The Rebel Faction

Sha'ta'lusk was getting antsy....


And Shalis was getting nervous. Her worst fears were soon confirmed when she heard the Sha'ta'lusk begin to move around the other side of the cargo bay, apparently inspecting the cargo. If it came to her area.....


She heard the ship whine, as if it were coming out of hyperspace. There was soon a louder crashing sound as Sha'ta'lusk knocked one of the crates off of it's pile and it splintered to pieces on the floor. Shalis cautiously rose and peered over the pile of crates separating her from the monster. She could just barely glimpse the sight of the creature curiously poking at a golden bipedal protocol droid on the floor. Apparently it had been in the now busted crate....


Sha'ta'lusk poked the droid's head, and suddenly it's golden eyes lit up and it sat up.


"OH MY!" exclaimed the droid as it came face to face with the creature poking at it, and the droid threw it's arms up in the air. Instead of promptly goring the droid, the Sha'ta'lusk surprised Shalis by curiously reaching out and grabbing the droid, and making it's arm move up and down. It was as if he could sense that the droid was not a living creature, and could not figure out why it was acting like it was alive.


The floor suddenly began to rumble as the ship's repuslorlifts kicked on, and Sha'ta'lusk abruptly turned it's attention away from the droid, startled by the sudden new sensation.... unfortunately, it's gaze landed right on Shalis.


It recognized her... she had tried to kill it!


Sha'ta'lusk roared, and bounded after Shalis, stomping the ship's cargo in it's way to pieces as it charged. Shalis cursed loudly, and darted for cover. Looked about things were about to get real ugly, unless the ship landed and she could escape out of the hold....

The hair on the back of Silus' neck rose. He'd heard that roar before, before that creature charged him.

It must have followed me, his lip curled at the thought, Kill it. Kill it now. Kill it now! Make it hurt! KILL IT!

Rage filled him as he grabbed his lightsaber and headed to the cargo hold. Silus pushed people out of his way, barely noticing them. A few shouted curses after him, but that didn't matter. A voice kept repeating in his head.

Kill it, hurt it, make it bleed! Destroy it! The voice urged him on, until by the time he reached the cargo hold he was running. His lightsaber turned on with a hiss, red blade lighting the area around him.

The cargo hold was a mess. Here and there crates had been tipped over and searched, their items thrown across the floor. Here and there were parts for speeders, spices tossed aside, even a protocol droid. And in the corner was the same creature Silus had fought on Bpfassh. He charged it before it noticed him, knocking it into the wall in spite of it's size. It recovered quickly, slicing at Silus with it's arm. He rolled under it and came up with a slash across the beast's face. It roared and struck out, sending Silus into a nearby wall.

It was only moments before members of the ships crew came to investigate, blasters in hand. A few stared in stunned surprise before firing. It roared, dodging out of the way of blaster shots and then charged the group. They only lasted moments before it's claws ripped them apart.

Silus ran forward to attack, when the ship sent him into a nearby wall. He struck it hard, stars flashing across his vision. There was another war, higher than the others, as if the thing was in pain. Silus flung himself aside, which didn't help his head, as it charged past. He turned his head in time to see the thing leave through the large doors in the back of the cargo bay, used for unloading. A man gave a shout before his life was ended, and it disappeared out of sight.

So, he thought, we've landed.

Shalis had managed to dive out of the way of the Sha'ta'lusk's charge, and the creature had barreled dumbly right into a wall.

Both hunter and creature were bracing themselves for another go at each other when suddenly a madman clad in black and wielding a glowing red sword burst into the hold, and charged the Sha'ta'lusk with a ferocity that Shalis had never before seen in any living creature. The man slammed into the creature with enough force to send it flying back into the same wall it had crashed into only moments before. Whoever this new man was, Shalis considered him a momentary ally against a common enemy...

A new element of chaos abruptly entered the scenario as angry red blaster bolts began flying in every direction. A few bolts found their mark on Sha'ta'lusk, but they only served to make the beast angry.... moments later the offending ship's crewmen were dead, defenseless against the might of Sha'ta'lusk. The hold was now back down to three combatants; a manageable number, Shalis thought.

The ship lurched violently as it touched ground, and sent all three combatants tumbling around the hold. One man who had managed to avoid the Sha'ta'lusk thus far frantically reached out and slammed his fist on the cargo bay door controls before the Sha'ta'lusk spotted him and snatched him away. A whine sounded as the doors and sunlight filled the cargo bay.... Sha'ta'lusk hurled the dead man out of the door, and turned it's attention back to the injured man with the glowing sword.

