Beyond - Legends A Simple Recon

A Simple Recon

A few months after the Yuuzhan Vong War, in a system in the Grohl sector . . .

Alema Rar muttered a curse; for about the thousandth time since coming to this Force-forsaken planet. She had jumped in three days ago with two Noghri commandos and a Human Special Forces medic. They were supposed to recon a compound that belonged to a rogue general turned warlord who was attempting to overthrow the local planetary government, then support the government forces in their assault on the compound. Almost immediately things had started to go wrong.

Only minutes after they hit the ground their transport was shot down by anti-aircraft fire. Their supposed allies said they couldn't mount a search-and-rescue mission for the two pilots. That meant Alema Rar and her team had to take care of it, which meant she would have to divide her force.

The two Noghri easily worked best together. Juice was a far superior medic though, so she had to send him on the rescue mission. Ghariwalh volunteered to go with him, so he and Juice departed to locate and extract the transport pilots. Meanwhile Alema Rar and Bakharim headed for the enemy compound to complete the team's original mission.

For Alema Rar and Bakharim, there were quite a few more enemy patrols than they had anticipated, so it had taken them a while longer to do their recon. Through the Force the Twi'lek sensed that the patrols were expecting intruders. That was no surprise since they had shot down their transport. Any competent officer would suspect the transport had inserted special operations troopers. Still, Alema Rar and Bakharim eluded the patrols, and made it to a suitable observation point a few hundred meters from their target.

The compound consisted of a single four story permacrete building, two large single story buildings, one of which seemed to be a garage, and several small shed-type structures in a large clearing. There were also at least nine reinforced security outposts scattered around. The whole compound was surrounded by a security field two meters deep and one meter high. The barrier would detect and shock anyone that attempted to cross it, as well as alert the people inside the compound.

What Alema Rar didn't find was any sign of the government soldiers she was supposed to be supporting. They were supposed to be in position to mount an assault on the compound. Through her secure comlink—and the compound's jamming—she managed to find out they had been forced to withdraw nearly six klicks. That left Alema Rar and Bakharim alone in the woods with several hundred enemy troops around them.

Juice and Ghariwalh had really run into problems though. The warlord's forces had sent their own team, an entire squad, to investigate the downed transport. Somehow Ghariwalh and Juice found the pilots—who had wisely moved away from the crash site—before the warlord's forces.

Well, they found one surviving and injured pilot, and one who had died after the crash. They hid the body, and began working their way back to Alema Rar and Bakharim. That had been two days ago. Yesterday afternoon, she had received a single devastating line of text from Juice over her comlink. Ghar KIA.

Alema Rar couldn't believe it. Ghariwalh had survived the entire Yuuzhan Vong war without a scratch, and now he was dead because some kriffing general wanted to take over some worthless kriffing planet in the middle of nowhere.

Bakharim glanced at her, and Alema Rar mouthed Ghariwalh's name, and drew a line across her throat with her finger. Bakharim simply sighed, and turned his attention back to the compound.

More than three days on the ground, and the government troops still weren't close to being ready to assault the compound. In fact, the warlord, General Garnnt, had brought more troops into the compound and surrounding area. Because of the surviving pilot's injuries, Juice had had to abandon his attempt to link-up with Alema Rar and Bakharim, and was in hiding a few klicks away. The enemy troops—who were now at least two squads strong—were heavily patrolling the area around them as well.

Currently Alema Rar had bigger problems though. About fifteen minutes ago, a convoy of two military cargo haulers, five security speeders and eight or nine speeder-bikes arrived at the compound. Instead of off-loading the cargo haulers on the ground though, the pilots simply used the repulsorlifts to rise up and land on top of the four-story building.

Alema Rar raised her macrobinoculars to her eyes again, to get a better look at what was in the cargo haulers. When she saw what it was, she cursed again. They each contained a pair of mobile missile launchers, with half-a-dozen missiles in each launcher.

The missiles would be ready to launch in minutes. The friendly forces were in easy range. Since General Garnnt's forces had a jamming field activated, Alema Rar couldn't even warn them to take cover.

“I'm going in,” she informed Bakharim as she began unstrapping various pieces of equipment.

“What?” he replied in obvious surprise.

