Chapter 7: Assault part I

--- --- ---

Our teams were set in their positions. Me and my team were laying stomach first in a dry river bed for cover. We were successful thus far in approaching the command post undetected. Right now I'd guess we were two hundred and some yards away from the command post. I poked my head up from the dry river to peek at it.

The main section of the post was an octagonal shaped, four floored, heavily armored structure made mostly of black, protective plating. The three lower floors were fully closed off while the top, fourth floor had an open balcony where a few Turr'shek snipers were posted. None of them were facing our direction at the moment so we were hopefully safe for now. On top of the fourth floor was the large AA turret. Currently inactive it would appear.

Attached to the east wing of the main base was a smaller, rectangular building that I guessed was the barracks. It was only one floor and had less protective plating. I noticed a large opening on the main structure that looked like a garage door or some other type of sliding, overhead door. I figured the open door led to a garage or some type of hanger. That would be our best option to enter from.

Zade had also popped his head up as he scouted the area. He looked at a few Turr'shek walking around the campus with blasters in their hands. Guards. One such guard started walked towards the dry river we were hiding in. He was getting way to close for comfort. Zade stretched his hand over the top of the side of the river trench and pointed his fingers towards the Turr'shek. Under his breath I heard him chant, "The river is clear of intruders."

The Turr'shek paused momentarily before turning around and walking back to the post without incident. I complimented Zade, "Nice."

"No problem." He responded, "I can sense much youth and inexperience in some of these Turr'shek. Easy to trick."

"Don't count on it being that easy once we get to the post though." I cautioned

"Of course not."

Caily kept her head lowered since she didn't need her eyes to see. But she did notice something that she brought to our attention in her own, cryptic words, "The soil is disrupted by a mechanical intruder."

"What?" I asked her.

Annoli pointed over the river's edge to the barren soil, "I think she means those."

Zade and I followed Annoli's pointing finger to a small black antenna sticking up from the ground about twenty yards away from us. And it wasn't the only one. There were rows of them sticking up from the ground. I recognized what they were. They were sensors. They'll sense us within a four meter range. I brought my right hand up to my mouth and spoke into a communicator on my right sleeve. I warned Lwyn's team, "Sensors spotted. Watch for them."

"Got it. From what I can see, we're clean on our end." Lwyn said through the communicator.

"Good." I said as I lowered my hand from my mouth.

Annoli asked me, "Whats the plan?"

"Forget the sensors." I told them, "The snipers will spot us long before the sensors do. I say we just run in. The snipers won't be able to keep up with our speed and the guards will be easy enough to get past. We charge in and try not to get shot."

Annoli gripped her lightsaber handle, "I'm game for that."

"Sounds exciting." Caily added.

Zade sighed, "Lets just get this over with."

"Alright. And keep an eye out for this reported Sith." I added my final instruction. After that, I spoke into my communicator to Lwyn and Vayne's team, "Alright you two. You guys ready?"

"Yes." Lwyn responded.

"Yup." Vayne said from the cockpit of the Axel, "The three of us back together. Just like old times right? I'm just glad I got the easy job."

"Heh." I chuckled as I made one last peek at the command post. When I thought the time was right, I ordered both teams, "Alright. The operation commences in.... 3... 2.... now!"

The moment I gave the order, I ended the communication and the four from my team leapt from the dried river. The sounds of our lightsabers igniting at the same time made my blood pump and the adrenaline rush. We rushed forward, full speed towards the command post. The guards and snipers were quick to notice us. But they weren't much of a threat. The snipers fired at us. But they couldn't hit a speedy target and their shots landed meters behind us. The guards unleashed shots of laser fire at us but their shots were either easy avoidable or easily deflected with our sabers. And we were fast enough to make up those two hundred years in a quick pace. Annoli was clearly the fastest of the four and raced footsteps ahead of us.

The whole base was now aware of our presence. That was slightly troublesome as the garage door, our entrance, began to slide closed. It became a race to see if we could reach the door before it closed. A Turr'shek guard even stood at the doorway to guard against our racing entry.

