Private First Class Jacob Gregory "Jake" Meyer - Fireteam Bravo, Third Squad, Second Platoon, Delta Company, Second Military Police Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force Command Element, II Marine Expeditionary Force, United States Marine Corps
Meyer Farmhouse - Acton, Franklin Township, Marion County, Indiana, United States of America, North America, Earth, Sol System, Milky Way Galaxy
07:22:15 ATC/ July 22nd, 1968- 16:00/4:00 PM
"They're in the wire! Charlie is in the wire!"
"MY LEG! WHY DOES IT HURT SO MUCH?!"
"Jake... I do not know how well you are going to take this, but I'm sorry... I'm not the woman that you know and I'm so sorry...I'm Sergeant Sara Kelrein of the Imperial Army and I was chosen for an undercover assignment to infiltrate the Republic Military...I still have feelings for you Jake, but I hope you understand... I love you."
"It's clear to me that despite Sara's loyalties to the Empire that she's deeply in love with you Jacob Meyer. What you do with that knowledge is completely up to you."
Jake was back at his hometown on furlough, suffering from memories of Vietnam and learning about Sara's true loyalties; the latter of which made him wonder if she sincere about her confession, reinforced by Casivir's claim, or it was more of an attempt to justify herself with another fib.
In addition to the conflicting reflections, even though the 'friendly conservation' with the G-Men two days earlier, classified him as 'Loyal to the Government and the United States', the Marine's gut was telling him he wasn't completely out of the woods yet.
But at the moment Jake was currently outside, plinking empty beer cans from over five hundred yards away with his M1 Garand, taking the occasional swig of Budweiser.
'Recycling is the only useful idea the Hippies ever thought of.' Meyer said to himself as he lined up the rear sight with the front post, breathing in deeply before slowly exhaling and squeezed the trigger, unleashing the last .30-06 round in his rifle.
Upon discharge, the bullet demolished the can sitting at four hundred and sixty yards away while on cue the Garand pinged, ejecting the empty clip.
Jake reached for another eight round clip from the military surplus ammunition box and pushed it into the M1 and racked the charging handle, reloading the rifle.
'Sara used to love coming here.' He depressingly thought as he carefully set the rifle down, taking another drink of America's beer.
Private First Class Jacob Gregory "Jake" Meyer - Fireteam Bravo, Third Squad, Second Platoon, Delta Company, Second Military Police Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force Command Element, II Marine Expeditionary Force, United States Marine Corps
Meyer Farmhouse - Acton, Franklin Township, Marion County, Indiana, United States of America, North America, Earth, Sol System, Milky Way Galaxy
07:01:15 ATC/ July 1st, 1968 - 14:00/2:00 PM
Jake was inside the kitchen watching his girl cleaning up her rifle or what she called the X-15 Riot Sniper Rifle. It was a rather lengthy rifle with a thirty-two inch long barrel and a black plastic stock. It even had a pistol grip for some reason and to the American, the rifle by appearance was more of a toy straight out of Star Trek to him and while Sara claimed that it could hold over five hundred shots, the Marine believed that she was exaggerating.
Meyer watched intently as she hummed and started to wipe away the grime off of the rifle with a rag he gave her, the sweet smell of Hoppe's filling the room.
"It sure is a nice rifle, but the question is: is it accurate?"
The redhead glanced up and stared into Jake's eyes, the look she gave him showed that she was insulted. "Kriffing yes!" The Corellian declared. "This blaster could take the tail off a Womp Rat four hundred fifty meters away."
Jake shook his head in amusement, knowing that there were plenty of rifles on Earth capable of reaching one thousand yards and even further yet distance aside, the Hoosier was more skeptical about the accuracy. "Yeah right. That piece of plastic couldn't beat my most accurate rifle."
"You think that your slugthrower is more accurate than my baby?!" She gasped in shocked. "In your dreams!"
