A/N: READ AND REVIEW! REVIEWS MEANS I GOT MORE INCENTIVE TO WRITE!
Do enjoy this chapter. I'm surprised I got it out as quick as I did.
No smut in this chapter. But the next one definitely will have.
Hope the progression of the character arcs and development more than make up for that.
Chapter 16
Sergeant Wolfe Blass sat in front of his security console; eyeing the bottle of beer he had smuggled and hidden into a small corner of his working quarters. Ever since he was released from the stockade and transferred to this position a couple of months ago, he never found the right time to ever open it and allow himself a sip. Even when he was alone.
This secret base was his freedom, as well as his bane.
He had once been stationed at the Balmorran Arms Factory; The headquarters of the Balmorran resistance. But a reckless act of insubordination had him sent to prison and reduced from a lieutenant to a sergeant. Still, Grand Marshall Cheketta saw fit to use Wolfe since the resistance needed every soldier on hand that wasn't an extreme danger to themselves or to others.
In exchange from being freed from the stockade, the demoted Wolfe would be given a small detachment of resistance fighters in addition to a large group of ex-convicts to guard the generators nestled into the rock of the canyons near Sobrik. Said ex-convicts were freed on condition of serving the resistance's cause.
Though Wolfe was hesitant to work with the men, most of whom were murderers, thugs and the like, he was eager to prove himself to the Grand Marshal. That, as well as being allowed to shoot any ex-convict if they tried to flee mutiny against him.
So far the new assignment was holding out well. They had miraculously continued to remain undiscovered by the enemy since the artillery was keeping the damn imps within the confines of Sobrik. Men stationed around the outpost had not seen any inkling of a recon unit anywhere nearby for days on end. Furthermore, the protective screen of irregulars dotting the entire area were able to harass and push back any bucketheads that dared to leave the safety of the city-wide shields.
After a few weeks of inactivity, Wolfe had confidently ordered his soldiers to withdraw from their observation posts and concentrate on the defense of the base.
'Defense of the base' meant that his main resistance detachment relaxed inside the canyon enjoying their creature comforts while letting the convicts do the main job of guarding the outside in rotations. Every now and then one of his men would patrol around to ensure the criminals were doing their job properly. But due to the almost zero presence of hostiles, it was done just for the sake of it with no real effort.
Why would they need to? The resistance was doing well. Every now and then the Republic would smuggle in weapons and resources. The remaining imps were stunted in their efforts to dislodge the resistance from their holdings. The fighter screen surrounding the secret base was enough to deter any enemies from even approaching even if they didn't know they were protecting it as part of their harassment efforts on imperial supply lines.
Maybe I could finally relax and enjoy this canister of beer after all. Wolfe thought. Sinking deeper into this cushioned chair, he finally grabbed his drink and popped it open.
The rest of his detachment were still sleeping in their bunks. It was almost dawn. A quick check of the security cams outside made him shake his head as the convicts were either asleep, drunk, or high on spice at their posts. He had tried to discipline the unruly rabble on many an occasion. But after many days without a hide or hair of any imperials, it only made him seem unfairly strict. So he gave up on running a tight ship as long as they didn't try anything funny.
As he took his first sip of alcohol in a very long while since he joined the resistance, little did he know that his complacency would choose to bite him back in the ass at the worst of times.
It was the break of dawn when Aaric's task force broke camp and readied for battle.
The path leading towards the generator base was narrow. Both sides were flanked by steep canyons. Speed and timing were the keys here. If they lost the element of surprise they would be like sitting gizkas being funneled into slaughterhouse. But with almost the entirety of the guards knocked out due to their own complacency, Aaric had little to worry about.
"Let's get this show on the road!" The apprentice exclaimed in the driver's seat of his speeder as the majority of the troopers sat on the remaining speeder bikes, revving and ready to go. The rest of the remaining troopers manned the mortars and served as their rearguard.
Vette sat in the sidecar with a drop of nervous sweat dripping from her forehead. Aaric using the speeder in a combat manoeuvre was way out of her calculations! What the kriff did her master think that this piece of junk could survive in a firefight?! She knew that speed was important in a raid. So if Aaric somehow put the pedal to the metal and realized the speeder could go way past the limits of the speedometer he was going to start to suspect something…
Too bad for her, Aaric already noticed Vette's nervous demeanour. He would deal with her later.
The Sith made the first move and rode his speeder out while the rest of the men followed close behind. They quickly accelerated, matching Aaric's speed. The pilots armed their speeder's built-in laser cannons while the pillions readied their blaster pistols.
When the speeders reached the designated point a third of the way there, the sounds of quick and dull 'plunks!' could be heard as the mortars fired their first magazines of smoke rounds into the base. The rounds hit their marks and white smoke erupted within the small expanse of open area as the strike team reached two thirds of the way to their target.
As they reached even closer, shouts of alarm and confusion began to sound off from inside the smoke. Aaric pressed hard on the accelerator to try and reach the base as quickly as possible before the guards could mount an effective defense…
But he was slightly caught off guard himself as his speeder jerked and sprinted forward faster than he expected; a significant distance ahead of the rest of this strike team.
Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! Vette chanted as she hoped to the high heavens that Aaric wouldn't connect the dots. Hopefully the chaos of battle would steer his mind away from it long enough to forget about it?
The apprentice had already recovered quickly as his speeder ploughed through the smoke only to smash into a shell-shocked convict and sending him flying into a heap of crates; dead before he even hit the ground. Aaric skidded sideways and brought the speeder to an abrupt halt. The sounds and illumination of blaster shots rang through the air as the remainder of the strike team arrived.
"On me, Vette." Aaric ordered as the pair hopped out. "Shoot anything that isn't Imperial. No hesitation."
Vette bit her lip and nodded silently.
The pair strode throughout the clearing, mopping up the guards wherever they went. Either being swiftly cut down by Aaric's lightsaber or shot down by Vette's impeccable aim. The humming sounds and red hues of the Sith's lightsaber through the smoke acted as a beacon that protected them from friendly fire. Within minutes Aaric and his men swept the area clean. Though both sides had their vision obscured by the smoke, the high, groggy and drunk convicts were helpless against their more disciplined counterparts.
"Report!" Aaric commanded to his troops.
"No casualties, milord. All hostiles within the area are neutralized!" The sergeant replied.
"Rear guard. Pack up the mortars and join us. We'll need all the manpower we can get." Aaric instructed through the comlink as he surveyed the area and noted two entrances that led inside the canyon at separate sides. "One of these entrances lead to the generators… or one of them may contain backup power systems in case the main ones get destroyed. Either way, we'll deal with them one at a time."
"First squad, on me! We'll take the entrance on the far side. Second squad, claymore mines to the nearer entrance on my right. Take cover and guard it until I return."
"Yes milord!" The troopers chorused.
Damn it all! Wolfe cursed. I guess it was only a matter of time we were discovered, I suppose. But to let my guard down this much...
The moment the cacophony of screams and slaughter reached his ears he was too dumbstruck to believe the imperials had managed to find his base. By the time he got his wits about him the poor convicts had been annihilated. At least they only suffered a quick end.
He only had enough time to activate the emergency alarm for both sides of the base and he hoped that the respective detachments of resistance fighters, most of whom were recruits with little experience, would be able to hold off the attachers. But the second he glimpsed the red laser blade being swung around he knew the jig was up. There was no way he me. Would be able to stand off against a Sith of any calibre.
The damned imps' tactics were sound too. They hit them where they least expected it and wiped out the convict guards like a vibroblade through exposed flesh. And to maximize their manpower they had decided to station a few men to guard one entrance and send the rest of their forces to the other entrance...
The one that led right to where Wolfe was.
His forces were split evenly between the two areas and there wasn't much of a distance between the entrance and the generator room. If a Sith was as skilled as the rumours said, then he was definitely going to die today. Not that he was going to take it lying down...
