Chapter 54: Hunter
"How's it going, girl? Do you sense anything?"
Zay breathed in through her nose and out her mouth. It was the only sound in the vacant cargo bay. Her brow furrowed with concentration.
She remained silent.
At first, Fenn didn't think that the kid had heard Tay's question, and then…
…She frowned.
"The…answer," she gasped, "Is…no…it…is…. the same answer…that I gave you five minutes ago. As it was…the last seven times…you…you asked me."
Zay eyes darted behind her closed eyelids. Fenn could sense her reaching out with the Force.
He could also sense her annoyance at her fellow Sith.
"Do us a favor," Zay hissed, "Do, whatever it is you are doing…away from me."
Taya sniffed and walked away.
"Brat," she murmured.
"Nag," Zay spat back.
Fenn suppressed a laugh.
Taya probably deserved that. He could only imagine what the girl was feeling right now, what she was doing was not easy. He could sense her reaching out, her mind like so many tendrils, questing in the dark. It wasn't easy to project your conscious mind so many directions at once, but it was needed, Zay was trying to find a diamond in a hailstorm. She didn't need to harassed.
He sympathized with the girl. He could feel the aura of this place, and he wasn't even reaching out.
The dark side was very strong here, strong but…elusive.
It would not be easy, finding the key in this place.
Since arriving in the Lehon system, the Coop's Folly had been making a slow circuit through the sea of debris. A graveyard of ships and broken pieces that marked the site of the final battle of the Star Forge. The maps had not lied, the field was massive, and without the Force, it might have taken years to search.
Of course, even with the Force…it could take time. Time they likely didn't have.
Captain Cooper had brought them in as close as he could without risking damaging his ship. The old freighter was tough, make no mistake, but some of the large pieces of debris dwarfed it. Left over armor from either the Sith Warships, or the Star Forge itself. Massive wedges of metal that tumbled erratically. The Coop's Folly wouldn't survive a collision if it occurred, any impact would have likely popped it like a soap bubble.
In other words, they needed to be careful, but move quickly at the same time.
Avy had warned them that other interested parties might have sensed the key's location, and the Survivors weren't the only ones looking.
After their arrival, the three Force wielders had set up inside the Folly's almost empty cargo hold. Zay said she preferred to meditate in a larger space; felt she could concentrate more if she didn't feel…confined. She seemed skittish being back on the folly, or rather, simply being back on a ship with such close quarters.
She didn't talk about it, but Fenn sensed her…nervousness, being back on such a ship again. He suspected that it reminded her of the past. He guessed, given what had happened with the boy that had kidnapped her…
Her discomfort was understandable.
Fenn didn't blame her, who knew what that man had threatened her with.
It was no wonder she preferred more open spaces.
So the three had come here, they were connected to the bridge via commlink, and Zay…through the Force, was exploring the debris, seeking out the key by its song.
So far, after three hours of searching, they had found nothing.
When Fenn closed his eyes, he could almost see them, the tendrils of Zay's mind, reaching out, seeking the key, in every corner of this wreck or that.
Again, as she had done several times since they had begun, the girl sighed.
She opened her eyes and slumped forward.
"It…it is not here," she gasped, "We…um…should move on…search the next sector."
Fenn sent word to Coop. As soon as he did, he felt the slight lurch as the freighter moved on.
He shook his head.
Avy had seemed so certain…
…could she…have been wrong?
He looked down at Zay, the girl was panting, her face slick with sweat. She grasped for a bottle of water, but it tipped over, cursing she reached out again.
Fenn used the Force to guide it to her. She took it, and drank greedily.
The poor kid, he thought.
She looked…exhausted.
He leaned down.
"We can stop if you want," he offered, "let you rest. We could move off until you are more recovered."
She shook her head no.
"I don't dare," she said, "Master Avaryss is counting on me."
She gave him a determined look.
"I'm not giving up."
"Very well," Fenn answered, "We will be at the next grid location shortly. You should try to rest a moment."
She nodded, and looked down.
"Another grid," she murmured, "Oh goody!"
He snorted with amusement and turned away.
His eyes finding Taya.
She tried to appear uninteresting in what Avy's apprentice was doing. She had gone off to a far corner, and was doing her own type of meditation, her eyes closed, she punched and kicked as she moved through the slow dance of some…Echani training drill.
