| Casino Imperiale Report - RA Ekim Yellek
The platform hung from space as if the fingers of a higher power were holding it perfectly still in the Genko system. The platform shone in the light radiating off the star and the shuttle’s monitors recorded the battle damage and scarring that were recent. Fresh paint had been scraped off in the Empire’s assault on the station. Inside the Assault Shuttle, the group of men prepared to disembark on the Emperor Hammer’s latest outpost. Each commando cradled a storm-trooper blaster-rifle and wore an assortment of other customized battle gear. The leader appeared to be in his late thirties or early forties, with a laser scar creasing the right side of his head from his eye to his ear. Standing at only one-meter seventy-five, he wore a modified assault vest over light body-armor that held power packs and radio equipment for his weapons. Around his head, he wore a standard COMLINK; his assault gear also held thermal detonators and concussion grenades for assaults on hardened defensive positions. Retired Colonel Ekim Yellek, former commodore and wing commander of the ISD II Vanguard now was Director of Operations for BlastCorp. a private contractor for security operations on the outer-rim of the Emperor’s Hammer territories.
Arriving at the platform, the pilot, retired MAJ Blair Vallyn shutdown the engines of the assault shuttle and said, "Hey Boss, engines are cooling it’s time to get going on this contract."
"Roger Blair. Alright boys, lock, and load it’s time to get busy." Ekim winked and slapped a power pack into his rifle and grinned, loaded for bear. The other members of the group did the same, each in turn slapped a power pack into their customized rifles and then put a EH patch on their left sleeve to indicate to the naval forces on the station who they were dealing with. Each member of the group had served in the Tie Corps on the Vanguard as fighter pilots before being dragged away by Ekim for better pay in the corporate world.
"Hey Eeks, how long are we supposed to be deployed out here on the edge of the known galaxy for? You know I’ve got my debts to pay off back home." The third member of the crew was MAJ Johann Glorick, a former squadron commander and one of the best heads-up fighter pilots the Aggressor Strike Force had ever seen. Glorick, the tallest of the commandos stood a good twenty centimeters over Ekim and enjoyed showing it off.
"Oh I don’t know, maybe you’ll end up getting hunted down out here by the time you get paid for this," Ekim grinned and opened the airlock and stepped out into the corridor of the station. The rest of the commandos started departing from the craft and each one looked gruff and gave off the air that their employer had told them. The Naval Infantry troopers looked annoyed at the arrogant and superior attitudes taken by these "guns for hire." The dozen or so commandos slung gear bags over their shoulders and marched pass the reception committee without acknowledging their presence. "Hey trooper, where’s my suite and my rooms for my soldiers?"
"Right this way, Sir. We weren’t expecting so many of you." The Naval Lieutenant brushed aside the comment from Ekim, and swept his hand in a ‘follow me’ gesture. Ekim nodded to the group and they moved out quietly following the young officer. "Sir, if you don’t mind me asking we were wondering what your mission is here or even who hired you to protect us from this threat we keep hearing about."
Laughing, Vallyn looked at the lieutenant and spoke in a dismissing tone, "That’s none of your business, just know we’re here to make sure you troopers don’t get in trouble, and have to call for help." Vallyn touched his eyebrow with a one-fingered salute and then turned to Glorick and chatted audibly about the latest Galactic Sabaac Championships they had watched on the Travel Signal.
2
Ekim sat at the terminal, which glimmered a light green in the dark of the hangar. The Phalanx Commandos had been given a small auxiliary hangar to make ‘homey’ for their stay. The other commandos had sacked out finding corners of the hangar to find a place to sleep or clean weapons or gear. At the entrance of the hangar one of the group, Commander Victor Kage stood with rifle ready and yawned, he was ready to get off watch in fifteen minutes. The group had been hired by the Science Officer, Fleet Admiral Ender mBind, to ensure the safety of the new platform as the home of the newest department of the Science Office. The Science Office had been the reason for the capture of the station, following the theft of the EHBL encryption system the perpetrators had been traced to the station. The group’s mission was to await the arrival of the Luggage and the Science Officer’s entourage before embarking on an operation to hunt down and kill the remaining perpetrators.
INCOMING TRANSMISSION -- URGENT -- Luggage is arriving in 12 hours. Please prepare appropriate welcoming committee, must remain anonymous and protected while on station. Traveling under the name, Hawk’s Imagination. -- END OF TRANSMISSION –
"Shiest, that’s going to be fun," Ekim sighed and began to analyze the schematics of the outpost attempting to locate where he would host the Fleet Admiral and his crew while onboard. He also began to look up where he could stash the group, and found an abandoned hangar that he and his men could make into Guest Quarters before the arrival of the rustiest piece of junk in the galaxy. Ekim rousted his troopers and began to issue the orders for the construction of Fleet Admiral mBind’s arrival.
