In The Dark of Night

-3:07 AM, December 30th, 2055-

-1 Klick East of Nabat, Ryloth-

I tapped Tomas on the shoulder and whispered. "What do you see?"

Tomas pulled the scope away from his eye and sighed. "Something feels off about them."

I shifted on the ground and held my hand out. "Let me take a look."

Tomas handed me the scope and smirked. "Happy birthday."

I rolled my eyes. "Is this supposed to be my present?"

Tomas shrugged. "Don't worry. We got you something nice."

I smirked and raised my brow. "Did you, now?"

Tomas nodded. "Alright, enough. We have a job to do."

I sighed and held the scope up to my eye to observe the entry point. 20-feet tall concrete walls had been constructed around the city. Guards were walking across the top of them.

Watch towers were placed a mile apart with spotlights and weapon emplacements. It was locked down tight.

I looked at the gate that we were targeting. It was no different from the others. The only reason we had chosen this one was that there was a small rock formation about a klick away from it. The others were surrounded by flat land.

There were 6 guards split between the gate and the platform above it. There was, indeed, something off about them.

I pulled the scope away from my eye. "They seem too careless for my liking."

Tomas scoffed. "I wonder what these guys are getting paid."

I chuckled. "Either not enough for them to care, or more than they're worth." I glanced down the ridge behind me. "Paula, you see anything?"

Down the ridge was the rest of Alpha team. Among them was Paula who was holding a thick tablet with handles and analog controls. She was operating a small drone that would provide overwatch throughout this operation.

Paula shook her head. "Nothing unexpected."

I nodded and turned back to Tomas. "Alright, I'm calling it in."

Tomas nodded and turned to his team. "Everyone pack up. We're moving out."

I tapped my ear. "Overlord, this is Alpha. We're all set over here."

Overlord quickly replied. "Affirm, Alpha. Clear to proceed. ETA on those birds is one hour from your mark."

I nodded. "10-4. Standby."

I tapped my ear again and turned to Tomas. "On your mark, T."

Tomas nodded. "Alpha 2, lights out on 1. Goggles on people." He paused for a few minutes as everyone, including myself, pulled their night vision goggles down from their helmets. "3, 2, 1…"

The lights near the gate and in the nearby buildings went dark. Only silhouettes remained.

(Quick note, I actually managed to spell "silhouettes" without using spell correct for once. You can clap for me.)

Tomas stood up from the ground. "Move out."

I tapped my ear once again as I stood up from the ground. "Overlord, this is Alpha. We are on the move."

Overlord replied instantly. "Affirm, Alpha. Setting mission clock for 1 hour."

I tapped my ear once more to close the channel as I ran down the ridge. My knees were slightly bent, and my rifle was raised. The rest of Alpha team filled in behind Tomas and I.

Sirius caught up to me and kept pace. "What are we ordering this evening? Number 2 with a side of fries?"

I shook my head as I snapped my rifle towards some movement in the watchtower above the gate. I refrained from pulling the trigger. "Not tonight. I think I'll go for a number 6 with extra dip."

Sirius nodded and then vanished into the darkness. Even if I combined the NVGs with the force, I wouldn't have been able to find him. Thus, I didn't bother.

Tomas whispered to me. "Do those callouts even mean anything?"

I shrugged but kept my eyes locked on the watch tower. "Nope. He was going to do whatever he wanted regardless. We may have an SOP, but sometimes it is best to just let a bird fly."

We were moving at a very fast pace. If we were moving any faster, we'd be sprinting. In just 2 minutes, we had crossed half of the distance.

As we closed in, I started to hear the confused voices of the guards. Most of them were complaining about them not being able to see anything. None of them seemed concerned, though. That made sense since the power grid for this city was not well-kept.

Then, I heard something that concerned me. One of the guards mentioned activating droids.

I grimaced when I heard that before breaking into a sprint. Droids. That was why the security was so lax.

The force augmented my every step as I reached and exceeded inhuman speeds. I crossed the remaining half klick in about 30 seconds.

As I approached the wall, I launched into the air. I effortlessly landed atop the watchtower. There were three guards there. All three of them turned towards me as my feet hit the concrete.

One of them started panicking. "What the fuck was that?!"

I raised my rifle and squeezed the trigger. Then, I twisted my torso and fired two more shots. All three crumpled to the ground.

Through the floor, I was able to hear stomping and yelling. "ACTIVATE THE DROIDS!"

I let go of my rifle and pulled my lightsaber to my hand in a reverse grip using the force. I then stabbed it into the floor and spun in a circle.

The floor dropped beneath me and I fell into the room below. With my head on a swivel, my eyes locked on a man running towards the only console that was still powered in the room. It was mounted on a wall and was just a few feet from him.

I reached out with my free left hand and used the force to pull the man towards me. He became skewered on my lightsaber, dying almost instantly.

There were four others in the room. One of them reacted quickly and shot at me.

I grabbed the shoulder of the man I had just killed and turned, using his corpse to block the blaster bolt. Then, I pulled my lightsaber out and used the force to throw the corpse at the guard who had just shot at me.

A series of dull thuds and a grunt sounded off as another blaster bolt came flying towards me. I slashed towards my right and deflected the blaster bolt, killing the shooter.

I then threw my lightsaber at one of the remaining two before reaching towards my right thigh. Grabbing my blaster pistol, I turned slightly and held the blaster under my left arm before squeezing the trigger.

Two dull thuds echoed through the now silent room as I used the force to pull my lightsaber back to my left hand.

I let out a massive exhale as my shoulders sank. "Close one."

I holstered my blaster pistol and clipped my lightsaber to my belt as I walked over to the console. There was a status window on the display showing 3 dozen units. There were also some preset commands including activate, sentry mode, and RTB.

Those droids would have been a major problem. Fortunately, the mission had kicked off without a hitch.