"QUIET already, they have probe droids down here", whispered the team leader. The team slowly made their way through the bowels of the Imperial Weapons and Tactics Schools main sewer outlet pool. Careful of their movements, the assassins made it to the first pipeline into the complex. Water dripped from the gaping pipeline, movement could be heard from inside the tunnel, the sound of metal on metal. "Probe droid, get down." The droid hovered to the edge of the mouth of the pipe and scanned the area of the sewer pool. The team, blasters drawn, hid under the overhang of the pipe, waiting listening. Slowly, the droid turned and made it's way around the curve of the tunnel and headed off into the darkness. "Ok men, lets go" ordered the commander. The team got up and headed into the tunnel, switching on their night vision goggles, they headed towards the heart of IWATS, towards the Deans office.

"Admiral Garret, may I speak with you for a moment", asked one of the pilots stationed in IWATS for training. "Yes, general, what is it", replied the admiral. "I was wondering if my test had been graded and what my score might have been", questioned the pilot. "Ah, I am on my way to my office right now, but I have a few things to take care of, I shall be getting back to you by the morning", said Garret as he turned and headed down the hall.

"Sir, according to the map we make a left and head up the main stairwell to the processing station, that will take us to the to the center of the complex" said the lieutenant. "Very well, lead on" replied the commander as he thought out the operation in his head. He had the best of the rebellions infiltration teams with him, to the nail, these guys could get in and out of a place without detection. Eight men was all he needed to do the job, eight of the best.

Garret walked the corridors of IWATS, passing classes in session and saluting pilots in the halls, as he headed towards the main hanger and his shuttle.

The hanger was huge, large enough to hold three frigates. TIE fighters were aligned, a class was in session. The admiral, careful not to disturb the class headed for his shuttle, climbed in and began to rummage through it for some of the paperwork he brought down from the platform Daedalus.

"LOOKOUT!" shouted one of the team members as a probe droid rounded the corner and brought her blasters to bear. The troops scattered as a barrage of laser fire bounced off the tunnel walls and sizzled as they splashed into the water. "Take that thing out, use your ion cannon", shouted the commander who was pinned down by the droids fire. One of the team members, a calimari, jumped up and fired off several shots with his ion into the droids torso taking it out. However, the droid brought it's guns to bear as it's power faded and ripped off several shots hitting the general in the chest killing him instantly in a cloud of smoke and the hiss of blood. "Ok guys, we have a job to do, lets go" said the commander with a hint of sadness. The team regrouped and headed towards the stairwell and began their ascent.

The sound of the bell throughout the campus signaled the start of lunch. The halls filled with hungry and weary stomachs. Garret had made sure he was not in the halls during this moment. He was sitting in his office when his good friend Rear Admiral Tycho appeared in his open door. "Dining alone today?" asked the RA. "TYCH!" shouted Garret as he looked up from his paper work. "Where have you been, I never see you anymore." "Busy my friend, but I did find the time to put together the course material on mine-racing for you", replied Tycho as he sat down in one of the leather chairs located in the room. "Wonderful, I really appreciate it, I have been a little bogged down as of late" said Garret with a tone of disgust. Tycho smiled and pointed at a stack of papers "I can see that." "Heh, but I like the work." "I could never understand you Garret." "No one can Tycho, no one can." The two continued to talk for the rest of the lunch period as the rest of IWATS relaxed and did the same.

Outside, Imperial Walkers moved in unison in a mock attack on an installation. TIE's and GUN's soared over head launching attacks at drone ships while bombers dropped there loads of thermal blast detonators on targets. Stormtroopers moved from position to position firing at moving targets and planting time delayed explosives. In orbit, the Platform Daedalus, acting like a warship, rained down heavy turbolaser's on large rebel land assault craft and troop battalions. Another glorious day at IWATS.

The noise from the processors was deafening, the team, no seven, made their way passed churning pools of sewage with pistons that moved up and down constantly processing the material. The overhead lights were dim and the grating slippery, but the team crossed the room with speed and ducked into a hallway. The sound of footsteps could be heard over the noise. "Sir, stormtrooper patrol coming this way, a big one" said a member as he peered around the corner. "Damn, ok, pull up the grating get and under it, NOW" barked the commander as the troopers grew closer. The rebels pulled the grating up and slid under and in-between the piping located below and waited for the troopers to pass. Twenty white armored troops approached and turned down the hall the team was in. Each rebel watched as the imperials passed over head and continued down the hall. "Give it another five minutes, then we move" said the commander from in between two pipes.