At least I thought it was going to be a race. Annoli took control of the situation and raced even further ahead of us. She reached the garage door while we were still twenty some yards away from the base. The guard fired at her but she dodged the laser fire while switching off her two lightsabers. She reached the guard, who was standing under the closing door, and she slid, feet first between the guard's legs. As she slid past him she Force pushed his feet out from under him and sent him falling hard and face first into the ground. He was knocked out cold. The door was now only a meter away from closing on us but Annoli, already in a laying position from her slide, reached upwards towards the door. On her back she Force pushed upwards against the sliding door which caused the door to shake loose from it's tracks and jam in place. Just in time for the three of us to reach the door and slide underneath, into the commander post.

As I passed Annoli, still laying on the ground, I gave her a pleased smile as I grabbed her by the foot with my free hand and yanked her into the post and out from underneath the door. The moment she was cleared from underneath the door, I grabbed onto the door through the Force and yanked it down to close us off from the outside and keep the guards from coming in.

Inside this garage there were a few unarmed Turr'shek that fled from the room the moment they saw us. We let them flee. I took a quick look around the garage and saw some of those Sith toys I was hoping we'd find. Speeder bikes with blaster cannons mounted on the bottom. They were sleek, gray bikes with long rigged steering vanes on the front and two small stabilizing wings on the sides. And they looked brand spankin new. Never used. As much as I wanted to check these things out further, now was far from the time. Later... but not now.

We pressed on further into the base. From the garage there were two paths to take. One path had a bunch of armed Turr'shek on the other end. So I closed that door and locked it tight and we took the other one. Turns out the other path led to a stairwell. Stairs that went both up and down. We were on the first floor. So the bottom stairs must have led to some sort of basement. Caily volunteered to take the basement route and check it out. I figured that was a good idea for her to go since it could be dark down there and would not effect her as it would the three of us. So she split from us as we headed up.

---\__V__/---

Caily knelt down behind a stack of metal crates with her saber turned off to keep herself hidden. The basement of the post was one large storage area. The room was littered with these metal crates and as she could sense it, seven Turr'shek. They were quickly rummaging through the crates looking for weapons to stop the invaders. They found a special crate full of long, repeating blaster riffles.

Caily decided now was as good a time as any to attack. She gripped her saber in her left hand and with her right hand she reached behind her towards the back of her utility belt. She kept venom tipped throwing knives sheathed in her belt. She gripped three on the knife handles in between the three gaps in between her fingers and pulled them from their protective sheathes.

With her weapons in hand, she ran from behind her stack of crates and ran behind another stack, closer to the group of Turr'shek. Now only a single stack of crates sat between her and the Turr'shek. Taking her left hand she aimed it at the stack of boxes and levitated one of the bottom boxes. Causing the stack top topple over. Two Turr'shek were caught in the falling pile and were momentary trapped underneath.

They were now aware of her presence and those that had weapons began to aim their weapons at the stack she was hiding behind and began firing their blasters. In response, Caily dashed from behind the stack and took note of the Turr'shek armed with weapons. There were four of them armed, not including the two trapped under the fallen crates, and one without any weapons. She took her right hand and threw the three knives at the armed guards. With a little added aiming, courtesy of the Force, the three knives struck three of the armed Turr'shek. The knives hit non-lethal areas on their bodies but the quick acting venom was enough to paralyze their entire bodies. Leaving their bodies inactive. Lucky for the Turr'shek the venom only paralyzed them. It was lethal for many species.

For the last armed Turr'shek, Caily dispatched him easily by switching her green lightsaber on and throwing in like a javelin into it's chest. Leaving three unarmed Turr'shek. She calmly walked over to the slain Turr'shek and pulled her saber from it's body. All the while the standing, unarmed Turr'shek watched her with great caution as it debated what to do. It made the wrong decision by trying to reach for one of the paralyzed Turr'shek's riffles. Before it even reached the riffle, Caily levitated a metal crate from a nearby stack and crashed it harshly against the reaching Turr'shek's skull. Knocking it out cold. She hit it so hard with the crate that after the crate struck the Turr'shek, the box kept traveling until it hit the wall next to the Turr'shek, bounced back and hit the Turr'shek a second time in the back as it was still falling to the floor. Caily snickered amusingly at her work.

