Shadows of the past

Reading Room

The murmured conversation in the briefing room on board the New Republic's newest corvette, the Post-Haste, died instantly as the IntelO and commander of the elite Lynx Commandos, Captain Zhom "Cheetah" Kh'Arli, entered the room. The assembled members, eighteen in all, faced the front, silently regarding their commander and his second in command. Lynx's SysO and 2i/c, Lieutenant Ricam "Hyena" Nosdal, gently touched a control and the lights in the room dimmed, save a light which bathed Captain Kh'Arli and the podium at which he stood in a soft white glow. Zhom Kh'Arli nodded and began to speak without any preliminaries.

"Thanks to our recon efforts three weeks ago, we're now in the Sesswenna Sector, nearly ready to commence our next mission." A soft ripple of noise greeted this statement. The Sesswenna sector was the sector in which the Imperial seat of power, Coruscant, was located, and as such it had always been an Imperial stronghold. Kh'Arli continued, banging his palm on the podium once to quiet the noise.

"Stow the noise! Yes, this sector has traditionally been a seat of Imperial power, but we're not going anywhere near Coruscant or its Imperial defence fleets. Instead we're skirting the bottom border of the sector, passing by the Uvena and Bortras systems, then up and around to Svivren, and finally to Chandrila, which is our actual destination. "Following our recon mission in the Sluis sector, Command has decided that it is imperative to our military war effort that the Sluis Van shipyards be either shut down, crippled or destroyed.

"The shipyards are far too heavily guarded for us to try to sabotage them - at least, to sabotage them and make it out alive - so fortunately Intelligence has come up with an alternative." Here Zhom Kh'Arli paused and gave one of his rare, almost-smiles.

"We have a much easier target than the shipyards themselves. Instead, we're going to hit at the funding which enables them to keep running." Zhom paused and turned to nod once at Ricam Nosdal, who hit a switch and a hologram instantly flashed into life above the table in front of Ricam. The holo revolved slowly, showing the head and shoulders of a middle aged human male, in his mid fifties perhaps. The clothing on his shoulders appeared to be very fine and very expensive.

"This," Zhom Kh'Arli said with a wave of his hand, "is Huygen Thant. Get to know him well, because we'll be capturing him within the next few days. You can check your datapads for his full profile, and I expect you all to make sure you know that profile back to front by the time we commence the mission. For now, I'll just fill you in on the important details.

"Thant is the single largest private investor in the shipbuilding corporation which produces vessels for the Empire at Sluis Van. We're going to capture him and turn him over to our security and intelligence forces. I assume they're then going to either appropriate" - Zhom didn't say "steal" - "the money from him or at least force him to invest it elsewhere, somewhere, no doubt, where it can't be touched. Either way, that is not really our concern." Zhom Kh'Arli turned again to motion to Ricam Nosdal, who brought up a different holo, this time a simple two dimensional one, an elevated plan of what looked like a large house complex.

"What you're looking at is Thant's palatial residence," Captain Kh'Arli continued. "And sure enough, if you can afford a house like that, then you can afford your own private security forces as well. The red circles indicate probable guard positions. Obviously, we're not going to enter through the front gate. It's heavily guarded, and we wouldn't get in without a noisy and possibly bloody fight. There's too high a risk - if they detect us, the game might be up. Thant wouldn't be where he is without knowing how to move in a hurry, and if he gets a sniff of our presence before we get him, then he might just make a getaway to someplace where we won't be able to find him.

"There is a small service entrance on the west side of the complex, near the north wall," Zhom said, pointing at a small green line on the holo which showed where it was.

"That's our point of entry. As soon as we get inside, Lieutenant Nosdal will disable some - but not all - of the complex security systems. That way, we hope to preserve the illusion, for a while at least, that all the security systems are still on-line. By the time any guards notice what's happened, we should be gone.

"As you can see on the holo, inside the fortified outer walls of the complex is a large courtyard. In the middle of that courtyard is the house itself. The house is huge, and the courtyard is too open, so squads Alpha and Beta will enter the north wing of the house. Squad Gamma will cover the north end of the courtyard from the shadows and act as lookouts for the two teams inside. Finally, squad Theta will stay behind at the service entrance to ensure we have a clear route out.

