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MISSING PIECES
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After we got back to Yavin IV, we kinda split up. I went home and the others
went off to God knows where. I watched some TV and drank a couple of beers
(it had been a long time since I'd had one of those). I had nothing better
to do so I talked to Coewardinus telepathically. I asked him what was up
and he answered, "New pants!"
When watching TV got boring, I went to have some fun. There was bound to
be a party going on somewhere. It had been a while since I'd been in a
singles bar, so I went to one. I hung out at the bar and stared at the
younger girls. Oh yeah! Then this Calamari woman came up to me and asked
me to dance. I'd be thrilled if only she weren't twenty years older than
me. But I danced with her anyway. After a couple minutes I purposely got
lost in the crowd and snuck out the front door, winking at the younger
girls as I left.
I was hungry and I didn't want any fast food. I went to Hondarosa and got
the salad bar. As I was eating my seafood platter, I felt a little dizzy.
My head got hot, the room spun around...
...And woke up in a dark room with some guy standing in the corner. I had
so many questions. How long was I out? What made me pass out? Who are you?
What do you want? He said he put me out.
It must have been a drug in the food. Then he stepped into the light. It
was my hairy-eyed "friend" who pickpocketed
me a couple months ago.
He gave me this little speal about knowing me very well and knowing my
buddies and being on Barthan and knowing of Magnus and Lexins and how he
was an Imperial spy but he wanted me to help him kill Magnus and Lexins
because if they got whatever they were looking for, he'd destroy all of
the New Republic and all of the Empire. No choosing sides here. So we became
"partners".
He wanted to know where my "friends" were, so I tried to sense where Coewardinus
was, since he was the most force-sensitive of all. I located them all in
one area, I guess it was Thorne's apartment, and Coewardinus was freaking
out. So we hopped in the furry-eyed guy's landspeeder and he drove us straight
there. How did he do that? I didn't even know exactly where Thorne lived.
A few blocks away from out destination, we found Coewardinus running toward
us. Oh, man was he trippin'! We went to Thorne's place and checked it out.
The room had been filled with smoke and was almost all cleared out. We
went to the roof and the Imperial got out some macrobinoculars to try to
find them. Coewardinus said that a bounty hunter took them. Darryn's a
bounty hunter. But he said that a different one took them all--including
Darryn. Oh! The Imperial found them.
So we chased after them and got to a ship bay: the same one my new Imperial
"friend" had his ship in. He was a little disappointed about that. Coewardinus
and I kept the docking bay guard busy and the Imperial went out and did
some spying or something. He came back and we went to his ship and flew
away, following another ship into hyperspace. I asked who he was and what
I should call him. He said, "Faf, Malco Faf."
(End of Game Play Eleven)
As we came out of hyperspace, we noticed the ship we were following swayed
side to side directly in front of us. We were near a planet--a gas giant--and
Faf wanted to hide behind it. Before he flew us away, I attempted to sense
what was going on inside the ship. Coewardinus did the same. A fight! Three
people fighting and one was the female pilot. She was confident in what
she was doing. She must be winning.
We
hid around the other side of the planet and Faf shot out some kind of pod
from the ship that followed around the planet, out of sight. Faf turned
on a monitor and we watched the ship sway.
All of a sudden, the ship straightened up and flew down to the planet.
So did we. The pod reattached itself to Faf's ship and we followed the
ship.
They landed in a really cruddy-looking ship bay and we landed across the
way from them, watching from the cockpit. A chick in Mandelorian armor
came out and pulled an landspeeder out of the back of the ship. She then
pulled four long black magnetically levitated boxes from the cargo hold.
That must be Thorne, Quixe, Van, and Darryn!
She loaded the boxes into the landspeeder and took off. We got out and
grabbed some kickin' weapons from Faf's cargo hold. Then Faf went and rented
a landspeeder. Then he asked Coewardinus which way the chick went. Coewardinus
pointed and Faf demanded a more detailed answer. Coewardinus got a little
uptight and gave him a very very precise answer. I was a little confused.
Resentment? From Coewardinus? Faf is a jerk, but Coewardinus getting
mad? That's unheard of!
So we followed the route Coewardinus told us and sure enough, there she
was. She parked in front of a six story building and took the four boxes
out and waited. But for what? Or whom? Eventually another airspeeder landed
on the roof and out stepped a man dressed in black, twin weird looking
alien things like I've never seen before, a cybernetic woman, and a couple
guys like Crasa with "hide boxes".
Faf could somehow hear what they were talking about. He had cybernetic
hearing enhancements implanted in his head. With no outer ear cartilage
on either ear, that would be a good thing to have. They all got into the
airspeeder and flew away. We checked out the landspeeder and stole some
stuff from it. A datapad, a couple grenades, a gun. Then we left.
We chased after the airspeeder until we came to a canyon. I hate the desert.
The whole planet is like it. The city and this mountian range are the only
distinguishing marks I've seen so far. Suddenly, a rockslide started ahead
of us. Faf hit the brakes, barely missing the rocks. Then came the people.
Thirteen strangely dressed people charged us. I shot with my heavy blaster
and so did Faf and Coewardinus used telekinesis to stop two assailants
still in their tracks. A lucky shot from one of the gunmen hit the speeder
and blew the craft to pieces. Faf, Coewardinus, and I all were knocked
unconscious.
When I awoke, I was in a small cave with a boulder shoved in the doorway.
