The sand directly infront of Vor erupted into a huge cloud. He was already on the ground, blaster out when the sound from the heavy blaster shot reached him. Jaero was already sending well placed shots into the group of speeders. Vor fired and saw his shot glance off the side of a speeder. The incoming blaster fire was so thick that it sounded almost like a swarm of huge insects as it raised small puff of sand here and there about the two friends.
Jaero was by far the better marksman of the two. By the time the speeders had covered half the distance to the pair, he had already eliminated four of the pirates. Vor had been lucky to take the one he had hit. The speed of the vehicles and the quick movements removed any advantage he had from being stationary and braced. The toll on the attackers was raised by another two before they changed course and shot behind a dune a short distance from Vor and Jaero's camp.
Jaero was moving from Vors right side to the left so he had a clear shot at the dune when the blaster shot hit him in the chest. The hit threw him backwards and he hit the ground heavily. Vor did not have time to move and see to him as he saw the first pirates head come over the far dune. Before he could take a shot, a bolt of energy passed close by his head and blew the pirates face into a chared mess as he fell from sight. Vor turned to see Jaero crawling up next to him on the left. Vor hoped that it was not blood that was leaving the damp trail where the human had crawled.
Now and then a pirate would rise up and fire at them to quickly duck behind the protective sand. Jaero and Vor had the better position being higher up than the pirates, but even so, they killed no more of the enemy. A voice came across the sand. "Oyyyy. Halloooooo the camp." Jaero rose just slightly and called back, "What do you want?" never taking his aim off the area where the pirates were sheltered. A head partially showed above the sand and Jaero parted the hair with his shot.
"Now is that any way to treat the man who holds your life in his hands?" came the pained voice. Jaero laughed and called back, "Show me just a little more and we will see who holds whos life!" As if in que, all the remaining pirates raised up and rapid fire energy came at the friends making them pull thier heads back from the edge of the dune they occupied. Jaero put his blaster over the edge and fired blindly over the top. He was rewarded by a yelp of pain from the other dune.
Vor had noticed that the incoming fire had not been half as intense as it had been previously and assumed that his friend must have accounted for more of the enemy than he had at first thought. During this calm, Vor pointed to the rapidly widening damp spot on the sand under the human. Jaero shoved his hand between the sand and his armor and probed for a moment. He pulled his hand back with a chuckle. "Punctured my moisture suit. " He chuckled again, "I can hear Aeric now, ' "Another suit up in smoke! What do you do, take them out and shoot at them for the fun of it?" '. And of course no amount of explanation will make him believe it was not my fault."
Again the others rose up and sent a deluge of energy at Vor and Jaero. The human rolled slightly on his side and was putting a fresh charge into his blaster when his head snapped to the East. He had time to say "Vor! Behind us." Before the stun blast took him dead center. Vor flipped and fired hitting nothing. The stun blast hit him in the arm as he dodged away from his stunned friend. Vor fired again at the group he could now see coming in from the East side of the camp and missed. The next stun blast pounded him down into the sand and into unconsciousness.
He was tied well enough to prevent his efforts to break the bonds. Vor had been awake now for quite some while. He had feigned still being stunned to gather what information his ears would bring him. He had learned very little. There was much moving about, but not much talk and that there was Vor could not understand. Finally he heard something he did understand, a voice off to his left said, "Jal, got stick a blade in the lizard and see if he is ready to wake up yet." The sound of approaching footsteps and another sound like a vibroblade powering up.
Vor opened his eyes and lunged forward hissing loudly. The human that had been about to stab him, jumped backwards, lost his balance and fell over another human. The camp erupted in laughter. The two humans remained tangled for a moment before the second human got to his feet aiming a kick at the blade holder. "Oof! Snot my fault Hryl! Yoo sawr it. He uz gonnto bite me ee was!" said the human with the vibro blade rubbing his injured shoulder.
Vor noted that the humans were all very poorly dressed in what looked to be badly cured animal skins and scraps of cloth and pieces of armor. They were as a group unwashed and to Vors' sensitive nostrils, grossly in need of an odor remover. Vor leaned forward again and, showing all his teeth, hissed loudly again at the blade holder. The pleasure that Vor got from seeing the human, who had been called Jal, cringe back in fear was cut short as a heavy blow smashed his head far to the left.
Lip bleeding, Vor slowly turned his head back, hissing in anger to see the huge shaggy form that had hit him. The wookie growled deeply as it raised it's fist for a second blow. "Enough! Yoonar, I need him alive!" Came the voice of a human just exiting one of the shabby huts that made up the camp. The wookie looked back at the human for a moment, and then howling in rage swept its arm down to complete the strike. The blow never fell. The wookie was backing slowly away from Vor screaming in pain and clutching at its throat.
The human had a control device in its hand. As it released a button, the wookie let go its throat and advanced on him. "Don't make me use it again Yoonar!" The wookie howled again but stopped where it was. Vor saw that it wore an obedience collar. The human looked at Vor and said "I hated having to do that. he does after all deserve to be allowed to kill you. Your friend there killed his mate." Putting the control device on his belt, the human turned his back to the wookie and approached Vor.
