Taking one deep breath, Vas began the long climb down the ladder, hoping the sentries would be bored and no one would check this remote hatch. He placed every foot with care not to make any unnecessary sounds and in several boring and at the same time nerve-racking minutes made his way into the heart of the cave system.
He stopped a few metres before the end, right above the cone of light shining in. A glance up confirmed that Zero and Creed were right above him, waiting for his signal. Since he heard nothing except the wind gently flowing through the caves below, he removed his night vision goggles, grabbed his pistol and dropped the last metres.
No one was yelling in alarm or shooting at him, so it seemed they were alone. A heartbeat later he landed in a crouch and whirled around scanning for enemies. They were at the end of a rough stone tunnel. A bend in the tunnel hid them from view from where the light was coming from. Vas crouched against the wall –a blaster in one hand and the vibroblade in the other– and covered his squad as they emerged from the ladder.
To confirm that they were behind him and ready to go, Zero tapped him on the shoulder and Vas advanced.
"Wait," Zero said. "Let the centipedes go first."
Not wanting to say anything, in fear of alerting anyone, Vas just nodded while keeping an eye on the exit of the tunnel. A shiver ran down his spine as the centipedes crawled over his feet and along the tunnel. They were just droids and even if not, the fear was completely irrational.
"The next hall is clear. One door to either side. The centipedes are too big to crawl underneath them."
"Then let's go," Vas whispered. "If possible don't use blasters, I want to be stealthy as long as possible. Zero, you're in the rear."
Vas inched forward, not trusting the droids entirely. When the corridor came into view, he sped forward and turned to the left, trusting that his comrades would be guarding his rear. The walls were still the same rough cut stone but a metal walkway connected the two doors. As Vas approached the door, it suddenly slid open and he stared into the surprised face of a Rodian. Without hesitation, Vas rushed forward, plunged his vibroblade into the alien's neck and pulled him to the side. Creed stormed past him into the next room, his blaster raised. The Rodian looked at him in shock. He coughed blood and his black eyes widened one last time before they fluttered shut and the Rodian lay still.
A gurgled scream, that was quickly cut off came from the other room, So Vas jumped back to his feet and rushed into the room. Another dead Rodian lay on the floor while Creed pressed a blaster against a Twi'lek's head. Another door led out of the room on the far side. The Twi'lek had been sitting at a console in front of a window, looking out on a big, dimly lit cavern. No one would be able to see them from the floor of the cavern, so they would be secure for now.
Vas assisted in handcuffing their prisoner before he went back to Zero who had taken cover behind the door frame, aiming down the corridor with his sniper rifle. He might have been better off choosing his sidearm for these enclosed spaces but the power of the sniper alone still made it a deadly weapon, especially in a narrow space like the corridor. Vas crouched to not get into his field of fire and dragged the dead Rodian into the room. He could do nothing about the spilled blood but this way it would be much less suspicious.
"Leave a few centipedes on this side of the door and place some behind the other door as well. I want to know if we're getting company."
Creed had deposited their prisoner in the corner furthest away from the window and frisked his pockets. Vas turned to the window and careful not to expose himself, examining the cavern below them. With at least fifty metres in length and twenty in width, it could have housed a lot of equipment but it seemed to have been recently stripped of most of its contents. Still, at least a dozen people were lounging behind improvised barriers, arrayed at the two entrances. They weren't aiming their weapons but still looked like they were expecting an attack very soon.
"They know we're coming. They're preparing an ambush. The size of the entrance tunnels is too small to allow any of our vehicles in. It will be a killzone unless…"
Vas walked to the corner where their prisoner and crouched.
"If you yell for help, my friend here will shoot you. If you attack me, my friend here will shoot you. If you do anything even remotely stupid, my friend here will shoot you. Do you understand?"
The Twi'lek nodded hesitantly.
"Do you know who we are?"
Nod.
"Good. Then we can skip the introductions. There is one question that can save your life. If you answer it truthfully, you will survive. Where are the senator and his children?"
"What? I don't know anything about children or a senator," the Twi'lek said, seemingly genuine.
"What are you doing here then?"
"We are … free traders."
"Mhm and are you trading in Rodian children and Senators?"
"No," he said more agitatedly.
Vas raised a finger to his lips and the Twi'lek glanced nervously at the weapon pointed at his head.
"You don't seem like you're the boss of this operation. What's his name?"
The alien hesitated for a while. "Boc'seca, a -"
"Twi'lek. Yes, we have him in custody already. Is he the leader of this rebellion?"
"I told you, we are free traders. We were just here to trade with an old friend of the boss."
"So the senator and his children aren't here?"
"No, I told you, we-"
"Good, then let's get out of here before someone spots us." Vas got up to his feet and turned to Creed. "We'll take this one with us for interrogation and then we'll flatten this cave from orbit. I have no intention of losing troops fighting their way in through this ambush."
"Too late. We got company. Behind this door," Zero said, pointing at the door where they had entered the room.
"Maybe, they'll just leave through the hatch."
