Jedi and Clone

Entanglements

Hoth: 21 BBY
Corellian YVX-1010 Freighter "Zelera"
Irel Kirsi

    The small Corellian freighter was quiet as they drifted through hyperspace. Irel sat in the back lounge, her holocron crystal hovering before her. A new list was in her lap as she fed information into the crystal. Irel had her eyes closed in concentration, drawing up a name from the list.

    As she connected it to the Force, a vision of the trooper's death flew through her mind and entered the crystal. Irel forced down her thoughts and continued to work. She vaguely heard boots clank on the metal floor. Someone sat down nearby. Irel let her senses expand slightly and found Axe's presence. She drew herself back in and continued to work.

    The next vision was gruesome. She saw the pilot engulfed in fire. She could even see how it tore through his skin. Irel swallowed hard and fed the information into the crystal. There was only one name left, thankfully. She drew it up and let the vision play, before sending it into the crystal.

    Irel opened her eyes and exhaled forcefully, before drawing in several deep breaths. She grabbed the crystal off the floor and tucked it into her small pouch on her belt. She glanced at Axe. He was still watching her curiously.

    "What?" She asked with a nervous chuckle.

    "You make different expressions whenever you work on that. It makes me think that you're seeing things," Axe replied.

    "The Force shows me visions of how they died and I send it into the crystal," Irel explained. "So, essentially, I am seeing things. Some of them I would rather have not seen." She gritted her teeth momentarily.

    Axe nodded. "It's different even seeing it in person. It's not something you'll ever really get used to. You just gradually start to ignore it when it happens."

    "You know, I still don't understand why the Council decided to put me in charge of a legion," Irel said, half to herself.

    "They probably thought you were capable."

    She laughed at that. "Me? Capable of leading an army?"

    "Well, you've been capable so far." Axe stood and offered her a hand. She grabbed it and let him pull her up. "Come on. We're nearly there." He led the way into the cockpit, where Rigger and Patch were.

    They dropped out of hyperspace before the blue ice planet. No Separatist ships were in sight. Irel turned to R3. "All right, buddy. You're up. Can you tell us what we're looking for?" R3 whistled a reply and a projection appeared of a small compound.

    Axe leaned forward, examining the compound. "Looks like it's on top of a ridge. What lazer brain puts a weapons compound on a ridge?"

    "There are caves on the ridge," Rigger pointed out.

    "What part of the planet is it on, R3?" Patch asked.

    R3 chirped in response and displayed a map of the planet. A little red dot appeared where the compound was. "Looks like they're right in the middle of a snow storm," Irel noted. "There's no way the ship will get through it. It'll freeze the power cells."

    "We'll have to land in a more sheltered area and try to find some of those lizard animals I've heard about," Axe said.

    "You mean a Tauntaun?" Rigger asked. Axe nodded.

    "Where's a good place to land, R3?" Irel turned to him. Another projection appeared. It was beyond the snow storm and in between two snow covered ridges. Irel looked at it skeptically. "We can try it but we'll have to be careful not to cause any avalanches or we might be stuck on that ice bowl for a while."