Asteroid K-45-31A
Secret Medical Facility
Jervada System
The hissing of the airlock filled the cargo ring. This isolated portion of the asteroid station was packed to the gills with food supplies, medical equipment, and various other items. A lone younger male technician, who had drawn the shortest stick and was assigned to log the new shipment, began to contemplate exactly how he was expected to stow all of this new shipment. They had barely used anything from the previous shipment.
Maybe the powers that be had decided to go with cheaper chemicals, he thought, Guess we could space the excess, or better sell it.
The control panel next to the circular metallic hatch changed colors from red to green, prompting the man to enter his access code. The hatch hissed once more with a higher pitch and slid upwards revealing a completely empty pod. Surprised, the Technician withdrew a glow rod from his equipment belt and activated it, leaning into the darkness of the supply craft. The man raised an eyebrow.
Inquisitively the tech keyed his comms. “Cargo control this is Tech 4. I think we have a dud pod here.”
“Not another one,” A woman’s voice replied, “Do you want me to vac it Jax?”
Taking a step back out and turning around, the man named Jax shook his head.
“We’ll load it with waste, for transport back to Coruscant.”
“Roger that, I’ll send a couple of the guys down to help load it. Leave something for the Core Worlds in it for me too.”
Jax could almost see the sly smile on the voice of the woman in control as he walked towards the waste storage area of the ring.
After a couple of moments from the top of the hatchway, Len Iode poked his masked head down and surveyed the main cargo hold.
“Time to go to work,” the Chiss whispered to his droid.
The “Special Forces” droid chirped and flew off the soldier’s back and entered the room. The very top of the droid extended a few inches higher and a blue line swept around. After a few moments Len checked his datapad for the scan results and confirmed what his eyes saw: the room was empty and the only recording devices in this were were deactivated. Dropping to the deck quietly Len crossed the threshold of the facility immediately took cover behind some thermoplastic food crates.
Keying his comms he whispered, “Bird, this is Legs, I’m in.”
A low reply came back. “I read you son. You really need to come up with better callsigns. I thought I taught you better.”
Len shifted his weight from one foot to the other, checking the rest of his equipment. “You did, but crappy callsigns are my thing.”
The elder Iode sighed in resignation, “Very well. I am on station near the second largest asteroid as planned. I have a targeting solution on the first turret. I do not think they have detected either of us.”
“Confirmed here. If they are on alert, then they are running silent alert. If they go into alert take out the first turbolaser, then go for the shuttle’s engines.”
“Understood. Good luck so...Legs.”
Len hesitated only a moment as he deactivated the connection, drawing his pistol and making his way to one of the ancillary entrances. As the Chiss approached one of the exit hatches the droid companion drifted silently into his back.
The white reflective halls remind the Chiss of the Kaminoan capital of Tipoca City. Staying in the shadows wouldn't not be an option. Passing into the corridor, Len checked both ends.
Clear.
Checking his datapad, Len brought up a map constructed from ID-10’s scan. While not 100% accurate, the scan map was better than the alternative of none. The right turn would take the soldier further into the cargo ring, left would take him towards the central command center, but he would have to pass through the security checkpoint along the way.
“Ten,” the man whispered, “Stick close to the ceiling and scan ahead, give me your thoughts on the scene. Push all the information to my datapad.”
The droid seemed to nod and flew down the hall, hugging the ceiling, stopping occasionally to hide near the light sources. As the droid carried out its task, Iode studied the map and marked alcoves he could take cover in. The first one, Len could see, was only a quick sprint away. Standing up, the Chiss took off for the first alcove, taking cover as soon as he reached the location. He repeated this process until he was almost out of the cargo area. So far no staff had been present, Len’s calculation in the mission briefing was correct.
Len’s comm buzzed, and text appeared.
Two security guards are located in the command center near the central terminal. There are holocameras observing the entrance. I was able to evade them, however you will not be able to. The life support ductwork is too small in this area for you to fit. I would recommend a direct assault, if you had brought the team with you Alethia and Aura wanted.
The soldier rolled his eyes. “I did ask didn’t I? You knew the risks to that as well as I did if we sent a whole team in. This data could point us to who both of these companies really are, we can’t risk that.”
The text resumed. Indeed, Lieutenant Colonel. I will relocate and scan again, do not be detected.
The sound of voices and boots on durasteel, brought Len back to reality. Peering carefully around the corner he saw three technicians heading up from the cargo ring. Silently, the man took his aim and switched to stun. His first target was the man in the back. Squeezing the trigger slowly, Len felt something in his gut and lowered his weapon as a volley of blaster bolts ripped through the techs, some the men letting out screams as the bolts found their marks. Switching the blaster to kill, the soldier carefully checked pied the corner. All the Chiss saw was the back of one of the assailants.
Keying his comm to link ID-10 and his father on one channel, Len took as best of a defensive position as he could.
“Dad, the poodoo has hit the fan. Guavian Death Gang is here.”
Ken started his engines for his attack run. “Roger that, I did not see anything dock.”
