In Command (#1 Post-Order 66 Series)

In Command - Part 15

The night breeze gently whispered in through the curtains in Senna's office. She had been unable to sleep after the dinner party and had opted to try and be productive rather than continuing to toss and turn while her mind ran in circles. Even now, she still was having difficulty focusing on the data in front of her while her blaster wound throbbed from where Wen had pressed into it with his thumb. It had been a while since she'd attempted to meditate, but as she continued to struggle, she tipped her head back and sighed. Maybe it's time to give it a try.

Clearing a space on the floor, she sat cross-legged, closing her eyes and trying to calm her racing mind. Gingerly, she took down the wall she'd placed between herself and the Force, reaching her mind out to what surrounded her. She felt the life around her, the plants, Rex breathing downstairs in his sleep and-

She gasped and her eyes snapped open. No. Steadying her breathing, she reached out through the Force again. They were definitely there, huddling just outside the wall of the dwelling. We should have had more time. She scrambled from her sitting position, creeping to the window and peeling back a sliver of curtain. Both of the Lothal moons were high in the sky, illuminating the street below. She scanned the courtyard and saw nothing out of place, but when her eyes landed beyond the outer wall of the compound, she caught the unmistakable glint of stormtrooper helmets, crouching just behind the wall. She counted roughly a dozen as she reached for her comm.

"Rex! Rex, wake up!" she whispered frantically.

"Mhm? What?" Even through the commlink, his voice was thick with sleep.

"We're about to get an Imperial wake-up call. Get up."

All of the sleep was gone from his voice now. "How many?"

"Roughly a dozen waiting just outside the perimeter wall. I'm not sure what they're waiting on, but they're going to be coming any second. Fisk must have more pull than we thought. I'm wiping the system up here and grabbing back-up drives, but we've got to go."

"You got your blaster up there with you?"

"Yup, and some back-up" she said, eying the dusty, wooden box on the corner of her desk as she tucked her blaster into its holster at her hip.

"Alright. Try to gear up while your system is wiping. Don't forget to grab the detonator when you go."

They had rigged the house to blow in case they needed a diversion and to completely wipe any evidence of their existence away, and it appeared that the time had come for it to be used. Senna had been very careful to ensure her entire office setup would be destroyed so that none of the components could be re-assembled, and now, she felt a small pang of sadness at the impending doom of all of her hardware.

Gently, she lifted the wooden box onto her lap and undid the clasp. Slowly lifting the lid, she exhaled deeply as the dim lighting in the room reflected off the hilt of her lightsaber inside. She wished this moment had come under happier terms, but she couldn't afford to be sentimental now. Steadying her mind and her hand, she took the lightsaber from the box and clipped it to her belt.

Turning her attention back to the computer screen, she saw that the system wipe was almost complete. She slipped the back up drives into a pouch on her belt and her data pad into its holster on her hip. Her comm crackled to life in her hand again, "I don't know if they've got us surrounded all the way, but they've definitely got at least two squadrons. I see another group coming around the back corner of the house."

"Great," she muttered, her heart thudding in her chest.

"Is the speeder bike working?"

"Yeah, it should be good. Have they noticed it yet?"