Solo missions

Manuk Gagak

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She climbed onto her speeder and gunned the repulsorlift engine. The engine had been designed for maximum performance and minimum noise. Manuk’s victims rarely heard the speeder’s approach until it was too late. The speeder shot forward and raced across the dark canyon floor. Manuk used the Force to sense each obstacle. She flew close to the base of the east wall, then pulled back into a vertical climb to the fortress above. Gripping the controls, she sank hard against her seat as the speeder rose, resisting the planet’s gravitational pull. Manuk landed the speeder on a rocky ledge just below the fortress’s first level. In a fluid motion, she switched off the engine and dismounted the speeder. Manuk ignored the cold, thin air as she quickly scaled the wall to the dark open window. With predatory stealth, she slipped through the window and perched on the sill.
 

Manuk Gagak

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The window was set nearly four meters above the floor of what appeared to be a cellar storage room. Except for a few empty food crates, the room was empty. It was all too accessible. Manuk knew the room was probably a trap, but she was looking forward to the confrontation. With that in mind, she jumped down from the window. As soon as her feet hit the floor, the storage room was filled with an intensely bright light. Manuk threw an arm up over her eyes to protect her vision, and heard the sound of a metal shield slamming into place from above. The high window had been automatically sealed. Manuk lowered her arm and squinted at two bright spotlights that were set within the inner walls.

She heard a door slide open, followed by a digitised voice that cautioned, “One wrong move and you’ll be fried. Raise your hands over your head.” Because of the light, Manuk could not see the speaker, but she lifted her hands. A second later, she felt a tug at her waist as her lightsaber was snatched from her belt. At the same time, both of Manuk’s hands were grasped tightly and yanked down to the small of her back. She heard a snap as durasteel binders were clamped around her wrists, securing her arms behind him.

“Now step forward,” the digitised voice commanded. “Slowly.”
 
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Manuk Gagak

Character
Sith Order
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Champion

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Corbeau
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Manuk passed through a doorway and entered a low-ceilinged corridor. Her eyes were still recovering from the spotlights when she felt a sharp jab at her back. “Keep moving,” threatened the voice from behind. At the end of the corridor, a door slid back into the wall, and Manuk was urged to step through the open passage.

Manuk blinked as she entered an immense inner courtyard. Illuminated only by the star-filled sky above, the rectangular courtyard had been redesigned as a docking bay. At its centre, surrounded by the three silo-like towers, rested a huge freighter. Examining the vessel, Manuk noticed a starfighter secured to the freighter’s outer hull.

“Halt,” her captor ordered. Manuk obeyed. The freighter’s main cargo door opened, and a retractable ramp extended from the ship to the ground. A procession of flying droid troopers, with their wings configured in walking patrol mode, marched down the freighter’s ramp. They filed into the courtyard, and lined up in an eight square five-by-five formation. Even at rest, they were an intimidating sight.

Eleven men were stationed around the freighter. All were heavily armed with bowcasters. They watched as Manuk’s captor stepped away from his prisoner. The captor was also a man, yet this particular assassin wore an expensive vocabulator on a chain around his lean neck.

“Why did you break into our fortress?” the man asked.

Manuk did not answer.

“Our sensors picked up a scan. We believe you are the one who scanned our freighter. Instead of fighting in space, we decided to lure you here. You will tell us your name and affiliation.”

Manuk remained silent.

The man held up Manuk’s lightsaber. “This is the weapon of the Jedi. You are a Jedi Knight?”

Manuk stared directly ahead and said nothing.

The man ignored Manuk’s lack of response and said, “Despite your ship’s invisibility field, we tracked your landing. We know the vessel is at the base of the canyon, and sent a team to get it.”
 

Manuk Gagak

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Manuk’s face did not betray any emotion, but she seethed at the man’s words. Her cloaking device was engineered to evade any standard tracking sensor, but these pirates were clearly fortunate to have sensors that were better than standard. The man then craned his head back to look up at the night sky. Manuk followed his gaze to see a small repulsorlift skiff soar over the fortress’s west wall, then descend into the courtyard. At the helm of the skiff stood two more men. Behind them, her droid was chained to the rear deck railing. Manuk knew the droid could easily break free of the chains and realised the droid had followed her own plan by allowing himself to be taken prisoner.

