Bounty Hunter Anon III

by Sunny Solaire

Gathering Intel

Your comms pop in your ear and Applejack's voice comes on. "Pinkie? Can you talk?"

You unsling your blaster rifle again and hold it at the low-ready as you proceed across the street again. "Yep, I sure can! What's up, Applejack?"

"We're drivin' around the compound and we found the slave quarters. They're behind the spire." She says. "Are you near the security room yet?"

"Not yet. I'm on my way to there though. One of the Sith pointed me in the right direction." You reply.

Anon's voice comes on next. "How did you manage that?"

You giggle a little. "I lied to him! He was really helpful and nice, for a Sith. The security room is in the spire."

You look up at the imposing Sith spire looming over you. No matter where you are, you can always see it. The Dark Side aura that emits from this place almost makes you paranoid that it somehow knows that you're not a Sith. Like, it's a living watchtower, and it's just waiting for you to slip up and do something to blow your cover. You know that's just silly though.

You continue. "Only problem I think I'll have is sneaking in. Some places are harder to sneak into than others, and I've got a good feeling that this will be one of those places. A disguise by itself can only get a girl so far."

You continue down the street towards the rear of the Sith temple until the spire's entrance is in view. It's surrounded by guards and troopers, all armed and looking for anyone out of place. No one seems to be alone though. One thing you notice immediately is that everyone has at least one buddy with them. If you were to approach by yourself, you'd probably draw some unnecessary attention.

"Is that going to be a problem?" Anon asks.

You continue watching the guards. "Probably not, I'll just have to be creative. Lots of guards like to talk and chitchat with each other. If I listen, I can probably learn a thing or two about a flaw or a breach or something in the security. Then, I can use that to get where I want to be!"

Rainbow clears her throat. "So... You're going to improvise?"

You smile. "Pretty much!"

Anon groans a little and it makes you giggle again. He really hates that word.

"It's okay, Anon!" You say.

"I know, I know." He replies. "If anyone can improvise, you can."

"Just be careful though, Sugarcube." Applejack adds. "We'll stay on standby for as long as we can, if you need us, but try not to do anythin' to draw attention to yourself. You're in the rancor pit right now."

"Don't worry, Applejack! I'll be fine!" You reply. "I do have an idea though! Anon, could you patch in to their communications and see if they're talking about anything juicy? Any intel would be super helpful!"

"That's a good idea." He says. "I'll see what I can do and get back to you."

You smile and switch off your comms, taking another look around. From where you're standing, you're still in the dark. Literally. No one should notice you unless they're looking for you. But even if they were, you've got a disguise. So you've got a bit of time to stand still and think.

Your go-tos for sneaking in to places are usually through air vents, but this armor will make things difficult. You'll have to find another way in, or get a different disguise that will let you move around more freely. Anon said it wasn't too much trouble sneaking into the Republic prison, but to be fair, those vents were big, and he's used to wearing bulky armor. You'd rather not try anything too new and take a risk.

You make a brisk walk across the street, staying in the shadows as much as you can. You're not too worried about them calling you out on being alone as long as you don't try to get inside the building through the front door. Best to try around back.

When you get to the other side, you reach a steel barrier that blocks off the sidewalk from the rest of the spire's lot. It's about five feet taller than you, but thanks to the Force, you could easily vault over it to the other side. You take a quick look around to make sure no one is watching, and that there are no cameras anywhere before you sling your blaster rifle over your shoulder and jump up to pull yourself over. You land with a thud on the other side and crouch down for a moment, making sure you're hidden.

A quick look around reveals that you're in a storage lot of some kind. There are a crates of supplies everywhere. Should be easy to stay hidden from any Sith officials here.

You sneak toward the spire, moving over or around the storage crates until you reach the rear of the building. It's there that you see a cargo entrance, along with a couple of guards in front of the supply door. The door is open so you can see inside the building from here, and it doesn't look like there are any guards in the cargo area. There are only maintenance workers, either doing inventory or moving crates of supplies around.

Sith troopers may only be allowed to guard the cargo area, but from where you are, it looks like they aren't allowed inside. You might need another disguise. The maintenance workers moving around inside the building are dressed differently than the troopers standing guard. You can actually see their faces. Unfortunately, they're all humans. You'd stick out like a sore thumb with or without a disguise, thanks to you being all pink. Looks like your Sith armor will have to do for a while.

You make your way to the building and hug the wall. You'll need to distract those troopers somehow if you want to get past them.

As you're thinking of a plan, you notice a fuse box on the wall. You move over and take a closer look. It's connected to wires that run up the building a bit and over to the lights directly over the troopers.

"Hmm..." You say quietly. "I wonder what these do."

You flick the switches in the fuse box and the lights flicker out over the supply entrance.

"Hey! What the-?" One of the troopers exclaims.

They're going to check this place out soon. Now might be a good time to hide.

You quickly move away from the fuse box and hide behind one of the supply crates. You peer around the corner and get a good view of the darkened area around the building before one of the troopers comes into view.

"Who's messing around out there?!" He demands. "Show yourself!"

You don't reply. Instead, you stay quiet and watch him as he sweeps his blaster rifle around the darkened supply area. You need to wait until his back is turned.

After a few moments, he moves over to the fuse box, exposing his back to you as he fiddles with the switches. You quickly vault over the supply crates and move behind him. As the lights come back on, you bring your arms up and wrap them around his neck in a chokehold.

He drops his blaster and gasps silently as he tries to pry your arms off of his neck. He's strong, but thanks to your connection to the Force, you're able to be much stronger. Your grip doesn't loosen. After a few seconds, his arms start to go limp as the blood stops running to his brain, and you quickly shift your grip to grab his jawline. With a hard jerk to the side, you snap his neck and kill him. He doesn't make a sound.

