章 112: A Murder of C.R.O.Ws
I don't own Star wars
It was one day after my fight. So I got one day of rest when the job came knocking. Well, it had been a few days. A little over a week really. But as I sat in my room being tended to by my favorite nurse my sister, who was staying with us in light of some fancy hotel, answered the door.
"Urai! Welcome to our home… is it time for the changing of the guard?"
"In a matter of speaking. Roland home?"
"Here." I mumbled quietly as Nike changed my head bandages and he entered, blinking at me rather humorously.
"…Well… what happened to you?"
"Charity." Circe cooed sweetly, rubbing my shoulder as she walked off. "I'll get Mirai."
"A boxing match…" I mumbled quietly, "I got the crap beaten out of me…"
"You should see the other guy." Nike noted proudly, "Especially once Caradoc got a hold of him." she finished tenderly bandaging me ."Okay Roland we're good." I got to my feet. Slowly, mind you. And approached Urai.
"So? Job? What is it?" I asked as he cleared his throat.
"Well… about a week ago certain… employees of Torga who would like to remain nameless."
"Pirates." Mirai noted as she entered, Urai glared at his daughter who merely looked aimlessly away as if interested in the ceiling before Urai continued.
"Nameless employees." He repeated sternly, "Shot down an Imperial supply ship sneaking around through our space. Honestly, they should know better. Well our guys chased them around, Imperial gear is good pickings, and finally brought them down on a planet. Then came a problem, our nameless employees are exceptionally superstitious and refuse wholeheartedly to go down and collect what survived the impact."
"Superstitious?" I asked gently scratching my itchy bruises, "What's wrong with the planet?"
"The planet in question is Dathomier-" He noted rolling his eyes, "-'Superstitious' is the gentle phrasing I'm using. COWARDS. Might be a better term… but it does have witches, killer beasts, including Rancors, and there have even been rumors of rotten corpses walking in the night seeking the flesh of the living…" he waved a hand before his face in a 'spooky' sort of manner, "Nonsense really. But they refused. So Torga's willing to pay you top credits to go and see what you can bring back…"
"Why me?" I asked nervously, I didn't much like the idea of witches and rancors… or 'walking corpses'.
"Well you have Killa, Seis, Caradoc… and if she agrees to go Mirai-Ken." He said gesturing to his daughter who, still under her helmet, seemed surprised.
"Me? You're letting me go?"
He shrugged, "…Honestly you've been bodyguarding Circe or patrolling the Jewel for weeks… you could use a stretch and Roland could use the extra muscle for Danthomier. Do you not want to go?" he asked a little teasingly, knowing she definitely would want a little action.
"Of Course!" she said a little more excitedly than I bet she intended, clearing her throat in the helmet. "May I come along captain?"
I rolled my eyes, "…Sure why not. We still got room."
"And I'll take over as Circe's bodyguard until you come back. Shouldn't take you longer than a few days." He made himself comfy on my couch, "I'll try not to mess anything up while you're gone."
Circe ruffled my hair as we made to take off, getting everything loaded and ready. "I'll still be here when you come back. We'll do something before I have to head back." We gave each other a quick hug, and apparently so did Rattletrap, wrapping his arms around her leg. She let him, but soon X-E dragged him onto the ship when it became awkward.
So here's a thing I didn't realize and came out of nowhere, Mirai was a Mirialan! Didn't see that coming. Once she removed her helmet after a day on the ship I have to admit I was… well a little taken aback. She was pretty…
…I'm starting to think I have a type: dangerous women. I'm not sure how I felt about that…
Still though it did bring questions. "So… you're a Mirialan?" I asked and feeling a little stupid at the obviousness of the question. We were in the armory making sure everything was clean and ready.
"My mother is a Mirialan. I'm a Mandalorian…" she said simply enough, making sure her blaster barrel was well cared for. "She basically tried sleeping her way through the hierarchy of Torga's management not realizing my Father would have none of it."
