Zira Darkstar

**A/N** Late update as I got shanghai'd into going out to the lake with friends for the last couple days...
As always: ~Beta'd by Envy.~
**A/N**

Chapter 21

The base was nowhere near as guarded as Zira had been lead to believe. It seemed as if their numbers were running extremely thin since all their members were on the streets; probably, harassing the general population of the Lower City. Zira and Carth split up from Mission and Zaalbar, moving to search through the areas that had music coming from them. Likewise, Zira had sent Mission and Zaalbar off in what she’d hoped was the safer direction.

While the Twi’lek was handy with a blaster and the Wookiee was surely a force to be reckoned with. She wanted to move through quickly and quietly, and wasn’t sure they could achieve that with Mission and Zaalbar at their side. Carth didn’t seem to mind falling back into the support position, and let Zira take the lead. He even commented that if they were going to be sneaking through the more populated areas of the base that having Mission somewhere else was a good idea.

Zira, of course, agreed with him. She’d almost forgotten what it could sound like to be moving along without the constant chatter from Mission’s never-ending talks of anything and everything that came to mind.

The pair of them stood near a door, the low din of music emanating through the thick metal. Zira gave a silent count to Carth with her fingers, and upon holding up her third digit, she hit the open button and swept into the room.

Inside there was a pair of sentry droids that barely had time to react to them entering the room.

With speed and precision, Zira stepped ahead and caught the droid by the door with both vibroblades in a downward, X pattern. The micro vibrations of the blades caused them to cleave through the armored droid as if it were made of hot butter. The pieces of the droid clattered to the ground and she heard Carth open up with his blasters from behind her. She looked over in time to see a shower of sparks as deadly crimson burned holes into the other droid.

Zira swept the rest of the room with her dark blue eyes, but she wasn’t quick enough to catch that the bartender had leapt over the counter with an electrified stun baton. She felt the hot crackle of energy burn across her as the cold metal came down hard on her shoulder and sent her reeling away from the blow. She fell backwards into the wall and brought her arms up defensively.

For a moment, she froze, unable to retaliate as the man wound back in what felt like slow motion, and she futilely kept her arms up. Just before the weapon came down on her, a shower of glass erupted from behind the man’s head, forcing him to drop the weapon and reach up to clutch the back of his head.

Zira could now see her rescuer. She was a beautiful, brunette human, wearing a skin-tight, red, short sleeved shirt that hugged the curves of her breasts and showed off her well muscled abs. She had on a mini-skirt that barely covered her rounded bottom and down to her thighs. The woman’s steel blue eyes were wide with horror as the Duros bartender slowly turned on her, rage filling his orange colored eyes. She began to shrink away from him, and Zira quickly realized that Carth didn’t have a line of fire, as the girl was between him and the bar tender.

Seeing the Duros loom over the girl caused something to snap inside Zira and she launched herself off the wall. In a wild flurry, she slashed through flesh and sinew. She must have slashed through him a dozen times in what felt like a second before the man’s corpse succumbed to gravity, and fell to the floor with a wet, disgusting squelch.

Zira glared down at what remained for a moment before looking up to the girl who’d saved her. The woman’s eyes were still burning with fright as she shrank even further away, but now the source of her alarm was focused on Zira. The woman’s beautiful features were now tracked with Duros blood, and her bare skin slowly dripped the of the ex-bartender’s innards.

Remorse instantly burned to life in Zira as she stared at the terrified woman. She began to try to cross the bar towards her, in an attempt to try to comfort the poor girl. The woman gasped, “Please don’t hurt me! I just serve the food here, that’s all! I’m not like the others; I’m not a Black Vulkar. Please don’t kill me!”

Zira tried to keep a calm, even tone to her voice to try to comfort her. “Don’t worry; I just want to ask you a few questions.”

The woman backed into the wall behind her and sank down, tears running from her steel blue wells, “But I don’t know anything! I’m just a prisoner here, a slave! The Vulkars don’t tell me anything, they treat me like dirt. They beat me if I screw up their orders.”

Zira felt Carth’s hand on her shoulder, as he too tried to comfort the slave girl, “You may know more than you think, miss. Help us, and we’ll help you, okay?”

