Black Nexu

It was about two o’clock in the night and the surrounding area was now absolutely quiet. The local bar had closed its doors an hour ago and the last drunken sailors where deep in their sleep. There was no sound to be heard but the seagulls and the tide coming in. It was after all just one small town lost somewhere in the Outer Rim.

There were a few men standing on the jetty, pacing up and down along the old and decrepit trawlers. Two of them stopped under the poor light of a decades-old streetlight to light up a cigarette and discuss the weather. There was nothing wrong with that except they were heavily armed Trandoshans, patrolling by night in the most remote and forgotten village of the Outer Rim. This wasn’t the strangest and most astonishing event of the night: there were ghosts moving in the night’s shadows.

No paranormal activity, no Sith alchemy, no Force monster: just blurry shapes wrapped in the darkness… There were three of those slowly and quietly walking from a cover to another. Blended in the night, they were moving unseen. The fourth shadow, lying about hundred yards away, was following the whole operation through the scope of his heavy sniper rifle. His squadies were underlined in blue on his HUD display while spotted enemies were underlined in red and tracked by the sensors of their support starship. Countdown on the tactical frequency and one of the red shapes disappeared.

“Tango Down! Movin' on!”

The Tango was indeed down: his neck snapped and his heavy equipment drowning the body into the dark water of the harbour’s. For a second there, the blurry shape was uncloaked: a tall soldier dressed in shades of grey with an assault rifle in his hands. He vanished back in the cold night as fast as he had appeared before being noticed. They were real quick and deadly, preying the inattentive sentinels from darkness.

“Hold position! We got inbound airspeeder, incoming from One Six Five.”
“This is Four, I’m on it.”

The blurry shadow call-signed Four slowly moved away as stealthy as they’ve been so far. The two other walked slowly to hide in the dark and shadowy back-alleys of the small and lost town. Again a few more red shapes disappeared from HUDs always confirmed by a cold statement on the squad’s frequency.

“Speeder’s landed! That’s six more sentinels escorting a VIP, probably an officer.”
“Four, keep the officer in sight we’re trying to ID him.”
“Copy that.”

Four was kneeling behind a large stack of wood. From there he could point his gun toward the ‘officer’. The image recorded from his scope was instantly patched to the support starship and was there compared with the database pictures.

“We have a match! We’re marking this as a new primary target. We need him alive.”
“Affirmative!”
“Heads up! I got movement. The Doshans are leaving their hideout.”
“Copy that! Everybody take position. One and I, we’ll do the cleaning. Three, you neutralize Target 1. Four, you neutralize Target 2. Remember Target 1 and 2 are needed alive.”

Everybody acknowledge receipt of the orders and took the best position to fill in their orders. When all the soldiers had confirmed they were in position the squad leader started the count-down before action.

“3… 2… 1… Mark!”

It was a sudden rain of blaster shots from almost every direction. A deadly rain for sure. About half of the Doshans where killed before anyone realized what was happening. Rules of engagement were maybe harsh but no one was to be taken alive except for the two primary targets. So it turned out into a cold-blooded execution. And while the Doshan resistance was reduced to silence, their leaders were neutralized. Trandoshans are lizards and it’s well know their lost arms or limbs can grow back therefore nobody was reluctant to shoot their knees.

“Target 1 is secured.”
“Target 2: secured.”
“Area is safe, we’re ready for extraction.”
“Copy that! Extraction in 2 minutes, hold position.”

They didn’t wait quietly for their shuttle to come. They dragged their prisoners to the end of the jetty and assumed there a defensive position in case someone slipped away or unspotted reinforcements were inbound. No enemies ever appeared and the shuttle soon stopped over the water. Prisoners were tossed onboard, soldiers climbed in and the ship lifted off to recover the sniper before finally leaving the place.

The next morning the fishers and sailors of that small and lost village woke up to see an heavy rain washing away the blood from the streets. They rejoiced at the delightful sight of their newly acquired freedom. Nobody understood what did happen or even why it did happen.

It may look like a military action ordered by the local government but the government didn’t care about that lost village nor did he have the possibility to set up that kind of operation. That was one nicely organised and executed operation from the Black Nexus, a secret army living in the shadows with their own private agenda and their apparently unlimited ressources.