Disclaimer – I do not own Star Wars the clone wars or any of its properties...don't sue me bro
AN: I wrote this as an assignment for my creative writing class, I thought it might be good enough for a few people to enjoy so figured I'd upload it. If you guys like it I would definitely be up for continuing the story!
Infiltration
A dull ache, that was the first and last thing he could remember. It flared into unimaginable pain shooting down his leg. He couldn't open his eyes, but he could feel a warm sticky substance dripping down his face. Rolling over white hot pain shot through his right leg and his thoughts swam again his forehead crashing to the metallic grating that must be the floor.
Feeling around him for something, anything he attempted to open his eyes again but was met with a blurry confusion of red stinging. No shapes and no other color. Cold dread ran through his body as he wiped at his face with his left hand. His leather gloves soaking up much of whatever the substance was. He blinked away the rest and was relieved when he began to see fuzzy shapes. More of the sticky red substance slowly dripped down across his eyes. Blood, his blood, he ran his fingertips lightly across his scalp and found a considerable gash at the crest of his forehead.
Looking around gathering his bearings he became aware of a multitude of sparks jumping from exposed wires all around him. Both above and below, these random sparks providing what little light there seemed be. He could smell smoke and his clothing and all the walkway around him seemed to be singed from something. He rolled onto his back again to examine his leg. There was a two inch piece of metal protruding from the side of it. He reached out to touch it and instantly regretted it as the pain flared again.
Once the pain subsided, or as much as he figured it was going to, he took in more of his immediate surroundings. He was on some kind of walkway, elevated, how high he couldn't know but he could see other walkways illuminated by the jumping blue sparks several meters both above and below. Metal groaned and shook all around. Wherever this place was, it was in a bad way. He knew he needed to get away, but from what he couldn't remember. He reached for the railing and pulled himself to his feet, doing his best to keep all his weight on the left.
He took stock of himself, following some predetermined process. Checking his pockets and belt, he felt he had done this before but couldn't remember where. His hand stopped on something strapped to his right leg. A metal cylinder just shy of a foot in length, it detached from his side as he wrapped his fingers around the slightly warm metal. It felt as though it had been held quite recently.
Bringing the object up to his face so that he could see more clearly. It looked like the handle for something, grooves covered the bottom third of the black metal on one side. A single switch was positioned about one third from the opposite end. That end he noted had an opening and small holes in the sides. He held it in both hands before him, he didn't know what it was, but it felt good in his hands. Almost as though it had been made specifically for him, maybe it had? He still couldn't remember anything as he prepared to hit the switch and see what would happen.
Taking a deep breath he flicked the switch with his thumb and suddenly the walkway was bathed in light. His eyes widened and in the humming blade of light before him, he remembered.
Creeping along the alleyway next to the foundry, he kept low and his head on a swivel. He would see any threats far before they could make him. This was his speciality after all. He watched the beginning of the shift change from the shadows, right on schedule. As the two guards chatted before switching off, their alertness would be at it's lowest. One guard weary from his long day shift, the other not yet away for his night watch.
He pulled his extension cord from his belt and launched it high towards the roof. It caught on a pipe, he tugged on it to make sure it was secure and then put his feet to the wall of the alley. Grunting quietly he began climbing, silently and in small bursts. Stopping to listen for the guards conversation around the side of the building. He finally reached the top of the building, looking back down he guessed he'd climbed maybe six stories.
Pulling himself over the lip of the roof he retracted his extension cord. He scanned the roof as he worked, it was bare. There didn't even seem to be a way for anyone to get up onto the roof from inside the building. That was perfect for him. They wouldn't be expecting visitors from above then. A ventilation cover to his right presented a stealthier approach than dropping through one of the skylights lining the roof.
He quickly lifted the grate and and slid himself down the shaft pulling the grate back down above. Bracing his hands and feet against the sides he slid down at a slow but steady pace. Very quickly any remaining light was gone. Reaching up he tapped a button on his visor and slid it down over his eyes. The night vision bathed everything in hues of green, but he could see again. Soon after he continued his descent he reached the bottom.
