The Rescue (Dark Times RPG)

:// Begin Charla's Personal Log \\:

 

Having finished the Boonta Eve race, myself and Frons were tasked to find a suitable buyer for the wraith. Finding a buyer was quite easy - every being our side of the galaxy wanted to own the supposedly fastest speeder ever created. The harder part was finding someone who actually had the money to pay for it. We had already received hundreds of offers for the Wraith, most of them from other Bounty Hunters and smugglers hoping to get their hands on the coveted vehicle. After painstakingly long hours of reading offers we came across one which seemed fairly legitimate to us - a rich crime boss on Florrum who had been in the market for a new personal speeder for quite some time now. We arranged to meet him on Coruscant with the speeder to finalise the deal.

 

Once me and Frons had reached the meeting place there wasn't a soul to be seen. Suddenly, as if out of nowhere a platoon of imperial soldiers appeared and began raining fire on us. It all happened so fast I can barely recall what happened. I vaguely recall Frons leading me into the backseat of the wraith to gain some protection. I was so paralyzed with shock I couldn't move, let alone help Frons fire back at the soldiers. Eventually Frons had to surrender, but not before getting hit twice in his right arm. I couldn't do anything, I just watched helplessly as the troopers stunned him and threw him from the speeder, which had now been completely destroyed. Before I knew it, they approached me and stunned me as well.

 

When I awoke I found myself in a holding cell. Frons was nowhere to be seen and the whole room was freezing. I looked out the barred window to look at my surroundings - it seemed I was on a barren ice world, hence the low temperature. I sat down on the floor, reliving what had happened in my mind. I could still see Frons being thrown like a rag-doll from the speeder, and my useless self just sitting there watching.

 

A few hours later the door to my cell opened to reveal two troopers, 501st legion by the look of their armor. What they were doing here I had no idea, but whatever the reason I wasn't going to fight back unarmed against the Empire's finest. I was led to a large open room with large machinery, a laboratory by the looks of its inhabitants - scientists dressed in the imperial white and black.

 

This is where I am currently. So far nobody has prevented me from continuing the use of my log, however that may be because nobody has noticed - the guards have left and the scientists seem to be completely preoccupied with their work. I know this would be the perfect time to escape, but I simply can't gather the strength or courage to do so. Gosh, what kind of a bounty hunter am I... A scientist approaches me, so I'm forced to end for now.

 

:// End Charla's Personal Log \\:

 

...

 

:// Begin Charla's Personal Log \\:

 

I'm forced to whisper in the hope that nobody will notice me continuing my log. The scientist blindfolded me and strapped some sort of device to my waist, then proceeded to give me a shot of some sort in both arms. I'm currently being transported by a small cargo speeder and am progressively losing strength in my body, supposedly due to the shots. I can feel myself being strapped to some sort of large whirring machines and having the device on my waist hooked up to them. I can't move, I can't see, and can barely move my tongue in order to make intelligent noises - not exactly the safest situation to be in. Something is starting to poke in from the object on my waist, the machine is getting louder. Ow ow ow ow ow. Ayyyyy, that was painful. Although, a don't know - it'th kinda' fumy iff you think abou' i'. Mu tung feelth tho weird, I can't muv it, haha! Ugh, mu hed felth lak ther'th a full-groan nerfth bangin' i'. Haha, a full-groan nerfth, ge' i'? Wai', ow. Ow. Ow, ow ow ow ow ow OW OW OW! Aghhhhhhhh! Aghhhhhhh! Aghhhhhhhhhhhhugh ugh. Uuuuuu...

 

:// Auto End -Charla's Personal Log- \\:

 

...

 

:// Begin Marcus's Personal Log \\:

 

Having received Frons's distress call we caught the first transport going to Coruscant. We found Frons, wounded in his right arm, resting in a bar in the lower levels of the city. He quickly recalled what had happened and explained that Charla had been kidnapped. We had no way of getting in touch with her and it seemed that we would never be able to reach her until Frons showed us one one of his bracelets. He explained that Charla had one just like it - when plugged into a tracing computer, the bracelet would enable us to pinpoint the approximate location of Charla.

 

Sure enough, the bracelet worked. According to Frons's tracker we would find Charla on the side of a mountain in the southern hemisphere of Ilum. Vase, our communications expert, arranged for transport and we all prepared our gear: mostly blasters and explosives.

 

Once we were already on the transport, we began planning our mission. We basically came to the conclusion that we would break into whatever place they were keeping Charla, guns a' blazing, and then get the heck out of there. To be honest, that's the type of plan I like the most - simple and effective. It's also pretty fun, not gonna lie.

 

A couple of minutes before landing I was approached by Veto. "Why are we doing this?," he said. "You keep forgetting we're Bounty hunters and smugglers, members of the underworld! We're not the CIS or a free day-care, losses happen - we shouldn't have to focus on one person, but the whole team! What's best for the team, Marcus?"

 

"Nobody's forcing you to come with us, Veto. We took a vote, we decided to rescue Charla - that proves it's best for the Team."

 

Veto stood motionless for a while, then replied: "What's best is not always what we want, Marcus. Remember that."

 

I snorted. "We're bounty hunters - the right thing for us is whatever we want to do."

 

Veto left and we landed a couple of minutes later. After we left the transport I noticed another ship landing a while away.

 

"Who do you think that is?" I asked. Nobody in the team seemed to know, however Frons after a while spoke up.

 

"Those are the Twins - I hired them to help us rescue Charla. I had to use all of my savings, but I think it'll be worth it."

 

A stunned silence followed that newest bit of information. The Twins are possibly the best fighting duo in all the galaxy - Frons must have saved up a pretty penny to be able to afford their service.

 

"Okay then," I said. "Let's go get Charla."

 

After brief introductions with the Twins - their names were Lela and Bren Kirsta - we began our attack. We found the secret base, practically invisible save for a small blast door. We blew it open and rushed in. We threatened the first sentry we found and learned that Charla was in room 5b. Having consulted a holographic map of the base we rushed to a large laboratory in the east wing.

 

We reached the laboratory and shot the two guards. I spotted Charla unconscious in the back of the room, hooked up to some menacing-looking machines. Blue waves of energy seemed to be rolling up her body.

 

"Secure the area!" I shouted. "Veto, get over to the front blast door, Bren - oh, forget it." New troops had just entered the laboratory, led by an imperial officer. It seemed a full fledged blaster battle was in order. "Just shoot them. Braik, Vase - go and get Charla out of that contraption."

 

I ran towards the scientist who seemed to not fully comprehend what was going on. I pinned him against the wall and placed my dirk up against his throat. "What are you doing to her?" I asked.

 

"That's none of your business," he sneered. "Oh, and if you remove the girl by force you'll most likely kill her."

 

I don't tend to trust Imperials, but what he said seemed logical anyway.

 

"Vase!" I yelled. "You can't remove her by force! You're going to have to hack into the computer. Braik, see if you can disable those machines manually!"

 

They got to work, but after a couple of seconds I heard Vase yelling:

 

"Marcus! She's dying - all of her vitals are failing. Her body simply can't handle the immense amount of energy flowing through her."

 

"If you just give it a second the program will finish, maybe she'll even be alive when it ends," sneered the scientist. I pushed him up harder against the wall.

 

"If the girl dies," I said, "then so do you."

 

"Marcus!" yelled Vase. "We're getting pretty close here, and I still haven't made any progress, neither has Braik!"

 

"Then shoot the dang thing!" I yelled back. Vase took out his blaster and began blasting away at the controls. Braik began frantically cutting cords and destroying as much as he could of the machines that were killing Charla. Suddenly, the machines stopped whirring - I'm still not sure what did it. Perhaps Braik was able to cause some significant damage, maybe it malfunctioned due to Vase's shots, or maybe the program simply ended. Whatever the reason, the machines stopped functioning and the straps that held Charla fell away. Vase examined her, attaching one of his trackers to her arm.

 

He heaved a sigh of relief. "She's still alive and well," he said. Then, with a puzzled expression he added. "In fact, she seems to be doing exceptionally well - she's the perfect picture of health. Beyond perfect, as a matter of fact."

 

I'm not sure what that meant, but I had no time to think about it. Me and Braik joined the others to help finish off the remaining troops. Once all of the troopers had been disposed of, I turned my attention to the scientist. He was looking astounded at Charla.

 

"It worked," he said, dumbfounded. "My machine's a success!"

 

I aimed my blaster at the machines and started blowing them to bits. The scientist watched, evidently distressed as I completely demolished his work. I noticed a couple of blue papers lying on a nearby table, so I destroyed those too.

 

"I hope you've got another set of blueprints and a lot of time. Otherwise, I'm sorry to say your genius machine may be gone forever."

 

I looked around. Everyone was accounted for, with the exception of Kas. When I thought about it I realized I hadn't seen him since we had entered the laboratory in the first place. However, a couple of seconds later he came rushing into the room clutching a data chip.

 

"Sorry to leave you guys on your own," he said. "I just saw this really convincing computer terminal and decided to see what information was being held on it." He smiled. "I think you guys are going to like it"

 

Normally I would have yelled at him for leaving us on our own, but I simply didn't have the strength. "Whatever," I said. "Let's get out of here before reinforcements come."

 

:// End Marcus's Personal Log \\:

 

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If you read the whole entire story without falling asleep then I've got to admit I'm really impressed. And yes, I used a half door.

 

Built for the Dark Time RPG as well as #imperialmarch and Luka's contest on Instagram. Went with something a lot bigger then I usually build :) I'm going to be completely honest, this MOC started to bore me towards the end while building it - too much grey. Still, I'm pleased with the way it came out. Photography less so. Feedback is always much appreciated

 

Happy Building!

Done