Monday, September 3, 2007

Our Mission, Should We Choose to Accept

Not every day at Oracle Base is fun and leisurely, and today was one of those days. From the Tactical Center, the base received encrypted orders to have a team of specialists report to the hidden Rebel Base on Corellia and await further instructions from a protocol droid named C3PO.

I enlisted the services of the Twi'lek entertainer, Cor'qi. Calling her an entertainer belies her true talents of graceful hand-to-hand combat. She is, in fact, in the service of an acquisition specialist by the name of Loh'khar, but what he did not know of Cor'qi's dealings today would certainly not hurt him.

The trip to Corellia was faster then usual, with the Y-Wing "ugly" making good time. The Rebel Base is secluded in the mountains to the northwest of the main Corellian continent, reachable only via ground or hover vehicles. Cor'qi and I chose to travel together in one speeder, reasoning that while it is dangerous to be in one vehicle, it is far more dangerous for a team of two to be divided.

The base was as I remembered it, having visited it numerous times in the past for missions. C3PO turned out to be a brilliant gold-plated protocol droid in the main chamber of the base; in fact, I recall working with him before.

While he processed our main orders, which would take us to a far distant world, the Rebellion needed much closer, and far less glamorous tasks to be done. After delivering medical supplies to the perimeter outposts of the base, "Threepio" gave us our real mission parameters.

As it turns out, a Rebel Spy had been captured by the Empire while operating out of Naboo. His whereabouts were not yet known, but it was paramount that we recover his contact list to avoid further implications.

This mean an infiltration mission into an Imperial Base on Naboo. Perhaps a larger team would have been better, but we're Rebels - and we'll work with what we have.

The Imperials had superior numbers and firepower, but after the first few "feeling out" salvos we sent at the base, our strategy was set. My training as a SpecForce Infiltrator was well-suited to pave the way for the both of us, straight past the defenses and to the storage chamber at the bottom where we found and extracted the spy's contact list.

The problem now was, getting out. Imperial defenses finally spotted us on their sensors and a detachment of Stormtroopers swarmed the lower levels. We were pinned down and too deep to radio for any assistance, even if it was available.

I don't know how things would have turned out without Cor'qi. She launched herself into the fray, allowing me a moment to throw down capsules of venomous gas, then a smoke grenade to cover my escape, clutching the spy's contact list close to the chest.

Moments later, we burst forth from the base, back to ground level and into the grassy fields of Naboo. Our flash speeder had been camoflaged beyond a few hills, and with blaster bolts splitting trees and digging holes in the ground at our feet, we leapt in, triggered the accelerator and shot away to safety. Mission complete.

The return trip to the Rebel Base was quiet, as Cor'qi and I were quite tired from the ordeal. Threepio accepted and logged the contact list into the computer and rewarded us each with a piece of some experimental body armor that Alliance scientists were working on.

Great. Just what I need. More mad science.

No comments: