Well now as the First Strike Fan Fiction Contest finally draws to a close, here is the final epic chapter detailing Rogue Tribe's perilous adventures battling over the Tatooine town of Mos Espa.

Enjoy.

Mos Espa
First Strike: Episode 6

Pulling out my sensor pack I study the readings, and unsurprisingly the Sergeant's assessment of the situation is spot on, we're about to have very heavy contact. The situation is unattainable even with the advantage of this location. It's time to move out.

"Alright people, listen up! I know that we've got this place nice and cosy and the furniture is arranged just the way we like it, but we've got heavy incoming, which means it's time to fall back. You have two minutes to plant disruptive mines around the area and then we are leaving. Okay, make it happen."

My troops fall out and sort out any last minute tasks that require their attention while I gather my Lieutenants to me. I address them in a low voice.

"Okay guys this is going to get really rough if we don't get out of here quickly. With the numbers showing up here if they overrun us we're screwed. We can't let them outflank us."

Twigs who is already looking a lot better throws a suggestion into the pot, pushing off from the disruptor rifle he was leaning on for support to stand up straight.

"Well there were a couple of towers to the north of the town, should prove a decent vantage point. A good sniper or two up there could really do some damage, and cover our retreat."

I pat Twigs lightly on the back, even at that he winces.

"Good idea Lieutenant, we'll implement that tactic as we approach the northern quarter. Until then we'll use the rear guard I suggested earlier, that should cause just enough disruption to make them cautious and prevent them just  sweeping right up through the town."

I turn back to the rest of my men glancing at my sensor readouts before addressing them, the enemy is almost upon us, definitely time we were leaving.

"Alright people, that's it, move out! Lieutenant Walker, you have Alpha team, form up and cover our withdrawal."

Walker then whips out his T-10 rifle and cocks the weapon ready for battle.

"Roger that Commander. Oddball, Mynock, you're with me."

Ahh, Mynock, so that's the name of the young trooper who saved my neck earlier? A good lad, I remember now signing the papers for his transfer just a week before this mission. Well so far this new addition to the Tribe has performed in an exemplary fashion, I make a mental note to include this fact in my report, and then move out with the troops of Delta. Twigs is about to protest at the fact that he hasn't been included in the roster for Alpha Team's rear guard assignment, but a look from me silences him. He knows he's in no condition to perform that duty, and falls in with Delta.

We reach the ruins in the centre of town before we hear the satisfying sound of multiple detonations coming from the direction of the slave quarters. That should give the advancing Imperial forces something to think about. Anything that slows them down increases our chances of getting out of here alive. I give the order for my men to deploy fresh sensor beacons to cover this area and reach into my satchel and pull out a few proximity mines to place in amongst the rubble and debris. Calling Lieutenant Walker over I update my orders.

"Alright Jim, hold up here and await the advancing enemy, once they arrive do not engage directly, but attempt to disrupt and impede their progress as much as possible, once it looks like you're going to be outflanked or overrun? Pull back to the next point. We'll head to Jabba's abandoned city palace. Once there we'll contact you and instruct you to pull back whether you've engaged the enemy or not. We don't want to end up getting too separated. Once you arrive at Jabba's we'll move on to the speeders stashed on the northern outskirts. Once there we'll call you into full retreat and we'll all get the hell outta here."

My trusted Lieutenant nods and then gives hand signals to his men to get into position.

"Very good Commander, sounds like a plan. Good luck."

I grip my good friend by the shoulder.

"And you. Now don't go being a hero. Do what you can and then pull out."

Turning I gather Delta to me and we move out to our next rally point.
We reach Jabba's City Palace without event, but remain ever vigilant. With a quick hand gesture I order my troops to fan out and scout out the abandoned structure, and in moments I get the all clear from my men. I then quickly head up the ramp to the rooftop ramparts and head to the balcony wall that gives me a view of the sprawling town laid out to the south of me. Picking out distinct landmarks I orientate myself and pull my marcobinoculars out and focus on the ruins at the centre of town, knowing the positions that the men of Delta force had deployed themselves, I wanted to make sure I could provide them with good cover in the case of them being outflanked by the advancing enemy. Twigs is soon with me, his condition slowing him down some, but as I see him level the disruptor rifle next to me, his aim still appears steady as a rock. Corporal Boydie also joins us on the roof, but only momentarily as he passes us and heads up the ladder of the palace's tallest watch tower. I call to him as he disappears up the structure.

"Don't get too comfy up their Corporal, we move out in five."

