Process of Elimination - CM Diaboli and LCM John T. Clark
---------------------Deep
Space in Karrida System-------------------------
Sienar Fleet
System's Engineer Cruiser, a modified Strike Cruiser, had launched all of its
transports. There was panic on the bridge. Swarms of hostile ATRs had appeared
out of nowhere and fired torpedoes at them.
"They are
jamming our communications, sir!"
"Shields gone,
sir!"
"Rear and
middle sections disabled!"
Captain Juvus could
see how blue blasts punished his ship. How could this have happened? SFS had
given them a support cruiser to fend off any attackers, but the other Strike
Cruiser was vaporized in an instant as the first ATRs hit it with space bombs.
The Engineer Cruiser had no turrets.
"Signal our
surrender! Erase our datadrives!"
Eight ATRs circled
the cruiser and kept watch. Three Assault Transports entered the hangar while
the fourth docked with the mid-section. Technicians and engineers were there to
meet the invaders. They held their hands up.
The doors on the
ATRs opened at the same time. Each ATR had eight troopers inside. They wore
matt black combat armour, but no helmets. Instead they had grey-black
camo-paint on their faces. The weapons seemed to be standard issue Imperial
blasters, but some had more exotic rifles.
"Down on your
knees!" : the fiercest looking soldier yelled at the top of his lungs. He
had metallic grappler wire in his hand. They were here to get new slaves.
The transport
docking to the mid-section inserted twelve troopers into the cruiser. They had
the same combat armour and weapons. Their orders were clear. Enter the bridge,
get the datadrives and hyper space maps, kill everyone in their path, return in
seven minutes.
"Shift it, you
sluggers!": Klemm screamed. The men ran through a series of corridors
towards the rear-section. Only when they approached the lift to the bridge did
they see the first crewmembers. They wore white dress uniforms and had
stunpistols. The first pair of Klemm's men shot them down without mercy. Clean
headshots. Klemm nodded in approval:
"Improvement,
finally."
One of his men cut a
panel open with a lance-torch, did his trick with the circuits and the lift
doors opened. Five minutes remaining. The lift could take only six men. Klemm
sent his youngest troopers up.
Juvus checked how
many rounds he could fire with his blaster, thirty. He was the only one with a
gun. Other officers had ripped steel pipes from the walls for their defence.
Without warning, the lift doors opened. Something flew from the lift and landed
in the middle of the bridge. It was a shock-grenade. A bright blue electric
blast blinded them. Red blaster shots killed the officers nearest to the lift.
The attackers stormed in. Juvus tried to aim, but then just let rip with full
auto. He screamed in rage. One shot hit him in the shoulder. He collapsed to
the floor. He could hear more shots and then it was quiet.
"All
clear!"
"Clear!"
"Clear"
A black trooper
walked to him. He opened his eyes just in time to see the nozzle of the blaster
pressed against his nose. Then it was over.
"Four minutes
remaining, men! Faster, faster!" : Klemm trusted his men enough to let
them deal with the bridge and the datadrives. He sat next to the map terminal
in one of the storagerooms. His datapad was programmed to auto-slice through
digital defences and then copy all the data. It took over two minutes. By then,
the troopers on the bridge had come down with the datadrives.
"Back to
Stiletto! I'll shoot the loser who is last!" : Klemm had named their ATR
Stiletto. He liked the ring of it.
"Demo-charges?"
"Ready,
sir!"
"Set it for
thirty seconds."
"Yes,
sir!"
Stiletto flew away
from the cruiser and joined the other ATRs. They could see how the Engineer
Cruiser seemed to expand as the internal explosions did their damage. Then the
reactor went critical and a blue flash destroyed whatever was left.
"Well done,
men!" : that was the first compliment Klemm had ever said to them. He drew
his sidearm, clicked a fresh powercell into it, and asked:
"Now, who came
last?"
There was silence.
One of the biggest troopers had the guts to tell him:
"You were,
sir."
"Really? Better
luck next time!" : Klemm holstered his gun. His men laughed. This was
their first real action after months of training aboard Strike cruiser
Vengeance. In the next days they would see more action than ever before.
---------------------ISD
Colossus-------------------------
The transport from
the medical frigate Hope entered the hangar. Six men walked out. Commander
Diaboli was among them. Three of his broken ribs were finally healed, his wrist
worked and the internal bleeding was gone. Two weeks in a bacta tank and
medical nanobots in his veins had done miracles. But he was still exhausted.
The treatment was anything but gentle. There was still a support bracelet on
his left wrist and a support vest to prevent further injuries to his ribs. Wing
Commander Chris Cox was there to welcome them back. He has less than happy news
to tell Diaboli:
"Commander,
welcome back!"
"Major."
"I'm sorry to
tell you this but we've prepared a shuttle for your departure."
"What?"
"There are
instructions inside the shuttle and food and clothes for you."
"But why?"
"I can't tell
you. I'm sorry. Goad's orders."
"Right."
The shuttle had its
ramp open. Chris Cox escorted Diaboli inside.
"I guess we'll
talk more when you come back."
"I got the
feeling I'm not coming back, Chris."
"Well, we'll
see. Take care."
Diaboli remained
silent.
The lambda-class
shuttle left Colossus behind and entered hyperspace. Chris Cox was in Rear
Admiral Goad's office telling him what had happened. There was a knock on the
door.
"I'll be
leaving then, sir."
"Thank you,
Major."
Chris opened the
door and entered the corridor. Major Kadon Beir was there waiting for his turn.
"Major."
"Major."
They nodded and
departed. Beir entered the office.
"Come in,
Major. What can I do for you?"
"Commander
Diaboli arrived a moment ago, but I heard that he was sent away in a
shuttle!"
"Yes."
Beir looked amazed:
"Why?"
"I don't think
he would be safe here."
"Where could he
be safe but here?"
"The assassin
had a genuine ID- and security pass, he infiltrated Colossus without any
detection and was about to choke Diaboli in his room."
"But-"
"I understand
that you were there to save him, but the decision is mine, Major."
Goad's tone was
strickt. Beir saw that there was no reason to argue about this. He saluted and
left the office.
Goad knew what Beir
must be thinking. The Rear Admiral had given Diaboli to the assassins, Horcs'
minions, in order to avoid more assaults on Colossus. Sacrifice one to keep
Collie safe. But Goad couldn't tell Beir what he had planned. No one else on
Colossus knew about his arrangements.
----------------------STRCK
Vengeance in Shadow Point------------------------
Horcs was cleaning
his custom blaster. He could take it apart and assemble it faster than anyone.
A fresh powerclip snapped without effort into the base. He could hear a quiet
hum as the power surged through the weapon. The hum stopped as he clicked the
safety on.
The datascreen to
his side came alive. A beep signaled that new information had appeared on the
screen. It was the information on what the latest raid had accomplished:
"Captured 23
engineers, 4 senior engineers, one master engineer. Hyper space map of Aurora
System. Ship's datadrives, 75% intact. No casualties. Target cruiser and escort
destroyed."
Everything had gone
as expected. The next target would be heavily defended, but Horcs knew that
additional training would give him the advantage. The Lady had already given
him information which gave him the perfect pretext to launch a training mission
on planetary assaults.
---------------------Phare
System, planet Carba-------------------------
Diaboli's shuttle
exited hyperspace. They had arrived at one Phare system's outskirt planetary
systems. It had only one hospitable planet, Carba. A small planet with mostly
pleasant atmosphere and oceans made of water. With only three actual cities, it
wasn't the best place to hide in the galaxy, but Diaboli had no choice. They
landed near a small coastal city. Diaboli didn't know its name and didn't
really care. Not anymore.
He picked his bag
from the floor and walked outside. It was dark. Immediately, the shuttle closed
its ramp and lifted off. Warm breeze felt good after a month in a medical ward.
The air smelled good. He wanted to take deep breath, but that would cause pain
in his right lung. Instead, he started to approach the city. He had a
reservation in the hotel next to the sea under the alias "Tokoma". As
he walked nearer he noticed that the nightlife was quite loud. People were
dancing and singing in the bars. Diaboli was not in the mood for any of that.
Two cloaked figures
watch afar as Diaboli walked inside the hotel.
"He's finally
here."
"We will start
tomorrow morning." : a gravely voice said.
The third, and
smallest, figure spoke nothing. The tallest figure gave the final comment:
"Youngling, you
will be point, we will guard."
"Yes,
master."
Diaboli couldn't get
any sleep during the night. Only after the sun had come up did he finally rest.
It was past midday when he left his room to eat. He wore white cotton clothes
and his dark brown hair was combed back as well as possible. The restless night
had caused a very bad hair day. The hotel's restaurant didn't look appealing so
he walked to the center of the city. Tired of walking around, he chose an open
restaurant in the city square. Thankfully there was no music nor dancing. A
waiter came to him: "Good day, sir! Please come in!"
He guided Diaboli to
a table near the window. Diaboli ordered something that sounded good on the
menu, but was surely disgusting when it arrived. There were some people in the
tables on the other side of the room. The waiter waited.
"And a glass of
water. No." : Diaboli thinked for a moment. He had never really drank
alcohol during his life. He didn't want to risk talking about his life and past
without proper control of himself. He had the questionable repution of being
the one who did not drink in any of the parties in Colossus. But there was no
reason to worry about that now.
"Forget the
water, bring me anything with alcohol."
"Right away,
sir!"
The drink was odd
coloured. And it smelled funny. Diaboli took a sip. His mouth felt like it was
on fire. With a sigh, he leaned back and put his hands behind his head. This
wasn't such a bad place to die. He didn't expect that any Imperial task force
or Internal Security team could protect him here, not from Horcs' men. It was
mainly luck that the first assassin had failed. But Goad thought that his plan
would work. It was clear that Goad hadn't told everything in his text on the
shuttle. He finally realized that this Horcs was a threat to him and his
friends only because he had wanted to regain his past, to find out if his
parents were still alive, somewhere. If he had moved on with his life, he might
have a nice and safe life in a sunny place like this. He could see that his
life was nothing but a big failure. Now Diaboli could only wait and see what
happens.
Across the city
square two men were crouching behind the ad-board on the roof of a restaurant.
One of them hold a magni-scope: "That's him! Target verified, sir!"
The other man armed
his sniper modified blaster rifle, zeroed in with its scope and put his finger
on the trigger. He could see the target's heart as a heat source.
"Good bye,
Diaboli" : Klemm squeezed the trigger.
Diaboli was taking a
second sip when he heard something from behind him. It was a noise he had never
heard before, but still sounded strangely familiar. Someone jumped into view
from behind him. The figure had a black cape and had a red lightsaber in its
hand. The blade swung in fast arches.
"I'm
dead.": Diaboli thought. The figure continued to wield the lightsaber in
wide sweeps. Diaboli figured what was happening. The sabre deflected shots that
came from outside. He could only see the caped figure's back. Diaboli ducked
under the table. One of the men inside the restaurant stood up from his table
and revealed a blaster rifle from underneath his clothes. He took aim at the
lightsaber wielding figure. Three blastshots raked across the room, but the
figure swung the blade casually behind its back and blocked them all. The man
threw something towards Diaboli and the figure. A grenade. The figure turned
fast and pointed its hand at the grenade. It stopped in mid air and then flew
back at the man. The explosion killed him in a spectacular way. Only now did
Diaboli see the face of the figure who had saved him. It was a woman. Raven
black hair was tied in tight knot and her skin was pale. She also had a symbol
tattooed on her forehead. She was a Dark Jedi. One of the finest warriors in
the Empire's Dark Brotherhood. She lifted her hand to her ear and spoke:
"One down for good, two on the roof."
"You were
supposed to take a prisoner, not to create a war zone, Viol."
"I'm sorry,
master."
Klemm had abandoned
the sniper rifle. He was surprised as hell about the Dark Jedi's appearance,
but that didn't alter the plan. They had been here to scout the area and his
job was done. Taking a snap shot at Diaboli was a welcome addition, but not a
primary goal. Now to signal Horcs to start the operation:
"Watcher to
Vengeance, we are go. Repeat, we are go!"
Something made a
thud as it landed behind him. Klemm instinctively lunged to the side, rolled
and let loose with his blaster. Klemm's magni-scope trooper had switched to a
blaster too. Dozens of shots flew on the roof. None hit the man who had landed.
He had two lightsabres. Both were red. With masterful elegance, he reflected
one shot to the lower body of the magni-scope trooper, and another to Klemm's
rifle hand. Klemm dropped the blaster, jumped at the Dark Jedi who now lowered
his lightsabers, and tried to hit him with a kick. Another Dark Jedi appeared
behind Klemm, stretched out his hand and stopped Klemm with a force grip. Klemm
could say only one thing:
"Shit."
In the restaurant,
the female Dark Jedi started to walk away from the carnage. People were
screaming and children were crying. Everyone was running to safety. Dusting his
clothes, Diaboli rose from underneath the table. Debris was everywhere and
smoke filled the room.
"Wait, *cough*,
wait!"
Diaboli ran after
her. She didn't slowdown, but did pull her hood up to cover her head.
"Thank you for
that, umm, Dark Jedi. I think that you got your orders from Rear Admiral
Goad?"
No reply.
"Not talking,
okay. That's okay." : Diaboli stopped and watched her walk across the
square. It was over for now. Surely someone would come and pick him up from
this dusty place. Not knowing what to do next, Diaboli walked to the beach.
The Dark Jedi had
chained Klemm and his trooper and had them locked inside the room in the
restaurant. The female walked in: "There was no one else in the
restaurant." She bowed her head.
The two Dark Jedi
ignored her.
"Interrogate
the stronger one first, then the weaker will break faster."
"Yes,
master."
The tall man was their
master, Riever. He acknowledged Viol's presence:
"You failed to
follow your orders, Viol. Leave us to take care of our orders. Guard that
pilot. I'll call for you when the time is right."
"Yes,
master." : she hesitated, as if she wanted to say something, but then
stepped out from the house.
The sound of waves
and the warm sand were things that Diaboli had never experienced. He pushed his
hands deep into the white sand while he laid on his back, eyes closed. It was
relaxing. Maybe he'd remember to thank Goad about this after he returned to
Collie. Diaboli had been alone when he came to the beach, but now someone was
standing near him.
"You're still
not talking?"
The hooded woman
stood there, looking at the horizon.
"How can you
stand the heat in that cloak?" : Diaboli rose and shook some sand off from
his shirt.
"This area is
too open. We must get some cover." : she spoke with a soft and quiet
voice.
"From the
sun?"
"From
snipers." : she turned and walked away from Diaboli. He followed. She
entered the hotel, walked through the lobby and up the stairs to Diaboli's
room.
"I felt safer
on the beach than in here."
She didn't answer
Diaboli. The room's view was to the sea. She pulled her hood down and removed
her cloak, then set it to the bed. She had a black corset with metallic
decorational pattern and black long-boots up to her thighs. Her lightsaber was
tied to her waist.
"I sensed how
you changed in that restaurant. First you were in misery and suddenly I sensed
nothing but tranquility from you. Tell me what happened." : she looked out
the window as she spoke.
Diaboli tried to
remember:
"I understood
that I've wasted my life in a hopeless search. I... I was ready to die. And it
felt good."
He couldn't see her
face. What was she thinking? Why would anyone from the Dark Brotherhood be
interested in him? Diaboli was puzzled.
"I've been
ready to die for a long time, and it has never felt good. That is why I am
interested."
"In what?"
"You"
"Why?"
"I want to...
have the same mind-set as you."
"I don't know
what to say."
Viol walked to the
bed and sat on it.
"Diaboli, I
need to talk. And the reason is... there are things that I can't keep
inside."
Damn, not a
talk-session. I've never understood women!
"Umm,
sure."
Diaboli listened.
Back at the city
square's restaurant, Klemm gathered all of his strength and willpower as he
resisted the torture. Riever's apprentice used the Force to squeeze Klemm's
nerves around his throat and the blastwound. He could breathe, but the pain was
too much. He couldn't contain his scream.
"I have only
one question for you. Where is Horcs? SPEAK!"
The other trooper,
Valente, cried out of fear. They hadn't even touched him, but Valente was pale
and shivering. There was no courage left in the ex-pirate. Now the master
stepped forward and waved the apprentice away. Klemm could see his old face. A
white goatee and a bald head.
"You have guts,
soldier. There is no reason to prolonge your torment. Tell us where Horcs is
and this will be over."
Klemm gasped for
air:
"H-Horcs?"
"Yes. Where is
he?"
"H-he's
here." : his laughter echoed in the room. Riever was not amused:
"Very droll.
One final chance, soldier. Tell us!"
Klemm remained
silent, but smiled. The master had had enough. He took two steps back and
pointed his fingers at Klemm.
