Earthlings 2: The Dark Age

28

Eliezer listened to Haja, trying to process all the information at once. First Eli had been captured on Quermia while trying to get this Verla  back to the base, then Haja's supposed girlfriend (a relationship Eliezer suspected was more one sided) and her master were betrayed by an old woman and handed over to the Inquisitorius. 3 Jedi, all on their way to Nur- where the Inquisitors resided.

"So you're requesting reinforcements-?" He guessed, stroking his chin.

"Yeah." Haja nodded fervently. "As many as you have available."

Eliezer shared a look with Roken. "So... what do you say?"

The older man just drew in a breath. "Look... as much as I want them alive and well, if they're at Nur already then they're just as good as dead."

"So we intercept them before they land," Haja suggested. "Then we have a better chance."

"That... is doable," Eliezer mused. "It's a long way from either of those planets to Nur."

"The problem is, it's also a long way from here to Nur," Roken countered.

"Do we have another choice?" Eliezer asked. "We can't give up on our clients; the whole reason for this operation is to keep force-sensitive people safe from the Empire. If that means going into Nur's orbit to stop their hunters from getting inside the atmosphere, so be it."

"All right..." Roken relented after a few moments. "But if we're gonna do this, you'll have to lead the reinforcements. And... let's hope they haven't landed at their base by the time you get there."

"Yeah, I hope so too," Eliezer muttered. It would be a suicide mission to break into Fortress Inquisitorius as far as he knew. Hell, Cere Junda had gone straight to the bacta tank after she made her way to a local safehouse from what he'd heard. "Okay, Haja... we'll see what we can do."

--

18 BBY, Space

"I can't believe that old lizard betrayed us!" Leda huffed inside the transport she and her master were in. They were traveling to Nur now, and she had heard enough horror stories from Kendall to get a general idea of the place. 

"To be fair, the Inquisitors would have beheaded her or something if she hadn't," Kendall pointed out. 

"I mean, the Inquisitors  make sense, but why'd she have to sell the batch too?!" Leda wanted to throw up her hands, but they were in stuncuffs- meaning any such movement would result in her situation getting worse. 

"If it means she emerges alive, unharmed, and with some more cash, she'd become a Judas."

"A what-?"

"Someone who betrays their friends for credits."

"Earth has a lot of weird sayings."

Kendall just let out a dry chuckle. "Quite a few of them are derived from people in the past with... questionable deeds. But in any case, she had little choice in the matter. The Inquisitors would obviously kill her for failing to turn us in, but you would think Hemlock wouldn't do the same?"

Leda scoffed. "He's just a mad scientist; he's not gonna kill anyone who isn't his test subject-"

"I wouldn't underestimate Royce Hemlock," Kendall cut in. "His capability for cruel and unusual torture is one reason why he was kicked out of the Republic Science Corps."

"Isn't Hemlock Odyn's uncle?" Leda asked suddenly.

"I'm not sure," Kendall mused. "All I know is that he does  have a nephew with hemophilia. Poor child had no one to take care of him after his parents died and his brother was sent away... so that left Hemlock as his only legal guardian."