Still Alive

I will never be leaving the ship without a gun. Period. If I need to get registration on every system so that they leave me alone about it I will. There is no telling what might have happened to me if I had opted not to bring my Dragoon to meet the Senator's Aid. We were too spread out, and I felt fishy about the situation. Still, that was a close call. Soren was out getting Silhara released. It cost her most of her winnings to do it, and I wish I could hope she would learn a lesson, but that is highly unlikely. While he was out the driver for the aid arrived and rather than turn him down I consented to take Soren's place. I wonder what would have happened if I had told them to come back later. Probably nothing different.
 
It was immediately apparent that something was wrong. We were heading in entirely the wrong direction. Without hesitation I called him on it. He postured, and threatened the ship and my crew. When he refused to comply I blew a hole in his head. Possibly not the best choice, considering, but I was able to bring the speeder to a stop without injuring myself. Not exactly graceful, or wholly safe, and the security system impaired me long enough to allow a tail to get a bead on me. I never thought I would want to be inconspicuous, and ironically I was wearing my least inconspicuous outfit available, but at that moment I needed to disappear. After launching myself into the shop I mostly crashed into, I was able to pass through into a rare ally and evade the sniper.
 
By the time I managed to make my way back to the ship everything that was going to go down had. The local authorities were swarming the ship with several body bags and my new swoop in shambles out front, and Kid was missing. I came in to threats and guns. I told them I was a Bounty Hunter in pursuit of a mark to make them leave me alone but it backfired. It seems that ploy was the cause of the body bags. Some Trandoshan thug who had invaded our ship made the same claim, then murdered the guards when their backs were turned. I was quite proud of Kid, after watching the vid of the event. It seems he crashed my swoop in an attempt to escape, I would have done the exact same thing. Unfortunately it didn't work. Once we got the guards out of our hangar we set off. With a combination of my remotes, the system out of the crashed luxury speeder, and whatever systems Soren uses to get his intelligence, we were able to identify the location where Kid was being held. We dropped Soren off at the university, he was useless in a fight anyway, and headed out. My remotes were able to get an excellent vantage of the area and picked out a sniper group.
 
While Silhara drove, I created the plan. The intention was to come in behind everyone. Catch the snipers by surprise and then take their perch for myself. While I took a vantage, Silhara would take a herd of local grazers around the lake and stampede them into the house. Hopefully by then I would have located Kid and could start eliminating targets. The plan worked remarkably well. Silhara moved from tree to tree, slaughtering snipers like a ghost without my having to fire a single shot. It was, from a purely professional point of view, artistic in nature. I set myself up and let Silhara do what she was going to, hoping for the best. I was able to locate Kid along with several grunts and the Trandoshan "Bounty Hunter." I was staring that green lizard down until I knew every inch of his scaley maw when the rumbling began. Silhara had played her part perfectly, riding the bull like a maniac as the whole estate shook. I failed to anticipate that when a look my shot and it came in low tearing the jaw right off the alien freak. Before I could adjust for the vibration he was out the door, though he left his mouth behind. Sadly the missing bit will ultimately grow back. I think it would have been amusing to see how he dealt with that shortcoming in the future.
 
The next thing I knew was pain. I thought I had been thorough, but clearly not thorough enough. I missed the sniper in the arboretum. All he needed was the one shot, but I spotted him back. I would know that rifle anyway, even from a mile away. I didn't have time to think and just sprayed a wave of shots back at him. He was perched in the tree breaking out of the roof and I clipped off the entire thing, sending him crashing out of sight as I dropped out of the tree myself slowing my decent only slightly with the available rope. By the time I was secure in a new location Silhara was in full steam throwing down with the girl Soren had mentioned from the initial assault. I took some shots at the thugs before they could harass her too badly, but that bastard reappeared. I have no idea what he was thinking, but he opened up against half the island trying to hit me. He succeeded, there was really nothing I could do, but I got the last laugh before I passed out from the shock and pain, I saw the explosion as the faulty plasma shunt finally fractured under stress. I knew he would never get that fixed. I can only hope that it blew his head off in the process.
 
I am still a little foggy on the details. I remember the pain and the blackness, then I remember struggling with something and I think I was walking. For some reason the speeder was there, and I knew that was how I would leave, so I got in and left. Things get a bit confusing from here. I stuck myself with two stimpacks, which helped clear my head and my stomach, then I started hearing Silhara, but I was fairly certain she was not in the speeder. It took some time before I realized she was in the ship, also the ship was flying next to my vehicle, which made no sense. Eventually I found myself in the medbay, though not entirely certain how I got there. Kid was patching me up, somehow. Things get a bit fuzzy for a while, but when I got my faculties back under control we headed out to do the shopping I had meant to do before the Burning Star made another strike at me. I upgraded some of my equipment and filled the cargo hold with converted plasma for Eriadu.
 
While we were out I noticed some fliers and a lot of talk about Gungans. I was certain this must be what Soren has been up to while I was unconscious in a ditch. Very little seemed to be coming of it, or at least the outcome was undirected. Some people were complaining about Gungans and others were saying they should be preserved. I recalled the gross frog faced sleemo that is the reason I still avoid Tatooine and decided the best way to help is to smear the entire race. I pushed the ridiculous idea that all the Gungans are "Dark Side" Users. As idiotic as the concept of the Force is, I knew that these people believed. The whole point of this mission is because these people believe and thing the Jedi are somehow special and valuable. I recalled Soren using the term, a lot, and it certainly sounded ominous, so it seemed like the perfect thing. While I was busy with that Kid took it to the next level, recording some of my conversations and uploading them to the local media. By the end of the day the conspiracies were rampant. The next step was to blame the whole concept of evil Gungans on the Je'Sari. Everyone know the Jedi look down on everyone else. They think Naboo is just another Mid Rim Backwater that they can push around and manipulate to get what they want. They can't be trusted, they only have their own interests in mind and will take what they want without giving anything back.
 
It was a good line of thought. Then Silhara blew up the museum. Now I can add that they attacked the museum, trying to remove important evidence of the Gungan's innocence and importance with their dangerous Jedi artifacts. The very idea that the government might be interacting with these vigilanties and terrorists is an affront to all the citizens and free peoples of Naboo. I think that should work out quite nicely.