A Desert Hunt

[Maple Harte]

"Yooz cann turnz intuh a wolfy?" Laertia asked, astonishment playing out over dark grey eyes. "Dhat...dhat givez mee ann ideea fer a neww majic trikk..."

"I've never heard of such a species before..." Moya remarked, eyebrows raising. "How does your very DNA not tear itself apart in the act? What would have had to happen in your evolutionary tree to even get such a result?"

"Connsidderin whoo sheez tahlkin tooz, yer harrdlee wun tuh bee expressin' serrprize, Moya." Laertia said amusesly.

"But human to wolf is a scientific mystery..." Moya replied, shrugging. "We can all agree that's pretty cool, however..."

"Agreedz..." Laertia echoed.

"Oh yes, definitely." Maple agreed. "Human to wolf kicks multiple levels of ass. Divided, added, and subtracted levels of ass also if I'm not mistaken. That is a boss idea you have there, Alwine. We'll do that."

"I'm going with you..." Moya told Laertia. "No arguments."

"Yoo...yoo surez? No waterz inn duh deep dezertz. Yoo ovuhheet..." Laertia warned.

"You need to lay off the medicine and you aren't even supposed to be fighting." Moya said to her charge crossly. "This Werewolf we chase is a spree killer. Whoever they are, they killed multiple people in an extremly short span of time...you'll need all the help you can get."

"You can fight?" Maple asked.

The curvacious Moya held up a silvery, well maintained lightsaber hilt, flashing a black blade with a dark green aura and shutting it off.

"I think I'll be okay..." she smiled.

"I'll go getz readyz..." Laertia said, heading back to her captains quarters. The storm would probably last only a little while longer. Laertia departed the small main hold, shaking her head slightly.

"So she makes a living as a traveling magician?" Maple asked Moya.

Moya nodded, staring at the posters. "And a damn good one, too. I'm her assistant in the act sometimes. You might want to take things slow talking to her. Professional opinion."

"She's not as upbeat as she used to be..." Harte noted.

"She...is in mourning..." Moya revealed as much as she dared. Laertia's cybernetic arm didn't interact with her injured brain right, sometimes. Medicine suppresses it...but she had forgotten to take it that day. Her arm spasmed and she tossed the rabbit into the face of the boy whose birthday she was performing at, knocking the boy out and killing her rabbit instantly. She then accidentally lost the corpse down a sewer drainage when she suffered a migraine looking for a place to bury him.

"She's still devastated...and the fact it happened on Alderaan didn't do her any favors..." was all Moya chose to say on the subject however. Her face creased to a frown.

Maple's head lowered. Alderaan. Where she had been recruited...

And where she first met Laertia...



Skip.

Ursula seemed to be a whir of motion, her cane seemingly anticipating the rapid strikes of Uri's yellow blade before Uri could think to execute a move. The Jedi Master was a clever fighter, thought multiple steps ahead, each move calculated, each attack executed with a swift, ruthless efficiency that constantly interfered with her attempts to come up with an effective way to defend, staying out of her foe's reach only through her own agility and natural speed. But Ursula pursued as she backed away, eyes zeroing in on Uri.

She had one play left, a less than common art. One she had practiced since she was younger. Ursula wasn't letting up...

As Ursula dashed towards her, her strike aiming low, Uri drew on the strange, unnamed style she practiced...

...and performed a stumbling, drunken flipping twirl that carried her over Ursula's cane. She landed and just as Ursula turned, Uri flipped again, right over her opponent, scorching her shoulder with the tip of her blade.

Ursula cried out as Uri landed, grasping her shoulder. She collapsed to one knee as Uri guarded with her yellow blade, backing away from the wiley opponent. Ursula stared at the wound in surprise, then at her.

"Very good, Uri. That was exactly what I was looking for. You are the right pick..."

"Shenaniganz!" called out a thickly accented female voice.

Uri stopped, blinked in amazement as a thuggish looking young woman slightly older than her teleported into the old circle of grass they were fighting in. She seemed unnaturally pale, her face partly hidden by an odd, uneven moe-cut and a spiky black jacket and clothes. She was petting a small brown rabbit.

"Laertia, your presence is not required here..." Ursula said firmly. "And you really must stop taking Songsteel out every time we land..."

"I thinkz shee gotz luckee..." Laertia said. Uri's eye glanced at the worn and scratched hilt of Laertia. It was a crossguard. Knights of Ren style. Aggressive duelist. The rabbit snuggled against Laertia. "Pluss, Songsteel lykes to runz arounndz..."

"There's no such thing as luck, Laertia..." Ursula said, again firmly, blue eyes glancing between both of them. "But perhaps I should not so readily dismiss your tactical assessment. That rabbit never seems to want to just stay still, though..."

"Shee'z faast, but once yoo cutz off her ruhtreatz shee ain'tz gotz muuch." Laertia insisted, releasing her rabbit and letting it scurry to a tree to start sniffing.

Ursula seemed to be amused. "I think you will be surprised young Io. In fact, 'I' believe your ego is about to be bruised."

"Letz mee att herz!" Laertia said enthusiastically. It didn't seem to be malicious. Laertia just seemed to want to prove herself.

Ursula, glancing between the two one more time before nodding.

Laertia gave a goofy grin at Ursula, than at Uri.

"Nuthin puhrsunnull, kyd. Iff annytingz, I'm savin yer lyfe..." Laertia spoke, activating the unstable looking green blade and its quillions."

Ursula withdrew, though she watched them both like a hawk. She leaned against a tree, watching as Laertia sprinted, her blade striking out at Uri's chest. Uri barely parried it...and was knocked to the ground, the gray eyed woman possessing shocking strength...

Uri sprang up, sprinting towards Io, flipping over a strike...

Skip.


"Does she need any help?" Maple asked, drifting back to reality.

Moya sighed. "She'll get back on her feet...with enough time..." Moya assured her. "I blame Ursula, personally...she didn't even visit after Laertia's injuries. All Laertia got were discharge papers."

Maple's voice went a little quieter. As stated previously, she loved Ursula...and hated Ursula...

"Ursula was...flawed..." Maple admitted.

"I swear, the more I learn about that woman, the less I like her..." Moya said angrily. There was so much she could not heal in Io. So much that was forever damaged.

Maple turned to Alwine. "I know the heat will prove challenging to you...I nearly died in the deep desert once..."

"Being chased by a sweaty fat man in a chef apron with a giant pair of shears..." Moya mentioned to troll Maple on Laertia's behalf, smiling.

Maple went red faced. "She uh, told you that?"

Moya nodded. "She also told me about the time you and her ended up on the wrong side of Coronet during the Dreadnought Riots and ended up getting chased by all those kath hounds..."

"I swear, as long as I live, I'm never going to live those two down..." Maple muttered. "Anyway, Alwine, Wolves survive in the desert all the time by being smart. And you've done pretty good so far.."

"You must have. I never hear Laertia call anyone a pit fighter unless she see's a lot of potential." Moya agreed.

"I always got nervous around the lanky types like her. Big and strong are large targets. Lanky ones like her move faster than you can target sometimes..." Maple spoke.

Laertia walked back into the main hold, having a large bandolier of both incendiary and slug over her shoulder. The storm outside had calmed down.

"Readyz tuh goz?" Laertia asked. "Yoo cann stopp pettin Cortosis noww Alwine..." she joked at [member="Alwine Lechner"]...

 

[Alwine Daye]

"Wolf, not wolfy," Alwine corrected Laertia. But whereas most people would have expected the petite to take offense at such a statement, the Lupine only had a little grin to offer. The well intentions, or lack of ill intentions, had been recognized and accepted.

To the question of DNA, there was little she could do but shrug. Alwine had no notion of what DNA was, though it was something that would be explained to her later on (and she would still not entirely understand it). She had never heard the term evolutionary tree before either, leaving her to gaze at Moya with a confused expression.

But the most important part of the conversation happened then; they agreed. Her plan was a good plan, and so she would turn into a wolf when they were ready to leave, once the sandstorm had passed. Alwine looked outside again as she scratched the tip of her nose. She had little doubt that she would be able to pick a scent up in her wolf form once it was over, but her earlier concerns, those she had spoken of with Maple before they came across Laertia, were still firmly in place. Was it something for them to meddle in? What if they could not help? And what if the werewolf had somehow found the way to escape the planet in the blink of time, before the sand storm became too messy?

It was only a few years ago. Alwine was still becoming accustomed to being able to shift; it hadn't been bad enough that she'd had to endure long years of waiting for something she so dearly wanted, her shift had not automatically come with full control. Even as a wolf, she was barely bigger than a puppy. The gods were mocking her, giving her exactly what she wanted, but at the same time taking so much away from it.

She and her brothers had shifted as soon as the light faded, and headed into the forest. Wolves were not born with knowledge; like humans, they had to be taught their various survival and thrival skills. Gerwald and Varick were going to teach her how to lock prey down, how to take its life, and how to eat from it without turning into a human again. She had run with them through the forest, managing to keep the speed up despite her much shorter legs.

They had come across a small flock of local wild cattle. Alwine had been ready to jump forward and sink her jaws into their leader, but it was Varick that came to stand before her, snarling and growling. It was how she had learned. A stranger would never have understood it, would never have spotted the care and softness in those violent sounds and moves. But whereas her human part had been raised harshly, with little tenderness and less love, her wolf had known it all, and had received it all.

Besides. You did not attack the pack leader. You attacked the weakest of the flock, when it was stranded behind. That was how you kept safe. That was how you did more than just survive.

Snapped from the memory, Alwine turned to look at Maple, who had just said something about the heat. "Then we should bring water," she stated with simplicity. Heat, water, they couldn't carry shade with them. "Anyone survives anything by being smart. And prepared. Or by relying on others to save them."

She had been neither smart nor prepared on Stewjon. She had almost died. Varick had been unable to save her. If Gerwald had not showed up when he did, she would have certainly been dead.

Alwine was still holding the bunny? She blinked, looking down in surprise. In the minutes that had passed, it felt like he had become an extension of her arms. Now there was a bunny that he wolf was never going to eat. She offered the other women a smile and nodded, putting the furry animal down.

Immediately, her hands went to her clothes, and she began to strap the armor and weapons off of her, not pausing before all the clothes that were under it were removed as well. Despite her upbringing, Alwine was still a Lupine. Lupines could never be ashamed of their exposed bodies, regardless of what form there were in, and soon enough she was standing in full nudity in front of the others, though her body language would never indicate that this was any different than standing next to them in full armor.

She stood there for a moment, perhaps two, and then the shift began. To those who had never seen it, it would look as though her body was breaking itself down in order to rebuild itself, the sound of bones snapping and stretching easy to hear. The hair on her head shortened while fur began to sprout everywhere, her nose and jaw moving forward as the shape of the wolf began to form. As a human, Alwine was just five feet when standing straight, and as a wolf, she was hardly bigger than a cub. And still, despite it all, the bones continued to move beneath her skin, easy to see and map as things changed.

It was not a short process. At Alwine's age the shift took five minutes, and there was no way to pause it, reverse it, or speed it up.

But at the end of it, the three ladies would have a wolf to stare at, a true wolf, small, yet with adult proportions, who stared right back at them as she licked her teeth.