This left the last two Turr'shek that had now scrambled from underneath the fallen pile of boxes. These two were unarmed and didn't struggle against her and ended up surrendering to her. She smiled a satisfied smile at them, "That was a very, very wise decision."

---\__V__/---

Zade, Annoli, and I ended up on the third floor of the post. Leaving a mess of enemies in our wake. We reached a short hallway with blast doors on the opposite end. On the left were doors to many smaller room. On the right side was a stairway that led up to the fourth floor balcony where the snipers were posted. I ordered Annoli to go up top and take out any Turr'shek still on the balcony. Zade and I then proceeded down the hallway.

As we approached the blast doors we both felt a shudder in the Force. Zade spoke for both of us, "I sense a Sith beyond this point."

I snickered and looked over to Zade, "This building is far to small for our clashing styles. Do you want them? Or should I take care of this?"

He cracked his neck before answering, "I can handle this. I'll show you what this Jedi is capable of."

"Can't wait." I told him.

Zade walked over to the blast doors and I walked over to control panel in the wall. I took the butt of my lightsaber and jammed it into the panel's protective casing. Causing it to bend away from the wall. Then with a quick yank I pulled the casing off and exposed the internal program and wires. With the tip of my saber I snipped two wires. Then I took two opposing wire tips and jammed them together which caused a power surge and made the program believe there was a power outage and switch into emergency mode. Which.... in simpler terms meant the doors slid open and stayed open.

The room beyond the door was obviously the command room. We could tell by the abundance of computer terminals and screens. That, and the giant Sith standing in the center with his lightsaber drawn. He was obviously here to guard it. He stood before us a blockly looking chap with a green patch on his head in the shape of a sword.

When I saw him I commented loudly," Whoa! Look at the loser with the green hair cut!" The Sith's eyes connected with mine and his look became an enraged glare. I shrugged my shoulders, "What? Do you want me to lie and tell you that haircut was a good life decision? Because I obviously cannot do that with any honesty."

Zade stared at the Sith and held his dual sabers out in front of him. While looking at the Sith, Zade asked me, "Do you always taunt the enemy?"

"Usually. Especially when they look like this guy." I told Zade with a quick chuckle.

He grinned, "Well if you attack his hair you don't leave me with much to work with. Other then that dopey look on his face."

"Sorry."

"Shut up!" The green-haired freak shouted at us, "Don't you realize you're going to die today?!"

Zade walked deeper into the room while I stayed outside and watched him work. As he entered, Zade asked the Sith, "So what's the name of the 'man who is going to kill me today'?"

The Sith glared at Zade, "You will call me, 'Green'."

Zade and I both laughed at the mention of his name. Zade chuckled while still keeping his sabers out in front of him, "Aren't you the creative one?"

"Alright, alright." I told Zade, "Lets just get this over with."

"I suppose you're right." Zade admitted. He then looked to Green, "I just have to ask you, would you consider leaving this base in peace?"

Green didn't respond with words. Instead he just took his saber and charged forward. As he ran he swung his saber forward. Zade didn't hesitate to meet his charging attack with an "X" shaped cross of his sabers to block the attack. But Green was strong and the attack was enough to make Zade's arms tremble from the impact. So Zade quickly took a leap back and away from Green but Green followed up with a swipe aimed at Zade's chest. But he missed as Zade side stepped his strike.

Zade quickly scrambled behind a group of computer terminals to screen himself from Green. Green ran around the terminals to chase after him, but Zade hoped over the terminals and gingerly jogged away from him. Zade was playing mind games with Green. Trying to get the meathead riled up. And it was working. Green angry swiped his blade through one of the terminals in an empty attempt to intimidate Zade, "Come on, Jedi! Face me!"

