Grudge

I don't own Star Wars

Kallus

Standing in a warehouse surrounded by shelves, stacked crates, and other useless tools. Rykkr led us to a collection of half a dozen durasteel crates, about as tall as Rattletrap but as wide as a small table

"Alright." Rykkr noted lazily, slapping a hand on one of the half dozen cargo crates. "I want you guys to take these marked crates to Dantooine." Oriana and Lala glared at him, his mustache twitched slightly as both girls cross their arms across their chests. "…Alright let me have it." he replied practically as the cacophony of complaints echoed around the warehouse ranging from

'Are you serious?!' to 'We are not delivery boys!' when the girls had had enough, Rykkr's mustache twitched in a slight smile and he nodded thoughtfully.

"I am aware. But those are the breaks. Sometimes you hunt bail jumpers, sometimes to drag people off to hutts, and other times you deliver market goods." He patted the closest box again, "Blasters, food, supplies. All I need is that big ship of yours to carry it off. Nothing illegal, nothing nefarious. Easy money."

"EXCEPT." Lala noted rather irritated, "That our 'big ship' is slightly in disrepair." Oriana rolled her eyes, just as irritated, but for a slightly different reason, mumbling under her breath.

"Just announce that to EVERY two-bit thug…"

"Well how long is it going to take to fix?" Rykkr asked calmly, rubbing his forehead.

The girls glanced at each other as I… honestly lost interest. Letting my attention wander around the average looking Nar Shaddaa warehouse… when I saw movement low to the floor out of the corner of my eye. I looked towards some empty crates piled neatly in the corner of the warehouse, frowning slightly before walking away from the girls…

"Kal?" Oriana caught my attention again, so I gave it to her. "What are you doing?"

"…Thought I saw something." I replied as Rykkr snorted in annoyance. "Low to the floor."

"Probably a womp rat. They're all over the damn place now." Rykkr grumbled, "Anyway, your ship? How long will it take to fix?"

"The hell should I know? We have a jawa for that!" Lala noted as Rykkr rolled up his sleeves.

"Alright. Let's go have a look." He said, gesturing for us to lead the way as Lala scratched her pink head.

"Right now?"

Rykkr nodded slowly, "Now would be good." There was a dangerous tone, but he kept it calm.

It didn't take us long to return to the ship. Nerri sat lazily at the ramp entrance as the sound of hammering and sawing could be heard from inside the ship. She waved half-heartedly to us as Rykkr walked up the ramp into the ship. "Oi Jawa!"

"What!?" Rattletrap shouted, suddenly popping out of the floor of the ship. Holding some sort of… screwdriver. Which answers one question but raises so many others.

"What's wrong with the ship?" Rykkr asked politely as Rattletrap relaxed against the floor, like lounging in a hot tub and raised a hand.

"Wiring needs a fix, engines are sputtering, the weaponry might explode, and every nook and cranny needs a good scrub. This thing hasn't been rigorously used in twenty years and it shows." He glanced at us and added, "I mean. I'm just one Jawa, I might have fixed up wrecks before, but that took me years."

"So you need parts and hands?" Rykkr noted as Rattletrap rubbed his chin in thought.

"Well… yeah I guess." He noted, "But it's not like we got the credits." But Rykkr glanced at us and pulled out a com device from his pocket.

"Give me a moment." it took the com a few buzzes before the familiar voiced posh accented droid H4N-D answered.

"Sir?"

"Get some of the guys together. I got a fix-up job. And get the hauler to the scrapyard." He reached down and easily pulled Rattletrap from the floor. "I'll meet you there."

"Yes Sir." H4N-D replied in posh tones before hanging up.

Rattletrap, dangling nonplus from Rykkr's hand, looked at us over his shoulder. "Uhh… did I miss something?" We all exchanged looks, Oriana trying hard not to laugh as I replied.

"…I think he's our new boss."

"Oh… neat." He said cheerily, holding out his free hand. "Rattletrap. Nice to meet you."

"Adalvis Rykkr." He replied pleasantly, shaking the Jawa's hand before lowering him easily to the floor. He had impressive arm strength. "Now. How good is your scrap eye?"

"Oh-HO! I like you, you're funny." Rattletrap said patting Rykkr's leg as they walked out of the ship, conversationally.

"Wait-wait where are you guys going?" Lala noted as she went skipping after them.

"We need parts. So the scrapyard." Rykkr noted. "It won't take long. And with you head engineer here, my crew will get this ship fixed within the day."

"Kal. Stay here and watch the ship." Oriana scowled, following after them.

