"Hello? Is anyone there?!" It was Carth trying to contact the station, hoping that there were survivors. No one had responded, causing him and Canderous to run towards the Ebon Hawk in the hangar before launching it into the air, leaving the citadel. They made it above space, only to be shocked at the devastation that was floating in space, there was nothing left. Carth tried again to call, "Hello? This is Representative Carth of the Republic, is anyone alive?" he waited several seconds that turned into minutes, but nothing happened, no one had responded. They confirmed it, everyone aboard the station was dead. Canderous looked to see the distraught look on Carth's face. He could tell his friend was crushed by this. Carth was feeling survivors' guilt, having left all those people on board to die without knowing it was a trap.
Canderous almost wanted to say something, but he knew nothing he could say would change his friends feelings. It was his idea to volunteer on this planet for the Republic's Restoration project. He led this mission, feeling more responsible. Carth had opened up his log to put in the report of the death count, and the cause of it. The pilot of the Ebon Hawk closed it after a brief report before pulling the ship back to the surface. The ride was quiet, no one said anything. Canderous was relieved that the trip was short, after feeling acquired, as Carth refused to talk until they flew down to the hanger.
The two got out with Grenn and a few officers waiting for them, "What happened?" the lieutenant asked.
Carth spoke, "We were set up. There was an explosion in the citadel. I think the Sith Empire was involved with this, and I have a feeling it isn't over. Not a coincidence that we have a trespasser here the same time the station gets blown up"
"What are you saying?" the lieutenant asked.
"I think there is something bigger in play. I think you should lock down the citadel for the time being" Carth told Grenn.
Grenn shook his head, "Alright, I will do that immediately'' he turned to his men, "Make sure this entire station is on lock down. No one comes in or out without telling me" the officer hit his head before walking away. Grenn, then turn towards Carth. The Representative of the Republic spoke, "May we use your communication center to contact the Republic?"
"Of course, follow me" the Lieutenant said before bringing everyone else with him.
Hanjin was in the control room, planting explosives towards the electrical room that had belonged to the citadel. He planted the five of them, each of them towards spots that no one would direct. His mission was to find the Rakatan and bring him to Darth Scarus. With the station above destroyed there was no one to stop him from escaping. He then heard on the announcements the citadel was going on lock down. He had to find the scientist Ievan quickly before the Republic arrived. He also had to find a way out of here. Hanjin finished up with what he was doing before he threw his hat over him, tilting it to hide his face, as he walked out, making his way towards the lower levels. With the master key already in his pocket, he had already broken into the mainframe of the computer in search of where the Rakatan's room was. By the time Hanjin got to his room, Ievan was already gone. The bounty hunter searched the room for clues, but it was empty. Everything was gone. He had cursed under his breath before leaving. What he didn't know was that Ievan was already next door. He had walked himself into a family of three's room, consisting of a mother, a father, and a little girl of the age of six. Once he heard the door closed, he had waited a few more minutes before giving his credits to the family of three before heading out. He hid behind the wall, waiting to see the officer walk off. He had a hunch that whoever was after him was in disguise as one of the citadel's officer's. He couldn't trust them, so he had to find a way out. Ievan had already sold all his things for credits for a situation like this. Plans he had for the super weapon were destroyed, having to already burn it, so it wouldn't fall into enemy hands. His first thought was that he needed to leave at once. Although he wasn't sure how long lock down would be, he had suspected that the Republic would be on its way. When it did, he would sneak into their ship and out off the planet. However, he feared it would be too late by then. He got out of the apartment area before, grabbing a disguise, as he ran off to find a way out.
Canderous was at the bar with Carth. After contacting the Republic to tell them what has happened. It would be days before they send help to the planet. Lieutenant Grenn had already provided them a place to stay, while they waited for them. The two had decided to buy time by going to the cantina, already dressed in civilian attire to not attract attention. The Lieutenant already had a search body for the person they believed was responsible for the attack. The droid had given them their drinks. Canderous had sipped his aile, while Carth just stared into his wine. The Mandalorian, finally having enough, decided to say something, "You need to stop"
"Excuse me?" Carth said confusedly.