The woman’s eyes focused quickly on Carth, and the warmth in his chocolate eyes. Zira watched, as the woman seemed to calm in his presence, and for a split second, Zira felt jealous of the soft, warm look Carth offered to this girl. The slave spoke up again, now speaking directly to Carth, “Well… alright. I still don’t know how much help I can be, but I sure hope you get rid of all the Vulkars. I hate them!”

Zira quickly interjected, wanting to get the woman’s attention back off Carth, “Where can I find the prototype swoop engine accelerator?”

The woman’s recoiled as if Zira’s words were identical to a stun baton in the ready position. Through her half closed eyes and tense voice, the woman’s panic level began to raise again, “What? I… I’ve never heard of such a thing. I guess it might be in the garage on the lower level. That’s where all the Vulkars go to work on their swoop bikes, but I’ve never been down there. The elevator is protected by a security system; only the Vulkars are allowed to go down there.”

Zira felt a frown edge to her features, but a sudden realization brought a new thought to mind, “I’m looking for a prisoner. A woman named Bastila.”

The woman looked back at her for a moment, and then began to tremble. Zira couldn’t tell if it was from fear or hatred, as the woman slowly began to speak up, “Is she that Republic soldier? I heard one of those Vulkars mention her, but she’s not here. He said Brejik didn’t trust his men around her. I guess she’s too important to be a slave here in the kitchens, getting pawed and groped and kicked and spat on like me. Brejik must have taken her somewhere safe.”

Zira smiled softly. It was comforting that she wasn’t the only one who resented Bastila for her reputation. Zira sheathed her vibroblades, pulled a towel off the nearby counter, and knelt beside the woman. She began to reach out and gently wipe the blood trails from the woman’s soft, beautiful features and cooed very gently to her, “If I let you go, can you find your way out of here?”

The girl initially shrank away, but after Zira’s words, she looked up at her hopefully, “Now that you’ve killed the guards who were supposed to watch me, I think I could find my way out of here.”

Zira moved her hand down to the beauty’s own hand, gently putting the cleaning cloth in her hand. “Hurry then, get out of here.” She softly commanded.

Her steel blue eyes widened in disbelief, “I… I’m free to go? You’re not going to kill me? I…. I don’t know how I can ever repay you. Thank you! Thank you! I… I have to get out of here before any of the other Vulkars see me.”

Zira helped the girl to her feet and watched as he bolted out the door. Zira moved to the doorway and watched the girl’s movements as long as she could. “Do you think she left, or did I make a mistake in setting her free?”

Carth’s voice echoed behind her in a somber tone, “Why would you think you’d made a mistake?”

Zira shrugged lightly, “What if she was acting? Or alerts the guards to our presence?”

Carth chortled once and shook his head, “I’m pretty sure she was telling the truth. Emotions that deep are hard to fake.”

Zira nodded to him, and absently wished she’d at least asked for the young beauty’s name. Before she could become too lost in thought, however, a loud rumbling growl came from across the room. Zira knew that voice to be Zaalbar’s and without hesitation, she bolted across the room, and opened the door between her and Zaalbar.

Inside, Mission was standing over another Duros. This one had almost nothing left of his chest cavity, and a dark, putrid smoke still rose up from what was obviously fresh burned blaster marks.

Zira saw a large, chef knife embedded into Zaalbar’s forearm, causing him to whine and ail more.

Zira heaved a sigh and crossed to Zaalbar, reaching up and grabbing hold of the massive paw that he called an arm. “Hold still!” She ordered quickly and grabbed hold of the handle of the knife.

Zaalbar’s low growling whine rumbled in his throat, but he complied. Mission immediately began to explain, “I told him not to come in here. Once again he followed his nose and stomach instead of his head.”

Zira quirked an eyebrow and looked around. Sure enough, they were in the bar’s adjoining kitchen, and the scent of seared meats was heavy in the air. Yep, perfect stealth commando group I’ve managed to assemble around me… So long as there’s not a girl in danger, or anyone cooking nearby… She ruefully thought and yanked the blade from Zaalbar’s arm. The massive beast let out a roar of pain and nearly pitched Zira across the room.

Saved only by a fast moving Carth, Zira stared at Zaalbar. “Would you have rather I left it in then?”

The beast grumbled and barked in his native language, “No… but you caught me off guard. I’m sorry Zira.” Somehow, a Wookiee looking sheepish was one of the funniest sights Zira could remember laying eyes on, and she laughed.

“Its fine, here, let me take care of that.” She quickly opened one of the containers on her utility belt and pulled out a kolto syringe, and a bio-foam injector. She made quick work of injecting the healing kolto into the wound and filling the gap with foam to keep it from bleeding out.

Zaalbar watched her carefully until finishing, and then he ‘quietly’ thanked her. She nodded and patted him on the upper arm, as she was not able to comfortably reach his shoulder.

Now that they’d regrouped, Zira moved to the only closed doorway left, and opened it. Something or someone must have tipped off the Vulkar, or so she assumed. When she opened the door, there was a hail of blaster fire that burned holes in the doorframe. Zira quickly ducked around the doorway as the air beside her sizzled of burning energy.

She could smell the ionized air wafting from the near blaster bolt misses. Carth and Mission both flattened their backs against the opposite side of the doorway and Zaalbar kicked over one of the massive, metal counters that Zira estimated must weigh nearly two hundred kilograms.

She hazarded a quick glance around the corner to see a pair of heavily armored and armed battle droids. They were both holding heavy repeaters and firing with reckless abandon. Zira eased one of her heavy blaster pistols from the hip holster and drew a deep breath. As she began to overcharge an energy blast, Carth and Zaalbar both popped up from and out from their hidey holes and unleashed a volley of energy.

Crimson and emerald bolts of light lanced across the room from Carth’s pistols and Zaalbar’s bow caster. Several shots burned into the droids and rocked them heavily throwing off their aim. The one on Zira’s right stumbled forward a bit, the heavy blaster’s steady fire burning holes into the ground closer and closer to him as the muzzle went downward. The one on her left had the opposite reaction as Zaalbar’s bow caster hit it in the head and pitched it backwards, causing an identical reaction along the ceiling.

Zira took the opportunity, pivoting around the wall in a low crouch on her toes, and unleashed the overcharged blaster shot with careful aim. The massive bolt smacked the droid on the right square in the chest plate. The droid’s servos and gears burned as the blast melted its armor to slag. The fire from the heavy repeater stopped as the droid listed the rest of the way forward onto its ‘face.’

Mission likewise moved around the corner, and fired off wildly at the remaining droid. Half of her shots missed, but the other half burned into the machine’s shoulders and waist. Less from damage, and more from the impact, the droid toppled onto its back and began to fumble about, reminding Zira of a ‘turtle.’

Zaalbar unleashed another vicious battle cry and vaulted over the overturned counter. He charged the downed droid wildly, steadily firing off round after round from his bow caster. As he got closer, something inside the droid Zira had downed arched with energy and the mechanical monster exploded.
The shockwave was enough to knock even Zaalbar off his feet, halting his charge. The massive alien was pitched backwards onto his back. It took him a moment to begin sitting up, and he was lucky that no shrapnel from the droid hit him. From Zira’s vantage, she could tell that the explosion disintegrated all that remained of it, its weapon, and its partner. Zira rose to her feet and crossed towards Zaalbar, sweeping the remaining part of the room with her pistol.

Yep. Stealthiest unit ever… She got to Zaalbar and asked him if he was all right, to which he roared, even louder then normal, “I’m fine! I just can’t hear from the explosion…”

Zira muttered, “Don’t worry, everyone else heard anyway.”

“What?” He barked again, and she just chuckled.

Zira moved over to where the smoke was still stagnant in the air. The droids had been flanking a door, and she wondered what the Vulkars deemed worthy of protection. As she sought to curb her curiosity, Mission and Carth regrouped with Zaalbar, and the trio followed her over.

Once she got close enough, Zira could make out that the door was labeled as the armory. Sounds like as good of place as any to stash something like the accelerator. She dug into another pouch on her utility belt and pulled out some security tools. She began to slice her way into the door, and Mission was quick to produce a similar kit. Between the two of them, the security system on the armory didn’t even last a full minute before the door gave a satisfying hiss and opened for them.

“Carth, Zaalbar, cover us a moment. We’ll check it out.”

Carth nodded and put a hand up to Zaalbar. Zaalbar stared at the human with dumbfounded expression, and Zira rolled her eyes, entering the small cluttered armory.

She and Mission made quick work of scouting out the armory, and found a few ion grenades that might come in handy later, as well as some weapon modifiers. They stashed them into rucksacks and moved on.

The quartet found a security room, and hacked into it. No sooner had the door had opened, than Zira saw a green skinned Twi’lek charging across the room with a vibroblade in hand. Zira’s hands were a blur of motion, and she pulled both her own vibroblades. The man lunged at her and tried a hard, downward arch with his weapon at Zira, she crossed her own blades across her back, dropping into a low kneeling crouch. She felt the weapon collide with hers and cushion against her back slowly. They gently stopped across her back.

With her head down, she couldn’t even see Zaalbar’s massive paw slam into the Twi’lek and pitch him away from her, but she could hear his bones crack. She looked up just in time to see him tumbling across his back, over his neck, and onto his stomach. He pushed up to all fours as Mission and Carth lined him up in their sights.

The man quickly began to plead, “I surrender! I surrender! Please, don’t kill me. I’m not like these others. I’m not like Brejik and his new Vulkars.”

Zira righted herself and sheathed her off-hand sword, slowly crossing as the others followed her in and sealed the portal behind her. “What are you talking about? You’re a Vulkar, aren’t you?”

The man’s voice filled with pride as he pushed up to sit on his knees, his chest puffed out. At least he was smart enough to leave the weapon on the ground. She thought as he began to explain, “I’m a Vulkar, but I was here long before Brejik took over. I was a Vulkar back when it meant something. Back when we had honor. Then Brejik and his followers took over and turned our gang into a bunch of violent thugs and bloodthirsty punks. Now they treat all us original Vulkars like second class citizens. Take me, for example. I used to be one of the highest ranking Vulkars in the gang. Now I’m stuck on guard duty here in the back, all thanks to Brejik!”

Zira scoffed, “If you hate Brejik so much, why don’t you leave the gang?”

“I’ve been trying to work up the courage to leave, but it’s not that easy. Brejik’s followers will try to hunt down anyone who leaves the Vulkar gang. He says he won’t let traitors live. Ha! Brejik and his followers are the real traitors. They turned on Gadon and now they slaughter the Beks in the streets… and anyone else they happen to run across. Brejik knows anyone with character will never willingly follow a leader like him, so he uses brutality and violence to stay in power.”

Zira’s mind flashed back to one of her conversations with Carth about traitors and she sneered down at the groveling man. “You better give me some information if you want to live.” She threatened, though she had to wonder if it was entirely a threat as easily as it came to her tongue.

“Yeah, sure. Whatever you want to know. It’s not like I owe that scum lord Brejik anything.”

Zira rested one hand on her hip, and the back of the one blade on her shoulder, trying to look a bit more relaxed and menacing. “Where can I find the prototype swoop engine accelerator?”

The Vulkar frowned, looking confused for a moment before his face lit up. “Right, that gadget Brejik stole from the Beks. He’s got the accelerator in the basement garage. The only way down is by using the security elevator in the back of the base, but it’s protected by auto-targeting laser cannons. You’ll be vaporized before you ever get near it, unless you get your hands on a pass card.”

Zira frowned, Explains why opposition’s been small. Everyone’s hiding behind the automated defenses. Cowards. “Where can I get a pass card?”

The Vulkar cringed, as if worried about what he was about to say, “If I had one myself, I’d give it to you, but Brejik only gives them to his lieutenants. You’d have to get a pass card from one of them, but I doubt they’d just hand it over to you.”

Zira felt a knot form in her stomach. These lieutenants of Brejik’s were probably all holed up behind their defenses and watching them on the security cameras. “Is there some other way to disable the security cannons?” She asked quietly.

The Vulkar gave a small shrug, sounding a little more hopeless, “I guess it might be possible to slice the main computer bank near the front of the base and override the security system, but I sure wouldn’t be able to do it.”

Zira regarded him for a moment before looking over to the security console. She nodded to him, “I’m going to let you live. Go on, get out of here!”

