RPG - Stolen Bride (Page 7 of 8)

Mia was cutting her way through more of the dead Hutt's guards when she felt Heri's presence return. She felt soothed to know she was no longer the only Force user trying to save Tresh'san. Though Kar'bil's efforts were matching her own currently.

Sathik and Arcuse had scouted out the other passageway and their progress could be heard by the screams echoing with each of their kills.

Mia extinguished her lightsabre as the last enemy before them fell. Only then did she look up to see Heri coming towards them, her robes billowing. It was only until Heri grew close that Mia saw the nasty wound on the senior Jedi's face. "Are you okay?" Mia asked.

Heri touched her face as if she had forgotten the wound temporarily. "I'm fine." Heri said, seeming a little distance as though something were on her mind.

"Did you find Dash?" Mia queried.

Heri blinked as she thought a moment about the handsome rogue. "Yes, we found each other." She cleared her throat. "He's got business of his own to attend to now."

Mia nodded. "Do you know the way to Tresh'san's cell?"

"Yes," Heri said with a renewed clarity and took the lead. Kar'bil and Mia followed. They stopped before a blast door. "This looks to be the place."

Mia frowned, "How are we going to get this open?"

Kar'bil smiled, "Allow me, ladies." He said as he pulled a small detonator from his pocket. The he rummaged around his other pocket and produced a booster.

The two Jedi looked at each other and quickly evacuated as Kar'bil set up the explosives, then he two got out of the way. There was a boom that wasn't nearly as loud as Mia had thought it would be. The door was heavily dinted and hung precariously from its hinges.

Kar'bil heaved it to the side revealing the captive princess within the cell. "Tresh'san." He gasped with relief and longing. Her head immediately turned in his direction, she tried to say something but her gag didn't allow it. Kar'bil pulled it free as Heri cut the bonds that held Tresh'san to the chair.

Tresh'san stood and threw herself into Kar'bil's arms. "I knew you'd come for me."

Kar'bil held her and stroked one of her lekku in a soothing manner. "I had to come. I'm just glad I wasn't too late."

It was then that Sathik and Arcuse appeared. "We've got trouble, someone's let a Rancor loose."

**Glad to have you back, Gojan. Sathik and Arcuse need you **

Sure enough, HUN slowly stopped and turned to face Karbi'l and Tresh'san.
The creature had donned a new trenchcoat, devoid of the blasterholes and blood that had covered the old one.  The only difference now was a noticeable void where the lower right arm should've been, as that sleeve flapped emptily in the faint breeze.  HUN aproached the two lovers as Mia moved into position behind him, preparing to attack at any sign of aggression.
"The bounty..."  HUN intoned softly.  "I had almost forgotten."
Kar'bil pulled Tresh'san behind him, then shouted. "Where's Dash?  What did you do to him?"
"He...earned his life, and his livelihood reclaimed.  That is all to say."  HUN lifted his empty arm towards Tresh'san.  "Now, if I were to arrive at Ryloth with...your fiance in tow, the bounty would yet be mine, correct?"
"Don't even think about it." Kar'bil growled. "Just get out of here.  You lost this round."

The wind picked up, trailing HUNs trenchcoat out into the breeze.
"Not yet I haven't."

HUN slowly turned to face Kane, as if suprised that his former comrade had dared to come between him and his prize.
"Hmmm...I see now."

Kane's heart pumped rapidly as he began reaching for his weapon.

With grim purpose, he moved towards Kane, who had now trained the 05 on HUN's chest.  HUN walked right up to the barrel, until it clanged against the armor and chains beneath his trenchcoat.
"Do it.  We'll see who walks away."

// Oh...they don't show edits as updates anymore...very interesting. ^ Look up for the new post. ^ Sorry! //

((I was just reacting.  ^_^  I'll write something this evening.))

"Is this what you wanted, Kane?"  HUN intoned softly.  "Our bounty is gone...how will we claim the female?"
Kane lowered his weapon slowly.  "I was thinking more along the lines of intercepting them en-route....potentially with Tussok's assistance, if we might let it slip that a certian Masked One is aboard that vessel."
HUN turned away, walking back towards the ship.  Kane began to follow, until out of nowhere HUNs arm came back, striking him full in the chest and landing him two yards away. 
"Next time...do not leave me out of the loop."  HUN whispered. As Kane pulled himself to his feet, HUN reached into his trenchcoat and pulled out a holocomm, activating it in a flare of light...Tussok flickered on the display, his arms crossed and looking impatient.
"Tussok...he is leaving Sadask'ha." 

From the Citadel, a full squadron of uglies, various fightercraft of different make and models ranging from Z-95s to Cloakshapes and TIEs, departed in a flurry, roaring across the green sky in the direction of the Jedi's vessel...

