12

It had been three weeks since Varrus met the Inquisitor. The deadline Vowrawn assigned him was fast approaching and he was frustrated to high hell.

No, not because he didn't know her name, but because his level seemed capped at a soft lock of 29.

In this time, he raised most of his skills to 29, and even picked up a few new ones.

Everyday he took that frustration out on the various Resistance bases, or chipping away at the Bug Town hive.

He theorized that he needed extreme stimulation to pop that cherry. Varrus hit 10 in Force Sensitivity after his intense battle with the white serpent on Dromund Kaas. That was his first taste of death. He hit 20 after the merciless training of a Dark Councilor.

And so, he repeatedly threw himself into life threatening situations to finally advance.

Today, he was deep underground within a cavernous research facility. Paul and him were clearing out a Colicoid nest.

"Just die already dammit!" Varrus channeled his hatred into a powerful burst of lightning.

Arcs of electricity raced toward a gigantic Colicoid matriarch. However, she mostly shrugged off the attacks, then scratched the ceiling causing large amounts of boulders to come crashing down.

The Balmorran experiments had seen this bug mutate to the size of an eight story building. She was huge!

Varrus and Paul spent hours in a smaller cave killing all of her children as they rushed at them in an endless swarm.

Once they killed all the adds, it was time to kill the big boss.

Only, his Lightning didn't seem to do much beyond enrage her even further!

When he tried using his lightsaber, the matriarch would scramble backward, and lash out with a giant foot.

Additionally, she sometimes would roll around the room in a giant ball form, moving at incredible speeds. And was capable of ejecting an astronomical amount of acidic vomit.

Even now, half the floor was slowly sizzling with a 'lava-like' effect.

Varrus barely managed a few nicks every time she came close, but her shell was so thick, he couldn't get any deep cuts.

Ideally, he would open her up enough so that the lightning would reach her insides.

"Statement of fact: aim for the opening." Paul rolled his ball shaped head in an 'isn't it obvious' gesture.

Varrus took a moment, then saw what Paul was getting at. He was going to have to Men in Black this one!

After dodging around for a bit, the matriarch took a stationary pose, opened her mouth and spat out another acidic jet of vomit.

Varrus Force Jumped toward her as fast as he could. All the while his Lightning Shield was pushed to the max.

He jumped off a claw, then ran straight into her mouth.

She seemed surprised by the sudden maneuver, and cut off her bile attack to swallow.

The Lightning Shield began to compress all around Varrus. It pushed into his skin, and if he didn't have the absorption skill, he would start to resemble The Senate post Windu fight.

Inside the stomach of the matriarch, Varrus really hoped this would work. It was time to unleash one of his new abilities.

Focusing on the emotion of all the constrained bullshit, and impossibility in killing this damn bug, Varrus channeled his rage into the Lightning Shield.

It briefly contracted for a second, subjecting his armor to the gastrointestinal fluids of the insect.

*Shields: 98% -> 66% -> 33% -> 0%.

Structural Integrity: holding at 100%*

His suits heads up display informed him of his rapid depletion.

"HAAAH!" Varrus shouted and released his attack. It was his new skill [Lightning Burst]

The condensed energy exploded outward in a ring. Electricity paired with vast concussive force pushed in a 360 direction.

Varrus' vision suddenly shifted, and he was flying head first toward the far end of the facility.

It was as if he was a cap on a coke bottle being launched into space after a dozen mentos set it off.

He flipped in the air, then hop scorched across a football field's worth of land to slow his momentum.

Then that all too familiar ping showed up in the corner of his vision.

[Force Sensitivity lvl 29 -> 31]

Along with it, his lightning based skills also surpassed the lvl 29 threshold.

'Fuck yeah!!!' Varrus did a backflip, then pumped his arm in victory.

"Updating Sith cultural idiosyncrasies. 'Orange Goop Flip' has been added to the database." Paul said from a distance.

Varrus was in the middle of a second flip, only to slip on a pile of orange bug blood, after Paul spoke up.

"Addendum: 'Orange Goop Slide' added."

"I noticed your shiny metal ass is spotless, you didn't abandon me, did you, Planetary Assault Unit friend o mine?" Varrus called out sarcastically.

"Affirmative, I had thought you lost." Paul replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"..."

Varrus ignored the droid, and tried wiping the orange goop off his visor, but the more he tried, it seemed to only make his visibility worse. He didn't even try to stand. The amount of orange blood covering this cavern seemed unreal.

It was sticky, slippery, and its consistency was like snot. Varrus could only imagine how foul it smelt.

He was about to sizzle it off his armor with a Lightning Shield, but was interrupted by a call.

"What the hell is Vette calling me for?" Varrus muttered as he clicked accept.

Arriving at a Spaceport on Balmorra, Zenna and Vette were ambling their way toward a restaurant when Zenna stopped dead in her tracks.

A billboard with Varrus's picture flashed by in a brief ad. It showed him making a statement about cleaning up the Resistance, and that he was the new Military Governor.

"What is this abomination!?" Zenna hissed.

