USH'S STAR WARS GAME- CAMPAIGN II, EPISODE I (DARK SIDE)- New Order

"Well, we can worry about it later," says Doon. "As far as I am concerned, you're all useful. It's Kuylen who gets so discerning about these things. I went to Dordellus once actually, Galder. I saw the graveyard."

This man was on Dordellus? And he says he's met you; you don't remember thant, Galder. But he seems certain of it.

In fact, an aire of certainty surrounds Doon on all sides. At no point in the entire preceeding experience did he panic, and he always seemed to have an idea. You get a look at him now- short, slightly untidy blonde hair, and a careworn face. In fact, his clothes, solid as they are, look weathered as well. He's not old, but he's not a kid any more by any means. Everything about him looks experienced. The gun that hangs from his low-slung holster is some custom design- silvery, but dull, not shiny like Jango's guns from AOTC. And on his other side he carries his satchel, which has so far produced thermal detonators, timed charges, that tensile wire, and heaven knows what else. The satchel has a security lock on the front that he opens with an odd twiddle of his fingers each time he opens it.

Suddenly, all you guys feel a sensation of static cling; your body hairs start to stand on end.

"Sanitation," says Doon. "The Cynellise have a lot of time to deal with the small problems in life. This process removes all odours, which the Cynellise have a particualr problem with. The sewer system purges smells regularly."

Geez, this planet even SMELLS boring. No wonder it got to you.

"Which is good. I don't know if you realised it, but the Osokans track by smell; they can smell better than you or I see. Once they have your scene they don't let go, but now it's all wiped clean. Enough to put it beyond their threshold anyway. So for now... we're safe."

He fiddles to open his satchel but gets it wrong.

"Damn thing..." he says. And suddenly, Galder, an old scar on your chest twitches, and a memory comes flooding back to you.

Melkus Doon...

The Planet Tarsonis

Five years ago

Although no intelligent life has ever developed on Tarsonis, the birdsong there is an undiscovered secret wonder of the Galaxy; beautiful and melodious and harmonious, day and night. The sound echoed beautifully between the trees.

"I wish they'd shut their damn twittering up."

The being who uttered these words was leaning by a tree. When he had gotten here, he would have at least admitted that the birdsong was indeed remarkable. Now having stayed in camp for three days and nights with it never stopping, he was about ready to burn down everything in sight to shut the noise up. All damn night as well? No wonder no intelligent life ever evolved here. Or if it had, it would have evolved without ears.

The being was a Zabrak, and accompanied by four others- one alien, standing quietly in the background, one man, standing tall and gazing into the distance, one woman, lounging by a large rock, and another man, slumped rather than lounging on the same rock. He was large and had a muscular body... but also looked pale and sickly.

"How long?" asked the Zabrak.

"Soon," replied the standing man.

"You said that two days ago. Why the hell do we have to keep going out in the middle of nowhere to meet?"

"Because this is being done in secret," said the tall man, who was in the habit of plain speaking.

"But why can't he come to US for once? I hate poncing around on this side of the Galaxy. None of our links are here."

"We go where we must. We're not in a position to make demands yet."

The Zabrak shook his head. He was looking around himself again, wondering where the snipers would be if he was setting up the ambush to wipe himself and his friends out. The trees were good... but obvious. Concealed under the ground, perhaps? That birdsong was distracting enough to lower anyone's guard.

"Hey," says the woman. "Is anyone else getting annoyed by those birds?"

The Zabrak closed his eyes. He could leave the birds behind, but cretins he was stuck with forever.

"Only in contrast to the beauty of your voice and form, Krisha," said the Zabrak.

"Crammit, Saar," Krisha replied. "Keep those hormones in check."

"I wouldn't dream of coming between you and monkey man here," said Saar, who had caught Krisha's admiring gazes at the man slumped at the rock. Krisha snarled and turned away.

"Listen," said Saar to the other man, "I..."

Saar stopped, and then both men turned in unison towards the distance. A few moments later, a man came into view, wandering over at a carefree pace. The man slumped on the rock struggled to make him out. He couldn't see much from here- blonde hair, and some satchel slung over his shoulder. His features soon became clearer, though.

"Hoi! Kuylen!" called the man out as he approached.

"Doon," said Kuylen, the tall man, nodding slightly.

"Sorry I'm late. You do have this habit of choosing obscure places."

