Grievous Wounds

[Garik Reed]

The harsh deserts of Kalee were home to a species just as harsh. Kaleesh. They wore bone masks and traditional head garb. Their robes matched the color of the desert, and flowed behind then as dry wind pounded them. As Rael crested a dune, he firmly planet his staff into the sand, using it to lean on. Since his return to his homeworld, the purple lightsaber he carried with him as a Jedi had only collected dust. However, the Chieften still carried it with him. One never knew when it would be needed.

Rael looked behind him as his Izvoshra came up the dune after him. His seven best, most loyal warriors. Together, they formed eight, a sacred number to the Kaleesh. A long time ago, Qymean jai Sheelal had formed the Izvoshra, and since then they had been destroyed. Rael thought it best to reform them, for Huks were still a problem on his planet, and to save his people, he had only one choice...

Genocide.

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

A single ship wrenched itself free of hyperspace, a sleek black Sicarius-class stealth yacht known to a few choice individuals as the "The Crestfallen" owned by one of the most infamous Sith Lords that had ever plagued the galaxy. What drove Darth Vornskr to come back to the former fortress world of Darth Vulcanus was unknown to everyone save for the man himself, but he gave no explanation to his actions and silently brooded on the metaphysical within his private quarters on the expensive Santhe Corp starship that momentarily mingled in Kalee's orbit before descending through the clouds to skim across the barren landscape of the Kaleesh. They brought the ship down in a relatively level clearing, sensors scanning in all directions for signs of life in case one of the indigenous people got too curious for their own good. When the perimeter was sufficiently scanned and deemed secure, the boarding ramp descended and Vornskr emerged from the ship's hold accompanied by a pair of Blackblade Guardsmen wearing modified armor to protect them from the savage heat of Kalee and armed with vibro melee weapons and repeating blaster rifles.

Vornskr himself only brought his lightsaber and his immense mastery of the Dark Side of the Force, both sufficient enough to deal with any rabble that came his way on this desolate rock. "Efendim. [ My lord. ]" said one of the soldiers as they began to set up a temporary base camp and began to assemble a trio of speeder bikes that had been wheeled out of the hold by the ship's technicians and mechanics. "Uzun menzilli tarayıcılar yelpazemizi kenarında birden yaşam formları almış. Şu anda konumlarını izliyoruz, ama biz siparişlerinizi efendim bekliyor. [ Long-range scanners have picked up multiple life forms on the edge of our range. We're currently tracking their position, but we await your orders sire. ]" continued the soldier in Epicant, the Sith Lord's native tongue, and he stood at attention as he cautiously awaited orders from his vile liege. Vornskr finished assembling his speeder, and purposefully swung his leg over the side and settled himself into the speeder's seat. "Bir prob sevk kendimi araştırmak gerekir. Benim dönüş için güvenli gemi ve iniş bölgesi tutun. [ Dispatch a probe, I'll investigate myself. Keep the ship and landing zone secure for my return. ]"

And with that he revved the engine of his speeder and sped away into the distance.

[member="Rael sul B'an"]

 

[Garik Reed]

"Yalin, where did you say these Huks were?" Rael turned to look at one of his Izvoshra, a young boy who recently ascended to manhood, Yalin had proven himself in a deadly battle against an enemy tribe. They had been walking for a few hours now, and Rael was starting to grow impatience. He couldn't risk leaving his clan alone for too long, for he had with him the commanders of his fighters. "Ah..uh...they're supposed to be here...I swear, this was were I saw them..." Rael sighed as the boy spoke. He knew what had happened.

"Did it ever occur to you that they spotted you and left?" If his face wasn't covered in a mask of bone, Yalin would've had a fierce grimace facing him, yet Rael's eyes still blazed with annoyance. The he felt it, an odd tugging through the Force. He hadn't felt that tug in a very, very long time. It was the tug of a powerful Force Sensitive, and slowly, Rael turned back to the direction he had been walking. "Nevermind...return to the clan, stay there until I return." Without looking back, Rael began sliding down the other side of the dune, his feet digging in and spitting up sand. Behind him, his men shrugged, exchanging a few words before heading back, heckling Yalin as they did so.

