CHAPTER FIVE
Stormtrooper groups have spread out and they slowly sweep the city. Their focus continues to be razor-sharp due the eerie silence that surrounds them: with every step, eyes are peeled, looking back and forth. For some, the black goo has made every inch of the city some sort of abstract art piece; to others, it is a living invasion that poured out of someone's disturbed, twisted mind. The more they progress through the city, the more intense it gets.
Olyone's eyes follow her glowrod's beam of light as she reaches another intersection. She quickly scans the street in both directions, seeing the lights of her comrades doing the same thing on different blocks. Olyone looks back over her group of troops, signaling them to head across. She watches as they do what they're told, while covering the rear. 'One street down, many more left,' Olyone thinks as she darts across to the other side of the street. She quickly checks her motion sensor. It shows no movement, but some interference is hindering its performance. She wants to slap it in frustration. Olyone calls in to Dzukya via commlink. "How ya holding up?"
"Fine, I'm four blocks over from you," Dzukya replies. Olyone can hear the slight tone of concern in Dzukya's voice.
"But?"
"Just can't place it. Nothing is showing on my sensor but I…", Dzukya hesitates, biting his lip, "…I feel that we're being watched—". Another communique comes through, interrupting Dzukya and Olyone.
"Yes?...What?!" Dzukya immediately starts running over to the next street. His long legs seem to cover the distance in no time. There he sees a stormtrooper standing there at the corner, shoulders shrugged. "Tell me what happened and why are you here, where you're not supposed to be, Pvt. Netch." The stormtrooper hesitates for a moment, then answers.
"It's Pvt. Rel, sir. He wandered off from our position. As I looked around, I saw him enter this building. Tried call him a couple times but no response, sir," says Netch.
Dzukya wants to lash out in anger but doesn't have the time. He gets on his commlink. First, he calls over his group to his present location, then informs Verlund of the situation. Dzukya takes a look at the six-story high building, then at its entrance. The hardened black goo has transformed the entrance from the original rectangular shape to some misshapen oval that reminds Dzukya of a circus haunted house that he entered, back before he had hair on his face. The rest of his squad are now at the entrance with their blasters armed, ready to go.
Dzukya gets on his commlink. "Pvt. Rel, come in. Pvt. Rel, can you hear me?!" He hears nothing but static. Looking back at his squad, Dzukya gives a slight nod; they slowly walk in, shining their lights in all directions. The black substance has taken up most of the space on the main floor area, but the stairs seem to be walkable.
'Of course, …the stairs. What could go wrong?' Dzukya splits his squad: four will search the basement, another four the second floor, the rest will follow him to the third. "Keep your comms open. If you find something that's not Rel…blast it first, then check for a pulse," orders Dzukya.
Everyone separates as Dzukya and what's left of his squad slowly head up to the third floor. While the stairs are technically walkable, trying for find an even surface is not easy. Dzukya does his best in keeping his breathing controlled as they make their way up to the third floor. Dzukya calls for Pvt. Rel once again as he arrives at the floor…nothing but static once again. 'Goddammit…where the hell is he?!' Dzukya looks around the floor.
While the black goo is there, it doesn't appear to be as invasive. They walk away from the stairwell and search the floor. It doesn't take Dzukya long to realize that this won't take long due to the black goo making parts of the floor impassable. They walk down the hallway where it ends at the double doors. Dzukya and Netch slowly approach the doors, with the rest of the third team behind them. Netch looks over, she sees Dzukya's hand showing three fingers. She nods her head. Three…two…one.
Both of them kick the doors open, everyone comes in like a rush of air, with fingers on the trigger, ready to fire. They have entered what looks like some sort of big meeting room. In examining the room, however, a stormtrooper sees something embedded into one of the walls.
"My God!"
Everyone looks over…they see, and they understand: a group of skeletons, plastered against the wall by the black goo. Netch slowly walks over, her blaster almost falling out of her hand.
"L-Look at them…their bones…they're not right," she says.
Dzukya slowly looks and doesn't understand it. The skeletons have been stretched, morphed into something that normal DNA didn't design. Just then, Dzukya's commlink chimes: It's the "second floor" team.