"Secrecy is absolutely vital to this mission. I'd be happy if not a single shot was fired, although that's highly unlikely. If you must shoot, make sure there's no one else around who can hear it and raise an alarm. Use your combat knives if you wish - just make sure you keep it quiet. Kill only those guards whom you have to - and I don't even have to tell you not to harm civilians," Zhom said sternly, looking around the room.

"That's it, then. Go over your data on the mission over the next couple of days. Make sure you know it. Test each other on it. Our next briefing will be three days from now at 0900," Lynx's commander said as the hologram snapped off. "From there we'll conduct an equipment check and a final individual squad debrief. Until then, study and get as much rest as you can." Without another word, Zhom Kh'Arli strode out, leaving Ricam Nosdal to deal with any questions. When none were raised, Nosdal nodded.

With that, Lynx's commandos filed out, talking amongst themselves about what the new mission would bring.

The man known only to his fellow commandos as Eadrain lay stretched out on his bunk, his eyes closed, hiding a swirling turmoil of emotions that surged within him.

Eadrain rubbed his forehead and opened his eyes, absently grasping the lightsaber which sat on the footlocker next to his bunk. The last time he'd been on Chandrila was when he was ten years old, and he wasn't eager to return there. The door chime sounded suddenly, startling him a little.

"Come in," he said evenly. The door slid open and a giant of a man - well over two metres tall - bent his head right down to squeeze in through the door. Eadrain smiled faintly and motioned his visitor into his only chair.

"Hello, Pier," he said in the cool voice that was one of his trademarks. Pier Das smiled. He was Lynx Four, the Communications Officer, and was a giant, even in a unit which seemed to have a few giants in it already, Eadrain thought. A giant among giants. The huge man's blue eyes twinkled at his friend from under his blond hair and eyebrows.

"Hello, Eadrain," he answered in kind as he sat down and straightened his back up again. "How are things?"

"Allright. The same as usual," his friend answered him, his cool, even voice not fluctuating at all.

"The disadvantage with encouraging someone's telepathic abilities is that they begin to actually use them sometimes," Pier Das said, wagging a finger at Eadrain with a grin. The latter smiled warily.

"They tell me that something is wrong with you, my friend," Pier Das said seriously, his huge hands folded in his lap. "I suspect that you are always so private and withdrawn because that way you can hide what you are really thinking." And the twinkling blue eyes glanced keenly over at Eadrain, who sat on his bed in his tight black clothes.

"An interesting theory, Pier," Eadrain offered. "It's probably at least partially true. But really the only thing wrong with me is that we're about to go on a mission, a mission where I'm sure people will get killed." Pier Das nodded grimly. "That is true, and it is unfortunate. Still, hopefully we will not be one of those people, and if we prevent a million more from being killed by succeeding on our mission, then we count ourselves lucky. That is the way of war, is it not?" Eadrain nodded slowly.

"Calm down, my friend. If I didn't believe in what I was doing, then I wouldn't be here. Still, to be a child again, with not a care in the world - I wish for it sometimes. Not to have to witness or take part in death and destruction, that would be the life." The lies slipped easily through Eadrain's lips, and he made no effort to stop them. Pier Das nodded, partially caught in his own reverie.

"Indeed, my friend. Still, we fight so that one day many children may live to be that way." Eadrain nodded, and smiled. His face seemed to brighten, and Pier Das grinned in return. His friend did not smile often, he thought. A pity - he has a nice smile.

"Well, if you're okay, then I had best be off and get some rest," Pier said, standing(almost) and nodding on his way out.

Lieutenant Commander Treddin Dolstrom sipped his cup of steaming hot coffee as he sat in the captain's chair aboard the Post-Haste. He turned at a sound from his elbow. Captain Zhom Kh'Arlie stood looking down at him, the scar on his left cheek glaringly lit by the bridge lights. Dolstrom stood, and Zhom Kh'Arli inclined his head slightly. "You wanted to see me?" Treddin Dolstrom nodded.

"That's right. I need to have a word with you about your mission." He waited, but the solid man in front of him did not respond. Dolstrom frowned. He still wasn't used to Kh'Arli and his abrupt manner.

