Ch. 3
Planetside
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars yadda, yadda, yadda
Jak floated in the void. All around him was blackness. Am I dead? Well, this sucks. I thought there would be some kind of welcoming committee. 'Hi welcome to the afterlife' or something. And why does my throat itch? And my nose? This isn't exactly what I had in mind after death. But, it is kinda peaceful.
Then Jak heard voices. "His vitals are stable, he's still apparently in a coma." "Spare no expense doctor. This man is the only survivor of a jedi ambush. I want him alive and well, maybe he can pull it off again." The first voice returned. "Sir, with respect, it's amazing he's alive at all. He was lucky we could grow his arms back; another couple of hours and his nerves would have been too shot to bother reattaching anything."
Jak was baffled. So I'm still alive? Damn! I guess I won't be floating for much longer. And what do they mean by 'arms'? He flexed his fingers experimentally. There was a new voice now, a soft one. Female. "Doctor, I'm reading an elevation of his brain wave patterns. It looks like he's coming out of it. He just moved his hand, sir." The second voice spoke again. "Excellent, now if he'd just open his eyes."
My eyes are closed? Oh yeah. That's what's making it dark. I wonder if they'd let me sleep a little longer. Nah, they'd just hound me till I got out of bed. Jak opened his eyes. Everything looked distorted, like he was underwater. Then he understood: he was in a bacta tank.
Everything started to take shape. Outside of the tank was a doctor, a nurse working a console, and a Grand Moff. Jak feebly brought his arm up in a salute, and the Grand Moff, witness to his awakening, snapped to attention and saluted him back.
"You've done well, son. Get some rest. Tomorrow you'll be debriefed, and we'll see about what's to come." Jak nodded, the best he could do, and fell back into a dreamless sleep.
Over the next week, Jak was debriefed, awarded, promoted, and sent back to his unit. Once there, he was made squad leader of his old squad, a bunch of freshmeats straight from the academy. The week after that, they were given snow gear and stuffed onto a transport for Rhen Var, where the rebels had discovered an Imperial listening outpost.
They were shuttling down onto the ice when one of the new guys gave a shout. "Squad leader, over here." He pointed out the porthole. Jak moved in front of the stormtrooper and looked out the porthole himself. About where they were going to land, there was an uncharacteristic red glow, at odds with the pure white that blanketed everything on this planet.
Jak moved to the front of the shuttle, to the cockpit where the pilot, Saresha, was bringing the clunky machine down. Jak tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to a rock outcropping about a klick away from the outpost. "Set us down over there; we'll go the rest of the way on foot." She shrugged and began to move the ship to its new destination.
Back in the rear of the shuttle, Jak donned his helmet and issued his orders. "To your gear checks and get ready for a march, we're going for a walk." Just then, amessage came over his personal command line. "Ghost three, this is ghost one come in." Jak responded to the first squad leader's hail "One this is three. What the word?" "You are changing your heading, any reason why?" Jak nodded before he realized One couldn't see him. "That's affirmative. One of my boys spotted something out of place, we're gonna check it out." One's voice was less than ecstatic. "Roger, but if you find anything, inform me immediately." "Will do. Out."
Once the line had been cut, he sneered. "Yeah, right. Prick. Damn glory-seeking schutta. He'll probably say he ordered us to change course if something comes out of it."
They touched down, the shuttle's thrusters kicking up snow as they slowed the bulky craft. As they piled out, Jak issued his orders. "Alright, break off into fire teams and move towards the outpost. Hand signals only, I don't want anyone picking up our radio chatter." The stormtroopers surrounding him nodded in understanding, and they moved off into the snow.
Jak was leading the point team, so he was the first one over the ridge. Without a word he dropped flat to the snow, motioning his team to follow. The other teams did the same once they saw the ones before them. They made a line abreast, then crept up to the ridge line. The outpost, burnt to the foundations, lay in a small valley before them. The antennae had been disassembled, and some of the buildings still burned. In the ruins, figures could be seen walking around, carrying blaster rifles quite different from the stormtroopers. Rebels. Lots of them, if the damage to the base was any indication. Jak made two quick signals with his hand. Fan out. Ambush on sight. The line of stormtroopers advanced, slowly creeping down into the valley. Blasters were holstered in favor of quieter weapons. Knives and needler pistols were wrapped in white cloth to conceal them as the stormtroopers crept ever closer to the gutted outpost.
