Private The Taken

[Xin Boa]

It felt good to have the reassuring weight of a blaster in his hand. Even thought he had been well fed, he could feel the fatigue in his bones. They had been worked hard and it left very little mental load for concentrating at the task at hand. If they slipped up then this would go south very quickly. They weren't about to let a pair who had deliberately infiltrated the mine live. There would be questions.

The guards were not hidden particularly well. That didn't matter too much. If they were here for another day then they would have failed anyway.

Waiting was painful. The adrenaline had started and Xin wanted to press ahead. Anything would have felt better than waiting.

When the time was right they left the tunnels behind another shipment and made for the temple.

"There's a ship," Xin said, looking towards the open section of quarry that they must have exhausted before going underground to look for Kyber. It was an old cargo transport, but it would do.

They were going to take advantage of the shift change but had to avoid contact if they could. The guards probably knew each other fairly well, but he doubted the cultists paid them much attention. The compromised K2 droid had shown them which entrance to take into the temple, but already Xin was doubting his memory of the path to the training grounds.

 

[Delila Castillon]

|| Xin Boa ||

Delila watched the 'sun' sink down into the horizon. The planet was desolate in terms of its rocky and mountainous landscape, with thick clouds that blotted out the sun. Lifeless. It was about to be useful to herself and Xin though - shadows and less glare would give them an advantage. The prospect of leaving within the span of a short few hours was keeping her spirits high enough to push forward. Much like Xin, she was concerned the mental toll over the last few weeks would decrease their sharpness. Waiting would just make it worse however. Now or never.

"Lets move with it."

It was to be shift change in roughly 30 minutes. Leaving early wasn't going to make a difference. No one had checked them in all day, not on comms or walking through. Cultists only seemed to be concerned with themselves and not the lower members of their organization that did day to day tasks. Made sense in the grand scheme of things, cultists were focused on their chosen disciples.

They walked along the transport, as if guarding it, moving towards the temple. The transport didn't go towards the temple, but deviated on a different route towards the mountains. It only got so close. They waited until the last minute until deviating from the transport, trudging in lock step towards the Temple. She wasn't sure what entrance to pick but Xin would know.

Eyes drifted over to a large, flat gravel patch filled with vessels. Troop transports, various merchant ships, military vessels.

"We get Adric. Enough vessels to escape with. After that....I think we need to drop him off at some hidden Jedi sect. I know a few - the old Levantine Sanctum area."

 

[Xin Boa]

They hadn't been afforded much time to talk at all during their time in the mines. Dells had been thinking about the kid's future. His own thoughts hadn't carried him so far ahead. Swinging hammers and picks all day, his thoughts had drifted away into an almost catatonic state to the steady rhythm of the work.

"You're probably right," he said. They were able to sense him and had resources to deploy to go after him. As much as he liked Adric he knew they couldn't guarantee his safety.

"Ships will have this location in the navcomp. We need to tell someone about this place. Might nuh be so dangerous now, but they're rebuilding out here."

The entrance to the temple he took them too was unguarded. It almost didn't look like a way in. A smooth, angular tunnel carved into the rock had a sharp turn just a few meters in. It made the open entrance quite difficult to spot until they were almost on top of it.

"Right, left, right, up and straight," he muttered under his breath.

 

[Delila Castillon]

Xin Boa

Time to be quiet once again - they needed the complete focus for the task at hand. Xin had muttered the directions out loud to her before they reached the tunnel entrance. Upon moving in, it was another adjustment for her eyes with the harsh, overhead lighting. The helmet helped a bit but after so long underground everything was an adjustment.

They made a sharp right immediately. Wide, finished corridors greeted them. She immediately noticed a few guards but wasn't overly concerned.They were on the "in" and she was confident getting to Adric wouldn't be the problem. The problem would actually be getting him out of the facility in one piece. Obviously their cover would be blown - two measly low ranking guards escorting one of the chosen Apprentices? Highly unusual.

