The Limmie Daylights/Chapter 2

The Limmie Daylights

Chapter 2

The morning was crisp and bright. The sunlight glinted off the tall spire that protruded above the other skyscrapers around it. Extended down from the spire was layer upon layer of durasteel, forming the base of the building known as MI5 Headquarters. The building sat in the northern portion of the Senate District of Coruscant, almost into the Temple District.

Jace Bont strolled through the building nodding to the male workers and winking at the pretty females. As he entered the Briefing Room, he found other agents already seated, waiting for him. Pandolfo Taproot was there, as were the two Human females Shasta Moonreaper and Europa Kapanen. He noticed his Gungan counter-part wasn't present. The Gungan was a Jedi Knight named Gruu Funkistann. Bont was surprised Gruu wasn't here for this mission. He was an MI5 veteran and seemed to take part in all the major missions.

Bont strolled across the room to take his seat.

"Now that we're all here," the familiar voice behind Bont said, "we can begin."

Bont turned to his superior and sat in the empty chair. "Good morning, M."

The Head of MI5, known only as M, was a Human male in his early 60's. He had a full head of gray hair and a bit of a gut. M stood at the front of the Briefing Room with his hands clasped behind him. "The first order of business is that I'm happy to report that the corruption within the ranks of the Senate Guards has been put to an end. Thanks to Bont and Taproot, we were able to weed out the last of the Guards."

Bont interrupted, "They were just a handful of people that disagreed with the Chancellor, if I'm not mistaken."

"Yes," M responded, a bit upset with the interruption. "As for the mission at hand... Our forensics team has examined the body of the male Bith that was found on Spira and come to the conclusion that he was dead long before being tossed into the water. The blaster wounds to the chest was the cause of death, which means he was murdered and someone tried to dispose of the body."

M hit the button on the holoprojector and an image appeared of the Bith. "His name was Agnew. 35 years of age. Born on Clak'dor VII. He was living on Alderaan and worked as part of the maintenance crew at Aldera Stadium in the capital city Aldera. He was reported missing a few days ago." The image vanished. "Find out what happened and who's behind this. You will be leaving for Alderaan in an hour. Are there any questions?"

Shasta spoke up. "Sir, you're sending all four of us out to investigate this murder? Isn't that something for the local Alderaan authorities to take care of?"

M said, "With the funding the Republic is giving us to run this organization and the fact that we seem to leave a trail of destruction in our wake..." he paused and glanced at each agent in turn, "we are already on rocky ground with the Senate. A dead body found on an MI5 training facility won't help matters."

"Where is Gruu," Bont asked. "I thought he was involved in all our missions."

M said, "He is on leave. He said something about dealing with personal issues."

"I hope he's alright," Bont added. "I was beginning to like the amphibian...even if it was difficult to understand his Gungan-speak."

M said, "If there are no further questions, you should all head down to Q'u Branch before departing. Good luck, and may the Force be with you."

As the four agents stood, the young Europa Kapanen said, "I suppose we could start by interviewing the Daylights."

Bont paused. He didn't understand that sentence. "What?"

"The Daylights," Europa repeated. "The limmie Daylights." She noticed Bont still looked confused. "You know, the limmie team named the Daylights? That's the team that plays at Aldera Stadium, the Alderaan Daylights."

Bont knew absolutely nothing about the sport of limmie. It was obvious Europa was the opposite.

Europa added, "The Daylights are known to be a physical team. Some of the players even have a history of arrests for minor infractions. I figured with that teams criminal history, that would be a good place to start."

Pandolfo waved a hand toward the door. "Come on. I can't wait to see what Q'u Branch has cooked up for us."

- - - - - - - - - -

Q'u Branch is the technical department of MI5 that creates and modifies the agency's weapons and gadgetry, not to mention the vehicles and ships used by MI5's personnel. It was headed by the Human man known simply as Q'u. The department had numerous labs and offices scattered throughout the galaxy, but the main workshop was right here at Headquarters.

