_.------------------[ Tales From the RPG of ]-------------------._
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| | ( (___ | | / \ | |____) ) | |
| | \____ \ | | / ^ \ | __ / | |
| |_______________) ) | | / /~~~\ \ | | \ \ ___________| |
| _________________/ |__|__/__/ __\__\|__| \______________ |
| __________ \ / / \ | ____ \ / _____________ |
| | \ \ __ / / \ | |____) ) ( (___ | |
| | \ \ / \ / / ^ \ | __ / \____ \ | |
| | \ ` /\ ' / /~~~\ \ | | \ \ _______) ) | |
| | \__/ \__/__/ \__\|__| \____________/ | |
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`--------------------[Adventure 10: The Search]---------------------'
PLAYER CHARACTERS (and what we know about them so far).
Asti : Woman with good knowledge of droids. Quiet,
cool-headed and sensible.
Stoge : Brash Pilot. Loves wine, women, song and blasting Imperial
fighters to dust.
Straun Solarwind: Searching for his father's fate.
Dar : Muscled black native. Prefers the ways of his people to
technological means. Uses an ornate sword with his great
strength.
Karlos Trialeki : Eight-gun slinger. Deadly with firearms. Running from his
past.
Surge : Combat Medic. Knowledgeable man, good shot with a blaster.
Menarggrah : Wookiee. Good pilot, strong fighter and intelligent.
GUEST PC: Yabud : Curious Jawa.
----\\----
Almost a kilometer in length, the Victory Class Star Destroyer
DESECRATOR was an interstellar monolith that coasted between the systems as
though searching for prey, its batteries of turbolasers, tube launchers and
tractor beams silent but poised for action. Within the ship, the seven
thousand two hundred and forty personnel operated as one under the calculating
commands of their two masters.
The Imperial Officer on the bridge gazed unseeing at the galaxy before
him, lost in thought. His musing was confident, even jubilant, as he meditated
on the past, his glorious career, and the future, to a forthcoming promotion.
"You have good reason to feel this way, my friend" grated the gravelly
voice of the hooded man in dark grey robes beside him. "We will fulfill the
Emperor's task assigned to us by Lord Vader. I have forseen it".
A junior officer approached the two and saluted crisply.
"Report" said the Captain, without turning around.
"Sir, all units are primed and have co-ordinates keyed in".
"Launch".
As the junior officer left hurriedly, the two resumed gazing over the
bulk of the giant ship, watching the probe droids flash from underneath the
ship and disappear into space. The robed man's voice resumed with conclusion.
"We will find that droid".
----\\----
Elsewhere, aboard the Alliance Frigate USURPER, briefing room DB3,
Fraggine was short and to the point.
"The encrypted datastick you retrieved from Gaarla has been
decoded and found to be a message from the Emporer himself detailing
the search for a particular droid, or more precisely some information
that droid has. Now, this droid is an infiltration/intelligence unit DP4,
older than most of you" -he nodded meaningfully in Menarggrah's direction-
"and it was assigned to a specific base in the final years of the Old
Republic. The reason for the search is that the location of this base was lost
during the Republic's collapse and nobody knows for sure where it is. It was
numbered as base 1138.
I've assigned one of our droid specialists to work with you, a tech
by the name of YaBud, you'll find him in the docking bay. Normally Petty
Officer Asti's knowledge of droids would be more than adequate, but this
is a very old droid and conventional programming/repair techniques would
not be adequate should repair be needed. For the same reason, you have also
been assigned the use of a power droid.
Your mission is a roving one with a good deal of freedom- chase
rumours, follow hunches, ask around, and try to find that droid before the
Empire does! May the force be with you".
The group dispersed- Menarggrah to finish repairing the damaged SLAVE
II, Asti to the workout room to work on building up her strength, Karlos to
the firing range (as always), Stoge to the rec room, Dar to his quarters,
and Surge to parts unknown. Straun moved to follow Menarggrah until Fraggine
called him back.
"It's no accident that your group was chosen for this mission,
Solarwind. I know what you're looking for, and I also know someone else that
was assigned to the Old Republic base- a Miguel Solarwind. So good luck- and
keep your secrets safe".
Straun left to fix the ship with new motivation- the sooner the
SLAVE II was fixed, the sooner they left.
Menarggrah stepped back to admire his handiwork and grunted with
content. Though they had not been able to acquire another sensor ring to
replace the one torn from the SLAVE II in the Fo system, the parabolic
dish that now jutted from the front of the ship certainly looked as if it
would be a competent replacement.
Stoge and Karlos passed the ship without slowing down, ducked under
a power feed cable and continued to where a tech knelt on the deck of the
USURPER's docking bay, adjusting an X-Wing's landing gear with some hydro-
spanners. At Karlos' enquiry, the tech looked up and shouted "YABUD!"
There was a clanking and muttering from the far wing, and in
moments the hooded, luminous eyes of a Jawa peered over the cockpit as
he answered "Adbubddabul?"
"THIS is our droid specialst?" Karlos raised an eyebrow doubtfully.
"I guess" answered Stoge "that if anyone knew anything about OLD
droids, it'd be a desert scavenger from the backwaters".
Yabud joined them cheerfully, and they went back to where Menarggrah
and Straun were running systems diagnostics on the SLAVE II's new energy
shielding, bought by Straun at great expense. Yabud wandered through the ship
curiously, then shook his head with a critical "Blaadubdaba".
"HE thinks it's a piece of junk?" Straun pondered.
"What a coincidence" replied Stoge. "So do I".
Menarggrah gave the thumbs-up for the diagnostic as Surge's voice
was heard from outside the lock.
"Go on up".
"Gonk" replied the power droid, plodding slowly up the ramp and into
the SLAVE II. He was followed by Surge, Dar and Asti carrying supplies for
the journey. Stoge prepped the ship, Asti closed the lock, and Straun pointed
to Yabud.
"Hey, can this guy fly?"
Yabud pointed to the pilot's chair and waved his arms around as he
babbled something. Stoge received launch clearance, then they gave the Jawa
the chair.
Yabud sat in the chair with a sense of excitement and surveyed the
banks of controls before him. Grasping the control stick, he hit some switches.
The SLAVE II lurched forward, skimming momentarily over the deck before it
knocked over an astromech droid with the landing gear and scraped the side
of a small freighter before Stoge backhanded the Jawa and, wrestling the
controls from him, brought the ship back down heavily.
"Who" Stoge wanted to know "was the moron that let him at the
controls?"
Yabud contentedly climbed out of the pilot's chair. A few minutes ago
he hadn't known if he could fly, because he'd never tried.
A few minutes later, with some competant piloting, they were out of the
USURPER's docking bay and into open space.
{Where to?} they interpreted Menarggrah's growling.
"I've heard of a good place to pick up rumours" Karlos offered. "The
Dravian starport".
"Good choice" nodded Surge. "An independant, isolated space station
where rogues, smugglers and the like do business".
They worked on the astrogation for a few minutes.
(ping!) went the nav computer.
Stoge wrenched the hyperspace lever, and perceptions of distance
disappeared.
----\\----
The station's size belied it's purpose. Havens for criminal activity,
by and large, were small, covert affairs. The sheer bulk of the Dravian
Starport was comparable to a Victory Class Star Destroyer. Boarding tubes
jutted from the elliptical mass like tentacles reaching for the smaller
ships that swarmed around it. The station, even from the outside, seemed
rundown, judging from the glimpse of detail that the exterior spotlights showed
to the passengers on the SLAVE II as it made its wary approach.
"Lotta traffic" Stoge reported, operating the sensors. "There're some
souped-up, heavily armed, jury-rigged rustbuckets around here".
"The Dravian Starport" Surge said dramatically. "You will never find
a more wretched hive of-"
"Yeah, yeah" Stoge cut him off. "Let's just go there, okay?"
After stating their business (trading, they said) they were given
approach co-ordinates and eased up to a boarding tube, docking with a clang.
"You'd better stay here" Asti told the power droid.
"Gonk" it replied sadly.
When the airlock slid open, a sense of decay washed over them. It
was not merely the smell, though that helped, nor was it the dingy appearence
of the corridors (missing panels, loose wiring, and rubbish on the floor),
which Yabud praised as he felt at home. Somehow the place projected that it
harboured greed and vice in all its most horrendous manifestations.
A flickering holomap inside the boarding tube gave them a rundown of
the unrestricted levels of the starport, and they took a turbolift to one of
the shopping levels. A thin corridor opened to a large mall in which all
manner of goods were sold to the milling crowd of all types of beings.
Holonovels, clothing, slaves, cargos, equipment. With luck, thought Karlos,
information was for sale as well.
The Rebels wandered through the mall and looked in various shops.
Yabud proved his worth by being able to distinguish between items of value
and bits of junk, and stopped Surge from buying a fake lightsaber. Asti
purchased a blast vest that fit her perfectly. Menarggrah bought a computer
tool kit and some quarrels for a bowcaster (though he didn't have one).
Yabud was fascinated by a glowrod, and was persuaded not to steal it by
the vibroaxe-wielding Gamorreans at the shop door, so he bought it instead.
Dar bought nothing, he didn't share the others' need for material possessions.
The party was almost shopped out when they went into an antique
weapons store. Yabud bought a small hand crossbow and some quarrels, and
Karlos purchased something in a black box which he secreted about his person.
{By the way} Menarggrah slipped a ten cred disc to the old man behind
the counter. {Do you know much about the Old Republic?}
"Ah, yes". the old man seemed to drift off, glassy-eyed, into another
time. "When every system in the galaxy was represented in the senate and
protected by the Jedi". He glanced around nervously, fearfully, then added
"Those were better times".
{What about Old Republic bases?} Menarggrah queried subtley.
"Sure, I know of one" the man said. "It's on Coruscant." he broke
into chuckles, and the Wookiee scowled.
Straun suddenly noticed that many people were coming in from the
street, and glancing outside he noted that the crowd seemed to be scattering
from a particular part of the mall. He mentioned this to Menarggrah, who
visually scanned the scene but couldn't see anything. A name rippled through
the crowd, but none of the group heard what it was.
The Wookiee picked up Yabud, who could then see over the fleeing crowd,
and they noticed that everyone was running from a particular figure, but
it was still too far away to identify. After some waiting Straun peered out
over the crowd, and with a spine-tingling shock recognised the figure from
legend.
It was Boba Fett himself.
The deadliest bounty hunter in the galaxy was simply striding
through the mall on business known only to himself. This business was strongly
suspected by the Rebels to directly concern them.
"He must be after the SLAVE II!" gasped Straun. "It IS his ship after
all!" The group hid inside the shop and feared for their lives.
All but one.
The mall by now was deserted, all the sentients cowering inside
shops and stalls, and so all could see the small figure of Yabud running
after Fett, waving his hand and babbling.
Fett didn't turn around, break stride or give any indication that
he knew the Jawa was there.
Yabud, running as fast as his short legs could carry him, gaining
on the casually-walking bounty hunter.
Fett didn't turn around, break stride or give any indication that
he knew the Jawa was there.
As Yabud drew closer, he noticed a small flap on the back of Fett's
armour open with a (snik). Yabud looked at it curiously. A rear-facing
camera? he waved again.
With a blast that echoed in the fearful stillness of the mall, a
searing blast of flame roared from the back of Fett's armour and engulfed
the Jawa. Yabud screamed and ran in small random patterns in the middle
of the mall, a living torch. He eventually fell over and rolled to put out
the flames, hearing the hissing of his burning flesh, and painfully
watched Fett recede into the distance.
Throughout the whole incident, Fett had not turned around or even
broken stride. Those present in the mall that crept cautiously back into
the street knew that Yabud only lived at Fett's whim.
----\\----
Menarggrah picked up Yabud, almost gagging at the terrible smell of
burnt Jawa. Though awfully wounded, his condition was not serious and soon
he was able to walk unaided. His robe, however, had not fared well and was
little more than a charred rag, so Menarggrah kindly lent him the money to
buy a makeshift new one from one of the stalls lining the marketplace. The
next course of action was provided by Stoge, who vanished into the starport's
main cantina, followed by Asti, Yabud and Straun, as the rest of the group
resumed shopping.
There were many tables, a medium-sized crowd, and a small dance
floor on the opposite side to the door. The band was a disgusting group of
three Iii'i who made music by throwing themselves to the floor and causing
air to squelch out of carefully-contracted glands in various pitches.
Asti carefully surveyed the crowd, looking for possible informers,
and her eyes fell on two humans seated near the dance floor. One was obviously
a pilot, as evidenced by his flying helmet and goggles, leather jacket and
baggy pants. Beside him was what appeared to be some kind of custom personal
vehicle, a half-circle hoverboard of some kind. The other man's line of work
was just as easy to identify, the grubby overalls and grease smears being
almost the formal uniform of a tech. He was muttering to the pilot, saying
"I am going to kill him, nomatter what you guys think. Next time I see him
he will be dead". Asti approached them cautiously, and was considering various
methods of introduction when her problem was solved as the technician spoke.
"Have a seat, babe. Can I buy you a drink? ship? system?" of the
three main accents used by humans, he had the most common. Asti spoke the
least known, as did Stoge, Surge, Karlos, Straun and Dar. The two introduced
themselves as Martin Wixted (the technician) and Andrew Salor (the pilot).
Asti sat politely and turned to introduce the others, but only Straun was
there. Looking around the room warily, she noted that Yabud was talking to
another Jawa, and Stoge, true to form, was approaching the bar.
Stoge thought he'd try something new. The cantina was very large and
stocked many types of beverages for a huge number of types of digestion, so
Stoge thought he'd walk up to the barman, rattle off whatever syllables came
into his head and see what he got. He said loudly:
"Gimme a Centukki burbinn w'iski".
The bartender's eyes widened.
"Not.. not a Centukki burbinn w'iski?" he said fearfully.
"You heard me" Stoge leaned casually on the bar.
The bartender produced a tall container and sat it tensely on the bar,
and Stoge noted uneasily that it was made of transparisteel. He then pulled
on a pair of thick rubber gloves and snapped them as he put them on. Picking
up two black bottles, he poured them both into the container and they
frothed wildly, releasing strange fumes into the air. The bartender then
donned a heavy blast helmet and dialled the combination of a small safe
behind him, reached in with a long pair of tongs and drew out a grey rock
shaped like a sausage which he sploshed into the mixture. It bubbled and
started to dissolve.
"Fifty creds" he said in a muffled voice.
A bewildered Stoge paid the bartender, who took off the gloves and
mask and put them safely away with the tongs. The pilot looked at the drink
doubtfully. It was now frothy and an unhealthy green colour.
He was suddenly aware of a large human standing next to him. The
figure was dressed all in black, featuring a large black hat, heavy blaster
and perpetual scowl. His stubble-covered chin shifted as he spoke to the
bartender.
"A Centukki burbinn w'iski".
The bartender sighed, and drew on the gloves with a snap.
