There was a famous rule for the Sith and the Jedi. The Rule of Two. ALWAYS two there must be. A master, and an apprentice.
Kendall may not have been very good at the Jedi ways, but he was honored to be under Leia's tutelage, to have her be his mistress. But for Darth Furiosa and Darth Raize...who were THEIR Sith padawans? Who had they chosen to be their apprentices, who would help pass on their own teachings to others, just as they had learned so much from them?
Well, the first padawan had been a rather...unusual choice. Because he'd been an ordinary leftover trooper. A nobody of a Mandalorian warrior who's first actual instance of action hadn't gone well at all.
The night was sultry as thunder and lightning split the sky, clouds of dust billowing about under dark red across a dark grey plain. The alien moon was an outpost for a Galactic Republic world, and Mandalorian forces had raided it. It had been simple, you see. The post was run by a governor, who'd recently won an election on a strong interventionist program. The colonies on the edge of the Rim were frequently targets for Mandalorian raiding parties, and Governor Kanaida had spoken up.
Instead of an ISOLATIONIST policy in which planet Corasar just defended itself from any incoming attacks and just had large walled cities and defensive shields and they just kept to themselves...instead, why not be a part of something greater? Have the planets nearby combine with them, pool their resources, have everyone contribute and become a BULWARK against the Mandalorian forces! Sure, it'd be risky...but everyone would share in the risk, and for once, there would be a sense of not being isolated and alone. If they all shared in the struggle, then everyone would feel equal.
He appealed to how much they loved being in the Galactic Republic. To be free of the slave worlds of the Outer Rim. To not have to be farmers and working the land on harsher worlds than what they had here. And to have a voice in how things were run...that, above all, that meant a lot to them. They could matter here.
But of course, it was their choice. So they put it up to a vote.
Sure enough, they chose Governor Kanaida's plan. The sector of the galaxy decided to join together and work on creating a united militia of planets, as it were, to stand against Mandalore and its many raiding parties. And they'd made things really, really difficult for the Mandalorian warriors. The loud roar of the raiding parties was being quickly drowned out by the loud THUDDA-THUDDA-THUDDA of heavy duty turret fire. The Mandalorians were losing their attempt to try and get a foothold of the planet, and they were losing badly.
The combined resources of the militia of planets had worked well. They'd each covered one another's weaknesses, and Corasar's powerful turret stations and their hidden bunkers where the inhabitants of the planet could launch attacks from were proving too much for the Mandalorians. Only a few villages here and there on the farthest outskirts of civilization weren't doing well.
The Mandalorians were super spiteful about this. FURIOUS. And on that sultry, dark knight, the commander had ordered that particular, special warrior to help torch the entire village, and put every single "fucking hick on this planet to the torch too, and we'll teach these people to fucking fear us!".
Needless to say, Finn, the warrior, was positively disgusted by this. He'd begun torching one of the houses...and then had begun vomiting into his helmet. His buddies were disgusted...not by what they had to do, but by the fact he was puking all over, struggling to get his v-slit helmet off. He flopped onto the ground, spluttering, coughing, and then felt his stomach churn, as he unloaded even more of the contents within onto the ground below.
"...pussy." One of the warriors grunted as another one "tsk-tsk'd" and shook their head, a third rolling their eyes behind their helmet.
"You're a bigger woman than I am." She remarked as she sneered down at poor Finn. "It couldn't be more pathetic." The female Mandalorian remarked as the others all slapped high fives with her, grinning and laughing as they kept moving on to other buildings, and a horrible cacophony of screaming, howling voices was ringing through the air. Finn could hear the wailing of those being burned alive...and he ran. He ran, and ran, and ran, ripping his armor off, and fleeing as fast as he could.
And who should he run into...but Darth Raize. Smack dab into her. She had, interestingly, arrived at the planet because she and Darth Furiosa had been spying on the place, and the other planets in the militia, ever since they'd joined together. She'd been scouting it out, hoping to turn other people to their side, to act as spies. And as she looked down at Finn, she felt something in him…
He had short-cut black hair. Dark brown eyes. Slightly large nose. A face so haunted...and he had FORCE POTENTIAL. Real, genuine force potential. And so she smiled down at him, holding out a gloved hand.
"Do you want to learn how to use a lightsaber?" She'd asked him.
Finn had stared up at her. He saw her lightsaber. Her dark clothes. Her imposing figure. He could tell, he just could, that she was a Sith.
But after what he'd seen only five, six minutes before, he found himself saying "Yes".
