Lost in The Elements

[Misty]

Misty 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?" she 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."

 

[Misty]

Misty's eyes went wide in shock even under the sash and mask. Frakk! In a split-second she 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."

 

[Misty]

There was a chorus of acknowledgments from his troops. Misty ran through a Jedi calming exercise. She had two dozen special-ops troopers, with two rocket launchers and two E-Webs. There was no way she 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.

 

[Misty]

Next Misty contacted the transport that they had arrived on. She ordered them to power up, and get to their position as soon as possible. Then she 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 Misty turned his attention back to his prisoner.

 

[Misty]

"Let's go," Misty told Sansa, taking her by her upper arm. After a few steps towards the door, Misty 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 she could feel it down below. Hell she thought for a moment she had the barest flash of one of the priestesses coming to warn him.

 

[Misty]

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. She 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.

 

[Misty]

Misty activated the comlink that was built into his hood. Then she 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."

 

[Misty]

There was another chorus of acknowledgments as they moved to obey Misty'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," she told him over the howling wind. Then she felt it down below in his gut and for a moment was worried about things attacking or going wrong.

 

[Misty]

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

 

[Misty]

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

 

[Misty]

"Um, it should be Lieutenant Grienn," Sansa replied as she reached towards the controls. "Go ahead," she said, nodding towards Misty a couple of moments later. "This is Misty of the jedi order and Republic," she 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, Misty reached out with the Force to get a sense of the people in the barracks.

 

[Misty]

She 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. Misty looked questioningly at Sansa, who glanced at the controls, and nodded her head in consent. After several seconds, Misty repeated the message. The third time, she added, "I know you are receiving this."

 

[Misty]

"This is Lieutenant Grienn," someone finally replied. "Talk." The jedi padawan 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."

 

[Misty]

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

 

[Misty]

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

 

[Misty]

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

 

[Misty]

Once that was done, Misty 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?" Misty asked her.

 

[Misty]

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

 

[Misty]

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

 

[Misty]

Misty 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," she 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. "She's really a believer in the cause."