Chapter 31: Peeling
Olek Remek was dying.
Jossef said little as he walked over to his friend, his former friend, and removed the beckon call from the other man's wrist.
Olek gasped and grabbed for his arm, only to have Jossef curse, and swat him away, the motion caused a small geyser of blood to spray from the dying merc's ruined neck.
Jossef stood and shook his head, the beckon call that Coop had given them, the one that would summon the Stolen Heart in his hand.
"Sorry, old buddy," he said with a shrug.
"Guess you won't be needing this anymore."
Fenn could do nothing, he found himself under the guns of the local guards, two more of the beings encircled Teryn Remek, keeping the younger mercenary back, keeping him from his father's side.
"BASTARD," he shouted, spittle flying from his mouth, his eyes filled with rage and hate.
What do you think you are doing?!"
Jossef shrugged again.
"Nothing personal, Teryn," he replied, "Business is business, you know. Sometimes…you just find a better offer."
He smiled pleasantly.
"Thanks to Cooper and these two Force wielders…I've found it."
Teryn was breathing hard, his eyes blazing, if not for the blasters pointed at him, he would have leapt upon the other man and torn him apart.
Fenn would not have blamed him. He cursed himself for not foreseeing this betrayal, even without the Force as their ally.
He…he should have suspected something when he realized that the Force would be blocked on parts of this world.
Avaryss said nothing, she stood close to Holli, still in her Kivan Obando disguise. He could not see his dream friend's face, but her masked face was focused on Olek's dying form.
Fenn knew enough about her history to guess what she might have been thinking in that moment.
As a girl, Avy's father had been killed in front of her, executed by an agent of her Sith Master.
Had seeing the execution reminded her of that, and if so…?
What effect might it have had?
Fenn turned his attention back to Jossef, he wasn't sure what the man meant by a better deal, but he could guess.
"The Zakuul got you, didn't they?"
Fenn glared at him.
"You think you can play them against Captain Cooper?"
The thin man chuckled.
"I didn't realize that the invaders were involved in this, but thanks for letting me know."
His smile turned cruel.
"Least I know who to sell you and the woman to now."
Fenn frowned, he had assumed that Lenix Gul, the Zakuul knight that was hunting them had reached out to the fringe, had offered rewards to those that might know who had been involved in the Valdora raid.
If that wasn't the case…then why?
Coop had promised them that they could trust Olek and his men.
Jossef turned to Avy and Holli.
His cruel smirk never leaving his face.
"When I first heard about this job, when Cooper said what we were going to do. I thought it doomed to fail. Finding someone good enough to fool the locals here, to convince them that he was really Kivan Obando, props to you friend. You have given me an amazing opportunity.?
Holli said nothing, she stayed close to Avy, Avy…who still hadn't taken her eyes off the dying man.
Jossef continued.
"When Obando, the real Obando was alive, I was happy to take his money, and the little extra that Cooper paid us to keep him apprised of what his High Holiness was doing. I knew Obando made a mistake when he poisoned that kid, the noble one with the Jedi for a dad."
He turned to Avaryss.
"I also knew that it might be possible to turn a profit from all the Force junk that Obando had collected. I figured to make a deal with either the Republic or the Sith, arrange for things to get lost from time to time in the vaults. Boss Kivan had so many toys, surely, he would not have missed them all."
Behind them one of the alien's cleared his throat…loudly.
The merc faced him.
"Deal with these off-worlders, Jossef'lah," the Chief Magistrate of the Holding said, "We should being return to the city, show them that the oppressor will threaten them no more!"
Fenn blinked.
Oppressor?
He looked back and forth between the two men.
Ah.
So that was what was going on.
Jossef nodded.
"You are starting to figure it out, aren't you, Jedi?"
Fenn nodded.
"I think so," he answered, looking at Holli.
"I'm guessing the real Kivan Obando's death was no accident?"
"The man underestimated the people he kept under his thumb," Jossef replied, nodding to the magistrate. The alien bowed his head respectfully.