At the mention of his friend, Vor looked over to the right and saw Jaero bound as he was to a pair of posts driven into the sand. His friend did not look good at all. He was heavily bruised and his lips were cracked and bleeding. Vor hoped that he was feigning unconsciousness and formulating a plan, because the appearance of the wookie had dashed any hope that Vor entertained of intimidating the humans into releasing them.
The day passed slowly. Even Vor felt himself to be somewhat the worse for wear from the direct sunlight of the twin suns beating down on him. Jaero was either unconscious, dead or still pretending. Vor hoped very much that is was the last option, as he had come to feel more and more attached to the human that had tried to shield him from danger. As evening approached, the leader of the wasteland pirates approached, picking his teeth as he came.
"So, how are you finding our little camp eh?" said the man. Vor getting a better look at the human saw immediately why it was that he let the wookie do all his fighting for him. The man was nearly crippled in his left leg. While this injury was not obvious from a distance, it would make it impossible for the man to win a fight against any but the most amature of fighters.
Vor summoned up what strength he had and hissed his anger at the man. "HA! Hahahahahaha" he said as he approached even closer to the bound doshan. "Don't try that big bad lizard routine on me! Tomorrow I turn you over to someone who wants to see you very much. Enough in fact to almost make me not be angry at the price it cost me in men to capture you."
He picked a bit of meat from between two teeth. "As I said, Almost. But before I turn you over, I think I will have to see how much pain your friend here can stand. Normally I would give such a good shooter the choice of joining us or dying. Unfortunately, he killed my tame wookies mate. That in itself wrote his dead sentence."
The human turned and shouted, "Zander! Get your lazy butt over here, NOW!" A wirey looking human approached and said, "Yes boss?" The leader pointed over his shoulder at the captives. "Get them half a liter of water to share between them. We don't want them to die now do we? Especially since the reptile is worth such a bounty to us." He walked away laughing to himself.
The human called Zander left promptly and returned a short time later with water as ordered. After the human was sure that there was noone else within earshot, he spoke in a low voice while helping Vor drink. "Listen, if I help you escape will you take me with you?" Vor tried his best not to show his suprise at the statement and made the nod of his head seem like part of his drinking.
"Thank you." said Zander, and began to speak in rapid low tones as he continued to give Vor water. "I am not sure when or what I can do, but you must be prepaired for anything. I am not sure your friend there can be saved. Looks to me as if he has taken his last step, so you may want to be ready to leave him if we must."
Vor was just about to signal in the negative, when to his very great relief, Jaero spoke in a croaking voice. "I am not dead yet Zander. But I soon will be if I don't get that water that your boss promised." Vor was very happy to hear Jaero's voice and motioned Zander to give the rest of the water to his friend.
Jaero took only small cautious sips of the water at first. Vor was not sure why this was. Jaero, as always, seemed to hear him thinking and said, "Humans cannot suck great mouthfulls of water after a long dry spell Vor. We become ill if we do." This said he turned his attention back to the water and began to drink larger and larger sips.
After drinking what seemed to be much less than half of the water, Jaero looked closely at the other human and said, "So, Zander. What exactly is your story? Why the urgent desire to join us and face the wrath of your leader?" Zander went back to Vor and as he began to give the doshan more water told his tale in the same low tones.
I am a street fighter. Where the money fights are, that is where I can be found. I had had a run in with a small group of these pirates in a town. They had offered a few credits if I could beat thier leader. I won. He didn't think it was a fair fight and refused to pay me, so I took my payment from his and his friends skins." he said.
"I was just looking for a good cash bout when I was approached by some locals who had seen me taking my pay from the pirates. 'Zander' they said, 'We are told there is a grand melee event scheduled for later this day in the wastelands.' 'The wastelands?' says I 'Yes, the fight coordinator doesn't want any bleeding heart protestors or militia/Imperial involvement.' says they."
"So, being as I fight where the money is I followed thier map to a small shabby looking arena set up just a few Km's from here. I approached the head man and told him I was there to fight. He looks at me, laughs a little and says 'Hey Brak! Take a look at this one! Hahahahaha. Looks like the walk here nearly killed him! Hahahahaha.' as you may have noticed he thinks a great many things funny."
"He introduced himself as Slantro the head man of the travelling group and said he would let me show what I could do in the arena, gave me a number and asked if I wanted a weapons or a melee match. I shrugged and he made a mark in the book infront of him. I was directed to a waiting area to sti till they called me."
He looks up at Vor. "Have you noticed how ver hot it is out here? I nearly perished of thirst waiting for my match. I was finally called and found myself facing a somewhat slimy looking rodian. He wasn't quite as skilled as he seemed. After a knee to the guts and an elbow to the back the fight was over."
Zander began to speak very rapidly as the water diminished. "So, Slantro calls me aside when I exit the fighting area and says to me, 'Well well, how would you like a chance at a triple purse today Zander?' I look at him as if he is crazy and say, 'Who do I have to kill?' He laughs again, he always seems to be laughing, and says 'Why my champion of course!' and getting an affirmative reply from me, walks away, again laughing."
