Chapter 4: Three-and-a-Half Months Later....
"Carefully..." Keth muttered to himself. He was aiming steadily with his sniper rifle at a blonde-haired woman in gold trimmed, blue robes, who was an official of the planet Onveska in the Outer Rim that was meeting with the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. She was going to make Onveska part of the Republic in return for the Republic forces heading to the desolate planet to wipe out the pirate raids. A crime lord named Nageth the Hutt had hired Keth to take out the official of Onveska. He didn't say why, but Keth still needed money, having not retrieved his payment from Val'Tala due to the fact that he had gone on a vacation to Cloud City on Bespin to get away from business. Keth would be paid five thousand credits if he pulled off the job successfully.
Keth locked onto the official, aiming carefully, and fired. A few seconds later, the official of Onveska had an poisonous dart in her neck, and Keth was being pursued by Senate guards and Royal guards. The blue- and red-robed soldiers were pursuing him quickly, firing high-powered rifles at him. One Royal guard through his force pike like a javelin, and nearly hit Keth. Keth had been running, but then jumped off the side of the skyscraper he had been sniping from. He plummeted for about a minute before using his jetpack to stop him, and he headed upwards a few yards and stopped once he saw his get away: a Republic speeder bike. He hopped on, and sped away on the landspeeder roads.
Soon Senate guards had rappelled down and manned the other speeder bikes, and were chasing after him. The cannons on the underside of their bikes opened fire. Blue and green lasers exploded all around Keth as he avoided them all. But one guard aimed his rifle and hit Keth's jetpack. The jetpack sputtered and stop humming, and died. Keth knew this, but he had another plan. He pressed the bike to go as fast as possible, and then tore into an outdoor nightclub. He opened fire twice, destroying a section of the railing on the edge of the club, and flew off the building. His speederbike began to plummet downwards at a dangerous speed, and a Senate guard accidentally followed him, screaming in fright.
Keth took a small remote from his belt, and pressed a few buttons. The Wraith Hunter came tearing around a corner. Keth let go of the plummeting speeder bike, which exploded on the side of a building, and the auto-pilot of the Hunter put the ship directly under him. Keth pressed more buttons on the remote, and the cockpit hatch opened. He pressed another button, and the ship stopped and he landed in his chair. He closed the hatch and took off, and the Senate guard that had pursued him fell until he hit the ground on the building below.
Keth was soon pursued by two Republic patrol airspeeders. They opened fire on his fighter, but all attempts to hit him were futile, and he ended up frying one of them with the rear laser cannon. Keth pulled into an empty airspeeder tunnel in the side of a building, and powered down the ship. The patrol airspeeder sped past, scanning the area for him but not finding him.
"Phew, that was close!" sighed Keth, taking off his helmet and wiping his brow with a handkerchief. Indeed, it was. Senate guards are not soldiers you want on your tail, no matter what the circumstance. Well, at least I'll get the bounty money, thought Keth. This also would have been much easier with Brak...
"Move it, cripple!" came a shout from below the ship. Keth looked down to see a group of pirates, all armed, escorting a group of slaves and hostages to a transport. The cripple was being pushed out of the way, but it flung open it's tattered cloak and opened fire with a plasma rifle, puncturing a few of the pirates. Keth looked down at the erupting battle below him, and noticed something about the two leading the pirates with hostages: one was in a beat-up suit of armor, and the other was a brownish- red-haired Wookiee. He recognized them as pirates of Mon Tifoke's men, the two that he had seen before incinerating the hangar that Tifoke had set up base in. Then Keth looked to the transport, into which a few hostages were being escort, and saw a familiar symbol on the side of it. It was the maze- like symbol of the pirates.
Keth leapt from the Wraith Hunter, twirling out his twin pistols. One pirate, hiding behind a hostage, looked up just in time to be scorched by a hail of lasers. Keth then, using the Force, jumped up and kicked a pirate in the face. When the hunter landed, he began emptying the pistols' gas cartridges on the pirates. Most pirates were wearing armor marked with their symbol, but he noticed another symbol painted in teal out of all of those. It looked somewhat like a starfish from Mon Calamari, with three legs swirling out.
It belonged to another pirate clan that he was somewhat familiar with, called the Anyota. The Anyota were humanoids with blue-gray skin, and were from a planet in the Outer Rim of the same name. All of the men of the Anyota joined the pirate clan, which was really a large army that had been spread throughout the galaxy. The Anyota were also great friends to the Kidarians, and Kidaria was only a short hyperspace jump away from Anyota. Keth was a Kidarian. The fighter was an Anyota.
Only one Anyota had started the fighting, and only one Anyota was fighting still. His plasma blaster was blazing, punching holes in the pirates. Suddenly, the blazing rifle stopped. The Anyota checked his cartridge only to find that it was empty. He did not have any spares, and looked in fear to the ten pirates still surrounding him. Soon there were only eight, then only six, then only four, as Keth picked them off with his rifle.
