Post by ender on Apr 30, 2009 21:32:25 GMT -5
Chapter 3
Companions
Companions
Corran Horn was the first to step out of the gateway, a portable of the One Power that allowed the user to step into another part of the universe. It was simply a rectangle in the middle of the desert that opened to what appeared to be a dusty courtyard. Corran analyzed the thickness…but couldn’t find any. If that thing were to open on someone, from the looks of it, it would cut through a limb, or an entire body. Corran picked up a stone on the ground and moved it across the two dimensional edge to test his theory. Like a butter knife, the thing sliced neatly through the rock. The halves landed on either side; one of them in the barren deserts of Tatooine, the other in Mos Eisely.
“Yes, that is why you do not touch the edges, Corran. It is less than an atom thick, and indestructible.” Ender turned to Tigeress and motioned her to step through, “Ladies first.” He smiled and gave a slight bow of the head.
“Thank you.” Tigeress stepped through as though this were a typical procedure; her head held high and back perfectly straight. Corran allowed himself an amused curve of his lips. The definition of arrogance, I see. “You are in my way, Corran.” Corran humbly moved aside and she stepped into the court yard, seemingly as though it were her own, in all of its dusty glory.
Ender stepped through the gateway and looked around as it closed behind him. From the way his eyes were shifting, he seemed to know this place. He clasped a rather wicked looking black sword in his hands. Somehow, Ender had used the One power to turn the entire Liber Sum into a blade that greatly resembled Callandor in shape, except this blade made Corran’s clothes look light.
“Why are we here, Ender?” Tigeress asked.
Ender looked up toward a balcony overlooking the courtyard, “This is one of the places in Mos Eisely that I remember the best. I need to be very familiar with where I am creating a gateway, or it may appear anywhere. If I attempted to make a gateway to a place that I did not know, we could come out a hundred feet in the air, or even in outer space. That would not be good…”
Tigeress nodded her head, “No, that wouldn’t. What happened here?”
“Your old master ordered his minions to kill me.”
Tigeress went stiff at the mention of Lord.Wolf, former leader of the former Sith Empire. She wiped her face blank, but she could not hide from Corran the intensity of pain that fogged her eyes. Corran pretended to observe his surroundings so she didn’t know he saw it. Lord.Wolf had been like a father to her, she had lost a very good mentor on that horrifying day, when Nader destroyed everything. Corran could tell that she was not one to easily forget, “I’m sorry to hear that.” She said.
Ender did not appear to notice what had just happened, “It’s over and done with.”
“Yes…it is done.” She nodded to herself fiercely, as though trying to reassure herself that it was indeed done.
“I think we would make excellent statues if we stuck around any longer, hmm?” Corran folded his arms and smiled, “What do you think, sir?”
Ender gave a slight grin, “I think that you are right. It’s time to move out. We have a lot of information to gather; we are five years behind.” He sheathed the black sword into a scabbard attached to his back and force jumped the wall.
Darkknight placed one black booted foot forward into the coarse, dry sands and looked over the hill to see Mos Eisely, a city of villainy and greed, come into sight. He felt his black cloak pick up from a gust of wind, and he used one hand to bring it down, while using the other to pull one of the objects that Sith had given him out of his pocket. It felt excessively heavy in his hands, but light in its holder, and it was surprisingly big; it should have been three times smaller, from how it felt in his pocket. Darkknight held it up to his face. It was an old, rotten, human-like skull, looking as though it would shatter in the instant. The hollow, empty sockets glowed a blood-crimson red. It had belonged to a mandalorian, Sith had said; a very ambitious Mandalorian.
Darkknight lifted it above his head and threw it to the ground. There was a loud clack and it shattered into a thousand pieces. A black, foggy mist began to form from the broken pieces. Silently, the fog began to make its way down to Mos Eisely, seeming to disappear. It was an invisible enemy, a very deadly enemy.
Let’s see how this works.