The skiff landed near Manuk. Like Manuk, the droid’s wrists were also secured behind his back by durasteel binders. The droid began speaking in a worried tone as two men hoisted him off the skiff and onto the ground.

“These creatures arrived immediately after you left,” the droid said, his voice filled with worry and dread. “I managed to secure your ship and prevented them from boarding, but I’m afraid I couldn’t do anything to prevent my capture.”

“Quiet, droid,” Manuk muttered. In truth, Manuk was pleased by the droid’s acting ability. If Manuk had not been responsible for programming the droid, she would have been convinced it was genuinely nervous.
 

Manuk Gagak

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“A team will be sent to strip your ship for any vital information,” the vocabulator-equipped man said as he slapped a restraining bolt on the droid’s metal chest. “You will be taken to separate cells and interrogated.”

Manuk and the droid were each escorted by a pair of guards and led out of the courtyard. Manuk had so far sighted fourteen, but was not going to rely on that being the total number.

Since the droids were operated by remote control, Manuk suspected someone had stayed within the freighter to direct them.

They descended a flight of stone steps and walked to a filthy dungeon, where ten cell doors lined a dim corridor. The corridor’s floor was a series of metal grates, and the droid’s feet clanked loudly with each step. Without breaking her pace, Manuk glanced down through the open slits between the grates. She tried to determine what was below the corridor floor, but she saw only darkness.
 

Manuk Gagak

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The guards opened two cell doors and gestured for Manuk and the droid to step into separate cells. Remaining in the corridor, the four men slammed the doors shut. Manuk’s cell was illuminated by a single glow rod embedded over the door. A rusted metal bedframe was braced to a corner, and there was a puddle of greasy slime on the floor. The small chamber reeked of rot.

Now that she was tucked away in a cell, Manuk believed her captors would let down their guard. She decided it was time to begin her attack. She was contemplating the best way to break out of the cell when she heard a whirring sound above her head.

Manuk instinctively took a step backward. A black barrel-shaped interrogation droid hovered down from the ceiling. It came to a stop and hung in the air in front of Manuk’s face. Five retractable arms extended from the droid, and each servo-grip clasped a laser scalpel.

The droid sputtered a burst of threatening static, then droned, “Before I terminate you, do you wish to make a statement?”

“Yes” Manuk hissed through clenched teeth. “This entire fortress is going to burn.”
 

Manuk Gagak

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Within the confines of the wretched cell, the interrogator droid hovered a few centimetres away from Manuk, then trained its socketed photo receptor on her face. The droid stared into Manuk’s violet eyes, then snickered, “Think you’re tough, huh? When I’m done with you, you won’t be.”

Behind her back, Manuk flexed her wrists. The durasteel binders dug into her flesh, but the Sith felt no pain. With a jerk, Manuk pulled her arms apart. The binders shattered, scattering bits of durasteel all over the cell’s filthy floor. The interrogator droid made an excited whirring sound. It had never seen a prisoner break free from a set of binders with such ease. The droid activated its laser scalpels and hurtled through the air toward Manuk.

Manuk delivered a sharp kick to the droid’s spherical underside. The droid soared toward the ceiling but regained control before impact and flew back toward the Sith.

Manuk leaped aside, moving faster than the droid’s photoreceptor could follow. The droid raced past her and smashed hard against the cell wall.
 

Manuk Gagak

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Although Manuk’s fight with the droid had caused plenty of noise, the guards did not burst into the cell. Manuk assumed the cell walls were sound-proofed or the guards were confident she had just lost. Smoke rose from the deactivated interrogator droid. Manuk stepped over its smouldering parts and examined the cell door. Locked from the outside, the door was heavily reinforced. But Manuk was not concerned.

She was about to break out when she noticed the remains of the interrogation droid on the floor. Its interrogation serum was intact. Manuk suspected the interrogation serum would be useful against her captors. She unclamped the container from the droid’s body and pocketed the device. She returned his gaze to the cell door. Using the Force, she concentrated on the door’s locking mechanism.

She heard a clank as a heavy bolt slid back into the wall. Manuk stepped out of the cell and onto the corridor’s grated floor.
 

Manuk Gagak

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Although four guards had brought Manuk and the droid into the dungeon, only two escorts were posted outside the cells. The other cell doors remained sealed. The two whirled to confront the escaped prisoner.

