Revenge! Nack, son of the notorious
bounty hunter Mimic the Octopus, infiltrated a
Shinobi cruiser in an attempt to assassinate
General Merlin the Fox, the man who killed
his father.
After a near miss at Merlin's quarters,
Nack was forced to destroy the cruiser
and escape with the help of notorious
bounty hunter Nicolette. Now, having
lost contact with Admiral Hawking when
his doomed starship crashed, the Shinobi
search for survivors with aid of a
Republic rescue ship...
Shadow and Merlin's fighters flew past the rescue ship "General Merlin, we're picking up the last of the survivors. It's critical we get them to a medical station as soon as possible". Merlin nodded "We'll contact you as soon as our search for Admiral Hawking is complete". The two fighters detached from their hyperspace rings before entering the atmosphere of Monopole. They flew towards the wreckage of the Endurance, parts of which were still on fire. "Looks pretty bad but the bridge seems intact" Shadow said, "Set down behind the cruiser. We'll approach on foot" Merlin responded. They landed and as Shadow exited his ship, Emerl beeped "Huh. You're not kidding, buddy. I don't like the feeling of this place either". Merlin walked up to them with his own gold and black gizoid "Your gizoid is programmed to feel?" "Well, Emerl's a special case". Emerl jumped out of the fighter and Shadow patted his head "He's just got a lot of personality. That's all" "You encourage it too much". The four of them headed towards the crash site, Merlin looked to his gizoid "Start scanning the area for signs of life and calculate an entry point to the cruiser".
The gizoid walked ahead of them when Emerl started beeping and looked back the way he came "A bit jittery, isn't he?" Merlin said, "He must have seen something" Shadow responded, "No matter. We need to get to the bridge". They kept going "There would have been a command crew left aboard to try and land the ship. Admiral Hawking and at least three navigational officers" "Commander Diablo stayed as well" Merlin added. They entered the wreckage of the ship and found a few dead clones on the ground with burn marks on their chests "They weren't killed in the crash. These are blaster burns" Shadow said. Merlin pondered "We know the assassins were after me. Perhaps they returned to look for my body. We need to get to the bridge and find Diablo and Admiral Hawking". Shadow turned to the gizoids "Stay here and see what you can find on scanners". The two Shinobi started climbing up a lift shaft as the two gizoids began roaming the lower level of the ship. Eventually the Shinobi made it to the bridge and found more dead clones. Shadow checked them "I don't see Admiral Hawking or Diablo". Merlin got on his commlink "Captain, there's no sign of any life down here. I'm afraid Admiral Hawking was thrown out of the bridge when it depressurized. Take your survivors to the medical station. We'll meet you there" "Yes, sir".
Back with the gizoids Emerl hears something and begins beeping franticly to the other gizoid. The gizoid argues but Emerl then sees multiple large blue furry hedgehogs with clawed hand and stretchy arms. The gizoids ran in fear but Merlin's one got grabbed. Emerl ran back to try and help him but one of the werehogs hit him away. The werehogs then started tearing the other gizoid apart. Emerl beeped sadly before running.
Shadow looked around the bridge and saw a familiar mask sitting on the control console "Is that a Wispon mask. What's it doing here" he walked towards it. Merlin recognised the mask pondered "The clone cadets. Mimic…. Nack. Shadow, no!". It was too late, Shadow had picked up the mask "Drop it!" he pulled Shadow towards him with the force right before the mask blew up destroying part of the bridge.
Nack, Drago, Nicolette and a male bear wearing a red vest ad chains around his wrist watched the explosion from a safe distance. Nicolette smirked "Merlin's dead. Are you happy now?" "I want to make sure he's dead" Nack angrily responded, "There's nothing left to find, Nack". The bear agreed "No. I wanna get off this planet, now. This place is crawling with werehogs. Besides, we have these hostages we have to drag along". They walked towards Mimic's old ship were Hawking, Diablo and a walrus officer were tied up next to it. Nicolette glared at them "This extra baggage will fetch us a hefty sum from the Separatists" "Well, it's a lot of trouble for not enough pay out if you ask me". Nack glared up at the bear without a hint of fear in his eyes "You haven't even done anything! I've taken all the risks!". The bear grabbed his shoulder "Quiet, you little-", Nicolette quickly pointed her blaster at him "I wouldn't do that".
