Beyond - Legends The Crimson Force (Cast of FOTJ, OCs)

Force Smuggler, Nyota's Heart, jcgoble3, earlybird-obi-wan, Thuro

Chapter 4

As it turned out, they only needed two prosthetic foreheads.

The planet Muunilinst was a banking world inside the Imperial Remnant. If Daala or Lecersen needed funding for their fleets, they'd likely find a way to get into InterGalactic Banking Clan's primary building and pull off some kind of heist. To prevent that, Jag, Jaina, Tahiri, and Wraith Squadron had infiltrated the planet and were planning to set up a security system of their own to alert them if Daala or Lecersen planned anything.

Turman Durra, being a Clawdite, had shapeshifted into a Muun, one of the tall, thin beings native to Muunilinst. Thaymes and Scut were also wearing Muun disguises–specifically, the prosthetic foreheads, a pair of stilts under long leggings, and long prosthetic fingers under their gloves. Alongside them were Javon and Trey, dressed as bodyguards. Jag and Wran were on a rooftop across the street, armed with sniper rifles; Piggy was in a getaway speeder truck several blocks away; the rest of the squadron members were in plainclothes, wandering around the streets in front of the bank.

"I'm just saying," Javon said as they mounted the stairs to the bank, "that I would've looked great in a Muun costume."

Trey glowered at him. "You're too broad-shouldered. Muuns are very thin."

"Who says I can't be a Muun who lifts weights?"

"If I can't, then you can't," Trey said with finality. "Now be quiet. Look."

A Muun wearing a bank master's robe descended the stairs toward the Wraiths. Turman, acting as the leader of the group, stepped toward him. Thaymes, dressed in the robes of an aide, made a show of drawing out his datapad and typing on it furiously.

"Greetings," said the Muun bank master. "I am Chairman Barkyz Hill."

Turman bowed theatrically. "Greetings, Chairman. I am Officer Falius Rean, newly appointed in charge of security. My companions and I are here to ensure that your bank's security systems are up to date."

Hill nodded. "Of course. Would you like a tour?"

"That would be satisfactory, yes. However, as we do, I would like my compatriot and one of my bodyguards–" he gestured to Thaymes and Trey, "to do their own inspection. They will find any flaws in your systems."

"Well...I suppose I can accept that. However, I must insist that they take two of their security droids with them."

Blast it, Trey thought. That would make things more difficult. Not impossible, however. His blaster had an ion charge attachment that could deactivate droids, even combat droids, easily enough. All he had to do was get to a point where they'd be out of camera range, and he'd be able to take them down quickly and quietly, and they could continue on with their primary mission.

"Then I see no cause for delay," Turman said. "Let us go."

Trey and Thaymes split off from the group and headed into the bank. A pair of black-armored IG droids, emblazoned with the logo of the IGBC, and armed with E-18 blaster rifles, approached them. Trey nodded to one of the droids.

"Hey," he said brightly. "How's it going?"

The droid looked down at Trey. "You may proceed."

"Well, then." Trey shook his head. "Droids these days. No sense of hospitality or friendliness."

"Quiet," Thaymes muttered, and he sounded like he was only half-acting.

Trey nodded and followed Thaymes farther into the bank. They turned a hallway and found themselves approaching the vaults. Trey glanced up and looked at the security cameras.

"Stop here," he said. He pulled out his comlink and called Turman. "Tell Chairman Hill to patch me into bank security."

There was a pause. Then a voice came across the comlink. "Bank security here. With whom am I speaking?"

"I'm Agent Marty Phanan of IG security. I'm going to test your bank's resiliency in the vault halls."

"Understood, Agent Phanan. We'll be watching."

"But you'll never see me," Trey replied, grinning to himself.

His eyes shot across the hall, catching the angles the cameras turned at. They overlapped such that there should not have been any point in the hall outside their range. However, if Trey timed it just right, he might be able to dodge underneath the first holocam...he surged forward so he was standing directly underneath it. Just as the second was turning to a position where it would've caught him, he pulled back just a few centimeters, right out of range of the second camera, but into the first camera's...only the first camera was already turning the other direction. As the second camera began to sweep the other direction, Trey moved across the hall. He repeated the pattern, with increasing difficulty, until he reached a vault, which he picked at random.

