The mechanics and hanger personnel watched with fascination and more than a little nervous anxiety as the two Sith Interceptors simultaneously flew into the hanger. The bay doors were large enough to accompany the craft, but with mere feet of clearance on either side. Landing gear locking into place on both ships a second before they touched down, as if entering the hanger together wasn't a big enough show of skill.
There was a hiss of compressed gasses as the ramp from the craft on the left came down, and a minute later a white-haired human strutted down, followed closely by a blue-skinned female twi-lek. The former could have easily been mistaken for an Imperial trooper from the armor he wore, except for the markings on the shoulders that showed him to be a sith, and the twin lightsabers that rested in their holsters on his belt. The twi-lek wore common clothes and had a look on her face like the entire galaxy was one big joke, and she was the only one who got the punchline. The human looked at the lieutenant and captain, backed by the detail of troops that had come to meet them. He nodded towards the group, then turned and looked at the opposite Interceptor. A few seconds later there was a hiss, and the ramp lowered.
The pair that emerged from the second ship were quite the contrast. The lead figure was a red-skinned zabrak with orange eyes and tattooed face, both typical of his specie. The hood of his grey and crimson robes was thrown back, revealing a hairless head ringed with a crown of short, sharp horns. His follower a tower of muscle, covered in tattoos and cybernetic implants. Red eyes looked out from a under a thick brow with a burning hatred of everything he saw. He was a dashade, a nearly extinct race of warriors and assassins.
The sith quickly walked towards each other and hugged briefly but firmly. "Limmdul!" The armored human said happily. "I see your piloting skills have improved. How have you been?"
"Well enough." The zabrak answered without expression. "It's good to see you as well, Kherine." He glanced at the twi-lek, and for a moment his features softened. "And you, Vette."
"Hey Lim!" Vette said as she nodded. "Good to see that your monster hasn't eaten you... yet."
"Silence, thing!" The dashade snapped.
Kherine rolled his eyes and motioned with his head towards the two officers who still waited for them. "Well it seems we all still remember each other. Let's get to work, war waits for no one." He led the way, and the other three followed. Limmdul pulled his hood up, obscuring his face.
Both the officers snapped to attention and saluted when the sith came near. "Sir," The captain said. "Captain Rigel of the Imperial Consolidation Corps. When the Empire takes a world, we're the ones who seal the deal."
Limmdul smirked. "You haven't done a very good job, captain. From my understanding the planet was conquered in the last war, but the majority of the population is still up in arms." Rigel lowered his head and was smart enough to say nothing more. Both sith looked to the other human.
"Lieutenant Quinn, tactical advisor with the 104th. I've also been tasked to serve as your liaison with Darth Lachris."
"Greetings." Kherine returned the salute. "I am Kherine, and these are my friends and comrades, Limmdul, Vette, and Khem Val. We're here to win the war for you, so tell us the situation."
Rigel looked to Quinn, after Limmdul's comment he wasn't in a hurry to speak again. "Vol Argen is the situation." The lieutenant started. "He's the former Balmorran Defense Minister, and intelligence says that he's the one organizing and coordinating the resistance. For the time being he's offworld and communicates with the cell leaders via holo. Of course, we've intercepted a number of his transmissions, but so far we've been unable to break the encryption code.
Kherine looked to Vette, and the two shared a knowing smile. "Have the recordings sent to my ship." He ordered. "If there's anyone who can crack the security on them, it's Vette. In the meantime, however, what's the situation down here on the planet? Every army, or in this case insurgency, has a powerbase. What are they working with?"
This time Rigel reluctantly spoke up. "We're being hammered day and night by resistance artillery batteries strategically placed around Sobrik. We've knocked out the artillery time and time again, but the Balmorrans just build replacements. We've determined that the artillery is powered by generators situated in the Neebray Warehouse, and it's guarded by veteran Balmorran fighters, and convicts."
"Convicts?" Kherine repeated and raised his eyebrows.
"Yes sir." Rigel confirmed. The government in exile has offered them full pardons in exchange for their service.
"This should be interesting then." Kherine said. "Get us any and all information you have on the area, and the commanders if they are known. We'll wait until after dark, so we can move with less threat from the artillery and take out those generators. Once that is done we can move more freely." He looked to Quinn. "Inform the 104th to have a squad of their best snipers ready by nightfall, we'll need their support."
"As you wish, my lord." Quinn answered.
The 104th Infantry was a volunteer division that mostly came from Dromund Kaas. Kherine and Limmdul both appreciated the fact that they were now leading volunteer soldiers and not conscripts. Most of the men had seen battle in some form or another, and one or two of the dozen snipers now seated in the mess hall were veterans of the previous war.
"Sirs," One of the snipers whose rank identified him as a corporal. "Pardon me for asking, but are you the siths who took down the Brentaal Star?"