"I don't want to complicate things or put pressure on you and your men, but the quicker your mission is, the better. I don't fancy skulking around in orbit waiting for a system patrol to show up. If you can, call in the shuttle a little early. I'd rather have them waiting to pick you up than have to wait in orbit while they get to you and have you waiting to be picked up. I'm sure I'm preaching to the converted here, but just in case, I thought I'd let you know." Zhom Kh'Arli nodded. He certainly would've done everything Dolstrom had just said anyway, but then, it was nice to see the man was double checking to make sure things ran smoothly. Captain Kh'Arli had done some research of his own on Lieutenant Commander Dolstrom. The man had spent most of his naval career working in conjunction with Special Forces. By now he should be good at it.

"Good luck. That's it," Dolstrom said with a smile and a nod. Kh'Arli nodded once and was gone.

Hmmm, the captain of the Post-Haste thought to himself. Dedicated guy. Still, aren't all the Special Forces types like that?

You could hear a pin drop as Zhom Kh'Arli entered the briefing room at 0855 hours. All of Lynx Commando's four ground assault squads were assembled. Today, however, they wore black form-fitting suits, black camouflage face paint, black boots, and a variety of different weapons. In each commando's hand was a black balaclava. Zhom Kh'Arli nodded.

"Good to see everyone's here early. I spoke to the captain of the Post-Haste yesterday. As is to be expected, he wants us to conduct the op as fast as we can, call the shuttle before we need it, and so on," Zhom said wearily. "SpecForce support ship captains are always like that, so we can probably expect the same set of requests every time we carry out a mission. However," Captain Kh'Arli continued, "in this case I want to emphasise the captain's point. Speed is another essential element on this one. If we're slow, we give the local guards a chance to start to catch up. We don't want that to happen.

"You've all read all the mission data and profiles by now. Are there any questions?"

There were none, as Kh'Arli expected. That was nice, although Zhom Kh'Arli was amongst the group of people who believed that the only stupid question was the one that you didn't ask. He nodded.

"Very good. Split into your squads, then. I'll take Alpha, Hyena will lead Beta and Caballero will take Gamma. Slicer, Sloth, you two can tag along with Alpha for your equipment check and debrief. Everyone move down to the hangar in squad. Let's go!"

"Here we go again," Julian "Midnight" De Santos observed dryly to the giant Wookie next to him. The latter, Waikachan, or "Bullseye" as he was also known, growled a reply.

"You got that right," the black human - they didn't call him "Midnight" for nothing - agreed. "Hey, Caballero," he called, "didn't we all get hot from carrying too much ammo that we didn't even use last time?"

Dantes "Caballero" D'Anconia, the team leader of squad Gamma, frowned at Midnight. "Yes, we did, but last time we didn't have a private security force to contend with," he countered. "Stop your whining, Midnight," he continued good-naturedly. "You're a Lynx, for crying out loud! Besides, if you had any real style, then you wouldn't need anything as crude as ammunition at all." And with a grin he drew his sword, which gleamed in the bright light of the hangars. Throwing it up in a spinning arc, he caught it by the hilt and set it back in its sheath in one smooth movement. "See?" Waichakan growled something to Midnight, a growl followed by what sounded like a snuffling laugh. Caballero glared at him. "What's he saying?" he asked Midnight. The latter smiled.

"He says you're a show off, and he doesn't think much of your ponytail. He says it's all part of your pretty image," Midnight translated faithfully, then smiled. "I'm afraid I have to agree."

Caballero scowled. "He'll be laughing to a different tune when I show up on board with a beautiful woman," he sneered, but there was laughter in his eyes. "Enough talk! Make sure your gear's ready."

He laid his hand on the hilt of his sword. Lynx was a special case, really. Very few units in the New Republic military were allowed to carry their own personal weapons. Lynx was lucky in that they were one of the few, and most of their members had at least one special weapon they favoured. His own, a sword with a duralinium enhanced edge, was a formidable hand to hand weapon that made a mockery of even the toughest personal armour. Hopefully it would see some use soon.

