Sic 'em, part 5: Foxtrot Uniform
"You can discover what your enemies fear most by observing the means he uses to frighten you."
--Eric Hoffer
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."
--Napoleon Bonaparte
One week after Morenva disaster.
"Okay team, gather round. I got a new mission for you," Colonel Bluefin barked as the holo-display behind him lit up. He coughed hard as he uploaded the data.
Evra now sported a white eyepatch over his right eye. He would have gotten a cybernetic one, but the recovery time after having that kind of surgery was simply too long.
The entire team was in the briefing room aboard the B'lerofon, each seated around the oval cherry wood table as Bluefin gave the specifics.
"This one's real special, team. One of our contacts in the Jal-Shey gave us a heads up on an operation they were pulling. I called and asked if they could let us have a crack at it. They agreed. We're going after Jedi Hunters. And this guy," Bluefin added, an image appearing from the holoprojector of a young man with a strong face and brown hair and a goatee. His skin was slightly tanned. "Is our target."
"You're kidding," Evra said.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Colonel Atton Rand, Darth Revan's personal assassin, handpicked after Valia Renn left Revan's service to serve as her replacement. This guy's hunted down and killed more Jedi than most of his lightsaber weilding peers. Colonel Rand is as deadly as they come. He's remorseless, hates Jedi, and never hesitates to pull the trigger. We're going to capture him."
"And do what? We'd be better just offing the bastard," the Executioner growled.
"Colonel Rand was captured last month by the Jal-Shey. His was given food during his imprisonment that spread a non-lethal radioactive chemical across his body. Thing is, it can only be detected by a specific kind of scanner the Jal-Shey developed. One we don't yet know how to duplicate."
"Why go to all the trouble?"
"During his initial imprisonment, Atton tried to escape multiple times, they eventually gave him the chemical just to keep tabs on him. But they weren't able to get anything out of him, even with their own mind doctors working him over. That's where we come in. We've promised to relay whatever intelligence we get from him to the Jal-Shey. That's why they included us."
"If the Jal-Shey couldn't get anything out of him, how are we supposed to?" Tul-Pa asked.
"We have our ways. And Atton...is a special case."
"What do you mean?" Evra asked, already suspicious.
"You let me worry about that, Evra," Bluefin answered curtly. "This is the ruse; The Jedi Order has sent a couple of representatives to the Althiri sector to open up negotiations for intelligence on the Sith in that sector. They will be traveling aboard a nondescript cargo freighter called the Lucas. Except there are no Jedi. The only thing waiting for Atton and his goons are a team of Jal-Shey with itchy trigger fingers and one of their specialists, and man by the name of Jinn. He's our contact. Here's the layout of the freighter, I expect you all to memorize it by the time we reach the Althiri sector. Atton and his goons will already be aboard. You're to cut them off from their escape routes while the Jal-Shey bring him down. And Evra," Bluefin added as he passed out the datapads containing the ships blueprints, "I don't think I should have to remind you of this, but no flying off the handle on this one. Something goes wrong, you retreat and wait for further instructions this time."
"Understood, Colonel," Evra replied, face deadpan. He was not going to screw this mission up even if it got him killed. There was no more room for failure.
"Okay, if that's all, you have some drills to run. Dismissed," Bluefin ordered. His gaze hung on Evra a half second longer as though to emphasize to Evra that He wouldn't tolerate him violating protocol again.
Seventeen hours later, Althiri sector.
The Republic stealth shuttle sped silently through the blackness of the stars as the B'lerofon slipped back into hyperspace. Everyone was wearing a envirosuit in case they had to go extra-vehicular. These weren't the bulky ones offered to civilian markets. These were worn as heavy armor, with an oxygen canister attached to the back. The spherical face plates were tinted, thus concealing their features. They fit well, and they didn't have any odd or sharp angles on them. The suits also had air conditioning, which was a blessing for such heavy gear. They had also been painted black to reduce visibility.
"Check your weapons, pay attention to those corners," Evra instructed, inspecting his lightsaber. He didn't know why, but he had a bad feeling about this mission.
