Private Lost on Lothal

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan nodded. "Good luck, Miss Nimdok." he replied tonelessly and without warmth as he exited the room as abruptly and unceremoniously as he appeared, deciding to do a more focused patrol of the chapterhouse's interior.

The baroque architectural scheme grew more pronounced the deeper he went. He went into the sleeping quarters, saw dusty old photos about.

His eyes swept the room, wincing as he struggled to keep out the whispers.

His eyes locked onto a photo with a familiar face, mounted on a frame on the wall, and he instantly paid attention, staring at the face of his wife, surrounded by unfamiliar Jedi Knights. Nathan took the photo, smashing the frame to get the photo out, and sat on a bed to stare at it.

For a split second, his frozen expression went into a deep frown. His eye twitched. He put the photo in his pocket and got back up, greatly rattled.

A howling and he was no longer in the chapter house, but in a strange golden meadow of trees.

"Are you enjoying your stay on Lothal?" asked the Golden Loth Wolf as it emerged from seemingly perfect concealment from an impossibly thin tree.

Nathan frowned. "Kennus The Discerning. What do you want with me?"

"I merely seek to know your heart, Morris Crownwraithe."

"That name no longer holds any meaning for me." Nathan snapped. (ROTJ reference #77774242!: 7000 XP)

"It is the name to a reputation you spent more than two decades building, only to cast it all aside at the last moment for a chance at meaningless vengeance. Empty vengeance." Kennus replied with some severity.

"You don't get to judge me, Wolf." Nathan replied. "Elaine Tear destroyed my family. Me and my wife were going to be murdered violently no matter what we did. Every seer we consulted said the same thing. I was gonna get chopped up like a tomato along with Lysandra. And Elaine would still keep going. Unpunished."

"What made you think Elaine wasn't punished?"

"I do not care what others did to her after her crime. The only punishment that mattered was the one that came from me." Nathan said flatly and without remorse.

"And what of your honor?"

"Hang my honor!" Nathan snarled taking a step forward. "Hang it from the tallest rafter, for all to see! I don't owe the Force anything after what it's put me through."

"The Force didn't make you sell out Elaine Tear, Morris. That was all you...your doing." Kennus replied.

"Tell me...did it never occur to you, all those years ago, that when she visited you that last time, offering the protection of the Kaissereich, that she was sincerely trying to atone, albeit subconsciously, not knowing what she had done to you?"

"It did, actually. I didn't care then, and I don't now." Nathan replied coldly.

"That was the real reason you sold her out wasn't it? You couldn't stand the idea that your salvation, of yourself and your family, depended on your ability to forgive her. It was your greatest test as a Jedi, and you failed it utterly."

"Get it through that thick skull wolf. It was never going to happen. Ever. Whether that makes me a bad Jedi or not, I couldn't care less." Nathan said, holding the gaze of the gigantic canine.

The wolf snorted, trotting away from him.

"I see where she gets it from." he said more to himself than to Nathan, vanishing.

Nathan blinked and he was back in the chapterhouse, holding his photo of his wife.

Nathan wearily began walking again...

Meanwhile...

The fit of sneezing Miri Nimdok caused spread rapidly among the guests, until everyone was in a fit of it.

Moonclaw sighed, not sure what was going on.

"Alright...take five...blow your noises, I guess..." He muttered, though his cat eyes slinked to Miri in sudden suspicion...

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Miri pretended to be afflicted with the same sort of sneezing fit, hiding her face in the crook of her elbow. As she turned to ask for a tissue, however, she quietly snuck away from the group and down a hallway. She had felt Gabriel's staring and was hoping he would be intrigued enough to follow her...

Nathan Bloodscrawl​

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan walked the corridors, heading back to where he had found the Bacta Tank.

The corpse he had found was gone.

Nathan immediately pulled out his pistol, wheeling around, expecting attack. Nothing.

He exited, alert and looking for threats, and decided he would head to the main meditation chamber listed on some of the wall directions.

He winced, struggled to keep the Force's whispering out of his head as he drew closer to the chamber.

Finally, he was just outside its doors, and hesitantly opened them to find a small office adjacent to the chamber itself.

He walked in, and noticed how sterile it smelled, like someone had applied cleaning agent to the interior in vast quantities.

He walked around, nothing seemed out of place. Until he got near a closet door and found it ajar. He pulled it open.

The body of the actual Gabriel Moonclaw, who looked exactly like the one they had met earlier, was present inside.

Nathan's stare was like that of someone watching paint dry as he saw the corpse, wrapped in plastic, tumble to the ground.