"I honestly don't think that your laser rifle could hit the broadside of a barn." He pressed, gaining a death glare in response and Jake without hesitation pushed the knife in deeper. "It seems that your 'precise' firearm was welded out of garbage."
"Oh, really?" Sara questioned, crossing her arms.
"That's right Sara. Why do you believe that a mass produced piece of pipe is more accurate than my rifle that is beautifully made by the finest craftsmen in this country."
"If you say so..." She said depressingly, with tears in her eyes.
'Oh great.' Meyer thought. He better make it up to her before she decides to bawl up. Jake never intended to have her become upset and he would never dream of hurting her feelings.
"Sara, I'm sorry." Jake quickly apologized. "I was just trying to tease you."
She sniffled. "It's okay. It's just that your words hurt."
Jake stood still for a moment, contemplating on how to make it up to her when a lightbulb shined above his head.
One hour later...
'And done.' Jake thought as he sat the last empty soda bottle down six hundred yards away from where he and Sara would be shooting from. The targets were a mixture of paper silhouettes, empty Campbell's soup cans, and a few dozen clay pigeons with each target sitting in intervals from one hundred to twelve hundred yards away and even though he was aware of the range disadvantage for the so-called 'blaster' when he fabricated the makeshift shooting gallery by adding cans to the family's privately owned 1,200 Yard rifle range secluded from the cropland and grazing pasture, it ultimately was hits that counted.
"Sara! I'm ready if you are!" Meyer called out before he enters his 1953 Chevy pickup.
The Corellian came out of the back door and she was surprised, to say the least.
"Jake did this all for me?" She asked herself, stunned at the effort he did. 'I definitely owe him a bottle of Corellian Brandy.'
Jake just pulled up right next to the redhead and got out of the truck. The Marine reached into the bed of the vehicle and grabbed a case, sat it down on the porch and unlatched the buckles, opening it up.
Inside the case was a Winchester Model 70 'Bull Rifle' chambered in .30-06 with a Lyman No. 48 WH receiver sight that had target knobs with micrometer, vernier adjustments and a fine aperture which naturally was meant to be paired with the globe front sight attached to the firearm. As he was busy sorting out the bolt-action, checking the bore and making sure it was clear of obstructions, Sara did the same with her blaster.
"Ready Sara?" Jake asks the Corellian.
"As I'll ever be." She mockingly sighs before sticking her tongue out at him.
Meyer just shrugged it off and lined up his rifle to his target, breathing in deeply before slowly exhaling and squeezing the trigger rearward, unleashing a .30-06 round.
The bullet streaked through the air at the speed of over two thousand feet per second, impacting dead center into the first target Meyer chosen at four hundred yards.
Jake saw where he hit and opened the bolt, ejecting the spent shell casing. Unlike Sara's blaster, which was Semi-Automatic, Jake had to take his sight off the target each time he racked the bolt in order to clear the weapon and that gave the Corellian a slight edge, but on the other hand, bolt actions were also known to be more accurate as compared to self-loading rifles. That's not mentioning he was ultilizing iron sights while she had a magnified optic and even if the rifleman felt that it was technically cheating, he wasn't raising any complaints.
The Marine lined up his sights once more and repeated the process of breath in, exhale, and slowly squeeze the trigger. One error in any of the steps and the bullet would be off target.
"Seems like you are doing well babe." Jake complimented as he continued his routine.
"Oh really?" She smiles, taking a quick break to brush her long, dark copper hair. "If I remember correctly, we're tied points wise." She reminded him before blasting away once more, hitting the four hundred and fifty-yard 'bullseye' as Jake called it.
'Its no use.' Jake thought, now somewhat regretting making it a point only competition instead of completing the entire course. 'It seems like a tie it is then.' And it appeared that Sara was ready to call it quits as well.
"Larel?" She asks from her position. "Can we agree that we're even."
"I concur. Let's just agree that both of our rifles are accurate to an extent."
