Scowling, Taeli watched as the speeder that had taken her into the Undercity departed. Taking in her surroundings, she could clearly see why this place had earned the name the Pits. She could feel the dark side festering here; being fed by the desperation, violence, greed, fear, and all other sorts of powerful unbridled emotions of the denizens that struggled to make a living in this hell hole whilst being hunted by Sithspawn, swoop gangs, and other vile pieces of sentient life forms. Taking it all in, Taeli started walking cautiously but allowing the dark side energies here to fill her very being.
"Find me something worthy of becoming part of my talisman," she whispered to the bird-like familiar on her shoulder. It gave a screech and took off, soaring away, but leaving a trail of its energy for her to follow its whereabouts.
She continued down the path, avoiding some spider-like Sithspawn that were scuttling towards a corner where two thrashing cocoons were being hauled into a web. Two street urchins brushed past her, hoping to steal something from the better dressed female in their midst, but she grabbed both boys and broke their wrists. Deciding they needed a further lesson, she threw one boy into a shadowy alley. Immediately, he started screaming as she could hear something attacking him.
"Best go help your friend, sounds like he needs it," she said coldly to the other boy as she moved on, leaving him to either choose his own survival or fight. Either would make him stronger in a way, an important lesson that a Sith could impart.
"Pretty blade you got there, pity if something happened to ya," a gruff Rodian said in guttural Basic as she turned a corner.
"Hand it over, and you won't be cut into bits for the spawn to munch on," a Quarren missing most of his face tentacles grunted.
"Out of my way," Taeli hissed, her annoyance spiking as the familiar had located something and was letting her know by increasing her tie to it and the dark side.
"Not a chance, boys, take her blade, leave the body," the Rodian said, and suddenly more aliens; another Rodian, two Klatooinians, and to her surprise, a Wookiee that had burn scars on his fur and manacle markings on his wrists.
"Enough of this!" Taeli yelled, unleashing the Force by gripping the Rodian ringleader and hoisting him into the air. The other aliens back up quickly from her.
The Wookiee gave a roar, and the Rodian looked at her with fearful eyes as he gasped out, "You're a Force-y?!"
"How perceptive of you," Taeli whispered, closing her fist and strangling the Rodian to death.
"Brother!" the other Rodian shouted, charging at her in grief, but she merely smashed his brother's body into him and drew her blade. The others, losing their indecisiveness, moved to attack her too, drawing a random assortment of blades, but the Quarren drew a blaster, sealing his death.
"None of that," Taeli said, spraying her free hand wide and unleashing the small amount of Force Lightning she could use on the Quarren. She smiled cruelly as he jerked and twitched in agony, but the Wookiee charged towards her next, swinging a huge piece of scrap metal sharpened into a sword. She merely turned her attention to the Wookiee, her lightning lancing across its mighty frame and blasting it backwards. She could feel her hand burning, but she embraced the pain, using it to strengthen herself and unleash more power as the other Rodian swung his blade towards her along with his two canine companions.
Using the Force, she slowed all three blades long enough to dodge out of the way, stopping her lightning attack as the Wookiee fell to the ground still twitching. Catching the Rodian's blade along hers, she twisted them fast so his spun out of his grip and she ran him through. Pushing him off her blade, she Force Pushed one Klatooinian over the guard rail of the walkway and sent him plummeting several stories while she blocked one blow from the other, then another, and another, using a refined technique reserved for fencing foils.
"Die, you witch!" the canine alien barked, slashing wildly.
"Haphazard and sloppy," she commented with a cold detachment. Mother did always tell her that she could be cold and calculating when the moment suited her during a blade fight. Tiring of toying with this dog, she kicked him in the stomach then slashed her blade across his throat as she spun away.
Looking at the pile of bodies around her, a small part of herself recoiled at the killing she had just done, but the majority was reveling in the power she had over these beings now. The Quarren was still barely breathing as she moved over to where he looked at her, unbridled fear in his eyes.
"Any last words?" she asked, in a falsely sweet voice.
"Leviathan," he gasped out, prompting her to swiftly turn around to face the wipe open maw of an adolescent Leviathan, the familiar Darth Praelior gave her hovering above it.
"Bother it all," Taeli muttered as the Sithspawn roared.