"This is not the place where you store dry goods." Nathan muttered calmly, expression stony, even as he made a soulless joke at the real Gabriel's expense.

Nathan was just about to leave so he could find fake Moonclaw and give him lead poisoning when a hidden panel slid up on the wall.

Nathan sighed as a Magnaguard came out, holding up a Phrik Alloy Electrostaff.

"I ate Magnaguards for breakfast during the Gulag Plague. Do your worst." he said quietly as the Magnaguard charged and he opened fire.

Meanwhile...

"Miss Nimdok! Miss Nimdok!" Gabriel said, catching up to her.

"Would you care to explain why all my guests seem to have suddenly developed intense allergies?" he asked crossly, tapping a foot as he waited for an explanation...

 

[Miri Nimdok]

"Miss Nimdok! Miss Nimdok!"

Miri paused and turned around to face Gabriel, one eyebrow raised. "Yes?"

"Would you care to explain why all my guests seem to have suddenly developed intense allergies?"

"That sounds like question better answered by a doctor," she replied with a shrug. "I'm an archaeologist, not a physician."

Nathan Bloodscrawl

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

(THIS plays)

Nathan backed away, emptying his shotgun but it dodged the blasts, all except for one which partially caught it, making it stagger. He tried to reload, but was forced to toss it aside as well as the Grenade Launcher and grab his battered shield to block the incoming strikes from the Electrostaff, but the shield rapidly started to be bitten through due to to already significant compromises in it's structure.

A violent punch from the Magnaguard smashed into the shield and sent him hurling backward, severely denting the shield as he smacked into the ground, giving only a grunt of pain, mildly dizzy.

"Okay...maybe I'm rusty." Nathan remarked without any emotion beyond irritation.

The Magnaguard savagely attacked him again, and he used the shield to block the second punch, which sent him crashing through the doors he had originally entered, dropping his DC-15S. His shield finally broke in two and Nathan received a cut on his forehead as he hit a wall and tumbled to the ground.

He glanced up with blood covered eyes and saw the Magnaguard prepared to plunge it's staff right through his face.

He grabbed the shaft before the tip could hit him, and with a snarl snapped it in half, managing to use his pilfered half to cut its arm off, resulting in an explosive shower of sparks that almost blinded Nathan, making him tumble back to the ground before scrambling up and running away as the Magnaguard's remaining arm popped open and revealed a microrocket launcher.

He barely evaded it but was slammed into a wall when it impacted into a nearby column. The air left him, but he pulled out his pistol and struggled back up as it launched another rocket, which he dived beneath, and fired at the Magnaguard's eyes, taking one out, but it grabbed his DC carbine and fired at him on full auto as he scrambled towards a hole opened up by the second rocket and dived through it, the Magnaguard giving chase...

It cautiously stepped through the hole, revealing it had burst into an old dormitory with plain bunk beds. It saw one of Nathan's black boots sticking out from underneath and quickly approached, opening fire on the bed, over turning it to find only his boots.

Nathan's hand, holding his vibroknife, quickly swiped at the ankle joint of the Magnaguard from a nearby bed and cut off the foot causing it to fall as a pissed off Nathan overturned his own bed and started stabbing it in the chest, repeatedly, hearing Phyre's laughter in his skull as he stabbed it.

He blinked and suddenly he was stabbing a laughing Darth Phyre, his stabs only growing more frenzied and enraged at the hallucination. He didn't know how long he stabbed it, just that he was covered in Droid lubricant by the end of it.

Nathan got back up, hyperventillating. He soon got control of himself, slapping himself back to coherence. His face going back to its expression of ice as he retrieved his boots.

"Miri..." he said to himself. "I've got to get to Miri."

Nathan coldly stepped over the remains to retrieve his weapons, hearing Phyre's laughter constantly...

Meanwhile...

"Don't play coy...I saw you do something..." Gabriel said.

The gun fire from Nathan's battle was faint but noticable.

"What in blazes---?!" Gabriel exclaimed striding up, in seeming confusion, as if trying to look for the source of the noise. But in one swift motion, his sleeve was aimed at her face, himself not even staring as a cloud of green tranquilizer gas that worked on skin contact shot out in a jet towards her face...


Miri Nimdok

 

[Miri Nimdok]

"Don't play coy... I saw you do something..."

Miri's hand brushed the pistol at her hip. When Gabriel turned toward the sound of gunfire, she unholstered her weapon, pointing it at him.

But she didn't count on the tranquilizer gas. It hit her straight in the face before she had a chance to react. The world spun and blurred, and she collapsed on the floor.