"Not on my watch." She grins before starting to shoot all over again.
'Oh well. If you can't beat them, join them.' Meyer smiled as he joined her.
Nathrrya Therin-Palatine - Darth Avarice/The Empire's Wrath.
Kaas City - Dromund Kaas, Dromund System, Sith Worlds, Imperial Space, Outer Rim Territories, "The Galaxy"
07:22:15 ATC/ July 22nd, 1968 - 20:00/8:00 PM
"I hate Dark Council meetings." Nathrrya declared as she downed the rest of her glass of very expensive Corellian brandy.
It was a 'girls night out' so it was just herself, Lana, Sara, Jaesa, and Vette. Vette's inclusion had caused a few problems with the upmarket establishment in Kaas City where the five women were in a private room, however, Nathrrya expressing her displeasure at Vette not being allowed entrance soon changed the management's minds. They did not want to deal with two angry senior Sith as Lana was backing her friend.
"You and me both." Lana agreed. "What part of 'diplomatic mission' don't those idiots understand?"
Nathrrya snorted "They're just sore there wasn't a high enough body count."
"There were no bodies to count." Lana reminded her friend amused.
"I know." Nathrrya smiled as she refilled her glass. "Marr and Vowrawn didn't say anything as they know me well enough by now but the others? Nox in particular just had to complain."It was no secret that the two women despised each other. Why there was such animosity between Avarice and Nox was not known to many and it was one crate of monkey-lizards that tonight Nathrrya was keeping firmly closed.
"When is the Empire going to invade Earth?" Vette asked knowing it was a foregone conclusion.
"Don't know. They were still arguing over that when we left." Nathrrya said. "But I don't think it will be for a while yet as the military is stretched too thin as it is. It'll take months to build up the forces needed. The Navy needs to make good its ship losses and the Army are in just a bad a shape. Most of its elite formations have been lost. It takes time to turn raw conscripts into decent troops."
"The Republic is in much the same situation though." Lana put in "But what concerns me is Chancellor Saresh. That woman clearly has one goal in mind, the total destruction of the Sith Empire."
"It's like the Sith genocide all over again." Nathrrya said grimly. "This time though Saresh is willingly going to sacrifice the Republic to do it. If this war continues too much longer there won't be anything left to fight over."
"Even... Earth..." Sara realised with horror.
Nathrrya gave the younger woman's shoulder an affectionate squeeze trying to offer her comfort for she knew who Sara was thinking about. They all did. Their meal arrived allowing the five women to turn away from their depressing thoughts.
Nathrrya Therin-Palatine - Darth Avarice/The Empire's Wrath.
Kaas City - Dromund Kaas, Dromund System, Sith Worlds, Imperial Space, Outer Rim Territories, "The Galaxy"
07:22:15 ATC/ July 22nd, 1968 - 21:33/9:33 PM
"So that's when I told Grand Moff Kilran 'No' and turned his droid NR-02 into a ball of scrap. I think at that point he finally got it through his thick skull he'd picked the wrong Sith apprentice to con into doing his dirty work." Nathrrya said relating part of her story of what had happened to her on the Black Talon.
"I can't believe you did that!" Sara cried. "Kilran would have been angry."
Nathrrya grinned evilly. "Oh I'm sure he was but I cut the connection so I didn't have to listen to his ranting and empty threats. I wanted to try and enjoy my trip to Dromund Kaas."
"Believe it Sara, I was there when Nat let loose and it was both terrifying and awe inspiring at the same time." Vette remarked.
"I'm surprised Kilran didn't make your life hell after a snub like that." Sara said.
Nathrrya's smile grew even more evil if that was possible "Oh I'm sure he did try but by the time Vette and myself arrived on Dromund Kaas he'd been visited by a pair of Darths that had apparently told him in no uncertain terms that if he wanted to continue breathing he had better keep his nose out of Sith business."
