Star Wars: Dark Project
By: Azrael2112
Timeframe: The story starts between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, and then continues during The Empire Strikes Back.
Genre: Adventure/Sci-Fi in an alternate universe where an original character, Cheato, tangles with the Dark Trooper project rather than Kyle Katarn.
Characters: Mostly original characters; Cheato, Tsen, Lahid, Korran, Rippan, and Rix Nadime. Characters created by George Lucas, Lucasfilm, and Lucasarts in this story are: Mon Mothma, Ackbar, Jan Dodonna, Rom Mohc, Boba Fett, Jabba the Hutt, and 8t-88.
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me; all of this is property of George Lucas, Lucasfilm, Lucasarts, and Disney. This story is also inspired by the film Goldeneye, which also does not belong to me. Goldeneye belongs to Eon Productions, MGM, and United Artists.
Notes: Howdy! I started this story well over a year ago (well actually almost a decade ago if you want to get really technical). I used to play the Star Wars Roleplaying Game with some friends back in middle school and for nostalgia's sake I decided write/alter/chronicle the stories that we played out so long ago. I took a lot of inspiration from the film Goldeneye while writing this story so there are plenty of homages and tributes to that story through this one. I hope you enjoy this story as much as my friends and I have.
Thanks to A.P., David, Daniel, my brother, and my father for helping me create this story. Thanks for being with me for so long, guys.
Once more, I hope you all enjoy this story!
—1—
A TIE Fighter zoomed over the the canyon. Lava oozed from the canyon's cracks and fissures. Past the canyon, the TIE Fighter flew over an enormous dam-shaped structure roughly a kilometer high—the starfighter's shadow briefly glanced over it. The dam was made from durasteel and the rounded outer wall glowed blue, holding back the miles-long stretch of lava on the other end.
Where the dam met the canyon wall a perimeter fence opened and a Rodian suited in black ran through, carrying a roll of cable and a satchel.
He ran for several minutes until he reached the center of the dam. There he dropped his cable into a heap and connected it's length to the dam's railing and to his feet with hooks.
The Rodian peaked back down and thought, Only a kilometer.
He perched himself on the ledge, looked up, and leapt off.
The fall felt like minutes—even after his body jerked when the cable reached its length. On his way down he pulled a grappling gun from his belt and aimed at a square durasteel structure below. He shot the gun's hook into it and slowly retracted himself onto the roof.
The Rodian spent the next several minutes cutting a hole in the roof using a welding torch.
In the same structure, an Imperial cadet stepped into the public refresher and entered one of the stalls with a datapad in hand. He pulled down his pants, sat down, and flicked on his datapad. Above him the Rodian silently pulled back a ventilation grate off the duct he was hiding in and peered into the stall.
When the last cadet left the refresher the Rodian lowered himself into the stall while the cadet's nose was buried in his datapad. The cadet lowered it for a moment and saw him. The Rodian smiled and said, "Sorry. I forgot to knock."
The Rodian slugged the cadet and watched him fall against the wall—then he dropped silently into the refresher stall. He quietly opened the door and went for the refresher exit.
He opened the refresher exit door and stepped out, blaster in hand, checking side to side. He only saw a railed staircase leading down. He quickly went down and peered around the corner. There he saw a windowed door along the hallway and a man in a white apron covered in blood hauling meat from a chamber onto a cart.
When the butcher turned his head from his work the Rodian stepped through the door in the hallway. Inside the room was dark but he could still see stacks of shelves holding sealed goods—the Rodian could see a bit of light coming from a window and moved over to it. Outside the room was a cafeteria, packed with soldiers. A holovid played from the ceiling showing a parade on Coruscant.
The Rodian heard footsteps and chatter from behind himself. He looked back towards the door and saw two Imperial Stormtroopers walk by. After they passed, the Rodian started to walk back to the door.
A human male sprang out of the dark room with a blaster pistol pointed at the Rodian's face, babbling at him in Rodese.
The Rodian stared at him and said, "I'm alone."
