[Republic Commando] - 02(125)

Adrenaline excited strills and made them eager to hunt. “Plan B. Disable the vessels and slot the occupants.”

“Disable … ,” Scorch said.

“Minimum force required to do the job. We’re in a city, remember.”

“Holochart,” Ordo said. “I’ve still got Obrim on this link. Quick sitrep, people.”

They clustered around Corr, who was collating the moving red lines and points of light with quiet enthusiasm. Methodical, calm lad. He’d need to be that in bomb disposal. “They’ve been going all shades of crazy here and here.” He zoomed into the holoimage and indicated two tangled masses of red lines like loose balls of thread, both in the retail sector of Quadrant B-85, where Fi had carried out the surveillance of Vinna Jiss. It suggested that tagged suspects had done an awful lot of repeated movement. “I’d say they’re shifting kit by hand. Plenty of it, in two locations. But the two apartments Captain Ordo recce’d have been totally dead for hours. They’ve left.”

Skirata knew what he’d do in their position. He’d assemble what kit he had, move it discreetly to a central point, and then ship out. He wouldn’t send a big, conspicuous repulsor truck to pick up from a dozen locations.

“It’s all going out via the crates on that landing strip,” he said.

“Agreed.” Ordo and Mereel nodded.

Scorch just grinned.

A red point of light suddenly moved from the location of the house in the banking sector where Skirata had met Perrive. They watched it moving fast: someone had left the house in a speeder. “Holocam,” Skirata said.

Ordo played out the remote image from his glove emitter. A speeder had taken off from the roof.

“I’d bet that was Perrive leaving,” said Vau.

Skirata knew they’d lose some of the key players, but this was about making as big a dent in the Sep terror ranks as possible. “Pity. Maybe we can catch up with him later.”

Fi held out his palm with a remote detonator on it. “If he’s flying that green speeder .

“The one they took me in?”

“Yes.”

“Fi . .” ‘

“You can blow it anytime you like, Sarge.” The commandos had slipped back into calling him Sarge. It seemed to happen when they put their armor on again. “I stuck a nice big surprise in his air intake last night.”

“I was in that speeder.”

“I know. Clever, wasn’t it?”

Skirata took the det and checked that it was disabled before slipping it in his pocket.

“Ord’ika, let me talk to Jailer.” He held his hand out for the comlink to Obrim. “Can your people cover the locations we gave you?”

Obrim’s voice was tight with tension. “We’re pulling people back off shifts now. We’re synchronizing this for twenty two-hundred, are we?”

“Correct. I’ll patch you into my comlink for the duration, but don’t talk to me unless it’s critical. Other than that, stay away from the area coordinates we’re going to transmit to you, and pretend we never existed.”

“Sorry about the arrest-not my team. A routine firearms control stop, I’m afraid.”

“At least it made them bolt. They’re vulnerable when they bolt.”

“I’ll talk to you in twelve hours if all goes smoothly, then. Next breakfast’s on you, remember?”

“You take care, too, friend.”

The tangle of possibilities and risks in Skirata’s mind had become crystal clear. Two key parts of the operation were now as pinned down as they could be: the synchronized raid on the lower-priority terrorist targets by CSF, and the interception of an unspecified number of key players at the landing strip, along with their vessels.

“Remember, vode. No prisoners.” Skirata took out his medpac and prepared a one-use painkiller syringe. Then he rolled down the soft leather of his left boot and stabbed the needle deep into his ankle. The pain made his muscles shake but he clenched his teeth and let it pass. This was not the night to be slowed down by a limp. “Shoot to kill.”

Fourteen men and one woman to kill maybe twenty terrorists. Very expensive use of manpower compared to droid kill rates. But worth it.

There were a few more targets still wandering around out there, ones they hadn’t even tagged. But when it came to destroying a small organization like a group of terror cells, taking out a cell like this one would have enormous impact. It slowed them down. It set them back while they recruited and reorganized and retrained.

Even a few months made all the difference in this war. “Walon,” he said. “Take one of my Verpine rifles tonight. Might come in handy.”