The short corridor only bended at two corners before it led straight to the main generators. There was no point trying to hold a corner or barricade the route. The Sith would only obliterate them with his force powers or slice through with his laser sword. The only way he could last more than a few moments was for him and his men to find cover within the generator room and concentrate fire at the end of the corridor; hoping to the high heavens that their combined firepower would be enough to bring down the imps' main strength.
Wolfe and his men held their breath. Only the warm humming of the generators breaking the silence as they awaited their fate. Moments later the slowly increasing volume of the thuds of armoured boots against durasteel floors greeted them. The resistance group held their breath and aimed down their sights… any moment now the enemy they had trained so long to kill would arrive!
Click! Whoosh! Thunk!
A solid metal ball seemed to appear in the middle of the corridor, floating a couple of feet above the air, then shot towards them at a blinding speed before landing onto the floor, right in the middle of the room.
"GRENADE! TAKE COV-"
BOOM! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
The rest of the sound was drowned out by a small explosion, followed by a sound of extreme high and intensity that grated at the eardrums of the resistance members so much they fell immediately to the ground, writhing in pain and clutching their aural orifices; A sonic grenade that Aaric had kept and saved from his time aboard the Black Talon.
Wolfe was fortunately slightly less affected by this and managed to stumble towards one of the generators and hide in the space between it and the wall.
A quick hand sign was all that was needed for Aaric as a signal to breach. Activating his lightsaber, he strutted confidently as the spearhead of the assault while Vette was crouched behind him, ready to provide covering fire by peeking out from his sides. The troopers flanked the hallway and followed close behind. The fire team closed the distance within seconds and entered the generator room.
"Secure the area and round up the resistance fighters." The Sith barked. "Don't touch anything or anyone unless I say so."
"Yes, milord!"
A small sigh escaped Aaric's lips as he inspected the still-humming generators. It was so easy to play on others' perceptions on what a usual Sith would behave in a combat environment. It wasn't surprising in the very least that the enemy expected a suicidal, frontal assault, lightsabers swinging and screaming one's dedication to the Empire. Instead, a simple use of the force to telekinetically arm the sonic grenade and fling it towards the enemy at a speed faster than one could physically throw it would be a tactic highly unusual and almost never likely employed by a majority of his fellow dark siders.
What the... A Twi'lek?! Is she a part of the resistance? Wolfe exclaimed inwardly as he peeked from around a corner. No... It can't be. Could she be a defector? Was our location compromised because of her? But there's no way our position could have been leaked, unless… no. It has to be her! You bitch... I may die here, but at least I'll take a traitor like you down with me!
As slowly as he could, Wolfe reached down to unsheathe his dagger strapped to his chest.
The unsuspecting Vette exhaled a sigh of relief as she observed the troopers hauling their prisoners into a heap of writhing bodies. There weren't any Tei'leks as part of the group here. If there were she would still feel a little guilty. Aaric hadn't given any instructions on what to do with them. But either way, deep down she knew the end would be the same. Pushing the depressing thoughts away, the Twi'lek broke away from the main group and walked in a separate direction to inspect the surroundings herself.
Hmm... Generators like this can't stay underground for so long without giving their position away. Aaric thought as he inspected the generators. They need an outlet to dissipate the waste products. So either everyone here has been ingesting the waste, or they had to build a very long tunnel through the hard rocky canyon to dump the waste exhaust far away from here.
Which means these are probably some sort of experimental state-of-the-art, high efficiency, low waste generators. Would be a pity to destroy them. I wonder if there's some way we could transport these things where I can use them personally… Or reverse-engineer its design before destroying them. I'll just deactivate them for now and squeeze out a favour from Davrill. Stopping the artillery would be a massive first step. I should be able to convince him… or at least strong-arm him if he doesn't cooperate.
"Signaller! Get Davrill on comms." Aaric ordered. "And Vette…"
The Sith faced towards the direction of Vette, who had just turned around from inspecting one of the generators at the far corner of the room. Before he could tell her to return to his side, however, he caught a glint of steel protruding from behind said generator.
Time seemed to slow down for a split second. The apprentice's eyes widened as his senses went into overdrive. Something or someone was emerging from the shadows fully intent on striking Vette down.
Kriff! Vette! Behind you! Was the message in his mind that Aaric fought to morph into audible words that he hoped could reach his prized possession in time.
Instead, as if hearing him, Vette's own eyes widened as she threw herself to the side just before a jagged hunting blade swept downwards past her shoulders. There was no time to think as her instincts kicked in; spinning herself to take a quick shot at her attacker. Wolfe was quicker though, and his leg swept and knocked both sidearms away from her hands.
"Die, traitor!" Wolfe roared as he lunged forwards,
"Kriff off, Asshole!" Vette backpedalled as quickly as she could.
The troopers who were not guarding the prisoners stepped forward and raised their rifles, but Aaric wasn't having any of it.
"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" he roared. If Vette was gunned down because of a friendly laser bolt, he would be very annoyed indeed.
Though Vette's safety was foremost on his mind, not that he would ever admit it, even to himself. The Sith realized this was the best opportunity to appraise the blue Twi'lek's close combat skills. He would have done it himself, but he wasn't going to look a gift fathier in the mouth.
As the remaining resistance member, Wolfe could only assume he was right. If the imps were holding off on firing on both of them meant that the Twi'lek was most definitely an informant of sorts! Then again, the Sith's inaction was puzzling. But he didn't care. If he could kill her, that would be enough for him to have done his part.
Oh how wrong he was, indeed.
Vette on the other hand was sweating bullets as she dodged, twisted and side-stepped each lunge, swipe and stab. Wondering to the high heavens why nobody, not even Aaric, had stepped in to save her! Her master was best equipped to save her yet he just stood there staring at her with a curious gaze.
"Aaric?! Anybody?! A little help here!" Vette hollered to no avail.
Fortunately, with each passing second she was able to ascertain her position and plan for the opportune moment to counter-strike. Aaric, for some reason, wasn't going to save her. Or maybe he was waiting for the right time to step in? What was this crackpot resistance fighter talking about?! Either way, she was getting herself out of this situation on her own terms!
The Sith apprentice gazed intently as Vette's look of desperation slowly turned into one of awareness. She was showing less exaggerated dodging and more efficient, calculated steps now. The precious few seconds of surprise that the remaining resistance member had was now gone. All that was left was a lone man flailing his arms wildly while chasing after a Twi'lek.
Vette backpedalled into a wall, ducking towards her left as a swipe missed its mark. Seeing an opening she spun as she ducked, throwing a well-placed haymaker to Wolfe's abdomen.
The strength of the haymaker was not much, but combined with the momentum of Vette's spin was able to cause Wolfe to stumble a step. He attempted an immediate backhand swing to catch her off guard. But Vette was ready, and his knuckles were met by a diagonal elbow strike that knocked the offending weapon away.
The resistance sergeant stepped back in surprise. He was now relieved of his weapon and the imps had unobstructed sights on him. Yet, the sounds of blaster fire never came. Wolfe turned towards to face the direction of Aaric and his troopers with a quizzical look.
"What are you doing? You have a clear shot! Just shoot him already!" Vette cried. Even the troopers were wondering why their commander hadn't given the order yet.
"No, I don't think they will, Vette." Aaric smirked, much to Vette's incredulity. "I know you're a crack shot. But I've never actually seen you fight a proper one-on-one."
"You there!" Aaric barked, pointing at Wolfe. "Defeat Vette here and I'll let you and your comrades go. Unable to do so… and you can imagine what's going to happen."
"Tch. I've heard about you Sith types." Wolfe spat. "What makes you think I'm going to believe what you're saying? You could just kill us either way!"
Aaric crossed his arms and chuckled. "There's a Republic saying… 'you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take', is it not? Refuse and I'll kill all of you right here and now. Take up the challenge and you may just be allowed to leave with your lives. So what say you?"