[member="Maple Harte"]

 

[Laertia Io]

When [member="Alwine Lechner"] dropped the rabbit, Laertia made a little kissing noise at it, causing it to instantly hop up to her and jump into her waiting arms, where it snuggled against her she put it back in its pen. She knew it wasn't a good idea to leave the rabbits without anyone so she activated an old rusted protocol droid she had been fixing up in her spare time, ordering it to sound the alarm if she did not return in a week or so and feed them in the meantime. The rabbits would be taken care of, no matter what. Moya did a better job, but this outdated model would do in a pinch.

She walked back in then and saw Alwine was stark naked and covered her eyes, blushing. It was only half way through transformation that she actually dared to look. No way she was gonna be able to replicate that onstage. Maple seemed wide eyed at the transformation as was Moya.

"Yeaaaahhh I can't top that..." Maple said, grinning.

"Dhat...wuz...aiiiiiieeee dhat wuz freekinz awwwsumm!" Laertia exclaimed. "Iffs onlee weeda hadz yooz inn duh Mahxminn...ohhh duh jobz wee cudda pulledz offs."

"Ursula would have cut a finger off to have her..." Maple agreed. The notion seemed to visibly trouble Maple more than it did Laertia though.

"Sheez so kutez! Aiiiiiieee!" Laertia nerded out, causing Moya to shake her head out of amusement as she picked up Alwine's clothing to carry in case she had to change back for any reason. Maple stared at her. "Wutz?" Laertia asked before shrugging. "Letz goz! Dhu Wherewollffs nott gonna findz dhemselvz!"

"You're awfully enthusiastic about getting back into the thick of it, Laertia." Maple mentioned as she followed Laertia out of the ship, the sandstorm having at last died down.

"Workz beenn...a littel toughz laytelee..." Laertia answered as she let Maple lead her to the Silent Erika. Her heart went a little still, seeing that ship again. Laertia had stuck with that clunky little dynamic class frieghter since childhood, naming it The Blessing of Loste after the Marksmen's founder, Hiram Loste after getting recruited. She'd been forced to sell off most of its upgrades after being discharged to pay the medical bills and for those lean times (which were often) that could not be covered by her magic show. That ship had been her home since before she'd even gotten its engines running, lost in some abandoned landing pad deep in Nar Shaddaa's streets below the skyscrapers. No way she would part with it, caring for the ship almost as much as Moya and the rabbits. But even she could not deny that The Silent Erika was a beauty. Because where else were you going to find a black chromium, J-Type 327 Nubian? It's like striking gold twice.

Maple wasn't long. She put back Ursula's rifle, as it would be too heavy to carry out there, and instead strategized, keeping her outback rifle but putting away her staff in favor of her saber-cane and taking her VT-Sliid Gun before rejoining the others with some minor rations for the desert.

"Still gotz duh olld tric kane, eh?" Laertia asked.

Maple gestured to the crossguard lightsaber on Laertia's belt. "Not exactly without your own museum piece. You still have your cane?"

"Yeah...but I onnlee taykez itt outz fer speshull reesunns..." Laertia answered, still watching the Silent Erika. Even Moya was transfixed. "That ship...its soooo sexy..." the biot whispered, glancing at its sleek, ultra reflective black hull. Ursula had genuinely had no words for when Uri had popped up in that ship, seemingly too stunned to do anything really. But she had personally treated the wounds Uri had received in the process, dueling its previous owner Lur Redtide for it.

As the pair looked at each other, for some reason, Laertia flashed back to when they first met...



Laertia's saber strike was one Uri barely evaded in the meadow in which they dueled, Ursula observing both of them as she leaned against a tree, the light reflecting of her sterile white suit.

Actually blocking had proven to be out of the question...the woman was so physically powerful she could probably bring down someone two to three times her size, and Uri somehow found herself having to fight the very air from some mysterious telekinetic effect Laertia generated as she retreated from Laertia, who attacked calmly and precisely with one hand in complex, difficult to predict sequences that revealed just how much Laertia already knew about saber combat, which had the effect of intimidating Uri. This wasn't some pushover. Ursula wasn't in the same league as her blade wise, the energy quillions of her crossguard sputtering as they deflected Uri's weak counter attacks, but though it seemed like the woman in the spiky black jacket delivered her blows slowly, it was only because she was efficient, delivering as much of her considerable strength as possible into her swings, though it was merely an attempt to disarm rather than kill, and it was clear if Laertia Io had really wanted to kill her her attacks would not have been nearly so reserved. Uri fell back on her agility, or tried to, but she was quite tired at this point, and Laertia knew it. She pressed her attack, hoping to force Uri to actually block so Io could rip the saber from her hands, but Uri seemed to dig deep, and her movement and parrying became more randomized. More drunken. Laertia fell back a moment, studying the technique.

"Ehhh! Yooz gotz a drinkin probblemmz er sumthinz?" Laertia asked, amused and confused at the same time.

"You move like a battle droid..." Uri breathed. "Nothing natural about that."

Laertia grinned, taking no offense. Given her appearance and manners, Uri assumed she had heard worse.

"Guess weez jusst a payr of irrregularrz, huh?" she asked, advancing on her again with that grin.

"No need to toy, Io. If you can beat her, do so." Ursula called out.

"Sheesh I'mm gettinz tooz itt!" Laertia almost whined at her mentor, but playfully. Ursula returned the smile, but Uri noticed it was a faint smile. She saw Laertia's whole body language change in an instant from that of a slow moving killer to that of almost a child or teen addressing a parent. The difference fascinated Uri.

Who was Ursula Sandraven, that she could affect someone like Laertia in such a manner?

Whatever the case, Laertia was soon back to attacking Uri and Uri could not help but notice that Ursula's eyes fell directly on her, though the stare was impassive.

A swing from Laertia's green blade sent her tumbling to the ground, distracted by the Jedi Master. Uri rolled out of the way, diving for her saber...only to have it vanish and reappear in Laertia's hand.

Uri stared, clearly surprised. "You...can teleport objects..."

"Neet tric, huh?" Laertia asked with a goofy smile, holding it out teasingly.

Uri's finger twitched and the bottom of Uri's saber split open, revealing a hidden secondary emitter. It had taken a considerable level of thought to miniaturize the mechanism within to produce two blades. The second yellow blade sprang out, whipping its tip in Laertia's hand towards her shoulder via telekinesis from Uri, forcing Io to drop it, watching it go flying into Uri's hand. Ursula unfolded her arms in surprise, now smiling fully as Uri spun the hilt. Laertia raised both eyebrows.

"Kun-moddell stafff..." Laertia noted, slightly more aleet than before, especially after spotting Ursula's smile.

"Wowz, Ursy, yuh'd thinkz yuh'd neva seenn a dubbul blaydid lytesabuh buhfore..." Laertia said quietly, watching the smile play out on Ursula's face. She rarely smiled that much.

"I merely enjoy being surprised, Laertia..." Ursula replied, not taking her eyes off Uri. The smile was still there.

Laertia shrugged uneasily and looked at Uri.

"Okayy, gotzta admitz, I diddint seez dhat cominz..." Laertia admitted graciously to Uri, which made the padawan like the spiky jacketed knight a little more.

Uri grinned. "Lets see what else you don't see coming..."

Laertia and Uri charged at one another once more, one, a heavy, deadly fan of green, the other a wheel of yellow as their blades manuvered around one another, trying to score a minor strike, the clashes of light playing out across Ursula's blue eyes...

"Sum tingz donn'tt chaannge..." Laertia sighed wistfully, suppressing her jealousy at how Uri had captured Ursula's time and attention from her.

"I suppose not..." Maple replied neutrally, wet green eyes staring into gray ones full of neglect and lonliness. Laertia and her at one point were almost sisters. But that had been a long time ago. Laertia silently took the ration and they resumed the journey, watching tusken bodies still being cleaned off the street.

Heading to the main gate that led out of town. Laertia purchased maps from one of the local prospectors, showing the trade routes and exited out. Various people from the town were staring at the corpses of the Tuskens outside, moving the bodies for disposal. Laertia grimaced. All they'd wanted was justice for their slain. And then they were fed to an unmerciful fate themselves. Laertia was only one way by which they met their end.

"We better move quickly before we lose the trail..." Moya suggested, her psychology programs analyzing the interaction between the two ex Marksmen, the silent language of old wounds.

"Alwine? Yooz gotz a scentz?" Laertia asked the cuddly-yet-dangerous looking wolf. Alwine for some reason reminded her of Ursula, oddly enough...same lack of tolerance for nonsense, yet always seeming to show a soft spot when really pressed. What style of saber combat would best fit her? Probably Soresu or Niman...she didn't have the frame for the others in Io's opinion. Maybe Makashi but that required more power than one might think despite its notoriously lithe movement pattern.

Well, obviously not now, given how Alwine was a wolf currently but when she changed back, Laertia would ask...but for now, they had to track that werewolf down. Moya, who'd been watching Alwine with a little fascination, trying to detect anything human in how the wolf moved felt disquiet when she saw the piles of bodies. They stretched out far from the city barriers, many blasted with ship cannons or trampled in an attempt to escape those cannons.

"What a monster, whoever this was..." Moya said out loud without meaning to, her black dress swaying in the wind of the desert as she walked a little further into the field of gore. Maple tried not to cough at the smell as she studied the wounds.

"Starfighter grade cannons...A-wing type cannons judging by the burns and impact points..." Maple spoke softly, not wanting to stare at the carnage that reminded her too much of the old days but having no choice. Laertia though, having never stopped believing, saw all this as simply coming with the territory of her line of work, and though it did not diminish her discomfort in having added to the body count, it did not disgust her as much as it did Maple. Laertia had been around death and corpses since the streets. A massacre, be it from gangsters or whatever one of a hundred million unknown threats and terrors out there, while tragic, was nothing new to her.

Ursula chose her recruits well...too well, Moya would no doubt say, Io thought as she stared at the pile of death still smoking and bleeding into the dunes.

 

[Alwine Daye]

The wolf stood there, looking at the other women with her wolfish eyes as the comments rolled in. In truth, although she had shifted in front of quite a number of people by now, this specific event was entirely new to her. The amazement and… Cuteness, it was… No. Alwine held her bark back. She was a wolf, not a cub. She was the size of little over a cub, but not a puppy. She was a wolf. She was not cute.

But yes, she agreed with Laertia. The werewolf was not going to wait for them, and it was time to leave. As the other women geared up, Alwine trotted to the exit, waiting patiently there for the others to show up. She didn't particularly enjoy being a wolf on parked ships; if they were traveling through space, it was different, and she could lay lazily next to a window and wag her tail as she saw stars and asteroids pass by. But when it was parked? An entirely different story.

Soon enough, the four were outside. Heaps of bodies were stewn everywhere and Alwine wrinkled her nose at the stench of it. The smell of bodies rotting in the Tatooine double suns made it harder for her, and she loathed the idea of needing to bring her snout closer than she wanted to in order to actually catch the scent.

There was nothing remotely resembling a human in the way the Lupine moved in her wolf shape. She'd heard it say that the most advanced and experienced of biologists would not be able to tell Lupine wolves apart from regular wolves based on sight and movement monitoring, but it was not something that the petite overly concerned herself with; she was neither human nor wolf, she was a Lupine, and she would never change that about herself even if opportunity presented itself.

