A long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away… In Mechi's corner of the universe, her marriage to Vinny had not lasted very long. She had been spending a little more time with Lux Bonteri since the split. Now, she was having one of her rare days off, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping and she was on her way to visit her mother. Having arrived unannounced she knocked on the door. The door came creaking open just as she knocked. The lights were out, there was nobody there, and the place was a mess. In the middle of the floor of the deserted house, there was a holo-communicator. It looked like it was waiting to be turned on. "Well heck." Walking into the room she looked around, cautious at every step and glancing into all the shadows. "Helloooooo?" Mechi called as she picked up the holo-communicator.
There wasn't any answer. But the holo-com turned on as soon as she picked it up. On the other end was a male Phindian who had a grin on his face that said he was probably a criminal mastermind. "Hello, Aurora Michelle Roux... Hahahahahahaha!" After giving a mean spirited laugh he cut to the chase. "I am Moralo Eval... and I am of great influence in the criminal underworld. Your mommy and step dad aren't home. But Moralo Eval could be persuaded to return them to you alive and in good health. All you have to do is send a ransom to the following coordinates. Oh, don't try anything funny. You won't find them in the same place the ransom is to be shipped to. Heheheh! Now, how much you ask? My needs are simple just 5,000,000 credits..." He paused as he saw her facial expression. Then he added with a devilish smile... "... each." He clearly wanted to squeeze every last drop from her life savings.
Staring a moment at the holo-com she... smiled?! "Your name is Moral Evil? Did your parents hate you or did you come up with it yourself? Also your evil laugh needs work. It needs to come from your stomach, not your throat. Alright. I'll give you the money. But first how'd you hear about me?" She started digging through her purse as she talked.
"Never you mind that." He grimaced a little. "Now. Sent those credits to the coordinates I gave you. But try anything funny... and Moralo Eval will inflict nasty consequences on you. Hahahahahahaha!" The hologram switched off.
After writing down the coordinates she put the holo-com in her pocket and shadow traveled to the location, not even bothering to grab any money or help from someone. She wouldn't find her parents there. But she would find herself close to a seemingly old and abandoned structure on the planet Morrigal. Inside she could hear a dark song being chanted... in another language that not many outside of a certain faction knew anymore. The dialect was black speech. The language of a false deity that had tried to wipe out the galaxy's population back at the end of the year 19 BBY. Though most of the people of Coruscant had forgotten about that by now. The sky around the structure was dark and cloudy.. and the planet's surface was that of a barren wasteland. This all seemed a bit dramatic and overdone to Mechi, though she had to admit it really creeped her out. She had to keep reminding herself what she was there for and why she had come. "Helluuuuu? I have money for a Moray Eel?!" She held up what appeared to be a credit card.
With that she heard a shrilly, ungodly, and horrifying shriek. Like it came from a supernatural being. Then out came mounted gunman and archers, riding on the backs of Kybucks. They were aiming at her as their riding beasts galloped along. They were wearing dark attire and ski masks with helmets over their heads and faces. As they surrounded her, one of them spoke the common tongue. "Let me see that thing." He reached for it, indicating that she should hand it over. He wanted to see if it was real or not.
"PARENTS FIRST YOU FREAKS OF NATURE!" Her voice rang out as she held the card up in the air. "I don't negotiate with monsters!"
They looked at each other and then their spokesman said, "You won't find them here, infidel. The Phindian was careful in placing them somewhere else he didn't tell you about. That way you'd have to pay up first. So we know we are not being cheated out of the money." As he said that, a Morrigal dragon could be seen flying overhead with a dark cloaked figure riding on top of it. It would be clear to a smart person, at this point, that Moralo Eval was just a pawn... and the galaxy needed to be ready for something coming in the distant future.
"Is that a kriffin dragon? YOU GUYS HAVE A DRAGON?! Can I pay for the dragon instead?!" She changed tone entirely and didn't seem to care for her parents at all.
"No! That's not for sale." They seemed irritated now.
The dragon landed on a sharp rock spire in the distance and there appeared to be a wraith riding it. The wraith looked at her and said, "Take her to her parents... to join them in their captivity. Does she not have siblings? Let them pay the ransom if she will not." Then the mounted men gave a head nod and reached to try and grab her.
