Measuring Up

[Kurt Meyer]

Akara Station
[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

Akara was a small trade station thrown into the midst of great galactic powers. The place was usually used for refueling, rest, and getting in contact with people that you were eventually going to reach.

It wasn't all that valuable in the grand scheme of things, not compared to worlds like Alderaan or space stations owned by the Great Galactic Government, but it was an important pit-stop for spacers and merchants. It was also located in a key listening post of the galaxy, meaning that quite a bit of holo-traffic was routed through and around Akara staiton itself. The reason for that was mostly it's location, rather than anything else of import.

Of course this meant that even for it's rather small size, Akara did see a lot of traffic.

Kurt Meyer was there because he'd gotten a message from an old friend.

What seemed like eon ago Kurt had served in the Republic Navy, flown at the tail edge of the One Sith wars with a squadron that had been mostly shot down during the second battle of Kashyyyk. He and three others had been the only survivors, and after Kurt had left the navy they had all drifted apart from one another. There had been the occasional message, a few holo-mail clips, but nothing much else.

Until this last one anyway.

Lieutenant Xirak had sent him a missive, a request for help really, that had been rather mysterious. The note had been short, terse, basically just a request that Kurt come to Akara and meet him there. Though Xirak had always been an...odd man, Kurt nevertheless trusted himself, and thus he'd made his way to Akara without much hesitation.

Thus he sat waiting in the stations rather large lounge, face buried in his hand, half asleep on a small crash couch as the alarm klaxons began to blare.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

For Trextan this place was a literal pit stop. His light shuttle didn't have the range to take him all the way to his destination so it was being refuelled. A few sideways glances were cast in his direction. His dark grey tunic gave away what he was. It could have been taken for a fashion statement if it weren't for the white and black cylinder hanging from his belt.

He carried a takeaway cup of caf and a rolled up bag of snacks into the lounge. He didn't really like caf, but everyone older than him seemed to. This made him assume that perhaps he should like it to. The sign had proclaimed 'best caf in the sector' so he had thought it might taste better than others he had tried.

Trextan took a sip. It did not. He surreptitiously deposited the cup in a bin. At least he was hungry; Trextan was always hungry.

Two bites in and the alarm went. He hadn't sensed any danger through the Force so assumed it was some kind of fire alarm. As he stood up several more sets of eyes turned towards him. There was an undercurrent of fear in the Force. Too much for a fire drill. He saw people pointing through the observation lounge windows.

Wedge-shaped ships, barely a few kilometers away. Small, ship objects were closing fast. His eyes soon picked out the TIE fighters escorting the landing ships.

He didn't recognise the specific models. It could have been one of the large organisations, but equally likely was an independent warlord trying to carve their own path. There had been so many splinter factions ever since the mandalorians had crushed the New Order when Trextan had still been a child.

He rolled up his sleeves to the elbow, exposing his artificial arm. On the inside of the forearm was an alliance terminal and he tapped out an emergency message to be routed from the shuttle. By the time the Alliance was here it would be too late, but he couldn't hold off the garrisons of several destroyers. Even if he tried to rally the people of the station in its defence he would end up throwing away lives needlessly. By the time he reached the docking bays the imperials would already be there. Even if he fought his way to his ship they would probably blow it out of the sky.

"But he is so young..." he caught a not of disbelief mingled with fear behind him. Should have worn plain clothes.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

Kurt was decidedly less brave than Trextan, or perhaps it took more to get him into gear.

As soon as the klaxons went off the former Courier's head immediately jerked up in surprise. A mixture of anger and confusion spread across his features, his eyes searching for a fire, or a fight, or something that could have set off the security alerts. When he found nothing he glanced out the window, his lips thinning as he saw a series of triangular shapes slowly inching their way towards the station itself. A swarm of metallic gray flew out ahead of them, dozens upon dozens of fighters.

A frown set on his lips. "Kark."

It was really the only word that came to him at the moment, his thoughts emptying of everything except just how truly fucked he was. Kurt hadn't brought The Coil, he didn't have The Messa anymore, and there wasn't even a blaster in his pack. This had been a trip to try and meet an old friend, not fight an Imperial assault. He frowned for a moment, scrambling off the couch and moving closer to the viewport to see if he could try and make out some sort of insignia.

