Location: Desert world of Nuzirus
Time: Noon
"Do you have what I require?" asked young woman in a heavy brown hooded cloak.
"Yeah, yeah, we have what you required," said, Captain Gaelabr Wilpar.
With a snap of his fingers, the pirate had two of his crew bring in the crate. The young woman walked over and popped it open so she could see the contents. Inside, the crate was full of artifacts… Sith artifacts, ranging from mystical runes to tablets, and even a few holo-projectors.
"Excellent, this will be a good steppingstone for the construction of my new powerbase," she said.
"Powerbase?" asked a voice.
The woman looked up and saw a cloaked assailant leaning against the railing of a catwalk in the warehouse that she and her client was in.
"The hell is a powerbase? Is that a fancy word for a power station?" asked the assailant.
The young woman turned towards a trooper dressed in black armor.
"Sergeant, you said this area was secure!" she snapped before looking back up at her assailant, "who the emperor's name are you anyway?"
"Oh, me?" asked the assailant.
They removed their cloak, revealing their identity. Why it was none other than Kayla Abaven, in her Hunter Armor.
"I'm just a girl who's been assigned to kill you," she said, "well… Me and my friends here."
And just like that, three more Hunters appeared from the shadows, each wearing their own respective suits of armor. The second Hunter was Nezarr, a Miraluka female; Brodmar Heygres, a Human male; and lastly, there was Geza, a male Queildral.
"Intruders!" barked one of Gaelabr's henchmen.
The young woman threw off her cloak and showed who she really was, a human female Sith Lord.
"Kill them all!" she ordered.
"Throw on your dance pants boys! It's party time!" chirped Kayla.
She drew her lightsabers, jumped from the catwalk, and stuck the landing, then she ignited the shimmering purple blades and stabbed two of Gaelabr's men in their chests, killing them. Kayla's teammates ignited their lightsabers and began deflecting blaster bolts coming from all directions. The Sith Lord ignited her crimson lightsaber and went for Brodmar when… She deflected Kayla's offhand lightsaber coming at her from behind.
"You want me," she beckoned.
The Sith Lord growled and started to approach Kayla when…
"Kayla wait!" barked Geza, "you deal with these flunkies… The woman is mine."
"Awww, but I wanted to kill her!" whined Kayla.
"You got the last one, girl," Nezarr said as she performed the 'No Look' kill on a trooper, "let Geza take this one. And remember, we agreed to take turns with killing the priority target."
Kayla let out a huff.
"Well take all the fun out of it, why don't ya?" she asked.
The Sith Lord turned her attention back to Geza.
"You young fool, you dare to cross swords with Darth Juthush?" she hissed.
"Oh, I dare," Geza said as he twirled his yellow lightsaber blade.
Geza marched over to the dark lady and the two of them crossed swords.
Game on.
Geza swung three times on Juthush, taking one step each time and taking a step back to block an attack from the right side. Geza shoved Juthush back and struck her in the face with his pommel. Juthush stumbled back and came at Geza again, letting loose a flurry of blows from her lightsaber. Geza buckled down and tanked up, he kept his elbows locked and his feet on the ground as he weathered the dark lady's assault.
With a low deflecting strike, Geza turned and blocked a sweep attack from Juthush and countered with a roundhouse kick to her jaw, followed by Force Push to send her flying through the crate of artifacts and rolling across the floor. Juthush slowly got up onto one knee and looked at the scattered artifacts, using the Force, she picked up the artifacts and hurled them at Geza. The Hunter wasted no time and cut the artifacts to pieces, then he picked up the pieces and hurled them at Juthush.
"GAH! AHH! OW! DAMMIT! OW! OW!" Juthush yelped as she raised an arm to protect herself from the debris.
When the dark lady lowered her arm, she was met with a knee to the gut, causing her to double over, then she took a kick to the chest, a kick to the face and a roundhouse kick to the jaw. Juthush stumbled and countered by hurling an artifact at Geza's head, but the Qeildral ducked and threw the Sith into the wall with Force Push. Geza pounced and went for a thrust, but Juthush countered with Force Deflection and followed it up with a riposte. Geza evaded, via backflip and followed it up with a clean swing through the Sith's wrist, taking her hand off.
Juthush screamed and clutched her stump, but she was soon silenced with a stab through her chest.
"Dead," said Geza.
Geza turned and saw that the others managed to cut down Juthush's soldiers as well as kill off Captain Wilpar and his crew.
"That was fun," said Brodmar.
"Eh, I suppose it was a nice exercise," said Kayla, "now how do we dispose of the artifact-"
Kayla was interrupted by a high-pitched trilling noise. Geza pulled out his holoprojector and activated, revealing their superior, a human male Revanite Master Hunter named, Lonnic Darlark.