The bear released Nack who was suddenly hit by a memory of after getting caught by the scientist on Soleanna he spent the rest of the day crying in his room then that night Mimic entered. He had to make sure Merlin was dead "Don't you want a better pay than these guys? Dimitri will give us more for the Shinobi's head". This got Nicolette's attention "Yeah, we'd be looking at a profit". The bear looked like he was going to argue but said nothing. Nicolette holstered her pistol "Nack is right. To get paid we'll need proof of Merlin's death. Ad if we've killed the hedgehog we can ask for double". The bear was convinced by this and the three of them got on Extreme Gear boards "Drago, watch our guests while we're gone" Nicolette told him before they left.
Emerl was running through the wreckage of the ship with not a single werehog in sight. The explosion must have scared them off. the gizoid climbed up the lift shaft to the bridge. He beeped "Emerl!?" he looked down to the lower level and saw Shadow and an unconscious Merlin trapped under debris. Emerl climbed down "Good to see you, buddy" Shadow said weakly. Emer tried to lift the debris but the ship shook "Careful. This whole place will collapse. Listen, go back to the fighters. Call the temple for help. Okay?" he coughed. Emerl sighed "Go get help. We'll hold out as long as we can, buddy. You gotta go" Shadow fainted. Emerl beeped and climbed up to the top of the bridge. He looked out the window and saw Nack and the others heading towards them.
The bounty hunters made it to the wreckage and Nack immediately started running inside "Come on. We've got to find the body" "Careful, Nack". Nack stopped and saw a large bit of debris about to fall on him and he quickly jumped out of the way. Nicolette walked up, stared down at him coldly before continuing without helping him up. The three of them started climbing through the tilted corridor of the ship. Emerl was hiding at the top, he grabbed a piece of debris and threw it down without being seen. "Lookout!" Nicolette yelled and they all took cover "This place is a death trap" the bear said sounding afraid. Nicolette glared at him "When I hired you I didn't realise you were such a coward" "Money's no good when your dead". Emerl got on a control panel and closed the door in front of them "Blast!" he heard Nicolette yell from the other side. Emerl beeped in a chuckling fashion.
The two Shinobi began to wake up "Shadow, are you alright?" "Uh. Yeah, I'm fine. Getting crushed is really relaxing" he replied trying to lighten the mood. Merlin coughed "It's good to know you still have your sense of humour". Merlin tried to use the Force to lift of the debris but the whole bridge started to shake "I already tried that! You'll bring the whole place down on us" " Well, then do you any idea how to get out of this mess?". Shadow nodded "Don't worry. I already sent Emerl back to the fighters. He's gonna call for help. I'm sure he has everything under control", Merlin didn't look confident.
Emerl went to a lift shaft where he heard the bounty hunters arguing "I didn't think there'd be all this climbing" "Shut up! I didn't want you on this mission!" "The next person who speaks will get a blaster bolt through the brain. Not one more word!". He pushed a couple of crates to the lift and pushed them down "Incoming!" the bear yelled. He sighed "Come on. This place is coming apart. There's no way Merlin's still alive". Nack remembered telling his owner what the Soleannan scientists said to him and Mimic responded by saying it didn't matter if he was a clone, he was his son. "I'm not quitting now. Not when I'm so close" Nack told the bear. Emerl then mischievously beeped and picked up a grenade from a dead clone. He dropped it down the shaft, it blew up knocking the bounty hunters back down to the bottom of the shaft. "That's it. We're out of here! No one could survive this place" the bear said. "A Shinobi could" Nack said but Nicolette sighed "I hate to agree with Diesel but there are better ways of doing this". "What?" Nack asked angrily but the others walked off ignoring him, he reluctantly followed. Nicolette got on the commlink "Drago, get the prisoners on board Cube-1 and fire it up. Start jamming communications in case the Shinobi are still alive. We're gonna blast this ship to pieces" "I'll be ready when you arrive".
