Joshua Stykes

An encrpted com comes in for Vladimir Faust. Master Faust. The Mandalorian wo was supposed to relay the plan to me, left me in the middle of the battle. With no idea of the plan, I stayed out of the way, keeping a low profile. Now I wait for your calling.

"This ought to be a fun challenge. But for you, I am sorry. I put you through all that for nothing. But since you were so cooperative, I will put you out of your misery." A single bolt raced from his pistol and soon more blood appeared on the floor. Now what was once a beautiful Tiw'lek full of life, was now lifeless and gruesome. Joshua boarded his ship and made his way for Coruscant.

The screams of a single woman echoe through the desert of Tattooine. Where once was a beautiful body and a wonderful now,m now remained a lump of flesh, bone, and blood, and a voicelss soul. But the humanoid still lived. Joshua had found out everything he needed about the woman. Her name, where she was born, how she had lived, everything about her. ANow he only needed to wait for Faust.

Joshua was still going over the battle he had just survived. He was analyzing every move he had made, trying to improve upon his tactics. Could he rolled a different way and ended things sooner? Could he have taken out the large Gamorrean without breaking his hand? All these questions and more were running through his mind, parellel to the question Faust had just asked him. "Truly, I am a Bounty Hunter. I do not suffer the term of species. Species is just something humans, no offense, have used to lesser all other beings in this galaxy. So who I am truly is a hunter, born and bred." "I was told that at birth I had the natural skills required for espionage. But that was not enough for me. Espionage was merely a game of hiding. I despised hiding. I always confronted my problems, head on. The Empire found me and recruited me for what they said what help me fight my problems. But all they did was try and make me nother one of their spies. When I found this out, I made up my mind to escaper, after learning all they had to teach me. They taught me about keeping my shooting accurate, keeping my blade aimed true. " "From that same past, I learned never to truly trust anyone. And it has saved my life time and time again. It has tuahgt me that I always need to learn more. Thus I am here asking you to help me, Joshua Stykes, become better." "And in the jungle of heaven, I do not know which I will be. But if it was my choice, I would appear to be the prey, running from the lion, with reckless abandon. And when he pounced, I would become the hunter, and the lion would be my prize." Joshua turned his silver misted eyes to Faust, almost expecting to be shot for his arrogance.

Gamorreans were the slime of the galaxy. Nothing but brawn, and not enough brain to use it wisely. More than 99 % of their species were chosen to be guards by high ranking criminals. They would be easy to dispatch. "You should leave that girl alone. She is under my protection." The Gamorreans were expectedly stupid and charged him. As always in combat. time seemed to slow down for Joshua. The Gamorreans were always slow, but it was if they were not even moving. Through the corner of his eye, he saw a vibroax slashing downward, with enough force to cleave him from top to bottom. In an instant, Joshua reacts and drops his right knee, and uses his left foot to push forward. His body rolls and as he raises, he draws his own vibro-weapon. A humming could be heard as his thumb slides over the activation stud. The hunter leaps forward cutting in a Gamorrean with rapid attacks. In mere moments, the hunter had improved his odds by 1 Gamorrean. Now only three remained. The three remaining Gamorreans had surrounde dhim and had their vibro-axes ready to cut him in 6 different ways. But he was more than ready to defend against them. His vibro-katana reverberated and Joshua knew he had to take the offensive. He dropped to one knee for a split second, giving the thugs, the thought he was wounded. Then in a flash, he threw off their thoughts, and leapt into the air. His hand shot forward and his vibro-katana flew from his hand and embedded itself in the forehead of the Gamorrean in front of him. Only 2 left. But now he had no weapon in hand, he was defenseless, or so they thought. Ae one of the remaining thugs attacked him. He simply drew his blaster pistols and riddled his body with 12 blaster bolts. The Gamorrean could have been served deep-fried,. Now the largest Gamorrean remained. Joshua had purposely left this one for last. His hands weakened and his blasters clanged as they struck the floor. Now the only weapon he had was his sniper rifle, and his hands. The latter which he planned to use to drop this last one. The Gamorrean charged him and he swpet out his foot, connecting with the solar plexus of the Gamorrean. Layers of fat and beast hide protected him from the kick, and Joshua knew this would take awhile. The Clawdite leapt to the side and dropped to one knee. He rolled forward and threw a punch to the beasts jaw. The sound of teeth cracking and bones breaking could be heard in the small alley. Stykes hand had been broken buy the Gamorrean now had far less teeth. Joshua decided to nurse his wounds later and finish this fight. He stood to his feet and awaited the Gamorreans attack. It came sooner than expected. In appearance, Joshua was flipping backwards, but in the end, his legs were wrapped around the Gamorreans slimey head. His feet hooked together and he rolled to the sides. The Gamorrean flipped over, confused. It had never expereicned the feeling of moving fast before. As the monster fell, Joshua jerked his legs and a horrible snapping sound could be heard by Faust and the child. The Clawdite had finished his task with merely a broken hand and some snot on his armor. The hunter retrieves his weapons and places them back in their respective places. "How did I do?"

