Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter. I'm sorry this took me so long, but I decided to take a brief break from writing fanfiction. I did so for multiple reasons, but mainly to rest a little, and to recover my inspiration, which I've been feeling less and less of lately. But, I'm back, and I'll try not to let there be another long break like this. At least, not without warning.
I also greatly appreciate all of you who have left reviews asking if I'm doing okay. It's nice to know my readers care about me.
So, this chapter will feature the return of some fan favorite characters, as well the appearance of a character from Legends.
Let's get to it.
1049: Not sure if there'll be a chapter like that, but possibly.
Tiger2014: No, I have never played those games.
CT7567Rules: No, sadly, he is not.
Guest221: I'll try and do more chapters like that. As for the ships, some are based on Imperial and First Order designs, and some are my own design. I've already clarified several, and I'll clarify others as I go.
pervys sage: Yes, the Geneva Convention is technically still in effect, however it has been slightly modified to give certain situations in which chemical weapons can be used. However, the Alliance definitely has stockpiles of chemical weapons, and I think they'll get to a point where they end up using them against the Empire.
Chapter 29- Assassination
Major Lawrence scans the terrain up ahead. The facility up ahead is definitely an impressive one.
He hears someone come up beside him. He turns his head to the side and sees it's Cassian Andor.
"That's going to a be a tough target," Cassian says.
"We can do it. Zaarin's in there," Lawrence says. Cassian just nods.
Major Lawrence and Cassian had together been assigned to lead a team on a secret black ops mission. Their mission was to assassinate Grand Admiral Demetrius Zaarin, the most senior Grand Admiral in the Empire. He was well known for having developed some of the Empire's most advanced weapons and fighters, and was a brilliant military leader. Furthermore, from information provided by spies, Zaarin had grown increasingly ambitious, to the point where he intended to take control of the Empire. The Terran Joint Command had decided that they needed to eliminate Zaarin, not wanting to have to deal with a splinter group from the Empire. A small team of 6 Zulu commandos, two Kidon assassins, and Cassian Andor and Jyn Erso had been dispatched on this secret mission.
Zaarin had been located on the world of Parmic in the Outer Rim. The team of 10 had flown on a special stealth shuttle to Parmic, which had landed miles away from Zaarin's headquarters. The team had then made their way across the landscape towards Zaarin's facility. Cassian had been to Parmic once before on an intel gathering mission, and had led the team to the facility.
As Lawrence and Cassian watch the facility, the rest of the team comes up behind them. Lawrence sees Jyn comes right up beside Cassian and take his hand. Ever since the Battle of Scarif, the two had developed a romance. Lawrence grins a bit under his helmet.
"Alright. Let's move," Lawrence says. Everyone nods, and the team separates. Lawrence takes three of the other Zulus as well as Cassian and Jyn, while the other two Zulus take the two Kidon assassins. Their plan for taking out Zaarin was a risky one. Zaarin was a highly cautious individual, due in part to his plot against Palpatine and worry that the Emperor might come after him
The plan was simple. Lawrence's team would launch an attack against the facility. Based on a report from a spy within Zaarin's forces, this would prompt Zaarin to lock himself in his office in the central building. The office was heavily guarded and protected, and would be very difficult to breach from the outside. However, the office had a window. The other team would ascend to the top of a spire on a nearby building that had a direct line of sight to the window, and the two Kidon assassins would take out Zaarin with specially modified RC-50 sniper rifles designed to break through the glass.
Lawrence and the rest of his team move slowly towards the main building where Zaarin's office is located. The plan is to sneak into the facility before making their move. They move silently, communicating with hand signals or, if necessary, very low whispers.
They reach a side door that leads into the main building. Lawrence deploys a cutting laser from one of his vambraces, cutting through the lock. Lawrence very slowly opens the door, and the team slowly moves into the building.
They move down a small maintenance corridor until they reach an open space. Lawrence motions for the team to stop behind him, then slowly peaks his head around the corner. He sees that the corridor opens into a large open area that looks like some kind of production room. He can see equipment being assembled in various portions of the vast room. The room is also full of stormtroopers and other Imperial personnel.
Lawrence turns back to the team and nods once as he reaches down and removes a grenade from his belt. He activates it, then rolls it into the cavernous room. It rolls right up beside a generator of some kind, and a few seconds later, the grenade explodes, destroying the generator and killing several stormtroopers.
Lawrence leaps out into view, raising his M4 assault blaster and firing at a patrol of stormtroopers, killing all four of them in a matter of seconds. Another stormtrooper tries to come at him from the other direction, but one of the other Zulus, Major Alsakan, roasts him with a jet of flame from one of his vambraces.
A third Zulu, Captain Frederik Nielsen from Denmark, takes to the air with his jetpack, firing his two blaster pistols down at stormtroopers and line personnel. Killing a number of them, he then quickly puts them away and pulls out three grenades, hurling them across the room. The grenades detonate, sending people and debris flying in every direction.
The last Zulu, 1st Lieutenant Muhammad Khan, leads Jyn and Cassian after Lawrence, firing their weapons at several stormtroopers attempting to attack Lawrence from behind. As they do, a stormtrooper runs out of nowhere and tries to attack to attack Jyn hand to hand. Without missing a beat, Jyn snaps out her baton and takes out the trooper with two quick strikes.
Alarms begin to sound throughout the facility. Further up in the facility, Grand Admiral Zaarin looks around in confusion. Then, one of his guards hurries up to him.