"It doesn't matter. Do you have anything for me?"

"Heh... always to the point, eh, Larios? I only just landed. Give me a few seconds to stretch my legs." Doon looked around him. "Hey! A newbie! Found another one?"

"Evidently," said Kuylen.

"He doesn't look well. What gives?"

"A rather petulant Rodian unloaded two blaster shots at pointblank range into his chest. He'll live, not that he deserves it."

"Hey fella!" called out Doon. "Did you kill the guy?" The slumped man nodded, with some effort. "That's the way to do it!" said Doon, with a smile.

"I had to clean up the mess," said Kuylen.

"Well, don't you always? Where was that? Not Nar Shadda?" Kuylen nodded. "Ugh! Word of advice, kiddo. Stay OUT of Hutt space. Bad news for everyone. Sooner the slugs die out, the better. What's your name?"

"His name is Galder," said Kuylen, "and I've not finished with him yet so it's not worth remembering the name yet."

"Oh, it's always worth remembering a name."

"Melkus..." began Kuylen.

"Ok, ok, calm yourself. So happens I DO have something for you." Galder watched as Doon fiddled with the catch on his satchel, and got it wrong. "Damn thing..." he said. Kuylen, smiling, took Doon's hand.

"Not here," he said. "Saar, your discerning eye please? This way, Doon," said Kuylen, strolling off back towards the ship. Galder struggled to his feet to follow- and found his path blocked by Saar.

"This is business for grown-ups," said Saar. "Stay here in the nursery."

"Chion!" said Kuylen, loudly. From out of the darkness, a large, frighteneing shape emerged. "Look after these two," finished Kuylen, indicating towards Galder and Krisha. From the face of the huge albino creature, a terrible grin emerged. With two brisk strokes, Chion's bulky frame stood over by the two others, who looked puny by comparsion.

"Err, hey Chion," said Krisha. "So... still big?" Chion said nothing, which was nothing new.

Kuylen, Saar and Doon soon disappeared off into the distance. "I think you'll like this..." said Doon.

"... so although my background is mainly in shifting goods, I have a bit of a reputation in crisis management and troubleshooting," says Doon, as you make your way further down into the sewers. "I know a few things, know a few people in a few places... once you've seen the breadth of what the Galaxy has to offer, it's hard to be surprised by it any more, whether that's killer pigs or guys that can sense the future and move rocks with their mind. Survival is a learned skill; I guess I was just always a quick learner.

"But as part of my goods shifting business, I also have a sideline in scavenging with regards to... what you might call the antiques trade? Kuylen had seen the collection of that guy Ascar on Malastare...

Note for more recent players- Ascar is the owner of the largest private collection of ancient Sith/Jedi artifacts in existence- Kuylen got all the early pointers for his later work from talking with him. Rah, you probably remember Ascar's bodyguard- Persis

"... but of course, Ascar wasn't selling; Kuylen needed some pieces for himself to out his Avalar operation together. So he needed a supplier who could supply that stuff, and suppliers like that are very rare. As it was, in the end, it was me he found, which shows good judgement on his part. Kuylen and myself had a good working relationship; that sour bundle of fun Saar would come along as well- Saar's an antique expert, he used to double check if my stuff was legit. But I bumped into the whole group once when I was supplying Kuylen with an old data unit that had details of Bane's final assault on the Avalar monastery.

"Anyway, Saar is in jail now, which is no good to anybody, but Kuylen has been busy since you guys last saw him. But also keeping quiet- very quiet. He's been backing off from his old associations- too risky. But over this last year, he's been in contact with myself again."

Eventually you guys have now come to a large room in the sewer system. Doon settles down here, and pulls out a holo-projector from his satchel.

"So that's who I am," he says. "Now... I reckon you guys might be a little bit curious just as to what is going on. Well, I have some answers for you, if you want them... so ask away."

Where is Kuylen and does he know anything about these pigs that have been following us around the galaxy?

"Kuylen is in hiding; he's safe for now but if he shows his face then all the pigs go his way.

"If you're implying that the Osokans have something to do with why he called you... then no, this is an unfortunate coincidence, though indicative of change which I guess is related to why Kuylen ever does anything at all. Problem is, he's not the only one with that idea. But yes, he knows and I know about them- we've been doing some checking."

