Dorin

Kel Dorians were and probably would always remain strange creatures. At least to Tarvaris Anderson. Standing in the middle of a small city the Corellian male regarded the aliens through goggles. Breathing the recycled air of his breath mask he slowly sized up the aliens that were about his height while thinking up a plan of attack. Most humans would go there entire lives without ever step foot on this planet, because of the two black holes surrounding it, or see the face of a Kel Dor, for oxygen was deadly to them and on such worlds that were rich in oxygen they had to wear breath masks and goggles, much like the ones that Tarvaris was currently wearing. However, that worked to his advantage for they hid his face without making him look suspicious, and that was exactly what he wanted.

Now, you may be asking yourself, why does Tarvaris want his face to remain hidden? That is a simple question with a simple answer, he was a privateer. At least that was what he called himself. Of course he was not a normal privateer, he operated on the ground, whereas most privateers, at least the way Tarvaris uses the word, operated in space. In fact most of Tarvaris’ team operated in space. He was more of a distraction to the locals and the planet’s defense force. Of course his job became harder and more important as technology got better. That was one reason that Tarvaris was not a fan of Stellar Enterprises and their sale of great starships to different planets. However he was pretty sure that Stellar hadn’t yet journeyed to Dorin, which was nice. Even though he was seen as lower on the totem pole by other privateers Tarvaris saw himself as an intricate part of his group and he always caused more damage and got some great prize then anyone else on a mission. Those prizes being different ships or cargoes straight out of the hanger. Today he felt very good. Something told him that everything would go according to plan and that there would be a fun party and lots of gambling back at the base.

“TA, what’s your status?” The voice broke into his mind through the tiny earpiece that was so geniously hidden within his ear in a place that no one would be able to notice it.

“Everything is moving along nicely. I was just waiting to hear from you so I could start up.” Tarvaris whispered into the mouthpiece that was cleverly hidden within his breath mask.

“Let us know when its time to start.”

“You got it. TA out.” TA, his codename, kept his identity a secret to anyone with an I.Q. less then 10. After all it was merely his initials. However, for whatever reason he had yet to be identified. Oh, well. Were his only thoughts about the whole affair. As long as it remained that way he was fine with it. Of course this is a matter for another time, for now he had a mission to accomplish.

The mission was important, perhaps not entirely pivotal, but important none the less. Especially to Tarvaris considering it was his mission and he would be the butt of every joke for the next week to a month if he failed. And Tarvaris was none to keen on failure in the first place. So those two things put together made him determined to be successful. In order to that he would have to get the negative thoughts out of his mind and start focusing.

First, he needed a diversion. Scanning the town, perfect, he thought with a smile. It was so ingenious and yet so simple with little chance of being caught. Which kept to the K.I.S.S. method he always used. Keep It Simple Stupid.

Stepping forward Tarvaris slowly and with an aloof gait that was sure not to attract attention approached a door he had seen, just a moment before, a young Kel Dor slip through. Knocking his knuckles against the door he felt the rattle through the door and then waited. This next part was important. He had to gain entrance without being seen as conspicuous by the outside world of Dorin.

A noise rang in his ear. Immediately his brain knew it to be the small repolsors in the door opening it. Less then a second later he heard the distinct whooshing noise that signaled that the doorway was now open. Now instead of a door there was the same young Kel Dor he had seen, but a moment ago on the street. Now it was show time.

Reaching out Tarvaris gripped the Kel Dor’s arm in a way that seemed more desperate then threatening. Having traveled to a great number of alien planets he was well versed in many cultures and there different languages. Therefore he knew that Kel Dor’s were gracious hosts that did anything for there guests. To make sure he would be misunderstood he sputtered a sentence of four words using a different language with every word. Those languages included Rodian, Basic, Huttese and finally a native tongue that would be understood by any Kel Dor. The sentence could be roughly translated as ‘May I come in.’ However there was no way that the Kel Dor understood more then two of the words, especially considering Tarvaris thought he had butchered all but the basic one. Luckily the Kel Dor’s, as mentioned above, are very gracious hosts. They always tried to make there guests comfortable. That was why the Kel Dor moved away from the doorway and let Tarvaris rush in. Hitting a close door button as he came in he heard the door close behind him. Everything was going according to plan.

Keeping with the image that had allowed him to get in he frantically looked around and carried on the appearance of a very paranoid individual. After a second he began to pace back and forth in front of the young Kel Dor. Stopping he looked at the Kel Dor, he could see the lips moving but his brain did not register the words for they were irrelevant, at least to Tarvaris.

