Beyond - Legends Finished, finally!!! New Jedi Order: Night Stalkers (Face Loran, Kell Tainer, OC) 10/17/0

Very, very good.
Are we going to run into the Old Man himself anytime soon, hopefully?

It would be interesting to read one day an AU about the Wraiths and Rogues going up against none other than the Grand Admiral Thrawn.

 

Hi guys, thanks for all the great feedback. Sorry this took so long. I'm glad you like Hammax, I really liked his character from the the Black Fleet Crisis and decided to bring him back.






Chapter Three
Hyperspace


"How long to the rally point, Colonel?" Kell asked as he entered the cockpit.

"We're about three hours out, son. How are you boys holding up?" Hallen responded. The aging man had been at the controls for the last two hours, having traded off with his copilot, Captain Vissek, every five hours throughout the fifteen hour journey through hyperspace. The younger pilot was still strapped into his chair, though, but was clearly asleep.

"The troops are doing fine, grabbing sleep while they can. It might be our last chance for a while."

"That begs the question, son, why are you still up?"

Kell took a seat behind the pilots before responding. "Honestly? I don't expect we'll get the call, sir. Have you been briefed in on the situation?" Tainer asked.

"No, all we've been told pertains to your insertion. They're keeping things on a need to know basis." Hallen answered.

"Yeah, that's what I expected. Well, I suppose I can share a few details with you," he said, giving the old pilot a conspiratorial look, "we're going in to assist with the extraction of a target apprehended by Imperial Intelligence. I've dealt with Imperial Intelligence more than a few times in my career, and the results were never pretty. They're the pro's, the Imp's may have let their military decline significantly, but there spooks are still top notch. I don't expect to find much left of our target."

Hallen nodded his agreement. "Oh yes, son, I can agree with that. I've had a few brushes with them myself. I've never been much of a ground-pounder, though. My specialty is space operations, as you could probably guess."

"You're NRI?" Kell asked with some disbelief.

"Yep, I've been with the Intelligence Directorate for over a decade now. I came up in Starfighter Command originally, but I was recruited into the aerial reconnaissance unit early on in my career. I flew Recon-X's through the Yeventha Crisis. My reflexes are too slow for that kind of thing now, though, so I do mostly insertions, extractions, and things like that. Now, Vissek over there is part of S3," He finished, referring to the Special Ship Service, referred to as S3 for short, the Special Operations arm of Starfighter Command. "He's a pretty hot stick, I'm told. He can make this old barge dance like an A-Wing," he said, obviously exaggerating.

Kell let out a low whistle. "Good to know we've got some real pro's for this mission."

"Ha, like you'll need it. These missions are easy, son. Fly into a spaceport, take off, go home. You boys will do all of the hard work. We just have to make sure we don't bump anyone on the way in." He paused for a moment before continuing. "You're one of Kalenda's Operations boys, I take it, paramilitary, by the looks of you."

Kell nodded, "Yes sir, I'm a Wraith."

"A Wraith? I've never heard of the Wraiths."

"Good, that's the way we like it," Kell responded with a broad smile.

"Oh, I get it. You're one of those Covert Ops Teams."

"That's right," Tainer said, glancing at his chrono. "Well, I better grab some sleep while I still can, just in case. Do me a favor and keep this conversation between us, eh?"

"Will do, will do."

*****************************

"We're receiving a priority transmission from Bastion, Colonel," one of Kalenda's aides called out, motioning for attention. Colonel's Kalenda and Wessiri rose quickly from their seats around Kalenda's desk and strode over to the terminal occupied by the aide. "It's from Colonel Hammax, ma'am."

"Bring it up, Corporal." The tech typed a few commands into the terminal and the text appeared on the screen. All three women read it silently:

To: Operations Command Center, NRI Central Command
From: Chief of Station (Bastion)

Agent WRAITH in place as of 04:00 local time. Operation Free Royal initiated. Target PRI

 

I almost forgot this one! Stupid me!

Yay!

 

Up!!!

 

Up!!! Again....someone read this please.

 

Face, come by the Face and Ton Appreciation Society in the EUC and give a shameless plug! We're always on the lookout for Face and Ton fiction!

 

//delurks and raises hand

Hey, one reader right here! I'm really enjoying the story so far, so please post more soon.

 

Sorry guys, I've been out of the loop for a few weeks now, I'll try to get another section up later today or tomorrow.

 

Upping this, hoping for a post soon... *puppy eyes*

 

Getting to the cell was a simple task. After showing the guards his badge, they escorted him to her cell without question. The guard entered his security code into a pad next to the door, activating the outer security door. He told Face to wait for the outer door to close before opening the inner door, and showed him how to activate that door. "Thanks, Lieutenant, I'll call you when I'm finished."