Jossef walked up to Holli, Avy started to step in his way, but was stopped by the local guards. She stood back, letting the mercenary touch the changeling's cheek, lift her face slightly.
"There has been dissent on this world for a while now, some of the people here have figured out exactly how many credits worth of merchandise that the Obando group has made from these people's sweat and labor. Some of those dissidents are pretty highly placed, they have been waiting for the opportunity to claim those profits for their own."
Jossef stepped away.
It wasn't long before they figured out that their holy lord was a sham, and that his retinue could be bought for the right price. The locals may not have understood everything about starships, but they were smart enough to reach out to people who were. People that knew how to arrange an accident for the one that dared to consider himself their god."
Fenn glared daggers at the man.
"So, you killed him," he said coldly.
"Arranged for a certain failure in his ship's engines. It was over quick, Obando should have counted himself lucky."
Teryn snarled.
"Lucky? Jossef…we…we knew people on Obando's crew. We had friends…"
"No friends in this business, Ter," Jossef said cutting him off.
"Your dad should have taught you that."
Hise eyes once again fell on Holli.
The Magistrate and his allies were happy to have Obando gone, but after his death, a large number of their people continued to worship the man. Refused to believe that he was really gone."
Jossef chuckled wickedly as he pointed at Holli.
"Coop was kind enough to send this imposter here. Now, the locals have a chance to execute Obando themselves."
Holli flashed one of Obando's winning smiles.
"I don't think the man's family, or allies will go along with that," she said.
"Why wouldn't they," Jossef sniffed, "They know the real man is dead, and his heirs have profited handsomely from his death."
Jossef laughed, and this time, several of the aliens did as well. It was a strange musical sound.
Fenn looked back and forth between Holli and Avy. The changeling didn't seem frightened, despite what she was being threatened with. Avy's eyes remained on Olek, who had finally fallen silent, his eyes staring blankly at the sky.
The man was gone, and there had been nothing that anyone could do about it.
Teryn looked hatefully at his former ally. Had he not been surrounded by armed enemies he might have leapt on the other man and ended his life right then and there.
Avaryss remained silent, she didn't move, her posture so rigid, she might have been a statue.
"You realize that this was a mistake," Fenn said to Jossef, "Even if the Obando group doesn't come after you, Captain Cooper will, and if can't get you with his own people, he has friends among the Jedi who will."
"Cooper will find me very hard to get to," Jossef replied, "The magistrate and his friends have already offered me sanctuary, and once I sell you and the woman to the Zakuul, I will have their protection as well, as for the Jedi…well."
The magistrate hissed and spat in Fenn's direction; his lips pulled back in disdain.
"Arrogant off-worlder," the Magistrate said, "Your magics have no power here."
The alien reached up and petted the fuzzy worm draped over his shoulder.
"The Ysa protect us. No sorcerers can harm us here."
"The magistrate has the right of it, boy," Jossef added, "Obando always said, as long as he had these animals, he had nothing to fear, not of the Jedi, or the Sith."
Fenn frowned.
The animals?
He looked again, closer this time, both at the creature on the Magistrate's shoulder, and the one on the droid that came out of the vault.
It seemed impossible!
How?
What trick of evolution would have caused an animal to have the ability to push back the Force?
Where had Obando even found such a thing?
It was in that moment, that he heard something, something he had not expected. Over the blowing wind, he had almost missed it.
Giggling.
He looked up when he realized where it was coming from.
Avy.
Avy was giggling. Her shoulders were shaking slightly, but the laughter did not sound right, it didn't sound like a sound of mirth.
It sounded…wrong.
Avy looked up them her masked visage moving over both the mercenary that had betrayed them, and the aliens that protected him.
"Thank you," Fenn's dream friend said, her voice silky, but with an undercurrent of steel…steel…and malice.
She looked right at Jossef.
"Thank you," she repeated, "Now…you are all going to die."
