Ord Mantell

[ReignOfKarth]

Celora stretched awkwardly as she surveyed the Mid-Rim planet of Ord Mantell, one of the strongholds of the Black Sun criminal organization which she was considering pledging herself to, rather than the legions of the Sith where she had recieved the beginnings of her training. From the numerous ads she had read on the Holonet, mostly for things like "Stretchy Well Trained Twileks: A Modern Art Presentation", the large drug-fueled hallucination shops "Night on Felucia: How to pretend everything is perfect without doing anything", and the largest casino's "Double Discount Night: All proceeds going to the support of our boys and girls at Onderon", this seemed to be a hub of questionable activities. She was very used to questionable activies.

 

She had found it very difficult to avoid the cybernetically-enhanced Black Sun agent who had transported her here. Celora had quiet a bit of experience with cybernetic humans during her life as a slave, several of her cruel owners using them to beef up their already drugged-up strength. She shook her head, they could definently have used them better to change their extremely limited intelligence. The port at the base of her companions skull was new however, and slightly creepy. Still, it was the girl's friendliness that had disturbed her. In the experience of the young force-user, most people who acted friendly always wanted something from, wanted her to suffer, yet this girl had not harmed her, though she obviously could have on their flight. Celora understtod the mindest of the cruel, the fearful, and the just. This one, however, did not seem to fit into any of these categories, and Celora didn't trust what she couldn't understand.

[ReignOfKarth]

The creepy girl that was accompanying Celora to a destination yet unnamed continued her odd cheerfulness as the unusual pair landed at the docking port and exited through the cargo ramp. Her strange mechanical actions unnerved Celora a bit, so different from the semi-machine creatures she had seen many times before on the slave ships and worlds of the Outer Rim. The creature before her was fluid, her movements precise as her human and non human parts integrated seamlessly. This one was clearly not all human.

 

"I, umm, I'm not sure what I want," Celora gritted out, her nervousness around the other girl and the atmosphere which constantly reminded her of slavery causing her stutter to return. "I-I've been a, uh, slave, with the Imperials and the Sith. None of them seemed to fit. I just... I want to feel powerful, but murdering and torturing everything in sight like the Sith doesn't seem right. I-I don't know."

 

Her small pale hand clutched tightly to the handle of the lightsaber the Vermandois twins had given her as she watched the surly figures of slaver and pirates lurking in the shadows. She figured she wasn't supposed to take the lightsaber, especially since she hadn't made it, but she had left too suddenly to find them first. Perhaps one day she would return it with her thanks for what she been taught.

[ReignOfKarth]

"Well, I mean I know how to fly, kinda and how to be a ships gunner. Most of my recent years as a slave were spent on my bac... never mind sorry."

 

Celora ceased her stammering as they entered the local slave auction. Most of the standard races were represented in the wide area, buyers peering around and testing out prospective buys while slavers looked on eagerly or hawked their goods. It was a scene Celora knew well from her time on Nar Shaddaa and other pirate worlds. She even recognized the marking of several crews, and unknowingly cringed back slightly at seeing them, one hand dropping toward the lightsaber and the other gently caressing her neck. Though she had not been a slave for some time, the memories of endless years wearing the deadly collar would not fade so soon.

 

With a slight shudder at the question from the inhuman girl, Celora responded, "I can't say I particularly enjoy the site, too many bad memories. If I end up working for you, I would prefer to not directly be a part of slaving operations. However, I have left that portion of my life behind me, and I will do what I must. I am no longer Weak."

[ReignOfKarth]

To say that the young human force user was surprised would be a gross understatement. Celora's lower jaw dropped open as she watched the Black Sun soldier casually execute a nearby slaver, unafraid of any response or reprisal. She even managed to taunt the former slave after Celora's attempt at diplomatically facing one of her greatest fears and dislikes. It almost seemed like the Black Sun girl wanted her companion to fly off and start cutting people to pieces without regard to their status, to watch the blood of these scum fly as the blood of many slaves had before...

 

Before Celora could formulate any response, a familiar voice shouted a long string of curses from only a few dozen feet away. Celora recognized the overly fat Gamorrean as Rusak, the leader of a slaver gang she had become... closely acquainted with during her time as a slave. The Gamorrean and his two brothers were currently engage in checking their merchandise in an overly friendly manner, their coarse laughter a cruel response to the screams of their victim. Celora's thoughts returned to her own past as she stepped involuntarily toward them, her hand dropping to the hilt of the borrowed lightsaber at her side. By chance alone, one of the three brothers happened to glance at the approaching human, his ugly facing splitting into a tusk-filled grin as he reached toward the much smaller girl.

 

Celora's training with the lightsaber was only in its infancy, but training with the Vermandois brothers had taught her one thing if nothing else: good reflexes. In a flash, the crimson blade dashed from its holster and flicked through the air, leaving behind the hand and arm of the Gamorrean brute. Before he could let out more than a surprised pig grunt, her return swing lopped off his head like a razor knife through bantha butter. The second Gamorrean, less stunned than their leader Rusak, reached one meaty hand toward the blaster at his side, the other hand fruitlessly holding his hand out for her to stop. Unfortunately for the piggy humanoid, he stood closer to the girl than his eldest brother. Celora dashed forward in a low run with her saber trailing slightly behind, before swinging the blade in a rapid circle with all the strength of her small body, chopping through more than half of the Gamorrean's body before her strike ended. Screaming in feral rage, Rusak charged, swinging the traditional heavy axe commonly used by his race. However, it proved no match for the power of her lightsaber, her block chopping the weapon in half as the blade plunged deep into the Gamorrean, his last pained gasp overshadowed by her vicious snarl.