Then an alert signal sounds from my comlink. Opening the channel I hear a familiar voice.

”Commander Quinn, please respond.”

Instinctively looking up at the sky I reply.

“Afternoon Ensign Peliares, we’d thought you’d forgotten about us. How’s our ship? Still in one piece I trust?”

There is an extended pause and static before a response eventually comes back, a delay resulting from the distance, most likely he’s in high planetary orbit.

“It certainly is sir. I had to bug out when an Imperial Star Destroyer entered the system as you ordered me to Commander, I then brought in reinforcements as requested, which are engaging the enemy up here as we speak. The task force Commander asked me to relay to you this message. The rendezvous point remains the same, but they’ll be sending in the Corvette Providence II to retrieve you. The fighting is just too fierce in orbit above that region, I’d never get through in one piece in the Venture, sir.”

Turning back to the south once again I spot movement and briskly respond.

“No worries Ensign. You just stay safe up there. Commander Quinn signing off.”

I gaze through my macros once again, and then I see the boys in white, making their way cautiously through the ruins. I hear Twigs' breathing change as he readies himself to take the shot, his body relaxed but focused. He's waiting for the chaos down there to begin before he adds to it, and begin it does. A detonation sends dust and debris scattering across the ruins, a proximity mine by my reckoning, a thunder-like rumble reaches our ears followed by the all too familiar sound of blaster fire. Then more explosions, grenades hurled into the fray by Alpha team no doubt, and then the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as crackling energy is discharged into the air with the firing of Twigs' disruptor, super densely packed bolts of energy start to rain down on the Imperial troops from the Lieutenant's weapon, and seconds later another stream of accurate disruptor fire joins his from the tower above us as Boydie joins the party. As effective a job as they are all doing the enemy numbers are just too great, and at the moment that I spot another AT-ST walker approaching their position it is clear they are about to become overrun and routed. I key my comlink to Alpha's frequency.

"Come in Alpha, your situation is about to become unattainable, pull out and withdraw to the next rally point. We'll provide you sniper support."

There is the crackle of an open channel and then the thunderous scream of heavy blaster fire, the walker has moved into range. Then the laboured breathing sound of somebody running, the crack hiss sound of smoke grenades going off. I see the wall of smoke blossom in the ruins effectively obscuring the entire area as I see three figures emerge from the fog, Walker finally gets the chance to get back to me a little out of breath.

"Way ahead of you Commander, we're already on our way out. That place was getting a little too hot."

It is time we were going. I pat Twigs on the shoulder to let him know its time, and then switch channels to Delta's frequency.

"Delta we are leaving. Boydie, hold position for another minute to cover Alpha's withdrawal, and then rendezvous with the rest of us at the speeder cache. Everyone else, with me."

I get an affirmative response from the Corporal just as we hit the dusty streets again followed by the distinctive report of disruptor fire, the Imperial troops must be on the move again. We're on the home stretch now, we might just make it.

Keeping close to the walls of the street we pair up and cautiously advance north, one fire team covering the other as they move up to the next position of cover. As Athlon and I hold position and Sergeant Rabid and Private Tuhl move forward, I whip out my sensor pack again and initiate a sensor ping, not expecting to pick up any contacts, but better to be safe than sorry. To my dismay the pack assaults my ears with a warning alert tone. Enemy contact has been detected. I quickly give my men a hand signal and they all hold their position as I study the readings further. It looks like two enemy contacts, but neither of them are moving. Laying in wait for us to blindly stumble upon them perhaps? Still, it seems strange that there are only two signals, surely an ambush would require a full squad, or at least a fire team? I key my comlink to Rabid’s frequency.

“Sergeant, hold the rest of Delta here, looks like we may have a scout party or something holding up in those buildings up ahead, only two contacts though.  Athlon and I will investigate. Prepare to provide back up should we need it.”

I indicate to Athlon that we’re ready to move out and head across the street to the north side, he brings up his MK 1 light repeating blaster to a ready position and then follows me over muttering under his breath.

“Oh man, I just know I’m gonna buy it on this dustball.”

We make it to the other side of the street and I grab him as he catches up with me and pull him close.

“Listen Private, have I ever let you down before? Just keep your head down and your aim true and I’ll get you out of this yet. Clear your head man.”

The trooper takes a deep breath and readying his weapon turns to respond.

“Sorry sir. I won’t let you down Commander.”

I pat the soldier on the shoulder reassuringly as I monitor my sensor equipment again getting an update on our targets location.