(terribly sorry....been very busy lately)

"..so saar's in jail now. I do hope he's not getting soft near all of those jedi.

The osokans found us by intercepting our signal, rah...

I guess my main curiousity would be....why is it that kuylen is gathering us all again?"

"That's a fair question, but I am afraid I can't tell you. Which is to say, Kuylen's ordered me not to tell you until we're safely out of here- just in case any of you get taken alive and end up blowing it all. I don't even know much myself. But to assure you on the basics, yes, he wants the old crew back together again, and yes, he has some big plans, for which he needs able combatants and agents like yourselves."

EDIT

"Ah, Doon! I remember you now..." Galder says, patting him on the shoulder. "It's been awhile, hasn't it? I am no longer that injured punk slumped against a rock..."

"If anything, Saar squealed on everything we've ever done," Galder hisses. "I always knew he was a coward..."

"Well, he was right in trying to contact us, and so far, right in sending you!"

"When do we meet him? And what are your plans for leaving this boring rock?"

"Does Kuylen have any plans for rescuing Saar do you know?" Rah asks

"well doon....something ebing planned is indeed an answer i was hoping for.

Saar wasn't a coward, galder. Him squealing to the jedi would be due to his intellingence, if anything. But i doubt he said anything...The jedi are off our trails now anyway." Takuan turns back to doon

"that helkin " he starts "seems very determined in finding and killing kuylen. He will be a rather annoying thorne in the back for us"

Galder shakes his head. "He was nice to you because you have a strong tie to the Force, Takuan."

"Kuylen has an intolerant nature towards failure," says Doon. "He'll leave Saar where he is, unless Saar makes his own arrangements to get out.

"I do actually have a kind of escape plan, though you'll have to come up with the immediate decisions, and you'll probably be better off planning that in full possession of the facts. Once we're out of here, we can start making arrangements to meet him- but he has work for you to do first, work he is not in a position to do himself right now.

"Helkin... yes, Helkin is a problem. Worse, he's the symptom of an even bigger problem. Have you guys sussed out the deal yet? Helkin's beef with Kuylen isn't personal. And those Osokans are going to keep coming."

"So...he's acting on behalf of the Republic?"

"So I take it that eliminating Helkin would not eliminate the Osokans' stalking?"

"Not to any decent extent, no.

"Helkin does indeed work for the Republic. In fact, he is a rising star within it. More precisely... he works for the Bureau. You probably saw evidence of their existence on Demarus? The Bureau of Immigration and Undesirables. It's the Bureau that is the threat.

"It's a new organisation that has come into existence over the last two years. In the last six months, it has stormed violently onto the scene. The Bureau's technical remit is to regulate the movement of people between worlds- more precisely, of undesirable elements between worlds. Hence they are meant to act as a form of interstellar law enforcement, similar to the Jedi but with a specific remit of catching criminals moving between stars, because all too often criminals just move on between worlds when the heat gets too much for them. Immigration- moving between worlds. Undesirables- the criminals. Hence the Bureau.

"And it's a lie. This is the Bureau's cover. The actual task they perform is far more focussed than that. The Bureau has one task only. It's job... is to hunt down and eliminate all adherents of the Dark Side inside the Republic. It's a death squad- and you are its targets.

"Just over two years ago, Kuylen and Galder and Takuan here came to Malastare, significantly inside Republican space. During their time there, a small war erupted, with many casualties on all sides. The public were outraged, and every effort was pledged to catch the perpetrators. Now, I don't know if you know this, but by this point, the Jedi under Gundark were already acting as Chancellor Palpatine's personal agents- the Council itself being unwilling to put too many resources into hunting Kuylen. Gundark continues to act in this capacity afterwards- with a perosnal brief from the Chancellor to fulfill the role of chasing down and catching you guys.

"Of course, due to the somewhat disastrous ending of that mission, the Jedi Council felt justified in its original position, and Gundark went back to normal duties. But public outcry about the issue was still considerable- and the Republic, especially the Chancellor, had taken great exception to the way you guys seemed to just stroll about and get away with it. Accepting that the Jedi were too busy to spend their entire existences chasing people like you, especially when it seemed to do more harm than good, Palapatine and the Republic started to put together a new organisation designed specifically to do that job. The Bureau.

