Chapter IV – Crater Command Bunker
Ten minutes later Commander Pillus stood before me in his small command office, rubbing his unkempt hair with a frustrated hand. "This is highly irregular," he complained, "I don't like being put in the position of having to go off the books."
"What isn't irregular about covert ops, Commander?" I replied dryly, sitting back in my seat. The office shook as an artillery round landed against the energy shield with a boom.
The commander was unfazed by it as he glared at me. "If you are covert then why are you here? I have to put you into my recordings now, that doesn't seem very covert to me."
"Your people shot at me unprovoked, and then detained me. That is why I'm here, Commander."
"My people did their jobs; you aren't supposed to be in this area. I don't give two craps about Dromund Kaas or your mission, especially if it puts my men at risk. You broke at least a dozen standing orders by wandering into my zone and I've got every right to detain and report you."
"Pick all the fights you want, Commander," I replied sharply, "do what you think is best."
The commander shot me and the two soldiers standing inside the doorway a frustrated look as more mortar and blaster fire could be heard, this time more distant, while we stared each other down. "Shit," he mumbled as he paced away from me, his muscular frame tense with anger. I sat quietly a moment and watched the commander ponder his options.
A female officer stepped into the room between the two guards and caught Commander Pillus' attention. She was about to say something when he interrupted. "I know," he grumbled, "carry on with the preparations, Captain."
She nodded sharply and left.
Commander Pillus turned back to me. "I don't have time for complications. What the hell do you want?"
"Intelligence, Commander, do you happen to have any?"
"Very funny," he spat back. "We're a little busy with a war right now if you haven't noticed."
"The empire is not at war."
"Maybe not where you sit on Dromund Kaas," he sneered, "but here on Taris is a different story."
I could sense that the conversation was not getting anywhere. "Commander, I suppose it might be fun for you to verbally spar with me, but I am on a time-critical mission and would like to get back to it. I do not intend to stay in your forward position long, and I won't be in anyone's way. I simply need to look over current intel on the Jedi enclave. If you can point me to the records I can be out of your way in a few hours."
"The Jedi enclave is off-limits, my Lord," he drew out my form of address with a slight bit of derision, "I'm certain that you haven't gotten the station commander or Colonel Hurdenn at Toxic Lake Garrison to provide that clearance or go anywhere near there."
"I am Sith, Commander, I go where I please."
"I respectfully beg to differ, my Lord."
"If I wanted to go to the enclave, do you think for a moment that you could stop me?" I was growing a little heated. Elios had warned me that the commander was no-nonsense.
"Of course not, my Lord, I'm sure you have at least a dozen ways you could incapacitate or kill me, after all, I'm merely a normal soldier in the Imperial Marines. I do have, however, a duty to maintain active control of my zone, and if I see you walk off and break standing orders, I will report you, regardless of your covert status or personal threats."
I stared at him as I let my anger and annoyance settle. He was not backing down, and in a way, I admired that. Commander Pillus was exactly as Elios had described him. He was clearly capable and confident, even in the face of threats from a Sith. I did not want to make him an enemy, in fact, I could use his support.
"Okay," I replied softly, trying to lower the threat level, "let's say we do everything your way. What do you have planned?"
The commander's face looked a little shocked by my abrupt change, and his body posture was still in a defensive stance. It took him a moment and several intentional blinks from his intense eyes before he responded. "I want you out of here, now. No reports, no questions asked or answered; just a speeder ride back toward the Toxic Lake Garrison. You never saw me; I never saw you."
"Unacceptable. Try again."
His fists clenched tightly and he was going to say something but Republic shelling around the bunker started in earnest and a muted siren echoed from down the hall. His officer training snapped him out of our argument and into his commander role.
"Wait here," he said as he stepped toward the door, giving a silent order to the two guards as he passed them.
I waited, listening to the sounds of the alarm and the burst of shells outside the bunker. There was some yelling down the hall, and I could hear Commander Pillus issuing orders. I glanced at the faces of the soldiers guarding me to see how much danger we were in. Strangely, they watched me with an unfazed manner as if things were normal. It seemed crazy that someone could get used to living under a constant assault, and I found myself wondering if I would keep my sanity in such a situation.