"You've been like this since we arrived" Candeorus continued.
Carthw as still confused, "What are you talking about?"
"Carth, you had been silent since we had arrived. I saw it on the Ebon Hawk, but didn't say anything. You have a look of survivors guilt"
Carth finally decided to sip his drink, "I do, we survived, but everyone else didn't. We fought a war to destroy the Sith Empire, but they came back and destroyed a station full of people, so yes I am upset"
"What are you going to do about it?" Canderous asked him.
"Nothing, we wait for the new Republic to arrive, then we will see what happens" Carth took a sip of his drink again"
"Thats it?" Canderous continued before sipping his cup. Carth saw where this was going, which irritated him, "What do you want me to say?!"
Canderous sighed, "Nothing, just forget it. I'm sorry"
"Same here, I do want to find who did this, but right now all I can do is wait, and to see what happens"
The two were getting their second rounds to drink. Each in their own way, having a memorial for the fallen people on the stations. News of the Republic station's destruction had reached the planet. The news of the planet was playing through the cantina's tvs. Many were shocked, others were grateful, saying they are glad they don't have to deal with them anymore. Hearing this, Carth put down his drink aggressively. Canderous had to stop him before he did anything that he would regret. Carth sighed, taking another sip of his drink. Canderous would finish this as well before the two departed for the night.
Hanjin was laid back in his seat, while he saw the two Republican soldiers leave. He took one last sip of his ale before he made the choice to go after them once they had left the cantina.
The two veterans stepped out ready to head back to their apartment for the night. Candeorus stopped, as he saw someone in a hood, "Hey, what are you looking at" the person in the hood continued walking, "I asked you a question" Carth was about to stop him, but the person with the hood continued walking. Once they got suspicious, they went after him. The quicker they walked the quicker they started running after him before Carth tackled him from the back.
"What's going on?" one of the officers ran up to them.
Carth flexed his badge, "Republic business"
"Well I have new for you, you are on Telos property, so its also my business" he stopped when Candeorus pushed him in the face. Carth gave him a look of annoyance before stopping the hooded man from leaving. He then proceeded to remove it. Canderous gave him a stare, "You are that same creature that I saw last night. Were you the one who blew up the station!?" Carth put his hand on Canderous's shoulder before having him step back, "Wait a minute Candeorus, he looks familiar" he then turned his head towards the species, "Nothing personal, but I never saw your kind here before, and I lived here most of my life. You just look familiar" the species stood up, as he began to spoke, "I am from the homeworld of Rakata, you had been to it before"
Carth's mouth dropped before he spoke, "That's right we were there to stop Malak, and the Starforge"
"I know, I was there when it happened. My name is Ievan, I was among my people when we saw you. The Sith came back a year later, and leveled our planet to the ground. My people were divided, so I escaped, and now on the run"
"But why?" Carth asked.
"I will tell you, but first we need to get out of here, its not safe. Whoever attacked your station might be after me" Ievan told them. Carth took him along with Canderous to a private place. Hanjin had just missed them after the three had gotten into an elevator. Carth wanted to take him to Lieutenant Grenn, but Ievan suggested somewhere else, feeling that whoever is after him could still be in that room. Instead they went to the Raktan's apartment down on the lower levels. The three sat, as they talked.
"I thought we destroyed the Starforge!?" Carth cutted in, as he stood up from his seat.