Well, Finn DID learn to use a lightsaber. He was actually surprisingly good at it. Real damn good, for a newcomer. He wielded it like a blunt instrument, smacking and slashing with astounding ferocity. It was as if he had a greatsword or a gigantic baseball bat in his hand. Raize would often have to warn him, anger was all well and good but don't get TOO furious. Not BLINDED by anger. She'd learned not to do that the hard way.
Well...so she said. But Finn wasn't entirely sure she took that lesson to heart, because he, like Poe Dameron, had been in the same room when Furiosa's mother and grandmother had been made fun of with that tasteless joke, and she'd lashed out with raw sith lightning, rather than harsh words.
It'd been...unpleasant to see...but Finn truly believed in what Raize was doing on Nar Shadaa. The quality of life had improved drastically for those on the planet. Who was he to deny results if they worked so well? And besides, she'd been nothing but decent and wise and good to him. And working with Poe...that had been even better.
Poe Dameron was a great, great man. And you knew this because Poe made sure you knew it after every successful mission. Multiple times.
Poe had, regrettably, not been able to make it in the Galactic Republic's fleet. He'd tried very hard, but unfortunately for him, he was the sort of person who would buzz the tower for kicks. He had a hard problem with listening to people in authority, and while some questioning and skepticism was normally not a big deal, the almost constant refusal to listen to what his superiors ordered him to do WAS.
At first, they hadn't minded that he didn't stick to all of the regulations and rules that his ship had to adhere to. Fine, fine, put whatever hot-looking naked woman or man you wanted up in your cockpit. Sure, it was unusual, but we don't mind you painting your ship a different color or...painting things ON it, however...risque. What was that? You thought you saw an opening to attack those raiders? Hold on now, you shouldn't go ahead, we're trying to engage in defensive maneuvers, wait for backup-oh, there he goes. Well, we'll let it go THIS time.
But you couldn't keep "letting it go this time" when 'this time" was turning into "every other time". Again and again and again Poe just kept ignoring the blatant warnings and orders of his superiors. He was an aggressive combat fighter, a savant behind the cockpit, helped along by being extremely force sensitive.
Finally, the Galactic Federal Republic put their foot down. He'd been called in by the admiral. "Look, nobody's denying your skills. But we're asking you…to tender your resignation."
"WHAT?!" Poe had been furious. Poe had a well-built, slightly long nose, a dashingly handsome face, wavy, well-kept hair, and a five-o-clock shadow, and now that lovely face was scrunched up in anger. "Why?! I've been given commendations, I'm the best pilot in my squadron, hell, in the whole fucking Third Fleet!"
"Hold on, hold on. Poe, your skills are amazing. Your aptitude is very high. We grant that."
"I've gathered the most remarkable young pilots around this sector to the fleet! I'm the best captain you've got!"
"And what have you TAUGHT them?"
"Things you wouldn't believe!"
"We can't believe it, alright. The way you keep ignoring what the instructors said, what the commanders said, what the sergeants said, over and over and over." The admiral intoned. "Time and time again you deliberately disobey directions. You don't follow instructions. You go against what you've been ordered to do. You even go against what you're SUGGESTED or ASKED to do every other time."
"What on Earth is that supposed to mean? How can you say such a thing? Why does that matter?"
"That's three questions right there in five seconds, thus proving my point." the admiral intoned. "At a certain point, you NEED to accept what instructions and guidance you're given on faith. You don't do that at all. On top of that, you seem to be under the impression that you don't have to answer to anybody as long as you blow up the right ships. Well, that's not how it works. We need to know, when we put people out into the field, they'll stick, overall, to the plans we have and not drastically deviate from them, thus potentially putting our work, our other troops and soldiers and pilots and even ourselves, at risk. What happens when you decide to assault a star cruiser on your own, your co-pilots race over to help, and they get killed because you couldn't stay in formation like you were asked? What happens when you decide to go blasting your way through a space station when you were merely told to scout it, and you leave your platoon behind, allowing them to be caught off guard, captured, or killed? You spend so much time questioning our orders, yet you never seem to question yourself."
"Why would I do that when I'm RIGHT?!" Poe snarked, folding his arms over his chest, the admiral staring at him before he shook his head slowly back and forth, sighing as he leaned back in his enormous leather chair behind his desk.
"See, right there." The admiral said softly. "That's what I mean. Goodbye, Mr. Dameron. And good luck to anyone who can endure you."