Ender led them to an intersection in the city. He peered down different directions, apparently deciding which way to go. Speeders, banthas, and pretty much everyone else were tight packed as far as Corran could see. It was an endless jungle of people and aliens, and the noise was irritating, but nothing like it had been on the Battle of Coruscant. People shouted at other people, people in speeders were shaking their fists at the slow-paced crowd, dealers shouted at the people with salesmen voices, and random people gave other random people cold-eyed stares, fingering their weapons. Rival gang members, no doubt. There was little of Nader’s philosophy here. Corran chuckled to himself. No matter what happened in the galaxy, it seemed as though Tatooine would never change.
Finally, Ender looked at Corran and Tigeress. To Corran’s mild surprise, he heard Ender’s voice in his head, We should split up. There are three catina’s here, one down the end of each of these roads. Sound good? Corran nodded his head.
[iGood idea[/i] Thought Corran. Ender did not have to shout over all the noise and bring attention to themselves. Those little tricks of the One Power proved useful.
Thanks.
Tigeress was glaring at Ender, and Corran couldn’t quite figure out why. Perhaps it was a privacy issue; she may not like being talked to in her head. Ender gave her a dismissive shrug. She glared all the harder. Perhaps there were some things that were beyond even his understanding.
Ender pointed Tigeress down one road, and Corran down another. Tigeress stalked off, apparently still angry at Ender, for whatever reason. Despite her anger, she still managed to become one with the crowd very efficiently. Tigeress had been trained very well; she had had the galaxy by the throat, once. Ender slipped into the crowd, and Corran was alone. Checking to make sure his trusty lightsaber was still concealed, he made his way down the dusty street of Mos Eisely.
It wasn’t long before he was standing in front of a well-kept catina that somehow managed to look nicer than all the buildings around it. Here on Mos Eisely, if you wanted to be a successful businessman, build a Catina. Forcing a relieved expression on his face, as though he was glad to have found a place to drink and rest, he stepped in.
The inside did not look as nice as the out. Black stains that appeared to have originated from blood covered some of the walls, and parts of the floor. Tables were crooked and not aligned right. Glasses were left tipped over on tables, despite the fact that the original drinkers were long gone. People were talking and laughing. Some were dancing to the catina music, others were just mulling over their drinks, deep in their own thoughts. The Bartender, fat and rough, had what appeared to be a permanent sour expression on his face. He grunted at the sight of Corran and then turned his back. That’s exactly what Corran was, another patron, another individual seeking information. It wasn’t like Corran was on a covert operation in any case.
Corran ordered some Juma Juice and then looked for a table. There was one with several people playing a very old game; Pazaak. He was somewhat familiar with the game, so he decided to sit there, “Mind if I join in?” They grunted in acknowledgement and made room for him. As Corran sat down, he noticed that only two people were playing. Now that he remembered it, it was usually only a two player game, and there must have been at least five people there. Perhaps the others had placed bets, judging from the anxious looks carved into their faces.
“You’ll have to wait, scumbag, you can’t place your bet this late in the game. You’ll have to wait until the next round.” A big man cracked his knuckles as he flatly stated those words, “We don’t like cheaters here.”
“I see, hmm…” Corran quickly thought of a way to divert the conversation, “Seems as though this place has had some rough times.”
The bald-headed man looked at him oddly, “It’s always been this way. You new here?”
“Yes, I am on vacation.” The man burst out laughing.
“Ah yes! That was a good one. Even I’ll admit that this city is a dump, but I love it. It never gets boring here, and there’s always rival gangs to compete with.”
“Gangs?”
“Yes,” said the big man, “You should see the catina on a typical night. That’s where the blood stains come from.” He winked at Corran and turned back to the game.
Corran glanced at the two playing Pazaak. One was a tall man who towered over everyone else at the table. He seemed to have very athletic arms, though not quite as much as the patron he had been talking to. Corran had to glance twice at the other player to make sure he was not mistaken. Surprisingly, the other player was a young boy who couldn’t have been older than fourteen. He seemed smaller than he probably was, surrounded by people who probably outweighed him by a factor of two. Corran stopped himself from revealing a sour expression. That boy should not be in a place like this, nor should he be surrounded by people who looked to be unstable. He could get hurt very badly. He hoped none of these people were his father…
“Bantha Fodder!” One of the men yelled. Some of the people in the catina looked up, “You cheatin bastard, I know that you fixed that somehow!”
