Mechis III

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

The two of them sat in a comfortable and mission focused silence as TeVerd began to key in their approach to the harsh moon below them.

 

Mirdala watched him out of the corner of her eye and wondered what might be going through his head. She felt his slight nudge, reminding her to focus on the mission at hand and not worry about him. If they were going to be successful they had to trust in the other to get the job they’d come here to do done as quickly as possible. Distractions could be deadly.

 

They’d already begun their approach when a slightly larger vessel exited from another point in hyperspace and took up hiding within the shadow of one of the other Mechis moons that was near, but not immediately adjacent to Abraxos. Mirdala knew without looking that it was Rhys’s ship as she could feel him stronger within their hunt-bond along with the others.

 

“Brace for a rougher than usual entry and landing. Remember, this moon doesn’t like to play nice,” he remarked as he began to prep the ship for it’s landing.

 

He hadn’t been joking as the ship pitched and bucked as it transitioned from flight to landing mode leaving the two of them working in tandem to bring the ship safely to the ground a fair distance from their ultimate target.

 

Before disembarking, TeVerd triple-checked his seals as Mirdala did the same, following his lead. He slapped the door controls and the two of them strode out into the chemical-storm laden atmosphere and moved carefully along the rocky terrain towards the bunker.

 

TeVerd covered her while she sliced the door’s lock and the door slid open, admitting them into the bunker.

----------------------

“They’re in,” Rhys remarked to the others as he’d gotten the signal from TeVerd indicating they were making their way to their respective targets to begin the databank recovery. The decision to separate meant that their chances of getting the data and getting out were doubled if things went sideways.

 

All his team could do now was wait.

----------------------

Just outside passive scanning range of Rhys’s ship a beacon suddenly sprang to life on the other side of the planet’s surface having detected the radiation coming from TeVerd’s ship’s exhaust.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Mirdala was well-connected with the others through their empathic bond as she made her way toward her target terminal and initiated the program. Luckily, since Tey had been the one to have trashed the systems, she’d had some insight as to how to write the program that would, hopefully, bring as much of that data back to life as possible.

 

As the program began to run, she noted that her implant’s short range had been pinged. Luckily the band was on the lower end of the spectrum so it was rarely, if ever, used by someone other than the handful of Augury members, only two of which were currently in the system. She sighed, cursing herself for not thinking to warn him of her and TeVerd’s plan to split up.

 

The last several months she’d gotten so used to working with the others in the empathic stream, that she hadn’t thought to voice her intentions to Fett. She considered saying something, but was concerned with having to explain that she wasn’t completely disconnected from the others, despite appearances. The other thing preventing her from setting his mind at ease, was the chances that anything other than passive signal strength across such a distance could set off any number of potential or sensors within the facility left behind to warn of intruders.

 

Both she and TeVerd continued to work in concert for the next hour as their respective programs ran through the system, sweeping up bits and pieces of the scattered data and working to reassemble them as best as it was able.

 

The waiting was the hardest part, but Mirdala kept her eye on the door and her connection to TeVerd and Rhys open, constantly on the ready. The scans that she and TeVerd had conducted prior to their parting ways to run the program indicated that there was no one left in the station.

------------------------

 

Rhys noticed the flair on his sensors as another ship entered the system about an hour and a half into the operation. He checked the passive scanners to learn it was a StarViper.

 

Don’t do it…don’t you dare… he thought to himself as the ship appeared to be ignoring his will and making directly for Abraxos instead of one of the other more habitable moons or platforms. Swearing under his breath he nudged both members of the ground team empathically telling them to be on their guard.

 

He turned around to face Kandor, “Tell your partner she's about to have company. You and Rahg get ready.”

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

The three heavily armed and armored men and their Ageless pilot, Fieyr, sat silently jostling in the back of a second ship as they made their decent to the planet below. They carried personal-versions of the same projectile weapon that had been used with great success against the armor of the last group to touch down here. Even though their punch wasn’t quite as potent as their full-sized counterpart, they could still deal a lot of damage.

 

Fieyr was able to better hone in on the signature he’d felt as they neared the planet’s surface. The familiarity of it told him he would enjoy this hunt far more than he’d thought when they’d been rousted from the near by system where they’d been on stand-by for just such an occasion as someone tripping the scanner they’d left to monitor the not-quite-abandoned bunker.