Zhom "Cheetah" Kh'Arli paused in his inspection of squad Alpha and raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"That's all I'm taking. It's all I need, and all I'll use." Zhom Kh'Arli hesitated for a moment. He was a good commander, and with a group of people like Lynx, it was usually better to run things with a loose hand than an iron fist. The members of his team were all professionals, and if he was going to work with them, he had to trust their judgement. "Very well," he said, and moved on to check the next team member. Eadrain holstered his blaster. It and his lightsaber were the only two weapons he carried no matter what the mission - a fact which had just become apparent to his commander. Eadrain considered blaster rifles, carbines and other larger weapons crude and refused to carry them. It was nice of Kh'Arli to respect his judgement, the young man thought. I was right. He will make a good commander for this unit. Good of Mon Mothma to see it, too. Eadrain stopped that thought the moment it surfaced. Thinking of Mon Mothma led him to remember that she was from Chandrila, and that in turn led him to-

No. He forced the turbulent thoughts from his head and concentrated on the mission at hand. He drew his blaster, checked all his clips one final time, and adjusted the straps on his webbing. The sooner this mission is over, the better.

Captain Zhom Kh'Arli neared the end of his inspection line. Only Jra "Slicer" Esrapu and Tricatan "Sloth" Emot remained. The two of them constituted the mini-team Theta, which was essentially a backup squad. These two, Kh'Arli admitted to himself in a moment of bleak honesty, were the men he favoured least in his unit. The first one, Slicer, he resented having there at all. Only on a direct order from Mon Mothma had he included the Weequay, who used to be a bodyguard for long-since dead Hutt on Tatooine. Politics, Kh'Arli thought angrily to himself. It's because of politics and bureaucracy that people get killed. The second man, Sloth, had good technical skills but often could scarce lift a finger to use them. It was probably for these reasons that the two were assigned to squad Theta, Kh'Arli admitted to himself. Still, people change. He had only to look over the personnel files of his commandos to see that. For that reason, and because he was a fair and professional man, Zhom Kh'Arli didn't display a flicker of emotion as he approached Jra Esrapu.

The members of Lynx Commando strapped themselves into the dim, cramped shuttle as it slowly lifted off the deck of the Post-Haste and glided out of the hangar. It arced around and dove for the bright planet which lay before it. Zhom Kh'Arli nodded.

"Load," he ordered. There was a staccato of clicks as blasters and other weapons were all loaded.

"Come back alive," Lynx's commander said quietly before silence descended on the shuttle as it streaked toward the surface of Chandrila.

Zhom Kh'Arli already had his weapon drawn. He nodded once to Ricam Nosdal, who stepped up to the control panel set in the wall next to the small service entrance. Nosdal attached a small device to the panel, played with it and a few seconds later the door slid open. Hyena smiled quickly and led the way inside as Lynx filed in through the small entrance. Kh'Arli brought up the rear and the door slid shut.

"No one here," Hyena observed in a barely audible whisper. "You can bet there'll be guards outside, though." Lynx stood inside a loading dock set inside the complex walls.

"Alpha will lead," Cheetah said into his comlink. "Beta and Gamma will follow. Theta, stay put in here and let us know of any trouble from inside or out. Go!" And with that command, the shadows began to move in the dark. Cheetah counted five and then jumped in behind them. He saw a door slide open ahead of him and the dark shapes of his squad going through it, then heard an audible crack followed by a gasping, gurgling sound. The next second he was through the door. Pier "Godzilla" Das stood flexing his huge hands while Tim "Double 0" Gatecrasher wiped his combat knife on the body of a guard whose throat he had cut. The other guard lay at an odd angle, his neck jutting away unnaturally from the rest of his body. Cheetah looked away dispassionately. "Did they have a chance to raise any alarms?" he asked in a whisper.

It was Orcim "Short Circuit" Ainaw, Lynx's resident genius and computer hardware expert, who answered him. "No, boss. These were the only two in here, and they didn't have a chance to do anything." Kh'Arli nodded. "Good. Get the others in here."

While squads Beta and Gamma filed in, Cheetah took stock of the situation. They were in some sort of auxiliary control room, which hopefully had access to the complex security systems, as Intelligence had hoped. The two guards lying on the floor wore black and scarlet uniforms, uniforms which reminded him in style of the type worn by Imperial Fleet regiments. Interesting, Lynx's commander thought to himself. Perhaps the Empire actually furnishes Thant with some guards directly. He shook his head. It didn't matter. His men and women were quite professional enough and quite deadly enough to handle any Imperials they might come across. Ricam Nosdal was already at one of the consoles, breaking into the security net and shutting parts of it down.