Several minutes later the commander stepped back into the room and paced to his desk, which had a set of monitors on it, one indicating the state of the bunkers systems and readiness. He acted like I did not exist as he looked over the monitors and made some notes.
"Is there an imminent threat that I should be worried about, Commander?" I asked in frustration, not liking to be ignored.
"I don't think so," he replied as he continued to focus on his desk, "just more of the same messaging the Republic forces have been sending us."
"What message is that?"
"That they don't like us very much, especially in this forward position."
"And why are you in this forward position?"
That question made him turn from his work to look at me. "That is a question me and my team have been asking ourselves since we got here. Unfortunately, it is not my position to question orders or even ask for a reason." He stepped away from the monitors toward me. I could see by the stress and anger on his face that I had touched on a sore subject.
"Your position is provoking the Republic" I added. "There should be measurable objectives for maintaining such a posture, especially in the event of the conflict going hot."
He eyed me closely for a moment. "Maybe you are answering your own question." He glanced at the two guards and then paced away from me.
Commander Pillus was not going to compromise himself by expressing his feelings to me directly, but his response seemed to imply that he thought someone in Imperial Command was trying to provoke the Republic into open conflict on Taris.
"How long have there been attacks on your position?"
"It's escalated, starting about a month ago. The past week they have made serious efforts to probe our strength."
"They've got you surrounded," I replied flatly, "I had to avoid numerous Republic recon patrols moving in the terrain around your bunker."
"You're not telling me anything I don't know," he complained as he shot me a frustrated look with his eyes.
"You've held out to this point; I assume your higher-ups are planning a response to the Republic's actions."
"We've held out because they haven't pressed us," he growled. "I'm not under any delusion that our position is tenable. I'm sure they have the firepower to breach our shield and send us running if they wanted to."
"So why haven't they?"
It seemed like I was asking a valid question, but the commander's sardonic gaze told me I needed to 'catch up' to the moment. "So why haven't they?" he echoed my question, "and why haven't I received any support for my position?" He focused on me again, his angry eyes motivated by more emotions than my recent presence could explain.
"We're running out of supplies. The Republic has chased off the last two supply runs that Toxic Lake attempted to send us, and I'm running out of men . . . my men!" His voice surged with intensity and his fists clenched again. There was a moment when he held his tongue, determined not to say the things I knew he really wanted to say.
"How many have you lost?"
His eyes burned with ferocity at the question. "Too many," he spat, "thankfully only three KIAs, but more than a dozen casualties, some serious. That's almost a third of my team."
The moment crystallized, and I realized that the commander was a man at the end of his rope. He was human and cared about the people under his command. There were probably friends among the casualties that he had just discussed. Despite my urgent circumstances and the need to press on, I was not going to get my way by pushing the commander and his team around. They were in no position to care for or help my predicament.
"Commander," I replied in a softer tone, "sit down." I pointed to his chair and his intense eyes looked where I was pointing. "Can you sit down for a minute?" I added.
He paced a little more before stiffly stepping toward his desk chair and sitting quickly. "Lord Kallig, I have little time and no resources to deal with you, if you don't mind me saying it that bluntly."
I could sense that the commander was no longer challenging me, even though his words were irritating. He was simply stating the facts as he saw them.
"Look, I don't want to be here, and you don't want me here. I want to maintain my covert status, and you want nothing to do with me. So, it seems like we have the same goals."
He shook his head slowly. "For all I know, you were sent in to observe my position and report on my team, – or worse – provoke the Republic even more and make our lives a worse hell than it already is."
"I can assure you that my mission has nothing to do with you, and I have no intentions of provoking anyone. My plan is to remain covert, collect what I am looking for, and get off-world, that is all."
The commander eyed me suspiciously as if he did not believe a word I said. Combat sounds echoed from outside the base, including small arms fire. "Well," he leaned back in his chair, "I've got time to think about it."