"Master Darlark, this is unexpected," said Geza, "do you have another assignment for us?"
"…Return to the citadel, immediately," he ordered.
"M-Master?" asked Geza.
"Return to the citadel immediately. All of you," said Lonnic.
The transmission ended.
"…The hell was that all about?" asked Kayla.
"No idea," said Geza, "let's go find out."
And so, after disposing of the artifacts, the four Revanite Hunters headed back to their homeworld of Erus, from there they made their way to Master Darlark's chambers so they could find out what's going on. However, their superior was not the only one waiting for them.
"G-G-G-G-Grandmaster!" sputtered Kayla.
The Grandmaster turned to face the four hunters, who proceeded to kneel before the powerful Force User.
"Rise," said the Grandmaster.
The young Revanites rose.
"Grandmaster, this is a very unexpected visit, we're… Honored by your presence," said Brodmar.
"Your pleasantries are unnecessary, child," said the Grandmaster, "I am here because there is a personal matter, I would like the four of you to look into… A matter… Relating to the Force."
"You felt a disturbance?" asked Geza.
The Grandmaster nodded.
"Indeed, there has been a disturbance… A disturbance coming from the planet Vilia," said the Grandmaster, "I will be sending the four of you and three hundred troops to the planet. Find the source of the disturbance and destroy it before it has a chance to seek us out."
"At once, Grandmaster," said Geza.
"We won't fail you, Grandmaster," said Kayla.
The four Hunters gave a bow and left.
"Do you think they can be able to handle this assignment Grandmaster?" asked Lonnic.
"…For once… I hope so," said the Grandmaster.
/\/\/\/\/\
The gunships and a Revanite shuttle landed on the surface of the planet, more specifically, right in the middle of a devastated colonial settlement… Or rather… a settlement that seemed to have been hit with a major infestation.
"Whoooooa," said Geza.
"What in the happened?" asked Brodmar.
"…This area… It reeks of death," said Nezarr.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Nezarr is right," said Kayla, "with my visor, I can sense that this entire settlement is thick with dark side energy."
Geza walked over to one of the structures and noticed some type of… Biomass, that seemed to be growing on it. Geza took his right index finger and cut off a piece of the biomass with his claw, then he took it and licked it.
"PAH!" he yelped.
The other Hunters turned and looked over at him.
"This stuff on the building is… Alive," he said.
"Wait, what? Alive?" asked Brodmar, "that's impossible, how can that stuff on the structure be alive?"
Kayla and Nezarr walked over to the structure and focused for a moment.
"…He's right… This structure is alive," said Kayla.
"What?" asked Brodmar.
"If it's alive… Where did this… Even come from?" asked Brodmar, "how did it even get here?"
"Excuse me, young masters," said an approaching Revanite trooper.
Kayla and the others turned around.
"What are your orders?" he asked.
"…Fan out, search for any possible survivors, commander," ordered Geza, "…if there are any."
The commander nodded and went back over to the troopers.
"In the meantime, let's have a look around ourselves," said Kayla.
The other Hunters nodded and took a look around the settlement.
"…Jeez, what do you think even got these guys?" Brodmar asked as he saw a mutilated corpse, "insurgents?"
"I don't think insurgents could do this kind of damage on their best day," said Kayla
Nezarr stopped and raced over to a silo and looked around the corner.
"Nez?" asked Kayla.
The other Hunters followed her and stopped.
"What in the hell is that thing?" asked Brodmar.
It was a zergling, a creature they had never seen before; it was equivalent in size to a large dog, more specifically, one meter tall and possess webbed feet and the creature appeared to possess sickle limbs and sharp incisor teeth, used primarily for tearing into flesh.
"Looks like a Gotnac… But… It has bladed limbs and webbed feet," said Geza.
"That looks nothing like a Gotnac," said Kayla.
"Young masters!" the Revanite Trooper called out.
The young Revanites raced over to the location of the commander and saw that two other troopers were carrying out a possible survivor… But there was a problem. A problem that made Geza, gasp.
"TROOPERS! PUT HIM DOWN!" he screamed.
But it was too late. The survivor's eyes popped open, and they snapped their head up and to the left.
"LIVE FOR THE SWARM!" he roared.
Without warning, numerous zerglings popped out of the ground and ambushed the group, while the survivor extended a set of razor-sharp claws and transformed right before the two troopers eyes. His brown eyes became a sickly yellow color, his lower jaw split to that of a snake and a tendril-like tongue slithered out, he grew a foot taller and razor-sharp claws grew from his toes.
