Chapter 8: Ghost Sighting

Their time on Coruscant was almost non-existent. Immediately upon arrival, they were summoned to General Garza’s office, where they learned that Republic Intelligence had intercepted a message from Harron Tavus, the leader of the ex-Havoc traitors. The message had been sent out to the outposts where they’d encountered the other turncoats, with directions signaling all survivors to meet at a rendez-vous point. With that, Havoc was back on their ship and on their way to the coordinates, sailing through the whirling maelstrom of hyperspace.

“I’m pretty certain that this is a trap.” Jorgen crossed his arms and leaned against the holotable. “We just happened to snag a transmission from that traitor Tavus that details exactly where he wants the ex-Havoc survivors to meet up?” He scoffed. “Yeah right.”

“I also see a high probability of a trap,” Forex agreed, his servos whirring as he pivoted to face the lieutenant. “Although even if it is a trap, I am confident that we will emerge victorious.”

Lacroix was leaning against the holotable, her hands gripping the lip as she gazed at the blue hued projection of Tavus’ command ship, the Justice. According to the message, this ship was to be at the rendez-vous coordinates, and Havoc was tasked with infiltrating it and subduing the remaining members of Tavus’ team. The lieutenant’s blank crimson eyes darted back and forth, presumably analyzing the holo for any data that may assist them in their infiltration.

“We need to be prepared for anything when we drop out of hyperspace,” Jorgen continued, pacing back and forth. “For all we know there’s a Sith capital ship and a squadron of fighters sitting there, waiting with their fingers on the triggers.”

“I already have an escape destination logged in the navicomputer, in case we need to make an immediate jump,” Lacroix replied, eyes still scanning intently. “Jorgen, you’ll be on the guns, but you are only to fire if fired upon unless I say otherwise.” The lieutenant swiped her hand across the command console and the image changed, this time showing a top down view of the internal layout of the Justice, or at least how it was laid out at the time of manufacturing. One could only put so much trust into schematics like this when the ship had been in service for longer than a few months.

“Sergeant Dorne, what do you think?”

Elara was caught off guard by the question directed at her. “Sorry, what do I think about what, ma’am?”

“About this being a trap.”

Pursing her lips, Elara answered honestly. “I don’t believe it’s a trap. Tavus must know that we’ve removed several of his crew from the equation, as well as disrupting the operations those individuals were running. Whoever he is reporting to in the Sith Empire will not be happy to hear of the failures, and may already be threatening Tavus if he doesn’t start getting results. It’s likely that he’s frazzled and on-edge, which would explain why he slipped into old habits and used a Republic special forces encryption on his message, instead of something Imperial. So while yes, there is a chance that he’s attempting to lure us into an ambush, I believe it is more likely that he’s hastily trying to regroup so he can escape somewhere to plan his next move.”

“Those were my thoughts as well,” Lacroix said, nodding her head. “I don’t believe they’ll be expecting us, and a Republic ship shouldn’t raise a red flag if we play along. Tavus almost certainly recruited other defectors, so that’s the role we’ll play.” A few taps on the control panel and a section of the map highlighted in yellow. “There are a couple different docking bays on the Justice, but we’re going to head for this one, at the rear of the ship. Our initial objective is to sabotage the engines to prevent Tavus from escaping. An SIS retrieval team is scheduled to arrive in system 3 hours after we drop out of hyperspace, so that’s our timetable. If we have the chance, we should also disrupt the weapon systems in whatever way we can, in case we haven’t taken care of Tavus before the retrieval team arrives.”

“Forex and I can take out the weapons and the shields.” Jorgen had made his way over to the table and jabbed a finger at one of the rooms on the map. “This should be the main battle control hub. If we blast that room apart, both offensive and defensive capabilities should be rendered useless.”