"Sir, we've found Pvt. Rel. The moron tripped and busted his ankle. He found something…you have to see this."
It doesn't take Dzukya and the rest of them long to make it down to the second floor. Upon arriving at the location, Dzukya sees the search team and an embarrassed Pvt. Rel. Dzukya's eyes are about to bore holes into the injured private, when he sees something behind him. Walking past the search team, Dzukya gets a clearer view, his eyes widening in shock. The object stands about two and a half feet tall; its appearance is leather-like with an almost black hue. Dzukya looks back over to Pvt. Rel, pointing back at the unknown object; the private nods his head in reply.
Dzukya continues to get closer to the object. He moves his light in the surrounding area for no surprises. The top of the capsule-shaped object has opened like a four-petal flower a long time ago. Dzukya takes his blaster and sticks it inside. He slowly pulls out the skeleton of an organism.
"Looks like it's some sort of…spider?", Dzukya says. He looks at its finger-like legs which are long and thin, along what looks to be a long tail. Dzukya does his best to not let the queasiness show on his face. He shakes the dead organism off his blaster. 'I think I've lost my appetite!' he thinks. Dzukya turns around and orders someone to call the other search team: time to leave this place.
"Hello?...I can't understand—oh, hell!" With that, Pvt. Fuchs shuts off his commlink. "Blasted static…just as annoying as this blasted humidity!" Everyone in the search team can understand his frustration. So far, they've searched most of the basement with nothing to show for it. Fuchs takes a quick moment to simmer down. "So, what's left, Keks?" he asks.
"Just two rooms. Skey and Thomas is searching one of them right now. Come on, we're almost done!" The two stormtroopers enter the other room, slowly scanning the area with their lights. Fuchs looks around, seeing the black material covering almost every area of the room.
"Makes you wonder what happened here, right Keks? ...Keks?" Fuchs looks over and seeks Keks standing there like a statue.
"Keks, what's wrong?" asks Fuchs. Keks nods his head over to where Fuchs need to look. Fuchs does just that. "The hell...What are those? Eggs?" Fuchs slowly walks over to the three eggs. Keks snaps out of it and tries to get Fuchs to stop his approach, without success.
Fuchs looks at the three capsule-shaped objects with curiosity. He takes another step when the top one of the eggs opens up.
'What the hell!' Both Fuchs and Keys jump back with blasters pointing, startled.
Nothing happens.
The both of them lower their weapons a little bit. Fuchs takes another step against Keks' protests. Fuchs looks over at Keks. "Come on, it's not like anything worse can happen," says Fuchs. Out of the corner of Keks' eye, he sees movement coming from the opened egg: long, thin legs reaching out.
Just then a few rounds of blaster fire riddle all three eggs. Both men turn away as they hear the screech of something dying. The blaster fire ends as quickly as it began. Fuchs looks up and sees Dzukya and the rest of the squad. Smoke emanates from Dzukya's blaster.
"I'd beg to differ, private!" says Dzukya. Just then Dzukya's commlink begins to chime. "Yeah?"
"Dzukya, this is Olyone. Get yourself and your team back out on the street. Multiple contacts have appeared out of nowhere and heading our way!" Dzukya and his team quickly make it out on the street. Radio chatter has filled his helmet. His heart begins to quicken the more he's able to understand the constant radio chatter.
"Lt. Tuft stay cool!"
"I-I don't understand, Captain. All these multiple contacts…where the hell did they come from?"
Dzukya hears Tuft's voice and understands the fear and confusion that's coming out of it. The beeping of Dzukya's motion sensor becomes faster and faster. 'They're getting closer,' he has eliminated everything in his mind except for what is present. His eyes slowly scan the area around him. He nor Olyone tell their teams what to do. If they don't know now…a body bag will be the next destination.
Dzukya and Olyone quickly look at each other and nod.
"Remember, keep your firing short and controlled, folks," says Olyone.
Verlund, Weglarz and everyone else waits as the distance between them and the unknown contacts gets smaller and smaller. There's something about this that isn't sitting right with Weglarz.
'Distance between us and whoever these bastards are is under 12 feet, closing fast. We should see—' Then it hits the 1st Sergeant. He looks up for a moment, then quickly gets on the comm in his helmet.
