The dossier list was huge, in the end I let Mak pick one at random because I honestly couldn't pick between them. They all had individual skills that would be incredible on the team.
"Who've you got Makkie?" I ask, taking the tablet back from him.
I examine the profile he's picked out.
"Nice choice."
Bardo comes over and sits by Mak and I on the floor of the piloting cabin.
"Who've you got?" He asks, as I pass the tablet to him.
"A Chiss bounty hunter. His names Or'osson. The dossier says he's been in the Kunbal Jungle in Kalee for the past few weeks tracking down a couple of serial killers. I think we should go check it out." I grin, excited at the prospect of how fast our team is coming together.
Loyus, the Queen of Rattatak, Adriav the slightly insane convict, Tyrik the Jedi High council member, Marduk the former nightbrother... and now Or'osson the bounty hunter. Each member of the team has unique skills.
"Tarth!" Bardo shouts, jumping up and walking over to him in the piloting seat, "Set a course for the Kunbal Jungle on the planet Kalee. We've got a bounty hunter to find."
The descending into Kalee was one of the most scenic we've ever been on. The entire planet is full of history and beauty – ancient building and stonework laced in between vast rainforests and jungles. The Kunbal Jungle – the one we're heading for looked by far the best looking. Endless green, blue and aqua coloured trees, plants and lakes.
"You okay to take a shuttle? I don't think I can get the ship low enough for a proper drop off or pick up." Tarth says, spinning around in his pilot chair.
"Sure. Adriav, Marduk, with me. Loyus, Tyrik go with Bardo. We'll talk through the earpiece."
The team nod and ready their weapons, before following me into the elevator as we head down to the engineering deck where the cargo hold which holds our various shuttles and fighter jets is located.
"So how are we planning on finding this bounty hunter dude?" Adriav asks, as we step out of the elevator and into the cargo hold.
"Honestly... I don't know." I reply, sighing. She shrugs and continues towards the shuttle.
"I love a challenge." She grins, pulling herself into the shuttle, Marduk and I following, and hitting the button to take us to our destination.
The heat hits us almost immediately as we step off the shuttle, and I'm forced to pull off several layers so I'm only in my plum-coloured tunic and black bottoms, which are both made of thin material although it's to no avail. I roll the sleeves of my tunic up and do the same for my bottoms, turning them into shorts. I tie my hair up and Adriav does the same, and Marduk, who seems to be immune to heat, looks at us as if we're insane.
Well, maybe Adriav. But I'm certainly not.
"I can't cope with this." Adriav heaves, fanning herself as she slumps against a tree. I shoot a grin at her and then grab her shoulder, pulling her up.
"Too bad. We've got a bounty hunter to find." I laugh, begin to trek through the endless jungle.
"Bardo, you guys in position?" I ask through the earpiece.
"All set to go. We've got a lot of ground to cover so I asked Tarth to do a quick scan of where there are people other than us in this jungle."
"And?"
"Well, if you walk for a bit you'll come across a temple. There are two people there. And nearer to us is one person at a camp-out. One of them has to be Or'osson."
"Got it. Let us know if you find anything." I turn and nod to Adriav and Marduk, who nod back. And with that the three of us begin to trek through the jungle. It truly is vast, and absolutely beautiful too. Incredible shades of green, blue, with the occasional flowers in bright bursts of pink, white, orange and yellow. All of this overlooked by the blinding white sun, which is currently causing me to melt. Or, metaphorically at least.
"How far is this temple?" Adriav says through the earpiece to Tarth. She nods and then looks back at us, sighing.
"He says we'll have to walk for like, half a fucking hour. That's too long, especially in this heat." She groans, wiping the sweat off of her forehead.
"Want me to carry you?" Marduk laughs jokingly, and she considers it for a second.
"In any other circumstances, I would have ripped your guts out for that, but considering the weather... yes. I would." She hisses, walking behind him.
"I was kidding." He adds.
"I wasn't." She finishes, patting his back signalling for him to kneel down. He groans and does so, and she hops on.
"If you're finished, we've got a temple to find." I say, turning away from them and continuing to stride through the jungle.
After walking for the allotted time that Tarth told us, we do indeed arrive at the temple. It takes my breath away literally, as I look at the size of it. The main tower of it could almost touch the clouds, and the rest is pyramid shaped. It's made of a combination of grey and black stone bricks with the occasional white marble brick. It must have taken years to build.
