Fiction Gallery

Dathomir Passerby, Glowing red dot in the sky. The Deathsworn descend.

Tarentum Dark, Victorious Descending, Defeating, Murdering Sith, Death, Flight, Night Running, Hiding, Dying Meddlesome, Destructive sisters

Tarsus and Scorpion finally arrived back at the room Scorpion was staying at. The two carried each other in, both having cracked ribs from the crash. Tarsus laid Scorpion down her bed gently.

“Rest,” he said. “You need it."

Scorpion couldn’t help but chuckle. "Brings back memories, eh?"

Tarsus smiled as he sat next to her. "Yeah... I guess it does."

"Tell me we never worked out," she asked Tarsus as sat up.

"Darling, we both new it would have never work out."

"I don't know," Scorpion said as she laid her head on his shoulder. "I thought we had connected pretty well... especially after what happened back at Yavin 4."

"Yavin 4 was one big colossal cluster fuck of everything going wrong," Tarsus said as he couldn't help but lay his head on hers.

"Yeah... it was, yet you saved my life," she added as she wrapped her arms around his.

"As you saved mine."

"Nah. I didn't," Scorpion told Tarsus. "Your armor did. I just dragged you to safety."

"Yeah, yeah."

Scorpion chuckled as she looked up at Tarsus. "We could have made it worked."

"So we said three times before," Tarsus told him.

"Then maybe four will be lucky," she said as she kissed Tarsus. Tarsus turned away as she did. Scorpion's face showed she was hurt as Tarsus rejected her.

Tarsus looked back and said, "I'm sorry, Scorpion. I didn't mean to hurt you."

“I'll be fine,” she said as he got back up. “I'm taking a shower,” she told Tarsus as she walked in the bathroom to take a hot shower.

Tarsus was now alone, and in deep thought. He was now torn between duty and honor. Tarsus and Scorpion had some serious history together. They had worked together in the past. Not only that, but they were good friends. Scorpion saved his skin, and Tarsus saved hers several times. Now, it was his job to kill her.

Scorpion finally walked out of the bathroom about an hour later. This was plenty of time for Tarsus to decide on what he should do.

As Scorpion walked out of the bathroom in her robes, Tarsus suddenly charged at her with his knife. She quickly dodged out of the way. “I knew you'd do this!’ she said as he took out her knife. “After all, you're with the Brotherhood!”

She charged at Tarsus. Tarsus raised his knife, and blocked her attack. She struck quickly and ferociously, yet Tarsus blocked her every attack. The attacks eventually had him corned against the dresser. This caused him to stubble a bit; losing his footing. Scorpion took it as an advantage, and went to stab him. Tarsus; however, quickly grabbed her hand. He then pushed his knife into her stomach. Her eyes widened up as shock went through her.

“You…. You…”

“I'm sorry, Scorpion,” Tarsus said as he laid her down. “But there was no other way.”

A week had passed as Tarsus stood before Shadow Nighthunter. She read his report as he stood there quietly in front of her.

“So, Snake is dead, as well as Scorpion, yet Crow got away.” Shadow sighed as she sat the report down. “Well, we got two of them at least. You did well. I liked how to used one to kill the other. Very nice. Anyways, you're dismissed. We'll be sending a team for Crow. Get some rest. You deserve it.”

Tarsus left to his room after the report was done. As he walked in, he found that some of his belongings was missing.

“Scorpion, you little bitch,” he said under his breath. “I'm gonna kill you.”

Tarsus and Scorpion where traveling together in Scorpion's custom speeder. The trunk of the speeder was modified to hide her two 1D9 droids for emergencies. Tarsus thought it was a neat little touch.

They were traveling over Daemon; heading west to the ice fields to link up with Crow. Scorpion had made an emergency call to him. She told Crow that someone had killed Snake, and that they needed to link back up. Her ploy was to trick him to being exposed, and have her and Tarsus ambush him along with his two followers. Tarsus felt the plan was fool proof, yet a lingering doubt plagued his mind.

“Do you think he's onto us?” Tarsus asked Scorpion as they were exiting Daemon's city limits.

“I don't know,” she said. “I doubt it, though. We've worked with each other for quite some time. He should trust-”

A huge explosion rocked the speeder they were in. It fell one hundred feet, and hit the ground harshly. Tarsus and Scorpion both slowly climbed out of the wreckage; both in serious pain.

“I take he's onto us,” Tarsus said as they were quickly surrounded by police. The two shrugged off the pain, and pulled out their weapons. There were ten officers to kill; Four in front of them, and six taking their rear flank. Tarsus fired a shot into the gut of one which caused him to shoot the back of his comrade. Scorpion quickly threw her knife into a third, but the fourth fired a shot. He missed, and Tarsus shot him in the head. He turned his attention to the first one who was shot, and finished him quickly. The other six opened fire. Tarsus and Scorpion got in cover. As they laid pinned down, Scorpion pressed a button that released her 1D9 droids. They quickly ripped the officers in pieces. The Droids were suddenly destroyed. Tarsus and Scorpion popped up, and saw a group of three.