I frowned as I looked at the now destroyed terminal. We wanted to use this base for ourselves but it wouldn't be worth as much if all the valuable instruments are inoperable. Zade didn't respond to Green's call. He just bounded in place with his sabers hanging at his sides. Green growled and leapt over the terminals to the other side so he could face Zade. But that was exactly what Zade wanted. When Green was still midair, Zade quickly threw his left lightsaber. When Green landed, so did Zade's lightsaber. Landed directly in Green's right leg. The tip of Zade's saber pierced through his leg and into one of the terminals behind him. Pinning his leg. Green yelped in pain. The distraction was all he needed. Zade quickly followed up with a dash and slash with his second lightsaber and sliced Green's lightsaber in two pieces.

Green snarled and Zade plucked his saber from Zade's leg. With Green unarmed, Zade backed away cautiously. As Green was tipping all of his weight on his good leg, Zade asked him, "Now will you surrender?"

He shut his mouth tight and suddenly decided to go quite. I walked into the room and over to Green. I raised an eyebrow at him, "Well that didn't last very long."

He was still silent. Though I could tell he definitely wanted to say something. Zade looked at Green with an aura of neutrality, "C'mon fella. This is your chance to distance yourself from the Sith. I mean look at you. Your guarding a single command post on a factory planet. They obviously don't think much of you."

"Don't play me like an idiot." Green shouted at Zade, "I'm not as weak as you think I-"

Before he finished his sentence I quickly and deeply swiped my lightsaber across his chest. The moment I cut him down, a spark of Force lightning harmlessly fizzled from his hands. His body fell to the ground with a thud. I turned to Zade and told him, "You can never consider the Sith unarmed until they are dead. You never know what tricks they have."

Zade gave me a sideways glare as his switched his sabers off, "You know, I could have deflected that. You didn't have to kill him."

"I know you could have." I switched my blade off and pointed around the room, "But there's no guarantee that none of that deflected lightning wouldn't have fried every computer in the room. We need these computers. My way, there wasn't any risk. And we both know he was hell-bent on either killing us or die trying."

Zade raised an eyebrow and nodded, "Fair enough."

I clipped my saber to my side and quickly scrambled over to the nearest terminal. I did my hacker thing and entered into the post's database. As quickly as I could I scrambled over their files. As I did, Annoli came running into the room. She had cleared the top balcony of the enemies. Annoli walked over and asked me, "There are still many Turr'shek left on the base. Shouldn't we take care of that?"

"I am." I said, "Unfortunately, the Sith didn't trust Green enough to guard any valuable information so I have nothing of value to take away from this post. But this thing does have a few local perks."

I accessed the command post's system and activated some select areas of the base. On the screen I found a security cam of one section. That section had Turr'shek in them so I locked that room down so nothing could get in or out. Then I found another section. That section had a Turr'shek in it so I locked that one down. I did this over and over. At one point I saw Caily in the basement, binding two Turr'shek captives so they couldn't move. And then I found the barracks where most of the Turr'shek were and locked that one down.

Over time I had most of the post on lock down. Annoli patted me on the shoulder, "Nice job."

"We can have Biderek come and try and reason with them." I told them, "Hopefully they'll surrender peacefully."

"Good thinking." Zade complimented.

Annoli sighed and gripped her lightsaber, "I'll let you two play with your gadgets. I'm going to double check and make sure the post is really secure."

"Well aren't you the good little padawan?" I said as she walked away.

Zade followed after Annoli, "I'll join you, Annoli. I can't have you doing all the work. It makes me look bad."

"What are you talking about? I already did all the work." She complained.

"Pssh!" Zade scoffed, "I slayed a Sith."

I stood up from my chair and left the room. I headed up to the fourth floor balcony. With this base secure I was curious how the other two teams were doing. I leaned forward against the railing and gazed to the south where the other two teams were. I could see a large billow of smoke in the distance. I hope that was a good billow of smoke. One that our side had caused. I couldn't contact them with the communicators. If any of them were sneaking around, the noise could alert the enemy of their whereabouts. I'd just have to trust in them to get the job done. But I couldn't shake this feeling that there was an unforeseen obstacle ahead of us.

---\__V__/---

Xelka crouched behind dried bushes on a hillside. A hillside near the targeted warehouse. In front of her were two tripods with rocket launchers mounted on them. It was a heck of a time carrying them up the hills all the while remaining undetected from the Turr'shek patrols. She didn't care what anybody said, she had the hardest job out of all of them.

