(continued)

The route I took to track down Hayes was quick, though perhaps a tad unorthodox. I had been meaning to practice my Force leaps that Master Xenrad had mentioned in passing, and so this seemed like an excellent opportunity.

I ran as fast as I could, ignoring the pain in my damaged leg, augmenting the muscles with the Force. I leaped past Damaria over a table in the office, opened the upstairs window and jumped down. I only winced a bit. Well, it was actually quite painful, but I tried not to show it.

Damaria took the opportunity to do her Battle Meditation trick, and seemed to be a bit on edge today - her mind was aggressive and forced, and I had to focus to keep my own free will. She is getting powerful, and perhaps does not know her own strength. However, it definitely has the benefit of coordinating us as a group, and I almost can see our targets from different angles.

I kept on running ahead to the shed in the backyard, and was surprised when Var sprinted past me. He must have had an adrenaline rush from sliding down some kind of rain gutter, and I suppose my leg was hampering me more than I realized.

I heard Damaria mutter something about holding off troopers, but I kept running, hoping I was not too late. I heard massive explosions coming from the front yard, and yelled into the comm, checking with Sprend. Apparently he was fine, thankfully. He had grabbed Var's Jumpmaster and started eliminating the troopers pouring into the compound. I told him to pick us up in the back, hoping we could escape this mess.

As I arrived at the shed, a shadowy Imperial Lieutenant dashed out, dragging Hayes behind. Var was in the way, and was distracting my vision, but not for long. The Imp shot him at point blank range as he ran past. They entered some sort of garage, and I managed to Force throw the Lieutenant against a wall, but had to turn as Var called for me. He was ranting about some kind of wrist tracker and wanted me to take it, and was begging for forgiveness for his traitorous actions earlier.

I spun as a speeder rushed out of the garage - and I had to choose between jumping onto the speeder and saving Var. Realizing we had a ship, I decided to save the dying man. He kind of reminded me of Fox, and I realized that maybe I was too hasty in my judgments. People can change, and maybe the Force can turn that which was intended for evil into good.

I stimmed Var as Sprend arrived with the ship, and dragged him on board. Damaria raced on as well, looking rather harried. As soon as we embarked, Sprend took off towards the city, following the speeder which had a decent head start. I calmed myself, and Damaria found a medpack on the ship. With her help, I actually managed to patch up the worst of the damage, and Var's breathing normalized.

I turned my attention back to the tracker, and shouted out coordinates for Sprend to follow. The ride in was a bit bumpy as he stayed below the tree line to avoid notice from any TIE patrols, and he ended up parking above an alley, wedging the ship in.

Damaria Sensed the area to try to find Hayes, but she found Tor instead. He had been slicing into Imperial comms from a nearby depot, and it turns out he had managed to throw off the TIE patrols for an easy entry to the city. Very convenient.

The tracker was still moving, so I assumed it was tracing Hayes. We found a secret doorway built into the wall of the alley, with steps leading down. I felt rather like a true secret agent as we sprinted down the dark tunnel, my lightsaber's emanations providing enough light to avoid a broken neck.

We were ambushed by a dozen stormtroopers as we entered a wider passage, but Sprend noticed the support to the catwalk where they were stationed to snipe at us was right by our entrance, so I sliced it cleanly in one swift motion. A few blaster shots ricocheted above our heads as we continued, and I tried to ignore their helpless screams as they fell several stories down.

Tor made quick work of a locked door that the kidnapping Imp had rushed through as we dealt with the troopers, and it was not long before we hit a dead end. It looked bad. A massive AT-ST clanking in, with more squads of troopers entering. The lieutenant took cover and tried to intimidate us, holding Hayes at gunpoint. I yelled at Sprend to take the shot, and with two precise bolts the leader went down. Very impressive.

Tor started raving something about how AT-ST's should never be in this kind of dank environment, and pointed out to me that the guns were inoperable. I took his word for it, and stepped out to get closer - I had a crazy idea, and if Tor was wrong, I was probably dead. Trust…

I stretched out my hand, focusing my full power, drawing more than I had before. The AT-ST began to lift slightly, no longer moving towards me. I could see the troopers inside look at each other, and the squads around stop in astonishment. I whipped my hand towards the squads, and the giant machine flew sideways in an instant, and I ducked as the heat from a fiery explosion rocked the room.

As the dust and smoke cleared, all was quiet. I winked at Sprend. “Well, boys and girls, I believe we are done here.”

---

We arrived back at our ship, tattered and bruised but with great morale. Var AND Hayes were safe, and I think the Alliance High Command will be impressed. Zense and the crew at The Scarlet Sword helped us on our way, and I suspect they will have even closer ties with the Alliance in the future.

We are currently en route back to our former fleet, and I plan on getting some one on one time with Lorren. For surgery, of course - my leg is killing me. Oh, and I believe I owe her a lunch.