As Rael kept walking through the desert, he dropped his staff, his hand moving to rest on in lightsaber. There, he saw it. A black speck headed his way, fast. The Kaleesh planted his feet on the ground, spread wide as he stood before the speeder moving towards him. To say the least...

...he had a bad feeling about this...

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

He moved through the wastes and dunes like a banshee, the shrill wine of his speeder's engine heralding his arrival and sending the indigenous wildlife fleeing into the underbrush as he neared. The wind tore at his flowing cloak and robe, the fabric billowing almost as loud as the wind and just as wildly as he crested a particularly large dune and raced across the flat expanse beyond it. Here and there were small outcroppings of trees and bushes, but most of the land was harsh. To the far north and south he could see the peaks of great mountains, the borders of this dust bowl, and beyond it were the fertile jungles that reminded him so much of his home. A tremor in the Force tore his gaze away from the far horizon and to where his soldiers had pinpointed the anomaly that denoted more intelligent life. However, his own equipment picked up only one life form while the scanners back at the camp picked up several, causing the Sith Lord to deeply frown as he brought his speeder to a halt twenty meters away from the lone individual who stood in his path.

He dismounted swiftly and walked seven paces towards the Kaleesh warrior, unsheathing his lightsaber but not yet activating it's scarlet blade. "Brave of you, boy... To stand so defiantly in my path." His eyes momentarily wandered down to the warrior's waist, causing a smile to form on his mangled face; his cracked lips parting painfully. With his left hand he drew back the heavy hood that obscured his face, and revealed his pale, scarred, hairless features to the burning sun overhead. "And the Force is strong in you as well... I didn't think mongrels were capable of such." His tone was demeaning, and his eyes burned with hate not entirely directed at the Kaleesh, but rather encompassed everything those burning coals took in.

[member="Rael sul B'an"]

 

[Garik Reed]

Rael watched as the dark figure approached in a cloud of sand and darkness. The Kaleesh could feel its presence of darkness. While it was a side of the Force he did not resonate with, he no longer believed that Sith would be the bane of the galaxy. But perhaps this one would be. It stopped the speeder, dismounting and reaching for a saber. The voice Rael listen to was twisted and deep, and sent shivers down his spine.

"You are proof that mongrels can wield the Force..." Rael said this in response to the man removing his hood. He knew his species were no Hapans, but he still believed them more beautiful than this monster. Rael could see the look in his eyes, and knew he was not walking away from here without a fight. A purple blade ignited in his hand, running along the back of his right arm in a hold used by wielders of Form V.

"I am Rael sul B'an, Chieften of my tribe, and you know I will defend them." Rael's voice was stern, but hesitant. Hopefully he remembered how to fight a Sith Lord.

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Fool."

He unfastened the ornate broaches that clasped his cloak and robe to the Dark Armor he wore underneath, and with a mere shrug of his shoulders both fell into a heap behind him. His black armor gleamed in the blazing sun of Kalee, the golden decorations molded onto the armor depicting ancient Sith symbols and cruel esoteric images that leered obscenely at the Kaleesh warrior as he activated his violet blade. Vornskr activated his own in response, a hateful red line cutting the dry air with a sizzling snap-hiss. He held aloft his blade in a similar fashion to Rael's, the weapon gripped tightly in both hands and held up and back at a specific forty-five degree angle.

For a moment the Sith Lord only stared at the Kaleesh, letting the microseconds tick on for what seemed like an eternity before he attacked, extending his metaphysical will out to directly manipulate the ground near Rael to explode upward in a shower of dirt and sand. In that instant Vornskr released the tension that had been building in his muscles ever since he assumed his initial fighting stance, the power that had coiled through his core like a serpent unwinding as he lunged forward with blistering speed to bring down his blade in a straight vertical slash that carved through the air like an executioner's axe to cleave anything that was unfortunate to get caught in it's path. No doubt the blade would only taste dirt and dust for the moment, such a fierce battle was ever ended so quickly and anti-climactically, and thus as he landed he swung his blade around in a spinning whirlwind to crosscut anything that was within reach of his blade.