“I won the bet fair and square, didn’t I Ewok?” Another man said. He and a few others were laughing and cheering. The others at the table had murder in their eyes.
The man who answered, the man who flipped a coin in the air, and apparently the tall man who had won the game, said, “Looks like it.” He caught the coin and flipped it onto his back hand. Corran noticed that it was heads.
The young boy wore a disgusted look, as though losing this game meant that he had lost everything. For some reason, the look didn’t seem quite right to Corran, as though it were being faked. The boy glanced at the coin, and then looked at the table in apparent defeat.
The big man clapped the man called Ewok on the back, “Your share of the winnings, my man, all fifty percent of it, and what a fortune it is!”
One of the losing men stood straight up and looked angrily at the big man, “’Tis not right to steal from Otto! He’s only a kid. Give that money back!”
“Quit your squealing!” The big man yelled, “You could give a damn about that kid, at least I’m willing to admit it. If you want your credits back, go work and shovel bantha fodder you feckless ingrate!”
Corran noticed that that the man named Ewok flipped the coin again, except this time it was tails. The boy glanced at the coin again, and he gave a slight nod. Pushing out his chair, he turned to go.
The man grabbed his wrist and hauled him back over, “You going to let those lying, cheating, bastards take that coin from you!? You gotta fight for it! Those credits are ours! Let’s fight!” Corran noticed a slight flicker of the eyelids from Ewok the moment he grabbed the boy’s arm.
The big man scowled, “It’s ours, and there is nothing you can do about it.”
“No!” Corran turned around in surprise. He had heard that voice all away from across the room. One man, who Corran specifically remembered to have been nearly half-asleep when Corran had entered, straightened up and was glaring menace at everyone at Corran’s table, “That money is mine! Give it to me!”
Another man, very thin and bony-like, straightened up and pointed at another table that was playing Pazaak, “That’s mine! That is all my money. Give it to me or I will rip your throats from out of your necks!”
A twe’ilik suddenly leaped at a man who was idly rolling a coin around on his table, his fingers digging deep into the man’s neck, “That is my money! Give it to me now!” Corran could not conceivably hide the shock that had leaped onto his face without permission.
The bartender had two vibroblades in his hands, and he was standing on top of his bar, “All of you scumbags give me my money! Every coin in this heap belongs to me, I own the place. Give me!” He jumped down and sliced a patron’s head off. Blood spurted onto his hungry face as he lustfully gathered up the patron’s belongings.
The big man looked at the defeated man, “Your throat is mine!” They leaped at each other, as well as everyone else at the table. The man named Ewok suddenly dived at the boy named Otto and hurled him to the ground, just as a knife came hurtling by and planted itself in someone’s chest. Otto scrambled to his feet and threw himself under a table. He picked up a vibroblade and wildly threw it at Ewok. He scrambled out of the way of two people clawing at each other and rolled through another skirmish
Ewok snatched it out of the air just in time to slice off the hand of someone who was about to fire a blaster at him. He desperately grabbed his winnings and threw them into the crowd. This act took the fight to the floor. People were gouging each other’s eyes out trying to grab the money. Three more people came at him, “That vibroblade is mine!” was shouted right on top of, “Give me my clothes that you are wearing!” with another, “My eyeballs!” Ewok thrust his vibroblade at one of them, sinking it deep into his chest, and he whipped a hand behind his back just in time to catch another vibroblade thrown at him by Otto. Corran almost gaped. The boy named Otto must have been climbing through every obstacle in the bar to find that weapon. Is Ewok force sensitive…?
