Chapter 28: The Zygerrian Trap - Part 2
POV: Kael Vorn
Midnight found them moving through Zygerria's streets like ghosts, their stolen guard uniforms providing camouflage in the patrol rotations that maintained order among the slave quarters. The plan was elegant in its simplicity—disable the holding facility's security, free the Togruta colonists, and signal Republic extraction forces for mass evacuation.
But as they approached the compound, every instinct Kael possessed screamed danger. The guards were positioned too well, their patrols too coordinated. The security was too tight for a facility that should have been overconfident in its invulnerability.
[TRAP CONFIRMED]
[DOOKU ORCHESTRATED MISSION INTELLIGENCE]
[SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: 34%]
Before he could voice a warning, floodlights blazed to life across the compound, turning night into harsh artificial day. Queen Scintel's voice echoed from speakers mounted throughout the facility, her words carrying the satisfaction of a predator revealing her trap.
"Did you truly think you could deceive Zygerria? Count Dooku sends his regards, Jedi."
Blast doors slammed shut around them, cutting off every escape route with mechanical finality. Dozens of Zygerrian guards poured from concealment, their electro-whips crackling with energy designed to incapacitate Force-users.
A hologram materialized in the compound's center—Count Dooku in his aristocratic finery, his expression radiating cold satisfaction.
"Master Kenobi. And the troublesome gray Jedi I've heard so much about. How convenient to eliminate multiple annoyances simultaneously."
"He knows about me. Specifically about me. This whole thing was a setup."
Obi-Wan ignited his lightsaber without hesitation, the blue blade casting harsh shadows as he dropped all pretense of their cover identities. Ahsoka and Kael followed suit—her twin sabers and his borrowed weapon painting the compound in deadly light.
Rex and his men opened fire with military precision, their stolen weapons finding targets among the advancing guards. The battle erupted in three-dimensional chaos as combatants used rooftops, walkways, and balconies to gain tactical advantage.
Kael's Battle Meditation activated instinctively, his consciousness expanding to coordinate their desperate defense. But they were outnumbered twenty to one, facing an enemy that had prepared specifically for their capabilities.
From her palace balcony, Queen Scintel watched the battle with conflicted emotions. Her attraction to Obi-Wan warred with loyalty to her Separatist allies, creating hesitation that might prove crucial.
[BATTLE MEDITATION: EMERGENCY ACTIVATION]
[TACTICAL COORDINATION: MAXIMUM STRESS]
[FORCE EXHAUSTION: APPROACHING]
Fighting through waves of guards, they reached the detention levels where thousands of Togruta colonists pressed against electrified barriers. Hope and terror warred on their faces as they witnessed their potential salvation locked in desperate combat.
Ahsoka's hands shook as she worked to disable the containment systems, her technical skills pushed to their limits by security measures designed by Separatist engineers.
"I've got you," she whispered like a mantra, tears streaming down her face. "I've got you all."
Kael and Obi-Wan held the corridor against wave after wave of reinforcements. Kael's stamina drained rapidly—Force Push after Force Push, maintaining Battle Meditation, coordinating Rex's squad through pure will. His Codex screamed warnings about approaching critical exhaustion levels.
Then the barriers dropped.
Twenty-five thousand Togruta colonists flooded toward freedom, but their liberation made them vulnerable. Zygerrian snipers took position on surrounding rooftops, their weapons trained on the fleeing civilians.
Kael made a split-second decision that would define the rest of his life.
He threw up the largest Force Barrier he had ever attempted, a translucent silver dome that encompassed hundreds of fleeing colonists. The strain was immediate and agonizing—like trying to hold back an ocean with his bare hands.
Blaster fire hammered against his shield. His nose began bleeding. His vision blurred. The Codex filled his consciousness with warnings about permanent neurological damage.
"Hold it. Just hold it. They need more time."
Ninety seconds stretched into eternity. Each heartbeat felt like a lifetime as Kael poured everything he had into maintaining the barrier. His legs shook. His hands trembled. The world narrowed to nothing but will and desperate necessity.
Then Ahsoka was beside him, her hands touching his shoulders as she added her own Force energy to his failing strength.
"Together!"
Their powers combined, Light and Gray creating something stronger than either could achieve alone. The barrier stabilized, buying precious seconds for the last civilians to reach the Republic gunships that finally arrived.
When the shield finally collapsed, Kael went with it.
[FORCE BARRIER: APPRENTICE RANK ACHIEVED]
[PROGRESSION: 178/500 USES]
[FORCE EXHAUSTION DEBUFF: -40% ALL ABILITIES FOR 48 HOURS]
[COMBINATION TECHNIQUE DISCOVERED: SHARED BARRIER]
Obi-Wan caught him as he fell, while Ahsoka provided covering fire for their fighting retreat. Rex carried Kael's unconscious body through corridors filled with smoke and the screams of the defeated.
Behind them, Queen Scintel watched from her balcony but gave no orders for pursuit. Something in the Jedi's selfless sacrifice had shaken her worldview, planting seeds of doubt that would grow in the days to come.
Dooku's hologram raged at the escape, but the moment was lost. His carefully laid trap had failed to achieve its primary objectives.
[MISSION STATUS: PARTIAL SUCCESS]
[CIVILIANS RESCUED: 25,000]
[CASUALTIES: 3 CLONE TROOPERS]
[TIMELINE INTEGRITY: 64%]
Aboard the Republic medical frigate, Kael woke to find Ahsoka asleep in a chair beside his bed, her hand still holding his. The simple contact grounded him in reality, reminded him that the sacrifice had been worth it.
Obi-Wan stood at the viewport, watching Coruscant grow larger as they approached home.
"Twenty-five thousand lives saved," he said quietly. "Because you held that barrier. The Council will hear of this."
Kael's voice was hoarse from screaming. "Did everyone make it?"
"Every colonist. Though we lost three clone troopers in the fighting. CT-3319, CT-8826, and CT-5012."
Each name was a weight on Kael's soul, added to the growing list of people he couldn't save despite all his knowledge and power. The mathematics of war were always cruel—thousands saved, but individuals still lost.
Outside the medical bay's viewport, Coruscant gleamed in all its impossible beauty, oblivious to the small horrors and smaller victories that happened in its name. But somewhere in those endless city levels, twenty-five thousand Togruta would live to see another dawn because a handful of people had been willing to risk everything for strangers.
In the end, perhaps that was all the victory anyone could hope for—the chance to save someone, even if you couldn't save everyone.
"We did good today. It cost too much, but we did good."
The Force whispered around him, carrying the gratitude of the rescued and the grief of the lost in equal measure. Balance, as always, was found in accepting both.
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