Star Wars: Shock Doctrine

The Battle Begins

Viper rides a Mon Calamari made stealth submersible through the cold waters of Northern Copero. The water inside the submersible is kept at the same temperature as the water outside to help hide from underwater scanners and is virtually undetectable to sonar thanks to its caterpillar drive system. Mon Calamari can breathe in water, but Viper carries a small breathe mask and a small air supply. 

Bradley reaches him on a secure channel, "Good landing. We're fairly certain the Empire didn't detect your landing. Your target is Compound THX just under a thousand kilos south of Copero's north pole at longitude 166 West. It was abandoned by the Chiss several years ago, but the mountainous terrain overlooking a hundred kilos of iceberg plains offer good cover for a discreet operation to move in. It's perfect for Traytorus.

"Remember what we discussed. You were never officially authorized for this mission. If you fail, the Republic will cut you off. Succeed, and the whole debacle with the Drive Yards goes under the rug. I know it's not much for thanks, but that's the best deal any of us can expect from bureaucracy in these times. Good luck Viper."

The submersible pulls in to the submarine hanger, and Viper climbs out. After a few minutes of waiting, a small team of Chiss riflemen come down on a routine sweep of the lower levels. With no gate to stop unauthorized entry, it's necessary to check every now and then. Viper manages to stay hidden until their sweep is concluded, then hides on the underside of the lift on its way back up.

Viper climbs out and scans his surroundings to find himself in the starship hanger. Using his trusty dartgun on any particularly alert or inconvenient Chiss, he makes his way to a Console and inserts a probe to get a map of the layout.

With only one way forward, Viper identifies a duct to avoid any other patrols, though from the look so far and the data from the terminal, the whole base can't have more than a few dozen Chiss guards, about as many combined droids and laborers in the construction hanger, and 10 scientists.

Where could Traytorus be? The base has no central command, unless you count the small control platform overlooking the construction hanger, so where does he work from? Then again, at Bakura he was all over. The only reason we met so rarely is because he used our communication line to avoid me except for when he was ready. 

Viper's question is answered fairly quickly as he spots Traytorus and a Clone Commando exiting one of the research labs.

Traytorus finishes his thought, "...I want no more delays. I at least expect it ready for equilateral 4 way precision refraction by launch in the morning. No one else is sleeping tonight, so neither will he."

The clone says, "It's best not to rush these things. By my calculations, a precise flight pattern would be far more predictable. Combining such a maneuver with a low power ignition would allow us achieve the same goal in under 10 seconds."

"It's not enough Zero. Too much strain on the crystal for one; you already saw how dangerous kyber crystals that big are if you aren't careful. And besides, we need them to see whole fleets are just as futile as single massive superweapons. Superlasers are nothing new, even at this scale, so shooting one weapon 4 times won't impress anyone even if it devastates our test target just as well."

Rhetta speaks, "Tech's vocal inflections... so Zero is based off of Tech. If Riggs has the rugged inflections of the 501st, I think the jury's out that we're dealing with the Bad Batch reborn. I don't like the look of that gear though. Some of the prototypes I regret most modified to even more terrifying extremes in the hands of a certified genius like Tech could do a lot of damage. Be careful Viper."

Viper reaches the lab, where Veractyl watches over a single Geonosian scientist. Viper slips down in a dark corner where he can freely remove his wetsuit and the 2 millimeter plastoid liner under it keeping his father's stealth armor dry. He slips out from behind the row of desks and panels, no longer hindered by the wetsuit.