The Freighter soon came into view. It looked like it was meant for civilian transport, and had a sleek, tubular shape with a boxy undercarriage and wide, wing like engines in the back. The hull was a dull rusty red and obviously hadn't been fussed over in some time. The running lights in the ship's front bridge were dark.
"Be careful, these guys are good," C'bal noted. "I've heard stories of these guys that would make your skin crawl."
"They probably aren't as much of a nuisance as you are, Adek," Tul-Pa.
"Watch it, Tul-Pa," C'bal growled. "That skimpy outfit you whore around in will only make me like you so much."
"Cut the chatter," Evra barked.
"Freak," Tul-Pa said anyway.
"You're one to talk," C'bal shot back.
"I said cut the chatter!" Evra ordered. "You want me to put the both of you in the stockade when we get back?!"
"Just try and slap the cuffs on me, baldy," Tul-Pa sneered.
Evra glared at her but turned back to inspect his rifle.
"We're almost there," the Executioner announced as he piloted the ship to the docking port. "May we kill painfully today."
Evra ignored the burly Mandalorian's idea of a prayer and proceeded to activate the docking clamps, slowly depressurizing the shuttle as they docked. The docking umbilical sealed over the shuttle hatch and the team proceeded through zero gravity into the freighter.
It was dark inside, but Evra could already make out the tell tale carbon scouring on the walls of the inside. Blaster fire. He spotted a corpse and rolled it over. The blaster shots had taken the mans face off, but the green and silver armored robes gave away his allegiance.
"A member of the Jal-Shey fire team," Evra grimaced. "Guess Atton and his boys are doing better than we thought."
"He IS Darth Revan's personal assassin. She selected him for the very qualities she had seen in General Valia Renn during the wars: an effective and ruthless killing machine," Carra added. "She couldn't have picked a better replacement. I feel his taint on this man's corpse."
"You wouldn't happen to 'feel' where he is, would you Blondie?" Tul-Pa asked.
"No, unfortunately."
"Then shut up unless you have something useful to say."
"Like you've contributed anything useful so far," the Executioner muttered in contempt.
"What was that? Your helmet must be on too tightly, bucket head."
"At least I can claim to actually wear something decent off duty, you frakking schutta."
"Enough," Evra ordered. "One more word, Tul-Pa and I'm ordering you back to the shuttle."
Tul-Pa tried to say something else but Evra cut her off. "Not another word," he growled.
"About time," the Executioner laughed.
"Where are we, C'bal?"
"According to the blueprints, we're in the security and customs section. The initial plan was to cut Atton and his team off in engineering," C'bal answered. "But I'm starting to think something about that plan might have gotten spaced," C'bal answered uneasily, his pool-of-black eyes darting around for any signs of threat. It was clear he hated enclosed spaces. Evra could feel him suppress the shiver that wanted to run up his spine. Evra supposed that spending the first half of one's life in a cell as a lab animal did that. He could see C'bal's fingers twitch.
"You'd be right," called out an old, gruff, yet articulate voice.
Evra spun around, pointing his rifle at a man whose head was concealed in a gas mask, the goggles on it tinted green and the large, tube filter attached to the left side of the mask. He wore a brown leather uniform with matching gloves. A lightsaber was strapped to his leg and a Aratech scoped blaster rifle, model QG was slung over his back, the stock and frame of the weapon being made of wood. The rest of the team aimed their weapons at him.
"Identify yourself!" Evra barked.
"A long long time ago, in a galaxy far away..." the man began.
"Naboo was under an attack," Evra said, finishing the identification phrase. He lowered his weapon. "You must be Jinn."
"Yeah, I must be Jinn," Jinn replied. "The plan went to hell when Atton arrived. We blew up his shuttle but he's managed to kill my whole team. I've picked off some of his men, but I'd say there's ten left. He's trying to get access to communications, but I've locked down the bridge. He's probably going to try and use explosives to make his way onto the bridge."
"We can cut power to the bridge by making our way to maintenance in the engineering section," C'bal suggested.
"He's got some of his men there. They've also set up ambush points along the way," Jinn added.