Coewardinus lay asleep on the floor while I lay on a stone slab in the
wall. We were both beat up pretty bad, but were healed significantly. Somebody
did a lot of work on us. Water dripped from the ceiling. I figured if the
water can get in, I can get out. So I grabbed a stalagtite and started
digging in the ceiling.
Just then, the boulder moved and I ran toward it and stood off to the side.
Someone threw Faf into the room and grabbed me. Five short ugly guys with
axes sealed the room again and dragged me off to another room with two
barred doorways. They opened the first door, shoved me in, and closed it.
Bones were piled up in the corner and a light came from the room on the
other side of the bars. The door opened and people cheered. The air became
damp and I felt refreshed. I picked up two bones and stood them to support
the bars when they dropped again, then, with another bone in hand, cautiously
stepped outside. The door slammed shut, crushing the bones below it. So
much for that idea.
I was thinking "Don't let it be a Rancor. Please don't let it be a Rancor."
But the walls were only twenty feet high. People lined
the edge hooting and hollering. Next to the door hung weapons: a mase,
a pike, a spiked wooden club, and a shield. I grabbed the club and shield.
Across the arena was another room like the one I was in. The door opened
and out stepped a big buff Quarren. From the same assortment I had, he
grabbed the mase and shield and charged me.
I dodged out of the way, and, as he passed, I cracked
him in the knee with my club. He fell to one knee and I bashed him
in the back of the head. He fell dead to the ground. The crowd cheered
and shouted, "Bring on the next!" Oh, God! Out of my opponent's door stepped
a Weequay. He grabbed the club and charged me. I tried the same thing again,
but it didn't work as well. I got him on his back, but he still fought.
Then he clubbed my club arm, so I disarmed him and smashed him in the face
with my shield again and again and again. He grabbed a firm hold on my
crotch and I broke his arm. Then I went down to his crotch and squeezed
until he screamed. Then I smashed him with my shield again and eventually
knocked him out, but throwing my shoulder out of place in the process.
My door opened again. I jumped inside and was dragged back to my "cell"
by some more of those ugly little guys with axes.
(End of Game Play Twelve)
When we got back to my cell, they threw me in and grabbed Coewardinus.
I grabbed his leg and tried to keep him in the cell, but they just kicked
me and dragged him away. I was exhausted so I rested for a while. Faf and
I talked. He looked as bad as I did. He had to fight some unidentifiable
thing and a Wookiee. This guy must be pretty stinkin' tough if he just
got by fighting a Wookiee.
Well, we wanted to get out of there so we attempted to push the boulder
out of the way. We barely got it open a crack--just big enough for me to
fit. I dove head first and he came right behind me. He got his foot stuck,
but we got it out.
Then one of those ugly guards came after us with a big axe. I grabbed a
torch off the wall and charged him. After a funky little fight among the
three of us, we walked away with a knife, a little crank thingy, and an
axe and the guard had a bit of a scorched face and a cuncussion.
We went down the hall to save Coewardinus from whatever he was fighting.
I knew he wouldn't last long. I used the little crank thing to open one
of the doors and then saw a big, buff, ugly green monster fall past the
door. Not really fall--flying backwards and upside down uncontrollably
across the room. And at the big thud I knew what was going on. Coewardinus
was kicking the crap out of this guy. We called for him and he came. We
opened the other door and we ran down the hallway.
He didn't look so good. Not hurt. Just expressionless. More intimidating
than ususal. Astonished, I said something stupid like, "Wow! I didn't know
you had it in you!" or something like that and he didn't answer.
We ran to the intersection and turned left into a small dark room with
a bunch of weapons in it and two skinny little guys playing with stuff.
We grabbed guns and shot them and got our stuff back. I really could have
used my "Hide Box" when fighting the Weequay. Coewardinus looked for something
too. I didn't know then what it could have been, but I do now. A lightsabre.
He didn't find one though so we left.
We ran into a little problem: four more guards. But we had our guns back.
Boom boom boom. Right? Wrong. The front two turned toward each other and
whap! Lopped each others' heads off. Then the other two flew backwards
and balled up, holding their faces and whining. I turned to Coewardinus
and asked him if he did that. No answer. But I tell ya, I could sense the
dark side like it was the Emperor standing next to me.
While I worried about Coewardinus, Faf started down the hall. We followed
him past the guards (I kicked on in the head to make sure he stayed down)
and to the exit. Desert. Nothing but desert for as far as you could see.
Faf whipped out his macrobinoculars and surveyed the horizon. He could
see a city. All we could do was bundle up really well to protect our skin
and head in the direction of the city.
I managed to remove my fatigue with some help from the Force but I was
still really dry. That planet really sucked. We got to a ridge and saw
a little hut coming out of the ridge. Up above the hut and to the side
was a hole and a man crawling away from it, doing his best to keep his
balance and stay quiet. Because below him, coming out of the hut at ground
level, were several storm troopers.
(End of Game Play Thirteen)
We tried to stay behind some rocks and climbed up behind the troopers toward
the man on the mountain. There was a big boulder for us to hide behind
when we got far enough up. Hide Box on. Then I went toward the guy to help
him. When I got to him, I guess I scared him a little when I turned my
Hide Box off because he slipped a bit. Then the troopers saw us and started
shooting. Then we had to run away. Hide Box on. I shot back and so did
Faf. All the troopers were down by the time I got back to the boulder with
the old guy. Hide Box off.