“Crow, and his friends,” Scorpion said as they got out from cover to engage them.

“How did you know?” Scorpion asked Crow.

“I have friends in high places,” he said. “You should know I have completed access to all the city's security resources. I've been watching you this whole time.”

Crow’s cronies unsheathed their kitanas, and charged them both. Tarsus got Kiv to worry about. Kiv quickly went to stab Tarsus, but Tarsus quickly side stepped, and grabbed his arm. Tarsus then suddenly pulled out his trust rusty bowie knife, and stabbed Kiv in the throat. He violently pulled out his blade, nearly cutting off Kiv’s head. Without warning, Tarsus threw his blade at Crow, landing it in his leg. He turned to his left, and saw Scorpion struggling to get Morson’s sword out of her hands. Tarsus pulled out his pistol, and fired a shot through the side of Morson’s head. He turned his attention to Crow, who began firing at them with his blaster. Scorpion and Tarsus ran to cover, and then heard more police sirens.

“Time to leave!” Tarsus shouted as he jumped on a nearby speeder. Scorpion jumped on, and they sped off as fast as they could.

Just as soon as the ship had touched down, it was gone again, but not before leaving something behind. Whispering promises of magic and adventure, the couple on the ship had set their daughter on the grass below and watched without breathing as she laughed happily, running to the edge of the clearing and to the forest. They slowly made their way back onto the ship,and before the little girl knew what was happening, the ship doors had closed again and her parents were gone. She ran frantically back, the exhaust from the ship blowing her hair around. Tears formed in her eyes as she watched them slowly rise up and disappear out of the planet's atmosphere. The couple let out the breath they were holding in relief. Their lives were saved from the monster they'd created, and perhaps they could go on to have more normal children.

Everything now seemed a lot quieter, and yet louder at the same time. The girl, named Kaila by her parents, was no older than five years old. She'd been so excited to take a trip with her parents. They'd told her it was a beautiful place with big trees to climb and lots of fun creatures. Why had they left her behind? She sat in the grass where the ship had been, sniffing loudly as tears continued to pour out of her eyes. She pulled her knees close to her, wondering if her parents would ever come back. The sun was beginning to set, and with it came a chill in the air. Shadows from the trees stretched longer across the ground as the sun moved, slowly striping the ground she sat on.

From the treeline, her cries had drawn the attention of a small pack of feline creatures known as Nexu. The leader, a female, blinked her four eyes slowly, tilting her head in curiosity at the tiny scrap of a human that sat, curled into itself in the middle of the clearing. It would make an easy meal for sure, but something about this human intrigued her. It's cried drew out her maternal instincts, and after chittering a message for the others to meet her back at their home, she slowly padded out of the forest and towards the weeping child. If this child was all alone, perhaps she would take it in as it's mother.

This was a pivotal moment for Mal. Later on, she would realize she was abandoned because her parents feared her and her growing force abilities. They feared what they did not know, and after the Jedi refused to take her due to her age, they decided to simply drop her off on a nearby planet. Malice would grow more and more bitter, and eventually, it would lead to her opinion that non-force users were weak and pathetic and not worth her time. She would also learn to draw on this memory full of fear and betrayal, and use it to strengthen herself, vowing to never again let herself be as helpless and vulnerable as she was that day.

Prompt Choice: Enemy Mine

Character Rival: Ryan Neale #10609

Malice blinked awake, realizing instantly she was somewhere unfamiliar. Leaning aginst the back wall, she seemed to be in some kind of prison cell. She tried to think of how she had gotten here, but the last thing she remembered was creeping over a hill in an attempt to get some information on the Odan Urr fighters nearby. She'd volunteered herself for the mission, knowing her stealth abilities outmatched anyone else on her team. Had she even gotten close enough to hear anything? She didn't think so. Something must have happened before she could reach them.

"Oh good, you're awake." A voice called from the other side of her cell. She looked up, scowling immediately. The voice belonged to a man who wore a fairly smug expression, his arms folded as he looked down at her. His dark blonde hair was cut fairly short, and he had very dark blue eyes. He reeked with light side energy, and Malice could only assume she'd been captured at some point. Sighing mostly to herself, she frowned at the thought of what Selika would say whenever she managed to escape this cell.

"I'm Ryan," The man began again. Malice raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm here to guard you, so don't get any ideas. I'm armed, you're not. It would be a very unwise choice to try anything."

She didn't reply, already focusing on trying to find a way out. She wasn't sure where she was, but she figured it was most likely somewhere on Florrum that they'd made a temporary base for holding prisoners. Even if she got out, she wouldn't make it far. There would be more enemies walking around, and she was likely to stick out like a sore thumb.

"So, you're Malice, right?"

The man's voice interrupted her thoughts, and she shot a glare at him from the corner of the room.

"I've heard about you. You're the Nexu girl, aren't you?" His eyes clearly showed his interest, and he didn't seem to care really at all that she was a dangerous sith.

