There was a thud and roar heard inside the shuttle as it entered the atmosphere. The interior of the Lambda class shuttle was lit by the crimson color of the ready light, making the troopers inside appear to be in a perpetual haze of red. Trooper TK-201, Mags, held back the urge to vomit inside his helmet. He hated atmospheric entry. Too much could go wrong. Unfortunately for him, his job as an Imperial Stormtrooper, dictated that such reentries would be common place. He did an equipment check despite his nausea. His E-11 was in his seat rack with the power pack out, ready to be retrieved and charged the moment they made landfall. He scrolled through his helmet's heads up display checking the vitals of his squadmates.
The ten man fire team consisted of himself, the sergeant, seven riflemen, Juro, Tuvo, Ein, Enoch, Diva, Sura, and Davion, and two T-21 gunners, Brecha and Giva. There vitals were all semi normal. All of them had an adrenaline rush, and there heart rates reflected it. Atmospheric reentry had that effect on anyone, especially when it was a combat drop. This mission however may be a wild goose chase. They were descending to the Imperial Listening outpost on the jungle moon of Migeto. The moon had one large mega continent populated entirely by a vast nearly uninhabitable jungle. The outpost, hidden away at the heart of the jungle, had missed its routine check in. Standard procedure for such instillations called for immediate armed intervention by a squad of troopers deployed from an Imperial Light Cruiser in orbit. Mags' squad was next in the rotation for orbital insertion, lucky them.
"Sergeant." The pilot's voice chimed on his radio.
"Go ahead."
"Five minutes till insertion. Ready up."
Mags retrieved his blaster inserting a power pack but keeping the safety on. He rose grabbing on to overhead handles to brace himself as the shuttle rocked back and forth. He walked over to the closed exit ramp and turned about facing his squad.
"Stand Up!" he ordered, and the squad followed suit.
"Gear Check!" he commanded as he checked the first two squad members. Their suits had been pressurized and their blasters were charged.
"Check!" he shouted as the front troopers repeated his action to the trooper behind and so on and so forth until the last troopers.
"Gear Checked Sergeant!" Juro, the trooper at the rear, shouted.
He signaled his approval. "Remember safeties on till the ramp hits the dirt! Soon as we hit the deck disperse quick and evenly! Watch your spacing, and check your spacing! Hoorah?" he asked in confirmation.
The troopers echoed him in a chorus of hoorah's in confirmation.
"Drinks are on me when we get back to the ship!"
That got another hoorah in approval.
His radio barked again.
"Thirty seconds!" the pilot barked as Mags turned about facing the exit ramp. There was a wir of servos and the hiss of pistons as the ramp quickly descended. The smell of wet soil and fresh rain cycled through his helmet's filters, as Mags moved quickly out the exit. The shuttle was barely touching the ground as he bounded out. His optical visor adjusted for the near night darkness, as he switched to night vision. There was a torrent of rainfall all about him limiting his visibility further yet his helmet's scanners were still able to highlight his surroundings vaguely. He didn't have to check his squad to know that they were already in position. They had fanned out in a half circle around the shuttle scanning their surroundings.
The Shuttle, after disgorging the last trooper, dusted off as it rose through the canopy of the surrounding rainforest, and flew back into the sky. With the roar of the shuttles engines gone, the only thing which could be heard was the constant almost calming patter of the rain. Mags gestured to his squad to advance. They advanced in a star formation. Mags at the center, Tuvo, Ein, and Enoch took point, Brecha and Giva were on the right and left flanks respectively and Juro, Diva, Davion, and Sura took up the rear.
They moved through the thick jungle undergrowth towards the station, its position highlighted as a way lay marker on the squad's huds. This was not the first time they had advanced in the jungle, and the squad was familiar with the terrain. There was a sense of laxity in their movements as to them it was probably another false alarm. Mags almost felt the need to reprimand them, but what they saw next seemed to do that job for him.
Tuvo raised a hand to signal the squad to stop.
"Talk to me Tuvo what's up?" Mags said over the radio.
"You better come see this sir." Came the reply. There was a sense of disgust Mags detected in his trooper's voice and he soon saw why. As he approached Tuvo, Mags saw a corpse layed out in front of the man. The corpse had been a stormtrooper, or rather it somewhat appeared to be. The corpse was mangled. The legs were sprawled out and the upper torso was nothing but a gory stump. Mags looked about and saw one of the arms and the head had been blown ten feet back. He approached the head and saw it was in bad shape. The trooper's dog tags still miraculously were by the head and he lifted them up feeling a pang of sadness as he read the tag. TK-302, Dagne, was inscribed on the tags. They had gone through basic together, and to see the man end like this was almost terrifying. He stored the tags in a utility pouch as he went back to Tuvo, who was examining the corpse.