He said his name was Evany and they were after him because he had an artifact
given to him a long time ago. Guess what it was--a piece of the Maximon
Key. This one was diamond shaped. I asked if I could hold on to that and
gave him a brief synopsis about what we were all doing. We wanted him to
come along. He agreed.
We stole the troopers' landspeeder and headed toward the city. We had only
a couple miles to go when we saw this huge ship fly above and a big poof
of dust ahead of us on the ground. Then a human-like figure appeared in
the middle of it. It was Darryn.
He jumped. The idiot jumped. Four hundred feet up and the idiot jumped.
Both his legs were broken. He had Quixe's repeater. It was broken. He had
a Hide Box. It was broken. Loser. He is so lucky he's not dead.
I grabbed a medkit to fix him up but I guess Coewardinus, still silent,
could heal him up quicker so he did. But he wasn't completely fixed. We
had to carry him to the speeder. He left his broken Hide Box there, but
we took the repeater. We thought there might be hope for the poor thing.
We grabbed his bag of bombs, secured everything and took off toward the
city again. And I was still really worried about Coewardinus favoring the
Dark side.
(End of Game Play Fourteen)
We were on our way back to the city when I got a com from Quixe. He said
he was at some kind of hut thing by the mountains. We turned around and
picked him up. He had Darryn's jetpack and the rest of the Maximon Key
in a bag.
I let him see the last piece but I suddenly didn't trust him with it so
I pickpocketed it from him when no one was looking. We explained everything
to him on our way back to the city. Once we hopped in Faf's ship, Quixe
asked Coewardinus how far away Magnus was and he said he was close.
We flew up out of the docking bay and who should we find but Magnus, his
ship hovering above us. Faf did some weird maneuvers and I manned the lasers
and ion cannons. It didn't work. We got stuck in the tractor beam and got
knocked out by a big white flash of light.
When I woke up I felt myself being strapped down to a table but I couldn't
see anything holding me down. Darryn, Quixe, and Faf were in the room with
me. Thorne was too, but he was up and walking around. Everybody but Throne
had a little machine or two somewhere on their body. My head felt really
heavy. I had two on my head.
The light above the door turned colors and Thorne hid behind a counter.
Two guys came in and did some checkups on us and our machines. They wouldn't
tell us what was going on, but when Thorne jumped them and stole a remote
control one of them had, the "doctor" said, "What are you doing here? You're
contagious." and ran away. Thorne pushed some buttons and got rid of the
force fields holding us down and we ripped the little machines off our
body. Some of them had needles in them. Mine had suction cups.
We ran out of the room and were faced with seven guards and workers. We
were all eventually knocked out. That sucked. When we woke up, we were
being tossed onto a beach. Water! Yes!!! When we were all out, the ship
dropped down a big crate and left. All our stuff was in it minus a few
little things: my vibroaxe, Darryn's vibroaxe and explosives, Quixe's broken
repeater, and a few other items. The Maximon Key.
I took a swim and Quixe, Thorne, and Darryn checked out a little nearby
shed. It controlled a ski-lift kind of thing going over a wall. Nobody
got it running. There was also a big tube going into the forest. Wait a
minute. Quixe, Thorne, Darryn, and Narlod. Where are Van and Evany? They
never got thrown out of the ship.
When I got done swimming in the harbor, we checked out the tube. It looked
like they had some kind of transportation for
freight or something. There was a track on the bottom of the tunnel
and a couple of empty crates outside. It also had a control panel on the
wall but it didn't do anything. We followed the tunnel until we wound up
in a warehouse full of broken crates. Just inside the tunnel entrance was
a platform and another control panel.
Faf and I went to the skeleton-filled and rat-infested control system booth
to see what we could get running and the other guys went exploring the
second level on the catwalk. We got the main lights and the lights down
the tunnels lit up. The platforms were also operational. Then all of a
sudden I heard some fighting going on upstairs and a big black thing fell
from upstairs onto a pile of crates. I took a closer look at it. It had
the body of a strong and fast monster but the face of a human.
We discussed what to do next, went through another tunnel (this time on
using the platform), and wound up in another warehouse, this one with two
elevators going up thirty floors. We went up a few and saw a couple different
kinds of monsters, then hauled it out of there the way we came.
When we got back to the first warehouse, we went to the third and final
tube, labeled "North Beach", and found a layout just like the first beach.
So we climbed the big wall and found a small city. Not really a city, but,
what we thought, more of a series of buildings in an isolated biological
research facility for experiments, living quarters, and generators. In
other words, sure, a small city.
We entered one of the buildings and found a couple freezers, a pantry,
and a kitchen, all molded over. This hasn't been used in a while. We found
the dining room and a few people lying around. One got up and his arm fell
off. He moaned and came toward us with other arm held out like he wanted
to choke us. We blew him apart and the other two did the same. We finished
them off and ran throught the doors in the back of the room.
Out in the hallway there were a couple glass doors leading outside. We
went exploring the courtyard. Garbage was piled up pretty high, almost
to the roof. All of a sudden, some scrawney little nearly naked people
jumped us from behind the piles of garbage. Then from the roof, some sticks
were being thrown down. We fought everybody off pretty easily and some
other scrawney guy with a big stick beat off the guys on the roof and everybody
quit fighting.
