VII: Rodian Run

Dax awoke and found himself still in his X-wing. "Huh… hey, F3? Where are we now?"

F3 beeped. "W-what?! We're already on our mission? Why didn't you wake me?"

F3 beeped angrily, a sarcasm-filled response Dax was too preoccupied to listen to. "So where are we going… a frigate called the Blue Milk Run? What the hell kind of a name is that? … Well, can you show me the objectives?"

A recording began playing on the console; Captain Hunter, rather than take away any time Dax would have for sleep, decided to let F3 record his mission objectives. "Corporal Urland, I assume by the time you are watching this, you will be just entering Bothan space." F3 beeped sarcastically again; they were actually halfway through Bothan space. "Your assignment is to infiltrate the Imperial freighter Blue Milk Run and retrieve data from its computer core. Intelligence gathered suggests its short-range sensors are offline, so your astromech should be able to dock with the freighter, let you in and quickly escape before its sensors turn back on. The freighter is in orbit of Rodia. For this mission, we've given you access to a special blaster."

The recording changed to schematics of the blaster Dax noticed in his holster. "It's a standard DH-17 pistol, as you might have been able to anticipate, due to the importance of this info. This info is heavily guarded, however, so we've made some modifications. Its bolts are silenced. From too far away, hostiles won't be able to hear you fire."

A map of the Blue Milk Run replaced the pistol schematics. "As with all standard Nebulon-B Frigates, there will be two potential infiltration points." As he pointed them out, the map zoomed in on each. "The first is the hangar bay, and the second is the airlock along the hull. If you'd like my advice, I would use the airlock for infiltration, and exfiltrate from the hangar." The map dissected the frigate and showed the floors in the main component. "As you can see, there are three floors. Infiltrating through the hangar will bring you to the middle floor. The lower floor has the computer core."

The dissected map showed info on the rooms in the upper floor. "The floor above houses most of the troops. I suggest you avoid that floor unless if you absolutely have to, but if you pull this off without a hitch, I'm certain you won't need to." Hunter's face finally reappeared. "Stealth will be your primary asset and your greatest weapon. Avoid being spotted on the way to the core, and only begin the download when you are absolute certain a squad of stormtroopers won't stumble upon you while you do so. Once you have the data, inform your astromech droid to extract you, then return to the Vulpine. Good luck."

Within minutes, the Blue Milk Run came in sight. F3 beeped sarcastically again. "Hey, don't blame me. My body never seems to think any amount of sleep is enough. Besides, I've been fighting Imperials almost non-stop within 8 minutes of waking up this morning." F3 reminded him he didn't wake up until nearly afternoon.

The operation seemed to have gone off without a hitch so far: F3 had quietly maneuvered the ship onto the airlock. Dax took less than a minute to get out of the X-wing and into the frigate. F3 then moved out of what was expected to be the radius of the ship's short-range sensors if they were to be repaired while Dax was still inside. Dax hid behind a corner, holding his DH-17 with both hands, and peeked around the corner. He saw a stormtrooper with his back turned on the hallway. First normal one I've seen up-close and personal today. He checked the other end of the hallway to make sure another trooper wouldn't notice him, then quietly crept up to within two feet behind the trooper.

He instantly rose his pistol, growled "Freeze!" The trooper gasped, raised both hands. "Where can I get to the lower floor from here?"

"Uh… you can, uh, use th-the elevator on t-this floor to go down…why, w-what do you want down there?"

"This frigate's computer core has some valuable information. I want it." Taking a hostage would have slowed him down too much, and he ran too big a risk of the soldier warning others of his presence. He pulled the trigger, downing the trooper. He instinctively reached for the E-11 rifle, when he remembered Hunter had said his greatest weapon was stealth. Even if the sound of the rifle would be familiar to the other troopers, if they heard one fire they would know they had company. "…Huh. I should've asked him where the elevator is."

Dax continued down the hallway, but avoided opening the door. He didn't know if anyone would be looking when he opened it. He glanced to his sides; saw a trooper turning towards him to the right. He jumped back and hid himself in a small alcove. Peeking past the corner, he saw the trooper walk by the door, open it, peer into the room ahead. Another trooper appeared on the other side of the door. "Anything near the elevator?"