Manuk leaped and landed beside the nearest man. Before he could reach for a weapon, Manuk snatched two daggers from the man’s belt. With one hand, Manuk drove a blade through the guard’s armour-plated torso. With her other hand she flung a blade at the second man, catching him between his eyes.

Both men fell to the grated floor.
 

Manuk Gagak

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Since the other cell doors remained sealed, it appeared the droid was still trapped. Manuk was about to free the droid when the other two guards appeared at the end of the corridor. Seeing Manuk standing over their fallen comrades, one of them struck a wall panel.

Suddenly, the grated floor dropped away beneath Manuk’s feet. A fraction of a second later, she plunged down through the trapdoor and into a dark cavern. Manuk landed on top of a sandpile and rolled to the subterranean floor. Lifting herself up, she looked at the cavern ceiling. The trapdoor had sealed, but Manuk could see the guards through the grated floor.

They scurried across the corridor and jammed twin-bolt crossbows down through the floor’s open slots. They aimed their weapons at Manuk and fired. Four poison-tipped, armor-piercing arrows sped toward her. Manuk’s hands moved like lightning as she plucked each arrow from the air and flung them back at the guards. The arrows shot up through the grated floor and struck them in the chest. Their arms reflexively reached to remove the arrows, but the poison worked rapidly.
 

Manuk Gagak

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Now there were four guards lying on the corridor floor above Manuk. The trapdoor was sealed, and it was far too high for Manuk to reach. She began to look for another way out of the cave. A loud hiss stirred the air. Manuk turned and saw a shadow shift against the rough rock walls.

A reptilian head pushed forward from the dark, and a pair of large green eyes stared down at Manuk from behind a wide reptilian mouth.

She recognised the monster – they had been known to devour their prey in a single bite. Manuk had no desire to slay it unnecessarily. Unlike the deliberately murderous guards, the creature was simply a predator trying to protect its territory. To Manuk’s left, a tall stalagmite rose up from the cavern floor. It resembled an inverted, twisted cone. Manuk dove behind the stalagmite and waited for the creature to pass.

But it didn’t pass. It slithered around the stalagmite, found Manuk’s concealed position, and opened its maw. Manuk knew she would have to defend herself. She ran toward the creature, jumped over its back, and wrapped her arms around the end of its tail. As the creature twisted to bite his attacker, Manuk dragged the monster’s tail toward its stomach and tricked the creature into forming a loop. Before the creature realised what was happening, Manuk pulled the tail around its looped body. The creature was instantly tangled by its own elongated form.
 

Manuk Gagak

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Manuk left the writhing monster to untie itself and advanced through the cave. She stepped around another stalagmite and discovered the entrance to a tunnel in the cavern wall. The tunnel led to an underground chamber with a high, vaulted ceiling. On the far end of the chamber, Manuk saw what appeared to be another tunnel. As she approached, the path ended at a ledge that rode the edge of a broad, deep chasm. From the ledge to the next tunnel, the distance across the chasm was at least nine meters. Although Manuk was confident she could jump the nine-metre span, she did not know whether the ground was stable on the other side.

She looked for an alternative route. Dozens of long, securely moored stalactites dangled down from the chamber’s ceiling. Manuk imagined she would be able to travel hand-over-hand from one stalactite to another until she reached the other side of the chasm. Manuk was considering whether to jump the chasm or scale the ceiling when she noticed a mammoth spider clinging to the cavern wall behind her.

It had eight long, powerful legs. It appeared to be asleep, with its thick, hair-covered abdomen slowly rising and falling with each breath. Still, Manuk kept her eyes on it as she clambered up the chamber wall to the stalactites. Manuk gripped a stalactite, then swung to grip another. The conical deposits were moist from dripping mineral water, and Manuk was careful not to lose her grip on the slippery formations. She was halfway over the chasm when the giant spider suddenly scurried up the wall and across the vaulted ceiling. It was not sleeping after all. The spider was not even tired. Its mouth opened and closed, revealing many rows of sharp teeth. Manuk had no doubt the creature wanted her for dinner. She also knew if she let go of the stalactites she would fall into the chasm.

As the spider crawled closer, Manuk felt her fingers begin to lose their grip.
 

