Fiction Gallery

Manually added by Warlord Arden Karn di Plagia

Manually added by Warlord Arden Karn di Plagia

Manually added by Warlord Arden Karn di Plagia

Manually added by Warlord Arden Karn di Plagia

“Beep! Beep! Beep!” Kadrol awoke at 08:00 to the sound of an incoming transmission on his Inquisitorius comlink located in the top drawer of his nightstand. Wearily, the Pantoran rolled over and opened the drawer, reaching into it to silence the nuisance. Kadrol had stayed up late the last night partying in celebration of his recent knighting. Picking up the device, he pressed a rectangular button on the front, playing a pre-recorded message.

“Operatives, we have discovered intel critical to taking out Capital Enterprises. We have located the Meridian. Your Mission, Inquisitors, is to take out as many critical support systems for the station as you can. Completing this mission will deliver a crippling blow to the Collective’s finances, which will shift this war heavily in our favor. Over and out.”

Kadrol was tired, but the threat of the Collective was growing by the day. He couldn’t pass up an opportunity to cripple the faction that wanted him dead. The knight got out of bed and hurriedly poured a bowl of Lucky Stars, his favorite cereal. After having a quick breakfast, he suited up in his Jedi Armor, grabbing a few other items he might need. He hurried into one of Scholae Palatinae’s civilian hangars, where members’ personal ships were stored, and climbed into his Fang Fighter. Kadrol did a quick systems check and put on his headset comlink. After having completed all system checks, Kadrol ignited the engines and took off, leaving the atmosphere of Ragnath, heading off to the location of the Meridian.

10:00

Approaching the location of the Meridian, Kadrol dropped his ship out of hyperspace. As he witnessed the space station already engulfed in a huge dogfight, Kadrol commanded the droid brain within his ship to run a scan of the station to locate the systems. The droidbrain whirred in compliance, and Kadrol started an attack run. A map highlighting the location of the objectives popped up on the display screen after Kadrol had closed the distance by about half. Kadrol rotated his entire ship to the right, setting a course to take out the shielding system of the Meridian.

That’s when he noticed an enemy fighter top left of him. Keeping the same course, Kadrol rotated the wings and fired three shots. Having led the oncoming ship, his first shot missed, but the second and third shots hit, the last one penetrating the fuselage and destroying the ship.

Having destroyed his target, Kadrol rolled the wings back down to their default position, drawing ever nearer to the Meridian. Coming into close enough range for an accurate shot at the shields, Kadrol fired a burst of shots at his targets. Each of the shots were absorbed by the shields as they made impact.

As the knight pulled around for another pass, he noticed that the basic shielding could be penetrated with enough concentrated firepower. He unleashed another flurry of shots, again absorbed by the shields. Pulling out for his next run, Kadrol spotted a pair of fighters on his tail. He could dodge their shots by rotating the wings, but it would be extremely difficult for him to shake them. Luckily, a friendly star fighter took out one of them before firing a missile directly onto the shield’s weak spot, exposing a hole approximately a meter in diameter right next to the generator. Kadrol pulled into a loop, and fired a single shot into the rear end of the ship that was tailing him.

Kadrol pulled his ship for another run at the shields, knowing that with a well placed shot, he could take out the entire shield system. Kadrol slowed his approach, lining up the perfect spot, and fired the single guided proton torpedo fostered within the vessel. The shot flew right through the hole, which was already starting to reform, and struck the base of the tower from which the shield was forming. Upon impact with the tower, the torpedo exploded, shattering the tower into countless pieces. A hole formed in the shield near the epicenter of the explosion, and crept across the shield, gradually eroding it. The shields were down.

The knight had a split second to decide whether to make an attack on the station’s reactor core or fuel storage system. ‘Without another proton torpedo, taking out either of the two systems accessible from the exterior of the space station will be nearly impossible. Besides, there are many more fighters supporting the Brotherhood that will get it.’ Kadrol thought to himself. Continuing to fly away from the space station, Kadrol had the droid brain in his fighter aid him in calculating the hyperspace coordinates to punch in. After various calculations, the Pantoran punched the starfighter into lightspeed for his return to Ragnath.

Upon his return, Kadrol was exhausted, the adrenaline of the fight that he was a part of two hours ago wearing off. He really couldn’t even be bothered to get out of his armor, barely pausing to remove his headset and the plastoid shell of his Jedi armor, before plopping himself back into bed. ‘Nothing more today, please.’ Kadrol thought, pleading to nobody in particular.

Objective 2: Investigation

Outer Rim Territories Kessel Sector Kessel System Space

Caution Advised: Ghafa Ordam is not be engaged if at all avoidable. Danger level: Request Assistance Immediately.