The water nearly gone now he hurrys on. "So I warm up a little, enter the ring when called and find that Yoonar fellow waiting for me. Now I am a good fighter, but only a trandoshan or another wookie is a match for a wookie." Zander smiles. "I put up a good fight. managed to damage the wookie pretty good too before it was all over."
"So badly in fact that when I wake up, Slantro tells me his group is actually a band of wasteland pirates, and that they just recently got a contract to capture a trandoshan. He says the fights were set up to get new members and that I have the choice of joining or being killed then and there. You can guess what I chose."
"Listen, I have to go back now. If I stay, someone will become suspicious. I only joined them to stay alive and plan on how to get away from here. Hopefully with a little payback as they never did pay me for the fights. I will answer one question before I head back."
Vor, caught off guard by the sudden change from narrative to answer giving, has to think for a moment. Jaero asks the question they both want to know. "Zander, do you know who paid Slantro to capture us?" Zander thinks for moment then says, "Yeah but all he said was a name. It was something like Venta I believe."
The night was cold as is the norm in a desert climate. Luckily the bandits had apparently seen no reason to strip the prisoners and thier clothes and armor afforded some protection from the nights chill. Vor wished desperately to talk with his friend and plan thier escape, but Slantro had set a guard to watch them for the night and Vor was sure any conversation would be overheard.
The guard had been changed at regular intervals during the night. This and the fact that the guards were extrordinarily vigilant had frustrated any attempt Vor had wanted to make at working on an escape plan with Jaero. Vor had hoped that the human Zander would have been placed as a guard, but this had not been the case. Obviously Zander was being extra cautious so as not to show his hand too soon.
Dawn came pale and grey with the first sun rise, then harsh and bright with the second. Vor noticed activity begin in the small camp as the slugish pirates began to make thier morning meal and prepair for the day. Feeling watched, Vor looked towards the only permenant structure in the camp, a small rock house, and saw the wookie Yoonar watching him intently. Vor strained forward and hissed a challenge at the wookie. Yoonar threw his massive arms into the air, voiced a loud roar and started towards the prisoners at a fast pace.
Before the wookie could reach the halfway point between the stone house and the prisoners, the voice of Slantro boomed out of the house entrance. "Don't make me hurt you again Yoonar! I need the lizard alive!" The wookie stopped and looking directly at Vor, showed all his teeth and rumbled a deep growl that promised death at some future time. Having made his point, Yoonar shambled back towards the stone building, looking over his shoulder every so often at the hated enemy.
I will have to deal with the wookie quickly if our chance to escape comes, thought Vor. With a laugh Slantro made his way over to the prisoners position. "Ahhhh. Another wonderful day. Pay day I might add. Always a good day when I get to kill someone who has angered me and make a tidy profit as well." He smiled up at Vor. "So my large ugly friend. Are you not curious why we bothered to take you prisoner? Hmmm?" he said as he circled slowly around the bound trandoshan.
"At first my men were just looking to relieve you of the dragon gems that you must have taken from the young krayt that you killed. That was quite some work by the way, they tell me there were no wounds on him. But then my men saw your speeder as well. We can always use a spare speeder, so the man I had put in charge decided to kill you both and take anything worth taking." For the first time Vor saw the human frown before he continued.
"But then my men called me from hiding and informed me how many men you and your friend had killed. It was then that I decided that we must get some small recompence for the loss of so many good fighters from your hides. And so here we are, the day of payment." Slantro inhales deeply and pounds his hands on his chest as he blows the breath out. " A wonderful day for an execution." The human walks away, with his characteristic laugh following in his wake.
A short time later Zander approaches Vor with what looks to be a standard trandoshan military protein bar and a second item that Vor does not recognize. "I am sorry, but I can't release your hands to let you eat." He says as he guides the bar towards Vors mouth. As he chews the tastless food, he looks down at Zander and sees him motion silence. It isn't till this time that he notices the pair of guards that are feeding his friend.
Jaero seems totally unable to fend for himself. Vor is not absolutely certain that this is not an act on his friends part, he has been through almost more than Vor himself has been able to take and still be alive. As he watchs, the guards, thinking that the man must be near death and fearing the wrath of thier leader should he in fact die now, begin to untie him. Vor watchs as his friend, unbound, slumps lifelessly to the ground. The guards help Jaero upright and after make sure he is alive, drag him to a position directly in front of Vor.
Here finally Vor finds the use of the double metal stakes in the ground with a leather strap between them. The guards position Jaero between the stakes, which reach just to the bottom of the humans rib cage on either side, and using the leather strap, bind him about the waist in a standing position. It is now obvious that they intend to torture Jaero and force Vor to watch. Having finished the food bar, he nods to Zander in way of thanks and watchs as the human walks towards his friend.
Zander and Jaero seem to exchange some few words and then Zander moves off towards the middle of the camp, but Vor notices that he is no longer carrying the second item that he had been holding when he arrived. Jaero looks up slightly and grins at his friend. Vor can see that Jaero, no longer bound with hands far apart, is busy working at a piece of his armor. Vor looks at his friend with a puzzled expression but Jaero is intent on his work and refuses to look at his friend again. What can he be doing, thinks Vor. He hoped that whatever it was could be done quickly, because as he looked up, Vor saw the entire camp approaching them with Slantro and Yoonar in the lead. Thier time was up.
