Frozen

[Syn]

Syn brought the coat up to cover his face as he and observed the prison. Even in this weather he needed the mask over his face because his eyes would freeze without them. The current temperature was about fifty degrees below freezing, with winds about thirty klicks an hour. At least it wasn't snowing right now though. Still, Syn didn't like the freezing cold conditions one bit.

He was wearing heavy cold-weather gear from head to toe. It was white and light-gray to blend in with the snow and ice on the ground. His hood even had thick masking for his face. The gear was supposed to be rated to over seventy degrees below freezing, and wind over fifty klicks an hour. In spite of the rating, Syn's hands were freezing even with the gloves on, and the rest of him wasn't much better.

The reason he was observing the prison was that the Peace Brigade slime were holding about two thousand prisoners there. The scarheads slavers weren't expected to pick them up for several more days. With a small window to act, Syn, along with twenty-four special-ops troopers on loan from the Republic, had been sent to free them and he clenched his fist.

I had to notice that Peace Brigader on Abiimir, Syn thought as he shivered in the cold but a smile was on his face. Under all the cold he was free, somewhat. The council had reformed, the Republic restructured and it had allowed him to slip into obscurity. He had been healing still but had authority needed from Tython and as a jedi. With the attack on Coruscant and its fall he had chosen to remain quiet on the issue.

"I hear that about a thousand klicks north of here the temperature is all the way up to freezing," Lieutenant Koflan said cheerfully from the snow next to him. He practically had to shout to be heard over the wind but it was a fun sentiment and for a moment the jedi master pinged with envy.... Freezing sounded enjoyable compared to this.

Syn lowered the mask just a bit and felt the wind biting into his face. "More like three thousand," He responded gloomily. "And the wind would still be blowing forty klicks an hour," He added as he shivered slightly from the cold again. "Now we have to get in there and out hopefully without to much trouble." He was chuckling a little more, inside he might be able to shed a layer or two and let his body heat warm him more to fight.

The Peace Brigader had been easy enough to notice. The rest of the cantina's patrons were a depressed lot of sentients, no doubt from HoloNews showing the destruction the hordes of One Sith, New Order and other groups tearing their way across the galaxy had sown. The skinny, forty something year old male human however, seemed quite content with the state of affairs. The contrast was easy to pick up with the Force.

At first Syn had just wanted to wipe the carefully guarded but smug grin right off his face. He voiced his plans to her companions, three humans and a Noghri, just in case they wanted to help out. Then Lieutenant Koflan had to suggest that the slime might be Peace Brigade, and therefore might have some intelligence. Military, at least. Or better yet things that could be given and used for aiding the Republic, helping the Silver jedi or useful enough to the Protectorate that they could get an upper hand to protect the galaxy from Fringe, Horde and Crusade forces closing in.

So instead of breaking a few of his bones in a cantina fight, he had lured him outside by whispering under the white current. It had been easy to sneak up on him and plant the idea there was a better party outside.. Then he and his friends hauled him off to a more secure area, and found out if he knew anything. Between a growling Noghri flashing her claws at him on one side, and Syn pretending to be friendly from the other, he was spilling his guts in no time.

It turned out that the frakkin' scum regularly delivered supplies to a Peace Brigade prison. He has just made a run, and they had about two thousand Republic citizens from the outer rim worlds. Naturally, since he reported the details of the operation to the Republic command stationed on the Watts, they tasked him with the mission as small as it was. Luckily the fellow had told them that the prison had very little defenses, and less than fifty guards as well as a sub basement just above a large cavern that no one used because of the dangerous creatures.

The prison was just a few buildings above ground slightly scattered with two basement levels. One was a command center, with an observation post above it, and a HoloNet communications antenna on top of that. The observation post was perhaps five meters above the command center, and the comm antenna ten meters above that. He mused it might be like the pit but no where near as effective. At least in some terms a prison in a frozen wasteland was still effective wherever you had it.

The second, and largest, building was barracks for off-duty guards, and storage. The third building was access to the prisoners, who were kept below ground, in twenty hundred-person units and there there was the small landing pad he would call in reinforcements when they were needed. The jedi master looked at his small team and focused on the force and the rippling of the current to hide them.

There were supposed to be eight-to-ten guards in the command center, plus four more in the observation post. The guards rarely went into the prisoner areas, and never patrolled outside. They delivered food to the prison, and the prisoners took care of themselves. The main security feature was the deadly cold, along with the fact that none of the prisoners had any sort of footwear, and only minimal clothing.

If they escaped, they would die from the cold in a matter of minutes. Anytime the the doors to the prison area were opened, the command center and barracks blast doors were closed. If the prisoners caused problems, then their unit could be opened to the elements as well. Or they could be sent down into the cavern underneath and left to die from whatever lurked in there.

After observing the prison a bit, Syn and his men decided on sending a small team in to take out the four guards in the observation post, and the HoloNet antenna. Then the other team would storm the command center. Between the two teams they would also keep the rest of the guards pinned inside the barracks if necessary. The jedi master had a face though while he looked at the others there.

Then Syn took a deep, frosty breath and reached out with the Force. None of the guards in the observation post seemed to be looking their way. In fact, they didn't seem to be too alert at all. He continued to reach out and with the white current focused on himself and the people with him, trying, straining to make it cover all of them as they went.

