"My name is Anun Bondara... Please, this is unnecessary."
Raising his hands pacifyingly, the Twi'lek Jedi smiled softly and tried to make some gesture with his fingers, but a Blaster bolt hissed past his head. Freezing motionless, the man continued to maintain enviable composure, unlike his interlocutors.
"Don't move, Jedi." Aiming a Pistol at his kinsman's chest, a member of Clan Dara gave a silent command to his clanmates. Surrounding the uninvited intruder from all sides, the Twi'leks didn't take their eyes off him. "You are no longer one of us. What do you want here?"
"You know what I want," Anun stated directly and without beating around the bush. Being a straightforward and strong-willed sentient, he wasn't afraid to speak the truth to his interlocutors' faces, always "laying his cards on the table." "Narro Sienar. Let him go."
"Ha. Are you a complete fool? Why would we do that?"
The other Clan members laughed infectiously, sometimes poking the Jedi's calm face with their fingers. They guffawed, baring their teeth and slightly elongated fangs. Everyone gathered didn't miss a moment to mock the "cornered" enemy.
"Because you have drawn the attention of a force to Ryloth that could make everyone suffer..."
"Pff, big deal." Snorting dismissively, the leader of Clan Dara slung his rifle over his shoulder. Snarling, he stepped boldly right up to the Jedi. "We aren't afraid of corps and their hounds. If anything happens, the desert will reliably protect us."
Exhaling tiredly, Anun closed his eyes, trying to hold his tongue. Right now his bluntness was working against him, and to avoid calling his Clan mentally challenged morons, he had to exert incredible effort.
"Has Clan Dara degenerated so much that not a single intelligent thought has settled in your heads?" But the struggle was a resounding failure, and now Anun prepared for a fight.
"What's that? Did he call us fools?"
One of the support group asked, even lowering the muzzle of his weapon to the ground for a second. Looking at each other in confusion, the once-proud residents of Ryloth, now become common bandits, slowly grasped his point, filling with realization.
"You'd better explain yourself, Jedi."
Dropping the rifle from his shoulder, the leader of this gang stepped closer, fixing him with a crazed gaze, blowing the stench from a mouth uncleaned for years.
"Scum."
Anun refused to call his former Clan anything else.
"Listen, Jedi, I asked you a question."
"That wasn't a question," weariness was breaking through, and the desire to just end everything with blows began to rise, but The Force whispered to Anun that he should continue the conversation, "but rather a statement... But it doesn't matter. Do you know who Sienar worked for?"
"For a corp? What difference does it make? Let it be the Senator himself; we'll shake the money out of them and then return him." Glancing somewhere behind him, the Twi'lek smiled obscenely. "But we'll keep his girlfriend for ourselves; she's quite a catch..."
"I see." Sighing sadly, Anun nevertheless had no intention of giving up. "The Helldivers are looking for Sienar and his girlfriend. If I were you, I'd give her to them..."
"Pff, whatever. Those are just stories... And they have no power on Ryloth." Apparently not fully understanding the degree of danger, the leader of Clan Dara turned his back on the Jedi, then simply disappeared into the crowd of subordinates. "Leave while you can, Jedi. Before plasma starts flying your way."
"Stupid." With sadness and nostalgia, Anun Bondara looked over his Clan's refuge one last time. Long ago, in his distant childhood, they lived in a magnificent palace complex carved deep into the cliffs, but now... A dirty dump mixed with a gutter, the perfect place for the kind of trash Clan Dara had become. But nevertheless, there were still many children, men, women, and the elderly in the Clan to whom the new rules were alien, and so he had to try. "Have you already sent the ransom demands to the Senator or the corporation? Is Sienar himself unharmed?"
"That's none of your business..."
One of the lieutenants pointed a weapon threateningly at him, but judging by the intonations and the emotions felt, the answer to both questions was "no."
"Then Clan Dara can still be saved."
Nodding to his kinsmen, Anun left the Clan Dara hideout without another word, then dialed a number via holocomm he had seen many times on the net or on posters. Quiet music played in the earpiece inserted in his ear, then a strong male voice began a promotional preview while Anun waited for a connection with an operator.
"Do you value Liberty and Democracy? If so, press one..."
****
What could be better than a pre-deployment briefing? A pleasant moment that had become an integral part of life.
Continuing to gear up, Billy Booker listened with half an ear to the booming, gruff voice of the Master Sergeant, who was hammering the mission objective into the veterans. Ranting and turning red, under the occasional snickers of comrades-in-arms, he occasionally handed out clips to the back of the head.
"Quiet! QUIET, damn it! Listen up." Striking the holoprojector with his fist, the Sergeant brought up a hologram of a face depicting the mission target. "Alright. Bastards, bandits, murderers—true lovers of Holy Liberty and Democracy..."
Chuckles rippled through the hall, and even the Sergeant's own crooked, scarred lips curled into a smile. Adjusting his cap, he put his hands behind his back but couldn't stand still for a second before he began gesturing actively again.