Vor watched helplessly as the large group of beings approached. Jaero, working frantically on some exposed wires in the wrist of his armor, closed his eyes, took a deep breath and then went back to what he was doing in less hurried manner. Looking around, Vor spotted Zander towards the back of the group. It looked as if he had a small bundle of some sort but Vor could not be sure as the twin suns glared down into his eyes.
Several of the pirates placed a large, throne, for lack of a better word, on the small rise to Vors left. Slantro made his way, grinning as usual, to the throne and seated himself. The group of beings seemed quite excited about the prospect of seeing someone tortured and were quite loud. Vor noticed that the wookie Yoonar stood to the right of the throne holding a large blaster that looked as if it had seen better times. Slantro stood, raised his blaster and fired it into the air. The group was instantly silent awaiting the words of thier leader.
"Today," he began, "we are going to finally get payback in more ways than one. Firstly, the lizard there is going to net us nearly fifty thousand credits." There is a surge of low toned speach from the crowd. "I will personally see that each and every one of you gets your fair share of this money." After you skim a large amount off the top, if that is the actual amount you were paid, thought Vor. "Also today we get to pay back the person responsible for the deaths of more than twelve of our brothers and sisters." The crowd reacted to this by throwing refuse and stones at Jaero who had by this time finished whatever he had been doing with his armor.
Looking closely at what Zander was doing in the rear of the crowd, Vor saw him remove two vibroblades.They were not a standard design and Vor assumed they must have been specially made for the human. He also happened to notice that there was the twin of the sand spider he had seen just before he and Jaero had been captured moving slowly from tent to tent in search of prey. Vor lost sight of both the human and the small predator as Slantro continued.
"While we have to wait to get the payment on the reptile, we can take our payment from his friend now, so let the entertainment begin!" Laughing loudly Slantro motions to a rodian who had been setting up a table near Jaero. The rodian carefully selects an instrument from the table and approachs Jaero. Vor notices that Jaero is again feigning unconsciousness. The rodian grabs the hair on the back of Jaeros head and jerks his head up forcefully. Just as he starts to move the instrument in his hand towards Jaeros eyes, the human moves his hand a very short distance and touchs the rodian on the leg.
Both Jaero and the rodian are suddenly transformed into shaking convulsing twins. Vor knows now what his friend was working on in his armor. Jaero had explained that both of thier armors were equiped with a small but very powerful battery system designed to send electrical shocks to the heart in case of near death from heart failure. Jaero had somehow bypassed the safety circuit and was now delivering the entire charge to the rodian. Unfortunately he was also being subjected to the shock via the rodians contact with him.
Vor strained against his bonds, knowing that he had been unsuccessful in previous attempts to break them. Just as he was about to give up, twin vibroblades slammed into the posts, severing the metal bonds and freeing him for action. Vor ran towards the throne. He knew that he must remove Slantro quickly and them face the might of the enraged wookie if he and Jaero were to survive to see another suns rise. As he closed with the two enemys, he saw Zander fly through the air, catching Slantro's throat in the crook of his left elbow as he passed, taking the throne and the bandit leader back and into the dust.
His attention no longer divided, Vor put on a burst of speed and slammed into the wookie. Yoonar seemed to not even notice the blow as Vor hit him full speed. Howling a battle call, the wookie slammed his fists down again and again on the hated enemy. Vors armor was, amazingly, taking most of the force of the blows away leaving Vor free to strike back. The two remained locked together trading blow for blow. Yoonar grunted and backed slightly away from a claw strike to the stomache. The wookie looked down in surprise to see blood flowing from the wound.
Vor during this short break had noticed that the crowd was, for the most part, still to stunned by what was happening to organize a response. Vor also wondered why he was hearing a strange roaring sound that seemed to be getting closer and closer. His time to ponder these things was cut short by a hammer blow to the side of his head that sent him reeling back, head spinning. The wookie gave him no time to recover and slammed blow after blow into Vors head driving him inexporably to the ground.
Hooting in triumph, Yoonar sat astride Vor's chest and closing his hands on the doshans throat began to choke the life from him. Vor useed all his strenght to push back that the huge hands of the wookie but could not move them at all. He tried another tactic and began to slash with both hands at the wound he had inflicted earlier. Although the wookie screamed in pain as Vors claws penetrated, first skin, then vital organs, his grip did not waver. In fact it seemed to Vor that it increased as if the wookie knew it had to kill him before it died itself.
The roaring was now the sound of a freighter landing inside Vors head. Vor saw that there was more movement within the camp than could be attributed to just the pirates and he wished he could take the time to see what was going on. Lack of air began to show, as Vors hands stopped thier attack on the wookies bloody abdomen and fell to the sand. As his vison began to blur, and he was proclaiming the deads of his life in his thoughts, Vor felt the weight of the wookie suddenly gone.
Vor took in a ragged breath and immediately tried to get to a defensive posture incase Yoonar renewed his attack. Looking around, he was astonished to see a full scale battle taking place. He saw a few familiar faces flashing by on swoop bikes. The entire camp was under general attack by what seemed a gang of swoop bikers and the bikers were devistating the ill prepaired pirates. Vor finally saw the form of the wookie rising from a position more than four meters away.
