The Cruelty of The Galaxy 3

THO YOR ARRIVAL 10,646

Orbit of Skar Gora

Peacemaker-Class Cruiser

A planet stood alone in the vast blackness of space its emerald green shining like a jewl against the infinite darkness with its ever companion a silver moon that orbits its lover the forrest planet Skar Gora. A red ship pierced and sliced its way through space heading directly to the vibrant planets atmosphere, like a comet it sped past a giant silver City-Ship that hovered inside the planets atmosphere. The City-Ship was a giant snowflake like structure with tall skyscrapers and platforms with docks and large engines that held the mega-structure at its altitude. Uncaring about the majesty of the City-Ship the red ship continued on its path heading towards the never ending forrest that inhabited the surface of Skar Gora. The ship continued to skim pass tree's until its roaring engine stopped and was replaced by a whining hum slowing the craft and allowing it to land in a small opening in the trees. With a thump that scared all the woodland creatures away the ship landed and hissed as its engine was turned off and began rapid cooling the blister burning engine. The ship sat there in silence until a smaller thump could be heard followed by the echoes of boots meeting metal as two beings made their way out of the docked ship.

(PoV Reman Cyrondel)

The first thing he noticed as he and Zurtar exited their ship was how green everything was and how hidden the browns and earthly tones of the planet were. The buzzing of insects and the loud rhythmic songs of birds seem to echo in a eternal synchronised orchestra of sound. Air that he breathed through his lungs was crisp and fresh with the subtle taste of leaves. Past the opening they landed their ship in was a wall of trees, plants and bushes that looked impenetrable and impossible to navigate through. He expanded his senses and in his minds eye he could see the million million small stars with each of their own uniqueness that glowed brightly, he could feel that the lives he sensed was incosquently insignificant compared to the mega conglomerate of the planets whole. Yet just like atoms without these smaller parts their would be no greater whole and Skar Gora would not be what it is today. Reman was awaken from his deep sensing by a shake from his Master. He opened his eyes and was met with the smiling face of Master Zurtar "Padawan i know its easy to get lost in the Force especially on such a beautiful planet like Skar Gora but remember to focus on the now, we still have a mission to do and complete." Zurtar said as he looked around at the alluring forrest that encompassed their surroundings "But it doesn't mean we cant enjoy the views while we're here now can we." Zurtar said and gave a small chuckle as they continued to walk down the ships ramp.

Reman nodded as he looked around still admiring the various flora and fauna that inhabited the area. "Master when i was at Padawan Kesh reading about the Settled Worlds i always wondered why it was illegal to set foot on the surface of Skar Gora." He asked his teacher as he took out a hand held ship sensor from his belt to scan the nearby area that had been reported to have had activity. Zurtar hummed at the question as he stroked his jaw tendrils "Well the Great Migration lasted a thousand years and during that time we of course colonised the other worlds in the system, and by the time the colonization effort reached Ska Gora the high mineral rich planets of Malterra and Sunspot had been turned into mining planets, and with Nox by this time had already became the Systems factory world the Je'daii at the time did not want to corrupt and distort the breath taking planet. So with the help of the Je'daii of Anil Kesh and Vur Tepe with assistance of the factorys of Nox we created the City-Ships for the colonists to live on. But of course as Ska Gora is itself a mineral rich planet we have allowed small mining towns on the surface to help the new government at the time." Zurtar explained in detail to him the history of the planets strange law. Reman nodded and thanked his Master for the explanation he gave.

Zurtar and he continued to speak about history as they began to make their way into the highly dense forrest. As they entered the forrest the once bright and glowful sun Tythos was now hidden by large and numerous leaf canopies with bearly a trickle of light to brighten the shadowed below. They treked up and around the large roots and plants, crossed rapid rivers and swampy marshes, hiked up hills and through overgrown valleys. Fought oversized blood sucking mosquitoes and long and slim jumping lizards that hid in branches and bloodthirsty gliding mammals. At night the flora would glow with specks of organic light and the shadows would come out to dance tricking the eyes into believing imaginary shadow stalkers forever on their hunt. During the day the bits of sunlight that mange to bleed into this seemingly shadow world looked like portals that could take one into the heavens and out of this world of hidden illusion. With the guidance of the Force and the help of the sensor was the reason they were even able to traverse through this dark underbelly hellscape.

