"Cutting the Storm."


Part I

Directed by:
Paul Burton.
&
Written by:
Anthony Hummerston.

STARRING:

Karnov,   Jimmi,   Niall,   Rojic,    Ta'alan,  Mama
And special guest stars:
Hen3ry , Joe-9T, Trio and 'Blinkie.'
as the droids.
AND
Storm Cutter, their ship, all redecorated in Republic mottled green drab version: 449-1-B.

“Are you sure this is going to be safe?” Mama asks, as the last crate is stowed aboard Storm Cutter. “After all, munitions have a nasty habit of exploding when you least expect it.”

“That’s sort of the point, isn’t it?” Niall asks, rhetorically.

“You’re gonna get a free ride to Ryloth.” Rojic reminds her. “Think of all the fuel saved.”

“And the Twi’lek girls….” Niall says wistfully.

“I do.” Mama reminds him. “But we’re not here to fraternise with the locals, we’re here to really rally the Ryloth resistance.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“Thanks. I’ve been working on that all morning!” She grins like a Cheshire cat.

Even though they are in hyperspace, they trot down the cargo bay ramp and inspect Storm Cutter. Several droids are painting it in camouflage greens and browns, obliterating the streaky pink and carbon scoring that it used to be.

“How can we possibly be in hyperspace and yet surveying the outside of the ship?” Karnov says in wonder, looking up at the stars making streaky lines above her.

“I dunno….Coz hyperspace doesn’t follow the rules of real space….We’re inside yet outside, we exist yet don’t exist….By all rights and laws of physics we should be dead.” Niall says in his best cryptic Jedi master voice.

They all think about this for a long time.

Then Rojic pipes up, “‘Coz we’re aboard the Resolute. –Stupid!”

The camera pulls back. They are indeed in the hangar of a Venator class starship. They are in hyperspace, seen through the ray-shielded hangar roof, but perfectly safe inside.

Jimmi looks puzzled. “Are there two Venator class ships, -One called Resolute and one called Resolution?”

“Shhh!”

“I think so. –Though it might be a continuity error.” Joe-9T tells them.

“I hope we’re on the right one.” Jimmi says, sounding slightly concerned.

Ta’alan smirks. “What’s up? –Have you got that feeling….The one where you turned up with the wrong gym kit again?”

“I always had five.” Jimmi tells the young Togruta, “One for rugby, one for netball, two spares of each, and one for indoor sports.”

Mama grins. “I like indoor sports. –The unisex kind…..Actually I never went to uni, so…. Just the sex kind!”

“What was our brief?” Karnov asks.

“To rally the rebels. To soundly resolve the Ryloth resistance.”

“Oh yeah.”

“Weren’t you listening in the briefing?” Niall asks, wearily.

“I was concentrating on the admiral’s moustache….” Karnov admits, “A most peculiar creature. –It moved when he spoke.”

“That’s because it is attached to his lip. A kind of attaché moustache!”

“Touché!”

Mama, Jimmi and Niall bump fists.

Yularen

Ta’alan goes quiet. He stops what he is doing and goes all dewy-eyed. “What’s eating him?” Karnov wants to know, and pokes at the young apprentice.

“I think it was that young padawan we met at the briefing. What was her name again?”

To the tinkling of harps, the image fades and we see a flashback of the briefing. Admiral moustache is droning on, when a dashing young Jedi general strides into the briefing room. Behind him, a young Togruta girl in a very short top and even shorter skirt stalks his every move. Her ‘assets’ are enormous.

Rojic whispers, “Those Jedi get younger every day!” Niall puts a finger to his lips to silence the rude Toydarian.

Ta’alan watches the young girl, his mouth open and his tongue hanging out. “Who is she? She’s beautiful.” He says. – though with the aforementioned mouth/ tongue position it sounds more like “Wool-withhy?-Thees-bloowifllllul!”

The young general stands his padawan down. “At ease, Snips.”

“Okay Sky-guy.” The young lady comes over to our heroes.

“I don’t remember you from the academy….” She says to Ta’alan.

“I um….I wasn’t at the academy….”

“Where are you from?” She asks.

“Um….” Ta’alan is rather tongue tied. His brain has gone into meltdown at the vision of Togruta loveliness in front of him. “Um….Big….Hot….Very hot….”

The girl takes a step back. Ta’alan tries to marshal his thoughts. “Very….Sandy….”

“Sandy?”