"Where the heck is that droid when you need it" asked Garret to himself as he walked out of his office and nearly knocked admiral Khyron over causing him to drop all of his IIC files. "Hey Khyron, how are you, you seen that damn droid of mine" asked Garret as he looked down both ends of the hall. "Hi, I'm ok and I have not see him around anywhere" replied Khyron as he picked up the papers Garret caused him to drop. "Ah, ok, I have to find that stupid thing, I'll see you later" said Garret smiling as he turned and left Khyron with his paperwork. "Oh, I'm sorry for the mess I made" said Garret he as walked down the hall. "Yeah yeah yeah, go find your droid" mumbled Khyron as he sat on the floor sorting out his work out. Garret made his way down the whitewall hallway, glancing at the pictures located in five foot intervals from each other. The Sovereign, TIE fighters, Battle Group 1, the planet Aurora and her Star Destroyers, each picture was well refined and crisp to every detail. From behind Garret a mechanical voiced asked, "Master Garret, are you looking for me?" Garret spun on the ball of his boot to come about and face the silver droid, "Ah, there you are, I want you to compile the latest list of graduates and send it over to Reder for posting. Also, please have the latest inventory listing on my desk at 0900 today." "Yes, master Garret, I will begin work on that immediately" replied the droid. "Very good, also, I am getting tired of having to come look for you, next time, you are a target for the AT-AT's to shoot at, carry on." With that, Garret spun and walked down the hall to continue his work. T-WCv7 shouted after the admiral as he walked off "Yes master Garret, I apologize."

The main stairwell went up 93 stories to the top of the IWATS complex. The team slowly made their way up each flight, listening to every sound, always on guard. "Sir, our source says that Garret is heading this way. He is on level 84, heading down" said the communications team member as he listened through his ear piece. "Good, keep moving men" replied the commander as he pushed on.

"Forget this" mumbled Garret as he continued down the stairs. He stopped at the next landing and entered level 79. "Ah, good day men, I trust everything is quiet and operating as usual" asked Garret as he greeted a stormtrooper patrol. "Sir, yes Sir" barked the lieutenant as he saluted the admiral. "Excellent, continue with your patrol" said Garret as he saluted back and headed down the hall for the main turbo shaft.

"Damn, sir, he is heading for the turbolift" groaned the COMM officer. "Ok, no problem, we continue as planned, don't worry, we will get him" reassured the commander .

As the bell sounded, Garret jumped into the turbolift and told the operator to take him down to main level. With the press of a button, the two men plunged through IWATS coming to a stop on the main level. The doors opened and Garret stepped out into the main foyer. The banner of IWATS was proudly displayed so anyone who entered the complex would see it. The floor was a jet black, shined and polished so that everything reflected off of it. Four columns from the floor to the ceiling formed a mock walkway from the main doors to the turbolifts. Imperial banners from every flight squadron as well as the Imperial insignia hung all around the walls. The main doors were of pure crystal with the Imperial insignia and IWATS etched into them. The main desk, made of the finest marble, was located off to the left of the main doors. The clerk sat at his chair talking with a visitor to IWATS. Off to the right, made of the finest wood on Sif, were the main doors to the meeting center and dining hall, each with the Imperial insignia and IWATS engraved into them. Garret headed out the main doors and took a breath of fresh air and smiled. Spring had begun and the weather had been at it's peak. The huge fountain sprayed out water in a grand display that struck awe into all, including himself. Garret was greeted by several officers employed at IWATS. After a brief conversation, he got into his land speeder and headed off to the battle field.

"Ok, we wait here until the signal, the patrols orders have been changed in order to keep them away from here" said the commander as the team anchored down in a spare room used for storage.