(Eight Days Later)

With a Force enhance jump he was able to land on a high arching branch that gave him a good vantage point at the sizable clearing in front of him. Master Zurtar was not far behind as he too had landed on a branch near his and togather they looked down upon the outpost they have been looking for. The ships that the pirates would use were hidden under tarps with various large leafs stuck to it to give the impression of the top of trees. Crates of unknown cargo were unloaded and placed in large clumps together and fog lights were spaced around to give the base some light during the dark. In the center of the pirate outpost was a small stout two story building that obviously acted as a command center. Groups of pirates loited around talking to eachother uncaring about the possibility of being found. He gave his Master a look and in return his Master pointed at something, following to where the finger pointed he was met with the site of cages of people that seemed to have been purposefully placed away to the side of the camp. Reman frowned at the site of the caged and slaved of he assumed were the villagers taken from Rum'Tar. After seeing enough of the base he and Master Zurtar jumped down from the branches and walked a bit back into the forrest so they could talk and not have the possibility of being sighted by any wandering eyes.

"How many pirates do you estimate are in the outpost." Reman inquired stoically to his Master. Zurtar gave him a side glance "From those just outside of the building i would estimate around thirty or so but inside possibly another ten." Zurtar told him his estimation, Reman grunted in agreement as he looked forward towards the direction of the pirate den. With a sigh he dropped his heavy traveling pack and prompt it up against a tree freeing himself of unnecessary weight in preparation for the fight to come, Zurtar followed his Apprentices actions in dropping his own pack and togather jumped back up to the tree branches and waited till the morning where they would strike while everyone was still half asleep.

(Six Hours Later)

The morning light glowed onto the forrest clearing with mist that softly rolled and swayed in the wind. Reman sat on his tree branch morning dew clung to his robes as he watched the birds dance and sing as they greated eachother. Master Zurtar meditated on his own branch uncaring as birds and small rodents used him as their personal playground. Their peaceful waiting was destroyed as Reman caught something moving in the bottom left of his vision, one of the pirates had broken of from the camp and seemed to be heading in their direction. Reman flattened himself to the tree as he watched as the now identifiable Devaronian male walk into the tree line and brought himself behind the base of Reman's tree . He could sense that his Master had left his meditative state and now was watching the pirate like himself together they watched as the Devaronian pulled out his cock and proceeded to relieve himself on the base of the tree. As the blissfully unaware Devaronian continued his pissing, Reman with the grace of a serpent stood up on his branch and slowly unseathed his sword with his robes softly fluttering in the wind as he waited for the right time to strike.

The Devaronian had finished his pissing and as he was doing up his pants he heard a noise from up above coming from his usual pissing spot. He looked up to see if one of the pretty birds that were numerous on the planet had made the noise. When he looked up his heart stopped the bird he was expecting was not there and in its place was a young pubescent boy with silver-gold hair wearing robes of a Je'daii with a wicked and beautiful sword that glowed with a dark lilac miasma at his side. The boys glowing heterchomic eyes meet his and for a brief moment they stared at each other before he knew it he tried to grab his slug thrower pistol from his hip holster, but was for nought as the child launched of the branch and was already over him with his sword in a downward thrust and all he could do was give a breathless and silent scream as he felt the sword bite and peirce through his armor and clothing all the way through and out his back, with the momentum of the child he was slammed into the ground and all he could see was the eyes of the boy he knew had just killed him.

Reman stared into the Devaronians eyes as he saw the light leave them as the ground underneath them turned into a crimson puddle. With an effortless tug his sword was freed from the corpse and ground that it had stabbed through. His sword dripped with the liqued life of his first sentient kill, he continued to stare at the face of his first kill burning it into his memory so he would remember this moment for all his time living. After his little moment he looked at his Master who had silently made his way down and stood behind him watching "Do not feel bad for this man remember there is no death only the Force, what remains infront of us is nothing but a empty vessel he is now free from all earthly desires and wants he may of lived a life of corruption and wrongdoing but with his death he is purge of all wrong as he returns to the Force in eternal peace." Zurtar said trying to ease his Padawan's first true kill. Reman nods and uses the Force to center himself giving him the clarity he needs to continue their mission. He gives the body one last look before he and Master Zurtar slowly made their way out of the tree line to begin the eradication of the pirates and to rescue the enslaved villagers.