"Very good, sir." The outer door closed swiftly and silently. Face once again took a preparatory deep breath before activating the inner door. It opened, revealing a small cell, with an uncomfortable looking bench along the back wall, upon which sat Allysen Menin. She didn't seem surprised in the least to see the door suddenly open, with Face standing there in the guise of Colonel Lomarr. He closed the inner door before proceeding.

"Hello there." He said, carefully. He knew the cell had to be bugged, so keeping his voice in character was a must. She didn't respond, just stared up at him from her bench. She appeared in good condition, looking exactly like her file photo, and pretty, despite what had to have been a very rough day in the custody of Imperial Intelligence. "I'm going to give you one more opportunity to talk with us before we try some other means." His actions did not match his words, however, as he pulled his datapad out of his breast pocket. Already displayed on it was a single sentence:

Don't react.

Her eyes flared just a little, revealing her surprise as her training kicked in. This wasn't a normal questioning session. He made eye contact with her, staring directly at her for a few long moments. Without breaking the gaze, he relaxed the muscles around his eyes and mouth, and the person she thought was the Colonel suddenly changed, looking softer, gentler, and kinder. She knew immediately this wasn't the same man. He tapped his datapad and the next message appeared:

I'm here to help.

She nodded.

Are you injured?

She shook her head no.

Don't speak. Do not respond to this question.

"Alright, Ms. Melan, what is your real name?" he said aloud. She said nothing in response.

Have you told them anything?

Again, she indicated negatively.

"Who are you working for?" He asked, in the Colonel's voice. Again, she did not respond to the question.

Did you accomplish your objective?

She nodded affirmatively. Good, Face thought to himself. He pulled out his stylus and wrote out one final message on the datapad, and handed it to her.

You are being moved tomorrow night. Be prepared for extraction during the transportation phase. Do NOTHING out of the ordinary. Say nothing.

Face sighed, "So you refuse to cooperate. As you wish, we'll have to use more severe measures," he said, trying to sound both frustrated and sympathetic. Before he left, though, he flashed her a handsome smile, trying to ease the fear she must certainly be feeling.

**********

Face came charging into his hotel room a while later, finding a surprised Hammax standing over the still unconscious officer cuffed to the bed. "That was quick."

"I found her," he answered, mildly out of breath from his sprint from the parking garage. "She's there, she's definitely there. We need to get word to the response team. She's being moved tomorrow night. We need to be in position to free her by then."

Hammax took that in stride. "I contacted Coruscant while you were out, the primary response team is reaching the jump off point in, oh, one hour and twenty minutes," he said, consulting his chrono. "I'll have a man in Space Control broadcast the go codes then. Where do you want them to land?"

That question gave Face momentary pause. Things had been progressing so rapidly he hadn't even considered that. "You have a map?"

Hammax nodded and brought up a map on his datapad. Hammax and Headquarters had already taken the time to establish five potential landing zones, and they were marked on the display. Face picked out the military prison about 350 kilometers due east

 

Chapter Four
Space Control

Rhenny Lindam didn't know what the sentence "Hawkbat, Hawkbat, Bravo Two-Zero-Niner" meant, nor did he really care. All he knew was that he was being paid several thousand credits to repeat that sentence twice every three minutes for fifteen minutes, and so he would. He was returning from his usual caf break when he found the message, scribbled on a piece of flimsi, along with a time, 03:37, taped to the usual spot on the underside of his console. He didn't give it a second thought. It was easier on his conscious this way. Getting paid so much for such an easy task certainly helped ease any guilt he would have otherwise felt, also.

His chrono beeped, just as he had set it to, at 03:36. He looked around the control room, making sure that none of his fellow traffic controllers were paying him any particular attention, and activated his microphone, setting it to the frequency the man with the credits had told him to use for occasions such as these. At precisely 03:37 he spoke calmly into his headset: "Hawkbat, Hawkbat, Bravo Two-Zero-Niner. Hawkbat, Hawkbat, Bravo
Two-Zero-Niner."

That done, he went back to work.

**************

Kell had been in the midst of a very heated game of sabacc with Kal, Davis, Park, and Allard when Colonel Hallen's voice came over the comm. unit. "We're coming up on the rally point." The soldiers groaned at having their game interrupted, but Kell just stood up and headed for the door to the cockpit.

"Set the comm. receiver to frequency 2120," he told the copilot when he arrived in the cockpit. The navicomputer beeped then, and the bright white expanse of hyperspace streaked back to realspace, leaving the transport, appropriately dubbed the Nighthawk, drifting silently in space. Bastion was in the distance, directly ahead, only a short microjump away. The three men were surprised when the comm. unit began squawking with life almost immediately.

"Hawkbat, Hawkbat, Bravo Two-Zero-Niner. Hawkbat, Hawkbat, Bravo Two-Zero-Niner." That was it, that was the go code. "Wow," he said quietly to the two pilots, doing a good job of hiding his surprise. He leaned over and activated the comm. unit in the cabin. "Mount up, boys, we're going in."

