After the resounding success that was my first assignment, my life didn’t really change much. I was still treated the same way, like a pet or like an attack dog. I had my kennel, I had my chain, I had my orders. My life was nothing more than what The Black Sun said it was.
Having cleared an entire planet of Hutt influence and weakened their influence over the sector as a hole. The Black Sun now needed to consolidate their influence over the sector, with the planet as a staging ground of sorts. This meant that I was sent out on further assassinations to take out key individuals working against The Black Sun; this also involved protecting and aiding their allies.
To accomplish this The Black Sun decided to put to use two of my racial traits, which are to survive in the vacuum of space and my repulsor-lift abilities to move freely through space, allowing for more audacious and vulnerable assassinations.
My targets were mostly made up of smugglers and mercenaries that had not bent a knee yet or agreed to the terms given for working in the sector. Essentially it all boiled down to money. It was quite simple to carry out the missions, I just had to wait in orbit around their planetary destination and as they come in to land I would close in, cut my way in and proceed to kill my target. Leaving the ship to float on, to either burn up in the atmosphere and crash into the sea or be shot down, because they were on a collision course with other ships or settlements. In fact my first target was quite a noticeable event as well as thrilling what with it being the first time I’ve done such a thing.
---
It all started with me once again sitting alone in my room, waiting for a new assignment like the good little dog that I am. When someone came in with a data pad, paying no attention to me as they threw it towards me, I think they were aiming for my head, I caught with ease mind you.
Upon reading the data pad I found out my new assignment was to take out the decentres that were made up of various criminals and corrupt politicians. What I found interesting about it was that it would all be conducted in space. Where I would be like a ghost as no one would be able to see or detect me unless they were really close; at which point I would already have acted and they wouldn’t be able to fly away fast enough.
I was soon after ferried into a pod and had a watch strapped onto my wrist to act as guide and warning for incoming targets. All so I wouldn’t get lost in space. Once in orbit I was ejected from my pod and left to wait for my targets approach. Being left out in the expanse of space was an interesting experience, as there was no sound what so ever beside the flow of my own blood as it circulated through of my body.
The holographic display on my watch indicated that my target was approaching, as such I began to drift in its direction. It was a small craft that could fit about ten people and carry a hover car or tow in cargo, meant to quick and unnoticed . Getting close enough I grabbed a hold of the craft and dug my claws in if the pilot noticed me and tried to shake me.
Prying a panel off of the ship I managed to squeeze my way to the inside of the ship and tore my way inside, which was a dicey thing to do as the protocol for such a thing happening is to either activate Ray shields which would have cut me in half or bring down another layer of metal and sealing off the hole. This ship went with the second option allowing only a few seconds to get inside proper.
With myself now situated inside I made my way through the ship and found somewhere to hide, between the path from my entry point to the cockpit and waited for the pilot to pass by. It didn’t long for them to come and I acted quickly, he had no idea what happened and likely didn’t realise he was dead either.
With my mission over I made sure to change the course of the ship it would avoid the spaceport, but still be visible to the pilots as it crashed. To send a message. With that done I headed to the back and opened up the loading bay and was quickly pushed our. After reorienting myself I followed my watch back to my ship and proceeded to head back to base.
Upon my return there were no congratulations or pats on the backs I was just ushered back into my room and left to wait for when I was called again. And truth be told I didn’t mind all that much.
---
My following missions were of a similar nature to the first, infiltrate a ship, kill the crew, then make sure it crashes where people can see it to send a message. My targets were often smugglers refusing to pay tax for passing through the system, pirates that disrupt business, those ones were always messy. Then there was one ambassador who was sent to investigate all the recent deaths within the system, under the guise of a diplomatic mission, he also happened to be in the pocket of the Hutt’s. Nonetheless he met a similar end to the others.
This brings us to today where I have been sent to act as a bodyguard and assassin to a Black Sun supporter. My job is to make sure that the business partner isn’t killed and to take care of the rebellious elements in their little kingdom. The reason for this assignment is because Doan’s Prince Gerran was killed by a group of rebels, so the King called in a favour with The Black Sun. So I head off to Doan to begin my work. The flight there was uneventful but upon arriving at the planet I was impressed to see the unique stone columns that rose five kilometres into the sky and several hundred metres in diameter making for an amazing horizon.
