XIII: Underground Duel

An urgent, galaxy-wide transmission was sent: any Imperial pilots that could make it to Bothan space were ordered to do so as fast as possible, and rendezvous with the Imperial II Star Destroyer Motivator, which had set a trap for Alliance forces attacking a freighter in orbit of Bothawui.

Kol rode the swoop as fast as possible, making it to Docking Bay 87 in a few short minutes. Before leaving, he sold the swoop to a merchant for a hefty amount of credits. Just before entering hyperspace, he remembered the transmission with GM, and how it had been cut off. He checked his communicator's logs to find out where the transmission originated: Bothawui, which wasn't too far from where the action was. He entered hyperspace and decided to take a short nap.

He awoke about five minutes before exiting hyperspace. He was the only one in this sector of Bothawui's orbit. He checked his logs again and found out where on the planet the transmission had originated. It claimed to originate from an abandoned mine, Mesa 291. Kol landed in front of one of the entrances, locked his ship and, with an E-11 blaster rifle in hand, he ventured forth.

It was early in the day; early enough that the planet's sun was able to shine its rays into the mine. It was a good thing, too, as none of the light fixtures on the walls were active, and Kol didn't find a switch to activate them. Kol began to relax a little, finding the trek boring; but he kept both hands on his rifle when he remembered what had happened the last time he began to find something boring.

Eventually he reached a space farther than the sun's rays could enter, and it would have become too dark for him to continue if not for some of the light fixtures from this point were active. He looked all around to make sure he was the only organic there, and continued on his way.

Finally, he reached what looked like a table. On it was an audio log. Kol cautiously approached it, and when no traps sprang to kill him, he pressed a button on it and listened to its message.

GM-185's voice came through. "This is GM-185 of the Imperial Navy… Kol, if you're hearing this, I'm glad you were concerned about me. … Those rumors were true. The Suprosa is carrying top-secret plans, and the Alliance knows that. They know that the Suprosa will be in Bothawui's orbit soon, as well…. I found out who gave them the information. But, I know too much, and now those agents want me dead. …I hope I can trust you to know who sent the information…" A gulp. "…Black Sun. They gave the info. I'm going to have to leave this log here, for you to find… hopefully it's you, and not one of them. I'm afraid that my life is going to end today… but I'm going to take out as many of them as possible. If I can somehow beat them all… I'll see you in orbit, Kol." The log ended.

Kol sighed. "Good luck." He turned and saw a trio of figures in black keeping him from leaving. "…And who are you three?"

The first one took one step forward. "We are the agents you just heard about."

Kol swallowed. "The ones from Black Sun?"

"Indeed."

The second stepped forward as well. "But since you know that, we now have to kill you."

The third lined up with the first two. With a chuckle, he stated, "I'm going to enjoy this."

Kol smirked. "I bet you will." In a flash, he brought the E-11 rifle to his shoulder and fired. Apparently, the lack of lighting in the path kept it concealed from their view. This aided Kol, as before they could react the bolt nailed the third agent right between the eyes. The other two jumped away and drew vibroblades. One growled, "You'll pay for that!" Kol fired a trio of bolts at that one, though the assailant was too fast and too aware to die as quickly as the other had.

The other one had also drawn a vibroblade and began harassing Kol up close. He attempted a downward slice; Kol moved to the side and bashed the side of his head with his rifle. It dazed him for a moment, and Kol took the opportunity to shoot. Three bolts hit the attacker's chest, but it wasn't enough to kill him and he jumped away again. At this point the first jumped in and grabbed Kol's wrist, forcing the rifle out of his hands.

Kol returned the favor; with a grab of his attacker's wrist, he stole the vibroblade, then threw the attacker over his shoulder. He ran towards his rifle, grabbed it in his left hand and fired a shot towards his opponent. He must have been lucky today, as the bolt hit the agent just above his right ear, killing him.

Spinning on his heel, he brought his stolen vibroblade between him and the last assailant's blade, saving him from an attack that would have severed half of his chest. A quick left-handed punch pushed the agent away; while the attacker was dazed for the second time during the fight, Kol ran him through with the vibroblade, managing to pin his dying foe to the wall. He stepped back, not allowing his dying enemy the chance to kill Kol before he died from the vibroblade shoved through his ribs.

Kol exhaled. "Well that was fun." He grabbed his rifle, dusted it off, and began to leave. Before he could get too far though, the agent pinned to the wall coughed. "Hey… your friend who left that log… he says he'll meet you in orbit, doesn't he?"

Kol looked back at him slowly. "Yeah… what about that?"

The agent smirked, blood lining the sides of his mouth. "He lied. We killed him. Quite easily, too." He began laughing maniacally. His laughter echoed through the path for no more than two seconds before a blaster bolt sent right into his mouth shut him up.