Salaarg:
Kara immediately knew that something was wrong. She shouldn't have reached Scarif for at least another four hours. Yet the fighter had come out of hyperspace. Instincts taking over, Kara checked her coordinates. She wasn't near anything as far as she could tell. All the fighter's power had shut down. Kara spun her seat around, reaching up for the backup generator, but it sparked. Someone was jamming her ship. The ship was slowly spinning through space. Stars moved across the viewports, soon revealing a grey sphere in the sky. A planet.
KT seemed to have realised something was wrong and looked up from her position, nestled on the floor. Kara unclipped her helmet, attaching her helmet's filter to a cable which ran from the oxygen supply. Just in case she thought as she grabbed her blaster, loading it. She disengaged the safety on the Phantom Fighter's weaponry, reading for anything. This smelt of piracy.
Kara grabbed the holograph projector, ready to send a message if needed. She went back to her coordinates, thinking them through thoroughly. She guessed she was somewhere just beyond the border of the Outer Rim. Wild Space. A galaxy ruled by chaos, sitting beyond the reach of the Empire. She felt a shift in the gravity. She looked out the window and saw herself being pulled away from the hazy grey planet. A tractor beam.
Someone had pulled her out of hyperspace, presumably using a hyper net, jammed her communications and was using a tractor beam to pull her in. Kara knew this could only mean one thing. Space pirates. She took out the holograph projector, activating it. They may have jammed her comm's and power, but it didn't mean they had done the same to KT's.
'This is Kara to the Phantom Order. I've been pulled out of hyperspace. I think I'm about to be boarded. Await further communications.' Kara reached over and plugged the projector into KT. KT sat down, processing the information, then buzzed.
'Sparks!' Kara hissed, frustrated. KT was unable to transmit any information. Kara reached up, and unravelled a cable. She didn't have long. She strapped the cable to the ceiling of the fighter and attached the other end to the piton cord built into her utility belt. At that moment, the ship jerked to a stop. Kara grabbed KT and stuffed her into the storage under the control panel. 'Keep trying to send that transmission' Kara whispered, resting her rifle on her shoulder. There was a hissing sound as the back of the Phantom Fighter was connected by an airlock. Kara looked out the back of the ship and finally spotted her enemies
A massive brown freighter, ovoid in shape, stretched out. It was far larger than the Shadow Blade, eclipsing a vast arc of the sky. Kara swore. Whoever she was dealing with wasn't just some jumped up Outer Rim operation. The freighter may look like a well-worn deep space hauler that was an epoch past it's prime, but this was a powerful group. They must have been going at it for a long time to have the capability to ambush a ship in hyperspace. The jamming device, the tractor beam… this was a serious crew. Empire-grade gravity manipulation came at a price.
A long grey cylinder had emerged from the pirate freighter and attached itself to the dock on Kara's TIE. Kara scanned the ship, looking for the bridge, where she knew she would find the tractor beam control. She had to disable this at its core, or the pirates would just suck in the mass of the Phantom Fighter like a Gungan catching an insect.
Kara turned around to check things were in place before ducking behind her armoured command chair and aiming her rifle over the top. The door to her ship slid open, revealing a long circular corridor, with a flat walkway, chording the circle. At the other end were three pirates. A Trandoshan, a Dresselian and a Rodian. They were equipped in mismatched armour, and carrying an assortment of weaponry. 'Whoever's in there, surrender before I pull you limb from limb' the Trandoshan growled, following up with an unintelligible grunt that might have been laughing.
Kara was able to pull the trigger twice before any of the pirates spotted her. The Dresselian and the Rodian dropped, smoke pouring out of their chests. The Trandoshan lifted his rifle and tried to spot Kara. Kara darted out from the TIE, bursting down the corridor. Kara aimed as she ran, shooting the Trandoshan through the neck. He doubled over, his guttural laugh silenced.
