Kijimi:
Kara gazed through the viewport, into the stars, transfixed.
'Pilot to Crew, pulling out of hyperspace in ten seconds,' Clips droned. He was obnoxious for his constant updates of their flight path. She heard the ship's hyperdrive power down. As the stars resolved from streaks into dots, Kara shook with anger. How could Clips be so unmoved? Everything had changed. Why had Seevor selected her to command the Order? Why not Reeve, or Brock? The others followed them and believed in them, trusted them with their lives. They each had all the traits of a leader. So why had Seevor not chosen one of them? Already, Kara was regretting her decision. Thane detested her for what she had done, but Kara was determined to stand in defiance of him. But at the same time, she pitied him. He had been a father to both of them. Through the viewport, the black orb of Kijimi loomed, city lights revealing it against the backdrop of deep space.
Kara stood up, leaving Clips in the cockpit. She walked down the ramp, her footsteps echoing around the corridor. She reached the doors and hesitated in front of them. She felt different. She was a new person now. She had to be. This time, she would do whatever it took, to complete the mission. It was time to take charge. Taking a step forward, the doors sensed her and slid open. She strode into the hold, where the Phantom Order were waiting.
She knew she looked deadly in her gleaming armour. She had her helmet at her hip and a blaster in hand.
'You may not all have chosen me to be your Commander' said Kara, watching Thane closely. 'But that decision has been made, so listen up. We're going to do this, and we're going to do it well. We've located the coordinates of the device that the map data is on, and thanks to Rook, we are able to track them.'
Clips interrupted, speaking over the com, 'We're entering Kijimi's atmosphere.'
'Rook, can you cut him out of the feed?' Kara asked. There was a laugh among the troopers and Rook nodded.
'I can hear you! You're going –' but Clips' voice was cut from the conversation. There was more laughing. The ship shuddered as it hurtled into the atmosphere, the grav plates recalibrating to keep them on their feet.
'Where's the map?' Reeve asked, looking to Kara.
'It's located in the city of Kethar. The map was delivered to a resident's tower on the outskirt of Kethar. Reeve, Kings, Sadie and myself are going to enter the building. Tarkin, I want you set up on the opposite building with visuals inside the apartment. Everyone else, I want you to shut off the block so that the map can't get away from us. Seal the perimeter. Let's go get this son of a Hutt.' Kara looked over the rows of her troopers and saw allegiance. She felt the landing gear lock in place and Clips settled the Shadow Blade gently on a landing platform cantilevered out from an Imperial Garrison. The ramp lowered, opening up a wedge of night sky, and then revealing the city beneath them. Kara led the Phantom Troopers down from the Shadow Blade. She marched to the edge of the platform and looked out across the city lights of Kethar. An icy wind found its way through the joints of her armour.
It was night. Kethar, far from Kijimi's equator, spent more than three quarters of the moon cycle in darkness, before a feeble dawn. A maze of rocky caverns twisted beneath the city, created by a forgotten species from another time. On the surface were a series of ramshackle buildings, most only a few stories tall, spread throughout the valley. The streets were busy with cargo sleds and industrial speeders. Ragged workers leant into the wind, shuffling over frosty gravel. Much of the population lived underground, in the upper reaches of the catacombs, to escape the cruel climate of the surface. The planetary data from the Shadow Blade's nav computer told Kara that the rock tunnels wound deep into the core of Kijimi, below the inhabited zone. Some shops had been carved into the stone, but further down, it became a darker place, where the spice dealers and their Nikko thugs were in control.
Kara counted off her team. They were set. She remembered how Seevor would send them into action, and she used his familiar words: 'Go time.'
The Phantom Troopers fanned out into quiet streets. Kethar was under Imperial Protection, but very few Imperial forces were deployed there, just enough visual presence to have them pay their taxes.
Kara slammed her helmet on her head. Her vision was immediately augmented with range-finding and low-light capability. She led them down a set of stairs from the platform, leading directly into the catacombs. The residents of Kethar avoided contact with Kara's patrol, finding reasons to look elsewhere, or move aside. The Phantom Order followed the stone stairs deeper into the catacombs. She touched her finger to her helmet, and lights flooded the tunnel ahead. Three other beams switched on, illuminating the carved stone of the tunnel walls. Kara drew her blaster, and switched it to Stun. Burning holes through citizens did not win a city's allegiance. That was protocol, but she could still flick it to Kill at any second. The hard-bitten edges of the galaxy still had enough threats to law and order.
