Trapped! On an unsanctioned mission to rescue
ARC trooper Ray the Squirrel, General Shadow,
Captain Fang, and the Babylon Rogues travel
to Marmolim, headquarters of the
Black Arms.
After a harrowing encounter with the
natives, our heroes infiltrate the
city of Purkoll, only to find
themselves surrounded by Black Death's
forces….
Storm, Rutan, Jack and Shadow were holding off the Kingapes "Rutan, hold them off. I'll check on Fang and Ray" Shadow said. He entered the control room "Situation's almost under control out there. How's it going in here?". Coconuts turned to him "I'm still trying to decrypt Ray's cerebral interface. Until I do, we cannot disconnect him from this computer system" "How is he, Fang?". Fang stood up looking concerned "He's too weak to walk. Very disoriented. He doesn't even remember how he got here. He remembers being at the Citadel, but that's about it". Shadow nodded "Any word on the extraction squad?" "We called it in but no word back". Shadow wasn't surprised by this "Well, we knew when we got into this we'd be on our own" the rest of the rogues entered the room and closed the door and locked it "We're not getting out that way. There' several squads of badniks closing in". Rutan and Jack started sealing the door with torches but something else suddenly started cutting through from the other side. Shadow turned back to Coconuts "How much longer?" "Got it. We can unplug him now". Fang pulled all the wires out of Ray who grunted in pain and fell to the ground "Fang. I've… I've got a headache" he smiled. Fang smiled "Better to feel something than nothing, old buddy". Shadow walked over to them "It's a touching reunion, guys, but we need to get out of here now".
Ray pointed to the ceiling "There's an exhaust vent that leads to the cooling systems right there". A circular hole was slowly being cut into the door "We've got to hurry! It won't take them much longer!" Rutan said. Ray stood up and plugged his new hand tool into a slot "That should get it open" the hatch opened. "So how do we get up there?" Jack said, "I can help with that". Storm walked over and picked Jack up "Wait. Wait. Storm, what're you doing!? He threw Jack to the hatch which he managed o grab onto "A heads up would've been nice!". Coconuts carried Ray as Storm threw them up along with the others. He was about to do it to Shadow who put his hand up "I got this" Storm backed away and Shadow easily jumped him. He looked down and saw Storm run to the console "What're you doing?" "I'm putting an end to Death's little science experiment" he threw bombs all around the room. Shadow then lifted Storm up with the Force "Whoa. Whoa, oh no". The door was cut open and a spherical robot entered and began firing bolts of electricity around the room "Whoa. What is that thing? I don't like it! It's trying to get me!". Shadow managed to get Storm through the hatch before he was hit, and the hatch closed. The robot looked around and found nothing so shut down. Black Death outside the room saw this "What happened? Why did it shut off?" he asked one of the Kingapes "No organic targets were detected, sir. The room appears to be empty". The bombs then went off surprising Back Death. He cautiously entered the now destroyed room "They took it. Black Arms property! They've ruined years of research. Find them!".
The group were walking through the vents "Huh. This ventilation corridor acts as a cooling system for all the computers in the facility" Coconuts said, everyone else was ignoring him. Shadow turned to Fang who was helping Ray "How did you know it was up here, Ray?" "Well, they got access to my memory, and I got access to the Black Arms database. All their plans, inventory, building schematics, everything". Fang looked at him "You mean you can find us safe way out of here?" "Well, there is a way, but you're not gonna like it".
