The Plight of Task Force 101: A Star Wars Story
'SWAMPTROOPER, SWAMPTROOPER, WHERE YA BEEN?!'
The cadence echoed in my head.
'FEET FIRST IN THE WETLANDS, AND BACK AGAIN!'
It was only meant to be a reconnaissance mission.
'IF I DIE, LET ME DROWN IN THE DEEP!'
Nothing could prepare us for this.
'FACE DOWN IN THE SWAMP IS WHERE I'LL SLEEP!'
-THE INSERTION-
250,000 FEET ABOVE THE SURFACE OF DAGOBAH
4 ABY
Sergeant's Log; the orders came down from on high as regulation mandates. We were briefed that it was officially requested and sanctioned by the Emperor himself, but we can never know. All I know is that my swamptroopers and I are under direct orders from Lord Vader at all times, and that has never changed. We are Task Force 101, the Wetland Assault Stormtrooper Elite, or W.A.S.T.E Teams as some call us. Trained for semi-aquatic systems, we are the only special operations swamptrooper unit in the Galactic Empire, and we are damn good at what we do.
My team leader, Commander Stetko relayed a message to us through the holocomms.
"Approaching vector, we've just breached Dagobah's stratosphere. Stay frosty."
The purpose of this operation was to secure reliable intel on the whereabouts and status of Yoda, the legendary Jedi Grandmaster. Rumor has it that Vader had a dream, or as some would call it a vision of the Jedi leader on a marshland planet and that his hunch was the Dagobah system. I never believed in the Force, Jedi or Sith.
But on this day, I did.
"BRACE FOR IMPACT, PREPARING AMPHIBIOUS LANDING MODE" the CPU chirped.
Our landing pods switched to their wetland assault form and we began our journey into the fog of Dagobah's swamp.
"Keep your eyes peeled." Stetko warned the group. "The fauna on this rock are unpredictable. If you see something coming, blast it. Remember, we are not to engage the target. He may be over 900 years old, but we wouldn't last 30 seconds against the bastard."
"Roger."
"Affirmative, Commander."
"Sergeant Valak, SITREP."
"Yes sir, squad's ammo supply is green like me, all swamptroopers present and accounted for." I confirmed. "Waste makes haste."
"Hoolah, Mandalorian Monster."
Mandalorian Monster is my callsign. The team's always given me shit for being a stormtrooper and a Mandalorian, Mandalorians being the prototype for the Jedi's foot soldier program during the Clone Wars. The people of Mandalore are a warrior race, I couldn't be more proud of my homeworld and my heritage.
"Do you hear that?" Commander Stetko piped up.
It sounded like a baby's cry. It echoed a small distance away from us, but the exact location couldn't be determined.
"Arm blasters." Stetko ordered.
Winged creatures circled above us as we continued on with our search.
"I don't like the looks of those things, Sarge." one of my subordinates called out.
"You know your orders, trooper. If it looks like a threat, kill it." I replied.
"Hoolah, Mando-" before the trooper could respond, a flying creature descended and snatched him out of craft as the other troopers began to fire on the rest of them.
"Tonjo! Open fire, open fire!" the commander yelled to his team.
It was too late. The wounded thing that flew off with Tonjo disappeared into the darkness. I'd like to think none of our blaster fire hit him, but none of us could be sure.
What we were sure of was that he wasn't coming back.
"Tonjo?! Corporal Tonjo, do you read me? Corporal...fuck!" the commander exclaimed in frustration. "Command, we lost one. Tonjo is MIA, presumed to be KIA." he reported in.
"Roger that, TF101. Continue mission." Command communicated back.
"For fuck's sake, ten minutes on this world and we already lost a man. This is fucked, Commander." one of the troopers spoke.
"Our duty is to continue on with the mission, trooper. Keep your head on a swivel unless you want to end up like him." their leader callously replied.
-THE CAVE-
We eventually made our way onto a dry patch of land and decided to make camp there. There was a fog, seemingly coming from a cave nearby. Stetko volunteered to take the first firewatch and told us to get some shut-eye.
An hour or so later, I awoke with a bloody knife in my hand.
"Set to stun." Stetko said firmly, shooting me. He kicked the knife and my blaster away and set his weapon to lethal.
