A/N: I was in the midst of updating another crossover story when I came across the idea for this. Based on the joke of "A (something), (something) and (something) walked into a bar...", except there's no punchline for this story. Title is so obviously based on, "The good, the bad and the ugly."
Timeline wise, I've not exactly decided on a specific one, other than the presence of two opposing factors. The Galactic Republic and the Galactic Empire. More shall be revealed in due time, enjoy!
Chapter 1:
Feyrie Terra was but a shadow in the Coruscant twilight, her very own stretched across the marbled floors, resembling the lekku of a Twi'lek cantina dancer. She watched as the level's artificial sun loosened its grip on the edges of the massive spiraling buildings around her, a common occurrence in most of the poorer districts in ecumenpoleis across the galaxies. On a planet covered with buildings that stretched thousands of kilometers high, it wasn't unusual for certain lower levels to never see the light of day. Yet needing a certain hint of normality in their lives, these giant orbs were created for the individuals of those levels.
Some might argue that it was nothing but an illusion created to fool the bottom dwellers into a sense of higher self-worth, to prevent the ensuring riots that would break out against the richer populations that lived in the skies above them. The same ones whom lived in buildings that blocked the paths of natural sun.
But political issues like these, the ramifications of what those may or may not bring forth, those were not topics she found herself being actively involved in. The guard that was patrolling the perimeter of the compound that housed the artificial sun might have more than a few thoughts towards that topic, but she'd rather not give him the chance to elaborate. She could see the lightened tip of an electronic cigarra, her nose wrinkling at the familiar scent of burnt rashallo, waiting for the man to take a puff before her she lunged forward in his direction. One hand shot towards the guard's neck, the hidden tips at the end of her gloves piercing seamlessly into flesh, administrating a dose of poison that had him unconscious even before the cigarra plopped harmlessly onto the tiled floors below.
Her arms were quickly looped around the unconscious man, guiding him soundlessly onto the ground. She took another look around the dimly lit compound to spot any unnecessary witnesses before gripping onto the unmoving figure's Kevlar and dragging him into the shadows, stomping out the cigarra in her path. She hid him into a darkened corner between two emptied crates, the guard's chest was still slowly expanding and contracting as she left. Feyrie was by no means a saint, she had her own fair share of bodies under her belt, but she preferred not to kill, unless when absolutely necessary.
The defense perimeters of the facility she was entering was equipped with impressive security, standards usually unseen in such low levels of this planet. Motion and seismic sensors, layers of well trained and armed guards, biometric locks that changed on the hour, it was almost impossible for her to breach the building, even if she had a small army along for the ride. It was designed to be impenetrable.
Except none expected her to have entered from the other side of the spiraling towers.
The buildings of Coruscant were built in a most peculiar pattern, spirals that were erected from the grounds up tens of thousands years ago. The planet held quite a bit of significance even in its earlier portion of history, located almost at the exact center of the Galactic core, its strategic position soon gained itself immense popularity, turning the planet into not just the capitals of the many governments that rose and fell over time, but into the most politically important world in the galaxy.
Over the centuries that passed, more land were required to accommodate the growing civilizations and organizations that flocked towards this growing world. So they built upwards, on top of each spiral was another, and then another. Thousands of levels soon came to be, from buildings that were once mere storeys above the see-able ground, to levels with such height, breathable air did not exist in their outer atmosphere. Throughout its history, even as some of the lower levels were no longer seen for centuries, the spirals only grew ever taller.
Being built at the edges of this level's floor, the facility was almost impenetrable, having only a single point of egress which was guarded as closely as the senate quarters. On the other end however, was a steep drop, kilometers above the levels below. Covered by half a dozen different varying forms of sensors, powerful winds that rivaled Ryloth's atmosphere and a height that would take her seven full days to scale with undetectable equipment, her entry was no easy task. She however, had one thing on her side. There were no human eyes on this side of the base.