He nodded towards Lieutenant Koflan, then climbed to his feet, and began slowly moving forward in a crouch through the deep snow with his six men. They were moving into position to attack the observation post. Lieutenant Koflan's team of a dozen would be following them, to hit the command center, and hold the barracks. He made careful movements like a hunter stalking with barely a crunch underfoot.
A two person sniper and observation team was a little over three hundred meters away. Further out were two more pairs of troopers, with each pair manning a rocket launcher, and also acting as observers. The forms of each of them in the force came to him while he expanded his senses to cover all of them.
It was a lot for him to handle, but fortunately Lieutenant Koflan was happy to help him out. The Noghri mostly needed everyone to stay out of their way. Syn had almost sent them ahead on their own, but the Force had told him to go with them instead of Lieutenant Koflan's team. There was something else here buried below the surface and while the prisoners were a priority he suspected they might end up going into those caverns later.

Nearly ten minutes later Syn and his team were in position. He gave his comlink a quick double tap to alert Lieutenant Koflan. He received a single beep of acknowledgment, which he responded to with another tap of his comlink. Since Lieutenant Koflan's team consisted of nine Humans, a Wookiee, a Devaronian, and another Twi'lek, they couldn't move quite as fast as six Noghri and a Jedi master. Even with the gear on he moved with speed.

When Lieutenant Koflan finally alerted Syn that his team was ready, he immediately signaled the Noghri attack, and dashed forward the last dozen meters. Pulling a stun blade out that would be able to knock out or kill with enough force. His touch on the white current was more then enough to cover the fast moving Noghri as they got into position.

With the knee-deep snow pressing in on his lower legs and feet, Syn wasn't quite able to leap onto the roof of the command center. He was able to get high enough to pull himself up though. Three of the Noghri stopped at the base of the wall, and propelled their comrades up. Then the second three quickly reached down and helped pull the first three up. It was a practiced movement they had all done a million times and he remained still almost not breathing until he stood like a statue.

While the Noghri were climbing up, Syn reached out with the Force, and made sure the guards in the observation post above him hadn't noticed them. They still didn't seem to be paying much attention to anything and were playing cards. That was a good thing compared to some and he was more then happy to take advantage. He could feel the other men moving about the place while the muted scents in the air came to him. Machine oils and fuel for keeping the heat going along with the scent of sweat and musk.

The most important thing was to make sure they didn't get a distress call off. The problem was, Syn didn't know if the observation post could send one, or just the command center. That meant they had to take out the four Peace Brigaders in the observation post before they had a chance, just to be sure. He mentally prepared for the two possibilities, one of them calling in reinforcements and possibly killing the prisoners and two for them to succeed and keeping this under wraps until a check in failed.

Syn and his twenty-four special-operation soldiers had arrived in system in an old converted passenger liner. It could easily hold twenty-five-hundred passengers. It couldn't land on this iceball though. They had two smaller transports that would ferry the prisoners to the passenger liner. One could carry close to two hundred people. Syn and his team had landed in a second transport that could carry up to forty people. The passenger liner and larger transport were hiding behind a moon three planets out.

A few moments later, one of the Noghri was on the ladder, his hands on the hatch leading into the observation post. Syn was hanging off the side next to him. The hatch was locked, but it only had basic security. The Noghri had it unlocked in seconds. He glanced over to him, and Syn nodded his head in approval. Then the jedi master focused on the current and force to obscure them and focus on it.

As he opened the hatch Syn squatted on the ladder in preparation. He had her blaster carbine in one hand and across his chest for the noghri, attached to his combat vest with a pair of straps. The carbine was specially modified so a plasma cutter could be attached to the underside of the barrel, as a bayonet. There was a switch just above the trigger that would ignite the torch. The moment the hatch was open, he leapt up and through it, igniting his lightsaber as he did and tossing the carbine to the noghri.

The four guards must have thought they were receiving visitors or something. They stared at him dumbly as he slashed the nearest one across his midsection with his lightsaber. The other three Peace Brigaders' eyes went wide with shock as the shots rang out from the noghri into the second one, then Syn stabbed a third one in the heart. Before he could take out the fourth one, he dropped out of his chair with a hole in his chest from a blaster fired by a second Noghri coming up through the hatch.
"Antenna!" Syn shouted as he hauled the Noghri the rest of the way up through the hatch and shoved him aside. He quickly jumped back down onto the roof of the command center. Another Noghri had already found the communications cable. Syn cut through it, and anything else that looked important. Then Syn let out a sigh of relief. At least now the frakkin' Peace Brigaders can't call for help. Now they had to get into the command center.

Syn dropped back down onto the snowy ground, and was joined by the two demolitions troopers. They quickly began setting up their explosives on the command center's blast doors. The jedi master while they set up was sensing and searching inside to feel where they might be while he moved about with a gron on his face and the silvery blue saber was activated. The blade blending in with the snowy ground.

A handful of seconds later, the bomb was ready. The two demolitions troopers announced it over the comlink as they stepped around to the side of the command center. Syn glanced around to make sure everyone else was out of the way, then joined them. He could sense nine or ten people inside, but none of them were near the doors. They were definitely alert, but none of them seemed to be panicked. Maybe they didn't know they were being attacked.

The bomb exploded five seconds later. Syn and the two demolitions troopers went back to inspect the damage. There was a crater about thirty centimeters deep, and perhaps a meter across. The demolitions troopers quickly began setting up a bigger one. A smirk on his face while he went to try and obscure them but now there was no real use hiding. The prison was on alert but the communications were cut off as they moved about.

Syn stepped over to check out the barracks' in the force and the people were stirring. The Peace Brigaders had to notice a bomb going off on their command center. The ones in the barracks should be coming out to see what was going on—probably with blasters firing away. The other troopers moved into positions to best breach and defend while keeping an area of fire.

