Mission 1: "Shadows of Corruscant"
Prologue Supplemental
"The Personal Memoirs of Geldar Tharn" By Kevin Robinson
The current path that I find myself following had
it�s beginning with my arrival on Corruscant
the first time after my mother�s death. After my
recovery from that ordeal, I set out at once to
bring my father the news accompanied by my new ally,
the trandoshan soldier, Tarrsk. As my account
of those events will show, Tarrsk and I found
ourselves bonded through the sacrifices of my mother,
Kylarra Tharn and forged a mutual respect for one
another. That respect has grown toward
understanding of sorts and a tenuous, if not loyal
friendship. Tarrsk is definitely from the other side
of the galaxy in his way of thinking, and I find him
hard to read at times, but there is a compassion in
him that I sense when he lets his guard down and a
desire to understand the light that is rare among
his species.
When we arrived on Corruscant, Tarrsk and I were
immediately accosted by the Supreme
Chancellor�s officers and asked to accompany them to
meet with him. Along the way, we were
introduced to the others of our group who had also
been assembled together to meet with
Chancellor Valorum. The entire affair was very
secretive and Tarrsk was very edgy about it. All of
us were, but I sensed no immediate danger and so we
allowed ourselves to be led to the Chancellor�s
tower offices.
The others were:
Senator�s Aid, Brin�tac Kyen�tir of Bothwai, a
Bothan noble on leave from his political duties
while pursuing his families kidnapper believed to be
one of these sith apprentices. Though driven to
distraction by the loss of his family, the politician
has a commanding presence and a level of wisdom
that has held our group together through these last
weeks of chaos.
Nyarchagga, a Dug bodyguard of sorts for the Bothan
who was rescued from Hutt-slavery
by Brin�tac and a Jedi Master named Jin Tai Lo (who
was leading the investigation of the Kyen�tir
family disappearance at the time). Nyarchagga is a
scoundrel, but astute with machinery and computer
systems that make him an asset to the team.
Satchal Paige, a young human, jedi padawan like
myself who was apprenticed to the above
mentioned Master Lo. Master Lo was killed by the very
enemy they were pursuing who then escaped
leaving my old schoolmate lost and alone in the galaxy
after having been delivered from the darkness
of the sith arts himself many years before by the
master who he regarded as a father figure.
Side Note: (Of everyone on the team, I fear most for
Satchal. His familiarity with the dark side of
the force and his anger at losing his master have
combined to work some powerful confusion in his
mind that leave him unsteady at times and somewhat
unreliable. Yet I see growth in him as well that
gives me hope. If only another master would step in
and help him to finish his training....)
Tso Guihu rounds out our team as the sixth member.
He is a Sullustan employee of the
Soru-Suub corporation who�s cargo ship was infiltrated
by a mysterious dark figure that slaughtered
everyone on board except for Tso who hid himself and
watched it all take place. Tso was later
suspected of the murders himself, until Master Lo and
Brin�tac showed up to speak on his behalf.
They believed the killer was the same dark figure they
pursued. Tso was cleared, only to find himself
reunited with all but the deceased Master Lo months
later as he too had been summoned by the
Supreme Chancellor.
We were later to discover that Supreme Chancellor
Valorum had assembled the six of us as
a small task force composed entirely of relative
unknowns in order to aid him in his fight against a
terrorist group known as the Flail, a subversive
organization that had been attacking public utilities
on
Coruscant in protest of government policies. The
groups actions were causing power failures,
disruptions in Coruscant�s weather-control systems,
and traffic accidents - with no concern for the
resulting property damage, injury, or loss of life.
Finally, in response to death threats against him and
with the council of Master Mace Windu
of the Jedi Order, Valorum put together a list of
potential candidates for a task force whose job it
would be to check out suspected flail activity and ,
if possible, stop it before it caused any further
harm. In addition, this task force would be expected
to seek out and put an end to any assasination
attempts upon the Chancellor during a speech that he
would be delivering in the plaza outside his
office building the following day. This was our
mission.
I�m not quite certain why each of us with our
respective backgrounds as colorful as they
were would agree to such a distraction from our
personal agendas. Perhaps it was loyalty to the
Republic; perhaps it was the Force guiding our paths,
but soon we had all agreed and within hours we
were heavily equipped and in pursuit of these
criminals.
Our investigation led us first to a weather tower
where we suspected the Flail would
attempt to sabotage some weather equipment. A
gunfight ensued and we were able to subdue all of
them and commandeer their hover-car. Apparently they
had been sent to reprogram the weather
modulation so that the atmospheric ionization
modulators would reverse and create an electrical
storm that could wreak havoc on the plaza and take
many lives, including the Chancellor�s.
Our second encounter took place at a nearby air
traffic control building where we suspected
the Flail would attempt to hi-jack a public service
vehicle in order to load it with explosives and
remotely pilot it into the plaza. This time we were
waiting for them and managed to take down a
couple of them before the rest escaped in an air
transport! Following Tso�s lead, we pursued them in
another transport in an attempt to stop them from
reaching the plaza! It was clear that all of their
attempts had failed, and with less than 10 minutes
before the Chancellor�s speech, they were
desperate to reach the plaza and end his life by
direct assault if necessary!