He watched…enthralled.
Every kick, punch and block were done with a sense of sensuous grace and skill.
Even now, simply watching made his blood stir, but this time, he controlled it.
He didn't wish to distract Zay, and besides, practicing restraint was good for a Jedi. The Force knew, he had not been doing such a good job of it in the last few weeks.
There would be time, later, he thought, don't be weak.
Once they found the key, there would be time to…indulge in personal desires, even more when Avy was back among them again…
Memories of the Tatooine inn intruded, of sighs and moans. The sounds of flesh moving against flesh.
He shook his head. He had done his best to please them both, but Avy…
She was a part of him.
Avy was…Avy.
After their first time, he had felt a sense of relief and closeness that he had never felt before.
He longed for that sensation again.
He…missed her, and found himself wishing the best for her and the rest of the Knightfire team.
He wasn't worried. She had Master Jas and Temmin with her. Temmin was growing into a capable young Jedi, and Master Jas…well…
Jas Dar Bynn could handle anything.
He smiled.
We're so close now, he thought, and we seemed to have gotten here just in time.
No ships, Zakuul or otherwise, had been waiting for them. If this was a race, it seemed that they were in first place.
Fenn hoped that they could stay that way.
He left Zay alone, for a bit.
He walked up to Taya.
"Everything okay?" he asked her.
The blonde Sith chuckled.
"It takes a lot more than a teenager thinking me a nag to unsettle me, Fenn, but thanks for asking, just the same."
She came up on her tip toes, and whirled, throwing a slow-motion kick.
He could only imagine what that would have looked like with the full might of the Force behind it.
Despite what Avy thought, Taya remained quite strong in the Force.
He was glad that she had let go of her pain and anguish.
Those emotions had been killing her.
So what if she wasn't Darth Agony anymore…
…he preferred Taya Dresco, to that miserable dark lord any day.
She had said as much.
She would keep the Sith title, but it wasn't who she was, not now, and she didn't wish to become that person again.
She was willing to let Darth Agony die.
Fenn didn't blame her.
The extreme levels of the dark side were not for everyone.
Taya, though a Sith, was not one drawn to the center of the dark.
She was different…
…and that suited him just fine.
IOI
They had discussed just that the other night, after they had finished making love. She had lay in his bunk and his arms, wearing nothing but a smile. Her fingers running idly down his bare chest.
She had seemed so…content.
Neither had wished to move.
Even the Force was filled with a sense of warm acceptance.
It had been nice.
She had sighed as he ran his finger down her body, from her throat, down her arm, and hand, finally settling on her hip, pausing just at the start of her lovely smooth thigh.
He looked down upon her lower back, the Sith tattoo that was there. She had apparently gotten it around the same time that Avy had gotten hers. Though Avaryss' tattoo was more of a brand than anything else.
Getting such a mark, it…it must have been incredibly painful.
Taya blushed sweetly.
"My mom would be furious if she could see this," she said.
Fenn smirked.
"Wouldn't want to see you laying with someone who practices the Jedi code?"
"That wouldn't bother her," Taya said, "A Sith takes who and what she wants, she would say. No, she would not like to sense what I'm feeling now."
Taya sighed, and sat up in bed, her eyes staring coldly at the wall, thinking of her mother.
"After…after Ziost," Taya began, "After I buried my family and took up the name Agony, my mother was filled with satisfaction. She sensed my hate and burning rage, and thought: Finally, that I had arrived, I had finally achieved my full potential."
She shook her head.
"I hated myself, and everyone else. I even hated Avy in that moment. She had sent us to Ziost, and it cost me…everything.
The blonde looked down at her hands.
"In that moment, I wanted to kill my own mother. I hated her for her years of criticism and put downs. I trained so hard to live up to her expectations, and when I found them, she had no idea that I desired her end, not because it was useful, but…because I craved pain."
Fenn said nothing. He simply lay there, if she needed him, all she had to do was reach out.
"I wanted them to suffer," she confessed, "my father, my brother…taking Mom's life would hurt them. It…it would have hurt me, too!"
She shook her head.
"My father was always kind to me, doted on me, spoiled me, some might say. Yet, after Ziost, all I wanted was to hurt him, to let everyone feel the emptiness where my heart had been. It…it felt like I didn't have a heart anymore! Fimm, Aya…I…I couldn't…"
She put her head in her hands.