"Sorry…" I noted sheepishly, but she shrugged.
"I still see her from time to time, but we don't really talk. She hasn't quite gotten into her head that I LIKE being a Mandalorian and I have no interest in charming my way through life."
"Good for you…" I said a little more confident. "My sister's first manager was like that. He didn't last long. Want her to go into modeling first."
An elegant green eyebrow rose curiously, "I'm… sorry, are you comparing me to your sister?"
"Um… maybe? I'm not trying to insult you…"
"I've spent a lot of time with your sister and I assure you it's not an insult." She smiled, "As a matter of fact…" she said confidently, staring me down. "I believe I'm the only one on this ship to have her blessing on courting you…"
"Wait what?" I blinked at her, as Seis interrupted us by walking into the hold and hauling the sniper rifle she found back on Luna IV.
"So what's the plan for Dathomier? I hear the shit gets thrown into the fan a lot…" she noted, interrupted perhaps intentionally.
"I uh…" Mirai continued to smile knowingly at me as I cleared my throat, "*Cough* Uh… We're going to split up. Caradoc, Mirai, Killa and I will look for the cargo, You Nike and X-E will stay and protect the ship from anything unnatural."
"And Rattletrap?" Mirai noted.
"Well he is the Pilot, if necessary he can find us and provide cover fire." I noted, "I don't know the landing situation on the planet, but I imagine they don't want visitors."
Just then Rattletrap's voice echoed over the com, "Bro! You're going to want to come here and have a look, we're coming up on Dathomier."
Lit by a red star, the planet Dathomier looked like a hellscape… with jagged crags of rocks for mountains and forests of twisted bent trees and thick disturbing fog. I'd rather not stay here any longer than we had to.
"Do you see any sign of the crashed ship?" I asked as Rattletrap fiddled with multiple odds and ends on the ship. He shrugged sheepishly and gestured to X-E.
"We have a general location provided by Torga's employees, Captain Roland." She replied for him as we flew over the craggy mountain peaks that looked like the teeth of some huge monster. "However we are having difficulty finding a landing spot suitable for the Ship. Our closet landing zone is in the middle of someplace registered as…" her eyes flashed briefly, "…Quarantine Zone: Blackwing." She noted mechanically.
"Yeah. No. Let us stay the hell away from anything with the word 'Quarantine' alright?"
"Indeed. I expected as much." She replied with a nod, "So Master Rattletrap will land further south of the crash location. The walk shouldn't take you as long."
"Why not just drop us over the crash itself?" Seis asked curiously, joining us by leaning on the doorframe and chewing an apple "Rapple down?"
"We would still need a location to land and allow you to board along with any cargo we recover." X-E replied
I waved my hand, "It's fine. You're not coming anyway you're guarding the ship." I noted, she shrugged and followed me back into the hold where the others were waiting.
"Fine by me." She added, lifting her new sniper rifle from the arms wall and resting it on her shoulder. "I'll keep the big scary monsters away."
Caradoc sniffed indignantly as he handed Nike her modded bowcaster (a gift Rattletrap made it for her a while back.) before grabbing his vibro-sword and bowcaster. "See that you do. If I come back to an angry rancor I'm not going to be happy."
"Speak for yourself." Mirai said proudly as we heard the rumble of the ship as it descended to the ground. "A dead Rancor would be an excellent present for my clan."
Caradoc rolled his eyes as Nike made sure the rickety armor Rattletrap had made up for me was secured tightly to my unused frame. "Alright. Now stay close to Caradoc and let Killa and Mirai kill everything alright?" she asked sounding a little more concerned than I expected. "Try not to draw attention to yourselves."
"No worries there…" I replied giving her a nervous grin as the ship landed and Caradoc opened the ramp. "…Don't let Rattletrap anywhere near those chemicals of his." I noted firmly, "I am not staying on this planet longer than I need to. You're in charge." She smirked at me as I followed Caradoc out with Mirai just behind.
