An Imperial convoy moved slowly through the crowded streets of Aoliv. The cache of stormtroopers guarding it carried heavy blaster rifles and kept their heads on a swivel. A dark figure crouched in an alleyway several meters in front of the convoy. He was a tall and stocky Zabrak with light blue skin with dark tattoos swirling around his face and yellow eyes. Small horns protruded from several points on his head. The armored jacket he wore was scorched and scratched. He raised his armband up and switched on their com,
"Jako, the caravan in coming. Get ready"
On the roof of the building across from the alley, perched another figure. This one was definitely not completely human. She was around 16 with a lithe build and dark blue hair that was shaved on the sides. Her ears were long and pointed with two rings pierced her right ear at the lobe and tip. On each of her cheeks were several stripes, like a tiger. Small razor sharp claws protruded from her fingers where fingernails would be for a human. The oval helmet tucked under her arm was covered in dark blue fire and lightning designs, but they were quite aged and the paint was faded and chipped. Her dark green eyes surveyed the convoy of stormtroopers. She turned on her com and responded,
"Copy Quell, I got eyes on the transport."
Jako put her helmet on and slid the visor down, hiding her face from view. She pulled a blaster out of its holster, also adorned with blue designs and she dropped of the ledge and landed lightly on the roof of the transport car. The stormtroopers reacted immediately aiming their blasters at the new arrival and opening fire.
She dodged the first volley of blaster bolts then took out the first three troopers with swift shots from her blaster. The commander of the squad stumbled away from the new arrival and screamed into his comlink,
"The caravan is under attack! Requesting backup immedia..."
He was cut off when Jako flipped off the roof of the van and shot him right in the stomach with a stunner from her blaster.
She crouched down and began setting charges on the underside of the transport.
The cold muzzle of a blaster pressed up against the side of her helmet,
"Don't move! rebel scum!" Jako froze. Kriff!
"Drop the blaster and put your hands on your head!"
She grit her teeth under her visor, then slowly set her blaster lightly on the ground. Where the Kriff is Quell?, she thought, He's supposed to be back up.
The stormtrooper pushed her to her knees and took a set of handcuffs from his belt.
As he took one of her wrists, she spun around and sunk her claws into a chink in the stormtrooper's armor between his ankle and shin guard. He howled in pain and hopped away from the small half-human.
Jako leaped to her feet and kicked the trooper right in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and scooped her blaster off the ground. She turned back towards the transport and finished setting the charges.
A slight groaning noise came from behind her. As she spun around, she saw the stormtrooper crawling for his blaster, then quickly smacked him across the face with the barrel of her blaster, knocking his helmet off. Jako hit him again with her armored vambrace and knocked him to the ground.
She dusted herself off then surveyed the damage she had caused to the Imperial Transport. Stormtroopers scattered the ground stunned, the transport completely unprotected.
Jako grinned and set to work prying open the door to the transport.
"Need a hand?" spoke a voice from behind. She spun around, blaster at the ready, only to lower them when she realized that it was Quell.
"For real?" she snorted, "You only show up after I deal with the troopers?"
He grinned deviously at her, "I think you handled it well without my help."
Jako rolled her eyes and aimed a punch to his shoulder, "Shut up and open this."
Quell rubbed his arm then pushed past her to pry apart the door with his staff.
Holding the door open, he turned back to Jako and gestured dramatically to the now open portal, "After you." Shaking her head, she hopped into the darkened interior of the caravan.
It was free of personnel save for a maintenance droid which seemed perfectly content with ignoring her and continuing on its designated tasks. Jako walked to the back cargo area and inspected several of the crates set there.
While Jako rifled through the contents of the crates, Quell activated his com and called for their backup, "Ty, Requesting pick up immediately!"
"Copy Big Q" crackled the reply over the channel, "Coming in for a 36 pick up, Get ready."
Quell groaned then turned to Jako who was pushing out a single crate out of the entryway. "You here that? 36 pick up."
Quell hated 32 pick ups, but Jako wasn't going to tease him about it while the were on mission.
"Got it? Help me with this." He pulled a grappling hook out of his satchel and attached it to the top of the container. Jako hopped on top of the crate and fixed grappling hook on the end of her blaster.
A light freighter flew over head and before it was out of range, Jako launched her grappling hook. It hit the belly of the freighter and latched on.
"Ready Quell?" He nodded, then grabbed hold of the handle on side of the container, "Hold on tight.". Then Jako switched on the winch system and they were both yanked into the air, dragged by the transport.
Once inside the Inferno, Quell dropped the crate immediately and proceeded to empty the contents of his stomach into a bucket.
Jako hopped off the top of the crate and pushed towards the cargo bay, passing Quell as she did so, "Come on Big Q, get a handle on it." He looked up and glared at her, "You know doing that gives me vertigo."
"Well you better get over it soon we got another job." spoke a voice from behind them. Tyrat was a teal twi'lek human hybrid with short lekku that were adorned with star and galaxy tattoos. His dark purple flight jacket had several badges and patches on each of the shoulders. A blaster pistol hung from his hip. He turned and headed back to the cockpit, settling down in the pilots chair and prepping for lightspeed. The rough humanoid droid that looked like it had been put together with spare parts was standing behind the pilots chair began adjusting dials and switches on the bunkhead.
"Really?" asked Jako, following him in and collapsing in the copilot's chair, "We just got back!"
"Yeah, well, I just got a call from one of my contacts, the tech you recovered is necessary for another rebel squadron's operation. We're going to meet up with them on Lothal. Kait will meet us there. T6," He addressed the robot, "We good to go?"
The droid, T6 Turned to Ty, "All good boss, let's get moving!"
Quell stumbled into the bridge and flopped down on the passenger bench, "Which cell is all the way on Lothal?"
Ty flipped a few more switches and began typing on the navicomputer, "They're called the Spectres, they fly a ship call the Ghost"
Then they jumped into hyperspace.