Infiltrating an Imperial Base

Cara crouched on the ridge, looking over the rocky ground. An Imperial base was set into the cliff wall, only a few observation windows marring the otherwise natural-looking surface.

There were a few such hold-outs still on Nevarro. At some point they’d be rid of them all, but right now this one was her target. She crouched, hidden by the general cragginess of the geography, waiting for an approach.

It was a well-hidden base. That rarely boded well.

An Imperial transport approached the wall. She watched carefully through her macrobinoculars as a stretch of the stone surface lifted up to admit it; once the transport was inside, the wall sealed up, leaving little sign that there was a door there.

Cara scowled. That entry was a no-go. She was here to take out every last surviving Imp, which meant she couldn’t suffer this base to survive that much longer.

She scanned up and down the wall. Though the stony ground grew uncomfortable beneath her, she didn’t move far, waiting for any sign. She barely even blinked, not wanting to miss a detail. Nothing was impenetrable.

If she had to, she’d climb the cliff and start digging into it from the top. She had no guarantee the place could watch in that direction at least, though she’d rather not run the risk.

Then a shutter on the cliff opened up for a moment. She focused in on that. It was only open for a minute, but it was hopefully just about large enough for a person to get inside.

Ventilation: it was a cliché, but a good one. Tightly secured bases like that needed some system to get air inside, and she’d seen that kind of vent before, open for just long enough to refresh the base’s supply with whatever internal pumps it had, then closed like it had never been there. Perfect for covert ops.

Part of her was tempted just to stuff the thing full and let them all suffocate. That probably wouldn’t work though – she had no idea if there were redundancies, or where they all were.

But, failing that, it was an entry way. She just needed to get close.

Smiling grimly to herself, Cara crawled away. Once she was some distance from the base, she stood up, and kept walking.

Every base had blind spots. The more focused a base was on being inconspicuous, the less chances it had to keep watch. She’d approach from the side, close to the wall, and climb up to the vent: usually security systems, particularly of hidden facilities, were more concerned about people getting in than people walking past. It wasn’t like they’d stay hidden for long if they shot every passer-by.

She kept close. Eventually she again reached the tell-tale outcrops, the little notches that promised an Imperial base was hidden behind the cliff face. She walked a memorized number of steps, up to a familiar detail in the stone.

Then she stopped, pausing, hand close to her blaster in case there was any sign or sound of a disturbance. If they’d seen her, then her pausing right in front of them would be their cue to mobilise – even if they wouldn’t all go out immediately, she’d hear the clanking of weapons being prepared and stormtrooper armor.

Nothing. Silence, save the wind and dust.

She grinned to herself, an exultation she usually saved for when she was alone, and turned to face the cliff face. She dug her hands into little crevices, pulling herself up.

From this close, it was easier to see the unnatural join that concealed the vent. She dug her fingers under it, prying it up. Perfect.

Sticking her head into the gap to keep it from closing, she drew her blaster ready, and then began to quietly slip into the hatch. She turned up her nose at the smell, but kept going – she’d been in worse places.

Head in the gap, then her arms squeezed in, and she wriggled on. It was a tight fit, but she inhaled and kept going.

She moved slowly. The interior of the vent was cramped, dark; save the occasional maintenance crew, it wasn’t meant to see anyone actually fit inside. That, and she didn’t want to make a sound that would alert someone before she was ready to defend herself.

The whole purpose of a vent was to carry air throughout the base. There ought to be a way into the base proper. There usually was at least – it had been a while since she’d made an entrance by ventilation shaft, but it was always possible. You didn’t have to be small and nimble in a place as concealed as this – the shafts needed to be pretty big.

Still, once it reached her hips, it took her a few goes to wriggle any further into the vent. No amount of holding her breath would lessen the curve of her hips, nor the muscle she’d accumulated over years of fighting and training.

Grunting, she braced her arms against the vent and pulled again. The vent groaned as she wriggled a couple more inches in; she stilled for a second, afraid.

At the lack of any response, she moved again, finding it easier now that she’d made a start. Soon her legs had made it inside as well, and she carefully drew her feet in, silently closing the outer flap.

She saw light almost instantly. Without the daylight coming from outside, the glimmer of electrical light through a grating was clear – thankfully the first grate out from the vent came just before the looming fan that would otherwise impede her progress.

She wriggled her way up to it, muttering obscenities under her breath as the vent squeezed tightly on her. Once she was at it, she surveyed the room through the slats to make sure it was empty; then she went to work loosening the grate, doing what she could before brute-forcing it.

It was relief how much easier it was to slip out of the vent. Cara landed with a thud on the floor, quickly getting to her feet.

She really preferred it when she could go in guns-blazing. Unfortunately a whole imperial base could require much more tact.

On her feet, blaster in hand, Cara took stock of her situation.