Nathan Bloodscrawl

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan retrieved and reloaded his shotgun, this time with lethal rounds.

"This is what you get for being patient..." he seethed quietly. "This is what happens when you try to be nice..."

He cocked the weapon with a loud racking sound.

"You end up having to use the shotgun anyway..." he snapped at himself checking the grenade launcher.

"Mister Arnold..." called out the voice of 'Gabriel' over the intercom in the meditation chamber he was in.

Nathan's head snapped to attention.

"You sound in good spirits, Mister Moonclaw..." Nathan remarked disinterestedly. "And to think I was beginning to worry after finding you wrapped in plastic like last year's Life Day decorations."

"Morning constitutional and a balanced diet works wonders!" Gabriel snickered on the other end. "I'm not actually mad at either of you, just so you know. Even I thought it was a long shot you wouldn't get curious. I did try to give you both every out possible to assuage your suspicions."

"Why didn't you just poison us when you gave us a meal?"

"Because if I could alleviate your suspicion, you would report back that delivery was successful to the one who gave you the disk to begin with. Besides, the more you kill, the more difficult it is to conceal from others, and securing you both away like I did with the late Mister Moonclaw would have taken too long."

"Ah. Smart." Nathan complimented.

"Thank you." the fake Moonclaw complimented.

"So who you working for? Empire? Maw?"

"Does it matter these days?"

Nathan shrugged, checking his pistol ammo.

"Not really. Let me take a stab at your scheme, though, if you'll indulge me."

"But of course. Go right ahead."

Nathan rubbed his chin.

"You were sent to intercept Moonclaw, dispatch him, take on his identity, but whoever was sent to retrieve it isn't going to get the actual disk, but one filled with critical disinformation. You would take the actual disk back to your bosses. That a ballpark estimate of the situation?"

"Bravo, Mister Arnold." the fake Moonclaw responded politely. "Your brains belie that thuggish attire, especially when you consider that Magnaguard. Pray tell...how in the Galaxy did the Jedi let you slip their grasp?"

"I was never a Jedi." Nathan lied. "I'm just someone in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"I don't suppose we can cut a deal, can we? I don't really need the distraction. I don't know what the price for your loyalty would be, but I know it would be worth it..." (You have faith. I don't: 90 XP)

Nathan shook his head.

"You life was forfeit when you sicced the Magnaguard on me."

"I was afraid of that. Damn pity. Oh well...I have activated a number of Phase 1 Dark Troopers to head to your location. Try not to leave a mess when you die."

"I'm the very picture of sanitary..." Nathan muttered, heading out of the chamber.

Meanwhile.

Miri Nimdok had been put in a Universal Energy Cage, bound at the hands and feet, and stripped to her undergarments to make sure she wasn't hiding anything that could help her break free. She was in a large office with a baroque aesthetic as the fake Moonclaw approached.

"Miss Nimdok? Are you awake yet?"

 

[Miri Nimdok]

"Miss Nimdok? Are you awake yet?"

Miri's eyes opened with a grimace. Her body ached from when she'd collapsed on the floor. Upon realizing that she'd been disarmed and stripped, she bolted upright in alarm, every muscle tensed despite the pain.

"We know you're up to something, Mr. Moonclaw," she said, still maintaining decorum in her way of addressing him even now. "Whatever you're planning, it ends now. I suggest you surrender while you still can."

Nathan Bloodscrawl

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

"Ah, apologies for the aches and pains, the tranq gas I hit you with requires a very particular mixture to work on skin contact. Soreness is an inevitable result. It should fade in a short while..." her host replied.

"I'm afraid the real Mister Moonclaw and that freak he had for a wife have been dead for quite some time." he added. "I'm an... interloper..."

He paced about, watching on various security feeds as Phase 1 Dark Troopers rushed Nathan's methodical advance with his DC-15S. Every time the blaster lit up it revealed Nathan's blood covered face, with that same chillingly frozen expression Miri had seen when she had first met him.

"I'm terribly sorry to place you in this unfortunate position. You seem such a cultured young woman with much promise, and I had so hoped to pull this off with you or Nathan being none the wiser. But, alas, your curiosity and his mistrust will be the undoing of both of you. I have a job to do. One that requires me to kill you to prevent witnesses. Not yet of course. I want Mister Arnold good and weakened. Most curious... I expected him to try and escape. He must really hate deception. Or perhaps he cannot resist your innate charm?" The fake Moonclaw mused. "Ah, what's the use in guessing? He'll be dead soon enough."