They all lived here in the courtyard. For years. All their lives, they've
lived in this tiny courtyard. We asked about Magnus and some one said he's
never left the courtyard. We got really confused. They said to just wait
and he'll come soon.
Well, he came. This guy was over seven feet tall and had to weigh over
300 pounds. He was a beast, I tell ya! He had a loincloth on and a gun
in a holster around his waist. He pointed at a few people and said, "You,
you, and you." and Boom Boom Boom. Three dead scrawney people. Guess what
that was for. Lunch. That kept everybody busy while "Magnus" talked to
us.
He calls himselft "Magnus the Tyrant" and wanted us to bow before him.
Well, he had a gun and a very quick draw and we didn't want to test his
strength with our blasters. He was really surprised to see Coewardinus.
But he didn't call him Coewardinus. He said, "Magnus. You've come." and
started to take him back inside. Quixe called to him to stay with us but
I guess it was bad that he called him Coewardinus. He yelled back at Quixe,
"Stop calling me Coewardinus. My name is Magnus!" and left with Magnus
the Tyrant. We stood around dazed and confused and the scrawney guy with
the big stick told us to talk to the "old'ns".
He took us around the corner and under some garbage and we talked to some
old guy and a dead old guy that the living one didn't have the heart to
tell everybody he was dead. The old'n told us there are four Magni. One
Magnus is the father whose name is Arthur. He started this whole mess and
got going on genetic experiments. He has three sons: the Magnus we know,
Magnus the Tyrant, and "Coewardinus". Magnus (Arthur) is still here somewhere.
We got in a hurry to find these people so we left and took the stick guy
with us. We asked him his name and he said, "Stick."
We went inside and ran upstairs, fought off a zombie or two, and eventually
found a room that wasn't on any "You Are Here" map. We found an elevator
in the floor so we got on it. We went down and sideways and down some more,
sideways, then up and then down again. It was a wild ride but it took us
to a computer station. We unlocked all doors and went down elevators. Quixe,
Darryn, Thorne, and Stick went first and Faf and I took another elevator
after unlocking things.
On
the elevator ride down, something fell on top of the elevator.
It ripped off the panel on the top and tried getting in. We shot at it
and I tried stabbing it, but it kept coming. We eventually killed it and
wound up on the 82nd floor below ground level. That's where we met up with
Quixe, Darryn, Thorne, Stick, Magnus the Tyrant, and Coewar--Magnus.
We went across the hallway to a room with four escape pods. The power wasn't
turned on to them though. Faf and I ran around the corner to the generator
room and turned it on. Just then a huge purple tentacle came crashing through
the wall. We bolted and more kept popping out of the walls, floor, and
ceiling. Once we got back to the pod room, Faf, Stick, and both Magni got
in one pod and the other four of us got in another. The whole building
was shaking and more tentacles burst into this room. Magnus looked to the
side and said, "Father!" and we took off down a dark narrow tube at 450
miles per hour.
(End of Game Play Fifteen)
We went through a couple twists and turns and eventually popped out of
the ocean and into space. It was a small blue planet with several moons
and large asteroids circling it, many bigger than the planet. It was also
very colorful. We were in a nebula. Faf sent out a distress signal from
his pod and we searched some of the asteroids.
After an hour or two, a ship arrives. Not just any ship, but a star destroyer.
Great. Our pods were pulled in with the tractor beam and docked. Faf and
Stick got out of their pod and we followed with storm troopers pulling
everybody out. Magnus the Tyrant didn't want to get out of the pod. He
kept demanding to see the boss. The other Magnus stayed there with him
but didn't say anything. Big surprise.
Faf identified himself and walked down the hall. Then he turned around
and said that we were with him and we could come along too. So four troopers
escorted us and followed Faf. We went up an elevator and eventually got
to a computer console. Faf did his thing down the hallway and Thorne and
I played a little. We made the troopers hear things. We made them think
they were calling each other names and argued a lot. One of them kind of
caught on and said they might have some "forcey fairies" with them.
Well, Faf got done and we were escorted to our rooms. I thought Faf was
actually on our side for a while, but our rooms turned out to be jail cells.
Thorne and I were in one and Quixe, Darryn, and Stick were in another down
the hall. They didn't take our weapons. They didn't shackle us that entire
time. They just threw us in a cell and locked the door.
Thorne and I weren't about to sit around in a jail cell, so we tried to
rip the door open with telekinesis. I kept in touch with the other room
with my comlink and they were going to trick a guard. We got our door partly
open so Thorne stuck his arm through the opening and shot the control panel
outside. The door opened all the way and we ran down the hall, just in
time to see Darryn with his thermal detonator, Quixe with his gun, and
the trooper in the cell stripping.
Stick dressed up in the trooper's armor (which looked really gooney) and
we took off down the hall with the trooper locked in the cell. We were
shot at from behind and made it to the elevator without any major damages.
We eventually got back to the docking bay and stole a YT-2400 and tried
to make a run for it. That was fun to fly. The ship shot at us and we just
barely escaped the tractor beam and safely flew away into hyperspace.
When we got back to the base on Yavin IV, we were met by General Phil Intheblank
(he pronounces it In theh' blohnc, but everybody else just calls him General
Fill in the Blank) and a bunch of security. Stick got out of the trooper
suit and somebody took him to get new clothes. Quixe wanted to spill everything
before anything else happens. He hasn't told a thing apparently. He was
kidnapped by Magnus's bounty hunter chick before he could say anything
to the Senate.