"What?!" Vette blurted. "C'mon master! This is not funny! None of this is funn-WOAH!"
The Twi'lek slave leapt away in the nick of time; Wolfe cursing under his breath. Even if there as a slight chance the Sith would let him and his fellow resistance fighters live, he would take it just to bring down this alleged betrayer!
"DIE, TRAITOROUS BITCH!" He yelled.
"I'M NOT A PART OF THE RESISTANCE, MORON!" Vette fumed.
Vette was starting to get exponentially annoyed with the man she was now forced to fight. There was no use wasting her energy trying to run away. Aaric wasn't the type of person who would put her into this situation as a prank. There was no choice but to press forward and hope that whatever happened, her master would come to aid his slave.
The resistance sergeant smirked as the former treasure hunter halted and stood her ground to face him. In his eyes, she was just some lanky Twi'lek who couldn't possibly be much of a threat without her pistols. The hit she scored earlier must have been a fluke!
Wolfe charged forward and delivered a frontal kick aimed at Vette's centre mass. Vette side-stepped and rolled forwards, grabbing Wolfe's leg and pushing his knee joint outwards. This caused the sergeant to fall over in reflex, surprised at suddenly being face-first on the floor.
Vette quickly sprinted over to one of her pistols on the floor, but Wolfe was surprisingly quicker and managed to lunge and tackle her shins and sending her to the ground as well. The sergeant scrambled over her body and made ready to pound the Twi'lek's face in.
Wolfe threw a left, Vette twisted and dodged; the punch striking the bare metal floor. The slave twisted back and delivered a swift elbow strike to the fighter's cheek, followed by a knee upwards in an attempt to hit the family jewels.
The elbow met its mark, which stung and stunned Wolfe just long enough for Vette's knee to make impact on his perineum and cause him to seize up in pain. Vette quickly shoved Wolfe aside and reverse somersault herself upright, panting in spades.
As Vette caught her breath while Wolfe struggled to his feet, Aaric analysed Vette's build and fighting style from the sidelines with great interest. It seemed she was more capable in hand-to-hand combat than he realised, if a little rough around the edges. With some training and certain… tweaks… he would be able to mould Vette into a much effective fighter at all ranges.
Wolfe groaned as the pain subsided. Luckily the strike didn't catch him in the balls. "That's a low blow, Tweek." The sergeant growled. "Should've expected something like that from a kriffin double-crosser like you."
Vette exasperated. "For the last time, dipwad: I'm not part of the resistance!"
"NO SELF-RESPECTING TWI'LEK WOULD ALLY WITH THE EMPIRE!" Wolfe roared.
"ANY SELF-RESPECTING TWI'LEK WOULD SEE THE REPUBLIC FOR WHAT IT IS!" Vette snapped.
On some hidden signal, both opponents charged each other. Wolfe went for a right hook. Vette ducked under it and threw a right hook herself; hooking her arm around his and using her momentum to swinging under and over; eventually landing and sitting atop his shoulders
The Twi'lek latched her legs as tight as she could around Wolfe's neck, beginning to pound into her opponent's cranium with her elbow as hard and fast as she could.
Wolfe attempted to pry her off of him to no avail, suffering a few blows before deciding to lean forward and charge towards the nearest generator.
WHAM!
Both bodies impacted. Vette's head slammed against the durasteel frame and fell onto the floor, hard. Wolfe was able to somewhat brace himself and also ended up on the floor, albeit in a better condition.
Vette laid there groaning and clutching her head. She was so focused on trying to elbow her way into the man's skull that she didn't anticipate that he would hurt himself as well just to get her off. Fortunately, her metal headband took some of the impact. But it was still enough to jar her brain.
Wolfe, however, was a trained soldier. He brushed off the pain and quickly pushed himself off the ground.
He noticed one of the Twi'lek's pistols nearby, lunged to grab it, got to a kneeling position, aimed the sights down at the still reeling Vette and pulled the trigger!
CLICK!
No sound, no lights. No blaster shot came.
A stunned Wolfe gawped at the pistol in his hand.
"Gotcha!"
Was the last word the hapless resistance sergeant head before a beam of coherent energy filled his vision, then turned black. The body that was Wolfe's collapsed into a heap; a single disruptor shot boring a hole straight through the front and out the back of his skull.
Vette released a sigh of relief and let her body go slack on the floor. Aaric stride over to his slave and stood over her; his shadow shielding her face from the bright lights of the ceiling.
"Well done. If only by a hair's breadth." The apprentice commented offhandedly, while intensely analysing the pistol that he pried off the dead resistance member's hand. "Hn... Your guns have dermal scanners in the grip. So it's coded to your palm prints so only you can fire it. How sneaky."
"Yeah... Thanks." Vette panted. "So what's... the big... idea... huh, master?"
"A test to see how well you do in close combat." Aaric explained with crossed arms. "Although you won, I find it particularly... unrefined. Looks like some improvements in your style are in order."
"Yeah, well... It's gotten me out of a few bad scrapes before. But usually I make sure they're shot before they get anywhere near me." The Twi'lek justified with a lazy wave of her hand."
Baras' protégé cocked a brow. "That's not enough." He shot back sternly. "I want you to be lethal at every range. When our time in Balmorra is done, we'll find some time to work some kinks out of your style. You could very well have needed me to save you had you not lucked out with your custom blasters."
"Aha!" Vette exclaimed with a teasing grin; pointing an accusatory finger at her master. "You're worried I'll leave you, right? You wanna make sure your favourite sidekick is always at your side!"
"Of course not." Aaric sighed. "Like I said before: You're my property and asset. Making sure you're unscathed will only drive up your value further."
"Yeah keep tellin' yourself that." Vette muttered under a giggle.
"Come on, get up. We still have the opposite side of the base to go." Aaric barked, ignoring Vette's jibes. "Oh, and one more thing, you'll be getting a spanking when we get back to the ship."
"What?! What did I do?" The Twi'lek sat up and looked on confusedly.
"For tampering with my speeder." The Sith replied coolly.
"Y-you got no evidence!" Vette stammered.
Now it was Aaric's turn to smirk. "Not so observant are you? There were strips of torque seals on the bolts when I purchased the bike. And lo and behold when I checked the engine panel I found out they were broken. Now I know 2V-R8 wouldn't do such a thing unless he was sliced, which I hardly suspect given we're in friendly territory."
Thought it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility if Baras or some other rival tried to take me down from within. I'll have to invest in some security updates later. Aaric mused internally.
"Phooey... So that's what those coloured stripes were for." Vette groaned.
"We'll get to that once we're done with our mission. Now get up before I spank you! Wouldn't want to give the troopers a show, eh?"
The remaining tunnel at the opposite side of the outpost took a little longer to clear out. The resistance was fiercer since the element of surprise was already long lost by then.
It seemed that their opponents were not above forcing the remaining convict conscripts at gunpoint to be used as meat shields; sending them through the narrow passageways to try and overwhelm Aaric's forces with sheer numbers.
Alas... Aaric, Vette and company slaughtered the hapless criminals as they made their way down the corridors.
As usual, Aaric led the front as the vanguard. Using his enhanced speed and senses to blitz past the enemy and wreak havoc while momentarily drawing attention to himself. This allowed Vette and the rest of the troopers to charge in and take them by surprise while their backs were turned.
The resistance even had turrents on their side as well. But they were slow to target, and Vette's disruptor pistols easily knocked them out of commission via a carefully aimed shot to the shaft and hinges propping them up.
Still they suffered a couple of wounded casualties. But nothing a quick application of kolto and a good night's rest couldn't fix. Soon, all resistance members were either captured or killed.
A thorough reconnaissance of the place revealed that it housed a larger, more conventional generator with enough fuel supply in storage. Aaric surmised it was to be used as backup in case the supposed experimental generators at the other side failed. The extensive fittings as well as the turrets indicated that the outpost was more of an installation; and could have been used as a staging area if left alone long enough.
