Chapter 10: The Vulkar Base

Calak's squad waited until the elevator opened and stepped into the Vulkar Base blasters ready. They had arrived in a small room with another door just ahead.

"Be on your guard, guys," Calak said.

"Right," Mission said.

Calak and Carth activated the energy shields they had taken from the Vulkars guarding the entrance in the sewers. Calak then lead the way to the door leading into the main area of the base. Opening it they came into a long hallway going right, the door they'd come through was on the left side. Peering off to the side, Calak saw a single patrol droid walking that direction, unaware of the fact that there were intruders in the base.

"There's a droid there!" Calak said in a hushed whisper so only his friends could hear him.

"We need to take it out without being spotted or it could set off an alarm!" Carth said.

"Leave that to me," Mission said.

She activated her stealth field generator belt and instantly vanished from sight. The other three waited as the droid turned around a corner at the end of the hall. There was a faint thud a few seconds later and Mission ran back to them.

"That's taken care of!" she said. "And I found a computer terminal nearby."

She led them quietly along the hall to the terminal which was next to a set of security doors. They couldn't pick the lock on that so Calak had to assume it led somewhere restricted.

"I have a feeling that's where the prototype accelerator is," Carth said.

"Me too," Calak agreed as he approached the computer.

He worked the buttons, taking out a computer spike from his pack that would allow him to hack the system. But he wasn't a very good hacker and the computers had defenses built in that would break the spike so he would have pick what he did carefully. He could do certain things without using the spike at least. He looked at his options for this console and saw a limited amount.

"There's an option for opening the doors and seeing through the security cameras inside here," Calak said.

"Open it then," Carth said.

"No! We shouldn't just go rushing in! Take a look first!" Mission said.

Calak decided to error on the side of caution. He pressed the camera button and saw a pair of turrets were in the room beyond along with another door. He returned to the main menu and then pressed advanced options to see if he could get inside. He pulled up the option to open the doors then a series of words appeared on the screen of the security terminal.

Warning: Access to the Vulkar Garage is restricted to mechanics and swoop riders. Please insert your pass card in the reciprocal to bypass turrets.

Calak gritted his teeth.

"There's turrets in there!" he said.

"Then deactivate them!" Carth said.

Calak looked at the advanced options again and saw the one labeled turrets. Going into that one with a few presses he found the option to deactivate the turrets. Pressing it Calak deactivated the turrets, now if he could just open the doors before any other security this terminal had kicked in.

He turned back to the main options but a security question appeared when he pressed the doorway option.

Who is in charge of this Garage?

Four options for answers appeared.

Brejik

Garage Head

Kadon

Ice-1-You.

Calak looked at them and selected Brejik as he knew he was the leader of the Vulkars. But the screen read-

Wrong!

The built in security then activated and cut Calak's spike in two, with both halves falling to the ground.

"Dammit!" Calak cursed. "I don't have any more spikes!"

"Great what do we do now?" Mission asked.

"The computer mentioned something about pass cards," Calak said. "They'll let you in and deactivate the turrets!"

"Guess we don't have any other options," Carth sighed.

They headed back the way they came and stopped at the nearest door for a second. With their energy shields still activated, they wouldn't have to worry about blaster bolts hitting them, at least for a few hits. Calak knew though that as soon as blaster fire sounded through the base, they would probably have company. Maybe Mission could-

"Let's go!" Carth said as he pressed the door button.

It opened and revealed a pair of sentients inside, a green skinned Duros in a chef's outfit work at a table and a woman at his side. They looked at the door in surprise at the four individuals that came in with raised blasters. A pair of security droids were also present.

"Intruders!" the Duros said as he brandished his chef knife and charged in.

"Open fire!" one of the security droids said.

Calak fired at the charging chef who raised his knife to strike. At the same time a pair of shots fired at him and hit him dead center, fortunately his shield absorbed the energy. Mission, Carth and Zalbaar then shot the droids that had hit Calak with their own blasters, reducing them to shrapnel. They then turned to the last person standing. The woman had made no move to attack them and simply ducked under the table. She peered up at them and they pointed their blasters but didn't fire as they saw the look on her face. She was afraid.

