Raptor Squad: Episode VI: Kadon

After several days on Garnib, Vic proposed his plan to Ket. It was simple, use the loaned ship from the rebellion to do some cargo runs and make money. "Well call the company Jaded Ivory Enterprises, well focus on Garnib crystals at first." he told the young gunslinger.

The next day Vic awoke to find a letter stuck to the door of the apartment. It was from Ket, and it read:

Vic, I have some things I need to attend to. Do not try to track me down as you won't be able to find me. I will get back in touch with you soon. -Ket

Vic didn't understand the gunslingers reasons, but decided that it wasn't any of his business. All alone on the planet of Garnib, Vic realized if he was to get his fledging enterprise off the ground he was going to need help.

After spending part of the day asking around, Vic learned that there was a Trianni student on-planet who had experience piloting a Ghtroc freighter. Vic tracked this being down in a tapcafe in the artisans section of Garnib. What Vic saw was a near 7 foot tall black and grayish-blue furred Trianni pouring over a datapad. The large cat-like creature introduced himself as Balthazar Cochroth, a student currently staying and studying on planet. Vic asked Baal if he was interested in earning money on the side as a pilot, low risk, high profit. The deal sounded too good to be true, but little did the young student know how true this would turn out to be.

Two runs and several days later, the duo returned to the apartment to find that Cylon, the J-9 Verpine droid Vic purchased to handle the business, had let in a visitor. Jax Sheba' greeted the duo as they entered and got right down to business. It seemed that on the nearby planet of Kadon, a terrorist faction was bombing various spots throughout the central city, and claiming themselves as a rogue rebellion faction. Since Kadon is a major producer of tabanna gas, losing the loyalty of the planet to the Empire would be devastating, especially since the rebellion had come quite far in winning over the planetary government.

Raptor Squad's mission, as it was, was to locate and eliminate the terrorist group, and reveal their identity, so as to release the rebellion from any responsibility in the bombings. Jax explained to Baal the rebellions focus,and how the rebellion worked to free planets from the Empires iron grip. Baal explained he had seen the same type of tyranny on his own home planet Fibuli in the Corporate Sector,and agreed to aid the rebellion.

The planet Kadon hung suspended in the viewport of the Ghtroc freighter. It's rust color gave the cockpit an eerie red glow as Vic opened the comm frequency. They had been instructed by Jax to go undercover,and Vic had donned his armor and new helmet to further his Terminus persona. They were to meet a contact on the planet known as "White Dove", a sullustan information gatherer. As the ship broke the planets atmosphere, they made their way to the shielded landing port. The planets atmosphere was type-2 meaning that they would have trouble breathing, at least until they got to the underground city by way of the surface-to-interior tram.

The tram rocketed down the tunnel, reaching speeds of over 100 kmh. Vic and Baal sat towards the back, not speaking and scanning the crowd for anyone unusual. Suddenly, explosions rocked the car, sending fire and debris shooting up into the passenger areas. Vic and Baal dodged to safety, but many of the passengers were not so lucky. Regrouping, Baal began to attend to the wounded, as Vic realized that the tram was now careening out of control, and had not stopped.

Making his way to the front of the tram, Vic could see the tunnel blurring in front of him, the position map on the console told him that he didn't have much time; soon the out of control tram would be hurtling into the crowded tram station in lower Kadon. The controls were locked, so Vic began to rapidly hack into the system, attempting to override the automated pilot programming. In the back Baal could feel the despair wash over him. He had never seen this much carnage, this much loss of life ever before. As he rushed from victim to victim, he reached out to the force, letting it flow through him and into the wounded scattered about him. Some he was able to help, and some were beyond even the assistance of the force, and all he could do was ease their suffering. In the pilots station Vic frantically worked the controls. Sweat poured into his eyes and as precious seconds ticked by he finally was able to override the programming. As the burning tram rocketed towards Lower Kadon, Vic grabbed the interior comm and radioed the station, telling the startled operator what was happening.