The scent of the forests and jungles behind the house was so sharp in her nose. Alwine blinked, looking around. Sight as a wolf was not as good as sight as a human, and it was odd, looking at everything when her eyeballs were so close to the ground. She knew the scent of Gerwald and Varick with her, she knew it as he knew almost nothing else.

She tried to move. Controlling four limbs that were all meant to walk was so vastly different from two legs. "Your wolf knows how to move, lotha uss," she could hear Varick speaking softly to her, "Stop trying to think. Let your body move on instinct."

Alwine had hated that notion at first. She'd always prided herself on her mind, sharp and focused, refusing to take chit that she was told, though she often kept her mouth shut for fear of being beaten or having their family secrets known. Her demure exterior however let nothing on to the fires that raged inside of her petite body; small as a human, tiny as a wolf, and still bigger and with a heavier set of balls than anyone else she knew.

It took time. By the gods, it was not an instant thing. But she learned – she learned to release the human side from her brain, and she ran. No paths were needed when you were a wolf, no restrictions that existed as a human. She could run fast, she could growl properly, her snout was always wet, and she was a predator in every sense of the word. No animals in those forests and jungles would ever be safe from her again.

Alwine had caught the scent. She barked twice for the others to join her as she began to follow it, sniffing with near wanton need.

The trail took them away from the City Gates – back into the desert, back into the sand. Sometimes it was feint and Alwine had to pause, sniffing in various directions to make sure how to proceed. But they were moving. For several miles, they continued to move. It was a slow process, and the sun was beating down mercilessly on them, yet still she never paused, never stopped.

And then it stopped.

Alwine froze in place. The scent did not go anywhere from this seemingly random spot in the desert. Everywhere she looked, there was sand. The scent of the werewolf did not stretch out to any direction that she could tell, it was almost as if… Almost as if this was where the werewolf vanished into thin air.

But no. Such things were not possible. Their werewolf could not teleport. There were things that even with all the tech the galaxy had to offer, was still impossible.

Figuring out there was only one thing left to do, Alwine began to dig into the sand. If he was not above the ground, then somehow, he must have gotten under the ground.

[member="Laertia Io"]

 

[Laertia Io]

Maple, Laertia, and Moya followed [member="Alwine Lechner"] into the desert, making for quite the sight across the desert. The three moved in single file to hide their numbers from the tracks of others. Laertia had her shotgun out, Maple her outback rifle, Moya's saber remained clipped to her belt. Laertia looked like she had never left the business.

She felt woozy. Medication did that once in a while. Insides burned sometimes too.

As they walked, Laertia's street-earned intelligence began to process little irregularities that had kept popping up in her observation of Maple. She wasn't fully focused. It was strange how one moment she could seem completely there then gone the next. Laertia didn't know whether to be smug or saddened that the once great Uri Udinia seemed to be on some sort of downward slope. The two emotions warred within her.

Laertia had been in the Marksmen longer, way longer than Uri. It was like an overnight shift once Uri was recruited. Suddenly, Ursula barely spent any time with her and praised Uri in a way she never had with Laertia. Laertia had only ever gotten a well done. It used to secretly drive her to frustration. Her rabbits helped compensate. She secretly felt pathetic again.

"Laertia..." Moya called out during the desert jaunt after about forty minutes of silence and wind blowing through their clothes in fierce desert heat.

"Yeahh?" Laertia replied.

"Don't you think this is all odd? That you show up here the exact same day your former collegue does?" Moya questioned.

"Duh Foyce workz inn muhsteereeuss wayyz, Moya."

"There's mysterious and then there is timed..."

"What are you getting at?" Maple questioned, keeping alert for tuskens.

"I'm not sure it just...it all seems so convenient..." the biot remarked as they made the trek.

Laertia had been given pause. The Force could be setting something up. There was no such thing as luck. But it aggravated her to no end that Uri was somehow involved if it was true.

Laertia tried to distract herself from her resentment.

"So Uri...iff ya wuzzint ded, wut wuz ya up tooz?"

"I'mm a CIS employed bounty hunter." Maple answered.

Laertia struggled not to visibly bristle at this. The CIS was run by a Dark Lord. Ursula's prize student, working for Sith...how...how dare she...

Laertia kept her composure, didn't snap, controlled her emotions, recalled the old teachings, pushed the anger out. Anger would make her stupid. Anger would get her killed.

Anger at Uri, and ultimately, frustration at Ursula, had led to her being damaged for life.

Laertia pushed that resentment aside. Maple seemed to sense what she had been thinking, because soon after she spoke up.

"I do only what I need to to survive. Nothing more."

Laertia said nothing. The trading of credits for flesh instinctively revolted her no matter its guise. Laertia had been forced to cultivate a thousand tiny skills and hobbies in order to not have to resort to anything that involved blood money. She ended up eating a lot of military rations as a result. But she slept better. She would hurt or kill only for her own survival, defense of others, or a cause. Nothing and no one could compel her to kill or hand people over for or to someone else beyond those reasons. She would rather die otherwise.

Whatever her other (Immense. Overwhelmingly immense.) flaws, Laertia took the whole 'Knightly Virtue' thing seriously. Even when she had money, she lived frugally, knowing riches to be ugly, corrupting things. It was also why she could not afford anything more high quality than cortosis weave durasteel. She scavenged what she could use otherwise, all those little things she had forced herself to learn about coming in surprisingly handy. Moya helped when she could but the projects Laertia put together were very much her own affair. She was fond of assembling ships in bottles. The old fashioned way, not with telekinesis.

"You still got that rusty old one with the inverted core?" Maple asked.

"SynthBreaker?" Moya called out. "I keep telling her to chrome it so it will last. She claim's it'd ruin it's character."

"Ugh...I never did understand your dislike of anything but a single blade..." Maple mentioned, twirling her saber.

"Ballannce inn all tingz..."

"I legitimately beat you with my DBL, Io. Admit it. Other lightsaber techniques are valid..."

"Onlee onn vewy speshulyzed occashunz." Laertia argued. "Annd I diddintz knoww az muchh abowte lytesabuh kombat az I do nowz." She was still wrestling with her shock that Maple worked for a Sith.

While Alwine walked, following the scent Maple activated her cane, a pale green shoto blade shooting out of the cane handle from a hidden emitter on the smooth, tapered end, while another shoto shot out from the bottom of the shaft. Maple twirled it in astonishingly complex strangely drunk looking methods, the pick-axe like weapon manipulated deftly. Laertia snorted.

"Yerr cayne allwayz wuz frajile..." Laertia remarked. She had yet to meet someone other than Ursula who was truly good enough with a cane that its weaknesses would not catch up to them.

Alwine stopped and started digging. It seemed the scent went no further.

"Careful, Alwine, don't dig uncautiously, we wouldn't want to hit something that turns us all into a pink mist--" Maple called out.

Too late. The shifting sand from Alwine's digging loosened something and Maple yelled as she tumbled down stone spiral steps in the sand, having been too close to the opening. Laertia hid her delight at Uri getting embarrassed, still hearing Uri's aggravated yelps of anger as she fell down the step. Laertia whistled as she followed casually down the steps stopping at the bottom as she watched Maple woozily pull herself up, dusting herself off.

"Hadz, uss a littul spyllz, didd weez?" Laertia teased, her expression a classic trollface.

Maple, red faced, balanced herself on her deactivated cane. "And they said I was crazy, bringing a cane into battle.

"Um...ladies?" Moya called out nervously, pointing behind them in the stone chamber.

The two damaged assassins turned, stared at the stone chamber they were in.

It was splattered with blood. The image of a wolf was painted over an ancient symbol of Ashla in blood that adorned a sealed stone door.

"Uh ohz..." Laertia muttered.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Maple agreed.

 

[Alwine Daye]

Although the three women who had been following her conversed quite extensively regarding personal matters that dealt with their pasts, Alwine had not heard any of it. While her ears certainly picked the words up, it was her focus that had been narrowingly plastered itself on what she was meant to be doing, and thus none of it actually registered within her mind.

And neither did the warning as she dug.

The next moment, all of them tumbled down. Alwine gave a wolf yelp, unable to grab onto anything that would balance her, make her stop falling, until the fall did stop, and they were all beneath the ground. Only when she looked around did she realize that it was her and Maple that had tumbled; Moira and Laertia used… Stairs.

Of course there were stairs.

Growling, she shook her fur, hoping to get some of the sand out. She was most definitely going to need a shower once this mission adventure was done. That, and time away from anything that had remotely to do with sand.

Only then did she turn her head to look at what hey was were seeing. An image of the wolf. Something about it made Alwine feel extremely uncomfortable, and yet…

And yet she was drawn to it.

Walking forward from where she was standing, Alwine jumped against the wall, leaning against the image now with her paws. The smell of it was strange to her, yet she was… Was she?

Careful, she sent telepathically to the other women, and touched the belly of the wolf with her paw now.

The sound of stone shifting caused her to turn her head now, letting herself back down to the ground. A door had opened; a door that had not been there previously.

Do we really want to get in there? She asked, looking at the others, her fur standing on edge.

[member="Laertia Io"]

 

[Laertia Io]

[member="Alwine Lechner"] seemed drawn to the image of the wolf, because touching that image seemed to have opened another, previously unseen door.

Laertia took point with her shotgun, Moya right next to her. The medication wasn't always reliable in terms of how long its effects lasted.

Laertia pointed the shotgun she had once bought in a pawn shop on Nar Shaddaa down a stone pathway, moving carefully.

"Anny twapz?" Laertia asked Maple in a whisper.

Maple, relying on her ordinance disposal training looked for irregularities in the passage, objects that looked out of place, unnatural bulges on the walls which depicted what looked like hieroglyphics of warriors in golden wolf-themed armor, divided by alcoves in which sand flowed into silvery grates to a pit below. The path twisted right but neither Laertia's senses nor Maples nor Moya's detected any danger, the ceiling above them starting to become studded with natural crystals and what looked like brass colored clock mechanisms protected by glassteel panels framed in red steel, octagonal shaped.

The path ended at a door that seemed to be like a golden human eye, though greatly enlarged. There was a seperation in the middle of the eye door, with a mechanical lock over it. Maple got down and examined it.

"Hmmm...old style Corellian...Plague Era..." the ex-shadow remarked, pulling out a lockpick. Laertia though skilled with picks herself being a magician stepped back as Uri had always been better at it. Genuinely better at it, unlike that crazy random drunk form she used. One nice good chop from a proper blade could flatten Uri.

Unlike last time...



Laertia attacked from all sides but Uri was a fly ducking, evading, counter attacking at just the right moment to throw off Io's own renewed attacks. Io's blade became more unpredictable, more random as it attacked every exposed zone on Uri as Form One dictated. Laertia couldn't believe how agile and random Uri was, swaying and staggering and flipping between chops parries, and stabs from her DBL that Laerthad to slap aside as she advanced, trying to press Uri into a cluster of trees where there would be little room to manuever.

