Chapter 1
Standing in the midst of the approaching pink dusk of Ord Mantell, Tarn Gebir smiled across at the distant darkening horizon. Through the green tinged screen of the microbinoculars, he could pick up the Bulk transport's main hold, rapidly filling with an immense assortment of figures. Ranging from Humans, Bothans, and Neimoidians to Wookiees, Twi'lek's and Rodians, the crowd dressed glamorously in evening attire, of special notice the fabulous jewels which sparkled even in the dark night. He slowly scanned to the left, a long line of similarly dressed figures were pushed towards the open hold, under the guard of his armed men.
He began to scan down the long line of confused and unfortunate beings, noting their race as he paused on a group of pleasingly familiar species, Twi'lek. Graceful in motion, these beautiful images had forever been doomed to servitude for as long as Tarn could remember, as badges of prestige to the corrupt and wealthy. Tall and thin, the skin pigment of these elegant humanoids spanned a raiment of colours, the most distinctive feature, a pair of shapely prehensile tentacles that grew from the base of their skull. To Tarn, the sight of them had always sent him into a dream. But he had only ever seen them on the Holonet, in particular the two aids of Orn Free Taa, the blue skinned politician representing the Twi'lek's homeworld of Ryloth, in the Galactic Senate. Once this operation was over, Tarn planned to meet this group of elegant beings, a species which he had watched for such a long time.
Refocused on the present, he glanced further down the line, looking carefully at the new prisoners as they continued to be pushed towards the transport's boarding ramp, many of whom looked frightened and panicked. His gaze stopped on a group of wookiees, formed in a circle around what was obviously a female of their kind. Suspicious of what they were possibly protecting, and knowing a little about the nature of wookiees, he zoomed in on the female huddled at the middle of the group. The beast tightly clutched at something in her arms, and as he watched he could pinpoint the slightest movement, a fluttering of chestnut brown fur. He now understood as he reached into his pocket for his comlink, that this group was protecting one of their infant kin.
Over the heavily encrypted private channel, he talked to his second in command. "Major, code red seven. Eradicate."
The major replied by transmitting a sole beep. As he zoomed out, a number of his men pushed into the crowd to surround the wookiee group. His major nodded to the wookiee at the front of the column to step aside, her long range blaster trained on his chest. To Tarn, the reply snarl is inaudible, but the intent of the beast is not lost. He suddenly threw himself at her, but his sudden attack was in vain as a blue stun bolt hit him squarely in the chest, sending him toppling to the ground. From nearly every angle of the group, Tarn's team fired precautionary stun bolts at the now enraged beasts. Another five went down, but one had enough time to reach out to grab a long range blaster from the closest assailant and sent him flying into the air, landing harshly on the duracrete slab. He now used the blaster as a club, turned on another guard, collecting him firmly across the jaw, before he took down another with a brutal whack in the throat. But the escapee's heroic stand was over as he was hit by a well aimed shot from the major, his unconscious body slumping to the ground.
Tarn cursed, three men down and clearly injured. To save any further harm from the female wookiee, the major dropped her with another stun bolt. She motioned to the remaining crew to dispose of the infant, and also to stun cuff and haul the unconscious wookiees aboard. As the last of the prisoners were aboard, Tarn reduced the zoom on the macrobinocular lens to scan the whole area for anything or anyone that may become a problem.
The bulk transport sat on it's landing pads across the open square, paved with shining white duracrete, the surface could obviously cater for a large crowd of people or occasion. Bordered on three sides by the magnificant form of the Pink Sky Casino, the square extended northward, smoothly cut off at the end which cantilevered over the edge of an immense, shimmering waterfall. The waterfall itself was totally artificial, according to Tarn's earlier research; build into the cliff-like side of the plateau, the water dropped into the large lake below, to be pumped back to the top, flowing out from beneath the casino building. Curving around the courtyard, the Pink Sky Casino took on the shape of a horse shoe, it's surface curved over like the bulk of a giant space slug. The outside layer constructed totally out of transperisteel, designed to live up to it's name, the building allowed the occupants to take in the sight of the beautiful pink cloud covered skies overhead, which in turn reflected a conspicuous pink tinge onto the white surface of the courtyard.
From his vantage point, on the outskirts of one of the planet's many spaceports, Tarn watched the whole operation, especially the skies overhead. As yet, not a single ship had crossed over the casino, and with very little republic law enforcement in this part of the city, due to many bribes paid by smugglers to rather dubious officials, the possibility of the situation changing was low. Even so, through his vast experience, he was not going to take any chances by going in blindly.
A sudden double-beep sounded on his comlink. Without lowering the microbinoculars from his eyes, he opened the direct channel to his second in command. "Report."
After a short pause, a young female voice replied rather distractedly. "Uhh, three of our men are down, but the prisoners are all aboard."
