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Star Wars: Rise of the Battlemage - Chapter 200 - Ahsoka Tano Interlude - II
🕑 Added 2025-01-27 16:35:18 +0000 UTCGetting the proper security codes and clearance to engage with the base where Commander Gadic was stationed took only a few hours. General Draven presented Agent Yuca with a specialized Datapad containing clearance codes, as well as a verbal code that would essentially get them through the door. It would be her responsibility to make contact and introduce Ahsoka and Vaz. Which obviously meant she was going with them. Thankfully, the serious and professional agent was ready to go immediately, simply grabbing a go bag on her way out of the facility.
Within an hour of getting everything sorted, they had taken off from the landing pads around Alpha Base, Ahsoka sitting at the helm while Agent Yuca sat in the co-pilot's seat. The Togurta wasn't particularly worried about her doing anything, but common sense told her to keep her as close as possible so she could keep an eye on her. Even so, the Starcaller would need a thorough scrubbing for listening devices when they got back to Nirn. She was an intelligence agent, after all.
The trip would take a total of three days, which Vaz and Ahsoka spent sparring and Yuca spent reading in her bunk room. It was quiet, uneventful, and boring. Ahsoka, settling into the captain's quarters that she now usually shared with Deacon, had resigned herself to mediating to sleep, since she struggled to fall asleep without him. She did get a message from him during the tale end of their hyperspace journey, though she missed the direct connection since it was in the middle of the night and everyone had been sleeping.
Eventually, after three and a half days of travel, they finally arrived at the distribution point.
This particular Rebel cell had been set up inside of an abandoned mining guild asteroid facility, stuck in a relatively calm and stationary asteroid cluster on a system unimportant enough that its designation was simply two letters and a string of numbers.
The facility itself was built into a massive asteroid, the central facility being a simple squat and heavily armored structure that was carved right into the rock and sealed in place. Two other small asteroids were attached by rigid scaffolding, with enough distance that, as we approached, I could see dark tube-like reinforced corridors leading between all three asteroids. Around the facility were three large hangar bays, open and powered down, with no mag shielding in sight.
To the outside observer, the facility appeared abandoned, its lights off, and its atmosphere completely drained.
"According to the info that General Draven gave me, they will keep the facilities dark, until we land and close the hangar doors," Agent Yuca explained, peering out the forward viewport. "I'll admit, this is much larger than I had assumed when he described the operation to me, just from what I can see. According to records, they use the mines as cold storage for supplies that are coming in, before distributing them to other cells that need them."
"An interesting setup, efficient and well hidden," Ahsoka admitted. "I'm not picking up any power sources that might indicate that there may be people living in the facilities. What I am picking up could easily be blamed on emergency power slowly fading out around the facility. It's well done."
Slowly but surely, Ahsoka slowly landed the Starcaller in one of the smaller hangar bays available. Once they touched down, she turned the ship into standby mode, letting the power core spin down while the rest of the starship remained ready for an emergency takeoff. Once everything was set, she scanned for any local access to the hangar systems around us before eventually finding the open controls. With a tap, she activated them, a large metal dome slowly closing over the small hangar, sealing it shut.
"Do we now simply wait?" Vaz asked, sitting in the comms chair on the other side of Ahsoka from Agent Yuca.
"According to the sensors, the hangar is already filling up with breathable air," Agent Yuca said, leading forward to examine her console. "Everything seems clean. We just need to wait for our friends to step out so I can greet them."
After a few minutes, when the hangar had warmed up and filled with breathable air, Agent Yuca stood at the back end of the ship, special datapad in hand. Ahsoka activated the cargo bay door of the Starcaller, the back of the ship slowly opening and the ramp descending, revealing two dozen Rebel soldiers with a variety of weapons aimed at them. Agent Yuca quickly called out the verbal code, which, after a moment, seemed to be confirmed as valid as the soldiers slightly loosened up, though they stayed in place. After a moment, a human male stepped out of cover and approached the hangar bay.
"I'll need to confirm the rest of your security codes, ma'am," he said, holding out his hand expectantly.
"Of course," she responded, holding out the datapad, before pulling out a second and passing him both, one after the other. "This is our clearance code's and mission objective, and this is an update on recent activity. I'm sure you must be starved of news."
The man nodded and disappeared around the corner, leaving the same way he entered. For a long while, the hangar bay was quiet. There was tension in the soldiers, but since agent Yuca had already given the initial codes, and by all appearances, seemed to be waiting patiently, the tension stayed at a low level, the soldiers' weapons aimed firmly away from the ship and its occupants.
