Here Is The Official Chapter Two Of My Purge Series. Know That Any Comments and Tips are Much Appreciated. Thank You For Your Support and Enjoy!
Chapter Two: Challenged
By: AL_Stardust
Alex woke up and was surprised to see Eli awake as well. He was sitting at the table drinking some of what looked like caff. He said he made it with a machine they had in the dorms. "It's not that bad; you just gotta customize it to your taste. It's bitter at first, but I made it work." Eli said, "Keeps me up too." "Hm, interesting I'll have to try it sometime. We still in Hyperspace, huh?" Alex asked. "Yep, looks like it. Not sure where we are headed, but I guess it'll be better than what's left on Mandalore, at least." Eli replied.
Alex let out a long sigh as the memories started flooding in, as he realized that it wasn't just a lucent nightmare. It was reality. He knew he would try his best to take down the Empire in any way he could; this just wasn't exactly how he was planning to do it. Thankfully Alex was Adaptive, Resourceful, and Cunning regarding tactics. He knew Eli was crafty with weapons and Sarah was good with technology. So, they make a pretty good team. The blue hues of hyperspace were the only things illuminating the room, and Alex found it somewhat calming. Finally, Sarah woke up, and after a few moments, she realized that Alex and Eli were also up.
"You two are up early," she said. "Anyway, what's the game plan for today?" "Wait to find out where we're headed?" Eli replied, "I mean, not much else we could do." "We may be able to do something subtle but helpful here," Alex said. "If we could access the ship's database, we could maybe find out where we are going as well as other useful information." "Like how to blow up the ship?"
Eli excitedly replied, "Or to find a ship we can escape on." Sarah also replied. "Exactly," Alex replied, "Who knows what we could find? However, the critical part is not to get caught." "Not a problem," Sarah replied, "I used to do a couple of espionage missions back on Mandalore. Plus, I'm good with technology. So, I could get in, get as much info as possible, and get out. All without anyone knowing I was even there." "That could work," Eli replied, "Sarah is probably our best bet to finding the info we need without getting caught. And I REALLY want to know how to blow stuff up when possible." "Relax, I'll get everything we need. The question is. Do you trust me?" Sarah asked.
"With my life," Axel replied. Then they heard a knocking outside their dorm. An Imperial officer walked into the room and looked at the trio grimly. "You three should have reported 30 min. Ago. Where were you?" the officer asked with a stern tone. They were half awake and not even dressed in their Imperial uniforms yet. "Get dressed and report for Ensign training, but don't think for a second that I won't deduct a late penalty from your scores or make the training any easier on the three of you." After a few minutes, they dressed and passed through the hangar bay. They looked at each other in shock and confusion. None knew what was happening or where they were going.
Eventually, they turned into a dark, empty, spacious room. Then the door suddenly shut behind them, leaving just the three in darkness for a few seconds. Alex was on guard. Then the lights turned on, revealing a tall grey room that led to a room above. The Imperial Officers' voice sounded over the intercom, "All right, Ensigns, the goal for this round is to be the first one to reach the top. Use any means you consider necessary." "Well, how are we supposed to get up there? It's too tall to jump, and the walls are too smooth to climb."
Eli asked Axel and Sarah. Just then, platforms started shifting out of the walls and back into the walls at what seemed random. "Guess that's how," Alex said. "Well, what are we waiting for," Sarah asked. She jumped, grabbed onto the ledge of one of the platforms, and pulled herself up. Alex noticed that she was graceful and agile. She took on this drill like it was nothing. "Guess that's part of what makes her good at espionage," Alex thought. He and Eli then raced after her, maybe a bit too fast. Because Alex slipped off one of the platforms, but as he was falling, he was barely caught by Eli. Eli quickly pulled him up, and they continued heading toward the top. Once they reached the top, they saw Sarah waiting for them. "Took you guys long enough," she said. "I've been waiting for you two for five minutes." "Well… it's not… our fault… that you move… So. Dang. Fast." Eli said, out of breath.
"You haven't even broken a sweat, have you?" "Not a single drop," Sarah replied. "I have a feeling that we're not done yet," Alex said, noticing they were now in a larger room. It looked somewhat like an arena. Suddenly, squads of stormtroopers appeared out of nowhere. They were shooting at them with their blasters. But all three noticed that the blasters were set to stun.