Killa shared a knowing look with Nike and nodded, putting on a shoddy copy of her mask. (another recent gift from Rattletrap) and soon followed. Seis, now donning a hood, mask and goggles, climbed onto the ship resting next to one of the turrets and making herself comfortable, waving us off into the red-tinted forest of twisted trees. The fog kicked about our legs like dust as we went…
Odd globs of, I hope, plant life hung from the trees… I really hope those were plants. Caradoc sniffed the air as he stared at them, aiming with his bowcaster as if to shoot. "…Wait." He noted, Killa and Mirai immediately obeyed. He sniffed and again and lowered it, "…Its fine." He decided for us. Although Killa and Mirai held their weapons a little closer as I placed a finger on the trigger of dad's rifle.
"What was that about?" I asked catching up to Caradoc but he shuck his head.
"I've never hunted here before. I'm going on instincts." He replied looking at me, "But if half the stories of Dathomier are true we're in for a bad time."
"We should be far for witch territory." Mirai said suddenly, "They've taken to staying far away from this side of the planet."
I turned to her, "…Why?" I asked but it seemed I was answered. A massive, wall of concrete and steel appeared before us from the fog and I stared up at it. It was at least forty feet high, smooth as if sanded down, and on the very top were large anti-personnel turrets pointing inward, spread out at twenty-foot intervals.
"Enter at your own risk." Came an odd monotone from nowhere, and up went our weapons, standing back to back and standing guard for each other.
"Okay… who said that?" I asked calmly, feeling Killa's back pressing against mine as her tri-barrel rifle hummed dangerously.
There was no answer for a long time. Then… "Enter at your own risk." Came the voice again. We all aimed upward and saw what looked like a humanoid imperial droid armed with a repeater blaster on its arm, walking away. However soon another walked towards us on the wall, turned to face us, "Enter at your Risk." It said then moved on again just like the other.
"…This is the quarantine zone." Caradoc concluded as again a new droid approached and repeated the words. "They aren't trying very hard to keep us-" however as he spoke the droid instead of repeating the phrase turned around and started firing into the wall as the turret opened fire… immediately we dove for cover as the blasters roared through the air.
However as quickly as it began it soon stopped, and the droids moved on. We stared a little nervously at the firepower, "…I was not expecting that." Killa noted as Mirai and I nodded.
"…Right. I suppose a quarantine would keep something in wouldn't it." I added as Caradoc suddenly chuckled.
"Let's… just move on." He added, ignoring the ominous structure and the phrase repeating droids. Soon however as we left we came across several destroyed trees, something large and heavy hit them hard and we saw the deep trench it made…
The destroyed imperial craft was still smoking but it had long petered out, great open holes lined its hull where the blaster fire had penetrated. Hesitantly we approached. "Should we… call out?" I asked aiming down dad's rifle at the wreck.
Caradoc sniffed the air for a moment and scowled, "Nothing but rot and death…" he lowered his rifle, "…Nothing alive in there." He added, approaching the vessel.
"Good enough for me…" I added, running up behind him as Mirai sighed.
"Well, that's disappointing." She grumbled, "I assumed my father sent me here because it was dangerous.
"Just because Caradoc says it's safe doesn't mean a rancor or something won't try to eat us on the way back." Killa noted, patting her shoulder and following us in.
However they might as well have just stayed outside, everything was jumbled and wreaked, a handful of coffin-like capsules were smashed and wrecked, there contents… well corpses it looked like, rotten and deteriorating apparently for a long time.
"Pilot's a droid." Caradoc sniffed, coming back into the hold and glaring at the dead bodies inside the capsules. "…What are these?" I scoffed as Mirai and Killa followed suit.
"Well… those storage containers they're in are old. And apparently have malfunctioned…" she said, brushing away dust and smog, "…C.R.O.W?" Mirai blinked throughtfully, "…That sounds so familiar."