Jak moved forward cautiously wary, of a trap. Even so, he almost missed the concealed hole that had been dug into the hillside. Waving his team on, he inched closer to the hole. Roughly an inch of cloth-wrapped barrel stuck out of the hillside, the sniper's nest apparently having been dug in, the hidden with some kind of camouflage pattern with snow piled on top. The barrel was sticking out of the left side of the opening, while Jak approached it from the right. As the stormtroopers crept into the outpost with the rebels, more of the barrel came into view. The sniper was apparently readying themselves to move as soon as the shot was fired. One shot would alert the rebels to our presence. She wouldn't even have to hit a target.
Jak was sure she would, though; in his experience the rebel snipers were darn good at their job. He lay flat again, waiting out his foe. He registered a moment of surprise as the face of the sniper emerged. It was a female. Her eyes were totally fixed on her scope, but he could see that her eyes were a deep blue, set over high cheekbones and a thin face. Not bad. Too bad she's gotta go. Quick as a flash, his armored fist met her temple, knocking her cold. She's even better looking asleep. It's a real shame. Pulling his knife from his belt, he made ready to stab the unconscious woman when he heard a noise above him.
He hissed, seeing movement. White on white. I can't tell if its more of us or them. Damn it. Well, gorgeous, looks like you get to live for a little while longer. He quickly pushed her back into the hole, following himself moments later. Surprisingly, the dug out section was big enough to turn around in, and was stocked with what looked like cold rations and a small personnel heating pad. Damn helmet, can't see a thing in this junk. Pulling off and discarding the offending equipment,he tossed it into a corner of the crawlspace, looking over the sleeping form next to him. She was very lean, a bit on the tall side, and very well toned. "Well, gorgeous, looks like we're gonna have to share a roof for a while." He grinned lopsidedly. "I only have two rules: I sleep in my own bed, and I don't cook on Sundays."
He chuckled to himself. "I can tell you'll be the life of the party." The woman's reply was a soft moan. Jak had no worries about her, he was confident his armor would protect him. He searched her quickly but quietly, making as little noise as possible. He pulled her pistol, a survival knife, and a stun baton off her, setting them on his other side. He stretched himself out next to her, ready to grab her if she woke and tried to sound the alarm. He watched as the troops stalked over the hiding place.
Rebels. No doubt about it. The girl stirred, rolling over and shaking her head slightly. Jak pinned her with his torso and put his hand over her mouth. She opened her eyes then, struggling briefly. He held one finger up to his lips. "Shh." He winked at her, then rolled over so she could breathe. She patted herself down quickly, no doubt searching for her weapons. He quietly snapped his fingers, then pointed to the pile on his other side.
She narrowed her eyes, obviously intending to try to jump him. He shook his head and pointed toward the floor. She noticed the flechette pistol he held in his hand under his torso. She looked out the entryway, watching her people as they moved in on the unsuspecting stormtroopers. Or so she thought. Jak picked up his helmet and clicked the com twice, the signal for an ambush to the rear. The sniper gasped as the stormtroopers burst from hiding, slaughtering the rebels patrolling the cap, then immediately drawing weapons and taking cover from the rebels that had thought they had the drop on them.
It was a slaughter. The stormtroopers, forewarned, better armed, and better armored, cut through the surprised ranks of the rebels. The rebel lines broke, swarming back up the ridge. The stormtroopers, silent as the snow itself, methodically began to work their way up the hill. Jak slipped his helmet back on, clicking his com in a short signal: snipers prone. The squad, well drilled, began to slowly search every inch of terrain for hidden snipers hiding in the snow. In moments, the first sniper hole was discovered. The screams of the rebels inside as they died spurred the stormtroopers on, until the cries of the dying echoed across the frozen wasteland.