She looked through the scopes of her launchers. She counted four defensive turrets mounted to the ground. All four set around the rectangular warehouse. Taking out four turrets with two launchers was manageable but she'd have to work quickly. She took her time to aim the launchers at the first two turrets. She kept looking into one scope while adjusting the launcher to the perfect centimeter. Then she did the same to the other launcher. She kept fidgeted with them until she heard Vayne contact her through her communicator, "Hey, Xelka. Are you ready?"

"Absolutely." She responded.

A minute later she got the order she was waiting for from Laan, "Alright. The operation commences in.... 3... 2.... now!"

The moment the order came in, she wrapped her fingers around both of the launcher triggers and fired. Rockets flew from the launchers and screeched through the air. They were aimed perfectly, well they were seekers so the aim didn't have to be perfect, but they hit the turrets and exploded in a burst of fire and metal in a splash explosion. Always satisfying.

Xelka quickly reached to a pack on her back for more ammo rounds. She reloaded the launchers and took aim again. The other two turrets were now aware of her and the smoke trail that came from her firing of the previous rockets, pointed out her exact location to them. As she was reloading, the base of the turrets were turning to fire at her. It was going to be a race to see who fired first.

She got them loaded just before they were able to aim at her but she couldn't spare any time to aim by eyesight. She used the training she got from Laan and used the Force to guide her aim. She quickly fired the rockets off and they hit their marks. Boom. Two more splash explosions. A brief moment before they were in position to shoot at her, they were destroyed. Close call.

Xelka let out a sigh of relief and flopped down onto the ground. Her job was done. A minuet later the Snap-Axel flew overhead. It was headed directly towards the warehouse. Form her perch, Xelka sat back and watched the fireworks.

---\__V__/---

Vayne sat at the controls of the Axel while Jax sat in a chair behind him. Jax was manning the controls of the ship's main turret positioned in the front of the ship. Vayne got a big smile on his face when he saw the scraps of scorched metal that used to be the warehouses' defensive turrets. That made his job easier. On the ground there were a few Turr'shek workers running into the warehouse. Possibly to retrieve weapons to use against them. Vayne shook his head, "Running the wrong way, guys."

Vayne couldn't waste time. This was a warehouse full of who knows what kinds of weaponry. He wasn't about to let one of them grab a rocket launcher and shoot them down. He nodded to Jax and told him, "Fire. Bring it to rubble."

"Bring it to rubble." Jax repeated with a smile on his face.

As the Axel hovered near the warehouse, Vayne and Jax opened fire and unleashed a rain of laser fire down onto the warehouse. The first volley of shots melted away at the flimsy ceiling and by the time the second volley of shots came, there was nothing to block their fire from striking inside of the warehouse and anything inside. Including the packaged weaponry.

The laser fire screeched from the barrel's of the Axel's cannons and slammed into the warehouse hard. After only a few seconds they could begin to see an orange glow of a roaring fire form inside the building. Followed shortly by dark smoke.

Vayne smiled slightly as he saw many Turr'shek flee from the burning building, unarmed. He'd rather not have them inside when they were doing this. Just so long as they weren't armed and ready to fire on them, he didn't mind them escaping.

After a minute of pumping constant fire onto the warehouse, the insides started to pop with small explosions. Probably because the fire had reached ammo canisters. Vayne let up on the weapons fire and pulled the Axel away. He ordered Jax to stop shooting and they sat back and watched the warehouse burn.

After a few minutes, the metal sides of the building began to warp and bend as they melted. The fire had grown so intense that even metal was melting rapidly. The smoke had billowed up into an intense cloud of dark smoke. As the smoke reached the sky, it even blocked out the sun. Vayne winced and told Jax, "M-Maybe we should go pick up Xelka. Before the entire hillside catches on fire."

Jax folded his arm over his chest and nodded, "An easy days work."

Vayne nodded as he pulled the ship back, "Yeah. For us. Lets just hope it was this easy for the other two teams."