"Yeah, I guess you could call me that." She said cautiously, eyeing him. He grinned at her response, seeming to get even more interested. She met his eyes coldly, and he seemed confused for a moment.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know if you've noticed or not but I'm not exactly in an ideal situation. " She snapped back. He flinched slightly at her voice, frowning.

"That's true I suppose. You were the only one we managed to capture, though. we set an explosion off and you were close enough to it that it hit you enough to knock you out. The rest of your clanmates escaped, though." He explained.

So that's what had happened. Malice was glad at least that no one else had been captured. She looked back up at her guard, her mind beginning to turn. He was friendly, and she sensed a lot of emotion in him, something he didn't seem shy about expressing, either. She turned her back to him, wanting to try to do some more thinking. He seemed like an obnoxiously pleasant person. He was probably a gentleman, and she wouldn't be surprised if his goal currently was to make a new friend. Jedi really were pathetic. Though this is the closest she'd been to one since arriving at her own clan, she knew enough to know she didn't plan on coming into contact with them again.

"Anyway, I'm not sure what we plan to do with you after the fighting is over, to be honest." The man admitted. Malice looked over her shoulder at him, trying to pick up any small details that might be useful.

"I'll probably be killed." She said matter of factly, shrugging.

The Jedi looked slightly worried.

"I'm sure they wouldn't. The Jedi are just in their actions. Perhaps they would ransom you back?"

"No one is going to pay you any amount of money for me back. It's not how we are. I'll be killed, and your precious Jedi will have the blood of a double murder on their hands." She turned her head back around, waiting for his reaction. Her pregnancy hadn't been something she'd made known to a lot of people. Selika knew and that was about it. Not that it needed to be a secret, Malice just wasn't one to go spurting her personal information off to anybody she saw.

"Wait...you're not...are you?" Ryan's voice, while at the start held disbelief, had now turned to shock. Even if she wasn't entirely, her unborn child was innocent. She felt him start to pity her, which is exactly the thing she'd been hoping to feel. She grinned to herself as she heard him pace a few lengths of the cell door. She brought her arm up slowly to her mouth, biting into it. She stiffened at the pain but didn't stop until she felt her own blood begin to well out of the wound, coating her tongue in the taste of iron. Looking behind her, the Jedi was still pacing, now seemingly deep in thought about her current circumstance. A drop of blood fell from her arm and onto the stone floor, and she hissed, breathing sharply. She hoped it seemed genuine.

"You're bleeding," Ryan said, gripping the bars on the door to her cell and looking in. She looked down, pretending it had been her first time seeing it.

"Hmm, I'm not actually sure how that happened." She said, examining the wound. She touched it with a finger and flinched like it had been very painful. Hopefully, the Jedi wouldn't be able to resist helping a damsel in distress.

Her plan seemed to work, as she heard him grumble under his breath about being quick and that no one would see, as he tore some material from his shirt, unlocking and stepping into her cell. She didn't move right away but allowed him to come closer. He noticed her stiffen as he got closer and held his hands up as a sign of good intentions.

"whoa there. I'm just going to get that wrapped up for you. We don't want you losing a lot of blood." He approached carefully, kneeling to her level and taking her arm gently. His eyes now held nothing but concern and worry. Strange that he had only known her for however long she'd been in this cell, and yet seemed to care so much about such a small injury.

He tied the wrapping off, and while Malice saw the blood seeping through, it had slowed a considerable amount. She hadn't punctured anything important, and it would've stopped on its own in time, but this was going to help it get there a bit faster.

"There you go, good as-"

The Jedi's sentence was cut off as Malice faced him quickly, placing a hand on his head. Drawing on her force powers, she wove a new image in his mind. She searched until she found a face she assumed was his higher up, and threw his image outside the cell. She couldn't see anything, but Ryan would see it as if it was really happening. He stood up quickly, making a frantic saluting motion.

Malice didn't need to have physical contact with him to continue the illusion, so she simply sat and watched him talk to the wall, truly believing he was being spoken to. Her illusion of his superior told him she was being moved to a new location because Clan Plagueis had begun to close in on their location. They wanted to move her there first, to ensure that the new area would not be attacked by their rivals. Ryan nodded, seemingly relieved to hear their prisoner would not be killed. He turned to her as his superior walked away, pulling a pair of restraints out. She eyed them before looking back to him.

"I need to put these on you so we can get you moved. They aren't going to kill you, just move you. I promise to keep you safe." she could see that he meant it, and almost pitied him. He was so good hearted. Perhaps this was just the lesson he needed to show him how foolish he was.

She stood slowly as he walked into the cell again, and pulled her arms behind her back, binding them together. He grabbed them, pushing her forward and out of the cell. She tried to look as irritated as she could as they passed a few pairs of what she could only assume were more Jedi. They didn't seem to think much of it, and continued on without a word. She refused to move a few times, earning her a shove from the Jedi behind her, which was most often followed by an apology.

