Line

Darkness Falls - The Story

Chapter One

Line

Wriiten by Pax - the Lone Jedi


To: Commander Kell-Bait (in care of MO Jan Ors)
From: Admiral Bug-Eyes

A matter of great urgency has arisen recently Commander. We have recently recieved word of a hastily built Imperial installation on the planet Hadley in the Acheron system. The odd thing is, the construction followed what was apparently only a brief sensor sweep. The question of what could have caused such an immediate reaction by the Empire is of great interest to the Rebel command staff. Therefore, we once again ask you to put your life at risk and infiltrate this base. As usual, there is very little intelligence on this mission, and once again you will be your own recon. Good luck Commander, and may the Force be with you.


"I have a bad feeling about this one, Jan," Kyle Katarn said, looking up from the viewscreen.

"Too late now," Jan said, motioning out the front viewscreen of the Moldy Crow. "There it is."

Kyle looked at the holographic representation of the planet ahead of them. It was black and dead, like a burned corpse. Kyle sighed and return to the job ahead. "Breathable?"

"Barely. Lots of nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Fair amount of oxygen too. Mostly dangerous because of some of the trace elements, like methane and pockets of ammonia. I'd keep your gas-mask handy just in case."

"No kidding."

Twenty minutes later, Kyle had his feet firmly planted on the ground as he watched the Crow's flood lights disappear through the murk. So far, that's all Kyle had seen of the place. All around the wind whistled through craggy rock formations, and in spite of his heavy flight jacket, it seemed to pass right through him, chilling him to his bones. Reddish dust and sediment flowed thickly through the air, obsuring his vision totally past a couple of meters. He didn't know why any semi-intelligent life forms would want to get near this planet, and the reason why the Imperials were here baffled him too.

According to some sketchy recon fly-bys, the Imperial base was about a quarter of a kilometer to the south-west. Fastening his infared goggles around his head and undoing the catch on his holster, Kyle set off through the swirling wind. Even though though the base was only a short distance away, between the uneven ground, chilling wind, and fact he veered off course several times and had to reorient himself, it took Kyle more than an hour to reach the outskirts of the base.

He found the thick metal outwall by nearly running into it. The goggles were no help; the deep cold that was descending on the slowly rotating world was enough to render their heat-locating properties almost useless. As it was, the served more to protect Kyle's eyes from the unrelenting wind.

Following the base's outwall mostly by touch, he spotted two bright white spheres through the goggles. Approaching the two spotlights carefully, Kyle was suprised by the absence of Stormtroopers. Maybe they figure no one's stupid enough to be running around out here at night, Kyle thought. He inspected the gate between the two lights, and was surprised to find it unlocked. He proceded cautiously through the open door into a large courtyard. Off to his left, he could make out the shapes of an a few TIEs and the massive form of an Imperial Shuttle, it's huge fin swaying gently in the gale. To his right were two oddly shaped forms that took a moment of staring to identify as a pair of AT-ST "chicken" walkers. On was low to the ground as if crouching, and the other was lying on it's side like a dead animal, it's legs contorted at odd angles.

Kyle chucked to himself. Underestimated the wind, did they? The light moment passed as quickly as it had started as the wind picked up again, nearly throwing Kyle off his feet. Struggling against the dirty gale, Kyle pushed his way through towards the large building directly infront of him. The shelter the high walled building provided was a welcome relief from the storm, but Kyle only rested a minute before preparing to face another storm.

Moving along with his back to the wall, Kyle came across the main entrance first. What the hell, he thought, I've survived Imperial Center in the middle of Rebel season. This dinky little outpost shouldn't pose too much of a problem. Feeling along the recesses of the doorframe, he finally found the door controls. He pressed the open button, and the door slide up with a heavy grinding noise characteristic of machinery decades older and... stopped about half a meter up from the ground.

Cursing, Kyle whipped out his Bryar pistol and ducked to the floor, sweeping the room beyond. It was completely empty.

A chill came through Kyle again, and not because of the wind. Imp bases like this were usually crawling with, well, Imps. But so far he hadn't seen a single person.

He crawled under the door and closed the door to the howling wind. The Reception/security room he was in was fully lighted, and a computer desk over in the corner was on. No damage, no sign of assault, and no Imperials.

Stashing his goggles, Kyle inspected the computer desk, but it was completely locked out, unresponsive.

Three doors led out of the room, and Kyle did a quick inspection of what was behind each of them. One hid a lounge of some kind, another a long corridor, and the third led to an elevator. No stormtroopers, no officers, no bodies. Kyle decided to inspect the lounge first.

All signs pointed to a quick evacuation of the base. There was a cup of cold drink on one of the tables, the holovid was on, showing a Twi'lek dancing girl, and there was datapad sitting on the couch, still showing the novel someone was reading.

Checking down the corridor next, Kyle was haunted by the complete silence of the base. The thick walls kept out sound of the wind, and the usual blaster sounds Kyle was used to were as absent as the Imperials. The floor of the corridor was as shiny as a mirror, and Kyle watched himself walk down it as his footsteps echoed loudly throughout the hall.

The corridor had no doors leading away from it, no turns or bends, only one large door marked "Mining Area" at the opposite end. Reluctantly opening the door, Kyle was assaulted by the stench of a thousand deaths. He staggered back, gasping for breath, and reflexsively put his hands over his face. After a moment of nausea past, he had the clarity of mind to pull out his gas mask and strap it on. After taking several deep lungfuls of filtered, but 100% better air, Kyle again tried the door.

Without the distraction of the stench of decay, the contents of the vast room where laid bare.

"By the Force..."

.......to be continued.


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