Republican base at Biem Hoa, astroport.
Jay and the group were walking along the edge of the space zone, along the electrified fence they'd climbed. Lighting was still not restored and they could see the emergency hangar lights in front of them.
The circular airstrips were distributed on either side of a main road leading to the hangars. There were eight in all, four on either side of the track. Drainage ditches lined the central road and the landing areas. They sat down for a brief moment to estimate where the shuttle would land and decided that it should logically be as close as possible to the hangars.
The more pronounced erosion of the first four locations confirmed their hypothesis.
Bujac then separated them into two groups.
Julius, Yil and Blom went to hide in the drainage channel of the main road, just between the first two locations. Shi, Yegor and Bujac positioned themselves across the road.
Jay had followed Bujac's group, but Bujac said to him:
"Major, you'll cover us. I'll go with you"
They walked in the ditch around the first runway and then they went out along the fence where Jay quickly formed a small parapet to put down his weapon.
"It reminds me of sandcastles when I was a child" she thought to herself as she piled the mud with her bare hands.
She lay down, unpacked her weapon, turned on her night vision and walked through the landscape. She could cover the whole area as far as the hangars.
"It's going to be all right" she finally said. "Anyway, if I have to back you up, it won't be sniper work, you're too close"
"Sniper or no sniper, you'll have to cover us"
"Do you think the Reps can come in force?"
"No. I'm not thinking of them"
He added: "I'm going on reconnaissance. Stay hidden until I return"
And he disappeared into the night.
"What does that mean?" Jay thought. "What does he still have to recognize?"
Ten minutes passed and Bujac appeared next to her.
"Major, listen to me carefully"
"But..."
"There's an R-Wing in the third hangar ready to go on a mission. The thrusters are being preheated. I think they stopped the procedure because of the power failure"
He continued without giving Jay time to talk.
"You are going to cover us up, but if these things turn sour don't insist and get the hell out. I broke into the locker room door. It's painted yellow. Put on a suit and get yourself on that ship. Or another one"
He handed her a holocube.
"It's all here. Mission orders, coordinates, contact information... You even have a fully funded bank account that's valid throughout the galaxy"
"A mission order... but which one?"
"It's all explained"
Jay was so stunned, she couldn't think of anything to answer.
"I'm leaving you, major. We will soon be done"
And he began crawling back to his group in the muddy ditch.
Jay stowed the holocube in his jacket pocket. She lay down behind her parapet and checked the battery level of her weapon. It was at sixty percent. She untied it and replaced it with one of the two new magazines Yil had managed to bring back. She checked it and was satisfied.
Now all we have to do is waiting, she thought to herself as she tried to find a comfortable position. The fatigue and stress she had endured was beginning to weigh on her. Hunger too.
She was struggling with fatigue when suddenly she heard the fence vibrate. The vibration decreased and then started again.
"There are several..."
She activated the night vision of her rifle sight and scanned the terrain starting from the side opposite the hangars.
She thought her heart was going to stall.
Four gigantic shapes were moving up the tracks, one on either side of the main track, the other two brushing against the fences. The rightmost one was heading straight for her.
"He's going to walk all over me eventually" Jay thought to himself. "I have to start with him"
She had aimed her parapet at the hangars, opposite her target. There was no more time. So she crouched down, put her elbow on her knee and aligned her collimator on the head facing her.
The cross descended into the shadow of the hood.
She was about to fire when the light came back on. The glare was instantaneous. She lay down on the ground waiting for her vision to settle. Once this was done, she raised her head and turned off the amplification of her telescope.
There was no one left.
She understood immediately: they jumped into the ditches.
"They can appear from anywhere now..."
She resumed her position. For now, there was nothing else to do.
She scanned the tracks in front of her. Bujac, Yil and the others were also ambushed in the drainage hoses. What would happen if they got caught? She felt the tension rising, but not by puff, by slow diffusion...
A soft hiss made him look up. Still high in the night, a vessel began to descend.