"What the-"
But the trooper on the left was impaled after the trooper on the right was thrown into a supply crate. Kayla was quick to lunge and impale the transformed survivor through the back, killing him.
"AMBUSH!" screamed Nezarr.
"TROOPERS! DEFENSIVE FORMATION!" barked Geza, "FOCUS FIRE!"
The Revanite Troopers started blasting, already cutting down scores of the vicious aliens with a quick barrage of burst of blaster fire for each of their targets. One of the zerglings managed to slip past two troopers and close in on Geza, but Brodmar jumped in front of him and sliced the beat in half with his lightsaber.
"Thanks," said Geza.
Just then, one of the zerglings let out a loud trilled-roar and more of those creatures began to close in on the devastated settlement… But they didn't come from the outside…
"Master Abaven!" barked a trooper.
Kayla turned and gasped, ducking low as the Revanite trooper fired and killed a zergling that pounced from behind. Kayla turned and looked at the creature, then she saw more start to come out from inside of the settlement.
"THEY'RE COMING FROM THE BUILDINGS!" yelled Geza.
The Hunters activated their lightsabers and readied up as zerglings began to surround the Revanite forces and begin to slowly overwhelm them.
"Hold your ground! Cut the bastards to pieces!" Kayla ordered as she connected her lightsabers together and swiftly cut down three zerglings.
But it was easier said than done, the Hunters could sense the troopers dying by the tens, then the twenties and then the thirties.
"Guys, fan out, support the groups that are receiving the heaviest heat," said Geza.
Kayla, Brodmar and Nezarr nodded and broke off to support the Revanite troopers. Kayla threw her saberstaff and cut through ten zerglings as she charged in to support several Revanite troopers who were pinned down.
"HYAH!" she called out as she jumped and delivered a flying kick to another zergling's face, sending it flying back.
Kayla followed up her flying kick with a backflip and stuck the landing, then she grabbed a second zergling with Force Grip and snapped its neck before pulled her saberstaff back into her hand.
"You boys, okay?" she asked.
Geza jumped and slammed his left fist into the ground, sending a shockwave that sent eight zerglings flying back and saving ten Revanite troopers.
"Sergeant, have some of the men take down the buildings, we'll bury the bastards and keep them from receiving reinforcements," ordered Geza.
"Aye, sir," said the Revanite trooper.
The sergeant motioned for two of his men to follow him, while the rest stayed with Geza.
"Come on, you ugly bastards!" roared the Qeildral.
A zergling pounced and was met with Geza's yellow blade through its gut, cutting it in half.
Nezarr got finished unleashing a quick burst of Force Lightning at a zergling and cut it down with three swift strikes from her lightsaber, then she unleashed a quick torrent of Force Lightning at three more and grabbed another one with Force Grip and snapped its spine.
"Nez!" barked Brodmar.
The Miraluka turned to look at the other Hunter.
"We've got to get out of here! Master Lonnic's orders!" he barked.
Nezarr gave a nod.
"Everyone! Back to the gunships! Fall back!" she yelled.
The Revanites were in full retreat back to the gunships, cutting down more and more of the aliens as they began pouring out into the kill box.
"Sergeant, I thought you told the men to take down the buildings," said Geza.
"They tried," said the sergeant.
"And how many did they bring down?" asked Geza.
"…One," said the sergeant.
"Shit," muttered Geza.
The Revanites began to quickly board the ships and get them in the air, while others held back the oncoming swarm so their allies could escape.
"Get this bird in the air, now!" barked Geza.
The pilot nodded and got the shuttle in the air and took off, some of the gunships followed. Kayla looked out the window of the Revanite shuttle and saw something come exploding out of one of the buildings, another alien that she didn't recognize, one covered in armored plates, approximately 5.4m long, and 2.1-3.5m tall.
A hydralisk.
"…Is the commander on the line?" asked Kayla.
"Got him right now," said Brodmar.
Kayla walked over to the other Hunter, who was talking to the Revanite Trooper Commander on the holo.
"Commander Deveth… What are our losses?" asked Kayla.
Commander Deveth Bertic, looked down in silence.
"…Commander… What are our losses?" asked Kayla.
Deveth swallowed.
"A hundred and ninety-eight," he muttered.
"…What?" asked Kayla.
"…We lost a hundred and ninety-eight troopers during the ambush," he said slowly, "I'm… I'm sorry ma'am."
Kayla turned pale. The other Hunters looked at each other in silence.
"A hundred and ninety-eight… And we came here with three hundred," Nezarr said slowly.
The young Revanites sat down in silence as the haunting realization of the situation slowly began to dawn on them. Whatever these aliens were doing here… They sought to bring… Death.