The barracks doors remained closed though. Syn was about to see how his demolitions troopers were doing when he saw the doors leading to the prisoners opening. Then she felt the prisoners inside start to get very worried. The small hiss of the air rushing in to the sealed rooms and the senses of the prisoners changed. He didn't fully know what to do while he moved to check but stopped briefly to think.

It took Syn a moment to comprehend what was happening. The frakkin' Peace Brigaders are going to freeze the prisoners to death! Syn muttered a curse and rushed back to the command center blast doors. The two demolitions troopers had the second—bigger—bomb set. Before they could ignite it though, Syn's communications trooper commed him. She told him that someone inside the command center identifying himself as Captain Jakkobs was trying to talk to him. She also said that he was broadcasting over an open comlink, so they could all hear him. Syn thanked her, took a quick breathed to calm himself and then switched comm channels.

"This is . . . Commander Syn of the Jedi order," he said over the comlink. He bit back a few more choice words. He didn't identify himself as a rank among the jedi either. They didn't need to know that right now. As he spoke, he reached out with the Force to get a feel for the people in the command center. They were mostly worried, and a little scared. None of them seemed to be on the verge of panicking though. That would have to change.

"I'm Captain Jakkobs of the Peace Brigade," a human sounding voice replied. "I assume you're here to free the prisoners. They'll start freezing to death in about ten minutes. You can try and save them, or continue attacking us. If you do choose to continue this attack, then I'll make sure as many of them die as possible."

Syn could use the Force to block the cold from the entrance to the prison, but he knew he couldn't keep it in place long enough to ferry all the prisoners to the passenger liner—especially if the rest of the Peace Brigaders in the barracks chose to start fighting. He felt like he could get into command center in ten minutes. The problem was, Captain Jakkobs was very confident he could kill the majority of the prisoners. Syn had come here to rescue them, not win a pointless battle against some Peace Brigade thugs. He had to listen to the Force for guidance.

"Then what will you tell your masters say when you don't have their prisoners? They will not be happy that you killed them and let yourself live." Syn asked with a small smirk on his face. That definitely caused a reaction. They were very concerned about what the scarheads would do to them if they didn't have two thousand prisoners for them. "We've got a supply ship due in the morning. We'll just hitch a ride, and disappear somewhere," Captain Jakkobs said confidently. THat got the jedi master a little annoyed since he was wanting to complete the mission.

Syn thought a moment. Admiral Palios had made it clear he had to either rescue the prisoners or scratch the mission as expeditiously as possible. There was no way he could still be here in the morning. He certainly didn't want to spend the night freezing his fur off. Then a small smirk tugged at his lips. "Piloted by a skinny human," she replied. "About forty, blond hair? Goes by the name Koddy?"

There was a noticeable pause over the comlink and the jedi master knew he had struck something. "Yeah," Captain Jakkobs replied fearfully. Even though they were speaking over a comlink, and she was wearing a cold weather mask, Syn flashed a predatory smile, he had something now to push at and while time was ticking on the prisoners his hands motioned, his stance going very still.

"Koddy ain't coming in the morning, Captain. We've got him locked up," He told him and had a smirk on his face that tugged, pulled to be showing as humor. They needed to act fast for the prisoners but savoring this from the man would be what would help."Ronko shavit," Captain Jakkobs responded in denial. Syn chuckled. "How do you think we found out about this place?" He asked.

There was another noticeable silence over the comlink. Syn could sense the Peace Brigaders' dread as the realization sunk in. "Frakk," Captain Jakkobs finally replied in dismay. Syn waited several seconds before replying. "There's only one ship leaving this rock before the rogue sith show up." He wasn't sure exactly when that would be, but since the prison was at capacity, he didn't think it would be very long. "If you surrender, I'll allow you to be on it."

Once again there was several seconds of silence over the comlink. "We surrender," Captain Jakkobs finally responded. "Good," Syn replied quickly. "Open the blast doors of the command center only," He instructed him. Then everyone will walk out single file." "Yes jedi," he answered dejectedly.

Syn quickly switched comm channels and instructed Lieutenant Koflan's team to stay in position, covering the barracks. Then he told four of his Noghri to get ready to go into the command center with him. He wasn't about to give the Peace Brigaders a chance to surprise him. He told the other two, and the two demolitions troopers, to handle the people coming out of the command center.

As the blast doors began to open, Syn's senses—including the Force—were alert for danger. The moment there was enough space, he rushed in, the noghri with their carbine and him with his deactivated lightsaber leading the way. He immediately began sweating from the increased temperature. Four of his Noghri were right behind him.

"Hands up!" Syn spoke loudly projected as he swept his head across the line of people walking towards them. The seven men and two women instantly stopped and obeyed. Syn reached out with the Force to sense if anyone else was inside. When he reached the last Peace Brigader, he stopped. "Is anyone else in here!?" he demanded, pointing his lightsaber at the woman's chest from less than a meter away and keeping it deactivated.

Two of the Noghri moved past them, searching the building. "N—No," the woman answered, trembling as her eyes followed the Noghri a moment, then went back to Syn's saber hilt. Panicky people weren't the easiest to read with the Force. Considering Syn didn't sense anyone else though, he believed her. Two more Noghri kept hustling the rest of the Peace Brigaders through the blast doors.

"Do you have any weapons on you?" Syn asked her in a slightly calmer voice. Willing her to asnwer with the force truthfully. His senses searching to hear and smell the changes in her body in case she lied. "N—No," she answered, still trembling. Syn reached down and opened his overcoat to cool off. "Do you know how to operate the controls for the prison and barracks doors?" he asked her.

