With the speeder now carrying us along, we made good time through the large Imperial base. We managed to dodge or escape patrols both through luck and through the skilled piloting of Tycho and Hobbie. As we got closer and closer to the starport, however, we slowed down considerably.

  For obvious reasons, this part of the base was heavily defended, with a secondary security checkpoint and a lower but still impressive wall running along the interior border, which, of course, held various weapon emplacements. There was no way we would be able to sneak in with the speed. They would most definitely ask for security codes or keycards or some sort of identification, of which we had none. Thankfully, there was a bit of good news. We were able to confirm that the that the three pilots were transported in on was still there at one of the starport's many landing pads.

  We also realized that, since we had killed nearly forty Storm commandos at this point, it was likely there were very few left on the ship, leaving the interior undefended. Getting to the interior was where the real challenge was.

  "We have nearly three hundred meters to cross in order to get to the Carrier," I said with a frown, my helmet off. "More than half of that was just open ground. I'm open to suggestions, guys."

  After running from patrols for nearly ten minutes, we finally managed to give them the slip. In a rather smart display, our pilots quickly parked along four other identical transports, hiding our position through numbers rather than trying to find a place where there were no security cameras that could see us. We blended in, and unless the security team decided to count the number of speeders, before looking up how many speeders were meant to be parked at that location, we were good. For now, at least.

  With our location relatively safe, we finally had an opportunity to pause. I had made a quick recon trip, turning invisible before boosting up to the roof and looking down at the nearby open starport. The massive space was lined with a few hangers and repair bays, what looked like spaces for smaller transport ships to land, as well as other bits of infrastructure, including a control tower, sensor array dish, fuel tanks, and other miscellaneous buildings. There was also a large presence of stormtroopers and a few Tie Fighters flying around.

  "Could you do it while invisible?" Tycho finally suggested, looking curious. "It's worked twice so far."

  "I would have to recast the spell quite a few times, and that gives off enough light to be spotted if security is tight enough. I could hide and take cover, but what's the point?" I asked with a frown. "What would I do when I got there? I certainly can't fly the ship, and even if I could, we don't have the time. The second we pull off the duracrete, we need to burn atmo for space in order to have any chance of evading the defensive fleet. Taking our time for a lengthy pick up would be a death sentence."

  "Perhaps… but you could sow chaos, give us some cover," Nal pointed out. "Every advantage we can get is worth trying."

  "That… is true," I admitted, with a nod. "I could stage one hell of a distraction. But that still leaves you guys outside and far away."

  "With the right distraction, busting through the startport security checkpoint would be considerably less difficult," Wedge pointed out. "The weapons on this speeder should be enough to take down the heavy laser cannons stationed on either side."

  "And it's armored enough to smash through the barrier they have in place as well," Tycho added. "It will be rough, but it will get us to the ship."

  "Alright, so the plan so far is that I sneak in, prepare a diversion, and then you guys smash through the checkpoint and head right for the ship?" I asked, looking at everyone. "Alright, it's about as much of a plan as any other step of this rescue mission has had. Let's do it."

  We spent another few minutes swapping gear and discussing our plan. By the time I was ready to leave, I had a whole extra bundle of equipment in my arms and an extra power core for my repulsor pack on my belt, which Nal had donated. We were all starting to run a little low, especially Racer, and I needed to be as maneuverable as possible if I wanted to pull this off. If my pack ran out, there was a very real chance I could get stuck somewhere.

  "Okay, wish me luck," I said, but before anyone could respond, Ashoka stood and gave me a kiss, her hand on my cheek.

  "Be careful, come back safe," She said, our eyes locked. "May the Force be with you."

  "You to Cinnamon," I said with a smirk, the Togruta blushing slightly at her nickname. "I'll signal when I'm ready or if something goes wrong."

  After one last goodbye to the group, I exited the speeder, immediately casting Invisibility on myself as I did. Slowly but surely, I made my way through the base, ducking into alleys and shadows to recast the Illusion spell. Soon, I reached the shorter but still impressive twenty-foot secondary wall that surrounded the starport. I looked up and down the wall before recasting Invisibility again and boosting over it, my repulsor back draining down to its last ten percent as I landed on the other side.

