Buckets: A Star Wars Story

18. Teekay

"It should be an easy assignment," Aurek had said when we boarded the transport off The Summa. She was to remain with the fleet while we were down on the beaches below until we were recalled. Though we weren't told when that was going to be. "All we're doing is guarding the data vaults, right? How difficult will this be?"

If we had known, maybe we would have just pretended that we never received the request to take up the Director on his offer.

"Stop saying that," I rolled my eyes behind my bucket. "Every time you do, something always happens."

"Yes, do shut up," Thesh nodded his agreement, which just made Aurek mumble angrily and cross his arms, unhappy with being ganged up on. "The fact that the Director sent us here is proof he expects something drastic," he added after the group had quieted down. What that was, we hadn't even the foggiest idea.

Our shuttle touched down and we were shown to the garrison. Everything seemed marvelously placid from where we sat. There were an abundance of DTs, but they were trained there, after all. There was no sign that we needed to be on high alert for any real reason. Transports were coming and going as usual. No odd traffic had been encountered. Even the trip there had been uneventful. There was still hope that Jedha had been a successful deterrent from any potential Rebel resistance. Such a power move would at least keep them guessing.

That had been our hope, anyway. Oh, how wrong we were.

I took the time to wander about the base and get a feeling for my surroundings after I put Peek back aboard the shuttle to intercept radio chatter at the request of Thesh, whose officer senses were tingling. There were TKs patrolling, including several Shoretroopers out and about. Everything started off normal. There wasn't anything that told me that today was going to be the day that the Rebellion opened fire on the Empire in earnest.

I saw Krennic's shuttle fly in following several standard transports, but Scarif was a training base. Supply transports weren't unusual. The only thing I caught that was amiss was a group that went to inspect a shuttle went in with an officer, a specialist, and two troopers, and emerged with just the specialist, the officer, and a KX-series security droid. I chalked it up to just being a couple of TKs getting stuck on a sweep and that the droid had a digital manifest. If I had paid closer attention, I wonder how bad this entire situation would have been. I'd say I wouldn't have gotten shot, but my propensity towards that tells me that I would have regardless of the situation.

I'm a pretty great blaster magnet.

I wandered around some more, taking in the sights of Sacrif, a base so well defended that most people in the Empire found it rather impregnable. Even I had been lulled into a false sense of security. The other troopers seemed to feel the same way that I did. No one seemed particularly on edge. There was always the chance of an attack, but our deflector shields were virtually indestructible in their design. It would have taken a whole ISD dropped on top of them to break their wall.

After I got my bearings, I began to wind my way back through the palm groves to the garrison where the squad was. I didn't realize how far out I had gone until I was making the trek through the groves of trees and over rather annoying sand dunes. The sea hadn't seemed that far away when I was walking there. The sun was out, there was the quiet ebb and flow of the water, and there were even a few birds out. It was blissfully quiet there along the coast. Perhaps I should have taken it as the calm before the storm, but hindsight is always crystal clear.

I had barely made it back to Aurek and the rest when the first explosion went off at one of the landing pad generators. Then another. And another. It seemed like every landing pad was calling in attacks. No one had even a clue as to what was going on, and the only thing that passed through my mind was the Director Dorne had been correct. The Rebels had arrived, and I had a feeling I knew what they were there for.