"Ladies and gents," he says as he arms his E-11 blaster, "prepare to defend yourselves!"
Hearing Weglarz's words only raises Lt. Tuft's panic. He quickly looks back and forth as his motion sensor now gives off a steady tone.
"They're right on top of us but, where are they?" screams Tuft. Just as he turns, a long blade-tipped tail slowly comes down from the darkness above. The sharp, bone-like appendage then plunges into Tuft's back. The Lieutenant's eyes widen as every part of his body seizes up. Blood begins to come out of his mouth as he looks down and sees what's protruding from his chest. He's quickly lifted off the ground and sees the culprit who has wounded him.
Its elongated, cylindrical black head comes into the light. As the life begins to leave Tuft, he sees that it has raised its head looking directly at him. A clear saliva-like substance drips out of its mouth like drool from a newborn baby. The creature, who's on the wall, looks at what its caught – and its mouth opens up. A low airy "roar" comes out, showing its sharp teeth. Then without hesitation, the creature's inner jaws shoot out through Tuft's helmet, into his brain. The lieutenant's body twitches for a moment, then stops.
The sounds of blaster fire, screams, small explosions now occupy the dead silence of the city ruins. This new, unknown enemy is easily giving every stormtrooper beyond what they can handle.
Olyone's head is on a swivel. Her grip, fueled by adrenaline, is so tight on her rifle that it possibly can break bone. She ignores the radio calls of people talking…yelling over each other. Olyone knows if she lets off her focus just one second…she's dead. "Dammit, these bastards keep coming in wave after wave," she says to herself. Olyone looks over and sees one of these creatures pouncing on a stormtrooper.
She aims the rifle ready to waste it when something unexpected happens. 'That thing just took that soldier away…why?' Olyone thinks. Just then she quickly turns around: two of those things coming at her full speed. High pitched screams come out of both of them after receiving several bolts fired from Olyone's rifle, they drop dead. She doesn't gloat, there's no time to. Olyone quickly takes out the empty plasma cartridge from her blaster and slams in a full one. "Dzukya, you still breathing?"
"Of course, I am... Just another day serving our empire," says Dzukya. Olyone can hear the sass in his voice.
"Enough of the wise cracks. Have you heard from Tapalo?"
"Well –wanted to –me. –ask me," says Tapalo. "Nailed—them but—helmet—comm messed up." Both Dzukya and Olyone are relieved to hear his voice.
Verlund has his hands full and then some. Giving out orders, assessing the current situation, and also trying stay alive. "Stay with each other, if you want to survive, don't play the hero!", he yells.
Different thoughts run through Verlund's mind: enemy strength, fall back positions, mortality rate among his troops. Those and other thoughts make the situation for Verlund even bleaker. He looks over and sees Palpatine standing there, being protected viciously by his Red Guard and the death troopers. 'He's just stands there like nothing is happening!' Seeing that almost makes Verlund dumbfounded, but he quickly refocuses on the current situation. "Sgt. Weglarz, is your gut telling you this is it for us?" Verlund asks.
"I'll tell you once we get to the bar," shouts Weglarz, while roasting these creatures with a flamethrower. A small smile appears on Verlund's face. He, and everyone else, continue to fight to stay alive.
Rain begins to come down on the mist-filled swampy surface of the planet Dagobah. As the quiet begins to fade more and more to the rain, Yoda, Grand Master of the eradicated Jedi Order, sits nearby his home. He's in mediation, communing with the Force when something interrupts it. He begins to hear blaster fire, explosions, yelling and screaming. Then a low 'airy' roar is the last sound Yoda hears as he comes out of the mediation. The powerful, diminutive Jedi opens his eyes and looks around. The rainfall gets heavier as he gently strokes the little hair he has left on his head. "This evil, pure and hostile, discovered you have," Yoda slowly exhales. "Pain, suffering. Many deaths, there will be." Yoda slowly gets up and walks back to his humble home, aided by his walking cane.
Dzukya dodges a tail strike from one of the, as someone else called them, 'bugs'. He places few shots into the thin black attacker's chest, and it falls back, dead. There's a brief moment that Dzukya looks around and sees it all: fellow stormtroopers being ripped to shreds by these things and vice versa. These aggressive bastards just keep coming!