[member="Rael sul B'an"]

 

[Garik Reed]

The only moves Rael felt comfortable making were away. Once the earth around him erupted up towards him, he knew he was dealing with no small Sith. He knew that the moment he felt his presence, but now he knew. Yet, Enoch was used to fighting in the sandstorms that rolled over Kalee, and he jumped back, blinking as dirt flew into his eyes. Thankfully his Huk mask kept any from getting in his mouth, but his eyes were what he needed. Rael raised his blade across his chest, his arm running along its length. He was expecting the Sith Lord to try and roll over him.

Through a teary haze, Rael saw red light shining through the dirt that had been kicked up, reflecting off the man's black armor. The thought of it gave Rael a shiver down his spine. Trying to regain his composure, Rael threw out his hand, a weak wave of energy rolling off his body in an attempt to push the Sith off his feet. As soon as it left his fingertips, Rael was rushing forward. His blade sliced out horizontally, and Rael spun with the momentum of the swing, going for a second attack. A downward slash at the man's head, followed by a kick at the legs. If the Kaleesh was able to at least get his attacks off, he would try to jump back and bring his blade up defensively once again.

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Vornskr landed with the strength of a freight train, the ground buckling under his power as he turned to face the wily Kaleesh. A wave of Force energy cascaded over him, but the drive behind it was surprisingly weak compared to similar attacks he's weathered, and with his feet anchored firmly to the cracked ground he hardly moved an inch. He brought his lightsaber in closer to his core, assuming the defensive stance of Form III as Bael emerged from the dusty haze with his violet lightsaber coming at him horizontally, a blow which Vornskr easily matched to parry. The Jedi followed up with a downward slash aimed at Vornskr's unprotected head, but the Sith Lord was surprisingly quick for his immense muscular frame and again parried the blow, but growled slightly as he felt a sharp pain in his legs as Bael kicked him. He lashed out with a vicious crosscut, but the Kaleesh had nimbly leapt backwards to avoid the Sith's retaliation.

Growling even deeper in the back of his throat, he jutted out his left hand and discharged veins of blue lightning his his fingertips. The jagged lines of hateful energy arced through the air like javelins demolishing traces of dirt and dust, and leaving the overbearing stench of burning ozone and greasy pollutant to contaminate the air.

[member="Rael sul B'an"]

 

[Garik Reed]

What little joy Rael felt from his successful assault was soon blasted away as he felt a sharp pain covering his body. Blue lightning enveloped his body, and Rael's lightsaber slowly moved in front of his body. Eventually, the energy was redirected too the saber, but Rael was already in pain, and had fallen to one knee. He smelled something burning, and looked down quickly to realize it was his flesh. The Kaleesh was not in a good state. His skin was burned, his clothing charred, and one of his eyes was shut closed, and water teared around it. That blast of sand had really gotten in there.

"Aghh...." With a moan, Rael rose to his feet, lightsaber still held in front of his body to stop the lightning. Slowly, he would begin to walked towards the massive Sith, pushing back against the lightning.

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Tenacious." commented the Sith Lord, unloading several more torrents of Sith lightning into Rael's violet blade before dispelling the dark energy that had been billowing forth from his gnarled fingertips. He held his blade in a lax defensive position, the blade angled downward but held in a way that it could be brought up at a moment's notice. His hateful eyes narrowed against the sunshine as he looked over his already injured opponent, and allowed himself a self-satisfactory chuckle. "But I must commend you, you've proven yourself unwilling to yield in the face of absolute adversity. Not many of your colleagues could claim the same, most of them bent like reeds at a mere flicker of my power. But you... you can at least handle that." He mockingly bowed, his ruthless nature momentarily overcome by the aristocratic nature he had familiarized himself with over the years.

"But you will soon break like the others." He unleashed another torrent of Sith Lightning, but quickly followed it up by dashing forwards with the Force enhancing his speed to drive his saber into Bael's own, re-engaging the Kaleesh in a vicious sword fight.