"You sure?" I replied as she waved me off.

"Yeah. I'm going to keep an eye on them. And Nerri won't scare all the scavengers off." She replied running after them.

Nerri and I watched them go as she snorted softly. "…I think I was insulted." She said lazily as I shrugged, hitting closing the ramp. The hydraulics slowly closed it shut, it might be secured but I don't think it was fully fixed.

"Well, our lively hood is this ship now." I noted as a piece of it clattered from the roof. "…Such as it is."

"Hmph." She mumbled, strutting past me and running a hand on my arm, smirking lazily as she approached a recently repaired dejarik table in the kitchen… Did rattletrap repair that? Over the ship? "…Care to play? I've already beaten the AI…"

"…I was never any good at Dejarik." I said as she ran a finger on the table and sat down, still smiling at me.

"Well… Humor me." She replied, almost sweetly as I sat down opposite her, and picked my creatures as the table booted to life.

An hour later.

"…You are actually very bad at this." Nerri noted almost apologetically as my Ghhrk was killed. "Aren't you an Imperial Noble?"

"Yes, because all of them are tactically brilliant. Stormtroppers. FIRE!" I said sarcastically, Nerri's canine lips stretched into a soft smile as she chuckled, "…My friend Boomer used to say that." I noted, taking a breath and moving my last piece as she smashed it into the table. "…How many games was that?"

"Three." She noted lazily. "…Perhaps you should play a few games with the AI… the learner's AI." She wiped the board with a handwave. I just snorted… at least I'm not ripping her arms off like a wookie when I lose.

BANG-BANG-BANG. The Ramp of the ship rattled as someone hit it. I got up with Nerri behind me grabbing a nearby blaster. "Kal open the door!" came Lala as I opened it.

Rykkr, Rattletrap, Lala, a heavy anti-grav dolly and half a dozen droids and sentients hauled the anti-grav dolly full of scrap parts onto the ship. Rattletrap giggled excitedly, immediately hauling parts from the dolly.

"Hartus, Blook, Boog. You're with the Jawa. R6, Hasto, D8 you're with me on the second floor. Let's go I want this done yesterday!" Rykkr shouted, also taking scrap as the dolly was stripped completely. 2 droids and a duros immediately went to the elevator, rising to the second floor as Rykkr pushed the dolly towards me. "Your girl is waiting for you at the warehouse. She said she wants you to help her load that up."

I sighed, "Sounds like her." I said, dragging the dolly behind me.

"Need any help?" Nerri asked with a smile.

"No. Hauling crates is much easier than playing Dejarik." I replied, heading out and towards the Warehouse Rykkr led us too.

Oriana smiled at me as she leaned patiently outside, eyeing a few straggling bums as they glanced at her curves, some more obvious than others, some blatantly staring of course seeing me… and the look I was giving THEM… deterred them quite a bit. "Hey."

"Hey." I replied as she opened the warehouse, leading me in with the anti-grav dolly.

"Is it Ironic that you left hauling boxes back on Coruscant but now you're hauling boxes again?" she asked as I tried shifting the crates.

"Probably." I replied scowling. "…These are too heavy for me. There's probably a lifting droid around here. There's usually one around in a warehouse like this." Lifting Droids have no sentient AI, they literally lift and haul.

"Yet another useful piece of knowledge from your time working in warehouses." She noted sarcastically, glancing around. "I'll check over in the next section." She said pointing and casually strutting around the shelves. I frowned and glanced over at the stack of empty crates in the corner, close to the door before I approached them. Realizing quickly that a lifting droid wouldn't be beneath, or in, a stack of empty crates, I imagine we could just borrow one from another warehouse.

A strong hand covered my mouth and an arm slipped under my chin. My brain immediately realized I was in a chokehold. "FIREMANE." My assailant hissed in my ear, trying to cut off my airflow.

…Great a FUCKING Trandoshan…

…Wait… his hand is white. An albino trandoshan…

…That bastard who stun blasted me!

"KAL!!" Oriana's voiced echoed around the warehouse… and my blood got pumping. I grabbed the trandoshan's hands, and with fury and adrenaline I yanked them away, enough to get a breath. He was strong, and while I was winning this test of strength it was clear he could rival me.

