This is the second Kaz Zhorin story. This one is a little longer and has a bit more detail in it. Let me know what you think.
A small green light began to blink to Kaz’s wrist. Kaz touched the small light to stop the blinking which alerted him that the ship was about the leave hyperspace. Kaz resumed his work on his new jetpack which had been damaged ever since he took it from a rival bounty hunter. He remembered back to when his friend Lavidean Triblen first tried to sell him a jetpack, “In my experience things filled with any kind of fuel tend to explode at the most inappropriate of times.” Kaz had told him. “Anyway it’s not like I’ve ever needed one.”
Kaz left the jetpack on the workbench and returned to the cockpit. The ship had just come out of hyperspace and was entering the atmosphere of Ord Mantell. Kaz glanced over at the navicomputer to check that the co-ordinates were correct. After making a few small adjustments he returned to the storage room to prep his gear. Everything seemed to be in working order. That is except for the jetpack. Kaz looked at it weighing up the risks and finally decided to finish making the final repairs and take it with him.
Kaz turned off the auto-pilot as the ship approached Great Rock, one of the larger cities on Ord Mantell. Once he got clearance Kaz landed on one of the landing pads. Despite its age and the look of it about to collapse it would have to do. He didn’t plan on staying long anyway. Kaz did his final equipment check before heading out into the sprawling city. Just as Kaz had left his ship he was met by a landing official, a rare event in a place like this. “Name please?” the human enquired as Kaz walked towards him. “Bejo Rokanh” replied the bounty hunter, using one of him many aliases. “Ok then Mr. Rokanh I’ll just need you signature here.” responded the official. Kaz make a fake signature before walking away.
Kaz roamed through the streets of Great Rock looking for the target building. As he rounded the corner he could see his objective. It was a large weapons manufacturing plant that stood about twenty stories high. The only other surrounding buildings were some warehouses, some of which looked to be abandoned, and a cantina across the street. Not wanting to stand out from the crowd Kaz headed inside the cantina which smelled horrid. Not wanting to stick around Kaz quickly headed for the back door and escaped out into the alley. Now it was a simple as getting into the target’s location from behind.
Kaz silently approached the rear of the building and assessed the best way to infiltrate it. Suddenly he heard two voices coming from around the corner. Kaz decided that violence now would just make things harder so he hid behind a pile of garbage. The two voices got louder and two figures came around the corner. One of them appeared to be a Rodian and the other an Aqualish. Both of them were wearing a uniform with the company logo on it. Security? This is too easy. Kaz pulled out a small pellet from his belt and threw it behind the guards. As the pellet hit the ground it made a larger crack sound gaining the guards attention. Kaz then proceeded to strike both guards in the head with his elbow, incapacitating them both.
Looking through the belts of the guards Kaz found their comlinks. He then took some time using his own comlink to copy the frequency, allowing him to monitor all incoming messages from anyone in the building. With both bodies laying on the ground unconscious Kaz decided that they could alert the guards and set off the alarms. It would be best if the were moved, so Kaz dragged both bodies and put them into the garbage were he had hidden earlier. With that out of the way Kaz resumed his search for the best way to enter the building.
It was small but he could still fit through it. A ventilation shaft on the side of the building seemed the best way in unnoticed. Kaz took out his laser cutter and carefully removed the grate before sliding himself inside remembering to reattach it so nobody would notice. It was dark in the shaft tunnels but Kaz could still manage to see a few meters in front of him. Kaz quickly brought up the building layout on his visor set marked the fastest route to the nearest service turbolift. Crawling through the small ventilation tunnels Kaz began to hear the various communications coming through his helmet comlink. Fortunately none of it was about him.
A few minutes later Kaz arrived at the service turbolift. Kaz eagerly climbed out of the ventilation system and stood in the wide turbolift shaft. Unable to tell what level the turbolift was at Kaz would just have to make do. The bounty hunter knew that his jetpack could get him up there in no time at all but if something went wrong it could be very painful. Kaz stood there contemplating the decision. Reluctantly he hit the switch on his wrist, his jetpack thrusting him into the air. He flew up to the seventeenth story of the building before seeing the turbolift the next level up. With the press of a button the jetpack shut off as Kaz grabbed the bottom of the turbo lift.