*********

Iella was in the middle of a brief nap when the call came in this time. Another aide, this time a young man, woke her up and handed her the datapad with the transmission already displayed. "Transmission from Bastion, ma'am. Three of them, all of them came within the last few minutes."

It took a few minutes for her sleepy eyes to resolve the glowing images on the screen into words. Finally, she saw:

To: Operations Command Center, NRI Central Command
From: Chief of Station (Bastion)

Target's location confirmed at Imperial Headquarters. Contact made. Target will be transported to Wingen Army Base for detention tomorrow at 20:00 local time. Expect action before then. Activating Primary Response Team.

End.

To: Operations Command Center, NRI Central Command
From: Agent VORNSK

Primary Response Team on station at Rally Point X-Ray. Awaiting orders.

End.

To: Operations Command Center, NRI Central Command
From: Agent VORNSK

Primary Response Teama ctivated. Proceeding to LZ Bravo.

End.

She noticed that the final two messages had come in within minutes of each other, the first an automatic message sent by the team when it came out of hyperspace, followed immediately by a follow-up confirmation of upon receiving the go-code. Excellent, that meant the team would be on the ground in alittle over an hour. That left plenty of time to make arrangements to free the target. "Good, get this to Colonel Kalenda."

The Nighthawk reemerged from hyperspace, this time much closer to the planet of Bastion. Colonel Hallen expertly guided the transport towards the space lanes heading towards the Capitol District Docking bays. "Cargo Hauler Nighthawk, this is Bastion Space Control, please identify yourself."

Hallen activated his own comm. system. "Control, this is the

 

YAY! Great job, Face!!!

 

Well now, things just turned up quite a bit.
I wonder how Fey'lya, once he gets hold of this, will use this for political gain. The sneaky little furball.
Now all this little reunion needs is Isard and Lumiya appearing out the blue.

 

Hey, this is a great story! Well-developed and well-planned out, I'd say. I am eagerly awaiting more.

Edit: Emoticon difficulties...

 

I hate to be pessimistic, but I'd say things are looking a bit too good at the moment. I'm just waiting for something to go horribly wrong... Then again, I tend to be a bit paranoid at times.

Please, please post more soon!

 

More up tomorrow, I promise!

 

Ooh ooh ooh! Yes!

 

Wonderful!

 

Colonel Bijo Hammax was having a very good morning. The captured Intelligence Officer proved to be very forthcoming, once the proper chemicals were introduced into his system. Now, he was putting to use the security codes and decryption methods he had just gleaned from the man, working on a way to infiltrate Loran into the security team. It wasn't proving to be much of a challenge. It was only a few minutes work to use the new codes to access that night's duty roster, which listed the names of each man assigned to the security detail. A few clicks on the datapad later, and he had each man's full personal records in front of him. Now, he had two of his field officers staking out the two most junior officers of that team. When given the word, one of them would secretly take their target into custody and bring him back to the embassy, where it would be a simple task for Loran to assume that man's identity.

He also had the fourth member of his team, another field officer, up in the lab, beginning the process of fabricating a mask, wig, and other equipment to make Loran appear as the newly captured security guard, using the images taken from their own personnel files as references. When Loran returned, he would put the finishing touches on the disguise.

Hammax leaned back, pleased with his work. He was already looking forward to putting the new information to even further use, but forced himself to focus on the current situation for the time being.

The sun was coming up when Loran returned to the embassy, finding Hammax at his desk in the basement level.

"Nice disguise."

"Thanks," Face responded with a snicker, pealing off the mask that had turned him into what appeared to be a heavily tattooed, sixty year old man. "Can't be too careful, we can't afford it if the Imperials find any connection between the New Republic and PRINCESS."

Hammax nodded, and then filled him in on the plan for the day. "Sounds good, Bijo," Face said. He noted that he had to report for duty at the Headquarters building at 19:00, according to the duty roster. That left two hours before the transportation mission began, which could be two potentially dangerous hours. Two idle hours were two hours where his cover could be blown.

"Ever done this kind of thing before?"

"Yes, some. It's not so fun. I much prefer pretending to be someone fictional. So much simpler that way," he said, thinking back to his very first missions. "My first undercover mission, I had to pretend to be obsessed with the late Ysanne Isard to cover up a momentary slip out of character." Bijo grimaced at that. "Yeah, you know, that was not fun. Second mission was much better, pretended to be a Pirate leader with an overblown sense of self importance."

"So, you just acted natural?" Hammax said, poking fun at the younger man.

"Yeah, yeah," Face said with a smile, taking the ribbing in stride. "I've done a whole lot more since then, though. They've all sort of blended together."

"I suppose that's natural," Bijo said as he stood up from his desk. "You should head upstairs. I've got Vince working on your disguise up in the lab, I'm sure he could use your help."

