The Limmie Daylights/Prologue

The Limmie Daylights

Prologue

It was just another day on Coruscant. The Senate District was crowded with beings listening to Supreme Chancellor Valorum. He was giving a speech to the beings with cam droids floating around projecting his image on large screens above him. Speakers were also projecting his words.

Two MI5 operatives were among the crowd: the Zeltron Jace Bont and the Nosaurian Pandolfo Taproot. MI5, officially known as the Secret Galactic Intelligence Service, was an intelligence and anti-terrorist agency that worked to keep peace within the Galactic Republic. MI5 had recently gotten a tip that there may be an attempt on Chancellor Valorum's life during this speech, so agents Bont and Taproot were sent out to keep an eye on the situation.

Neither Bont nor Pandolfo were paying any attention to what Valorum was saying. They were too busy scoping out the area. Everything looked okay so far. Many Senate Guards wearing their blue robes and helmets were stationed in various places for the Chancellor's protection. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary...until Bont noticed movement on a balcony of a building across from Valorum's position.

Bont pulled binoculars from his coat to get a better look at the balcony. Zooming in with the binoculars, he saw a Senate Guard take off his blue helmet and pick up a sniper rifle.

Obviously something wasn't right.

Bont elbowed his Nosaurian counterpart and nodded up toward the balcony. Pandolfo looked up and squinted, trying to see it.

"Sniper," Bont said simply. "I'm gonna go get him."

Pandolfo nodded in acknowledgment as he watched Bont push his way through the crowd to reach the building with that balcony.

Bont entered the front doors of the building and headed for the turbolift. When the lift doors slid open, he found two Senate Guards standing there in the lift. They didn't move.

Bont hesitated. Were they exiting or not? Maybe they were in cahoots with the sniper. Bont entered casually and the door slid closed.

The lift moved upward.

For a moment there was silence between them. Then Bont said, "So, you guys seen any good holodramas lately?" He quickly threw an elbow into the stomach of the Guard to his right just as the Guard to his left swung the blaster from his shoulder. Bont grabbed the blaster before he could fire and tugged it out of his hands as he kicked the Guard. Bont spun on his heel and used the blaster like a club to bash it over the other Guard's head, knocking the helmet off. Bont threw a left hook into the man's face, knocking him backward.

The other Guard grabbed Bont from behind and wrapped his arms around his throat in a sleeper hold, choking the Zeltron agent. The helmet-less Guard began throwing punches into Bont's stomach. Bont's face was even more red than it was normally from the sleeper hold. Plus the punches were coming swiftly. He had to do something fast. Tapping into his combat training, he used what strength he had left and managed to bend forward, flipping the Guard head-first over his body and into the helmet-less Guard in front of him. Bont gave them one more kick to the head, knocking them out cold.

The lift finally reached it's destination and the doors slid open. Two Humans were standing there looking surprised to see two Senate Guards on the floor of the lift. Straightening the cuffs on his coat, Bont stepped out of the lift and between the Humans. "A touch of motion sickness," he said, pointing his thumb back toward the Guards.

Catching his breath from that chokehold, Bont entered the first room he came to. It appeared to be an apartment. A Human woman jumped up out of the chair and said, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"MI5 business, ma'am," Bont responded as he drew his standard issue blaster while making his way to the balcony. Nothing. No one on the balcony. He looked down at the crowd and realized he wasn't on the right balcony. He looked around to find the sniper five balconies away. "Damn it." He headed back into the room. He had to get to the correct balcony.

Below, Pandolfo was watching the sniper and waiting for Bont to stop him.

He heard Valorum say, "...and with that, I am officially kicking off my re-election campaign."

The crowd roared and cheered. The sound was deafening. With the binoculars, Pandolfo saw the sniper take aim. He yelled into his comlink, "Bont, the sniper!" Pandolfo immediately reached for his blaster. If he had to shoot at the sniper from the ground, he would try, but it was a pretty long distance.

Up in the building, Bont was being pestered by the female resident of the apartment as he was trying to leave. Bont then heard Pandolfo's message over the sound of the roaring crowd. He peeked down the hallway. He wouldn't make it in time. He decided to run back through that apartment, pushing the woman out of the way, and leap off the balcony.

Everything seemed to happen in slow-motion for Bont as soon as he left his feet and leaped through the air. He turned his whole body around and fired off blaster bolts toward the sniper. Bolts hit the balcony's banister as well as the sniper. The sniper flew backward from the shot, dropping the rifle.

Bont now found himself free-falling to the crowd below. The crowd of beings was so loud that no one heard the shots above them.

Bont looked down to see some of the cam droids hovering below him. He managed to grab one out of mid-air. The droid's repulsors struggled to stay afloat with the extra weight. The cam droid's feed to one of the vidscreens now showed a shaky, spinning camera view of the Senate District's skyline. And in front of that, was the top of Bont's head.

When the crowd saw that on the vidscreens, they gasped and looked up to see Bont hanging from a cam droid. As the droid slowly hovered closer to the ground and Bont realized it was a safe distance, he let it go, dropping the rest of the way and landing on his feet.

Pandolfo rushed over to him. "MI5 business!" he yelled, pushing his way through. When he reached Bont, he asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Bont replied. He looked up at the cam droid and suddenly had a sense of deja vu. He had been in a similar free-falling situation a year ago while on a mission with fellow agent Shasta Moonreaper on Bakura.

"When I saw you jump off that balcony..." Pandolfo started.

Bont shook his head. "The things I do for the Republic."

Chapters: Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Epilogue