At the top of each column were a four to one manors of varying size, that all looked to be very lavish. Made from various polished stone like marble and granite with metal fixtures such as gold and platinum; all of it, combined to make for a very dazzling display and I could only assume it would look even better at sunset and sunrise. From this it was obvious that there was going to be a disparate gap between the classes, but that wasn’t my problem.
Whilst admiring the various manors my ship flew itself towards a column that held a lavish castle atop itself, surrounded by other columns with a large manor on each. This castle was made of a red marble like stone, with gold accents on it, with orange tinted windows. There was a single central spire pointing out of the top of the three story castle.
My ship landed and I stepped out to be met by four human guards and who I assume to be an advisor or representative of the king to escort me, who was also human.
“Greetings Harbinger, my name is Silec Munda, the king's aid. If you’ll follow me I will bring you to the king.” Silec stated and then turned and left, not waiting for a reply and I simply followed after him toward the four metre tall double doors made of stone.
We walked through the halls in silence, along the walls were many paintings of vistas and people, with the occasional pedestal of with a sculpture atop it. After taking a number of turns we finally got to a corridor lined with both art and soldiers leading to large black intimidating doors.
As they are pushed open I see a man sat in a large chair behind a large wooden desk and with a few sheets of paper and a few devices for work. He had grey hair and a few wrinkles over his face and looked tired, he wore a simple grey suit without buttons. Hearing the door open he looked up to us and sat back and waited for us to approach.
“So you’re finally here, good. Look I don’t need your protection or anything, just concentrate on your target and bring me the head of the one who killed my son and deal with his little rebellion. If there is anything you require talk to Silec and he‘ll deal with it.”
I simply nod and take my leave as I don‘t need anything already know the targets general location, from the mission briefing I received. Landing on the lower levels I got out and began to walk around in search of one of the resistances members and begin to track them down and follow them back to their headquarters. But instead they went off to a disused mine and entered nonchalantly, if I was look out for them I wouldn’t have noticed. Tailing him into the mine I originally stuck to the shadows and slinked further in.
Eventually he stopped at a crevice in the tunnel and entered. I waited a minute before entering, what I found on the other side could only be described as a rebel hideout. It was a large cavern with a body of water to the right that three watercraft sitting on it’s surface, that looked capable of submerging itself. There were wires running throughout the place connecting to various machines and computers, to the other side there were various boxes and crates stacked up, some of them had their tops open revealing various blasters, explosives and armour.
To the back of this cavern was a small gathering of people leaning over a holo display table, pointing at various images that were being displayed. In all I counted 33 people gathered here, seven were at the table and the rest were scattered throughout the rest of the cavern, three over by the submersibles.
If I was going to kill all of them, I would need to ensure to cut off their escape routes. So far I have only noted two, the crevice and the water, I could use explosives to destroy the submersibles and then stand in front of the crevice but that would make me an easy target and I wouldn’t be able to stop anyone if there was another escape route, so I guess I’ll blow up the crevice as well to ensure there are no other escape routes.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
With the general plan laid out I began to move first with quick purposeful yet hidden steps towards the explosives. I manage to get to them without being spotted and grab four of them, then with precise aim I throw them one after another to the different targets.
In seconds the cavern goes from an organised operation to a chaotic mess, with people being thrown through the air as others are vapourised, the air being filled with cries of pain and anguish. But this chaos is reined in by one of the people among them he is quick to act and render aid to those who are suffering while giving out orders for other people to put out fires and begin a search. He was even able to save one of the men by the water by putting up his arm and somehow pulling them towards him he also is in fact dressed differently to the others here.
He initially wore a robe but he was quick to discard it to reveal a brown over tunic and light brown under tunic underneath, with loose white trousers and brown leather boots, he also wore a utility belt. All of it was pretty plain and unadorned.
As I said he was quick to take control of the situation and give out orders, but I wasn’t going to let them regain control so easily and began to pick off the stragglers, taking them out nice and quiet, my preferred method with my ever reliable vibroknife. Though as I did this person seemed to close his eyes and concentrate on something then all of a sudden he opened his eyes and looked directly at me, though his eyes didn’t hold any of the usual anger or despair I receive from my targets. They were calm and resolute, they were dangerous.