Most of the pirates were still asleep but around seventeen or so that were awake and wandering. At first the pirates did not notice them even as they slowly made their way to the base but eventually one of the more awake and aware of the pirates had spotted them. The pirate startled by the approaching pair and tried to alert his fellows. Reman watched as the pirate try to shout but all that came out of the pirates mouth was chocking, in the corner of his eyes he could see Master Zurtar had extended his off hand in a crushing motion and with a quick twist of his hand he heard the snapping of the scums neck. With the body released from his Masters hold it fell to its side as it hit the ground with a loud thud the other awake oblivious pirates heard the corpses last noise and looked to see the source of the noise. The group of now sixteen pirates stared in disbelief as they saw the corpse of their friend and the perpetrators slowly walked over the body heading directly towards them.

Reman braced himself for his first real death match as the pirates charged at them roaring out curses and other obscenities awakening the rest of the camp as they did so. Reman first foe tried to strike him down with a overhead downward strike but Reman dodged left and with his unnatural speed managed to get behind the slower pirate and with an almost unseeable grip change to a reverse grip he stabbed backwards through the back and into the heart. Reman quickly changed back to the standard grip and with the sword still in the body pushed the sword through the upper body of the corpse and into his own downward strike onto another pirate who attempted to block the strike with his own sword but gave a look of terror as his Force imbued sword easily sliced through theirs allowing for his strike to slash deeply into the pirates chest. The pirate gave a bloodkirdling scream as he fell to the ground with his insides all exposed nether to get up again. Reman was forced to block a incoming head strike but used their locked guard to slide his sword into a vicious pommel strike to the pirates eye. The pirate was stunned and stumbled backwards in shock of the searing pain in her skull. Reman not wasting the opportunity his opponent gathe he lashed out with his left hand with bolts of black lightning arching out of his fingers. The female pirate screamed as the bolts of pure force energy ravished her skin searing it with its intense heat and throwing her into the air. Reman stopped his Force lightning barrage on the now dead pirate, seeing their own opportunitie three pirates together attacked him but with the Force as his ally he was able to predict the actions of his enemies. He blocked the rapid attacks of the trio of pirates and liberally used small TK pushes to give him an avantage over the well synchronized and trained trio but with right timing he would rapidly and randomly increase his speed exponentially giving him the chance to quickly slash one of the pirates throats and fully cut off the others arm completely. The armless pirate wailed in pain on his knees before Reman silenced the crying man by snapping his neck.

After killing the crippled man the remaining pirate of the trio tried to run to regroup with the larger group of pirates who came to join the fight but as he ran he was suddenly pulled backward. The screams of the pirate turned breathless as Reman pierced his sword through the back of the man. With the bodies thump he looked around his surroundings and saw Master Zurtar had been circled by corpses of the other ten pirates that were part of this first wave. He and Zurtar regrouped togather as the swarm of Twenty-two pirates surrounded them. Their stare off was broken as a gray and black tattooed Zabrak stepped forward spiked black steel helmet and spear in hand. He wore carved black plate armor with black chain underneath, gauntlets, greaves, bracers and all were black with only his crimson cape that looked like a waterfall of blood stood out from his otherwise shadow form. "It was only a matter of time before the ignorant council would send their dogs after us, No matter kill them quickly Lord Trigon has summoned us to Fort Molag and he is not to be left waiting." Xeprot explained in a deep commanding voice to his followers with having spoken his words Xeprot left his troops to do his bidding.With those words being spoken the pirates all charged at them Zurtar thinking quickly Forced pushed a path to Xeprot "Reman go after him he is trying to flee unnoticed!" Zurtar yelled at him. Thinking quickly he sprinted through the path his Master laid out trying to catch up to the fleeing Zabrak leaving his Master to fight the pirate swarm alone.

As he ran through the camp he could hear the sound of screams and the clash of steel growing further away. Having ran through just more then halfway across the large clearing he could see the opposite tree line of the one he and Zurtar stayed in for the night and in that tree line he could see Xeprot climbing into a star fighter. He ran faster as he heard the loud engine being turned on, as he got closer the ship started to hover of the ground in preparation for the main engine thrust. Thinking fast he used his telakenisses to grab onto the wings of the star fighter and yelled instrain as Xeprot turned the main engines thruster on he could feel his grip weakening not used to trying to stop something so large and fast at the same time as his grip continued to weaken he decided to crush the ships engines. The horred sound of metal being bent and twisted could be heard and with a great yell he slammed the star fighter back into the ground and he to collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion. He could feel the strain in his lungs as he breathed, he slowly got up and with his sleeve wiped the sweat off his forehead. He cautiously made his way to the crushed and mangled ship and could see that Xeprot himself had managed to get out of the ship relatively unharmed with only a cut to the face. Xeprot easily spotted him approaching the crash site "Well the mutt has sent his pup to die." Xeprot chuckled as he stabbed his spear into the ground while starring at Reman with cold gray eyes.