Over by the transport, a pirate had been killing the hostages. He was down to the last one. Keth recognized the prisoner and almost dropped his gun. He tossed his rifle to the grateful Anyota, who finished off the last three pirates, and whipped out his lightsaber. The yellow blade flashed into view, and with a decisive twirl, the pirate was dispatched, sliced in half at the torso. Keth then put away his saber, and picked up the young boy that was the last prisoner. It was Brak Arthul, Keth's son and partner in crime. The boy was beat up and dirty, and he had a fat lip.
"Brak!" gasped Keth, locking his son in a hug. The boy smiled weakly.
"Long time no see, Dad," said Brak, wiping some blood from his lip. "What took ya?"
"Let's just say I've had some minor difficulties finding you and business to attend to..." laughed Keth. Keth then handed his son a med- pack. "And, I thought you had been killed. Now clean yourself up with this!"
"Well, I'll tell why I'm not dead, Dad, but maybe later," replied Brak, cleaning a small gash on his shin with a bacta container. "By the way, my armor and weapons are in the transport. I'll get it on after I'm done with this."
Keth looked at his son and grinned under his helmet. I thought he was dead, but he's not! thought Keth gleefully. Then he saw a ship taking off. On board, he could see the armored bounty hunter and the Wookiee. Suddenly, he felt a large, gloved hand on his shoulder. It was the Anyota.
"You saved my life Kidarian," said the Anyota. "I am in your debt!"
"What was all this? An everyday skirmish? And who are you?" asked Keth, turning to the Anyota.
"No. We, the Anyota, have declared war on this pirate clan. They have been stealing our supply shipment from Anyota, and pestering our warriors, killing our families, destroying our homes, and so on. The war has begun here on Coruscant, and we are fighting them openly for the first time in the Belag District. The battle will be occurring shortly. And I am General Falece Ne'dan!"
"A General? Why would you be attacking a convoy of prisoners?" questioned Keth.
"The prisoners were mostly Anyota soldiers. As you can see..." General Ne'dan gestured to the fallen men, "...none of them lived this little skirmish. And one of them was a General himself, a man called Kareem Hyj'tar. But now his part of the Anyota army will not fight, for we have no generals that would be able to lead the great fraction of the army...wait a second..."
The look of someone who had just come up with a wonderful idea passed over Ne'dan's face. "I know how to repay you for saving me! You seem like a natural fighter, so why don't you lead the Hyj'tar army into battle!"
"Me, leading an army! I'm a bounty hunter! I'd rather be fighting another Krayt dragon..." muttered Keth.
"You'll be paid for your duties..." Ne'dan offered.
"Carefully..." Keth muttered to himself. He was aiming steadily with his sniper rifle at a blonde-haired woman in gold trimmed, blue robes, who was an official of the planet Onveska in the Outer Rim that was meeting with the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. She was going to make Onveska part of the Republic in return for the Republic forces heading to the desolate planet to wipe out the pirate raids. A crime lord named Nageth the Hutt had hired Keth to take out the official of Onveska. He didn't say why, but Keth still needed money, having not retrieved his payment from Val'Tala due to the fact that he had gone on a vacation to Cloud City on Bespin to get away from business. Keth would be paid five thousand credits if he pulled off the job successfully.
Keth locked onto the official, aiming carefully, and fired. A few seconds later, the official of Onveska had an poisonous dart in her neck, and Keth was being pursued by Senate guards and Royal guards. The blue- and red-robed soldiers were pursuing him quickly, firing high-powered rifles at him. One Royal guard through his force pike like a javelin, and nearly hit Keth. Keth had been running, but then jumped off the side of the skyscraper he had been sniping from. He plummeted for about a minute before using his jetpack to stop him, and he headed upwards a few yards and stopped once he saw his get away: a Republic speeder bike. He hopped on, and sped away on the landspeeder roads.
Soon Senate guards had rappelled down and manned the other speeder bikes, and were chasing after him. The cannons on the underside of their bikes opened fire. Blue and green lasers exploded all around Keth as he avoided them all. But one guard aimed his rifle and hit Keth's jetpack. The jetpack sputtered and stop humming, and died. Keth knew this, but he had another plan. He pressed the bike to go as fast as possible, and then tore into an outdoor nightclub. He opened fire twice, destroying a section of the railing on the edge of the club, and flew off the building. His speederbike began to plummet downwards at a dangerous speed, and a Senate guard accidentally followed him, screaming in fright.
Keth took a small remote from his belt, and pressed a few buttons. The Wraith Hunter came tearing around a corner. Keth let go of the plummeting speeder bike, which exploded on the side of a building, and the auto-pilot of the Hunter put the ship directly under him. Keth pressed more buttons on the remote, and the cockpit hatch opened. He pressed another button, and the ship stopped and he landed in his chair. He closed the hatch and took off, and the Senate guard that had pursued him fell until he hit the ground on the building below.
Keth was soon pursued by two Republic patrol airspeeders. They opened fire on his fighter, but all attempts to hit him were futile, and he ended up frying one of them with the rear laser cannon. Keth pulled into an empty airspeeder tunnel in the side of a building, and powered down the ship. The patrol airspeeder sped past, scanning the area for him but not finding him.
