*TRANSFER IN PROGRESS*
The base's computer beeped incessantly as the data located within transferred from the memory core to the data disk plugged in it. The transfer bar slowly moved forward on the screen, taking each centimeter seemingly at its leisure.
"I should have just taken the damn thing with me," Kyle Katarn said. His brown eyes darted back and forth from the screen to the door in front of him, blaster pistol raised up to it. The corpse of the base's commander sat sprawled out in the chair next to Kyle, the blaster wound in his chest still sent smoke up into the air.
Somewhere outside of that door the remaining stormtroopers of the base were gathering and preparing their defenses. Getting into this room had been tough enough. Getting out would be harder.
TRANSFER COMPLETE, the computer screen blinked. Kyle removed the datacard from the system and secured it in the side pocket of his brown leather jacket. He removed the comlink from his belt and thumbed it on. "Jan, I've got the database, time for a lift out of here." He holstered his blaster pistol and replaced it with the rifle hanging from his shoulder.
"Copy that, Kyle," her Alderaanian accented voice said.
He walked towards the door and leaned up against the wall. His hand hovered over the control panel, gloved fingers hovering millimeters over the console. The back of his head tingled in a weird form of intuition that usually meant that danger was close by. He dropped the blaster rifle and let it hang loose around his shoulder by the sling. One of the many thermal detonators that hanged from a belt on his waist came loose with a quick tug. The spherical grenade's activation switch clicked with an easy slide and the agent quickly opened the door with his free hand. With a certain predictability, the stormtroopers outside of the door opened fire, red-hot bolts of plasma filling the empty space. Kyle tossed the detonator behind him and huddled behind the wall as the sphere exploded.
The hallway beyond the door was littered with the mangled bodies of the six stormtroopers. He walked past them and through the durasteel corridors of the Imperial base, retracing his steps towards the roof of the three story installation. He stopped at a corner near the turbolift and spied beyond it. Three stormtroopers stood guarding the lift, their white plastoid armor clacking against the floor.
He rounded the corner and fired a quick burst from his rifle, the first volley taking down the closest two soldiers. The remaining one opened fire, opting for a fully automatic volley to get Kyle to retreat back behind cover. The first shots missed the rebel agent as he sidestepped into the corridor. A bright green light flashed in front of Kyle's eyes as one of the bolts managed to find its target, but was absorbed completely by his personal shields. He aimed down the sights of his rifle and fired. The shot hit the stormtrooper in the chest and sent the Imperial down into a clump.
A trio of three frantic beeps coming from his belt sounded throughout the hallway. "Spast," he cursed as he moved the opening of his nerf leather jacket aside to check the shield generator. Another shot like the one that he had just taken wouldn't be blocked and he had used the spare power cell for it less than 15 minutes previously.
The door opened at the end of the brief turbolift ride to an empty hallway. Kyle stepped off of the lift tentatively, blaster rifle poking around the corner. He stepped out into the corridor and quickly glanced both ways. He turned left and headed towards the rooftop access hatch that he had entered the facility on, passing the bodies of the stormtroopers slain in the first minutes of the mission.
In the distance behind him, he could hear the sound of several pairs of boots as they raced down the hallway. "Jan, I've got company," he said through his comlink as he ran down the hallway.
"You mean I have to save your hide again?" she said. He could picture her grinning in his mind's eye. "I didn't sign up for this, you know?" Kyle didn't reply, saving his breath as he kept racing down the hallway. Behind him, he could hear the plastoid boots of the stormtroopers as they followed him. He ducked into a side room and reached the ladder that led to the roof. He climbed as quick as he could, blaster rifle clanking as it hit the side of his body armor. He reached the top of the ladder as he hastened his way to the door.
Cool evening air hit Kyle's face as he opened the door to the roof of the building. Hovering about four meters above the roof was a brown light freighter. A beak-like nose of the craft faced him and continued down the length of the ship until jutting off into two wing-like modular engines to the sides, twin tails emerged diagonally from the back. A large twin-barreled blaster cannon was underslung from its belly. "Kyle, do me a favor," Jan said as Kyle ran towards the ship. "Hit the deck."
He dove to the ground, skidding on his stomach for a meter as the door behind him opened. Above him the Moldy Crow's four laser cannons opened fire, bathing the rooftop in flashes of red light. The blaster cannon fired a lone shot that sent a flare of heat as the bolt exploded. The illumination died down and the only sound upon the rooftop was the thrumming of the Crow's repulsorlifts. Kyle stood up from the roof of the Imperial base and brushed the dust off of himself.
"As always, I owe you one."
The Crow lowered closer to the roof as the boarding ramp swung open. "Well, you're certainly in debt."
