With Ahsoka giving us the tentative all-clear, at least from anything majorly dark or twisted, it was time to plan our assault. This involved us sticking our heads over the lip once more, studying each ship, and trying to figure out our best approach. Julus kept an eye on Racer, the droid half sitting half wedge on a nearby flat rock.
Even from where we were, basically on the opposite side of where the ships had crashed, it was clear that these ships were broken as hell. Two of the Republic Hammerheads were snapped along their bow, and the third was only recognizable because it was within the same view as the other two. The Harrower, a much larger ship, was in equally rough shape. Not only was one of the forward spikes snapped and bent, and one of the side planes was broken off, but the whole forward nose was crumpled and damaged, like it had smashed into something at relatively high speeds. Even the bridge was a mess, smashed, carved out, and half-melted, though I had a feeling that it was damaged from combat, not the collision.
Despite the heavy damage, however, there were some signs that things were working inside the large ship. The hangar bay that we could see clearly glowed with an activated mag-shield, which was no doubt how they were keeping the toxic atmosphere out. There were also a few lights along the areas closest to the open hangar bays, as well as the top ridge.
As if that wasn't confirmation enough, all of the Clairvoyance spells I cast, using various people and vehicles, led right to the larger Sith vessel. This meant two things. One, chances were everything we were after was inside the Harrower's hangar, and two, there was a way to get to that hangar from the ground. After all, if there wasn't, then my trail spell, the original Clairvoyance spell that showed the actual path you needed to take, wouldn't have been able to connect.
After a few minutes of observation, Corvak, his second in command, Tatnia, Ahsoka, Blink and myself all directly connected to discuss a plan. It was a bit awkward to do, forcing us to descend from the lip a few steps to a more solid platform, but we managed.
"I think the first thing we need to do is get around this ridge," I said, Corvak nodding in agreement. "There is way too much land to cover if we start from here. Once we find a better point, then we can push in."
"Is there another hangar bay on the other side?" Corvak asked.
"As far as I understand, for this model, there is one large hangar bay in the center, with three entrances," I explained. "One on either side and then one between the two forward spikes."
"Well, with the forward entrance jammed up by that outcropping, so we should enter each side at the same time. Assuming the other side is functional," Corvak pointed out. "Maybe even having the BX units coming up from whatever connection point is on the ground. A three-pronged attack will ensure we can prevent any ships from taking off."
"That's a fair point," I agreed, chewing my lip. "It's going to be tough to choreograph without comms, though."
"According to the reading, we have eight hours before it starts to get dark again," Ahsoka pointed out. "If we pick a time to engage, something that gives us plenty of and is under the cover of darkness, that would give us plenty of time to get into position."
"Risky, but technically functional," I admitted, nodding along. "If we wait until the last minute, we can confirm if we are ready or not through the comms. If we keep it to simple clicks, they might miss it or mistake it for static. If they are even scanning nearby comms."
"So, one from each side, then the BX units from the bottom," I confirmed. "We wait until…. Twelve hours from now, I'll give an all-clear signal if we are in position. Then Corvak, you'll give it second, and Blink, you give it third."
"And if we get spotted before we are in position?" Corvak asked.
"If shit kicks off, break comms silence so we can call in the calvary," I responded with a shrug. "If they scramble fighters without our own to cover us, then we are in big trouble. At that point, we can only hope to force them into surrender through superior Force, but that's only if we can survive long enough for the fleet to get here. Basically, take cover and hope help comes."
"Risky, it's all risky," Tatnia pointed out, shaking her. "Why don't we push forward at a sprint, then get into the hangars rather than just taking cover. Much harder to bombard us with airstrikes if we are inside either base."
"That… would work a lot better," I admitted, nodding in agreement. "I was going to suggest we run for the nearest crashed ship, but getting inside the Harrower, either into the hangar or into the ship itself, would work well."
