A single Delta-class T-3c Shuttle descended through the atmosphere of Kalus aided by the darkness of night. All of the ship’s exterior lights had been turned off for this flight as it entered hostile territory undetected. Inside the ship were only three individuals, and a Viper Probe droid, two men sat in the pilot and co-pilot’s seats while the third man stood in the back, his elite Mandalorian armor making him nearly invisible in the darkness as its matte black paint blended with the surrounding area.
As the ship approached the planet’s surface, the soldier did a final check of his gear. He activated the scan pulse on the inside of his left forearm, the device feeding into the HUD in his helmet gave him a smile as it identified him and the pilots. His scout pack had been stripped of most of its standard equipment other than the long-range communications array and instead carried additional ammo for the F-11D blaster rifle he carried, and the MM9 wrist rocket launcher that was strapped to his right forearm. A slight smirk crossed his lips as he thought to the special surprise that launcher carried for his targets. The hatch of the shuttle lowered to the open position just before the ship made contact with the ground, the mandalorian and his droid offloading quickly before he radioed to the pilots speaking with his deep, gravely voice, “All clear, take off, I’ll make contact when I’m ready for extract.” The soldiers boots dug into the frozen planet’s surface as he began to close the distance between his landing site and the former stronghold he had been tasked to invade.
It was a cold night, even for the planet Kalus and the Collective members that had been left on the surface had gathered in a central room in the stronghold with their heaters running in an attempt to keep everyone warm, the engineers and few soldiers among them hadn’t noticed the faint sound of a ship landing not too far from the stronghold. On such a cold night, they neither expected nor prepared for an attack as they struggled for warmth and cursed their leaders for leaving them with the remains of that old orb.
As Purren approached the old stronghold his gaze glanced to where his scan pulse radar showed on his HUD, he had expected some resistance at this place, The summit told him that the Collective were supposed to be here, along with the remains of some ancient orb. The cold had yet to seep into his hermetically sealed armor as he walked up to the front door of the stronghold and slowly pushed it open enough for his droid to move in with him just behind the quiet robot. He pressed the door silently shut as his scan pulse finally began to show other life forms within the building, a couple dozen or so life signatures all grouped together which made him think to himself, Perfect. He worked his way through the corridors of the stronghold with his silenced F-11D raised and ready to fire. His movements were deliberate and as quiet as possible as he approached where the scan pulse had identified other beings. He had been fortunate that the summit had a blueprint of the stronghold that he had loaded into his suit and now had overlayed with the scan pulse, showing him the team that was here had taken some care in selecting their room for the night, it was interior, which meant no windows, and it had only one door, easy to guard and defend from within. If only the poor souls inside knew what was coming. The Mandalorian lowered his F-11D, letting it hang from its sling as he grasped the handle of the door with his left hand and raised his right arm, preparing to fire his MM9.
The heads of a couple half away Collective soldiers raised in confusion as the door to the room that their group was huddled in began to open unexpectedly. A rocket flew into the room just before the door was quickly shut, the warhead slamming into the floor in the middle of the room with an anti-climatic ‘thud’ as the few soldiers that were awake jumped up just before the hissing began. A thick, hazy vapor sprayed from all sides of the rocket while Purren held the door shut, letting the Dioxis gas fill the room, the men that were awake ran toward the door as the gas filled their lungs, only to collapse before they could even get to the exit. The Mandalorian waited for a minute, ensuring that the gas had adequate time to do its job before he reopened the door, the gas escaping but doing nothing to him with his sealed suit. The soldier stepped into the room kicking a couple lifeless bodies out of his way as his scanner was once again empty He moved up to a table where he found the disassembled orb, packaged and ready for transport. “Pity, one more day and they’d have had it.” He mumbled to himself as he put his pack on the table, loading what he could fit into it as he activated the long range communications array,
“Purifier to Expedition one requesting exfil at stronghold main entrance. Over.”
A few moments later a voice responded back, “Copy, Purifier, Expedition one is enroute. ETA five minutes. Over.”
With his transport called, the Mandalorian closed his pack and slipped it onto his back once more. The soldier collected the remaining pieces of the orb in his arms to carry outside as the T-3c landed a few minutes later. Purren loaded the packaged pieces of the orb into the back of the ship, along with himself and his droid before speaking to the pilots, “Let's get going.” Having the ship fly him off the planet to return to where the house summit awaited him after the successful mission.