Quo's Tie Oppressor came in to land, if you could call it land. It certainly couldn't sustain life, consisting of barren rocks, blackened, and glass like in appearance. Leaving his ship, Quo was stunned at how much devastation had been caused to this place, growing land originally, small farmsteads who made their livings from feeding the masses within the cities around. Nothing would grow here for a long time.
His gold and red eyes scanned around. It would be no use sending out probe droids, they would only sense that a life form was there, not whether it was force sensitive, or even sentient for that matter, just that it had a heartbeat and a nervous system. He stretched out with his thoughts and feelings, trying to sense that which Marcus had said was out here, a prospect, a hope. Marcus had narrowed the search parameter down to within 30 clicks, and there were at least 3 possible targets within that area.
Quo knew there were others searching differing sectors of the planet, where a deflection of the force had been felt, but as always, the Dark Side was a difficult thing to trace. Those Light Side wielders stood out like shining beacons, and were easy to track down and pinpoint.
A slight tingling, like a half itch, just behind one of his horn stubs was the first inkling that he had that there were others out there, watching, assessing whether he would serve well as an aperitif, or a main, or was indeed worth the effort. There were only three of them, whatever they were, and unsure they stayed low, hugging the ground to prevent a silhouette. Quo reached out to the nearest of them, giving a sharp jab mentally, add a bit of a burn, mix in a little fear, and away they scampered into the distance. He didn't need the distraction, he had a job to do.
Moving quickly and quietly he headed over the darkened ground, heading towards the east, using the natural cover of night to cover the five clicks to the settlement that the scanners had detected
on the ship's sensors as he approached. It wouldn't take long, he was young and fit, he would be there well before sunrise.
The settlements was not a lot more than a camp, arranged around a central wooden hall, with temporary canvas living spaces littering the site. From the size of the encampment Quo estimated that there were only twenty or occupants. He sensed that two of the targets that he was sent to investigate were here.
Taking his communicator from his belt he keyed the transmit button.
"Quo-Wing-Tzun to Marcus Kiriyu. I have found two of the targets"
"Capture them, do not take no for an answer," came the curt reply
Replacing the communicator Quo rose from his position, no longer needing to hide himself from sight, and made his way to the clearing where the camp had been made. A whining zing passed his ear, Quo was already rolling, the lightsabre igniting as he finished the roll. He had already worked out the trajectory of the projectiles flight, and was confident that he knew where the shot had come from.
The second dwelling on his left became his immediate target. Mentally scanning for the primary target that may be inside, and finding none, he focussed on the occupants. Two male, one female, the female being the shooter. His blade made light work of the fabric and wood structure, bringing it down on the three, leaving the dispatching of them an easy task. Three strokes of his blade and they were finished, without even seeing them.
Whirling on the balls of his feet he headed directly for the main hall, putting his boot through the door of the entrance. In the centre was a fire, around the outside, armed with cudgels, knives, and blades were the rest of the occupants of the camp.
"We saw your ship land," came a voice from across the fire.
Quo looked slowly around the room, all the adults had simple weapons, a couple having vibroblades.
"You are no match for me," Quo growled, glaring at them one at a time.
His eyes fell on two of the children, gripping tightly to the man who had spoken, looking frightened, uncertainty written across their faces. To his right another female, with hard, unblinking eyes glared at him. The anger was rising within her, he could feel it. Good. He saw his blade reflected in her eyes, reinforcing the red tinge that was already there.
"You have two things I want, and I will take them," Quo was brooking no argument from them with this, using the Force to reinforce the 'want' and 'take'. He heard the breath being sucked from several of the villagers as he spoke them.
"You will try!" It was the girl, speaking as she launched herself at him, her blade held in a reverse grip, the sharpened edge running from the bottom of her hand along the outside of her wrist, and up her forearm. Reaching out with her left hand she attempted a rudimentary Force throw of a smouldering log at him. Quo's blade slashed upwards and outwards in a smooth arc, slicing the log in two, deflecting both pieces away from him.
Her initial lunge was a bluff, in mid air she had somersaulted over him, swapping hands with the blade, now carrying it in her left hand. Impressive he thought. Her attack came at neck height from his left as she pirouetted to land, Quo leaning to avoid the blade cutting into his flesh, forwards, and to the right, using his movement to pivot on his right foot, bringing her back onto his centreline, his sabre completing it's arc right to return to his centre.
Eyes feral, and lips pulled back in a rictus snarl, she stood staring at him, balanced, and relaxed. Quo saw that her muscles were not tensed, but ready, primed for action. He feinted with his lightsabre, towards her right shoulder, she moved left, bringing her blade carrying hand up and across her body, just as Quo had hoped. Reversing the feint he jabbed her in the left shoulder muscle. Pain registered on her face, although the determination did not diminish one iota. Her left arm hung at her side, useless, although given time it would heal. She transferred her blade across to the other hand.
"You would do well to learn from this, you are not yet strong enough. With training though, you have much potential young one," Quo looked her straight in the eye, "and we can give you that training. You will become more powerful than you can ever imagine." Turning, he looked straight at the girl child gripping to the male, presumably the leader, "as will you youngling."
"You see, that's where the problem lies," spoke the man, "they belong to me, and I will protect them from all harm, even unto death." Pushing the children behind him, two of the other males moving to flank him.
Quo looked from one to the other of them, and back to the girl amazon next to him. He gently probed with the force, he sensed her conflict, that word power had had the desired effect. He fanned the rage within her, her confusion writing every twist and turn upon her young face.
Quo's left hand flew up, towards the shielding men, the merest glint of orange reflecting off the twin throwing blades making their way across the hall to slam into the eye of one of the flanking men, and the throat of the other. They were dead before they hit the floor.
Shock registered on the face of the leader, his mouth hanging open as he looked at the corpses by his feet. The girl leapt, driving the vibroblade into the open maw and upwards, killing him where he stood.
Good, thought Quo, good.
Taking the girl child by her hand, the slender young woman led her from the midst of the shell shocked group, following Quo as he headed back toward his ship. There was still another out there, but for the moment two out of three wasn't bad.
"Quo to Marcus, I have two, send a transport." Striding into the first light of dawn, he led the duo on their first steps of destiny.