"You did, this is a new one that we had buried a long time ago. All our projects were scrapped. After Revan's presumed death, Malak had returned to Rakata where he asked me to make him another weapon. We Rakatan's for many generations have made weapons that benefited our own people. We had destroyed it all after the destruction of the Starforge. One in particular was a super weapon that would destroy worlds. Malak's apprentice Darth Scarus had arrived on our planet not too long ago with his apprentice to get this weapon. My tribe refused, and the Sith ended up leveling out home world with me being the last of my kind, I ran, and took the plans with me. Don't worry it was already destroyed, but the plans are still fresh in my mind, which is why I believe they are after me"
The two looked at each other, trying to comprehend what they just learned, "You believe that the remnants of the Sith had sent someone on the inside to get you? That would explain the recent attack and destruction of the Republic station" Canderous said.
Ievan looked at the two before speaking, "We need to go if there is an inside man. You need to have whoever is in charge let us go. Drop me off at a remote planet"
"We could always use him as bait to lower whoever did this" Canderous offered. This made the Rakatan move, but Carth moved his arm up, "Don't worry we won't do that. Its a good idea, but we need to get you to Coruscant to talk to the Chancellor"
Ievan shook his head, "This weapon the most powerful one in Rakatan history , I can't let it fall into anyone else's hands"
"You can trust us, we will provide you safety, but you have to trust us" Carth told him. Ievan wanted to run away, but he knew he couldn't, so he reluctantly agreed, "Alright, it looks like I don't have a choice"
Carth smiled, as he stood up, "Good, I will contact Lieutenant Grenn, and we will leave immediately"
Suddenly when the tree stood up the ground was shaking. The whole building was vibrating. They stepped out to see the whole power had gone out. Lights after lights were shut off, the whole crowd out, confused on what was going on. Each of the civilians panicked. Carth took out his communicator, "Onasi to Grenn, do you copy? Onasi to Grenn?" he then came to a conclusion that the communications were severed as well. Ievan was already shaking, "Its the Sith, they are after me"
Carth looked at him, "We don't know that. It could be a regular power outage" he pulled out his communicator again, "Onasi to Grenn, do you read me?" he waited again, but no response. He then turned towards his companions, "Alright let's go. Don't even think about leaving" Canderous looked at the Rakatan before walking out of the entrance from the apartment, the crowd had filled up the open space in the halls, as the three tried to move. Ievan was doing what he was told and stayed behind the two Republic soldiers, with them pushing through the crowd, but that is when he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was a Weequay with a tight grip. Ievan had asked politely to let go, but instead he pulled him aside, telling him to come with him. Carth saw this, as he pushed the Weequay aside. He then removed his blaster from his belt, aiming it at them. Canderous saw this and pushed the two aside and knocked the blaster out of their attacker's hand, causing the blaster fire to shoot up in the air. This caused the crowd to go into a panic, as everyone was running around. The group took this as an opportunity to get away.
Canderous tossed many people in his way, as he and the other tried to get to the Lieutenants office. They turned their heads to see Hanjin was still following them. Killing many civilians, as he can if they got in the way. The group snuck into an empty room with Canderous shooting at the control panels to have the door locked. They took a break to process what just happened, "That must be the guy that smuggled into the citadel, and blew up the station" Carth spoke out loud.