“Um….Tattoo.”

“Tatooine?” She asks.

“Yes! Oh yes!” Ta’alan suddenly blurts out.

“Well, pleased to meet you. I’m Ahsoka.” She gives the traditional Jedi greeting.

“Me too! –I mean….Um….I’m….”

“He’s Ta’alan. My Padawan.” Niall says smoothly. “He’s not normally like this with girls.”

“No he’s like….” Rojic goes to say, but a large brown hand covers his mouth.

“Well, it seems me and Sky-guy are heading the main assault. – Right at the vanguard. – I suppose you’ll be mopping up along with the rebels.”

“Something like that.” Jimmi says, slightly offended at their role being gently mocked. “Well, gotta run….” The girl says and joins her master’s side once more, leaving Ta’alan to daydream.

Ta’alan regains some composure.

“You’ve got a nasty spot on your chin there.” Mama says, “Girls really don’t like boys with pimples.”

“What?” Ta’alan’s hand goes to where she’s pointing at his forehead.

“And your ears are bright red!” Rojic chortles.

Knowing he is being teased, Ta’alan pulls himself together. “Pfft!”

Mama looks over at the other Jedi. Without turning around she says, “You know, I bet she’s never had a boyfriend….”

Ta’alan starts to lose composure a second time. He squirms awkwardly.

Mama goes for the jugular. “And did you know that sex leads to the dark side?”

By now, Ta’alan is all of a tremble. The others give knowing looks to one another and try not to smirk too much. He tries to look tough and manly and impressive, until Rojic points out that he also has a volcano-sized spot in the middle of his forehead, which sends him into a flat spin of paranoia.

The Jedi general comes over. He addresses the girl. “That’s enough Snips. Stop gassing with your new boyfriend.”

“He’s NOT my boyfriend!” The girl says. Ta’alan dies inside.

The others have been digesting the briefing. They are to rally Twi’lek forces in Kala’uun – One of the principal cities on Ryloth. They are to put down in a wooded area outside the city. The local resistance has gone quiet. It is believed that they may be observing a cease-fire because separatist forces have several locals hostage in the storm shelters of the city.

The image fades. Skywalker and Ahsoka wave them goodbye as he escorts her across the hangar to a starfighter. Now that the flashback has ended, her boobs amazingly return to normal size.

When they reach the drop zone, Storm Cutter eases out of the hangar. A few minutes later she is streaking toward the surface where she starts skimming across endless cliffs, gorges and mesas. There is nothing to alarm anyone. Ta’alan is preening himself in front of the mirror. Suddenly the ship lurches violently sideways. –It’s only a blessing that he’s too young to shave. Joe-9T is a millisecond too late handing him the cutthroat razor. He curses something in binary.

“Vulture droids!” Mama yells over the intercom, “Action stations!”

Ta’alan forgets the vision of the Togruta girl. “This means war!” He yelps in excitement. Mama is jinking the ship to avoid blaster cannon fire. Ta’alan slides into the ventral turret. The guns warm up in a second – and he already has a bead on the lead starfighter. The dorsal guns fire sporadically as Karnov jousts with three others. Mama pulls a slow roll. The lead fighter breaks left, into Ta’alan’s sights. With ease he leads it a little and lets fly. The servo turret slides to its target and a long streak of blaster bolts strike home. For a second the vulture craft takes the onslaught, but then the hull burns away. It explodes in a glittery fireball.

“Yay! I got one!” Ta’alan whoops.

To a man everyone chimes in, “Great kid! Don’t get cocky!”

Karnov blasts another, upsetting its aim. At this point the rear two ships cross in the sights and one manages to get a shot on the fleeing freighter. The shields drop an alarming amount. “Shields!” Mama screams. Niall grabs the console to re-align the dish. Mama pushes the joystick forward, and Storm Cutter enters a steep dive. At the last moment, she pulls up. The ship yaws alarmingly and enters a narrow gorge. The vulture fighters follow suit, but the one that has been hit is no longer as aerodynamic. It can’t pull off the steep manoeuvre and it crashes into the canyon wall. It erupts in flame and smoke behind the fleeting Storm Cutter.