They were walking across a metal pipe between two of the towers with a massive drop underneath "I don't know about this" Fang said. Ray smirked "I'm telling you, there's a landing pad on that other building". Rutan stepped forward "Will there be a ship we can steal?" "Well, I hope so" "Let's hope this trip isn't for nothing". Storm looked terrified "Oh, boy. I can't even look. Keep walking, Coconuts" "That's fine. Just don't take me with you when you fall". Storm looked down "Oh, no. I looked. I think I'm gonna be sick" "Hang on, Storm. We're almost there" Rutan told him. Suddenly the doors at both ends of the pipe opened and Kingapes walked across. Shadow ignited his lightsaber "Anybody got a brilliant idea?" "I do. I recorded the distress call of the Black Hawks those villagers had" Coconuts said. Rutan smirked "He records everything. It's a hobby". Coconuts pressed a button on his wrist device creating a high-pitched noise "Which allows us to call those flying creatures to us" "Enough of that sound!" Storm yelled. Black Hawks arrived underneath the pipe, Shadow jumped down first and landed on one of them. Fang and Ray went next followed by Coconuts and Rutan. Jack turned to Storm "Sorry, Storm" he punched Storm off the pipe and then jumped, they both landed on the same Hawk. They flew away but the Kingapes suddenly sprouted wings and followed them "That wasn't part of the plan". The group flew into mountains covered in mist causing the robots to fly into rocks, destroying them. Fang looked to Ray who was still an octopus "How you holding up, Ray?" "Never better, sir".
They landed back at the Marmolim village, there leader walked up to them and spoke "Their leader is impressed we tamed the Black Hawks, but he wants to know why we returned here" "Tell him we had no choice. We wore out our welcome in Purkoll" Shadow said. Coconuts did so but suddenly laser blasts hit the ground near them. They saw two flying Kingapes, Jack shot one down but the other then flew away "That's not good. If I know Black Death, he'll come after us and the Marmolims, with everything he's got". The leader spoke "He says we have broken our word. We have brought the war to his village". Fang crossed his arms "You're right. Tell him he's right, Coconuts. Tell him we didn't plan to drag his people into war. But look what the Separatists did to one of our people! They took away his freedom. They tried to turn him into a machine". Coconuts began translating as Fang continued "The Back Arms claims it's neutral, but they have chosen sides. Now your people have to choose" "Well said, Fang" Shadow joked.
The surviving Kingape returned to the base where Black Death was waiting "The clones are hiding among the natives" "Take the reinforcements and bring back my experiment". The Kingape flew away with a large army of others and large spider robots. They eventually landed at the Marmolim village buy it appeared to be empty. They searched the area but still found nothing. Suddenly the Marmolims ran down the cliffside and charged into the army while on the other side the Rogues were firing on the robots. Suddenly two spider robots landed and fired down on the village. Fang's commlink activated "Fang, we gotta take out these walkers. I'll take one. You take the other" "Don't worry, General. The boys and I can handle it. Rutan, Storm, you're with me". On top of the cliff Shadow was with Ray, he was about to jump which made Ray smile "Still showing off, huh, General?" "You know me, Ray". He jumped down onto the spider walker and started cutting through different parts. Fang meanwhile was looking up at the other walker "How are we gonna get up there?". Storm grinned and picked him up "No, no. Not again!" he threw Fang up to the walker and he grabbed onto one of the guns. Rutan was then thrown, and the two clones shot the eyes of the walker before jumping back down. Storm saw the walker about to step on the Marmolim leader who was helping a wounded. Storm ran forward and pushed him aside before holding the walker's foot up. Shadow cut the legs of his walker, jumped off and pushed the walker with the Force into the other one, knocking them both over. The remaining Kingapes retreated as the Marmolims cheered. Rutan stood next to Fang "It's hard to compete with a Shinobi".
The Kingapes returned to Black Death "Sir, the attack force has failed" "Aw, the loss of the clone is a devastating blow to the Black Arms profit margin". The Kingape nodded "She would we inform the Separatists of our loss" "All in good time. We must find a way to recoup on our investment".
The group were at there ship with the Marmolims in front of them "Thank you for helping us in our fight" Shadow said, and Coconuts translated. The leader responded, "He said the Shinobi will always have an ally here on Marmolim". The Marmolims headed back to there village and the groups all entered the ship but "Fang". He turned around and saw that Ray was morphing back into his squirrel form, he still had robotic legs and left hand but the rest of him looked like he did before. Fang could still see the trauma in his eyes. Ray sighed "Thanks for coming after me" "That's what brothers do. I'm just sorry it took so long. Hopefully it'll be just like old times". Fang boarded the ship leaving Ray who stared at it apprehensively "Yeah. Just like old times"