[member="Rael sul B'an"]

 

[Garik Reed]

Rael had trouble believing that the Jedi Masters he had once known had fallen to the Sith Lord that stood before him. As the man fired off more lightning, Rael's blade flew up, and he batted the burst of lightning shot off to the side. Rael crashed to his knees as the attack was launched at him, and he reengaged the Sith. Rael somehow managed to get out from under the attack, scrambling backwards. The Kaleesh brought his hand up into the air, and he felt the Force surge through him. Another wave of energy flew towards Vornskr, and with one last burst of fury, Rael jumped to his feet.

His lightsaber swung this way and that, small little jabs going towards the man from various directions. After a few attacks, the power and energy behind Rael's attacks dwindled, and he slowed his assault, and would soon most likely find himself on the defensive.

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

He was like a beast wearing the trappings of a man, his attacks coming in fast and brutal from every conceivable angle. His form refined for sheer domination and savagery, his lightsaber cutting through the air like a blur of incandescent energy only to clatter again and again against the Kaleesh's violet line. He was starting to push the young Jedi back towards the edge of the nearby thicket, but he was unable to fully overpower him at the moment. He was resilient as he was tenacious; something Vornskr attributed to the alien's warrior culture rather than his sterile Jedi training, but everything had a breaking point if you pressured them hard enough. It was the duty of the warrior to discover such limitations and overcome through rigorous training in both mind and body; something that the Sith worked endlessly towards in part to their ideology which not only emphasized the importance of the individual, but also criticized adaptability and survivability.

Then came the blast of telekinesis, this one with more oomph behind it as Vornskr detected hints of fury behind the attack; causing him to smile viciously as the Force tore at his form. However; he was only pushed back a couple paces by Bael's attack, his mastery over the Force and the Dark Side allowed him to divert the flows of energy around his body while also absorbing most of the kinetic impact naturally. It did cause a couple of sores underneath his armor, but such things were trivial compared to the damage sustained by the Sith Lord through each battle since before he could even remember. Then the boy came back at him with his blade, swinging and jabbing with the ferocity of a cornered animal, but Vornskr knew that he was wearing him down ever so slowly.

Soon he'd have to make a mistake, and that time came quicker than Bael could ever realize.

A jab there, a crosscut there, and then suddenly Bael ambitiously overextended himself. Vornskr seized this opportunity, reaching out with his right hand to grab Bael's right arm at the point where the wrist met the forearm, and clamped his hand down with enough force to crack bones. His lightsaber was firmly gripped in his left hand, and with a mere flick of his wrist he seared through Bael's right arm straight through the bicep and then followed through with a flourish that severed Bael's left arm at roughly the same area as his right, a masterful execution of a double Cho Sun. Moving on his increasing momentum and swung his blade down low and performing a clean Mou Kai right through the lower thighs (rather than straight through both knees), effectively severing both of Bael's legs right from under him. He then reached out with his right hand and sent a conical blast of Force energy right into Bael's chest, sending his limbless body flying backwards to land on a sand dune.

Vornskr then sighed with a tone of disappointment, and deactivated his lightsaber only to loom menacingly over Bael's body.

[member="Rael sul B'an"]

 

[Garik Reed]

Pain. That was all he could feel, pain. So much he couldn't even yell out as the crimson blade sliced off his right arm. His lightsaber fell into the sand, burning out as it left its owner's palm. Or, previous owner's palm, rather. Next came the left arm. Rael could barely think, all he felt was pain and anger at the fact he had lost. He doubted the Sith would spare him, and his Izvoshra would come looking for him, and they too would perish at the hands of the beast of a man before him. The Kaleesh didn't even recognize his legs being sliced off, and he only knew he was laying on the ground.

Burnt snubs waved themselves through the air, and Rael stared up at the man through watery eyes. A painful moan let itself loose of his mouth, and Rael felt something surge inside of him. A feeling he had never felt before. It was like a plague, a beautiful plague. The Dark Side. Since he had joined the Jedi, Rael had rarely allowed his emotions to control him, and now they flushed through his bloodstream like a burst dam. Rael let out a scream, a wail, really. He looked up at the Sith, fear in his eyes.