Two more pirates rounded the corner, one a Weequay. Kara dived next to the Dresselian's limp body, holding his body over her as the pirates opened fire on her. The blasts went wide or hit the corpse. Kara rolled out from cover, blasting the Weequay. The other one, clearly untrained, fumbled to reload his pistol. Kara leapt forward, swinging her rifle like a club and catching him on the temple. He stumbled over, unconscious. Kara rounded the corner, entering a dirty brown hallway, with grated flooring pnaels. Hisses of steam erupted from underneath the floor, clouding the corridor with dirty smog.
Kara ran forward, on the balls of her feet, trying to minimise the sound that echoed down the corridor. A light flashed through the smog as she rounded the corner, giving away her assailant's position. Kara dropped to her knee, blasting down the corridor. She heard a thud and knew she had found her mark, she snuck forward into the open. Two pirates rounded the corner ahead of Kara. Another Dresselian spotted her, and in a panic, tossed a grenade at her. Kara swore, activating the retraction system on her belt, immediately recoiling the piton cord that she had attached to the Phantom Fighter. She jerked backwards, yanked off her feet. She did a spin before slamming into the wall behind her. She bounced off the wall before being thrown back down the way she'd come.
The grenade exploded, funnelling fire down the tunnel. It came around the corner, and Kara caught a glimpse of it as she was thrown backwards through another tunnel. The concussion wave of the explosion caught up to her, flinging her further down the tunnel. Kara's head slammed hard against the ground and she slammed into a door. Kara let out a string of unpleasant words, before detaching her piton cord and yanking her helmet off. She touched her finger to her forehead and looked down at her gauntlet, now wet with blood. Her ears were ringing, and she felt like she was still being thrown around. Kara looked up to see what had stopped her from reaching the TIE and saw that the tunnel that had attached to her TIE had locked down. She was trapped on the pirate freighter.
Kara rose to her feet and to her surprise, lifted off the ground and into the roof. She bounced off gently, floating in the corridor. The corridors gravity traction had been blown. They were in zero G. She rubbed her hand over the top of her head and felt a lump already beginning to form. Deciding that she didn't feel like copping any more head injuries, she placed her helmet back on her head.
She pushed off the wall, floating down the tunnel. She grabbed onto the corner, swinging her velocity around as she begun floating her way towards the bridge. The tunnel had already been cleared by the explosion. She floated through, ash and debris floating in the air. It was a miracle that there hadn't been a rupture of the hull.
As Kara passed a doorway just as a pirate covered in thick leathery armour leapt out at her. Kara's blaster was wrenched from her grip before she could react. Her assailants' legs were charred, evidently burnt from the recent explosion. He swung a large knife, a feral grin plastered on his face. They were both flung into the wall, where the man slashed the knife against Kara's throat, but unable to penetrate her armour. She placed her hands on his arms, trying to force him back. He pressed the knife closer to her visor and Kara raised her knee into his groin. He howled and Kara pushed him away. He was thrown into the opposite wall, and Kara pushed off across the hallway, slamming her hands into his chest. His knife was floating above him, where he had let go of it. Kara snatched it out of the air and sank it into his stomach. He let out a groan before slumping against the side wall. Kara pushed away from him, retrieving her rifle and kicking away, flying towards the bridge.
She entered into a vast hangar area, where she spotted a Firespray as well as a Tekton Class fighter in the centre. They had a fleet of smaller ships aboard the freighter – the spoils of war. No doubt the Phantom Fighter was considered a prize catch. She pushed inside where she quickly counted off six pirates, trying to make sense of the loss of gravity aboard the ship. The central hangar was surrounded by a balcony on three of four sides. The fourth side had a blue force field covering it, and Kara could see out into the space beyond it. Kara had emerged on one side of the balcony and saw another door on the opposite side. If she could just float across without being spotted, she could make her way to the bridge. Kara grabbed onto the railing to stop herself from floating out and carefully checked to see what the pirates were doing. They were all responding to the gravity traction shutdown, attempting to tether themselves to their ships. Kara leapt out, pushing off quickly towards the opposite side.