 

They brought the ship down and he became more sure of it. She had to be here, though he could feel someone else in the mix, but the stronger signature of the two had to be the abomination of a girl whose existence had denied him his right to train with one of the top Seekers.

 

The very Seeker that had died at Judyc’s team’s hands when TeVerd had been stupid enough to fall for the trap that lead him, another Seeker, and the three they’d brought with them to their doom.

 

He was certain that it had to be the girl because she felt identical to the now-dead man.

 

As they prepared to disembark, Fieyr caught Judyc’s attention via their comm. “There’s at least one in there. I’ll focus on her, you take Canna and Lane. Your job is to make sure she’s alone. Denris, you’re with me.”

 

Care to tell me why you think that it’s a ’her’?

 

Fieyr keyed the hatch open, “Let’s just say she’s a problem that I wasn’t able to put down when I was younger. This hunt is personal."

----------------

Even though he couldn’t see her, she nodded and indicated her acknowledgement having already felt Rhys’s nudge. “Get into orbit so we can start the upload of data to you from each stream,” she relayed back through a slightly different tight band frequency that both Rhys and Kandor could pick up. She felt TeVerd nudge her along as well.

 

Fortify yourself and keep your upload going for as long as you can. Rhys has got to get what we’ve been able to decipher or else this whole trip will have been pointless. I’ll try to lead them off and keep them busy until the others can land. His tone left no room for argument.

 

Clicking her teeth together she set about doing what she could clean up the signal between her console and Rhy’s ship. If anyone was capable of doing severe amounts of damage to the enemy while in close quarters, it was TeVerd.

 

------------------

The bunker had been left a mess and the air no better than what chemical concoction was swirling around outside. Support beams, equipment, and other morass was strewn about. “What the haran happened after I left, Judyc?” Fieyr mumbled under his breath as he carefully kept himself ramped down so he wouldn’t alert his target to his presence.

 

No one had bothered to ensure all of the hatches had been closed so there was plenty of dirt and chemical dust everywhere. Noticing several dark stains on the floor, Fieyr switched his visor to spectral mode and scanned them. Ageless blood…

 

There was something his so-called partner had neglected to mention about when the mercenary team was recalled from this position. “Stay on guard, something’s not right…” he hissed to his compatriot as they moved closer to where he was sensing the woman.

 

He felt another, very similar flare from the direction he’d sent Judyc and paused, as though he was listening to the empathic steam and trying to decide if she was able to through echoes or she’d managed to coerce her way into working with another of his kind.

 

Something had happened all those years before when he’d wormed his way into her mind back in the Shogunite glade. It seemed some small part of her had imprinted itself within his mind, a lasting link an connection to the one person he truly hated. It made cutting through the ruse fairly simple.

 

Following his instincts further into the facility, he came upon a locked door and a quick scan told him she was likely behind it.

 

“Knock knock…” He growled quietly to himself as his compatriot fired the projectile weapon at the door’s lock, causing it to buckle as he lashed out within the empathic bond seeking to disable her as quickly as he could.

---------------

 

Mirdala had her mental shields up as soon as the round hit the door, fighting to keep him out. Memories of the two of them playing a similar scene out in the woods flooded Mirdala’s mind along with the feelings of fear, desperation, and betrayal that were imprinted. His attack wasn’t just a simple mind lash, it was designed to pull on some of her most horrible memories.

 

Of course he’d chosen to target the ones that had him at the center.

 

She pushed him back mentally as best she could as she opened fire when the door fell. Fieyr charged in his shoulder dropping low to ram her into the bulkhead, but she sidestepped at the last possible second and pulled one of the room’s lockers over on top of him as she continued firing at the other man who was blocking one of the doors to the control room.

 

Pulling up the schematics in her HUD she turned and began firing that the transparent barrier to the rooms observation platform and leapt through, rolling as she landed to off-set some of the momentum.

 

She heard him drop down behind her, still maintaining his focus on the empathic combat rather than engaging her physically.

 

He seems to have remembered I’m not just an empath... she thought as she ducked behind a half ruined ship just as his partner fired another round from the modified rail gun striking her in the shoulder and spinning her around as the second and final round struck her squarely in the chest, the momentum carrying her backwards into the opposite wall.