"Expecto Patronum?" But that was the wrong series and she had been grabbed.
Meanwhile Mia was frantically scrolling through Mechi's comlink to find Lux's number, having been notified beforehand on the situation. As Mechi was sent off to where her parents were... hogtied and chained... Lux got the notification from Mia. He gave a head nod and went to Mechi's parent's house. There he surveyed the scene. "Hmmm. Where to begin?"
A very out of breath Mia appeared in the doorway, Xuther at her heels. "Oh Lux, thank goodness!" Mia ran and hugged him. "We gotta save her! She had this stupid plan but I know it's gonna backfire!" Xuther looked slightly irritated by the hug but didn't say anything.
Lux was taken back by the hug but let it happen. "Right. Believe me. She's like a sister to me too... and I care about her as if she were. So, I'm just as anxious to save her and her parents as you are. But the question is where are they really being kept?" He had a squad of men with him. A corporal and five privates.
Still pouting, Mia's boyfriend hovered in the corner with his arms crossed, he cared nothing for the other twin. Mia didn't seem to notice though. She asked, "Do you know who these people are? Or why they'd take my parents?"
"Moralo Eval? He became famous for his failed attempt to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine during the Clone Wars. Ever since then, he's somehow escaped prison and is now at large again. I don't know why though. Whether he's just acting out of the typical crooked nature that is pure greed... or whether he has some higher purpose and is working for someone far worse. Either situation wouldn't surprise me." He explained.
"Either way..." A smooth female voice came from the doorway as a third party entered. It was a beautiful Togruta smuggler Lux had run into once or twice before. Mariam Starski. "I know where the kidnappers took Mechi's parents. I can help you out... for only ten credits."
The pink haired twin grabbed hold of her wallet and started to dig around in it, Xuther however finally stepped over "How do we know you're not working with the man and just out for more money?" Mia froze in her scrambling, looking ready to cry.
She smiled a bit and said, "I put a homing beacon on their ship. They didn't know I was watching them or that they were being followed. I couldn't do anything more about it but you can. In any case, that beacon cost me ten credits when I bought it."
Lux then crossed her palm with the money. "Now. Where did they go?"
She smiled a bit wider and said, "Here's the coordinates." She handed him her tracking device. "Go get 'em, Bonteri!" Lux immediately started leading his troops to the shuttle. He motioned for Mia and Xuther to follow him. Mia was already out the door, Xuther rolled his eyes and followed suit, though less excited.
As soon as everyone was on board the shuttle, Lux punched in the coordinates and took off. The nava computer calculated the safest and fastest course to the destination. As soon as all was ready, he jumped to light speed. He muttered to himself, "I'm coming for you, Mechi." He thought about the time only yesterday when she gave him a sort of sisterly kiss on the cheek, as they zoomed through hyperspace. He hoped her could save her again. Her mom and step dad also seemed like good people, from his one time getting introduced to them. Mia paced the ship from one corner to the next. Xuther sat gripping the arms of his chair. He wasn't a fan of light speed. When they exited hyperspace, it was over an asteroid base with a tower not far off. The kidnapper's ship was there. They weren't going to find Eval here, though. He'd already gotten started on another operation, being a busy criminal. He'd left this one in the hands of one of his many accomplices. But Lux landed the shuttle not far away from the kidnapper's ship. "This is the place, alright."
Meanwhile, inside the tower, the boss waiting at the top with Mechi and her parents hog tied and chained in the corner of the room saw the ship land and said, "Grrrrr! It seems Warlord Bonteri wants to do this the hard way." The guy had the facial and body structure of a man... but everything else about him was more wolf like. As if the fact he was a werewolf wasn't scary enough, he also had a machine gun and grenades to use. Knives as well. That and he wasn't alone here. He had assassin droids, thugs, and creatures here to help him fend off intruders. Who knew what other security measures the monster had taken to prevent his failure?
Then Mechi started to get mouthy again. "So was your mom a wolf and your dad got a little too lonely on the mountain trail ooooor, was your dad a wolf and your mom... got a little too lonely on the mountain trail? Or was I right and we are in Harry Potter and you're an actual werewolf?"