With that, Poe had been kicked out of the fleet. All his commendations and everything didn't mean a thing now. Word spread about his reckless, brash behavior and his rebellious attitude. And so it was that he'd found himself forced to take random piloting jobs, and ferrying people around...and one particular job had landed him in Nar Shadaa, where a certain dark-skinned, lovely-looking long-haired woman had taken notice of him.
"Hi."
Poe had stared at her, stunned at how deep her eyes were, and the fact she was sitting INCREDIBLY close to him, and looking right into his eyes, one hand on his, whilst he, in turn, was seconds from lifting his drink to his mouth. "...um...c-can I help you?"
"I think I can help you." She told him softly. "Tell me, Poe Dameron. Do you...sense that things are going to happen before they do? Do you feel like you "know" what's going to occur when you're flying around before it does? Do you feel connected to something greater than yourself?"
"...I...I mean...are you talking about God or something? I dunno if I believe in it God. My beliefs have always been like...just...something more or less behind it all." He reasoned.
"That's cute." She'd chuckled. "But I was thinking more like...this."
And then she'd whisked her hand, and a cup had sailed across the bar and into her grip as she grinned at him. "Would you like to learn how to do that? To hone the incredible skill I can see shining off you so brightly, like a star?"
Poe had felt a deep blush swell in him. He stammered and stared, but the words out of his mouth were a distinct "Yes! Yes, please!"
While Poe wasn't nearly as good with a lightsaber, he was INCREDIBLY good with the more mystical and spiritual powers of the Force. He could easily use telekinetic skills to pull and tug things around, lifting large objects, leaping high through the air, or, of course, the classic "Force Persuasion". He was very...VERY fond of that.
"You don't want to sell me gamja leaves." Poe whispered as he and Finn stood waiting for Darth Furiosa and Darth Raize in the lobby of the tower, a young man in a hood and robe staring stupidly ahead at Poe, slowly lowering his arm, having shown off what laid inside of his robe.
"...I don't want to sell you gamja leaves."
"You want to go home and rethink your life."
"...I'm...going to go home to rethink my life…" The young man muttered as he turned around, heading for the door as Finn smiled, giving Poe a pat on the back.
"Good on you." He said with a grin before he turned to see their masters descending the stairs. "Ah! Mistresses." He and Poe bowed their heads as Darth Furiosa and Raize shook their heads.
"Please, no standing on ceremony. We've got a very simple request for you. We want you to track down THIS man." Darth Furiosa held up a small holographic inducer, showing off a rotating image of a faintly familiar, red-haired young man. Oh! Poe recognized him, he worked at the free clinic that he'd frequently visited while he was trying to save money for a nicer ship, so he could take on nicer, better-paying jobs. "His name is Kendall, he's a nurse, and he happens to be...surprisingly...skilled with a lightsaber. His connection to the Force is otherwise rather pathetic, but he's remarkably adept. He was able to take Raize's lightsaber, and fight her off even when she used her spare."
Finn whistled, surprised by this. "Wow...gee, I didn't think anyone could."
"He got lucky." Raize insisted as she spat on the ground. "Worse still, we've had some of our employees bringing up how he's approached them along with a few other people. Like that worthless relic Han Solo…"
"And that bitch, Leia, his wife." Furiosa added with a scowl. "With them with him, it'll be tricky. What you need to do is get him ALONE to take care of him. We've sent the locations of bars he frequents often, we want you to stake the locations out and deal with him. Think you can do that?"
Poe grinned cheekily. "Well...you know me. I've got a way with words." He remarked.
"Ohhh no. Don't bother. He seems heavily resistant to Force Persuasion. I tried to force him to give me my lightsaber back, it didn't work." Raize balefully admitted. "No, no...find another way."
"I will." Poe swore, he and Finn both nodding. "We'll take care of him, Mistresses. Don't worry. We've never failed you yet."
The two of them left the room, both dressed in their finest lightweight attire, with black gloves and boots to match. Poe had a very fine dark brown longsleeve jacket with a belt of many pouches, whilst Finn wore his own jacket, a much lighter shade of brown with many pockets inside and out. The pockets came in handy, they helped to hide all kinds of goodies. For the most part though...it held snacks.
"Here." Finn reached into his jacket, tossing a small bag of fruit snacks to Poe as he cheerily grinned. "We could be waiting a while when we're staking out the bars he seems to frequent and I know you're not a fan of peanuts."
"Hey, thanks." Poe said with a grin. "Oooh, they're "Gusher" style!" He said, examining the fruit snacks and popping the sugary-juice-filled fruit snacks into his mouth with gusto. "Thanks a ton, you're so considerate." He told Finn as Finn smiled warmly back.