"Get up!" Calak ordered.

She did as he commanded. He looked at her and saw no weapons. She looked at him with pleading eyes then spoke in a begging voice.

"Please don't hurt me! You don't have to kill me! I just serve the food here."

Calak lowered his blaster somewhat, as did the others.

"Who are you? How did you end up in the Vulkar Base?" Calak asked warily but still civil.

"My name is Aida," the young woman said. "My father owed Davak money but couldn't pay. Davak killed my father and sold me into slavery to collect the debt. I wound up here, and it's been a living hell ever since. The Vulkars are always touching and hurting me."

She sobbed, a tear rolling down her cheek. Calak had a feeling she was being sincere but still had to be cautious.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. If you don't try anything," Calak said lowering his blaster the rest of the way.

"I won't," Aida said.

"Maybe you can help us, Aida," Carth said. "Do you know about a prisoner named Bastila?"

"Is she that Republic Officer that was captured?" Aida asked.

They nodded. "I've heard some of the guards talking about her. But she's not here. They're offering as a prize in the swoop race."

"We know," Mission said. "These two are looking to rescue her!"

"I guess she's too important to work here," Aida said. "Getting groped and kicked and spit on like me!"

Calak gave her pitying eyes. "Maybe we can help you get out here. Do you know the way out?"

"Yes," Aida said a spark of hope lighting in her eyes. "This way, but there's a lot of Vulkars out there-"

Suddenly an alien voice spoke from behind.

"Intruders!"

A group of Vulkars appeared from behind them. They must have heard the blaster shots! Calak silently cursed himself for forgetting about that when he'd thought of the possibility just before the previous fight. Meeting Aida had completely driven that out of his mind. There were three Vulkars who had entered the room just behind Calak's group who all turned and aimed their blasters.

The three new Vulkars, instead of fighting instantly, ran back the other way.

"After them! We can't let them set off an alarm!" Carth said.

They all went back into the hallway (except for Aida who hung back since she would be of no help without a weapon) and chased the Vulkars. They managed to shoot one before the other two turned a corner at the other end across from the sewers entrance. Calak and his companions gave chase, with Aida following from behind after a moment as they might be her only chance to get free.

They were too late to catch the Vulkars before they could get help though. They chased them to a part of the base that was mostly empty except for a group of around five Nikto gang members, two droids, a door on the left, and a large column on the right. They were outnumbered, but thanks to the energy shields they didn't have to worry about that too much. Still, they had to take cover to avoid using up their shields too quickly against so many. Shots fired back and forth for a time from both parties and at least one grenade went off, but in the end, they managed to emerge victorious. Without their energy shields it would have been a much different story.

"Phew, that was a lot of them," Mission said. "I don't know if we'll get lucky again though."

Calak looked at the door nearby.

"That's the way out," Aida said as she came out from the room she'd been hiding in. "Did you really mean it when you said you'd help me?"

"Yes," Calak nodded. "Go on, get out here!"

"Thank you," the slave girl said before beginning to walk out.

"Wait!" Calak called reaching into his pocket and pulling out a number of credit chips. "These should help you get by for a while."

He handed them to her.

"Thank you," she repeated, tears forming in her eyes.

He nodded and watched her leave through the door into the Lower City. Where she went, he didn't know. But he doubted he would see her again.

"You really help out people wherever you go, huh?" Carth stated.

"I try," Calak said.

"Zelka Forn was right. Taris really does need more people like you, Calak," Mission said.

"Arrr! Roww Arr!" Zalbaar smiled as he spoke. "I think I found someone I can be proud to have a lifedebt to."

They took a look around for any more Vulkars. Quickly they spotted one, a green skinned Twi'lek male who carried a sword and held it up high above his head. The group aimed their blasters but noticed that he wasn't just holding his sword high, but his hands as well.

