Chapter 5

                                    

                                          
Y/n panicked from her hiding spot, keeping her breathing steady and even. She had kept watch just as she planned, but not long after Cal disappeared into the Zeffo tomb, the Empire turned up. A force of Scout Troopers, stormtroopers, and Rocket Troopers filled where the phillak once occupied. They wasted no time in destroying the lives of the animals and standing guard in front of the tomb.
As soon as she saw them approaching, she hid. She couldn't take them all on her own. She wasn't a Jedi like Cal. All she could do was hope that they didn't find the little crevice she was squeezed in, trying to keep quiet to not tip off the stormtrooper standing but a foot from her. She would've contacted Cal to warn him had the Imps not run before she knew what struck her. She just hoped he could make it out alive.
"Y/n?" The doctor stiffened at the sound of her comm in her ear. She tried not to answer, but Cal's voice repeated once more. "Y/n, are you there? The Empire has overrun the valley. Where are you??" 
"I'm hiding, Cal," she hissed back as quietly as she could. She glanced to the trooper in front of her, careful not to raise her voice. "I would've contacted you, but they came in too fast. Killed all the phillak and took their stations. All I could do was hide in the closest crevice I could find."
"Did you hear that?" she heard one stormtrooper say, and her breathing stopped. "It sounded like someone was talking."
"What?" the other responded. His voice was filled with annoyance.
The first trooper began looking around, his blaster grip tightening in his hands. Y/n moved her hand to her own blaster, watching carefully. "I don't know. I thought I heard a voice."
"You're just imagining things. I didn't hear anything." The second trooper didn't appear to fond of his partner.
"I hope so. Jeez, this place gives me the creeps."
"Stay where you are, and lay low," Cal's voice came through her ears once more. "I'll take care of the Imps."
"Like hell!" Y/n spoke louder than she meant to, slapping a hand over her mouth with wide eyes as the troopers from before turned around to see her crouching form. "Dank ferrik."
"What the-"
She didn't give them time to speak before she shot them both. The noise tipped off the other troopers in the area, but Cal jumped in just in time to take their attention away from the girl. Bringing in a Jedi would bring them more glory than bringing in a common rebel. As the redhead cut through the Scout Troopers, Y/n shot the stormtroopers from off their sniping pedestals. She heard the sound of an incoming rocket, and turned to jump off the rock just in time for the projectile to hit where she had just been. 
"What happened to laying low?" Cal called to her, striking his lightsaber through the gut of a Scout.
"You really think I'd let you take out all these Imps without me?" she replied, taking her 'borrowed' baton off her back and smacking a stormtrooper across the face. The white plastoid armor shattered under the impact.
Soon enough, they cleared the valley of its Imperial virus. Wasting no time, the two of them ran towards the exit to the tomb, Cal showing his new ability while using the Force to push away the crumbling rock door and allowing them to escape easier. They found what appeared to be a pathway of ice caves beneath the surface, filled with both Imperial and Zeffo technology to dig deep into the earth.
Cal used BD's holomap to help maneuver them through the caves as easy as possible. What was easy for Cal was still a challenge for Y/n, but she liked the challenge. Pushing herself to the limit in places like Zeffo kept her up and focused. Unfortunately, when they came towards a cave ending, they ran into two troopers. Once was the standard Scout Trooper, while the other was covered in black armor with two purple electrobatons in his hands. His visor was a deep red, reminding Y/n of the Inquisitors.