Suddenly the entire street shook violently with a deafening roar. The foreign sound was followed with the irregular sound of thundering footsteps growing louder amidst the rising chaos of the city.

Kane looked up from his labored breathing to see a Heri, Sathik, and Arcuse run from around a corner and turn into the street. The three stopped quickly at the sight of the others. The lean, black haired bounty hunter shifted the weight of a giant egg-shaped object in his arms and smiled, “Hey there.”

Heri’s lightsaber ignited in an instant. A blaster clicked in Arcuse’s hands as he pulled it quickly from the holster at his thigh, too fast for normal eyes to see.

Heri stepped forward, a hard and firm look in her eyes, “Where’s Dash?”

((Sorry x 1000, I totally forgot this was here. *sigh* if anyone cares))

Dash awoke sprawled messily upon some crates in an alleyway.

No! he thought panicking. I can't have lost. I was winning! Okay, maybe I wasn't winning, but I wasn't losing... was I?

Then he sensed something on his right side. Not sensed as in the force, but actually felt something. He actually felt life. He looked down to see his arm, his own flesh and blood arm. A little bloodied and scratched of course as it had just been amputated and reattached, but altogether not too worse for the wear. A stitch lined with a welding kind of burn ran in a ring around the upper arm attaching it; a little messy, but the fingers moved just fine.

And yet it felt different, Dash couldn't help thinking as he slowly got to his feet. His head had stopped burning so he must've won in one way or another. He raised his arm cautiously to his face rotating curiously. Without warning the previously severed area burst into blue flames.

"Interesting..." he muttered to himself.

That meant he probably hadn't dreamt it. Then, almost as quickly as it had come the flames were gone.

Well, plenty of time to figure all that out later.

He stepped out of the alleyway to hear the bellow of something he'd only heard once before. And if he remembered correctly it was big and it was ridden by a Rodian. Come to think of it, it was killed by the booming shotgun that was on this very planet.

He rushed off to see if he could be of assistance.

(Sorry, I've been busy...college and whatnot. )

Primeval rage still burned in the empty eyes of the rancor as it tore down the street towards the trenchcoated figure.  Its child was dead....and now, everything must die with it, cold logic in the monster's brain--starting with the one dripping with her baby's corpse. 

HUN had not moved an inch, and only turned to face the rancor directly as it approached, as the monster dug huge craters into the duracrete street with every step, tore out windows and walls from nearby buildings, and mouth dripped with saliva, as the distance between them closed to nothing.
Then HUN moved.

Leaping in a blur of movement towards the rancors head, leg coming up impossibly fast, colliding with the rancors face in a surreally slow impact, stretching the creatures jaw in a bone-crushing movement that lifted the massive beast for one unreal second, coming down on the creature's back in a crouching position, digging his durasteel claws into the leathery skin, as the beast recovered and roared in pain, arms flailing in a desperate attempt to pry HUN from his back.  HUN dug deeper, a ring of dark side energy expanding from the growing wound, as he burrowed further.  The rancor crashed into the side of a cantina, scraping it's back along the wall to dislodge the entity, but HUN was undettered.

"What the KRIF is he doing?"  Arcuse shouted, lowering his weapon as he and Sathik watched. 
Heri came up alongside them, extinguishing her lightsaber.  "I wouldn't know any more than you. HUN doesn't fight like we do."

The circle of blue energy expanded to cover most of the rancor's back, leaving dark, burnt, metallic skin in it's wake, as greenish blood erupted from the creature's mouth and it stumbled to the ground, whimpering pitifully.  HUN was no longer visible, only smoke rising from the burning hole he had dissappeared into.  Finally, the blue ring passed over the rancor's face, sizzling the leathery skin and burning into the mouth in an explosion of bloody steam.  The rancor gave on final, defiant roar....then its head collapsed to the ground, jaw cracking on the impact. 

Sathik and Arcuse looked at each other, confused expressions on their faces. "....now what?"
"We find Dash, and meet the rest of our team on Ryloth to claim our share of the bounty."  said Heri, pulling her Jedi robes around her and walking back down the street towards downtown Sadask'ha. "Assuming Dash is still alive..."
A squadron of uglies tore through the air above her, sonic booms echoing down the alleys. 
Arcuse ran up beside her.  "Those had clan Gherilijic markings....someone must've tipped Tussok off on our bounty, they're headed towards the spaceport." 
"Forget about Dash, Heri.  Our bounty's in danger, and Dash can handle himself."  argued Sathik. 
Heri sighed, and all three began running in the direction of the spaceport.  "I hope you're right about that...."

(((XDDDDD rotfl, nice one Gojan.  ^_^)))

  Two years?.....a decade?.....only blackness.....and cold, chilling fire. 

The old man had returned to visit, the third such occasion in Tal Rith's stay in the Tunnel...an eternity punctuated only by brief moments of searing, unimaginable agony, and the long hours onto weeks, onto years of regret, self-loathing, and suffering the growing void inside of him....