We continued to plan for a few more minutes before finally splitting up. Blink and his team joined us as we walked on the way around the caldera lip, while Corvak and his team went the other way. We had a long walk ahead of us, but as long as nothing catastrophic happened, we would easily make our deadline. There were several close calls, two avalanches that we managed to dodge, and a third that Ahsoka had to divert using the Force, a task easier said than done. Still, we reached our first target on schedule, taking a break at the rim.
After we recovered, we entered the caldera through a crumbling low point, quickly dropping down. The whole team took turns helping Racer down, the droid using his repulsor pack system to slowly descend. Once at the bottom, we slowly began crossing the open space, following any sort of cover we could find, managing to keep ourselves from standing in the open for too long. Still, it was relatively flat ground, which was both a blessing and a curse, since we made great time across the floor of the caldera, but it also frequently lacked any appreciable cover. We hid where we could, but with how much empty space there was, we were relying on luck just a bit more than I would usually be comfortable with.
It took forty minutes to make it to the only crashed hammerhead on our side of the Harrower wreck, where we took cover for some time to recover before pushing across the final distance. Thankfully, with the relatively flat status of the large Sith ship, once we got close enough to the side, there was really no way for people inside the hangar to see us. Sure, if someone was in the lower sections of the ship, they could have looked out a window and waved, but judging from all the damage to those sections, there was no way they were sealed from the planet's incredibly toxic and caustic atmosphere.
Once we were in position, taking cover by a fallen chunk of one of the ship's broken fins just under the glowing hangar bay entrance, Blink led his team around toward their infiltration point. They quickly made their way to the front end of the ship, which was slightly raised, half impaled along the center by the large cone of solid rock. There was plenty of room for them to run underneath, and at least one spot opened enough for them to climb in. It didn't take long for them to disappear into the shadows of the ship, quickly heading to their target.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
As the group of commando droids left, we settled in to wait, with several hours to go before we would enact our plan. In all likelihood, this level of planning was unnecessary for a group of pirates, but not only was it better to be safe than sorry, but it was important to maintain good habits. While pirates might not keep constant surveillance on the local comms signals, Imperial forces absolutely would, as would most professional groups.
Time passed slowly, before, eventually, the countdown on my helmet HUD ticked down to zero. I gave a look to the team, getting everyone's attention. Once everyone was up and ready, I activated my comms, loud and clear, sending three clicks, the all-clear and ready signal. For a long pause, the comms were quiet, before someone sent three clicks back, then, after another moment, there were three more.
I motioned to my group with a thumbs up, Julus pumping his fist in excitement while we all prepared. All three teams were in position and ready to go, now they were just waiting for my command. I gave one last look around at my team, noting everyone was ready, before activating my comms again.
"Go."
At my word, all of us boosted into the air, our repulsor packs carrying us up with barely a whine. The higher and higher we went, before finally pushing forward in a tight arc, all of us landing smoothly on the inner lip of the hangar, passing through the mag-shield barrier. It was slightly disorienting, as when we got closer to the ship, the gravity slightly switched, turning to redirect our gravity relative to the ship's deck, which, while relatively flat, was still skewed from the impact.
I was honestly a little impressed that the artificial gravity was working, and that they had the power to run it and the mag-shields together. Part of me had assumed they were running things off generators or perhaps one of their ship's power cores. But to run life support, artificial gravity and mag-shields for this much space was a huge power draw. They must have gotten some sort of major generation running.
The interior of the hangar was spacious, surprisingly so, with a large square area in the middle that branched out to all three entrances. Far on the other side, I could see the other hangar bay entrance, but it was mostly blocked by all of the ships. The two Pelta class frigates were tucked halfway into the forward bay entrance, with the other two unknown, armed freighters parked in the forward corners. Most of the starfighters were parked along the port and starboard entrances, arrayed in lines to make deploying less difficult.
The central part of the bay contained several other ships, including a pair of, both of which were damaged, with one of them looking very rough. In fact, most of the ships in the center of the hangar bay looked damaged in some way, and considering that I could see at least twelve people working on them from where I was standing alone, I had to assume that's where ships that needed work were kept.
"Move in, clear people as you go," I ordered through the comms. "Blink, focus on boarding the Pelta's and clearing them, then move on to every other ship."