"Ye—Yes sir," the Peace Brigader replied, slightly more confidently. Syn set his saber underneath his left arm, out of the way. Then he stepped forward and began searching the woman for weapons while one of his Noghri covered him. When he finished, he pulled out a pair of binders, and slapped them around her wrists in front of her. "Let's go," Syn said, pushing her back towards the interior of the command center.

The woman was in her mid-twenties, several centimeters smaller than Syn, with black hair. She was also a few kilos heavier than Syn. Syn took the woman into the control room while the Noghri swept the building for Peace Brigade holdouts. There was a stack of blaster pistols on one of the desks. The woman stayed away from them without being told. She was practically trembling with fear. The problem was, Syn needed her thinking rationally for the next little bit.

"Hey, what's your name?" Syn asked her as he sat her down in a chair at the control panel. The woman stared up at him for a few seconds. "What?" she asked, holding her cuffed hands defensively in front of her. "What's your name?" Syn repeated, trying to calm her with the Force. "Sansa," she finally answered. "Sansa Stavver."

"Well Sansa," Syn said as he sat down a chair next to her, between her and the blasters on the desk. "I need you to take a deep breath and relax okay. No one is going to hurt you." Syn opened his overcoat all the way as he watched Sansa take a couple of deep breaths. He also sensed her calm down somewhat, although she was still highly agitated. Syn assumed it was from being captured. It made the jedi master hold on her for a moment while he reached out to sense around him and to the prisoners. The thought of them almost freezing was becoming a real possibility.

Before Syn could say anything else, the two Noghri that were searching the building entered the room, and announced it was clear. They also told him they had found a small weapons closet that had about ten blaster rifles, ten pistols, and two E-Web heavy repeating blasters in it. They said there were some grenades and extra power packs as well. Syn instructed them to take the E-Webs and anything else they needed, and have Lieutenant Koflan deploy them as he saw fit. Then she had to calm Sansa down a second time.

"Now Sansa, I need you to close all the prison doors, but leave them open about half-a-meter, okay. Can you do that?" "Yes," she replied, leaning forward and reaching out towards the controls with her cuffed hands. Syn kept alert for deception from her through the Force. The control panel was laid out in a simple graphical design. The main doors for the prison were easy to spot. There were additional doors several meters inside the main ones. Each of the twenty housing units also had a pair of doors. There were also controls for the barracks and command center doors, as well as communications.

Sansa slid the doors closed, leaving them slightly open. "I'm not sure exactly how far open they are," she explained as she leaned back. "But that should be about half-a-meter." She had a small air of confidence that the jedi master figured he could trust somewhat at least. "Thanks," Syn told her. "How many people are in the barracks?" The woman shifted uneasily in her seat and the jedi master remained still searching with the force. "Um, I'm not exactly sure," Sansa answered. "I think about thirty-five or so."
Syn had no interest in fighting nearly three dozen Peace Brigaders, even if he had superior troops, and position. "Can you keep the barracks doors closed from here?" He hoped while feeling them in the force. "No," Sansa replied. "They can be opened or closed from here or there." She looked down at her binders, and fidgeted in them a bit. Her body tensed and heartbeat changed a little. If he was a betting jedi he would win for sure.

Syn thought she seemed to be about to say something else, but she remained silent. The Force was prompting him to find out. "You have something else to add?" he asked firmly, influencing her with the Force at the same time. "Um, there's about thirty guard droids in the barracks too," Sansa said softly. "We keep them hidden from the rogue sith."
Syn's eyes went wide in shock even under the sash and mask. Frakk! In a split-second he had activated his comlink. "There are guard droids in the barracks. If the doors open, treat the forces inside as hostile. Repeat, there are about thirty guard droids and thirty-five Peace Brigaders in the barracks, if the blast doors open, treat them as hostile."

There was a chorus of acknowledgments from his troops. Syn ran through a Jedi calming exercise. He had two dozen special-ops troopers, with two rocket launchers and two E-Webs. There was no way he could evacuate two thousand prisoners with the droids and Peace Brigaders nearby. They wouldd have to thin the numbers and make sure everything was taken care of.

Next Syn contacted the transport that they had arrived on. He ordered them to power up, and get to their position as soon as possible. Then he contacted their bigger transport and passenger liner, and ordered them to head this way as well. The liner would go into a low geosynchronous orbit so the two transports wouldn't have to travel far to ferry the prisoners back and forth. Then Syn turned his attention back to his prisoner.

"Let's go," Syn told Sansa, taking her by her upper arm. After a few steps towards the door, Syn let go of her so she could zip up his coat again. A dozen meters or so later, they arrived outside, back in the freezing cold. The sense of foreboding that came to his gut through the force. There was something stirring from the explosions and he could feel it down below. Hell he thought for a moment he had the barest flash of one of the priestesses coming to warn him.

Lieutenant Koflan had moved the captured Peace Brigaders into the prisoner area, and had the two demolitions troopers and several prisoners keeping an eye on them. He had three troopers in the observation post, and two more on the roof of the command center. One of the E-Webs was just to the side of the command center, as close as they could get it and still cover the barracks blast doors. The other one was just inside the prison doors. The rest of the troopers were spread out in the snow. The sniper and rocket launcher teams were still in place as well.

Syn activated the comlink that was built into his hood. Then he began issuing orders. "I want Lieutenant Koflan and five people inside the outer prison doors. I want four people in the observation post. The sniper and rocket teams stay where you are. The two people on the E-Web next to the command center stay there. Everyone else I want inside the command center."

There was another chorus of acknowledgments as they moved to obey Syn's orders. Instead of heading for the prison though, Lieutenant Koflan came to him. "We've got quite a few prisoners inside that claim to be military. They want to help. I told them I'd pass the message along," he told him over the howling wind. Then he felt it down below in his gut and for a moment was worried about things attacking or going wrong.