"Raaagh!!" I elbow the trandoshan in the side, turning to deliver a hard cross to his face. I cut my hand on his exposed teeth. He stumbled back into the crate pile. There was a recently open one… he had apparently been hiding in it. He stood up, towering over me… which was rather impressive. The other side of his face stretched into a grin…

…He was armed, a vibro blade; longer than a knife but shorter than a sword, and a tri-barrel heavy blaster… but he removed them both, resting one on the crate, then the other… then curled his fingers slowly towards himself. Hissing softly as I heard Oriana grunt and strain… she was fighting someone too. "FIREMANE." He hissed, drooling from his exposed teeth… pointing to himself. "SAWTOOTH. THRAYT."

"KANE." I replied, reading my stance to fight. "Kallus. Kane." Then I hit him in the head with a hard right hook..

He laughed, recovering quickly and tackling me away, lifting me onto his shoulder he took several steps away from the pile of crates and hurled me into the aisle between the shelves, trapping me. There was no left or right here, just towards him or away from him.

"KAL!" Oriana shouted indignantly. As I began fending off the monstrous trandoshan.

"Oriana, give me a minute!" I replied angrily, quickly blocking his heavy hitting combos. His fingers, tipped with annoyingly short and sharp claws sunk into my forearms. He's wearing body armor so that left me with very little to swing at. Head, arms, or legs…

…And he was learning. My hits came quickly, darting in and out of his guard to slam at his mutilated jaw. But soon he was guarding my attacks, deflecting my blows snarling softly and drooling from his exposed teeth. His serpentine smile stretched with every passing second… then suddenly. Faster than I expected, he booted me hard in the stomach and sent me stumbling backward into Rykkr's crates.

"FIREMANE." He hissed stomping towards me as he wrapped his hands around my neck, squeezing and pinning me onto the crate, strangling me as Oriana darted into my view being chased by another albino trandoshan, a female. She was lithe and nimble, scampering around on her belly and leaping over crates and off shelves.

"KAL!-oh… fuck." She hissed suddenly leaping over the crate I was on and kicking my opponent in the face. I gasped for breath and charged forward, as she landed. Tackling him up and onto the floor, getting on top of him and slamming my fists into his face. He raised his hands, trying to guard before catching my fists in one hand, then the other. Only to feel my forehead slam against his nose.

"AAARGH!!" he roared furiously, hurling me off him as I rolled on the floor to my feet… "HELESHHHH!!" it took me a moment to register what he had angrily hiss and I hesitated…

Unfortunately that hesitation only caused me only to find the female trandoshan acrobatically spin over my head and drop kick me in the face. Sending me into her partner, who wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled.

Perfectly suplexing me onto the floor, before he rolled on top of me. Snarling, drooling, and grinning as he raised his fist… and proceeded to try and pulp my head as the female leaped off the shelf and towards Oriana… but I couldn't focus on Oriana, I could only focus on the powerful hammer blows from the trandsohan's fists… feeling my forearms splinter as they came down again… and again…

…FUCK!!

Oriana

This crazy bitch, 'Ruby Eyed' Helesh… she's toying with me. She moves like a fucking snake. Slithering and darting. She had disarmed me before I could even get a shot at her and now Kal's getting pummeled!

"The Firemane will not win. The Firemane will lose." Helesh hissed satisfactorily as she faced me down, listening as Kal faced off against the trandoshan monster…

"Kal won't lose." I heard Kal scream- 'FUCK!!' -turning just in time to see him pinned on his back, the massive, facially scarred trandoshan over him, drooling eagerly as his fists started to open and his claws raked closer and closer to Kal's face. Kal caught them, struggling to hold the monster by the wrists, the effort clear on his face.

…Fuck.

I turned back to Helesh, and smiled. Deciding immediately to activate the failsafe. "…Kal won't lose." I pulled a device from my belt, tossing it to her. She caught it, easily, as it suddenly popped into a stun baton. The end flickering dangerously as Helesh hissed.

"What is this? You arm me now?"

…This is going to suck.

I charged forward, and felt it hit my stomach. And I screamed. LOUD. And OBVIOUS. Helesh gazed at me like I was insane as I fell onto the cold floor, twitching. I was right… this REALLY sucked. "What madness is this?"

"uuuuuuuUUURRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!"

It was rather satisfying to see the look of shock on that lizard bitch's face as her brawny partner was sent hurtling bodily towards her like a scaly cannonball… and before I let the stun fully take me. The VERY angry Kallus Kane charged, screaming berserk fury upon them both.

"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" he roared. I'd really like to see that… but I think I'll take a quick nap now.

Back to Kal

Before Sawtooth could get back to his feet, my foot collided with his chest. He sneered at me. But I didn't care. Already reaching down and grabbing his suit collar, dragging him upright. He knocked my hand away and came at me with the other. I blocked his blow on my arm, knocking it away before grabbing his face and slamming his nose on my skull.