He then hears the scream of someone he knows.
Dzukya quickly looks over and sees Tapalo beginning to slide down a wall, wounded, with a bug about to pounce. But before it has a chance, Tapalo lifts his blaster rifle with one arm and wastes the bug. Dzukya runs over to Tapalo and sees the blood-streaked wall and the hole near Tapalo's left shoulder. Tapalo winces hard at the searing pain that's running throughout his body. He quickly looks up at Dzukya.
"Y-you think they'll mind if I s-s-stay in a bacta tank for a while?" Dzukya quickly lifts Tapalo to his feet. He would've done it slower but with what's happening…would've been stupid to say the least.
"Not if you're dead," yells Dzukya. Both stormtroopers slowly head off to where Verlund and Palpatine are at. As they move through the on-going carnage, Dzukya does double duty. With his free hand, he provides blaster fire for other stormtroopers while being a human crutch for Tapalo. He can see one of Tapalo's legs slowly start to drag, and Dzukya gives him a strong nudge. The pain wakes up Tapalo.
"DON'T YOU DIE ON ME, STAFF SARGEANT!" yells Dzukya.
As Tapalo begins to get his feet somewhat under him, a small explosion goes off several blocks ahead. Dzukya can see a few people being knocked to the ground because of it.
Palpatine wipes some gravel of his cloak and looks around. He sees the bodies on the ground, his troops fighting with everything they have…some dying. The Emperor begins to walk as if nothing is happening: he hears that echo once again. He's a couple blocks away before anyone realizes it. Palpatine comes across one stormtrooper helping another one who's wounded.
Dzukya stands there speechless. Before he can say anything, Dzukya sees Palpatine drop his walking cane, hands out by his sides. One cylinder-shaped object slides from each of his sleeves and into Palpatine's hands. Immediately, two crimson blades are emanating from both objects. A smile appears on the Emperor's face, then he leaps over Dzukya and Tapalo, heading straight at the bugs.
Dzukya watches in shock as Palpatine takes out these eyeless bastards with blinding speed. Palpatine decapitates, slashes and impales these creatures to their deaths. The rest of the stormtroopers follow Dzukya and watch as all of these bugs come at the Emperor. Just then a voice snaps everyone out of their gaze.
"Don't just stand there, blast those things!" yells Olyone. Every able-bodied stormtrooper dash over to Palpatine and opens fire. More and more of the bugs fall. It doesn't matter what attack angle they use…they fall. Palpatine starts cackling and it gets louder and louder. All of a sudden, the red blades retract back into the handles. Palpatine quickly puts out his hands and bolts of lightning flow from them. As multiple bugs bathe and die from the lightning, Palpatine's eyes glow a bright yellow. The more the bugs screech, the more he enjoys it.
Olyone can see more and more bugs are coming their way. She's about to order everyone to get ready when the creatures come to a dead stop.
"The hell is going on?" blurts out a stunned Olyone. Just like that, the bugs begin to retreat, en masse, at the same speed they attacked. A few minutes later the bugs are gone, leaving the ruins back to a dead quiet.
Confusion lingers amongst what's left of the 332nd. Why did they stop? Who stopped them? The questions are in everyone's mind as stormtroopers start rounding up the dead and the wounded.
Olyone's mind is in two parts: scattered and shocked. Her eyes remained open wide, her trigger hand is shaking. She's trying to comprehend what just happened when she hears someone shout out.
"Look out, Olyone!"
She turns around to see a bug already in midair, it's long sharp fingers ready to grab her. Just then a shot runs through the bug's head and slams the would-be killer against the wall. Olyone is on the ground, looks over and sees a shadow trooper appearing out of thin air. Olyone says nothing as trooper walks over to the creature and lets off several more rounds from the heavy blaster rifle. The all black-pauldron wearing trooper then walks up to Olyone. She waits for the trooper to say something, but silence is what she gets. The trooper stands there for a few more seconds, nods their head, then just walks away. Olyone slowly gets off the ground as Dzukya comes over.
"Thanks?" says Olyone. She's confused about that one-sided exchange, but she just chalks it up to elite troopers being a tad bit different. I sure could've used a portable cloaking device like yours pal!
