Days later in the desert wastelands of Cadinth...
"Approaching area," an electronic-filtered voice murmured from one of the two comlinks fastened to Zem's collar. "Copy.... two figures visible. We see movement in the valley behind the rock formations. Possible six or seven more."
"Copy, Davin," Zem acknowledged, stroking a finger restlessly across the side of her long-barelled blaster rifle and wishing the storm commando wouldn't get so chatty on the air. BDE comlinks were heavily encrypted, but that wouldn't stop the Cadinth resistance from pinpointing the transmissions if they took it into their heads to do so. And this close to their assumed hideout, that was a distinct possibility.
The hideout. Lifting her eyes from the section of trail winding through the valley below-- the road the BDE death commandos would be traversing in a few minutes if they made it through without being detected-- Zem studied the waves of rolling hills that stretched into the distance beyond the innocuous formations of rock pillars cutting across her view. She wondered if the information extracted by the Cadinth soldier was correct when she interrogated him, and gained his trust to let him go.
"Zem. Target heading your way."
"Copy," Zem said, frowning. There was something not right here. As if Kix Davin had other intentions in mind, beside following her orders and standing by.
Zem tightened her grip on her blaster rifle, and abruptly, the comlink dissolved into an earsplitting shriek of jamming static.
With a curse, Zem ripped the comlink from her collar with her left hand, throwing it as far away from her as she could. In the split of a hair the entire subterfuge had suddenly gone sour... and the assassin was right in the middle of it.
Beyond the rock pillars, from over the next line of hills, the figures of a dozen soldiers on dewbacks had suddenly appeared. Headed her way.
Zem cursed again, lining up her blaster rifle with her right hand as she groped for the switch on her backup comlink with her left. If she was lucky, the resistance would have a minute before they found that frequency and locked it down. She located the switch, flicked it on-- "--what the frak happened?-- repeat, what the frak?!" Zem shouted, her voice tight. "I've spotted the leaders. I've spotted one of their generals. Targeting subject." She quickly squinted through the sight and squeezed off a shot. The Cadinth general's chest exploded into a shower of blood, pitching him to the ground. She did the same to the two on either side of him. The flash supressor attached to the muzzle of her blaster rifle, prevented the assassin from giving away her position. That, along with her camo BDU's blending into the background of desert colors.
There was a brief crinkle of sound, and then silence. The comlink went dead.
Ahead, the rest of the Cadinth forces had shifted into evasive manuevers, after realizing the death of their leader. Zem fired four rapid shots, catching another of the soldiers with the third of them. "Kix?" she called toward her comlink. "Kix? Are you there?"
Nothing.
"Frak!" Zem snarled, keying the grenade launcher attached to her blaster rifle barrel. The recoil kicked the gun hard into her shoulder as the slender cylinder blasted out toward the approaching Cadinth soldiers.
"Time to get moving," Zem said through gritted teeth, getting halfway to her feet and heading at a crouch toward a large boulder formation where her speeder bike was hidden. The approaching Cadinth resistance fighters along with their counterparts, finally presented with a target, opened fire--
Just as the grenade hit the ground ten meters in front of them, exploding into a billowing cloud of green smoke.
She slung the rifle over her shoulder and kicked the speeder bike to life. Over the roar of the engine she could hear the screams of her erstwhile attackers, as the specially formulated smoke burned into their faces and eyes. Zem swung the speeder bike around and kicked the throttle to full power, disappearing into the cluster of rock pillars in the distance.
Right now, she only had enough room for a single emotion.
Rage.
*****
It was a little over ten kilometers from the scene of the attack to her new resting place, and for the first eight of them Zem flew low over the rolling hills and wondered how in blazes the plan took such a foul turn at the end.
It must have been that damn general. He must have thought the opportunity for his forces to pounce on them all at once was a better option. Fools! Because of it, now the Cadinth resistance would better themselves at hiding from the BDE armies. In turn, it would make her job much harder in killing off their leaders. And of course, her BDE counterparts didn't have a brain to think for themselves, so of course, they will follow their orders.
Blinking against the wind pounding against her face, trying again not to think about what had just happened back there, the assassin kept going.
She topped the hills; and there, nestled in a wide valley, was a small complex of perhaps two or three buildings, ranging in size from flat office blocks to a single windowless structure the size of a small maintenance hangar. The Cadinth resistance base, without a doubt. She quickly powered down her speeder bike and took cover.
As she took hiding in the rock crevices and peered through her electrobinoculars, something caught her attention. Lying in the middle of it all, dominating the scene by the sheer unexpectedness of its presence there, was the long sleek shape of a shuttle transport. Seemed the resistance were going for a quick evacuation off-planet by loading up what was left of their leaders and a few of their officials. It seemed risky with the BDE Star Destroyer orbiting, but desperation called for a last-ditch effort.