The catacombs stretched on endlessly under the city. There was no power or lighting this deep. This tunnel was often used by the Imperial forces on Kethar and Kara knew that it led close to their end destination. They marched on, shadows flitting uncertainly at the edge of their vision as their feet drummed against the ground, sending news of their arrival far ahead of them. They passed by many smaller paths but continued down the central tunnel. Kara led them from the front while Kings remained covered the rear. All was silent, except for the steady drumming of their feet. After a few minutes, Kara wondered whether the tunnel would ever angle back up the streets. It was relief when she finally sensed the tunnel inclining back towards the surface.
Something rustled.
Her relief evaporated. She held up a hand, balled into a fist. Her eyes scanned the ground, and she spotted a pile of rags to one side of the tunnel. She went to walk past it, but Reeve had stopped. He was examining the rags. Kara said, 'We need to keep moving.'
'It's a person,' Reeve responded, kneeling next to the rags. Kara spun around. A small girl laid clothed in scraps of cloth, with a dirty blanket over her. Her lips were parched, and her face was cracked from exposure to Kijimi's relentless winds. The young girl's eyes slid sideways, before resting on Kara. Kara looked at her.
Her mind raced. The mission. She had to focus on the mission. 'Avenge Seevor' she thought, closing her eyes. The moment her eyelids shut, she saw another girl clothed in rags, lying on the streets after her parents had been killed. Kara opened her eyes again, before looking to her water canteen, hooked to her belt. She looked back to the young girl.
'We have a duty to the Empire' said Kara, before turning her back and continuing to walk down the tunnel. Kings and Sadie turned to follow Kara, but Reeve stayed back. When he had caught up to them, Kara saw he had given up his own canteen. 'You shouldn't have done that. Citizens must fear the forces of the empire. You'll have beggars scrounging from you for the rest of your life.'
Reeve looked to Kara. 'She would have died. I joined the Empire to help the galaxy. Not oppress it.'
'What if you need water? You're not touching mine.'
'It is not my place to decide who lives and who doesn't. If I die, is it any different if the girl died?'
Kara was silent, but quickened her pace. They reached the entry to the surface a few minutes later. Kara and the others emerged from the ground, marching down the street. They weren't far now. 'I've reached the buildings and have a visual of the apartment,' Tarkin called, his voice entering the comm link. 'Two sides of the block are secured by Troopers.'
'Is anyone inside the building?' Kara asked, touching a finger to her helmet and breaking into a run.
'I can see a single male human inside the building. He's currently interfacing with a hologram. He may be transferring the map to a data piece as we speak. You need to get in there quick before he tries to escape.'
'Do you have a clear shot?' said Kara, not checking to see whether her teammates were behind her as she redoubled her efforts.
'No. He's behind a wall but I can see his reflection on the window' responded Tarkin. Kara placed a finger on the trigger of her rifle. She had reached the door leading into the bottom floor of the building. It was a lot taller than most, and she knew it would have been hard for Tarkin to find a building with good line of sight into the apartment.
Kara turned to her team and in quick gestures allocated roles for a tactical entry. She pushed the door open, revealing a broad foyer, her rifle flicking from side to side as she scanned the room for hostiles. It was empty, just a desk at one side and a stair well at the far end. Kara sprinted to the stairs and pounded up them.
She reached the sixth floor, still breathing steadily. Her visor display showed her heart pumping at an elevated rate, but sustainable for several minutes. 'Kara to Tarkin, is the block pinned down?'
'Three of four sides' came the calm voice of her spotter. 'The target is taking something from the holo-projector.'
'We have to go now,' Kara to her crew as they caught up to her. Kijimi did not have the most secure tech in the galaxy. The door was old-fashioned wood on hinges. She turned to her troopers, nodded and then kicked the door down.