Hanging precariously over a powerful and very large metal fan he surveyed his options. He saw only one good option that would allow him to continue his stealthy infiltration. Reaching out to something deep within himself he focused on the fan. He felt its movements as though they were his own and he willed them to slow. The fan shuddered slightly and he focused harder, the fans slowed even more. Looking through them he could see a landing of some sort about ten feet below the fan. Unfortunately he couldn't see very far in any direction other than down. There could be a score of guards just out of site. And he wouldn't know until he dropped down.
"Nothing for it." He whispered to himself before focusing more on the fan. This time he willed it to halt. It was more difficult this time, he reached out one hand toward the fan, fingers extended. The fan screeched and groaned as it came to a halt and he winced, hoping no one would think it strange something had broken in the ventilation. Taking a deep breath and holding his focus he dropped between the fan blades, releasing his hold on them the moment he was clear.
He landed in a crouch, and saw no one in front of him. Unfortunately he heard the sliding and slamming of chairs behind him. Staying low he whirled on one heel to face half a dozen sloppy looking guard. "Hello there." He said smiling at their bewildered expressions. One and all they began to reach for blasters. "You don't want to do that." He said waving his hand across his infront of them in a non-threatening manner.
"We don't want to do that." One of the guards muttered in a monotone. The others began holstering their blasters. That is until a blaster bolt sank into the deck between them and the intruder.
"Kill the intruder you worthless scum!" Came a voice from up and behind them. The guards fanned out around him drawing their blasters and leveling them at him.
"Name's Raan. Here to see your boss. Guessing the rude one up there is the guy?" Raan said calmly jutted his thumb back over his shoulder toward the direction of the voice.
"Ya, that's da boss. He said he want us to kill you though. You not gonna get to see him." Said a very ugly looking pig-like humanoid. A Gamorrean, and two of the others were Weequay, humanoids with ridged and wrinkled brown skin. The remaining three being some very haggard and rough looking humans.
"Thank you for the information. That will make my search so much simpler." Raan replied, reaching up and tapping the button to disable his nightvision and remove the visor for what he figured would come next. "I don't suppose there is anyway I could convince you all to take the night off is there?" He said shrugging his shoulders and spreading his hands out to indicate the six guards surrounding him in a semi circle. None moved or spoke, but they did raise their blasters higher.
"Hmm, I thought not." He said sighing before bursting into motion. His right hand dropping towards his thigh and grabbing something holstered there. The gamorrean guard startled by his speed fired reflexively. It was a good shot. Any normal intruder would have been dead on the spot. Raan was no ordinary intruder.
The blaster bolt was sent flying away off behind the guards in flash of light and crackling energy. A yellow beam of plasma now divided the space between them and the intruder. All the guards shouted with surprise and began backing away. The two weequay however charged, thinking to barrel through him and push him off the ledge to the drop below. They would have been better served following their companions. One downward slice took both their blasters from their hands, destroying them. The second slash took a single leg from both of them, severing it at the knee.
"Jedi!" One of the human's managed to yell, causing Raan to smile innocently, finally freed from their surprise. Having taken cover behind the now upturned table. He and one of the other humans began taking pot shots at Raan over the top. He merely sidestepped any shot that came close. Not that many did.
"Last warning!" Raan shouted, having already given this lot enough chances to surrender. He got several more blaster shots in answer, these ones more accurate. He rushed in a blur towards the upturned table, deflecting blasts as he went. Jumping lightly onto the edge of the upturned table, he leaped again. Spinning and rotating himself so that he was facing the other way he landed, in a couch so that he was almost touching knees with the two guards behind their makeshift cover.
One of the guards, the one who had shouted out that he was a jedi, tried to shoot him point blank. Unfortunately his blaster suddenly seemed to be missing hits barrel, and his arm a moment later seemed to be missing it's hand. The other guard fumbled and attempted to run but his blaster went tumbling from his now ruined hand along with several fingers. Both men howled and fell away, no longer threats.
