XV: Assault on the Beachhead

The Motivator was buried halfway in the sand of one of Kothlis' beaches. The secret data stolen from theSuprosa was still safely tucked away within; the Rebels, however, had worked hard to capture the data and were not about to let the Empire take it back.

The plan was to send a transport, carrying Rebel commandos lead by Crix Madine, to the Star Destroyer, infiltrate, re-steal the data, and get back out. Escorting the transport were a trio of Rogue Squadron's X-wings. The transport landed about 1.4 kilometers away from the Star Destroyer; from there the commandos began their attack.

The hangars were relatively undamaged; about the same time the Rebels attacked, a trio of AT-AT walkers blasted their way through the hull and attacked. They had to traverse the water to get from the Motivator to the Rebel transport, but the walkers were tall enough that their cannons were above the water, so they would be able to still fire from long range at the commandos.

Rogue Squadron had a different idea. They transferred into T-47 airspeeders the transport unloaded, and with the same technique they had demonstrated on Hoth, they tied the AT-AT's up and sent them tumbling into the water. With the big menace out of the way, legions of AT-ST and AT-PT walkers poured out to continue the battle. They were shorter than the AT-AT's, and as such would have to get within 100 meters of the shoreline to be able to fire on the Rebels, but on the other hand the water protected them from laser fire as well.

The transport next unloaded Y-wings. Quickly transferring to them, Rogue Squadron began launching proton bombs into the water, destroying most of the walkers before they could get their cannons above the surface and fire. The ones lucky enough to make it out of the water were destroyed with laser fire. With the walkers out of the way, the Y-wings went to work on dropping proton bombs to part of the hull. The bombs ripped through the Star Destroyer and opened a path for the commandos to drop in. They had to work fast, however; they had received word that the Motivator's reactor was going critical, and when it blew, the Star Destroyer and anyone still inside would go with it.

A pair of commandos had been separated from the rest; one, a male Bothan, and the other, female Human. They tried to see what trouble they could cause the Star Destroyer's crew while the others worked to steal the data. Unfortunately, they had ran into a larger group of Imperial stormtroopers; fortunately, the relative inaccuracy of the stormtroopers' E-11 blaster rifles gave them the advantage needed to win, though at the cost of the Bothan's life. The remaining commando wandered the halls about three minutes longer before she stumbled upon Kol.

After Kol officially defected to the Alliance and became the commando's new partner, the pair continued searching the hallways to link up with the rest of the Rebel forces. They stood in front of a door, though both were cautious to open it.

Kol stood at the side of the door, the E-11 from his fighter's compartment in hand. "Stand over there. I'll open the door; from here I'll only see part of what's inside, and only part of what's inside will see me. I think you know the drill." She nodded, and Kol took a small step forward.

The door slid open. Stormtroopers on the other side turned around, confused. "Is someone there?"

Kol decided to keep himself calm through humor. "Uh…no, just the wind."

One of the troopers recognized the voice as Kol's; assuming Kol was still Imperial, he laughed at it. "Nice try, KG-742. Now get in here before you're attacked by Rebels."

Kol walked in calmly; with a wink at the Rebel girl she began acting as though he had captured her. "Don't shoot, guys, I detained this Rebel."

The second trooper nodded. "Alright. If we get out of here we—" An explosion ripped through the door behind the troopers, and more Rebel commandos poured through the smoke, unloading their blasters into the troopers. "What the f—?!" A blaster bolt impacted with the trooper's forehead.

Kol ripped off his Imperial pilot helmet. Tossing the female commando's rifle back to her, he fired on the other two stormtroopers. When they fell, the Rebels turned their rifles on Kol, but held their fire. The woman waved her arms. "Don't shoot! He's one of us!"

One commando lowered his rifle. "What's going on here, Alex? He looks Imperial."

Kol was confused at the oddly masculine name; it must have been a nickname. Alex tried to convince her comrades Kol was one of them. "He defected. He claims he hasn't been able to do anything with the Empire."

Kol nodded. "Besides, I've killed more Imperials than I have Rebels." Before he could stop himself, he accidentally let them know he was the one who tried to betray them in space. "In fact, the closest I came to a kill since joining was attacking a B-wing from behind." The thought you dumbass flashed through his mind. "Er, uh… shit."

All of the Rebel rifles, excluding Alex's, were aimed at Kol's head. "You're the one who tried to kill Wedge?!"

Kol sighed. "Yeah, that was me, but that was before I defected. I'll personally apologize to this Wedge guy if you don't kill me."

Oddly enough, they decided that was a good enough bargain, and let him join. They were still wary, though, and they refused to let more than two commandos be ahead of him, one of which was Alex.

Shortly after they came upon the data. "Here it is." Crix Madine walked up to a console and decided to read the data. "Let's see… No wonder the Empire wanted this back."

Before anyone could ask what it was, more stormtroopers attacked. Crix downloaded the secret data to a datapad, while the others covered him. The transfer finished as the last trooper was downed, and the commandos began their retreat to their transport.

Kol, however, wished to save his KSE-12a; due to the large hole the AT-AT's blasted in the side of the Motivator, this would be possible. Alex followed him. "Where do you think you're going?"

"My ship is still in one of the hangars. It's an antique; I'm not about to just let it be destroyed."

"… Is there room for two?"

Kol turned towards Alex, chuckling. "Sure." He led her to the hangar; after a brief skirmish with some other Imperial pilots, he dragged a ladder to his fighter and climbed in, with Alex following. Kicking the ladder off, he closed the canopy and took off. More pilots fired BlasTech pistols at Kol's Dagger, forgetting that their DH-17s didn't have the power to penetrate a ship's hull. Kol zoomed out of the hole, while Alex modified the ship to send out a frequency that identified it as a Rebel ship.

Kol turned the frequency off, though. When Alex protested, he explained he needed some time before he actually flew missions; among other things, a new rifle to place in the secret compartment, new clothes, and minor repairs to the ship. "You want me to drop you off at the transport first?" Alex agreed; Kol landed long enough to let her off. He then left the planet's orbit, heading back to Tatooine to continue the vacation Black Sun had interrupted.