An explosion rocked the ground as Garret stepped out of his speeder and onto the grass. He stopped up on the hill where the trainers and officers looked on and evaluated the troops movements and actions. "How are they doing Admiral" asked Garret as he stared out over the vast field. "Ah, very good sir, they have already taken out the front line of defense with minimal casualties" responded the Field Admiral with a sense of pride. "Good, how many casualties" inquired Garret. "Hmmm, as of now, 36 stormtroopers, one AT-AT, three TIE's and one speederbike" said the Admiral as he read the data sheet. "Well, that is good, but as always there is room for improvement. Also, please raise the Intel level on the drones to one hundred percent and launch a new squad of X-wings. I want to see the reactions of the troops and field commanders" ordered Garret as he continued to stare out over the field soaking up the detail. "Yes sir, done sir" replied a general sitting at a computer station. Eight X-wings soared out of the hanger in the rear of the rebel base and all laser and rebel troop movements increased. As quickly as it had gone into the favor of the Empire, it went to the Rebellion. The fighter drones ignored the TIE's and launched there dud proton torpedoes at the AT-AT's marking them as kills. The stormtroopers quickly compensated and withdrew and called for reinforcements. The field commanders changed there battle plans and split there forces into two main groups and moved to encircle several rebel battalions. In the distance, drop ships landed with the new AT-AT's and other support craft for reinforcement. Than, an X-wing launched a torpedo into one of the Imperial battalions marking all the troopers for death. Garret turned around as the battle increased it's intensity behind him. "As you can see, you have some work to do my friend. I will be back in an hours time, I want to see some improvements in the situation" said Garret as he hopped into his speeder and headed off back towards the main building. The battle would last several more hours.

T-WCv7 worked diligently at the computer terminal sending out information to Rear Admiral Reder and other IWATS command staff. The latest graduates list had been compiled and the droid continued to work on memos and orders until his master had returned. Glancing out the main view port, he could see the admiral's speeder heading back from the battle field. T-WCv7 would have work to do soon, very soon.

The main IWATS space tactics professor, Rear Admiral Donitz, was sitting on the edge of the fountain when Garret arrived back. "Good day Garret" greeted Donitz as Garret hopped out of his speeder. "Hey, what's the good word" responded Garret as he sat down. "Ah, not to much, just going through some papers. This class seems to be the best of them all. They are getting the idea of dogfighting fairly quickly" said Donitz as he held out the papers with nearly perfect scores on them. "Excellent, your pay check will be big this month" said Garret with a grin across his face. "Oh wow, I'll be sure to not spend it all in one place. Hmmm, from the sound of it, I'd say you where out at the battle field" said Donitz as he reached down and splashed the cool fountain water. Garret, looking up into the sky and the top on the IWATS building replied, "Yea, I upped the fighting standards of the drones to one hundred percent and added a squad of X-wings. What a mess, but I have faith in them, they will over come it." "Ah, well, maybe I will head out there and watch the goings on. It will give me something to do while I am in-between classes" said Donitz as he rose to his feet and tucked his papers in his briefcase. "Ok, you can take my speeder if you want" said Garret as he too came to his feet. "Ok, thanks, I will see you later tonight at dinner than" asked Donitz as he climbed into the pilots seat. "Yup, until then" said Garret as he walked back to the steps and the main entrance. Inside, an officer was walking out of the state room with several medal's in hand. "Thrawn, how are you doing you old war dog" asked Garret as he walked up to him. "Not too bad, have to award these tonight, we have some very creative pilots" responded Thrawn as he held up several MoT's. "Glad to here it, I have to get going. See you tonight for dinner" asked Garret. "Sure will, after I get this stuff done" responded Thrawn as he jingled the medals together. Garret smirked at his gesture and turned and began to go about his business "tell the pilots I send my personal congratulations." "Will do Gar, seeya tonight."

"Sir, Garret has entered the building, the clock is ticking" said the rebel as he listened to his ear piece. "Ok, this is it, we move in five minutes. Everyone check your blasters, go for the kill" said the commander as he got to his feet and waited and waited.

Meanwhile, on level 67, in a small weapons room, a timer counted down it's numbers, five minutes until zero.

"Sir, I am sorry, but I do not understand the logic in this question. How can this even be asked, I can't answer it" asked a pilot who was upset over a grade he had been given. Garret listened to him go on and on for another four minutes before he decided he had heard enough. "Look, general, this is the required course material. We have used it for the past year and no one has complained about it. I am not changing the material or your grade. Understand?" The general, taken aback by the sudden outburst, whispered "Yes sir, sorry sir." Garret began to continue down the hall when, suddenly, he felt a slight tremor in the floor. Than, a reverberating boom and shaking throughout the structure of IWATS. The lights switched to red and the alarms began to sound. Garret hurried for the nearest turbolift, called it, stepped in, and pressed the up button.