Lightning archs
burned Klemm's chest and head. Valente screamed in panic. The apprentice
grinned for a while, until something disturbed him:
"Master, do you
feel it?"
The lightning
disappeared as Riever turned and focused on the Force:
"Yes, they are
here."
The city was silent.
People had run inside to hide from the black soldiers who had marched into the
city. The troopers moved in squads of twelve. A total of fifteen squads walked
on the streets, point-men checking the way and signaling the rest to follow. They
had surrounded the city. High above, three ATRs from flight group Stiletto
monitored the situation. Horcs was onboard Stiletto 1.
"Squad Alpha-4,
report."
"Vengeance, we
have surrounded the square. You are free to land, sir."
The ATRs dropped
fast and spiraled down to the square. A dust storm engulfed the area as they
did a combat drop. Three new squads and Horcs appeared from the dust, then the
ATRs were back on their way to the sky.
"Where are
they?" : Horcs had his stormcoat over his black combat armour.
Alpha-4's squad
leader, a blue skinned man with red eyes, pointed at the restaurant on the
other side of the square.
"That's the
last know location of our recon, sir."
Horcs signaled
squads Alpha-3 and 2 to his left and right flank, respectively. They started to
approach the building, weapons raised. Klemm hadn't answered Horcs calls, which
meant that hostiles were in the area. The entrance door was already open.
Should he order a full assault with grenade launchers or enter with stealth?
The decision was made for him as a black cloaked man stepped out. Everyone
halted and aimed at him. Horcs didn't give to order to fire:
"Who are
you?"
The man continued to
walk nearer. Now Horcs could see a white beard and an old face under the hood.
"Surrender and
you shall live, Horcs!" : the man produced his lightsaber and ignited it.
"I'll live
until you execute me, that is?"
Horcs wasn't afraid,
but his men seemed to hesitate.
"You are a
traitor, Horcs. Only one fate awaits you."
"Don't fire,
men. He's mine." : Horcs removed his stormcoat and let it drop to the
ground. Troopers lowered their blasters and gave Horcs some space. The Dark
Jedi was surprised by the arrogance Horcs displayed. All the more reason to cut
his head off. Horcs seemed to have only his custom blaster holstered to his
right side. On the left were powerclips and comm-gear. The traitor didn't have
a chance.
Riever started to
run towards Horcs and he used the Force to strangle him at the same time. Horcs
had expected that and drew his blaster with incredible speed and fired in rapid
fire at the Dark Jedi. The Jedi had to break his concentration on the force grip
as he deflected the shots. There was a reason Horcs had customized his blaster.
He flicked a switch with his thumb, aimed and fired. The lightsaber shook by
the blast. The blast didn't bounce off from the blade, but resulted in an
explosion. Riever was on his knees, his cloak burning. The master spun and
threw the flaming cloth away. Then he jumped to the air and used the Force to
close the distance in an instant. He would have landed right on top of Horcs,
blade first, but Horcs had ducked and rolled to the side. Instead, Riever
landed on a fragmentation grenade Horcs had placed on the ground. The boom
knocked Horcs' men down. The shrapnel had teared the Jedi Master into a bloody
pulp. Incredible as it was, he still rose from the smoke, the lightsaber in his
bloody hand. He threw the saber at Horcs, who was now back on his feet and shot
the lightsaber's grip to pieces. The red blade faded. Riever roared in anger
and a wave of force lightning surged at Horcs. He didn't care about it. One
more shot hit the Jedi in the face and the force lightning wave was no more. It
never touched Horcs.
His men could only
stare at the scene. One by one, they started to cheer. Horcs holstered his gun,
picked up his coat and signaled the men to enter the building.
Diaboli had listened
all this time. She had told about her childhood as a refugee in the Sector
Wars, her surfacing Force-sensitivy, how the Dark Brotherhood had discovered
her, her training, the death of her master at the hands of a rogue Dark Jedi,
how she had been transferred to her present master and how her Clan lacked any
respect for her due to the death of her master. She even revealed how her training
in the ways of the Force had stopped at a certain level. She had reached her
peak. Viol stopped talking in the middle of a sentence.
"What's
wrong?" : Diaboli was startled.
She stood up and
closed her eyes. For the first time Diaboli saw hint of emotion on her face.
Anger.
"I have to go.
Stay here!"
She was gone before
Diaboli could say anything.
Sitting there alone
didn't feel good. Diaboli pondered what has just happened. For some reason, she
had shared her secrets. Then her face entered Diaboli's thoughts. She was so
beautiful. He shook his head:
"Women."
Riever's apprentice
ran on the roofs. He had cut a hole to the backwall in the restaurant and now
tried to reach their hidden transport. One enemy squad had intercepted him on
the back alley and he had swiftly slayed them all. One of the troopers had managed
to hit him with blaster. These men were no amateurs.
The pilot on
Stiletto 2 noticed the runaway, contacted the other Assault Transports and
dived. He switched the weapon mode to torpedoes. He didn't need to wait for any
lock-signal and pressed the trigger. The Dark Jedi sensed the danger. He was
jumping from roof to roof so couldn't evade. The torpedoes hit the building
where he was about to land. A wall of flame erupted from the building. Stiletto
1 and 3 came in and fired more torpedoes into the expanding explosion.
Surrounding buildings caught fire and crumbled to the ground. Huge boulders
rained from the sky. By now the Dark Jedi had turned to ash. The shockwave
reached the hotel. Stiletto 2's pilot informed Horcs:
"Stiletto 2 to
Vengeance, one sabre-wielding fanatic less in the galaxy."
Horcs didn't give a
reply. They had entered the restaurant and found the recon team. Trooper
Valente was unconscious and on the floor, Klemm had severe burns on his upper
torso and his right hand was gone for good. There had been a third trooper, but
most likely he was dead. Horcs came close to Klemm's body, checked for pulse
and sighed in relief. He was still alive. The only man Horcs really cared about
among his men would still fight. The only man Horcs had seen to do the same
heroic deeds Horcs had done in the heat of battle
"Medic in here,
ASAP! Prepare to withdraw. Alpha-2 and 3, secure the LZ."
She had sensed
another death. Not as strong as the first one. So, her current master had died
first. The death wasn't as strong as her first master's. She had collapsed from
the pain then, but now it was only a small sting in her mind. Viol crawled
around the corner. The sky was full of Assault Transports. Black armoured
soldiers were moving to the square. Each squad used well trained tactics as
they checked every street corner. All squads had atleast one trooper who had
either a grenade launcher or a pyro-rifle. ATRs landed in pairs and the squads
entered them. Dust clouds covered her view. The building where Riever and his
apprentice had been was surrounded by troopers. A massive column of smoke
loomed at the other end of the city. It would be suicide to attack them. Her
anger was replaced by frustration. She had failed at everything. Her masters
are dead, she had failed to follow her orders, she could only lose her powers,
not gain more. The lightsaber had never felt so heavy in her hand. Maybe this
meant that she had only one choice left. Go down in a bloody fight and kill as
many as she can. They couldn't see her until it was too late. The dust storm
would cover her. She stopped thinking and hiding. Viol stood up, took one deep
breath and dashed forward.
"Stop."
Her lightsaber was
on fire and thrusting behind her. She recognized the voice in a nick of time to
stop the blade hitting the man.
"Careful! You
could hurt someone with that." : Diaboli was dead serious.
"Stay out of
this, pilot!" : she didn't turn. Her lightsaber was held in a reverse-grip
so that the blade came out from the other side normally used in duels. The
blade was an inch away from Diaboli's ear.
"What do you
think you're doing?" : Diaboli tried to stay calm.
"Avenging my
master's death."
"You can't kill
them all."
"I can
try."
"Or you could
stay alive, inform the Empire and give your revenge with the support of a
fleet, and then kill them all."
They stood there for
a moment, locked in that position. Then, Voil shut her lightsaber. She spoke
without any emotion:
"Thank you for
stopping me."
"Just because
I've wasted my life doesn't mean you should too."
"Leave
me."
"No."
Viol whirled and
pointed the lightsabre at Diaboli's throat. The sabre's emitter nozzle pressed
against the skip. She still cursed the fact that Diaboli had managed to sneak
up on her.
"Leave
me."
Diaboli touched the
sabre and tilted it away.
"No. You still
haven't finished your story. And I haven't told you mine."
Viol didn't know
what to do.
They made their way
back to the hotel. No troopers were patrolling on the streets anymore. The last
ATRs had picked up their passengers. The sky was clear. Civilians dared to
return to the steers.
Viol couldn't hide
her frustration:
"What should we
do?"
"Wait for a
contact. From anyone. I don't have a com of anykind. Do you?"
"No. My master
had it." : she remembered the transport her master had.
"I can't even
enter his transport. He... didn't trust me enough."
"Then we'll
wait for TIE Corps." : Diaboli opened the balconydoor. Fresh air came in.
"And you can
finish your story."
"Wait! What
about the local com-net?"
"Off-line. I
tried to use it right after you left. They must have blasted the
com-sats."
They tried to think
of options. Diaboli had an idea:
"Let's order
something to eat."
He ringed the
service-chime. No one answered. He did it again. Still nothing.
"I'll go
downstairs and see if I can find food."
The manager was
yelling to his assistant. Apparently, everyone else had fled the hotel after
the first explosion. After the giant explosion from the ATR's torpedoes they
had fled the city. Diaboli coughed.
"Er, sir. I'll
be with you in a minute." : he walked to the counter. Diaboli tapped his
fingers on the table to the tune of Victorious Empire-hymn.
"Now then, mr
Tokoma. How can I help you?"
"Food,
please."
"Ah, well, you
see, sir. My cooks have taken the rest of the day off. And-"
"You don't mind
if I go the kitchen and make something myself? You can charge me, of
course."
"No, sir. Go
right ahead! Now, if you don't mind me, I'll have to make some important calls,
sir."
"Not at
all."
The manager returned
to yell at the assistant.
There was food all
over the place, but clearly the cooks had run away in a hurry. He checked the
foodstorage. Containers were full of exotic meat, fruits and algae. All Diaboli
lacked was the skill to cook.
Half an hour later,
he carried a heavy tray and returned to the room. He knocked. Nothing happened.
The door wasn't
locked. Diaboli saw Viol's cloak on the floor, but not her. He set the tray on
the table. Viol was out on the balcony.
"You took your
time.": she stared at the sea.
"I'm a
perfectionists when it's time to cook."
"What did you
make?"
"I don't know,
but it smells and tastes good."
She laughed for the
first time. The sound of laughter made Diaboli happy, for the first time in
years.
"We should eat it
before it gets cold."
They didn't have
plates nor anything to eat the food with. So they used their hands. The hotel
room had a freeze-box with drinks.
"So, can you
talk while we eat?"
Viol didn't mind:
"Where was
I?"
"Your
training."
"Right."
She explained how
her abilities seemed to be limited. She could manipulate objects with the
Force, had considerable skill with her lightsabre and could sense other life
forms, but that was where her skills ended. She failed to summon the raw Force
as a lightning, wasn't able to draw life-energy from other beings and other
basic skills of the Dark Side. She would never rise to the upper echelons of
power within her Clan. She was expendable.
---------------------Shadow
Point-------------------------
Vengeance cruised in
the darkness. All of the Assault Transports had unloaded their cargo and
returned to their support vessels. The soldiers were removing their body armour
and chatting in a relaxed tone. Excitement and tension was over. They had made
a succesful landing, took down the enemy and managed to come back. Horcs had
lost thirteen men and two were seriously wounded. In return his men had reaped
a fearsome reputation as slayers of Dark Jedi. It wouldn't take long for the
news to spread in the Holonet. The city square had had security cameras. The
Dark Brotherhood would come after them.
Klemm and Valente
were in the medlab. Horcs surveyed the room. The Lady had hired skilled medics.
It wouldn't make sense to use slaves as medics, since they didn't have the
proper motivation to heal their slavers. Bought skill was more trustworthy.
"What can you
do for his arm?" : Horcs pointed at Klemm. The chief medic gave the
answer:
"The arm must
be removed. Only a full biosynthetic prosthetic can replace it to the same
level as the original."
"Do we have
one?"
"Not now. With
proper connections and lots of credits it should be possible to get one."
"How
soon?"
"In a couple of
weeks. It will have to be adjusted to his skeletal and neural structure."
"Make it your
priority."
"Yes, sir!"
The other medics
were setting a bactagel net over the burns on Klemm's skin. Horcs noted that
they didn't have real bacta tanks nor an intensive care unit. That had to
chance. Once the real battles begun wounded would fill this ship. The Empire
would soon lose a medical frigate.
"Let me know
when they come to. I need to ask some questions."
"I'll report to
you immediately, sir."
Horcs missed his old
office. The captain's quarters were half the size compared to the one in Begg.
He sat and unbuttoned his black flak-jacket. Things seemed to go well. The
Empire wanted him dead. He had given them a bloody nose twice. First time by
escaping from them and now by killing two Dark Jedi. Horcs' datascreen gave an
alert. Incoming communication. It was the Lady.
"My Lady."
"Greetings,
Horcs. I've learned about heroics today. Congratulations."
"Thank
you."
"Our primary
concern was the TIE Corps, now, however, it is the Dark Brotherhood. It is one
of the few organizations that can keep secrets from me. Their warriors are
dangerous opponents."
"I can handle
them, my Lady."
"I hope so. My
plans require that you have a deadly army."
That was an indirect
threat. She wanted to make sure Horcs knew his place.
"Of course. I
already know how to make this army into something greater than it is."
"I gather you
will be needing something, Horcs?"
"Yes. I need a
medical frigate and some rare animals. And, I used only half of my men in the
last operation. I need a second troopcarrier. This Strike Cruiser is now too
small to deploy the troops effectively."
"Very well,
Horcs. I will give you information on easy targets. You can soon practise
boarding operations."
She ended the
transmission without further comments.
-------------------Imperial
Naval Yard 452-S---------------------------
The Medical Frigate
"Emperor's Clemency" was one of the oldest of her kind in Emperor's
Hammer service, but thanks to an ongoing modernization effort the Frigate has
been in overhaul of interior systems for the past 5 month.
Now it was time for
her to get on the way again.
A complete crew,
composed of seasoned technicians and flight personal, plus a newly trained
medical team fresh out of Imperial Academy, was ready for the first voyage of
the 'new' Clemency.
Three hours after
leaving the dock, and minutes after entering the Hyperspace, the CO of the
Clemency, Captain Rhox, called his department chiefs into his office, just aft
of the bridge.
The Officers started
to fill the room and took their seats, and at precisely the time he had ordered
them in the Captain begun to explain the OP order for the "Emperor's
Clemency".
"Gentlemen, we
are about to support Tie Corps operations at some of the outer territories and
we...", he was cut of brutally by the entrance of the ships deputy head of
Surgery.
"Err, sorry
guys, big ship that is and my first trip on one of "em, you see?",
the surgeon blundered on entering the room 35 seconds late.
"Thanks for
that explanation, Doctor Man. Would you now take your seat?", the captain
growled.
"Allright, as
now everybody that should be here is here we I continue. Where did I stop, ahh
right....."
---------------------Carba-------------------------
They had talked for
hours. Diaboli had told his past, starting from the days events all the way
back to the time of slavery. He hadn't told about this to anyone before, except
to Lieutenant Commander Clark, back in Begg over a month ago. Now he realized that
his childhood and life wasn't that exceptional in the Galaxy. Others had
suffered greater pains, and continued to suffer today. He wasn't the only one
to lose everyone and everything. Now the search for his missing parents seemed
stupid. That search had almost cost him his, and his friends', life.
"I should have
moved on years ago." : he whispered.
"What?" :
Viol had finished eating.
"Nothing. I
need to sleep. And take a bath first."
The sun had set
beyond the horizon. The sy was bright red.
"I'll get my
own room. I've taken enough of your time, Diaboli."
"Is that a good
idea? I mean, shouldn't one stay on guard while the other sleeps? We don't know
if we'll have uninvited guests."
Viol thought about
it:
"You're right.
"
"Besides, I
need your help in stripping me."
"What?" :
she was baffled.
"This
thing."
Diaboli removed his
white shirt and showed her the support vest around his chest. It was attached
from behind him.
"I still have
to wear this because of my injuries. I think they made it difficult to remove
on purpose so I'd use it for a long time."
She came close and
unhook the vest.
"There."
"Thank you.
It's easier to breathe now."
Only then did he
remember the horrible scars from the electro-whips on his back. How could he
have forgotten them? She didn't say anything. Diaboli blushed. He didn't want
her to see him like this.
"It wont take
long."
