Measuring Up

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

"Sith?" His lips thinned, his face paled, and he felt a sudden rumble in his bowl.

Kurt groaned quietly, his head falling back against the bulkhead. Kark me.

Jamie really was going to kill him if she heard about this, but then again he might also die so perhaps he wouldn't have to face her wrath at all. Hands came up to his face, fingers quickly rubbing at his skin. He felt goosebumps prickle over his flesh as he tried to think about what the hell they were going to do.

Sith weren't...well they weren't exactly his specialty. He'd never actually fought one toe to toe, never actually seen one for that matter. He'd heard the stories, flown against a few of them in a cockpit but that was entirely different. This was new, and he didn't exactly have a plan for it. "So uhmmm."

His lips thinned.

"Can you..." Kurt looked up at Trex. "Sense...his power level?"

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Trextan tilted his head from side to side. "In a way. The dark side is deceptive though. Also, if I reach out towards him and he's skilled enough he'll be through that hatch in half a second."

Once again he wished he had the nice comfort blanket of Master Yvette or his special forces team. He didn't really do a lot of planning when it came down to it. People in their thirties and forties tended to have that in hand whilst he listened and did as he was told.

"Didn't steal any thermal detonators by any chance?"

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

He considered for a moment, frowning.

"No." In fact Kurt had absolutely no weapons to speak of. The blaster pistol that Trextan had given him had been lost in the initial fight and he'd dropped the blaster rifle he'd picked up earlier when he'd run out of ammo. It was a rather unfortunate truth of fact, and one he wasn't quite ready to admit to. "There was some ammo crates stacked to the left of the Hangars entrance."

Not that it would help much. "I think they wanted this station as more than just a token."

If he had to guess he would say a staging point for some greater strike at the Alliance. It made sense with where they were located, even more so with all of the hyperspace routes that one could actually take from here. Of course it would also explain why there had been so many of them for just a small station.

A shrug rolled over his shoulder.

"They don't seem too hurried anymore though." A good indicator that they had likely secured the station, save for capturing Kurt and Trex of course.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

The plan was really falling apart now. It had relied on swinging around and stealing a ship but now they were fortifying the docking bay.

"Blaster power packs are quite hard to set off, did you see any serious munitions? Cases with lots of yellow warning signs on?"

Had Kurt lied just to tag along with him and get out? He wondered. He reached out with the Force briefly. He didn't sense any real intent to deceive him. There was pain though. A lot of pain.

" If we get a shuttle now, do you really think we can get off? We could try and sneak aboard an imperial shuttle and take control and jump when it's clear."

How they would achieve that he did not know.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

Kurt considered for a moment. "Doesn't have to be a shuttle."

That fact was pretty obvious, but it wasn't something he'd really considered up until now. A lot of Imperial Fighters hadn't been hyperspace worthy in his day, but as the wars trogged on and the galaxy continued, the Imperials had gotten smart enough to equip most of their smaller craft with hyperdrives.

They just had to find something worthy.

"The smart play is to do this quietly." He agreed with Trextan. Sneaking about was just about the only thing they could do at this point, at least if they wanted to survive for the next few minutes. The question was how were they going to do it. His lips thinned. "That black shuttle clearly belongs to the Sith."

He hated to stereotype, but it was probably true. "So lets avoid that."

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"Let's. Now I can draw some attention away from us with the Force but the moment I do that...that Sith will come running. If he's here for me he'll go to where they last saw us."

Trextan was clearly struggling to think this through. There was a lot to go wrong. What he quite firmly believed was that sitting and meditating on the problem wasn't going to help. Time was not on their side. His ribs were not going to start feeling any better. Eventually the troopers would have proper control over the security systems.

"We do it now. Find another hatch that puts a shuttle between us and the stormtroopers. I can pull a detonator from one if we need a distraction. Leave the hatch open. If it gets too hot we get back down here and go for the opposite hangar."

In truth they probably just had one shot. But it seemed right to have a fallback plan.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

He frowned for a moment and shook his head. "If they've taken the station it means they're in control."

Kurt left the rest of that unsaid.

If the Stormtroopers, Imperials, had taken over the entire place that meant they could shut down whatever they needed to. That would include ray shields and blast doors. If they got found out whatever hangar they hadn't been in would be instantly shut down. They had one shot, and that was it. That meant they had to do this right. His lips thinned for a moment and a hand ran through his hair, fingers pressing against his scalp as he considered their options.

"We can fake our capture." He suggested. "Blow something up...lure them away."

It would be admittedly hard but..."Then grab a fighter, something smaller."

That or they grabbed a Stormtrooper for some information. It wasn't like they were in a terrible rush at this point.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"Depends if those guards had the balls to pull out the keys to the system first," Trextan said with a shrug. "Not worth relying on."

Trextan really, really wished he had a map of the station. If they could blow the gear they were dropping off here they could potentially take the maintenance tunnels towards another hangar. The trouble was he had no real awareness of how far that would turn out to be.

"How would we fake our capture? If we can avoid meeting that Sith at all..."

