Muunraker/Chapter 1

Muunraker

Chapter 1 "Will it blow up in my face?"

The sun was rising on a portion of Galactic City this crisp morning. Traffic was heavy in the speeder lanes as beings traveled to and from their destinations across the planet. The sunlight glinted off the spire of one of the taller skyscrapers. The slim, pointed tower rose above the other buildings in the immediate area. The tower sat on a wider platform, and further down, the bottom layers of the building got even wider. The layered building sat in the northern part of the Senate District, almost into the Temple District. The building was the main headquarters of the Secret Galactic Intelligence Service. It was there that the head of MI5, the man simply known as "M", oversaw the many missions carried out by the MI5 agents all across the galaxy.

As the morning went on and the sun rose higher into the sky, the hundreds of beings within MI5 Headquarters busily began working. M was trying to prepare his briefing for the new mission he was about to assign some of his agents, but he couldn't concentrate because Agent Shasta Moonreaper was complaining to him about how she despised her new rookie teammate.

"Reckless, arrogant, not able to take orders..." Shasta ticked them off using her fingers.

M, setting his files on the podium at the head of the Briefing Room, responded, "If I recall, you were a bit reckless as well."

"Yeah," Shasta agreed, nodding. "I realize that. But I didn't--"

"Moonreaper," M interrupted. "He's the new agent. Give him some time and he'll settle in."

"My ears are burning," a voice came from the doorway. "You talking about me? All good, I hope."

Both M and Shasta turned to see the Zeltron agent Jace Bont enter. Agent Europa Kapanen was on his arm, all smiles. She was a blond Human in her mid-20's. She had been with MI5 almost as long as Shasta. Europa started her career with the Royal Naboo Security Force, and later found an opportunity to join MI5. She also had a keen eye for attractive men.

"Hi, Shasta," Europa said, seeming bubbly from the Zeltrons pheromones.

Leaning in toward M, Shasta indicated Europa and said, "Can I add illegal use of government property to that list?"

M stepped toward the rookie agent. "I say, Bont," M said to him. "This fellow Jaws was mentioned in both your and Moonreaper's reports. But how do you know him?"

"He was some criminal we were chasing back when I was with CorSec. He's a killer. A hired assassin."

"What's with the cybernetic jaw?" Shasta asked.

Bont answered, "He needed it because his jaw bone was shattered in a fight."

"How do you know that?" Shasta asked again.

"I'm the one that shattered it."

Shasta glanced over at M.

Europa said, "He fought that half-man half-machine. Isn't he brave?" She looked up at him, batting her eyelashes.

"Oh, it was nothing, Ms. Kapanen," Bont added.

Shasta felt like gagging. Seeing Bont pour on the charm and watching Europa go gah-gah over him... This damn briefing couldn't get started fast enough.

M walked back to the podium just as two other agents entered the room. They were the non-Humans: Gruu Funkistann and Pandolfo Taproot. Gruu was a highly intelligent Gungan, not to mention Force-sensitive. He climbed the ranks to become a Jedi Knight. With permission from the Jedi Order, Gruu was allowed to join MI5.

Pandolfo Taproot was a bit shorter than the Gungan Jedi. Taproot was a Nosaurian warrior from New Plympto. Having escaped slavers on his home planet, he ended up on Coruscant where he joined up with MI5.

"Shasta," the Gungan extended a hand toward her. "It's-a good to be seein' you-sa again."

Taking his hand, Shasta smiled. "You too, Gruu." She then turned to Pandolfo. "How are you, Taproot?"

"Good, good. Hanging in there. That last mission to Hoth took it's toll on me."

"I heard," Shasta responded, patting his shoulder. "Good to see you finally up and around."

Gruu stepped over to Bont and Europa. "Europa, good to see you-sa as well." He turned to the Zeltron. "And you-sa must be da new guy."

"Yes." They shook hands. "The name's Bont, Jace Bont."