Atleast the
watersystem worked. The lights had blinked all day and evening. The tub filled
with hot water. There were plenty of towels and shampoos, for all sorts of
lifeforms. Finally, Diaboli could relax. The broken ribs were now fully healed,
but he still remembered the pain. A second assassination attempt had failed. It
seemed that Rear Admiral Goad's plan had worked. For now. The only problem was
getting back to Colossus. Goad's orders had not contained any information on a
possible retrieval. That had been the reason that Diaboli had been ready to
die. Most likely the Dark Jedi were supposed to deliver him back to TIE Corps.
The heat from the water made him tired.
"What will I do
with my life now?" He had few friends. All where in Collie. Kadon Beir had
saved his life more than once, and it was he who helped Diaboli in his training
and career. Colonel Angel had showed him the ropes on being a Squadron
Commander. Goad had made sure that Diaboli's unknown past, to them, didn't
matter as long as he showed loyalty to the TIE Corps and dedication to his men.
Clark was the one who knew a piece of Diaboli's past. He had also neglected
some of his duties as a Squadron Commander from time to time, as he read
irrelevant historical documents on Pirates. And all of them were in danger, more
than usual, because of his stupid crusade to find his parents.
Horcs. That man was
the source of Diaboli's pain today. He rose from the water and rubbed his left
wrist. There was a small bump on the point where his wrist had been broken.
Colonel Horcs. Now a traitor. There was steam in the air. Diaboli made a solemn
but crude oath to himself:
"Kill the
bastard."
Some time later,
Diaboli came out from the bathroom. He had wrappen one towel around his waist
and another one was over his shoulders. Not much of a surprise, but Viol had
left the room.
"I knew I
should have kept my mouth shut."
He already accepted
the fact that he would never again meet Viol. Chrono-display on the wall
indicated that Diaboli had spent over 30 minutes in the bath. She could be
anywhere by now. The bed was nice and soft. Sleep came to him in no time.
Blue sparks flew
from the electro-whip. That was the tenth lash. Two strong slavers kept him in
a tight grip. Five more lashes. The dark steel corridor echoed from the
beating. Five more lashes.
"How many times
until you learn, child?"
Two lashes.
"How many times
do you plan to escape?"
Four lashes.
"You're lucky,
kid. We need you here and that's the only reason I wont slice you in two!"
One more lash. So
powerful that the room turned blue from the light. The slavers threw the boy to
the steelplated floor. The air smelled of burned flesh. Tears ran down his
face. This was the seventh time he had received this treatment from the
slavers. His back was on fire.
Diaboli woke up. The
lights were out, but he didn't remember shutting them. It was totally dark
except for the starlight from the balcony window. The same dream appeared
atleast once a month. He threw to towels to the floor and drew the blanket over
his body. Sleep would come to him again. It always did. He heard footsteps from
the bathroom. Assassin? Diaboli had no weapons, couldn't run, sucked at close
combat and was naked. He might as well just lay in the bed and die in a
comfortable position."You're awake." : Viol came out from the
bathroom. She heard the sigh of relief.
"You had a
nightmare."
"No. It was a
glimpse of my past. Actually, that's the same thing as a nightmare."
The darkness hid
Viol.
"Where were
you?"
"Looking for
new clothes. I want to blend in from now on. Until I can make contact with my
Clan."
"Right." :
Diaboli wished he hadn't thrown the towels away. Viol approached the bed. Now
he could see her.
"Actually, you
could help me with something." : she whispered and turned so that her back
was towards Diaboli.
"Undo my
corset, please."
"Is this a
dream?"
"If you get any
funny ideas I'll kill you myself, Diaboli."
"It was just a
jo-"
"I know."
This was crazy. He
had blown battlecruisers to pieces and flown against deadly New Republic aces,
and now his hands trembled. He tried to untie the laces as fast as he could,
but there was little light and he didn't have experience in these things. Viol sensed
his embarrassment :
"Should I ask
the manager to do this?"
"Yeah. That
would be best."
Diaboli got the hang
of it.
"There."
"Thank
you."
She hold the corset
around her and walked back to the darkness. Diaboli turned away and tried to
think:
"Just forget
it. At best she would only laugh at your face, and at worst she would kill you
if you told her how you feel."
The bed stirred.
Viol was next to him. Diaboli bit his lip: "Oh great."
"You can sleep
again. I'll stay awake for four hours."
"Thanks."
Diaboli didn't get
any sleep. Viol sat on the bed and meditated. After four hours she tapped him
on the shoulder:
"Wake up. Your
turn."
"Right."
Viol pulled the
blanket over her body and was asleep in no time. Now Diaboli dared to get up
and walk away from the bed. He had his blanket around him. Where were the
towels? Where did my clothes go? He walked out to the balcony. The cool breeze
tinkled on his skin. The sea was dark blue and the sky full of stars. A tendril
of a nearby nebula in the Phare System covered one fift of the sky. It was an
amazing sight. He sat on a wooden chair and looked at the sky. Diaboli wasn't
tired because he had recently slept two weeks in a bactatank. This was the
perfect place and time to plan ahead.
Four hours passed.
The nebula had moved on the night sky, the horizon on the other side of the
hotel came brighter. Sun was rising. Diaboli went back inside. He could see
better now. Viol had picked up his towels and clothes and folded them into a
neat pile on the table while he had been sleeping. Now she was in a deep sleep.
Clearly Viol had had a restless sleep. Her blanket was twisted around her naked
body and didn't provide cover so well. She had more tattoos on her back. The
Imperial Crest with large black wings spreading from it covered her upper back,
six smaller symbols which didn't mean anything to Diaboli, but surely meant
something for the Dark Jedi, covered her lower back. Diaboli looked away and
decided to dress up. He took his uniform from his bag. He didn't put his dark
grey jacket with insignia on, preferring the more casual white undershirt
instead. Only then did he talk to Viol:
"It's morning,
Viol."
She only rolled to
her other side. Now Diaboli saw too much of her. He talked louder:
"Wake up,
Viol."
"Mmm?"
Yesterday she had
looked like Death itself with her lightsaber and dark cloak. Now she looked so
beautiful and cute with her hair twisting around the white pillow that
Diaboli's heart missed a beat.
"Wake up."
: he understood that it would be better for both of them if she could be alone:
"I'll go get us
some breakfast."
"Thank
you." : she whispered.
The lounge was
almost empty. Only three visitors talked in some strange dialect. The manager
was nowhere, but his assistant kept watch. He noticed Diaboli:
"Good morning,
sir! You're up early."
"Busy
night."
"Really?
Congratulations!"
Diaboli rolled his
eyes.
"Any of your
cooks returned?"
"One has, sir.
Its preparing meals as we speak."
"It? Wait!
Nevermind."
He didn't want to
know more about the cook.
Fifteen minutes
later Diaboli returned to the room. He had learned that both of the
Holonet-terminals in the city were destroyed by the battle. Powerlines were out
of order. Maintenance may appear sometime today, but they shouldn't count on
it. The assistant had learned the hard way that service was slow in Carba. Viol
was dressing up. She had a long red skirt with a black leather vest, red long
gloves and a red scarf tied around her hair and head. The scarf hid her tattoo.
Everytime he saw Viol, she looked even more beautiful than before.
"What you
got?"
"Fresh bread
and juice. I think."
Viol shrugged.
Diaboli got the feeling that everything was not right:
"Is something
wrong?"
"Nothing."
She sounded angry.
Not a good sign.
"Did I do
something?"
"No."
"So, why-"
"There's
something that you didn't do. That's wrong." : her voice was cold as ice.
"I'm sorry, but
I don't understand."
"Last
night."
"Yes?" :
Diaboli was lost.
"I told you
about my life, my suffering. I asked you to take my clothes off, I slept right
next to you, naked. And you didn't do anything."
"That's right.
Umm?" : what the hell is going on!
"So, it isn't
enough that my mission is a total failure, my Clan members are dead and you
think I'm repulsive."
Now he knew what was
going on:
"Your mission
isn't a failure. We know that the enemy has more troops and vessels than we
suspected, which means someone important is now supporting Horcs. I'm still
alive, which means we can still lure Horcs into other traps. Your Clan members
are dead, but you are alive and can inform your Clan on what has happened here.
And..."
Diaboli swallowed.
"And you are
the most beautiful woman I've seen. I.. I wanted to kiss you, but..."
"But
what?"
"That's not my
style." : whatever that means. He wanted to be inside his TIE Defender and
dogfight against loads of Rogue Squadron A-wings. Anything but this!
"In that
case." : Viol had been walking closer to Diaboli all this time. She
reached out and grabbed Diaboli's neck, pulled him close and kissed him.
Diaboli forgot the
A-wings.
------------------Pirath
System----------------------------
Aboard the
"Emperor's Clemency" things were as normal as they should be. Some
minor problems and irregularities with some of the systems where quickly solved
by the technicians, while the Medical Staff had nothing to do but 'cure' a few
headaches and some minor skin damage of technicians having spend to much time
robbing on their knees through small maintenance tunnels.
Doctor Man was
sitting in his office with his assistants and the nurses discussing about the
new drill for emergency procedures, just published in the Science Office's last
medical journal.
"And I still
don't think getting a patient on the table as fast as possible is right, when
you can't make sure that he is safely transported!", one of the assistants
nearly screamed at the party.
"You know whose
fault it will be when one of the people dies in transport? Right! It will be
the responsibility of the medic who does the EVAC, and as you know that would
be me. GREAT STUFF! Hey why bother with safety concerns, it's not your career that's
destroyed if it goes wrong.", Kocher ranted on.
"Allright Alex,
it's enough!", Man finally intervened,"You know that I would never
ask you to act against your medical conscience, but be aware that other Doctors
might not react as politely to a Medic disobeying orders. You talk about your
career being destroyed? Have I ever told you about my this guy in my medical
class that started a fight with the instructor? No? Well, listen up....
While the Medicin
Mans had they spirited discussion a shadow moved over the surface of a small
moon just a couple of hundred Ks away.
"Allright, Colonel
Horcs, we will move in for attack now!", the young Commander of the
Frigate "Crimson" told the hologram in front of him. He hit a button
at his console and the PIcture of the grim Colonel faded into the background.
"All assault elements ready for take off! I remind you again, we want that
ship in good condition, so anything that moves is free for a shot but be the
hell carefull about the medical equipment!"
On the Bridge of the
"Emperor's Clemency" the proximity alert went off to the surprise of
the watch officer.
"Sir we have
four inbound contacts coming from the moon 345klicks away at 297 decimal
75.", he told the Captain,"No IFF codes from them, sir, seems they
are hostile. What's that? SIR, a small object coming at us at high speed
raising shiAARGHHHH"
The Lieutenant never
finsihed his sentence. When the MagPulse torpedo hit the Ship the EMP caused
the control board to overload, virtually frying the officer at his station.
"Shaft, this is
Blade, copy your hit proceed as planned.", the pilot of
the lead ATR signaled to the "Crimson". "Allright people, get
ready to roll!", he told the boarding party over the guard frequence.
Seconds later the
Transport docked, releasing the 5 Mercenaries in Zero G armor into the now
gravity free deck of the Clemency
In his office Doctor
Man tried to keep his staff under control, as they went crazy about the sudden
loss of gravity. His efforts were futile and all but Alex Kocher floated out of
the room in the general direction of the Escape Pods.
"Doc, we need
to get out of here that smells like catastrophic energy failure to me. We
trained for one of these in the simulators and our orders were clear: Get the
hell out of...."
"Shut up,
Alex!", Doctor Man disrupted his aide,"That surely was no energy
failure caused by us, It came to promptly for that, maybe we hit some Ionized
gas cloud."
But this idea was
quickly dealt with as suddenly blaster discharges could be heard from the area
the escape pods and docking station were.
"Aww frack,
someone boarded us!", Kocher gasped.
"Sure as hell,
Alex, we have to hide somwhere.", on that Man looked around the room to
find a suitable spot. After a couple of seconds he 'swam' through the room
towards his emergency kit, pulled out a scalpel and floated to the ceiling to
unscrew the connections of the Airconditioning intake.
"The hole is
large enough for us to get through into the AC pipes!", he explained to
Kocher, who looked at him in disbelief,"Release the Emergency lock from
the maintenace door so they think we have hidden there!", Man ordered.
"Forget it,
Doc, I am not gonna run! We have to help them!", on this Kocher turned to
the office security save, trying to get out the Blaster. Such a safe could be
found in every section leaders office, containing a blaster and a couple of
energy cells to provide security for the Officer in case of combat operations
or mutinees.
Of course Man had
told the combination to his staff, as he couldn't know whether he would still
be alive in case of combat.
Finally opening the
AirConditioning hatch, Doctor Man turned to Alex a last time looking
desperately:"Come on Alex, there is nothing you can do!"
"That's what
you say, Doc. Get in and hide if you wish to do it, I'll wait until you are
done." On that Kocher started checking the Blaster's Energy Cell and
started the self diagnosis programm.
Meanwhile Man was
sliding into the AC pipe, refastening the hatch of the entrance with a couple
of magnets he liked to carry for good luck.
When he had locked
up the doctor saw Alex moving through the door, blaster ready. A fraction of a
second after opening the door, a blaster shot hit Kocher right into the forhead
sending him and his brain flying back into the room.
Then a large figure
in an even larger armour entered the room checking all areas out in
professional manner, when he opened the Maintenance hatch to check it out, Man
was already floating through the AC pipes 20 meters away in silent anger.
Aboard the bridge
all hell was loose. Literally.
Every piece of
equipment that was not bolted to the floor was floating around the room, the
command personel floating with them.
The Captain had
managed to get to the COM console and tried to find out how to get the systems
online again, with the help of the Engineers in the engine room.
"I know that we
lost artificial gravitiy, dammit.", the Captain screamed at his chief
engineer, "Get the systems back up AFAP! We might be on the brink to be
boarded, we had incoming transports before the power went out."
"Yessir!",
the technican replied, knowing that a concentrated effort of reconstruction
could not be made without gravity. All of his engine crew was dead or
uncontious, as they all had been working at or near the equipment when the
overload reched it.
Setting the COM
handle back in place the man looked around for the best way to the Life support
station, that included the gravity controls. Kicking himself away from the COM
console he 'landed' at the Life support seconds later.
Opening the service
hatch he looked into the interior of the control terminal.
On looking at the
damage it became clear that it would be relatively easy to bring the systems
back on. The MagPulse torpedo had shut down most of the systems and some had
rebooted in a matter of miliseconds, but where not running properly now thanks
to program failure after the sudden shutdown.
Just the moment the
technican 'launched' for the flight to the next control board a couple of
figure in camouflage pattern Gravsuits entered the Engine room.
With no chance but
to continue his flight, for lack of deck contact the technican watched one of
the Pirates move forward to him.
"God make they
are not slavers", was the last thought of the man before his chest
virtually exploded under the impact of the heavy blaster.
While his man were
checking the floating bodies in the room for signs of life the teamleader
radioded in to the Crimson. "Shaft, this is Blade
three, area secured, send in the technical squad directly through the engine
compartments airlock."
On that a shuttle
left the Hangar of the now closing frigate, taking course for the said airlock.
Back on the Bridge
the Captain tried to get his other department chiefs on the line, ignoring the
hiss of the Turbolift doors opening behind him. He only turned when one of his
female bridge crew started to scream in terror.
His eyes got hold of
two persons in Zero G armour standing next to the entrance to the lift, one
just snapping back the head of the female with his gloved hands leaving it in a
quite strange position.
Then like on a
silent command the two but their blasters back in the holsters, producing a
vibroblade each and began to proceed towards the nearest bridge crew members.
When the first throat was slashed, letting the blood float the room in sizable
bubbles, the screaming began.
In the engine room
the technicans flown in from the Crimson were already working to get the
gravity up again when the radio of the teamleader crackled:"Bridge is
secured, sir, get us the systems back on and the crew send in."
On that the
squadleader activated his external COM and shouted to the men standing back to
the airlock. "Prepare to take your positions the second gravity kicks in
again.", and on turning to his comrade, "Miller, you cover them on
the way up. I want you back down here afterwards.", turning to the
Technicans he continued, "Allright, you can tune back up."
On this command the
chief technican nodded at his subordinate working the gravity controls. The man
turned a singel switch.
On the bridge the
gravity went on first, letting everything fall down again and thus covering
nearly all the terminals and consoles in blood. With a grim smile the Troopers
started to free some of them from the bodies that accidently had landed on
them.
In the Engine Room
it went back online second, allowing the technicans to work more efficently to
get the hyperdrives back into function.
After that all other
decks went back on the grav net sending the dead crewmen to rest on the steel
floors.
Last came the
Maintenance corrdors and all other auxiliary pathes, finally going back online
in the AC vent Doctor Man was sitting in, staring at the wall next to him
barely noticing the change as he thought about a possibility to get out of this
mess.
---------------------STRCK
Vengeance in Shadow Point-------------------------
"Can you hear
me?" : a familiar voice, but still blurred to his ear. Darkness. He
couldn't see.