When the drink was poured, the big man in black glanced to Stoge and
said "Here's to yer health". He tilted his head back, downed the drink, and
sat it on the bar with a sigh.
Then he hit the floor as if a planet had fallen on his head.
Two more humans approached the prone figure. One opened one of his
eyelids and studied the glazed eye thoughtfully, then said "that's the third
time this week!" they slapped him on the face and dragged him away.
Stoge looked at his drink. He sipped it carefully and it made his
head swim. As he made his way slowly back to Asti and Straun, he curiously took
out the rock and put it in his pocket. When he realised it was giving his
pocket a decent coating of slime he put it back in the drink. At the table
ahead Andy, the pilot, seemed to be answering a question of Asti's.
"..I dunno, babe, Old Rep places are like, old, but if you wanna know
ANYTHING, you should ask The Know".
"The Know?" Asti repeated, puzzled.
"At the north axis of the only planet in the Drabbilt system"
explained Martin "is a city that is a massive database containing
information on just about everything, connected to a being called The Know.
His prices are exhorbitant, but you can reduce the price by feeding the
database with information- almost anything will do, but don't try to lie.
The price is reduced by what they judge the value of your information to be".
"SLAM!" said a voice.
"Huh?" said Straun.
"SLAM!" the voice came again, and this time they noticed that it came
from a burly human in the corner, pointing at Stoge and his intimidating
drink.
"SLAM!" shouted someone else.
"Hruk hrunk hrunk" chortled a Gammorean.
"SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!" the cry went up, and Stoge couldn't resist the
call. He stood up on a table with the whole cantina watching him.
"SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!"
Stoge tilted his head back and slammed the Centukki burbinn w'iski
down his throat. With a mighty feat of digestive strength, he held it.
"YES!" he shouted triumphantly, and fell off the table to thunderous
applause.
Once he was back on his feet, he found that he could walk, albeit
somewhat shakily. Inspired, a human and a Mon Calamari approached the bar
and the snapping of rubber golves was heard with a sigh.
The two sentients downed their Centukki burbinn w'iskies. The human
had only gulped half when he vomited it back up again in a spectacular spray
that produced hoots of laughter. The Mon Cal tilted his head back as he drank
and kept on tilting, toppling over and hitting his head on the bar with a
solid (kunk) that knocked him out cold.
"Not bad, eh?" Stoge mentioned to Andy.
The other pilot shrugged. "It was okay".
"OKAY??" Stoge motioned toward the bar. "Let's see you have a go,
bucko".
"Goody!" Andy rubbed his hands together. "Let me try!"
Andy was looking somewhat more apprehensive when he returned
with another of the drinks. He braced himself, gave a nervous look, then downed
the drink quickly. They waited tensely for a few seconds, then smiled.
"All right!" They both slumped into their chairs tentatively and
began to exchange stories of piloting heroism.
[By the way, where'd you get the daggy threads?]
[Fett didn't give me much choice] said Yabud woefully.
The Jawa was having an interesting time. The other Jawa he'd met
was every bit as curious to see the stars as he was, and they swapped
experiences with vigour. The other Jawa's home-made blaster was of a better
quality than Yabud's (the other Jawa scavenged parts from the starport's
garbage), so Yabud swapped for his blaster and the newly-purchased glowrod.
The Jawa told him many details about the running of the station, including
how it was independant but well protected from outside forces, and the
rumour of how it was run by a Hutt. Yabud told him proudly how he was looking
at the only Jawa to cross Fett and live. They were momentarily distracted by
Stoge's drinking display, then resumed babbling to each other.
"..and our ship, the FUBAR, was consequently destroyed by the Ice Man,
one of the worse bounty hunters in the galaxy. But let's talk about you".
Asti politely steered the conversation away from herself again and
suddenly noticed that the two pilots were no longer at the table. Over at the
dance floor Andy, in his intoxicated state, was zooming around the floor on
his hoverboard, performing flips and spins that had a jovial effect on the
cantina's patrons. After being livened up by the Centukki burbinn w'iski
episode, the cantina had attained a party atmosphere.
"Wow" Martin commented when Andy let Stoge try the board. "He NEVER
lets anyone else on that thing!" then again, he added to himself, he'd never
slammed a Centukki burbinn w'iski before either.
Stoge, while not experienced with such a vehicle, nevertheless had
great talent for the use of most mechanical contraptions, and had a great
time speeding around the floor, performing some simple stunts that tested
the limits not only of his mechanical ability but his suffering stomach also.
They both felt they needed to sit down for a while by the time the rest of
the group appeared, Menarggrah carrying a newly purchased fusion welder.
After hurriedly collecting the group they thanked Martin and Andy for
the information about the Know (Martin sincerely hoped he'd see Asti again),
and went back out into the crowded mall.
The group decided to return to the SLAVE II, and had taken only
a few steps when they heard a voice:
"So, Trialeki, we meet again. But this time I am ready".
Karlos whirled. Through the crowd, less than twenty meters away,
stood the academic-turned-bounty-hunter, Bobb 'The Feet'. He seemed to have
learned from their encounter on Perodeen, as this time he had not only
remembered his spectacles but also had his stun blaster strapped to the
left hip of his purple battle armour.
Bobb went for the draw, reaching down at his RIGHT hip. Discovering
that his blaster was not there, he turned and ran, white beard trailing
behind him. Karlos gave chase but soon lost him in the crowd.
"Rah budbaddubadubb" Yabud shook his head.
"Three men in a tub" retorted Karlos.
They continued into the corridors toward their ship. Nobody noticed
the lithe figure that detatched itself from the shadows and followed.
They filed back into their ship, stowing their newly-purchased
items. Stoge moved forward into the cockpit and started astrogating their
course for the Drabbilt system. Karlos took off his hat and an arm circled
his throat.
"Hands away from the blasters. Trialeki comes with me".
The bounty hunter was a human woman dressed in a black, skin-tight
outfit. She ground the blaster barrel more firmly into Karlos' skull and
spoke again, nodding toward Stoge.
"I'm not after him, I just want Trialeki's bounty. Let's do this
nice and easy and I don't need to take out any more of you". This produced
great confusion among the Rebels, especially Stoge.
Karlos, meanwhile, had kept his head. Winking to his friends to
get ready, he shifted his feet and, without warning, violently stabbed his
right boot's electrospur into the bounty hunter's leg, twisting his head
to one side as he did so. The bounty hunter went rigid as the electricity
discharged into her, and she fired a reflexive blaster shot that narrowly
missed Karlos' head.
Immediately everyone drew their blasters. Surge and Menarggrah
spent an extra second or two setting their weapons to stun, others were
more concerned with saving Karlos. The bounty hunter was hit several times
before Karlos had stepped back and he finished her off with a shot at
almost point-blank range.
Stoge went back into the cockpit. Asti closed the lock and
followed him, and they eased the SLAVE II away from the Dravian Starport.
The others searched the body, finding a few credits, the blaster, and a
datapad.
"YES!" said Straun. "Now we can find out Karlos' crimes, bounty
and what she indicated Stoge for". Yabud inspected the datapad.
"RRaggh" said Meanarggrah, grabbing for it.
"Dubbaba" said Yabud.
{Mine} said Meanrggrah.
[Mine] said Yabud.
{Mine!}
[Mine!]
Something beeped on the datapad as struggling fingers hit buttons
and failed to key in the security code. Menarggrah, Straun and Surge
looked at each other wide-eyed.
"MINE!!!"
The security charge exploded with a concussive bang amidst the
Rebels. Yabud and Surge fell to the floor unconscious with terrible wounds,
Straun was also wounded and Menarggrah staggered backward, a smoking bald
spot on his chest.
The datapad's security charge had inflicted terrible damage to the
party, and this was compounded by the fact that it had incapacitated the one
man among them that had the skill to safely heal them all; Surge. Dar opened
some medpacks, and while his knowledge of first aid was nowhere near as good
as Surge's, it was sufficient to at least stabilise the wounded. Stoge
turned back to the starport, and they were forced to pay for the services of
the medical facilities there to buy Surge some time in the bacta tank. Once
he had been healed he could see to the injuries of the others, and soon the
SLAVE II was leaving the starport again, its passengers somewhat wiser.
(ping!) went the nav computer, and they were gone.
Their hyperspace journey ended in the Drabbilt system, and the group
was concerned at the asteroid field between them and their destination planet
until Stoge calmed them down.
"Relax" he said, reading the charts. "It's what's classed as a dead
field, not much motion. Shouldn't be too hard to get through".
They were all more relaxed until Menarggrah found something moving
on the sensors.
"Looks like a small ship, headed this way" Straun informed.
They tried the comm and got no response.
{Strrangely..moving} Menarggrah puzzled.
"That's no ship!" Asti realised with shock. "It's some kind of
creature!"
As space slugs went, it was slightly less than average size, but this
still meant it was almost one-and-a-half times the length of the SLAVE II.
Impossibly, it swam through space toward them with great rythmic sweeps of
its tail, the great head darting to either side with the wriggling motion.
"Hold tight!" Stoge shouted, swinging the ship suddenly. The group
had a momentary view of the creature's pitted bulk lunging past the cockpit
window.
{Coming around again} Menarggrah told them, eyeing the sensors.
Stoge swung the SLAVE II again and effectively dodged the huge
creature. Straun cursed the fact that his ship lacked armament, and considered
installing a small blaster cannon turret if/when they got back to the
USURPER.
The space slug was large and dangerous but stupid. When it swept
past the ship it turned the wrong way for another pass, and the SLAVE II
gained a significant gap that lasted long enough to get them through the
asteroid field, past which the creature would not follow.
The north polar axis of Drabbilt was blanketed by a violent blizzard
when they arrived, and Stoge was forced to perform a bumpy landing purely
on instruments and the staticky guidance of an unseen starport controller.
They sat in the ship and waited it out, The Agostians observing the white-
out with some curiosity. Asti pointed out that nobody had the clothes for
this sort of temperature (Menarggrah excluded, of course), but they decided
to wait and see.
When the blizzard eventually abated some time later, Surge opened
the hatch and they were greeted by a dazzling, featureless landscape that
made all but Yabud squint. In front of the SLAVE II was a stock light
freighter of some kind that was heavily covered with snow. The metallic
cylinder of a control tower thrust from the snow over to the right. The
city that they had been told about was nowhere to be seen.
Shivering at the cold (especially Dar), they crunched through the
snow toward the control building. Dar stopped when a snowball hit him in
the face, and he turned to see Karlos scooping up some more snow. In moments
a snowball fight had ensued in the middle of the snow-covered starport. Asti,
Stoge and Surge simply watched as the rest pelted each other with vigour, Dar
soon becoming the one to watch as he mastered the unfamiliar activity through
sheer dexterity.
It was a light-hearted moment that relieved the tension for all
of them, for a moment forgetting the Empire and its oppression. For now
there were simply friends. Asti savoured the moment well, she knew it
wouldn't last.
This opinion was also held by the huge creature that lunged from
the snow nearby with a fearsome roar and moved toward them, teeth and
claws bared. It seemed to come from the snow itself, covered with white,
shaggy fur, and towered over even Menarggrah.
The group was caught totally unawares. Yabud was hiding behind a
small mound of snow and didn't see the thing appear; Asti, Stoge and Surge
were in the middle of an animated conversation, even the quickdraw hands of
Karlos Trialeki were full of snow.
When the creature saw the Wookiee it screamed a challenge and waded
through the snow toward him with powerful strides. Menarggrah charged toward
it carefully, noticing for the first time that Dar was between them. The
burly warrior tossed his snowball at it and drew his sword as the thing bore
down upon him. He slashed at it carefully and wounded it, then stepped to one
side to avoid a powerful claw-tipped swing.
Then something struck it with an explosive detonation, and with the
creature's putrid breath in his face, Dar gave a strong thrust to the chest
and the thing fell, staining the snow a vivid red. All eyes turned to
see the smoking gun of Karlos Trialeki, and they then knew what was in the
box that he had purchased at the Dravian Starport.
The others arrived as Menarggrah checked that it was dead, respect-
fully eyeing the gaping hole left by the explosive bullet.
"Let's get inside the control building" said Stoge, blaster drawn and
scanning the snow. "There may be more of them". Chattering teeth murmered
agreement.
"I'll stay here awhile" Dar stated, kneeling and drawing a small
skinning knife. "This is an excellent pelt".
Soon they were all basking in the warmth of the building, drinking
hot cogobroth and enjoying the hospitality of the lone traffic controller.
He told them that the city was some ten kilometers up the mountain, a
journey that would take them the best part of the day on foot. They rented
some cold-weather garents from his stores (prepared for just such an occasion)
and they set out.
It was slow going, trudging uphill through the swirling snow and
feeling the biting cold slowly creeping in. At least the path was relatively
easy to follow, and they had covered almost half the distance to the unseen
city before Asti heard the faint, reglar crunches of something big running
toward them.
They all scattered and took cover except for Straun and Stoge, who
stood boldly in the road and waited. The crunching came closer, and through the
drifting whiteness an unusual creature appeared, a beast of burden that had
obviously been chosen for use in cold regions. The tauntaun's rider reigned
it to a halt in front of Straun and gave him a cheerful greeting.
"Greetings" Straun returned. "Is this the way to the city?".
"Yup" the rider confirmed. "goin' to see The Know, eh? you must have
a casket of creds or two".
"Er" said Stoge. "How much does it cost?"
"Ten thousand, for a consultation of up to ten sentients".
"TEN THOUSAND!" Straun gasped, crestfallen. The whole group together
would be lucky to scrape up two.
"But you can reduce that by supplying the database. If you give some
juicy bits of info it can take the price right down. Don't try to lie,
though" the man shuddered.
"I won't." said Straun. "Thanks".
The man nodded and set off again. In seconds he had become one with
the whirling whiteness.
When the city finally came into view it was a spectacular sight. Tall
towers reached upward as if in worship to the great central complex that was
at the apex of the mountain. The structures were devoid of snow, seemingly
caused by an invisible energy field of some kind.
The tired travellers entered the city through large gates, inside
which was an old holo showing a plan of the city. Various sectors resided on
the giant database, including slums and a prestigious academic sector. They
started for the central control building, passing through old, littered
streets.
"Mercy!" cried a beggar by the side of the street. "Have mercy on a
poor, luckless being such as I. Can you wealthy ones spare anything?"
"We'll have enough trouble getting answers from The Know with the
pitiful amount of cash we have" Karlos told Asti irritably.
"Here ya go, old timer" Stoge gave him a ten-credit disc, and was
thanked sincerely.
"Take this" said Dar, who gave him a further ten of the credits he
valued so lowly.
"Hide it, old man" Karlos suggested. "or others in your..occupation
might value it more than your life".
The confused beggar left hurriedly, thanking them as he went.
"That was very commendable" Asti told Dar and Stoge.
"Bugdububbla" Yabud agreed.
