Chapter 60
Shili
The trap was sprung early by an unsuspecting scout. Unfortunately, the Trandoshan was creeping forward, his two long limbs brushing aside the foliage as gently as if he was handling a child, when he stumbled across Mark. The pilot had been waiting in the scrub, twenty metres to Stass' right, when the brutish reptilian had the audacity to step on him. Of course, Mark flinched. Of course, the brute noticed. And of course pilot's blaster pistol, not the carbine, had shot the scout through the chest.
Without a silencer, the sound of the pistol firing echoed around the otherwise peaceful night. Ten seconds later, the rest of the hunting party arrived at Mark's location. All they found was the lifeless body of their scout. Showing a little initiative, Mark had moved back towards Stass, and the hunters didn't find him. They did, however, find his scent.
Tar's nostril twitched. He was nowhere near the level of tracking that Nathan had been, but even he could sense the mixture of sweat and grime that only a human could produce. He led his men in pursuit of the lone gunman, leading them through the thick red and green brush. He had the best instincts in combat, as proven time and time again in practice matches aboard the Revenge.
The rest of his men spread out behind him, trying to arc around and box in their prey before they attacked. They moved almost silently and swiftly, dappled scales almost disappearing in the forest as they swung their proverbial 'net' around. But they found no one. Not until they came to a pile of boulders, and looked inside a small crevice in the rocks.
The walls of the crevice were about five metres high and two metres in width. Smooth and sheer stone rose on either side. Climbing out would be nearly impossible. It was a poorly chosen position for a defence, as the hunters could move in nearly three at a time. So it was a little surprising to find a woman sitting in the centre of the crack on a flat rock.
Slightly nonplussed, the hunters paused and studied the woman. She was a Tholothian, obvious by the ornate headdress covering her tendrils. A slight pigmentation appeared beneath the headdress. Her legs were folded beneath her, making her resemble a statuette Tar had once seen in the ethereal chambers of Christophsis. The metallic hilt of her lightsabre lay before her, well within reach, though she made no attempt to grab it. Her eyes were closed, her breathing deep and rhythmic. She seemed to be in some sort of trance-like state.
Tar carefully unhitched the heavy his electro-net launcher from his back and aimed at the woman. The glowing white orbs of energy built up at the edges of the barrel as it extended outwards into a square, charging the net with electricity. Counting slowly to three, he pulled the trigger and the net launched, flipping across the space like a speeding bird, ready to catch the woman in it's grasp.
Stass' eyes flicked open.
Her blade spat into life with an excited zsimm, and the emerald blade levitated off the ground and slashed upwards, cleaving through the net easily. Now in twain, the net fell to the side, sparking erratically for a second before going still. As soon as it landed on the stone, Telle and Mark began to fire. Stass had lifted the Republic Navy officers to tangled nooks in the trees above the crevice, giving them an elevated vantage point into the crevice. Their shots managed to clip the droid, ripping a chunk of the metallic armour from its shoulder. Another sparked off a rock and flashed into the female Trandoshan's exposed side. She collapsed an instant later, knives clattering away.
"Lissa!", screamed the largest lizard, his huge cannon beginning to light up the crevice walls.
Stass leapt forward, slicing through the barrel on the droid's canon and kicking the weapon away. The bulky, brutish Trandoshan's canon flared loudly as the shots ricocheted around the stone. He stopped for a second to swipe the weapon's bulky stock at her. She dodged, sliding between his legs. Her blade flashed up as she slid below him. The sound of flesh sounded behind her. Nardath's stomach smoking from the microscopic cut cleaving him in two. Thankfully, there was no blood. It had already cauterised.
A furious scream filled the air, and Telle dropped from her perch. Her spines were fully extended, their razor points glinting in the night. She quickly engaged with the leading Trandoshan, the one named Tar. Claws and spines traded blows, and both fighters were too engaged in their own private battle to even care about what else was happening around them.
The final members of the group, the twins Liam and Bryyt, fired up into the tree line with their sniper rifles. The bolts flew into the trees wildly and soon Mark was forced to leapt from his own perch. His body slammed into the head of the droid, slowly coming back to it's feet. The pilot levelled his carbine with the black photo receptor centred in the droid's head. A single shot took it out.
Stass looked around, seeing that their battle was nearly over. She was about to disengage her lightsaber when a loud voice came from a commlink clipped to the dead Nardath's belt. "Away team, this is Detel. The 'Queen' sent us down to back you up. Making planetfall now."
