Kiast System
Malestrom Corsairs Base of Operations
Attacking a Pirate Base
Landing on the outskirts of the Maelstrom Corsairs base stationed in an asteroid belt, Mauro Wynter, Jafits Skrumm, and Korroth had two goals. To take the intelligence their House had given them and then to destroy the Malestrom’s base of operations. From a distance, Mauro stared at the base just out of range for the Pirates to notice the Raider and two Jedi. As he looked at the old base, Mauro knew something was different. There is something strange in this base that he had read about. The base had the ability to hide from regular ship sensors according to the intel he had gathered, but his House was able to find it through previous reconnaissance missions. The Force was strong in the Dark side when Korroth had previously scouted the area and reported sensing a strong presence here.
Jafits Skrumm was eager to began the mission, but knew he had to focus his mind before the fight. As he focused he began to feel the power in this area was greater than something simple Pirates could own. Still focusing he thought the enemy might be using a machine or special tool to hide their position from radar, maybe they found it in the ancient ruins on another planet. As he cleared his mind it hit him from some old teachings he had seen that resembled the base. The Force it projected was immediately clear to him at that point. The old base was a powerful fortress of Darth Bane, during conflicts with the Jedi that he had studied in his younger days in the Jedi Academy. Examining the base it wasn’t much to look at from the exterior as most of the buildings had been damaged from earlier bombardments during the Republic fleet bombing years ago, however, they weren’t strong enough to destroy the maze the base contained underground.
Mauro did not have time to scuffle over the base’s past. He knew the Pirate’s radar would detect their support ships that were arriving any minute. He knew the three of them had about 5 minutes until the Pirates realized the attack was coming. By then they would activate the power defense systems supporting the base.
Korroth looking down at his datapad while awaiting the incoming assault wondered if the Maelstrom Corsairs even knew whom they will have to fight. If they did maybe they would have already hidden the information they required. He needed to change their plan to organize a better stealth assault allowing them to get inside the complex. Last resort was for himself to take out the shield generators manually one by one if needed. It was a good thing Mauro was here with him on the ground should the Jedi need fire support to enter the base.
Mauro looked at his datapad as he was alerted to his starfighter assault team which had arrived 10 minutes too earlier.
“Chrome you’re early. This is going to change some planning to how we take our the base’s shields now. Are the warheads ready for launching,” Mauro asked over the communication system?
“I lost at pazaak a little earlier than expected at the Casino, so decided to jet out quickly. We are within 5km of their base now. We are preparing ourselves to lock on and engage the target with our warheads, but we only have a limited amount of shots to take it down. However, their power shield is still active. We will need your help in taking it down, or they will attack the warheads before we can deal any damage. Give me the go head when it’s ready…,” Chrome responded.
“Just relax Chrome. Target the warheads and prepare them to the launch one as a distraction. You have to send it just in the middle of their support systems,” Mauro replied.
“Relax is my middle name Chief. You do your job and I’ll do mine boss then maybe we can catch a few more rounds of pazaak once this shows over. Just give me the word and we’re ready to lunch” Replied the Chrome.
Five minutes had passed when suddenly activated the signal in the datapad.
“Launch the warhead now Chrome. We will have a wonderful view from here as they fall for our distraction,” Mauro said.
The warhead launched easily from the starfighter. Within seconds the base defense systems target the warhead shooting a missile of their own to intercept it. A long sky-blue tail followed behind the Pirate’s missile as it chased toward the warhead. This could be a large problem for the warhead because it could be tracked easily and stopped by the hidden defense system. This played right into what the Jafits Skrumm and Korroth had planned if his team arrived too early.
The Pirates began to engage the warhead as it came into range with their multiple laser-cannons as they simultaneously fired towards the warhead. Three different units were able to hit the side of the warhead as the missile still chased the warhead. As the fire ripped into the side of the warhead the missile easily caught up and struck the warhead from behind immediately creating a huge explosion exposing a bright blue flash. Mauro knew his operation was slowly starting to come together once again.
Korroth had just made his way within range of the shield generators. He had planned to manually take care of the powering generators before the assault if his starfighter support came too soon. Mauro knew his last resort in the plan was for Jafits and himself to force their way into the base after Korroth took out the shield generators in order to gather the intelligence.
Within minutes Korroth would begin attacking the power generators located outside the base. One by one he easily took down the shields generators while his pilots provided air cover towards the defensive turrets around the base. Eventually, the base’s shields would come down in a matter of minutes. This would give him the opportunity to use the remaining warheads to strike the base once he gained the information inside.
As the last generator fell the Pirates inside the base quickly started to notice that there is something wrong with their shield. Their defense systems began to sound the alarms for the shield generators failing. Their fight was going to need their own starfighters to engage and their ground forces against the Raider and Jedi that were coming.
“Chrome, I need the warheads targeted to the central part of the base. I will enter the base with the battle droid for cover fire to retrieve the information. Should I not respond in 10 minutes then fire on the base,” Mauro said.