A tense silence fell over the room as Zero watched the feeds of the centipedes through his HUD.
"They have seen the blood, they're -"
The rest of his sentence was lost in the chaos as Zero opened the door and unloaded his sniper rifle on the two enemies.
Vas rushed to the door while Zero switched to his sidearm and fired a few more times.
"One hostile down, the other has retreated to the ladder," Zero said as he hid behind the pillar to avoid a volley of blaster bolts.
"Movement in the cavern, they're running," Creed reported from the window.
"We need to move now, otherwise we'll be surrounded. Creed, grenade," Vas said and aimed at the tunnel where the hostile was hiding which also was their only escape route.
"Too late, we can't climb up the ladder quickly enough. They'll shoot us to pieces," Creed yelled.
"Hostiles behind the other door," Zero announced, pointing at the door on the far side of the control room.
At the same time, the door on the far side of the corridor –the one they hadn't explored yet– slid open and revealed several aliens with raised weapons. Vas changed his aim, fired three shots and ducked behind the corner again. A barrage of bolts pierced the spot he had just been in.
Thoughts raced through Vas' mind but no good option presented itself. The ladder was no option and hostiles closed in on both sides.
"Ey, Twi'lek. What's blocking our comms?"
His eyes darted to the console he had been sitting at before he got his eyes under control. That was everything Vas needed to know and blasted a few rounds into important-looking parts of the console. Lights flickered, plunging the cave into darkness. Vas was about to put his night vision goggles back on when red emergency lighting sprang to life plunging the cavern into ominous half-darkness but more importantly, when he tried his commlink there was no static.
"Lieutenant Hark, engage immediately. Do you copy?"
"Understood, we are on our way."
"Forget the heavy walkers. They won't fit in the caves. Engage with most of your troops through the tunnels. It was an ambush but we have drawn most of their fire. Send one shuttle to the top of the hill, there is a hatch leading into the compound."
"Understood, Sir. We will be with you in … four minutes."
Four minutes that would stretch on like an eternity.
Zero closed the door and at the same moment, Creed opened his, stepped through the door and surprised the half dozen aliens behind it with a round of blaster bolts. The sound of his heavy blaster reverberated through the rooms, underscored by the pained yells of his victims.
Then they returned fire and Creed was too slow to duck into cover and was thrown back, stumbling completely into the open, catching three more bolts.
Vas jumped to his feet and charged the door without abandon, trying to push the enemy back. The four surviving enemies were retreating as well, dragging their wounded back. When Vas reached the door, he pressed the button and it slammed shut. Unloading two rounds into the door controls ensured, it would take their enemy some time to open the door.
"They're advancing on my door," Zero said – still with a totally calm voice.
Vas crouched next to Creed who lay on the floor, completely still. Some bolts had been stopped by the armour but at least three had penetrated it. One in the leg, one in the arm and most worryingly one in the stomach.
Vas grabbed the small med-pack from his belt, cursing himself for not taking a bigger one with him.
"Creed, can you hear me?" No sound, no movement.
Vas applied some bacta spray through the hole in the abdomen's armour and rolled him on his back to seal the exit wound as well. A small puddle of blood had formed on the floor already.
"I need to open the door or they'll come inside," Zero warned.
If he opened the door, Creed and himself would be in plain view of the hostiles. He abandoned the Imperial regulation to move a wounded as little as possible to prevent further injury and dragged the unconscious –maybe dead, an unwelcome part of his mind added– Creed out of the way, next to the prisoner who was mumbling something in his native tongue.
"Here take these," Vas tossed two of the grenades from Creed's belt to Zero. He caught one and opened the door for just a moment. Even from the steep angle, Vas could see how close the enemy was to the door already.
"Grenade!" someone yelled before the door was closed again and a muted explosion silenced everything else. Dust drizzled from the ceiling on Creed's black armour.
With the most serious wound sealed for now and wanting to save bacta if it opened again, Vas removed the lower arm and shin armour to reveal the entry wounds. No artery seemed to have been hit and the wound was mostly cauterised. Nonetheless, a steady trickle of blood streamed out of both wounds, so he sealed them with a small bacta patch and wrapped both limbs with a bandage to keep them in place.
"Talk to me," Vas yelled through the room.
"I lost all but one centipede due to the blast and it's sending pictures only now and then. They are regrouping. The hostiles at the other door are advancing, they have some kind of heavy laser cutter," Zero recounted in a flurry of words and got up. He rested the tip of his rifle on the windowsill and aimed down into the cavern.
With no imminent danger, Vas removed Creed's helmet and felt for his vitals. He was breathing shallowly and had a somewhat erratic pulse.
Zero opened fire into the big cavern. The heavy blaster bolt easily pierced the glass and awarded them with a pained yell from below. Panicked shouting reached them as the enemy tried to flee from the new attacker.
"The hostiles are setting up the laser cutter now," Zero announced.
"Damn this helmet, I need a HUD. How am I supposed to fight like this?"