"I surrender! I surrender! Please don't kill me!" the Twi'lek said. "I'm not like the others!"

Calak's eyes widened in surprise, but he warily kept his blaster up just like with Aida. "What do you mean you're not like the others?"

"Drop your weapon!" Carth said.

The Twi'lek complied, his vibrosword clanging on the floor.

"I'm an older member of the gang that's been here a long time. Since before Brejik came along and reduced to us to rabid animals that attack anything in the streets! They treat us veteran Vulkars like second class citizens1 I have no love for Brejik and would honestly like to see him brought down!"

Calak took his finger off the trigger. "Can you help us?"

The Vulkar nodded. He led them to a nearby terminal. "The barracks are close by and the newer members in there are having a party since word has spread we're pretty much guaranteed to win the swoop race! They probably have the music playing so loud they didn't hear the fight from earlier like I did. I almost didn't. But there is a trap set in the barracks in case it gets invaded, it could kill all the members in there."

Calak smirked a bit.

"You could then take anything you need from the barracks or off the bodies," the Vulkar said. "Credits, weapons, explosives, do with them what you want."

"We came here for the prototype accelerator," Carth reminded them. "But I think it is best to take those Vulkars out now so we don't have to deal with them later."

Their rogue Vulkar ally nodded and pressed a few buttons as they watched carefully to make sure he didn't betray them. He activated the camera in the barracks showing many members of the gang partying carefreely, completely unaware of their impending doom. The Twi'lek then activated the trap and the trap consisting of a power conduit in the room released a blast of electricity that caught nearly all the gang members who fell over, fried to death. There was only lucky Vulkar that was just outside the radius of the blast. He ran to the majority of his comrades in surprise and horror.

Calak smiled and the others took their weariness of the rogue Vulkar off.

"Thanks," he said to the Twi'lek.

"No problem. Good riddance to them," the rogue said. "Am I free to go?"

"Sure," Calak said. "We'll let you go."

Carth nodded. Mission had a slight glare as she hated Vulkars but knew this one was one of the less bad ones. Zalbaar's face betrayed no emotion and he said nothing.

"Thanks. Thanks a lot," the Twi'lek said as he ran for the same door Aida had escaped through a few minutes ago.

Calak and his squad headed to the sabotaged barracks. Mission snuck up behind the lone survivor with her stealth generator and stabbed him in the back. They then stripped the pockets of the bodies for credit chips and whatever else they could carry, finding what they really needed as well, a pass card to get to the garage. Carth spotted a few weapon upgrades in the barracks as well and put them into a pack he found. There was also an armory hidden behind the terminal within what they had thought earlier to be a column. They found some ion weapons and grenades in there.

"These might be useful for dealing with droids," Mission said. "I'll take it."

She put the smaller ion pistol on the back of her belt. The bigger ion rifle was a little to big for either Calak or Zalbaar who had similarly sized weapons, so Carth put it over his shoulder.

"Let's go, we can get into the garage now," Calak said.

They headed back to the room with the turrets and swiped the passcard. The door opened and they entered facing the turrets which didn't fire. They were so close!

Taking the elevator up the garage they saw a set of swoop bikes, some droids and a big set of doors. Could the prototype accelerator be inside one of them, the swoops or the doors?

Calak looked inside of front where the part should be, unfortunately he wasn't an expert on the schematics of swoops but he did spot a place that was empty as if it had had that part taken out.

"They must be getting ready to put the accelerator in!" Mission said as she looked inside as well.

Calak looked at the other bike to be sure, and saw it still had a part where the first one was missing its. Calak checked his wristwatch.

"We got to hurry its late in the afternoon!" he said.

There was a beeping sound and they looked in the source, seeing a winged droid flying around. It shot its blasters at Calak who ran off to the side, but still received a painful shot in his left shoulder, causing him to scream.

"Ah!"

"Calak!" Mission yelled as she drew her new ion blaster.