"We got no choice. We'll deal with the threat as it presents itself," Evra replied grimly. "I'll take point."
Jin and the team headed out passing through the metal detectors which lit up as they exited the cramped security section.
The corridors of the ship were as cramped as their entry point, barely allowing enough width for two people to walk side by side. The corridors were broken up in their monotonous patterns by the occasional alcove leading to another section of the ship.
A buzzing over the ship intercom caught everyone's attention.
"Heh. More reinforcements eh? That's okay. I expected that. I have to say, you people went out of your way to try and kill me and my boys. Didn't exactly turn out like you planned, did it?" the voice of Atton Rand asked all over the ship, the echo of his voice carrying. "I really don't understand your resistance to Lord Revan's vision, but then again, I'm not really paid to am I? You Jal-Shey threw away a golden opportunity to shape the future of the galaxy. I'm starting to dislike Jal-Shey almost as much as I dislike Jedi."
Jinn found himself unable to stay silent. He reached for a nearby intercom that connected to the bridge. Evra let him. If Rand was using the PA system, chances were that he had them pegged.
"Maybe you dislike us because we aren't the idiots the Jedi are and we actually make you earn your pay, you piece of kek," Jinn spat in disgust.
"You call what happened here making me earn my pay? This sort of thing is a walk to the beach for me. Allow me to demonstrate."
Evra and the team felt themselves lifting upward. Rand had turned off the gravity in their section. He had full control of the ship. The whole squad swore in surprise as they went weightless.
Evra reached for his belt and turned on the magnetic tractors in his boots. He was quickly back on the ground, careful to keep both feet planted. The others, Jinn included, activated theirs and everyone's feet was back on the ground once more.
"I don't even know why you bothered. I've signalled for backup and an interdictor will be here in less than half an hour. You have no chance. Surrender, and I promise not to go as hard on you as I normally would."
Evreyone snorted at the offer. They had all read his profile. There would be no mercy if any of them laid down their arms. "No deal," Jinn spoke up.
"So you wanna do this the hard way, huh? Fine. No skin off my bones. Maybe off yours though..."
The pair of Sith Commandos popped out from a hiding space in the floor and sprayed blaster bolts in their general direction. Evra activated his red lightsaber and started frantically deflecting shots as best as his heavy space suit would allow. The Executioner brought up his Mandalorian heavy repeater and opened fire.
The Sith screamed as the bolts tore into them. Gore was everywhere, floating in zero gravity by the time the Executioner took his finger off the trigger.
"Finally earned my bloody pay this week," the Executioner laughed.
"Ugh. Mandalorians. I'd know that filthy Concord Dawn accent anywhere," Atton growled over the intercom. "We fought a war to stop your kind for enslaving the Galaxy and here you Jal-Shey are, hiring them!"
"Filthy? I'll show you filthy. Evra, tell me I can cut something large and valuable out of this guy's body when we catch him," the Executioner requested as politely as he could.
"No. We need him intact."
"Humph. You're no fun."
Evra's helmet com-link suddenly buzzed.
"Puppetmaster to Bravo Two Primary, Authorization Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Come in, over."
"This is Bravo Two Primary. Go ahead, Puppetmaster."
"Primary, long range ship scanners have detected a Sith Interdictor entering the system, closing on your position rapidly. You have twenty minutes, tops. Over."
"Roger that. We'll be out of here by then. Primary out," Evra replied. He stared at the others. "Hustle, people! The Sith are going to be all over us in twenty minutes!"
"Our best bet is to head to engineering. Cut off his power supply, and his life support," Jinn said. "Follow me."
The crew made their way to engineering as quickly as they could with the cramped quarters. Evra checked his wrist chrono. Fifteen minutes left. Not good. Reaching the automatic door, He signaled for a halt.
Jinn pulled out some explosive charges and fixed them to the lock.
"Ready? Three...two..." Evra counted down.
The team tensed, readying their rifles.
"One...blow it."
Jinn pressed the detonator charge.
The charge blew and the door was forced open.