As Vor watched, Yoonar drew his blaster and took air at something behind the doshan. Vor turning saw a human female completely dressed in leather riding the largest swoop bike he had ever seen, turning to come at the wookie. Yoonar sent shot after shot from the blaster at the female biker, but as each blast came in the bike seemed almost of it's own accord to move slightly this way or that and either deflect the shot, or hit an area where the damage would be minimal.
It looked to Vor as if the human female was actually making the swoop dance as it roared straight at the constantly firing wookie. At the last moment before contact, Yoonar seemed to think that running may be the better idea and started to turn. At that exact second, the human turned the bike in what seemed an impossible manner to Vor, and hit the wookie in the neck with the steering vane on the left rear of the bike, completely removing Yoonars head from his body.
Vor slumped to the ground and attempted to catch the breath that he suddenly realized he had been holding this whole time. he could see that the bikers were finishing off the last of the resistance from the pirates and would control the field in a matter of moments. With a heavy heart, Vor stood and began to make his way back to where he knew his friend must wait, dead from the shock he had given to both the rodian and himself. As Vor approached, he saw Sarrik, Daishus and several other Avians all standing around the table that had previously been occupied by instruments of torture.
He was able to see one thing before he fell unconscious to the sand. The charred arm of his friend, Jaero, hanging from the side of the table.
Vor awoke to the wind whipping by and the sound of speeders and swoop bikes all around. Sitting up, he found he was in the seat of the speeder that he and Jaero had purchased from Latru. Thinking this brought back the last sight he had seen of his friend. He turned to the driver, Sarrik, and asked, "Jaero, how being is? Burned Vor seeing did yes no? Yes!" Sarrik, not taking his eyes from the instruments said, "He'll be fine. He managed to burn himself pretty badly with that dumb stunt, but a little time in bacta and he will be good as new."
Looking at all the vehicles around them, Vor saw many faces that he recognized as well as many that were completely unknown. Sarrik, noted his interest and said, "It's the Avian Angels. Lots of the Avians are members and we all rallyed to the call when we heard that you and Jaero were in need of a rescue. And those of us that know you two were not even suprised." Sarrik smiled at this thought. Vor noticed that the smile, if anything, made Sarrik look even more dangerous than usual.
Vor was startled to see a hugely fat Mon Calamari sitting on what amounted to a flatbed speeder. The size of the Mon Cal however was not what had caught Vors attention. It was what the giant Mon Cal had in his hands. The large mottled grey sand spider that Vor had seen at both his and Jaeros camp, and at the pirates camp. And as Vor watched, the Mon Cals fingers began to move over the surface of the spider until a small panel popped open. It wasn't a sand spider at all, but a small and exquisitely made spy droid.
As Vor watched the Mon Cal worked on the droid. It's fingers as precise as the best robotic instrument as they probed and cleaned the tiny droid. Vor lost sight of the Mon Cal as a group of some 25 swoop bikes roared past heading towards what looked to Vor to be a small farm in the near distance. As they approached and the Avians began to dismount from thier vehicles, a mid young female twi'lik came from an outbuilding, waving at the Avians. As thier vehicle came to a stop Sarrik looked to Vor and said, "Listen, don't get to comfortable, we won't be here long. And try not to get into any more trouble!"
Seeing that there were some few covered bodies on the flatbed speeder, Vor walked over to see if any of his friends had gone to the great egg. As he approached, he counted five bodies. Uncovering the first, he was surprised to see the corpse of Yoonar the wookie. As he checked, he found that all the others were all dressed in leather, so he knew that they were Avians who had died saving Jaero and himself. Seating himself on the flatbed, Vor shoved the body of the wookie off the truck and began to sing the death transit song for the Avians.
As he was finishing the death singing, the female human that he had seen kill Yoonar came and stood near the side of the flatbed. She stared at Vor for a moment, and for that moment, Vor had the same feeling in his head that drinking too much doshan fire tea always gave him. When the feeling passed, the female was already walking away frowning and shaking her head. Vor wondered what had just happened and who the strange human was.
Sarrik exited the house and came to stand near Vor. He was holding a large mug of something that Vor could only assume was probably near toxic in it's content. Sarrik drank deeply and said, " Four dead and 13 injured including Jaero. The board is not going to be happy about this." Sarrik took another long pull from his drink, and seeing Vors look of confusion continued, "It's like this. After the Board decided that you were just too hot to keep around, some of us got together and paid Grenn our rather large Mon Cal friend there to make us a spy droid that even you and Jaero would not see as a spy. Something that would fit in as normal and be basically unnoticed.,"
Sarrik continued, "When we saw the battle you and he had with the bad guys, we went and talked to Ayn-Jil about calling in some members of the Angels to help with a rescue. Grenn got seriously angry when you threw sand at his pride and joy." Sarrik again smiles in a manner that doesn't exactly put one at ease, "You should have seen him. Hard to believe someone that big could jump around like that, hahahahahahaha" Sarrik took another long pull on his drink, frowned, turned the mug upsidedown and said to Vor, "Well, might as well get this over with, come on inside. We have some major decisions to make before we get back to town."
