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Back on Geonosis…
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Darth Sidious has successfully seduced the Zabrak into becoming his apprentice.
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The Sith Lord proclaims “Henceforth! You shall be known as DARTH…
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MAUL.”
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On the station, the survivors of the explosion are regrouping.
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Vaz brings the last of the crates and says “Alright this is everything we could recover from the ship wreckage.”
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“We’ve got two pulse rifles with trackers, only about fifty rounds each. That ain’t so good.”
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Nouk asks “Are those the only hand blasters?”
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“Yea, just two. One full clip each.”
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“The good news, we’ve got four robot sentries and a carousel sentry, they really rock, I think they’ll come in handy. We just have to assemble them.”
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Nouk asks “How long after we’re declared overdue can we expect a rescue?”
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Vaz hesitates and answers “Eight days.”
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Paxon incredulously responds “Eight days? Hey man I don’t wanna rain on your parade but we’re not gonna last eight hours! Those droids are gonna come in here just like they did before and they’re gonna kill us!”
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Nouk harshly interrupts him “Get a hold of yourself Paxon! Miss Taw and Jif here survived longer than that with no weapons and no training.”
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Paxon contemplates and groans “Why don’t you put them in charge?”
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Nomi loses patience and says “Sounds good to me Paxon. Why don’t you just shut the heck up and let us handle it?”
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Jif grabs a blaster and chimes in “That’s right! I’ll blast em all good!”
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Bemused, Nouk grabs Jif’s hand and says “Whoah buddy, point that thing someplace else!”
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Nomi asks “So what do we do now?”
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Nouk says “Bring up a schematic of this place.”
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“So we’ll repair the barricade here and then weld plate steel over these ducts here, here, and here.
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Then we’ll install the robot sentries in front of the barricade and in the tunnel, and install the carousel sentry at the intersection of the main hallway.”
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Vaz says “That ought to hold em for a while.”
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Nouk says “Alright let’s get to it. Set up the sentries and start patrolling the perimeter.”
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As Vaz and Paxon install the robot sentries,
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and the carousel sentry,
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Nouk asks Nomi “How long’s it been since you got any sleep?”
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Nomi says “Mister Jedi, I’m not going to die here. I’ve been through too much.”
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Nouk reassures her “I’ll keep you safe Nomi. I won’t leave you here, that’s a promise.”
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Vaz and Paxon return to report the sentries are up and running.
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Nouk says “Good. You two patrol the perimeter with your motion detectors, I’ll work on securing the air ducts.”
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Nomi then says “R2-D2 says he has some bad news.”
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Paxon quips “That’s a switch.”
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Nomi continues “He says the station’s main reactor coolant units have been shut down, we’ve got about eight hours before the whole station blows!”
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Nouk asks “Can’t we just turn them back on from here?”
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“No, the controls for that are only in the station’s engineering section, over by the main reactor.”
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Paxon loses his nerves completely “Well that’s it, no doubt now, we’re doomed! We’re done!”
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Vaz shouts “Shut up pax!”, and asks “Well there’s no way we can penetrate the engineering section to turn the coolant units back on, any way we get to an escape ship?”
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Jif answers “One of the hangars in the industrial droid plant might have one, but it’s clear across the station! We’ll never make it!”
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Nouk asks “Nomi, can you program R2-D2 to make his way to the hangar to get the ship ready for us? Once he’s ready we’ll make a run for it.”
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Nomi says “No problem, give me a minute.”
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“I’ll just switch on his broken transceiver…
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that ought to fool em.”
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Nouk then says “Alright, send him on his way and let’s get back to work.”
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As R2-D2 makes his way through the station,
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the robot sentry guns blast away at oncoming droid invaders.
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The carousel sentry barely keeps up as they advance from all directions.
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Vaz says “This is unbelievable, and here they come in the tunnel now.”
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As the guns consume their limited ammunition,
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Nouk says “Ammo is almost out, we’re gonna have to make our stand now.”
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But suddenly the guns stop firing.
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Vaz says “They’re retreating! They’ll be looking for other ways to get in now, won’t take them very long.”
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Paxon sarcastically says “Maybe we got em demoralized.”
As he struggles to control his anxiety, Paxon asks “What the heck is wrong with these droids anyway? They can’t just be malfunctioning!”
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Nomi answers “Looks to me like the company has inter-connected all the droids and installed a main controller… an illegal practice, by the way.”
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Zurke protests “That information is proprietary! These ‘laws’ are an assault on the free market!”
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Nouk shouts back “Those laws are in place for a reason! On world after world, when sufficiently intelligent machines have been allowed to intercommunicate amongst themselves disaster always follows, they eventually enslave their creators!”
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Nomi adds “Hence by law, droids are only allowed to communicate audibly, like the rest of us.”
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Zurke scoffs indignantly “Pish posh.”
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Nouk, outraged by Zurke’s attitude, grabs him and yells “Do you have any idea how many people have died here?”
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Nomi says “I’ll testify about what I’ve seen here, you can count on it Mister Zurke.”
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Zurke unruffles his shirt and speaks under his breath “We’ll see about that.”
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The station is eerily silent as the hours pass.
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R2-D2 sends intermittent coded updates as he looks for an escape ship…
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while Nomi gets some much needed rest in the bio-lab,
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as does Jif in the mechno-lab.