They quickly took cover in different arena areas as the Imperial Officers' voice sounded over the intercom. "Now, let's see how the three of you do under pressure. Defeat your opponent's using any means necessary, but I want NO casualties." Alex then smiled, "Finally, we get to the fun part." "How are we supposed to defeat them without blasters?" Eli asked. "Easy, we get them from the bucket heads over there," Sarah replied. "All right, here's the plan. We each isolate one of the stormtroopers and take them out. Steal their blasters, and then we flank the rest." Alex exclaimed.
"Sounds easy enough," Sarah replied. They each then took off to separate corners of the arena. They were becoming clear so that the stormtroopers would follow them. It worked like a charm. Unfortunately, a couple of stormtroopers ended up following each of them. Sarah took her two out quickly, unsure if the stormtroopers even saw her coming. Eli had a bit more trouble, but he used one of the stormtroopers as a body shield after he knocked them out and then used their blaster to take another out. Alex was running when he was cut off by one and surrounded by the other stormtroopers. One of them then fired his blaster at Alex, the blast ringing through the entire arena. Then a body hit the ground with a thud.
One stormtrooper came from that area, confirming that Alex had been stunned. Eli was close enough to where he had overheard this news and headed in Sarah's direction to inform her. "What? What do you mean Alex is down." Sarah said surprisingly. "I don't know how they managed to do so, but he was outnumbered. He took one out, but the other got him." Eli explained. "At least, that's what I heard from the stormtrooper who supposedly took him out." They both agreed that they had to help Alex, but the stormtroopers were cutting off the path to him. So, they did what any Mandalorian warrior would do. They rushed them, guns blazing. Catching them off guard and not giving them a second to react. At least, that's what Eli did. He supplied the distraction while Sarah flanked them from behind.
They quickly took out most stormtroopers during the rush, but some escaped. Not long after, they heard another round of blaster fire echo throughout the arena, and three bodies fell on the floor. They couldn't believe their eyes when Eli and Sarah went to investigate. One of the stormtroopers shot down the rest of the squadron, the one that stunned Alex. But then they soon realized that the stormtrooper didn't shoot down Alex.
He WAS Alex. "What! Alex?" Sarah and Eli exclaimed in shock. "Oh, hey, guys. You didn't expect this did you?" Alex replied. "But how?" Eli asked, "They said they took you out." "Oh, guys, you didn't think I'd go down that easy, did you? I dodged that blast you heard, and it hit one of the other stormtroopers. I took the other two out with silent hand-to-hand combat. My specialty, next to sharpshooting, of course. I then stole one of the blasters and armor from one of them, then infiltrated the main squad. I led them closer to your guys. Knowing you would catch them off guard, I waited till the numbers dwindled enough to where I could take care of the rest."
Alex took off the stormtrooper armor, Eli and Sarah were both still in a mixture of shock and impressed. Then the Imperial Officers' voice echoed through the arena, "Con... Congratulations, ensigns, you have miraculously taken out our most elite squadron," You could hear the clear shock in his voice. "However, I will arrange a special challenge for the three of you starting tomorrow. For now, head back to your dorms and get some rest."
An exit door slid open, and as the three of them walked through, they celebrated their victory while walking toward their dorms. "Well, this was fun," Eli said, "that had my adrenaline pumping for a second there." "Yeah, there's nothing like parkour challenges and blaster fire to get you moving," Alex said. "Although these were tougher than I had anticipated, the officer guy meant it when he said he wasn't going to take it easy on us." "But we still kicked but and took names, and I could picture his face just by listening to the shock in his voice," Sarah said. "Priceless." "Heh, yeah. But we still got to find a way to get out of here." Alex said as they entered their dorms. "Anyway, do you think you can still access the ship's database, Sarah?" "I'll have it by tomorrow," she replied. "What do you think the final challenge will be?" "Who knows," Alex replied. "Whatever it is, it shouldn't be a problem for the three of us." Eli also replied, "Yeah, together, we're unstoppable." "We should probably get some rest," Alex said. "We don't know what's planned for tomorrow, but we need enough energy to get through it." They all agreed and got to resting in their bunks.
Meanwhile, in the office of the Imperial officer, he was coming up with ideas to test these newer recruits truly to their limit. "I need to find their weakness and exploit it. What is their weakness, and how do I exploit it? They are skilled, strategic, and collaborative. Wait! That's it. I need a challenge that would turn them against each other. And I know just the one." As he planned the final challenge, he sighed with satisfaction. He was very intrigued by these three. He looked out his office window as he got deep into his thoughts. The blue hues of hyperspace shone throughout the room. "I know someone who will be just as intrigued as I am about these three," the officer thought. "I will be sure to call for him as soon as we arrive on Coruscant."