Dark Reign, Part One: All Hail Lord Doom Until The End (Repost)

[Luci]

Through an unfortunate error, this thread was deleted, so it is being reposted as completely as is currently possibly.

The original thread was started by a post from Dr Doom. This first post is currently unavailable. Rather than attempt to do it justice by rewriting it, I’m going to attempt to summarize the events.

Dr Doom created a Doombot and sent it into Coruscant. The Doombot wreaked havoc on Empire forces until it was eventually stopped by a strike team led by Commander Anton Veers.

The thread below happens on the following day, after the remains of the Doombot have been collected and sent to the Imperial Armory.

***

Dr. Linda Himes walks briskly through the research department of the T1 Imperial Armory, her lab coat swishing angrily. The blonde bombshell has an adorable scowl on her otherwise bright features. A pair of Stormtroopers are blocking entry to her workshop.

"No, out of my way, no," she demands, a statement the Stormtroopers do not seem to acknowledge.

Linda hands them her access card, which they scan while she taps her foot impatiently.

"Linda Himes, Clearance: F-9," chirps a little robotic voice. The Stormtroopers let her pass to the retinal scan, and she opens a big blue eye wide for the camera. A moment later, the door opens.

"Welcome, Dr. Himes," says the voice pleasantly.

Linda ignores the voice as she storms into her workshop. A dwarf, a man, and a young woman are crowded around her workbench, upon which lay the remains of the robot from the attack on Tier-1 today. The woman is Linda's assistant, Chi'owo, who is blocking the men physically from getting closer to the bench.

"I can't let you touch anything until Dr. Himes signs a release," the tiny Twi'lek woman says firmly.

"I'm signing it, that's fine," replies one of the men curtly. Linda recognizes the smarmy anus crammed into the four thousand cred suit as Miles Heartwood, a inter-departmental bureaucrat and recreational puppy-kicker, and Linda's ex-boyfriend. The red-haired dwarf she does not recognize, but according to his badge he is Dugor Rahos, clearance level B-7.

"You can sign anything you want," Linda calls out. "But you're not walking out of here with that droid."

Heartwood freezes for a moment, then spins on the heel of his 200 cred boot and faces Linda with a smile.

"Finally," he says, apparently relieved. "Linda, you're here, good. Yeah, looks like the head honchos want this little guy over in Department B."

"Wookieshit," says Linda, her hands on her wide hips. "That bot runs on 14 DeckaOMs per MicroOM, and anything running on more than 12 requires a level nine clearance to receive. That plasma cannon discharges at six MiniOMS, that means it doesn't leave the armory. So even if I signed off on it, there's no one I can release it too. I can't release it to you. I can't release it to him," she says, gesturing to the dwarf who stood watching silently. "He's a B-7. What is that, space program?"

The dwarf smirks under his beard. "Yes,"  says Dugor in a very deep voice. "We need to study the alloy comprising-"

"I'll send you a sample," Linda replies coldly. "But unless you can find me someone who is authorized to receive this droid, I want you both out of my office, now."

"I will receive the droid," says a crisp, stern voice.

Everyone straightens up as Commander Aanton Veers walks in, his eyes falling on Linda.

"Sign the release, Dr. Himes," he says, not unkindly. Linda stares defiantly back for a moment, then signs the release.

"Take your droid and get out of here," she says. Chi'owo moves away from the workbench silently as Miles and the dwarf collects the pieces of the doombot.

"I want my jacket back, too," Miles adds from behind Veers' back as he and Dugor are walking out.

"Go fuck yourself, Miles," Linda calls as the doors close behind him. Linda rests her beautiful face in her hands for a moment.

"Um, Dr. Himes?" says Chi'owo timidly.

"Not now Chi, I'm just really-" Linda starts to say.

"Dr. Himes, I put a tracker in the droid."