Up to this point, Laertia had never encountered such a style, and was actually somewhat bewildered by it in spite of staggering, seemingly nonsensical movements that whipped about, it was a puzzle for her to work out how to attack and still hem Uri in where Laertia wanted her to go.

Uri knew she was being hemmed in driven to the tree cluster, but could do little about it. Laertia's blows were random cascades of swipes and stabs. Uri dared not stop moving. Laertia was that skilled. Her body screamed for rest but Uri forced it to keep evading Laertia as long as possible.

Uri retreated, starting to slow, feeling the heavy thuds of Laertia's blade against her own more often. Laertia was not getting frustrated, to her credit. She knew such a highly energetic style would eventually tire her opponent so she only exerted as much force and aggression as she had to. Uri would make a mistake. Eventually.

Still...Laertia was perplexed by that style. She actually hesitated to get close at times because Uri was such an acrobat. But it was only a matter of time...

...and then came the second surprise in lightsaber combat that Laertia had ever received.

As Uri got closer to the trees, she pretended to slip and guard poorly with one of her blades and Laertia swung down at it, hoping to knock it out of her hand.

The yellow blade she aimed her green one at shut of and as Laertia cursed herself she heard the hum of Uri's remaining yellow blade close to her neck.

Laertia had lost. For the first time ever.

Ursula, who had watched the whole thing with clear fascination smiled a bit a both of them though she kept much of her reserve.

"To win by sheathing a sword is the epitome of Jedi Victory, Uri. Laertia, have you reconsidered your opinion on her?"

Laertia had a lot of pride in her abilities, but she was not so prideful that she could not admit when she had soundly been defeated.

"Ehhhh, shee'z a sneekkee sneek, alrightz...sheez cud maykez itt I guessss...puttertherr, pall!" Laertia said happily to Uri holding out her hand.

Uri took it and shook it. Laertia made a kissing noise at her pet rabbit and it instantly began hopping to her, where she began petting it as it leapt to her arms.

"They always question which is the best approach in our order. The Broadsword..." Ursula trailed, gesturing to Laertia.

"...or the Rapier..." the purple Twi'lek trailed then to Uri.

"I have always been of the opinion both are essential...though I should remind the broadsword of the old maxim: Put yourself beyond the possibility of defeat first, and then wait for the enemy to provide and opportunity for you to defeat them..." Ursula lectured Laertia gently.

"...and as for you, Uri...I am sufficiently impressed. You would be most welcome among us, should you accept my offer to join."

"Ittz totall funn!" Laertia claimed excitedly. "Yoo git tuh smasshh stuffz reel goodz!"

"Heh..." Uri grunted.

"It's your decision, Uri." Ursula told her. "I think you have the potential to be a very great Jedi Shadow...but its not something you can enter into half heartedly, and expect success. Its a hard life...but you also get to smash stuff, as Laertia said."

Laertia beamed at this. She had a rabbit, fresh air and maybe a new friend and family member. Life was looking up!

Uri seemed an okay sort, the raven haired Jedi thought. Clever too. She had every confidence Uri would make a great Marksman someday.



The pain of shrapnel going into her head and an agnonizing cacophony in her skull made Laertia shudder as she pulled away from the memory as Maple picked the lock. The eye door slid open and Moya's jaw dropped.

It looked like a vast, gigantic cathedral made of moving clock gears in the walls, ceiling and floor, each with a theme of Tattooine's lunar cycles. There were fast numbers of benches and meditation circles set up in key areas, armories of golden plate shining behind laser displays...and piles of rotting tuskens, slashed open and spilling blood and viscera amid piles of skeletons in faded golden wolf armor, the helmet in particular with canine features. Gigantic wolf heads from which poured sand onto measuring wheels, which in turn moved the gears, in the walls and floor, rested in four corners of the great hall of wolf warriors. The smell of rotted flesh hit pungently.

"What is this place?" Moya grimaced.

"Sanctum of the Golden Hounds..." Maple answered, suddenly grim as she spotted all the corpses. "One sanctum anyway...and its been defiled...lets look for clues..."

Laertia began to investigate any wall with writing and the mechanisms themselves while Maple and Moya went for the corpses to find more clues about who they were chasing, and why this hall of ancient warriors had been defiled...

 

[Alwine Daye]

It appeared they really wanted to go there. Alwine said nothing as she followed the other three, eying them with curiosity as they checked for traps. It served as a reminder that she still lacked much experience in these matters; she never would have thought to check for them the way these women were, and if they had not been around, she would have paid the price for it on the event that traps were indeed there.

And neither did she know about the history of the place, what any of the objects found within meant or where they could've come from. An unhappy sound came from her throat, but she remained otherwise quiet, just looking at the other women as they set to do what they knew to do so much better than her, and took a mental note to mention this to Maple later, to ask for advice on how to expand her own education so that on the event of something like this repeating, she would be better equipped to handle the situation.

Following the two down the path, she stopped right along with them to stare at the golden human eye. A human eye? Did that belong there at all?

And then Maple picked the lock to open the door, and Alwine smelled it before she saw it. Death and decay, corpses, not old enough to have become bones and dust, not fresh enough to not utterly reek. It was an offense to her Lupine nose and she growled.

Wolves, she corrected Maple, not hounds. Hounds are a different beast altogether.[/color]

Joining the others as they began to investigate, Alwine took herself not to the piles of bodies, but to gigantic wolf heads. There was something about them that called to her, as the mosaic of the wolf had before they'd entered the path. But what? And why? It was clear that nothing here was Lupine related; not everything that had to do with wolves also had to do with Lupines. But then what? A Wolf God of sorts?

Carefully, she brought her snout close to one of them, and inhaled. As she thought; there was no lingering smell of Lupine.

But there was also no lingering smell of wolf.

It's something human, she told the others, or human-like. Not Lupine, not wolf. There is no scent of either of those things.

Moving on, she walked over to one of the four giant wolf warriors. If she was any good at guessing, they were gathered about with the four directions of the wind, and she was by the northern one. What did it mean? Why was this here? And most importantly-

We've forgotten, Alwine remarked, suddenly remembering why they came here in the first place. They hadn't come here for an archeological adventure. They were chasing someone, and-

The screams that erupted from Alwine's throat were nothing wolf-like, or human-like. The Lupine fell to the floor, her body twisting and yanking itself in all directions as the screams continued to pour from her. Never before had she felt something like this, not even during the worst tortures on Stewjon. And within it, her own body ceased to be hers; she could feel them now, the bones, bending and breaking. It felt… Almost like becoming a human again, but not quite it, and neither woman nor wolf understood what was happening.

[member="Laertia Io"]

 

[Maple Harte]

Maple grimaced as she looked at the slashed up bodies in the grand, sand filled chamber, the golden wolf heads looming over them from above. Laertia stood over her.

"Dead a couple of months..." Maple grimaced, covering her mouth as she examined the wounds. Laertia wanted to choke at the stench, but a life of being around anonymous corpses allowed her to bear it without covering her mouth.

"Who were these people?" Moya asked.

"They were Jedi Guardians. Frontliners, most with more than three decades of experience. They piss off a Dathomiri sorceress after killing her son-who was a Sith literally breaking into this mead hall every night and eating someone alive where they stood--and every full moon after, no matter what world they were on, would turn them into a cross between man and wolf. They killed the Sorceress and proceeded to use the so called curse to their advantage..."

"Dhey gotz taken outz frumm withinn..." Laertia remarked to the biot.

"By who?" Moya asked.

Maple saw the Amalgam's face flash across her mind for a second and didn't need to know the answer. She felt it in her bones.

"Slashed up, just like the tuskens at that outpost..." Maple noted. "But why bring the corpses here? What were these people even doing here?"

"Maybe...maybe the Tuskens managed to track the person who was killing them...and then it went south once they got inside. It doesn't make sense that whoever did this would just drag them all the way--" Moya theorized.

The screaming of [member="Alwine Lechner"] in her wolf form drew the attention of all the other women. Maple was rushing to her new friend, horrified at what she was seeing. She felt something strange in the air as the wolf's body contorted and genuine fear for Alwine's life entered Maple.

She had lost many friends. It would wound her beyond her ability to articulate pain if the girl she had saved on Stewjon died in agony in some fething dungeon she hadn't even wanted to go to in the first place. How would she look Alwine's brothers in the eye? How could she tell them she had gotten killed trying to play hero with Maple.

Maple's gut sank as she watched the wolf deform, unsure how to ease her pain. She didn't dare try healing her. She might kill her by accident.

"Alwine! Focus on my voice if you can..." Moya called out. "Just stay alive, whatever it is..."

"Wutz wronn withh hurr?" Laertia asked, not wanting to see the young lupine die in the cusp of youth.

"I think its some sort of magic..." Maple said, on the verge of panic at losing her new friend.

Laertia looked up at the statues. She didn't know if they were causing it, but she could only guess if they did nothing, Alwine was likely dead anyway.

"Duh staatuuz!" Laertia shouted, teleporting up to one statue, drawing her crossguard blade and driving it into the head.

The statue's belly cracked open, and out tumbled and sloughed horror.

They were corpses. Deformed skeletons with chunks of putrid rotting meat covering them, some looked human, others looked like they were turning into canines. They spilled onto the floor below.

Moya, desperate to save Alwine, fired off bolts of green lightning at the head of another statue, and the same disgusting, horrific secret was revealed as Maple pulled her outback pistol and fired at the head of her own statue, stomach turning at the corpses of defiled, cursed warriors spilling and rotting from the great statues all around them as Laertia teleported to the final one and destroyed it, mouth agape at the disgusting secret within. She felt a whiff of suffering as the last pile spilled. A harsh cackle echoed through the chamber.

Maple turned to Alwine, the stench now overpowering, hoping whatever they had done had stopped whatever was happening to her...


OOC: Back after a long delay

 

[Alwine Daye]

Alwine's screaming continued as she trashed in her place on the ground, her bones breaking and rebuilding themselves with more violence and ferocity than ever before. The anguish flew through her, burning her from the inside, hurting her down to her very core. Thousands of time had she shifted from wolf to human or human to wolf, she knew the order of physical events like the back of her hand and paw. This was not it. This was something entirely different.

She could hear Maple's voice calling to her, yet every word sounded like it came from a greater and bigger distance than the one before. Alwine remembered what it had sounded like, on Stewjon, when Maple had been the first to find her on the floor of that prison, but now it was different and still she screamed as the pain ripped her apart from the inside and out.

And then everything turned black.

Alwine blinked in the darkness, trying to understand what was happening. Where had Maple, Laertia, and Moyra disappeared to? Why could she no longer feel the pain, or the ground, or anything else? Frantically, she tried to swim; swim out of the darkness, the blackness, back to wherever she was supposed to be.

Outside of that pool of nowhere, Alwine's eyes opened. But they were not the brown eyes that Maple and the others knew and had seen so expressive so often – instead, they were dark orbs of black, looking at them with a blank stare. Alwine had not shifted into her human self – instead, she slowly rose to her feet, standing now a towering seven feet above them. Her body, which should have been as naked as on her day of birth, was covered soft gray fur, and her face, was not human. It was the face of a wolf.

Slowly, her face moved to look at the three.

"I am Accalia, Goddess of those who become wolves," she said, and her voice vibrated within the very walls and floor of the chamber, "You have hurt my children," she added, looking at the remains of the corpses that were strewn around the place, "You will die."