Sensors can be fooled, the winds and the climb could be endured, but this side of the spiral was fully exposed, she had no way to escape, nowhere to go were she to be spotted. Luckily for her, none predicted her tenacity, or perhaps, a mixture of both bravery and stupidness to have attempted this path.
Her elbows and knees screamed painfully in defiance as she now found herself tucked into a cramped air. While Feyrie always took pride in her ability to crawl in and out of tight spaces, the week's climb had more than taken its toll on her. For the last seven days, her time was spent mostly in shifts, 6 hours of climbing followed by 4 hours of sleep, rinse and repeat. The former was done only with a single pair of magnetic grips, anything else would have been detected by the sensors along its perimeter. The latter was done curled up underneath a camouflaged sheet along the side of a ninety degrees wall at such height, she could not see beyond the clouds beneath her. Needless to say, she was not granted much rest.
For the next few hours, she waited with an unwavering patience. It was something of a job requirement, a necessity for her current career of choice. When most think of Bounty Hunters, they would imagine armored men with blasters at the ready, with big explosions and tons of credits waiting at the end of each contract. While she would gladly admit that the job does have its perks, the truth was that it wasn't entirely as exciting as it was made it out to be.
There might be the occasional firefights and falling of bodies, but it was not something much in occurrence. Instead, she spent most of her time planning and waiting. Waiting for her targets to expose their vulnerabilities, for them to reveal their schedules, their habits. Then planning, for the perfect time to strike.
She watched as two men met below the vent's opening, noticing as they saluted the other in military fashion before pressing their palms against the biometric readers at the sides of the doors that led to her target. The two palms were scanned simultaneously, a double layered form of defense that accepted their physical signature. The doors opening with a hiss as they slid open.
Hanging onto the edges of the vent, she lowered herself silently onto the ground behind the two exiting figures. Before entering the facility, she had abandoned her usual bulky gear and instead donned a skintight catsuit of sorts. One that allowed better mobility in a stealthier setting, soundlessly as she leapt forward, sliding her palm between the closing doors, preventing them from locking her out.
Two metallic disks were quickly slid between the unclosed doors as she braced herself against the outer walls. In the next second, she heard frantic shouting before a muffle thump resonated throughout the room's interior. Almost instantly, she let go of the door's frame, slipping between the closing doors with her wrist brought up at chest level. She asserted the threats in mere seconds, her hand slightly recoiling with each shot as four darts fired in the direction of the guards still reeling from the modified flashbang that she threw.
There were a few painful yelps as thousands of volts of electricity shot through where the darts were embedded into their flesh, rendering them unconscious, convulsingly so. Unless they have an unspecified heart disease, she was sure that neither one of them would die from her attack, the weapons were merely meant to immobilize, not to kill.
She had cooler tools for that.
Making sure that all of the surrounding men were fully incapacitated, she headed towards the mainframe at the very end of the room. While the machines in this room were mostly designed to adjust and control the artificial sun, her employer learnt of something else, a secret Republic program rumored to be their secret weapon. One created for the sole purpose of winning their war against the Galactic Empire.
A weapon codenamed: Immortality.
They knew nothing about it, other than where its information was kept, which took her more than a few months to actually find. With what her employer was willing to pay to get his hands on the information, she was more than willing to participate in everything she had done thus far. Extending a wired node from her gloved datapad, she plugged it into the access panel, confident in her slicing software's ability to infiltrate the programming's security.
It wasn't long before a tiny beep signaled the successful data transfer. Feyrie turned to leave, only to duck downwards at the last second, planting a cubed object in front of her and erecting a force field moments before a wave of plasma erupted over its shimmering surface. The field flared intensely as her skin prickled noticeably under the plasma's radiation, but her shield held strong.
She looked up towards her attackers, two hulking behemoths covered from head to toe in armored black, a wide contrast from the whitened troopers that could be seen in patrols. Their weapons glowed, readily recharged from the previous attack. Feyrie knew that stealth was no longer a priority as she reached for her own weapon, her blaster's fire seemingly futile as they bounced harmlessly off the trooper's armor generators, but a tiny distraction was all that was needed.