Moonclaw went over to a data card library shelf that was highly ornate and selected a golden one, inserting it into a music player. Sweet classical music began to play.

"I do have to get back to the exhibition. They haven't heard anything...the area they are in is soundproof. I promise your death will be as quick and painless as I can manage once the drop off has occurred." Moonclaw added before departing. "Try to relax. Think happy thoughts."

Meanwhile...

Nathan's shotgun blast felled another crowd of Droids. He was following the directions to Facility power.

They came in groups of six at a time. Fast and Devilish. Nathan had to fire at their legs mostly. They moved very fast, so the most he got was a second or two to aim.

He dived backward, firing as one got too close, blowing it's head off. He scrambled up, as to stay still was death at this point. And still they came.

Nathan eventually Frank Castled his way towards the power section, heading where the central generator was located, being chased and very low on ammo, now forced to make every shot count as the Droids pursued. He ran for the Central Generator Room, trying to get it open. But the damn thing was sealed tight.

Reluctantly, he took out the Grenade Launcher stepped back calmly noting that any second they could run up and shank him from behind, and fired the grenade launcher.

The door exploded and he ran in, emptying his DC into the thick, pulsing Generator at the center of the room, already damaged by the explosion. He quickly dived back out as it exploded, sending an EMP wave that knocked out his pursuers.

As the lights went out, the power to Miri's cage cut...



Miri Nimdok

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Miri’s eyes narrowed. “You’re a shapeshifter?” she asked in an icy voice. “Or is this just a holographic disguise?”

Her attempts at grilling the impostor for any scrap of information were likely to come to naught. The man was stupid enough to leave her alive rather than just killing her immediately, but he didn’t seem dense enough to reveal too much about himself or his motives.

At any rate, the impostor left her alone in her cage. Miri was on her feet by then, her arms crossed over her chest. She did not despair, if anything she was just irritated by her situation. There had to be a way out…

The lights flickered, then suddenly went out. With the loss of power, the cage also deactivated. Miri leaped out immediately, and began searching the room for her belongings—or if nothing else, at least something she might use as a weapon or a tool of escape. She expected the impostor to come running in any minute now, and she didn’t intend to let him get the best of her this time…

Nathan Bloodscrawl​

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan rose from the ground and dusted himself off, grim expression matching his 70 bpm heart.

He began walking in the darkness of the Chapterhouse, the architecture somehow more malevolent in the near total darkness. He didn't have a flashlight, and could barely see more than a few meters ahead. It didn't matter. He had pretty much exhausted all his ammo except his pistol.

He picked up the empty grenade launcher, reasoning that there must be an armory somewhere...after all, it had a security force of Droids. His comlink wasn't working due to the EMP knockout.

He managed to journey some ways before he actually found it, its security disabled. He ventured inside, found a small box of 40 mm grenades. Nathan took three, one into the launcher itself, two in his pockets. He also picked up a DC-15A Blaster Rifle with a sling and flashlight, switching it to full auto.

He decided to go to administrative as that had the best possibility of locating Miri, shining the light downward to see what was ahead, nothing but dead droids.

He kept the gun trained ahead, not taking any chances. But nothing...The fake Gabriel hadn't sent anything else.

Nathan realized that with disabling the power, The infiltrator would prioritize making sure his fake dropoff went off and that the ignorant contact escaped. He could try and chase him, but he would be confronting him blind.

As he reached administration he began calling out for Miri Nimdok

"Miss Nimdok?"

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Nathan would turn the corner to find Miri waiting on the other side, clutching an old-fashioned letter opener in her fist as a makeshift weapon. She still hadn't found her clothes or gear yet, but after hearing his footsteps approaching she figured she was better off safe than sorry.

"Oh, it's you." She sighed in relief. "Moonclaw is an impostor. He intends to kill us after the exhibition. He knocked me out and locked me in a cage, but then the power went out... I don't suppose you had anything to do with that?"

She looked around. "We need to stop Moonclaw. Any ideas?"

Nathan Bloodscrawl

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

"I gathered that after discovering the actual Moonclaw's corpse." Nathan replied, not reacting to Miri's lack of dress, only keeping his eyes in laser focus with hers. "His scheme is to pass on false information to the contact that was sent here to meet him. And yes, I might have had something to do with the power failure. The vehicles are all stored in an automated garage. Which won't open now. Vehicles were likely taken out by the EMP blast. But this structure is surrounded by the plains of Lothal: people use animals for traversal all the time to avoid disturbing the other animals...he may have one or two riding beasts as back up. Regardless, we have to catch him before he can escape."