So, to make sure nothing stupid happened, we were escorted directly there.
We interrupted their session and Quixe spilled it. Everything about some
guy selling him a piece of the Maximon Key in a bar and about Barthan and
Magnus and getting kidnapped and me going to save his butt. Then I stepped
forward and spilled everything I knew about the Key and Magnus and meeting
Faf and saving their butts and getting captured. Then Quixe went into it
again and Thorne and Darryn agreed once in a while. He talked about how
they stole the rest of the Key and then all the pieces were stolen by Magnus
when he captured us on our way back here and the island and Stick and the
four Magni and escaping and the star destroyer and coming back here. He
also added in something about his father. I don't know what it was all
about, but that's why he was such a little brat before all of this.
I was pretty sweaty and had a headache. Thorne held his stomach and looked
at me. Quixe was starting to sweat. One big question on my mind was what
up with what the guy on Magnus's ship said about Thorne being contagious.
I spoke up and explained that part over again. The whole room got really
loud all of a sudden. General Intheblank turned really red and panicked.
They got some doctors in the room and quarantined us in. I sat in the corner
with Quixe and had a deep and meaningful conversation and asked for a promotion.
He said he'd do what he could to bump me up a bit. After studying Darryn
and Thorne, the doctors discovered the disease was spread through the sweat
glands. Thorne had it. Quixe had it. I had it. Darryn didn't have it. Stick!
What about Stick! Somebody got on the phone and contacted the person with
Stick. The doctors had never seen it before. It wasn't isolated in one
area. It attacked everywhere. I was worried we'd turn into one of those
black or red or green experimental things. That's probably why we were
dumped on the island.
Quixe was determined to find Magnus and get a cure. Then I got talked into
flying us after Magnus. Yippee. I guess we leave as soon as possible. But
one question we'd really want to know is where the heck is Van!?
(End of Game Play Sixteen)
Well, they eventually let us out of quarrantine and let us go since it
was only in our bodies. We all decided to go to Sarnonh as soon as possible.
But there was some stuff that we all needed to take care of first.
I went to my ship and had some of my buddies help with my second turret.
We worked on that a while, then I went to see Aronac for a while. I asked
him if he could detoxify poison and he said he'd try. He went inside my
mind and body and saw three heads circling me. It was almost as if they
were protecting me. Wow.
About that time I got a com from Quixe. He wanted to hurry up and get to
Sarnonh. I told him I'd finish up there, get to my ship, make sure everything
is ready, and then I'd meet him at a bar on a nearby planet, Breen.
So I did just that. But when I got to Breen, they weren't there waiting
for me. Darryn was just walking in. He was all excited about a weapons
dealer down the street so we went there. He said Quixe was busy and he'd
meet us there. And apparantly Darryn traded Quixe his B-Wing for the YT-2400
we stole from the Imperials.
We bought some cool stuff and just then, Quixe walks in bragging that he
just did some chick. What an IDIOT!
He's spreading the VIRUS! I tried to kick his butt, but the little brat
was just too quick for me. So Darryn and I took off to take care of the
situation by ourselves.
We were on our way to Sarnonh and we dropped out of hyperspace. Great.
An Imperial Interdictor Cruiser. Just what we need. I got ionized by a
fighter ship and Darryn took off. Pathetic little squirt. The fighter and
I docked and three guys in heavy armor dropped down from the hatch. We
fought a little bit but they knocked me out and took me to the Interdictor.
Guess who was the head of this ship. My buddy Malco Faf. Yippee. We were
still on the same mission and he could use my help so we joined up again
and followed a lead they had. Faf's doctors didn't know what the virus
was either but we were about to get some answers once we get to Magnus.
So, we were off to Referec. Once we got there, we discovered an abandoned
lab. We tapped into the computers and found out about a lab on an asteroid
called R.A.S.T. 12. It stood for Ratcheck ASTeroid 12. They called it RASTIZ
for short. The experimenting they were doing was boilogical experiments.
Splicing genes. Mixing species. But this lab had been abandoned for some
time so we had to follow another lead Faf and the Imperials had. We had
to go to a recently destroyed communications relay station in the core
worlds for our next step.
(End of Game Play Seventeen)
While we were in hyperspace I fixed up my ship a little, making sure everything
was working. I was a little worried about that second turret but it would
hold together just fine. Once we came out of hyperspace, we decided we
had to wear space suits to get on this thing because the air was stale.
It was pretty beat up but still barely operational. We cought a transmission
from a Star Destroyer of an attack at RASTIZ. It showed that both the New
Republic and Imperial fleets were immobilized and an immeasurably large
tentacle flew by the camera. Arthur. He's THAT BIG!?
A message came from the Interdictor that there was an incoming ship. We
high-tailed it back to the ship and dropped the ship out of hyperspace.
We opened communications with them and I sensed someone I knew was on that
ship. We pulled it in with out tractor beam and in comes Thorne Pierson.
And he has followers. They were on their way to a planet called Ubesh.
That's where Magnus was headed too. Since that's where they say the superweapon,
the Chi'Tannaron, is. Well, they all convince us to go to Ubesh, since
we have no other good leads and Ubesh is really close and they're positive
they know what they're talking about.