Once they'd finally made it outside, Malice could see just how much damage the fighting had done to the planet. There were entire parts of the planet blasted away from different explosions, and a few injured bodies lay strewn about the ground. She slowly replaced the image with another illusion. This one showed a clear path to the new location, and a few soldiers waiting to escort them. They walked in silence, Malice pausing to struggle for effect every now and again. She couldn't reach out to try to sense her clan without losing the illusion, so she'd have to time her actions perfectly. She glanced back at the base Odan Urr had taken refuge in. It was simply a large cave looking structure, and she was glad to be out of it.

The pair of them continued walking, and Malice was actually surprised they hadn't been stopped at all. Perhaps the others had thought she was being taken out to be killed. It was the only reason that made sense to her as to why they would have allowed this man to single handedly take her out of the facility. She was cuffed and being led out to the middle of nowhere in their eyes. It would make sense to kill her away from the rest of the group.

Finally, once they were far enough away, Malice dropped the illusion, and Ryan took a step back.

"What? I don't understand. Where did the troops go?" He asked, blinking and looking around. When his gaze fell upon Malice, he looked hurt and betrayed.

"Did you do this? I was trying to protect you and take care of you."

"I don't need anyone to take care of me. I'm not a child." She spat back at him, her hate clearly evident. "I do have to thank you, though. I would never have made it out without you." She flashed a smile at him, and she saw his expression darken ever so slightly. She felt him begin to reach out with the force and laughed. Confusion and fear clouded his face, as his attempt at using the force ended in failure. She'd been working on this trick for a long time and hadn't gotten to properly test it out just yet. Realization sunk in as the Jedi realized his connection to the force had been disrupted.

"What did you do to me?" He demanded, now beginning to panic. He released small spurts of force energy, but nothing even close to what he had been attempting to do.

"A lot less than I would have liked, trust me." She purred, enjoying toying with him. "I promise you, I would love to stay and torment you until you begged me to end your life, but I have places to be."

Keeping half of her concentration on continuing to suppress his force ability, she used her illusion ability again to simply darken the Jedi's sight. He would see nothing until she was far enough away that her connection would break. Until then, he was blind in every sense of the word, and she watched with satisfaction as he dropped to his knees, feeling around on the ground and in the air for her. Smirking, she leapt forward, landing solidly on the ground nearby, and began her trip back to the clan. She ran forward, wondering what she had missed while she had been gone.

Tarsus found chemistry interesting. What he loved most about it was that one small change in a formula can end in huge reaction that could prove dangerous. Even simply as using the wrong container could cause sever damage. Poison is a simple chemical to one's body. Your body is made of several chemicals, so when poison is inserted into one's body, a chemical reaction occurs that ends in death.

Cyanide is great example. When ingested, Cyanide melts the inside of your body. It works quickly, so there's no pain. Bleach does the same, only more painful and slowly. Radium destroys your cells and DNA. It takes away your ability to clot when you bleed, and makes your hair fall out. Your immune system is completely destroyed, so infections will wipe you out.

Tarsus’ new target, Daemon, is a man of chemistry; as he loves to use poison to kill. It would be quite ironic if he would have died by poison. To poison a crafty man as Daemon, one must get close. He possibly couldn’t get close enough to him to poison him. Daemon would be too smart.

Tarsus was ahead of the problem, luckily. As he landed on Caina, Tarsus immediately went to a bar. He knew someone would be there he could use to get close to Daemon.

A few minutes passed as he suddenly walked in. Everyone stopped and looked at the Mandalorian, then went about their business. Tarsus bumped into a rough looking man, making him spill his drink.

“Watch it!” The man said.

“Maybe you should watch where you stand,” Tarsus said sternly.

This caught everyone's attention. The man quickly pulled out his blaster, but Tarsus was quicker. He quickly grabbed the man's gun, broke his hand, and used his own pistol to kill the man. Tarsus then dropped some credit on the dead man.

“For your troubles,” he said to the dead body as he began walking to the counter.

Everyone went back about their business. As Tarsus sat down, a beautiful, yet rough looking Mandalorian woman sat next to him.

“Nice work,” she said as she bought a drink. “I like the way you did him like that.”

Tarsus smiled. “Scorpion! Long time, no see.”

“Oh, save it!” She said. “You still owe me after totalling my ship!”

“Consider it official paid,” Tarsus said as he turned to face her. “There's a bounty on you, Snake, and Crow. Help me get the two, and I'll pay you in full… with… interest.”

The Mandalorian woman stared at Tarsus for a bit. She nodded and shook his hand. “Deal. I know you won't turn me over… not after… well…”

“No need to bring up the past, darling,” Tarsus said as he took a swig of whiskey. “When you could drink for the future.”

Scorpion chuckled as she took a drink as well. “Amen to that. So, what's your plan?”

Tarsus handed her as vial. “Poison the poisonous Snake. You can get close to him. I can't. His full bounty is yours.”

The woman took the vial. “Easy. Shame, though. We had a little fling going on. All well. Money is money. I'll get it done tonight.”

With that said, she left into the night. Morning arrived, and Tarsus woke up to Scorpion sleeping next to him. He shook his head, knowing she stuck in. Smart, she was, and also crazy over him. He stood up, and went to grab his shirt.