Eventually, the human male appeared again, this time in a bit of a rush. He quickly dismissed the soldiers, sending them away before addressing the Ahsoka and the Rebel agent.
"Jedi Tano, Agent Yuca, I am Commander Recito. My apologies for making you wait," he said, his tone apologetic but with no hint of groveling. "We will, of course, cooperate fully with your investigation."
While it was important to keep suspicions low and not show their hand, they did need to have a reason to be sniffing around for the traitor, specifically Commander Gadic. Their mission, according to the information Agent Yuca had handed over, was to investigate a potential issue with supplies not ending up where they were supposed to. While this would involve Commander Gadic, since he was in charge of logistics and the supplies that passed through the base, as opposed to Commander Recito, who was in charge of personnel and the facility itself, Commander Gadic had no reason to be nervous. As far as anyone could tell, including General Draven, not a single pound of equipment or supplies had been misplaced in months. Gadic might have spiked Ahsoka's connection to the Force as suspicious, but it was fairly clear he wasn't skimming off the top.
"I appreciate the cooperation," Ahsoka stated. "I understand you are not expecting a delivery for several days?"
"As far as I am aware, that is correct," the human responded.
"Good, that simplifies things," She responded with a nod. "I apologize for taking such drastic measures, but if you would have someone escort these droids to the station's freighters? They will be standing guard to prevent any unauthorized access while we do our investigation."
Ashoka gestured behind her, and the pair of beskar commando droids made their way down the ramp, causing the Commander's eyes to go a bit wide. Nevertheless, he nodded and quickly relayed his orders through the comms. A minute later, a pair of soldiers arrived and left with the droids.
"What else can I do to assist you?" He asked patiently.
"I would like to review your security records, both internal and external," She responded, hands crossed behind her back, her beskar uniform cutting an impressive image. "Then I would like to interview several of your people."
The man nodded, quickly turning around and leading Ahsoka and Agent Yuca down the cargo ramp and out of the hangar, a modified slicer astromech following after them. The hangar bay was left empty, with the Starcaller's cargo bay still open.
The vast majority of the abandoned mining facility was either empty or repurposed as temporary cargo holds. The abandoned portions were sealed shut, with some doors even welded shut to reduce the energy costs of heating the base. Even with such measures, the facility was very cold. Most people were wearing winter gear as they went about their business.
Commander Recito took them directly to the security room, which was staffed by several people. Quickly and efficiently, he got his people to transfer the records to an open terminal, allowing Ahsoka, Agent Yuca, and the astromech slicer to view them at their pleasure.
It didn't take long to see, that unless there was a major conspiracy going on, that General Draven had been correct. There was no way an unregistered message had gotten out from the repurposed facility. First off, the comms bay was the only place such a message could go out from, at least without smuggling in some complicated equipment. That wasn't impossible, but in a place with such tight security, it was at least unlikely. Second, any communication of any form struggled, as the high metallic content of the surrounding asteroids made sending and receiving signals almost impossible. Third, the base was continually being scanned for outgoing signals.
It was honestly a pretty tight setup.
"It might not look like much," one of the nearby Rebels explained when asked about the tight security. "But this is a crucial supply point. We supply a good percentage of Alliance cells on this chunk of the Hydian Way. If we went down, a lot of freedom fighters would start running out of food and supplies. Hard to fight the Empire when you're hungry, and your blaster is empty."
Despite the increasing unlikelihood that Gadic had somehow gotten a message out, they left the astromech working on the scan data and records just in case. While that was happening, Ahsoka walked through the halls, doing her best to listen to the Force. Agent Yuca was not helping this, as, despite her entirely professional outward demeanor, her internal thoughts were filled with doubt, focused on the trip and on Ahsoka herself.
Eventually, after a few minutes of aimlessly exploring the facility, Ahsoka turned and began to move with a bit more purpose. Soon, the pair crossed into the now shut-down mine portion of the facility, the hollowed-out asteroid filled with cargo containers, boxes, parts, scrap, and everything in between. It was clear this was a sizable operation, and from what Ahsoka could see, it was running like a well-oiled machine.
"Ahsoka, where exactly are we going?" Agent Yuca finally asked, following behind the Force-sensitive. "I assumed you would want to talk to Commander Gadic? Recito said he would be in his office, in the upper facility… where it is warmer."
