A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Chapter 1.
Decadence.
With a sustained pneumatic hiss, the gigantic reinforced doors unlocked and opened slowly to reveal the great hall. The lavish red décor of the entire room set the scene for the grand spectacle and beautiful,ceiling high, drapes adorned the four corners of the tremendous hall. Two exquisitely fabricated fountains welcomed the crowd, flowing endlessly with the finest intoxicating liquids. The evening's guests laughed and applauded with awe and genuine wonderment as they spilled into the hall, dipping their empty glasses into the fountains of wine as they passed.
House slaves of all race and shade worked their way methodically around the aristocratic party, offering platters of rare meats and other off-world delicacies. As the evening's merriment proceeded into the night the offerings became steadily more carnal in nature. The adolescent Twi'lek slave was a particular favourite amongst the dignitaries, their drunken, lecherous hands sliding over her body as she passed.
A deep aria emanated from the back of the great hall as a quartet of musicians prepared to entertain the inebriated crowd. As the most angelic melody arose from instruments and voices, the guest's attention was drawn towards the slowly filling dance floor and blissfully away from the pleas of the Twi'lek girl who had found herself helpless against the advance of two Rodian ambassadors. The heavy chain and collar that fastened like a vice around her pretty green neck was being put to good use as she was dragged mercilessly into a side room. Cheers from the more observant guests exploded as the room's heavy door was shut behind them.
Conversations turned towards the plethora of antiquities that decorated the entirety of the monstrous walls. One long section of the hall was exclusively dedicated to a collection of fine art and pottery that, according to one protocol droid, were in fact the last remnants of long dead planets. The mounted remains of off-world hunts surveyed the party with dead eyes and in the centre of the hall there even stood an alien humanoid, frozen crudely within a prison of pale stone. The silver plaque that accompanied this centre piece of living art engraved with the words:
'Here resides the criminal Hl'tuk.
Traitor and conspirator no more.'
From an impressive marbled archway on the right wing of the hall a short, rotund man appeared. His iridescent suit, tailored from the most expensive fabrics bulged around the mid rift and hanging from over fed shoulders laid the pelts of small, hunted beasts. As he waddled towards the centre of the ballroom the guests ceased their trivial conversations and tales of self importance, and turned towards the individual with drunken eyes and ears. A golden microphone descended slowly from the tall ceiling, stopping perfectly in front of the short mans bloated face. With a vile cough, the speaker cleared his wine coated throat and began his address.
"From all of us we bid you good welcome. Distinguished Politicians, Admirals, Ambassadors and friends of the Empire, this evening is for experiencing all pleasures without consequence and excess without judgement."
Some of the more pretentious guests felt the need for a polite round of applause, and in-between wiping the gathering perspiration from his brow, the short announcer known simply as Rocsek nodded his appreciation.
"We hope you all have enjoyed the finest wines and delicacies this humble house has to offer," he continued, a smug smile creeping across his boar- like face.
"But if you would be so kind as to direct your attention to the archway to my left you will find this evenings entertainment only just beginning."
Rocsek extended an arm, bowed ceremoniously and stepped away from the microphone.
The audience gathered and craned their necks towards the archway. A chorus of excited whispers and unanswered questions rippled throughout the crowd as they waited in anticipation for the evening's main attraction to arrive. The pot-bellied compère motioned sharply to a chrome plated 3D-4 droid and the impressive illuminations that lined the hall were dimmed by unseen hands.
The musicians once again took their well rehearsed cue and began a slow, haunting melody that echoed beautifully throughout the vast room.
Within the collective sounds of excited guests, the quartet of musicians and the muffled screams of the Twi'lek slave, another noise was slowly becoming audible. From the archway entrance, the resonance of heavy shackles and chains pounding the marbled floor was steadily increasing in volume.
A harrowing, inhuman shriek suddenly perforated the air and the party were quick to step back from the rapidly approaching sound.
"Friends" Rocsek hastily continued, sensing the guest's loss of confidence.
"Please do not recoil, for what lies beyond this hall is indeed a creature of great desire! A beast of unheard beauty and a flavour truly fit for the gods. Let us offer you a taste of the Outer rim, the Bur-lac!"