 

The head of the severed axe had grazed her arm as it plummeted to the ground, but Celora didn't even notice the dripping blood as she turned to face the Black Sun officer, adrenal flowing through her veins. "Good enough?"

[ReignOfKarth]

The dilated eyes of the former slave girl opened even wider as the Black Sun Officer stepped forward, an intent gaze in her eyes. Celora flinched back, expecting to be struck in punishment for her actions, but the blow past by her without so much as a hair being disturbed. Her eyes blinked rapidly as the final Gamorrean dropped to the ground, and her dangerous companion simply laughed. Everything the criminal did seemed to throw Celora off a bit, like her simply looting the dead slavers as they passed, even though she was undoubtedly paid far more by the same organization that these slavers worked under.

 

"Well, um, we could do that, and get some cool, uh, duo kills going. Like... tough girl style? I mean, if, uh, d-do they deserve it?"

 

Celora instantly blushed as her brain caught up to her mouth and she realized what she had last said. She was a criminal now, she was supposed to be tough and evil, and now she sounded like a simpering, loose-tongued goody-goody idiot. Her internal monologue restarted as she beat herself up mentally, "No way she's gonna want to hang out after this, who'd want to be around someone damaged like me anyways."

[ReignOfKarth]

Sudden and surprising physical contact was NOT something that Celora enjoyed, but she recovered her wits before she decided to follow through with her first impulse, that being to slice off the hand of the Black Sun girl. In the eye of her damaged mind, it was not the smooth hand of the cybernetic agent, but the rough and painful grip of her former masters, brutish strength and callous disgust directed toward her pale and delicate flesh. Memories danced across her vision like waking dreams, memories of those same hands roaming up past her thin shoulders to grip her neck or yanking on her arms and hurling her across the room to add to the permanent yet ever changing mass of bruises, cuts and scars, many of which still marred her flesh. A gruesome testament to the suffering she and millions of others had endured, as the weak fell to the strong.

 

However, in the time since her freedom, Celora had developed something of a wary expectation regarding surprises, and recovered quickly as she followed the insistent tugging of the Black Sun Agent. While much of the under city looked similar to the slave alleys of her home world Nar Shaddaa, she found the atmosphere under Black Sun rule superior. If nothing else, there were far less of the massive slimy tubes of fat and flesh known as the Hutts, (No offense intended to her former master Sheog the Mad). The statue of the Blood Prince was impressive, but she was used to the worst of the myriad races, and found it hard to be in awe of any she had not personally met. Being based out of Nar Shaddaa, the name of the Blood Prince was usually either accompanied by curses and hate, or spoken in furtive whispers behind tankards of ale.

 

Celora found the weapons to be much more impressive, however. In her slave years, most of the weapons had been cheap and worn, taken off the bodies of other pirates or foreigners they had murdered, or plundered from the corporate ships and freighters. While the armories of the Imperial's no doubt had a weapon collection equal or greater to the one before her, she hadn't stayed long enough to be able to access them. A few pieces in particular stood out to her, such as an advanced personal energy shield, and several heavy pieces reminiscent of bounty hunting rifles she had seen in the bars on a hundred criminal worlds.

 

"What is the Thyferran league?"

[ReignOfKarth]

"Bacta? That stuff is like, super expensive right? Used for armies and stuff? I saw a container of it in a Hutt palace onetime, and my former... masters talked about stealing some alot. Are you guys planning to cut off the supply to the rest of the galaxy? I mean, I know you guys do like... bad things, but that dosen't seem, uh good? Won't other armies come and try and take it over, I mean yall are pretty strong, but I've seen the Empire. Not sure you want to fight those guys... But, uh, I'm down if thats what we're doing... I kinda need a job, like, really bad."

 

Celora jestured to the lightsaber at her side, "I mean this does the job most of the time. Maybe," The girl spotted an interesting weapon on the wall, a "retrieved" Imperial grenade launcher.

[ReignOfKarth]

Celora knew how important maintaining a tight grip on certain types of resources was, part of the varied and painfully learned education "provided" by her former slave masters, in the forms of overheard discussions and remorseless punishment if she failed to know some piece of information they deemed critical. An aggressive attempt to seize Bacta made sense for the growing criminal organization, particularly with the conflicts raging in other parts of the galaxy. Her thoughts turned briefly to her rescuer and former friend, "Don't go dying on me now, Tallin. I still owe you."

 

The girl gestured toward the saber at her side, manipulating it with the Force so that it lazily spun in circles in front of her, displaying the telekinesis she had started to learn from the Force memories, "I've had some training with it, and in the Force. But anyone, uh, truly good with the blade would beat me I think. We, we are getting paid, for this job, right?"