 

She lay against the wall feeling both mentally and physically torn apart. They’d hit her so hard and fast that she’d barely been able to deflect what she could of them mentally before she took a heavy round to the chest. She tried to reach out, but couldn’t quite feel TeVerd anymore either. Surely it hadn’t come to this…

 

The young woman tried to lift her arm to signal her comm, but her body was too worn out to respond. She relaxed a bit, trying to feel the others but all she got was her own fuzz. She closed her eyes, accepting the reality of her situation and taking comfort in the fact that at least she’d be with her buire soon. No, that’s not the way to think…you’re still breathing you have to figure out another way out of here. You have to move.

 

She attempted to shake her head, but all the movement did was cause her head to shift lazily from one side to another. She coughed up her own blood and started to feel trapped in her own helmet and her arms felt like dead weights so she couldn’t even get it off to breathe better. Not that would really be advisable in a poisonous environment like this.

 

“Leave her,” a Fieyr’s voice growled smugly. “She’s weak and I can feel her fading. Her will is gone and soon she will pass into whatever bastardized hell she came from.” He knelt beside her, his golden eyes glowing from behind his own visor as he looked her. “I told you that you shouldn’t step where you don’t belong. I don’t know how or why you feel like my kind, but soon there will be one less imposter in the galaxy diluting things."

 

He reached towards her and popped her bucket off tossing it just out of reach beside her. “Still the same, helpless mongrel you always were, Mirdala. Still haven’t learned."

 

She blinked back against the brightness of his head lamp in her eyes and coughed against the caustic air. While not as bad as the open air of Abraxos’s surface, it wasn’t advisable for long periods of time. “W-why F-Fieyr?"

 

He pressed a gloved finger to her lips. “I wouldn’t try to speak, dearheart. It’ll only accelerate your lung degradation." He wiped some of the blood away from the side of her mouth and Mirdala felt her skin crawl as he leaned in closer so she could hear him without his helmet mic pickup. “As for the why, it’s not yours to know pretender. Just know that your precious Uncle Carid died begging for his life and your precious instructor will soon do the same. You will die alone here, forgotten. One less Force-user to exploit the galaxy.”

 

If he was looking for a reaction, she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of one as he rose and regarded her before gesturing to his companions to exit.

 

Rhys, if you can hear me…find Tey…please find Tey…it’s confirmed Fieyr is the one…please tell me you got all that… She managed to send along the secured frequency of her implant just before her vitals dropped and she lost consciousness.

 

---------------------

Rhys nodded to himself as Mirdala's implant com dropped off line. He looked over at his copilot. "Get us down there. I'll figure out where TeVerd is. Better bump the shields up a notch. This is what we used to call a 'disputed LZ' or a 'Hot Dustoff’," he turned slightly to his right and began punching commands into the NavAids station.

 

In the left chair, Aliise just nodded and flexed his fingers wide, trying to get his gauntlets to sit better before his hands were stuck gripping the control yoke under duress.

 

Rahg leaned up behind him. "Need me to take over, Kid?"

 

Aliise stiffened just slightly. "No, I'm okay, Uncle. If it gets too hairy, feel free to jump in, though," he answered, pushing his luck.

 

Rahg nodded and looked over at his brother. "And?"

 

Rhys was staring in defocus. "Think I got him. Notice that we're not getting anything from him?" He looked up. "C'mon, Son, get us moving!" As he turned his seat fully forward, he heard Rahg get up and move into the small cargo space, probably getting the medical lockers primed.

 

The small Andore assault boat jumped forward. "Here we go, into the teeth of Hell and prepared to get bit, as ever," Rhys grunted.

 

“Kandor you’re with me as soon as we touch dirt. Rahg you and Aliise will find her.”

 

-------------------------

Every breath burned as she floated in and out of consciousness. In someways she felt she should have seen this coming. This was their turf and she should have known better than to separate from TeVerd.

 

Something clattered in the distance, her mind wondered, friend or foe? Just before another coughing fit caused her to pass out with a soft moan.

 

--------------------------

Mixed blue and green illuminators glimmered through the archway, as a figure armored in gray plastoid stepped through, immediately pivoting to his left and sweeping the room through his sights. "Clear, left," He grunted.