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

Admittedly Kurt wasn't too hot on the idea himself. Getting captured by imperials was never a pleasant prospect, but right now it seemed like one of the only options they actually had.

Of course Trextan was right in the fact that they had to avoid the Sith. He was sure that no matter what they did the Sith would eventually be called to ‘inspect’ the prisoners. His lips thinned and he ran a hand through his hair. ”Know anything about slicing?”

A droid would have been handy about now.

Kurt knew a few delaying tactics, but eventually the Sith would manage to get through them all.

Things seemed oddly hopeless. Every plan that he came up with had some fatal flaw. Every idea that floated through his mind would either end in their actual capture or one of their deaths. There was no clear solution, and the more he thought about that the more his stomach began to drop. Lips thinned and he let out a frustrated sigh.

”There's gotta be a junior officer…” He trailed off. ”Someone right below the Sith in line of authority.”

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"I can't alive but...yes. Yes if we can capture someone I can probably take codes whether they want me to or not."

It wasn't a large ray of hope in the circumstances but it was something. Part of him was getting restless. Wanted to be doing something and charging into that hangar bay was becoming more and more attractive.

"Someone in uniform with their face visible is usually an office? What are you thinking?"

If there hadn't been a Sith on the situation he would have been confident that they could have stayed hidden for a prolonged period. It was a large station, lots of hiding places. Perhaps they even could have gotten a warning through to the alliance.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

"There's always a food chain, even with Sith around." A small frown settled on his lips, and then slowly he began to push himself up from the floor.

Kurt was beginning to feel the same restlessness that was coursing through Trextan. He wasn't used to sitting around and doing nothing. The former Courier was no soldier, but he wasn't a general either. His plans were shoddy thrown together things at best, and it would be no different here.

"We grab the officer." They would have to find him first. "You do some extracting."

Kurt trailed off. "Then I do some acting."

A shrug rolled over his shoulder. It was far from the best plan he had ever come up with, but at the moment he hardly saw a better way. They couldn't fight, they couldn't confront the SIth, so the best option they had was to pull something stupid.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

There were more questions that came to mind: did Kurt know how to impersonate an officer? Did he know how to work a code cylinder? Was he going to have to fit into white armour?

The truth was he didn't want to hear any more answers. He didn't want to find any more problems. He wanted to do something.

"Let's get it done." No more questions.

---

"We have questions."

The officer looked at the scarlet coating on his fingers. Trextan might have broken the man's nose. He had pulled his punch as much as he could. Using his artificial arm to avoid breaking his own hand meant being careful not to do serious damage. Knocking him out might have meant the officer not waking back up.

Trextan looked towards Kurt. He didn't actually know what the questions were.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

Kurt wondered if the Kid had done this sort of thing before. He knew that Jedi underwent training at a pretty young age, but...this was all a bit too serious. He frowned for a moment, thinking about how that was sort of hypocrtical. He'd been pretty young himself when he'd run around Tatooine.

That had never been questioned.

"Right." The former Courier said as he squatted down in front of the officer. The man seemed to flinch slightly, his eyes darting towards Trextan for a brief second as if to check with the Jedi. It was clear he was afraid. "I need your access cylinder, your uniform, and any information on the Sith Lord you have running around on the station."

"I-I-I...won't tell you anything."​

The man stuttered out, his eyes flicking between the two of them.

Kurt frowned for a moment. The man was clearly concerned about his situation, though Kurt wondered if he wasn't more concerned about what would happen if he was eventually found by own own compatriots. For a few seconds he remained quiet, and then he slowly held up his open palm towards Trextan. "Lightsaber?"

He didn't expect the boy to hand it over of course, but the Imperial immediately paled.

"OKAY! FINE! You can have it all!"​

Kurt smiled, Imperials were all cowards.

"He's...he's not a Sith Lord. He's a Knight, Darth Kivik. He...he went rogue...trying to impress his master. Threatened the Admiral and..."​

​

The former Courier glanced up at Trextan, his expression a mixture of worry and oddly enough, opportunism. It seemed that the Sith weren't invading this part of the galaxy. It wasn't the precursor to a full assault by the Empire, just a rogue Knight trying to show his metal.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"That was... Almost disappointing. I was going to tear your mind apart for the truth and you just give us everything."

The young officer looked down at his own boots in shame. Trextan wondered if he had even seen action before. A few warlords with destroyers could quite often get their way just with the threat of the full firepower a vessel of that scale could direct.

Perhaps the particular lack of compassion required by an imperial officer also made them less likely to be put themselves in harm's way for their colleagues. Particularly the kind of officer who worked for some splinter faction.

Chewing on the inside of his cheek, Trextan wondered if they could get the Sith away from his support and bring an end to this entire situation. Once he had been desperate to rise above his peers in the Sith academy. He had done some foolish things, but at least he had never descended to stabbing his fellow students in the back. Or using poison. Poison had been popular.

"Shall I get myself a Stormtrooper outfit?" Trextan asked.

"You won't get ten meters beyond that door," the officer muttered defiantly. Somehow it lost its effect with him slowly removing his uniform.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

Kurt didn't answer Trextan's question, instead he waited for the officer to finish stripping to his skivies. Then slowly he turned towards Trex. "One second."

