 | 
At the hangar,
| |
| 
the survivors board the marines’ ship to find respite from the stresses of hiding…
| |
| 
while Bormyn, Nouk, and Zurke board to man mission control.
| |
| 
As he enters the ship Jif marvels “Wow this is a nice ship!”
| |
| 
Bormyn then takes his place at the mission control console.
| |
| 
Shortly thereafter Reeze’s team makes its way into the tramway tunnel.
| |
| 
Vaz remarks “It’s cold as ice in here.”
| |
| 
To which Paxon jovially retorts “Yea man but it’s a wet cold!”
| |
| 
Reeze reigns him in “Knock it off Paxon.”
| |
| 
As the team proceeds down the dark tunnel,
| |
| 
the motion detectors pick up an object coming towards them.
| |
| 
Suddenly an odd being emerges out of the darkness.
| |
| 
A cyborg.
| |
| 
Jif, looking at the cyborg from the perspective of Vaz’s video feed to the mission control console, exclaims “That’s Mister Lydecker!”
| |
| 
As Lydecker approaches the team he laboriously tries to speak, mumbling inaudibly.
| |
| 
The team approaches the struggling administrator and find themselves being attacked by his robotic limbs, to little effect.
| |
| 
As they fend off the absurd attack, Vaz attempts to communicate with the man…
| |
| 
but the futile attack continues, seemingly outside of Lydecker’s control.
| |
| 
After a brief struggle the suffering man collapses and tries to speak.
| |
| 
He begs “Please… kill me…”
| |
| 
Little does the team realize however is that in the midst of the commotion their motion trackers are picking up massive signals.
| |
| 
Showing an astonishing lack of situational awareness, Private Wierz goads Paxon saying “What’d you get Paxon, a leg or a wing?”
| |
| 
Paxon, always one to partake in tomfoolery, answers “I think I got a thigh actually, it’s a…”
| |
| 
Suddenly a fantastic terror comes over Paxon as he sees a menacing droid come out of the darkness…
| |
| 
An industrial incinerator droid’s gas tanks hiss as it readies to fire its burners.
| |
| 
The droid fires and immolates Private Wierz right in front of Paxon’s eyes.
| |
| 
The deadly droid turns towards Paxon, but Vaz quickly blasts it as Paxon stands frozen with fear.
| |
| 
Hearing the screams and blaster fire, Bormyn demands “Reeze, what is going on in there?”
| |
| 
As the team struggles mightily to put out the fire engulfing Private Wierz, Reeze tries to relay the events back to Bormyn.
| |
| 
Suddenly however the team is attacked from all corners by all manner of droids.
| |
| 
The marines are accosted and dragged away as droids emerge in overwhelming numbers.
| |
| 
As the team struggles to cope with the feral droids,
| |
| 
Bormyn continues to demand detailed status updates.
| |
| 
In spite of the chaos, Sergeant Reeze struggles to report the happenings back to Bormyn.
| |
| 
Incredulous at Bormyn’s micromanagement, Nouk urges “Just tell them to grab Lydecker and to get the heck out of there!”
| |
| 
As he struggles to communicate with Bormyn, Reeze is captured by droids and taken away.
| |
| 
Completely panicked and in over his head, Bormyn calls out “Reeze…? Vaz…? Talk to me…”
| |
| 
But the marines are overwhelmed, fighting for their lives.
| |
| 
As Nouk recognizes the same model droid that serves as Viceroy Gunray’s bodyguard taking away a marine,
| |
| 
he grabs Bormyn by the neck and demands “Do something!”
| |
| 
Nouk then loses patience and runs out to take matters into his own hands, in spite of protests from Zurke.
| |
| 
As he heads out,
| |
| 
Vaz and Paxon feverishly fire their blasters.
| |
| 
Nouk makes his way toward the distressed marines on a trolley as fast as he can,
| |
| 
who continue to fall one by one.
| |
| 
As the survivors are attacked by an unending stream of droids,
| |
| 
Vaz does his best to keep them at bay, enthusiastically using salty language as he blasts droid after droid.
| |
| 
Finally Nouk arrives and brandishes his light saber.
| |
| 
In spite of destroying dozens of droids, Nouk is surrounded and overwhelmed.
| |
| 
Seeing that he is completely outnumbered and about to be seized, Nouk leaps away and orders the survivors to get on the trolley.
| |
| 
Paxon says “Yea man let’s get the bug out of here!”
| |
| 
Nouk picks up Administrator Lydecker and yells “Go! Go! Go!” as he mounts the trolley.
| |
| 
Paxon takes the controls as the relentless droids keep up their attack.
| |
| 
As Nouk destroys repulsorlift droids trying to prevent their escape,
| |
| 
the team finally manage to pull away.
| |
| 
Vaz says “They’re in hot pursuit! Step on it Paxon!”
| |
| 
Paxon yells “Going as fast as I can man!”