He had no time to investigate, just as he had no time to investigate what had driven these people into insanity. Four people lunged at him, greed poisoning their vision. Corran side-stepped the first, giving him a precisely placed chop on his collar bone, sending him down. He kicked another one in the face, blood splattered over a broken nose. The other two managed to tackle him to the ground. He tried to fight off as best he could, managing to throw one of them off him, just before the last two lunged at him again, placing him dangerously under a pile of insane animals. He was afraid to use his weapon, for fear that he may attract the entire bar on him, but he had no choice. Desperately, with all of his strength, he shoved his arm around the knot of limbs and grabbed his lightsaber. Its ignition stabbed through a leg, a heart, and a neck. Its powerful hum pierced the chaotic noise. He wildly swung until he was surrounded by charred body-parts. He allowed himself a sour look. He hated doing that.
Ewok and Otto came over to him. Ewok shouted over the noise. Ottoman was scanning the area for anyone who came close. Everyone was occupied with killing his neighbor, “You look like you’re in your right mind, do you know what’s going on?” Ewok glanced warily at the lightsaber, there was something he didn’t like about it.
“All I know is that I chose a very bad vacation spot,” Corran allowed himself a grin.
“A very bad spot indeed.” Ewok grimaced, “What is your name?”
Corran decided this was not the time to think of a fake name, “Corran Horn.”
Otto’s voice was surprisingly deep for his age, “Ten people in the bar are looking at us…now they are rushing us!”
Corran lifted his saber as two vibroblade men came snarling for his lightsaber, claiming they were the true owners. Bodies lay all over the floor, and everyone in the catina had turned into animals. It was either fight or die, he could no longer think.
Tigeress intentionally glared at everything in the room. Of all the places she had to end up, it had to be a slave trade bar. She didn’t care to get information in a place like this. It disgusted her. It’s worse than what the Sith did to me. Ender had no right to go inside my head! He didn’t so much as ask She looked at a man who glanced at her. He hurriedly planted his nose back into his drink when he saw her face. How can I trust him not to do that again!? He could be spying on my thoughts right now for all I know! My thoughts belong to me alone, I don’t need arrogant boys peaking through a window! She crossed her legs and folded her arms, staring contemptuously at the auction taking place. It was all she could do not to take out two lightsabers and kill everything. Maybe he didn’t read any of my thoughts, maybe he can’t. Maybe he can. He needs to teach me how to use the One Power! I don’t care if he can’t; he needs to find a way! I will not be his slave! I demand respect. This bar needs to be burned to the ground… A dark-skinned girl, about as dark as Tigeress herself, did not look native to this planet. She couldn’t have been more than fourteen. She was up on the auction, and some of the auctioneers were looking at her with interest as the slave trader listed off her skills and qualities with a sickening smile. The girl looked very sad, but did not seem to wear the defeated look of the other slaves. She must have been a slave before, being sold off, but she did not quite look like a slave. Tigeress felt her heart thumping with rage. She looked away from the auction before she lost control. Someone needs to rip that dealer’s throat out…
There was a stir in the crowd, and some shouts and yells. “She’s mine! Give me! Mine!” Tigeress whipped her head back to the auction. Her eyes widened. Someone had ripped the dealer’s throat out. He was being dog piled by about almost all of the auctioneers, and from the way that blood was spurting from a hole in the pile, someone’s throat had been cut, or ripped. Tigeress couldn’t help but gape. She looked around the bar. Everyone was attacking each other. It was as though the entire world had suddenly gone mad. Even the slaves were attacking each other. The only one who wasn’t doing anything was the one on top of the stand where they had been auctioning her off. She looked absolutely horrified by the scene. Some of the men looked at her with greed in their eyes.
That was enough to set Tigeress off. Screaming, she stood up and unleashed all of the energy that had been building up. An enormous ball of fire leaped from her hands and slammed itself into the crowd next to the girl. Screaming, flaming bodies ran in incoherent directions, setting some of the other patrons on fire. Before she could think, she had pulled out two lightsabers and was on a killing rampage. White hot rage encompassed her vision. She did not give a thought to morale; she was killing pigs, not beings. Slash, slice, duck, gather, fly, push, choke, slaughter, gut, slice slash, push.