***

Dr. Linda Himes considers herself a patriot. She considers individuals like Miles Heartwood traitors, and also fuckboys. Miles is one of many Imperial bureaucrats who make a killing in the black market selling Empire tech, and until recently, Linda has been able to keep him and his kind out of her department. Somewhere along the line this special brand of traitor found the political backing they needed in the form of Aanton Veers to start stealing weapons from right under Linda's nose, and she is fed up. She's fed up with the corruption, the lies, the treason, and she's determined to get proof of what they're up too.

It is to this end that Linda and her orange Twi'lek assistant Chi'owo are huddled together in a very expensive hovercraft in a very bad neighborhood in Tier-5, tracking a red dot on a phone that has been has been still for an hour. They pinpoint the location as a run down diner across the street. The tracker left the Imperial research facility a few hours ago, and the women have already tracked it through five tiers. They are so engrossed with their stakeout they do not notice a stranger in a three-piece-suit and fedora approaching until he taps on the driver side window with a gun.

***
[spoiler]
EARLIER THAT DAY


Bobby Stabs grins easily as he steers the battered Cadilliac Sixteen through the busy ground traffic of Teir-5, his handsome face lit by the artificial sunlight, dressed smartly in a three peice suit and fedora. His equally handsome and similarly dressed dark haired passenger, Jim the Gangster, has turned around to chat with their new pick ups.

"So," he asks. "You been in T5 long?"

The two curvy Twi'leks in the back seat roll their eyes in unison. The brightly colored prostitutes seemed to be bored with everything; bored with driving, bored with Bobby and Jim, even bored when they saw their pimp get beaten down earlier today. But, they had come along.

"Dogs," says one of the Twi'leks, the bright blue one, in a very strange accent

"Dogs?" repeats Jim worriedly. "Like, like dogs?"

"No," says the pink Twi'lek tersely. "Dogs. Smoke dogs."

"Oh, oh drugs," says Jim, visibly relieved. "Yeah we got drugs, we do drugs, you want drugs?"

The Twi'leks nod.

"Bobby, let's get home, let’s get these nice girl some drugs," says Jim, smiling easily.

Bobby shakes his head. "This shitbox aint gonna get us home, it's leaking all kinds of...I don't know, but it's leaking." The car is pretty beat up, the whole front end smashed like an accordion after they had rammed it into that pimps cadillac. "But," says the blonde man smoothly as the Twi'leks sigh. "I think I know a spot. Jim, call up Audrey, see if she still has Dungbomb's number."

***

Bobby Stabs and Jim the Gangster recline on one of the filthy couches in the Hufflepunk Hideout. The condemned apartment complex serves as a base of operations and squat-house for the Westside Hufflepunks, a group of ex-hogwarts alumni turned to a life of crime to support their drug habits. The Twi'lek girls are busy sniffing different colored powders off each other, and Bobby and Jim are able to relax a little, at least, as much as a gangster could ever relax on another gangster's turf.

Bobby and Jim are Gentlemen Jacks, but they are firmly in Westside territory here. Since the confrontation at the club, the Westside and the Gentlemen Jacks have an uneasy peace, but certainly asking to hang out at the Westside Hufflepunk base and do drugs with hookers is unprecedented, even downright historic.

But the Westside Hufflepunks are enthusiastic hosts, and make Bobby and Jim feel very welcome. Danny and Dungbomb, a pair of blue-haired twin witches, are particularly friendly.

"Here," says Dungbomb as she places a bowl in front of Bobby. Inside it is a razorblade and a brightly glowing green worm struggling in vain to escape the bowl.

"What the fuck is that?" asks Bobby reasonably.

"No idea," says Danny as she sits down next to Jim with a bowl as well. "But it makes peaches grow really big and gets you high as fuck."

"They're better fresh," adds Dungbomb as she expertly chops the green thing into powder and hands Bobby a rolled up dollar bill. "Quickly."

Bobby snorts the glowing green powder. Jim watches him carefully. Slowly, Bobby's eyes glaze over. He lifts his hand and stares at it in amazement.