A sharp hail of blasterfire made everyone take what cover they could. Evra blindfired from a a tiny gap between the door terminal and the corridor alcove.
Tul-Pa was however, too exposed. The storm of blaster fire hit her in full force. The armor and the body underneath it practically exploded from the shots, sending pools of black ooze flying every which way. "Kek!" C'bal swore when he saw this. It meant he couldn't oggle her any longer.
Carra pulled out her lightsaber and started deflecting blaster shots. But there were so many coming her way she couldn't even see who was firing. The deadly red energy bolts nicked her spacesuit armor, but other wise did little damage.
"Out of the way!" Jinn yelled, pulling out his rifle. "OUT OF THE WAY!"
Carra pulled back just as Jinn fired two consecutive shots.
The drum like turrets that had been firing relentlessly at them exploded.
"Nice save," Evra said to Jinn. "Too bad about Tul-Pa, though..." He stared at the oozing remains of Tul-Pa as they floated about in zero gravity.
"Even she couldn't survive getting blasted apart," the Executioner snickered. "Schutta. I'm glad she's dead."
Much to everyone's surprise, however, the floating bubbles of darkness suddenly shivered and then flew into the seams of the floor plating beneath them.
Curious, Evra stared as he felt a vibration underneath his feet that moved into the engineering room. He peered inside and some of the floor panels burst open, and out came three Sith Commando's, impaled on large dark spikes which soon sheared the bodies into pieces and then twisted and reshaped themselves into Tul-Pa's smirking face and scantily clad body in leather hides.
"You were saying?" she asked, that cold, predatory smirk once more on her face.
"Kek, spoke to soon," the Mandalorian added. "Ah, well, you're bound to run out of luck eventually. Until then, welcome back!"
"You will have to explain how you pull that off one of these days," Evra said, throughly uneasy about Tul-Pa's abilities once more.
"When I feel like it," she replied haughtily.
"That was just creepy," the Executioner mumbled.
"Huh, so you have a few tricks up your sleeve. So do I," Atton's voice blared over the intercom.
The wall next to the engine observation window exploded, opening the hull up to empty space.
Before Evra could react, he found himself flying to the open hole. His heart pounded at the thought of dying alone in space--
--and then yelped as the big, burly hand of the Executioner wrapped around his ankle.
"HOLD ON!" the Mandalorian yelled. "Pull me, ya bloody nitwits, PULL!"
Jinn, C'bal, and Tul-Pa grabbed the Mandalorian and helped pull him back even further. Carra used the Force to anchor them back to the floor as best she could until the decompression was complete.
Evra found himself floating again. He gestured to the Executioner who nodded, putting his feet back on the floor so the magnetic tractors could take effect.
"That was too close," Jinn breathed.
"Gee, ya think?!" Carra said.
Evra made his way to the power distribution console. He tried a few minor hacking attempts only to find that the terminal wasn't responding.
"He's locked us out," Evra grimaced.
Tul-Pa, who seemed to be unaffected by the complete lack of oxygen, wordlessly brushed past Evra and closed her eyes.
Her figure turned a complete obsidian black losing it's shape as she "seeped" into the computer console.
"Okay, what the hell is she?" Jinn asked.
"Buddy, this is Force-Sensitive Black-Ops. if you're still asking that question when you encounter a freak of nature, you need to find another job," C'bal croaked, both fascinated and repulsed in one breath by his team-mate.
"She's a witch. We should burn her. I know, I'll bring the wood!" the Mandalorian suggested in a shockingly helpful tone.
"Told you she wasn't what she seemed," Carra added. "Damned if she isn't useful, though..."
The terminal's firewalls suddenly disappeared and Evra was typing away furiously at the console. He shut down all the life support across the ship and powered down everything. The he set the engines to self destruct. The explosion would crack the ship in half in less then nine minutes.
"This outta get the bastard's attention. And I got the perfect approach to him," Evra said with a smile as the black oily substance that had infected the computer leaked out of it and reformed into Tul-Pa. "We're going on a space walk."
"This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy..." C'bal whispered. "You guys do know the odds of you dying on a mission in space increase significantly if you are executing it on the outside of a ship
"Shut your trap C'bal. You're killin' my adrenaline high," the Executioner laughed.