The door slid open and the agents stepped in. Q'u was directly ahead of them contemplating the workings of some new gadget. The elderly Q'u had a strap around his waist with a rope of some kind hanging from the front belt-buckle area. It hung about 8 inches. In deep though about the inner-workings of the new gadget, Q'u's wrinkled hand was grasping the rope.

Seeing Q'u holding a dangling rope at around crotch-level, Jace Bont couldn't help but make a crude, sexual joke. "You know," Bont said to him, "they have a pill for that now."

Q'u looked up at him. "Grow up, Bont," he responded, annoyed. As Q'u unstrapped the device, he said, "This gadget will save your life one day. So don't make fun." He handed the unfinished gadget to a tech that walked by and turned to the agents. "Now, if you'll all follow me..."

Jace glanced at Shasta who was looking back at him shaking her head.

The agents followed Q'u through the workshop hearing blasters firing and seeing fire bursting out of hidden objects. All the gadgets were being tested around them. Thankfully the path they took through the lab was far enough away from the tests that they were in no danger.

"Here is a little something I've been working on for quite some time," Q'u said, stopping in front of a humanoid droid that stood nearly 7 feet tall. The droid had oversized feet and hands, and it did not have a face. The front of the head was divided into two separate durasteel plates. It was like no other droid they had seen before. Q'u continued. "We've had droid agents in our organization before, but this is one we have designed specifically to be an MI5 agent."

"You've designed a droid agent?" Pandolfo asked, worried that his hacking skills were no longer needed.

"Yes," Q'u answered. "He is something new we're testing. He can calculate probabilities in the blink if an eye, jack into computer systems, hack, override, perform any computer related tasks. Oh, he'll be amazing." Q'u was obviously excited about this creation. "We're calling him Q'u Branch's Ultra Agent Droid, or QUAD for short."

Pandolfo looked at the faceless inactive droid... After all his training, would he now have to compete with this thing? Would he be replaced?

On the next table, Q'u grabbed a cup-like object. It was about 3 inches in diameter, with a depth of only 2 inches. "This," Q'u said, holding the object, "is a lock-picking device. You simply place the cup-shape over the lock," he placed the cup face-down on the tabletop, "and twist the bottom rim of the cup." He did so, demonstrating to the agents. He then lifted the device, revealing a 3 inch hole in the table. "There are tiny blades around the outer rim that slice whatever you are trying to break into," Q'u explained. "Twisting it in a circular motion with cut the surface. It simply carves around the lock."

Q'u looked down at the hole in the table and hesitated. "Oh, dear." He realized he just damaged the table.

Bont patted him on the back. "Don't worry, Q'u. I'm sure M won't mind," he said jokingly.

- - - - - - - - - -

It was finally time to set out for the mission. Bont strolled into the hangar bay, the door sliding closed behind him. The hangar was huge. Ships of all sizes were docked there and workers were running around busily. All the bay doors were open revealing a panoramic view of the beautiful Coruscant skyline.

Ahead of him, he saw Europa Kapanen in a conversation with the red-headed Nicolette Riley. It was a reddish-orange, more of a strawberry-blond. Miss Riley was in charge of the travel plans to and from MI5 HQ. She coordinated all flights. Bont watched the two women. They seemed to be in a happy mood. They were both in their mid-20's but they looked to be acting like giddy teenagers. Bont knew Nicolette was a big limmie fan, and he just recently found out Europa was as well. That's probably what they were discussing.

As Bont approached them, he said, "Good morning, ladies."

"Sorry, Jace," Europa said, turning to him with a smile. "We're just talking limmie. Don't mind us." She turned back to Nicolette and said, "Okay, I'll see you later, Nikki."

"Bye," Nicolette responded with a little wave. "Have fun." She looked back at Bont. "I wish I could go with you. I'd love to meet the Daylights players."

"I'll bring you back an autograph," Bont said. "Which ship are we taking?"

She pointed at a modified YT-1210 light freighter. "The Savior of Muunilinst. The rest of the agents are already aboard." Her eyes met Bonts. They had a brief fling not too long ago and there was still some flirtatious behavior between them. "Be careful, Jace."

"I always am," he responded, before giving her a peck on the cheek.

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