Agent Annabeth Chase
The four of them dragged their prisoners out onto a landing platform just as four large speeders from Republic Security pulled up along with a mixture of forensic droids and officers. They put the two prisoners into the back of a gunship and sent them on their way, following behind in the Patrol Cruiser they had arrived in.
"That was fun," Silena mused.
"Yeah," Zang agreed from the pilot's seat and bumped fists with his partner.
"It was," Annabeth too finally agreed, looking up from her datapad. "And with any luck, this entire case will be wrapped up tomorrow."
"That is true," Silena agreed, her tired eyes gazing out at the Megalopolis below them.
"Look at this," she said, nodding. "I have been reading up on our Mr. Dare. Apparently, he is rather unpopular with the Twi'lek diaspora. A year ago, he tore down a religious and cultural center to make space for the expansion of the C22 Cargo Port."
Silena took the pad and opened the pictures attached to the article, mainly of furious locals trying to keep away building crews, and of them getting cleared out by Republic Security when they tried to occupy the place.
"Oh, I remember," Silena said. "It was quite the scandal. Do you think there is a link?"
Annabeth shrugged. "Perhaps, but this is just one such story. There are many more. Our victim was a rather unpopular man, perhaps a lot more than we originally assumed."
Silena shrugged.
"We can look into that when we get back," Annabeth decided. "For now, though, let us concentrate on our prisoners. I can't wait to get them into a controlled environment and ask a few questions."
"That would probably be the smartest thing to do," she agreed.
Suddenly a bright orange flash of light lit up the night sky, and Hazel cursed as the entire speeder shuddered when Frank violently jerked the throttles in surprise. Three or four hundred feet ahead of them, the Gunship's port engine exploded, and the gunship veered off into a right bank as she dropped into a sharp descent.
"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is Packer Two One. One of her engines exploded, and the repulsors were damaged. We are going to try to find a landing down the chimney! Over."
It was only then that Annabeth realized they had just crossed into one of the giant access vents that allowed speeders, and even smaller starships, access to the undercity's port facilities. This vent alone, she knew, was the lifeline of millions of souls who would otherwise have to rely on the endless maze of maintenance ducts and emergency ladders, a logistical task that was nearly impossible.
The Vents traffic controllers' panicked voices filled the frequency, trying to warn and reroute other craft as the gunship entered a screwing descent, the engine still trailing flames and smoke as it descended deeper. "Oh, fuck," Silena groaned. "There go our suspects."
Annabeth, though, had a very different suspicion.
She opened her personal communication on the emergency frequency. "This is Agent Chase to Republic Central. Gunship going down in Vent C22. Requesting all available units respond, dispatch Fire and Rescue as well." The last part she added for the sake of the record, knowing it would look good in the transcripts when she herself had to answer a number of rather uncomfortable questions over what exactly was going wrong at that very moment.
"Zang, follow them," she then snapped.
Frank looked over at Hazel, who was tightening her harness and had punched the blue and red emergency lights.
"You heard her, punch it."
It wasn't something Frank had to be told twice, and he promptly barrel-rolled their speeder and pulled them down in a dive to pursue.
The gunship didn't manage to pull out before the ground level, and instead, the pilot was forced to head into a death spiral down the great vent.
"Yeah, this is not good," Annabeth noted and keyed her intercom. "Agent Chase to Republic Central. Be advised, Packer two-one going down the Vent."
For hundreds of meters, the Gunship descended in a wide circle until the pilot finally managed to crash into one of the loading docks nearly a thousand feet below them and disappeared through a wall of containers.
"Oh shit," Hazel muttered, and Zang hastily landed on the dock close to where the ill-fated gunship had also crashed, now half-hidden behind a now-collapsed pile of containers and scrap.
While Hazel was still chatting into her patrol speeder's radio, Annabeth, that bad feeling still resting in the pit of her stomach, disembarked and dropped to one knee, her GR-14 raised and ready. A moment later, Silena dropped down next to her, her own weapon raised as well.
"Thinking what I am thinking?" Annabeth asked.
"A perfectly fine gunship just happening to go down with our prime suspect?" Silena countered. "Definitely."
"Guys, get up. Let's check for survivors," Silena yelled into the cruiser. Once Hazel and Frank had gathered themselves, they headed deeper into the carnage. It wasn't only the wall of shipping containers that had gone spill. Shelves full of plastic-wrapped machinery and countless other commodities lay spilled out across the floor.