She pressed onto her glove, activating the few LX-4 Proton mines she had planted hours before. While they were usually meant for unsuspecting targets that would walk into the self-destructing traps that explodes upon the detection of lifeforms in their vicinity, she had wired their activation sequence into her datapad, blowing them up with a single push of her finger. The results were instantaneous, a rumbling that shook the entire facility. The lights above them flickered as dust and rubble fell from the ceilings, the floors tremored unsteadily as the alarms started to blare. Heat washed over them as the mines planted along the exterior of the room's walls detonated, shattering the glass panels that led to the outside.
Unplugging herself from the databank, Feyrie shot a glance towards the recovering troopers that took the brunt of the explosion's pulse before sprinting in the direction of the craters, slipping through the cracks that it made. Ending up in the exposed courtyard, she realized her mistake moments before a dozen blaster bolts pierced into the floors around her. Cracked cement shattered around her, the bolts hitting a little too close for comfort. She rolled to the side, running in the least guarded direction, grimacing as a stray bolt grazed off the side of her arm.
She headed towards the direction of the cliff where she entered, her thighs burning as she sprinted towards the level's end. Coming to a halt at the very edge of the facility, she looked down into the darkened abyss below, only to feel herself suddenly propelled forward by a blaster bolt that impacted squarely into her back. Her armored suit protected her, but did little to alleviate the pain. Her screams were drowned out by the turbulent winds as she fell towards the levels below.
The momentum sent her spinning as she fell, her arms desperately reaching for the controls that would extend the parachute built into the side of her suit, which was miraculously undamaged by the blaster's shot. Finding the tiny grip at the side of her ribs, her fingers latched onto it and pulled hard. She was jerked upwards abruptly as the chutes shot outwards and balanced her falling frame, her limbs painfully stretched seemingly in every direction before she managed to find a proper grip, balancing herself as she slowly floated to the levels below, her mission accomplished
ooOOOooOOOoo
The level's bright strobing lights and large neon signs did little to the dim the luminosity of the approaching night, but she was not fooled, day and night mattered not in the lower levels of this planet. A planet where its residents could have live an entire life without ever seeing the skies above. While the planet itself was known as the center of the galaxy with thousands of important senate members in daily attendance, with security as abundance as an actual military force, the lower levels were all but different.
While they kept up with appearances on the upper levels, the rotting ones below were instead rampant with crime, filled with gambling dens, casinos and brothels, along with hundreds of other establishments that were banned on its upper levels. There were no pleasures too exotic to be sought in a place like this. Verselia Daviklyn knew very well of Coruscant's lower levels, it was after all where she grew up.
The wet heat, the heat and the fecund smell of poverty and hopelessness. Even under the breathing apparatus that she wore in order to conceal her reddened skin, the Twi'lek could feel the planet's familiar climate crawling against her skin. The spaceport where she landed was in tumult, languages of a dozen different alien races assaulted her senses, as beings of different sizes and mass jostled against her hooded frame.
A flux of emotions were soon welling up within her, she remembered the years she had spent on this god forsaken place, stealing the crumbs of leftover food, sleeping underneath the warmth of discarded garbage bags. The helplessness, it was something she would never revisit, even if it would cost her life.
Her darkened robes flowed around her as though with a life of their own as she made her way towards her destination, stopping for a brief moment only to stare at an erected podium across the street from where she stood. Men and women of all shapes and sizes stood on its stage, the entirety of them naked and in chains, bound together by metallic clasps and kept hurdled in a corner by men wielding electrical shock batons.
The partition around them did little to shield their naked bodies from the merciless rain, pounding downwards as she watched a young girl forced onto the ground in front of the bustling crowd that gathered. Her hands were crossed over her bare body, as groans and curses from the mixture of aliens that lost the auction began to spread across the fumbling crowd. It reminded her of… herself, another lifetime ago. She was once in that same position, the same little girl. She seethed with unbridled anger, her fingers digging painfully into the flesh of her palm.