“They may have been on board already. There isn’t an…” A quiet, pained moan interrupted the Chiss, “Be right back.”
Taking aim in front of himself, Len walked backwards approaching the technicians. The human who had opened Len’s cargo pod weakly motined the soldier closer.
“Help us,” The man tried to breath deep, but failed to.
Len lowered his face covering, tearing it to improvise a bandage. “What happened?”
Jax gasped, “I only heard rumors. The stims! We have to evacuate!”
“Shhh. We will evacuate.” Len put the improvised bandage on the man’s chest wound and started to drag the man towards cover.
I really need to start carrying medpacks. Len thought as he saw the man’s wounds were beyond what he had and really what he could do.
An explosion rocked the base and alarm klaxons rang.
“All personnel, we are under attack, Turbolaser two is damaged, intruders in the command ring!”
“Strike completed, new orders?” The elder Iode said flatly.
“Y-you’re one of them??” Jax tried to pull away. Distant blaster fire and more screams confirmed what Len was afraid of. He was in the middle of a purge.
“ID-10, is the command center sealed?”
Negative.
Len lifted the technician to his feet, moving under the man’s arm to support him from below.
“I’m one of the good guys. You help me and we both get out alive.” Len handed the man his pistol and drew the DH-17 off of his back.
“I don’t feel so good,” The man coughed, “I’m as good as dead.”
“Not if we can get you to that shuttle.”
The man shook his head, tears forming in his eyes. “They would have left us already.”
Hauling the man over into the command center ring, the chaos was clear. Fires were burning on multiple levels of the command ring and the central hub doors were broken.
Len’s comm buzzed
I count only 15 gang members, they have divided themselves up into groups of three. Only one is in the command center.
“Good.”
Turning to Jax, “I need you to stay here, make sure they don’t get through, our ride is the pod I came in. I’m going to the command center.”
The gathered most of his strength and aimed held the blaster at the low ready. Something seemed off about it, Len thought.
Making his way across the mostly open six or seven meters felt like an eternity. Distant shots rang out as the elder Iode commed the younger.
“I believe I figured out how they got in. It appears they were invited by the staff. A possible buyer?”
The Chiss thought a moment. “That would make sense if this is truly a super soldier serum of some type. The GDG loves their serums.”
The soldier came up to the shattered alcove and doors, a couple of humans and a few near humans lay at the door. They had been trying to seal the doors, but a GDG grenade took care of that. Cautiously, the younger Iode made his way up the steps, stopping half way. A few quick taps of the datapad and ID-10 drifted up past Len scanning the area ahead.
It appears there are five in the command center. The droid typed back and then sent an image.
Len analyzed the men’s position and settled on his plan. Brining his DH-17 to the high ready, he activated the door. The closest soldier was watching the door with no cover and was nailed directly in the faceplate by a single shot. Quickly, the Odanite took cover behind the nearest cover. The second soldier had taken cover behind what Len guessed was the communications terminal and was now taking pot shots at the Chiss. The other three, from the image, were huddled around the main terminal. Following around the console, Iode drew a bead on the second soldier and fired three times. The first hit it’s mark, but the second and third missed giving the wounded gang soldier time to fire back, pushing the OEF trooper back behind cover. Standing up, Len’s target was exposed and he fired.
Two down.
The last three were making their way towards one of the other entrances, and were now suppressing the Chiss with blaster fire. Console by console, the Odanite fought his way closer to the central terminal until finally he reached it. Pulling out his spike kit, he rammed the device in and opened the proper prompt on the display.
More blaster fire kept Len honest and behind cover, but it was obvious the GDG soldiers were making their escape. The spike sunk into the port faster than the Chiss expected, quickly checking Len’s worst fears were realized. The Guavian Death Gang now had the only copy of whatever had been in the stations system.
“ID, I need to you to track a group of three GDG troops, they should have been headed towards the shuttle.”
Buzzing affirmatively the droid flew off as Len headed back where he came from. To his surprise, he noticed one GDG member face down near the cargo ring entrance. Jax, half conscious had another in front of him.
“I thought you were dead.” the man coughed, “Glad to see you made it. Can we leave?”
Len nodded, “One last thing.”
The Chiss bent over and began searching the two dead troops and got lucky. The man right in front of the Technician was the slicer and in his pocket was the dataspike.
Turning around to pick Jax up, Len was only partially surprised to realize the man was standing, his own blaster pointed at him.
Ken’s voice broke the silence. “Len, the First Order is here! We have to get out NOW!”
“Indeed we are.” Jax pulled off his top and revealed a Stormtrooper’s plastoid plate beneath.
The Chiss tried his best to fully realize what was going on when suddenly ID-10 flew in and smacked the spy knocking him over. Quickly Len aimed and fired, killing the man. His heart racing, Len sprinted back into the cargo area and keyed the return code into the console by the pod. Ramming himself in with the items being returned to Coruscant, Len remotely sealed and launched the pod, which rocked as the central station exploded. The explosion provided decent cover as the pod made the automated jump to lightspeed followed quickly behind by Ken’s X-Wing