"It's taken them two years to put it together. The Bureau Agents in the grey uniforms have studied everything known about your kind- all the Jedi have about the Force, and about the Dark Side, how you work, how you operate, your strengths and weaknesses; the best ways to tackle you. Helkin is just one of several Agents, though one of their best. He's gotten a couple of big 'scores' already.

"So all they needed then, as a means of actually finishing the job. Not easy- replacing the work of a Jedi in that circumstance. But they found it. And once they were ready, the Bureau was all set to go. They found the Osokans."

Doon is fiddling with the holo-projector soon, loaidng up some programmes.

"Executive Order 78/A/BC3596A, passed by the Senate six months ago, states the following:

The prohibitions against membership of the Osokan Hunting Guilds, and the carrying of the Neurowhip technology armament, is lifted among those Osokans who present themselves for voluntary service for the Bureau of Immigration and Undesirables

"In brief, the Hunting Guilds are back in business... so long as they work for the Bureau. They have just one prey now- Dark Siders. And it suits them. Suddenly the Bureau has more Osokan hunters than it quite knows what to do with. A suspiciously large amount of them... in fact, neaerly ALL of them... were already trained in the whip, which goes to show how seriously they took that law on their homeworld. Now they can parade them again throughout the Galaxy. It's a good time for them.

"Now the Galaxy is being swept, end to end. The Osokans are performing very well. As you know, they are lethal up close, which is the way you like to fight as well, which is what makes them so well suited for this job. They are tireless, ruthless, almost impossible to kill and they will never give up. They are not necessarily the most strategic or forward planning of people... but that doesn't matter, because that's the Agent's job, and the Osokans will always obey the Agent, else they lose their rights of Guild Membership and that's worse then death for them.

"That's two parts of the deadly Bureau triangle. The other third is their logistical support. Their funding is immense. The Agents have been given wide-ranging legal powers. They have Jedi-like authority in any system they come to, and in pursuit of their targets they are allowed to commandeer any local resource or law agency; anyone who obstructs the Bureau can expect to be arrested and to lose their job and probably their liberty. And their technology is avdanced- the latest. They have ships, scanners, sensors... and this is the bad news. They have the latest generation of starship transponder analyzers."

Oh, bugger... that is very bad news. A Transponder lock on your ship is a bastard to get rid of. You have never seen Republicans use such means before- it's normally the domain of elite Bounty Hunting operations by the best. But thanks to the damn Techno-Union, who build nearly all the parts, each ship has a unique transponder signal encoded into, for id purposes. If anyone gets a firm lock on that signal, then all they need to do is get the briefest of sensor scans on that vessel and they'll know what it is. If the Bureau have your transponder codes, all they have to do is come vageuly near you, and they'll have you. Those analyzers will be constantly searching for you, and will alert them as soon as you come near.

Just to make it worse, the transponders are almost impossible to remove. And even if you do remove them, the analyzers will be looking for ships WITHOUT transponder codes as well, and investigating each one. The only thing to do is to replace the transponders with a safe substitute... which are incredibly hard to come by. Only the Techno-Union make them, and all stolen ones have their codes reported and the analysers will be looking for them as well. It IS possible, it gets done- but underground transponder swapping is a vastly complicated criminal business, way beyond your current resources.

"They have all the resources they need. They'll pounce on you wherever they see you, and they are looking everywhere. Kill an Osokan, and there are a dozen ready to take his place. They have infinite powers in the Republic and you have none. They won't stop until you are dead. You have to understand, guys- playtime is over. This is the end of the road. The Republic's changing, and you guys won't be allowed to just swan around any more."

Approaching new rules now posted- check them out!

Will be introduced at Part 3...

http://www.killermovies.com/forums/f7/t314162.html

"So...it's over..." Galder says, looking at his lightsaber. "We're hunted once more, but this time it seems like there is no hope." Galder slumps against a wall. "GREAT..."

"Well, I wouldn't say that..." says Doon. "Rand asks if it is worth killing Helkin... well, killing him won't stop the Bureau, but it would certainly help. There is a whole lot of organisation behind what they do, and Agents who can put that together are a very finite resource for the Bureau. If nothing else, killing him would slow things down until they found a replacement. Howver... personally, I don't think it's worth it simply because we're not in a position to.

"The Bureau doesn't normally turn up with quite this many Osokans; this one is a special case. See... it so happens that Kuylen is number one on their most wanted list.