You silently drag his lifeless body behind one of the nearby crates and hide him before checking his pockets for anything useful. You find a security access card that should be helpful, along with an I.D. card. You put them both away and turn your attention to taking out the other guard. He probably won't be along to look for his buddy for a while, and turning out the lights again would be too suspicious, so you need to bring him to you. You're short on time.

You hug the wall again and peer around the corner at the other trooper. He's standing all alone now, and probably has no idea that his buddy is dead. He's right where you want him. Behind him, you notice a control panel for the large cargo door. It looks like the perfect distraction.

Taking a breath, you reach out with your arm and use the Force to press the button on the panel, closing the door. The trooper whips his head around and stares at it for a moment. As he does, you quickly move around behind him and lunge forward, wrapping your arms around his neck and breaking it as well.

He collapses in front of you and you drag him off to the side of the building as quickly as you can until you reach the other Sith corpse. Once they're both hidden, you grab a blaster rifle, take a deep breath, and head back to the building's backdoor entrance. You press the button again and step inside.

You close the door behind you and proceed into the cargo area, passing the maintenance workers as they continue with whatever they're doing. You pay them no heed as you walk toward the door on the back wall. Now that you're inside, you need to find a quiet place to contact Anon and Applejack.

Once you head through the door, you close it behind you and take another deep breath. You're in a small hallway, but you're alone. You don't sense anyone coming this way either, so that's good too.

You activate your comms. "I'm inside the spire, you guys."

"Good work, Pinkie." Anon says.

You check to make sure the coast is clear again before replying. "Have you heard anything on the comms? I'm a bit blind in here."

"We did hear some chatter about some experimental droids or somethin', but not much else." Applejack says.

Experimental droids, huh?

"Sounds juicy! I'll keep that in mind. Are you guys okay?" You ask.

"We're fine, Sugarcube. Still drivin' around the base and keepin' a low profile. We'll need a place to park when we meet up with you though." She replies.

"Once I deactivate the cameras, I'll figure something out." You say. "I think the supply area behind the spire would be good. I took out the guards already, and there's lots of room back there."

"Sounds good. Keep us in the loop." Applejack says.

You smile and deactivate your comms again before moving through the hallways. You're looking for something relating to the security room. It's where you can get higher clearance to access more of the building.

Speaking of, you'll probably need another disguise if you want to reach the spire's upper levels. You're dressed as 'Average Joe Sith' right now. Probably not someone they'd let in to a meeting with Darth Sombra, if he's even here. Maybe you'll find a security officer wandering around, or one of those black-armored Sith you saw guarding the entrance to the temple outside. That would be cool.

As you round a corner, you spot a pair of Sith troopers talking with each other in the middle of the hallway. Their backs are turned to you, so they haven't spotted you yet, but you're not worried. They're both dressed the same as you.

You keep quiet and pretend to be focused on something else as you eavesdrop on their conversation, activating your comms in the process so the others can listen in as well.

"Did you see the commander show up?" One of them asks.

"Not in person, but I saw her shuttle land up top. She got here less than an hour ago." The other one replies. "She's mean... Even for an Inquisitor. I heard she singled out a trooper in the welcome formation and choked him to death because he wasn't in step with the rest of the platoon... I wouldn't get on her bad side if I were you."

"Damn... Is it true what they say about her? Can she really shapeshift?"

"I forget that you're kind of new here... Yes, it's true. I've seen it happen before. Commander Chrysalis doesn't shy away from showing off that little talent of hers."

Your eyes widen a little. Chrysalis! The Sith Clawdite that sold Adagio to Hoity Toity! She's this base's commander!

The troopers continue talking. "Huh. Guess that explains where she got the ideas for these new droids we have. I've never even heard about anything like that before."

"Oh yeah, Lord Sombra's R&D division is amazing. There are a few of them in the robotics lab a few levels up. They're pretty cool."

"Robotics? How'd you manage to get up there?"

"One of the technicians and I go way back. He was able to sneak me up there a few days ago. According to him, those droids were supposed to help us spread the drugged death sticks across the galaxy before those Mandalorians found out about it. Now, they're kind of shelved."

"That's a shame."

The troopers stay quiet for a few more seconds, so you turn around and head down another hallway, leaving them behind.

"Did you guys hear that?" You quietly ask in your comms.

"We did." Anon replies. "So, Chrysalis is here and she's overseeing this whole operation."

Mandalore comes on. "I'd guess that she holds all the security clearance this place has. We'll need to take her out. Sounds like those droids could be useful."

You nod. " That's what I was thinking too. It sounds like they can shapeshift like clawdites can, but that's ridiculous. Droids can't do that!"

"I don't know, Pinkie. As outlandish as it sounds, you shouldn't underestimate them." Anon responds. "Once you disable security, see if you can get up to the robotics lab. We're hidden, but we're hanging out by the back entrance to the spire."

"Okay." You reply. "Find security, shut down the cameras, then head up to robotics to learn about these droids. Got it!"

You disable your comms and proceed through the building. Occasionally, you'll pass a trooper or two, but you're dressed the same and can't see each other's face, so you manage to avoid drawing attention to yourself.

You're curious what these droids will be used for too. If their project is on hold now, then there might be a way to use them to help you free the slaves and shut down the factory. That would be perfect. It sounds like regular troopers definitely aren't allowed in the robotics lab though, so you'll absolutely need to find another disguise.

Before you do anything else though, you've got to find the security room.

Author's Note: