Disclaimer: The badass engineer with the repulsor arm isn't mine either.
Continuity Note: If you read Chapter 10: Telos, part six before 5 p.m. EST on 6/13, you need to go back and read it again. I had to reshuffle the chapters and the last bit on Citadel Station is there now.
The Ithorians had prepped a Ministry-class orbital shuttle, and stocked it with equipment and supplies for a week on the surface. Meetra and the others finally got aboard about three in the morning. Atton lifted them off and unfolded the wings as they left the docking bay. He banked left and came about to a trajectory for Restoration Zone 31. Atton checked his instruments. "We'll be on the ground in two hours," he said, "so the sun will be coming up. The Ithorians had a station down here, but Czerka has taken it over. I'll try to find a clearing where we can set down and hide the shuttle, and we can go from there."
Meetra took a seat where she could see out the front window. The planet was wasteland of blast craters and bare rock beneath a roiling atmosphere of corrosive compounds. The occasional pile of rubble marked the locations where a city had once stood. The devastated landscape ended abruptly at a force field projected between tall silver emitter towers; the far side was a verdant landscape of green hills, waterways, and mountains. Atton descended to treetop level as they passed above the barrier. He scanned the ground, looking for a likely place to land.
Suddenly, they came over a ridge to see a cluster of buildings below. A hail of green blaster bolts reached up from the ground. They were thrown around the cabin as the shuttle was rocked by an impact. "What the hell?" Atton yelled, "Someone's shooting at us!" He began evading as best he could, but the slow-moving shuttle was hit repeatedly. Atton angled the shuttle to glide as best he could. They plummeted toward a series of rolling hills just inside the shield wall. Atton desperately tried to level the craft as they approached a meadow. Meetra saw the ground rushing up and everything went black.
The sound of the wind told Meetra she wasn't dead. She was sore all over, and her head was throbbing. She opened her eyes and saw a pair of legs-someone was standing over her. Meetra scrambled to her feet and winced as her bruised body cried out.
"Good to have you back, General," the man said evenly. His voice was soft, comforting, and somehow familiar.
"My head… feels like I've been ripped in half," groaned Meetra. She took a moment to look the man over. He was a tall, heavily muscled Zabrak with gray-green skin and eight short horns on his bald head. He had a strong chin, prominent brow, and a faint pattern of geometric tattoos on his face. He wore a tight-fitting teal shirt, navy trousers and black work boots, as well as a tool belt and utility harness. He was missing his left arm just above the elbow; a cybernetic hand was connected to his stump via a blue-green repulsor beam. A small, spherical remote droid hovered above his left shoulder.
"Easy now," he said. "You survived one spectacular crash. Lucky I was here to pull you and your friends out of that shuttle or you'd be more than a little crispy." He smiled. "But it's only fair, I owe you more than one, General."
Meetra shook her head, confused. "Do I know you? Your voice is familiar, but…" She trailed off.
He nodded. "You must be in shock from the crash. Have to expect some long-term memory loss from that." He turned to the remote. "Too bad she's not a droid, huh?"
The remote beeped and buzzed a reply and the Zabrak chuckled. "We can't all be that lucky." He turned back. "I'll humor you, General. I was one of the Iridonian mechanic corps that was at Malachor. Bao-Dur?" He raised his eyebrows. "I can see how you'd forget me, being that I was the only one."
Memories rushed in; Meetra saw the ships twisting and burning, heard screams piercing her ears. Malachor… She took a deep breath. "I remember, now."
Bao-Dur held up a hand. "Don't think too hard. I'd rather not talk about the war if we could. We all went through some tough times after Malachor, and maybe we all did a little forgetting."
Meetra glanced down at Atton and Kreia, still lying on the ground. "How are the others?"
"They'll be fine," Bao-Dur said. "The pilot's more or less unharmed and the old lady, well, she's tougher than she looks." He looked at Meetra suspiciously. "You know, I never thought I'd see you again, General. Galaxy's a big place, and this is the last place I thought I'd bump into you. So I have to ask, just what are you doing here?"