"Kuylen set off his signal on Demarus as a quiet place to meet you guys, explain his plan and go into action. Unfortunately, the signal wasn't as secure as he had hoped. We're pretty sure what happened was that when Master Gundark boarded his ship when he was on Nar Shadda two years back, she did a scan of the ship and that picked up the code on the transmitter device.

"Now, that didn't seem very relevant, but what Kuylen didn't know at the time is that the Bureau has set up a huge network of interstellar listen-and-transmit posts that are monitoring signals Galaxy wide. Now, a project like that takes time and is incomplete and will always have gaps... but unfortunately, Kuylen's transmitter is, by design, very strong- after all, it has to summon you from wherever you are in the Galaxy. Probably by sheer luck, the Bureau intercepted it, and comparing with their records they clocked onto its signficance. The officer on duty at the time was presumably Rado Helkin. Now, he strikes me as the ambitious kind, and as soon as he realised that the number one wanted man was broadcasting his location throughout the Galaxy, he lept onto the case, and knowing that Kuylen is incredibly danagerous and most likely to be in company, he put together the rather considerable Osokan army he is now throwing your way. They normally operate at one Hunter team per target, but to get Kuylen, Helkin's been able to pull together way beyond his normal resource allocation.

"Of course, he didn't find Kuylen. Kuylen and I managed to get wind of what was going on just in time, and he got out of there. I am afraid that due to some extended circumstances in his escape, Kuylen's temporarily out the picture. He's been in convalescence, just like you guys. He's lucky though- he managed to kill everyone that came after him before he could be 'id'ed, and can now recover from his injuries in peace.

"You guys are less lucky. Helkin will be disappointed not to have found Kuylen, who was already off-world by the time Helkin got there, but he'll take you guys as a substitute, especially with you others thrown in... assuming Mr. Rand here is a person of some repute, as you tell me. He latched onto your transponder codes. When you escaped, you chose a good place in this place- Helkin through you would go outwards. But he's also a professional. He deployed probe droids in all directions; they have been scanning every planet in this quadrant."

Doon shrugs.

"Two weeks is what this place got you. I would say that is the limit of safe time you can ever buy from the Bureau.

"In the meantime, Kuylen was having to react. He called for me. I wasn't actually meant to be anywhere near this rendezvous- Kuylen keeps his cards close to his chest; he keeps his different operations seperate and he didn't plan for you guys to meet me at all. But he sure as hell couldn't do anything- not only was he injured, but if he even showed his face anywhere it would be full of pig before he could blink. So he asked me to pull you guys out, asking me to use my crisis-mangaement skills, and troubleshooting, in the traditional sense of seeing trouble and shooting it, of course. So my brief is to get you guys to safety, and get you started on Kuylen's work. Kuylen's not a man you want to fail, so I'm determined to get this right, and besides, be a shame if you all died after I only just met you.

"So I could move around without the Bureau suspecting I was working for Kuylen. Unfortunately, we were a bit too late. By the time I got to Demarus, the Bureau had already sprung their trap on you. When you escaped, I had no idea where you were, so I only had one option- I just followed the Bureau. Eventually, they got here, and I raced over and tried to find you before they did. Which I did... by a matter of seconds, which was kinda more narrow than I planned. Still, all's well that ends well, huh?"

He has finished setting up the projector now.

"So I agree, it looks harsh. But there some positive points as well. So first of all, at all times in future, you guys have to remember that if you make too much noise, wave your sabres around or throw too many rocks, it's the Bureau that will come after you to shut you up. It's going to need a different approach in future than just killing everything you see. But... as I say, it won't always quite be in these numbers. So it won't always be a death sentence.

"Secondly... although the Bureau has powers similar to the Jedi, there is one important difference. Their remit is purely internal- their cover remit, of immigration, couldn't have it any other way. Jedi can be an instrument of foreign policy- they can represent and act for the Republic outside its borders. Not the Bureau. What you do outside the Republic is not their business, and they have no license to pursue you that far- leave it, and they won't follow you there. You are safe... so long as you stay out the Republic.

"Thirdly, and most importantly, the man with the plan is here to help, and once you and me out of here, the BIG man with the BIG plan, Kuylen, is going to put things into operation. Kuylen plans to go places, and no bunch of pigs is going to stand in his way, trust me."

"Phew, there's a whole lotta big business going on isn't there?" Rah mutters.