"Why do you say that?" I replied in frustration.
"Because no one is going anywhere at the moment. That alarm you heard earlier was from my recon teams. The Republic is moving in to begin their probing attacks, a little game we've been playing. I've got all available personnel out on the perimeter to give a show of strength. Even if you wanted to, you couldn't sneak through without ending up in a firefight."
"You underestimate me."
The commander laughed; a cynical, 'don't give a shit chuckle'. "How do you think the Republic and the damn Jedi are going to respond when you ignite your lightsaber and start attacking Republic soldiers? No, you stay right here where I know you won't cause problems, especially since I'm half convinced you were sent here to do just that."
"What the hell is wrong with you people?" I complained. "I got the same suspicious attitude from Commander Yelka up on the station. We're supposed to be on the same team."
"The only team I have to count on are the people in this bunker with me," he spat back in irritation. "I'll be damned if I put my trust in some prog sitting at a desk or worse the Sith hierarchy."
I could tell by his attitude that we were at an impasse that was not going to get any better with further arguing. The commander did not trust me, did not seem to like me, and given his current situation dealing with me was way down on his priority list.
Based on the sounds coming from outside the bunker it would be a challenge to move out toward the Jedi enclave at the moment. The difficult hike and all the arguing with Commander Pillus put me in a bad frame of mind. Part of me would have welcomed igniting my lightsaber and slashing at things to blow off steam.
"We aren't going to get anything accomplished if we don't start working together." I snipped. It was a general statement, and I was thinking of the greater Empire when I made it. My experiences since being taken off Ziost for Sith training was a litany of people taking care of 'numero uno' and competing against everyone else for resources and recognition. Even my issues with Thanaton could be categorized as selfish ambition.
"I've got to go out and help on the perimeter," he said flatly as he rose to his feet. "Stay here. We can talk when I get back." With that, he motioned for the soldiers standing inside the door to follow him and left his little office toward the bunker entrance.
I sat in the bunker listening to the sounds of combat ebb and flow for a bit as reality sank in. My plan for a quick retrieval of the Sith apparition was in shambles. That, mixed with a deeper realization that no one cared, left me dejected. I had real problems, the primary one being left for dead by Darth Thanaton a little more than a day ago, but on Taris, no one knew and no one cared.
Taris was its own world, and the people on it or orbiting above had their own worries. Meeting a random Sith lord was more of a complication than an honor, that had become abundantly clear. Trying to go it alone had gotten me caught up in a conflict much bigger and more complicated than I had hoped for or wanted. That recognition, and the corollary that smug Elios Maliss might have been right about me needing his help, made me rise from my chair and pace with frustration.
Stomping back and forth did not help my mood, and the noises outside made it impossible to think clearly, so I collected my things, slipped off my cloak and gloves to stuff them in my satchel, and left the bunker to observe what was happening. Part of me was wondering if I could find a way to sneak past the attack and head toward the Jedi Enclave as I made my way through the bunker to the exterior. The first thing I noticed once outside was the bright green artillery bolts splashing against the force field covering Crater Command, causing a loud plink sound followed by a crackle and boom as the energy of the blast dissipated against the shield.
Fireteams were spread around the perimeter outside the shield, fighting to suppress the republic assault and chase off shield sapper droids trying to penetrate the defenses. An immediate problem presented itself if I planned to slip away, and that was how to get outside the shield. A motion caught my attention and I noticed a medic running towards the shield where a heavy exchange of fire was ongoing. I glanced around and saw mayhem everywhere, and it made me feel uneasy simply standing by and watching. Without thinking I began to move in the direction of the medic.
There was a slight gully where the defense shield contacted the ground, and the medic was struggling to drag a limp soldier's body through a small portal she had opened in the shield. An artillery bolt hit the shimmering energy wall nearby and made me jump in surprise as I moved quickly to help the medic.
She gave me a blank look as I reached down to take the fallen soldier's arm and help drag him through the portal. Once in the relative safety of the defense field the medic disabled the small portal and knelt down to check for vitals.