The Twi’lek’s brown eyes opened wide as he looked shocked and stumbled to his feet, picking up his weapon. “Thanks. Thanks a lot. And don’t worry; I won’t cause any trouble for you on the way out. In fact, I hope you take Brejik and his Vulkars down!”

Carth opened the door for the man and he bolted from the room, going the same direction the slave girl had gone, which must obviously be the exit.

Zira looked to Mission, resting a hand on the security console and grinning, “How good are you with computers?”

Mission’s soft, pink lips parted in a wide, toothy grin. “I’ll have that thing purring like a Bantha in no time!”

***

Using the security, Zira and the other’s found a group of Vulkars holed up in what passed for a barracks. They’d created themselves cover, and were all grouped up. Unfortunately for them, they’d also done so near an unstable power conduit. Mission had sliced into the system and caused a massive energy surge that wiped out most of them.

It hadn’t taken them long to finish sweeping the near empty upper floors and scavenge the huddled mass of dead Vulkars in the barracks. They’d found the pass-cards the Twi’lek had spoke of, disabled the security and gone down into the lower garage. It was here that Zira and the other’s found the docked swoops and encountered a group of mechanics, sentry droids, and Vulkar guards.

Dozens of fights later, they’d managed to narrow down where the accelerator was, thanks to the Head Technician’s computer and personal pass card. They’d used the security feeds from there to see a group of heavily armed Vulkars guarding a tech who was tinkering with the accelerator.

Now, they were grouped up just outside the doors leading into the Engine lab. Zira and Carth once again paired up at one door, while Mission and Zaalbar stood ready at the other door. With a quick tap of her com button, Zira signaled to the pair to breech the room, and she and Carth did the same.

As the doors opened, a deep, Twi’leki voice spoke from across the room, from behind a massive durasteel counter. “Looks like we have visitors. Lackeys conned by Gadon Thek into trying to t steal Brejik’s swoop engine accelerator, I bet!”

The speaker was a well build, muscular Twi’lek with pale green skin. He was wearing heavy armor, painted up in Vulkar colors. Zira quickly assessed the room. Beside the Twi’lek, there was a pair of Niktos and a female Twi’lek, also garbed in heavy, combat armor.

Mission was the first to pipe up, sounding defensive, “Brejik stole that engine from Gadon! It was never yours to begin with!”

He answered back harshly, in that low, reverberating voice of his, “Well I didn’t go to all the trouble of acquiring this prototype just so you could steal it back for that old fool!”

The female Twi’lek lazily looked the group over and cooed towards the man, “Would you like me to dispose of these Bek spies, Kandon?”

Kandon chuckled quietly, holding up one hand towards her, “No, hold on a second. I see you aren’t wearing the Hidden Bek colors, so I’m guessing you aren’t part of that feeble old man’s gang. You must be a freelance mercenary.”

Zira’s mind jumped through hoops as she though there might be a way to resolve this without fighting. She had come to realize that she, and her group, was good, but even people in well trained groups made mistakes. She readjusted the vibroblades in her hand before returning, “You’re right, I’m not one of the Hidden Beks. My name’s Zira Darkstar.”

Kandon’s pale green lips parted into what he must have thought passed for a charming smile. “Instead of stealing the prototype for the Beks, why don’t you come work for us? The Black Vulkars could use someone like you.”

Zira could tell where this was going, and frowned, “Forget it! I know all about you Black Vulkars,” she stated coldly. If she could get him on the defense, he might offer something more than just employment as proof.

Instead, the alien’s ‘charming’ smile faded into a cold, sinister sneer, “Be smart; Gadon Thek is old news! He’s a blind fool in more ways than one! Brejik is a visionary; soon he’ll control the entire Lower City! Don’t shackle yourself to a losing team.”

Zira dropped into a ready stance, her hands held closely together in front of her. “Forget it; I’m not going to betray Gadon!” She snapped at him, and moved her hand over to engage another charge from her personal shield generator.

Kandon sighed disappointedly, and shook his head, causing his lekku to bob slightly behind his pale green head, “I can see there’s not much chance of convincing you to come work for us after all. Most unfortunate.”

The female uttered in a sultry voice, “Now can I kill them, Kandon?”