"I'm looking for my ship," replied Meetra.
Bao-Dur nodded. "Got some news for you, General. That shuttle of yours is done for-scrap."
They both turned as Atton groaned and stood painfully. "Well, this is familiar. Feels like my last time on Telos."
"Crashed a shuttle that time, too?" asked Bao-Dur.
"No, pazaak," Atton quipped.
"That was not the most pleasant landing I've endured," said Kreia, getting to her feet. "Next time, we should perhaps seek out a more reputable pilot."
"You're welcome, Kreia," Atton snapped. "You know, if I weren't such a crack pilot, we could have hit the shield wall or one of those rock faces."
"Yes, our current situation is a vast improvement," Kreia said snidely.
We need to focus. Meetra crossed her arms. "What shot us down?"
Atton frowned. "Beats me. No one's supposed to be here but a Czerka research team. I can't say they'd be happy to see us, but shooting us down? I can't imagine Czerka having us shot down by a bunch of scientists, either." He thought for a moment. "You know, I caught a glimpse of what looked like an AD tower when we flew over the compound."
"Why would a research station have an air defense tower?" Meetra asked.
"Maybe they're doing something they shouldn't be," said Atton. "I've seen pirate bases with the sort of same set-up."
"They are," said Bao-Dur, "illegal salvage, I think. The compound is set up near an old Republic military base. I've seen a lot of activity-people going in and out, lots of shuttle traffic. I was trying to find out more when the mercs grabbed me. I got away, and then I saw you crash."
"We need to find our ship," Meetra said.
Bao-Dur nodded. "I can help you find it-I have access to the shield network. I came hoping to repair whatever damage your shuttle took, but not even I can fix that wreck. The Czerka may have a transport at the compound we can steal, but it won't be an easy hike." He turned to look across the field to the east. "First, there's the mercenary pursuit team looking for me. There's also more mercs at the compound. Second, there's all the cannoks."
Meetra frowned. "What's a cannok?"
"The vicious, wide-jawed predators the Ithorians imported from Dxun," said Bao-Dur. "They were meant to keep the herbivore population in check."
Atton raised his eyebrows. "I don't see any herbivores around."
Bao-Dur nodded. "Right. The cannoks ate them all. Now, they'll eat anything they can catch, including us. Without the Ithorians to maintain the accelerated ecosystem's balance, everything here is falling apart. Czerka's killing the Restoration Project piecemeal."
"We need to get going," said Meetra. "Let's check the shuttle for anything that we can use, then get moving."
Between the crash and subsequent fire, the shuttle was in bad shape. The camping equipment was gone, and so were nearly all the consumables. They were able to recover their gear and a few canteens of water; they had to get to the compound. They began hiking east, across the meadow towards a ridgeline.
They had been moving for perhaps half an hour when a high-pitched whine caught everyone's attention. They looked around for the source of the sound; Atton pointed to the northeast. "There!" A small, winged droid flew into view from behind a ridgeline, heading directly toward the crash site. It overflew them, then climbed to circle overhead.
"A sentry droid," said Bao-Dur. "The mercenary pursuit team is probably not far behind." As he said it, a speeder came into view through a saddle in the ridge. It stopped a short distance away and four armed men climbed out.
"We could try handing the Zabrak over. You know, bargaining chip," Atton suggested.
Bao-Dur shot him an amused smile. "Who do you think shot you down in the first place?"
"Good point," said Atton. "Forget I said anything."
The Czerka mercs began moving in. Meetra drew her blades and offered the short sword to Bao-Dur. He shook his head and flexed his repulsor arm meaningfully. Meetra nodded and got into a fighting stance. The merc leader raised a force pike. "Get them all!"