Sighing inwardly, Tarn replied quickly. "Good. Get the injured onboard and proceed as planned."
"Affirmative sir."
Again switching the comlink, he concentrated on the extraction. Without zooming the microbinoculars, Tarn could see the three injured men loaded onto the medical hover sleds, before being loaded aboard the transport. Even before the boarding ramp is totally closed, the bulk transport rises up on it's repulsorlifts, rotating away from the casino before slowly but steadily climbing towards the atmosphere.
As he turned away from the scene of yet another successful operation, Tarn flinched his hand reflexively to the blaster at his side, his sharp eyes pinpointing movement in the shadows. A billowing figure loomed, though keeping in the dark protruded from the spaceport building behind, he caught the slightest flicker of metal.
"Interesting way to spend your evening," commented the calm voice from the shadows.
Squinting into the darkness, Tarn tightened the grip on his blaster as he countered calmly. "Hmm, I could say the same of you. Stalking people in the dark…".
The unknown figure paused momentarily, a concealed smile creasing his lips. "Well, it's not often that you see a transport packed with prisoners depart from a casino, or to find someone watching the process closely. Where was that ship going?"
He smirked in reply. "You mean, where are you going?" Smartly he drew his blaster, squeezing off a well aimed shot at the figures' midsection.
With a sudden snap-hiss, the bright yellow blade of a lightsaber came into existence, the red bolt deflected off into the dirt. Tarn's blaster was yanked from his grasp to the ground by an invisible hand as the sudden startling glow switched off, again shrouding them in darkness.
"That would not be advisable. Now where was that ship going?" The Jedi replied sternly, accompanied by the slightest hint of movement of his hand.
Without apprehension, Tarn said, "That ship was going to Thrakia."
Another movement of the hand followed, "For what purpose?"
"For the experiments," he replied.
"What experi—".
The next question from the mysterious Jedi-figure was cut off as he sensed a disturbing flicker in the force. Turning with a sudden ducking spin, he deflected a series of rapid-fire laser bolts away. From the glow of his still activated lightsaber, he watched as a figure ran across the top of the building behind, firing at him with two handheld blasters. But his progress was halted as another, heavily cloaked figure dropped into his path, the powerful glow of a blue lightsaber appearing with the characteristic snap-hiss, to deflect the first bolts that came his way.
As he looked back at where Tarn had stood, he propelled himself up in a force projected jump, as another three bolts fired where he just stood, one needing to be deflected aside. Tarn now stumbled up from the ground and continued to fire at the leaping Jedi, and as he got to his feet, he quickly turned away to sprint up the dark alleyway. Protected by his skills with the lightsaber, the Jedi landed smoothly and quickly followed after the suspected people smuggler.
With the Jedi directly behind, Tarn made his way up the darkly lit alleyway. Not seeing the awkward figure stumbling his way up the alley, he almost tripped over as he pushed the drunken alien into the dirt, who cursed savagely at his back. As he turned into the open doorway of the hangar, he paused to squeeze a few shots off at the Jedi, before disappearing inside. The door hissed closed behind him, the lock clunking into position to bar access inside. He cautiously crossed the hanger in case someone was lurking, satisfied that he was alone, he ran up the boarding ramp of his Blastboat, headed for the cockpit.
After a rushed-through series of system checks, Tarn lifted the sleek ship up on it's repulsors before easing power into the sublight drive. Flicking his comlink channel to his co-pilot's, he was able to pickup his location through the channel signature. Skimming over the open roof-tops of the spaceport hangars, he could see the Jedi that had been chasing him, effortlessly leaping atop the roof of the closest hangar to quickly follow him. He held back a curse as he followed the signal of his counterpart.
As he nosed the ship over a connecting hub jutting out from between two hangars, Tarn could see the flashes of blaster bolts and the obvious form of a lightsaber blade, rapidly twirling this way and that to ward off the dangerous blows. With the flick of a few switches, he brought the ship's turbolasers online and the targeting crosshairs focused on the fighting Jedi. He let go with a crisp barrage of fire from the laser cannons, the Jedi barely escaping by leaping aside, with the use of the force, Tarn suspected. His co-pilot stayed momentarily to squeeze off a shot at the Jedi, whose leap projected over the edge of the hangar, searing the leg of the falling figure on the leg, slightly altering the landing trajectory. As Tarn turned and lowered the ship, with the boarding ramp down for his co-pilot, the pursuing Jedi leapt across from the corresponding roof, headed towards the ramp. But the other was already climbing the ramp, squeezing off another few bolts, which were deflected back at where had been standing.
Hearing the ready call from his co-pilot, Tarn Gebir pushed full power into the drive and pulled the fast ship up towards the atmosphere, leaving the two Jedi far below.
"Well, almost successful…", Tarn muttered.