“Good man, I know you won’t. Now listen, looks like our targets are concealed in the next building along in the back room. Still only two contacts. You packing ion grenades?”

The soldier nods an affirmative.

“Good, I’ll blow the door, you lob a couple of those in there, if they’re Stormtroopers the ion nades will scramble their helmets optics. Should make this an easy room clearance. Remember to check your fire though, could possibly be civilians in there that our earlier evacuation efforts missed.”

I nod to Athlon to ensure his readiness and then plant a charge on the door and throw my back against the wall for cover. The blast rips the door out of the entranceway and bounces it around the room within. Athlon then throws in the grenades, their detonation sending tendrils of charged ion energy snaking across the interior of the building, and we charge in after it.

We see two figures crumpled in the darkness within, one with residual ion energy tendrils still crackling over his body. Even in the limited light offered by the small window behind them neither of them appear to be Imperial troopers. Civilians then?  Athlon goes over to the figure that was still smoking from its contact with the ion grenades to see if he can offer assistance.

“Hey pal, are you okay?”

Something strikes me as not being right about that figure, but I can’t quite put my finger on it, still I warn Athlon to back away.

“No Athlon, wait!”

As the words leave my lips it becomes clear that it is too little too late. The dusty robe draped figure swings an arm out with lighting speed catching Athlon across the jaw and throwing him back against the wall with a bone crunching wallop. It is then that I see a lethal looking blaster rifle that the figure must have been hiding under his body on the floor, equally quickly he brings this weapon to bear, it erupts with a burst of deadly blaster fire that I just manage to dive out of the way of. Slamming into a wall I let loose a volley of fire from my bowcaster, the powerful emerald green bolts finding their mark, the first blows my adversaries long rifle clean in half while the subsequent bolts rip into the dark figure’s hand blowing it to pieces. To my shock the stump is revealed in the half light to be a bundle of diodes and circuits rather than flesh and blood. A cyborg? The creature howls in pain and clutches his wounded arm and then leaps out of the window behind him, as I rush forwards to it to finish him off I find that he has somehow vanished into the desert beyond. I key my comlink to Delta’s frequency.

“Be advised, possible enemy contact still loose in the area, be careful this is not an Imperial trooper, but appears to be a being cyborg in nature, possibly a Bounty Hunter, approach with caution. We need medical assistance in here.”

Turning to my fallen soldier I check Athlon for life signs. He’s unconscious, but he’ll live. I then turn my attention cautiously to the other of the two figures we found in the room. This one has yet to move. I turn him over with the muzzle of my weapon and see that the figure is in fact bound and gagged. I remove the gag and slap the guy’s face to try and bring him round. Groggily the man looks up. Could it be? I gruffly ask him for his service number at gun point, after what happened to Athlon I’m not willing to take any chances.

“…1138.”

Comes the man’s weakened response.  I pump him for further information, it is possible that code could have been intercepted from our transmissions.

“And your current mission?”

The man feebly attempts to sit up as he replies, I can’t help myself and give him a hand.

“…Courier mission to the… Hypori system, delivery of classified materials to… fleet Commander, Commodore… Tularan.”

Hmm, his story checks out, this must be Alliance Intelligence’s lost agent. I release him from his bonds and help him to his feet, just as Sergeant Rabid arrives with medical assistance.

“Welcome back to the Alliance Agent Vaile, we’ve secured the intel you were carrying and are heading out of here for extraction. We’re not out of the fire yet, but we’ll get you to safety. Sergeant, treat this man’s wounds and take a look at Private Athlon will ya?”

Rabid nods gruffly as I head out of the building back into the blinding sunlight of the Mos Espa street. I see Lieutenant Twigs heading up towards us with Boydie bringing up the rear.

“Welcome back Lieutenant. Sit Rep?”

The crack sniper catches his breath before responding, he’s getting better, but still hasn’t fully recovered from the trauma he suffered earlier in the battle.

“Yes Commander. Alpha team has successfully reached Jabba’s town house, and are setting up defensive mines before heading out from there. The enemy is still in full advance, but their Walker is having trouble getting through all the debris at the ruins, so that will hopefully buy them a little more time sir. Permission to take Corporal Boydie and myself and head up these towers so we can provide sniper support for Alpha team’s final withdrawal.”

I look the Lieutenant up and down trying to assess his physical condition, but the truth of it is, fit or not he’s still the best sniper I’ve got.

“Go ahead Lieutenant, but don’t you go dying on me. Corporal, you see to it that both of you get back safely to the speeder cache before we’re ready to leave.”