There were ten blaster rifles and ten pistols in the command center's weapons closet, plus the blaster pistols in the control room. Syn knew that military could mean anything from highly trained crack-commandos to remote reserve militia that only cleaned up after natural disasters. He didn't have time to find out what sort of experience they had, and he wasn't about to give someone a weapon for the first time in ten years if he didn't have to.

"Tell them thanks, but we have everything under control right now," Syn replied. "And make sure the Peace Brigaders that we captured don't cause any problems." Lieutenant Koflan acknowledged, and headed towards the prisoner area. Syn took Sansa back towards the command center. "I want to talk to the people in the barracks," Syn told her once they got back in the control room. "And tell me who's in charge over there." As he spoke, he opened his coat again, and began pulling off his gloves.

"Um, it should be Lieutenant Grienn," Sansa replied as she reached towards the controls. "Go ahead," she said, nodding towards Syn a couple of moments later. "This is Syn of the jedi order and Republic," he said over the control panel comlink. "I would like to speak to whoever is in charge of the Peace Brigaders in the barracks." At the same time, Syn reached out with the Force to get a sense of the people in the barracks.

He also pulled his overcoat and hood completely off, and put his regular comlink headset back on. That left him in his cold-weather-combat jumpsuit, thick outer pants, and boots. There was silence. Syn looked questioningly at Sansa, who glanced at the controls, and nodded her head in consent. After several seconds, Syn repeated the message. The third time, he added, "I know you are receiving this."

"This is Lieutenant Grienn," someone finally replied. "Talk." The jedi master scoffed for a moment and spoke. "Lieutenant, in case you haven't noticed, my forces have taken over your command center. If you surrender, then you and your people can leave this rock aboard my ship. If not, then you can stay and explain to the rogue sith why you don't have their prisoners."

Syn didn't mention that he knew about the droids. After several seconds of silence he replied. "Okay," Lieutenant Grienn answered. "We surrender. We're coming out." Syn listened to his words over the comlink, and did her best to sense his intentions with the Force. She was sure he was lying. He didn't feel like he had given up.

"Actually I need to alert my forces so they don't open fire," Syn quickly lied. "I'll contact you in a couple of minutes." There was a brief pause. "Okay," he responded. "We'll await your signal." Syn sensed he was still deceiving him, but not lying that time. Maybe that meant he had believed his lie. He quickly switched comlinks to talk to his troops again.

"The Peace Brigaders in the barracks are still hostile. If the blast doors open, treat it as an attack," he announced over the comlink. There was another chorus of acknowledgments. Then Syn contacted his transport to get its ETA. The pilot told him they would be there in about three minutes. Syn told him to pull up the map of the prison complex on his HUD, and ensure he knew which building was the barracks.

Once that was done, Syn had about three minutes to kill. One of her Noghri was by the door of the control room, and the rest were near the command center blast doors. Sansa was sitting silently in the chair, looking down at the binders on her wrists again. "So, why did you join up with the Peace Brigade?" Syn asked her.

Sansa paused a moment before replying. "My husband joined, and I went with him," she answered with a shrug. Syn noticed she said went, and not came, implying that she wasn't with the Peace Brigade anymore. "So where's your husband now?" he asked casually, hoping he wasn't in the barracks. Sansa probably wouldn't be as cooperative after he had troopers blast her husband into little bits.

"He died a couple of months ago," she replied softly. "On Ylesia." Syn idly wondered if he had killed him when they had captured the Peace Brigade leadership and that traitor Pwoe. "So why are you still with them?" Syn asked her. "Do you believe the rogue sith are going to win?" "I don't know," Sansa responded, seemingly to both questions.

Syn could sense she really wasn't sure. She however, was very sure, at least about the outcome of the war. "The rogue sith are going lose," he told Sansa firmly. "And you'd better believe it. It is something I have seen many times and they do not stand a chance in the long run" Sansa didn't respond for several seconds. When she did, it was only to change the subject. "I don't think Lieutenant Grienn is really planning on surrendering," she said. "He's really a believer in the cause."

"Me neither," Syn agreed with a nod. "That's why I talked them into waiting before they came out." "Are you a Jedi?" Sansa asked him, changing the subject again. Syn had only used his lightsaber in the observation post. He had used the title Commander when dealing with the Peace Brigaders. He didn't think he was famous enough to be known my sight, especially with all the cold-weather gear he was wearing. More so because all reports said he was eight hundred and to human standards he looked seventeen.

"What makes you say that?" he replied out of curiosity. "Isn't that a lightsaber?" Sansa asked, gesturing towards the cylinder attached to his hip and the other ones on the belt. Syn gave a tight smirk, slightly impressed she had recognized it in such a location. "Yes, it is," he responded. "And yes, I am." Sansa remained silent for a few seconds. "Can't you just kill everyone in the barracks with a wave of your hand?"

Syn couldn't help but burst out with laughter. "If only but no not quite," she answered. "If a Jedi could kill with a wave of their hand, we would have already won." Before Sansa could say anything else, Syn received a comm. It was the pilot of his transport, telling him that he had arrived at the prison complex, and was hovering in place. He told him to stand by.

While he had been chatting with Sansa, Syn had been going over his plan in his mind. He was sure that Lieutenant Grienn wasn't planning on surrendering. However, he wasn't quite ready to slaughter them all based solely on what he felt through the Force, and Sansa's opinion. He flipped his comlink over to broadcast to all of his troops, and the transport. The terrible feeling from down below was in his stomach. The tightening of his gut had him worried.
"This is Syn. The barracks blast doors will be opening in a few moments. If anyone sees droids, or is fired upon, then everyone, including the transport, is cleared to return fire, is that understood?" There was a chorus of acknowledgments. Syn made sure the transport crew understood, as they had the most firepower. It had a pair of starfighter-grade laser cannons, and a concussion missile launcher. Far more than enough to deal with thirty guard droids and as many Peace Brigaders. Once he was sure everyone knew what to do, he told Sansa to contact the other Peace Brigaders again.

