"...They've taken Bestine, Thyferra, and Yag'hul swiftly. In short, they are a formidable Imperial faction," said Commander Soga Durai.
    A career military officer in his fifties, he'd seen his share of combat, first in the Imperial war machine, then in the Rebellion, now in the New Republic military. He'd defected soon after the battle of Yavin, and had the unfortunate honor of witnessing the Imperials overrun Hoth as swiftly as a winter storm -- a blizzard. But he'd seen almost none of the likes of which those three planets were taken.
    Before him, in desks, sat ten men and women, all with stony faces staring forward at the map of the Known Galaxy and the three blue planets amidst a sea of Republic red. This was the up-and-coming Detachment Shiva, a relatively new unit already known for dealing severe blows to Imperial Remnant supply lines. They'd just returned from training a group of pirates to take random shipments of the private Imperial logistics corporation Imperial Center. Other than that, Shiva group never dealt with the Vast Empire. But now that that particular group announced itself -- unwisely, they thought -- through overrunning Inner Rim worlds as important as Thyferra, it was time to eliminate them.
    "Unfortunately, we are still tied up with this so-called 'Grand Admiral' that's been making trouble for us. So we cannot send too large a force to investigate this new group. That's where you come in, because of your expertise, and because of your relatively inconspicuous nature among our military units, unlike say, Rogue Squadron.
    "Use any methods at your disposal to sabotage this group's ability to fight or, worse, join up with this Grand Admiral's task force. Dismissed," Durai concluded. "Captain Ticard, a word with you."
    While the rest of the unit filed out to get their last minute tasks completed, one man stayed behind. A bitter Alderaanian, Vendica Ticard had a personal vendetta against the Imperial military, and especially against the long-dead Moff Tarkin. She was thinly-built but had a will forged of steel, determined, as she was, to rid the galaxy of the Empire once and for all. Well, that's why they those me to lead them, she remembered thinking once.
    "Yes sir," Ticard rose to her feet.
    They strode down the well-lit hallway ignoring other uniformed beings passing by. "I understand you've checked out their planets. What can you tell me about this Vast Empire?"
    The commando leader reached down and deep into her memory, back when she'd explored the planets of the Vast Empire. "They have around three systems. I've visited the planet Tadath, and it has a rather large Imperial garrison. The planet Lotaith also has a large Imperial presence. Their records indicate another system under their control, the Vectra system..." Their conversation continued as they went on their way to the docking bay.

    Around the muddy hill floated an aura of silence. There was nobody there of course, with just the flag dancing in the breeze, calling all around to come take it. A wall of duracrete wound around the mound, while faint sloshes could be heard around the southern part, if one was around to hear. A greenish tube poked out of the tall grass, one of the extraterrestrial swamp species brought here in this artificial swamp. First one bubble or bulge appeared, then another. They moved forward toward the hill at slug pace.
    From those bulges emerged skull-like faces, and then gradually an entire body crawled stealthily out of the mire, one after the other. One figure raised a muddy-gloved fist to bear, and the group settled back into the water. It scanned the surrounding area, wary of threats. The others were arranged around in a rough circle, their rifles pointed outward to sweep the grass.
    "I don't see anything, ditto in infra-red," a voice whispered over the network.
    "It's a trap," whispered another, reflecting the feeling of everyone there.
    "Kami, what's going on in your side?"
    Another slime-colored helmet rose slowly from the water on the other side of the hill, rifle sweeping the sector of fire. "Nothing on this end."
    Just another boring day on the job for the Raiders, and its guest of the day Iron Horse. Today was infantry maneuvers in a swampland environment, and Iron Horse was without its tanks.
    Mara signaled for the slow advance toward the flag, while she picked at the wires of a mine she found. Shadow stepped forward first and knelt down, the others covering his back; he waved for the next person to move, and Epock glided through the muck and took his place not too far in front of Shadow. Through this leapfrog maneuver, they managed to get just before the wall.
    Something creaked.
    "Was that you, Kams?" Mara asked.
    "Nobody from this side," JR replied.
    "There it is again."
    "Ready grenades."
   
    "I have to get back to headquarters before I'm missed," said a man dressed in the Imperial uniform. He straightened up his uniform and put on his duty cap, "Commander?"
    "Go ahead, sergeant. You know what to do."
    The man nodded knowingly and saluted.
    "Good luck," Ticard chimed in, just before he boarded the Sentinel shuttle bound for Tadath.
    All there witnessed the shuttle ignite its blue engines and lift off, holding their hats to keep them from being blown away while their clothes flapped from the blast of air that accompanied ship launches. Vendica Ticard waved her proud squad over.
    "We have a business appointment to keep, be ready within fifteen minutes."
   
    Sergeant Zak Spion/Special Agent Triple-Seven leaned back on his padded chair with a sigh of relief. His chrono indicated that he was still on leave, and returning early to Vast Empire Intelligence didn't make a dent in his sterling service record. Sometimes he'd wondered why he'd taken on this job. Was it because Ticard asked him, or was it because the Empire burned his bar down because of his sister's running mouth? He stared idly at the blue hyperspace streaks passing by the window. His face showed a blank expression but his eyes betrayed the hidden anguish of a man living without hope.

