Inside the office, two Chessori stood behind the governor’s desk. Sikes looked angry but confident.
“My Chessori friends tell me they are unable to communicate with their friends aboard your ships, Admiral.”
“I’m not surprised. They all left. Have your Chessori friends any news of them?”
“Only that they are not aboard the ships, Admiral,” replied the Chessori standing to Sikes’ left. “Where have you sent them?”
“I don’t know where they are. They all decided to leave at the same time, and my commanders were more than willing to let them.”
“You lie!” exclaimed the Chessori.
“Be careful of whom you call a liar,” Korban replied. “You are guests here, or had you forgotten?”
“Enough!” Sikes roared. “Where are they, Admiral?”
“Gone,” Korban replied angrily. “It doesn’t matter where.” He peered hard at the two Chessori. “I find it interesting that you two know no more about them than the governor. It tells me that the range of your telepathic communications ability is limited. Now,” he said, turning back to the governor, “as military commander of this Sector, I declare these and all Chessori to be enemies of the Empire. They’re under arrest.”
“You don’t have the authority, Admiral. These are political appointees subject only to me.”
“You’re wrong, Governor,” Korban shot back. “Worse, you’re stupid. These Chessori plan to allow your rule only as long as it pleases them. You’re playing right into their hands.”
“You’re relieved, Admiral,” Sikes stated calmly, rising to his feet.
“I do not recognize your authority to relieve me, Governor,” Korban replied evenly. In a softer tone he added, “Are you ready to make your move then?”
“You’ve forced my hand. Reinforcements from Struthers will enter the system within the next few days, so my hand is strong. Hand over your weapons, all of you,” he demanded.
“Sorry, Governor. You’ve forced my hand, as well.” Korban reached for his blaster, as did Reba and the adjutant. The scree came immediately. Reba fell to the floor as Celine’s pain filled her leg, but she was up quickly and fired once at each Chessori. She didn’t miss. The governor, Korban, and the adjutant were all down. The scree stopped when the two Chessori died, but it resumed moments later. Reba heard blasters firing from the other side of the door.
She limped to the door and pulled it open, instantly dropping to the floor, her blaster fanning the room. No one stood except her Raiders and one Rebel lurching around in agony. Sergeant Timms yelled, “We’re secure in here. You?”
“Secure!” she shouted. “Check the next room. I’m calling for reinforcements.”
She hurried back into the room to make certain the Chessori were truly dead. They were. She spoke into her communicator, calling Colonel Waverly. “We’re in the back of the mansion and trapped. We counted at least thirty Chessori on the way in. There might be others we didn’t see.”
“The scree has been felt here at Korban’s headquarters, as well. We’re securing the building and will work our way toward the mansion,” he responded calmly. “It might take a while to reach you. It’s a mess outside. Everyone’s down, civilians included.”
“Shoot any Chessori on sight,” she advised. “We’re going to fight our way out. Tell your men we’re on the move.”
“Secure all Rebels you encounter. We don’t want to have to start fighting all over again when the scree stops,” Waverly reminded her.
“Understood.”
They had come prepared, but not necessarily prepared enough. She didn’t have handcuffs enough to go around, so she stunned everyone not already dead except the admiral and his adjutant. When she realized that the ones she stunned stopped writhing in pain, she stunned Korban and his adjutant, as well, hoping it offered some relief from the scree. She dragged them into the next room, but her three sergeants had moved well down the central corridor, clearing rooms as they went.
She caught up to them just as they approached a large foyer area where several corridors and stairways merged. This area would be a challenge: Sergeant Timms didn’t have enough men to properly clear an area this big.
Reba called Waverly. “Any progress toward us?”
“No. We’re pinned down out front. I’ve sent guys around both sides – they’ll try other entrances. We have a pretty big fight going on out front.”
Reba could hear it. Heavy weapons pounded frequently. She huddled with the three sergeants. “Any other entrances or exits?” she asked.
“Not here,” Timms replied, “unless you want to go out the windows. Personally, I’d like to finish what we started.”
“So would I. Korban needs to secure the city and the space port. We’re going to have to do it for him, starting with this building. Colonel Waverly said the whole city is in turmoil. Wish I knew the range of this scree. ”
“I think we’ll know more about it when this is all over,” Timms replied. He looked at Reba. “You’re not very mobile. I want you to stay here on the right side of the corridor. Cover our left side as well as you can. We’re going right, and we’ll work our way all the way around the foyer. Ready?”
She nodded, and the men moved into the open area using standard clearing techniques that had become second nature, techniques Reba had learned, as well, during her training with them. She followed Timms’ instructions and kept her weapon and attention to the left side of the foyer area. A large table and flower vase stood in the middle of the room, giving the men slight cover. Reba saw movement on a stairway, and she knew no one was moving but the Chessori. She waited until she had a clear target, then fired three shots. A white body fell down the stairs.
Sergeant Timms led his team of three, and all of them loosed patterns of three shots from time to time, but Reba couldn’t see their targets. The team made it all the way around the room and back to her.
“Not much activity,” Timms announced. “I think they’ve moved out to the front of the building. Let’s go.”
Reba dragged Korban and his adjutant as the three Raiders covered her. As soon as they reached the far side of the room, the three sergeants picked up their pace down the hallway, leaving her to follow with Korban and his adjutant. She finally caught up to them at the main entrance of the mansion. Timms advised her that they’d had little further resistance, and looking outside, it was clear why. Colonel Waverly had his hands full with more than a hundred Chessori holding his men at bay across the plaza fronting the mansion, and they had some seriously heavy weapons. Sergeant Timms used hand motions to position Reba and the other two sergeants, then led the assault on the heavy weapons, taking the Chessori from the rear by surprise. The battle quickly turned into a route. Some Chessori tried to surrender, but Reba announced over her comm link that there would be no quarter given until the scree ended. All Chessori they could find died, yet the scree continued unabated.
Reba and Colonel Waverly huddled together to come up with a plan. They had made plans, but those plans had fallen apart with the first shot. Their main concerns were primary locations, the government headquarters buildings around the mansion and the spaceport, half of it civilian and half of it military. Waverly detailed two full squads to remain behind to search and clear the mansion, to include taking the governor and his staff into custody, then detailed four squads to each nearby building to root out any Chessori hiding there. The rest of his teams went to the military spaceport. They had to secure ships with heavy guns before the Chessori got their act together.
“How long can your men keep this up?” she asked Waverly as they raced for the spaceport, Reba limping along as fast as she could.
“You just point us in the right direction, Ma’am,” he replied with a reassuring tone.