She and Mark looked across at one another. They had clearly both heard the message, but Telle was still battling the leader and was too occupied to take notice. The Jedi ran to the left, her blade still clear in the night haze. Not far from here was the only area to properly land a ship. If they could beat the ships there, then they might not be caught in the crevice battling maybe a hundred pirates or more. That would be a death sentence.
They barely made it. She and Mark burst from the treeline and into the landing clearing just as two landing shuttles zipped overhead. A series of probe droids, maybe ten, detached from their bellies. The black droids spotted them immediately, and they primed their weapons. Moving faster than a well-oiled battle droid, they took a skilled marksman to hit. Each droid carried only two low-powered blasters, and had very bad aim. Stass took three out with her lightsaber before the rest retreated to a safer distance and she was forced to defend Mark while he took them out.
The two shuttles spun around, skidding easily to the ground nearby. The pilot's left their repulsor engines on to keep them from fully landing. In Stass' experience, that meant that whoever these reinforcements were, they would be dropping off soldiers and using the shuttles as mobile gunnery platforms. She guessed that each ship had both radar/jamming tech and heat sensors attached. If those shuttles were allowed to take off again, the Senator and his party would be easily found and decimated.
The rear ramps of the shuttles whirred down, and the soldiers (more pirates, she noted) leapt out. The pirates were mostly a mix of Weequay and Nikto, with various other species mixed intermittently amongst them. Two heavy Type-II loadlifters dropped from magnetic locks on the shuttled bellies, lumbering slowly forward like battle behemoths. Blaster fire flared from hundreds of different weapon models. But they were all aimed at her.
Stass noticed a bulky Nikto with a long scar on his cheek levelling a rocket launcher at her. Before he could fire, she reached out and grabbed the weapon with the Force, shifting his aim upwards. Then she tightened her grip around the man's trigger finger. His eyes went wide as he realised what was happening. The explosive rocket shot forward, slamming into the side of the nearest shuttle. It spun, clipping the other shuttle. The second shuttle quickly regained control and hovered higher. The domed head of an astromech droid appeared on the roof of the shuttle and began to make repairs on the flaming hull. The first shuttle was not so lucky. Still spinning, it collapsed on the ground, crushing at least a dozen men under it.
An explosion rocked the ground nearby, and Stass scanned around until she found the cause. Three mortar launchers were set up behind the pirate's line, manned by identical Zenezian's who could have been brothers. She reached out, about to make a tree fall on them, when three shots suddenly slammed into each of their chests, puncturing their single lungs instantly.
Mark was running through the charging pirates, his own carbine and pistol waving about as he blasted left and right. He fired with precise shots, and the pirates actually showed a sliver of fear as his mad rush. They knew how to fire a weapon and fight, but Mark had trained on the streets of Taris, been tutored in basic military strategies and then led his own squadron in protecting shipments from pirates. He knew these kinds of people, and knew the truth. He outmatched them easily. But they knew the truth too. They outgunned him. After that initial shiver of fear, they were back up, blaster aimed at the foolish pilot.
The second shuttle was still operational. Stass ran towards it, her blade flashing back and forth as it sliced through pirates foolish enough to attack her head-on. She leapt over one of the loadlifters, and her boot landing on the faceplate. The thick toe of her boot hit the activation switch hidden on the faceplate, and as she pushed off it, the droid powered down, collapsing like a bag of flour on top of a pirate. Landing on the shuttle's viewport, she ran forward and tried to find the access hatch the astromech had to have used.
There! The hatch was cleverly hidden, and definitely sealed. Stass growled in frustration. She had been hoping that maybe she commandeer this shuttle and use it to leave this forsaken valley. But it looked like she would need to cut her way in.
The ship rocked suddenly, and she turned to see the engines explode. The Force sent a ripple of warning down her spine and she leapt straight up, riding the shockwave across the field. The explosion was impressive, a glamourous mix of blue, red and orange mixed into deadly eruption. The pilot, or maybe someone else on board, had ruptured the fuel lines, destroying their own ship before she could take it. Foolish.