It was not long before she was in a room with a fire feeding on bits and pieces of corpses. The whole building may collapse soon. The girl was still in the same position that she was before the animals went wild. She seemed too petrified to do anything. She stared at Tigeress with fearful eyes.
I have to save her. The building will collapse soon. I don’t care if she is scared of me. There is no time. Using Force sprint, Tigeress reached her in two leaps. She grabbed her by the arm and forced her to follow. The girl obeyed, but still appeared to be in a horrified trance. They managed to get out minutes before the whole thing collapsed. Tigeress let the girl go, but she did not run, and for good reason. Outside, the streets of Mos Eisely were at war.
Corran lunged himself out of the Catina in triumph. He and his two new companions had managed to escape the carnage in one piece. Luckily, no one was following them out, so he left them to their own thing The noise in there was absolutely horrendous He turned his lightsaber off.
Just as he was turning to look at the streets, Otto threw a vibroblade at Corran. Out of impulse he caught the vibroblade by the handle, almost getting his hand and his throat sliced in the process. He looked at Otto in alarm, “What are you doing?” He feared the other two may be going as insane as everyone else in the catina.
“Look at your vibroblade,” Otto pointed.
Corran looked. There was a black blaster mark on the blade right where his throat had been. He whipped his head out to the street, and his emotions got the better of him once again, his eyes widening. The entire city was in a state of anarchy.
Speeders and banthas were being taken over by people in the streets. Like ants, they pulled all of the vehicles and all of the bantha’s down. Blasters fired, vibroblades slashed, and even some rockets launched. If he stepped out into the streets, his chances of survival were very slim. Out of all the noise, he heard two distinct things more than anything else, “Mine!” and “For the glory of the gang!” He, Tigeress, and Corran had chosen their timing to enter the city…poorly.
Igniting his saber, he looked at the other two, “Where are you heading?”
Ewok looked at the carnage, “We’ve really got no where to go. We live on the streets, and as you can tell, it is a very healthy place to live.” Blood splattered next to a wall behind them. His sarcasm was amusing, but not enough to make Corran smile, “Where are you going?”
“I have some companions I need to find. Two of them. I need to head out to the intersection of this street.”
“I don’t see us going anywhere.” Otto said, “We need to find a place to hide.”
Corran shook his head, “Perhaps you should find us a table, hmm?’ Corran suddenly sensed something, and then turned his eyes to confirm it. Two red lightsabers were cutting their way towards him somewhere off in the crowd. They flashed fiercely and skillfully. Corran prepared his lightsaber, “You two wish to die here or follow me? I could use someone to guard my back.”
Ewok used his thick elbow to knock someone coming too close flat on his back, “Ok, we will follow.”
Corran knew that too much thinking would mean death. He lunged into the crowd confidently and precisely, swinging and slashing, fighting for survival. He dimly noticed Otto keeping to the sides. He was not a fighter, but he obviously helped Ewok in some manner, because he kept glancing at Otto as often as the man he was killing. Corran calculatively channeled his emotions into his arms, and through that, into his saber. The gap between him and Tigeress was rapidly closing. After a few minutes, he met with her and they moved off to the side, where there was the least amount of battle going on. She had a young girl with her, and that girl looked ready to faint.
Corran looked at Tigeress, “Do you know what has happened?”
She shook her head, “Something evil. Something very evil. Do you know where Ender is? We need to get out of here, and we could really use him right now.”
“I have not heard from him,” Corran said, “I found these two people. They were the only ones in the catina other than I to come out sane. Ewok, and Otto.” Ewok bowed with a slight smile, and Otto just shrugged. Tigeress acknowledged them with a small smile. She turned and looked down at the young girl.
“What is your name, little girl?” Asked Tigeress.
The girl stammered for words, “L-l-liger.”
“Where are your parents?” Tigeress asked in a sweet voice. Very curious, coming from her.