Seeing her chance, Shalis sprung out of the corner she had taken cover in and flung herself at the Sha'ta'lusk. She drove a spiked gauntlet into it's chest, to no avail. The creature growled in irritation and tried to rip Shalis open with it's claws. However, Shalis' armor had been designed specifically with the Sha'ta'lusk in mind, and it's claws merely screeched loudly across her armored breastplate. In her peripheral vision Shalis saw the golden protocol droid scurry down the ramp and off of the ship, flailing its arms and voicing some sort of exclamation. But she had more important things to worry about, other than fugitive prissy protocol droids.

Even with the crazy man and his glowing rod, Shalis knew that they were no match for Sha'ta'lusk....

It took only a moment to pull himself up and reactivate his lightsaber. Shaking his head to clear his vision, Silus watched while something in a heavy suit of armor tried to attack the creature. A stab to the chest that might have killed lesser creatures seemed only to anger the beast.

So, he had an ally, and one that wasn't easily torn apart by the creature. Not waiting for whatever that creature was to finish it's attack on the armored figure, Silus charged in with a downward slash across it's back and rolled under the inevitable counterattack. Standing up again, he faced the creature, circling it before rushing forward with another attack. The thing dodged out of the way in an instant, following through with a slash the knocked Silus back a few paces and out of the Cargo hold.

Briefly, he noticed two people standing there watching and security teams rushing forward to find out what was going on. Instead, his attention was on the beast charging at him. Silus prepared to roll out of the way of it's attack when the thing leaped over him with a howl and crashed into the ground behind him.

Silus watched in wonder while the thing pulled itself up on four legs and began sniffing the air. Odd, it had done the same thing on Bpfassh before it... thrusting it's head into the air, the beast let out a howl that sent shivers up the Sith's spine. That was when it turned to the two figures and charged.

Odd. That was the only way Silus could describe it. The woman almost reminded him of someone, but when he tried to remember it was like looking through a thick fog. Any more effort to try to place a name to the face made the fog grow thicker, almost darker. With a sigh, Silus pushed all thoughts of memory aside. There were much more important matters to deal with. Namely, the large creature charging towards them.

Silus hissed, red blade knocking purple aside as he rushed passed her. Inside his head the voice pushed him forward, promises of death and pain to the creature fueling the Sith's rage. Anything in his path was quickly destroyed. The only thing that mattered was destroying the thing in front of him.

Seeing Silus too late, the thing attempted to dodge. Silus cursed as his blade went through one of the beast's thick legs and it crashed into him, sending them both rolling. His lightsaber was knocked free of his hand and sent spinning out of reach. Howling in pain, the thing knocked him aside just as easily and began running away as if it hadn't been wounded at all. The voice shouted curses at the retreating beast while Silus stumbled after it. Damn it, it was too fast! Silus tripped over his own lightsaber just as the thing disappeared out of sight as it retreated from the spaceport. Damn it!

His face still on the ground, Silus attempted to calm himself. He'd fought it before, and from the blind rage it was sent into whenever it was near a force-user, it wasn't going to stay away for long. No, he would have his chance to kill it, yet. This was only a momentary setback. Still, Silus snarled when he pulled himself to his feet.

He turned his attention back to the ship, and suddenly realized what that woman had been holding that he had batted aside. Purple blade meant lightsaber, and lightsaber meant Jedi. Perhaps if he ran now, he could... three blaster barrels greeted his face when he turned. The Sith threw back his head and laughed. So much for avoiding attention.

****

Once he was back in the ship, Silus didn't have any time to answer any questions or voice a few of his own before he was greeted by a full-armed slap. Perhaps it had been too much to hope for that Jaida wouldn't have noticed the cargo hold.

"You! You bastard, I should have left you on Bpfassh!" She slapped him again, on the opposite side of the face. Surely she knew he was a Sith, by now. He resisted the urge to check if his jaw was still there.

Now that he could see the cargo hold without worrying about something ripping him apart, he could see that it was in much more of a mess than he thought. Indeed, there was only a few crates that had actually survived the fight without getting destroyed or tipped over. Everywhere spices and other foodstuffs, ship parts, some things Silus had never seen before were thrown about. How he could breathe without sneezing with all the spice in the air was a mystery.

Jaida slapped him again, for good measure he supposed, before moving to stand behind the Jedi. Silus sighed. It wasn't completely his fault, but he guessed he was the closest person at hand that she could blame. Still, did she really need to slap him?

Looking at the Jedi, he almost could remember a face before the fog swept over it stronger than before. Well, whoever she was, she seemed to be the authority with the guards behind him. Which presented a very large problem.