Disclaimer: Don't own the KotOR games or SWTOR! KotOR 1 and TOR were made by Bioware, and KotOR 2 was made by Obsidian.
The sound of pounding boots echoed across the halls of the Republic compound as the two Republic troopers followed their prisoner. The Twi'lek managed to spare a glance at her guards only to see their faces covered by the black visors. Returning her attention forward, the prisoner's glance came across the hall of the compound.
The entire complex had been covered with metal cables and pipes placed along the durasteel walls to provided power. It seemed to be somewhat faulty as one of the lights constantly flickered on and off. Still, the cable led to one place inside of the complex, the one place that had been of most interest to the Twi'lek.
The Twi'lek's attention was diverted when she felt a blaster rifle poke her in the back, forcing her to take an extra step forward than she wanted. Turning her head around, the prisoner sent a glare at the guard who just poked her in the back. The trooper's black visor simply stared back at her as he ordered, "Keep walking."
The prisoner did as she was told, but she caught sight of a small shimmer of movement underneath one of the flickering lights. The troopers guarding their prisoner did not seem to notice it as they began to engage in casual conversation. Yet, the Twi'lek noticed it and immediately knew what the shimmer was. All she did was remained silent, anticipating for the right moment to happen.
"Man, I can't believe we're stuck on this rock," the Twi'lek heard of her guards mutter to his comrade.
"Tell, me about it," the other agreed. "This place smells worse more than Coruscant's Undercity!"
The first guard turned to the other. "It was you're idea to come in the first place, remember?"
"Hey, I didn't know if-"
The sound of a blaster discharge rang loudly, and the Twi'lek ducked in time for a red blaster bolt passed her over her headtails. The soldiers were taken by surprise as the blaster bolts struck the one on the right. The trooper under the left diverted his gaze away from the prisoner and towards his fallen comrade. "Dack!" he cried out.
Before he had a chance, the trooper could see the Twi'lek prison making for a dash towards him. He was taken by surprise at the spryness of the prisoner and he raised his blaster rifle. But it was too late as the Twi'lek kicked up a leg, sending the end of the blaster pointed into the air when it discharged a bolt of red energy. The trooper would have attacked but another kick to his stomach sent him stumbling back.
The Twi'lek sprinted at the stumbling trooper, and swung her cuffed hands at his head. Her hands were wrapping together in a balling fists, allowing it enough durability to strike the trooper right in his mouth piece. The trooper found his back bouncing off of the wall before he fell on his knees, paying little attention to the Twi'lek charging towards him.
When the trooper did stare up at his prisoner, he was too late to prevent her from wrapped her arms around his neck. While her wrists were bound, the Twi'lek managed to keep them tight like a noose. The trooper released his blaster rifle and grabbed onto the Twi'lek's arms in an effort to pull them away from his neck. His efforts were futile as the grip remained strong as ever, and the Twi'lek made a simple twitch in her arms that made a cracking sound echo through the hall.
The sound dissipated in the air, and when replaced with silence, the Twi'lek released her grip around her guard. The Republic trooper's body dropped onto the ground dead, his neck in a disjointed position.
There was no remorse in the Twi'lek's eyes as she bent down and reached her cuffed hands to the trooper's corpse. The red hands grabbed onto a small remote and yanked it from the trooper's belt. Pushing a button on the remote, the cuffs around the Twi'lek's hands came undone with a click and clattered onto the ground.
As the Twi'lek flexed her wrists, her blue eyes traveled to the space under the faulty light. "I know you're there," she called out, a sophisticated Imperial accent of Dromund Kaas replacing the roguish Corellian one.
Moments later and the empty space was became occupied with the shimmer of a deactivating cloaking device. The shimmer faded away and revealed two people, a human and a Rattataki, standing underneath the faulty light source. The Rattataki wore a simple black coat that contrasted much with the human's gray Alderaanian robes.
Smoke rose from the tip of the Rattataki's blaster pistol as she rested it on her shoulder. "Ah, you ruined the fun!" she said, the tattoos on her chalk-white face curved as she smiled.
The expression on the Twi'lek's face did not change as she stared at the duo with demand in her eyes, instead of appreciation. "What in the emperor's name took you so long?" she demanded.
The human stared at the Twi'lek with black bug eyes instead of a human ones, a sign of a Killik Joiner. "Apologies," the human spoke up, "the soldiers made it difficult for us to maneuver through the facility."
"Don't worry about it. We're here, aren't we?" the Rattataki assured as she holstered her pistol on her right hip. She raised her other hand with a small metallic case in her palm, displaying it to the Twi'lek. "Besides, we've taken good care of your toys, Ellie."
'Ellie' crossed her arms over her chest. "Enough with the nicknames, Kaliyo."
The Rattataki, Kalliyo, placed her free hand on her hip and rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright, Elina. Sheesh," the Rattataki, Kaliyo, sighed before she tossed the case it to the Twi'lek.
Elina kept silent when she caught the case and knelt to place it on the ground. Opening the case, the Twi'lek's eyes came across enough weapons placed inside to make it look more like a mobile armory. A blaster pistol, the separated barrel and trigger of a sniper rifle, a belt filled with a few grenades-everything Elina needed for her mission.
The first thing that Elina grabbed was the belt and she wrapped it around her waist. "Did you find anything?" she asked, her gaze remained fixated on her equipment.
The human Joiner stepped forward and answered, "We have found a computer terminal on the south side of the compound. There are few technicians maintaining it. We believe accessing will not be any trouble."
The use of the royal "we" in the human's speech would have annoyed some, but Elina often reminded herself that was the result of the Killik joining. She just ignored it as she went for the blaster. "And the number of guards, Vector?"
The human named Vector was about to open his mouth to answer, but Kaliyo beat him to it. "I'd say about five," she spoke up with her ever-confident tone. "Those guys won't know what hit them when we show up."
Vector's black bug-like eyes turned to the Rattataki with a slight hint of irritation. "Perhaps," Vector turned his eyes to Elina, "however, we noticed several patrols through the compound. Accessing the computer may attract their attention."
"That won't be a problem," Kaliyo interrupted once more. "We can just blast them whenever they show up."
Elina knew better than to trust Kaliyo's confidence and pondered over Vector's words. As soon as they would attack a few guards, the others would immediately be alerted to the trio's presence, making their predicament somewhat more difficult. Perhaps even the entire compound would be coming down onto their heads.
While Elina contemplated, she holstered the blaster pistol and grabbed the detached pieces of the sniper rifle. The Twi'lek attached the trigger to the rifle's main body with a loud click and proceeded to face her two companions. "If that's the case, we won't have much time," she turned to the human Joiner. "Vector, contact Raina and tell her to bring the ship around for pickup."
Vector nodded. "Understood."
Kaliyo soon found Elina staring at her. "Kaliyo, I noticed there's a tunnel that goes underneath the compound. I want you to place a few detonators to make our escape route."
Just as Elina expected, the chance of wanton destruction brought a grin to Kaliyo's face. "Be my pleasure," she accepted. "Give me the tools and I'll get the job done."
The long barrel of the sniper rifle rested in Elina's other hand. "Alright, then. Let's go," she said.
In the back of her mind, Elina wondered about the chances of success. While they had infiltrated the compound, there were still all those Republic soldiers. It was possible that anyone of them would be captured. But Elina shook off those thoughts, knowing well that would not happen.
After all, Cipher Nine never failed a mission for Imperial Intelligence and she did not intend to start now.
AN: Alright, that's the preview for now. I hope you like it. As usual, please leave your thoughts and comments in the reviews and if you have criticism, please let it be constructive. Also, this is not up for adoption. Thank you.
Raika out!