"Alright Lieutenant Grienn, my troops know that you are surrendering, you can come out," Syn said over the comlink. "That took quite a while," he replied. "I hope you weren't setting up an ambush?" "Not at all," Syn lied smoothly. "My communications equipment simply isn't working properly in the cold." "I see," Lieutenant Grienn answered. "Well, if you're ready then, we are coming out, unarmed, please don't shoot us."

"We're standing by," Syn replied cheerfully. The instant he finished talking, he let go of the transmit button, and turned back to Sansa. "Can you make the blast doors open faster?" he asked her. "I—I don't know," she replied, looking at the controls. "We've never tried to find out." "Well, if they try to close the doors again, make sure they open all the way," Syn instructed her. "Yes master jedi," Sansa responded obediently.

Syn really wanted to be outside in the fight with his troops, but he knew he could do more here. He did start putting his overcoat and hood back on though. A moment later, he heard the transport's laser canons shooting, and a few seconds later, its concussion missile launcher. At the same time, he felt the Peace Brigaders in the barracks dying. Even though they were the enemy, it was hard to feel so much death through the Force.
The shooting was over in about twenty seconds, although it seemed like much longer. Finally there was silence. "We're going in to check for survivors," Sergeant Vikkors announced over the comlink. "We're with you," someone else added. "Let's go," Syn told Sansa, gesturing towards the door with his hand and reeling a little while the equipment went on.

By the time they made it outside, several more troopers had moved into the barracks. Syn had no trouble smelling parts of at least a dozen guard droids scattered about the oil an burning metal pungent, along with quite a few bodies. He activated his comlink, and began issuing more orders. The soldiers were going about fully trained and in practiced movements that were a good thing to have.
"I want the transport on the ground as close to the prison as you can get. Leave two people in the observation post and the E-Web by the command center covering the barracks. Sergeant Vikkors, once your team is finished clearing the barracks building for threats, let me know. Lieutenant Koflan, let's start loading up prisoners. Leave the Peace Brigaders for last," Syn instructed them.

There was another chorus of acknowledgments as they began obeying him. Then Syn turned to his prisoner. "Barracks," he told him, gesturing towards the open blast doors with his saber. As they walked, Syn reached out with the Force to see if he could sense any Peace Brigaders still alive in the barracks. By the time they reached the barracks, Syn was pretty sure there weren't any left alive.
The transport set down with its ramp just a few meters from the prison doors. In minutes Lieutenant Koflan had it filled to capacity with rescued prisoners. It took them nearly three hours to get all of the prisoners, plus the Peace Brigaders, onto the passenger liner. Syn had his troops salvage as much of the weapons and equipment as they could from the barracks and command center. He had also had his two demolitions troopers blow the control room up so it couldn't be used again.

Syn waited until the very last transport to leave. It was the smaller one he had arrived on. Besides him, with Sansa, the other eight Peace Brigaders they had captured, and his special-ops troopers were aboard. There were also some containers of equipment they were taking from the prison, including one with several hundred sets of binders, stun cuffs, shock shackles, and even slave collars.

As they took off, Syn had the pilot blast the observation post into twisted wreckage. Then he had him shoot through the open blast doors of the command center, just to make sure the Peace Brigade couldn't use the place again. The large gaping hole in the ground collapsed as a sound came from below. The jedi master had a look on his face and turned to stare as hovering over it brought thick shadows to the scanners but in the force.

In the force he felt it and spoke to one of the Peace Brigaders in the ship. "What is down there?" His voice was more of a growl as he could feel something down there and throughout the operation it had been twisting in his gut but now the man spoke a little scared. "We don't know we never went down there, no one does it eats everything and we keep it sealed." That got the jedi masters attention as he opened the door and looked down with a crouch.

"What are you going to do?" It was Sansa and Syn looked over to her while speaking to the pilot. "I'm going down there get them to the ship and get out of here. Inform The Silver Jedi where I am and to send a ship. Whatever is down there we can't have getting loose." The pilot gave a nod of his head as Syn jumped wrapping the force around him while he came down. The force cushioning and slowing the fall until he felt the temperature change entering the depths of the cave.

The ship headed up and decloaking from the white current a slender woman in white robes stood in the transport as they headed for the passenger liner. Syn and two dozen commandos had rescued just over two thousand prisoners from a Peace Brigade prison, and hadn't had a single injury, much less lost anyone. Arya moved and sat silently contemplating that. For the first time since the beginning of the war, she had been on a mission, and no one had gotten killed. After a few seconds, she began smiling and leaned back

"Hey who are you??" Sergeant Vikkors asked from the seat next to her. "I am syn's master," she said with a half truth, quickly covering her eyes with her shawl so he wouldn't see her face. "I'm fine," she said in a clipped tone that stopped him from commenting further. The Fallanassi master would oversee the ship taking care of everything and make sure the jedi's master of the order got the information. A ship would return as needed.

Slowly the jedi master felt himself touch the ground and a small impact crater formed that sent a thundering crack through the cave. His saber coming to his hand and the smells had changed. There was dead stuff down here, the smell of rotting meat decomposing slowly in the damp air filled the cavern and he could sense something was up ahead. The flesh on his arms and hairs standing warning of pradators, of things out there searching.