 

A larger figure in menacing black and blue armor followed him, pivoting right. "Clear right," The man confirmed.

 

The smaller man holstered his carbine with a flourish and ran over to the figure hunched low against the wall.

 

"Aunt Mirdala, we're here," Aliise said, pulling his bucket off to check her with his eyes, fumbling for his medkit.

 

"Don't get too involved, Kid," Rahg snarled from fifteen steps away. "Start the breathing, stop the bleeding, cover the wound, keep her awake, and let's get going!"

 

Aliise nodded jerkily, pulling his helmet back on so he could use the spotlamp in it. "How are we going to get her moving in this shape?"

 

"You do the first aid, I'll carry the deadweight, okay?" Rahg growled. "C'mon, Bravure, get on it."

 

With Rahg growling at him the whole time, Aliise quickly but carefully administered a dose of Anti-Shock and taped large absorbent pads over all the visible injuries he could find.

 

Afterwards, Aliise chattering to her the whole time, but still watching out for trouble, carbine sweeping back and forth, Rahg hoisted her up, using one broad shoulder plate as a pivot to carefully rest her across his shoulders.

 

“Tey...” she managed, not still fairly delerious.

 

"Still looking, Runt," Rahg muttered, shifting her weight to let him jog forward.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

By the time Kandor made it back to the ship, Rahg already had Mirdala strapped into one of the med lockers and was doing his best to make her comfortable for the trip. She was stable, but clearly needed better facilities.

 

“What’s her status?” TeVerd’s voiced from behind him as he leaned heavily on Rhys as the two of them entered the ship.

 

Rahg looked up from the medical scanners and frowned. “Took two heavy rounds, first one grazed her, second looks like a direct hit. Lucky thing she was wearing the old style of chest plate, it did it’s job. Inhaled the atoms She’s alive just not happy about it. Already dispatched the Quack, he’ll be meeting us dirt-side. What about you, Sarge?"

 

“Nothing major. Likely a few cracked or bruised ribs, busted ankle. I’ll live.” He buckled himself in one of the seats in the cargo hold, removing his helmet and revealing his grey furred face and violet eyes. “Go with Aliise. We’ve got her from here.” 

 

Aliise was already priming the other vessel for take off. Rahg grunted once and left to join him. 

 

The Ageless closed his eyes and tried to feel her within their bond. He could feel her, but vaguely. 

 

----------

 

She was cold, things were dark, and she felt like she was floating. Is this what it feels like? She wondered. She could feel familiar presences around her, ghosts and echoes she knew. 

 

Somewhere, off in the distance, there was a steady rhythmic symphony of beeps, blips and a soft whirring. 

 

And voices, murky voices from a thousand miles away. Was this what it was like for my parents? If I’m dead, at least he’s not here with me. 

 

Mirdala was swimming in the water as the scene shifted, when she felt strong arms wrap around her and turned to see the blue-haired woman she instinctively knew was a cop or a Hunter like her.

 

"C'mon, Deeka, time to get out of the water," the woman said soothingly. "You can't stay in here much longer. You'll forget how to get out."

 

"But why," Mirdala pouted, "Why won't you let me stay anymore? Isn't Tey coming, too?"

 

The woman smiled at her. "Tey will get here in his own time, but you can't come with him. Mom and Dad have to have some time before you interrupt things sometimes." She laughed and hugged Mirdala to her chest, then noisily kissed the top of her head. "C'mon, Kiddo, let's go!"

 

She gently pushed Mirdala to the shore. "C'mon, you can come back later. You've got stuff to finish first."

 

----------

 

After several long minutes as the ship fought its way back through the atmosphere, TeVerd finally opened his eyes. "So now you know the other secret she was keeping."

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

His answer came from the front of the ship. “Nek can meet us where ever. I can’t think of anything that we’ve got that’s closer. It’s good enough for me. That alright with you Sarge?”

 

TeVerd regarded the man across from him a moment. “The good doctor’s closer to the Corellian Sector than Yaim. It’s better than doing what we can for her all the way to Dawn." To be honest, TeVerd doubted he'd trust anyone but Nek working on Mirdala, especially considering her medical quirks that were the result of BakToid's engineering.

 

Rhys keyed in the coordinates for the system and initiated the jump to get them out of this hellhole.