Luckily they were able to nip it in the bud before it could be used that way.
Once again, Aaric decided not to destroy the generator itself. In fact, he would have the entire area captured and be commandeered by the consolidation corp. The generator would be handed over to them to use as they saw fit. But the power cables that led directly to the resistance artillery would be severed.
As Apprentice and slave stood in front of the generator's main console, Aaric took a step forward and reached out his hands to input the shutdown sequence...
"Wait! Please don't shut down the generator!"
A young, slightly emaciated girl sprinted out from behind the shadow of a downed turret and stood between the Sith and his objective. Aaric was taken aback by her sudden emergence. He didn't even register her presence until the moment she exited her hiding place!
Maybe her famished, thin form reduced her life force to the point of escaping his senses? Or maybe he was too focused on the task at hand? No matter… he couldn't let Vette and his troopers think that a small girl got the better of his exceptional spatial awareness.
"Your name, now!" Aaric barked.
The girl flinched at the Sith's steel-laced tone, but mustered the courage to speal anyway. "I'm Min. Over there is where the people and myself had been hiding ever since your attack started. We are just refugees. When our town was destroyed we had nowhere to go and found this place by accident. The resistance fighters let us stay here and help whatever we can in exchange for food, water and power."
"Please... If you destroy the generators then we won't be able to have warmth, food and water to live." The girl begged. "We're not with the resistance! You can take everything else! Could you at least just leave the generator running?"
"No." The apprentice snapped. "Sergeant, round them up and prepare them for transport to Sobrik. Make sure the two groups are separated. Make sure the provisional government processes them."
As the crying min was pulled away by a trooper to join her sobbing compatriots, Vette's neck swerved to stare at Aaric with a flabbergasted look. Surely he wasn't going to throw these people to prison to be interrogated and maybe even killed? Balmorra was still pretty much a warzone. But even this may have been overkill!
The former Tapani nobleman simply narrowed his eyes dangerously at Vette; signalling her to keep her mouth shut or else there would be consequences. As the troopers dragged the now sobbing girl and the rest of the refugees into a corner to be processed, Aaric approached the console and tapped the keys. The low humming sound of the generators throughout the outpost fading into silence.
"Sergeant, hail Lieutenant Davrill and inform him that the generators are down and the artillery is open to bombardment." Aaric ordered. "And send some reinforcements over to secure this area. More importantly, tell him the generators in the earlier cave system are my spoils and mine alone. The rest is under Consolidation corp control."
"Yes, milord!" The trooper snapped to attention and proceeded with his orders.
The apprentice strode back out towards the cavern entrance, beckoning his slave to follow with a lazy wave of his hand. "Come, Vette. We'll let the troopers take care of the rest."
Vette nodded and followed meekly behind him.
Once outside Aaric, Vette and the few troopers running defense of the captured outpost looked upwards as the roaring of ion engines overhead caught their attention. Bombers, B-28 Extinction-class models to be exact, flew past at low altitude towards what the Sith surmised to be the location of the resistance artillery. With the generators out of action, any structural and static defences such as shields and anti-aircraft turrets would be left ineffective.
Moments later, echoes of explosions from the bombers sortie emanated throughout the air followed by the return of the bombers towards Sobrik, signalling a successful run and mission accomplished.
Vette stared at Aaric from behind, biting her lip as she did so. Was he really going to send those refugees to a life of suffering and death? Could she even bear to stay and see him commit such acts, even if she could somehow leave him?
He had been good to her thus far. And he seemed reasonable contrary to the stereotypes, if a little on the more dementedly lustful side. Though she had no reason to care for anyone else's well-being... One thing she couldn't stand was seeing injustice being meted out in front of her eyes.
Even if she couldn't do a damn thing about it, at least she could speak up about, consequences be damned!
"Um... Master?" Vette squeaked. Wow great start, Vette.
"Yes?" Aaric pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled in irritation.
"Those refugees earlier. What's going to happen to them?"
"You're worried they'll be lumped in as resistance fighters or seen as sympathizers? Tortured, interrogated, killed perhaps?"
"Yeah. I mean... You know I'm not an idiot. The Empire doesn't really have a cool track record of how they treat innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire. It just looked like you're willingly sending them to their deaths, and... I'm not sure I can live with that if you're going to do this more often in the future."
"For kriff's sake, Vette." Aaric snapped as he spun round, hissing in a harsh undertone. "You should know better by now. Honestly, I thought you'd be at least figured it out by now... Then again you're more predisposed to thinking about your own safety. Now having your own safety more or less guaranteed by me you're starting to think about the plight of other's aren't you? Not a very good feeling when you're no longer suffering as much as them doesn't it?"
"W-what are you talking about?" Vette sputtered.
"Even if I let them stay and leave the power generator on, the resistance artillery would still be in operation and would be as good as having failed the mission." The apprentice explained. "Sure, they would have more than enough power for themselves. But they would be surviving on whatever water and rations are left. Look at this landscape! Does it look like a good place for foraging? They wouldn't last a week before they starved to death. And when the consolidation corps sends reinforcements to secure this area these civilians would have been driven out anyway. By bringing them back to Sobrik the provisional government can at least put them to work in exchange for shelter and a steady supply of rations. Probably not the ideal situation but it's better than dying aimlessly out here. May as well put them to good use."
"Oh... uh, Wow." Vette rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "I didn't know about that. Never thought of it that way."
"Exactly." Aaric huffed, crossing his arms. "Stay by my side and I guarantee you'll learn a thing or two. I'll say this only once: The decisions I make are all calculated for efficiency and towards the best interests of the Empire. Though I may be cold, I am definitely not needlessly cruel. I kill. But I don't indulge in it like the rest of my so-called Sith kin who rely on their baser instincts instead of handling matters like civilized men. The galaxy is complex. You should know that by now. There's a lot of moral grey areas and what appears to be good may end up being bad. Works the other way round as well."
"So here's a piece of advice: don't think about it too much. Or else it'll break you down and you won't be able to live with yourself. What's done is done. Whatever happens to someone after something's over is none of your business. You do what you want or can then move on, conscience free. I understand if it will take a while for you to get used to that kind of thinking. So you'll have all the time you need. Just don't let it get in the way of my mission or my orders. I don't want to have this conversation again. Understood?"
Vette nodded meekly. She didn't exactly like Aaric's reasoning. It left a lot of grey areas, as he said. But it didn't make it any less logical or sound. She couldn't possibly go out of her way to help every person she came across and shoulder their burdens. The Twi'lek never really cared for the unfortunate as much when she was part of Nok Drayen's gang. Why would she start now? If she were honest, Aaric and the pirate prince had quite a bit in common.
She would try her best to take her master's advice in her stride. Vette was stuck with him whether she liked it or not. The only way left was forward. There wasn't much to do after this. All the pair had to do was wait for the consolidation corp reinforcements to turn up and take over jurisdiction of the site and Aaric's task force could leave for their next mission for Darth Baras.
When all was said and done, Aaric and company regrouped and set off towards the direction of the Markaran Outpost.
Lieutenant Quinn leaned backwards into her comfy chair and pushed away from her command console, rubbing her eyes. Having to keep constant tabs on Aaric's position as well as his actions was mentally draining to say the least. But it was all for the benefit of Darth Baras. A spy drone had captured and recorded most of Aaric's mission from afar with the exception of the firefights within the caverns lest he find out he was being watched by his own master no less.
The action and subsequent aftermath of the outpost assault was just the start of more first-hand evidence that showcased the tactical competency of Baras' new apprentice. Though it wasn't much, the outpost was inadequately defended by minimally trained conscripts after all; Quinn had to admit that a lightning speeder raid was a novel tactic.
Personally, she would have gone for a thorough reconnaissance of the area before sending out a sneak attack on foot in the night. But gambling on speed and surprise was valid as well. Aaric's fighting style was elegant and efficient; a far cry from the direct and brutish, straightforward charge as most Sith would have gone for.