Atton yelled a warning as the sentry droid swooped in, firing two small blasters. Kreia zapped the droid, which spun out of control into the ground. The mercs charged; Meetra and Bao-Dur ran to meet them. He fought with raw power, not technique. Bao-Dur blocked attacks with his left arm, then delivered bone-cracking hits with his right fist. The merc leader took him on; the Zabrak simply grabbed the force pike and yanked it out of the merc's hands. Meetra and Kreia moved in to help out, but they weren't needed. With only his repulsor arm, Bao-Dur was a capable fighter. Armed with the pike, he was a force of nature. He spun the staff-like weapon, bashing one merc in the head with the heavy club end. A second mercenary moved to stab him in the back, but the remote zipped in and staggered him with a cutting beam. Bao-Dur turned and slashed the merc with the pike's vibro-tip. The other two fell in less than a minute under Bao-Dur's furious onslaught.
"Damn." Atton looked over the fallen Czerka troops. "Nice work."
"I try not to disappoint," said Bao-Dur. "We should move quickly. If we're lucky, we can slip into the base while most of the Czerka are out searching for us." He looked at the empty speeder and frowned. "I'd love to steal this, but we'd be too easy to track. We're better off on foot." He began hiking east; the others quickly followed.
They hadn't gotten far when they heard a growl. A medium-sized animal trotted into view. It had a bloated yellow-green body, two eyes on stalks, and a mouth full of shark-like teeth.
"Cannok," said Bao-Dur. "He's smelled the blood from our fight with the mercs. He'll avoid us, unless…" As he said it, more of the creatures joined the first.
"Unless he's part of a pack," groaned Atton. The cannoks attacked, snarling; Atton began shooting as the creatures rushed in. He got two before the pack was on them. The fight was a wild melee; they slashed and stabbed while trying to avoid the cannoks' snapping jaws. Meetra blasted several of the vicious predators backwards, buying herself some room to work. One of the little beasts leapt at Kreia's throat; the old woman impaled the cannok on her vibroblade. Bao-Dur was staggered off-balance as a cannok bit down on his mechanical hand. He swung the animal around, hurling it more than ten meters into a tree. They killed five more cannoks and the stragglers ran off.
Bao-Dur grimaced. "That cost us time; now we need to pick up the pace. It's not too far now-the compound is in the next valley." The group broke into a trot. They came out into a wide field, with a sandy beach at one edge and a hill rising at the other. A path wound through a stand of trees and uphill to a pass.
Meetra was heading for the path when Atton grabbed her arm. "Wait! It's defended." He pointed. "There are two turrets mounted at the top of the pass, and they have the path fully covered. The grass on the slope looks odd, too; I'll bet there is a minefield in front of the turrets."
Meetra nodded. "Kreia and I can disrupt the mines and turrets with the Force. That should get us through."
Another sentry droid whipped overhead. Two speeders came over the pass and descended into the field. Ten mercs began to spread out from the vehicles, readying swords and rifles. Atton swore and drew his blaster. The mercs opened fire, forcing Meetra and the others to scatter. Atton dropped prone behind a small rise in the terrain and began firing back. He killed one and wounded two more. The sentry came in to strafe Atton's position. He rolled to avoid the flier and lined up a shot as it zoomed by. Atton fired twice, hitting the sentry's power pack. The droid exploded in a shower of sparks. Meetra drew on the Force and dashed in at the mercs. She was on one of the shooters before he could bring his rifle around. Meetra cut him down and moved on to another mercenary even as Kreia and Bao-Dur joined her. A second rifleman dodged Meetra's blades but Atton blasted him in the chest. Bao-Dur took on three mercs at once. He killed two of them, but the fight took him into range of the turrets. The Zabrak had to scramble to keep from being hit as the guns opened up. The merc stepped in and slashed Bao-Dur in the side. He roared in pain and caved in the merc's skull with his pike. Meetra and Kreia finished off the rest fighting as a pair. Kreia walked to the edge of the minefield and disabled the turrets; Atton destroyed them with pistol fire.
Meetra closed her eyes. As she concentrated, she could feel the mines, just as she had felt the droids on Peragus. She shot a push and one mine blew. She ripped another out of the ground and hurled it into the lake. Buoyed by her success, Meetra advanced into the minefield, taking out the explosives one by one. Kreia nodded. "Well done."