Raan took a moment to scan the area. He needed to move fast if he was going to secure his target. Now that open hostility had broken out, he was certain his quarry would flee. The gamorrean and final human already had. Leaping back over the table and running towards the ledge that looked down over the foundry he lept. His jump carried him what several meters up, in what seemed like impossible grace. Flipping over the hand railing he scanned for the owner of the rude voice, the one who was supposedly the boss of this place.
"Where oh where…" He began before jerking to the right and avoiding a blaster shot from behind that would have gone through his head. "Ah, there we go." He said turning to face the culprit nonchalantly. A Falleen, the Jedi noted. A large humanoid, nearly nine feet tall and muscled. Green skin powerfully built with a very masculine face and a ridge running from his forehead to the base of the skull like a mohawk. "So the rumors are true then." Raan said, walking toward the boss confidently, deflecting the shots he attempted into the ground or off to the side.
"Black Sun is trying to move in on some of the higher streets of Coruscant. Can't say I see the wisdom in such a plan." Raan said mockingly, toying with the criminal, hoping he would reveal something further about the scheme in his frustration.
"Damned Jedi! You know nothing of the glory that is the Black Sun! You dare attack us, I am the honored son of a member on the council! This will mean war." That last statement piqued Raan's interest. A family member of the Black Sun's council? They would have access to vital information from all across the galaxy on the criminal syndicates dealings. He had to break this one and bring him in alive. The falleen began firing shots, trying to fire quickly at one part of the Jedi and then changing targets to another in order to surprise him. It didn't work.
"A war you say? You really think the Black Sun will wage war to avenge you? Rescue you?" Raan said feeling the fear in his opponent as he deflected the next shot towards the falleen taking the blaster from his hand. "No. You will be disavowed and abandoned, held as an example of what happens when someone fails the syndicate." He saw the terror in the criminal's eyes, he had him. This was going better than expected. "Your only chance, is to surrender. If you cooperate you will be treated fairly." Raan said, also thinking but not saying, that it was far better than the being probably deserved.
"You...you think I will dishonor the Black Sun?!" The large falleen said pulling forth a vibroknife. Raan raised his blade and didn't flinch in his approach. Several thoughts went through his mind then. This creature might take his own life to avoid capture, attempt a throw, or even a charge. All of them were proven wrong a moment later when he also pulled out a small device, a remote, and pointed it toward the Jedi grinning. Raan's eyes widened as he realized the implications. "For the Black Sun!" The falleen bellowed sweeping his arms out to the sides as he activated the detonator. Raan leapt from the platform just in time to avoid the first explosions, but he was buffeted by fire and shrapnel as he fell.
A shard of metal dug into his leg disrupting his focus just slightly. The building was blowing apart all around him as he fell deeper into the building that he now realized extended far below ground. Deactivating his lightsaber he reached out for anything that could help him break his fall. He managed to clip a handrail which stopped his momentum for a moment before it broke free tossing him end over end into a platform below. The last thing he saw was a railing coming far too close far to fast.
Bringing him out of thoughts he heard shouts calling for men to make sure the Jedi was dead. Raan recognized that voice, the falleen leader had survived his suicidal detonation somehow. And apparently some of his men had as well. Taking another look at his injuries he decided it was time to pull back. They would have to settle this score later. He began moving away, relying on his stealth to make up for his lack of mobility. His foot hit something as he walked. A small metal object, about the size of a human head. It was the head of an assassin droid. Looking around he noticed many more pieces of droids scattered on the different platforms. All destroyed beyond repair. But the sheer number of them did not bode well. What could the Black Sun do with an army of assassin droids on Coruscant? The answer was nothing good. He had to inform the Jedi council immediately, he reached down and ripped the metal shard from his leg. Swooning from the pain he ripped stripps of clothe from his now ruined shirt and began wrapping his leg. Calling on the force to numb the pain he moved as quickly as his injuries would allow. The Black Sun never found him that night, he was possibly the best sentinel in the Order. Even injured he could evade someone and hide in the middle of the day. Looking back on the now smoking ruin of the foundry he knew he had stumbled on something big.
To be continued?
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