Entry 25

Kyler shook me awake sometime before sunrise. "Hey Jax. I saw the hunting party forming up. It looks like they are going to attack Sister Central before dawn."

I jumped to my feet and brushed the dirt off my clothing. "Are they meeting at the same place?"

Kyler nodded. "Yeah and they looked like they were ready to leave when I saw them."

Norro sat up from his sleep mat and rubbed his eyes before he turned and gave me a beseeching look. "Don't go."

I shook my head sadly. "Sorry Norro. I need to make sure these thugs don't hurt my friend." Before the boy could protest I was out of the hut and jogging down the muddy path to where the men congregated the night before. When I arrived the hunting party was gone. I could see footprints in the mud leading out of the shantytown and into the surrounding tree line. I ran into the forest following the trail of crushed underbrush. After about ten minutes I heard movement up ahead in the dark. Eventually, I saw the silhouettes of about a dozen men as they crashed through the dense rain forest. I followed at a discreet distance, not knowing how they might react to my arrival. I didn't know these men and I wasn't sure I would be accepted as a member of their raiding party. As I made my way through the thick underbrush I felt the communicator hidden inside my heel vibrate. I considered stopping, but I didn't want to lose this crowd of outlaws. I hoped the communication meant Magash and Sacha had located Sheel.

As the group neared the women's encampment the men slowed and tried to move quietly through the heavy brush, but walking in the dark woods is never easy. I'm sure the snapping of twigs and the loud profane cursing as convicts stumbled over roots or walked into branches could be heard for kilometers. As the sun peeked above the horizon coloring the sky a brilliant red I could see Sister Central. It was similar to the men's shantytown only smaller...and cleaner. I could make out a few women squatting around a campfire, adding wood and preparing to make a meal. As the men rushed out of the wood line the women looked up before screaming and running off in the opposite direction.

A couple of the men let out feral war cries as they ran through the camp after the women. I was impressed by the speed of the ladies and wondered why they didn't split up. It was almost like they wanted the men to follow. At this point I got the sneaky suspicion that the women had set plans on how to handle this type of invasion and were leading the men into a trap. I slowed my pace and straggled behind just in case.

Up ahead, a large man with a remarkably huge gut fell back from the main group wheezing and holding his side. As I approached I realized this was the man Norro called Pounder. "Kriff those sprinting hags," he cursed before he dove into the nearest hut. I could hear him ransacking the shelter before the wail of child rang out. Pounder came out of the hut holding a young girl no more than twelve. The child's mother was clawing, pulling his hair and pounding her fists on his back in an effort to rescue her daughter.

I sprinted toward him, determined he wouldn't get this child. When I was a meter from him I jumped up and drove my fist square into his nose, crunching cartilage and spurting blood in all directions. At the same time I brought the edge of my boot down on his knee, crushing his patella and bending his leg in the opposite direction that nature intended. He howled in pain and dropped the child. I snatched her in midair and then spun out of the path of the falling criminal. Before the mother could attack me I place the child in her arms. "Find a better hiding place!" I then turned and ran in the direction the other men went where I could hear screams and the sound of combat. As I rounded a corner and came to a full stop, shocked at the sight before me.

In an open area of the village a half dozen men lay on the ground dead, dying or unconscious as five deadly women defended their territory. I recognized two of the five women currently beating the invading men with clubs and long sticks. Magash had a two-meter staff which she swung around and twirled with the precision of a Jedi Knight. Sacha was next to Magash waving two smaller sticks like police batons. As I watched, Magash brought the staff down on one convict's thick head and then spun around and swept the feet out from of another man. Sacha cracked open the head of another prisoner with her makeshift club, bloodying him and knocking him unconscious. There were three other females in intense combat. Two were human who used a combination of sticks and improvised knives to dispatch the enemy. The fifth female was a large Wookiee. She was weaponless, but a species that can pull the arms off a man has no need for weapons. At the moment the angry Wookiee was dislocating the shoulders of one unfortunate male before Magash, using an incredibly impressive acrobatic spinning kick, drove her boot into the side his head, putting him down.

There was a slight pause after the last man fell. I was so impressed with the ladies' performance that I momentarily forgot I was standing behind a group of women who were intent on killing men. Before I could slip away unnoticed a woman called out an alarm. The group spun around to face me and a number of women quickly moved to attack. I knew I could get away using the Force and my extensive unarmed combat training, but was hesitant to do so. First of all, every time I used the Force I took the chance that Darth Vader might sense me. Second, I didn't want to hurt these women. Many might be political prisoners like Sheel (Okay, maybe the woman with a tattoo of a severed head and the words, 'Kill them all, let the Gods sort them out' probably had a criminal record).

Magash and Sacha saw me and screamed out in unison, "Stop, he's with me!"

Sacha looked at Magash realizing they both said the same thing. "Don't hurt him!" Magash called out. "He's our mate."

