Raptor Squad: Episode VIII: Operation Windfall pt.1

Darkness enveloped him. In the distance a Peko Peko called out to its mate. It was soaring, high now, above the treetops. He pulled his attention back to the here and now. His lightsaber hummed in his hands, causing the hair on his knuckles to stand on end. It would be coming soon…any second now…darkness gave way to a vision, muddled and wavering, it would come from…there!

Klux brought his saber in a downward arc to the left, the blue blade slicing through the air with a hiss. Pain exploded in his left shoulder and he staggered back, tripping over a rise in the landing pad and dropping with a thud onto his rear. His saber dropped to the ground beside him, shutting down before it touched the duracrete. Laughter echoed through the bay and he snatched the blindfold from his eyes. Vic stood about 5 meters away picking another Galdda fruit from the bag. Behind him A’sok howled in amusement and Baal sat cross-legged on the ground watching intently.

“Yeah, that was real funny, you about dislocated my shoulder that time Vic…” Klux said, rubbing the whelp that was rising under his skin.

Vic looked up and took a bite of the ripe red fruit. “Maybe I’m the one that should be wearing the blindfold,” he said smiling. Klux shook his head and bent to pick up his saber. It had sustained no damage when it hit the unyielding bay floor, which was a relief…he didn’t like having to fix his saber all the time. As he approached the group, A’sok was just wrapping up his latest anecdote.

“So I had to bunk with these guys in this old cave for like, a few MONTHS…and this is the type of stuff they did…day and night…’Klux you aren’t in tune with the force, Klux open your mind to the future but keep it on the present’…I thought I was going to go out of my mind!” A’sok finished, and turned a lopsided grin towards Klux. Klux was grinning as well. “Right, and we got to listen to you go on and on about how bored you were too, and let me tell you, THAT wasn’t irritating. Noooo” he said, dropping onto the boarding ramp of the Skullduggery and taking his tunic off. He placed it at his feet and began to inspect the damage. A red whelp had come up on his shoulder and in two other spots on his chest. Klux ran a light finger over them, slowly letting the force make its way through his body and relieving the slight discomfort.

“Hit three times but you took down at least twice that many,” Baal said from next to him. The large cat had turned now and was watching Klux with large green eyes.

Klux shrugged. “Yeah, but if they were blaster bolts I would still be Bantha Poodo.” “I can guarantee that the stormies on De’Jer Prime won’t be throwing fruit my friends,” Jax said, emerging from the side of the Skullduggery and leading a tech crew. He was dressed in a more traditional military uniform now, a pair of jungle khakis and long sleeved tan shirt. The rebel cell leader struck an imposing figure while at the same time appearing slight, and relatively unthreatening. Klux didn’t need the force to know there was more to Jax Sheba’ than what he allowed to show on the surface. Vic, still facing towards the entrance of the cavern, tossed the red fruit out of the bay and watched it disappear over the edge, falling somewhere into the dense jungle below. Tierfon Station was located in a small mountain that jutted up from the jungle canopy like an island amidst a green ocean of leaves. The entire planet, which, to Klux’s knowledge, had no real name, was primarily forests and mountain ranges…a prefect place for rebels to hide.

“Is this the team that’s gonna check the sensor mask?” Vic asked. Klux watched him lick fruit juice from his thumb and casually drop his hand to his sidearm. The sensor mask, as Vic had described it, was a unique piece of technology that would hide the presence of a ship from other ships. Invaluable, Klux thought, but insignificant compared to the power of the force. “That’s correct….we have had some trouble in the past with the mask’s calibrations…our techs should fix that problem,” Jax said as the team made their way to the boarding ramp.

“Ya wanna move so we can get by chief?” one of the techs asked. A sense of irritation washed over Klux and he pulled his attention from Vic and saw that the man was addressing him. ”Uh, yeah, sorry” Klux said standing and grabbing his tunic.

“Hang on!” Vic called to the crew. They stopped and threw a bored look back at him. “Ten spot! Get out here!” Vic yelled towards the open hatch. A moment later Vic’s new armorer droid, Ten Spot, shouldered past Klux and hovered out into the bay. “Yes?” his metallic voice crackled and Klux could almost swear the droid cocked his domed head as he spoke.

Vic walked up to him and motioned towards the tech team. “These guys are just going to do some work inside and I didn’t want you getting in their way.” The droid hovered Klux realized, just above eye level with Vic said nothing for a moment.

“Oh; really?” Ten Spot replied.