3
The freighter crested the platforms Z-axis and the entire crew grimaced as they looked at the Luggage. "It truly is the rustiest piece of junk in the galaxy," Ekim commented. "Alright guys, prepare the welcoming committee, and remember to keep those troopers out of the way of our guests." The Phalanx nodded and moved into position, flanking the docking port were Vallyn and Glorick, both menacingly held their gaze at the naval troopers who were working in the hallway.
After several moments, the door to the hangar slid open and a man wearing an obnoxiously bright Hawaiian shirt emerged, "Ekim!" The man swept into the hallway and embraced the leader’s hand vigorously. As the man stepped back, a blaster bolt rang out, and a hole appeared in Ender’s chest, the blackened flesh seared and the smell of burning flesh enveloped Ekim. Turning abruptly Ekim saw a naval trooper whip a blaster rifle towards the other Science Office members. Immediately the Phalanx returned fire, disabling the two troopers with ion blasters.
"Ender! What the hell happened?" Ekim was yelling over the exclamations of the other members of the Phalanx. Ender had fallen onto the floor facing the ceiling. Alec Qarni, the team’s medic ran over and knelt next to the fallen Ender.
"He’s dead Eeks," Alec shut Ender’s eyes and looked up at Ekim. "He took the blast directly to the heart, didn’t feel a thing mate."
"Actually he probably did feel something if only it was a human," Ender appeared through the doorway and was speaking to the team who was astonished. "I had a double produced by the office before I left; this whole EHBL business has made my life a little more dangerous. So I don’t like going anyplace without a body double, he’s the third one to go recently." Ender shrugged and the team walked over to the two new prisoners, and at once Alec had pulled up the sleeve of the first trooper.
"Bastards, New Republic Spine troopers," Ekim pointed to the symbol tattooed on the man’s right forearm. A flaming Republic eagle held in its claws a flag stating ‘Sic Semper Tyrannous.’ Ekim kicked the second man and gestured for several of the Phalanx to carry the prisoners to the hangar for interrogation. "Viktor, you think you can handle these guys, and remember don’t kill them before they tell you where they’re operations center are. We’ve got to put these bums out of business before they put Ender in a body bag." Viktor Kage nodded and flashed a grin before pulling the enemy troopers into the auxiliary hangar. "Don’t worry boss, we’ll take care of them for you." Ekim made sure Ender was escorted into his guest quarters before returning to the interrogation.
"Tell me what I want to know, I’m not an Imperial soldier, I’ll kill you outright you sith spit," Viktor Kage was yelling at the trooper. His eye was split open and bleeding lightly, and his face looked crushed on the right side. Viktor had definitely fractured the cheekbone and had continued physically abusing the Spine forces soldier. "If you don’t tell me I’ll have no choice but to blast you into the history books." Viktor placed his blaster pistol to the head of the trooper. Pushing the barrel of the pistol into the fractured cheek the spy winced in pain.
"It’s an abandoned pirate base in the Ulath system. I swear on the Jedi it’s an old base hidden by the fourth planet." The soldier was pleading for his life and the Phalanx did not flinch, smile, or do anything. Viktor looked to Ekim, who simply nodded. Viktor reached back to hit the rebel again, but as his hand came down a blade slipped out of his sleeve and switched open in mid-air. Catching it, Viktor slashed the throat and stepped back to soak up the blood with the man’s uniform.
4
The Luggage dropped out of hyperspace in the Ulath system. "Ekim, are your guys ready for some fun times?" Ender was behind the controls as he piloted the freighter into orbit of the fourth planet. His assistants and staff were operating their fighter escorts and were awaiting the signal to launch from Ender and the Phalanx. The commandos were geared up for a real fight. Each man was carrying his carbine and pistols plus additional firepower. The freighter was going to find the rebel base with it’s sensors before depositing the team with a specially modified Assault Shuttle to land and capture the station. The Command Staff had been contacted by Ender within the last two days as he sought their permission to find and kill the people who had perpetrated the theft of the EHBL.
Since the assassination attempt on the platform in the Genko system, Admiral Aseret, the Supreme Director of Imperial Intelligence had been contacted and her help had been invaluable. The Intelligence Division’s agents had confirmed the existence of the local Spine Security Forces base in the Ulath system. The agents had also confirmed it was acting autonomously in its attempts to kill the Emperor’s Hammer Science Officer. The Command Staff then granted the Phalanx a contract to terminate the existence of the local rebel group and send a message to the rest of their organization. Ekim had gladly accepted the contract and the team had almost immediately begun to plan for the operation. The team had rehearsed for four days in the old hangar, assaulting storm troopers and Imperial officers assigned to play the roles of the rebel agents. As the rehearsals went, it seemed the plan was solid, and the commandos knew their pieces of the plan to the tiniest detail. Each member had been assigned a sector of the boarding party and an assignment of destruction inside the base. The group had also been given special instructions from Ender, find any plans and operational details to the Rebel group and any encryption software for the EH Science Office.
