TASPIR III
Unnamed Mountain Range
Tags:
Damos Vakaro
Taspir III was the first planet Cohen had the pleasure to see after his making. It was, also, his first mission. His armor, unused until then, was shining. The Assimilator had one year of training, on top of the memories he himself had assimilated. It made him went crazy at the beginning -decades and decades of alien life, passing through his eyes, death a certainty. According to those memories, he had lived and died dozens of times. Of course, he knew nothing of that was real. The numerous partners, children and friends he had -no, the partners, children and friends of the dead whose brain matter were given to him, Cohen had to remember that- would never recognise him, for he was nobody they knew to begin with. Part of Cohen's helmet was opened. Enough space for him to smoke one of the many cigarras he had in his pocket. He wasn't his false memories, but it didn't help that some of their vices were still alive in him. Vices, desires, as if the Assimilator was the slave of those whose life ended too soon. A million candles burning for the help that never came, all within one's head. That's exactly the reason that this was his first mission, after a whole year of production: it was too much to be dealt with. He had to be perfect, the scientists said. Maybe it was because of this that he felt the pressure of this first mission crush his back, along with knowing that his success meant dozens, if not hundreds of other soldiers would live to see another day.
The Assimilator was on his way to the mountain, piloting his speeder, completely alone. It was easier to avert bombing that way, and by being behind the mountain, instead of in front of it, where the other Diarchy troopers were trying to penetrate the defenses, it would leave his presence unsuspected by the rebels. At least momentarily. The speeder climbed the main mountain with precision, with such speed that most of the bumps one would normally feel climbing an uncertain terrain were pretty much imperceptible. The mission was clear: get, one way or another, on top of the mountain, completely destroy their repurposed Caesar tanks and pacify the rebels protecting it. "Ysalamiri to HQ. On my way to the top", the Assimilator said, an apathetic voice in the encrypted comms of the Diarchy, directly to the Mountain Base, where he would certainly be guided by an specialist.
Cohen noted immediately the brilliant flash of red light elevated into the sky, slowly but surely getting nearer and nearer. It was the first indicative the rebels had noted his presence. If the speeder remained at the same speed, to the same destiny, it would surely be hit by the shot. The inconsistent terrain made the speeder too difficult to maneuver without losing control in a way or another. The best alternative was to double on the speed. Cohen pushed his transport to the highest speed it could get, hoping it would be enough to pass through the mild explosion that would happen seconds later.
Before the descending light exploded on the mountain, the Assimilator could see many more dots of light slowly rising to the sky, similar to the first one. And then the thunder that was the explosion behind the speeder, far enough to not destroy it, but still near enough to give it more impulse which, while not undesirable, would further increase the difficulty in piloting it. The second and third explosions were almost the same as the first one. There was no brake capable of stopping the machine now.
The Fourth explosion landed nearer than expected. While not capable of feeling pain, the Assimilator felt the heat of the explosion was certainly different. And then, the sound of burning. The speeder, slowly losing control but not speed, its back flamed, it could explode at any minute. But he was minutes away from the top of the mountain. In fact, the explosion itself had destroyed some of the rebel's infrastructure: a hole, of which certainly the other side would be part of the hundreds and hundreds of tunnel paths made by the rebels. "Ysalamiri here. Speeder lost control. Entrance available on the back."
Two minutes to the top. One minute for the speeder to explode, and a shower of less potent energy beams from blaster turrets, that could now finally see the speeder. Thirty seconds for the speeder to explode, ten seconds for the speeder to be hit by the turrets. The speeder wouldn't be able to reach the top, but its explosion could expose the tunnels while destroying some turrets. As fast as he was able to, the Assimilator used the strength of his Wookie arm to abruptly turn the speeder to the right, while standing on it. Twenty seconds for the speeder to expl- the transport was finally hit by one of the many turret bolts. The speeder, already distabilised by the sharp turn, began to fail due to the shot. Using his Terrelian Jumper's legs, the assimilator jumped as high as he could, planning to reach the top of the mountain with the impulse... But, of course, he himself got distabilised by the blaster. Cohen still got far up the sky, but not as much to stop the speeder's explosion on top of a bunch of turrets -his plan all along- from lauching him further, and -the Assimilator could feel something inside him was not right- certainly breaking some of his bones.