So when we got into hyperspace, Thorne and I talked for a while. He said
he was "The Chosen One". Some guy foresaw him five million years ago and
said, "Oh, hey. He's gonna save the universe." or something like that and
here we are chasing after this hunk of rock that can destroy the universe
if it falls into the wrong hands. What fun! All these people had a piece
of the Maximon Key and are now following Thorne around because he's gonna
get it back. He's got over 500 people with him! Lucky him.
Once we reached Ubesh, we spotted Magnus's ship and a couple others. We
bombed the crap out of Magnus's ship and killed most of his workers. The
Thorne and his people walked through the woods while Faf, and three of
this head guys flew in my ship over the forest scanning for the temple
and any other people. We found two other ships. One was Quixe's B-Wing
and the other was Darryn's YT-2400.
We landed in the back at the foot of some mountains and walked around the
temple just in time to meet Thorne and 350 of his people and some one-eyed,
no-armed, hairy things called Posh. Several of Thorne's people were eaten
my some weird forest creatures.
As we entered, we saw a door close across the room. We hurried to see what
it was and opened it. In the next room was a big water fountain, Coewardinus,
and the Tyrant. All of a sudden all the water came toward us and drenched
us, pushing us back into the next room. Then the two went through another
door and we followed.
Thorne led the way but when he got to the end of the hallway, a huge fist
came from the right and bashed Throne right in the nose, breaking it. In
the huge room were about twenty of Magnus's lizard guards with "Hide boxes",
across the room was Magnus near what was probably the Chi'Tannaron, a gotal
hunched over in the corner, 2 posh, Darryn, Quixe, Stick, those twins from
the roof a long time ago, and two chicks. The Tyrant must be around the
corner to the right and with no doubt Coewardinus hiding behind a corner
too. And Van! Van's there!
Thorne was in pain so I set his nose while his people opened fire on Magnus's
guards. That's when everything went nuts. Coewardinus made some lightning
in the doorway, Magnus's guards turned on their hide boxes, the twins,
the chicks, Quixe, and Darryn all fought.
Quixe killed one of the twins, shooting his head off and hitting it again
before it hit the floor. The other took a little more effort than that.
Magnus grabbed the Chi'Tannaron and Darryn made a few explosions, killing
both Posh and severely injuring Magnus. One chick kicked the other's butt.
Coewardinus raised his hand and drained the life from Stick, who was about
to lop Magnus's head off with a vibro-axe. Magnus sat up, but Thorne and
I combined our telekinetic powers to rip the Chi'Tannaron out of Magnus's
hands, while Van just stood in the corner and paid no attention to anything.
(End of Game Play Eighteen)
The lightning dissipated as Coewardinus walked away. The Tyrant and Coewardinus
were almost to the other side of the room and I had shot the Tyrant enough
to knock him off the edge and he hung on by one hand. Coewardinus ripped
some bricks out of the wall near me and the hologram of the floor reappeared
where the holes were. All that could be seen of the Tyrant were his fingertips
and that looked really weird!
Quixe was still trying to off one of the twins and Darryn was still trying
to torch Magnus. But Magnus had enough energy to pick up the Chi'Tannaron.
Thorne's people were fighting invisible guards and eventually getting their
macrobinoculars so they could see what they were shooting at. Thorne really
got with it. He, himself, ripped the Chi'Tannaron out of Magnus's hands
and pulled it halfway across the room. That's when I went to put the floor
back. We didn't want the Chi'Tannaron to fall down a hole. I had to put
together some dumb puzzle in the wall with four holes and eight blocks.
I had to fit four of the blocks in the holes and had four left over that
just added to the confusion.
I eventually got it. By that time, Quixe offed the twin and was shooting
at Coewardinus, Thorne had the Chi'Tannaron, Magnus was dead, the Tyrant
was trying to get up, and Thorne's people were out of invisible guards
to shoot at.
Then one of Quixe's shots at Coewardinus bounced off and both of them looked
surprised. Stick came alive and looked really confused. The entranceway
behind us collapsed probably killing everyone in there, leaving only eight
of Thorne's people with us. Faf was back there too. Not that I care about
him as a person. He's Imperial. But he could have been some help. The Tyrant
rose up with no effort and walked to Coewardinus and Stick. And the just
stood there around Magnus. Darryn and Quixe came our way and talked to
Van. Thorne was all funky with the Chi'Tannaron. He looked like he was
in deep thought and getting exhausted by it. I stood and watched him, asking
him what was going on and if he was all right, but getting no answer.
Suddenly we were all outside and on the roof of the temple. Thorne, Darryn,
Quixe, Van, the Tyrant, Coewardinus, Stick (who claimed to be Magnus in
Stick's body and complained about it a lot), Thorne's eight people, some
bounty hunter chick, and I. Nobody wanted to ask any questions. We just
wanted to get out of there. Darryn, Quixe, the bounty hunter chick, and
Van went to their ships. More of Thorne's people were outside the temple
so they headed back through the woods. Thorne, "Magnus", Coewardinus, and
the Tyrant came with me. Yippee.
When we got back to Magnus's ship we found Imperials holding workers prisoner
and "Magnus" complained. Then we all got "acquainted." It was "Magnus's"
turn to spill it. What's the virus? Why do we have it? Why is Arthur so
big? Is he coming here? How do we kill him? Why did all you Magnuses want
the Chi'Tannaron? Why is Magnus in Stick's body? What has Thorne been doing
with the Chi'Tannaron?
Well, apparently, the virus is a vaccine for "The Magnus", the plague Arthur
injected workers with to turn them into the red, green, and black monsters.