The blue skinned Twi'lek was an interesting character as well. At first she thought the lekku-headed alien was just another slave for the apprentice's enjoyment. But it seemed he had managed to turn her into a useful part of his retinue either through coercion or out of her own free will.
This meant two things: Either he was superb at breaking and moulding his prisoners into serving him mindlessly, or he was such a charismatic individual that he was able to secure loyalty through his character alone. Both ways and anything in-between could be a boon in the short term for ensuring Baras' will was done quickly. But in the long term could pose a threat if he could amass influence that could rival his master.
Quinn compartmentalized all the information she analysed and started tapping away at her console once more. She had to finish her daily report to Baras before she could turn in for the night.
"Gluk! Gluk! Gluk Gluk Glurrrrrrrk!"
Now if only if the pink Twi'lek slave could shut up so she could concentrate!
Grand Marshall Cheketta looked over the holomap of the resistance's area of operations. Things were going well. The so-called Imperial Consolidation Corp that took over the Imperial Army's duties of stamping out the resistance were struggling badly. His soldiers and resistance fighters had more of less free reign of any and all territory that the Empire didn't have at least a pair of feet on the ground.
He may not have air superiority. But he had the best that Balmorra's scientists, engineers and production workers were able to offer that negated this key factor in the Empire's strategy via ground shielding. A steady supply of men, women and war material were constantly being delivered by a miniaturized hyperspace beacon; which allowed small ships up to the size of a Thranta-class corvette to jump and exit directly within mere tens of kilometres of the planet surface near the Balmorran Arms factory.
It was this especially integral supply line that had allowed the resistance to make great strides in the past few months. If they kept this up, there was a chance they could even launch a full-scale assault on Sobrik. Though not a strategically important geographic location, taking the capital would be a major morale booster for the resistance and vice versa for the Imps.
Chances were that doing so might even incite a planet-wide resistance movement that would stretch the consolidation corp to the breaking point and cripple the Empire's hold on the planet. They only needed to wait for Commander Rylon to inform him of the right time to strike…
Speaking of Commander Rylon, his second-in-command stood at the opposite end of the table discussing with his lieutenants about the details of another special ops mission. Cheketta let a forlorn smile pull at the corner of his mouth. The both of them had been through much together; They first met after being deployed to Balmorra during the war and hit it off nicely. He was one of the men who were first to join him when he decided to renounce the Republic and had saved each other's asses more times than anyone could have bothered to count.
While the Grand Marshall was dedicated to overall military strategy and conventional maneuvers, the Commander was focused on precision, tactical strikes that would hit the Empire where it hurt the most. They complimented each other's strengths and balanced out their weaknesses.
Cheketta contemplated… and decided that when Sobrik was captured, they could finally sit down at a bar and have a drink like two normal old men like they always joked they would.
Right about then, a young Balmorran officer burst into the room, panting as if he'd just finished a race. "Grand Marshal! Commander Rylon! Word from our observation posts. You've got to see this. It's bad."
He presented the holopad to the Grand Marshal, who took in without an utterance. As he read the information contained within, his twisted into one of outrage. But he kept his cool. Any sudden burst of emotion would cause his men to lose faith in his command. A sigh escaped his lips when he passed the holopad to Rylon.
"How accurate is this report?" Cheketta questioned.
"Our recon teams have only just visually confirmed it, sir." The officer explained. "The artillery has been destroyed. Somehow they managed to locate the hidden generators and knock out both the shields and guns. The entire place was carpet-bombed with proton payloads. No known survivors. But we're already seeing imperial activity near the area. They must have sent in troops to wipe out any stragglers."
"Observation stations witnessed imperial bombers descending upon the artillery like flyers to their prey. Even those out of visual range either heard or felt the explosions. Teams who were in communication with the artillery base were suddenly cut off mid-sentence. News is spreading across the entire resistance like wildfire."
The Grand Marshal nodded gravely. "Thank you lieutenant. Keep quiet about this until Commander Rylon and I can formulate a response to address the men. Last thing we need is panic amongst the troops."
"Yes sir. By your leave, sir." The officer snapped a salute before quickly leaving the two men to their privacy.
"What do you think Rylon? Can we recover from this?" Cheketta asked.
"It was my idea to use all available artillery and to position the generators so close to the enemy. This loss is on me." The weathered soldier sunk his head. "We poured a lot of resources into this spearhead… Damn it! We were so close to starting actual raids on Sobrik itself. And somehow they managed to locate the hidden base that quickly? There's something going on here that we're missing. Or some new element that has just inserted itself into this conflict."
Cheketta folded his arms. He was disappointed that their plans to take the capital were now dashed. But it was a risk they had factored in when Rylon first proposed it. "Either way, we're going to have to scale back operations around Sobrik's immediate vicinity. No doubt the imps are gonna pour out from their hidey holes and strengthen their perimeter."
"I concur." Rylon nodded. "Then We'll let any fighters in the area continue their harassment actions to delay expanding their foothold. In the meantime, I need to do a little investigating as to how they found the generator location so quickly."
"I hope you don't mind if I do a little investigating on my own." A monotone, female voice caused the two men to turn towards the entrance.
A tall and slender, ebony skinned woman in what was obviously Jedi robes made her way towards the table where the two highest ranking men in the resistance stood. Both commanders noted her neutral, almost robotic expression as well as her tone of speaking. It was mildly disturbing to say the least.
"Now that's a face I've never seen before." The Grand Marshal quipped.
The Jedi bowed slightly. "I apologize for my intrusion, General-"
"Grand Marshal actually," Cheketta interjected. "but what's the difference these days?"
"Yes, my apologies. I am Jedi Knight Mashallon, Grand Marshal." She greeted. "I've been sent here by the Jedi Council investigate a lead. We believe someone from within the resistance may have intentions which go against everything the resistance stands for."
"A spy, you mean?" Rylon raised a brow. Internally, the knight's monotonous voice grinded his gears. It was these kind of Jedi; the ones that devoted themselves so much to their philosophy and way of life that they were practically living embodiments of 'there is no emotion'. It irked him to no end.
"Yes, exactly." Mashallon nodded. "I am simply here as a courtesy to inform you of my intentions before commencing my investigation. Rest assured, I will not impede your operations, Grand Marshal. In return I hope you r your men will not interfere in my investigation. After all, rooting out this spy will ensure your operational security, is it not?"
The de facto commander-in-chief deadpanned. The Jedi were wise and powerful in many respects. But this particular Jedi seemed to lack any sort of tact or diplomacy, her robotic voice notwithstanding. He placed more trust in Jedi that at least had some form of emotion. For all they spouted about peace and serenity, he found that Jedi that displayed the very emotions they were trying to detach themselves from were more invested in the causes they felt was worthy or right. Jedi like Mashallon were too objective and only served the Council's purposes with no thought of others even if they claimed it was for the greater good.
"That's true." Cheketta retorted. "However, I hope you understand that the Jedi council sending someone to investigate something without informing me beforehand has me a little on guard, master Jedi. In that case I believe commander Rylon will be best suited to complement your investigation."
"I thank you for your concern." The knight replied monotonously. "However, I do not believe that is necessa-"
"My word is final." Cheketta interrupted. "As you might be aware, Balmorra is outside Republic and, therefore, Jedi jurisdiction as well, secret backing or not. I am in charge and you will respect that. Commander Rylon here is also in charge of intelligence and security so he will be best suited to assist you. Please wait outside. Rylon will join you shortly."
The Jedi investigator seemed to realise there was no way she would be able to shake off a tagalong, not that she was able to show it on her face. She snapped her jaw shut and nodded before spinning around and making her way out of the room. Once the doors shut, the two men eyed each other.
"I would like to believe this Jedi is on our side." Cheketta commented. "But one that isn't actively assisting the war effort and running around investigating some phantom menace is suspicious. What's the council's game here?"