She made sure to step in place next to Xin and keep up the confidence level. So far, so good. They turned left up ahead, Delila nodding as they passed a pair of guards dressed identical to themselves. Not even a glance in their direction. It was evident as they got closer there was more activity, more guards and soldiers passing through.

Apprentices must be housed in a more central location. Prevented runaways.

 

[Xin Boa]

They were unchallenged, but Xin felt as if they were walking deeper and deeper into danger. As much as he tried to keep a mental note of the route they took, he knew they were hoping that Adric had a good knowledge of the old temple's layout.

It would have been fascinating in other circumstances. The place made him feel deeply uneasy, perhaps a sense of the dark side it had been steeped in. It had to be absolutely ancient. The world had seemed otherwise uninhabited. A good place for Sith to flee to recover.

The droid had shown them the way to the training grounds. They were empty. A wide open space that didn't match the corridors around it. Xin ran his fingers across deep grooves that had been randomly cut into the walls.

"Lightsabers," he muttered. He hadn't seen any of the weapons on the footage from the K2 series droid, but the damage could have been a thousand years old.

"They must be kept near here," he said hopefully.

 

[Delila Castillon]

|| Xin Boa ||

Lightsabers? Someone tells Xin he has the Force and suddenly he was an expert.

Delila wasn't familiar. She ran her hand along the groove and it reminded her of large blaster bolts. Almost the kind that came off large war vehicles. If she was being honest,Xin was most likely correct. Head craned up, looking for signs of life. She knew they had to be quick, why would a pair of guards be in this training area? If caught, stupidity would come to play. When they had first come it was clear they could play off as newly conscripted and confused.

An open square, Delila made sure to move along the edge of the training grounds. Ready to give up, the corner of her eye caught movement. A young kid, maybe eight or so, walking down a corridor open to the training grounds. They were close. Immediately regrouping with Xin,the pair made a quick dash to follow the kid.

Noise picked up -shuffling of feet, scattered voices of boys. If not the dorms it was some type of meeting place for the apprentices. Pace slowed. Could Adric pick them out with his mystical powers? She hoped the kid would make it easier on them.

 

[Xin Boa]

Xin stepped into a side passage as he heard voices coming back towards them. Two young men walked past in the direction of the training grounds.

Neither of them was Adric.

This part of the plan had always been fuzzy. They were in the vicinity of him, but couldn't press on towards the noises ahead without being seen by all the recruits.

If they were all here against their will, then they could have risked trying to free them all. They did not know that. The acolytes were as likely to turn on them as they were to want to leave this place.

Xin knew from personal experience that being given a place to belong, structure to your day, could be very appealing. Better to have guardians and to be fed than to question the morality of what you were doing.

They hadn't seen any guards around the acolytes on the video feeds from the hacked droid. They had only seen their teachers. This was a dangerous situation.

The noise increased before Xin could talk to Dells. The students were coming out from their gathering place towards the training grounds. He watched them pass.

Xin spotted a familiar face. Adric walked alongside a small group at the back of the column.

Please, Xin willed as Adric walked away from them. To come this close without being able to reach out and grab the kid was maddening.

Adric turned around and looked right at them. Making a brief apology to those closest he walked calmly back down the corridor and turned into the side passage where they waited.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed.

 

[Delila Castillon]

"We've come to rescue you."

Delila spoke as it was the most obvious thing in the world. Unlike Xin, she had yet to consider the fact Adric may not want to return with them. Dells was already worried about their potential exit - how would an apprentice be able to leave with just two guards? One thought was to disguise Adric as they were and move out in formation with the other guards. The boy hadn't been observing habits as they had been.

She didn't expect them to leave without being noticed. They just had to be quick.

"Time is of the essence here. It's only a matter of time until they notice us."

Xin Boa

 

[Xin Boa]

Aldric looked over his shoulder, fear etched onto his face. He was breathing quickly, short and sharp. Xin was worried. The kid looked as if he was about to turn and run, calling for help.

He didn't get a sense that danger was around the corner. He had a knack for picking up such things. One which might not have been as much about luck and his innate nautolan sensitivities as he had thought.