Without an unadulterated amount of rage Kurt furled his first and punched the officer in the face. The strike landed with a solid crack and the Imperial dropped onto the floor with a loud thud. The former Courier's face twisted slightly and he began to shake his hand. "Ow ow ow."

Pain shot up his ribs and through his hand, the strike having hurt him almost as much as the Imperial. His fingers shook for a moment and he frowned slightly, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath as he pulled himself together. Worth it.

Kurt thought to himself as he looked down at the Imperial.

"No Stormtrooper outfit." He told Trextan as he began to strip from his own clothes. "You're my prisoner."

The explanation came quickly. "We grab a shuttle and say we're heading back to the ship, going under the Sith's nose."

That would be their excuse. The capture of a Jedi warranted a return to the Star Destroyers in orbit around the station. Of course, they would never reach the Destroyers. Once they were aboard one of the shuttles it would be easy enough to take control and jump to hyperspace. Their destination would have to be an Alliance Military base...but Kurt would worry about that once they actually got off the station.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"Yeah, it's easier with a metal one," Trextan shrugged. He would take a real arm back, but it had its uses. It was virtually indestructible and plenty of military tools built into the forearm.

"Perhaps we should go for on of the quieter hangar bays? Fewer people are easier to influence with the Force. Also...if they don't buy it we're less likely to be riddled with holes before we can say 'run'."

He passed over the lightsaber, emitter pointed off to the side. The young jedi felt uneasy handing the weapon over, even to an ally. It had been a significant milestone in his life, returning to Tatooine and forging the weapon around a durindfire crystal. He barely knew more than this man's name.

"If pushed tell them I surrendered and want to negotiate. They would have expected an alert over the radio system if I had made a last stand. Keep this clipped loosely to your belt."

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

Kurt grabbed the lightsaber carefully.

It wasn't the first time he'd handled one of the weapons, but they always had a habit of making him uncomfortable. They weren't like blasters or something else that he knew how to use, and he knew from experience that he was just as likely to cut his hand off with a lightsaber as he was to actually hit whoever he was fighting. Fingers wrapped around the hilt, and then quickly placed it onto his belt on his left side. If they had to fight Trextan could reach it quickly.

"Yeah not the hangar with the Sith." The former Courier commented quietly, shifting slightly and glancing down the hallway. After a second of thought he reached down and grabbed the Imperial's hat, placing the cap on his head.

The blaster he kept in hand, mostly for the effect of taking Trextan as a 'prisoner'.

"There should be another hangar bay down that way." He pointed. "Usually used for cargo unloading."

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

He couldn't remember a time when he had felt quite this nervous. There was no excitement here. Not when marching out into a hangar with his hands bound behind his back. Whilst he could thumb the release catch his still felt exposed.

The hangar wasn't as locked down as the one they had retreated from. This one had engineers in olive-grey uniforms unloading equipment and supplies. This looked to be a long term occupation. They were preparing to garrison the station.

Catching movement, Trextan turned his head to see a squad of eight troopers marching in unison to flank them. The officer who had been rapidly gesticulating jogged to move ahead of them.

"Does Lord Kivic know the Jedi has been captured?"

Trextan could see the other question in his eyes. Where are your guards?

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

"HAHAHA!" Kurt bellowed boisterously, his voice booming through the hangar as he grinned wide.

He remembered some of the lessons Kaile had given him, and the most important thing he recalled was to be so confident everyone else had no choice but to question themselves. It seemed counter intuitive. Generally when you were undercover you didn't want to draw any attention to yourself, but if you had to have attention, then you might as well be the very center of it. Thus Kurt had no choice but to be the best Imperial Officer that he could be. Something that he turned out to be surprisingly good at.

Maybe it was all those holo-movies he watched. "You think I'm going to let that idiot take credit for my capture of this Jedi?"

He chuckled.

"No karking way that's happening. I'm taking this one straight to the Admiral." The other officer looked bewildered, but then suddenly a sly smirk spread across his face. The troopers of course didn't react, but Kurt could see some of them shift uncomfortably. "Tell you what, we take your shuttle back to the ship, split the credit, we captured him."

Instantly he could see greed flow through the officers eyes the question about Kurt's troopers almost instantly forgotten. For a moment the Officer seemed to think, and then he nodded quickly.

"Get on board, before he shows up."​

​

It seemed greed won the day.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Trextan didn't even get to reach out to his mind and give a little shove before he turned for the shuttle. It wasn't certain if he was impressed by Kurt's ploy or astonished at how quickly the officer leapt at the chance to grab some unearned respect. Perhaps in this splinter faction the power grabs were even more desperate than in a stable imperial organisation.

Unfortunately the officer was afraid. A quick hand signal and they all continued towards the shuttle. That included the stormtroopers. Trextan was given a firm shove in the middle of the back. He grimaced, trying to keep that flash of anger from spilling over.

Two troopers mandhandled him into a chair and strapped him in. Something tugged at the back of his mind.

"Best go soon or he will be here," Trextan said quietly for Kurt's benefit.

"Silence!" Snapped a trooper.