A’sok let out a snort of laughter and played it off as a cough. Baal eyed the droid suspiciously and Klux waited for the explosion of obscenities most sentients would spit at a mouthy droid. Vic smiled that, “I’m amused but you are two seconds away from getting shot” smile and put his hand on the droid’s shoulder. The droid looked at the hand and slowly back to Vic.

“Yeah….really” Vic said, continuing to smile. The droid looked around at the others, at Klux, who just shrugged, and back to Vic.

“I could always do some uh…checks…on the …ship’s hull plating...” the droid stammered. Vic smiled and brightened a bit, allowing just a bit of the smile to reach his eyes this time. “Great idea!” he said and gently pushed the droid off towards the rear of the ship.

Jax suppressed a smile of his own and gestured towards the interior of the base. “If that’s all taken care of we do have a mission briefing gentlemen…and beings.” A’sok fell in next to Vic and began going on about De’jer Prime and where it might be. As Klux pulled his tunic back on Baal stepped in next to him the pain was gone now and some of the swelling had even receded.

“I do not trust droids,” Baal said in a low voice, which came out almost like a growl. His eyes were still following Ten-Spot who had hovered around the back of the ship. Klux looked up at the 7-foot tall cat and smiled. “They aren’t so bad; Two-E has never given me any trouble.” Baal pulled his eyes from the droid and looked down at Klux smiling. “Yet,” he said with a toothy grin.

2
The operations area of Tierfon Station was the only room with a holoprojector. As techs and base personnel worked feverishly around the team, a red hologram of De’Jer Prime floated just above the projector set into the floor of the circular room. A’sok squinted at some of the topography on the hologram. On the other side Jax stood and was nothing more than a ghostly image with a pointer. A’sok had no idea what planet it was, just another rock with water and a jungle.

“…Will meet up with a team we already have in place there...Vornskr Pack. Your mission objective is to drop the supplies and get the hell out of there...undetected. That’s it. Any questions?” he asked closing the pointer.

To A’sok’s right Vic, the “former” adult holovid star raised his hand.

“What sort of backup can we expect, if any?” Vic asked, crossing his arms. Vic was a likeable sort. A’sok placed him as some sort of military type though; maybe a former cop. But now he was an outlaw and no better than any other member of the team. A’sok laughed to himself…outlaws doing what outlaws do…all in the name of freedom. It was laughable really, the stock these people put in concepts like “freedom” and “rights”. The Empire was a monster, and A’sok doubted this rebellion was going to make much of a difference in the long run. Jax cocked an eyebrow and stepped around the projector. “Backup? Why would the ‘Heroes of Kadon’ need backup?” he asked smiling. Vic rolled his eyes and looked sideways at A’sok. “Great” he mouthed and looked back to Jax, “So that means we get dropped into the meat grinder…”

A’sok could care less about the details. Jax went on to murmur something about ion clouds in the system covering the entry vector but A’sok had already pulled out his datapad and was typing away. Hell, they bombed Akelish hadn’t they? In her own palace no less! This was a simple supply drop, no big deal. So some ground pounders get some grub and board games to keep them busy…big deal. His fingers played across the keypad and pulled up his last bank transactions. Credits were the great equalizer…and really, the only thing he cared about. “A’sok!” his name being snapped at him brought him back to the present. Baal was up and behind him leaning down towards his ear. “What!?” A’sok responded over his shoulder. It was only then that he realized everyone was watching him. “What?” he asked the group.

“Do you have anything you want to add, or ask?” Klux repeated the unheard question. The Jedi was watching A’sok with a look of aggravation. A’sok rolled the question through his mind a moment. “Yeah, I got a question…what does this gig pay?”

Everyone watched him for a beat before Jax spoke up. “Son, what you are doing will be a great help to the Rebellion. Those troops down there need supplies, badly….” Jax didn’t finish before Vic spoke up. “What the hell is wrong with you…ya got anything better going on?” he asked. The outlaw stared daggers at A’sok. Baal was simply hanging back and watching with interest and the noise and voices in the command center had grown unusually quiet.

“Hey, no big deal, just asking if, you know, we were gonna get any sort of compensation is all,” A’sok said, going on the defensive. “You are asking us to do something cause no one else can… right? I didn’t know we were a charitable institution now….”

Jax shook his head, his white ponytail swinging back and forth... “In addition to the HIGHLY VALUABE sensor mask upgrade we are providing, we can probably get some sort of payment together…” He could care less. With what he was making off of his little computer virus he dropped into the banking system back on Xanath 4, he really didn’t need the Rebellion’s money. He figured inside of a few years he would be able to retire someplace nice…maybe a planet like Baldin, his home world. Rolling oceans, beautiful blue water, just like home. Except; he would be calling the shots, and not an outcast like he was from his own world.

