Marauders: A Star Wars Story

Chapter 2: The Duty of Freedom(Rand)

Naya's voice came in over the comms after a few moments, garbled and distorted as it slowly cleared. "...nd! Ra---and! W----ere--- ou? Rand! Come in!"

I groan and pull the comms away from my ear, trying to wait for the static and high-pitched sounds to clear. I placed it back to my ear as I rode towards my destination. "This is Rand Alvarez. I'm here. What's going on Naya?"

"Oh, thank goodness. I can't get anyone else on comms, I believe they are being jammed. Where are you? Are you with them now?" She asked me with a worried tone. I'd only just cleared the minefield and was far enough from the others to deal with my own goals.

"We got separated. Droids attacked us and must've been keeping our comms offline. I'm far enough away that it's not affecting me I guess. " I put the kickstand down on my swoop bike and started to walk towards the ridge, looking down to see a small imperial radio station. Maybe one or two stormtroopers guarding the place with an officer on the radio, easy. "I'm handling something else right now, I'll start heading to the cable station when I'm done with it."

"Oh right," Naya responded. "your secret mission for the Partisans. Alright, well, don't take too long you here? Your mission for the Cloud Riders should take priority, and you need to check on the oth-"

Her words came to a stop as I activated my jamming device, fizzling out over the static that filled the air shortly before my comms went cold entirely. "Sorry Naya," I smirked a bit, the partisans did give me some top-of-the-line tech. A ting of worry for the others clouded my mind, but I figured they'd find a way to manage or at least take the droids with them. I was always better as a solo act after all. "tell Krayt I said hey when you get the chance." I commented into the open air as if she could hear me while grabbing my stuff off the bike. I tossed my cloak over it to mask it, leaving my Switch Sniper rifle behind and going down to a Switch Pistol. Better for all the sneaking I'd be doing.

I began the slow walk down the ridge, staying out of sight as I watched the guards patrol the building. I reached the bottom. a single road between me and the station as I spotted an Imperial prison convoy heading my way. I ducked behind the rocks, grabbing my Switch Pistol from its holster and swapping it over from Blaster to Fire mode. I knew trooper armour was easy to blast through, but I was confident I could still get a kill with the weaker shot, and the use of fire over energy felt like a calling card. I lifted the gun and fired a single blaster into the back of the trooper on my side, hitting him right between the gaps of his armour as he went limp on the ground. I dragged him behind a rock nearby and made sure no one was calling his communicator. Nothing. I was in the clear. I lifted my head over the rocks, and pressed a few buttons on the datapad attached to my wrist, scanning for trooper signals.

I wasn't the most tech-savvy, but I at least knew that Imps used a specific frequency to communicate with each other which made them easy to locate. I managed to lock at least four signatures using Imperial signals inside. All decently spread apart, easy to track and manage. I was ready to move when another signal popped up on my radar. Not an imp, but someone with a basic communicator. So that made five total signatures, at least four of them enemies and one unknown bystander. Either way, I needed to move in. I took the power cells out of the Stormtrooper I had just killed, and also took his gun to either use or sell later, and started to move towards the radio station, quietly.

I got up around the backside, and quickly leaned around the corner, blasting two shots into the front of the Storm Trooper there that hadn't noticed me. The first slammed the building but the second pegged him in the chest, taking him down. I breathed a sigh of relief and shook my head, needed to be better about this, slower. I kept moving, barely stopping to grab his power cells as well. That'd be enough for a while. I could move on without needing to loot them all. I ducked around to the front, seeing a trooper... dead on the ground. It made me take enough pause to nearly forget where I was, but after letting the shock wash over me, I gripped my pistol tighter and looked around as I walked over. I flipped the trooper onto his back, only to see a massive gash running up the front of his body like a scythe had torn his armour clean through and ripped into the man underneath. I shuddered, wondering what could've caused it when I heard a commotion inside the building.