Slavers, how ironic it was for the senate to have outlawed slavery, yet still have it take place within it's own bowels, broadcasted in plain view.
It took all of her willpower to turn away instead of heading over and slaughtering every single person in attendance. It was not long before she was greeted the unfamiliarity of foreign music as she entered her destination, the high end club, Incarnate. Unlike the stinkhole it was located in, the club only catered to high end patrons, beings of not just power and position but of deep and endless pockets. She did not know of the illegal activities that took place within its back rooms, but knew of its attraction to even the highest of senators.
A humanoid alien quickly approached her, recognizing her importance through the posture of her stride, its center eye widening nervously as it asked of her trip. Verselia pushed away an offered drink, her nostrils wrinkling at the steam emitting noxious drink, opting for a glass of Ragnook spring water instead. Following the alien into the VIP areas, they walked past a stage of scantily clad dancers that were flaunting their bodies with clothing that barely covered their privates, flirtatiously playing with a group of men siting by the front of the stage. From the looks of their outfits, they were bounty hunters, a group not commonly found in establishments like these, perhaps it was due only to a collected bounty.
They quickly left her mind as she was shown into a personal room, declining the offer of both drinks and entertainment, the Twi'lek found herself a corner for meditation. Minutes barely passed when she was interrupted by the sounds of twisting doorknobs, the entrance sliding apart with a hiss as the footsteps of several men entered the room.
"Viceroy Kanshe." There was a metallic echo to her greeting, caused by the mask that she wore.
The entering alien was flanked by half a dozen troopers on his side, "Versssssssselia." It was almost snakelike, "the Emperor issssssss not pleasssssssed with your progressssssssss." She was instantly annoyed of his pattern of speech, reminding her of the coiling animal. None of the other Neimoidians spoke with such a lisp, a trait seemingly specific only to the one in front of her.
"My plan is in progress." She replied, "there is a timeline to-"
"Disssssappointing," the Neimoidian harshly interrupted, "I do not ssssssssee what the Emperor ssssseesss in you. You are but a lowly Ssssssith, not worthy of the Emperor's attention. Why he gave you ssssssssuch an important tassssssk is beyond me!"
"Maybe I sssssssssshould kill you right now?" The alien chuckled to himself, pointing towards the troopers that stood behind him, "I know of your sssssstrength, Sssssith. I have heard of your achievements, you are powerful, but what can you do in the face of sssssssssix Czerka manufactured blassssstor rifflesssss?"
"It would be ssssso eassssssy to end you, Versssssselia, I can tell the Emperor that you fell in combat while disssssscovered by the Jedi, that you-"
This time it was the Twi'lek that interrupted the Neimoidian, her unnatural laughter cutting across the room, taking the latter by surprise as it stumbled to regain control. "What are you laughing at, you inssssolent fool?"
"You."
She reached up for her mask, a soft click as she unlatched its metallic clasp, revealing the glowing eyes that laid beneath, ones that were orange with malice, the hood thrown backwards as the Sith shot forward, the ignition of her lightsaber casting the room in a shade of reddened luminescence that mirrored the colors of her skin. She leapt forward, her blade slicing across the chest of the first trooper, effortlessly cutting through his armored frame, barely hesitating as the weapon arced towards the next.
Two of them fell instantly, the third managing to get a single shot off, only to be deflected by the Sith's weapon, the blaster bolt reflecting in the opposite direction and impacting against the ceiling's light instead, immediately shrouding the room in darkness. Suddenly, she was like an emerging monster, her eyes glimmering from the unseen darkness, her saber like a spinning fury that drowned the remaining troopers in the midst of their screams.