With a quick series of shots from her as well as Carth's ion rifle and Zalbaars Bowcaster, the three of them reduced this droid to shrapnel like the others. Calak gritted his teeth as he reached into his medpack. He had only two healing injections left. He put it into his shoulder, but knew he'd need time before he could properly grip his blaster rifle. So he switched to his pistol as it was better for one hand.

"You okay?" Carth asked.

"I'll be fine," Calak grunted.

"What's going on?" an alien voice asked. "We heard an explosion!"

A group of three Nikto mechanics had come from a passageway nearby. They looked at the intruders in confusion before seeing the destroyed droid. Quickly realizing that the group was their enemies they tried to draw their blasters but Carth, Calak, and Zalbaar already had theirs out. Mission still had her ion blaster out but since that weapon was more suited to droids and machinery, she had to get her regular blaster out. By the time she was ready though, her comrades had already shot down their new unwanted company.

Searching the Nikto, they found another key on one of them. It had to work something. They headed down the passageway that the Nikto had emerged from and found a desk with a computer in one of the rooms. Seeing a keyhole, Calak inserted the key and it opened a high level of security protocols, including open all security doors, cameras on this level and others. Calak checked the cameras, seeing a section called Kadon's Quarters not too far away. Kadon must have been the commander of the base. Calak saw two Twi'leks and Nikto. Then there was a secure storage area, which had a droid inside, and not just any droid, but a high-level assault droid. Not as big as some models but equipped with advanced combat gear nonetheless. It had shields and a carbon gun that could freeze its targets so it could shoot them down.

"Guess we got to check both those areas," Calak said.

"Good thing I have some ion grenades and this ion blaster!" Carth said as he drew his new weapon. "But I think I prefer my pistols."

Calak pressed the open security doors option, now he could get into those two places. Backtracking to the first area of the garage, he and his friends looked between the paths leading both ways. Deciding to go to the big doors nearby with the assault droid since it was closer, Calak lead the way. They all activated their energy shields as doors opened slowly and the assault droid walked along the small room back in forth. Carth started the fight by throwing an ion grenade. Its sensors picked them up as the explosive blew up, breaking the droids shield. The two soldiers and Wookie shot at the droid with their blasters, Carth used his ion blaster. Meanwhile Mission snuck around from behind and shot an ion blast from her own weapon at point black range. The armor of the droid was thick but weakening with every shot. The droid however, turned to Mission and unleashed a scream of carbon that covered her in a thin sheet of ice.

"Mission!" Calak yelled.

"Arrrr!" Zalbaar roared in fury at the sight of his best friend being frozen.

He charged forward and… dropping his bowcaster, took hold of the droid's head and pulled it out. The neck connection sparked for a moment then died. Calak shivered at the sight.

"Remind me never to upset a Wookie," Carth muttered.

Calak nodded. They looked at Mission, the carbon would take a couple minutes to thaw on its own. But Mission would likely be slowed down for a while after being released.

"What do we do?" Calak asked.

"Arr!" Zalbaar grunted as he approached.

He began to scrape the carbon off of Mission with his claws, careful not to cut her, there was an uneasy expression on his face as did so though. But he soon managed to get her head free.

"Uh! Man, that's cold," Mission said once she could see and speak.

"You're probably gonna need a good rest tonight if you don't want to be paralyzed for a week," Carth said.

Zalbaar worked to get her free the rest of the way while Calak and Carth searched the room. They found a crate with a large number of credits inside. But no accelerator.

"It must be in the last area," Calak said.

Mission shook off that last bits of carbon on her boots. She shivered. "Lets… get it."

"Maybe you should sit this one out Mission," Carth suggested.

"Are you kidding, we're so close!" the young Twi'lek said. "Just a little more! Besides I got Zalbaar to keep me warm in his fur coat! Even if it is a bit scruffy!"

"Arr! Rorr! Rarr!" Zalbaar growled in protest. "I'm not scruffy!"

He bent down and embraced her all the same, his body temperature warming her for the moment. They slowly made their way to the leader's quarters. Opening the door they saw the two Twi'leks and Niktos from the recording earlier.