Working the keypad,Vic slowed the tram as it entered the station,emitting sparks, fire and smoke from it's damaged mid-section. Baal and Vic stepped onto the platform face to face with a large Ithorian. The hammerhead-shaped creature identified himself as Johbu, Chief of Kadons Planetary Security Force. Vic introduced himself and Baal, and asked to permission to check out the wreckage. Johbu grudgingly gave his approval and as Vic went to inspect the blast marks, another explosion racked the tram and the emergency crew was incinerated immediately.

Vic and Baal sat in front of Johbu explaining their presence on the planet. Without coming right out and admitting the association with the rebellion, they explained to the ithorian that they worked for certain "interested" parties that wanted to see the terrorists caught and dealt with. The ithorian agreed to sharing the same goal. He gave them a run down of the cases involving the bombings and explained that so far they had no leads, save for the recorded messages that revealed the rebellion was to blame, and that the actions were the rebellions retaliation for the planet supplying tabanna gas to the Empire.Other than knowing that the terrorists used various explosives, including detonite, Johbu had no real leads.

Baal and Vic promised to report back whatever they found to Jobu and secured themselves a room at the local Galaxy Inn. They then hit the streets looking for leads. Vic, in disguise,along with Baal, made his way to the Tram station, wanting to check with the technicians who last worked on the tram. Using a false ID, he passed himself off as a cop and met with an intense young man who was on the service team that inspected the doomed tram Vic and Baal found themselves on.. As Vic questioned him, he got the impression that the man was leading Vic on, but could read little else in the steely grey eyes of the technician.

Later that evening, Baal and Vic made their way to a cantina on the far end of town called "The Broken Tusk". There they made contact with their sullustian contact, known as "White Dove". White Dove told Vic that he had some contacts and feelers out, but that the men claiming to be the bombers were also claiming to be a rebellion splinter group. Vic agreed to meet White Dove the next night, at the same place, at which point White Dove would give him whatever his feelers turned over to him.

As Vic and Baal made their way from the cantina, a beautiful woman with blue hair emerged from the shadows of a nearby alley. She identified herself as "Star" and was part of another rebellion spec-ops team sent by Jax just a few weeks before.AS it turned out, her entire team was wiped out, leaving her the only surviving team member. She went on to inform the duo that they were being set up by White Dove, and he was not to be trusted. They tried to recruit her aid, but she refused, not knowing either of them well enough to trust them completely.

The next day Vic and Baal once again hit the streets. Feeling as though they were hitting dead ends wherever they turned, the two were in the process of tracking down the tram employee when an explosion erupted from an opera house mere blocks away. Breaking into a sprint, Vic and Baal made it to the Lower Kadon Opera House, where black smoke rolled from the the doorway. People were streaming out, gasping, and the two plunged through the crowd and into the building.

An explosion had demolished the back rows of the auditorium, and as Baal and Vic entered, they spied the far exit door swinging shut. Baal sprinted towards the door as Vic stopped short. In one of the aisles, directly across from him sat a steel attache case. Given the carnage and madness, it was far too out of place and Vic approached the case with caution.In his minds eye he saw the emergency response team at the tram station being incinerated and realized he was walking into the same trap. Just as he had suspected, the case contained several colored vials, All hooked into a motion detection device. As Vic inspected the setup, he realized the bomb would go off if the two chemical components mixed. Carefully he disarmed the device. As he stood, Johbu and his bomb squad arrived, pouring into the hazy auditorium. Vic shouted that they be cautious and he dashed towards the exit door in pursuit of Baal. As Vic stepped from the doorway a sniper blast hit him square in the chest, hurtling him back through the door and causing him to smack his head on the bomb he had just diffused. Getting up he cautiously made it across the alley and fell in behind Baal, who was heading towards the top of an adjacent building. They made it to the top in time to see an emergency medical vehicle speeding from the rooftop. Vic shot into the air but to no avail.

As the two made their way back in they met the skeptical stare of Johbu. They could tell that the ithorian was suspecting the duo in the bombings, and just waiting until he had more proof. They realized they were now on a time schedule, not only to find the bombers but to clear themselves as suspects.