"Great."

**********

The additional time to plan this night's infiltration proved to be time well spent, as Face managed to join up with his new "unit" without incident and much less in the way of nervousness. He joined the rest of the team as they suited up for the mission, and fell in line as they hefted their weapons and headed for the vehicle pool. It turned out to be a very simple mission. His squad was instructed to load up in the back of the APC and stay alert, while the other squad escorted the prisoner from her cell. Face managed to arrange it so he was the farthest soldier from the door, the last one out in the case of a fight. He checked his weapon over every couple of minutes to fight the boredom. Then at 21:00 exactly, the back hatch lowered and the prisoner escort approached the vehicle, right on schedule. The leader of Face's unit, a Captain, took Menin, whose arms and legs ha

 

"What do you think?" Jensen Kal asked Tainer, handing him the set of macrobinoculars.

"It's as good a spot as any, I suppose," he said. "Let's see, we put Sergeant Lantee a couple hundred meters up the road, around that bend maybe, to act as a spotter. You, Davis and Park set up at the top of the embankment on this side of the road, Me, Allard, and Wilki on the opposite side. Your team handles the rear two vehicles, mine the front pair. When the convoy is directly in between us, Wilki and Davis unload with there Anti-Tank Rockets, disabling the combat vehicles. You and Allard take out the drivers of the two personnel vehicles using your sniper rifles," he said, pointing towards the ambush zone, "and Park and I engage any of the troops that dismount. We all move in, clear out any lingering resistance with grenades, and make a run for the tree line."

Kal followed Tainer's plan intently, nodding every few sentences. "Good. I expect your man in the first truck can handle any resistance that remains inside. That second speeder might present a little more difficulty. Worst comes to worst, we blow that one up with another rocket." Kell's eyes lit up with that mention. Demolitions work was his first love. "How much time we have?"

"Two hours or so."

"Okay, everyone, check your weapons, and start gathering something to use as camouflage. Lantee, you're on point, head up the road around the bend and find someplace to hide. Davis and Park, you're with me. The rest of you are with the spook. Let's move."

It was dark by the time the team had settled into their spots. Each man was laying on their belly atop the embankments, with a good view of the road twenty or thirty meters ahead of them, each man hidden by tall grasses. Kell was wearing his night vision goggles now, scanning the area for movement. It was a cool night, and he was mildly worried about his muscles tightening up as they waited for the convoy to arrive. Farther down the road, Sergeant Wil Lantee, who was now wearing a ghillie suit that made him look like a walking bush but made him all but invisible, had set up in some brush and was using night vision goggles and macrobinoculars to scan the road ahead.

Jensen's muffled voice came over the comm. unit. "Remember, we've got two friendlies in the first transport speeder. Make sure you know what you're shooting at." Once again, the troops were engulfed in silence. A long hour passed before something would break the silence.

Suddenly, Lantee's voice came over the comm., in a whisper. "Vehicle lights ahead...four sets. I can't make out what type of speeder they are."

"Roger that, Point. Keep me posted," came Jensen's voice, equally quiet.

A few long moments passed before the team heard from Lantee again. "Okay, Lead, it's definitely the convoy. Moving at about 50 kilometers an hour, will be at your position momentarily.

"Acknowledged, Point. Firing positions," Kal ordered, quietly but sternly. "Demolitions and Snipers fire on my mark, all others engage at will once the rockets hit." Next to Kell, Sergeant Benn Wilki rose to one knee and steadied the antitank rocket launcher on his right shoulder, and peered through its aiming mechanism. A few meters to their left, Staff Sergeant Dann Allard lay prone, leveling his Merr-Sonn LD-1 Sniper Rifle on a spot in the road where he expected the speeder pilot's head to be soon. Kell hefted his own rifle, a BlasTech A280K Heavy Assault Rifle, and readied himself for the engagement. He could see the glow of the lights from around the bend, and expected the speeders to round that corner momentarily.

Five seconds later they rounded the corner, moving at a rapid pace. He saw both Allard and Wilki lock in on their targets and begin tracking them. Within seconds the convoy was directly between the two fire teams. When Jensen's voice came across the comm., it was calm and controlled: "Fire."

Kell immediately saw the sniper bolts leap across the distance and strike home, killing both pilots instantly. Both large speeders slowed to a stop almost immediately

 

Wow, that was very cool!! You have a flair for writing actions scenes, I think. I cannot wait for more.

 

GReat job! (Although if Face touched me, I don't think I'd be calmed down....)

 

Wow! I just found this Fic last night, and I really had fun reading through it. I love how you write Face, he seems just the way he was in the X-wing books. Keep up the awesome job!

 

Up with this!

 

Hey, thanks guys. I've had an awesome but busy week and a half, but I think it's time I took the time to get another post up!