"Tarth, you still got a reading on those people in the temple?" I ask through the earpiece. This time, however, it's Mak who replies.
"Ne-Esca-Ru-Be-Kah!" He screeches, and I almost pull the earpiece out to savour my ear from permanent damage.
"Tarth?" I groan through the earpiece, holding my hand to my ear which is in actual pain from Mak's overly load screech.
"Er- yeah they're still there! But they aren't inside anymore. In fact you should see them any second-" He starts, before I interrupt him.
"Now."
I look over to them as they uneasily walk towards us.
"Devaronians. And they're armed. Be careful." I whisper to Marduk and Adriav, who both nod and clench their weapons to show that they too are armed. I make my lightsaber visible and the second they see it they conceal their guns and hurriedly run over to us.
"Help us!" The first one, a female cries out, just before they reach us.
"There's a bounty hunter after us!" The second one, a male this time, adds, and I look at my allies confused. There are only three people other than us in this jungle. These two, and and Or'osson. That means that they're talking about him.
"Or'osson's a bounty hunter. He only goes after criminals with bounties on their heads." I say, glaring at them as I fold my arms. They look at each other uneasily and then the female speaks again.
"There must have been a mistake! We're not criminals. It's just because we're Devaronian. People always expect us to be bad!"
"Well the devil was modelled after you..." I say under my breath, and receive two very unhappy looks.
"We're good people! We've never committed a crime in our lives. Please, you have to help us!" She cries. And for a second, I almost fall for it. I'm not stupid, but I also think they might be our best bet at finding Or'osson, so I decide to let them tag along for a bit.
"Fine. But if I find out you're lying I'll allow my personal friend Adriav kill you. And trust me. You don't want that." I grunt, pointing at Adriav and letting them know who she is. Adriav's eyes light up at the prospect of a kill and she licks her lips, taunting them. Marduk bursts into hysterics at how petrified the Devaronian's become and for a moment I feel bad, until I realise that they're the criminals here.
"Follow us. We'll take you back to our ship." I lie. They nod and hurriedly follow us through the jungle.
"Bardo, did you find Or'osson?" I whisper through the earpiece after I managed to split from the rest of the group temporarily.
"No. Why?" He says back.
"We found his bounty. Two Devaronians. Ask Tyrik if there have been any bounties places on Devaronian criminals of any kind recently."
I hear rustling through the earpiece and Tyrik and Bardo exchange words, before my brother returns to the earpiece.
"A guy and a girl? The girl with extremely long fur and the guy bald with facial hair, the guy with very long horns and the girl without?" He asks, and I look back at them. It's almost as if he can see them too.
"That's them."
"Be careful!" He hisses. I'm confused for a second. They're weak, surely they can't be anything too bad.
"They're serial killers."
I knew they were lying. I could sense it. Still, I guess we could play along for a little longer, at least.
"Tarth, can you get me a location on how far my brother, Loyus and Tyrik are?" I ask, and he pauses for a second before replying.
"Keep walking for about five minutes and you'll come across a river. They're there. I'll tell him to wait for you."
"Got it."
I return to the group, winking at both Adriav and Marduk to let them know I was indeed right about these two lying.
"Want me to kill them now?" Adriav whispers, cracking her knuckles.
"No. It's Or'osson's job, I don't wanna steal his bounty and get on his bad side." I reply, and she groans and begins to trudge across the floor. I slip away from them and walk with the Devaronian's deciding I may as well question them.
"So, where exactly are you from?" I ask, and they both hurriedly look at one another. I can tell that they're mouthing things to each other, but I pretend I don't notice.
"Devaron of course!" The female chuckles, scratching her arm to relieve herself of the uneasiness.
"So how did you end up here?"
They once again look to one another, before the male answers.
"Erm, we're archaeologists! We came to investigate the temple. That's when we ran into the bounty hunter."
"Or'osson?" I ask.
"You know him?!"
They both stop dead in their tracks, fury igniting in both of their eyes. They're on to me, just as I'm on to them. They know I know.
"We've been acquainted."
Before they have a chance to reply, the sound of a blaster being shot is heard and the female drops to the ground, dead. The man screams out in horror before pulling his own gun out and holding it to my head.
"You!" He hisses, anger quickly spreading across his face.
"No," A new voice says, "Me."
Suddenly, in a flesh of red and blue, the bounty hunter we've been searching for appears, wielding a Model 434 blaster pistol and attired in stunning black and red armour, and holds a gun to the Devaronian's head.