"Hey." Killa noted, "…This one's still on." She said and pulling away the wreckage she pointed, "There's still a body inside."
I scratched my head, as I looked through the view panel at the face of the man inside. Jet black hair, youthful face. But other than that, I couldn't really make anything out of him. Killa brushed her cheeks against me to look as well. "…He's a handsome one. Who do you think he is?" she smirked at me, apparently trying to make a joke.
"…He looks like the others." Caradoc noted, staring at one of the least deteriorated bodies. "Brothers? Clones?" he glared at the one in the still active capsule. "…He looks familiar… I've SEEN him before I'm sure."
"Now that you mention it." Killa said seriously stepping away from the thing. "…I think I've seen him before too… but older…" her eyes narrowed, "… It's going to bother me forever until I figure it out."
"…Ozjin Knights." Mirai said suddenly, holding up a holo-com, "He looks like Ozjin Knights, at least what he looked like near the beginning of his career." She held out a holo-display of an older man, except remarkably even more cybernetic and many more years on, "He's still on the bounty hunter registry."
Caradoc and Killa nodded as they realized where the recognition came from. "Okay…" I added, "But what are apparently clones of some bounty hunter doing on this sh-"
There was an ear-piercing beep from the capsule and an ominous hiss as pressure was released. Immediately our blaster went up. "What did you do?!" Caradoc shouted. But we stepped away as the capsule slowly opened…
Like something from a horror-holo the body slowly sat up, his eyes were still shut, and he was bare-chested… but heavily covered in metal that dug into his skin: he had been cyberized. Slowly his eyes opened and they glowed with a mechanical red light as they narrowed on us. His face was empty and hollow, there was no emotion…
"...That's not good." I noted immediately, seconds away from firing. His metal hands suddenly shot up and our weapons were blasted from our grips clattering outside. Forced out by some magnetic blast. His shoulders suddenly popped out a pair of cylinders, they glowed red hot and hissed hot air as they cooled.
Caradoc roared, drawing his vibrosword on the clone, the hilt of a sword popped from his mechanical limb and he caught it extending it into a sword of his own as he crashed it against Caradoc's sword, easily fending him off. Mirai turned and ran for her blaster as I extended my own sword as Killa charged in, her claws popping as she roared a battle cry. However, Caradoc was hurled bodily at her and they both crashed outside as the man charged toward me.
"Oh crap!" I dodged, again and again. But the thing that attack me remained emotionless as another hilt shot from his other arm and yet another sword extended, "Oh come on!" I shouted, scrambling back as Mirai shouted out a warning. I dove away as blaster fire peppered the thing, but his swords moved like a jedi, either absorbing or deflecting the blasts.
"Shit!" Mirai cursed as Caradoc and Killa charged together, but even attacking at the same time the thing continued to fight on, but there was a noted hesitance, he was having difficulty attacking them together.
Rounding up my courage I charged in, his swords flashed like lighting but we were driving it back… then I was proven wrong. With amazing dexterity, it kicked away Killa, blocked an overhead stroke from Caradoc and then slashed the big wookiee across his thighs. Caradoc roared out in anger and pain, but he dropped to his knees. The thing's swords went up, then down…
I stopped it, roaring my own fury at the thing I was driven forward, everything a little more focused. The rage helped, but only a little. I could see his swords coming at me, but I couldn't attack without endangering myself…
Then a miracle. Mirai, with my father's rifle, made a lone blaster shot slammed into his arm, it sizzled and smoked as his sword went flying, briefly stunned I took advantage, slashing it across the throat. It didn't even look confused and a mixture of blood and thick green substance leaked down my blade… it feebly tried to swing the sword as if still committed to fighting… but it harmlessly slapped against my side and dropped to the ground as it twitched… I yanked my blade from its neck, spun, and brought it back around… its head severed from its body and dropped lifeless to the ground. Its head bouncing away… its eyes dimmed…
I released a breath I hadn't realized I was holding, and my fury dimmed, "Caradoc!" I shouted remembering my uncle's injury, but the big wookiee growled angrily. Well, at least I knew he was okay.