"Oh cool, Varrus is famous." Vette said, then moved to keep walking, only for Zenna to remain rooted in her spot.

"Uhm, master?" Vette said with some worry.

Zenna squeezed her fist, and the billboard crumpled.

"Much better." Zenna smiled, and kept walking.

As they drew closer to the restaurant, Vette was receiving updated info on her communicator now that they were out of hyperspace.

"You have something to say, don't you Vette? I can see it in the way you bite your lip and jiggle your lobes side to side. Out with it then."

"Well~ you're not going to like this. That guy Barrus wants us to kill."

"Lord Barrus." Zenna corrected. She held little respect for the corpulent man, but decorum was key for any proper Pureblood.

"Yeah, so, that guy Lord Barrus wants us to kill? Yeah, intelligence reports are saying he's within the main Resistance base." Vette kept scrolling as she read.

"So we'll go in and kill him. Someone hiding away in their little crevice hasn't stopped us before. What exactly are you suggesting slave? That I am a coward?!" Zenna cut her hand through the air angrily.

"No. No! It's just that, with Varrus's strict campaign against the Resistance bases, they've started to hole up in the main base, the Balmorran Arms Factory. There's rumors of a major battle brewing, but no one knows any specifics. So there's no way we could sneak past them!"

"And why is that Vette? They're ill equipped, under trained Resistance fighters, not Republic commandos. What's to say we don't pick up some uniforms, and find a way in?"

"That's because, uhh, a rough estimate puts their forces at between 200,000-450,000. And not to be rude master, but we kind of stand out." Vette lowered her voice to a whisper so that the passerby's couldn't hear their conversation.

"Krawl. This is all his fault! Our target would be in one of those small time bases if that filthy excuse for a Pureblood wasn't meddling in my affairs!" Zenna clenched her fist in anger.

That man made her, made her, he made her…oooo! She wanted to force him between her legs, and squeeze down!

"Ah yeah, him. So like, it's basically impossible to nab our guy, right? So why don't we-"

"You're not suggesting what I think you are, are you?" Zenna said in a dangerous tone of voice as she stepped closer to the Twi'lek.

"Ah ha ha. Oh look, he's already calling us now!" Vette held up her communicator.

"I can sense lies you know. Don't think this will save you from puni-PFFT HAHAHAHA! Krawl oh Krawl, you-pff, you, what have you done to yourself! I didn't know the circus was in town!" Zenna lost herself to laughter.

Tears of joy dripped down her eyes.

The goo! The goo was everywhere. She hadn't seen something so funny since the Dronium kept juggling its own head after it was decapitated.

Ah, if only these images were in color. She would keep a photo in her pocket for whenever she needed a laugh.

"Laugh it up Darth Anallover. Vette, why did you ca-"

"Hey, hi! What a surprise call from you Mr. Krawl!" Vette began, but she too was interrupted.

"Call me that one more time, and you'll find out how far my boot can travel up your ass." Zenna snarled.

"Kinky, we'll have to fight sometime to see exactly who is putting what up your rump. Anyway, juvenile insults aside, it's good that we're having this talk. I have something very interesting planned, and I want you to be a part of it, Zenna."

Zenna crossed her arms, and stared at him.

Varrus likewise crossed his arms.

She wasn't going to ask. It was improper etiquette. Krawl once more proved how barbaric he was in this encounter!

Zenna scoffed and rolled her eyes at the mockery of Pureblood ideology.

Some time passed before Vette finally cut in, much to Zenna's annoyance. Zenna felt as if she was about to one up him in another minute! 'Tch!'

"Uhg, you two are insufferable! You were going to ask master out on a date, right? She accepts!" Vette then closed the communicator before Varrus had a chance to respond.

"I promised no such thing!" Zenna's face blushed purple in rage.

"You can't back out! I've been reading up on noble courting rituals, and going back on a date is like, so not cool!" Vette wagged her finger and lectured.

Zenna took a deep breath then smashed the giant glass window they were standing next to.

Damn that stubborn Twi'lek, she was really good at pressing her buttons!

"Geez. I'm sorry, okay?" Vette rolled her eyes.

"Any more sass out of you-"

"And it's more 'torture' time. Yes yes, I know." Vette replied sassily.

Zenna's heart raged at the way her slave and that filthy nerfherder treated her!

A date! She hadn't been on one since her father tried hooking her up with that boring Emperor's toadie, Cheskar.

"Soo, you're going on the date then?" Vette came up behind her, and peaked around Zenna's shoulder.

"It's not a date!" Zenna roughly shoved Vette off, and strode away.

"It's totally going to be a date, the best date to have ever dated! There will be a nice cozy fire, chocolates, oh, oh, will he bring flowers?!" Vette squealed in girlish glee as she made plans upon plans.

Zenna stomped away in anger.

She knew what he wanted. That bastard wanted to propose another wager. He wanted to spit on her honor!

Ha! They would see who would spit upon whom!

Zenna didn't want a favor or some future reward!

Oh no.

She was going to humiliate him!