Taking a few slow breaths he steadied his heart and his breathing. Taking a big breath Tarvaris ripped the breath mask off and shoved it onto the Kel Dor’s face right over its mouth. Taking a step forward he placed his foot behind the leg of the Kel Dor and pushed him to the floor. Holding the mask on his face with his right hand he turned up the oxygen with his left. Looking straight into the eyes of the young Kel Dor he watched as it passed out. Tarvaris pulled the mask back to his own mouth and began inhaling the oxygen before turning the oxygen level back to normal. Closing his eyes he allowed himself to block out the sight around him, which had begun to spin from not breathing during the struggle. Strapping the mask on Tarvaris once again stood, the world had returned to normal, at least to a Kel Dorian. Shaking his head to clear it of all else he stretched his arms; it was time for stage two.

Bending down he lugged the young Kel Dor to its feet and pulled him to the door. Stopping just before the door, but with enough room to yank it open he began to make terrified screams and a few noises to indicate a struggle going on inside. With one last scream he pulled the door open and tossed the Kel Dor out the door in a way that would look to the outside world like he had been shot with a stun bolt. Without watching the scene that was sure to be gathering outside the door he jetted off toward the back of the house for his escape through the back door.

Running to the back of the house he jinked through a various obstacle course of home furniture and other stuff. Finally getting to the back of the house he encountered only one problem. There was no back door.

“Shh…” He started to say before stopping himself. There could be no noise with the enemy so near. He could not be seen nor heard. His brain started to roll again after closing his eyes. Immediately he was calm again. Being calm was the only way to make wise decisions. Wise and quick ones. And right then that was exactly what he needed to do. There had to be another way out of the house. Feet began clapping by the entrance of the house and Tarvaris knew there were Kel Dorians in the house searching for the intruder, which was him.

“Think.” He urged his brain in a voice that was less then a whisper. Lowering himself Tarvaris began scurrying across the ground on fours, 2 feet and 2 hands. He could still move very fast as long as he kept his knees off the ground and legs kicking. Running, or rather bear crawling into a room he closed the door as softly as possible. Looking around the room he let a breath of relief leave his body. A window. He had found a way out.

Standing he walked over to it with the slightest of grins, he had actually been worried for a couple seconds. Hesitantly he peered through the window checking to see that the coast was clear. He had to resist the urge to cheer when he saw that no one was guarding the window. Reaching out he tried to push it open. It didn’t budge. Repositioning himself he continued to try to push and pry the window open, but to no avail. Looking around the room he searched for a different way to open the window, a more destructive way. After a quick glance his eyes rested on a chair. It would have to do.

Moving with a light foot that was sure not to cause any noise he picked the chair up. It wasn’t too heavy, but Tarvaris thought it would be heavy enough. However, he knew that breaking the window with the chair was going to make quite a substantial amount of noise. But he reasoned that there was no other way out. He had considered just jumping threw it, but he didn’t really feel like bleeding and tearing his clothing. Turning his back to the window he took another step and made the step into a full circle before whipping the chair, with a crash it slammed through, leaving an open hole where the glass had been but a moment before.

Without hesitation Tarvaris dove threw that hole. Coming to a stop on ground that was outside the house he quickly looked both ways before darting off to his right. Staying in the backyards of the young Kel Dor’s neighbors Tarvaris sprinted as hard as he could leaving the town behind and coming to a much bigger one. Being a few hundred yards away he felt it was safe for the moment. Slowing his pace to a casual walk his breathing slowly returned to normal. Hearing the sirens of ambulances he knew his plan was working.

Taking a quick turn he headed toward an alley. Tapping a button he turned on the com-link hidden in his breath mask.

“TA here. Stage one complete, I’m waiting for you guys now.”

“Good, right on time. Commence stage two in exactly… one minute forty-five seconds, forty-four, forty-three…”

“Got it, no problem. TA out.”

Stage 2 was the fun part. Looking up and with a quick look to the side he disappeared into the shadows of the alley. Looking down at his chrono he counted down the time in his mind. Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine…

“Hands up.” The words broke into his countdown as a blaster rifle was shoved into his back. It turned out the last sentence he spoke may not have been entirely truthful.

Raising his arms and swinging his elbows out leaving a nice bend and to the side he touched his thumb to forefinger and letting the tips of his fingers rise and stop at about ear height. Letting himself slide back just an inch while doing this he felt the rifle dig just a bit further into his back.

“Do you want my wallet or something?” Tarvaris said in a cocky voice that all Corellians seemed to possess. “Because I don’t have much.”

“Don’t get smart with me.” The Kel Dor said. “I saw you go into that house.”