I didn’t waste any more time and ran back to the explosives to collect some more and then threw them into the air, though again he raised his hand and this time pushed them into the water negating the explosive force, but this gave me the time to grab a blaster and start shooting at those around him.
And once more he was quick to act charging towards the bolts that I fired at the other people, pulling out a tube and pressing a button upon it. Then a green light grows from it and deflecting some of the bolts, saving a few lives but this brings my kill count up to 13.
This man must be a Jedi, I’ve only been given descriptions about them and how they fight, but never encountered them face to face before. This will be a tough fight but I should be able to win it.
During my realisation the Jedi had not stood idle and was charging towards me at absurd speeds for a normal person, but it was still something I could keep up with. I quickly threw my blaster at him which he cut apart and carried on unperturbed.
I used this chance to get out of his way and attack from the side by jumping off a crate. He was quick to react and somersaulted over me, striking down quickly. He then threw a kick my way to ensure that I can’t attack his back but I caught it and pulled it towards me and went to stab his leg but he was quick to roll out of the way and swing his blade at me.
“Who are you? My name is Medd Tandar Knight of the Jedi Order. Why do you attack us?” The Jedi Knight asks me, but I don’t answer.
Seeing that my blade is going to be of little use to me in this fight, on account of it’s smaller range and inability to deflect the lightsabers, I put it back in it’s sheete and got into a stance from the Teräs Käsi school of martial arts and closed off my mind the best I could to any possible influence from the Jedi and prepared to fight a new.
I quickly move charging towards him head on, as I get closer I use the golden plates on my arms to block his attacks, but they appear to only be able to take glancing blows from the lightsaber, but using them aloud me to get close, within his guard in fact and I wasn’t going to waste this chance.
I thrust my right hand into his abdomen and then thrusting my left into his kidney, delivering two bone breaking hits to his body or so I hoped as the second hit missed as he pulled away from me. But I kept as close as I could so as not to allow him to use his lightsaber to its full effect, he tried to kick me away but I just absorbed the hit and delivered a hit to his leg causing him to stumble.
Seeing things weren’t going to turn out well for him he raised his hand once more and pushed me back without touching me. I was sent flying back into a wall making my own little imprint of it all. I fell to the ground slumped, trying to play this off as his win so I could ambush him. He stalked over to me and went to strike at me once more, it seems he can sense whether I am dead or not.
Seeing as I won’t be able to win the fight without taking injuries I throw all caution to the wind and jump up towards him my arms outstretched claws ready to rip apart his throat. At this he didn’t hesitate to pierce my heart, he ran his lightsaber all the way up to the hilt, the sounds of burning muscle and sinew resounding in both our ears.
It was as his lightsaber pierced threw me that a new explosion resounded around us, encompassing us both. It seems that someone wanted us both gone. I looked towards the rebels but it wasn’t them that attacked us, I continued to look around as I flew through the air eventually spotting the back of red skinned head with horns protruding towards the front belonging to woman with black makeup over her face submerging into the water leaving us to our expected deaths.
Which would be quite natural after all the two of us were caught up in an explosion over four metres in diametre throwing both of us away and burning out bodies, any normal person would most definitely be dead, I will be sure to pay that person back for this. But then I’m not a normal person, this explosion did indeed hurt as it blew off my left arm and a significant part of my upper body, but I was quick to recover from that my body healing itself and regrowing the missing pieces.
The Jedi on the other hand was not so lucky, after all he was just human and not capable of my level of regeneration even with the force I’m sure. I found him splayed out on the ground face and body horribly burned but still barely alive, noticeable from the slight rise and fall of his chest.
Not one to pass up an opportunity to strike down my enemies just as my training has taught me I picked up his lightsaber, which had managed to survive the explosion, and activated it and in a quick motion decapitate him.
With the main threat now dealt with I loosened up a little, quite literally, and grew in size and bulk, this would make me more flexible and stretchy while at the same time not drop my speed to much. Though it did make me a larger target as I was quick to find out.
