Chapter One.
Position and hold must be firm enough to support the the weapon.
The weapon must point naturaly at the target without any undue physical effort.
Alignment and sight picture must be correct.
The shot must be released and followed through without undue disterbance to the position.
Janos Zoaller, Sniper with Imperial Intelligences Operations Directorate, could still hear his Skill at Arms instructor. The mantra of basic marksmanship principles had been drummed into his brain since day one of his basic training. The repetitive method used by all weapon instructors was as soul sapping as they were effective. Once taught they were never forgotten. Because they were true. Without the basics you may as well stay at home.
Home, Janos hadn't thought of his home for a quite a while, the heavy industrial world of Kuat, builder of capital class star ships to the, well anyone with enough credits to pay. His parents had both worked in the ship yards, his childhood had been very average. When faced with the choice of a life of mediocrity or a life of adventure and glory in the ranks of the Imperial military he had left without even leaving a note to say good bye.
It was during his basic training that his skills in field craft, camouflage and concealment, earned him a place within an Imperial Trooper Reconnaissance unit. He excelled at this and was then in turn cherry picked into Imperial Intelligence. The excitement and danger of his new life was a constant thrill to him. Also the level of trust that the Empire placed on him to accomplish his given tasks was unparalleled. Only the Sith were granted that amount of leeway. This was as far from the life he could of had, if he had stayed on Kuat.
The blood being sucked from his hand by the insect that had ignored his thin gloves and seemed not to have noticed that he was wearing a layer of Imperial Military issue insect repellant brought him back to the present. He was sure a great and mighty Sith Lord would have called down bolts of blue lightning to destroy the bug. As a sniper, remaining still and hidden meant he had to watch the little thing enjoy his meal and then fly off, Janos hoped the bug wouldn't tell his friends about the free meal he had just had. Shape, shine, silhouette, shadow, movement and noise, these were things that would get you spotted be an enemy. If you couldn't handle a bit of discomfort you were either in the wrong job or would soon be a dead sniper.
Janos very slowly moved his head slightly to the left, and moving his eyes fully left glanced at his companion. Kaliyo D'jannis hardly seemed to notice the bugs or her surroundings. She was a Rattataki, very paled skin, totally bald and with facial tattoos. She was also very attractive. As he moved his head forward and placed his eye back on the telescopic sight of his sniper rifle, he put any non professional thoughts of Kaliyo out of his mind, and advances on her, no matter how much she may flirt, would only get you two things, disappointment and pain, lots of pain. A more than competent killer with blasters, knives or her bare hands, Kaliyo had become an excellent back up to the sniper. She had befriended him and teamed up with him here on Hutta. IA, Imperial Intelligence, knew about her criminal background and accepted that she worked for them on a freelance basis. Would IA let her go if she chose to go her own way ? With what she had learnt about IA operations and agents, probably not. He just hoped he wasn't tasked with removing her from the equation. That, he decided, was a worry for another day. Back to the job in hand.
He looked at the sight picture through his sight. The partially hidden cave entrance still showed no signs of movement. Nearly 3 days they had been watching the cave. At first and last light every day Kaliyo would scout the area. She would look for and signs of movement in the area that did not belong and also to make sure their hide was still well camouflaged. They had been seconded to a young Sith Lord called Dondinas, they had not met him yet, but the briefing package from IA had given then the location of the cave entrance and tasked them to observe all movement in in the immediate area of the entrance, especially any Republic presence.
So far this had been nothing but an exercise in field craft and patience. Not to mention the greatest insect picnic Hutta had ever seen. Imperial Medical Services had given him endurance boosts to help keep him awake and also a general purpose vaccine against most insect carried toxins and infections. Most, it never ceased to amaze him ho big and important the word "most" could be. He hoped that "most" covers what ever it was that was crawling across his back under his tunic.
Movement ! The eye is naturally drawn to movement, same way bugs are naturally drawn to to his blood, he thought. Just in the dark of the cave entrance he was sure he had seen movement. Janos slowly used his thumb and forefinger to zoom in of the dark of the cave, reset the focus, then enhanced the low light settings. There, a straight edge, maybe 1 meter in length and vertical. Nature doesn't do straight lines. He looked to the left and then to the right of the object, he knew if he stared too long at something your eye would start to play tricks and you would see movement. The was a very faint light just to the side of the edge of what ever it was. He tapped Kaliyo twice on the leg with his foot, the signal that he had spotted something, she would now be ready to move. As he looked away again and then back onto the object it moved again, turning just slightly. It was now just a bit more in the light coming into the cave entrance. The top oh the edge looked like it went into a curve. A warning in the back of his mind made it self felt. He knew he needed more information. A less experienced sniper might have moved to a closer position, and by doing so risked exposing themselves to the target. Patience, it was a waiting game.
As the hours past the object moved just slightly a couple more times, but exposed no more to identify what it was. It would be getting dark soon, this would help Janos. Once the contrast between dark inside and brighter outside became more even he would be able to see into the entrance.
As the light level lowered a new batch of the insect world came out to feed at the all you can eat picnic. Who ever got this insect repellant at the Imperial Procurement Office was going to get a little talking too once he got back to Dromund Kaas. There, he could just make out the hint a detail, the edge led up to a curve, and led down to what looked like a block, an almost triangular shaped... Three taps. We are leaving now. Without a word Kaliyo eased back into a kneeling position, she didn't say a word, she knew silence was still vital, she also knew that Janos would not spook at nothing. He had spotted something to make him want to withdraw from this position. With her blaster pistol in hand looking to the rear she waited until Janos had crawled with agonising slowness out of site of the cave. He then checked and removed any signs on the ground that they had been there. Another careful check of the area to make sure that there was no sign that anyone but bugs had ever been in the vicinity, and then in a gentle jog, weapons held ready the made there way back to the prearranged pick up point.
An hour later they came to the place. They still had not said a word. After circling the area twice to make sure of no unpleasant surprises, Janos activated the signal device that would send an Imperial armoured speeder to come and collect them. As they waited, they sat back to back, looking and listening. Janos could feel Kaliyo glance at him, he whispered
"Republic Astromech droid, and that means."
"Jedi." She hissed finishing his sentance.