Hello all! I know I said I'd post the next chapter this weekend, but after the amount of views I got in such a short time, I decided to post this early. I've also had a look at chapter one, and made some spacing updates. Shoutout to lonelyfaery for the review. I'm not to what your review means, as I said; I'm new, but I'm glad you reviewed all the same. Thanks for all your support, enjoy!
CHAPTER 2
Planet: NONE. System: NONE. Sector: Lothal sector. Location: Trade Federation Munificent Star Frigate, empty space.
Droids lay cluttering the corridor. With the firefight finished, the team was picking its way through the scrap, blasting any droids still functional. Calrand stabbed the rubble then looked up and scanned the carnage.
"My sensors don't detect any more. Let's move on. Zeb, give the Cip-Quad to Sabine."
"Awww…" Zeb whined "Oh well." He unhooked it and handed it to Sabine.
"YUSS!" Sabine cried. "Finally!"
"Carful," Zeb warned. "It really puts you off balance, try not to run so much. I almost fell charging in earlier."
"Yeah, yeah…" Sabine muttered while putting it on. She wobbled a bit and almost fell on the chunks of B1 battle droid littering the deck. "Wooah, you weren't kidding."
"Told you so."
"Now don't break it," Calrand said. "It's expensive to fix. That's a first generation Cip-Quad you're holding there. It's a pain to find parts."
"Wow, how much did it cost?"
"I stole it."
"Ummm…"
"What?"
"Nothing," the team began advancing down the corridor. "Where'd you steal it from?"
"Imperial weapons vault on Coruscant. They had a lot of old stuff there."
"Like what?"
"DC-17s, DC-15s, old Verpine rifles, couple AT-TE's, old LAATs , old TX-130, old AT-RT's, too much to name now."
"We need to raid that vault. You take any seventeen's?"
"Yeah, you didn't see them in CQAS?"
"No."
"Good, that's the point."
They reached the turbolift that led to the bridge. Calrand pushed the button. Nothing happened for a couple minutes, and then Calrand seemed to get bored and reached over to Sabine, spun her around so she was facing backwards, then grabbed two things off the Cip-Quad pack.
"What are you doing?"
"I have a hydraulic ram with attachments mounted on the back."
He clipped the spreader attachment to the ram and wedged the ram's claws in the miniscule gap between the two sliding lift doors. The ram pried them open with eight metric tons of force. Calrand reattached the ram to the Cip-Quad
"I'll go first," Zeb stated.
Zeb peered up the tube. He leaned around the edge and grabbed a ledge, and began climbing up the tube.
"Well," said Calrand, grabbing an ascension cable launcher from his belt. "Let's go."
He shot the cable up the tube. It made a ding; Calrand pulled it taut, and clipped it to his belt. He gave it a couple tugs to make sure it was secure, then jumped past the thresh-hold, into the tube. Kanan and Ezra stood at the thresh-hold and force jumped up the tube, catching on to ledges and using the force to launch them self up higher.
"Sabine," Calrand called from up the tube. "Aim up the tube and press the illuminated blue button labeled AC."
She did as commanded. When she pressed the button, a pair of ascension cables shot from the top two barrels of the Cip-Quad. She jumped out into the tube, and motors began pulling her upward. Once she reached the end of the cable, she aimed up the tube again, and pressed the button. This time cables shot from the bottom two barrels. She did this a few more times. She was the last one up the tube. Kanan helped her through the door with the force.
"This thing is awesome!"
"Yeah, my sister Jia made that mod."
"Sister?"
"Yup. She's part of my permanent crew. Rebel Command has them all on separate missions. This is the first time I, or any of my crew has worked with your rebel cell. Enough talking, lets storm the bridge."
He grabbed his Shatter gun and his knife, and charged down the corridor, towards the bridge door. The rest of the team followed him. Ezra pushed the door control with the force, and they ran in. Calrand ran off to the left, Zeb ran to the right, and Kanan, Ezra, and Sabine charged down the center, towards the command chair. Off to the left, Calrand was putting rounds trough the droid guards, and cutting up the droid operators. He didn't dare shoot the operators, for fear of damaging the sensitive controls of the Star Frigate. Off to the right, Zeb was smashing droids with his bow-rifle in electro-staff mode. In the center Kanan and Ezra flanked Sabine. They were stopped, staring at the Frigate's captain. He was a Mandalorian; he had black armor, the Mandalorian color of justice. His helmet had a Deathwatch emblem on the right forehead. There was no mistaking that signature W shape. His gauntlets were painted gold, the color of vengeance. He held a Verpine rifle. Sabine stepped back, as if in shock.
