The fake hypermatter depot allowed us to place cameras in hidden locations. According to the information we sold for 20,000 credits, Alsakan had not bothered with sufficient security.
This building was a genuine Alsakan facility, but it served merely as an emergency planetary generator. In the event of Coruscant winning in space, the planet was supposed to hold out until a new Alsakan fleet arrived.
Therefore, I was permitted to use it as bait. The terrain around the base was cleared of vegetation, a two-meter fence ran along the perimeter, and watchtowers with spotlights were positioned at the corners.
Most of the rooms sat idle, while the rebels received a detailed map of the facility. The building looked like a large cube and was located at a distance from the city.
At my request, Alsakan soldiers no longer guarded the building at night, which served as confirmation of the intelligence the rebels had received.
Today, they finally decided to verify this information; prior to this, there had only been attempts at remote nighttime observation.
It is now the third week of my stay on the planet, and the number of captured spies has exceeded two dozen.
Who would have thought that they communicated with each other? By checking the contact data on a datapad, I read the emotions and memories of everyone on that long list.
Thus, an additional fish fell into the net, and from its contact list, I caught three more little mice.
That is how I managed to track down all these spies.
If it weren't so exhausting, I would rejoice in such an easy success. This entire strategy only worked up until the moment information about this method reached our enemies.
"Speeders, to the left of the road to the spaceport."
Vija's comment made me look closely in that direction. Two civilian passenger speeders were flying through the jungle at night, and their distance was too close to a military facility.
This didn't look like a sabotage group. There were too few of them; at most, ten people could fit in those speeders.
This meant they were young recruits being used to gather reconnaissance data.
I was on the roof, using hidden cameras for a detailed analysis of the tactical situation.
"They are conducting reconnaissance by combat. Disable the minefield; switch it to manual mode."
Vija quickly pressed the corresponding buttons on the datapad, while Vaja was already holding the detonator and had put on augmented reality goggles.
Translucent spheres displaying the blast radius of baradium explosives appeared before her eyes.
I activated the comlink and tuned into the frequency of the soldiers hidden at the depot.
"Two enemy civilian speeders, no heavy weaponry. As soon as they breach the perimeter, the standard alarm will trigger. Select ten volunteers to neutralize the enemy. You have five minutes."
The comms switched to an Alsakan soldier integrated into the squad.
"Permission to use lethal force?"
What a good question.
"Granted, but try to take a few prisoners."
I disconnected the comms and continued to wait. Soon, the speeders flew out onto the open field and headed toward the depot.
They slowed down, and the speeder doors opened. A rebel leaned out with a handheld grenade launcher and fired.
The explosion shattered the fence and allowed them to fly into the guarded facility.
Vija tapped the datapad screen, and the entire complex filled with the loud blare of an alarm.
At that moment, the doors of the nearest building opened, and Force Lightning surged toward the brazen intruders.
The speeders could not evade the Force techniques. The rebels lost control and crashed into the ground at full speed.
The speeders flipped several times, sliding across the dirt by inertia.
A squad of Sith in heavy armor began exiting the building's doors; each was armed with a lightsaber and could wield the Force.
Several rebels survived the crash and tried to fight back, but their shots were useless.
For a standard army, this was pure hell. Soldiers' blasters cannot pierce good armor or miniature shield generators. In the distant future, things will be different, but right now, close-quarters combat is the harsh reality of modern warfare.
A blaster bolt is a clump of gas; any Force adept is capable of deflecting a shot through telekinesis, and a lightsaber reduces the rebels' chances even further.
I paid no attention to how the squad was killing or disarming a group of ordinary soldiers. All my focus was on the outer perimeter.
They had to be observing the outcome of the battle. A hypermatter depot was too important a target. Destroying this facility would allow them to weaken our fleet, which would lead to Coruscant's possible victory in space.
Right now, they are on an enemy planet, merely stalling for time. Every rebel understands that they will die sooner or later, and currently, a glimmer of hope for victory lies before them.