"Now I'll give you one last chance. Turn yourself in or I'll kill you." Or'osson says, glaring at him while still holding the blaster to his head.
"Okay. I'll turn myself in." The Devaronian sighs.
"He's lying." I point out, seemingly stating the obvious.
"What?! How dare she suggest that!" The Devaronian shouts, but Or'osson holds his hand up to silence him before signalling me to speak.
"I'm a Jedi. I have all of the powers of the force. I can tell." I smile.
Or'osson looks from me to the Devaronian, and then back to me and finally back at the Devaronian.
"I believe the Jedi." He says, preparing to fire his gun.
"Beka!?"
All of us turn to see Bardo, Loyus and Tyrik pulling themselves through trees and vines into the clearing we're in, I wink at him to let him know it's mission success, but Bardo's face drops. I turn back quickly to see the Devaronian pull a firestarter out of his pocket.
"Let me go or I'll set fire to this entire forest and kill us all!" He grins evilly, preparing to light it. Or'osson looks completely unprepared and Loyus and Tyrik don't move from where they're standing as Bardo runs over to join us.
"Put it down you fool! You won't just doom us you'll doom every creature in this jungle!" Bardo shouts, reaching out for the firestarted. Or'osson clicks the gun, hoping for a quick kill, but the Devaronian quickly realising what's about to happen ignites the firestarter and drops it to the ground as the bullet flies through his skull.
And the fire spreads faster than any of us could have expected, in seconds all of the trees surrounding us are captured in a burning blaze of death.
"This way!" Or'osson shouts, running through some trees that are yet to set on fire. I do a hang signal telling the team to go through before me, and I quickly follow after them, just as the final trees in that particular clearing go up.
There's smoke everywhere. I pull my tunic up over my mouth and nose to prevent it from doing too much damage, but it's no use. In just a minute I'm completely soaked in sweat from the blaze, and we continue to run, but the fire is faster than us.
"Wher- are w," I start, before dropping to my knees and vomiting acid. Loyus sees me and twists on her heels, pulling me to my feet.
"Come on, Beka!" She screams, grabbing my hand and continuing to run. I was going to ask where we're going, but anywhere is better than here right now. Suddenly in front of Or'osson a trees snaps due to the flames and falls, blocking our path. He looks back to us with confusion as to what to do in his eyes, and I push past the rest of my team to get to the front. I take a deep breath, call upon all of the power inside of me and use the force to push the tree.
It budges. But only slightly.
"Shit." I hiss, taking another deep breath of smoke which almost causes me to vomit there and then again, however I once again use the force and this time the tree moves a bit more.
"Quick, Beka!" Bardo shouts, vomiting himself this time.
My mothers last words ring in my head, however simple they may be.
Run.
I use the force and this time the tree blasts into thousands of tiny pieces of bark, and we continue to run. By this time, almost the entire forest is ablaze and I'm almost certain there's no way out.
"Beka, what the fuck is going on?!" I hear Tarth's worried voice through the earpiece, and I switch it on to reply but all I can do is splutter. Well at least he knows I'm alive.
"Look out!" I turn around to see another tree falling, and I jump forwards to push Adriav out of the way, and quickly turn around to use the force to stop it from falling on top of me.
"Go!" I scream to Tyrik, Adriav and Loyus who all run under the gap, and I roll through myself, before allowing the tree to drop. By this point the smoke has clouded everything, my eyes are burning so much I feel like they're going to fall out, I can't breathe and I can't hear much either. All I can do is run.
We finally come to another clearing, which while also completely on fire, is home to a hovercar which is supposedly owned by Or'osson.
"Take the wheel!" He says, looking at me, as he jumps into one of the passenger seats. Loyus and Adriav sit behind us, and Bardo, Tyrik and Marduk take the three person seat at the back. I fire it up and almost burst into tears when I see how little fuel there is left in it.
"Can it even run on this much?!" I cry out, happy I can finally breath with all the windows in the car shut, although I'm still sweating insanely.
"Yes, but it can't fly, it can only hover!" He sighs.
"Now get us to your ship!"
I send the car flying forwards, pulling back on the wheel to make it hover over a tree that has fallen. Several more crash down and I swerve to dodge them, almost crashing and dooming all of us several times.
"Be careful!" Bardo shouts. I roll my eyes and continue to zoom forwards.
