Star Wars Jedi Knight IV: Sith Empire

Chapter 21: Flight from Hapes

"Hurt an enemy at the start of an engagement and he is yours, for as the fight progresses, his fear of you will intensify and will become your ally."

―Prince Isoder

Luke and Ben led Allana's exfiltration party toward the palace entrance. They could see the Hapan Security officers poised for action behind two droideka. Ben felt a sense of danger tug at his nerves a split second before the doorway was blown open violently. 

Both father and son used the Force to push back at the explosive force that threatened to funnel through the hallway like a cannon shot. They couldn't stop the blinding flash of light or the searing heat wave, but they kept the wind and debris at bay with the Force.

With spots in his eyes and ringing ears Ben ignited his saber, followed by Luke and the other Jedi. The droideka started firing towards the smoky entrance. Red blades poked through the fog and batted the shots away. The two droids were picked up with the Force and flung down the hallway. Their shields sputtered out as they lost the battle with the floor, and left the bare droids to tumble and slide. 

The Sith troopers advanced, backed by droids. Droids clad in shiny black Imperial armor, with glowing red eyes. They bore the same skeletal shape as a droid that was known very well: YVH droids. Luke Ben and Ahsoka stood their ground, with Han, Leia and Tenel Ka protecting Allana. The Jedi trio met the Sith squad, locking blades and severing limbs. 

Ben was the first to finish plowing through the Sith and began hacking away at a droid. He took a swipe with his saber at the neck of the mechanical menace. With a white flash his saber passed through...and sputtered out. 

The young Skywalker tried to reignite his saber. While he was doing so, the droid leveled an arm mounted rocket launcher between his eyes. In a flash, Ben gave the droid a hard Force push backward, and sent the machine crashing into half a dozen others behind it. 

"Not funny!" Ben exclaimed. "I think they have cortosis armor."

Luke impaled the last remaining Sith trooper and then struck him down before glancing his son's direction and staring down his own cortosis armored fiend. But Luke didn't strike it. Instead, he waved his hand. Instantly all the droids stiffened up, beeped and stuttered, then collapsed. 

"Let's find another exit before more of them show up," Luke said. A look of concern, borderline fear, was on the Jedi Master's face. These were machines dedicated to killing Jedi. Luckily Luke had mastered an ability to disable droids with the Force, but nobody else present was that lucky. 

"If this door has been breached, odds are the others will have been as well," Tenel Ka stated. "I know of a...less conventional way out, over one of the balconies."

"Let's go," Luke stated, letting the Queen Mother lead the way.

***

Vestara's regiment marched into the palace through the remains of the main door. The Sith troopers and YVH droids canvassed the area. But Vestara didn't need them to tell her that the area was clear. She sensed it. 

She strolled in, holding her side and surveying the carnage. Far more Imperial casualties than Hapan. But everyone was dead. Interesting...

As she stepped over the bodies and deactivated droids, the Sith sergeant gave the all clear sign. Vestara turned one of the dead Sith over with her boot. His right arm was missing at the elbow, a clean and cauterized cut. Lightsabers. Jedi. This complicated things. 

The Jedi were protecting Allana. Tenel Ka probably called for help. There was no way the Queen Mother and Allana alone could power through a squad of Sith troopers and lightsaber resistant droids.