Now that the five main operatives M had summoned for the mission were present, he went ahead and asked them to take a seat. The agents sat around a half-circle-shaped table.

"Right," M started. "Now that you've all met the new agent, let's begin." He turned on the holo-projector and an image of Klay appeared between the podium and the agents. "This is Klay, the arms dealer we've been tracking for some time. With the help of Agents Moonreaper and Bont, he was brought in for questioning. We were hoping to stop the movement of his newest shipment of heavy weaponry."

M hit a button and the image switched to Jaws. "Since Klay is in custody, this man, known only as Jaws, will attempt to carry out the movement of the weapons. Through Klay's interrogation, we've managed to get the location of the weapons stash. They are currently on Fondor. And we now know that Jaws was most recently hired by billionaire Jordo Drax."

The holo-image changed to a Human man with short dark hair and a goatee. M continued, "This man is Drax, a Lorrdian who also happens to be co-owner of the Fondor Shipyards. He resides on Dantooine." The holo-image disappeared.

"All this information is currently being uploaded into your datapads. Gruu, Pandolfo and Shasta... You three are heading to Fondor. Stop the movement of those weapons and destroy them if possible. Europa, you and Jace will go to Dantooine to investigate Drax. You will be disguised as HoloNet reporters looking to do a piece on Drax and his estate."

Shasta knew that sending Bont and Europa on a mission alone was just asking for trouble. But she kept her mouth shut.

"Pack your things and pay a quick visit to Q'u Branch," M continued. "You are all leaving Coruscant within the hour. Good luck, and may the Force be with you."

- - - - - - - - - -

The Secret Galactic Intelligence Service was an intelligence and anti-terrorist organization mostly funded by the Galactic Republic. MI5, as it came to be called, was originally founded to aid the Jedi Order in non-Sith related criminal activity. It's actual founding date and members have been kept top secret. Only a few beings are allowed to know that information.

In recent years, MI5 had discovered the existance of SMERSH, an underground criminal organization with seemingly unlimited resources. SMERSH has been known to have operatives, bases, ships, and even small armies across the galaxy. MI5 has vowed to end SMERSH's reign in the underworld. In preventing SMERSH's galactic domination plans the past few years, MI5 has been aided by the special weapons and gadgetry developed by Q'u Branch.

Q'u Branch is MI5's technical department. It is headed by the Human male known only as Q'u. MI5 has numerous Q'u Branch workshops hidden throughout the galaxy to provide help to agents in the field, but it's main workshop was right inside MI5 Headquarters on Coruscant. Different rooms and laboratories of various sizes were all connected on one level of MI5 HQ, and the agents were heading to that level to meet with Q'u himself.

The door slid open and the five operatives walked in. All kinds of different noises could be heard, from drills and power tools to speeder engines revving. There were even a few blaster bolt noises. Many beings scurried around the lab busily working. They all wore long white lab coats.

"So this is the infamous Q'u Branch I've been hearing so much about," Bont stated.

"Yes," Shasta said flatly.

"And, a word to the wise," the diminutive Nosaurian agent Pandolfo Taproot said to him, "don't...touch...anything." There was an emphasis on all three words.

Bont sort of smirked. "Why? Will it blow up in my face?"

"Most likely," Europa answered.

Jace Bont could see the seriousness in her face. His smirk suddenly disappeared.

A muffled explosion was heard to the right and all five agents spun around to look. A door leading to another room slid open and smoke came billowing out. A few of the technicians hurried through the door with fire extinguishers. As they entered, one lone being stumbled out the doorway coughing and fanning the smoke from his face.

The being stood up. It was an elderly Human. He told one of the technicians, "Remind me next time: less fuel."

The tech nodded and scurried into the smokey room. The elderly man saw the agents standing there looking at him. "Ahh. You're here." He smiled and approached them. His face and bald head were black with soot.

"Please don't tell me this is Q'u," Bont said.

Europa shrugged and gave him a smile.

