Xander roused himself out of the cushioning of the transport’s acceleration seat. Six hours earlier he’d been in the middle of the Tadathian Arboreal Deep killing wild Cistoxi, now he was about to join his new squad as a full-fledged Stormtrooper. He was meeting up with Raiders Squad aboard the
Suspense. What the mission was beyond that he didn’t know, he would be briefed upon arrival. His graduation exercise had been a whirlwind. When Gunny Aeos said she’d recommend him to a friend, he didn’t know that that friend would be having orders cut before he even wiped the Tadathian mud from his boots. Still, here he was. In a few moments he’d be aboard the Star Destroyer heading off to who knows what.
The transport slid beneath the great hulk of the
Suspense, and Xander wasted no time in gawking out the viewport like the awe-struck farmer he was. They eased through the magshield and touched down in the vast launch bay. He gathered his gear and trudged down the ramp. No sooner had his boots hit the deck than he heard a shout from his right.
“You, are you Raibaux?”Asked a half armored man.
“Yes.” He answered as he walked toward him, “Xander Raibaux reporting as ordered.”
Xander dropped his gear, came to attention, and snapped his best parade ground salute. The man returned his salute. The trooper took his order pack and looked it over. He tapped in his ID code and handed the pad back to Xander.
“I’m Lance Corporal Asana, you can call me Dante. “He smiled as he held out his hand, “welcome to Raiders.”
“Thank you Corpor…Dante. “Replied Xander.
Dante waved for him to follow as he started across the bay, “We don’t have a lot of time for intros, we’re about to push off. Drop your personal gear with the quartermaster; he’ll get it to your quarters. Bring your armor and weapons, make it quick. Meet us over at that transport in five minutes.”
Xander nodded acknowledgement and trotted off to find the QM. He found the woman unloading the transport he just left, explained the situation, and left his gear with her. Flinging his armor pack over his shoulder he double-timed it over to the now powering up transport.
Dante was there along with several other Human males and a Twi’lek female. Dante made quick work of the niceties. Muglug, Unggoy, Moonfang, Sgt Namyr, and Squad Leader Snipes all greeted Xander in turn.
“OK, we’ve made with the small talk, mount up. Briefing will be en route.” Barked Snipes.
The hatch closed behind the squad and the transport lifted off before they had taken their seats. Snipes gathered them together and laid out the plan.
“We are on a PsiOp. We are ordered to punch into this settlement, take control of the Communication Center and create as much havoc as we can. Nami, you’ve got Dante and Muglug. Moonfang, Unggoy, and Raibaux you’re with me. Nami your team is to tear into the middle of town, raise all hell, and destroy as much as you can. Hit the banks; make it look like a pirate raid. We are going for the CommCtr and complete the PsiOp. We’ll be landing several klicks outside of town. There are cammo’d speeder bikes waiting for us. The bikes are fueled, packed and ready to go. Get in, Raise Hells, Get out. Any questions?”He asked.
No one said a word. It was a standard penetration. They had all either done it or practiced it at the Academy hundreds of times. Snipes looked to all the Troopers and each nodded in turn.
“Good, get some rest. We get boots on the ground in one hour. “He stated.
They broke away, and each found a spot in the transport. Xander grabbed a couch on the port rear, near the hatch. He unpacked his armor, body glove, and weapons. He went through a routine weapons check and cleaning. He didn’t want to be caught short on his first mission. When that was finished he stripped out of his duty uniform and put on the body glove. Modesty was something you soon lost in the Army. Barracks, showers and damn near everything was integrated and unisex. After a while seeing a naked female or anything else lost its novelty. He secured the body glove and started to armor up. Xander only did the legs for now. Full armor would be too uncomfortable for the full trip. Once his leggings were in place he grabbed some couch and dropped into a light sleep.
**30 Minutes Later**The transport lurched as it hit the planet’s atmosphere. Xander was wide awake and on his feet in a heartbeat. He noticed the rest of Raiders was in various final stages of suiting up. He grabbed his plate and finished up. He locked the last piece into place as the back hatch dropped.
Rain pattered on the descending ramp as Raiders moved into the dark forest clearing. Snipes led the way as Nami ‘persuaded’ the stragglers to speed up. Xander took up a perimeter position without being told. He switched his helmet viewer to night vision, and scanned the tree line. In his peripheral he saw Snipes poking through the underbrush.
"Found 'em, let’s move out. “he stated as the speeders levitated out of the foliage.
Xander slung his rifle over his back and climbed aboard his bike. He saw the heavy blaster and ammo packs, as well as the TD’s and Frags. They were armed to the teeth, and ready to roll. The last of the Raiders mounted up and shot off into the pitch black, wet night.
The two groups stayed together for about the first twenty klicks. They reached the outer limit of the settlement marked by a rather flimsy animal cordon. Nami signaled to Snipes and peeled her team away. Xander’s team continued through the fence and toward the brightly lit hulk of the CommCtr. As they approached they were intercepted by a local law man. Snipes made short work of him with a few well placed shots from his speeders gun. They never even broke pace.
Team Snipes reached the CommCtr moments later. They stowed their speeders in a nearby ditch and eased into position near the main gate. Through an open channel he could hear the updates Sgt. Namyr had been sending. The downtown district was a cavalcade of chaos. He was quite sure that right about now the locals were gathered around their CommSets glued to the news.
Heh, Pretty soon, there’s gonna be a whole new storyUsing hand signals, Snipes moved the team to within eyesight of the main gate. Xander counted three guards on foot, and one in the booth. The rest of them confirmed.
Snipes broke radio silence, "Line 'em up guys, I got the one in the booth, wait for my signal to fire. You'll know it when you see it."
He slithered down the ditch and out of sight. The remaining Raiders divvied up the foot patrol. Moonfang took number one, Xander deuce, and Unnggoy trey. Xander sighted his target and waited. After what seemed like an eternity, he saw the quicksilver figure of Snipes strike in the guard shack.
That, must be the signal He depressed the trigger and cleanly dropped his target. Moonfang and Unggoy followed suit. Team Snipes waited till they saw the SL signal for advance. They crawled out of the ditch and met him at the slowly opening front gate. He was coated in mud and blood. Slowly, the rain rinsed the gore from his armor one drop at a time.
Again he broke silence, “That was fun. Let’s go give them a breaking story.”
Xander chuckled to himself as he followed Snipes and the rest of the team toward the CommCtr entrance.
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