Chapter 15
I would like to thank my reviewers, those who added my story to their alerts and favorites, and to all anonymous readers.
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or Prototype.
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Shae could hear the whine of the engines as the ship sliced through the upper layers of Carrivar's atmosphere, protesting as she pushed the vessel to the very limits. She couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding, to her knowledge, no to the galaxy's knowledge no one had been this far out into the Unknown Regions. She had escaped the confides of explored space for almost two days now, by her estimates it was a miracle she'd arrived safely without any hiccups.
Within hours of leaving Lamaredd and Teran behind, she had been cursed with doubts. And with them came dangerous thoughts. The Sith had obviously gone to great lengths to keep this planet of any known records, and yet her mysterious employer knew about it. He had even supplied her with an exact location and number of people stationed at the research outpost. The most logical conclusion, he was part of the Empire. A high-ranking one at that to have access to this information, it was widely known that infighting occurred in the Empire. Low-ranking members with ambition trying to excel and gain favor with more powerful individuals. This Shea had no problem with, but now they're even willing to destroy their own installations and personnel for personal gain instead for the good of the Empire.
This she had problem with, such actions could only weaken the Empire and give the Republic an advantage. If either side wins, her profession would be so much more difficult. She was a loose end she realized, the Empire would hunt her down and kill her for the knowledge she's gain by working for them. And the Republic would try to imprison her; neither option was to her liking. This is the cause of her concern, leaving the installation intact would probably be better for the future. But if it got out she'd been taking a contract and then refusing to do the job she'd be hunted not only by the Empire and the Republic, but also by the numerous Bounty Hunters employed throughout the galaxy.
It's just something you don't do in this line of business, and it left a sour taste in her mouth. Both options would inevitably lead to her disadvantage, so she chose the lesser evil. This installation would be destroyed by her hand; she only hoped it wouldn't have enough impact to effect the war.
Shae gritted her teeth as the ship hit the turbulence of Carrivar's heavy cloud cover. The vessel was still going too fast, forcing her to clutch the steering yoke with all her might to keep the ship on course. The creaks and groans intensified as the ship continued through the thick atmosphere, and finally disappeared as the vessel broke through. Shae maneuvered the vessel east-bound, and brought it down to only a few hundred meters above the surface. The ships decent slowed and almost came to a stand-still; the systems alerted her to a clearing up-ahead large enough to fit her ship and at the same time small enough to hide it.
She slowly flew towards the clearing, the scanners showed it to be in the outskirts of the large forest below. Shae was unable to see the surface through the front viewport; the trees could be described as a large blanket covering to surface. As she approached the clearing, Shae circled the area but found no anomalies. And the vessel touched down with a thud.
The vessel would be safe here; the stealth generator would see to that. How she wished the technology could keep the ship invisible to the human eye, sadly it couldn't, but it would protect the ship from being scanned. The walkway extended, revealing the majestic forest in all directions. Her wrist console beeped as it linked with the ship's systems, alerting her to the fact she still had a couple of kilometers to her true destination.
The link-up also activated Todo 240, Todo for short; it was a newly acquired techno-service droid. The small droid, reaching at 66 centimeters, came rolling down the walkway on its single wheel.
"Hello Master, how may I serve you today?" It asked energetically, scanning her with its yellow photoreceptors as it separated its wheel into two legs.
Ignoring the question, she asked. "Have all your specifications been met?"
"My systems can find no faults. Though my memory banks have no knowledge of the planet were standing on."
"Not surprising, now turn around." Shae ordered.
Shae opened a small compartment on the little droids back and inserted a thin rectangular device.
Pointing to the ship, she said. "Get the case, were setting out."
It took nearly an hour before Shae reached her destination and it became increasingly difficult to see as the sun continued its descent. The vegetation around her was teeming with life, but as she continued on through the dense forest she saw nothing more than birds and small insects. The surrounding area itself gave no clue to it inhabiting some great predator but from experience she knew there was always someone or something at the top of the food chain. A light approximately twenty meters ahead blinded her for a moment, nearly making Shae loose her balance.
She snuck closer, careful not to make any unnecessary sounds. Going down on one knee, Shae leaned to her right and activated her night-view macrobinoculars. In front of her was a large clearing, a circle nearly one hundred meters across. In the center stood a large complex. The structure rose nearly fifteen meters to the sky, the only visible entrance was a guarded walkway. Adjusting the settings, Shae zoomed closer. A team of four men guarded the massive blast doors leading inside the structure, and there was at least two cameras pointing directly at them.