"Hey," Fenn said rising, putting his arms around her. She leaned in, shivering against his chest.
He held her, and reached out with the Force, offering soothing comfort, just as he had done back on the Survivor's world.
She shivered against him, but…slowly, she let the warmth between them sooth her. She stopped shaking.
She sighed.
"I wouldn't have done it, Fenn. As much as the dark side whispered, as much as it offered. She…she is my mom. I couldn't harm her. So, so…I…I started harming myself. It made me feel real, alive…
She nuzzled against him.
"What kind of a Sith am I?"
He kissed her forehead.
"The kind that will move your empire forward. The kind that Avy is trying to create."
She breathed deeply, drinking in his scent. He could sense her wrapping him gently in a Force embrace.
He held her as well.
She was not Avy, but that didn't mean that he didn't care. Such intimacy was not possible without caring.
He held her.
They…held each other.
It was…warm…safe…
He kissed her forehead again.
It was life.
IOI
Fenn leaned back against one of the few cargo containers in the hold. He watched the two Sith. Zay in her meditation. Taya in her training, the moves of the Echani arts. He…
Zay gasped.
"What is this?"
Taya and Fenn stopped what they were doing, they were at her side in moments.
"You found it!" Taya exclaimed.
"They key?" Fenn asked.
Zay shook her head.
"No, but…something…we…we…"
Fenn reached out with the Force, it was not hard to find it, what the girl had sensed.
A single presence, cold and unsympathetic.
He could almost see through the Force. The sea of debris, and then, amongst the wreckage, a bright white light, the plasma of a drive tail.
The small ship moved out of the wreckage, it accelerated, plotting a pursuit course. Gentle solar wings extended from its sides.
Zay's eyes snapped open, almost at the same time as Fenn's.
He knew what she was about to say.
"We're not alone! We…"
Too late.
The Coop's Folly shook around them. The lights flickered as the sound of an explosion filled their ears.
Fenn and Taya were thrown to the deck as sirens blared. Warning whoops filled the bay.
Fenn groaned and sat up; he had hit his head on the deck. It left him feeling dizzy, disoriented.
Distantly, he could hear Cooper, the loud speaker sounding small over the whooping alarms.
Fenn? Fenn! Kid you still there?!"
He struggled to his feet, every felt off.
He pulled the commlink.
"What's going on?!"
"We're under attack, small one person craft. It crippled our long-range comms, and damaged our shield generator!"
Fenn cursed trying to find his balance, despite the ringing in his head.
"I'm heading to the assault shuttle! Go evasive!"
"No kidding, kid," Coop called back.
Fenn didn't respond. He didn't even check on Taya and Zay.
They didn't have time.
The ship shook again, another impact from enemy weapons.
Again he cursed under his breath.
Avy had been right.
Here was one of those interested parties she mentioned.
IOI
The Coop's Folly's armed shuttle was the freighter's last line of defense, had its turbo lasers and armor failed. If it lost its escort ships, the shuttle was its best weapon against external attack.
More of a fighter than a shuttle, it could carry a crew of three, but be manned by one in a time of emergency.
A time…such as now.
Fenn was in the seat, and finished with his preflight in a matter of seconds. He hit the lever disengaging as soon as he got a green signal on his control board.
The shuttle popped free, and rolled to port, the engines came on line, and he shot away…
…just in time.
The attacker raked the space that he had just occupied with laser fire, had Fenn not moved quickly, he would have been a flare of light against the void.
He brought the shuttle around, tuning his instruments, and reaching out with the Force.
His eyes settled on a distant drive flare.
He frowned.
There they were.
A lone fighter, stick like, with a single ball cockpit, it flew on frail looking solar wings.
The ship made a lazy turn, and started back towards the Folly. No, not back, but circling, like a shark stalking its prey.
Fenn did a quick flyby, checking out the damage to the freighter. Coop hadn't been wrong. Their shield generator was crackling, he could see lightning playing out over its damaged casing. The hypercomm antenna was a total loss.
He glared at the fighter.
An excellent surprise attack! The fighter had known where to hit the Folly, and had struck with the precision of a surgeon.
Fenn's instruments picked up a signal from the intruder vessel, he turned on his comms.
A cold voice filled the cockpit.