“Copy that. We’ll split up here, after the hangar. Dorne and I will move east to the engine room, Forex and Jorgen will head north to battle control. After, we meet at the entrance to the bridge to confront Tavus. If my gut is right, we won’t have any opposition when we arrive, but expect heavy resistance after we start destroying systems. Also don’t forget that there’s one more former member of Havoc squad we haven’t encountered yet: Wraith. She will almost certainly be employing a stealth field generator, so Forex, make sure you have your thermal detection sensors primed. For the rest of you …” Lacroix tossed Elara and Jorgen each a small cylinder. “Short range EMP charge. It’s only got an effective range of 2 meters, which is a bit of a double edged sword. Much easier to stay out of the blast range so you don’t scramble your own electronics, but you’ll need to be much more accurate to hit your target.”

Elara turned the device over in her hands before tucking into a pouch on her belt. Hopefully Forex and Jorgen encountered Wraith, as it would be much easier for Forex to track the stealth operative. She had a feeling in her gut though, that if their presence was detected, Wraith would make a point to seek out the lieutenant.

“Any questions?” There was silence, so Lacroix pushed herself back from the table and headed toward the cockpit. “Then everybody get to your stations. We drop out of hyperspace in ten.”

—

The approach to the Justice was just as mundane as the lieutenant had expected, perhaps to Jorgen’s disappointment, if his grumbling was any indication. They circled around the command ship, eyes peeled for any turbolaser fire, but the gun turrets stayed dormant as they smoothly entered the hangar. They all grabbed their gear and met at the landing ramp, tense energy radiating between them.

“Be ready for a fight, but we can’t disembark with our weapons at the ready, or we will raise suspicions. I know we’re walking into the rancor’s cave, but keep it casual.” Lacroix’s voice was slightly modulated coming through her helmet, but the steadiness of it was still reassuring to Elara. She took a slow breath in and then let it out, ensuring that her hands weren’t noticeably tense.

The hiss of the pneumatics preceded the ramp lowering, and as it hit the deck with a metallic thud, Havoc squad strode out into the hangar, trying to embody the confidence that they belonged there.

Stepping foot into the hangar was a surreal experience for Elara. She immediately had flashbacks to her time in the Imperial military, given this was an Imperial ship. The feeling was not pleasant, and she had to fight the urge to look around and scan for threats. She let her eyes wander casually as she followed the lieutenant, noting the various Imperial personnel dotting the space. As quickly as they could without drawing attention, the squad passed through the bulkhead doors, which slid into the walls with a cough of mechanical grinding. At the first intersection they split off as they had discussed: Elara and Lacroix peeled off down the left corridor while Jorgen and Forex continued straight.

  As they moved through the ship, Elara realized it was much harder than she’d anticipated to balance the fine line between being alert but not looking alert. She drummed her fingers on her thigh as they walked, keeping her hand close to her holstered pistol. As they turned a corner, they passed an Imperial officer. Lacroix nodded and the two of them continued on.

  “Trooper!”

  The voice of the officer calling out behind them made Elara’s blood run cold. Following the lieutenant’s lead, she turned around, watching with growing anxiety as the officer approached.

  “Yes, officer?” Lacroix sounded as steady and collected as ever.

  “Did you come from one of the outposts?” the officer asked, his head inclined in the typical way of one who thought himself superior to everyone else.

  “Yes, sir. The operation on Alderaan.”

  “So you managed to escape.” The officer sniffed derisively. “I’ve heard rumor that a Republic strike force has been targeting Commander Tavus’s operations. Did you run into anything on Alderaan?”

  “We did sir. We were lucky to be out on patrol when the attack came.”

  The officer’s eyes widened slightly, apparently surprised that the rumor had some truth to it. “Is that so? So there is an attack force hitting our outposts. It must be one of the larger special forces units, if it is causing Tavus that much trouble.”

  “Actually sir, we spoke with one of the survivors of the attack before he succumbed to his injuries. He said it was only a small squad. 4 person max.”

  Elara had to hide a smirk as she watched the blood drain from the officer’s face. “F-four person squad? And it wiped out an entire outpost?”

  “That’s what we were told, sir.”