"Phalanx, ready to rock?" Ekim called out to the assembled group, giving a north-south nod the men readied their rifles inside the Assault Shuttle. The shuttle was being piloted by Den Darkhill, one of the most experienced and respected officers in the fleet. The shuttle was still parked attached to the Luggage’s hull. Ender’s voice came over the intercom, "Phalanx, the mission is a go, good luck. Long live the Empire." The shuttle lurched as it dropped off the hull and accelerated towards the unseen base. Ekim looked around at the calm group of veterans in the airlock. Each commando wore his gray jumpsuit and body armor with the same nonchalance as if they were lounging on the beach under the sun. The COM links crackled as updates from the cockpit came through, five kilometers, four kilometers and such as the shuttle closed the range. The uniqueness of the shuttle came in the upgrades made by a secret division of the Science Office, Department of Propulsion, and Armoring. The Department is a group of scientists and engineers who are responsible for designing and upgrading Emperor’s Hammer spacecraft. The Department had coated the shuttle with a unique film of protective treatment, which confuses sensors and causes the ship to be lost in the clutter that is space. Along with the sensor technology, the ship, painted a solid black to confuse the human element to detecting approaching ships.
"get ready, thirty seconds." Den’s voice came over the intercom and the troops got up. The light above the airlock was red. As the shuttle approached the platform, the shuttle nestled up to an airlock on the station. Once the seal connected the light above the door turned green, and the commandos were slicing the codes for the door. As the door slid open to reveal a lit corridor on the rebel station, the commandos were already moving. Ekim and Vallyn moved to the right and fired on the first two guards on the station. The sounds reverberated along the corridor and the messages from the team started flowing on the COM links. "Enemy agent down, breaching communications room." "Armory taken, sergeant of the guard killed, moving to auxiliary objective."
Ekim moved to the door to his primary objective, the control center on the station. Resistance had been light, as Vallyn attached plastique to the control panel, Ekim took cover behind the bulkhead as Vallyn moved his direction and the control panel burst into flames. The resulting explosion crushed part of the door and the two commandos moved swiftly into the room. A blaster bolt sailed past Ekim’s face and heated the right cheek shortly; a snapshot from Vallyn’s carbine caught the rebel agent in the right temple, killing him instantly. Ekim raised his carbine and took aim at the agent sitting at the control desk, the shot took the agent clean in the forehead, and a blackened hole appeared. The two commandos worked the room methodically eliminating the threats.
Ekim took out his flash card and data sled out of his pocket and found the data port on the main computer. As the card was hooked into the system and Vallyn began the slicing for the mission, Ekim took up guard on the door. "Thirty seconds Bossman, and then we’re out." Vallyn began counting aloud almost chanting as the information was fed on to the Imperial data card. "Ten seconds, almost done." Vallyn smiled and yanked the card as the two men began the walk back towards the shuttle. Ekim was planting mines along the way as a call came over the COM link, "Eeks, Draxy took one in the arm, and we’re evacuating him now. Alec’s waiting." Ekim hurried Vallyn along as the mines were planted and the timers set to explode once the group had evacuated aboard the shuttle.
5
The shuttle pulled back onto the platform in the Genko system. Ender left the Luggage with his staff and Ekim in tow. The explosion resulting from the explosives left on the Spine base in the Ulath system had nearly caught the assault shuttle and had charred a significant part of the sensor suite. The mission had been a resounding success, the commandos had evacuated safely, and the one injured member had been healed in a bacta tank on the way home. "Ekim, thanks again for all your help." Ender was wearing his obnoxious outfit of bantha hide pants and a furry kind of shirt, which hung loosely around his frame. The Luggage had stopped over at a casino planet before returning to the platform. The Phalanx crew had been thrown out of the casinos twice in thirty hours and had been jailed before the Intel Division had come down and released the commandos from the local holding areas. Though the damage they caused would cost the EH a sizeable fortune as twelve commandos had ripped through the ground floor of casino bar and had roughed up a crew of tibana gas miners out of Serii. "Make sure the Phalanx stays out of trouble, you guys are getting old." Ender disappeared back into the freighter as Ekim turned the corner in time to see the freighter lift off and depart through a large window. The Phalanx gathered in the recreation room on the station had been turned into the Phalanx’s private bar and card room. The group of gathered individuals was drinking lum holding court with the Intel agents who had bailed them out and were smiling. Ekim looked around and noticed for the first time that his family was aging. Each man had gray rising from the temples and it was spreading on some more than others were. Ekim whistled slowly and looked out towards space, tempting, as it was to think about retirement, serving the Empire had its advantages. He had heard the Vanguard’s Commodore had resigned and Ekim was thinking about the consequences of previous actions.
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