Race Against the Clock

I made eye contact with Tomas and nodded. Everyone was in position.

Tomas nodded and held up three fingers to count down. 3, 2, 1.

I ignited both my lightsabers and stabbed them into the base of each side of the door in front of me. Then, I pulled up and cut the entire door out. With a slight step back, I pulled my lightsaber out and then pushed my hands forwards. With the force slamming into it, the door flew into the apartment.

Immediately, there was yelling from inside. A stream of Alpha team operators went through the open doorway in pairs. Four remained in the hallway to watch our backs.

There were flashes of blue light as the sound of blaster fire pierced through the darkness. Several thuds on the ground and screams cut short accompanied the loss of life that weighed on my mind.

I walked inside after a few seconds. Bodies were being dragged out of the way. Paula brushed past me and headed straight for a console that was attached to a machine about the size of an oven. She knelt down next to it.

She set her pack down and pulled out a tablet with a cable plugged into it. She plugged the cable into the machine and started tapping away.

I checked my watch. The mission clock showed 41 minutes. We were on schedule.

I tapped my ear. "Sirius, what do you have for me?"

There was a sigh from the other side. "Master, our agreement is 20 minutes."

I scoffed. "You've probably been eating a snack for the past 5 minutes. Out with it."

Sirius sighs again. "Fine. There appears to be three Sith in this city. At least one of them is Forest. Then there's the vice guild leader that runs the illicit side of Forest. His name is Xavier Pierce and he is in the capital. There were also some mentions of VIPs in the capital. Based on the reverential tones being used, they must be special."

I sighed. "That is concerning. Were you able to find out the reason for their visit?"

Sirius replied. "Nothing concrete."

I nodded. "Alright. Keep me posted. We may need to take care of that trio."

Sirius replied. "Understood, master."

I tapped my ear to close the channel and then looked at Paula. "You almost done?"

Paula nodded as she unplugged the tablet. "Just finished."

I nodded before turning to Tomas. "We should pick up the pace. There have been some complications."

Tomas sighed. "Shit, alright. Let's move then."

He turned and walked through the doorway. I followed him out. We went down the stairs and out the side door and into an alleyway.

We continued through back alleys to avoid patrols. There was a klick between us and the next target.

Our objective was to spoof the air defenses for the Eastern and Southern quadrants of the city. Any diagnostic they run would show that the system is active, but it won't fire without a full reset which would take hours.

We had just finished with the Eastern control center. Now, we needed to head to the Southern control center. After that, we would be heading towards the city center to spoof the sensor arrays as our air assets approached. Due to the heavy defenses, we needed to get the jump on them.

About ten minutes of brisk walking went by without any incident. As we approached the next objective, a strange sound entered my ears.

There was a pumping bass. Some colored lights flashed through the darkness. Along with that, a slight chill crept through my spine.

I tapped my ear. "Sirius, where is our trio?"

Sirius quickly replied. "They are currently in a nightclub in the Southern part of the city."

I clicked my tongue. "Shit. They are right next to the target."

After closing the channel, I tapped Tomas on his shoulder and held up a fist.

Tomas nodded and held his fist above his head. The team stopped. He then turned to me and whispered. "What's up?"

I gestured towards the lights. "There are three Sith in that nightclub. They'll know something is wrong as soon as we breach the control center. Sirius and I will handle it, but you guys will need to finish up without me."

Tomas nodded. "I expected this to happen. No worries."

I smiled. "May the force be with you."

Tomas nodded. "You too."

Tomas turned away and waved. His team followed him down another alley, avoiding the club.

I tapped my ear, reopening the channel. "Let's have a drink."

I turned my head to the left as a presence revealed itself. Sirius was standing there. "How are we entering?"

I smiled. "The front door."