Star Wars: Secret of The Force

Chapter 28

It didn't take me long as I thought it would for me to find the main temple, and I didn't like what I saw. It looked like there had been some sort of mining that had taken place. This temple was sacred ground. I kept moving, trying to work out what the Imperials were looking for here. I had no doubt it was them who had been mining here. Kyber crystal deposits on the planet were small, but there quite a lot of them. I'd never visited this planet personally, but I could guess that the Empire had reason to believe they'd found a deposit here. As I kept moving, I saw the results of the mining. I couldn't help but wonder why they hadn't kept going. The rocky formations didn't seem to stop them at all. I kept moving until I finally found my way inside the temple. I reached out with the force, and I did sense some other people inside. "Imperials..." I muttered. They seemed far away, and I could guess that this temple held more than what was hidden in plain sight. I took my Lightsaber from my belt, and ignited it, letting the blue glow light my way through the dark as I made my way through. The temple was dark, deserted, and it was full of ghosts. I tried not to let that bother me as I kept moving. There was history here, and once upon a time, Orion would have enjoyed uncovering the secrets here. I looked around as I walked, taking in what I could. There had to be somewhere I could hide the holocron in the temple. I finally found something that had potential. It wasn't entirely unusual for there to be false walls inside a Temple like this, and if the Empire were here it was possible that they would uncover this one. If the Empire did uncover it, they'd still have to figure out the rest of the puzzle. I stared at the holocron, and reached out to search for the false wall I speculated would be here. This wasn't the library, or at least it didn't look like it, but it did likely have some kind of secret passage hidden. This wasn't a Jedi Temple, that much was obvious. It did stand to reason that the Jedi had explored some of the other Temples here. The layouts were all pretty much the same, this one was just bigger. I didn't have time to meditate and search through a deep connection to the force. I placed my hand on the wall, connected to the force just enough to be able to sense through them. As I suspected, most of them were completely solid. They might have led into other chambers if I broke through, but I didn't have the time to look. The Empire were here, and they would likely be searching for whoever had made planetfall earlier. I brushed my hand against the wall hoping that the force was with me. When I felt nothing, I huffed in annoyance, until another idea came to me. I placed my hand back on the wall, and entered a shallow meditation state. The force controlled my actions, and moved my hand into a position. I opened my eyes and sensed the chamber beyond. Using the force, I managed to open it, and I stepped inside full of relief. I looked around, and placed the holocron down somewhere out of sight. I didn't know if the room had to be opened by a Jedi, Sith, or someone just strong in the force. I hid the holocron among whatever else was in the room. It deserved better than to gather dust, but this was the best I could do. My mission was now complete. I left the chamber and repeated the process I had used to get in. only when I was certain the door was shut did I feel comfortable leaving. I just hoped that no Imperials were interested in searching every small detail of this place. I sighed, steeled myself and started to make my way out of the Temple. It didn't take long for me to reach the fresh air outside. It also brought with it blaster bolts that almost hit. "UP THERE!" I heard a stormtrooper yell. I sighed and activated my Lightsaber, deflecting the bolts back down towards the Stormtroopers. I didn't wait long before I started running "Kara! Get the ship ready, we need to go!" I yelled in to my Commlink. Stupidly, I'd decided not to wear my armour. "Copy, I'll be ready when you get here!" came my friend's reply. I kept deflecting Blaster Bolts as I ran. I could have overwhelmed the imperials easily, but that risked exposing the holocron. I eventually arrived back at the ship and got on. "KARA GET US OUT OF HERE!" I yelled running to the cockpit and deactivating my Lightsaber. I arrived in the cockpit not long later. "This really could be going better!" Kara yelled. I saw TIE Fighters taking off and starting to give chase. I shrugged "Hey, I didn't know the Empire was here, but I did manage to hide the holocron!" I said trying to assess potential damage. Thankfully, not much seemed like it was going to explode. I got the shields activated. "I'm getting the cannons!" I said. I stood and rushed back as we started to gain altitude and took my seat. I fired back at the imperial fighters. "Kara, we need to get moving, sooner than later! You have a course!?" I asked through the Intercom. "Working on it, are we gonna be going anywhere in particular!?" she asked. I sighed. "Is that really the best thing to be worrying about right now?" I asked. Kara stayed silent as I kept firing back at the TIEs chasing us. I watched the ship exit the atmosphere. "I have an opening!" Kara said through the ship comms. "Take it" I replied instantly. I watched the stars turn into starlines as we jumped from the system. I climbed out of the gunner seat and made my way to the common room. I needed to use the holotable. "So, what now? We help Raxxaann?" Kara asked stepping in from the cockpit. I nodded. "This time though, we go in with help, can I a few minutes? I need to make some calls" I said. Kara nodded to me. "Take all the time that you need, there's no rush" she said, and left the room. The first person I contacted was my master's first in command. Commander Jun Sato. "Czar, I am glad to see that you are alright, but I feel that this is not a social call..." he said when the transmission was encrypted and connected. Sato looked slightly older, weary, but happy all the same. He was in his forties, which was young to have held the rank he did in The Clone Wars. I shook my head. "No, have you heard about Raxxaann?" I asked. Sato's face became dark, sorrowful and sad. "I have, it sounds terrible..." he said. I took in a deep breath. "Do you know any of our old unit who would be willing to run a mission to help evacuate those at the most risk? I wasn't in the capital city, and I can provide a diversion..." I asked. Sato considered. "How would we get enough ships to get these people off planet?" he asked. Here came the easier bit. "I can get the ships, you just need to tell me how many we'd need" I replied. Sato nodded. "I know many who served with us that have no love for the Empire, I will request their help, May the Force be with You!" he said, and ended the transmission. I took out a communication cylinder one of Bail's soldiers had given me as I left his ship. I put it's frequency into the Holotable. "This is Fulcrum" said a distorted voice, covered by a hood. I knew this was Ahsoka. She knew it was me, and although I wasn't part of the rebellion, I knew it was for security reasons. "I need a favour... I'm running an evac op of where I was hiding on Raxxaann. I have people who are willing to help, I just need ships" I explained. "How many would you need? You won't be able to evacuate an entire planet covertly. The Rebellion is only going to survive so long as it remains secret!" was the reply. I thought this over. "What about old ships? Every place has some that if they're given just enough of an upgrade, they can be effective enough. How many would I be able to get a hold of?" I said. "That depends on the size of the population, do you intend to do recon?" Ahsoka, or Fulcrum, asked. I shook my head. "population is a few hundred thousand, by planetside standards, that's a city" I answered. "What about the people helping you run this?" I sighed. "I'll get back to you" I said. "You'll need to do so soon, and since you will be using our ship, I will be sending an Agent with them. I plan to make sure its someone you recognise. All I ask is when she gets there, you trust her." I nodded. "I have a feeling I know who it will be, ok, send her" I said. "Make sure you get back to us quickly, but we will need a favour from you soon before your mission to Raxxaann. We'll be in touch. Keep your Communicator on!" I nodded. "Always do" I said. The transmission ended there. I didn't know what mission I was signing myself up for, but I had a feeling it was a big one. I also needed to remove the Inquisitors from play long enough for the mission to succeed. Somehow, I knew I was going to run into both of them again, and soon. Probably even on this mission I was going to be doing for the rebellion. All I could do, was watch and wait.