Good news everyone, my earlier goal of having this story done by the end of the year seems to be on track. With this and the next chapter that will go live shortly, marks the start of 1) a part of the story I've been excited to write and 2) the final few chapters of Hidden Fortress. Without further ado, here's the action.
Chapter 9
The light of dawn was beginning to peak over the horizon as the Jedi and Antarian Rangers observed the pirate base from an overlooking hilltop while their barrowed red elk mounts grazed. Electrobinoculars gave the group a good look at everything at the pirate base from heavy gun emplacements to where most of the pirates bunked. Their strengths and weaknesses were noted by all present before they convened over a breakfast of ration bars, caf and tea.
"Anything to note?" Duran asked as he heated water for the hot beverages.
"Their source of power is from the bulk freighters," Malcom noted after biting into a ration bar, "If we're to kill the power generators, we need to disable the relay first and use the confusion to get in position."
"Good start," the Jedi Knight stated as he removed the kettle from the burner, "Now how to take them out without blowing our cover?"
Ranharr answered, mentioning that the rifles that the Oni gave them would be able to take them out in the night.
"Great idea," the Jedi Knight replied, "What else can we do?"
"The fuel," Ry'ven stated, "Their fuel storage is too close to the landing area for their ships. How much explosives do we have is the question?"
"Not enough for both the fuel and each ship's generator no," Billibango answered before taking a sip of caf, "We can probably swipe the explosives from the pirates to make up the difference."
"Good work. Anything else we should hit."
"The heavy gun emplacements need to go," the Xexto Ranger added, "Those will funnel our reinforcements into a meat grinder."
"It's good you mentioned that Billibango," Duran said, "We'll have to hit those last though. The chaos of the power going out would be a great cover for that."
Finishing his tea, the Arkanian Jedi began to draw the pirate's compound and the hill.
"First step is to take out the relays. We'll be breaking into three teams to hit each of them simultaneously."
The Jedi then motioned to his Padawan and Ranharr.
"You two will hit the power relays while using the freighter closest to the hill as cover," Duran said be for looking at Malcom and Billibango, "While you two will do the same from to the right side of the hill before hitting the fuel storage. I will use the last power array from the remaining freighter. Let me reiterate, we have to hit them at the same to get this to work seamlessly."
Everyone nodded to confirm this information.
"Once the Jedi teams will proceed to entering the freighters and position themselves in the engineer sections. Like the relays, we have to hit them at the same time. After that, we hit the gun emplacements. Any questions?"
"When do we start this operation?" Malcom asked.
"When night falls," was the answer.
Several days had passed since the riders had been spotted outside the pirate base. Since then, things had been quiet, nothing noteworthy had happened to cause a crisis. This put Vezz on edge. Her instinct said that something was going to happen. The Zabrak woman watched as the sun finished setting on her motley crew's base, she was proved right as she received a com call while eating dinner in her quarters.
"This is the captain," she said after swallowing the last bite of cooked roba loin, "Report"
"This is bridge technician Mensk," the pirate on the other end answered, "Something hit all our sensor relays and have rendered them inoperable."
"And how did that happen?" Vezz asked while keeping an even tone.
"According to the some of our men on base, they believed slugthrower shots took out the relays."
"Do they have a trajectory of the shots?"
"We don't know. We assume they came from the tops of the bulk freighters."
"Very well," the pirate captain said as she put her fork down, "I'll notify the other ship captains. Have everyone on high alert."
Once the call ended, Vezz threw her plate against the wall and cursed. Things had gone south ever since that Republic fighter had crashed and now, they had a possible fight on their hands.
'No matter,' she said as she started to make calls to the other ship captains, 'We'll be ready for them.'
Making their way through the base wasn't as hard as the two Antarian Rangers thought. Malcom was able to stun a pirate and rob his uniform as a disguise himself while his Xexto companion was able to hide in a large coat the pirate had on him. With all the chaos going on, the two didn't appear out of place as pirates rushed all over the base trying to find the intruders. After following a line of pirates that was headed towards the fuel depot. Once they got close enough, the duo slinked off from the group and got to work planting explosives. Malcom silently wondered how in the Galaxy these pirates could be both a nuisance to the Galactic Republic and the Outer Rim if they were this sloppy with their base planning. Never the less, the two Rangers managed to finish their task without raising suspicion.
"Charges on the fuel has been set," Malcom reported into his comlink.
"Good work," Duran replied on from the other end, "Grab some explosives from the pirates and head to the last bulk freighter's reactor."
Once the comlink shut off, Malcom Vant motioned for Billibango to join him as they made their way toward the pirate's armory. A look around the place saw the two making off with a pack of explosive each as they made their way towards the bulk freighter they used as a sniper rest.
Despite having never been on this particular freighter model, it was easy for Billibango and Malcom to navigate.
It probably helped that it was similar in layout to the course used for clearing ships Antar Four, something relatively fresh in the Xexto's mind since the end of the Stark Hyperspace War as the rest of the Galactic Republic, since his life changed.
Billibango originally wanted to be a Jedi and hoped helping the Republic forces against the Stark Combine during the Battle of Mount Avos as an excuse to get off Troiken. His information had challet eaters saved many of the soldier's lives and ended the fight when the flesh-eating beetles were used as a trap for the pirates.
However, it was discovered that Billibango was not Force Sensitive and couldn't join the Jedi Order. Instead, he was recommended to the Antarian Rangers and joined up soon after that. Despite his smaller frame, the Xexto managed to excel at any mission he was given.
"We're at the reactor," Malcom said into his comlink, an act that broke Billibango out of his musing while on autopilot.
"Excellent," Duran replied, "Start placing explosives."
The two got to work placing them all over the reactor, working quietly as to not alert any guards. The sound of the engine bay door opening alerted the two Rangers to the arrival of some guards.
"Man," one pirate complained, a male by the sound of his gruff voice, "Our captain has been losing her edge ever since we found that stupid interceptor."
"We did lose the Lucky Strike to that thing," the other pirate replied, also a male, "And don't forget about the Death Claw also going missing."
"Still doesn't mean the schutta has to make our job a pain in the choobies."
Ducking under cover, the two Rangers managed to stay out of sight as the supposed pair of pirates got closer. Once the pirates were in site, Malcom motioned to Billibango to set his blaster to stun. Once both men switched to the setting, they waited till the pirates walked past the pair of Rangers. Once they had a few meters of distance, the Human and Xexto sprang from the shadows and stunned the two pirates. Malcom quickly slinked over and took the comlink off one of the pirates before they placed the last of the explosives.
"This is Ranger Malcom; all explosives are in place."
"Get to a safe distance before you blow the reactor and the fuel storage," came the Arkanian Jedi, "We'll take out our targets once that happens."
After confirming, both men grabbed their gear and snuck back into the shadows, making sure to avoid being spotted by other pirates.