Stass landed and rolled to absorb the impact. Her blade flashed in a circle, slashing through the little armour of the pirates she had landed amongst. She stood and surveyed her surroundings. Apparently, the explosion had wiped out most of the remaining attackers. Those that remained still seemed prepared to fight to the last man. That was unusual behaviour for pirates. Usually they would run if they seemed outmatched. But there was little she could do about that now. It would be something to ponder later. Her blade deflected a stray bolt of blaster fire that lanced her way and she deflected the it into the gunner's leg. Soft flesh could injure most of the pirates seriously enough to take them out of the fight.
"Jedi!", Mark yelled over to her, "We have three left. Do you want them?"
Stass turned to them. Three pirates, looking both fearful and exhausted, stood before Mark's primed blasters. They still held their weapons with determined expressions, despite the blaster's almost shoved up their noses. Stass was about to suggest taking them to the fjord for questioning, when they suddenly seized up. Electricity danced along their teeth, shocking their nerves. It lasted for only a second before they fell to the ground, dead.
"What in the Rings of Gorth!", Telle yelled from the crevice entrance. She sounded annoyed and angry.
Stass turned to the Calacran. Her own enemy, the Trandoshan leader, had similarly collapsed. Stass rubbed her face. She recognised the tactic used here. Haxion Brood technology was really frustrating. The death-teeth had been activated. But the question remained: who had activated them? And from how far away?
Five minutes earlier
"Lord Tyrannus.", Cantoni was bowed at the waist before the small quarter-size hologram that filled her escape pod. The pod was her personal protection scenario. As the Black Revenge had been exploding around her, she had climbed into the pod, and the powerful jets carried her up towards the atmosphere of Arratak. The terrible winds had battered her about, but thankfully she had made it into orbit. And then she was forced to accept the one truth no pirate ever wants to face. She, Cantoni, needed help.
"What is it, Captain Cantoni?", Tyrannus asked the Ishi Tib. He was wearing his menacing mask again, and it caused her to quiver in fear. "I hope this is good news."
"I am afraid it is not, my lord.", she waited for the crushing weight of his wrath to land on her, but instead he simply waited for her to continue. So she did. "We had a complication, my lord. The Jedi managed to detonate the reactor of our ship, and we lost the Revenge as a result. We fought to the last man to try and save her, but I am unfortunate to report that I am the only survivor."
"And the Senator?", Tyrannus asked.
"I sent separate operatives to capture him. However, my readings claim that all but three have died.", Cantoni scrolled through the list.
Tyrannus rubbed the top of his helmet. "They may be interrogated, and information is the one thing the Jedi cannot have. Dispose of them all, Captain. Secrecy must remain my ally."
"As you command, Tyrannus.", Cantoni immediately sent the signal for the remaining pirates. Doing so almost brought tears to her one good eye. She had lost her entire crew in a single day, and all because of the Jedi! They would pay for this. All would die.
"You lied to me, Captain.", Tyrannus raised a hand and she felt her throat begin to close up. Her hands immediately went to her neck, and her mind tried to find a reason for what was happening. How could the air be choking her? It was almost as though Tyrannus had was wrapped around her throat from a system far away, killing her through the transmission. "You told me that you fought to the last man. But if you still breath, then you are the last man."
She felt herself blacking out. Again, she recalled the rumours of the allies who had disappeared. Was this how Tyrannus had dealt with them? Fitting, she supposed, that she was only the latest to die this way.
"You failed me for the last time, Cantoni.", Tyrannus said slowly, "I will ensure that there is not another chance."
And her vision went dark. But she died knowing that her men would be avenged. Tyrannus would avenge them.
Stass and the two Republic naval officers turned and began to walk through the forest back towards the Senator. As they disappeared into the thick brush, Telle looked back one last time at the still bodies of the Trandoshan's, Weequay and other species. Here eyes focussed on the form of her recent opponent. For the first time in a long, boring period, she had felt fully alive while fighting the reptilian hunter. She sighed, and felt the adrenaline rush wear off as she released the air. The spikes – still fully extended from her arm - finally sunk into her skin. She turned back around and slowly walked into the forest after her friends.
She never noticed that as the yellow eye of Tar snapped open. He took a sharp breath and made a toothy grin as his bloody gums gritted against each other. He had always doubted the use of the teeth implants Cantoni had wired into them would actually kill him. Trandoshan skin was too tough and their brains were hardy. The amount of electricity that had surged through him had done one thing though. It had enraged him. His mind may have been protected but it was failing. Tar was dying. He had less than an hour probably. But he needed to complete his mission. He needed to kill Senator Trav-iss Torn.