Moving her arms, purple flames began to erupt all around the room, the door that had led the group inside now sealed off.

[member="Maple Harte"]

 

[Maple Harte]

Maple, as the watched the horrible screaming of [member="Alwine Lechner"], felt the same cold dread she had felt at suffering at the Brain Demon's hands. Felt that same helplessness, the same rage, but at herself. Laertia and Moya were beside themselves in horror as they watched. Moya not able to look, Laertia so conditioned to witnessing horrible things, forced herself to watch as Alwine was in pain.

Maple didn't have anything in her arsenal to fight this. There was no bullet, no rifle that could solve her problem. Once, she had had a little more skill with the Force, but make no mistake, she had declined since then. Though she had gotten back some of it, even in her prime, she still would have had no solution to this. All she could do was watch in horror, the fear of having to explain to Alwine's brothers that the crazy person who had stopped Alwine from eating a bullet on Stewjon had gotten her killed or mutated so horribly killing her would be a mercy.

And mutate she did. Neither human, nor wolf, but something inbetween rose in Alwine's place, giving itself a name. It didn't feel like Alwine at all. Purple flames sprang up around them and Maple winced as she sensed intense magic around them. Moya's form glitched, her flesh wriggling on her body due to the sheer intensity of the magic around them.

Laertia remained stoic but that was when Maple knew Laertia to be at her most disturbed. Maple gulped as she watched a woman who was, for all intents and purposes, the closest she had to a big sister, clench her fist as the entity puppeteering Alwine's body spoke to them, accusing them of harming her children, saying they would die.

"I'dz bee hi-tailin itz outta dhat gurlz boddy iff I wuz yooz..." Laertia growled at the entity. "Tellz mee...doo yooz bleedz?"

Maple, guessing that out of all of them, Laertia would have the best chance of defeating whatever was in Alwine, but also that Alwine would likely die if it came to that, knew she had to stop it before it came to that. They didn't even know what they had walked into here.

"We didn't kill your children..." Maple insisted. "These corpses were like this when we found them. This whole place is a fething abattoir. There have been slaughters of the innocent on the surface. We were tracing them here. You are inhabiting Alwine. Am I to assume you are responsible for the surface atrocities?"

"Getz outta dha gurlz boddy..." Laertia snapped, crossguard activating.

"Laertia! Let me handle this!" Maple said. "We'll get the poor girl killed doing it your way."

'Shee cud alweady bee dedz fer all wee knowz. Whoze tuh sayy itt hazzint kylled herz alweady?" Laertia asked.

This...is...a...very...powerful magic..." Moya stuttered as she malfunctioned from the exposure, the flesh on her face starting to slightly pull away from the body as a whole "I don't think...I'll...be...able to help..."

"Is Alwine, the girl you are inhabiting still alive? Talk to us! Maybe we can help you! What happened in this place?" Maple asked. "Why was everyone slaughtered down here?"

She didn't want to kill Alwine. She absolutely did not want to kill Alwine. She had killed old friends at Mimban and she could not kill new friends. Not like this. She had just gotten to know her.

If you die here Alwine I will never forgive myself... Maple thought, hoping this entity wasn't just wearing an empty shell now. Hoping deep down Alwine was still fighting. Fighting whatever this thing was.

But if Alwine could not be saved, if this thing in her would not be reasoned with, than Maple was all too willing to fight it, if only for revenge for killing Alwine.

"This does not have to end in violence..." Maple added.

Laertia in the meantime was struggling to hold back the old 'Crush your enemy' mindset. It was not her first time going up against a paranormal entity like this. They all thought they were invincible. And then Laertia would remind them they could feel pain still. All the easier if in a potentially empty body.

"We aren't your enemies, and we have no wish to be. But if you press us, Wolf God , you should know that while anyone would be a fool to dismiss your obvious power, it would be equally foolish on your part to dismiss ours. Two of the four people in here are killing machines and you already pissed both of us off getting into that poor girl the way you have. If you are to attack, then attack, but we will both make you regret it." Maple vowed to the thing in Alwine's body.

Laertia teleported behind it and drew her shotgun, ready to fire if the creature so much as twitched funny.

"Goz ahed. Try sumthinz..." Laertia rumbled.



OOC: Sorry for the long delay.

 

[Alwine Daye]

In the inky blackness, Alwine was still swimming. Well. Dog paddling. Left, right, up, down, it didn't matter. She didn't know where was what, and she wasn't certain directions actually existed in this place at all. Fast, slow, she was also certain at this point that her speed or lack thereof didn't change the fact that she wasn't going anywhere.

Slowly, so slowly, the darkness began to shift. Alwine's eyes burned as she couldn't blink them, could not look away at shadows that transformed into the living room at the Lechner cottage on Stewjon. She had always, always hated that place. Other children had homes. She had a place she never wanted to go to. Her home, had been behind the cottage, where the trees grew dense and the wolf could run free. The house was where her parents were, was where they'd tried to train her like a circus animal to bow her head and nod on cue.

And when finally she could blink, Alwine looked down and saw the chains around her wrists, the shackles at her feet.

And she knew, she knew she would never leave this place.

Down beneath the ground, Accalia regarded the three women who would not burn crisp and tender.

"We were born in violence," she said, her voice booming over the sounds of everything around them, "And to violence we return when we die. You have killed my children, but those here were not killed by you. I shall tear this planet limb from limb until I find the murderers, and until I find them, everyone is a murderer. I have spoken."

Turning a hand at Laertia, Accalia sent her flames, aiming the directly at the scarred woman, while with the other one she attempted to grab Maple and lift her from the ground.

[member="Maple Harte"]

 

[Maple Harte]

Maple sighed. Now they were going to have to hurt her.

But Maple still didn't want to resort to lethal force. Not yet. Not when they still had a chance.

Maple felt herself lifting from the ground, choking...

Uri Udinia had journeyed with Ursula Sandraven away from Alderaan and onto her red starship, The Scarlet Phantom.

Uri was fascinated by Ursula, the Padawan had never met a Jedi like her. She and Laertia had played cards. Laertia, despite her initial misgivings seemed to have really warmed up to her during the journey.

"Yooz gunna lykez itz att duh Cytydull..." Laertia said, laying a pazaak card on the table.

Uri laid a card down herself.

"How long have you been with the Marksmen, Laertia?" Uri asked quietly, oddly reserved for one so young.

Laertia's eyes seemed to glaze with happiness.

"Ohz, I beenz wit' Ursy a whilez nowz...I wuz ruhkrutydz arroundz yorr ehge..."

"You have no problem with Master Sandraven?"

"Ursy's coolsville-cool!" Laertia replied enthusiastically, and Uri, having led a very sheltered life as a Jedi, did not understand Laertia's enthusiasm. Did not understand the dynamics of the strange pseudo-parental relationship between Laertia and Uri's new master. If she had, she would have been far more alerted to how manipulative Ursula actually was.

Uri felt herself withdrawing into that cold mindset she had developed to defeat that Sith on Mustafar.

"You're very well trained. And strong in The Force. I'm surprised you were not recruited by the Jedi Order proper..."

"Ursy's Jehdiez enuff fer meez..." Laertia replied, laying down another card. Uri had barely managed a win against the older woman earlier but she seemed absolutely unable to beat Laertia at cards. Laertia had savaged her at Pazaak twelve different times already and seemed set on another victory. Her rabbit was perched on her lap, thoroughly snuggled. Uri could not help but trust Laertia--there was no falseness in her. She did not look it, in her spiky, sinister black biker leathers (Whose look Uri would later copy after changing her name to Maple) but the Light was in her. Albeit faintly.

"Laertia...have you completed your Jedi Trials?"

"Well, uh...way Ursy sawz itz, iz dhat I haddz alweady benz thru lotza tryyulz. Butz I'mz forrmmally knyhtedz!" She answered happily, stroking the top of her rabbit's head.

This Ursula did play fast and loose. Informal training...away from council eyes...yet fully knighted and deadly. Uri wondered just how much Laertia actually knew about the Jedi proper: she did not behave like most knights. No serenity in her heart, just a gushing openness and enthusiasm.

"Itz gunna bee sweetz havinz annudda memmbuh...wuzz kynda gettinz weaaryyz ov bein duh younngist onn duh teammz...yooz a bweathh ov fresshy-freshh airz!"

Missing the subtle desire for a younger sibling in Laertia's statement, Uri only smiled and nodded, trying to further guage Ursula through interacting with Laertia.

"You seem incredibly devoted to Ursula's mission..."

"Wellz...yeahz! Cuz weez stoppinz bulliez. Weez hellpinz peopull."

Laertia clearly believed this, with the innocence of the tone in her voice giving away just how much she truly believed. Uri began to like Laertia a little more, though she still kept a stoic reserve.

"So, Uri..." Laertia asked quietly, laying another card on the table. "Yoo lykez majik tricz?"

"I've never seen one."

Laertia seemed to go giddy at this and held up three cards, laying them on the table, shuffling them.

"Pickz etha wun...don'tz shoowz itz tuh meez..."

Laertia closed her eyes. Uri picked the middle card. Laertia snapped her fingers and the card vanished in a puff of smoke, along with the other cards, plastic red flowers appearing in their place. Uri was fascinated--she had witnessed no slight of hand, yet the flowers were there, and Laertia clearly had not used The Force.

She handed Uri the flowers. "Pickz..."

Uri picked one at random. She noticed something in the bud. She took it out, unfolding the card. It was hers. Uri smiled at the parlor trick.

"Neat..."

Laertia beamed. Then, she rose quickly out of her seat, holding her rabbit as Ursula walked into the guest quarters aboard the cramped starship. Uri stood at attention, still holding the plastic flowers. Both had sensed the ship dropping out of hyperspace.

Ursula smiled. "I see you two are getting along...good. Team cohesion is important in our line of work."

"How far are we from Dantooine?" Uri asked, still very reserved around Ursula.

"We're in orbit." Ursula answered, her white catsuit almost pearlescent in the light of the cabin, contrasting her violet skin. She looked almost angelic. "I'm glad you decided to join us, Uri. I foresee you becoming a very skilled Jedi Shadow. You need only the right guidance. Laertia here was already highly skilled when we met: she herself only needed the proper guidance to unlock her true potential, and has become indispensable as a result. You would do well to emulate her dedication and discipline, for such things will save you down the road."

Uri could feel Laertia melt inside at the praise, but did not understand the emotion itself. Uri had never loved anyone before, so at this point of her life she simply could not comprehend Laertia's intense feelings. Ordinarily her training on Alderaan might have led to her being more concerned at such intense emotion in a Jedi, but since Mustafar, Uri had gotten in touch with something at the core of her that started to seperate her from the other Padawans.

Uri did, however began to understand how this woman could hold Laertia's loyalty: Her very presence could command, and she knew when to hold back and when to push. When to criticize and when to condone. Given how deadly she was, and how devoted, Uri realized Laertia was Ursula's right hand.

Was Uri to become the left hand, then...?



Present day.

Laertia dodged the flames, watching as Moya toppled over from the dark magic interfering with her systems. She held back, as Uri had convinced her to try and save Alwine Daye . Maple struggled to escape the Force choke, gasping for air as she was unable to break it.