The temperature was warmer down here and the jedi master was actually sweating as he moved and took off the overcoat, gloves and was left standing in plain attire. The small chill from the air meeting his sweat was sending a shiver down his spine but it was still a welcome change from the restricting clothing. Here he could really move and holding his sabers. The skittering of something brought his attention deeper into the caverns while he went down.

Quickly his pace went from a slow careful walk to a small jog until he reached a drop off and looked down. There was something large and a grouping of people there. With another in between them that was being attacked, that got the jedi master to back up and run full pace jumping with force speed into the air as he launched himself at the large creature and as it snarled, screeched and looked up towards him he felt the power between it and the man off to the side from the others. He was using a link with it before the jedi master landed and rolled.

He moved to the ground and looked at the group around him, going back to back with a beast of a man who reeked of stale urine and blood. Then the tension went away and he heard someone shout. "Enough." The leader if he could be called that was standing at the top of an incline and Syn felt the one behind him stiffen ready for more of a fight. "And who are you? Another interloper who has come to steal my treasure the god beast will devour you and I will have all of your secrets."

The jedi master reached out and felt the one in the room as the large man a marauder of the sith he could feel now charged them. The creature wasn't making a move yet but the power emanating from the man's chest... He had something on him as the jedi master focused for a moment and disappeared into the white current to disappear. He had face zealots like this before and now as he went into that place to fight he looked to go after the leader. Cut off his head and the others would fall.

Syn then watched and moved with careful movements around the man as his three fought and then Andelka joined in. The beast of a man spoke spinning around in place as he searched for the jedi master and Syn's mind played out scenarios. He could leave the one sith by himself or he could help for the moment and handle it later or he could fight them all. Slowly he listened to the marauder begin to fail and he remembered what his old master told him as he watched speaking the words through the white current cloak.. Choosing to go after all of them.

"I saw a creature, he sat and he held his own heart in his hands, and he ate of it. I asked him, "Is it good friend?" He said, "It is bitter. Bitter. But I like it because it is bitter." Slowly Syn moved as he looked at the others who couldn't hear him and he laughed his head tilted to the side. Slowly he grabbed one of the attackers by her tight ponytail. "And because it is my heart." Quickly Syn gave a laugh a small one and threw her against the cave wall with a sickening crack.

There was no real time to worry once that creature was ordered to attack he would be in trouble and attacked another slashing his saber across another mans chest following through to reach the leg of the marauder. The jedi master had two down and three threats left plus a large beast he would have to deal with. His saber left his hand to impale into the back leg of the marauder before he was attacked by the third man and Syn ran.

He ran after the leader perking up with the hairs on his arm before he lept through the current and as the man looked back and around he used what flexibility he had his hand and rushed towards his back hooking his hand under the mans chin. The momentum to dig a strike of his deactivated hilt into his spine deeper at the forth lumbar in the sweet spot. Slowly Syn breathed in the scent of the mans skin as he smelled the sweat and underneath the scent of fear. He was afraid now that he wasn't in control of the gang. Quickly Syn moved as she hooked her arm under Andelka's chin as he stood back to back with him and dropped to his knees twisting 270 degree's as she snapped Andelka into a backbreaker.

He crashed his knee's into the ground as the snap brought the man onto his stomach. Syn quickly rolled him over and twisted sitting on his chest as he drove his fist down to his chest and found the source of the energy he was sensing now. The cool metal in his grasp the jedi master pulled and heard what he had been hoping to avoid. "My beast attack." He didn't pause, pulling the metal to him and rolling onto his back. The jedi master kicked as the massive creature roared and launched the man upinto its waiting maw before he pocketed the piece.

The marauder was dead and he had killed the lone attacker as the large beast ate the man. The snapping of bones loud in the cavern, the jedi master stood up and held out his hand as the saber returned to it and the silvery blue was out with a purple blade. He reached out with the force and was glad the others had made it out, he was hoping they got the message to Kiskla and she would be on the way. Or this could become something dangerous while a smirk came.

This wasn't going to be won by a saber, he could make out what the creature was now and it wasn't a good thing. One of these were dangerous and if it was down here killing things then it had been trapped. He had to think of something to do now though since it might escape and with its food source gone.... This could prove difficult. "Well I did want to have a fight." The smirk that came on his face was more then enough while the jedi master clenched his fists and breathed to focus. The blister pods on its back opening and releasing a scent of old death.

The jedi had faced many things and in truth he had never expected to face a behemoth such as this but it felt good. Win or lose he had to admit he was enjoying the moment as he charged to the side and thought about several duels he had been in. The music Iella had introduced him to was playing in his head and he had to admit he enjoyed it. Then he was off and focused pushing the force into his muscles, into the very fiber of his being before the words came out to allow him to grip the wall. A spell Elayne had taught him and he climbed scrambling up the side of the wall before the beast crashed into it.

His frantic motioned had the two sabers releasing from his hands at the creatures eyes with a sneer and Syn jumped going up high to the cavern roof as the beast jumped. Then came down with a thunderous crash almost making him lose his grip but he remained grabbing one of the stalagmites and punching it. The cracks forming before it dropped and the jedi master went with it jumping all off towards the wall. The metal in his pocket was still cool but pulsed radiating energy almost until he landed and rolled.

The jedi master took the piece and held it with his bare hand as he felt it then, a surge of energy into his being and it was like a jolt of energy to his system before he went off running again. The rock had crashed into one of the blisters and impaled itself but it wasn't enough damage before it roared. Now it was a matter of finding something large enough to hurt it or enough things to smack into it so they could do as needed. "Maybe this wasn't the best idea." The doubt entered his mind but he thought about what had happened with Iella on the world and what had happened.

