"We didn't come here for you," the Captain called out to Deven, ignoring his claim about more Sith on the way since he'd heard similar things from suspects before, "Leave here quick as you came and, I hate to say it, but you'll have a good chance of getting out of here." It wasn't a bad offer, considering from the Captain's haircut and his demeanor that he was obviously a lawman and, no doubt, the idea of a suspect escaping was one that rankled him.

Roland, meanwhile, was a busy man. His E-Web was overheated. He could fix it—of course he could fix it—but it would take time. Instead, after catching his breath and thanking the Force for being alive, he delved into his satchel and retrieved two items. The first, a stun blaster similar to the ones the rest of the team held. The second, his other ion bomb (aforementioned). Sarous had set the yield on this one, too, to cover the radius of the docking bay. This was too risky, of course, with the team now inside. It would disable their weapons as well as that lightsaber, or whatever it was, on the perp's arm. Roland quickly adjusted the charge as Sarous had taught him (and so the unfortunate Zabrak was useful even in death). It wasn't scientific, but it didn't have to be.

As far as they knew, Deven hadn't been at the hangar bay, or near it, when the first bomb was used. Thus, there was no reason he'd know what was coming. With the adjustment made, Roland tucked the EMP under his arm and clicked the safety off of his pistol as he abandoned the smoldering E-Web and rounded the top of the docking bay to where he, too, could get a line of fire on Deven (he stayed back from the edge of the docking bay as he moved, so that he wouldn't be seen from the ground changing his position).

"Hell Cap'n, we havin' a clambake or not?" Hammond said loudly, his eyes on Deven all the while. "He wants to run? He can run. He don't? He can die. Either way, here's some incentive for you, pateesa!" Holding his stun blaster in both hands to steady his aim and ignoring the painful throbbing in one arm from his fall, Hammond opened fire repeatedly on Deven from moderately close range. And so did they all, again. Stun blasts would converge on the suspect from Hammond and, reluctantly, from Neese and the Captain. In a moment, Roland would join them. All of them fired furiously and, moreover, the Captain and Neese had surmised from Deven's speed that it would be necessary to stagger their shots to the left and right of him as well, in no particular order. That is, they shot where he was and where he might be an instant from now.

They took care not to hit Hammond in the crossfire, although Hammond wasn't as careful to return the favor. For now, however, they fired in tandem. It was a formidable array for Deven who, in the 8 to 10 seconds which had elapsed, doubtless had not recovered his wits and his concentration sufficiently to pose another Force attack on them. At least, not as powerful as his prior ones had been.

Gregory Blount
Imperial Intelligence

"Right, let's do this quick," the Captain said, gesturing for Hammond to follow him as he moved briskly toward the sick man's body, "Roland, stay up top and keep an eye out. Neese, check on Sarous and toss me his bag." Roland and the Rodian nodded, and went about the tasks described. Hammond took his time, limping around the shuttle and cussing the whole way. The Captain, for his part, ignored the throbbing pain in his hand as he, too, went about his work. He caught the satchel with his good hand as Neese tossed it to him, then dropped it on the ground beside Voss and shuffled through it for the wires and tools that he'd need.

"You know what you're doing?" Hammond asked, now beside him and keeping his pistol on Voss.

But the Captain ignored him, as he used a hydrospanner to carefully, but quickly remove the plate over the suspect's respirator. Truth be told, he had only elemental training in field repair. But he knew enough to find his way around the device and to see that the EMP had, as expected, done a fair amount of damage to it. The circuits to the main, portable generator had been fried, as had the generator itself. It seemed to be functioning on a backup battery, but this too had been damaged and, in the Captain's estimation, wouldn't last long. He wished Sarous was here, and hoped the Zabrak was alright.

"There should be a battery in there," the Captain said to Hammond, referring to the satchel as he went about pulling out the charred wires—shutting down the respirator—and replacing them with the clean ones Sarous had brought with him, "Hand it to me, quick." The smuggler did so, and in a moment it was all connected properly. But the respirator didn't turn on. Shit. He needed a jump, and fast. "Keep your piece on him," he said, and the smuggler was too happy to oblige. The Captain, meanwhile, sat on the sand and took the hydrospanner to his blaster pistol, removing the casing and exposing the delicate and dangerous circuitry within. His brow sweating and fingers throbbing in agony, he disconnected the wire that ran from the firing mechanism to the gas chamber and connected it, instead, to the respirator.

He set the blaster to "Kill," pointed it away from him, held his breath, and pulled the trigger. It worked. The electrical charge from the blaster was just enough to jump start the breathing device, now functioning on its new battery.

"Sarous is dead," Neese called out to them, somberly. Hammond's brow furrowed in anger and his grip tightened on his pistol—he'd only worked with the Zabrak occasionally and didn't know him well, but the Smuggler's Alliance took care of its own or, at least, avenged its own. If the Republic didn't need the sick man alive, he'd shoot him dead here and now. The Captain saved the suspect's life, so Hammond would be paid. But he still didn't like it.

"Neese, you get Sarous. Hammond, help me with this one." The Captain removed his poncho and covered Voss with it, so as not to arouse suspicion. Hammond stood there a moment longer, his blaster still trained on Voss, until finally he relented. The three of them moved the bodies to another door on the far side of the docking bay which led to an adjacent bay that they had requisitioned for their ship, a Barloz-class freighter. The doors above both bays were closed by the Trandoshan and the Gran in the control tower, at the NRI's request, to remain inconspicuous. From the air, the NRI's team would seem simply to disappear. Except for Roland, that is. The gunner packed up his E-Web, and the EMP, and eventually made his way back into the sick man's docking bay. He had a look inside the Nevermore, took some holos of the interior (and the droids inside), and removed the navigations computer. Later, it would no doubt be assumed that Jawas or other scavengers had done this. Otherwise, though, the Sentinel-class vessel was left undisturbed. The Hutts would impound it later, most likely.

Some time later, as sunset neared, the freighter would depart Tatooine with its captive for parts unknown.

Gregory Blount
Imperial Intelligence