"Open your
eyes."
The light hurt his
eyes. His body felt like a slab of concrete.
"Where am
I?" : Klemm asked.
"Vengeance.
Glad to see you're back with us."
Klemm looked around.
Horcs was wearing a black battlefatigue, with his, now legendary, blasterpistol
attached to his belt.
"Can you
remember what happened?" : Horcs went straight to the point.
"Yeah. The Dark
Jedi tortured me. Tried to make me tell your location. I didn't-"
"I know, Klemm.
I know." : Horcs knew that Klemm had gone through greater ordeals in his
life.
"Did you kill
them? The bastards."
"Right and
proper. I blasted the master Dark Jedi, and Stilettos blew the apprentice to
the next galaxy. Both are gone."
There was
satisfaction in Horcs' tone.
"What about
the third?"
"Third?"
"There was a
third Dark Jedi. She protected Diaboli. The other two came after me and
Valente. Just before they started to torture us I heard her voice. There were
three of them."
Horcs had always
believed that those sorcerers worked in pairs. This means that the Dark
Brotherhood knows what has happened. The news hadn't spread to the Holonet,
yet.
"Did you kill
Diaboli?"
"No. That woman
came out of nowhere and blocked all of my shots."
"That doesn't
matter right now. We're goint to move you to another ship. You'll get better
treatment there. And a new arm."
"What do you
mean?" : Klemm tried to lift his arms. There was no strenght in his body.
Only his left hand moved. He had a short stump extending from his right
shoulder.
"You'll get a
new one and it will be better than the old one. Trust me."
Horcs walked the
corridors of Vengeance and planned his next move. His second-in-command was out
of the picture for some time, so he needed a replacement. This would be a good
time to motivate his men by promoting one of them to the position. One
canditate was clearly the best choice. The Squadleader from Alpha-4. He had
shown initiative and had deployed his men in the most efficient manner in all
training missions. One additional benefit was that he wasn't human like Horcs
and Klemm or other of his trusted ex-Imperials. The man's name was Severus.
Horcs had already
ordered the rewards for his troops. They werent' soldiers yet, but ex-pirates.
They had the will to kill and most had killed before joining Horcs' army. In
fact, some of them enjoyed killing more than the rewards after each succesful
mission. Discipline was the only problem. How to keep murderers, cheaters and smugglers
in line when they remembered old gang-wars and backstabbings. He and Klemm had
created each squad so that it contained only one member from each gang or
pirate faction. Squads were rewarded and punished as a whole, so the troopers
quickly learned to the meaning of teamwork. Punishment consisted of
electro-whips or worse. Rewards altered from expensive women to high-class
stimms to rare drinks, and the sum of 1000 credits for each mission plus a 800
credit bonus for extraordinary accomplishment. The Lady seemed to have
bottomless coffers. She throwed away incredible amount of credits. The fleet
needed fuel, warheads and spare parts, new fighters and the pilots didn't fly
for free. What does she hope to accomplish with all this?
---------------------ISD
Colossus-------------------------
Rear Admiral Goad
read a dataslate. It was the 40th report he had read that day. He was tired.
Any excuse to stop reading was welcome. His datascreen came active and
Lieutenant Colonel Chris Cox had news:
"Sir, we have
received a package from an anonymous source. I think you should come to the
docking bay at once."
"Oh, thank the
Force!" : Goad slammed the dataslate to the table and ran out of the
office.
"Err. Yes,
sir."
Five minutes later,
he arrived at the docking bay.
"So, what is
it?" : Goad hoped that it was from Diaboli or from the Dark Brotherhood.
He noted that Chris was paler than usual.
"This. We've
scanned it for bio-hazardous material, poisons and explosives."
It was a medium-size
munitions container. 50 cm by 50 cm by 50 cm. A metallic cube. Chris put a
black glove on his left hand, opened the top hatch and reached inside. He
produced a severed and burned head. A man's head, with a small white goatee and
a blastwound on the forehead. The back of the head was gone. The stench was
unbelievable.
"Master
Riever..." : Goad's heart sank. He refused to believe this had happened.
Riever was a Dark Jedi master, for crying out loud! Or had been.
"And there is
this." : Chris gave a piece of paper to Goad. The paper had handwriting on
it:
"Nice try.
Sorry to have spoiled your chance to see my execution.
Your friend, Horcs
PS. We will meet
again."
Goad gave the paper
back to Cox. If Horcs and his men can kill a master Dark Jedi there is little
sense to send Commandos after him. Goad had trusted that members from the Dark
Brotherhood could protect Diaboli from the assassins. Obviously Horcs had used
greater force than anyone could have imagined.
"I'll go to
Carba and find out what happened.": Goad was already walking to his
personal shuttle. Chris stopped him:
"Sir, that
might be a futile gesture now. It's too late. We have to keep Colossus ready
for battle, sir."
"I can't let
this go. I'm the one who sent Diaboli there. I'm the one who asked help from
master Riever."
"I'll go,
sir."
They were on the
ramp to the shuttle.
"Not this time,
Chris. This wont take long." : Goad entered the shuttle. The shuttle was
always on stand-by. Two pilots and four stormtroopers saluted him. One of the
troopers kicked the hastely assembled sabacc card-deck underneath the chairs.
Goad saluted them back:
"We'll go to
Carba, Phare System. Now!"
"Sir, yes,
sir!" : the crew shouted.
It was only after
the shuttle had jumped into hyperspace that ISD Colossus received the distress
call from Emperor's Clemency. Several flights were launched, but once they
arrived the medical frigate was nowhere to be found.
---------------------Carba-------------------------
Diaboli had never
been so tired. It must be midday. It was hot in the room. Two chairs were
knocked down. The first time had been on the floor, then Viol had actually
thrown Diaboli to the bed for more. Finally it felt good to be alive.
"Where are my
clothes?" : Diaboli sat up in the bed.
"Around."
: Viol was dressing up, again. She seemed to be in a hurry.
Diaboli found his
trousers next to the bed. He pulled them on and walked to Viol:
"You're
leaving."
"Yes. Someone's
coming."
"Who?"
"Don't know,
but I've decided to leave. End of story." : she dismantled her lightsabre
into eight pieces.
"You're gonna
return to your Clan?"
She didn't answer.
"You'll take a
vacation?" : he had an ill feeling about this.
"The less you
know, the better it's for me."
Her cloak and corset
were now in a bag made of the blanket. She had rolled the blanket and folded
into a carrying bag. Must be an old Jedi trick.
"You plan to go
rogue?"
She was silent.
"If I know that
you're still alive, and tell it to someone, who then informs the Dark
Brotherhood, they will hunt you down."
"If I go back
now, they will torture me, if I'm lucky. Some old master will probably drain
the life out of me. I don't want any of that. I'll disappear. That's why I
considered killing you this morning."
"You're joking,
right?"
She had packed and
gave Diaboli one last kiss. Her lips were so soft.
"No, I'm not.
You live because you're a rare breed in this Galaxy. A gentleman."
She walked to the
door, put her hand on the handle:
"Don't try to
find me. I don't want to kill you."
Viol sounded sad.
Then she was gone. Diaboli could only stand there in the middle of the room.
"Women."
Goad's shuttle
arrived. They had monitored the city from high above. Goad had seen the crater
near the city square. That was when Goad abandoned all hope of finding Diaboli
alive. The shuttle descented carefully. People from the city noticed it. Most
hid inside the houses, the few brave stood at the square and waited for the
shuttle to land.
"Okay, take us
down." : Goad put his cap on and straightened his uniform.
"Yes,
sir."
The ramp opened and
he walked outside. The stormtroopers hurried after him.
"Rear Admiral
Goad from Emperor's Hammer, TIE Corps. What happened here?"
An old man
introduced himself:
"City
counsellor Jatt, at your service. Our city came under attack from soldiers in
black armor. There was a fight in this square. A noble Dark Jedi was killed in
a duel. They had Assault Transports and used them to kill his apprentice.
That's when an explosion devastated our city. Soon after that, the soldiers
retreated back to the stars."
"Did you find
an Imperial pilot's body, or any unknown bodies after that?"
"I'm sorry to
say no. They took their fallen soldiers with them. And they took the head of
the Dark Jedi."
"Has a man
called Commander Diaboli reported to you, or to anyone?"
"I do not
recognize that name, sir."
"Hmm. Do you
have an emergency PA-system in this city?"
"Of course. You
can access it with my cane.": he pressed on button on it and offered it to
Goad. The cane had several buttons and a small display.
"Talk to the
black area over the display, sir."
Goad thanked the old
man and ordered one of his troopers to offer him support while he talked to the
cane.
"This is Rear
Admiral Goad from Star Destroyer Colossus. Commander Diaboli, if you here come
to the city square at once!"
The announcement
echoed in the city. Goad repeated his command two times and then gave the cane
back to counsillor Jatt. People came out from their hiding places. Goad waited
over fifteen minutes. People gathered around the shuttle. At last a familiar
face appeared from the crowd.
"Commander
Diaboli, reporting for duty, sir!" : Diaboli snapped into attention. He
was dressed in his uniform.
"You took your
time, Commander." : Goad saluted him back nonchalantly.
"I'm sorry,
sir. I had to run here from the other side of the city."
"Right. We'll leave
at once. You got everything you need with you?"
Diaboli hesitated
for a second: "Yes, sir."
"Good."
The old counsellor
started to speak: "When do we receive help, sir? Our powerline from the
main powerplant is cut."
"I will inform
all proper authorities that you need assistance. I'll do that as soon as we get
on orbit."
Goad and Diaboli
walked inside the shuttle, the four troopers looked around for possible threats
and then followed them inside. The ramp started to close. Diaboli saw outside
from the dimishing slit of the ramp. Viol was in the crowd. Diaboli whispered:
"Good luck,
Viol."
He saw how Viol
nodded. Then the ramp was closed. Shuttle's vector thrusters roared.
Carba looked better
from its sunny side. Blue oceans covered most of the planet. Goad was giving
orders over the military com-net. After a while, he came to sit next to
Diaboli:
"So, what the
hell happened? Did you see Horcs?"
"No. Everything
went as planned up to the point that an entire army appeared out of nowhere.
Well-trained, equipped with military-grade weapons, black combat armour, ATRs
with warheads. They slaughtered the Dark Jedi and rescued their own men. The
Dark Jedi had no chance. Horcs was there?"
"Yes. I think
it was him who killed the Dark Jedi master."
"Dammit."
"How many
soldiers did Horcs have?"
Diaboli counted in
his head for a while:
"I think around
80, could be hundred."
Goad would have
never thought that Horcs has a personal army. He is supposed to be a disgraced
ex-Colonel on the run from Imperial justice. He sounded extremely worried:
"There hasn't
been any mass defections in years. Where did he get those men?"
"I don't know,
sir. And that's what scares me."
Goad agreed. Horcs
was rapidly turning into a new Moff Kadir, Admiral Harkov or even the former
Grand Admiral Zaarin.
---------------------Shadow
Point-------------------------
The docking bay was
filled with men. Strike Cruiser Vengeance hold 150 soldiers, all stood in
attention. One man, a blue skinned soldier with Squadleader marking on his
uniform, walked to the rised platform and talked to the voice-mic:
"At ease, men.
I am Alpha-4 Squadleader Severus. Most of you have been on missions and fought
againts different enemies. All of you have completed your basic training. Now
comes the time for you to get special roles. Recon teams, demolition, assassination,
sabotage, infiltration, heavy assault. Now comes the time for us to become
fighting force that will bring all those who oppose us to their knees. And here
is the man who shall lead us to victory!"
There was no need
for introduction. Everyone cheered. Horcs walked to where the blue skinned
soldier had been. He waited until the docking bay became totally silent.
"Gentlemen, I
welcome you to a new era. An era when we control the stars. When we take what
is ours. We will start by getting our own Strike Fleet. Then our own sector.
Then nothing can resist our might. More men will join our ranks with each
victory. And there shall be victories! We shall become something greater than
any mercenary army in the past, present and future. We shall have war. We have
the weapons, the equipment, the vessels, but what I need from you is the will
and determination to do all these things. Can you deliver?"
A roar from each and
every soldier greeted him.
"Prepare
yourself! In 24 hours we will launch a planetary assault against an Imperial
outpost. You have the chance to prove yourself in the flames of war. I will be
there to make sure each and everyone of you fills his duty. With our victory
comes the greatest spoils of war to date. And when the assault is over, you
shall have the most expensive women and the..."
Another roar from
the men interrupted Horcs.
"Settle down,
gentlemen! There'll be plenty of time for that later." : Horcs said it as
if he were dead serious, but laughter filled the docking bay.
"You'll receive
more credits than you can spend."
Horcs paused for a
second:
"Just don't
spend it all on the women!"
More laughter from
the soldiers.
Much later Horcs
tried to relax in his quarters. His motivational skills weren't what they used
to be. He needed to be motivated by something before conveying that feeling to
other men. And the only thing in his mind was the feeling of being a slave. If
he failed the Lady in any way, she would kill Horcs without a second thought.
Only by being useful to her plan, whatever it was, he would stay alive. Each
attack against the Imperials must be a success. Or else. Horcs didn't doubt for
a second that the Lady used spies to monitor Horcs and his trusted ex-Imperial
men. The next mission should be easy. A remote storagebase for the Imperial
Navy in the Minos Cluster. Slow traffic in and out. Planetary defences were a
threat and the Lady could easily get them the security codes for safe passage.
Once they land, however, they must quickly kill each stormtrooper and officer
in the base, destroy the hyperwave transmitter, erase all datadrives and
completely obliterate the base. That is the only way to make sure Horcs' men
get a safe return trip with their new cargo. Only total success or the
Imperials will mobilize everything they got in all sectors. If they knew what
the Lady wants to steal from them she would lose the advantage of surprise. And
Horcs would lose something much more important.
Horcs' thoughts were
once again interrupted by the doorchime. He pulled himself together.
"Enter."
It was Squadleader
Severus.
"Good evening,
sir. You called for me?"
"Yes. Please
take a seat."
Severus obeyed and
patiently waited for Horcs to start telling him what this was about. Horcs
measured him with his eyes. Severus was from a rare race in the Galaxy. The
similarity with the late Grand Admiral Thrawn was stunning. He had a stronger
jaw and slightly longer black hair, but the skin and eyes were almost the same.
Horcs couldn't tell what Severus was looking at directly because the red eyes
didn't have pupils.
"So. Severus.
Where do you come from?"
"From Tretes
VI, an old colony from before the New Republic. It doesn't exist anymore."
"Hmm. Why are
you fighting with us now?"
"For the
credits."
"Did you have
trouble with any authorities before your time as a mercenary?"
"Some
trouble."
"Explain."
Horcs was
relentless.
"Most people
I've come across in my line of work, as a military consultant, didn't like my
skills. They envied me. In time they set me up in an incident. An accident. I
was fired and prosecuted by the Trans-Galactic Training Guild. I escaped and
started to sell my skills to the highest bidder, without a Guild to take a
piece from my reward. I ended up here because I heard of the salary per mission
and other perks."
"And what will
you hope to accomplish here?"
Severus remained
silent for a while:
"Make name for
myself. Get rich. What else is there for men like me? I got the feeling that
things will get interesting very soon. I may learn things which will help me
later in my career."
"Very well.
Squadleader Severus, you are from now on second-in-command in our fighting
force, until Klemm is fully recovered. After he returns, you shall take direct
command of all Alpha-squads. By then we should have doubled our numbers in
troops."
"Thank you,
sir. I won't let you down."
"I know.
Prepare the men for the assault in 15 hours. The Lady has kindly provided us
with the layout of the target facility and its defence force. We'll launch in
16 hours."
"Yes,
sir."
--------------------Somewhere
in Hyperspace--------------------------
The Radiant Angel
traveled in hyperspace. Her crew was anxious. The Lady had used the entire day
to communicate with different Pirate Lords, but finally they were returning to
the Shadow point. She hated talking to the Pirates. That scum believed that she
was with their side. For now, it was true. Both sided played against the other.
The Pirate Lords tried to use her connections and information network to get
easy convoys as targets. In turn, she lured them into attacking at a specific
time and place. In fifteen hours four major Pirate raids would strike at four
different convoys, all in different Imperial sectors. The Imperials would
scramble in all fronts and leave an opening for her own strike.
The plan had gone
well from the start. Only one setback had surprised her but she had turned that
into a more powerful resource. Horcs had lost all of his contacts within the
Imperial military, but now he was gathering a private army for her. Horcs men had
captured the engineers she needed to produce the weapon she had schematics for.
One last component was missing. The holopic of the weapon appeared infront of
her. It was 80% complete. The weapon looked like a small cruiser. Six thrusters
were in a ring formation at the endsection, the midsection was missing eight
massive cylinders, the frontsection had complex shield arrays and a powercore.