3
The hyperspace klaxons were going nuts. Vic dropped out of his bunk and raced barefoot towards the cockpit. He was just pulling on his fatigues when he came through the tiny door.

“What’s going on?” he screamed. A’sok was in the co-pilots seat fiddling with the sensor mask. Ball was hunched over the controls and staring intently out of the cockpit into the streaking white lines. “Coming out of hyperspace sooner than expected,” he growled and jerked back on the Skull’s controls. The lines disappeared and were replaced with white specks. A’sok hands played over the sensor mask, turning knobs and flipping switches in an attempt to engage it.

“That’s it,” he said leaning back…”we should now be invisible.”

Vic felt his stomach drop out when their comm went off. Baal stared at the comm then at A’sok, who had gone completely pale. “We’re being hailed A’sok…WE ARE BEING HAILED BY THE IMPERIALS!” he roared, grabbing the controls and preparing to go all out. As A’sok began feverishly turning dials on the sensor mask, Vic sprinted back down the hall towards the gun turret. His bare feet slapped cold transparasteel as he vaulted for the ladder that ran through the center of the ship. “Klux! We got company!” he screamed and slid down into the ventral turret. He threw several switches and warming up the guns. Ball was flying insanely, dodging around small asteroids and other debris. He attempted a spin and a bright green lance of laser fire shot past Vic’s turret.

“Holy Sithspit!” he exclaimed and brought the gun around to bear. He had no target so eased off of the trigger, searching the blackness with his crosshairs. As his turret revolved he saw the Skull was heading directly for an ion cloud. Surely Baal was going to skim it, just enough to throw the imperials off of their trail. The Skull plunged directly into the pinkish ion cloud and suddenly alarms sounded throughout the ship. Miniature ion storms lit up the turret and Vic unstrapped and scrambled upwards. Klux was just making his way to the turret. “What’s going on?” He asked as Vic shot past.

“Da..uh….get in the turret!” Vic stammered and headed back to the cockpit. Baal was hunched even farther over the controls and peering into the bright pink ion storm. A’sok was staring at the sensors, which now were rendered useless by the storm. “Were going to die,” A’sok mumbled and uselessly threw random switches. Vic looked at the large cat fighting against the controls.

“We’ve got to get out of this Baal…”

“I know Vic…”

“Ion Storms are BAD for starships Baal…”

“I know Vic.”

“Having no sensors in an ion storm…”

Baal looked at Vic and he stopped talking. The last thing Baal needed now was for Vic to hassle him. A snap of energy shot across the bow of the Skull and the ship rocked violently. Vic gripped the sides of the cockpit and A’sok was thrown from his seat and landed at a heap in front of him. A’sok was ok, but stunned. Vic scrambled over him and took up the co-pilots seat.

From behind Vic Ten Spot’s voice floated up the corridor. “C-Beez and I will wait in the cargo hold…where it’s safe!” his chattery metallic voice exclaimed. Vic stared intently into the pink cloud and suddenly it all went black. The Skull shot out of the ion cloud into clear space and rapidly towards De’Jer Prime. The planet was no bigger than a small moon but was lush and covered with rich green vegetation. Vic pulled up the topographical display and the cockpit’s view port lit up with a green grid overlay. A small red dot appeared in the virtual ravine and Baal piloted the Skull towards that spot on the planet.

A’sok was just getting situated in the sensors station when he spoke up. Vic could hear a sharp intake of breath before he spoke and knew it was bad news. “We’ve got company, system patrol craft coming up fast on our rear...again” he said flipping several switches. Some of the internal alarms went silent and A’sok started rattling off the damage report. “Sensors seem fried…internal cooling conduit # 33 is shot…” Vic tuned the rest of it out. Nothing to do about it anyway...not now. Baal leaned in on the controls and the Skull dove towards the planet at an alarming speed. Vic pointed to several places on the map as laser fire slammed into the back of the ship.

“These shields suck...we aren’t going to be able to take another hit like that,” Vic said, redirecting all available energy to the rear shields and bringing them up to 75%. “Klux! Get your ass in a turret!” he screamed. Seconds later the Skull rocked as its dorsal turret spat laser bolts towards the pursuing craft. None struck but it was enough to gain the Skull some distance from the craft. The Ship broke atmosphere and was soon clearing a high mountain range. The small red dot on the heads up began flashing.