  The starport was busy, with dozens of speeders and transport buzzing around, some moving cargo, some moving people, some transporting parts, or who knows what else. For a moment, I scanned the area, trying to lock it into my mind. When I was ready, I slowly started making my way to the nearest hiding spot, a row of powered-down transport speeders, before once again recasting Invisibility. There I knelt, taking a long, deep breath. I was now deep inside enemy territory on my own, with nothing but my skill to keep me alive.

  And my magic. And my armor…

  "Should be easy as pie," I muttered, refreshing my invisibility before stepping out from cover.

  I started to walk around the perimeter of the starport, making slow but steady progress. Most of the structures, warehouses, hangars, and other points of interest were along the outer perimeter, while the actual landing space was in the center, which actually made my job more manageable than I first anticipated. There were a few close calls, primarily times when I had to recast Invisibility while exposed, but I was also forced to kill a pair of officers, the only two out of everyone I passed who noticed my footprints. They were promptly dragged behind a stack of cargo containers while Imanaged to avoid being seen.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  As I walked, my extra pack got lighter and lighter, until I emptied it completely at the base of a large sensor dish on the roof of a building. While I was up there, I took the time to change out my repulsor pack power core, all while scanning the starport again.

  Once I was satisfied and ready, all that was left was the slow process of heading directly into the landing areas. This was considerably more difficult than just wandering around the perimeter. The base was fully active and on high alert, with patrols moving around constantly, forcing me to dodge them consistently. Eventually, I reached a shallow duracrete barrier, just about twenty feet from the Imperial Escort Carrier, which I could only identify because it didn't look like anything I had seen before, and Tycho had claimed it was made exclusively for Storm commandos.

  The ship was significantly larger than I expected, about seventy meters longer than the and reaching just over two hundred meters long. It was a bit strange looking, like a stubby crossbow bolt, with a wide arrow-shaped front, a more narrow neck, and another smaller arrow shape along the back. A good portion of the neck was the hangar bay, and I could see at least several starfighters inside, all of them a TIE fighter variant I did not recognize.

  After confirming that I was in a relatively safe place, I activated my comms.

  "Welcome party is ready, team. I'm ready when you are," I explained. "Just give me the signal."

  "Roger that, incoming now."

  I clicked in confirmation, settling in and waiting patiently in my hiding spot. After nearly three minutes, I finally got the signal.

  "Now!"

  Immediately, I clicked the detonator I was carrying, linked to the sixteen explosive devices I had hidden around the starport. Explosions shook the open space, the largest by far being the fuel tanks, which exploded into a massive ball of fire and black smoke. The sensor dish exploded as well, tipping over and crashing down into and collapsing a good portion of the building beside it. A supply depot exploded next, something inside it catching as it spewed flames from every opening, the reinforced building containing the explosion but not the intense flames.

  Even as the explosions rippled out across the open space, the already high activity spread out along the area kicked up even more, with people running back and forth, seeking cover and looking for whoever was responsible. The turrets around the base activated and looked up, clearly assuming that the attack had come from above. Meanwhile, my eyes were on the other side of the starport, locked onto one of the side checkpoints closest to where I knew the others were.

  After what felt like forever, I finally spotted blaster fire flying through the checkpoint, several small explosions going off before a spray of sparks shot out, and suddenly the speeder was inside the starport, looking beaten and a bit broken but still making good speed towards our target. Seeing them coming, I climbed out of cover and ran toward the ship, specifically the hangar bay. Using a boost of my repulsor, I jumped up into the hangar, just as my invisibility ran out.

  Shouts were already ringing out, alarms were blaring, and people were already running around in the hangar when I suddenly appeared. It didn't take long after that for people to start shooting at me, which was fine by me. I started to cast magic back at them, quickly taking down several officers and crew before specifically taking on alive.