Quickly, he knelt by the vault and pulled out a security spike. Quickly, he hacked into the vault and allowed it to swing open. Inside was the usual defense–a ray shield. On the other side of the shield was a control panel that would shut the shield down. Frowning, Trey pulled out a datapad and quickly sent a randomizing signal to the panel. Then a second. That should've reset it to default. He sent a third signal, which deactivated the shield. Grinning, Trey stepped fully into the vault, right into view of the only holocam inside the vault. Beaming, he waved at the cam.

"Hi!" he said. "Your security's awful!"

His comlink beeped. "Agent Phanan, this is bank security. You are authorized to make whatever changes to our systems you need to in order to make things more secure."

"Roger that, that's what I'm here for. Agent Phanan out."

Trey stepped out into the hall, where Thaymes stood waiting with the two IG droids. Trey waited until all the cams were faced away from them, and whipped out his blaster. Before the droids could react, he shot them both with ion bolts that shut them down. He and Thaymes quickly dragged them out of sight of the cams. Trey made a show of dusting off his hands.

"Now," he said, "let's get to work."

 

That was all kinds of cool. So far, so smooth.

 

Story's moving fast!

Loved Javon's reaction to Piggy. And disguises are always fun.

 

Good job. So he is a relative to San Hill? Will the name Hego Damask pop up?

 

Yes.

Eh, probably not, only a small portion of the story will take place on Muunilinst.

 

Grand nephew or something? Oh well. Thought I would ask.

 

Yeah, something like that. And hey, it never hurts to ask!

 

Indeed. That's how we learn.

 

love the breaking in into the bank with the disguises

 

Force Smuggler, Nyota's Heart, jcgoble3, earlybird-obi-wan, Thuro

Chapter 5

Trey and Thaymes quickly attached a signal duplicator to each security camera, as well as making adjustments to extend the range of each cam, ensuring that no one could break in the same way Trey had. Then the two of them reactivated the security droids and left the bank. The droids remained at the entrance while Trey and Thaymes quickly moved down across the street.

In an alley, Thaymes quickly stripped off his Muun disguise, revealing his curly black hair. Underneath his aide's uniform he wore a black skintight jumpsuit. He nodded to Trey and pulled on a comlink headset.

"Comm Boy here," he said. "Muscle Boy and I are out."

"Roger that." That was Jag, on the building directly above them. "Gun Boy and I are ready for exfil as soon as Stage Boy, Lab Boy, and Soldier Boy are out."

"We're leaving the bank now," Javon said. "And who gave me the nickname Soldier Boy? Makes me sound like an upstanding citizen or something."

"You got a better nickname?" Myri asked.

Javon considered. "Well..."

"That's what I thought."

Trey and Thaymes walked back out onto the street. Trey glanced around. He saw Turman, Scut, and Javon walking down the steps at the front of the bank. Myri and Jesmin sat on a bench across the street. Drikall and Huhunna, looking every bit the professional businessman and bodyguard, strolled down a sidewalk perpendicular to the trio exiting the bank. Tahiri and Sharr, looking like daughter and father out for a midday stroll, moved toward them from the opposite direction. A moment later, the large speeder truck Piggy was piloting pulled up.

"That's our ride," Jag said. "Everybody out."

Trey hopped up inside the enclosed bed of the speeder truck. Thaymes followed, along with Myri and Jesmin. Soon, the entire squadron was inside, save for Jag and Wran.

"We'll go around the alley and pick them up," said Jaina, riding in the cab with Piggy.

Trey shut the bed door and sat down beside Jesmin as the speeder took off. Casually, he crossed his legs and reached his arm around Jesmin's shoulders. The girl gave him a look that was part pleased and part threatening. Deciding the threatening part was more prominent, Trey removed his arm and clasped his hands politely in his lap. He tried to avoid eye contact with the rest of the squadron as they suppressed laughter.

"All right, boys," Piggy said. "Your ride's here."

The door opened and Jag and Wran hopped in. The speeder truck lifted off once again and they headed out away from the bank. Thaymes pulled out his datapad and switched it on. He grinned fiercely.

"All our dupes are working," he said. "We're getting feed from every cam in the bank."