"I agree." Rylon nodded. "Our information security has been watertight. Don't worry, just do what you do best. I'll keep an eye on her and try to find out her real intentions."
"Thanks, brother. Let's just hope this isn't some omen."
The special ops commander turned towards the door left Cheketta to his own devices. His mind running at a mile a minute, Rylon had one thing first and foremost in his thoughts: Had his cover been blown? Did the Jedi somehow manage to find out his true nature? If so, then when? Even if they did suspect him, they would have known that he was superbly covered due to his contributions to the resistance efforts, the grand marshal's utmost trust, and the lack of any loose ends whatsoever.
This Jedi investigator would more or less be fumbling around the dark for evidence to prove where his loyalties truly laid. But that didn't mean he was going to be complacent about it. It was he who was instrumental in allowing the Empire to invade and claim Balmorra in the first place. And it was he who leaked hints as to the whereabouts of the outpost where the artillery generators were hidden.
If he were to be truly outed, whether by Mashallon herself or by someone else, he was dead either way. He would commit suicide or Baras would send someone to eliminate him. By all accounts, he had made his peace. There was nothing left to lose.
It was early evening by the time Aaric's strike team had exfilled to the Markaran Outpost for a well-deserved rest and refitting. As usual, the Sith was automatically given the respect his station deserved and was given an officer's private cabin for his use for the night.
Usually, he would already have showered and been in the nude. Vette would be as well since he had specifically instructed her to always be naked during bed time so he could drink up Vette's athletic form.
But this time they were out in the field, and Aaric was a professional. He had his amorweave bodysuit on; which was flexible and comfy enough to sleep in. In case of an attack, he could quickly clasp on his plate armor quickly.
Vette, on the other hand, reasonably couldn't be expected to be in the nude. Otherwise she would take too long to get ready in the fact of a surprise assault by the enemy. But that didn't mean Aaric couldn't get in a little eye candy where he could.
At this very moment, the apprentice was leaning back on his office chair as he admired Vette's spankable bubble butt. The aforementioned slave was lying prone on the super single bunk bed with her chin resting on both hands and her legs lazily swinging in the air as she scrolled through the holonet from a borrowed holopad.
She was wearing a set of simple dark green thong panties and a matching camisole which had a plunging neckline; a gift given by the twins seeing as she had no other underwear other than her only one pair since Korriban. The chest area also pushed up Vette's modest but perky breasts which accentuated her cleavage.
Though he loved seeing women in all their naked glory, there was always something about thin pieces of fabric covering just the right parts that made them all the more sexier; and even more thrilling to peel off, almost like unwrapping a present.
At the same time, Aaric replayed the fight he practically forced his slave into in his min. Vette was in good shape that was for sure. Her balance was terrific and she was vicious with her elbow strikes. There was potential for her to learn add some gymnastics to her repertoire. But her endurance was a problem.
As a plan began to formulate in his mind, Aaric knew that after their business on Balmorra was over he would have her jumping through hoops to become the sexy little mean blue fighting machine. Just for tonight, he won't torture his slave by keeping her on the edges of orgasm before stopping. He needed her to rest and be on top of her game for tomorrow after all.
Hmm…did her arse grow a little bigger? Maybe I should keep up with the spanking. Heh!
The next morning Aaric, Vette and the accompanying troopers fell in at the Markaran Outpost towards the direction of the satellite control tower. It wasn't far; just a few hundred metres in fact. But the apprentice wanted to be cautious.
There was a dirt path that led directly to the satellite base. It was the easiest and fastest way there, but taking that route would mean they would be exposed to the defending droid forces stationed there. The flat plains would make them perfect targets with little to no cover whatsoever.
Instead, the area nearest to the Markaran Outpost was walled off by natural outcroppings of rock from the side of a cliff that protruded just enough from the ground that it made a natural wall. Yet it was also low enough to simply climb up and over it without much difficulty.
Aaric commanded and led his men towards the outpost's landing pad where the rocks jutting out from the ground were scalable. Once the apprentice reached some form of plateau, he went prone and crawled towards the edge; poking his head out from behind to see the main satellite base just off in the distance. Probably a kilometre's away. As the trooper sergeant and Vette followed up quickly, Aaric spotted the defensive droids littering about the area; milling about and patrolling.
The rest of the soldiers followed and then laid down to catch their breath after hauling up all of their equipment manually up the cliff side. In the meantime, Baras' protégé surveilled the area and brainstormed on tactics. Raising a brow, he brought up his comlink.
"Can someone remind me again why the consolidation corps or the invasion force for that matter didn't just take over this area?" Aaric questioned, patching himself through to Quinn. "How difficult is it to destroy some droids?"
"The army at the time did plan to assault the control tower to gain access to the satellites." Quinn replied. "But the defense of Balmorra crumbled so easily during the first stages of the invasion that whatever satellites Balmorra had were all destroyed in a single sitting. Since there were no satellites to use for reconnaissance against the Balmorrans, taking the control tower would be strategically meaningless."
Aaric sighed. "Sounds about right. And the droids prime directive is to defend the control tower at all costs. So that's why they never ventured out to participate in the defence of the planet. But now it's our problem to solve."
"Quite right."
"I'll call you back, Quinn." Aaric switched frequencies. "Lieutenant Davrill, do you copy?"
"Yes, milord." Davrill replied. "What do you need?"
"Does the corps have their own artillery deployed?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. They've just finished setting up. You require their services?"
"Inform them to be on high alert for a fire mission within the next few hours."
"The target, milord?"
"None of your business. Get them to stay frosty and await my instruction. That's all I need."
"Ah! Err… yes. Right, milord. I'll have them standby and on high alert."
Aaric stowed his comlink away and shuffled back towards Vette and the rest of the men.
"This is our fall-back position, here." The apprentice briefed. "Mortars deploy here. Second squad, provide covering fire from atop this ridge. First squad, on me. Vette, you stay here and join second squad in providing cover fire from above."
"What?! Why? I wanna be right where the action is!" Vette whined.
Aaric sighed and deadpanned. Sometimes, he really felt Vette was more of a petulant child than a young adult. "You'll have a better sniping position from up here rather than down there. I appreciate the thought but I can't risk getting you blown to bits. Not much of an arse to slap if you're dead innit'? Artillery doesn't discriminate when you're inside the blast zone."
Vette simply grumbled under her breath as Aaric motioned for the sergeant to follow him towards the ridge.
"Now sergeant, you see that ditch there? On my mark we'll move as fast as we can and take cover inside the ditch. Once we commence fire, any droids defending the exterior of the facility will come charging towards our position as fast as they can. Droids are stupid that way… there's only so many subroutines you can squash inside their systems. Once enough of them swarm the area in front of us I'm going to call a pinpoint artillery strike right there and obliterate most of them before they can get to us. Whatever that makes it through the barrage we can clean up easily. Understood?"
"Yes, my lord. I'll inform the men." The sergeant nodded. The trooper made to move then stopped midway through his actions. "Um… my lord? The artillery strike wouldn't be danger close, wouldn't it?"
Aaric smirked. "Only one way to find out, Sergeant."
The sergeant gulped.
It was almost mid-day. Aaric's team was in position and awaited his signal.
"Go!"
Aaric and the members of first squad quickly climbed over the ridge as quietly as they could and slid down the rock. Once their feet touched grass they threw themselves into the nearby ditch and took up positions to fire.
Poking his head out, the apprentice noted the number and positions of the defending droids milling about and ran back and forth about the ditch giving each trooper their targets.
"First from the left."
"Second from the right."
"First from the right"
"Nail the repair droid."
This continued until each member had their targets.
"On my command… Fire!"
In a split second all troopers fired their blasters and almost all of their targets dropped the next second after. The remaining droids that were still standing were quickly cut down in moments.
As if triggered by some unseen signal, the rest of the droids in the vicinity turned towards the direction of the intruders and charged towards their position. Just as Aaric had planned.