"Never tell me the odds," Evra ordered.
"Ignorance is bliss, I guess," C'bal replied, trying to steady his heart.
Evra found himself behind Tul-Pa, who was adhering her bare feet to the hull with Force energy, her tractor boots having malfunctioned due to her space-suit's destruction. Not that it mattered. She actively guarded with her lightsaber-lance as she advanced. He was occasionally distracted in his advance by paying too much attention to her long, dark-skinned legs, but he shook himself from the spell she always seemed to portray.
"He'll have no choice but to send his men to the engine room to turn it back on. And since this is the quickest way with all the power to the doors cut, we should be seeing them right about..." Jinn trailed off, his leather armor apparantly modified for space walks as well.
They appeared over the curvature of the ship. Five armored Sith Commandos outfitted for EV, carrying heavy repeaters.
They opened fire the instant they caught sight of Evra's team. There was no where to dodge, and no way to move about easily. The red blade of Tul-Pa's lance shot out and she was deflecting shots as quickly as she could. But they were all sitting gizka and they didn't have time to bounce shot's off of their lightsabers all day.
Carra erected a Force bubble around the team. "Go!" She yelled.
Evra advanced, firing. Jinn aimed for their heads only to find the Commando's were energy sheilded. His shot's bounced off harmlessly.
The next few seconds consisted of Evra's team advancing agonizingly slow under the aegis of Carra's power and driving the Commandos slowly back to their insertion point.
One Commando fell, screaming as a bolt of Force lightning from C'bal overwhelmed his sheilding and cooked him alive in his armor.
Another two fell as the Executioner Force gripped the both of them and flung them out into the reaches of space, screaming.
It was just two left. Tul-Pa grinned evily and overwhelmed the final two, slicing them both in two at the same time. The top halves detached and floated off, while the lower stayed anchored to the hull thanks to the tractor boots.
"Well, that was easy," Jinn breathed.
He was eating his words when a Sith Interdictor jumped out of hyperspace directly over the frieghter.
"Aw kek," the Executioner said. "You know, you don't really think about it all that much, but those things are BIG when you see them up close."
"Dammit, they're early!" Evra hissed. "Move!"
The team raced as quickly as they could up the hull when C'bal shouted.
"Tangos on our six!" he yelled.
Evra spun around just in time to see a contingent of Sith Jetpack Commandos floating out of one of the Interdictor's docking port and flying to them, already firing.
The Executioner yelled and fired his heavy repeater at the swarm of enemies. Evra fired at the ones getting too close. Jinn calmly picked his targets and pulled the trigger. Jet Pack Commando's sacrifice their shielding for maneuvering capability. Buit it was a well thought sacrifice, since most, if not all of them evaded the team's shots, staying just out of range.
A whisper of danger from the Force alerted Evra and he managed to warn the other's just as seven of the commandos fired heat seeking rocket's in their direction.
Most of the team was forced to detach from the hull to evade the impact of the rockets, which tore savage gaps into the hull.
Panic nearly overwhelmed Evra as he found himself floating helplessly.
"Evra! Use the Force! Use it to push yourself back to the hull!" Carra yelled out, letting off a Force push that went nowhere, but propelled her backward to the ship.
Evra tried to calm himself, even amid the horrid amounts of shots being fired at him and to his relief found himself flying backwards quickly to the ship. He grabbed onto a jagged piece of damaged hull and steadied himself. But he was still in the line of fire from the nonstop barrage of rocket's the commandos were launching.
He checked his mental timer and ran towards and tapped Tul-Pa on the shoulder just as she Force pushed a rocket away. He gestured for her to come with him. They only had three minutes before the engine blew, by his count. Tul-Pa nodded and followed, telekinetically diverting any missile that got too close. He spotted the bridge and hope soared in him. He ventured forward quickly, careful not to slip in his footing. He had just reached the windows of the bridge when they exploded outward and a man in black Sith Commando armor grabbed hold of him, pulling them both off the hull. Tul-Pa tried to catch Evra but she was too late and the pair battled.