Kara entered a white hallway, with doors on either side. At the far end was a hologram interface on a table and a window behind it. A tall human in a red cloak was at the hologram interface. He had a blaster in his hand and a staff strapped to his back. He spun, removing the data stick from the hologram interface and firing a shot at Kara in a single, fluid motion.
Kara threw herself out of the way just as the red blast passed through the space her neck had been. She smashed into the wall and looked up to see the man leap at the window. The glass shattered and the man disappeared from view as he fell from the sixth floor, his cloak billowing. Kara got to her feet, Sadie and Reeve storming the room with her. Kara ran to the window to see the man had landed on a rooftop next to the resident's tower. 'Get Rook in here and see what you can do with that hologram interface' ordered Kara, before leaping out the window in pursuit.
The second she'd leapt out the building, she realised it had been a mistake. It was a two-storey jump. Kara slammed into the roof of the building hard, her knees buckling under her. She collapsed, but knew she had to pick herself up and resume the chase. She hauled herself upright, her feet stinging as she took off at a run. Despite the technology built into her helmet, it cut her peripheral vision and she trusted her own eyes better. She ripped her helmet off and flung it aside, so that she could focus on keeping her footing on the slick tiles. The man had run across a short bridge onto the next rooftop. She leapt onto the bridge, her feet skidding. The bridge swayed under their combined weight but she ran on without hesitating. As she landed on the next building she slung her rifle and drew her pistol. She fired a few shots at the man ahead as she ran but they went wide.
'A pistol in my left hand. I had a better chance of hitting Nal Hutta than the target' thought Kara as she leapt onto the next roof top. Her legs shook as she landed and she scampered forwards to avoid collapsing. The target was leaping from building to building with ease, as though he did it regularly. He seemed to jump upright into the air and land well onto the next building. Kara transferred her blaster to her right hand and fired more shots, but they all travelled astray. 'Why haven't the troopers on the perimeter stopped him yet?' thought Kara, and she realised they had left one side of the block open. She cursed herself for being impatient and careless, before charging after the target with renewed vigour.
She scrambled across another bridge and reached the same building as the man. The building stood on the edge of a hill leading down into the centre of the city. Kara could hear voices in her com but she ignored them. She had the man cornered. There were no more buildings or bridges. Kara pointed her pistol at him but before she could squeeze the trigger, the man leapt off the building. Several cables ran from the buildings at the top of the hill into the centre of Kethar, with lights hanging off them. The human pulled the staff off his back mid-air and wrapped the staff around a cable, swinging his other hand onto the other end and zip lining towards the centre of the city.
Even Kara had to admit he had skill. She unstrapped her rifle and placed it over the top of another cable link, before wildly leaping from the building. She slid down her cable, hanging by her arms. She zipped over the top of buildings, gaining speed. As the wind whipped past their faces, Kara was forced to close her stinging eyes. When she opened them, she saw the target – now just a red blur – leap off his cable and land neatly on a rooftop, before breaking into run. Kara's cable led her onto a string of roof tops running parallel to the target. She let go, stumbling into a run across the buildings.
'KARA!' yelled a voice in her earpiece. She hadn't realised she'd been ignoring her teammates communications.
'What?' she snapped as she leapt onto another neighbouring rooftop.
'What's happened? We've lost visuals.' It was Rook. He was still aboard the ship with Clips and Filler.
'The helmet was obscuring my vision.' Kara retorted, touching her ear piece and muting Rook. Kara turned down another bridge, merging onto the same string of buildings as the target. Kara sprinted, sweat pouring down her forehead. She could sense herself gaining on him. She continued to run, her panting breath creating a rhythm. The man turned on her and fired a blast at her from his pistol. Kara sidestepped it with ease, determinedly running after him. The bolt soared past her and took a chunk out of the building behind her.
The man reached another rooftop and leapt into a garbage chute that led down the side of the small building. Without a second thought, Kara leapt after him. The mexasteel chute led down the face of the two-story building. Kara looked down as she slid down the narrow tunnel and expected to see the man at the bottom, in the rubbish deposit. However, the man seemed to have disappeared entirely. With a start, Kara realised the chute went straight into the ground, there was nothing to collect her at the bottom. Kara looked down the end of the chute, bracing herself for the impact.