“Snake is dead, by the way,” Scorpion softly said. “Was easy. Offered him a drink… He took the poison. He's dead.”

1. Another day, another dollar, so the saying goes. Zackel from his bed. Bleary eyed, and in need of a caffeine drink he made his way over to carry out his morning ablutions. Sitting on the bed he dressed, black trousers, shirt and shoes, the cap that completed the ensemble lying on the side next to the water heater. His head throbbed like he was living inside a bass drum, the constant throb marking out the rhythm of the day.

Making his way over to the small kitchen he poured the hot water into the ration pack he had taken from the cupboard above. The freeze dried rations swelled with the hot liquid infused the cells of the food, reconstituting it into something replicating a meal. He knew from past experience that it would not be enjoyable, but it would fill his belly so he ate it. Filling a mug with hot water he took a sachet of caffie from the drawer, along with a couple of sucrose capsules. Sipping at the warm beverage he smiled, eyes closed. Now that hit the spot. If there was one thing that was prerequisite to his day it was a hot mug of caffie, he found that over the years he could not begin the day without it, and his colleagues he worked with would willingly testify to that.

Grabbing his pass he made his way out of his accommodation, the door locking behind him. Trudging away down the corridor he made his way, as he did every morning, he started his commute towards the Citadel. He noticed nobody as he walked across the open plazas, through the small park pathways, and nobody noticed him. He was another member of the great unwashed, the little people who made sure that all the jobs too menial for the upper echelons of society to sully their hands with, but without whom the whole system would collapse.

During his twenty three years of working for the system he had seen many of the greats as they passed him by. The Grand Masters, the Jedi, the Sith, the great leaders in battle, the diplomats, the security experts, the great and the mighty of the Brotherhood, but very rarely had they even glanced in his direction, never mind granting him the honour of a word or a handshake. He didn’t mind these days, although in his younger days he had. He accepted his lot in life as one of the unsung multitude, the proletariat carrying out the thankless tasks with not a thought given to reward or recognition.

That wasn’t to say that he didn’t care about the tasks he was given. No, he would do everything he did with a sense of pride that came from within himself. He liked to do things properly. There were many of his colleagues that could learn from him he thought as his feet began climbing the steps before the entrance to the Citadel, his body had made the commute that many times that he didn’t need to consciously think about the journey. They should use him as an example he was thinking, show the younger members of the team that their task, and by inference, they themselves, were important to the Brotherhood.

Showing his pass to the guard at the entrance he was waved through. The guard didn’t really need to see his pass, his pass was his face, a constant familiar within the massive building. The guard hadn’t even glanced at the small facsimile of his face as he passed. He knew it was Zackel, it was 0658, the same time that he went past every morning, you could set your timepiece by him. Steady old familiar Zackel in his black uniform, the cap arranged as per the regulations, his trousers and shirt pressed and clean. Moving to the elevator he waited for it to arrive on the ground floor stepping inside as the doors hissed open. Without having to look his finger found the button for the forty third floor, the change in pressure telling him that he was speeding his way aloft towards his work station. Less than a minute later he was padding across the carpeted landing past his secretary and into his office. Sitting himself behind the desk he booted up his workplace computer.

The door to his office swung inwards as his secretary entered carrying a steaming mug of caffie, and a pile of data pads, both of which she placed on the desk before him. The smell from the hot beverage wafted towards him, a heavenly smell borne on the breeze.

“That’s all the latest news stories, and the boss wants a piece on the Grand Master’s latest brainwave, you know, the one about the Jedi?” The secretary’s sing-song voice informed him, ”and the editor wants to look over the piece you’re writing on the latest First Order’s conquests and it’s economic impact to the Galaxy.”

Zackel nodded, “Thank you,” he said, “could you contact him and arrange for a meet at eleven?”

“Yes, Sir.” She replied, spinning on the spot and heading out to her own desk on the landing.

Picking up the top data pad he began reading, making notes on a separate pad that he could look over later as he constructed the piece. Placing the reports in front of him on the desk he raised the mug to his lips. Hmmm, delicious. Sometimes, he thought to himself, being a writer is where all the action is.

While Rulvak was studying up on his most recent encounter with Arcia, he realized that she had changed in her time away from the Nighthawk. He decided he would look deeper into her recent past, and focus on what he had missed while she was absent. He would not have someone this close, without knowing them entirely. To be continued (in length) next month!

The first light of Kr'tal broke through the bedroom window. Andrelious awoke as he felt his cheek beginning to warm in the sunlight. In the corner of his eye, he spotted that his datapad had recieved a commiunique.

The Warlord turned to check on his wife. He had little idea of how good Kooki's night had been; it depended entirely on how much of her milk that their twin daughters had required. Even now they were 18 months old and enjoying all kinds of solid food, they were showing no signs of wanting to stop.

"I'll have a caff!" Kooki stated in her most demonstrative tone. Andrelious frowned. She was only so pushy in the morning when the twins had been particularly hungry.