“If they launch those missiles, the locals will be slaughtered,” she explained as she continued lightening her load. “I have to take them out.” Her attack would also serve as a distraction for the patrols searching for Juice and the pilot.

Bakharim glanced at the missiles on top of the building a moment, then back at Alema Rar.

“Okay,” he responded with a solemn nod. “I'll cover you.”

Alema Rar was momentarily surprised she didn't try to talk her out of it, not that she would have let her. She pushed the thought aside, and concentrated on what she had to do. Her mind was made up.

Now Alema Rar was down to her armored green and brown camo bodysuit, helmet, and combat vest. Her blaster pistol was in its holster on her right thigh. A couple of spare power packs and a pair of grenades were attached to her vest. The only other thing she was carrying was her blaster carbine, which was connected to her bodysuit at her shoulder and chest with a tactical sling. Her lightsaber was attached to the underside of the barrel, like a bayonet. The sling was long enough to allow her some maneuverability with her lightsaber.

“Hold your fire until they notice me,” she told Bakharim.

The Noghri nodded his head in consent without diverting his attention from the compound.

All of the first floor windows of the main building were completely sealed off. The second, third, and fourth floor windows were all barricaded, and many had firing ports. There weren't any doors facing them. Alema Rar chose a second floor window, and reached out with the Force for guidance. When she felt it was the right time, she slipped out of the depression they were concealed in, and took off.

With the Force as her ally, Alema Rar leapt over the security field with ease. Next was about a hundred and ten meters of open ground. Two-thirds of the way across, blaster bolts began tracking her.

Several seconds—though it seemed like an eternity—later Alema Rar used the Force to leap towards the second floor window she had picked out. In mid-air, she raised her blaster carbine and began shooting into the barricade blocking the window. Mere meters away, she cocked her foot back, and delivered a devastating Force-powered kick.

Instead of landing in a nice combat roll and jumping back up to her feet, Alema Rar crashed through the barricade, and an enemy soldier standing behind it. She landed hard on the floor with a grunt and came to an even harder stop by slamming against something heavy.

The first thing Alema Rar realized was that she was still conscious. Then that she was in a converted barracks room, with five or six enemy soldiers, and about twice as many bunks and lockers. She had slammed into one of the durasteel lockers, and was halfway between lying on her back and left side. In spite of the brutal entry, she had held onto to her blaster carbine.

Almost as soon as she sensed she wasn't alone, the Jedi had shot the two soldiers that her carbine happened to be pointing towards. As she scrambled to her feet—and felt a sharp pain in her lower leg—she shot another one that was reaching for his blaster. She barely noticed that the room's occupants were only wearing parts of their uniforms, and probably had just been off-duty, relaxing.

Alema Rar didn't waste time with the rest of them either. She had to keep moving—fast. Speed was her ally. Before she was even fully upright, she was already running out the door.

Out in the corridor, she paused a split-second to glance both ways, then bolted to the left, letting the Force guide her. In three steps she had shot an enemy soldier, who had just happened to be in her way, and simply rushed pass another one before he could react.

At the next intersection she took a right, shot another person, ran about three meters, then kicked in a door on her right. Almost without thought she shot the stunned man standing behind it, and dashed up the stairs.

The stairway was clear up to the fourth floor. Unfortunately the stairs didn't continue to the roof. She also didn't have time to cut a hole with her lightsaber, which would attract attention anyway. That meant that she had to go back out into the corridors.

The fourth floor seemed a lot busier than the second. Within two seconds of exiting the stairway, she had had to shoot two more people, and cut another one nearly in half with her lightsaber.

With the Force guiding her, Alema Rar sprinted down the corridor, shot someone else, took a right, and ran a few more meters. Then she slammed through a door on her left—helpfully marked ROOF ACCESS—jumped straight onto the landing, and turned and jumped up to the top of the stairs. In a heartbeat she noticed that the next door opened inward. Instead of kicking it, she pulled it open, and was on the roof.

To be more precise, she was a couple of meters from the corner of the building. The roof was flat, with a low duracrete wall around the outside. General Garnnt's troopers had set up twenty-five or thirty firing positions around the perimeter. Besides the cargo haulers and missile launchers, there were stacks of various supplies around as well.