He hadn't been ready for that either but he had trusted in the priestesses and went through their trials for one reason. He wasn't afraid and there was no reason to start now as he felt it then. That lingering tendril from the creature trying to mess with him. Paranoia and fear wasn't something a hunter felt and he thought about what could happen next from all of this. He didn't want to die but it was a real possibility when facing dangerous creatures. He would have to move and move faster before the day was over.

Then there was a pulse and coolness washing over the jedi master from the object he had grabbed and took it out. The coolness of the metal in his hands felt strange but it was invigorating compared to other things he had touched. Whatever it was he needed to protect it from misuse while charging at the beast. Whatever it was it helped and Syn dropped down sliding along the floor as the saber went at the beasts foot.

The blade biting into it and the sizzling sound as the creature shrieked. The tendon slashed until Syn rolled around to his feet before dashing backwards and avoiding the creatures tail. He could notice the beast turning slower and it was getting angered chasing after him again and Syn jumped at the wall letting its head crash into the cavern wall. He used the spell again to climb and jumped holding the blade with two hands as it drove down at the beasts head.

Then it was screaming and slashing while he dodged with the blade digging in. His foot finding one of the beasts eyes as Syn started to kick and felt the thing give away covering his boot and leg in ocular jelly. His face shown a look of disgust but the shrieking was evidence that some damage was done. He kept moving with it keeping the blade as it dug into the beast before getting bucked off into the air.

With a turn in mid air and some force energy Syn came down again slamming the blade into its tail and he jumped leaving the blade just a bit jumping towards the ground. Then he was rolling and sending a force shockwave. For the first time he was glad the biting cold and chill in his bones was keeping him moving, keeping him motivated and able to move faster.

Then he heard a sound and looked over as the large sith was moving and stirring on the ground. He was also bleeding the scent of blood strong in the air as Syn ran and heard him scream. The shockwave came for a moment as Syn jumped up and turned over the shockwave as it came hitting his ears with a deafening ring. This was going to be problematic while the creature turned back to look towards the sith and Syn used the moment it grabbed him with the face worms.

Slowly the man was set in the blister pod and Syn could feel his pain in the force but couldn't do anything yet. The jedi master reach up towards the top of the cavern and focused finding some loose rocks as he tossed kinetite blasts into it to drop on the beast. Hopefully it would help ease the siths pain more then he deserved with a small amount of reservation but it would be cruel to not help.

The rocks fell and one crushed the blister pod as the screams ended, the metal in his hand pulsing and he didn't feel tired from all of this as Syn moved about to let the wounded beast chase him. "Come on, come at me." He shouted more and more going up onto an incline and as the creature growled Syn aimed a blast of electric judgement at his other eyes sending a heavy burst that gave way to popping and sizzling.

The beast roared againa nd was blindly slashing as it hit Syn and he was glad for the sasori bodysuit as the armor protected him and he was thrown into a wall. The feeling in his chest was like a weight had slammed into it and relearning how to breathe wasn't a fun thing. Nor was the taste of copper in his mouth as the jedi master was lifted and held in front of the beast. It was scenting him and Syn growled at it... then it growled at him before he kicked its tooth jamming it down his throat.

Then he was going at the mouth and Syn could feel the heat of its breath. Taste the decay from flesh left in its teeth and growled before curling up and landing on the beasts tongue as it chomped down missing his body. In the mouth was a tight fit while the beasts saliva got everywhere and he felt the beastmatting his hair. Then it reeled its head back and he slipped going down.

This was not a good thing and as he slid down the throat of the creature the jedi master reached out grabbing a ridge of flesh and dug his hands in. The small strain was there in his muscles while he felt the slippery saliva and other fluids but kicking to dig his boots into the esophagus was enough to hold him in place. Then Syn reached out grabbing the other side while he pushed to wedge himself into position against the wall. He was just above the stomach as the rhythmic thumping thumping of the heart before he started to formulate a plan.

Alright I am in the stomach of a Leviathan and alone He hoped that his message and report had been given as needed and that the jedi were on the way. Knowing Arya she would also contact Iella E'ron and her silver jedi if they came. It mattered less who came and more that someone did so he wasn't stranded on an ice world deep in a cave. He really didn't want to have to deal with that while he calmed his mind. Listening to his breathing steady before he reached out with the force. Digging his heels and hands in more and growing stiff.

The jedi master looked inward and deep down while sending out the force to reach any of the jedi he knew before the objective became clear. His hands digging in while he held the piece of metal in his hand and pushed off bringing one of the points out below to dig into and create a gash that stank of just awful things. Then he had blood and gt over his face as the jedi master climbed through into the chest cavity and he could feel the lungs of the beast inflating as it inhaled.

Then he was slashing and tearing digging his hands into the lungs as air and blood washed over him with a putrid stench, then he was carving his way through it down deeper amidst the shrieks and roars, then the choking on blood until the jedi master found the heart. Beating rapidly and irregular. His arms wrapped around it as Syn squeezed and constricted it to kill the creature. He ground his teeth in slight frustration and then it gave way and there was a roar that turned into a gurgle.

Then there was an impact and things fell silent, Syn was laying there between the heart and pieces of lung while he took a deep breath and let go withdrawing his lightsaber to slice and area he could climb around in. Maneuvering he made sure to dice the heart just in case and kicked until his feet met rib cage. Using that as a guide Syn put the blade between the ribs and slowly started to slice through the thick underbelly of the beast. Then he could scent it under all the guts, goop and blood. That wonderful scent of chilled air and the jedi master pushed himself forward to climb out of the beast.