As he walked past their nursery, the Sith peeped into the room to check on his daughters. They were sat up and pulling faces at each other. On sensing their father's arrival, they quickly turned to greet him.

"Dad-dy!" the girls cooed in almost complete unison.

"Morning, girls. I'm guessing you're ready for some breakfast?" the Warlord asked, scooping each twin into one of his arms.

"Ber-ber!" Poppy demanded, followed by Etty making the exact same request. Andrelious knew exactly what they were after: a mix of wild berries that their mother had foraged the previous evening.

Sitting the twins into their high-chairs, Andrelious set to working making 2 berry mixes, a set of nunna bacon sandwiches for himself and Kooki, and two large mugs of strong caf. He had just got everything ready when his spouse arrived, glaring at him angrily.

"I was going to stay in bed for this after the night I had, but your frakking datapad won't shut up. Finish making my sandwich then go and deal with it!" the Battlemaster snapped.

"Whatever it is can wait until we've had our breakfast. The only person who can order me around is sat in the kitchen," Andrelious replied, daring to make his tone slightly flirtaious as he handed Kooki her sandwiches and caf.

The female managed a smile. "I'm glad to know you're starting to learn your place. Great bacon, by the way, babe! You really know your way around a kitchen!" Kooki replied, swatting her husband's posterior playfully.

Andrelious pretended not to hear as he sat down to tuck into his own breakfast. Poppy and Etty were already enjoying their berry mixes. Silence befell the Mimosa-Inahj household as the family ate their meals.

As usual, Kooki finished first, but made no attempt to clear away her plate. Instead, she waited for Andrelious to finish, and simply glanced at the Warlord to indicate what she wanted done.

"I'd better just go and check my datapad. Just in case it's some Jedi insurrection somewhere," the former Imperial stated as he placed the breakfast dishes into the sink, before heading back to the bedroom.

Andrelious checked his datapad, frowned, and erased the message. Kooki noticed him re-entering the kitchen seemingly moments after he had left.

"I'm ignoring it. Some kind of prison break. Sounds like it'd be easy enough that we could just send the girls," Andrelious explained.

"Nothing stopping you doing the dishes, then, babe!" Kooki teased.

The Eenzaam skimmed the surface of the water, not close enough to cause a spume of spray to follow in its wake, but low enough to stay below any early warning stations that may be watching for traffic. The altimeter read four meters, but the waves cresting below the view port seemed a lot closer to Quo as he piloted the vessel onwards, deeper into enemy territory. The briefing had placed the ship within fifty clicks of his current position, and there were only two islands on the maps that the Clan had been able to get their hands on. The responses from his radar also showed only two islands out there. If it hadn’t crashed onto one of those it was covered by water to a depth of a hundred meters or more.

Turning towards the nearest of the islands he cut throttle to a little above stall speed. This not only would mask the sound of his engines somewhat, but would give him a chance of seeing any debris from above. Closing the distance still would not take him long. Scrutinising the radar readout in front of the pilot seat he looked at the radar reflection coming back from the island ahead. Two peaks that rose to over a thousand meters, but otherwise it was flat. Between the two hillocks was a valley that ran the width of the island from coast to coast. Setting that as his target he could see the island approaching quickly, expanding in the view port exponentially, filling up the window in less than twenty seconds. Banking slightly left he skimmed the tops of the few trees that were growing below his transit of the island. Nothing.

Starting at the centre of the island he worked his way outwards from the centre in an expanding spiral looking for signs of debris. With one eye on the terrain flashing past the cockpit he covered the area of the island in less than ten minutes, even to the peak of the twin mounds of the hills, he double checked the area.

Even through his connection to the Force he could feel nothing, but he had also been told that the Force sensitive could be a fake, and a trap to lure in Sadowan operatives. Nonetheless he tried without any success. Both Locke and Marcus had warned him that it may turn out to be a wild goose chase. Still he was tasked with completing it, and his own pride would not let him accomplish a solution, one way or another, without it being done to a hundred percent of his efforts.

Turning to the east he headed towards the second area that the briefing had highlighted, bringing his altitude down to the absolute minimum he could get away with. At least the weather was working in his favour, the dull overcast conditions would prevent him being spotted by any glint of reflection from his vessel. Up ahead there were storm clouds gathering in the distance, they would again mask his approach, on the downside they would make the search more difficult.

Approaching the north western coast of the remaining island he was jolted by a mental image of a broken ship, the force to his mind being felt as keenly as if he had been punched. He couldn’t tell which direction it came from, but it was weak, and it was someone who knew the ways of the Force. Banking hard he pulled away from the island, the angle of the bank bleeding speed off the craft in the most expeditious way he could. Closing down the throttles he made an approach to land on the spit of rock that jutted out towards the north west, a slim finger of land that was embraced by the sea around it. Waves crashed against the face of the rocks throwing spray over the spit, the haziness hanging over the headland.

The Tie Oppressor came in over the raised platform of rock, hanging momentarily on the repulsor system before settling down onto her landing gear. Almost as soon as she touched down Quo was leaping from the cockpit opening above the pilots seat. The engines whined as they wound down towards complete shut down.

