Nar Shaddaa, Residential district 533
"Alpha team in position." A voice whispered over the comm as Major Corran Aries looked at the video feeds displayed on the hastily setup screens in his makeshift tactical control room.
"Sniper alpha-two in position. No visual on target." Another voice heavy with static said over the comm.
Aries had a bad feeling about this. The intel on this particular Jedi had been vague and incomplete. He had been tracking him for weeks now. Following up on weak leads, researching bad quality surveillance footage. Everything he saw pointed out that this fugitive was highly alert, nervous and continuously on the move. He was young. Records showed he had just been promoted to knight at the start of the clone wars and he'd been away on a mission without clones for backup during order 66. He'd probably received Obi Wan's warning signal at some point and had been on the run ever since.
Aries would have liked more time to investigate his behavior and find patterns in his movement. But information from an unverified source suggested that the target had become paranoid and was about to jump planet again. Aries had no positive confirmation on his last known location but decided to risk it. If the target managed to flee again it might be months before he could pick up another trace. So he ordered a simultaneous breach on three possible target locations early in the morning. This apartment was the most likely one where the target was staying so he set up his mobile control center close to the building. Multiple displays where showing feeds from all three locations.
"Bravo team, in position." cracked another voice from the comm system.
"Echo team, in position!" A female voice said over the comm. That was it. He keyed the comm and said "All teams, stand by." Aries took one last look at all of the monitors and the sensor data rolling over the screens. There goes nothing. He thought and keyed the comm again.
"All teams, breach! breach! breach!"
Immediately sounds from the comm systems started filling the room as the helmet feeds showed breach charges being detonated and teams moving into rooms.
"Bravo team here. Location two clear. three civi's subdued. Unarmed. Taking them in for questioning. Negative on target."
"Echo team here. location three clear. Negative on target."
It was silent for a few seconds. Aries was waiting for the last team to check in.
"Alpha team here. Location one clear. Negative on target. Place is a mess though. Might be worth to check it out. "
"Roger that Alpha. Good work teams." Aries said and put down his comm device.
"Blast!" he said out loud and threw down his comm device.
It was as he feared. They were too late. Walking through the apartment designated Lima 1 he could see that someone had probably left in a hurry some time ago. He'd left no clues behind except a few Coruscant credit chits which indicated he's might have been there not too long ago. Locations two and three were probably false leads. He doubted the civilians knew anything useful. They've probably never seen a Jedi in their entire lives. Without further leads there was no way to find him now. Nar Shadaa had an extremely busy spaceport and there was so much black market trading going on that most of the traffic wasn't officially listed. No, he was most probably long gone by now.
Major Corran Aries was a young and ambitious officer who worked for Republic Intelligence in the clone wars when the Empire took over. The agency was transformed into the Imperial Naval Intellegence Agency. The agency's leadership was replaced and it's priorities shifted towards locating anti-Imperial dissidents and clone war fugitives. Lieutenant Aries had been given the task to gather intel on fugitive Jedi who had escaped Order 66. "Witch hunter", his colleagues had mockingly called him. But in the last two years he had played a vital role in the identification and location of two Jedi which have now been successfully neutralized. These successes earned him a promotion to major. His rank together with his special assignment had given him access to some special resources in the newly formed Imperial Navy, like calling in strike teams for missions like this one.
It looked like he was not going to be successful this time around though. He would have to wait for new leads and intel to pick up his trail again. It didn't matter, he fully realized this job took patience. And Major Corran Aries was a patient man.
He sighed and took one last look around the room.
"Scan and bag everything and send it to the trace analysis lab. "
"Yes sir. " One of the technical assistants replied.
Time to pack up and report to Coruscant. All intelligence missions concerning Jedi always reported directly to Coruscant. They weren't going to like this one.
"Captain. " He said to a uniformed man standing right outside the room. "Have the Elaris ready for departure in thirty minutes. Set a course for Coruscant.
"Yes sir." The captain said and he marched off.