There was a shout not a moment later. She had already been spotted. She turned to spot a Lasat pointing at her from behind a crate down on the deck. She was still floating forwards, propelled by her leap from the opposite side. She zeroed in on him, firing a shot at him but he leapt aside. A blast from behind her told her that more than just one of them had spotted her. The blast went wide and she spun her body round, spotting a Nautolan. She fired a blast into him, dropping him. She was halfway across the hangar when one of the pirates leapt into the air in pursuit of her. She drew her pistol and looked back over her shoulder. Aiming backwards, she fired into the pirate, placing her blast in his stomach, he doubled over, floating aside, steam rising from his torso. The Lasat leapt out of cover and aimed a blast at her. It seared her left leg and Kara grunted as pain laced through her. Her armour had dealt with most of the energy, but the heat still stung. Before the Lasat could fire again, Kara blasted at him, and the enemy took cover.
She soared into the other railing and hauled herself over the edge. She passed through the doorway just as a flurry of blasts exploded behind her. She pushed down the corridor, floating forward to find an elevator. It was a simple platform with yellow railings. Kara hurried onto it, and activated it with the touch of a button set implanted in the wall. The elevator clunked into action, ascending quickly. Kara quickly pulled the power pack out of her rifle, reloading her weapon. She emerged into another control room, the bridge.
A Duros spun around when he heard the elevator arrive. He drew a pistol, pointing it at Kara but she had already beaten him to it. She blasted him in the chest with her rifle, surging forward. As she stepped out into the bridge, she sensed gravity return and she thudded into the ground. It was a long room with computer panels across the walls as well as a holo-table in the centre of the room. It had a window at the front that looked down the length of the space craft. The bridge evidently had its own isolated gravity traction system. It had been meant as a place with primary control over the freighter that could act as a strongpoint with surveillance and control access over the entire ship. It was a place that in the event of an attack, a small force could lock themselves into to protect themselves. Just as she thought this, she sensed movement all around her. Four pirates popped out from behind monitor stations, opening fire on Kara.
Kara dived backwards, dropping to the ground. One of the lasers clipped her shoulder. She groaned, drawing her pistol and firing from the ground, hitting one of the men directly in the neck. She caught a glimpse of blood bursting out his throat before he toppled behind a station. She rolled to her left just in time as more blaster bolts streaked by her. A second later, a concussive grenade was thrown at Kara's feet. Kara reacted instinctively, kicking the grenade away from her while simultaneously remembering her experience on Dantooine. She had already vowed not to ever let that happen again. The grenade rolled to a stop between two of the pirates. It blasted them away from each other, rendering them unconscious while shredding a surveillance panel. The last pirate ran for an emergency hatch but Kara picked him off with her rifle before he'd taken two steps.
Only one other person was left on the bridge, cowering in a corner. A human, in a purple cloak. He was unarmed. Kara walked to his side, keeping her rifle trained on him the whole time. She reared back and kicked him in the chest, sending him sprawling on the ground. She planted her foot on him.
'What system is this?' Kara yelled, interrogating him.
'We're above s-Salaarg' he said, trembling. The name was vaguely familiar to Kara and with a start, she realised it was the last place that Wolfe had contacted her before he had gone missing, over a month ago. Kara slammed the butt of her rifle into the man's head.
She turned back to the bridge controls and immediately deactivated the tractor beam controls before smashing her rifle into the panel. She set a ten-minute timer until the airlock would disconnect from her ship and then smashed that panel so that no one could override her commands. Hopefully she would be able to return to the ship in time or else she would be stranded aboard the freighter. She set the same timer on her helmet's display, so she could accurately keep track of the time.