Manuk Gagak

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When the spider was within range, Manuk swung both of her legs forward and kicked the creature in the head.

The injured spider screeched and sprayed a thick web at Manuk. She released her right hand, grabbed the sprayed strand, and gave a sharp pull. The spider did not consider severing its connection to the web in time and suddenly found itself being torn from the ceiling by Manuk’s tug. Manuk let go of the strand and watched the spider plummet into the chasm.

Undaunted, Manuk reached up, grabbed another stalactite, and resumed her crossing of the vaulted ceiling. Nine grips later, she completed the short journey and dropped down onto the ledge outside the next cave. The cave led directly to a flight of smooth stone steps. They were coated with a thin layer of moist slime, the result of condensation from the cavern. As Manuk carefully climbed the slick stones, she saw an open doorway at the top of the flight.
 

Manuk Gagak

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A burned-out glow rod extended from an iron bar over the doorway. From where Manuk stood on the stairs, it looked like the doorway led to a chamber that was illuminated by a red light. Manuk suspected the doorway might lead back into the fortress. She crouched down at the top of the slime-covered steps and peered into the chamber.

The room contained a circular pool built into the floor. The pool was approximately three metres in diameter, and it was filled with a hot, bubbling fluid. Steam rose from it and carried the scent of chemical waste. Next to the pool, a thick-linked chain hung from a pulley secured to the ceiling. At the end of the chain, a hook was secured to a set of metal fetters that gripped a woman by her ankles. Hanging upside down over the pool, she was tied up with rope. Her head dangled a mere metre above the bubbling pool, and her eyes were wide with terror. Beside the pool stood the man with the vocabulator.

And he wielded the confiscated lightsaber. The lightsaber’s shimmering blade filled the room with the flickering luminescence, and its hum reverberated in the air.

The man did not appear to be carrying any other weapons, but Manuk noticed a restraining bolt activator secured to his belt. The man raised the lightsaber, bringing one of the blades dangerously close to the chain that kept the woman from falling into the bubbling pool.
 

Manuk Gagak

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“The secrets of our mission will die with you,” he threatened his victim. Manuk did not know how the woman was involved in the pirates’ schemes, but if she knew any secrets, she wanted to know them.

Manuk extended her right hand toward the man and concentrated on her plundered lightsaber. Unable to resist the power of the Force, the man’s hand opened and released the activated lightsaber. The weapon spun through the air like a lethal baton until it reached Manuk’s grasp.

Her right hand flashed out and grabbed her lightsaber.

The man turned to face Manuk, then took a cautious step backward, closer to the bubbling pool. Suddenly, two more men dropped down from a hiding place above the doorway. They carried blasters.

The vocabulator-equipped man said, “Before your four escorts perished in the dungeon, one of them alerted us of your escape. We knew if you survived the dangers in the cavern, you would eventually enter here.” The man extended a hand toward the woman, and added, “We produced this image to make certain we would lure you into this chamber.”

As the man gestured, the image wavered, faded, then vanished into thin air, leaving the chain and hook dangling over the pool. The tied-up woman had been nothing more than a holographic projection.
 

Manuk Gagak

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Nothing more than a trick. Manuk hated to be outfoxed. The three men in the subterranean chamber had earned her wrath. She fixed the blaster-wielding men with a piercing gaze, then pounced. Manuk’s lightsaber tore through one, severing his upper body at the waist. In passing through him, Manuk’s blade instantly cauterised the wound, and only a drop of blood hit the floor.

The second man fired his weapon at Manuk, but she easily dodged it. Manuk brought her lightsaber up fast and gave it a neat spin, slicing the man’s hands off with the first turn, and then lopping off his head with the second.

During Manuk’s battle with the two guards, the vocabulator-equipped man remained off to the side of the chamber, monitoring Manuk’s every move. Seeing his two comrades perish, the surviving pirate snatched a fallen blaster from the floor.

Manuk wanted to get information out of him and so was determined to take him alive. Out of the corner of one eye, Manuk noticed the metal hook swinging back and forth at the end of the chain that dangled from the ceiling. Below the hook, the toxic pool continued to bubble and steam. As the man sprang, Manuk used the Force to propel the metal hook through the air. The hook snagged the pirate, catching him before the chain snagged at the pulley. The man swung out in a broad arc, struggling to free himself from the sharp hook as he dangled over the toxic pool.
 