When there were none forthcoming he let out another small string of curses, glanced around him, and then let out a heavy sigh. People were already scrambling all over the place, some tried to make it to hangar bays, others just hid in the corners. He knew it wouldn't be long before the Imperials began to board the station.

No matter who they worked for, their tactics were always the same.

A frown touched his lips as he spotted a young man with a cybernetic arm typing something into his console. His eyes drew towards the lightsaber at the young mans hip, and then a shrug rolled over his shoulders. The kid didn't look like a Sith, and he knew enough about the Jedi Order to guess that he was probably one of them. Why else try to look so heroically dashing in this situation.

"Hey kid!" Kurt called out to him. "Got an extra blaster?"

He wasn't going to be fighting any pitched battles, but if Imperials were running around he'd rather have a blaster.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

Trextan wasn't feeling very heroic. He was feeling rather helpless. That frustration in the knowledge that there wasn't much he could do here could easily bubble up into anger. Then he would be prone to doing something stupid.

Someone addressed him as kid. That was oddly reassuring when compared to the two or three people who had spotted the lightsaber and were watching him in expectation.

He didn't have an extra blaster. He had one blaster, tucked into his loose tunics and out if sight. They were close enough to Alliance space that Jedi were permitted weapons. Not that this was the kind of place that scanned everyone on the way in and out.

"On my ship, but that hangar is about to be swarming with troopers. Who are you?"

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

Well kark. He'd hoped that a Jedi would be carrying a blaster at least, though in retrospect why the heck would he? Jamie didn't carry a blaster, just her lightsabers, and even that was kind of a push unless she knew she was specifically going to be using them. He frowned for a moment, running a hand over his face and into his hair as he tried to think of something else. The others in the little lounge area seemed entirely useless, and thus going to them would mean nothing.

Then he stopped suddenly, the boy asking him who he was. A frown settled on his lips for a moment, and he considered his answer. He was a Jedi, or so Kurt had guessed, and that meant most would look to him...but he was also just a kid. "Kurt Meyer."

That would mean absolutely nothing to anyone who hadn't paid attention to the Boonta Eve a couple years ago.

"I'm chief of Security for the Queen of Naboo." That wasn't actually true, and he was sure that Jamie would kill him if she ever found out that he'd called himself that, but if debate class had taught him anything it was that he could make an argument for anything. This one might have been something like; 'As your boyfriend I am responsible for your safety in many situations'.

She wouldn't buy that, and she could fight better than him, but hey.

"Akkara doesn't have much of a security force." Had never needed it. "But there's a few blast doors and a security room, we need to get there before the Stormtroopers do."

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

"Yes!" he replied enthusiastically to the plan without giving more thought to the lie about his position. If there was a security room then there would be a plan. There would be decision makers. Trextan didn't want anyone looking at him for ideas. Not many did, in truth. But perhaps in desperation there was a chance they would look towards even a young Jedi for guidance.

If they got there he could find out what the station planned to do. Or was even capable of doing. Perhaps they could mount a defence but how many would die? But if the troopers took the station they could hold those aboard hostage if the Alliance came in a few days.

Kurt looked a little rough around the edges for a chief of security. No buzz cuts here. But he was tall and drew himself up straight.

Trextan took the blaster from inside his tunic and passed it over. It was lightweight, perhaps only thirty shots in the power pack.

"Where is it? Are there others from Naboo here you need to look after?"

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

Kurt thanked whatever god was looking over to him and gave a quick and silent apology to Jamie in his head for lying. She would probably forgive him if he survived this ordeal, something that he absolutely planned on doing. He took the blaster gratefully, checking it over for a moment before powering it up. "Nope."

He stopped for a second, glancing up at the boy.

"I was on my way back home." There was no need to make the lie even bigger, but he needed to keep it up as much as he could. That being said he was adept at this sort of thing, most of the time anyway. "Vacation."

Kurt dropped the subject after that. "Security room is on the floor above us."

He glanced out the window where the Star Destroyers were creeping forward. He saw the swarm of fighters a little more clearly, and among them he could make out a dozen or so transport ships. He frowned slightly, knowing exactly what would be aboard. Without giving Trextan a further opportunity to speak he smacked the kid on the shoulder and headed off, obviously expecting him to follow to the nearest staircase that would take them a floor up.