While walking over to the agents, Q'u grabbed the bottom of his lab coat and began wiping the soot off his face. "It's good to see all of you again. And this must be Jace." He stuck out a dirty hand to shake.

Jace Bont was about to grab it but hesitated, noticing how dirty it was.

"Oh, excuse me," Q'u said, now wiping his hands on his coat. "Come with me. I want to show you something special I've been working on."

Traveling deeper into the lab, Q'u led the five agents to a table upon which sat a small rectangular device. It contained some sort of vid-screen in the center. Picking it up, Q'u said, "This is a fingerprint scanner. All you have to do is turn it on," he pushed the flat button along the top of the device and the screen turned translucent, "and it will pick up fingerprints otherwise invisible to the naked eye." He moved the scanner to a spot over the table and held in there. The table could be seen through the translucent screen. After a few moments, the image of smeared fingerprints popped up on the screen. Proud of his device, Q'u said, "See? You can't see them on the table, but the scanner will pick them up." He switched the scanner off and set it on the table. "It also has an uplink so you can transmit the fingerprint information to headquarters."

Q'u then led them past something that looked like a metal skeletal structure of a speeder and into a different room. As he approached another table, he said, "Here's something I'm particularly proud off. For lack of a better term, I call them the Jet Boots." He waved a hand over a pair of boots that sat on the table. "They appear to be ordinary boots, but," he turned one over, showing the agents the soul of the boot. "There are miniature thrusters built into the bottom." He pointed to the two circular disks, one on the heel and one on the ball of the foot. "The on/off switch is actually built into the heels. While wearing them, just click your heels once and the thrusters will be activated. Click them again and they'll shut down. They'll probably take some getting used to, though. It will be awkward trying to steady yourself while in flight."

"Impressive, Q'u," Pandolfo said, nodding.

"And," Q'u added, knowing how the agents worked in the field, "I do expect some of this equipment back in pristine order."

- - - - - - - - - -

A short time later, after packing some clothing and personal items, Jace Bont walked down the corridor leading to the hangar bay. The large door slid open, revealing an incredibly large hangar. Different ships and speeders were lined up and MI5 personnel were wandering around.

Bont took a few steps into the hangar and turned to see the Coruscant skyline out the bay doors. The blast door had to be large enough for small ships to fly through, so one could get quite a panoramic view of Coruscant. Bont stopped suddenly when a young Human woman approached him. He immediately noticed the long, wavy strawberry-blond hair. The young woman looked at him with her pretty brown eyes and said, "Agent Bont?"

Bont smiled. "At your service, Miss...?"

"Nikki Riley," she responded. Nicolette Riley had been hired by MI5 a couple years back. She was in charge of sending the agents on the correct flights out of MI5 Headquarters. "And according to M," she took a quick glance at the datapad she was holding, "you're headed for Dantooine. You'll be taking that ship with Agent Kapanen." Nikki turned and motioned toward one of the transports.

Bont didn't even look at the transport. He watched as Nikki turned, her hair swaying as she moved. His eyes were quickly drawn down to her shapely figure. As the young freckled Nikki turned back to Bont, he said, "Being the new guy here, I don't suppose we could spend some time and get to know each other better."

Nikki nodded toward the ship. "You leave in a few minutes."

Was she playing hard to get, or was she really not interested? Bont gave her a "good-bye" nod and began heading toward the ship.

"Later, perhaps," Nikki added.

Bont stopped and turned to see her smiling at him. "It's a date, then." He continued on and entered the ship only to be greeted by Europa Kapanen.

Within minutes, both ships were prepped and ready for take off. They were a pair of YT-1210 light freighters owned and operated by MI5. The ship heading for Dantooine was deemed Sky Skimmer, and the one destined for Fondor was named Durasteel Rancor.

Nikki and some of the technicians and mechanics stood back and watched as both ships exited the hangar bay one after the other. The ships disappeared off into the Coruscant sky as the five MI5 agents began their latest mission.

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