Smoke and flames filled level 67. Stormtroopers rushed in only to be pushed back by the heat. The sprinkler system kicked in and sprayed down the entire level. The flames died and the smoke was ventilated outside through the ducts. Behind the smoke where blasted out walls, melted plastic, bent girders and a few dead bodies. "Admiral Garret, we have had an accident on level 67 in one of the armories" said a stormtrooper into his comlink.

"I am on my way, are there any casu..." Garret trailed off as the turbolift came to a halt on level 59. The door opened and Garret stepped out. He was at the far end of the hall, the lights where dim and all he could hear was a deafening silence. A door at the other end of the hall burst open and seven men came out with there blasters drawn. Taking aim, they began to fire. Red lasers bounced off all the walls as Garret dove back into the turboshaft, but not before taking a laser hit in the calf.

"Got him sir, he won't be going far now" said a team member as he stood up from his crouched position. "Lets finish this" said another as he walked down the hall. Three laser blasts careened down at the man approaching the shaft. One of them founds it's mark, hitting the man in the head and dropping him instantly. The rest of the team fired back again, taking cover in door ways. Blaster bolts flew back and forth, the smell of ozone filled the air as the rebel commandos and the injured dean traded fire. "SIR, HE IS GOING TO BLOW THE COMPLEX UP" shouted a rebel commando. "He says that we have failed the mission, now he must complete it, we have twenty minutes." The commander, taken by surprise, realized what the man had said. "Get out of here, head for the shuttle, GO, MOVE" yelled the man as he got up and ran. At the other end of the hall, a squad of stormtroopers burst though the doors and began firing. Lasers filled the air, the entire rebel team was cut down in a matter of seconds. Garret, hopping on one leg, made his way down the hall to the stormtroopers who where confirming the dead. "Admiral, this one is alive" crackled the stormtroopers voice. Garret made his way to the man looked at him and asked "who are you." The man coughed, winced from the pain and with a raspy voice said "it does not matter now, you are all dead, all of you." The rebel began to laugh and cough, laugh and cough as he stared at Garret. Garret drew his blaster, took aim, and fired at the man's head killing him. "Sir, what does he mean, we are all dead" asked one of the troopers as more reinforcements arrived from the stairwells. "The turbo lift, dim lights, the explosion, they knew where I would.... CAPTAIN, have you determined the cause of the explosion" asked Garret through his comm. "Yes sir, the source seems to be from a computer terminal, a small device, one of ours" crackled the voice. Garret standing on his good leg, thought about the recent events that took place. Slowly, he began to realize who the real enemy was. "Get me to my office, NOW" shouted Garret to the troopers. Quickly, they lifted the Admiral and carried him to another turbo shaft.

T-WCv7 entered his codes, encrypted the computer and set the timer. Twenty minutes, twenty minutes and IWATS would be no more. The silver droid stepped out into the hall and moved for the stairs. The sound of a door opening behind him filled the hall. He spun and was greeted by a battalion of imperial stormtroopers and his master. "Good day my master, I see that you have escaped death, for now, but I can fix that." The silver droid raised his hands and they dropped off, revealing two blaster cannons. The stormtroopers raised there guns and began to fire at the droid. Hundreds of lasers discharged in the hall, the walls where scorched, the acrid smell of ozone filled the air. When the shooting stopped, T-WCv7 stood there in the same place, unharmed. "A good attempt troopers, but you see, I am more than you imagine." A trooper fired off a blast and a blue haze enveloped the droid. "Sir, that thing has shielding" said a trooper as he began to panic. "Correct, now it is my turn." With those words, the droid extended its arms and fired his dual laser cannons at a rate twenty times the normal rate. The troopers where cut to pieces in seconds. For good measure, T-WCv7 opened his chest and lobbed a small shell at the bodies. An explosion filled the hall with debris and smoke. When it cleared, the droid was gone.

When the alarms sounded, the battle out on the field stopped and the troopers organized and headed for the complex. Outside, the alarms rang and smoke poured from the one of the vents.