"Do you know what you've done?! You traitor!" Stetko screamed.
"Commander...you stunned me...I...what's going on? Arsenia?! Why isn't she moving? Where's Corq?"
"While you pretended to sleep, I conducted reconnaissance of my own...to that cave right over there. I was attacked...by a Swamptrooper. I didn't get a look at their face because after I incapacitated them, I passed out. When I came to, I found Arsenia stabbed to death and Corq nowhere to be found. So unless Corq just killed her, framed you for the murder and deserted without a trace...then you're the one behind this!" he yelled.
I sat up a bit and held up my hand as to signal him to calm down.
"Sir, I just woke up to all this! I have no idea what you're talking about-"
"Liar!" he barked, aiming his blaster at me, about to fire.
I activated the flashbang device on my waist which discombobulated us both. I struggled, but soon rose to my feet, tackling my own commanding officer. His blaster fell out of his grip and landed several feet away from us.
"Commander, please stand down! This is lunacy!"
"Murdering piece of shit!" he yelped.
We struggled for a bit, then he kicked me off of him. He attempted to reach for his blaster now, so I had no other choice at this point. I turned around and reached for the knife and my sidearm. Just as he spun around to fire at me, I threw the knife at him, the blade striking him on the hand which severed a finger. This made him drop the blaster, and I fired on him. He gave his chest wound a look, then at me, finally dropping to his knees. He was dead before the rest of his body hit the ground. I ran over to his body and held it for a moment.
"Why? Why has this happened to us?"
-THE DUEL-
I walked for miles along the only path I could see, all the while believing this was a truly cursed op. Blaster ammo was low, but I still had the knife and one ace in the hole. In the distance, I saw what appeared to be something like a hut lit by candles and lanterns. Getting closer to the site, a small, short figure with a cane immerged slowly from behind the dwelling. Could it be..?
"Hold it right there!" I pointed my blaster at the figure, but it was yanked from my hand by some unseen force. I retrieved the knife and took an attack posture.
"Ahh, one of the stormtroopers you must be, hmm? the being spoke.
"Are...are you Yoda? The Jedi Grandmaster?" I asked.
"Correct, you are. Sent to kill me, you were?" the small green Jedi pondered.
"No. This was only meant to be a recon op to find out if you were even still alive. We were briefed not to engage because we were told of your power. I see that clearly now, but I don't care. My entire team is either dead or MIA in this hellhole and I can't go back. I might as well go out with my heart on my sleeve here, with you."
"Face me then, you must. Use the power of the Force on you, I will not. My final lightsaber duel, this will be. Ready, are you?" Yoda paced back and forth, stopping to summon the energy sword on his side with telekinesis and activating it.
"If you are a true Jedi and keeper of your word, then yes...those odds do provide me with more confidence. A Mandalorian knows true glory through dying in battle. Come, Master Yoda...this is the way."
I threw the knife away and activated my prototype Z6 Riot Control Baton. I always wondered why they issued it to only me, and now I know. Some might call that fate. Yoda ran toward me and let out a war cry as he flipped over my head. I swung and missed, hitting the large root he landed on but the old Jedi was still agile for his age and did another corkscrew flip off the root, each of us swinging and clashing as he landed. I kept a mostly defensive stance as his style of fighting consisted of many spins and acrobatic movements through the air. We fought each other for about seven minutes. Just when we had clashed for the last time, holding our weapons against each other, I thought I had found an opening and cartwheeled to his right flank and swung with the very last of my strength. It only tore a piece of his garments as he dodged the baton and thrusted his lightsaber right through my chest cavity. Strange, as I fell, he caught me with the Force and sat me down gently.
"Shit...that was a good fight, old timer..." I coughed.
"Fought well, you have. A splendid Jedi, you would have been." Yoda agreed and shook his head in respect.
"...do...do you think the Jedi will ever return?" I whispered with my last breath.
The grandmaster looked me in my eyes.
"Return, they will. It shall be soon, I believe." Yoda foretold.
Maybe it was a suicide mission from the get-go. We searched for our objective, and we found him...but they never said we could come home.
We Swamptroopers never failed a mission as a team together.
And in a way, we didn't fail this one either.
THE END