"The front door is out of the question." She muttered.
Her wrist console beeped alerting her to Todo's location. Shae back traced her steps a few meters before moving towards the signal. She was now positioned on the east side of the structure, and had a direct view of the structure as she hunched down beside Todo.
"Master, I think I've found something." Todo announced happily.
Indeed the droid had found something; a large workstation was located up ahead containing large bulks of crafting materials. The structure itself seemed unfinished as she scanned closer, if there was a way in this was it. She motioned for Todo to follow her and then moved towards her target. Large spotlights scanned the area before her, and Shae stopped to observe them. The pattern repeated itself three times which could only mean one thing; it was a preset automated system. A well enough system to identify and scare away whatever came crawling out of the nearby forest, however, not enough to ward off a seasoned bounty hunter.
She scanned the area through the encircling fence for any sign of movement before activating her rocket boots which propelled her over the top and down to the ground. This area had no video surveillance or guard patrols. Shae chuckled, the Sith's firm belief in this place being hidden would come back to bite them. Shae walked over to a small entrance just beside a drainage pipe, a maintenance tunnel for the sewers by the looks of it.
"Master, my scans indicate the ventilation system at our location doesn't have any shields installed."
"Good work, Todo."
Indeed, on a closer look the ventilation shafts didn't have any security at the moment. It was a risk going in blind and not knowing the buildings layout, but in this case she didn't have a choice. The rocket boots propelled her up before the shaft and she ventured in, closely followed by Todo. Shae followed the only path open to her and eventually descended into a wide, vertical passage. She came to an abrupt halt, the pathway blocked by a set of large and active fans.
"Todo, plug into the control board. See if you can shut it off long enough for us to pass through."
It took Todo less than ten seconds to reply. "I have full access to the fans, but shutting them off will send out an alert."
"True, but they won't know if it's an intrusion or a system malfunction. Do it and pull the schematics as well."
Shae passed through the set of fans shortly followed by Todo, she quickened her pace just in case they send someone to check the ventilation fans. Judging by the schematics provided by Todo, her first target the power generator was located in the south-east part of the complex. She showed the little droid three locations and tasked him with placing the TB-47 at each location.
"Wait for my signal before activating the timers; I need them to go off at the same time."
"Of course, Master. I will not fail you." Todo said and rolled ahead towards its first target.
The resulting explosion of destroying the power generator would cause the building to collapse on itself, she just needed Todo as a distraction in case things didn't go according to plan. Continuing on she could hear loud noises coming from one of the pathways, and ventured in to investigate. From her positioned she could see five scientists watching intently on a holoscreen.
"... that the senate has voted to send a diplomatic team to the planet Manaan. This team, previously known to have ended the conflict on Iridonia, will reinforce the republic's peace-keeping force already on the planet. Manaan have become the subject of many high-ranking officials as it is the only planet in the galaxy capable of producing the healing liquid known as Kolto. The Zelkath government's firm view on remaining neutral in the ongoing war has made the situation very delicate, more updates will follow. In other news, there's been a big change in the pharmaceuticals sector. The CEO of InterGalactic Ore Mr. Jon Fevrau said the following this morning."
"I think InterGalactic Ore can be so much more than it is today, we'll still be the leading force in mining operations and we'll continue with our construction contracts. But now we will become a serious competitor in pharmaceuticals and medical equipment as well. To accommodate our growing potential, we have decided to rename the company into ProtoCorp."
"Your deceased father, outright dismissed the idea of InterGalactic Ore changing their policies and venturing into other practices. Do you think he would be proud of this decision?"
"I loved my father dearly and I respected him more than anyone. I want to create a company which can satisfy the technological needs of the galaxy and bring about a better place for everyone, regardless of their species. And I'm certain he would be proud of that if he was here."
Shae pulled away from the holoscreen and continued down the path. She estimated it would take the little droid about fifteen minutes to place the explosives, and she needed to be in place by that time. Finding her destination, Shae opened the hatch and jumped down into a maintenance room. Careful to not attract any noise, she opened the door and peaked into the corridor. Two guards were stationed in the middle and seemed to be on alert, shutting off the fans was most likely the cause. If she'd been discovered, they'd have patrols searching the facility.
From the schematics, she knew she was on the same floor as the power generator, though she was on the opposite side of the facility. Left with no other option, Shae burst into the hallway. The guards reached for their weapons as they turned towards her, the momentary delay was all the time she needed to mow them down.