Kara ran back to the elevator and let it lower her down to the ground. This time it seemed painfully slow. But she could tell the hangar zone had not reactivated its gravity traction. She felt herself become light while stretching her arms in preparation for the zero- G environment she would re-enter. She sprang out of the elevator the second she could, floating down the corridor and into the hangar. Two of the pirates were still there. The second she emerged, she sighted one and shot him. She burst out across the gap, quicker this time. She spotted the second one, cowering behind a crate and dropped a thermal detonator on him as she floated over his head. He looked up in surprise, as he spotted Kara float above him. He raised his blaster at her but before he could react, the detonator went off, blowing him across the room. Kara was thrown into the opposite side of the hangar, propelled by the force of the detonator. She hauled herself around a railing and leapt threw the doorway, retracing her steps. Four minutes had already passed.
She passed an open doorway and the second she had, a voice echoed behind her.
'Stay right where you are.' It was a thick Lorian accent that reminded her of Kings, back when he had served with the Phantom Order. Kara slowed herself, let go of her rifle and raised her arms in submission. She couldn't risk being shot, but she knew her ship was going to detach and depart in five minutes, whether she was in it or not. 'Now slowly turn around' said the voice.
Kara spun to face a large man with arms as fat as a hyperdrive piston. He was pointing a double-barrelled bolt launcher at her. The weapon had been out-of-date in the time of the Republic, but it was still lethal. Kara was glad she hadn't tried to escape. That weapon wouldn't just blast her armour off, it would cook everything inside. At that moment, there was a buzzing sound. There was a flash of blue light behind the man and he slumped over, gently falling to the ground. Behind him, clinging to the ceiling was KT.
'I thought I told you to stay aboard the Phantom Fighter' grinned Kara. KT lowered her head in something that looked like a shrug. Kara knew that KT had magnetic foot holds that she was using to attach to the ceiling. Kara reached up and grabbed KT, placing the droid on her shoulder. Kara smiled, and flew down the hall. There were two minutes left.
She floated down another corridor and reached the tunnel. The door to the tunnel had been sealed off. Kara was kicking herself for forgetting to open it when she had been in the bridge. She could hear voices behind her. The pirates were in pursuit. KT leapt off Kara's shoulder, floating to the ground where she rolled forwards and pushed a small cylinder out of her body and into a socket in the ground. A hacking device.
'Good job KT. We need to be quick' said Kara, casting a glance behind her. She caught sight of the pirates rounding the corner just as the doors slid open. Kara pushed off the wall scooping up KT as she flew. The droid let out an excited buzz as they zoomed down the corridor. Kara leapt into the TIE fighter, slamming into the ground as the artificial gravity came back into play. She tossed KT aside and grabbed the back door of the TIE. Light filled the corridor as blaster bolts soared towards her. She slammed the circular door shut, locking it. Red singe marks appeared on the door with a noisy hiss. The hydraulics groaned and the TIE burst away from the pirate ship.
Kara slipped in behind the controls of the Phantom Fighter, taking over. 'KT, start recalibrating the hyper drive coordinates and get us out of here.' At that moment, turrets on the side of the freighter fired on the Phantom Fighter. Kara was already hitting the thrust. She swerved to the side, narrowly avoiding being shot out of the sky. Kara nervously waited for the shields to power up, tapping her thumb on the control stick rapidly. 'Anytime would be fine now!' she called as KT furiously worked the hyperdrive, preparing to send them to Scarif.
The turrets fired again. Kara spun the ship round, one of the heavy blaster bolts clipping the Phantom Fighter's wing. The ship vibrated as it spun around wildly, aimed at the surface of Salaarg. Kara pulled on the throttle, trying to get the ship under control. The rear thrusters broke off as they rocketed into Salaarg's atmosphere. More blasts from the turrets. The shields activated in time to stop the Phantom Fighter from being shredded but Kara soon found the ship once more spinning towards the ground. Kara quickly flipped a switch, diverting the shields power to the thrusters as she tried to exercise control over the ship. They couldn't make the jump to hyperspace until they were out of the atmosphere. Kara pulled on the throttle, levelling the Phantom Fighter just in time to see two red streaks of plasma fly in from above, shredding through the fighter's engine.
Kara swore as the ship burst open, flames tearing through the hull. Red clouds swarmed through her vision, and then everything went black.