My eyes widened at that proclamation. Two women came up behind me and grabbed my arms. I didn't resist, hoping Magash or Sacha could extricate me from the situation peacefully. One of the fiercest looking women fighters glanced over to Sacha and Magash as she pointed a bloody shank in my direction. "He's mate to both of you?"

Sacha looked at a loss of words but Magash stepped forward. "Yes. We are clan sisters from Dathomir. We share mates. He is our favorite breeding male."

The woman with the bloody knife laughed as she walked toward me appraisingly. "I can see why. He has a pretty face." Her gaze dropped below my waistline. "And he appears to have bulges in all the right places." She walked around me, raking her gaze over my body while making various sexual comments and innuendoes that resulted in raucous whoops and laughter from the other women. She turned and gave Magash and Sacha a challenging glare. "How do I know he's your mate? He appeared surprised when you claimed him. You might simply want him as your kriff-buddy and not share with the rest."

Magash smashed the end of her staff into the ground angrily before she responded through clinched lips. "You doubt my word?"

The other woman returned Magash's unflinching gaze. "I require proof."

"Then you shall have your proof." She walked up to the two women restraining me. "Remove his shirt. He has a scar on the right shoulder blade."

The female challenger nodded to the other women who unzipped my jumpsuit and pulled the shirt part down to my waist. They turned me around exposing my back to the others. Magash moved forward and ran a finger over the scar. "See. The scar is where I said it would be."

I wasn't surprised that Magash knew of this old wound. I often sparred and exercised shirtless. She grabbed my shoulders and turned me around. "This one is my mate who I claim." She glared at the other women looking for a challenger. I wasn't sure if her pronouncement was a Dathomir custom for claiming a male or if it was something the women at Sister Central did to captured males. After seeing her fight I doubted anybody but the Wookiee was strong enough to defeat Magash in one-on-one combat.

The group of women looked to each other, waiting for somebody to protest. The tension was broken when a few women laughed and made kissy noises. "Well…what are you waiting for?" somebody asked. "Kiss his pretty face."

Magash's normally red skin blanched, but she slowly and reluctantly leaned in and gave me a quick, passionless kiss on the lips. I really hoped none of the other women were Force-sensitives because I could feel Magash's embarrassment rolling off her in waves through the Force. She quickly broke contact and stepped away.

The woman with the knife looked at us unconvinced. "The prison barges are hot and humid, many men wear their prison uniform with the shirt off. That proves nothing." She turned to Sacha. "I hope you can do a better job proving your claim?"

Sacha's cheeks reddened and her eyes darted from me then to the others flustered. I thought her agitation was because she didn't know how to claim me as her mate, but what she said next had me blushing. "He has a small tan birthmark on his left butt cheek." She reached her hand down to her derriere to demonstrate the location of my birthmark. "It is low…right about here." The women holding my arms chuckled as they turned me around and yanked my one-piece jumpsuit to my knees followed by the back of my boxer-briefs. Fortunately, I was able to hold the front part of my briefs up maintaining some of my dignity. A few of the women giggled and made appreciative sounds. Sacha came forward and pointed to the birthmark. "See, there it is." I jumped as he finger caressed the skin discoloration.

I was able to break free of the women and pulled up my underwear and pants. The women laughed. "He's a shy one!" one of the ladies called out.

Sacha gently pulled me around to face her. "This one is my mate who I claim." She reiterated the words Magash said earlier and followed up with a kiss…but it wasn't the same chaste kiss I received earlier. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me down for a long and passionate embrace.

At the end of the kiss we were both breathless. "That should convince them," she whispered in my ear before she leaned back and gazed deeply into my eyes. Eventually, Magash grabbed Sacha's shirt and pulled her away from me. "I am his primary mate. You will have to wait." I could feel amusement flowing from Magash and something akin to disappointment and embarrassment from Sacha.

They turned to the female with the knife. "Rochella, as the leader of this village, will you allow us to leave with our man unmolested," Magash asked in a stern voice.

The woman chuckled. "I don't know about unmolested. One man that can satisfy two women must be something else. I think I would like a sample."

I saw Sacha and Magash tense and I was ready to join them in a fight.

"Rochella!" A woman called out. "Please show mercy to that one. He saved my daughter."

The woman whose little girl I rescued pushed her way through the crowd while still clutching her daughter. "He didn't come here to take women but to find his cherished lovers."

I thought I heard Magash chuckle, but she disguised it as a cough. She must have realized how uncomfortable all of this was to me. And how did Sacha know about my birthmark?!

There was a long tense pause before leader of Sister Central responded. "Fine. You three be out of our village by nightfall."

As soon as the women released me, Magash and Sacha grabbed me by the arms and dragged me toward the Wookiee. "Challanka, can we use your hut?" The Wookiee grumbled something before waving for us to follow.

Hopefully they were bringing me to Sheel. I had a lot of questions for them…like how did Sacha know about that birthmark!