Manuk Gagak

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Manuk removed the restraining bolt activator from the man’s belt, then stated, “You’re going to answer some questions.”

“You won’t get a word out of me.”

Manuk produced the container she had removed from the interrogation droid. It held a full dose of a powerful truth serum. Without further hesitation, Manuk jumped up on top of the winch, reached out, and introduced the serum into the man’s bloodstream.

“I want to know the name of your client and why you stole the fighters,” Manuk demanded as she deactivated her lightsaber.

Panic was visible in the man’s eyes as the truth serum worked its way through his nervous system. Reluctantly, he answered.

Manuk considered his response. Then, without warning, one of the man’s legs kicked at Manuk, knocking the Sith from the winch to the edge of the pool. Then, the man reached for a concealed weapon. It was a razor-edged boomerang. He drew his arm back and threw the boomerang at Manuk. The Sith activated her lightsaber and swung at the oncoming projectile. The lightsaber’s blade barely glanced the weapon, but the contact was enough to launch the boomerang straight for the metal chain that hung above the pool. The boomerang cut clean through the chain, and the man plunged down into the toxic pool with a great splash. Manuk watched as the body rapidly melted.
 

Manuk Gagak

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Manuk deactivated her lightsaber and proceeded to the far end of the chamber. There she found a narrow doorway that led to a circular staircase. Cautiously, she moved up the stairs, which wrapped around a central stone column, until she reached a large room on the first-floor level of the fortress. The room was piled high with explosives and assorted munitions. A plastic box filled with thermal detonators caught Manuk’s attention.

The detonators were shaped like small metal balls and resembled standard grenades, but they contained a powerful synthetic explosive. Manuk immediately contemplated setting the timer on a single detonator and leaving it in the volatile munitions room. The destruction of so many weapons would cause an explosion that might bring down the entire fortress. Since the detonator’s timer offered a maximum countdown of ten minutes, Manuk knew she would have to leave the fortress fast.

There was only one setback. For all Manuk knew, it was possible that her droid was still trapped within the fortress’ dungeon. If the droid had not already escaped, there would be little chance for his survival. Manuk set the timer on a thermal detonator for a ten-minute countdown. As she placed the detonator back in the plastic box, she removed a second detonator and clipped it to her belt. Manuk liked to be prepared.
 

Manuk Gagak

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She left the munitions room and quickly found her way through the fortress until she reached the courtyard. There, under the light of the moons, the freighter remained on the landing pad. To Manuk’s surprise, the freighter’s main cargo door was still wide open. Just beyond the freighter, she saw two guards standing beside their repulsorlift skiff. They had retrieved her speeder, and were unloading it from the skiff.

Manuk considered making a break for the speeder, but she needed to find out what had happened to the starfighters. She walked around the freighter and found that they were gone, along with the fighter that had been docked to the freighter.

Since the droid starfighters were controlled by a central droid computer, it seemed likely that the pirate’s starfighter was carrying the control computer and guiding the fighters. The larger starfighter would have needed a crew of three, which left at least five guards still here.

To pursue the droid starfighters, Manuk knew she would have to return to her ship.

But first she wanted to board the freighter and take the tracking sensor technology. Manuk hoped the secured technology would enable her to prevent them from tracking her in cloak mode.
 

Manuk Gagak

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Manuk consulted her chronometer. She had less than six minutes before the thermal detonator was timed to explode in the fortress. She had already decided that obtaining the tracking sensor data was worth the risk.

Over by the skiff, the two guards were examining Manuk’s speeder. While they were preoccupied, Manuk slipped up the freighter’s landing ramp and entered the main cargo hold. She ran through a murky corridor until she located the freighter’s bridge. Manuk was now skilled at retrieving information. She inspected the scanners and her fingers darted over the controls. Seconds later, Manuk found the sensor data.

Manuk punched up a data card and downloaded the information. Manuk hoped her ship’s computers could examine the data and find a way for his cloaking device to elude their scans.

Manuk turned away from the computer console and found herself facing another guard – this one wielding a vibro-axe. Manuk was amazed the assassin had been able to sneak up behind her, but her amazement immediately turned into defensive action.
 
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