Vor thinking this was a strange thing to say followed in Sarriks wake, thinking to himself that he had a bad feeling about what was going to happen when he entered the farm house ahead. What was going on in there that had Sarrik worried? Who was that female human and what had she done that had given him that strange feeling? Well, nothing to do but stride ahead and find out, he thought as he entered the front door of the building.
As Vor was about to enter the building, he felt a small insect bite at the back of his neck and swatted at it. While it had been quite some time since an insect had managed to penetrate his tough hide, he knew the proper response was to swat with the intent to kill. As he entered the cool interior of the farm, he examined his hand but found no crushed insect. Shrugging, Vor followed Sarrik to an interior room where he could already hear voices raised in debate.
"And I tell you, it was not chance that those desert scum attacked Vor and Jaero. Someone was behind it. Anyone can see that this group was far to well organized and supplied for it to have been a random encounter!" Said the human female that Sarrik had called Ayn-Jil. She was seated at a large table with 5 others. The room was packed far beyond it's usual capacity with the huge number of leather clad beings.
Sarrik motioned for Vor to stand at a spot near the front of the crowd. Vor noticed that the large number of beings must be overworking the cooling units for the building as the he started to become somewhat warmer than usual. The huge Mon Calamari that Sarrik had called Grenn spoke next, "Well, I did my best in the time alotted to me, but even with twice the time I could not have outfitted the spider droid that Latru hid in thier speeder with any audio equipment."
"And even if I had that...that Vor creature may well have ruined it! Imagine throwing sand of all things at a delicate piece of machinery like that! Harumph!" As he finished, Ayn-Jil signaled for silence and began to speak, "Well, be that as it may, we have casualties. The Board will not like the loss, but we were all volunteers and on our own time. So what we have to figure out now is what to do to prevent this exact thing happening again."
Vor was feeling quite uncomfortable now with the rising temperature. He began to look at the others in the room to see if any showed signs of being hot. None that he saw seemed overly stressful from the environment. "Vor, can you shed any light on what happened? Jaero will not be able to speak to us for at least several cycles and we very much need information to plan how to proceed from here." Said Ayn-Jil.
Vor stepped forward fully ready to tell the entire tale of what had occured in the wastelands and of his "brothers" involvment, when it came to him suddenly that these beings could very well be in league with the assassin as well, and only drawing him out to see if he would go to others for help. The heat in the room had vanished at the same time that Vor had received the revelation about these beings. Knowing somehow that all those in the room were most likely working with his brother, he stepped forward and spoke.
"Vor knowing not many much telling you! Being dead seconds being later if speaking is! Out Vor going is or beings being many much sorry stopping Vor trying!" This said, he leaped towards the nearest door, bowling over every human, bothan and mon calamari in his path. Several times he struck out here and there to clear the path, always pulling his strikes. He did not wish to kill these beings just to escape, but kill he would if they attempted to stop him.
As he was nearing the door, a zabrak who seemed vaguely familiar stepped into his path. "Vor! I don't know what is going on in that head of yours, but you need to settle down and help us get this whole affair into perspective." Vor did not slow as the zabrak spoke but advanced menacingly. "I am warning you Vor, I will put you down if I must, but one way or the other you are going to explain this violence towards those that have just helped save your life!"
As he neared the zabrak, he remembered that this one was lethal with his hands. Not knowing nor caring where the knowledge came from, he rushed forward and managed to grab the zabrak around the middle in a crushing grip. Suddenly, pain exploded in his ears. Momentarily stunned he lost his grip on the zabrak and found himself on his back in the sand.
Vor unable to decide what exactly had just happened was again overwhelmed by the need to escape this place and these beings that would kill him or turn him over to Venta to be slowly killed. As the zabrak passed close to him, he reached out and grabbed an ankle. The zabrak reacted violently and Vor absorbed several kicks and hand strikes before he managed to gain his feet. swinging the being by the leg Vor managed to smash its head into a wall.
The zabrak fell immediately out of action. Vor dropped the figure into a crumpled heap on the floor and ran out into the open front courtyard. As he approached one of the swoop bikes, two humans and a wookie fell on him and attempted to wrestle him to the ground. But here, Vor had the advantage, for he did not feel the need to hold back for fear of hurting a friend. Grabbing a human by the left arm, he swung it around and used it as a living club against the wookie. Both wookie and human were out of the fight. The remaining human retreated, hands in the air before him.
The house was just beginning to empty as Vor raced away in the speeder he and the traitor human Jaero had been given by the twi'lik Latru. It was obvious to Vor now that the twi'lik had given it to them already outfitted with a homing device on it and sent the human along to be sure Vor did not find and remove it. He would show them. As soon as he found a place to hide, he would find the device and trick them.
Vor was not sure exactly what it was that had opened his mind to these beings duplicity, but he thanked the great egg that the heat in that farm had made him search thier faces. It was right then that Vor had been sure. The Avians were out to get him!