"Holy shit, everything's claymation!" he exclaims, marveling at his hand. Danny and Dungbomb giggle. Jim shrugs.

"Alright, my turn."

***

After an hour Bobby and Jim, and their two new Twi'lek prostitute friends, and a few witch and wizard gangsters, all lay on the disgusting floor of the hufflepunk hideout staring at the ceiling.

"You look like an Amish tobacco lobbyist," says Dungbomb dreamily.

"You look like a line of Bratz doll made exclusively for Hot Topic," replies Bobby lazilly.

"I was thinking," says Danny in a weird voice as she sits up. Jim watches her big, claymation mouth open and close.

"Yeah," said Dungbomb, her bright blue playdough hair shifting weirdly. "We can get your, uhm, your car fixed up."

"Yeah?" says Jim slowly, his claymation tongue laboring. "That would be, uh, yeah, we should do that."

Bobby sits up, tries to say something, and instead simply nods his oversized head.

"Lets uh, let's go?" asks Danny, her clay pupils wide. "Can you drive?"

Jim nods like a liar. "Will they be ok?" he asks, gesturing to the passed out prostitutes.

Danny shrugs weirdly, her clay jacket rippling.

Jim nods like someone who doesn't care what happen to prostitutes.

"Then let's go."

***

Bobby, Jim, Danny, and Dungbomb sit around the Westside Chopshop, giggling. Jim, for one, is impressed.

The Chopshop is run by Chirpa the Ewok, a legendary figure in the Coruscant underworld. Although his gang, the Westside Ewoks, now consist only of Chirpa and his two brothers, they are still a vital part of the Westside infrastructure. In the street wars of Coruscant, vehicles are of vital importance. Every day Westside gangsters take their cars here, battered or broken or freshly stolen, and they need new tires or door or license plates. Bullets holes are a dead giveaway, for cops and Orcs alike. Chirpa keeps the Westside Chopshop humming smoothly so he can get the cars back on the street.

Jim watches as Chirpa's brother Barro uses a kind of laser to open up the crumpled hood of his Cadillac Sixteen. Chirpa himself is modifying a sportsbike, welding a kind of armor around the front wheel. Chirpa's other brother, Arnold, is making a Heater.

Heaters are a kind of homemade gun made of stolen Imperial tech, haphazardly fused together into crude blasters. They are dangerous, unwieldy, and have a tendency to explode on whoever is using them. Jim the Gangster think's they're pretty cool though.

"Hello," says a polite voice. Jim's first impression of Chirpa is that of an adorable claymation bear, but then again, he was under the effect of a very strong hallucinogen.

"Hi," says Bobby, giggling.

Jim tries to sit up straight as Chirpa eyes the group silently. He sees his three companions try to do the same, and wonders if he looks like as much of a shit-show as they do. Probably, he decides.

"We need cars," says the Ewok finally. "You kids wanna make some money?"

***
[/spoiler]

***

Jim the Gangster smiles pleasantly as he signals the terrified Dr. Linda Himes to roll down the window on her top-of-the-line hovercar. The Dr. presses a button, and the window zooms down.

"Hi, Jim the Gangster, Internal Revenue Service, Quaker Division," says the dark haired stranger, peering into the car. He reaches in and grabs Linda's access badge. "Ok, Ms...Himes"

"Doctor," corrects Linda instinctually.

Jim grins. "Well Doc, I'm hear to inform you that you are currently under an Intelligence Audit. Looks like you haven't paid your Dumbass Tax in quite some time, so we're gonna have to seize your...assets."

Linda crosses her arms over her ample chest uncomfortably.

"Out of the car," comes a bored voice from the passenger side window. Danny, the blue-haired teenage witch, is pointing a glowing wand at Chi'owo.

The two women exit the car hastily, Linda holding her phone behind her back, which fools Jim exactly not at all.

