[Solved] Terror on the Akul's Bite (Terrifying Tales LTC)

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Previously: Bespin Hall of Heroes

Terror on the Akul's Bite

The door to Dracos’ cabin slid open and in burst Bindi, who slammed something down on his desk. “What the hell is this?” she demanded.

Dracos looked up from his seat bewildered. “Why hello Bindi; great to see you again too. How was your soirée on Bespin? You seem well rested!” The green-scaled lizard responded mockingly, then pushed his datapad to one side and picked up the item on the desk. It looked like a run-of-the-mill data card with no distinguishing features.

“Don’t give me that attitude,” snapped Bindi. She was a tall Miralian woman, marked with a pattern of small blue tattoos across the crown of her nose and short blonde locks. “My ‘soirée’ was interrupted by some friend of yours accosting me and slipping me this data card. ‘A matter of life and death’, she said. Practically ruined the evening.”

At that, Dracos stood up, his snout paling to a lighter shade of green. “Slow down, Bindi. I have no idea what this is about. Who gave you this?” He held up the wafer-thin data card. 

“Some Firrero woman; golden-skinned; black hair. She never gave me her name. Said you two had spent time together in the same neck of the woods…”

“Sisseri…” The reptilian man said the name softly, then tried to usher the Mirialan woman out of his cabin.

Bindi refused. “No, Dracos. Whatever this is, I want to know. You’ve gotten me involved now whether you like it or not.”

Dracos had seen this stubborn mood before. Sighing, he sat and loaded up the data card. It was encrypted with the telltale sign of some failed attempts to hack the passcode. Dracos cocked an eye at Bindi.

“Yes? So? I may have tried to open it on the return trip from Bespin. You can hardly blame me.”

Dracos held her gaze until she looked away, then he hurriedly typed in a long passcode.

A holovid started played, but it was patchy and at least partially corrupted. It showed what looked like the interior of a starship engine bay. In the centre of the room was a hollow shaft that appeared to descend several levels deep. A variety of vents and machinery lined the walls of the empty room. 

Dracos and Bindi both leaned closer to the holovid to try and catch details from the dimly lit room. Then the footage flicked forward, the small Aurebesh numbers along the bottom indicating several hours’ gap.

Now there was a human man in the room. His back was toward the holocamera that must have captured this feed, but in the now yellow illumination in the room, his work overalls marked him clearly as a member of crew.

“I think that’s the uniform of the Third Fleet,” suggested Bindi, moments before the man turned and his face came into view.

Dracos inhaled sharply. “That’s Barney! Last I heard he was chief mechanic aboard the Akul’s Bite…” He started picking at a patch of dry scales on his neck, a tell that he was nervous.

Nothing seemed to happen for several minutes until the footage leapt forward again. As if from nowhere, two other humans were now in the room - one male and one female - also dressed in overalls. But there was something about them that seemed off, and the man Dracos named Barney seemed to recognise it too.

“What are you doing in here?” The audio was poor but the words were discernible.

“Looking for you, Barney,” said the woman. “In fact, we’ve been looking for you for several months now.”

Both the newcomers pulled an item out of their pockets but only the woman held hers up. With a snap-hiss, the engine room was bathed in red light as a blade of light appeared in her hand.

The reaction from Barney and Dracos was identical - one physical and one virtual - both men flinched and stumbled back several steps.

“Oh shavit!” swore Dracos. 

The footage flickered forward and then forward again, showing only broken glimpses of violence and brutality that Barney vainly tried to resist. 

A final clear clip appeared. The woman, her face twisted in a maelstrom of anger, viciously swung her blade at the now broken man in a mortal blow. His body slumped to the ground. In a final act of contempt, the woman rolled his body over the edge of the shaft and turned to her companion.

“Well, since he wouldn’t tell us where they’re now hiding, maybe the Wookiee will be more forthcoming…” 

She made to walk out of the room, but just for a moment looked directly at the holocam that had been recording the scene. Dracos and Bindi both jerked backwards - for the briefest of moments, the woman’s face contorted into some kind of evil monstrosity, almost as if she could see the pair of Free Colonies agents watching.

Then the moment passed and she stalked out of the room. Her partner looked around, reached his hand out - his fingers bent into a claw - in the direction of the holofeed and the footage snapped out.

Dracos collapsed into his chair. Next to him, Bindi leaned over his trash receptacle and retched. 

“Dracos…what the hell did we just see?”

His shoulders were slumped and Dracos seemed all of a sudden a lot smaller. Slowly, he set two glasses on the desk and filled them with Corellian brandy.

“Wash your mouth with this, first,” he said, passing one glass to Bindi before downing two shots from the other in quick succession. “This might take a moment…”

Build notes

And so continues the saga of Dracos and Bindi after a long interlude. Poor old Barney. He is actually from the old Marvel comics. I hope you enjoy the creepy gif, the first one I have made. The Akul's Bite is, of course, currently in the Endor system having dropped off the Ewok Tokkat.