Landing lightly on his feet he absorbed the impact, bending his knees, one before the other, his left hand touching the ground before him as he ended in a crouched position. Eyes scanning along his immediate sight line he waited a couple of seconds before rising and moving off into the scrub. Concentrating fully he merged with the background, and tried to keep himself in the background as far as his presence within the Living Force was concerned. Any cover he could give himself would be advantageous, but he wasn’t sure how long he could keep up this level of concentration. Better not to be seen than felt, if there were any guards with the Force user he would rather have the advantage over them initially. Moving steadily and quietly he moved south east towards the centre of the island.

On the display he had seen that the island was about two miles by three quarters of a mile, roughly speaking that is. Had the cruiser come down in one piece it would have made a significant crater, the damage probably causing massive destruction to the island. As Quo looked there wasn’t much evidence of destruction, so he either had to assume that it had broken up on its descent through the atmosphere, or that it was a hoax of some kind. But how could you hoax a connection through the Force?

Some thirty minutes of hiking through the undergrowth he began to see signs of impact. Several large pieces of panelling were laying around, along with sundry detritus. Shards of metal were stroon around the area, although he hadn’t seen the impact site, it did appear to be a crash site. Still that could be faked he thought. Staying low and quiet he followed the trail around the base of an incline leading to a rocky outcrop. Clouds circled the summit and he could hear the wind whistling as it whipped around the craggy rocks up above. Rounding a formation of rocks that blocked his view across the island he stopped sharply, instinctively crouching from the sight before him.

A large section of the cruiser had come down on the island alright. The crater was some two hundred meters long, and maybe ten meters deep, an earthen scar across the greenery. Smoke and steam escaped from the downed section, which at first glance had stayed together reasonably well during the break up of the ship, Quo guessed to protect the precious passenger. If the Dominion regarded this individual highly enough to protect his section of the ship with structural shields, then he must be of some import.

Watching from his vantage point Quo saw three figures emerge from the wreckage, two Kaleesh and a Trandoshan. The tattoos marking the Trandoshan’s face and upper body were similar to his own, badges of honour. This one was the one he would have to watch. The Kaleesh acted as guardians to the Trandoshan, flanking him as he moved around the wreckage looking for the best positions to place his guards. Pointing out a slight rise in the ground at the edge of the furrow one of the Kaleesh moved across to his assigned position. Another gesture saw the other Kaleesh soldier move over towards the rear of the section, hankering down amongst the litter and debris. All well and good hiding if I hadn’t seen you do it thought Quo sliding his hand down to his belt taking out two throwing knives.

The Trandoshan moved back to the opening in the side of the cruiser hull remnant, disappearing inside again. Quo guessed that this was where the person of special interest would be located. First though he had to take care of the two Kaleesh guards. Darkness would be falling before long, and then they would be more focussed. He already knew their number, now all he had to do was reduce them. Moving silently he worked his way around to the rear of the smashed hulk he made his way as close as he could to the Kaleesh ensconced in the mangled parts of the ship. Quo had got to within two meters of his quarry, he hoped that this would be close enough. His next move would make him visible to all the Dominion agents, especially the Force sensitive within. Timing would be his ally, and he needed to use it wisely. Taking a calming breathe he relaxed his body, readying it for the burst of energy he was about to put through it.

With a burst he leapt at the Kaleesh nearest to him, driving his throwing knife through the eye of the recumbent operative, driving the blade of his knife deep into the brain of the sentry. The blood flowed freely as the guard breathed his last, his body relaxing as life left the body. Pivoting on his toes Quo sent both of the throwing knives in a vicious rake across the five meters to the other guardian, one sailing over his shoulder, one catching him under his exposed left arm pit. A grunt escaped the soldier as he rolled in an attempt to evade further attack from the Sith. Closing the ground between them, sprinting low and fast over the up slope of the destruction trench. The Kaleesh attempted to bring his blaster up to fire on the Zabrak as he rolled. Quo flung out an arm in his direction, fingers of blue and white lightning arcing out from his hand enveloping the reptilian in its fizzing embrace. Reaching down with his right hand the Sith drew up his saber, igniting it as he covered the ground in a loping stride. Placing the hilt under the face guard of the Dominion warrior he depressed the igniter button, the crimson red blade appearing through the top of the Kaleesh skull, fried blood and brains oozing through the nose vents of the mask.

Whipping his hand upwards he wrenched the blade free of the corpse, slicing open through its head as the blade reappeared. Turning towards the opening in the side of the fallen ship he could already hear the thumping of the approaching Trandoshan, the tempo of the footfalls letting him know that his foe was approaching, and approaching fast.