Thanks the speed of her assault, the several dozen soldiers up here had no idea she was even in the building, much less on the roof with them. They had noticed their buddies' blaster fire though, and were expecting some sort of an attack.

Alema Rar sprinted towards the nearest missile launcher with Jedi speed, while firing at the soldiers near it. A few strides away, she activated her lightsaber. A moment later she slashed through the back ends of four of the missiles a little less than a meter up. That would ensure that they were all completely disabled, but not likely to explode in her face. Then she spun her lightsaber—as best she could with the sling attached to her carbine—blocked a blaster bolt, and slashed through the rest of the missiles.

Now more of the soldiers realized she was here, and begin shooting at her. Alema Rar quickly batted another blaster bolt away, cut the launcher into two pieces, and blocked another blaster bolt. Then she ran towards the next launcher while shooting at the soldiers around it.

As Alema Rar reached the second launcher, she cut an enemy's blaster in half—along with part of his hand. On her follow-through she sliced through most of his leg just above his knee. Without missing a stride, she slashed through the back ends of a couple of the missiles, then the launcher, the rest of the missiles, then cut the launcher again. After ducking to avoid a particularly close blaster bolt, she shot an enemy trooper that was mostly behind one of the cargo haulers, and took off towards the next position.

This one was about fifty meters or so from where she was at. By the time she reached it, she had shot five more enemy soldiers. There were quite a few more she could have shot, but she was after the missiles, not trying to rack up a body count. As she cut the launcher in half, she suddenly sensed danger behind her. She turned and twisted her lightsaber around just in time to block a blaster bolt from hitting her. She Force-hurled the shooter over the edge of the roof, sending him plunging to the ground.

Before he was even out of sight, Alema Rar had already turned and slashed through two of the missiles. She quickly followed that up by cutting the other four, then slicing the biggest piece of the launcher in half.

Alema Rar took a step towards the last missiles, and was shocked to see Bakharim standing by the launcher, shooting the control panel. Four bodies lay on the ground around him. Alema Rar hesitated a split-second, then sprinted towards the launcher. Just as before, she shot several enemies along the way. When she arrived, she finished destroying the launcher and missiles.

“I thought you were going to cover me?” Alema Rar asked as she knelt and began returning fire.

“I am,” Bakharim replied as he took out another enemy.

“Well, do you know how we're going to get out of here?” she demanded, shooting another one of General Garnnt's troops.

Bakharim simply gestured towards the nearest cargo hauler in reply.

Alema Rar took off in a sprint, with Bakharim barely a step behind her. The Jedi arrived at the cargo hauler several seconds ahead of her companion though. Alema Rar reached up to open the passenger side door, and discovered it was secured. She quickly cut the lock with her lightsaber, and yanked the door open. The driver's door was standing open as well. As she jumped in, she shot a soldier who was taking cover on the driver's side.

First Alema Rar quickly closed the driver's side door and locked it. She stayed ducked down low to stay out of sight. By the time she started the repulsorlifts, Bakharim was in the passenger's seat. A moment later they were moving forward towards the edge of the roof. Alema Rar could hear blaster bolts hit the hauler as they made their escape.

Unfortunately the cargo hauler was far too slow—and conspicuous—to get away in. As soon as they got out of sight of the compound, Alema Rar began programing the autopilot. All she had time to do was set it for a straight run away from the compound. Before General Garnnt's forces caught up with them, Alema Rar slowed down to about forty KPH, and she and Bakharim bailed out.

Both of them quickly found hiding spots in the nearby underbrush. They were about twenty meters away from each other, on opposite sides of the roadway. Less than thirty seconds later, a trio of speeder-bikes passed by at full speed, quickly followed by several more, and a couple of security speeders.

Just as Alema Rar had planned, they were rushing to catch up with the cargo hauler. Hopefully by the time they found it empty, she and Bakharim would be too far away to find.

Alema Rar didn't want to stay where she was any longer than she had to. For one, General Garrnt's men would probably search along the roadway. Secondly, she had left most of her supplies in their hiding spot near the compound. She also wanted to link-up with Juice and the pilot if she could. As soon as the coast was clear, Alema Rar darted across the roadway to Bakharim, and they began moving away from the area as quickly as they could.