Karnov shoots again, but the twists in the canyon spoil her aim. Niall switches to targeting, Rojic attends to the shields. Ta’alan gets a bead on another Vulture fighter, but the erratic jinking of the ship denies him a clear shot. Rojic overlays the shield display over the terrain map. The canyon is rushing by at an alarming speed. Mama slews the ship over and makes for a small gap. Karnov takes a shot, crippling one of the pursuers. Rojic’s eyes widen as Storm Cutter rushes up to an impossible-looking opening between cliffs. With mere inches to spare, she threads the needle.

The crippled ship cannot come about in time to line up with the gap, its wing-tip catches the canyon side and it slams into the cliff. The trailing fighters pull up in a gravity-defying climb, then swoop over the bridge spanning the canyon. This buys Storm Cutter some time. Rojic boosts the shields by taking power from the fridge light. The ship shudders under another volley of blaster fire, but holds steady. Mama dives through another gap. To Rojic’s relief, the ship clears it by feet not inches.

Ta’alan is a bit hasty in his shot and misses, Karnov is cooler at the guns, and manages to clip another’s wings. It careers into the last remaining craft. Locked together for a second, they fire blasters in a last desperate attempt at stopping their quarry. But physics takes over and they plunge to the ground in a massive explosion. Eagle-eyed viewers can spot the end of the CGI overlay and the substitution of a Ford Pinto for the explosion.

Rojic points to a scrubby forest in the distance. They sway around a few mesas to foil any pursuers and put down in a small clearing. I say clearing, but it’s a place where the five-foot trees haven’t grown. –Thus making it a glade. As they disembark over the sofa on the ramp, the shield capacitors recharge and the engines spin down.

“Should we hide the ship?” Ull asks.

“What ship?” Karnov says to her young padawan, “There isn’t a ship for miles around.” She waves her hand from one side to the other.

“There isn’t a ship from miles around.” Ull drones back at his master. He then promptly walks into landing strut and hurts himself!

“Good camouflage job!” Mama tells Joe-9T. He nods his agreement. “Stay here and guard the ship!” Mama tells him.

“Affirmative.” Joe-9T says. He gets out a crate full of guns and stats polishing them very slowly and deliberately. Trio arrives and in a rare outside shot we see her lovingly applying camouflage paint all over Joe-9T. The love and affection Trio puts into her task, and the sight of Joe-9T smoothing the long barrel of a gun sets Ta’alan feeling all tingly again.

“Remind me to get some chocolate body paint.” Mama says, nearly tipping the young Togruta over the edge of ecstasy.

“And a six-inch pasting brush.” Jimmi says, rather unkindly.

They proceed through the tangled shrubs. Hardly anything grows above ground on Ryloth. The ground is wind-scoured and dusty. “I wonder how the battle is going?” Rojic muses.

“Oh I expect the Republic is whipping their behinds.” Niall says proudly.

Just then, a massive explosion is seen above them. Moments later, fiery streaks appear in the sky. Then an object screams overhead trailing a long plume of smoke. Jets sound as it slows its descent. They hear a muffled crash in the undergrowth about a mile away. They hurry to the rescue.

“Ship’s escape pod.” Niall says to them as they jog to the rescue. “One of ours.” Mama is lagging behind. Ta’alan feels obliged to help the elderly. “I’d be helping you across the road….If Ryloth had any.” He teases.

“Slow and steady wins the race.” Mama tells him, though she isn’t entirely convinced that this is correct. Ta’alan giver her one of those looks. She changes the subject. “Of course, I used to run for years with only one escape pod on Storm Cutter.”

“How come?”

“I needed the money. It was hard going financially. – Besides there was only me and Hen3ry. – No need for an extra pod.”

“But there are two now right?” Ta’alan looks concerned.

“Yeah. The Republic though that it might invest in a replacement for the second one. For years all that was there was a piece of cardboard and a notice saying ‘Escape-pod’ in reality there was nothing behind but a blanked-off iris valve.”

“That’s not very reassuring.” Ta’lan says, but Mama doesn’t elaborate, as they have reached the pod.

“Signs of life.” Karnov tells them. “But the pod hatch is a bit battered. We’re gonna pop the explosive bolts.”

“Stand well back.” Niall warns. Jimmi ushers the others back a good long way. Niall counts down loudly to let the occupants know that he is popping the hatch. Then with the force he triggers the bolts. With a loud ‘POP!’ the hatch is ejected violently. It does two neat spins before landing right at Jimmi’s feet. Jimmi doesn’t even flinch.