"No, as far as I know the entire ship's clean."

"I'm not so sure about that. We lost contact with the guard near the airlock." Dax cursed himself when he suddenly realized he forgot to hide the body. Shit, if they find it—"You go ahead and search for him, see what's taking him so long. I'll keep an eye out here." Dax relaxed a bit. Good. If it's just one I can shut him up easily. He hid back in the alcove again, watched the trooper walk the way Dax had come from a minute before. When the trooper had passed the door, Dax followed silently.

The trooper almost immediately noticed the body. Before he could do anything about it, he heard Dax train his pistol on the back of his head. "I hear you're guarding the elevator. Does it go to the lower floor?"

"Yes, it goes to all the floors."

"Good. I'll be needing downstairs shortly." He pulled the trigger again, downing the second trooper. Before the trooper's body fell, Dax grabbed it and pulled it to a dark area. "No one'll find you guys here, I hope." He went back for the first body and dragged it to near the other. He went through the door a second time. Once again, he stopped at the door, looked both left and right. Nothing to the left… big-time prize to the right. Here I come, elevator.

He rode down the elevator… or rather, that's what he wanted the troopers below to think. Elevators typically made noise when in use, and for all he knew there could be set times for the elevator to be used by certain crewmembers. He was barely able to peek past the top of the elevator, saw a trio of troopers surrounding it. "Damn, I think he's on to us."

"Quiet down! If he… damn it." They started speaking lowly, too low for Dax to hear. What did he mean, 'on to us'? Are they… expecting me? He looked around and spotted a creative alternative.

His wrist communicator quietly beeped. "Corporal, we've managed to hack into the Blue Milk Run's security systems. We've turned the cameras to our side. They won't alert the barracks to your presence, and we can use them to monitor your progress."

"Affirmative, sir." Dax noticed something odd with the Captain's expression. "Is something wrong, sir?"

"It's just that...we can't see you! Where did you get to?"

"Oh, I overheard some stormtroopers talking. Believe it or not, I think they were expecting me. Not the usual suspicion from an elevator being used when it's not supposed to be, either. I'm pretty sure one of them specifically mentioned me to his buddies."

"Well, as long as you stay hidden…but you're almost too hidden. Where are you?"

"I decided to see if I could sneak through a ventilation duct. Hold on…ah, yes. I can make it to the computer core from here. I'll have the data out of here in no time. Corporal Urland, over and out." He opened the cover to this end of the duct. Spotting no hostiles in the room, he decided to take things slow: first, he moved back about one foot. He then placed the cover on the bottom of the duct. He crawled over it, pushed it back with his feet once he was over it, rolled onto his back, pulled out and dropped. He drew his pistol, examining the area. He couldn't see any troopers. Quietly approaching the console, he began searching for the data. Nothing came up.

Before he could call the Captain, he heard someone shout, "Freeze!" His cover was blown. He could almost feel the Imperial blasters aiming at his head. He slowly raised his hands, and just as slowly began turning towards the stormtroopers. "Well now, I guess you caught me. I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say I'd really not like to spill any blood here. It just so turns out, what I was looking for isn't here, so perhaps if you just let me leave, I won't spill the beans on where you are. What do you say?" He was almost certain one of the troopers would have spit mockingly if not for their skull-like helmets. Failing that, he decided to try some simple trickery, and if that worked, he could probably down these three and begin the data transfer.

He attempted to look convincing as he pretended someone was behind them. "Hey…who's that behind you? Oh my God, it's Rogue Squadron!"

"Yeah, right. There's only one T-65 in this system, kid, and we know it's yours."

Strike two. "You sure we can't talk this out peaceful—" Before he finished his sentence, he crouched, fired a pair of blasts at the left trooper. When that one fell, he rolled away from the terminal, regained his balance and fired at the middle one. The blasts almost seemed faster than they should have been; both standing troopers and the one he had wounded fired at him. They were too fast for him to dodge. Bolts pounded his front. No…this can't be the end...! The shots ceased. He felt pain all over his body. …It… can't be the end… can it? He dropped the pistol, fell over backwards.