I was quickly covered in blaster fire, it seems they were craving my attention so I shall rectify this. The blaster bolts signed and seared my flesh some even putting holes in me. Though none of them were able to fell me or knock me off my feet, they’ll have to try much harder than that.
I then proceeded to kill the rest of them they offered little in the way of resistance, a simple slice to their midsection or stab through the heart and they were down. They were left with nowhere to flee to and as such had to fight with all they had, using all of the weapons at their disposal though the fact that I was between them and their weapons impeded them in their ability to survive. I’d like to say it was fun but I just can’t seem to feel those sort of feelings.
With all of them dead I looked around for a way out, I had collapsed the crevice so I couldn’t leave through there any more this left me with the water. Afterall that woman from earlier proved that there was a way in and out through there. So swimming it was, I decided not to tighten up my muscles and instead see if I could swim like an octopus or squid, by pushing the water through the gaps in my limbs by tightening my muscles.
I was something of a brick in the water as I sank rather fast, I had decided to keep a hold of the lightsaber that I had obtained but seeing as the Jedi’s utility belt had been destroyed in the explosion along with what little clothes I wear I decided to place it in the only safe play that I have, Myself. Now don’t get wrong when I say myself I’m not sticking it anywhere it shouldn’t go or eating it, I am instead open up my chest and placing between the many tendons within me, to hold it all snug like.
Anyway I took a deep breath and dived into the water and waited to get level before trying to swim, once I was parallel with the ground I tightened my muscles and forced out the water from within them and was greeted with a resounding success. I was propelled along at a fair pace, it wasn’t anything comparable to a vehicle or anything but it was certainly faster than the breast stroke for example; though I did need to familiarise myself with this new method of moving.
I spent the next 45 minutes moving through the water searching for a way out through all the many tunnels that made up this underwater maze. Thankfully I didn’t have to worry about suffocating for some reason, a definite plus to being able to move around in the freezing vacuum that is space.
Regardless though I did finally find my way out of the maze of tunnels and reach the surface once more. I found myself in a river that came out under a waterfall it was surrounded by a rocky terrain on either side, I must be out in the mountains somewhere, judging from the lack of any development in the area I wasn’t anywhere near civilization.
But thankfully I have my handy dandy wrist watch that is capable of keeping track of me and my surroundings even able of pinpointing my exact location in space so I just had to follow the directions back to my ship.
As I made my way through the rocky terrain that laid before me I felt a slight pull at my mind, almost urging me to go towards it though I decided to ignore it and continue on with my long trek back. Though the further I went over the rocks the stronger the pull got, eventually without me realising it I had changed the direction I was walking heading somewhere else.
Soon enough I found myself at an opening in the ground it was rather dark inside, but nothing my eyes and sense of my surroundings couldn’t handle. So giving in the tug I ventured inside to see I could find what was pulling at my mind.
Stepping over the uneven and unlevel rocks that covered the ground I made my further into the chasm delving deeper as I did so. Eventually all light was extinguished and I was left in the pitch black darkness but still not blind, this continued on for another 15 minutes until I finally came to a dead end where there lay nothing. But I still felt the pull coming from behind the rock face and decided that I would find out what it was that was tugging at mind no matter what, and started hitting the wall with all my might using my claws and plate as a pickaxe and sledge hammer combo.
Eventually the rock face crumbled before my relentless assault and revealed yet another tunnel though this one was formed through unnatural means, evidenced by the tiled floor and the pillars that supported the ceiling.
Following on the tunnel slowly opened up to reveal a single pedestal and a small black tetrahedron with golden accents around its borders encasing it, it was small enough to fit within the palm of my hand. Now that I was standing before the tetrahedron the pull was stronger than ever and urged me to pick it up and just like that I did.
Coming into contact with my hand it slowly flared to life, a red energy filling the black stone turning it all red, I also felt a pull from within heading towards it. Suddenly like a dam had been opened my mind was afflicted by an intense pain as if something had exploded within my head and then something else had stabbed at it from the outside. My entire body went into spasms entirely contracting, my hair tendrils squirming all over the place, it was so intense in fact that I passed out from it all.