Meetra tossed a final mine away. "The compound is less than half a kilometer away. Let's get there." The group began climbing the path back to the Czerka base.
Meetra reached the top of the pass and looked down at the Czerka compound. A cluster of pre-fab buildings had been erected on the valley floor near the Republic base entrance. Meetra could see barracks, a workshop, and… "There's the landing pad," said Bao-Dur. "There should be a computer terminal I can access from there." He pointed. "Looks like we're going to have to fight our way there, though. Look sharp."
A large force of Czerka troops was waiting around the base, more than twenty men with two more turrets mounted on the pad. The lead merc was wearing the same sort of armor that Meetra and Grenn had seized from Samhan, and carrying a silvery disruptor rifle. "What do we have here… the 'Jedi.' Saves us the trouble of looking for ya." He smiled. "Corrun Falt did say you were dangerous… maybe he does know what he's talking about. He hired me to keep everyone out of the Restoration Zone… you in particular."
Meetra rolled her eyes. "So, Falt gets Lorso's job, and now here's the double-cross." She spun her swords into an attack stance. "We need access to the shield network, and transportation. We've carved our way through everything Czerka threw at us; now Slusk is dead and Lorso's in jail. If you're smart, you'll just stand aside. You can't spend your pay if you're dead."
"We'll see," said the mercenary commander. "You may have caught a few of my boys off-guard… but let's see how you fight now, 'Jedi.'" He brought up his rifle and fired.
Meetra drew on the Force and jumped over the merc leader, slashing down on one of the other thugs behind him. Kreia bowled several more over with a powerful push and Bao-Dur moved in with his pike. The turrets began firing; Atton returned fire, but these turrets were shielded. As her first opponent fell, Meetra charged in at the leader. He sidestepped and clubbed her in the back of the head with his rifle. Meetra fell to the ground, momentarily stunned. The leader was bringing the rifle around to finish her when Bao-Dur hit him in the back. The thug stumbled and Meetra stabbed him in the gut. Bao-Dur ran up and grabbed the rifle. He began hitting the shielded turrets as Meetra headed over to join Kreia. Atton shifted fire to the Czerka riflemen. Several mercs drew vibroblades and came after Meetra and Kreia; the pair fought them off shoulder to shoulder. The Czerka turrets exploded and Bao-Dur helped Atton finish off the shooters.
Bao-Dur slung his new rifle and walked to a small building near the shuttle pad. "This is where they were holding me. My belongings should be nearby." A little searching, and they found a footlocker containing basic tools and a suit of Zabrak field armor. Bao-Dur donned the armor, then loaded his tool belt and harness and buckled them back on. They headed up the ramp to the Czerka shuttle pad. A computer terminal stood on the pad's back edge. "Hopefully, I'll be able to access the shield network from this console," said Bao-Dur, typing. "Good. It's functional, and my access codes still work. Now let's find your ship."
Meetra frowned. "The TSF said the Ebon Hawk wasn't at any sanctioned landing site," Meetra said.
"The TSF probably thinks the ship was put down in the wastes," Bao-Dur replied, "but they don't know the planet as well as I do. Telos' atmosphere has been turned into acidic vapor. Landing a ship in the wastes would be like sealing it in a hangar full of hungry mynocks."
"I'd say there's probably an illegal landing site somewhere then," said Atton.
Bao-Dur nodded. "Has to be. Still shielded, but not a Restoration Zone or other listed facility. That's why I needed access to the shield network." He turned back to the terminal and pointed. "Here-a small anomaly in the shield network's power grid. I'm not surprised the TSF didn't spot this. It's subtle, more like an error or random flux than anything suspicious."
"What is it?" Meetra asked.
"It looks like power is being drawn to generate a shield over a small area in the polar region, but nothing should be down there." Bao-Dur scratched the base of one of his horns. "Orbital cameras show nothing, just an empty mesa."
Kreia turned to Meetra. "We should investigate this. I feel this is the best bet of finding the Ebon Hawk."