Turbo-lifts were too dangerous now, they could get stuck.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Any person could be intelligent and rational. A crowd was almost never those things. As they moved for the staircase crowds had started to form at the exits. Some ran from the docks and others ran towards them. Someone was screaming praises of the order that was being brought. Perhaps an imperialist, but perhaps just a drunk who wanted to pick a fight before everything went down. Rather than making a scene Trextan stretched out through the Force. It was a subtle, but forceful push to have the crowd making just enough room for them. He didn't shove, he just gave them a little will to jostle out of their way. It didn't make a clear path, but it did make pushing through the the stairs possible. Jacen wouldn't have approved of using the Force to influence minds like that, but they were in a hurry.

A turn at the stairs and they had to move out of the way of two men in lightweight armour. Perhaps they were going to make an effort defending the station. Or perhaps they were going to corral people out of the danger zones for a peaceful takeover. Ahead of them was a heavy set of doors with just a small window to one side. Field emitters were set into the walls. They could probably hold off a platoon of stormtroopers for a time here, depending upon what weapons the imperials were deploying.

The blastdoor slid open as the approached as another group emerged. "Out of the way!"

Trextan didn't get out of the way. One of the saw the tunic and lightsaber and stopped with another guard. "Jedi?"

"And he's the chief of security for the Queen of Naboo," Trextan said. The guards looked distinctly more suspicious about this than Trextan had been. "What's the situation?"

 

[Kurt Meyer]

"Yes." Kurt said, his expression about as serious as he could make it. He knew that someone from Naboo might know enough to call him out, but out here that was unlikely. The Security team seemed like it was made up of gruff and honestly out of shape men and women. They were a security team meant for policing hangar deputes and bar fights, not an Imperial assault. One of them, he suspected an officer stared at Kurt.

It was odd to him that they didn't question Trextan, given that he was younger, but he supposed that the Lightsaber gave him credence.

"Are you now? How are we supposed to trust that exactly?"​

​

Had Kurt been a little less practiced at this sort of thing he might have stumbled, but thankfully he had always been a pretty good liar. Growing up on Tatooine had meant always skirting the rules, and the training Kaile had given him meant he was quite good at adapting. In his head he thanked his best friend, and then immediately launched into a tirade.

"Are you fething kidding me?" His tone was edged with anger. "You're staring down an Imperial assault and you're calling into question my credentials? What are you karking brain dead?!"

He stepped towards the man. "I've served her Majesty Jamie Pyne since before she took the throne and I've kept her safe and sound."

Again lies mixed with truth. "And I'm going to do the same for this station, now what the kark is the situation?"

The man clearly hadn't been expecting Kurt's outrage and indignation. In truth the Courier himself was somewhat surprised at his own words, but in the moment he didn't particularly care. The Imperials were no friends of his, and he wasn't all that eager at the prospect of getting shot.

"Th-they're sending boarding parties. We got a message to stand down..."​

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

Trextan nodded slowly. He had half expected that to be the case. The station wasn't set up to repulse this scale of assault. It would take at least a Trimiran-class alliance Star Defender and some escorts to hold off those destroyers. Many of the Alliance's heavy vessels were in key locations. Many had been lost during the Alliance attacks on First Order space. How long would it take the Alliance to mount an operation to take this station back? The thought made Trextan consider doing something rash. Jacen had mentioned Jamie Pyne once. Trextan had a feeling she was actually a Jedi, but he could have been confused. He had a habit of not listening to everything Jacen had to say.

"Then we stand down."

"You want to be executed by troopers?"

"Why would they do that?"

"You must have heard about Eriadu."

"They might pay for a Jedi and Naboo security..."

A palpable silence fell when the guard made the last comment. Trextan stretched out with his senses and made a mental note of how many guards were in the area. They were well surrounded by men with stun weapons.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Trextan said. "If you don't have enough men to hold them off then you might do better to keep the civilians out of their way."

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

They couldn't stop an army. The security guards looked half haggard already and Kurt himself wasn't much of a soldier. He knew how to use a blaster and had been taught how to fight but...he wasn't the equal of a stormtrooper.

That was for damn sure.

He frowned for a moment, glancing over at Trextan. Kurt remember that Jamie had once claimed a single Jedi was worth a hundred soldiers but for some reason he doubted that rule counted for this kid. It wasn't that he had no faith in Trextan, he just didn't know the young man and it seemed impossible that someone so young could face up against dozens of stormtroopers. A frown settled on the former Couriers face and slowly he ran a hand through his hair.