    They all exploded at about the same time. Scraps of metal flew over the walls and made big splashes in the marsh below. Meanwhile, both squads assaulted the hill against the defending bots carrying repeating stun rifles that suddenly popped up from behind the duracrete barriers. Raiders squad members laid down a wall of plasma while one to two people moved at a time. Epock and Jakireth ran with their heads down to the side of the fighting, tapping 44's shoulder to get him to move past their entrenched positions. Meanwhile, nobody could see where the Horses were. All that could be seen was blaster bolt after blaster bolt coming from among the grasses. Enemy bots ducked among the fire, sometimes unsuccessfully.
    Jak made a break for it, clamoring up the hill, with a few droids swiveling around to shoot him. One nearest to him took aim.
    Its head flew off in a blaze of sparks and the twitching body slid down to settle with the other piles of scrap. Through the sights Angel saw that he'd made another kill. He shifted his aim and fired soon after.
    "You're covered, you suicidal maniac."
    "Thanks, I think."
    With that remark, the private reached to grab the flag and deactivate the droids. His eyes rolled up and he fell on his face, body glowing with electricity. Iron Horse bathed the offending bot with heavy fire and only its legs fell to the ground in one piece.

    'You are back early. Welcome back, 777, did you have a good break?"
    Spion mustered up his best game face and nodded, "Yes, sir, anything developing that I should know about?"
    In the wake of the firings of certain people in the Vast Empire for sabotage attempts, the Intelligence division suffered a drastic reduction in manpower, funding, and powers. They'd almost fallen off the face of the galaxy, in fact. The division still existed, within the shadows, still checking on its agents scattered in the sea of stars.
    The director of operations shook his head. "Besides slight uprisings on the planet Thyferra, there is not much going on. Army squads Raider and Iron Horse are out on a training exercise, as usual. The others are on standby for the moment. So really, you should have used up your entire leave. What were you doing, anyway?"
    He looked back at his subordinate from monitoring a nearby map of troop movements on Bestine. It was all routine stuff now that major fighting was over.
    "I merely had some personal business to take care of, now I'm done with it, so there's no point in going back." Spion smiled.
    "I see. Well, return to your post and I won't bother you anymore. Keep up the good work." They parted with salutes and the agent breathed a silent sigh of relief that his boss wasn't pressing him further due to his professional demeanor. He walked deliberately and inconspicuously to his desk and brought up a map.
    Now, we begin the operation.

    They were approaching the deadline for this exercise. Something had to be done about those sentries before they could go and capture the bloody flag. So far, Iron Horse was still advancing slowly while pounding their side of the hill. Raiders had lost Jakireth to a stun bolt and weren't intent on losing any more. Several threw more grenades and took out a few droids, but that was all. The droid fire on the Raiders' side grew more intense suddenly. The troops ducked into water while clouds of steam filled the air from the vaporized water. Shadow pushed his way through blackened swamp grass and reported back that most of the droids were positioned on their side. What rotten luck.
    Suddenly, the firing stopped.
    "What?"
    Angel stood smugly waving the flag on top of the hill. When the Raiders made themselves more visible, the droids shifted their focus to them, allowing the other squad to make their move. The sergeant had seen the opportunity and taken it, abandoning his sniper's rifle to practically swim through the deep roots of the planets and slip right through the defenses. He'd claimed the victory for the Horses, to the chagrin of Raiders.

    "You sneaky bastard!" cried Epock laughing as the bartender served up another drink. Most of the newer Raiders crowded around Angel as he vividly told his part of the story -- with perhaps a little exaggeration.
    "...So I shot it right here," he pointed to the middle of his forehead, then returned sipping his free drinks that everyone had bought him. Because he was the one that took the flag, Angel found himself drowned in Corellian Whiskey, Reactor Core, and other high-alcohol drinks. Kami was with him, giggling at the drunken stunts he pulled off.
    Mara Jade of Raiders came up to them. "Have you seen Cy around? He wasn't with us out in the field." Raiders were already undermanned, and the disappearance of its assistant squad leader really cut into the squad's combat readiness.
    "He wasn't with us when we left," Kami replied.
    "Left what?"
    "Oh, nothing. Never mind."

    "And what of the risks?" asked the only mercenary of the bunch who could speak basic. His green, bulbous eyes glimmered at the sight of so many coins. His hands rubbed together at the thought of feeling that amount of metal. He pushed back his alien comrades who were stepping forward to receive the money. That got him a few grumbles. One even tried to shoot him until a fellow Elomin pushed down his hand. 
    "You have been duly paid --and trained-- by us. You shouldn't come across any serious resistance after we get through with them," replied a woman whose face did a veil hide, and whose voice was disguised with a scrambler. "You know the rules of the game, we don't let you know the name of our employer because of operational security, not because we hate you. We disguise our faces in case you are captured. These are among the many security measures we must take. Do you agree to this?"
    "Yes."
    "Help yourselves then."
    The once-disciplined mercenaries now turned on each other, trying to grab handfuls of the shiny stuff, while Ticard strode casually out the door, checking to make sure she wasn't followed. The rest of Shiva left in intervals, to avoid suspicion.
    A thought crossed her mind while she mingled with a man at the bar, observing her surroundings for any signs of surveillance. Don't fail me, Spion.
 
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ASL/SSG Cyanus/3SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1REG/VEA/VE[BoA] [ES1][BC]
CM/DJK Cyanus/Krath/Lion 1-6/VEDJ/VE[VP1]
Dark Knight of the Krath
"History belongs to those who have the will to forge their own path." -- Cyanus
Assistant Squad Leader: - Raider Squad -