As they made their way back to their hotel, Vic, sensing something was amiss, checked their hotel room thoroughly. Bombs had been planted throughout the room and he and Baal took great care in disarming them. After notifying Johbu Vic and Baal made their way to The Broken Tusk for their second meeting with Whire Dove. Again Star emerged from the darkness, telling the duo that she was going to track a lead. All she would give them was a name: "Upper Kadon's Exotic Pets". Star once again disappeared with the promise that they too would follow up on the lead. As they neared the cantina, White Dove summoned them from a nearby alley. As Vic went in to confront the sullustan, he was shot from the back and dropped to the ground. Firing as he spun, one of his shots managed to hit the attacker who was retreating. Baal sprung after the attacker, and as White Dove tried to retreat, Vic let rip with his Light Repeating Blaster, shredding the contacts stomach and dropping him to the pavement. The attacker was gone, but the two knew they had to get to Upper Kadon Exotic Pets, quickly.

Vic and Baal, after getting suited up, headed towards Upper Kadon Exotic Pets, a pet store located in Upper Kadon City. In the dark of night, Vic opted to go through the sewer, looking for a more discreet entrance, while Baal took to the nearby roofs in hopes to mount an air attack. As Vic picked through the muck and sludge under the city, he closed with the drainage hole for the pet shop. Something glittered in the water, and Vic noticed that someone had set a small detonite surprise in the sewer. Pulling on his skill with demolitions, Vic disarmed the booby trap and slowly made his way up a ladder to Upper Kadon Exotic Pets.

Meanwhile, high above, Baal skirted the ledge of the building. Beneath him through the skylight, he viewed Star, bound to a chair and gagged. He could see her chest rising and falling and prepared to infiltrate the building, when, out of a doorway, he noticed the flat black of an Imperial Storm Commando.

Baal watched in terror as the commando strolled over to Star and, nonchalantly stuck the muzzle of a blaster to her head and fired. Baal recoils in horror as Stars head vaporizes in a red mist, and, in doing so, inadvertently makes the faintest of sounds.

Down below, Vic pushed his way cautiously through a manhole cover to emerge in a small room reeking of animal dung. Quietly making his way to the door, he viewed the customer area of the animal shop, full of various pets and creatures. Making his way towards the back, a figure quietly slips from the shadows behind Vic, who turns in alarm as the figure closes with him.

Above Baal has managed to make his way around the perimeter of the roof, in hopes to find a better vantage point. He could see down below at least two storm commandos, but sensed that there might be more. Reach out with the force he thinks to himself, and assumes a cross legged sitting style on the catwalk, dropping into deep concentration. If I can only reach out with the force...

Vic, hauling back on his repeating blaster, set to vaporize his assailant when he realized he knows this being. Creela, Jax Sheba's right hand Rodian slips up next to him. "What the hell?" Vic asks, "Jax doesn't trust us to pull this gig off?" Smirking, Creela just points Vic towards the door and he silently slips into the back.

Faintly Vic can smell scorched flesh through the breathing apparatus on his Terminus helmet, and quietly ascends the stairs to his left, with Creela behind him. Suddenly, a storm commando emerged from a catwalk, taking a shot at Vic. Vic, dropping to the steps, lets go with his light repeating blaster, incinerating the imperial, and leaving a smoking husk. Vic quickly makes his way up to the top of the catwalk, where another commando awaits. History repeats, as the commando's shot falls short and several blaster bolts thud into the imp, charring entrails and flesh before the imp drops to the ground dead.