"Attention, Coop's Folly, this is the Regulator. You are carrying some hard merchandise that I require. Members of the Republic militia known as the Survivor Squad. You will surrender them to me, or be destroyed."
Fenn's eyes narrowed.
Hard merchandise?
Regulator?
The former statement meant they were dealing with a bounty hunter. People were just merchandise to such brigands. The latter, the Regulator…"
He had heard that name before?
"He contacted the Folly, short range comms were still up.
"Any idea who we are dealing with Coop?" he inquired.
It was Figgie, the Comm officer aboard the Folly that answered. Two words a single name.
"Kalo Nord."
Fenn pursed his lips.
Not good.
It was a name whispered of in smugglers dens and cantinas across the known galaxy, and had been for centuries. Kalo Nord, one of the fiercest hunters ever to darken the space ways.
A relentless hunter with no fear, and a reputation of always getting the job done.
Some said that he was immortal, a creature born of greed and violence. Others said he was of one of the very long-lived species, and that this Kalo was the same one rumored to have hunted Bastila Shan and Revan centuries ago.
Fenn didn't believe that, and neither did Master Jas.
They had heard hundreds of tales of Kalo Nord, some older than Master Jas. He had come to the conclusion that Nord had been many men and women. Killers trained by killers, passing the title along when the predecessor died.
That seemed far more likely than some immortal space phantom, of killer.
The hunter kept his ship just out of the Folly's weapons range, though he moved a bit more evasive seeing that the shuttle had been launched.
"Attention, Coop's Folly," Nord growled over the comms, "You will order your shuttle to power down, and instruct any Survivor Squad members on board to enter one of your escape pods. From there, I will take possession. You have five minutes to comply."
"I don't need five minutes, bounty hunter," Coop responded over the comms. "I would advise you to reconsider these actions. I'm Gabe Cooper, commander and skipper of this vessel. If you don't know the name, know this, that I'm not the type of person you want to mess with."
Over the channel, Kalo Nord laughed.
"You think that I don't know who you are?" he asked.
"You wouldn't be so quick to engage this ship and crew if you did."
Again, a bark of a laugh.
"I know you better than you think, old man. How else do you think that I knew exactly were to fire on your vessel to get you shields sputtering.
"If this is about credits," Coop offered.
"It is NOT just about credits. I have waited a long time to play this game with you. You have deserved my attention for a long time, but…the price was never right, not until this moment.
The hunter chuckled.
"As your wife Randa used to say: It is time to role the dice, and play the game."
A pause over the comm, Fenn could imagine Coop thinking, likely curious how the hunter knew about his history, his family…
"Randa never said that," Coop said over the comm, "But…no…it…it can't be?"
Fenn tried to move in on the fighter, but it danced back out of weapons range.
Coop's next words sounded small and weak, a man not wanting, or praying that what he was hearing was wrong.
He said one word, a name.
"Quire?"
"Hey, Dad," Nord responded, "Though I don't go by that name anymore."
Fenn's eyes narrowed.
Now he recognized it, the voice.
Quire Cooper.
Captain Cooper, one of the most eloquent smugglers Fenn had ever met was almost speechless.
"Quire? Boy, I…what are you doing here?"
"Followed you," Nord answered.
"How?"
'Mom still has a few loyalists among your ground crew. I have been throwing them a little money from time to time, to keep me appraised of your comings and goings."
The hunter snorted.
"Coming to Lehon, that is a bit strange, after something valuable? Maybe you can give it to me, maybe then, I will leave enough of that old scrap heap of yours intact for you to limp home."
"The Folly is my home, Quire, it was your home too. Yours, mine, your mothers…"
"That didn't stop you from forgetting about her when she got sick. Did you lift a finger to help her, or were you too busy pursuing that Zeltron you bedded.
"Randa understood."
"How good for, mom," Kalo Nord said coldly.
"Unfortunately for you, I don't."
Fenn had heard enough.
He could tell this wouldn't end peacefully.
Quire…he had never been the talkative type, too passionate, Lady Randa had said once.
Yes, he…he had met the boy a few times, shortly after he became Master Jas' padawan.
Quire had been the head of the ground team for Coop's organization, a position he inherited from his mother…his late mother.
He left when Coop remarried, just like his sister, who had only just left the Jedi Order, returning to her father after the fall of Coruscant. Both of them, Coop's children with Randa, had struck out on their own.