"Second squad, suppressing fire!"
A cacophony of laser fire flew over the first group's heads as the second squad attempted to take out the charging droids from afar. Seconds passed as the trickle of droids slowly turned into a larger group. The first squad joined in the firing which helped to thin out the enemies slightly faster.
"Master!" Vette cried out. "Contact right!"
Aaric turned towards that direction and his eyes widened. An entire group of droids seemingly appeared out of nowhere away from his vision and were about to blindside the group if they had not noticed in time.
"Aw, crud." The sergeant cursed. "It's like a whole other company!"
The apprentice cursed. He would have to call in the artillery strike sooner than he'd like. His timing had to be perfect. Too early or late and the majority of the droids would still remain unharmed. Picking his moment, he grabbed his comlink and tuned to the artillery battalion's frequency.
"Echo Bravo to Echo Minor! Artillery strike at phase one yellow! Plus one, strike three! Fire concentration Chiron! Drop two hundred, left one hundred! Repeat, plus one, strike three! Fire concentration Chiron! Drop two hundred, left one hundred! Hostiles out in the open! Fire for effect! Over!
"Copy that, my lord. Barrage incoming. Danger close."
"C'mon men! Pour it on em'! Let them have it!" Aaric roared as he stood up and ignited his lightsabers. The action caused the droids to focus their attention on him and fire their blasters in his direction; giving reprieve to the troopers and allowing them to focus firing on the ever increasing targets without being pinned down.
The shots either missed or were deflected by the apprentice's skilful bladeplay as the horde of droids continued bearing down on them. Five seconds passed. Ten seconds. Fifteen seconds. Where was his damn artillery?!
As if on cue, the wailing of rounds emanated above their heads then explosions rocked the open field, tearing apart the robots into flying piles of durasteel.
"TAKE COVER!" Aaric roared as he threw himself into the ditch with his men all doing the same. He may be Sith, but even he couldn't dodge hundreds of shrapnel flinging through the air.
*BOOM BOOM BOOM*
The rounds continued to explode around them for another half a minute. With a few rounds hitting quite close to their position and throwing piles of dirt and dust on top of the men. When the barrage finally stopped, the apprentice quickly dusted himself off and stood up to check his surroundings.
A wail snapped his attention to the front as a one-armed droid threw itself forward with a vibroblade ready to impale him. Aaric simply activated his lightsaber, sidestepping and slicing the droid in half via the torso. He threw his other lightsaber in another direction; impaling itself onto another droid that was almost upon the ditch before it could fire upon the troopers still recovering.
"GET UP! POUR IT ON THEM! LET THEM HAVE IT!" Aaric roared. "TAKE DOWN THE REST OF THEM!"
As the smoke cleared, the horde of droids had been reduced to nothing more than a handful of limping stragglers. Now the imperials had the overwhelming firepower and quickly cut down all of the surviving droids.
Once the last of the hostiles fell, a few minutes of silence passed as they waited for more to arrive. When no more targets presented themselves, Aaric gave the all clear. Vette heaved a sigh of relief. She was glad she wasn't down there with Aaric. Even though she was out of the strike area, the exploding artillery rounds were damn neaer frightening! She couldn't imagine if she had to experience one close up. She guessed only a Sith could hold up under such overwhelmingly tense conditions. Or was it just Aaric?
Once the rest of Vette's group clambered down the ridge side and joined up with Aaric's, the Sith gave the signal to move out. The group traversed past the crater-laden field and entered into the inner zone of the satellite control base without any sort of resistance at all. It seemed that Aaric's plan had worked. The fact that he accomplished this with little to no casualties at all astounded even the troopers themselves.
Whether they knew it or not, his style of leadership and tactical proficiency was beginning to grow on them.
After a few minutes of cautious walking, Aaric, Vette and company reached the main control tower.
"Sergeant." Aaric motioned the NCO towards him. "Your men can rest outside here, but make sure to set up a defensive perimeter. My slave and I will go in alone."
"But my lord," The senior trooper argued. "There's no saying if there isn't any droids inside the building. At least send a squad in with you!"
"More men will only cause more casualties inside confined spaces like buildings, sergeant." Aaric retorted. "I need space to swing my lightsaber about without worrying about cutting down any of you. Stay outside and watch for activity. That's an order."
"Ah- guh… yes my lord."
"Good man." The apprentice patted the sergeant in the shoulder before turning towards Vette. "C'mon Vette. We got work to do."
"Okie dokie!" Vette chirped. Tucking her arms to her sides, blasters at the ready.
The blast doors slid open, allowing the pair to step inside, then slid shut. They faced a lit hallway; each side having three blast doors alongside it.
None a more obvious trap than Aaric had ever seen.
SNAP-HISS!
The prodigal Sith calmly strolled down the corridor, Vette keeping her back against his at all times, waiting for the ambush to be sprung. They were almost past the halfway point…
"Duck."
Vette didn't need to be told twice. She dropped to a kneel just as the center blast doors suddenly slid open and four droids leapt towards them with vibroblades while sounding off electronic warcries. Aaric was quicker and he spun with both his blades extended outwards, slicing all of them from across their chests.
The pieces of Aaric's first victims had not even touched the ground when the remaining four blast doors opened and blaster-wielding droids stepped out from behind cover to fire at them from both sides.
"VETTE!" The Sith roared as he brought up his lightsabers to deflect the blaster shots.
"On it!" Vette yelled.
Keeping her head down and her profile low while the Sith attracted they're attention, the crack shot Twi'lek aimed down her sights and fired. Taking out the droids behind them in seconds. She wheeled around and peeked from around Aaric's legs, doing the same to the ones at their front, then silence once again.
Without a word, the pair continued forward until they reached the turbolift at the end of the hallway.
"Hey Aaric," Vette piped up as the lift took them down into the lower levels. "We're here to destroy this place right? Why didn't you just order the artillery to strike on the building itself? Wouldn't it save us the trouble of coming in here and risking us getting killed"
"Well your logic's only halfway there, Vette." Aaric explained. "The evidence that Baras' spy was the one who sabotaged the satellites are located in this site's databanks."
The Twi'lek shrugged. "Yeah… so?"
"Dig a little bit deeper, Vette." The apprentice sighed. "Which part of this installation are we going now?"
"Err… underground?"
"And where is the safest place to store one's databanks in here?"
"Um… Oh! Aha! I got it!" Vette slapped a fist in her hand. "By placing the databanks into the basement level underground, it's protected from air strikes or artillery bombardment of the surface levels!"
"Correct." Aaric nodded. "Tactical thinking still needs abit of work, but you're starting to get it. Good job."
"Good enough to not get punished?" Vette swooned, gleaming her pleading puppy dog eyes at her master.
"Hmm…" The Sith tapped a finger on his chin with an exaggerated thinking pose. "how about... no?"
"Awww, c'mon!" The Twi'lek pouted.
Inwardly, Aaric was slightly relieved she was back to her usual old self. To be honest he was starting to get a little irked seeing his slave in a sombre mood for that extended period of time. Their banter was about a third of why he kept her around in the first place… the other two being her fighting skills and the luxury of seeing her sexy, lithe body every day.
"Heh. You think I'd miss a chance to clap this pretty arse of yours?"
SMACK!
"Ow! Damn it!" Vette jumped but held her position as she begrudgingly let her master squeeze and massage her supple ass cheek for his own lusty amusement. "Ugh… I'm guessing that question's rhetorical?"
"See? You're wising up already. We're almost there. Let's get a move on."
The dynamic duo stepped off the turbolift platform and continued towards their destination, dispatching any droids that crossed their path. There wasn't much space in the basement level so they reached the databank console relatively quickly with utter destruction left in their wake. Vette armed the explosive while Aaric set it onto the console.
Bringing out his holocommunicator, the apprentice contacted Quinn.
