The men eventually caught up to Alona, who was crouched down at the top of the mountain. Her shoulders were tense and Hunter, with his heightened senses, heard her angered breathing. The group looks down at the hollowed out mountain.
"This looks like some sort of military base." Hunter chimes, scanning the area for any signs of Gregor.
"Not one that I've ever heard of." Tech says, then looks up at an approaching ship. The four of them get lower to the ground as they watch the ship land in a docking bay inside that mountain.
"Come on. Let's get a closer look." Hunter determines, starting down the rocks to find the entrance to the military base.
Alona follows swiftly, already knowing what they were about to come across. Maybe she should have listened to Hunter's gut. This was a bad idea.
They get closer to the ledge of the base and Echo pulls out his binocs. "I'm clocking a couple of commandos and squads of clone troopers...they've updated their armor." The ex-arc trooper said, his voice twisting in confusion.
Hunter turns his helmeted head to him. "Let me see."
"What have you become?"
Alona looks over her shoulder, her heart skipping a beat. Not again. This is not good timing. But...that was her voice. Alona was calling to herself, why?
"The mountain's natural composition makes this base well-fortified and nearly impenetrable." Tech explains, taking the binoculars from Hunter and handing them back to Echo.
Alona shrugs. "Not for me."
"Look at yourself!"
Alona falters, her eyes fluttering while she tried to shut her mind away from the audible visions. Go away.
Hunter shook his head. "This is no longer just a simple extraction. Let's get back to the Marauder and leave word for Rex." He and Tech stood up, starting back in the direction they came from.
Alona shook her head disapprovingly, standing up beside Echo and tapping her fingers on her thigh. She couldn't leave Gregor here. He was family. She wasn't going to let him down like she did Anakin.
"But what about the mission?" Echo asked. Hunter and Tech stopped and turned to face the two reluctant people.
"We do not know for certain if CC-5576 is even in there...or if he is still alive." Tech replies, scuffing his heel against the concrete.
Alona reached out into the Force. Her eyes flickered and though it felt like minutes for her to get a connection, it was actually a mere second. "Gregor's alive. He's in that base, I know it."
Hunter sighed. "We'd be going in blind without any reinforcements." And they would risk Alona getting turned over to Palpatine, something Hunter refused to let happen. He couldn't let that happen.
"You did that on Skako Minor when you rescued me. I'd still be trapped in that place if you hadn't. If Gregor's in there being held against his will, we have to try to get him out." Echo says strongly, taking a step closer to the ledge of the base.
Alona crosses her arms over her chest and watches Hunter contemplate. When his head slightly lowered and he raised a hand to his helmet where the comm was, she knew he was in.
"Wrecker, do you copy?" Hunter asks. Alona hides a smile, glancing to the side at the base.
"Yeah, we hear ya. Did you find the reg?" Wrecker asked from the other end of the comm.
"Not yet. But we did find an Imperial base built inside this mountain..." Hunter paused, staring at Alona. "We're going in." He reveals.
"Wait for us! We'll help!" Omega's voice chimes urgently. She was itching to help out on the mission, Alona wished there was a safer way,
Hunter shook his head. "Negative. Stay on the ship. You're our backup. Comms will be jammed once we're inside, so keep alert." He lowered his hand from his helmet, walking over to join Alona and Hunter. Tech follows and they crouch back down.
The highly intelligent clone grabs his datapad. "I'll need to tap into the central database to pinpoint Gregor's location." He says, his fingers tapping on the screen.
"There are entry points we can access in the lift shaft. That's our way in." Echo determines.
As if on cue, the lift shaft comes all the way up to where they were crouched and Alona jumps on top of the elevator with the other three. Two troopers get inside of the shaft and it begins to lower deeper into the base at a quickened speed.
About fifteen floors down inside of the base the group jumps off of the shaft and lands on the floor that had what Echo and Tech needed. They weave secretly through the dim corridors, safely avoiding any trooper encounters.
They stop at a panel and Echo plugs his scomp in, beginning to turn it. Tech waits patiently beside him while the couple keeps watch for any Imperials.
"Anything?" Hunter asks quietly, his blaster held tightly in his hands.
Echo shook his head. "This encryption's new. This might take a while."
A small pain grows in Alona's chest and she becomes weary, unsure of what the Force was warning her about. She placed a hand on her hilt, the cold metal cylinder still resting on her belt. "I don't think we have a while." She mutters, placing her other hand on her chest and starting to rub.
Echo shook his head. "This doesn't make any sense. The muster report lists fifty clone commandos and a thousand TK troopers." He mumbles, continuing to search the database.
"TK trooper?" Tech questioned, his brows furrowing.
Alona matched the frown on Tech's face. "What the hell are those?"
Tech shrugged. "I'm not familiar with that designation."
Hunter turns to the clones working at the panel. "How much longer?" He asked swiftly.
The panel screen flickered and Echo's shoulders perked. "Found him. Cellblock 25, four levels down." The three clones and singular Force user ran down the hall in a rush to retrieve Gregor before they had the misfortune of finding out what TK troopers are.
Within minutes they had arrived on the floor, luckily only having to take down a handful of unsuspecting troopers. Alona jogged down to cell 25, smiling at the Captain through the orange shield barrier.
"Gregor, this isn't a good look for you." She teased, pressing the button to remove the barrier. "Rex sent us." She said as the three clones appeared beside her.