Tru, Coop's daughter, had adopted her mother's maiden name of Halcyon, she was one of the Survivors' best allies and intel sources.
Quire had disappeared…
…until now.
Fenn activated the comm.
"Quire, this is Fenn Shadowstone of the Jedi Order. I advise you to power down your weapons and leave this system, immediately."
The young man who had become the legendary bounty hunter chuckled.
"Well, well, Jas' sidekick returns. Should have known you would be here, sidekick."
Fenn frowned.
"We don't have to do this, Quire."
"Sure we do, I have my reputation to think of, and besides, you think you will be the first Jedi I've killed?"
Fenn's eyes narrowed.
Quire, like his sister, had been Force sensitive, but only Tru had been sent to the order, she and Fenn had first met as younglings at the temple. The boy had stayed with his parents, they had been grooming him to succeed them.
It seems like he had followed another path.
He could feel the other man's dark side aura, it was not like a Sith. It was a storm, chaotic, and unpredictable.
Fenn sped up, starting to bring the shuttle up to attack speeds.
"I don't want to fight you," I said.
"I'm not giving you a choice," the bounty hunter replied, "there is a price on your head, if you are still with Jas Dar Bynn, you are one of his survivors, and the Zakuul are willing to pay good credits for your heads."
Again, he tried for a weapons lock, and again Quire/Kalo slipped it, his ship too nimble for the shuttles weapon systems.
"Quire, stop this," Coop called out.
"No dad, you have had this coming!"
The Regulator broke off its circle, it plunged towards the damaged Folly.
Fenn came in an on an intercept course.
He fired his lasers.
BLIP! BLIP! BLIP!
The hunter craft juked away, its pilot just as fast as the Jedi facing him.
Fenn's weapons lock warning screamed at him.
A single missile launched from the hunter craft.
He went evasive, giving himself over to the Force.
He brought the shuttle in closer to the debris, the missile warning still beeping in his ear. He…
There was a blinding flash behind him, and Fenn was thrown back and forth in his seat.
The missile had hit some debris and detonated, but…
He was not safe yet.
Kalo's/Quire's Regulator screamed in, firing its laser cannons, raking the space around Fenn's shuttle.
He spun away, as the blasts flashed around him, but emerged unhit.
The hunter backed off, and flew out of weapons range again.
Fenn looked at the Coop's Folly, it had been hit, but was moving, a missile strike had collapsed its bridge deflector shields.
The ship was rolling, trying to keep its shields between the Regulator, and itself.
Fenn could almost sense the satisfaction that Kalo Nord was feeling.
The bounty hunter, who had been Coop's second born son had turned vicious, eager for the kill.
Fenn felt his own anger rising.
They didn't have time for this.
The darkness was everywhere here, any true practitioner of the dark side will have great strength and insight on such a battlefield.
Fenn resisted drawing on that, it was a poisoned well to be sure, but…
The shuttle was no match for the fighter.
Maybe…if he did…just this once…
He shook his head.
NO!
Again the Regulator began to move in, and again, Fenn moved to stop it, he…
He gasped.
He felt a strange sensation coming on, a sense of cool determination and confidence.
He smiled.
"Need a hand?"
He heard the voice clearly, though there was no one else aboard the shuttle.
He could sense her reaching out, offering him her aid.
Zay.
He could almost see her sitting in the shuttle with him, a dark shadow sheened in red light.
He could hear her as well, surprisingly.
She sounded excited.
"This is the first time I've done this," the girl said, "Using my battle meditation, it…it is not like what it describes in the exercises."
However it felt, Fenn didn't care, right now, he felt powerful, strong.
He had the edge.
He accelerated again; his ship couldn't match the speed of Kalo's but it didn't need to.
All he needed was to land one clean shot.
"Are you in his head too, Zay," he murmured.
"Yeah," the girl admitted, "I'm messing with his perceptions, but…it isn't easy. His mind…it…it is not a pretty sight, emotions all over the place, anger, shame, betrayal, lust…"
The Sith shook her head.
"He would have made a good Sith, strong emotions, but…that well never be now."
The girl smiled.
"Take what I'm offering, master Fenn."
"Kill him!"