"Is he dead?" I asked sadly, noticing the blaster singed area on his chest and arm.
"No, just unconscious, but we need to stabilize him and he's going to feel like crap for several days."
"He took a full shot to the upper chest?" I asked as the medic pulled out a device and worked it into the soldier's mouth to help his breathing and keep his tongue in place. Based on the location of the injury it seemed like the man had little chance of survival.
"They're not trying to kill us," the medic stated, "the blasters' are set to stun. Grab his legs for me. We need to get him into the bunker." She motioned to his feet as she slipped her arms under his shoulders.
I shifted to pick up his legs at the knees. "Where are the automated litters?" I asked as I struggled to pick up my half of the man's weight.
"Don't have enough energy cells for them," she complained as we tried to step together towards the bunker in rhythm, "they weren't on the priority list."
"What do you mean, not trying to kill you?" I asked after we made it to the bunker entrance and worked our way down the short flight of steps.
She didn't answer until we shuffled down the narrow hallway and managed to shift the limp body into one of the small bunks in the medical room. We both watched as the medical droid moved over and began to run a full check on the soldier. "We weren't even fighting a month ago. Harn . . . Commander Pillus," she added when she noticed my confused look, "was even meeting with the Republic commander several times a week in order to keep altercations to a minimum. Something changed about three weeks ago, probably some desk general was getting heat about our presence, and the conflict started to intensify."
She lifted her hand to cover her ear and I realized that she was listening to the battle through her com earpiece. "I've gotta go, there's another man down." She moved around me and headed out of the medical bay.
"That still doesn't explain how they are not trying to kill you?" I asked as I followed her out. "It sure seems like they are."
"Everyone's worried about breaking the Treaty of Coruscant first, so neither side wants to be too aggressive. They are trying to drive us off," she grumbled. "It started with some nasty communications, followed by shelling our shield to knock it out, and it has escalated from there. They are not using lethal arms, except if you get hit by an artillery shell. We lost corporal Eeson that way."
We were back out under the shield and the incoming fire made it difficult to hear what she was saying. The medic hurried back to the spot we had pulled the last soldier from and bent down to activate her medic portal. The area around us was receiving intense fire.
She looked over at me before slipping through the portal. "Stay here," she said as she scurried away into the maelstrom beyond the shield.
I tried to watch through the wavy sheet of energy as the medic weaved toward a crumpled form behind a small chunk of debris. Republic fire started focusing on the medic as she moved forward, and the wounded soldier rose from the ground at the sign of help and began to limp toward the medic. Green blaster bolts whizzed past the two helpless figures and I could not stand by and watch any longer.
In a sort of auto-mode, my body fell to the ground and I crawled under the shield. When I got to my feet both the medic and the injured soldier were on the ground, hit by fire or taking cover I did not know. Anger welled up in me from the darkness inside me and my legs propelled me toward them. Blaster fire started shooting past me and popping on the shield behind, one bolt dangerously close to my face.
I had never been in combat before. We had fired blasters and been shot at during training at the academy, but it was nothing like the current moment I was in. Chaos and cacophony reigned around me, and adrenaline poured through my body and clouded my senses. Soldiers lived by instinct when the adrenaline kicked in, they trained enough so that their reactions were instinct. Unfortunately, I was not trained as a soldier.
Somehow, I managed to duck and weave enough to get to the medic, who gave me a bewildered look when she noticed me. The wounded soldier looked like a terrified animal, with more whites of his eyes showing than seemed possible. He was as young as me or younger, and seemed very out of place at that moment.
I passed their position, drawing the fire with me, and ducked behind the chunk of debris that the wounded soldier had occupied before he panicked. Looking back, the medic seemed angry, as if she now had to worry about two helpless people instead of one. It was beginning to seem like a reckless and impotent move to follow her outside the shield, and I took a deep breath to force some calm into myself.
My hand rested on the butt of the soldier's blaster when I shifted to look toward the incoming fire, and I reflexively picked up the weapon. I checked it quickly to see if it was in working order, and in my gut, I knew what I should do. I looked over at the medic and motioned toward the portal in the shield, then I lifted the weapon and set it to full auto.