An ear-splitting howl from the hulking beast filled the towering room as it finally entered the hall, the dense metal chains attached around its thick neck dragging four handlers in its wake. One of the guards launched forward and callously drove a short stun spike into the blinkered animal's side, causing muscles to spasm and bringing the creature to its knees with a pathetic whimper. As the four men argued and struggled to regain control over the escalating situation the startled Bur-lac took its opportunity and struck out blindly with a heavy paw, disembowelling its closest captor with ease. The onlookers gasped in terror and equal disgust as the dying man desperately attempted to keep his spilling entrails inside the gaping wound.
Rocsek signalled furiously to the administrative droid once more and in a flash of brilliant blue, a stun field engulfed the lumbering creature and the three remaining beast handlers. The trapped men violently rebounded inside the prison field as they attempted to flee from the rampaging Bur-lac. The beasts thirst for revenge and blood was insatiable as the men were torn to shreds before the horrified party. With a ravaged guard hanging lifeless from its mouth the animal turned its long head slowly towards the guests, the decorative leather blinkers slipping from its eyes.
The imprisoned creature slowly paced the length of the blue hue of the force field, its heavy exhales of breath increasing in both volume and speed. With a wet thud the dead guard finally dropped to the blood stained marble and with its burning red eyes firmly locked on the short man in the corner of the hall, the Bur-lac unleashed long barbs from its arching spine.
Rocsek felt the paralysis of pure fear take control as the animals gaze became ever more intense. The trapped Bur-lac revealed rows of monstrous, needle like, fangs and roared so ferociously that the bloated man uncontrollably soiled his ludicrously expensive suit. The beast's fury was apparent from the carnage inside the containment field but still it made no attempt at escape, its eyes remaining fixed solely on the compère. The barbs that lined the backbone of the beast began to quiver and pulse hypnotically with a red glow.
A link of unspoken communication fused between man and beast. Bleak, haunting images of a barren alien world combined with whispered words flickered inside Roscek's mind as he fought to keep a grip on reality.
The fire in its eyes, I cannot look away! What do you want from me? Roscek thought desperately, his nerves on fire as the animals mind worked its way inside him.
-You have taken me from my family, my young. I will not be held captive to be used as entertainment.
Release me human.
"You will kill me if I do" Rocsek whispered through clenched teeth as the creature continued to strengthen the psychic bond, the quills on its back extending further from the body.
-Release me.
The two words echoed endlessly inside the mans fevered brain until he could bare the sound no longer. With a hysteric scream of sudden madness, he pulled hard on a lever that brought the containment field down.
The once incarcerated beast roared in triumph, pounded the hard floor with its front paws and bounded towards the centre of the great room. The guests were now pressed against the walls, frantically trying to prise open the heavy doors, their trembling hands losing grip on the ornate handles.
The two Rodian ambassadors re-emerged from the side chamber, their sordid activity with the Twi'lek slave making them unaware of the chaos unfolding outside. The escaped animal rushed the two wide eyed Rodians and brutally decapitated them both with one swift slash of its claw. The severed green heads rolled crudely across the floor, their faces locked in a permanent grimace of fear and confusion.
The Bur-lac edged closer to the remaining guests, its recently liberated neck chain scouring the floor as it trailed behind. One of the crowd slipped his hand into their long boot and produced a concealed snub nosed blaster. The tall harbour master from Oberon V took aim with the palm sized weapon and fired a salvo of six shots towards the approaching creature. Small entry wounds smoked as the blaster bolts punctured the thick skin of the Bur-lac, doing nothing more than angering the alien further. It was now well within striking distance and with a huge exertion of force punched back with its hind legs, launching itself spiralling into the air. The guests screamed wildly, cried and grasped on to each other as their final seconds of life were about to end.
From the darkness behind the rampaging alien a Catherine wheel of red light spun with tremendous speed. The blade of light arched through the length of the hall and carved a path directly through the centre mass of the descending Bur-lac, perfectly cleaving the beast in two. The spinning weapon returned towards a solitary,shadow-like, figure in the darkness and with a black gloved hand, he powered down the light weapon.
As the cauterized remains of the Bur-lac lay heaped on the floor, Roscek rose awkwardly from his cowering position and cautiously emerged from an alcove . The fat man swept his thinning hair back, fastened his suit jacket quickly and after dusting off his shoulder pelts, grasped the microphone once more.
The unseen killer of the monster stepped from the obsidian darkness, the stunned silence from the guests broken by the mechanical sound of a respirator unit.
"Ladies and Gentlemen" Roscek announced,the neurotic tone in his words reverberating throughout the dimly lit room.
"Your gracious host for this evening, the illustrious..
Lord Vader"