Silvery eyes watched the boy begging for food. This child had seen many hardships in his short-life. All this child needed to survive this day was food. But this one choice, would set into motion millions of courses of events. If he suggested to feed the child, he could possibly grow stronger and somehow survive youth in the slums of Nar Shadda. By having lived on Nar Shadda his whole life, he would have learned the skills essential to survival, and join the ranks of the bounty hunters. Possibly leading to the childs first hunt being Stykes himself. After finding Joshua, possibly he would kill the Clawdite. So feeding this child could potentially lead to his own demise. But what if this child was destined to save millions of lives, stopping the spread of some deadly disease. He could become a politician, devoted to stopping the spread of war, poverty, depression, and famine. So killing this child could only make the world worse for innocents. But noone was innocent. Noone in this galaxy was innocent. So could this child become a murder and kill hundreds of people. Too many possible outcomes for this childs future. "I say you give the child the food. As of now he presents no threat to us, and killing him could lead to a fight in which we both die. Though we would probably win, it could possibly lead tyo our deaths.. Joshua hoped he had made the right choice.

Joshuas mind was reeling from the shock. He had been told that Vladimir Faust was a ruthless killer with no mercy, and no qualms about who he killed. They had made it seem like he killed for fun, and merely becuase he could. But this was not a question he expected from a bounty hunter. Until this point, Joshua had believed he was the only hunter who actually had intelligence. But Faust seemed to used his knowledge to view humanity as well as tto view the battle he was in. "There are 2 types of people. Those who have the skills necessary to survive, and those who don't." Joshua keeps walking along with Faust toward wherever their destination was.

"Because I wish to learn from you. Your the best hunter in the game and always will be. Your legacy is greater than that of Boba Fett, and other hunters. " Joshua knew that this could very well be the last moments of his life. but if it was his time, he would make sure he gave Faust one hell of a fight.

The Force flowed strongly through this planet. The life forces deep within the waters and on the surface generated strong Force currents to all beings sensitive to its calling, and one was calling upon its wisdom and abilities. Leonardo Stovachi felt the flow of the Force strongly. Its presence was well known to him and now he needed it to complete a purpose of his own. He needed a new lightsaber and the Force would be his tool. The crystal floating in the air was to be the energy source devoted to the blade. Within minutes, other pieces were floating around the crystal. Darkness soon overtook him. As the whiteness of the Mon Calimari rooms soon returned to him, he realized he had finished his lightsaber. In his mind, he knew its single sapphire blade would strike fear into peoples minds. He once again entered the room containing his wife.

Joshua felt the blade slightly prick into his neck, as blood slowly trickles down his neck. He felt every motion of the droplet of blood, almost like it was a nerve its own. His eyes were locked onto Fausts blade and knew that death was merely seconds away. "Something drew me here. It was almost like I needed to be here. And now that you are here, I feel it was true." Joshua merely waits for Faust to make his move. Now that he looks back on it, approaching Faust was probably a bad move. MAny people had died by his hand for less. But something in the back of his mind, told him he was in the right place.

Silver eyes watched as Faust entered a bar. they focused on the other civilians entering the establishment. He knew this man was probably the most dangerous man in the entire galaxy. But here he was, with the oppourtunity to chat with the best hunter in the game. Joshua enters the bar and sees Faust in a corner seat. The bounty hunter steps toward Faust. "Hello Faust."

The moon of Nar Shadda slowly roitated. Its cities gleaming brightly as the DeathWing burst forth from hyperspace. Joshua sat st the controls and landed the small craft down on a small landing pad. The Clawdite steps forth and awaits something tocome along