Darth Furiosa, meanwhile, was making a call, as Frequency the Bouny Hunter appeared on the other end of her communicator. "Wassaaaaap?" He asked.
"We'd like you to take care of somebody. JUST in case things go south with our apprentices. We don't like leaving things to chance, and unfortunately, that moronic Logosian seems unnaturally gifted with luck." She informed the blue-furred bouncy hunter as he adjusted the red lifeguard-esque cap he had atop his head, whistling a bit.
"Yeah, um...thing is, that guy you're sending me this contract on?" Frequency examined the picture. "...I kinda owe him one."
"What?!" Furiosa sounded mortified. "How?! Is he a former friend?"
"No. Never met him before two weeks ago." Frequency informed Furiosa as a chill ran up her spine and she and Raize glanced at one another. "Yeah. Remember that guy I said who helped me find your newsstand-owning friend? That was him." Frequency admitted. "He got the guy who did it to talk in a way I couldn't. I kinda owe him a favor."
"...so you won't help kill him?" Raize wanted to know.
"You wanna pay me to totally waste somebody? Sure. I don't care. But when it comes to guys who do me a solid, I do it back. I owe him, so I can't kill him." The yellow/golden-eyed bounty hunter told her as he shook his head.
"Then...will you at least keep an eye on our apprentices and him and report back to us what's happening as it happens?" Raize sighed as she pinched the space between her eyes and shook her head back and forth. "We're not asking you to step in to kill him if they fail, just tell us if they succeed, or if they're failing, or if that bitch Leia or her stupid husband comes in."
"Not a fan of Leia, I take it?" Frequency inquired.
"Or her husband. Those hetereos are making me upseteroes. If they DO show up...will you kill them?"
"Yeah...sure." Frequency shrugged. "They don't owe me anything. They're fair targets. They try to interfere, I'll handle them." He told the Dyad with a nod. "Adios, dudettes." He ended the call, sighing a bit as he pocketed the communicator into his red shorts pocket, humming a bit as he walked across the room he was in, going over to the high-powered sniper rifle. His four-digited paws lifted it up, feeling over the cold texture of the gun as he quietly examined it, ensuring it was properly loaded and functioning as he put on the invisible laser light scope. Well, not "invisible". His eyes could see the dot much better than normal humanoids could. It helped in his missions, having far better eyesight than his targets.
Being an bounty hunter is a good job. You weren't guaranteed to go hungry, because at the end of the day, there'd always be SOMEBODY who wanted SOMEONE dead.
Now, naturally, there were always moral and ethical questions about this sort of thing. But that was something Frequency had dealt with at a very young age indeed. The psychos who beat their wives to death with their golf trophies or the wives who burned their husbands alive in their beds or the kids who'd stab their parents while they slept had feelings to work through. They had the "passion" for what they did. A professional could have passion, sure, but what they really needed was standards.
And Frequency, in essence, had two. If you did right by him, he'd do right by you. And if he thought the job was doable and the pay good enough, he would do it. Regardless of who he had to kill.
He shouldered the sniper rifle, and readied the knives in his pockets and felt through the little pockets hidden in his sleeveless white shirt. Yep, there they were. He had everything he needed. Feeling satisfied, Frequency walked towards the nearby fancy music player located in a big, mahogany entertainment center in the room, turning the highly advanced "stereo" on…
In a few seconds, he was gone.
…
…
…
…"Oh the night that Paddy Murphy died, is a night I'll never forget!
Some of the boys got loaded drunk, and they ain't got sober yet;
As long as a bottle was passed around every man was feelin' gay,
O'Leary came with the bagpipes, some music for to play!"
The bar was filled with loud, rowdy roaring laughter, beer being knocked about as tankards and mugs clashed together. Several people were doing keg stands as Grohtk the Trandoshan had one arm wrapped around Kendall's shoulder. They were singing merrily along with the assembled shipping yard workers and guards of the tower and a few soldiers even who'd all come to the bar to drink and party and just have a good time.
Kendall had been listening to a LOT of people that worked for the Dyad. They were surprised to find how...personable he was. He just...listened to what they had to say about the events and news of the day, and then he'd just chat about how they were feeling, and their day to day lives, and what it was like to work for the Dyad. It was that ability to listen that really seemed to be getting him hitting it off with the Dyad's employees.