“They are gone.” Liger said. There was no sign of regret in her eyes, only fear.
“You will need to stick with us then. You will be safer that way. I will not be having a blaster shot through your little body after I went through all that effort to save it” She gave a slight smile, as though to emphasize her humor.
“Yes, Misteress.” Liger meekly curtsied. It looked odd in those rags of hers.
Tigeress let out a sudden glare, but managed to quickly replace it with a smile, “There is no need to call me misteress, I am not your master.”
“But you saved me, and I need to give you respect! That’s what good girls do!” Stubborn Corran observed. Perhaps she wasn’t as meek as Corran had thought.
Tigeress scowled, but let it slide for the moment, “We need to find Ender. Typical male! He is never there when you actually need him…”
“What can this Ender do for us…?” Ewok asked slowly.
“Get us out of here!” Tigeress shouted impatiently, “Let’s go find him!” She sprinted off back towards the intersection. Liger, Ewok, Otto, and Corran swiftly followed.
Corran took the time to look at his sudden new companions closely. Liger was very small, quite a few inches shorter than he. Despite her terror, she somehow seemed at peace, which puzzled Corran to no end. How anyone could be at peace in this pit was something that would have to be analyzed later. She was dark-skinned, much like Tigeress. She had brown eyes, and dark hair. She wore a dress that seemed as though it hadn’t been changed in weeks. Surprisingly, she did not smell, though. The stink of burning flesh and blood may be overwhelming it, however. Ewok wore a curious tunic that left his muscular arms bear. He wore thick pants, and heavy boots. His eyes were dark, and his hair a shaggy thick brown. He ran as though he were used to this, much like an ex-soldier. Perhaps, if things went right, Corran may able to establish a nice acquaintance with him, being a soldier himself. Corran almost chuckled. Perhaps he may find more recruits and increase his one-man army into a squad. Otto seemed to be different. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. He was small, only a little bit bigger than Liger. But when he ran, he ran silently, Corran could not hear his steps nor see any dust kick up as Otto ran. He moved as though he were built for stealth. Perhaps, if these two truly had nowhere to go, they may prove useful companions. They would be able to enlighten them as to what has happened in the last five years. That is, if he could bring himself to trust them, if they even got out of this place alive. If we ever find Ender.
Tigeress suddenly stopped, and almost got ran over by everyone else. She glared when someone shoved her on accident, “Stop you fools! Just wait a second, I feel…” She trailed off when the ground beneath her feet began to tremble. Corran soon began to lose his balance. Suddenly the ground began to move as though it were water, the ground erupting and sliding violently as far as Corran could see. Everyone but Otto fell over, and so did everyone out in the street. Panic could not overcome greed; no one seemed to notice that they were sliding everywhere, they were simply intent on killing their neighbors. Otto, who seemed to have very good balance, was looking somewhere in the sky. Corran peered to where he was looking, and smiled. Finally…
Up in the sky, about level with the tallest buildings in Mos Eisely, a large, death-black disk hovered, slowly making its way down the street. As it passed, bolts of lightning descended into the crowd, quieting the masses. Corran could dimly see a man standing on the platform, peering down into the streets. Corran and Tigeress flashed their lightsabers, signaling him. Corran thought he saw the man’s head turn to them. Ender didn’t know that there were others with them. Very loudly, he kept thinking to himself, We have three others…we have three others…
There was a slight pause, Watch out, The five of you are in for a ride
As expected, Corran felt his entire body rip itself from the ground and ascend straight up into the air. Tigeress, yelling at the indecency, was right by him. The other three were staring around in shock and in disbelief. Just as suddenly as it started, all five of them landed on their backs on top of the platform. Out of nowhere, Corran suddenly heard, “My black floating thi-!” Before it was abruptly cut off by blaster shot. Corran rolled his eyes.
The platform, which must have been the Liber Sum dipped downward forty-five degrees, “Hold on,” Ender said. And with that, the whole thing abruptly shot forward, and the city was long behind them.[/color]