Laertia decided to try and cut the creature's juice momentarily. She used one of her most powerful abilities.

The air looked like heat waves covered a large radius around her as she moved close to the possessed wolf. It was a form of Force Suppression but only worked when the enemy was in the radius.

Maple however, was still choking, and in desperation, reached for her cane with telekinesis and hurled it at Alwine's leg...

Scherezade deWinter

Sorry this took so long.

 

[Alwine Daye]

The giant wolf howled as she squeezed harder around the throat of the one called Maple Harte .

They deserved to die. Thousands of years ago, it had been their kind. Their kind that chased the wolves across the stars, forcing them to eventually come to a desolate planet that did not know how to treat the, and joined the massacres against them as a result of that.

Accalia had been their leader, their queen. For centuries she flew across the stars with her people, always losing just a few, always remembering that they still existed. But Tatooine would be their last stop for they could no longer afford to lose more of their members if they wished to survive as a species.

The wars had been long and terrible, and any shred of memory of it buried beneath the sands, forgotten to times, uninteresting to explorers. Accalia had failed her people. All the magic she had cast to remain alive, to be certain that she could provide for them, ended up with empty hands, and the more time passed, the more of the magic she used.

The cost had been dreadful.

All her people had moved on beyond the sunset, but Accalia… She would never join them. So much magic had she used that no whisp of her soul remained beyond the sunset, and she could never transfer from this existence to the next. For centuries she wailed, attempting to find a cure, but there was none to be found. Through her immortality, Accalia had become living stone, doomed forever to protect the memories that were unknown anywhere else, and would never be known. An eternity… Of nothing.

Nothing but revenge.

Everyone would die. The people who had entered her tomb and awakened her would die. Everyone would die. It didn't matter where exactly they were from or what they had or hadn't done. Everyone would die. That would be her vengeance upon this existence. Every single time, until it spat her out.

Accalia released everyone. Her arms began to shake as she clutched them, bringing them up. She opened her mouth to give words, but the Force Suppression hit her and she staggered back, her power building momentarily interrupted. A hit in her leg sent her down on a knee.

"You dare?!" she demanded from them, and raised her arms again.

The walls and ceiling began to shake, pieces of stone and building blocks beginning to fall down on their heads – small ones, for the moment.

"This shall be your tomb!" Accalia shouted.

 

[Maple Harte]

Maple was about to black out when Laertia had a momentary success Force Suppression, causing the possessed Alwine Daye to drop her. She hit the floor, coughing, having nearly blacked out from the strangle attempt.

But then the possessed wolf started tossing crap with her mind.

Maple's recently increased telekinesis allowed her to catch most of the heavier objects, however, disaster struck, as one landed painfully on her left leg and fractured her shin bone. Maple screamed in pain, and another rock hit her in the shoulder. She barely hurled the other falling rocks away from her and rolled to avoid the rest.

She found herself pulling out her Tranquilizer Pistol, barely able to focus past her pain.

As she aimed at Alwine's throat with her one good arm, Maple found herself recalling the very first lesson Ursula had really given her...

Loste Citadel, an ancient fortress in The Mountains of Dantooine, was covered in Ivy.

The H-Type Nubian descended into the Hangar opening on top, gleaming scarlet red in the sunset.

Laertia was the first out the hatch, her rabbit secured in her arms, whistling as she stepped off the ship. Uri was next, followed by a quiet, contemplative Ursula.

"Izzintz itz luvvlee?!" Laertia called out to Uri.

Uri looked around the vast hangar space, smiling a little. There was a light to this place, albeit a faint one.

"This was an ancient hiding spot constructed during the Gulag Plague for Jedi. We had so many enemies on all sides these refuges were a necessity." The purple skinned woman explained to Uri.

"Why is this place called Loste Citadel?" Uri asked.

"It's named after The Founder of The Marksmen, Hiram Loste." Ursula answered. "He was my Master. Everything I am, he taught me. As I will teach you."

"He must have been extremely formidable, then." Uri noted.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Ursula joked mildly, but she was reserved still. Ever reserved.

Uri shrugged. "Should we start our first lesson?"

Ursula and Laertia raised an eyebrow.

"Why so eager to start so soon?" Ursula asked.

"Didn't join you to slack."

Laertia smiled a little.

Ursula tilted her head slightly in mild fascination.

"Very well then, meet me in the training gallery...Laertia, go and gather the others..." Ursula instructed.

"Shurr tingz, Ursy!" Laertia replied happily, teleporting out of sight.

Ursula led Uri silently through the stone halls of the citadel. The architecture reminded Uri more of a fortified castle then a Jedi Temple. But still...it was nice...welcoming, almost.

"Why did you become a Marksman, Master Sandraven?" Uri asked.

"I had no purpose, and had literally nothing when I met Hiram. Not even a name." Ursula answered. "Hiram believed in me, and trained me to the best of his ability."

"What do you mean by 'had no purpose'?" Uri asked, deeply curious now.

"Not everyone starts out knowing who they really are or what they really want out of life. Hiram helped me discover my destiny. I wish to do the same for others who were in the same situation." Ursula explained as they finally reached the training area.

Uri stared. The chamber was a stark, sterile white, matching the color of Ursula's suit, broken up only by red holotargeting reticles in the back of the gallery. The racks and weapons along the walls were white also.

Ursula strode over to a pistol rack, getting two out, tossing one to Uri, who caught it. It was weighty. She checked the safety.

"The infamous recharging pistols of the Clone Commando." She explained. "You ever use a pistol, Uri?"

"I've only had a few lessons."

"Well, let's see how fast you can hit a target that moves before we get to the true lesson." Ursula mused, going over to a nearby panel and adjusting a few settings.

"So Uri..." Ursula trailed as the system booted up the new program. "Do you regret what you had to do to survive on Mustafar?"

"Yes." Uri answered, examining the weapon.

"Good."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want someone without a brain pulling the trigger." Ursula answered. "Anybody can pull a trigger, but its the ones who think about the cost in the process that know when not to."

Ursula went to stand next to her with her own pistol. She snapped off five shots in five seconds, hitting the same holographic target each time.

More targets appeared, and Uri began to go slack jawed as Ursula began pulling off trick shots, flipping twirling, spinning the pistol in her hands yet unnerringly hitting her target. The perfection. The timing. Even as the targets began to appear more and more and move faster Ursula still managed to hit every single one of them. The program finally stopped, and by then Ursula had become a blur of trick shots.

"Its a lot like wielding a lightsaber. You have to be one with your weapon, and the environment. Teepo's Paladins knew this, and its taken hundreds of years for the order to accept that the truth of this applies not just to a lightsaber, but any weapon. Now, let's see how far you can get."

Uri nodded raised it, getting a feel for the balance. She snapped off five shots...and missed on all.

"The recoil on this is a lot higher than my carbine." Uri admitted. "My wrists hurt."

"You'll get used to it..." Ursula assured her. "Once you disassemble it and memorize the form and function of every part, just like you would a lightsaber, of course. Not only that, but you must feel the weapon's internals, the potential energy in its power source. Treat it as a total weapon...if the weapon is not an extension of you, than you are not doing it right."

"The philosophy of the Preston Academy of Pistoleers." Uri noted.

Ursula smiled. "You know of them? Impressive."

"I ran into an old training datacron of theirs when I was learning to work my carbine."

"Then allow yourself to really adhere to that advice. You actually came really close to hitting the targets. You also take a practical, balanced shooting stance with two hands.

A small hint of Uri's schizophrenia manifested for a split second.

"Just you watch, Master Sandraven, I'm gonna John Wick this."

Ursula raised an eyebrow in confusion. It must be some weird teenager reference. Ursula was very bad at humor. She shook her head slightly in bemusement, not understanding the joke at all.

"Riiiight..." she trailed.

Uri looked down at her pistol. With a twitch of her eye, the pistol slowly disassembled itself, and she began examining each part.

"But can even the finest pistoleer truly rival a lightsaber user?" Uri questioned.

"With the right materials, training, and determination, of course." Ursula answered confidently. "Just look at you. You took a bargain bin blaster carbine and modified it enough to blast your way through an entire fortress. It even allowed you to hold your own against the Sith you fought for a time. You were overwhelmed, but that was more to inexperience."

"I'd hoped to take him non lethally, but he was too powerful. But you saw, didn't you? You watched from the shadows as I fought."

"Oh, I wasn't 'that' close in the end. I was mostly monitoring you from the security systems. You had gotten into the Sith's inner sanctum within his fortress just before he initiated total lockdown. I would have helped you, but it took a long time to hack the security. Besides, I had a mission of my own within that place."

"What was it?"

"Another story for another time, Padawan."

"Oh, come on..."

Ursula sighed.

"I needed to obtain something powerful. Something he did not know he had in his grasp."

"What was it?" Uri wondered, slowly reassembling the pistol with her mind.

"A key. A special, golden key, that opens a special door. I can say no more."

"Thank you for trusting me enough to answer, Master Sandraven."

"You are welcome." Ursula nodded back curtly. "Now, if you are to 'John Wick' properly or whatever the hell that joke is supposed to mean, you should try getting a feel for the balance you were complaining about earlier. Do as I do. Switch the safety on."

After Uri did so, Ursula got started.

Ursula deftly spun her pistol in her palm. Spun it hypnotically, rhythmically, flipping it through the air and spinning it again before stopping.

Uri got through two spins before it spun out of her hand.

"Focus." Ursula ordered. "Again."

Uri got through three spins before it flew out of her hand.

"At least we know the the pistol is dizzy." Ursula joked in a deadpan manner. "Again."

Uri again failed after three spins.

"Pretend its a lightsaber if you must. But feel the metal. The way it moves on your skin..."

Uri made five spins. But the last spin was clumsier and lost momentum.

"Your palm is crimping at the middle. Stop that. Its not correct." Ursula criticized.

Uri corrected, and the pistol finally spun at least some of the way Ursula had spun hers.

"I remember the first time I used these types of weapons. It was my very first last stand. Enemies everywhere. I had run out of ammo for all my other weapons. But this one...this one kept firing, kept me in the fight. Have not been without one since. Plus, it's a heavy blaster, so it makes nice big holes in Sith Lords."

Uri smiled a little. "Your humor is of the gallows."

"Best type of humor."

They both chuckled at this. They continued to practice...


Maple fired two tranq darts at Alwine's neck, before trying to use the Force to hurl debris at an arm, still doing her absolute best to avoid killing her friend. She reached out in the Force, trying to find Alwine within, provide a link of strength for her to try and fight her way out.

Laertia teleported behind her and triggered a telekinesis related ability of her own when Alwine was in her radius, to try and slow her physical ability to move to the point it would be like trying to wade through thick molasses, all to make it that much more difficult, albeit not impossible for the possessed wolf to dodge the projectiles of Maple.

 

[Alwine Daye]

They would die down there. Accalia had dealt with intruders before, had faced enemies before. Too many losses had she taken, both for and with her people, and she would not take another one. Not again. Not even after a million years had passed. She would bring down the ceiling on them all, and find her final burial place along with her enemies. Trapped together. Forever.