Meetra nodded agreement. "How are we going to get to the polar region?"
"That's a little tougher." Bao-Dur bent over the console. "According to the computer, a shuttle is currently docked inside the Republic base. At least, there was at last report."
Meetra nodded grimly. "So we don't know that the shuttle will still be there, or working."
"We don't, but that's not going to stop me," said Bao-Dur. "I'm getting out of here if I have to build a new ship myself." He took a breath. "There's one other small problem. Recently, Czerka teams that were sent into the military facility have not been coming out."
"Small problem," quipped Atton.
"Let's go," said Meetra. They all headed down the ramp to the Republic bunker door.
The underground bunker looked pretty much like the other fortified Republic facilities Meetra had been in. The walls and floors were plasteel panels over durasteel plate, painted in varying shades of gray. The inner entrance was sealed with a force field. Bao-Dur walked up to the barrier. "This arm of mine isn't just for show, General. Stand back." He delivered a tremendous punch to the force field, which flickered and went out. Atton whistled, impressed. Bao-Dur grinned. "The Czerka mercenaries were a little surprised when I broke my way out of my holding cell. The shields there were even weaker than these." He indicated Meetra. "After you, General."
They moved down a hallway, which opened into a mid-sized room. As they walked in, several turrets popped up out of recesses in the floor and opened fire. Atton dove back through the door. Bao-Dur unlimbered his rifle and began slamming bolts into the turrets. Kreia scrambled one turret for Atton to finish off. Meetra smiled, amused: She hadn't even got her swords out before the battle was over. She shrugged and headed further in. The hallway continued through a workshop area, with the entrance to the hangar on the far side. They were in the center of the floor when the doors slammed shut and a hissing sound filled the room. "Gas!" yelled Atton.
Meetra reached into her knapsack and pulled out the breathing mask from Peragus. She placed it to her face and took a long breath. "We have to move, right now! Here, Atton get a breath." She handed Atton the mask; he got a lungful of clean air and passed the mask to Bao-Dur. The gas was now thick enough to be visible as a fine green mist. Bao-Dur got to work on the doors as the four handed the mask around. In a minute or so, they got the inner door open.
The only problem was, the hangar was also filled with gas, and now it was so thick it was hard to see. Bao-Dur looked around, blinking as the gas began to sting his eyes. "The hangar control room should have a console where I can access the security system." They stumbled through the green cloud until they found the control room; Bao-Dur began typing. It took several long, tense minutes, but eventually, the console chimed and fans whirred to life. The gas was quickly pulled out of the air, revealing a Ministry shuttle sitting on the pad.
"There she is. One orbital shuttle… looks like it's in serviceable condition." Bao-Dur shook his head. "That's all a moot point, though." He pointed upward. "The hangar bay doors are closed. I don't fancy flying the shuttle through solid metal, so I'd say we need to find a way to get them open." He did some more typing and frowned. "The base is running on emergency generators; they don't provide enough power to operate the hangar doors. We'll need to get the reactor online. I managed to override the gas vents, but there may be other security measures further in. We should be ready for anything."
Meetra stretched her sore muscles. "Okay, then. I guess we don't get to relax just yet." She began moving further into the base, beckoning the others to follow her. The corridor led past a living area, which was where they found the dead Czerka mercs. At least two squads had been killed along the hallway and in the side rooms. The group shifted into a fighting formation without really thinking about it; Meetra led the way with Kreia to her right and slightly behind, and Bao-Dur and Atton following. Meetra opened a door, was met with a hail of blaster fire, and closed it quickly. "Heavy battle droids, and turrets backing them up." She turned to the others. "Ready?" She saw nods from the group and hit the door control. Kreia shocked one droid as Meetra slashed another apart. Atton and Bao-Dur took the turrets, starting at opposite sides of the room. A droid was turning to engage Meetra when Kreia took its head off from behind. Atton took out a second turret; a droid knocked him to the ground and he cried out in pain. Meetra blew the droid into a wall and finished it. She ran over to the fallen pilot. "What's hurt, Atton?"
