Worth: A Star Wars Story

23. The Siege of Nyscha, Part I

"An all out assault on Nyscha?" I muttered, staring down at the map. Cadera had drawn out where he figured the force was coming from, and all roads led to Tobasa. "Can we warn the capital?"

"No dice. Aiwha already tried," Cadera shook his head and leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest with a frown. "I'd wager that there's some type of signal jammer in Tobasa. After we showed up and kicked their door in up here, a bulk of their forces pulled back here. I guess that they thought this was a big communications hub."

"For this sector, yeah," I nodded, "but... this particular building is more for something special." Cadera turned to me, raising an eyebrow. "Besh, Krill, Grek."

BKG.

Big Karking Guns.

Cadera's eyes lit up when he heard that, "Really? Huh... Then they didn't know about those."

"Supporting Onrei's assumption about the moles being non-Sarkhai," Demar turned to look at me with a nod. "Who could they be?"

"We can answer that," I turned to see the commander of Aiwha being helped out by his squad. His armor was coated in blaster holes and he looked exhausted from the way that his shoulders sagged, even propped up by his squadmates. "I'm Sarge, head of Aiwha. Those infiltrators we were looking for weren't just anyone. They were Republic. They fled before we could stop them. Commando droids and some Droidekas got the upper hand on us."

And my Guards.

It took everything I had to keep my tongue firmly behind my teeth.

"Republic?" Ryder's voice betrayed surprise as he looked around the room, "But... why?"

"Not in the Senate much, eh?" I turned to him as he shook his head. "Sarkhai's neutral stance has not made them any friends. They've been championing for peace talks with the Seppies and neutral systems and it's made a lot of people angry."

"It's admirable enough," Cadera muttered as he began looking over the schematics that Demar handed him, "but both sides have people benefiting from this at the very top. Pretty words and calls to action won't be enough. Vhet'ika, get on that console and see what you can do."

Vhetin turned expectantly to Tor and Red, who both put up their weapons and moved to join him as I moved to stand beside Demar, Sarge, and Cadera. The map of the city showed small pockets of resistance, but nothing significant enough to be worried about in terms of actual forces. I could tell that both Demar and Cadera were spinning their wheels on that part, though. Not that I could blame them. The sudden withdrawal wasn't a good sign by any measure, and if Nyscha was in trouble, we had to find a way to help them and fast. 

"What's our best option?" I turned to Cadera and Sarge. "You two have been here longer."

"Back through the tunnels," Sarge turned and nodded. "Hopefully Sethuna Brigade is still holding out for us."

"Got it!" I heard Red exclaim with approving exhales from Tor and Vhetin that made us all turn to see what they had going on. When we walked over, we saw Vhetin finishing up running what seemed to be some access codes before there was a series of quick beeps. The console glowed in recognition of the commands, and there was a shudder that wracked the whole building as we watched two large stone courtyards in before us slide open. "Holy..." Ryder cut himself off as the massive guns rose up from the now opened courtyards.

I hadn't ever seen guns that size. They had to have put even some of the planetary defense systems on Coruscant to shame. They were behemoth weapons, and I could see why they would need the level of power that they had.

"Getting our hands on these was the right call," I muttered as I heard the doors slide open behind us. I think everyone in the room spun around, blasters out, all at once. The tension died away almost instantly when we saw Hex and Sena at the front of the pack, flanked by her people and, to my surprise, Sethuna Brigade.