The New Adventures of Nomi Darklighter

Chapter 33 - Commando Mission

Many games of Dejarik later, interrupted only by meals consisting of protein bars, lightsaber training and sleep, the triplets and Poe heard Nomi's voice over the intercom.
"Get ready, we're going back to sublight speed. Shields are up, Dash."
All four young men stood up and went into the cockpit, where they sat down on the reserve seats and strapped themselves in.
When Dash pulled the lever, the Glorious re-entered normal space and Ord Mantell was visible in the cockpit window. The former mercenary entered the coordinates of the landing site, which was several kilometers away from the suspected First Order research facility.
"If nothing has changed, we won't have any problems. Nobody's asking who's coming or going."
The freighter slowly approached the planet. Finally, the Glorious dipped into the atmosphere and Dash steered it towards its destination.

Dash routinely landed the freighter on a hill next to a volcanic crater. As soon as he had switched off the engine, he opened the hatch and lowered the access ramp. They immediately noticed the smell of sulfur invading the ship.
The Jedi wrinkled her nose as she unbuckled.
"I can understand why the First Order has a research facility here. No stranger comes here of their own free will."
"We still don't know if there really is anything here. Our informant could be wrong, Nomi," Dameron replied.
The triplets stood up, shouldered their blaster rifles and attached their lightsabers to their weapon belts, while Dash checked his heavy blaster again and holstered it.
"We'll soon find out, Poe," Corran remarked and walked past the commander, who nodded.
"Everything ready? Now we should pack the explosives," said Poe and went into the cargo hold.
The others followed him. Once there, they carefully packed the explosives and detonators into their backpacks. When everything was safely packed, they shouldered their backpacks, left the hold and made their way to the hatch. One by one, they walked down the ramp. Dash went last and secured the freighter before joining the others.

While they walked, Nomi looked suspiciously at the ground where the small commando unit was moving towards its destination.
"I don't know, Poe, it feels strange somehow."
When he heard this, Dash, who had gone ahead in the meantime, turned to his wife.
"We're in the volcanic area of Ord Mantell, honey. And there aren't only volcanoes above ground. Here the whole ground is hollowed out and in some cases there are magma chambers directly underneath. So be careful where you step. Otherwise our mission will be over sooner than expected."
After hearing this, they all moved carefully and weighed up every step.

Eventually, after a long march, they reached the end of the volcanic area, which was bordered by a small range of hills. Poe made a hand signal and they took cover. He pulled out his macrobinoculars and carefully scanned the surroundings.
The Jedi watched him and immediately realized that the commander had spotted something. He passed the macrobinoculars to Dash, who also saw through them. The former mercenary whistled softly through his teeth.
"The First Order obviously doesn't do things by halves. Look at it, Nomi," he whispered and handed the device to his wife.
When she looked through, she saw the entrance to a cave, secured by a durasteel door and guarded by two stormtroopers.
Dameron turned to the three young Jedi who had taken cover directly behind him.
"If the two troopers raise the alarm, it'll all be for nothing. But we can't shoot them with our blaster rifles from here because of the noise."
"Leave it to me, Poe," Corran said and crawled to his mother. He whispered something in her ear and the Jedi nodded.

A little later, Poe could see through the macrobinoculars how Nomi and her son, always seeking cover, slowly approached the cave entrance and the stormtroopers from two sides. Then everything happened very quickly. Mother and son broke out of cover at the same time, vibroknives drawn, and attacked the completely surprised troopers. The fight was a short one, and a few minutes later the two troopers lay dead with their throats cut at the feet of their attackers.
Disgusted, Nomi looked at the corpse at her feet as she wiped the blood off her vibroknife.
Again she realized that there was a difference between sitting in a fighter and destroying the faceless enemy with laser cannons or killing him in a bloody melee on the ground.
Sighing, she looked at her youngest son, who was also cleaning his knife of the dead enemy's blood.