"Phew, that was close!" sighed Keth, taking off his helmet and wiping his brow with a handkerchief. Indeed, it was. Senate guards are not soldiers you want on your tail, no matter what the circumstance. Well, at least I'll get the bounty money, thought Keth. This also would have been much easier with Brak...
"Move it, cripple!" came a shout from below the ship. Keth looked down to see a group of pirates, all armed, escorting a group of slaves and hostages to a transport. The cripple was being pushed out of the way, but it flung open it's tattered cloak and opened fire with a plasma rifle, puncturing a few of the pirates. Keth looked down at the erupting battle below him, and noticed something about the two leading the pirates with hostages: one was in a beat-up suit of armor, and the other was a brownish- red-haired Wookiee. He recognized them as pirates of Mon Tifoke's men, the two that he had seen before incinerating the hangar that Tifoke had set up base in. Then Keth looked to the transport, into which a few hostages were being escort, and saw a familiar symbol on the side of it. It was the maze- like symbol of the pirates.
Keth leapt from the Wraith Hunter, twirling out his twin pistols. One pirate, hiding behind a hostage, looked up just in time to be scorched by a hail of lasers. Keth then, using the Force, jumped up and kicked a pirate in the face. When the hunter landed, he began emptying the pistols' gas cartridges on the pirates. Most pirates were wearing armor marked with their symbol, but he noticed another symbol painted in teal out of all of those. It looked somewhat like a starfish from Mon Calamari, with three legs swirling out.
It belonged to another pirate clan that he was somewhat familiar with, called the Anyota. The Anyota were humanoids with blue-gray skin, and were from a planet in the Outer Rim of the same name. All of the men of the Anyota joined the pirate clan, which was really a large army that had been spread throughout the galaxy. The Anyota were also great friends to the Kidarians, and Kidaria was only a short hyperspace jump away from Anyota. Keth was a Kidarian. The fighter was an Anyota.
Only one Anyota had started the fighting, and only one Anyota was fighting still. His plasma blaster was blazing, punching holes in the pirates. Suddenly, the blazing rifle stopped. The Anyota checked his cartridge only to find that it was empty. He did not have any spares, and looked in fear to the ten pirates still surrounding him. Soon there were only eight, then only six, then only four, as Keth picked them off with his rifle.
Over by the transport, a pirate had been killing the hostages. He was down to the last one. Keth recognized the prisoner and almost dropped his gun. He tossed his rifle to the grateful Anyota, who finished off the last three pirates, and whipped out his lightsaber. The yellow blade flashed into view, and with a decisive twirl, the pirate was dispatched, sliced in half at the torso. Keth then put away his saber, and picked up the young boy that was the last prisoner. It was Brak Arthul, Keth's son and partner in crime. The boy was beat up and dirty, and he had a fat lip.
"Brak!" gasped Keth, locking his son in a hug. The boy smiled weakly.
"Long time no see, Dad," said Brak, wiping some blood from his lip. "What took ya?"
"Let's just say I've had some minor difficulties finding you and business to attend to..." laughed Keth. Keth then handed his son a med- pack. "And, I thought you had been killed. Now clean yourself up with this!"
"Well, I'll tell why I'm not dead, Dad, but maybe later," replied Brak, cleaning a small gash on his shin with a bacta container. "By the way, my armor and weapons are in the transport. I'll get it on after I'm done with this."
Keth looked at his son and grinned under his helmet. I thought he was dead, but he's not! thought Keth gleefully. Then he saw a ship taking off. On board, he could see the armored bounty hunter and the Wookiee. Suddenly, he felt a large, gloved hand on his shoulder. It was the Anyota.
"You saved my life Kidarian," said the Anyota. "I am in your debt!"
"What was all this? An everyday skirmish? And who are you?" asked Keth, turning to the Anyota.
"No. We, the Anyota, have declared war on this pirate clan. They have been stealing our supply shipment from Anyota, and pestering our warriors, killing our families, destroying our homes, and so on. The war has begun here on Coruscant, and we are fighting them openly for the first time in the Belag District. The battle will be occurring shortly. And I am General Falece Ne'dan!"
"A General? Why would you be attacking a convoy of prisoners?" questioned Keth.
"The prisoners were mostly Anyota soldiers. As you can see..." General Ne'dan gestured to the fallen men, "...none of them lived this little skirmish. And one of them was a General himself, a man called Kareem Hyj'tar. But now his part of the Anyota army will not fight, for we have no generals that would be able to lead the great fraction of the army...wait a second..."
The look of someone who had just come up with a wonderful idea passed over Ne'dan's face. "I know how to repay you for saving me! You seem like a natural fighter, so why don't you lead the Hyj'tar army into battle!"
"Me, leading an army! I'm a bounty hunter! I'd rather be fighting another Krayt dragon..." muttered Keth.
"You'll be paid for your duties..." Ne'dan offered.