Nobody knew why Darryn didn't have the vaccine but he's lucky he's not
infected with The Magnus. Arthur also gave himself the Magnus to turn himself
into the purple...tentacle-covered...thing. Magnus didn't like that. His
rate of growth was too fast and he was a danger to the entire galaxy. Magnus
put us on RASTIZ to either stall us from following him and preventing him
from getting the Chi'Tannaron or have us try to kill Arthur. If he got
the Chi'Tannaron, he could come back and kill Arthur himself. If we confronted
Arthur, we'd either kill him (doubtful) or get killed (thus, letting Magnus
get the Chi'Tannaron and kill Arthur himself, then try to rule the galaxy
with his new toy). But by now, RASTIZ, the Imperial and New Republic fleets,
and anything between RASTIZ and Arthur was destroyed.
Thorne, never letting go of the artifact he was born to protect, pointed
out that while he was "inside" the Chi'Tannaron a woman inside it told
him he had to keep all the Magnuses alive in order to kill Arthur. Stick
was dead and Magnus was almost dead, so he put Magnus in Stick's body.
Quixe was shooting at Coewardinus, so Thorne deflected it, using the Chi'Tannaron.
He also helped pick up the Tyrant.
Magnus had an idea to mix up a large portion of the vaccine and put it
in a missile. Arthur was about the size of a planet by then so we'd have
to shoot at him with a ship. Magnus's ship was inoperational and guess
whose was the next best one. Yup. Mine. ~groan~ So Magnus mixed up some
of the virus, cursing his weak body, and he fits it into a missile that
fits into my tube. In the time it takes to do all this, Faf and one of
his assistants comes out of the woods, all beat up. I give him a summary
of our discussion and he decides to go to the Interdictor.
So we take off to find where Arthur is. Thorne sensed with the Chi'Tannaron
and he gave us the coordinates. Thorne's people got into their ship. Quixe
and Van got in Quixe's B-Wing. Darryn and Bauna (the bounty hunter chick)
got into Darryn's YT-2400, and Thorne and I were stuck with Magnus, the
Tyrant, and Coewardinus in my ship.
Once we got to the coordinates, Thorne told us we passed him. So we all
turned around and went to some new coordinates. And there he was...eating
a planet. So all the Magnuses got in a circle with Thorne and all held
the Chi'Tannaron. Then Thorne disappeared. What was going on!? But somehow
I knew he was okay. He was completely inside the Chi'Tannaron, an
advantage against the Magnuses in case they tried anything funny.
I kept my mind open to the guys in the Chi'Tannaron, waiting for the signal
that they were ready. They'd tell me when to shoot the missile. Arthur
pushed away from the planet and swung at us all. I maneuvered well enough
to dodge his tentacles. Thorne's followers on the other hand. Well, they
didn't make it. They went boom! Quixe and Darryn were okay too. Concentrate.
Concentrate.
Moments later, I heard one word: "Shoot!" And of course, I shot. The Force
was definitely with me that day because that was the most accurate shot
I have ever fired. Arthur slowed his movements and soon froze, motionless.
Seconds later, he shattered into countless pieces.
(End of Game Play Nineteen)
I popped that puppy into full reverse and tried to get out of the way.
I managed to get away from most of the debris but some of it hit me. But
all of a sudden I lost my shields. I figured the Magnuses are trying something
stupid so I flipped my ship. They went nowhere but some of my stuff in
back made a big crash. So I shut off the gravity. They floated around and
Stick/Magnus grew...in height and in mass. Then my ship lost power. It
went dead. Completely no power. Nothing.
I was getting mad. Nobody messes with my ship. Nobody! Stick/Magnus shrunk
a little. I don't know what his problem was but I floated their way and
grabbed Stick's vibro-axe and chopped at his head. Nothin'. He just shrunk
a little as the blade skipped off his shoulder. Other than that it didn't
look like it hurt him much. I used my hand com and called to Darryn. He
came and docked with me. I kept the axe and boarded Darryn's ship. Then
we flew away and faced my ship, getting a clear view of the cockpit, Quixe
to the right of us, also in view.
Quixe whined about blowing up my ship and I told him to wait because Thorne
was in there. But the little brat shoots at it anyway. But not just a laser
shot. Noooooo. The little pile of Bantha fodder had to shoot a concussion
missile at my ship! I chewed him out and told him I'd kick his little butt
if he didn't stop, but he shot again. Good thing he's a pretty poor shot.
Then Thorne called to me in my mind. He was really confused as to where
he was and why he was there. I told him he was on the Osprey and to get
in an escape pod with the Chi'Tannaron and we'd dock with him. By this
time we could see Stick/Magnus in the cockpit powering up and trying to
set a course. We shot lasers at the cockpit, but the little Rodian squirt
had to shoot a concussion missile at my engines, didn't he? Thank the Maker
Magnus had the shields on by then.
Thorne soon shot out in an escape pod and docked with us. I looked at my
ship, saluted, then told Quixe, Darryn, and Bauna to blow the crap out
of her. I never thought I'd hear myself give that order. It's the first
order Quixe has ever followed. It was a very memorable moment.
Boom Boom Boom! I shot concussions, Darryn and Bauna shot lasers, Quixe
shot concussions. Boom Boom BOOM!!! She was gone. And so were the Magnuses.