She could feel how her fingers clenched as she admired the weapon. After all
these years she would get her revenge.
But she still had
important tasks to do. She activated her hyperwave transmission neural-nodes
and selected one line from thousands of lines in her memory. One of her spies
needed to check in directly:
"Aspirant,
contact me at once!"
Each of her spies
used a specific codename and only she knew them all. After a while, a male
voice returned her command:
"This is
Aspirant."
"Are you in
place as planned?"
"Yes."
"But there is a
problem." : the Lady noticed the hesitation in the short reply.
"I'm in place
only until the return of my predecessor."
"Make sure that
does not happen. Continue as planned."
She shut the
neural-link. The pieces are set. Now it is time to play.
----------------------Shadow
Point------------------------
The Strike Cruiser
had a circular main corridor from each main section to the next. The total
lenght of this corridor was 800 meters. Klemm had been running there for over
half an hour. It had took time to adjust to the lack of his right arm. Now he
controlled his balance and could run at top pace. The medical team had said
that they'll get a biosynthectic arm for him in the next few days an duntil
then he should try to take it easy and gather his strenght. The burn marks from
the force lightning were still visible as a pink rash on his face. All of the
blisters were thankfully gone. His dark hair was trimmed short. Klemm didn't
swet despite the long run in a badly air-conditioned corridor. He had an
athletic body and the few days in the medical suite hadn't affected his frame.
"Sir, may I
have a word with you?"
Klemm stopped and
looked at the man who had interrupted him, a blue skinned trooper with red
eyes.
"What is
it?"
"I need your
help in training the latest men who have joined us. They haven't completed
their training yet, and I hoped you could show them something about close
combat. That is, if you're up to it, sir?"
"Everyone else
is busy getting ready for the first big gig, eh?"
"That's
correct, sir."
"All right. I
think I could use the time better than running around. Let's go."
Severus smiled
politely:
"Yes, sir"
All combat training
took place in the docking bay, but smaller areas were reserved for specialist
training. The fifteen newcomers waited for them in a small hall. Four red
rubber mattresses marked to spots for close combat training. Severus didn't
enter the hall:
"I'm sure you
manage from here on, sir."
"No problem,
pal."
Klemm measured the
men as he walked to them. Severus returned to his duties around the Vengeance.
Everyone got their basic white training fatigues on. They stood inline next to
the mattresses.
"At ease, men.
My name is Craton Klemm but you will adress me as Sir!"
"Sir yes,
sir!"
Most of the men
looked at the stump of an arm Klemm had. Some managed not to look at it.
"Now. You all
know what this is about so lets get down to business. If you show any signs of
weakness I will break more than one bone in your body. If you show any signs of
not taking me seriously because of my injuries I will crush your face. Is that
clear?"
"Sir yes,
sir!"
"Good. I will
measure you in hand to hand combat. If you're better than me, you'll get an
instant promotion. If you're as good as me you'll still get promoted. If you're
weaker than me, well, you'll join with everyone else aboard this ship. You may think
that you've been in tough spots and can handle yourself in any kind of brawl.
I'm here to show that you're complete idiots. You!"
Klemm stared at the
obvious ex-gang member. He had scars on his shoulders, piercing on his face and
twisting black tattoos on his arms.
"Right, you
first, knob-face. Let's see if you survive against me. Come on!"
Klemm took a basic
combat stance with his left arm at the front, ready to attack and defend. The
trooper walked to the mattress and took a similar stance. The pierced man took
a long step forward, spun and let loose a fast high kick, which Klemm easily
dodged by going low, to which the pierced man replied with another fast kick
but this time a low one. Klemm blocked with his own feet long before the kick
could connect in a harmful way. They were close to each other. The man punched
three times and Klemm casually sidestepped them all. Next he tried a thrusting
knee attack but Klemm saw it coming and swept the man's support leg with one
swift left kick. Even when the man was falling to the mattress, Klemm landed
another kick with his right leg onto the man's hip. There was a heavy thump as
the man landed on his back. Klemm finished him with an impressive downward kick
to the chest. The fight was over in a matter of seconds.
"Pitiful
performance. I hope the next one at least tries to be serious. Next!"
The tallest man
stepped forward. He was clearly ex-military. A regimental tattoo showed on his
left shoulder. He was taller and more muscular than Klemm. By now all of the
troopers felt sorry for Klemm. It was obvious that the new opponent had
incredible strenght. With one giant stride the man was almost on top of Klemm
and took a swing with his right arm. For a large man he was dangerously fast.
But not fast enough. The men couldn't see how Klemm managed to evade and strike
at the man at the same time. They could only see the strange position he was in
after the larger man was reeling back in the air. Klemm's palm and straight
right foot was on the ground, his head hanging low, while his left knee was up
in the air. With one move he had landed a strong blow to the man's chest.
Another thump echoed in the hall and the second man groaned in pain, trying to
get air back into his lungs. Klemm was back on his feet:
"Next!"
In five minutes
Klemm had dealt with everyone except the last man. He looked identical to
Klemm. Same height, same frame of muscles and same hair. Only thing that he had
different was his intact right arm.
"OK, soldier.
You still got a chance to show these amateurs how its done."
The trooper didn't
say anything, took the basic combat stance and waited. Klemm was glad to be on
the attack for a change. Straight punch which turned into a backhand sweep,
followed by right knee, which continued as a high kick, started his combo. All
missed as the trooper rolled to the side and kicked Klemm to the back of his
left knee.
"Finally!
Someone with skill.": he didn't drop to the floor but was jumping with his
right foot and relaxing his left leg. The silent trooper attacked. This time
Klemm had difficulties evading. Each punch and kick was faster than anything
he'd seen in a while. This man wasn't holding back. Klemm managed to parry and
block with his left arm but still blows landed on his chest and sides. The
trooper tried various tackles, sweeps and kicks. Klemm side stepped each time.
It was clear that the trooper was thinking of an effective way to knock Klemm
down to the floor and then finish him. Klemm saw an opening. He aimed at the
trooper's throat with a fast jab. It was close but the trooper blocked, gripped
Klemm's arm with both hands and twisted him forward. He was faster than before.
Klemm resisted, until the trooper kicked him to the back of his head with his
right feet. Klemm's head jerked to the front and then back. The trooper's right
leg was now over Klemm's arm and in front of Klemm's face. He smashed his ankle
to Klemm's forehead and Klemm flew down to his back. The trooper wasn't
finished. He jumped up and came down on Klemm with his left knee, trying to crush
his ribcage. At the last possible second, Klemm rolled. The knee cracked at the
mattress but the trooper didn't let it slow him down. He spun on his left knee
and kicked Klemm to the face. Klemm rolled even further back on the mattress.
Blood flowed from his face.
"Good. You got
what it tak-"
Three fast punches
to the face cut Klemm off. Iron grip pressed his throat. Blood burned in his
eyes. Now Klemm was getting angry.
Severus was writing
his first status report. This wasn't what he had in mind when he joined Horcs'
private army. Soon he wouldn't have to worry about these things. Once his
mission was complete he could return to the Lady's inner circle. He had
promised 10´000 credits and a position as Squadleader to the man who he trusted
to 'accidently' kill Klemm during the close combat training. Klemm was cripled
and just barely recovering from a torture session. Severus started to wonder
what kind of a funeral Horcs would give to his deceased second-in-command.
Horcs was overseeing
the loading of Stiletto ATRs. The four Assault Transports had Imperial Navy
markings, the crew had Imperial uniforms and the 48 soldiers had white
stormtrooper uniforms. These troopers carried the standard BlasTech blaster
rifles. The troopers didn't like to wield them after holding the modified
blaster rifles Horcs had ordered from black market. The black troopers used an
older but tested and reliable blaster rifles from Merr-Sonn Munitions, a
company that should sell only to Imperial contracts. This didn't prevent a few
containers of arms to slip into shadowy parts of the Galaxy, for the right
price. The blaster rifle had improved internal lens arrangement, adjustable
power intensity for power pack feed, advanced cooling coils for faster rate of
fire, the forward grip has a rail for additional targeter and light, modular
collapsible stock to ensure optimal firing position in all situations, the
emitter nozzle has a flash supressor to hide the shooter in the dark. Overall
it was the best blaster rifle Horcs had used during his long career.
The other weapon
favored by the men was the Merr-Sonn Munitions' repeating-fire heavy blaster
with bipod, lighter stock, advanced cooling system and focused lens arrangement
for precision fire that was rare for a heavy blaster with fire rate of 240
shots in a minute. Heavy blaster teams consist of two men; one carries the gun
and a power cell while to other carries the spare cooling coils, focus lenses
and four additional power cells. A weapon like this needed no flash suppressor
because there was no reason to hide after the first salvo. Nothing could
survive it.
The latest addition
to their arsenal was the night/thermal-vision goggles for 80 troopers. By now
Horcs had decided to name his fighting force as the Vengeance Regiment. In time
he would have to chance it to Vengeance Brigade.
A lone trooper ran
to Horcs and gave him the news:
"Sir! We have a
casualty! Someone died during training."
"Better not be
someone important": Horcs mumbled.
"Pardon,
sir?"
"I said better
check it out then."
If it was another
pirate faction against pirate faction struggle Horcs would have to execute
people to make his point on the importance of cooperation.
---------------------Somewhere
in Hyperspace-------------------------
On the
"Emperor's Clemency" everything has been quiet for five days now, the
ship was hypering to the Lady's hideout, and the troops had secured all
neccessary systems.
After sitting full
of agony in the Airconditioning system for two of these days, doctor Man had
decided that this could not be his final answer to the situation.
Raiding one of the
weapon bays he had equipped himself with a light repeater and some
fragmentation mines. Having studied the manuals carefully he was pretty sure he
could use them now.
On his raid he also
got hold of a small emergency package containing some rations. But these were
consumed now, and thus the Doctor had to go out again, this time determined to
leave those pirates a couple of presents.
After having studied
the patrol rythm of the guards on one of the main corridors he silently opened
the A/C hatch and jumped onto the deck, weapon ready. Of course there was no
one around, he hadn't planned to be in contact with anyone, yet.
After checking his
back the doctor moved to the nearest door and entered one of the surgical
recovery rooms. To be sure no one could sneak up on him unnoticed he placed one
of the mines in a way that it would send its blast to the outside, once anyone
opened the door. On activating the device with sweaty hands he started to breathe
again, as it didn't go off in his hand.
Having secured his
rear area for the moment, the doctor turned and started to work on one of
terminals in the room.
As he sliced into
the security system to activate the surveillance cameras he thanked himself for
having taken the advanced computer engineering course in his last semester at
the university.
He found people in
civilian clothing working on the bridge and the machine deck, while grim
looking guys, in military style fatigues and bodyarmour, where patrolling the
corridors in two man teams.
After getting a
rough headcount Man turned for the lockers and put rations and some medical
supplies into his bag.
Verifying that the
patrol has passed the room at the usual time, he deactivated the terminal, and
picked up the mine at the door, this time confident that he had read the manual
well enough.
After readying his
repeater again, he stepped out on the corridor and checked for hostiles. Again,
nobody was there, so he moved to the nearest wall panel, and placed one of his
frag mines right next to the a fuel line. Having set the timer on automatic
detonation, the doctor vanished into the interiors of the ship again, smiling
at the present he had left for the next patrol...
Jefferson Miller was
very confident with himself.
Entering the bridge
of the Clemency, he looked at his inferiors in the typical, emotionless way,
while he was smiling on the inside. The plan had worked, the crew had never
seen them coming until it was too late. Of course there had been some
"heroes" actually grapping a blaster and trying to make a stand
against the raiding party. Marching through the corridors in ZeroGrav armor his
men had disposed of this nuisance easily.
With all the
important machinery intact, he had organized a fully equipped and operational
medical frigate, without sustaining any casulties in his party.
After having spend
the first 2 days of the cruise mainly checking for survivors and disposing of
them, he and his men calmed down after not having seen anything alive after the
second day. But just in case, and in remembrance of the military training
Miller once had, he had ordered patrols of two men teams through the whole
ship.
As Miller was
walking towards the navigations officer the members of the bridge crew moved
out his way, either for respect, or more likely, for fear. Just as he started
to face the NAV to inquire about the time left until reentering normal space,
the frigate shuddered and the lights went out for a second.
"What the heck
was that?", Jerfferson asked the XO in a alarmed voice, moving over to the
man, who was standing at the com console.
"I don't know
yet, sir.... allright, the engine compartment calls in, I'll put in on the
speakers.", and on saying that the officer pushed some buttons on his
console.
"Bridge, this
is Engeneering, sensors report an accidental fuel explosion on deck five, level
six. I have send a technican to look at it, no problem to solve that, sir,
engineering out."
"Hmm,
allright...,"something was familiar about those numbers, but Miller
couldn't remember what it was, at the moment. "XO, signal to all patrols
to spare this sector for the time being, and keep me posted of the
progress."
"Yessir!",
the men replied to the back of his Commander, who was already moving to NAV
again. He then started to get the message out over the COM and waited for the
personal acknowledgement of each team leader. All but one team reported in immediately,
and this one didn't answer even after several tries. With a bad feeling about
it, the XO opened the file containing the patrol plans...
"Sir, mister
Miller, sir!", he screamed out," the duty plan says we had a team
right next to the accident area, and they failed to report in."
That, indeed, was a
piece of information, that ended Miller's good confidence in the successfull
operation...
---------------------ISD
Colossus-------------------------
Atlast Diaboli could
change his clothes and clean himself. He was in his quarter taking a breath.
They had arrived in time to see how Collie's fighters returned from their
mission. Eta and Omicron didn't manage to reach the Emperor's Clemency in time.
The medical frigate was gone. Only a massive amount of ion trails told of a
hectic activity. Rear Admiral Goad had ordered recon patrols to all neighboring
sectors, but so far there was no trace of the attackers.
Diaboli clicked his
wristcom on. He checked that everything was in order in his Squadron. Colonel
Angel had been the acting-Commander of Omicron during Diaboli's month-long
medical treatment. Omicron had received three new pilots during his absence.
Major Steve was now Eta's Commander. The arrival of new pilots
brought back memories of the bloody campaign that caused the need for
replacements. But that was history. Now Diaboli must focus on his career in the
TIE Corps. He remembered the container that had all the datafiles he had
gathered during his search for his parents. Should he destroy the files? As
always when Diaboli tried to think deeply, the door-chime interrupted him. He
opened the door. A naval officer waited for him.
"Yes?" :
Diaboli saw that the officer had a sergeant's rank insignia.
"Commander
Diaboli?"
"Yes."
The man had an
intensive stare.
"Please follow
me, sir."
He took a step back
and started to walk towards the turbolifts.
"All righty
then. No need for introductions." : Diaboli took his jacket and buttoned
it while following the sergeant.
They arrived to the
destination near the detention area.
"In here,
sir."
It was a small
office with one dim light, one metallic chair below the light and a table at
the edge of the shadow.
"Charming
place, sergeant. Care to tell me what this is all about?"
Diaboli was mentally
prepared for another assassination attempt.
"Please come
in, Commander. I've been expecting you." : a warm female voice from the
darkness greated him.
The woman walked to
the light. She was an officer, a Captain, with a dataslate in her hand and
blond hair tied to a knot behind her head.
"I am Captain
Retrac from Imperial Intelligence, Internal Security. This is Sergeant Kaines,
my aide."
"Commander
Diaboli, Omicron Squadron." : he saluted:
"How can I help
you, Captain?"
"I need to ask
you some questions regarding the Begg incident a month ago, that's all. Nothing
to worry about."
"I should
inspect my Squadron in a few minutes."
"This won't
take long."
Diaboli entered the
room.
Rear Admiral Goad
stepped to the central consoles on the bridge. Comms Officer saluted him and
then returned to transcript the flight traffic. Goad looked around for the Wing
Commander. He wasn't at his post.
"Sir." : a
voice from behind startled Goad. He turned.
"Ah. Chris. I
was looking for you."
"Sorry for the
delay, sir."
"Don't worry.
It's amazing. No pirate activity, apart from the medical frigate, in any system
for hours."
Things were too
quiet. For the past month various pirate fleets had done seemingly random and
small raids in different systems without a pause. Imperial ships couldn't
repulse them all. Commercial convoys used more credits on their defense now.
Mercenary pilots were once again in high demand. Smaller convoys gathered
together to form massive as they looked for strenght in numbers. But now the
attacks had stopped. Goad knew what it meant. This was the calm before the
storm. All possible Squadrons were on stand-by.
"Any problems
with the Squadrons?"
"No, sir. Not
with the Squadrons."
Goad gave an
inquisitive look.
"Well, sir.
Err. To change the topic completely, have you read the flight manifest of
recent arrivals?"