  The officer ran a hand across his suddenly damp forehead. “I see … thank you for this information trooper. As you were.”

  Lacroix and Elara snapped off a salute that the officer weakly returned before he pivoted and hurried down the corridor. The two of them continued on and Elara cast a side glance at her lieutenant.

  “Having fun, ma’am?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Dorne.”

—

  Shortly before arriving at the engine room, Jorgen had contacted them to relay that he and Forex had made it to their objective and had set the charges. They’d started to make their way to the bridge and would detonate the explosives on Lacroix’s mark. They hadn’t encountered Wraith, which made Elara even more confident that the Mirialan operative was waiting for them somewhere ahead.

  Lacroix stopped at the door to the engine room and raised a hand. Quickly, Elara pressed herself against the wall, next to the door and out of sight from anybody who may be inside. She watched as the lieutenant pulled the EMP out of its pouch on her belt, slipping it into her nondominant hand. She closed his hand into a loose fist, completely obscuring that he was holding the EMP inside. For the life of her, Elara could not figure out what she was planning.

  “Ma’am?” she asked, not bothering to voice the rest of the question.

  “I think we might see a ghost in there,” Lacroix said, tilting her head toward the door. “Wouldn’t want the ghost to see you too.”

  Elara immediately tensed up. If the lieutenant thought that Wraith was here as well, why was she keeping her rifle holstered? Why didn’t she want Elara to accompany her?

  “Stay out of sight and keep your ears open. You’ll know what to do.”

  Wordlessly, Elara nodded, slipping her pistol out of her holster and letting the weight of it in her hand comfort her somewhat. Though that comfort only went so far as she watched her commanding officer tap the door control and disappear into the next room.

  Seconds ticked by and all Elara could hear was the omnipresent hum of machinery and her own shallow breathing. She strained to hear anything from the room beyond, but even through the open door there was nothing of note. Just when she was starting to wonder whether they’d been too paranoid, she heard a female voice.

  “I had a suspicion that that was your Thunderclap in the rear hangar.”

  Sucking in a breath, Elara scooted to the edge of the door and peeked around the frame, cautiously as she could. Inside the room she could see Lacroix, standing awkwardly still near one of the engine housings that she had exposed. As expected, there was no sign of Wraith; she must have already had her stealth field engaged.

  “Going for the engines is so predictable, but it made my job easier.” Wraith’s voice was gravelly and dark. “Though splitting up your entire team and coming here alone was a poor choice. I don’t know how you took out the other members of Havoc with such lackluster planning. We should’ve killed you on Ord Mantell when we had the chance.”

  “Given what’s transpired since then, you’re right. You probably should have.” Lacroix shifted slightly, and Elara watched for any indication of where Wraith was. “I don’t suppose I could convince you to surrender and come quietly?”

  There was a snort of laughter. “You can’t even convince me not to kill you here and now.”

  “Yeah. I didn’t think so.” Suddenly there was a sharp pop, and Elara saw bolts of electricity spider out from the lieutenant’s hand. She saw Lacroix’s head twitch to the side (she assumed from the shrieking of her radio as it shorted out), but more importantly she saw the outline of a woman flicker into being, standing just behind Lacroix with a vibroblade pressed against her back.

  Wasting no time Elara whipped around the corner and fired one, two, three times. She was at close enough range that all three shots hit true, two striking Wraith in the back and the other blasting through her shoulder, causing her to lose her grip on her blade. The operative stumbled forward and was met with an elbow to the chin, her head snapping back brutally as Lacroix struck her. In a fluid motion, she pulled her helmet off and pulled out her sidearm, firing another laser into Wraith’s head as she fell backward. Her body hit the ground as Elara entered the room. Confirming that the Mirialan was dead, she turned back to the lieutenant, who had a grimace on her face.

   “A waste of a talented soldier. But she made her choice.” The lieutenant checked his helmet to confirm that the EMP had worn off, then slipped it back over her head. “Let’s rig these explosives and then rendez-vous with the rest of the squad.