"Please......plea...." He drifted off as he begged for mercy, slowly falling into unconsciousness.

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The wind swirled up a dust devil of sand and dirt, whistling across the barren plain as the victorious Sith Lord glared down at the limbless Kaleesh that writhed under his imposing gaze. The alien's limbs were strewn out across the field upon which they battled, the cauterized ends smoldering slightly as the flesh sizzled from his lightsaber's crimson edge. He lightly kicked aside one of them and edged closer to the collapsed Jedi, his shadow now enveloping all of Bael's crumbled form like a triumphant specter. "And at last we see what laid behind all of that pitiful bravado, little worm." He knelt down next to Bael, reached out with his left hand to firmly grasp the top of the Kaleesh's head and turn it so that he was looking directly at the Sith Lord. "Your life was forfeit the moment you dared to stand before me and fight, and now you will learn the price for your lack of vision." He pushed Bael's head away with a groan of disgust and rose up to his full height, tapping a small button built into the wrist of his right gauntlet bringing forth the blue-hued form of an Imperial trooper.

"Soldier, send a medical pod to my location and scan the surrounding area for other intelligent life forms. There may be more Kaleesh hiding elsewhere, root them out and destroy them utterly."

"Yes, milord."

[member="Rael sul B'an"]

 

[Garik Reed]

Somewhere in the back of his head, Rael could feel his body being lifted up into the air, and placed on something soft. The pain that he felt took him out of his body, and the young Kaleesh felt he could look down upon the massacre he had endured. Never in his life had Rael lost a fight so badly. In fact, he wasn't too sure that he ever had lost a fight. He was never one to back down from a fight, and that arrogance had cost him his limbs, and possibly more. Rael saw the sand and air whip at his face as he was sped across the desert towards an unknown location. Somewhere in the fight, his mask had been flung off, though he couldn't remember when. They hit a bump, and Rael's unconscious body jumped, and let out a moan into the air.

Was this a dream? Rael was a Jedi Knight, he shouldn't, couldn't, lose to a Sith. He begged his mind to wake him from his slumber, crying out to his old Jedi Masters. They wouldn't hear. They would never hear his cries again. Another bump, another moan. Whatever was in store for him, it was nothing compared to the pain he felt that day. His anger at the Sith who would slay him grew with each passing second, and he could feel the emotions pumping through his muscles. It was keeping him alive.

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The Kaleesh's body was stabilized and was secured to a gurney within the bowels of the Crestfallen with one of the medical soldiers looking after the wounded Jedi, probing his ruined flesh with sharp instruments all the while Rael was kept conscious by a steady line of adrenaline administered directly into his bloodstream. The looming vigil of the Sith Lord was overbearing, the faint outline of his armored form was lingering upon the edge of Rael's vision, but was never clear enough to be discerned if he was actually there of if it was a figment of his tortured imagination. There was a noise outside the shuttle, the grunting of battle and the belching of blasters which lingered on for a minute or two before growing deathly silent. Faintly the words 'kaleesh' and 'warriors' could be heard from an officer speaking to the blackened specter of the Sith Lord in regards to the skirmish just outside, which led to believe that Rael's comrades had mounted an attempted rescue and had been keenly cut down by the Sith's own soldiers.

However; the next words spoken could be heard so finely that one might confuse them for the subconscious voice in their own head. "Burn the bodies, none of their existence shall remain. And inform the pilot to prepare for lift off."

The soldier's words were a garble of white noise, but no doubt it involved some sort of confirmation followed by a salute and hailing of the Sith Lord's being. A few minutes later the ship's interior would shake and shutter as it lifted off from the ground and began it's ascent to the heavens, quickly breaking through the atmosphere and into the blackness of the void. Another shudder would wrack the ship as the calculations were input and they transitioned from real-space to hyperspace.

Their destination?

The depths of depravity.

[member="Rael sul B'an"]