"Hey!" said Stoge. "Where's my blaster?"
Everybody looked at each other in realisation.
"The beggar lifted it" said Surge.
"Let's get the bastard" growled Stoge.
Stoge, Dar, Straun and Menarggrah ran down the alley where the
beggar had fled, leaving the others waiting in the street. Though the beggar
was not to be seen, Dar soon picked up his trail and they gave chase. They ran
further into the slum areas, some because of wounded pride, some simply
following their friends. They lost the trail momentarily, but Straun spotted
the fleeing beggar disappearing into an alleyway. When they reached it they
found it was a dead end and the beggar was desperately climbing a drainpipe.
"Stop!" cried Straun. "We won't hurt you!"
Stoge grumbled something that nobody heard, and started up the
drainpipe after him as Dar heard footsteps approaching from outside the alley.
A group of four street thugs appeared, appraised the situation and prepared to
defend their neighbor. Drawing needlebeamers, they attacked.
Menarggrah ignored them, watching the strange race as Stoge clambered
after the thief. Dar met the newcomers head-on, running at them and cutting
one down with a vicious sword swing.
Straun stepped into the fray and slashed at one of the men with his
Eguale prod. The thug stepped back out of the arc of the whistling weapon
and shot Straun point-blank with the needlebeamer in the torso. Straun
went down, screaming briefly before lapsing into unconsciousness.
Stoge was gaining on the beggar, who had reached the top of the
drainpipe and, hanging from the gutter, struggled to shoot him with the
stolen blaster.
Menarggrah realised that if the beggar reached the rooftops his
chances of escape were better. Raising his blaster rifle, he fired a warning
shot that hit the rooftop guttering. The gutter peeled away from the roof with
little resistance, swinging the wailing beggar back into the wall at the end
of the alley. He hit with a solid crack and fell ten meters onto the stone on
his neck, crumpled like a rag doll, the blaster clattering beside him.
Stoge scrambled back down to the street in moments, retrieving his
blaster as Menarggrah joined the fight against the street thugs. With the
tide of battle so rapidly turned the latter group was decimated and one
survivor fled. Picking up Straun, they carried him back to the healing hands
of Surge.
A further hour's journey took them further into the city and finished
at the magnificent, towering palace on the peak. Once inside the main doors
they were greeted by an ominous, jet-black protocol droid, who explained the
pricing system. They all opted to feed the database.
They were led into a large waiting room and, one by one, entered a
small booth to tell of anything they knew about anything. Sitting in the
room was a man who had just finished doing the same thing.
"First time, eh guys?" he noted their apprehension. "Don't try
lying".
"Yes" said Asti. "We've heard that many times. Apart from the
obvious ethical reasons, why not?"
"Because" said the man "If you do you're sent into the entertainment
pits. Dunno how they know, they just DO".
One by one, they fed the database. Straun told it of life on an
Eguale farm. Karlos utilised his considerable street knowledge. Dar revealed
much information of the way of his people. The others told their respective
facts, and Surge was in there a long time.
None of them lied.
The protocol droid then took them to a room featuring many small
lockers and a small door flanked by two vibroaxe-wielding Gammoreans. The
droid cocked its head as if listening for a moment, then gave The Know's
assessment of their information.
"The Allknowing Know has decreed that the information you have
provided is sufficient to reduce the fee to only four thousand credits".
The Rebels glanced at each other uneasily.
"-but should this prove too expensive, The Know is interested in
two objects in your collective possession of cultural and/or artistic
significance, which (if given to the Allknowing Know) will reduce the
fee to one thousand five hundred credits".
"This sounds better" said Stoge brightly.
The protocol droid pointed to Straun.
"The Eguale prod, used by Eguale farmers on Agost only, is a
culturally significant item".
Straun looked sadly at the weapon that had served him so well. Still,
he thought, he could get another one. If he dared to return to Agost.
One of the Gammoreans accepted the item, then the protocol droid
pointed to Dar.
"Your sword has been crafted using ancient techniques by the Wilder
people" he said "and is a culturally significant item".
Dar folded his arms across his massive chest.
"I give my sword to no-one" he stated flatly.
"Birthday present from uncle Booga-booga, huh?" Stoge sympathised
with sarcasm. "Look, your vibroblade is a better weapon, and if you don't
give it over we ain't goin' in".
"My sword is my own" Dar declared "and will remain so".
----\\----
Cloaked in shadow, a remarkably human smile crossed The Know's alien
features.
~let them in~ it said ~and prepare the entertainment pits~.
----\\----
"The Know has decreed" said the protocol droid "that the one item
will be sufficient". The Rebels breathed a sigh of relief. "place your
weapons in any locker you choose (and take the key) and step into the
weapon-scanning booth. The other side door will open and you will be
permitted to see The Know".
All of them complied, paying the collective fee and stowing their
weapons, except Karlos, who refused to go in to see The Know, and Dar, who
gave his weapons to Karlos and then stepped forward.
Surge was first to enter the weapon-scan booth. The door closed
behind him, lights rose and fell around the walls...
...and the floor fell away beneath him.
Surge was sent tumbling down a smooth shaft, slipping and sliding
helplessly and gaining speed. He did not know how long he was sent sliding
down the tube, but he was conscious of passing several offshoots that had
been closed up. The tube eventually dumped him in a room of utter blackness,
and the door closed behind him with a (whssk).
He sat there for a moment and collected himself, then began to feel
around him cautiously. In moments he had located the walls on either side,
which were reasonably close together, and the sealed tube through which he
had arrived. Groping along the floor in the opposite direction to the tube,
he was shocked to find that the floor ended in a drop of unknown distance.
Listening carefully, he could hear the lapping of water (or another liquid)
far below.
Dimly, some lights came on, and he could see a door on the far
side of a large room, the walls black and dirty. Between him and the door,
apart from the drop, were two square pillars whose foundations were
somewhere in the inky blackness below. Looking down, Surge could just see
some water at the bottom of the fall, and thought he could make out
something moving in it.
He looked up again, glancing over to the door. It was obvious that
he was supposed to leap onto the pillars and then to the door on the far
side. And if he fell..
With a flash three constant beams of energy appeared in the gaps
he had to jump, needle-thin and at waist height. Surge appraised the situation
in general.
"You gotta be kidding!" he said to the empty room.
But there was no other course of action. Surge backed up carefully
and, after much self-motivation, took a running jump.
His sense of triumph at missing the energy beam was offset by the
action of also missing the pillar. Surge tumbled into space, feeling a
sense of panic as he struck the water.
He broke the surface, spluttering and gasping, and began to tread
water, glancing around fearfully. When nothing happened after a few moments,
he began to swim around and investigate his surroundings.
After a few minutes he noted some type of trapeze over on the left
side of the third pillar, at the limits of what he could reach from the
water. Above and to the right of that was another trapeze, and another, the
last being withing swinging reach of the third pillar.
Surge lunged for the trapeze, his fingertips just managing to grasp
it on the third try. He wearily hauled himself up onto it, cursing the
insanity of the madman that would design such a place. After resting for a
few minutes, he began to rock the trapeze back and forth, building up speed.
when he judged that the time was right, he launched himself into space
again.
With a jolt that made his arm-sockets ache, he was on the second
trapeze. He kept up the momentum, swinging hard, and successfully made the
jump to the third.
In front of him now was the third pillar, and if he could leap to
that there was only the leap over the final energy beam to the door. He
rested, casting his eyes again over the exhausting physical puzzle.
That's when he noticed that there was a set of rungs leading from
the door down to the water.
Fuming that he hadn't seen it before, he decided to try for the
third pillar anyway. He jumped, missed and fell to the water, landing
hard.
In disgust he swam to the rungs, looked up at the door, and grasped
the first rung.
Covered in water, he had no chance, and as the electricity surged
through him, the darkness claimed him mercifully quickly.
When the door reopened, Dar stepped in with an indignant stride.
No matter who The Know happened to be, nobody would take from him the
sword that was one of the few remaining links to his people. So thinking,
he fell through the floor into the smooth tube. The black warrior was tumbled
about helplessly, but once he realised this he ceased struggling and gathered
his strength for whatever task awaited him.
The tube dumped him into a blackened room, which in moments was
lit by a dim light. The room was elliptical, with a door on the far side.
No switch was apparent on the door, but there was a small box with a
button hanging on the belt of the burly Gammorean that approached him
swinging a huge axe.
A panel slid open beside Dar. Nothing came out of it.
----\\----
Watching the optic bug, The Know grinned again. If Dar had placed
his weapons in a locker as ordered, his sword would have been delivered to
him for the duel, but the muscled Agostian had opted to give his weapons
to Karlos.
This, thought The Know, could be interesting..
----\\----
Dar watched the Gammorean stride slowly in his direction and,
unusually, felt a twinge of panic. The panel closed again and he inspected
the sealed tube, then turned back to his powerful foe, appraising his
opponent by instinct. The axe he carried didn't appear to be a vibroweapon,
but that was little compensation for the fact that it was razor-sharp
(though of poor quality) and wielded by muscle that was at least as strong
as his own. He gulped.
But, he thought, if he was destined to fertilise the grass, he was
at least going down fighting.
He sprang from the corner toward the Gammorean, fist pulled back.
The Gammorean swung the axe in a mighty sweep.
Dar's fist hit the Gammorean's jaw with a solid (Krak!)
The Gammorean crashed to the floor, out cold with a broken jaw.
Dar stood there for a few seconds, looking at the prone form of
his burly opponent, then at his fist. He shook his head in wonder, and
knew that luck was indeed with him this day.
Scooping up the axe and pressing the button, he opened the door
and entered The Know's main audience chamber.
Far above him, Straun stepped into the scanning booth, waiting
patiently as the scanner went over him, then gasping as the floor disappeared
and he fell into a smooth shaft that slid him around at incredible speed. He
was dumped into a small room, and before he could move some thin cables of
some kind whipped around his body, pinning his arms to his sides. Ahead of
him a short corridor ended in a door, the button covered. The tube behind
him closed with a (whssk).
A small panel extended horizontally beside him, forming a small
table projecting from the wall. A tube came down from the ceiling, and
there was a rumbling as something rattled down it and thumped onto the
table. The tube withdrew.
It didn't take much to figure out what the object was. It was
spherical, perhaps four times as big as Straun's fist, and projecting
from the top was a hissing fuse that was burning and crackling, tantalisingly
slowly.
Straun struggled with his bonds, fighting down a rising panic. The
strands that held him were strong and seemed to cover him in all the right
places, restricting even slight movement.
He bent over and studied the bomb carefully, then blew ineffectually
at the fuse. Inspired by a sudden idea, he lunged forward with his head and
put the fuse in his mouth, seeking to smother it's burning advance. A blazing
pain erupted on his tongue and he drew his head back by reflex.
"Tho muth for thad idea" he spat to himself.
The fuse was getting shorter; time was running out. Straun bent
over again and, with his head, batted the bomb from the table onto the
floor. He struggled again, but it would have taken great powers of contortion
to try and wriggle out of the cable. Fearfully, he hopped forward to the
door.
The covered switch would have been a simple matter to open had he
had his hands free, but now it was impossible. He turned again and looked
at the fuse. It was depressingly short. The beast of panic within him was
straining at its bonds as well.
He struggled some more, uselessly, trying to think of a way to
escape the predicament. The fuse was almost gone. There seemed no way out.
Closing his eyes, Straun accepted his fate.
The stun charge went off with a blinding flash, and Straun Solarwind
knew no more.
Far above him, Menarggrah stepped impatiently into the weapon-
scanning booth. The scan went over him systematically and then he dropped
into the delivery tube. Immediately the Wookiee tried to slow his descent
by digging his climbing claws into the shiny walls of the tube, but only
succeeded in producing an ear-piercing screech as the claws raked their
way along the glassy surface.
He saw the sealed end of the tube rushing up at him, then the
end of it (whssk)ed away and there was only a millisecond to observe
the glistening of water before he splashed into the dark room.
Tentatively, Menarggrah stood up. The water was only waist-deep
for a Wookiee, and when the dim lights came on he could easily see that
he was in an elliptical room filled with the dirty liquid. On the other side
of the room, just above the water line, was a door. For a second he thought he
saw something big moving in the water, then it was gone.
Slowly, cautiously, Menarggrah started wading for the door.
Sludge fountained as a water serpent erupted from the water, as thick
as the Wookiee's waist. They both drew back for a strike simultaneously, and
both hit the other hard, the serpant's toothed jaws clamping on Menarggrah's
shoulder as he slammed it back with a hairy fist. Menarggrah struck again
but missed, the great worm wriggling away from his strike and then lunging
in again. The Wookiee was bashed backward by the sheer energy of the attack,
hit hard in the head, and saw stars as he dropped to one knee in the water.
The serpent relentlessly struck again, but this time the Wookiee
was ready. He ducked the muscled strike and struck a blow of his own, a
well-placed one that had all of his considerable weight behind it. He
heard something crack in the serpant's neck.
Damaged, the worm went into an enraged frenzy, thrashing about in
the water wildly. Menarggrah stepped back out of the range of its convulsions,
judging its movements, then hit it again and finished the thing off.
He stood there for a while, breathing heavily, then waded for the door.
Far above him, Yabud stepped into the weapon-scanning booth. He
followed the up-and-down movements of the scanning lights with a curious
finger, and was about to comment profoundly when the floor vanished and
his concepts of up, down and everywhere else became a little confused.
The Jawa slid down the tube, gaining speed and tumbling randomly.
He saw the closed end of the tube coming up at him frighteningly fast,
and was just starting to become worried when the door disappeared and he
was deposited in a dark room with an unceremonious thump.
In the darkness, the creature slept.
Yabud listened. He thought he could hear something breathing.
[HELLO?] he said. [Is anyone there?]
The breathing stopped abruptly, then resumed again, to be
accompanied by a heavy skittering sound.
Dimly, some lights came on. He was in an elliptoid room, and at
the far end was a door. Between them was a creature that seemed as though
it couldn't make up it's mind whether to be an insect or mammal, it's
huge, furry spiderlike body topped with a fanged carniverous head.
A panel slid open next to the Jawa. Out slid the hand crossbow he
had bought at the Dravian Starport, and a single quarrel.
Picking up the weapon, Yabud loaded it and looked at the creature
again. It looked right back at him, but made no movement. The Jawa began to
sidle along the opposite wall to it, making for the door.
He was slightly under halfway when the creature sprag, all of its
legs splayed out in the leap, and fangs bared. Yabud twisted away from it,
his small figure being no easy target as he desperately dodged the thing
and spun around, now being on the door side to the creature.
[Gabaha, mabadaa] Yabud said dramatically, lifting the hand crossbow.
Pointing it at the creature, he fired.
The bolt (ptang!)ed harmlessly off the creature's back.
Yabud stuck the weapon in his belt ruefully, then ran for the door.
The creature sat immobile, not moving again as Yabud thumbed the switch.