"Admiral, admiral, are you ok." Garret came too looking into the face of a trooper who lost his helmet. "Yes, what happened." "Your droid happened sir, it killed but you me and him" replied the guard as he pointed to another one propped up against a wall of one of the rooms. "We where knocked into here by the troopers that where hit by the lasers and thrown backwards" said the guard as he held a piece of cloth to his forehead. Garret blinked, and rose to his feet, "what of my droid?" "It's gone sir, gone" said the trooper against the wall. Garret looked around at the carnage in the hall. Pieces of troopers laid scattered about, small fires burned the air smelt. Garret and the trooper without his helmet went into his office and saw the device. Slowly, but steadily, the numbers counted down. "Good god, it is a fusion bomb. But, it is not linked to anything or such, just the timer. Nothing to send the signal to the device" said the trooper as he inspected the device. The two men looked at each other than around the room. Through the viewport, Garret noticed a shuttle hovering about a mile off. "That’s my ship and the only other one who’s knows my code is, my droid." On the computer screen popped up the faceplate of the rogue droid. "Ah, master Garret, I see I missed you too, well, it is nothing, I will have you and the Empire in the end." Garret sat down at the screen and looked into it "How so T, IWATS is not the Empire." "I know that you fool, but you know enough to help my cause" bleated the droid as he waved his mechanical arm. "Your cause, how can I help your cause" asked Garret with a hint of sarcasm on the word cause. "Give me the exact location of all the imperial warships and I will disarm the bomb and let you go. If you do not, I will destroy you and your precious IWATS. I will de-encrypt the computer so that you may enter your password and send the information to me" said the droid in his best mechanical voice he could muster. "Very well T, you have me, I will do as you say" said Garret as he looked down with disgust. The trooper on the other side of him began to say something until Garret kicked him in the leg. "Excellent master Garret, you may now enter your password" said T with a tone of accomplishment. Garret began to type, glancing over he saw the clock had stopped ticking and was holding on 10 seconds. "Ok T, I am bring up the information." Garret typed fast as the trooper rounded the corner of the desk so that he could see the screen. The screen jumped from system to system as Garret typed. Main air intake valves, laser batteries, water pumps, sewage treatment.... "Lets go master Garret, it should not take this long" demanded the droid. "Look, you give me one window to work with, now I have to make my own, it will be soon, I am almost there" replied Garret as he continued to run through the different systems. Lighting, turboshaft's, concussions missiles. Garret stopped at that one and hit enter. The screen popped up. With the whole system encrypted, no one else could operate anything in IWATS. All the gunners other system operators where stuck with frozen terminals, he would have to do this himself. Garret, hit the targeting selection, north west front, thirty degree rise. A picture of the shuttle appeared, a targeting box outlined it, slowly, it darkened to a shade of red. "GARRET, I WANT THE DAMN FILES NOW AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVE TO MAKE YOUR OWN WINDOWS" shouted the silver droid. Garret smiled and looked at the droid "I am surprised it took you that long to catch that. I knew you where getting old on me." "SEND THE FILES NOW OR YOU DIE" said the droid as he held the detonator in his hand. "Sure T, sending now" said Garret as he hit the enter key. In the distance, light and smoke erupted from the ground as the racks of missiles disgorged themselves. Alarms in the shuttle went off and T-WCv7 looked around frantically. "NO, YOU TRICKED ME!" Garret looked at the droid, "no, you BETRAYED ME!" The droid hit the detonator and the clock started again. Ten, nine eight, sever, six, five, four, three, two. Outside all forty concussion missiles hit the shuttle vaporizing it in a cloud of light and gas. Garret looked down at the clock, it read zero. "Sir, the bomb was linked to the shuttle, by destroying it, we took out the control to blow it up" said the trooper as he breathed a sigh of relief. Garret sat back in his chair and began to work on the systems. He unlocked all the classroom doors, releasing the pilots from there captivity. T-WCv7 had taken total control, this would not happen again.

The cleanup lasted several months, the lost souls had been remembered, the walls repaired and T-WCv7 was replaced with a droid who served Garret and IWATS with an undying loyalty. Life eventually got back to normal, his legged healed, Garret made his way around the complex everyday, greeting pilots and saying hi to old and new friends.

Submitted by:
Admiral Garret
The Dean of IWATS
(BS) (SS) (ISM) (GoE)
(MoI) (MoT)