"Good!  Very good...you're progressing much faster than the rest, favorite student."  The old man's face was lost in shadow, but the yellow teeth stood out against the darkness, the only light in Tal Rith's world.

------

The lightning had quieted to smaller bursts, erupting from Tal Rith's skin to impact the duracrete streets and dirty sidewalks, frightening still the braver sentients into fleeing down vacant alleys away from the approaching nightmare.  His face, once covered by the mask required of Kel Dor to breathe in standard atmospheres, was an open maw, a bloodied, ragged hole punctuated only by what was left of his eyes, glowing dimly in the murky light.

So this....is the Force one sane thought punctuating the madness throbbing his brain.  Guess the old man was telling the truth...wish he were still alive, so I could kill him again.

Memories long forgotten fought against the persona he had embraced; the last twenty years of his life before becoming a bounty hunter....was all a lie.  Now things made sense.  He just wished his head would stop burning.
He retched, a bloodred bolt of force lighting pouring forth from his face and digging deep into a cantina down the street, electing screams of terror and a burst of dark fire that began enveloping the shattered building in an eerie glow.
Tal Rith's face smoked and burned.  He could no longer move his hands, they had locked into fists, charred and mutilated by the Force energies he had directed there.  Every step hurt more than the last.  As dark energy continued to pour out in ragged explosions, Tal Rith began to feel...that his death was not long delayed.

Now....I'll never know.  Never find it.

Visions began floating in his head as he slowly came to a halt, falling to his knees.  Jedi and Sith, locked in mortal combat...twin suns directed by the Force to vaporize pursuing ships...temples proud against the jungle, and a people long extinct within...a chamber deep beneath, a massive device powered by the pure essence of the dark side...and heartwrenching, terrible loneliness and pain. 
HUN stood before him, trenchcoat gone.  Tal Rith jumped to his feet, as another burst of lighting came against his will, striking out from his chest to pass through the figure of HUN as through a hologram.

What is this?....What is he?

HUN stood unmoving.  Tal Rith had never seen him up close like this; the bandoliers holding twin carbines adapted into pistols, the Enforcer at his side, the bandages and bits of rusted armor poking through, his durasteel claws stained in blood, the emptiness where his right arm should have been, and the mask....deeper than a black hole in unrelenting darkness, punctuated by faintly glowing orbs of blue like cold suns burning an eternity away.

"You are the first."  HUN spoke, an ancient, cracking sound.  "In all my wandering, I have never seen a true Aen'atl revealed."

Tal Rith struggled to speak, yet his vocal cords had been obliterated.  You know what I am?

"Of course."

Tal Rith was surprised, yet questioned again.  Then you know...I am about to die.

HUN moved a step closer. "...I am offering you a way out."

To cheat death again? Tal Rith would have laughed if he still had a mouth. Thank you, but I think I'd rather embrace the inevitable.

"No.  No you won't."

What makes you so sure!?! Tal Rith thought angrily.

HUN stepped closer again, and Tal Rith found himself craning his neck to look the entity in the eye. "You are Aen'atl, a disciple of the darkest Tunnel, endured to claim this power burning you from inside out...do not think that I am so ignorant.  You are a seeker, in pursuit of something greater than your limited mind can fathom.  And I....I am your teacher.  Your new master."  HUN grabbed Tal Rith's shoulder with his hand. "I told you...you still have much to learn."

Tal Rith stood for a moment, contemplating.....And you can....cure me of this blight?

"Instruct you to control it, and give your shallow vessel the capacity to hold it."  With his one hand, he began unwinding bandages from around his neck and torso, tatooed with ancient hyroglyphics.  He soon had a large stretch of the wrappings free from his body, revealing only more darkness beneath.  "Wrap these around your arms, then your chest."

Tal Rith obeyed.  The bandages clung tightly to his skin, and the hyroglyphics glowed briefly, as Tal Rith felt the lighting finally subside.  His hands broke free of their frozen grips, regenerating slowly to their old yellow pallor.  The lightsaber wound up his chest slowly began to close, yet his face remained a burning maw.

What of my face?

HUN seemed to laugh.  "You are Aen'atl, and a Kel Dor above that...what need have you of a face?" 

true....we will talk more of this later.

"Indeed. I have need of you.  My physical body is detained at the moment, and our bounty is soon leaving the planet...if they have yet to escape, I need you aboard their vessel, a pleasant surprise for the journey to Ryloth." HUN's form began to waver and dissapate. "This is your first assigment...do not fail me, Aen'Atl."

My name is Tal Rith. 

HUN dissapeared, leaving Tal Rith alone.  He flexed his newly regenerated arms, and tenatively coughed a small blast of lighting forth from his face.

I could get used to this....

He began running in the direction of the spaceport.