On the door, a timer delay started to tick.
Yabud looked around nervously, feeling very exposed and fighting
down the urge to whistle. He studied the timer again but was not able to
determine how long it was set for.
The creature crashed onto his back, and Yabud felt a moment of
shock as its teeth sank into his shoulder. He struck out with his tiny
fist, hitting it with a solid blow that knocked it away as the door opened
behind him.
The Jawa threw himself through the door, shoulder bleeding profusely.
the creature scuttled back, then threw itself toward him again as he hit
the button on the far side of the door. It flew shut with automatic strength,
severing one of the creature's legs in a spray of green blood. The Jawa
picked up the severed appendage curiously, then when he saw that he had
no place to carry it, tossed it aside and continued on into the audience
chamber, clutching his shoulder.
Far above him, Stoge sidled casually into the weapon-scanning booth
and, as he was systematically analysed by the scanner, adopted a casual stance
that was abandoned when the floor fell away and he slid smoothly into the
delivery tube. Twisting and turning during his rapid descent, he considered
the situation.
"Strewth" he said.
He travelled for quite a while, past various offshoots, and had
begun to hear the hum of heavy machinery when the end of the tube came
rushing up at him and disappeared with a (whssk). He flew into a well-lit
room, sailed over the other side, crashed heavily into the wall and
sailed back.
All the while, he did not sink to the floor.
A zero-G room, he thought, or at least micro-G. He did his best to
orient himself.
He was in a roughly elliptical room, with clean, smooth walls. At
the other end of the room was a door with no switch, which opened to
reveal a burly man drifting into the room, wearing casual clothing and a
mean grimace.
"Yo, what's the deal?" Stoge queried.
"The deal" he replied "is that I whip your butt till you bleedin'".
He raised his fists and pushed himself off the wall.
Stoge did likewise, initially adopting a vector that would take him
out of the open door, but when the man produced a small box and pressed a
button on it the door closed and the pilot was forced to consider another
course of action. He decided on teaching the man a lesson (he hoped) and
launched himself from the doorway.
They met in the center of the room, and grabbed each other roughly
to stop sailing by. Before the man could react, Stoge threw a quick jab
that caught the man in the chin. He was spun around with the force of the
blow and kept on spinning, halting himself on the far wall and glaring
angrily.
"Yeah!" Stoge exclaimed. "What a wussbag!"
The man snarled and launched himself from the wall. Stoge's guard
was up but the man got in a fast right to the stomach. Stoge was flung
back, the wind pushed out of his lungs as he hit the wall hard.
Stoge reassessed his opinion of his opponent.
The man didn't hesitate to press the attack. The act of reaching up
and getting propulsion by a friction-hold on the ceiling told Stoge that
the man was very experienced at fighting in zero-G.
But Stoge was a pilot, and no newcomer to such conditions either.
Pushing himself slightly forward (and still gasping for breath) he landed
a vicious haymaker that caught the man in the jaw again, and this time he
was sent flying back into the far wall headfirst, from where he floated limp
and unconscious.
Stoge had to do some careful manouvering to reach the button on his
belt (involving throwing one of his shoes), then he drifted through the newly
opened doorway, out of the zero-G field and toward some stairs leading up to
The Know's audience room.
Far overhead, the floor of the scanning booth disappeared and Asti
fell into the delivery tube. Sliding around the smooth walls at speed, she
was eventually dumped unceremoniously into a dark room, the door (wssk)ing
closed behind her.
Cautiously, she felt around her and strained her senses for a hint
of her environment. She thought she saw a glint of metal. There was a swishing
sound and something small landed in the darkness beside her.
The light came on slowly, as if it was scared to be there. Asti
immediately noted that she was in an oval-shaped room, at the other end of
which was a closed door with no sign of a switch. In front of it was a lithe,
catlike man with a glittering duelling sword.
Asti looked down. Beside her was her force lash.
She picked up the weapon carefully, realization dawning of the task
before her. She looked at the man, advancing confidently.
"We don't have to do this" Asti said, holding up a hand.
The man leered evilly.
"Don't see as you have much choice, darlin'" he resumed walking
toward her.
"This is senseless" Asti pressed. "We have never met, much less
done anything wrong to each other. Why must we fight?"
"Two reasons" said the man. "One, The Know pays hard creds for this".
He whipped he sword around easily.
"Two" he said "I like cuttin' people".
As he advanced, Asti resigned herself to the combat and activated the
Force Lash with a (kssshhh). The man hesitated slightly at the glowing, humming
cylinder of energy, then dropped into a ready stance.
Asti shifted her feet uneasily. The Force Lash was a difficult weapon
to use, and she had never used it in anger since drawing it from the Sacred
Bag of Treasure on Gaarla over a month ago. It was a Jedi's weapon, and she
was no Jedi Knight. Still, it was powerful. She tried to concentrate.
The man was a veteran swordfighter. He came in with a few cuts and
thrusts that didn't hit Asti, but neither were they parried by her clumsily
swinging energy weapon. She swung awkwardly, and the man sidestepped it
easily. It took her mere seconds to realise that he was toying with her.
The only sword-wielder she had ever seen in action was Dar, and he
used a totally different fighting style consisting of bashing through the
enemy's defences. Her opponent was pure skill, the glittering blade a blur
of movement as it whipped to and fro.
The man seemed to tire of the game. The duelling sword flashed in
and cut deeply into her left shoulder, at the edge of her new blast vest.
Pain lanced through Asti, and she could not stifle a scream of agony as the
sword twisted before withdrawing.
The man cackled with glee, and so confident was he that he didn't
notice the flashing orange weapon swinging around again for almost half a
second. True to form, he still managed to bring the sword up to parry. There
was time only for an instant of surprise as the Force Lash sheared effortlessly
through the metal before it continued into the torso, cutting the man in two.
The dueller, as the top portion of him hit the floor, lived long enough not
only to see the interesting sight of his legs still standing with momentary
balance, but to catch the gaze of Asti, and as all went dark he slipped into
the endless regret in her eyes, knowing that she had been right after all.
----\\----
Karlos leaned against the wall and wondered what was keeping them all.
In a room below, one of The Know's hired gunfighters waited. He
would be waiting a long time.
----\\----
The room was large and hemispherical, one side of it taken up by
a large raised dais, the other by many doors. As Asti entered the large room
the noticed that the rest of the group were there also (except Karlos, of
course). Menarggrah and Surge were wet, the Wookiee and the Jawa were wounded
(besides herself), and Surge and Straun looked as if they had just woken up.
On top of the dias, beside the black protocol droid, sat The Know. He
was a Twi'lek, garbed in finery and appraising them with an intelligent gaze.
a cybernetic linkup took up most of the back of his head, implanted wires
spiralling down the two tentacles.
[You tried to kill us!] Yabud waved a fist angrily.
"Let's TOAST this circuithead!" Stoge reached for his blaster.
"SILENCE!!" the protocol droid boomed in a different voice to what
they'd heard it use before. Surge immediately guessed that the droid was linked
to The Know (or at least his voice) by the cyberlink.
"You did not have full payment, so you entertained my upper servants
and I. Your lives were never in danger and you will be healed before you leave.
You have now paid in full and may query".
There was a short silence as this sank in.
{Well?} Menarggrah prompted them all.
"Er" said Surge "We're looking for a lost base from the Old Republic
days, number 1138".
The Know was silent.
For a few minutes.
A few long minutes.
"You asleep up there?" Stoge addressed him loudly.
"The only reference I can find" said The Know "is an unconfirmed
rumour that such a settlment was located on the second planet of a remote
system, Bindibar. The likelihood of this is low as several attempts to find
this base on Bindibar II have failed".
"Great" said Straun "all this for a rumour that's probably false".
"It's the best we've heard so far" Asti objected with a wince. "Now
let's get to medical and get off this ice cube".
They trekked back down the mountain to the starport with mixed
emotion. After spending some time de-icing the SLAVE II they returned the
cold weather gear to the starport controller and blasted off, gladly
clearing the gravity well of Drabbilt.
"Next time" said Karlos "how about we just ask around?"
(ping!) went the nav computer.
Stoge wrenched the hyperspace lever, and the Drabbilt system was left
behind with their trust of strangers.
----\\----
"Let's try it again...seven,eight.. ok, here's your hand. Now, look
at them and.. Hey Trialeki, can you hold the cards for this guy? Now, do
you think you can bluff your way through with the cards you've got?"
"Gonk".
"I see. Ok, I'm going to toss in this nine of Krayt Dragons and
draw again. Are you going to throw down any cards here? remember the basic idea
of a bluff".
"Gonk".
"Stoge" said Karlos slowly. "Give up".
"But he's just getting it!" Stoge objected.
"Stoge, he's a POWER DROID. He can't grab the cards, he can't
distinguish between them, he can't do anything except go 'gonk' and work on
perfecting the dolly-stepping plod".
"So what? at least he doesn't just grab the cards and start building
little houses like that stupid Jawa". Stoge stood up in disgust and went back
into the cockpit. "We there yet, Solarwind?"
"Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" Straun mocked from the pilot's
chair. "Be a good little boy and daddy will give you a seat next to the window".
"Hraag Hraaag Hraag" Menarggrah chortled.
"Hey" Stoge turned to him "Shut up and pick your fleas, shaggy".
"Hrrrmmp!" the Wookiee stood up angrily.
"Just calm down, everybody" Asti's voice broke the tension. "It's
a long hyperspace trip and we're all getting irritated, but letting it out
on each other is the easy way out that gets us nowhere. We're a TEAM".
There was a tense, silent moment, then Menarggrah sat back down and
Stoge went aft again, ignoring Straun's apology. Karlos was slumped across
a few acceleration chairs on his back, his hat over his eyes. Surge was in the
ship's only other room, absorbed in a holotext. Yabud was back somewhere
inspecting the engine setup, and Dar was keeping him out of trouble.
To Stoge's surprise, the power droid nudged the cards again.
"Gonk" he said.
----\\----
Bindibar II hung in space before them, seeming from orbit to be a
lush planet of hills, forests and mountains, broken by a few small oceans.
Sensors picked up two small settlements on almost opposite sides of the planet.
"This is the SLAVE II" Stoge tried the most common civilian band.
"Anybody reading me down there?"
"Yeeeuuup" came the reply after a moment, somewhat weak and broken
periodically by bursts of static. "Welcome, stranger. What say you come on
down and we put back a bottle or two of some fine Muckleberry Juice?"
Stoge's eyes lit up.
"You're on, Mate. Approach co-ordinates?"
"On their way" replied the voice.
"By the way" Stoge added. "Who is this?"
"This is Muckle" replied the voice.
"Sounds like a small place" commented Surge.
The SLAVE II dropped smoothly out of the atmosphere, and as it
approached the small settlement the Rebels could see it was extremely small,
numbering perhaps forty buildings. There was no spaceport, so Stoge brought
the ship down on a clear, flat area next to some old sheds.
As they walked down the ramp they first thing they noted was the
fresh, clean air. Bindibar II was a lush, unspoiled planet.
A curious crowd of locals were watching from what appeared to be
the local cantina. Surge appraised the town and its inhabitants and guessed
that it was a mining town. A dusty, bearded man in a floppy hat approached
them and, greeting them warmly, introduced himself as Muckle.
"Come in" he said. "Come inta th' pub and we'll bend the elbow a bit".
They were led into the small, primitive cantina and soon were caught
up in friendly conversation with a number of the locals, talking about the
settlement's fifteen-year history and their subterranean search for a lost
trilithium vein. Muckle produced several large earthenware jugs full of the
local Muckleberry juice, a potent beverage that all the Rebels declined
except Stoge, who saw it his civic duty to participate in local custom for
the sake of diplomacy.
"Old Republic base?" Muckle repeated loudly (once his tongue had been
loosened). "Lotsa folks've come an' looked around for it, but it ain't here.
Spose you could go an' ask the hermit up the mountain, he's been here longer'n
me".
"Would you take us to him?" Surge asked midly.
"Sure!" Muckle blurted. "Just give me a bit to get the grubs ready".
Time passed. Stoge drank muckleberry juice with the locals until he
fell over.
"Schuse me" he said, making his way tentatively to the doorway. He
rounded the side of the building and just made it out of sight of the main
road before he vomited violently, which was accompanied by a burst of applause
from inside the building.
"That stufff fs sgreat!" he declared upon his reentry, and purchased
a small keg before Muckle led them down to the snubgrub pen.
Bindibar II's beasts of burden were approximately forty meters long,
giant pinkish-purple maggots that slowly squirmed in the pen as they waited
impatiently for the gate to be opened. Muckle passed around some long poles
with a unknown solid on the end, and easily scaled the side of a snubgrub.
Menarggrah sniffed at the pole curiously. {What..this?}
"It's a scentstick" Muckle explained. "Fools them grubs good. Y' steer
'em with it". He waved his stick in front of his grub to demonstrate, and
the beast squirmed in the stick's direction with astounding speed for its
size. "C'mon up, they don't roll over on ya".
Once they were all aboard (it took only two grubs to carry them all),
Muckle set a course up into the mountains. A slight breeze renewed the feeling
of freshness that the air had earlier given them, and the scenery was quite
beautiful. Stoge wished sincerely that the grubs' rocking motion would stop.
He reached for his blaster to fire an enthusiastic shot in the air only to
find that the holster was empty. Muckle eventually tied him to the grub to
stop him falling off. Menarggrah, holding Stoge's blaster, knew he had done
the right thing, and ignored the pilot's cursing at him for stealing his
weapon.
They covered thirty-eight of the fifty kilometer journey before the
sun peaked in the clear sky. The snubgrubs squirmed their way down toward
a small, grassed gulley and stopped when a heavy bolt of energy sizzled
down from a nearby hill and blasted a small tussock to oblivion.
In seconds the Rebels poured from the grubs and sought cover. Muckle
was a little slower, jumping for the ground and realising too late that Stoge
was still strapped to the lead snubgrub and exposed to fire. The pilot cast
his still-glazed eyes over the scene with interest, then reached for his
blaster. It still wasn't there.
Another shot came toward them, narrowly missing Karlos' dodging form
and striking one of the grubs, who appeared not to have felt the blast.
Muckle reached up and untied the strapping holding Stoge to it, and he fell
roughly to the ground.
"Let'zz geddem!" he said, and promptly tripped over his own feet.
Rolling into the gulley, he landed in the creek below.
Menarggrah and Dar decided to advance on whatever was firing at them,
and while the others gave them rough cover fire they crept up the gulley,
doing their best to keep out of sight.
Dar was immediately impressed with the perception of their unseen
assailant(s). Though the native thought himself quite adept in hiding from
foes and creeping up to them, the heavy blaster fire followed the native
and the Wookie however they tried to avoid it. Menarggrah eventually tired
of being held at such a disadvantage and charged up the grassy hill where the
fire was coming from, blaster rifle in hand. Dar followed him without pause,
and the two vanished out of sight of those attending the snubgrubs.