"I know you freaks just want to blow up and kill everything that moves. But today we have a different task." Pointing a finger right at the forehead of the hologram, the Master Sergeant stood with arms akimbo, which contrasted wildly with the image of the target's frightened and ridiculous face. "This is a rescue mission, and you'll have to save no ordinary person... But Narro Sienar himself!"
"Who the hell is that?" Scratching his balls, one of the Helldivers asked a perfectly fair question, eliciting thunderous laughter from the whole group.
"Matkowski, you bitch! Take your hand off your balls when you're talking to me!" Lightly hitting the scratcher on his helmet, the Sergeant spoke again in a booming voice. "This man is the hope and future of our entire organization! He is a ship-building Engineer! It is by his hands that the magnificent war machines will be built, with which we will carry Managed Democracy to every corner of the galaxy."
"So he's a shipbuilder, cool..."
"Bitch. Sit in silence!" Grabbing the talker by the collar near the chin with two fingers, the Sergeant yanked him toward the floor with all his might. "Shipbuilders jerk off to sea boats or create pieces of crap like the Gozanti! Sienar, however, will create Justice in the flesh for us, ships filled with Holy Liberty in the form of heavy turbolaser cannons, Fire Hail rocket batteries, and other joys of the Helldivers! And that means Narro Sienar is the most important prick on this planet, more important than your cheap asses in sweaty suits. Is that clear to you?"
"Yes, sir!" Excitement showed on their faces. Imagining the Sergeant's words, the soldiers already saw the silhouettes of massive ships that would turn our enemies and the enemies of all free people into dust with their guns.
"And if even one hair falls from his stupid face, Commander Altman, along with his lovely deputy, will tear my ass apart." Now everyone stopped laughing, and even Booker himself looked up from his business and stared at the serious Sergeant. "And I'm afraid to even imagine what I'll do to you if that happens. Is that clear to you, blockheads?"
"YES, SIR!"
"Excellent! Just wonderful." Pausing for a moment, the Sergeant slammed his fist into his open palm. "Oh, right. Along with Sienar, there's a busty Alien girl in captivity. Save her too. Let our Engineer have his fun."
Waving his hand as if shooing a fly, the Master Sergeant continued explaining the plan in detail, but Billy was no longer listening. His task was simple enough, and he already knew his objectives.
"All Helldivers, proceed to the pods. I repeat..."
"It's time, boys and girls!" Dropping the playfulness, the Master Sergeant spoke in a serious and calm tone. "Good luck to you. For Holy Liberty."
"For Holy Liberty! HUA!"
The familiar gloom of the assault pod. The scents of metal and oil seep through the filters, causing a shiver of anticipation. Heavy sabatons thunder on the steel floor, the sounds of impacts echoing off the walls, creating a real cavalcade of noise.
A hundred Shock Troopers climb into the pods one by one, waiting for the moment they can finally descend to the planet.
Mounts strike the shoulders, pressing into the soft back of the stabilizer. Compensators wrap around the legs, and the armor system connects to the cameras outside the pod. Several drones beep satisfactorily, responding to the check signal.
Billy's fingers glide over the sparse buttons, occasionally touching the touch screen. The soft blue color of the monitors surrounds him on all sides.
Over the years of use, the pods had been refined and become many times better, but as their rumor sources from the rear units said—this wasn't the limit yet.
"Major ready..." Relaxing his shoulders, Booker pressed the readiness button. Closing his eyes, he leaned back comfortably in the stabilizer, allowing his muscles to rest before the hard work. "Mmm... Ready for descent."
"Acknowledged. Five, four, three... Two... One. Launch!"
***
"LIB-ER-TY!"
On a Jump pack, one of my Shock Troopers pounced on a Twi'lek. Knocking the local bandit onto her back, he pinned her throat with his knee, deftly twisting to keep his hands free. Without hesitation, the soldier grabbed the lekku hanging from the sides of her head and, without thinking long, yanked, tearing them out by the roots.
"Feel the power of Democracy!"
"Sally, no!" The second Twi'lek, likely a boyfriend or something, lunged at the killer of his girlfriend, but instead of revenge, he was hit in the face with the Helldiver's improvised weapon. Deftly wielding the severed lekku, he beat the guy to a near-death state, then crushed his windpipe with a single heel strike. Throwing his hands to the sky, clenching his fists, the crazed soldier snatched up a Blaster and ran on, hoping to be among the first to break into the Clan Dara hideout.
"Every step you take against Holy Liberty is merely an inevitable desire to hasten your own death." Stepping heavily, an Exoskeleton stomped past, spraying enemies from both hands with repeaters. The laser beams merged into a single line, tearing enemies to pieces and heating the door behind them. "Anyone who opposes Democracy must die!"
Through the speakers, pretentious phrases filled with a brutal, bassy rasp continued to pour out.
A flight of Eagles flew over our heads, raining dozens of missiles onto the hideout's Anti-Air Defense. Explosions blossomed like fiery flowers above us, and the rock shook dangerously.
"Kill them all! Democracy will know its own!"
Helldivers ran past me. Blasters and rare machine guns clattered around. Autocannons knocked splinters out of the thick-looking doors, and stone chips showered down on our heads as a full hundred Helldivers went on the assault.