The map of the building flashed up on his visor again indicating that another vent was the only way around the turbolift. The bounty hunter looked around to find the vent. Thankfully this one was significantly larger than the last. Swinging with full force Kaz launched himself at the grate shattering it and safely landing inside the vent lying on his back. The vent was big enough for Kaz to crouch in allowing him to move much faster than previously. Checking the building layout again Kaz identified a garbage chute which came from the upper levels.
Cutting a hole into the chute Kaz then managed to climb up the next two floors before getting back into the ventilation shafts. Kaz had memorised the route back to the service turbolift and quickly made his way towards the turbolift. “What the hell was that?” exclaimed a voice over the comsystem. “Something just blew a hole in the wall on level two!” said another voice. “Don’t just stand there move!” exclaimed the first voice in a panic. “There he is open fire.” Sounded a voice followed by blaster shots. “He’s making a run for it! Quick activate security lockdown!” said another voice.
Suddenly plasteel sheets came out of nowhere sealing the vents and trapping Kaz inside them. What the hell is going on? I told that slug not to give anyone else this bounty. He’ll be paying triple for this. Kaz removed the cutting laser from his belt and began to melt the plasteel walls that blocked his path. As the last plasteel wall melted away Kaz noticed that the chatter on the comms was coming to a stop. “We can’t find him Sir.” reported one of the security members. “It’s like he just disappeared.” A grumble came over the system followed by, “Well until I see a body keep looking.”
Kaz climbed into the turbolift shaft and gazed up to the final level of the building. Considering that his jetpack had worked without fail last time Kaz decided to use it once more. Kaz was launched up to the final floor of the building and according to his visor there were only a few rooms. One of which was the CEO’s office, his objective. Forcing the turbolift doors open Kaz climbed inside and checked the halls. It was all clear. He then proceeded towards the largest room. As he approached the door Kaz activated his thermal lenses. There were only five people in the room. Two of them seemed to be guards with another two sitting on chairs talking to what appeared to be the client.
Kaz took out his blaster and stormed into the room firing three shots at the guards who were caught completely unaware. He then fired another two shots at the two beings that were sitting down leaving only his target left standing in shock. Just as Kaz was about to fire the killing blow he heard screams of pain coming from outside the room. He turned around only to see another bounty hunter standing in the doorway, corpses of security guards behind him.
Kaz stood in shock as he saw the other bounty hunter standing there. It was his former childhood friend, Travar Suvan. Security began to flood in behind Suvan who quickly activated a stealth field generator to avoid them. The guards flooded into the room, blasters pointed straight at Kaz. “We have you surrounded and out numbered. Put down your weapons.” called out the leader. Kaz gave a sly smirk, “You don’t have me surrounded.” Kaz then spun around and dashed towards his target, evading the blaster fire. He grabbed the man and kept running full speed and then proceeded to smash through the massive window that acted as a wall.
Plummeting towards the ground Kaz used his free hand to activate his jetpack controls. A sudden thrust came from the jetpack only to be met with nothingness. Every bloody time. Kaz began to hit other buttons on his wrist. The constant screaming of the target was beginning to get of his nerves. Remembering that the target was worth nothing alive the bounty hunter let him go and gave him a kick to the chest to increase the poor mans momentum. The ground was approaching them at a rapid speed and Kaz was running out of options. He fired his liquid cable launcher into the air, hoping it would hit something.
About time. The cable had attached onto his ship just as it flew overhead. Kaz glanced down at his wrist to check where his ship was heading. He hit a few buttons and the ship began to slow down and opened the loading ramp. Kaz pulled himself up and climbed into the ship. He looked down at what he had caused. There was a massive crowd gathering around the lone corpse that had hit the streets. No doubt emergency crews are one there way.
Kaz sat down in the cockpit and set course for Nal Hutta. He removed his mask and walked into the storage room. Taking off his jetpack Kaz looked at it before throwing it down on the workbench. Unreliable piece of crap. Kaz then removed his other gear and lay it out before him, checking everything was in working order. When everything was checked he headed back to the cockpit. Who’s next on the list?
Tue May 24, 2011 5:56 am by 
E.P.O.C.H Wiki
HeroMachine 2.5