They all knew full well by now, though, that he'd tried to directly assault the Tower, that he'd managed to fight one of the Dyad off with their own lightsaber, but that had, surprisingly, impressed many of them. On top of that, nobody really tried to drag him off to the Dyad themselves. They just assumed somebody else would, or that someone else had already called the Dyad and told them where he was, and after a few drinks, and just chatting it up with Kendall, the mere idea of that was long since forgotten.
Not even being a gay Logosian seemed to be too odd to them. Yes, it was VERY strange that such an openly religious, fundamentalist species even HAD gay people to many of them. When he'd confessed his sexuality whenever the topic got breached, it tended to make the workers for the Dyad stunned. How had he survived being on a planet that did things like conversion therapy, where being so different, so...alien...could be fatal? Why hadn't he been dragged into some alley after school with people yelling "We'll teach you, f-ggot" as somebody wailed on him with a crowbar?
Then they'd realized just what the markings on his neck were, and they didn't ask about that sort of thing anymore. So they'd dive back into the drinking and the fun, and the singing and dancing would soon be echoing through the bar! Just like right now.
"That's how they showed their respect for Paddy Murphy!
That's how they showed their honour and their pride;
They said it was a sin and shame and they winked at one another,
And every drink in the place was full the night Pat Murphy died!"
Kendall and Grohtk knew some nice "sea shanty" style songs. There was a huge shipping community and it was very easy to work boat songs around a bit into spaceship songs, from "Lukey's Boat" to "Drunken Sailor", and a song like this was no exception. So they stomped their feet, barreling out the song's lyrics as loud as they could. It was really surprising that Kendall, of all people, had the much louder voice. Maybe because of the type of music he reaaaaally enjoyed singing and listening to.
"As Mrs. Murphy sat in the corner pouring out her grief,
Kelly and his gang came tearing down the street!
They went into an empty room and a bottle of whiskey stole,
They put the bottle with the corpse to keep that whiskey-"
Then, alas, the door to the bar opened, and the final word "Cold" trailed off from everyone's lips as the two apprentices of the Dyad stood there in the doorway.
"...bitches, leave." Frequency chuckled as he peered on in, watching with his see-through binoculars from atop a nearby roof, his sniper rifle at the ready. The bar patrons were quickly shuffling out as Grohtk glanced over at Kendall. He was in deep shit if he didn't leave. But he couldn't just leave Kendall behind.
Kendall gave him a look. "You should go." He said quietly.
Grohtk however...shook his head. He let go of Kendall, and pulled out a big, thick-looking, wicked knife from a scabbard hidden in the jacket he was wearing, his other hand whipping out a pistol as Kendall nonchalantly reached into the blue jacket he wore, taking out his lightsaber. "I take it you two work for the Dyad?" He asked as he looked the two over.
...oh wow. He stared back at them and they at him. Actually seeing him in person, they were rather taken aback as they heard him speak, and saw him. REALLY saw him. He had such...alluring eyes. The ride of wide cascading all around his pupils, the deep, alluring blue of his irises, and his voice...it had a quality to it they'd never experienced before.
"They require us to take care of you." Poe said, Finn shaking his head a bit, Poe trying not to look at Kendall's eyes. "You, Trandoshan, get out of here, we're only interested in the Logosian."
"Your bosses are assholes, you know that, right?" Kendall inquired.
Poe stretched his hand out, but Kendall cringed, flinching a bit. "So you've got resistance against things like a "Force Push" too, eh...fine. I can handle that…" He said as he snapped his fingers and bottles flew up through the air along with chairs and tables. He launched his hand forward as they all flew at Kendall.
"Duck!" Kendall yelled out, Grohtk diving to the ground, firing off his pistol as Finn twirled his own lightsaber, the purple lightsaber flashing through the air, slashing and slicing, spinning around and deflecting the blows as Kendall fricassed the oncoming bottles and tables and chairs thrown at him. There were, however, far more things to toss in his direction than in the free clinic he'd been in before, and being somewhat drunk, his reaction speed wasn't what it should have been.
THWAM! One of the tables slammed into his side, knocking him through the air. Poe grinned, launching yet a chair at him as it soared towards Kendall, Finn advancing on Grohtk, continuing to deflect the pistol bolts! But Kendall shot forward and kicked, kicked with astounding ferocity and strength! His training with Leia continued to keep his athletic skills honed, and he'd always been far better at hand-to-hand, close-quarters combat…
And he happened to have very powerful legs at that. A fact that may have saved his life, because the chair shot back at Poe with such force he barely ducked in time to avoid it slamming into his head. Kendall then spun through the air and brought his lightsaber down at Finn, who blocked the slice just in time as Grohtk fired on Poe!