He approached Mechi... and promptly backhanded her with his hairy hand. "I should have gagged you too." He then started to do just that. He gagged her so she couldn't speak either. Hurting and gagged, Mechi continued her mumbled complaints.
Meanwhile, Lux's droid, Tyrion, unlocked the front door. Lux led his men inside. But as one of the men set foot in the entry hall... a razor sharp iron shot up from the floor, slicing the poor dude right in half! Another trooper went in another direction and immediately got blown to bits by a land mine. Lux shouted, "STOP! Nobody move a muscle! This place is booby trapped!"
Mia was digging her nails into Xuther's arm. "Oh this is awful!"
The man pulled his arm from the shaking pink haired twin and put it around her. "It's alright, love. These men are professionals."
Lux took out his black glass pike and started combing over the floor tiles with it... one by one. Slowly but surely, he began to disarm the whole booby trapped room in this manner. The traps were sprung one by one, and nobody else was harmed. Eventually, he was able to carve out a straight path to the next room like this. "Okay, boys. Follow me." He led the way into the next room. Thinking quickly, Xuther pulled Mia onto his back so he could move quickly with the rest of the group. "Look out!" Lux shouted all of the sudden, pulling his blaster out. Waiting on the other side of the door they went through was a squad of assassin droids. All armed and ready to shoot. They did gun down one rebel soldier before the firefight began and the rest took cover behind something. Unfortunately, one trooper made a fatal mistake of getting behind a tank of gas. That one got shot at and instantly the poor trooper found himself on fire! He screamed bloody murder as he was burned alive. But the rest shot back at the assassin droids from their cover spots. Assassin droids were sometimes just as good a dodge as you were a shot, though. So not very many of them were destroyed instantly. Mia, the poor innocent baby she was, buried her face in Xuther's hair and started to cry. Violence wasn't her thing. Xuther on the other hand was using it to his advantage and avoiding the shots and killings quite easily.
Eventually, all the assassin droids were dealt with... but one of Lux's troopers was injured. "Augh!" The soldier nursed the wound. "Coreman?"
"Sadly, I think he was the one we just saw roasted." Lux shook his head in sorrow. He then looked over the wound. "It's not too bad. Keep fighting, private. I can tell this is one situation where you'll either have to soldier on or die." He helped the man back to his feet and then started to lead the way again. He went through the next door. On the other side of which was a corridor with an elevator on the other side. But what was this room guarded by?
The room was dark except for a single light in the middle where a black cat sat, swishing its tail back and forth, glaring at the intruders. Its orange eyes scanned the scene before the creature stood and trotted over to them. Mia got down immediatly and tiptoed towards it. Xuther reached to grab hold of her arm. "Mia dear..." but his words were cut off buy the cat's rather loud, unholy sounding purr.
Lux didn't know what to do. But since he didn't believe the old superstition about a black cat crossing your path being equal to fatal luck on Halloween, he asked his men... "How many of you superstitious old women would like to say you were afraid of a cute little kitty?" He quickly attempted to walk past the furry little being. The cat darted in front of Lux and sat down, still glaring at him. With a loud hiss that echoed off the walls it started to grow and change, certainly still a cat... but massive and muscular. Its soft black fur turned to spikes and its orange eyes lost its pupils. It was a terror to behold. The cat thing paced back and forth across the room, but did not strike. "Whoa!" Despite the surprise, Lux wasn't intimidated too much. No. He simply pulled out a thermal detonator, activated it, and threw it straight onto the demonic panther's nose. He stepped back a few paces after he threw it, drawing his enchanted steel sword. He was prepared to do whatever it took.
Xuther scooped up Mia and bolted for the exit. He didn't care for Mechi in the first place. He wasn't risking himself a moment longer. Mia however wiggled out of his grasp and called for the 'cat' which bounded towards. "LUX GO! I have this!" She did not have this and was tackled by the awful creature.
Lux didn't listen to her. Instead he rushed up to the creature and stabbed it in the back. He took care not to drive his sword too deep, though... at the risk of killing Mia with it. The creature fell over dead, leaving a sobbing and scratched up Mia on the ground. She was bleeding certainly, but not dead. Xuther rushed to her side and picked her up once more. "You're on your own Bonteri. Mia's too fragile for this."