"I
haven't."
Chris had a
dataslate ready in his hand. Goad took it and started to browse the file:
"Should I be
looking for something specific?"
"I'm sorry,
sir. I'm not at liberty to say."
"Hmm."
Goad knew where this
was heading. Someone with high authority had arrived at Colossus without his
knowledge and apparently had ordered Chris to keep his mouth shut at all cost.
Goad checked the ranks of all arrivals. No generals nor admirals. Most were technicians,
engineers and pilots. Two names caught his attention. A Captain and a Sergeant
from Aurora System.
"Do you know where
Captain Retrac and Sergeant Kaines are?"
"No, sir."
: Chris' tone made it clear that he really didn't know.
"How bad is the
problem you talked about earlier?"
"I don't
know."
If Chris had said
he's not at liberty to say, Goad would know it is important. Since he gave the
'I don't know', he didn't know.
"Things seem to
be in order here. I'll go take little walk around the ship."
"Yes,
sir."
"I'm glad that
you can keep secrets so well, Lieutenant Colonel."
"I haven't told
you anything, sir."
"True."
Goad left the
bridge. He tapped his wristcom:
"Security, get
me a fix on Captain Retrac. Now!"
The chair was cold.
Diaboli didn't mind. He'd been in tougher places. The Captain sat behind the
table, in the shadows:
"So, after you
joined TIE Corps you were in PLT Daedalus for a few months, then you were
transferred to Iota in WingVIII. You became a Lieutenant and then quickly a
Lieutenant Commander."
Captain Retrac was
repeating Diaboli's whole historic record.
"That is
correct, Captain. I think I heard you say this was supposed to be about
Begg?"
"We'll get to
that. Did you have any previous experience with starfighters and space combat
before joining Emperor's Hammer?"
"No."
"Really? You
expect us to believe you just happen to be a fast learner and got yourself an
Iron Star with Platinum Wings during your first months of active service?"
"That was a
fluke, Captain."
"Don't be so
modest."
"Do you have an
accusation or something?"
"We take
Internal Security seriously. That's why your unusual career is on the spotlight."
"And what's so
unusual about it?"
"After you
became Omicron's Commander your activity dropped. In fact, you spend more time
reading datafiles from the Archives than anything else. All files seem to be
related to different pirate activities. Mostly in Minos Cluster, ten to twenty
years ago."
"That's true.
So what?"
Diaboli regretted
that he hadn't deleted his personal files when he had the chance.
"Why the
fixation on pirates?"
"That's just a
hobby of mine. I'm not interested in it anymore."
"What a
surprise. Then you don't mind if we copy your datafiles?"
"Of course not.
Copy anything you need. Are we going to talk about Begg or not?"
"All right,
Commander. I find it difficult to believe that someone like Colonel Horcs
happens to let you escape from certain death. Then he happens to succesfully
escape from Colossus. Not only that, but then he would send an assassin after
you and that attempt fails. A feeble attemp to give you a coverstory"
"You're
accusing me of being alive? I'm alive because my friends saved me. First it was
Major Steve and then Major Kadon Beir."
Retrac stood up and
walked behind Diaboli. Her steps echoed in the room.
"What I'm
accusing you is being a mole for the pirates in the TIE Corps. You used your
skills as a fighter pilot to gain a position within WingVIII, snooped around
for inside information for the pirates and warned Horcs that we were getting
near his illegal activities."
Diaboli couldn't
believe this:
"That's a nice
theory. Got anything to back it up?"
She continued walking
and circled Diaboli:
"Not yet. But
these are critical times. The assassin had a forged ID-pass for Colossus.
Someone has sliced through our security portals in the Holonet's military
pathways for months. We know that pirate activity is about to rise to a
previously unseen level. Someone informed Horcs of your departure from Colossus
to Carba. He arrived there and killed three Dark Jedi. And, of course, you
magically survive this encounter. We have learned that Horcs is gathering a
personal army. I want you to know that we are watching every move you
make."
She stopped behind
Diaboli.
"I wonder,
Captain. Is paranoia a requirement for Internal Security agents?"
The Sergeant had
been standing in the shadows while Retrac interrogated Diaboli and now talked
for the first time: "Yes."
Goad walked as fast
as he could without actually running. The Security Officer had confirmed the
location of the Captain and Sergeant. He had dozens duties on the bridge but he
couldn't stand the fact that some people think they can come and go as they
please while silencing his Wing Commander. Goad tried to think of a way to keep
Chris Cox out of this. He had to walk through the Collie's medical and
recreation sections, then take the turbolift down to the detention area. Soon
he found office number HI-765. The door panel indicated that it was locked.
Goad keyed in the override code.
"Commander
Diaboli, there you are! Your Squadron needs you. Get to primary launch bay at
once!"
Diaboli stood up:
"Aye aye,
sir!"
He saluted to the
Captain and Rear Admiral on his way out. Captain Retrac looked furious.
"Oh, did I
interrupt something important? I don't remember seeing you two on Colossus
before."
"Commodore
Daniel Goad, I presume." : she came to the light hastely.
"Yes. And you
are?"
"Captain
Samantha Retrac from Section-5, Internal Security, Imperial Intelligence. This
is Sergeant Kaines."
The Sergeant saluted
Goad. He casually returned the salute.
"Pleased to
meet you, Captain. Care to explain what brings you to Colossus?"
"Certainly. I'm
here under the direct authority of Lieutenant General Teip. We are hereby
attached to WingVIII as an additional Security Deparment, until further
notice."
She gave her
dataslate to Goad. He didn't bother to read it:
"Excellent.
Since you didn't report to me when you came aboard I trust that you can get
yourself an office and quarters without my direct involment."
"Certainly."
"If you excuse
me, I got duties elsewhere."
Goad walked away. He
didn't want to make a scene, now, that is. The Captain followed him:
"Sir!"
"What is it,
Captain?"
"I'm sorry that
we started with such unusual way but I received orders to talk to Commander
Diaboli as soon as we got here. Before anything else. And-"
"I understand.
No need to apologize."
At that moment
Goad's wristcom beebep. He pressed the receive-button:
"Talk."
"We got
multiple distress signals from all major convoy routes from all sectors."
: the Comm Officer sounded excited. Some needed the action.
"Send four
flights to nearest convoy, four to the next. Put all Squadrons on full
alert."
"Yes,
sir!"
Goad switched off.
He didn't run but repeated his almost-running walk:
"We'll talk
later, Captain. I'd prefer that you don't take my pilots away when they are on
standby."
His voice was cool
and demanding. Retrac stopped following. Things hadn't gone perfectly for her
but the primary objective was accomplished. A primary suspect for a potential
traitor, Diaboli, had been warned. Now he would take care not to do anything suspicous.
That means that a potential threat was neutralized. For a while. Now that
Retrac was here she would look deeper into the files of other pilots. Horcs and
Colossus had a connection, but she didn't know what it was.
-------------------Emperos's
Clemency in Shadow Point---------------------------
Klemm saw from the
viewport of his treatment room how the Assault Transports formed up and jumped
into hyperspace. Horcs was leading them. The medic had patched his wounds. No
serious damage to any of his organs, but the stress was too much for his muscles.
Klemm was ordered to stay in bed for two days with pain medication. They
refused to operate on his biosynthetic arm until he was in better shape.
Atleast he got better treatment as a traitor than a footsoldier for the Empire.
"Feeling
better, sir?"
Klemm recognised the
voice:
"Fine and
dandy, Severus."
Klemm lowered
himself back to the bed with a sigh. Severus looked at him:
"I feel that
I'm to blame for all this. I shouldn't have asked you to take that training
session, sir"
"It wasn't your
fault. The only thing I feel sorry for is that bastard died so soon. I was just
getting to my best moves."
"Yes. They are
still cleaning up the training hall. We don't know why he tried to kill you.
Maybe he was a psycho or a stimm slave. Or Imperial."
"Doesn't
matter. If they keep coming, I'll keep killing."
Severus walked to
the med-locker in the room.
"Are you in
pain now, sir?"
"Nothing I
can't handle."
Klemm heard how
Severus tinkered with some of the instruments and med-capsules.
"This will
help."
He had the
injection-pistol in his hand.
"What is
it?"
"This will
accelerate the healing process and take away the pain."
"I don't need
that."
"Look. The
sooner you get better, the sooner you get that new arm. And if anything happens
to you, well, Horcs will blast me full of holes."
Klemm thought about
it for a while and straightened his left arm:
"Go
ahead."
Severus pressed the
injector against the skin, pulled the trigger and the liquid entered Klemm's
circulation.
"Now take it
easy and get your strenght back, sir."
"Will do,
dad." : Klemm answered in a mocking tone.
Severus put the
instruments back to the med-locker. Then he leaned against the wall and checked
the chrono on the opposite wall:
"It's a shame I
had to do that. You could have been very useful to me."
Klemm wasn't sure if
the heard right:
"What did you
say?"
"Relax. This
will be over soon."
"What?"
Then Klemm could
feel the tingling sensation in his arm. It spread to his shoulder, neck and
chest. The feeling changed to burning fire. He tried to get up from the bed but
his legs refused to move.
Severus kept his
distance:
"It's no use.
Stay put and it will hurt less."
Klemm tried to
scream for help. Only foam came from his mouth. Now Severus dared to walk
closer:
"This is
nothing personal, Klemm. It's just that I hate your personality. Or lack of it,
to be precise. I'm impressed that you managed to kill that Death Cultist, with
only one arm. They should be the best at hand to hand combat. It was a waste of
credits."
Klemm's body shook
in pain as the liquid destroyed nerve cells at an increasing rate. Severus
almost felt sorry for the soldier:
"If it's any
comfort, Horcs will soon join you."
The final words were
lost to Klemm as he was already dead. Severus stayed in the room for five
minutes. After that he was sure that the synthetic poison had evaporated from
Klemm's body. Since medics were busy with the trainees Klemm had injured it
would take some time before they would discover the fresh corpse.
---------------------ISD
Colossus-------------------------
Sirens wailed and
the emergency lights directed the way to launch bay. Diaboli ran as fast as he
could. He had pulled his flightsuit on without taking his other uniform off.
The insulated body gloves and gauntlets were the last pieces of flightsuit. He
double-checked the control switches of his emergency atmospheric unit on his
chest. Only after it showed that all systems were online did Diaboli pull the
gauntlets on. The pilot catwalk clankered as he ran to his Missile boat. All
other Omicron craft had already launched and were probably already in
hyperspace.
"Damn!"
Diaboli jumped in.
"Initiate
launch prosedure!"
Voice control saved
valuable seconds. Diaboli flicked dozens of buttons. The Missile boat's canopy
closed. Air pressure increased and then settled to a safe level. A series of
red and yellow lights turned green.
"This is Flight
Control to Omicron I-I, you are clear for launch."
"Roger,
FC."
The holding rack
retracked and only the launch arm hold the Missile boat in place. Then it moved
forward. The pressure door on the floor of the launch tunnel opened. The launch
arm extended and lowered Omicron I-I out to the vacuum. Now, like to many times
before, Diaboli could see the outer hull of Colossus. The launch arm released
the Missile boat. Its engine propelled it away from the Star destroyer.
"FC, where did
rest of Omicron go?"
"You just
missed them. I'll relay the data to your nav-computer. They and Eta Squadron
are protecting HyperRoute 56-64-HK. Expect lots of hostiles."
"The more, the
merrier."
A hyperbuoy appeared
on his map. Diaboli reached it with SLAMs on and hypered out.
It was chaos. The
convoy was no longer in formation as all freighters and transports tried to
scatter away from the pirates. It didn't help. Two pirate factions worked
together and assaulted the convoy in a pincer maneuver. Usually they pirates
didn't risk exposing their capital ships on these operations but now they
relied on massed force with loads of firepower and seemingly endless waves of
fighters. Eight freighters had succumbed to ionfire and now drifted in space.
Two Passenger liners shared the same fate. All escorts that had fought back
were now lifeless hulks. Two frigates and a Carrack Cruiser spewed flames out
to the void, their fuselage charred black from torpedo impacts. The convoy's
defense fighters had tried to divert the pirate's attention but to no avail.
The last flight of defenders exploded as Diaboli closed in on the scene. He
heard the desperate chatter on the open comm-channel.
"Protect the
GalaxyExpress. Her shields are gone."
"This is Gurnut
3, we lost our sublight drives. We need evac!"
"We lost the
last fighter. Requesting reinforcements from TransGalacticSecurity."
"Our hull is
breatched. Repea-"
One of the modular
transports burst into flames. Diaboli was close enought to start an attack run:
"Omicron I-I to
Omicron flights. Status report!"
"Omicron 3-1,
to I-I. We're attacking the Verta-pirate's caps. They got three frigates and a
dreadnaught. Corvette group already scrapped."
"OK, Angel.
I'll join you. Then we take the other pirate caps."
Caps was short for
capital ships. Omicron's assault forced the Verta-pirate's fighters,
Z-95Headhunters and R-41 Starchasers, to split their formation. They tried to
protect the frigates but the Missile boats ignored them. Instead they hit home
with rockets and accelerated away with their SLAMs. One of the frigates lost
power and veered off course. Its turbolasers went silent. Colonel Angel, in his
TIE Defender, gave instructions to rest of the Squadron:
"Focus on the
last frigate."
"Roger."
Sub-Lieutenant
Sekkong had a lock and fired four rockets at point-blank range. They hit the
frigate's hangar. The other side of the frigate bulged from the inner
explosions. They set a chainreaction and the final explosion was bright as a
star.
"Not bad,
rookie."
"Thank you,
sir."
Now everyone in
Omicron closed in on the dreadnaught. Eight rockets finished it within a few
seconds. Commander Diaboli joined them as they activated SLAMs and flew through
the remains of the convoy. Eta's fighter had already wiped out over half of
the pirate starfighters. Several transports were doing boarding actions on the
Passenger liners but there was no way to safely destroy them. They could have
civilians inside. On the other side they could see what the other pirates had
in their fleet. Escort Carrier with two Strike Cruisers on its flanks and a
trio of Modified Corvettes. Colonel Angel stayed behind in his Defender. The
standard tactic was that he guarded the rear and was the Squadron's eyes in the
heat of the battle. If any pilot got into trouble, Angel would be there to save
him. He had a fitting name. Angel tuned in on the Squadron's channel:
"Omicron's
command is now in your hands, Diaboli."
Now Diaboli took
charge of the Missile boats:
"This is
Commander Diaboli, I welcome you to Omicron and hope that Angel kept you busy
and away from the cantina. Nice to see that you know how to fly. Now, let me
show how this is done. I'll take the closer Strike, you'll take the other. Then
we join on the Escort Carrier from two sides."
All pilots
acknowledged his introduction. After the Strike Cruisers were burning, the
Escort Carrier launched nine A-wings. Diaboli was quick to react:
"Angel?"
"I'm
there."
"Me and Angel
will take out the A-wings. You'll destroy the Escort Carrier."
Red laserfire light
up the darkness.
These A-wings
weren't piloted by novices. They formed up in three trios. The leader of each
trio tried to get lock-in on Diaboli or Angel. The two remaining A-wings
protected the first A-wing. In a matter of seconds Diaboli got two advanced
missiles on his tail and Angel jinked around four. As they evaded the missiles
the protecting pair of A-wings released laser fire towards Angel's Defender.
Angel spun around the salvoes and blasted one hostile with a advanced missile,
without any lock.
"This one's
about to blow! We're out of rockets." : SL Sekkong reported as the Escort
Carrier's hull went critical. It scrambled the remaining fighters and
transports. Six X-wings and four Muurian transports emerged from the tumbling
carrier and accelerated away from the action. Diaboli managed to check the
situation and give orders whilst pulling a series of evasive turns:
"Forget the
carrier! Kill those transports!"
Diaboli cripled one
A-wing from Angel's tail. The A-wings used chaff but it didn't help when the
missiles came from twelve o'clock. One hostile came after Diaboli from 2 klicks
away and got a solid lock. The warning indicator gave four ear-splitting pings.
Four advanced missiles darted closer. Throttle to one third, fast roll towards
the missiles, full throttle and activated SLAM made him slash through them. Now
Diaboli repeated the maneuver but forgot the SLAM. Instead he switched to the
mono-laser and zeroed in on the banking missiles. One by one the closing
missiles detonated from Diaboli's prolonged fire. Two A-wings thought they
could surprise the Missile boat when it dodged the swarm of missiles.
Unfortunately for them, Eta Squadron had wiped out all other fighters from the
convoy's remains. Now they descented on the remaining pirates, lasers flashing.
The A-wings scattered but it was too little too late. A wave of death engulfed
them all. The three Modified Corvettes decided to save themselves and jumped to
safety.
"Sorry to spoil
the fun for you, Omicron."