So certain was she of this calling that she had focused primarily on the ceiling, trying to pull it down. This body that she inhabited, there were things that she could do with it, but to reach the Force… It was taking much more effort than she had expected it would. Sweat appeared on her temples, and still she pulled.

Until the darts hit her neck.

Alwine was still in the darkness that was inside of Accalia. Though Accalia's memories flashed before her eyes, Alwine saw none of it, knew none of it, and had lost all concept of time. Seconds might as well have been centuries or longer as far as she knew.

For all her battles and all her fights, there was nothing here for her. There was nothing out there either. Despite her tries, she had ultimately failed. Would she be here like that woman, who was trapped in something similar for seven hundred years? Would she feel each day as it progressed, unlike right now? Would it be an eternity before she emerged, if she even were to emerge out at all?

And suddenly everything hurt.

Alwine felt as though she had fallen from a high place onto a very hard ground, every fiber in her body shaking with the pain of it. She had no way of knowing that this was because Accalia had fallen, the darts in her body bringing her form down now. But what Alwine did know, was that there was something here. In the darkness, suddenly, she could feel her friend.

"Maple…" the petite blonde whispered. What had happened? What was going on?

Trumpets might as well have blared when she realized it was Maple reaching out, trying to find her.

"Maple!" Alwine screamed now, reaching out as well. Her hands, she soon discovered, were completely useless. But she still had the Force. Maple had been teaching her how to use it, and she would be damned if she let her friend and mentor down with what was meant to be a simple thing.

Reaching out, the young Lupine darted forward with everything she had. Not, with her body, but with her mind, trying to grab on to Maple, praying that her mind was not making her up in desperation, that she really was there.

Back in the underground tomb itself, Accalia screamed as her body fell. She could feel it beginning to shrink now, trying to fit back into the too little size it had been before, trying to expel her out. Desperation clung to her like moist socks to a camper, and she raised a hand again, this time pointing at Maple Harte , for the others were not within her direct line of view.

"You may try to hide me, you may try to destroy me. But I will never leave. I will be avenged. The days of the wolves are numbered!"

 

[Maple Harte]

She could feel her! The little wolf wasn't gone!

Renewed determination and hope swelled in Maple, and in that instant she brutally fought past her madness to provide Alwine Daye nearly every ounce of strength she had to fight her way out of the spirit's grip.

As for Accalia, Maple pulled out that Quixoni she had been meaning to give Alwine. It had worked on Maranon. Would it work on another.

As Maple struggled to be the bridge Alwine needed to take back control, she cut open her palm, clasping it. The Mandragora inew powerful magics. So did Maranon. It was from these Maple now drew.

"Mother Nature!" Maple screamed the wind whipping around her as she instinctively triggered a magical spell. "I demand you remove this wretched spirit that perverts the body of one of your creatures. It uses unclean magic! Its death is long past due. Mother Nature, Drive the Wretch Accalia into this gem, and seal her within it!"

The crystal began to glow a deep red color as the hideously powerful magic the neophyte witch called on to try and tear out Accalia from Alwine went to work. Laertia used her telekinesis to keep falling debris from crushing and killing them all.

"Get out of my friend's body!" Maple shouted, holding out the gem, mentally telling Alwine to fight in no uncertain terms.

I can only give so much help young wolf. But if you want your body back you have to be stronger than the beast making your body a puppet. Your body your own. Remind the beast...and yourself...of this fact. Your body is your own. Fight her, Alwine! Fight with everything you have! Don't let her win! I KNOW you are stronger! The WHOLE DAMN PLANET OF STEWJON AND YOUR HORRIBLE PARENTS COULDN'T BREAK YOU! DON'T GIVE ACCALIA, A RANDOM FETHING SPIRIT, THE SATISFACTION OF DOING WHAT A WHOLE PLANET AND YOUR MOTHER COULDN'T!

The rest would have to be up to Alwine.

 

[Alwine Daye]

Maple Harte

The entire room shook as Maple screamed for mother nature. Accalia laughed, increasing her affect on the room. They would all die with the body she currently possessed. These horrible humans, and the wolves. They would all die! Accalia's thirst could not be quenched, not until the last of them ceased to draw breath, ceased to beat their heart, ceased to exist.

I can only give so much help young wolf. But if you want your body back you have to be stronger than the beast making your body a puppet. Your body your own. Remind the beast...and yourself...of this fact. Your body is your own. Fight her, Alwine! Fight with everything you have! Don't let her win! I KNOW you are stronger! The WHOLE DAMN PLANET OF STEWJON AND YOUR HORRIBLE PARENTS COULDN'T BREAK YOU! DON'T GIVE ACCALIA, A RANDOM FETHING SPIRIT, THE SATISFACTION OF DOING WHAT A WHOLE PLANET AND YOUR MOTHER COULDN'T!

"No!" It had been Accalia's mouth that had opened, but Alwine's voice that had come true. FIght… Maple had said to fight. But how did you fight something, how did you fight something you couldn't stab, maim, or kill with your body?

Acacia staggered backwards but regained her control, her laughter booming all over the chamber.

"I am a wolf, prey-stalking, lethal prowler," she growled over the sound of her own laughter, raising her arms again, beginning to pull entire chunks of rocks from the walls.

Alwine blinked.

"I am a hunter, horse-mounted, wolf-stabbing," came Alwine's voice through Accacia's throat, bringing her to a stop. Maple had said to fight. So Alwine would fight. SHe might not be sufficiently trained in fighting, she knew she had years worth of catching up to do, and that she could not use the weapon Maple had gifted her. But something had happened - when Maple shot Accacia. Something had changed. The battlefield was not inside the room, but… Inside of them. All of them. Maple, Ursula, and Laertia were all there too. Alwine couldn't see them, but she could feel them.

Within seconds, the room ceased to shake.

"I am a horsefly, horse-stinging, hunter-throwing," Accalia growled back, her large wolf-queen body turning into the thick fly.

"I am a spider, fly-consuming, eight legged," Alwine replied, and the horsefly became just that - a spider, now large enough to tower over any of the women there.

Accacia growled. "I am a snake, spider-devouring, poison-toothed!"

"I am an ox, snake-crushing, heavy footed."

"I am an anthrax, butcher bacterium, warm-life destroying."

"I am a world, space-floating, life nurturing."

"I am a nova, all-exploding, planet-cremating!"

"I am the galaxy, all things encompassing, all life embracing."

The shapes began to become more and more abstract. If earlier, Alwine and Accadia's body had turned from thing to thing, now they mostly encompassed space, their presence growing with every round of their battle.

"I am Anti-Life, the Beast of Judgment. I am the dark at the end of everything. The end of universes, gods, worlds... of everything. Sss. And what will you be then, little wolf?"

Alwine smiled. "I am hope."

Accacia screamed. Once again the room began to shatter, but where before it felt life threatening, now it was just a shudder, a final groan before nothing but puffs of air came from between the rocks that made the walls up.

And on the floor, where Accacia had been standing moments ago, was now Alwine's body - small, incredibly damaged, but whole.

The immortal duel words were taken from Neil Gaiman - https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/96...re-wolf-prey-stalking-lethal-prowler-morpheus

 

[Maple Harte]

Maple had been treating Alwine Daye within seconds of her defeating the spirit. She hadn't moved her, not certain yet of the nature of her injuries.

Maple was too badly drained telepathically piercing Accalia's defenses to try healing her normally with the Force. She would not have been able to do so anyway as her healing abilities were not that strong to begin with.

Maple tried to think as she forced her mind to focus on Lechner's crumpled figure. Half of the ribcage was broken. Legs broken. One arm broken. Signs of internal bleeding and torn muscles.

Laertia cast aside the last of the falling debris and rushed to Alwine.

"How badz?" Laertia asked in a panic.

"Neck and spine isn't broken...one good arm...bleeding internally..." Maple answered, looking at the Quixoni that contained Accalia's Spirit since being forced from Alwine's body.

Laertia fished a spare healing stim from her jacket pocket. Maple shook her head.

"Her injuries are too extensive...we need to use magic. Its the only thing that'll help."

"Yooz studdeeinz duh foybiddunn arrtz?" Laertia asked, apprehensive.

"You somehow get The Light to bless your stuff, what's the difference?"

"I've nevuh haddz gud expeereeinzes wyth maagik."

(Cutaway of Darth Phyre butchering Laertia's parents on Dantooine during The Gulag Plague)

(Cutaway of Phyre being torn apart with magic)

(Cutaway of Darth Phyre getting reborn as Syd Celsius)

"Well, we don't have time to be picky..." Maple grumbled, trying to think. "Go tend to your friend..."

Laertia spotted Moya, skin still glitching, and vomiting up bright green blood as she spasmed on the floor. Whatever magical effect generayed seemed to be dying down, because Moya's skin eventually went to normal and she was able to stand with Laertia's help.

"What happened?" The Android asked.

"Evull Speeritz."

"Oh. So it was that office party we went to last year?"

"Forr duh mosstt parrtz."

Moya then noticed Alwine and ran over. Maple had been drawing wards around Alwine with her blood.

"Let me see..." the Android spoke, going over her medical protocols as she sensed Lechner's injuries. She grew rapidly alarmed.

"We get her some healing or she dies in two hours..." Moya said flatly. "It's too risky to move her...what were you doing?"

"Blood Magic." Maple grunted, inking the ground using the crystal. "I'm gonna need samples of both of yours. I've never done this before. There's bound to be bleedout effect."

"Bleedoutz?" Laertia asked.

"Some of the traits we have may get passed to her unintentionally...possibly skills also..." Moya explained.

"If I hadn't expended most of my power imprisoning that spirit...this would be easier." Maple added. "But I need you to back me up."

Moya and Laertia both nodded, holding out their arms. Maple took out a small pocket knife and cut into their arms, draining samples into certain spots and patterns outside the wards.

"Mother Nature..." Maple breathed. "Heal this brave young wolf...for she has done what I wish to achieve someday..."

The magic slowly began to work on Alwine, drawing slightly from the life force of all three above her.

The wards burned up and disappeared, a green energy that erupted from their destruction enveloping Alwine....

(God of War 2 Main Menu Theme plays for a few seconds)

(The Magic ritual used on Alwine is imperfect due to Maple's inexperience, and a Bleedout Effect has occured. This effect causes the traits and possibly some of the skills of the ones healing her to possibly become permanently available to Alwine at a reduced or more specialized basis due to imperfect imprinting. Alwine can instinctively select which become part of her)

(Please make your selection now)

(CHOOSE WISELY)

Limit: 007/14 traits

Four of eight skills/powers

Spoiler

Trait 1. (Maple): JANUS:

Spoiler

Slightly Improved capacity for learning and using both sides of the Force

Trait 2 (Laertia): MELEE LEARNING

Spoiler

Enables Alwine to better guess the incoming trajectories of Knife and Sword attacks, as well as learn all melee weapons slightly easier

Trait 3 (Moya) : DRAIN IMMUNITY

Spoiler

Alwine becomes completely immune to Life Drain type powers

Trait 4 (Maple) : SPY HUNTER

Spoiler

Become better able to recognize when someone is in disguise and/or forged identification

Trait 5 (Laertia): RECOIL DISCIPLINE

Spoiler

Slightly improved ability to handle the recoil of powerful ranged weapons like shotguns or rockets, either while stationary or on the move. Alwine will be able to barely handle weapons she could normally never reliably control without extensive hours of training

Trait 6 (Moya): DEFENSIVE DISCHARGE

Spoiler

Generate low level Electric Judgement current across whole body. Useful for harming Dark Adepts trying to grapple.

