Commander Barson of the Imperial Navy tried to recover his wits as he stumbled about in the knee-deep jungle river. He watched in fear as the Lancer Pursuit Craft passed overhead and settled down into a clearing away from his position, its Nightshadow coating making it hard to spot where it specifically landed in the lush nighttime jungle. “We have to get clear of the burning wreck, they’ll be here soon!”
The Storm Trooper Sergeant turned from checking one of his injured Storm Troopers, “Relex. We’ve got time before that happens with all these rivers, they probably had to land a ways away. Do you still have the case?”
Barson nodded carefully patting it trying to calm his nerves, “Of course.”
The Sergeant nodded as he helped the injured trooper to his feet, “Good. Men: Form up on the Commander. Let’s find some dry ground so we can get to set up a defensive position and wait for the rescue team. Make sure that light repeater is working.”
“Yes sir.”
The Imperials started trudging through the knee-deep water as the jungle around them slowly came back to life. After a couple of minutes of walking the Sergeant suddenly perked his head up and held up a fist to signal everyone to halt. There was a brief roar of a jetpack and then an impact splash behind them. He whipped around scanning the wreckage as parts of the lambda shuttle exploded sending burning debris into the air, but he couldn’t see anything else. “What?” Barson finally asked.
The Sargeant looked like he was trying to peer through the darkness, “I thought I heard a jetpack…”
The sound of a blaster rifle shot pierced through the air and the Sergeant was knocked backwards and into the water with a loud splash, the only sign he was hit was the smoldering hole in his chest plate as his body partially sunk into the water. Barson nearly dove into the water himself as the other Storm Troopers looked frantically around, weapons up, and aiming out into the darkness of the jungle. “Sarge is down!”
“Where did the shot come from?”
“I didn’t see it!”
“The hell? How could no one have seen it?”
Barson pulled out his own pistol looking terrified. “We need to get to cover!”
Another shot rang out and the Storm Trooper with the light repeater dropped into the water with a splash and a burning hole in his chest plate. One of the troopers shouted “Shit!” began firing blindly in a panic in the direction the trooper was facing as the other two quickly grabbed a now frozen in panic Barson and began moving him towards a clump of trees sticking out of the water. “Sir we have to get you out of here!”
Barson snapped out of his daze for a moment to say, “Where? We don’t even know where it’s coming from!”
“Both were facing the wreckage and the hits knocked them away from it.”
“How did they get here so fast?”
“We’ll ask them later if we…”
Three shots rang out and the three troopers fell into the water in rapid succession. Barson stumbled as he turned in the direction of the wreckage, shaking so badly he could barely hold his pistol. He finally located a spot in the now churning water that was displaced as if someone was standing there. “Who are you?”
Ar’lissa turned off her Optical Camouflage System, keeping her aim on Barson as she carefully advanced. “The real question you should be asking yourself is whether or not you want to continue pointing that blaster at me.”
Barson hesitated for a moment and then slowly placed it in his holster. He straightened up, trying to display some air of authority but still keeping his hands away from his body. “Do you know how much trouble you are in?”
Ar’lissa’s gaze narrowed. “I could ask you the same question.”
He looked at her oddly for a moment, maybe if he could stall her long enough the local garrison would have time to arrive. “I am a Commander in the Imperial Navy and you are kidnapping me.”
Ar’lissa shrugged slightly as she could hear the whine of a repulser lift in the distance. She judged she had closed enough distance and subtly flipped the selector switch on her rifle. Barson looked smug, there was no way she could take him back to her ship in time. “It was pretty brazen to attack my shuttle like that. Were you just looking for trouble?”
“Honestly, I wanted to avoid trouble, but someone thinks what you took in that case is important and asked for some assistance in preventing you from fleeing.”
Barson looked shocked for a moment and then quickly tried to hide his expression along with tucking the case closer to his body. “This is Imperial Property.”
Ar’lissa gave him a look, “Yes, and you took it without authorization. I’m guessing everyone on your ship was in on it. Did someone put you up to it or was this all your planning?”