Diaboli laughed as
he recognised Major Steve's voice:
"You're gonna
have to buy us a round at the cantina for this."
Only one of the
Muurian transport managed to escape.
"Oh crap! I had
a lock on it!" : Lieutenant Wagner pulled a U-turn as his prey jumped into
hyperspace. The convoy was finally safe. The open channel was full of pleas
fror help. The Passenger liners were out of control. Air and fluids flowed out
from huge gaps on the hull. When the Imperials came back to the convoy they
could see that bodies floated among the debris. The space was full of escape
pods.
"Incoming
fighters from H-53!" : Colonel Angel warned. Fifteen E-wings and two
Skipray Blastboats appeared near the convoy from hyperspace.
"This is
Commander Turris from TransGalacticSecurity. We are here to help the
convoy."
"TGS, you're
too late. We did the job for you."
Major Steve sounded sad when he broke the news to the newcomers. Diaboli flew past
the Passenger liners. Most modules were without power but some parts had
lights on. There were people trapped inside.
"Collie, we
need evac-transports. Civilians in those liners need help, now."
"Transports are
coming, Omicron I-I. ETA in three minutes. We'll arrive in five."
Merchant transports
and freighters had entered hyperspace when they had the chance. They had saved
themselves but left hundreds behind. Diaboli didn't know how many craft the
pirates had managed to capture. He hoped things were better with other convoys.
---------------------Hyperion
System-------------------------
Minos Cluster had
seen countless wars. In the last decade endless pirate fleets had ravaged the
colonies, then the New Republic and Emperor's Hammer waged war for the control
of shipping routes and industrial power. This brutal war ended in a slim victory
for the Empire. In a forgotten sector lied planet Cr-56336. This was a former
weapons testing planet. Every explosion imaginable had happened here. All
prototype torpedoes, rockets, bombs, turbolasers, cyclonic missiles,
thermalblasters and worse had lighted up the sky here. The surface was barren
with vast ash wastes and glass deserts from countless of nuclear explosions.
From space Cr-56336 looked like a pale grey dot. Easy to miss and anything but
a hospitable place. But this was now Horcs' target. An old storage facility is
all that remains of Empire's presence. The weapons research and developement
section was transferred elsewhere during the Sector Wars. The storage facility
had a small garrison and old officers. This place was considered to be a career
stopper for all officers so motivation and morale was low. The facility rested
atop a mountainridge. A huge chasm on the other side and a vertical cliff on
the other. Two large landing areas for freighters and an observation tower were
the only things visible to the outside world.
Horcs' four masked
Assault Transports landed. The stormtroopers formed rows to the sides of the
landing area. Horcs wore the stormtrooper's gear with old memories coming to
his head. So many years dressed like this, marching to victory with pride, but
now using it to hide his face. Horcs had ordered a Squadleader to wear a naval
officer's uniform. He would act like he was an Admiral doing an inspection.
Horcs would be by his side the whole time. He saw that the front of the
facility had camouflaged eight turbolaser turrets, two warhead launchers and
eight heavyblaster turrets. It would have been suicide to take the fort with a
frontal assault. Lucky for them the Lady had accuired real and fresh
authorization codes from Imperial comm-nets.
The heavy armour
doors opened. They saw a massive hangar with two Lambda-class shuttles but not
much else. Four stormtroopers and an officer came to talk with the arrival
party. The fake-admiral and Horcs walked to meet them. Horcs remained silent as
the Admiral started the show as planned. He talked with authority and
arrogance. The facility's troopers saluted and ran back. The Admiral signaled
his men to enter the hangar. So far things looked good.
Containers were in
disarray on the floor. Few workers started to pretend they had real work to do
and threw away their death-sticks. The Admiral started to scream comments
around:
"What is this?
Where is the sentry post for hangar security? Why are these containers on top
of power cables? Why do workers smoke near flammable liquids? Who's responsible
for this?"
The officer who had
greeted them on the landing area turned red in the face:
"Ah.. Sir, this
is.. umm."
"Speak,
man!"
"Major Tredene
is in control of this base, sir!"
"Well get him
here at once!"
"SIR, YES,
SIR!" : the humiliated officer activated his voice-link and informed the
Major. In two minutes Tredene, a skinny and tired looking man, saluted the
Admiral:
"Admiral, we
are honoured to have you here. May I-"
"You call that
a salute?"
"I-I.."
He did it again as
if his life depended on it.
"That's better,
Major."
"As I was
saying, may I-"
"Yes you may,
but after my inspection is finished. I'll send three squads to survey your
facilities while we inspect the storage area. I expect nothing but full
cooperation from your men."
"Yes, Admiral.
I'm sorry about this but I wasn't informed of your arrival."
"This is a
surprise inspection, Major."
Horcs admired the
way his fake-admiral stressed the 'surprise' word. This man, Alpha-2's
Squadleader Yppon Suer, used to be a cantinakeeper turned stimm dealer turned
fugitive. And now he was more pompous than any officer Horcs had ever seen. The
Major was quick to gather his wits and guided the inspectors. Three of Horcs'
squads marched to the turbolifts as Major Tredene, Yppon Suer and Horcs entered
the cargolift to the main storage area deep within the mountain. One squad
remained in the hangar. The Admiral continued to harass the Major:
"The faster
this is over the faster I can get out of this disgraceful place."
"Sir, there
hasn't been any cargo activity for years. We just keep watch over the same
containers week after week, write the identical report week after week. Nothing
happens here."
"That's no
excuse. You should drill your men until they can't walk."
"We don't have
proper training grounds."
The pressure door to
the hangar closed behind them and the cargolift was halfway to the storage
area.
"A good leader
makes use of what he has. Isn't that so, trooper?" : the Admiral nodded to
Horcs.
"Yes, Admiral."
The Major tried to
make himself look good:
"Very true,
sir. May I say that my men know every inch of this place and can defend it
against anyone."
"Is that
so?"
"Yes, sir. We
have EW-systems in orbit.."
The Lady had sliced
a command program to shut the Early Warning-system off.
"...our defense
weapons are powerful..."
Squad Alpha-3 had
already planted a demolition charge to the power feed to the weapons.
"...I have
forty workers and eighty troopers guarding the inner levels of the
complex..."
Squad Alpha-1 had
killed the guards at the inner level turbolifts and velded the doors shut. No
one could enter the hangar from the inner levels.
"...and I'm
pleased to say that the door to the storage area is a triple-plated durasteel
mass-door. With inner particle shield. Nothing can cut it."
The massive door
opened as the Major send the open command with this personal codes. The
cargolift entered the storage area. The area was nothing more than piled up
containers as far as the eye could see.
"Impressive,
Major."
Tredene smiled for
the first time.
The remaining
Assault Transports arrived. Defense weapons were activated and started to turn
towards the invaders. Alpha-3's Squadleader activated the demolition charge.
The weapons were dead. The loyal officer and his four stormtroopers heard the
explosion:
"Close the
hangar door! We're under attack!"
Five fast shots
killed them all as squad Alpha-2 revealed their true intentions. The few
remaining workers tried to hide between the containers and the shuttles.
Trooper Jott threw a grenade behind the containers. Exploding ionic-fuel
containers shook the hangar and the shuttles tumbled to their side. Two ATRs
landed and dropped their squads, then retreated back so the next pair could
repeat the maneuver. The landed troopers deployed around the hangar and then
moved to the upper levels in squads. They secured each corridor and placed
proximity mines to all turbolifts and service hatches. No one could enter the
hangar alive. By now someone inside would have heard the explosion and tried to
contact the Major.
Major Tredene gave
the cargo-list to the Admiral as they walked deeper into the storage area:
"All munitians
are accounted for. Trust me, I count them personally since there isn't anything
else to do."
Suer, looking
extremely bored, gave the list to the stormtrooper without reading it:
"Check if the
most important items are here, trooper."
"Yes,
sir."
Horcs browsed the
list.
"What
items?"
"They should be
marked as containers TNA-700G-A001 to TNA-700G-A020."
Tredene couldn't
remember them since they had thousands of containers here. But it did sound
familiar.
"Why are they
so important, sir?"
"If you must
know, we are here to take them."
"Oh."
Now Tredene looked
lost.
"Certainly.
Just present the proper transfer orders for them and I'll personally make sure
they-"
"We don't need
orders, Major."
"But,
but-"
Now Horcs located
the containers:
"They're at
corridor Gamma-18. Around the corner."
Now Tredene
remembered what they were.
"Admiral,
surely you don't suggest that we should move them without clearance from Fleet
Command. They are way too dangerous to-"
Horcs had enough of
this idiot:
"You really are
a disgrace to the Empire."
He fired three shots
to the man's chest. The helmet came off and Horcs placed his own voice-link to
his ear. He combed his blond hair back. It had grown longer than ever before.
He didn't care about military instructions. Not anymore.
"Good acting,
Admiral."
Alpha-2's
Squadleader laughed:
"Thank you,
sir. I'll go get the cargolifter. My squad should be here soon."
The Major had left
the storage area's impregnable door open. Just as planned.
In fifteen minutes
Horcs' men had moved seventeen of the specific containers with cargolifters,
small walkers with lifting arm-ability, to the hangar and landing area. Each
container weighed over half a ton. Some of the trapped stormtroopers showed
resistance as they landed in the turbolift shafts and blasted the doors open.
Proximity mines killed the first wave and the alerted troopers gunned down the
second and third. The corridors were full of smoke and dead Imperials. Squad
Alpha-6 set new mines as others covered them. In the hangar Horcs and an
engineer he had ordered along for the mission stood next to container
TNA-700G-A017. It was as tall as them. The Lady needed sixteen of these things.
These were one of the few things that black market couldn't deliver for any
cost. Only military installations could have them.
"You know what
to do. Set the timer for eight minutes."
"Yes,
sir!"
The engineer opened
the container with the Major's security key. Inside was a dark red 1,5 meters
tall cylinder with a complex pattern of wires and pipes on its surface. White
warning texts causioned anyone not to touch the device. The engineer opened a
small box on the side of the cylinder and started to input the activation
sequence. Horcs was pleased:
"All squads,
prepare to move out."
The Assault
Transports returned to pick up the troopers and sixteen containers. They were
well on their way to upper atmosphere and coming to Strike Cruiser Vengeance's
screens when the cylinder came active. Fortunately for Horcs, and everyone else
in the ATRs, they couldn't see it. The storage facility and the mountain it was
in disappeared under an growing and glowing flare. The whole mountain range cast
immense shadows as the explosion rippled their foundations. The flare was now
over the mountain range. Vengeance's crew saw an expanding white circle as the
blast wave rushed across Cr-56336. A small sun had appeared on its surface.
Then, slowly, the incredible flare imploded and a reverse rush of air sucked
entire ash wastes to the destroyed mountains.
---------------------Radiant
Angel-------------------------
"The crater is
over two hundred kilometers wide. Estimated energy release from detonation is
slighty over seven hundred Giga tonnes. They work the way they were designed,
my Lady. Horcs reports he has sixteen of them." : the servitor's voice was
echoing in his breathingmask. Cloaked in a brown robe there was very little to
see of him. That was a good thing.
Once again her room
was totally dark. Not even the communications she usually listened broke the
silence. The Lady was thinking and the darkness made it easy to consentrate.
The final phase was near. She had sixteen cylinders, which means she'll have
two of her special weapons ready to deliver the killing blow. It had took her
seven years of preparations to get these things, Thermal Nuclear Accelerators
with 700 Giga tonnes of energy. First slicing deep into the comm-net and
forging a transfer order to the weakest chain in the link for them, let them
gather dust in the facility as they were forgotten, then creating the strike
force to get them. She had everything planned years ago and so far everything
had proceeded as planned.
The Lady switched
her neural-nodes on and contacted one of her agents:
"Aspirant,
respond!"
Five seconds later a
deep male voice came online:
"How can I
serve?"
"Are you in
place?"
"Yes."
"For good this
time?"
"Yes."
"Excellent.
Continue as planned."
"Yes, my
Lady."
---------------------STRCK
Vengeance in Hyperspace-------------------------
Vengeance was in
hyperspace on its way to the safety of Shadow Point. Horcs had managed to see
the glowing sphere of destruction of the former mountainrange. He had never
seen such destruction from a single explosion. The crew believed that other
warheads must have detonated at the same time from the first explosion, but
Horcs and some of the engineers knew thats not how thermal detonations work.
The planet was ravaged by a single detonation, not thousands. And now Horcs
walked between sixteen of these cursed things. There was enough firepower here
to wipeout all Imperial military-HQs in all of the major Imperial planets. One
of these could vaporise any fleet on a spacedock. He would have to talk to
Klemm about this. But first he had to oversee the men's debriefing and keep a
inspirational speech. He hated the speeches. As a loyal, no, misguided Imperial
Colonel he loved them. The feel of righteousness. The rush of adrenaline. The
cheer from thousands of throats. Now it all seemed pointless. Horcs could
pretend that there was more here than his own survival. At first it felt good
to punish the Imperials. Now the feeling was gone. He decided to plan a way out
from all of this. There was no glory involved in the Lady's plan, whatever it
was. He weighted the options. Stay here and do the work and wait for the
inevitable counter-attack from the Empire. Or he could get away from Emperor's
Hammer, the Dark Brotherhood and the Lady. The latter would prove difficult, if
not impossible. Go deep into New Republic's territory. Horcs couldn't do it
alone but it was possible with Klemm's help. He shouted an order to the deck
officer:
"Ready a
transport for me. I'll go to Emperor's Clemency."
----------------------HyperRoute
56-64-HK------------------------
Colossus had
received hundred and fifty civilians from the wreckage the pirates had created.
The Passenger liners had had eight hundred civilians each, but most of them
were killed by the explosions and ruptured hull. It seemed to be an insane
tactic. The pirates didn't get credits and couldn't rob the ships if the
passengers were drifting dead in space. One can't rob a person again after they
are dead. They had captured eleven freighters and transports, all with
expensive cargo. The same had happened in all of the convoy routes. The
slaughter of civilians told that there was no return to the relative peace of
the past. Only Empire's trade routes came under attack. And if the Empire
couldn't protect them trade would move to New Republic's territory. Everyone
took it for granted that New Republic supported the pirates.
Commander Diaboli
had finished his debriefing, congratulated the new pilots and was now on his
way to his quarters. He had to walk through the docking bay which now held the
civilians. Soldiers distributed food and water to them. A couple of medics
looked for injuries. Diaboli could see sullustians, bothans, tradoshans and
humans in the line for food. Women and children. The sight made him weak. He
should have ordered his pilots to protect the convoy from all attacks, not to
go after the pirate's capital ships. But their bloody tactic was a surprise to
everyone.
He was almost to at
the turbolifts when he felt it. A strange feeling at the back of the head.
Diaboli stopped. He rembered the last time he felt like this. He continued
walking but instead of the turbolifts he turned to the stairs that went to the
upper catwalk over the docking bay. The civilians were underneath him. Most in
groups talking to each other, some lied on their back and slept. Diaboli walked
there for minutes, dodging dockworkers who saluted him as they went by. Finally
he saw what he was looking for in the middle of the civilians. She wore the
same red clothes, black boots and the red ribbon. And she stared at Diaboli.
Viol gave a smile. The odds of meeting again in this Galaxy were incredibly
small. Both knew that they shouldn't make direct contact. Not when anyone can
see them. Diaboli squeezed the rail with both hands. He saw how Viol mouthed a
silent word:
"Wait."
Then she quickly and
casually pointed her finger behind Diaboli. He turned and saw a lone figure
leaning against the wall on the catwalk on the other side of the docking bay.
Captain Retrac was watching Diaboli. He saluted her across the catwalks. Now that
she was noticed Retrac walked away. Diaboli stared at her until she was in the
turbolift. He returned to see if Viol was still there. She wasn't. It didn't
matter. Viol would contact him when she believed it to be safe. Internal
Security complicated things but there are ways to stay hidden in a Star
destroyer.
Diaboli was
undressing his clothes in his quarters. He needed shower and something to eat.
Wearing nothing but a towel, he opened his datapad and checked for new
messages. Seven messages, reports on the pirate attacks, Squadron status, and a
message from the Commodore. And one anonymous message with nothing but a link
to Holonet. Diaboli activated it. The link lead to a popular data-transfer
network with an open communication window. One line of text was already written
in the window:
"Hello,
D."
Diaboli entered his
own message:
"Hello,
V."
"Confirm who
you are. Tell me what you saw that night."
She was cautious.
"OK. I saw you
in the starlight. And your tattoos. All of them."
"Good enough
for me, D."
"My turn. How
do I know you are V?"
"The last thing
you said to me in that place was 'Good luck, V' but I didn't hear it, I saw
it."
"Good enough
for me, V."