Evra frantically held away the knife in his opponents right hand as they struggled, the black void spinning around them. The Sith swiped and Evra desperately held him off, trying to think of what to do as they spiraled out to nothingness.
He tried to reach for the Sith's oxygen hose but the man headbutted him and kicked him away from him.
Evra was tumbling in space now, dizzy, and reaching for his lightsaber as he felt his opponent reaching for his blaster and firing.
He found it just in time, activating the red blade as the bolts came from seemingly every direction from his perspective. By some miracle, he managed to reflect a few shots back at the Sith, which struck his reinforced face plate.
A light from the corner of Evra's eye distracted him. The engine had exploded. The ship split in half and the shockwave knocked Evra and his would-be killer even further into the blackness.
"Guys. If any of you are still alive, a little help would be really appreciated!" he yelled over his helmet's com-link. he cursed as shrapnel from the ship flew past him, as well as the bodies of a couple of Jet Pack Commandos.
He spotted his Sith opponent again, who had regained his bearings and had drawn a bead on him once more. Evra steadied his trajectory and guarded with his light saber. Just as his opponent fired, Tul-Pa crashed into the Sith, getting him in a headlock as the pair struggled.
Evra deflected the last bolt and found himself scooped up by a pair of arms. It was Jinn, leaning out of the stealth shuttle along with the rest of his team as he was brought aboard.
Tul-Pa, in the meantime, had finally succeeded in choking the Sith unconscious. She threw the limp figure of the Sith at the shuttle and then propelled herself with another Force push.
They closed the hatch and the inside filled with oxygen.
"Snub fighters, closing in," C'bal said as he got into the pilot seat.
"Get us the hell out of here," Evra barked.
The sea of stars in the cockpit window soon dissolved into the white streaks of hyperspace as the stealth shuttle jumped.
"Hot damn, Evra. You must hiding some brass in your pants, kid. I can't believe you pulled it off under those conditions," Colonel Bluefin said as he pulled off the Sith's helmet to reveal the face of Atton Rand, knocked out on the floor. The entire crew looked ragged, even the Executioner, who somehow managed to seem exhausted even though he kept his helmet on all the time, and no one could really tell. Even the blackened, rusty crusader armor couldn't hide his heavy breathing. Carra's normally perfectly tousled blond hair was matted to her scalp with sweat and adrenaline. Tul-Pa was leaning against her lance as a crutch. C'bal was sitting on a crate, still worried he was going to suffer a heart attack.
"I got lucky, that's all," Evra breathed as he collapsed against one of the docking bay's cargo crates, his heart pounding at how rediculously close he had come to dying.
"There's no such thing as luck," Bluefin replied as he signaled for a security team to escort the unconscious Rand out on a stretcher. They were sure to fit restraints over his arms and legs. They didn't need someone playing Rodian possum.
"Orders, Colonel?" C'bal asked.
"That's enough for now. Get some rest. You all earned it. And Jinn, I'll be sure to arrange some quarters for you," Bluefin said to the now maskless Jinn, whose face was a beige complexion with a stubbly beard, a sharp, slightly hooked nose and a creased, rounded forehead. The deep brows guarded cautious green eyes that darted about constantly. Jinn's strong square jaw worked as he watched Atton being taken away.
Bluefin walked out of the docking bay, following his living prize.
"Good job, team," Evra said to them.
"That battle is exactly what I signed on for. Besides brutally murdering Revan, of course," the Executioner almost gushed. "If only all our missions were as violent as that."
"If I never have to do another spacewalk, it'll be too soon," C'bal interjected, hands still trembling from the adrenaline.
The team started to file out of the bay to their respective quarters. Evra caught the muscular Tul-Pa as she was about to leave.
"You did a good job today. I might have died out there. Thanks," Evra said.
Tul-Pa snorted at this.
"Just try not to make it a habit, family man, or some people might start to think I actually like you," she replied scathingly.
With that, Tul-Pa walked away from the now irked Evra but as she did, he could swear she was swinging her hips more suggestively than usual.