"Give it here," he says. Linda hesitates, and Jim gets a very ugly look in his eyes, and Linda hands over the phone. Jim eyes the tracking app for a second.

"What are you tracking, all the way down here in T5? What could get you out of your little T1 lofts and into the hood this late at night, in a car as nice as this?" he asks.

Linda and Chi'Owo do not respond, but simply stand frozen in fear on the side of road.

The tracker starts to move, and Jim looks over at the diner to see a white van pulling up to a pair of orcs. Jim whips out his phone, presses '1' on speed dial, and a moment later Bobby Stabs picks up.

"Yeah?" says Bobby, his breathing suspiciously heavy. Jim glares at the black Honda parked down the street, where Bobby and Dungbong are waiting.

"You see those tuskfuckers at the diner?" Jim asks.

"Yeah," says Bobby, more focused this time. "Yeah, what's up? They owe us money?"

"Probably. Let's go collect,"

***

A firefight rages on the streets of Coruscant.

Danny and Dungbomb, the blue haired twin witches, cast shield charms around Bobby and Jim, who keep up a steady stream of machine-gun fire.

Across the street, four orcs hide behind a white van, shooting vicious orbs of blue flames.

The orc weapons are clearly superior, as one shot breaks the Shield Charms of the witches, forcing them to keep strafing. The machine guns, on the other hand, don't seem to be penetrating through the white van to the orcs behind it.

Linda screams as a blue ball of fire whizzes over her head, but Jim has tackled her to the floor while Danny shields them from the blast. The three are crouched behind Linda's expensive hovercraft.

"The trunk!" Linda yells to Jim wildly, who wastes no time popping the trunk, opening it just as another blue fireball hits the passenger-side door and rocks the car. Linda rummages desperately through her trunk for a few moment before tossing something to Jim; a clip for his machine gun. Jim, to his credit, does not ask questions, but simply reloads his machine gun with the new clip and starts to fire on the orcs.

A bright red stream of incendiary plasma bullets erupts from the gun, catching the gas tank of the van and sparking a massive explosion.

Bobby and Dungbomb rush forward, Bobby spraying the orcs with bullets while Dungbomb casts a series of red stunning spells. Three orcs lay on the ground unmoving. Bobby wanders up to one of them, who is holding a locked suitcase in his stiff hand, and pries it out. He barely has time to count before the fourth orc runs up behind Bobby Stabs and stabs him with a wickedly curved sword.

"Stupefy!" Dungbomb cries, blasting the orc off of Jim.

Jim and Dungbomb drag his bleeding body across the street and toss him in the back.

"Doc," says Jim the Gangster, waving his pistol menacingly. "Doc, you gotta fix him up."

Linda sputters as Bobby bleeds out in her backseat. "I'm, I'm not that kind of Doctor..."

Jim laughs tensely. "Well, you better fucking learn fast. Take her girlfriend, meet up at the garage when I call you," he says to the twins, who each grab one of Chi'owo's arms. The Twi'lek starts to whimper as the witches frogmarch her across the street and into the black Honda, then speed away.

"In the back," says Jim as he hops into the driver seat, gun still in his hands. Linda tries not to get any blood on her lab coat as she climbs in, and fails.

"You better start stitching or something," Jim calls as he revs the hovercraft;s engine. "Because if my friend dies, I don't really have much use for you, or your girlfriend."

***

Also missing from this thread is a final post I wrote. In this final post, Audrey saves Bobby Stab’s life by giving him the gift of vampiric blood. Also in this final post, Chi’Owo experimented with crime, drugs, and interspecies twincestual lesbian orgies with the Westside Hufflepunks. Truly a loss.

When we next see Linda Himes, it is in this post

http://omniverse-rpg.com/showthread.php?...#pid101161

When we next see Chi’Owo, it is in this post

http://omniverse-rpg.com/showthread.php?...#pid100797

Where she is erroneously referred to as a ‘green’ Twi’Lek with asiatic features.