[Episode V - NR][O12 - Gyndine - NR3F] Let's Start Things Off With a Bang - The Sleemo Seven (II)

The General

General Serik Thul was well experienced in the forceable suppression of populations. On Mon Cala, he directed the collapsing of hab-zones, ordered the cutting of oxygen to settlements he suspected harboring insurgents, and implemented the forced relocations that devastated the Mon Calamari homeworld.

Now on Gyndine, his orders were all too familiar. Relocate populations from the dockyard districts, root out partisan activity, and make an example of anyone who resisted.

---

General Serik Thul checked his chrono-piece again- he was already an hour late to his meeting with the Governor. He detested the performative theatre of meeting with Essada, but the secrecy of the Remnant's mission on Gyndine required him to keep up appearances.

"Throttle up," he ordered the trooper piloting his command speeder. "I am overdue."

The trooper nodded and flicked the controls. The engine roared, and the speeder surged through the glowlamp-lit streets.

Serik allowed himself a moment to admire the capital's architecture. Sweeping stone facades, elegant arches, sloped roofs dusted with frost. There was refinement here, and a grand old culture.

This will be a fine addition to the Remnant’s sphere, he thought.

---

Kessa Fen checked the time again. She pushed down the nagging suspicion that this was a trap.

Ryla’s syndicate contacts had forged an urgent summons from the palace, requesting for General Thul’s immediate presence. The Gyndine partisans had tracked the route from the Remnant base to the capital’s heart, mapped their response times, and memorized patrol intervals.

He was late, and that bothered her...

"Check the charges again," she muttered to Kavren.

Kavren grunted from beside the detonator rig. "That makes the sixth time you've asked. They’re perfect."

The streets were unnaturally quiet. The cold air carried only the sound of distant wind and the faint hum of city power conduits. Their breath hung in clouds around them.

Kessa keyed her comm. "Any sign of him, Tarnov?"

From a rooftop vantage point, the Duros' calm voice replied, "Negative… stand by."

A beat.

"Contact. Speeder is approaching fast. Faster than predicted. Confirming visual- Thul is in the sidecar."

Kessa's grip tightened around her blaster.

"They’re accelerating," Tarnov continued. "Blow the charges on five."

She turned to Cade at the trigger. "Five seconds, Then do it."

Cade mouthed the count. Five. Four. Three. Two. One...

The night shattered with a violent crack, splitting the street as the charges detonated. A thunderous chain of concussive blasts followed the explosion.

The shockwave punched the air from Kessa's lungs and hit her hard in the side, despite the cover of the building.

They might have overdone it with so many charges....

---

Serik felt his world tilt.

The speeder lifted, spinning violently as the street beneath it vanished in flame and debris. The engine screamed, and the metal shrieked. Then they stopped in an instant.

Stone exploded inward as the vehicle slammed into the wall of a residence. Serik was thrown clear, striking the street hard enough to drive the breath from his chest.

"General!" The trooper shouted, crawling towards him, blaster in hand. "Immediate evac required! General Thul is injured - ambush by insurg-"

A blaster bolt cut him down mid-sentence. Serik's vision blurred. Dark shapes emerged from the smoke.

"It's him," a woman's voice confirmed. He heard the crisp click of boots on the stone streets, approaching him. The woman knelt into his field of view.

"General Serik Thul," she said coldly. "You're responsible for the deaths of countless Mon Calamari. For suffocation directives, forced relocations, and mass graves." Her voice was unwavering.

"You've also supported the Remnant in breaking the lawful Concordance. You have chosen your side, and your punishment."

Serik tried to focus. This was too precise- too coordinated. The Gyndine rebels lacked this discipline, and the New Republic would never sanction an assassination.

"Who..." he coughed, tasting blood. "Who are you?"

A Duros stepped into view beside her, blaster leveled steadily at Serik's chest.

"We’re the reckoning you should have faced years ago."

Serik drew a ragged breath.

"Long live the Empi-" The shot cut him short.

---

"We need to move," Ryla called sharply from the alley mouth. "There's a safehouse two blocks north. The Remnant will lock this city down inside the hour."

Kessa stared at the smoking wreckage for half a second longer.

The first of The Six was dead. The rest of the way would be much harder.

She holstered her blaster and turned into the shadows with the others.

Five more to go.

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This was a really fun chance to work with building angles and some new techniques- I hope you all like it!

As always please share any thoughts/critiques/suggestions 🙂