a string of curses sputtering from his reptilian lips as he waved the men on.

Cedric stepped aboard, turned around, and offered a hand to the new prisoner, just as the U-Wing began to rise.

[member="Sebastian Thel"]

 

[Sebastian Thel]

"I'm not armed!" Sebastian called to the soldier. Slowly, he lowered his hands as the other man approached, flipping back the hem of his coat to show that he carried no weapons.

With time running out and the explosive ticking away, Sebastian had no choice other than to follow this combatant. He picked up his heels into a sprint and ran behind the man towards the door. The building gave away in a fiery nova as both of them ran, the flames following them as Sebastian poured all of his strength into running towards the ship, something he had become good at doing over the course of his travels.

The distance between the building and themselves expanded with the U-wing in sight. Sebastian's eyes locked with those of the reptilian species leaning beside the ship, making it the second time he had seen a Trandoshan. Fearing for his life, he watched his captor jump into the craft and extend a hand, which Sebastian gripped before jumping into the ship behind him.

As the U-Wing descended from the ground, the facility exploded, leaving a towering inferno of fire and debris rising behind them. Squirming in the tight space behind the soldier who had captured him, Sebastian held his breath as the ship breached the atmosphere. His life was in the hands of these militants now, leaving cooperation his only choice.

[member="Cedric Grayson"]

 

[Placeholder 0128]

The knight's chest rose and fell violently. Gorza watched him with obvious amusement, the big lizard having thoroughly enjoyed watching Cedric fumble his way onto the ship. Neither man said a word as the U-Wing's bay doors hissed shut. A sputtering of the vessel's intercomm indicated they would be reaching orbit in two minutes.

"Alright," Cedric sounded tired. "I'm going to assume you're a civilian since you're not wearing a uniform." The knight's blue eyes shifted to meet those of their captive. "You're a witness, but we don't harm civilians. You're free to leave once we return to Ession, though I'll have to wipe your mind of this incident. The Sith can't know of our operations. Not yet."

Gorza muttered something in his native tongue. Cedric snorted.

"You aren't an Imperial are you?"

A brow was raised.

"I'm asking because Gorza wants to know whether he's allowed to eat you or not."

[member="Sebastian Thel"]

 

[Sebastian Thel]

Listening to the intercom beep amidst static, Sebastian planted his back against the wall of the ship and stared the warrior down. His soft, brown eyes locked with those of his captor as his hands brushed down the front of his coat in a state of panic. When the man mentioned wiping his mind, Sebastian became frightened.

"Please don't wipe my mind!" He exclaimed, eyes wide and scared. "I'll even help you if you want me to!' Wondering frantically what wiping a mind with the Force entailed, he thought about any possible consequences of such a fate. Would it leave him in a comatose state, a shell of his former self?

"I don't even like Sith!" He said, shaking his head in disgust towards Imperial rule. "They attacked my home planet, I only work for them because they make me." Sebastian pleaded.

"I was born on Balmorra." When the soldier asked about his citizenship in the Empire, his voice dropped to a tremor. He tried to hide his Imperial accent and jolted in response to the Trandoshan, who licked his lips and asked if he could eat him.

[member="Cedric Grayson"]

 

[Placeholder 0128]

The Jedi Knight was utterly silent as he assessed the man. He supposed that this stranger was around his age, though the two walked very different paths. He remained silent as the stranger spoke his piece, though Gorza would occasionally make a low chortling noise that could have been laughter.

A few moments of uncomfortable silence passed once the man finished speaking.

Cedric's lips parted. "They did the same to me." His hard expression softened, and he cracked a thin smile that might have been friendly. The man's panic told Cedric that he was telling the truth, and if not that, then his honest signature within the empyrean. He was no threat to the rebellion.

"I'm from Ession. They put a few million folks in chains after our government fell; we intend to break those chains." Cedric gestured toward the Trandoshan. "This is Gorza. He solves most of our military problems. I'm Cedric, resident Jedi aficionado."

The youth stared into the stranger's very soul. "Are you sure you don't want it wiped? It would only be the past hour. We're part of the rebellion; probably not a long life expectancy if you run with us, just being honest."

He paused, "That being said, we'll use every man we can get, if you truly feel up for it."

[member="Sebastian Thel"]

 

[Sebastian Thel]

Sebastian could fell the man's tone soften as he revealed his experience with the Sith. As his lips parted in a smile, Sebastian responded with a coy smile of his own, relaxing his shoulders and slowly realizing that this man would not harm him. He spoke of his homeworld which the Sith had taken over and revealed a kindred disposition between Sebastian and himself.

"A Jedi!" His eyes widened in awe. "I've never met one before." Up until now, Sebastian had only interacted with Dark Side users, all of whom had tarnished his once innocent view of the Sith. When Cedric introduced the Trandoshan, Sebastian managed a nervous smile.

"My name is Sebastian Thel." He ran a hand through his mahogany hair as he introduced himself, making the straight strands even more disheveled."I can't fight, but I'm very good with numbers." Feeling somewhat insignificant, he knew he would be of no use in a direct conflict, but he was useful some of the time. "The Sith locked me in a bunker and forced me to decode transmissions." He explained how he had found the Empire during the battle of Alderaan.

When Cedric asked Sebastian to make the difficult decision as to whether or not he leave his memory intact, he froze. Numbers and indiscernible quantities coursed through his mind. Placed on the spot before the Force-user and his Trandoshan soldier, he analyzed his chances and tried to form some kind of answer which made sense.

"No." Following a long pause, he spoke. "I'm tired of being scared of everything." His voice dropped to a serious tone as he brushed away Cedric's offer. Should his memory be wiped, Sebastian would return to being innocent and blind, a mindless follower who did not know any better. Joining a rebellion meant more to him than simply toppling a force of evil, rebelling meant gaining the confidence he desperately needed.

"I will join you." The mathematician confirmed.

[member="Cedric Grayson"]

 

[Placeholder 0128]

Cedric's smile reached his eyes. He was not used to the adulation much of the populace had shown the Jedi Knights. He had been born in a time in which imperial propaganda and poor decisions had sullied the Jedi name; left the galaxy in shambles. Even his own citizens had looked upon the Jedi Order as a tarnished relic of a bygone era, a novelty to serve a military function and little else. Much of the mysticism and legend surrounding the order had faded into obscurity, courtesy of the imperial broadcasts that seemed to poison the minds of so many.

Not this one.

"Well Sebastian," the knight exchanged a knowing glance with Gorza. " - you aren't what we came looking for, but you might just be what we need." The U-Wing's engines roared as they soared into the outer atmosphere. An alarm klaxon blared over the intercomm shortly thereafter.

Cedric's brow furrowed.

"What's going on pilot?"

"A few TIEs on our trail, nothing we can't outrun. Hyperdrive is spooling up, best buckle in." The pilot shouted back.The klaxons went silent shortly thereafter. Cedric found himself breathing a sigh of relief.

"An holonet broadcasting station," Cedric affixed his gaze on the man. "If we could get you inside, do you think you could send a message across Sith space?"

[member="Sebastian Thel"]