Before I could even take a step forward, one of the pirates popped out of a nearby starfighter cockpit. We watched as he tapped a few buttons and frowned slightly, before slapping the starfighter's dashboard. That seemed to do the job, as he nodded and began to climb out of the fighter, utterly oblivious to us. It wasn't until he was preparing to jump to the ground that he spotted us and immediately opened his mouth to shout. I had barely started to raise my blaster when three stun bolts hit him at once, my team proving that they were on the ball.
Of course, the stun bolts, followed by a rather meaty smack as he fell off his ship and slammed into the floor, wasn't much quieter than his shouting would have been. Suddenly, everything went quiet, all eyes turning to look at us. The whole hangar was frozen as they looked in our direction, eyes wide in shock.
"Alright, time to go to work."
I stepped forward, raising a Superior Ward with one hand, letting the rest of my crew take cover behind me as we moved, with Racer directly behind me. Ahsoka followed along beside me, her lightsabers out and burning bright, as the rest of the crew opened up with their weapons, dropping pirates left and right. On the other end of the hangar, I could see Corvak and his team opening fire as well, waves of stun bolts going unanswered as we both took down our targets before they could draw their own weapons. Unfortunately, that wouldn't last for long. As we pushed closer to the central room, the pirates recovered long enough to fight back, opening fire and spraying us down with blaster bolts. Of course, they did absolutely nothing, but I was happy to waste mana blocking most of them anyway.
More pirates poured into the hangar, taking cover behind crates and damaged equipment, not quite realizing just how screwed they were until we just pushed past their cover, stunning each and every one of them, or at least those that didn't run away, retreating through a few different doors that showed clear signs of being cut open. Once the last pirate was either stunned or had retreated, I stopped the team.
"Racer, scan for a computer interface of some kind," I ordered, looking around, still wary of returning pirates. "I doubt much of the ship's systems are intact, but they clearly got some of the power working. Find out how and where."
The droid let out a cheerful whistle as a scanning dish popped out of his head. He quickly spun around, scanning for any way to tap into the ship's systems. Meanwhile, we spread out, covering the door and entrances while Corvak helped the BX units clear the ships of any hiding pirates.
While we were spreading out, I got a look down the forward hangar entrance. Far behind the Pelta's was a mess, with the floor crumpled and broken and metal plates welded into place to block any gaps. The whole entrance was pinch almost shut, most likely by the impact, with the gaps stuffed with hull plating and whatever scrap the pirates could find, sealing the damaged entrance shut. A good chunk of that was then covered by a massive pile of ships and scrap. It only took me a minute to realize that the majority of the scrap was whatever had been in the hangar when the ship crashed.
"Fucking idiot," I said, shaking my head, gesturing to the pile of "scrap" to Tatnia. "They are out there stealing scrap from people while storing their ships by a pile of fucking gold. Those ships are four thousand years old. Collectors would pay millions of credits for anything even remotely intact."
"Let's hope there is something intact when we start digging into it," She responded, scanning over the pile as well.
The BX commando team made quick work of the smaller freighters and other ships. As the BXs were dragging knocked-out pirates out of the Pelta-class frigates, Racer let out a whistle from a nearby corner. He had found a scomp hook-up of some sort, managing to scan the ship's broken systems.
"They managed to get one of the ship's backup generators functioning," Nal explained, listening to the droid's whistle. "He has locked out their access, but the systems are too broken up to do much more."
"Alright, sounds like we are clearing the ship the old-fashioned way," I said, nodding to Tatnia. "Once we finished clearing and securing the ships, we split up and start clearing room by room. We should contact the fleet first, though, and have them come to cover us just in case. Most of them can land to conserve fuel anyway. Have them call back home to scramble the salvage fleet as well, but hold off from leaving until we finish cleaning up these guys."
Everyone nodded before splitting up to start the already unconscious pirates. Ahsoka and Vaz covered the entrances while the rest of us restrained the stunned criminals with what were essentially sci-fi zip ties. Once we finished there, we could start pushing through the rest of the ship, clearing it as we went.