"The shuttles there!" I shout, just as the hovercar runs out of fuel.
Suddenly, I hear cracking, I think the tree is around us, until I don't see it fall.
"It's above us!" Marduk shouts, jumping out of the car as the rest of us do the same thing. I look up and see how incredibly close I am to being crushed, and perform a quick roll to dodge it. It completely crushes the car and separates us in two groups, Or'osson and Adriav on my side and the rest of them on the other.
"Get the shuttle!" Loyus shouts, although I can only hear her, not see her, "Get it and come back for us, Bardo and Tyrik will try and hold off the flames using the force!"
I turn to Or'osson and Adriav who both agree that is the best plan to go with and the three of us begin to run towards the shuttle.
"Shit!" I cry, stopping as another tree begins to fall. I manage to slide under it at the same time as Or'osson, and Adriav just avoids being simultaneously crushed and burned to death by sliding under it after us.
"Come on!"
We continue to run and reach the shuttles, and Or'osson and Adriav both sit down, beginning to almost cough up their lungs.
I man the controls of the shuttle, flying it straight towards where we left my brother and the rest of them.
They're still alive.
I fly down towards them, and the four of them jump on to the shuttle just as the flames consume the space they were standing on.
"We're okay Tarth." I say through the earpiece, "We're on our way back."
"Thank you for saving my life. The Jedi council had informed he that you may be requiring my help – but I didn't imagine you would both help me kill my targets and save my life. For that, I am grateful." Or'osson says, holding his hand out for me to shake. I enthusiastically shake his hand, as the rest of the crew behind me grin.
"It's a great pleasure to have you on board. I've heard the Chiss are especially good at combat." I grin.
"Ha! Well that's a lie. Except for me, of course." He winks, going over to shake the rest of the crews hands.
"Would you be so kind to show me to my room?" He asks, still smiling.
"It'd be a pleasure."
Don't hesitate to explode,
Burn the pain inside your soul,
Don't hesitate, let it go,
Start a fire, embrace the light,
And ignite, start the fire,
And ignite, start the fire,
And ignite, start the fire,
And ignite!
They pour the shame,
Till we can't stand,
The sight of our own face,
They pin us down,
Till we can't win,
It's a game we can't escape,
But we don't have to let them beat us,
We can take control,
In the flames we find our freedom,
Don't hesitate to explode,
Burn the pain inside your soul,
Don't hesitate, let it go,
Start a fire, embrace the light,
And ignite, start the fire,
And ignite, start the fire,
And ignite, start the fire,
And ignite!
This chapter was named after Ignite by Fireflight.
The latest character to join the team is Or'osson - the Chiss Bounty Hunter, created by KingOfStories01, which was because he got three questions in a row correctly and so I decided to introduce his character sooner than originally planned! It just shows you what getting these questions right can do! ;)
I'm honestly not proud of this chapter, it definitely doesn't feel like my best and although I love the character I just introduce I feel like Or'osson deserved a better chapter to introduce him in, I didn't wanna leave you without a chapter though so I just uploaded it. Still, let me know what you think in a review!
For last chapters question I asked you which planet the Nautolan race are from - and once again KingOfStories01 got it right first. The correct answer was Glee Anselm!
Last chapters just for fun question was Other than your own character, who is your favourite member of the team so far?
KingOfStories01: Since my character hasn't appeared yet, I gotta say I like Tyrik. I don't know why, but he's pretty cool.
ShadowMaster77: Marduk is my favorite so far, I'd have to say.
Barrett M107: As for my favorite Character? Tie, Adriav, I don't know I just always like the psycho chicks in stories and Mak, he's freaking baby Ewok and he proved his awesomeness.
Rookie756: And my favourite character so far is Adriav! I love badass chicks.
Alice the B-Rabbit: Mak!I love Mak! Other than Mak i love Marduk
Bronze Zephyr: Who's your favourite character so far other than your own character? Out of the characters so far I'd say Adriav.
Remember to keep reviewing! Not reviewing means that your character will have a seriously small part (you may be able to tell who's creators haven't been reviewing from this chapter...) and also I'll kill them off in the final battle!
For the question; In the Clone Wars cartoon version, what colour is Ahsoka Tano's lightsaber?
And the just for fun question is, Which one of the team so far would you least like to go up in a fight against, and why?!
Thanks for reading, reviewing and your prolonged support! PM me for anything, honestly I love getting PMs!
Until next time, GOOODBYEEEE!