The Neimoidian was now screaming as though being ejected from an airlock, backing himself towards the wall as he tried to shelter himself from the approaching Sith. "Relax," she smiled as she retracted her weapon, "I still need you to report back to the Emperor."
"I managed to learn something of utmost importance." She spoke almost too casually, as though already forgetting about the six men that she had just massacred, "a secret weapon that the Republic believed to be their key to winning the war."
"Codename… Immortality."
"It's a closely guarded secret, it took me months just to discover its name. But I believe it's only a matter of time before I find its source."
"Send my regards to the Emperor along with that information," she chuckled as she exited the room, purposely mocking the crouching Neimoidian with a hiss, "but you might want to clean up the messssss first."
She was headed out towards exit when she heard the crash, the sounds of commotion coming from the front of the Catina's bar.
ooOOOooOOOoo
The polished stones around her caught the diminishing rays of the artificial moon, glistening like a midnight's pool. But its beauty did not captivate Kaleynia Felris' attention. "You would do well to surrender yourself," the Jedi called out towards the shadows, "you know you cannot escape, might as well make it easier on the both of us. Spare me the pain of causing you some."
Her weapon ignited before the first flurry of bolts erupted in her direction, easily deflecting them off to the sides as she steadily walked towards their source, "really?" She boldly laughed as her resonatingly blue weapon revealed the darkened areas around the alleyway she was in. She should not be enjoying this as much as she was, it was un-Jedi-like, but she loved nothing more than the surge of adrenaline rushing through her veins, "as much as I love a challenge, you're not providing me any!"
Her saber died down, but only for a brief moment as she leapt herself forward using her hands to swing off a protruding pipe, the blade again ignited in her hands by the time she landed. She slashed at the empty air in front of her, a wide grin on the Jedi's face. Except instead of nothingness, she struck something else entirely, an angry shout as the invisible thief's camouflage shield died in front of him, sending the alien into a frenzy, stumbling as he jumped and ran backwards around a corner.
"Really?" The Jedi muttered, speaking to no one in particular as she chased after the escaping alien, "I'm getting awfully tired of all this running." Kaleynia was not responsible for the security nor the safety of this level's residents, in fact, most Jedi were known to avoid this particular level, seeing it as a smudge, a filth that should be wiped away instead of corrected. Kaleynia was different however, while she was no longer a fresh faced graduate of the Jedi academy but a fully-fledged Jedi Knight, she was still the wide-eyed girl on her first day of class, believing in peace and in hope, that her actions, no matter how small, could one day lead to the end of all conflicts.
Thus she found herself here, in the lower levels during her free time, chasing criminals that the authorities cared not about. The dark haired female followed the fleeing alien to the ends of the alleyway, giving chase as the wanted criminal blasted open the backdoors to one of the buildings, slipping inside as Kaleynia entered moments later. She was instantly assaulted by the heavy thumping of bass, weird sounds that made up of a specific alien race's music of choice, as colored lights flashed all around her.
Calming down her senses, she closed her eyes momentarily, reaching out with the force as it enveloped the building's patrons, smiling as she quickly spotted the alien in the distance. Leaping over a seated man who barely noticed her presence, his attention fully directed towards the dancers on stage, she dashed towards her target. Only to feel herself collide painfully against another being, the figure who was previously slumped across the bar's counter, who got up just as she was passing him, sending the both of them crashing in opposite directions.
She saw from the corners of her eyes as the alien exited from the front entrance, hopping onto a speeder just as the club's doors hissed shut. She would never be able to catch up now, cursing underneath her breath as she glared at the one who knocked her down. He was human, the same as she was. With a headful of unkempt hair and unshaven stubble, with impenetrably green eyes.
The first thing she noticed was the smell, the stench of alcohol wafting off the fallen figure with such immensity it was as though he fell into a vat of Corellian whiskey and drowned.
A drunkard stopped her from acquiring the thief, what a day it was turning out to be. It wasn't like as though she could vent out her anger on him, in his current state, she doubt he even knew where he was.