The man stepped into the light coming through from the cafeteria window, smiled, and said, "I know the feeling." He paused, "You're late, Cheato."
"I had to stop by the refresher."
"Ready to save the galaxy again?"
"After you, Rippan."
Rippan knelt down and removed a ventilation grate from the floor. He turned to Cheato and smiled, "For the Rebellion."
"For the Rebellion, Rippan."
After crawling through more ducts Cheato and Rippan gently pushed open a grate in the floor slightly above them. A man in a white scientist's coat was walking away from them. After the man entered his lab both Cheato and Rippan slid the grate completely open. Cheato hoisted himself into the hallway and drew his blaster. Rippan came out next, drew his own blaster pistol, and sealed the grate.
The scientist was setting down some experimental equipment in his lab as Cheato and Rippan moved down the hallway. They walked across the window looking into the lab and Rippan opened the door. Rippan shot the scientist and he fell onto the table, scattering equipment. Cheato plugged a decoding device onto a control panel next to another laboratory door, this one sealed, and pushed a series of buttons. He glanced at Rippan as he came out of the lab and back at the sealed door. The decoding device beeped. Cheato pushed open the thick durasteel door and Rippan followed but not before pulling the decoding device off the control panel.
Both of them burst into the massive room—a staircase led from the railing they stood on onto the floor of the chamber. Another staircase stood at the opposite end of the room and a conveyor belt sat unactivated at another end of the room. They both stood at the railing, examining the room. To his left Cheato noticed a stack of shelves on the second floor containing hundreds of small gas tanks. On his right he noticed gas tanks four times the size of the others on the ground floor.
Cheato said, "This was easy."
"Lucky, "Rippan replied. He turned back to the door and placed the decoding device on it and punched a few buttons.
An alarm sounded and a red light flashed above the door. Rippan grimaced, "Great."
Both bolted down the staircase. Rippan said, "Set the timers for six minutes."
"Six minutes. Check." Cheato replied, stowing away his blaster.
The door at the top of the staircase opened and two Stormtroopers rushed out.
Rippan fired two blasts up at them. Chests smoking, one fell over the railing and the other tumbled down the staircase.
Cheato opened his satchel and placed an explosive on one of the gas tanks. He set the timer for six minutes and activated it.
Rippan closed the door at the top of the staircase, retrieved one of the Stormtrooper's blaster rifles, and went back down. Cheato peaked out from behind the gas tanks and Rippan tossed him the weapon. Rippan noticed a squad of Stormtroopers from the top of the other staircase. Although the door had been sealed the Stormtroopers were moving into the room adjacent to it.
Rippan hid behind a gas tank as the imperial officer leading the Stormtroopers stepped into his view at the window.
Cheato set another explosive device on another gas tank.
"Fire!" barked the officer. Blaster fire sprayed onto the glass alloy.
Rippan grimaced and yelled, "Losing time, Cheato! Hurry!"
Cheato set the timer, "Buy me time!"
Rippan watched the Stormtroopers finally blast through the glass and come swarming into the gas chamber. He opened fire on them, dropping two on the stairs and two more that reached the ground floor.
Cheato moved to another tank, set another device and its timer. He heard the officer yell out, "This is Colonel Rom Mohc! Come out with your hands above your heads!"
"Scary," Cheato muttered. He turned when the sealed door exploded, sending the door flying across the chamber. Another squad of Stormtroopers poured in.
Cheato went back to his work and yelled, "Shut the door, Rippan, here's another one!"
No response.
"Rippan?"
Cheato finished setting the explosive and grabbed his blaster rifle. He quietly moved past the tanks and peered around one. He saw two squads of Stormtroopers pointing their rifles at him and Mohc standing above a kneeling Rippan, his blaster pistol pointed at his head.
"Come out here, throw down your weapon, and walk towards me," Mohc paused. "Slowly."
Rippan yelled, "Finish the job, Cheato. Blow them all to hell."
Mohc ignored him and said, "You have ten seconds."