“I didn’t see it coming!” Jimmi jokes. Ull goes to move the hatch, but it is extremely heavy. Had Jimmi been hit, it would have resulted in serious or possibly fatal injury. “The force surrounds and protects me.” Jimmi says, “I know a song about that!”

Ull gives up trying to move the hatch. Jimmi starts to sing, but doesn’t get further than the second bar before the hatch is dropped on some rather sensitive toes. Jimmi wails, but the others imagine that it is only part of the song.

“Jimmi wails? –Wasn’t he the founder of Wookieepedia?”

Karnov and the others have helped the survivors out of the pod. Though at the sound of singing and wailing, they ask to be shut and welded back inside. There is a squad of clone troopers, battered but alive. Their leader briefs them about what has happened.

“The Resolute was targeted by Vulture droids. -It barely escaped intact. We were on the Redeemer. We came under heavy fire, but got most of the crew away onto the other ships. We then ran the blockade to buy time enough for the Defender and the Resolute to escape into hyperspace. I’ve had pings form a few more pods, but they are scattered far and wide.”

“Sir.” Niall prompts.

“Sir.” The clone adds.

Niall thinks. “Stand easy.” He tells the troopers. “If you’re fighting fit, then we can use your help. We need to get into the city. The Techno Union forces have the place on lockdown. Many of the civilians have escaped into the storm tunnels. But we have intelligence that there is a bunker deep in the mountainside where hostages are being held. We need to regain control. From there we can coordinate the attack.”

The clone takes off his helmet. “I’m not so sure about that….Sir. With the Resolute badly damaged and our ship destroyed. I think they may rethink the invasion.” Niall and Karnov mull it over. “In the absence of other orders, I say we continue with our plan. At least with the bunker secured, we can relieve the pressure a bit. We might be able to survey the ground and the deployment of enemy forces while we are at it.”

“I agree. The clones might come in useful too. We need to liberate the city.”

Niall sighs. “Why? I don’t know these people. –And I don’t much care to.”

“They’re Twi’leks.” Karnov reminds him.

“I’m in!”

They turn back to the clones.

“What’s your name, trooper?” Karnov asks.

“Clone 72354253.1101.”

“That’s a long designation,” Karnov says, “Don’t you have a nickname?”

“Numbers. Sir.” The clone responds.

“Okay….That’s a bit of a mouthful. -As well as difficult to remember.”

The clone looks at Karnov, puzzled. His expression says, “What?”

Karnov decides. “Okay, 72354253.1011, you’re with me.”

“It’s ‘1101’ sir.”

“I thought you said it was 723542253.1101.” Karnov says.

“No. 72354253.1101” The clone reminds her gently.

Karnov doesn’t want to appear stupid in front of the men. “Well I says 72554253.1101. -So that’s what you are!”

“No not 72554! It’s 72 ‘three’ 54. That’s someone else entirely!”

Niall interjects. “I’ll call you ‘Numbers’. I think I can remember that.”

“Stupid clones!” Karnov mutters, hopefully to herself.

“Stupid Jedi!” The clone mutters in a stage whisper.

“I heard that!” Karnov responds.

“No you didn’t!” Numbers says calmly, waving a hand across gently.

“No I didn’t.” Karnov repeats after him.

“You want to call me Numbers.” The clone suggests

“I’ll call you Numbers.” Karnov drones.

“Okay stop now.” Numbers tells Karnov.

“I’ll stop now.” Karnov repeats.

“Coz you milked this bit already.” Numbers tells someone, breaking the fourth wall for a moment. “I milked this bit already.” I reply.

They move off toward the city, the majority of which is inside a mountain. It is also eerily quiet. There are droid patrols in the streets, some rounding up prisoners or instructing them. But the majority of the locals have gone to ground. The planet is well known for violent storms – indeed last time they were here a storm was to have wiped them out. “Yeah, I must speak to Jules about that.” Mama says.

They sneak around and avoid the patrols. They meet their contact. “No time for pleasantries. –There are prisoners in the command bunker. We believe there are droids too and a number of mercenary fighters.”

“How many?”

“I don’t know. Probably about fifty droids and maybe half that number of Yinchorri mercs.”

“Do you have a map of the bunker?”

Their contact punches it up on the holo. – It is one of the deepest storm-shelters. A series of twisty passages link the chambers. Each level deeper and more secure than the last. –In the centre there is a command post.

“We have resistance fighters on standby.” The contact says, “As soon as the hostages are safe, then we’ll sweep through the city. It’s mainly droids here. They’ll not pose much of a threat.”