They didn't go straight back towards the camp though. That would make it too easy for them to be tracked. Instead they moved in an elliptical path towards their goal, while keeping to ground that didn't leave tracks as much as possible.

While Alema Rar and Bakharim didn't encounter any enemy patrols, they did hear several large explosions in the direction of the roadway, and their hijacked cargo hauler. The Jedi suspected General Garrnt's troops thought they had found her and Bakharim, and were simply blowing up everything in the area to kill them.

Several hours later Alema Rar and Bakharim linked-up with Juice and the injured pilot. Alema Rar didn't plan on staying there long though. They had to get back to the compound, and complete their mission.

Unfortunately the pilot was too injured to travel without giving away their position. That meant that once again it would just be Alema Rar and Bakharim. Just before nightfall they wished Juice the best of luck, and left.

When they got to their previous position they discovered General Garrnt's forces had mostly evacuated the compound. The jamming field was still activated however, so Alema Rar couldn't contact the local forces she was supposed to be supporting. She wondered if it was worth it to infiltrate the compound again, and disable the jamming. After discussing the matter with Bakharim a while, Alema Rar decided to observe the compound for the day, and they would do it the following night.

Early afternoon, Alema Rar discovered that the jamming field was deactivated. When she tried to contact the local forces though, she couldn't raise them. A few minutes later she received a comm from Master Durron. The first thing he asked was the status of her team. She told him that Ghariwalh and one of the transport pilots had been killed, and the other pilot was injured, and would need medical attention soon. Master Durron expressed his sympathies, especially for Ghariwalh, and told her that an extraction shuttle would be arriving for her team in about twelve hours or so.

Alema Rar thanked him, and asked what was going on with the locals, as she hadn't been in contact with them in a couple of days.

Master Durron explained that General Garrnt's forces had successfully taken over the planetary government, and told her not to engage his troops.

Alema Rar was disappointed. She had hoped her and Bakharim destroying the missiles would have made more of a difference. She was absolutely stunned at what Master Durron said next though.

He told her that General Garrnt had promised to hold elections within three months, and the Galactic Alliance was provisionally accepting his government. Master Durron also pointed that in the aftermath of the Yuuzhan Vong war, they couldn't really afford to send a fleet anyway.

Alema Rar stared at the compound in silence several seconds. She knew Bakharim had heard the news as well. There was so much she wanted to say about the matter. There was so much she wanted to do. Shooting the soldier standing on the roof of the main building she happened to be looking at was the first thing.

Instead, she simply acknowledged Master Durron's orders, and told him they would await extraction.

“What was even the frakking point of us coming here then!?” she shouted once the link had been shut down. “Why not just let Garrnt take over this kriffing planet!?”

Bakharim quickly shushed her, warning her that Garnnt's troopers might just shoot towards any noise they heard. He told her they should go back and find Juice and the pilot. Alema Rar agreed. They collected their gear, and withdrew.

Juice didn't seem too concerned with the turn of events. He was more concerned with the condition of his patient.

“Master Durron said an extraction shuttle would be here in about eleven hours,” Alema Rar told him.

Juice looked down at the pilot a moment. “All right, I should be able to keep her stable that long.”

“Okay. Bakharim and I are going to retrieve Ghariwalh and the other pilot's bodies,” Alema Rar told them. “Where are they at?”

Juice briefed them on where he and Ghariwalh had hid the pilot's body, then where he hid Ghariwalh's. Alema Rar headed for the dead pilot, while Bakharim went to bring back Ghariwalh.

Nearly two hours later, Alema Rar found the pilot's body, right where Juice had said it would be. The pilot looked to be a little under one hundred and eighty centimeters tall, and about a hundred kilograms. Alema Rar rigged up a harness, laid him over both her shoulders, and headed back to camp.

Even though she had the Force—and had left most of her gear behind with Juice—hauling a hundred kilograms was hard work. Nearly five hours after she had found the body, Alema Rar made it back to Juice and the injured pilot.

Bakharim was already there, with Ghariwalh wrapped in a poncho. The Noghri helped do the same with the pilot, and then they settled in to wait for their evacuation transport.

Six and a half hours later, Alema Rar, Bakharim, Juice, and the surviving pilot were outbound. Alema Rar still thought the whole thing was a waste of her time, and two lives.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The End ~ ~ ~ ~ ~