He started trying to subtly move his hand back to his blaster. “Are you ISB?”
Ar’lissa gently took up the slack on her trigger, “No.” She couldn’t help but smirk slightly as she continued, “Oh, and I don’t think that’s from the garrison. They’ve been called off.”
He looked at her with a confused and fearful expression, “How…WHO ARE YOU?”
Ar’lissa squeezed the trigger and blue concentric arcs of energy hit him square in the chest and he collapsed in a heap into the riverbank unconscious. Ar’lissa carefully made her way over to him, flipping the safety on, she shouldered her rifle and then adjusted his body so he wouldn’t drown. Ar’lissa knelt down and quickly dug the case out of the knee-deep water as the repulser engine sounds grew louder as Lambda shuttle flew over and then came back and hovered the still burning wreckage, it’s lights playing over it as it descended closer to the water. The shuttle’s ramp descended and a figure jumped out into the water, her black inquisitor uniform silhouetted by the fires and the lights from the shuttle. Moria’s sarcastic voice called out, “You couldn’t have shot him down over dry land?”
Ar’lissa tilted her head giving a slight smirk in return, “Not like we had a chance to plan out the intercept. Plus, the planet is mostly jungle or swamp.”
Moria gave a snort as she waded over to her. “Barson alive?”
Ar’lissa nodded holding up the case as she pointed to Barson, “I was able to stun him.”
“Good, he has a lot of questions he needs to answer.” The Moria reached out a hand for the case and Ar’lissa hesitated, “What’s in the case that was so important that you would risk its destruction having us shoot his ship down?”
Moria tilted her head slightly and then reached up and retracted the facemask and visor and gave Ar’lissa a look. “You know what curiosity does? Look it’s no bio or terror weapon if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Ar’lissa nodded as she handed Moria the case. “It was.”
Moria smirked as she took the case, “Thank you. That’s one of the things I like about you, you have principles.” Moria reached into her belt and pulled out a credit chit and handed it to Ar’lissa, “Compensation for doing this job. I’ll also make sure there’s no blowback on any of you for this.”
Ar’lissa took the chip and tucked it into a belt pouch. “Thanks.”
Moria looked back at Barson, “No way he was smart enough to plan this. If it wasn’t for his bungling, they probably would have gotten away with it, and no one would have been the wiser.”
Ar’lissa raised an eyebrow, the memory of the dream or Force vision gnawing at the back of her mind. “I have a favor to ask, if it turns out there's an unknown alien influence behind this let me know?”
Moria looked at her curiously, “Is there something I should know?”
Ar’lissa paused for a moment wondering how much she should truly reveal right now, “There’s a race in the Chao...unknown region that we believe are called the Grysk. They tried to covertly move against my people using deception and manipulation, but their plot was uncovered. I worry they are possibly now setting their sights on Imperial Space.”
Moria tilted her head slightly, “Now I’m intrigued. What do they look like?”
“We don’t know. So far, they have gone to great lengths to conceal their identities, even using explosives in their armor that detonate on their death or incapacitation.”
Moria raised an eyebrow. “Well, that’s...fanatical of them. I’ll keep my eyes and ears open.”
Ar’lissa nodded and then gestured to Barson, “You need help getting him back on your shuttle?”
Moria gave her a look and gestured towards Barson’s body, and it levitated out of the water. “Thanks, I’ve got it.”
Ar’lissa turned and started wading away back towards her ship. Moria smirked, “Tell Va’lana I said hi and I hope her lightsaber abilities are improving.”
Ar’lissa stiffened up and looked back over at Moria with a warning expression before she activated her jetpack and shot up over the tree canopy sending water spraying over Moria. Moria laughed as she wiped some of the water off of her face, her smirk turning slightly evil. “So, given her attachment to Iz’aphine, she and Va’lana are more than likely sisters judging by her response.” She looked over at the unconscious Barson as she floated him over to her shuttle. “Another inroad to choose from, I just need to pick the right one. Now as for you, I think we’ll have a nice chat before I turn you over to the ISB for further interrogation. This is turning into a very productive day.”