Team Gamma were already set up, spread along in the shadows under the eaves of the outer wall. At the end of the line, Milan "Archer" Chevalier stood, feet apart, sweeping the dark courtyard with his self made 170cm long composite bow. Seeing his silhouette in the darkness, Cheetah smiled. The man was a dead eye shot, and with his bow, the deadly arrows it carried could go straight through an armoured stormtrooper at a couple hundred metres without any trouble at all. He checked to ensure that his people were in place, then whispered one word into his comlink. "Move!"

Teams Alpha and Beta fanned out, Alpha cutting left and Beta to the right. Very quickly the twelve commandos dashed out of their cover into the open courtyard before stopping and pressing themselves against the outer wall of the house. At least Ricam disabled those security systems properly like he said he would, Cheetah thought to himself. So far.

Eadrain muttered darkly to himself as he stood at the large, elegant glass window to Huygen Thant's palatial house. He would have much preferred to use his lightsaber to cut the entire window out, but the light and noise the weapon made would be sure to attract far too much unwanted attention. So he had to settle for this tiny glass cutting laser instead. He concentrated carefully, then dropped the cutter and deftly caught the partial pane of glass as it fell out of the now much-smaller window. He set the glass down and Cheetah led the way inside.

As soon as they entered the house, Eadrain's mind went into combat mode. He tuned out any distractions and concentrated on being at one with the house. His consciousness spread outward, listening, looking searching. He could hear the sounds (faint though they were) of Team Beta, far over the other side of the north wing, and he could feel their presence. And here and there he would sense a random patrolling guard as he walked through the endless corridors which made up this house, which should really be called a palace. And then there was another being, much harder to notice... because it was asleep.

"Northeast bedchamber," the latter answered him in a whisper. Lynx's commander nodded. Intell hadn't been sure which of three bedchambers Thant might be sleeping in. He was rumoured to randomly choose different ones for extra security, to try and prevent exactly what Lynx was now attempting.

Team Alpha stood outside Thant's bedchamber. Cheetah looked over at Harpo "Motormouth" Temple.

"I don't want to have to knock on this door to get in," he said dryly. "Open it, please." Motormouth, who had some skill with computers and security systems, set to work.

"Hey, not as fast as Hyena, but you know, sometimes it's-" Cheetah cut him off before he could really get started talking.

"Okay." A bit put out, Motormouth complied and the door slid open silently. The six members of Team Alpha spilled into the chamber.

At the end of it was an ornate four poster bed in which lay a sleeping form. It stirred and started to sit up, but almost immediately four very large and very strong hands held the sleeper down and held him silent. Godzilla kept holding Thant while Cheetah produced handcuffs and secured him, then gagged him. "Relax, Thant," he said softly in the man's ear, barely keeping the contempt from his voice. "Don't do anything stupid and you just might not get hurt." He looked up at Godzilla.

"Get him on his feet," he ordered. The big man nodded and hauled their prisoner out of bed and to his feet. At that moment all hell broke loose.

There was a loud cry from the doorway as one of Thant's guards raised a blaster, and simultaneously alarms could be heard wailing in the distance. A contact report was coming through Cheetah's earpiece from Hyena as he looked up. There was a flash of brilliant scarlet light and a snap-hiss even as Eadrain's newly ignited lightsaber hummed across in a deadly arc and severed the guard's arm. The man stood looking down in shock at his arm, still holding the weapon, as it lay on the floor. Eadrain swung again, and the guard fell. An instant later the hum and the light died as the lightsaber disappeared. Zhom Kh'Arli was already halfway to the doorway.

"Let's move, quickly." He didn't check Eadrain on his use of the lightsaber. Now was not the time, and besides, as the young man would doubtless fail to point out, the time for secrecy was over. The alarm had already been raised.

"Leader, this is Three," Caballero whispered from his crouched position in the courtyard. "Things just got a whole lot hotter out here. Alarms have gone off and there are troops starting to appear from everywhere. Mostly from the south - I think their barracks are that way - but they'll be here soon enough. Recommend you call in the cavalry."

"Already done, Three," came the muffled reply. "She'll be here in five or ten minutes. Until then, keep the courtyard as clear as you can. Scatter secrecy to the winds if you like, but don't get killed. Leader out."

Caballero pulled out a blaster carbine. He wasn't going to let anyone get close enough for a sword fight, but his team could sure make life difficult for the enemy at a distance instead. "You heard what he said, Gamma," he said. "If you see anyone, let them have it!"

"Leader, Two," Hyena shouted above the din of blaster fire. "We've got ourselves into quite a gunfight here."

"Copy that, Two," Cheetah's voice came back. "Our thanks for keeping them occupied. Shuttle's already on the way, so fall back to the RV and extraction point. Be there in ten minutes or get ready to walk home."

"Roger, Leader. Two out." Hyena raised his rifle, took careful aim, and squeezed off a shot. A guard crumpled at the far end of the corridor.

There. A guard was cautiously approaching along the west wall, keeping to the shadows after several of his companions had fallen to a hail of blaster fire. The Lynx commando took careful aim as he drew back on his bow, centering the arrow on the man's chest. A moment later he exhaled gently and the bow seemed to shiver in his hands as the arrow sped at its target. Half a second later a scream split the still night air as the guard fell to the ground, an arrow completely transfixing his chest. There was a soft growl.

"He says 'Good shot'," Midnight translated Bullseye's growled compliment for Archer. "You should be pleased. From a marksman like him, that's high praise, Archer." The latter nodded.

Cheetah savagely smashed the remaining glass in the window with his rifle, then sprung out through the frame and immediately dropped to a crouch, covering down the east wall of the house toward the south end of the courtyard. A second later he caught a flash of movement and fired as the rest of his team and their prisoner started coming out behind him.

Eadrain stepped out of the window frame and stopped briefly to listen overhead. "The shuttle," he said to his commander. "It'll be here in a couple of minutes." Kh'Arli just nodded. He'd long since learned to trust Eadrain's Force-honed senses.

"Yes, we-" Eadrain started, but he stopped suddenly with a sharp cry. Before Zhom Kh'Arli could react, Pier Das had already swung his rifle up and let loose a volley of bright red shots at the top of the complex wall. A guard fell forwards off the wall and landed ten metres away with a soft thump. Godzilla bent down to examine his friend, his huge hands delicately searching the slim body for injuries. When he touched the young man's chest, his hands felt wet. Pier Das muttered an appeal to the Force or God or whoever else might be listening as he gently lifted Eadrain in his arms. "Make sure you cover us," he growled at Double 0 and Motormouth. Cheetah was already speaking on his comlink, having switched the frequency.

"Troubadour, be advised we have one wounded and will require immediate medical attention," he was saying. "Signal the Post-Haste to have her sickbay ready to receive casualties on arrival."

"All Lynx units, this is Leader," he said urgently. "The Troubadour will be here in one and a half minutes. All squads fall back to the extraction point, now!"

Archer was running out of arrows and was about to reach for his blaster when he heard Caballero's sharp cry.

"Three contacts coming down off the west wall!" The next noise to be heard above the general din was the ring of a sword being drawn as Team Gamma's leader sprung forward, his weapon gleaming dully in the moonlight. Pressing a button on his bow to fold it to a tenth of its full size, Archer drew his blaster pistol and rushed forward. The rest of his team was half a step behind him.

Zhom Kh'Arli did a quick headcheck amidst the whine of shuttle engines which had not been powered down as his unit hurried up the ramp into the waiting shuttle Troubadour. Team Theta, glad for the chance for some action, stood as the rearguard defence as the rest of the unit boarded the shuttle. More and more guards were pouring into the loading dock, and now, it seemed, they finally had a grip on what was happening and were organising themselves to deal with it. Never a good sign.

"Theta, let's go! Fall back!" Cheetah shouted above the noise. The two commandos seemed determined to fire until the last moment - only when they had expended their current clips did they turn and run for the safety of the shuttle. Instantly guards began spilling out of the service entrance and began firing at the shuttle. Fortunately it's hull was protected against that sort of small arms fire, but the people boarding her weren't. Kh'Arli fired a few shots as he backed up the ramp, just enough to stay them a little. The ramp began to slide shut.

Ten seconds later, the shuttle Troubadour, ignoring fire from Thant's now unemployed guards, rose slowly off Chandrila's surface. Then, with a roar, it blasted off into the night sky.

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