The words that the Kel Dor seemed perfectly fine and noble, but they had told Tarvaris all he had needed to know. This Kel Dor was not law enforcement, or at least not on duty. And that meant he was all alone without backup. That was something you didn’t want to be in an alley. Especially with a privateer, not to mention one that specified in hand-to-hand and melee combat. Of course those two things meant very little when you had a blaster against your back.

Kel Dorians were known for there quick decision making and being able to see issues in black and white. The Kel Dor knew that Tarvaris had attacked the young Kel Dor. For that he was going to arrest him. Kel Dorians were also exceptional fighter and were trained from a young age to be so. However, they only used physical violence as a last resort. That was why Tarvaris wasn’t dead, at least not yet, and Tarvaris knew it.

“Move forward.” Tarvaris heard the moves, but didn’t move. However, the Kel Dor did, and to encourage Tarvaris to do so also dug the blaster rifle deeper into his back urging him forward. Which was just what Tarvaris wanted and expected the Kel Dor to do.

Pushing his left shoulder blade into the barrel of the blaster Tarvaris began to pivot to his left side. Bringing his right hand down he pulled a knife or rather a Vendetta from his belt. As soon as his hand had touched the metal of the handle the sound of a blaster filled the alley. However, Tarvaris’ body was no longer in line with the barrel of the rifle and the bolt missed, barely singeing his robe. At almost a complete 360 degree turn he jabbed the knife into the soft side of the Kel Dor just under the ribs. The Kel Dor screamed in pain and let off another shot, but it was un-aimed and didn’t even come close to its mark. With his left hand and the help of another knife slicing across the throat Tarvaris silenced the Kel Dor for good.

Without another move or thought he clicked the button on his arm to start stage 2.

Stage 2 was made up of a few different elements and the pushing of the button initiated one of them. The turret element to be exact. A set of turrets aimed at a few precise locations to maximize panic and of course to divert a good chunk of the Dorin Defense Force out of space. The locations the turrets were aimed at were a military base that held the majority of ships of the Defense Force. Those turrets would not last long, but would wreak a good bit of havoc. The second location was the temple of the Baran Do Sages and the third and final location was a museum that held precious bits of art and priceless bits of Dorin history. All three locations had been chosen by Tarvaris, who of his band of privateers had the greatest knowledge of Dorin. He had chosen them for specific reason and it was the fact that the Kel Dors would call all there forces in to defend those locations. Leaving his friends to do there work unhindered by ‘the law’ so to speak.

Stepping out of the alley and taking a right he walked at a crisp pace toward the military base now under assault by his turrets. He cared little for the turrets, but he wanted to stir up a little more destruction, and a couple of turrets wouldn’t keep a military base pinned up for long. Now just a block away Tarvaris could hear the mad rush of the military personnel trying to get to there stations and get the situation under control. He also heard the blaster fire that made up half of the shootout up ahead. The sound was amazing and yet incredibly humorous to Tarvaris. Fishing a hand into his robes he pulled out two grenades. The grenades were a lot like thermal detonators, except a little less destructive and quite a bit less expensive. How less, Tarvaris didn’t know, he merely used what he was given.

Coming to a stop he distributed the two grenades to one in each hand. Setting himself with his left foot just a little in front of his right he waited for a few seconds. Then a starfighter shot out of the base, which was exactly what Tarvaris had been waiting for. Cocking his arm back and getting a little hop in his step he launched the now armed grenade at the spot that the starfighter had just blasted out of. The purpose of the grenade had nothing to do with the first starfighter, but rather the next starfighter. For as always, a single fighter was never launched alone, but rather in a group, a squadron.

Shielding his eyes with his arm and robe he heard the explosion. Counting to three he took his arm down and grabbed the other grenade from his left hand and keeping his eyes closed he threw the other grenade at the exact same place, or at least as close as he could get it. Immediately after releasing the grenade he turned back the way he had come. Opening his eyes he walked, or rather ran, back toward the town or more specifically toward the hangar and spaceport.

Never looking back he did not see the damage that the two grenades had done, which was quite considerable. The first had exploded right in front of a fighter coming out causing it to crash into the ground and explode. The second had exploded and collapsed the hangar’s opening. Stranding, for now, all but one starfighter inside the hangar.

