Lost in A Memory

[Barinthus E'ron]

Once that was done, Barinthus had about three minutes to kill. One of her Noghri was by the door of the control room, and the rest were near the command center blast doors. Sansa was sitting silently in the chair, looking down at the binders on her wrists again. "So, why did you join up with the Peace Brigade?" Barinthus asked her.

 

[Barinthus E'ron]

Sansa paused a moment before replying. "My husband joined, and I went with him," she answered with a shrug. Barinthus noticed she said went, and not came, implying that she wasn't with the Peace Brigade anymore. "So where's your husband now?" he asked casually, hoping he wasn't in the barracks. Sansa probably wouldn't be as cooperative after he had troopers blast her husband into little bits.

 

[Barinthus E'ron]

"He died a couple of months ago," she replied softly. "On Ylesia." Barinthus idly wondered if he had killed him when they had captured the Peace Brigade leadership and that traitor Pwoe. "So why are you still with them?" Barinthus asked her. "Do you believe the rogue sith are going to win?" "I don't know," Sansa responded, seemingly to both questions.

 

[Barinthus E'ron]

Barinthus could sense she really wasn't sure. She however, was very sure, at least about the outcome of the war. "The rogue sith are going lose," he told Sansa firmly. "And you'd better believe it. It is something I have seen many times and they do not stand a chance in the long run" Sansa didn't respond for several seconds. When she did, it was only to change the subject. "I don't think Lieutenant Grienn is really planning on surrendering," she said. "He's really a believer in the cause."

 

[Barinthus E'ron]

"Me neither," Barinthus agreed with a nod. "That's why I talked them into waiting before they came out." "Are you a Jedi?" Sansa asked him, changing the subject again. Barinthus had only used his lightsaber in the observation post. He had used the title Commander when dealing with the Peace Brigaders. He didn't think he was famous enough to be known my sight, especially with all the cold-weather gear he was wearing. More so because all reports said he was eight hundred and to human standards he looked seventeen.

 

[Barinthus E'ron]

"What makes you say that?" he replied out of curiosity. "Isn't that a lightsaber?" Sansa asked, gesturing towards the cylinder attached to his hip and the other ones on the belt. Barinthus gave a tight smirk, slightly impressed she had recognized it in such a location. "Yes, it is," he responded. "And yes, I am." Sansa remained silent for a few seconds. "Can't you just kill everyone in the barracks with a wave of your hand?"

 

[Barinthus E'ron]

Barinthus couldn't help but burst out with laughter. "If only but no not quite," she answered. "If a Jedi could kill with a wave of their hand, we would have already won." Before Sansa could say anything else, Barinthus received a comm. It was the pilot of his transport, telling him that he had arrived at the prison complex, and was hovering in place. He told him to stand by.

 

[Barinthus E'ron]

While he had been chatting with Sansa, Barinthus had been going over his plan in his mind. He was sure that Lieutenant Grienn wasn't planning on surrendering. However, he wasn't quite ready to slaughter them all based solely on what he felt through the Force, and Sansa's opinion. He flipped his comlink over to broadcast to all of his troops, and the transport.

 

[Barinthus E'ron]

The terrible feeling from down below was in his stomach. The tightening of his gut had him worried.
"This is Barinthus. The barracks blast doors will be opening in a few moments. If anyone sees droids, or is fired upon, then everyone, including the transport, is cleared to return fire, is that understood?" There was a chorus of acknowledgments.

 

[Barinthus E'ron]

Barinthus made sure the transport crew understood, as they had the most firepower. It had a pair of starfighter-grade laser cannons, and a concussion missile launcher. Far more than enough to deal with thirty guard droids and as many Peace Brigaders. Once he was sure everyone knew what to do, he told Sansa to contact the other Peace Brigaders again.

 

[Barinthus E'ron]

"Alright Lieutenant Grienn, my troops know that you are surrendering, you can come out," Barinthus said over the comlink. "That took quite a while," he replied. "I hope you weren't setting up an ambush?" "Not at all," Barinthus lied smoothly. "My communications equipment simply isn't working properly in the cold." "I see," Lieutenant Grienn answered. "Well, if you're ready then, we are coming out, unarmed, please don't shoot us."

 

[Barinthus E'ron]

"We're standing by," Barinthus replied cheerfully. The instant he finished talking, he let go of the transmit button, and turned back to Sansa. "Can you make the blast doors open faster?" he asked her. "I—I don't know," she replied, looking at the controls. "We've never tried to find out." "Well, if they try to close the doors again, make sure they open all the way," Barinthus instructed her. "Yes master jedi," Sansa responded obediently.

 

[Barinthus E'ron]

Barinthus really wanted to be outside in the fight with his troops, but he knew he could do more here. He did start putting his overcoat and hood back on though. A moment later, he heard the transport's laser canons shooting, and a few seconds later, its concussion missile launcher. At the same time, he felt the Peace Brigaders in the barracks dying.

 

[Barinthus E'ron]

Even though they were the enemy, it was hard to feel so much death through the Force.
The shooting was over in about twenty seconds, although it seemed like much longer. Finally there was silence. "We're going in to check for survivors," Sergeant Vikkors announced over the comlink. "We're with you," someone else added. "Let's go," Barinthus told Sansa, gesturing towards the door with his hand and reeling a little while the equipment went on.

 

[Barinthus E'ron]

By the time they made it outside, several more troopers had moved into the barracks. Barinthus had no trouble smelling parts of at least a dozen guard droids scattered about the oil an burning metal pungent, along with quite a few bodies. He activated his comlink, and began issuing more orders. The soldiers were going about fully trained and in practiced movements that were a good thing to have.

 

[Barinthus E'ron]

"I want the transport on the ground as close to the prison as you can get. Leave two people in the observation post and the E-Web by the command center covering the barracks. Sergeant Vikkors, once your team is finished clearing the barracks building for threats, let me know. Lieutenant Koflan, let's start loading up prisoners. Leave the Peace Brigaders for last," Barinthus instructed them.

 

[Barinthus E'ron]

There was another chorus of acknowledgments as they began obeying him. Then Barinthus turned to his prisoner. "Barracks," he told him, gesturing towards the open blast doors with his saber. As they walked, Barinthus reached out with the Force to see if he could sense any Peace Brigaders still alive in the barracks. By the time they reached the barracks, Barinthus was pretty sure there weren't any left alive.

 

[Barinthus E'ron]

The transport set down with its ramp just a few meters from the prison doors. In minutes Lieutenant Koflan had it filled to capacity with rescued prisoners. It took them nearly three hours to get all of the prisoners, plus the Peace Brigaders, onto the passenger liner. Barinthus had his troops salvage as much of the weapons and equipment as they could from the barracks and command center. He had also had his two demolitions troopers blow the control room up so it couldn't be used again.

 

[Barinthus E'ron]

Barinthus waited until the very last transport to leave. It was the smaller one he had arrived on. Besides him, with Sansa, the other eight Peace Brigaders they had captured, and his special-ops troopers were aboard. There were also some containers of equipment they were taking from the prison, including one with several hundred sets of binders, stun cuffs, shock shackles, and even slave collars.

 

[Barinthus E'ron]

As they took off, Barinthus had the pilot blast the observation post into twisted wreckage. Then he had him shoot through the open blast doors of the command center, just to make sure the Peace Brigade couldn't use the place again. The large gaping hole in the ground collapsed as a sound came from below. The jedi padawan had a look on his face and turned to stare as hovering over it brought thick shadows to the scanners but in the force.