If Vor were himself, he would have noticed the dust cloud that was following him just at the edge of visual range. And the cause of that cloud was a battered yet fully poised Sarrik staying just far enough back to avoid detection. 'Don't know what made that lizard attack us like that, but NOONE hurts Avians and gets away with it! Not to mention the full set of lumps I personally owe him.' Thought the zabrak as he screamed after the speeder on the borrowed swoop bike.
Vor saw a swoop bike parked near a cave some distance ahead and decided to stop and see if he could either remove the tracking device that the Avians must have planted in the speeder or steal the swoop bike and make good his escape that way. As he approached the parked bike, he noticed that it had a symbol he was not familiar with emblazoned on the engine compartment.
He stopped the speeder a short distance away from the cave and waited to see if his presence had been noticed by the owner of the swoop. When no movement came for a short time, Vor cautiously approached the cave entrance. 'Could be a setup.' thought Vor. The Avians had seemed to be his friends until he had suddely known that they were in league with someone that wanted his head. He would take no chances on whoever occupied the cave.
Sarrik had parked his swoop some distance away and made a stealthy approach to the cave area. He noticed right away the Consortium symbol on the swoop parked outside. 'Well, that explains Vors behaviour, he must be working for those bastards!' thought the zabrak to himself. The only thing that Sarrik could not understand was why save Angus' life if he were Consortium? Granted the Avians had an understanding with them at the moment, but there were bad feelings that remained in many among both groups.
As Vor entered the cave, his eyes adjusted and he saw immediately that there was a small glow tube on the floor some distance inside and that a short slim zabrak was sitting near it polishing a weapon of some sort. As he watched the zabrak, a small stone came loose under his foot giving away his presence. Before Vor could react, the zabrak had smashed the glow tube and all was thrown into darkness.
Vor moved quickly from his hiding spot. He knew that the zabrak had a good idea where the sound had come from and he had no intention of being an easy target. In the very few seconds it took for Vors exceptional eyesight to begin to make out details, Sarrik had also entered the room and was watching the scene with some small amount of satisfaction due to his being the only one wearing vision enhancers.
The unknown zabrak and Vor moved silently here and there seeking the better position to attack the other from. Twice Sarrik saw the zabrak fire the compressed gas dart gun at Vor. Both times the projectile was deflected by just the tiniest piece of stone outcropping or the edge of a stalagmite. Slowly Sarrik made his way around behind the other zabraks current position.
Vor was at a loss. The zabrak seemed to have night vision nearly equal to his own and had almost hit him twice with that strange weapon. The zabrak had him pinned down behind a small hummock of stone that rose from the cave floor. Vor could not move from his current position without becoming a clear target. As he watched over the stone for a break to make his move, he saw the movement of yet a third being in the cave, behind and slightly to the right of the zabraks position.
Now he was trapped as surely as if he had stuck his head into a rancor sling. He was sure that the second figure would move around behind him while the zabrak kept him pinned. Vor began to search the cave surfaces for a weapon, any weapon that he might use to escape. With no other alternative, he reached back, grabbed a large stalagmite and snapped it off the floor with a loud CRACK, that echoed thoughtout the cave.
Sarrik was nearly in a position to attack the other zabrak when Vor had procured his stone weapon. The noise had caused the other zabrak to lower his weapon and look over the crate he was hiding behind. This was the opportunity Sarrik had wanted. Leaping through the air, he shoulder slammed the other zabrak into the floor. Even with surprise on his side though, the zabrak had twisted with the blow and it had only partially connected.
Flipping to his feet, Sarrik was on the zabrak in an instant. He was surprised to see that the other was also already on his feet and awaiting his attack. The other zabrak put up a good defense but was no match for the methodical Teras Kasi master. Sarrik used a series of hammer blows to the others midsection followed by a spinning side kick to the head and a final hammer blow to the back. The zabrak hit the floor hard but did not stay there.
Vor watching this scene was taken aback by it all. Who was this other zabrak that had attacked the cave dweller? More than likely yet another carrion eater come to take Vor in for some reward or other. He was not about to become the prey of either of them, but was still not sure if he dared leave the protection of the stone hummock. Taking this all in, Vor decided to wait it out and face the victor of the current battle. He should be able to overcome the beaten and bruised winner with ease.
The other zabrak has yet to lay a hand on Sarrik, but had managed to impress him with his sheer stamina and ability to ignore the pain he must be feeling from the repeated blows that Sarrik had been landing. He could already hear the other wheezing as he breathed. 'Broken ribs. At least five by the way he is leaning to the left protecting that side.' thought Sarrik as he launched yet another series of blows at the other.
This last attack was too much for his opponant. After the initial axe hand chop to the left side ribcage, the other zabrak collapsed to the floor moaning and trying to breathe. Sarrik put his foot on the injured left rib and said, "Talk or pain, your choice!" The zabrak looked up at him defiantly. Sarrik brutally dug his foot into the broken bones. He could feel the parts grinding and snapping inside. Finally the other zabrak screamed in pain. "ENOUGH! Please please stop! Don't hurt me anymore! No bounty is worth this!"