”They want the station.” That much was obvious. ”Not the people on it.”

Hopefully anyway. ”Half the people here are either Alliance loyalists or connected to one of the Orders. We need to get them out, safely.”

He didn't like running, but he'd prefer it to dying.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Trextan opened his mouth to reply to Kurt. Slowly, his gaze panned around to one of the soldiers.

"No one is going for the hostage plan," Trextan said with all the calm he could muster. It annoyed him that one of them still thought ransoming off the pair to the imperials would be a good idea.

The guard held up his hands apologetically. It seemed a painfully pitiful gesture for what Trextan had sensed going through his mind.

Trextan knew that he would draw attention. If a Jedi was seen fighting back it would either give the troopers pause or send them all in his direction. What he didn't want was to be seen boarding a shuttle. It would endanger the lives of all those with him. It was a problem for later.

"Do you have a station wide PA system?" Trextan asked.

"Not for you we don't."

He couldn't blame them. They worked here, some of them were already coming around to the idea of doing so again under new management. Some probably had families here.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

The fingers laced around his blasters twitched.

Even if he didn't know about the Kurt could understand the reckless impulses that Trextan was feeling, he had the exact same ones. His youth had been nothing but impulse, every action he'd taken, everything he'd done had been nothing but a series of decisions made on the fly. It had taken two women to temper him, one as a friend, the other as the love of his life. It was their voices that rung inside of his head, and it was they that kept him from raising his blaster and threatening the security commander.

"Look." He pointed out the viewport.

"Those ships are gonna dock in the next five minutes." Maybe a bit longer. "If you let those troopers on board, if you let them blockade the hangars, they're gonna round up everyone on the station and check credentials. Anyone connected with the Alliance, anyone at all is going to get executed."

Kurt looked at the guards in turn.

The words might not exactly have been true, but they were close enough. Kurt heard what had happened on Thyferra, how the Sith had acted, and before that came Eriadu and a dozen other instances where Imperials slaughtered civilians wholesale. "Do you want that on your consciences?"

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Trextan hadn't even thought of that. He couldn't put people who were already at risk of execution in more danger. It didn't leave him much choice but to try and slow down the troopers. He'd faced some nasty odds before, but always with a team of exceptional special forces troopers.

Looking around the room he decided he would trade all ten guards he could see for one of the sharpshooters from the Scarred.

A few calls of "we'll fight with you," were raised but opinion was clearly mixed.

"Get anyone who wants to leave to the far side of the station," Trextan said. "Precalculate the jumps before launch. We'll hold them as..."

"No. No. If any of us fight all of us will suffer for it. You're not..."

Trextan slammed his fist down into the table and then wagged a metal finger at the guard who had interrupted. His eyes looked down at the fist shaped indentation on the surface.

"Don't have time for this. Those that are coming get everything they can."

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

Kurt gave a small involuntary jump when the boy smashed his fist against the table, his eye locking on the small dent that was left there. A frown settled on his lips, and for a moment he glanced over towards Trextan. He was about to say something when he remembered there were still others in the room.

For now the Guards weren't exactly their friends. Some of them had agreed to help but the doubt was still palpable within the room. His fingers tightened around the blaster for a moment and a breath filled his lungs. He had to keep up the act, had to keep up the face he had shown so far. It was the only way that he would survive this ordeal. For a brief moment Kurt closed his eyes, and then he spoke once more. His voice was filled with that same false authority. "What the hell are you waiting for?"

He asked, directly looking at the guards.

"You heard the Jedi." Kurt put emphases on the title, knowing exactly what it could do. Most people showed deference to someone of higher authority, and Jedi? Jedi were just about the most common higher authority that one could get. Kings and Queens showed deference to the word of a Jedi. "GO!"

Without another word several of the guards scrambled out of the room, the guard captain still remaining standing.

The man was half shaking, but Kurt hardly paid him any mind until his men had already left. "Get on the Announcement system and direct people, lock the hangar bay doors the Imperials land in."

Stalling was the name of the game now, and without another word Kurt grabbed Trextand and pushed him towards the door. He didn't want to give the boy a second to crush the Guard Captains skull.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

It was about ten seconds of walking before Trextan snapped out of the mood their intended betrayal had put him in. He cast a furtive glance over his shoulder, judging the distance to the guards following them.