The squadron applauded.

"Can we go eat?" Javon asked.

* * *

Night fell. Myri and Drikall, wearing ambience suits and standing atop the building Jag and Wran had occupied hours earlier, kept watch on the bank. Drikall had a portable computer sitting on the rooftop beside him, receiving all the feed from the holocams. Myri, armed with macrobinoculars, watched the streets below. Their speeder truck, currently occupied by Jag, Jaina, and Thaymes, sat two blocks down, looking innocuous with a fresh coat of drab gray paint.

"Lecersen's got an account here," Thaymes said. "Head of State Reige locked him out of it after he took office. From what we've seen there's still the same amount of credits in the account as the day of the lockout. But Lercersen will move soon, no doubt–even if he and Daala are working together, they'll need funding soon."

"Right," Myri replied. "Desperate people doing desperate things for money."

"Don't judge," Drikall said, deadpan. "I've done much worse for money before I joined the squadron. Did you know that there are over fifty different variants of spice that can be used for medicinal purposes?"

Myri glared at the Devaronian. "Um. I didn't."

"Well, there are. I believe I've handled every single kind, too."

"Good to know," Myri replied, rolling her eyes. "But I think robbing a bank is a bit different."

Drikall shrugged. "Just making conversation."

Myri scanned the street again. So far, no...wait. On the south wall of the bank, Myri saw a vague, shadowy movement. She zoomed in on the spot. Sure enough, there was definitely movement down there. Someone fire a grapnel hook up at the bank's roof. Myri's eyes narrowed.

"Looks like we're on the clock, people," she said. "Intruders hitting the bank."

"That's it, then," Jag said. "Everyone grab your weapons and move in. It's go time."

 

Great chapter! Very fun! Action time!

 

Excellent progress on the plan. LOL on the nicknames and Trey with Jesmin.

Drikall and Myri's conversation - terrific and compelling debate there.

 

Great conversations! And "go time" means ACTION!

 

fun action and conversation and now some more?

 

Force Smuggler, Nyota's Heart, jcgoble3, earlybird-obi-wan, Thuro

Chapter 6

Jag moved in toward the back door of the bank, holding his blaster in both hands. Behind him were Jaina, Piggy, and Javon. Myri, Drikall, Tahiri, Wran, and Trey would take the front door, while Sharr, Jesmin, Scut, Huhunna, and Turman took the roof. Thaymes was in the speeder, providing technical support. Jag looked up. He could see the fibercord used by the intruders dangling from the roof. They'd intercept them inside.

"All bank doors unlocked...now," Thaymes said. "You may bask in my amazingness."

"Basking," Javon replied, deadpan. "And I'm over it."

Jag grinned. He grabbed the door handle, turned it, and pulled the door open, training his blaster inside. Jaina, Piggy, and Javon quickly swept in, blasters raised–even Jaina had a blaster, because a lightsaber wasn't a subtle way to stop a bank robbery, really. Jag moved in last and shut the door silently behind him. He moved to the front of the group and led them down the hall.

"Security cams off...now," Thaymes said.

Jag pressed his back to the nearest wall and began moving down the hall. He peeked around the next corner and looked up. He could see the open skylight, the infiltrators rappelling down inside. They wore black, so it was hard to see them in the lightless bank. Jag held up his empty hand and gestured for the others to come forward, slowly. He led them slowly down the hall.

The intruders moved over to the vault. One of them pulled out a datapad and started entering commands. The vault's locks began to turn–and a moment later, there was a loud thunk as all of the latches opened. The intruders pulled the vault door open and started to move inside. Jag raised his blaster but did not fire. He needed to see what they took, first–there was every possibility that this was just a routine robbery, and not a Lecersen/Daala op. Of course, if it was, Jag would still be honor-bound to stop them–but he'd be very annoyed.

"Lecersen's vault is 2015A," Thaymes said.

"Right," Jag whispered.

He moved over to the vault and flanked it. Jaina stood beside him. Piggy and Javon silently swept across to the other side of the vault and pressed themselves against the wall on that side. Jag looked down the hall. He could see the main doors slowly swing open, and Myri's group move in. He also saw Wran's group beginning to rappel down from the skylight.