Then Kara fell straight through the hole. The chute took an unexpected turn and Kara found herself sliding through a garbage tunnel in the catacombs. The tunnel levelled out and Kara caught a glimpse of the target ahead of her as she slid. And then Kara was thrown out into a massive pit. There were other chutes pointing into the rubbish filled pit, and on either side of it were workers and scrappers. There was a yell from one of the workers who had spotted the two people land in the garbage pit. Kara's target was already scrambling out of the pit. Kara pulled herself above the rubbish, greasy strands of waste sticking to her armour.
The target pushed a worker aside and pushed through a doorway. Kara hauled herself up from the pit of garbage and ran after the man. She leapt over a crate and pushed a worker out of the way before bursting through the door. Kara was in a wide catacomb street with lights hanging on the ceiling. Kara guessed that they were close to the surface based on the amount people populating the tunnel. She glanced one way and then the other, catching a glimpse of the target fleeing down the tunnel. Kara sprinted after him, pushing through the crowd. She was gaining on him, following the path he had already forged through the crowds. Kara reached for his neck when he suddenly turned direction, branching into a side street. Kara skidded to a stop before thundering after him. The man nimbly leapt over a supplies crate and onto the console of a grav-platform, before speeding up a set of stairs at the other end of the hall. Kara followed him, leaping onto the crate and using her second jump to clear the platform entirely. Kara hit the ground with a roll before breaking into a run, in hot pursuit.
She sprinted up the steps. There were no other tunnels leading out of the stairs. Before Kara knew it, they had burst up above ground level and were following the stairs straight through the centre of a building. Kara pursued, breathing hard as she followed him up the stairs. Every time she would come around the corner of a set of stairs she would catch sight of him, above her. Kara followed him until they were near the top.
The man reached the rooftop, and Kara felt as though she finally had him cornered. She reached the building's rooftop just after him. They were both panting from the fast ascent, and Kara's hands were on her knees. They were far above any other buildings, right in the centre of the city. Yet Kara still felt creeping doubt. He had escaped her once, what lengths would he go to get away.
The man looked at the tower across from them. Kara dropped her pistol, and took her rifle in hand, staring at her opponent. The man turned and leapt. It was an incredible jump but Kara knew it would be in vain. Then, as the man soared towards the building she realised he might make it. There was no way she could pursue. She would plummet to her death. The man's arms flailed as he started to descend towards the opposite building.
Kara drew her rifle, zeroed in on the man as he descended and pulled the trigger. She stayed true to her mark. The blaster bolt hit the man in the back and he went limp. He keeled over in the air, before slamming into the side of the opposite building. He slipped off the edge, falling to the road below.
Kara made her way down the side of the building, following an access ladder to the bottom. She touched down at the bottom and unmuted her earpiece.
'Dammit Kara. If it weren't for your vital signs we would have thought you were dead!' Brock grumbled over the comms.
'Command to the Phantom Order. I'm not dead. Target neutralised,' said Kara through clenched teeth. She pushed aside the people looking at the body, walking forward. The people in the streets watched in awe, eager to see the events that had transpired, without making themselves involved. Kara knelt beside his body and reached into his first pocket. Nothing. She reached into his other pocket, and removed a shattered rod.
'The data stick is destroyed. We've lost,' said Kara. She deliberately left out the part explaining that it was her fault. On her first mission as Commander, Kara didn't know how her comrades would take that. She took a deep breath, anger seeping through her. It felt like she had lost Seevor all over again. She had failed him. Her only connection to her old commander had been shattered. Kara stood up, groaning inside.
'We were able to find the map data still inside the hologram interface' Sadie interrupted. 'That human wasn't able to remove it in time. It's lucky we showed up when we did, or else all would have been lost.' Relief swept through Kara. The mission had been a success.
Rook burst into the conversation fuming, 'Kara, if you ever mute me again! It took me nearly a minute to patch myself back in because of all the Order's advanced encryption codes that I designed. I'm going to have to report you to …'
Kara couldn't help grinning while she peeled a piece of wet garbage off her shoulder. 'Report me to who? The Commander?'