Nathan took off his armored jacket, handing it over to her, revealing the gray t shirt underneath, as well as handing her his own pistol.

"It's not gonna solve 'all' your problems but it's better than nothing." he added in a clinical manner, neither amused nor annoyed. He then gestured for her to follow as he walked in an almost mechanical fashion down the dark passages back to the Archives where the guests were waiting around in confusion and fright in the darkness.

"Did Moonclaw take anyone with him when he conveniently excused himself?" Nathan asked them.

"He took a junior researcher into ancient Star Maps. Young fella. Dunno why." an elaborately dressed fellow replied.

"Moonclaw isn't who you think he is. Clear out." Nathan replied without stopping to observe their reaction as he began walking go the garage with Miri Nimdok

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Miri gratefully took the jacket and pistol, listening to Nathan as he shared what he had learned. So he was working against the Alliance. A double agent.

The news about the vehicles made her nose wrinkle in annoyance, but they had an alternate way out of there, at least. She followed him into the room where the other guests were huddled together. Moonclaw had already left, taking a researcher with him.

Miri accompanied Nathan to the garage, where she unlocked her speeder and got some clothes, dressing quickly. She retrieved another pistol while she was at it, along with her lightsaber. "All right, let's get this traitor," she said, loading the gun. "Lead the way."

Nathan Bloodscrawl

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan nodded, his frozen expression at least matching the surroundings after Miri Nimdok retrieved some of her stuff. He began looking around and found directions to a large stable nearby on the wall. He was very cautious going forward. No telling what the false Moonclaw would do to ensure mission success at this point.

He gestured for Miri to stay away from the center of a large set of double doors. He got on the side himself, quietly reached for the handle.

He ducked as blaster chaingun fire shredded the door apart. Nathan scrambled back behind a corner, hissing for Miri to do the same as another salvo of chaingun fire erupted from within the large stables, exposed to the open air.

Nathan peeked around the corner and saw a massive figure slowly approaching.

"I must admit, Mister Arnold, you are a rather tenacious fellow..." Moonclaw called out politely as he strode to them clad in heavy Power Armor.

"That ends here."

Moonclaw unleashed another salvo...


Miri Nimdok

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Miri winced from cover as gunfire rained down in the space where she had once stood, the roar of it deafening in the confines of the garage. She checked her Dragon’s Breath pistol, making sure the incendiary ammo was loaded… then holstered the gun, palming her lightsaber instead.

It wasn’t her preferred weapon, but since the impostor was getting a little too close for comfort, she saw little other choice than to meet him head on. As the power armor-clad bastard drew near, she suddenly leaped on top of it, her violet blade slicing through the chain gun “arms” before plunging her lightsaber into the “head”. With any luck, she’d not only disarm the thing but kill the occupant as well.

Nathan Bloodscrawl​

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan scrambled to get ready to fire when he saw Miri Nimdok leap onto it.

For just the second, the manner of her leap and the delivery of her blade into that hated shell, he was reminded of Lysandra taking down a Mandallian Giant in a similar manner.

His memory so full of holes, he couldn't remember exactly, what the context was, only that she had looked magnificent doing it.

Nathan forced himself away from the recollection. There was no afterlife for Lysandra Crownwraithe, given her fate. He winced, watching her die in front of him all over again.

Only the lack of Hope and Fear remained.

He heard Moonclaw cry out as the blade pierced the top of the armor, going through it like butter.

"Scavenged tech. Gets you every time..." (I never asked for this: 90 XP) Nathan muttered as the damaged power armor toppled over.

Nathan walked over to the armor and forced the cockpit open. The Fake Moonclaw was dying. Impaled through the shoulder.

The Imposter gave a smile.

"And here I thought I was being clever, getting this power ar--"

"Quiet." Nathan interrupted coldly, shooting him in the face with his DC-15A. Then shot him four more times in the chest just to be sure.

He looked at Miri. "He sicced a Magnaguard on me. I'd shoot him again, if I thought he could still feel it."

He then looked at the corpse.

"I hate Magnaguards." he said, shooting the corpse one more time before heading into the stables to look for the alliance contact...

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Leaping off of the power armor before it fell, Miri turned away as Nathan dispatched the impostor execution-style.

"He sicced a Magnaguard on me. I'd shoot him again, if I thought he could still feel it."

“A waste of ammo,” she murmured, deactivating her blade and clipping it back to her belt as she followed him into the stables. They had an Alliance contact to stop.

Nathan Bloodscrawl​