"General Skywalker." Gregor chuckles. "'Bout time. Let's move out."
The now group of five started down the hallway at a quick jog. They stopped around the corner, waiting for the squad of troopers to pass by before continuing their escapade. This routine continued on for just about every corner they had to turn. There were troopers everywhere.
But then they had to stop and examine the cluster of clones that had gathered together near their way out.
"They're gathered for inspection. There's no way past 'em." Gregor hummed, looking between his rescuers.
Alona bit her lip nervously. "So what now?" She asked, placing her hand back on her chest. She felt that pain spread and become more intense. She found it hard to breathe normally. Something was coming.
"If we can't reach the lifts, we can't get out of here." Echo muttered, shaking his head.
Tech held up a finger. "I can redirect them." He announces, running a few feet down the hall. The others follow and watch him hack into the panel.
Gregor examines the black and red armor Hunter wore. His eyebrow quirked. "Armor like that, I take it you're CCs like me?" He assumed.
Hunter's head twitched. "CT-99s." He draws out like he didn't want to actually tell him.
"Defective clones?" Gregor chuckles. Alona frowns and kicks Gregor, giving him a scolding look. "No, if you ask me, it's the ones who want to stay here who are really defective."
"What was your assignment?" Echo asked the reg.
"I was an instructor-" Gregor gets cut off by the alarms blaring throughout the entire base. Hunter inches closer to Alona, his grip tightening on his blaster.
"What's going on, Tech?" Hunter asks quickly.
"I keyed a Code-16 to redirect their forces. I don't know what happened." Tech replies, searching through his data pad for answers. His movements were quick, panicked.
Gregor shook his head. "Clone codes don't work here. You just triggered a security alert."
A blaster bolt whips past Alona's head and she turns around, watching troopers flood down the hallway. Alona grabbed a smoke grenade from Hunter's belt and launched it, watching the white gas blind the troopers' vision. The boys are quick to knock the troopers unconscious.
Hunter bends down and grabs a key card from the sleeping clone and holds it up. "Is there another way off this base?"
"Only one way out. Up." Gregor replies, pointing to the ceiling with his thumb.
Tech bends down and grabs onto the bottom of a trooper's helmet and pulls it off. "Look at this. These are not clone troopers." He reveals. Alona looks at the young man with blonde hair who had been knocked out by Hunter.
Gregor scoffs. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. These are our replacements. If you can believe that."
The group resumes their running. Alona coughs, the pain in her chest beginning to burn. "Something's not right." She mentions, taking a painful breath in. "This is going to get a lot worse."
More troopers catch up to them and Alona holds out her hand, trying to blow them back into the wall, but instead she sees purple-ish blue streaks shoot out of her fingers and she falls to the ground.
She gasped, dropping her hands and staring at them like they weren't her own. Her eyes then looked over at the pile of troopers she had just fried.
"Look what you've done."
Hunter and Tech each grabbed an arm and pulled Alona to her feet, dragging her along as they ran from the troopers.
She just used the dark side of the Force.
"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Tech asked, letting go of Alona's arm to run alongside Echo and Gregor. The latter was leading the group.
"Hey, I'm the one who escaped here before." Gregor retorts like Tech's question hurt him.
"And you were captured!" Tech retorted.
"After I made it out." Gregor smirked.
Hunter kept one hand around Alona's bicep while the other held tightly onto his blaster. "Since when could you do that? Why did you do that?" He asked in a demanding tone.
Alona couldn't answer, her mind was busy processing this new power. She knew the Gray Jedi used both sides of the Force, the sudden reveal of her powers was just distressing to see. She wasn't prepared for that. She didn't want to do that.
"I thought you said you trained these guys?" Echo questioned after they stopped to wait on the elevator. It was weird to see how easy Gregor blew through the troopers if they were supposed to fight just like him.
"I didn't teach them everything. That wouldn't be very smart, would it?" Gregor hummed with a chuckle.
The elevator arrived on their floor and the doors opened, revealing two lone troopers who were stunned before they even knew what happened.
Hunter and Gregor dragged the two unconscious clones out by their feet and then walked inside with Alona, Tech, and Echo.
Tech pressed a finger on the panel. "We need an authorization code."
Hunter pulled out that ID card he stole from a trooper. "Got it." He threw it to Tech, who swiped it and gained access to the elevator panel. The doors slide shut and it begins moving upwards.
"So...what the hell was that?" Echo asked, obviously referring to Alona's mishap.
Alona shut her eyes as hard as she could and dropped her head, letting out a sigh. "New subject please."
Hunter turned to Gregor. "These new troopers, what do you mean they're our replacements?" He asked, placing his hand on the small of Alona's back before dropping it at his side.
"Well, we clones are soldiers of a Republic that doesn't exist. These recruits come from all over the galaxy. They swear loyalty to the Empire. They're not as skilled, but there's an endless supply of 'em." Gregor explains as the elevator slows to a stop.
"Numbers aren't everything." Echo shrugged. The elevator doors slide open revealing a dozen troopers standing there with blasters.
"What was that?" Alona asks while Hunter forces her behind him. Tech rushes to close the doors back and the elevator slides down deeper into the mountain base.
"You were saying?" The goggles-wearing clone asks.
Gregor scratches his head awkwardly. "We'll, uh, take a detour."
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