Baal never saw the kick coming. In trying to reach out with the force, a silent commando was able to come from behind him and land a vicious kick to his head. Dropping unconscious, the imp snatched up the large cat, and hoisting him on his shoulder makes his way around the building. Vic almost didn't see the commando. But up ahead, he saw a retreating form and as Vic stepped out fully onto the catwalk surrounding the building, noticed the familiar form of Baal as he was being carted away. Dropping to one knee, Vic let go with his lrb, eliminating the commandos legs from underneath him. Baal, coming to his senses,ignited his lightsaber and finished the commando off. As Creela rushed to join them, they began to question where the last storm commando was headed. "There are components to make a bomb strewn about, and I saw one rushing out with a bag" Creela told the team. "But where is the most likely place he would set off a bomb?"Vic asked. Baal looked at them both. "There is a rally this morning to celebrate the planets largest gas containment unit, it starts in just a few hours.That thing is loaded with tabanna gas. If it blows, half of Upper Kadon is going to drop down on lower Kadon, it will kill millions!"

The trio made their way to the refining container an hour later. The refining container, a huge circular monstrosity, hung from the ceiling of Upper Kadon like a boil. The stands were just beginning to fill with people as Creela disappeared and Baal and Vic made their way onto the structure. "Lets split up, he's got to be around here somewhere," Vic told the big cat. As Vic made his way around the structure, he saw something black dart around a corner. While he pursued the shape, he descended the catwalk and was rocked back by a small explosion. Not big enough to destroy the containment sphere, but enough to take Vic's footing out from under him. As he dropped from the catwalk, his LRB slung from his shoulder and, lunging for it Vic found himself falling into space, a full mile above lower Kadon.

Baal had just rounded a corner when he saw the commando crouching over something. He advanced on the man, who stepped back and took a shot at the cat. Baal dodged and the commando sprinted off towards the bottom of the containments sphere. In front of Ball sat a bomb, and with no Vic around to disarm it, Baal gently rested his hands on the device. Pulling on the force,Baal watched as the timer slowed and eventually stopped, the red digits fading as Baal abosrbed the battery's power into his own body.

Vic plummeted through the air and caught a glimpse of metal out of the corner of his eye. Stretching every muscle he had, his fingers just barely caught the edge of a lower catwalk and he abruptly stopped his fall. The days activities wearing on him, Vic was unable to pull himself up, and as he struggled to gain purchase, saw Creela emerge from the side of the sphere, on a hoverdisc. Maneuvering close to him she was able to pull Vic from the catwalk, and they both sped to where the commando was crouched towards the bottom.

It was a central junction, where the entire support met. Vic could tell the by taking it out, the entire sphere would pull free from the ceiling and eliminate the city far below. Suddenly, Baal emerged from around the corner and slammed a shoulder into the commando, knocking him from the catwalk.The commando reached out and grabbed the ledge, hanging on just barely. Baal stood and regarded the commando, dangling helplessly from the ironwork. "You get up here and disarm this thing, and I'll let you live." "I can't do it, its not reversible, it's going to kill every..." The last of his voice was drowned out by the roar of Vic repeating blaster as it struck the man and flung him into the air.

Baal reached down and grasped the sides of the metal case as Vic,stepping from the disc, delicately opened the case. Inside several pounds of explosives sat wired to a timer, which had less than a minute left on the counter. Baal reached down, hoping to drain the energy as he had before, but the timer merely slowed, and didn't stop. "You wanna get your furry paws outta my way so I can disarm this?" Vic asked. Baal moved and Vic got to work, evaluating the design and tracing wires back and forth. Seconds counted down. Vic clipped one wire and the timer advanced ten seconds. leaving less than ten to go. As the roar of the nearby crowd made its way into his helmet and sweat rolled in droplets down his nose, Vic's hand hovered over one of several wires.

Baal flinched as Vic snapped the clippers shut. Both looked down and saw a crimson 001 staring back at them. "You do this for a living?"Baal asked. "Beats flipping Bantha Burgers" Vic chuckled and dropped back onto the catwalk, closing his eyes.

Confetti rained down on the heroes as Johbu and the mayor of Kadon shook their hands. Congratulations were exchanged all around and Baal and Vic were rewarded with a brand new stock Ghtroc freighter. "The planet of Kadon is in your debt," Johbu told the two, "where will you go now?" Baal and Vic looked at each other. "Vacation," they said in unison.