"Your going to pay for those villagers you killed and enslaved Xeprot and face justice for killing the Barons son" Reman shouted at the Zabrak. Xeprots face turned into a hateful scowl at the mention of the Baron. "THE BARON DESERVES MORE THAN THE DEATH OF HIS SON FOR WHAT HE DID TO ME!" Xeprot roared at the young padawan. Reman frowned at the sheer hatred and rage that he felt comming from the man but shock his head and got in a sword stance "We are not here to talk about crimes the Baron may or may not have done to you we are here to bring you to justice for yours." Reman said steadfast in his conviction. Xeprot scoffed at the boys remark "So be it let your death be on the hands of Je'daii they who would send a child to die chasing a fools errand." Xeprot told the young Je'daii. "Trigon has shown me what is to come i will not let him down." Xeprot added cryptically as he set his helmet on his head and grabbed his spear and got into his own spear stance.

The sun hung low on the horizon still casting its morning orange glow over the forrest clearing. Reman and Xeprot stood at opposite ends sizing eachother up. Remans grip on his sword was ready his eyes locked onto his opponents every move. Xeprots stance was wide his spear held with ease. Reman made the first move, lunging forward with his blade aimed at Xeprots chest. Xeprot responded with a quick jab to his shoulder, the tip of his weapon grazing the fabric of his robes. Remans attack had been to predictical and Xeprot had been to happy to deflect it. They again began to circle eachother, each attempting to find a opening. Reman made another lunge but this time he feinted to the left before quickly swinging to the right. Xeprot fell for the trick, twisting his spear in the wrong direction and leaving himself open. Reman seized the opportunity and sliced downwards, his sword blade through Xeprots forearm. Xeprot grunted in pain but he didn't falter. he adjusted his grip on his spear and began to spin it around, twirling it between his fingers.

Reman hesitated for a moment unsure of what Xeprot was trying to accomplish, But Reman saw it to late. Xeprot lunged forward and thrust his weapon, the tip directly aim at his heart. Reman manged to dodge the first strike, but Xeprot was relentless. He continued to spin the spear thrusting it forward again and again. Reman was forced into a defensive position, parrying and blocking each attack. But Reman was not content with just defending. He saw an opportunity and quickly took it. As Xeprot lunged forward once more Reman sidestepped and grabbed hold of the spear with his left hand. With his right hand he thrusted it towards Xeprots stomach, the blade sinking deep into his body. Xeprots eyes widen in shock and pain. He stumbled backwards, trying to still hold onto his spear, but it slipped out of his hands. Reman watched Xeprot fall to the ground moaning in pain as he did so. He made his way to the side of the dying man, he grabbed the bottem of the spiked helmet and ripped off Xeprots head. Reman looked into Xeprot bloodshot eyes "Tell me where Trigon is and you will die quickly." Reman offered to the fallen Zabrak. Xeprot gave a bloody cough before answering "He has shown me things you couldn't possibly believe, you doom everything if you kill him." Xeprot said in between coughs. Reman stared up at the sky for a moment before he extended his hand towards Xeprots head "You will tell me where Trigon is." Reman asked again as he started to alter the Zabrak's mind. Xeprot tried to resist the mind trick but failed "Hes in Fort Molag on Ulea the moon to Malterra" Xeprot forcefully stumbled out, Reman lowerd his hand at the successful mind trick. He slowly got up while picking his sword from up the grass and stood over the heavily breathing Xeprot with his sword directly over the mans heart. Xeprot stared aimlessly at the heavens before he whispered his final words "I only wanted to avenge my mother for what he did to her." Reman contemplated the words of his fallen foe then with a grunt his sword pierced the pirates heart ending the life of Xeprot Sym the rape child of Baron Xilum and the Gladiator Jenda.

Reman stood their over the corpse of Xeprot he could feel the light kisses of the small rain shower and he watched as the sky darken as large thunder clouds formed around them he stared at the sky as it transformed in front of him, spitting out hangry bolts of lightning the ground quickly turned into mud as the once soft kisses of the rain shower turned into harsh stabs and pokes of a full blown storm. The wind made his hair whip at his eyes as he began his slow walk back to the pirate outpost to regroup with certainty victorious Master.

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Ulea is the moon to the mining planet Malterra it known to have a small reclusive community that inhabite its surface.

(Word Count 3'997)

TacoNinjaCat