Cheato reached back to the timer and reset it for three minutes—Mohc began counting down.
"Ten... nine... eight..." Cheato dropped his satchel and rifle and started walking back into the open.
Mohc watched him, "Seven... six..."
Cheato came out with his hands up, "Five... four... three... two..."
Again, Rippan yelled, "For the Alliance, Cheato!"
Mohc squeezed the trigger.
Rippan fell.
Cheato dove behind the tanks and the Stormtroopers opened fire.
"Hold your fire!" Mohc screamed. "You'll blow the gas tanks!"
Cheato gritted his teeth and picked up his blaster rifle where he left it.
"This is your last chance," Mohc said. "Come out with your hands above your..."
Cheato moved behind a cart filled with small gas tanks out in the open and stayed behind it. He pushed it slowly across the room.
The Stormtroopers aimed at him. Mohc held up his hand, "Wait!"
Cheato slowly pushed and walked. The Stormtroopers never strayed their aim.
Mohc smiled and watched Cheato.
A Stormtrooper's fingers twitched. He fired.
Sparks flew from the gas tanks but nothing detonated.
Mohc turned around, shot the Stormtrooper, and continued watching Cheato. Cheato resumed pushing until he reached the conveyor belt.
"You can't win," Mohc said.
Cheato flipped on the conveyor belt. Mohc stared. Cheato dove onto the conveyor belt and fired at the shelves of gas tanks on the second floor. The tanks came tumbling down onto the Stormtroopers who snapped off a few shots before being crushed.
Outside a TIE Fighter revved its engines on the launch pad, a ladder still resting on it.
Cheato tumbled down the conveyor belt and landed on the dry earth below. He spotted the TIE Fighter and ran for it.
A pair of wide blast doors opened in the side of the facility and a squad of Stormtroopers came barging out, blasters blazing. Mohc barked orders from behind them "Get out there! Move! Move it!"
Cheato dove behind armored cargo boxes, laser bolts flying everywhere. He stood up and sprayed back lasers at the Stormtroopers. He dropped six of them and ducked again.
The TIE Fighter was just starting to rise off of the landing pad. Cheato ran for it once more, lasers still bouncing around him.
"Hold your fire!" Mohc called out—two speeder bikes flying past him.
Cheato climbed the ladder and leapt onto the spherical cockpit of the TIE Fighter. He pulled open the hatch and grabbed the pilot. The pilot kicked and flailed. There was a thud and the TIE Fighter slowly moved forward—edging towards a cliff roughly 100 meters away. Cheato pulled him out of the seat. A swoop bike pulled up next to the TIE and Cheato shot him. The Stormtrooper tumbled off of the bike and the bike careened off to the side. It exploded a second later somewhere on the landing pad.
Cheato pulled the pilot out of the TIE and lost his balance. They both tumbled onto the landing pad below. The second swoop bike crashed into the pilot, the Stormtrooper flew off the bike and the pilot's body flew to the side and lay sprawled. Cheato got on the bike, spun it around, and sped toward the still moving TIE Fighter.
Mohc and the Stormtroopers followed until Mohc said, "Wait." He watched Cheato and smiled once more.
Cheato pushed and pushed the throttle to its limit. The TIE Fighter lurched off of the cliff and dove. Cheato followed after it, releasing the bike. All three bodies plummeted towards a rocky, volcanic fissure below. As Cheato fell he never moved his eyes from the falling TIE Fighter. He fell closer and closer to it, until he reached the hatch again. He hoisted himself inside and sat at the controls.
The pit was roughly 100 meters down. Cheato yanked hard on the control stick.
Jammed.
The TIE Fighter fell faster.
Cheato closed his eyes and kept pulling.
Falling.
Cheato stopped pulling. Breathed. Slowly pulled again.
The TIE Fighter dove—
—and skimmed a millimeter above the pit's surface as it veered upward.
The facility detonated in a fiery explosion—pieces of flaming debris went hurling in all directions. The TIE Fighter flew past the wreckage and plotted a course to a rendezvous point with the Rebellion.