Trait 007: CANINE CONTROL

Spoiler

Due to exposure to Accalia, all canine-type animals are hesitant to attack Alwine, and are greatly susceptible to her influence.

Trait 8 (Maple): GUN-FU

Spoiler

The Legacy of The Preston Pistoleer Academy lives on in a new vessel. Alwine becomes slightly better at using pistols for both attack and melee ranges, as well as duel wielding. Because you can't maintain your equilibrium without duel-wielding

Trait 9 (Laertia): BLIND-FIGHTING

Spoiler

Become slightly better in a sword-fight when deprived of vision, due to improved smell, hearing, and the skins improved ability to sense air displacement when attacked

Trait 10 (Moya): IMPROVED TRANSFORMATION

Spoiler

Use of the shape shifting Android's blood has permanently sped up the rate at which Alwine can safely transform into a wolf, along with a greatly reduced sense of pain, albeit not entirely eliminated

Trait 11 (Maple): SNIPER INSTINCTS

Spoiler

Maple's Ranged training has been slightly imparted upon Alwine. She can now better detect possible sniper positions in a given area, and has a rudimentary understanding of sniper countermeasures

Trait 12 (Laertia): PARABOLIC INSTINCTS

Spoiler

Become slightly more skilled in learning how to use throwing weapons, as well as predicting their parabolic arcs. Affects knives and grenades

Trait 13 (Moya): ACROBATIC INSTINCTS

Spoiler

Slightly improved ability to dodge, flip, twirl and jump for survival. Enables wall runs

Trait 14 (Accalia): WOLF SPECIALIST

Spoiler

Massive improvement to Alwine's five senses while in Wolf Form, along with skin being moderately tougher to damage with ballistic weaponry.

(Plasmid Acquisition Theme Plays)

(New Skills and Powers Available!)

Spoiler

Skill 1 (Maple): ASSAULT BLASTERS

Spoiler

Grants novice skill in the maintainance and wielding of military and sporting blaster rifles

Skill 2 (Laertia): SHOTGUNS

Spoiler

Grants novice skill in the wielding of civilian and military grade shotguns

Skill 3 (Maple): CANE-LIGHTSABER/FORM ONE

Spoiler

Grants novice skill in the employment of Lightsaber Canes in conjunction with Form One. A bundle Deal. Form One is excellent for multiple enemies and the cane has many uses in battle. WARNING: If taken by itself, the users skill with an actual standard blade will be almost nil until catching up with actual training.

Skill 4 (Laertia): SINGLE BLADED LIGHTSABER/FORM TWO (LIGHTFOIL)

Spoiler

Grants the Use of Single Bladed Lightsaber and the more refined, Light Foil Variant of Makashi absolutely not intended for anything but personal duels. WARNING: If taken by itself, lightsaber skill will suffer in other areas until training catches up.

Power 1 (Maple): FORCE BARRIER

Spoiler

Creates a barrier of telekinetic energy around user that temporarily protects against all solid ammo. Moderately taxing. As skill increases, requires less strain to use and lasts longer, defending more and more against even specialized ammo

Power 2 (Laertia): FORCE TELEPORT

Spoiler

Teleport instantly from one spot to the next with the Force. As skill increases, distance traveled also increases. Highly taxing at first due to novice level skill

Power 3 (Maple): BALLISTA- KINESIS

Spoiler

Hurl small objects from ones hand at lethal speeds with telekinesis. Low taxing mental strain. As skill grows, distance of projectile and projectile force increases

Power 4 (Laertia): FORCE SUPPRESSION

Spoiler

Temporarily suppress another Force Users connection. Highly taxing at first due to novice application, mental strain decreases as skill advances

"Wutt nowz?" Laertia asked after the ritual was underway.

"We wait..." Maple answered.


Four hours later...


Maple had very delicately moved Alwine with telekinesis after her internal organs were considered fully healed to what had appeared to be an ancient workshop in the old stronghold and sealed it.

Laertia and Moya kept a vigil over Alwine's healing figure, while Maple had begun work scavenging what she could use in the sand filled, clock geared place.

Unsurprisingly, the Golden Wolves had been into lightsaber and weapon construction. Maple had found all sorts of parts for her friend to use. Along with equipment.

"We still have one problem..." Moya pointed out, watching over Alwine with great worry. "The one killing all the tuskens? We still have not found them."

"I'm working on that. We can't have been the only people in here recently. Accalia used magic to try and murder all of us, right? Well she obviously didn't murder 'someone'. There should be cameras in this place. Maybe some of them still work." Maple trailed, staring at the crystal that held Accalia, holding it up.

"You hear me, motherfether?" the ex-Jedi asked the wicked spirit trapped in the crystal, even though it couldn't respond. "I tried to be nice! Civil! Polite! But nooooo, you just had to throw a fit and try and kill my friends, you fething dumbass. And now you are trapped in a fething rock, feel any regret yet? Huh? Have fun being a part of Alwine's saber..."

Alwine at last stirred. The ritual effect was over. Maple was over to her instantly

"Don't move too fast. Your body is still not fully recovered from the terrible trauma its been through. We had to resort to certain measures to save your life. You had some pretty bad internal bleeding. You'll be fine. Just take it slow..." Maple spoke to Alwine, sitting by the bare table she had been laid on.

"How do you feel?"

 

[Alwine Daye]

Maple Harte

The spotlight was on her. Everyone around her was smiling, clapping wildly. Alwine blinked in confusion, looking around the area. She didn't remember coming here. She didn't remember signing up for… What the hell was this? A few boo's were heard as she did not react to the cheering, and the spotlight moved to the host, a Mr. Pinnocollo. He had a pink flower behind where his ear should have been, had he had one.

"Thank you for joining us, folks!" he beamed at the cameras, "Tonight, we have Alwine Hilde Lechner, here to spin the wheel of spinnies! Ms. Lechner, if you would be so kind?"

"Certainly, Mr. Pinnocolo," Alwine found the words coming out of her throat without actually forming in her mind first, and she flashed the audience a contestor's smile, beaming as well. With a large and melodramatic move, she spun the wheel, which looked an awful lot like a wheel of fortune, and waited for it to stop.

"Congratulations, Ms. Lechner!" the host screamed, "You have just received, Improved Transformations! You can now shift from wolf to human or human to wolf in ten seconds! And you don't even have to wait until you're twenty-five or so to be able to do it. This is what we like to call, an early bloomer."

Alwine smized for the cameras. This would certainly be a good thing to be able to do now instead of needing to wait for it for another 6-7 years. Fully mature Lupines over the age of 30 could shift in even less than that, but at Alwine's age, she required 5 minutes. This was definitely going to improve her life.

"But wait, there's more!" the host screamed, "Ms. Lechner, please spin the wheel again!"

Smiling as though she was on top of the world, Alwine repeated her grand gesture, and sent the wheel spinning again. It moved faster than the last time, the colors of red, blue, white, green, and black molding into one really ugly shade of brown, but it didn't matter. Every instinct within the Lupine's body yelled that this would be great and amazing, that she deserved any prizes she got because of the hard work she put into everything she touched.

"Congratulations!" the host bellowed, causing the audience to rise up from their chairs in mad applause, "You've also learned - DRAIN IMMUNITY! Those Sith ain't going to have anything on you, wolf girl!"

The studio transformed. Now she was no longer on a gaming show set, but at an award event for holomovie creators. The woman on the stage was one of the most beautiful females Alwine had seen in her life, a Celestial wielding an ethereal white dress as though it was both fashion and a weapon.

"And now, the runner ups for the Best Wolf Girl Category," she announced, and her voice was like velvet, cradling Alwine's insides, making her almost purr like a cat, "Alwine Lechner, Lupine extraordinaire! Jesha of Clan Gutrod, More Wolf than Were! Siegfrieda Shulman, for Wolfie Can You Hear me! Barkie McBarkson, for Dogs Are Not Wolves Anymore! And last but not least, Hamunaptra, for Wolves, You Shall Die! And the winner is… ALWINE LECHNER LUPINE EXTRAORDINAIRE!"

Dramatic winning music blared out of the speakers and Alwine rose with elegance from her front row seat, the smile on her face never wavering. She walked up the stairs to the stage, and almost floated on air as she made her way to the microphone, accepting her wolf cookie award from the hostess.

"You love me!" Alwine shined, "You really love me!"

Looking down at the cookie, she broke it into two parts, and chomped down on one of them, the sounds of chewing crunchy cookies echoing through the microphone and filling up the entire auditorium. People were still clapping wildly, and Alwine smiled, covering her mouth with a coy hand while she pretend to be cutesy-embarrassed about it.

"I am now a Wolf Specialist!" she giggled like a little girl into the microphone once she'd stopped chewing and swallowed her first half of the cookie. "VIVA LA FORCE SUPPRESSION!!!"

Again the scene changed. This time Alwine was on a grassfield, surrounded by twelve other girls, all wearing the same red colored cheerleader outfits. The Head cheerleader looked a lot like the Celestial from earlier, only now her skin was ebony, and her ears rounded. Her hair flung about as she led the cheer that they all sang and danced together:

I'm hairy, I'm cute! I bark bark bark at you!
I'm bitchin', great fur! The bipedals all love to stare!
I'm wanted, I'm strong! I'm everything you're not!
I'm swift, I'm cool! I dominate this 'verse!
Who am I? Just guess! Cats wanna bite my ass!
I'm rockin'! I smile! And many think I'm vile.
I'm running, I jump! You can look but don't breed at all! Whoo!
I'm major, I roar! I swear I'm not a dog!
We cheer and we lead! We act like we're on speed!
Don't hate us cause we're gorgeous cause we don't like you either!
We're wolf cheerleaders! We are wolf cheerleaders!

As the cheerleaders got to the end of their chanting, they began to form a pyramid, and Alwine, being short and light as she was, got to stand on the very top of it. Her leg formed an inverted V shape, and she stood straight and proud, waving her pom poms with excitement. Gradually though, the cheering from the crowds began to die down, because Alwine was screaming something - but the quieter they got, so did she, until complete and utter silence reigned over the area, broken only by a single whisper by Alwine.

"Acrobatic Instincts…"

Groggy eyes opened on the inside of the ship, and Alwine blinked, confused. She could hear voices, but they were too muffled for her ears to make any sense out of, and she blinked a few more times before her vision's focus returned.

Maple was suddenly next to her, giving her instructions. To be fair, she hadn't planned on moving yet - being on this ship meant that she was safe, or at least supposed to be safe enough. She had no intentions of altering that by changing the status quo of her body's positioning in relativeness with gravity. Nope. She was good.

"I feel like chit," Alwine grumped, a word that rare made it from her mouth now said with so much emphasis that it was almost as though she'd been replaced. But she was still herself.

And against her better judgement, she moved.

Nope.

Not moving. Except for quickly managing to roll to her side before the vomit came up.

"What happened?"