Ten Sith would only provoke the rebels into sending a true strike team along with Jedi.
While I watched the perimeter, my subordinates beat down the last of the surviving rebels.
"Task completed. We took 4 natives prisoner. There were no Coruscant soldiers in the vehicles."
As I suspected, taking prisoners is extremely inconvenient right now, and these local natives possess no information vital to the rebels.
"Finish off the prisoners, then move to the fence to check the situation."
I continued staring at the jungle area; they had to react to Alsakan's negligence.
"Copy that."
Another ten minutes passed, and I finally saw dozens of heavy speeders. This time, the speeders were modernized with heavy automatic blasters.
The thin plating was reinforced with military-grade armor plates; remnants of paint revealed their origin.
They had stripped the armor off Alsakan's small ships and tanks.
This group emerged onto the field and immediately deployed infantry. Quite logical; they were facing an assault where an unknown number of enemies resided.
For every five soldiers, there was a support squad with a grenade launcher and a heavy automatic blaster. Several rebels wore backpacks typical for field engineers; they had brought a considerable amount of explosives.
The main stars of today's theater were thirty Jedi. Unlike the Empire, they still used proto-lightsabers. A massive battery pack hung on their belts, with a long cable connecting it all to the hilt.
This made it easy to identify them as priority targets.
Wasting no time, the speeders began laying down fire on my subordinates' group. Meanwhile, the infantry sprinted toward the nearest cover by the walls.
I counted 402 rebels and 30 Jedi; this was quite a fat catch.
"They are running into the mines!"
I observed their movement trajectory, then considered when to summon the other troops hidden at the facility.
"Ignore everyone except the Jedi. Detonate as soon as all the Jedi are on the mines."
Unhooking a thermal detonator, I set the fuse to remote mode, then tossed it into the air with telekinesis. I had to do this about twenty times.
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They were nearly invisible in the night sky, and telekinesis guided them straight into the air above the minefield.
"Once you blow up the Jedi, cover me from the stationary blaster cannons. Monitor your emotions and try to think of something pleasant; their deaths must be treated as something mundane. If they sense your emotions, they'll know about the mines."
The Twi'leks nodded, and Vija rolled over to a camouflaged position with a cannon. She used telekinesis to adjust its placement in order to get a better firing line over the zone where the battle would take place.
I had already jumped off the complex roof and drawn my blaster. Considering how I would fight, I switched the blaster's mode to automatic and set the power to minimum. The cooling system should handle it; if not, I would use a Force technique.
Landing, I slowly walked toward the fence. My head ached slightly; thermal detonators were in the air, I had to mask my emotions, and I was maintaining telekinesis.
It drained a lot of concentration; pulling this off in a real battle would be impossible.
Meanwhile, the Sith squad was using the fence for cover, no longer trying to deflect the shots. The speeders had done their job, and the infantry squad had almost reached the fence.
At that moment, I felt a Jedi with actual brains use his sensory abilities to scan the area for living organisms.
I drew his attention, and he tried to ask the Force. Observing his naivety, I concentrated a current of darkness around myself.
He ceased his actions before I could sever him from the Force, but he would remember this. A detonator was already primed in my hand; this scene was approaching its epilogue.
A loud explosion thundered at the gates, and thermonuclear reactions devoured an area covering a whole kilometer. Unfortunately, the diameter of each individual blast did not exceed thirty meters.
As I had anticipated, some of the Jedi leapt into the air and evaded the explosions. Vija and Vaja still couldn't properly conceal their emotions.
I pressed the detonator button, causing the Force around me to scream and weep.
I no longer needed to maintain the Force technique; it had been quite exhausting.
The Sith inside the building stepped out, the group at the gates unleashed Force techniques, and the stationary cannons opened fire on the speeders.
One by one, those modified civilian vehicles exploded.
At a calm pace, I walked toward the panicking enemy soldiers. Speeders tried to drive in their direction and begin an evacuation, but Force Lightning forced them to adopt the most sound course of action.