Adric surprised him. He stepped forwards, wrapped Dells in a hug, and buried his face into her neck.

 

[Delila Castillon]

Dells wasn't one for motherly instincts - which explained a lot in her life. Yet she had taking a liking to young Adric and it seemed the feeling was mutual. Xin and herself were probably the most stable presence the boy had in a long time.

Arms wrapped around him and hugged tight. She couldn't tell if he was relieved to see them, scared at the entire situation, or a bit of both. Even before his capture things had been more than a little scary, especially for someone younger.

"Everything's going to be alright. We're not going to let anything happen to you."

She unwrapped her arms around him, forcing Adric to look at her.

"We are going to have to be quick about this. Listen to Xin and I, if we tell you to do something you need to follow through. Its going to get a little rough trying to get out of here."

"We need to get down to the landing pad again, you know where it is?"

A small nod.

"Lets get ready to do this then."

 

[Xin Boa]

"How many teachers do you have?" Xin asked quietly.

At their mention, a little more of the colour drained from Adric's face.

"There are two in charge...the others who help them teach are much younger. Barely older than us." Adric was picking a deliberate path through the corridors.

The place was a maze and now they had left the path Xin had memories, he quickly lost track.

Two teachers fit his thoughts of the situation. Two sith who had fled the wars and were trying to start their own base of power. They probably had a first batch of trainees that were now overseeing the new.

They soon emerged from the pyramid.

"You're going to stick tight to me Adric," Xin said. "We're going to get a ship up and running and Dells is going to cover us. It might take a minutes to warm the ship up and by then they might be onto us."

 

[Delila Castillon]

Dells knew they were going to make it out of the pyramid complex, that was easy given their disguises and Adric's status as a trainee. When it came to leaving? That was a stickier situation. She knew they were going to be stopped once the ship was started. Any military operation worth its salt would have an indicator of when vessels were powering up - some type of sensor system.

It made sense for Xin and Adric to go first. Two people would need to run the ship - one to start and one to start firing if needed. Delila couldn't stand near the exit however. As Xin and Adric went to find a suitable ship, Dells scouted a location. A few storage crates offered some cover, straight down from the exit. Not ideal but she could retreat back as needed. Hopefully Adric would be able to lay down some cover fire from the ship for her.

Back was turned to Xin and Adric, trusting them to do their part. She kneeled down behind the crate to wait.Dells wouldn't have to wait long though, alarms began to blare. A warning.

They had finally been spotted.

 

[Xin Boa]

"Alright kid, that's an alarm. Don't know if they've spotted us or just found out that one of their students or two of their miners are missing," he called out. The freighter wasn't entirely familiar so he took a moment to cast his eyes across the controls.

"They won't shoot the ship down if they think I'm in it," Adric said. "At least...well I don't think so. It seemed they were really having trouble finding more of us."

"We can hope. Bubble turret at the rear of the ship. Go. I've got this. If any of those guard droids come focus on them!" Xin called after the kid. Those things could soak up some small arms fire and give the guards time to surround Dells out there.

"Come on green lights," he muttered to himself as the self diagnostics started.

 

[Delila Castillon]

So focused on covering Xin and Adric's backs, Dells quickly realized she didn't see what ship the two decided to steal. It would be an issue when she was trying to retreat later, not having a clear idea of where she was exactly running to. Hopefully the pair would signal her in some way to allow for an even quicker escape.

Sirens began to wail and her ears picked up the movement of security forces. Delila slid more behind the crates for cover, staring at the entrance. After what seemed like an eternity soldiers began to make their way out of the temple. The first small group ran out quickly, heads craned to the sky to look for the cause of all the warning sirens.

"Nothing in the atmo...wait...its still on the ground. I hear it."

Dells didn't plan on shooting right away but the soldiers changing direction changed that. She opened fire on the lead soldier, dropping him and confusing the others.Blaster bolts quickly rang out across the landing pad.