Menarggrah's wild rush was, to some extent, built on confidence. There
seemed to be only one source of firing, and even if was an elite stormtrooper
it would easily fall before a blaster rifle shot or even a quick demonstration
of Wookiee martial arts. So thinking, he crested the hill.
His first impression was that a bulbous creature was sitting on the
ground, covered in grass and shooting at him. This lasted only for a second,
though, as the thing seemed to explode out of the ground into a huge,
many-legged mechanical monstrosity that towered over the two Rebels and fired
again, hitting Menarggrah a glancing blow. The Wookiee raised his blaster
rifle as Dar crested the hill behind him. The warrior saw immediately that
by the time the metal beast was withing sword range it could have fired upon
them a number of times, so for one of the first times in his life he drew
his blaster as Menarggrah fired. His shot hit the huge droid in its body,
blowing away a sizeable chunk and making it miss Dar with it's next shot. The
black native fired in unison with Menarggrah's second shot.
Back down with the grubs, Yabud gasped suddenly as, over the small
hill in the distance, a loud explosion echoed in the empty stillness of the
valley. A black cloud arose in the distance as the explosion's physical body,
as if rearing in triumph.
Surge was already moving. "Come on!" he cried, and they all ran
recklessly toward the hill.
When they topped the rise a scene of devastation greeted them. A
charred crater was encircled by soot, blasted dirt, small bits of metal and
the prone bodies of Menarggrah and Dar. The Wookiee stirred painfully as
they approached.
Karlos checked the immediate area with Muckle as Surge saw to the
wounds of Dar and Menarggrah. It took some time for him to dig out all the
minute shrapnel and treat the burns, and when he was finished Menarggrah
limped back down to the snubgrubs to see what had become of Stoge while Dar
remained in a temporary coma. Asti and Yabud were studying the wreckage and
conferring with each other, hampered somewhat by the language barrier.
"What WAS that thing?" Karlos asked as he returned with Muckle.
Asti stood up and nudged a small length of antenna with her foot. "An
Imperial probe droid. If we're going to find this Old Republic base, we'd
better do it fast".
They resumed the journey sometime later, and it was still early
afternoon when they climbed into the jagged mountains and reached a small
hut built on a smaller flat area. The height they had now reached gave a
breathtaking view back the way they had come, and they could even just make
out a hint of the settlement, some fifty kilometres away. Above them,
further up the mountain, two peaks almost met in a vertical gap formation
that added further character to the scene.
The group dismounted and approached the hut. Muckle strode to the
door and knocked somewhat timidly.
The simple wooden door squeaked open to reveal a man in his mid-
forties who screamed and slammed the door.
Everyone was somewhat taken aback by this.
The door opened again, and this time the man's face seemed almost
white. The man seemed to have composed himself.
"Miguel! no, no, it couldn't be. You must be his young one, Strain".
"Straun" Straun corrected. "We need to talk".
----\\----
Passing the DESECRATOR's communication banks, the junior officer
paused below the command platform and bowed before his two masters. Though
the usual fear was in his voice, he could not keep a hint of pride and
self-importance from creeping into his tone.
"My lords, I have located a group of known Rebels on the second planet
in the Bindibar system".
The Captain's eyes flashed. "Do not press for compliments, lieutenant.
You merely recieved a report from one of the probe droids". He dismissed
the subordinate with a wave of his hand, then turned to the man beside him,
cloaked in dark grey robes. "Our best indication yet".
The other seemed troubled. "I cannot sense that this is where our
quest will be fulfilled, my friend. Something..." he let the sentence die off.
"Nevertheless" the captain replied "It is worth detailing a small
assault team. Three fully-equipped stormtrooper dropships should be more than
adequate". He turned to one of the officers below them, of the ground forces
division. "Detail the one hundred and fifty stormtroopers, and set your course
for the Bindibar system".
----\\----
Surge glanced over to where Straun and the hermit (who had introduced
himself as Tiacc) stood talking in low tones. Straun suddenly bowed his
head in sorrow and grief. Since they had explained their situation with the
hermit he had endeavoured to talk to Straun at length, and had not given
them any answers as yet. Surge inwardly fought for patience.
Stoge approached him. "I'm going back with Muckle" he stated. "I'll
fire up the sensors on the SLAVE II and keep a look out".
"If need be," said Tiacc, turning suddenly toward them "You could
bring your ship up through the gap" -he pointed to the thin space between
the two mountains above- "To the old base's concealed landing pad".
"The base is here?" Asti cut in suddenly.
"Why, yes" Tiacc confirmed. "and from what I hear of your journey
here, I'd better take you to it right away". He hurried into the hut to
collect a few things.
"Later" said Stoge. He climbed astride the second grub, and as Muckle
bid them good-day, they wriggled downhill and out of sight on the snubgrubs.
"You realise, of course" said Surge "That he'll just go back and
get into the Muckleberry juice again. He won't even be able to operate his
OWN senses".
"He has one of our two comlinks" put in Karlos. "Tell him to bring
the ship up as soon as he gets down there".
Asti produced the other comlink from a pocket. "Hello?" she said.
Further down the hill, Stoge was feeling somewhat more sober than
the trip up. He checked that he still had everything. Blaster, credits,
comlink.. comlink?
The pilot scowled and swore under his breath. "Back in a minute"
he shouted to Muckle, wheeling the snubgrub around.
"Hello?" said Asti's voice, from somewhere in Yabud's pouches.
"Huh?" said Asti.
"Huh?" said Asti's voice from a small object that Yabud pulled out
sheepishly.
Realization dawned.
"The little runt picked his pocket!" Karlos exclaimed.
Yabud held out the comlink with an air of innocence and Asti snatched
it irritably. Stoge arrived on the grub and dismounted. Appraising the
situation, he approached the Jawa with a mean look on his face.
Yabud backed away, gesturing open-handed and babbling incoherently.
Stoge had had enough of having his equipment stolen. He threw a punch
at Yabud that was sympathised with by some of the others present. Yabud,
menawhile, had merely acted out of curiosity and had no idea what the fuss
was about. Nevertheless, Stoge's punch spoke all languages and was dodged
by the desert scavenger, who threw an ineffective punch of his own.
Yabud was doing an excellent act of dodging the pilot's angry swings
until the foot of a Wookiee caught him in the stomach and sent him flying.
The Jawa chittered angrily and drew his blaster despite Asti's cries that
they should all calm down. He trained it on Menarggrah.
"You're going to shoot the WOOKIEE?" Straun raised an eyebrow.
Yabud thought this was a good argument, and turned the gun on Stoge
instead.
Before the Jawa could pull the trigger, Karlos' hand had flashed to
his holster, drawn his eight-gun and shot the blaster out of Yabud's hand.
Straun went to tackle the Jawa, but Yabud ducked and the young Agostian went
sailing over his head. Then Asti, who was behind Yabud, dropped her rope
over him and held him fast, keeping him both from being harmed and harming
anyone else.
As tempers began to cool Tiacc emerged from his hut again and
confessed that his first impression of the Rebel Alliance was contrary to
the virtuous rumours he had heard. Straun apologised on behalf of them all
and the Rebels became quiet from embarassment.
"Let's go" suggested Dar.
They did. Stoge reclaimed his comlink, mounted the grub and left.
The others followed Tiacc, who began to lead them up a long, rocky trail
that wound its way up the mountain.
The hermit began to tell them of the old days, the peak period of
the Old Republic, the slow corruption of the Senate, even what he knew of
the Clone Wars. Surge at first found it extremely interesting, but as they
went on he began to tire not only of Tiacc's narrative but also of their
journey. They had travelled all this way on rumour. On hearsay! the only
one that actually claimed that they KNEW where this base was was Tiacc,
and who was he? a bumbling recluse that didn't know when to shut up. His
subconscious told him in a tingling way that this line of thought was very
uncharacteristic of him, but he refused to listen. All he felt like doing
was going back to the ship and having a sleep.
He was not alone. The further the eight of them travelled up the
mountain, the more an irritating weight pressed on all but three of them.
It was almost a voice, but a voice from inside them that used not words but
feelings.
The voice was silent to three of them.
The feelings were of fatigue, of frustration, of a nervous shade of
fear. The valley below, so green and cool, beckoned for them with a compelling,
subtle seduction, never blatant enough to show itself for what it was.
Three of them were immune.
For what it was was produced by an unseen relic of days long gone,
by a power that had seemingly fled from the present galaxy when the suffering
of its systems cried out for it like never before. By an energy field and
something more..
They reached a point where they couldn't go on. All but three threw
themselves in disgust to the rocky trail. Menarggrah was hot and itchy
under his fur. Yabud was sick of walking up the rocky slope and tripping
over his robe. Voices raised the opinion of giving up the search for the
base.
Three figures still stood, unaffected. Tiacc looked over Asti
and Straun with an appraising eye, feeling through the Force the raw
talent within them. He had long known of the coming of the son of Solarwind,
but Asti had surprised him. He noted that she even had a Force Lash, and
marvelled at how the Force provided for its own.
"Wait here" he walked further up the trail to where a rock wall
lay inconspicuously against the side of the mountain. Moving aside a
certain stone, he reached in and, grasping the crystal firmly, shut off
the force field.
Immediately the feelings of fatigue were gone from the group,
replaced by wonder and more than a trace of awe. Tiacc now seemed taller to
them somehow, and a commanding presence radiated from him as he addressed
them.
"Your commander was wise to hide the true nature of this place from
you, for if you had revealed in your search that you sought an Old Republic
base of the Jedi, Palpatine would have moved to stop you at all costs.
Know, then, that this was base 1138, planetary refuge for the group
of Jedi that were responsible for the protection and order of this sector".
As he spoke, he seemed to drift into another time. His audience was captivated.
"We had been trying to locate a group of slavers that were operating
in the neighboring systems. Our infiltration droid leaked word to us that
they were going to raid a certain planet and take the uncivilised natives
for black market distribution. Unsure of the exact time, Miguel Solarwind
was left in wait for them with one of my fellow apprentices.
He never returned. We knew of his death some days later when we
felt a disturbance in the Force, and were about to investigate when a
priority summons came through from Senator Palpatine. It was not to be
ignored.
I was left behind, recovering from a wound, and our Dreadnought,
with my friends and master, did not return either. That day I felt the
greatest disturbance in the Force that has ever been felt before or since,
and passed out from the sheer agony.
When I awoke, perhaps days later, my grief was such that I longed
to die, for what hope had the galaxy without the Jedi? yet I farsaw that
what little I knew of the ways of the Force, and this place, would one
day be needed, so I collapsed the main entrance, activated the security
devices, and waited".
Everyone was silent, not knowing what to say. The scope of his
tale was breathtaking.
Karlos was sudenly aware that Yabud was next to him and curiously
trying to take his eight-gun from his holster. The gunfighter immediately
became volatile, slapping the hand of the Jawa away and threatening to
flatten the desert scavenger. Yabud, on the other hand, was getting sick
and tired of everyone objecting so violently to his harmless curiousity.
He stood his ground as tension began to ignite into anger.
Tiacc suddenly stepped between them. "Maybe you should sit over
there" he suggested to Yabud.
[Maybe I should sit over there] Yabud declared, waddling over
to a small rock and sitting down.
"He's just curious" Tiacc explained to Karlos.
Karlos shrugged and settled down. Yabud was, after all, just curious.
Tiacc addressed them all again. "The droid you seek is our
infiltration unit, last seen with the slavers. The database inside the
mountain should still be in relative working order and will tell you where
it was assigned. The perpetual-lighting system should still work as well,
but I cannot guarantee that the other systems do. Be wary of the two
enforcement droids, the old 209 models. Without maintenance they may be
just rusted hulks by now, but if they are active there's no telling what
twenty standard years in dark isolation will do to a droid's behavioural
structure. Also do not enter the non-weapon zone with non-Jedi weapons, and
you'll also need this". He drew an identification disk out of his tunic and
handed it to Asti, along with a simple map.
To landing pad
||
||
_ -- --
#|G | A |
|| -- -- |
|| | | |
|| ---------##---------- C |
|| B | | | | |
|F | O O | | | |
|| | | | | | | |
|| | ------| O O |-------- | |
|| | # # | |
|| | ------| O O |-------- | |
|| | | | | | | |
|| B | O O | | | |
| -------------- | D |
|--------------- O O | |
| | |
-------- ------------------------
| E |
|%%%%%|
A Room of the Council # Door
B Living Quarters O Pillar
C Training Rooms
D Control/Administration
E Main Entrance(Collapsed)
F Secondary System Control
G Secondary Entrance
"We are at the secondary entrance" Tiacc explained. "You'll
have to turn on the perpetual lighting-system at the secondary system
control, halfway long the corridor. Forget the living quarters, all that
remain there are a few personal effects". He explained to a disappointed
Yabud that no, there were NOT approximately two hundred lightsabers in
there sitting in lockers. The Jedi had taken them all with them in their
last flight into history.
"You're not coming with us?" said Surge.
"No" replied the Jedi apprentice. "I have seen this day for many
years, and my destiny lies elsewhere". He reached his hand into the
concealed space in the solid rock, and with barely a whisper a door
slid open in the barren face.
Straun set his jaw. "Let's do it" he said.
----\\----
Stoge wearily made his way over to the SLAVE II. When Muckle had
invited him in for a great time of potent fluids and rowdy miner's drinking
songs, it had taken all his strength to resist. Yet resist it he had, an
act by which he had surprised himself with his inner strength. He tried
to block out the cheerful noises floating back from the cantina, and
sadly thumbed the ramp down, painfully accepting his silent victory.
He clomped up the ramp to be greeted by a warm "Gonk" which didn't
help his mood at all. Wearily he entered the cockpit, threw himself into
the pilot's chair, gave the sensors a scan and picked up the three
stormtrooper dropships approaching the gravity well of Bindibar II.
----\\----
The Rebels' footsteps gave hollow echoes as they slowly made their
way down the dark corridor. By the flickering light they had brought with
them, Asti (who was in the lead) could just make out a control panel on
the left wall. She glanced around uneasily as Surge investigated it. After
studying the dials and buttons for a moment he threw a large switch marked
MAIN and, with an empty metallic ring, the perpetual lights came on.
The corridor seemed in surprisingly good condition, merely coated
with a thick layer of dust that made Surge sneeze and Menarggrah flare his
nostrils in irritation of the musty smell. At the far end of the corridor,
where it turned to their left, a security gun jutted downward from the
roof. As the lights came on it slowly turned, dust and rust sprinkling away,
and pointed at Asti. A small red light grew in intensity.
Warily, Asti raised Tiacc's ID disc.
The security device considered this for a moment, and the red light
went out. It swung upward slightly to point at Surge, and the red light
came on again.
Surge gulped.