As they head for the towers, Rabid emerges from the building behind us with the wounded agent Vaile followed by Private Tuhl supporting Athlon who’s head is now bandaged up, but at least he is conscious and able to move with assistance. We’re in banged up shape, but not long to go. I can see the garage where we have the speeders stashed up ahead. We’re on the home straight.

We just reach the speeders when the sound of disruptor fire can be heard again cutting through the air. We’re greeted by my faithful Astromech droid Artee who we left guarding these vital assets. He beeps and whistles wildly, clearly happy to see us still alive. I pat his brushed steel dome affectionately, and cast my eyes over the small fleet of speeders in the garage.

“It’s good to see you too Artee. I trust everything is all in order here? Are all the speeders’ engines warmed up and ready to go?”

The squat droid whistles an affirmative as we start loading our gear and injured personnel into the craft.

“Nice job Artee, looks like we might finally be able to say goodbye to this hamsters forsaken town.”

Checking my sensors one last time I make sure we’re in the clear and it all looks good. Seems we’ve just got to wait on Alpha to rendezvous with us here and we can get the hell out. I key my comlink to Alpha’s frequency and check on their progress.

“Alpha, please respond. We are at the speeder cache and standing by for your arrival.  Give me a status report.”

There are suddenly several explosions at the far end of the street that make us instinctively duck for cover, but in reality they are quite distant, another salvo of disruptor fire arcs down into that area, and then from the dust and debris I spot what looks to be Alpha sprinting for dear life. I give Rabid the go ahead and he mounts one of the speeders and rockets off down the street towards their position. With a crackle the com channel comes to life with Jim’s laboured breathing.

“Come in Commander, this is Alpha, we’re on our way to you now. We got pinned down at Jabba’s place for a while back there, but sniper support gave us an opening and we got out of there…and here comes Rabid with a speeder. Oh, Gods bless you Sergeant.”

I see the Sergeant spin the speeder around and come to a stop covering them all with a cloud of sand and dust, but they don’t complain they just throw themselves into the flat bed cargo bay of the speeder as Rabid guns the engines once more and heads back towards us. His timing is impeccable because a mere second later a squad of Sandtroopers round the corner of the street and let loose with a deadly hail of blaster fire. We take cover and leap aboard the remaining speeders as Rabid arcs past us and heads for open desert.

I key my comlink to Twigs’ channel just as a grenade goes off in the midst of the Imperial Sandtrooper squad flinging the clowns in white in all directions, but unrelentlessly more troopers appear, and having zeroed in on our snipers’ position they start to open fire on the tower.

“Lieutenant Twigs, what’s your status? Are you able to withdraw to the north of your position? If you head for the northern town limits we’ll bring a speeder around there to pick you guys up.”

There is a moment of static and then just deafening noise from the audio pick up as Twigs responds, the cacophony of sound from multiple blast impacts all around him almost completely masking his voice.

“No can do Commander, the moment I stop suppressing them with sniper fire and grenades they’ll overrun our position. I’m instructing Corporal Boydie to make a run for it while I cover him. There’s no point in both of us biting the blasterbolt on this rock.”

Damn. I refuse to loose another man on this mission. And then an idea hits me.

“Hold that thought Lieutenant, I’ve just got an idea. Just try to hold out for a few more seconds.”

I key off the comlink and turn to my trusty droid. Removing the data cylinder from my tunic I hand it to him, a panel opens on his body and a mechanical arm takes it from me and draws it within the compartment as the panel door closes.

“Okay Artee, I want you to join up with Lieutenant Walker and let him know that you’re now carrying the data cylinder. I need you all to head at best possible speed for Mos Entha. But before you go, don’t these flatbed speeders use repulsorfields to lessen the weight of the load, and to also aid in holding cargo in position? If that is the case, do you think you can boost the power?”

The twitters and tweets from my droid gives me the impression that he’s unsure, but never the less he pops out his scomp link computer interface arm and slots it into the speeder’s control panel. After it rotates in the receiver for a second Artee bleeps a positive response and retracts the arm. Looking back at the flatbed I see a slight visible shimmering indicating a powerful field has just been activated.

“Nice work Artee, you head over to that speeder and get out of here. We’ll catch up to you soon enough. Corporal Shortie? You’re with me.”

Swiftly Artee deploys his leg mounted thrusters, and with a quick burst hops to the armoured speeder parked next to mine in the garage as Shortie simultaneously leaps across to my speeder and mans the heavy repeating blaster mounted at the rear. He quickly powers up the weapon and asks a question over the revving speeder engine.

