Marcus falls to his knees, the knife stuck in his side. He still resists Balek, though, as he forces down the shield-side of his arm against Marcus's sabre... slowly forcing it back until the spike-launcher is ready to finish off Marcus.
"You were a fool to come, Jedi. It was too late for me. And it is too late for all of you."
Marcus is being forced back over the edge of the platform into the molten metal also...
... when he finally yanks his sabre clear of the shield and brings it up.
There is a mighty white flash as Balek's arm severs from his body, and the electrics blow out. Balek, pushing forward at Marcus, is totally overbalanced and pitches violently forwards, over the edge...
... and into the molten mass below. His arm falls down by Marcus' side.
Balek is dead.
-
Marcus, grievously wounded, can do little, and he hears little of the roaring sound around him, and little of the door opening, and two mercenaries coming in, and not much of the whirl of a lightsabre that follows soon also. And then a voice.
"Master!" calls Vilpa, by your side. "Master, we must go!"
At this point, Sunda and Andro cut through the last door.
"What took you so long?" asks Vilpa.
"Trouble with the natives," says Sunda. "No sense of manners. What about you, what were you doing strolling down?"
"You try parking around here!"
Sunda smiles.
"How's the old man?"
"He'll live. Looks like we're done here."
"Damn right. Sensors are showing several squadrons heading this way and about two hundred men are climbing the lift shafts. Let's go!"
Good advice for all of you, I think.
"I try not to disappoint, Master..." says Sunda.
Escape is unexpectedly- perhaps disappointingly?- easy. The fighters don't seem to want to follow, and without the defences on-line, Vilpa can more or less stroll out! Still. Nice to have something go exactly as planned.
Within five minutes, you are away- and back on course for Coruscant.
---
With Balek dead, that line of inquiry is closed.
Two years ago, Balek was working for the bad guys when the Jedi were pairing off against a vast conspiracy, in which the Techno-Union and Trade Federation were main suspects, and there was a suspected involvement with the Sith. Balek had done a good job of leaving few witnesses, and in embarrassing Master Marcus and young Vlad at an abandoned droid production factory- which is where Vlad got a glimpse of Balek’s ship, hence him being the one to seal the escape route.
Balek was normally so careful never to break the law and attack Jedi, and his actions then were incredibly unusual- he must have been involved. Certainly, later investigation proved that he had become incredibly rich. Droben, where he was eventually traced to, was a kind of retirement for him. Still, as you saw, he had left a few precautions against the Jedi coming after him again. He did loathe them so.
It is regrettable Balek fought to the end; a disconcerting amount of people, from Strine to Ryamore and now Balek, have chosen death, or been eliminated, rather than give any information. In many ways this is further circumstantial evidence of Sith involvement, for such fanatical fighting was typical of their servants in the past. But nothing more than circumstantial. The Council is satisfied that you would have taken him alive if you could have done, and that things were pretty damn close run as it was so it is hardly worth making an issue of.
Still, a very dangerous and violent criminal, who could have surrendered if he wanted to, has been brought to the closest possible justice, and the Council is well satisfied. It is good for publicity as well; Balek had become rather famous, doubly so once he became an outlaw who had apparently escaped the Jedi, and now the reach of the law has caught up with him. Furthermore, the recovered logs and other technical data may yet bring some further answers.
As for Droben itself… it’s a shame, of course. As Senator Andren has said, the Republic has been very remiss with this world, abandoning it to its fate. Sadly, there is little the Jedi can do about that, and without Republican support they have no legal mandate to bring peace there. The wars there go on- sometimes, the Galaxy is the horrible backdrop you have to work in.
Meanwhile, this is a job well done, and you can be thankful and happy.
For the new guys, this was an introduction to the gameworld. For the oldies, this closes a door. Balek was the last remaining link to your ‘old’ lives of the first campaign. All that stuff about Astrolabes, Archives and Zeiton is long finished with. Ascar, no longer in a position to do harm.
Even Kuylen himself is dead, it is said. A new legal organisation, set up by Palpatine after the end of the Zeitonian mission, known as the Bureau, concluded an investigation into him a few months ago- their intelligence is that he died in a space crash on the planet Prias. You guys don’t have a body and the evidence was apparently moved, and so you would like final confirmation on that, but they seem pretty sure of themselves. His cronies are dead also, or prisoner like Saar, the old names that were the enemies of your past killed in space fleeing from a vast manhunt.
That just left Balek, the only link between that time and this. And now he is gone too. Time to look forward. There is always more work to be done.
Way ahead of you.
Small game, very easy, One point for success- you made it pretty solidly, but it must be said the early part was a tad comical- and a hazy combination oif two participation points based on effort given to the entry through the waste system and the combat.
Leaves us with:
Marcus: 3
Roan: 3
Andro: 3
Kiu: 3
Xeth: 2
Gallagher: 2