Kherine glanced at Limmdul, and the Zabrak characteristically showed no discernable emotion, or even recognition. "We were involved, but it wasn't just us." Kherine answered. He noticed that the snipers and other troops who lingered in the mess all started paying closer attention and moved closer, anticipating a story. "There was also Vette and Khem Val, as well as Black Talon's compliment of marines. Actually, the whole thing happened by coincidence, we got on the ship because it was a faster ride to Dromund Kaas, and from there we were conscripted into boarding the Brentaal Star and locating a passenger by Grand Moff Kilran." Kherine proceeded to tell the story, much to the interest of the troopers. Limmdul only occasionally commented on a specific action or detail, until it came to the battle with the jedi padawan.
Limmdul had little enough Khem Val, almost the only similarity they had was a seething hatred of the jedi. Kherine didn't understand it, and he doubted that Limmdul did either. When the padawan had tried to stop them, Limmdul had thrown himself at her with blood crazed fury, and it was all Kherine could do just keep out of the way as Limmdul wore her down with repeated lightning attacks until she was too exhausted to resist any longer, then had thrown her against a wall with such force that Kherine was sure every bone in her body had shattered. After they'd captured their intended target, Limmdul overloaded the Brentaal Star's engines in an improvised self-destruct sequence, just to infuriate Jedi Grandmaster Satele Shan, who'd tried to warn them away.
"When it was over, Kilran and Captain Orzik both called us heroes. And then a few days later we found out that Kilran was trying to have Orzik and all his officers executed for insubordination." Kherine finished.
"We couldn't have that." Limmdul finally took over, although his voice stayed eerily emotionless. "So we spoke to our masters who in turn took it up with the Dark Council. In the end it was Darth Marr himself who ordered Kilran to stand down." Limmdul looked around at the spellbound soldiers. "Understand this, all of you. Kilran's order to attack was foolhardy. It was sheer luck that we boarded and disabled the Brentaal Star's weapons before they destroyed the Black Talon. "Yes, Orzik disobeyed an order, but he did his job, he defended his crew and his ship from certain destruction, and that is why we supported him. No one is expendable, it doesn't matter if they are a slave, soldier, citizen, or sith."
Kherine nodded. "Me and Limmdul will lead you, but tonight will be your victory as much as ours. Remember your training, stay together, follow orders, and we will make sure that you come back alive. Tonight, no son or daughter of the Empire dies!"
"My Lords," Lieutenant Quinn said from where he'd just entered. "Night has fallen, it is time to attack. I have transportation ready for you and your men. The 228th Fighter Wing is dispatching strike fighters and bombers, on your command they will commence strafing and bombing runs on the fortifications at Outpost Victory, hopefully the rebels will believe that we intend to assault the outpost and will move their reserve forces."
"Well done." Kherine and Limmdul said at the same time, then only Kherine said, "Stay in the command center and coordinate with the fighters and bombers, keep a few in reserve, if things go badly we'll need them to cover our retreat."
"As you wish."
"104th," Limmdul called loudly. "Move out!"
The troopers took up their sniper rifles and rested the barrels against their shoulders, then formed into two columns and marched towards their transports.
"Command Center, this is Shadow Claw, come-in." Kherine said into his commlink.
"Quinn here, go ahead Shadow." The answer immediately came.
"We've reached the rally point. No problems so far."
"Excellent, phase 1 begins now." Phase 1 was aerial attack. If the Balmorrans were listening in, it would further cement the idea that Outpost Victory was the target. "I recommend your split your forces into three groups and have your shooters coordinate their attack. They might wipe out the outer defenses before the alarm can be raised."
"Affirmative." Kherine said as he turned off the commlink, then gave the orders. "Corporal Thames, Sergeant Jerome, take your teams to left and right flank. The rest of you are with me and Limmdul, coordinate your targets, and wait for my command to fire." As they started moving into position, Kherine switched his commlink back on. "Vette, are you listening?"
"Of course." She answered from his ship, her voice chipper as ever.
"We're about to start our attack, how's it going with the code?"
"Making some progress, but it's a tough code. I think they change it with every transmission, if I figure out the pattern then I think I can predict the next one."
"Good work."
"Well, don't congratulate me just yet, I still have a lot of work to do. Good luck with all the killing, and keep an eye on Limmdul for me."
The fiery eyed zabrak was close enough to hear and turned his head towards Kherine, arching a single eyebrow.
Kherine looked at his friend with a questioning, yet humorous expression. "Vette, are you sweet on him?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." She said immediately. "Just keep an eye on him, yeah?" She terminated the call before he could answer.
Kherine looked at his sith companion as they moved. "Care to explain?" He asked.
"We were both born into slavery." He answered without hesitation. "We empathize with each other."
Limmdul lead the way as he, Kherine, Khem Val, and four snipers crawled across the hard packed dirt. The only sounds came from armor scraping over the occasional rock. At one point a rebel nearly spotted them, but Limmdul has used the Force to cloak the group. Another time a sentry had seen them, and Kherine had Force-choked him before an alarm was raised. Now the Neebray Warehouse was finally in sight.
It had been built into the side of a mountain, which explained why bombardment hadn't been an option. Limmdul counted about twenty rebels outside the entrance. If they were lucky the snipers would eliminate all of them before the alarm was raised, but hopefully that wouldn't matter, Phase 1 should have drawn away any available reserves. He looked back at Kherine and nodded.