Back into the alley. Into the safety of the dark alley with the faint smell of a newly deceased Kel Dor. This was where Tarvaris stopped for a second to breathe. Just to breathe, that was it, the only reason for a stop. Tarvaris was good at what he did, a professional some would say. He felt no remorse for the dead Kel Dorians. Sure, he had been the cause for them, but they were needed, for his business, life and his friend’s lives to continue a few dead Kel Dors was of no concern to him. He had taken the calculated risks and the places he had put the turrets were set up to wreak havoc, but they would also reduce the chance of civilian casualty, but those were inevitable and Tarvaris knew that. But he had felt the deaths, he didn’t know why, he didn’t know how, but he had felt the screams of the dieing, more then he had heard them. It was not a nice feeling, it probably compared to getting kicking in the nuts several times, in fact Tarvaris might have preferred that and he was very careful with his family jewels, so to speak. This hurt on the inside, made the breathing harder, the legs like jelly, the mind spin, the heart ache, the stomach lurch, the eyes go blurry. Why was it happening? It had never happened before. He had killed many in his time, why did he feel it now?

No, that wasn’t the reason he had stopped, he was just tired. Who wouldn’t be? So much excitement and things accomplished he had earned a break, a second to catch his breath. After all, this next stage of the plan required a little finesse. Peering back he checked for pursuit. He found none, the single starfighter that had gotten out of the hangar was only circling it, making sure nothing else happened to his or her friends. Good Tarvaris thought, it meant on with the plan. Turning he stepped over the dead Kel Dor and rushed to the end of the alley, his exit now, had been his entrance not so long ago. In front of the alley sat a speeder, one that was in no particular parking spot, in fact it looked as if it was hastily stopped and placed in the park position.

Looking over his shoulder to the dead Kel Dor he asked, “Is that your speeder? Can I borrow it? If I can don’t say anything.” Tarvaris chuckled a bit at the last one. He assumed the keys were left in it, if not he would search the dead and relieve him of the keys, but he would prefer not to have to touch the dead Kel Dor. Stepping out of the alley he quickly made his way over to the speeder and in a completely non-chalet way opened the door and sat down in the speeder. Reaching his hand around, he let out a breath of relief when he found that the keys were still in the ignition. Starting up the engine he turned it and began to fly off, at the speed limit, to the spaceport. Because of his excellent piloting skills and his mindfulness to follow the law Tarvaris got to the spaceport with no further problems.

Parking the craft in a no parking spot that was nice and close to the spaceport and near the section that was reserved for a certain craft. Jumping out of the craft he suppressed a laugh at the fact that the dead Kel Dor’s speeder would soon be towed away adding a little mystery to the murder and consequently making a bigger headache for the local police department. Stepping up onto a sidewalk Tarvaris began the short trek to where the cruiser was parked. The cruiser was the main piece of the mission. It was one of the ships that Tarvaris’ friends would be commandeering.

Arriving in front of the ship Tarvaris was able to get a good look at the pilot, co-pilot and single passenger along with a droid. The pilot, a human, looked a tad on the scruffy side probably in his late twenties early thirties. The co-pilot was Selonian, a female Selonian, Tarvaris could tell because there were plenty of them on his home world of Corellia. The passenger was another human, but a female, quite attractive too. She had flowing brown hair around an average height with a real nice body. To Tarvaris the ship did not look like much, but he assumed there was something important aboard the ship, either that or the scruffy looking Captain had in some way upset his boss. Either way the ship was about to be in the hands of Tarvaris’ friends and the reason why didn’t really matter at the moment.

Moving past the ship and to a point that he knew would not make him suspicious to the Captain, Tarvaris turned off the sidewalk and circled around the ship. Drawing closer to the ship he noticed it was of Corellian make, which went further to say that the Captain had somehow wronged Tarvaris’ boss. Striding up to the engines Tarvaris was sure to make the ship shield him from view of mainly the Captain and his company, but also any do-gooder passerby. Fishing into his robes once more Tarvaris pulled out a fairly sophisticated bomb. Placing it in the engine, Tarvaris began to arm it. The bomb was specifically designed to explode right before it left the mass-shadow produced by the planet, making it unable to jump to Hyperspace, but not be completely disabled. Which meant that Tarvaris’ friends could do there job, get pulled out of the mass shadow and jump to Hyperspace, away from the planet and to reinforcements and to the base of operations. Then they would have free reign on the cargo and a brand new ship after a little repair work was done. It was quite the plan. Simple, yet effective.

After a couple minutes Tarvaris had finished his work and was ready to depart. Checking over his shoulder he searched to see if anyone was giving him more attention then they should. Luckily no one was. Wiping his arm across his face the little beads of sweat that had accumulated on his forehead were wiped away into the fabric of his robes. Stepping back Tarvaris reentered the crowd of people that were rushing through the spaceport. His mission had been completed. Now, the only thing that remained was seeing if it was a successful one, that, and getting off the planet without being arrested. Skimming down the sidewalk passing by ship after ship, Tarvaris saw her. The most beautiful ship he had ever laid eyes on. It was an old style Corellian Corvette. That was how Tarvaris was going to get off planet, that ohh so beautiful ship.