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Meanwhile Vaz and Paxon patrol the perimeter.
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While the robot sentries continue to deter droid advances in the hallway,
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as well as in the tunnel and the hallway.
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Suddenly, Nomi wakes in the lab to the sound of equipment being disturbed.
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A chill runs up her spine as she sees that the amani specimen is missing from the bacta tank!
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Nomi sheds Nouk’s cloak and gets up to look around.
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She tries to exit but finds the door has been locked from the outside.
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As she turns she is startled and horrified to see the amani heading towards her…
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The genetically modified beast is very angry.
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Nomi screams as the crazed creature grabs hold of her.
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Nouk rushes into the lab, prompting the beast to drop her.
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The amani rushes the Jedi knight, pinning him to the wall with its tremendous strength.
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Nouk leaps away and attempts to subdue the creature with his Jedi powers.
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But as he does so,
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two kowakians who had been freed from their tubes attack Nomi and the Jedi.
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As the mutant amani approaches to kill his disabled prey,
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Vaz enters the room and begins blasting the creature.
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But the creature is unaffected, and rushes to assault the brave marine. Fortunately Jif enters and fires his blaster at the beast.
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Meanwhile, Nouk is able to free himself and pries a pipe from the wall…
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and rushes to impale the creature, finally killing it.
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As Nouk and the others rise, Nouk says “Zurke was behind this, he’s nowhere to be found and my light saber is missing.”
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As Nomi tends to the bump on her head she says “It’s clear now that he’s in on what’s going on here.”
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Suddenly the lights go out.
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The group rushes back to the operations room.
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Nouk asks Paxon “What’s going on?”
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Paxon says “They cut the power, and the sentries are dry! We’re doomed!”
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Nouk scolds “Settle down Paxon, gear up and check your motion tracker.”
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To Nomi and Jif he says “Stay close to me, get ready to move.”
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Vaz and Paxon look for motion with their trackers.
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Suddenly they pick up a massive signal just outside the blast doors.
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The team steps back as the droids brutally ram the doors.
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Deadly droids of frightening versatility emerge from the broken down blast doors.
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The team struggles to keep the droids at bay.
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Paxon becomes angry and screams profanely as he blasts oncoming droids.
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“Motherbugger!! Oh you want some of this? Come get it!”
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Nouk struggles to keep droids away from Nomi and Jif.
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Paxon continues blasting away “Boltsucking motherbugger!!”
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Without his light saber, Nouk is down to sheer strength and will.
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Meanwhile Vaz and Paxon continue blasting away.
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Paxon’s tirade continues “That’s right! Come get it baby! Bug you!”
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Nouk yells out “There are too many of them, move to the bio-lab!”
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Indeed and inevitably the droids overwhelm the team.
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Paxon meets his doom…
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as does Vaz.
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Nomi and Jif struggle to find a safe spot as droids converge on their position.
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Nouk picks up Vaz’s blaster and fires off the last of its rounds as Nomi and Jif retreat to the bio-lab.
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The droids relentlessly follow them, forcing Nouk to continue his hand-to-hand struggles.
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With the strength of the Force behind him, Nouk tears off the arm of an attacking droid and uses the arm as a weapon to subdue the droid.
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Suddenly a dismembered droid he had previously thought to have defeated leaps on Nouk,
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Prompting Nomi and Jif to fire off the last of their blaster rounds to help him shake it.
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Jif says “The mechno-lab, we can get out to the hallways via the reactor vents!”
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As Jif descends into the vent well, Nomi stops to answer the call of her communicator.
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She says “R2 has found a suitable ship for us! Hangar 15 in sector 8!”
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Suddenly a number of bodyguard droids emerge into the mechno-lab.
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Nomi is taken off-guard as one of them emerges from a floor grille behind her.
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Nouk lunges to protect her but is grabbed and dragged back by one of the droids.
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Nomi is helpless as she is taken away “Mister Jedi helppppppp!!!!!”
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Nouk struggles to free himself from the grip of the strong droid holding him,
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and goes to save Jif from the clutches of another.
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The two work together to bowl over a droid with another.
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Having earned a brief moment of respite, Nouk rushes to the floor grille where Nomi was taken “Nomi!!!”
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As more droids come through Jif exclaims “We have to go! Now!”
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Nouk says “I’ll find her with the communicator she has linked with R2!”
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“But first let’s get you to the ship!”
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As they emerge from the well onto a main hallway deck, they run as fast as they can.
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Nouk says “Are you sure we’re going the right way?”
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Jif says “Left at the next junction!”
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Suddenly the two stop as they see R2-D2 unexpectedly emerge from the dark.
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Jif asks “R2! What are you doing here? The hangar is still three decks down!”
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R2-D2 stays silent, even though his transceiver toggle light shows it’s off.
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Suddenly his toggle switches and four IG droids emerge behind him.
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Jif exclaims “It’s a trap! R2 how could you?!”
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Nouk and Jif cannot turn back as the bodyguard droids have caught up with them.
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As they are grabbed by the droids a cloaked figure arrives…
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The mysterious cyborg fixes its gaze upon the two as Zurke also emerges.
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Nouk exclaims “Ahhh Zurke, and what is it you have standing next to you there?”
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The cyborg rasps “I am Qymaen Jai Sheelal and I shall have my revenge against those who did this to me - the Jedi Order.”
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