Niall and Karnov are in agreement. “We’ll liberate the prisoners. This should free up your forces to act.”

“Okay. The sooner the better. I’m not sure what is happening to the rest of your forces. We managed to patch through, but the bunker shut us down. Fighting was fierce. Vulture droids and the like.”

“We lost one Star Destroyer. The others escaped to hyperspace. I expect they’ll call for reinforcements before trying again.” Numbers reports.

“That doesn’t sound so good. I’m sure the general has a plan.”

“Pfft! I expect it’ll take all day to discuss it. Me? -I’m a man of action.” Niall snorts.

“Okay, man-of-action, what are we gonna do about this bunker?” Rojic asks.

“We could use a bold frontal assault.”

“Or sneak through the air ventilation shaft.”

“Or rig an EMP device to take out the droids.”

“Or….” Jimmi says with a long pause for emphasis, “Or………………………………………. We could discuss it for a day or two!”

The two Jedi get the hint. “Okay. We’ll divide our forces. Karnov and Ull and Jimmi, You take a couple of clones. You’re on the main command centre.” Niall says. “I’ll take the rest and hit Club Indigo-déshabillé.”

Rojic coughs. “That’s a strip club for blue Twi’leks only.”

“Is it?” Niall pretends to be surprised.

“You know it is.” Rojic reminds him.

Jimmi is excited. “Maybe I could offer my services there. –As a masseur….Or is it masseusse?”

“Whatever. Are we gonna assault this bunker or stand around chatting?”

“We could sit.” Ta’alan suggests. “All this standing to attention is making me think of Twi’lek girls.”

“I think you meant the other way around.” Karnov tells him. “Maybe Jimmi could give you a massage…..You seem rather stiff.”

Ta’alan hides his embarrassment. “I got a cure for that.” Mama says.

“What a raging hard-on?” Karnov asks.

“Yeah,” Mama tells them all. “Just think of a candlelit dinner and a hot date.”

“Not helping much.” Ta’alan reports back.

“Now imagine the date is Rojic.”

“Okay! That’s cured it!”

Finally they approach the bunker. They avoid a patrol and find a ventilation duct to duck down. “I vote I go first.” Rojic says.

“So brave.” Ull says.

“No. I don’t want to get stuck when Mama gets wedged in there.” Rojic jokes.

Mama sticks out her tongue at him.

“That’s not gonna help much. You can’t lick the entirety of the ventilation system to lubricate it.”

There is a pause. “Is that a smutty euphemism?” Karnov asks.

In the end the shafts are not too taxing even for Mama’s generous frame. “In my head I’m body-type one.” She says.

“You’ll always be a perfect ten to me.” Jimmi says, kindly.

“Thanks. That’s very sweet of you.”

“Or is it body-type ten?” Jimmi says, all the while scrambling along the vent, and getting a few twists and turns away from the enraged ship’s captain.

By the time Mama has calmed down they are in position. There is no way to communicate other than shouting, so they synchronise their attacks.

“We commence our attack at three-fifteen.”

“Is that local Ryloth time, Jedi temple time, galactic standard time….Storm Cutter wonky chronometer time?”

“Whatever. When you hear blaster fire, do the same.”

“But the sound doesn’t carry.”

“I think I’m gonna be ill.” Jimmi says. Rojic cuts a feed from the room they are about to assault. He splices in a circuit to induce interference.

“Ready!” He tells the others.

“Okay. Firing now!”

Ta’alan opens the assault with a flurry of shots. Sweeping gunfire sprays into a tight group of droids, destroying four. Mama puts a blaster bolt through the head of another in a precise shot. Another falls to a snap shot. Ull gets four kills. Jimmi spins up a whirlwind with the force. Four droids are caught up in it. They are spun toward the wall where the immovable object meets the moving droids. This doesn’t end well for the droids. They are reduced into so many spare parts. Karnov puts on a burst of speed, her lightsabre flashing. Four more droids are disassembled. Niall rolls a ‘droid popper’ grenade. In the middle of a squad it explodes, sending a fountain of shrapnel up in a neat cone. Clones fire, mopping up the stragglers easily and precisely.

Rojic misses.

This has secured them a minor room along the passage and almost equidistant from the main control room and the secondary. They split into two teams.

Karnov is indignant. “I’m doing the thinking here!”

Niall isn’t so sure. “Talking maybe. Not thinking. It isn’t quite the same.”