Vor had heard the voice and recognized it. Sarrik! This would not be as easy as he had thought. He knew that he had gotten lucky at Natkai's farm with that ankle grab and that he may not be able to take the wiley Teras Kasi master down easily even if he were damaged from the fight. But he also knew that Sarrik was in it with all the others. They were all out to get him and he would not be taken alive. If he must kill, then so be it. He had killed before and he would kill again. Thinking this, Vor slowly made his way out of hiding and approached the area where the fight had taken place
Vor, hearing movement from the area of the fight, stopped moving forward and pressed himself to a wall while he listened for anything that would help him attack Sarrik successfully. He had seen the two zabraks going at each other and from his memory of Sarriks abilities, he knew what the outcome had been. His only hope was that Sarrik was now suffering from both the injury he had taken at the farm and possible futher wounds from this most recent fight.
Sarrik crouched down near the other zabrak and reached front of his tunic. As he did so, a wave of nausea overwhelmed him for a moment. Recovering his balance, he noticed that he was having trouble seeing from his right eye as well. He reached down and tore a long strip off his own shirt and used it to wipe the blood from his eyes. The exertion of the fight had caused the head wound to flow more freely.
He quickly used the strip of cloth to bind his head as best he could. No point in letting Vor have the upper hand due to being blinded by his own blood. As he finished he noticed the other zabrak was smiling at his injuries. Reaching down he ground the palm of his hand into the others injured ribs, again eliciting a scream of pain. "Now, before I smash all the other bones in your body, I suggest you tell me exactly what is going on here!"
Vor hearing the voice of Sarrik, pinpointed his location, and heafting his stone club, began to circle, looking for the perfect spot to attack from.
The other zabrak, coughed deeply and blood flecked his lips as he began to speak. "There is a standing Bounty on the trandoshan if he is brought in alive. There is also a bounty that was posted by anonymous sources for anyone who could cause a resurgence of problems leading to possible war between the Avians and the Consortium. I figured to get both bountys in one shot." Again the zabrak is raked by a coughing fit that brings further blood.
Seeing that the other zabrak may be close to death, he shakes him and says, "Listen you bastard! Talk or I swear I will make your last moments such an extasy of pain, that zabrak mothers will tell thier children the story to frighten them!" He can see the other zabraks eyes starting to glaze and again slams his hand into the broken ribs. The zabraks eyes clear from the pain and he continues, "I hired a painter to put the Consortium symbol on the bike and thought I would leave it and the dart rifle here for an Avian to find. That would have led to trouble and I would catch up to Vor in short order and make a double payday out of it."
Sarrik shook the zabrak and said "What did you use on Vor? It's not a poison that I have ever seen, so what was it?" "It was designed especially for Vor by another trandoshan named Venta. He is the one who posted the bounty for him. I was told that it would make him paranoid to the point where he would think the sand itself was out to get him. It won't hurt him other than that and it will wear off in a few hours at most." The zabrak looked as if he wanted to go on speaking, but he suddenly began to shudder as blood filled his mouth.
Dropping the dead body to the floor, Sarrik turned just in time to meet the rush of the drugged trandoshan. He easily avoided the clumsy strike of the huge stone club and a knife edge hand strike to Vors wrist made him lose his grip on the club. Unfortunately, in his current state, he did not avoid the return blow from Vor and found himself fetching up painfully against the cave wall. He had to remember that Vor had also been trained by a Teras Kasi Master.
And while the trandoshan seemed to have none of his former skill or speed due to the drug, he had more than his fair share of strength. Sarrik knew that he would have to hit and fade and not allow Vor to hit him again or this would end very badly for him. Already Vor was advancing on him hissing swinging both his clawed fists menacingly as he came. Sarrik spun up and off the wall hitting Vor squarely in the nerve cluster behind the left eye. Momentarily stunned Vor staggered back.
"Hit me being?!?! Dying being you now!" He screamed, the echo coming back painfully loud from the close walls as he ran at the zabrak. Sarrik dodged to the right and below Vors clumsy slashing attempt and slammed a double open palm strike to the nerves in the trandoshans armpit. Again Vor was staggered with the pain and now his left arm was all but useless. Feeling somewhat heartened by this Sarrik called out, "Vor! I don't want to hurt you! You were drugged by the other zabrak. he was hired to start trouble with the Avians and to take you in for the bounty someone named Venta had for your capture."
As he was talking, Sarrik was circling to what he thought was a better position. Just two or three more nerve strikes and Vor would be out of commision, if only he could stay conscious long enough to land them. He could see the trandoshan slumping against a stalagmite just a short distance away and leaped in for another strike, but this time, Vor was ready for him. Vor swung with all his strength and was gratified to hear the sound of breaking bones come from the zabraks collar-shoulder area.
Vor swung his right arm back for a slash that would have torn the zabrak in half if it had connected, but wounded as he was Sarrik was still maddeningly fast. He knew that one more hit would be the end of the badly wounded zabrak and began to stalk him into the darkened recesses of the cave. "Now dying being you! Teach all coming after Vor lesson is!"
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_________________ There is no emotion; there is peace.
THere is no ignorance; there is knowledge.
There is no pasion; there is sernity.
There is no death; there is the Force.
-from the Jedi Code
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