But the girl in his arms tried to get back down. "No!" She sobbed. "We w-we have to save them!"
"Mia, darling, be reasonable!" He countered but she kept struggling.
Lux sighed. He hated to agree with Xuther but... "Your boyfriend may be a coward, Mia. But I agree with him in saying you're too soft for this mission. Leave the rest to me and my men. We'll either handle it or die trying."
Defeated, she slumped in his arms and argued no more. Xuther however had something to say. "I'll have you know I'm not a coward. I just know a lost cause when I see one."
Mia started to cry again and Xuther headed for the exit when the door opened and in ran in a purple flash. Nona, Mechi's purple force using Togruta friend, was doubled over catching her breath "I just... with the notification... mission... Hi Lux!"
In response to Xuther, Lux crossed his arms as if to say, 'Yeah right.' But upon Nona's entry, he smiled again. "Hey! Glad to have some reinforcements!" His men smiled with him. "Well, shall we?" He pressed the button on the elevator and the doors opened up. His men followed him on and he expected Nona would do the same.
With his girlfriend in his arms, the man left without a word. Nona hopped right in with them and looked over the small crew. "So how far in are we and who thought it was a good idea to bring Barbie and Ken along?"
Lux chuckled. "I love your sense of humor."
When they reached the top floor... the werewolf at the top had seen all they'd gone through with his cameras. Standing ready, machine gun in one hand and a grenade in the other, he said, "You may have gotten past my security system, but you won't get past me!" He then howled an eerie and unearthly howl before a four black coated Anuba hounds with red eyes came charging at the company of heroes! The wolf man also fired a hail of blaster bolts at the three remaining troopers... killing two of them off and leaving the already injured one to get eaten up by the dogs. Poor fellow. Lux fired a shot at the wolf and hit him directly in the face! But sadly, he seemed to be immune to blaster fire. Being what he was, only something silver or polished with silver... like Lux's sword... could do him in. Mechi and her parents would be the ones having to watch this. Reacting with the Force and her years of training, the purple skinned alien flipped over a dog, turned on her saber and took its head off. Then she moved to take on another. Fiore and Arthur were tied together, while Mechi was tied alone. They watched all this take place, wondering who was gonna come out on top. Mechi knew of course it was gonna be her friends, even captured she was overly confident.
Lux then saw the wolf man throwing that grenade! "Nona! Look out!" He darted out of the way of the explosion. But then he got a flesh wound in his back on the right shoulder blade from where a blaster bolt hit him! "Augh!" He continued to run until he got behind a crate in the room. Then the wolf turned his attention to Nona and fired at her.
Of course Nona had been ready for the grenade. She had been trained well in the... nope... knocked her right over. But she jumped back up in time to deflect the bolt back at the wolf. "DO ANY OF YOU HAVE ANYTHING ENCHANTED?!" she shouted over to Lux and the captives.
Lux tossed her his sword! "Take it Nona! Do what you have to do!" With the force propelling the sword as well as her strong arms she sliced at the wolf's middle aaaaand... He had began to charge at her. But that proved to be his undoing. He was sliced in half. After letting out one last dog like whimper... he died. Then Lux came out of his hiding place. The remaining two dogs that Nona had missed quickly started to whimper in fear. Lux ignored them and quickly untied Mechi. Then he allowed her to speak again by removing the rope from over her mouth. "Thank goodness you're safe, sis." He said with a warm smile. He expected Nona would be freeing Fiore and Arthur in the meantime.
Nona had freed the parents who hugged each other and kissed all over each other's faces. "So... who was this nut? And why'd he go after you guys?" Nona posed the question to the room.
Mechi gave Lux probably the tightest hug she's ever given him "I thought if I got caught too I could help them. But he was a wolf, Luxie. Werewolves are real! What the heck?!" Lux hugged Mechi back just as tight... and it took every ounce of his will power not to kiss her forehead. He wanted to but didn't know what Ahsoka would think about it if he had.
Fiore and Arthur walked over to thank their savior. "Oh Mr. Bonteri, we owe you our lives!" Fiore started, and Arthur added, "How can we ever repay you?"
"You don't have to thank me. I'm just doing my job by saving the people I care about." He looked down at Mechi then back up at them. He was smiling. His work here was done.
THE END.