“You got it. We got enough firepower to blast this to pieces. We will start focusing our fire on the defense turrets and the hangar bay until for the next 10 minutes,” Chrome replied.
With the shield down and his ships waiting for his call, Mauro knew it was time to show the Pirates who they were dealing with. As Jafits took out the first door’s security lock and launched himself into the corridor. His battle droid immediately began providing cover fire towards the enemy Pirates taking up defensive positions in the corridor. After the first shock of the Jedi breaching the base, the Pirates began to focus their fire on the Jedi. They were superior in numbers, but that isn’t always enough to stop a Jedi of Jafits combat prowess. Numbering around 30 Pirates, Jafits would slowly inch forward taking the men out one by one as Mauro maintained cover fire. The Pirates knew this match was slowly dwindling to favor the Jedi as their morale began to slip.
Five minutes after his last communication, Mauro pulled his communication unit to speak.
“Chrome! Their defense systems are completely destroyed and I have most of the Pirates engaging me in the Western corridor of the base. I need fire support to right away on that fighter hangar before they get a chance to engage. They will attempt to launch their star fighters any minute now. Engage now,” Mauro shouted in the communication system.
“Roger that boss. Time to light the fires,” Responded the Chrome.
The Jedi starfighters one by one swooped in low engaging the hangar bay with heavy fire. Quickly the multiple blasts slammed into the base’s hangar. The hangar bay and it’s straighter ships being engulfed in flames and smoke with little hope to launch anything.
Mauro and Jafits still continued inching closer to the last few pirates. As Jafits passed the wall he began throwing a flurry of lightsaber blows that would continue to overpower the last few men engaging him. The last of the Pirate’s left morale quickly started to fall and they would attempt to run away from the fight, but it was too late.
As Mauro looked to his right he sensed the hall lead to the area where the information was located. The Pirates that entered to engage him earlier had foolishly left it opened in their attempt to quickly protect their base. Jafits and Mauro quickly ran down the hallway. The last few Pirates brave enough to attack jumped out from behind the last door as he entered the operations room. Jafits turned his lightsaber up towards the enemies hands cutting them off as the Pirate fell to the ground in agony. The laser blast from the last enemy in the room flew towards the Jedi as he easily reflected the fire back into the Pirate. Such a pity that you to end the lives of these men when they were fighting a losing battle. Jafits didn’t want to kill them, but knew he had to defend himself to accomplish the mission. The closer he moved to the operation’s room core, the more he felt the dark side of the Force that was protecting this base.
Suddenly a voice proclaimed:
“You two are good enough in the battle, but they managed to fool you both. Beware of the information you will find here Satele Shan scum,” Responded a robotic sounding voice from the base’s communication system.
Right, when the voice finished its sentence Mauro started to twitch violently as he fell dropped to his knees. Jafits sensed the strength of the energy being passed into the room.
“Ignore the feeling Mauro, it will pass. Who are you voice”, Jafits yelled?
“I am the one who waited for you two,” Replied the voice.
Mauro slowly began to get up while rubbing his head slightly dazed. At that moment Korroth had reached their position and helped the Raider all the way to his feet.
“No, I sense the darkness in the Force here. It is one of the Old Sith, but how could you be here inside the systems of the base? It cannot be real,” Jafits responded.
“It does not mean that I am not real. There is nothing dead in the force. You have to obey me, and I will teach you. Help you to destroy your enemies. Through passion I can help you become the most powerful Jedi in the universe,” The voice responded with excitement.
“We’re going to do what I came here to do. I know the origins of this place,” Mauro yelled from behind Jafits.
“Go further into the levels below the base and I can give you power like you have never seen. Through me, we will rule all. There is a sarcophagus out here and it holds the secrets to your destiny Jedi. Open it now!” The voice said with slight agitation in its tone.
“Ignore this thing Jafits. Hey talking microphone, your chance to infect anything else ends here.” Korroth yelled as he finally grabbed the information they required for their House.
“Let’s get out of here now, so Chrome can blow this joint,” Mauro stated.
“Don’t do this you fool. The power here cannot be found anywhere else. You can do good with it” The voice replied in desperation towards the three who was quickly approaching the exit of the base.
“Chrome launch those warheads now. We’re exiting the base now. Make sure to save a couple to hit the lower levels of the base. What is down there never needs to be found. We will rendezvous once we make it back to our ship,” Mauro said into his communication system.
“You got it, the target is locked and warheads firing now. See you at the rendezvous point brother,” Chrome responded.
Multiple warheads began to smash into the all levels of the base illuminating great flashes of explosions slowly crumbling the building and the levels below it into heaps of debris.
Looking back, the three knew there was something haunted by the Dark side in that base. The fact that it was able to keep itself hidden for so many years was a mystery, but something they knew they would leave up to the Jedi Council to figure out. Their mission for now, had been completed.