The remaining speeders retreated, abandoning their comrades.
I had to be economical with the baradium, so the intensity of the thermal reaction was too weak. The power and temperature were simply insufficient to completely vaporize matter, resulting in a high thermal wave that merely charred organic material.
Surviving soldiers screamed and cried everywhere; many had lost limbs or suffered fatal burns.
My attention was drawn only to the Jedi. Three humans were still standing on their feet. Their skin was missing, their eyes had been incinerated, and their clothing had melted into their flesh, yet they stood and used the Force to track me.
Instead of protecting their bodies with a Force Barrier, they had protected only their lightsabers.
Wasting no time, they propelled themselves toward me with telekinesis.
"How very unscientific..."
I unleashed a burst from my blaster, while releasing my own telekinesis with my other hand.
The distance remained the same, forcing them to deflect my shots. By that time, I had already prepared Force Lightning, forcing them to stop and defend themselves.
Blaster fire continued as I finished my next Force technique.
One of the Jedi failed to notice a blaster bolt alter its trajectory. He deflected it, but the plasma spun around and severed the cable powering his lightsaber.
Several blaster shots struck his chest, literally boiling his internal organs.
The other two Jedi walked slowly in my direction, but all their attention was focused on my ranged attacks.
"Now."
Vija and Vaja aimed the stationary blaster cannons at the Jedi. They noticed too late, and my attacks prevented them from evading.
Two plasma blasts tore their bodies into small chunks of meat.
This should have been the end of the Jedi, but I drew my sword and blocked a strike from behind.
A practically unscathed Jedi radiated the Force like a true Sith Lord. He was the one who had scanned the area for living creatures.
I was sent flying by telekinesis, but mid-flight I managed to reload my blaster. I could afford to rest; no matter how strong he was, he stood no chance.
At that moment, the other Sith had already arrived and surrounded the survivor. Dozens of red lightsabers were pointed at the man in robes holding a single yellow lightsaber.
He didn't even consider surrendering; he merely assumed a defensive stance and blocked every attack.
I surveyed the battlefield and realized how he had survived. The position of the three corpses did not match what I had seen previously.
Analyzing the possibility, I realized that at the very last moment, he had dropped to the ground and shielded himself with his comrades.
"Quite insidious. Next time I need to ask for more baradium. A full-scale nuclear explosion is required."
He blocked several strikes, then unleashed a telekinetic Force wave. I could feel how angry he was; one could say he was fueled by pure hatred.
Dozens of lightning bolts flew at him, but the Jedi raised chunks of earth to form a wall around himself. He then released a wave of destruction all around him.
Vija and Vaja actively fired at him, but his Force Barrier held.
I watched as he gave himself over entirely to his hatred; his flesh was burning away from a colossal amount of the dark side of the Force, and his eyes turned yellow.
Snatching a sword from one of the Sith, he managed to block dozens of enemies, then dual-wielding pushed my subordinate to the brink of death, but it was too late.
I used sorcery. The earth beneath him transformed into black serpents, and those constructs then locked his legs in place.
Without footwork, any fencing is merely a farce.
He had to distract himself, which saved the Sith from death. The mad berserker shifted to the defensive, but I had already gotten too close.
The thrust of my sword came from behind; the blade pierced from the bottom up, through the center of his torso.
A wave of the Force erupted from the sword, turning all his internal organs into a mushy substance.
Giving him no chances, I pressed my blaster against his forehead and unleashed a burst at point-blank range.
The splatter of his brains stained my military uniform, but the Jedi's body fell to the ground. Drawing my sword, I severed his head and arms; this time, I am certain he is dead.
Sighing heavily, I looked over the battlefield.
"Vaja, blow up our shuttles, then I will organize a search for the second sabotage group that committed this crime."
The hardest part of the job was over; now we had to provide medical aid to the prisoners, then organize the collection of trophies.
It is a pity that Jedi are like rabid animals; it is quite dangerous to try taking them alive.