Sara's eyes grew with surprise. "He was leaned on? Do you have any idea by whom?" This was just too juicy to pass up.
Nathrrya nodded. "I have my... suspicions but no real proof. Just as well really as they're involvement would have been... problematic at the time."
Sara had the feeling she was being dragged into some Sith plot but she'd come this far "Does it matter now? Kilran is dead."
"No I suppose not but what I say stays in this room, Sara." Nathrrya told the younger woman who just nodded her understanding. "I believe Kilran was visited by Darths Karn and Rhothrel of House Palatine... my grandparents."
"You're...You're grandparents?" Sara stuttered. The idea of Darth Avarice having a Jedi cousin was hard enough but her grandparents intimidating a Grand Moff?
"Nat!" Lana cried. "That was mean." Nathrrya merely raised an eyebrow at her friend as if to say so?
"You get used to it." Vette said smirking at the beleaguered sergeant. "Any stories from Earth you can share with us?"
Sara was grateful for the change of subject. "Yes, I do. Jake and I had an importune shooting contest at his parents' farm. It was a draw. The best part was what happened that night." The smile on her face left in no doubt what she was meaning.
The other four women sat around the table all exchanged knowing looks smirking slightly.
"You're saying Sara that you've kriffed an Earthling?" Jaesa asked, her eyes wide.
Sara nodded her head her smile getting bigger. "Yes, and I had to take the lead, not that Jake was shy, far from it he was just well... a real gentleman. But when I made it clear what I wanted he more than got into the mood."
From that point on the rest of the evening was spent swapping tales of the women's various sexual exploits and conquests. The fun part was deciding what was real or made up.
Walter Leland Cronkite, Junior - CBS New
CBS Broadcast Center - 524 West 57th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States of America, North America, Earth, Sol System, Milky Way Galaxy
07:22:15 ATC/ July 22nd, 1968 - 20:00/8:00 PM
"And one last question Major Lane suggested that Lord Avarice leaving people alive was unusual. What did she mean?"
"Your average, typical Sith would have killed anyone they came across during their escape. Innocent lives are not highly valued by the Sith on the whole." Casavir replied "However you might have noticed that there is nothing average nor typical about Lord Avarice. Her actions in simply stunning those in her way fits with what the Jedi know about her. I've heard it said from other Jedi and Republic forces that have encountered her that she acts more like a Jedi Knight than a Sith."
"There was a situation on Alderaan during its civil war where Avarice helped defend the flank of House Organa who were technically her enemy." Kira explained "Why she chose that course of action is up for debate. What we know is that Avarice was after some information that only General Gesselle Organa could provide. She could have tortured the general for the information but instead helped Organa defend her flank."
Cronkite blinked. "Do you have any idea as to why?"
Casavir smiled a little "I have a theory, nothing more. Sith are passionate people by the way they are trained. Passion drives them, what those passions are depend on the individual. Perhaps the thought of a hard fought battle appealed far more than simple torture or Avarice perceived that protecting Organa's flank as the better choice. We will never know."
"I see thank you for your time Master Therin, Knight Carsen."
I want to thank OfficerDonNZ yet again for the hard work he did. You can see the reason why Nat hates Nox in the upcoming chapter (chapter 22) of The Time Displaced Sith.
I would appreciate it if you would at least take a peek at The Time Displaced Sith since he put serious effort into making the masterpiece.
Anyways we're one step closer to Earth coming into the war and BraveSeeker3 is planning a surprise for all of the readers.
Poor Jake. Now thanks to the FBI triggering it, he's suffering from Post Tramatic Stress Disorder.
Oh, if you're an American and if you haven't already, thank a Vietnam War vet because they sacrifice themselves for their country just like the brave men who stormed Omaha and Tarawa and Inchon, the men who fought for our Independence at Bunker Hill and New Orleans and even today in Afghanistan. They didn't deserve the treatment they received after the war and I hope you don't forget it.
The Price for Freedom is not Free.