"Got anything?" Mags asked devoid of emotion.
"I think so sir. These are burn marks here but not like from blaster fire. Looks more consistent with projectile weapons based off the damage."
"Didn't think anybody used those anymore." Mags reflected. He keyed his mike as he looked about the forest. "Alright people tighten up. This just became a combat situation. No more slacking and stay frosty clear?"
There was a series of acknowledgements as he ordered them to move out. Now they moved with a purpose. Their blasters scanned their surroundings more fervently as they looked for danger in the undergrowth. Just what had happened here? Mags thought as they advanced. And why the hell uses projectiles anymore? He would know the answer to that soon enough.
They soon were in range of the outpost. Mags pulled out his magnifiers and scanned the area. There was destruction everywhere. Blast marks pocketed the vaguely rectangular structure, and bodies littered the muddy gore strewn ground. The squad was prone on a hill overlooking the compound, the low hanging forest foliage obscured their white armor. Everyone was tensed up their blasters leveled down range. They were ready for a fight, Mags observed, but what was waiting for them?
With a gesture, he signaled Tuvo, Ein, Enoch, and Brecha to advance. Brecha carried his T-21 from the hip advancing methodically while the others approached on his flanks. They came to the pressurized doors and halted. Tuvo tapped the mic on his radio twice to signal Mags who signaled the others to advance. They met up at the door and took up breaching positions on either side of the door. Brecha and Giva stood a few paces back from the door their T-21s aimed at the entrance.
"Davion, crack her open." Mags ordered.
Davion stepped up to the control panel and hotwired the controls and circuitry. With a hiss and a clang the doors slid open. Giva and Brecha visibly tensed as it did. No enemies emerged. The two heavy gunners advanced cautiously as the rest of the squad fell in behind them. Inside the lighting was out, damaged by some kind of explosion. The long hallway that stretched before them was shrouded in darkness yet it did not hide the dead troopers and officers littering the hallway. There was another sealed door at the end of the hallway which would open to the command center. The squad continued to advance towards it.
"Sir," Tuvo chimed in as they advanced. "I'm getting an inbound signal heading towards the command center. I don't know what it is but it definitely is some kind of information and data."
"Someone is using the outpost to get access to something they shouldn't be looking at." Mags replied. They must be dealing with Rebel infiltrators, though the carnage leading up to this point contradicts everything he had known about the Rebel scum. Perhaps they were reverting to more barbaric tactics now. Regardless they would soon find out who was behind this.
They approached the door to the command center slowly until Mags called for everyone to halt.
"Squad initiate door breach. Let's see who's on the other side." He ordered and the squad moved acknowledging his order. The squad split, and stacked up on either side of the door. Ein approached the door with a magnetic breaching charge setting it on the door lock. In a moment he stepped back and gave a thumbs up to Mags.
Mags raised his detonator and shouted, "Fire in the hole!"
He pressed the detonator and the charge detonated blowing the doors inwards and creating a large hole. The stormtroopers charged into the darkened room spreading out covering all angles. Inside was mostly the same. Damaged terminals, blast marks and bodies littered the room save for one difference which drew the squad's immediate attention.
At the center of the room, the main control and communications computer sat. It was intact and its instruments gave off an eerie glow in the almost darkened room. Towering over the computer, a massive cloaked figure stood with its back turned to the stormtroopers. Immediately the troopers ordered the figure to put his hands in the air, but it paid them no mind. Rather it continued to type commands into the computer. There was a tense moment as Mags and his men continued to shout at the figure to get down and surrender. As he looked at the figure, he saw what appeared to be dark green armor decorated with wing and skull iconography. The robes which adorned the figure looked worn and tattered, and on the figures back was a large pack or perhaps generator of some kind. What was most peculiar was the massive sword hanging from the figures hip. How would anyone be able to wield such a blade? He wondered.
The Stormtroopers continued further into the room in a semi-circle shape, their blasters trained on the figure. They had him covered, yet that did little to ease Mags.
"Final warning!" he shouted "on your knees now or we will shoot you!"