TSSEEW! TSSEWWWW! The shots soared through the air, Poe twirling and diving away. He was terrible with a lightsaber, but he was a very good shot himself. He whipped out his own twin pistols, firing at Grohtk, who was firing back, using his vibro-blade knife he'd drawn to deflect the pistol shots as best he could. Loud TWANG-TWANG noises rang through the air as the shots kept getting knocked into the walls, burn marks popping up left and right as Finn and Kendall danced around one another, slicing and slashing with their lightsabers.
"You're very...ERGH...good!" Kendall panted a bit, sweat beads dribbling down his brow. He had gotten skilled at using a lightsaber, but as good as he was, Finn was clearly much better than him. He was barely holding him back. "You m-must have trained under the Dyad for...GGHHH...a long t-time! Wh-who's...YOUR particular...GGRRRGH...mistress? Raize or...Furiosa?"
"Raize!" Finn said, biting his lip. Kendall clearly had some serious raw talent, but he could also tell Kendall was barely able to keep toe to toe with him. The hiss of the lightsabers was echoing through the air, the two now tightly pushing up against one another, trying to force the other back. It was getting hot and steamy in the bar, having the lightsaber so close to his face was really heating things up! Now sweat was beginning to break out upon his forehead too. "She's really very...wonderful once you...GRRGH...get to...KNOW her!"
It was then that Kendall did something that could have backfired horribly. But this immature, pathetic, sleazy tactic worked like a charm.
He kneed Finn right in the crotch.
"YEEEEEOOOOOOOWWW!" Finn reeled back, howling, clutching at his crotch, and Kendall delivered yet ANOTHER powerful kick, his leg sweeping up! His foot caught Finn right under his chin, making him flop onto his back. Poe whipped his head in his direction, realizing too late he'd been distracted. He barely dodged in time as Grohtk's shot soared through the air. It missed...but then Grohtk dove at him and sliced with his vibro blade.
Poe got sliced, bad, right across the hand as he held it up to create a shield to protect himself. He cringed, wincing in pain, fingers curling, but his other hand shot out as lightning began to coalesce around his right hand! Kendall, realizing what was happening, leaped through the air as he held his lightsaber up.
KRRRRZZZZZAAAAAAPPPP! The hissing spark of lightning soared out from Poe's fingers, curling around the lightsaber as Kendall twirled in midair and then tossed the lightning bolt off the saber, through the air and clear through the nearby wall.
Unfortunately, that wall had been positively soaked in alcohol from knocked and sliced-away beer bottles and the like. Now the entire place went up, a loud THUDDA-FWOOOOOOOOM echoing through the bar as Finn quickly staggered to his feet, he and Poe racing out the door as Poe made for the road and steadied himself upon Finn. Poe concentrated, closing his eyes, big, huge chunks of road getting ripped up as he shot them at the exit out of the bar as Grohtk tried to help Kendall up.
"Let's see you get outta that one." Poe swore as he and Finn waited outside, panting heavily, trying to catch their breath. "We've really put them in the hot seat, huh?" He laughed before wincing, Finn getting out a small medical kit from his jacket pocket. "OOOGH. Damn, this hurts…"
"Can't you use the Force to lift those chunks of road away!?" Grohtk yelled out as he and Kendall looked around in a panic, the flames rising higher, smoke filling the air.
"I can't DO lifting stuff, I'm terrible at that! I can't even lift a glass of water with the Force!" Kendall told Grohtk, speaking as loudly as he could over the roaring of the flames that were hissing and sparking all around them.
"Well you gotta think of something or we're screwed!" Grohtk insisted as he raced over to the nearby karaoke machine, trying to lift it up. The thing ran on big batteries, it didn't have to be plugged into the wall at all, and now Grohtk was trying to lift it up. "Help me! If we blow open a hole in another wall, maybe we can race on through that and get out!"
"I'm trying!" Kendall said as he and Grohtk tried to lift the karaoke machine up, but they were both getting very dizzy. The smoke was filling their nostrils, sneaking into their lungs, it was hard to stand, and even though most Trandoshans were stronger in general than most humanoids, being partially drunk, and tired from the fight, AND with so little air left in the bar was proving too much eleven for Grohtk. "I'm...I'm trying, I'm...I can't...breathe…"
"We...we gotta get...get out…" Grohtk moaned spluttering and coughing, falling to the floor with a THUD, along with Kendall, the flames coming closer…
Closer…
CLOSER...