Stealing a ship could be some what difficult. At least to an inexperienced and heartful person, of course Tarvaris was neither of those. He had stolen ships before and couldn’t care less about other people. Those two qualities made stealing a ship quite easy, as long as you were smart. Letting the sidewalk lead him to the front of the ship Tarvaris noticed that the ship’s pilot was preparing it for take-off. This would most definitely work to his advantage. Although most thieves liked to steal something when no one was around, Tarvaris only cared about getting that thing. With ships it was much easier to steal a ship when the pilot was setting it up for flight, if as stated earlier you were smart.

Stepping off the sidewalk Tarvaris walked in the general direction of the ship before sitting down at a bench about ten feet from the ship’s ramp. It was only a matter of time before the pilot would finish his pre-flight checks and be ready to takeoff. At that point Tarvaris would stowaway aboard the ship until the right time, then he would hijack the ship and have himself a new ship and be off the planet of Dorin, kill two birds with one stone, as the old saying went.

Looking at the ship Tarvaris marveled at its beauty. Sure it was old, but in a way that’s what made it so beautiful. Personally Tarvaris would take an old proven ship over a new top of the line ship any day of the week. There was just something about a classic. Maybe it was the fact that the craftsmanship seemed so much more unique in the old days, maybe it was the nostalgia. But to Tarvaris an old Corellian Corvette was better then any other ship on the market, even a new starfighter equipped with stealth controls and those things were friggin sweet. You just couldn’t beat a saucer shaped ship with two prongs and a cockpit just off to the side.

A roar broke into his daydreams about the ship. It seemed that the ship’s co-pilot was an alien of some sort and required the assistance of the pilot. “That meant it was the perfect time to get aboard the ship. Standing he let the human climb aboard the ship and then slowly started counting, once he got to five he started walking forward. Before he knew it he was up to the ramp and walking up it. At the top of the ramp he took a left hand turn and followed the tunnel back to the small cargo hold. Squeezing himself into a corner of the wall he hid himself behind a pile of boxes. The easy part was now over. Now came the hard part, waiting.

Tarvaris passed the time thinking, mainly about his life. It had been mainly a good life, at least until the bounty hunters had come, since then life had started to suck. Sure he had gotten his revenge by brutally killing the people that had killed his parents, but he hadn’t figured out who had hired them, or why. It still drove him crazy to think that he may never know. That was why he had yet to return to Corellia, he was ashamed and he didn’t want to travel back to Corellia in shame. He couldn’t go back until he figured out why, until then he would go on as he was right now, distracting the local law enforcement while his friends robbed some ships, and remain on his home planet as dead or at least believed to be dead, murdered by bounty hunters for unknown reasons. Oh, well. Tarvaris thought, life wasn’t that bad, now he got to eat, drink and gamble every night and no one cared if he showered or shaved.

Suddenly the ship started to rumble underneath him and Tarvaris knew it was just about time to stop being a stowaway and start being a thief, just about time. Standing he shook his butt out a little, it had fallen asleep from all the sitting, after a couple minutes the tingling had just about subsided. The only thing he had to wait for was the jump to hyperspace, then he could act. After all you couldn’t send out a distress call if you were in hyperspace. That was the beauty of it. So with his few minutes he had left before show time he checked his gun to make sure it was fully loaded, he checked his backup gun to make sure it was fully loaded and he checked to make sure he didn’t have any wedgies. All three checks, checked out and after another minute he felt the reassuring jump to hyperspace.

Squeezing back out Tarvaris slowly walked down the tunnel of the ship toward the cockpit. Looking in he saw the pilot and copilot silently checking instruments to make sure all systems were running correctly. Tarvaris smiled to himself, they would never even know he was there. Pulling out both blasters he leveled them at both pilots. After taking careful aim he touched the triggers lightly, not shooting. Tarvaris just couldn’t shoot someone in the back.

“Howdy.” Tarvaris said. Instantly the two heads spun around and they both reached for blaster pistols, but unfortunately pulling a finger an inch takes a lot less time then turning, pulling out a gun, aiming and firing. With two bursts of light, two pilots met there death. Tarvaris holstered the two weapons and moved forward to pull the pilot out of his chair. Sitting down he thought to himself, I’m going to have to change this seat. It’s just not comfortable. With a push of a few buttons Tarvaris reverted the ship back to realspace. Inputting a different set of coordinates Tarvaris set off for the rendezvous point. He would be a little bit early, but that was ok. He needed the time to clean up his brand new ship.