To make sure, I searched for their presense using the Force. Thorne did
the same with the Chi'Tannaron. Nothin'. It was over. Quixe already had
a course set and jumped to hyperspace while Darryn worked on setting a
course.
As I came down from the turret, I heard something above me. I saw some
pink goo crawl down the wall and a tentacle flopping around on the window,
then detatch from it. I didn't like the looks of it so I shot the goo.
Nothing happened. Then a little fuzzy brown thing jumped down at me but
I moved out of the way. It ran down the hallway and I shot it. It squealed
and disappeared around the corner. I called Darryn and told him it went
his way.
I waited there in the hallway in case it came back my way. Thorne, Bauna,
and Darryn (with the help of the Chi'Tannaron) managed to kill it but in
less than five minutes it was six feet tall and looked like one of those
black creatures from RASTIZ. How did the little fuzzball get in here?
I showed everybody the goo and we agreed it was a little threatening so
Thorne used the Chi'Tannaron to dissolve it. Oops. The goo was plugging
the hole the fuzzball climbed through. I got sucked up toward the turret
but caught the ladder. Thorne used the Chi'Tannaron to bend the gun down
by the ladder to block the hole. It helped but not completely and the glass
was cracking. I hugged the ladder. Thorne managed to seal it up with enough
metal and we patched it up tighter soon after. Then we jumped to hyperspace.
We had a few days in hyperspace before we got to Yavin so it was time to
relax. Darryn passed out cigars and we all celebrated. Later Thorne went
into his room and focused on the Chi'Tannaron. He wanted to free the woman
inside. We checked up on him a couple times a day and every time he was
still sitting on his bed holding it.
Then in the middle of the night, just before we were scheduled to arrive
on Yavin, we heard some funky noises coming from his room. Thuds. Whooshes.
Screeches. We got worried so we went to his room. He was sitting on his
bed, holding the Chi'Tannaron and all of a sudden we were all temporarily
blinded by a bright yellow light. It wasn't long before we could see Thorne
and a woman. No Chi'Tannaron. She was naked and looked to be about Thorne's
age. In reality she was five million years old. She was the Chi'Tannaron.
Thorne quickly covered her and asked her name. She didn't have one so he
named her Alyssa. Everything was so new to her. She had never really existed
before. She never really had a body before. She was a thought. She was
an assistant of the Force. She was an essence. She was a spirit. But not
a human being.
We soon arrived on Yavin. Everybody went home and later got a call from
Quixe saying to have dinner with him and to discuss payment for this whole...escapade.
I called Thorne to see if he and Alyssa wanted to go shopping with me as
a group. Sure. We bought nice-looking but cheap 150-credit suits and Alyssa
got a killer dress. Then we all went to dinner. Darryn showed up in a 900-credit
suit. Why...? How...? He's.... Never mind.
Darryn got paid, in credits, more than he was promised. Thorne: the same.
Bauna wasn't working for Quixe but she helped out, so she got paid a little.
Quixe paid me what I was promised, talked the Republic into issuing me
another ship (which I named the Centurion Osprey II), and did his best
to get me a promotion. However, Carmen (my 2-1B droid) was never replaced.
But I'm happy about that. I could never replace him. He was too cool. And
he "died" for a good cause. Once everything was taken care of and everybody
knew what they were being rewarded, Quixe treated us all to the best meal
we've had in months.
(End of Game Play Twenty)
Epilogue
Darryn and Bauna went into business together and maybe even got some kind
of intimate relationship going. It's possible. Who knows? I wish them the
best of luck...but not too much. I mean, they're bounty hunters.
Quixe quit his job at the Senate (Van took his place) and enrolled to become
a fighter pilot. I'm happy to see a person doing something they like for
the good of the Republic instead of slacking off and pulling the Republic
down. And he turned out to be a pretty good fighter too. His concussion
missile shot definitely improved and his TIE Fighter count is soaring high.
He has become a fine young solider and I'm proud of him.
Thorne and Alyssa got married and had a couple kids. They were very happy
together and they both became closer friends to Aronac and myself. Although,
unfortunately, Aronac died of a stroke about a year after our little experience
with Magnus. Thorne teaches of the Force at Luke Skywalker's Jedi training
acadamy and is working on improving his own skills as well. Alyssa is a
waitress at Blue Castle Dining and manages to take care of her kids and
a new house as well. Talented woman. I have much faith in them all, for
the Force is strong in their family.
And as for me. Well, I became Commander Narlod Mamaclee aboard a Mon Cal
Cruiser. And since then I've been promoted one more rank to Commodor. I
even met up with Linden sai'Morroc again. It was a little scary though.
He had Larsa Ponadin with him. He said he had managed to turn her to the
light side, though I still don't trust her. I filled him in on what had
happened since he left and he told me about running from bounty hunters,
getting his arm cut off and replaced with a mechanical one, and taking
care of his little crimelord problem. He didn't go into much detail about
that though. Too painful, I guess. Right now he's teaching at the Acadamy
with Thorne. That's pretty cool!
Things today are a little slower than back then in my risk-taking times.
I haven't been using the Force much anymore. But, I haven't really needed
to. About the only thing I use it for is to better my concentration, rid
myself of my headaches, and get a beer from the fridge without getting
up. My job is a little more demanding, and I'm still in search of a wife
(as if I'd have much time for her), but, hey, my income is great!
I am happy now, but when I look back at all those adventures, I
smile and think, "What would all of us have done without each other?"
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