She sighed as she pulled herself up onto her feet and approached the crumpled figure, an extended arm as she helped him up onto his feet. "Are you okay mister?" She mumbled as she patted him down, it wouldn't do her any good to have accidentally dislocated an arm or a leg, the Jedi's public relation office would kill her. "Does anything hur-" Their eyes met from the briefest of a moment and it was then when she felt a chill ran down her spine, a disturbance in the force as she took a step back, her fingers instantly glancing towards her sheathed weapon.
Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the silent figure, her brain working overtime as she tried to narrow down on why he was so familiar… where had she seen him before? Then it hit her, she remembered. Two weeks ago in one of the Jedi Master's chamber. She was there to pick up her newest mission when she noticed a "Person of interest" sign inside the office, it was a holosketch but the resemblance was uncanny, it's the same person.
"I need you to follow me." Her voice was stern, only to be entirely ignored as the figure turned back towards the bar and nodded at the bar-tending droid, whose computerized brain was unable to understand the growing tension as it accepted the command and started to brew the man's drink.
"I said to follow me," she repeated as she reached out towards his shoulders, just as his arms dipped downwards, her grasp catching nothing but air as she missed. She reached for her lightsaber, pulling it out of her waist holster yet before she was able to fully draw her weapon, the man responded with his own. A wooden stick-like object appeared in his palm, shooting in the direction of her weapon's sheath, its tip meeting her weapon in mid draw. There was a flash of light as her lightsaber was propelled in the other direction with such force it tore through the bottom of her holder, sending her spinning in the opposite direction.
She was surprised, but recovered almost immediately. While she was slightly underwhelming in her control of the force, she was nothing but exceptional in the arts of melee combat, including hand to hand. Using the force, she shot in his direction, guiding her punches with inhumane speed. He deflected the first blow, pushing her arm to the side only for her to pivot as her foot tore towards his chest. He barely managed to lift his arms up in time, blocking the blow right as she used her own momentum to swing her fist towards him.
His ducked downwards, watching as the thrusting Jedi stumbled forward, tripping over the uneven floors. His hands reached out at the last minute and latched onto the back of the stumbling Jedi's robes, preventing her from fully taking a spill. Finding her balance again, she glared at him with flushed cheeks, slightly embarrassed at the turn of events.
"Can we talk this through-"
She lunged towards him before he could finish his sentence, her clenched fist shooting towards his face. The man prepared to duck, only to sigh heavily as he remained still instead, his eyes clenching shut as he took the full brunt of the attack, her punch sending him reeling backwards, crashing against the bar's counter as he slid downwards onto the floor. He looked up only to see the Jedi's weapon returning to her hands effortlessly, igniting as a heated glow flared inches away from his face.
Kaleynia looked down at her defeated opponent with a proud smile, "let's talk."
ooOOOooOOOoo
Verselia entered the bar section right as the unarmed Jedi leapt towards her unremarkable target. Without her mask, the Sith had drawn her hood, shielding her features from unsuspecting passerbys. The altercation somewhat caught her attention, her curiosity. The man opposite the Jedi seemed nothing more than a simple drunkard, not worth a Jedi's attention, much less engage in combat.
She was about to leave when she noticed something most peculiar. In the midst of the Jedi's thrown punch, she noticed an unmistakable influx of gathering force, but its source was not from the former. Instead, it gathered around the man's palm, shooting upwards as it engulfed his entire body as though an armor, right before her fist connected. Verselia could feel the disintegrating energy as they absorbed the entirety of the Jedi's attack, her eyes widening in astonishment at what she assumed was the man's control of the force.
The Jedi however, did not seemed to have noticed as she stood over the crumpled figure in her assumed victory. Slipping backwards into the shadows, Verselia watched the two, not noticing the approaching figure on her right, a fully armored bounty hunter that too, had her sights locked onto the sitting male.
Unlike the others, Feyrie was here for the bounty.
Questions? Do ask!