Dozens of eyes, antennas, and telepathic minds, were focused on the new combatant who had entered the arena. All of them had seen the bloodshed that happened when one small as Joshua entered the arena to fight. It always ended in his death, and the weapons being distributed amongst the victors. Joshua watched as the betting began. He could see that he was the underdog as far as the crowd was concerned, but he knew better. He had fought tougher combatants than they could muster here. He knew his strenghts, and their limits. And he knew the warriors of Rattack would not be able to contain him. His nightvision eyes scanned the arena, checking for a combatant worthy of his skills. Then he saw the perfect specimen. A large Rattack warrior holding a spear in one hand a blaster rifle in the other. He bore the scars of many wars and battles, but yet he had survived. This was the warrior Joshua would take down. The sweet sound of metal grazing metal rang through the air, turning heads toward Joshua. His vibroblade seemed to glow in the light of the blood-red world, attracting attention from even the most respected warriors. "I challenge you." The tip of his blade was aimed directly at the heart the warrior he intended to fight.His size made him the perfect target of Rattack warriors. He was small and a worthless warrior, but the more victories on their scorecard, the more they got paid. Within seconds of the challenge, the aren was cleared except for Joshua and the warrior who had been identified as Rotunda. Rotunda had holstered his blaster rifle and the spear, point downward in the other. Joshua himself had sheathed his vibroblade and now stood defenseless, awaiting the warrior to charge. The Clawdites tactics were more conventional in plan than most. He let his opponent attack first, thus giving him the advantage of knowing his opponents style, before letting on that he could adapt to it. Being an test subject, Joshua had learned to adapt to different settings and tests everyday, always adapting. Then it happened, Rotunda attacked him with the speed of a nexu, the spear plunging toward Joshuas beating heart. Joshua could see this warriors style immediately, a quick kill is what he yearned for. A chance to end the battle before he could get injured for tired, both things that could give his opponenets a chance. But Joshua could adapt. His feet were like lightning as he ducked and rolled to the right of Rotunda. As he rose to his feet, his eyes watched as the spear began to arc his way. The Clawdite bounty hunter fell to his back and propped his feet into the air, with perfect timing. Rotunda could only watch in amazement as Joshua wrapped his right knee around the spear, and pulled down. A snap could be heard as the hunter left foot smahed into the handle, seperating the dangerous half of the spear, from the handle. If a camera could have caught Joshuas face, a smirk would be all they could see. His eyes glowed silver with the promise of a new victory to add to his new scorecard. A victory that would place him in the top tanks of the Rattack arena duels. But somethign unexpected happened. Instead of dropping trhe broken spear and going for his rifle, like Joshua had intended, the brute raised the broken spear and plunged it deep into Joshuas leg. Wood splintered and broke off as the spear met bone in a painful connection. Joshua screamed in pain as blood sprayed across his newly cleaned armor. Blood now covered the sand that was buried underneath Joshua, sand that had always contained blood. But Joshua was not out of the fight yet. Through sheer force of will, he raied upon his legs and and stared down upon Rotunda. An evil glare passed between the two before Rotunda struck again. Except this time, the large humanoid struck with the energy of a blaster rifle, and the ferocity of an acklay. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In mere moments, the Rattack warrior no longer held a deadly smirk upon his face. Now he lay upon the blood soaked ground, dead. Blood oozed from froma wound in his neck, a wound that resulted from the spear lodged in its neck. In a few blows, Joshua had managed to pierce the warriors armor and shove the broken spear through a main artery. Now Joshua was the supreme warrior of the arena. But that was all he needed. Now he needed to leave this planet and make some money. The blow to his leg still caused pain to rip his body to shreds. After the fight, the Clawedite had been able to tie a piece of cloth around it to try and stop the bleeding. But the wound still poured blood on the ramp of his ship. Sticks sat down upon the control chair and applied some bacta to his wound. His engines lite up and within seconds, the DeathWing, was in hyperspace, heading toward parts unknown.

The planet of Rattack was a planet that Joshua had come to like. The need to fight and stay strong was a necessity. If one chose not to fight, nor could they stay strong, death was a certain to fly by, and sweep them off their feet, forever. The DeathWings engines ceased whining as the landing ramp lowered, allowing the armored form of Joshua Stykes to emerges from the belly of the craft. He had reverted to his true form and now gazed around the the arena. Blood soaked warriors and slaves watched as he entered the combat circle. The bounty hunter wanted to fight.

The cold steel of Joshuas eyes turn upon Mike. With his blood drenched blade still in hand he steps toard the hunter with the urge to hunt still in his eyes. Through his eyes, the world appeared many shades of green. The hunter before him now appeared dark green, while the walls were that of emerald. The Clawdite stretches his hand out toward Mike and takes the datapad. Mikes words echoed through his mind as the datapoad was held in his hands. A quick slice could be heard as the blade is sheathed once again. "Yes sir." Joshua turns on his heels and storms backto his ship. All that effort and not even praise for his work. Sometimes it seemed being a bounty hunter was too much work for too little praise. But then again, he would become rich. The engines of the DeathWing flare and the ship speds into hyperspace.