Jak took his helmet off and set it in front of the cloth covering of the hole, a signal that there were 'troopers inside. He turned to look at his catch of the day. She was huddled against the back wall of the hole, her back pressed into the earth. She looked from Jak to the entrance and back again. Jak spoke softly, non-threateningly. "So what's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?" He chuckled slightly. "You know, if you'd like, I'll give you back a weapon, so that you can die with honor. They will kill you, regardless, but it seems unsporting to not give you a chance." She bared her teeth at him. He shrugged. "Suit yourself. Good luck."
Just as he was preparing to call out to his squad, the woman charged him with a surprising burst of speed. She threw herself onto him, wrestling with him. It was no shock when she reached for her blaster. Quick as a flash, he pressed his flechette pistol to her heart.
"You don't want to do that. You may kill me, even before I get my shot off, but my buddies outside will hear the round go off, and your dead anyway." She dug the end of the barrel into his gut just a little harder. When she spoke, her voice was passionate, powerful, but still decidedly feminine.
"By your own words, I'm dead either way." Jak nodded. "True, but when I offered to give you a weapon, you declined. What's the point of taking something that was offered beforehand?" She blinked. "You mean to tell me you would have really given me a weapon?" He nodded again. "I said so, didn't I?" He huffed. "Is it really that difficult a concept to accept?" She nodded once, curtly. "Yes. I would expect any sort of trickery from the troops that destroyed Derallia." His eyes narrowed. "Derallia's destroyed?" She laughed once. "Don't tell me you didn't know. The Empire destroyed Derallia with some kind of super weapon testing less than a week after they took Naboo."
He shook his head. "I was on the initial assault on Naboo, and we were there for six weeks with fully functional comm. Someone would have mentioned ho- Derallia getting wiped out." She looked him over again. "You almost said home, didn't you? You were from Derallia." He looked away. "It doesn't matter."
Just then, the cloth covering the entry opened and a blaster rifle poked through. "Boss? Is that you in there?" Not even sure why he was doing it, Jak pulled the woman's head to his shoulder, then made a big show of rolling her off him. To her credit, she didn't even breathe.
"Yeah, Dorn, it's me." He did hid best to look embarrassed. "One of them grabbed my feet and dragged me in here. I got her back though." He rested one hand on the 'corpse.' "Shame too. She was not too bad looking." Dorn made a small whistling sound. "Shame, indeed. Well, I'm gonna keep moving back up the hill, we think the rebels might have more forces hiding out in the tundra." Dorn left, on his way.
The woman let out the breathe she had been holding. She propped herself up on her elbows, looking at Jak curiously. "You just saved my butt. Why?" Jak shrugged and began grabbing all his gear. "Dunno. Maybe I was so taken with your good looks and charm I couldn't help myself." She chuckled quietly. He finished storing all his things and grabbed his helmet. He looked at her thoughtfully. "There are more rebels hidden in these hills, aren't there?" She nodded slowly, her eyes downcast.
"Can you get to them without being seen?" She looked up sharply. "You're letting me go?" He nodded. "Next time you point a weapon at my stormtroopers, though, I'll shoot first and cuddle later." As an afterthought, he dropped the white cape from his shoulders. "That might help. I always thought it a bit much, anyway." She ran her hands over the cloak before wrapping it about her shoulders, making an improvised hood from a corner. She touched his shoulder, briefly. "Thank you," she said uncomfortably. He nodded, then, as an afterthought, leaned over and gave her a quick kiss before scurrying out of the hole as quickly as he was able.
Once outside, he donned his helmet again to shield him from the cold, then opened his com. "Third squad, proceed to nav point gamma and rendezvous with squad two." Then he turned and began the hike toward his own forces and eventual escape from this ice hole of a planet.
Keara watched the stormtrooper leave her shelter with a puzzled look. He had spared her life, given her a chance to escape, and even left her sniper rifle here. Why? Why would a stormtrooper do that? I could, no I should, shoot him in the back right now. But she knew she wouldn't. Not after he had lied to his own people to save her. I hope we never do meet again, 'trooper. Because I don't think I could let you live. And that would be a shame.
She crawled out of her cover, moving slowly across the frozen ground. Snow began to fall filling in her tracks. She crossed over the ridge, making her way back to her own soldiers, and the hope of safety on another world.
Whew! Three chapters down. Please review and tell me what you think. I'm getting sent to the east coast in a couple of days, so there might be a lapse in between chapters.