The red light flared, the gun shuddered slightly, then the whole
thing blew up with a small explosion. Exposed wiring crackled angrily before
melting into bubbling silence. A scraping, heavy metallic sound came from
just around the corner.
Upon investigation they found that a heavy blast door had come down
upon detection of their presence but had ground to a halt two-thirds of
the way down. They attempted to prop it up with a few things (Menarggrah
suggested using Yabud), but eventually just scrambled under and found
themselves in the main hall.
Even in the musty desolence it was beautiful, featuring ornate carvings
on the pillars that stretched to the roof far above, and many tapestries
lining the walls that were emblazoned with symbols from many systems. Dar noted
the accuracy of Tiacc's map, observing the doors on the left and right (that
led to the living quarters and administration, respectively) and the door at
the far end that opened to the conference room and the passageway to the
landing pad. Straun immediately recognised the main hall from some of his
father's old holos, and was struck with a sense of destiny.
Yabud ran over to the door on the right, which was open. The lights
had failed down the corridor beyond, but silhouetted against the lights
from the intersection at its far end was a large, hulking shape. Yabud
initially took the shape to be a pile of junk, or perhaps a stack of
furniture that reached almost to the roof. Maybe a personal vehicle..
There was a red flicker as a small light came on from the metallic
hulk, then an ear-piercing screech as joints that had remained silent for
twenty years were finally used again. As Yabud backed hurriedly away from
the door he heard the first of the deep thudding footsteps as it clanked
mechanically up the corridor and into the room.
Straun made the instant comparison to an AT-ST walker. It seemed
to walk on the same principle, but was much smaller (a predecessor?). Its
domed head-body seemed too small to fit any human-sized sentient inside,
however. Jutting from its sides were two appendages that supported huge
chain-fed slugthrower cannons.
That, thought Surge, is one BIG security droid.
It turned to face the group, red light flaring as a deep, tinny
voice boomed:
"YOU DO NOT BEAR REPUBLICAN IDENTIFICATION"
Everyone was meekly silent. Asti stepped forward and casually held
up Tiacc's ID disc. It moved to address her.
"YOU DO NOT BEAR REPUBLICAN IDENTIFICATION"
Her eyes widened. Yabud babbled an idea to Menarggrah, who, by a great
feat of language comprehension, understood him.
The droid took a clanking step and trained its guns on Asti.
"I AM NOW AUTHORISED TO FIRE". The barrels on the slugthrower cannons
began to spin with an ominous whine.
The young Jedi threw herself desperately to one side as the guns
opened up, the heavy slugs cutting a trail in the rock that followed her
dodging form and blasted a chunk from a pillar as she disappeared behind it.
Straun ripped his blaster from its holster, sacrificed a steady aim in
favour of speed, and sqeezed off a shot. It hit the droid directly in one
of the slugthrower cannons, severing it from the body in a spray of energy
and sending a heavy jolt through the metallic hulk. Surge lightly damaged
its body with a quick successive shot.
Then suddenly Menarggrah was running forward, holding Yabud high. The
Jawa, babbling defiantly, was holding a restraining bolt in one hand and the
fusion welder in the other. Blocking out the sound of hammering slugs, the
Jawa cooly calculated the position to weld the bolt. Atop the dome seemed the
correct place, mechanically speaking, but if the droid was too old a
restraining bolt may not work..
Then from behind him he heard the savage bark of the eight-gun. The
explosive bullet blew one of the droid's legs out from under it with a
concussive blast, and the thing toppled to the stone, still firing. Another
shot from the smoking gun of Karlos Trialeki ended its prone thrashing.
Yabud and Menarggrah mumbled disappointment to each other at not
being able to control the thing. The Jawa inspected the droid curiously and
found that any attempt to apply a restraining bolt would have been in vain;
the droid was built before restraining bolts came into circulation (during
the time of the assasin droid massacres) and hence the bolt could not
have controlled it.
Dar passed the droid and cautiously crept down the corridor from
whence it came, sword at the ready. The T-intersection at its end was now
bathed in a flickering red glow that came from the intersection's south
passage. Along the walls (toward where the map indicated the administration
/control section) were regularly-spaced lights that blinked in warning. Dar
resumed his cautious advance until stopped by Surge.
"Don't". The medic warned. "It's a no-weapon zone". He went on to
explain that any being entering the zone armed would intantly be turned to ash.
At Dar's doubtful replies, Surge invited him to throw a knife up the corridor.
Without hesitation the burly warrior whipped a small throwing knife
from his loincloth and cast it forward with all the force his great strength
could muster.
Though the missile was travelling at incredible speed it could not
outrace light itself, and as it entered the zone it was encompassed with a
sizzling sheet of energy. The knife hit the floor as a glob of slag.
Straun placed his blaster on the floor. Menarggrah, grumbling at
leaving his weapons, followed suit with his blaster rifle. Dar and Karlos
opted to stay rather than leave their sword and eight-gun behind, but all
others followed suit in a cascade of weaponry. Asti, testing what Tiacc had
said to them, ignited the Force Lash and touched the point through into the
zone. Nothing happened. Deactivating it, she clipped it to her belt.
Gingerly, Asti stepped into the no-weapon zone and hoped that Tiacc
was right, or she hadn't forgotten a non-Jedi weapon, or that the old
mechanisms wouldn't make a mistake and incinerate her anyway. Reflexively
holding her breath, she passed safely through with the others.
Once they were past the flashing area and the empty, non-threatening
corridor stretched before them, they all relaxed visibly. When they resumed
walking at a normal pace, Straun turned to Asti.
"How did you learn of the Force?" he asked awkwardly.
She gave him a pained look, and Straun immediately knew that he had
touched something painful within her past. It surprised him that he felt it
rather than guessed from her reaction. She spoke.
"When I was a slave on Astur there was a man there, a fellow slave
named Ledean. I think he was an apprentice like Tiacc who had survived the
slaughter of the Jedi because he had not been fully trained. We were under
strict security but he found ways to avoid these and teach me what he knew."
She winced. "I don't remember much of the escape, just the face of the
Rebel agent that helped us out, but they told me later that Ledean and my
father had been recaptured.. and you?" she avioded the painful subject by
turning it back on Straun.
He did not answer right away. Without consciously trying, Asti
reached to him through the Force and knew that he was in turmoil, trying
to deal with what he knew of his earlier years in light of the recent news
of his father, and of all there was yet to know.
"When I was three" he explained "we received a message that my
father had disappeared. Before my mother, Samanti, could reply or act,
the extermination of the Jedi began, a time she won't discuss and I
don't remember. We left Alderaan with my father's apprentice, who was staying
with us at the time, and fled as far as we could into the outer regions,
to Agost."
"In spite of my mother's disagreement the apprentice trained me as
much as he was able, and when he died in a groundcar accident five years ago
I kept my knowledge and my desire to learn more. I found some of my father's
old holos and practised as much as I could. When I came of age I decided to
try to find out what had happened to him, and joined the Alliance.." He
broke off as they realised that they were alone in their casual walk up the
corridor.
Turning around, they beheld a strange sight. Yabud lay face down on
the floor, wriggling angrily. Surge was walking slowly and very stooped, as
if burdened by an unseen weight, and even Menarggrah felt very heavy.
Surge fell to the floor. "It's another force field of some kind" he
shouted, turning around wearily. He found that the weight lessened if he went
back the way he came.
Yabud stood stiffly up against the weight, took a step and thumped
to the floor again. Menarggrah howled in frustration and ran at Asti and
Straun, making it a full five of his large strides past Surge before crashing
heavily to the metal plating. Grumbling, he started painfully back.
The two young Jedi looked for a switch, but there was none.
"Go on" shouted Surge. Reluctantly, they complied.
----\\----
The SLAVE II screamed over Tiacc's hut and up the mountain toward
the twin spires that marked the landing pad. Stoge stayed low to the ground
to fool Imperial sensors, zigging and zagging over the terrain.
"Now we're SERIOUSLY in the foo" he remarked.
"Gonk" was the agreement.
Further down in the valley, the three stormtrooper dropships dropped
to hover over the town. Two settled where the SLAVE II had been minutes
before, the third turned in the direction they had seen the fleeing ship
and began looking for signs of life.
The residents of the mining town received few visitors, and none
welcomed them in the way that the one hundred veteran stormtroopers did
when they streamed from their dropships with blasters firing. Mechanically,
systematically, they began to slaughter the civilians.
----\\----
The man sat alone in the room, kneeling on the floor. His eyes closed,
he sensed the approach of the third dropship before his feeble human hearing
picked up the scream of approaching repulsors. Reaching forward, he reverently
opened the small wooden box that had remained untouched for twenty years.
He gently brushed aside the felt and picked up the object.
With a cracking (kssssh) sound that filled the room with a sonic
snap, Tiacc activated the Lightsaber.
----\\----
As wary and as perceptive as the two were, they noticed the small
open hatch in the wall long before they reached it. Straun studied it and
the adjoining keypad but was unable to determine its function.
At least until a metallic orb as big as his head floated out of it
and raised itself into the air emitting an angry hum.
They stepped back in alarm, many thoughts flashing through Straun's
mind within a second. An attack droid of some kind? Tiacc had mentioned that
there were TWO security droids. Maybe it had been released because they hadn't
keyed in a security code. Then again, it seemed to fit descriptions of training
drones he had heard of..
There was a green flash as it shot a heavy bolt of energy into Straun's
chest and sent him to the floor. As he lay there grunting at the pain he
heard the (ksssh) of Asti's Force Lash as she stepped between them quickly.
The droid spun its photoreceptor toward her in time to meet the flashing
orange arc as she cut it cleanly in half.
"Wow". Straun commented as he drew himself painfully to his feet. The
strike was a mix of skill and luck, and Straun pondered that the Force Lash
seemed an easier weapon to use than the Lightsaber, famous for its difficulty.
She covered the hatch with the Force Lash in case of another drone, but its
silent submission prompted them to go on.
The corridor ahead ended in a door marked AD_INI_T_ATION in faded
lettering. To the right of the door were two small slots, and on either side
of the corridor was a small alcove. Looking in, they saw that a crystalline
card sat at the back of each.
"The cards obviously go in the slots and open the door" Asti noted.
Straun's eyes narrowed. "Careful. There are a lot of small protrusions
ringing the entrances".
Asti tore a small section of cloth from her leg. Straun instantly
envisioned Stoge commenting "We'll need a MUCH bigger piece than that!" and
smiled to himself. Asti thrust the end of the cloth into one of the alcoves
and it was instantly incinerated by a sheet of energy.
"Perhaps it doesn't work on living tissue?" suggested Straun, then
added "though I wouldn't like to try".
Asti straightened. "This is a Jedi base". She raised her hand and
concentrated, blocking out the surrounding distractions, feeling through
the force the crystalline card..
..and the crystalline card moving.
It floated gently, safely past the deadly protrusions and into her
hand. She turned to get the other one only to see it flash into Straun's
hand. He turned to her and they both grinned.
Thrusting the cards into the slots simultaneously, they watched
with a sense of anticipation as the door grated open.
The database of Jedi facility 1138 lay before them.
----\\----
Bringing the SLAVE II between the twin spires of the mountain range,
Stoge spotted the small landing pad and eased the ship down. Thumping the
ramp open, he ran down it with desperate speed.
There was no entrance to the complex.
Stoge scratched his chin and looked around. It was old, certainly, but
now that he was here he could see that it was definately a landing pad. He
studied the sheer walls carefully, saw a too-convenient spike of rock
projecting from the cliff wall. He pushed it, pulled it and finally twisted
it, exposing a passageway leading into the mountain.
Drawing his blaster, he ran in.
----\\----
Straun and Asti studied the dusty banks of computers for over a
minute. Apparently it had initialised when the main power was turned on,
and now a simple menu hovered over the main terminal in wire-frame basic
lettering topped by one of the symbols they had seen in the main hall.
8274-151271-1138 ## AUDCOM ^^21
PERSONNEL
MAINTENANCE SCHEDULING
EQUIPMENT RECORDS
MISSION LOG
TRAINING DETAILS
Straun sat in the chair before it, heedless of the dust. He puzzled
over the method of input, then addressed the receiver at the top of the
console.
"Query: equipment records".
The holo winked out obediently to be replaced by another list.
VEHICLES
DROIDS
WEAPONRY
PURE DEFENDER
MISCELLANEOUS
Straun curiously spoke "Query: pure defender".
The holoprojector flared with the needed intensity and projected a
large image of a ship that loomed over them in graphic green detail. The
PURE DEFENDER, a fast, heavily armed Dreadnought, rotated slowly, and the
image flickered slightly with the aging projector. Asti wondered what had
happened to it.
"New query" said Straun, and was presented with the main menu. This
time he chose EQUIPMENT RECORDS followed by DROIDS.
MAINTENANCE/LABOUR
PROTOCOL
SECURITY
TRAINING DRONES
INFILTRATION
"Query: Infiltration".
MODIFIED INTELLIGENCE UNIT 9048249SC- DP4 (DOPEY).
ASSIGNMENT HISTORY
REPAIR/UPDATE HISTORY
SCHEMATICS
LAST ASSIGNED (SUMMARY): Arranged for capture by pirates raiding
relative sector 240869.
CURRENT ASSIGNMENT DETAILS
LAST REPORT (SUMMARY): Imminent raid by assigned pirates at Bermil.
Exact standard date unknown.
LAST REPORT DETAILS
They investigated the details. At the time of the report, Bermil was
a single-system planet listed as off limits to settlement because it would
destroy the fragile ecological and cultural systems of its inhabitants,
an unnamed race of near-human beings that were very primitive. The pirates
apparently intended to capture many for sale as slaves, and Miguel Solarwind
had been left on Bermil (with an apprentice) to intercept. Straun queried
about his father but was unable to find anything new.
----\\----
Running through some sort of conference room and a large set of
double doors, Stoge found himself in a magnificent hall adorned by banners,
pillars and the smoking hulk of a huge security droid.
"Thataway" he muttered to himself.
Entering the corridor past the droid he immediately saw Karlos
reholstering his gun in a relieved manner and felt a vague sense of belated
danger. Dar stepped from the shadows.
"The troopers are coming, guys. We gotta clear this place NOW".
----\\----
"We've got the system name, let's go" Asti started for the door.
Straun motioned for her to stop. "Wait. Isn't the Empire after this
too?".
Asti thought that was a good argument. They surveyed the banks of
switches again and she spotted a large button covered by a transparisteel
protector. Written below it was E___G_N_Y W_PE. She tried in vain to lift the
cover, scrabbling at it with her fingers until Straun indicated the slot
below it. They pondered this for a moment, then Straun snatched Tiacc's ID
disc from Asti and slid it into the slot. The cover popped open and he pressed
the button with an air of finality.
"That's it, then".
"Best to make sure" Asti ignited her Force Lash and proceeded to
cut deeply into the computers, hearing for the first time the shouts of
Surge for them to hurry up. Satisfied, they turned and sprinted back down
the corridor.