  "How do I lower the hangar bay ramp?" I asked, pulling out my blaster pistol and aiming it down at what looked to be a technician. "Answer in the next thirty seconds, and I won't kill you."

  The crew member nodded emphatically, crawling and stumbling to a nearby wall, standing up and tapping at a control panel, which was only a few feet from the hangar bay opening. A moment passed, and a low metallic grounding sound filled the bay. I could see the floor sinking slowly along the edges, with a ramp being deployed to make up the difference between the raised hangar and the ground outside.

  "Thanks," I said with a nod before I shot him in the chest with a stun bolt, the Imperial collapsing to the ground.

  I turned to walk away, only to frown. A sense of Deja Vu swept over me, and I quickly realized that it was because this was just about the same way we found Pola. We got pretty lucky with our current Imperial turned armorer, but I wasn't up for gambling again. I quickly carried the man to the edge of the hangar bay and rolled him out, the man sliding down the ramp to the ground.

  I turned to head to the opposite side, the side that the rest of my crew would be coming, only to watch as they sped up the ramp fast enough that the speeder lost connection to the ground with its repulsors, flying through the air before slamming down in the hangar. Smoke billowed off of it, and I could see that the front was busted in and dented from them plowing through the checkpoint.

  The speeder was barely stopped when my team came pouring out, battle-ready and weapons out, only to find the hangar was mostly empty of people, save for me.

  "Welcome to the party," I called out, shouting over the alarms so the pilots could hear me. "Nal, Tatnia, Racer, you're with me and the pilots," I called out as they approached. "We are heading to the bridge. Everyone else, pick a direction and start clearing rooms and hallways. The more Imperials we can kick off this boat before we take off, the better."

  Before anyone could move, Wedge and Hobbie shared a look, Tycho already looking up. After a moment, the slightly older-looking pilot spoke up.

  "Sir… Deacon, those are," Hobby pointed out, looking up at TIE fighters above our heads. "At least some of them are. They have shields and proton torpedoes… They are more than a match for the Eyeballs flying around outside."

  "You saying you want to take those out and what, cover our escape?"

  "We could keep the patrols away and clear out the turrets, too," Wedge added, nodding in agreement with his squadron member. "Save you a step and speed this up."

  I chewed on my lip before eventually nodding. These were some of the best pilots to ever fly, letting them off the chain could make the difference in a smooth lift-off or barely getting off the ground.

  "Fine, but the second your sensors see the defensive fleet coming down to say hello, or we start lifting off, I want you back in here and making your way to the bridge," I ordered, all three of them nodding in understanding. "You three are the reason we came here, so don't make this mission a failure. Go."

  The three of them rushed off, quickly climbing up to the TIE fighters with the strange, outward-bent wings. Once they had climbed inside, I nodded to the rest of my crew.

  "Plan is the same for us. Clear the ship, we are heading to the Bridge," I said. "Let's get to it, people! We are on one hell of a timer!"

  Ahsoka reached out and touched my helmet before leading Vaz and Julus towards one of the doors that led to the fore of the ship, while I led Nal, Tatnia, and Racer in the opposite direction. We were just stepping through the doorway when all three of the pilots slowly lowered their starfighters from their hanging slots and tore out of the hangar at incredible speed. I watched them go before stepping forward to lead my team.

  We quickly made our way through the ship, cutting through two attempted ambushes and one attempt to barricade a set of turbo lifts. We did our best to clear rooms as we passed, but our main goal was to make it to the bridge so we could prevent any sabotage and gain access to the sensors.

  About five minutes later, we walked out into the bridge under a barrage of blaster fire, letting it bounce off all of us as we methodically ended the crew. The interior was all classic Imperial bridge design, though without raising the bridge up off the principal plane of the ship. Instead, it was built into the central spine, above the aft arrow shape.

  "Alright, Racer, tap in and get us control. Nal, Tatnia, do your best to familiarize yourself with the controls," I said, looking around at the consoles. "We don't need to make her dance. We just need her to make it to space and jump to lightspeed."