Title: Inner Demons, Outer Evils
Summary: A tragic event sets Rogue Squadron on the path to the truth...and sends one of the Rogues on a collision course with himself.
Disclaimer: Star Wars is, quite clearly, not mine, and no copyright infringement is intended. This story is not written for profit.
---------------
Chapter 11: Dress Rehearsal
---------------
As Jesina suited up the next evening, she thought over the day. Shed been reminded of her least favorite part of Intelligence work – the waiting. She actually felt sorry for Wes, who'd been the one stuck with putting up with her for most of the day.
Wes watched her from the doorway. The rest of the team was ready, but she seemed to be taking longer. Watching her, though, he could see why.
Jesina was the most seasoned operative of any of them. From before Endor to just after the death of both Ysanne Isard and her clone, she'd relied on her skills to stay alive during her tenure with the NRI. And even before that, really, in her time smuggling. He'd bet she'd even put CorSec-trained Iella to shame.
Like the others, her clothes were all black, and her hair was hidden under her cap. In addition to the belt and holster at her hip she wore a vest that enabled her to carry two more blaster pistols. As he stood there she fastened a modified vibroblade to her wrist. All she had to do was flick her wrist a certain way and the blade would instantly extend.
His trained eye instantly caught the differences between her and the rest of the team. In addition to the infrared goggles on her head, she wore a different headpiece. It looped around the back of her head and had a lens that was usually retracted and above her ear, but could extend out over her eye. It also had a built-in microphone and earpiece that freed her up from carrying a comlink. On her feet she didn't wear boots. Rather, she wore a light slipper with a deep tread, giving her good traction but a lighter step. She looked, in short, like a spy.
"Why did you leave intelligence?"
She didn't look up. "Because I couldn't take the games anymore. When two people are on the same side, they're supposed to help each other out, not stab each other in the back." She sighed. "The debacle that they put you all through at Adumar confirmed that my decision was the right one."
"Why'd you go to work for Cracken in the first place?"
"Because he needed people with my skills. Because I didn't think I had the discipline to be a pilot. Because I had watched too many people die because of bad intelligence reports. I wanted to change that. And, for a while, I did. But then it was politics getting people killed instead of NRI not doing their jobs, and I knew that wasn't the place for me anymore. I've never played games like that, and I wasn't about to start now."
She shoved two spare power packs into the open bag on her bed and cinched it shut. She checked the chronometer on her wrist and looked up. "Come on, we've got work to do."
Brushing by him, she walked into the main room. "All right. Everyone tell me what they're doing.""Getting us in," Kell said. He'd been welding through the durasteel blocking the entrance to the tunnel system.
"Shielding while Kell's cutting," Inyri said, "and then checking for security." Jesina had two concerns about them getting cut. She was worried that someone would see the light from the welding, and she was worried that the tunnels might have been outfitted with some kind of security.
"Timing and marking the route," Gavin chimed in. That was, after all, the whole point to this trip. They hadn't been able to find a complete map to the tunnels, and Jesina hoped that this excursion would take the guesswork out of it for the next night. Plus, they needed to be able to give the exterior team an estimate of when they'd be about to go in.
"Rear guard." That was Janson.
"And I'm lead," Jesina finished. "Anything happens to me, and Janson takes lead—"
"And I take over rear guard," Kell completed her sentence. We've got it, Colonel. We're set."
She spun around, her pointed finger nearly taking out his eye. "That is your first mistake. Never assume everyone knows where they're supposed to be. Because there's always a chance that they don't. And that gets people killed."
Jesina turned back to face the others. "All right. No comlinks. We're close enough that we don't need them, and they're a risk factor. I want to take them out of the equation here and now. We have them, but we don't use them. Understood?" Everyone nodded.
"All right. Designations here on in. Wraith Five, Rogue Eleven, you head out first. Twelve, follow after ninety seconds. Rogue Five and I follow after ninety more. Go."
With nods of acknowledgement, Kell and Inyri slipped out the door, and Jesina fixed her eyes on her chrono. Once the allotted time had passed she reached out to nudge Gavin but her hand met air – the Rogue was already moving. Another ninety seconds and she and Janson were gone as well.
As they reached the clearing where the entrance was supposed to be located, Jesina was pleased to note that the sparks from the welder were not at all visible until they got close. Inyri was doing her part.
"This entrance wasn't hidden very well," Gavin whispered as she crouched next to them. "It's possible someone knows about it."
"They probably do," she replied. "If we could find out about these tunnels, I'm sure they have. We've just got to hope that they either think we don't know about it, or won't use it even if we do."
"If they think Wedge is here, they wont leave anything to chance," Janson interrupted in a low voice. "Between the Rogues and the Wraiths he's gotten a reputation for doing whatever it takes."
Before Jesina could reply she heard Inyri's urgent whisper, "We're in."
"Good." Jesina moved so she was positioned nearest the tunnel entrance, and shone a lamp down into the darkness. No stairs, no ladder, but it's shallow enough to drop," she said softly.
Then she swung her legs over the edge of the opening. Jesina braced herself, and then dropped as slowly as her muscles – and gravity – would allow.
She landed, perfectly balanced, on the balls of her feet. Straightening up, Jesina swung her light around and moved out of the way.
Inyri landed softly beside her, followed by Gavin, Kell, and finally Wes. "Everyone all right?" she whispered. The dim light was just barely enough to let her see everyone nod. "All right. Let's go."