A soft hum grew in the weapon as I brought it to bear. On full auto, it could shoot for maybe a minute before needing a new cell, but it would have to be enough. The first bolt pushed the weapon back into my shoulder harder than I expected, followed by another and another in rapid succession.
The bolts began flying wild as the barrel of the blaster rose with the kick of the weapon, and I struggled to bring the suppression fire on target. My plan worked great. The medic and wounded soldier were forgotten by the Republic attackers. All of their attention focused instead on me, and green bolts of energy swarmed at me so thick there was no way I could dodge them. One grazed my arm as I tried to slip behind cover, almost knocking the rifle from my grip.
Searing pain radiated up my arm as I hid for a moment, but a glance back made me realize that the medic was not out of danger, so I shifted to the other side of the debris and opened fire again. Thankfully, several other defenders saw our predicament and helped lay down more suppressing fire. Taking that opportunity, I broke into a run and headed toward the medic who was trying to urge the panicked soldier through the portal.
I knelt down and opened fire again just outside the portal, until the medic and soldier were safely on the inside, before slipping through myself. The medic and I shared a bewildered look as she deactivated the personal portal through the shield, and we both took a few deep breaths before she lifted a hand to cover her com earpiece again.
"They need my help over by the grove." She pointed to a group of trees on the backside of the bunker.
"I'll take him to the medical bay," I offered.
She nodded and headed off in a run.
I looked down at the soldier who was holding his leg, covering a large burn mark on his thigh. "Are you able to walk?" I asked, and he stared up at me with shell-shocked eyes. "Walk!" I barked, "let's go." I dropped the blaster and reached down to pull him up by his shoulder. Leaning heavily on me, he managed to hobble along as I led the way to the bunker and into the med bay.
I situated him on a cot and looked around. The med bay was filling up and the medical droid was busy. The young soldier was staring at me, still wide-eyed and starting to shake. The sting in my arm reminded me that I had a small medkit in my satchel, so I hurried from the room and towards the commander's office in order to retrieve it.
The most useful part of the small medkit was the hypospray, which I pulled out and sprayed onto my arm. The anesthesia worked quickly to deaden the pain as I inspected the singed area on my synth-weave shirt. The material was meant to be semi-blaster resistant, and it was not burned away, only melted into a crinkled pattern due to the heat of the bolt. That heat had obviously gone through the material and given me a good size burn underneath.
I hurried back to the med bay where the young soldier was still seated on the cot staring blankly. I sprayed the area of his thigh where he was hit and he flinched, at the sound of the spray or its burst against his wound, I don't know. His eyes focused on mine and I realized there was nothing more I could do to help him at the moment.
"You are going to be all right," I soothed, "the medical droid will be with you shortly." While I was speaking a soft noise echoed from the side of the soldier's head and I realized it was his earpiece. Reaching out, I plucked it from his ear and he flinched back from me. We made eye contact and I could see a little more cognition in his pupils.
Wiping off the earpiece with a wipe, I slipped it into my ear and was instantly inundated with intense conversations.
"Everyone fall back to the shield," I heard Commander Pillus order in exasperation. "They are coming at us hard today."
"I'm already at the shield," an angry voice barked back, "and down to three men. We can't hold out much longer."
"I hear you Zark," the commander replied. He must have had a HUD that told him who was talking. "Hang tight and I'll send support to the gully."
The gully made me think of the area I just came from. I looked at the soldier in front of me and realized he must be one of Zark's men.
"You better hurry," Zark grumbled, "they've pulled back to regroup, but my guess is they are gonna hit this area with two or three squads any minute."
A memory flashed through my head of the medic running off toward the grove of trees, another area where the fighting had been intense. In my gut, I felt there were no reinforcements, and even if there were, they would not make it to the gully in time. The anger inside me boiled to the surface again. It was blind, stupid luck that I wandered into this mess, and suddenly it seemed like I could be captured with the rest of this beleaguered band of soldiers.
The anger motivated me. I was not going to go quietly.