He would talk to the technicians when … if he was back aboard the Challenger. Now his only task was to make sure they all would survive long enough. One or two minutes until the reinforcements landed and then who knew how long until the troopers had made their way through the tunnels.
Creed seemed stable for now, the prisoner was still cuffed to a rail out of reach to hurt Creed in any way. He had to stall for time.
Vas hurried over to the door while Zero fired shot after shot. He pressed the button and before the door had opened completely it was showered by blasterbolts.
"I want to negotiate," Vas yelled over the cacophony. "I am a high-ranking officer and the Navy will pay good money for my release."
Hesitantly, their attackers stopped firing.
"The laser cutter hasn't stopped," Zero said through their internal comms.
"Tell your men to stop the laser cutter, then we can talk."
"You are in no position to negotiate. We have you surrounded."
He needed to distract them from the ladder as well, otherwise, the troopers coming down there would be slaughtered mercilessly. If he knew where exactly the enemy was standing …
Vas hurried over to Creed and took off his useless helmet. The stomach wound had started bleeding again and the trooper had become visibly paler. He sprayed another layer of bacta on the wound and put the Deathtrooper helmet on. Most of the HUD functions were disabled because the helmet wasn't connected to the rest of the armour but it was enough to display the view of the remaining centipedes.
He disabled the encryption, so his voice would sound normal as it was carried to the outside by the helmet's speakers. "Our reinforcements should be here within half an hour," he lied. He thought that he might even hear the humming of engines in the distance already but maybe that was just his head still spinning from the explosion.
"Half an hour? Until then we have killed you a hundred times."
"But how many lives will you lose in the process?" Vas asked as he struggled to rearrange the HUD so he could still see through the narrow eye slits in the helmet. How did Creed even hit anything like that?
"Lives my men are willing to give."
A sudden, very welcome voice rang through the helmet comms, "Troops have landed, we are pushing in."
Vas grabbed the E-11D and the remaining two grenades and hurried back to the door.
"Alright, we surrender," Vas said with a hopefully convincing amount of dread and fear and slid his pistol out into the open. "Please don't shoot, we surrender."
Through the centipede's occasional pictures, he saw one of the rebels approaching the blaster cautiously while the rest of them held back, still aiming at the door. The feeds from the centipedes at the other door were less promising. The laser cutter had made its way through two-thirds of the door. They would be able to dislodge it in moments.
Vas waited until the Twi'lek had almost reached his pistol when he threw another grenade far into the hallway and slammed the button for the door. But before it could slam shut, the Twi'lek slipped through the door and attacked him with a knife.
Vas blocked one thrust with his E-11 but the Twi'lek was pushing relentlessly, leaving him no time to aim the weapon or reach for the vibroblade on his hip.
The explosion from the grenade threw them both off balance but the Twi'lek recovered faster and plunged the knife in Vas' abdomen. He felt no pain, so he decided his eyes must have played him a trick. He let go of the blaster and grabbed hold of his knife hand with both of his, stopping him from attacking again. Vas reared back and slammed his head in the Twi'lek's nose and the nose cracked with a sound that sent shivers down his spine.
The alien stumbled back reaching for his nose. The moment they were separated, Vas reached for his vibroblade and jumped at the man, ramming the blade deep into his chest and twisting it.
Blood sprayed and he had to blink several times to clear his vision while he attacked a few more times. The door slid open and Vas rushed at the new attacker. He stopped at the last moment when he saw the gleaming white armour of the Stormtrooper corps.
Suddenly all strength left him and he slumped to the ground. The Stormtrooper caught him before he hit the ground and leaned him against the wall.
"Lieutenant, we found the targets. Perimeter secure," the Stormtrooper said to no one in particular.
The trooper was pushed aside by a trooper with a red cross on his shoulder. "Let's take a look at you," a distinctly female voice sounded through her helmet speakers.
"No, I'm not hurt. You need to take care of Creed," Vas said, expending immense power by raising his arm and pointing at where the Deathtrooper lay.
She only gave Creed a glance before looking at Vas' abdomen. "Someone else will take care of him. We need to deal with this."
Vas looked down to where the Twi'lek's knife was sticking in his belly. Now that he looked at it, a wave of pain rushed into him as if his body had just now remembered. Two other troopers held him as the medic removed the blade and sealed it with a far more generous bacta patch than Vas had used on all of Creed's wounds.
He looked over to the Deathtrooper who was surrounded by three medics working all over him, their packs spread out all around.
Pain shot through Vas' body and he strained against the Troopers holding him. The medic dealing with him cleaned her gloves and got back to her feet.
"You are off active duty for at least a month, that is an order," she said, grabbed her pack and walked over to the other medics near Creed.
Vas motioned the trooper to his right that he needed help. The man pulled him to his feet and wrapped an arm around him to keep him from falling. He wanted to guide him to the door but Vas shook his head and instead stumbled over to creed.
Right when he stepped next to them one of the medics leaned back, looked at his chrono and said for the whole room to hear.
"Trooper DT-163. Time of death, 3.09."