----\\----
Waiting near the wrecked security droid with Dar, Karlos and Surge,
Menarggrah lifted his head in alarm at the sound of noise coming from across
the great hall. As Yabud joined them an Imperial stormtrooper scrambled
under the half-lowered blast door on the other side of the door. Menarggrah
immediately snapped the blaster rifle to his shoulder and sqeezed off a shot,
killing the luckless trooper.
"Asti and Straun are coming" reported Surge from behind them. Another
trooper came under the door and was instantly taken out by Karlos. Yabud
started blazing away with enthusiasm.
"We can hold them here for a while" said Stoge as a small metallic
object skittered under the blast door and rolled to a stop some twenty
metres away from them.
"Say, that looks like.." began Surge as Karlos shouted "COVER YOUR
EYES!!". All immediately complied, and so nobody saw the smoke charge go off,
filling the area with a thick black pall that covered the blast door.
Menarggrah and Yabud started firing into the smoke. Karlos waited,
intending to pick his targets.
"I'll prep the ship" informed Stoge, firing as he ran for the double
doors of the conference room and beyond that, the passage to the landing pad.
As Stran and Asti finally ran through the no-weapon zone, turned up the
corridor and entered the great hall, many stormtroopers began to emerge from
the smoke, firing.
{GO!!} snarled Menarggrah. Dar, Surge and the two young Jedi ran after
Stoge. Karlos stayed with the Wookiee only a moment longer, the two taking
down four more stormtroopers between them, then the two made a fighting
retreat, covered by Surge and Straun from the conference room door.
More and more stormtroopers were pouring into the great hall and
advancing rapidly after the fleeing Rebels. As the last of the group made it
to the conference room, Straun surveyed the mass of white armour and wondered
how long he would live. There were too many of them, they were coming too
fast...
That's when the leading stormtroopers passed the automatic doors
leading to the living quarters. They squeaked open quickly and a deep,
metallic voice intoned:
"YOU DO NOT BEAR REPUBLICAN IDENTIFICATION".
As he stabbed at the conference room door button, Yabud heard the
chattering of heavy slugs and saw the first five stormtroopers fall like
rag dolls. The stormtroopers returned fire, and the Jawa knew with a twinge
of sadness that it would soon be overrun by the elite, white armoured
soldiers. Then the door hissed shut, and Yabud placed the muzzle of his
Jawa blaster to the door controls. With a surge of electricity and an
electronic squeal, the door was fused shut. Hearing the furious exchange
of slugs and energy, then blaster fire hitting the door, he turned away.
They ran. Up the twisting, turning passageway, out onto the pad and
into the SLAVE II in what was almost a barely controlled panic. Stoge had
the ship warmed up and as soon as the ship was closed it leaped from the
pad, soaring upward with as much speed as he could coax out of the engine.
Momentarily, Stoge was grateful he hadn't stopped off for a few drinks with
Muckle.
Some of them were even optimistic enough to think that their troubles
were over until they cleared the mountains and saw the third dropship below
them. Having just deposited its full complement of troops at the Jedi base's
secondary entrance, it was taking off and seizing its target of opportunity.
The two ships rocketed skyward, the state-of-the-art dropship
gaining on the sluggish SLAVE II. Bindibar 2 dropped beneath them rapidly
as the Rebels raced for the limits of the planet's gravity well. Menarggrah,
frowning in concentration over the charts, began to plot their course to
Bermil. Stoge was reminded of their escape from Perodeen, in which he had
been flying an academic database with an engine, and swore to himself. Would
he never get a decent ship?
Menarggrah started entering the numbers into the astronav computer
as the SLAVE II came within range of the dropship cannons. The Imperial
craft fired, and in a bright volley of fire hit the SLAVE II amidships. The
ship lurched and the Rebels were thrown around violently. Straun moaned as
his ship's new energy shielding was blown away with the hammering pass.
Stoge threw the ship desperately around in the sky, making the
dropship miss with its next pass as Menarggrah finished entering the
numbers and the nav computer began thinking astronavigational thoughts.
Surge mopped his brow and glanced at their altitude. They were a
long way up, perhaps the ionosphere. It was going to be close.
"HURRY UP!" he shouted at the calculating nav computer.
With a concussive lurch the SLAVE II was hit directly in the right
side of it's engine. Stoge felt a shock of horror as the controls went
totally slack in his hands. There was a sickening roller-coaster feeling
as the ship hit the top of its engineless arc, then it began its long fall
toward the surface of Bindibar 2.
The stormtrooper dropship's guns fell silent. It turned away, its
job completed. The SLAVE II had no engine use and no control, and it was
at the upper limits of Bindibar 2's gravity well. It dropped away from
the Imperial craft and in seconds was a speck against the planet.
Stoge waggled the control column uselessly. It was totally dead.
"I might as well be playing with my.." he snarled until cut off
by Yabud.
[Maybe something can be done] he said, heading back inside the
ship.
The rear of the ship was full of smoke, as a small fire had
broken out behind some of the panelling. Snatching up a fire extinguisher,
the Jawa jetted the flames with synthfoam, then ripped off the panelling.
The Slave II was now flying like an eighteen-metre brick. It
plummeted downward leaving a thick black plume across the heavens.
Menarggrah joined Yabud as they inspected the internal damage. The
control lines were melted and most of the engine power shunt had blown
into metallic mush. It didn't look good. They shifted their feet constantly
to try to regain balance at the faulting ship's gravity system.
Yabud set to work on the control lines at a panicked speed, joining
things where it looked right and ripping bits off where it didn't. Menarggrah
cleared away the mess around the power shunt and found that the main power
fuse had not just blown but exploded, taking the housing with it. He picked
up what was left of the fuse and motioned to Yabud.
{We need something to use as a fuse} he shouted desperately.
[Huh?] Yabud totally failed to understand him, and resumed furiously
splicing wires.
Menarggrah pointed to the fuse parts and howled.
"Gonk" said a voice behind them.
Even in that desperate moment both of them turned to face the
power droid as he painstakingly plodded to them. His photoreceptor narrowed
in concentration and then went out as something was ejected onto the floor.
It was the droid's primary fuse.
Marvelling at such simple bravery, the Wookiee scooped it from the
floor and measured it against the engine shunt. It might work, but it was
going to take a jury-rigging miracle. He disconnected the power from where
he was working and, snatching tools from Yabud's kit, began roughly sizing
the connection.
By now the SLAVE II had reached terminal velocity, screaming
planetward in an uncontrolled spin. Stoge, through pilot's instinct, still
sat doggedly at the useless controls, and had resigned himself to entering
final hyperspace when the control column regained life in his hands. As
Yabud chittered triumphantly in the rear of the ship, Stoge realised that
he now at least had use of maneuvering thrusters.
But they were backwards.
Putting a stream of profanity between him and death, he fought to
bring the ship out of the spin, and had almost succeeded when the right
side of the main engine kicked in with a cough. Once the pilot compensated
for the additional thrust he used it and, with an heroic effort of piloting,
brought the SLAVE II out of the spin.
Menarggrah and Yabud re-entered the cockpit as Asti told everyone
to strap themselves in. Everyone did so, some going into the lounge and
using the acceleraton chairs there. Yabud also stacked a pile of cushions
on himself (as if it would help), knowing he had done his part.
It was now up to Stoge.
Sweat beaded on his forehead as he glanced out the main viewport.
Though they had a little use of the main drive and the maneuvering thrusters,
there was not enough to stop their fall, let alone get altitude. The hasty
repairs may lessen the impact, but that was all. They were going in, and
Bindibar 2 was coming up awfully fast. The chances were, quite realistically,
that they were all going to die.
"The damage we all take depends totally on you" Straun realised,
totally failing to help Stoge in his concentration.
"Don't feel pressured, dear" Asti added.
They could easily make out detail now. They were coming down almost
half the planet away from where they had taken off. Forest stretched as far
as they could see from the low altitude. Stoge fought for a shallow angle.
Fear tingled in him and then detonated. This was it. He fought with the
reversed controls.
The screaming, smoking ship crashed through the thick canopy of
the treetops with a violent jolt. For a split second they could see the
forward sensor dish being torn from the ship, hitting the viewport and
disappearing over them, then there was only the tempest of leaves followed
by the final, terrible crash. They were thrown forward sharply. Acceleration
straps bit deep.
Then there was only the eerie, deafening silence.
(ping!) went the nav computer.
They started to move. Straun, who was already wounded from the
drone in the Jedi base, had been knocked out, Asti had a nasty arm wound,
and Karlos was stunned for a few moments.
Other than that, everyone was ok.
They erupted into cheering, reckless, uncontrolled happiness at
being alive and escaping what had seemed certain death. Acceleration straps
were released, and Stoge received a sound pummeling of back-slapping.
----\\----
The technician kicked a section of panelling in disgust.
"Useless. Utterly useless. They wiped it all and cut it up to
make sure". He turned to the stormtrooper sergerant standing in the huge
hole in the wall, which had been the only way the Imperials had been able
to circumnavigate the weight-inducing force field.
"We can do nothing here".
The armoured figure acknowledged him with a nod, then turned to
one of his subordinates.
"Begin a ground search for the Rebel scum. Conduct deployment along
last known vector, and inform the Lieutenant".
----\\----
The junior officer strode nervously onto the bridge of the Victory
Class Star Destroyer DESECRATOR and crashed to attention. He tried hard to
sound triumphant.
"Sirs, we have located Jedi base 1138 and penetrated to its
database!".
The officer turned to face him and spoke with a twinge of sarcasm.
"Most impressive. So where is the droid?"
"We..er, the Rebel slime were able to erase the database before we
arrived..". He brightened "But we were, however, able to shoot them down
before they escaped, so.."
"SHOT THEM DOWN??" the man in hooded, dark grey robes grated. "They
now have the only link to phase one of the Emporer's project, Lieutenant".
"We ARE searching for them, sirs. They will not escape us".
The robed man raised his arms, and sizzling arcs of energy
erupted from his outstretched hands. The Lieutenant lurched and screamed
in agony, flailing helpless before the onslaught. Below them, the crew
coordinators of the DESECRATOR suddenly became very involved in their
work.
The grey robed man ceased his attack and the officer dropped to
his knees, wheezing and gasping. The robed man adressed him in warning.
"I tire of your bumbling incompetance, Lieutenant. You will not
fail us again".
"Indeed" added the officer beside him. Drawing his blaster, he
shot the Lieutenant cleanly through the head.
----\\----
The SLAVE II lay on its right side in a deep depression in the
black earth and humus of the forest floor. The smoke had ceased with
the ship's plunge and now it had settled into a thin haze around the
craft.
Inside, Menarggrah stood on tiptoe and held the Jawa high. Yabud
grasped the ramp lever and it hissed..up and open. Hoisting himself up,
he stood "atop" the ship, on it's left wall.
He started to move forward and stopped when he felt the ship's
rocking motion. Looking back inside, he jabbered until they understood
that the ship was very unstable and might crash down on either side, then
gingerly crawled forward with the other end of his rope. He scrambled to
earth over the cockpit, noting as he did so that the viewport was cracked,
and tethered his rope to a tree. Menarggrah made it fast on his end, and
the ship was rendered slightly more stable. With much caution, everyone left
the ship (including Straun, who had been expertly healed by Surge).
For the moment they left the ship where it was and examined the area.
Karlos spotted something glinting some way off and, investigating, found
the sensor dish that had been ripped off. He and Dar carried it back to the
ship, Karlos dropping it once and complaining about the weight. Dar then
vanished into the trees and proceeded to scout the area.
Straun spotted a metallic object high above, in the spectacular
hole they had punched through the forest canopy. Though it was extremely
high up an on thin branches the problem of retrieving it was solved by
Menarggrah who used his Wookiee's climbing claws to expertly climb the
tree, in his element. Some vigorous branch shaking and the part was
found to be a section of engine casing with some connections wired to it.
The next problem was how to get the ship righted without damaging it.
Karlos went off to find Dar and Surge located a sizeable log that could be
used to their advantage. Asti's Force Lash made short work of it, and Surge,
Stoge, Asti, Straun, Menarggrah and Yabud (who complained that he had most of
the weight) struggled with it back to the ship.
Once the SLAVE II was securely roped to stop it toppling on them as
they worked, they dug a shallow hole at the bottom side of the ship and
manually lowered the right rear landing skid. The rest of the landing
gear followed, allowing the hydraulics to cushion the impact of the fall
when they dropped the ship. The ropes were removed and the log was leaned
agianst the top side of the SLAVE II, and with a heavy thud it dropped onto
its landing gear, upright.
The engine was immediately seen to by Yabud, Menarggrah and Surge
(who, while no engineer, nevertheless had great ability with technical
matters). Leaves and dirt were brushed away to find that the inductor coolant
fan was missing and the modulation housing was totally blown away. They
set to work, doing what they could, borrowing small bits from elsewhere and
leaving out non-essential parts.
Karlos, meanwhile, had found Dar stalking a small, hapless and
possibly edible furry animal of some kind. The native, after expressing
anger at Karlos scaring it away, decided to search for water in the event
of their stay being longer than expected. Karlos followed him downhill
through the trees.
In a deeply shaded gulley a small stream wended its pool-and-riffle
way under the trees. Dar knelt, sniffed at the water, then cupped handfuls
to his mouth. The peaceful scene was interrupted when Karlos blurted:
"Hey! what's that?"
They peered downstream to where a graceful, willowlike tree bowed
gracefully over the water. At the base of the tree something white was
gleaming indistinctly among some wispy grass.
They strode silently to see what it was. Dar was still getting used
to seeing other worlds, and their variety amazed him. White stones,
perhaps? maybe a jelly-like life form..
They drew near and had just noticed that the white gleaming things
were in fact bones when one of the tree's tendrils wrapped around Dar,
pinning his arms to his sides, and lifted him bodily from the ground.
"Shoot it! Kill it!" Dar cried, but Karlos was already moving. Seeing
his chance to execute an excellent shot, Karlos sighted at the tendril and,
pulling the trigger hard, missed with style.
Dar was getting short of breath. He flexed his massive muscles and
tried to reach his sword or vibroblade but the tendril was like a living
wire around him.
Karlos fired at the tendril again, and once more he missed. The
gunfighter frowned to himself. He must be getting rusty.
Dar thrashed furiously but was starting to feel an intense pressure
in his head as his circulation slowed. He lost feeling in his legs.
"Oh well" Karlos trained the gun on the trunk of the tree instead.
His aim true, the explosive bullet blasted a large hole in the plant that
started to ooze a thick white sap. Dar dropped to the ground and started
rubbing his legs to restore the circulation, muttering something about the
cost he paid for the professional pride of Karlos Trialeki. They started
back to the SLAVE II.