"How many are there?" Myri whispered over the comlink.

"I saw five go into the vault," Jaina replied. "And I think there might've been more that went to a different part of the bank."

Jag held a finger to his lips and slowly moved his head around the corner to look inside. The intruders were moving to several different security boxes and opening them–but Jag saw that, indeed, one of them was Lecersen's 2015A. He tightened his jaw. All right, then. Go time.

"Fan out," he said quietly. "Find the others. We'll take these guys."

"Right," came Sharr's reply.

Jag held up three fingers. He lowered one, and then two. When he lowered his third finger, he spun around into the vault, his blaster trained on the nearest intruder.

"Freeze!" he snapped. "Hands up!"

The intruders snapped up instantly–and opened fire with carbines. Jag snarled in Cheunh and rolled aside, snapping off a shot. He ducked behind a potted plant as the carbine shots converged on his position. Then, Jaina and Piggy moved in and opened fire, and the intruders had more problems to worry about. Jag peered around the plant and studied the intruders. They all wore matte-black stormtrooper armor.

"Great," he growled. "They're armored."

Javon rolled into the room and snapped off a shot. It caught one of the stormtroopers in the throat and sent him staggering back. Jag ducked out of his cover and fired a pair of shots at the stormtrooper at Lecersen's vault. The stormtrooper returned fire. Jag ducked and the pot holding the plant exploded, sending dirt and pottery spraying everywhere. Jaina jerked her blaster up and shot that stormtrooper twice in the chest. He dropped–the first shot was absorbed, but the second pierced his armor at a weak point.

Piggy charged at one of the closer stormtroopers, his blaster firing the whole time. The trooper, startled by the sight of a Gamorrean in an ambience suit and armed with a blaster pistol charging at him, took several steps back and fired wildly. Piggy slammed into the trooper and swept him aside with a wide stroke of his massive arms. The trooper groaned as he slammed into the wall, and collapsed, unconscious. Jag gave himself a satisfied smile. Piggy had efficiently provided them a prisoner.

Javon and Jaina focused their fire on the two remaining stormtroopers. One of the stormtroopers caught Javon in the gut with a return shot, but he was far enough away that Javon's ambience suit absorbed the shot–although it did sent the young man to the ground, gasping for breath. Jag popped his head over his ruined cover and fired three shots. All three hit the leftmost stormtrooper in the chest plate, killing him. A moment later, Jaina cut down the last trooper with a pair of shots.

"Nice work," Jag said.

"Wraiths," Piggy said, "report in."

"Got some trouble here," Trey replied.

"On our way!" Jag replied. "Piggy, grab the prisoner." He helped Javon to his feet. "You all right, kid?"

Javon nodded weakly. "Yeah...talk about taking your breath away."

Jag chuckled. "Come on, let's help your buddies."

* * *

The stormtroopers had already grabbed whatever it was they were looking for–the lead trooper had a briefcase in one hand and pistol in the other–and were headed out. Trey, Myri, and Drikall happened to be searching this corridor when they'd come out of the vault. Trey had called out for them to stop, and the stormtroopers had opened fire. Now, they ran swiftly down the halls, toward a turbolift.

Trey fired a quick shot at one of the rear troopers and caught him in the shin plate. The trooper shouted in pain but kept limping along, returning fire. Trey ducked behind a pillar, avoiding the blaster shots, and then turned and resumed pursuit. The troopers entered the turbolift and punched in a command. Trey fired a volley of shots, but the doors shut too quickly.

"They're headed for the parking garage," Thaymes said.

"Thanks, buddy," Trey replied.

He led Myri and Drikall to a stairway and they quickly ran down, hopping two or three steps at a time. They reached the bottom floor–the parking garage–and Trey kicked open the door. The turbolift had already arrived, and the stormtroopers–there seemed to be six of them–were just stepping out. Trey opened fire, catching the one with the briefcase in the chest. Myri and Drikall fired, too, their combined fire dropping another stormtrooper.

Then the other four stormtroopers opened fire. Trey rolled quickly behind a speeder, and the blaster bolts impacted on the other side of the vehicle. Drikall and Myri ducked behind another speeder. One of the stormtroopers grabbed the briefcase from the fallen leader, and they began running farther into the garage. Trey stood and fired again. His shot bounced off the shoulder plate of the trooper he fired at. Myri and Drikall fired, too, each cutting down a stormtrooper.