"Kelax," she growled.
She then charged forward, firing. Kanan and Ezra split off, Kanan flanking left, Ezra flanking right. At that moment, Calrand and Zeb converged at the end of the lower control walkways surrounding Kelax. Kelax dodged Sabine's fire, raising his own rifle. Kanan knocked him back with the force, throwing the Verpine from his hands. He fell at the feet of Zeb and Calrand. Calrand fired and Zeb stabbed. Kelax rolled out of the way, and leaped to his feet and grabbed a small Merr Son blaster from a holster on his boot. He shot at Zeb and Calrand. Zeb tumbled back with a yelp. Calrand grunted and stumbled a bit, but didn't fall. Sabine fired a volley at Kelax, knocking him to the floor, hard. Kanan and Ezra rushed forward to subdue him. Kelax tried to stand, but Kanan slammed him back down to the floor, knocking his helmet off. Ezra pounced, slapping binders on Kelax's wrists. Ezra hauled Kelax to his feet. Kelax had dark short cut hair, a face full of scars, dark green eyes, and the Deathwatch emblem printed on his left cheek. Sabine looked murderous.
"You," she growled.
"Do I know you?" he asked.
"No. But I know you. Does the name Daun mean anything to you?"
"Wait, you're a Daun?"
"Secure him."
They noticed Calrand wasn't here. Calrand was with Zeb. Kelax's shot went through Zeb's chest plate; he crashed down the ramp leading to the control area. Calrand was giving first aid. He sprayed Zeb's wound with Bacta and bandaged it. He lifted Zeb up with a grunt. He slung Zeb's arm over his shoulder, and they limped up the ramp. Zeb was panting.
"The droid control console is over there," Calrand pointed towards a console in the corner. "One of you," he gestured to the group. "Deactivate the droids. Don't destroy them. They can be useful. Once you're done, and all the droids are returned to the charging bay-the vultures too-tell Hera to broad cast the all clear signal."
Kanan and Ezra relieved Zeb from Calrand. Calrand turned and started pacing. He seemed to be working himself up for something. He abruptly stopped and turned to the command chair, where Kelax was secured. Kelax sat with his head down, in a position of despair. He looked up when Calrand stopped in front of him. Kanan and Ezra's gaze shot towards Calrand, then they shuddered, as if they were plunged in ice.
"It really is you," Calrand said.
"And who are you?"
Calrand pulled off his helmet. Kelax inhaled sharply. Calrand had look of disgust on his face. Kelax began struggle immensely. Sabine walked over from the droid control panel, and tightened the restraints.
"NO! NOOOOO!" screamed Kelax. "You," his gaze shot to Sabine. "Let me go! Pleeease! He'll kill me! I know he will! You have to believe me!"
"Will you?" Sabine asked.
In response, Calrand grabbed his saber and lunged at Kelax, dropping his helmet. Sabine hopped up and tackled him, knocking his saber from his hand. Calrand thrashed, throwing Sabine off and leaping to his feet.
"Don't kill him!" cried Sabine, she jumped up, between Calrand and the source of his fury. "We need to know what he's doing here, what he knows about this ship!" Calrand looked at her in frustration and disappointment.
"Fine!" Calrand stormed off, grabbing his helmet as he went. Marching out the bridge door, mumbling; something about cowards.
Ezra stared at Sabine with amazement.
"Did you just-? I mean, wow, just wow. You tackled Calrand."
Kelax shuddered at the mention of Calrand's name. He looked to Sabine.
"So, I take it you're not a Daun. Due to the fact that you don't seem to want to brutally murder me."
"No, I'm a Wren."
Sabine noticed that Calrand left his saber. She picked it up and went back to the droid control console. Kanan's comlink beeped. He grabbed it from his belt. Hera's voice buzzed through.