"Damn old bones…" he grumbled a little disappointedly as Killa and Mirai immediately wrapped the slashes on his legs with bandages. "…I'm must be out of practice…" he added a little sadly as we lifted him from the ground.
"…Okay… what the heck was that!?" I shouted, pointing at the dead thing with my sword, "And why the heck did it activate!?"
"More to the point…" Mirai grunted, lifting Caradoc higher from the ground with some effort. "…What are we going to tell my father?"
Killa took Caradoc's vibrosword and grabbed the thing's left metal arm, pulling it out and slashing it off. "If he asks… this is what we found." She replied, shaking the limp thing as I went to help Caradoc.
"Agreed." We replied, and a little dejected we began heading back to the ship, and within the hour heading back to Luna IV and a probably disappointed Urai and Torga
End of Chapter
Bonus
I clapped my hands joyously as the C.R.O.W fell to my grandson's sword. "Wonderful! They were better than I thought!"
"The C.R.O.W or your grandson?" came the wizened voice of Chant from Kaath-Tyi's mouth as he made her float in the lotus position above the ground in a meditative state.
"Both." I smiled at the moody Chant as his disk on the necklace glowed. "So, what do you think? Do you want a C.R.O.W?"
Kaath-Tyi's facial expression scowled with a look that was given to hundreds of pupils centuries ago: one of intense disappointment. "I don't know how I feel about them dying so easily to some inbred child."
I frowned sourly, "Now now… that's my Grandson you're speaking off… besides those C.R.O.Ws were YEARS out of date… the guy we cloned them from is in his 70's now I think. And we didn't give them any sort of orders other than search and destroy."
"All I hear is excuses…" Chant snarled only to be interrupted by Gasp as her disk glowed and she claimed Kaath-Tyi's body. Her legs carefully planting on the ground as she strutted towards me like a cheap date.
"Oh lighten up you old codger!" she said breathily, with a voice like warm honey, stroking Kaath-Tyi's shapely body like it was sore. "There have been dozens of improvements just take a body! Surely you don't want to continue sharing a body with me?!"
Kaath-Tyi suddenly snarled awkwardly as Chant and Gasp fought for control, humorously arguing with themselves as I sighed. "Children? Children!" I shouted getting their attention, "It's NO ISSUE." I insisted, "If Chant doesn't want to be a C.R.O.W then we'll just clone his genetic signature like we did with Scream and Whisper."
"Yes, and that worked out for Scream so well…" Chant replied sarcastically. It didn't suit him. But hundreds of years trapped with a handful of essentially (to him) infantile inferiors, you would unavoidably develop certain traits.
"Lighten up you old codger." I replied firmly and Kaath-Tyi chuckled haughtily as Gasp took control, probably as Chant was thrust into shock by my tone. "Scream will be fine."
"He was missing most of his face, left arm, legs… and other important bits." Gasp said with a smirk, "But we can rebuild him." She said with another laugh, "Although I'm not sure it will be worth it… all things considered."
"If he had listened to me it wouldn't have happened… but NO." I said mockingly as we headed towards my stealth ship. "I am THE SCREAM me smash red-headed man!" I added, imitating his grunting and roaring rather well in my opinion. Although he can talk normally enough, unfortunately. "Dumbass. He didn't learn anything from Silent's battle now did he?"
"And yet…" Chant noted, Kaath-Tyi walking a little less sexily now that he was in control, "He will still learn nothing. Thousands of years in the holocron and he refuses to adapt. Refuses to grow…"
I chuckled good-humoredly, "Well… let's hope that encounter with my son in law put him in a more productive mood."
End of Bonus
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