From the murk of the interior the hulking reptile warrior emerged, his hands gripping a huge vibro axe two handed, his massive frame rippling with muscles as he moved. “The Sssssscorekeeper ssssssendsssss tributessssss,” he sneered as he approached the Sith, “I ssssshall enjoy asssssisssssting your demisssssse.” The eyes gleamed with menace as he hefted the axe around and over his head, building momentum on the swing. With a deftness that belied his size the Trandoshan released his right hand, his left completing a back hand swing towards the Sith. Quo had to move quickly to avoid the strike, and even as he regained his footing the axe had begun another arc towards his position. Whipping out his vibroblade with his left hand in a reverse grip Quo deflected the shot around his body as he pivoted away from the massive Dominion specialist.

Quo’s left arm tingled from the impact from the vibro axe on his blade, the power of the strike making both blades sing in protest. I don’t want to be there if he connects fully thought Quo to himself. Watching the Trandoshan regain the two handed grip, he definitely didn’t want to be in the way of a strike from that! Ominously the huge reptilian advanced, left foot, then right, the axe hefted high over his right shoulder, ready to deliver a killing blow. The lips of the Trandoshan curled back his lips, saliva dribbling from the fangs, Quo knew it would be saturated with venom. Planting his left foot the soldier began the swing leading with his right shoulder, letting all his upper body weight transfer to the axe head. Quo leapt, more up than out of the way, thinking only to take himself up and over the blade, but finding himself clearing the behemoth and landing behind him. A flick with his saber was all he could manage, scorching the skin on the Trandoshan’s flank.

The massive warrior was deceptively agile, continuing the swing he had started towards Quo, bringing around with a pirouette on his left foot, the cutting edge of the blade scything around at waist height. Quo had landed well, both feet had landed together, however his stance was not ideal, a little too square for him to counter. Leaning backwards, bending at the knees the axe head tip sliced across his torso, cutting through the cloth of his tunic, and leaving a thin, straight incision which immediately bled.

The Trandoshan had not escaped unscathed as far as positioning went as the momentum of the massive effort he had put into the strike had over balanced him as the movement reached its climax. Quo straightened up, his feet dancing into position faster than the Dominion soldier could re-establish his own footing, his left leg flicking out and behind him to prevent him over balancing.

Like a cobra Quo’s left hand struck forwards, the vibro blade clasped within its grip slashing into the right hand side of the rib cage, its upward strike cutting to the bones of the ribs. A roar of anger, pain, and frustration came from the Trandoshan, his left arm being flung backwards by the weight of the previous strike. Quo’s left foot moved backwards, his right forwards, as he transferred the strike to his saber hand. Punching from the elbow as his right shoulder was driven forwards by his weight transfer he snapped out the punch toward the solar plexus of the Dominion elite. A resistance felt in his wrist told Quo that his strike was true, the blade of his saber following the line of the punch through the centre of the rib cage, and exitting between the shoulder blades. Eyes gleaming, full of hatred for his enemy Quo twisted the pommel, whipping the blade across and down eviscerating the hulk, ending his challenge.

Before the body had even started crumpling to the ground Quo was turning. Heading towards rent in the side of the cruiser he entered the gloom. Reaching out with his senses he located the Dominion force user in one of the chambers to his right, and light was pouring out of one of the rooms some seven meters ahead. Cautiously Quo approached, placing his back against the wall as he got to the broken door way. Keeping his body behind the bulk head he glanced quickly around the corner.

Inside there was a rough litter, and a glow globe. Placed upon the litter was another Trandoshan, but this one was hurt, probably from the impact. The lower part of his left leg was missing, and the whole of his right arm. An open wound ran from above his right eyebrow, down over the upper jaw, and several of the fangs had been lost, leaving bleeding holes where they had been. The right eye looked as though it would never work again, the pupil opaque, almost the same colour as the surrounding white.

“I sssssensssssse you Sssssssith, finisssssssth thisssss!” The Trandoshan’s good eye glared at Quo, challenging him to kill him.

Quo’s eyes burned with hatred, but for once he would follow orders. Taking his comm from his belt he keyed the button on the side. “Quo to Locke, Consul, I have him, send in medivac crew, I’ll keep him alive until they get here”

Reaching into one of the belt pouches he took out a hypo spray. Moving across to the Trandoshan he paused, looking down on the Force user he stood and stared.

“Ssssssso, itsssssss poisssssssssson isssssss it?” The reptile curled up his lips in an approximation of a smile, sure now that the Sith was about to kill him.

“No,” replied Quo, lining up the hypo spray with the creature’s jugular, “just sleepy time. But I’ll be here when you wake up..... I promise!” Quo’s eyes narrowed as the Dominion agent lost consciousness, although he saw the fire of hatred burning in the red and gold eyes that looked down upon him. Quo turned and made his way outside, signalling his exact position to the extraction crew. He would see this particular lizard again, he would make sure of it.

Manually added by Augur Elincia Rei

Manually added by Augur Elincia Rei

Manually added by Augur Elincia Rei

Manually added by Peacekeeper Tistito "Tisto" Kingang

Manually added by Peacekeeper Tistito "Tisto" Kingang

Manually added by Peacekeeper Tistito "Tisto" Kingang

Manually added by Peacekeeper Tistito "Tisto" Kingang

Manually added by Peacekeeper Tistito "Tisto" Kingang