"I do wish to talk to the commander," Ahsoka agreed, looking over her shoulder with a smirk. "And I have no doubt his office is where Commander Recito said it was. But clearly, that is not where Gadic is."
She gestured forward, and sure enough, the Mon Calamari was standing by a cargo container, bundled up in heavy clothing. He was looking down into his datapad, hardly aware of Ahsoka walking up to him.
“Commander Gadic,” The Togruta called out. "A moment of your time?"
The aquatic humanoid started, whirling around towards Ahsoka, clearly caught off guard. After he recovered from his shock, he lowered his datapad. He then carefully pulled some of his coverings down to expose more of his face.
"Ahsoka Tano, I must say I did not expect to see you here," He said, quickly adjusting to her presence. "What can I do for you?"
"I have several questions for you," she repeated, continuing before he could cut her off. "I have been empowered by General Syndulla, Draven, and Dodanna to carry out a crucial investigation. Please, let us find someplace private?"
For a moment, the humanoid's mouth hung open, before he finally nodded, silently agreeing to her request. Not five minutes later, they were sitting in a small break area not far from the entrance into the now-defunct mines. It was several degrees warmer than the adapted cargo space, a fact Agent Yuca clearly enjoyed as she rubbed her hands together.
"Commander Gadic, I was asked as a favor to several people to investigate a troubling string of missing equipment and supplies," Ahsoka lied, now sitting opposite Commander Gadic. "Do you know anything about that?"
"Missing supplies....? No, absolutely not!" The humanoid said, sounding genuinely insulted. "These supplies are set for local Rebel cells, keeping them fed and armed. I wouldn't dare…"
Ahsoka let him rant for a moment, not quite listening to him. Instead, she was far more interested in his emotions. A strong layer of concern had been prevalent from the moment they had first found him, spiraling and swirling stronger the longer they were together. Then, she falsely revealed they were hunting for missing supplies. Outwardly, his expression and voice did not change, but the second she explained what her "mission" was, the growing concern almost instantly began to lessen. He wasn't nearly as nervous as he had been before, and he was only getting more calm.
"How are you communicating to whoever you're selling these supplies to?" she asked, cutting off his long-winded rant. "You must have a buyer or some way to communicate with them?"
The more she asked about missing supplies, the more confident Mon Calamari felt. For ten minutes, she fed that confidence, watching as frustration also began to leak into his mind. She was questioning his loyalty to the Rebellion, and it was making him angry. Suddenly, Ahsoka stood, giving the male a nod.
"Very well, Commander Gadic, you have convinced me," She said, giving him a nod. "I apologize for accusing you, but I am sure you understand how serious these matters are."
"I… I do," He agreed, visibly reigning himself in. "I am sure you are just being thorough."
"Thank you, Commander. If you notice anything suspicious, please let me know."
The humanoid nodded, watching as Ahsoka walked out of the room, Agent Yuca following after her. The Kel Dor female was buzzing with curiosity, but her training kept her from asking in earshot of the commander. Eventually, after walking for a few minutes, she spoke up quietly.
"Does this mean you are satisfied?" She asked, eyebrow knotted.
"I am satisfied that I was correct," Ahsoka revealed with a smirk. "Commander Gadic is guilty of something. He was very close to complete panic before I started accusing him of skimming supplies. After that, he immediately began to calm down. He suspected I was here for something, but was relieved when I accused him of smuggling your supplies."
"I… you truly felt that?" the intelligence agent asked, skepticism clear on her face despite her breathing apparatus. "The Force can tell you that?"
"It can, and it did," Ahsoka confirmed with a confident smile. "But I am also aware that we need more concrete evidence than my own empathic abilities. Plus, we need to uncover how he is communicating with his contact. He is most likely putting the base at risk."
"I would say so," Agent Yuca agreed with a nod. "Do you have a plan?"
"Yes. We are returning to the Starcaller," she responded, a shiver running down her spine before she managed to get control over herself again. "I feel as if my montral are freezing off. We can warm up at the ship and plan our next move."
Comments
Freya
Tyftc grats on 200 chapters
Nathan R Chase
whole separate arc about 7 chapters that my bet for half a groschen
Duke of Coffee
The commander being cunning huh...
Sammy the Shark
Zealots willing to risk it all for something because they don't understand another beings viewpoint. *sigh* Great chapter! cant believe we're already at 200!
Katherine
Congrats on 200 chapters! :D