"Command Center this is Shadow Claw." Kherine called. "We're in position. What's the status of aerial forces?"
Quinn answered, "One fighter was critically damaged and forced to crash land. He reports he's safe but is too injured to move. Two other fighters have minor damage. Bombers are running out of munitions and report no damage."
"Acknowledged." Kherine said. "Tell them to break off and return to base, send a search and rescue team for the downed pilot, I want him back alive."
"Search and rescue has already been dispatched, my Lord." The commlink was quiet for a few seconds before Quinn said, "Aerial forces are pulling back."
"Initiating Phase 2." Kherine said, then switched channels to the squad's frequency. "Shooters, confirm you have your targets.
"Confirmed." The sergeant and two corporals answered.
"Fire on my command, then fire at will."
Limmdul reached out and touched the Force, as always the experience felt electrifying and intoxicating. He grabbed and handful of dirt in a crushing grip as he became an almost literal battery for the Dark Side. He closed his eyes in focus, letting it the feeling spread through his body in a technique that Zash had taught him. He focused on the coming battle. Combat! His one true passion.
He heard Kherine a few feet away, growling under his breath. Kherine's battle focus was very different, instead of touching the Force and letting it flow through him, he focused his hatred, internalizing the Force and letting it fill him from the inside. Kherine had been trained to feed on his hatred and draw the intense, raw passion of it.
"Fire!" Kherine had to whisper or his passion would have made him shout. Twelve red blaster bolts flew towards the targets, and twelve rebel fighters dropped dead. The survivors stood stunned, not understanding what happened, until more bolts flew, half of them of them finding their targets. A single terrified shout rang out, but not into a commlink. A sniper quickly silenced him forever.
"Shooters, hold this position and wait for my signal." Kherine was still whispering. "Kill anything that comes out of the warehouse. "Khem Val, with me. Limmdul stay back and use your sorcery, just like Brentaal Star. Let's go!"
Limmdul stood up and used some of his stored power, creating a shield around himself and his two friends. The shields weren't impenetrable, and would dissipate after a few minutes, or after they absorbed enough damage, but they were literal life savers. Khem and Kherine were on their feet as well and sprinted towards the entrance, Kherine ran on ahead, panting like an akk dog on a hunt. When he entered the warehouse he gave voice to his rage and hatred in a Force enhanced scream, loud enough to rupture ears, and powerful enough to slinter bone.
Khem threw himself into a group of rebels and tore into them with his oversized vibrosword, cutting off arms and heads. Limmdul saw him grip his weapon with both hands and cut a rebel in half at the waist.
Limmdul saw a rebel soldier on the far side of the warehouse with a sniper rifle, aiming it at Kherine. Limmdul reached out towards him and violet lighting lanced out from his fingers. Many sith used the lightning for torture, but with enough power behind it could kill almost instantly. A twi-lek and a zabrak ran towards him with war blades and he stomped one foot down, a shockwave a pure Force energy shot towards them and before they could recover his lightsaber was in-hand and activated. He leapt towards the downed pair and decapitated both, then winced as he felt his shield rapidly weakening. He turned towards the source and found another twi-lek, this one with a blaster canon. Limmdul snarled and pointed at him, lighting again raced towards the rebel and the man gave a single pained scream, he was still screaming when Limmdul found another target and pointed. The lightning jumped from his first target to the second, he pointed again and it jumped to a third. He looked for another target and saw the last rebel fighter stabbed through the chest with both of Kherine's lightsabers.
As the final enemy fell dead, Kherine fell to his knees as well. Not from injury, only a single blaster bolt had made it through the shield, but it had been stopped by his armor. His hatred was spent, and it always left him feeling a strange combination of exhaustion and satisfaction. Khem and Limmdul felt no such thing.
"No jedi." Khem said. "I had hoped to feast this night."
"I share your frustration, Khem." Limmdul announced. These rebels can fight well enough, but it's so unsatisfying." He looked around the room, for the first time seeing the generators that stood in each corner of the warehouse, humming with the blue plasma they contained.
Kherine was gasping like he'd just finished a race, and barely managed to get the words out, "Plant the charges." He held his breath for a moment, trying to regain control. "And let's get out of here before they figure out this was the real attack." He turned on the commlink again. "Shooters, mission accomplished, we're coming out. Hold your fire." He changed frequencies. "Command Center this is Shadow Claw. Mission accomplished, zero losses. We're commencing extraction."
Lieutenant Quinn's voice immediately came through. "I copy, my Lord. And may I be the first to congratulate you on your overwhelming success!"
"My thanks." He turned the commlink off.
When the charges detonated a few minutes later, the 104th snipers were treated to silhouette of their three returning champions against the raging inferno that poured out of the warehouse. A few seconds later the mass of rock that had housed the warehouse collapsed. The troopers started firing into the air in celebration, cheering wildly.
So, I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter. The next one will delve more into Limmdul and Kherine's backstories and motivations.