Two left, one with the briefcase.

The stairway and turbolift doors slid open at the same time, and Wraiths poured in–Sharr, Wran, and Tahiri from the stairway, and Jag, Javon, and Jaina from the turbolift. The Wraiths opened fire on the pair of stormtroopers. The two black-armored intruders leapt into an open-topped speeder. Blaster bolts sheared holes in the speeder's doors and windshield. The stormtrooper in the pilot's seat powered up the speeder and lifted off.

"Blast it, stop them!" Jag growled.

Trey fired at the back of the speeder. His bolts seared the paint but did not drop it. The speeder roared out onto the streets...and was gone. The comlink filled with loud and unfortunate expletives from several different speakers, and Trey winced. He grabbed his comlink out of his ear and threw it to the ground in frustration. The Wraiths exchanged glances, the same question on all their minds.

* * *

Back in their safehouse, they finally got to get the question out in the open. It was Jag, hands on his hips and pacing around the low table in the middle of the safehouse's living room, who spoke it first.

"So what did they get away with?" he asked.

"I'm looking into that right now," Thaymes replied, typing busily on his computer. "I should have the results soon."

Piggy exhaled. "Overall, I think the operation was a success. Yes, they got away with something, but at least we know we're right now–Lecersen did come after the money in his accounts, so we know that at least he is running out of funding. Possibly Daala too, if they're still working together."

Jag nodded. "Yeah. You're right. Unfortunately now the Muunilinst police and the Imperials have a bunch of black-armored stormtrooper corpses on their hands and they're going to wonder how they became corpses. So we need to find those escaped stormtroopers and whatever they stole on the double." He turned to Thaymes. "You running that speeder's plates?"

Thaymes nodded. "I'm doing all I can. Remember, I still have to find out what it is they–oh, here we go."

The Wraiths all looked at him.

"I just figured out what they stole. The vault that was emptied belonged to one Wilhuff Vorn."

"Daala's son," Jag said.

"Yeah. And guess what was in the vault?"

"I'm guessing 'not credits' is a suitable answer," Javon replied.

"That's correct," Thaymes said. "In that vault was a datachip containing the location of an Imperial battle group codenamed the Crimson Force."

Jag hissed. "Oh, blast."

Everyone turned to look at Jag.

"What does that mean?" asked Sharr.

"If it means what I think it means," Jag replied, "then they may not need the money in Lecersen's vault. We have to find those stormtroopers before they leave Muunilinst. Daala can't get those coordinates." He jabbed a forefinger at Thaymes. "Find that speeder."

Thaymes nodded. "Working on it."

"Work faster," Jag said. "This is bigger than anything I expected."

 

Excellent action scene.
Daala has a son???????????????????????????????????

 

Revelation mentioned that Legius Vorn and Daala had a son and granddaughter. None of the FOTJ books ever mentioned either of them, though.

 

Oh no.........
I think I remember that little detail now................................
Curses.

 

Super action and mysterious codename

 

Love the attention to detail with Daala's son.

And not every operation is a complete success; sometimes one gets away. Let's hope they don't get too far away...

I have to wonder what this Crimson Force is, though.

 

Gripping action. Imps getting away but don't let them go at all

 

Force Smuggler, Nyota's Heart, jcgoble3, earlybird-obi-wan, Thuro

Chapter 7

Standing on the second-floor balcony of the safehouse, Trey Courser looked out over the city. Trey was deep in thought–this whole situation had hit a little close to home for him. His arms crossed in front of him, Trey leaned on the balcony railing. He heard the door behind him whoosh open, and he did not turn. He heard no footsteps, but there was a slight whoosh of air, and Jesmin landed beside Trey, squatting on the railing. Trey marveled at her balance–the railing wasn't all that thick; for her to be able to squat down on it and not fall was no small feat.

"What's wrong, Trey?" she asked. "I can sense your internal conflict all the way from downstairs."

Trey snorted. "That obvious, eh?"