IOI
Avaryss watched them, these mundanes, these walking corpses that dared threaten a member of the Dark Council.
Dared to threaten their rightful Empress!
She dared one last look down at Olek, she had watched him die, watched him try to draw breath.
It…it had not been the first death she had watched. She had seen many murders over the years, but this one…felt…different.
It felt familiar.
She looked at Teryn, at the look on his face, the fire in his eyes. She knew that look, that fire.
She had worn that look once, as Darth Feer's enforcer had murdered Andur Lylos in front of his daughter.
The dark lord sneered.
Keera Lylos was dead, her body laid to rest on Korriban, but who she had been, her rage, her experiences had shaped Darth Avaryss.
As the mercenary had lay dying, she heard four words in her mind, words burned onto her scorched soul.
I love you, Blossom.
She despised those words, and the memory of weakness they brought with them, but she allowed the rage connected to them to come, and now…
She smiled behind her mask.
Now, thanks to the arrogance of these mundanes, she now knew how to kill them.
She was very grateful.
The mercenary, Jossef smirked at her. Clearly, he didn't see how serious she was about her threat, that or believed her uncapable of carrying it out.
More the fool he was.
"You will forgive me if I don't fall to my knees and beg for mercy, my lady," he said to her.
She snorted.
"My Lord," she said.
"What?"
The proper way to address me is…My Lord."
The man drew his blaster and pointed it at her.
"I will call you whatever I want, shutta!"
"Ooh," Avaryss said stifling another giggle, "For such insult, fool, I will peel the skin from your wretched body, I will leave you screaming, so that Teryn here can take his time blowing off parts of you, before you finally end. An ending that you will be begging for after the first few minutes."
She turned to the magistrate.
"As for you creature, your cities will burn. I will destroy every one of the worms that you hide behind, and maybe…if you are lucky, some of your people will live to be slaves in my new order."
She looked at one of the closest, one wielding a slug slower. They were really small creatures; she wasn't sure what value they would have in her countless legions when they overwhelmed the galaxy.
Oh well, maybe she would not waste her time."
"Unarmed you are, female," the magistrate hissed, "In our power you are, the Ysa have made you, their slave."
Avaryss looked at Holli, the changeling, still in her Obando form was playing with a lapel pin she wore on the front of her long coat, a lapel pin with a long sharp point, barely five centimeter in length, but very sharp.
Sharp enough.
"I must admit," the Sith said, "I was wondering how you held the Force at bay, had it been an artifact, or a piece of technology, that would have made things so much harder. The fact that you have revealed the answer, and offered it up to me. Well, you have dug your own graves."
The magistrate stepped back, two of his guards stood before them, the rest of their soldiers stepped back, too far back for either Avaryss or Fenn to lunge at them, their weapons pointed at the two Force wielders.
"You are nothing without your powers, witch," Jossef hissed.
Avaryss shrugged.
"You are right, I don't have the Force, but that doesn't mean that I've run out of tricks. Holli?"
"Yes, my lord," the changeling said in her Obando voice.
"The worms," Avaryss said, "Kill."
The order was barely out of her mouth when Holli moved, her arm snapping forward like a whip, or some frog-dog's tongue. The air cracked with the motion.
Crick!
CRACK!
The guards tensed but didn't shoot.
It had been so fast; they had not realized what had happened.
Jossef raised his blaster, but didn't shoot.
"No tricks," he ordered, "Don't move!"
Avaryss smiled.
No tricks necessary, she thought.
Only death.
IOI
Fenn was not sure what had happened, it…it looked like Holli's arm had moved but…
He blinked.
He…felt it.
A sense of awareness washed over him, and with it, a sense of peace and strength returned.
He looked at Avaryss, and felt her presence once again her joy…and…
Her Fury!
The Force was back!
Time seemed to slow down.
He looked up at the Magistrate, the creature he called a Ysa.
The animal, its head was split in two, slashed by a blade.
The small blade that Holli held in her hand.