As she stood over the bodies of the two soldiers, she knew she had to be more cautious from now on. At some point his pair would be expected to check in, and when they didn't the other guards would come and investigate. Another possibility was that someone heard the shots fired and would come running any second now.
The corridor she was in took a ninety-degree turn to her left before coming up to another door. She crouched low to the side of the door and readied her twin-blasters. As the door slid open Shae pressed herself against the wall, taking cover behind the edge of the door. She poked her head out just enough to see down the corridor then pulled it back as the guards unleashed a volley of blaster bolts in her direction.
There were three this time, strategically spread out at various points along the hall. Their continued assault made it impossible for her to proceed.
Shae pressed on her console. "Todo, are you ready yet?"
"Just placed the last one, Master."
"Sorry Todo, I'll remember your sacrifice." Shae said, and then firmly pressed on the detonator.
The resulting explosions shook the facility and the alarm went off. Leaning out she noticed the guards had lost their balance in the explosion, this was her chance. She let off a quick series of shots and the two closest guards went down. The last guard heaved himself up and managed to fire off two shots. They went high and wide, Shae remained calm as she took careful aim and dropped her foe.
She continued down the hall, counting the doors on her right. When she reached the fourth one, she stopped and accessed the console beside the door. She stepped through and into a large hangar; the power generator stood proudly in front of her. Thanks to Todo, the guards would be focused on the other side of the facility. Using her rocket boots, Shae accessed the top of the generator and placed the TB-47 out of sight.
The sound of a single assault rifle echoed down the hanger. A second later it was joined by a grunt of pain and surprise, and Shae fell towards the ground. Lying on her back, she reached down her left leg and felt the cauterized wound. As she laid there she heard the metallic steps getting closer. Shae primed one of her grenades and threw it in the direction of the sound. Luckily it had only been a lone patrolling droid, and she was safe for the moment.
Shae winced in pain as she stood up, barely able to support her weight on the damaged leg and the boot was heavily damaged. She limped as fast as she could out of the generator room and into the corridor, almost tripping as she walked through the threshold. The maintenance room she first entered through was just up ahead, she only hoped the last remaining boot would be powerful enough to get her back up into the vent.
The door flew open with a hiss and she pushed into the maintenance room, supporting her weight on her good right leg Shae activated the boot. The pain intensified as her body shook forward, and she reached towards the vent and then fell back down to the ground. As she suspected, one boot wasn't strong enough to lift her all the way up.
Shae froze with her back against the door; a quick series of clicking sounds came from behind. A sound she was all too familiar with, the same sound she'd heard a thousand times as she prepared her own assault rifle. Her head bumped forward slightly as her helmet came into contact with a metal object.
"Who are you?" An older voice asked.
She sighed, it was all over now. She was wounded and had a blaster pointed towards her head, at least she wouldn't give the Imps the satisfaction of knowing who she was and why she was here.
"No answer huh? Then it's no point in keeping you alive."
Shae closed her eyes, and waited for the inevitable. She heard the shot, yet no pain came. Glancing back she saw an older man wearing an Officers outfit on the ground, a small circular hole on his forehead.
"I saved you, Master." Todo announced happily from the vent as it powered down its laser. The droid propelled itself down to the ground and started waving its hands.
"You wouldn't believe what I've been through." Todo began. "That last bomb exploded right after I placed it. It was just luck that I escaped the blast radius, you really should reprimand Teran for selling you faulty equipment."
Shae let out a pained laugh. "Good work, now help me get up to the vent."
Combined, Todo's two smaller rockets gave enough boost for her to reach the vent. Todo took the lead as they escaped the vent, with the three bombings the patrols outside had all gathered around the entrance to begin their search for intruders. Escaping them in the confusion had not been difficult and Shae eventually slumped down to the ground at the observation point. With the press of a button, the entire structure shook and a few seconds later erupted in a blaze of fire and smoke.
"Todo, scan the area for survivors then report back to me."
"Right away, Master."
Shae leaned back against a tree and observed the burning inferno in front of her.
With decreasing adrenalin levels the pain in her left leg was starting to become more profound.
"I need a vacation."
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An
I wanted to make this part into two chapters but eventually decided to fit it into one because the next chapter will be Alex and the team visiting a planet with a Star Map on it. Which planet do you want to see first?
About ProtoCorp, all I have to say is this. Alex does have an ego the size of a giant moon.