"What do we do now? Ievan asked, clearly still in shock of what had happened. Carth and Canderous could see the sweat drip down the Rakatan's face. Carth walked over to put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry we aren't going to let him get you, but we have to get to Lieutenant Grenn, so he can help. Once the power is back on we can get on my ship and leave here at once"
Ievan smiled at his new ally, nodding his head, "Alright then lets go" the three left, as they looked around the doors were all closed off, they were locked in. Canderous saw there was an elevator. He used his strength to get the door opened with Carth joining him, as the two managed to open it. The two looked down to the abyss, the wires connected down to where the elevator was. Ievan didn't want to go down, he even tried backing away, but before he could move another inch, Canderous grabbed him by the arm. They looked ahead with Carth going first. He jumped down and grabbed the rope. Above him was the elevator shaking along with the rope attached to it. This scared Ievan more, but the Mandalorian pushed him first. Before the Rakatan could fall any further, Carth grabbed his shirt, making sure he grabbed onto the rope. Canderous was the last to go, making the surroundings shake. The three then slowly climbed down until they were at the end of the level. Each of them went slow, not wanting to attract attention or get themselves killed by falling or being squashed by the elevator. Carth was the first one to jump down to the lower ground. Next was Ievan, then Carth before they opened the door. The hallways were quite like no one had been down there. First step in the halls were filled with dead bodies of the facilities guards. Carth stood first, motioning Ievan to stay with Canderous. He went in first, seeing the door was opened. Holding up his blaster, Carth walked around, ready to shoot on sight. That is when he heard breathing, as he turned his head, the facilities Lieutenant was badly injured. He was holding his arm, seeing that the shoulder was shot., then there were blaster marks on his left leg, "Onasi" Grenn struggled to breath. Carth went down to see the wounded, but he was cut off, "Onasi, behind you" before Carth could react he was hit on the head with a blaster. He looked up to see the bounty hunter standing above him.
Before he could get up, Carth was kicked in the stomach. Candeorus, being impatient, ran in. Before he could do anything, he saw Carth being held at gunpoint by the man.
"You will give me the Rakatan or else your friend dies" he told the Mandalorian. Carth tried to tell him no, but was held tighter by Hanjin's arm, which was around his neck in a choke hold, unable to speak, "Do we have a deal?" the bounty hunter asked again. Canderous didn't want to do it. If he heard correctly, then he would be risking millions of lives. As a Mandalorian, he wouldn't care, he would just kill his target regardless of the consequences, but this was a friend he had served during the Jedi Civil War. He lowered his weapon and turned to the Rakatan, "I am sorry my friend" he glared at the fear in Ievan's eyes before aiming his blaster at the enemy's head. Hanjin threw his captive to the ground, and dodged. Canderous tackled him against the wall, trying to his him with a blaster at him again. Hanjin grabbed it, and blaster fire went up in the air. He kicked his opponent before shooting him in the shoulder with his own weapon. Canderous fell on the ground, clenching his shoulder. He saw as the blaster was being pointed towards his head. He then looked back at Ievan, who was scared, "Run" he told the Rakatan before kicking the bounty hunter's leg. He fell back before picking himself back up. Canderous punched him in the face, but Weequay punched harder, sending the Mandalorian back. Canderous tried to use his only good arm to fight, but wasn't good. Hanjin either dodged or hit back. He then kicked him back, pressing his leg on Canderous's wound, causing him to yell in pain. Right when the bounty hunter was about to kill him he heard a voice.
"STOP" it was Ievan. The Rakatan continued to speak, "Stop, spare him, and I will come with you"
"Deal" Hanjin said, letting go of his foot.
"No!" Canderous shouted, but was kicked into unconsciousness. Hanjin then aimed the blaster at his target, knocking him out. He picked up the Rakatan, walking out like it was nothing. Carth saw this go on, and tried to get up. He slowly followed them into the hanger, where the bounty hunter was about to get into a speeder. Slowly he pulled up his blaster, but blaster fire started to happen when Hanjin turned around to shoot at him. Carth dodged and hide behind a crait. He was restraining himself, so he wouldn't accidentally hit Ievan. When Hanjin pushed the hostage down, Carth took this a chance to run after him, he punched the bounty hunter in the face, keeping him down for a little longer. He turned to Ievan, giving him a device in his hand before Hanjin threw him back. Before Carth could get up, he got hit in the side before falling down. Hanjin turned around to get on the speeder, leaving the Republic soldier to suffer in his wounds.
Hanjin, already landed his speeder in the mountains Once he got out, he stepped into his personal ship, leaving his bounty in an empty room before locking him in. He got into the pilot area, as he contacted his employer, "It is done Scarus"
"Good, meet us at our coordinates" he hung up not even seconds after answering. Hanjin, who was annoyed, murmured under his breath before taking off.