Shadow was getting frustrated "I hate just sitting here" "Calm yourself, Shadow. We'll soon see if the faith you put in that gizoid is worth it" Merlin replied calmly.
Once the bounty hunters left Emerl headed down to Shadow's fighter but a werehog jumped in front of him. It picked him up but Emerl punched him in the face disorientating him. Emerl ran to the fighter and activated its engines. It rushed forward and hit the werehog launching it far away. Emerl then entered Merlin's fighter and tried to transmit a distress signal but it didn't work. He decided to take off instead.
Nack and the others made it back to Cube-1 and took off. They entered the cockpit where Drago was piloting "We've got a problem. Scans detected an explosion". He flew in the direction of the explosion and saw the fighter "Those markings match Merlin's" Diesel said. "I knew he wasn't dead!" Nack said angrily, "Drago, take him down" Nicolette told the wolf. Emerl took evasive action trying to avoid shots from the ship. He flew out of the atmosphere and again tried to call for help but again he was being jammed. Nack was manning the gun "Hold it steady!" he managed to hit the ships transmitter. He saw that the ship was heading for the hyperspace rings "They're powering up" Diesel said. "Destroy them both!" Nicolette told him but Drago sighed "We can't get in range. You've got one shot, kid". Nack waited and thought that the fighter was heading for the one on the right "I've got you, Merlin" he fired and destroyed the hyperspace ring but Emerl quickly turned towards the other one and attached. "No!" Nack yelled right before the ship jumped to lightspeed. Nack fell back in his chair, Diesel roared in anger "Well their goes a fortune. Nice work, kid". Drago turned to Nicolette "What now?" she looked at the hostages and smirked. Diesel looked worried "Merlin will be after us. He'll bring a whole fleet and we'll be wiped out" "Don't count on it. The Shinobi don't hold grudges. But we have ways to motivate them. We'll bring Merlin to us next time on our terms. Now let's get out of here. I want to regroup". The ship jumped to hyperspace.
Emerl landed at the Shinobi temple and rushed through the halls towards the war room where Rob, Amy and holograms of other Shinobi were. He fell down the stars "Emerl?" Amy said confused as she helped him up. Emerl pushed another Gizoid that was working on the holo-unit "Emerl, stop it!" Amy said breaking the two apart. "What's wrong?" Emerl beeped frantically, "Amy, you know this gizoid?" Rob asked. "It's Emerl. He belongs to Shadow" "Well, then Emerl deliver the message you're obviously so desperate to communicate". Emerl connected to the holo-unit and showed an image of Shadow and Merlin under the debris "Listen, go back to the fighters. Call the temple for help. Okay?". Rob examined it "Prepare my ship. We'll leave immediately".
Merlin saw what was left of Mimic's mask and used the Force to bring it to him. "Whose helmet is that anyway?" Shadow asked as Merlin stared at the mask regretfully. "It belongs to a bounty hunter I killed on Waspnosia. His name was Mimic the Octopus" "The clone template?" Shadow asked. "Yes. Strangely enough he had a son. Or at least a clone he regarded as a son. His name is Nack the Octopus although he prefers to be a weasel". Shadow nodded "Espio listed him on his report on Soleanna" "He was also on Waspnosia when his father died. He watched as I killed him" "That would complicate things". The ship started shaking again, Merlin coughed "Your gizoid has been gone too long. He must have failed to deliver your message" "Emerl will come through". They suddenly heard engines and gunships appeared at the window of the bridge. "Amy, hold the ship steady" Rob said as the both of them used the Force. "Let's go!" Karl said as he and another clone jumped inside and tried to lift the debris "Hold tight, Generals" he told them. He got them free and helped them towards the gunship. They jumped right before the bridge collapsed and the gunship flew away. They landed a short distance away and a medic checked Shadow and Merlin. After a while Amy came up to Shadow "They said you have some serious burns but nothing a bacta tank won't fix" she hit his leg which hurt him "Sorry". Merlin looked over to Emerl "Come here, gizoid". Emerl nervously did so "I can see why your Master trusts you, little one. Good job" Emerl beeped happily. Shadow chuckled "That's more praise than I ever get".