“Vic, we are a hundred kilometers from the drop point,” Baal said, still jukeing the ship right and left, gaining a meter of distance at a time. We need a distraction, Vic thought and his eyes wandered around the cabin. “Thermal Detonator!” he said and sprinted towards his bunk. “Baal…when I tell you, skim the top of that ridge as best you can” he said pointing to a rapidly approaching mountain range, “then dive hard into the ravine and hit the first open spot available…and hug this thing up against some trees….”

Baal threw Vic a “sure pal” look and shook his head. Nonetheless, he did take the Skull in as tight as possible. Vic put a 5 second timer on the Thermal Detonator and tossed it in the escape pod. “Now!” he screamed and jettisoned the pod.

Baal leaned hard on the controls and as the Skull dipped into the valley, a huge explosion erupted behind them, spraying chunks of debris and escape pod shrapnel skyward. "THE MASK IS UP!!!" A'sok screamed from the sensors station. Still gripping the controls tightly, Baal managed to even out and spotted a clearing a kilometer away. He took the ship in and set it down, using repulsors to nudge it under a decent amount of tree cover.

4
Baal approached Vic who was scrambling around on top of the Skull. The sensor-resistant camo tarp was designed more for an YT-1300 than the Ghtroc and was giving the outlaw some troubles.

“Vic, A’sok and I are going to recon the terrain…we should be back in an hour…maybe more.” Vic barely looked up. “No problem, keep an eye on him and make sure you are back by nightfall. I doubt our little trick totally convinced the Imps.”

A’sok was hunched over his datapad working feverishly as Baal approached. The young hacker didn’t even bother to look up. “Ready?” Baal asked crossing his arms. At first A’sok didn’t respond, but a second later he shut down the datapad and hopped to his feet.

“Let’s go!”

They had been making steady progress despite the dense undergrowth and A’soks lack of experience on jungle planets. Baal was used to it however, experiencing the same element on his home planet of Fibuli. The large cat danced and darted ahead of A’sok, who was trying to disturb the vegetation as little as possible. Every overturned log and tree was a foothold for the large cat and he traversed the terrain with little difficulty. “Baal! How far out are we going?” A’sok’s voice came through his headset comm... Somewhere behind him A’sok would still be cutting his way through the undergrowth.

“Another kilometer, no more,” he responded and kept moving. He was at the bottom of a ravine when he spotted the squad of stormtroopers.

They were slightly ahead and moving in the opposite direction. Baal froze and watched as the column of eight, in a staggered pattern made their way towards him. To move quickly would give away his position, s he slowly retreated, never taking his eyes from the enemy. “Why the hell are these vines so dense...”he heard A’sok grumbling and stole up next to the camouflaged alien. A’sok appeared near human but his face was a pale color and his hair a stark short black cap that sat atop his head. Only his small nose and ears gave him away as not quite human. All of these features were covered in camo paint now, and a pair of startled eyes stared back as Baal emerged from the darkness. . “Quiet….8 stormies…less than a hundred meters away…” A’sok froze.

“Well let’s get the hell out of here…”

Baal’s keen sense of hearing picked up crack of imperial boots on underbrush, closer now. H wouldn’t have had any trouble navigating the jungle but A’sok…. “No time, “he said and grabbed the hacker around the waist. Sinking his claws into the nearest tree he scrambled upwards, relying totally on arm strength and agility. He dropped A’sok into a crook in the tree and sprung to the next tree, some 6 meters away. He landed without a sound and gathered his flowing gray robes around him. The deep greenish have caused by the dense jungle canopy made him nearly invisible to the naked eye. But according to Vic, some Imperials had elaborate sensor arrays in their helmets that could detect the slightest movement. He would take no chances and let the force roll over him, calming his body and relaxing his muscles until he was completely relaxed and still.

The squad of stormies were no more than twenty meters away when Baal caught movement out of the corner of his eye. A’sok was slipping. His hands, unable to grip the moist bark had lost their purchase and he was mere seconds away from plunging to the ground. In the same instant Baal made a move to help A’sok. Several things happened at the same time. A dark camouflaged figure emerged from behind A’sok and grabbed him, saving him from a 6 meter drop to the ground. He heard the amplified voice of a stormtrooper exclaim “movement!” And, from somewhere up and behind him, blaster fire erupted from the dark of the jungle.

But wait
At this point in the Story I'll break from the action just like an annoying commercial, see the more stories go the more action happens around the gaming table. Yes 90% of the action you have read happened at a kitchen table playing West End Games version of Star Wars Role playing game. Now as these stories progress you can see some things were remembered better and some things were embellished. To keep inside Wikias standard I can’t post the full stories but I'll give you a link to follow to read more of the action The last chapters of Operation Windfall pt 1