The chase wound through the city with the flail
trying to lose us in the maze of buildings and
platforms. They twisted and turned and dived through
and under and over in every conceivable trick
they could manage to get away from us on the way, but
Tso stayed with them! That sullustan truly
doesn�t give himself enough credit. Admittedly, he
did lose control at one point which sent us
careening into a light building, but under the
circumstances, I would submit that it was unavoidable
to
all but the best of pilots. And I have no doubt that
Tso will be one of them. The fact that he
brought us through the crash alive says a great deal.
In fact, not only did we survive the unfortunate
crash, but he managed to preserve the air transport
and continue the chase as well! The flail would
have lost us at that point, but we knew where they
were going all along and were not far behind.
When we arrived at the plaza, chaos reigned as people
were running everywhere in fear! The
Flail transport had flown right into the center of the
plaza and opened fire on the Chancellor�s
repulsorlift platform! Valorum�s blue-robed
bodyguards were dead, having blocked the innitial
attack
with their bodies and the terrorists were already
dropping down on rappelling cords, apparently to
finish the Supreme Chancellor off face to face!
To everyone�s surprise, Valorum had the presence of
mind to leap from the main platform in
a desperate attempt to reach the next one hovering
nearby and escape his attackers. We watched in
shock as he hit the other platform, scrabbled for a
grip, and then slipped over the side! We thought
it was all over at that moment; that we had failed,
when we noticed that he was still hanging
precariously from the bottom edge of the platform
where it appeared his robes had snagged! There
he hung, 30 feet from the floor of the plaza, unable
to escape!
We had arrived none too soon.
With no time to waste, Tso flew our transport between
the two platforms blocking the
terrorists line of fire to the Chancellor while the
rest of us commenced the fight. Tarrsk and Satchal
leapt to the original platform to engage the flail
agents hand to hand while I leapt down to aid
Valorum. Brin�tac and Nyarchagga exchanged blaster
fire with the remaining occupants of the other
transport.
Fortunately, we were not the only ones quick to act
on behalf of the Chancellor. Another
Senator on the second platform was quick to take
control and rotated the floating podium so that
Valorum was hanging off of the side opposite the
terrorists and out of immediate danger. Also, one
remaining Senate Guard on the second platform had
leaned far over the side to grasp the Chancellor�s
hand, preventing him from falling. However, he dared
not pull the Chancellor up for fear of exposing
him to the blaster fire aimed at him and the senator
at the controls of the platform. Fortunately, I
was able to provide a third target for the attackers
and Brin�tac and Nyarchagga had given them
something else to focus on as well which bought us a
short reprieve.
The senator began to lower the platform to the
ground, but unfortunately, the flail had the
same idea and their platform was dropping as well!
Thankfully, the crowd had all but fled the
immediate area and were not in direct line of fire
once we were safe on the floor.
Tarrsk and Satchal seemed to have dispatched most of
the terrorists on their platform with
the aid of Brin�tac and Nyarchagga who had now
abandoned the badly damaged transport above.
Then, to our surprise, a figure dressed in black and
yellow robes leapt from the Flail transport, but not
onto either of the platforms. Instead the dark figure
vaulted to the upper gallery atop the colonnade
behind the repulsorlift platforms. Running along the
top of the pillared arches he ignited a lightsaber
and I felt my blood run cold. I had never truly faced
an enemy wielding a lightsaber before and he was
coming right toward me.
Fortunately, Satchal saw him as well and leapt to the
colonnade even as I did, flanking the
enemy, both of us with our lightsabers ignited! It
all happened so fast that it now seems a blur in my
memory. I remember being rushed by the attacker and
then a searing pain in my right leg as his blade
grazed me. In the end it was the flanking manuever
that Satchal used that stopped him. Our
opponent could not defend himself from both sides. My
failed attack had been enough at least to
distract him long enough for Satchal to render him
unconscious from behind before he could finish me
off! Fortunately, I was to find out later, the weapon
that had struck me was not a real lightsaber, but
only an immitation, or the result of that strike to my
leg may have been more lethal. As it turned out,
even the dark figure himself, the Flail leader named
Zegmond Pent, was a phony and not a true dark
jedi at all.
Meanwhile, unnoticed by the rest of us, the Flail air
transport had drifted away from the
plaza on its own, apparently pre-programmed, and had
begun to loop around on a collision course with
the center of the plaza where people still scrambled
to escape the danger. Tso, still in our own
transport had seen it and had gone in pursuit.
Unfortunately, he soon realized that the battered
transport he was piloting did not have the ability to
catch the other and altered his course to
intercept it�s incoming path instead. With no other
way to stop the accelerating vehicle, Tso set his
interception course to ram it at the last possible
moment before it hit the crowd. His gamble was
that he would be low enough to the ground at that
point to jump to safety before impact and survive
the heroic manuever.
Fortunately, his gamble payed off and he survived to
tell us all about it. Many innocent lives
were spared by his quick thinking, though the shrapnel
from the low flying collision still showered the
people with enough metal to cause some serious
injuries. Tarrsk and the others, with the help of
newly arrived security forces, had subdued the
remaining terrorists and all that remained was a trip
to
the nearest medical facility....
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