"What is going on?" Zaarin demands.
"A small commando squad has entered the building, Grand Admiral. We believe they are Terrans," the guard says. He then tries to hurry Zaarin along the corridor, saying urgently, "We must get you to your office, sir!" Zaarin follows the guard back towards his office.
Down on the ground floor, Lawrence and the rest of his team are preparing for the Imperial reinforcements to return. Lawrence and Khan, as well as Jyn and Cassian, have taken shelter among some debris that provides some excellent cover. Meanwhile, Alsakan and Nielsen have used their jetpacks to climb up to walkways ringing the upper walls of the massive room to take out guards on these walkways.
As Lawrence takes out a stormtrooper with a bullet to the eye, he hears thundering bootsteps. Looking towards one door, he sees several dozen stormtroopers come running in.
"Bravo Squad, this is Major Lawrence! We've got a lot of company! You might want to hurry up!" Lawrence says over their radio.
On the spire of the closest building, the remaining two Zulus have carried the two Kidon assassins up to the top, and the assassins have set up with their sniper rifles. One of the two Zulus, Captain Jared Sorensen, responds to Lawrence, "Zaarin is still not in his office. Will report when he is."
Only a moment later, one of the two Israelis says, "Captain, look."
Sorensen looks at the window into Zaarin's office and zooms in with his helmet's features. Sure enough, he sees Zaarin walking into the office as the door is closed behind him.
"Major Lawrence, we have the target in sight. Setting up the shot," Sorensen says.
The two Kidon snipers set their sniper rifles into position and brace themselves properly. Looking through their sights, they watch as Zaarin makes his way over to his desk, and they smile slightly as they see him sit down.
"Target acquired," one of the snipers says as the two center their sniper rifles on Zaarin.
"Fire on my mark," Sorensen says, and the two snipers nod. Sorensen looks down at them and says, "3. 2. 1. Mark."
The two snipers pull the triggers simultaneously, sending out two 50 caliber slugs. The bullets rip through the air, smashing right through the glass, which is unprepared to handle such projectiles. One of the bullets tears through the side of Zaarin's neck. The other goes through his back just to the right of his heart. Zaarin collapses against his desk. In a matter of a few seconds, Zaarin is dead.
"We got him," one of the snipers says as the two Israelis begin to quickly pack up their sniper rifles.
Sorensen immediately gets on the radio and says, "Major Lawrence, this is Captain Sorensen. Target has been eliminated."
"Copy. Everyone, retreat immediately," Lawrence says. Sorensen's squad quickly fly down from their spire and starting heading back towards the shuttle.
Meanwhile, Lawrence's squad is still doing battle with dozens of stormtroopers. For every one they kill, another one seems to appear.
As Lawrence hears Sorensen's transmission, he looks around at the rest of his squad and says, "Zulus! Rockets!"
Alsakan, Khan, and Nielsen hear this and know it's time for the last phase of the plan. They, as well as Lawrence, punch in a few things on their vambraces to properly target their rockets. They then stand up, lean over, and fire.
The rockets streak away from the four men's jetpacks. Each rocket flies towards one of the supporting structures along the walls.
The moments the rockets fire, Alsakan and Nielsen fly down towards the other four, and Lawrence shouts, "Let's go!" Right as the word is out of his mouth, the rockets impact their targets and explode.
As the squad of six starts running, the room begins to shake, and chunks of stone and metal begin to fall from the ceiling, which no longer has the adequate support. Stormtroopers begin to realize what is happening, and start running for their own lives.
Lawrence leads his team back down the maintenance corridor they entered through, and they burst through the door out of the building right as the ceiling inside begins to collapse. The six of them race back in the direction of the shuttle. As they run, Lawrence yells, "Alsakan, Nielsen, grab 'em!"
Alsakan and Nielsen quickly grab Jyn and Cassian, and then all four Zulus activate their jetpacks and take to the air. Flying through the air with their jetpacks, they're able to reach the shuttle in a matter of minutes.
As they reach the shuttle, they find Sorensen's squad waiting for them. As they land, Sorensen yells, "Come on!"
The whole team rushes onto the shuttle. The moment the last of them is on board, the pilot raises the boarding ramp, and lifts the shuttle into the air. The shuttle climbs quickly up through the atmosphere as the pilot makes the calculations for the jump to hyperspace. Once they are out of the atmosphere, the pilot makes the jump into hyperspace, heading back to Naboo.
News of Zaarin's assassination travels quickly around the Empire. It sends an eerie message throughout the ranks of the Empire.
No matter who you are, no matter where you are, and no matter how defended you are…we can still get to you. No one is safe from us.
And, I'll end there. Hope you liked this chapter.
For those wondering, Grand Admiral Zaarin is a character from Legends, and in Legends, he plotted to overthrow Palpatine, but was stopped by Thrawn.
Also, for all those who follow the Youtube channel, I apologize for not having any videos uploaded since the Timeline video. I'll try and get one, maybe two, up this week.
Also, I've been planning out my EU stories for this series. I have four planned out so far that will take place between the end of this story and the start of the sequel trilogy, and I may come up with more. I'll confirm one will cover Season 2 of The Mandalorian, and possibly Season 3 later on.
So, next chapter will be longer, and will be one I think all of you will like. It'll be up within a few days. Until it is, please leave a review, and stay tuned!