Mags almost immediately regretted saying that as the figure paused in his task and turned slowly to face them. Now turned about he saw more of the armor and the strange designs adorning the suit, along with an assortment of ammo pouches, knives, and two large pistols holstered on either side of the figure's hips. Mags saw that the intruder resembled a man, or at least what he thought was a man. The intruder wore a hood with covered most of his face save for the man's scared chin and grizzled mouth. From what he could tell, it seemed to Mags that the intruder was regarding the stormtroopers with a slight bit of curious amusement, as if the trooper's threats meant nothing to him. Mags felt a sudden chill as the intruder looked directly at him and spoke. It was a soft gravelly voice which sent chills to the bone.
"A mouse dictates not it's whims to the lion."
Mags had no idea what that meant, but he did know a threat when he heard one. Without a second thought he pulled the trigger of his blaster, yet his opponent was quicker. The massive man leapt to the right in a somersault over the wrecked computer counsels. To see such a bulky man move so quickly was almost unbelievable. Blaster bolts filled the air. E-11 barked on semi-auto while the T-21s thundered on full auto. A few of the shots hit their target, yet there was the telltale ping of deflected blaster bolts as they bounced off the intruder's armor.
This man now went on the offensive. As he rose quickly from his somersault he drew his two cumbersome pistols and returned fire. One was a solid projectile weapon, which roared like a blaster cannon, and the other discharged searing beams of blue energy. Both weapons were incredibly devastating. First Ein and Enoch went down. They were struck by the slug thrower. Their bodies were thrown like ragdolls against the wall as the bullets impacted. Then in a horrid display of barbaric weaponry, the rounds exploded moments after penetrating the troopers' armor. Both Ein and Enoch's torsos ruptured like pimples as the rounds detonated, spraying the contents of their innards across the wall.
The energy weapon claimed Sura, Davion, and Diva. Where once there were living troopers now there were only charred remains as the beam burned through them in the blink of an eye. In that moment Mags realized they were screwed.
"Pull Back!" he screamed, "Pull back!"
He fired round after round at the intruder to little effect. The rest of his squad followed suit, following Mags out the entrance. Brecha and Giva laid down a torrent of suppressive fire at the intruder. They may be the only ones able to do some damage, as the intruder seemed to make an effort to avoid their shots as he ducked behind cover. Of course that did not remain the case as he fired a trio of rounds at the two heavy gunners.
Giva was hit first in her hip which ruptured a second later. Before she could scream in pain or shock the second round took her head off. Brecha was struck in the shoulder. The explosive round not only tore off his arm, but also burst open Brecha's chest cavity killing him instantly.
Juro screamed in rage at seeing his squad mates taken out so easily. Instead of following Mags' orders, Juro rushed at the giant switching to full auto and screaming "For Emperor Palpatine!" The giant simply dashed forward at an inhuman speed dropping one of his oversized pistols and impaling his fist through Juro's chest and out his backside. To Mags and Turo's horror, the intruder held Juro's quivering heart in his massive armored hand.
"Your emperor is false." The intruder said calmly before idly tossing Juro aside and casually picking up his pistol.
Mags was frozen in fear. For the first time in his life he was not sure what to do. Turo snapped him out of it.
"Come on boss! We've got to fucking go!" he screamed as he dragged Mags at a sprint down the hallway.
They were now sprinting down the long hall in a desperate attempt to escape. Mags keyed his mic and tried to get a hold of the shuttle. They needed to get off world and find back up. Whatever this intruder was, they were not cut out to face it. There was a bark of shots as the intruder fired his pistol behind them. Tuvo tripped and fell. Mags reached down to pick Tuvo up but all he dragged up was a bloody corpse. He fell down in shock scrambling away from Tuvo's mauled corpse. What the hell was this? Why was this happening? He looked up and saw the strange giant striding towards him. The figure moved with a world weary swagger and despite his bulk there was a haggardness to him. It was as if this figure where death itself, and it had come to claim them. The giant stood towering over him. He regarded Mags with one final look of curiosity before slowly raising his large energy pistol. Even through his helmet Mags could feel the heat emanating from the barrel. He made no moves of resistance against the giant, for Mags knew it was pointless.
"What are you?" he asked in a quivering voice which was a far cry from the gruff trooper that he was but a moment before.
The figure granted him a response, "They call me, Cypher."
Cypher then pulled the trigger…..