"My lord. I mark your progress and see that the charge is armed." Quinn stated. "I will detonate once you are at a safe distance."
"And I must say," The officer added with a tiny grin. "Utilising the consolidation corps to flawlessly achieve our objectives while making the corps recognise your contribution to the war effort is a splendid move."
"Well I aim to please, Lieutenant." Aaric flashed a grin of his own. "Perhaps when all of this is said and done, we can share another drink?"
"AHEM!" Vette coughed, not liking how the officer and her master were flirting in her presence. "Can we go now? I don't want to be within range of armed bomb any longer than I have to."
Aaric gave his slave a raised, inquiring brow. But Quinn piped up to interject before he could question her behaviour.
"I guess we'll see about that drink once our master's matters are resolved." Quinn winked before straightening up. "But for now, I have Darth Baras on holo for you. I will retreat and leave the line secure for the both of you."
Quinn's hologram was immediately replaced by the large visage of his master. "Apprentice, we have one more potentially compromising thing to take care of before you can confront my spy Commander Rylon. It involves invading a Republic keep to find a lowly ensign named Durmat. He is Rylon's son, and the commander confided his true identity to him."
"Hn. This 'invisible' of yours seems to be losing his edge if he did something so utterly compromising as that." Aaric clicked his tongue in annoyance, folding his arms.
"I would forgive him for it. He is an old man after all." Baras Acquiesced. "However, Ensign Durmat must be silenced permanently. He is a loose end and all indications are that Rylon's son is a very very loose one indeed. I'll signal Quinn to give you the details. Be swift."
Quinn reappeared on the holocommunicator and addressed her charge. "My lord. Ensign Durmat is being detained in the brig of the Republic crater outpost, awaiting questioning by the mysterious agent Baras has me tracking. I will alert you if the investigator appears to be heading there. I assume you'll want to get to Durmat before she does?"
"Of course." The sith nodded. "Anything you can tell me about this mysterious agent?"
"She appears to be investigating one of the Republic's own: A Commander Rylon. I'm instructed to keep close tabs but stay out of her way." Quinn shrugged. Aaric was subtly reminded that the capable officere was still in the dark about his real mission. "I've managed to slice the security you'll need to breach the crater outpost. Transmitting coordinates now."
"Thank you, Quinn. I'll contact you If I need anything."
With that, Aaric stashed the holocommunicator away and made his way out of the building with Vette following close behind.
The pair had only just stepped their feet outside of the control tower when a loud but dull explosion shook the ground, alerting the awaiting troopers and jumping themselves to their feet in an anticipation of an attack.
"Stand down, men." Aaric raised a relaxed palm. "That's just a high explosive at the base of the building. Our objectives are achieved. We exfil and return to Sobrik in five standard minutes."
"Oh and Sergeant?" The apprentice called the senior trooper over to his side and quickly pressed something small into his hand. Said sergeant opened his palm to see a small credit chip. "I'll leave it up to you to distribute the amount across to your men. Consider it a bonus of sorts for assisting in a top secret mission outside of your standard parameters."
The trooper raised his helmeted head to look at Aaric. Though the Sith couldn't see it, the soldier was smiling appreciatively as the gesture. Not many Sith rewarded the soldiers that they were assigned with. Most simply considered them blaster fodder and used them without any tactical competence at all; preferring all-out suicide charges and the like. Even less had the consideration to even show an iota of appreciation.
So for this particular Sith to even give something as simple as credits, its significance went much further than what Aaric may have believed. Then again, who was to say this was what Aaric exactly had in mind; To earn the respect of the soldiers so they may switch assignments and allegiances to him.
"Thank you, my lord." The sergeant stepped back and bowed deeply. "You are too kind. I will make sure every trooper knows and is provided a share."
As the trooper walked away to gather up the men to leave, Vette too sported a small smile from behind her master's back. She had a feeling Aaric giving a reward had a more utilitarian purpose to it rather than a genuine show of appreciation. But a kind gesture was exactly that: a kind gesture, in her books at least.
Returning to Sobrik was much easier, and expectedly so. Aaric was surprised as to how quickly the consolidation corps were able to break out of Sobrik and establish a security buffer zone away from the boundaries of the capital. The enlarged defensive perimeter allowed for more space for repulsorlift vehicles, walkers and artillery pieces to be stationed to provide effective defence rather than being huddled up like nerfs for slaughter in pens in the city.
With the resistance artillery effectively silenced, the corps could send out more seek and destroy patrols to flush out the resistance guerrilla fighters. The results were self-evident: There were no more instances of their group being peppered with pot-shots by guerrilla fighters as with a couple of days ago on the return to Sobrik.
Upon their return to the corps headquarters, Aaric was debriefed by Lieutenant Davrill. Who intelligently decided not to pry about Aaric's mission details, especially after being given his own credit chip in appreciation for the corps' assistance.
The attached troops were dispersed back to their barracks while the pair returned to debrief once more, this time with Lieutenant Quinn with regards to the preparation of their next mission. When the pair arrived, Aaric noticed to his pleasure to see the pink-skinned Yadira Ban midway through her lunch session.
Vette turned away in mild discomfort. Quinn approached the pair with slight annoyance having to listen to the pink Twi'lek's gurgles once again. Aaric simply enjoyed the show, watching the metal feeding tube bulge out Yadira's throat and her eyes locked heatedly at the Sith himself for her predicament.
Maybe after this he would take Yadira's oral orifice for a spin… to check on the progress of her body's training, of course.
As the trio huddled around the holomap, Quinn briefly explained the current situation, pointing at a small red blip. "As you can see here, the coordinates of Durmat's location show that he's being imprisoned in the brig of what the resistance calls Outpost Victory, located in the Gorinth Canyons not far from here."
"As you may well know, since the destruction of the resistance artillery, the consolidation corps had managed to make great gains in the past couple of days since. But the Gorinth canyon still contains elements of resistance. It is my recommendation that we let the corps do their job and with another day or two eventually clear the way to Outpost Victory and allow us to strike it directly."
Aaric folded his arms, a finger tapping his chin in contemplation. "As much as I would like to sit back and let the corps to the fighting for me, I'd say a surgical first strike against the outpost is the way to go. The resistance probably knows it's on the back foot now and will be monitoring the corps' movements. Any large enough force that's detectable on scanners would probably signal an alarm from miles away. By the time we arrive they may have moved Durmat somewhere deeper inside enemy lines."
"That makes sense." Quinn nodded. "But I doubt the resistance is going to pull back in masses after just one loss. They'll probably fight for every last inch of ground to the last man. A strike team going into a fully manned resistance outpost? You'll be surrounded."
"You forget, Quinn, that I am Sith. We're supposed to be surrounded." Said Sith winked, pulling a foxy grin at the corner of his lips while Quinn shook her head, chuckling in amusement. If anything, Sith were not lacking in bravado.
"I suggest a compromise, then." Baras' apprentice continued. "We'll wait a galactic standard day before making our move to monitor how much ground the corps can cover. If they get close to Outpost victory too fast for our liking then we may need to jump ahead of them early and either extricate or eliminate Doormat."
"Durmat." Quinn corrected.
"Whatever." Aaric waved her off. "Anyway, in the meantime Vette and I will be taking a short break and… I will also be… experimenting with a few things."
A quick glance towards the now-comatose and belly-full Jedi padawan gave Quinn all she needed to know. Sith had to indulge themselves from time to time, she surmised.
Quinn straightened up and bowed. "Be my guest. Please don't let my presence stop you, my lord. My barracks are yours to use however you see fit at any time."
Aaric could only smile at how willingly Quinn was letting him do practically anything he wanted. He was sure she knew exactly what he wanted to do and had either suppressed or felt no shame in allowing him to do so.
"In that case… I'll take you up on that offer. As you were, Quinn. Dismissed."
The Sith apprentice strolled towards the unconscious pink skinned Twi'lek; unaware as to what plans Aaric had for her.
A/N:
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