When they arrived Menarggrah was reattaching the sensor dish to the
front of the ship. The crack in the viewport would normally have meant
explosive decompression if they tried to go into space with it, but this
was remedied by Karlos' use of the transparisteel spray can that he obtained
from the Sacred Bag of Treasure on Gaarla. Once the viewport was mended they
were ready to run diagnostics.
Stoge fired up the system. Engine at slightly over two-thirds
power, but they could limp out of here with it. Life support ok, Grav ok,
comm a bit damaged but useable, FORGET the shields, sensors..
Sensors..
"Uh, guys?" he called out as they heard whining engines approaching
from the east.
The group scattered into the forest, not wanting to give a clear
signal to any craft that may have had life form indicators. The thick
canopy was a very obscuring visible barrier but they could still make out the
shape of a stormtrooper dropship coasting low over the forest. It hovered
for a long moment over the hole in the canopy, then turned away to the south.
"They missed us?" Surge wondered as they came back to the SLAVE II".
Stoge raised an eyebrow. "I doubt it. It's more likely they're looking
for a place to set down". He started prepping the ship, thinking unpleasant
thoughts about Imperial speeder bikes racing through the forest.
There was some general disagreement about whether or not to take
off and risk getting shot down again, but to remain was certain capture.
The SLAVE II lifted gently from the forest floor, and with some careful
maneuvering Stoge flew the ship out through the hole they had made on the
way in.
Bursting for the trees, the ship clawed for height. Straun scanned
the area with the sensors and easily located the dropship a few kilometres
away. It was on the ground and remained unmoving as they shot skyward.
----\\----
No matter how much the pilot wanted them to, heavy scanning equipment,
speeder bikes and many personnel were NOT put on and off a dropship in mere
seconds, and though there was much rushing, cursing and the occasional
demotion, the dropship was terribly delayed and the crew could only watch the
scanners helplessly as their quarry flew away from them.
----\\----
Menarggrah charted the course on the nav computer.
"Trouble" Straun reported. "Something's in orbit".
The other ship, whatever it was, turned on an intercept course to
cut them off. "Too slow for a fighter" Stoge commented. "Do a focus".
The young Jedi complied with Menarggrah's help, and they identified
it as a Lambda class shuttle. As they (once again) reached the upper atmosphere
of the planet, it proceeded to close on them.
"Some of those shuttles are armed" informed Surge.
Stoge replied doubtfully. "It's well within range of any weapons it
might have.."
The gap closed.
Menarggrah {Rrrff}ed worriedly.
"It seems to be betting that its hull is better than ours" Asti
implied the collision with a trace of alarm creeping into her tone.
"It probably is" conceded Stoge "I'll try and dodge it, but brace for
a ram".
They all went for the acceleration couches again. Menarggrah watched
in shock as the respective blips merged into one despite Stoge's dodging,
then with a muffled (CLANG!) the ship lurched and they saw every rivet of a
wing as the shuttle swept in front of them at an awkward angle.
{Passing again} Menarggrah reported.
Stoge successfully dodged this time, then they were free of the
gravity well of Bindibar 2 and open space lay before them.
(ping!) went the nav computer, and with the pull of a lever they
vanished into a kaleidoscope of flashing distance.
----\\----
Hours later..
The SLAVE II dropped out of hyperspace in the Bermil system. Stoge took
in the grand view of the grey-green planet before them and wondered what to do.
"A planet's a pretty big place to look, guys. Was the database info
a LITTLE more specific?"
Asti shook her head as Straun spoke mechanically.
"Picking up something on the sensors, in stable orbit around the
planet".
"The slavers' ship" Asti stated with conviction.
Stoge turned toward it and they limped in its direction at a sluggish
pace. When they got closer the ship came into view.
It was approximately sevently metres long, step-tapered from the
two cylindrical engines at the bottom rear to the bulbous, glassy cockpit
at the front. Two small blaster cannon turrets were located amidships (at
top and bottom), and as they drew close they could see the faded name
FELL INFIDEL painted on the side. It seemed to be heavily modified,
patched and jury-rigged. Blaster cannon damage was apparent in several
places, and those watching were amazed at the accuracy of how some of the
maneuvering thrusters and hyperdrive had been surgically blasted away.
"Looks like they made one AWESOME pilot mad" Stoge commented.
The real surprise, however, came into view when the SLAVE II coasted
gently to the rear of the silent ship. It had a tiny docking bay that
was big enough to house two starfighter-sized ships, and even this was
unusual in that it could be covered by a heavy door that slid upward when
putting out/taking in ships.
{Unbelievable!} gasped Menarggrah. {No ship that small has a docking
bay!} He considered the amount of power needed to drive the essential
atmosphield generator.
Straun looked puzzled. "What sort of ship IS this, anyway?" Stoge
didn't know, nor did Menarggrah.
"It's an Antrola medium transport" Surge stated simply.
They all looked at him.
The docking bay was open, and jutting out of it was the twisted
wreckage of a Z-95 headhunter. Tethered inside the INFIDEL, however, was
a sleek, gleaming white starfighter.
Stoge's eyes lit up.
It was obvious that the fighter was something in the Z-series,
evidenced by the style of the nose and cockpit (which were similar to a
headhunter or X-Wing), but the ship had five wings. A small dorsal wing
projected straight up from behind the cockpit, Two wings jutted out from
the fuselage similar to the headhunter, and there were two smaller ones
below them, indicating greater atmospheric maneuvering capability. The
latter four wings were now folded up to the dorsal one, and they could
just make out the four triple blasters; two on the main wings and another
two on the nose.
"It's beautiful" Stoge sighed, clearly in love.
"Let's get inside that thing" Straun said sensibly "and see if the
droid's in there.." he fell silent as a clanging sound was heard above them.
A large, black, metallic cylinder detached itself from the top of
the SLAVE II and jetted toward the FELL INFIDEL with small thrusters. When
it reached the docking bay it split into three; the right section producing
arms and vanishing into the darkness of the ship, the middle section hovering
in space while pulsing a flashing red beacon and the left section producing
an internal blaster and waiting.
"An Imperial troid" Asti said knowingly.
"What the.. how did.." babbled Karlos.
{The shuttle} explained Menarggrah angrily, hopelessly.
"It didn't ram us at all" said Surge bitterly.
Straun started back toward the suits at the rear of the SLAVE II.
"Come on, let's get in there".
There was momentary indecision over who would use the other suit.
Karlos refused to try his eight-gun in space, and Stoge pointed out that
he could use the suit's jetpack better. He suited up with Straun, and
they entered the lock.
Menarggrah turned the ship so that the lock was facing away from the
blaster-wielding third of the droid, and the two Rebels left the ship. Straun
jetted down underneath the SLAVE II as Stoge came over the top, and they
attacked from the two fronts.
Those watching from the SLAVE II felt a moment of helpless fear as
they attacked, knowing what would happen if Stoge's or Straun's suits were
hit by blaster fire, but there were only two shots that narrowly missed
Straun before they blew it into scrap. Stoge shot at the "beacon" third,
but it merely dodged and fled out into space. Wasting no time, they
entered the FELL INFIDEL.
The darkness inside the docking bay was partially driven back by
their suit lights as they approached. Stoge immediately went to the star-
fighter and looked it over carefully. Being in space it could not, of
course, rust, and when the last sentient (Miguel Solarwind?) had climbed
out of the cockpit it had been virtually new. Up close Stoge could tell that
it had the thick hull and shielding of the Z-95 (which was famous for its
ability to soak up damage in combat), but he could see no sign of a hyperdrive
motivator.
Straun passed it without pause, all purpose now that his goal was
in sight. An exit at the far left end of the docking bay took him into
a corridor that turned right and to the left were both an escape pod and
a cargo elevator.
To the right two corpses floated placidly in space, garbed in
casual clothes in an old style. They had been killed by blaster fire.
One of them had something attached to his face, clamped on with many thin
appendages with a tail that wound around his next, then Straun saw that
the "tail" continued to an oxygen bottle on the man's belt and realised
that it was an old breathing mask.
Beyond the corpses where heavy power feeder cables on the roof
joined together was a large leathery object of some kind, an intricate
mass of it. As Stoge entered the corridor behind him the mass began to
move and exploded in a cloud of batlike creatures that clouded the
corridor in panic at his lights.
Stoge and Straun fired at the mynocks, easily taking them out
(especially at such short range) and trying not to hit anything in the
ship. Straun panicked when one came right at him and clamp it's sucker-
loke mouth directly on the faceplat of his suit, eyestalks waggling. The
young jedi reflexively brought his blaster up to shoot the thing before
Stoge slapped his arm away (preventing Straun from blowing his own head off)
and carefully shot it from him.
When they had cleared all the mynocks away from the power cables they
found that the cables were only lightly damaged and serviceable. Stoge
investigated the elevator and found that it had a manual crank in case of
power failure, so he went down into the hold as Straun passed the power
cables to find the main external airlock of the INFIDEL, another escape
pod, and a branching corridor passing through the middle of the ship.
This he took, passing a storage room and two rooms that were obviously crew
quarters.
The corridor ended in a well-furnished lounge with a holoprojector
in the middle, biofeedback exercisers to his right, a small kitchenette to
his left, and another door in front of him. There were many more bodies
drifting through the room, one in an Old Republic Uniform. It was quite
short, and Straun guessed that it may have been the apprentice that his
father had taken with him. Many of the dead bodies had been cut in half
by something.
----\\----
Stoge was shocked to find the carnage in the hold. It was full of bodies,
all killed by explosive decompression, all shackled together. The silence
unnerved him. Three more mynocks presented themselves only to be easily
killed by the pilot's blaster. There was no sign of a droid, Old and
valuable or new and Imperial.
----\\----
The corridor on the far side of the lounge opened to a corridor
(filled with bodies) that passed two more crew quarter rooms and the
ladder leading to the gun wells, and finally entered the bridge. Through the
tinted sheet of the suit helmet and with a tingling at the base of his spine,
Straun first beheld the final resting place of Miguel Solarwind, his father.
The bridge was spacious and provided excellent all-round visibility
to the pilot, as the pilot's chair was in a bubble that projected forward
from the bridge and was accessed via a short catwalk. To his right were the
stations for the sensors/shields officer and the astronavigation/comm
officer. Next to the pilot was a manual emergency lock, which was open.
In front of it was a body in a suit that had a blaster burn in the chest,
and in front of that the robes of a Jedi floated in space.
Straun had heard the stories of what happened to a Jedi at their
death, but a small part of him still expected to see his father's body.
He was inwardly glad that he had been spared the sight, and in a second
took in two more facts: hanging from the drifting belt before him was his
father's lightsaber, and to his left was Intelligence/Infiltration unit DP4.
The droid had obviously shut itself down long ago, seemingly an
old, tired manual labour droid (as it had been designed to appear), roughly
human shaped and polygonal in structure. Clamped to the back of its head
was the third section of the Imperial troid, boring into its head with
an unknown implement. It paused as if feeding.
When Straun moved his blaster to fire, the thing disengaged and it
jetted toward the open emergency lock on its maneuvering thrusters. Straun
fired but missed and it soared out of the FELL INFIDEL into open space.
After cursing his luck, Straun closed the emergency lock and
inspected the ship's controls. Stoge had joined him by this time, and
after hearing the news, went back to the docking bay. He slowly cleared the
wrecked Z-95 from under the docking bay door and Menarggrah gently eased
the tiny SLAVE II inside.
When the power was activated the door closed at once. It took
several minutes for life support to charge the reserve tanks and filters
and filled the ship with breathable atmosphere. They all set to work,
removing bodies, repairing systems. Straun was carrying some tools to the
hold when the vision struck without warning.
~Bodies fell in droves as he struck. Some fired blasters at him, of
course, but guided by the Force it was a simple matter to deflect most of
the bolts back or dodge them. Smirr was fighing furiously behind him.
They were almost at the bridge.
Behind most of the frenzied combatants he could see one of the
slavers climbing into a space suit. He guessed that the man was desperate
enough to kill all of his comrades rather than die himself and was preparing
to decompress the ship and kill them all. As he watched, the man shut down
the main power and gravity left them.
He may have thought it would slow him down, but it actually helped
Straun (Straun? why would he think of his son now?). The slavers may have
been disoriented, but loss of gravity was no obstacle to a Jedi. He drew
his blaster with his free hand and shot the suited man in the chest.
The slaver grasped the wound in agony and spat blood into his
helmet, then looked at the Jedi cutting a swathe of destruction through
his men, then back at the lever. It shouldn't have turned out this way, he
didn't WANT to die. Curse the Jedi! curse them! he wrenched the lever..
"Straun? you okay?"
Straun looked at Asti leaning over him and wondered what he was
doing on the floor. She'd felt.. something powerful happening to him from
the other side of the ship and came at once. He lay there for a while,
exhausted, then climbed shakily to his feet.
After two hours they had regained the hyperdrive and some use of
the maneuvering thrusters. Not wanting to stay around when an Imperial
homing beacon was nearby, they resumed work with vigour.
Those in the bridge saw a gigantic blur as something flashed over
the ship and disappeared behind the planet. Asti gasped.
It had been the shape of an arrowhead.
"To Kessel with the rest of the thrusters" said Stoge. "Let's get
out of here!!"
They exploded into action. Karlos ran to the top turret and Surge took
the lower one. Stoge was all for testing the starfighter but it's power plant
was dead. They fired the main drive as the huge shape crested the planetary
horizon and the comm came on.
"FELL INFIDEL, this is the Imperial Victory Class Star Destroyer
DESECRATOR. You are requested to lower your shields and hold position".
Stoge perormed a simple gesture through the cockpit that he liked to
call "popping the birdie".
Straun dumped the coordinates to the USURPER from the SLAVE II and
uploaded it to the FELL INFIDEL's nav computer.
"It's launching fighters!" Asti reported from the sensors as Stoge
headed them away from the planet. Twelve fighters and six bombers raced at
them in groups of three.
"I think they want us pretty bad" said Surge as they maneuvered
for the hyperspace jump, pointing slightly above the DESECRATOR.
"Missiles running!" said Asti.
{At this range?} said Menarggrah. Then Stoge wrenched the hyperspace
lever and they blurred over the Imperial giant. Everyone cheered as the
familiar tunnel of hyperspace came into view.
"We made it!" Dar yelled in a rare display of emotion.
Sweat trickled down Stoge's forehead. He was breathing heavily.
"What is it?" said Straun.
"It was the Star Destroyer that fired the missiles" he said.
"Whoever runs that ship knows their stuff, that thing is covered in tube
launchers. It saw that our hyperspace vector was going directly over them
and sent up a torpedo cloud. Even if one capital-class missile didn't wipe
us out, if one came even close the hyperspace shadow would have dumped us
in realspace right over the top of it".
Everyone went silent.
----\\----
As the two tiny specks of the remaining parts of the Imperial
troid entered the docking bay of the DESECRATOR, the man in dark grey
robes turned jubilantly to the man beside him.
"It has the information, my friend. Phase one is as good as ours!"