“Well Ull is with me.” Karnov says, claiming him. Niall has a more Laissez-faire attitude with his allocation of tasks for Ta’alan. “He can go where he pleases. You see it’s not about acquisition, it’s about letting go.”

“Oh very profound.” Rojic says.

“Actually you can go too. -Far away.”

Rojic mumbles something rude that only he and Jimmi understand.

Finally they spit their forces “Mama, Ta’alan, Jimmi and one of the clones are team one,” Niall says, “Karnov, Niall, Ull, Rojic and the remaining three clones are team number two.”

“That’s the dream team,” Karnov boasts, missing the subtlety of the joke. “Team number-two!”

They crawl along the ducts to their designated command centres. Ta’alan is in pole position and goes first. He rolls a grenade into a squad of droids. One looks down. “I think you dropped something….” It says to its companions. There is a dull thud and all the droid bits fall to the floor. Mama pinpoints the commander. With two rapid shots the Yinchorri is downed. At this point we join the number two group with Karnov swinging her lightsabre smoothly and expertly at a Yinchorri, who defends wildly. This isn’t going to end well. Ull takes on another, but makes slower progress. Niall starts on a technician; his faster strokes are more precise than Karnov’s, though the blows are not as heavy. Another Yinchorri shoots at Ull. Rojic flits to the console behind the technician. The space is now vacated. His fingers start flying over the console, adding noise and looping images, blurring the line between the reality and the fiction. Clones Deadeye and Numbers come in close and shoot more droids. Numbers drops back to help with the computer system.

Back with Team-one, Jimmi has used force-whirlwind on another group of droids. They spin into a frenzy before being dashed against the walls. Ta’alan swoops in with his lightsabres. He closes on the commander, feinting left and then striking. In the other control room, Niall is doing precisely the same thing- like master like Padawan! Karnov finishes off her mercenary with a sweep like a change-up, -appearing faster than it really is. This wrong-foots him. It also kills him. Ull slashes at a droid, reducing it to two sparking halves. Ull and Karnov round on two more mercenaries. In unison they swipe at them, forcing the fighting men back. The Master and her padawan close for the kill. Between them they manage to despatch both. Their clones cover their backs with some good shooting. Niall and a mercenary tangle. Niall untangles himself by tying the merc in knots with is lightsabre. By the time the man has unravelled the contortions in the narrative, he is dead. Ull is shot at close range, but is made of stern stuff. He battles on regardless. Rojic has finished his hacking. There is a solitary droid left in the room. Rojic has a perfect shot.

Rojic misses.

Jimmi is on the defensive. One of the droids puts a shot into a Twi’lek technician, who slumps in front of Jimmi. Not missing a beat, Jimmi starts to sing as well as lay on hands of healing. Ta’alan and Mama shoot more droids, mowing them down systematically. Jimmi despatches the last of the droids and they head deeper into the complex.

Both teams have cleared their rooms. They both stalk along the twisty-turny corridor from opposite ends. They come to a door. Both decide that blasting it might be a good idea. Then they hear voices on the other side. They open the door to find their respective opposite numbers.

“Okay. We’re good to go. One technician is dead. Ull is wounded. – Nothing else to report.”

They press on. One by one they liberate rooms. Small numbers of droids put up little resistance. In the end they manage to get to the deepest bunker. There are a number of hostages arranged in the middle of the room. The droids and mercenaries are scattered to the edges. Mama and Ta’alan go into the ventilation system one more time to flank the mercenaries. From a grille they take aim on a squad of droids. Four quick shots later and the droids are sporting blaster bolt sized holes. This signals the others to attack. Ull has a new lease of life and leaps into the fray. He is keeping his distance though, and his blaster makes impressive streaks across the room. –But he doesn’t hit anything. Niall and a mercenary trade shots. Niall gets the better hit, neatly sidestepping a return volley. Jimmi picks on a mercenary threatening the hostages. The man is picked up using the force and slammed into a wall. When this doesn’t stop his evil intent Jimmi spins him around several times to make him giddy. Then lifts the hapless man up to the ceiling, only to slam-dunk him to the floor. The man passes out. Ta’alan can see another mercenary about to kill some of the Twi’lek women. Three rapid shots slam into the bully, nearly killing him. The man raises a blaster to a woman’s head and grins evilly. The grin becomes a grimace as Mama plants a blaster bolt through his head. The man topples over backwards. The clones sweep in and take out some of the scattered droids. The mercenary commander thinks he has the drop on Niall. As he raises a gun and starts to say “Dodge this!” Niall reverse-thrusts his lightsabre into the man, injuring him critically. As Niall turns, it slices the commander in two. Karnov makes short work of three more droids and a captain. The latter is injured and clutches his side. The man kneels before Karnov, who graciously accepts his surrender. The mercenary expects to be killed. Karnov lifts her lightsabre and in a deft sweep severs…..The binders from two of the prisoners. The two women stand up.