Helesh, or whatever came at me with a stun baton while her brother stumbled. I glared at her as it slammed into my side. She looked amazed but amused at it. I was TO PISSED to stop. Grabbing her throat taking the baton and jamming it into her gaping mouth. She twitched violently and fell backward, twitching, but alive.

…Give me a minute.

Turning my attention back to Sawtooth his fist swung in a heavy haymaker. It crashed onto my forearm as I blocked it. It hurt. But I didn't have time to care, already ramming my knee into his stomach. He grabbed my leg, and hurled me across the warehouse… I caught myself, rolling to my feet before charging him again.

He was ready. But couldn't stop me. I tackled him around the stomach, his stance was wide, and he easily halted my advance. But that's what I wanted… he slammed his fists down on my back. But I held strong… my anger fueling my strength as I wrapped my arms tight around his massive waist… and lifted him bodily from the floor. He had half a second to look shocked, before I leapt up, and backward…

"GRAAH!!!" he roared angrily as he took a face full of durasteel… my back hurt from the landing as well as the suplex… and I think he cracked a ribbed pounding it like a hammer on an anvil. But as he spat out one of his exposed teeth, leaving a gap in his 'signature' look. All I could think about was-

"I am going to KILL you." I declared again, Oriana's scream of pain echoing in my head as I slammed my fist against the other side of his face. He was dazed, and he could barely defend himself. Ramming headfirst into the floor was apparently a good move despite the self-harm. Or fists collided again, and again with each other. Body blows, headshots, low kicks. I'm not going to lie. If it wasn't for what these bastards did to Oriana, I would be having fun…

I delivered a powerful uppercut to his lizard jaw. He stumbled back against a crate as I charged and leaped into the air. My boot collided with his snort as he collapsed against the crate and fell to the floor. Landing on the other side of the crate, I walked around. Grabbing his face and ramming his head repeatedly against the crate until a red stain appeared and I threw him to the floor. I roared at the body, kneeling beside it as my fist crashed against him again, and again.

"Kal!" I took a deep breath as Oriana stepped towards me. "…That's enough." I took several deeper breaths as she took my arm. "…That's enough." It wasn't… I wanted to hit this fucking trandoshan more. "Enough." She said… firmly.

I felt calmer… I was angrier than I had been in a long time… but Oriana can always calm me down.

"Come on. Let's get back to the ship…" she said dismissively of the bodies. "…You're in no condition to carry these back."

"I'm fine." I declared… which I was lying about. My fury was subsiding, and my adrenaline was decreasing… the damage Sawtooth put on my body was quickly making itself known. I might have been able to ignore it earlier but… I'm not invincible… and Oriana certainly isn't. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Kal." She declared calmly… seconds before my leg began screaming at me. It throbbed painfully where Sawtooth had hit me… and I fell…

As always… Oriana caught me.

"Ship. Now." She ordered, pulling my arm over her shoulder and helping me out of the hanger. "We'll tell Rykkr we got attacked.

"…They ambushed us." I managed to get out as I felt my ribs scream at me. "…There might be more…" I cringed as the obvious bruises on my forearms screamed at me… everything is screaming now.

"You let me worry about that." she replied, "Come on. Step by step." Our feet echoing together as she led me out.

"…Step by step."

"Keep going Kal." She replied, as we made out way slowly back to the ship.

End of Chapter

Bonus

"Aaagh!!" I hissed, slowly crawling to my feet, and failing. "…Brother?" I snarled, glancing curiously until I found his feet through the tiny labyrinth of crates. I crawled towards him, shaking his feet… viewing the mess. Blood all over the crates, his face pulped, bruised, missing a tooth. "…Have you died brother?" I took the imperial certified stun baton and tapped his foot. Sending jolt through him…

"Ha-ha…" I blinked, staring at him. "Ha-ha…" …was he laughing? "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!" his body shook as slowly he rose up from the floor, leaning against the crate as his right side matched his left. A massive, grin on his scarred features. "…THAT WAS FUN." He declared, coherently, as I stared at him in awe.

"Are you… alright brother?"

"…Never. Better!" he declared again, proudly. Smiling at me dangerously. "Let's kill them." He laughed in his throat, it echoed happily around the warehouse as he got hesitantly to his feet. "Better idea! Let's prepare. Hunt them down. THEN kill them! What. FUN it will BE. Killing the FIREMANE…"

I do not know whether he was beaten sane. Or driven even more Insane… but I could not help but smile at either prospect.

End of Bonus