"Finally!" she thought. "Leave this damn planet or stay there forever!"
The descent was going well. The noise became more present and then she saw the landing lights come on. Finally the skids deployed, and she was pleased to see that the ship was going to land in front of her, on the other side of the road.
Perfect, I won't be too close to shoot.
The thruster burn diminished. At that moment, Jay turned his head towards the hangars and saw a speeder truck rocking towards the runways.
"Oh, no! They're going to ruin everything!"
She aimed at the truck. From a safe distance she fired, first into the front grill, then into the windshield. The speeder stopped. She didn't see anyone get out.
"They're hiding in the back. By the time they got a look, we'd be gone"
She resumed her post towards the ship and saw that Julius and Blom had come out of the ditch and framed the access door. Through her telescope, she saw the panels open and a soldier appeared in the frame. Blom grabbed him and knocked him to the ground. Julius rushed into the shuttle, followed by Blom.
Yil held the soldier at gunpoint while the rest of the group crossed the road to join them.
"As long as it goes well" she said to herself. A gunfight in the ship would have inevitably caused her to explode.
Seconds passed, as dense as hours. Bujac had arrived at the foot of the door. From where Jay was standing, she couldn't see what was going on.
Finally, she saw one soldier come out with his hands on his head, then two and three... on the fourth, the two pilots followed.
"It's okay" she thought. "It's all right..."
The soldiers were disarmed and pushed out onto the road. They started running towards the hangars.
She saw in her scope that Bujac was signaling her to join them.
Her first instinct was to get up and run towards him, but she blocked. She lay down in firing position and waited. Shi had already entered the shuttle, presumably to re-engage the thrusters, and Bujac looked in her direction, puzzled.
It lasted about ten seconds, and then what she was waiting for happened.
Four dust caches had just appeared around the runway.
She sighed. Let it be so...
Bujac responds instantly.
"At the edge of the ditch. Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Around me!"
The five men grouped back to back, Bujac pointing to the edge of what would become an arena.
Yil asked: "Why didn't we get in the shuttle?"
Julius replied: "Do you want to hide in a bomb?"
The dust covers fell and the tall silhouettes became burning bushes when the lightsabers lit up. Three giants arranged themselves in a triangle to surround them.
The fourth stood in reserve next to the sith that had just appeared. He called out to Bujac:
"Where is she?"
"I don't know. She was taken away and hasn't come back. Did you ask the Reps?"
"You're lying!"
Jay lined up the Sith in his reticule first. She was about to shoot when at the last moment she changed her mind.
"First do the job, cover your teammates..."
The cross migrated over the heads of the giant facing Bujac and fired.
Two heads exploded in the same impact.
It was followed immediately by the one to the right of the ex-Jedi.
One head burst again. She heard nothing, no screams, no howl of pain.
The Sith shouted at the fourth teraplite: "Go get her!"
He added to the address of the other three:
"Kill them!"
Jay fired at the colossus running towards her. Once, twice, three times... No shot ever reaches its target. The red darts formed an impassable bulwark of light, even though the power of the impact momentarily stopped the giant's run.
In the half-panic that was beginning to overwhelm him, an idea arose. She set her rifle to wide emission.
"Maybe dazzle him first..." she thought to herself at full speed.
She fired twice in a row, refocused the beam on the fly and continued her burst.
The shape in front of her seemed to collapse forward, immediately replaced by a new warrior.
"One of three. It won't be enough..."
The thing had slowed down a bit, as it was now trailing two legs and two limp arms that were flapping all over the place to the rhythm of the race.
The teraplite was coming to the edge of the ditch to cross it when at the last moment Jay jumped into the trench and shot on the silhouette passing over it.
She heard a lightsaber fall.
"Two out of three now..."
She didn't even have time to finish her thought. A strong grip grabbed her by the collar, lifted her up like a feather and she found herself held at arm's length in front of the last valid head.
Her rifle was ripped from her hands and sent into the ditch.