The data transmission had been relatively clear on the danger of an upfront approach. Which had not stopped Kul from finding himself with his hands cuffed in front of him, and his weapons on a table behind him. He always had enjoyed the straightforward approach more.

Kul did not let his eyes stray from the Nautolan as she returned his gaze with obvious hatred. Her hands clenched a few times before she placed both behind her back in a standard at rest stance. The troopers stationed around the room seemed oblivious with their deathly still posture, but the Zabrak knew they were keeping fingers on triggers and their entire focus on him.

Good.

He must have let his mental sneer leak onto his face, because the Nautolan stuck out her left hand and pressed a button on the controller in it. Electrical arcs coursed through the cuffs into Kul and his body tensed with pain as he doubled over slightly. He did not cry out, instead responding with a defiant growl. Rather than using the device again, the Nautolan winced as she looked at it before handing it to an aide at her side. She took a step closer and every guard in the room prepared for any move the Zabrak might make. As tall as she was for her species, Ghafa had to slightly raise her eyes to look into the Zabrak’s. She let her gaze slip to the buckle attached to his waist, a Plagueian insignia transcribed upon it.

“You must be overconfident in your abilities if you thought to wear that so openly aboard my ship, Sith.” She flung the last word at him, along with bits of spittle. “I find it hard to believe that a member of the Brotherhood’s slaver clan would have sought me out not knowing what I am.”

Kul gave her a crooked grin.

“Oh I know exactly what you are, Ordam. A means. To the Collective’s end. My hunt for you was only the search for the tracks, but I have found the prey itself. Against the combined efforts of the Brotherhood, you will soon find yourself back in a cage.”

Kul could see the rage flash across her eyes, but to her merit the Nautolan maintained her poise as she stalked around to Kul’s rear. She picked up the small shoto saber they had taken from him upon capture up off the table and ran her hands over the dragon head carved into the hilt. Her hand paused as she caressed the cold steel, eyes flicking over the two ryyk blades lying beside each other. A frown crossed her lips as a thought came to her. She turned back to Kul, who stared back as if in expectation. Ghafa pointed at the hilt in her hand.

“This saber, what kind is it?”

“It is a form of shoto.”

“A saber of this small size would be useless on its own, would it not?”

The Zabrak’s grin expanded.

“Indeed. It is a parrying saber.”

Ghafa’s grip tightened on the saber, triggering the activation. The small crimson blade hummed while its light reflected the deep red of her own eyes.

“So where is the other saber you would possess, then?”

“I must have dropped it on the way here.”

The saber retracted its blade with hiss as Ghafa set it down and turned to face a trooper waiting patiently near the entrance. She could tell the Zabrak was lying, but something was still off about his answer.

“Sergeant--” The trooper snapped a quick salute and stepped forward. “--did the Zabrak not have a larger saber on him when you captured him?”

The soldier paused for a second as he considered what had transpired before shaking his head.

“No, ma’am. During our skirmish with him he used only the two curved swords. The small saber was taken from him afterwards.”

“And there were no survivors from his squad of troopers or on his ship?”

“None that we found during our scans.”

Ghafa marched up to Kul, deep red eyes swirling as her mind considered possibilities.

“Who has the other saber, Sith?”

The Zabrak cocked his head slightly.

“You’re almost asking the right question. It’s not exactly a who kind of issue, but a ‘why?’ You see, though my squad is indeed dead, they were not the only ones on my ship. One other remained and slipped out during the fighting. My daughter, Reeka. She’s small enough that she can hide just about anywhere.”

Raising his shackled hands, Kul pointed at the ventilation shaft lining the ceiling.

“Including there.”

Cursing to herself, Ghafa began spouting orders to the sergeant and the other officers within the Bridge area. Kul watched, satisfied to enjoy a minor victory. Ordam was touted as being a dangerous prey with intellect to counter any strategy one might throw at her, but today her cause would weaken as nothing but a small child told the searching Advanced Inquistor Network forces of Ordam’s exact position. As Ghafa turned back, Kul could not help but offer one more jab.

“She’s smart, my Reeka. Good with computers and the like, too. I’m not a betting man, but I’d wager that about now she’s sending a bright neon ‘Come get me!’ to any Inquisitorius forces nearby. I hope you’re prepared to entertain guests.”