Rojic gets a bead on a droid that wasn’t quite destroyed. He takes careful aim. He misses.

“I’m Mara. This is my sister Nika.” The older of the ladies says, standing up (again) and dropping the severed binders.

All the crew manage to get in the word “Sister!” Before Mara can speak again.

“We are daughters of the ruling family.” Mara explains, “How many of our people remain alive?”

“Um we killed one….” Rojic says, but then hastily backtracks. “We lost one technician. The others are liberated or still under guard.”

“Then you must work fast.” Nika tells them, taking charge for a moment. “The droids will get suspicious eventually.”

“There are also two more sisters.” Mara tells them. “You must hurry.”

“How will we recognise them?” Ta’alan asks.

“They look like us.” Nika says, before adding “-Stupid!” under her breath.

Ta’alan doesn’t hear. “And if we liberate them?”

“Then we’ll be grateful.”

Ta’alan goes for the million-credit question. “How grateful can four sisters be?”

Niall can’t quite believe he’s hearing this from his padawan. “They’ll give you a back rub.”

“And?”

“-And if you’re really lucky they might remove the cheese before they use the grater.”

The noble ladies smile at Niall. He turns on the charm by saying, “I don’t know what they teach them in the academy these days, madam.” The ladies swoon at the smooth talking Jedi. Niall sweeps his robe around him and strides off. A minute later he comes back out of the cupboard and stands there embarrassed.

Our heroes clear another two rooms without much resistance. They close on a last bunker deep in the heart of the complex. They assault this with their usual reckless abandon. Ta’alan lets fly with a volley of shots, killing a mercenary. Mama goes one better by killing hers with half the number of shots. Jimmi picks up a mercenary before pinning him to a wall. Niall jumps in with a twirl of his lightsabre. Rojic tosses a droid-popper grenade into the fray. Jimmi moves it to the exact mid-point between two squads of droids, -Normally termed ‘A split’ -where it explodes and takes out both.

Further into the room, more droids are working on some kind of device. It is big and menacing and might just be a bomb. Ull picks up another injury. Karnov orders him back with the clones. “Stay here!” She orders.

With the bomb clear of droids, a large lizard man steps forward. The mercenary captain is not going to be an easy kill. He sidesteps shots from the clones. He manages to get a telling shot on Ta’alan. Rojic retaliates. He shoots he misses. He curses his bad luck and has another go. This time he hits! For the most minor of wounds! The crowd go wild. Jimmi and Ta’alan shoot back. The lizard soaks up the damage. Mama rolls for cover behind the bomb. Karnov crosses the floor in a blur of speed, swishing with her lightsabre. In a horrific friendly-fire incident, the clones manage to miss the big lizard and critically injure a Twi’lek hostage. Jimmi rushes to the man’s aid. This spurs Karnov on to end the fight quickly. She reverses her grip in an instant and runs the Lizard man through. The light fades from his eyes and he slumps forward, dead.

Jimmi calls upon some inner reserve. Through the force, healing power is channelled into the downed Twi’lek. Things look serious for a few minutes, but eventually the man begins to recover.

“I thought you were good at medicine.” Ta’alan asks Mama.

“First aid or surgery.” She tells him. So if you need a plaster or a triple-heart bypass, I’m here for you. –Anything in-between….I’m not so sure.”

Ta’alan is reassured. “Okay. Are Mara’s sisters here?” He asks.

Two pretty young Twi’lek women put their hands up.

“Good. Then we’re done.”

“Ahem!” Niall prompts.

“-Okay….Apart from mopping up.”

“-And….?”

Ull interrupts with a crisp list of about fifty things that are left to do. By the time he has finished, the others have done them. Our heroes lead the Twi’leks to safety in the city square. The word has gone out that Kala’uun has been liberated. A small crowd gathers....

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART II......

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Footnotes: None today.