She walked slowly, slightly bent over, and stopped every few meters to listen. Wes, from his spot at the back, watched her progress. Over the years he and the Rogues had gotten a lot of practice in the art of intrusion – his time with the Wraiths especially. But he couldn't remember working with someone as experienced in it as Jesina.
Her footsteps were absolutely silent, and she somehow made herself blend into the shadows better than the others did, a fact that was made especially clear to him when he almost walked into Kell, directly in front of him, because he couldn't tell that she was no longer walking.
"What is it?" he asked in a low voice, hand dropping to his blaster.
When Jesina turned, he saw that the lens on her headpiece was extended. "There's an infrared beam across the path three meters ahead. We'll have to crawl under it. Everyone, take your gear off and push it along in front of you." Wes had to strain to hear her, but when he did, he nodded, dropping to the ground, as did the others. The group pulled themselves along the cold floor for a distance that Wes was certain was more than a few meters. But Jesina was still on the ground, and he figured she knew better than he how not to get caught.
Just as he was beginning to be sure he'd never be able to get up, he saw Jesina rise into a crouch, and motion for them to gather around her.
"There's a surveillance camera up ahead, one on each side of the corridor. We go any farther, we'll be caught. I'll have to ask Wraith Lead if his slicer can do something about them before tomorrow night."
"She probably can," Kell murmured.
"We better hope so," Wes replied. Then he looked at Gavin. "What's the time?"
"Thirty-two thirty from when Five and Eleven left to here, twenty-six five from when we opened the tunnel to here."
"All right. Let's get out of here." Jesina slipped around them to where Wes was standing. "You want to lead back, or me?"
He motioned for her to go ahead. "This is your party."
She grinned, and then turned to face Gavin. "Twelve, did you—"
"I put a marker here, and I put one where we started crawling. Along the wall – our right when we were coming in – about a centimeter off the floor."
She nodded, and turned back to Wes. "I'm impressed."
He shrugged. "What do you expect? Wedge trained them."
"He did well." She dropped to her knees and started crawling back the way they'd come. Once they'd reached Gavin's marker she stood and walked the rest of the way at a brisk pace. The trip back took substantially less time than the way in and soon the group was at the entrance.
"Now how do we get out?" Gavin asked.
Jesina motioned to Wes, who had come up beside her. "Give me the cable, and one of you boys give me a boost up. The rest of you can climb out once I secure it.
Wes pulled the heavy-duty, metal-thread cable from his pack and handed it to her. She slipped it over her shoulder as he dropped to one knee, interlocking his fingers and giving her something to stand on.
Jesina settled one foot onto his hands and rested her hand on his shoulder for balance. Once he was sure she was steady, he rose slowly, just until she was high enough to pull herself up. On the surface, she stayed low to the ground. Catching sight of a durasteel beam that ran the length of the building, she took the cable from her shoulder and wrapped it around the beam. Giving it a firm tug, she nodded in satisfaction, then crawled back to the tunnel's entrance and tossed the loose end down to the rest of the team. Inyri was the first out, followed by Gavin, Kell, and then Wes.
"Eleven, twelve, head back." She waited until they were gone to give her next order. "Wraith five, cover it and then get back." Kell nodded curtly and drew the tarp from his backpack as Jesina and Wes disappeared into the darkness.
After they made it back to the warehouse where they were based out of for the next day or so, Jesina disappeared into the smaller storage room that she was using as her "bedroom" and did not emerge until the rest of the team had congregated in the main area.
When she did come out, she looked calmer, more relaxed than she had been, and Wes was glad. She sank to the floor beside him and pulled out her datapad. "All right, down to business."
"They do have security down in the tunnel we used," she told those that hadn't been there, "But it shouldn't be a problem. They've got lasers going for about ten meters once we get over halfway through. Hit one of them and it will not only alert them to an intruder, but also, doors will come down all through the tunnels. We'd be trapped." There was a bit of murmuring among the group. No one, Wes included, had caught that.
"There are also a couple of cameras at the end, one on each side of the corridor. No blind spots."
"Are these insurmountable obstacles?" Face asked.
Wes shook his head. "The laser beams we can get by – we did tonight. The cameras – we haven't gotten by them yet, but we'll be able to. Can you get in touch with Slane?"
Face nodded. "If I have to."
"You have to. We need her to bring down one or two of the cameras – one will be enough, but two will be safer. Or, if she can swing it, cut power to the complex, or at least that part."
"We know how long it takes to get there, so we can give her a time to shoot for." Face nodded and made a note on his datapad.
I want everyone to meet back here at 2200 tomorrow. Until then, the rest of you stay in your storage rooms, unless absolutely necessary. After we regroup, I want us moving by 2215. That'll but us at the cameras no later than 2245, probably before that. And it's only about twenty meters from there to the end."
"And that's when it gets fun," Wes muttered.
"Precisely." She brushed her hair back from her face. "Remember, if anything happens to me, Janson takes over. Then Hobbie, then Loran. And if all four of us are out—"
"We'll all probably be dead so it won't much matter," Gavin finished for her.
"Actually, I was going to say we're omega, but that's a good point." Jesina paused. "Any questions?" When no one spoke, she said, "All right. Face, get in touch with Slane, give her our timeframe, and report back to me. Other than that, stay hidden."
There was a murmur of agreement, then they all split up. Jesina too retreated to her little room, determined to shake the bad feeling that had once again settled over her.