| |
| 
Suddenly a group of IG-86 droids appear out of the shadows.
| |
| 
Vaz starts blasting away at the menacing droids.
| |
| 
Nouk looks back to see a sea of droids pursuing them.
| |
| 
Vaz struggles mightily to blast the droids before they reach the trolley…
| |
| 
but the effort is futile, the droids catch up and overwhelm the team.
| |
| 
Nouk is attacked and pinned down…
| |
| 
but with the Force as his ally, he manages to free himself.
| |
| 
Nouk destroys the perstering droids, allowing the team to finally get clear.
| |
| 
But on the other end, a phalanx of astromech droids awaits, causing Paxon to panic at their sight…
| |
| 
As the droids cause the trolley to crash, Nouk leaps to clear the path for Vaz and Paxon to carry Lydecker to safety.
| |
| 
Having easily destroyed the blockade of droids Nouk yells “Hurry up, go, go, go!”
| |
| 
Paxon excitedly responds “I’m going as fast as I can man!”
| |
| 
The group arrive back at the hangar and board the rescue ship.
| |
| 
Nouk tells Vaz and Paxon “Put him down there, on the table, bring me the med kid.”
| |
| 
He then approaches the suffering administrator.
| |
| 
“Sir, we’re going to sedate you for the pain and we’ll have your implants removed…”
| |
| 
Lydecker struggles to speak “Hopeless… fused directly to the brain stem… all of us…”
| |
| 
Nouk persists “What has done this to you sir? Where are they?”
| |
| 
Lydecker responds “Evil… monstrous evil… at the main reactor… leave… now… while you still can…”
| |
| 
Suddenly, as though his brain had been remotely deactivated, Lydecker dies.
| |
| 
Nouk turns and says “He’s gone.”
| |
| 
Nomi then says “I say we take off and blow the station up, put these people out of their misery.”
| |
| 
Paxon concurs “Buggin’ A!”
| |
| 
Zurke responds “Wait, hold on a minute… this station has a substantial spice value, I…”
| |
| 
Jif interrupts him and says “They can bill me!”
| |
| 
Zurke continues “Look, this is an emotional moment for all of us, I know that, but I cannot authorize that kind of action, I’m sorry.”
| |
| 
Paxon incredulously says “Hey man I don’t know if you’ve been keeping up on current events but we just got our rumps kicked!”
| |
| 
Nomi chimes in “I hate to break it to you guys but what you’ve seen so far, just protocol and special purpose droids, that’s nothing… as you get closer to the main reactor you’re in for some serious surprises…”
| |
| 
Zurke responds “Yes and those droids represent tremendous value for our shareholders, you can’t just destroy them!”
| |
| 
Bormyn, in an attempt to re-assert his authority, says “Right, well then we’ll just take off and send in another team, and…”
| |
| 
Suddenly Vaz rushes in and grabs Bormyn by the neck “What, so they can get slaughtered like we just did?”
| |
| 
Nouk holds Vaz back and says…
| |
| 
“Whatever is going on here we have a duty to put the staff out of their misery, they’re beyond saving.”
| |
| 
“We’re going to take off, and blow up the station.”
| |
| 
He then instructs the flight crew “Get ready to roll, we’re leaving.”
| |
| 
Zurke protests furiously but is shut down by the determined Jedi.
| |
| 
As the pilots fire up the engines and prepare to depart…
| |
| 
little do they realize that they’ve forgotten about the standard complement of astromech droids their ship is carrying on the deck below.
| |
| 
Suddenly, the droids power on and head to the adjacent engine room.
| |
| 
Shortly thereafter alarms ring out and the pilot declares “Sir! We have a leak in the hyperdrive fuel containment unit! It’s gonna blow!”
| |
| 
Bormyn runs to the door and in a selfless act of courage he ushers out the crew.
| |
| 
“Go! go! go!”
| |
| 
Zurke and the rest of party rush out,
| |
| 
running as fast as they can.
| |
| 
As they take cover…
| |
| 
the ship’s port engine explodes violently.
| |
| 
As the dust settles and the smoke clears, the survivors come to.
| |
| 
Paxon gets up, picks up a piece of smoldering debris and complains “Well that’s great, that’s just buggin’ great man.”
| |
| 
Nouk helps Nomi up “Are you alright?”
| |
| 
Paxon continues “Now what the heck are we supposed to do? We’re in a real pretty mess now man!”
| |
| 
Nouk laments “Looks like Bormyn and the pilots didn’t get out in time… may their souls rejoin the Force.”
| |
| 
Paxon laments “Game over man, game over!”
| |
| 
R2-D2 emits a series of beeps with a cadence suggestive of a certain sadness.
| |
| 
As Paxon continues his belly-aching Vaz grabs him and scolds “Are you finished?”
| |
| 
Jif approaches Nouk and says “We better get back, because they will come soon, and they mostly come in packs…”
| |
| 
“Mostly.”
| |