Finally, they made their way through the wrecked dock and reached the downed gunship.
"You guys alright?" she asked, switching on her tactical light as they approached and finding two very disheveled-looking officers stumbling out of the gunship back in the light's cone.
"You guys alright?" she asked, and the four of them moved up and helped the four men out and then proceeded to drag the pilots from the cockpit.
"Someone took the prisoners," one of the officers groaned. "Just came in, tried to stop them...it all happened so fast," he groaned while Hazel and Frank helped the two pilots out of the cockpit. It had been an ambush, that much was for certain.
"I think they headed up the northbound corridor," he then added. Finally, the wail of sirens announced the arrival of reinforcements.
"You two, stay here," she ordered Hazel and Frank. "Silena, let's see if we can catch our lost guests," she added, now confident that help was on the way for the downed crew.
With weapons raised, they headed deeper into the darkness and into a maze of shelves and stacks of crates. "You know the Chancellor is going to have our asses for this," Silena asked. "You'll be fine; his son has been in love with you since your arrested him for zoning out on spice," Annabeth joked and peered around the side of a shelf and pointed her weapon and its light down another empty row. "Clear," she announced, and they proceeded down the hallway and entered the next docking port. This one was clearly active. The hangar was brightly illuminated, and a light freighter was being unloaded by a dozen or so dockworkers and droids.
"Republic Agents," Annabeth identified herself loudly. "We are looking for an escaped fugitive. Did anyone come down this hallway?
They stared at her silently for a long, infuriating moment, and suddenly Annabeth realized her mistake. Down here, many would not be too fond of the arbiters of republic law. "Come on, they tried to kill someone," Silena tried, conveniently forgetting to mention that it was a rather unpopular Republic senator. "A Twi'lek girl and a human male, possibly with someone else."
The largest of the men finally pointed towards a door outlined by yellow and black tape. "Two men and a Twi'lek headed down there," he said gruffly and turned back to his crew. "Come on, let us finish unloading this. I want to go home."
Hoping they weren't being lied to, the two women approached the maintenance door. Silena punched the control panel next to it, and a moment later, it opened, revealing a long passageway into the darkness, lined by steaming pipes, and the sound of fluid gurgling somewhere out of sight.
"Cozy," Silena muttered to herself, and after reporting their location and where they were headed, they proceeded deeper into the maze of ducts, tunnels, and hatches.
"Look," Silena noted, pointing her lamp at the floor. Footsteps and skids disturbed the oily grease layer that coated the rough metal floor paneling. "That looks fresh."
"It is," Annabeth agreed. Either they were in luck, or some poor folks minding their own business are in for a rude awakening.
They tracked their prey through the darkness, moving forward with swift but cautious steps, climbed up one level through a maintenance hatch, and then headed further by a few hundred meters until the first sound of life reached them.
Hushed voices reached them from behind a bend in the duct.
After exchanging a look, they killed their lights and then advanced to the corner and lined up. Annabeth held up three fingers and then counted down. When the last finger fell, the two women rounded the corner.
"Republic Agents!" she and Silena yelled and found themselves staring down two very surprised-looking maintenance workers, working on some pipe. The two men, dressed in orange, high-visibility jumpsuits stared up at them with wide eyes.
"Ahm hi," one of them said nervously.
Slowly the two women lowered their weapons. "Did anyone come by here?" Silena asked.
"Yeah,..." the second worker said continuously. "Three, a few minutes ago. Two humans, one Twi'lek. Looked like they were in a hurry."
"No connection," Silena warned after hastily trying to send a progress report. "Backup will have a problem finding us."
"I know," Annabeth replied grimly. "Come on."
They hastily ran in the indicated direction, burst through another hatch, and stumbled out onto another dark hangar.
They weren't alone. Not too far from them, and thrown in stark relief against the glow of the great vent, stood three figures. Two males, one she recognized as the lover, and the Twi'lek. They seemed to be waiting for something. Apart from the roar of air rushing through ventilation vents, and the distant wail of silence, the hangar was very quiet.
Just then, Annabeth's communicator beeped quietly, and she immediately set it to transponder mode, letting everyone listening know exactly where she was.
"Republic Agents!" Silena yelled, aiming her sidearm at the trio.
Annabeth would have been perfectly happy to sit and wait for reinforcements to arrive, but with Silena committed, her hand was now forced, and she raised her GR-14 and aimed it at the unknown male, surmising that he was likely the most dangerous of the three.
"Down on your knees, hands up!" she yelled, and both their Twi'lek and the boyfriend spun around in alarm. It was still too dark to make out the face of the unknown man. No...she realized. He was facing away from them and barely seemed to notice their arrival.
"Do something!" Naminte yelped at the third man; the male seemed petrified with fear.
"Shut up! On your knees!" Annabeth yelled, though deep down she already knew that it was going to happen. Grabbing the two lovers by the arms, the third unknown male dragged the two in the direction of another side tunnel.
"Freeze!" Silena yelled and cursed just as two Republic Security gunships dropped into the hangar from the vent, picking up the three fleeing fugitives with their spotlights within moments.
For a few moments, they were caught in the bright cold beam before they tore around a corner and disappeared out of sight.
Cursing, they sprinted after them in hot pursuit and spotted their prey disappearing into another service tunnel.
"Oh come on!" Silena yelled in exasperation. "When I get my hands on them!"
She might have elaborated on what she was going to do but clearly didn't have the breath to spare at this point. "Silena wait, head to the next hangar through the main hall, and wait at the service exit with reinforcements. I will try to flush them out to you."
"Okay," Silena replied, and they parted ways.
Moments later Annabeth was sprinting through the service corridor. While she could render no judgment on the unidentified man, she was certain she would be faster than some little Twi'lek and her lover. She ran so fast that she almost missed the trail breaking off left into a side corridor. Almost...
Annabeth skidded to a halt, the soles of her boots slipping on the grimy floor, before following the trail, trying to rearrange her mental map.
Suddenly she burst out onto the catwalk, that lined the outside of the vent. A gust of hot, humid wind rose from the bottom of the vent, hot and humid air whipping around her. Annabeth looked left and her heart froze. A small freighter was hovering at their level, with its loading ramp lowered.
Ms. Niamante and her lover were hurrying up the ramp, while the strange man was looking back at her, with an expression of mild concern. In the glare of the vent's utility lights, she could now see him. He had wild dark hair, secured by a band or something behind his head. Now in the light, she realized he was quite tall, well above six feet, she guessed and struck her as oddly worn out looking. The male was dressed as a dockworker, with a utility belt and cargo pants, though he had lost the high-visibility vest, probably for obvious reasons.
"All Units, fugitives escaping on that light freighter!" she yelled into her communicators, realizing that the four gunships and a dozen or so Republic Security cruisers and speeders were only two hangars to her right. "North-West of you!" she added, just as the freighter began to pull away. For good measure, Annabeth tore up her GR-14, flicked off the safety, and fired.
Bursts of blue plasma streaks tore from the muzzle of her weapon and struck the hull of the freighter. She was forced to watch with frustration as it pulled away, angled its nose up, and fired its main thrusters before her reinforcements had even made half the range.
"Male on the catwalk with the black hair and the fancy ponytail, dark shirt, and cargo pants, stop him, dead or alive!" she ordered.
As if he had heard what she had sent, the male turned around and began to sprint up the length of the catwalk.
With the freighter out of range, Annabeth turned her blaster on the man and fired after him. "Fuck, he's fast," Annabeth cursed under her breath as her plasma chased him. Two droid-piloted speeder bikes zoomed past him and opened up with their hull-mounted chase cannons, tearing up the catwalk and pipework around him until he disappeared into another hangar at a full sprint.
With the distance quickly growing, Annabeth lowered her weapon, and the chase continued.
"Special Agent Chase, I recommend you terminate pursuit," someone's voice reached her ears.
Her pride now challenged, she ignored what was probably sound advice, and the chase was back on.
Her heart dropped when she turned into the same small hangar and found Silena lying on the ground, clutching her leg, and clearly in pain.
"Silena!" she yelled, skidding to a stop next to her colleague. "Caught me off guard!" she panted. "Kicked the leg out from under me. Headed West towards the residential sector just moments ago."
When Annabeth hesitated, the dark-haired Agent yelled, "Go, Chase!"
It was not something Annabeth had to be told twice.
This part of the port facilities was a lot busier, with hundreds of workers going about their business, even at this very late hour. The moment Annabeth reached the main tunnel, she was forced to dodge around men and women and very nearly missed that by now familiar man disappearing into another maintenance tunnel.
"Just stop!" Annabeth groaned and continued sprinting after the strange man, her temper rising with every step she took, aware that by now other officers and security droids had also picked up the chase and were on her heels. Once again, she sprinted through the service corridor until she burst back out onto a catwalk. Only those joined into a network of catwalks that spanned the ceiling of the entire sublevel. Hundreds of meters below her, the entire subterranean city complete with roads and promenades spanned out as far as the eye could see, kept up by support pillars as thick as any of the great skyscrapers on the top level. Even from here, she could see ground traffic and thousands of beings bustling around far below her like insects.
Annabeth ran after the man, her breath now coming in short, painful gasps and her lungs burning.
The support pillars, she noticed, parted into four directions like branches of a tree. The crown of these branches, forming a platform a few meters across, was accessible by the catwalks hanging from the ceiling. A quick glance around confirmed to her that she had reinforcements only a few hundred feet behind her and moving up on parallel catwalks to hers. The entire catwalk was trembling with the force of dozens of boots striking the metal at a full run.
The dark-haired man she was pursuing showed no sign of slowing down, while Annabeth could feel the limit of her endurance rapidly approaching. "Stop!" she yelled as she followed him towards one of the platforms.
Suddenly he was gone. Having just reached the platform herself, she continued to sprint on between two of the pillars' branches. She didn't actually see the arm snapping out from around the pillar before it struck her straight in the face and slammed her down onto the hard concrete pillar.
Annabeth was a seasoned martial artist, who trained multiple times a week. It wasn't her first time getting punched in the face, but this blow felt like being hit by a sledgehammer.
Somehow not being knocked out cold, and sparks dancing in front of her eyes, Annabeth rolled over and rose on unsteady feet, trying to take on a fighting stance while gathering her wits. A kick struck her flank and would have certainly broken ribs if it hadn't been for her body armor catching the blow. It was enough though to knock her against the pillar and have her collapse onto her knee. She had fought many beings in her life, Annabeth mused. Humans, Twi'lek, and countless others. Mostly in sparing matches though. Apart from that time she had sparred with a Wookiee, she had never felt quite so overpowered. A moment later, she found herself staring down the barrel of her own weapon.
Finally, her reinforcements caught up with her. A dozen droids and security officers burst out onto the platform, yelling for the strange man to drop the weapon and raise his hands, which understandably the man complied with.
Out of breath and struggling to recover from the beating she had just taken, Annabeth pulled her sidearm and trained it on the dark-haired man.
In the light of a dozen trained blasters, she realized his eyes were a very unique and rather striking shade of sea green, and his complexion was more tanned than she had been able to tell earlier.
"Hold fire!" Annabeth wheezed, deciding that she really wanted to talk to this gentleman in a controlled environment which she couldn't do if they killed him.
"Get on your knees!" Annabeth yelled hoarsely, half limping, half stumbling closer, trying to fight back nausea clouding her vision. "Keep your hands up!"
There wasn't the slightest trace of fear on his face, even staring down a dozen raised blasters empty-handed. Very slowly, he took a step back to the edge of the platform. While the catwalks were fenced off, the platform wasn't.
"You have nowhere to go! Don't make it worse for yourself!" Annabeth said.
He took another step back, his heels reaching the edge, and glanced back over his shoulder. Suddenly she realized what he was going to do.
"Don't do it," she said. "Your death would be pointless! You're in trouble, yeah, but things will get better. Just get down on your knees!" Blood was rushing in her ears, and her head was now pounding as if it were trapped inside of a bass drum.
Quite frankly, at this point, Annabeth could not care less if the man lived or died, but she still really wanted to interrogate him. He might even be a more interesting person to talk to than Ms. Naminte.
Even as Annabeth's vision narrowed, their gazes met for a long moment. Then, he simply let himself fall backward off the pillar and disappeared from view. While the officers around her rushed forward, Annabeth's vision went dark, and she collapsed onto her knees. A moment later, there was only darkness.
I apologize for the wait. Ended up completely rewriting the latest chapter. Hope you enjoy it. Still not sure if the next pov is going to be Annabeth or the other. Will edit more over the next few days. Do leave a Review.