He dared a quick look over his shoulder, the droid who had also carried one of the beasts looked around, its own creature dead, slumping on the frame that had supported it only a moment before.
Weapons were starting to come up, he was sensing alarm. The aliens realized that something was wrong.
Something shrieked behind them, the crystals that had been brought up with Hecaetus' key, they were responding to the Force, waking up.
Waking…to Darth Avaryss' call.
Avaryss gestured, the air shimmered before her. Fenn whirled, the box containing Avy and his lightsaber were in the hands of one of the locals, it was open, the alien and an ally were inspecting the two weapons.
The lightsaber leapt from the box and into Fenn's hand, he ignited the weapon with a snap hiss.
Avy's own weapon was moving through the air, only it was ignited, it beheaded the two aliens closest to the box before returning to its owner's hand.
Shouts and shots rang out, but they were too late. Avy was among them, a storm of dark side energy.
Fenn shivered.
Those beings, they…they didn't stand a chance.
The killing began in earnest.
IOI
Avaryss laughed as she attacked with both blade and spell. Dark side illusions turned weapons to serpents and other things that the aliens feared. Little or no fire came close to Avaryss or her allies.
The dark lord laughed.
Now, she thought.
To fulfill my promise.
She cut down another of the magistrate's men.
His death scream, cut off at the last minute brought a smile to her face.
Glorious!
One of the alien's tried to attack her with a stun stick only to lifted off his feet, his neck and leg caught by a thick green tentacle.
Avaryss glanced over at Holli, she had changed form again, this time to a creature that the dark lord didn't recognize, a large squid like creature, with four large grasping arms, arms that crushed their prey before ensnaring another.
An interesting shape, she thought.
She would have to ask Lujayne about it later.
She was grateful for Holli's presence, not just for her aid now, but for how she had given them this chance.
She had seen Lujayne do her arm trick many times, the changeling's reflexes were lightning quick, able to snap up a tool from across the room drawing little or no attention from those around her.
The creatures, those…Ysa had had no chance. Avy had always said the Holli would have been able to slice a throat with those reflexes, and now…she had proven it.
Two little deaths had been all it had took, and now…they were free.
Free to serve up Sith justice to these mundane fools!
Avaryss was more than eager, and she was not alone.
Fenn and Teryn had finally joined in, the mercenary had recovered his blaster and was now blasting down the disorganized locals. Fenn dealt with the droids that had emerged from the vault, he kept the them from retreating either to seal the vault anew, or possibly bring up another Ysa to try and contain the Force wielders.
Good, Avaryss thought.
Now, we can really have our fun!
The magistrate let out a terrified warble. He may never had seen a Force wielder lost in the full grandeur of the Force before.
Alas, he would never see such a sight again, his arrogance deserved punishment.
And a dark lord always gave a mundane what they deserved.
"Avy!"
She heard Fenn shout, but didn't let it stop her. She grabbed the creature by the scruff of his neck and whirled him around, he tried to back hand her, but she dodged with ease.
She whispered another spell. The dark side, feeding off her fury, washed over the alien.
He fell with a pained gurgle.
Avaryss stood over him, watching him. Fluid leaking from his eyes, nose and mouth.
The man liquified in a matter of moments. Painful moments all, his brain and nerve endings being the last parts of his body to dissolve. Such was the spell created by her Sith ancestors.
Revenge…most sweet.
She took another shuddering breath. Letting time flow normally once more, or rather, let her senses slow down to normal speed.
The field around them…was carnage.
She smirked as she removed her mask, her glamour once more safely working.
She turned to Fenn, her golden eyes glowing brightly.
Delicious!
Two of the aliens remained, they were running through the tall grass trying to escape.
Avaryss started to raise her hand.
"No!"
Fenn was there. He was unscathed from the battle, he was breathless, and a bit sweaty, but…
She again felt a warming her belly, a warmth that spread through her.
He held her arm, stopping her, she should have been angry, being denied her prey, but… she wasn't.