 

[Xin Boa]

Green lights slowly blinked on. The notable absence was the hyperseive ignition light. It had been fully powered down. They would be able to take off soon but would have a few minutes in the air to try and hold off pursuit.

Adric reached the bubble turret. A small light was a request for activation. Xin flicked the switch.

"Kid you should be powered up now!" Xin called back.

Through the viewscreen he saw several men rushing for the flight center. Somewhere in this chaos, were going to be some TIE pilots getting prepped. He gave the engines a nudge. Hopefully it was enough of a sign that they were almost ready to take off.

 

[Delila Castillon]

Between the blaster bolts flying all around her and the sound of various engines firing up she knew it was going to be difficult to tell which ship was actually trying to take her away. In the short distance she could hear TIE fighters coming to life, their distinctive take off sound reaching her ears. In retrospect, she should have worked out a better plan with Xin and told him to leave without her. Let her find her way off planet in another vessel. Not that the Nautolan would have listened to her.

Instead she was doing her best to hold it down and be a distraction. She fired back when possible, taking measured shots and hitting what she could. There was only so much she could do. In addition to trying to take out as many soldiers as possibly, she was slowly inching back between the cargo containers. Dells needed a clear path to run once Xin and Adric decided to come pick her up.

 

[Xin Boa]

Xin eased back on the stick and the freighter rose from the ground on repulsor lifts alone. He turned them about to put the nose towards Dells and the incoming guards.

"Hey, I can't fire on them!" Adric complained, from his rear facing turret.

"Another problem first!" Xin shouted back. "TIE fighters, shoot them whilst they're on the ground!"

As the pilots rushed out towards the ships Adric opened fire. His first burst of quad-laser fire hit the ground, but he slowly pulled his aim around. One by one the starfighters were wrecked before they could even power up.

Xin slowly turned them about. He set them back down on the ground just a short sprint from Dells and dropped the ramp back down. Adric provided some inaccurate, but distracting cover fire.

 

[Delila Castillon]

The sounds of a large blaster cannon caught her attention for a brief moment. A ship firing on the others laying on the landing pads. It had to be Xin and Adric, unless the Imperials were laying waste to everything to prevent escape.

Yet the vessel landed and sloppy turbolaser fire came from the bubble turret. Had to be Adric at the helm.

Ramp was down and she made a break for it. The turret fire was wild and spotty, making the stormtroopers she was firing upon cautious. Dells was worried about getting hit too but that fear was far less than the prospect of staying behind and being caught.

She thundered up the ramp,slapping the button to close it.

"I'm on! Let's go!"

There was no time to check on Xin. She immediately went down to the turret to take over for Adric.

"Go on and help Xin,I've got this."

 

[Xin Boa]

Xin wasn't going to waste any time. The freighter wasn't an agile craft, so even opening up the taps and firing the engines at an unsafe distance, the ship only lurched upwards slowly.

The freighter had its nose angled up for a slow climb out of the atmosphere. Xin had the astronav locked onto a hyperspace route, but they needed to clear the planet.

Xin scanned as actively as he could. He directed Adric to the scanner as soon as he arrived up front. Red dots started to appear.

"Dells we've got three inbound from another landing site. Might be TIE fighters but this scanner isn't up to the job."

 

[Delila Castillon]

Xin Boa

"TIE fighters, Star Destoyers, hell a Death Star and I don't think it would matter right now. I'll do my best."

The craft Xin took wasn't exactly meant to fight. Saegassum was similar but she and Xin had painstakingly remodeled the vessel to at least withstand a fight. Not such luck here, as she settled into the turret everything seemed basic. Most likely a merchant vessel for low risk runs.

"Just do some of that fancy flying you like."

The little ship lurched again as a TIE interceptor got a hit on their rear deflector shield. It meant he was in range. Dells began to fire, not so much targeting the lead vessel but more of a spray strategy to buy them time. Climbing in atmo was critical, then she could get fancy with the hits. Maybe.

The ship lurched again. There were more than three fighters on their tail.

"At lear they don't have as many resources as a well equipped Empire..."