The Zabrak laughed aloud this time, a guffaw that drove Ordam over the edge. She nodded to the aide, who clamped a thumb down on the remote. Kul spasmed as more electricity arced up his spine and drove him to his knees. He waited for the release but the pulses kept coming and his vision began to darken, his senses thrown wild. He realized two troopers had come up and were hauling him towards the blastdoor. On the edge of his hearing he heard Ordam shouting, but could not clearly make it out. Flashing red lights permeated the hall in a deep crimson glow, and Kul tried to grin.

The ship was under attack.

“An armor shipment?” the guard asked with a befuddled look upon his face. “”We aren’t do for an armor shipment for another month. Who did you say sent you again?”

“Look, like I told you before,” Jon said, doing his best to maintain the air of an aggravated but too-polite-to-come-out-and-say-it delivery boy, most likely some grunt barely into his first tour of duty. “I got the orders from Lieutenant Commanders Jenstas, from Regional Command!” There, in fact, really was a Lieutenant Commander Jenstas, and she did in fact work for Regional Command. Just not this region. But by the time the confusion had been sorted out, no doubt taking a half dozen or more trips up and down the chain of command, Jon would be in and out. 

“Bring it up with those guys if you like, but if I come back with this stuff-”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it,” the guard huffed out. He looked contemplative for a moment, though with his rather pudgy and sweaty face it look more like constipation, before reluctantly waving Jon and his “shipment” in.

“Take it into docking bay 4, alright?” the guard called after him.

“Docking bay 4, understood!” Jon promptly took the shipment to docking bay 1, which he noted was already over-full, and quickly left before anyone had a chance to notice. It’d be another level of confusion for them to sort through, and thus more time for Jon to work. He also took a shoulder bag from the second seat, and swung it over his shoulder before heading out.

A few moments later, Jon ducked into an alcove, and shuffled out of his workman’s clothes, revealing a security guard’s uniform, complete with an identification chip.

Jon walked the hallways confidently, and head held high. While cheap holodrama’s may give one the impression that sneaking from corner to corner and dodging every last worker to come your way was the key to stealth, Jon had learned young that most people didn’t look twice at anything they expected to see. Jon waved hello to a passing guard, like they were old friends. The passing guard didn’t spare him a second glance.

Jon followed the layouts he and Artemis had… acquired, to the room that they told him held the facility’s main computer banks. If that didn’t have what they were looking for… well, he’d find some other way to appease the Empress. That said, he still sent a quick prayer to any beings that might have been listening, and swiped his stolen chip in front of the scanner.

“Beep. Beep. Identification Accepted. Welcome, Dr. Arsdil.”

There was, in fact, a Dr. Arsdil, and he did, in fact, work in this facility. He also had a horrible drinking problem it seemed. Jon was sympathetic. Not enough to refuse taking advantage of that by buying the man a few extra drinks the night before, and swiping his identification chip, mind you, but… well, once the man recovered from the toxin Jon slipped his drink, he’d probably think twice before accepting drinks from strangers.

But, that was his business, and raiding this facility for its secrets was Jon’s.

Thankfully, the main computer room was empty, just as he’d hoped. Good, it made things easier on him that way. Jon had never had much skill at slicing, but Dr. Arsdil had more than enough security clearance to get what Jon was after. And, he noted with glee, a good number of other things the Imperials would be willing to pay for. Looked like he’d be able to afford those mods for the Carnival after all.

With that done, Jon quickly wiped down the terminals to erase any lingering fingerprints, and headed for the hangar bay. He only stopped long enough to change out of his security guard uniform, and into a pilot’s uniform he’d had stashed inside his shoulder bag.

For the first time since arriving, Jon hurried his pace. This next part of the plan actually required him to be a bit ahead of schedule if he wanted to make it out of this base in one piece.

Thankfully, Jon found the shuttle he was looking for just as its contingent of soldiers was climbing on board. Waiting next to the pilot’s seat was Artemis herself. Good to see she found her way here from inside the “Armor shipment” without any problems.

“You disable the tracker’s like we discussed Artemis?”

“Bloop, wah-wah.”

“Awesome, let’s get this thing out of here before the real pilot shows up, shall we?” Artemis quickly plugged into the shuttle’s terminal, and the ship took off. In the distance, Jon could hear the sound of a pilot shouting after them, but it was quickly drowned out by the sound of the thrusters.

“Oh!” Jon exclaimed. “I nearly forgot. You got the stun grenade?” Artemis beeped her confirmation, and cracked open a compartment, letting the little sphere fall free,and roll back into the cabin holding a half dozen meraxian soldiers. Jon had just a second to hear their cries of alarm before slamming the cabin door shut.

And with that, Jon finally allowed himself to relax, as he prepared to deliver a wealth of information, plus a few prisoners. All in all, an easy payday.