“We’re going off to rescue our guys aren’t we sir?”

I look over my shoulder with a devilish grin.

“Damned straight we are!”

Releasing the brake I gun the throttle and both speeders scream out of the garage, one turning north, ours heading straight for the enemy. Shortie opens up with the heavy repeater mowing down any troopers too slow to run for cover, I then see a rocket trail and explosion hit the tower causing a section of balcony to cascade down the cylindrical wall breaking up into rubble and dust by the time it impacts with the floor. I sure hope they haven’t got any more of those or we might be riding into a whole lot of trouble. I yank the speeder into a tight turn spinning the vehicle so it throws up a cloud of dust and sand, Shortie lobs a few grenades in the general direction of the enemy, more to serve as a distraction than to actually take out targets. They detonate throwing yet more dust into the air. I then scream into my comlink.

“Twigs, Boydie, we’re right beneath you, jump for it!!”

Blaster shots start to sizzle through the cloud of dust as the Imperial troopers regroup, Shortie opens up blindly with the repeating blaster again hoping to suppress them just enough. I then hear Twigs response crackling over the comlink.

“You have got to be joking.”

I duck as a bolt whizzes by, a second one impacts on the nose of the speeder just in front of me, we’re fast running out of time.

“Get your arse down here now soldier! Or if you’ve both got so attached to the place we could just head on out and leave you here.”

With that I look up to see two screaming figures leaping from the highest balcony on the tower, just as another missile hits taking out the whole top section of the tower causing it to topple forward. The two men land on the flatbed, the repulsorfield cushioning their landing perfectly. I then engage the speeder’s engines to maximum speed and pull away from the enemy just as the tower debris crashes into the street crushing anything left behind us. It looks like we’re home free.

Shortie sweeps around with the mounted blaster endeavouring to ensure he covers our escape when he suddenly shouts a warning. I look over to see what he’s talking about and see the head of an AT-ST looming over the roofs of some buildings up ahead, it lets loose with a storm of blaster fire and concussion grenades, our only hope is to stay the course and speed through them. A number of blasterbolts strike the speeder’s hull rocking us from side to side, she holds together, but then a grenade goes off under us just catching our tail lifting it into the air, I struggle to compensate and right the speeder to prevent us flipping over. I bring her back down to the ground with a bone jarring jolt throwing everyone in the back across the speeder, I’m approaching the corner that leads to the open desert and freedom just a little too fast and slam the brakes on and attempt to turn the already out of control speeder into the corner. Hearing a yelp behind me I turn to see Shortie careering over the side of the vehicle, Boydie and Twigs leap over the edge just grabbing the falling soldier’s ankles as I bring the speeder around the bend and then gun the engines back up to full throttle as we hit open desert. I look back again and see that all my passengers have managed their way back onto the flatbed and are lying there exhausted. Twigs manages to lift his head up and smiling hollers at me over the high pitched whine of the engines.

“Well Commander, I think I can categorically state, that what you just did was the craziest most hair brained plan that you’ve ever tried to pull off. And that is saying something. I think that warrants a drink. I salute you sir!”

The Lieutenant then pulls out a flask from a hidden pocket in his tunic and takes a deep swig before offering it to the exhausted troops lying at his side. I offer him a salute in return and turn back to the road ahead. Looking into the distance in the failing evening light I can just see the dust trail of our fellow Rogue Tribers headed towards the northern mountain ranges. We will soon catch them up. Once we hit the mountains we’ll follow the canyon trails around to the south which should lead us to Mos Entha if our local guide’s information is correct, and when there we'll finally get extracted off this rock. Turning to look towards the binary sunset I have to admit that it is a beautiful sight to behold, and even my passengers gaze at the spectacle in wonder, but then something else catches Corporal Shortie’s eye.

“What the heck is that?”

We follow his gaze and spot a fiery trail in the evening sky, Twigs gets up and leans on the back of my chair to get a better look.

“Oh, that does not look good, that does not look good at all.”

As the shooting star gets closer more detail can be made out including burning debris that rains down in its wake and it becomes clear that it is in fact a starship coming down a lot quicker and hotter than it should. It arcs over us and disappears beyond the south ridge hitting the ground with such impact that the very mountains quake. I turn to my men.

“I don’t mean to alarm you guys, but I do believe that was our ride outta here.”

Lieutenant Twigs shakes his head and tosses his flask of liquor over the side and hauls his disruptor rifle up and cocks the weapon growling wearily.

“Here we go again.”