Seeing his unwelcome guests, the male Twi'lek, Kadon no doubt, spoke. "Well well well. What do we have here? Lackeys conned by Gadon Thek to steal Brejik's prototype accelerator no doubt!"

"Brejiik stole that engine from Gadon!" Mission said stepping away from Zalbaar. "It was never yours to begin with!"

"Well I didn't go through all the trouble of stealing it just to have you steal it back!" Kadon countered.

"Shall I kill them, Kadon?" the female Twi'lek said.

Calak and his comrades prepared for battle, their energy shields already up.

But Kadon looked at them. "No, wait! They aren't wearing the Bek colors!" He then asked the group directly. "You aren't with them, are you? Just some mercenary for hire?"

"No," Calak answered honestly. "I'm not a Bek. I'm a Republic Soldier, trying to rescue Bastila from you!"

Kadon smiled. "Instead of stealing the prototype accelerator for Gadon, why don't you work for us? We'd pay you handsomely and I'm sure we can work out a deal regarding Bastila."

"No way!" Calak said in disbelief, he couldn't trust these Vulkars.

"Be smart!" Kadon pressed. "Gadon Thek is old news! Brejik is the future!"

Calak shook his head. "Forget it! I know all about you Vulkars! You attack anything you come across."

"If you ally with us we will no longer do the same to you," Kadon said.

Calak shook his head. "The Beks never stooped so low. No deal!"

Kadon sighed. "Pity."

His female companion smirked eagerly, bloodlust in her eyes. "Can I kill them now Kadon?"

"Yes Darling, kill them!" Kadon agreed.

Both Twi'leks activated energy shields of their own, shields that were more advanced than the standard issues Calak's group had. The two groups of four unleashed blaster fire. The shields of Calak's group deflected the shots but with an even number on both sides and two of their enemies having shields of their own there was no way to tell who would win.

They couldn't get clear shots at the two Nikto behind Kadon. They stepped out briefly to fire several times.

"Get the Twi'lek!" Kadon ordered.

Their opponents focused their fire on Mission whose shield suddenly depleted. She was shot in the stomach by a weakened blast. She fell and screamed in pain, clutching her wound.

Zalbaar let out another angry howl and fired more fiercely. Calak gritted his teeth as well and threw one of the plasma grenades he'd gotten from the storage bay. It unleashed a storm of fire on Kadon and his female bodyguard next to him, cooking them in their armor. They screamed as the flames engulfed them, dropping and rolling in an effort to put out the flames. This allowed the three invaders still standing to focus fire on the two Nikto who fell in seconds.

"Arr!" Zalbaar bellowed as he bent over Mission.

Carth took out his last medical injection as Calak looked around. He found a part in the back of the room that matched the design of a swoop bike accelerator. Calak wasn't an expert but it looked a lot like the one he'd seen in the second bike in the garage, not the same though since it was a prototype. He picked it up and turned back to his comrades.

"I got the accelerator!" he said.

"Good, Mission has a bad blaster burn but it doesn't look fatal. That shield lasted just long enough to save her life," Carth said. "One more blast and it would have been a different story."

The young Twi'lek had fallen into unconsciousness.

"We got to get her out of here," Calak said.

"Aarr!" Zalbaar moaned in agreement as he picked her up and carried her.

With the prototype in their possession, they could now get it to Gadon and save Bastila in the race tomorrow.

Authors Notes: I was afraid I might not be able to post this chapter as scheduled since I'm delivering flowers this week and its busy on Mother's Day week. But I managed to do so after all.

I felt it made more sense for Aida to stay with the group for just a little bit cause if she just went running they would probably gun her down or recapture her if they saw her. She'd need a bit more help then just the first set of guards realistically. I also skipped the footlocker in the empty pool as well since it doesn't really make sense for a locker to be there in the first place, so I switched the upgrades location to the barracks.

Man, I'm kind of making Mission the punching bag here. But as I recall from playing she is one of the weakest companions in the game. Has to rely on surprise and backstabbing for the advantage.