He grimaced and indicated his knee. "It's a ligament tear, I'm sure of it. We don't have any kolto, do we?"
Meetra knelt beside him. "Let me try something." She laid one hand on his knee, closed her eyes, and concentrated. It took some effort, but she could feel Atton's leg, and pinpoint the injury. She pulsed the Force through her hand and into the damaged tissue, which began to knit. Atton sighed as the pain evaporated. He rolled to his hands and knees, then stood up carefully. He tested his leg, then smiled. "Thanks, Meetra."
She smiled. "Don't mention it."
They began moving down the hallway towards the reactor controls. Another force field blocked the passage ahead. The room on the far side held the droid recharging stations; more than a dozen droids waited on the other side, weapon arms up and blasters aimed. Bao-Dur smirked. "Too easy." He brought up the disruptor rifle and began firing right through the force field. Three droids fell in less than a minute; the others began firing, trying to wear down the shield so they could attack. The droids couldn't even dent the force field, so they tried to retreat. Atton began to laugh as the droids scrambled over each other to get out of the line of fire. There was no real cover in the room, so the machines had nowhere to run. In less than three minutes, the way was clear.
Atton thumped Bao-Dur in the shoulder. "I'd say well done, but come on, they were fish in a barrel."
Bao-Dur raised his eyebrows. "Would you rather they were shooting back?"
Atton grinned. "You know what, I wouldn't."
Bao-Dur jerked his head. "The reactor room is at the end of this corridor. We start it up, then fly to the polar region." They continued to the reactor control room at the end of the hall. Bao-Dur worked for a few moments, then they all heard a whir as the reactor came online. He double-checked the readouts. "All good here. Main power is functioning normally. We should now be able to open the bay doors and leave in the shuttle."
The group moved through the empty bunker back towards the hangar. On the way, they began to hear a low, pounding sound. As they moved, it got louder, and the floor began to shake with each thud. Atton glanced at Meetra. "I've got a bad feeling about this." They inched forward, weapons at the ready. As they reached the door to the hangar control room, a huge tank droid stomped into view. Atton groaned. "I hate it when I'm right."
The big droid tracked Meetra with its twin blaster cannon and fired. Meetra backflipped and took cover around a corner in the hallway. Atton and Bao-Dur began shooting, but the droid's armor plate was just too thick. It opened up with a flamethrower, forcing the two men behind a large cargo box. Kreia struck the droid with blue lightning; it staggered but kept firing. A panel opened on the droid's front and it launched a grenade at Kreia. She ran into the control room to avoid the blast. Atton popped out and fired into the droid's blaster array, damaging its targeting sensors. The droid fired at him but missed. Atton kept moving and aimed at the droid's photoreceptors high atop its chassis. The tank droid stomped hard, shaking the floor and throwing Atton off balance. Bao-Dur leaned out from behind the box and took a shot at the droid's leg joint. It responded with a concussion grenade. The blast knocked the rifle out of Bao-Dur's hands and sent it sliding across the floor. Meetra threw her own shock attack and the droid froze for a moment. Bao-Dur ran in, bent his knees and took a tremendous jump. He cocked his left arm and landed a devastating punch to the droid's control cluster. The machine went over backward and crashed to the floor, unable to move.
Meetra's mouth fell open and she glanced at Kreia, who nodded slightly. Meetra shrugged and walked up to the Zabrak. "Nice left hook you've got there."
"Nice?" Atton spluttered. "That was the greatest punch I've ever seen-he just knocked out a tank droid!"
Bao-Dur smiled slightly. "Feel free to buy the first round, next cantina we get to."
"Sure thing," chuckled Atton. "Let's get the bay open and get out of here."
A/N: I don't think the game did a good enough job of informing the player that Bao-Dur is Force Sensitive. The others all have a moment where it is plain as day. I missed making him a Jedi the first three times I played through the game, because I didn't see the need to raise influence rapidly, meaning he wasn't in the party all that much.