A nervous chuckle escaped his mouth. It was entirely inappropriate for the situation but was just a sign of the tension breaking.

"Damn. They were actually going to shoot us," he said just below the guard's hearing. Kurt's commanding tone had been enough to spur them into action but it didn't mean the danger from behind them was entirely gone.

"Trextan Voidstalker, Jedi Knight," he said, realising that he hadn't even offered a name.

Perhaps they weren't going to be betrayed. As they turned towards the docks there were guards waving people out of the bay so it could be sealed.

"It won't take them long to cut through those," Trextan said. "But it will funnel them down this corridor." If the stormtroopers cut a hole they would have to step through it one or two at a time into a wall of blaster fire. If they really wanted to crack the doors wide open it would delay them even longer.

"What's the fall back point from here?"

 

[Kurt Meyer]

A shrug rolled over his shoulders at Trextan's first comment.

"They might have." Kurt had never really thought that was in the cards, sure the men had threatened it...but doing something like that was entirely different than thinking about it. There had been more than a few men in that room who had clearly been on Kurt and Trex's side. No doubt in that. "I think it would've been a fight though."

He smirked, glancing at his companion. "Knight, huh?"

That was more than a little surprising to Kurt. Jamie was just a Knight, though what the difference between all the ranks was Kurt wasn't quite sure. He was sure that Jamie had tried to explain it all once, the difference between younglings, padawans, knights, masters, and marshalls...but it was really hard to concentrate on any one thing when she was talking to him, mostly because he always focused on...other things. The memory brought a smile to his face.

A shrug rolled over his shoulders and he shook his head as they reached the first blast door. For a moment he stayed quiet, then motioned towards the edge of the corridor.

"There." He pointed towards a series of what looked like boutiques. "Close quarters. Easier to take them on one by one and their numbers will be for nothing. It's not ideal but..."

Best chance they had. "Hope you're good with that thing."

He pointed to Trex's lightsaber.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"I get by," Trextan replied. "And that looks good. I can cover falling back." He turned back and stepped through into the docking bay. More guards were ushering people from the floor. Several vessels pulled away and headed out. Whether they would be turned back by TIE fighters he didn't know.

The last of the guards rushed out. Just before the doors closed he saw the imperial landing craft closing in.

"Two barges, two platoons. Ninety troopers," he called out. There was no emotion behind his voice at all. "Does anyone know how many TIE fighters two destroyers can carry?"

His mind was turning towards the ultimate goal. It was all for nothing if they couldn't get away from the station in the end. If Kurt was a royal guard he assumed he had been picked from an elite unit of soldiers. Trextan expected that he would probably take over positioning the rest of the guards now to try and hold the stormtroopers here for as long as possible.

Faceless troopers were marching all over the galaxy right now. The anonymous killers of choice for dictators, dark lords and emperors from every bastion of the dark side.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

”Depends on the Destroyer.” He mused outloud, glancing over towards Trextan before checking the blaster that he still had.

A frown settled on his face. Should’ve asked if there was an armory.

Mentally Kurt kicked himself, though he said nothing for now. Once the Stormtroopers broke through that door there would be plenty of opportunities to grab another weapon from those who had fallen. The thought was a bit morbid, but it was part of the training that he’d received in the navy.

Use what was around you.

The idea was devastatingly simple in thought, but surprisingly difficult to pull off in the field. His fingers tightened around the blaster and he looked at Trextan.

”From what I saw I’d guess about four or five Squadrons.” Perhaps a hundred or so fighters. ”But…”

He trailed off for a second, glancing towards the door. ”As long as we find a ship at the end of this I can get us out.”

Kurt was confident of that at least.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Perhaps he had come from a naval background then. A lot of GADF naval investigators seemed to end up working for politicians from what he had seen. Trextan nodded. His grip tightened in the hilt of his lightsaber and he watched that door. Once again he was wishing he had more of his special forces around. Ten of them could have ambushed and decimated a platoon of stormtroopers in seconds.

"They're coming!"

Turning towards the voice Trextan could see that one of the guards had a datapad connected to the cameras within the hangar bay itself.

His gaze snapped back when a trooper actually knocked on the door.

"Open up!"

No one answered. "Well then," Trextan said. "That's a lot of fighters out there. You'd best not die."