Fenn found himself in a head-to-head charge against the hunter ship. Kalo/Quire fired his lasers, only to have Fenn spin around them, burning at his shields and the shuttle's armor.
The Regulator was fast, but it traded durability for speed, his shuttle could take more.
Fenn didn't fire, he let himself in closer, closer.
"Fenn?"
He could hear Zay's voice, but ignored it, his only focus was on the target.
Closer.
Closer.
He reached deep into the Force. He could feel Zay's connection to him, feeding his aggression, trying to get him to fire.
He held back.
Not yet.
Not yet.
Kalo got missile lock.
Fenn smiled.
Now.
He fired.
BLIP! BLIP!
The space between the two ships lit up.
Fenn dropped under Kalo Nord's ship.
He executed a snap roll, bringing his guns back to bear on his target.
He smirked.
The Regulator had been caught in the explosion. Fenn's shot had hit the missile just as it armed and launched.
The explosion had torn up one of the solar wings.
The sail fighter wobbled.
Fenn could sense Kalo/Quire's panic. Through the Force he sensed no danger.
The ship's weapons were offline.
The bounty hunter was maneuvering, trying to leave the debris, and achieve hyperspace.
Oh no, you don't.
Fenn came in, he brought the shuttle around.
"Yes," Zay purred in the back of his mind.
"Now…Fenn…"
"Kill him!"
He had weapons lock.
He…he…
"YES!"
"Fenn! Break off!"
Cooper's voice. Fenn could feel his emotions.
He…he didn't want Fenn to blast his son!
He wanted him to spare the Murglak! Who had nearly…nearly…
"DO IT!"
"FIRE!"
"KILL HIM!"
Zay's battle meditation had him in an almost feral state.
He growled.
He wanted to kill.
Needed it.
He…he…
He could almost see Master Jas' face, his face, and one other.
The woman from Tatooine, he could see her fear.
"NO! DON'T DO IT!"
"STOP!"
Fenn hit the firing stud.
BLIP! BLIP!
The blast tore the hyperspace antenna from Kalo's ship, disabling both his short- and long-range comms.
The Regulator shifted into pseudo motion.
It vanished, disappearing into hyperspace.
Fenn let out his breath, not realizing he had been holding it.
He…he…
He swallowed hard.
By the Force, he thought.
"What did I almost do?"
He could sense Zay withdrawing from their connection, feel her frustration.
She had not liked how this had ended.
Was it a mistake.
Possibly, but it was one he was prepared to live with.
No one had died today.
He…he could live with that.
Yet, it had almost not been that way. He had stopped himself, barely, but still, still…
He had come very close.
"Fenn to Folly," he called over the comms, "Coop, you still there?"
"Yeah, kid, we're still here," the smuggler chief answered.
"How about you?"
"Alive."
"Quire?"
"He jumped away, but not before I took out his comms. He won't be telling anyone about us, not until he reaches civilization. That should give us a few more hours, maybe half a day, I think."
Fenn sensed relief coming from the Folly, from its captain.
Coop was sighing with relief.
"Thank you, kid," he said over the comm.
"Thank you."
"No problem," Fenn said.
He understood, it wasn't the smartest move, but it was the right one.
Coop didn't want his son to die. Fenn didn't blame him.
"I'm coming in," he said, "Docking station clear?"
"It is," Coop said, "Come around at point nine five."
"Point nine five, aye."
Coop chuckled.
"Just heard from Zay in the hold. This fight wasn't completely pointless."
Fenn frowned.
"Really? How you figure that?"
"The violence shook something loose," the smuggler informed him. Zay says she is hearing the key, we are moving in to retrieval position.
Fenn smiled.
Well, not the way he would have liked to have had things gone, but…
At least, they had found what they were looking for.
He checked his panel again, making sure that he was not picking up any active energy signatures.
These were alone again, it seemed.
Good.
Hopefully, it would not take them long to find the key.
With a little luck, and the Force they should be out of here in an hour, maybe two.
Fenn welcomed that.
One more key found, he thought.
Avy would be pleased.
As he brought the shuttle back in, his thoughts turned back to Avy, her and Master Jas.
The Coop's Folly team had survived their little complication.
He hoped that the Knightfire team would do as well.
His team would be coming home, with no casualties.
Hopefully the other team could do the same.
Take Care out there, Avy, he thought.
Take care.