"Kanan, the Vulture Droids just flew back to the ship. What's going on?"
"We sent out a return to base command. The droids should all be back in there charging ports soon."
"Good," Hera replied. "Tell me when to send the all clear signal."
"You got it. Kanan out." He returned the comlink to his belt.
"Sabine, how much longer?" He asked.
"Ten minutes."
"Ezra," said Kanan. "Let's take Zeb back to the ship."
Back on Daun'e A'den, Kanan was helping Zeb into his bunk. Once he was done. He went into the parlor. Sabine was sitting at the main table, cleaning her gear. Calrand and Ezra were playing Dejarik (Holo-Chess) on the other side of the room. Calrand was winning. Kanan sat down with them to watch. Calrand's M'onnok stabbed Ezra's Houjix. Ezra's Kintan Strider smashed Calrand's M'onnok with its hammer.
"HA!" Ezra shouted. "I got it!"
Calrand frowned, but said nothing. Ezra had only the Strider and a Ng'ok left. Calrand still had a Ghhhk, a Mantellian Savrip, and Grimtaash the Molater. Calrand's Savrip picked up Ezra's Ng'ok over its head and slammed it to the ground. Calrand grinned. Ezra commanded his Strider to attack Calrand's Ghhhk. The Ghhhk squished. Calrand commanded his Savrip to smash Ezra's Strider. The Strider perished.
"Karabast!" shouted Ezra.
Sabine smiled and shook her head, not looking up from her gear.
"You're too aggressive," Calrand told Ezra. "You're overconfident. Just because you have the force, doesn't mean you're unstoppable. You over commit and leave yourself exposed, that's why I was able to kill all your smaller creatures with just the M'onnok."
"Kanan, you have a go at him. He's unstoppable."
"We shall see," replied Kanan moving to where Ezra was previously sitting. Calrand thumbed the controls and the table lit up. Kanan had the Mantellian Savrip, the Ng'ok, the K'lor'slug, and the Ghhhk. Calrand had the Kintan Strider, the Houjix, the M'onnok, and Grimtaash the Molater. Calrand went first, he commanded his Houjix to step in front of Kanan's K'lor'slug setting the slug up to be impaled by the M'onnok's spear when it attacked the Houjix.
"Get 'em Kanan," said Ezra.
Kanan moved his Ng'ok in front of Calrand's Strider, putting it so when Calrand attacked the Ng'ok, the rest of his creatures would be unguarded from Kanan's Savrip.
"Awww…" said Ezra.
Calrand braced his elbows on the side of the table, and meshed his hands. He placed his hands on his chin, index fingers under his nose, thumbs on his chin. He scanned the board. He then moved his Houjix to kill the K'lor'slug. The creature flailed and died. Kanan moved his Savrip to where his K'lor'slug was, squishing the Houjix. Calrand moved Grimtaash in the way of the Savrip, blocking the Savrip from attacking the M'onnok.
He really likes that M'onnok. I can use that. Kanan thought
Kanan moved his Ng'ok in front of Grimtaash. Calrand attacked the Ng'ok. Grimtaash strangled it. Kanan moved his Savrip to smash Grimtaash. Grimtaash was no more.
Calrand moved his M'onnok behind his Strider. Kanan moved the Savrip to kill the M'onnok, thinking that Calrand would sacrifice everything for the M'onnok. Calrand surprised him by striking his Savrip with the Strider. The hammer hit the Savrip's head with a crack.
He gave it more sounds? Kanan thought. Dejarik shouldn't make cracking sounds. Calrand noticed his intrigue.
"You like the mod? My sister made that as well. She's the best engineer I've met, and, believe me, I've been around."
"It's adds a certain realism to the game," commented Ezra. "By the way, you're screwed Kanan."
"Thanks for the input," Kanan replied sarcastically.
Hera's voice suddenly buzzed over the intercom; "The fleet's here. They're requesting us for a debriefing."
Kanan thumbed the deactivation button.
"I surrender. You're quite the strategist."
Calrand grinned. He picked up his helmet from the couch and walked towards the door.
"Yeah, that's why I'm here."
Thanks for reading. The next chapter will be out soon. Taabir bat ner vode!