Burning sabotaged Speeders and the occasional charred remains of Twi'leks who weren't afraid to face us were everywhere.
Wreckage of turrets, bent rifles, and empty grenade crates. War in miniature, on a distant planet.
"This is The Chief to Freedom One. Clear a path for us." Moving my hand with the PDA aside, I turned my head away, fearing the force of the blast might burn the detectors on my helmet.
Not ten seconds had passed before a concentrated beam struck from the ship, hitting the Clan Dara gates. As soon as I looked back, the battle around me went silent. A huge, even hole gaped in the center of the gates. Molten walls flowed down, burying the bodies of our enemies. Tibanna battery cells exploded as the molten metal reached them.
Waving my hand, I slowed down the IFV, which, barely slowing its pace, allowed me to jump onto its roof. The gun on the roof didn't stop firing, drenching the passage we created with Blaster fire. The heavy repeater turret struck accurately and powerfully, completely suppressing any enemy attempts at resistance.
"Commander, uh... We found Sienar." One of the soldiers contacted me. There was uncertainty in his voice, and it was very quiet in the background. "Or rather... Well, there's this... A Jedi, here."
Placing my hand to my face, I felt mounting irritation. Just what we needed for complete happiness.
"I'll be there soon." Cutting the connection, I slapped the armor with my palm until the head of the combat vehicle commander popped out of the hatch. "Stop having fun, I need to get inside."
"Will do, Boss." The hatch slammed shut, and the engine roared like a beast. The vehicle's tracks spun faster, occasionally throwing sparks. The driver-mechanic was not sparing this baby at all.
The IFV accelerated sharply and flew at full speed into the gates that hadn't quite cooled after the shot. Grinding wreckage and any bandits in its path, the vehicle drifted in place, nearly flipping onto its side. Only the nimble turret gunner managed to spin his gun in different directions, picking off fleeing Twi'leks.
As soon as the IFV braked, the rear door slammed to the ground with a crash, and soldiers poured out of the dark womb of the machine, flooding the empty hall.
Clan Dara's defense was finally broken, and the further journey to the hostage rooms was a dull affair.
Every now and then, I came across brutally killed Clan members. The ferocity with which the Helldivers had fallen upon them was quite telling. And if I were a sane person, I would definitely be concerned by such a thing.
Walking slowly through the empty corridors accompanied by three soldiers, I noted with a smile their wistful, lingering glances into the side corridors from which the sounds of battle could be heard.
"Like children, honestly."
It took almost ten minutes to reach the right place, but thank all the gods, no one bothered or distracted us, so when we came out to my boys and the Jedi, my mood was much more gracious than at the start of this whole story.
"I take it you are Commander Altman?" Taking a step forward, the Twi'lek Jedi nearly provoked a shooting. My escorts and the waiting Helldivers raised their weapons, aiming them at the Twi'lek. The man grimly looked us all over with his cold gaze, then stepped back, showing a minimal presence of brains among his entire brotherhood.
Ignoring the Jedi's question, the first thing I do is approach my people, among whom there are wounded, but judging by the general state, there weren't even any killed.
"Target?" Glancing quickly around the room, I noted that here, unlike the rest of the complex, there were no signs of scorch marks or Blaster bolt holes.
"In the next room, with the Twi'lek." Giving me the information I wanted immediately, the Helldiver struck his fist against his chest and handed me an access key that clearly opened the necessary door. "No wounds, no signs of violence either. Just a couple of scratches."
"Beautiful work," I said, clapping the soldier on the shoulder. I addressed all the participants of this mission at once, who were keeping their eyes on me and pricking up their ears, pretending they weren't interested. "To all participants: for ideal execution, I'm issuing a bonus. Double rate. Today you have performed a good deed, for the glory of Holy Liberty and Democracy!"
"HUA!" Trading joyful looks, the soldiers began giving each other high-fives; a couple even jumped up and bumped chests, then knocked their foreheads together for good measure.
"Now, let's move out." Heading toward the door where my wayward engineer was waiting for me, I heard rustling and the fresh clicks of weapons behind my back.
The Jedi was struggling to say something, taking a couple of steps forward again, but right now I had neither the strength nor the time to deal with this monk. Interrupting him with a wave of my hand, I asked him directly.
"What do you need? Fast and to the point."
"To save the innocent." Tilting his head back, the Twi'lek looked over the surrounding Helldivers once more and finally lowered his hands, clearly not intending to engage in a fight. "To protect those who are not involved in the kidnapping..."
"All militants will be cut down by my men; that point is not up for discussion. The same goes for anyone resisting."
"I understand." Smiling softly, the Twi'lek Jedi nodded, his lekku swaying. "But I am speaking of those hiding behind my back. They are not involved in the affairs..."
"Fine." I didn't even bother listening to the rest of his words. He wants to save pirates, savages, and bastards who trade their own people? Let him. In a couple of years, when we have enough influence and the opportunity arises, I'll drop tens of thousands of soldiers onto these planets, and then not a single enemy of Liberty will escape. "We're leaving."
***
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