She looked into his eyes, his grip was strong, a little tighter and it would be painful.
"They are running," he said, "Let them go, they are no longer a threat."
"You would deny me my kill?" she hissed.
His grip tightened.
She winced.
Ouch.
"Yes," he growled.
"We're done."
Her heart was racing, her blood was up.
He…he was…
She hissed.
Oh!
It hurt so good!
She shivered.
Finally, some attention.
She licked her lips.
A wave of lust washed over her.
She wanted him.
She wanted him BADLY!
"Sadist," she murmured in a husky voice.
She could feel their connection through the Force, he felt it wash over him. He was angry, but…but…
He felt it. He had too.
The heat.
The wanting.
His nostrils were flaring, he looked barely in control, like he wanted to let go…he…
He took a deep breath, trying to center himself.
"We are done," he repeated.
"You ARE done."
She smirked and let him lower her arm.
"As you wish," she purred, "I'm done.
Fenn nodded.
"We're done."
"Not yet, Jedi."
Fenn released her, the two turned.
Holli was once again in her original form, the red-haired young woman that had served on Avaryss' Fury class interceptor years ago.
Teryn stood over, Jossef the man was injured, his leg a piece of burnt meat below the ankle.
"Teryn," he gasped.
"WAIT!"
Fenn came up to him. The Jedi looked down on the man with disdain.
"Why should he wait?" he asked.
"Why?"
"I…I surrender," the older mercenary said, his eyes focused on Fenn, "I surrender to you, Master Jedi."
Teryn looked at him, anger burning in his eyes.
"Don't try to stop me, Jedi. This shutta killed my dad!"
"He WILL answer for it."
Avaryss watched the confrontation with curious eyes.
Well, she wondered.
What now?
She knew what the Jedi code said about such matters. Unarmed prisoners could not be harmed, at least, that is what she had heard during the war.
Did…did this really apply though?
"We still need Teryn's help, Fenn," she reminded him, and he is more aggrieved that we are."
Fenn looked between the two men, Teryn, who had lost his father, and Jossef, who had killed him.
What now, my love, Avaryss wondered.
What do you do now?
"I've surrendered," Jossef repeated, "I…I need medical help. Master Jedi…please."
Fenn swallowed hard.
He knew what a Jedi should do, but…
…what would a man do?
Fenn reached out with the Force, and retrieved the beckon call that Jossef had taken from Olek.
He activated the signal.
"A prisoner of war deserves protection," Fenn said, "But…this man is not a Zakuul soldier, or any other formal enemy."
He sighed, and looked at Teryn.
We have no room for prisoners. The ship should be here in five minutes.
He turned his back on the Teryn and Avy.
"Do what you must, you have five minutes."
Terror blossomed on the wounded merc's face.
"NO!" he shouted.
"NO!"
"MASTER JEDI!"
"Five minutes, Avy," Fenn repeated, stepping away from the three of them.
Avaryss grinned.
How…interesting.
Teryn gave her a smile, a cold and wicked one.
"Remember what you said you would do to him, my lord?"
Avaryss grinned.
"I do indeed."
Jossef squealed and tried to crawl away. Teryn stepped on his wounded leg preventing him from escaping, the wounded merc howled in agony.
"Holli," Avaryss said, "Go with Fenn, make sure he is okay."
"Yes, Avy,"" she said, "It will be done."
"Good," the dark lord said, she closed her eyes, and began to draw on the dark side, from case behind her, the key woke up, filling the Force with its hungry taint.
Avaryss smiled drinking in the energy.
The second key, she thought.
One step closer.
She looked down at Jossef, the man began to gasp, as the skin began to pull away from his eyes and lips.
"Now," Avaryss purred, "Where were we?"
The treacherous fool howled.
The dark lord shuddered with delight. Teryn grinned hungrily.
"Oh yes," she murmured. The peeling of skin began in earnest.
The dark side trembled, and so did the Sith.
Oh yes, she thought.
"Now…I remember!"