Zem couldn't let that happen. The time to act was now. A motion to her left caught Zem's eye, and she turned to see a small landspeeder loaded with supplies heading toward its gate. An idea formed in the assassin's head.
The assassin crouched beside the base of a large boulder, very nearly as still and silent and made herself into the appearance of a Cadinth resistance fighter, clad in her camo body armor, down to her sandy robes.
This may be too easy, she mused ruefully.
*****
Home sweet home, Zem thought sarcastically without much enthusiam.
Grevious's men were waiting for her right outside the main entrance of the palace. Zem stormed up the stone steps and through the heavy doors. BDE death commandos, waiting at the door, merely nodded at her presence, but she brushed past them, intent on presenting her trophies to the one that mattered. The small holocam rested securely in her utility pouch, holding vital holographic evidence of her kills. Two guards followed her inside, two paces behind her.
The foyer was as impressive as the palace's exterior. Priceless tapestries and paintings hung upon lustrous paneled walls. Marble tiles stretched across the floor to where the sweeping main stairway rose majestically toward the upper reaches of the throne room. An immense crystal chandelier glittered above the stately entry hall, welcoming the assassin from the hot, arid desert.
A flock of battle-hardened stormtroopers loitered in these luxurious surroundings, patrolling the corridors and rooms, exchanging reports and making chatter. Zem's face hardened. She had little patience with such things.
Her sudden arrival attracted little notice. A few curious heads swung toward her and the prize she had in tow, examining the dusty assassin through cold and disinterested lenses, before returning to their duties.
A bitter smile reached her lips as she reached the entrance of the throne room. Two guards backed away instinctively as Zem strode across the room with her prize in tow. Trailing dust and mud onto the marble floors, the blonde assassin reached to two sacks strapped to her utility belt and placed them down near the General's feet. Zem quickly untied them and presented her trophies.
General Grevious observed, with some satisfaction, that the trophies were the heads of two of the Cadinth resistance leaders. His domed, grey helmet then rose to see the prize Zem was towing behind her. It was Prefect Kairo, the governor of Cadinth. The helmet turned to face the assassin.
Intense hazel eyes locked onto his cybernetic eyes. "I've brought what you wanted... including a live prize for your amusement. Does this constitute the finality of our agreement?"
At first, The gerneral said nothing. He approached Prefect Kairo, and sensed the governor’s fear. It didn’t take a lot of detective work, as he was trembling and making audible noises as he did so.
“Release him,” General Grevious said softly, in a mechanical tone that would have sounded like pity if Zem had not been in the company of this cybernetic madman before.
The general allowed himself a slight frown behind his helmet as he narrowed his eyes to him. "Are you Prefect Kairo?"
"Yes... what do you wish of me?" he shuddered in fear, showing his teeth, adding to the effect.
"We have things to discuss, you and I," he said. Grevious fanned his metal fingers outward and the Force clamped around the man's throat.
"Where are the rest of your comrades? Have we found them all?"
Caught in the power of the Force, the governor struggled to breathe. Grevious's right hand, raised before him, tightened into a fist, and the man's throat constricted even more.
"Ready to talk?" Grevious asked.
The man could not speak, but he managed to nod. His eyes had dilated slightly due to blood congestion.
General Grevious relaxed his fist and his concentration. The governor collapsed on the floor, wheezing as he tried to suck in a breath.
"Now, again, Prefect Kairo. Are there more?"
"No. You have killed them all. I am the only one left."
Grevious sensed the truth of Kairo's words. This was good. All he had to do is kill him, then report to Anre. And then this dreary chore would be at an end. He could return to his ship, finally.
"Are you certain?"
"Yes."
"You have been most coorperative," the armored general spoke without emotion. Prefect Kairo looked up from his supine position. There was an instant of hope in his eyes, but it died when he read his fate in Grevious's expression.
He drew his lightsaber. "Time to die," he said.
"Wait!" The governor's voice was a bleat of fear. "I can be of service to you! Please--"
With his free hand he made a sharp upward gesture, and the governor was lifted like a puppet on strings. He hung, helpless, in the Force's grasp.
"
Noooo--"
General Grevious ignited the amber energy blade of his lightsaber and swung it laterally, cutting off the governor's final wail, along with his head. He then released the lines of Force that held the twitching body and watched it crumple.
The energy blade retracted back to its hilt, then he clipped it back to his belt, covering it subtly with his grey cloak.
The general advanced over to the beheaded corpse. Without looking at Zem he said in his electronic-filtered voice, “Yes, I believe this completes our agreement. Thank you Zem. If you wish to leave this throne room, or even this planet, I will not argue. But someday I may require your services again. Report aboard to
Sleeping Death when it is time to leave this system.”
Without explaining just which of those options she was taking exactly, the assassin stormed out with some amount of disgust at what had transpired in there.
And like that, she was gone...
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