Jesmin nodded. "Yeah, it really is. Is this about the fact that those two troopers got away? That's not your fault, Trey; you did everything you could, and you did well to take down as many of them as you did."

"It's not that," he replied. "It's just...never mind."

"You can tell me, Trey."

"Yeah, I could, but you wouldn't understand if I did."

"How do you know?"

Trey felt his frustration ready to burst from his system. He really didn't want to talk about it, but even so he felt as if he would burn up into a cinder if he didn't say anything right now. And besides, he trusted Jesmin enough to know that what he was about to say wouldn't hurt her...he hoped.

"You wouldn't understand because your father is a hero!" Trey exploded.

"What?" Jesmin asked, eyes wide. She dropped from the rail to stand beside him. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Kell Tainer," Trey said. "A member of the original Wraith Squadron. Myri's father is Wedge Antilles, the man who made the Rogues and the Wraiths famous. Possibly the most famous pilot in the history of the galaxy, besides Luke Skywalker. Wran's aunt is Shalla Nelprin, the second-best hand-to-hand combat expert in the last forty years. Jaina's got Han Solo for her father–hard to get any more famous than him. And then there's Jag–his father's Baron Soontir Fel, one of the Empire's greatest pilots. I'm surrounded by people with famous fathers."

Jesmin shook her head as he talked. "So?"

"So," Trey replied, "this whole scenario brought back memories of why I joined Wraith Squadron–to clear up the Courser family name. Because my father...my father was just an ordinary guy. A clerk, from Corellia, who lived on Coruscant with his family. I was eighteen, going to college back on Corellia. Then Jacen Solo started his whole internment for all Corellian citizens on Coruscant, just because Corellia's government wanted to break away."

"So your family was interned," Jesmin replied.

"No, actually," Trey replied. "Well, my mom and sister were. My dad...he wouldn't have any of it, so he snuck out, and he became exactly what Jacen Solo and his GAG buddies feared."

"A terrorist."

"Yeah. Well...not exactly a terrorist. But he and some of the other Corellians who resented the internment started robbing banks, killing Coruscant Security Officers who tried to intern more Corellians..."

"Ah," Jesmin replied. "So that's why those memories started coming back tonight."

"Yeah," Trey confirmed. "And one day, my dad and his buddies tried to raid a middle-city bank. The GAG was waiting for them. My dad opened fire on them...he and his buddies were all killed."

"So when you fired on those troopers, you pictured yourself as one of the GAG officers who shot your dad down."

Trey sighed. "Yeah. Pretty much. I didn't hear about Dad's break from sanity until about two months later. I wanted to make up for his mistakes...so as soon as Jacen Solo was killed, I signed up for the GA military. They wouldn't take me because of my father's record...and then a few years later, Face Loran found me and recruited me for Wraith Squadron. I saw my chance and took it."

Jesmin put her hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Trey. For what it's worth, you've already made up for any sins your father committed."

"Thanks, Jez."

There was a long pause. Then, a shout from down in the ops room.

"I found it!" Thaymes called.

* * *

Myri jerked her head up. She'd fallen asleep in an uncomfortable folding chair in the ops room of the safehouse. She winced as she sat up, rubbing a crick out of her neck. Her blaster, sitting on her lap, clattered to the floor. Annoyed, Myri leaned down and picked it up. Jag and Jaina strode in, followed by Trey and Jesmin, and then the other members not yet in the room.

"Got the speeder on a traffic holocam near the spaceport," Trey said. "But it's empty. Looks like they dumped it."

"Blast," Jag growled. "Okay, we're going to the spaceport. We have nondescript coveralls?"

Sharr nodded. "Yes, and plenty of them."

"Good. We'll go in as a repair crew or something and we'll check all fight logs for two men filed in the last hour or so. Hopefully we can catch them before they get off-planet."

"And if we don't?" Myri asked.

"Then we'd better start searching for an army to back us up," Jag replied. "Let's hope we don't have to deal with that, though. Come on, let's get moving, now!"

 

Good interaction!
Back to action!

 

Enjoyed the talk between Jesmin and Trey. He was able to confide quite a bit. Woo! Action's picking up again. I hope they don't have to scrounge up an army!

 

Good for Trey on finally confiding in someone. Very interesting past.

And the hunt is on!