He didn't know or
care how she managed to get online. Only one thing interested him:
"Can we ever
meet again?"
A long pause ended
when she replied:
"Only once. And
it would have to be now."
"I don't want
to risk you safety."
"What a
coincident! That's my main consern too."
"I mean
it."
"Then open your
door."
"?"
"Now."
Diaboli hurried to
the door and pushed the open-button. No one was there. He walked back to the
datapad and saw the additional text:
"Wait."
Diaboli startled as
the door closed behind him. It was Viol.
--------------------Emperor's
Clemency in Shadow Point-----------------------
Man got another
patrol until they noticed that the explosions couldn't have been accidents.
Clever as they were, they had tried to lure him into a trap on his third try,
but he had gotten away by disappearing into the AC system again after some
stray blaster shot had hit a cooling pipe, letting the coolant vaporise in the
relative warmth of the corridor.
Man was alive, but
he had lost one of the most important factors of his success, strategic
surprise. Now they knew he was there, and as they had effectively shut down
most possible passages from the position of the fire fight he had virtually
lost the possibility for tactical surprise as well.
They had chased him
where they wanted him with ease after the initial contact, and now there were
only two more sections to hide in. Furthermore the activity onboard had
drastically increased during the past two days, Man assumed they had reached
the pirates' HQ.
That was when he
decided that there was no sense in hiding anymore. The Pirates had the manpower
to personally check every possible hiding spot, fleeing from the ship was
impossible, attack was the last resort.
Having connected the
remaining frag mines to a larger single explosive Man was leaving his hidout.
His plan was simple, blow a large hole into the ship and thus rendering it, or
at least the sensetive medical equipment, useless. Blaster ready the Doctor made
his way to C-Deck, right under the medical facilities and next to the hull.
"We got him,
sir!", the bridge officer monitoring the internal security systems cried
out. "He just appeared at D-Deck, moving towards C."
"Excellent.",
Miller replied on stepping to the console. "I will attend to that matter
personally.", and on grapping the Communicator from the console,
"Keep me posted of his movements."
He had entered the
turbolift before the echo of the "Yessir!" uttered by the controller
had vanished from the bridge.
Man was nearly at
his goal. Just two more corridors and..., yes that was the right one, now it
was room five. Creeping along the darkened corridor Man reached the last room
and entered it. It was a storage compartment, and he used the crates of gear to
reach to the ceiling's T-Shaped Steel frame, just 30 centimeters from the outer
hull and less then 5 centimeters of steel from the medical deck. After having
checked for the best position for his charge he knelt down to open his bag.
The door behind him
hissed open, Man knew that could only mean one thing...
Last room on this
deck and, now for almost three minutes. Miller knew he needed to be fast, but
he stopped himself from running with his heavy boots.
And there it was,
Deck C, section 4, corrdor 5, room C-4-5/16. Drawing his blaster the Mercenary
opened the door just to see someone kneeling over something. And the person was
beginning to turn, but a quick blaster shot into the neck solved that problem.
So that was the
insurgent. A small men with classes covering eyes now wide open as the brain
tried to command the lungs to move through a severed spine. Next to him was a
large bag, filled with what looked like a selection of fragmentation mines.
That could have ended badly. After taking some time to disconnect all primers
from the mines, Jefferson Miller turned around to watch the last spark of life
leave the eyes of what had once been Doctor Jackson Man.
-------------------ISD
Colossus, pilot's quarters-----------------------
"So, you were
expecting me?" : Viol grinned at Diaboli.
"Oh,
this." : Diaboli tucked his towel tighter.
"Don't bother.
I won't stay here for long."
"How did
you-"
"I learned more
that one trick as a Dark Jedi."
Diaboli wanted to
say so many things to her but didn't know where to start. She sensed the
hesitation:
"I must leave
in twenty hours. That's when the transports from commercial companies come and
take us 'civilians' away from the fighting."
"Is it safe for
us to meet like this?"
"For now. And
it shouldn't matter to us. I'm on a hopeless run from Dark Brotherhood, I
can't outrun them. You wait for your death, right?"
Diaboli sounded sad:
"It was like
that for me. Not anymore."
Viol locked the
door.
"What
changed?"
"Well,
you."
She stepped closer:
"Go on."
"Um. After
Carba I've been thinking only about one thing."
"Me?"
Diaboli's cheeks
turned red. Why did it feel so embarrassing to tell this to her? Maybe because
she is the first woman who Diabli's been intimate with.
"Yes."
Viol was now almost
touching him. Her breath cooled Diaboli's skin.
"I don't have
to be a mindreader to know that, Dee."
"Is that why
you came here?"
"Sort of."
"Go on."
She placed her left
hand on Diaboli's waist and her right hand on his shoulder. Diaboli felt the
urge to kiss her but resisted it because Viol whispered something:
"Hear these
words I say
Make the most out of
your day
For brief is the
light on our way
On this momentary
trail"
She took a silent
breath and continued:
"Hear these
words, awake
Make the most out of
your day
For brief is the
time, so brief is the time
that we're allowed
to stay"
It was beautiful.
Diaboli hadn't heard anything like that before. Poetry wasn't all that popular
in TIE Corps. Still, he understood what Viol meant:
"You want to
live your life to the fullest, before the end."
"That's
rare."
"What?"
"You understand
women."
They kissed.
Captain Retrac was
furious. That arrogant Commander had noticed her from the shadows. Diaboli
hadn't tried to escape nor made any unauthorized contact with anyone. Instead
he had destroyed pirate fleets. Now the Wing Commander wanted to have a word
with her. No doubt that man would try to boss her around after their first
encounter. Her authority had been greated when she arrived but the Lieutenant
General's first order was now fulfilled. After her attachment to WingVIII
Lieutenant Colonel Chris Cox was once again officially senior officer compared
to her. Now she had to win his and Rear Admiral Goad's respect with her work.
She had to be useful and gather all possible pieces of information. The speaker
in the waiting room came alive:
"Enter."
She had waited there
for fifteen minutes. Retrac knew what to do; be polite and assure nothing but
cooperation. She counted the days for the transfer back to Section-5. Fifty
days.
"Damn."
Retrac entered the
Wing Commander's office. Chris was ever so polite:
"Ah, welcome
Captain. Sorry to keep you waiting. Things are hectic now, as you know."
She smiled but
didn't say anything.
"Now. I'm
pleased to inform you that we have an office and quarters for you and your
Sergeant. And a large office, if I may add."
"I'm pleased to
hear it, sir."
"Splendid. Here
are the datakeys for you."
Chris handed two
digital-keys to her. Retrac looked at them:
"Section
Kappa-1. That's close to the-"
"Right between
the Emergency Power Reserves and the Warhead launcher."
"Sir, that's on
the other side of the Star destroyer and the bridge, and the other officer's
quarters."
"True, but you
are closer to the launch area and pretty close to the pilot's ready-rooms.
Besides, you can always invite people to your new office."
"But-"
"Now now,
Captain. We are cramped as it is. After all, your arrival was a surprise to us.
This is the best we can offer for the time being. I promise to look for closer
office and quarters for you two."
"Thank you,
sir."
"You're
dismissed."
She saluted sharply
and walked away. After the door closed Chris returned to his desk, picked up a
tray from the floor and finished his lunch.
------------------Shadow
Point------------------------
Vengeance looked
surrounded when the ATRs continued to transfer equipment and troops to other
support vessels. The area had two Carrack Cruisers, three Strike Cruisers and a
Victory-class Star destroyer and swarms of transports flying here and there
between them. Horcs climped the connection tunnel from the transport to the
medical frigate. The last mission was a success. Only four troopers had been
injured from shrapnel or burns. He had been mad at Klemm for acting in such a
foolish way when he was weak. Giving combat training with one arm! Horcs
couldn't afford to lose the only man he trusted. He opened the pressure seal
and entered the main corridor on Emperor's Clemency. The troopers snapped to
attention:
"Attention on
deck!"
"At ease,
men."
Horcs was ready to
enter the patient rooms. Severus stopped him:
"A word,
sir."
"What is
it?"
Horcs didn't stop
but walked even faster.
"It's about
Klemm, sir."
Horcs stopped.
"I'm sorry to
say this but he is dead."
Horcs remained
silent.
"A saboteur
managed to hide in this ship after its capture. He used grenades to kill a
patrol and was about to detonate a critical structurepoint here. He was a
former medic here. I suspect he found out how important Klemm was and somehow
poisoned him."
Horcs almost fell to
the floor. He regained his posture:
"Where's his
body?"
"Room H-2,
sir."
Horcs didn't show
his feelings. Severus walked beside him:
"If I may, sir.
My deepest apologies for this-"
"Shut up."
Horcs ordered
Severus to remain outside as he went to room H-2. The room had six beds but
only one of them had a resting figure covered with a white blanket. Horcs
pulled it to the side. It looked like Klemm was still in pain, even the fact
that he's been dead for two hours didn't remove the anguish from his face.
Horcs wanted to say something to Klemm:
"Rest good, my
friend. Revenge is my specialty."
Klemm would have
never let some saboteur medic surprise him. Even in his sleep. New Republic
commandos had tried it six years age, and died. Horcs' options withered down to
only two ways. Either flee alone and face a sure and slow death at the Lady's
leasure. Or obey her till the unseen end. He knew that the time of assaulting
effectively with his Vengeance was over. The Empire was now alerted to the
threat. Entire fleets searched the stars for them. Now the Lady had powerful
warheads and could easily obliterate atleast sixteen of the major cities on any
Imperial planet. That will result in hundreds of millions of men, women and
children turned to less than ash in an instant. The warrior in Horcs abhorred
such means of war. There's nothing in the near future that would motivate him.
He no longer felt pride over his men. They fought for credits, nothing more.
Should he stay with the Lady's plan and see if he would be alive after its
completion? Or maybe try to stop the plan. There was only bitter business to be
done. Klemm's murder was a warning to him. It was clear now.
Radiant Angel exited
hyperspace right next to the Vengeance. She had travelled to each Pirate Lord's
base and collected the items she needed. The pirate's had succesfully obtained
five out of the seven items on her list. Not a total failure since actually
three items were essential for her. The rest were there to test if the Pirate
Lords took her seriously and how skilled their boarding parties were. She was
pleased with the results.
"Captain, get
Horcs online."
Five minutes later
Horcs' angry voice responded:
"What is it, my
Lady?"
"My my, Horcs.
Is there something on your mind?"
"My most
trusted man was murdered when I was on the last mission."
"But the
mission went as planned?"
"Of
course."
Horcs pretended he
wasn't insulted by the Lady's reaction to the murder.
"I have on
final task for you and your soldier's. Gather sixty of your most skilled
troopers and join me in the Radiant Angel. You'll act as my personal bodyguard
when we enter the end of my project."
"About that, my
Lady. I need to know more if I'm supposed to protect you from danger. What are
our main enemies? Where will we be?"
"Good, Horcs.
Always the military strategist. Very well. You have proven your commitment.
Expect the Empire's finest close combat troopers, Storm commandos and Dark
Jedi. I'll give you information on the defense fleets in Aurora System."
"We're going to
Aurora?"
Horcs knew
first-hand how massive the Home Guard Battlegroup was. And the Imperial Navy
could bolster the defenses with a Super Star destroyer and almost endless line
of fighters. And the ground forces numbered in hundreds of thousands.
"I know what
you are thinking, Horcs. We'll slip past them. I do it all the time."
"What will we
do after that?"
"I'll get my
revenge. And you shall too."
"Revenge for
what, my Lady?"
Now Horcs was
intrigued. Maybe she would finally tell why all of this has transpired.
"For something
that happened decades ago to my family and heritage. It doesn't consern you.
It'll suffice to say that an entire planet will be avenged."
"What
planet?"
He was dangerously
near insulting her.
"You're
drifting too close with your inquest."
"I'm sorry, my
Lady."
She pondered for a
while whether to tell Horcs or not:
"Alderaan.
That's all for now, Horcs. I'll send for you and your elite when they are
ready."
"Blasted
bitch!" : Horcs screamed as he threw the voice-link to the wall. She
didn't care how many men died for her plan. And it was all for a decades old
bloody grudge. Sure, the Empire had destroyed a planet but there were millions
of planets left in the Galaxy, thousands of planets with the same ecological
conditions as Alderaan. That was the old Empire. The new order saw it as a
waste of energy to destroy entire planets as there was little sense to
eradicate the areas one needed to live in.
Escape was
impossible. Her ship was here to pick up Horcs. She was cunning. Now Horcs had
to get sixty troopers to the smaller frigate and this meant that the corridors
would be full of troopers watching every move he would make. On the other hand,
when he was that close to the Lady it could offer a chance to end it all with
one well-aimed blaster shot.
Severus knocked at
the door:
"Is everything
allright, sir?"
Horcs straightened
his jacket and walked out:
"Give him a
proper soldier's burial. I'll be at Vengeance."
"Yes,
sir."
There was no use to
stay with Klemm's body. He wouldn't rise up again and Horcs didn't want to give
an eulogy to an empty room. Time to move on and find out who killed him.
The main hangar was
relatively empty as the transfer action was now complete. Horcs had one
Merr-Sonn Munitions' blaster rifle and a box full of power cells. Across the
hangar, attached to the durasteel wall, was one of Horcs' old medals, a Bronse
Star with Silver Ribbons. For some reason Klemm had took a few of his medal
from his office in Begg when their cover was blown. The medals meant nothing to
Horcs.
This was important.
He had ordered each Squad to enter the hangar in turn. The task was simple. Hit
the medal with a single shot. The distance was 80 meters and the time limit
four seconds. Horcs counted it out loud. One Squad in three usually had one soldier
who made it. Nevertheless Horcs had to repeat a familiar phrase way too many
times:
"You're
dismissed."
Halfway through the
ranks, and two hours later, the medal was a melted and black piece of metal on
the wall, that was now black around the medal and the burnmarks saturated
meters away from it. He had 29 soldiers in his elite group. Severus appeared
from the docking bay area and wondered what was going on. One of the waiting
troopers explained the situation to him. Severus walked to Horcs:
"I didn't know
we needed this kind of practise, sir."
Horcs signaled an
idle Squadleader to oversee the shooting. Then he answered:
"The Lady wants
it. Not me."
"Really. Do you
know where we'll strike next, sir?"
"No. It doesn't
hurt to find out who are master shooters."
"Very true,
sir. Do you mind if I cut in line?"
This was a surprise
to Horcs. He had never actually seen Severus shoot. He signaled a halt to the
process, took the blaster rifle and gave it to Severus:
"Go ahead. One
shot in four seconds. Time starts now, one, two-"
Severus pressed the
stock against his blue cheek, clicked the safety off, leveled the nozzle to the
target, aimed and released a blast.
"-three,-"
The blast hit the
medal. Severus clicked the safety on and threw the blaster to the next man in
line.
"It seems
you'll join me for the final push. Get ready for hop to the Radiant
Angel.": Horcs was impressed. A masterful performance from a man who
claimed to be a mere military consultant.
--------------------Border
of Aurora System, EH-Naval Assembly Area----------------------
TIE Corps
Battlegroup Command had issued a meeting for all Wing Commanders and
Commodores. All Wing Commanders and Commodores were assembled at the conference
room in the SSSD Sovereign. The pirate uprising had to stop before a second
onslaught would ravage the convoys. Even now smaller raids harassed small
deepspace platforms. All pirate activity was confined to four Systems; Phare,
Carrida, Pirath and Hyperion. Only a decisive campaign couldn't put an end to
this within a week. Reinforcement from Aurora System, which suffered no pirate
activity, would arrive and surround the pirate fleets in each threatened System.
7th and 8th Frigate Squadron with 15th and 16th Corvette Squadron were already
enroute to Carrida. From there they would move to neighbouring Systems. After a
succesful completion they would remind the New Republic not to support the
pirates ever again.
Some Commodores had
reservations on should they move active Fleets away from Aurora and weaken its
defenses. This was countered with additional EW-systems and sensor-probes
throughout Aurora. Any unauthorised massed fleet would be detected long before
they were a threat. However, if a ship moved alone it had a small chance to
evade detection. But a single ship wasn't a threat. Not to the mighty Emperor's
Hammer.
-------------------Near
the Aurora System, Quadrant Delta-6332-----------------------
Radiant Angel
appeared from hyperspace and decelerated. It rested between blue nebulae. The
Lady connected her neural-implants to the Holonet. She logged in to her own
security channels, scanned the communication transcrips her programmes had
saved from listening in to Imperial com-nets. Just as she had predicted, the
Imperials moved more ships from Aurora to other Systems. It didn't matter if
they destroyed all pirate fleets. She didn't care about them anymore. She was
so close now.
"Captain, jump
to the next point."
To be continued in
Mathematics of Defeat, October 2005.
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