“Yes, darling. Kill them. Kill them all.”

Zira had already broken into a fast stepped rush, and jumped up onto the counter as her opponents drew their weapons. She considered the female to be her first target, as she was the closest. Zira brought both her vibroblades to bear, as she leapt off the counter and down at the woman. Both swords were blocked by a long sword the woman had deftly drawn from her back.

Zira was amazed at how strong this girl was. She gave nearly no quarter from Zira’s weight and momentum. The Twi’lek’s defense forced her to land before the girl in a blade-locked standstill. Zira’s felt several blaster bolts burn into her side, the shield absorbing them and redirecting as the pair of Niktos behind the Twi’leks had locked sights on Zira.

She became aware of rapid movement off to her right, and sacrificed her advantage on the blade-lock to swing her right sword over and parry a thrust from Kandon. Zira’s mind became a blur as she began to back-pedal from the pair of sword wielding Twi’leks. She was forced entirely on the defensive. It took everything she had to push herself just to block and dodge the deadly duo’s attacks.

She could still hear blaster fire burning across the engine lab as she steadily gave ground to the pair. Their fighting style complimented each other well, and they seemed to flow around one another, constantly keeping Zira from even being able to swing back a retaliatory swing.

Zira then felt a sense of dread wash over her as she went to take a step backwards and found her foot to be entangled in the power cords of some of the tools. The cord gave no quarter, and Zira’s momentum caused her to start to topple backwards. She watched as Kandon arched his sword down over top of hers, and the female side stepped around him, going for a thrust at Zira’s stomach that she knew she wouldn’t be able to parry.

The blade came up short as a massive, crossbow looking blaster smote the vibroblade from the air, still attached to a massive furry, and furious Wookiee. Zira had heard rumors before, but she’d never seen a Wookiee enter a rage like that. It was a bit unsettling to watch the Zaalbar roar out savagely.

The female Twi’lek was knocked aside by the butted blow to her weapon and was sent sprawling to the floor. Kandon wasn’t so lucky. He didn’t even have time to wind back for an attempt to swing at Zaalbar, who simply dropped his bow caster and reached his giant, furred paws up on either side of Kandon’s pale green head. Zira regained her feet as she watched in stunned awe. Zaalbar’s primal roar was the last thing the Twi’lek heard; as the Wookiee crushed the man’s head between his paws like it were an egg.

Zira heard a wild, pained cry come from her left, and saw that the female had regained her feet; she aimed to try to remove both of Zaalbar’s hands at the elbows with her long sword.

Zira felt as if something possessed her hands and she darted forward with a speed she didn’t even know she possessed. Her left hand came up, meeting the Twi’lek’s and causing sparks to fly as the metal ground into one another. Zira’s right hand however, came forward under the pair of swords and struck home. She’d managed to stab upward at one of the chinks in the battle armor, pushing up through the small crack and into the woman’s chest - and heart.

The woman coughed violently and sprayed the air with her blood before gravity took hold of her. She fell backwards away from the blade, and the wet suction sound filled the lab as blood tried to fill the spot Zira’s blade had once been. She watched the woman fall backwards to the floor, lifeless even before she hit.

Zira looked around quickly, and found that the Niktos were both already downed, leaving smeared blood trails down the wall from where they’d been thrown back by blaster fire. Now that the immanent threat was gone, Zira looked once more to Zaalbar, who looked like a wild kath hound, growling at the corpse before his feet.

“Report…” She said, hoping to make sure everyone was okay.

Carth was the first to respond, and in typical military fashion. “Green.” He said quietly, holstering his pistols and crossing.

Mission likewise began to walk across the lab, but she kept her blaster in hand, “Report? Okay. You’re crazy.”

Zira smirked, “Noted… Zaalbar?” She asked, looking to him in concern.

It took him a moment to respond before he looked back and whined, “We should go.”

Zira nodded, “Agreed.”

It didn’t take them long to find the accelerator and scare off the frightened tech. Zaalbar took it upon himself to carry the heavy device and they quickly made their way out of the base, and onto the streets of the Lower City. From there, they traversed to Gadon’s Bek base unhindered.

Zira sighed quietly, and let her thoughts wander to the shower and nap she so desperately wanted.